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-{"text": "I carabinieri hanno arrestato un uomo di 55 anni con l'accusa di aver abusato di una bimba a Caivano, in provincia di Napoli. Le indagini sono scaturite da una denuncia presentata dall'indagato, che lamentava di essere stato vittima di un violento pestaggio ad opera di quattro uomini a lui sconosciuti. Gli investigatori hanno considerato l'episodio come una spedizione punitiva per l'abuso compiuto ai danni della minore."}
-{"text": "Billionaire plutocrat and GOP mega-donor Charles Koch says President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs on aluminum, steel, and thousands of Chinese-made imports are \u201cridiculous\u201d and \u201cunfair\u201d to foreigners.\n\nKoch, who funds a network of organizations with his brother, David Koch, told the media during a conference with donors over the weekend that Trump\u2019s ten percent tariff on imported aluminum and 25 percent tariff on imported steel was not fair to foreign countries and foreign workers.\n\nThe Trump administration has said the tariffs on imported goods are necessary to protect American jobs and industries from foreign competition where foreign-made products are sold much cheaper than U.S.-made products, driving U.S. companies out of business.\n\n\u201cThis is ridiculous, we should just get rid of all barriers except on things that will hurt people,\u201d Koch told the media, according to ABC News.\n\n\u201cYeah, it\u2019s unfair. It\u2019s unfair to their people,\u201d Koch claimed of the foreign countries and foreign workers who have been hit with Trump\u2019s tariffs.\n\nTrump\u2019s tariffs have delivered gains for the U.S. steel industry \u2014 which had been decimated by decades of free trade. Most recently, Trump visited Granite City, Illinois, where the former steel town announced that, thanks to the president\u2019s protective tariffs, it was rehiring at least 800 American workers who had previously lost their jobs to foreign competitors.\n\nU.S. Steel Manager Neal Whitt credits the success of reopening their Granite City, IL location to President Trump\u2019s dedication to bringing jobs back to America. \u201cI look around here today and I see the smiling faces, we owe that to you Mr. President. Thank you very much.\u201d pic.twitter.com/51nLB08OoO \u2014 The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 28, 2018\n\nFor decades, the U.S. has maintained a trade deficit in steel products, importing vastly more steel than the country is exporting. Trump says he wants to change this trend with the implementation of his tariffs.\n\n\u201cIn 2014, U.S. imports of steel products reached a near-record high of 40.3 million metric tons, only topped by the 41.3 million metric tons imported in 2006,\u201d a federal report notes of the country\u2019s trade imbalance in steel which has cost millions of American workers their jobs in the industry.\n\nIn a recent speech to young conservatives, Trump supporter and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel said free trade theory is \u201ctotally at odds\u201d with the country\u2019s booming trade deficits.\n\n\u201cImmigration and trade debates have come back with incredible force in the last few years,\u201d Thiel said. \u201cThe pro-globalization side always deals in incredible abstractions, in theory how this stuff works perfectly, and then the sort of realistic Trump administration version of it is always to point out some of the very specific failings that we have to work on better.\u201d\n\nResearchers with the Coalition for a Prosperous America say for every billion dollars of net imports to the U.S., 6,000 American jobs are eliminated in the economy.\n\nThe Kochs\u2019 free trade absolutism is vastly opposed by Republican and conservative voters, who are the most likely to support tariffs to protect American jobs and industries.\n\n\"About 60 percent of black Americans said in a recent poll that free trade has spurred massive job loss in America, holding the most unfavorable views of free trade of any demographic group in the U.S.\"https://t.co/9ypF2H3wUx \u2014 John Binder \ud83d\udc7d (@JxhnBinder) April 26, 2018\n\nThe latest Morning Consult Poll revealed about 71 percent of voters say cheap overseas labor displacing U.S. jobs has played a \u201csignificant role\u201d or \u201csomewhat of a role\u201d in the steep decline in manufacturing employment years ago.\n\nIn a June Harvard/Harris Poll, 83 percent of Republican voters say they support tariffs on imported products like automobiles and electronics. Additionally, 81 percent of conservatives said they too supported tariffs, along with 61 percent of Americans living in rural communities.\n\nEven when GOP voters and conservatives are told that Trump\u2019s tariffs may lead to higher consumer prices, the vast majority continue to support the fair trade agenda. Nearly 75 percent of Republicans said they would still support the tariffs amid higher prices, and 70 percent of conservatives said the same.\n\nAfter the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was implemented, American manufacturing employment plummeted with more than 5.5 million manufacturing jobs being eliminated since 2000.\n\nSince 2001, free trade with China has eliminated at least 3.4 million American jobs for U.S. workers, as Breitbart News reported."}
-{"text": "In the time since the divorcing couple made the decision to split, rumors have reported that things have been a little tense on the set of Flip or Flop, which has been compounded by the fact that the couple has been dating other people. Still, TMZ reports that even if the two entrepreneurs are not happy with their business arrangement they are continuing to forge ahead--especially as the ratings for Flip or Flop have not suffered in the least after all the publicity. The fact that Tarek and Christina have agreed to appear in public outside of shooting the series is also an encouraging sign that the show and the business agreement will continue."}
-{"text": "I've never seen my son do so well on a math test before\n\n138 shares"}
-{"text": "The pedestrian action in West Hollywood's Boystown area comes to a dead stop on the south side of Santa Monica Boulevard and east of San Vicente, but now it may finally seem some life with a huge new mixed-use complex. Metro, which owns a bus depot southeast of that intersection, has signed an agreement with Pacific Design Center owner Charles Cohen to create a master plan for that space--the project would cover the 8.4 acre lot plus 2.5 acres of the adjacent West Hollywood Sheriff's Station lot, Wehoville reports. It could potentially put Metro's buses in an underground garage and construct \"400,000 square feet of commercial office space in two high-rise towers, 600,000 square feet of residential/hotel space, 120,000 square feet of retail shops, a 2,500-seat movie theater complex and an 800-seat open amphitheater, plus a 50,000-square-foot sheriff's station\" above it. Damn.\n\nCohen has long eyed the prime space at Santa Monica and San Vicente, which greets the sidewalk with a long, mean wall. Apparently, he submitted an unsolicited proposal for the land back in 2011 and Metro hired his company, Cohen Brothers, without asking for other offers (and WeHo had its eye on the bus lot, too, hoping to create more there than parking for mass transit).\n\nCohen is working with architecture firm Gruen Associates on the master plan; Gruen worked on the PDC with Cesar Pelli.\n\nIf built, the project would go up in stages, with the underground bus lot built first. The subterranean depot will have to be operational during construction and if Metro incurs costs because of the work, Cohen will be responsible for covering them.\n\n\u00b7 Cohen Brothers, MTA Reach Exclusive Agreement For Proposed Mega Complex at WeHo Depot [Curbed LA]"}
-{"text": "The Ministry of Transportation has chosen a route for the high-speed rail to Pingtung. The Ministry of Transportation has chosen a route for the high-speed rail to Pingtung. (CNA photo)\n\nTAIPEI (Taiwan News) \u2013 The new high-speed rail route from Kaohsiung to Pingtung will avoid the center of Taiwan\u2019s largest southern city as well as its airport when it opens by the end of 2029, according to the selection made by the Ministry of Transportation Friday (September 27).\n\nThe government announced last September 10 it would extend the country\u2019s single high-speed rail line, which runs between Taipei City\u2019s Nangang District in the north and Kaohsiung City\u2019s Zuoying District in the south, to Pingtung.\n\nBoth Premier Su Tseng-chang (\u8607\u8c9e\u660c), who announced the decision, and President Tsai Ing-wen (\u8521\u82f1\u6587) have their roots in the agricultural southern county, which also attracts many tourists to its beaches.\n\nFour different routes had been on offer, with the ministry reaching a decision Friday afternoon, the Central News Agency reported.\n\nThe winning line will start at the existing Zuoying terminal station and run for 17.5 kilometers on an elevated track slightly north and then east to Pingtung City\u2019s Liukuaicuo Station. The choice was also the cheapest, at NT$55.4 billion (US$1.78 billion), according to CNA.\n\nOther possibilities had been an elevated line from the Qiaotou science park to Liukuaicuo, or an underground line right through the center of Kaohsiung with an extra station there, or a route heading south with a stop at the city\u2019s Xiaogang International Airport and turning east to the Pingtung County township of Chaozhou, further south than Pingtung City, which would not have a station under this scenario."}
-{"text": "Declassified documents reveal the Coalition has been wrestling with climate change policy for more than two decades, including perceptions it is a global \"free rider\".\n\nKey points: Howard government considered new climate change policies to improve international reputation\n\nHoward government considered new climate change policies to improve international reputation Other nations accused Australia of being a \"free rider\" and taking no action to deal with climate change\n\nOther nations accused Australia of being a \"free rider\" and taking no action to deal with climate change Environment minister told cabinet Australia found few like-minded nations at climate meetings\n\nShortly after Malcolm Turnbull lost his prime ministership in August \u2014 in part due to a divisive energy policy debate \u2014 he claimed a \"significant percentage\" of his colleagues did not believe climate change was real.\n\nCabinet documents from 1996-97 show the Howard government was warned it was isolated on climate change, prompting consideration of new policies and a media campaign to improve its reputation.\n\nEnvironment minister Robert Hill told cabinet that Australia's ability to influence global events would be constrained unless an effective domestic response to global warming was developed.\n\nAt the time, Australia was one of few nations to campaign against legally binding, uniform emission reduction targets in the Kyoto Protocol.\n\nAustralian negotiators would eventually convince other nations, but cabinet papers show their advocacy would expose a divergence with other nations.\n\nAfter negotiations in Geneva, Mr Hill told cabinet that meetings were \"difficult\" and that Australia found few like-minded allies.\n\n\"Australia was singled out for criticism from environmental NGOs and some national delegations, notably through an ill-considered attack from the UK environment minister,\" Mr Hill said in a submission.\n\n\"Overall, there was a general perception of Australia being isolated.\"\n\n'We need to make a fair contribution'\n\nCabinet papers show the Howard government was aware its own response to climate change may be limiting its influence abroad.\n\n\"In the lead-up to Kyoto, ministers will need to consider the role of strengthened adoption of domestic policies and a focused media strategy in countering international perceptions that Australia is 'free riding' and taking no action domestically,\" Mr Hill said.\n\n\"We will need to clearly demonstrate that we are making a fair contribution to the global effort.\"\n\nUnder John Howard, Australia's approach to climate change was criticised by other countries. ( Tony Phillips: AAP )\n\nThe \"free rider\" warning prompted the government to consider new policies, including an emissions trading scheme that would not be announced for another decade.\n\nWhen uniform targets were eventually dropped, cabinet praised the prime minister's negotiating strategy.\n\n\"The prime minister's advocacy to key world leaders of Australia's case on climate change has been influential.\n\n\"International advocacy by the prime minister and the government of Australia's case on climate change, arguing for realism and equity through differentiated targets, has had considerable impact.\n\n\"Australia is in a special position,\" Mr Howard said.\n\n\"We are a developed country that is a major exporter of energy and there are not too many other countries like that.\""}
-{"text": "The notion of a Batman film directed by the legendary Orson Welles was first popularized by way of a memorable hoax perpetrated by Mark Millar. In a 2003 column for Comic Book Resources, the Ultimates writer put forth a compelling behind-the-scenes narrative detailing the supposed pre-production and eventual abandonment of Welles' Batman project. Many were fooled, but for them and those who weren't, the idea of Orson Welles, in his prime, creating a 1940s-style Batman film is too compelling to ignore.\n\nAmong those fascinated with the concept is YouTuber Sirrus79, who compiled and remixed footage and audio from numerous Orson Welles films -- including Citizen Kane -- as well as other period pieces into an extended trailer-style piece that suggests what Welles' The Bat-Man might have looked and sounded like in the alternate reality where it really happened.\n\n\n\nWhat do you think? How does Sirrus79's The Bat-Man starring Orson Welles stack up against whoiseyevan's Premakes: The Avengers?"}
-{"text": "Ingrid Kristina Carlqvist, a Swedish writer and commentator, has told Breitbart radio that Islamists and migrants \u201chave already succeeded in introducing Sharia law to Sweden\u201d.\n\nSpeaking to Breitbart London Editor-in-Chief Raheem Kassam, she explained that, because Swedish girls are becoming afraid to go to certain places where there have been rapes and attacks, key tenets of Islamic law are effectively being enforced.\n\n\u201cIn [the migrants\u2019] Islamic societies, women have no place in the public room. They are not supposed to go out unaccompanied or unveiled,\u201d she said, claiming some radical Muslims think they have \u201ca right\u201d to rape non-Muslim women.\n\n\u201cThey will succeed in getting Swedish women and girls away from the public room, because one day, no one will want to go a music festival, or the public bathhouse, the swimming pool and so on,\u201d she said, before describing the series of mass rapes and sex attack at Swedish music festival.\n\n\u201cAnd so they have already succeeded in introducing Sharia law in Sweden,\u201d she added.\n\nSwedish police were accused of a \u201ccover-up\u201d after they failed to report dozens of sexual assaults, committed by migrants, at a teenage music festival in 2014 and 2015 because they said it would be \u201cirresponsible\u201d to tell the truth.\n\nThen, in an effort to look proactive, the force handed out wristbands with \u201cdon\u2019t grope\u201d written on them in Swedish. However, the attacks continued.\n\nThis July, 35 young women reported attacks by \u201cforeign young men\u201d at a music festival, and just weeks before, at a separate festival, 40 assaults, including five rapes, were reported.\n\n\u201cThese people don\u2019t read Swedish, they don\u2019t speak Swedish, and they don\u2019t care about the bracelet,\u201d said Mrs. Carlqvist, adding: \u201cAnd now we see what happened this summer: so many girls have been raped.\u201d\n\nSweden accepted more migrants per capita last year than any other European nation, and the nation now has the worst rates of physical and sexual violence committed against women in the European Union (EU), according to a survey by the EU\u2019s rights agency.\n\nThis February, former U.S. President Bill Clinton suggested that America should import Syrian migrants to \u201crebuild\u201d Detroit. Mrs. Carlqvist asked if he knew \u201canything about the consequence here in Europe\u201d or if he is \u201coutright evil\u201d.\n\nSpeaking about Sweden, she continued: \u201cNow we have these \u2018refugee\u2019 houses all over the country\u2026 There isn\u2019t a city where you don\u2019t have asylum houses.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd it affects everybody who is living there. But of course the politicians, they don\u2019t live there\u2026 But [working class people] saw that [the migrants] don\u2019t love Sweden \u2013 that they don\u2019t want to become Swedes. They don\u2019t love our democracy, freedom of women and everything.\n\n\u201cSo, they started voting for the Sweden Democrats. And the politicians said: \u2018look at them; they are stupid, uneducated people. They are racist\u2019. But the people see the consequences; they are those people who live in the suburbs.\n\n\u201cMaybe they don\u2019t have a\u2026 university diploma, but they are living in this, they know what\u2019s going on. The politicians and the journalists, they have no idea.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Two men who were driving a 'stolen dirt bike' on Long Island were killed after the owner of the bike allegedly chased them down with his minivan.\n\nFamily members identified 19-year-old Keenen King as the victim who died immediately after the crash when the driver, idenitifed as Christopher Bouchard, cut them off.\n\nThe other man, 20-year-old Anthony Garriques, was rushed to Stony Brook University Medical Center in critical condition, but his family confirmed on Facebook that he succumbed to his injuries Thursday evening.\n\nTwo men who were driving a 'stolen dirt bike' on Long Island were killed after the owner of the bike allegedly chased them down with his minivan. Keenen King, 19, and 20-year-old Anthony Garriques (right) were idenitifed by family members as victims of the crash\n\n'The driver of the minivan spotted his bike and he attempted to obtain the dirt bike,' Suffolk Police Commissioner Timothy Sini said. When police arrived at the scene, the dirt bike had been partially placed inside the van (pictured)\n\nPolice arrested the driver of the van, identified as Christopher Bouchard (left and right). Police didn't confirm if Bouchard intentionally caused the accident or whether he is the owner of the bike. However, he did post the bike on Instagram telling his followers that it had been stolen\n\n'The driver of the minivan spotted his bike and he attempted to obtain the dirt bike,' Suffolk Police Commissioner Timothy Sini told NBC.\n\nThe dirt bike was reported stolen in the Mastic Beach area around 7am, just three hours prior to the crash.\n\nAccording to the Suffolk County Police Department, the crash occurred on Montauk Highway around 10.15am, causing a highway closure for several hours.\n\nKing and Garriques were traveling in the westbound lanes when the minivan, which was traveling in the opposite direction, cut across and tried to block their path, according to the New York Post.\n\nWitnesses said the van slammed into the bike head-on, sending both men flying.\n\nWhen police arrived on scene, they found the dirt bike partially placed into the rear of the van.\n\nKing and Garriques were traveling in the westbound lanes when the minivan, which was traveling in the opposite direction, cut across and tried to block their path. Witnesses said the van slammed into the bike head-on, sending both men flying\n\nPolice arrested the driver of the van, who was identified as Christopher Bouchard. They also arrested another male passenger in the vehicle\n\nPolice arrested Bouchard and another male passenger in the vehicle.\n\nAuthorities didn't confirm if Bouchard intentionally caused the accident or whether he is the owner of the dirt bike.\n\nHowever, Bouchard did post a photo of the bike to his Instagram page telling his followers that it had been stolen.\n\nPolice later charged 27-year-old Bouchard with reckless endangerment."}
-{"text": "9 October 2014 | agnabeya\n\n10 | I don't know why.....\n\n?..........But I love this new series. It's not a laugh out loud comedy, but it makes me smile throughout and the half hour episode is finished far too quickly. It's a gentle comedy based on the lives of a metal detectorist club and the characters in that club. There is a mad farmer with imaginary dogs who gives the two main characters permission to scan his fields, except the paddock. No one is ever to go near the paddock! I wonder why? His wife did disappear many years ago, but I have a feeling that will have nothing to do with his aversion to paddock diggers. The characters have been written so well and the direction, also by McKenzie Crook, are intriguingly watchable. Mr Crook is a talented man and after only two episodes I know this will be a favourite with me."}
-{"text": "What if there were aliens but we are the most evolved ones\n\n219 shares"}
-{"text": "Os socialistas super-ricos da Venezuela aproveitam festas caras e comida gourmet enquanto boa parte da popula\u00e7\u00e3o \u00e9 obrigada a procurar comida no lixo, disputando comida com os c\u00e3es , gra\u00e7as ao colapso econ\u00f4mico criado pelo mesmo socialismo.\n\nNo Caracas Country Club, onde ser membro custa 383 mil reais por ano, mulheres ricas s\u00e3o vistas comendo banquetes de caviar e lagosta enquanto bebem champanhe e observam uma farta e colorida sele\u00e7\u00e3o de pudins.\n\nEnquanto isso, na favela de Petare, a alguns quil\u00f4metros dali, onde moram 370 mil venezuelanos, pessoas comuns buscam nas pilhas de lixo qualquer comida como folhas podres de repolho e restos f\u00e9tidos de carne.\n\n\u201cOs ricos daqui s\u00e3o ladr\u00f5es. Eles s\u00e3o empres\u00e1rios que se aliaram ao governo para roubar o dinheiro do pa\u00eds\u201d, disse Vanessa, que ganha 70 reais por m\u00eas como analista em uma empresa de eletr\u00f4nicos e tem que buscar comida no lixo para sobreviver. \u201cEles n\u00e3o querem que o socialismo acabe ou perderiam dinheiro. Ch\u00e1vez dizia que era um grande socialista, mas era igualmente rico. Ele era um hip\u00f3crita e um mentiroso. O legado que Ch\u00e1vez deixou foi o de pessoas como eu buscando comida no lixo\u201d, continuou.\n\nPor 20 anos, a economia venezuelana foi continuamente destru\u00edda pelo socialismo pregado por Ch\u00e1vez, quebrando o setor privado com estatiza\u00e7\u00f5es em massa e regulamenta\u00e7\u00e3o sufocante. Os pre\u00e7os eram controlados pelo estado \u2013 geralmente abaixo do custo de produ\u00e7\u00e3o \u2013 e era proibido dar benef\u00edcios aos funcion\u00e1rios. A gasolina era vendida por pre\u00e7os irris\u00f3rios e os pobres tinham comida e sa\u00fade \u201cgratuitas\u201d.\n\nNeste meio tempo, bilh\u00f5es de d\u00f3lares desapareceram do pa\u00eds por meio de membros do governo aliados a empres\u00e1rios corporativistas, o que levou a Venezuela a ser considerada pela Transpar\u00eancia Internacional um dos pa\u00edses mais corruptos do mundo.\n\nMesmo com todo o controle governamental, tendo as maiores reservas de petr\u00f3leo do mundo e uma chuva de petrod\u00f3lares entrando no pa\u00eds diariamente, o regime socialista continuou a avan\u00e7ar.\n\nEntretanto, com o fim da farra de pre\u00e7os altos do petr\u00f3leo, a utopia socialista mostrou sua verdadeira cara, a de criar um pa\u00eds falido. Nicol\u00e1s Maduro decretou est\u00e1gio de emerg\u00eancia em maio para governar sem autoriza\u00e7\u00e3o do Congresso e mais de 10 saques s\u00e3o registrados diariamente em lojas e supermercados pelo pa\u00eds. Maduro se recusa a sair do poder e tem atuado para prejudicar ao m\u00e1ximo os esfor\u00e7os da oposi\u00e7\u00e3o para retir\u00e1-lo do poder por meio de um referendo popular.\n\nEnquanto isso, na favela de Petare, uma m\u00e3e de tr\u00eas filhos, Maria, estava sentada em uma pilha de lixo procurando por comida: \u201cEu consigo mais comida aqui do que comprando com o nosso dinheiro. A nossa moeda n\u00e3o vale nada.\u201d\n\nA hiperinfla\u00e7\u00e3o, que j\u00e1 alcan\u00e7a 700% ao ano (e causada pela impress\u00e3o de dinheiro promovida pelo governo) destruiu a moeda venezuelana. A moeda de maior valor, a nota de 100 bol\u00edvares, vale no mercado \u201cnegro\u201d pouco mais de 20 centavos de real, jogando milh\u00f5es de pessoas na mis\u00e9ria. O governo n\u00e3o consegue sequer imprimir mais dinheiro.\n\n\u201cMeu marido est\u00e1 idoso e n\u00e3o ganhamos o suficiente para sobreviver\u201d, disse Maria. \u201cTenho que ficar horas em filas para conseguir comida e muitas vezes nada consigo. Se busco no lixo, pelo menos consigo algo\u201d.\n\nM\u00e3e de seis filhos, Carmen, de 39 anos, completa: \u201cEu n\u00e3o quero continuar procurando comida no lixo. Eu me sinto como se estivesse sufocando, como se n\u00e3o conseguisse respirar. Me sinto afogando. Mas meu marido est\u00e1 doente e temos fome\u201d. Seu filho de 12 anos, Julio, a ajuda a procurar comida no lixo depois de sair da escola.\n\nN\u00e3o \u00e9 apenas a comida que est\u00e1 em falta. No hospital El Algodonal em Ant\u00edmano, Dayana, 30 anos, m\u00e3e de uma crian\u00e7a de cinco meses (Anna-Gabriela), embala a filha asm\u00e1tica e com bronquite. A crian\u00e7a est\u00e1 internada h\u00e1 oito dias e n\u00e3o h\u00e1 rem\u00e9dios, comida ou mesmo papel higi\u00eanico no hospital.\n\n\u201cMeu beb\u00ea precisa de antibi\u00f3ticos e rem\u00e9dios para asma, mas j\u00e1 visitei 10 farm\u00e1cias e nenhuma delas tinha os rem\u00e9dios\u201d, disse Dayana. \u201cN\u00e3o consigo olhar para a minha beb\u00ea e ver que ela n\u00e3o consegue respirar. Quero faz\u00ea-la melhorar, mas n\u00e3o consigo o tratamento\u201d.\n\n\u00c9 um mundo completamente diferente do Country Club, onde gar\u00e7ons de branco servem coquet\u00e9is e canap\u00e9s enquanto homens praticam suas jogadas de golfe tendo como fundo o horizonte da destru\u00edda e pobre Caracas.\n\n\u201cN\u00e3o \u00e9 que n\u00e3o nos preocupamos com os mais pobres. Doamos dinheiro para a caridade\u201d, disse um dos jogadores de golfe. \u201cMas dever\u00edamos parar de nos divertir apenas por que o pa\u00eds est\u00e1 ardendo?\u201d\n\nO Club \u00e9 apenas um dos membros da rede de estabelecimentos exclusivos frequentados pela alta sociedade socialista da Venezuela. Pr\u00f3ximos ao Country Club est\u00e3o o Lagunita Country Club, com centro de hipismo e um audit\u00f3rio de \u00f3pera com membresia custando 215 mil reais; o Valle Ariba Golf Club, com membresia de 200 mil reais; e o Carenero Yacht Club, com marina para jet skis e iates, al\u00e9m de uma praia particular, cuja membresia custa 260 mil reais.\n\nOs governantes socialistas da Venezuela h\u00e1 muito discordam desses s\u00edmbolos \u201cdo capitalismo\u201d, amea\u00e7ando confiscar suas terras para construir moradias sociais.\n\nNos bastidores, entretanto, os socialistas e os boligarcas \u2013 chamados assim por terem ficado milion\u00e1rios gra\u00e7as \u00e0s suas conex\u00f5es com o regime socialista bolivariano \u2013 s\u00e3o como unha e carne.\n\nDiego Salazar, um empres\u00e1rio defensor do governo que foi denunciado em um esc\u00e2ndalo de corrup\u00e7\u00e3o no setor de petr\u00f3leo no ano passado, \u00e9 um membro do Country Club, Alejandro Andrade, ex-Ministro de Finan\u00e7as do governo Ch\u00e1vez que se tornou famoso por viajar em um jatinho privado que custa 30 milh\u00f5es de reais, \u00e9 um frequentador do clube.\n\nDentro do Country Club, o Penguin Bar oferece um ambiente ar-condicionado, cadeiras de couro, u\u00edsques e charutos caros, enquanto o restaurante, que vende garrafas vintage de champanhe, se orgulha de seu bife de salm\u00e3o defumado.\n\nEnquanto isso, as prateleiras dos supermercados do pa\u00eds est\u00e3o vazias, apesar (e gra\u00e7as) \u00e0 interven\u00e7\u00e3o estatal no setor de alimenta\u00e7\u00e3o. Alguns venezuelanos desesperados recorrem a trocas volunt\u00e1rias por meio do Facebook para obter comida, rem\u00e9dios e produtos de higiene.\n\nOs socialistas ricos obt\u00e9m seus caros alimentos por meio do \u201cmercado negro\u201d, onde a escassez de alimentos fez os pre\u00e7os subirem. Os vendedores desse mercado, conhecidos como formigas, ou \u201cBachaqueros\u201d \u2013 por causa da quantidade de carga que carregam em suas costas \u2013 compram esses e outros produtos na Col\u00f4mbia, revendendo-os na Venezuela. Uma estimativa mostra que um em cada quatro venezuelanos obtinha comida dessa forma antes da fronteira entre os dois pa\u00edses come\u00e7ar a ser aberta aos finais de semana.\n\nFora de Caracas, a falta de produtos \u00e9 ainda mais cr\u00edtica. No supermercado de Excelsior Gama, ao norte da capital, milhares de pessoas discutiam e ficavam impacientes numa desorganizada fila enquanto soldados armados com metralhadoras tentavam manter a paz. Muitos esperavam nas filas desde as 4 da manh\u00e3, na esperan\u00e7a de conseguir um litro de \u00f3leo de cozinha e um quilo de macarr\u00e3o por fam\u00edlia.\n\n\u201cEstamos em uma dieta for\u00e7ada. Todos perderam peso\u201d, disse Carlos Acuna, 56 anos, um guarda de seguran\u00e7a e pai de seis filhos. \u201cTivemos uma revolu\u00e7\u00e3o socialista e esses s\u00e3o os resultados. Essa \u00e9 a dieta da revolu\u00e7\u00e3o.\u201d\n\nNa cidade rural de Tacarigua de Mamporal, um c\u00e3o Weimaraner foi encontrado amarrado em uma \u00e1rvore, morrendo de fome.\n\nCarlos de Parra, 39 anos, e sua mulher Yoraima, 34 anos, t\u00eam sete filhos com idades entre 6 e 17 anos. Ele trabalha como faxineiro enquanto ela vende comida nas ruas, mas gra\u00e7as \u00e0 infla\u00e7\u00e3o criada pela atua\u00e7\u00e3o do estado, eles ganham apenas 9 reais por semana. Vivendo sem eletricidade e \u00e1gua encanada, a fam\u00edlia tem t\u00e3o pouco para comer que est\u00e3o come\u00e7ando a morrer de fome.\n\nNo arm\u00e1rio da cozinha havia apenas um pacote de sal. Na geladeira, apenas umas poucas limas com bolor e um bolo de massa, do tamanho de uma m\u00e3o. Era esse o almo\u00e7o para o casal e os sete filhos.\n\n\u201cEu planto milho, feij\u00e3o e inhame, mas n\u00e3o \u00e9 o suficiente para n\u00f3s, e os vermes est\u00e3o comendo as plantas\u201d, disse Carlos. \u201cN\u00e3o tenho dinheiro para pesticidas ou fertilizantes. Na \u00faltima semana fiquei horas na fila de uma loja, e no final sa\u00ed com nada. Nunca tive que lutar tanto por comida\u201d.\n\nNa \u00faltima semana, ladr\u00f5es armados invadiram a casa de Carlos e Yoraima, roubando a m\u00e1quina de lavar. Na semana anterior, a pol\u00edcia confiscou o rifle que ele utilizava para ca\u00e7ar cervos e alimentar sua fam\u00edlia.\n\n\u201c\u00c9 dif\u00edcil explicar como me sinto. N\u00e3o consigo encontrar as palavras. H\u00e1 tantas coisas que precisamos e n\u00e3o podemos encontrar. Todo venezuelano est\u00e1 bravo\u201d, disse Carlos.\n\nO colapso econ\u00f4mico trouxe tamb\u00e9m um grande aumento na criminalidade. A taxa de homic\u00eddios em Caracas se tornou a maior do mundo, tornando a cidade a mais perigosa do mundo. A pol\u00edtica de Ch\u00e1vez que criou mil\u00edcias armas civis e \u201ccoletivos\u201d para defender a revolu\u00e7\u00e3o socialista deixou as armas nas m\u00e3os daqueles que ignoram as leis, enquanto os cidad\u00e3os foram desarmados.\n\nO povo vive com medo constante de ser assaltado ou sequestrado, e muitos membros da classe m\u00e9dia que restou est\u00e3o fugindo para a Col\u00f4mbia ou Estados Unidos. Mesmo os mais fan\u00e1ticos apoiadores do governo \u2013 os chamados \u201cchavistas\u201d \u2013 est\u00e3o come\u00e7ando a duvidar do regime.\n\nMarlene Gaspar, 44 anos, atua como seguran\u00e7a em um hospital e atua na mil\u00edcia que ajuda o governo a manter a ordem nas filas de comida. Mas ela est\u00e1 t\u00e3o fraca por causa da fome, que n\u00e3o comparece mais aos treinamentos paramilitares semanais.\n\n\u201cEu costumava estar acima do peso, mas agora estou magra\u201d, disse. \u201cMuitas vezes deixo de comer para dar comida aos meus filhos. Ch\u00e1vez supostamente iria mudar as coisas, mas n\u00e3o o fez. Pelo contr\u00e1rio: os ricos t\u00eam muito dinheiro e belos carros, enquanto todos os demais est\u00e3o morrendo de fome. Meu cora\u00e7\u00e3o est\u00e1 pesado. Fui engada. O sonho socialista \u00e9 uma farsa\u201d.\n\nTradu\u00e7\u00e3o: Marcelo Faria"}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\nSurf exploration, the unparalleled experience of dedicating a period of your life solely to surfing. Your only objectives \u2013 finding and surfing waves. Skin and hair become stained by salt and sun, and all of those mundane distractions like emails and Facebook are forgotten. Those who go on surf trips return to tell envy-inducing stories of searching for waves by coffee-stained sailor's maps, scoring perfect empty barrels for hours on end, and bumping into Kepa Acero in the Namibian desert for a couple of cold ones.\n\n\u00a9 2020 - www.eatsleepsurf.com.au\n\nBut galavanting across the world in a self-serving mission to score waves isn't exactly the most environmentally conscious act. We're not pointing fingers, but it seems rather hypocritical for a group of people whose lifestyle is supposedly dependent on preserving what mother nature has given us. Many do consider their carbon footprint, and taking those long-haul flights to Madagascar, or driving from Norway to Morocco in your gas-guzzling Skoda certainly aren't the most environmentally friendly ways to travel. Everyone's favourite Irishman, Fergal Smith recently pledged not to step on a plane in the name of environment preservation. That being said, there are viable options for those who wish to go on surf trips and yet keep their carbon footprint down. One of these options is the bicycle, a nifty little invention, faster than walking but powered by human labour rather than gas.\n\nMeet Australian bodyboarders Rian Cope and Dylan Brayshaw from Eat.Sleep.Surf. Two travel-hungry surfers who decided to embrace life on two wheels. After a 2800km trip over 3.5 months around the Islands of Sumatra, Similue, Nias, Asu, Mentawai, Java and Bali, the two are now planning a similar venture in Taiwan. This time they have the backing of the Nautical channel who are producing two 45 minute episodes on their adventure. We caught up with Dylan to put the pros and cons of surf travel by bike on the table.\n\nRian Cope and Dylan Brayshaw \u00a9 2020 - www.eatsleepsurf.com.au\n\nWhat brought you to the decision of a cycling surf trip rather than following conventional means of travel?\n\nI basically wanted a physical challenge, and to do something that no one had done before. And cycling the length of Sumatra, Java and Bali was it. But what I found was that by using the bicycle, I got a whole lot more out of the travel experience. I didn't want to go on an organised surf tour, I wanted to discover waves for myself.\n\nHow much preparation was needed for your trip? But what I found was that by using the bicycle, I got a whole lot more out of the travel experience. I didn't want to go on an organised surf tour, I wanted to discover waves for myself.\n\nI went with a good friend of mine, Rian, who I still travel with, and we did about 1 year of preparation for the Indonesia trip. We had no idea what we were doing, so we researched equipment, did a few overnight cycle/camping trips, planned routes and then we had to figure out how to carry our bodyboards on the bicycles.\n\nWhat advantages did cycling provide you with?\n\nThe major advantage of cycling is being able to slow down your travel experience, what would take 1 hour by car takes one entire day to cycle. So as you might guess you need to have a lot of time on your hands to really have a full experience. As you pedal through a country you are completely involved in the experience, you can smell all the unique smells, you feel the terrain and weather and you feel the wind. A cyclist's best friend or worst nightmare. But the best thing about using a bicycle is that you interact with people you normally wouldn't, being on the bike you are very approachable by strangers and sometimes they would offer you a place to stay for the night.\n\n\u00a9 2020 - www.eatsleepsurf.com.au\n\nHow did you bodies adjust, cycling in that heat?\n\nThe fitness side of things is great, once your body is in tune with the bike and cycling 3-8 hours per day, which can take 1-2 weeks of riding to get to this level. You find your surf fitness will improve and you will start to eat a lot of food. You get very hungry with all the calories you burn, so you can eat anything and it will taste awesome. As you pedal through a country you are completely involved in the experience, you can smell all the unique smells, you feel the terrain and weather and you feel the wind, a cyclists best friend or worst nightmare.\n\nI guess you're pretty vulnerable to things going wrong when you're travelling by bike, what issues did you have to overcome?\n\nThings that went wrong include, bicycle breakdowns, sliced tyres, dehydration and of course Bali-belly or bad food poisoning. You have to have the right attitude to ride your bike long distances, and it will teach you to problem solve because it never goes to plan. Its not all amazing travel, often you're on a busy road and you don't even feel like riding, but you just have to push on because you will always find an amazing place in the end.\n\nYou can find the documentary the guys made on their blog eat.sleep.surf and watch the trailer above."}
-{"text": "Coming up: I\u2019m tabling at Flame-Con in Brooklyn. Come by for some EXCLUSIVE convention materials\u2026 In the meantime, enjoy this. Or don\u2019t.\n\n\n\nJean & Scott, Episode 11 by Max Wittert\n\n(T: TallBlondNRich / IG: Max Wittert)\n\nSee previous episodes:\n\nEpisode 1\n\nEpisode 2\n\nEpisode 3\n\nEpisode 4\n\nEpisode 5\n\nEpisode 6\n\nEpisode 7\n\nEpisode 8\n\nEpisode 9\n\nEpisode 10\n\n"}
-{"text": "Photo: Credit\n\nHundreds of thousands of Argentinian people stand in the streets of the country\u2019s capital to await the results of the Senate vote to decide whether abortion will be decriminalized in the country.\n\nSupporters of decriminalization wear green, and carry signs that read \u201cLegal Abortion Now\u201d and \u201cLet It Be Law.\u201d The vote comes after years of protesting and pressure from feminist organizations, demanding free, legal, and safe abortions.\n\nAll around the world, people gathered in support of decriminalization. Crowds in Berlin, Rome, Dublin, Melbourne, Rio De Janeiro, and other cities also donned green in solidarity, calling on Argentine lawmakers to vote to create a law that will decriminalize abortion, and provide safe and legal access to anyone who decides to have one.\n\nSolidarity with Argentina this evening from Dublin #AbortoLegalYa pic.twitter.com/NYFvnm08qD \u2014 Sadhbh Byrne Ryan (@Sadhbh23) August 8, 2018\n\n#AbortoLegalYa at the Spire in Dublin this evening. \ud83d\udcaa\ud83d\udcaa\ud83d\udcaa pic.twitter.com/BU0RNwX1fS \u2014 Ruth Brennan (@ruth_brennan) August 8, 2018"}
-{"text": "This article originally appeared on AlterNet . This article has been corrected since it first published.\n\n1. Pat Robertson: Voice of reason?\n\nTruly, we must have entered the end times. The day after creationist Ken Ham denied reality for several hours in a \u201cdebate\u201d with Bill Nye about evolution and the age of the earth, Pat Robertson implored Ham to shut-up, because he\u2019s making fundamentalist Christians look stupid. It appears that Pat Robertson has allowed his brain to be corrupted by a little bit of science. Now his head might explode.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nThere is just no way the earth could be 6,000 years old as Ham and the Young Earth Creationists hold, Robertson said. \u201cThere ain\u2019t no way that\u2019s possible. . . To say that it all came about in 6,000 years is just nonsense and I think it\u2019s time we come off of that stuff and say this isn\u2019t possible.\u201d He later referred to geological formations, a very sciencey sounding term not found in the Bible, and begged Ham not to \u201cmake a joke of ourselves.\u201d\n\nLest you think the world has gone mad, Robertson still said evolution is wrong.\n\nWhew!\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nSee more here.\n\n2. Victoria Jackson, insane former SNL-er running for public office.\n\nOh, joy. A sober and thoughtful candidate is running for office in Tennessee. That would be Victoria Jackson, who has run away with the prize of SNL alum who turned out to be the most flat-out bonkers of all SNL alums. And that is a distinction. Other competitors include Dennis Miller, who turned out to be a right-wing a*hole, and Jon Lovitz who loudly scoffed at Obama\u2019s plan to tax the rich, and asked who declared him \u201cking.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nBut Jackson, who first gained fame for reciting poetry upside down on SNL, and has since become a noted Tea Party activist, has now, praise the lord, declared her candidacy for a seat on a county commission in the state to which she fled from liberal New York City. Among her platforms: Islamophobia\u2014well she doesn\u2019t call it that, she merely says all \u201cIslamic Centers are ultimately terrorist training camps;\u201d hating liberals\u2014because they embrace Shariah law and wife beheadings; climate denialism, and a general antipathy towards cities, because . . . umm, they concentrate people, and that saves energy.\n\nToonces the Cat, her former co-star, is said to be on board as campaign manager.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\n3. Ben Shapiro: Liberalism killed Philip Seymour Hoffman.\n\nThe terrible disease of addiction and a potentially lethal batch of heroin emerged as the leading theories of what killed actor Philip Seymour Hoffman last weekend.\n\nBut there is something far more insidious going on, as it turns out. And thank goodness conservative thought leader Ben Shapiro shared his deep thoughts on the tragedy, by helpfully pointing the blame where it really belongs. It\u2019s those damn liberals again. They\u2019re killing everybody.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\n\u201c\u2026his self-inflicted death is yet another hallmark of the broken leftist culture that dominates Hollywood, enabling rather than preventing the loss of some of its greatest talents,\u201d Shapiro wrote in the National Review.\n\nThe math, or the logic, goes something like this. Hoffman was a liberal. He died of a drug overdose. Therefore, liberalism causes drug abuse and death. Liberalism quickly devolves into \u201clibertinism\u201d and a \u201cpenchant for sin,\u201d Shapiro argued. No one in Hollywood has any spirituality, principles or standards.\n\nExcept maybe the scientologists. We\u2019re not sure where they fit in with Shapiro\u2019s cosmology.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\n4. Michele Bachmann: Stop the tide of immigrants who are not conservative Republicans.\n\nNewsflash: Michele Bachmann is saying some crazy shit again. This time she claimed that the Soviet Union (earth to Michele, the Soviet Union is no more) is stealing our innermost secrets via Obamacare, because \u201cBelarus may have one of the subcontracting contracts to build the Obamacare website,\u201d she said in an interview on KTTH. They may or they may not, but anyway, be worried.\n\nAlso, she has special insight into why immigrants don\u2019t like Republicans. It\u2019s because Republicans love patriotism and the Constitution\u2014and immigrants don\u2019t. So, it has nothing to do with Republicans wanting to, say, build fences along the border with Mexico, patrol with drones, arm border patrol officers to the hilt, say things like immigrants have \u201ccantaloupe calves\u201d because they\u2019re all actually drug mules, or advocate mass detainment and deportations. Nope, Republican racism has nothing to do with it.\n\nAnd speaking of racism, she cited some interesting statistics\u2014and by cited we mean she just said them. \u201cIf you look at Hispanics today, 77 percent respond that they believe in big government and like big government. Fifty-five percent of Asians say they believe in big government, they like big government.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nThey love it. Especially when it detains and deports them without cause and builds huge walls along the border.\n\n5. Richard Cohen lectures Justin Bieber about pot, because it was cool when Richard Cohen smoked it, but not anymore.\n\nWe\u2019re sure we can all agree that columnist Richard Cohen is the arbiter of cool. That\u2019s right, the guy who wrote that the Mayor of New York\u2019s mixed-race family made people throw up is just the heppest of all cats. So when he pronounced both Justin Bieber and the singer\u2019s raging pot habit \u201cuncool\u201d this week, well, the shockwaves in the stoner community were palpable.\n\nTo support this claim, Cohen cited an article in the New York Review of Books by Harvard Medical School\u2019s Jerome Groopman. This is because Richard Cohen is super smart and reads long articles like that. Of course, he also distorts them. Cohen warns against the dreaded \u201ccannabis use disorder\u201d which \u201ccan be particularly pernicious when it comes to young people. It has a big effect on their little brains.\u201d This dreaded disorder is listed in the new fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), so it must be terrible. Other things listed in the DSM-5 include \u201ccaffeine intoxication\u201d (\u201cRestlessness, nervousness, excitement, red face, gastrointestinal upset, muscle twitching, rambling speech, sleeplessness, rapid and irregular heartbeat\u201d) and \u201ccaffeine withdrawal\u201d (\u201cheadache, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, depressed mood and other issues\u201d).\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nIn other words, the DSM contains a lot of conditions.\n\nNow Richard Cohen admits that he smoked pot as a youth (and somehow avoided \u201ccannabis youth disorder.\u201d) But when Cohen smoked weed, it was different.\n\n\u201cI was of the generation for which it was a rite of passage, apiece with sexual freedom and, much more importantly, civil rights and the anti-war movement. Old fogies warned about pot, J. Edgar Hoover hated it and Richard Nixon made war against \u2014 three good reasons right there to have a toke,\u201d he wrote. No irony detected.\n\nNo old fogies around here. Least of all Richard Cohen.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\n6. AOL CEO Tim Armstrong blames sick babies of two employees for cuts to 401K plan.\n\nAOL head honcho Tim Armstrong loves conference calls. Last year, he famously fired someone on a conference call. In a more recent conference call, he announced to everyone that two sick babies had driven up healthcare costs and so the company would no longer be able to contribute matching funds to 401K plans. Don\u2019t blame me, the inference was, blame those new moms.\n\n\u201cWe had two AOL-ers that had distressed babies that were born that we paid a million dollars each to make sure those babies were OK in general,\u201d Armstrong said on a conference call that was first reported by Capital New York. \u201cAnd those are the things that add up into our benefits cost. So when we had the final decision about what benefits to cut because of the increased healthcare costs, we made the decision, and I made the decision, to basically change the 401(k) plan.\u201d\n\nBeyond being remarkably divisive and insensitive, it\u2019s a dubious claim according to health care experts ThinkProgress contacted. A large self-insured company with more than 5,000 employeescan easily absorb the additional health care costs associated with problematic pregnancies, because large employers typically buy reinsurance to cover large claims.\n\nObamacare, the catch-all scapegoat, is also to blame even though this happened before Obamacare. But never mind.\n\nAnd don\u2019t worry about Armstrong\u2019s $12.1 million compensation. That\u2019s safe. We\u2019re sure he\u2019ll let us know, probably in a conference call, if he decides his salary needs any trimming.\n\nFull story:\n\nAnd here.\n\n7. Bryan Fischer wants homosexuality outlawed because of his deep love for black males.\n\nBryan Fischer honored National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, this week on his radio program. His conclusion, after reading from a CDC fact sheet that \"blacks make up only 12% of the U.S. population but had nearly half (44%) of all new HIV infections in the United States in 2010,\" is that homosexuality must be outlawed.\n\nIf you think differently, you are the hater, not him. Or, as he ranted,\n\n\u201cYou have no compassion in your black heart for black males because they're being decimated by HIV/AIDS ... So why am I opposed to the normalization of homosexual behavior? Because I love black males. I want black males to live long, prosperous, healthy, disease-free lives.\"\n\nFeel the love black males? (Not you gay ones, the other ones.)\n\n8. Fox Guest MeMe Roth fat-shames the idea of a plus-size Disney princess.\n\nFirst we should probably introduce the relatively unknown MeMe Roth, who is trying to make a career out of fat-shaming anyone over about size 5 with her website National Action Against Obesity website and personal blog which carries the tag-line \u201c MeMe Roth: Reporting From FATOPOLIS.\u201d In the past, she has compared obese people to sex criminals and advocated for nutrition plans that resemble anorexia. And she has done so despite not appearing to have any degrees or training that would lend her an iota credibility on nutritional topics.\n\nJust the sort of dubiously-qualified, opinionated loudmouth Fox News loves to give a platform. This week, Roth was invited to discuss a petition asking Disney to have a plus-size princess, one that might make little girls who don\u2019t conform to Disney-princess, or Barbie- body standards, feel better about themselves and more included.\n\nThis would be a disaster of epic proportions, Roth told Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Such a Disney princess would \u201cglorify obesity.\u201d She is pretty sure the petition comes from fat people, who are diabolically plotting to make us all fat. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to do a storyline with obesity, then you need to do Princess Diabetes, Princess Cancer, Princess Fertility Problems,\u201d she spewed.\n\nOK, now we are going to go throw up.\n\n9. Republican official says Satan\u2019s gays should be purged from GOP.\n\nAnother day, another enlightened person seeking to pick up the mantle of the GOP. This time, it\u2019s a new candidate for a Michigan seat on the Republican National Committee. Her name is Mary Helen Sears and she has a modest proposal: that gays be \"purged\" from the GOP because homosexuality is a \"perversion\" created by Satan himself.\n\nIn a post on a Schoolcraft County Republican website last April, Sears laid out her view that homosexuals prey on children, and \"Satan uses homosexuality to attack the living space of the Holy Spirit.\" Republicans \"as a party should be purging this perversion and send them to a party with a much bigger tent.\"\n\nSome of her other views include the fear that Communist college professors are indoctrinating young people, and Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory \"gave rise to Hitler\u2019s Third Reich, Mussolini\u2019s Italy and Stalin\u2019s Russia.\"\n\nSo, calm, cool and intellectually collected. Just the sort of leadership needed for the new more inclusive GOP.\n\nSatan will just have to switch parties.\n\n10. Restaurateur brags about refusing to serve \u201cfreaks,\u201d and \u201cf****ts,\u201d also Muslims, blacks and people with metal in their face.\n\nMs. Sears (above) would probably feel right at home at an Oklahoma restaurant where the owner says he doesn't want to serve gay people.\n\nAccording to the Huffington Post:\n\n\"I really don't want gays around,\" Gary's Chicaros Club owner Gary James told NBC affiliate KFOR-TV after a reporter asked him about several comments accusing the restaurant of discrimination. \"Any man that would compromise his body would compromise anything. \"I've been in business 44 years. I think I can spot a freak or a f****t,\" James told the news station.\n\nOther things James really does not like: people who wear hats inside, \u201cgirlie men,\u201d \u201cmen with all kinds of metal in their face.\u201d Wait, so are braces out? We should also throw in the fact that James hates blacks, Muslims, and Democrats.\n\nSadly, while those latter groups are legally protected from discrimination, refusing to serve a gay customer appears to be legal in Oklahoma.\n\nTo the patrons of Gary\u2019s Chicaros Club: Side of hate sauce with that taco?"}
-{"text": "Inside the ghost villages you can buy for \u00a350,000: Thousands of abandoned Spanish hamlets for sale at less than half the price of a London garage\n\nEntire Spanish villages on sale for as little as \u00a350,000 - \u00a3200,000 less than the average UK home\n\nBuyers get a three-bedroom main house, five other buildings, a fresh-water spring, and 140,000sqft of farmland\n\nOne village with six houses and 32,000sqft of land costs \u00a375,000, the same as a Battersea parking space\n\nAccording to an estate agent there are around 2,900 deserted villages in rural Spain\n\n\n\nClusters of houses were left abandoned after families fled the countryside during Spain's recession\n\n\n\n\nRotting and abandoned, these ghostly Spanish villages were deserted during the recession as their owners fled the country to find jobs in the city.\n\nBut now they are being snapped up by foreigners, a third of them British, for knock-down prices and turned into idyllic retirement properties.\n\nFor just \u00a375,000 an adventurous investor can snap up the village of Ribeira Sacra along with six houses, a warehouse, and 32,000sqft of land - the same price as a parking space in Battersea or a two-bedroom bungalow in Bognor Regis.\n\nThe kitchen of one of four empty homes in an abandoned village close to Ortiguiera\n\nHaunting: Hay bales rot in their lofts, highlighting how the properties were abandoned\n\nThe bedroom of one of the properties in the village close to Ortiguiera. Buyers will also get three barns and a cattle shed\n\nThe village of Barrerios, near Pontevena is just one of 2,900 villages which lie abandoned in rural Spain and are being sold off for knock-down prices According to an estate agent there are around 2,900 deserted villages in rural Spain\n\nSimilar villages in the same region are being sold for as little as \u00a350,000 which includes a three-bedroom main house along with five other buildings\n\nAt \u00a350,000 the whole village costs \u00a3200,000 less than the average house in the UK, and \u00a3350,000 less than the average flat in London\n\nAnother village is being sold online for \u00a375,000, the same price as a parking garage in Battersea or a two-bedroom bungalow in Bognor Regis\n\nThese pictures show the village of Pena Vella, near Pontenova, one of many similar clusters of homes that are now being sold.\n\nA similar village in the same area is being sold for just \u00a350,000 and comes with a three-bedroom main house, five other buildings, a fresh-water spring, and 140,000sqft of farmland.\n\n\n\nAccording to estate agent Rafael Canales there are around 2,900 empty villages in rural Spain, the majority of which are bought by middle-class couples in their 50s or 60s looking for somewhere quiet for their retirement.\n\nThe semi-abandoned village has a watermill and is situated in 20,000m of land\n\nFallen silent: Abandoned millstones sit among the rotting wooden machinery\n\nDerelict: Many of the properties need extensive work to be made habitable, although some properties are in better shape than others\n\nSpain was one of the worst-affected countries in the global recession, with unemployment surging 20 per cent\n\nAccording to an estate agent there are around 2,900 deserted villages in rural Spain\n\nCrumbling: Although the structures may be crumbling, the countryside setting is idyllic\n\nThis village is described as 'an absolutely lovely natural place with much wild life, deer, trout in the streams'\n\nFamilies who fled the villages for the town see returning home as a step backward\n\nTake the example of British father-of-two Neil Christie who bought the hamlet of Arrunada in an idyllic corner of rural north west Spain.\n\nEven after he has totally renovated the four dilapidated properties, he expects to have spent no more than \u00a3140,000 on the project.\n\nHe and his wife have moved from their former home in Cumbria and are now staying in a nearby village where Mrs Christie works as a schoolteacher, while Mr Christie spends his time renovating their future home.\n\n\n\nBritish pensioner Neil Christie bought a village last year and expects to spend just \u00a3140,000 renovating it for him and his wife to live in during their retirement\n\nThe villages, some of which have been owned by the same families for generations, were abandoned during the financial crash as they headed to cities to find work\n\nA map shows the extent of the abandoned properties across rural Spain which are being snapped up for knock-down prices, 8 per cent of which go to foreign investors\n\nEven the most expensive village on his books, Ribadero, will set the buyers back just \u00a3372,000, roughly \u00a325,000 less than the average London flat.\n\n\n\nSpain was one of the worst-affected countries in the recession, with unemployment surging 20 per cent in the aftermath of the crash, and today more than 5million people are still without a job.\n\nMr Canales added that families who fled to larger towns in order to earn money are often loath to return to the country because it is viewed as taking a step backwards.\n\nPicturesque: Many of the homes boast rustic period features An abandoned village on the Costa de La Muerte ('Coast of Death'). The region received its ominous name because there have been so many shipwrecks along its treacherous rocky shore The Costa de La Muerte property has four houses, barns, threshing areas and water and electricity Scenic: The view from the the Costa de La Muerte property\n\nSpain's economy was one of Europe's worst-hit during the financial crash as unemployment surged 20 per cent. Even today more than 5million people are without jobs\n\nThe abandoned homes are being sold now because the families cannot pay the upkeep or know they will never be able to afford to return\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "It's the end of the year, so it's time for those arbitrary yet popular \"lists\" by popular magazines and news outlets. PC World is no different and they just put theirs up.\n\nAs you can guess from the headline, Windows Phone landed a spot in their top 10 list of \"tech wins\" for the year, specifically the 9th slide--it's not clear that they organized them in any order, so that's good. Other mentions were the Kinect, Siri, Google Chrome, Samsung's Galaxy series and IBM's Watson.\n\nDo these lists matter? Yeah, actually they kind of do. We take our devices for granted a bit around here but lets look at the audience for these periodicals--fact is, any positive word of mouth is great for the platform. So we're more than pleased to see Microsoft making the cut (twice, in fact) and we hope it piques some interest in 2012.\n\nSource: PC World; Thanks, D-Burrs, for the tip!"}
-{"text": "Image 1 of 3 Stage winner Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma Quick Step) (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 2 of 3 Heinrich Haussler (IAM Cycling) (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 3 of 3 Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack Leopard) (Image credit: Sirotti)\n\nAfter making a raft of signings in the cycling transfer market IAM Cycling founder Michel Th\u00e9taz has outlined his team\u2019s goals for 2014 with the Tour de France firmly on his radar.\n\nThe Pro Contintenal squad bolstered its ranks for next season with Sylvain Chavanel, Mathias Frank, Roger Kluge, J\u00e9r\u00f4me Pineau and Vicente Reynes all linking up for 2014. Th\u00e9taz is expecting that the new recruits will add considerable firepower to the team in both the Classics and stage races.\n\n\u201cI think it\u2019s a big step for the team and should lead to success for next season. As we\u2019ve said all year we\u2019ve been trying to set up a successful team but one has to admit that we didn\u2019t have a lot of big wins this year. We were in a lot of breaks, won a few stages and wore some jerseys but we didn\u2019t win a Classics or anything at the Tour de Suisse or Romandie. It has been difficult to make a big impressions without the big wins,\u201d Th\u00e9taz told Cyclingnews.\n\nThe team has recorded ten individual wins so far this season (three of which came through national championships) but they have been lacking in the biggest one day races. Heinrich Haussler led the line in the spring and managed to pick up fourth in Gent-Wevelgem and sixth in Flanders. Th\u00e9taz is hoping that with more support the Australian can return from his current injury and go even further in the future.\n\n\u201cWe knew pretty early on that someone like Haussler needed more help so that he could be with the best riders towards the end of some races. Something was missing in terms of leading him out into the finales, so that\u2019s why we\u2019ve been busy hiring certain riders.\u201d\n\nHowever, the team will not just target one day races. Signing Frank can be seen as a major coup for the team. The 26-year-old has enjoyed a breakthrough season with fourth overall in the Tour of California, a spell in the leader\u2019s jersey and fifth overall in the Tour de Suisse and second in the US Pro Cycling Challenge. Th\u00e9taz believes that with Frank on board, the team has improved their chances of riding in two of the three Grand Tours. Frank has few results in three week races, often having worked for others, but he will improve the team's current attack of Johann Tschopp and Thomas L\u00f6vkvist.\n\n\u201cWe also want to do something in the Tours. In the Classics I think we\u2019re very well equipped and we\u2019ll do our best but we\u2019re very interested in riding the Tour de France and maybe the Giro next year too, so we needed some more leaders. One shouldn\u2019t underestimate someone who has great potential in Frank. He\u2019s coming from BMC and he\u2019s had few big wins this year. He also led the Tour de Suisse for a few days. He didn\u2019t get the credit he deserved, but he\u2019s 26 and he can potentially lead us in the Tour,\u201d Th\u00e9taz told Cyclingnews.\n\nHowever the signing of Chavanel could realistically turn out to be the team\u2019s golden ticket to the Tour. The experienced Frenchman has led the race \u2013 twice in 2010 \u2013 and ridden in every edition since 2001. His popularity at home, coupled with his pedigree, will greatly improve IAM Cycling\u2019s chances of an invite from ASO when compared to their slim chances from this year.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s a great guy and he can do a lot of things and actually he the best French rider. We had the opportunity to talk to him and he was very interested right from the beginning and that made massive difference and everyone in the team is excited by his arrival.\u201d\n\nCancellara\n\nOne rider that Th\u00e9taz hasn\u2019t signed for 2014 is Fabian Cancellara, with the Classics star heading to the new Trek WorldTour team. The two parties had been in discussions but Th\u00e9taz admitted that integrating the Swiss rider had been too much of a challenge.\n\n\u201cThis year has been very different from the first year. Last year it was quite a bit of work trying to convince riders to come to the team and we were starting from scratch. This year, you wouldn\u2019t believe it but we\u2019ve been approached by some great riders. With this team we can do great things,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cWhen you go and talk to some of the big leaders who are interested in coming they say they want to come with five or six guys when you talk about their trainer, their coach, for example. For us, that\u2019s not a good way to do it because it would destroy the culture of the team.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe talked with Fabian and his manager. It would have certainly have been a nice thing to do and right from the beginning he had requirements that I can understand. He\u2019s a great rider but we\u2019re not even a WorldTour team so to meet those requirements, it was too big a challenge.\u201d\n\nProContinental trumps WorldTour\n\nTh\u00e9taz also ruled out the team\u2019s desire to break into the WorldTour for next year. With Vacansoleil set to fold and some uncertainties still surrounding Fernando Alonso\u2019s plans for Euskaltel, one possible slot within the team rankings could have opened up, even with Katusha making the top 18 squads.\n\n\u201cAll the races we want to do are in Europe and with the team we have I\u2019m confident that we\u2019ll get the invitations that we want. So why should we be a WorldTour team? At this stage there\u2019s no reason to be in that position. In our first year we were invited to all the classics, the only ProContinental team to have that.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow heading into our second year with the new guys like Chavanel, we have a great influence in France. If we have an impressive to start to the year, from Paris-Nice onwards I think the selectors for the major races will look closely at our team.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Producer: Galimatias\n\nA friend compared this record to a Tampax commercial, which is fair if you don't think of it as a criticism. It starts out like a Chillout Lounge 2015 CD\u2014you know the ones, with an airbrushed Barbie cartoon on the front cover surrounded by puffy clouds\u2014but then the rhythm kicks in and you realize you're underneath the palm trees too, which isn't a bad way to be. Something about the record's quirky, glitchy cod-reggae feel is reminiscent of songs like D.R.A.M.'s \u201cCha Cha\u201d or some of the more experimental work from Chance the Rapper. It's a gauzily dreamy kind of escapism, ideal music for envisioning a sunny vacation on a frigid January day."}
-{"text": "Disclaimer: This site contains Amazon affiliate links.\n\nI consider myself a young to middle-aged role-player, only getting into tabletop RPGs in 2009 and LARP in early 2015. However, that only matters to people who aren\u2019t new players. To newbies, I\u2019m an old fart. Today, I want to talk about how we as older players can keep new players coming back.\n\nI won\u2019t be pulling any punches here. If you feel called out, you have been called out. I don\u2019t hate you. I\u2019m guilty of some of these things too. I am here to help you accept and change, before your game dies to people simply walking away.\n\nCold Hard Facts Some Intuitive Statements on Games and New Players\n\nAll players gradually quit games for life reasons of varying degrees. A game cannot exist without players. To clarify: You don\u2019t need high attendance, you need steady attendance. If you can\u2019t keep your new players interested, your game dies. Your fun ends. Your role-play genre of choice disappears in your local area. It\u2019s tough titties for you, unless you do something about it.\n\nMany new players have little idea what they are doing their first time at a new game. Swallow this fact right now. It\u2019s your main block to making them feel included. Most new players are aware of this and want to learn. They also tend to be extremely self-conscious of this, and it makes them nervous. Combine that with the social troubles many of us nerds deal with, and you have a precarious retention situation form the start.\n\nNew players leave because they don\u2019t feel like they matter, they feel ignored, and they feel excluded. Do you have to do this 24/7? At every game you attend? To every single new player? That would be exhausting. Just do what you can. Making one person\u2019s day, hour, or moment is all it takes.\n\nThe Experience Conundrum for New Players\n\nMost LARPs and similar role-playing games out there have a system in which your character becomes more powerful as time passes, via experience. Whether it\u2019s called XP, skill points, build, or something else, it\u2019s one of the steady incentives you receive as a player that keeps you wanting to play. The cooler your character becomes, the more motivated you are to show up and portray them.\n\nIn games like this (the vast majority), older characters and their players have a distinct mechanical advantage over newer ones. This knowledge is a major contributor to many bad player habits. Numbers don\u2019t lie, and we know this. We need to improve how we incorporate this information into our role-play with newer players.\n\nBad Player Habits and Corrections\n\nPhoto by ian dooley on Unsplash\n\nBad habits can be found in any player. As older players, we hold a heavier duty to watch ourselves and others for these habits and address them in a healthy way. Many of the corrections we touch on here involve out-of-character interaction. It is essential to separate the character from the player, so our box-loving brain doesn\u2019t attach hard feelings to real people. You can also apply any of this advice to any player, not just new ones.\n\nPlot Hoarding\n\nNo one likes a plot hog. For the love of the gods, share the plot. This doesn\u2019t even have an experience discrepancy excuse to fall back on. Just include other people in interacting with the plot. Don\u2019t conveniently forget about or exclude someone new who expresses interest. Let them decide for themselves.\n\nGo over to the noobs and ask for their assistance. If it\u2019s a deadly combat mission, ask the new fighter if she wants to come along. Say you\u2019ll probably all die, but the new girl looks bored anyways. Does the new soothsayer guy know this runic language? Is that doctor that just rolled into town looking for patients who tip them well? The 10-Foot Rule is an amazing way to get not just new players, but everyone to feel valued and involved.\n\nHiding Behind Your Character\u2019s Personality to Be Shitty\n\nSTOP DOING THIS. I get that Josiah Blackthorn is the baddest, meanest Unseelie Changeling this side of the Atlantic, but if you want people to role-play with, you\u2019re going to have to make some compromises on your \u2018concept\u2019. Come up with ways your asshole can meaningfully encourage new players to come back so they can hate him in-character even more. Check these tips on Being Uncharacteristic for some ideas.\n\nTalking Over Shy or Quiet Players\n\nAside from folx with social anxiety, new players are the most likely to have trouble asserting themselves. If you know someone new is hovering quietly, don\u2019t ignore them. Ask for their input. If someone new and shy is being interrupted, draw the conversation back to them as soon as possible. You don\u2019t have to be a dick, just be firm.\n\nDon\u2019t interrupt new players yourself, unless it is clearly appropriate to the role-play (sometimes it is). Check out our tips on not being a stage hog for how to make everyone feel valued. Note: I am speaking about straight up ignoring or stifling others, not introvert/extrovert dynamics.\n\nPatronizing Other Players\n\nYou are the only you. Other people will have different play styles that you will either perceive as \u201cincorrect\u201d or may genuinely be downright terrible. Instead of adopting a your-way-or-the-highway approach, phrase things in a helpful instead of chastising tone.\n\nPower gamer? Ask if they need help building their character to wreck face. Feels junkie? Ask if they are down for some hella dramatic RP with your character. Love PVP? Ask if they want to help you ice someone or even be a new frienemy! More detailed methods on this topic are given in our post about muting yourself (aka watching what you say and not being a dick).\n\nWhat About PVP/CVC-Heavy Games?\n\nPhoto by Jan Zik\u00e1n on Unsplash\n\nThe nature of some games involves a higher potential rate of player-vs-player (PVP) or character-vs-character (CVC) than others. I don\u2019t see this as an excuse not to try. Your task is certainly harder in these sorts of games. All I can say is \u2018good luck\u2019. Your game is counting on you. Don\u2019t forget that your newbies are likely aware of this coming in, but also remember that doesn\u2019t justify being a dick to them, or anyone, ever.\n\nWhat If You Get Burned?\n\nYou will get burned. That noob you trusted with the MacGuffin will fumble the ball once in a while. However, you will heal, because your game goes on. You will make a new character, approach the plot from a new angle, and learn from a mission\u2019s failure.\n\nThat player you trusted, then crashed and burned? They will try to do better. They will be motivated to do better, because they were shown trust. Not only that, but your leadership by example will encourage them to do the same when they stand where you stood. Your actions will shape the culture of a vibrant gaming community.\n\nYes, you will come across people who are just a big \u2018ol bag of dicks and burn you a couple times. Don\u2019t worry about it. Just ignore them and they will eventually sort themselves out. Most often, their personality traits get them alienated with minimal work on your part. Dust yourself off and carry on for the majority of new players who just want to feel included. Always remember to be kind, and have fun!\n\n\n\n"}
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\u0440\u0430\u0441\u0441\u043a\u0430\u0437\u044b\u0432\u0430\u044e, \u2013 \u043d\u0435 \u043c\u043d\u043e\u044e \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0434\u0443\u043c\u0430\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0435 \u0432\u0435\u0449\u0438, \u043e\u043d\u0438 \u043f\u0440\u0435\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0441\u043d\u043e \u0438\u0437\u0432\u0435\u0441\u0442\u043d\u044b \u0441 \u043f\u043e\u0441\u043b\u0435\u0432\u043e\u0435\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0445 \u0432\u0440\u0435\u043c\u0435\u043d. \u041a\u043e\u043d\u0444\u043b\u0438\u043a\u0442\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0433\u0438\u044f \u2013 \u0446\u0435\u043b\u0430\u044f \u043e\u0442\u0434\u0435\u043b\u044c\u043d\u0430\u044f \u043d\u0430\u0443\u043a\u0430. \u0412\u043e\u043f\u0440\u043e\u0441, \u0442\u0430\u043a\u0438\u043c \u043e\u0431\u0440\u0430\u0437\u043e\u043c, \u043d\u0435 \u0432 \u044d\u043a\u0441\u043f\u0435\u0440\u0442\u0430\u0445, \u043d\u0435 \u0432 \u0437\u043d\u0430\u043d\u0438\u044f\u0445, \u0430 \u0432 \u0443\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0438 \u044d\u0442\u0438 \u0437\u043d\u0430\u043d\u0438\u044f \u043f\u0440\u0438\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0442\u044c, \u2013 \u0440\u0430\u0441\u0441\u043a\u0430\u0437\u0430\u043b \u0432 \u0438\u043d\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0432\u044c\u044e \u0420\u0430\u0434\u0438\u043e \u0421\u0432\u043e\u0431\u043e\u0434\u0430 \u044d\u043a\u0441\u043f\u0435\u0440\u0442 \u043f\u043e \u0443\u043f\u0440\u0430\u0432\u043b\u0435\u043d\u0438\u044e \u0438\u0437\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0435\u043d\u0438\u044f\u043c\u0438 \u0410\u0440\u044c\u0435 \u0413\u043e\u0442\u0441\u0434\u0430\u043d\u043a\u0435\u0440.\n\n\u0424\u0440\u0430\u0433\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0442 \u0438\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0433\u043e \u0432\u044b\u043f\u0443\u0441\u043a\u0430 \u043f\u0440\u043e\u0433\u0440\u0430\u043c\u043c\u044b \"\u0412\u0440\u0435\u043c\u044f \u0421\u0432\u043e\u0431\u043e\u0434\u044b\""}
-{"text": "Tomasz Laba\n\nDo tej pory z przymru\u017ceniem oka wys\u0142uchiwa\u0142em historii o handlarzach z OLX. Gdy wystawi\u0142em swoje pierwsze og\u0142oszenie, okaza\u0142o si\u0119, \u017ce s\u0105 jak najbardziej prawdziwe. Najpierw handlowanie o ka\u017cd\u0105 z\u0142ot\u00f3wk\u0119 mniej za rega\u0142 za 100 z\u0142, a potem pro\u015bby o przetrzymanie towaru przez miesi\u0105c. Sprzeda\u017c na OLX to droga przez m\u0119k\u0119.\n\nJestem w trakcie niewielkiego remontu po\u0142\u0105czonego z kupnem nowego wyposa\u017cenia mieszkania. W zwi\u0105zku z tym, \u017ce ostatnie popo\u0142udnia i weekendy sp\u0119dzam w marketach budowlanych i sklepach meblowych, postanowi\u0142em nieco zamortyzowa\u0107 wydatki na nowe zakupy. W ruch poszed\u0142 aparat i ju\u017c po kilku chwilach na portalu OLX wystawi\u0142em kilka og\u0142osze\u0144 z niepotrzebnymi meblami. Nic specjalnego, tylko kilka rega\u0142\u00f3w, biurko i stara kanapa. Ka\u017cdy jednak wie, \u017ce remont to studnia bez dna i w tym szale\u0144stwie przyda si\u0119 ka\u017cda dodatkowa z\u0142ot\u00f3wka. Za rad\u0105 znajomych postanowi\u0142em wykorzysta\u0107 ten portal og\u0142osze\u0144 lokalnych do pozbycia si\u0119 niechcianych sprz\u0119t\u00f3w.\n\nDo tej pory niespecjalnie wierzy\u0142em w historie o specyficznym typie handlarzy, kt\u00f3rzy opanowali OLX. To znaczy wiedzia\u0142em, \u017ce istniej\u0105, jednak zawsze uznawa\u0142em, \u017ce to mocno wyselekcjonowane historie. W sumie nie ma najmniejszego sensu, \u017ceby w internecie dzieli\u0107 si\u0119 opowie\u015bci\u0105 o transakcji, kt\u00f3ra przebieg\u0142a bez zarzut\u00f3w. Te wszystkie historie uwa\u017ca\u0142em za nic innego jak cherry picking \u2013 dobieranie ich pod okre\u015blon\u0105 tez\u0119. Moje og\u0142oszenia \u017cy\u0142y jedynie przez trzy dni i jestem wyko\u0144czony jak ko\u0144 po westernie.\n\nPrzede wszystkim typowy handlarz z OLX dyskusj\u0119 zaczyna od targowania si\u0119. W zasadzie to nawet nie targowania, tylko z miejsca uzna\u0142, \u017ce cena w og\u0142oszeniu z pewno\u015bci\u0105 jest do negocjacji. Dlatego punktem wyj\u015bcia w dyskusjach jest cena ni\u017csza cz\u0119sto nawet o 50% od tej z og\u0142oszenia. Jeden ze swoich rega\u0142\u00f3w wyceni\u0142em na 100 z\u0142, co uwa\u017ca\u0142em za cen\u0119 raczej symboliczn\u0105. Pierwsza wiadomo\u015b\u0107, jak\u0105 otrzyma\u0142em, brzmia\u0142a (pisownia oryginalna).\n\nWzio\u0142bym ale za 50 z\u0142.\n\nSprzeda\u017c na OLX to droga przez m\u0119k\u0119\n\nTypowy handlarz z OLX po tym, jak utarguje 10 z\u0142 na regale za 100 z\u0142, przechodzi do drugiego etapu negocjacji. To jest niestety co\u015b, czego nie mog\u0119 poj\u0105\u0107 za \u017cadne skarby. Nagle okazuje si\u0119, \u017ce kupuj\u0105cego albo nie ma teraz w mie\u015bcie (i b\u0119dzie za kilka tygodni lub za miesi\u0105c), albo obra\u017ca si\u0119 na brak mo\u017cliwo\u015bci wysy\u0142ki. Zale\u017ca\u0142o mi na tym, \u017ceby rzeczy pozby\u0107 si\u0119 jak najszybciej, bo nie mia\u0142em mo\u017cliwo\u015bci ich przetrzymywania. Na to 9 na 10 kupuj\u0105cych zrezygnowa\u0142o, jak stanowczo im odpisa\u0142em, \u017ce nie mam mo\u017cliwo\u015bci przetrzymania mebli jeszcze przez miesi\u0105c do czasu, a\u017c oni przyjad\u0105 do mojego miasta je odebra\u0107.\n\nCo jest dla mnie zupe\u0142nie niezrozumia\u0142e to to, \u017ce najpierw zawzi\u0119cie targuj\u0105 si\u0119 o ka\u017cd\u0105 z\u0142ot\u00f3wk\u0119, co przecie\u017c zabiera sporo czasu, kt\u00f3ry mo\u017cna po\u015bwi\u0119ci\u0107, chocia\u017cby na rozmowy z powa\u017cnymi kupcami. Jak ju\u017c utarguj\u0105 5 z\u0142, to dopiero przypominaj\u0105 sobie, \u017ce przecie\u017c ich nie ma w mie\u015bcie i czy rzecz mo\u017cna troch\u0119 przytrzyma\u0107.Nie wspominam tu w og\u00f3le o lekcewa\u017c\u0105cym podej\u015bciu do sprzedaj\u0105cego, kt\u00f3re przejawia si\u0119 w kompletnym ignorowaniu opisu og\u0142oszenia. R\u00f3wnie dobrze, zamiast wpisywa\u0107 wymiary sprzedawanego biurka, mog\u0142em napisa\u0107 ci\u0105g losowych liczb. Tak czy inaczej, jednym z pyta\u0144 w rozmowie b\u0119dzie \u201ea jakie wymiary tego biureczka?\u201d Moim osobistym zwyci\u0119zc\u0105 by\u0142 jeden z kupuj\u0105cych, kt\u00f3ry najpierw poda\u0142 mi wymiary swojego pokoju, a nast\u0119pnie zapyta\u0142 mnie, czy biurko si\u0119 u niego zmie\u015bci.\n\nOstatecznie moja przygoda ze sprzeda\u017c\u0105 na OLX zako\u0144czy\u0142a si\u0119 umiarkowanym sukcesem. Nie pozby\u0142em si\u0119 wszystkich mebli, natomiast znalaz\u0142em kupca na rzeczy, kt\u00f3rych chcia\u0142em pozby\u0107 si\u0119 w pierwszej kolejno\u015bci. Sprzeda\u0142em je osobie, kt\u00f3rej pierwsza wiadomo\u015b\u0107 by\u0142a bardzo kr\u00f3tka \u2013 \u201ekiedy m\u00f3g\u0142bym je odebra\u0107?\u201e. Bo chyba o to chodzi w sprzedawaniu czegokolwiek na OLX. Portal z og\u0142oszeniami lokalnymi to taki, kt\u00f3ry kontaktuje sprzedawc\u0119 z kupuj\u0105cym, a nie sprzedawc\u0119 z obwo\u017anym handlarzem, kt\u00f3ry targuje si\u0119 o ka\u017cdy grosz."}
-{"text": "Angel is a slender honey with a horny face and fantastic figure. Young lady did not have any rod for some time, so dickens perceives enormously ultra-kinky. Her fresh bf is aware of that dickens likes to take his succulent fuck-stick in her jaws, so dickens stands on her knees and offers him impressive deep throat. In several mins after, dickens is railing his fuck-stick and loving deep buttfuck tearing up. Young lady is squealing and bellowing, prepared him to get deeper. Being ended, he blows a load over her face, letting her eat dribbling semen from his gigantic rod."}
-{"text": "\nIf there was a competition for \u201cdrink of the summer\u201d, this would be a strong candidate for the number one spot. As refreshing as this Orange Pineapple Raspberry Smoothie can be on a warm summer day, it works equally well as a breakfast drink to get you filled up with fruity vitamins. The frozen raspberries give this smoothie a thick, icy texture without giving you a brain-freeze.\n\nI have this smoothie from time to time as a mid-day snack on the balcony when the sun is shining. It\u2019s really refreshing and prevents you from getting the munchies and make a blitzkrieg attack on your pantry when you are in between meals. If you really want to make it a \u201clittle bit extra\u201d you should juice the oranges yourself (keeping some pulp in the juice), but store-bought juice is equally fine. Just make sure you buy good quality juice that is newly squeezed and doesn\u2019t have any additional ingredients or additives.\n\nWith only three ingredients this vegan smoothie is ready to drink within minutes after you have gathered the ingredients.\n\nFeel free to have a look at my other vegan smoothie recipes, and you will be amazed by how easy it is to make a great tasting smoothie that is completely plant-based."}
-{"text": "Please sign this petition in hopes of raising awareness that Bitcoin LND could be easily installable onto 21 million raspberry pi devices by adding Bitcoin Lightning Network Daemon (LND) to Raspberry Pi's NOOBs installer.\n\nThis installer is an official distribution and would allow people who own Raspi units to easily deploy a Lightning Node.\n\nBy doing this we aim to show support for both Bitcoin and the Raspberry Pi movement and to expand Bitcoins already growing Lightning Network.\n\n\n\nPlease share this with your friends so we can show huge support for both projects and hope that they can find a way to support each other."}
-{"text": "Despite the premiere of more than a dozen dramas in July, we have 9 new Korean dramas to watch in August 2019. That is still a lot, so unless you\u2019re a god or something there\u2019s almost no way for you to live-watch all of them (especially if your now-watching list is still full of ongoing series). The first week of August is welcomed by a parallel universe-themed fantasy romance series, an unusual mystery slash rom-com with orchestral members as the main characters, and a short teen drama about growing up and suffering from pain. In the second week, there\u2019s a romantic comedy about a trio of girlfriends in their 30s and a hip hop music-themed drama (yeah, it\u2019s really hip hop). A mystery romance series will grace our screen in the third week and finally, in the fourth week, we get another original Netflix Korean drama, a romantic investigative series about subway patrol police officers catching a certain \u201cGhost,\u201d and a thriller headlined by Im Si-wan and Lee Dong-wook. I know that you\u2019re most likely interested to at least check out the last one.\n\n(Note: The stated premiere dates are already confirmed. But sometimes\u2014just like what happened to the first two dramas below\u2014they suddenly get changed by the broadcaster for some reason.)\n\nAugust 5: WELCOME 2 LIFE (Mondays & Tuesdays on MBC)\n\nGenre: Fantasy Drama\n\nMain Cast: Rain & Lim Ji-yeon\n\nPredecessor: Investigation Couple 2\n\nThis show was supposed to be broadcast beginning July 29 but when MBC made some changes on its prime time programming on July 22, Investigation Couple 2\u2018s finale had to be aired on July 29, moving the premiere of Welcome 2 Life to the first week of August. Rain (Sketch) is back to the small screen with this drama about an excellent lawyer who serves the wrong people for money and power. The fantasy part of the story unfolds when he gets into an accident and suddenly transported to a parallel world where he\u2019s known to be an upright lawyer who pursues nothing but justice. Even his relationships with the people around him are different in that world, as the woman (Lim Ji-yeon of Blow Breeze) he\u2019d broken up with 10 years ago is now his loving wife. And they have a kid (look at the poster above)?\n\nAugust 5: I WANNA HEAR YOUR SONG (Mondays & Tuesdays on KBS2)\n\nGenre: Mystery Rom-com\n\nMain Cast: Yeon Woo-jin & Kim Se-jeong\n\nPredecessor: Perfume\n\nI Wanna Hear Your Song was also set to premiere next week but all of a sudden the newly released poster is now showing a different date. The series mixes the mystery-thriller genre with rom-com and has main characters that are all members of an orchestra. Kim Se-jeong (School 2017) is a timpanist who witnessed a murder and lost all of her memories related to the incident while Yeon Woo-jin (Priest) plays a tone-deaf pianist whose singing voice can put her to sleep. He helps her fight not only her insomnia, but also her struggle for regaining her memories. I don\u2019t really understand where the show is headed based on that premise. But it\u2019s still intriguing, especially since we also have a star violinist and a conductor in the story. And you know what? The PD of Cantabile\u2019s Tomorrow\u2014which is also related to music\u2014is at the helm of this drama\u2019s production.\n\nAugust 5: SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD\u2019S CONDITION (Mondays & Tuesdays on SBS)\n\nGenre: Teen Drama\n\nMain Cast: Park Si-eun & Yoon Chan-young\n\nPredecessor: The Secret Life Of My Secretary\n\nDo you remember the news about SBS\u2019s decision to replace its Monday-Tuesday dramas with variety shows? It\u2019s happening now, which is why we\u2019re not seeing a new series for this time slot since the end of The Secret Life Of My Secretary. Don\u2019t worry though, because the replacement may just be limited to the summer season and we could see a new drama by early September. So what is Seventeen-Year-Old\u2019s Condition? It is just a four-episode series starring Yoon Chan-young and Park Si-eun, about two 17-year-old high school students who are battling painful experiences as they grow up. The young lead actors previously worked together in Six Flying Dragons and Thirty But Seventeen.\n\nAugust 9: BE MELODRAMATIC (Fridays & Saturdays on JTBC)\n\nGenre: Romantic Comedy\n\nMain Cast: Chun Woo-hee , Jeon Yeo-bin, Han Ji-eun, Ahn Jae-hong, & Gong Myung\n\nPredecessor: Chief of Staff\n\nThe seemingly melodramatic pink-colored poster is a perfect match for the drama\u2019s title. Be Melodramatic follows the friendship, romances, career, and lifestyles of a trio of women in their 30s. Chun Woo-hee (Argon) is starring as a screenwriter with strange emotional issues, Jeon Yeo-bin (Save Me) as a documentary film director who\u2019s struggling to start her own company, and Han Ji-eun (100 Days My Prince) as a single mom who works as a marketing team leader for a drama production company. The male lead actors are Ahn Jae-hong (Fight For My Way) and Gong Myung (Feel Good To Die). The drama\u2019s production team is led by the director of the box office hit Extreme Job, which is currently the second most watched movie in South Korean film history. Fans of this certain director must be excited because Be Melodramatic marks his directorial debut on TV. And he\u2019s also actively working on the drama\u2019s script.\n\nAUGUST 9: HIP HOP KING (Fridays on SBS)\n\nGenre: Youth Drama, Music-related\n\nMain Cast: Hoya, Shin Wonho, Naeun, & Han Hyu-min\n\nPredecessor: N/A\n\nAside from I Wanna Hear Your Song, we have another music-themed series in Hip Hop King, which explores the world of hip hop music and culture through the characters played by Hoya, Cross Gene\u2019s Shin Wonho, APRIL\u2019s Naeun, and model Han Hyun-min. It is a six-episode pre-produced drama from the director of the first season of Quiz From God. The production team began shooting last December and worked with hip hop producer Zizo and music director Nuol to make the series more realistic. SBS\u2019s drama department must be experimenting these days not just on schedules, but also on genres.\n\nAUGUST 21: GRACEFUL FAMILY (Wednesdays & Thursdays on MBN/ Dramax)\n\nGenre: Mystery, Romance\n\nMain Cast: Im Soo-hyang & Lee Jang-woo\n\nPredecessor: Level Up\n\nUnlike on major cable networks tvN and JTBC, broadcasting Korean dramas is not a regular thing yet on the lesser-known cable channel MBN, so it\u2019s good to know that it\u2019d be airing two dramas consecutively this summer. The third series of MBN this year, Graceful Family is the comeback TV project of Im Soo-hyang, who starred in the popular 2018 rom-com My ID Is Gangnam Beauty opposite Cha Eun-woo. She\u2019s playing the daughter of a family that runs South Korea\u2019s top conglomerate and the story will focus on her trying to uncover a 15-year-old secret with the help of a lawyer played by Lee Jang-woo (My Only One). I am NOT complaining or belittling MBN dramas, but I\u2019m just curious as to how Im Soo-hyang ended up taking this project when she could have chosen another one that could go on the air on a major broadcaster with a wider audience. On the other hand, Cha Eun-woo is now in Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung.\n\nAUGUST 22: LOVE ALARM (Netflix)\n\nGenre: Teen Romance\n\nMain Cast: Kim So-hyun & Song Kang\n\nThe long wait is almost over because fans will finally get to see the live-action adaptation of the popular webtoon Love Alarm. It is a Netflix Korean series and when the streaming giant first announced it in January 2017, it described the adaptation as its \u201cFIRST original Korean drama.\u201d But in terms of release date, we know that it is not the case because we already have Kingdom and My First First Love. The drama\u2019s title refers to a mobile application that alerts users when someone who likes them is very close (within 10 meters) to their location. The series focuses on a high school student played by Kim So-hyun (Radio Romance) and how her life is affected by the app when two of her classmates\u2014played by Song Kang (The Liar And His Lover) and Jung Ga-ram (Mistress)\u2014develop a crush on her. The drama is directed PD Lee Na-jeong of Fight For My Way.\n\nAUGUST 26: CATCH THE GHOST (Mondays & Tuesdays on tvN)\n\nGenre: Crime\n\nMain Cast: Kim Sun-ho & Moon Geun-young\n\nPredecessor: Designated Survivor: 60 Days\n\nThe \u201cGhost\u201d in the title is not a real ghost, but a serial killer that is testing the patience of the main characters. Catch The Ghost centers on subway patrol police officers who are tasked with capturing that killer. Kim Sun-ho (Welcome To Waikiki 2) stars as the head of a subway police team whose motto in life is something like strictly follow the rules all the time. Under his supervision is Moon Geun-young\u2019s (The Village: Achiara\u2019s Secret) character, a rookie police officer who believes that making immediate action comes before thinking and careful planning\u2014which is giving me the idea that she\u2019s gonna get into trouble with her boss. This new Korean drama is directed by the PD of Come Back Mister and Rooftop Prince.\n\nUPDATE: tvN announced on August 1 to push back the premiere of Catch The Ghost to October 21. Instead, Song Seung-heon\u2019s new drama The Great Show will premiere on August 26.\n\nAUGUST 31: STRANGERS FROM HELL (Saturdays & Sundays on OCN)\n\nGenre: Thriller\n\nMain Cast: Im Si-wan, Lee Dong-wook, & Kim Ji-eun\n\nPredecessor: Watcher\n\nThe last Korean drama to premiere in August is Strangers From Hell, which is also based on a popular webtoon. It tells the story of a young man in his 20s, played by Im Si-wan (The King Loves), who moves to Seoul for a new job and decides to stay in an ominous dormitory. To be exact, it is the residents of the dormitory that would creep our hero out, and unless you have actually read the original source material there\u2019s no way for you to find out what surprises await the protagonist. This is Im Si-wan\u2019s first post-military drama, so many fans must be excited to know why he chose this particular project. He is joined by Lee Dong-wook as one of his neighbors who approaches strangers with ulterior motives, rookie actress Kim Ji-eun as his love interest, and award-winning actress Lee Jung-eun as his landlady. The series is directed by the movie director of The Vanished.\n\nABOUT US: A site dedicated to Korean TV series, Kdramapal publishes up-to-date and relevant content about Korean dramas including casting news, drama rankings, roundups (recaps), synopses and general info, and TV ratings. Visit us again for updates, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter."}
-{"text": "Grimes (aka Claire Boucher) said she plays Lizzy Wizzy, a pop star who killed herself on stage -- doctors performed \"emergency surgery\" to replace her whole body with cybernetics, and she went on to continue the gig and her career as a cyborg. It's one of the \"greatest pieces of performance art ever made,\" Grimes said.\n\nIt's unclear if other celebrities will have a substantial presence in the game. However, Grimes' appearance suggests that CD Projekt Red's move to recruit Keanu was really just part of a larger strategy to put well-known faces into the game. We wouldn't expect to see a deluge of actors and artists, but we wouldn't be surprised, either."}
-{"text": "When we heard Silver mention the name \"M. Malone\" as who she was told killed Bruce Wayne's parents, our immediate conclusion was that the M stood for \"Matches.\" We were right.\n\nMichael Bowen, best known as Uncle Jack on Breaking Bad (also Lost, multiple Quentin Tarantino films), has been cast in the role of Patrick \"Matches\" Malone on Gotham, set to debut in the second half of season two, ComicBook.com can exclusively report. The character description doesn't give us too much to go on, but does offer a tiny bit of insight into him.\n\n\"One of Gotham's deadliest killers, Matches Malone is a weathered, philosophical hitman who may be the triggerman behind one of the most important crimes in Gotham's history.\"\n\nMatches Malone in the pages of DC Comics is a small-time crook who really is just a product of Gotham City, committing crimes simply to get by. When he dies, Batman covers the death up, and assumes the identity of Matches when he needs to go undercover amongst Gotham's criminal element. He's even been thrown in prison (on purpose) as Matches Malone before.\n\nObviously, Gotham is taking some considerable liberties here with the character, especially if he really is Thomas and Martha Wayne's killer. It's hard to imagine Bruce ever using their killer's identity in the future (and of course, as he's nearly five decades younger, pretty hard to pull off), as well. Going into the second half of the season dubbed \"Rise of the Villains,\" it's easy to see that Matches will be not just an important part of Gotham's story, but certainly of Bruce's as well.\n\nGotham airs Monday nights at 8pm on Fox. After tonight's mid-season finale, the show returns February 29, 2016 with a second run of 11 episodes for Season 2."}
-{"text": "After two years in a limited program, Glass Enterprise Edition is now available to more businesses through our network of expert partners\n\nBack in 2014, my team was at GE Aviation in Cincinnati, Ohio, watching how mechanics assemble and repair airplane engines. Airplane maintenance is a complex and specialized task, and any errors can lead to expensive delays or having to conduct the entire maintenance process all over again. The mechanics moved carefully, putting down tools and climbing up and down ladders to consult paper instructions in between steps.\n\nFast forward to today, and GE\u2019s mechanics now use Glass running software from our partner Upskill, which shows them instructions with videos, animations and images right in their line of sight so they don\u2019t have to stop work to check their binders or computer to know what to do next. Since using Glass with Upskill, they estimate that they have not only reduced errors at key points in the assembly and overhaul of engines, but that they have improved their mechanics\u2019 efficiency by between 8\u201312%.\n\nOn the left is an assembly engine manual that GE\u2019s mechanics used to consult. Now they use Glass Enterprise Edition on the right.\n\nGE was one of the first businesses to experience the benefits of Glass in the workplace. Now, there are more than 50 businesses, including AGCO, DHL, Dignity Health, NSF International, Sutter Health,The Boeing Company, and Volkswagen, who have been using Glass to complete their work faster and more easily than before. Based on the positive feedback we\u2019ve received from these customers in a special program we\u2019ve been running for the past two years, we\u2019re now making Glass Enterprise Edition available to more businesses through our network of partners.\n\nCustomizing Glass for workers\n\nGlass, as you might remember, is a very small, lightweight wearable computer with a transparent display that brings information into your line of sight. In a work setting, you can clip it onto glasses or industry frames like safety goggles so you don\u2019t have to switch focus between what you\u2019re doing with your hands and the content you need to see to do your job.\n\nWorkers in many fields, like manufacturing, logistics, field services, and healthcare find it useful to consult a wearable device for information and other resources while their hands are busy. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve spent the last two years working closely with a network of more than 30 expert partners to build customized software and business solutions for Glass for people in these fields. We\u2019ve also made improvements to the design and hardware so that it\u2019s lightweight and comfortable for long term wear. We\u2019ve increased the power and battery life too.\n\nAGCO workers use Glass to see assembly instructions, make reports and get remote video support.\n\nWorkers at AGCO, an agricultural machinery manufacturer in Jackson, Minnesota, are using Glass Enterprise Edition. By reducing the amount of back and forth workers have to do accessing checklists, viewing instruction manuals or sending photos from tablets or laptops as they assemble machines, Glass has reduced machinery production time by 25 percent and inspection times by 30 percent. As Peggy Gulick, Director of Business Process Improvement, explains, \u201cEmployees are now working smarter, faster and safer because they have the information they need right in their line of sight.\u201d\n\n\u201cEmployees are now working smarter, faster and safer because they have the information they need right in their line of sight.\u201d Peggy Gulick, Director of Business Process Improvement, AGCO\n\nDHL is seeing similar results. DHL\u2019s employees have a supply chain process called \u201corder picking\u201d where they fulfill orders by scanning items from racks before moving them into totes or bins on carts to be shipped. Using a solution from Ubimax with Glass , they now receive real-time instructions about where items have to be placed on the carts with the help of visual aids. With their hands now free of paper instructions, pickers can work far more efficiently and comfortably, and DHL estimates that they have increased supply chain efficiency by 15%.\n\nDHL employees use Glass to move inventory around the warehouse faster.\n\nGlass is also helping healthcare professionals. Doctors at Dignity Health have been using Glass with an application our partner Augmedix calls \u201ca remote scribe\u201d. Now, instead of typing on a computer during consultations, they can connect with patients by looking them in the eye, listening as they talk, and asking questions \u2014 all with confidence that all the note taking work is being done in the background. Dignity\u2019s Chief Medical Information Officer, Dr. Davin Lundquist says that in addition to improving their quality of care, Glass has also reduced the time they spend typing up patient notes and other administrative work from 33 percent of their day to less than 10 percent, while doubling the amount of time they interact with patients.\n\nUsing Glass, doctors and nurses at Dignity Health can focus on patient care rather than record keeping.\n\nDr. Albert Chan at Sutter Health shares a similar story. Using Glass with Augmedix, doctors at Sutter Health estimate that they have reduced the amount of time they spend on electronic health record keeping by around two hours a day. He also says Glass has \u201cbrought the joys of medicine back to my doctors\u201d because it lets them focus on patients instead of technology.\n\nGlass has \u201cbrought the joys of medicine back to my doctors.\u201d Dr. Albert Chan, Sutter Health\n\nWe first saw signs of Glass\u2019 potential for businesses in the Glass Explorer days. As we said when we graduated, we\u2019d been seeing incredible developments with Glass in the workplace. Now the Glass product team is back at X, and we\u2019ll be collaborating with the Google Cloud team and our partners to help customers across a variety of business sectors make the most of Glass. Together, we\u2019re looking forward to seeing more businesses give their workers a way to work faster and in a more focused way, hands-free."}
-{"text": "Fear is a basic human emotion. It can stand for either Forget Everything and Run or Face Everything and Rise. Otherwise known as fight or flight.\n\nIn a classic children\u2019s story, this common state, this uneasiness of mind and icy, paralyzing feeling of panic, was cleverly embodied in a character written to break stereotypes about cowardice. In the process, it showed that fear is everyone\u2019s inner struggle and, in the end, it can be the precursor to bravery, if we only face it and act on it.\n\nL. Frank Baum wrote about a \u201cKing of Beasts,\u201d a lion that, instead of being the bravest of them all, as lions are surely perceived, happened to see himself as a coward. The Cowardly Lion did not fully understand that courage means acting in the face of fear, which he does frequently, without even knowing it.\n\nBaum penned the Cowardly Lion and his quest for courage in his book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900. In 1939, a popular vaudeville and Broadway star named Bert Lahr used some of his trademark mannerisms to portray the lion to the best of his abilities. All the while he wore on the set a tremendously heavy 60-pound real-life skin.\n\nTucked away and forgotten for decades after the filming of The Wizard of Oz, Lahr\u2019s costume reappeared in 1970 just before the landmark Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer auction. It was bought by a California chiropractor for $2,400. Fifteen years later, the same costume was sold to Bill Mack, a sculptor, who after acquiring it, sent the lion skin to a taxidermist for restoration. He also arranged for the headpiece to be re-created with a lifelike sculpture of Lahr. In December 2006, he sold it for $826,000, which made the costume one of the most valuable props ever used in Hollywood.\n\nWhen interviewed after the sale, Mack jokingly said that he got away cheaply when buying it, stating that he \u201cgot it for a couple of thousands of dollars instead of a couple of hundred thousand.\u201d Mack, however, thought that the real-life lion-skin costume that he bought was the only one. It wasn\u2019t, for Lahr\u2019s son, the distinguished American theater critic John Lahr, stipulated in his biography about his late father, entitled Notes on a Cowardly Lion, that there was more than one such costume.\n\nAnd indeed, another real-lion skin costume was acquired by James Comisar, curator of the Comisar Collection, the largest group of television artifacts in the world. After confirming its authenticity, Comisar approached Herbert Lahr, another of the actor\u2019s sons and who shares an uncanny resemblance to his father, to model the re-creation of the costume.\n\nBecause the Cowardly Lion\u2019s original facial appliances were glued straight to Bert Lahr\u2019s face, a face cast of Herbert was made so Comisar could restore the costume to the fullest effect. About the costume, Herbert remarked, \u201cThe Lion\u2019s suit was very interesting. It was a real lion skin, and it weighed 60 pounds. My dad had to be in it all day, he couldn\u2019t eat because of the way the mask was, so he had to eat his lunch through a straw.\u201d\n\nThe face was the easiest part of the reparation process, for the real problems were the worn-out mane and the state of the costume itself. It was ripped in numerous places at the back due to the immense weight of the tail and had to be patched.\n\nBecause of this, the costume was sent to Cara Varnell, a textile conservation expert at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, who restored it to perfect condition. As for the Cowardly Lion\u2019s mane, it was re-created from human hair imported from Italy at a cost of $22,000. More than 21 artisans worked for two whole years to complete the conservation. During all this time, up until 1989, the auctioneering company Profiles in History, on behalf of Mack, insisted they had Lahr\u2019s one and only original costume.\n\nAfter everything was finished and ready, Comisar\u2019s Cowardly Lion costume was featured in the national media, including on The Oprah Winfrey Show. It was valued at a staggering $1.5 million, spurring many collectors to express interest in the costume, but Comisar rejected them all.\n\nEventually, the Commissar costume was sold on November 24, 2014, offered by Bonhams in their TCM-themed auction in New York City. As suspected, it received great interest and was sold for an unbelievable sum of $3.1 million\u2013the highest known price for a costume worn by a male performer in any Hollywood production, making it the most valuable Hollywood object in existence.\n\nIn 2004, on the 65th anniversary of the release of the film, William Stillman published the book The Wizardry of Oz: The Artistry and the Magic of the M.G.M. 1939 Classic, in which he featured a full-page photograph of the Comisar Cowardly Lion costume. The accompanying text states, \u201cWhile Bert Lahr appears to wear the same costume throughout the picture, others were available for dress rehearsals or for the stunt double to bound onto the Yellow Brick Road, leap through a window in the Emerald City, or scale the cliffs outside the Witch\u2019s castle.\u201d So there might be more costumes forgotten in some Hollywood closets made from real lion skin.\n\nRead another story from us: Terry, the ultra-professional canine actor who played Toto, earned more than most of \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d cast\n\n\u201cMost of us cannot relate to not having a brain or a heart; we can all relate to not having enough courage, and it is, for this reason, I believe the Cowardly Lion is the character we respond to the most,\u201d says Comisar."}
-{"text": "The Texan pulp writer Robert E. Howard\u2019s cultural influence is great. His character Conan the Barbarian spearheaded the sword and sorcery genre and lead to many literary, cinematic, and artistic depictions. In addition to fantasy and historical fiction, he was apt at writing comedy and poetry as well.\n\nAs a protege of weird fiction writer H.P. Lovecraft, Howard also contributed stories to the Cthulhu Mythos. Other memorable characters Howard created include the Puritan swordsman Solomon Kane, the Atlantean warrior Kull the Conqueror, the Celtic king Bran Mak Morn, the evil sorcerer Thulsa Doom, the boxing champion Sailor Steve Costigan, and the female mercenary Red Sonya.\n\nThese characters, like so many Howard created, often dealt with existential crisis. The writer\u2019s interest in history provided a grim realism to his stories. In particular, the boom and bust cycle perpetuated by the oil companies in Texas influenced Howard to include a cynical layer of political and social commentary to his work.\n\nSadly, Howard\u2019s literary skills were offset by his deteriorating mental condition. He was devoted to his mother, who was ill with tuberculosis, and took care of her until she fell into a coma. When it became clear she wouldn\u2019t be regaining consciousness, Howard grew despondent and died by suicide in their driveway.\n\nWhile Howard was dismissed by critics during his lifetime, his reputation as a literary talent has grown since his death. His stories continue to be published and have been adapted to various media. The house where he grew up and died is now a museum devoted to his life and work. In 1994, it was added to the U.S. Register of Historic Places."}
-{"text": "(CNN) Here's what you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door . You can also get \"5 Things You Need to Know Today\" delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here .\n\n1. Health care vote\n\nPresident Trump threw down an ultimatum to House GOP members: pass the health care bill or be stuck with Obamacare. This is a huge gamble. If it works, Trump will cement his control over the Republican Party. If it fails, the \"deal maker\" President will have to explain why he couldn't close the deal.\n\nThere's a risk for House Republicans too. If they vote against the bill, they'll have to explain why they passed on their best opportunity to get rid of Obamacare, the law they've railed against for years. By the way, the revised bill is costlier and insures even fewer people.\n\n2. London attack\n\n3. Vladimir Putin\n\nIt's really dangerous to be a vocal critic of the Russian President. An ex-Russian lawmaker who slammed Putin over Russia's annexation of Crimea was gunned down in broad daylight in Ukraine. Ukraine's President called it a \"state terrorist act.\" Russia called that absurd. There have been other unfortunate ends for Putin critics through the years: in 2015 a deputy prime minister was shot in the back ; last month an anti-Putin activist landed in a coma after a suspected poisoning; in 2013 a businessman who'd had a falling out with the Russians was found with a noose around his neck.\n\n4. ICE raids\n\nIs ICE targeting \"sanctuary cities?\" A senior government official says yes, ICE has stepped up operations in places that won't cooperate with the feds on immigration. The idea is that increased raids will force cities to work with feds to enforce immigration laws. Just this week, a federal judge in Texas said a raid in Austin was retaliation for a local sheriff's decision to not work with ICE. ICE denies that.\n\n5. Cancer\n\nWhether or not you develop cancer may have more to do with bad luck than lifestyle . A study in the journal Science says 66% of genetic mutations that turn into cancer are caused by simple random errors that occur when cells replace themselves. Lifestyle and environmental factors contribute to about 29% of the mutations.\n\nBREAKFAST BROWSE\n\nPeople are talking about these. Read up. Join in.\n\nRecycling $$\n\nLook! Up in the sky!\n\nYou might be thinking you're under a roiling, stormy sea. But you're actually staring at a new type of cloud\n\nNo laptop, no problem\n\nFor those long flights in this electronics ban age, Royal Jordanian has some suggestions: \" Engage in primitive dialogue from the pre-internet era .\"\n\nSaintly staples\n\nWhat's cooler than a portrait of Mother Teresa? A portrait made out of more than a million staples\n\nQUOTE OF THE DAY\n\n\"I guess I can't be doing so badly because I'm President and you're not\"\n\nAND FINALLY ...\n\nMy little buddy\n\nCuteness alert! Watch the world's most patient Great Dane put up with the hyper antics of a dachshund puppy."}
-{"text": "A longtime AMD executive is joining Lenovo as its North America president, effective Feb. 12, as the company faces steep challenges for its PC business along with a recent overhaul to its channel program structure.\n\nMatthew Zielinski, who had previously spent 12 years at chip maker AMD in sales leadership positions, will have responsibility over Lenovo's PC and Smart Devices division in North America, Lenovo announced.\n\n[Related: Lenovo North America Interim President On The Change In Channel Chief, Resolving Pricing Concerns And Channel Investment In 2018]\n\nLenovo's previous North America president, Emilio Ghilardi, had stepped down in August, and was succeeded on an interim basis by senior vice president Christian Teismann.\n\nThe appointment of Zielinski also follows the departure of Sammy Kinlaw as vice president and channel chief for Lenovo's North America PC business on Jan. 19. Kinlaw departed for a worldwide channel role at Lexmark, and has been succeeded on an interim basis by Rob Cato, Lenovo's executive director for public sector, workstation and OEM.\n\nZielinski had most recently served as corporate vice president of OEM sales at AMD, where he helped oversee sales to Lenovo. \"Matt will bring deep customer and partner relationships to Lenovo that will help us drive continued improvements in customer experience, growth and profitability,\" Lenovo said in a statement.\n\nLenovo is in the midst of a tough battle with other PC makers in the North American market, while facing pressure from the decline of traditional PCs as well as increasing costs for memory and other components.\n\nIn the fourth quarter of 2017, Lenovo's U.S. PC shipments plunged 23.6 percent on a year-over-year basis. That kept Lenovo in fourth place in terms of U.S. PC market share, behind HP Inc., Dell and Apple. Lenovo had been surpassed by Apple in U.S. market position in the third quarter of 2017.\n\nLenovo, however, is continuing to release new PCs at an aggressive pace, including refreshing its premium ThinkPad X1 lineup earlier in January.\n\nIn October of last year, Lenovo made what Kinlaw went on to term a \"drastic change\" in its channel program structure in a bid to make conditions more equitable for reseller partners.\n\nSome solution providers have told CRN that the program changes have negatively impacted partner profitability on enterprise contracts.\n\nIn a recent interview with CRN, Teismann said that \"so far the feedback we have gotten after we worked through [pricing issues] with the channel partners is, in most of the cases, actually not as negative as sometimes it was portrayed to us.\"\n\n\"Actually, a lot of partners came back to us and said it's much more predictable, and it allows us really to double down on growth areas and invest jointly in growing together,\" Teismann said.\n\nZielinski had served as corporate vice president of OEM sales at AMD since late 2014, and before that he headed up AMD's sales to HP. Prior to joining AMD in 2006, Zielinski had worked as a regional sales manager for Infineon Technologies, according to his LinkedIn profile. He holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.\n\nZielinski will be based out of Lenovo's North American headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina.\n\nPartners who spoke with CRN on Monday were enthusiastic about working with Lenovo as Zielinski comes aboard.\n\n\"It looks like a great addition to the Lenovo team. [Zielinski] has a great tech company background,\" said Michael Goldstein, president and CEO of LAN Infotech, a Lenovo partner in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. \"I look forward to seeing great things coming from Lenovo.\"\n\nMatt Phillips, account manager for Direct Technology Group Inc., a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Lenovo partner, said he's had \"no issues\" in working with Lenovo from a channel perspective and considers the new lineup of products to be \"amazing.\"\n\n\"They make it pretty easy on us. A lot of these programs they have are pretty straightforward,\" Phillips said. \"I just hope they maintain what they have. They have some really amazing products. For the most part Lenovo seems to have more variety than any vendor I've seen.\""}
-{"text": "polls here 2552\n\nNASHVILLE -- It's probably not a bad idea for Republican U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann to crank up his 2014 re-election campaign, as he plans to do Thursday with his first major Chattanooga fundraiser.\n\nBecause the two-term congressman may get another GOP primary challenge from Weston Wamp and need the cash.\n\nWamp, who came in third out of four in last year's 3rd Congressional District Republican primary, said last week he is seriously weighing having another go at Fleischmann and hopes to \"make a decision in the next few weeks.\"\n\nWamp, the 26-year-old son of former U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, said he and his wife, Shelby, \"have been inundated with people asking us to run for Congress.\"\n\nHe said he's also encouraged by a recent poll he commissioned, adding, \"I think people are generally sick of Washington. And I think Chuck does a pretty good job of embodying Washington dysfunction.\"\n\nShould Wamp jump in, expect fireworks.\n\nIn fact, things are already popping. Fleischmann wasn't available for comment last week. But his 2012 campaign manager and former chief of staff, Chip Saltsman, was.\n\n\"This is coming from a person who never endorsed Chuck after he [Fleischmann] beat him [Wamp],\" Saltsman said. \"I understand that Zach and Weston can't fathom anyone but a Wamp representing the district, but Zach had 16 years representing the district, and I think that's enough Wamp for anybody.\"\n\nThe elder Wamp didn't seek reelection to Congress in 2010, instead launching an unsuccessful bid for governor. Fleischmann, a Chattanooga attorney, won the 2010 contest after a bitter GOP primary with former Tennessee Republican Party Chairmwoman Robin Smith of Chattanooga.\n\nIn 2012, Fleischmann won a 39 percent plurality in the GOP primary. Former Mayfield executive Scott Mayfield garnered 31 percent, Wamp got 29 percent and Ron Bhalla got 1 percent.\n\nFast-forward to 2013. Fleischmann, who reported having just $250,000 in campaign cash on hand Sept. 30, has his first major Chattanooga fundraiser Thursday. It's at the home of Dr. Tim Ballard and his wife, Erika.\n\nThere's also a \"special guest\" listed on the invitation: U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., a former Chattanooga mayor who didn't get visibly involved in last year's congressional campaign.\n\nBut Corker is invoking an asterisk on the invitation tying his attendance to the \"pending Senate schedule.\"\n\n\"The Senate is in session that day and scheduled to be voting so Senator Corker will not be able to attend the event,\" Corker's chief of staff, Todd Womack, said via email.\n\nAs for Corker ever being involved, Womack said that \"when asked, it is Sen. Corker's custom to attend events, usually in Washington, to support members of the Tennessee Congressional delegation.\"\n\nSaltsman said the invitations had to go out before schedules in Washington were firmed up -- hence the asterisk.\n\nIn fact, Corker's expected to be at a Fleischmann fundraiser in Washington later this month.\n\nHamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger also won't be attending, although he's listed as being on Fleischmann's host committee of nearly 49 couples and individuals.\n\n\"I'm running my own race to be elected as Hamilton County mayor, and I'm not going to comment [about the invitation] or get in anyone else's races, and I'm not going to be contributing to anyone,\" Coppinger said when contacted. \"I'm running my race. I won't be attending the fundraiser.\"\n\nFederal Election Commission records show the last time Coppinger gave to a federal candidate was Corker back in 2005.\n\nBen Probasco, a Chattanooga developer also on the host list, said he's happy to back Fleischmann.\n\n\"I think Chuck has done a fine job and look forward to supporting him in his reelection efforts,\" he said.\n\nState House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, isn't a listed host but said he is backing Fleischmann. Record show he contributed $500 to the congressman last quarter.\n\nWeston Wamp and Chuck Fleischmann\n\n\"He's starting to build some seniority,\" McCormick said of Fleischmann, who is now on the House Appropriations Committee. \"And I'm hoping he can avoid a primary next year and concentrate on representing the district rather than us having another freshman up there.\"\n\nWeston Wamp said he and his wife are still weighing whether he should run. The couple married earlier this year. He's also encouraging people tell him about what they think.\n\nHe said the \"encouragement that I would need to run for Congress is if people want me to be their congressman, that they want kind of a newer, younger voice. ... If people are open to a kind of a new perspective.\"\n\nWamp thinks someone should run even if he doesn't. But he noted he definitely won't run if the primary is a three-person race.\n\nAnother consideration is his \"plate is pretty full\" at the Lamp Post Group, where he serves as communications director, he said.\n\n\"I'm spread pretty thin. A lot of this decision comes down to not just my wife but consulting my business partners as well. That's a big part. I think I'll make a decision in the next few weeks.\"\n\nBut he's also issuing what sounds a lot like pre-campaign rhetoric.\n\n\"When the going gets tough, Chuck Fleischmann has a knack for disappearing,\" Wamp said.\n\n\"At times I think Chuck's been more interested in kind of putting his thumb in the wind and seeing what easier decisions to make are, rather than what the long-term best decisions are, not just for our district but for the country,\" Wamp added. \"I don't think I'm alone in that.\"\n\nSaid Saltsman: \"I find it interesting he makes a comment about Chuck putting a thumb up in the air. ... He [Wamp] didn't put his 'thumb up in the air,' but he ran a poll.\"\n\nSaltsman said the poll was done \"two days after the government shutdown\" and amounted to a \"push poll\" attacking Fleischmann.\n\nContact staff writer Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550."}
-{"text": "Construction around site of G\u00f6beklitepe stirs debate\n\n\u00d6mer Erbil - \u015eANLIURFA\n\nExperts are warning about careless works around the ancient site of G\u00f6beklitepe, considered the world\u2019s oldest temple area, amid reports that the site is being irreparably damaged by \u201cconcrete\u201d and \u201cheavy equipment.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy sorrow is hard to articulate. Every time I visit there I see another fragmentation coming to light,\u201d said archaeologist \u00c7i\u011fdem K\u00f6ksal Schmidt following her visit to the site in the southeastern Turkish province of \u015eanl\u0131urfa on March 14.\n\n\u201cAs part of the construction of a protective roof, parts of the wooden walkway have been removed on the assumption that they would be put back later. Now they are building a concrete walkway instead,\u201d added Schmidt, the wife of the legendary late Professor Klaus Schmidt, who previously headed the excavations in G\u00f6beklitepe and died in 2014.\n\nPhotos and videos showing the construction of a new walkway and construction equipment on site stirred anger after Schmidt shared them on social media.\n\nRoof completed\n\nThe 4,000-square meter protective roof, built at a cost of 6.6 million euros, and the new walkway were planned within the scope of Turkey\u2019s bid to get G\u00f6beklitepe included on UNESCO\u2019s World Heritage Permanent List later this year. The site was included in UNESCO\u2019s tentative list five years ago.\n\n\u201cAs far as I can see in the photos they have used concrete. They should not have used such material there, or they should use it as little as possible. There was already a very big roof in the middle of the natural site. We should not use highly modern materials at such sites,\u201d said Associate Professor Necmi Karul, a member of the G\u00f6beklitepe Scientific Board.\n\nOpening ceremony in April\n\nConstruction work is planned to be completed before the site is reopened to visitors in April.\n\n\u201cThe construction work for the visitor center, as reflected in the media, looks like a disaster \u2026 They should have moved very sensitively in the protection zone but we can see heavy construction equipment used on the site. It is very worrying that the extraordinary Neolithic remains and the round temple site at the entrance have been exposed to such action. It is unacceptable that such careless construction work has damaged this extraordinary archaeological site,\u201d archaeologist Nezih Ba\u015fgelen warned.\n\nUpon criticisms of the work at G\u00f6beklitepe, the Culture and Tourism Ministry issued a statement saying \u201conly construction equipment was used\u201d at the site and denying that concrete or asphalt was used.\n\nProtective felt was placed on the soil before construction of the 900-meter walkway started and cube stones were placed on the felt, the statement read, adding that in order to fix the cube stones 30-centimeter thick layers of mortar were grouted under the curbs.\n\nIn a separate statement, the ministry described the claims as \u201cbaseless and unscientific,\u201d strongly denying that the historical assets have been damaged.\n\nThe ministry also announced that an observation visit to G\u00f6beklitepe would be organized soon, with a delegation of experts and journalists."}
-{"text": "It\u2019s called the F-35 -- a fighter jet described by its makers, Lockheed Martin, as the \u201cpinnacle of more than 50 years of fighter technology.\u201d It may turn out to be the marvel of engineering its makers claim, but so far, its critics say, it hasn\u2019t been proven.\n\nW5 wanted to see the F-35 first hand at the Lockheed Martin factory in Texas -- kick the tires, so to speak -- and speak with company officials. Our request was refused.\n\nCanada placed all its bets on the F-35 in 2010 when the government announced it planned to buy 65 F-35s at a cost of $9 billion.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s in a situation right now,\u201d said Defence Minister Peter Mackay, at a media event for the announcement, \u201cthat at $9 billion dollars we don\u2019t anticipate that the cost will go up.\u201d\n\nNot so, according to Alan Williams, a former Assistant Deputy Minister at the Department of National Defence.\n\n\u201cIt may in fact cost 9, 10 or $11 billion to buy (the 65 planes),\u201d he said. \u201cBut when you add in the cost to maintain this and sustain it and to operate it over 25 years or so, you\u2019re really talking about $40 billion and that\u2019s the number the government should be putting out to Canadians.\u201d\n\nThe cost of the F-35 is just one question raised by critics. Another is the way the decision to buy the airplane was made without allowing other manufactures, like Boeing, Saab and a European consortium, to make a pitch.\n\n\u201cCanadians have seen this before in the EH101 helicopters (and) the submarine purchase,\u201d said Paul Maillet, a former colonel with the Royal Canadian Air Force. \u201cIt\u2019s not unusual that when you get major Crown projects in the billions or hundreds of millions of dollars that, for some reason, and I don\u2019t know why, the culture just seems to make a mess of it.\u201d\n\nFrom the beginning, the government has dismissed criticism of the F-35 as unfounded.\n\n\u201cAll of the hypothetical discussions,\u201d said Defence Minister Peter Mackay, in\n\nNovember 2011. \u201cAnd, frankly, quite negative discussions are just clatter and noise.\u201d\n\nBut less than six months later, in April 2012, Canada\u2019s Auditor General, Michael Ferguson, blasted the government\u2019s cost estimates and the way the Department of National Defence chose the F-35 without a competition.\n\n\u201cThe department did not provide parliament with full cost information, or fully inform decision makers about the risks of this program,\u201d Ferguson said during a news conference to announce his report.\n\nHot on the heels of the Auditor General\u2019s report came another damning indictment of the F-35 program, this time from south of the border. In June 2012, the Government Accountability Office, the U.S Government agency that investigates how taxpayer dollars are spent, reported:\n\nThe cost of building just one F-35 had doubled from $81 million to $161 million.\n\nFull production would be delayed by years.\n\nTesting was behind schedule.\n\nU.S. defence analyst, Winslow Wheeler, said the American decision to buy the F-35 in 2001 was done, \u201calmost entirely backwards. We\u2019re making a commitment to buy these things and we\u2019re producing it before the test process is complete. It\u2019s absolutely insane.\u201d\n\nAlmost forgotten in the debate about the F-35 is the fact that the Royal Canadian Air Force desperately needs to replace its fleet of geriatric CF-18s. But because there was no public bidding competition, other suppliers like Boeing, maker of the CF-18\u2019s successor, the Super Hornet, were shut out of the process.\n\n\u201cI think the Super Hornet would stack up incredibly well against the F-35 in Canada,\u201d said Boeing Vice-President, Mike Gibbons. \u201cWe meet all the high-level Canadian requirements perfectly.\u201d\n\nSmarting from the Auditor General\u2019s report and the bad news from south of the border, the Harper government scrambled for damage control. What seemed like a done deal for the F-35 suddenly became a maybe.\n\n\u201cThe government has not yet purchased this aircraft, has not signed a contract,\u201d Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, said in April 2012.\n\nThe government\u2019s solution so far has been to take the purchase of the F-35 away from the Department of National Defence and hand it to a newly created National Fighter Procurement Secretariat. The Secretariat has commissioned an independent study to estimate new costs for the F-35 and the results are expected in the next months."}
-{"text": "Theresa May could be defeated on a central plank of her Brexit policy as eight Conservative MPs join with Labour to back staying in a customs union with the EU.\n\nFormer Conservative leader William Hague has accused them of being Jeremy Corbyn's \"pawns.\"\n\nRebels hope to force the prime minister to change course in order to avoid defeat.\n\nBusiness Insider has spoken to the Conservative rebels both on and off the record about claims they risk bringing down the government.\n\n\n\nLONDON \u2014 A growing number of Conservative MPs are backing an amendment to one of Theresa May's flagship Brexit bills, despite warnings that it could bring down her government.\n\nThe amendment to the government's Trade Bill is designed to force the prime minister to commit to staying inside \"a customs union\" with the European Union after Brexit.\n\nIt has so far received the backing of the following eight Tory MPs, including several former ministers:\n\nAnna Soubry\n\nNicky Morgan\n\nDr Sarah Wollaston\n\nJonathan Djanogly\n\nStephen Hammond\n\nHeidi Allen\n\nJeremy Lefroy\n\nRobert Neill\n\nThis means it has the potential to wipe out Prime Minister May's working majority in the House of Commons, given Labour's support for the vote. Several other Tory MPs are also rumoured to be about to join the rebellion.\n\nSenior Conservative figures have warned that defeat, on such a central issue for the government, could effectively act as a vote of no confidence in the prime minister and therefore help usher in a Labour government.\n\nOn Monday, former Conservative leader William Hague warned Conservative MPs backing the amendment that they could \"bring down the Government\" and urged his colleagues not to become \"pawns\" in \"Corbyn's cynical game.\"\n\nBusiness Insider has spoken to some of the leading Conservative MPs backing the amendment both on and off the record, about whether they're really prepared to inflict a risky defeat on the prime minister.\n\n'There is a large majority for a soft Brexit'\n\nDaily Mail front page Daily Mail Stephen Hammond, who served as a minister under David Cameron, was sacked as the Conservative party's vice-chair after he helped inflict a parliamentary Brexit defeat on the current prime minister back in December.\n\nMay was defeated then after 11 Conservative MPs joined with Labour in backing an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill calling for a \"meaningful vote\" on her Brexit deal.\n\nIt was one of the lowest points of May's premiership to date and earned Hammond and his Conservative colleagues a place on the front page of the Daily Mail with the splash headline \"PROUD OF YOURSELVES?\"\n\nHammond says he was not put off by that experience and now believes there is a working majority in the Commons to keep Britain inside a customs union, despite the prime minister's stated opposition to it.\n\n\"It is clear that at this moment there is undoubtedly a majority for staying in a customs union,\" Hammond told BI on Tuesday.\n\nHe added that the prime minister must now commit to \"replicating\" the existing Customs Union or risk defeat.\n\n\"There is a large majority in the House of Commons for the sort of things that would make for a soft Brexit and if the government's proposition about a new customs union partnership, arrangement... doesn't essentially replicate the Customs union then I think there are going to be problems for the economy.\"\n\nIndeed the press attacks on the Brexit rebels appear to have backfired and rallied support amongst Remain-backing Conservatives, who are no longer scared of the Brexit-supporting press.\n\n\"I've been through all that now so that doesn't worry me at all,\" one of the Tory rebels told Business Insider this week.\n\nThe MP said a letter earlier this month by Conservative Brexiteers demanding that May leaves the single market during the transition had also hardened their resolve.\n\n\"That was a moment when we realised we needed to stand up and be counted,\" they said.\n\n\"We realised we needed to stand up and be counted\" \u2014 Remain-supporting Conservative MP.\n\nThe Trade bill was expected to come before MPs in the coming weeks but has now been delayed until the spring amid fears that the government is heading for defeat.\n\nHowever, Hammond believes the pressure he and his colleagues are putting on May could force her to change her position when she makes her landmark Brexit speech this Friday.\n\n\"We need to hear Mrs May's speech on Friday, which she says will take away the need for these amendments, and if it does then so much the better,\" Hammond said.\n\nAnother Tory MP who spoke to Business Insider said the prime minister needs \"to be very clear about what is doable.\"\n\nShe says May must spell our to to her party's hardline Brexiteers in her speech on Friday that ending free movement during transition \"just isn't going to happen.\"\n\nCorbyn's 'pawns'?\n\nStephen Hammond PA Images I ask Hammond what his response is to Hague's suggestion that he and his colleagues are \"pawns\" in Corbyn's plan to bring down the government.\n\n\"I'm a great fan of William [Hague] but I would do nothing that would endanger the government,\" he replies.\n\n\"There is nothing in anything I have done or my colleagues have done that will bring down the government, not least because technically we can't. The act that William actually voted for along with all the rest of us, the Fixed Term Parliament act, doesn't actually allow us to bring down the government.\"\n\nUnder the Fixed Term Parliament Act, a government can only be brought down if two-thirds of the House of Commons votes for it. This means that a defeat on the Trade Bill would not in any way automatically force May's exit or another general election.\n\nHowever, defeat on such a central part of the government's Brexit policy would undoubtedly be hugely damaging to May and it is possible to envisage a set of circumstances where it helped trigger the prime minister's departure.\n\nIn order to avoid that, May will need to say something on Friday to bring her party's Remain-supporting rebels onside. It's unclear what that something could be, given she has repeatedly ruled out either staying in the current customs union or any new form of it.\n\nI'm a great fan of William [Hague] but I would do nothing that would endanger the government\n\n\"What I really want to hear her say [on Friday] is how her new arrangements can replace the benefits of the current EU customs union and how it will broadly replicate it,\" Hammond says.\n\nThe growing Tory rebellion on the issue follows the announcement this week from Labour leader Corbyn that the party now backs forming a new customs union with the EU. The announcement received rare applause from business groups who have been campaigning for a change in the government's policy on the issue.\n\nHammond dismisses the idea that business is now backing Labour, but does warn that his party must do reassure the British business community.\n\n\"I don't think business is backing anyone at the moment,\" he says.\n\n\"I think what they were doing yesterday is recognising that the normally mad, lunatic, left-wing proposition of Mr Corbyn wasn't being put forward. And you have to say a recognition of a customs union that broadly replicates what we have now is frankly necessary for trade.\"\n\nHammond believes that his own party now needs to make a similar pro-business shift in favour of a softer Brexit policy. He plans further amendments to the bill which he believes could also force the government towards moving towards a more pro-single market position.\n\n\"I would ask William [Hague] to ask the government, make sure that what you're bringing forward is business friendly and friendly to the jobs and the economy of this country,\" he explains.\n\n\"It is this government's task now to prove that what Mrs May says on Friday can deliver that.\""}
-{"text": "\"I have a 13-year-old son who doesn't trust cops because even though he sees great cops, his experience isn't that,\" Candida said. \"We constantly have to remind him that not all cops are bad,but it's hard because he's living with one who thinks he can get away with anything.\""}
-{"text": "Getty Images\n\nThere was no talk of seeing ghosts, but Sunday was another scary pre-Halloween outing for Jets quarterback Sam Darnold.\n\nAfter tossing four interceptions in a Week Seven loss to the Patriots, Darnold threw three more in a 29-15 loss to the Jaguars that\u2019s erased all the good feelings generated by his winning Week Six return against the Cowboys. Darnold also took eight sacks and said after the game that he wasn\u2019t getting the ball out early enough.\n\nDarnold said he \u201cjust wasn\u2019t executing out there,\u201d but head coach Adam Gase said he deserved a lot of the blame for what\u2019s wrong with the offense.\n\n\u201cI feel like I haven\u2019t helped him enough, I haven\u2019t put him in good enough position,\u201d Gase said in his postgame press conference. \u201cHe\u2019s doing a lot of really good things. It\u2019s just not working the way that it should. There are a lot of things where I\u2019m seeing him make strides and you get excited about it. You see him taking control of the line of scrimmage, making the Mike declarations \u2014 he\u2019s on it. But when he\u2019s making these changes and he\u2019s right, we\u2019re just not all on the same page.\u201d\n\nGase won\u2019t find much argument when it comes to putting the blame for dismal offensive showings on his shoulders. Assigning blame is less important for the Jets than to fix what\u2019s wrong with the unit and the last two weeks have left them with a long list of things that need to get better."}
-{"text": "TIMES SQUARE, Manhattan (WABC) -- A Chicago rapper told police he was the target of a shot that was fired in front of a popular hotel in Times Square.The incident happened Saturday morning at the West 47th Street side of the W Hotel.Police say two men wearing hoodies left the scene after the shot was fired just before 5 a.m.Rapper Chief Keef, whose real name is Keith Farrelle Cozart, wasn't hit.The 22-year-old told police he suspects an ongoing fight over social media with a lesser known rapper may have motivated the shooting.Police are now looking into whether that was the motive.No one was injured. The investigation is ongoing.----------"}
-{"text": "An exhilarating adventure brought to life by the industry-leading id Tech\u00ae 6, Wolfenstein\u00ae II sends players to Nazi-controlled America on a mission to recruit the boldest resistance leaders left. Fight the Nazis in iconic locations such as small-town Roswell, New Mexico, the bayous and boulevards of New Orleans, and a post-nuclear Manhattan. Equip an arsenal of badass guns, and unleash new abilities to blast your way through legions of advanced Nazi soldiers and \u00fcber soldiers in this definitive first-person shooter.\n\n\n\nAmerica, 1961. Your assassination of Nazi General Deathshead was a short-lived victory. Despite the setback, the Nazis maintain their stranglehold on the world. You are BJ Blazkowicz, aka \u201cTerror-Billy,\u201d member of the Resistance, scourge of the Nazi empire, and humanity\u2019s last hope for liberty. Only you have the guts, guns, and gumption to return stateside, kill every Nazi in sight, and spark the second American Revolution.\n\n\n\n\n\nKey Features\n\n\n\n\n\n2 x Steelbook Cases\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Mission: Liberate America from the Nazis\n\nStrap in for a heart-pounding journey as you fight the Nazi war machine on American soil. As BJ Blazkowicz, protect your family and friends, forge new alliances and face the demons of your troubled past as you rally pockets of resistance to overthrow the Nazi occupation.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe People: Rally the Resistance\n\nImmerse yourself in a world brought to life by unforgettable characters who bring a new level of personality to the franchise. Reunite with your friends and fellow freedom fighters such as Anya, Caroline, Bombate, Set, Max Hass, Fergus or Wyatt, and befriend new characters such as Horton and Grace as you take on the evil Frau Engel and her Nazi army.\n\nThe Arsenal: Wield Devastating Guns and Future Tech\n\nBlast Nazis to bits with high-tech weaponry such as the Laserkraftwerk, a multi-purpose, high-intensity laser weapon that can disintegrate enemies, or the Dieselkraftwerk, a rapid-fire, gas-powered grenade launcher that can devastate groups of enemies, or get up close and personal with advanced pistols, submachine guns, and hatchets. When you need a little more versatility, upgrade and dual-wield your favorite guns!\n\nThe Plan: Kill Every Nazi in Your Way\n\nEveryone\u2019s favorite pastime! Unleash your inner war hero as you annihilate Nazis in new and hyper-violent ways. Lock and load futuristic guns and discover BJ\u2019s new set of abilities as you fight to free America. Regardless of your playstyle, invent all-new ways of stabbing, shooting, and killing Nazis.\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Retired finance executive Merrill Newman is seen in a photo taken in Palo Alto, California in 2005. North Korea has detained Newman, an 85-year-old Korean War veteran from California visiting the country as a tourist, pulling him off a plane as he was about to leave the reclusive nation last month, his son said. REUTERS/Nicholas Wright /Palo Alto Weekly SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea accused a detained U.S. veteran on Saturday of killing civilians during the Korean War 60 years ago and showed a video of the 85-year-old making a full confession and apology as if the battles are still raging.\n\nThe North's KCNA news agency said Merrill E. Newman, a former special forces officer, was a mastermind of clandestine operations and had confessed to being \"guilty of a long list of indelible crimes against DPRK government and Korean people.\"\n\nIn the patchy video, Newman appears composed and is shown reading aloud from a handwritten statement dated Nov 9, 2013 in a wood-paneled meeting room. At the end, he bows and places a finger print on the document.\n\n\"I realize that I cannot be forgiven for my offensives (offenses) but I beg for pardon on my knees by apologizing for my offensives (offenses) sincerely toward the DPRK government and the Korean people and I want not punish me (I wish not to be punished),\" Newman, who has a heart rhythm disorder, was quoted as saying by KCNA.\n\nDPRK is short for the North's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. One of the world's most isolated states, it nourishes memories of the 1950-53 war with South Korea and the United States to keep its impoverished people distracted and the family of founder Kim Il Sung in power. His grandson, Kim Jong Un, is North Korea's current ruler.\n\nIt remains technically in a state of war with the South and with the United States because the 1950-53 conflict ended with a truce, not a peace treaty.\n\nNewman, a pensioner from Palo Alto, California, was pulled off an Air Koryo flight in North Korea minutes before it was due to depart for Beijing on October 26.\n\nHis wife, Lee Newman, told CNN earlier this week that her husband went to North Korea to \"put some closure\" on his time during the U.S. military. It was \"an important part of his life,\" she said.\n\nNewman worked as an \"adviser\" to a partisan regiment during the Korean War as \"part of the Intelligence Bureau of the Command of the U.S. Forces in the Far East,\" KCNA said in a separate report.\n\n\"He is a criminal as he masterminded espionage and subversive activities against the DPRK and in this course he was involved in killings of service personnel of the Korean People's Army and innocent civilians,\" KCNA said.\n\nNewman reads from a piece of paper at an undisclosed location in this undated image released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on November 30, 2013 Youtube Newman, in his statement carried by KCNA, said he trained scores of men in guerrilla warfare against the North, including how to sabotage communications and transport lines and disrupt munitions supply.\n\n\"In the process of following tasks given by me, I believe they would kill more innocent people,\" Newman said in the statement.\n\nPublic documents in South Korea and the United States show U.S. officers worked as \"advisers\" to groups of anti-communist partisans during the Korean War. The conflict pitted the Communist North, backed by China and the Soviet Union, against the republican South, backed by the United States.\n\nThese officers trained Korean anti-communist guerilla units to launch attacks behind enemy lines.\n\nNewman belonged to the 8240th Unit, nicknamed the 'White Tigers', said guerrillas who were trained by him.\n\n\"We co-operated and helped with each other and fought,\" Kim Hyeon who lives south of Seoul said in an interview with Reuters. Hyeon remained in touch with Newman after the war and visited him with his family in 2004.\n\n\"In the past we couldn't even speak up (about our activities,)\" said Kim, who served as a staff officer of the Kuwol Regiment of partisans, referring to the clandestine operations it conducted under Newman's supervision.\n\nSEEKING CLOSURE\n\nKCNA gave no indication of what might happen to Newman.\n\nHis family has appealed to the North Korean government for his release saying they believed \"some dreadful misunderstanding\" was behind the detention.\n\n\"If Newman was with the partisans that may explain his detention,\" Bruce Cumings, an expert on the Korean War at the University of Chicago, told Reuters.\n\n\"The North Koreans would treat someone like that with much more disdain than a regular line soldier or officer in the American forces.\"\n\nA U.S. State Department spokesman said there was no immediate comment on the news. The State Department had previously refused to provide any details of the arrest other than confirming the detention of a U.S. citizen.\n\nAfter serving in the war, Newman worked as a manufacturing and business executive before retiring in 1984, according to a biography of him in a February 2012 newsletter from Channing House, his retirement home.\n\nNorth Korea is also holding another American, Christian missionary Kenneth Bae of Korean decent, arrested last year and sentenced in May to 15 years of hard labor on charges of committing hostile acts against the state.\n\nNewman's family has not commented on the latest developments. Phone calls and email queries to his son, Jeff Newman, a real estate executive in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, were not answered.\n\nKCNA said Newman had asked his guide to help look for any surviving soldiers he would have fought against or their families.\n\n\"Shamelessly I had a plan to meet any surviving soldiers and pray for the souls of the dead soldiers in Kuwol Mt. during the Korean war,\" he said.\n\n(Additional reporting by Ju-min Park and James Pearson; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Neil Fullick)"}
-{"text": "An as yet unnamed 29-year-old pleaded guilty on Friday to charges relating to the hijacking of more than 1.25 million Deutsche Telekom routers, according to reports in the German press.\n\nGerman news agency DPA and others quoted a court spokesman as saying the accused, who pleaded guilty to \"attempted computer sabotage\", had \"registered under the names 'Peter Parker' and 'Spiderman'\".\n\nDeutsche Telekom's routers became infected with a modified version of the Mirai IoT malware late last year, causing over a million pounds' worth of damage, the firm said at the time.\n\nThe man reportedly told the court (through a translator) that he'd been hired by a Liberian ISP to take out local competition in the African country for the relatively modest fee of $10,000 for a \u201cgood start into married life\u201d.\n\nHe claimed the ISP hadn't asked him to hack Deutsche Telekom, but rather to create a botnet that would cripple a competing business.\n\nThe self-taught programmer had been \"studying computers since childhood\", but had not had any specialist training, the DPA reported.\n\nIn practice, his efforts had knocked DT's routers offline, creating net outages in German homes and businesses in the process last November.\n\nThe Deutsche Telekom attack came a month after Mirai source code leaked online.\n\nThe suspect was arrested in a London airport at the end of February by police acting on an international arrest warrant and extradited to Germany.\n\nHis sentencing hearing before a Cologne court is scheduled for this Friday, 28 July. \u00ae"}
-{"text": "La sezione lombarda del Movimento 5 Stelle ha commentato l\u2019assegnazione delle Olimpiadi invernali del 2026 a Milano e Cortina postando su Facebook e sul proprio blog una grafica e un commento secondo cui la decisione sarebbe una \u00abvittoria del M5S\u00bb.\n\n\u00c8 un\u2019affermazione quantomeno discutibile: \u00e8 vero che a livello regionale il Movimento 5 Stelle era da tempo a favore della candidatura di Milano e Cortina, pur col distinguo \u00abse non ci sono oneri per lo Stato\u00bb (e in realt\u00e0 ce ne sono). Ma al momento il partito non \u00e8 al governo e non ha ruoli o poteri decisionali in nessuno degli enti coinvolti: n\u00e9 a Milano, n\u00e9 a Cortina, n\u00e9 a livello regionale in Lombardia o Veneto.\n\nA livello nazionale, poi, il Movimento 5 Stelle \u00e8 da sempre contrario all\u2019organizzazione di ampie e costose manifestazioni internazionali: l\u2019anno scorso la citt\u00e0 di Torino, governata da Chiara Appendino del M5S, aveva deciso di scartare l\u2019ipotesi di candidarsi insieme a Milano e Cortina, sembra per una questione di costi. Due anni prima la sindaca di Roma eletta dal Movimento 5 Stelle, Virginia Raggi, aveva ritirato la candidatura della citt\u00e0 a ospitare le Olimpiadi estive del 2024. Inoltre, qualche mese fa, il vicepresidente del Consiglio Luigi Di Maio aveva fatto dichiarazioni molto scettiche sulla candidatura di Milano e Cortina.\n\nAggiornamento: il post su Facebook e quello sul blog del M5S Lombardia sembrano essere stati cancellati dopo la mezzanotte. Restano inevitabilmente online le immagini qui sopra, e queste."}
-{"text": "A PENSIONER visiting a Northwich heritage attraction got caught up in rules designed to stop people taking advantage.\n\nNorthwich man John Wilkinson said his wife took her elderly cousin Margaret Dean to Anderton Boat Lift for a day out but the women were horrified when they were charged extra in the cafe.\n\nHe said Mrs Dean, who is in her 80s, suffers from a medical condition which means she can only drink a couple of mouthfuls at one time so they ordered a pot of tea and asked for an extra cup for Mrs Dean.\n\nStaff charged them \u00a31 for the cup.\n\nJohn said: \u201cShe was down here from Manchester for a birthday treat because she wanted to see the boat lift but this ruined her day.\n\n\u201cThey were fuming when they got home.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been in hundreds of cafes and restaurants and never had that.\n\n\u201cPeople in pubs or restauants often ask for an extra plate for their children and are not charged, this is something I\u2019ve never heard of before.\u201d\n\nTim Turner, manager of Anderton Boat Lift, said: \u201cWe clearly state on the board that it\u2019s a pot of tea for one.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s standard policy not to give extra cups free of charge then people don\u2019t share a pot of tea for one between a group.\n\n\u201cWe also charge for a cup of hot water because what some other people do is bring in their own tea bags and just ask for hot water.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Our Little Sister (Kore-eda Hirokazu, 2015).\n\nDB here:\n\nThe perennial Silly Season topic, The Death of Film, is back.\n\nIn June, Huffington Post\u2018s Matthew Jacobs announced \u201cThe death of Movies As We Know Them.\u201d He laments the loss of \u201csolid storytelling and bankable stars.\u201d In August, Brian Raftery asked: \u201cCould this be the year that movies stopped mattering?\u201d The author argues that now movies are \u201cSomething to Do When the Wi-Fi\u2019s Down.\u201d Echoing the virality theme, Ty Burr announced that two albums, Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s \u201cLemonade\u201d and Frank Ocean\u2019s \u201cBlonde,\u201d \u201ccame packaged with better movies than anything in theatres.\u201d For Burr, the summer season confirmed that audiences are more interested in grazing among YouTube clips and luxuriating in eight-hour video serials than watching a feature film. \u201cThe two-hour movie, especially in its larger and more commercial form, is becoming a relic.\u201d\n\nRichard Brody eloquently replied to Raftery, noting Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s debt to Julie Dash and Khalik Allah\u2019s films. Brody has been around this block before, as I noted in a 2012 blog entry.\n\nThe cinema-is-dead complaint, Richard Brody helpfully points out, is now an established genre of movie journalism. In the last few weeks David Denby, David Thomson, Andrew O\u2019Hehir, and Jason Bailey have in different registers sought to revive this quintessentially empty polemic. I\u2019ve gone on about the tired conventions of film reviewing about once every year on this soapbox. (Try here and here and here and here; Kristin got in some licks too). For now I\u2019ll just say that I\u2019m convinced that the Death of Cinema (or Hollywood, or the Intelligent Foreign Film, or Popular Movie Culture, or Elite Film Culture) is simply a journalistic trope, like Sequels Betray a Lack of Imagination or This Movie Reflects Our Anxieties. In short: an easy way to fill column inches.\n\nBut after four years, maybe things really have deteriorated. So let\u2019s get specific. What\u2019s really going down the tubes? The theatrical side of the industry? Quality? Cultural cachet?\n\nMovies, your best entertainment value\n\nBar area of Orange Cinema Club, Beijing.\n\nLet\u2019s look at some current evidence about the industry, thanks to the redoubtable Cinema research division of IHS Media Technology.\n\nThe newest symptom of cinema\u2019s demise, according to many, is the rise of Netflix and other streaming platforms. Serial TV is attracting a lot of attention, true, but streaming has long relied on licensing feature films from studios, independents, and overseas companies. TCM and Criterion are launching FilmStruck as a new channel chock-full of classic films from Hollywood and elsewhere. Amazon and Netflix have also begun acquiring and financing features to guarantee a supply of those two-hour films that for some reason people still want to watch.\n\nBut what about movies in theatres? Actually, things are pretty robust. Despite everybody viewing at home and on the go, for many years theatre growth has been phenomenal. In 2015 the world added about 12,000 screens, hitting a new high: 153,163. Not counting all our \u201csecond screens\u201d (and third), there are more movie screens now than ever before.\n\nBy the way, those of us, me included, who worried that the rise of digital exhibition would cause a drop in screens were wrong. Digital was a shot in the arm to theatrical exhibition, and it made 3D a viable platform. That format shows signs of growth, chiefly because of China, and now 16-20% of box-office grosses come from 3D screenings.\n\nIn keeping with the expansion of exhibition, for the last decade, the global box office has risen steadily. Almost every year sets a record. The new height is $37.7 billion for 2015, and it seems likely that 2016 will beat that.\n\nAs for number of admissions, 2015 also set a record: 7.4 billion, a jump of 13% over 2014. This is a bit more than one ticket for every man, woman, and child on earth. The first half of 2016 is ahead of the same period last year.\n\nOf course revenues don\u2019t equal profits. Jacobs is especially concerned that some big films have been losing money in their domestic theatrical run. But most films lose money in that run. For a long time, ancillary markets (DVD, overseas cable, merchandising, etc.) made up for the deficits. More and more, overseas theatrical is helping in a big way. In a recent rundown, of the summer\u2019s top twenty hits, a print story in The Hollywood Reporter indicates that foreign grosses outweigh US/Canadian ones in most cases, and sometimes by a lot.\n\nFor example, big as Captain America: Civil War was in the US, 65% of its $1.1 billion haul was due to the offshore market. X-Men: Apocalypse got half a billion theatrical, 71% of which came from the international audience. Ancillaries will still need to kick in, given the mammoth budgets of films like these, but those ancillaries piggyback on theatrical visibility. As ever, the big pictures pay for a lot of lesser films.\n\nMoreover, so many costs are buried or dispersed in overhead, debt service, tax incentives, deferred payments, far-fetched studio expenses, and the like that it seems hard to know what final profits really are. Nor will we know what, if any, profits are yielded by films from countries with subsidized film industries.\n\nThere are many things to worry about in the exhibition business, but it doesn\u2019t seem on the verge of collapse. Let\u2019s keep a sense of proportion. Here is what the death of \u201cour cinema\u201d might really look like.\n\nTheatre admissions fall 45% over six years. Studio profits fall 80% over the same period. One-sixth of theatres close. Major overseas markets refuse to remit the earnings of Hollywood films. Audiences turn increasingly to other leisure activities.\n\nThis was the state of the American film industry in 1953. The prosperous war years, culminating in the all-time admissions high of 1946, were over and the studios went into sharp decline. Thanks to the 1948 Supreme Court \u201cDivorcement Decree,\u201d the studios lost control of their theatres, relinquishing not only valuable showcases for their product but also millions of dollars of prime real estate.\n\nYet as we know, 1953 didn\u2019t end cinema, not even American cinema. As the old studio system waned, a new one eventually replaced it. In the process, Hollywood continued to make major films. Filmmaking abroad\u2014in Asia, Europe, and South America especially\u2014flourished. Film festivals sprang up, and a new young public proved eager to watch movies from a variety of cultures. Avant-garde and documentary movements gained traction, partly because of the widespread dissemination of 16mm.\n\nNo one, so far as I can tell, predicted the end of cinema, or Hollywood, because of the 1947-1953 crisis. That person would have looked very foolish. Things today aren\u2019t nearly so severe.\n\nLong, hot summers\n\nWhat about quality? A. O. Scott points out that the way to quell fears for the End of Good Cinema is to go to a film festival. It\u2019s good advice that we\u2019ve given as well. Richard Brody, who has I think seen everything, responds to Raftery by reminding us of many valuable films that the naysayers ignore. Another way to remain calm is to look at a little history.\n\nThings often seem grim at summer\u2019s end. Let\u2019s go back fifty years, to the summer of 1966. In those days, the blockbusters and prestige pictures were saved for fall and winter. Indeed, the blockbusters were largely the prestige pictures, the adaptations of novels and plays. The big grosser of the year was Hawaii, released in October. Two others were The Bible: In the Beginning (September) and A Man for All Seasons (December). But two of the top-grossers hit the jackpot in the summer: Who\u2019s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (July) and Lt. Robin Crusoe, USN (June).\n\nPause on this last title. Lt. Robin Crusoe, USN was an indisputably lowbrow hit, a Disney comedy starring Dick Van Dyke. The fact that it earned $10.1 million (about $75 million today) might well have set critics worrying about American tastes. Worse, they might have concluded there was no hope, because from 1950 to 1970, twenty Disney films appeared in the annual top five. That record includes not only animated classics but In Search of the Castaways, That Darn Cat, and Darby O\u2019Gill and the Little People\u2013enough to make intellectuals despair of American moviegoers. Robin Crusoe\u2018s summer success might have seemed another sign of End Times.\n\nSummer 1966 also saw The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, Fantastic Voyage, the remake of Stagecoach, a Bob Hope comedy, the low camp of Batman, and the high camp of Modesty Blaise. The 1966 counterpart to our spate of superhero sagas was a cycle of spy movies, somber or spoofy. The summer yielded Blindfold, Arabesque, and even The Man Called Flintstone. Along with these came Nevada Smith, Khartoum, What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?, This Property Is Condemned, and Wild Angels.\n\nSome of these are well-remembered, mostly by viewers exposed at an impressionable age. For prestige there was and remains Virginia Woolf. For auteurists, there was Three on a Couch and Torn Curtain, and perhaps Modesty Blaise. As for the rest, most were and are still decried as junk.\n\nThings were not looking good for American cinema. The Sound of Music had just won the Best Picture Oscar, a middlebrow shot across critics\u2019 bow, and Pauline Kael was turning angry firepower on the massive threat posed by The Singing Nun. In the summer, the Times lambasted Hitchcock and Jerry Lewis. As far as I can tell, the follow-ups to the Bond boom pleased hardly anybody.\n\nIn sum, we forget just how godawful summer movies can be, year in and year out. The few we remember after Labor Day bob up from a river of sludge. We should be grateful for Indignation, Finding Dory, Lights Out, The Shallows, Hell or High Water, Don\u2019t Breathe, The BFG, Kubo and the Two Strings, and probably half a dozen others I haven\u2019t seen. (But not Jason Bourne, which I have.) Ben-Hur wasn\u2019t as terrible as I\u2019d been led to believe.\n\nAnd of course, everybody\u2019s pumped for the fall, for Snowden and The Arrival and The Birth of a Nation and La La Land and Manchester by the Sea and all the rest. 1966 critics were looking forward as well, but to what? Not only Hawaii, The Bible, and A Man for All Seasons but also Is Paris Burning?, Grand Prix, Any Wednesday, The Sand Pebbles and more spy movies (Gambit, The Quiller Memorandum). Not so exciting by our standards; Big Pictures were more square then.\n\nTrue, also coming up in the fall of \u201966 were The Fortune Cookie, Seconds, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Fahrenheit 451, The Professionals, Loves of a Blonde, and Blow-Up. But even then some critics stayed unhappy. Kael denounced Blow-Up, and Vernon Young intoned: \u201cThe party\u2019s over. . . . Another phase of film history, in many ways the most creative, is drawing to a close.\u201d Sound familiar?\n\nConversation starters and stoppers\n\nEnd-of-movie writers argue that pop music and Quality Television are usurping the cultural place of film. But I\u2019m skeptical, because I don\u2019t think film is playing in the same arena.\n\nOdd as it sounds, film has never been popular on the scale of other mass media. Before TV, radio listeners far outnumbered film audiences. Via radio and records, a hit tune reached more people than nearly any movie. Even today, radio audiences are surprisingly big. Nielsen reported in 2014 that just in the 18-35 age group, 65 million people listen to radio broadcasts each week. That\u2019s nearly three times the average number of all viewers who attend movie theatres in a week.\n\nOnce TV came along, it became another truly mass medium. 73 million people, over a third of the US population, watched the Beatles on Ed Sullivan in 1964. TV is still the big game. More than 20 million people watch The Big Bang Theory each week. It\u2019s reported that 8.9 million people watched the season finale of Game of Thrones in original cablecast, and 23 million in all its iterations. Yet, again, about 23 million people see all the movies playing in a given week.\n\nThe plain fact is that visiting a theatre to see a movie has been, throughout most of American history, a middle-class pastime. It\u2019s relatively expensive, and getting more so. It\u2019s not quite niche, not as rarefied as theatre or concert music or novels, but still not on the scale of other media. We ought to expect that memes will spread faster and more pervasively in pop music and television platforms.\n\nOur critics are concerned that films aren\u2019t part of what Raftery calls \u201cthe pop-cultural conversation.\u201d \u201cWhat in popular culture got people excited or even interested over the last few months?\u201d asks Burr, going on to worry that movies didn\u2019t do so. This is a strange criterion for judging films. Hula hoops, Rubik cubes, Chia pets, and Donald Trump\u2019s coiffure have all been part of the cultural conversation. Some good films excite lots of people, and some don\u2019t (partly because those people don\u2019t know of them). And of course many people got excited by films Burr and Raftery considered bad, like Suicide Squad. Excitement may not be a great standard for excellence.\n\nThe cultural-conversation gambit suggests that mere popularity needs to be accompanied by a special jolt, the hum of nowness, the throb of hipness. Financially successful films like The Jungle Book or Finding Dory don\u2019t give off much buzz. Where does that special ingredient come from? Apparently, now, the Netizens. It\u2019s natural that critics, who are assigned to surf the waves of mass tastes, would identify important art with what\u2019s trending on Facebook. It\u2019s their job to hop on what\u2019s hot.\n\nOr in truth, help make it hot. When critics treat what\u2019s buzzy as valuable, they agree with marketers, and cooperate with them. How many critics who loved The Dark Knight had been prompted by the campaign that played up \u201cWhy So Serious?\u201d and other memes that publicists thought would stick? Kristin has documented how The Lord of the Rings marketers set the agenda for journalists by means of junkets and Electronic Press Kits (above), while wooing fans with carefully judged opportunities to participate online (a \u201cpop-cultural conversation,\u201d for sure). The typical big film is positioned by the marketing campaign, and even unanticipated responses, especially if the film is strategically ambiguous, can feed ticket sales.\n\nThe People don\u2019t start the cultural conversation; they react to what they\u2019re given. The conversation is started by the studios, and they try to channel it. They generate the \u201ccontroversies\u201d about making the protagonists of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens a woman and an African American man. The critics pick up the story. (Remember: column inches.) Viewers dutifully enter their opinions on blogs, tweets, and comments columns\u2013which the critics then re-spin. As Brody points out of Quality TV, it\u2019s all about expanding discourse, indefinitely. Criticism begets \u201ccomments\u201d which beget chitchat. This is less a conversation than a perpetually chattering flashmob.\n\nA side note: I wonder if making cultural buzz a criterion of worthwhile cinema doesn\u2019t owe something to the influence of Pauline Kael. She sent contradictory signals on this score, worrying that audiences were too easily bought off; the industry jollied them into accepting junk as fun. But she thought that one reason to like, say, Bonnie and Clyde was the fact that it was \u201ccontemporary in feeling.\u201d It brought into movies \u201cthings that people have been feeling and saying and writing about.\u201d\n\nFor a moment let\u2019s accept the assumption that worthy movies have some broader cultural impact. How could we measure that? I suggest the Tagline Test. A movie enters the culture when a line becomes instantly recognizable. At its best, the tagline applies to an immediate situation. You step into a startling new setting and tell your friend you don\u2019t think you\u2019re in Kansas any more. You talk about your boss making you an offer you can\u2019t refuse. You\u2019re bargaining and you say, \u201cShow me the money.\u201d TV gives us plenty of catchphrases, of course. (\u201cYou rang?\u201d \u201cNot that there\u2019s anything wrong with that.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t have a cow, man.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s what she said.\u201d) This is one symptom of a show\u2019s buzziness.\n\nWhen I came up with the Tagline Test, I thought it supported the doomsayers\u2019 diagnosis. I couldn\u2019t think of many memorable lines from films after the 1980s. Had TV taken over the traffic in catchphrases? Crowdsourcing among two fairly diverse populations came up with a big set. Here\u2019s a sample:\n\nHasta la vista, baby. Houston, we have a problem. That\u2019ll do, pig; that\u2019ll do. I drink your milkshake. The Precious (enunciated in a high voice). With great power comes great responsibility. Stop trying to make fetch happen. She doesn\u2019t even go here. Stay classy. That escalated quickly. The first Rule of Fight Club\u2026 60% of the time, it works every time. Little golden-haired baby Jesus in the crib. Schwing! Coffee is for closers. King of the World! Stay alive; I will find you.\n\nThe Big Lebowski is a virtual encyclopedia of them: The Dude abides. Obviously you\u2019re not a golfer. That rug really tied the room together. Nobody fucks with the Jesus. So too Napoleon Dynamite: Whatever I feel like I wanna do GOSH! I\u2019m pretty much the best in the world at it.\n\nMaybe you don\u2019t agree that these are all equally common; I didn\u2019t know about the Mean Girls and Napoleon Dynamite ones. But all I need to show is that recent movies have entered the \u201ccultural conversation\u201d quite literally. Maybe it just takes months or years for movie taglines to replicate in everyday life. Anyhow, those who want movies to get all buzzy don\u2019t have to worry. With Oscar season upon us, the frenzy will begin. In fact it already has, with Nate Parker\u2019s The Birth of a Nation.\n\nWho\u2019s we?\n\nIn talking about \u201cour\u201d cinema, I\u2019ve been too glib, though this angle fits with an assumption of the death-knoll critics (\u201cMovies as We Know Them\u201d). Of course, Jacobs, Raftery, and Burr all acknowledge that Hollywood isn\u2019t making movies just for us; it\u2019s a world industry. People elsewhere (many recently arrived in the local equivalent of the middle class) seem keen to participate in American popular culture, with fashion, music, TV, and websites. Hollywood entertainment, lame as it often is, is part of being cosmopolitan.\n\nStill, maybe it\u2019s time to admit that we don\u2019t own Hollywood. Maybe we never did, but it seems clear that with globalization \u201cour\u201d popular cinema is becoming something else\u2013not exactly \u201ctheirs,\u201d but not wholly ours either. Now You See Me 2 may have attracted only mild interest here: little cultural chitchat, except maybe among magicians, and $65 million box office (less than Lt. Robin Crusoe, USN). But it garnered $266 million internationally. Nearly a hundred million of that came from China, perhaps partly owing to long stretches set in Macau and short stretches featuring Jay Chou Kit-lun. And the director was Asian-American Jon M. Chu.\n\nNow Lionsgate announces a Now You See Me spinoff, a feature co-production with China that will use local stars. So who owns this franchise? \u201cUs\u201d or \u201cthem\u201d? If it disappoints us and pleases them, how does that mean that movies are so over? Maybe other countries\u2019 cultural conversations are pulsing with talk of the Four Horsemen (one of whom is a woman).\n\nIt\u2019s long been obvious that other film industries create their own versions of Hollywood. Europe, India, and Hong Kong have done it for decades. Current Chinese hits borrow from \u201cour\u201d rom-coms, action pictures, and comedies. In Stephen Chow Sing-chi\u2019s The Mermaid, you can watch a blockbuster premise coming unglued. It\u2019s a mixture of sentiment, message, slapstick, and bad taste; Hollywood twisted up in Chow\u2019s characteristic funhouse mirror.\n\nThis won\u2019t stop. One of the most astonishing and puzzling facts of contemporary cinema gets almost no press, maybe because it contravenes the death-of-film narrative. Over the last ten years, there has been a huge rise in the number of feature films.\n\nIn 2001, the world produced about 3800 features annually. The number passed 4000 in 2002, passed 5000 in 2007, and passed 6000 in 2011. In 2014, IHS estimates, over 7300 feature films were made in the world. There are now fifteen countries that produce over 100 features a year. As a result, only 18% of the world\u2019s features come from North America. The boom took place despite the rise of home video, cable, satellite, DVD, Blu-ray, VOD, and streaming. And it happened despite the fact that American blockbusters rule nearly every national market. This may be a bubble, or it may be genuine growth. In any case, we ought to investigate the reasons that a great many people around the world stubbornly persist in making two-hour films. They don\u2019t appear to care if We sense a summer slump.\n\nWhile I was preparing this entry, Kristin and I went to Our Little Sister, Kore-eda Hirokazu\u2019s 2015 film about three sisters abandoned, first by the father, then by their mother, and raised by the moderately stern oldest sister. The plot follows what happens when the trio takes in their half-sister after her mother dies. This is a movie that\u2019s bereft of villains and almost totally lacking in conflict. The sisters\u2019 misjudgments and flaws cause them problems, and sometimes they quarrel, but mostly we see decent people trying to lead happy lives, and largely succeeding. Compared to Kore-eda\u2019s debut, Maboroshi (1995), it\u2019s pictorially rather conventional. (That damn sidling camera.) But its episodic, open-textured plot, its quiet depiction of changes across seasons and years, and its casually serene vision of family and community make it one of the most enjoyable and moving films I\u2019ve seen this year.\n\nBased on the graphic novel Umimachi Diary, the film participated in Japan\u2019s \u201ccultural conversation.\u201d It\u2019s certainly a mainstream commercial movie, of a sort that Japanese studios have turned out for decades. It won solid attention on the festival circuit too. It earned a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, up there with Kubo and Hell or High Water. But such a reserved, sentimental film will never get the edgy buzz that our doomsayers want. Sentiment, after all, is anathema to our dominant mode of consuming pop culture, that of cool, ironic knowingness.\n\nI don\u2019t want to oversell Our Little Sister: Kore-eda is no Ozu. But this film and many others remind us that worthwhile films are still made, and released, and available outside the circus tent of Entertainment Weekly cover stories. (In this case, Americans\u2019 thanks should go to Sony Pictures Classics, now celebrating its 25th anniversary.)\n\nIn short: Forget the zeitgeist; it likely doesn\u2019t exist, apart from marketers\u2019 dreams and journalists\u2019 deadlines. Forget the cultural conversation; there\u2019s not only one. Seek out the films that matter to you, and not \u201cto us.\u201d Stay classy!\n\nThanks to correspondents on two listserves, that of Communication Arts film folk and that of the Art House Convergence. A great many people made many suggestions, with the inevitable duplication, so thanking everyone by name would be protracted. But you know who you are.\n\nMy information on worldwide production and exhibition comes from issues of IHS Media & Technology Digest and Cinema Intelligence Report. Special thanks to David Hancock, Director of IHS Cinema division. Pamela McClintock\u2019s \u201cSummer Anxiety Despite Near-Record Numbers\u201d in the 16 September Hollywood Reporter print edition contains the top-twenty film list I mention; that chart isn\u2019t included in the online version.\n\nOn the summer 1966 US releases, see The Film Daily Yearbook of Motion Pictures 1967 (Film Daily, 1967), 144-168. I charted the year\u2019s top-grossers from Susan Sackett, The Hollywood Reporter Book of Box Office Hits (Billboard, 1996).\n\nMy quotations from Pauline Kael come from her Bonnie and Clyde review reprinted in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1968), 47. My quotation from Vernon Young is the opening of his \u201cThe Verge and After: Film by 1966,\u201d in On Film: Unpopular Essays on a Popular Art (Quadrangle, 1972), 273.\n\nIt\u2019s probably irrelevant to mention that both Scorpio Rising and The Brig were released, in some sense, in summer 1966.\n\nP. S. 18 September 2016: And see the practically real-time followup. Remember when blogs were like Twitter is now?\n\n12,000 tickets are sold for premiere screenings of Baahubali (2015) in Hyderabad, India."}
-{"text": "Since yesterday, Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza and the Malaca\u00f1ang spokesperson have issued separate statements impugning the revolutionary forces\u2019 seriousness to talk peace citing military actions of the New People\u2019s Army (NPA) in Mindanao and elsewhere which they claim \u201cdisrupts the conducive and enabling environment\u201d for peace talks. It denigrates as well the NDFP Negotiating Panel and questions its representation of the revolutionary forces.\n\nPrejudicial question\n\nIn view of these Malaca\u00f1ang statements since yesterday, the prejudicial question must be put forward and asked of the GRP\u2019s mouthpieces: has GRP Pres. Duterte ordered the AFP to refrain from carrying out offensives against the NPA since the June 18 statement of GRP Negotiating Panel Chief Silvestre Bello III declaring \u201cnot undertaking offensive operations\u201d against the NPA?\n\nIf Malaca\u00f1ang cannot show such specific orders by Duterte, then its spokesperson must better refrain from issuing statements which castigates the NPA for carrying out actions against the AFP\u2019s all-out war.\n\nThe GRP should remember that the recommendation of the NDF for the CPP to order the NPA to refrain from carrying out offensives in Mindanao rests on the critical precondition that the AFP will likewise refrain as well from attacking the NPA and the people in the revolutionary base areas in Mindanao. Presently, such conditions do not exist concretely.\n\nUnabated all-out war\n\nMore than a week after Bello\u2019s statement, the people have not seen nor heard of a Duterte order \u201cnot to undertake offensives\u201d against the NPA. On the contrary, his defense secretary and military commanders have repeatedly declared that the AFP will conduct \u201cpursuit\u201d operations against the NPA. Duterte has neither rescinded his government\u2019s \u201call-out war\u201d policy and \u201cflatten the hills\u201d command against the NPA. The AFP\u2019s war of suppression in Mindanao has worsened since the imposition of martial law more than a month ago.\n\nBefore claiming the right to castigate the NPA, the GRP must first account for all its unabated armed offensives and aerial bombardments across the country. These offensives have resulted in at least eight NPA casualties over the past ten days in Mindanao alone. Paramilitaries have been employed as well to attack the schools run by Lumad organizations.\n\nHuman rights abuses continue to worsen and have become more intense compared to the period prior to martial law. The number of extrajudicial killings continues to go up. At least five people have been killed by state forces in Southern Mindanao alone since martial law was declared. In addition to close to 310,000 people who have been forced to evacuate in Marawi City and nearby towns, thousands more in North Cotabato, Bukidnon, Davao del Sur and elsewhere are now in evacuation centers after AFP aerial bombardment targeting their communities and farms.\n\nIn Mindanao, the AFP has deployed several scores of columns to wage relentless offensives in Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, Compostela Valley, Davao del Sur, Davao City, North Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, Bukidnon, Surigao del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte and other provinces.\n\nOver the past few weeks, there have also been AFP offensives and attacks against civilians in Abra, Kalinga, Isabela, Quirino, Camarines Norte, Sorsogon, Albay, Northern Samar, Leyte, Iloilo, Capiz, Negros Occidental and elsewhere.\n\nThe conditions under Duterte\u2019s all-out war compel the NPA to carry-out counter-actions to defend itself and the people. It needs to launch military actions in the widest possible area to dissipate the offensives of the AFP and blunt its attacks against the people.\n\nCPP looks forward to peace talks\n\nThe CPP and the revolutionary forces have repeatedly and unequivocally declared its support for the NDFP-GRP peace negotiations. The NDFP Negotiating Panel with its Chief Fidel Agcaoili and NDFP Chief Political Consultant Jose Ma. Sison, is fully recognized by the entire CPP and NPA.\n\nLike the GRP panel makes recommendation to Duterte, so does the NDFP Negotiating Panel make recommendations to the NDFP National Council, of which the CPP is part of, as well as to the CPP Central Committee which commands the NPA. The recommendations of the NDFP carry great weight in the decisions of the CPP and NDFP leadership.\n\nThe Party looks forward to continuation of the 5th round of NDFP-GRP peace talks in August or September. It anticipates preparations to be conducted by both sides in the interim.\n\nThe revolutionary forces continue to regard peace negotiations as an opportunity to resolve through dialogue the fundamental socio-economic issues at the root of the armed conflict, even as the people are compelled to wage ever greater resistance against the oppression, exploitation and armed suppression by the reactionary state.\n\nThe NDFP-GRP peace talks are at a historic juncture as the issues of socio-economic reforms are on the table.\n\nWill the Duterte regime share the same determination with the NDFP to accelerate negotiations on CASER? Or will he merely continue the old US/AFP counterinsurgency policy of using peace negotiations as a tool for pacification and cooptation by insisting that the NPA silence its guns while the AFP wages all-out war and demanding the NDFP to prematurely enter into a bilateral ceasefire even before completing the agenda on socio-economic reforms and political and constitutional reforms?\n\nInformation Bureau\n\nCommunist Party of the Philippines\n\n25 June 2017\n\nSource : https://www.philippinerevolution.info/statements/20170625-on-opapp-statement-concerning-npa-military-actions"}
-{"text": "Raj Sadosh\n\nAbohar, October 13\n\nSpread over an area of about 18,650 hectares, the Abohar Wildlife Sanctuary is unique as it is an open sanctuary, but not safe for protected species.\n\nJeev Raksha Bishnoi Sabha activists on Sunday informed Wildlife Department officials here that stray dogs last night targeted and killed a black buck at Raipura village on the Abohar-Seetogunno road. Block officer Anita and forest guard Jaspinder Singh informed Forest Range Officer Malkiat Singh. According to information, stray dogs have killed a blue bull at Patrewala village.\n\nThe sabha said four blue bulls were mauled by stray dogs in the fields of Banwari Lal in Khairpur and another farmer in Himmatpura village last week.\n\nThey alleged that the state government did nothing to check stray dog menace and their claims of protecting animals in the open sanctuary proved to be farce. The sabha has called a meeting on Monday to plan a protest.\n\nThe sanctuary comprises farmlands of 13 Bishnoi villages. Black bucks were earlier found wandering freely in the villages. The Bishnois have saved black bucks from poaching, with their numbers rising beyond 4,000 in the sanctuary.\n\nDespite a ban, people are using cobra fencing around fields and nobody has been booked so far. Even today Pawan Kumar of Kerakhera was hospitalised after he lost control over his bike and it struck into cobra fencing outside a field at Bazidpur Bhoma village in the sanctuary area.\n\nSub-Divisional Magistrate Poonam Singh has told the Wildlife Department to submit a status report within 24 hours. \u201cI will call a meeting to consider steps to tackle stray dog menace,\u201d she said."}
-{"text": "next \u2192 \u2190 prev Joomla - Website Backup It is always a good practice to make a backup file regularly to ensure that you do not lose your Joomla database or files. There can be many causes of data loss, such as website crashing, malicious attack, or anything else. It is not just about accidents; it can also be helpful in the safe development of new features. Check out the methods given below to understand how to make a backup of your Joomla site: Method 1: One-Click Joomla Backup It is the commonly used method to take a backup of the Joomla web sites. To use this method, you need to install an extension known as \"Akeeba Backup\". It helps you to create and manage backups of Joomla sites very quickly. Download Akeeba Backup Navigate to the official website of 'Akeeba Backup' using the following link. https://www.akeebabackup.com/\n\nClick on the 'Download' tab from the top menu bar.\n\nDownload the latest version of 'Akeeba Backup for Joomla'. Install Akeeba Backup Log in to your Joomla account and navigate to the \" Extensions - Manage - Install \" from the taskbar.\n\n\" from the taskbar. Click on the \" Upload Package File \" tab and browse for the compressed file (should be a compressed zip file) of 'Akeeba Backup' that you have already downloaded.\n\n\" tab and browse for the compressed file (should be a compressed zip file) of 'Akeeba Backup' that you have already downloaded. It will start the installation after you select the package file. It will also display a message that the installation was successful. After installing the 'Akeeba Backup' extension, navigate to the \"Components - Akeeba Backup\" and click on the 'Configuration Wizard'. The configuration wizard will run a series of benchmarks on the server to determine the optimal backup settings for the site. It will take some time for the configuration, depending on the server speed. Taking Backup of Joomla Navigate to the \"Components - Akeeba Backup\" from the taskbar and click on the \"Backup Now\" button, which is available under \"Basic Operations\". It will redirect you to a new page where you are required to click on the \"Backup Now\" button, as shown below: After following the above steps, you will get a screen that will show you the progress of backup through a progress bar. It usually takes a few minutes for small websites, but may take longer for large websites. It depends on the overall size of the site and the performance of the server. After the process is done, you should see a confirmation message, as shown below: Manage Backup in Joomla Click on the \"Manage Backups\" button, and it will open an 'Akeeba Backup Manager' page. Here, you will see a list displaying all the backups you have taken. You can download or delete the backup files using this page. To download a backup file, click on the \"Download\" button given next to the name of the backup. It will further display a popup window with a warning. Click on the \"Download\" button, and it will start the downloading of a backup file into your system. It will look like the following image: It is recommended to download the backup file using FTP so that the data will not get corrupted. Restore Backup in Joomla To restore a backup, you need: Akeeba eXtract Wizard : This tool is used for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. It is used to extract all the backup archives such as zip, jpa, and jps .\n\n: This tool is used for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. It is used to extract all the backup archives such as and . Akeeba Kickstart: It is used to extract archives directly to the server and start the site restoration process. Method 2: Manual Joomla Backup Like other content management systems, Joomla is composed of files and a database (i.e., MySQL or PostgreSQL). Therefore, you are required to take the backup of both your files and the database. You can download your files using an FTP client and export the database using phpMyAdmin or the Adminer interface. Most of the hosting providers support phpMyAdmin. You need to select the database and click on the 'Export' tab. You can dump all the database tables to a file that you are going to download on your computer. You must select the correct database on which your Joomla installation exists. If you do not know the database name, you can get the information by navigating through System - Global Configuration - Server - Database Settings. Next Topic Joomla User Settings\n\n\n\n\u2190 prev next \u2192\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "SRD\u2019S PULSE OF LIFE MEDICAL HOSPITAL ATTACKED, DESTROYED\n\nIdlib, Syria (May 7, 2019) \u2014 Unlawful attacks and air strikes hit civilians and SRD\u2019s Pulse of Life medical hospital and other medical facilities in Idlib over the past several days. \u2063\u2063\u2063\n\n\u2063\n\nThis hospital\u2019s coordinates had previously been shared with UN OCHA as part of its formal deconfliction mechanism, yet it was still directly targeted. \u2063\u2063\u2063\n\n\u2063\n\nMassive destruction left a population of over 200,000 now without medical services after SRD\u2019s medical hospital and two other hospitals were bombed and completely destroyed. \u2063\u2063\u2063\n\n\u2063\n\nSRD\u2019s hospital is located underground on the outskirts of the town of Hass, in the southern part of the Idlib province. The hospital with 65 medical staff members provided outpatient clinics for pediatrics, internal medicine, pulmonology, cardiology, gastrointestinal along with surgical operations.\u2063\u2063\n\n\u2063\u2063\n\n\u201cOur hospital was one of the major trauma hospitals serving Idlib and northern Hama which has continuously been targeted this week. The people served will not be able to access life saving services as over 500 surgeries were performed here each month and over 5,000 patients were seen each month. The attack left parents and children, suffering in pain and with no medical assistance,\u201d said Amany Qaddour, SRD\u2019s Regional Director. \u2063\u2063\u2063\n\n\u2063\n\nThe facility had been evacuated shortly before the bombardments, and the hospital is now completely out of service.\u2063\u2063\u2063\n\nWe urge our donors to respond to this humanitarian crisis with the goal of restoring the urgent medical relief provided by the hospital in Hass."}
-{"text": "Police have arrested the man accused of killing three people on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht, the city police chief announced.\n\nThe suspect, identified as Turkish-born Gokmen Tanis, 37, allegedly gunned down three people and wounded five others before fleeing in a car, officials said.\n\nThe shooting sparked fears of a terrorist attack, but the man\u2019s relatives have told Turkish news agency Anadolu that Tanis fired at a relative because of \u201cfamily reasons.\u201d\n\nHe then shot others who tried to help the victim, they told the news outlet.\n\nTanis\u2019 father said his son should be punished if he\u2019s to blame.\n\nMehmet Tanis, who lives in Turkey\u2019s central Kayseri province, told the private Demiroren news agency that he hadn\u2019t spoken to his son in 11 years.\n\n\u201cIf he did it, he should pay the penalty,\u201d he said.\n\nPolice revised the number of wounded after initially saying nine were hurt, three seriously.\n\nThe Dutch counter-terrorism agency NCTV said it could not rule out terrorism as a motive for the attack.\n\nPolice spokesman Bernhard Jens said police were \u201cnot 100 percent sure\u201d about the motive.\n\n\u201cIt could still be a domestic dispute,\u201d he said, the UK\u2019s Guardian reported. \u201cWe will wait for the investigation before we say more.\u201d\n\nPolice on the hunt for Tanis circulated a surveillance photo of the suspect and warned the public not to approach him.\n\nPrime Minister Mark Rutte said a terror attack \u201ccould not be excluded,\u201d vowing that the Netherlands would \u201cnever give way to intolerance.\u201d\n\nWith Post wires"}
-{"text": "Vice President Biden and former Secretary of State Colin Powell Colin Luther PowellHow each of us can help to cure our nation's ills Bush endorsing Biden? Don't hold your breath Red meat for the right wingers will be the main course at RNC MORE will drag race to kick off season two of CNBC\u2019s \u201cJay Leno\u2019s Garage\u201d on Nov. 9, the network announced Tuesday.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nBiden and Leno will also discuss the vice president\u2019s beloved 1967 Corvette before he battles Powell, but the network did not specify which car models Biden and Powell would race against one another.\n\nCNBC added Biden and Powell\u2019s appearance is the first of six new episodes of \u201cJay Leno\u2019s Garage\u201d airing this year.\n\nOther notable guest appearances during the upcoming six-episode season include comedian Jerry Seinfeld, actor Patrick Dempsey, country star Brad Paisley and NASCAR driver Joey Lagano.\n\nThe vice president called himself \u201ca car junkie\u201d while visiting the Detroit auto show in 2014, speaking about his father\u2019s work managing a pair of car dealerships.\n\nBiden showered praise on the Corvette Z06 during his appearance, praising the sports car\u2019s engine power and speed.\n\n\u201cI just want you to know that the \u201967 was zero to 60 in 5.5 seconds,\u201d he said in Detroit. \"I didn\u2019t do that\u2026but it was. But this new Corvette, Z06, is zero to 60, allegedly, in 3.4 seconds.\u201d\n\nOrganizers behind the Draft Biden 2016 super PAC, meanwhile, also released merchandize last year that featured Biden cruising in a Corvette.\n\nThe groups \u201cridin\u2019 with Biden\u201d logo depicted the vice president sporting aviator glasses behind the steering wheel."}
-{"text": "There are some people out there that still believe that animals are just dumb beasts, but the unlikely animal friendships we\u2019ve gathered here will prove that they are capable of feeling love and compassion just like we are.\n\nNaturally, all of these pictures are heart-breakingly adorable, but there\u2019s more to it than that. Why did these animals form their friendships? Some of them, like the lions, dogs and elephants, are known for forming strong social relationships or even networks in the wild. In the absence of their prides or packs, it makes sense that they would seek social relationships outside of their own species. Other more solitary animals may form parent-child relationship with animals that they spend time with or that helped raise them, especially if their own parents are gone.\n\nWhatever the reason may be, unusual friendships like these show that animals may be far more emotionally complex than many of us believe. Maybe these friendships aren\u2019t so unusual after all!\n\n1. Bubbles the African Elephant and Bella the Black Labrador\n\nImage credits: Barry Bland\n\nDespite the extreme difference in size, Bubbles the elephant and Bella the black lab have become great friends. Bubbles was brought to a safari reserve in the U.S. after she was rescued from ivory poachers in Africa, while Bella was left there by a contractor for the park. The two are great to see together, especially when Bella uses Bubbles as a diving board! (read more)\n\n2. Bea the Giraffe and Wilma the Ostrich\n\nImage credits: PA\n\nBea and Wilma have become great friends during their time together at Busch Gardens in the U.S. The two share a huge 65-acre enclosure, so they aren\u2019t forced to spend time together \u2013 they do so willingly.\n\n3. Tinni the Dog and Sniffer the Wild Fox\n\nImage credits: Torgeir Berge\n\nTinni the dog and Sniffer the wild fox have been the best of friends since they met in the forests of Norway. Torgeir Berge, Tinni\u2019s owner, does what he can to keep up and photograph the pair as they play in the woods. (read more)\n\n4. Torque the Dog and Shrek the Owl\n\nImage credits: Solent News and Photos\n\nTorque adopted Shrek the owl chick when he was just 6 months old himself. Shrek was removed from his mother\u2019s care because handlers were afraid that she might eat him when stressed. He\u2019s doing great now, and the two have become inseparable pals.\n\n5. Fred the Labrador and Dennis the Duckling\n\nImage credits: SWNS\n\nThings were looking grim for Dennis the duckling when his mother had been mauled by a fox. Fred the Labrador and his owner Jeremy, however, found and rescued Dennis. Dennis and Fred have been buddies ever since. Fred apparently has a big heart, because it\u2019s not the first time he\u2019s helped take care of an orphan \u2013 he once adopted a baby deer as well.\n\n6. Mabel the Chicken and the Puppies\n\nImage credits: Anita Maric\n\nAfter being saved from the pot due to a foot injury, Mable found a new wonder when she was moved into her owners\u2019 home \u2013 puppies! For some reason, the year-old hen has taken to roosting on the puppies and keeping them warm while their mother prefers the yard. Go figure!\n\n7. Milo the Dog and Bonedigger the Lion\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nImage credits: Barcroft USA\n\nMilo the tiny dachshund took Bonedigger the lion cub under his wing when it was discovered that the lion was suffering from a metabolic bone disease that left him disabled. Five years later, the 500 pound lion is still the best of buddies with the 11-pound dachshund and his two compatriots, Bullet and Angel.\n\n8. Cat and the Fox\n\nImage credits: imgur.com\n\nThis curious pair was spotted playing by fishermen on the shore of Lake Van in Turkey. Not much is known beyond the fact that they\u2019re very cute and very playful.\n\n9. Shere Khan, Baloo and Leo\n\nImage credits: Barcroft Media\n\nThe tale of Shere Khan the tiger, Baloo the bear and Leo the lion is truly touching. The three of them were rescued together from a drug dealer who had abused them extensively. Baloo even needed surgery to remove a harness that had grown into his skin and caused deformities \u2013 the owner had never bothered to adjust it. Because of what they\u2019ve suffered together, the three friends are now inseparable. They are under the care of the Noah\u2019s Ark Animal Sanctuary in the U.S.\n\n10. Mani the Wild Boar Piglet and Candy the Dog\n\nImage credits: spiegel.de\n\nManni the wild boar piglet was found starving in a field in southwest Germany and brought home by the Dahlhaus family. When he was introduced to their Jack Russell terrier Candy, the two immediately hit it off. Since last we heard, Manni is recovering well and will either stay with his family or move to a wildlife park.\n\n11. Kasi the Cheetah and Mtani the Labrador\n\nImage credits: Busch Gardens Tampa\n\nKasi and Mtani were raised together at Bush Gardens in the U.S. During their youth, their unusual friendship was a treat to watch. As he grew into adolescence, however, Kasi began drifting away from Mtani and becoming more interested in the female cheetahs in the next pen. While Kasi now spends more time with other cheetahs, the two are still good friends and often visit schools and other places together.\n\n12. Rabbit and Deer\n\nImage credits: Tanja Askani\n\nSpotted by animal photographer Tanja Askani, this unusual deer and rabbit duo looks like right out of Disney\u2019s classic Bambi.\n\n13. Suryia the Orangutan and Roscoe the Blue Tick Hound\n\nSuryia and Roscoe live together at a rare and endangered species reserve in the U.S. While orangutans are endangered, dogs are certainly less so. However, Roscoe has lived with her ever since he followed Suryia and her handlers home. It didn\u2019t look like he had any other home to go to, so he stayed with Suryia, and they\u2019ve been great friends ever since.\n\n14. Kate the Great Dane and Pippin the Deer\n\nImage credits: Isobel Springett\n\nImage credits: Isobel Springett\n\nPippin the baby deer was adopted by Kate the caring Great Dane. They were great friends while growing up, but as Pippin matured, she moved out into the forest to raise a deer family of her own. She still visits Kate and her owner Isobel, however.\n\n15. Anjana the Chimpanzee and Tiger Cubs\n\nImage credits: Bary Bland\n\nThese two white tiger cubs were separated from their mother after her enclosure was flooded during a hurricane. Fortunately, they\u2019ve been adopted by a U.S. animal reserve by Anjana the chimpanzee and their caretaker, China York. Anjana has helped China raise many different orphaned animals, so we\u2019re sure they\u2019re in good hands.\n\nAnd don\u2019t forget, if you\u2019re looking for a piece of original art to hang on your walls, check out artFido HERE!"}
-{"text": "by John Stone\n\nSince November I have been writing, on and and off about my correspondence with Dame Sally Davies, the out going Chief Medical Officer of England, and to the British Government. This correspondence is now published under Freedom of Information (barring my address and telephone number). It began when I asked Dame Sally to support her comment on the BBC about MMR \"It's a a safe vaccine - we know that\".\n\nRecently, I made this list of points which I believe emerged from the exchange:\n\n- ASD in schools is at least 15 times the level of 25 years ago\n\n- 1.74% of all schoolchildren in the recent Northern Ireland census (the most complete data we have at the present time) had a severe/complex level of ASD disablement (education Stage 5)\n\n- The overall rate is 2.9% for the province but 4.7% for Belfast\n\n- Epidemiologists trying to explain the rise in ASD at the beginning of the millennium were still only talking about a rate of 0.2%\n\n- 1999 National Statistics for schools\u2019 mental health showed a rate of 0.2% for ASD/PDD for those born between 1984 and 88 but by the 2004 survey the overall rate was 1%\n\n- The rate appears to have risen 5 times during the years following the introduction of MMR and 3 times since, and the majority of cases are not fringe diagnoses\n\n- There is still no robust or adequate evidence of a large ASD population over the age of 35 and Dame Sally was unable to cite any\n\n- Our schools, and their finances, are breaking down under the burden of disablement, with ASD being frequently mentioned as the major cause\n\n- The social cost of ASD, once almost invisible, is set to outstrip old-age in the near future and is only likely to keep rising\n\n- There is no robust or adequate evidence base for MMR safety: the six studies in the single review cited by Dame Sally were flawed and inadequate\n\n- The first of these studies was only published 14 years after the products were introduced in the UK, and Dame Sally failed to cite any pre-marketing data, so the question also arises what the evidence base was for safety before they were introduced?\n\n- The MHRA yellow card scheme would be incapable picking up long term neurological effects of vaccination\n\n- The government has no coherent or convincing explanation of these events which are set to engulf everybody\n\nA pdf of the correspondence can be read and downloaded here.\n\nJohn Stone is UK editor of Age of Autism."}
-{"text": "\"Many leaders who have visited Dubai have said how they wished their countries could be like this unique city.\"\n\nIn the 44th chapter of his latest book, Qissati, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, recalls his meetings with the late Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi. Sheikh Mohammed says Gaddafi wished for the appearance of change but did not want true transformation.\n\nMany leaders who have visited Dubai have said how they wished their countries could be like this unique city. Many have contacted me and I have met with leaders wishing to replicate the Dubai experience in their own countries. For most of them, however, this has been just a dream because they have been unable to see behind the amazing buildings and infrastructure to understand the ideas and realities on which they are based.\n\nAs l write this, I am reminded of the late Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, who called me one day saying he wanted to build a new Dubai-style city in Libya to serve as Africa's economic capital.\n\nI sent Mohammad Al Gergawi, the head of my executive office at the time, to carry a message to Libya. He specifically asked that we look at transforming Tripoli and the airport of Mitiga to make a new capital for Africa.\n\nIt was a long and meaningless conversation. My envoy summed it up saying: \"Gaddafi admires no nation, nor any leader. He expresses his opinions with a fanaticism that makes it hard to have any type of discussion. He does not talk like a leader.\"\n\nAfter reading Al Gergawi's report, I decided to go myself. I flew to Tripoli, a beautiful city with a rich, vibrant history. Later, I visited Gaddafi in his tent in the city of Sirte and, just like the last time we had met, he monopolised the entire conversation.\n\nIn the evening, we went to one of Tripoli's public squares, which was packed with people. We were surprised to find that someone had told the people we were there. They surrounded the car in a hysterical frenzy, with emotions running high, and the car began to rock because of the jostling and pushing. Moments Later, I began to feel that our car was being lifted off the ground. I found such exuberance troublesome, even if it was meant to be welcoming and a true expression of emotion. I wasn't able to make myself heard over their shouting.\n\nGaddafi wished for the appearance of change but did not want true transformation. Change needs real achievements and hard work, not simply empty speeches. Change cannot happen with the scale of corruption we witnessed during our visits to Libya. Change needs a clear, clean and transparent environment to flourish.\n\nThe Libyan people did not need Mohammed bin Rashid to show them how to create a better society-they were quite capable of turning things around for themselves. As we found in the UAE, the government's job is merely to create an enabling environment; the people will do the rest.\n\nThe Libyan nation was full of scientists, talented individuals, executives, researchers, physicians and engineers; all they needed was the right environment to unleash their potential and bring about positive change."}
-{"text": "More than a third of student women surveyed by the National Union of Students reported \u201cunwelcome sexual advances\u201d on campus, defined as \u201cinappropriate touching, bumping, groping\u201d. Female students were much more likely to report overtly sexual conversations which made them uncomfortable, intrusive questions about their sex lives, verbal harassment and sexual comments about their bodies. Women were also more likely to feel that they couldn\u2019t report these experiences because no-one would take them seriously. Just under two thirds of all the students said they\u2019d heard a joke about rape or sexual assault. This survey, though it won\u2019t come as a surprise to many people in British universities (least of all students), makes it clear that campus is a hostile place for a large number of women.\n\nThe survey is part of a broader programme by the NUS to tackle the sexist behaviour and atmosphere which have become known as \u201clad culture\u201d. Their report last year, entitled That\u2019s What She Said, explored women\u2019s experiences of a sexist, hypersexualised and often misogynistic strain in university culture, and they are now launching a pilot scheme which will work with particular Student Unions to identify and deal with the problem. The issues picked up in the survey are familiar from almost any British campus: sexualized advertising which makes female students uncomfortable, online groups like \u201cUniLad\u201d and \u201cLad Bible\u201d which promote misogynistic attitudes, a club culture which assumes that women are there for men\u2019s gratification. I\u2019ve seen all of these in my time studying and working at universities, from finding my graduate fresher\u2019s welcome pack included a copy of FHM to sports teams addressing women as \u201cgash\u201d in the college bar.\n\nThis isn\u2019t just boys being boys, or young people letting off steam on the weekend. This is a culture which regularly makes women feel threatened, degraded and excluded from university life. As the NUS article linked above points out, that category of \u201cunwelcome sexual advances\u201d, which sounds a bit like an Edwardian circumlocution when phrased like that, covers acts which constitute sexual assault under British law. Those are crimes, not badly-timed chat-up lines or inadequate club etiquette. The sheer number of such incidents means they can often seem to be part of university life. A bad part \u2013 like 9am lectures with a hangover, or not getting enough sleep in the weeks before exams \u2013 but part of what everyone goes through. Except, of course, everyone doesn\u2019t go through it. Male students don\u2019t expect to be sexually assaulted. No-one expects them to gamble on having their body handled against their will in order to have a night out. That\u2019s a risk which campus culture expects women to bear. And, judging by the survey, makes it pretty clear that if they are assaulted in some way then they needn\u2019t bother to tell anyone.\n\nIf female students do experience a sexual assault, in whatever form, they\u2019re more likely to hear a joke on the subject than to feel they could contact university services, their Student Union or the police. That combination of statistics should make us pause and think about women\u2019s experience of higher education in Britain today. The casual use of rape as a punchline to jokes is part of a broader trivialisation of sexual assault in campus culture, and one which surely has an effect on how seriously actual assaults are taken. Rape jokes tell women that the society around them is on the side of the aggressor. They gather the teller and the audience into the perspective of the attacker, reminding women listening that their perspective isn\u2019t of interest. They normalise violence and women, and set up a smoke-screen behind which perpetrators can hide. After all, if everyone\u2019s talking and laughing about rape, how can we hear the voice of the man who means it? He just becomes one of the cheerful chorus of misogyny. Safe amongst the lads.\n\nThis survey points out starkly how unsafe and unheard many women feel at university. It\u2019s worth reading the NUS\u2019 presentation, which spells out in detail not only how likely women are to be assaulted, harassed or intimidated, but how unlikely men are to know this is going on or consider it a problem. As men on campus we urgently need to listen to women\u2019s experiences, and help deal with the culture which is damaging the lives of female students. It isn\u2019t enough to protest that we don\u2019t do these things, or that we disapprove of men who do. We need to take responsibility for helping to change the situation, and to accept that women\u2019s voices need to be heard as a first step in that process.\n\nOne particular response from men, which emerged in the responses to the survey, needs to be dealt with immediately. Amongst the \u201cgeneral themes\u201d in the \u201cfurther comments\u201d was an objection to the fact that the survey assumed women were more likely to be the subject of sexism and discrimination. A representative male student was cited saying \u201cAlthough I have witnessed other men making sexual comments amongst themselves about a woman\u2019s personal appearance, I notice that this behaviour amongst women discussing a man\u2019s physical attractiveness is just as common and deemed much more socially acceptable!\u201d This is understandable on one level, since the survey asked about concrete examples such as sexual comments about people\u2019s bodies, or intimidation by people of a different gender. But it is also unbelievably disingenuous.\n\nWomen may indeed talk crudely about men, or even suggest that they have sexual inclinations towards them. As numerous feminists have been at pains to point out, the sexual passivity ascribed to certain groups of women through history is a myth which shored up male control over them. But the implications of a woman talking crudely about a man are simply not the same as the situation with the roles reversed. If a group of women speculate loudly and drunkenly about a man\u2019s sexual qualities in his earshot, that man does not usually worry that he might be raped. If he is heckled or cat-called by women leaving a bar, he does not usually reassess his route home based on how well-lit it is. Explicit comments on a man\u2019s physique do not generally cause people to discount his intellectual or academic abilities, or damage his professional stature. This kind of response simply underlines the deliberate refusal to value women\u2019s account of their own experiences. Women describe horrifically high levels of sexual assault, and men object that women talk lewdly about them, which is also sexism actually. The imbalance would be comic if it wasn\u2019t so bleak. Listening to women, valuing what they have to say, and letting it change our perceptions of the campus culture which we share, is exactly what \u201clad culture\u201d tries to stop us doing. It would be a good place to start."}
-{"text": "Call Me By Your Name is an upcoming film that features original songs by Sufjan Stevens, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film, directed by Luca Guadagnino, is based on Andre Aciman\u2019s novel of the same name. It\u2019s a gay love story set in Northern Italy, and it stars Armie Hammer, Timothee Chalamet, and Michael Stuhlbarg. It\u2019s set to debut at Sundance Film Festival on January 22 and the rights were recently acquired by Sony Pictures Classics.\n\nRead Pitchfork\u2019s interview with Sufjan about his most recent album, Carrie & Lowell*.*\n\nWatch Stevens perform at Pitchfork Music Festival:"}
-{"text": "If you want to watch what makes Germans tick, buy a ticket for a high-speed train and observe what happens when a crowd of passengers board at once. Like musical chairs, but on wheels and without music, wound-up strangers squeeze past each other, battling over too few seats for too few people.\n\nUnlike in Ireland there is no muttered chorus of \u201csorry\u201d but surly silence as the air crackles with enough tension to power the electric train they\u2019ve just boarded. This Teutonic tension returns when passengers stand up in the aisle, 15 minutes before their destination, in case something untoward happens when the train reaches the station and they fail to reach the door, 10 metres away.\n\nEven if the compartment is empty, and you happen to find yourself in an (often unmarked) reserved seat, M\u00fcller\u2019s Law of German rail travel means you can count on being asked to move by the only other passenger who has reserved precisely this seat. Because if everyone sat wherever they liked, even on an empty train, where would that leave us?\n\nEvery country has its foibles, and most are obsessed by what others think of them \u2013 to a point. But I have yet to meet a people with a capacity to suck it up like the Germans.\n\nLast week the Frankfurter Allgemeine daily was the latest to consider \u201cWhat is German?\u201d \u2013 a question that it suggested was, in itself, typically German. The newspaper joked that only Germans could manage to be both skilled engineers and insufferably romantic, and dogmatic while indecisive.\n\nIntriguing\n\nA final observation by the (German) author was the intriguing \u2013 and not entirely untrue \u2013 assertion that \u201cnot wanting to be German is very German\u201d.\n\nIn the last years I have become a regulator contributor on two German radio stations, giving my five cents on life here. It\u2019s a gift that keeps on giving, not least in contributor fees, where I show up and dish out a few Germanecdotes.\n\nOne programme is the weekly Europamagazin of WDR5 radio, based in Cologne, where a group of foreign correspondents are invited on in rotation to give their outsider\u2019s perspective on current affairs.\n\nThe other radio programme is Typisch Deutsch, a long-running programme for the nationwide station Deutschlandfunk Kultur. Here foreign correspondents are asked to talk about our experiences of life in Germany: bread, holidays, public nudity.\n\nIn Ireland, the risk that someone will take criticism personally means most learn to keep their mouths shut\n\nWhat both programmes have made me realise is that what you notice about your adoptive home says as much about you as the natives. German punctuality is one popular topic, the low level of public swearing is another and a third is Rechthaberei \u2013 the need of many Germans to be right, at all costs.\n\nAn everyday example of this is the angry German cyclist or motorist who would rather crash into a pedestrian \u2013 or, indeed, each other \u2013 to prove that they were in the right and the other in the wrong.\n\nAnother evergreen on the \u201cTypisch Deutsch\u201d programme is Germans\u2019 notorious directness. Many Irish people consider Germans staggeringly rude, without reflecting on how politeness and rudeness are subjective, elastic social norms.\n\nIndirectness\n\nLive outside Ireland for a few years and you soon realise how the Irish, alongside the Swiss, are perhaps Europe\u2019s outliers in indirectness. In the German cultural context, calling a stranger and not getting to the point of why you are on the line \u2013 Irish-style \u2013 is considered a waste of the person\u2019s time and thus just as rude.\n\nAfraid of being rude, I find myself asking the presenter after almost every recording if I was perhaps a little overly critical. Nein nein, is always the answer, our listeners love critical.\n\nThere is, it seems, an endless appetite in Germany for critical comment from outsiders, without ever snapping back: \u201cWell, if you hate it here so much . . . \u201d\n\nIt is a typically German characteristic, if such a thing exists in a sprawling, diverse country like this, to take on board others\u2019 opinions and to separate impersonal and personal criticism.\n\nIn Ireland, the risk that someone will take criticism personally means that many people, to spare the aggravation, learn to keep their mouths shut. They may complain later \u2013 about the taxi driver, the restaurant, the friend \u2013 to someone else who has nothing to do with the situation and can do nothing to help improve matters.\n\nNot so here: people expect to give and take feedback, even the critical kind. It may be eye-wateringly direct but, instead of getting the hump, people have learned to go away and think about whether or not the criticism was justified.\n\nPerhaps the most \u201cTypisch Deutsch\u201d characteristics are a crippling insecurity over what is typically German coupled with a quiet confidence that, as a German, there is always room for improvement."}
-{"text": "Day 9\n\nShe knew. Before the sun rose, Rags knew. It was a gaping hole in her heart, a certainty of loss. It was fury and grief. And tears.\n\nGoblins didn\u2019t cry. It was a waste of water. But despite knowing that, despite knowing that the Goblins clustered around her were watching their Chieftain, she couldn\u2019t stop. Nor could she explain the pain in her to her anxious tribe.\n\nShe just knew, that was all. So she told them to search.\n\nThe first thing they did was run a check on the patrols. But nothing had disturbed the camp\u2019s perimeter during the night. So Rags told them to search for something else. Pyrite, Redscar, Noears, Poisonbite, and the other Hobs did just that. Dawn was just breaking when they realized someone was missing.\n\nQuietstab. There was nothing too unusual about that\u2014Quietstab was a [Rogue] and good at hiding. But he hadn\u2019t turned up and he would have with the entire camp abuzz with concern. That was when Rags knew.\n\nShe knew, but she didn\u2019t know. She didn\u2019t want to know. So she told the others to look for him. She busied herself with getting her camp packed up, readying her tribe for the day\u2019s march. But the tears wouldn\u2019t stop.\n\nThe other three tribes were rousing themselves as well. Tremborag\u2019s Mountain City tribe, Garen\u2019s Redfangs, and of course the army of the Goblin Lord, Reiss. Rags could see Goblins staring at her camp. They could tell something was wrong, too. She saw Reiss\u2019 warriors moving to relay that information to a senior Hob, and Garen\u2019s warriors watching with clear confusion. But Tremborag\u2019s Goblins were different.\n\nThey looked amused as Hobs and Goblins from Rags\u2019 tribe started combing the camp systematically. They gathered, a vast mass of Goblins, the only group large enough to rival Reiss\u2019 army, and watched and laughed. As if they knew something.\n\nDark fear and suspicion wormed its way into Rags\u2019 stomach. She knew, but she didn\u2019t want to put the pieces together. Not yet. The tears had stopped by the time the first [Fireball] exploded overhead. It was time to move.\n\nBut Quietstab was still missing. Rags strode around her camp, watching Reiss\u2019 army take the lead and Garen\u2019s small tribe begin to move as well. Tremborag\u2019s Goblins were still watching. And her tribe\u2014\n\n\u201cChieftain, orders?\u201d\n\nNoears looked slightly nervous as he glanced at the line of mounted Humans beginning to approach from the south. More [Fireballs] were exploding overhead, warning the Goblins to move or die. Rags knew that the [Mages] would begin lobbing spells at them in minutes if they didn\u2019t move. But she knew.\n\n\u201cNot yet. Wait. Find Quietstab.\u201d\n\nThe earless Goblin [Mage] hesitated, but he didn\u2019t argue further. Rags saw her Goblins glancing more and more rapidly at the coming Humans. Now even Tremborag\u2019s tribe, usually slowest of the four tribes, was moving. The Humans were yet ten minutes away from reaching the spot where Rags stood at the speed they were travelling, but they were in range of the [Mage]\u2019s spells. Any Goblins who got too close to the front line of advancing riders would die.\n\nAnd yet, Rags refused to move. She waited, watching the glittering line of horses and humans draw closer. Her Goblins looked to her nervously. Now they were alone, a small group of stationary Goblins compared to the mass of marching Goblins ahead of them.\n\nA spell exploded overhead, making Rags look up. She saw another spell\u2014a long, sinuous cloud of green smoke\u2014twist over the heads of the Goblins. It was shaped like a worm, but it had a Dragon\u2019s face. It\u2019s eyes were red and it roared at the Goblins, although the sound was silent. Below it, the Goblins backed away.\n\nPoison. Or something close to it. The [Mages] were getting impatient. And still, Rags didn\u2019t move. She saw her warriors spreading outside her camp, searching, calling out at each other. And then one group approached the latrines. And stopped.\n\nRags saw the ripple go through the searching Goblins without the need for words. The ones near the latrines waved their arms frantically as the Hob recoiled, his entire posture displaying shock and horror. And grief. In an instant, Pyrite was there. He stared down at something and then turned. Rags was already riding towards him.\n\n\u201cChieftain.\u201d\n\nHe met her halfway. The other Goblins were converging on the spot. But Pyrite blocked Rags\u2019 Carn Wolf from going any further. She slid from the saddle, but Pyrite gently blocked her.\n\n\u201cChieftain.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs Quietstab there?\u201d\n\nPyrite nodded. He blocked Rags with one huge claw. Rags looked up at him. Pyrite\u2019s eyes were troubled. She took a breath.\n\n\u201cBad?\u201d\n\n\u201cBad.\u201d\n\n\u201cShow me.\u201d\n\nIt was not an order. Pyrite hesitated, but then he moved aside. Rags strode forwards, pushing Goblins aside. Since she was smaller than most, they had to realize she was pushing them and move aside for her.\n\nGoblins were crowded around the shallow ditch that was the latrines. Hobs, warriors, all looking down. All silent. Rags pushed a Goblin aside. She glanced down into the ditch and saw something lying down there. For a second her eyes didn\u2019t put together the strange form that was lying there. It wasn\u2019t dirt, or even a bad poo. It was green, twisted. It almost looked like\u2014\n\nRags recoiled. She stumbled away, her mind rejecting what it had seen. But just as quickly, shock became certainty. Rags heard pounding feet. She saw Poisonbite appear. The Goblin looked down and screamed in horror and fury. Noears was there, his eyes wide. Pyrite just looked down, his gaze finding the body that had been a Hob. Redscar rode forwards through the ranks of Goblins. He took one look and drew his sword.\n\nAnd Rags knew. She looked down into the pit that held a body. The form bent, twisted. And the head had been turned around, snapped. But she recognized the face. Quietstab looked up at her, his expression terrified. Rags felt the empty spot in her heart.\n\nBut she had no time to look longer. She heard a scream and saw the poisonous serpent was swooping lower. Now she could feel particles of the gas spell drifting down, burning her eyes and skin. Pyrite blinked upwards and turned. He didn\u2019t wait for Rags to give an order.\n\n\u201cRun!\u201d\n\nThe Goblins around him started. They took one look at the Humans approaching and realized they were too close. They began to stream away from the pit, taking one last look. Poisonbite had to be grabbed by Noears. Redscar saluted the body with his sword, then rode away, shouting at the Goblins to move.\n\n\u201cChieftain.\u201d\n\nPyrite stood next to Rags. He spoke urgently, but she couldn\u2019t take her eyes off the dead body. She didn\u2019t move, even when Pyrite shook her. Only when he lifted her up did she react. Pyrite effortlessly heaved Rags up and onto the back of her Carn Wolf. He poked the wolf in the side and the animal growled. Pyrite growled back and the Carn Wolf bounded after the Goblins. Rags almost turned him back. Almost. But she didn\u2019t have the strength to look at the miserable form lying there.\n\nQuietstab was dead. It had happened so suddenly. As they all slept. It didn\u2019t seem possible. It didn\u2019t seem right. Yet Rags was certain she knew the moment he had died. And then the shock gripping her faded. She asked the second question that was growing louder in her head.\n\nHe had died. So someone had killed him. Who?\n\nAnd she already knew the answer. It was obvious. Rags rode with her head bowed, hearing more shouts as her tribe began to rush after the others. She slowly, painfully put together the conclusion in her mind, checking it for errors. But there were none. She rode at the head of her tribe, passing by her Goblins, her people. They watched her anxiously. Because now they knew.\n\nAnd then she looked up and saw him. He was marching in the center of his tribe, head and shoulders taller than the others. By his side walked his Hob liutenants, smug, wearing magical weapons and armor. And amid them was Ulvama, her nearly bare skin painted with symbols. But Rags had only eyes for Tremborag.\n\nHe was watching her. The Great Chieftain of the Mountain was looking at her, at the Goblins in her tribe, watching as Pyrite ushered them forwards. And then he looked at Rags as she slowed to stare at him.\n\nRedscar drew up besides Rags. His sword was still bared. He peered at Tremborag. Yes, it was obvious. Tremborag wasn\u2019t trying to hide it. He grinned with all his teeth, a massive face consumed with satisfaction and malicious glee. And then he laughed.\n\nThere were tens of thousands of Goblins between him and Rags. An army, his tribe. Enough Goblins to overwhelm her smaller tribe by sheer numbers. And there he was, bloated, obscenely gloating. Rags glared at Tremborag. He laughed at her and then said something. She could not hear him, far away as they were and with the [Mage] spells roaring behind her. The roar of her blood in her ears would have drowned it out. But she could read his lips.\n\nSee, child? Do you see?\n\nAnd she did see. Rags focused on Tremborag. Redscar grabbed her arm, looking worried. But Rags had no eyes for him. She stared at Tremborag. And she knew then that she would watch him die, or he would watch her. And she would write that promise a hundred thousand times in blood if need be. Rags lowered her head and Redscar relaxed. Then she grabbed her sword and screamed.\n\n\u2014-\n\nReiss rode ahead, but he looked behind. At her. The small Goblin who was somehow a child and adult as any Hob at the same time. Rags, the Chieftain of the Flooded Waters tribe. He could scarcely believe it. She was only a child, even by Goblin standards. But she was a Chieftain, and her tribe impressed him. If she had been born at the same time he and Garen had, would she have become\u2026?\n\nNo, not necessarily. Reiss shook his head. There was more to a Goblin Lord than just the size of a tribe. But there was something in Rags that hinted at that potential. It was raw, and she was too young. But Reiss thought he saw it. It gave him hope, or it had. But today, Reiss was guilty.\n\nHe had watched Rags\u2019 tribe moving about in confusion as dawn broke. All the Goblins had. They could sense the trouble in the Flooded Waters tribe, even if they didn\u2019t know the reason. But Reiss did. He watched in silent agony as Rags sent patrols searching her camp, and then as they found the latrine where Quietstab lay.\n\nIt wasn\u2019t hard to understand why none of the other Goblins had spotted him in the early morning. They had all been asleep, and the pit was hardly a place where Goblins would investigate normally. But they found him. After that shock spread through their tribe. Shock and grief.\n\nAnd rage. Reiss sat on the back of the undead shield spider, watching Rags. She was fixed on Tremborag. So she\u2019d put together who was responsible. That wasn\u2019t hard. What came next was important, though. Reiss forced himself to watch; he couldn\u2019t reveal that he knew what had happened. Not yet.\n\nRags was very still as she sat on the back of her Carn Wolf. Reiss could see her looking at Tremborag. The Great Chieftain was laughing, surrounded by his warriors. And why not? It didn\u2019t matter if Rags knew. His tribe was a sprawling mass of marching Goblins, lacking the discipline of Reiss\u2019 black armored warriors, but too many to count. And he knew it.\n\nThere was another Goblin riding next to Rags. Small, not a Hob, but one of her lieutenants. Reiss tried to remember his name, but couldn\u2019t. He saw the Goblin arguing with Rags, pulling at her arm. Reiss watched, a lump churning in his stomach. But Rags was too still. She lowered her head. And then she grabbed her sword and tried to charge.\n\n\u201cNo. Stop her!\u201d\n\nThe Hobs, Reiss\u2019 personal escort, looked up at their lord in confusion. Reiss forced himself not to move. His claws dug into the palm of his hand as he watched. The other Goblin\u2014Redscar?\u2014seized Rags before she could charge at Tremborag. Rags fought him, but he was clearly strong and he shouted for help.\n\nHobs grabbed the Carn Wolf and slowed it. The fat Hob who knew too much, Pyrite, ran forwards. He knocked Rags from the saddle. She fought him and Redscar, screaming, though she was too far away for Reiss to hear. Her tribe encircled their Chieftain. And Tremborag and his Goblins watched the entire thing and laughed.\n\nReiss lowered his head. He felt sick, but at least Rags wouldn\u2019t charge to her death. He\u2019d wondered what her reaction would be. And it had been genuine. Reiss turned in his saddle and looked around.\n\nThe other Goblins could hardly miss what had occurred. They were glancing back at Rags\u2019 tribe, clearly confused. Reiss turned and called, fighting the nausea.\n\n\u201cSnapjaw!\u201d\n\nOne of the Goblins riding ahead of him turned. Snapjaw rode her horse towards Reiss. He eyed the ground and leapt from the back of his Shield Spider, landing with a grunt.\n\n\u201cLord? Trouble?\u201d\n\nSnapjaw looked wary as she peeked at Rags\u2019 tribe. Reiss shrugged. He glanced back at Rags\u2019 tribe, pretending again not to know.\n\n\u201cGo to the Flooded Water tribe. Ask what is happening.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, Lord.\u201d\n\nSnapjaw turned her mount and whistled. Immediately, several of the Goblins under her command\u2014Goblins who\u2019d mastered horseback riding\u2014joined her. She raced back towards Rags\u2019 tribe. Reiss knew it would take her a while to come back. He looked at the mindless Shield Spider, moving forwards blindly. He didn\u2019t want to ride it and pretend in front of all of his tribe. So instead he looked around and made eye contact with one of his Hobs.\n\n\u201cTake me to her.\u201d\n\nThe Hob nodded. He poked his companion and conferred. Then he pointed through the crowd of Goblins. Reiss nodded. He followed the Hob as the Goblins parted for their Lord.\n\nThere was no need for Reiss to say which \u2018her\u2019 he meant. The Goblin Lord walked through the ranks of his tribe, trying to smile at his subjects as they looked to him for reassurance, strength. He reached for something in his pocket, hunched his shoulders. He saw a group of burly Hobs part in front of him. And then he saw her.\n\nOsthia Blackwing was marching in the center of the ranks of Hobs. Her wings were bound, but both her hands and legs were free. She\u2019d insisted on it. She\u2019d told Reiss plainly that if she had to sit in a covered wagon all day, she would bite her tongue off. So he\u2019d let her walk.\n\n\u201cYou.\u201d\n\nThe Drake looked up and met Reiss\u2019 eyes challengingly, as she did every time they met. Reiss nodded.\n\n\u201cMe.\u201d\n\nHe glanced at the Hobs surrounding them.\n\n\u201cGive us space. Warn me if anyone approaches.\u201d\n\nThey nodded and spread out, forming a bubble of space around him and Osthia. Reiss waited until they were all clear, and then outlined a space in his mind. He whispered.\n\n\u201c[Silent Air].\u201d\n\nInstantly, the world went quiet. The sounds of the Goblins marching, of metal touching metal, even the sound of the wind itself\u2014vanished. Reiss and Osthia walked in a bubble of silence. The Drake looked around and then at Reiss.\n\n\u201cWorried someone will hear you?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes.\u201d\n\nThe Drake blinked. It was still slightly amusing to Reiss how she reacted when he told her the truth. But Goblins almost never lied to each other and Reiss lied only when he had to. The Goblin Lord sighed.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s happening?\u201d\n\nOsthia glanced over her shoulder. She couldn\u2019t see what had occurred with the Flooded Waters tribe, but she was sharp enough to pick up on the reactions of the Goblins around her. Reiss even thought she\u2019d picked up a few words of the Goblin\u2019s dialect. He shook his head.\n\n\u201cTremborag killed a Hob from Rags\u2019 tribe. Last night. They found the body this morning.\u201d\n\nThe Drake went still as she processed that. Her eyes flicked to Reiss\u2019 face, and then she craned her neck, trying to see over the Hob\u2019s heads. That was impossible. Her wings flexed a bit in their constraints.\n\n\u201cI see. Tremborag\u2019s the huge Hob you showed me. And Rags is\u2014the small one?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s she doing about it?\u201d\n\n\u201cNothing. Yet. She tried to charge his tribe alone when she found out.\u201d\n\nOsthia snorted contemptuously.\n\n\u201cIdiot.\u201d\n\nReiss ignored that comment. After a moment, the Drake glanced at him.\n\n\u201cWell? What are you going to do? I assume that this Tremborag violated some kind of Goblin law, didn\u2019t he?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt was not good. But there aren\u2019t any \u2018laws\u2019 against it. His tribe will celebrate it and the other tribes will be furious. Especially the Flooded Waters tribe.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhich is\u2026?\u201d\n\n\u201cRags\u2019 tribe.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh. So they\u2019ll want revenge. So what will you do? Unless you\u2019re coming to me for advice.\u201d\n\nThe Oldblood Drake glanced sidewise at Reiss. She was his enemy. And she hated him, but she hated his master more. That made them unlikely allies; Osthia would help Reiss, if only so that she could survive and escape when the time was right. Reiss had consulted her for advice, and the Drake had good ideas, even if she lied to him more often then she told the truth. Reiss shrugged, knowing she was trying to find out everything she could from him.\n\n\u201cI will do nothing until Snapjaw comes back and tells me Quietstab is dead.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy would she do that?\u201d\n\nReiss turned his head slowly to regard Osthia.\n\n\u201cBecause I do not know Quietstab is dead and that Tremborag murdered him. Rags knows just now. I knew last night.\u201d\n\nThe Drake frowned. Her brows snapped together.\n\n\u201cYou knew? How?\u201d\n\nFor a second Reiss debated not telling Osthia. It was a risk. But he\u2014the knowledge burned in his gut. He felt guilty, so against his better judgment, he confessed.\n\n\u201cI watched him die. I could have stopped it. But I did not. Because one Hob\u2019s death will help me save tens of thousands of lives.\u201d\n\nOsthia\u2019s eyes widened. For a moment she was surprised. But then contempt replaced surprise. She was not shocked. It was almost a relief. She had no expectations of Reiss.\n\n\u201cI see. You were there?\u201d\n\n\u201cInvisible. I watched it happen. It was a necessity. It will make Rags\u2019 tribe and my army allies.\u201d\n\nIt was an excuse. And it was the truth. But sometimes it felt like he was becoming more like his master with each passing day. Reiss closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them, Osthia was still looking at him with narrowed eyes.\n\n\u201cI see. I suppose I shouldn\u2019t have expected anything else from you. Goblins betray even their allies, it seems. Just like your race.\u201d\n\nFor some reason, that nettled Reiss. He looked over at Osthia.\n\n\u201cMy kind does not sacrifice their own. I learned that from Drakes. I studied your wars. You send a hundred to hold a gap and know they will die. You kill your own for advantage, just like me. I did not learn such things from Goblins.\u201d\n\nHe regarded Osthia coldly, basking in his anger for a moment. The Drake bristled, and her manacled wings stirred with anger.\n\n\u201cDrakes\u2014our leaders know when sacrifice is necessary. But that doesn\u2019t mean\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cSpare me.\u201d\n\nReiss turned his head. He heard Osthia inhale and altered his spell. The world around him grew silent for a minute. Reiss was alone with his thoughts. He bowed his head.\n\nQuietstab had died in front of him. He had been there, on a nightly errand when he\u2019d seen Tremborag stalking the Hob. He had watched the confrontation. The rapid murder had surprised him. But he could have stopped it. If he had so much as raised his voice or revealed himself, Tremborag would have retreated. If he had cast a spell\u2014\n\nHe hadn\u2019t. Reiss was sure, quite sure, that even his best spell wouldn\u2019t kill Tremborag outright. He was a [Necromancer] and lacked the raw power of other [Mage] classes. So he had let Quietstab die because it would benefit his tribe, convince Rags to ally with him. It was necessary. But it was such a Human thing to do. Reiss felt the guilt gnawing at him. What was he doing. Was he really becoming\u2014\n\nHe saw a flicker of movement and turned his head. Osthia punched Reiss. He staggered and saw a Hob roar soundlessly and charge Osthia. The Goblin Lord raised a claw and dispelled the [Quiet Air] spell.\n\n\u201cStop!\u201d\n\nThe Hob skidded to a halt before he could slam into Osthia. The Drake was ready. She glared at Reiss as he rubbed his cheek. That had hurt. But it was no less than he deserved. And he\u2019d forgotten how touchy Drakes could be.\n\n\u201cLeave us.\u201d\n\nThe Hob hesitated, and then moved back, giving Osthia the evil eye. Reiss reapplied his silencing spell and then looked at Osthia.\n\n\u201cPunch me again and I can\u2019t guarantee my Hobs won\u2019t seek revenge.\u201d\n\nThe Drake sneered.\n\n\u201cAll they do is poke me with sticks. Ignore me again and I\u2019ll hit you somewhere else.\u201d\n\n\u201cFine.\u201d\n\nReiss looked around. He couldn\u2019t see over the top of the tall Hobs he\u2019d selected to screen Osthia from sight, but he knew that Snapjaw would be returning any moment with the dire news. Reiss shook his head.\n\n\u201cSo you\u2019re going to use this to tie that little Goblin\u2019s tribe to you. What next after that?\u201d\n\nOsthia looked at Reiss. He glanced at her, and then sighed. His shoulders felt heavy. But cold certainty filled him.\n\n\u201cHe killed her subordinate. So I will help her bring him down. As allies.\u201d\n\nThe Drake\u2019s eyes widened. Reiss nodded. It was time. Whatever the Humans had planned, it would surely mean the end of his tribe. But if he could face them with combined forces\u2014\n\nGaren was an obstacle, but his tribe was small. Tremborag was the real threat. If he fell, his tribe would splinter. That was Reiss\u2019 chance. The Great Chieftain had to die. Somehow.\n\nThat reminded Reiss. He fished in his pocket and pulled something out. He turned and offered it to Osthia. She blinked down at the thing he was holding.\n\n\u201cHere. I made it at last.\u201d\n\nIt was a ring, a white band of wood. It had been carved carefully and it shone in the daylight. Osthia hesitated. Reiss pushed it at her.\n\n\u201cTake it.\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t want\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cTake it. I told you what it does. I didn\u2019t lie.\u201d\n\nThe Drake suspiciously took the ring. She turned it over, although Reiss knew she had no ability to detect magic.\n\n\u201cIf you enchanted it with anything but what you said\u2014\u201d\n\nReiss nearly growled. That was the problem with Drakes. They were touchy and suspicious.\n\nAnd kind. Some of them could be\u2014he growled, pushing the memories back.\n\n\u201cI did not. Put it on or I will make you wear it.\u201d\n\nOsthia glared at him, but she slipped the ring on with ill grace. She blinked at the ring.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a perfect fit.\u201d\n\n\u201cObviously. It was made for you.\u201d\n\nThe Goblin Lord sighed. He shook his head as Osthia growled. Maybe he should have made a necklace. He\u2019d forgotten how touchy Drakes and Humans were about rings on fingers. Didn\u2019t it mean something when they put it on a certain finger? Oh well. He dispelled the [Quiet Air] spell a second time and heard the hubbub around him. Snapjaw must have returned. The Goblin Lord glanced at Osthia.\n\n\u201cI must go now.\u201d\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t stay on my account.\u201d\n\nOsthia growled. Her face was irritated, but her tail curled up a bit, betraying her true emotions. Reiss had learned to read Drake\u2019s emotions in their tails. He pretended to be scratching an itch as he read her body language. She was lonely. Lonely, bored, and\u2026worried. For him?\n\nOf course not. Reiss nodded.\n\n\u201cI will let you know what happened tonight. Or sooner if Rags wishes to talk.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, yes. Go away.\u201d\n\nThe Drake turned her head. Reiss nodded to her and turned. The Hobs parted before him and closed, creating a wall of black armor. Reiss strode back through his tribe. Snapjaw was waiting for him, anxiety clearly written on her face. In response, Reiss quickened his footsteps. But only half of his mind was on the act. As he moved, he raised his right claw and pressed a fingertip to his temple.\n\nMaster? Are you there?\n\nHe heard nothing. As usual. Reiss held the connection open, waiting. But there was no response. At last, Reiss lowered his hand. He met Snapjaw and Eater of Spears as they came to him. He became Reiss, the honest Goblin Lord. He was shocked, enraged, and then concerned. He sent Snapjaw back to speak with Rags, played his part so well that for a moment he really was burning with righteous fury. But that faded as Reiss climbed onto the back of his Shield Spider. Thereafter he sat, half miserable, half calculating as he studied the other tribes.\n\nAll the Goblins were marching. Reiss\u2019 army moved ahead smoothly, although he could sense the ripples spreading as the Goblins told each other what had happened. There was shock, anger, sympathy\u2014but generally, the Goblins just kept marching. They knew there would be battle with Tremborag\u2019s tribe in time, and Quietstab\u2019s death changed nothing. It had just happened.\n\nThe other tribes reacted differently, though. Garen\u2019s warriors rode ahead of Tremborag\u2019s forces, back straight with fury and indignation. Some were arguing, but the ones around Garen Redfang were deathly quiet. Sullen. They stared at their Chieftain\u2019s back and Reiss could almost hear their thoughts. Again, the pride and warrior spirit that Garen had taught them went at odds with their alliance with Tremborag. Some were even glancing at Rags\u2019 tribe now and then. That was unexpected. And promising.\n\nAnd Rags\u2019 tribe? Well, they marched fast, catching up with Reiss\u2019 forces. Their postures were tense, their expressions dark. They were furious. Reiss saw some pausing to poop in the path of Tremborag\u2019s tribe, but the rest just kept moving, because there was no other option.\n\nAnd Tremborag\u2019s tribe marched in the rear, as always. They laughed, in the best of spirits and their Great Chieftain was loudest of them all. He walked amid his Goblins, proud to have killed his fellow Goblins. Reiss watched him, thinking dark thoughts. He promised himself it would be soon. He told himself that it was necessary. But he still couldn\u2019t forget Quietstab\u2019s gasp and the sound in the night. Reiss lowered his head.\n\nSome days he wondered if Garen was right. But he had come too far to stop now. Reiss waited for his moment. He waited and waited and watched Rags. Waiting for her to see what had to be done.\n\n\u2014-\n\nTremborag was laughing. His huge voice boomed across the heads of his tribe as he laughed. He was eating and drinking as he walked. His feet hurt and he considered using a healing potion. But though the Great Chieftain normally resented being forced to march with a burning hatred, he was in good spirits. He chewed on the salted beef and drank wine, feeling some run onto his chest.\n\n\u201cLook at them run! Cowards! Weaklings!\u201d\n\nHe bellowed, pointing at Rags\u2019 tribe. They were moving ahead of his tribe, marching fast. The Goblins around Tremborag laughed and jeered as well. They all knew what had happened last night and they were all happy.\n\nWell, most. Some who knew Quietstab hadn\u2019t been pleased. But Tremborag didn\u2019t care. A traitor was a traitor and ending that wretched Hob\u2019s life had shown everyone the truth. Sit-abouts? Working together? It was all meaningless. This was all that mattered. Defeating your enemy. Crushing them. Hurting them. The slave Goblin Lord, Garen, Rags\u2014they could all see the truth. Tremborag felt his spirits rise.\n\n\u201cLook at them, running to hide behind the Goblin Lord. They\u2019ll hide in their camp tonight. Plot and scheme like the\u2014the cowards they are. Conspire with that slave who pretends to be a Goblin Lord. Pretend to be friends. Hah!\u201d\n\nSpittle flew from Tremborag\u2019s mouth, spraying the Goblins in front of him. He could see Ulvama flinching out of the way. His [Chief Shaman] looked displeased as Tremborag waved her closer. The Hob continued, reaching for another wine flask as he walked forwards.\n\n\u201cThe Goblin Lord will probably take the child\u2019s tribe in. Only, she won\u2019t be his Chieftain. She\u2019ll be his puppet. He pretends to be concerned with the good of Goblins. A kingdom? Peace with Humans and Drakes? There is no peace. There is no working together. There is only killing your enemies. Redfang should know that. Where is he?\u201d\n\nTremborag looked around vacantly. Garen\u2019s tribe was marching far ahead of them and to the left, keeping pace with Reiss\u2019 forces. Tremborag scowled.\n\n\u201cFool. If he was half the warrior he claimed to be, he would have slain his traitors already. Ulvama, bring him here. And give me a healing potion.\u201d\n\nThe [Shaman] made a face.\n\n\u201cGreat Chieftain, Garen Redfang is angry.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo?\u201d\n\n\u201cHe will not come. And we have only a few hundred healing potions after\u2014\u201d\n\nTremborag turned and Ulvama flinched. The Hobs around him drew back warily.\n\n\u201cRedfang. Healing potion.\u201d\n\nThe Great Chieftain\u2019s crimson eyes flashed. Ulvama nodded rapidly. She beckoned and a Goblin raced over with a healing potion. Tremborag fumbled with it, watching as a group of Goblins were sent racing ahead to summon Garen Redfang. He noticed Rags\u2019 tribe had slowed their pace somewhat.\n\nThe small Chieftain had actually tried to charge him. Tremborag had nearly died of laughter when that happened. If she had tried to attack with her tribe, he would have been only too happy to rip her apart. Her tribe was a speck compared to his. Her fancy pikes and crossbows were useless against his warriors. She\u2019d even deployed her pikes to her rear, as if she was afraid he\u2019d charge her. That was an amusing idea. Maybe he should try that.\n\nFor a second Tremborag contemplated the thought, but he knew that would be a mistake. Killing Quietstab was one thing, but if it came to a battle, Reiss and the damned Humans would intervene. But if he could send Ulvama or one of his stealthier Goblins to pick off another of Rags\u2019 lieutenants\u2026and what could she do about it?\n\nTremborag was so caught up with the idea that he didn\u2019t notice that Rags\u2019 tribe was slowing even further. Only when he noticed the gap between them was shortening from a few hundred paces to less than a hundred did he frown. He saw the back of Rags\u2019 Goblins with pikes marching ahead of him. Tremborag raised a lazy arm, about to order his tribe to push the Goblins forwards faster. And then he heard a shout.\n\nThe back rank of Rags\u2019 forces turned. The lines of Goblins with pikes turned to face Tremborag\u2019s oncoming tribe. And then the pikes lowered. A wall of spikes faced Tremborag\u2019s front ranks. The Goblins froze, and the ones behind bumped into them. Tremborag halted. His jaw opened. What was\u2014\n\n\u201cLoose!\u201d\n\nHe heard a scream ahead of him. Then he saw a flicker run through the Goblins behind the ones with pikes. A black hail flew up from the ranks of Goblin\u2019s tribe, and then fell towards Tremborag\u2019s tribe. He gaped as they struck the Goblins in front of him. He saw a Hob raise a hand, and then jerk as one of the black shapes struck him. The Hob blinked down at the crossbow bolt that had impaled itself through his hand. And then more bolts were failing, like rain\u2014\n\nTremborag looked about wildly as he heard Goblins screaming. His tribe froze in their tracks and his celebrating warriors grabbed for their shields, tried to back away. All around Tremborag was chaos, confusion. Disbelief. This couldn\u2019t be happening! But it was.\n\nThey were under attack. The first deadly rain of crossbow bolts left hundreds wounded or dead. But before Tremborag could blink, the Goblins with crossbows had reloaded and sent another arc of deadly missiles into the air! Tremborag blinked as more fell around him, and then felt a stinging pain in his shoulder. He looked down and saw an arrow had penetrated his shoulder. It had barely gotten through the first layer of his fat, but the pain woke him up. He gawked at Rags. Then he roared.\n\n\u201cKill them!\u201d\n\nHis warriors flinched and came out of their trance of stupefaction. They surged across the grass and churned up soil towards Rags\u2019 forces, roaring. A wave of crossbow bolts cut down the advancing Goblins. And then the pikes were there. Rags\u2019 pikes charged the first rank of Tremborag\u2019s warriors and skewered them. The twenty-foot long pikes impaled Goblins, knocked others off their feet. And what few Goblins made it past the jabbing, deadly tips found Hobs and Goblin warriors waiting for them. Tremborag saw his warriors backing away as the second rank met the same fate as the first. Rags\u2019 pikes advanced, threateningly.\n\nBut they didn\u2019t go further than a dozen steps before they suddenly retreated. The Goblins of the Flooded Waters tribe planted themselves firmly in the ground, pikes raised, Hobs fighting or loosing arrows among the smaller Goblins. And the crossbows fired again, and then again, reloading and sending hundreds, over a thousand bolts into the air each time. Tremborag roared in fury.\n\n\u201cPush into them! Cowards! Push!\u201d\n\nHe whirled as his Hobs tried to force the Goblins in front of them to charge into certain death. Tremborag took a huge breath and bellowed.\n\n\u201cUlvama!\u201d\n\nThe [Shaman] was there in an instant. Tremborag pointed.\n\n\u201cBreak their pikes!\u201d\n\nThe female Hob nodded. She grabbed her staff and strode forwards, protected by two Hobs with massive tower shields. She raised her staff and aimed at the front rank of pikes, perhaps to enchant Tremborag\u2019s warriors or destroy the pikes directly. Either way, she never got the chance to cast. As she raised her staff, a bolt of lightning shot towards her. Tremborag saw Ulvama\u2019s eyes widen and she swept her staff up.\n\nThe jagged lightning curved up and Ulvama screeched and threw herself to the ground as the bolt earthed itself just past her. Tremborag saw a Goblin standing amid Rags\u2019 tribe. He threw another bolt of lightning that blasted one of the Hobs and sent the smoldering body crumbling to the ground.\n\n\u201cKill that mage!\u201d\n\nTremborag roared, but his Goblins were in disarray. They finally managed to loose arrows of their own, but by that time the Goblin had disappeared.\n\n\u201cChieftain! What do we do?\u201d\n\nOne of Tremborag\u2019s lieutenants screamed at him. The Great Chieftain snarled and backhanded the Hob. He bellowed so his entire tribe could hear him.\n\n\u201cAdvance! Kill the traitors! Any Goblin who runs I will kill myself!\u201d\n\nSlowly, his warriors advanced. They battled the pikes, pushing forwards slowly. Tremborag whirled and ordered his archers forwards. Now his Goblins began exchanging arrows with Rags\u2019 crossbows. And yet, his advance was stymied once again by his warrior\u2019s pragmatism.\n\nIt was one thing to loose arrows back at the other Goblins, but charge into a wall of pike tips? Tremborag bellowed and struck his Hobs, but even they couldn\u2019t motivate his warriors to pay the price in blood to take the pikes. And the Great Chieftain wasn\u2019t willing to stay within range of the crossbows. Five had already struck him and the lightning mage had sent two bolts at Tremborag that Ulvama had barely deflected. So Tremborag took the only other option he could think of.\n\n\u201cShields up! Archers, kill them!\u201d\n\nThousands of Goblins with bows raced into place behind Tremborag\u2019s warriors with shields. They began loosing thousands of arrows. At last, Tremborag saw Rags\u2019 tribe begin to waver. His tribe didn\u2019t have the disciplined ranks of crossbows, but they outnumbered Rags\u2019 forces practically ten to one. Rags\u2019 warriors started falling as arrows showered them. Slowly, they began to pull back.\n\n\u201cKill them! Cover them with arrows and slaughter them by the thousand!\u201d\n\nTremborag was howling with glee. He could see Rags\u2019 tribe faltering as his massive tribe began to outrange them in the archery duel. The Great Chieftain was impatient, pacing behind the lines of his stationary Goblin warriors. He would kill her for this. That child dared to attack him? He\u2019d break her tribe and send his warriors to claim her. Alive. Garen thought she was smart? She was a fool. She\u2019d attacked the wrong foe. No matter what she did, there was no way she could win\u2014\n\nThe Great Chieftain felt the heat before the screams. He turned and saw the gout of flame a moment before the burning wheel of flames engulfed a group of Goblins at his rear. Tremborag blinked. Then a [Fireball] blasted apart another section of Goblins, sending burning body parts flying. He saw a glowing comet smash into his warriors. At the back.\n\nThe back? But how had Rags\u2019 tribe done that? Tremborag\u2019s face went slack for a moment. And then he realized what was happening. Slowly, he looked up and saw the Humans. They were approaching from the north, a line of riders. And mages. They were the ones lobbing spells at him, forcing the Goblins to move. Only, they couldn\u2019t move. And so the Humans had stopped firing warning shots. Now the spells were striking his tribe.\n\nTremborag saw a serpent made of poisonous gas descend on his back ranks as more spells began striking his warriors. He stared at Rags\u2019 tribe, hunkered down in their path. They were fighting, holding his warriors at bay, firing their crossbows. And meanwhile, the Humans were blasting apart Tremborag\u2019s rear.\n\n\u2014-\n\n\u201cThat is strategy.\u201d\n\nReiss eyed the two battling tribes with something akin to awe. Not at the plan, but the daring of it. The way it worked. Rags\u2019 tribe was holding Tremborag\u2019s in place, less than ten thousand facing Tremborag\u2019s full army. They would perish in a moment in a pitched battle. But all they had to do was stall Tremborag for a few minutes. Already the Humans were blasting Tremborag\u2019s rearguard apart.\n\nAnd she\u2019d done it herself. Without speaking to him. Within two hours of Quietstab being discovered. Was she mad or overconfident? Or\u2014\n\nReiss\u2019 forces had stopped marching. So had Garen\u2019s. Both tribes were watching the conflict to the north. Reiss stood with his two top lieutenants, Snapjaw and Eater of Spears. He turned to them.\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s slowing him down. And the Humans are chewing him apart from behind. They\u2019re willing to kill a few thousand Goblins to force Tremborag to move.\u201d\n\nSnapjaw looked impressed. Her jaw was open slightly, revealing her metallic rows of teeth. But Eater of Spears looked worried. He shook his head and rumbled.\n\n\u201cIt is a bad idea. Tremborag has no choice but to advance.\u201d\n\nSnapjaw glanced up at Eater of Spears, surprised he\u2019d said anything. But he was right. Reiss looked back at the conflict and nodded slowly.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re going to be overrun. Unless they retreat.\u201d\n\nIt was true. Despite the pikes, Tremborag\u2019s warriors were pushing forwards, realizing that there was no safety in staying still. Reiss saw several points in Rags\u2019 rear opening up. But before Tremborag\u2019s forces could overwhelm her, he heard a horn blow. Instantly, Rags\u2019 tribe began moving again.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re running!\u201d\n\nSnapjaw\u2019s addition to the commentary was to point out the obvious. The female Hob hopped up and down, watching anxiously as Rags\u2019 tribe disengaged. They retreated, running after Reiss and Garen\u2019s forces. Thanks to Rags\u2019 [Fleet Foot] Skill, they outdistanced Tremborag\u2019s desperate Goblins.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ll have to run fast. Tremborag will chase.\u201d\n\nEater of Spears frowned, eying Rags\u2019 tribe. Reiss nodded. If she\u2019d wanted to anger the Great Chieftain and give him a bloody wound, she\u2019d done it. But she\u2019d have to run fast. He began calculating her trajectory, wondering if he should put his tribe between hers and Tremborag\u2019s.\n\n\u201cHe has to get free of the Humans, first. No time for fighting.\u201d\n\n\u201cMm.\u201d\n\nTremborag\u2019s tribe was moving as more spells rained on them from behind. They surged forwards, following Rags\u2019 tribe. Reiss saw both groups of Goblins coming at him like a green wave\u2014and then Rags\u2019 tribe halted again. They turned, and he saw the small Chieftain raise her sword.\n\n\u201cIs she\u2014\u201d\n\nThe Goblins with crossbows raised their weapons and loosed another wave of bolts. Then they turned and kept running. Tremborag\u2019s forces wavered as the crossbow bolts landed among them. Some tried to return fire, but they were still under attack from behind! And the sudden attack had slowed them. Rags\u2019 tribe ran for another fifty feet with ease. They turned, bent to reload their crossbows, and fired again.\n\n\u201cHm. Good plan.\u201d\n\nEater of Spears grunted approvingly. Reiss just watched. Rags was fighting on the move! That too wasn\u2019t surprising as a tactic, but\u2014he focused on the small Goblin. What was she doing? Was she really trying to kill Tremborag\u2019s entire tribe? She couldn\u2019t. It was impossible. And yet, the small Goblin turned and waved her sword again and again, and her tribe continued loosing quarrels. And Tremborag\u2019s Goblins had no choice but to advance and die or die.\n\n\u2014-\n\n\u201cLoose!\u201d\n\nRags screamed the word at her warriors. She pointed, and saw the crossbows rise. Her Goblins cocked their crossbows, slapped bolts into place, and fired. Then they turned and ran after her as she wheeled her Carn Wolf and raced forwards.\n\nIt was a rhythm, a deadly rhythm that sang in sync with her heart. Stop, turn, loose, and run again. Rags pointed at Tremborag as his warriors surged towards her tribe, ignoring the sporadic arrows flying towards her tribe and screamed.\n\n\u201cKill him!\u201d\n\nA hundred crossbow strings snapped in agreement. The bolts soared up and fell around Tremborag. Rags saw him raise a huge hand to shield his face and roar in fury. She saw a dozen bolts strike him, but none penetrated deeply. They were too far away, the crossbows were too weak, and he was too big. But he was hurt. Rags raised her own crossbow and fired.\n\nThe arrow shot up and arced toward Tremborag\u2019s face. At the last moment it snapped in midair. Rags saw a Hob with a staff pointing and recognized her. Ulvama waved her staff urgently, chanting. Rags growled as she waved her staff.\n\nThe spell the [Shaman] cast made Tremborag and the Goblins around him flicker and turn hazy. Rags saw multiple Tremborag\u2019s appear and then felt her eyes slide away as he became a green, indistinct blob. The Goblins with crossbows around her wavered; it was hard to even look in his direction.\n\n\u201cMove!\u201d\n\nRags ordered them. Her tribe ran, turned, and loosed. This time they aimed at Tremborag\u2019s front ranks. More Goblins fell. Rags heard them screaming. She didn\u2019t care. Her blood was on fire. It was only when she heard a shout that she looked up and saw the falling fireball.\n\nThis was no ordinary fireball, the size of a torso, or even a [Grand Fireball], which was a ball of roiling flames as tall as a Human in every direction. This was like a second sun. Rags had seen it once before. It was falling towards her tribe, almost lazily. Her eyes widened.\n\n\u201cRun, run!\u201d\n\nHer tribe ran, scattering before the fireball could land. When it did, the explosion kicked Rags in the back and made her Carn Wolf howl in pain. She looked back, wondering if it was a missed spell. But then she saw more spells falling from above. The Humans were beginning to lob spells at her warriors now as well.\n\n\u201cChieftain! We have to run!\u201d\n\nRedscar pulled up beside Rags. He was staring at the sky. Rags knew he was right. She turned and waved at her tribe.\n\n\u201cRun fast! Fastest! Don\u2019t look back!\u201d\n\nThe Goblins hesitated, but Rags urged them onwards. She kept her eyes on the sky, and Redscar\u2019s mounted warriors did the same. They screamed orders and the tribe split to avoid the falling spells. Rags rode with them, racing ahead. Reiss\u2019 army was on the march and as soon as they drew close to them, the spells stopped falling. Rags turned and saw Tremborag\u2019s tribe was running in their wake, also free from attack for the moment.\n\n\u201cHumans saw what we were doing.\u201d\n\nNoears gasped as he jogged over, his face sweaty. Rags nodded. She looked around and saw her tribe was gasping for air. All of them were tired and many were hurt. She looked back and saw a trail of bodies behind her. For a second she felt numb. Then she looked up and saw Tremborag\u2019s tribe.\n\nThey were hurt. But he was still there. Rags glamced at the huge Hob who was running, bellowing at his Goblins to move faster. Then she turned as she heard a commotion from the front.\n\n\u201cChieftain! Goblin Lord coming!\u201d\n\nPoisonbite shouted. Rags nodded. She saw Pyrite wearily approaching from the rear, holding a wounded Goblin and waved at him. The Hob laid the Goblin with an arrow in his leg on a wagon and strode forwards.\n\n\u201cRags.\u201d\n\nReiss rode towards her on his headless, undead Shield Spider with Snapjaw and Eater of Spears flanking him. He stared at Rags for a moment as if he\u2019d never seen her before, and then looked at Tremborag\u2019s approaching forces.\n\n\u201cYou attacked him.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe killed Quietstab.\u201d\n\n\u201cI know.\u201d\n\nReiss nodded slowly. He looked at Rags.\n\n\u201cBut you attacked him.\u201d\n\nShe nodded.\n\n\u201cBecause he killed Quietstab.\u201d\n\nReiss stared at her. After a moment he nodded uncertainly. Rags nodded as well, conscious of the eyes on her. That was all there was to it. He killed Quietstab and so he had to pay.\n\n\u201cYou bloodied him. He won\u2019t forgive that easily.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo?\u201d\n\nThe question threw Reiss. He glanced at Tremborag\u2019s tribe again, and then at the Humans.\n\n\u201cSo you can\u2019t attack him. The Humans will force you to stop.\u201d\n\n\u201cStop? Why? This is not stopped. This is waiting.\u201d\n\nRags glared at Reiss. He opened his mouth, flicking his eyes to her, then to Pyrite, Redscar, and the others. They all stared at him silently.\n\nThey weren\u2019t going to stop. Not until Tremborag was dead. Why would they stop? He killed Quietstab. One Hob, yes. One Goblin. But he had been of Rags\u2019 tribes. He had been her subordinate, her trusted aide and lieutenant, even if he wasn\u2019t the greatest of them. He had been her friend. And he was dead. So she would kill Tremborag or die trying. It was a simple as that.\n\nHer tribe understood all of this without Rags having to say it, but Reiss didn\u2019t seem to. He opened his mouth again and his black eyes fixed on Rags\u2019 face.\n\n\u201cWhat will you do?\u201d\n\n\u201cKeep marching, stupid.\u201d\n\nThe answer made Reiss frown in vexation and Snapjaw grind her teeth, but Rags was in no mood to bandy words. She turned and pointed at Pyrite.\n\n\u201cGet wounded in wagons. Ready to march. Use healing potions on bad hurt\u2014so not die. Not full heal. Get food and ready rear. We march fast, ahead of Mountain City tribe. Get more bolts for crossbows and get ready.\u201d\n\nPyrite nodded.\n\n\u201cAnother fight, Chieftain?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot now. Tonight. He dies tonight.\u201d\n\nReiss inhaled sharply. Rags ignored him. She looked around.\n\n\u201cRedscar, Pyrite, Noears. Can you win if fight?\u201d\n\nThey hesitated. Poisonbite bristled, but Rags ignored her. Pyrite looked back at Tremborag. He shrugged.\n\n\u201cProbably not.\u201d\n\n\u201cChieftain Rags. Are you serious?\u201d\n\nRags turned and stared at Reiss. The look in her eyes was all the answer she needed to give. She turned back.\n\n\u201cHow many Hobs you need? Or Redfangs?\u201d\n\nNoears glanced at Redscar. The warrior was frowning and checking the edge of his blade. Noears shrugged.\n\n\u201cLots. Tremborag is strong. Saw him kill six Hobs in a fight once. When he gets big, too strong? Need Pyrite to hit hard. Or Redscar stab in eyes?\u201d\n\nThe mounted Goblin nodded.\n\n\u201cGood plan.\u201d\n\nRags nodded slowly.\n\n\u201cLots of Hobs, then. And get free of others. Poisonbite and I will hold off others. Have to kill fast. Surprise attack.\u201d\n\n\u201cChieftain Rags.\u201d\n\nShe turned and glared at Reiss. He was staring at her.\n\n\u201cWhat?\u201d\n\nHe hesitated. He looked so\u2026surprised. Why? The instant Rags had known that Quietstab was dead and Tremborag was to blame she had sworn to kill him. Why would she wait? For a better moment? For the right time? Those were Human ideas. Rags would kill Tremborag. And she wouldn\u2019t stop. Ever.\n\nReiss finally understood that. Or he realized it was fruitless to argue. His eyes flickered as he stared at Rags\u2019 tribe, and then glanced at his lieutenants. Then he stared past Rags at a small group of a few thousand Goblins, who had watched the conflict without intervening.\n\nGaren Redfang sat on his Carn Wolf, staring at Rags and Reiss. The Goblin Lord pointed at him.\n\n\u201cIf you continue to fight, Garen will intervene.\u201d\n\n\u201cProbably.\u201d\n\nRags gritted her teeth. She was trying to figure out how to catch Tremborag off-guard tonight. Could it be tonight? Or did they have to wait until he\u2019d lowered his guard somehow? His tribe would be on alert, but if she could figure out a way to poison their supplies or take them off-guard somehow\u2014how could she slow Garen and keep him from intervening?\n\n\u201cIf you plan to attack at night, you\u2019d have to cut into Tremborag\u2019s camp and attack him in the center of his warriors.\u201d\n\n\u201cOnly if I have stupid plan.\u201d\n\nRags muttered under her breath. Reiss paused.\n\n\u201cIf you need a distraction, I will help you. My warriors can attack Tremborag\u2019s tribe from the side while yours cut in. I will help you kill Tremborag.\u201d\n\nThe small Goblin froze in her saddle. Then she looked at Reiss and narrowed her eyes. The Goblin Lord met her gaze steadily, unblinking.\n\n\u201cReally?\u201d\n\nHe nodded.\n\n\u201cTremborag has no\u2026he is not-Goblin. I will help you. I can stop Garen myself. As for Tremborag\u2014I can lend you Eater of Spears and some of my best Hobs and the Draug I have remaining for the battle.\u201d\n\nRags blinked. Eater of Spears and Hobs and Draug? She remembered some of the hulking undead she\u2019d seen. If she had those\u2014she glanced at Pyrite, who raised his eyebrows. Redscar was frowning, but Rags had mastered her face when she looked back at Reiss and nodded.\n\n\u201cYes. Thank you. We will fight together.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood. Tremborag must fall, after all.\u201d\n\nReiss smiled at Rags. She nodded, but didn\u2019t smile. She saw the Goblin Lord\u2019s eyes shift towards Tremborag. His gaze was cold as he fixed on the distant Great Chieftain. Rags knew\u2014she thought she knew\u2014that he was serious about aiding her. Tremborag dying would help Reiss, after all. And Rags would accept his help. But all the trust she\u2019d had in Reiss was teetering on the edge of sudden doubt.\n\nNot because she suspected him of lying to her. And not because she thought he\u2019d betray her. No, it was just because of how surprised he was. Of course it was insane to attack Tremborag\u2019s tribe. Of course it was strange, suicidal even. All of his reactions were normal. But while those reactions were normal, they were what Rags would expect from someone like Erin. Reiss was acting more like a Human than a Goblin. And that, more than anything, bothered her.\n\nRags turned her Carn Wolf and pointed ahead. Tremborag\u2019s tribe was catching up at last.\n\n\u201cCome. We move. And plan attack.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will ride with you. Snapjaw, lead my army. Eater of Spears, take a thousand Hobs to the rear of Chieftain Rags\u2019 tribe.\u201d\n\nReiss immediately snapped at his Goblins. They nodded and disappeared. Reiss rode next to Rags, looking down at her and clearly wondering how they should talk with him several feet above her head. Rags ignored him as her Carn Wolf padded forwards. Her mind was racing, trying to fit Reiss\u2019 forces into a plan that would end with Tremborag\u2019s death with the least amount of cost.\n\nBecause it would cost her. Who would die killing him? Redscar? Noears? Pyrite? No. Rags\u2019 heart hurt at the very thought. But she also knew she couldn\u2019t not kill Tremborag. He had killed Quietstab. He had killed her Goblin. Her friend. For that, she would set everything ablaze and slaughter his tribe to the last.\n\nLike last time. Like the Humans.\n\nRags remembered a burning house. She remembered screaming Humans, the smell of blood, and a blind [Emperor]\u2019s words. And she hesitated. It was the same and not the same. For a second Rags wavered. But there was only vengeance and death. That was what she had to do.\n\nAs Goblins do. As Goblins have always done. Rags felt something familiar about what she was doing and felt uneasy. She saw a pattern in her mind, a pattern that she had seen play out again and again. But it faded as she looked back and saw him. Tremborag.\n\nHer blood was rage, her heartbeats pain. She looked at him and knew one truth.\n\nHe had to die.\n\n\u2014-\n\nLord Yitton Byres found Tyrion Veltras standing next to his mount. Yitton was on foot himself, having left his mount with a [Groom] during the break. The main company was moving onwards, pursuing the Goblins, but Tyrion had called a halt to assess the situation in light of the morning\u2019s events.\n\nIt was something Yitton would have liked time to think on himself. He shook his head as he strode towards Tyrion. The man was alone and several of his aides were keeping a wide space around him. From the way his lips blurred and the way Yitton couldn\u2019t hear a thing he was saying even as he approached, he was probably under several anti-spying spells as well.\n\nOne of the men assigned to keep everyone back hesitated when he saw Lord Yitton. But for whatever reason he let Lord Yitton past. That was a curiosity in itself, but Yitton Byres had accepted that Tyrion Veltras held him in some esteem. At least enough to let Yitton into the protective spell bubble and hear Tyrion speaking.\n\nHe was conversing with his personal aide, his [Mage], Jericha. Yitton paused with both hands behind his back. Tyrion glanced at him and gave him a slight nod of acknowledgement, then returned to speaking with Jericha.\n\n\u201cAnd the number of dead?\u201d\n\n\u201cOur [Scouts] estimate it at around eight thousand dead, Lord Veltras. Mostly from the ah, Great Chieftain\u2019s tribe, although several hundred were killed in the\u2026Flowing Waters tribe. Mainly from arrows, not the spells cast by our mages.\u201d\n\n\u201cI see.\u201d\n\nTyrion grimaced, although Yitton had only the barest inkling of an idea why. By all rights, eight thousand dead Goblins should be a step in the right direction. But the man had plans, and if what Lord Erill had told Yitton over their cups last night was true, then the man would want as many Goblins alive as possible. If it were true.\n\nYitton had no intention of asking Tyrion that. He stood patiently with both legs braced as Tyrion kept talking. The head of the Byres family kept one ear on the conversation while he thought about what he\u2019d witnessed. Goblins laying traps for one another. Using formations. That had been a classic pike wall with crossbows firing over. And then one of the tribes had used mobile harassing tactics!\n\nIt bothered Yitton to see anything like strategy coming out of the Goblins. But those Chieftains seemed every bit as dangerous as the Goblin Lord. What he couldn\u2019t understand was what had set them against each other. Yitton frowned, and then realized that the topic of conversation had shifted when he hadn\u2019t noticed. Jericha was perusing a piece of parchment in her hands.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve received several concerned [Message] spells inquiring about your grand strategy, Lord Veltras. Nothing that merits a reply, but I have just received a missive from Lady Magnolia Reinhart, and ah\u2014\u201d\n\nShe paled for a second as she read the transcribed [Message]. Lord Tyrion raised one eyebrow.\n\n\u201cPass it to me.\u201d\n\nThe [Mage] hesitated only for a second before handing the parchment over. Tyrion read impassively. Yitton saw his eyebrows raise just once. For the man, it was as good as an exclamation. Tyrion stared at the parchment, then folded it up and handed to Jericha. She silently burned it in her hands with a small spell. Tyrion shook his head.\n\n\u201cThat was surprisingly direct. Give Reinhart my regards, Jericha. Inform her\u2014politely\u2014that I will not be swayed from my course. Any attempts she may make I will counter to the full extent of my ability.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, Lord Veltras.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood. I will peruse all the other [Message] spells tonight. And have we received any [Messages] from the Drakes?\u201d\n\n\u201cNothing but polite inquiries from the [Strategists] of some of the Walled Cities, sire.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood.\u201d\n\nTyrion closed his eyes for a moment and folded his arms. He nodded once, and opened his eyes.\n\n\u201cKeep me informed of any changes. Now, onto more pressing matters. Lord Yitton?\u201d\n\nHe turned briskly to the other man. Yitton Byres snatched one hand down from his beard.\n\n\u201cLord Tyrion, the company is continuing to pursue the Goblins. They\u2019ve stopped fighting although our [Mages] had to fire more warning spells, but both tribes are keeping a distance now.\u201d\n\n\u201cExcellent. And?\u201d\n\nYitton grimaced.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve consulted with our [Scouts] familiar with Goblins. They\u2019ve given me their assessment and I agree\u2014those two tribes are about to clash and one of the Chieftains is going to kill the other by night\u2019s end. I intended to ask if you wished to separate them to prevent a conflict.\u201d\n\nTyrion\u2019s brows drew together. He drummed his fingers restlessly against his side while keeping still. Then he shook his head.\n\n\u201cNo. Splitting up the Goblins would only increase the complexity of our task and make it likely that one tribe would attempt to escape. Did the [Scouts] have any speculation about why the two tribes began fighting? The conflict was between\u2014\u201d\n\nHe glanced at Jericha. The [Mage] raised her head briefly.\n\n\u201cThe Mountain City tribe led by the Grand Chieftain and the raiding tribe that assaulted Riverfarm, Lord Veltras.\u201d\n\nA spark of interest entered Tyrion\u2019s eyes.\n\n\u201cYes, I recall that tribe. And that Chieftain. Lord Yitton?\u201d\n\nYitton hesitated, frowning.\n\n\u201cThe [Scouts] drew the conclusion that it was the death of one Hob that sparked the conflict, Lord Byres. They observed the Flooded Waters tribe gathering around a dead Goblin that had been hidden in a latrine. The [Scouts] speculate that he was killed by a member of the other tribe, which sparked the conflict. Our [Strategists] disagree, however. They believe it was a conflict over resources, as this Mountain City tribe has consistently consumed far more of the supplies we\u2019ve placed in their way than the other tribes.\u201d\n\n\u201cI see. Well, the reason matters not. This fighting will wear down both sides, especially if the Goblin Lord involves himself. As for the delays\u2014unacceptable.\u201d\n\nTyrion shook his head. Yitton waited. Jericha looked up, having sent her [Message] and frowned.\n\n\u201cLord Veltras, we may be able to force both tribes to move and camp separately. It would require our [Mages] to create a neutral zone and enforce it, but\u2014\u201d\n\nShe broke off as Tyrion raised a hand. The [Lord] was staring at nothing, frowning. Then he looked up.\n\n\u201cNo. This may serve our purpose, Jericha. Rather than tire out our [Mages], I intend to solve the matter directly.\u201d\n\nHe turned and looked at his aide.\n\n\u201cSummon the Gold-rank adventurer captains immediately, to meet me at the front within twenty minutes. Provide them with mounts if they are marching with the foot.\u201d\n\nJericha nodded and raised a finger to her temple.\n\n\u201cAnd Miss Arcsinger?\u201d\n\nA flicker of expression passed across Tyrion\u2019s face, so quickly that Lord Yitton couldn\u2019t read what emotion it had been. Tyrion shook his head briskly, his face impassive.\n\n\u201cNo. We have an arrangement. Let her continue onwards\u2014I will request her use of Skills as needed. That will be all. Lord Yitton, I would value your input if you would ride with me.\u201d\n\nHe strode towards his mount and briskly mounted himself. Yitton looked around, cursing and wishing he\u2019d kept his horse nearby, but it was already being brought. Tyrion watched as Yitton swung himself into his saddle and then the two [Lords] were riding quickly to the front. Yitton saw the ground flash past him as he rode under the aegis of Lord Tyrion\u2019s Skills.\n\n\u201cYou have a plan, Lord Tyrion?\u201d\n\n\u201cI do, Lord Yitton. I intend to send the Goblins and our watchers a message.\u201d\n\nYitton glanced sharply at Lord Tyrion as the man calmly surged up and down in his saddle with his horse.\n\n\u201cA message, Lord Tyrion? Of what kind?\u201d\n\nTyrion looked back at the older man and almost smiled.\n\n\u201cThe simplest of messages, Yitton. The kind even Goblins understand.\u201d\n\n\u2014-\n\n\u201cCan\u2019t win with spells. Bad idea.\u201d\n\nPyrite grunted as he jogged along with Reiss, Rags, and a cluster of the other high-ranking Goblins in both her tribe and the Goblin Lord\u2019s army. The Hob pretended not to notice the glares both Reiss and Noears gave him.\n\n\u201cWhy not? I can weaken Tremborag with death spells.\u201d\n\n\u201cCan try.\u201d\n\nEater of Spears nodded as he stumped along. Smaller Goblins and Hobs stared up at him as they ran around him. Both Rags\u2019 tribe and Reiss\u2019 army were marching far ahead of Tremborag\u2019s tribe, and quickly too. The Humans had pushed them hard and the Goblins were tired despite it being just past midmorning.\n\nRags wasn\u2019t tired. Her mind was buzzing with ideas. The impromptu war council was deliberating hard about how to attack Tremborag successfully. She looked at Pyrite.\n\n\u201cWhy no spell?\u201d\n\n\u201cBad idea.\u201d\n\nPyrite ducked as Snapjaw threw a pebble at him. He rumbled, and explained as he fished out a speckled blue egg and began to eat it raw, shell and all. He offered one to Eater of Spear, who took it with a grunt of satisfaction and popped the entire thing into his mouth.\n\n\u201cTremborag is old Hob. Very strong. Knows how to fight adventurers. If [Mage] casts spell, may hurt. Won\u2019t kill. Then Tremborag comes and tears head off. Very quick.\u201d\n\nHe gestured at Noears and mimed the very action. Noears felt at his head, looking concerned. Reiss frowned.\n\n\u201cI could fight Tremborag myself.\u201d\n\n\u201cCould try.\u201d\n\nPyrite glanced impassively at Reiss. This time Snapjaw growled and leaned out of her saddle, ready to punch Pyrite. Poisonbite tugged her back and Reiss frowned. It was Rags who nodded.\n\n\u201cToo risky. Can\u2019t have one or two. Better to have Reiss fight Garen.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy? Goblin Lord not strong enough?\u201d\n\nSnapjaw challenged Rags angrily. She just shrugged.\n\n\u201cNo. Garen too annoying. Reiss stop Garen. That easy. Hard part is get Tremborag alone. How about\u2014\u201d\n\nShe glanced up and frowned. So did the other Goblins. They turned as they heard a horn blaring behind them. Only, it wasn\u2019t a Goblin horn. It was coming from the Humans riding behind them.\n\nThe difference in sound was minimal, as both Goblins and Humans made the same instrument. But it was the oddity of the sound that bothered Rags. She stared as first one horn blew, and then two, then a dozen.\n\nAnd then a hundred. The advancing line of cavalry stopped as all four Goblin tribes halted and stared back at the Humans. The flanking parties of Humans riding to either side of them paused as well. Rags stared as, in the distance, she saw the lines of Humans part.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d\n\nReiss stared hard at the Humans. He looked around and Rags saw his undead Shield Spider crawl towards them. No one else moved as Reiss swung himself up into his saddle for a better look. Rags saw the Humans part. And then someone appeared between the lines of riders. A flash of golden hair. And a silver bow. Though she was far away, Rags could see the figure had pointed ears. And when she looked up\u2014\n\nFear. It ran through the Goblins like a physical thing. They shuddered as they remembered. Golden hair. A bow. A fallen King.\n\nElia Arcsinger. Kingslayer. She stood at the head of the ranks of Humans. And someone else rode up to join her. A man with dark hair, his armor gleaming. He looked like any other Human in one sense, but Rags recognized him.\n\nTyrion Veltras. The [Lord] regarded the mass of Goblins ahead of him. Rags could see Reiss reconsidering his vantage point and swinging himself down into the safety of the mass of his warriors who surged forwards to put themselves between him and Elia. But it was not at the Goblin Lord who Tyrion looked at. His gaze swept past Reiss, past Garen who sat on his Carn Wolf, teeth bared. He looked at Rags first and she felt a shudder. She thought that Tyrion was smiling, but she couldn\u2019t see his expression so far away. And then the [Lord] looked down, at the sprawling tribe of Goblins, half of whom were sitting, imitating their Chieftain.\n\nTremborag, Great Chieftain of the Mountains, sat on the ground, footsore, furious. His skin was healed and the crossbow bolts had been plucked out, but his gaze was still malevolent fury as he stared at Rags. He ignored Tyrion Veltras and the Humans, his back a solid mass of contempt. He was not afraid of them, or so his posture said. So he never saw Elia Arcsinger raise her bow. He never saw the arrow.\n\nIt struck Tremborag in the back. A single arrow, fired hundreds of feet. It flew straight and true and embedded itself in Tremborag\u2019s flesh, just above his shoulder. He howled, more from shock then pain, and whirled. His eyes widened as he saw Elia Arcsinger lower the bow, and his hand reached up, trying to grab the arrow.\n\n\u201cShe shot him?\u201d\n\nReiss\u2019 voice was incredulous. The arrow had struck the Great Chieftain precisely, and Rags couldn\u2019t imagine she\u2019d missed. But it hadn\u2019t done more than wound Tremborag slightly. Frankly, it wasn\u2019t even a good shot if the half-Elf had been trying to kill him. But as Tremborag yanked the arrow from his back and stared at the red, dripping point, Rags felt terribly uneasy. She looked up and saw Elia Arcsinger turn away. And Tyrion Veltras pointed.\n\nAt Tremborag. The Great Chieftain froze, his expression outraged and confused at once. Another person, a woman, a [Mage], stepped up besides Tyrion. Rags watched her, feeling her pulse thudding in her ears. She saw the [Mage] link arms with two others, a woman and a man, and then saw the fire.\n\nThis was how she spun the fireball. Out of air a wisp of fire appeared, a thin tendril. Then it thickened, curled in on itself and other strand appeared. Like yarn, it knitted itself together, twisting into a ball of fire, only this ball was ever-shifting, the cords of flame shifting around together. And the blaze grew until the fireball was as large as the woman, larger, as large as a horse. Larger still.\n\nThe Goblins watched in silence. Tremborag slowly got to his feet. He stared at the [Mages], incredulous. Rags stared at him and then at Tyrion. At the Humans. They were all looking at Tremborag. The Great Chieftain looked around. Now the fireball was floating overhead. He backed up a step, his face written with incredulity.\n\nHe did not want to believe. He did not want to know. But it was too late. The [Mage] let go of the other\u2019s hands and pointed. The [Siege Fireball] shot forwards, a blazing inferno as bright as the sun. Tremborag turned. He began to run. The Goblins around him ran too. Rags heard not a word from them. They just ran, streaming away from the spot. And then the fireball touched the earth where Tremborag had been, as the Great chieftain tried to flee. Rags saw a flash\u2014\n\nThen she felt something kick her in the chest. Hot air blasted Rags\u2019 face and she heard cries as the Goblins were bombarded with light, heat, and sound. When Rags could see again, she saw Tremborag lying on the ground. He was alive. He\u2019d dove to avoid the blast. As he got to his feet, shakily, a horn blew. Rags turned and saw the Humans advancing. Only, it wasn\u2019t a steady trot.\n\nThey were charging. [Mages] standing behind the ranks of Humans on horseback began throwing spells. Crackling lightning and shards of ice rained down from the sky, as the earth broke underfoot. Goblins screamed and ran, but Rags stayed where she was. So did her entire tribe. Because the onslaught was not aimed at them. The center of the storm, the one figure that the Humans encircled, cut off from his tribe and threw spells at was the huge figure, the Great Chieftain of the Mountain.\n\nTremborag.\n\nHe looked around, bellowing in fear and fury. He turned to run, but a line of [Riders] and [Knights] cut him off. He shouted for his Goblins, but his warriors who rushed to surround him were blown to pieces, feathered by arrows, cut down by swords. Tremborag roared. He turned and saw the watching Goblins, the three tribes who stared at him.\n\nTremborag went still. His eyes went to Reiss, who stood amid his warriors, his face impassive, to Garen Redfang, who looked shocked. And then to Rags, who met his eyes. Tremborag looked back at the Humans who were attacking his tribe, sending his warriors fleeing further and further away from their Chieftain. He looked around and saw Tyrion Veltras, riding towards him. And then he knew.\n\n\u2014-\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re going to kill him.\u201d\n\nReiss breathed the words incredulously as he watched Tremborag\u2019s tribe disintegrate before his eyes. The Mountain City tribe had scattered in the face of the first spell. Now they were trying to reform, but the wave of Humans that crashed into their backs forced them to keep running. Spells hammered the ground, enforcing the imminent threat of death behind them. The Goblins turned and ran, but they could hardly ignore the bellowing voice behind them.\n\n\u201cWarriors to me! Protect your Chieftain! Ulvama! Kerist! Qent! Where are my Hobs?\u201d\n\nTremborag shouted, running, thrusting aside Goblins, trying to put anything and everything behind him and the Humans racing to cut him off. He was fast, and he barreled through a rider and horse, knocking both aside, though the impact made Tremborag stagger. He ran forwards, trying to get away. But the Humans were aimed only at him.\n\n\u201cThey are going to kill him.\u201d\n\nNoears stared at the scene with amazement and delight. He and the others watched as Tremborag\u2019s tribe fled towards them. Rags could see tens of thousands of Goblins streaming away from Tremborag. Few turned despite his shouts. And those that did\u2014died.\n\nIt wasn\u2019t a fair battle. It wasn\u2019t even a battle. If a Goblin or Hob turned to strike or cast a spell, a [Knight], a dozen [Knights], would ride down on them and hack them to shreds. Or a [Lord] would use an artifact, or an adventurer loose an arrow, or a [Mage] a spell. No matter what Tremborag said, no matter how he threatened and ordered, he couldn\u2019t force his Goblins to turn and fight that.\n\n\u201cStop! Obey me! Turn and fight for your Chieftain! Fight for your tribe!\u201d\n\nTremborag caught a Goblin warrior who was fleeing. He stared at the Goblin\u2019s terrified face, and then hurled her at the oncoming Humans. The Goblin disappeared with a scream beneath the oncoming horses. Tremborag looked around desperately.\n\n\u201cUlvama! My Hobs!\u201d\n\nThere they were, fleeing ahead of him. Tremborag roared at them and for a moment they turned. Ulvama with her staff, the Hobs wearing their precious, looted gear. They looked back at their Great Chieftain as he labored to run after them. Tremborag raised a claw, calling. Imploring.\n\nAnd the Humans were behind him. Surrounding him. They formed up at his back, and on his sides, creating a passage edged by steel. They held their position there, daring the Goblins to run back. There was a clear path between them and Tremborag. But if they went back\u2014the Goblins of the Mountain City tribe stared at the lines of Humans. They looked at death and death looked back.\n\nUlvama stared at Tremborag. He looked at her, his face desperate. It was an expression few of the Goblins in his tribe had seen. They looked at their Great Chieftain. And then Ulvama turned away.\n\nShe was the first. Then one of the Hob lieutenants turned his back. And then a warrior. And then a child. Tremborag stared as his Goblins turned and began streaming further away.\n\nAll of them. Ulvama, his Hob sub-Chieftains, his warriors\u2014they fled as the Humans raced past him on horseback. They pursued the Goblins, chasing them towards the other three tribes that were watching Tremborag. And then the Great Chieftain was alone. He stared around at the Humans. They watched him, faces hidden behind visors, mask of hatred. But they didn\u2019t attack.\n\nMore movement. Tremborag started, whirled as the Humans in front of him parted. He stared in disbelief as the lines of Humans moved aside, giving him a path towards the Goblins to the south. He looked in disbelief at the Humans, and then narrowed his eyes. A trick?\n\nNo. The Humans drew back, waiting. Tremborag turned as a man in armor rode up behind him. Lord Tyrion Veltras drew his sword and pointed past Tremborag, towards the waiting Goblins. The Great Chieftain turned and saw his tribe staring back at him. Along with the other Goblins. A [Fireball] exploded over their heads and the Goblins started, began to run. South, again.\n\nThen Tyrion pointed at Tremborag. The Great Chieftain met his eyes, snarling, defiant. But Tyrion didn\u2019t order the attack. Instead he raised one hand and shouted an order.\n\n\u201cAdvance at a trot!\u201d\n\nThe Humans around him moved. Their horses began to trot forwards, at Tremborag. The Great Chieftain backed up. He turned, and looked at the Goblins moving swiftly south. Then he looked at the Humans, advancing behind him, slowly. And then it became clear.\n\nThey wanted him to run. To run until he fell. Tremborag\u2019s claws clenched. Red fury rose in his eyes and for a second he turned back to the front ranks of Humans. For a second. Then the fury dimmed. He looked back at his tribe, so far away in the distance. And he turned and ran.\n\n\u2014-\n\nAt first, it was one mile. Rags and her tribe raced across the rocky landscape until it turned to grass. Then it was two miles. She heard the scream of spells overhead, saw her tribe start to mix with the other Goblins running. They couldn\u2019t help it. The Humans drove them onwards faster than they ever had before. Rags saw the wagons jolting as the animals strained to keep up, saw Goblins trip, fall, and be trampled or blown to bits.\n\nAnd then it was five miles. Six? She lost count. The Goblins slowed after a time. The frantic pace eased. Because the Humans weren\u2019t chasing them. Not just them. It was the figure in the distance, always a thousand feet or so behind that they were concerned with.\n\nTremborag. He ran as hard as he could, his body heaving with effort. He stumbled and fell and got up, he gasped for air. He ran, but the Goblins ahead of him were always out of reach. The Humans forced them to keep away from the Great Chieftain. And he was tiring. Of all the Goblins, he was the largest. And his footsteps grew ever more slower, his breathing harder.\n\nHe collapsed after the eighth mile of running. The Hob fell to his knees as the Humans slowed to a snail\u2019s pace behind him. They threw spells over his head, blew their horns. But he could run no further. Tremborag panted, so dehydrated that the sweat had stopped rolling off his body. He looked behind him and saw the Humans approaching slowly, so slowly, at a leisurely walk.\n\nLike hunters moving in for the kill. Tremborag turned and bared his teeth.\n\n\u201cYou damned Humans. You think that this\u2014\u201d\n\nHe tried to heave himself up and failed. Tremborag sprawled onto his back. He stared up at the sky and made a noise. It might have been a growl of frustration. But it sounded like a sob.\n\n\u201cLike this? Like this? Without my tribe? Those cowards\u2014like this? Impossible. I cannot die here. Not like this. It should have been\u2014I should have\u2014\u201d\n\nHe scrabbled at the grass and dirt, trying to pull himself up. He stared at the Goblins, who\u2019d paused to look back at him, no longer hounded by the Humans. Tremborag stared at his tribe, at the faces in the distance. He tried to shout, but his lungs were too exhausted.\n\n\u201cDamn you. Cowards! Traitors, every one! I am your Chieftain! I am Tremborag! I\u2014\u201d\n\nHis voice faltered. Tremborag sagged. He stared at the Goblins. They made no move to help him. They watched, as the Humans drew closer in the distance.\n\nAll except one. She kicked her Carn Wolf forwards, ignoring the warnings of her tribe. She raced past the Goblins who tried to catch her. A small Goblin riding a Carn Wolf. Tremborag\u2019s eyes widened as he saw Rags riding at him.\n\nShe had a black crossbow in her hands, a short sword and buckler at her side. Her eyes blazed as she stopped her Carn Wolf in front of Tremborag. She raised her crossbow.\n\n\u201cYou.\u201d\n\n\u201cMe.\u201d\n\nRags agreed softly. Tremborag stared at her. Then he pushed himself up. He sat back and laughed.\n\n\u201cSo! The child comes in the moment of my death. Not Redfang or the slave, but the child. How pathetic. How fitting, isn\u2019t it? For this?\u201d\n\nHe waved a claw back at the Humans. Rags narrowed her eyes. She raised her crossbow and aimed at Tremborag\u2019s chest.\n\n\u201cDidn\u2019t come here to talk.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo. You came to kill me before the Humans did.\u201d\n\nTremborag grinned at Rags, his chest heaving painfully. He tapped his chest.\n\n\u201cWell? Go on. Shoot me. Kill me! End the Great Chieftain of the Mountain here, child! End it! I have outlived our last Goblin King! I have built my tribe, seized the home of Dwarves and seen the rise and fall of legends! End it with one pathetic little piece of wood and metal. And ride away until it is your turn. Know the truth.\u201d\n\nRags raised her crossbow.\n\n\u201cTruth? Truth is that Humans won. You die.\u201d\n\nTremborag laughed hoarsely. He sat forwards, his shoulder drooping. The Great Chieftain looked beaten as he shook his head.\n\n\u201cYou think so? This\u2014this was never about Humans. This was about Goblins. About pride. About our destiny.\u201d\n\nThe small Goblin paused. Rags had been aiming carefully, choosing her shot. She stared suspiciously at Tremborag.\n\n\u201cDestiny? What destiny? This is your fault. You lose mountain, fight Reiss. You run, now Humans kill you for trouble. You die.\u201d\n\nTremborag chuckled.\n\n\u201cYou think so? This started\u2014all of this started with that damned Goblin. Greydath. You met him. You know what he\u2019s capable of. Do you think he couldn\u2019t have stopped the Humans? Or\u2014or challenged Reiss to battle? Or led the tribes? But no, he stayed in my mountain. Hidden. It was only when you appeared. You and Redfang and the slave. When you came, he had no more use for me. So\u2014it ends.\u201d\n\nHe gestured around aimlessly. Rags frowned.\n\n\u201cGreydath did? How?\u201d\n\n\u201cBy doing nothing.\u201d\n\nTremborag hissed. His chest was fire. He clutched it, trying to breathe more steadily.\n\n\u201cDo you think\u2014he was just sitting in my mountain, pretending to be Greybeard\u2014for nothing? No. The world is vast. You think this army is frightening? I have known greater. Far greater. And our King\u2014even he was not enough to face it all. See the truth, child. The Goblin Kings are pawns. Not of Humans or Drakes\u2014but of the Goblin Lords.\u201d\n\nRags had settled on Tremborag\u2019s nose. Her finger hesitated in the trigger.\n\n\u201cGoblin Lords?\u201d\n\nTremborag heaved one pain-filled breath, and then another. He sat forwards as Rags uncertainly moved her Carn Wolf a step forwards, and then back.\n\n\u201cYes. But not like the slave. Reiss is a lord, but the true ones\u2026why do you think Greydath sat in my mountain for so long after his King\u2019s death? When the others died? No\u2014the true Lords\u2014don\u2019t trust them. They are not Goblin.\u201d\n\nHe breathed hard as Rags hesitated. Was Tremborag insane? But he was speaking urgently now, leaning forwards and despite herself, Rags listened.\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d\n\nTremborag\u2019s breathing was weaker. He gestured Rags closer, gasping for air.\n\n\u201cGreydath. The true Lords search for a King. Not because we need one, but because they can use them. You do not remember. You\u2014Curulac listened and they used him. Velan did not and he died less than a year after becoming a King.\u201d\n\nRags shook her head.\n\n\u201cCurulac? But he lived only hundred days. Curulac of Hundred Days.\u201d\n\n\u201cHah!\u201d\n\nTremborag sat back, and laughed once, hoarsely.\n\n\u201cYou think that was all he lived? You have not seen his past. He lived longer than Velan. For years! But when they were done with him, the Lords\u2014they betrayed him. They turned him against the Humans for a hundred days of war! That is the fate of kings. But Velan didn\u2019t listen. So they sent only one of their number with Velan. Greydath of Blades. The other lord were lesser. Not like Greydath.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat?\u201d\n\nNone of that made sense. Rags knew of the Second Antinium War, at least, parts of it. She remembered.\n\n\u201cOther Lords were strong. There was\u2014Tallis. Stormbreaker.\u201d\n\nHe had been powerful. But again Tremborag laughed. He scooted forwards, coughing, looking at Rags. The Humans were drawing closer now. Rags could see them watching her and him. Her attention wavered between the riders and Tremborag.\n\n\u201cTallis? Tallis wasn\u2019t one of them. He could have been. But he rose at the same time as Velan. He was Velan\u2019s friend. He told me the truth. And I begged Velan to reconsider. But he didn\u2019t. And the Lords conspired. They let him die.\u201d\n\nTremborag\u2019s voice was softer. Rags drew closer, ignoring the warnings ringing in her mind that she should run before the Humans reached her. She stared at Tremborag. He had known this? Why didn\u2019t he tell the others? Or was that why Greydath had been in his mountain for so long? He had begged\u2014\n\nTremborag? Beg? Rags wavered. She opened her mouth and realized Tremborag was right in front of her. Then she saw the Great Chieftain look up and his eyes flare blood-red.\n\nHe lunged. Rags yelped and her Carn Wolf leapt back, barking in surprise. Tremborag swiped at her and the tips of his claws nearly caught Rags. Nearly. She felt the wind as they missed her and turned her Carn Wolf. It leapt back as Tremborag cursed and swiped at her again. But the wolf bounded back and Rags paused, panting, twenty feet away.\n\n\u201cDamn you!\u201d\n\nTremborag coughed and roared at her. Rags raised her crossbow in one trembling claw. Nearly. He\u2019d nearly got her. She stared at Tremborag with pure hatred.\n\n\u201cYou are a stinky wolf poo! Was it a lie? All?\u201d\n\nShe waved her free hand angrily. Tremborag was lying on his back, covered in sweat and dirt. He stared up at the sky. When he spoke, it was angrily.\n\n\u201cA lie? What does it matter?\u201d\n\nHe heaved himself up, panting with effort. Tremborag glared at Rags, ignoring the crossbow aimed at his eye.\n\n\u201cWhy do I need to tell you anything? Truth? Lies? I owe you nothing, child! Why do you need to know my past? I am Tremborag! And you are worthless. Just like that traitor. Quietstab.\u201d\n\nRags felt the word strike her like blow to the chest. She reeled, and her eyes narrowed.\n\n\u201cYou are not-Goblin.\u201d\n\n\u201cAm I? Then kill me, nameless child! Shoot me! Or are you afraid?\u201d\n\nTremborag grinned at Rags. He lowered his voice. The Humans were so close now. Rags could see their faces, looking at her like Tremborag. Like monsters. And Tremborag was whispering to her.\n\n\u201cYou think Quietstab was loyal? He told me everything about your tribe before the end. Everything, every scrap he could before he perished, to save his miserable neck. Should I tell you about how he begged me when he died? How I made him suffer at the last?\u201d\n\nRags saw flashes of red. Her finger trembled on the crossbow\u2019s trigger. Tremborag spread his arms, daring her. He was right there. She could kill him. It didn\u2019t matter if she died. She just wanted to hurt him for hurting her. Hurt him and hurt his tribe. And then they would attack her, and she would kill them, and\u2014\n\nShe barely saw Tremborag\u2019s claw sliding into the ground in time. Rags shouted and pulled the crossbow\u2019s trigger. Her bolt went wide, but Tremborag jerked and the handful of soil he was about to hurl at her and Carn Wolf missed. He lunged again, but Rags danced back.\n\n\u201cYou\u2014you\u2014\u201d\n\nShe shouted at Tremborag, trembling. He just laughed.\n\n\u201cCome on! Strike me! You coward! You traitor with no name!\u201d\n\nHe wanted her to kill him. He wanted her to attack. Because if he did, he could kill her. And Rags would gladly do it. But she could see the future, not because of a Skill or magic, but just because she knew what would happen. She would kill Tremborag. Or he would kill her. And then his tribe would try and kill her, or the Humans would kill him. It didn\u2019t matter who killed who. Someone else would do more killing.\n\nJust like Riverfarm. Just like the burning. Like the [Emperor]. He killed her Goblins. So she burned the Humans. And so he sent his army to kill her. It was what the fate of Goblins. Kill and be killed and kill again.\n\nAs Goblins do. As Goblins have always done. Rags\u2019 eyes opened wide. She looked Tremborag, who was watching her, teeth bared. Then she looked around. At the Humans, at the watching Goblins. And slapped her forehead.\n\n\u201cOh. A circle.\u201d\n\n\u201cA what?\u201d\n\nTremborag blinked at her. Rags stared at him blankly, then looked down at her crossbow. It wasn\u2019t even reloaded. She absently patted her growling Carn Wolf on the head and looked around.\n\n\u201cOkay. Going now. Bye.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat? No! Come back and finish this!\u201d\n\nTremborag looked incredulous as Rags turned her mount. He rose up, managed to get to his feet. He stood straighter and Rags realized he\u2019d been pretending to be more tired than he was as well! Tremborag\u2019s voice grew deeper and he shouted at her.\n\n\u201cYou coward! Don\u2019t you want to see me dead?\u201d\n\nRags shrugged. She stowed the crossbow on the holster on her back.\n\n\u201cHumans will do that. I don\u2019t need to.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou\u2014is that how you fight? Hiding behind Humans? Running? I challenge you, Chieftain to Chieftain!\u201d\n\nThe huge Hob pounded his chest. But now Rags looked at him and didn\u2019t feel angry. She shook her head as Tremborag lumbered a few steps towards her and kicked her Carn Wolf, keeping a distance between him and her. She spoke slowly and deliberately to Tremborag\u2019s snarling, desperate face.\n\n\u201cTremborag. You are big. And fat. And stupid. And ugly. And smelly. And have bad breath.\u201d\n\nHe looked at her. Rags met his eyes and for a moment the two Chieftains just glared at each other. A child riding a wolf and the exhausted Goblin of the Mountain. For a moment Rags thought she knew Tremborag. Because she recognized the terrible fear and desperation in his eyes. She looked away.\n\n\u201cSorry. Goodbye.\u201d\n\nRags kicked her Carn Wolf in the side and it bounded away, towards the Goblins in the distance. Tremborag watched her go. He stared at the distant shape, a bounding red wolf and green rider. Then he turned.\n\nThe Humans had stopped to let him finish his conversation with Rags. Perhaps they\u2019d been hoping she\u2019d kill him. Humans loved stories like that. Now they rode forwards. Tremborag saw a group of Humans dismount from their horses and spread out. He saw glowing armor, grim faces. Tremborag glanced over his shoulder at Rags.\n\nHe wished he could have killed her. The Great Chieftain\u2019s claws clenched as the Humans spread out. More were dismounting, regular [Soldiers]. And he could see a winding column behind them, moving fast. The Human\u2019s infantry, armed with spears, swords. So many of them. An army far too large for even a Goblin Lord. Or at least, one of Reiss\u2019 caliber.\n\nThat struck Tremborag as funny. He laughed and then wheezed as the blood in his lungs made him cough. He wiped at his mouth and glanced around. There were two dozen men and women, all armed with magical artifacts encircling him.\n\nGold-rank adventurers. Tremborag saw the first, a man with a bow, step forwards. He looked like any other Human, really. Save for the enchanted gear, Tremborag wouldn\u2019t have recognized him as different from the others he\u2019d killed over the years. Even his voice was the same.\n\n\u201cWe remember you, Goblin. We owe you death a hundred times over for our friends. So this will be slow.\u201d\n\nTremborag sighed. He turned and looked back at Rags. She was still riding towards his tribe, towards her tribe and the Goblin Lord\u2019s army and Garen Redfang\u2019s warriors. But he thought she was looking at him. The Great Chieftain of the Mountain stared at Rags and imagined crushing her head between his claws for a second. Then he felt a sharp pain in his arm.\n\nHe looked back. The Human had shot him! Tremborag glanced down at the arrow. It wasn\u2019t enchanted. Stupid Humans. He plucked the arrows from his arm.\n\n\u201cGoblin\u2014\u201d\n\nSo this was how it ended. Tremborag looked back at the distant Rags, tuning out the Humans again. He looked at his kind, watching him, and felt the Goblin Lord, sitting there like a mountain in his mind. But the true mountain was ahead of Tremborag. He looked over the angry Gold-rank adventurer\u2019s head at the mountain far off in the distance, so far away.\n\nHis home. How far he\u2019d come. Tremborag glanced back at Rags again, and growled. So the child fled. Fine. But let her see one thing at least. Let her look. He turned as the Gold-rank adventurer, indignant at being ignored, raised his bow.\n\nHe was ten paces away from Tremborag. Ten Human paces. Or a single bound for the Hob. Tremborag leapt. The sweaty fat on his body rippled. Muscles grew and his face contorted. A claw reached out and seized the Human before he could leap back. Tremborag bent and pulled. The Human\u2019s head screamed and screamed before it crushed between his fingers. Tremborag dropped the body and looked around.\n\nGone was the fat Hob that had stood there moments before. A monster rose, teeth shining, muscle and flesh rippling. Tremborag\u2019s voice was booming as he turned to the shocked Humans.\n\n\u201cSlow enough for you, Humans?\u201d\n\nThey backed up away from him, and then remembered they were here to kill him. The Gold-rank adventurers raised their weapons and the [Soldiers] aimed bows and trained spears on Tremborag. The Great Chieftain of the Mountains laughed. He spread his arms.\n\n\u201cLet me show you fear.\u201d\n\nThen he leapt. The tip of a spear pierced his stomach. The adventurer hacked at his arm. Fire faced down his body and light exploded in his eyes. Tremborag roared and bit the Human in two. He swung his arm and sent soldiers flying. He pounded a Human with a shield to paste and flung another screaming into the air. The Gold-rank adventurers swarmed around him, but they were slow. Their magic was weak. He grabbed them, tore their arms off. Then they fled. The soldiers attacked Tremborag from all sides, but their arrows were weak. Their steel bent.\n\nThe [Mages] burned him. They struck him with missiles made of light. Tremborag charged one and felt his body shiver as it struck a barrier. He broke it and bore the mage to the ground, biting him, tearing him apart. The soldiers drew back. Tremborag flung the guts at them, roared\u2014\n\nAnd then saw them pull back. The flames burning him went out. Tremborag turned, his blood boiling, and saw him.\n\nTyrion Veltras. The [Lord] sat on top of his mount, lance in hand. For a moment the Great Chieftain hesitated, then he grinned savagely. Better than the child. He made a mocking bow.\n\n\u201cGreetings, Lord Veltras.\u201d\n\nThe move surprised Tyrion. The Human stared at Tremborag as his soldiers pulled back, forming a ring around Tremborag.\n\n\u201cYou know of me, Goblin?\u201d\n\nTremborag grinned. He was bleeding. But he made his voice mocking.\n\n\u201cEven we wretched Goblins heard of the mighty Tyrion Veltras. And his fallen wife. Did she trip off the balcony, boy? Or did one of your enemies push her? And do you fill your bed with another woman or do you sleep alone?\u201d\n\nHis insults struck home. Tyrion\u2019s cold face twisted into fury and the Humans behind him shuddered. The [Lord] slowly reached up and lowered his visor. His voice, when he spoke, was barely controlled with fury.\n\n\u201cThere is nothing you know of me.\u201d\n\nTremborag grinned.\n\n\u201cI know how you bleed. Come, boy. Show me how strong Humans are with your enchanted weapons and magic.\u201d\n\nHe spread his arms. Tyrion didn\u2019t wait. He kicked his mount forwards and sped at Tremborag, lance aimed for his heart. But the Goblin was ready. He turned and struck like lightning, trying to punch Tyrion off his mount. The [Lord] raised his shield and the fist met the enchanted metal.\n\nA thunderous impact made the watchers wince. The horse reared and Tyrion reeled back in his saddle. Tremborag roared as swiped again, but Tyrion lashed out with his lance.\n\n\u201c[Repel Point]!\u201d\n\nThe lance tip struck Tremborag\u2019s raised arm. But instead of sending the Great Chieftain flying backwards, it was Tyrion\u2019s mount that was thrust back. The horse reared and danced, but the [Lord] fought it down. He circled Tremborag, checking himself as the Great Chieftain growled.\n\n\u201cWas that it? Come on, boy. Save your life with another Skill. Did you fail to save your wife? Or was she a nuisance?\u201d\n\nHe expected Tyrion to charge again, but the [Lord] didn\u2019t. Instead, he rode his mount back towards the edge of the circle. There he turned and set himself. He was going to charge. Tremborag grinned. He made a fist.\n\nOne Skill. One Skill would do it. He waited as Tyrion lowered his lance. Then the [Lord] charged. He came at Tremborag from the left, his lance aimed at Tremborag\u2019s shoulder. Before he was in range, Tremborag roared.\n\n\u201c[Great Slash]!\u201d\n\nHe cut at Tyrion and his horse with a blow that severed the air. The ground tore. Tremborag saw Tyrion raise his lance and he heard a calm voice. As calm as ice.\n\n\u201c[Lightning Hooves].\u201d\n\nAnd his horse blurred. Tremborag saw it blur around his claw. Tyrion appeared on his left, circled, charged again.\n\nSo quick. Tremborag lashed out once more, but his claws were so slow. And Tyrion\u2019s lance flickered in his hands. He changed directions as he switched his grip. Suddenly his horse was galloping right and his lance was aimed\u2014\n\nA cold tip pierced Tremborag\u2019s chest, just above his heart. For a second Tremborag blinked at it, watching the lance move slowly. So slowly. He looked up and saw two blazing eyes staring at him through the visor. Then time returned.\n\nThe lance went through his chest, shattering bone and piercing flesh. Tremborag stumbled. He raised a claw, gasped. The pain was\u2014he tried to grab Tyrion, but the [Lord] had one hand on the lance. He twisted it and pulled it from Tremborag\u2019s chest. And the Great Chieftain fell. His knees struck the ground and he lay on his back.\n\nSo quick. It had been just like\u2014just like\u2014like\u2014\n\n\u2014-\n\n\u201cTremborag. Join me.\u201d\n\nVelan the Kind stood in Tremborag\u2019s throne room. Alone. His Goblin Lords had left him. His legions of warriors were camped outside Tremborag\u2019s mountain. That left only Tremborag with Velan, and the Goblin King was small, barely taller than any other Hob, really.\n\nBut it didn\u2019t make Tremborag feel any less small. The Chieftain of the Mountain City tribe hesitated. He was huge, a giant among Hobs. Or perhaps something else. Velan had brought other Goblins like him, Goblins who were more than just Hobgoblins. Hulking creatures of muscle and teeth, as close to half-Giants as anything else. Like him.\n\nBut for all his strength and height, Tremborag felt crushed by the Goblin King. Velan stood in front of him, looking up and looking down on Tremborag all at once. He repeated himself.\n\n\u201cJoin me, Tremborag.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo.\u201d\n\nTremborag\u2019s voice trembled with the effort of saying it. He had nearly quailed in the face of the Goblin Lord. To say it to the Goblin King was a thousand times harder. But he had his reason.\n\nHe did not want to die. And he was prepared to grovel or argue to beg or bribe. But Velan just nodded.\n\n\u201cVery well.\u201d\n\nHe turned away. Tremborag gaped at him. Velan looked around the grand throne room, centuries of neglect and filth turning rich Dwarven work into a Goblin\u2019s home.\n\n\u201cWill you stay here?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes. I will not march. I will hide from the Humans. This mountain will be my home. Forever.\u201d\n\nAgain, Tremborag expected Velan to argue, to call him a coward. To say anything. But all the Goblin King did was smile as if he was pleased.\n\n\u201cGood. Hide here. It will not be many months, before it ends, I think.\u201d\n\nHe looked around the throne room again. Tremborag gaped at him. The question slipped from his mouth before he could stop it.\n\n\u201cWhy are you doing this? What is the reason for this war? What is our purpose?\u201d\n\n\u201cPurpose?\u201d\n\nVelan turned back to Tremborag. His gaze flickered and Tremborag quailed. A memory of Velan\u2019s rage made him look to his doors. If he were to be engulfed in his fury, only the Goblin Lords would be able to calm him. But Velan did not rage. Instead, he looked up at Tremborag and shrugged. It was a very Goblin thing to do.\n\n\u201cWe have no purpose. This war is not to create or fill any task. Just to end. Just because must be.\u201d\n\nTremborag stared at Velan.\n\n\u201cThen why\u2014why fight? You made peace on Baleros. Why fight?\u201d\n\nVelan didn\u2019t answer him. Not at first. The Goblin King looked up at the ceiling and at Tremborag\u2019s throne. And there was sadness in his eyes. Sadness, and a regret that haunted Tremborag\u2019s dreams ever after.\n\n\u201cWe fulfilled our oaths long ago. We were there when the world betrayed itself. And we brought death to the world in return. We won that war, though it cost us all. Our family, our people, our King\u2014all of it was worth the price. And now, what remains is vengeance.\u201d\n\n\u201cAgainst what?\u201d\n\n\u201cEverything.\u201d\n\nThe Goblin King gazed past Tremborag, straight through him. He touched his eyes and shook his head. When he looked at Tremborag, dark rage filled his eyes, a rage so hot that it could burn Dragons.\n\n\u201cRage consumes me. Stay in your mountain. Let the children hide here. The children and the next. I have failed. All I can do is plant the seeds for the next. If you would be one of them, seek these out.\u201d\n\nHe turned abruptly and reached for something at his side. He showed Tremborag the keys. They were ordinary, apparently made of steel. But they captured the light. Velan looked at them sadly.\n\n\u201cOne day there will be a King again. And they will follow in my footsteps. Forever. Until all Goblins perish or all others do. We cannot help it. We cannot forget. But maybe next time\u2026\u201d\n\nHe trailed off. Velan turned towards the doors and walked away. Tremborag sat on his throne, feeling small. He half-rose and shouted after Velan.\n\n\u201cWhat should I do, then? What is my purpose? To hide? To wait? To seek?\u201d\n\nVelan turned at the doors. His eyes captured Tremborag\u2019s and he shook his head.\n\n\u201cLive, Chieftain of the Mountain. Just\u2014live.\u201d\n\nAnd then he was gone. Tremborag never saw Velan again, but he remembered the keys. He remembered the past. And he wondered\u2014\n\nHe wondered if Velan had known all along how it would end.\n\n\u2014-\n\nTyrion Veltras shook blood off of his lance as he slowly rode back. Cheering filled the air and the Humans raised their weapons and shouted wildly. The gigantic Goblin lay on the ground, a bloodied mess. Tyrion was checking his mount and offering his lance to Jericha when the body stirred.\n\nThe cheering stopped. Slowly, Tremborag sat up. He blinked down at the hole in his chest and touched the blood running to the ground like water. Tyrion paused as Tremborag rose to his feet. The Great Chieftain stared at the [Lord]. Tyrion spoke calmly.\n\n\u201cYou are dead, Goblin.\u201d\n\nTremborag laughed. He shook his head and bared his teeth at Tyrion. His voice was hoarse. His face pale. But he stood and opened his claws.\n\n\u201cI am Tremborag. And only I decide when it is time to die.\u201d\n\nTremborag took a step forwards. Bows twanged and arrows sprouted from his body from all sides. He laughed as more struck him and Humans rushed forwards. He turned and brought his claws down, crushing metal and bone. He raised his arms as a fireball exploded, burning away part of the flesh on his chest.\n\n\u201cCome, Humans! Come with your armies! Bring your thousands against me!\u201d\n\nHe swept the Humans away. He crushed them with his feet. He bit and roared as they cut at him.\n\n\u201cI am TREMBORAG! Chieftain of the Mountains! Come! Show me death!\u201d\n\nAnd they tried. They brought steel by the hundreds, piercing his flesh. They shot arrows into him, seeking his heart. Tremborag rampaged through their lines, leaving crimson in his wake. Bleeding it.\n\nFire rained from the skies. They broke the earth. Spears of magic pierced his flesh. Metal shattered his bones. Tremborag felt none of it. He burned, cutting, snarling, tearing. And a thought grew in his mind.\n\nIs this what you saw, Velan? Is this the fate of Goblins?\n\nThere were so many. Every Human he killed seemed to spawn another one. But there was one Tremborag was looking for. His eyes were filled with blood. Then one was gone. But he could see Tyrion Veltras at last. Standing in front of him, sword drawn. There were\u2026Humans in front of him. Tremborag strode towards him, ignoring the pain, the shadows that tore parts of him away.\n\nA little bit further. A little bit. The Human was standing in front of him, surrounded by steel and spell. But his eyes were only for Tremborag. The Great Chieftain lurched forwards, teeth bared. He had to do it. Show them what a Goblin was. What a real Chieftain was.\n\nShow them\u2014show them\u2014\n\nShow who? Tremborag looked around. He couldn\u2019t remember who he was trying to show. And now he was alone. He couldn\u2019t see anything anymore. It was all dark.\n\nWhy was he here? Tremborag tried to remember. He blundered around. And then he saw it. Sitting there, just a little bit away. A giant heavy thing. Something to focus on. A beautiful piece of stone.\n\nHis mountain. His small home. Why wasn\u2019t he there? Tremborag belonged in his home.\n\nHe walked forwards, stumbling. The world had gone quiet around him. He walked towards the mountain, stumbling, falling, getting back up. He was getting tired and the mountain was so far way. Why had he left it?\n\nHe was so tired. Maybe if he had a nap, he\u2019d feel better. Tremborag looked around. It was so quiet. So dark. So\u2026peaceful. He sat down and closed his eyes. He\u2019d just sleep a little bit. Until he could wake up. His mountain wasn\u2019t going anywhere. And Tremborag would return. He would. He had made his home there. A place to live. He sat, exhausted.\n\nThe air was so warm\u2014\n\n\u2014-\n\nAt last he stopped. Rags saw the Goblin, the Great Chieftain of the Mountain, sit down. His back was to them. The bloody, torn figure wasn\u2019t green anymore. It was black. And it lo"}
-{"text": "Democrats who reluctantly slashed a food-stamp program to fund a state-aid bill may have to do so again to pay for a top priority of first lady Michelle Obama Michelle LeVaughn Robinson ObamaMichelle Obama sympathizes with viewers 'turned off' by Trump's debate behavior Voter registration spiked in days immediately following Ruth Bader Ginsburg death Michelle Obama says even former first families can get on each other's nerves during quarantine MORE.\n\nThe House will soon consider an $8 billion child-nutrition bill that\u2019s at the center of the first lady\u2019s \u201cLet\u2019s Move\u201d initiative. Before leaving for the summer recess, the Senate passed a smaller version of the legislation that is paid for by trimming the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as the food-stamp program.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nThe proposed cuts would come on top of a 13.6 percent food-stamp reduction in the $26 billion Medicaid and education state-funding bill that President Obama signed this week.\n\nFood stamps have made multiple appearances on the fiscal chopping block because Democrats have few other places to turn to offset the cost of legislation.\n\nParty leaders raided the budget to find off-setting tax increases and spending cuts to pay for their top legislative priorities, including the roughly $900 billion healthcare law. Congressional pay-as-you-go rules require lawmakers to offset all non-emergency spending.\n\n\n\nDemocrats have turned to the food-stamp program because funding increases enacted in the stimulus package last year were already scheduled to phase out over time. The changes proposed in the state-aid and nutrition bills would simply cut off that increase early, in March 2014. Because the cuts would not take effect for more than three years, Democratic leaders have voiced the hope that they will be able to stop the cuts in future legislation.\n\nBut House liberals are balking now, saying that while they swallowed the food-stamp cuts to pay for urgent funding for Medicaid and teachers, they will not vote for more cuts in the child-nutrition bill. In a letter sent this week to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), 106 House Democrats urged the Speaker to take the House version of the child-nutrition bill, which does not slash food stamps, rather than the Senate version.\n\n\u201cThis is one of the more egregious cases of robbing Peter to pay Paul, and is a vote we do not take lightly,\u201d the lawmakers, led by Reps. James McGovern (D-Mass.) and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said of their vote on the state-aid bill.\n\nThe House version of the child-nutrition bill, authored by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), passed the Education and Labor Committee earlier this year, but lawmakers must find a way to pay for it before it comes to the floor for a vote. \u201cChairman Miller is working to find other ways to pay for this bill,\u201d a spokeswoman said when asked if cuts to the food stamp program would be used.\n\nA House leadership aide noted that the food-stamp decrease approved in the state-aid bill will not take effect right away and will leave the program at the same funding level it was at before the stimulus law was signed. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean many Democrats are not concerned about the issue, but this is a process which gives us time to deal with immediate issues (like jobs) and helping the economy grow, while giving you time to deal with the food-stamp issue,\u201d the aide said.\n\nThe nutrition bill is clearly a priority for Michelle Obama, who has made a push for healthy eating \u2014 one of her signature policy issues at White House. When the House version of the nutrition bill won committee approval in July, it marked the first time she weighed in publicly on pending legislation.\n\nThe Obama administration has not directly addressed the debate over the food-stamp cuts, but it is backing the Senate bill. \u201cWe strongly supported the Senate action and look forward to working with the House to get a final bill onto the president\u2019s desk,\u201d an administration official told The Hill.\n\nThe $4.5 billion Senate bill would expand eligibility for school meal programs, establish nutrition standards for all food sold in schools and provide a 6-cent increase for each school lunch to help cafeterias serve healthier meals. The $8 billion House version includes more money for expanding access to school lunches for children in low-income households.\n\nThe deeper food-stamp reductions in the Senate version would set an earlier date \u2014 in November 2013 \u2014 for eliminating the increased benefits passed last year. A family of four would see their benefits reduced by $59 a month, or about 9 percent. The bill would also cut funding for nutrition-education programs aimed at low-income neighborhoods and households.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s very sad. I think it\u2019s just illustrating what dire straits our federal government budget is in,\u201d said Sheila Zedlewski, director of the Urban Institute\u2019s Income and Benefits Policy Center. \u201cIt\u2019s unprecedented to raid one safety net program to feed another.\u201d\n\n\u2014This story was updated at 1:40 p.m.\n\n"}
-{"text": "\"Fear-mongering plays such a big role in American life,\" says Barry Glassner, author of The Culture of Fear.\n\nGlassner says US election campaigns have delivered messages based on fear for decades.\n\nBut how is fear being used differently in this election year?\n\nVideo by Olivia Lace-Evans"}
-{"text": "Via Birch Gold Group,\n\nThis week, Your News to Know rounds up the latest top stories involving gold and the overall economy. Stories include: Get ready for gold to touch $1,800, gold heads for fourth straight month of gains over growth slowdown and trade worries, and gold prices skyrocket as investors pour into the metal over recession fears.\n\nGet ready for gold to touch $1,800\n\nAfter a disappointing June meeting between President Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping, Forbes contributor Naeem Aslam believes that Trump\u2019s recent speech at the G7 summit did little to soothe worries that both economies will keep insisting on their respective trade terms. In the absence of a satisfactory deal, the Federal Reserve has looked to offset the effects of the escalating trade war by turning dovish and hinting towards a continuation of interest rate cuts.\n\nPresident Trump has been very supportive of a looser Fed approach, having most recently called upon officials to cut the benchmark rate by another 100 basis points. Should this happen, Aslam sees gold leapfrogging the $1,600 resistance level and reaching $1,800 an ounce in the near future.\n\nSource: Bloomberg\n\nThe move doesn\u2019t seem unlikely, as the metal most recently climbed as high as $1,555 an ounce during its traditionally weakest quarter. Aslam\u2019s prediction is bolstered by many speculators who are placing their bets that the 10-year Treasury will dip into negative territory by 2021.\n\nThis falls in line with the recent inversion of the Treasury yield curve, which has historically acted as a surefire signal that a domestic recession is underway. The long-forecasted inversion only strengthened fears of a looming U.S. recession, as concerns that the domestic economy will go under began as soon as the Fed started their tightening cycle in 2015. Per the Fed\u2019s own gauge, the risk of a domestic recession occurring in the next six months is currently at its highest point since 2008.\n\nGold heads for fourth straight month of gains over growth slowdown and trade worries\n\nHaving climbed roughly 19% since the start of the year, gold has posted its fourth straight month of gains. Silver has enjoyed a similar run, with prices most recently climbing above $19 an ounce. Silver\u2019s 12% price gain in August represents the biggest monthly gain for the metal since June 2016 and translates to a 7% overall gain since the start of the year after a period of conspicuously low prices.\n\nAccording to Suki Cooper, a precious metals analyst at Standard Chartered Bank, the two metals\u2019 run is intrinsically tied to the worsening trade relations between the U.S. and China. Cooper noted that investors are closely monitoring the trade dispute, as even a hint that neither country will back down from its demands should be enough to keep both gold and silver\u2019s momentum flowing.\n\nBesides the trade standoff, Cooper also notes that gold is heavily benefitting from interest rate cuts in both the U.S. and Europe. While the Federal Reserve\u2019s rate cuts compromised Treasuries and strengthened fears of a domestic recession, the European Central Bank\u2019s (ECB) own rate cuts, expected to start in September, are also playing their part in boosting the precious metals market.\n\nAside from loosening its monetary policy, the ECB also slashed its growth forecast as numerous top economies in the eurozone continue to post disappointing data. The threat of an imminent global growth slowdown is yet another driver that has already helped gold climb to its highest level in more than six years.\n\nGold and silver weren\u2019t the only gainers, as platinum recently rose to its highest level in more than 16 months while palladium jumped 4.1% after hitting a one-month peak.\n\nSource: Bloomberg\n\nGold prices skyrocket as investors pour into the metal over recession fears\n\nAs Yahoo Finance\u2019s Brian Sozzi notes, most Wall Street investors agree that gold will maintain its tremendous momentum and perhaps even reach $1,600 an ounce in the short-term. While the metal has responded extremely well to ongoing trade tensions, the rate-cutting from central banks around the world has been equally important when it comes to stimulating demand.\n\nIn an uncertain economic environment, investors tend to flock towards safe-haven assets, which are few and far between. Low or negative-yielding bonds around the world, as well as the threat of a negative-yielding 10-year Treasury, have driven investors to shun other havens and choose gold to protect themselves.\n\nSource: Bloomberg\n\nVanEck\u2019s gold portfolio manager Joe Foster concurs, pointing out that both individual and institutional investors are seeing the mounting risks in the financial system and are pouring into gold to hedge their bets. Foster added that we might be witnessing the early stages of a bull market in gold, and that the metal could soon pass the $1,600 mark.\n\nIn a recent note, Deutsche Bank\u2019s metals analyst Michael Hsueh also pointed to central banks as an equally important force behind gold\u2019s latest gains. Central banks have been consistent net buyers of gold bullion for over a decade, but have more recently upped their purchases by a significant margin, with several countries making multi-ton acquisitions after years of absence from the gold market. Hsueh said that, like private investors, central bankers are aware of the rising macroeconomic risks and are responding in kind. Hsueh also thinks that the rise in central bank bullion purchases will play an especially prominent role in establishing gold\u2019s long-term bullish trend.\n\n* * *\n\nAfter 8 long years of ultra-loose monetary policy from the Federal Reserve, it\u2019s no secret that inflation is primed to soar. If your IRA or 401(k) is exposed to this threat, it\u2019s critical to act now! That\u2019s why thousands of Americans are moving their retirement into a Gold IRA. Learn how you can too with a free info kit on gold from Birch Gold Group. It reveals the little-known IRS Tax Law to move your IRA or 401(k) into gold. Click here to get your free Info Kit on Gold."}
-{"text": "Paul Ryan does not represent the will of we the people, thus he should not be Speaker of the House."}
-{"text": "A public relations firm\u2019s legally suspect work on behalf of the Ecuadorian government included hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to talent agencies representing prominent celebrities who traveled to the country to bemoan environmental damage there.\n\nThe firm, MCSquared, organized junkets to Ecuador last year, where actors Danny Glover and Mia Farrow promoted an Ecuadorian lawsuit against oil company Chevron over alleged environmental contamination.\n\nAccording to documents filed with the Justice Department last week, MCSquared paid more than half-a-million dollars to two prominent talent agencies to recruit celebrities for the events.\n\nThose payments were part of a $6.4 million PR contract on behalf of the government of Ecuador. MCSquared undertook much of the work last year, but only notified the DOJ, as is required by federal law, in July after the Washington Free Beacon reported that it had failed to disclose its contract with that government.\n\nEcuador hired the firm specifically to go after Chevron, which has resisted paying a $9 billion judgment the company claims was obtained by fraud and corruption on the part of American plaintiffs\u2019 attorneys.\n\nMCSquared filed an amended Foreign Agent Registration Act disclosure on Wednesday detailing nearly $2 million in disbursements related to work attacking Chevron and promoting efforts to enforce the judgment in other countries where the company has assets.\n\nAmong MCSquared\u2019s listed disbursements were payments of $188,391.12 to Greater Talent Network, which represents Mia Farrow, and $330,000 to the American Program Bureau, which represents Danny Glover.\n\nMCSquared subsequently promoted the actors\u2019 visits to Ecuador in a pair of press releases.\n\nThe firm\u2019s payments to the two talent agencies represented more than a quarter of its total itemized disbursements associated with its contract with Ecuador.\n\nMCSquared also touted the work of former U.S. financial regulator and University of Missouri professor Bill Black, who authored a report called \"The Ecuadorian Miracle\" that lauded the supposed successes of the country\u2019s socialist economic system.\n\nBlack spoke at the Summit for Responsible Journalism (known by its Spanish acronym, CUPRE) in March, a state-sponsored conference in Ecuador designed \"to promote a transparent and honest journalism without restrictions,\" according to a MCSquared press release.\n\nEcuadorian President Rafael Correa also invited Black to a ceremonial changing of the guard in the country\u2019s capital.\n\nThe firm\u2019s FARA filing reveals that it paid more than $64,000 for \"speakers\" at the conference. Black confirmed that the firm paid his travel expenses, but said that that was the extent of his financial compensation.\n\nOther large expenses on MCSquared\u2019s FARA filing include $157,000 for \"tourism spots,\" $167,000 to put on a New York City event featuring Correa, and nearly $19,000 associated with a journalism conference at Columbia University.\n\nMCSquared did not respond to a request for comment by press time."}
-{"text": "The second largest manufacturer of Bitcoin mining hardware has announced a new product aiming to bring Bitcoin mining to people\u2019s homes once again. Canaan Creative are hoping to promote greater decentralisation on the Bitcoin network with the launch of a television set with mining capabilities.\n\nAre Devices Like the AvalonMiner Inside Going to Help Further Decentralise Bitcoin?\n\nThe television set announced today is called the AvalonMiner Inside. It possesses a reasonable hashrate of 2.8 trillion hashes per second. To put this into perspective, the current most powerful piece of mining hardware made by Canaan Creative is capable of performing 11 trillion hashes each second.\n\nThe AvalonMiner Inside is powered by artificial intelligence and according to a report in the South China Morning Post, also has voice activated functions. In addition, the television set has a built-in mining profitability calculator to help users determine how well the device is performing.\n\nThe Bitcoin mined by the AvalonMiner Inside will be able to be spent on various items in a designated store platform provided by Canaan Creative. These will include entertainment packages and physical gifts.\n\nCanaan Creative\u2019s newest product will be distributed to retail businesses who will supply the product to customers. The company also have plans to launch additional blockchain-related appliances in the future.\n\nHowever, some industry analysts are not impressed by the efforts of Canaan to increase decentralisation on the Bitcoin network. Xiao Lei, a financial expert from Beijing, explained his reservations about the new Bitcoin mining television to the South China Morning Post:\n\n\u201cIt looks more like hype. It will be more meaningful if these companies are able to embed the mining function into existing major TV brands.\u201d\n\nCanaan Creative are currently the second largest Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturers on the planet. Last year, the company sold nearly 300,000 of their Avalon Bitcoin miners. This number was a threefold increase over the sales of the previous twelve months. Such a prolific yearly performance meant that Canaan Creative was able to generate around $205 million in revenue in 2017 alone.\n\nThe only Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer with a larger market share than Canaan Creative is Beijing-based Bitmain. The creator of the Antminer ASIC chips owns two of the largest Bitcoin mining pools and enjoys a huge share of the overall hashing power of the network. Such dominance has lead to some commentators raising concerns about the potential of a 51% attack orchestrated by Bitmain themselves or an outside entity able to breach the company\u2019s security precautions.\n\nEthereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently posed the question on a WeChat group called Mars Finance Global Family:\n\n\u201cBitmain and affiliated pools now have ~53% of all Bitcoin hashpower. Isn\u2019t this a really big problem?.\u201d\n\nOne member of the chat group replied that it would be foolish of Bitmain to perform such an attack as it would surely jeopardise the company\u2019s position to do something that would potentially harm Bitcoin. However, another respondent opined:\n\n\u201cIt will be a problem later, when the supply drops and it is optimal for Bitmain to destroy Bitcoin.\u201d\n\nFeatured image from Shutterstock."}
-{"text": "After the expressions of horror, sympathy, solidarity and determination not to be cowed by jihadists come the \u201cyes buts.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe support freedom of expression, but we must not base the response of the state on the anger of the population.\u201d\n\nTo be sure, we must not.\n\n\u201cWe support freedom of expression, but we must not hold Muslims collectively responsible in any way.\u201d\n\nNo, we must not.\n\n\u201cWe support freedom of expression, but we should recognize that publishing, repeatedly, caricatures of Mohammad is to pick on a religious and several ethnic minorities \u2014 and is racist.\u201d\n\nNo, it is not.\n\nThe first two statements are the necessary postures of a liberal and democratic society. The third fundamentally dilutes, even cancels, one of its pillars \u2014 the freedom of expression, which those who charge racism say they also support.\n\nIt\u2019s been widespread, this charge, over the past few weeks \u2013 even worldwide. Olivier Cyran, a French journalist who once worked for Charlie Hebdo, wrote a long critique (in French) of the magazine\u2019s obsession with Muslims, which \u201callows them to take up a significant segment of the uninhibited Islamophobic views of the left.\u201d Writing in the Economic Times of India, opinion page editor TK Arun said, \u201cNobody had any business to kill\u201d the Charlie Hebdo staff, but that \u201ccartoonists who pander to majoritarian passions of xenophobia against a subaltern minority misuse their freedom of expression.\u201d\n\nOmid Safi, director of the Islamic Studies Center at Duke University, wrote that the Mohammad cartoons were an example of \u201cfree speech as applied disproportionately against a community that is racially, religiously and socioeconomically on the margins of French \u2014 and many other European \u2014 society.\u201d And most aggressively, the British MP George Galloway, who presents himself as the protector of Britain\u2019s Muslims, said in a speech to a rally in the northern English city of Bradford that Charlie Hebdo was \u201ca racist, Islamophobic, hypocritical rag,\u201d which sought \u201cto further marginalize, further alienate and further endanger exactly those parts of the community who are already alienated, already endangered.\u201d\n\nIn the past few days, the objections have gone much further than Galloway\u2019s. At a mass rally in Chechnya, the mainly Muslim region in the Russian Caucasus, Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic, told the crowd that, \u201cYou and I see how European journalists and politicians under false slogans about free speech and democracy proclaim the freedom to be vulgar, rude and insult the religious feelings of hundreds of millions of believers. \u2026 If needed, we are ready to die to stop anyone who thinks that you can irresponsibly defile the name of the prophet.\u201d\n\nWhy, then, defend the magazine\u2019s publication? Common sense \u2014 heard everywhere \u2014 would seem to dictate that it\u2019s folly to continue its publication (why stir up trouble?). Folly \u2014 and at least unintentionally racist, one of the gravest charges liberal society can level.\n\nBut it\u2019s not. And, curiously, one of the most vivid of the charges that Charlie Hebdo is racist shows most clearly why it isn\u2019t. Joe Sacco, the Maltese-born American cartoonist, did a strip for the Guardian that expressed sadness and sympathy over the deaths of people of \u201cmy tribe.\u201d It continued, however, to say that Sacco had long thought that \u201ctweaking the nose\u201d of Muslims was \u201cvapid.\u201d Had he, for example, drawn a black man picking a banana or a Jew exploiting the working class for financial gain (he drew cartoons to show how they would look), he would by common consent have crossed a line. But Muslims have a right to feel that the Mohammad caricatures also cross a line \u2014 and to dramatize that, he drew a hooded figure standing on a box with his arms stretched out, an image drawn from the torture gallery of Abu Ghraib. Believing that \u201csomething is deeply wrong with them\u201d (Muslims) is \u201cfar easier than sorting out how we fit in each other\u2019s world.\u201d\n\nBut showing a black man wearing a loincloth falling out of a tree with a banana in his hand or a Jew robbing the working class is repeating prejudice. Drawing Mohammad with a bomb on his head (as Danish cartoons depicted him), and certainly drawing him weeping over the killing of Charlie Hebdo\u2019s cartoonists and holding a sign saying \u201cJe suis Charlie\u201d (as in the magazine\u2019s post-murders cover), are comments on a phenomenon of our times. That is, Islam has a radical fringe whose members want to establish a caliphate over as much of the world as possible and are hideously violent \u2014 see, beyond Paris, Boko Haram\u2019s slaughters in Nigeria and Islamic State\u2019s brutalities in Iraq.\n\nDoing a cartoon of Russian President Vladimir Putin as a savage bear torturing girl musicians, recalling the imprisonment of some members of the protest band Pussy Riot, isn\u2019t anti-Russian racism \u2014 even though most Russians support him. A cartoon of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with skulls in his open mouth, recalling the bloody anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat in 2002, for which many blamed him when he was chief minister there, isn\u2019t anti-Indian or anti-Hindu \u2014 though Modi is wildly popular among Hindus.\n\nHere\u2019s the core of it. In democratic societies, a division has formed between the secular and religious spheres, which has depended upon citizens not insisting their religious beliefs apply to nonbelievers. Indeed, in most such states, the more secularism has increased, the less the populations are attached strongly \u2014 or attached at all \u2014 to any organized faith. We are reaching a state of genuinely not caring.\n\nLiberal democracies need secularism as a condition of being liberal and democratic. They need citizens, old and new, and visitors not to care enough to murder, or die, for what they construe as their faith \u2014 or if they do so care, to restrain themselves from doing so. And when some cross that line to slay those who lampoon or criticize a murderous outcrop of the Muslim faith, they threaten the destruction of a pillar supporting the way democrats live their lives."}
-{"text": "A study of more than 2m books has revealed that titles by female authors are on average sold at just over half the price of those written by men.\n\nThe research, by sociologist Dana Beth Weinberg and mathematician Adam Kapelner of Queens College-CUNY, looked titles published in North America between 2002 and 2012. The authors analysed the gender of each author by matching names to lists of male and female names, and cross-referenced with information about price, genre and publication.\n\nBooks by women released by mainstream publishers, they found, were priced on average 45% lower than books by men. In a paper published in the journal PLOS One, the academics point out that there are more female authors writing in genres such as romance, which are generally priced lower than male-dominated genres such as science. But even after accounting for these differences, they found that prices for authors with identifiably female names were 9% lower than for male authors.\n\nWeinberg said the study was inspired by the VIDA counts of book reviews, which have shown the skew towards reviews of books by male authors, written by male reviewers. \u201cOur study looked at all three types of discrimination \u2013 the gender segregation by book genre, the different value placed on these genres, and then finally the difference within the genres,\u201d she said. \u201cVIDA has been very good about calling attention to the first issue, namely the lack of representation of female authors in certain genres, and others have emphasised how books written predominantly by women and for women such as romance and women\u2019s fiction do not receive the recognition they deserve.\u201d\n\nIt was little surprise to see evidence of segregation by genre and the differing values placed on each genre, Weinberg added, but the researchers were very surprised at how clear this discrimination was.\n\n\u201cWe expected that taking account of the first two discrimination patterns would knock out any remaining differences in prices within genre,\u201d she said, \u201cbut we were wrong about that. The within-genre price difference (9% for traditionally published titles) was extremely robust across various analyses. In retrospect, perhaps we should not have been surprised about this difference, since this pattern also mirrors the wage inequality within jobs that we see in the larger economy.\u201d\n\nThe study also looked at self-published, or independently published, titles over the same period, finding that when authors priced books themselves, there was far greater equality between the genders \u2013 although there was still a price gap of 7%. Inequality was also seen within genres for self-publishers, at 4% compared with the 9% for traditionally published books.\n\n\u201cWithout the publishers, we see slightly less discrimination, but it\u2019s still apparent, and it follows the same patterns,\u201d said Weinberg. \u201cThe easy answer [for the disparity] would be that publishing companies are sexist, but the indie findings challenge that simple explanation. The findings point to the strength of shared social contexts. Likely, publishers and authors share many of the same unconscious biases about what genre specialties are appropriate for male or female authors and about the value of those genres, and indie authors may also be mimicking what they see in the traditional publishing world. In addition, both traditional publishers and indie authors are creating and reacting to markets for their work, or to their perceptions of those markets, and placing and pricing their titles accordingly.\u201d\n\nCosta-winning novelist Francesca Segal said the study made her furious. \u201cI had no idea, but how exhausting, enervating and entirely predictable. It is the old news framed in a new way \u2013 women paid less for the same work,\u201d she said.\n\nAuthor Samantha Shannon said she was \u201cdisappointed by this statistic, but not surprised\u201d.\n\n\u201cThere is still an assumption that fiction by men has universal appeal and fiction by women does not, and I imagine this plays into the pay gap. There\u2019s also the fact that women are often socialised to be agreeable, and perhaps feel less confident asking their agents to push for more from their publishers. I suspect the only way to fight this in the long term is for women to keep owning our identities in the industry, and to resist the understandable instinct to mask ourselves with pseudonyms,\u201d she said.\n\nNovelist Joanne Harris said she had not previously noticed the discrepancy in pricing, \u201cbut in an industry where women\u2019s work is generally seen as of less value and relevance, for it to be literally priced lower seems to make a twisted kind of sense\u201d.\n\n\u201cIt needs to be looked at in detail, as every case of this kind of thing adds subliminally to the general perception that books by women are disposable, forgettable and less worthy of attention,\u201d she said."}
-{"text": "Monday Master Class: How to Schedule Your Writing Like a Professional Writer\n\nOctober 15th, 2007 \u00b7 95 comments\n\n[UPDATE: 2/18/08] Welcome new readers! If this is your first time here, Study Hacks is a blog that focuses on hacks to help you do better at college (and in life) while spending less time. If you like this article, you might also like related productivity posts on: accomplishing more by doing less, using a productivity-free day, implementing a Sunday ritual, and calculating your churn rate. If you like what you see, consider subscribing to the blog\u2019s RSS feed.\n\n\n\nThe Pain of Writing\n\nStudents hate paper writing. It\u2019s not the writing itself that\u2019s horrible, but instead, being forced to write when you don\u2019t want to. Is there any worse feeling than staring at a half-completed term paper at 2 AM?\n\nThe solution is simple. Schedule your writing better. But the specifics can be tricky. What\u2019s the best way to schedule writing? Clear out a full day? Do it a little bit at a time? Work at night once you\u2019ve finished all of your other work? I could give you some answers that sound right, but (for now) forget about me. Let\u2019s see what the pros have to say\u2026\n\nHow Professional Writers Write\n\nProfessional writers spend most days of their adult lives writing. For those among them who specialize on long form non-fiction, their writing is not that different from the types of research papers that plague college students. Assuming that these writers do not want to spend most of the days of their adult lives hating what they are doing, it stands to reason that, over time, they have figured the least painful possible way to schedule a large amount of writing.\n\nWith this in mind, I dug up interviews with the following masters of long form non-fiction:\n\nTed Conover\n\nRichard Ben Cramer,\n\nJonathan Harr\n\nJon Krakauer\n\nMichael Lewis\n\nSusan Orlean\n\nRichard Preston\n\nEric Schlosser\n\nGay Talese\n\nCalvin Trillin.\n\nI went through each interview extracting any discussions about the writer\u2019s habits. I\u2019ve aggregated and analyzed this data to provide you with a snapshot of how professional writers schedule their writing. At the end of this post I will discuss how to apply these observations to your own student writing assignments. Notice this advice is applicable beyond just students. Anyone who has to regularly churn out writing \u2014 be it a blogger or a part-time freelancer \u2014 can benefit from the habits of the pros.\n\nWhen During the Day Do Professional Writers Write?\n\nNine out of ten writers discussed when during the day they write. All nine worked in the morning. Four also worked during the afternoon. Three worked during night. Only one worked in all three times. Several writers described the afternoon as a mental dead time useful only for exercising and, maybe, editing.\n\nAt What Time Do Professional Writers Start Writing?\n\nFive out of the ten writers provided a specific start time. The latest was 8:30 am. Four other writers who didn\u2019t give a specific time said, in so many words, \u201cin the morning.\u201d No writer described starting their work in the afternoon or evening. Several did mention that they might also be efficient working very late at night (and sleeping through the day), but that this seems incompatible with being a productive member of society.\n\nWhere Do Professional Writers Write?\n\nSix out of the ten writers answered this question. All six described a silent, isolated location, free of distractions. Specifically, they provided the following answers:\n\nOffice in the garage with no window\n\nAn old tenant farmer\u2019s house\n\nA 9\u00d79 cubicle in the basement\n\nA small redwood cabin, 100 yards from the main house\n\nA bare office\n\nA home office with no phone or Internet\n\nIt should be noted, however, that the magazine writers among our sample admitted to being able to write in almost any environment \u2014 a trait learned from crashing deadlines on the road. Jon Krakauer also mentioned that his dream was to write in the morning in an isolated cabin, and then spend the afternoon\u2019s climbing. He is yet to realize this dream.\n\nObservations\u2026\n\nThe most striking observations from this study:\n\nThe writers work in the morning. They often start very early in the morning. Five out of ten of the writers described a little ritual before starting their morning writing. A surprising number of these rituals focused on The New York Times. The writers drink coffee. Lots of coffee. The writers write in isolation. If they didn\u2019t have families they would push this even farther. Many discussed having no e-mail or phone in their workspace. One purposefully used a \u201cshitty old laptop\u201d to avoid temptations like solitaire. Gay Talese rigged his home office so it could only be entered through a separate outside door.\n\nHow to Apply this Advice\n\nIf you are a student \u2014 or an amateur writer or blogger \u2014 here are some simple rules for emulating the habits of the professionals:\n\nSpread out work on an assignment over several days. Coming at it fresh increases its quality. During these days, get up early. Probably earlier than you are used to. Say, around 7 or 8 am. (This means these days will be weekdays, probably early in the week so you can avoid temptations to party the night before). Have a mini-ritual to jump start the day. It should probably involve coffee. Breakfast. Maybe the morning paper. Don\u2019t take too long. Go to the most isolated place possible. To get your mind ready to think, review the last pages you wrote. Work for two or three hours. Then stop. Follow this habit regularly. Don\u2019t write during other times. Don\u2019t write in public places. Don\u2019t start writing the day before.\n\nInterestingly, without knowing it, I stumbled across many of these same scheduling habits during the fall of my senior year at Dartmouth. At the time, I was balancing my normal student responsibilities with the writing of the manuscript for my first book. The method I used: I got at 8 AM, every weekday morning, brewed a cup of coffee and wrote for 1.5 hours at my desk \u2014 all without leaving my room. After I was done, my real day could begin. It worked beautifully.\n\nWhat writing habits work for you? What habits do you need to abandon?\n\nRelated Posts"}
-{"text": "FORT MYERS, Fla. -- It was 7:30 on Tuesday morning, and Dustin Pedroia was hollering with the enthusiasm he usually saves for after a Red Sox win.This time, his excitement was for Wilson Glove Day, the day when several Boston players got their new gloves from the noted glove manufacturer.\u2022\n\nFORT MYERS, Fla. -- It was 7:30 on Tuesday morning, and Dustin Pedroia was hollering with the enthusiasm he usually saves for after a Red Sox win.\n\nThis time, his excitement was for Wilson Glove Day, the day when several Boston players got their new gloves from the noted glove manufacturer.\n\n\u2022 Spring Training: Info | Tickets | Schedule | Gear\n\n\"Yeah!\" Pedroia bellowed as he greeted the Wilson representatives. \"This is awesome.\"\n\nAnd for Pedroia, it was more awesome than most. He is one of the players in the Majors who has a glove named after him that is available to anyone.\n\nWhen 7-year-old Dylan Pedroia makes his Little League debut in Arizona this spring, he will do so with a glove named after his father, who is one of the best defensive second basemen in the world and has been for the past decade.\n\n\"That's real cool,\" Pedroia said. \"My son is starting up Little League and he has my glove, and that's pretty crazy to think about and to actually see.\"\n\nThe one thing Dylan Pedroia will come to know about his father is that he is maniacal about his glove.\n\n\"My biggest thing is I like to use one glove for games, practices, or whatever. It doesn't matter,\" Pedroia said. \"A lot of guys will use their backup glove, and they'll switch to their game glove. I think it's important to use the same one. I'm always fixing my laces because if a ball is hit hard, if you don't have that lacing part \u2026 \"\n\nPedroia didn't even need to finish the sentence. His job is to be a stopper up the middle, and he needs well-maintained equipment to do so.\n\n\"This is my glove for the season and hopefully longer,\" Pedroia said. \"I like to use one glove for a long period of time, so once you get it broken in, it's kind of a part of you.\"\n\nPedroia's glove is probably the only thing less shiny than his typically dirt-stained uniform.\n\n\"I like it flimsy and beat up,\" Pedroia said. \"For me, I put two fingers over here in the pinkie side, kind of like an outfielder, to make sure it squeezes like that, so when I transfer, it doesn't have a deep pocket. I don't' want the ball to get stuck ever. This pocket allows you to do that.\"\n\nNobody used their Wilson Glove better than Mookie Betts last season. He was named the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year in November. Betts joins Pedroia as the only Red Sox players who currently have a line of Wilson gloves named after them.\n\n\"It's a blessing, and I know it comes from the work I've put in,\" Betts said. \"You don't go into battle with something you're not comfortable with. You have to be fully comfortable with what you have, and I am, so I'll take it into battle.\"\n\nAfter winning the American League's Cy Young Award last season, Red Sox right-hander Rick Porcello will stick with the A2000 model that served him so well.\n\n\"This particular glove worked out for me pretty well last year, so I'm going to go with it again,\" Porcello said. \"I like this webbing because it holds up really well and you can play catch with it for a while, and it can take kind of a beating.\"\n\nEach player seems to have a different routine with his glove.\n\nThis whole #GloveDay thing is serious business. pic.twitter.com/Jwe9qSVuCO \u2014 Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) February 21, 2017\n\n\"I don't throw it in my bag,\" Red Sox rookie left fielder Andrew Benintendi said. \"Some people just toss it in their bag. I carry mine alongside so it doesn't lose its form.\"\n\nBest day of Spring Training?\n\n\"Getting my gloves,\" Porcello said. \"This is definitely an exciting day. It's like Christmas.\""}
-{"text": "Ghosts of the NSA Relics of Cold War Spying Dot Germany\n\nThe National Security Agency has long been active in Germany, though much of its spying was conducted against the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. Today, former listening stations and other facilities dot the German landscape."}
-{"text": "Join Our Members List For Exclusive Reports\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlease leave this field empty.\n\nMost of us have an idea of what the world map looks like, based on its most popular representation, the Mercator Projection. This is an extremely flawed 2D representation of the Earth\u2019s landmasses, due to the spherical shape of the planet. This clip shows how completely skewed the actual sizes are the\n\nworld\u2019s countries, according the Mercator Projection.\n\nI have been being trolled by Flat Earthers in the Comments sections lately and I invite reasonable people to correct perpetrators and/or victims of the nefarious newfangled Flat Earth psyop/trope at will."}
-{"text": "As Joe Biden seeks the Obama mantle, many Obama loyalists wait to see 'who lights a fire'\n\nBarack Obama and Joe Biden in 2008. Many Obama loyalists are split on whether to support Biden as a 2020 Democratic candidate. Barack Obama and Joe Biden in 2008. Many Obama loyalists are split on whether to support Biden as a 2020 Democratic candidate. Photo: Washington Post Photo By Linda Davidson Photo: Washington Post Photo By Linda Davidson Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close As Joe Biden seeks the Obama mantle, many Obama loyalists wait to see 'who lights a fire' 1 / 1 Back to Gallery\n\nOnly one of the 21 Democrats running for president wants voters to see him as the establishment choice best able to fulfill the promise of President Barack Obama's third term. But former Vice President Joe Biden has yet to become a consensus pick of the White House and campaign advisers who made Obama's two terms possible.\n\nWith some exceptions, the generation that brought to Washington an insurgent message they called \"hope and change\" is once again resisting pressure to get in line, as they scan the field for a possible heir to Obama's transformational 2008 candidacy and worry about a repeat of the disastrous 2016 election.\n\nMany others, however, speak of their continued hunger for a new generation of leadership and a fresh face who can transcend political divisions. They worry about siding with a lifelong Washington fixture. And they are eager for someone like Obama who can bring new voters to the polls.\n\nLike many of those interviewed, Kathleen Sebelius, the former Kansas governor who served as health and human services secretary in the Obama administration, spoke of Biden's character and his service as vice president with admiration, but she nonetheless has not committed to any candidate.\n\n\"I want to see who lights a fire and who inspires folks to get engaged and involved,\" she said.\n\nThe question of who deserves to inherit the mantle of Obama's movement, which remains the most potent unifying force in an increasingly fractious party, has been the subject of constant debate among close-knit Obama alumni.\n\nThis account is based on interviews with 53 former Obama advisers, senior White House and Cabinet staff, and campaign professionals, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not ready to take a public position on Biden's campaign.\n\nIn almost all of these conversations, the affection for Biden ran deep, as did the admiration for his campaign launch last month, which resulted in a bump in polls that now put his support at about 40% nationally among Democratic primary voters.\n\nThese former officials say they are committed to helping him in a general election if he secures the nomination, and they believe Obama feels much the same way, as his office signaled this past week when it did not object to Biden's plan to use Obama's voice from a White House event to narrate an online Biden campaign spot.\n\nBut concern about a Biden candidacy - and a demand that he prove himself on the campaign trail - is also a constant refrain.\n\n\"Where I am in this race is very similar to where a lot of Obama people are. The Biden loyalty is real,\" said Rufus Gifford, Obama's finance director in 2012, who has co-hosted a Biden fundraiser but not yet committed to his candidacy. \"But this is a little bit bipolar. Obama people were all courted by the establishment candidate in '07 very aggressively and decided to go in a different direction.\"\n\nPresident Donald Trump proved a wily campaigner, able to spark real enthusiasm among his core voters. Several of Obama's generation said they worried about how Biden would match up against Trump were he to win the nomination.\n\n\"I think the question that we all have in our minds from an electoral standpoint is what do two 75-year-olds fighting against each other look like,\" said one former campaign and White House aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preserve relations. \"Does that scream the future? Does that scream contrast?\"\n\nThe former aides split broadly into three groups.Only eight had committed or were leaning toward Biden. A second group of 11 have committed to other candidates. A group of 34 say they are still waiting to decide.\n\nAmong those who had not yet picked a favorite, there was remarkable unanimity of preferences: Almost all said they had limited their consideration to five candidates now in the sprawling field: Biden, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas.\n\nThat list notably excluded the several governors and senators who are likely to appear on the first Democratic debate stage in June, not to mention the runner-up in the 2016 primary battle, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. Views of Sanders, who has polled in second place nationally in early surveys, ranged from open hostility to praise for his contribution to the policy debate in the party, and a willingness to help him beat Trump should he secure the nomination.\n\nMost importantly, all the undecided described in different ways a set of hard-to-define qualities and campaign trail magic they were seeking in the next nominee. Their service to Obama, who upended long odds and 232 years of U.S. history to become the first African American president, defined their lives and is the lens through which they view the coming campaign.\n\nThe mythology of his campaign, which carried into the White House and the 2012 reelection, was always anchored in a rebellion against the Democratic establishment in the form of Hillary Clinton, who led national polling by about 20 points through much of 2007. Obama was different, his people believed, able to transcend categories, blur coalitions and get people excited beyond promising them a mere transactional gain.\n\nThat is the quality most of Obama's former aides now say they are seeking in the field. They include people such as Kyle Lierman, a former senior policy adviser in the White House Office of Public Engagement. A former campaign intern for Biden in early 2007, he used the word \"love\" when speaking of Biden, and he said he was ready to drop everything in 2016 to work on his campaign if he had run against Clinton for the nomination.\n\nBut Lierman also remembers watching Obama give the Iowa Jefferson Jackson Day Dinner speech in November 2007, a moment that caused him to drop out of college and spend nearly a year living in six states to elect him. He hungers to see that spark again, and is not yet ready to commit.\n\n\"Who is the one that a kid now is going to see give a Jefferson Jackson speech and want to drop out of college for?\" Lierman said. \"At the end of the day the unique thing that Barack Obama was able to do was bridge the progressive-moderate divide and mobilize people around hope. And we'll see if Biden is the person to do that.\"\n\nIf there is an emerging option, it has been Buttigieg, who has in recent months zoomed past O'Rourke as the most praised performer on the campaign trail. Buttigieg has been helped by Lis Smith, who was director of rapid response for Obama's 2012 campaign, and Stephen Brokaw, who was digital projects manager for Obama in 2012. Smith is Buttigieg's communications adviser and Brokaw is his national political director.\n\nButtigieg also has garnered a significant share of the wealthy network of early financial donors that helped launch Obama's campaign in 2007, a group with a clear preference of working for candidates with whom they forge an emotional relationship.\n\n\"Based on my conversations and instincts, more of the early Obama folks who were there at the beginning are either helping or leaning toward helping Pete than anybody else,\" said former ambassador to Canada David Jacobson, who was a deputy finance chair for Obama's 2008 campaign. \"They see a lot in Pete that they saw in Barack Obama: Yeah it's a long shot, but he's so d--- smart, and he is so decent, and it really could be a transformational thing.\"\n\nThe rub on Buttigieg, volunteered by multiple former Obama aides, is the open question of whether he can build a political operation. \"To catch lightning in a bottle you have to have a bottle,\" observed one former Obama campaign adviser who has been intrigued by the mayor's candidacy.\n\nThrough the first quarter of the year, less than 1 in 10 of the roughly 1,330 major donors from Obama's two presidential campaigns had given $2,700 or more to any of the 2020 candidates. Of those who had donated, Harris had attracted support from the most of those who bundled donations for Obama, followed by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. But the data showed more donations to candidates who had announced earlier in the year, and did not include any to Biden's campaign, which did not exist until after the first quarter reporting deadline.\n\nA Biden spokesman said the campaign was attempting to infuse the campaign with an array of former Obama aides as well as fresh talent who worked on the 2018 elections or are new to politics.\n\nBiden has on his team at least a dozen former Obama aides, including Greg Schultz, who was Obama's state director in Ohio and is now Biden's campaign manager, and Pete Kavanaugh, who was Obama's state director in New Hampshire and is now deputy campaign manager. Anita Dunn, a longtime Obama adviser, and John Anzalone, who was an Obama campaign pollster, also have been advising Biden.\n\nIn a major get for Biden's team, Pete Rouse, a key architect of Obama's campaign and White House operation, has signed onto the campaign as an adviser, according to a person close to the campaign.\n\nSome former Obama advisers say privately that a divide exists between those who saw the Obama-Biden relationship up close and those who did not. Those who saw it up close are more prone to think highly of Biden and view his chances more favorably. But other staffers with a more distant view have been leaning more heavily toward Buttigieg.\n\n\"If you were there, you got a firsthand look,\" said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who served as Obama's first chief of staff. \"You know the guy who never bucked any assignment, took everything on, whatever he was given, whether around the globe or every nook and cranny of the country.\"\n\nEmanuel, who is completing his second term as mayor of Chicago, said he plans to take a long break before deciding where he stands on the 2020 race. Two other White House chiefs of staff - William Daley and Denis McDonough - have also declined to pick a candidate at this stage.\n\nPeople who have worked directly for Biden are also more favorable to the vice president.\n\n\"I think it's important to be hopeful and inclusive, to try to bring us together rather than divide us,\" said former White House press secretary Jay Carney, who worked for Biden before moving to Obama. \"That's what Obama did. And that's what Biden does.\"\n\nCarney is committed to Biden, though before the vice president entered the race, he also cut campaign checks for O'Rourke, Harris, Buttigieg and Booker, whom he also describes as unifying figures.\n\nOthers have been more skeptical. Some have expressed public support for Biden but privately are helping other candidates.\n\n\"Joe Biden is a very nice guy; he's an extraordinarily nice person. But he was like a hedged bet by team Obama,\" said Arun Chaudhary, an early 2008 Obama staffer who became the first White House videographer and whose firm is now working for 2020 candidate Marianne Williamson. \"He was everything Obama wasn't just in case the country didn't want a young charismatic black guy. Biden was picked because he was the opposite of that, an old establishment Washington guy. It turned out America did want the young handsome black guy.\"\n\nThat debate has so far stayed in private channels, with rare exception. Shortly after Biden announced, Warren criticized his vote on a 2005 bankruptcy bill that she said favored credit card companies over struggling Americans. Jen Psaki, a former Obama White House communications director, responded by tweeting that Warren would still be \"a beloved Harvard Law Professor not a presidential candidate\" if it were not for Obama and Biden supporting her from the White House.\n\nMacon Phillips, a former White House director of digital strategy who has not settled on a candidate, responded on Twitter by saying that he respected Psaki, but her response was \"more than wrong.\" He also announced that he was giving $100 to Warren.\n\n\"It was a knee-jerk reaction to seeing Elizabeth Warren attacking him right out of the gate,\" said Psaki, who agrees with many of Warren's policies. \"I don't know who I'm going to support in the primary but the tweet was a reflection of the affection a lot of us have for Joe Biden.\"\n\nOther top staffers from Obama's campaigns have splintered off to various other candidates. Jim Margolis, an admaker and senior adviser to both of Obama's presidential campaigns, is now a top strategist for Harris. Warren has nabbed Joe Rospars, who oversaw digital strategy for both of Obama's campaigns, and Emily Parcell, who was political director of Obama's 2008 Iowa caucuses team.\n\nO'Rourke has attracted some top Obama talent; his campaign manager, Jen O'Malley Dillon, worked on both of Obama's campaigns and has the admiration of many in the Obama orbit. O'Rourke also just hired Jeff Berman, who was in charge of Obama's delegate operation, which many point to as critical to his 2008 victory.\n\nWhile O'Rourke has faded from prominence since his March announcement, several Obama loyalists praised O'Malley Dillon as a methodical strategist who is able to build for a long campaign. They see in her strategy something familiar: Obama too struck a relatively low profile in the middle of 2007 before emerging weeks before voting began with a significant grass-roots campaign structure behind him.\n\n- - -\n\nThe Washington Post's Anu Narayanswamy contributed to this report."}
-{"text": "The 2018 Formula 1 season has just started, but the silly season for 2019 has already kicked off. Three of the six seats at Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari will be free following the conclusion of this season if Lewis Hamilton extends his contract at Mercedes. However, it now appears that Daniel Ricciardo will be the key to driver market.\n\nSebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen have already penned long-term deals at Ferrari and Red Bull respectively, and it is expected that Hamilton will stay on with Mercedes. Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen will be free agents when the current season ends, which means that the three top teams all have a vacant seat. And according to our sources, Ricciardo could be the first to secure a new deal as the 28-year-old appears to be heading to Ferrari in 2019.\n\n\u2018Deadline Red Bull due in May\u2019\n\nA source in the Bahrain paddock told F1Today.net: \"Ferrari has shown interest for some time now and talks with Ricciardo accelerated after the Australian signed a letter of intent at the Scuderia. Ricciardo would love to be a Ferrari driver and he made up his mind. The deal is almost done. If everything goes right, he will sign a multiyear contract soon.\u201d\n\nThe transfer to Ferrari means that Ricciardo will leave Red Bull Racing after five seasons: \"It is publicly known that Red Bull Racing put up a deadline to Ricciardo for extending his contract. That deadline is due somewhere in May 2018. Ferrari and Ricciardo are probably going to announce their deal soon\u201d, added the source to F1Today.net.\n\nThe past months have seen a lot of speculation over Ricciardo\u2019s future. Red Bull wanted to discuss a new contract with the driver, but he wished to hold it off. Ricciardo told the energy-drink team that he wanted to see how the first races of 2018 would pan out before he discussed a future with Red Bull. The earliest time for those talks would be April 2018. Lots of insiders anticipated a situation in which Ricciardo wanted to explore his options outside of Red Bull. That seems the case, as the five-time Grand Prix winner looks to be heading to Ferrari. Previously, Vettel said that he wouldn't mind seeing Ricciardo as his teammate at Ferrari.\n\nCollaboration Red Bull and Ricciardo ends after eleven years\n\nRicciardo has been a part of the Red Bull family since 2008. Up until 2011, he was a junior driver, before taking on a driver role in Formula 1. The Australian made his Formula 1 debut at Silverstone, halfway through 2011 for HRT. A half year later, Ricciardo moved to Scuderia Toro Rosso, where he raced for two seasons. The 28-year-old was promoted to Red Bull Racing in 2014, replacing Mark Webber. In his first year at the senior team, Ricciardo outperformed Vettel in their only season as teammates at Red Bull.\n\nRicciardo won five races during his five seasons at Red Bull and he secured another 22 podiums. But now, it looks as though Vettel will again be the teammate of the \u2018Honey Badger\u2019, which could deliver a great battle within the team.\n\nAlso read: Red Bull boss prepared to 'let Ricciardo go'\n\nAlso read: Verstappen wants to keep Ricciardo as teammate\n\nAlso read: Ricciardo in no rush to pen new Red Bull deal"}
-{"text": "Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Scientists have been studying glaciers in the Svalbard area for two decades\n\nGlaciers in the Arctic are shrinking by as much as 300m a year, a Scottish-based research team has found.\n\nThe researchers from the Scottish Association for Marine Science near Oban used robot submarines to study glaciers in the west of the Svalbard archipelago in the Norwegian Arctic.\n\nSAMS scientists have been studying the area's glaciers for two decades.\n\nDr John Howe, leading the team, said the Arctic was probably warming faster than any other part of the planet.\n\nHe said: \"There have been studies by satellite looking at the loss of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean.\n\n\"But we're interested in the role of glaciers, and in particular why glaciers are retreating and how they behave under these warmer conditions.\"\n\nImage copyright Getty Images\n\nDr Howe's team found Svalbard's glaciers are retreating by as much as 300m each year.\n\nThis is not merely the result of rising air temperatures. A relatively warmer ocean and local conditions in the fjords are also having an effect.\n\nImage copyright SAMS\n\n\"Warm water that used to be there is now washing the front of the glacier,\" Dr Howe says.\n\n\"The warm water is there because of the shape of the seabed.\n\n\"Water is able to get into the fjords, and that warmer water is promoting the collapse and therefore the retreat of this ice.\"\n\nThat ice melts when it gets warm is no surprise but, writing in the journal Marine Geology, the team say they found an unexpected consequence.\n\nImage copyright Getty Images Image caption As glaciers melt they \"calve\" chunks of ice into the sea\n\nA plume of cold, fresh meltwater had been expected to protect the front of the glacier from the warmer seawater.\n\nBut it's not.\n\nInstead it floats on the surface of the ocean, drawing seawater to the front of the glacier and accelerating the melting process.\n\nThe research has immediate implications for wildlife, fisheries and shipping.\n\nImage copyright Getty Images\n\nBut Dr Howe says there are even bigger considerations as the research adds to science's understanding how a warming Arctic is driving change in the sea level.\n\n\"If you lose the Greenland ice cap, which is currently pinned by the glaciers, there's this notional seven metre rise in sea levels,\" he said.\n\nTo make the detailed measurements underpinning the Svalbard study, the team had to get their instruments as close as possible to the point where the glaciers meet the ocean.\n\nBut as glaciers melt they \"calve\" great chunks of ice into the sea, causing huge waves. That's not the sort of thing to keep the health and safety-conscious happy.\n\nSo SAMS has been using something that has transformed their work in recent years: a robot.\n\nImage copyright Sams\n\nIt has a fleet of them, some with wings that 'glide' through Arctic waters for months and beam their data back by satellite.\n\nThis one, though, is distinctive.\n\n\"It's like a yellow torpedo, a submarine,\" says Dr Howe.\n\n\"It can 'fly' close to the glacier front and make these measurements while the boat stays a good kilometre away - safely away from the falling ice.\"\n\nIf the warming of the Arctic continues, robot subs may not be needed. As the glaciers retreat, Dr Howe warns they will no longer meet the sea at all.\n\n\"Rather than being dominated by a white-blue walls of ice at the head of the fjord, it'll be a river.\"\n\nImage copyright SAMS Image caption Members of the team with the robot submarine\n\nSAMS is based at Dunstaffnage, near Oban, and is part of the University of the Highlands and Islands.\n\nThe work was funded by the Norwegian Research Council and led by the Norwegian Polar Institute."}
-{"text": "A virtual mailbox service can be your best friend. They\u2019re great for people who travel a lot or otherwise find it difficult to pick up the mail as often as they would like."}
-{"text": "This was my first deck I ever bought. It was in 1988. Now I have it again. I'm so happy! \ud83d\ude00\ud83d\ude00\ud83d\ude00 #apple #ableton #beatport #dj #djing #deephouse #fanbase #friends #facebook #housemusic #houserevolution #instaboy #instagram #ibiza #mixtape #mixcloud #party #producer #pioneerdj #picoftheday #pietrocauofficial #seratodj #soundcloud #techno #techhouse #powellperalta #bonesbrigade #skullandsword #skateordie"}
-{"text": "The Practice of Programming, by Kernighan and Pike, is one of my favourite books about programming. The book covers style, algorithms and data structures, design and implementation, interfaces, debugging, testing, performance, portability, and notation, in a clear, readable and understandable style that is lacking in many other technical books.\n\nEach chapter is short, stands alone, peppered with examples, and summed up neatly at the end. Reading this book didn\u2019t automatically make me a better programmer, but it encouraged me to think about programming, and gave me solid advice for the troubles ahead.\n\nLittered with war stories, the chapters take you through example code, asking questions, and providing some answers. They don\u2019t tell you how code should look, but explore how code can be improved. (Aside, the first chapter in its entirety was reprinted another book \u201cBeautiful Code\u201d).\n\nDon\u2019t loan it to friends, they might never return it\u2014One of my copies spent five years with a co-worker who proclaimed that they\u2019d read it, but kept going back to it for advice in times of trouble. I can\u2019t blame them.\n\nhttp://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/tpop/"}
-{"text": "Over the last two decades, I have been working at The Long Now Foundation to build a monument-scale \u201c10,000 Year Clock\u201d as an icon to long-term thinking, with computer scientist Danny Hillis and a team of engineers. The idea is to create a provocation large enough in both scale and time that, when confronted by it, we have to engage our long-term future. One could imagine that if given only five years to solve an issue like climate change, it is very difficult to even know where to begin because the time scale is unreasonable. But if you reset the scale to 500 years, even the impossible can start to seem tractable.\n\nYou might also like:\n\nBuilding a 10,000-year machine required diving into both history and the present to see how artefacts have lasted. While we can slow the workings of the clock itself down so that it only ticks as many times in 10,000 years as a watch does in a person\u2019s lifetime, what about the materials and location? Over the last 20 years I have studied how other structures and systems have lasted over time, and visited as many of them as I can. Some sites have been conserved by simply being lost or buried, some have survived in plain sight by their sheer mass, others have had much more subtle strategies.\n\nFew human-made objects or organisations last more than a handful of centuries, much less millennia. Stories, myths, religions, a handful of institutions, as well as some structures and artefacts have lasted this long. Most of these were not built with the intention of extreme longevity, but are accidents of history. More recent efforts such as nuclear waste sites, genealogic repositories and seed vaults, are being designed explicitly to last for thousands \u2013 or even hundreds of thousands \u2013 of years. There are a series of lessons we can learn from the past and present, ranging from material science and engineering, to the ideological. I will cover several of these as well as discuss how they have influenced our work on the 10,000 Year Clock.\n\nLost & found\n\nSome of the most unique and meaningful objects from history have survived not by intention, but by being lost and then found at an opportune moment. The Dead Sea Scrolls, the Rosetta Stone, and the Antikythera Device never would have made it to modern times without first being lost. The Antikythera Device has been of particular interest to me because it was also a planetary clock of sorts \u2013 centuries ahead of its time. It was discovered as chunks of oxidised gearing in a 2,000 year-old shipwreck near Antikythera, Greece.\n\nNo similar device has ever been found from that era. Its workmanship and understanding of gearing and celestial events are remarkable in that many of the ideas and mechanical principles would not be seen again until Europe emerged from the dark ages 1,300 years later. In addition, it would have taken many iterations to build such a device, so it is a further mystery that we don\u2019t have any other examples of devices like this. Clearly the only reason this one survived was because it was lost. But even after being found, it languished for decades in storage before X-ray studies revealed its true complexity and purpose as a working astronomical model."}
-{"text": "NEW DELHI: The government wants to take entrepreneurship lessons to schools, teaching youngsters what it takes to start a business at an early age.The skill development and entrepreneurship ministry along with Purdue University , Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India and the National Entrepreneurship Network have put together a broad curriculum covering schools to Industrial Training Institutes.Meanwhile, the skill development and human resource development ministries are in talks to make the entrepreneurship curriculum compulsory for schools, according to people aware of the plan.The Narendra Modi government is laying great emphasis on encouraging the entrepreneurial instinct to boost investment and create employment opportunities in India.The Indian capacity for harnessing entrepreneurship has not been fully realised with the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector contributing just 17% of GDP compared with 85% in Taiwan, 60% in China and 50% in Singapore.Taking a cue from activities in western countries, where children get an early grounding in basic principles, the curriculum at school level plans to make entrepreneurship a fun, experiential affair.It suggests activities such as hosting an annual marketplace in the school where students create their own companies, sell and brand products. It also conceives of exercises entailing Rs 50 investments in students\u2019 business ideas.\u201cIn India, entrepreneurship is considered passed from one generation to the other. By way of education, students can discover that talent in them,\u201d said Sashi Chimala, executive V-P of Wadhwani Foundation\u2019s National Entrepreneurship Network."}
-{"text": "When radical leftist Alexis Tsipras stormed to victory in Greece\u2019s general election in late January, he briefly became an icon of the European left.\n\nFrench daily Liberation, founded by philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, declared him \u201cthe new face of Europe\u201d, while everyone wanted to be photographed with the tieless Tsipras, 40, and his leather-jacketed finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis.\n\nLittle over 100 days later, sympathy for their Syriza party and for Greece in Europe has largely run dry.\n\nIdeological diatribes, contradictory statements, leaks of sensitive documents and obdurate negotiating tactics have burned many European officials and politicians who were initially well-disposed towards the newcomers in Athens.\n\nEuropean Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker hugged Tsipras and took him demonstratively by the hand as if to guide the novice premier through the EU labyrinth. European Parliament President Martin Schulz, a German Social Democrat, rushed to Athens to offer help.\n\nCentre-left governments in France and Italy that were eager to soften German-driven austerity and push for growth in the eurozone saw the Greek electoral earthquake as a boon.\n\nSocialist French President Fran\u00e7ois Hollande said Syriza\u2019s victory \u201cunderscored that austerity as the only perspective and reality wasn\u2019t tolerable anymore\u201d.\n\n\u201cWe thought this would finally make the Germans understand that too much austerity was driving Europe into the arms of extremists,\u201d said a senior official of one southern European government. \u201cBut the way the Greeks have behaved, no one wants to be associated with them.\u201d\n\nMoreover, some southern European officials are angry that Greece is risking wider turmoil by taking talks with its creditors to the brink of default and a possible euro exit.\n\n\u2018Message of hope\u2019\n\nItalian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi hailed Tsipras as bringing a \u201cmessage of hope, not just fear\u201d. Yet within days, Varoufakis angered Rome\u2019s socialist leaders by saying: \u201cLet\u2019s face it, Italy\u2019s debt situation is unsustainable.\u201d\n\nItalian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said the remarks were \u201cout of place\u201d.\n\nIn other bailed-out countries, sympathy for Syriza was mostly confined to the far left, while some mainstream politicians saw Tsipras\u2019 success as a threat to themselves.\n\nOne Portuguese minister said privately that the centre-right government would not be able to face voters later this year if Greece were given a \u201cdiscount\u201d on painful pension, wage and labour reforms that Lisbon had made under its EU/IMF programme.\n\nPrime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho called Syriza\u2019s election platform \u201ca children\u2019s fairytale\u201d while Tsipras accused Lisbon and Madrid of leading an \u201caxis\u201d bent on sabotaging its bailout negotiations, which both denied.\n\nPresenting his Socialist party\u2019s economic programme in April, Portuguese opposition leader Antonio Costas distanced himself from Syriza, promising to meet all European commitments on the budget deficit and debt.\n\nPodemos tones down\n\nIn Spain, radical left Podemos, whose pony-tailed leader Pablo Iglesias described Syriza as a \u201cmirror\u201d in January, has quietly stepped back from utopian campaign promises after seeing Tsipras struggle with the constraints of government.\n\nThe upstart party trumpeted Greek plans to end austerity and give free electricity and food to the needy but has now dropped a pledge to default on state debt and said a promised universal salary will be paid only when public accounts permit.\n\nInterviewed by Reuters in March, Iglesias acknowledged that Greece\u2019s difficult negotiations with its creditors showed there was limited scope to change economic policy in Europe.\n\nIn the Baltic states, which stoically undertook eye-watering austerity after the 2008 financial crisis, anchored by a single-minded determination to join the euro, there is even less sympathy for Greece and its leaders.\n\nLithuanian Finance Minister Rimantas Sadzius said Greek threats to default or restructure its debts to the eurozone posed a political problem in his country, where the minimum wage is half and the average pension one-quarter that in Greece.\n\n\u201cIf the support money is spent without proper care to return it to the European Stability Mechanism, there will be serious questions raised about differences in living standards, and why a country has a significantly lower minimum wage than a country which it has to support,\u201d he told Reuters.\n\nLatvia too opposes any concessions to Greece on reform, with a spokesman for Finance Minister Janis Reirs saying \u201cthere has to be the same, equal attitude towards Greece as there has been to other (bailed-out) countries\u201d.\n\nOrdinary Latvians depict Greeks in the kind of stereotypes which Varoufakis has denounced as unfair.\n\n\u201cI have a perception of Greeks that they are always in the sun and that they [\u2026] take things easy and they don\u2019t fret over whether they have work or not,\u201d said Sondra Lace, who works in music management in Riga.\n\n\u201cThe Greeks have lived beyond their means,\u201d said 86-year-old Peteris Rubens, who works as a security guard to supplement his pension. \u201cOf course, they have had a good life and now, when they have to tighten their belts, it\u2019s not pleasant.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Traditional searches or wiretaps often require government to eventually notify the people they\u2019ve searched; Microsoft wants the same to apply to emails\n\nThis article is more than 4 years old\n\nThis article is more than 4 years old\n\nMicrosoft sued the US government on Thursday for the right to tell customers when authorities search their email inboxes.\n\nIn a federal complaint that names the US attorney general, Loretta Lynch, the company argues the government has taken advantage of the consumer trend for storing their private data on tech companies\u2019 servers, rather than storing it on their own devices. This shouldn\u2019t let the government search the digital equivalent of a person\u2019s desk without telling them, Microsoft argues.\n\nThe government counters that doing so may tip off suspects of a criminal investigation.\n\nUber claims US regulators collect too much data on its passengers Read more\n\nThe salvo marks the latest effort by a major US technology firm to lift the veil of secrecy surrounding modern electronic surveillance. It comes after several attempts in recent years by Twitter, Google and Microsoft to have gag orders about surveillance requests removed. The industry has a renewed confidence in taking on the government following Apple\u2019s recent stare-down with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.\n\nIn this case, Microsoft wants a judge to rule a statute unconstitutional that allows the government to request indefinite gag orders on warrants for suspects\u2019 emails. With traditional searches or wiretaps, the government is often required to notify people they have been searched after some period of time.\n\nThat\u2019s not the case with digital communications like email, which is covered by legislation including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA).\n\n\u201cPeople do not give up their rights when they move their private information from physical storage to the cloud,\u201d Microsoft said in its court filing. \u201cThe transition to the cloud does not alter the fundamental constitutional requirement that the government must \u2013 with few exceptions \u2013 give notice when it searches and seizes the private information or communications of individuals or businesses.\u201d\n\nThe company said that the government has forced Microsoft to maintain secrecy on 2,576 legal demands during the past 18 months. In nearly 70% of those cases, Microsoft says, the gag order is indefinite.\n\n\u201cWe are reviewing the filing,\u201d said Emily Pierce, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice.\n\n\n\nFor legal scholars, Microsoft\u2019s battle in this case reflects a broader fight over a trend of more and more court orders being filed under seal or, in national security cases, classified.\n\nSan Bernardino iPhone: US ends Apple case after accessing data without assistance Read more\n\n\u201cHow can we tell if the court process is legitimate if so much of it is under seal?\u201d asked Jennifer Granick, director of civil liberties at Stanford Law School\u2019s Center for Internet and Society.\n\nCompared with other technology companies, Microsoft hasn\u2019t been as outspoken on ideological topics such as unbreakable encryption. During the Apple fight, its general counsel Brad Smith spoke out in favor of the iPhone maker but also made it clear he wanted to find ways to work with law enforcement.\n\nTo that end, Smith, a Microsoft veteran, in recent years has made efforts to bring more transparency and structure to electronic surveillance, rather than trying to end it outright.\n\nSince Edward Snowden leaked a trove of documents on western surveillance practices, Microsoft has successfully resolved two lawsuits that allowed it to say more about the data requests from the government. In a third case that is ongoing, the company is challenging whether it has to give the US government data stored on a server in Ireland.\n\n\u201cWe view this case as similar to the other three that we have filed,\u201d Smith wrote in a blog post. \u201cIt involves the fundamental right of people and businesses to know when the government is accessing their content and our right to share this information with them.\u201d"}
-{"text": "At a news conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, President Obama was asked if he agreed with Mitt Romney's assessment during the 2012 presidential campaign that Russia is America's biggest geopolitical foe.\n\nInstead, Obama poked at Russia, downplaying its influence on the world stage.\n\n\"Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors not out of strength but out of weakness,\" Obama said.\n\nRussia's actions are a problem, but they're not what the U.S. worries about the most.\n\n\"They don\u2019t pose the number one national security threat to the United States,\" Obama said. \"I continue to be much more concerned when it comes to our security of the prospect of a nuclear weapon going off in Manhattan.\"\n\nObama and Rutte were taking questions at the end of the Nuclear Security Summit.\n\nRussia has had a strong influence on Ukraine for decades, Obama said, just as the United States has pull over Canada and Mexico, but \"we don't feel the need to invade them,\" he said.\n\nObama continually tried to minimize Russia's worldwide influence, telling reporters he thinks the country is more isolated now than it has been in the past.\n\nObama said he is \"less interested in the motivation\" of Putin than in the facts and principles that the U.S. and international community are trying to uphold."}
-{"text": "Something I want to try\u2026 How to shed calories \u2026 quickly? I obtain asked all the moment concerning this, as well as if all you want is a fast exercise to lose a few hundred calories, here are my favored relocations:\n\n1) Jump Rope. Simple, efficient \u2026 excruciating \u2026 however a calorie incinerator. Dive 8 minutes and also shed 100 calories.\n\n2) HIIT (High Strength Period Training): Download a totally free timer application on your cell phone. These extreme periods include running for 20 secs and also relaxing 10, for an overall of 4 minutes. I want to have customers carry out moves like Leaping Jacks or raise, but you could also simply use this on a treadmill or fixed bike.\n\n3) Spinning. When people tell you it is difficult, they typically aren\u2019t kidding. Spinning is tops in my research of calorie shed in a brief time. I need to confess, I haven\u2019t tried a spinning course, yet I really want to!\n\n4) Operating. Yea, it sheds mondo calories in a short time. Running, simply like any kind of other long-sustained task is much less effective if you don\u2019t differ your strength. Make certain to run hills or obstacle yourself ( rise speed) to keep the calorie melt higher!\n\n4) Exercises or \u2018bootcamp\u2019 exercises: All the old criteria \u2026 press ups, burpees, stay up and so on. There is a factor the military still maintains utilizing them! They will make you tough and also burn calories in a short time.\n\n5) Kettlebell Workouts: These workouts contain compound relocations as well as combine cardio and weights in intriguing and also brand-new ways. I enjoy to implement kettlebell exercises with all my clients. They are fun, innovative, and melt a bunch of calories in a short time!\n\nThere you go! My list of \u2018fast like a rabbit\u2019 calorie burning exercises. If you don\u2019t have time for a longer period exercise, I would recommend any one of these. Did I miss one of your faves? (By the means, I didn\u2019t state swimming since prep time is as long for that normally \u2026)\n\nLet me recognize (that is, if you have time! )"}
-{"text": "Green MSP Alison Johnstone called for a new law to make motorists automatically at fault in civil actions after an accident.\n\nCampaigners said they have already received cross-party support for a Bill to be brought forward.\n\nThe UK is one of only five European countries that do not currently have the law, known as \"stricter liability\".\n\nTransport Minister Keith Brown said he did not support the change to the law.\n\nMr Brown said there was a \"lack of robust evidence that stricter liability could have positive benefits for vulnerable road users\".\n\nHe did say he welcomed the debate and was more than willing to listen to other evidence on the issue.\n\nNine cyclists died on Scotland's roads last year, with a further 167 injured.\n\nUnder a \"strict liability\" law, motorists would be held responsible in the civil courts for all accidents involving cyclists and pedestrians - unless they can prove they were not to blame.\n\nMs Johnstone, the co-convener of Holyrood's group on cycling, told the chamber 12 cyclists had been killed already this year.\n\nShe said: \"Stricter liability is a contribution to a better culture on our roads where vulnerable users are better protected\".\n\nCampaigners said those involved in collisions with cars can wait up to nine months to receive compensation - even in straightforward cases - while in serious or fatal accidents it can take more than two years.\n\nOnline signatures\n\nEarlier this year the group Cycle Law Scotland launched a campaign to introduce \"stricter liability\" in such cases.\n\nUnder these arrangements, a motorist would be presumed liable in a legal claim against them if they had been in collision with a cyclist or pedestrian, though they would still have the option to allege the cyclist had caused the accident.\n\nIt is our goal to promote cycling and we recognise safety plays a big part in encouraging more people to take to two wheels. Craig Burn, Scottish Cycling\n\nScottish Cycling, the governing body for cycling in Scotland which has 12,000 members and 150 clubs, has now joined the campaign and more than 5,000 people have signed an online petition for a Members Bill to be brought forward at the Scottish Parliament.\n\nCycle Law Scotland founder Brenda Mitchell said: \"Receiving the support of Scottish Cycling is a huge boost to our campaign as it's members represent a significant portion of the cycling community.\n\n\"I welcome its backing and hope this will help encourage the Scottish government to take a serious look at what we are proposing.\"\n\nShe said the number of cyclists being injured on the roads was rising.\n\nCraig Burn, chief executive at Scottish Cycling, said: \"It is our goal to promote and encourage the sport of cycling at all levels and we recognise safety plays a big part in successfully encouraging more people to take to two wheels.\""}
-{"text": "VANCOUVER - After the Vancouver Whitecaps opened training camp this week down two veteran midfielders, the club is poised to bring in a soon-to-be 30-year-old Japanese league player with experience in Norway and Greece.\n\nSports Nippon was the first to report that Daigo Kobayashi, who played last season with Shimizu S-Pulse in the J-League, was on the Whitecaps radar. He is expected in Vancouver Wednesday.\n\nHead coach Martin Rennie says he\u2019s got good reports on Kobayashi from players who have played with the five-foot-10 attacking midfielder and coaches who have seen him play.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s had a good career, he\u2019s been outside of Japan a couple of times, did really well in Norway,\u201d said Rennie. \u201cThen he ran into a bit of an injury problem with a hip, but he\u2019s recovered well.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s nothing official, but he has an interest in coming here. We\u2019ll have exploratory talks.\u201d\n\nKobayashi, who played in the FIFA world youth championship for Japan in 2003, spent eight seasons in the J-League with Tokyo Verdy and Omiya Ardija before being loaned to Norwegian champion Stabaek in 2009. He scored 13 goals in 40 games for that club.\n\nA year later, he transferred to Greek club Iraklis Thessaloniki, but played just 15 games before returning to Japan and Shimizu, for whom he scored two goals in 26 games the last two seasons.\n\nWhile Rennie says he\u2019s excited about some of the young players in camp who could potentially play out wide in midfield, like recent SuperDraft selections, Kekuta Manneh and Eric Hurtado and re-entry draft pickup Paulo Jr., it\u2019s in the middle of the park where the \u2018Caps could use some help to push the likes of Gershon Koffie and Jun-Marques Davidson.\n\nVancouver couldn\u2019t agree to terms with John Thorington in the off-season and then lost him in the re-entry draft in December. Designated player Barry Robson, who had trouble adjusting to MLS and whose family reportedly never got settled in the city, was bought out on Monday.\n\nBetween the two of them, they combined for 30 starts in midfield in 2012.\n\nRennie said Manneh, 18, and Hurtado, 22, are \u201cfast, dynamic players\u201d who have looked sharp in the first two days of camp. \u201cI\u2019m excited about how well they\u2019re doing.\u201d\n\nMeantime, the \u2018Caps selected six players Tuesday in the MLS supplemental draft, including a pair of University of Notre Dame midfielders who missed all of last season with torn ACLs.\n\nAdam Mena and Michael Rose went 10th and 11th overall in a draft that is basically an extension of last week\u2019s two-round SuperDraft, which is mostly for top-rated underclassmen who have signed Generation addidas deals and seniors who have already signed MLS contracts.\n\nMena and Rose are still rehabbing from their injuries, so won\u2019t be joining the Whitecaps for a while. And it still hasn\u2019t been determined if any of the other four selections \u2013 Harvard striker Brian Rogers, centre back Adam Clement and striker Joshua Patterson out of Duquesne University and Amherst College striker Alejandro Sucre \u2013 will join the \u2018Caps when they shift training camp to Arizona next week or be brought in later in the season for training sessions.\n\ngkingston@vancouversun.com"}
-{"text": "Last October, the Atlanta woman got a phone call that every parent dreads. Her son Patrick Hall had been found dead in a hotel room, victim of a heroin overdose. He was 29.\n\n\"Heroin is a game changer. It's a death sentence,\" Malone told CNN recently. \"Since heroin has become so cheap, it's the affordability and accessibility that is one of the big problems.\"\n\nThe tragic case of Hall, who had become hooked on prescription painkillers before moving to heroin, is all too common today in the United States, which is in the cold grip of an overdose epidemic. More people died from drug overdoses in 2014 -- the most recent year for which national statistics are available -- than in any other year on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\n\nSaturday brought more evidence of the growing problem -- eight people in a Massachusetts city overdosed on heroin during an eight-hour period beginning late Friday. Police in Fitchburg said two people died.\n\nA spokesman for the Worcester County District Attorney's office said the county of more than 818,000 people has seen more than 100 overdoses per year for the past three years.\n\nMore than three out of five drug overdose deaths involve an opioid -- 28,000 in 2014 alone, the CDC says. And overdose deaths from opioids, including prescription painkillers and heroin, have nearly quadrupled since 1999.\n\nTo combat this scourge, the federal government on Saturday was hosting National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day , which encourages Americans to turn over old or unwanted pills -- no questions asked -- at collection sites around the country. Last year, this effort yielded more than 350 tons of prescription drugs.\n\nPatrick Hall, third from left. With him are his brother Matthew, sister Meagan, and their mother Molly Malone, at far right.\n\nPrescription opioids include morphine, oxycodone and hydrocodone. Health officials say most drug abusers get pills from friends and family. Addicts often become hooked on prescribed painkillers, then turn to cheaper heroin -- which has similar effects on the brain -- when the pills are no longer available.\n\nMalone said her son had been using heroin for four years and was in and out of treatment centers in Utah and Georgia. In the months before Patrick died, he seemed to be doing better. He had moved back in with his mom, found a job at a chiropractor's office and went back to school to be a health coach. He reconnected with friends and family, joined a bike-riding group and even helped to arrange his sister's wedding.\n\nBut then came October.\n\n\"There are signs that we are getting a handle on the prescription opioid problem, but over the past few years the heroin issue has gotten worse,\" said Daniel Raymond, policy director for the Harm Reduction Coalition , an advocacy group working to mitigate the effects of illegal drug use, in an interview with CNN last month. \"The problem is spiraling.\"\n\nFor Laura Hope Laws, also of Atlanta, the deadly pull of drugs came earlier, shortly after she became a teenager.\n\nWhen she was 14, Laura broke her jaw during a soccer game and was prescribed liquid painkillers. This exposed her to the world of opioids, which eventually lead her to try heroin, said her father, David Laws.\n\nLaura spent several years in and out of rehab. Finally in 2013, when her parents thought she was getting better, Laura stayed overnight at a friend's house. She was found dead the next morning with morphine, cocaine and alcohol in her system. Laura was only 17.\n\n\"She was the light of our life,\" David Laws told CNN. \"As a father, I wanted to protect her, and that became challenging in the teen years.\"\n\nLaura Hope Laws was just 17 when she died.\n\nLaws, a member of a group called Georgia Overdose Prevention, says it's something he hopes other parents never have to face.\n\nBoth Laws and Malone believe the best way to treat drug addiction is to talk about it. And they're also trying to educate victims of drug abuse about the benefits of naloxone, a drug which can help revive someone who has overdosed.\n\n\"You always hope your kids don't get in trouble experimenting with drugs and drinks. But at some point, everyone experiments in some way,\" Laws said. \"Laura made a mistake and it proved to be fatal, and we're trying to prevent others from making that same mistake.\""}
-{"text": "\u201cWe don\u2019t see the boats, we rarely see a human face and there is a black hole of accountability,\u201d said Madeline Gleeson, a human rights lawyer and the author of the recently published book \u201cOffshore.\u201d She told me, \u201cThe international community does not understand how outrageous this policy is, how far from basic human standards and how shot through with violence and sexual abuse.\u201d\n\nThe government argues it is keeping the country safe from terrorism, preventing a proliferation of Australia-bound boats that could result in deaths on a scale seen in the Mediterranean, and ensuring its immigration policy remains orderly. In the current fiscal year, the country has offered to take in 13,750 people under its Humanitarian Program, and committed, exceptionally, to a further 12,000 from the Syrian and Iraqi conflicts (a handful of them have been processed). But it has vowed that nobody in Nauru or on Manus Island will gain admission to Australia.\n\nAustralia\u2019s \u201coffshore processing\u201d is falling apart and must end. The Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea ruled in April that the Australian-funded detention center on Manus Island was illegal. In Australia, only retroactive legislation enacted after a lawsuit was filed provided legal support for a policy that was in effect pursued illegally since 2012.\n\nThis country\u2019s history includes the long and unhappy chapter of its White Australia policy under which a vast land mass was portrayed as under threat of invasion by uncivilized \u201cnatives\u201d from across Asia. Politicians like Dutton are playing scurrilously on similar fears.\n\nA nation of immigrants, short of agricultural labor, Australia has benefited when it has overcome its fears, as with the admission of Vietnamese \u201cboat people\u201d in the 1970s. As Steven Glass, an international lawyer, observed in introducing Eva Orner\u2019s new movie, \u201cChasing Asylum,\u201d \u201cWhat, exactly, are we scared of?\u201d Even women raped and impregnated on Nauru have been treated as if they are security threats.\n\nBring those stranded in Nauru and on Manus Island, many of whose refugee claims have already been deemed legitimate, to Australia. Treat them with humanity as their demands for permanent settlement are assessed. Scrap a policy that shames a nation with its pointless cruelty."}
-{"text": "C'est l'histoire d'un agent secret fran\u00e7ais qui a quitt\u00e9 il y a quelques mois seulement la DGSE - la Direction G\u00e9n\u00e9rale de la S\u00e9curit\u00e9 Ext\u00e9rieure - et qui publie depuis quelques semaines des vid\u00e9os sur internet. Il y raconte le monde du renseignement sur sa cha\u00eene \"Talks with a spy\". Europe 1 a \u00e9chang\u00e9 avec lui.\n\n15 ans \u00e0 la DGSE. Cet ancien agent secret a une petite cinquantaine d'ann\u00e9es, dont 15 \u00e0 la DGSE et quelques-unes dans le plus complet anonymat, comme dans Le bureau des l\u00e9gendes. Pas \u00e9tonnant donc que Beryl614, son pseudo sur la toile, ait choisi pour une de ses premi\u00e8res apparitions sur YouTube de parler du m\u00e9tier d'agent secret. \"On pourrait \u00eatre tent\u00e9 de penser qu'un espion parce qu'il la majeure partie de son temps \u00e0 manipuler et mentir par n\u00e9cessit\u00e9 est n\u00e9cessairement tordu et mal\u00e9fique. C'est \u00e0 mon avis tout le contraire\", raconte-t-il.\n\n\"Pas le Walter P38 de James Bond\". Dans ces vid\u00e9os de 5 \u00e0 7 minutes, o\u00f9 l'on ne voit pas son visage, l'ancien agent secret bat en br\u00e8che quelques id\u00e9es toutes faites sur les espions : \"voyez-vous, notre arme principale ce n'est pas le Walter P38 de James Bond, c'est plus souvent le clavier d'ordinateur !\" Un m\u00e9tier pour lequel il liste les qualit\u00e9s n\u00e9cessaires, comme le fait d'\"\u00eatre puissamment sympathique\" pour amener ses interlocuteurs \u00e0 \"se confier en toute confiance\", ce qui \"rel\u00e8ve de l'inn\u00e9\".\n\n\"Apporter l'\u00e9clairage d'un sp\u00e9cialiste\". L'homme analyse aussi la chute de Raqqa, en Syrie. A distance, par Skype, il a expliqu\u00e9 sa d\u00e9marche \u00e0 Europe 1 : ni secret d'Etat, ni service command\u00e9, ni mensonge. \"Il y a plein de choses \u00e0 dire sans rentrer dans le c\u0153ur du renseignement, sans rentrer dans des affaires sp\u00e9cifiques, il y a des th\u00e9matiques sur lesquelles j'ai un avis\", explique-t-il. \"\u00c0 chaque fois je sais ce qui a d\u00e9j\u00e0 \u00e9t\u00e9 publi\u00e9, ce qui est connu, mais je pense apporter l'\u00e9clairage d'un sp\u00e9cialiste. Je donne des cl\u00e9s de lecture donc normalement dans ces vid\u00e9os ont aura la v\u00e9rit\u00e9 des choses\", poursuit-il.\n\n1.400 abonn\u00e9s en un mois. Cette nouvelle activit\u00e9, l'ancien espion affirme ne pas en avoir averti pr\u00e9alablement son ancien service. Dans la premi\u00e8re vid\u00e9o, il \u00e9voque ainsi une \"d\u00e9marche individuelle, nullement cautionn\u00e9e par la DGSE\". Beryl614 conc\u00e8de regarder chaque jour combien d\u2019abonn\u00e9s compte sa cha\u00eene \u2013 environ 1.400 aujourd\u2019hui, apr\u00e8s un mois d\u2019existence. Le quadrag\u00e9naire a des id\u00e9es pour plusieurs mois, \u00e0 raison de 2 vid\u00e9os mensuelles \u2013 il affirme les r\u00e9aliser enti\u00e8rement seul. La toute derni\u00e8re : les services pakistanais savaient-ils que Ben Laden se cachait sur leur sol ?"}
-{"text": "Alexander Soros, the son of liberal billionaire George Soros, has given nearly $3 million to Democratic committees this election cycle for the midterm elections, Federal Election Commission filings show.\n\nAlex acts as the deputy chair of the Open Society Foundations, his father's nonprofit that disburses large sums of cash to liberal organizations and causes, and has followed in his father's footsteps in recent years by becoming a major liberal donor.\n\nAlex's largest donation this cycle was for $2 million to the Senate Majority PAC (SMP), a committee launched by former staffers of retired Nevada senator Harry Reid that is dedicated to electing and keeping Democrats in the Senate.\n\nSMP reports nearly $80 million in contributions this cycle, and Alex's $2 million donation makes him one of the top donors to the PAC, its filings show. The group has already dished out more than $30 million in independent expenditures this cycle backing Democrats.\n\nAlex added $33,900 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's coffers. Another $101,700 was given to the committee's headquarters account while $101,700 went to the committee's recount account.\n\nAlex supplied a maxed-out contribution of $33,900 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee with $101,700 going to both its headquarters and recount accounts.\n\nIn addition to the DCCC and DSCC, $33,900 was provided to the DNC with $101,700 going to its headquarters account.\n\nCitizens for a Better Illinois, a super PAC established earlier this year to support Democrat Marie Newman in Illinois's 3rd congressional district during the Democratic primaries, received $35,000 from Alex. Newman was ultimately edged by incumbent Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinkski.\n\nSoros additionally gave to dozens of Democratic Senate and House candidates for the midterms including maxed out contributions to the likes of Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, Arizona Senate candidate Kyrsten Sinema, Montana senator Jon Tester, Missouri senator Claire McCaskill, Florida senator Bill Nelson, and Nevada senator Jacky Rosen.\n\nIn the past, Soros has cozied up with Democratic leadership and posted pictures of himself drinking with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), the Daily Caller reported last year.\n\n\"Always great to catch up with senator @chuckschumer who has seized the moment as the head of the #democrats in the #senate and masterfully helped preserve the assault on our nations values and #democracy! Thank you Chuck! #chuckschumer #legend #opposition #dumptrump,\" Soros wrote on Instagram.\n\nSoros put a total of $2,775,364.27 into backing Democrats this cycle and did not respond to requests for comment on the contributions."}
-{"text": "Storms lashing the British coast last month revealed a strange new sight off the west coast of Wales, near the village of Borth: the stumps of hundreds of tree trunks, rising out of the sand, like broken teeth.\n\nCould this be part of Cantre'r Gwaelod, a mythical kingdom believed to have disappeared beneath the waves thousands of years ago? Has Wales's very own Atlantis been found? (Related: \"Lost Lands Found by Scientists.\")\n\nIt's like an episode of Game of Thrones: a mysterious, submerged forest; an ancient kingdom that was home to a priestess and her magic well.\n\nComposed mostly of oak and pine, the forest is believed to date from the Bronze Age. It was buried under a peat bog 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, then inundated by rising sea levels until this winter's violent storms stripped away the covering of peat and sand. The high level of alkaline and lack of oxygen in the peat has preserved the wood in an almost pristine state.\n\nView Images NG STAFF\n\nA walkway made of sticks and branches was also discovered. It's 3,000 to 4,000 years old and was built, it is believed, to cope with rising sea levels back then. \"The site around Borth is one where if there is a bad storm and it gets battered, you know there's a good chance something will be uncovered,\" says Deanna Groom, Maritime Officer of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, who helped find the site.\n\nThe submerged forest at Borth was not the only ancient site to have been uncovered by recent storms. Another submerged forest appeared at Mount's Bay, Cornwall. An ichthyosaur skeleton was discovered on the Jurassic Coast of Dorset and East Devon. At Happisburgh, Norfolk, footprints discovered in storm-exposed rocks are believed to be the earliest evidence of humans outside Africa, dating back 850,000 years. (See \"Oldest Human Footprints Found Outside of Africa.\")\n\nBut it's the mythical kingdom of Cantre'r Gwaelod that has captured people's imaginations. Also known as the Lowland Hundred, the kingdom was first mentioned in the Black Book of Carmarthen, the earliest surviving manuscript written in Welsh, created around 1250 A.D. The kingdom was believed to have been flooded when a maiden named Mererid allowed a well in her care to overflow.\n\nIn another version, Cantre'r Gwaelod was ruled by a lord named Gwyddno Garanhir and protected by a seawall known as Sarn Badrig (Saint Patrick's causeway) and a series of sluice gates. Two princes of the realm oversaw the sluice gates. One of them, Seithenyn, was a notorious drunkard who one night forgot to close the sluice gates, flooding the kingdom. (The church bells of Cantre'r Gwaelod were said to ring out in times of danger, a detail that gave rise to the popular 18th-century folk song, The Bells of Aberdovey.)\n\nThere is no scientific evidence for any of this. Signs of physical habitation have never been found near Borth. Sarn Badrig is actually a reef formed by the remains of a glacial moraine. But in a land that has given the world many folk tales and myths, facts have never been allowed to stand in the way of a good legend. And who knows, perhaps one day Cantre'r Gwaelod really will rise from the sea."}
-{"text": "As Apple\u2019s iPhone 5S event approaches, some new details about the new device\u2019s internals are emerging. Clayton Morris has claimed on Twitter that the iPhone 5S\u2019s A7 processor is \u201crunning at about 31% faster\u201d than the iPhone 5\u2019s A6 chip. The iPhone 5\u2019s A6 chip is dual-core, and it seems like the iPhone 5S will also remain dual-core.\n\nHowever, there could be a major differentiator: 64-bit. We\u2019ve independently heard claims that some of the iPhone 5S internal prototypes include 64-bit processors.\n\nIt\u2019s unclear if 64-bit will make the cut, but it\u2019s been in testing. We\u2019re told that the 64-bit processing will assist the A7 chip in making animations, transparencies, and other iOS 7 graphical effects appear much more smoothly than on existing iOS Devices\u2026\n\nIt\u2019s likely that the upcoming fifth-generation iPad will gain the same chip, if not a more advanced one to support the additional pixels.\n\nAnalyst Ming-Chi Kuo, in a recent note, said that it seems like a transition to 64-bit processors will likely occur in the near-future. If the move does not happen this year with the A7, expect it to happen with the A8, he said. It\u2019s possible that Apple could even be testing 64-bit chips right now in iPhone 5/5S bodies ahead of the 2014 iOS Device processor upgrade.\n\nMorris has also tweeted that the iPhone 5S will include a new dedicated chip for motion tracking. He speculates that this will play into a camera upgrade. We previously reported that the iPhone 5S could include major camera software changes, including a new slow-motion mode that captures 120 FPS video.\n\nBesides a new processor and camera, the iPhone 5S will likely include a fingerprint sensor. We\u2019ve heard that the sensors in testing aren\u2019t exactly activated by a swipe (like on the Motorola Atrix), but the user will hold down on the Home button to be authenticated into the phone. We\u2019re also consistently hearing that payments integration for the fingerprint scanner is a long-term goal, but not something happening this year. As a source said, \u201cthink of the passcode-replacing fingerprint scanner as a beta test for future features.\u201d\n\nWe\u2019ve also been told to expect the upcoming plastic iPhone to \u201cessentially be an iPhone 5 with a plastic shell.\u201d That is, the same or very similar internal specs to the iPhone 5, but with the long-rumored (and much-leaked), plastic casings. Ming Chi-Kuo and CurrentEditorials say that this will likely result in the iPhone 5 (as we currently know it) to be discontinued.\n\nAlso in the cards for the iPhone 5S is a gold color option and perhaps 128GB of storage.\n\nFTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.\n\nCheck out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:"}
-{"text": "Multiple sources are reporting that a man at a local pool is walking around, pretending not to be absolutely ripped this afternoon.\n\nThe scene began developing earlier today when 29-year-old A.J. Tanner appeared at a public pool in North Hollywood, California. Poolgoers immediately took notice of the fact that he was incredibly muscular. What patrons found more surprising, however, was the fact that Tanner did not appear aware that he was incredibly muscular.\n\n\u201cHe was walking around like a normal guy,\u201d says Heather Alpers, a lifeguard on duty that day. \u201cWhen in fact, he was not a normal guy. He was a very strong, very ripped guy.\u201d\n\nAt various points in the day, Tanner was seen leaving the showers, practicing his dives, and taking in sun in a beach chair. Not once was he spotted flexing, talking about his muscles, or indicating in any way that he had a god-like body, which he objectively did.\n\n\u201cIt was wild,\u201d says Tiffany Calvin, a patron of the pool. \u201cHe was just doing normal person things. I never once saw him doing strong guy things. What game is he playing at?\u201d\n\nTanner\u2019s demeanor, which could be categorized as humble by some, was off putting to others.\n\n\u201cI was like, yeah right,\u201d says Paul Fender, a father visiting the pool with his two children on the day of the incident. \u201cLike you don\u2019t know you\u2019re jacked. It takes a lot of work to be that jacked.\u201d\n\nMultiple attendees reportedly tried to goad Tanner into talking about his hot body, by asking things like \u201cDo you work out?\u201d and \u201cHow big are your arms?\u201d\n\nTanner, seemingly determined to pretend to not be ripped, demurred on all questions.\n\nSources reported that around 5pm, he put on a shirt in a way that didn\u2019t emphasize how rock-hard his abs were, and then walked to his car with a gait that could not be categorized as either \u201cstrutting\u201d or \u201csauntering\u201d. He merely walked, no different than any other poolgoer.\n\nBut to the attendees of NoHo Public Pool, he will always be remembered as anything but a normal pool goer.\n\n\u201cHe was jacked,\u201d Tiffany says. \u201cAnd deep down, he knows it. He fucking knows it.\u201d"}
-{"text": "DALLAS -- Dirk Nowitzki, who has received farewell tributes in arenas around the NBA this season, has never ruled out returning for a 22nd campaign with the Mavericks.\n\nWhile Nowitzki maintains that he won't make a final decision until this summer, holding off on retirement now seems more realistic than it has at any point this season. That's because he feels better physically than he has since he underwent ankle surgery last spring, and the Mavs' future appears bright thanks to rookie star Luka Doncic's emergence and the recent trade for Kristaps Porzingis.\n\n\"I'd love to be there for the young guys one more year, but I think it depends on how the body feels,\" Nowitzki said after producing 11 points, five rebounds and three assists in 22 minutes during Wednesday's 110-101 win over the Indiana Pacers. \"I've had some issues, obviously, this year. I had some knee swelling here the last few weeks, actually before the All-Star break, so it's not all great. But like I said, I am feeling better. I am feeling a little stronger.\n\n\"I think I'm going to make that decision later on, but I think the future's bright. I think Luka and KP, if they stay healthy, stay together, they should be a great combo. They should play great off each other. Both have an incredible skill set for their size, incredible playmaking ability for their size. They should jell well, but we have to see how it goes next year.\"\n\nThe 40-year-old Nowitzki, who set an NBA record for seasons played with one franchise, missed the first 26 games of the season due to an inflamed tendon in his left foot, which was related to the surgery he had to remove bone spurs in that ankle. He was a shell of himself for weeks after his return, scoring in double figures only three times before the All-Star break.\n\nNowitzki has scored in double figures the past three games, his first three starts of the season. He has averaged 12.7 points and 4.0 rebounds in 24.3 minutes in that span, after previously not logging more than 18 minutes in a game this season.\n\n\"I feel like I have a little more pep in my step,\" said Nowitzki, who hit a pair of 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter to help the Mavs pad their lead over the Pacers. \"My legs and my wind are a lot better than [earlier in the season]. I just feel better overall. I feel like I can actually contribute, whereas earlier I was struggling just to get up and down.\"\n\nDirk Nowitzki had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists in 22 minutes as the Mavericks beat Indiana on Wednesday night. Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports\n\nNowitzki spent most of the season coming off the bench consistently for the first time since he was a rookie. That decision was originally made in large part due to the signing of DeAndre Jordan, who was traded to the New York Knicks in the Porzingis deal, to start at center. Nowitzki also wasn't physically capable of playing significant minutes until recently.\n\n\"He has worked for it,\" Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. \"He has earned these opportunities to start. It's great to see him in a rhythm.\"\n\nNowitzki frequently says \"the sky's the limit\" for Doncic, who spent the final night of his teens putting up 26 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists against the Pacers. Nowitzki is similarly enamored with the potential of Porzingis, who will miss all of this season while working on his body coming off a torn ACL suffered last February.\n\nYear One All-access with top NBA rookies from before they are drafted until the end of their first season. Watch on ESPN+\n\nPorzingis, who considered Nowitzki an idol while a kid, has quietly lobbied the 14-time All-Star to come back next season so they can play together. It's a consideration for Nowitzki, but his focus now is on the daily grind required to give himself a chance to finish this season on a high note.\n\n\"I was hoping to feel like this usually in November and December, when that first month of the season is over, but those eight weeks, seven weeks that I missed with an inflamed tendon really messed up the entire season for me,\" Nowitzki said. \"But you can't cry about it. I've got to keep working and hopefully feel better and better as the season goes on. I'm going to keep working on days off, come in and do my lifts, do some extra cardio and some shooting, to finish the season even stronger.\""}
-{"text": "Facing a huge deficit, Newfoundland and Labrador chose to heap taxes and levies on its labour force\u2014and send a dire message to its young people\n\nAs expected, Thursday\u2019s Newfoundland budget proved a fount of nausea-inducing numbers\u2014but the most disturbing can be found in the province\u2019s birth and death rolls, not its red-splattered balance sheet.\n\nSince 1971, Newfoundland and Labrador has gone from boasting the country\u2019s lowest median age, 20.9, to its highest, at 45. That\u2019s five years older than the Canadian median.\n\nWhy does this stat line matter? Because the script that Finance Minister Cathy Bennett wrote for Newfoundland\u2019s fiscal crisis is sure to make matters worse, driving away the young, hard-working people she desperately needs. Instead of addressing the collapse in oil royalties with an aggressive cut to provincial spending\u2014\u00e0 la Ralph Klein in 1990s Alberta\u2014Bennett has looked almost exclusively to the revenue side, jacking up everything from provincial income taxes to the fee for licensing an old Edsel. The government even flip-flopped on its recent decision to hold down the HST.\n\nCathy Bennett slings mud for \u201cpoor planning\u201d while Dwight Ball\u2019s rash HST cut cost us $110 milliion.#glasshouses \u2014 Mike Rose (@MickelodeonNL) April 14, 2016\n\nThe most infuriating move to many Newfoundlanders, however, will be the imposition of a \u201cdeficit reduction levy\u201d ranging from $300 to $900, depending on income. A worker making $49,500, for example, would pay $600; someone making $74,500 (considered middle-income in Toronto) will pay $750. People making more than $202,499 (not unheard of among tradesmen working the province\u2019s mega-projects) will shell out the full $900.\n\n@GerardDNeil @robertwpower This levy will work as good as the new Orleans levy in 2005 \u2014 Geoffrey Best (@geoffreybest) April 14, 2016\n\nWhich brings us to the age thing. Because, symbolically speaking, it\u2019s hard to imagine a money grab more repellent to a working-age person than this \u201ctemporary\u201d measure. It as much as admits that the reward for getting a job, working longer hours or earning a long-awaited raise is the privilege of bailing the government out its budgetary bind. Even after hiking taxes on incomes and gas, and after raising fees for insurance, birth certificates and death certificates, Bennett evidently sees no option but to fish in Newfoundlanders\u2019 pockets for whatever nickels and dimes are left.\n\nSome already appear to be voting with their feet. After four years of healthy growth, the size of the province\u2019s labour force declined in both 2014 and 2015. It now stands at about 269,200, down about 5,600 from its peak in 2013. With their job options dwindling, and their government apparently bent on taking from them whatever it can, young Newfoundlanders are once again boarding planes and ferries in search of brighter prospects.\n\nDid Bennett have other options?\n\nSurely. This is a province where gross provincial spending rose from $5 billion at the start of its oil boom in 2005 to $8 billion in 2015. Per capita, Newfoundland routinely spent 20 to 36 per cent more during that period than the average of other provinces, hiring workers and doling out raises. No one relishes the thought of laying off public-sector workers, or cutting cherished services. But the numbers alone called for a more equitable distribution of pain.\n\nInstead, the government sought to minimize public-sector job reductions, saying it would cut 650 positions from a public service of 46,000. The projected savings from its cost-cutting, alas, will cover just $243 million of what would have been a $2.7-billion deficit. The heavy lifting is instead to be done through a projected $647 million of tax and fee hikes, which are supposed to pull this year\u2019s deficit down to $1.83 billion.\n\nBy imposing these burdens, the government hopes it can buy some time, while continuing to fund the services required by a population only beginning to exert the full weight of its need on the provincial treasury\u2014in health care, home-care and ancillary services.\n\nHow many working-age people will stay in Newfoundland and keep paying? That, apparently, is a question for another day."}
-{"text": "The Trump administration is seeking ways to make it harder for migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border to receive asylum, in part by forcing them to meet stricter requirements proving they have a credible fear of returning to their home countries, according to a senior administration official.\n\nThe possible changes are part of President Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE\u2019s efforts to revamp the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over frustration with the spike of migrant families and unaccompanied minors crossing the border.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nUnder the current rules, migrants seeking asylum must pass a credible-fear test administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to demonstrate that it would be unsafe for them to return home in order to advance the application process. Administration officials argue that migrants are taking advantage of asylum rules to remain in the U.S.\n\nProposals being considered include matching credible-fear claims to conditions in migrants' home countries to see if they can be relocated internally and curbing the practice of handing out employment documents to applicants, which an official said creates \u201ca giant magnet factor.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe biggest issue in this is getting a hold of the credible-fear system to get much-needed integrity to better vet claims,\u201d said an official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, adding that the law allows \u201ca more rigorous evaluation of credible fear claims that hasn\u2019t been done.\u201d\n\nThe official said some Trump advisers have pushed USCIS to make changes to asylum rules for six months, but no action has been taken.\n\n\u201cThe bottleneck at USCIS has been particularly severe,\u201d the official said.\n\nThe revelation comes days after Trump ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen Kirstjen Michele NielsenDHS IG won't investigate after watchdog said Wolf, Cuccinelli appointments violated law Appeals court sides with Trump over drawdown of immigrant protections Democrats smell blood with new DHS whistleblower complaint MORE, amid a possible major housecleaning at the department. USCIS Director Francis Cissna is one top official said to be in the White House\u2019s crosshairs, as well as the agency's legal counsel.\n\nThe official said certain segments of USCIS have an institutional \u201cbias\u201d to grant benefits, rather than deny them, and that the administration wants to shift the culture toward \u201cprotecting U.S. workers and citizens rather than seeing the applicant as the client.\u201d\n\nThat shift, the official said, \u201ccan best be dealt with through management issues.\u201d\n\nThe official added that there is a belief that many of the administration\u2019s \u201ccore priorities\u201d have \u201cbeen either moving too slowly or have been moving the wrong direction for a while within certain agencies at DHS.\u201d\n\nKevin McAleenan, Trump\u2019s choice to lead DHS on an interim basis, has the \u201cfull, complete and total support\u201d of the White House \u201cto build a team and have a fresh start to get this done,\u201d according to the official.\n\nTrump said on Tuesday that he is not \u201clooking to\u201d take other drastic measures on immigration, like resuming family separations, even though he argued the practice was effective. He also bristled at the notion he is making sweeping changes at DHS, saying, \u201cI never said I was cleaning house.\u201d\n\nAfter the president spoke, the official repeated that \u201cwe\u2019re not \u2018cleaning house\u2019 at DHS\u201d and said that changes at the department will not necessarily including sweeping staff changes.\n\nBut frustration with DHS has been bubbling for months at the White House and the personnel reshuffle is seen as empowering top Trump immigration adviser Stephen Miller, who has long argued the administration can and should do more to impose stricter immigration policies.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nNBC News reported that Miller also wants Customs and Border Protection agents instead of USCIS personnel to conduct asylum interviews, believing that it will result in fewer migrants passing the initial credible-fear test.\n\nThe administration\u2019s efforts to crack down on asylum claims have repeatedly run into legal problems. A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked Trump\u2019s policy of keeping some asylum seekers in Mexico while their cases are considered.\n\nTrump\u2019s advisers have become exasperated with the asylum process, pointing to government data showing that 90 percent of people seeking asylum pass their credible-fear interview, but fewer than 10 percent eventually receive asylum.\n\nMigrants who pass the interview typically wait months or years for a court hearing, either in detention facilities or outside of custody in the U.S. while waiting for a date before a judge.\n\nAn uptick in asylum seekers crossing the border, in addition to families and unaccompanied minors protected by certain laws and court rulings making the trek, have overwhelmed the detention and court system and prompted the White House to push for stricter policies.\n\nDemocrats and immigrant-rights groups say their proposed solutions are too harsh and violate laws intended to protect migrants fleeing violence, persecution and poverty in their home countries and any policy change could spark further legal challenges.\n\nThe senior administration official said other actions are being considered to challenge the legal framework protecting migrant families and children as well.\n\nA possible regulation challenging the so-called Flores settlement agreement, which would honor the conditions in which children must be held but would allow them to be kept for longer than the 20-day limit, is on the table, the official said.\n\nThe official acknowledged the policy would likely be blocked by a federal judge, but said it could spark a legal battle over the settlement that could reach the Supreme Court, where the administration would argue it could be overturned.\n\nImmigration and Customs Enforcement is also weighing a new program called \u201cbinary choice,\u201d in which migrant families would be given a choice whether to waive their rights under the Flores settlement and remain detained together while their case is processed or have the children released from custody after 20 days while the parents remain in detention.\n\nThe proposal drew widespread condemnation from immigrant-rights groups when it was first floated last year.\n\nThe official said the plan is \u201csomething that ICE is working on but is not ripe, really, for White House consideration.\u201d\n\n--Updated at 2:43 p.m."}
-{"text": "\u00cenc\u0103 dou\u0103 site-uri au fost \u00eenchise pentru \u0219tiri false. Agen\u021bia Na\u021bional\u0103 pentru Reglementare \u00een Comunica\u021bii (ANCOM) a \u00eenchis platformele romania-veche.ro \u0219i justitiarul.ro, scrie Libertatea.ro care citeaz\u0103 un comunicat ANCOM.\n\nCele dou\u0103 au publicat o serie de articole \u0219i informa\u021bii false, cu privire la pandemia de coronavirus.\n\nAmbele site-uri sunt editate de firma NetDesign SRL din Bistri\u021ba, scrie aceea\u0219i surs\u0103.\n\nPublicitate\n\nSite-ul romaniaveche.ro a prezentat pandemia ca \u201eo conspira\u021bie prin care se \u00eencearc\u0103 introducerea de cip-uri \u00een organismul uman prin intermediul vaccinurilor\u201d, iar \u201einforma\u021biile prezentate nu sunt sus\u021binute de surse relevante sau argumente \u0219tiin\u021bifice\u201d, arat\u0103 comunicatul ANCOM.\n\nAu publicat materiale cu titluri c\u0103:\n\nATEN\u021aIE: TRUC & \u00ceN\u0218EL\u0102CIUNE sau Antenele 5G \u0219i COVID?\n\nEurope Defender 20 sau \u00eenceputurile unui nou r\u0103zboi mondial?\n\nAdev\u0103rul din spatele virusului: Armata american\u0103 \u0219i Defender Europe 20\n\nExerci\u021biu militar sau opera\u021biune secret\u0103? Ce caut\u0103 solda\u021bii americani \u00een Verona, f\u0103r\u0103 m\u0103\u0219ti?\n\nIsteria Covid: Pretext pentru legi abuzive \u0219i limitarea drepturilor omului\n\nNu sunt singurele site-uri sanc\u021bionate pentru fake news. La finalul lunii martie au fost pedepsite \u0219i site-urile breackingnews.xyz \u0219i bpnews.ro.\n\nM\u0103surile se bazeaz\u0103 pe decretul de instituire a st\u0103rii de urgen\u021b\u0103, care printre altele prevede \u0219i pedepse pentru platformele care propag\u0103 informa\u021bii false. \u00cen urm\u0103 cu o lun\u0103 a fost \u00eenchis, pentru fake news, primul site din \u021bara noastr\u0103. Este vorba despre platforma \u0219tiridemoment.ro.\n\nCite\u0219te \u0219i:\n\nRaul Bambu\n\nraul.bambupaginademedia.ro"}
-{"text": "PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Joel Embiid phoned it in.\n\nESPN cameras caught Embiid and 76ers teammate Amir Johnson looking at the latter\u2019s cell phone during the Nets\u2019 111-102 Game 1 win on Saturday.\n\nIt is a violation of NBA rules \u2014 commissioner Adam Silver was in attendance at Wells Fargo Center \u2014 and one that understandably vexed Philadelphia coach Brett Brown.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s completely unacceptable and we will deal with it internally, very soon,\u201d Brown said. \u201cIt\u2019s not something we are and certainly don\u2019t condone.\u201d\n\nVery soon turned out to be within hours, with the 76ers fining Johnson.\n\n\u201cThe 76ers organization has fined Amir Johnson for conduct detrimental to the team. I have addressed the matter with Amir directly and he understands why his actions were unacceptable,\u201d Philadelphia general manager Elton Brand said in a statement. \u201cWe are moving forward together with our full focus now on Game 2.\u201d\n\nThe Nets were rolling along, leading 104-88 with 6:20 left in the game when Embiid and Johnson were caught looking at the phone.\n\nEmbiid promptly caught heat from broadcaster Doris Burke and on social media. For his part, the 76ers center said he was just discussing his teammate\u2019s ailing child.\n\n\u201cObviously, I wasn\u2019t on my phone,\u201d Embiid said. \u201cI just looked down because he said that his daughter was extremely sick, and he was checking on her. So, I don\u2019t know. I just looked. But he was checking on his daughter. She\u2019s sick.\u201d\n\nJohnson later apologized in a statement.\n\n\u201cI apologize for having my phone on the bench in today\u2019s game. I take full responsibility and will accept the consequences of my actions,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI also apologize to my teammates, the 76ers organization and the fans for the distraction this has caused.\u201d\n\nIt temporarily replaced the distraction Embiid\u2019s own health had caused. After both Embiid and Brand had said they weren\u2019t sure if Embiid\u2019s sore knee would allow him to play in Game 1, the center was listed as doubtful and was a gametime decision.\n\nEmbiid started and had 22 points, 15 rebounds, five blocks and four assists. But he shot just 5-of-15 overall, missed all five of his 3-pointers and committed three turnovers and a technical foul for throwing Jared Dudley to the ground.\n\nOh, and one major cellular faux pas.\n\n\u201cThis is really troubling to me,\u201d Burke said during the broadcast. \u201cAmir Johnson is not active, but he is on the bench and that\u2019s a cell phone. I can\u2019t definitely say, but all of us know what a text message looks like. Like, what is that thing doing out to me.\u201d\n\nThe sellout crowd of 20,437 showered the Sixers were boos throughout much of the game. After giving up a 20-1 run that spanned the first and second quarters, the home team was jeered loudly and often.\n\n\u201cI love the fans, and I\u2019ve never said anything about them. They all show us a lot of love. I mean, [the booing is] understandable,\u201d Embiid said. \u201cThey come in, they pay a lot of money. They want a game to be entertaining. They want to watch us win. So I understand why they boo.\u201d"}
-{"text": "TALKING of the fatal assault on Arkadiusz (known as Arek) Jozwik outside a takeaway in Harlow, Essex, on August 27th, Eric Hind flinches at the memory of being shown a photograph of his friend after his death. \u201cArek\u2019s head was in bits,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was really shocking.\u201d\n\nLike thousands of other Poles in Harlow, Mr Hind is reeling from the attack by a gang of about 20 youths on Mr Jozwik. Two more Poles were beaten up outside a pub in the centre of town on September 4th after attending a vigil in his memory. Police are treating both as hate crimes. In an atmosphere of fear, Polish parents worry about what awaits their children as they return to school.\n\nThe attacks in Harlow follow a surge in hate crimes around the EU referendum on June 23rd. The National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council says there were 3,076 cases of harassment or violence on June 6th-30th, an increase of 915 on the same period last year. The latest figures, from August 5th-18th, show 2,778 incidents\u2014 down on the previous fortnight, but a 14% increase on the same period in 2015.\n\nThe Institute of Race Relations (IRR) scours the media for racially motivated attacks; it found 139 during the month after the referendum, up from 21 in the same month last year. Harmit Athwal of the IRR says Brexit has \u201cemboldened\u201d people to express hostility towards immigrants. Last month a UN committee blamed politicians for stirring the sour mood. Phil Allen of Weightmans solicitors says immigration-related harassment in the workplace also spiked after events like the Iraq war in 2003, \u201cbut nothing quite as focused as this\u201d.\n\nPoland has dispatched two ministers to Britain, to urge the government to protect Poles. A uniformed Polish police officer will be sent to Harlow for a week to assist local coppers. For now, Mr Hind is praying that Polish youths don\u2019t retaliate, setting off a cycle of violence. But he has no plans to leave Britain: \u201cTwo incidents shouldn\u2019t decide our future.\u201d"}
-{"text": "PARIS - A French judge refused Monday to block the release this week in French cinemas of a movie based on a Catholic sex scandal.\n\nFrench director Francois Ozon\u2019s film \u201cGrace a Dieu\u201d (\u201cBy the Grace of God\u201d) won the Berlin Film Festival\u2019s jury grand prize on Saturday. The movie, which opens Wednesday, portrays French priest Bernard Preynat, who has been accused of molesting dozens of boys during the 1980s and \u201890s.\n\nPreynat\u2019s lawyers said the picture depicted allegations against their client as facts and should have been blocked because it does not respect the presumption of innocence. Preynat has been handed preliminary charges of sexual assaults on minors and prosecutors are determining whether he will be brought to trial.\n\nPreynat has confessed to abusing Boy Scouts and his victims say church hierarchy covered up for him for years, allowing him to work with children right up until his 2015 retirement.\n\nHis lawyer, Emmanuel Mercinier, told The Associated Press the judge ruled Monday that messages in the film noting that people are presumed innocent until proven guilty were enough to guarantee Preynat\u2019s rights.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m bitterly ruing this decision. To depict a man as guilty for two hours, while he has not been convicted, infringes the presumption of innocence. That can\u2019t obviously be erased by writing the opposite for two seconds,\u201d Mercinier said.\n\nPreynat could go on trial in for sexual violence against multiple children. So far, 13 victims are involved in that case, but he is accused of having abused as many as 70 children. Preynat hasn\u2019t publicly spoken about the allegations but he has written letters to some families confessing to abuse.\n\nThe victims have accused Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who became archbishop of Lyon in 2002, of having allowed Preynat to continue serving as a priest and having contact with children despite years of rumours about his actions.\n\nBarbarin, 68, went on trial last month and testified that he was unjustly accused. Because of lack of proof, or the statute of limitations that has had expired on charges of failing to help a person in danger, even the prosecutor has argued against convicting him and other church officials, saying there were no grounds to prove legal wrongdoing. A verdict is expected on March 7.\n\nOzon\u2019s movie title comes from a press conference in Lourdes in 2016 when Barbarin, asked about the abuses by Preynat, said \u201cmost of the facts, by the grace of God, fell outside the statute of limitations.\u201d"}
-{"text": "The Unreal Engine is a game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game Unreal. Although primarily developed for first-person shooters, it has been successfully used in a variety of other genres, including stealth, MMORPGs, and other RPGs. Its code is written in C++ and it's used by many game developers today. Its source code is available for free from GitHub. Many amazing games were developed using this engine, it permits developers to produce very realistic renderings like this one.\n\nWhat's the source code executed behind the scene to produce this realistic rendering? It's very interesting to go inside this powerful game engine and discover how it's designed and implemented. C++ developers could learn many good practices from its code base. Let's XRay its source code using CppDepend and CQLinq to explore some design and implementation choices of its developement team.\n\n1- Namespaces\n\nUnreal Engine uses namespaces widely for three main reasons:\n\nMany namespaces contain only enums as shown by this following CQLinq query, which gives us the ones containing only enums.\n\nIn a large project, you would not be guaranteed that two distinct enums don't both get called with the same name. This issue was resolved in C++11, using enum class which implicitly scope the enum values within the enum's name.\n\nAnonymous namespace: Namespace with no name avoids making global static variable. The \"anonymous\" namespace you have created will only be accessible within the file you created it in. Here it is the list of all anonymous namespaces used:\n\nModularizing the code base: Let's search for all the other namespaces, i.e. neither the anonymous ones nor the ones containing only enums:\n\nThe namespaces represent a good solution to modularize the application; Unreal Engine defines more than 250 namespaces to enforces its modularity, which makes the code more readable and maintainable.\n\n2- Paradigm used\n\nC++ is not just an object-oriented language. As Bjarne Stroustrup points out, \"C++ is a multi-paradigmed language.\" It supports many different styles of programs, or paradigms, and object-oriented programming is only one of these. Some of the others are procedural programming and generic programming.\n\n2-1 Procedural Paradigm\n\n2-1-1 Global functions\n\nLet's search for all global functions defined in the Unreal Engine source code:\n\nWe can classify these functions in three categories:\n\n1 - Utility functions: For example 6344 of them concern Z_Construct_UXXX functions, which are used to create instances needed by the engine.\n\n2 - Operators: Many operators are defined as it is shown, by the result of this CQLinq query:\n\nAlmost all kinds of operators are implemented in the Unreal Engine source code.\n\n3 - Functions related to the engine logic: Many global functions containing some engine treatments are implemented. Maybe these kinds of functions could be grouped by category, as static methods into classes, or grouped in namespaces.\n\n2-1-2 Static global functions:\n\nIt's a best practice to declare a global function as static unless you have a specific need to call it from another source file.\n\nMany global functions are declared as static, and as specified before, other global functions are defined inside anonymous namespaces\n\n2-1-3 Global functions candidate to be static.\n\nGlobal not exported functions, not defined in an anonymous namespace and not used by any method outside the file where they were defined. These are good candidates to be refactored to be static.\n\nAs we can observe some global functions are candidates to be refactored to be static.\n\n2-2 Object Oriented paradigm\n\n2-2-1 Inheritance\n\nIn object-oriented programming (OOP), inheritance is a way to establish Is-a relationship between objects. It is often confused as a way to reuse the existing code which is not a good practice because inheritance for implementation reuse leads to Tight Coupling. Re-usability of code is achieved through composition (Composition over inheritance). Let's search for all classes having at least one base class:\n\nAnd to have a better idea of the classes concerned by this query, we can use the Metric View.\n\nIn the Metric View, the code base is represented through a Treemap. Treemapping is a method for displaying tree-structured data by using nested rectangles. The tree structure used in a CppDepend treemap is the usual code hierarchy:\n\nProjects contain namespaces.\n\nNamespaces contain types.\n\nTypes contain methods and fields.\n\nThe treemap view provides a useful way to represent the result of a CQLinq request; the blue rectangles represent this result, so we can visually see the types concerned by the request.\n\nAs we can observe, the inheritance is widely used in the Unreal Engine source code.\n\nMultiple Inheritance: Let's search for classes inheriting from more than one concrete class.\n\nThe multiple inheritance is not widely used, only a few classes inherit from more than one class.\n\n2-2-2 Virtual methods\n\nLet's search for all virtual methods defined in the Unreal Engine source code:\n\nMany methods are virtual, and some of them are pure virtual:\n\nAs with the procedural paradigm, the OOP paradigm is also widely used in the Unreal Engine source code. What about the generic programming paradigm?\n\n2-3 Generic Programming\n\nC++ provides unique abilities to express the ideas of Generic Programming through templates. Templates provide a form of parametric polymorphism that allows the expression of generic algorithms and data structures. The instantiation mechanism of C++ templates insures that when a generic algorithm or data structure is used, a fully-optimized and specialized version will be created and tailored for that particular use, allowing generic algorithms to be as efficient as their non-generic counterparts.\n\n2-3-1 Generic types:\n\nLet's search for all genric types defined in the engine source code:\n\nOnly a few types are defined as generic. Let's search for generic methods:\n\nMore than 40000 methods are generic; they represent more than 25% of the methods implemented. To resume the Unreal Engine source code, mix between the three paradigms.\n\n3- PODs to define the data model\n\nIn object-oriented programming, plain old data (POD) is a data structure that is represented only as passive collections of field values (instance variables), without using object-oriented features. In computer science, this is known as passive data structure Let's search for the POD types in the Unreal Engine source code\n\nMore than 2000 types are defined as POD types, many of them are used to define the engine data model.\n\n4- Gang Of Four design patterns\n\nDesign Patterns are a software engineering concept describing recurring solutions to common problems in software design. Gang of four patterns are the most popular ones. Let's discover some of them used in the Unreal Engine source code. 4-1 Singleton The singleton is the most popular and the most used one. Here are some singleton classes defined in the source code:\n\nTThreadSingleton is a special version of singleton. It means that there is created only one instance for each thread. Calling its method Get() is thread-safe. 4-2 Factory Using factory is interesting to isolate the logic instantiation and enforces the cohesion; here is the list of factories defined in the source code:\n\nAnd here's the list of the abstract ones:\n\n4-3 Observer The observer pattern is a software design pattern in which an object maintains a list of its dependents, called observers, and notifies them automatically of any state changes, usually by calling one of their methods. They are some observers implemented in its source code, FAIMessageObserver is one of them. Here's a dependency graph to show the call of the OnMessage method of this observer:\n\n4-4 Command The command pattern is a behavioral design pattern in which an object is used to represent and encapsulate all the information needed to call a method at a later time. Four terms always associated with the command pattern are command, receiver, invoker and client. A command object has a receiver object and invokes a method of the receiver in a way that is specific to that receiver's class. Here's for example all commands inheriting from the IAutomationLatentCommand:\n\n5- Coupling and Cohesion\n\n5-1 Coupling\n\nLow coupling is desirable because a change in one area of an application will require fewer changes throughout the entire application. In the long run, this could alleviate a lot of time, effort, and cost associated with modifying and adding new features to an application.\n\nLow coupling could be acheived by using abstract classes or using generic types and methods.\n\nLet's search for all abstract classes defined in the Unreal Engine source code :\n\nOnly a few types are declared as abstract. The low coupling is more enforced by using generic types and generic methods. Here's for example the methods using at least one generic method:\n\nAs we can observe many methods use the generic ones, the low coupling is enforced by the function template params. Indeed the real type of these parameters could change without changing the source code of the method called. 5-2 Cohesion\n\nThe single responsibility principle states that a class should not have more than one reason to change. Such a class is said to be cohesive. A high LCOM value generally pinpoints a poorly cohesive class. There are several LCOM metrics. The LCOM takes its values in the range [0-1]. The LCOM HS (HS stands for Henderson-Sellers) takes its values in the range [0-2]. A LCOM HS value higher than 1 should be considered alarming. Here are how to compute LCOM metrics:\n\nLCOM = 1 - (sum(MF)/M*F) LCOM HS = (M - sum(MF)/F)(M-1)\n\nWhere:\n\nM is the number of methods in class (both static and instance methods are counted, it includes also constructors, properties getters/setters, events add/remove methods).\n\nF is the number of instance fields in the class.\n\nMF is the number of methods of the class accessing a particular instance field.\n\nSum(MF) is the sum of MF over all instance fields of the class.\n\nThe underlying idea behind these formulas can be stated as follows: a class is utterly cohesive if all its methods use all its methods use all its instance fields, which means that sum(MF)=M*F and then LCOM = 0 and LCOMHS = 0.\n\nLCOMHS values higher than 1 should be considered alarming.\n\nOnly some types are considered as not cohesive.\n\n6- Immutability, Purity and side effect\n\n6-1 Immutable types\n\nBasically, an object is immutable if its state doesn't change once the object has been created. Consequently, a class is immutable if its instances are immutable.\n\nThere is one important argument in favor of using immutable objects: It dramatically simplifies concurrent programming. Think about it, why is writing proper multithreaded programming a hard task? Because it is hard to synchronize threads access to resources (objects or others OS resources). Why is it hard to synchronize these accesses? Because it is hard to guarantee that there won't be race conditions between the multiple write accesses and read accesses done by multiple threads on multiple objects. What if there are no more write accesses? In other words, what if the state of the objects accessed by threads, doesn't change? There is no more need for synchronization!\n\nAnother benefit of immutable classes is that they can never violate LSP (Liskov Subtitution Principle) , here's a definition of LSP quoted from its wiki page:\n\nLiskov's notion of a behavioral subtype defines a notion of substitutability for mutable objects; that is, if S is a subtype of T, then objects of type T in a program may be replaced with objects of type S without altering any of the desirable properties of that program (e.g., correctness).\n\nHere's the list of immutable types defined in the source code:\n\n6-2 purity and side effect The primary benefit of immutable types come from the fact that they eliminate side-effects. I couldn't say it better than Wes Dyer so I quote him: We all know that generally it is not a good idea to use global variables. This is basically the extreme of exposing side-effects (the global scope). Many of the programmers who don't use global variables don't realize that the same principles apply to fields, properties, parameters, and variables on a more limited scale: don't mutate them unless you have a good reason.(...) One way to increase the reliability of a unit is to eliminate the side-effects. This makes composing and integrating units together much easier and more robust. Since they are side-effect free, they always work the same no matter the environment. This is called referential transparency. Writing your functions/methods without side effects - so they're pure functions, i.e. not mutate the object - makes it easier to reason about the correctness of your program. Here's the list of all methods without side-effects\n\nMore than 125 000 methods are pure.\n\n7- Implementation quality\n\n7-1 Too big methods\n\nMethods with many number of lines of code are not easy to maintain and understand. Let's search for methods with more than 60 lines.\n\nUnreal Engine source code contains more than 150 000 methods, so less than 1% could be considered as too big.\n\n7-2 Methods with many parameters\n\nFew methods have more than 8 parameters, most of them are generic, to avoid defining variadic functions, like the case of TCStringt::Snprintf methods.\n\n7-3 Methods with many local variables\n\nLess than 1% have many local variables.\n\n7-4 Methods too complex\n\nMany metrics exist to detect complex functions, NBLinesOfCode, Number of parameters and number of local variables are the basic ones.\n\nThere are other interesting metrics to detect complex functions:\n\nCyclomatic complexity is a popular procedural software metric equal to the number of decisions that can be taken in a procedure.\n\nNesting Depth is a metric defined on methods that is relative to the maximum depth of the more nested scope in a method body.\n\nMax Nested loop is equals the maximum level of loop nesting in a function.\n\nThe max value tolerated for these metrics depends more on the team choices, there are no standard values.\n\nLet's search for methods that could be considered as complex in the Unreal Engine code base.\n\nOnly 1.5% are candidate to be refactored to minimize their complexity.\n\n7-4 Halstead complexity Halstead complexity measures are software metrics introduced by Maurice Howard Halstead in 1977. Halstead made the observation that metrics of the software should reflect the implementation or expression of algorithms in different languages, but be independent of their execution on a specific platform. These metrics are therefore computed statically from the code. Many metrics were introduced by Halstead, let's take as example the TimeToImplement one, which represents the time required to program a method in seconds.\n\n1748 methods require more than one hour to be implemented.\n\n8- RTTI\n\nRTTI refers to the ability of the system to report on the dynamic type of an object and to provide information about that type at runtime (as opposed to at compile time). However, RTTI has become controversial within the C++ community. Many C++ developers choose to not use this mechanism. What about Unreal Engine developers team?\n\nNo method uses the dynamic_cast keyword, The Unreal Engine team chose to not use the RTTI mechanism.\n\n9- Exceptions\n\nException handling is also another controversial C++ feature. Many known open source C++ projects do not use it. Let's search whether in the Unreal Engine source code an exception was thrown.\n\nExceptions are thrown in some methods; let's take as example the RaiseException one:\n\nAs specified in their comments, the exception could be generated for the header tool, but in normal runtime code they don't support exception handling.\n\n10- Some final statistics\n\n10-1 most popular types It's interesting to know the most used types in a project; indeed these types must be well designed, implemented and tested. And any change occuring to them could impact the whole project. We can find them using the TypesUsingMe metric:\n\nHowever there's another interesting metric to search for popular types: TypeRank. TypeRank values are computed by applying the Google PageRank algorithm on the graph of types' dependencies. A homothety of center 0.15 is applied to make it so that the average of TypeRank is 1. Types with high TypeRank should be more carefully tested because bugs in such types will likely be more catastrophic. Here's the result of all popular types according to the TypeRank metric:\n\n10-2 Most popular methods\n\n10-3 Methods calling many other methods It's interesting to know the methods using many other ones, It could reveal a design problem in these methods. And in some cases a refactoring is needed to make them more readable and maintainable."}
-{"text": "Days after a woman was filmed in a Toronto grocery store yelling at a woman to \"go back to China\" another video of an individual berating two men in Markham with taunts including \"monkey\" and \"rice-eater\" has surfaced online.\n\nThe video, which was filmed after 10 a.m. on Sunday on Old Kennedy Road, just north of Steeles Avenue East, shows a hunched and elderly male walking with a heavy limp across the scene. A young male dressed all in black follows quickly behind.\n\nAfter passing the man, he turns and appears to say: \"Hey monkey. How you doing monkey? Are you a monkey for white people? Aren't you tired of walking around?\"\n\nWARNING: Video contains graphic language.\n\nHe is eventually interrupted by Tony Cao, who filmed the scene and uploaded the video onto YouTube.\n\nAfter spotting Cao, the man quickly approaches the car, angrily asking if Cao has a problem, before swearing at him and saying, \"That's right get your dirty rice-eating ass out of here. Go eat some rice, you monkey.\"\n\nAfter he driving away, Cao said he was so enraged he called police and has handed the video over to investigators at York Regional Police, who are now looking into the incident.\n\n\"I'm truly shocked, I'm just sad to see this sort of thing in society in this beautiful, peaceful country.\" said Cao, who has been living in Markham since he immigrated to Canada 10 years ago. \"I only thought this type of thing would happen in America.\"\n\nAs for what he wants the viewer to know about this man, he says this was not a man suffering from mental health problems in his opinion, rather a \"normal\" person."}
-{"text": "\u201cWhat we have to understand is everything is going to be changed \u2014 to what, I don\u2019t know,\u201d said Yaakov Amidror, who recently stepped down as Israel\u2019s national security adviser. \u201cBut we will have to be very, very cautious not to take part in this struggle. What we see now is a collapsing of a historical system, the idea of the national Arabic state. It means that we will be encircled by an area which will be no man\u2019s land at the end of the day.\u201d\n\nMr. Amidror, a former major general in military intelligence, summed up the strategy as \u201cWait, and keep the castle.\u201d\n\nIsraeli leaders have tried to exploit recent events to bolster their case for a long-term military presence in the Jordan Valley, a sticking point in the United States-brokered peace talks with the Palestinians. In a speech this month, Naftali Bennett, head of the right-wing Jewish Home party, ticked off violent episodes in Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon, and concluded sarcastically, \u201cA really excellent time to divest ourselves of security assets.\u201d\n\nMr. Bennett, who opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state, might seize on any excuse to undermine the talks. But Israeli officials, and analysts with close ties to the government and security establishment, said the argument also had traction in more mainstream quarters. The deterioration in Iraq, which borders Jordan, has revived concerns about vulnerability on Israel\u2019s eastern flank.\n\n\u201cFrom the Straits of Gibraltar to the Khyber Pass, it\u2019s very hard to come by a safe and secure area,\u201d Mr. Netanyahu told reporters here on Thursday. \u201cPeace can be built on hope, but that hope has to be grounded in facts,\u201d he said. \u201cA peace that is not based on truth will crash against the realities of the Middle East.\u201d"}
-{"text": "2018 is turning out to be a stellar year for Chromebooks and it's only the beginning of the year. This is even more evident when you look at the \"ruggedized\" education-focused models and see their prices. You used to need to spend an arm and a leg to get an educational Chromebook, but new products like the ASUS Flip C213 and Lenovo's 500e bring these tough and capable laptops into the $300 range. At that price, buying one is a no-brainer. Choosing which one to buy is a little more difficult.\n\nThe Best Chromebook\n\nLet's start by comparing what's the same. The Lenovo 500e and ASUS Flip C213 are both 12-inch Chromebooks (that means they have an 11.6-inch display) designed for the education sector. A Chromebook built for education isn't that different from a standard model outside of how they are constructed. Educational tech hardware needs to be able to help teach the next generation, but it also needs to be able to take a lot more abuse than a standard consumer model does, and both of these products have what it takes to meet those standards:\n\nMIL-STD-810G compliance\n\nSpill-resistant keyboard tray\n\nRubber bumpers and construction that will survive a fall\n\nBoth models run Chrome OS (of course) which isn't subject to a manufacturer's whims when it comes to the user interface, application support, or pre-install applications. You'll see official support with automatic updates direct from Google for at least 6.5 years so a Chromebook you buy today will have the latest version of its software in 2024; long after you've stopped using it. After the AUP (Automatic Update Policy) period has finished, you're free to install Chromium (the free and open-source operating system Chrome OS is based on) for as long as you would like.\n\nOne thing the same on every Chromebook is the software and 6.5 years of full support from Google.\n\nBoth Chromebooks also have access to all the apps you'll find in Google's Play store, as the Android app framework is now a part of Chrome OS. There is one difference in the software, though. The Lenovo 500e sold through retail channels will still offer the G Suite for Education and Google Classroom support. For most of us this makes little difference, but if you're buying a Chromebook that a student or teacher will be using it would be nice to have access to everything on both a \"work\" and a personal Chromebook.\n\nThey're also pretty similar when it comes to tech specs. You'll find 32GB of storage (eMMC for those interested in the type), an outdated 1366 x 768 display resolution, support for an EMR stylus, a microSD card reader, 4GB of memory and an Intel Apollo Lake processor in each. The last two aren't quite equal, though.\n\nInternal hardware\n\nLet's start with the processor. Both are Apollo Lake (Goldmont) Intel Celeron processors. Apollo Lake is Intel's 2016 platform for embedded, mobile, server and light workstation products and they are suited quite well in the coming ARM vs. Intel CPU wars in this segment. The Celeron series has several models to choose from and the N3350 we see in the ASUS C213 is identical to the N3450U inside the Lenovo 500e in some specs: 1.1GHz, 2MB of cache and a TDP of 6 watts. Where they differ is the burst speed and number of cores, with the N3450U in the Lenovo being the superior product with a 2.4GHz burst speed and four cores compared to the 2.2 GHz burst speed and two cores from the N3350 seen in the ASUS.\n\nBoth models also feature 4GB of DDR4 RAM thanks to the Intel Goldmont CPU architecture that brings DDR4 and other goodies like USB 3.1 support to mobile processors. But again, things aren't quite equal because the ASUS C213 has 2400MHz RAM and the Lenovo 500e has 1600MHz RAM.\n\nSmall differences in specs aside, both of these models have hardware that's very well suited for a premium Chromebook.\n\nIt's unfortunate that the better memory isn't inside the Chromebook with the better CPU because that would make deciding which has the better hardware an easy decision. From a performance standpoint, the Lenovo 500e will be better at any task optimized for the x86 Goldmont architecture when it comes to calculations, but the 2400MHz RAM makes the ASUS C213 better when it comes to memory utilization because of the higher clock speed. Chrome OS (and that includes the Android portion) will be optimized for the Intel chip on both models, but I would have to pick the ASUS as having the better hardware because of the faster RAM and the way Chrome uses RAM and sandboxes each process."}
-{"text": "I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about the correlation between quality and pricing when it comes to coffee. When I did a few posts about coffee pricing, I got some negative feedback. One of the issues raised was that coffee quality is improving and it therefore it demands a higher price. One comment I received suggested that not accepting the higher price was somehow an endorsement of lower quality coffee. Correct me if I am wrong, but wine drinkers openly discuss price and quality \u2013 and don\u2019t accept claims that more expensive wine is always better wine.\n\nIs it really taboo to be honest about seeking certain flavor profiles at different price points? I don\u2019t believe there is always a direct correlation between price and quality. To illustrate this point, I\u2019d like to describe the two best cups of coffee I\u2019ve ever had.\n\nOn September 27, 2007, I had the best cup of coffee in my life. It was the grand opening of Trabant\u2019s Pioneer Square location. For the event, they brewed up the award-winning Panama Esmeralda in their Clover machine. This is what I wrote about the coffee the next day.\n\nWhat can I say? The legends are true. This was the best cup of coffee I have ever had. The coffee had so many unique characteristics, many unique to Central American beans as well as some qualities that I\u2019ve only tasted in East African beans. It was amazing. Imagine a jam band of rock superstars making the best song on the best sound system. That\u2019s a perfect cup of coffee.\n\nThe Esmeralda was $130/lb unroasted. It was $200/lb roasted. It was roasted by 49th Parallel in British Columbia, Canada. Other cafes were charging between $9 and $15 for a single cup of this special coffee when brewed in a Clover.\n\n\n\nClover Coffee Machine\n\nThe second best cup of coffee I\u2019ve ever had was a Kenyan Peaberry that I home roasted in 2004. I don\u2019t recall the exact lot. I had been home roasting different regions of Kenya coffee for years and I just kept improving my roast profile. Then everything clicked. The cool California mornings, combined with an optimal resting period, made for a superb cup of coffee. I took it into work and all my co-workers lined up to receive some of the coffee brewed in my press pot. We had been working together for two years at this point and they all agreed that this coffee was their favorite.\n\n\n\nWestbend Poppery\n\nThe Kenya Peaberry was ordered from Sweet Maria\u2019s. With shipping it cost me about $5 a pound. It was roasted using a Westbend Poppery which I purchased on eBay for $40. My French press cost me about $20.\n\nLet us review the 2 coffees.\n\nPanama Esmeralda Kenya Peaberry Green Coffee Price per lb $130.00 $5.00 Roaster 49th Parallel Me Roasted Coffee Price per lb $200.00 $6.25 (20% weight loss) Roasting Cost per lb $70.00 My Time Additional Roasting Costs \u2013 $40 Popcorn Popper Brewing Method $11,000 Clover $20 French Press Cost per Brewed Cup $9 \u2013 $15 + tip 14 cents\n\n* I didn\u2019t include the electricity used to run the home roaster, but I also didn\u2019t include the fuel charges to get to and from the coffee house.\n\nWas the Panama Esmeralda brewed through a Clover better than my home roasted Kenya? Absolutely. Was it 50 or 100 times better? No it wasn\u2019t. There isn\u2019t always a direct correlation between price and quality. Although I love the award winning expensive coffees, it is nice to know that you can still get a stellar cup of coffee on a budget.\n\nResources\n\nTrabant Coffee \u2013 Seattle based coffee shop with 2 locations.\n\nBest Cup of Coffee Ever \u2013 Blog post written after tasting the Panama Esmeralda.\n\nPanama Hacienda La Esmeralda Coffee \u2013 Urbanmixer post that documents a $15 price per cup for the 2007 Panama Esmeralda.\n\nAnswers \u2013 How many cups of coffee will a single pound make?"}
-{"text": "The unique flightless cormorant (Phalacrocorax harrisi).\n\nThe effects of climate change in the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands are posing a severe threat to one of the world's rarest seabirds, a decade-long historical study led by a University of Queensland researcher has revealed.\n\nThe unique flightless cormorant, Phalacrocorax harrisi, is found only on the coasts of two Islands in the Gal\u00e1pagos archipelago and relies on cold, nutrient-rich water provided by the Equatorial Undercurrent.\n\nThese heavy, flightless, diving birds evolved from a light, flying ancestor due to the absence of predators and abundance of in-shore sea food in the isolated Gal\u00e1pagos region.\n\nUQ's Emeritus Professor Robert Tindle, the lead author on the study, said the species was a striking example of evolution in the Gal\u00e1pagos which so intrigued 19th-century naturalist, Charles Darwin.\n\nEmeritus Professor Tindle said the species' sensitivity to changes in water temperature was now threatening its survival.\n\n\"The population of these birds is currently low at about 1000 adult pairs, and this number has dropped as low as 400 pairs after a period of warmer ocean temperatures around the islands,\" he said.\n\n\"90% of breading occurs when ocean temperatures are between 18-23 degrees Celsius.\n\n\"An increase of just two degrees Celsius can significantly reduce breeding due to decreased availability of food.\"\n\nDuring the cold upwelling of the Equatorial Undercurrent there is an abundance of fish available to the flightless cormorants through shallow-water foraging within a few hundred meters of the colony.\n\nDuring El Ni\u00f1o - Southern Oscillation events, which persist in the area for 11-18 months, the Equatorial Undercurrent weakens, leading to warmer, nutrient-poor water at the surface and a reduction in the abundance of prey.\n\n\"The frequency and severity of El Ni\u00f1o - Southern Oscillation events in Gal\u00e1pagos have increased and it has been shown that this is most likely a result of climate change,\" Emeritus Professor Tindle said.\n\n\"During these periods when ocean surface temperatures range between 23-28 degrees Celsius, Flightless Cormorants lay fewer clutches of eggs and have fewer juveniles survive.\n\n\"These birds have evolved to breed when water temperatures are cold and food is abundant.\n\n\"Either long-term or frequent short-term rises of just a few degrees in local sea surface temperature could pose a catastrophic threat to this species.\"\n\nThe research was carried out in Gal\u00e1pagos by scientists from The University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UK) between 1970-1980, with annual checks conducted by scientists at the Charles Darwin Research Station, Gal\u00e1pagos, from 1980 to 2012.\n\nThe research was published in Marine Ornithology in October 2013.\n\nExplore further Ecuador in new probe to see if climate change worsens El Nino\n\nMore information: Read the complete study: Read the complete study: www.marineornithology.org/PDF/ \u2026 1_2/41_2_121-133.pdf"}
-{"text": "Kevin Burbach,\n\nAssociated Press\n\nPIERRE, S.D. \u2013 Laura Ingalls Wilder penned one of the most beloved children's series of the 20th century, but her forthcoming autobiography will show devoted \"Little House on the Prairie\" fans a more realistic, grittier view of frontier living.\n\n\"Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography\" \u2014 Wilder's unedited draft that was written for an adult audience and eventually served as the foundation for the popular series \u2014 is slated to be released nationwide this fall by the South Dakota State Historical Society Press. The not-safe-for-children tales include stark scenes of domestic abuse, love triangles gone awry and a man who lit himself on fire while drunk off whiskey.\n\nWilder and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, herself a well-known author, tried and failed to get an edited version of the autobiography published throughout the early 1930s. The original rough draft has been preserved at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum in Mansfield, Missouri, for decades but hadn't been published.\n\nThe children's series didn't present a romanticized version of life on the prairie \u2014 in \"Little House in the Big Woods,\" for example, Laura and her sister Mary gleefully help dissect the family pig before bouncing its inflated bladder back and forth in the yard.\n\nBut the series also left out or fictionalized scenes that publishers deemed unsuitable for kids, including much of the time the family spent in Burr Oak, Iowa, and Walnut Grove, Minnesota, said Pamela Smith Hill, a Wilder biographer and the lead editor on the autobiography.\n\n\"So you can read 'Pioneer Girl' as nonfiction rather than fiction and get a better feeling of how the historical Ingalls family really lived, what their relationships were and how they experienced the American West,\" she said.\n\nWilder details a scene from her childhood in Burr Oak, in which a neighbor of the Ingalls' pours kerosene throughout his bedroom, sets it on fire and proceeds to drunkenly drag his wife around by her hair before Wilder's father \u2014 Pa in the children's books \u2014 intervenes.\n\nScenes like that make Wilder's memoir sound like it's filled with scandal and mature themes, \"which isn't exactly true either,\" said Amy Lauters, an associate professor of mass media at Minnesota State University-Mankato.\n\n\"It's just that that first version was blunt, it was honest. It was full of the everyday sorts of things that we don't care to think about when we think about history,\" she said. \"And it's certainly not the fantasized version we saw on 'Little House on the Prairie' the television show.\"\n\nFULLY PRESERVED\n\n\"Pioneer Girl\" preserves Laura Ingalls Wilder's original rough draft \u2014 misspellings, idiosyncrasies and all."}
-{"text": "Clerics and relatives hope politicians present will convert shock into moment of change for Northern Ireland\n\nThis article is more than 1 year old\n\nThis article is more than 1 year old\n\nMourners at the funeral of Lyra McKee have implored politicians to turn the journalist\u2019s murder into a turning point for Northern Ireland.\n\nClerics, friends and relatives of McKee issued blunt, impassioned appeals to Theresa May and other party leaders who attended the service in Belfast\u2019s St Anne\u2019s Cathedral on Wednesday, urging them to convert the shock at her killing into a transformative moment.\n\n\u201cWhy in God\u2019s name does it take the death of a 29-year-old woman with her whole life in front of her to get us to this point?\u201d said Fr Martin Magill, addressing a congregation which included a rare gathering of all Northern Ireland\u2019s main political players. His rebuke electrified the service.\n\nThe funeral of Lyra McKee \u2013 in pictures Read more\n\n\u201cMany of us will be praying that Lyra\u2019s death in its own way will not have been in vain and will contribute in some way to building peace here,\u201d he said, alluding to Northern Ireland\u2019s political deadlock. \u201cI dare to hope that Lyra\u2019s murder on Holy Thursday night can be the doorway to a new beginning.\u201d\n\nThe New IRA, a dissident republican splinter group, shot McKee last Thursday while she observed rioting in Derry. The group has apologised and said its gunman was aiming at police.\n\nFacebook and Twitter on Wednesday suspended the social media accounts of Saoradh, a revolutionary socialist party affiliated with the New IRA. A public backlash saw activists smear red handprints on the walls of Saoradh\u2019s Derry office.\n\nRepublican and loyalist paramilitaries have murdered a handful of other people in recent years with limited public outcry, but McKee\u2019s killing has triggered widespread grief, anger and calls for political change.\n\nFacebook Twitter Pinterest Lyra McKee posing for a photograph in Belfast. She was killed in Derry on 18 April. Photograph: Jess Lowe/AFP/Getty Images\n\nAbout 600 people packed St Anne\u2019s Cathedral with hundreds more outside, some in tears, following the service on loudspeakers. Simultaneous vigils were held in London, Dublin and across Northern Ireland.\n\nSombre applause greeted the coffin\u2019s arrival. Wreaths on the hearse spelled out \u201cTeam Lyra\u201d in the rainbow colours of McKee\u2019s LGBTQ community.\n\nMembers of the National Union of Journalists formed a guard of honour. The number of dignitaries gave it the feel of a state funeral.\n\nTheresa May delegated prime minister\u2019s questions in the House of Commons to her deputy, David Lidington, to attend the service.\n\nThe Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, the Northern Ireland secretary of state, Karen Bradley, the Irish PM, Leo Varadkar, the Irish president, Michael D Higgins, and the Irish minister for foreign affairs, Simon Coveney, filed into the cathedral alongside McKee\u2019s friends and relatives, some of whom wore Harry Potter and Marvel character-themed outfits to celebrate McKee\u2019s passion for pop culture.\n\nFacebook Twitter Pinterest The DUP leader, Arlene Foster, Sinn Fein\u2019s Mary Lou McDonald, Michelle O\u2019Neill, and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters\n\nArlene Foster, leader of the Democratic Unionist party (DUP), sat beside Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O\u2019Neill, the leaders of Sinn F\u00e9in.\n\nMcKee is survived by her mother, two brothers and three sisters and her partner Sara Canning. The family comes from a Catholic background but chose a Protestant cathedral for a cross-community, multi-cultural service.\n\nPaying tribute to her late sister, Nichola Corner said Lyra was the youngest sibling and had left an \u201can unfillable hole\u201d in their mother\u2019s life. When she urged people to create a new society in her sister\u2019s memory, the congregation gave a standing ovation.\n\nStephen Forde, the dean of St Anne\u2019s, said McKee broke down barriers and reached across boundaries. \u201cThis was her hallmark in life, this is her legacy in death.\u201d\n\nFr Magill paid tribute to McKee\u2019s playful spirit, recalling she once tweeted him a picture of herself with a nun\u2019s veil, a glass of cider and a proposal: \u201cGot roped into performing as part of a Sister Act tribute for Foyle hospice ... you need any help with mass tomorrow?\u201d\n\nMagill begged the assembled politicians to emulate McKee\u2019s dogged approach to journalism \u2013 such as tracking children lost during the Troubles. \u201cI pray that Lyra\u2019s murder may be the catalyst needed for parties to start talking, to reform that which was corrosive in previous assembles and to begin anew.\u201d\n\nFacebook Twitter Pinterest (L-R) Leo Varadkar, Theresa May, Michael Higgins and Lord Lieutenant of Belfast Fionnuala Jay-O\u2019Boyle at the funeral service. Photograph: Brian Lawless/EPA\n\nIn his eulogy Stephen Lusty, a friend of McKee, said her legacy should be an end to the political void. \u201cToday we grieve but tomorrow let us fill that hole by adopting Lyra\u2019s future and vision.\u201d\n\nNorthern Ireland lost its government in 2017 when acrimony between Sinn F\u00e9in and the DUP collapsed power-sharing at Stormont. The executive and assembly remain mothballed, creating a vacuum in the midst of existential questions over Northern Ireland\u2019s post-Brexit future.\n\nThe DUP\u2019s sway over the Conservative party, Brexit uncertainty, upcoming local elections, unresolved atrocities from the Troubles and a pending report into the cash-for-ash scandal present formidable obstacles to the resumption of power-sharing.\n\n\u201cThere are lots of reasons to be pessimistic but there will never be a moment when it won\u2019t be bumpy,\u201d said Katy Hayward, a Queen\u2019s University Belfast academic and author of Bordering on Brexit. \u201cThis is a political moment that must be seized.\u201d\n\nIn interviews, younger mourners appeared cautiously hopeful McKee\u2019s death would galvanise action.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know if Northern Ireland is worth it but I really hope it can show it is,\u201d said Connaire McCullough, 36, a close friend of McKee.\n\n\u201cPeople will look to the more moderate parties,\u201d said Jane Morrow, 36.\n\nOlder mourners, however, predicted that the political solidarity on display in St Anne\u2019s Cathedral would quickly fade.\n\n\u201cToo many people set in their ways. It\u2019ll go back to business as usual,\u201d said Sam Lindsay, 53, a van driver.\n\nAgnes Patterson, 76, a retired teacher, said lack of trust between politicians seeped down into society, a lesson from previous atrocities. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen other people dead and thought it would bring politicians together. Didn\u2019t happen.\u201d\n\nMcKee was buried at Carnmoney cemetery.\n\n\u2022 This article was amended on 29 April 2019 to include a reference to McKee\u2019s partner, Sara Canning, who survives her."}
-{"text": "Sound Transit officials will provide more details about upcoming construction, parking and other topics about Northgate Station at an open house from 6-8 p.m. tonight, June 4, at Olympic View Elementary School, 504 N.E. 95th St. Earlier this spring in March Sound Transit held a similar construction update. Here\u2019s a sneak peek at tonight\u2019s briefing:\n\nAccording to Crosscut, one of the options under consideration is the creation new garage with room for up to 920 spaces. From the article:\n\nThe garage is meant as \u201ctemporary mitigation\u201d for the parking that will be lost during construction. Opponents, including Maple Leaf Community Council transportation committee chair David Miller, note that the project will only permanently displace 117 parking spots. A 900-car garage, in other words, would represent a net gain of nearly 800 spots, in an area where future developments are supposed to be transit, bike, and pedestrian-oriented. \u201cWe\u2019re opposed to the idea of building more parking at Northgate,\u201d says Miller, who believes a \u201cmuch better idea\u201d would be to build a pedestrian bridge from North Seattle Community College across I-5 to link college students and commuters to the light-rail station. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to spend X number of millions on a garage, you\u2019re better off spending the same amount of money on a pedestrian bridge,\u201d he says.\n\nDo you have an opinion on the proposed garage or other changes? Attend tonight\u2019s meeting or share your concerns/ideas via e-mail: main@soundtransit.org; snail mail at Sound Transit, 401 S. Jackson St., Seattle, WA 98104; or call 888-889-6368; TTY Relay 711"}
-{"text": "This survey is now closed. Please check with the person or website that sent you here for more information."}
-{"text": "Certified Locksmiths\n\nFast response\n\n24/7/365 Emergency Lockouts\n\nEmergency Lockouts 24/7/365 Burglary Repairs\n\nBurglary Repairs Fast & Efficient Service\n\nAll Work GUARANTEED!\n\nSimply, The Best Locksmith Service in Chicago Locksmith Service Price List Average Cost for Hiring 24/7\n\nChicago Locksmith LLC $175 Service Call Day $45\n\nAfter 8Pm $60 Typical Range $125-235 Low End $75 High End $355 Note that specialty jobs and special\n\nlocks, could be higher than the\n\naverage price mentioned\n\nin this price guide.\n\n\n\n\n\nHome Lock Out\n\nNo Place Like Home (When you can get in)\n\nHouse lockouts have to be the most common service we provide out of all of our lockout services.\n\nBeing locked out of your home can happen so easily in a split second that almost every call we get is for an emergency house lockout.\n\nHere's a typical scenario: You just went grocery shopping and you start to bring the bags inside of your house. When you return outside for more groceries, the door shuts behind you and you realize you've left your keys inside, but there's no one around to let you in. You are locked out of your house and you start to panic. This is where we come in.\n\nOur trusted locksmiths are readily available and equipped with spare parts to handle any house lockout situation. Our technicians have served 99.9% of all previous cases. It's safe to say, there isn't a job that we can't do. Our locksmiths work quickly and efficiently to get you back inside of your home as soon as possible.\n\nThere is no need to stress and worry if you find yourself in a house lockout situation because we are only a phone call away. Enlist the help of a trained locksmith at Chicago Locksmiths today!\n\nChicago Locksmiths is here for you! We can help you with any home/house/apt/office lock out situation in the Chicago area. Please call us at (312) 878-2715 or get a Free Online Locksmith Estimate\n\n\u00a9Copyright 2010 ChicagoLocksmiths.net | All Rights Reserved"}
-{"text": "Quote:\n\nOriginally Posted by\n\nI searched online and haven't seen any confirmation of this. How do you know it is enabled in this update?"}
-{"text": "Paul Manafort. Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images\n\nPaul Manafort\u2019s request to wear suits during his trial for 18 charges of bank and tax fraud has been denied by a Virginia judge. Talking Points Memo published the entire denial to the motion that Manafort filed to wear a suit to his upcoming hearing on October 19, which showed that he will be forced to wear his prison uniform.\n\nThe judge\u2019s decision is based off the fact that Manafort is a post-conviction defendant. \u201cDefendants who are in custody post-conviction are, as a matter of course, not entitled to appear for sentencing or any other hearing in street clothing,\u201d read the ruling. \u201cThis defendant should be treated no differently from other defendants who are in custody post-conviction.\u201d\n\nJudge T. S. Ellis\u2019s ruling included not just his October 19 hearing, but all of Manafort\u2019s scheduled appearances for the duration of his trial. The ruling seems especially pointed, considering that Manafort spent $1.26 million of the $18 million he allegedly laundered on clothing over the period of a few years.\n\nGuess this means that lackluster $15,000 ostrich jacket won\u2019t get to be worn again, which is a real shame."}
-{"text": "If people can delete their craigslist post after selling their items I would be so happy\n\n145 shares"}
-{"text": "NORWICH, N.Y. (WBNG) \u2014 State environmental officials say they seized multiple raccoons that people in Chenango County were keeping as pets.\n\nOfficers from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation executed a search warrant in Norwich on Jan. 23. after receiving reports of people harboring the raccoons.\n\nUpon investigation, officers say there were 13 people, including children, living in a home where the raccoons had been kept, but had since been sold to another resident in Norwich.\n\nThe officers went to the second location, where the two raccoons were voluntarily handed over.\n\nAccording to the DEC, the new owner said they had been bitten by one of the animals.\n\nThe person was recommended to see a doctor immediately. The Chenango County Department of Health is determining if anyone who was exposed to the raccoons will need to have rabies shots.\n\nThe raccoons were taken to a local veterinarian to be euthanized and tested for rabies.\n\nThe incident is under investigation. Whether charges will be filed will be determined when the investigation is complete.\n\nThe DEC is reminding people to keep wild animals in the wild and that many problems can occur if people take in wild animals.\n\n\u201cThe possession of live, wild raccoons is both a violation of state law and a health hazard, as raccoons are a rabies vector species,\u201d the DEC noted in a press release.\n\nTo learn more about dealing with wildlife, click here.\n\nPHOTO COURTESY: NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION"}
-{"text": "O scen\u0103 de amfiteatru urmeaz\u0103 s\u0103 fie construit\u0103 \u00een ora\u015ful C\u0103l\u0103ra\u015fi p\u00e2n\u0103 la sf\u00e2r\u015fitul anului 2019. Mar\u0163i, 6 august, o echip\u0103 format\u0103 din speciali\u015ftii Agen\u0163iei de Dezvoltare Regional\u0103 Centru (ADR Centru) \u00eempreun\u0103 cu autorit\u0103\u0163ile locale au inspectat \u015fantierul de la C\u0103l\u0103ra\u015fi \u015fi au constatat c\u0103 lucr\u0103rile sunt executate conform normelor de construc\u0163ie \u015fi \u00een termenii stabili\u0163i.\n\nAstfel, \u00een cur\u00e2nd locuitorii ora\u015fului C\u0103l\u0103ra\u015fi, dar \u015fi cei din \u00eemprejurimi, se vor bucura de concerte \u00een aer liber.\n\nLucr\u0103rile de construc\u0163ie a scenei de amfiteatru se desf\u0103\u015foar\u0103 \u00een cadrul proiectului regional \u201eValorificarea poten\u0163ialului turistic al regiunii de centru a Republicii Moldova (Raioanele Str\u0103\u015feni, C\u0103l\u0103ra\u015fi, Nisporeni \u015fi Ungheni\u201d. Proiectul a fost \u00eenaintat spre finan\u0163are din Fondul na\u0163ional pentru dezvoltare regional\u0103 \u015fi este implementat de ADR Centru.\n\nPentru lucr\u0103rile de construc\u0163ie au fost aloca\u0163i aproximativ 7,5 milioane de lei. Acest obiectiv urmeaz\u0103 s\u0103 fie finalizat p\u00e2n\u0103 la sf\u00e2r\u015fitul acestui an, se arat\u0103 \u00eentr-un comunicat de pres\u0103 al Agen\u0163iei de Dezvoltare Regional\u0103 Centru.\n\nTot \u00een cadrul acestui proiect au fost amenajate dou\u0103 popasuri turistice cu infrastructur\u0103 conex\u0103 de utilitate public\u0103 \u00een satul \u0162ig\u0103ne\u015fti din raionul Str\u0103\u015feni \u015fi satul Iurceni din raionul Nisporeni. De asemenea, \u00een ora\u015ful C\u0103l\u0103ra\u015fi, a fost reamenajat Parcul \u201eAleea Clasicilor\u201d.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSursa: adrcentru.md"}
-{"text": "West Ham United's Europa League flop has cost them the signing of Atletico Madrid striker Raul Jimenez.\n\nThe Mexico international has seen 50 per cent of his registration bought out by Benfica, where he will stay this new season.\n\nRaul was expected to sign for West Ham last week after being granted a UK work permit, but agent Jorge Mendes was forced to act following their Europa League elimination.\n\nAS says Mendes persuaded him to accept Benfica's offer after seeing as the Hammers had been knocked out of the Europa League by Romanian outfit Astra on Thursday night. Benfica, meanwhile, are in the Champions League.\n\nWest Ham boss Slaven Bili\u0107 had mentioned that the Londoners were \u201cvery close\" to signing the Mexican last week."}
-{"text": "Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) will hold a meeting Wednesday afternoon with clergy leaders from Conference of National Black Churches to discuss ideas to combat the wave of new voter ID laws existing around the country.\n\nRep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) told The State newspaper on Monday about how well prepared the meeting will be to address voters\u2019 concerns over remaining eligible.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\n\u201cWe will have attorneys there who are well-equipped to provide the guidance to the clergy members,\u201d Cleaver said, who is the chairman of the CBC and a United Methodist pastor. \u201cThey will understand, before they leave, about some of the new laws in certain states designed \u2013 as we interpret them \u2013 to reduce the turnout. The day is over when they could just stand in the pulpit and say \u2018Go vote. It\u2019s your duty.\u2019\u201d\n\nIn 2011, 37 states instituted or introduced new voter suppression measures. Voter ID laws disproportionally affect people of color, according to a Brennan Center study. Recently a 93-year-old Pennsylvania woman, who said she has voted in every election since 1962, has filed suit against such Voter ID measures.\n\nRev. Dr. Franklyn Richardson, chair of the Conference of National Black Churches and pastor of Grace Baptist Churches in New York and Florida, is also attending the meeting Wednesday."}
-{"text": "LOVE + TRUTH + FAMILY\n\nOUR BABY OUR DREAM Charlie Rose Tattoo Studio in Canggu Bali was opened on February 14th in 2018 by Kim and Yulia Angel, they were inspired by a love of quality tattooing and the birth of their daughter Charly-Rose Angel, so they decided to name the studio after her. OUR BALI We had a dream to build a high-end, quality international tattoo studio here on our beloved Bali, where we live, work and breathe, our island paradise. OUR TATTOO FAMILY Our studio was created entirely with our vision of ethics and humanity. We wanted to create something that brought people together. We didn\u2019t want to be just another tattoo studio. We wanted to become a home that encapsulated our adage of LOVE + TRUTH + FAMILY.\n\nTHE STUDIO SPACE We put a lot of time and effort into the design and the feel of the studio. The moment you arrive you realize it\u2019s a real contrast from most tattoo studios with its white walls and light open space. Our studio is blessed every day with traditional Balinese Prayer ceremonies, and we think on the Island of the gods that that matters. OUR TATTOO ARTISTS We source the most creative artists we can find both locally and internationally. Most of our artists have between five and ten years experience as professional tattoo artists here and from their counties of origin. Tattoo artists are often nomadic by nature, and that works well for us, we have some amazingly talented travelling artists that love to come and work with us here in Bali, the island really does lend itself to creativity. \u200b\n\nClick photo for artists bio\n\nTATTOO SUPPLIES We use all imported inks and tattoo equipment, basically the best we can get, our hygienic standards are of western standard, and is of the highest concern to us. OUR VIBE We believe in quality and ethical work, treating people with respect and helping our clients to have the best possible tattoo experience that they can have. From the moment you book the appointment, to the creation the of the design and the session with your artist, we want you to feel like an integral part of the whole experience, because we know its a memory that will literally stay with you forever."}
-{"text": "Hundreds of people in the UK are turning to private clinics for medical cannabis, BBC News has been told.\n\nSince its legalisation in November 2018, there have been very few, if any, prescriptions for medical cannabis containing THC on the NHS.\n\nAnd this has led some patients, with conditions such as epilepsy and MS, to pay up to \u00a3800 a month privately.\n\nThe government said it sympathised with families \"dealing so courageously with challenging conditions\".\n\nImage caption Cheryl Keen says it is \"disgusting\" some patients have to seek private help\n\nCheryl Keen has been trying to get medical cannabis on the NHS for her daughter Charlotte - who has brain damage and epilepsy - but has been refused twice.\n\nAnd she had been told it was too expensive and she had not yet tried all the other available options, she said.\n\n\"Nothing has happened, nothing has changed [since the legalisation],\" Ms Keen told BBC Two's Victoria Derbyshire programme.\n\n\"It's absolutely disgusting that anyone is having to pay to go private,\" she added - something she cannot afford to do.\n\nImage caption Charlotte has twice been refused medical cannabis on the NHS\n\nCampaign groups say by not prescribing cannabis medicines with THC, the NHS is limiting treatment options for patients.\n\nA review earlier this month by NHS England, however, highlighted a lack of evidence about the long-term safety and effectiveness of medical cannabis.\n\nNICE said it was unable to make a recommendation about the use of cannabis-based medicines for severe treatment-resistant epilepsy \"because there was a lack of clear evidence that these treatments provide any benefits\".\n\nAnd this has led to the introduction of private clinics.\n\nGrow Biotech, which handles about three-quarters of all medical cannabis imported into the UK, said as of July it had received more than 100 requests for private prescriptions - of which about 60 had been fulfilled.\n\nThe new London branch of The Medical Cannabis Clinics has not yet opened but said it had 162 patients on its waiting list - with conditions such as epilepsy, Parkinson's, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and fibromyalgia.\n\nImage caption Prof Mike Barnes says private clinics can be a \"lifeline for patients\"\n\n\"Everyone can get an appointment to come here but not everyone leaves with a prescription for cannabis,\" its director, Prof Mike Barnes, said.\n\n\"There are some conditions for which there is good evidence for cannabis to be useful, so you'd have to have one of those conditions - like pain, anxiety, or nausea and sickness in chemotherapy or epilepsy.\"\n\nThe clinic says consultations are carried out to ensure prospective patients have tried all reasonable licensed medication for their conditions and reached \"the end of the road for treatment\".\n\nProf Barnes described the service as a \"lifeline for patients in need\".\n\nPrescriptions cost between \u00a3600 and \u00a3800 a month but Prof Mike Barnes rejected any suggestion the clinic was exploiting patients.\n\n\"This is the only way patients who are in significant need can get access to this medicine,\" he said.\n\nGovernment 'failing patients'\n\nA report last month by the Health and Social Care Committee said the hopes of patients and families had been unfairly raised when doctors were allowed to prescribe cannabis.\n\nLabour MP Ben Bradshaw, who sits on the committee, told BBC News the government was \"failing patients\".\n\n\"If anything [since its legalisation], it's become more difficult for people to obtain it,\" he said.\n\n\"[The government] now has to put this right, by delivering on the promises that it's made to the patients.\"\n\nThe Department of Health said in a statement: \"To support doctors prescribing these products, we have asked the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to develop additional clinical guidelines and are working with Health Education England to provide additional training.\n\n\"The decision to prescribe unlicensed cannabis-based products for medicinal use is a clinical decision for specialist hospital doctors, made with patients and their families, taking into account clinical guidance.\"\n\nFollow the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme on Facebook and Twitter - and see more of our stories here."}
-{"text": "With Purpose, much of the infrastructure is already in place, as the company existed before as 1933. How important was having that when you were thinking about your next step and starting a new venture?\n\n\n\nWhen I researched and decided I wanted to go smaller, I started talking to smaller breweries, looking at different types of ventures. Then suddenly, I had a chance to talk to the owner of 1933, and he wanted to get out. At that point I was talking to Zach and Laura already [who bought 1933, where they worked, from the previous owner], and it was like, \u201cWow, maybe we should do this.\u201d As we kept on talking, having a location, having equipment from the get-go, it suddenly felt like something that was beneficial.\n\n\n\nYou\u2019re the latest reputable brewer to leave a larger, established company to start a smaller, upstart venture, joining the likes of Mitch Steele (Stone to New Realm), John Harris (Deschutes to Ecliptic), Jeremy Warren (Knee Deep to Revision), and Garrett Crowell (Jester King to an as-yet-unnamed startup). What went into the decision?\n\n\n\nIt was kind of a big thing for me having taken New Belgium national. It took 25 years to get to that moment. For me, it was a big moment to be like, \u201cWow, look what we\u2019ve been able to do.\u201d Then, from there, you look back to yourself and ask, \u201cWhat else do you want to do now? What would you like to do?\u201d That occurred to me during my sabbatical. Talking to smaller breweries, it made my heart beat and I was like, \u201cWhoa, what\u2019s happening here?\u201d The more I started talking with people about their lives and how their breweries are going, I thought, \"This is what I want to do next.\"\n\n\n\nObviously you can\u2019t speak for the others, but why do you think that broader trend seems to be emerging now, where brewers are opting to leave their posts to start new ventures? Why is now the right time for that?\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s a funny question. I think it\u2019s actually the wrong moment to do this right now, with so many breweries coming into play and having such a saturated market. I cannot speak for Mitch [or the others]. For me, I\u2019ve always been searching, and I said that from the moment I came out for my ownership in New Belgium, I\u2019m only going to stay as long as I can learn. New Belgium has been amazing, what I\u2019ve been able to learn in different fields and different areas. For me, that\u2019s my drive. There is so much to be learned again that is completely new.\n\n\n\nYou mentioned the ownership aspect at New Belgium. Is the financing and ambition behind the Purpose plan at all influenced by the value of your ESOP investment?\n\n\n\nNo, because the ESOP is a retirement plan. To pull money out of it at this point, you get penalized for it because it\u2019s really something meant to be a retirement plan. That money is really not accessible.\n\n\n\nSo what can people look forward to from Purpose?\n\n\n\nWe stay purposefully vague for now. We want to open I hope within two months, but what we want to do is bring out creative, small batches. It\u2019s a four-barrel system. It\u2019s something I\u2019ve done for now for the second time in my life, coming from New Belgium. It\u2019s one of those moments, it\u2019s exciting, scary, and challenging."}
-{"text": "The Hedera hashgraph platform provides a new form of distributed consensus; a way for people who don't know or trust each other to securely collaborate and transact online without the need for a trusted intermediary."}
-{"text": "Ahead of China\u2019s own autonomous train reveal, mining corporation Rio Tinto have given the world its first fully-autonomous train, and it\u2019s currently in operation in Western Australia.\n\nMining corporation Rio Tinto, which also developed the train, announced earlier this week the train had successfully completed its first unmanned mission, traveling nearly 100 kilometers (62 miles) without a person on board.\n\n\u201cRio Tinto is proud to be a leader in innovation and autonomous technology in the global mining industry which is delivering long-term competitive advantages as we build the mines of the future,\u201d said Rio Tinto Iron Ore Chief Executive Chris Salisbury, in a statement. \u201cNew roles are being created to manage our future operations and we are preparing our current workforce for new ways of working to ensure they remain part of our industry.\u201d\n\nThe mission, located at Rio Tinto\u2019s iron ore operations in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, is the first big step in the company\u2019s plans to have a fully autonomous train network. It\u2019s used autonomous trains since early 2017, with about 50 percent of its train operations being completed autonomously, but with drivers present at all times.\n\nRio Tinto hopes to have a fully autonomous train network by late 2018, but will have to meet Australia\u2019s safety and acceptance criteria first, as well as acquire the necessary regulatory approvals."}
-{"text": "Trump insider Roger Stone warned globalist billionaire George Soros has infiltrated the Trump administration through a newly appointed member of the National Security Council tied to the CFR and a Soros-funded school in Hungary.\n\n\u201cThis is very hard to believe, but I confirmed the facts again this morning. George Soros has penetrated the Trump White House,\u201d said Stone during an appearance on The Alex Jones Show. \u201cSoros has planted a mole infiltrating the National Security apparatus: a woman named Fiona Hill, who has a Harvard background, and has been on the Soros payroll and the payroll of the Open Society Institute.\u201d\n\nFiona Hill, currently on a leave of absence from the Brookings Institute, has joined the National Security Council as a deputy assistant to the president and the senior director for European and Russian Affairs.\n\nIn addition to her work at the Brookings Institute, Hill serves as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Eurasia Foundation.\n\nDuring her time at the NSC, Hill was visited by the president and rector of a Soros-funded school in Hungary under political pressure from Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who accused Soros of using the school and other non-governmental organizations to directly influence Hungarian politics and promote mass migration into Europe.\n\n\u201cWe wanted to be sure that the U.S. State Department\u2019s immediate, courageous, outstanding support for CEU spoke for the whole administration. Viktor Orban has made clear his contempt for statements from the State department alone,\u201d said the rector of Central European University, Michael Ignatieff.\n\n\u201cWe wanted to make clear that the Trump administration\u2014to the degree it has a view\u2014is speaking through the State Department.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe got unequivocal support [from Fiona Hill\u2019s team at the National Security Council],\u201d he added. \u201cI went up on the Hill and spoke to Republican senators and staff. There is a tiny ledge of commonality between Republicans and Democrats, and academic freedom is one issue that unites them both.\u201d\n\nOrban savaged Soros in a speech on the floor of the European Parliament,suggested the globalist billionaire uses a network of lobbying organizations and non-profits to promote his agenda.\n\n\u201cI know that the power, size and weight of Hungary is much smaller than that of the financial speculator, George Soros, who is now attacking Hungary,\u201d Orb\u00e1n said. \u201cDespite ruining the lives of millions of European with his financial speculations, being penalized in Hungary for speculations, and who is an openly admitted enemy of the euro, he is so highly praised that he is received by the EU\u2019s top leaders.\u201d\n\n\u201cTo pursue his interests he pays a number of lobbying organisations operating in the guise of civil society. He maintains a regular network, with its own promoters, its own media, hundreds of people, and its own university.\u201d\n\nThe Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today!"}
-{"text": "The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) will appoint an external auditor to examine what it calls 'ongoing concerns' over PayPal's alleged breaches of the country's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws\n\nAustralia's financial regulator on Tuesday ordered an investigation into global money transfer platform PayPal, amid concerns it may be being misused by sex offenders to buy child abuse material from Asia.\n\nThe Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) demanded an external auditor investigate \"ongoing concerns\" about breaches of the country's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws.\n\nAnnouncing the appointment in a statement Tuesday, AUSTRAC said it was working with its partners to \"combat serious crimes such as child sex exploitation\" using funds transfer information reported by the financial services sector.\n\n\"Online child abuse material can be ordered from Australia to areas such as the Philippines in quite often small amounts that are repeated often, and PayPal unfortunately is one of the areas that they can use to do that,\" AUSTRAC CEO Nicole Rose told the ABC.\n\n\"That's why we want to get the auditor in to really (determine) what sort of risks there have been and continue to be with PayPal systems or their reporting regime.\"\n\nA PayPal Australia spokesperson said the review was prompted when the company realised it had not been fully reporting international payments in line with obligations.\n\n\"These reporting obligations are important protections in the international fight against financial crime and the misuse of payment platforms, which PayPal takes very seriously,\" they said in a statement.\n\nThe company added that the audit was not \"instigated was in response to the discovery of child sex exploitation connections.\"\n\nAn audit report must be compiled within 120 days and will be used to determine whether the regulator takes any further action against the digital payments platform.\n\nExplore further Australia to regulate virtual currency exchanges like Bitcoin\n\n\u00a9 2019 AFP"}
-{"text": "Calling the project Funky Fantasy IV, his software extracts all the game's original Japanese text and replaces it with a straight Google translation - with predictably hilarious results.\n\nIn a time where many gamers are demanding literal translations of Japanese games, this project really highlights the great work that localization teams do. More importantly, it's also really, really amusing. Funky Fantasy IV is still in the testing stage and will be made available once its bugs have been ironed out. In the mean time, all your Funky Fantasies are belong to Clyde."}
-{"text": "Many college kids spend hours watching The History Channel. Now, students at the University of Oklahoma will be able to get college credit for it.\n\nOn Tuesday, the History Channel announced a partnership with the University of Oklahoma that allows for the first ever TV network-branded online college course for credit.\n\n\"I think it's a great way of combining the talents of the History Channel... with the intellectual rigors of a college class,\" said University of Oklahoma professor Steve Gillon, who will teach the class.\n\n\"United States, 1865 to the Present\" will be a 16 week interactive online course that will include all the standards of your regular collegiate history class (quizzes, lectures, etc.) along with supplemental material from the History Channel.\n\nGillon, who also works with the History Channel as Scholar-in-Residence, explained that students will be able to do work while also delving into the archives of the channel.\n\nRelated: How Boston is getting dropouts back to school\n\nFor example, two weeks of the course focus on the 1960's, so students will able to do readings on John F. Kennedy alongside watching clips from his 1963 assassination.\n\n\"Television networks have the thing we don't have in the academy, which are the images,\" Gillon said. \"As professors, it's really hard for us to do these things because there's all these rights issues.\"\n\nThe course will cost students $500 which Gillon says is cheaper than even some community college courses, and even students who don't attend Oklahoma can sign up for it.\n\nEnrollment for the class opened up on Tuesday and it will be in session starting next semester.\n\nGillon thinks the interactive course will be beneficial to today's college students, who are more likely getting their information on visual platforms.\n\nAs for future classes focused on some of the History Channel's other subjects like Bigfoot, Gillon laughs saying \"god, I hope not.\""}
-{"text": "Sprint Corp. has touted adding new wireless connections for six straight quarters. What it didn\u2019t say until now is that many of those gains were free lines or existing customers that switched services.\n\nWith its proposed merger with T-Mobile US Inc. under pressure, the wireless carrier told regulators this week that its performance isn\u2019t as strong as it appears and it will struggle to operate as a stand-alone company.\n\nThe..."}
-{"text": "A Long Time\n\nFirst item, top of the page. This version of Papers, Please was announced over three years ago. That\u2019s a long time brewing for a relatively simple pixel-art game. There\u2019s a few ingredients in the mix for this delay but the main fault lies with me.\n\nI had a great bunch of people to help with this project \u2014 all the port programming was handled by James Gray and others, engine support from WayForward, testing by Ratloop Asia, and submission assistance from Coatsink.\n\nMy responsibility was gluing it all together and in the long tradition of \u201cone simple job\u201d, the best I could manage was the slow-setting kind of glue that takes forever to dry. Working as a single developer has its advantages but managing multiple projects is not one of them. Unfortunately it was Papers, Please on PS Vita that suffered the most and I apologize for that.\n\nThe Game\n\nOk, the game is available today so let\u2019s turn this around and segue into what we\u2019ve got here: Papers, Please on PS Vita. The most portable version yet, document inspection and stamping in the supple palms of your capable hands.\n\nContent-wise, this version has all the features of the desktop and tablet versions. All 31 days of singleplayer story mode with branching narratives, 20 endings, \u201cendless\u201d mode with online leaderboards, and stamping so much stamping.\n\nThe Squeeze\n\nEven though it\u2019s a low-resolution pixel-art game, Papers, Please was originally designed to be played on a big screen. When I wrote it back in 2013 I\u2019d just come off a mobile-only project and wanted to rebel against the low-density large-touch-target design necessary for mobile. So the game packs a lot of small stuff into a big space. There\u2019s three separate sections of the screen that need to be visible at all times: booth, desk, and checkpoint.\n\nThe big challenge in making it work well on PS Vita was fitting everything onto the smaller screen without sacrificing the core document shuffling mechanics. Luckily Vita has a great touchscreen and, critically, nearby physical controls. For this version we increased the desk size slightly, floated the booth over the border view only when needed, and added vertical scrolling to shift between the booth+checkpoint and the desk. The analog sticks and directional buttons can be used to quickly scroll up/down and after a small adjustment it feels completely natural to use your left thumb for scrolling and your right fingers for touching (or vice versa, no preference, left=right, all love.)\n\nThe Tech\n\nPapers, Please was developed in a programming environment called Haxe/OpenFL. Haxe is the language and OpenFL the engine that enables Flash-like applications to run natively on desktops (PC/Mac/Linux) or mobile devices. When taking a game from desktop to console, it\u2019s not uncommon to just rewrite everything with a more console-friendly engine. I had a few offers for that sort of thing early on but as a hopeless engineer it felt like a waste to ignore Haxe/OpenFL\u2019s inherent multi-platform capabilities.\n\nA few years ago there was no way to build Haxe/OpenFL projects for consoles but with a little time, money, the hard work of James Gray, Lars Doucet from Fortress of Doors, OpenFL\u2019s Joshua Granick, Nilsen Filc, and the generous contribution of WayForward\u2019s engine tech, we were able to create a console target for Haxe/OpenFL. One of our goals with all that extra work is to hopefully benefit other games in a similar situation.\n\nThe Destination, Finally\n\nThis version was a long time coming and I appreciate your patience. Thank you to all the fans of the game that have encouraged me over the years and I hope you enjoy playing it on PS Vita too.\n\nGlory to Arstotzka."}
-{"text": "As we are living through this strange time, I called upon a friend of mine who is a bit of an expert in social distancing for a little advice about how to deal with this Holy Week and Easter \u2014 a time when the thought of singing Alleluia on Saturday night and Sunday may seem such a foreign thought.\n\nSr. Mary Catharine (Perry) of Jesus, O.P., is a cloistered Dominican nun in Summit, N.J. Their Our Lady of the Rosary Monastery is home to their contemplative, monastic community of women religious. It\u2019s always quite amazing to me to visit them \u2014 they are not a far train ride out of Penn Station in Manhattan. Even when you get there, as beautiful as the town is, there\u2019s a gas station across the street. They do seem to be in the middle of everything. But then once you enter, you are welcomed with the kind of peace that most (all?) of us are aching for.\n\nA native of Massachusetts, Sr. Mary Catharine and I talk about her recent op-ed with advice on \u201csocial distancing\u201d and how not to lose your soul in all of this.\n\nListen here:\n\n\ufeff\ufeff\n\nYour browser does not support the HTML5 Audio element.\n\n\n\nAnd to read her op-ed, here\u2019s the link.\n\nFor more information on the Summit Dominicans, here\u2019s their website.\n\nAnd the fiction book she\u2019s written, which we mention along the way, Amata Means Beloved.\n\nThis is part of a new series of \u201cvirus-free forums\u201d sponsored by the National Review Institute \u2014 providing content on, in this case, faith (one of the founding pillars of the mission of NRI), during these quarantine times."}
-{"text": "FCW: Die R\u00fcckkehr und \u00abInno\u00bb Das \u00abEins\u00bb des FCW ist zur\u00fcck aus dem Trainingslager, daheim trainiert der zurzeit vertragslose Alt-Nationalspieler Innocent Emeghara. hjs\n\nInnocent Emeghara w\u00e4re eine willkommene Verst\u00e4rkung f\u00fcr den FCW. Heinz Diener\n\nAm sp\u00e4teren Nachmittag des Mittwoch ist der FCW wieder in Kloten gelandet, zur\u00fcck aus dem einw\u00f6chigen Camp auf Malta. Zwei Spieler, der Verteidiger \u00adTobias Sch\u00e4ttin und Neuzugang \u00adArxhend Cani, m\u00fcssen sich einer genaueren Untersuchung eines blessierten Knies unterziehen. Bei Sch\u00e4ttin ist ein MRI vorgesehen. Ohnehin vorderhand noch nicht f\u00fcr einen Einsatz infrage kommen Marco Mangold nach seinem Fussbruch und Manuel Sutter mit seinen muskul\u00e4ren Problemen im Oberschenkel; der am Knie verletzte Daniele Russo hat das Trainingslager ja ausgelassen.Am Samstag, im letzten Test gegen Austria Lustenau, ist dagegen Rafinha dabei, der 25-j\u00e4hrige brasilianische St\u00fcrmer vom SC Br\u00fchl. Er, Torsch\u00fctze im zweiten Match auf Malta, verdient es offensichtlich, genauer unter die Lupe genommen zu werden.\n\nAuf der Sch\u00fctzenwiese hat derweil in Abwesenheit der ersten Mannschaft ein alter Bekannter das Training mit der U21 auf\u00adgenommen: Innocent Emeghara (28), der von Winterthur aus startete, Nationalspieler und Olympiateilnehmer zu werden. Schon im Januar 2015 \u00fcberbr\u00fcckte er eine Phase der Vertragslosigkeit beim FCW. Dann ging er f\u00fcr zwei Jahre zu den San Jose Earthquakes in die nordamerikanische Major League Soccer, als \u00abdesignated player\u00bb, also als herausgehobener Spieler, der nicht unter die Sal\u00e4rbegrenzungen des Klubs fiel. Der Anfang war vielversprechend, gegen die Seattle Sounders schoss \u00abInno\u00bb gleich ein Tor der Runde. Aber nach sechs Eins\u00e4tzen in der Startelf fiel er mit einer Knieverletzung monatelang aus. Im zweiten Jahr, 2016, fand er den R\u00fcckweg nicht mehr, gabs nur noch sechs Kurzeins\u00e4tze. Jetzt ist der Vertrag ausgelaufen und Eme\u00adghara wieder auf der Sch\u00fctzi, wo er einst Junior war und sp\u00e4ter in der Saison 2009/10 in 31 Pflichtspielen 21 Tore schoss.\n\nV\u00f6llig offen ist allerdings noch, ob Emeghara ein Schn\u00e4ppchen werden kann, wie es der FCW f\u00fcr den Abstiegskampf des Fr\u00fchjahrs zu finden hofft."}
-{"text": "Kohl\u2019s Corp. shares might be down more than 6% in Thursday trading, but the retailer\u2019s second-quarter earnings got a boost from its efforts to stock more items customers want to buy and offer a shopping experience customers are looking for.\n\nOn its Thursday morning earnings call, the company talked up its assortment, which now includes Under Armour Inc. UAA, -3.75% merchandise and more Nike Inc. NKE, -1.46% and Adidas AG ADS, +0.03% items. The active business experienced a midteen double-digit increase year-over-year across clothing and shoes, according to Chief Executive Kevin Mansell.\n\nExclusive brands were also a sales driver with Simply Vera Wang and Lauren Conrad, the former reality TV star turned fashion and lifestyle guru, reporting double-digit sales increases for the quarter.\n\nSee also:Retailer shares sink after Macy\u2019s earnings announcement\n\nHere's how to pick retail companies that will survive the meltdown\n\nAlong with a 19% increase in online sales, 31% of online sales were fulfilled in stores, with both ship-from-store and buy-online-pickup-in-store contributing to the increase.\n\nRegular price sales increased and, with lower clearance inventory, promotions decreased.\n\n\u201cTo a large extent, Kohl\u2019s has managed to buck the negative customer traffic trend by making its stores, and the product within them, more relevant,\u201d wrote Anthony Riva, analyst at GlobalData Retail.\n\n\u201c \u201cTo a large extent, Kohl\u2019s has managed to buck the negative customer traffic trend by making its stores, and the product within them, more relevant.\u201d \u201d \u2014 Anthony Riva, analyst, GlobalData Retail\n\nStores could have become more cluttered, Riva said. But Kohl\u2019s has successfully edited its product mix across its fleet.\n\n\u201cThe net impact is clearer store presentation, more effective allocation of inventory, and a range that is more relevant to local customers,\u201d Riva wrote. \u201cThis has elevated the shopping experience, reduced markdowns, and improved profitability.\u201d\n\nRelevancy has become a topic of conversation among retail analysts and experts, who say lacking it is one of the sector\u2019s major problems. For example, many say Sears Holding Corp. US:SHLD is suffering from a lack of relevancy, which hurts traffic and sales.\n\nKohl\u2019s Mansell said the company has made \u201cstore optimization,\u201d critical for its multi-platform strategy, a key part of its efforts. The company says it will open four new 35,000-square-foot stores in October in more densely inhabited areas, like urban centers.\n\nRead: The death of retail may be one of the best things to happen to the fitness industry\n\n\u201cThe objective there is to more clearly determine what our stores will look like and how they will operate in the future,\u201d he said. \u201cWe call this initiative Your Store, extending the concept of personalization to the level of an individual store.\u201d\n\nKohl\u2019s KSS, +0.60% reported earnings of $1.24 per share, up from $1.22 last year and ahead of the $1.19 per share FactSet consensus. Revenue totaled $4.14 billion, down from $4.18 billion last year, but also ahead of FactSet expectations of $4.12 billion. Same-store sales fell 0.4% for the quarter.\n\nRead:Makeup for men is a thing now\n\nSee:Under Armour suffers from market forces, lack of focus, analysts say\n\n\u201cAll told, while conceptually the department store names could be re-rerated lower in the coming quarters, we think sentiment, which is worse than 2008 levels has reached a bottom,\u201d wrote Gordon Haskett Research Advisors in a note.\n\nGordon Haskett upgraded Kohl\u2019s to hold from reduce and raised its price target to $37 from $36.\n\nKohl\u2019s Thursday stock price action had more to do with weak guidance from Macy\u2019s Inc. M, -1.45% , which derailed an early rally in its stock."}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nShows most talked to on chat-list empty"}
-{"text": "For seven years, Brazenhead Books operated out of an apartment at 235 East Eighty-fourth Street. It was, strictly speaking, illegal, and because it was illegal it had to be secret. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY BRIAN PATRICK EHA\n\nI suppose it\u2019s O.K. to give away the address now. The books are gone, packed up in dozens of cardboard boxes and hauled away. When you ring the buzzer for apartment No. 7, nothing happens any longer, and won\u2019t, probably, until someone else moves in. The old feeling you\u2019d get, that you had sprung a trapdoor, discovered a secret passage, won\u2019t come anymore.\n\nMichael Seidenberg\u2019s one-of-a-kind bookshop, Brazenhead Books, closed last month. For seven years, it operated out of an apartment at 235 East Eighty-fourth Street. Of course no bookstore or other business had any business being there, in that rent-stabilized apartment, so it was, strictly speaking, illegal, and because it was illegal it had to be secret. The secret was known to a small number of discreet patrons and shared strictly by word of mouth. (At first, Michael saw customers by appointment only.) Inside, the windows were blacked out and covered with shelves. On bookcases, in every room, volumes of all sizes in serried ranks rose two deep from floor to ceiling. More were stacked on desks and tables and grew in unsteady columns from the floor. There was a stereo (covered in books), a few chairs, and a large desk in the front room (likewise all but submerged), on which Michael kept a half dozen or so bottles of wine and spirits, a tower of plastic cups, and a bucket of ice.\n\nWalking in, you might find a handful of patrons lounging on chairs with drinks in their hands, or browsing amiably, making conversation, generally about books, but often ranging widely into art, politics, personal life stories, and the history of New York. In the same way that children imagine adults living in perfect freedom, enjoying all the cookies and television they want and staying up till all hours, Michael\u2019s shop was what a bookish child might dream up as a fantasy home for himself, a place far from any responsibilities, where he would never run out of stories.\n\nIt was, of course, no more practical than a gingerbread house. There was no bathroom or kitchen. (When nature called, customers had to knock on the next-door neighbor\u2019s apartment and ask to be let in.) The affable if somewhat inscrutable proprietor, potbellied and gray-bearded, in his late fifties, lived elsewhere, and held court in the shop on Saturday nights. At least, that was how things stood in the summer of 2011, when I first started visiting.\n\nThe story of Brazenhead goes like this: in the nineteen-seventies, Michael ran a bookstore in Brooklyn. That was the first Brazenhead Books. The novelist Jonathan Lethem, as Patricia Marx reported in Talk of the Town, in 2008, worked there when he was fourteen years old. (He was paid with books.) Michael eventually moved his shop to the Upper East Side, only to lose his lease several years later when the rent quadrupled. Lacking options, he moved the books into his own apartment, but there were too many\u2014so many that he and his wife moved out to make room for them all. After that, he plied his trade occasionally, and more or less thanklessly, at book fairs and on city streets. Otherwise, in the apartment on East Eighty-fourth Street, the books gathered dust. It was not until 2007 that his friend George Bisacca, a longtime conservator of paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, helped Michael turn the apartment into the place I came to know. The Times, writing about Brazenhead in the fall of 2011, was near the mark in calling it a \u201cliterary speakeasy.\u201d\n\nIn the years after I discovered the shop, I occasionally introduced others to it, bringing them with me one at a time, as if inducting them into a secret society. With time came practical improvements: the addition of a working toilet (but no sink), better-organized collections of Russian, Japanese, and Latin American literature. Michael even hired an assistant. As a result, the contents of the shop, formerly in a state of apparent chaos, began to assume a peculiarly perfect kind of order.\n\nBut the unlikeliness of the place never dissipated. On one of my first visits, Michael and I bonded over a shared fascination with the work of Edward Whittemore, an unjustly neglected American writer who, after graduating from Yale, in 1955, served in the Marines and as a C.I.A. operative in the Far East and Jerusalem. The first of his books, \u201cQuin\u2019s Shanghai Circus,\u201d was published by Henry Holt, in 1974, and was described in the Times as \u201ca war novel without the usual furniture of war,\u201d \u201cpeopled with circus masters, prostitutes, priests, gangsters, voyeurs, retarded man-boys, pornography collectors, pederasts, dwarfs, fat American giants and sadfaced secret-service agents, who change identities from time to time and drift through landscapes that resemble Tokyo, Shanghai and the Bronx.\u201d\n\nThere was a copy of the novel on a low shelf in Brazenhead\u2019s back room, the first-edition room. Beside it were the hardcover volumes of Whittemore's magnum opus, the Jerusalem Quartet, all long out of print, which stand in relation to \u201cQuin\u2019s\u201d much as \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d stands to \u201cThe Hobbit.\u201d (Paperback reissues of the five novels, published by Old Earth Books, in 2002, are likewise out of print.) Frustratingly, though, Brazenhead had only books two, three, and four of the quartet; the first volume, \u201cSinai Tapestry,\u201d was missing. I bought \u201cQuin\u2019s,\u201d and asked after \u201cSinai Tapestry.\u201d Michael indicated that it was in his private collection, and not for sale.\n\nIf it seemed strange for a bookseller not to sell a particular book, it was stranger still to let people treat his shop as a hangout without pressuring them to buy anything. His patrons, a mix of bright young things and old eccentrics, were fiercely loyal. The considerate ones bought books, or at least brought a handle of booze once in a while to replenish the bar. The inconsiderate treated Brazenhead like their own parlor\u2014drinking up the whiskey and port, blocking the doorways, rarely buying anything. On any given night you were liable to encounter a poetry reading or a musical performance. For a time, on Thursday nights, the bookshop hosted weekly meetings of the staff of the New Inquiry, the lefty Web magazine, until Michael had what he described as a falling-out with the editors. From then on, Thursday was an open salon night, just like Saturday.\n\nBut for me, the books were always the biggest draw. Michael\u2019s collection seemed incomparable in both its idiosyncrasy and its quality. There was a wall of poetry, another of science fiction. A special New York section. General fiction and literature were organized alphabetically, more or less, and stretched across several bookcases. Pulp novels higgledy-piggledy in one corner; art books enshrined in another nook; a few shelves reserved for the collected letters and journals of Edith Wharton, Hart Crane, James Joyce, and their peers. There were trashy paperbacks and American first editions of Yukio Mishima. One night, one of the New Inquiry editors and I gave an impromptu reading of a poem by Suzanne Somers\u2014that Suzanne Somers\u2014from a collection called \u201cTouch Me,\u201d a slim volume I was half-convinced Michael had somehow dreamed into existence. The poem was called \u201cI Want to Be a Little Girl,\u201d and was even more unsettling than it sounds. When I\u2019d looked inside the front flap to see Michael\u2019s asking price, there was no dollar figure, just one word, in pencil: \u201cPriceless.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Over the past 35 years, 85-year-old Gunther Golina has rescued and released dozens of eagles back into the wild, but his latest attempt put him in the hospital and left his animal rescue efforts in a bit of a bind.\n\n\"When you deal with wild animals...occasionally no matter how much you watch out, you get scratched or bitten because they're freaked out. They're hurting. They're injured,\" said Golina, co-owner of the Prince Rupert Wildlife Shelter.\n\nGunther Golina, 85, co-runs the Prince Rupert Wildlife Shelter with his wife Nancy. (Gunther Golina)\n\nWhile Golina is used to the occasional scratch, this last one put him in the hospital for six days with a serious case of blood poisoning that nearly cost him his leg.\n\n\"I don't know if [the eagle] felt cornered or something, but he put his talons in my right boot, and a couple of them went right into the muscle.\n\n\"A scratch outside is one thing, but if it gets right into the muscle it's a little bit of a time bomb,\" he said.\n\nShelter in need of help\n\nWith Golina on the mend, his wife Nancy has borne the brunt of the responsibility for caring for all the other 78 animals housed at the shelter.\n\n\"We're a team, and when one of us falls out, it's pretty tough going.\"\n\nGolina is recovering well and said this injury is not going to stop him from returning to the work he loves.\n\n\"Any animal that cannot look after itself in the wild, we have to do the kind thing.\"\n\nThe couple is asking people to donate their time and money to help the shelter resume normal operations.\n\nTo hear the full interview with Gunther Golina, listen to the audio labelled: Prince Rupert wildlife shelter needs help after eagle scratch puts 85-year-old owner in hospital."}
-{"text": "Photographer Alexander Jonesi was at Maryland basketball's game against Purdue on Saturday. He stood at the bottom of the Xfinity Center \"Wall,\" which is, quite literally, a wall.\n\nWe'll let this stunning image take it from here:\n\nSpherical 360\u02da Panorama of The Maryland Student Section\n\n\n\nThanks to Alexander for sharing. This is what it looks like when 17,950 red-clad Maryland fans \u2013 give or take \u2013 get together for one of the world's biggest parties.\n\nFor good measure, here's Maryland's giant flag unveiling from up close and personal:"}
-{"text": "Our React applications are composed of many small components or modules. The components that we write will sometimes be dependent on each other. As our application grows in size a proper management of these dependencies among components becomes necessary. Dependency Injection is a popular pattern that is used to solve this problem.\n\nIn this article we will discuss\n\nWhen is it necessary to apply dependency injection pattern\n\nDependency injection with Higher Order Components (HOC)\n\nDependency injection with React Context\n\nNote: If you have no prior knowledge of dependency injection, I would recommend the following blog post\n\nLet\u2019s consider the following example.\n\n\n\n// app.js function App () { const [ webSocketService , setwebSocketServicet ] = React . useState ({}); React . useEffect (() => { // initialize service setwebSocketServicet ({ user : `some user` , apiKey : `some string` , doStuff : () => console . log ( \" doing some function \" ) }); }, []); return ( < div > < B socket = { webSocketService } /> </ div > ); }\n\nHere we have our App component that is initializing a service, and passing the reference as a props to its children.\n\n\n\n// B.js function B ( props ) { return ( < div > < A { ... props } /> </ div > ); } // A.js function A ( props ) { // Do something with web socket const doWebSocket = () => { props . socket . doStuff (); }; return ( < div > < button onClick = { () => doWebSocket () } > Click me </ button > { props . children } </ div > ); }\n\nComponent B receives the props from App and passes it down to A . B doesn't do anything with the passed props. Our websocket instance should somehow reach the A component where it is being used. This is a very basic example application but in a real world scenario when we have lots of components nested inside one another we have to pass this property down all the way. For instance\n\n\n\n< ExampleComponentA someProp = { someProp } > < X someProp = { someProp } > < Y someProp = { someProp } > //.... more nesting //... finally Z will use that prop < Z someProp = { someProp } /> </ Y > </ X > </ ExampleComponentA >\n\nLots of these components are acting as proxy in passing this prop to their children. This is also making our code less testable, because when we write tests for these components (X or Y) we have to mock someProp even though the only purpose of that property is to pass it down the children tree.\n\nNow let's see how we can solve this problem with a Dependency Injection using a Higher Order Component.\n\nLet\u2019s create a file called deps.js and inside the file we will have two functions\n\n\n\nimport React from \" react \" ; let dependencies = {}; export function register ( key , dependency ) { dependencies [ key ] = dependency ; } export function fetch ( key ) { if ( dependencies [ key ]) return dependencies [ key ]; console . log ( `\" ${ key } is not registered as dependency.` ); }\n\nHere in the dependencies object we will store names and values of all our dependencies. The register function simply registers a dependency and fetch function fetches a dependency given a key.\n\nNow we are going to create a HOC that returns a composed component with our injected properties.\n\n\n\nexport function wire ( Component , deps , mapper ) { return class Injector extends React . Component { constructor ( props ) { super ( props ); this . _resolvedDependencies = mapper (... deps . map ( fetch )); } render () { return ( < Component { ... this . state } { ... this . props } { ... this . _resolvedDependencies } /> ); } }; }\n\nIn our wire function we pass a Component , an array of dependencies and a mapper object and it returns a new Injected component with the dependencies as props. We are looking for the dependencies and mapping them in our constructor. We can also do this in a lifecycle hook but for now let\u2019s stick with constructor for simplicity.\n\nAlright, let\u2019s go back to our first example. We will be making the following changes to our App component\n\n\n\n+ import { register } from \"./dep\"; function App() { const [webSocketService, setwebSocketServicet] = React.useState(null); React.useEffect(() => { setwebSocketServicet({ user: `some user`, apiKey: `some string`, doStuff: () => console.log(\"doing some function\") }); }, [webSocketService]); + if(webSocketService) { + register(\"socket\", webSocketService); + return <B />; + } else { + return <div>Loading...</div>; + } }\n\nWe initialized our WebSocket service and registered it with the register function. Now in our A component we do the following changes to wire it up.\n\n\n\n+const GenericA = props => { + return ( + <button onClick={() => console.log(\"---->>\", +props.socket.doStuff())}> + Push me + </button> + ); +}; +const A = wire(GenericA, [\"socket\"], socket => ({ socket }));\n\nThat's it. Now we don't have to worry about proxy passing. There\u2019s also another added benefit of doing all this. The typical module system in JavaScript has a caching mechanism.\n\nModules are cached after the first time they are loaded. This means (among other things) that every call to require('foo') will get exactly the same object returned, if it would resolve to the same file. Multiple calls to require('foo') may not cause the module code to be executed multiple times. This is an important feature. With it, \"partially done\" objects can be returned, thus allowing transitive dependencies to be loaded even when they would cause cycles.\n\n***taken from node.js documentation\n\nWhat this means is that we can initialize our dependencies and it will be cached and we can inject it in multiple places without loading it again. We are creating a Singleton when we are exporting this module.\n\nBut this is 2019 and we want to use context api right ? Alright, so let\u2019s take a look how we can do a dependency injection with React Context.\n\nNote: If you would like to know more about how other SOLID principles apply to React. Check out my previous post here\n\nLet\u2019s create a file called context.js\n\n\n\nimport { createContext } from \" react \" ; const Context = createContext ({}); export const Provider = Context . Provider ; export const Consumer = Context . Consumer ;\n\nNow in our App component instead of using the register function we can use a Context Provider. So let\u2019s make the changes\n\n\n\n+import { Provider } from './context'; function App() { const [webSocketService, setwebSocketServicet] = React.useState(null); React.useEffect(() => { setwebSocketServicet({ user: `some user`, apiKey: `some string`, doStuff: () => console.log(\"doing some function\") }); }, []); if (webSocketService) { + const context = { socket: webSocketService }; return ( + <Provider value={ context }> <B /> + </Provider> ) } else { return <div>Loading...</div>; } }\n\nAnd now in our A component instead of wiring up a HOC we just use a Context Consumer.\n\n\n\nfunction A ( props ) { return ( < Consumer > { ({ socket }) => ( < button onClick = { () => console . log ( socket . doStuff ()) } > Click me </ button > ) } </ Consumer > ); }\n\nThere you go and that's how we do dependency injection with React Context.\n\nFinal Thoughts\n\nDependency Injection is being used by many React libraries. React Router and Redux are the notable ones. DI is a tough problem in the JavaScript world. Learning about these techniques not only makes one a better JavaScript developer but also makes us critically think about our choices while building large applications. I hope you liked this article. Please follow me and spare some likes ;)\n\nUntil next time.\n\n*** NOTE: This post is a work in progress, I am continuously updating the content. So any feedback you can provide would be much appreciated ***"}
-{"text": "Moments after Saturday\u2019s UFC Fight Night 95 was concluded at the capital of Brazil, the UFC officially announced six new bouts for the return of the promotion to the country, scheduled for Nov. 19 at Sao Paulo\u2019s Ibirapuera gymnasium.\n\nHeadlined by Alexander Gustafsson vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, UFC Fight Night 100 will also feature Thales Leites vs. Kryzstof Jotko, Sergio Moraes vs. Michael Graves, Johnny Eduardo vs. Manny Gamburyan, Matheus Nicolau vs. Ulka Sasaki, Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. Gadzhimurad Antigulov and Luis Henrique vs. Christian Colombo.\n\nLeites (26-6) competes in Brazilian soil for the first time since his successful return to the promotion in 2013. For the past three years, the Nova Uniao middleweight defeated five of seven opponents, capped off by a third-round submission over Chris Camozzi in August.\n\nJotko (18-1), who has traveled all over the world for his UFC bouts, won five of six fights in the Octagon competing in six different countries. In his first trip to Brazil, the Polish talent looks for his fifth straight win after beating Tamdan McCrory, Brad Scott, Scott Askham and Tor Troeng.\n\nMoraes (10-2-1) is undefeated under the UFC banner since cutting down to welterweight. The TUF Brazil season 1 middleweight runner-up had his four-fight winning streak recently snapped by a split draw against Luan Chagas in May.\n\nGraves (6-0-1), unbeaten in professional MMA fights, also fought to a draw in his last UFC fight. After competing at TUF 21, Graves defeated Vicente Luque and Randy Brown before a majority draw with Bojan Velickovic in July.\n\nIn the bantamweight division, Eduardo (27-10) and Gamburyan (15-9, 1 NC) both look to bounce back from stoppage losses. Eduardo lost to bantamweight prospect Aljamain Sterling in December, while the former WEC title contender suffered a quick defeat by the hands of John Dodson.\n\nAfter competing as a bantamweight at TUF Brazil 4 and beating Bruno Rodrigues at the season finale show, Nicolau (12-1-1) dropped down to flyweight and beat former title contender John Moraga. At UFN 100, the Nova Uniao talent tries to continue his rise against Sasaki (19-3-2), who successfully debuted as a flyweight with a win over Willie Gates in May.\n\nDe Lima (14-3-1), initially scheduled to take on Gian Villante at UFC 205, will now have a chance to score his third UFC win in his hometown \u2013 \"Pezao\" stopped Richardson Moreira and Igor Prokrajac in a combined time of 2:19 when fighting in Sao Paulo. Antigulov (18-4) makes his UFC debut coming off 12 straight wins with 11 finishes.\n\nThe final bout announced features heavyweights Henrique (9-2, 1 NC) and Colombo (8-1-1). The Brazilian enters the clash fresh off a second-round submission over Dmitry Smolyakov, while the Danish fighter goes for his first UFC victory after fighting to a majority draw with Jarjis Danho in his promotional debut in September."}
-{"text": "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a great game as it stands right now, garnering critical acclaim and commercial success. But, as with any single-player game, there are those that wish it was a bit more cooperative. Some fans have decided to make that wish a reality and started work on a multiplayer mod for the game.\n\nUsing the Cemu Wii U emulator on PC, a member of the mod community, Fooni, discussed the cooperative mod that they are working on with a couple of others. It's extremely early in development, and there's a long way to go before it's truly playable, but it's still cool to see a proof-of-concept. Check out one of the split-screen images from the mod in action below:\n\nCurrently, the mod only works on a single PC with local controls. It requires Cemu to be open in two clients at once, which is very unstable, according to Reddit user S1ash. In addition, S1ash points out that there are a lot of user interface and gameplay issues to work out, such as how inventories will work and how two players will change the process of completing shrines.\n\nFooni explained that the mod works by teleporting an NPC to the main player, swapping its model to Link, and then having the second player control it. Fooni says that it'll take a long time--perhaps a few years--to finish the mod. There's a chance it never sees the light of day, though, as Nintendo could intervene to shut it down as it has done to other fan-made Zelda projects in the past.\n\nIn other Breath of the Wild news, its first DLC pack recently launched. We posted a lot of guides and walkthroughs to help you get the most of the new content, and you can check out all of them here."}
-{"text": "Panetta is a dubious choice to fulfill Obama's vow to cut military spending, the author says. How Washington changed Obama\n\nPresident Barack Obama\u2019s nominations of Leon Panetta as defense secretary and Gen. David Petraeus as director of central intelligence demonstrate that the president has abandoned his pledge to change U.S. foreign policy. In fact, these nominations show that Washington has changed Obama far more than he has changed Washington.\n\nObama long insisted that he wants to reorient America\u2019s focus \u2014 moving it away from nation-building projects in the Islamic world and toward Asia. He also insists he wants to trim military spending. But if Petraeus heads CIA and Panetta becomes defense secretary, it\u2019s unlikely either will happen.\n\n\nIn fact, these nominations, combined with other evidence, strongly suggest that Obama views foreign policy primarily as an instrument of domestic politics \u2014 an opportunity to give soaring speeches about the grand sweep of history and his view of America\u2019s role in it. As Zbigniew Brzezinski recently lamented to Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker, Obama \u201cdoesn\u2019t strategize. He sermonizes.\u201d Obama has shown little willingness to shake up the established order in Washington and inject new ideas.\n\nBefore Obama named Panetta as CIA director, the former congressman from California had little experience on national security issues. This was part of a larger trend: Many of the president\u2019s important foreign policy aides have scant training in foreign policy.\n\nFor example, the president\u2019s national security adviser, Tom Donilon, had been a Beltway lawyer, lobbyist and executive at Fannie Mae. The lead author of the president\u2019s National Security Strategy, Ben Rhodes, has a background in fiction and poetry, putting aside work on his first novel (\u201cThe Oasis of Love\u201d) to join the administration\u2019s speech-writing team, from which he moved over to the National Security Council.\n\nTo be fair to the foreign policy neophytes, the bona fide experts haven\u2019t been much better. Former State Department Director of Policy Planning Anne-Marie Slaughter lamented in her departure speech that in U.S. foreign policy, men generally do the \u201chigh politics\u201d of diplomacy and war, while women work on \u201clow politics\u201d like economic development and human rights. Slaughter also noted that female foreign policymakers often feel the need to \u201cout-tough the tough guys.\u201d Once out of government, Slaughter was at the forefront of the crowd urging the president to bomb Libya.\n\nBeyond his relative inexperience in national security issues, Panetta is a dubious choice to fulfill Obama\u2019s recent pledge to trim military spending. Any secretary charged with realizing that pledge would need extraordinary credibility with Capitol Hill Republicans, many of whom are determined to continue raining money on the Pentagon regardless of the nation's parlous fiscal position. Despite having once been a Republican, Panetta ran for Congress as Democrat and has served prominently in Democratic administrations. He is unlikely to craft the pragmatic consensus needed to give the Pentagon a haircut.\n\nPetraeus\u2019s nomination poses a different problem. He has spent the past decade focused on what we used to call \u2014 at the behest of his commanders in chief \u2014 the \u201cglobal war on terrorism.\u201d But is U.S. nation-building in the Muslim world the most important national security and intelligence problem we face today?\n\nWouldn\u2019t we be better served by having someone at the CIA with a background in East Asia? Or thinking about potential future problems \u2014 issues such as cyberwar? Doesn\u2019t sending the world\u2019s leading GWOT veteran to run the CIA signal that Obama is reneging on his pledge to refocus American policy?\n\nThe U.S. desperately needs to change its focus. We account for roughly half the world\u2019s military spending, yet we feel terribly insecure. We infantilize our allies so that they won\u2019t pay to defend themselves and instead allow us to do it for them. We stumble into small- and medium-sized foreign quagmires the way many people eat breakfast \u2014 frequently and without much thought.\n\nSince the end of the Cold War, both Republicans and Democrats have made U.S. foreign policy into a slapdash, pinch-of-this, handful-of-that stew \u2014 comprising crusading ideology, protests of being above ideology, national narcissism, bureaucratic infighting, domestic politics and groupthink. With these forces powerfully influencing foreign policy, it\u2019s a miracle things haven\u2019t gone worse.\n\nFor his part, Obama, who seems to think that every choice is false, believes his foreign policy approach is \u201canti-ideological\u201d and that it defies \u201ctraditional categories and ideologies.\u201d Unnamed aides recently told The New Yorker that the president is \u201can anti-ideological politician interested only in what actually works.\u201d\n\nThe trouble is that there is no way to be \u201cnon-ideological\u201d in foreign policy, and few presidents would admit they are more interested in ideology than in what actually works. Leaders have to determine which things are important and which are unimportant; why the important ones are important; and what to do about the important ones. There\u2019s no way to answer those questions without theory. If the president is lying about his belief that he is \u201canti-ideological\u201d for political reasons, that\u2019s fine. If he actually believes it, that\u2019s scary.\n\nIn a better world, presidents would enter office having clearly explained their foreign policy worldviews and surrounding themselves with a group of people holding impressive r\u00e9sum\u00e9s in international politics. But of course, we don\u2019t live in that better world. The U.S. is so secure that foreign policymakers can do lots of dumb things without even getting voters to care. In the words of the great folk singer Roger Alan Wade: \u201cIf you\u2019re gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough.\u201d\n\nThank goodness we\u2019re tough.\n\nJustin Logan is associate director of foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute.\n\n"}
-{"text": "Em resposta \u00e0 sobretaxa imposta pelos Estados Unidos a produtos chineses, o pa\u00eds asi\u00e1tico anunciou medidas contra importa\u00e7\u00f5es de produtos norte-americanos no \u00faltimo dia 6. A disputa comercial entre os dois gigantes j\u00e1 repercute na economia brasileira, por exemplo, com o aumento da procura pela soja, um dos produtos taxados pela China.\n\nEspecialistas ouvidos pela Ag\u00eancia Brasil apontam que essa queda de bra\u00e7o, resultado da pol\u00edtica protecionista do governo de Donald Trump, pode favorecer alguns setores brasileiros a curto prazo, mas que em m\u00e9dio e longo prazo essa guerra pode representar um retrocesso para a economia global.\n\nPesquisador do Centro de Agroneg\u00f3cios da Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Getulio Vargas (FGV Agro), Felippe Serigatti, avalia que essa disputa pode resultar em um crescimento econ\u00f4mico menor para os dois pa\u00edses, o que afetaria outras na\u00e7\u00f5es. \u201cIsso n\u00e3o \u00e9 bom nem para o Brasil nem para a economia mundial como um todo. No final das contas, ningu\u00e9m exatamente sai ganhando com essa disputa\u201d, apontou.\n\nEle lembra que setores como o da soja brasileira podem lucrar mais imediatamente ao suprir a demanda chinesa, mas isso pode gerar desequil\u00edbrio com outros parceiros mundiais. Serigatti explica que o pre\u00e7o da soja aqui vinha ficando abaixo da cota\u00e7\u00e3o na Bolsa de Chicago, o que \u00e9 positivo ao se vender para a China, mas pode implicar um pre\u00e7o incompat\u00edvel com o mercado europeu.\n\n\u201cSe a soja no Brasil fica mais cara, o farelo de soja que sai daqui tamb\u00e9m fica mais caro, logo o nosso pre\u00e7o fica menos competitivo na Europa. Isso pode favorecer, por exemplo, o farelo de soja norte-americano, uma vez que a soja l\u00e1, comparado com o pre\u00e7o da soja aqui, est\u00e1 mais barato\u201d, exemplificou.\n\nO embaixador Rubens Barbosa, que atuou em Washington no in\u00edcio dos anos 2000, tamb\u00e9m avalia que a amplia\u00e7\u00e3o deste cen\u00e1rio de disputa ser\u00e1 \u201cruim para todos\u201d. \u201cV\u00e3o aumentar o custo, o pre\u00e7o das commodities, afetando todo mundo, inclusive o Brasil. Uma guerra comercial nesse n\u00edvel vai significar tamb\u00e9m uma redu\u00e7\u00e3o do crescimento da economia e diminui\u00e7\u00e3o do com\u00e9rcio exterior\u201d, disse em recente entrevista \u00e0 TV Brasil.\n\nPara o presidente da C\u00e2mara de Com\u00e9rcio e Ind\u00fastria Brasil China, Charles Tang, pa\u00edses como Brasil, Argentina e Austr\u00e1lia devem ajudar a suprir a demanda chinesa, mas em longo prazo esse desequil\u00edbrio pode \u201cdanificar a economia mundial\u201d. \u201cTodo mundo vai ser perdedor\u201d, criticou.\n\nEle destacou que o Brasil \u00e9 maior exportador de soja para a China. \u201cOs Estados Unidos exportavam aproximadamente 40 milh\u00f5es de toneladas, e o Brasil exporta cerca 50 milh\u00f5es de toneladas. Para substituir o fornecimento americano, vai ter que quase dobrar a exporta\u00e7\u00e3o\", disse. Segundo ele, \"o importante \u00e9 que a China entendeu pela primeira vez que o fornecimento norte-americano \u00e9 inst\u00e1vel e mais uma vez o povo chin\u00eas entendeu que essa instabilidade \u00e9 perigosa\u201d.\n\nCompetitividade\n\nRog\u00e9rio Ara\u00fajo, coordenador de Planejamento e Intelig\u00eancia da Ag\u00eancia Brasileira de Desenvolvimento Industrial (ABDI), \u00f3rg\u00e3o ligado ao Minist\u00e9rio da Ind\u00fastria, Com\u00e9rcio Exterior e Servi\u00e7os (MDIC), destaca que o mercado brasileiro est\u00e1 pronto para aproveitar as oportunidades advindas das disputas entre China e Estados Unidos, mas \u00e9 preciso investimento para tornar este incremento em um ganho efetivo de mercado.\n\n\u201cA gente consegue isso com uma amplia\u00e7\u00e3o de investimentos focados em inova\u00e7\u00e3o e num setor produtivo que est\u00e1 crescendo ao redor do mundo, que \u00e9 o setor produtivo conectado \u00e0 economia digital, \u00e0 ind\u00fastria 4.0,\u201d, avaliou. Ele defendeu ainda a \u201cconex\u00e3o entre v\u00e1rios setores da economia, sejam os servi\u00e7os de alto conhecimento com a ind\u00fastria, seja a ind\u00fastria com a agricultura\u201d.\n\nHoje o jornal franc\u00eas Le Monde apontou o Brasil como \"grande vencedor\" da guerra de sobretaxas entre os EUA e a China. Segundo o jornal, as exporta\u00e7\u00f5es brasileiras de soja est\u00e3o favorecidas, e o pre\u00e7o do produto no pa\u00eds superou a cota\u00e7\u00e3o da Bolsa de Chicago. O Wall Street Journal tamb\u00e9m cita o Brasil como benefici\u00e1rio imediato pelo contexto atual, mas aponta que o pa\u00eds n\u00e3o produz hoje o suficiente para abastecer sozinho a China.\n\n*Com informa\u00e7\u00f5es da Ag\u00eancia Brasil em Bras\u00edlia"}
-{"text": "Today's definition of the geographical region of Macedonia includes the present Greek administrative region of Macedonia as well as the whole of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). However, it also includes parts of Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia and small pieces of Kosovo.\n\nModern Macedonia, as a geographic rather than a political construct, extends into six countries, including Kosovo\n\nOriginally, the ancient kingdom of Macedonia \u2014 or Macedon \u2014 was a relatively small part of the present-day Greek province of Macedonia. It first expanded under King Perdiccas I, then widened to take in other areas, including the three-fingered peninsula of Halkidiki and parts near to the border with present-day Albania.\n\nRead more: Macedonian lawmakers vote to rename country North Macedonia, change constitution\n\nTiny kingdom achieves world domination\n\nNeighboring areas like Thrace (which includes European Turkey) and Paeonia (the modern-day FYROM) became dependent territories of Macedonia. King Philip II went on to subdue the Greek mainland before his son Alexander the Great took the whole of Greece. Alexander would go on to conquer the First Persian Empire and extend his boundaries as far east as India.\n\nA 17th-century map showing the extent of Alexander the Great's empire\n\nArguably, at this point, Macedonia's realms stretched as far as the Indus River and the Nile in Egypt. By the time Alexander was in power, though, Macedonia was very much \"Hellenized\" \u2013 or culturally Greek. As a result, the language, culture and genes that Alexander's empire carried eastward were Greek.\n\nRoman expansion, then a shift east\n\nAfter the fall of the Greek Empire, the Romans used the old name Macedonia for the province encompassing much of northern Greece and the area north of it, including much of the modern-day Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The province, at least for a time, stretched westward to the Adriatic and south into central Greece.\n\nRead more: Macedonia and Greece: Locked in naming dispute\n\nWith the breakup of the Roman Empire into East and West, this region was overrun by the Slavic invasions. An entirely new province far to the east, in modern-day Turkey, was named Macedonia by the Byzantine Empress Irene of Athens. The entire region subsequently fell to the Ottoman Empire.\n\nOttoman root of modern boundaries\n\nThe geographic region known as Macedonia today equates to the part of the Ottoman Empire known as Ottoman Vardar Macedonia. It included Greek and Slavic areas and was split into three administrative units, but the concept of Macedonia persisted. This remained the case for centuries and so this idea \u2014 of what Macedonia is \u2014 has stuck.\n\nAn \"awakening\u201d nationalism among ethnic Slavs in the region who identified as Macedonian took place in the late 19th century. The emergence of this Macedonian identity among the Slavs living in the region is still seen as a relatively new one.\n\nThe boundaries of Macedonia have changed, as has the ethnic makeup of the region\n\nAs the Ottoman Empire crumbled, the Slavic or western Bulgarian part of Vardar Macedonia eventually became a part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia known as Southern Serbia. The area was later called Vardar Banovina (a banovina being a province of the Yugoslav kingdom). The name Macedonia was prohibited.\n\nMacedonia's re-emergence, Greek consternation\n\nAfter occupation in World War II, the old banovina was pared down and it became the People's Republic of Macedonia \u2014 subsequently the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. Yugoslav authorities now sought to promote Macedonian nationalism, and the Macedonian language, which had been thought of until then as a western Bulgarian dialect, was codified.\n\nThe fact that this Macedonian language was Slavic did not go down too well with the Greeks.\n\nRead more: Thousands protest Greek government compromise in Macedonia dispute\n\nWith the breakup of Yugoslavia, things got worse. Athens became anxious about a movement within the new Republic of Macedonia to appropriate the legacy of Alexander the Great. Specifically, it feared the concept of a United Macedonia that could include Alexander's heartland in Greece itself.\n\nThe Greeks also accused the new republic of hijacking symbols such as the Vergina Sun \u2013 a symbol of ancient Macedonia \u2013 which feature on the new country's first flag. In 1995, the young state was forced to change its flag to feature a rayed sun instead.\n\nThe flag featuring the Vergina Sun (here in the foreground) was replaced by one featuring a rayed sun\n\nIt's the name Macedonia that rankles most with Greece, though. The new country was admitted to the United Nations only on condition that it used the provisional description FYROM. Athens insists that if the FYROM must use the name Macedonia at all, it should be preceded by a geographic qualifier such as Northern or Upper Macedonia.\n\nAs if that weren\u2019t complicated enough, there's another meaning of the word Macedonia. In Greece and many Latin language-speaking countries, it's also a fruit salad. The name is thought to have been popularized at the end of the 18th century, referring to either the ethnic diversity of Alexander's vast empire, or the ethnic mix of Ottoman Macedonia."}
-{"text": "This image captured from (North) Korean Central Television on July 29, 2017, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un talking to an official prior to the North's launch of its second Hwasong14 intercontinental ballistic missile on the previous day.\n\nNorth Korea's recent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test apparently wasn't a complete success.\n\nThe ICBM's re-entry vehicle (RV) \u2014 which would protect the missile's nuclear warhead during an operational launch \u2014 likely broke apart toward the tail end of Friday's (July 28) test flight, according to missile expert Michael Elleman.\n\nElleman studied video captured by a weather camera mounted on the roof of a TV station in Muroran City, on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. This camera happens to cover the patch of sky where the RV came back to Earth during the July 28 test, which was the second flight of North Korea's Hwasong-14 ICBM. [Images: North Korea's Rocket and Missile Program]\n\nThe weather-cam footage shows that, at an altitude of about 12 miles (20 kilometers), the RV got so hot that it began to glow. At 2.5 miles to 3 miles (4 to 5 km) above sea level, \"the RV appears to be shedding small radiant objects and is trailed by an incandescent vapor,\" Elleman, a senior fellow for missile defense at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, wrote yesterday (July 31) on the North Korea analysis site 38 North. \"At an altitude of 3 to 4 km [1.9 to 2.5 miles], the RV then dims and quickly disappears.\"\n\nIf the RV had remained intact, the glow would have remained visible until the vehicle passed behind some mountains between it and the camera, Elleman added. So the RV apparently disintegrated a few miles above Earth's surface \u2014 not coincidentally, just when it was experiencing \"maximum stressing loads,\" he wrote.\n\n\"If this assessment accurately reflects reality, North Korea's engineers have yet to master re-entry technologies, and more work remains before [leader] Kim Jong-un has an ICBM capable of striking the American mainland,\" Elleman concluded.\n\nThat's the good news for the United States, South Korea and Japan, all of which nuclear-armed North Korea has repeatedly threatened to destroy. But there's bad news, too: The Hwasong-14 has demonstrated worrying range on both of its flights to date. (The first launch of the ICBM occurred on July 4.)\n\nIndeed, in its current form, the missile may be able to hit major cities on the U.S. West Coast, Elleman said yesterday during a conference call with reporters organized by the U.S.-Korea Institute (USKI) at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. (38 North is a USKI program.)\n\n\"It's kind of a question that can't be answered with any real fidelity, but I think, assuming a 500-kilogram [1,100 lbs.] bomb, which gives you about a total of 700 kilograms [1,540 lbs.] \u2014 150 kilograms [330 lbs.] for the re-entry vehicle itself \u2014 San Francisco, Los Angeles [and] Seattle would be threatened,\" Elleman said. \"Possibly San Diego. Salt Lake City may be out of its range.\"\n\nPutting warheads atop ICBMs requires miniaturizing the bombs. If North Korea has not already mastered this technology, they'll likely do so soon, according to American intelligence officials. Indeed, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency recently predicted that the rogue nation will have a reliable nuclear-armed ICBM system by sometime next year.\n\nFollow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com."}
-{"text": "Garda\u00ed have released a reconstructed image and a detailed description of a suspect in a an alleged rape in Dublin last weekend.\n\nThey are renewing their appeal for witnesses in relation to an investigation of an alleged sexual assault on a woman in the early hours of Sunday morning, December 9.\n\nThe woman - who is in her 20s - attended a Christmas party in a Ballsbridge hotel in Dublin 4 on the nightt.\n\nShe has told detectives she hailed a taxi from the venue, but got out of the car after she became unwell.\n\nShe believes she got into another taxi in the Dublin 4 area - but officers are still working on whether this vehicle was a genuine taxi.\n\nShe was reportedly raped in this vehicle between 12.43am and 2.14am on Sunday morning and ended up in Mountjoy Square, in Dublin's north inner city.\n\nGarda\u00ed are continuing to appeal to people who may have seen her in this area between 2.14am and 3.40am on Sunday to contact them.\n\nSo far, a number of people who saw the woman in the area have come forward, telling garda\u00ed she was in a distressed state.\n\nThe man is described as between 27 to 35 years old, with short black hair and has a beard and was wearing glasses. He was also wearing a short sleeved shirt.\n\nGarda\u00ed wish to make contact with any persons in the Shelbourne Road or Serpentine Avenue area between 12.45am and 2am to come forward and also in the Emmet Street area of Dublin 1 from 2am to 3am.\n\nThey said in a statement; \"If any motorists who were in these areas and have dash cam in the vehicles, if they can check their footage and contact investigating Garda\u00ed.\n\n\"Garda\u00ed are also appealing to any persons who may have travelled in a white taxi in the early hours of Sunday morning to contact them at Irishtown Garda station 01 - 6669600, the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.\n\nInvestigating officers are also continuing to trawl through CCTV across the city centre in a bid to find the car in which the woman was travelling.\n\nOnline Editors"}
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\u0628\u0627\u0644\u0631\u064a\u0627\u0636\n\n\u0627\u0644\u0622\u0646 \u0639\u0645\u064a\u0644\u0646\u0627 \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0632\u064a\u0632 \u0628\u0625\u0645\u0643\u0627\u0646\u0643 \u0627\u0644\u0627\u062a\u0635\u0627\u0644 \u0628\u0646\u0627 \u0641\u064a \u0623\u064a \u0648\u0642\u062a \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0623\u0631\u0642\u0627\u0645 \u0634\u0631\u0643\u062a\u0646\u0627 \u0644\u0644\u0627\u0633\u062a\u0639\u0644\u0627\u0645 \u0639\u0646 \u062c\u0645\u064a\u0639 \u0627\u0644\u062e\u062f\u0645\u0627\u062a \u0627\u0644\u062a\u064a \u062a\u0648\u0641\u0631\u0647\u0627 \u0627\u0644\u0634\u0631\u0643\u0629 \u0648\u0627\u0644\u0623\u0634\u064a\u0627\u0621 \u0627\u0644\u062a\u064a \u062a\u0633\u062a\u0637\u064a\u0639 \u0627\u0644\u0634\u0631\u0643\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0642\u064a\u0627\u0645 \u0628\u0647 \u0641\u0644\u0627 \u062a\u062a\u0631\u062f \u0628\u0627\u0644\u0627\u062a\u0635\u0627\u0644 \u0628\u0646\u0627 \u0641\u064a \u0623\u064a \u0648\u0642\u062a \u0641\u0646\u062d\u0646 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u062c\u0627\u0647\u0632\u064a\u0629 \u062a\u0627\u0645\u0629 \u0644\u0644\u0642\u064a\u0627\u0645 \u0628\u062c\u0645\u064a\u0639 \u0627\u0639\u0645\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u062a\u0646\u0638\u064a\u0641 \u0628\u0627\u0644\u0631\u064a\u0627\u0636.\n\n\u0627\u0644\u062c\u0648\u0627\u0644 : 0580002467\n\n\u062e\u062f\u0645\u0627\u062a \u0627\u062e\u0631\u0649 :\n\n\u0627\u0641\u0636\u0644 \u0634\u0631\u0643\u0629 \u0639\u0632\u0644 \u062e\u0632\u0627\u0646\u0627\u062a \u0628\u062c\u062f\u0629 0580002467 (\u062e\u0635\u0648\u0645\u0627\u062a 20%) \u0634\u0631\u0643\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0634\u0647\u0627\u0628\n\n\u0634\u0631\u0643\u0629 \u0646\u0642\u0644 \u0623\u062b\u0627\u062b \u0628\u062c\u062f\u0629 0580002467 \u0627\u0633\u0637\u0648\u0644 \u0645\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u064a\u0627\u0631\u0627\u062a \u0641\u0649 \u062e\u062f\u0645\u062a\u0643 \u0634\u0631\u0643\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0634\u0647\u0627\u0628"}
-{"text": "Marshalled by their captain, Virat Kohli, India reignited this series as a contest. After their humiliation at Lord\u2019s India finished a fine day of Test cricket on 307 for six with Kohli and his vice-captain, Ajinkya Rahane, compiling a crucial 159-run partnership in the afternoon. This was a source of great relief to the Indian camp, tempered by the loss of Hardik Pandya to the last ball of the day. Perhaps even more uplifting than that stand between two familiar names was a cameo at the end from India\u2019s debutant, Rishabh Pant. He was only 22 not out at the close but I have a hunch this might have been an \u201cI was there\u201d moment.\n\nJoe Root opted to let his bowlers loose after winning the toss and they did not respond particularly well to the challenge. There was less movement available than at Lord\u2019s or Edgbaston but some mild encouragement for the pacemen. Too often India\u2019s latest opening pair were able to watch the ball pass harmlessly outside the off stump.\n\nIt is hard to argue with 978 Test wickets but the preference of Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson to bowl to a 7-2 off-side field may contribute to them erring in line. Both have the admirable yearning to be mean but with two men on the leg side there is the temptation for them to bowl a little too wide. Just occasionally they over-compensated and Shikhar Dhawan, restored to the side in place of Murali Vijay, capitalised with leg-side boundaries.\n\nWith remarkably few alarms India sped past fifty without losing a wicket as the introduction of Ben Stokes accelerated the run rate. It was not supposed to be like this, but in the second hour Chris Woakes, the England all-rounder who has only ever entered a court with a tennis racquet, intervened.\n\nHaving replaced Anderson at the Ratcliffe Road End, Woakes found enough movement to test batsmen gaining in confidence. His pre-lunch spell suggested England would continue to torment the batsmen. First he found the edge of Dhawan\u2019s bat and Jos Buttler at second slip held a neat catch; then Woakes dispatched KL Rahul with a brute of a delivery, which swung away a little before nipping back devilishly.\n\nChris Woakes of England celebrates with Ben Stokes and Joe Root after dismissing Cheteshwar Pujara. Photograph: Philip Brown/Getty Images\n\nRahul was given LBW and set off on his lonely return (apart from the presence of a TV cameraman, who will one day bear the brunt of a batsman\u2019s anger) but Cheteshwar Pujara pursued him and told him to ask for a review. Rahul followed that advice, whereupon three red lights instructed him to continue his journey. It seems as if Pujara\u2019s umpiring is on the same level as his running between the wickets.\n\nIn the last over before lunch Pujara was also undermined by Woakes. The Warwickshire all-rounder delivered the solitary bouncer in his spell; Pujara was surprised and he sensed runs before skimming a hook shot straight to long-leg, where England\u2019s least reliable fielder was stationed. Adil Rashid steadied himself and took a taxing catch at chest height to enable England to take lunch in a buoyant mood.\n\nThere would be no more scalps for England in the next four hours as Kohli and Rahane combined with remarkably few alarms. They were suitably wary against Woakes and Anderson, England\u2019s most dangerous bowlers, but runs were easier to come by when Stokes and Rashid were in harness.\n\nRoot could use Rashid only sparingly in his first spell as he yielded runs so easily. This was not so surprising since the leg-spinner has never been the solitary slow bowler in an England side and required to hold an end up while the pacemen have a breather. Kohli stroked effortless boundaries on either side of the wicket. After five overs and 29 runs Rashid was removed from the attack.\n\nFor the first time in the series two India batsmen were in unison in the middle; the pitch was sleeping, the ball softening, the bowlers tiring. It took a millisecond of brilliance to break the partnership. Alastair Cook has taken 165 catches for England and my suspicion is that the one he snatched on Saturday to dismiss Rahane was his career-best.\n\nRahane edged a drive against Broad. Initially, it looked like Jonny Bairstow\u2019s catch but the keeper did not move. So, late in proceedings, Cook lurched to his left and stuck out a hand and there the ball magically came to rest. Even more astounding was the air of nonchalance that Cook retained as he got to his feet, which was eventually betrayed by a beaming smile.\n\nThere would be another slip catch of significance soon afterwards. It was a much simpler one and it was taken by Stokes off the bowling of Rashid. The importance lay in the fact that the batsman was Kohli, three runs short of his century. Until then Kohli had played Rashid with consummate ease but now he drove away from his body at a leg-break. Suddenly, the concerns about Rashid\u2019s profligacy were shelved.\n\nOut came Pant, a stocky left-hander and capable wicketkeeper on his Test debut. He crunched his first delivery hard to extra cover; to his second, a googly, he advanced down the pitch to drive the ball straight for six, a remarkable display of derring-do. Pant became the 12th man to get off the mark in Test cricket with a six; New Zealand\u2019s Mark Craig is the only one to do so from his first ball. The list contains very few notable batsmen; most are impudent bowlers. Until Pant, the best was probably West Indies\u2019 Carlisle Best. Already the young Indian looks as if he might be better than that."}
-{"text": "Yes, Dr. Bruce E. Ivins is now 'Suspect Number One' for the 2001 anthrax attacks on America. He supposedly killed himself (with relatively slow-acting tylenol-codeine) rather than face criminal indictment, trial and possible execution. Among the strangeness surrounding his 'suicide', Ivins died even before the formal complaint was finished that was to be filed against him. Case closed? Not even close. Odds are the 'rats' in our US government are trying to close off the trail so people will quit cornering them again and again with the truth of their obvious attempts not to investigate the anthrax attacks and bring the true guilty parties to justice. Odds are these same US government rats were the perpetrators of that anthrax attack for a few simple reasons: 1. The weaponized anthrax used was the type of Ames Strain that is only available at a very few places, including the Fort Detrick MD CBW weapons research lab. 2. Once that fact is established (and it is), it narrows the list down even more. There is also a good chance that Dr. Ivins was eliminated so this story will fade away and people will stop demanding action and the truth. Remember that the anthrax attack occurred while Bush was trying to push through Patriot Act I and begin his attack on Afghanistan. Two possible blockades to getting Patriot Act 1 passed were Senator Tom Daschle and Senator Tom Leahy - both of whom received 'anthrax letters' at their DC offices on Capital Hill. Both were pushing amendments to the Patriot Act I to protect US civil liberties which were about to be trampled by Bush in his ramrod version of that grievously un-Constitutional bill. This was all transpiring while BushCo was getting the troops and naval ships into position to attack Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. There was a pipeline deal to steal, the same one that Obama and Zbig think they will get done once Barky takes the throne. This entire fiasco regarding the Anthrax attack on the US is far from being resolved. The FBI has apparently been told to not dig to the bottom of the barrel and solve the case once and for all. A full, unimpeded investigation of the matter would probably indict Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Tony Blair, several in Tel Aviv, and a gaggle of DoD subcontractors all working in unison to make the threat of Global 'Terror' seem real. Real enough, that every time DC says \"BOO!\" the majority of Americans either jump under their beds or freeze like deer in the headlights. If you take the time to read this following series of articles that appeared in The Hartford Courant, Connecticut, there are some key threads and statements made that start to shed some light on what was and is really going on. http://www.anthraxinvestigation.com/hcourant.html BioPort, the original maker of the anthrax vaccine for the Department of Defense, keeps making the statement that its vaccine is 'safe' and has been 'proven to be safe.' Bush used those 'findings' to propose that every man, woman and child in America should be forced to take the (often debilitating, sometimes death- dealing) shots under 'Project BioShield.' Trust me, folks, absolutely, totally and unequivocally REFUSE to have this vaccine administered to you or anyone you know or love. It will terminate your current status of health...and possibly your life. There was so much liability headed toward BioPort from wrongful death lawsuits resulting from their crappy, deadly vaccine that they made a quick offshore move to avoid liability and merged with DynPort Vaccines, LLC, a shady entity that is both biotech company and a mercenary soldier parent company. DynCorp was later bought out by SAIC, one of the BushCo bandits in this bogus Global War on Terror. The statements from BioPort regarding the 'proven safety' of its defective, destrctive product are bald-faced lies. Their vaccine was NOT proven safe in FDA clinical trials. Tragically, the approval to inject the vaccine into US troops was expedited and rubber stamped without any clinical trial, and countless thousands of our young men and women have paid a terrible price ever since. That is Lie Number One and more of them just keep piling up. Always remember, those folks in DC are LIARS. The doctors and nurses at Landstuhl, Germany were under direct orders to falsify the medical records of the US soldiers when they found such strange side effects from this vaccine as \"mystery pneumonia.\" This condition is medically and scientifically termed as eosinophilia...where the sacs of the lungs literally ooze profusely and drown the patient. More on that subject below. They are also told to falsify the medical records regarding how many US soldiers are developing DVT (deep vein thrombosis, leading to heart attack, stroke and pulmonary embolism) and amyloidosis within months after receiving this deadly toxin of a vaccine. The Chapter 5 of my book 'One-Way Ticket to Crawford Texas' addressed this matter in considerable detail: <start insert, Chapter 5> \"\"Conveniently left off that short list is DynPort Vaccine, LLC, formed in 1997 and a joint venture of DynCorp, a major Bush backer and owned now by Computer Sciences Corporation, also a major Bush backer, and Ipsen, a company based in the UK where they merged or backed Porton into Ipsen without any public announcement of that event. I thought it was odd to have missed what might be the real game, the real story; i.e. DynCorp and BioPort in bed together. In certain circles, DynCorp is euphemistically called \"The Mercenary Company\" and that their name just keeps getting left off the list and named in the articles should raise your eyebrows and the hair on the back of your neck. Some of you more informed readers will remember that former DynCorp chairman Pug Winokur was heavily involved in that colossal fraud named Enron.\"\" <end insert, Chapter 5> This is also right out Chapter 5 and no, this matter is not solved and this matter is not going to go away until the true guilty parties are held accountable for criminal negligence and terrorist act of murder in the US and inflicted upon Our US Soldiers. <start insert, Chapter 5> ''There has been a book written about this wonderful insider deal anthrax vaccine[1] and the following is part of a teaser from a site selling that book: \"Is the anthrax vaccine as bad as people say it is? No \u00ad it's worse, says author Lt. Col. Thomas S. Heemstra, author of, Anthrax: A Deadly Shot in the Dark: Unmasking the Truth Behind a Deadly Vaccine.\" This came from another source[2] and there are many highlighting these facts trying to get to the truth: \"After the attacks of September 11th, President George Walker Bush placed BioPort's North Lansing laboratory under protection, invoking the national interest. Interestingly enough, the Italian magazine Il Manifesto reported, in its October issue, that this happened at the same time that the FBI also placed the El Hibri's at the top of their list of suspects for sending anthraxspores through the mail system. \" Did our President stall and impede another investigation? There is one possible reason why our President does not want anyone looking into the matter since BioPort and George Herbert Walker Bush are connected via Carlyle Group. Nothing impresses me more than to see present and former military persons stand up for those that are currently in uniform and being treated wrong or shabbily by the current occupant of the White House after they have served this nation and remain vigilant because they know that there are some real \"sleaze persons\" in the DoD, our government and certain defense contractors: WILFULLY RISKING THE HEALTH OF THE US MILITARY[3] by: MAJ GLENN MacDONALD, USAR (Ret) Al Capone would have been proud. \"Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. William J. Cro questionable \"vaccine\" that is supposed to \"protect\" the nation's military from the deadly orga nisms. Not only does Crowe and his mysterious pal, Faud El-Hibri, get an exclusive multi-million dollar contract to produce anthrax vaccine, but the Government agrees to pay triple the original cost in the contract, from $3.50 a dose, to over ten dollars! This, after the company Crowe and El-Hibri partly own - Bioport of Lansing, Mich. - was temporarily shut down by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after it failed an inspection in November.\" This is the type of human being that would be inclined to hire mercenary DynCorp, in my humble opinion.'' <end insert, Chapter 5> Former Admiral William Crowe is a Neocon and a thug who has paved the way for an unsafe product to be injected into the bodies of now well over 1.5 million US troops who then go serve in the monumental lie of the 'Global War on Terror.' Crowe is a terrorist, part of arming Saddam Hussein with CBW to attack Iran right along with Cheney and Rumsfeld. Then to line his pockets even more, he joins BioPort and gets that vaccine pumped into all US troops, many of whom now have ruined health for the rest of their lives...all due to greedy pricks like Retired Admiral Crowe. <start insert, Chapter 5> \"\"FDA approval granted without testing In its haste to push this vaccine and order U.S. troops to take it, the normal FDA approval[4] process was expedited and appropriate testing was not performed. Even after problems began to be known neither the FDA, DoD nor BioPort have backed up to re-evaluate their actions, this vaccine, or the present and long-term medical complications it is causing and more importantly, known to be causing to our military troops[5].\"\" <end insert, Chapter 5> There is plenty of evidence that the BioPort anthrax vaccine, now DynPort Vaccine LLC, is deadly, pure crap and was absolutely not needed except to fill the right pockets in DC...criminals who have no regard whatsoever for the harm they have done to our military. <start insert, Chapter 5> \"\"Pneumonia Mystery UPI reported in August 2003[6] that medical teams had been sent due to about 100 cases of pneumonia that had been contracted by our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. That number is now in the thousands of cases of pneumonia[7], but this particular pneumonia is proving out in the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (a DoD hospital being used for Iraq and Afghanistan casualties and other health issues) to be something quite unusual. They are running tests and there is no bacterium or virus present in these thousands of cases of pneumonia. What is a commonality is that all of the troops were forced to take the anthrax vaccine shortly before being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. I personally know oneUS soldier that has had this mystery pneumonia four times while deployed to Iraq since March 2003. UPI Investigative reporter Mark Benjamin came across this story and I have tried to persuade some of my sources to talk to him about what they know. They are afraid because the US Army has threatened people regarding any discussion of the various medical conditions that are popping up and, being confirmed by tests, and the apparent links that may go back to this sweetheart deal vaccine that BioPort sells to our DoD as a sole source provider. I personally think if the whole ugly story were known, the real manufacturer is DynPort and BioPort is a ruse knowing that the litigation is coming and they are positioned already to make sure no plaintiff ever collects a dime in judgments. There is a word that fits; it is called \"sleazy\".\"\" <end insert, Chapter 5> The correct diagnosis this thus, and is being created by the debilitating and sometimes deadly anthrax vaccine. <start insert, Chapter 5> \"\"Acute eosinophilic pneumonia or AEP. AEP is an acute pneumonia with fever but without identifiable infectious cause. It starts rapidly and soon progresses to respiratory failure.\"\" <end insert, Chapter 5> It is the shitty anthrax vaccine, folks. Our nanotech researchers have been on this matter for 4 years but Washington, DC is full of liars and despicable people who will do anything but own up to the truth. To further fleece the US taxpayers and fatten their portfolios, these cretins would, if they could, shoot this deadly crap into every American under the bogus \"Project BioSheild.' program. They've already used it on every US soldier and results have been despicably devastating and in a real court of law constitute nothing less than criminal negligence and intent to harm...and all of it just to make a buck. Evidently, the FBI has been told 'hands off' and to stay away from the most likely suspects. This is a person who was monitored by the security systems of Fort Detrick as entering the building at odd hours, conducting 'research' when no one else was around and, according to some, caught on security cams in the virus storage areas without authorization. He may also be the one who stole the exact same type of weaponized anthrax and then used it to spook Americans into hiding under their shadows every time the word 'anthrax' or 'terrorists' or that phony 'terror threat color alert' was rolled out and bludgeoned into the heads of every American by every lap dog media outlet and every fraud politician in DC. Oops! \"Lab specimens of anthrax spores, Ebola virus and other pathogens disappeared from the Army's biological warfare research facility in the early 1990s, during a turbulent period of labor complaints and recriminations among rival scientists there, documents from an internal Army inquiry show. \" A 'person of interest' in a real investigation would be one who tried to pin the theft of pathogens and anthrax attacks on an Egyptian scientist who worked at Fort Detrick. Dr. Philip M. Zack was employed at Fort Detrick and he was ordered to leave due to his harassment of an Egyptian who had come to America 25 years before the anthrax attacks. The person he was harassing and tried to set up was Dr. Ayaad Assaad. The FBI has already questioned Dr. Assaad and he was cleared, so why did they not focus on the person who tried to set him up for those anthrax attacks? Due to his actions towards Dr. Assaad alone, it is not a stretch to say that Dr. Philip Zack has every appearance of being an Arab- hating Jew. Who is Dr. Philip Zack? Apparently, a Zionist Jew for starters or just a Zionist. Some claim he is Catholic. Since it was Israel that was pushing so hard for the total destruction of Iraq, we have a possible motive right there to make America think the bogus Global War on Terror was a real threat. Where was Dr. Zack employed after he was ordered out of one of the top United States CBW government labs? \"Anyway, this same Dr. Zack worked for Gilead Sciences in 2000. This is the same Gilead Sciences that invented Tamiflu, which has become popular and profitable after the bird flu scare. This is the same Gilead Sciences that makes popular medicines treating AIDS (that many people believe was developed in American military laboratories). And who owns Gilead Sciences? A major stockholder is none other than NeoCon Donald Rumsfeld, who at one time was its CEO. Also, Tony Blair of England, who joined Bush in the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. And Tom Brokaw who had received one of the anthrax letters. And another major shareholder is none other than NeoCon Cindy McCain, possibly the next first lady of the US.\" Are you starting to get the picture? Is it sinking in yet that the extent that you, America, and the world were lied to by these sub-human greed obsessed morons in Washington, DC? The FBI has been playing \"Where's Waldo?\" for over 6 years...and now their only suspect is dead?? They have yet to truly focus on who might be the real evildoer. To make the anthrax vaccine, both BioPort and DynPort Vaccine would HAVE to use the Ft. Detrick weaponized anthrax as the baseline for the vaccine. I have looked and there is no record of where Dr. Philip Zack was employed during the Fall of 2001 when these attacks occurred. I'll bet if a real investigation were conducted, ties between Dr. Philip Zack, Retired Adm. Crowe, BioPort, DynPort Vaccine, etc, would not be that hard to find. It is established that Zack worked for Gilead Sciences and that ties him to Donald Rumsfeld. Why do they lie so much? So these people could pull off a $5+ trillion genocide/oil theft war scam and try to steal about (current dollars) $20 to $25 trillion in Caspian Basin oil and natural gas. They have killed over 1 million in Iraq and Afghanistan, so what are a few anthrax attack deaths on top of that? There is no telling how many they killed inTurkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan to remove obstacles (often entire families) in their way to try to gain control of that $20 to $25 trillion in oil and natural gas. Have you yet had enough of being lied to by these despicable bastards and bitches in DC who pretend they are representing you and leading America? They are robbing America. WAKE UP. These people are not defending America by ANY measure. They are slaughtering millions and destroying entire nations to line their pockets. WAKE UP. This has all been a complete and total fraud to hide the Rape of America. WAKE UP. YOUR graves are being dug. Karl [1]http://www.deadlyshot.com/ [2]http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Ibrahim_El-Hibri [3]http://militarycorruption.com/greed.htm [4]http://www.corp-research.org/feb03.htm [5]http://www.whale.to/vaccine/anthrax4.html [6]http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030804-044101-7879r [7]http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030915-014545-8114r; [Author's note: nurses from Landstuhl confirmed to me that they have seen hundreds of cases of this mystery pneumonia. Troops returned from Iraqconfirmed that many had it and were not sent to US or Germany. The total is a very big number and I personally know one soldier that has had it four times in the past 12 months.] Hmm, an interesting thing happened on the way to The Truth. Due to my latest article on the Anthrax \"Where's Waldo\" sweepstakes, I awakened this morning to a tip from a reader I know. I wonder if the FBI has spoken to the person named in it. My source is a retired high-level officer of our military. \"Karl...Another great hit! Thanks again. Remember the NEOCON GWB insider, Jerome Hauer? He's the guy who was spreading the word to other administration insiders to start taking the Cipro drug just prior to the anthrax mailouts.\" I wonder how, if this is true, Jerome Hauer knew about attacks that were not even being discussed or had happened yet? Seriously, folks, is Mr. Hauer clairvoyant...or is he one of the 'RAT Team' who knows what a total lie the Global War on Terror is? Hmm, and what, might you ask, is the latest on Mr. Hauer? Why, he is now on the board of Emergent Biosolutions - the new parent of BIOPORT! http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/121505_jerome_hauer.shtml They keep changing parents (from BioPort, to DynPort Vaccine, to SAIC, and now to Emergent Biosolutions) because of the huge amount of criminal negligence and wrongful death litigation claims that have been filed against these thugs. Sniff, sniff, yep, I say we got a possible RAT here. You folks over at FBI, this is worth looking into as well, when you finally get around to addressing the issue of the mysterious Dr. Philip Zack. Karl August 4, 2008\n\n"}
-{"text": "Quebec Cree are moving forward with efforts to formalize the generations-old practice of Indigenous customary adoption.\n\nA bill to amend both the Civil Code of Quebec and the Youth Protection Act was passed in June 2017 and came into full effect in June of 2018, after two failed attempts and many years of lobbying by Indigenous groups across the province.\n\n\"A big plus as far as the social and cultural situation of the communities\" - James Bobbish , former head of the CBHSSJB\n\nThe changes mean the widespread and longstanding practice within Indigenous families of choosing a home within the community, and often within the extended family, where a child can be adopted is now legally recognized in Quebec.\n\nSince Bill 113 was passed, the Cree Nation has been working to build the actual mechanisms, committees and authorities needed to help Cree families through the process.\n\nJames Bobbish, former head of the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay is one of the people tasked with creating the Cree customary adoption system. (Susan Bell/ CBC North)\n\nOne of the people tasked with building the Cree customary adoption system is James Bobbish, former head of the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay, who has worked on the file since 2008.\n\n\"We're working on the details on how we're going to make it work,\" said Bobbish, adding that in the past these customary adoptions took place in a very natural way.\n\n\"To be able to go back to that would be a big plus as far as the social and cultural situation of the communities,\" Bobbish said. He added that a customary adoption will soon be able to be completed at the local and regional level, without any involvement of the provincial government.\n\nBobbish says families will have the choice to go through the formal Quebec adoption process or choose a Cree customary adoption. Once they choose a customary adoption, they will be referred to local committees that will be set up in the months ahead.\n\n\"They will have the mandate to be the resource and discussion point for the two families,\" said Bobbish, adding the committee will also be able to invite people as advisors, including elders and knowledge holders, who know about traditional adoptions.\n\nSince Quebec passed Bill 113 in 2017, the Cree Nation has been working to build the actual mechanisms, committees and authorities needed to help Cree families through the customary adoption process. (T.Philiptchenko/CBHSSJB)\n\nOnce the committee finishes its work, Bobbish says the matter will go to a designated \"competent authority\" within the Cree Nation government, who will sign the customary adoption certificate.\n\nBobbish says the office of the competent authority has been created, but the people who will carry out the work still need to be hired.\n\nHe also says details about the local committees are still being worked out, but could end up being part of the Miyupimaatisiiun community committees.\n\nBobbish says the goal is to have the local committees trained and ready to advise Cree families by late summer or fall."}
-{"text": "AMPOWER Insights\n\nAMPOWER Insights offers exclusive content and background information for a successful implementation of Additive Manufacturing. We are adding new content regularly. Subscribe to our newsletter to always be up to date."}
-{"text": "I\u2019ve been trying to learn Japanese for about one and a half years now. I had my ups and downs and even took a break from studying for a couple of months last year. It became just too frustrating and was more like an everyday burden than fun. But this all changed when I booked my flight to Toyko last October (2012). Now I had a good reason to start learning again and knew that even the slightest knowledge of the language would come in very handy on my visit in February 2013.\n\nThat was motivation enough to keep me studying daily. I even took some private Japanese classes but that wasn\u2019t that helpful. I soon realized that there is a reason why Japanese people sometimes say that they wouldn\u2019t properly understand (grammatically!) their language themselves.\n\nAnd because Japanese people do love manga, they made a great comic out of it:\u65e5\u672c\u4eba\u306e\u77e5\u3089\u306a\u3044\u65e5\u672c\u8a9e (Japanese people take Japanese for granted).Many people want to learn a new language for the primary reason to speak it in their specific country. That wasn\u2019t quite the case for me when I started to learn Japanese. I always loved Japanese films and the Japanese culture itself but I wanted to be able to read Japanese books and maybe play a video game in Japanese.\n\nThat was the reason why I started in the first place. I already read some manga back then (only by Naoki Urasawa) but I was more into western comics. It was within the last year when I discovered my love for Japanese comics and naturally it became my goal to read manga in their original language: Japanese.\n\nI once learned English through watching movies with (English) subtitles, so I thought \u201cwhy shouldn\u2019t the reading-route work with Japanese too.\u201d On my trip to Tokyo, I bought a big bunch of books and manga. So many that my girlfriend complained that she couldn\u2019t buy as much for herself as she wanted to because my books already were too heavy and maxed out our allowed weight. I usually prefer more mature stories and thus mangaka like Naoki Urasawa, Osamu Tezuka, and Jiro Taniguchi. Unfortunately, the books by these authors lack \u201cfurigana\u201d small Japanese figures which are placed above all Kanji and give the reading of it. This makes looking up an unknown word so much easier.\n\nEspecially when you\u2019re still working on a basic vocabulary like me, these are existential. But now let\u2019s talk about some good manga to begin with or easy to read manga for Japanese beginners.\n\nSo here we go, my list of easy to read manga for Japanese beginners. (This is only part one, so you know what that could mean ;)\n\nUpdate October 2019:\n\nSix years later not much has changed when it comes to my favorite Japanese manga for beginners. I would still recommend exactly these titles I picked back then and am still reading the latest issue of Yotsubato when it\u2019s hitting the shelves.\n\nRegarding the links: (If you buy the books through my links, I\u2019ll get a small referral fee which will be used to buy even more awesome books for review.) If you don\u2019t know where and how to buy Japanese manga, visit my guide on Where to buy Japanese manga\n\nIf you\u2019re in search of some transparent book covers to wrap your manga, just click on the link!\n\n1. \u3088\u3064\u3070\u3068\uff01(Yotsuba!)\n\nThe obvious choice and highly recommended when it comes to manga for Japanese beginners. A rather simple language and because of the setting of a young child experiencing everyday problems and everyday life, the vocabulary will be of great use for every beginner.\n\nThe stories are very popular in Japan are read by people of all ages and have a great fan base among the Japanese learning community as well. Have fun following Yotsuba discovering the world. Age Even if you are a 26-year-old youngster like me.\n\nNew volumes are appearing rarely, so you always have to wait a couple of years for a new tankobon (\u5358\u884c\u672c) to be released. Volume 14 just hit the streets (April 2018) as I\u2019m brushing up on this article a little.\n\nIt\u2019s really fun to see that my top recommendations haven\u2019t changed over the last years. Yotsuba& is still as fun and charming as ever. I just received the latest volume and am enjoying it outside on the balcony with a well-chilled glass of lemonade next to me.\n\nBuy the manga: Yotsuba&\n\nAnd if you\u2019re like me you may want to order the English edition as well. That\u2019s how I managed my way through Dragon Ball the first time around. And believe me between all the Japanese slang it\u2019s great to read a good translation from time to time to make sure that you follow the story.\n\nMaybe you\u2019ll only need it for the first volume which is the most difficult one of the whole collection (1-14) so far. It\u2019s still a great read for every beginner and where to start if not with volume one, right.\n\n2. \u30c9\u30e9\u30b4\u30f3\u30dc\u30fc\u30eb \u5b8c\u5168\u7248 (Dragonball \u2013 The complete edition)\n\nI have never watched Dragonball as a kid and usually really don\u2019t like all these Jump comics with endless fights and dramatic gestures. I tried One Piece, Bleach, and Naruto but it\u2019s just not my cup of tea. So I always thought that Dragonball was more or less the same. Big mistake.\n\nWhen I was in Tokyo I picked up the first volume of the manga at a Book Off. (A big Japanese store chain which sells used books, video games, CDs & DVDs.) I liked the drawings and the kinda \u201cmysterious\u201d setting somewhere between sci-fi and mystery. And there is not that much fighting going on. At least not in the first two volumes.\n\nI just started reading Dragonball last week and also bought the German version of the manga as a little helper when I\u2019m stuck or not quite sure if I got the story right. So far it\u2019s quite fun, not too difficult and a very nice read. Even for a Japanese beginner like me.\n\nBut what makes it extra great for us is the big format the \u201ccomplete edition\u201d or \u5b8c\u5168\u7248 is printed in. Glorious color pages at the beginning and a very clean print throughout the book on good paper.\n\nJust tried to read some Hunter x Hunter which is printed in the usual super small format all Jump manga are done in and was struggling to read some of the Furigana. Dragonball spoiled me.\n\nBuy the manga: \u30c9\u30e9\u30b4\u30f3\u30dc\u30fc\u30eb 01 \u5b8c\u5168\u7248\n\nSide note: I recently bought a \u201cnew\u201d version of Dragon Ball which tells the whole story again but very much boils the whole epic story down to just a couple of volumes. The drawings are in Chibi style, the manga is in full color and the Japanese is quite simple (easier than the original). It\u2019s called Dragon Ball SD and is a great one to pick up as well.\n\nThe first fifty or so pages of the manga are in glorious color.\n\n3. \u3057\u308d\u304f\u307e\u30ab\u30d5\u30a7 (Shirokuma Caf\u00e9)\n\nI watched the anime together with my girlfriend and we quite enjoyed it. Or maybe we just really wanted to like it because honestly, it\u2019s a little dull. The story is about a lazy Panda who is a regular customer at an organic food & drinks joint which is operated by an Ice Bear. Sounds like fun right?\n\nShirokuma-kun even tries to explain very alike sounding Japanese words to the Panda which is not exactly a bad thing for us Japanese beginners. The manga is printed in the same big format as the Dragonball complete edition and is thus very comfortable to read. And if I should pick a manga in Japanese, to begin with, it would probably be this one.\n\nThe stories are short, the vocabulary is quite easy and slang is nearly nonexistent. There are a total of four volumes that look really nice together on the bookshelf. Each is named after a different fruit-flavor. Nice idea, I like that and now you even have another reason to pick up these books.\n\nBuy the manga: \u3057\u308d\u304f\u307e\u30ab\u30d5\u30a7 (Shirokuma Caf\u00e9) (Currently OOP)\n\n4. \u30c1\u30fc\u30ba\u30b9\u30a4\u30fc\u30c8\u30db\u30fc\u30e0 (Chi\u2019s Sweet Home)\n\nThis is another one of these mangas with short & cute stories. A little bit like Shirokuma Caf\u00e9. Like I already mentioned I\u2019m usually not into these kinds of comics, but the stories about a little cat exploring a new home are really cute. And it hurts me to describe something as cute but there is no way around this word when you want to describe Chi\u2019s Sweet Home.\n\nIt\u2019s a super sweet story about a little kitten even your mother would like. Good for us: The vocab and story are easy to grasp. The pictures are nearly always self-explanatory and hands down there is not that much going on story-wise.\n\nBut for everyone who is just starting to read something in Japanese, this is a good one, to begin with. Trust me you don\u2019t want to start with something overly complicated. It\u2019s just too frustrating and when you begin reading Japanese it should be a rewarding experience.\n\nBuy the manga: \u30c1\u30fc\u30ba\u30b9\u30a4\u30fc\u30c8\u30db\u30fc\u30e0\n\nFor me, it\u2019s very important that I don\u2019t have to read those super tiny fonts especially when the text is written in Japanese. And it doesn\u2019t make sense to print manga in these super tiny formats which Jump normally uses when it\u2019s all about the pictures.\n\nTo give you a hint on how these manga compare in the size I made another picture for you. Hope this helps. The smallest Yotsubato and Chi\u2019s Sweet Home are \u201cone size\u201d bigger than the average Jump manga and quite comfortable to read. So you don\u2019t have to worry about these.\n\nI hope you like the post. Please drop me a line in the comments and if you\u2019re kind enough I\u2019ll soon post the second part with even more awesome and easy to read manga for Japanese beginners.\n\nUpdate: You were kind enough and that\u2019s why I made a couple more posts with easy to read manga goodness in Japanese.\n\nContinue reading:\n\nVol. 02, Vol. 03, Vol. 04, Vol 05\n\nMaybe you\u2019re still looking for some good ways to learn Japanese or improve your grammar and speaking/listening skills. Check out my post about how I\u2019m learning Japanese and my favorite podcast for learning Japanese.\n\nThanks a lot for all your constant support and kind words. Let\u2019s read some great manga together! If you have any manga tips for beginners please share them in the comments.\n\n"}
-{"text": "Within the older IITs, we see excessive coaching, diversion of talent away from core sectors, and dropping quality of Ph.D applicants. Within the older IITs, we see excessive coaching, diversion of talent away from core sectors, and dropping quality of Ph.D applicants.\n\nThe best way to ensure science will influence policy is to encourage people to appreciate and engage with science. That can only happen through education, communication, and ties of mutual respect between scientists and their communities \u2014 the paths of communication must go both ways. There has too long been a divide between the scientific community and the public. We encourage scientists to reach out to their communities, sharing their research and its impact on people\u2019s everyday lives. We encourage them, in turn, to listen to communities and consider their research and future plans from the perspective of the people they serve. We must take science out of the labs and journals and share it with the world.\u201d (Concluding paragraph of the Mission statement of The March For Science movement.)\n\nIISc, the IITs, IISERs are some of the most eminent institutions in India and are headed by distinguished academicians, scientists and administrators. The conduct of science and technology (S&T) in the country is directly and indirectly influenced by the methods, topics of research and notions of rigour that these institutions practise.\n\nYet all is not well within Indian S&T. We see a great disconnect between the centrally funded institutions, the state universities and ground reality.\n\nWithin the older IITs, we see excessive coaching, diversion of talent away from core sectors, and dropping quality of Ph.D applicants. In the sciences, we see a narrow focus on academic research with little relevance, an over-supply of post-graduates and few openings other than in academics. We also see the newly started IITs and IISERs groping for definition and fighting for the same pool of central funding. The so-called placement problem is acute for these new institutions, specially the IISERs, where there are few pathways for gainful employment for students who do not want to pursue a Ph.D.\n\nOn the other hand, we also have the development agenda of sadak, bijli, paani, and other material needs of a young and impatient population. We see age-old practices of delivery, based on outdated knowledge and a governance which is failing. We also have small, household and rural enterprises, who are our largest employers, struggling in the market place.\n\nAn important cause is the absence of the above agenda in our curricula, research and modes of engagement. We have not recognised these sectors as essentially engineering and scientific services, but which require an inter-disciplinary and field-oriented methodology within a regional context. We have also failed to formalise these sectors so as to bring out the key processes and problems, ways of measurement, agents and their protocols, in other words, opening them up for analysis and improving outcomes. If we had done this, perhaps today we would have the necessary empirics, gadgets and processes to create new job definitions and professions, which bring efficiency and deliver value and pay for themselves. Examples of such positions are District Drinking Water Analyst, or District Public Transport Manager, or Cooking Energy Auditor, the City Economist, or even Scientific Advisor to the District Collector.\n\nEngagement with the development agenda has always been part of research and training within universities in the West. It was only in 1958 that the MIT dismantled the Department of Sanitation Engineering. See, for example, the Transportation Center at the University of Toronto or the inter-disciplinary Twente Water Center. Today, various top universities are redefining engineering education, for instance, \u201cEngineering+X\u201d at University of Southern California, or Development Engineering at UC Berkeley, and other innovative UG programmes at several universities.\n\nOur proposal is to initiate the formalisation of the development agenda and reclaim it as an area of interest for the science and technology establishment. It is to assert that these areas are indeed amenable to scientific rigour and rational argument in broader society. This is to be achieved by our network of centrally funded institutions adopting certain key measures. Perhaps, we can begin with the IITs, NITs, IISERs and the centrally funded universities.\n\nOne, each department is to identify 2-3 development sectors for deeper engagement and study. Civil Engg. at IIT Bombay may choose drinking water, Mechanical Engg. at IIT Mandi may choose wood-burning stoves for the hills, Chemistry at IISER-Pune may choose regional water quality assessment and analysis, and Economics at IIT Kanpur or Delhi University may study district plans.\n\nTwo, in these areas, the departments will identify a team of faculty members to develop expertise through field-work, inter-disciplinary training, student-based projects and case-studies and engage with local, regional and state agencies. This will be supported by laboratories, testing facilities and staff. This should eventually lead to key reports and publications which contribute to better practices in the sector.\n\nThree, upon maturing, these development sectors should lead to course material and research frameworks. These should be extended to regional colleges. Four, the collection of institutions will evolve common frameworks for academics and institutional mechanisms of working in inter-disciplinary areas. They will also work out common funding, faculty incentives and possibly chair positions to give prestige to the programme.\n\nSuch a programme will be widely appreciated both outside and inside higher education, in political, social and intellectual circles and also by our alumni. It will be seen as a positive step to broaden and deepen science and technology and strengthen our role in it, and also to provide jobs in the form of new professions. It will be welcomed by regional institutions for they will see a role for themselves and an outlet for their creative energies. It will provide much needed support to state agencies who work in very adverse conditions. Finally, it will infuse new blood into research by bringing new methods, problems and a much-needed focus on sustainability.\n\nPerhaps such a decentralisation of S&T may redefine school-level science as broad enough to incorporate the immediate environment as worthy of study, documentation and analysis. It will cause a deepening of scientific temper which will help people negotiate for themselves a better deal in the market and society. Finally, it will show that modern science has a method and outcomes that are not limited to passing entrance exams or publishing papers.\n\nThe IISc, IITs and IISERs are well poised for a leadership role in this exciting mission. The massive dissatisfaction over development outcomes will eventually force us to adopt at least some part of the development agenda. It is better that we do this on our own terms and preserve our autonomy and our notion of rigour. While we may argue about the \u201ctraditional\u201d and the \u201cancient\u201d, the \u201cmodern\u201d must ultimately deliver material outcomes.\n\nThe world of science too is groping for ideas and mechanisms to re-engage with the community and re-establish its credentials as a pillar of freedom, prosperity and sustainability.\n\n\ud83d\udce3 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines\n\nFor all the latest Opinion News, download Indian Express App."}
-{"text": "This past Friday, Boston College\u2019s excellent Shep Melnick (interviewed on this site not long ago) gratuitously ruined my weekend by alerting me to the latest \u201cDear Colleague Letter\u201d (\u201cDCL\u201d) from the Education Department\u2019s Office for Civil Rights (\u201cOCR\u201d). The DCL \u201cshares\u201d OCR\u2019s views on \u201cresource compatibility\u201d at the nation\u2019s schools, district by district. Horrendous in its own right, the letter also prompts broader thoughts on \u201cgovernment by guidance\u201d: it\u2019s a prescription for a banana republic.\n\nThe letter outlines OCR\u2019s interpretation of its own \u201cdisparate impact\u201d regulations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race or national origin in federally funded institutions. It runs over 37 pages, including 63 elaborate endnotes. The DCL systematically conflates \u201cdisparate impact\u201d with intentional discrimination; OCR\u2019s investigative methods and tests for both are indistinguishable. And OCR leaves no stone unturned. Its perceived mandate to ensure \u201cresource compatibility\u201d extends to courses, academic programs, and extracurricular activities; teacher effectiveness, the stability of the teacher workforce, teacher qualifications and experience, school leadership, and support staff; instructional materials; and school facilities, including their design and the \u201coverall physical condition of the school, including features such as paint, maintenance of carpet and lockers, and the absence of vandalism.\u201d\n\nAll this goes a million miles beyond the requirements of the Constitution; of Title VI; and even of OCR\u2019s own (legally dubious) disparate impact regulations. Yet it can\u2019t be challenged in any court, anywhere: unlike a rule or regulation, it\u2019s not a \u201cfinal\u201d agency action that\u2019s subject to judicial review. Obviously, though, the DCL is meant to be more than merely helpful: in no uncertain terms, it reminds recipients that OCR can and will investigate suspected evil-doers, including those who have been merely unaware of resource compatibility with respect to paint.\n\nWhy do we permit agencies to proceed in this underhanded, unreviewable fashion? The general idea is that in choosing to proceed by \u201cguidance\u201d rather than formal, reviewable regulation, the agency is giving something up: the legally binding effect of its rulings. It\u2019s not really coercing anybody, and so why bother the courts? That answer, however, wildly underestimates government\u2019s ingenuity in giving real-world effect to supposedly informal documents.\n\nThe FDA, for example, routinely issues informal \u201cdraft\u201d guidance documents that could not conceivably pass judicial muster. (Among other things, they prohibit truthful speech about medical products.) Still, those guidances have served as ammunition to countless private plaintiffs who sue pharmaceutical companies for peddling their products in violation of the guidelines, thus purportedly overbilling Medicaid and Medicare. (These \u201cqui tam\u201d plaintiffs, acting on behalf of the government, get to keep a portion of the recoveries, which now run into billions of dollars.)\n\nThat sort of thing can\u2019t happen here. The Supreme Court has held that OCR\u2019s disparate impact regulations are enforceable only by the federal government, not by private parties (here, not qui tam plaintiffs but \u201cstatutory beneficiaries.\u201d) At the same time, though, it\u2019s ludicrous to think that OCR itself can implement its guidance. Barely able to respond to instances of actual discrimination, it can\u2019t possibly do carpet inspections across the country and correlate the thread count with race and national origin. So who is going to enforce this?\n\nThe \u201cDear Colleagues\u201d: that\u2019s who. The compliance officers and equity counselors who populate every school district in the country, on account of federal mandates. OCR gives them ammunition:\n\nOCR strongly recommends that school districts proactively assess their policies and practices to ensure that students are receiving educational resources without regard to their race, color, or national origin, including the resources discussed in this letter, as Title VI requires.\n\nArtfully done: while Title VI requires nothing beyond abstaining from intentional race discrimination, the italicized phrase could easily be read to require a proactive self-assessment\u2014and what superintendent would know the difference? And:\n\nIdeally, the district would designate one or more employees to coordinate the district\u2019s compliance with Title VI, including self-assessments of resource comparability. Designating one person responsible for overseeing compliance may aid in identifying and addressing any patterns or systemic problems that arise during the assessment and review of any complaints of discrimination.\n\nWhereupon compliance officers across the country can be heard clearing their throats: I can help. Also, they call their educational consultant-friends and perhaps the local carpet store. And if the superintendent doesn\u2019t play ball, they call OCR. It\u2019s the administrative state and \u201ccooperative federalism\u201d all the way down, and up.\n\nThe resourceful among us can exit this lawless, idiotic regime by sending our kids to private schools or moving to school districts that are effectively immune from OCR. (Imagine an OCR \u201cresource compatibility\u201d investigation in Fairfax County or at Langley High: heads would roll. They\u2019re not that stupid.) That takes a lot of money, though. Replicate the m.o. across the full range of government services and regulation: it takes a ton of money to escape. Once you start adopting Juan Peron\u2019s legal model, social patterns will follow. We\u2019re well on our way."}
-{"text": "The campus of Oxford University Via Wikimedia Commons Soon after the establishment of the Islamic Republic, Iran\u2019s leaders shut down the entire country\u2019s university system to purge it of Western influence. Scholars were removed; \u201cWest-toxification\u201d \u2014 a term coined in the 1960s to decry the loss of Iranian authenticity \u2014 was brandished as an enemy; the regime even established a new university, Tarbiat Modarres, to imbue new scholars with the values of the Islamic Revolution.\n\nEchoes of such calls could be heard last month in the raucous Iranian parliamentary debate to remove Iran\u2019s Minister of Science, Reza Faraj-Dana \u2014 guilty, for his accusers, of tolerating dissent and moral laxity among university professors.\n\nBut, as it frequently happens in corrupt autocracies, what\u2019s not right for thee, is good for me. Today, Iranian leaders still chant \u201cDeath to America,\u201d see Great Britain behind every conspiracy theory they can concoct, and consider their country\u2019s relations with the West in antagonistic terms.\n\nMeanwhile, their children \u2014 the privileged offspring of Iran\u2019s ruling elites \u2014 are flocking overseas to study, without fear of moral and intellectual contamination.\n\nTake Maryam Fereydoun, the daughter of Hossein Fereydoun, the younger brother of Iran\u2019s President, Hassan Rouhani.\n\nMr Fereydoun has been a stalwart of the Revolution from the beginning. He was responsible for the late Ayatollah Khomeini\u2019s security when the revolutionary cleric who founded the Islamic Republic returned to Iran in 1979. He served as provincial governor and later as Iran\u2019s ambassador to Malaysia for eight years, before joining Iran\u2019s delegation to the UN in New York and eventually becoming one of his brother\u2019s advisors after his electoral victory last June.\n\nLiving in New York no doubt exposed Fereydoun and his family to the perils of West-toxification, but not enough to prevent Maryam from attending Columbia University for her undergraduate studies. After Columbia, she attended the prestigious London School of Economics thanks to a Lord Dahrendorf scholarship \u2014 a Deutsche Bank-sponsored award for students from emerging countries.\n\nThis scholarship for emerging countries' financially needy students was probably not designed to boost the career chances of the Iranian president\u2019s niece. But this is precisely what happened.\n\nEventually, she landed a job in the City of London at the German banking giant \u2014 though, it appears, not in the sanctions\u2019 compliance office (A Deutsche Bank spokesperson declined to comment).\n\nHer husband, the son of Iran\u2019s new ambassador to Switzerland, is meanwhile busy pursuing a doctoral degree at Oxford University.\n\nWhile in New York, Ms Fereydoun may have met Mahdi Zarif, the son of Iran\u2019s Foreign minister, Mohammad Zarif, and Seyed Ahmad Araghchi, a nephew of Iran\u2019s Deputy Foreign Minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi. They both earned their degrees at the taxpayer-funded City University of New York.\n\nMahdi spent over a decade in the U.S., completing his education and eventually working for an aerospace company and a telecom company before returning to Iran in 2013. Araghchi is also back in Iran, after years spent in Paris and New York.\n\nSometimes, degrees are not completed. That was the case with former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani\u2019s son, Mehdi, who briefly moonlighted as an Oxford Ph.D. candidate, but eventually returned to Iran to serve a short prison sentence.\n\nAchievements are sometimes inflated as well. Mahdi Zarif claims to have worked for Verizon \u2014 but Verizon has confirmed that he only worked for one of their contractors.\n\nClearly, as Sting would lyrically put it, Iranian regime officials must love their children too.\n\nIn a way, one can understand their educational choices: they must have bankrolled their studies in the decadent West while chanting \"Death to America\" at Friday prayers in order to hedge their bets. After all, who, better than these autocrats, knows that the future may hold nasty surprises?\n\nToday their children could rise to the top even without an elementary school diploma \u2014 but one day the chants of \"Death to America\" may subside, along with the ruling clique's privileges.\n\nBut why should the children of Iran\u2019s rulers, whose affluence is the direct result of political repression, injustice, corruption, and abuse of power, benefit from a life of luxury and privilege in the West that their parents are still busy denying to their less-fortunate peers back at home?\n\nWestern governments and academic institutions should not give them visas, work permits, green cards and study grants so easily \u2014 especially when, for all those ordinary Iranians who hate their country\u2019s government and long for a better life in the West, getting out of Iran is almost impossible.\n\nEmanuele Ottolenghi is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies."}
-{"text": "Get 100 % of the Breakables from all Missions in Story Mode."}
-{"text": "A 45-year-old Southern California man accused of intentionally running over his estranged wife\u2019s Chihuahua named Cow Cow was charged with animal cruelty on Thursday, prosecutors said.\n\nMichael David Parker, of Sherman Oaks, was arrested in January on suspicion of killing the dog and placing it in a trash bag, police said.\n\nInvestigators acquired a surveillance video from an alley near El Segundo Boulevard and Doty Avenue. Prosecutors accuse Parker of taking the dog to the alley to run it over.\n\nIn the video a man can be seen getting into a dark-colored car as the small dog makes its way into the front of the vehicle. The man backs up in the vehicle before accelerating directly toward the 5-year-old Chihuahua.\n\nParker was later identified as the suspect in the video and was arrested at his work.\n\nParker\u2019s charges also include animal neglect. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.\n\nThe Associated Press contributed to this report."}
-{"text": "Fox News and its biggest star, prime-time host Sean Hannity, have been increasingly relying on controversial television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz to provide analysis on the spread and treatment of COVID-19. Now, it has been reported that President Donald Trump -- who often takes cues from Fox and receives advice directly from Hannity -- has told his aides to seek Oz\u2019s advice on treating patients during the pandemic.\n\nIn various appearances on Fox News and on Hannity\u2019s radio show, Oz has relentlessly pushed the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, an unproven treatment for the coronavirus that Trump and right-wing media have taken an intense interest in promoting. Oz often cites dubious or misleading medical studies to justify his arguments and has suggested that pushback against promoting the drug as a cure for coronavirus might be motivated by a political agenda.\n\nOz has a controversial history when it comes to medical advice\n\nOz, who many recognize as the host of ABC\u2019s The Dr. Oz Show, has a troubling history of pushing bogus, unreliable medical theories lacking in evidence, including the promotion of dangerous and discredited \u201cex-gay\u201d conversion therapy. He has also hosted psychics on his show and has defended their work by saying, \u201cDoctors don\u2019t have all the answers.\u201d\n\nOz has been accused of being a \u201cquack\u201d doctor by others in his industry. In 2014, he was brought before Congress during a hearing about bogus diet ads, where Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, chair of a Senate subcommittee on consumer protection, accused him of perpetuating scams and \u201cmelding medical advice, news, and entertainment in a way that harms consumers.\u201d\n\nFox News has increasingly looked to Oz for advice on coronavirus treatments\n\nIn recent weeks, Fox has increasingly given airtime to Oz on potential treatments for COVID-19 patients, particularly hydroxychloroquine, the controversial antimalarial drug Trump and his allies are touting as a potential coronavirus treatment. Since March 9, Oz has appeared on Fox News weekday programming at least 42 times. A Media Matters study found that Oz promoted hydroxychloroquine on the network at least 40 times in a two-week period during late March and early April.\n\nOz often cites the work of Dr. Didier Raoult, a French microbiologist who has a controversial publishing history and has declared climate change predictions are \u201cabsurd.\u201d Oz said that Raoult\u2019s study left him \"flabbergasted\" but it has also drawn criticisms, and the publisher of the journal where the study first appeared later conceded that it does not meet \u201cexpected standards.\u201d\n\nOz has also cited a small study in China as evidence that hydroxychloroquine could be a cure to COVID-19 and pushed the Fox & Friends hosts to ask Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who is heading the nation\u2019s coronavirus response, about the study. Fauci responded that it\u2019s \u201cnot a very robust study\u201d and that the evidence is not \u201coverwhelmingly strong.\u201d Oz, in turn, responded on Fox & Friends that Fauci is \u201ca pro and I respect him a lot, but a small study that shows statistical significance is a really important observation.\u201d\n\nStill, Oz has frequently cited the French and Chinese studies across Fox News as evidence of hydroxychloroquine's effectiveness.\n\nOn March 24, Oz was featured in Fox News\u2019 town hall with members of Trump\u2019s coronavirus task force. Oz used the opportunity to talk with Vice President Mike Pence about hydroxychloroquine, quoting Raoult that denying patients the drug is \u201cunethical\u201d and asking Pence, \u201cWould you take these pills if you felt ill today?\u201d"}
-{"text": "Despite all the controversy behind some of the casting, I\u2019m still pretty pumped for Death Note. I\u2019m pretty sure Willem Dafoe has lived his entire life as Ryuk, whether he realized it or not."}
-{"text": "Trump team defends president on Twitter after supporter shouts 'shoot' migrants at border \"Only in the panhandle, can you get away with that statement,\" Trump said.\n\nThe Trump campaign worked into the night on Wednesday trying to clean up the president\u2019s reaction to a supporter who shouted immigrants crossing into the U.S. should be shot.\n\nPresident Donald Trump was on a riff about border control agents working to prevent migrants from crossing the border while speaking at his Wednesday night rally in Panama City Beach, Fla.\n\n\u201cYou have hundreds and hundreds of people and you have two or three border security people that are brave and great \u2014 And don't forget, we don't let them and we can't let them use weapons. We can't. Other countries do. We can't. I would never do that. But how do you stop these people?\" the president said.\n\nAs the president posed that question \u2014 a rally attendee in the crowd shouted: \u201cshoot them.\u201d\n\nThe president paused and instead of condemning the remark he said: \u201cThat\u2019s only in the panhandle, can you get away with that statement.\"\n\nThe crowd erupted in cheers and laughter \u2014 after another brief pause, Trump repeated: \u201cOnly in the panhandle.\u201d\n\nIn the aftermath of the president\u2019s response to the rally attendee\u2019s inflammatory outburst, the Trump campaign has worked to turn the conversation on Twitter and shift the focus to the president\u2019s statement denouncing the use of weapons by border agents.\n\nThe campaign's Deputy Director of Communication and Rapid Response Matt Wolking replied to a number of Twitter users discussing the incident, sending a transcript that excludes part of the president\u2019s reaction to the outburst. He tweeted that Trump said he \"would never let\" border security use weapons like \"other countries do.\""}
-{"text": "#bevoting\n\nYou want to make your voice heard, but sometimes registering to vote can be so extra! We feel ya. That's why, if you enter your email address below, we'll Google your zip code and find the website where you can register to vote and email it back to you. And then your email is on our cool email list! Sweet!\n\n\u200b\n\nAnd, uh, asking for a friend - is this website partisan? Uh, yeah, that's not a thing. Whether you're tired of Washington's Big Drumpf Energy or you want to Make America Gangnam Again, all we care about is getting you to the polls and getting your email on the list.\n\nBecause, remember: Voting is important. Really important. Really, really important. And this November it's really, really, super duper, duper important. So enter your email below and we'll, you know, look up your zip code and email you back as soon as we can before November."}
-{"text": "A French mayor and his wife have gone on trial accused of aggravated tax fraud after a complex five-year investigation into their estimated \u20ac13m (\u00a311.3m) fortune.\n\nPolice claim Patrick and Isabelle Balkany used a web of offshore companies, foreign bank accounts, lenders and trustees to conceal their wealth.\n\nThe couple, who are members of the centre-right Les R\u00e9publicains party and friends of the former presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac, have presided over the chic Parisien suburb of Levallois-Perret for the best part of 35 years.\n\nThe 92-page indictment suggested they used \u201cincreasingly sophisticated methods\u201d to keep their wealth hidden from the tax authorities. They deny the charges.\n\nImmediately after the trial opened on Monday afternoon, the judge suspended the hearing to consider defence demands that it be postponed. Isabelle Balkany, who was not in court, was said to be too ill to stand trial following a suicide attempt two weeks ago.\n\nThe trial is expected to concentrate on the Balkanys\u2019 property empire: their main home, a former mill at Giverny, two villas on the Caribbean island of Saint-Martin and a \u20ac5m villa in Marrakesh, Morocco.\n\nThe couple are accused of setting up \u201cmultiple offshore structures\u201d in Panama, the Seychelles, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Singapore to muddy the trail of ownership. Patrick Balkany is accused of financing half the purchase price of the Marrakesh villa with a \u201ccommission\u201d from a Belgian industrialist in exchange for help to buy a uranium mine in Namibia.\n\nHe is also accused of \u201cconcealing habitual aggravated tax fraud\u201d, \u201cpassive corruption\u201d, \u201cillegal taking of interests\u201d and \u201cfalse declaration to the High Authority for the transparency of political life\u201d. His wife is accused of similar tax fraud.\n\nPatrick Balkany was given a suspended 15-month prison sentence in 1996 and declared ineligible for public office for two years for using taxpayers\u2019 money to pay three municipal workers who were, in fact, working at his home. He was re-elected after returning to political life.\n\nHe was also an MP for almost 24 years until the 2017 election, and a departmental councillor for six years. Isabelle Balkany has been deputy mayor of Levallois-Perret since 2001 and vice-president of the departmental council.\n\nWitnesses told police the couple had large sums of cash at their home and that Patrick Balkany often had wads of money in his dressing gown. The existence of an offshore company owned by Balkany was reported in the Panama Papers revelations.\n\nFour others are also on trial accused of fraud or corruption, including the couple\u2019s 38-year-old son Alexandre Balkany.\n\nPierre-Olivier Sur, Isabelle Balkany\u2019s lawyer, said his client was not accused of \u201cmisuse of public funds\u201d.\n\n\u201cShe has been unfairly made a scapegoat for a detested political class,\u201d Sur said."}
-{"text": "First World Problems\n\nmy computer is so nice now\n\nthat the loading screen on skyrim is too fast to read the pro tips"}
-{"text": "As outlined in the first post in this series, we're approaching the concept of object-oriented programming within the context of WordPress, and we're doing so for the very beginner.\n\nThat means that if you've never heard of OOP, of if you've been curious to learn it, and you're someone who is interested in WordPress and learning how to develop solutions on top of it, then this series is for you.\n\nOver the next set of articles, we're going to be covering all of the major aspects of object-oriented programming. Once we do that, we're going to look at how we can apply what we've learned by building a working solution for WordPress.\n\nBut first, we've got to start with the basics.\n\nWhat Are Classes?\n\nIf you were to ask 10 different developers for their definition of a class, you'd likely get many similar answers, but few of which were actually the same. In fact, the one I heard repeated the most often when I was younger went like this:\n\nA class is a blueprint for creating an object.\n\nIn theory, it sounds great especially if you know what an object is. But that's the problem, isn't it? We're trying to learn about object-oriented programming, so there's no guarantee that we even know what an object is; therefore, how can we understand that a class serves as a blueprint for it?\n\nIn a sense, it's begging the question.\n\nSo let's back up a few steps and define what an object is in order to more clearly define what a class is.\n\nUnderstanding Objects\n\nThe whole idea of the object-oriented programming paradigm is that we, as programmers, can more easily model the information that we see in the real world using constructs in a code.\n\nFor example, in the real world we have objects that can be described using adjectives, and these objects can perform actions. Though this may be a bit cliche, think for a moment, about a car:\n\nIt has several adjectives such as size and color.\n\nIt can drive and it can park.\n\nAgain, a simple example, but it proves the point that everything that we have in the real world can usually be reduced to a noun that can be described by its adjectives and the actions that it performs.\n\nSo let's generalize this idea to objects. In fact, let's substitute one word for another:\n\nA noun is an object.\n\nAn adjective an an attribute (or a property).\n\nA verb is a method (or a function).\n\nEasy enough, right? The short of it is that we should be able to describe the things that we see in the real world as objects within a programming paradigm. Note that some languages call attributes properties, and some call methods functions. It doesn't really matter, either - it's all the same. They simply refer to adjectives about the object and actions that it can take, respectively.\n\nPoor Examples\n\nNext, most programming courses or books always start off with an example about how objects are meant to model real world objects (similar to like I did with the car example above).\n\nAnd to some degree, there is truth to that. For those who have been working in development, then you're likely familiar with how we can model people within the context of our application, but that's getting ahead of ourselves.\n\nThough it's true that we can use object-oriented programming to model real world objects, I've found that, more often that not, I'm modeling a more generalized form of a real world object - such as a user rather than a person - and that the actions they perform are more unique to them.\n\nTo that end, the examples that I want to give throughout this article and those in the rest this series are going to be more geared towards practical applications in computer programming. No one is going to be writing a car plugin and no one is going to be creating an animal object (which is something that you also often see and hear in introductory programming courses).\n\nInstead, we're going to try to focus a bit more on objects that are more likely to be seen in the realm of programming - not in the real world. Not because object-oriented programming is weak, but because the way we go about teaching is weak.\n\nGood Examples\n\nOf course, this raises the question of what constitutes a good example? The trouble with answering a question like this is that it can literally be a wide, wide variety of things.\n\nThis includes objects such as:\n\na blog post,\n\na document such as a resum\u00e9,\n\nan authenticator or authentication system,\n\na product,\n\na password generator,\n\n...and so on.\n\nAnd you see: Many of these things don't truly exist in the real world. For example, blog posts aren't tangible. They are things that we read on our screens. But does that mean they don't have properties such as a date, a time, and an author? Or does it mean that they don't have actions such as publish, and delete?\n\nOf course not.\n\nSo as we progress throughout this series, we're going to be talking about object in terms of the things with which we're more likely to work.\n\nI don't see us programming an animal - and certainly not so in WordPress - at any time during this series :).\n\nBack to the Basics\n\nAlright, now that we've taken a brief digression into what objects actually are, and good and bad examples of each, it's time to actually start talking about classes and how they truly serve as blueprints for objects.\n\nIn programming, an object is created from a class. That means that a class defines all of the properties an object has and the actions that it can take, and then the computer will create an object in memory.\n\nWhen it comes to classes, you may hear developers discuss writing classes, defining classes, or building classes. Any and all of these terms are acceptable.\n\nAfter that, you may hear developers talking about creating objects. The act of creating an object is called instantiation. Yeah - it's a big word for a relatively simple concept. But think of it this way: When you have a class, you have a definition out of which you can create multiple instances of an object.\n\nIf we need to draw an analogy to the real world, think first about a set of blueprints for a house. It lays out the floor plan, dimensions, walls, and so on that give construction workers information on how to build a house. Then, when it comes time to actually construct a house, then a team of construction workers erect the house based on the blueprint.\n\nSuch is the case with classes, instantiation, and objects. Classes are the blueprints, the computer is the team of construction workers, and the objects are the house. And just as multiple houses can be erected from a single blueprint, such is the case with objects and classes.\n\nThe Mental Models of Classes and Objects\n\nWhen it comes to writing code, some people are able to picture the object in their heads - others, maybe not.\n\nPersonally, I think that this has more to do with how each of us tend to learn and process information, but I do believe that it's possible to begin to mentally picture how software systems work together the longer you write code.\n\nHere, we're not going to look at any complex system; however, are going to take a look at an example of a class and then a visual representation of what that might look like in terms of code and in terms of a mental image.\n\nA Class for a Blog Post\n\nSince we're dealing with WordPress, perhaps an initial example for a class would be one that represents a blog post.\n\nGranted, this will be a simple example to demonstrate the ideas of attributes and functions, but we'll cover various constructs in more details in future articles.\n\nSo, with that said, let's say that we're going to create a class for a blog post. Let's also say that our blog post will have an author, a date on which it was published, whether or not it is published, and the actions to publish and delete.\n\nAn example class definition for a blog post with these attributes and functions will look like this:\n\n\n\n\n\nFor those who are familiar with object-oriented programming, you may recognize some of the information above, and you may also recognize that I've left out certain things (such as the constructor). Don't worry about that - we'll cover those concepts later.\n\nFor those who are completely new to programming, this is what a basic class definition looks like. For the time being, don't worry about the words private and public as we'll cover those later.\n\nInstead, focus on $author , $publish_date , and $is_published . These are the attributes. Notice that they sit above the function definitions in the class. These are analogous to adjectives that describe the Blog_Post .\n\nNext, we have the functions publish() and delete() . These two functions are the actions that can be taken on the Blog_Post . Remember, just how objects in the real world can move (like a car can drive), a blog post can be published.\n\nA Visual Representation\n\nSo what happens when you actually instantiate a blog post? That is to say, when we create a blog post in code, how can we mentally picture what's happening within the computer.\n\nFirst, let's outline how a blog post is instantiated. Remember, instantiated is a word just like erected is for construction workers - it's how an object is created from a class.\n\nNext, let's see how we can use the single class definition to create three different blog posts:\n\nEasy enough to read, right? Above, we've created two variables that will reference two completely different Blog_Post objects.\n\nNote that although we'll talk about this more in a future article, the word new is what instructs the computer to instantiate a Blog_Post from us from the class definition.\n\nSo let's take a look at the first example where we get our first instance of Blog_Post .\n\nNotice in this illustration, we have the $first_post variable that refers to the instance of the Blog_Post that was created. The Blog_Post exists in the computer's memory, it has its attributes that are available as well as its methods that are available.\n\nWe can access all of these through the $first_post variable that references this object. We'll talk about that in more detail later in the series.\n\nBut what about the $second_post ? How does that look within the context of object-oriented programming?\n\nIf you compare the two illustrations, they look pretty much the same, right? $first_post references one instance of Blog_Post , $second_post references a second instance of Blog_Post even though they both came from a single class.\n\nNote that for those who are technically astute, it is possible for both variables to reference a single instance, but that's outside the scope of this article.\n\nWhat's Up Next?\n\nAnyway, at this point, you should have a high-level understanding of what a class is, the role it plays in object-oriented programming, and how we can create instances of objects that are accessible through variables.\n\nThis still doesn't show us how to interact with the classes though, does it? We'll get to that, but first we need to discuss some of the more primitive aspects of programming such as strings, arrays, loops, and conditionals.\n\nEach of the aforementioned constructs will help us give life to our objects, and once we've taken a tour of each of those, we'll come back to make more mature classes that can actually do work."}
-{"text": "\u3010\u65e9\u671f\u8cfc\u5165\u7279\u5178\u3042\u308a\u3011\n\n\u30e1\u30fc\u30ab\u30fc\u62e0\u70b9\u5e97\u7279\u5178\u300cB2\u30dd\u30b9\u30bf\u30fc\u300d\u4ed8\u304d\u5546\u54c1\u3068\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u7279\u5178\u306f\u6570\u306b\u9650\u308a\u304c\u3054\u3056\u3044\u307e\u3059\u306e\u3067\u3001\u7121\u304f\u306a\u308a\u6b21\u7b2c\u7d42\u4e86\u3068\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\n\n\u30cf\u30fc\u30c9\u30ed\u30c3\u30af\u30d0\u30f3\u30c9\u300cBAND-MAID\u300d\u304c3\u679a\u76ee\u306e\u30b7\u30f3\u30b0\u30eb\u3092\u30ea\u30ea\u30fc\u30b9\n\n\n\n\u30aa\u30ea\u30b8\u30ca\u30eb\u30d5\u30eb\u30a2\u30eb\u30d0\u30e0\u300cWORLD DOMINATION\u300d\u304c\u521d\u306e\u30aa\u30ea\u30b3\u30f3TOP10\u5165\u308a\u3092\u679c\u305f\u3057\u305f\n\nBAND-MAID\u304c\u3001\u5f85\u671b\u306e3rd\u30b7\u30f3\u30b0\u30eb\u3092\u30ea\u30ea\u30fc\u30b9\u3002\n\n\u6d77\u5916\u30c4\u30a2\u30fc\u3092\u542b\u3081\u3066\u77e5\u540d\u5ea6\u3001\u5b9f\u529b\u5171\u306b\u4e0a\u6607\u4e2d\u306eBAND-MAID\u6e3e\u8eab\u306e\u30b7\u30f3\u30b0\u30eb\u3068\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u521d\u56de\u751f\u7523\u9650\u5b9a\u76e4(A\u30fbB)\u306b\u53ce\u9332\u3055\u308c\u308b\u6620\u50cf\u306b\u95a2\u3057\u3066\u306f\u3001BAND-MAID\u3068\u3057\u3066\u306f\u521d\u3068\u306a\u308b\u30e9\u30a4\u30d6\n\n\u3092\u30d5\u30eb\u53ce\u9332\u3057\u305f\u8c6a\u83ef\u5185\u5bb9\u3068\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\n\n\u3010\u53ce\u9332\u697d\u66f2\u3011 \u521d\u56de\u751f\u7523\u9650\u5b9a\u76e4A\n\n[CD]\n\n1.start over\n\n2.Screaming\n\n\n\n[Blu-ray]\n\n\u30fb4/13 Zepp Tokyo\u30e9\u30a4\u30d6\u6620\u50cf(\u516826\u66f2)\u53ce\u9332\u4e88\u5b9a\n\n\u203b\u521d\u56de\u751f\u7523\u9650\u5b9a\u76e4A\u30fbB\u3001\u901a\u5e38\u76e4\u5171\u901a\n\n\n\n\u30fb\u521d\u56de\u751f\u7523\u9650\u5b9a\u76e4A\u306e\u307f\n\n\u30fb\u30dc\u30fc\u30ca\u30b9\u30ab\u30fc\u30c9\u5c01\u5165(\u516822\u679a)\n\n\u30fbBAND-MAIKO\u300csecret MAIKO lips\u300d1\u66f2\u3092\u53ce\u9332\u3057\u305fCD\u4ed8\u5c5e\u3002\n\n\u30fb\u5b8c\u5168\u6570\u91cf\u9650\u5b9a\u751f\u7523(3,500\u679a)\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "C\u2019est devenu un \u00e9tendard de La R\u00e9publique en marche : l\u2019entr\u00e9e de la \u00ab soci\u00e9t\u00e9 civile \u00bb dans les institutions politiques serait la condition du renouvellement de la vie politique. La moiti\u00e9 des candidats LRM aux l\u00e9gislatives, la moiti\u00e9 du gouvernement\u2026 Emmanuel Macron a fait la part belle \u00e0 ces personnalit\u00e9s ext\u00e9rieures au monde politique. Mais l\u2019expression \u00ab soci\u00e9t\u00e9 civile \u00bb cache des situations tr\u00e8s diff\u00e9rentes et certains ministres d\u00e9sign\u00e9s sous cette banni\u00e8re sont loin d\u2019\u00eatre \u00e9trangers \u00e0 la politique.\n\nQu\u2019est-ce que la \u00ab soci\u00e9t\u00e9 civile \u00bb ?\n\nLe terme en lui-m\u00eame est vague et tr\u00e8s englobant. Il fait surtout r\u00e9f\u00e9rence \u00e0 tous les acteurs non gouvernementaux, comme les associations, les cercles de r\u00e9flexion ou encore les groupes d\u2019int\u00e9r\u00eat. L\u2019Union europ\u00e9enne, dans son Livre blanc sur la gouvernance y ajoute les syndicats, partenaires sociaux, les organisations non gouvernementales (ONG) ou les communaut\u00e9s religieuses. Pour simplifier, la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 civile d\u00e9signe tout ce qui \u00e9mane d\u2019une initiative citoyenne hors du cadre \u00e9tatique.\n\nEt c\u2019est pr\u00e9cis\u00e9ment la raison pour laquelle le terme a eu un tel succ\u00e8s durant la campagne pr\u00e9sidentielle. Pour beaucoup de candidats, la \u00ab soci\u00e9t\u00e9 civile \u00bb \u00e9tait une mani\u00e8re de d\u00e9signer, voire de d\u00e9noncer, la professionnalisation de la politique. Charlotte Marchandise, qui avait remport\u00e9 la primaire citoyenne en d\u00e9cembre 2016 sans parvenir \u00e0 se pr\u00e9senter \u00e0 la pr\u00e9sidentielle, se revendiquait d\u00e9j\u00e0 de cette \u00e9tiquette. Pour elle, il s\u2019agissait d\u2019\u00eatre \u00ab hors des partis \u00bb.\n\nArticle r\u00e9serv\u00e9 \u00e0 nos abonn\u00e9s Lire aussi La politique est-elle un vrai m\u00e9tier ?\n\nJean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon, Beno\u00eet Hamon et Emmanuel Macron en ont \u00e9galement beaucoup vant\u00e9 les m\u00e9rites. Les premiers assuraient que la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 civile en politique permettait le retour des citoyens au pouvoir et \u00e9tait un gage de d\u00e9mocratie. Pour Emmanuel Macron, elle \u00e9tait la condition au renouveau des pratiques politiques, incarn\u00e9e selon lui depuis trop longtemps par les m\u00eames personnes.\n\nSeuls 5 membres du gouvernement concern\u00e9s\n\nDans le gouvernement, le premier ministre, sur les consignes d\u2019Emmanuel Macron, a ainsi nomm\u00e9 onze ministres dits \u00ab de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 civile \u00bb, au sens o\u00f9 ils n\u2019exercent pas actuellement de fonction dans le monde politique. Pourtant, pour beaucoup, cela ne signifie pas qu\u2019ils sont des \u00ab citoyens comme les autres \u00bb, \u00e9trangers \u00e0 la politique.\n\nSix d\u2019entre eux sont soit militants, soit fins connaisseurs des arcanes du pouvoir. Ils ont tous d\u00e9j\u00e0 travaill\u00e9 aupr\u00e8s de personnalit\u00e9s politiques et ne sont pas des n\u00e9ophytes du milieu. Et \u00e0 en juger par leur parcours, ils ont tous des affinit\u00e9s politiques.\n\nCeux qui sont \u00e9cologistes\n\nLe cr\u00e9ateur de la Fondation Nicolas-Hulot pour la nature et l\u2019homme avait jusque-l\u00e0 refus\u00e9 d\u2019int\u00e9grer un gouvernement, mais il a malgr\u00e9 tout un engagement politique. M\u00eame s\u2019il a conseill\u00e9 Jacques Chirac comme Laurent Fabius, Nicolas Hulot a particip\u00e9 en 2011 \u00e0 la primaire d\u2019Europe \u00e9cologie-Les Verts pour la pr\u00e9sidentielle 2012. Il a ensuite \u00e9t\u00e9 nomm\u00e9 \u00ab envoy\u00e9 sp\u00e9cial pour la protection de la plan\u00e8te \u00bb par Fran\u00e7ois Hollande, fonction qu\u2019il a exerc\u00e9e jusqu\u2019en 2016.\n\nCeux qui sont proches de la gauche\n\nElle a surtout \u00e9t\u00e9 nomm\u00e9e \u00e0 ce poste pour son engagement associatif au sein de r\u00e9seau \u00ab Maman travaille \u00bb. Mais la plus jeune des femmes du gouvernement n\u2019est pas \u00e9trang\u00e8re \u00e0 la politique. En 2001, elle s\u2019est pr\u00e9sent\u00e9e aux \u00e9lections municipales de Paris. Elle a ensuite \u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e9lue au Mans en 2014 sous les couleurs de la gauche ; couleurs qu\u2019elle a \u00e9galement d\u00e9fendues aux d\u00e9partementales de 2015. Elle n\u2019est pas non plus compl\u00e8tement d\u00e9nu\u00e9e d\u2019exp\u00e9rience gouvernementale : en 2016, elle a particip\u00e9 au cabinet de Laurence Rossignol, ministre des familles, de l\u2019enfance et des droits des femmes dans le gouvernement Valls III.\n\nSon exp\u00e9rience \u00e0 la t\u00eate de la RATP, entreprise publique des transports parisien, est mise en avant pour justifier de son expertise dans le domaine des transports. Mais la nouvelle ministre fr\u00e9quente les cabinets minist\u00e9riels depuis les ann\u00e9es 1990, syst\u00e9matiquement dans des gouvernements socialistes. Elle a ainsi conseill\u00e9 Lionel Jospin \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9ducation entre 1991 et 1993, puis \u00e0 nouveau lorsque celui-ci \u00e9tait premier ministre de 1997 \u00e0 2002. Apr\u00e8s son exp\u00e9rience dans le priv\u00e9, elle renoue avec l\u2019administration en int\u00e9grant le cabinet de S\u00e9gol\u00e8ne Royal \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9cologie entre 2014 et 2015.\n\nElle est surtout reconnue pour son exp\u00e9rience dans le priv\u00e9, \u00e0 la t\u00eate de Business France ou au sein des entreprises Danone et Dassault System. Mais la nouvelle ministre a \u00e9galement connu l\u2019administration de 1985 \u00e0 1993, o\u00f9 elle a travaill\u00e9 en collaboration avec les ministres du travail socialistes. Elle a \u00e9galement fr\u00e9quent\u00e9 les cabinets minist\u00e9riels et a notamment \u00e9t\u00e9 conseill\u00e8re \u00e0 la formation aupr\u00e8s de Martine Aubry de 1991 \u00e0 1993.\n\nLe benjamin du gouvernement est connu pour son r\u00f4le en tant que responsable num\u00e9rique de la campagne d\u2019Emmanuel Macron. Sans jamais avoir \u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e9lu, il a \u00e9t\u00e9 encart\u00e9 au Parti socialiste, s\u2019est impliqu\u00e9 dans la primaire de 2011 avant de participer \u00e0 la campagne de Fran\u00e7ois Hollande en 2012. Ce dernier l\u2019a d\u2019ailleurs nomm\u00e9 pr\u00e9sident du Conseil national du num\u00e9rique en 2016.\n\nCeux qui sont proches de la droite\n\nDirecteur de l\u2019Essec, l\u2019une des plus grandes \u00e9coles de management fran\u00e7aise, et ancien recteur de l\u2019acad\u00e9mie de Cr\u00e9teil, Jean-Michel Blanquer dit lui-m\u00eame \u00ab ne jamais avoir fait de politique \u00bb. Il n\u2019a effectivement jamais \u00e9t\u00e9 militant. Mais il a une longue carri\u00e8re dans l\u2019administration, et plut\u00f4t aupr\u00e8s de gouvernements de droite. De 2006 \u00e0 2007, il exerce en tant que directeur adjoint de cabinet du ministre de l\u2019\u00e9ducation nationale de Jacques Chirac. De 2009 \u00e0 2012, sous Nicolas Sarkozy, il est le num\u00e9ro deux du minist\u00e8re dirig\u00e9 par Luc Chatel \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9poque. Sans en rallier aucun, il a \u00e9galement \u00e9t\u00e9 consult\u00e9 et \u00e9cout\u00e9 par tous les candidats \u00e0 la primaire de la droite.\n\nIls ne sont finalement que cinq sur vingt-trois \u00e0 n\u2019avoir jamais approch\u00e9 le monde politique et \u00e0 \u00eatre issus d\u2019un tout autre milieu. C\u2019est le cas de Laura Flessel, ministre des sports et ancienne escrimeuse, de Sophie Cluzel, secr\u00e9taire d\u2019Etat charg\u00e9e des personnes handicap\u00e9es et dirigeante associative, d\u2019Agn\u00e8s Buzyn, ministre de la sant\u00e9 et m\u00e9decin, de Fr\u00e9d\u00e9rique Vidal, ministre de l\u2019enseignement sup\u00e9rieur et pr\u00e9sidente de l\u2019Universit\u00e9 Nice-Sophia-Antipolis, et de Fran\u00e7oise Nyssen, ministre de la culture et \u00e9ditrice.\n\n\u00bb Saurez-vous les reconna\u00eetre ? Voir qui est qui sur la photo de famille du gouvernement d\u2019Edouard Philippe"}
-{"text": "If nothing else, you can this much for artificial intelligence: They\u2019re rarely afraid to look stupid. If a learning A.I. encounters something outside its preprogrammed knowledge, it will not typically be shy in asking the person with whom it is speaking to clarify.\n\nThis can, however, make for rather monotonous conversation for the human involved in talking to the chatbot, voice assistant, or generally conversant robot: \u201cWhat\u2019s an apple?\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s tiramisu?\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s cured meat?\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s do you know literally anything about food you stupid recipe chatbot?\u201d\n\nYou get the idea, and as researchers from Japan\u2019s Osaka University point out in a recent spotlight on their work, that last line is indicative of the real problem facing A.I.: Asking questions might be the best way for them to learn, but that doesn\u2019t count for much if the barrage of questions is so irritating or tedious that the human wanders off. It\u2019s not enough for the A.I. to know what it doesn\u2019t know. It also has to know how to keep humans engaged enough to fill in the gaps in its knowledge.\n\nTheir newly devised method uses what\u2019s known as lexical acquisition through implicit confirmation, which is basically a fancy way of saying artificial intelligence can now bullshit its way through conversations just as well as humans can. It pulls off this trick not by asking humans to confirm what something is but rather by saying something else that indirectly gets the conversation partner to confirm or deny the A.I.\u2019s instinct is correct.\n\nLet\u2019s take a look at an example.\n\nOsaka University\n\nThe A.I. knows enough to make a guess about the origins of the phrase \u201cnasi goreng,\u201d judging it sounds Indonesian. The fact the human said they will try to cook this dish suggests it\u2019s a food of some sort, and so the A.I. generates that statement \u2014 not question, though one is hidden within it \u2014 about the quality of Indonesian restaurants in the area.\n\nThe A.I. could presumably use basic data about recent restaurant openings and their online reviews to figure out whether that statement makes sense factually, perhaps otherwise saying something like \u201cThere really need to be more good Indonesian restaurants around here\u201d if it didn\u2019t find many options.\n\nBut that\u2019s just to reduce confusion, as even the human disagreeing with the statement would still answer the underlying question about whether nasi goreng is Indonesian. It\u2019s only if the person asks what the A.I. is talking about that it\u2019s clear the machine made a mistake.\n\nSo then, if you thought faking your way through conversations at parties was something only humans could ever do\u2026 sorry, automation really does come for us all."}
-{"text": "Why didn\u2019t someone cool and inspiring speak at my college graduation ceremony? Ok, I\u2019m sure who spoke was fine but I have absolutely memory of who it was or what they talked about. Plus, I probably just wanted them to stop talking so I could get out of that awful cap and gown.\n\nAmy Poehler spoke to Harvard\u2019s 2011 graduating class last Wednesday, where she talked about the rules of improvisation that she applies to her everyday life, her advice on becoming an actor (\u201cDon\u2019t do it\u201d \u2013 at the 4:30 mark) and quoted the wise words of OutKast.\n\nThe speech is 15 minutes long but like Denzel Washington\u2018s speech to University of Pennsylvania last week, it is something I think you should listen to; it\u2019s inspirational and funny.\n\nMy favorite part of the speech:\n\n\u201cYou cant do it alone. As you navigate through the rest of your life, be open to collaboration. Other people and other people\u2019s ideas are often better than your own. Find a group or people who challenge and inspire you. Spend a lot of time with them and it will change your life.\u201d\n\nVideo after the jump\n\n\n\nFor more inspiration, check out Denzel Washington\u2018s speech to Pittsburgh\u2019s graduating class"}
-{"text": "MODULATE IT |\n\nSounds come to life with modulation: So BOLT offers four powerful modulation generators. Its 3 LFOs and one Modulation Envelope Generator ensure a host of modulation possibilites. No matter, if you are after snappy transients or would like to modulate different aspects of the sound all at the same time \u2013 you can do all of that and more. The modulation generators can even modulate each other if you want to push the envelope. The best is, that it\u2019s easy to experiment: Modulation Targets are pre-assigned, so you simply need to bring up a target amount to hear an effect.\n\nThe MODULATION EG is modeled after classic ADSR envelopes and cover a range from ultra-snappy and percussive to lush sound scapes. The 4 modulation Targets can be assigned to many destinations, including LFO Frequency and Intensity."}
-{"text": "\u041a\u0430\u043a \u0431\u0443\u0434\u0435\u0442 \u0432\u044b\u0433\u043b\u044f\u0434\u0435\u0442\u044c \u0415\u0432\u0440\u043e\u0441\u043e\u044e\u0437 \u0447\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437 \u043f\u044f\u0442\u044c \u043b\u0435\u0442, \u0440\u0435\u0448\u0438\u0442\u0441\u044f \u0432 \u0431\u043b\u0438\u0436\u0430\u0439\u0448\u0438\u0435 \u043d\u0435\u0441\u043a\u043e\u043b\u044c\u043a\u043e \u043c\u0435\u0441\u044f\u0446\u0435\u0432, \u0438 \u044d\u0442\u043e \u0437\u0430\u0432\u0438\u0441\u0438\u0442 \u043e\u0442 \u0440\u0430\u0437\u0432\u0438\u0442\u0438\u044f \u0441\u043e\u0431\u044b\u0442\u0438\u0439 \u043d\u0430 \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0438\u043d\u0435. \"\u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438\u044f \u0412\u043b\u0430\u0434\u0438\u043c\u0438\u0440\u0430 \u041f\u0443\u0442\u0438\u043d\u0430 - \u044d\u0442\u043e \u0430\u0433\u0440\u0435\u0441\u0441\u043e\u0440, \u0430 \u043e\u0431\u043e\u0440\u043e\u043d\u044f\u044e\u0449\u0430\u044f\u0441\u044f \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0438\u043d\u0430 \u0437\u0430\u0449\u0438\u0449\u0430\u0435\u0442 \u0442\u0430\u043a\u0436\u0435 \u0442\u0435 \u0446\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438 \u0438 \u043f\u0440\u0438\u043d\u0446\u0438\u043f\u044b, \u043d\u0430 \u043a\u043e\u0442\u043e\u0440\u044b\u0445 \u043e\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0432\u044b\u0432\u0430\u0435\u0442\u0441\u044f \u0415\u0421\", - \u043f\u0438\u0448\u0435\u0442 \u0430\u043c\u0435\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u043d\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0439 \u0444\u0438\u043d\u0430\u043d\u0441\u0438\u0441\u0442 \u0438 \u043c\u0438\u043b\u043b\u0438\u0430\u0440\u0434\u0435\u0440 \u0414\u0436\u043e\u0440\u0434\u0436 \u0421\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0441 \u0432 \u0441\u0442\u0430\u0442\u044c\u0435, \u043e\u043f\u0443\u0431\u043b\u0438\u043a\u043e\u0432\u0430\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0439 \u0432 \u0441\u0443\u0431\u0431\u043e\u0442\u0443, 4 \u0430\u043f\u0440\u0435\u043b\u044f, \u043d\u0430 \u0441\u0430\u0439\u0442\u0435 \u043d\u0435\u043c\u0435\u0446\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u0433\u0430\u0437\u0435\u0442\u044b Die Welt.\n\n\u041f\u043e \u043c\u043d\u0435\u043d\u0438\u044e \u0421\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0441\u0430, \u0415\u0432\u0440\u043e\u043f\u0430 \u043e\u0431\u0440\u0430\u0449\u0430\u0435\u0442\u0441\u044f \u0441 \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0438\u043d\u043e\u0439, \u043a\u0430\u043a \u0441\u043e \u0432\u0442\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0439 \u0413\u0440\u0435\u0446\u0438\u0435\u0439, \u043d\u043e \u044d\u0442\u0430 \u043f\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0442\u0438\u043a\u0430 \u043e\u0448\u0438\u0431\u043e\u0447\u043d\u0430 \u0438 \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0432\u0435\u0434\u0435\u0442 \u043a \u043f\u043b\u0430\u0447\u0435\u0432\u043d\u044b\u043c \u0440\u0435\u0437\u0443\u043b\u044c\u0442\u0430\u0442\u0430\u043c. \"\u041f\u0443\u0442\u0438\u043d \u043d\u0435 \u0436\u0435\u043b\u0430\u0435\u0442 \u0432\u043e\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0439 \u043f\u043e\u0431\u0435\u0434\u044b \u043d\u0430 \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0438\u043d\u0435, \u0447\u0442\u043e\u0431\u044b 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\u0432\u0441\u0435\u0445 \u0438 \u0432\u044b\u0431\u0438\u0440\u0430\u044f \"\u043c\u0435\u0436\u0434\u0443 \u0433\u0438\u0431\u0440\u0438\u0434\u043d\u043e\u0439 \u0432\u043e\u0439\u043d\u043e\u0439 \u0438 \u0433\u0438\u0431\u0440\u0438\u0434\u043d\u044b\u043c \u043c\u0438\u0440\u043e\u043c\", \u043e\u0442\u043c\u0435\u0447\u0430\u0435\u0442 \u0421\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0441. \u0412 \u044d\u0442\u043e\u0439 \u0441\u0438\u0442\u0443\u0430\u0446\u0438\u0438 \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0438\u043d\u0430 \u0438 \u0435\u0435 \u0441\u043e\u044e\u0437\u043d\u0438\u043a\u0438 \u0443\u0441\u043f\u0435\u0432\u0430\u044e\u0442 \u043b\u0438\u0448\u044c \u0440\u0435\u0430\u0433\u0438\u0440\u043e\u0432\u0430\u0442\u044c, \u0430 \u043c\u0435\u0436\u0434\u0443 \u0442\u0435\u043c \"\u043f\u0430\u0434\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0435 \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0438\u043d\u044b \u0432\u0441\u0435 \u0443\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0440\u044f\u0435\u0442\u0441\u044f\", 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-{"text": "The United States and Germany are prepared to engineer a coup in Greece to keep the country operating as a strategic asset on NATO\u2019s vulnerable southeast European flank.\n\n\u201cA putsch in Athens to save allied Greece from enemy Russia is in preparation by the US and Germany, with backing from the non-taxpayers of Greece \u2013 the Greek oligarchs, Anglo-Greek shipowners, and the Greek Church,\u201d writes John Helmer, the longest continuously serving foreign correspondent in Russia not connected to the corporate media.\n\nThe primary tip-off something is brewing can be detected by the presence of Victoria Nuland, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, in Athens in March.\n\nNuland, The Guardian reported on March 17, \u201cflew into the capital amid mounting US concerns that the great euro debt crisis has begun to pose a geopolitical threat. Allowed to veer out of control, Greece could end up in the ambit of Russia, financially bereft and without the EU links that keep it bounded to the west. Nato\u2019s south-eastern flank would be immeasurably weakened at a time of mounting global security worries over Islamic fundamentalists in the Middle East.\u201d\n\nNuland and the United States may be working closely with Greek military to foment a coup following the historic \u201cNo\u201d vote in a referendum of the demands of the banksters.\n\nShe is notorious for her role in the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Ukraine and it now appears she has been assigned for a repeat in Greece. Helmer writes that when Nuland\n\nvisited Athens to issue an ultimatum against breaking the anti-Russian sanctions regime, and the Anglo-American think-tanks followed with warnings the Russian Navy is about to sail into Piraeus, the object of the game [became] clear. The line for Operation Nemesis has been that Greece must be saved, not from itself or from its creditors, but from the enemy in Moscow.\n\nRussia to Rescue Greece from Bankers\n\nRussia is reportedly prepared to help Greece as it battles the banksters on Wall Street and Brussels. It is believed a Greek exit from the eurozone will move the country closer to Russia and deepen divisions within NATO.\n\nGreek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of the socialist Syriza party said in mid-June an alignment with Russia is possible and hinted Greece was \u201cready to go to new seas to reach new safe ports.\u201d\n\nKremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum Russia would consider providing loans to Greece if requested.\n\nGreek Military Sends Strong Message\n\nOn Friday a number of Greek military officers publicly called for a \u201cyes\u201d vote.\n\n\u201cRetired General Fragkoulis Fragkos, a former defense minister and one-time head of the Greek army general staff, called for a \u2018loud yes on Sunday.\u2019 In 2011, Fragkos was cashiered by then-Prime Minister George Papandreou amid rumors of a coup,\u201d writes Alex Lantier.\n\nClearly referring to Tsipras, Fragkos said that \u201cthe moral values and principles that have always defined us Greeks are not under negotiation with any clueless and historically ignorant politician who is advancing his own party interest.\u201d A group of 65 retired high-ranking officers issued a statement citing their \u201coath to the Fatherland and the Flag\u201d and warning, \u201cBy choosing isolation, we place the Fatherland and its future in danger.\u201d\n\nTsipras and Syriza prepared for a possible coup in January by shuffling military staff.\n\n\u201cThe leadership (of the military and intelligence services) was changed,\u201d sources told Heller, \u201cbut not radically. The defense minister (Panos Kammenos) is rightist so there are no \u2018radicals\u2019 in command.\u201d\n\nGreek Military is an Operation Gladio Asset\n\nUS intervention in Greece is nothing new. Between 1987 and 1989 the US made a concerted effort to overthrow the elected Greek government of Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou.\n\nPrior to this in 1967 the Greek military installed the Regime of the Colonels following a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat .\n\nThe Greek military was under the control of the CIA following Greece\u2019s entrance into NATO in 1952. Elements of the Greek military were part of the CIA\u2019s \u201cstay behind\u201d network under Operation Gladio and these elements (specifically LOK, or Lochoi Orein\u014dn Katadrom\u014dn, i.e. \u201cMountain Raiding Companies\u201d) were directly involved in the 1967 coup.\n\nThe Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today!"}
-{"text": "Court: No Benefits For Kids Conceived After Dad Died\n\nThe U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that that a Florida man's children, conceived after his death through in vitro fertilization, are not entitled to Social Security survivors benefits. More than 100 similar cases are pending before the Social Security Administration, but Monday's ruling is unlikely to resolve most of them.\n\nKaren Capato's husband, Robert, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2000. Fearing that his chemotherapy would leave him sterile, Robert deposited sperm at a fertility clinic before his cancer treatments began. When Robert's condition deteriorated, the couple planned to have Karen use the frozen sperm to conceive after Robert's death so their son would have siblings.\n\nEighteen months after Robert's death at age 44, Karen gave birth to twins.\n\nAs she had with their other child, Karen applied for survivors benefits, based on Robert's earnings and taxes paid under the Social Security system. The agency denied the claim. It contended that under the Social Security Act, eligibility is based on the intestacy laws of each state \u2014 meaning whether an individual would qualify to inherit if there were no will. And in Florida, where the couple lived, state law bars inheritance for children conceived posthumously.\n\nKaren Capato challenged the denial of benefits in court, contending that Social Security Administration had misread the statute. She argued that the word \"child\" is clearly defined in the 1939 Social Security Act as the biological offspring of a married couple, and she contended that the section of the law linking benefits to state intestacy statutes only applies when biological parentage is disputed. A federal appeals court sided with her, but on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously against her.\n\nWriting for the court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the Social Security Administration's reading of the law, linking it to state intestacy statutes, is \"better attuned\" to the design of the Social Security statute, which, she said, is to \"benefit primarily those the deceased wage earner actually supported in his or her lifetime.\"\n\nGinsburg conceded that that the agency's interpretation may not be the only reasonable one, but under the court's long-standing precedent, she said as long as it is reasonable, it is entitled to deference.\n\nFreezing sperm for future use goes back to the early 1960s, says Pepperdine law professor Kristine Knaplund.\n\n\"Right about the time we started planning the space program,\" Knaplund says, \"astronauts began banking their sperm partly because we weren't sure if they would come back, and partly because even if they came back we weren't sure they'd still be fertile.\"\n\nSince then, banking sperm has become far more commonplace for people of childbearing age who have potentially terminal diseases, or for those going off to war.\n\nThe Social Security Administration has more than 100 cases pending with claims like Capato's. An unknown number of those were filed by the surviving spouses of military personnel who froze sperm or embryos before deploying.\n\nBut unlike Robert Capato, who lived in a state where the intestacy law is very specific for posthumously conceived children, most of these children do not live in a state where the law is clear. Thirteen states have laws that specifically allow posthumously conceived children to inherit in cases where there is no will. Four states, including Florida, specifically do not. As for the rest, it will be up to the state courts to determine what the state law is by determining who is a \"child\" entitled to inherit under state intestacy law.\n\nIn short, in most of the country, this is a question still very much up in the air."}
-{"text": "UPDATE: The University of Southern Maine has \u201cbarred\u201d Dr. Susan Feiner, a now-retired USM professor, from teaching after she promoted and organized the anti-Kavanaugh \u201cpop-up\u201d course that offered college credit to students if they bussed to Washington, D.C. to protest Senator Susan Collins.\n\n\n\nAs reported by the Press Herald, according to a statement released Wednesday by USM President Glenn Cummings, Feiner was using the course to \u201cadvanc[e] her personal political agenda.\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cWe are embarrassed by and apologize for the rogue behavior of a former colleague,\u201d Cummings said. \u201cIn response to her inappropriate actions Dr. Susan Feiner has been notified that she is now barred from teaching at the University of Southern Maine, a prohibition that will be upheld by the other campuses of the University of Maine System as well.\u201d\n\nCampus Reform is awaiting further comment from USM and will post developments as warranted.\n\n\u201cStudents can earn 1 credit FREE for enrolling...requirements of the pop-up include: busing overnight to Washington, D.C. to join activists, political action groups, and social justice organizations to meet with Sen. Collins.\u201d\n\nOriginal story below\n\n___\n\nThe University of Southern Maine halted a proposed pop-up course offering a free credit to students to travel to Washington, D.C. to join \u201csocial justice organizations\u201d in meeting with Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a swing vote on the confirmation of Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh.\n\nUSM\u2019s diversity and inclusive programming coordinator Gabriel Demaine floated the idea of the credit offering to Peter Witham, an administrative specialist at the school, in an email obtained by the Maine Republican Party. But the school's president and provost ultimately scrapped the offer.\n\n\u201cThis pop-up-course was hastily arranged, without the knowledge of the Provost or myself,\" USM President Glenn Cummings said via a post on the Maine Republican Party Facebook page. \"It was not appropriately reviewed nor went through proper channels.\"\n\n\n\n\"As soon as the Provost and I were apprised of the course, we immediately pulled the one-credit offering. We also made sure that no USM monies were being used for the trip,\" Cummings added.\n\n\u201cStudents can earn 1 credit FREE for enrolling in this Pop-Up course on \u2018Engaged Citizenship,\u2019\u201d Demaine said in the email. \u201cThe requirements of the pop-up include: busing overnight to Washington, D.C. to join activists, political action groups, and social justice organizations to meet with Sen. Collins.\u201d\n\n\u201cRally up around the FBI investigation of the Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh,\" the email added.\n\n[RELATED: Maine offers in-state tuition to illegal immigrants statewide]\n\nA survey link was included in the email which asked students to \"check\" off statements that applied to them. Statements included, \"I am interested in civil disobedience/willing to get arrested (Bail is about $50/arrest. Please have a plan)\" and \"I am a survivor and willing to share my story to the public (Livestream, rally, press).\"\n\nThe diversity and inclusive programming coordinator noted that the bus was scheduled to leave Portland, Maine at 9 p.m. on Wednesday and arrive in Washington, D.C. on Thursday morning. The students were scheduled to travel back to Portland on Friday morning.\n\n\u201cThis Pop-Up Course is Tuition FREE for all matriculated USM undergrads,\u201d Demaine noted. \u201cTuition fees waived at completion of course.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\nCollins lambasted President Donald Trump after he imitated Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her more than 30 years ago, for her inability to remember certain details of the alleged incident.\n\n\u201cThe president\u2019s comments were just plain wrong,\u201d Collins told reporters, according to The Washington Post.\n\nCummings said that university policy explicitly states that taxpayer-financed schools must be impartial with regard to religious, political, and social issues that fall outside USM's research, education, and public service objectives.\n\n\"While I think getting student[s] involved in politics and use their freedom of speech, it is important to not use taxpayers' dollars or student tuition to do so as there are other ways to do the same thing. If students want to say something they\u2019ll find the way,\" University of Southern Maine student Makenzie Baber told Campus Reform.\n\n\"As a college student, I\u2019ve worked hard for ways to reduce college tuition. [A] one-credit class would be an excellent idea but not on other people\u2019s dime. I support the University\u2019s decision to withdraw from offering this opportunity as it an unfair use of my money and many others. While I think [sic] the faculty\u2019s support for students to be engaged the money should\u2019ve come from one funder or the students going on the trip,\" Baber added.\n\nFollow the authors of this article on Twitter: @ShimshockandAwe and @Grace_Gotcha"}
-{"text": "In the land of Unix, vi is a native and Emacs is an alien. Whether it's an alien from space or an alien from a foreign country depends on how I'm feeling at the time, but it isn't from around here.\n\nvi stands for 'visual interface'. It's a visual interface to ex, a Unix text editor developed by Bill Joy and others around 1976 as a line editor that grew out of constant hacking on ed, the line editor created by Ken Thompson around 1970 for the original Unix system. vi came soon after ex, and was also in use in 1976.\n\nEmacs ('Editor MACros') was originally written around 1975 by Richard Stallman and many others in the command language of a text editor for ITS called TECO (Text Editor and COrrector, originally Tape Editor and COrrector because it was first designed to edit files stored on paper tape). ITS stood for 'Incompatible Timesharing System', and it was even stranger than that. The command line in ITS was a machine code debugger like MS-DOS's debug.com could only dream of being. The most important thing about ITS, however, was that it was a child of wealth: MIT officially sanctioned it, as bizarre as it was, and gave the people using it high-end computers that could run an interactive full-screen text editor written in a high-level language without bogging down completely.\n\ned, on the other hand, was a child of poverty. The original Unix was a very much unsanctioned (or semi-sanctioned) use of an obsolete PDP-7 that Bell Telephone Labs (now Lucent) happened to have kicking around in a closet. Even after Unix was ported to more modern hardware it still had to deal with people using it from teletypes, which are typewriters that somehow learned to talk on the phone through a modem. There is absolutely no way to use a full-screen editor on a teletype, so ed was designed to let people edit files line by line. By the time vi was developed teletypes were dead, but Unix systems were still relatively underpowered. Writing an editor in a high-level language simply wouldn't have worked.\n\nIn 1978, Bernard Greenberg wrote an Emacs clone for an OS called Multics. It's so important because it was written in Lisp, a programming language that escaped from a mathematician's equations. Lisp was the ultimate high-level language back then, as it had been since 1958 and as it still is (along with others). Writing Emacs in Lisp meant that people could modify Emacs in Lisp, and write extensions to Emacs in Lisp. Lisp, in turn, could be modified in ways to make writing Emacs easier, as all Lisp programs are at least partially an exercise in language-building. Modern Emacs had been born. By the 1980s, both ITS and Multics were effectively dead. The people who worked on them went elsewhere, mostly to Unix, and in 1984 Richard Stallman created GNU Emacs partly to further his political goals but mainly to ensure Emacs, his only begotten son, would survive the destruction of his homeworld.\n\nLisp programs usually like to stay within the Lisp universe, creating an ethnic neighborhood that hangs together extremely well but doesn't quite mix with the outside city. Some, like GNU Emacs, grow so self-contained they resemble operating systems. People create within Emacs an environment where they can share information freely between programs (called 'modes' in GNU Emacs) and rely on a number of memorized keystrokes and tactics to efficiently rule the universe. That is the glory of Emacs.\n\nvi is only one part of an entire operating system, usually one called 'Unix' or 'Linux' or something similar. It mixes well with the Unix natives like sed and ls and grep. It shares information freely using pipes and temporary files the way all other Unix programs do. People who understand and enjoy the command line use vi as one part of the larger command line universe. That is the glory of vi.\n\nhttp://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~kirkenda/joy84.html -- Interview with Bill Joy about the history of vi. It contains this interesting quote from Joy:\n\nBut fundamentally, vi is still ed inside. You can't really fool it. Its like one of those pinatas - things that have candy inside but has layer after layer of paper mache on top.\n\nThis is how a lot of Unix programs are created: There is a core engine (usually written in C) that does all the hard work with algorithms and brutal speed hacks. Layered on top of that is the interface, something to make it pretty and usable. In Emacs, on the other hand, the only thing written in C is a Lisp compiler/bytecode interpreter. All of the 'editor' stuff is in Emacs Lisp.\n\nhttp://www.english.uga.edu/hc/unixhistory.html -- A very brief history of early Unix.\n\nhttp://c2.com/cgi/wiki?EmacsIsSuperman -- A story on the original wiki revealing the true origin of Emacs."}
-{"text": "Sputnik News (h/t Marvin W) Swedish national broadcaster SVT has unpublished an opinion piece penned by a person attached to the Stockholm Jewish Assembly after the author and his family were threatened with violence, the Swedish news outlet Swedish national broadcaster SVT has unpublished an opinion piece penned by a person attached to the Stockholm Jewish Assembly after the author and his family were threatened with violence, the Swedish news outlet Samh\u00e4llsnytt has reported.\n\nIn the article, the writer criticized Center party leader Annie L\u00f6\u00f6f and the Swedish media for focusing on alleged Nazi anti-Semitism in connection with the her speech at Almedalen Week, a political gathering. She claims to have been disrupted by booing right-wing extremists.\n\nThe author argued that today the Jew-hating Muslims constituted a more palpable threat for Swedish Jews than Nazis. The piece bore the self-explanatory headline \u201cNazism is not the greatest threat to Jews\u201d and pointed out a \u201cdeeply indoctrinated hatred\u201d among many Muslims.\n\nThe removal of the article resulted in angry reactions from Swedish users, who asked why SVT had chosen to put the lid on this story instead of shedding more light on it. Some argued that had the threats come from right-wingers, it would have doubtlessly triggered an outcry about \u201chate storm.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd where were these threats coming from? Yes, from the very same group, which is the biggest threat to Jews in Sweden, as the journalist highlighted \u2014 Muslims. But you\u2019ll never dare to go out with it. So go ahead, keep mum, sing kumbaya and pretend it\u2019s raining,\u201d one user tweeted\n\nAnother user tweeted: \u201cWhen will SVT do a proper series of reviews about this new societal development? Or is it just Nazis, Nazis and Nazis who get highlighted as a threat to Jews in Sweden? For many years, the Jews have been moving from Malm\u00f6 because of threats from the city\u2019s Muslims (who are now the majority).\u201d\n\nIn Sweden, which has the EU\u2019s seventh largest Jewish diaspora of about 20,000 people, has recently seen a rise in anti-Semitism amid snowballing immigration from predominantly Muslim countries. Previously, members of the Jewish community in Malm\u00f6, including rabbis and spiritual leaders, have experienced threats.\n\nBy contrast, the number of Muslims in the country has been estimated at 800,000, or 8.1 percent of Sweden\u2019s population of about 10 million. Two newly arrived immigrants of Syrian and Palestinian origin were arrested for a bomb attack against a synagogue in Sweden\u2019s second largest city of Gothenburg."}
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-{"text": "article\n\nCartons of almond milk are being recalled for containing milk, an allergen not listed on the label.\n\nHP Hood LLC announced this week they're voluntarily recalling more than 145,000 half-gallon cartons of refrigerated Vanilla Almond Breeze almond milk because of the possibility of them containing milk, according to the Food and Drug Administration.\n\nThe product is safe to drink unless the consumer has a milk allergy or sensitivity, according to an FDA.\n\nThe half-gallon cartons were shipped to retailers and wholesalers in:\n\nAlabama\n\nArkansas\n\nConnecticut\n\nFlorida\n\nGeorgia\n\nIowa\n\nIllinois\n\nIndiana\n\nKentucky\n\nLouisiana\n\nMaryland\n\nMaine\n\nMichigan\n\nMinnesota\n\nMissouri\n\nMississippi\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nNebraska\n\nNew Jersey\n\nNew York\n\nOhio\n\nOklahoma\n\nPennsylvania\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nTennessee\n\nTexas\n\nVirginia\n\nWisconsin\n\nThose units that were recalled represent less than .8 percent of half-gallon containers of the Vanilla Almond Breeze almond milk shipped by Hood in the last 12 months.\n\n\nThe recall only applies to refrigerated Vanilla Almond Breeze almond milk with a use-by date of September 2, 2018. To identify the affected products, consumers should look for the stamped information printed as:\n\nUSE BY: SEP 02 18 (07:36 \u2014 20:48) H5 L1 51-4109\n\nUSE BY: SEP 02 18 (07:36 \u2014 20:48) H5 L2 51-4109\n\nUSE BY: SEP 02 18 (07:36 \u2014 20:48) H6 L1 51-4109\n\nUSE BY: SEP 02 18 (07:36 \u2014 20:48) H6 L2 51-4109\n\nThe carton will also have a UPC bar code of \u201c41570 05621\u201d on the side panel of the carton next to the nutrition facts. For more information on the recall, CLICK HERE!"}
-{"text": "All month long we've been rolling out features covering BioWare's next game, Anthem. We visited the studio and asked the game's creators a ton of questions, but now we want to hand the reigns over to you. On an upcoming episode of The Game Informer Show, we're Skyping in Anthem's game director Jonathan Warner to answer questions from the community. Leave a comment below and let us know your burning questions about BioWare's Anthem.\n\nYou can subscribe to the podcast and get ready for this week's interview by clicking here."}
-{"text": "Limerick-born brothers John and Patrick Collison, founders of online payments company Stripe, have been named as winners of the Irish Times Business Person of the Year Award.\n\nThey were recognised for their success in raising $345m in funding in the past year, which saw Stripe\u2019s valuation leap to $22.5bn.\n\nThe brothers are now estimated to be worth $2.3bn each.\n\nJohn, 28, and Patrick, 30, were among 12 monthly winners considered for the overall prize.\n\nStripe now has 1,800 employees and expects to employ more than 300 people at its Irish operations by the end of this year, Patrick told attendees via video link.\n\nThe annual awards, which recognise excellence and outstanding achievement in Irish business, in association with KPMG, were held in the Mansion House last night and attended by more than 300 people.\n\nDalata, Ireland's largest hotel group, won The Irish Times Company of the Year Award, sponsored by KPMG.\n\nThe company, led by Sligo entrepreneur Pat McCann, announced a 13% growth in profits before tax to more than \u20ac87m for 2018 in addition to revenue growth of almost 12% to \u20ac394m.\n\nThe Irish Times Top 1,000* Distinguished Leader in Business Award was presented to Breege O\u2019Donoghue, a former senior executive of leading fast fashion retailer Primark/Penneys.\n\nThree other awards were presented on the night. Coillte, the State-owned forestry group won the Deal of the Year Award for the sale of its stake in four wind farms to Greencoat Renewables for \u20ac136m.\n\nKen Bowles from Smurfit Kappa, won the CFO of the Year Award, while Irish food company Strong Roots won the Local Enterprise of the Year award.\n\nThe Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe told attendees: \u201cIreland\u2019s recovery in recent years is, among other things, inextricably linked to the willingness of successful companies and exceptional individuals to work hard and embrace innovation.\n\nThey are at the forefront of helping to build an Ireland that will continue to prosper in our rapidly changing world.\n\nThere is much to be celebrated and acknowledged in respect of the companies and individuals who have excelled this past year and tonight is a fitting recognition of their combined achievements.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Although we humans have been stuffing ourselves silly since the dawn of time, it\u2019s only in the relatively recent past that we\u2019ve stopped to really think about what we consume. The cream of this year\u2019s crop of books on food and drink do precisely this, asking deep questions about the nature of our food system and why we eat what we eat when we eat it.\n\nIt\u2019s not an easy task, but then again, there\u2019s a lot of ground to cover. Whether you\u2019re interested in the provenance of your morning cup of Joe, how a key pantry staple ended up in your kitchen, or to whom the legacy of Southern cuisine truly belongs, there\u2019s a little something for every curious mind in this year\u2019s list.\n\nAncient Brews: Rediscovered and Re-created It\u2019s no shocker that life is far different today than it was a millennia-plus ago, but we have at least one thing in common with our ancestors: We all love a good drink. In Ancient Brews, Patrick E. McGovern\u2014the scientific director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Project for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages, and Health at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia and an adjunct professor of anthropology there\u2014drinks back in time to reveal the secrets and lingering influence of early libations, from a Neolithic-era Chinese \u201ccocktail\u201d of wild grapes, hawthorn fruit, rice and honey to chicha, a nearly 5,000-year-old, maize-based beer that\u2019s still consumed all over Central and South America. McGovern\u2019s paean to all thing alcohol comes complete with recipes for ambitious, history-minded home brewers. Cheers to that!\n\nWhere the Wild Coffee Grows: The Untold Story of Coffee from the Cloud Forests of Ethiopia to Your Cup From IACP Award-winning author Jeff Koehler comes Where the Wild Coffee Grows, a deep dive into the fascinating history of coffee that meanders from the once-isolated, deep forests of Ethiopia\u2019s Kafa region to the warm embrace of your local bodega. Coffee\u2019s path to world domination is anything but straightforward and this story might be unwieldy in the hands of a lesser talent, but Koehler is more than up to the task. A must-read for coffee enthusiasts, Where Wild Coffee Grows also looks ahead to the staggering challenges facing the coffee industry\u2014diseases and climate change are ravaging production in Latin America, the producer of 85 percent of the world\u2019s Arabica beans\u2014and why you should care.\n\nBound to the Fire: How Virginia's Enslaved Cooks Helped Invent American Cuisine It\u2019s an uncomfortable truth that much of what we now consider classic American cuisine was forged in plantation kitchens by enslaved Africans. In Bound to the Fire, historical archaeologist and historian Kelley Fanto Deetz reckons with this troubling history, placing the spotlight on the plantation house kitchens of colonial and pre-emancipation Virginia\u2014including Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Monticello and George Washington\u2019s Mount Vernon\u2014where skilled cooks invented complex, labor-intensive dishes such as oyster stew, gumbo and fried fish. For centuries, white owners took credit for these culinary masterpieces; Deetz seeks to restore credit to where it belongs.\n\nCork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste If you love wine but are deathly intimidated by it, Bianca Bosker might be your guardian angel. In Cork Dork, Bosker posits that she was once just like you. Entranced by the shrouded world of elite sommeliers, Bosker sets out to learn everything she can about the fruit of the vine, a journey that takes her from the mass-market wine factories of California to exclusive high-end wine tastings in New York City. But this recounting is not without a sense of humor. The San Francisco Chronicle puts it best: \u201cFor a wine book, Cork Dork is remarkably entertaining. Bosker is a talented writer, a thorough reporter and is unfailingly funny.\u201d\n\nThe Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South In The Potlikker Papers, the godfather of Southern food writing, John T. Edge, takes readers through the history of the modern South as revealed through its many dishes, ingredients and culinary figures. The book\u2019s namesake dish, potlikker, is itself a microcosm of the book\u2019s subject: In the antebellum South, slave owners would eat greens prepared for them by enslaved cooks, leaving the broth\u2014potlikker\u2014for their chattel. But unbeknownst to them, it was that leftover broth, not the greens, that conveyed sustaining nutrients. Thoroughly researched, The Potlikker Papers chronicles 60 years of food history, from the soul food-piled plates of Civil Rights-era Montgomery, Alabama, to the introduction of fish sauce and gochujang by recent immigrants across several communities in the South.\n\nThe Taste of Empire: How Britain's Quest for Food Shaped the Modern World Even the most amateur students of history know that the conquests of the British Empire shaped, to great extent, the modern world, but did you know that those conquests were informed by, what else, food? Through 20 meals spanning 450 years and ranging from the Far East to the New World, historian Lizzie Collingham tells the story of the world from a different vantage point: An empire ruled by the conquest of maize, tea and more. \u201cThis is a marvelously wide-ranging and readable book, stuffed with engaging details and startling connections,\u201d writes the Financial Times.\n\nBy the Smoke and the Smell: My Search for the Rare and Sublime on the Spirits Trail Turns out that cocktail whisperer Thad Vogler, the owner of San Francisco\u2019s acclaimed drinking dens Bar Agricole and Trou Normand, has a secret talent: He can write. In By the Smoke and the Smell, a tome that\u2019s part journalism and part memoir, Vogler makes the case for \u201cgrower spirits\u201d\u2014alcoholic beverages of particular provenance and tradition\u2014over conglomerate booze peddlers that have come to dominate the drinking space. The book meanders from France to Cuba to Northern Ireland to Mexico, taking sips of local spirits along the way. Drinks writer Robert Simonson has called the work a \u201cnecessary book at a critical time\u2026 principled, impassioned, frank, funny and more than a little cranky, and all the better for it.\u201d\n\nBaking Powder Wars: The Cutthroat Food Fight that Revolutionized Cooking (Heartland Foodways) Today baking powder is an essential and perhaps taken-for-granted ingredient in American pantries, but in the mid-19th century, it was a newfangled leavening innovation that transformed the commerce landscape. In Baking Powder Wars, food historian and professional pastry chef Linda Civitello tells of the forgotten battle between four major baking powder purveyors\u2014Rumford, Calumet, Clabber Girl and the once-popular brand Royal\u2014and the vicious lengths to which each went to emerge victorious. Highlights include Royal\u2019s claim that its rivals hocked poison and the Ku Klux Klan\u2019s crusade against Clabber Girl (yes, really). You\u2019ll never look at baking powder quite the same way again.\n\nThe Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen It\u2019s not every day one finds an excellent cookbook devoted to an indigenous American cuisine, which is why The Sioux Chef\u2019s Indigenous Kitchen by Sean Sherman\u2014a North Dakota based chef of Oglala Lakota descent\u2014is such a treat. In this cookbook, you won\u2019t find fry bread or Indian tacos (both outdated interpretations of Native American cuisine) nor staples introduced by European settlers. Instead, The Sioux Chef\u2019s Indigenous Kitchen\u2019s pages are devoted to recipes for venison and rabbit, river and lake trout, duck and quail, wild turkey, blueberries, sage, sumac and more. \u201cMr. Sherman is joining a vital group that stretches across North America and Canada, using food culture to celebrate and empower native people,\u201d raves New York Times food writer Tejal Rao."}
-{"text": "Dean James at Right Wing Tribune\n\nAccording to a recent Gallup poll, First lady Melania Trump has been named one of America\u2019s \u201cMost Admired\u201d women.\n\n4% of the respondents to the poll opted for the first lady, putting her comfortably in the top five in a tie with Hillary Clinton, AOL reports.\n\ntake our poll - story continues below\n\nWill You Be Voting In Person November 3rd?(2) Will You Be Voting In Person November 3rd?\n\nShould the Government be Mandating Masks? * Yes No My State Is Not Allowing In Person Voting\n\nEmail *\n\nComments This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Completing this poll grants you access to Right Wing Tribune updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to this site's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.\n\nFormer first lady Michelle Obama claimed the top spot and was followed by Oprah Winfrey in second.\n\nGallup\u2019s annual survey, conducted Dec. 3-12 this year, asks Americans, in an open-ended question, to name the man and woman living anywhere in the world today whom they admire most. Gallup first asked the question in 1946 and has done so every year since, except 1976.\n\nAlso among the top 10 most admired women this year is Queen Elizabeth, who placed in the top 10 for a record 50th time. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, human rights activist Malala Yousafzai and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi are the other top 10 finishers this year.\n\nLike the queen of England, Winfrey and Clinton have long histories finishing among the top 10 women, with Winfrey appearing for the 31st time and Clinton for the 27th. Winfrey has never finished first, but has been second on 14 occasions. Clinton has finished first 22 times \u2014 more than any other man or woman \u2014 including in 1993 and 1994, 1997 through 2000, and 2002 through 2017. Clinton has finished second on three occasions, third once (this year) and fourth once (in 1992).\n\nCongratulations Melania!\n\nShe should have taken the top spot in my opinion.\n\nWhen you share to your friends you greatly help distribute our content. Please take a moment and consider sharing this article with your friends and family. Thank you, we appreciate it!"}
-{"text": "Is President Donald Trump likable? A majority of Americans don\u2019t seem to think so.\n\nBack in July, a CNN/ORC poll estimated that 59 percent of Americans had an unfavorable opinion of Trump. Today, Trump\u2019s favorability ratings are better than they were during the 2016 election\u2014but they\u2019re still historically low for a new president. Just 42 percent of Americans holding a favorable view of him, while over 50 percent have an unfavorable view of the president.\n\nPeople\u2019s dislike of Donald Trump dates way back before the 2016 election and even The Apprentice era. Before this election, Trump was lampooned in pop culture for the better part of two decades, from The Simpsons to SNL to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to the White House Correspondent\u2019s Dinner. Whether it\u2019s his hair, his penchant for excess, or his manner of speech, Trump has always been an easy target.\n\nA Yahoo Answers thread from 2011 struggles to answer the question, \u201cWhy does everyone hate Donald Trump?\u201d The answer voted best out of over 90 replies suggests that the key reason why hasn\u2019t much changed for those who oppose the businessman\u2019s style.\n\n\u201cHe is comical, but he also represents the worst of this country,\u201d wrote Yahoo user yellow.45.\n\nEven back in 1987, Trump\u2019s future seemed to show a lot of promise. Trump\u2019s successful takeover of the Wollman Rink\u2019s renovation, an ice skating rink the city of New York had long neglected, won him scores of good publicity. He had his sights on building the largest construction project in New York City history, a $4.5 billion complex he dubbed Television City. His memoir, The Art of the Deal, was number one on the New York Times bestseller lists.\n\nThe mainstream media loved Trump for a brief period back in the \u201980s\u2014something that seems hard to believe in 2017. Media consultant David Garth told the New York Times that the press of the day was responsible for transforming Trump\u2019s image from real estate tycoon to \u201cfolk hero.\u201d Garth said of 39-year-old Trump, \u201cHe\u2019s the kid with a smile and a shine who looks like he\u2019s selling the Brooklyn Bridge, only it turns out he owns it.\u201d\n\nBut the media\u2019s love affair with Trump was short-lived. There was no sugar-coating Trump\u2019s ugly feud with New York City Mayor Ed Koch that ended up putting an untimely end to Television City. Or the myriad of Trump properties that failed to turn a profit. Or the highly publicized divorce between Trump and his wife, Ivana, due to his affair with Marla Maples, which further tarnished his image.\n\n\u201dLike it or not, the Trump name stands for a man who\u2019s the master of wheeling and dealing\u2014the king of excess,\u201d advertising agency head George Lois told the New York Times in the aftermath of Trump\u2019s split with Ivana back in 1990. \u201dPeople have always either loved or hate him. In the long run [\u2026the divorce] could make his name even bigger.\u201d\n\nFast forward to 2017. No other candidate in the 2016 election, including Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, received more earned media than Trump. His remarks on the campaign trail alienated women, Hispanics, Muslims, African-Americans, and fellow Republicans. Trump\u2019s infamous tendency to stretch the truth broke records at fact-checking organizations Politifact, the Washington Post\u2018s Fact Checker, and Factcheck.org.\n\n\u201cIn the 12 years of FactCheck.org\u2019s existence, we\u2019ve never seen [\u2026Trump\u2019s] match,\u201d states Factcheck.org on its site.\n\nAs such, Trump\u2019s behavior on the campaign trail has spawned a new generation of Trump haters:\n\nI bet we agree more than you think. I have a couple conservative views. I just happen to hate Donald Trump as a human being. \u2014 christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) July 19, 2016\n\nhttps://twitter.com/DavidRomeiPHD/status/751765800164397056\n\nme: ugh, i hate bees!\n\ndonald trump: i hate bees.\n\nme: pic.twitter.com/KIJ63YajqK \u2014 kayla (@kaymillerr) July 11, 2016\n\nhttps://twitter.com/husky_sandals/status/751883054025576448\n\nBut why exactly do people hate Donald Trump? Turns out there are many reasons behind the Trump animosity. As this poll from Morning Consult found, people are divided on exactly what offends them the most about Trump. We took a deeper dive into Trump\u2019s most commonly criticized traits below.\n\nWhy people hate Donald Trump\n\n1) Trump\u2019s privilege\n\nTrump\u2019s background as a rich, white man who inherited much of his wealth doesn\u2019t exactly resound with most of the American public. Trump\u2019s campaign has swung his privileged upbringing into a narrative of self-made success and achieving the American Dream. But the reality is that Trump didn\u2019t build a real estate empire by himself.\n\nTrump relied heavily on inheritance money from his father, real estate developer Fred Trump, in order to get the empire of lavish properties off the ground\u2014and to bail them out of financial trouble in the years to follow. The Washington Post reported that Trump borrowed at least $9 million from his future inheritance in order to bail himself out of financial troubles.\n\n\n\n2) Trump\u2019s lies\n\nTrump was prone to half-truths, exaggeration, and an intentional blurring of specific details even before he ran for public office. Trump once spread a rumor about the British Royal Family scoping condos at Trump Towers to boost sales. Trump claimed no income on his taxes in 1984, after bragging to the media about the cash he was raking in. He misstated his salary from The Celebrity Apprentice and lied about hand-picking faculty at Trump University. He regularly lied about donating money to charities throughout his career, as the Clinton campaign gleefully pointed out. He has been accused of cheating at golf by Alice Cooper, Oscar de La Hoya, and Samuel L. Jackson, among others.\n\nIf Trump\u2019s lies appear to have escalated while on the campaign trail, it may be due to the relentless fact-checking performed on presidential candidates. Trump in 2015 won FactCheck.org\u2019s \u201cKing of Whoppers\u201d award, Politifact\u2019s \u201cLie of the Year\u201d award, and earned more \u201cFour Pinnochios\u201d ratings from the Washington Post\u2018s fact-checking team than any other presidential candidate.\n\nTrump\u2019s controversial claims about blacks and homicide, the criminal status of illegal immigrants, and the nation\u2019s underestimated unemployment rate were quickly debunked. A video that Trump claimed he watched that showed \u201cthousands and thousands\u201d of people in New Jersey cheering the 9/11 attacks was found to have never existed. His estimate that the United States harbors around 30 million illegal immigrants was found to be about three times too large. Trump\u2019s claim that Obamacare led to more part-time jobs and that Clinton slept through Benghazi were both found to be false.\n\nTrump\u2019s supporters seem immune to the mainstream media\u2019s Trump fact-checking engine. His former campaign\u2019s falsehoods have riled up a base of voters who are as equally sick of establishment Republicans as they are of former President Obama; they seem to be on Trump\u2019s side unconditionally.\n\nAs American Enterprise Institute\u2019s Norman Ornstein told Politifact, \u201cTrump came into an environment that was ripe for bombastic, inflammatory, outrageous statements without having to suffer the consequences.\u201d\n\n3) Trump\u2019s racism\n\nHappy #CincoDeMayo! The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics! https://t.co/ufoTeQd8yA pic.twitter.com/k01Mc6CuDI \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2016\n\nTrump has been accused by many of being a racist. His tweeting out of a taco bowl on Cinco de Mayo and labeling of undocumented Mexicans as \u201crapists\u201d and \u201ccriminals\u201d has done nothing to help his case. Neither has retweeting fictional statistics on black-on-black killings versus police shootings from a group that doesn\u2019t exist.\n\nA New York Times dive into Trump\u2019s past reveals plenty of evidence. There was a Department of Justice investigation into housing discrimination against blacks by Trump\u2019s real estate firm. There are reports of racist comments by Trump in his biographies, including those directed at a black accountant employed at one of his companies. Trump has also retweeted tweets from white supremacist and anti-Semitic Twitter accounts.\n\nThe power behind Trump\u2019s racist actions is that it taps into hidden fears and prejudices of certain factions of the American people that, for obvious reasons, have never been fleshed out into policy proposals. Trump\u2019s proposal to build a wall on the U.S.\u2013Mexico border or a ban on immigration from Muslim countries are too extreme to see the light of day in Congress. Yet both ideas, as blatantly xenophobic as they are, gained Trump political traction.\n\nRacist or not, Trump has a poor track record among minorities. Contrary to his claims that \u201cHispanics love me,\u201d a July poll by Fusion and Latino Decisions found that 83 percent of Hispanic voters did not love the then-Republican nominee. A total of 1 percent of black voters supported Trump during his campaign, according to Quinnipiac poll results released in June. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist poll from July found Trump had support from zero percent of African-American voters in the key states of Ohio and Pennsylvania.\n\nAs far as actual election results go, Trump snagged just 8 percent of the African-American vote.\n\n4) Trump\u2019s debt\n\nDonald Trump has made many investments throughout his career. Most of them are lavish and ornate hotel properties or condominiums. Many of them fail. Trump\u2019s casinos, including the Trump Taj Mahal, all went bankrupt in the \u201990s. The dozens of contractors hired by Trump to work on his casinos still complain about the debt they are owed.\n\nBut Trump\u2019s failed deals aren\u2019t just limited to his properties. From Trump Airlines to Trump University to Trump Steaks, Trump\u2019s businesses have a dubious track record. USA Today found in 2016 that Trump\u2019s businesses spawned a total of 3,500 lawsuits\u2014more than any other presidential candidate in history.\n\nFortune estimated back in March 2016 that Trump\u2019s total debt is equal to $1 billion dollars. Just prior to Trump\u2019s inauguration on January 2017, the Wall Street Journal estimated that more than 150 financial institutions\u2014including mutual funds and banks\u2014hold the debt that Trump accumulated through his businesses as a private citizen. CNN noted a potential conflict of interest in that Wells Fargo\u2014which is currently being investigated by the Department of Justice and SEC for creating millions of unauthorized bank accounts and credit card numbers\u2014holds $14 million dollars worth of the president\u2019s debt.\n\n5) Trump\u2019s views on women\n\nFox News\u2019 Megyn Kelly ignited a media storm when she confronted Trump about his sexist insults and comments towards women during a Fox News debate last year.\n\n\u201cYou have called women you don\u2019t like \u2018fat pigs,\u2019 \u2018dogs,\u2019 \u2018slobs,\u2019 and \u2018disgusting animals,'\u201d said Kelly during the debate.\n\nWhile @BetteMidler is an extremely unattractive woman, I refuse to say that because I always insist on being politically correct. \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2012\n\nI refuse to call Megyn Kelly a bimbo, because that would not be politically correct. Instead I will only call her a lightweight reporter! \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2016\n\nInstead of apologizing or clarifying his remarks, Trump lashed out at Kelly. Trump has insulted countless female celebrities and prominent figures, including Cher, Bette Midler, and Angelina Jolie. He\u2019s belittled female contestants on The Apprentice to mere sex objects and forced Miss USA pageant contestants to line up in front of him so he could rank them. He called Rosie O\u2019Donnell a \u201cfat pig\u201d and made disparaging comments about former opponent Carly Fiorina\u2019s appearance. He\u2019s insulted or complimented female reporters based on their looks.\n\nThis issue was blown into the atmosphere in October, when a 2005 Access Hollywood tape revealed Trump bragging about his ability to kiss and grope women with impunity because of his celebrity.\n\n\u201cYou know I\u2019m automatically attracted to beautiful\u2014I just start kissing them,\u201d Trump said. \u201cIt\u2019s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don\u2019t even wait. And when you\u2019re a star they let you do it. You can do anything.\u201d\n\nTrump\u2019s 35-year old daughter, Ivanka Trump, an entrepreneur and mother of three, stands out as the only woman Trump has both acknowledged his respect for and hasn\u2019t stopped being enamored by. None of Trump\u2019s other relations with women\u2014whether it\u2019s his wife and First Lady Melania Trump, his ex-wives, his other daughter Tiffany, or the women in his inner circle such as White House counselor Kellyanne Conway\u2014have come close.\n\nNot even Ivanka is immune to Trump\u2019s lascivious remarks, however; Trump has candidly complimented his daughter\u2019s body from adolescence to adulthood in multiple interviews and outlets ranging from The Howard Stern Show to The View throughout the years.\n\n6) Trump\u2019s vitriol\n\nIf Cory Booker is the future of the Democratic Party, they have no future! I know more about Cory than he knows about himself. \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2016\n\nSorry folks, but Bernie Sanders is exhausted, just can't go on any longer. He is trying to dismiss the new e-mails and DNC disrespect. SAD! \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 24, 2016\n\nPocahontas bombed last night! Sad to watch. \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2016\n\nTrump has plenty of hatred to go around. He\u2019s not shy about derailing the people who\u2019ve done him wrong, often by dismissing them as \u201closers.\u201d From politicians to journalists to protesters at his rallies, Trump often hits below the belt. He chided former rival and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for being \u201clow energy\u201d and breathed new life to a rumor that Sen. Ted Cruz\u2019s (R-Texas) father was behind JFK\u2019s assassination.\n\nMany political commentators have noted that the civility of political discourse took a dramatic shift south once Trump began running for president. Trouble is, Trump\u2019s hatred is a part of why he has so many supporters.\n\nTablet\u2019s Paul Berman explained why supporters love Trump\u2019s hateful tendencies:\n\nHas he mocked a woman journalist\u2019s period? Hah hah!\u2014what other politician would dare do such a thing? Has he insulted John McCain? Here is bravery, given that everyone knows that McCain is a war hero. Has he ordered Jorge Ramos, the Univision news anchorman, to be escorted from the room? All the better! They like the fact that Trump doesn\u2019t give a damn about being respectable or likable or courteous. He burps in your face. They will vote for such a man.\n\n7) Trump\u2019s ignorance\n\nDonald Trump holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s prestigious Wharton School of Business. But with the exception of Trump University, he\u2019s had little to do with academia since his last time in a classroom almost 50 years ago. He\u2019s famous for never reading and relying on television show for his knowledge of foreign affairs and the U.S. military. He\u2019s never touched a biography of a U.S. president, as the Washington Post noted.\n\nTrump didn\u2019t know what the term Brexit meant a month before the United Kingdom voted on the referendum to leave or remain in the European Union. After landing in Scotland on the eve of the vote, he remarked that the nation, who had overwhelming voted to stay, was \u201cgoing wild\u201d over \u201ctaking their country back.\u201d\n\nJust arrived in Scotland. Place is going wild over the vote. They took their country back, just like we will take America back. No games! \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2016\n\nThe response from across the pond at Trump\u2019s ignorance was utter indignation, in the form of Scottish and British-style jabs.\n\nScotland voted remain you incompressible jizztrumpet https://t.co/5irQhKxV3h \u2014 TechnicallyRon (@TechnicallyRon) June 24, 2016\n\nyou couldn't be more out of touch with reality if Nessie bit you on the arse you utter fool. Scotland voted REMAIN. \u2014 Terry McDermott (@TerryMacMusic) June 24, 2016\n\nIn early July, Trump vowed during a July meeting with House Republicans to defend \u201cArticle XII\u201d of the U.S. Constitution, according to Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.). The problem? There is no Article XII.\n\n8) Trump contradictory claims\n\nTrump\u2019s seemingly fuzzy memory for names, dates, and details may have been funny while he was on the campaign trail. Now that he\u2019s in the White House, it\u2019s no longer a joke.\n\nTrump once famously claimed to have \u201cthe world\u2019s best memory\u201d\u2014an assertion he said he forgot about during deposition for a Trump University lawsuit. \u201cI don\u2019t remember saying that. As good as my memory is, I don\u2019t remember that, but I have a good memory,\u201d Trump said in the deposition.\n\nIn an interview with the Times of London and German newspaper Bild during the weekend of his inauguration, Trump said he had spoken with European Union head Jean-Claude Juncke recently. In fact, the president had not spoken with Juncke. Trump had spoken with Donald Tusk, who is the president of the European Council.\n\n\u201cTrump spoke to Mr. Tusk and mixed us up,\u201d Juncker told Germany\u2019s BR television. \u201cThat\u2019s the thing about international politics. It\u2019s all in the detail.\u201d\n\nTrump has a habit of stating that things are unprecedented when they are in fact not. For example, he told the audience at his inauguration concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial that he didn\u2019t know if such an act had happened before.\n\n\u201cThis started out tonight being a small little concert, and then we had the idea of doing it in front of the Lincoln Memorial,\u201d Trump said onstage during the \u201cMake America Great Again!\u201d concert. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it has ever been done before, but if it has, very seldom.\u201d Trump later stated to the crowd, \u201cWe didn\u2019t even know if people would come tonight, this hasn\u2019t been done before.\u201d\n\nIn fact, it had. Former President Barack Obama held an inaugural concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 2009.\n\nTrump also falsely stated that he campaigned in California or New York during a January interview with ABC News\u2019 David Muir.\n\nIn defense of not winning the popular vote, Trump claimed that he never campaigned in California or New York. \u201cI would\u2019ve won the popular vote if I was campaigning for the popular vote,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI would have gone to California where I didn\u2019t go at all. I would\u2019ve gone to New York where I didn\u2019t campaign at all,\u201d said Trump.\n\nTrump, in fact, has held several large rallies in both states. Trump held a particularly large rally in Costa Mesa, California, which received plenty of media attention for turning violent.\n\nHere is a video of a campaign rally Trump held in Redding, California:\n\nAs well as of one he held in Fresno, California:\n\nhttps://youtube.com/watch?v=p6UJnjUoYTA\n\nTrump also attended several high-profile campaign events in New York, including the Al Smith Dinner. He and Vice President Mike Pence spoke at the Economic Club of New York.\n\nHere\u2019s Trump at a massive rally in Bethpage, New York:\n\n\u201cI would\u2019ve won the popular vote if I was campaigning for the popular vote,\u201d Trump told Muir while defending his loss of the popular vote. \u201cI would\u2019ve gone to California where I didn\u2019t go at all. I would\u2019ve gone to New York where I didn\u2019t campaign at all.\u201d\n\nEditor\u2019s note: This article has been updated for relevance."}
-{"text": "LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 26: Granit Xhaka of Arsenal shouts during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Leicester City at Emirates Stadium on April 26, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)\n\nArsenal face arguably their biggest North London Derby in recent memory. Everyone is going to want to watch, so here is how to do that.\n\nArsenal are fighting for dear life to get into a Champions League spot. By Arsene Wenger\u2018s own admission, they will have to win the rest of their fixtures and have a bit of luck on their side as well.\n\nThankfully, that luck started with Manchester City and Manchester United drawing 0-0. It puts the Gunners in a pretty strong position to make it all the way to third, believe it or not. They already have a prime position to slip ahead of Liverpool if they just win their two games in hand by an aggregate of 4-0 or better.\n\nFrom there, they are within striking distance of the Mancunian squads.\n\nBut they have to beat Tottenham first, in the last North London Derby at White Hart Lane. Emotions will be running on overdrive, so it is no easy feat. Yet if they pull off the improbable and win, they are just a point behind United and two behind City.\n\nLike I said, third place is actually not that strange of a finish, but it all begins with putting away an empowered Spuds side at a very unlikely time.\n\nEven with the Gunners new formation, they have not truly hit their stride within it, although they do seem to be making improvements in some crucial categories, such as fight, desire and grit. All of which have been critically missing in recent months.\n\nThis comes down to a matter of maximizing that fight and grit to a whole new level. The Gunners will be facing their toughest challenge yet within their new 3-4-3, but it\u2019s not wholly implausible. Arsenal beat Manchester City in an absolutely crucial match and they did it because they wanted it more.\n\nIf they come into this game wanting it more than their opponent, who knows what will happen.\n\nIn terms of team news, Laurent Koscielny is the big question mark, but other than that, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain should be back in the starting XI, and that is celebration enough.\n\nThe Spurs have no major absences either. Their solid defensive line is in tact and their midfield, led by a resurgent Christian Eriksen and the young phenom Dele Alli, will need some major slowing down.\n\nThat said, here are all the ways to watch:\n\nDate: 30 April 2017\n\nVenue: White Hart Lane, London, England\n\nTime: 11:30 EST, 16:30 BST\n\nTV: NBCSN\n\nRadio: Talk Sports Radio World, Sirius XM Channel 85\n\nStream: Arsenal Player, NBC Sports Live Extra"}
-{"text": "More health exams instituted for migrant children at border More thorough initial health screenings for migrants will be held for children in Border Patrol custody following the deaths of two Guatemalan children. Janet Shamlian reports."}
-{"text": "ChristianG Oct 24, 2015\n\nI was watching recent Hallowishes videos and noticed that the finale looked a bit different. They seem to be using different shells for the very last part. Look at wdwmagic's video from September (skip to 10:00): A more recent video shows them using different shells (11:10): Also (I truly feel like a detective right now), I found another video of the show from a different date where they seem to be using different shells again (12:50) : Does anyone know why? Is it just a supply issue? I mean, probably, but I'm just curious."}
-{"text": "Summary: Researchers present a new theory about dreaming, suggesting dreams may be an accidental byproduct of our waking cognitive abilities.\n\nSource: UC Santa Cruz.\n\nDream expert G. William Domhoff, a distinguished professor emeritus and a research professor of psychology at UC Santa Cruz, has spent decades chasing the riddle of dreams and their meaning.\n\nNow, with the publication of his new book The Emergence of Dreaming: Mind-Wandering, Embodied Simulation, and the Default Network (Oxford University Press), Domhoff presents an integrated neurocognitive theory of dreams that is grounded in the similarities between dreaming and drifting waking thought.\n\n\u201cDreaming isn\u2019t tied to any one brain state,\u201d said Domhoff. \u201cThe issue is the level of brain activation. Dreams are imaginative but largely realistic simulations of waking life.\u201d\n\nAfter more than 50 years of close, empirical study of dreams and dream research, Domhoff, 81, concludes that dreaming likely serves no adaptive function in an evolutionary sense.\n\n\u201cThe best way to think about our capacity to dream is that it\u2019s an accidental byproduct of our waking cognitive abilities,\u201d said Domhoff. \u201cHumans have invented uses for dreams in religious and healing rituals, which speaks to how central they are to human experience. But in an evolutionary sense, they don\u2019t serve a purpose.\u201d\n\nDomhoff\u2019s theory addresses many of the persistent mysteries of dreaming, including the preponderance of deeply personal subject matter in dreams, as well as developmental aspects of dreaming, and it provides the neurocognitive link between dreaming and \u201cmind wandering,\u201d or daydreaming.\n\nDreams originate in the same parts of the brain now known to be most active during mind wandering, according to Domhoff. Called the \u201cdefault network,\u201d these areas become more dense and integrated between the ages of 8-15, when dreaming also becomes more frequent and dreams become more complex.\n\nThe transition to dreaming occurs in stages as we stop paying attention to the external world, according to Domhoff, whose theory integrates insights from neuroimaging studies of brain activity and the discovery of the \u201cmind-wandering\u201d network. First, the externally focused \u201ccentral executive network\u201d of the brain deactivates. Second, the attentional networks tamp down, including the vigilant salience network that is always poised to send \u201cred alerts.\u201d Finally, as sensory networks screen out stimulation, imagery networks become stronger, and the mind begins to wander intensely.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s like a symphony. It\u2019s very harmonious,\u201d said Domhoff. \u201cAs one network deactivates, and then another, the default network begins to ascend, just like when the strings come up or the horns begin to blare. When the default network is free to roam, that\u2019s when we dream.\u201d\n\nHumans spend 20 to 30 percent of their waking hours in this mind-drifting state, said Domhoff. Neurophysiologically, it\u2019s the same process that occurs during sleep, when sleep-inducing neurochemicals provide an additional boost.\n\nAwake or asleep, as the default network ascends, the power of the brain\u2019s imagery network transitions us from mind wandering to what researchers call \u201cembodied simulation,\u201d during which vivid imagery can make dreamers feel a part of the action.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what makes dreams feel so real,\u201d said Domhoff. \u201cIt\u2019s the same with daydreaming. Sometimes you can just feel it. The sense of being an embodied participant is what distinguishes dreaming from other forms of thought.\u201d\n\nDuring sleep, brain activation fluctuates up and down throughout the night. Arousal increases as morning approaches, and so does mind wandering or dreaming, according to numerous laboratory studies. Dreams are highly personal because the default network includes a big part of the \u201cself network,\u201d added Domhoff.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t dream about politics or religion or economics,\u201d said Domhoff, whose previous books include The Scientific Study of Dreams, Finding Meaning in Dreams: A Quantitative Approach, and The Mystique of Dreams. \u201cAll around the world, dreams are dominated by personal concerns. More than 70 percent of dreams are personal\u2014typically dramatized enactments of significant personal concerns about the past, present, and future.\u201d\n\nThe frequency of a given topic reflects the intensity of that concern in the dreamer\u2019s life, said Domhoff.\n\n\u201cDreams are generated by this network with a strong self-network within it, coupled with the powerful imagery network,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s imagination run wild.\u201d\n\nStudies show that children don\u2019t dream often or with much complexity until they reach the ages of 9-11, said Domhoff, noting that some apparent nightmares in young children happen during \u201csleep terrors\u201d that aren\u2019t dreams, or during awakening. \u201cWe only gradually develop the mental imagery, imagination, and ability to tell a story,\u201d he said. \u201cThe capacity to dream is linked to cognitive and brain development.\u201d\n\nDomhoff began studying dreams as a graduate student with his mentor Calvin Hall, a pioneering dream researcher. For many years, he conducted quantitative studies of dream content.\n\n\u201cGradually, my motivation changed from wanting to understand people through dreams to wanting to develop a really good theory of dreams,\u201d said Domhoff, who took advantage of a university early-retirement incentive program in 1994. Stepping away from the day-to-day obligations of teaching and campus service at the age of 57 freed him to focus his full attention to dreams. \u201cThese have been the greatest intellectual years of my life,\u201d he said.\n\nToday, Domhoff\u2019s hope is that his neurocognitive theory will be seen as \u201cone piece of the puzzle of any really good theory of the mind. I want this to be the dream piece.\u201d\n\nAbout this neuroscience research article\n\nSource: Jennifer McNulty \u2013 UC Santa Cruz\n\nImage Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.\n\nCite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article\n\n[cbtabs][cbtab title=\u201dMLA\u201d]UC Santa Cruz \u201cNew Neurocognitive Theory of Dreaming Links Dreams to Mind Wandering.\u201d NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 11 October 2017.\n\n<https://neurosciencenews.com/neurocognition-dream-mind-wandering-7721/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=\u201dAPA\u201d]UC Santa Cruz (2017, October 11). New Neurocognitive Theory of Dreaming Links Dreams to Mind Wandering. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved October 11, 2017 from https://neurosciencenews.com/neurocognition-dream-mind-wandering-7721/[/cbtab][cbtab title=\u201dChicago\u201d]UC Santa Cruz \u201cNew Neurocognitive Theory of Dreaming Links Dreams to Mind Wandering.\u201d https://neurosciencenews.com/neurocognition-dream-mind-wandering-7721/ (accessed October 11, 2017).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]\n\nFeel free to share this Neuroscience News."}
-{"text": "With a committee vote pending on theOver-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017, critics of the legislation warn the bill would increase government regulations and raise the cost of personal sound amplification products (PSAPs).\n\nA gun-owner group warned in a letter on Tuesday that language in the act could even tread into Second Amendment rights.\n\nThe legislation, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), would create a new category of hearing aids that would be available over the counter. They\u2019re expected to be cheaper than current hearing aids. This sounds good on its face, but the concerns about the act are two-fold: it\u2019s likely to draw people away from proper screenings with health professionals, resulting in poorer health outcomes, and it would create more regulations for PSAPs while preempting state laws.\n\nAll devices now sold as hearing aids in the United States are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and require a doctor\u2019s prescription. Just a few companies sell them and they often cost thousands of dollars, uncovered by insurance. The barrier to entry for consumers led to the growth of PSAPs, which can\u2019t be marketed as hearing aids but are often just as effective for those who don\u2019t suffer severe hearing loss.\n\nWarren\u2019s act tasks the Department of Health and Human Services secretary with redefining PSAPs, likely shifting many of them into the newly created and more heavily regulated over-the-counter hearing aid category.\n\nA letter from a coalition of free-market oriented groups to U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which signed off on the legislation last week, called the act \u201ca solution in search of a problem that does not exist.\u201d\n\nThe House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to take up the issue Thursday. \u201cIt is unfortunate that government regulators and big, rent-seeking corporations are the real beneficiaries of the bill. Consumers are the losers,\u201d the coalition wrote.\n\nSpringfield, Virginia-based Gun Owners of America sent a letter to members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, warning the act could impact a variety of PSAPs that are marketed as hunting aids and intended to help hunters detect the presence of game.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a pretty good chance that these hunting devices would fall within Warren\u2019s definition of \u2018over-the-counter hearing aid,\u2019\u201d wrote Erich Pratt, executive director of the group, \u201cwhich would mean that a new federal bureaucracy would be in charge of regulating hunting. Were Warren less of an enemy of the Second Amendment, we might give more credibility to the argument that we were protected by the \u2018perceived \u2026 hearing impairment\u2019 language of the Warren bill. But she isn\u2019t. So we don\u2019t.\u201d\n\nThe group asked the committee to remove the language from the bill or put the legislation on hold.\n\nPreviously, the free-market coalition said some of the larger companies that produce PSAPs believe they could make more money by selling them as a product on a level with hearing aids, marketing them as such and raising prices. The coalition noted that speaker-maker Bose sells a high-end PSAP called HearPhones, which retails for $500, and is headquartered in Warren\u2019s home state of Massachusetts.\n\nReason pointed out last week that Bose has spent about $50,000 to lobby for Warren\u2019s act this year, and an additional $100,000 lobbying on \u201cissues related to the FDA\u201d in 2016.\n\nNoah Kraft, CEO and co-founder of Doppler Labs,told TechCrunch his company was working with members of Congress on the legislation. Doppler Labs also makes a high-end PSAP called Here One, which costs $300. The company admitted the legislation would help open up new markets for it.\n\nBut even taking the non-cynical view that PSAP manufacturers simply seek the new regulations to put their products on a level playing field with traditional hearing aids creates another concern\u2014taking doctors out of the auditory health equation. Opponents of the bill warn that would leave patients uninformed and undertreated.\n\nThe AARP cited a study that found that hearing aids and current over-the-counter options were equally effective for those with mild-to moderate-hearing loss. The biggest difference in user satisfaction was the help of a trained audiologist, who would assist with a proper fitting. But the new legislation would push more people away from, rather than toward, using audiologists.\n\nMany experts within the hearing industry warn that the creation of a category of over-the-counter hearing aids could lead to poorer health outcomes. They warn that consumers who pass on a hearing assessment from an expert could run the risk of not discovering underlying medical conditions.\n\nThe Hearing Industries Association released a report on the issue stating that \u201cfailure to adequately address hearing loss can have profound negative consequences including an increase in dementia risk.\u201d\n\nEven groups that support the measure, such as the Hearing Loss Association of America, hint at the drawbacks of the regulation by warning people not to forgo doctor visits. \u201cAccess to technology or hearing aids by consumers is not a substitute for following good health care practices,\u201dthe HLAA said in a press release.\n\nHearing Tracker conducted a survey on the issue and found that nearly 87 percent of audiologists or hearing instrument specialists oppose the concept. One wrote: \u201cI have seen patients come into my clinic with hearing tests provided by retailers at \u2018big box stores\u2019 who should have referred for ENT management and did not. These patients were misdiagnosed (hearing loss was exaggerated to make them hearing aid candidates) and red-flags for medical management were ignored. In one case, patient had a tumor on his auditory nerve. Had these patients not come into my clinic for a second opinion, this dangerous management of their care could have escalated into serious health problems.\u201d\n\nThe language of the bill also explicitly removes states\u2019 authority to enforce their own laws regulating over-the-counter hearing aids, although the current approach to auditory health varies state-by-state. Some states allow audiologists to dispense hearing aids, while others do not. Some have continuing education requirements for audiologists.\n\nThe coalition argues the act would \u201cempower federal bureaucrats.\u201d\n\n\u201cA new layer of regulation is not a stimulator of innovation \u2013 it squashes innovation,\u201d they wrote.\n\nJohnny Kampis is investigative reporter for the Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation. Kampis formerly served a similar role at Watchdog.org. Over the course of his nearly 20 years in journalism, he has been published in such outlets as the New York Times, Time, Fox News and The Daily Caller."}
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-{"text": "Image caption Actor and comedian Darren Connell says he's never been happier\n\nWhen actor and comedian Darren Connell suffered from depression he didn't want to go down the road of traditional anti-depressants. Instead he flew to Peru to take a psychedelic substance - banned in the UK - which has been used by indigenous groups in South America for centuries.\n\nDarren Connell doesn't strike you as a person battling demons. Cheerful, relaxed, a healthy glow to his cheeks - but that wasn't always the case.\n\nRewind two years and the stand-up comic and actor who plays Bobby in the spoof police show Scot Squad, was in a very different place.\n\n\"I think everyone in their life has experience of depression,\" the 32-year-old from Glasgow told BBC Scotland's Mornings with Stephen Jardine.\n\n\"It maybe came into my life when I was about 16 onwards, sometimes it's been bad, then not as bad.\n\n\"A couple of years ago I found myself caught in a rut - self-medicating with alcohol and food, the stress of being a stand-up comedian.\n\n\"I was on anti-depressants and they weren't agreeing with me. They were making me struggle with my weight, my skin, my sleeping.\"\n\nImage caption Darren is probably best known for playing Bobby in Scot Squad\n\nOn the surface his life looked good - Scot Squad was filming a fourth series and his comedy routines were getting good reviews - but behind the mask lay an unhappiness which was reflected in his diet.\n\nLitres of Irn Bru or Lucozade, filled rolls for breakfast, Greggs for lunch, fast food at night. His weight rose to 20 stone (127kg), the heaviest he'd ever been.\n\nDarren had sought the help of his GP for his mental health problems - and he has no criticism of the NHS but he wanted to try something different. He decided to fly to Peru to take ayahuasca, one of the strongest psychedelic drugs in the world.\n\n\"I love the term 'against the grain',\" he explains. \"I called my stand-up show that and I thought that was the ultimate example to go by.\n\n\"I thought I can't do anything more crazy than go to Peru and take this medicine.\"\n\nImage copyright Getty Images Image caption Ayahuasca, made from the bark of two plants, is one of the strongest known psychedelic drugs\n\nAyahuasca is a potent hallucinogenic brew that has been used by shamans, or healers, in the Amazon for centuries for medical and spiritual purposes.\n\nMade from tree bark, experts say it is dangerous - in the UK it is a class A illegal drug.\n\nBut there is anecdotal evidence of it helping people struggling with mental health problems. Many have travelled to retreats in Europe or South America to find out if it can help them.\n\n'Am I going to die here?'\n\nAfter a 32-hour journey by plane and boat, Darren found himself in a hut in the Amazon rainforest.\n\n\"I was in the jungle, we were going up the Amazon river in a boat. It was nothing I'd been used to in my life.\n\n\"We were in this hut for two weeks on a strict diet. You're supposed to go on a detox before it, no bread, no sugar, no cigarettes, no alcohol... that made me realise how my diet has always been terrible. I could stop drinking and stop smoking but I couldn't stop eating junk food.\"\n\nAyahuasca is usually administered in a small glass or cup as part of a traditional ceremony\n\n\"A shaman gives it you. There's about 13 people in a tent and you go through this ritual. It's very personal - it's a really crazy experience.\"\n\nImage copyright Darren Connell Image caption Darren, on the left, spent two weeks in the Peruvian rain forest\n\nDrinking the brew - and its immediate aftermath - is a deeply unpleasant experience. Darren was issued with his personal \"purge bucket\".\n\n\"We drank it six times. It was a day on, a day off. It was the most rancid, disgusting thing I've ever drunk in my life. It was so disgusting that the day off was spent pep talking myself, like 'I can't believe I've got to drink that again'.\n\n\"It's a tiny, tiny amount, it's like half a shot but it instantly goes into your system and it instantly makes you want to be sick.\"\n\nThere were times when Darren questioned what he was doing. At one point he didn't eat for five days.\n\n\"I'm not being dramatic but I was like 'am I going to die here?'\"\n\nHe told himself if any of the others dropped out, he would pull out as well - but no-one did.\n\n\"I believe that experience is designed to physically, mentally and spiritually break you,\" he says.\n\nImage copyright Instagram Image caption Darren says he had hit \"rock bottom\" before making lifestyle changes\n\nThe impact on Darren's mental health wasn't immediate. On returning home he felt \"shellshocked\". But he believes it planted a seed in his mind, and in the months that followed he realised his outlook had changed.\n\n\"The things I got from it were never drink alcohol again, antidepressants aren't for me - and when you go through the process of taking ayahuasca you do get visions. Maybe that night I was getting dreams and visions and stuff. The main thing I was getting was you need to be a healthier person, you need to start looking after your body.\n\n\"I was getting visions of two paths in life. I was getting one vision of me really happy and fit with a family and kids and that kind of stuff. Equally I was getting this other vision of me, like old and really overweight and a lifetime of abuse with food and alcohol.\"\n\nHis visions also made him reflect on how his actions affected others.\n\n\"It was showing me visions of me being cheeky to my mum but it was showing it from her point of view. Like maybe I was leaving her house and she was still sitting there and it was showing me the effects of me being a bad person.\"\n\nWhat do the experts say about ayahuasca?\n\nAyahuasca, also known as yage, is a blend of two plants - the ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) and a shrub called chacruna (Psychotria viridis), which contains the hallucinogenic drug dimethyltryptamine (DMT).\n\nIt is banned in the UK and some countries in Europe but legal in the Netherlands, Italy, Brazil and Peru,\n\nFive years ago a British teenager died after taking it while travelling in Colombia. Doctors and drug charities warn it could make a person's mental health problems worse.\n\nMost experts agree it should never be taken in an uncontrolled environment such as a retreat - but some doctors and researchers believe ayahuasca should be studied as a way of developing new treatments.\n\nDr Simon Ruffell, a clinical psychiatrist and researcher at King's College, London, who has studied ayahuasca, said: \"We know from brain imaging scans that the brain becomes more neuro-plastic which basically means more flexible, more like putty. It allow more neuronal connections to be made in the brain.\n\n\"Psychologically this translates as being able to think about your life objectively rather than subjectively, so it give you a new perspective and allows you to think about things in a new way and therefore allows you to make appropriate changes.\"\n\nImage copyright Getty Images Image caption Some scientists argue for more research into how ayahuasca affects the brain\n\nGP Lesley Morrison has known people who felt their mental health was improved by ayahuasca but she would always caution against taking it.\n\n\"People have some anecdotal evidence that it's beneficial but it hasn't been properly tested and there are potentially very risky side-effects.\"\n\nShe added: \"I understand as Darren said that anti-depressants weren't for him and that's the case for a lot of people, but there are other options for treating depression that are much less potentially risky.\"\n\n'Born again'\n\nTwo-and-a-half years after taking ayahuasca, Darren believes it helped him turn his life around.\n\n\"Right now, I'm the happiest and the healthiest I've ever been,\" he says.\n\n\"Without sounding cheesy, it was like a born-again experience. I went from a XXXL. I'm back down to an XL. I was a 42 in my waist, I think I'm down to a 34 now.\n\n\"I don't weigh myself anymore, something I was obsessed with, being an actor and scared of being typecast. 'Am I just the fat funny guy?' I'd rather just be the funny guy. Or I'd walk into an audition room and feel like a piece of meat because I've been overweight my whole life and using that as a tool to be funny.\"\n\nDarren is now vegan, he's given up sugar, junk food and fizzy drinks.\n\n\"Ayahuasca is only a tool you can use to feel better. You need to do other things. If you're drinking too much alcohol smoking cigarettes and stuff you need to exercise and not put this in your body,\" he said.\n\n\"I need to say that ayahuasca isn't like a magic pill that's going to change your life but it's had a positive ripple effect on my life.\"\n\nIf you or someone you know has been affected by mental health problems, visit the BBC advice pages."}
-{"text": "There are several reasons your jaw is numb. Although sometimes, numbness in the jaw is a minor problem, it may still be a sign of a medical problem that must be immediately evaluated by your doctor. One of the reasons \u2026 Read more"}
-{"text": "Drie weken voor het Oekra\u00efne-referendum lijkt een meerderheid vind-ik-boos te gaan stemmen. De laatste paar dagen is het vind-ik-leuk-kamp aan een inhaalrace bezig.\n\nMarja Verwulf uit Heerhugowaard is voornemens vind-ik-leuk te stemmen omdat de conformiteitsbeoordeling voor industrieproducten volledig aan de EU-normen worden aangepast: \u201cProtocollen voor technische wetgeving over infrastructuur vind ik leuk. Dat had ik als kind al.\u201d\n\nTon van der Schaap uit Lent gaat vind-ik-boos stemmen op 6 april. Hij heeft zijn bedenkingen bij het associatieverdrag: \u201cHet is allemaal om de gewone man te besodemieteren waar je bij staat Grieken van onze belastingcenten zakkenvullers mensen zijn niet gek buitenlanders hoge heren pensioenen weer voor opdraaien zeker. Om over de vergunnningsprocedures in artikel 105 nog maar te zwijgen. Schei toch uit.\u201d\n\nVan de overige kampen is dat van vind-ik-grappig het grootst. Andrea Schreuder uit Assen moest erg lachen om artikel 74: \u201cAls je dat leest, dan denk je, oh oh oh, wat zijn het toch ook een stelletje koekebakkers bij elkaar. Fytosanitaire maatregelen, waar halen ze het vandaan? En natuurlijk die laatste zin, die twist over dat subcomit\u00e9. Dan kun je mij dus opvegen.\u201d\n\nEen kleine groep mensen overweegt \u2018vind-ik-verbluft\u2019 te stemmen. Zij weten nog van niks."}
-{"text": "Congress President Rahul Gandhi at Bucerius Summer School in Hamburg. (PTI file photo)\n\nNEW DELHI: Congress accused the ruling BJP of ducking the principal issues of growing unemployment and assault on women raised by Rahul Gandhi in Hamburg and instead contriving a controversy, saying the saffron camp was \"desperate and clutching at straws\".\n\nIn his speech at a business school in Hamburg on Wednesday, Rahul accused the Modi government of excluding \"tribals, poor farmers, lower caste people, minorities\" from the development narrative. Warning of dangers in pursuing exclusivist policies, Rahul argued that some communities were barred from joining the army after the US invasion of Iraq, which created an insurgency that later led to the formation of Islamic State (IS).\n\nSlamming BJP for criticising Rahul's statement, Congress spokesman RPN Singh said, \"Rahul Gandhi underlined the widely-accepted reality throughout the world that conflict arises because of inequalities. Hate, bigotry and division are the policies of BJP. Congress does not need any stamp of approval from BJP on how to fight and defeat terrorism.\n\n\"An agenda-less, aimless and achievement-less BJP is trying to clutch at straws by covering its massive failures by building a desperate narrative. PM Modi is back in election mode and a frustrated BJP is hankering for attention.\"\n\nCongress said Rahul had only raised the issue of unemployment, corruption and women's safety \u2014 the principal plank of PM Narendra Modi in the 2014 campaign. \"But BJP is careful not to speak on it. The PM wants to sweep these issues under the carpet. But they are being discussed around the world,\" Singh said.\n\nThe spokesman said Congress and the people of Punjab defeated terrorism in the state and the party also defeated Naxalism in Andhra Pradesh and separatism in north-eastern states. \"Those who have not shed a drop of blood fighting terrorism are today attempting to lecture us on fighting terrorism,\" he added.\n\nBacking Rahul, Congress upped the ante. \"There is an unprecedented \u2018lynching movement' in India, which BJP and its fringe outlets are actively abetting and aiding. Hate begets hate. A violent ideology only encourages more violence,\" Singh said, adding, \"Under the Modi government, there is an atmosphere of fear.\"\n\nDuring his Hamburg interaction, the Congress chief also mentioned his hug to Modi in Parliament, according to agencies.\n\nRahul said some of his party members did not like it when he hugged Modi. He said Modi was making \"hateful remarks\" about him but he showed affection. The basic idea was that it is foolish to respond to hate with hate, as doing so would not solve any problem, he said.\n\nThe Congress leader said the PM refused to see joblessness as a big problem. \"You have to accept the problem (first) to fix it,\" he said.\n\n"}
-{"text": "If his wife had made the decision for him, Felipe Massa would now be a retired Formula One driver.\n\nThis time, however, the man of the house won out. Having lost his Ferrari seat after eight years, the Brazilian is switching to Williams F1 for 2014.\n\nMassa, 32, admitted that his wife Rafaela would have preferred if he would have stayed at home with their young son.\n\n\"She actually wants me to stop racing,\" Massa, who was seriously injured in a 2009 qualifying crash in Hungary, told O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper. \u201cBut she also knows that I am not happy just to be at home -- my happiness is to race, and she also wants the best for me. I've even talked about continuing to compete in another category when I leave Formula One.\u201d\n\nThis content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io"}
-{"text": "EmptyPage.jp > Translations > \u4f7f\u3048\u308b GUI \u30c7\u30b6\u30a4\u30f3\n\n\u4f7f\u3048\u308b GUI \u30c7\u30b6\u30a4\u30f3:\n\n\u30d5\u30ea\u30fc\uff0f\u30aa\u30fc\u30d7\u30f3\u30bd\u30fc\u30b9\u30fb\u30bd\u30d5\u30c8\u30a6\u30a7\u30a2\u958b\u767a\u8005\u306e\u305f\u3081\u306e\u624b\u5f15\u304d\n\nBenjamin Roe \u3055\u3093\u306e\u3001Usable GUI Design: A Quick Guide for F/OSS Developers \u306e M.Shibata \u306b\u3088\u308b\u65e5\u672c\u8a9e\u8a33\u3067\u3059\u3002\u30d7\u30ed\u30b8\u30a7\u30af\u30c8\u6749\u7530\u7384\u767d\u6b63\u5f0f\u53c2\u52a0\u30c6\u30ad\u30b9\u30c8\u3002\n\nUpdate: \u3053\u306e\u8a18\u4e8b\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u305f\u304f\u3055\u3093\u306e\u30b3\u30e1\u30f3\u30c8\u3092\u3044\u305f\u3060\u3044\u305f\u306e\u3067\u3001FAQ\u3092\u4f5c\u3063\u3066\u3001\u305d\u306e\u3046\u3061\u306e\u3044\u304f\u3064\u304b\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u56de\u7b54\u3059\u308b\u3053\u3068\u306b\u3057\u307e\u3057\u305f\uff08\u8a33\u6ce8: FAQ 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Cooper \u306e 2 \u518a\u76ee\u306e\u8457\u4f5c\u3001\u300cAbout Face 2.0\u300d\u304b\u3089\u3001\u3053\u306e\u3053\u3068\u3092\u3046\u307e\u304f\u8981\u7d04\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3075\u305f\u3064\u3092\u5f15\u7528\u3059\u308b\u3053\u3068\u306b\u3057\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u300c\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u306f\u8ce2\u304f\u3001\u305d\u3057\u3066\u591a\u5fd9\u3067\u3042\u308b\u3068\u8003\u3048\u3088\u300d \u300c\u3069\u3093\u306a\u306b\u30af\u30fc\u30eb\u306a\u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30d5\u30a7\u30fc\u30b9\u3067\u3082\u3001\u305d\u308c\u306a\u3057\u3067\u6e08\u3080\u306b\u8d85\u3057\u305f\u3053\u3068\u306f\u306a\u3044\u300d\n\n\u672c\u7a3f\u306e\u6b8b\u308a\u306e 4 \u70b9\u306f\u3053\u306e\u539f\u5247\u306e\u7279\u5225\u306a\u30b1\u30fc\u30b9\u3067\u3042\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u306e\u306b\u3059\u304e\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\n\n1) Fitt \u306e\u6cd5\u5247\n\nFitt \u306e\u6cd5\u5247\u306f\u3082\u3063\u3068\u3082\u57fa\u672c\u7684\u3067\u6709\u540d\u306a UI 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\u30d6\u30e9\u30a6\u30b8\u30f3\u30b0\u3067\u306f\u3001\u4ed6\u3068\u6bd4\u3079\u3066\u5727\u5012\u7684\u306b\u62bc\u3059\u3053\u3068\u306e\u591a\u3044\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u306f\uff3b\u623b\u308b\uff3d\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u3067\u3059\u3002\u3057\u305f\u304c\u3063\u3066\uff3b\u623b\u308b\uff3d\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u306f\u62bc\u3057\u3084\u3059\u304f\u306a\u304f\u3066\u306f\u3044\u3051\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\u3053\u306e\u3088\u3046\u306b\u30a2\u30d7\u30ea\u30b1\u30fc\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u3092\u4f7f\u3046\u3053\u3068\u306b\u8cbb\u3084\u3059\u52b4\u529b\u3092\u6700\u5c0f\u9650\u306b\u3059\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3067\u3001\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u304c Web \u30d6\u30e9\u30a6\u30b8\u30f3\u30b0\u306b\u96c6\u4e2d\u3067\u304d\u308b\u3088\u3046\u306b\u306a\u308b\u306e\u3067\u3059\u3002\u3068\u3053\u308d\u304c\u3053\u306e\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u30d0\u30fc\u3067\u306f\u30015 \u3064\u306e\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u3059\u3079\u3066\u304c\u540c\u3058\u5927\u304d\u3055\u306b\u306a\u3063\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\uff3b\u4e2d\u6b62\uff3d\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u306f\u672c\u5f53\u306b\uff3b\u623b\u308b\uff3d\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u3068\u540c\u3058\u304f\u3089\u3044\u91cd\u8981\u306a\u306e\u3067\u3057\u3087\u3046\u304b\uff1f \u3082\u3061\u308d\u3093\u9055\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\u3088\u308a\u3088\u3044\u30c7\u30b6\u30a4\u30f3\u306f\u56f3 2 \u306e\u3088\u3046\u306a\u3082\u306e\u306b\u306a\u308b\u3067\u3057\u3087\u3046\u3002\u3053\u3053\u3067\u306f\uff3b\u623b\u308b\uff3d\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u306f Fitt \u306e\u6cd5\u5247\u306b\u3057\u305f\u304c\u3063\u3066\u5927\u304d\u304f\u3001\u305d\u3057\u3066\u4ed6\u306e\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u3088\u308a\u3082\u76ee\u7acb\u3064\u3082\u306e\u306b\u306a\u3063\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u56f3 2: \u4ee3\u66ff\u30c7\u30b6\u30a4\u30f3\u6848\n\n\u30b3\u30f3\u30c8\u30ed\u30fc\u30eb\u306e\u5916\u898b\u4e0a\u306e\u5927\u304d\u3055\u306f\u3001\u305d\u308c\u3092\u30b9\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\u306e\u7aef\u306b\u914d\u7f6e\u3059\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3067\u5927\u304d\u304f\u3059\u308b\u3053\u3068\u304c\u3067\u304d\u307e\u3059\u3002\u30de\u30a6\u30b9\u30ab\u30fc\u30bd\u30eb\u306f\u30b9\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\u306e\u7aef\u306b\u307e\u3067\u9054\u3059\u308b\u3068\u3001\u3069\u3093\u306a\u306b\u65e9\u304f\u30de\u30a6\u30b9\u3092\u52d5\u304b\u3057\u3066\u3044\u305f\u3068\u3057\u3066\u3082\u3001\u305d\u3053\u3067\u30de\u30a6\u30b9\u30ab\u30fc\u30bd\u30eb\u306e\u52d5\u304d\u306f\u6b62\u307e\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002\u3053\u306e\u3053\u3068\u306f\u3001\u30de\u30a6\u30b9\u306e\u4f7f\u7528\u8005\u306b\u3068\u3063\u3066\u306f\u30b9\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\u306e\u7aef\u306b\u3042\u308b\u3082\u306e\u306f\u3001\u30b9\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\u306e\u5916\u5074\u306b\u7121\u9650\u306b\u5e83\u304c\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3053\u3068\u306b\u306a\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3053\u3068\u3092\u610f\u5473\u3057\u307e\u3059\u3002\u30b9\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\u306e\u53f3\u4e0a\u306b\u3042\u308b 1 \u30d4\u30af\u30bb\u30eb\u306e\u30bf\u30fc\u30b2\u30c3\u30c8\u306b\u30de\u30a6\u30b9\u30ab\u30fc\u30bd\u30eb\u3092\u5408\u308f\u305b\u308b\u306e\u306f\u7c21\u5358\u306a\u3053\u3068\u3067\u3059\u3002\u30de\u30a6\u30b9\u3092\u53f3\u4e0a\u306b\u9069\u5f53\u306b\u300c\u6295\u3052\u3066\u300d\u3084\u308c\u3070\u3044\u3044\u304b\u3089\u3067\u3059\u3002\u30b9\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\u306e\u4e2d\u307b\u3069\u306b\u3042\u308b 1 \u30d4\u30af\u30bb\u30eb\u306b\u30de\u30a6\u30b9\u30ab\u30fc\u30bd\u30eb\u3092\u5408\u308f\u305b\u3066\u305d\u308c\u3092\u62bc\u3059\u306e\u306b\u306f\u305d\u308c\u3088\u308a\u3082\u6642\u9593\u304c\u304b\u304b\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3067\u3057\u3087\u3046\u3002\u3053\u306e\u3053\u3068\u304b\u3089\u3001\u62bc\u3057\u3084\u3059\u304f\u3042\u3063\u3066\u307b\u3057\u3044\u30b3\u30f3\u30c8\u30ed\u30fc\u30eb\u306f\u3001\u30b9\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\u7aef\u306b\u914d\u7f6e\u3055\u308c\u308b\u3079\u304d\u3060\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3053\u3068\u304c\u308f\u304b\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u56f3 3: Metacity \u30a6\u30a3\u30f3\u30c9\u30a6\u306e\u88c5\u98fe\u3002\n\n\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u306e\u5468\u8fba\u306b\u7121\u52b9\u306a\u9818\u57df\u304c\u3042\u308b\u3002\n\n\u3082\u3063\u3068\u3082\u7c21\u5358\u306a\u4f8b\u306f\u3001\u3059\u3079\u3066\u306e\u30a6\u30a3\u30f3\u30c9\u30a6\u306b\u4ed8\u3044\u3066\u3044\u308b\uff08\uff3b\u9589\u3058\u308b\uff3d\uff3b\u6700\u5927\u5316\uff3d\u306a\u3069\u306e\uff09\u30a6\u30a3\u30f3\u30c9\u30a6\u64cd\u4f5c\u7528\u306e\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u3067\u3059\u3002\u30a6\u30a3\u30f3\u30c9\u30a6\u3092\u64cd\u4f5c\u3057\u3084\u3059\u304f\u3059\u308b\u305f\u3081\u306b\u3001\u3053\u308c\u3089\u306f\u62bc\u3057\u3084\u3059\u304f\u306a\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u5fc5\u8981\u304c\u3042\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002\u5168\u30a2\u30d7\u30ea\u30b1\u30fc\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u306e\u4e0a\u9685\u306b\u3042\u308b\u308f\u3051\u3067\u3059\u304b\u3089\u3001\u3053\u308c\u3089\u306f\u89d2\u306b\u7f6e\u304f\u7b46\u982d\u5019\u88dc\u3067\u3059\u3002\u3057\u304b\u3057\u306a\u304c\u3089\u305d\u308c\u3092\u5b9f\u8df5\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u30a6\u30a3\u30f3\u30c9\u30a6\u30fb\u30de\u30cd\u30fc\u30b8\u30e3\u306f\u3054\u304f\u308f\u305a\u304b\u3067\u3059\u3002\u307b\u3068\u3093\u3069\u306e Metacity \u30c6\u30fc\u30de\u304c\u3084\u3063\u3066\u3044\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3057\u3001XFCE4 \u3082\u3084\u3063\u3066\u3044\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u3092 1 \u30d4\u30af\u30bb\u30eb\u53f3\u4e0a\u306b\u79fb\u52d5\u3055\u305b\u308b\u3060\u3051\u3067\u3001\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u306f\u76ee\u3092\u3064\u3080\u3063\u3066\u3067\u3082\u30a6\u30a3\u30f3\u30c9\u30a6\u3092\u9589\u3058\u308b\u3053\u3068\u304c\u3067\u304d\u308b\u3088\u3046\u306b\u306a\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u306e\u306b\u3067\u3059\u3002\n\n\u56f3 4: \u30b9\u30af\u30ed\u30fc\u30eb\u30d0\u30fc\n\n1 \u30d4\u30af\u30bb\u30eb\u306e\u30ae\u30e3\u30c3\u30d7\u3002\n\n\u3082\u3046\u3072\u3068\u3064\u306e\u4f8b\u306f\u30b9\u30af\u30ed\u30fc\u30eb\u30d0\u30fc\u3067\u3059\u3002\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306e\u30c7\u30b9\u30af\u30c8\u30c3\u30d7\u306b\u3042\u308b\u307b\u3068\u3093\u3069\u306e\u30a2\u30d7\u30ea\u30b1\u30fc\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u306f\u3001\u6700\u5927\u5316\u3057\u305f\u3068\u304d\u306b\u305d\u306e\u53f3\u7aef\u304b\u30891 \u30d4\u30af\u30bb\u30eb\u96e2\u308c\u305f\u3068\u3053\u308d\u306b\u30b9\u30af\u30ed\u30fc\u30eb\u30d0\u30fc\u304c\u4ed8\u304f\u3088\u3046\u306b\u306a\u3063\u3066\u304a\u308a\u3001\u305d\u3046\u306a\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3070\u3063\u304b\u308a\u306b\u305b\u3063\u304b\u304f\u306e\u30dd\u30a4\u30f3\u30c8\u3057\u3084\u3059\u3044\u5e45\u7121\u9650\u5927\u306e\u30dc\u30c3\u30af\u30b9\u306f 10 \u30d4\u30af\u30bb\u30eb\u306e\u5c0f\u3055\u306a\u30dc\u30c3\u30af\u30b9\u3078\u3068\u7e2e\u3081\u3089\u308c\u3066\u3057\u307e\u3063\u3066\u3044\u3066\u3001\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306f\u30b9\u30af\u30ed\u30fc\u30eb\u3057\u305f\u3044\u3068\u601d\u3046\u305f\u3073\u306b\u305d\u3053\u3092\u30af\u30ea\u30c3\u30af\u3059\u308b\u306e\u306b\u4f59\u8a08\u306a\u6570\u79d2\u3092\u8cbb\u3084\u3059\u3053\u3068\u306b\u306a\u3063\u3066\u3057\u307e\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u3053\u306e\u3053\u3068\u3092\u307e\u3068\u3081\u308b\u3068\u4ee5\u4e0b\u306e\u3088\u3046\u306b\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u3088\u304f\u4f7f\u308f\u308c\u308b\u30b3\u30f3\u30c8\u30ed\u30fc\u30eb\u306f\u5927\u304d\u304f\u3001\u76ee\u7acb\u3064\u3088\u3046\u306b\u3059\u308b\u3002 \u30b9\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\u306e\u7aef\u3068\u56db\u9685\u306b\u914d\u7f6e\u3055\u308c\u308b\u30b3\u30f3\u30c8\u30ed\u30fc\u30eb\u306f\u4e8b\u5b9f\u4e0a\u7121\u9650\u306b\u5e83\u304c\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3068\u307f\u306a\u3059\u3053\u3068\u304c\u3067\u304d\u308b\u3002 \u30b9\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\u306e\u7aef\u3084\u56db\u9685\u304b\u3089 1 \u30d4\u30af\u30bb\u30eb\u96e2\u308c\u3066\u30b3\u30f3\u30c8\u30ed\u30fc\u30eb\u3092\u7f6e\u304f\u3088\u3046\u306a\u3053\u3068\u306f\u3057\u306a\u3044\u3002\n\n2) \u4e0d\u5fc5\u8981\u306a\u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30d5\u30a7\u30fc\u30b9\n\n\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u304c\u4f5c\u696d\u3092\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3068\u304d\u306b\u306f\u3001\u304b\u308c\u3089\u306e\u6ce8\u610f\u306f\u884c\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u4f5c\u696d\u306e\u3053\u3068\u306b\u3042\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u304c\u30a2\u30d7\u30ea\u30b1\u30fc\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u3078\u3068\u6ce8\u610f\u3092\u5411\u3051\u308b\u305d\u306e\u305f\u3073\u3054\u3068\u306b\u3001\u304b\u308c\u3089\u304c\u4f5c\u696d\u306b\u96c6\u4e2d\u3057\u306a\u304a\u3059\u3060\u3051\u306e\u6642\u9593\u304c\u5931\u308f\u308c\u3066\u3044\u304d\u307e\u3059\u3002\u3057\u305f\u304c\u3063\u3066\u3001\u30a2\u30d7\u30ea\u30b1\u30fc\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u304c\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u306e\u6c17\u3092\u6563\u3089\u305b\u305f\u308a\u90aa\u9b54\u3092\u3057\u305f\u308a\u3059\u308b\u3088\u3046\u306a\u3053\u3068\u306f\u6700\u5c0f\u9650\u306b\u3068\u3069\u3081\u306a\u3051\u308c\u3070\u306a\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\u30a2\u30d7\u30ea\u30b1\u30fc\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u306b\u306f\u305d\u308c\u304c\u5bfe\u8c61\u3068\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u30a2\u30a4\u30c6\u30e0\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3082\u306e\u304c\u5b58\u5728\u3057\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u2014\u2014\u30c6\u30ad\u30b9\u30c8\u30a8\u30c7\u30a3\u30bf\u306a\u3089\u30c6\u30ad\u30b9\u30c8\u3001Web \u30d6\u30e9\u30a6\u30b6\u306a\u3089 Web \u30da\u30fc\u30b8\u3067\u3059\u3002\u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30d5\u30a7\u30fc\u30b9\u306f\u305d\u308c\u304c\u4e2d\u5fc3\u306b\u306a\u308b\u3088\u3046\u306b\u4f5c\u3089\u306a\u3051\u308c\u3070\u3044\u3051\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\n\n\u3053\u306e\u3053\u3068\u306e\u4f8b\u3068\u3057\u3066\u306f\u3001\u78ba\u8a8d\u3084\u9032\u884c\u72b6\u6cc1\u306e\u30c0\u30a4\u30a2\u30ed\u30b0\u304c\u6319\u3052\u3089\u308c\u307e\u3059\u3002\u305f\u3068\u3048\u3070\u3001Evolution \u306f\u308f\u305f\u3057\u304c\uff3b\u9001\u53d7\u4fe1\uff3d\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u3092\u62bc\u3059\u305f\u3073\u306b\u30c0\u30a4\u30a2\u30ed\u30b0\u3092\u30dd\u30c3\u30d7\u30a2\u30c3\u30d7\u3057\u3066\u30e1\u30fc\u30eb\u3092\u30c1\u30a7\u30c3\u30af\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u305d\u306e\u9032\u884c\u72b6\u6cc1\u3092\u6559\u3048\u307e\u3059\u3002\u3053\u306e\u30c0\u30a4\u30a2\u30ed\u30b0\u306f\u30e1\u30fc\u30eb\u3092\u53d7\u4fe1\u3057\u305f\u306e\u3067\u3001\u307b\u304b\u306e\u30a2\u30d7\u30ea\u30b1\u30fc\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u3078\u306e\u30a2\u30af\u30bb\u30b9\u3092\u30d6\u30ed\u30c3\u30af\u3057\u3088\u3046\u3068\u3044\u3046\u5834\u5408\u3067\u3042\u308c\u3070\u307e\u3063\u3068\u3046\u3060\u3068\u3044\u3048\u307e\u3059\u3002\u3057\u304b\u3057\u3053\u306e\u30c0\u30a4\u30a2\u30ed\u30b0\u306e\u63d0\u4f9b\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3082\u306e\u306f\u306a\u3093\u3067\u3057\u3087\u3046\uff1f \u3053\u308c\u306f\u305f\u3093\u306b\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u306e\u90aa\u9b54\u3092\u3059\u308b\u306e\u306b\u3057\u304b\u5f79\u306b\u7acb\u3063\u3066\u3044\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\u3053\u306e\u30c0\u30a4\u30a2\u30ed\u30b0\u306f\u5ec3\u6b62\u3057\u3066\u3001\u30b9\u30c6\u30fc\u30bf\u30b9\u30d0\u30fc\u306e\u9032\u6357\u30e1\u30fc\u30bf\u30fc\u306b\u7f6e\u304d\u63db\u3048\u305f\u307b\u3046\u304c\u305a\u3063\u3068\u3088\u3044\u3067\u3057\u3087\u3046\u3002\n\n\u56f3 5: gEdit \u306e\u691c\u7d22\u30c0\u30a4\u30a2\u30ed\u30b0\n\n\u3055\u3089\u306b\u60aa\u3044\u4f8b\u306f KDE \u306e\u3054\u307f\u7bb1\u306e\u30c7\u30d5\u30a9\u30eb\u30c8\u3067\u306e\u632f\u308b\u821e\u3044\u3067\u3059\u3002\u30d5\u30a1\u30a4\u30eb\u3092\u3054\u307f\u7bb1\u306b\u9001\u308b\u306e\u306f\u3001\u7c21\u5358\u306b\u5fa9\u5143\u3067\u304d\u3001\u307e\u305f\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u304c\u7e70\u308a\u8fd4\u3057\u884c\u3046\u3053\u3068\u3082\u3042\u308b\u64cd\u4f5c\u3067\u3059\u3002\u3069\u3046\u3057\u3066\u7c21\u5358\u306b\u3084\u308a\u76f4\u305b\u308b\u4f5c\u696d\u3067\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u306b\uff3bOK\uff3d\u3092\u6bce\u56de\u30af\u30ea\u30c3\u30af\u3059\u308b\u306e\u3092\u5f37\u5236\u3059\u308b\u306e\u3067\u3057\u3087\u3046\u304b\u3002\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u306b\u30d5\u30a1\u30a4\u30eb\u304c\u3054\u307f\u7bb1\u306b\u9001\u3089\u308c\u305f\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3053\u3068\u3092\u8b66\u544a\u3057\u305f\u3044\u306e\u3067\u3042\u308c\u3070\u3001\u30a2\u30cb\u30e1\u30fc\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u306e\u3088\u3046\u306a\u3082\u306e\u3092\u8868\u793a\u3055\u305b\u308c\u3070\u3044\u3044\u306e\u3067\u3059\u3002\u3053\u3046\u3057\u305f\u7c21\u5358\u306a\u64cd\u4f5c\u306b\u304a\u3044\u3066\u6bce\u56de\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u306e\u90aa\u9b54\u3092\u3057\u3066\u306f\u3044\u3051\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\u305d\u3093\u306a\u3053\u3068\u306f\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u3092\u3046\u308b\u3055\u304c\u3089\u305b\u3066\u4f5c\u696d\u3092\u9045\u6ede\u3055\u305b\u3001\u30c0\u30a4\u30a2\u30ed\u30b0\u3067\u3084\u307f\u304f\u3082\u306b\uff3bOK\uff3d\u3092\u62bc\u3059\u3088\u304f\u306a\u3044\u7fd2\u6163\u3092\u4ed8\u3051\u3055\u305b\u308b\u3053\u3068\u306b\u3057\u304b\u3064\u306a\u304c\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\n\n\u5225\u306e\u4f8b\u306f\u30c6\u30ad\u30b9\u30c8\u30a8\u30c7\u30a3\u30bf\u306e\u691c\u7d22\u6a5f\u80fd\u3067\u304a\u306a\u3058\u307f\u306e\u300c\u898b\u3064\u304b\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u300d\u30c0\u30a4\u30a2\u30ed\u30b0\u3067\u3059\u3002\u691c\u7d22\u30c0\u30a4\u30a2\u30ed\u30b0\u306b\u5165\u529b\u3057\u305f\u6587\u5b57\u5217\u304c\u898b\u3064\u304b\u3089\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f\u3068\u3059\u308c\u3070\u3001\u304a\u305d\u3089\u304f\u306f\u691c\u7d22\u3059\u308b\u6587\u5b57\u5217\u304c\u9593\u9055\u3063\u3066\u3044\u305f\u308f\u3051\u3067\u3001\u305d\u308c\u306a\u3089\u691c\u7d22\u6587\u5b57\u5217\u3092\u4fee\u6b63\u3057\u3066\u691c\u7d22\u3092\u7d9a\u3051\u3088\u3046\u3068\u3059\u308b\u306e\u304c\u666e\u901a\u3067\u3059\u3002\u3057\u304b\u3057\u305d\u3053\u306b\u306f\uff3bOK\uff3d\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u306e\u3064\u3044\u305f\u30c0\u30a4\u30a2\u30ed\u30b0\u30dc\u30c3\u30af\u30b9\u304c\u7acb\u3061\u306f\u3060\u304b\u3063\u3066\u304a\u308a\u3001\u306a\u306b\u3092\u3059\u308b\u306b\u3082\u307e\u305a\u306f\u305d\u3044\u3064\u3092\u30af\u30ea\u30c3\u30af\u3057\u3066\u306e\u3051\u306a\u3051\u308c\u3070\u306a\u3089\u306a\u3044\u306e\u3067\u3059\u3002\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u306b\u306f\u3055\u3089\u306a\u308b\u82db\u7acb\u3061\u3068\u624b\u9593\u304c\u304b\u3055\u307f\u307e\u3059\u3002\u3088\u3044\u4f8b\u3068\u3057\u3066\u306f Firefox \u306e\u691c\u7d22\u30c0\u30a4\u30a2\u30ed\u30b0\u304c\u6319\u3052\u3089\u308c\u307e\u3059\u3002\u3053\u308c\u306f\u691c\u7d22\u8a9e\u304c\u898b\u3064\u304b\u3089\u306a\u3044\u3068\u304d\u306b\u306f\u8d64\u304f\u8272\u304c\u4ed8\u304f\u306e\u3067\u3059\u3002\n\n\u56f3 6: \u3042\u3089\u3086\u308b\u8a3c\u62e0\u306b\u53cd\u3057\u3066\u3001Slashdot \u306b\u306f monkey \u306f\u898b\u3042\u305f\u3089\u306a\u3044\u3002\n\n\uff08\u8a33\u6ce8: Slashdot \u306e monkey \u3068\u3044\u3046\u306e\u306f\u3001\uff12\u3061\u3083\u3093\u306d\u308b\u3067\u3044\u3046\u53a8\u623f\u3068\u540c\u3058\u3088\u3046\u306a\u610f\u5473\u3060\u305d\u3046\u3067\u3059\u3002\u5c71\u5f62\u6d69\u751f\u3055\u3093\u3088\u308a\u6559\u3048\u3066\u3044\u305f\u3060\u304d\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002\uff09\n\n\u3053\u306e\u3053\u3068\u3092\u307e\u3068\u3081\u308b\u3068: \u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u306e\u901a\u308a\u9053\u306b\u3064\u307e\u305a\u304f\u3088\u3046\u306a\u77f3\u3092\u7f6e\u304b\u306a\u3044\u3002 \u30dd\u30c3\u30d7\u30a2\u30c3\u30d7\u30c0\u30a4\u30a2\u30ed\u30b0\u306f\u5f79\u306b\u7acb\u3064\u60c5\u5831\u3092\u542b\u3093\u3067\u3044\u308b\u5834\u5408\u306b\u306e\u307f\u4f7f\u3046\u3002 \u3067\u304d\u308b\u3060\u3051\u975e\u30e2\u30fc\u30c0\u30eb\u306a\u30b9\u30c6\u30fc\u30bf\u30b9\u8868\u793a\u3092\u3059\u308b\u3002\n\n3) \u30b3\u30f3\u30d4\u30e5\u30fc\u30bf\u306e\u30d1\u30ef\u30fc\u3092\u4f7f\u3048\n\n\u30b3\u30f3\u30d4\u30e5\u30fc\u30bf\u306f\u6628\u4eca\u30011 \u79d2\u9593\u306b\u4f55\u5341\u5104\u56de\u3082\u306e\u6f14\u7b97\u3092\u3053\u306a\u3057\u3001\u4f55\u767e\u30ae\u30ac\u30d0\u30a4\u30c8\u3082\u306e\u30b9\u30c8\u30ec\u30fc\u30b8\u3092\u4f7f\u3046\u3053\u3068\u306e\u3067\u304d\u308b\u3001\u30d1\u30ef\u30d5\u30eb\u306a\u3082\u306e\u3068\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002\u304b\u305f\u3084\u4eba\u9593\u306f\u3068\u3044\u3048\u3070\u3001\u4f55\u767e\u5e74\u305f\u3063\u3066\u3082\u305d\u308c\u307b\u3069\u5909\u308f\u3063\u3066\u3044\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\u308f\u305f\u3057\u305f\u3061\u306f\u3044\u307e\u3060\u306b\u75b2\u308c\u3084\u3059\u304f\u3001\u3059\u3050\u98fd\u304d\u308b\u3057\u3001\u9593\u9055\u3048\u308b\u3057\u3001\u4e00\u5ea6\u306b\u9650\u3089\u308c\u305f\u7cbe\u795e\u529b\u3057\u304b\u767a\u63ee\u3059\u308b\u3053\u3068\u304c\u3067\u304d\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\u3057\u305f\u304c\u3063\u3066\u3001\u3067\u304d\u308b\u3060\u3051\u591a\u304f\u306e\u4f5c\u696d\u3092\u3001\u307f\u3059\u307c\u3089\u3057\u304f\u64e6\u308a\u5207\u308c\u305f\u4eba\u9593\u306a\u3069\u3067\u306f\u306a\u304f\u3001\u75b2\u308c\u77e5\u3089\u305a\u3067\u30e1\u30c1\u30e3\u901f\u306e\u3001\u76ee\u306e\u524d\u306e\u30b3\u30f3\u30d4\u30e5\u30fc\u30bf\u306b\u4efb\u305b\u308b\u3088\u3046\u306b\u3057\u305f\u307b\u3046\u304c\u8ce2\u660e\u3067\u3042\u308b\u3088\u3046\u306b\u601d\u308f\u308c\u308b\u306e\u3067\u3059\u3002\n\n\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u30fb\u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30d5\u30a7\u30fc\u30b9\u306b\u304a\u3044\u3066\u3001\u3053\u306e\u30a2\u30a4\u30c7\u30a2\u306e\u793a\u5506\u3059\u308b\u3068\u3053\u308d\u306f\u660e\u767d\u3067\u3059\u3002\u6c7a\u5b9a\u3057\u306a\u3051\u308c\u3070\u306a\u3089\u306a\u3044\u3053\u3068\u3084\u3001\u3084\u3089\u306a\u3051\u308c\u3070\u306a\u3089\u306a\u3044\u3053\u3068\u304c\u3042\u308b\u305f\u3073\u306b\u3001\u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30d5\u30a7\u30fc\u30b9\u304c\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u306e\u305f\u3081\u306b\u305d\u308c\u3092\u3084\u3063\u3066\u304f\u308c\u308b\u3088\u3046\u306b\u3067\u304d\u306a\u3044\u304b\u8003\u3048\u3066\u307f\u3066\u304f\u3060\u3055\u3044\u3002\u305f\u3068\u3048\u3070\u3001\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306e\u30bf\u30b9\u30af\u30d0\u30fc\u306b\u306f\u73fe\u5728\u3075\u305f\u3064\u306e xterm \u304c\u958b\u3044\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\uff08\u56f3 7\uff09\u3002\u3072\u3068\u3064\u306f SiEd \u306e\u30bd\u30fc\u30b9\u30b3\u30fc\u30c9\u306e\u3042\u308b\u30c7\u30a3\u30ec\u30af\u30c8\u30ea\u3092\u958b\u3044\u3066\u304a\u308a\u3001\u3082\u3046\u3072\u3068\u3064\u306f\u8ad6\u6587\u306e LaTeX \u30b3\u30fc\u30c9\u304c\u3042\u308b\u30c7\u30a3\u30ec\u30af\u30c8\u30ea\u3092\u958b\u3044\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\u3069\u3063\u3061\u304c\u3069\u3063\u3061\u3060\u304b\u308f\u304b\u308a\u307e\u3059\u304b\uff1f \u308f\u304b\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3088\u306d\u3002\u305d\u3053\u3067\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306f\u81ea\u5206\u306e\u4f5c\u696d\u3057\u305f\u3044\u307b\u3046\u3092\u9078\u3076\u306e\u306b\u3001\u30bf\u30b9\u30af\u30d0\u30fc\u3092\u30af\u30ea\u30c3\u30af\u3057\u305f\u308a\u3001\u305d\u3053\u306b\u30de\u30a6\u30b9\u30ab\u30fc\u30bd\u30eb\u3092\u3082\u3063\u3066\u3044\u3063\u3066\u30c4\u30fc\u30eb\u30c1\u30c3\u30d7\u3092\u8868\u793a\u3055\u305b\u305f\u308a\u3059\u308b\u3053\u3068\u306b\u306a\u308b\u308f\u3051\u3067\u3059\u3002\u3057\u304b\u3057\u30b3\u30f3\u30d4\u30e5\u30fc\u30bf\u306f\u3069\u3063\u3061\u304c\u3069\u3063\u3061\u306a\u306e\u304b\u77e5\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u306e\u3067\u3059\u3002\u3069\u3046\u3057\u3066\u305d\u308c\u3092\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306e\u305f\u3081\u306b\u3084\u3063\u3066\u304f\u308c\u306a\u3044\u306e\u3067\u3057\u3087\u3046\u304b\uff1f\n\n\u56f3 7: GNOME \u306e\u30bf\u30b9\u30af\u30d0\u30fc\u306f\u4e0d\u89aa\u5207\u3060\u3002\n\n\u89e3\u6c7a\u7b56\u306f\u5358\u7d14\u3067\u3059\u3002\u30bf\u30b9\u30af\u30d0\u30fc\u306b\u3042\u308b\u540c\u4e00\u306e\u30a2\u30d7\u30ea\u30b1\u30fc\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u306f\u3001\u30bf\u30b9\u30af\u540d\u3092\u898b\u3066\u3001\u305d\u308c\u3089\u3092\u533a\u5225\u3067\u304d\u308b\u3088\u3046\u306a\u60c5\u5831\u3092\u8868\u793a\u3059\u308b\u3088\u3046\u306b\u3059\u308c\u3070\u3088\u3044\u306e\u3067\u3059\u3002\u305d\u3046\u3059\u308c\u3070\u3001\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306f\u591a\u304f\u306e\u7570\u306a\u308b\u30a2\u30d7\u30ea\u30b1\u30fc\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u3092\u307b\u3068\u3093\u3069\u8003\u3048\u308b\u3053\u3068\u306a\u304f\u5207\u308a\u66ff\u3048\u308b\u3053\u3068\u304c\u3067\u304d\u307e\u3059\u3002\u30b3\u30f3\u30d4\u30e5\u30fc\u30bf\u304c\u305d\u306e\u4f5c\u696d\u3092\u3084\u3063\u3066\u304f\u308c\u308b\u306e\u3067\u3001\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306f\u305d\u308c\u3092\u3057\u306a\u304f\u3066\u3059\u3080\u308f\u3051\u3067\u3059\u3002\n\n\u3082\u3057\u30b3\u30f3\u30d4\u30e5\u30fc\u30bf\u304c\u305d\u308c\u307b\u3069\u307e\u3067\u306b\u5e83\u5927\u306a\u30b9\u30c8\u30ec\u30fc\u30b8\u3092\u5229\u7528\u3067\u304d\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u306e\u3067\u3042\u308c\u3070\u3001\u7d42\u4e86\u3055\u305b\u308b\u305f\u3073\u306b\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306e\u8a2d\u5b9a\u3092\u5fd8\u308c\u3066\u3057\u307e\u3046\u30a2\u30d7\u30ea\u30b1\u30fc\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u304c\u591a\u3044\u306e\u306f\u3069\u3046\u3057\u3066\u306a\u306e\u3067\u3057\u3087\u3046\uff1f \u308f\u305f\u3057\u306f Anjuta IDE \u306f\u5fc5\u305a\u6700\u5927\u5316\u3055\u305b\u3066\u4f7f\u3046\u306e\u3067\u3059\u304c\u3001Anjuta \u306f\u8d77\u52d5\u3055\u305b\u308b\u3068\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306e\u4f7f\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u30b9\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\u3068\u540c\u3058\u304f\u3089\u3044\u306e\u5927\u304d\u3055\u3067\u30a6\u30a3\u30f3\u30c9\u30a6\u3092\u521d\u671f\u5316\u3057\u3001\u30a6\u30a3\u30f3\u30c9\u30a6\u306e\u5de6\u4e0a\u3092\u30b9\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\u304b\u3089 3 \u30d4\u30af\u30bb\u30eb\u96e2\u308c\u305f\u3068\u3053\u308d\u306b\u3082\u3063\u3066\u3044\u304d\u307e\u3059\u3002\u305d\u3053\u3067\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306f\u30a6\u30a3\u30f3\u30c9\u30a6\u3092\u6700\u5927\u5316\u3055\u305b\u3001\u306a\u306b\u304b\u958b\u767a\u3092\u3057\u3066\u3001\u7d42\u4e86\u3055\u305b\u307e\u3059\u3002\u6b21\u56de Anjuta \u3092\u8d77\u52d5\u3055\u305b\u308b\u3068\u3001\u305d\u308c\u306f\u307e\u305f\u3082\u3084\u6700\u5927\u5316\u3055\u308c\u3066\u3044\u306a\u3044\u72b6\u614b\u306b\u9006\u623b\u308a\u3067\u3059\u3002\u305d\u3053\u3067\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306f\u3001\u3084\u308d\u3046\u3068\u3057\u3066\u3044\u305f\u3053\u3068\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u8003\u3048\u308b\u306e\u3092\u4e2d\u65ad\u3057\u3066\u3001\u3053\u306e\u30d7\u30ed\u30b0\u30e9\u30e0\u3092\u8d77\u52d5\u3059\u308b\u305f\u3073\u306b\u6bce\u56de\u6700\u5927\u5316\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u3092\u30af\u30ea\u30c3\u30af\u3059\u308b\u306e\u3067\u3059\u3002\u4ee5\u524d\u306e\u30a6\u30a3\u30f3\u30c9\u30a6\u306e\u30b5\u30a4\u30ba\u3084\u5834\u6240\u3001\u72b6\u614b\u3092\u8a18\u61b6\u3057\u3066\u304a\u304f\u306e\u306b\u306f\u30b9\u30c8\u30ec\u30fc\u30b8\u306e 20 \u30d0\u30a4\u30c8\u3082\u3042\u308c\u3070\u8db3\u308a\u308b\u3067\u3057\u3087\u3046\u3002\u4f55\u5343\u56de\u306e\u30af\u30ea\u30c3\u30af\u306b\u6bd4\u3079\u308c\u3070\u5b89\u3044\u3082\u306e\u3067\u3059\u3002\n\nGNOME \u306e Nautilus \u30d5\u30a1\u30a4\u30eb\u30de\u30cd\u30fc\u30b8\u30e3\u306f\u3053\u306e\u70b9\u7533\u3057\u5206\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\u30a6\u30a3\u30f3\u30c9\u30a6\u306e\u30b5\u30a4\u30ba\u304b\u3089\u30b9\u30af\u30ed\u30fc\u30eb\u30d0\u30fc\u306e\u4f4d\u7f6e\u306b\u81f3\u308b\u307e\u3067\u3001\u3059\u3079\u3066\u304c\u30a6\u30a3\u30f3\u30c9\u30a6\u3054\u3068\u306b\u8a18\u61b6\u3055\u308c\u3066\u304a\u308a\u3001\u4e00\u5ea6\u30c7\u30a3\u30ec\u30af\u30c8\u30ea\u306e\u30a6\u30a3\u30f3\u30c9\u30a6\u3092\u597d\u307f\u306b\u8a2d\u5b9a\u3057\u3066\u304a\u3051\u3070\u3082\u3046\u305d\u306e\u3053\u3068\u3067\u982d\u3092\u60a9\u307e\u305b\u308b\u3053\u3068\u306f\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\n\n\u4ee5\u4e0a\u3092\u307e\u3068\u3081\u308b\u3068\u4ee5\u4e0b\u306e\u3088\u3046\u306b\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3059:\n\n\u30b3\u30f3\u30d4\u30e5\u30fc\u30bf\u306f\u30d1\u30ef\u30d5\u30eb\u3060: \u30b3\u30f3\u30d4\u30e5\u30fc\u30bf\u306e\u30d1\u30ef\u30fc\u3067\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u3092\u52a9\u3051\u3088\u3046\u3002 \u4f3c\u3066\u3044\u308b\u30a2\u30a4\u30c6\u30e0\u3092\u533a\u5225\u3057\u3084\u3059\u304f\u3057\u3066\u3042\u3052\u3088\u3046\u3002 \u30a2\u30d7\u30ea\u30b1\u30fc\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u306e\u8a2d\u5b9a\u306f\u8a18\u61b6\u3059\u308b\u3002\n\n4) \u30a2\u30a4\u30c6\u30e0\u306f\u533a\u5225\u3057\u3084\u3059\u304f\u898b\u3064\u3051\u3084\u3059\u304f\n\n\u3053\u306e\u30dd\u30a4\u30f3\u30c8\u306f\u304d\u308f\u3081\u3066\u30b7\u30f3\u30d7\u30eb\u3067\u3059\u3002\u7570\u306a\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3092\u3059\u308b\u30b9\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\u4e0a\u306e\u30a2\u30a4\u30c6\u30e0\u306f\u898b\u3084\u3059\u304f\u305d\u3057\u3066\u304a\u4e92\u3044\u306b\u7570\u306a\u3063\u3066\u898b\u3048\u308b\u3079\u304d\u3060\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3053\u3068\u3067\u3059\u3002\u64cd\u4f5c\u3092\u3057\u3084\u3059\u304f\u3057\u3088\u3046\u3068\u76ee\u8ad6\u3093\u3067\u5931\u6557\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u7aef\u7684\u306a\u4f8b\u3068\u3057\u3066\u3001Konqueror \u306e\u30c7\u30d5\u30a9\u30eb\u30c8\u306e\u30bf\u30b9\u30af\u30d0\u30fc\u3092\u3054\u89a7\u304f\u3060\u3055\u3044\u3002\n\n\u56f3 8: Konqueror \u306e\u30c7\u30d5\u30a9\u30eb\u30c8\u306e\u30c4\u30fc\u30eb\u30d0\u30fc\n\n\u5de6\u7aef\u306e\u30a2\u30a4\u30c6\u30e0\u306f\u4e0a\u5411\u304d\u306e\u77e2\u5370\u306b\u306a\u3063\u3066\u3044\u3066\u3001Web \u30d6\u30e9\u30a6\u30b6\u306e\u4e2d\u3067\u306f\u3082\u3063\u3068\u3082\u4f7f\u7528\u983b\u5ea6\u306e\u5c11\u306a\u3044\u30b3\u30de\u30f3\u30c9\u304c\u5272\u308a\u5f53\u3066\u3089\u308c\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\u5de6\u7aef\u3068\u3044\u3046\u306e\u306f\u3082\u3063\u3068\u3082\u898b\u3064\u3051\u3084\u3059\u304f\u30af\u30ea\u30c3\u30af\u3057\u3084\u3059\u3044\u5834\u6240\u3067\u3059\u304b\u3089\u3001\u3082\u3063\u3068\u3082\u3088\u304f\u4f7f\u308f\u308c\u308b\u64cd\u4f5c\u304c\u3053\u3053\u306b\u3053\u306a\u304f\u3066\u306f\u3044\u3051\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306e\u77e5\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u4ed6\u306e\u3059\u3079\u3066\u306e\u30d6\u30e9\u30a6\u30b6\u304c\uff3b\u623b\u308b\uff3d\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u3092\u5de6\u7aef\u306b\u7f6e\u3044\u3066\u3044\u308b\u306e\u306f\u305d\u308c\u304c\u7406\u7531\u3067\u3059\u3002\n\n\u691c\u7d22\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u3068\u3075\u305f\u3064\u306e\u30ba\u30fc\u30e0\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u306f\u3068\u3066\u3082\u4f3c\u901a\u3063\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\uff3b\u9032\u3080\uff3d\uff3b\u623b\u308b\uff3d\uff3b\u4e0a\u3078\uff3d\uff3b\u30db\u30fc\u30e0\uff3d\u305d\u3057\u3066\uff3b\u66f4\u65b0\uff3d\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u306f\u3059\u3079\u3066\u540c\u3058\u8272\u3092\u3057\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\u3059\u3070\u3084\u304f\u3053\u308c\u3089\u3092\u898b\u5206\u3051\u308b\u306e\u306f\u81f3\u96e3\u306e\u696d\u3067\u3059\u3002\u3055\u3089\u306b\u91cd\u8981\u306a\u3053\u3068\u306f\u3001\u305d\u308c\u3089\u304c 15 \u500b\u3082\u4e26\u3093\u3067\u3044\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3053\u3068\u3067\u3059\uff01 \u4eba\u9593\u306f 5 \u3064\u524d\u5f8c\u306e\u30a2\u30a4\u30c6\u30e0\u3092\u8b58\u5225\u3059\u308b\u306e\u306f\u5f97\u610f\u3067\u3001\u305d\u308c\u304f\u3089\u3044\u3067\u3042\u308c\u3070\u8003\u3048\u8fbc\u307e\u305a\u306b\u5373\u5ea7\u306b\u3059\u308b\u3053\u3068\u304c\u3067\u304d\u307e\u3059\u3002\u697d\u8b5c\u306e\u8b5c\u9762\u304c 5 \u884c\u304b\u3089\u306a\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u306e\u3082\u305d\u308c\u304c\u4e3b\u306a\u7406\u7531\u3067\u3059\u30025 \u3064\u3092\u8d85\u3048\u308b\u3068\u3001\u308f\u305f\u3057\u305f\u3061\u306f\u7acb\u3061\u6b62\u307e\u3063\u3066\u8133\u3092\u4f7f\u3063\u3066\u3069\u308c\u304c\u3069\u308c\u3067\u3042\u308b\u304b\u3092\u8003\u3048\u306a\u3051\u308c\u3070\u306a\u3089\u306a\u304f\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002\u512a\u308c\u305f\u30c7\u30b6\u30a4\u30f3\u3067\u306f\u3001\u30c4\u30fc\u30eb\u30d0\u30fc\u306b\u306f\u3082\u3063\u3068\u3082\u3088\u304f\u4f7f\u308f\u308c\u308b\u30a2\u30a4\u30c6\u30e0\u306e\u307f\u304c\u914d\u7f6e\u3055\u308c\u3001\u4e00\u822c\u7684\u306b\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u304c\u3057\u306a\u3051\u308c\u3070\u306a\u3089\u306a\u3044\u3053\u3068\u3092\u6700\u5c0f\u9650\u306b\u7d5e\u3063\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\u591a\u304f\u306e\u30a2\u30d7\u30ea\u30b1\u30fc\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u304c\u3053\u3046\u3057\u305f\u305f\u304f\u3055\u3093\u306e\u30a2\u30a4\u30c6\u30e0\u3092\u30bf\u30b9\u30af\u30d0\u30fc\u306b\u4e26\u3079\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u304c\u3001Web \u3092\u30d6\u30e9\u30a6\u30ba\u3059\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3063\u305f\u5358\u7d14\u306a\u30bf\u30b9\u30af\u306e\u5834\u5408\u306f\u300115 \u500b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u306e\u306f\u3084\u308a\u3059\u304e\u3067\u3059\u3002\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306f\u65b0\u898f\u306e\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u304c Konqueror \u3092\u4f7f\u304a\u3046\u3068\u3057\u3066\u3001\u3053\u306e\u914d\u7f6e\u304c\u3044\u304b\u306b\u304b\u308c\u3089\u81ea\u8eab\u3092\u6df7\u4e71\u3055\u305b\u308b\u304b\u3092\u898b\u3066\u304d\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002\u7d4c\u9a13\u3092\u7a4d\u3093\u3060\u30b3\u30f3\u30d4\u30e5\u30fc\u30bf\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u3067\u3042\u308b\u308f\u305f\u3057\u3067\u3055\u3048\u6df7\u4e71\u3059\u308b\u306e\u3067\u3059\u304b\u3089\u3002\n\n\u30a2\u30a4\u30c6\u30e0\u306e\u8b58\u5225\u304c\u56f0\u96e3\u306b\u306a\u308b\u5225\u306e\u4f8b\u306f\u3001\u30c7\u30d5\u30a9\u30eb\u30c8\u306e GNOME \u3067\u898b\u3089\u308c\u307e\u3059\u3002\u56f3 9 \u306e\u7bc4\u56f2\u9078\u629e\u3055\u308c\u305f\u30c6\u30ad\u30b9\u30c8\u3092\u898b\u3066\u304f\u3060\u3055\u3044\u3002\n\n\u56f3 9: GNOME Simple theme \u306e\u30c6\u30ad\u30b9\u30c8\u9078\u629e\n\n\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u304c\u30c6\u30ad\u30b9\u30c8\u3092\u7bc4\u56f2\u9078\u629e\u3057\u305f\u3068\u304d\u3001\u5f7c\u306e\u6ce8\u610f\u306f\u9078\u629e\u3057\u305f\u30c6\u30ad\u30b9\u30c8\u306b\u3042\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u306f\u304a\u305d\u3089\u304f\u305d\u308c\u3092\u3069\u3046\u306b\u304b\u3059\u308b\u305f\u3081\u306b\u9078\u629e\u3057\u305f\u306e\u3067\u3059\u304b\u3089\u3002\u305d\u308c\u306a\u306e\u306b\u3069\u3046\u3057\u3066\u3053\u306e\u30c6\u30fc\u30de\u3067\u306f\u9078\u629e\u7bc4\u56f2\u306e\u80cc\u666f\u3092\u6697\u3044\u8272\u306b\u3057\u3066\u3001\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u304c\u6ce8\u76ee\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u307e\u3055\u306b\u305d\u306e\u30c6\u30ad\u30b9\u30c8\u3092\u30b9\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\u4e0a\u3067\u8aad\u307f\u306b\u304f\u304f\u3057\u3066\u3057\u307e\u3046\u306e\u3067\u3057\u3087\u3046\u304b\uff1f \u305d\u306e\u90e8\u5206\u3092\u660e\u308b\u304f\u3057\u3066\u4ed6\u306e\u90e8\u5206\u304b\u3089\u969b\u7acb\u305f\u305b\u3001\u8aad\u307f\u3084\u3059\u304f\u3057\u305f\u307b\u3046\u304c\u3088\u3044\u306e\u3067\u306f\u306a\u3044\u3067\u3057\u3087\u3046\u304b\uff1f\n\n\u3053\u306e\u3053\u3068\u3092\u307e\u3068\u3081\u308b\u3068\u4ee5\u4e0b\u306e\u3088\u3046\u306b\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3059:\n\n\u7570\u306a\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3092\u3059\u308b\u30a2\u30a4\u30c6\u30e0\u306f\u533a\u5225\u3057\u3084\u3059\u304f \u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc\u3092\u9078\u629e\u80a2\u3067\u304a\u307c\u308c\u3055\u305b\u306a\u3044 \u9078\u629e\u3057\u3066\u3044\u305f\u308a\u30d5\u30a9\u30fc\u30ab\u30b9\u306e\u3042\u305f\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u30a2\u30a4\u30c6\u30e0\u306f\u76ee\u7acb\u305f\u305b\u3001\u8aad\u307f\u3084\u3059\u3044\u3088\u3046\u306b\u3059\u308b\n\n\u7d50\u8ad6\n\n\u4ee5\u4e0a\u306e 5 \u3064\u306e\u30dd\u30a4\u30f3\u30c8\u306f\u4e9b\u7d30\u306a\u3053\u3068\u3067\u3059\u304c\u3001UI \u30c7\u30b6\u30a4\u30f3\u306e\u91cd\u8981\u306a\u90e8\u5206\u3092\u5360\u3081\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\u3053\u308c\u3089\u306f UI \u306e\u554f\u984c\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u306e\u3001\u9244\u306e\u639f\u3084\u7279\u52b9\u85ac\u3068\u3044\u3063\u305f\u3082\u306e\u3067\u306f\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\u3053\u308c\u3089\u306e\u539f\u5247\u306b\u3057\u305f\u304c\u3063\u3066\u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30d5\u30a7\u30fc\u30b9\u3092\u30c7\u30b6\u30a4\u30f3\u3059\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3067\u3001\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306e\u610f\u898b\u306b\u3088\u308c\u3070\u3001\u30a2\u30d7\u30ea\u30b1\u30fc\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u306e\u4f7f\u3044\u52dd\u624b\u3092\u5927\u304d\u304f\u5411\u4e0a\u3067\u304d\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3053\u3068\u3067\u3059\u3002\u8a02\u6b63\u3084\u8ffd\u52a0\u306a\u3069\u3001\u3069\u3093\u306a\u30b3\u30e1\u30f3\u30c8\u3067\u3082\u6b53\u8fce\u3057\u307e\u3059\uff08\u4e0b\u8a18\u306e\u30e1\u30fc\u30eb\u30a2\u30c9\u30ec\u30b9\u3078\u3069\u3046\u305e\u3001nospam \u306e\u90e8\u5206\u3092\u53d6\u308a\u9664\u3044\u3066\u304f\u3060\u3055\u3044\uff09\u3002\n\n\u3053\u308c\u3089\u306e\u30a2\u30a4\u30c7\u30a2\u306f\u7c21\u5358\u306a\u8981\u7d04\u306b\u3059\u304e\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30d5\u30a7\u30fc\u30b9\u30fb\u30c7\u30b6\u30a4\u30f3\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u771f\u5263\u306b\u53d6\u308a\u7d44\u3082\u3046\u3068\u3044\u3046\u65b9\u306b\u306f\u3001\u4e0b\u8a18\u306b\u6319\u3052\u308b\u53c2\u8003\u8cc7\u6599\u306b\u76ee\u3092\u901a\u3055\u308c\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3092\u304a\u52e7\u3081\u3057\u307e\u3059\u3002Alan Cooper \u306e\u672c\u306f\u305f\u3044\u3078\u3093\u3059\u3070\u3089\u3057\u3044\u3082\u306e\u3067\u3059\u3002Jef Raskin \u306e\u306f\u3072\u3058\u3087\u3046\u306b\u5f79\u306b\u7acb\u3064\u8cc7\u6599\u3067\u3001\u300c\u666e\u901a\u300d\u306e\u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30d5\u30a7\u30fc\u30b9\u30fb\u30c7\u30b6\u30a4\u30f3\u304b\u3089\u96e2\u308c\u305f\u8208\u5473\u6df1\u3044\u30a2\u30a4\u30c7\u30a2\u304c\u542b\u307e\u308c\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u672c\u7a3f\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u305f\u304f\u3055\u3093\u306e\u30b3\u30e1\u30f3\u30c8\u3092\u3044\u305f\u3060\u3044\u305f\u306e\u3067\u3001\u305d\u306e\u3046\u3061\u306e\u3044\u304f\u3064\u304b\u306b\u7b54\u3048\u308b\u3079\u304f\u3001FAQ \u3092\u66f8\u304d\u307e\u3057\u305f\uff08FAQ \u65e5\u672c\u8a9e\u8a33\uff09\u3002\n\n\u53c2\u8003\u6587\u732e\n\n\u66f4\u65b0\u5c65\u6b74\uff08\u30aa\u30ea\u30b8\u30ca\u30eb\uff09\n\n2004-11-19: \u518d\u30a4\u30f3\u30b9\u30c8\u30fc\u30eb\u3057\u305f\u3089\u306a\u3093\u3060\u304b\u72b6\u614b\u3092\u899a\u3048\u3066\u304f\u308c\u308b\u3088\u3046\u306b\u306a\u3063\u305f\u306e\u3067\u3001OpenOffice \u306e\u6700\u5927\u5316\u306e\u4f8b\u3092 Anjuta \u306e\u4f8b\u306b\u5909\u66f4\u3002\n\n2004-11-21: KDE \u3068 GNOME HIGs \u3078\u306e\u30ea\u30f3\u30af\u3092\u8ffd\u52a0\u3002\n\n2004-11-21: FAQ \u3078\u306e\u30ea\u30f3\u30af\u3092\u8ffd\u52a0\u3002\n\n\u8457\u8005\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\n\n\u308f\u305f\u3057\u306f\u30d5\u30ea\u30fc\u30bd\u30d5\u30c8\u30a6\u30a7\u30a2\u306e\u64c1\u8b77\u8005\u3067\u3001GPL \u30e9\u30a4\u30bb\u30f3\u30b9\u306e Palm OS \u30c7\u30d0\u30a4\u30b9\u5411\u3051\u30c6\u30ad\u30b9\u30c8\u30a8\u30c7\u30a3\u30bf\u3001SiEd \u306e\u30e1\u30a4\u30f3\u30fb\u30c7\u30d9\u30ed\u30c3\u30d1\u30fc\u3067\u3059\u3002\u5b9f\u751f\u6d3b\u3067\u306f\u3001\u30a4\u30f3\u30da\u30ea\u30a2\u30eb\u30fb\u30ab\u30ec\u30c3\u30b8\u306e\u30d7\u30ed\u30bb\u30b9\u30b7\u30b9\u30c6\u30e0\u5de5\u5b66\u79d1\u3067 Process Scheduling \u306e PhD \u3092\u3057\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\nBenjamin Roe\n\n\u30aa\u30ea\u30b8\u30ca\u30eb\u306e\u8457\u4f5c\u6a29\n\n\n\nThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License and is Copyright Benjamin Roe 2004.\n\n\u3053\u306e\u7ffb\u8a33\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\n\n\u3054\u610f\u898b\u3001\u3054\u611f\u60f3\u3001\u8aa4\u5b57\u30fb\u8aa4\u8a33\u306e\u3054\u6307\u6458\u7b49\u306f M.Shibata \u307e\u3067 Visitor's Voice \u3088\u308a\u304a\u5bc4\u305b\u304f\u3060\u3055\u3044\u3002\u3053\u306e HTML \u306e\u30bd\u30fc\u30b9\u306b\u306f\u539f\u6587\u304c\u30b3\u30e1\u30f3\u30c8\u3068\u3057\u3066\u57cb\u3081\u8fbc\u307e\u308c\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u306e\u3067\u3001\u3054\u6307\u6458\u306e\u53c2\u8003\u306b\u3057\u3066\u304f\u3060\u3055\u3044\u3002\u307e\u305f\u3001\u3068\u304f\u306b\u4ee5\u4e0b\u306e\u70b9\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u52a9\u8a00\u3092\u3044\u305f\u3060\u3051\u308b\u3068\u3042\u308a\u304c\u305f\u3044\u3067\u3059\u3002\n\n\"window decoration\" \u306e\u8a33\u8a9e\u3002\n\n\u30dc\u30bf\u30f3\u30d0\u30fc\uff0f\u30c4\u30fc\u30eb\u30d0\u30fc\uff0f\u30bf\u30b9\u30af\u30d0\u30fc\u306e\u7528\u8a9e\u306e\u4f7f\u308f\u308c\u65b9\u304c\u6df7\u4e71\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3088\u3046\u306b\u898b\u3048\u308b\u306e\u3067\u3059\u304c\u3001\u3053\u308c\u306f\u305d\u3046\u3044\u3046\u3082\u306e\u306a\u3093\u3067\u3057\u3087\u3046\u304b\u3002\u305d\u308c\u3068\u3082\u305f\u3093\u306a\u308b\u4e0d\u7d71\u4e00\uff1f \u50d5\u306f GNOME \u3068\u304b KDE \u3068\u304b\u4f7f\u3063\u305f\u3053\u3068\u304c\u306a\u3044\u306e\u3067\u81ea\u4fe1\u304c\u3082\u3066\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\n\nAbout Face 2.0 \u306e\u90a6\u8a33\u306f\u51fa\u3066\u3044\u306a\u3044\u306e\u3067\u3059\u304b\uff1f\n\n\u8457\u8005\u304c PhD \u3092\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u7814\u7a76\u306e\u6b63\u3057\u3044\u8a33\u8a9e\u304c\u308f\u304b\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\u30b3\u30f3\u30d4\u30e5\u30fc\u30bf\u30fb\u30b5\u30a4\u30a8\u30f3\u30b9\u306b\u8a73\u3057\u3044\u65b9\u3001\u6559\u3048\u3066\u304f\u3060\u3055\u3044\u3002\n\n\u3053\u306e\u7ffb\u8a33\u306e\u66f4\u65b0\u5c65\u6b74\n\n\u8aa4\u5b57\u3084\u8a00\u3044\u56de\u3057\u306e\u8a02\u6b63\u306a\u3069\u306e\u5c0f\u3055\u306a\u5909\u66f4\u306f\u3053\u3053\u306b\u63b2\u8f09\u3057\u3066\u3044\u306a\u304f\u3066\u3082\u968f\u6642\u884c\u3063\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u3053\u306e\u7ffb\u8a33\u306e\u8457\u4f5c\u6a29\n\n\n\nCopyright (C) 2004 M.Shibata.\n\n\u672c\u7ffb\u8a33\u306f\u3001\u30af\u30ea\u30a8\u30a4\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30fb\u30b3\u30e2\u30f3\u30ba\u30fb\u30e9\u30a4\u30bb\u30f3\u30b9\u306e\u4e0b\u3067\u30e9\u30a4\u30bb\u30f3\u30b9\u3055\u308c\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\u30aa\u30ea\u30b8\u30ca\u30eb\u306e\u8457\u4f5c\u6a29\u306f Benjamin Roe \u306b\u3042\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002"}
-{"text": "The Clippers beat the Nets 105-95 last night, but the game was actually much closer than the final score would indicate. The Clippers trailed the Nets at one point in the third quarter, and Brooklyn was within striking distance with just a few minutes remaining in the game. But then, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan ran the same pick and roll over and over and over again, and for whatever reason, the Nets didn\u2019t adjust to it and the play kept working:\n\nAfter the final buzzer sounded, Jay Z\u2014who was sitting courtside with Beyonc\u00e9\u2014approached CP3 and talked to him about the play selection at the end of the game. He was caught asking CP3 about the pick-and-roll play that the Clippers kept running:\n\nWhat\u2019s that about? Well, if it keeps working, Jay, why not use it, right? Jay should have asked CP3 what the Clippers\u2019 new mascot was about instead.\n\nSend all complaints, compliments, and tips to sportstips@complex.com.\n\n[via Fox Sports]"}
-{"text": "A few photos from Press Day at RedBud MX.\n\n[Photos by James Gingerich]"}
-{"text": "The Glendale City Council on Tuesday moved to ban smoking in all new apartment and condominium units, give individuals the right to sue others who break smoking rules and increase the distance between smokers and non-smokers in outdoor dining areas.\n\nSince 2008, Glendale has implemented a variety of smoking bans at common areas, private balconies and patios in multi-unit buildings. Many wide-sweeping prohibitions have taken effect, but there have also been tweaks to the rules, making smoking restrictions a recurring topic of discussion at City Hall.\n\nThe proposed ban on smoking in new condo and apartment developments may affect roughly 2,000 units springing up in downtown. The developments could apply for an outdoor smoking permit, but they\u2019d have to pay about $200 in addition to $50 annually as a registration fee and set up the space in a way approved by city officials.\n\n\u201cWe got to try to make an effort,\u201d Mayor Dave Weaver said.\n\n\nThe proposal was unanimously supported on the dais, but council members declined to extend the restrictions to existing multi-unit development \u2014 similar to what\u2019s been done in cities such as Pasadena \u2014 saying it would be too difficult to enforce.\n\nIn fact, the ability of the city to enforce any new anti-smoking rule would be a challenge, officials said.\n\n\u201cFolks are going to smoke,\u201d said City Manager Scott Ochoa in asking council members to temper their expectations. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to get 100% of everyone to do everything that you want.\u201d\n\nALSO:\n\n\nLeila Fowler 911 call: \u2018My daughter started screaming\u2019\n\nTrial to begin for \u2018female James Bond\u2019 in model\u2019s killing\n\nReputed Montebello gang members linked to six murders, police say\n\nbrittany.levine@latimes.com"}
-{"text": "Authorities in Gibraltar released from detention Thursday an Iranian oil supertanker impounded since last month despite a last-minute move by the United States to seize the vessel, according to the government of the British overseas territory.\n\nOfficials in Gibraltar earlier said in a statement that the U.S. Department of Justice \"applied to seize the Grace 1 on a number of allegations,\" but a judge in Gibraltar's Supreme Court later ruled he had not received an \"application\" for the U.S. seizure.\n\nThe Justice Department has not responded to multiple requests for comment.\n\nThe U.S. move comes amid a standoff between Iran and Washington after President Donald Trump withdrew from an international nuclear accord with Tehran and reimposed sanctions. Tensions in the Persian Gulf have been on the rise since.\n\nThe tanker \"Grace 1\" was seized last month in a British Royal Navy operation off the coast of Gibraltar. Authorities suspected it of violating European Union sanctions on oil shipments to Syria. Its seizure has deepened tensions in the Persian Gulf, where Iran claims control of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway for oil shipments.\n\nGibraltar's Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said in a statement after Thursday's ruling that he had received \"written assurances\" from Iran that its tanker would not seek to travel to a destination that is subject to EU sanctions. \"This assurance has the effect of ensuring that we have deprived the (President Bashar) Assad regime in Syria of more than one hundred and forty million dollars of valuable crude oil,\" he said.\n\nThe \"Grace 1\" was carrying 2.1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil.\n\nIran tensions:Tehran seizes another foreign oil tanker, state media says\n\nThere was no reaction from Iran, but the attempted U.S. intervention may further aggravate tensions in the Persian Gulf. After Gibraltar's detention of \"Grace 1,\" Iran seized the British-flagged oil tanker \"Stena Impero\" as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz. The Islamic Republic is still holding the \"Stena Impero,\" claiming it failed to stop after colliding with an Iranian fishing boat. Iran has also seized other foreign oil tankers and the U.S. blames Tehran for the downing of a U.S. surveillance drone as well as a series of sabotage attacks on ships operating in the Persian Gulf.\n\nThe Trump administration late last month sanctioned Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, in a move that has narrowed the window for dialogue with Iran. It was a decision that came after weeks of heated rhetoric between the U.S. and Iran as Washington has attempted to squeeze the regime economically and isolate it diplomatically. European signatories to the nuclear deal brokered during President Barack Obama's administration, including Britain, have so far resisted pressure from Washington to abandon the landmark 2015 agreement that placed restrictions on Iran's nuclear program in return for easing sanctions on its key industries, such as oil.\n\n\"Designed to provoke Tehran: Just as #Iran-UK-#Gibraltar were set to have #Grace1 tanker released today, #Trump admin moves in to spoil the effort. Will become another source of tension in Europe-US relations over Iran policy,\" tweeted Ellie Geranmayeh, an Iran expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank.\n\n\"A successful U.S. seizure of the Grace 1 tanker in Gibraltar would further increase tensions between Iran and the Trump administration,\" said Rocky Weitz, the director of Maritime Studies at The Fletcher School of Tufts University.\n\nAuthorities in Gibraltar said they decided to release \"Grace 1\" to ease tensions. Legal action against the ship's crew and captain, an Indian national, were dropped.\n\nIt's not clear when the ship will leave Gibraltar, or if the Justice Department will attempt to use some other legal means to prevent the vessel's departure.\n\nPicardo said the U.S. has applied to the courts to further detain the tanker.\n\nBritain's foreign ministry said that no \"linkage\" should be drawn between the EU's enforcement of sanctions on Syria and Iran's \"illegal\" seizure of the \"Stena Impero.\"\n\nNew British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who enjoys a good relationship with Trump, has not indicated publicly whether he intends to back Washington's \"maximum pressure\" strategy over Iran that has stoked fears it could lead to military conflict. The two leaders will hold their first meeting since Johnson's elevation to prime minister on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, on Aug. 24-26."}
-{"text": "Judge Mathis was on 106th and Park yesterday. He answered questions about his beliefs on the prison system. He criticized the prison system for selling prison labor to various companies for less than a dollar a day. Mathis pointed out that Black men are 60% of the prison population and also talked about the trap of bad schools and no opportunities that often results in African American men being in prison. Mathis has been actively speaking about the prison industrial complex for some time, now here\u2019s an interview he did with CNN on the issue.\n\nWatch Mathis On 106th And Park\n\nRELATED STORIES\n\nJudge Mathis Gets His Own Video Game\n\nOPINION: Heal The Prison System"}
-{"text": "Refresh your skincare routine\n\n*Valid from 09/09/2020 \u2013 06/10/2020 in store and online. Offer available to registered Health and Beauty card members only. Offer only applies to purchases made in a single transaction. One gift per transaction. Offer excludes trial & travel, bronzing, cotton wool, tissues and sun care products. No cash alternative. Selected lines only. Offer cannot be used as part-payment. One offer per customer."}
-{"text": "In many countries throughout the world, moderators are treated as devices to protect the hearing of shooters and those around them.\n\nRemoving the requirement for a moderator to be held on a Firearms Certificate would help shooters to further protect their hearing, and would reduce the effect the sound of shooting has on other people & the environment. Furthermore, it would also help reduce police workload as police would no longer have to process certificate variations for moderators."}
-{"text": "Vambrace: Cold Soul will launch for Xbox One on August 28, and PlayStation 4 and Switch on August 29 for $24.99, publishers Headup Games and Chorus Worldwide, and developer Devespresso Games announced.\n\nIn Japan, a physical edition for PlayStation 4 is due out on August 29.\n\nThe story-driven roguelite set amidst a frozen landscape first launched for PC via Steam on May 28.\n\nHere is an overview of the game, via Headup Games:"}
-{"text": "Theo Walcott wants Arsenal to again become a formidable force in the Premier League next season. Theo Walcott wants Arsenal to again become a formidable force in the Premier League next season.\n\nThe Emirates Stadium club have gone eight years without a piece of silverware and that has added pressure on boss Arsene Wenger.\n\nBut a 10-game unbeaten run at the end of last season helped secure another finish inside the Premier League's top four and Walcott hopes to continue that momentum.\n\n\"It is quite frustrating at times, because we should have done that at the start of the season,\" he told Sky Sports. \"Who knows where we would have been.\n\n\"We need to remember those moments that we had and make sure we do it from the start, because we could be challenging for anything. We could beat anyone.\n\n\"We want that sort of fear factor, especially at the Emirates.\""}
-{"text": "Ministry of Defence says British ships will \u2018man-mark\u2019 Russian fleet, which is believed to be travelling to Syria for possible final assault on Aleppo\n\nA fleet of Russian warships is heading towards the Mediterranean on a route past the British Isles as part of what is believed to be the country\u2019s largest naval deployment since the cold war.\n\nSyrian mission restores pride in Russian military after years of decay Read more\n\nIt is not clear if the fleet will pass via the North Sea and the Channel or west of Ireland. It includes the aircraft carrier the Admiral Kuznetsov, which is reported to be carrying fighter bombers and is accompanied by several other Russian vessels.\n\nA Ministry of Defence spokesman said: \u201cWhen these ships near our waters we will man-mark them every step of the way. We will be watching as part of our steadfast commitment to keep Britain safe.\u201d\n\nThe convoy was photographed by the Norwegian military as it journeyed through international waters on its way to Syria where it is thought they will participate in a final assault on the besieged city of Aleppo.\n\n\n\nThe Royal Navy destroyer HMS Duncan sailed from Portsmouth on Tuesday to join HMS Richmond in escorting the group on its voyage south. HMS Dragon, also a destroyer, is due to meet two Russian corvettes that were travelling north towards Britain from the direction of Portugal.\n\n\n\nIt is understood that shadowing ships is regular business for the Royal Navy, who have been supported by Royal Air Force surveillance aircraft on this occasion.\n\n\n\nThe Admiral Kuznetsov is Russia\u2019s only aircraft carrier but is capable of hosting more than 50 aircraft and is equipped with Granit anti-ship cruise missiles.\n\nPhotos released by the Norwegian navy, taken on Monday off its coast near Andoya Island, show that the aircraft carrier was accompanied by a nuclear-powered battle cruiser, Peter the Great.\n\nTwo anti-submarine warships, the Severomorsk and Vice-Admiral Kulakov, were also present, alongside four support vessels. Russia has a naval base in Arkhangelsk, east of Norway\u2019s northernmost point. A Norwegian newspaper, VG, quoted General Morten Haga Lunde, head of Norway\u2019s military intelligence service, as saying the eight ships involved \u201cwill probably play a role in the deciding battle for Aleppo\u201d.\n\nRoyal Navy ships will continue to escort the Russian task group and provide a visible presence south through the North Sea and Channel as the Russian fleet sails through and carry out their flying operations, the MoD said. The UK is working alongside Nato partners to monitor the warships passing the UK this week.\n\nA senior Nato diplomat said that the Russians were assembling their largest naval deployment in decades with 10 ships already based off the Syrian coast. Citing western intelligence and speaking on the condition of anonymity, he told Reuters: \u201cThey are deploying all of the northern fleet and much of the Baltic fleet in the largest surface deployment since the end of the cold war. This is not a friendly port call. In two weeks we will see a crescendo of air attacks on Aleppo as part of Russia\u2019s strategy to declare victory there.\u201d\n\nVice-Admiral Clive Johnstone, the UK commander of Nato\u2019s Allied Maritime Command, said allied nations routinely monitored \u201cactivities of interest\u201d which includes the presence of Russian vessels close to national waters. \u201cThis is in the interest of supporting our overall maritime awareness and safety of navigation in sea lanes of communication.\u201d\n\nTass, Russia\u2019s state news agency, said in July, citing a source, that the Admiral Kuznetsov would take part in the Russian operation in Syria from October to January. It said the vessel would carry 15 Su-33 and Mig-29K jet fighters and 31 helicopters.\n\nNorwegian media also reported that Russia had told Norway that the warships were on their way to the Mediterranean where they have supported the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, in his fight against rebel groups."}
-{"text": "Noch kann die Targobank nicht genau sagen, wie viele ihrer insgesamt vier Millionen Kunden von der St\u00f6rung betroffen sind. Es d\u00fcrfte sich aber nur um einen Teil der Nutzer handeln. Die Techniker wollen \u00fcber Nacht alle 1,1 Millionen Girokonten der Bank auf Fehler scannen. Wer Abweichungen bei seinem Kontostand feststellt, kann sich an die Hotline des Unternehmens wenden. Allerdings ist diese laut Targobank derzeit aufgrund vieler aktueller Anfragen \u00fcberlastet. Betroffene k\u00f6nnen nat\u00fcrlich auch die Mitarbeiter an einem der 360 deutschen Standorte der Targobank ansprechen."}
-{"text": "Bitcoin Trade Drops in India Amid Uncertainty and Clampdown\n\nRegulatory pressures and a broadening bank clampdown have seriously affected cryptocurrency exchanges in India. Their representatives claim bitcoin trading has dropped as much as 90 percent in the last two months. Cryptos are not considered legal tender in the country and authorities have demonstrated a negative attitude towards their use. At the same time, leading Indian banks have taken steps to limit exchange operations even before any rules mandating such policies are adopted.\n\nAlso read: India Can\u2019t Regulate Bitcoin Says Official\n\nRegulatory Uncertainty, Hostile Attitude\n\nIndian trading platforms have suffered from uncertainty about the future of cryptocurrencies in the country. Authorities in Delhi have issued multiple warnings and have threatened to stifle the use of digital money for illicit purposes. They have repeatedly stated that cryptos, like bitcoin, are not considered legal tender in India. However, neither an outright ban, nor any clear regulations have been adopted to this day. While the work on a comprehensive legal framework continues, after unfulfilled promises that new regulations would be unveiled soon, some officials have recognized that it is proving impossible to effectively regulate cryptocurrencies.\n\nDespite the absence of government regulations, Indian banks have taken matters into their own hands. Without any mandate from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), commercial banks have been tightening the clamp on crypto trading. The country\u2019s biggest financial institutions, including Citibank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and the State Bank of India, have already suspended trading accounts of bitcoin exchanges. They have also imposed measures to restrict crypto-related transactions conducted by ordinary citizens, with two banks notifying customers they cannot use their credit, debit and prepaid cards to purchase cryptocurrencies.\n\nThe regulatory uncertainty and the hostile attitude have caused a significant decrease in transactions on local bitcoin trading platforms, the Economic Times reported. \u201cThere is a 90 percent drop in the volume of trade across all Indian exchanges,\u201d chief executive of Coinsecure, Mohit Kalra, told ET. \u201cOur volumes are down from around 300-400 bitcoins daily in December to about 30-40 bitcoins a day now,\u201d he added describing a 10-fold decrease.\n\nBanks Accused of Disruptive Behavior\n\nThe actions of Indian banks mirror similar moves by some of the world\u2019s biggest banks, like JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup. Last month they banned crypto purchases with their credit cards, justifying the measure with concerns about defaults due to dropping crypto values. Representatives of the Indian crypto industry have accused local banks of \u201cirresponsible overreach\u201d, \u201cunilateral decisions\u201d, and \u201cdisruptive stance\u201d. \u201cWithout any clear mandate from regulators, asking us to close down our accounts, while refusing to give the reason in writing, is just disruptive to our business,\u201d said Ajeet Khurana who is heading the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Committee of India (BACC). The organization is working to introduce self-regulation in the sector.\n\nCustomers are panicking and getting agitated, as they are not able to receive their money.\n\nThat\u2019s how the chief executive of another Indian exchange, Bixoxo, described the situation. \u201cWe are struggling to offer withdrawal services since our bank accounts are being shut. This has caused delays of up to one week for no mistake of ours\u201d, said Hesham Rehman. \u201cOur average volume has dropped from 300 \u2013 500 bitcoins to 20 \u2013 30 bitcoins now\u201d, he added. The daily trading volumes of top Indian exchanges, like Zebpay and Koinex, have also decreased from 1,000 to 300-500 bitcoins.\n\nAccording to Zebpay\u2019s Head Of Exchange Nischint Sanghavi, promoting the use of banking channels actually enables tracking and taxing cryptocurrencies. Banning it would not serve the purpose of curbing illegitimate transactions, he warmed. Sanghavi believes that know your customer procedures and anti-money laundering measures implemented by Indian exchanges can only aid the efforts to keep track of money flows.\n\nThe hostile environment has already forced two Indian platforms to suspend operations. Btcxindia and Ethexindia, serving about 35,000 customers, halted cryptocurrency trading on March 5. As news.Bitcoin.com previously reported, more and more Indians have been trying to buy cryptocurrencies from abroad through overseas accounts of relatives and friends. Others have resorted to cash-based trading to acquire bitcoins or other cryptos. According to some reports, a new law banning unregulated deposits is on the way. If such legislation is adopted in India without provisions to legalize the crypto sector, these trends are likely to continue to evolve.\n\nDo you expect the clampdown on cryptocurrency trade in India to continue? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.\n\nImages courtesy of Shutterstock.\n\nExpress yourself freely at Bitcoin.com\u2019s user forums. We don\u2019t censor on political grounds. Check forum.Bitcoin.com."}
-{"text": "Chud, we hardly knew you.\n\nThe move by the Cleveland Browns to fire Rob Chudzinski after just one season as head coach certainly drew plenty of criticism from fans, players and media observers Sunday night. The team lost its seven final games to finish 4-12 on the season, its sixth straight losing campaign.\n\nIt\u2019s not Chudzinski\u2019s fault that the Browns front office gave him a dumpster fire of quarterbacks and running backs to shuffle. But with a roster that also included five Pro Bowl players, they felt like he should have gotten more out of this team down the stretch.\n\n\u201cWe needed to see progress with this football team,\u201d the team said in a statement. \u201cWe needed to see development and improvement as the season evolved and, unfortunately, we took a concerning step backward in the second half of the year.\u201d\n\nFine. Browns CEO Joe Banner and general manager Michael Lombardi have given themselves a mulligan and will begin the second coaching search of their management regime. But will they get the next hire right? In the past 20 years, 10 coaches have been fired after only one season on the job. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Raiders, Jets and Redskins have pulled that move more than once.\n\nWhile expectations, personality style and cohesion with the front office can certainly have as much to do with a coach\u2019s ability to keep his job as a year-end record, it\u2019s interesting to take a look back and see how many one-and-done firings have actually been the best move for the respective organizations.\n\nAs the moves below indicate, the decision to fire Chudzinski isn\u2019t going to be anywhere near as consequential as who Banner and Lombardi choose to replace him.\n\n2012 Jacksonville Jaguars: Mike Mularkey (2-14)\n\n2013 Jacksonville Jaguars: Gus Bradley (4-12)\n\nWas it the right move? It appears so. Despite a lack of talent on the roster, Bradley got this team playing with heart in the second half of the 2013 season, ending the season 4-4 after an brutal 0-8 start.\n\n2011 Oakland Raiders: Hue Jackson (8-8)\n\n2012 Oakland Raiders: Dennis Allen (4-12)\n\nWas it the right move? No. Jackson\u2019s .500 mark is the best record the Raiders have amassed since they won the AFC under Bill Callahan in 2002.\n\n2009 Seattle Seahawks: Jim Mora Jr. (5-11)\n\n2010 Seattle Seahawks: Pete Carroll (7-9)\n\nWas it the right move? YES. Despite a losing record, Carroll\u2019s team won the NFC West in his first season. They had the best record in the NFL this season.\n\n2007 Miami Dolphins: Cam Cameron (1-15)\n\n2008 Miami Dolphins: Tony Sparano (11-5)\n\nWas it the right move? Yes. The Dolphins won the AFC East in Sparano\u2019s first season in Miami.\n\n\n\n\n\n2006 Oakland Raiders: Art Shell (2-14)\n\n2007 Oakland Raiders: Lane Kiffin (4-12)\n\nWas it the right move? No. The Raiders legend probably shouldn\u2019t have been brought back for a second stint as head coach but Al Davis\u2019 hiring of the 31-year-old Kiffin proved disastrous. Although it did give us the amazing press conference above.\n\n2001 Washington Redskins: Marty Schottenheimer (8-8)\n\n2002 Washington Redskins: Steve Spurrier (7-9)\n\nWas it the right move? No. Owner Daniel Snyder got rid of Schottenheimer to give Florida coach Steve Spurrier the most lucrative coaching deal in NFL history. Spurrier lasted two seasons, going 7-9 and 5-11 respectively.\n\n1999 Green Bay Packers: Ray Rhodes (8-8)\n\n2000 Green Bay Packers: Mike Sherman (9-7)\n\nWas it the right move? Yes. Missing the playoffs in the middle of Brett Favre\u2019s prime was a fireable offense. Sherman\u2019s teams got into the postseason the next four years.\n\n1997 Oakland Raiders: Joe Bugel (4-12)\n\n1998 Oakland Raiders: Jon Gruden (8-8)\n\nWas it the right move? YES. In four seasons with the Raiders, Gruden never had a losing record and made it to the playoffs twice.\n\n1994 New York Jets: Pete Carroll (6-10)\n\n1995 New York Jets: Rich Kotite (3-13)\n\nWas it the right move? NO. Kotite, who followed up his brutal first season with a 1-15 mark, is viewed as one of the worst coaches in Jets history.\n\n1993 Washington Redskins: Richie Petitbon (4-12)\n\n1994 Washington Redskins: Norv Turner (3-13)\n\nWas it the right move? Yes. Turner\u2019s teams were predicably average during his seven seasons in Washington, making the playoffs just once. Petitbon, Joe Gibbs\u2019 longtime defensive coordinator, never coached again in the NFL.\n\nCorrection: Earlier we identified former Jets coach Al Groh as one of the coaches fired after one season. Groh resigned to take the University of Virginia job in 2001."}
-{"text": "A journal of my first mechanical keyboard build.\n\nPart two\n\nSwitches\n\nOK, this is where it gets interesting (and complicated).\n\nYou are going to want to get one of these.\n\nIt\u2019s called a switch tester, and you guessed it, it\u2019s a device for testing switches. This one is for 6 different Cherry MX switches. Two clicky, two linear and two tactile.\n\nThe Cherry switches are named after the color on the stem of the switch.\n\nThe blue switch is a clicky switch, the brown is a tactile and the red is a linear switch. The green is the same as a blue but with a stiffer spring. The black is a stiffer red and the white (it\u2019s name is \u201cclear\u201d) is a stiffer brown.\n\nRight around here my head started to hurt.\n\nBut it gets worse. A lot worse.\n\nApparently Cherry, the company who produces these switches, lost the patent rights to the design of the switches and now anyone can make a switch that both looks and funktions the same. But I\u2019ll get back to that in a little while.\n\nThe Blue switch is a \"clicky\" switch. It has a loud click when you press it. It's claim to fame is that it's really loud and apparently you get a keyboard with blue switches if you want to drive your coworkers insane.\n\nThe Brown switch is a tactile switch. You can feel a \"bump\" when you press it, but you can't hear the \"bump\".\n\nThe red switch is a linear switch. There is no click or bump. You just press it until it bottoms out. Apparently this is a favorite amongst gamers.\n\nIn these GIFs you can see how the different switches work. You would think with that little difference between the different models there wouldn\u2019t be much room for improvement.\n\nYou could not be more wrong.\n\nI\u2019ve come across more switches and manufacturers than I can count. Like 20 or 30 different variants on both the clicky and the tactile switches. And every company has their own take on them. It\u2019s insane. This is a board I found online with a different switch in every position. And these are just a small sample of what\u2019s out there.\n\nThere are a number of manufacturers that produce these switches and everybody on the forums seems to swear by a different switch by a different manufacturer. They all have slight differences like a stiffer or softer spring, or louder click, or a more pronounced bump. Some even modify the switches, \u201cmods\u201d are combinations of parts from one switch and other parts from another switch. Picking the switch apart so you can lube different parts of the switch seems to be another way of reaching switch euphoria.\n\nAnd these are just the different variants of the cherry MX switch. There are a lot of other variants of switches as well, but I have no interest at all to learn about them. At least not right now\u2026\n\nThe keyboard I\u2019m writing this on right now is a Vortex race3.\n\nThere are a lot of things I like about it, like the keycaps and the switches. I love the keycaps, but I only like the switches. I hate the staggered layout. But more on that later.\n\nWhen I bought the Vortex I had no clue about all the different options when it came to switches. I read online that the brown switches was a good middle ground. OK for most tasks but not the best at anything.\n\nI have a bag of brown switches sitting in my drawer, but those are only there as a backup. The other two switches I\u2019ve ordered are in the mail and they are a clicky and a tactile switch. I\u2019ve gone with the Zealios 65g as my tactile choice and the Kailh box white as my clicky choice. I haven\u2019t tried any of them but that\u2019s part of the charm for me. From what I\u2019ve read on the internet they both come highly recommended. I\u2019ll put the switches on my tester when they get here and I\u2019ll just solder on the ones I like best. The rev6 PCB of the Planck lets you switch the switches without soldering so I\u2019m going to get my chance at experimenting with different switches later.\n\nSo if you\u2019re just getting started with your first build and have stumbled on to this article locking for help, I\u2019m sorry, but its impossible for me to say what you will find pleasant to type on, and you\u2019re going to have to find out what it is that you like all by yourself. Buy a switch tester, try a friends keyboard, go to a store that has keyboards on display or if you\u2019re lucky, there might be a keyboard meet up near where you live.\n\nI find this search for the perfect switch equally frustrating as fascinating. Hopefully I\u2019ll be able to write more on the subjekt when the Planck is built and I\u2019ve gotten some experience with different switches."}
-{"text": "Kevin Magnussen tager et stort skridt op i motorsportens fineste klasse, n\u00e5r han 16. marts stiller til start i Formel 1 i Melboune. Han har i sinde at v\u00e6re den bedste. Og s\u00e5dan har det altid v\u00e6ret: I denne video beviser en s\u00e6rdeles ung udgave af Magnussen, at han har altid haft benzin i blodet.\n\nOptagelserne viser Kevin Magnussen k\u00f8re gokart som 2-\u00e5rig og som 3-\u00e5rig. Allerede fra en tidlig alder udviste han frygtl\u00f8shed og blod p\u00e5 tanden, n\u00e5r det kom til h\u00f8j fart og skarpe sving. Se selv i videoen ovenfor.\n\nFilmen stammer fra familien Magnussens private optagelser, der indtil nu aldrig har v\u00e6ret vist. I denne m\u00e5ned er Kevin Magnussen p\u00e5 forsiden af det nye Euroman. M\u00f8d ham i et stort interview inde i magasinet, hvor han fort\u00e6ller om at accelerere fra 0-100 km/t p\u00e5 2,6 sekunder og om at ramme et sving med 300 km/t.\n\nL\u00c6S OGS\u00c5 Er Kevin Magnussen den danske Zlatan Ibrahimovic\n\nFACEBOOK Bliv ven med Euroman"}
-{"text": "Burn This type Stage\n\n\u201cYou can imagine them in bed together.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s what Tony-Award-winning director Michael Mayer has to say about the crackling first publicity image of Keri Russell and Adam Driver for their upcoming Broadway play, Burn This. \u201cYou feel this erotic and emotional connection very strongly,\u201d he adds.\n\nThe Star Wars: Episode IX costars are returning to the stage for the first ever revival of Lanford Wilson\u2019s Pulitzer Prize winning drama, which begins previews on March 15 with opening night set for April 16 at New York\u2019s Hudson Theatre. Brandon Uranowitz (Falsettos) and David Furr (Noises Off) round out the cast.\n\nRussell and Driver lead the action as Anna, a professional dancer and choreographer, and Pale, a coke-addicted hyper-active restaurant manager, who are brought together when Robbie, Anna\u2019s dance partner and Pale\u2019s brother, dies in a mysterious boating accident. The play follows the explosive chemistry between these two strangers as Wilson probes love, lust, and the power of raw attraction in his smoldering, award-winning play. The original production of Burn This starred John Malkovich and Joan Allen in Driver and Russell\u2019s roles in a buzzy production that made the leap from its 1987 Off Broadway iteration to the Great White Way.\n\nMayer has circled around the play for some time, and was initially attached to an announced 2017 staging slated to star Jake Gyllenhaal which never came to fruition. The director finally gets to sink his teeth into the Pulitzer winner with a star-studded cast. \u201cLanford Wilson wrote a play 32 years ago for Adam Driver and Keri Russell to star in and they are going to do it justice,\u201d he teases.\n\nIn advance of the debut of this steamy image, EW called up Mayer to get all the details on why Russell and Driver are the perfect duo to remount this play, why he\u2019s drawn to provocative subject matter, and what makes Burn This one of a kind.\n\nENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let\u2019s start with this photograph \u2014 it\u2019s quite sensual. Can you tell me more about the chemistry between Keri Russell and Adam Driver?\n\nMICHAEL MAYER: We\u2019re about a week into rehearsals now. Even from the very beginning, the two of them have a wonderful ease with each other. The fact that they know each other a little bit already helps enormously because you don\u2019t have such a steep curve of physical comfort with each other, so that automatically gives us a leg up. They look fantastic with each other, and they have got clearly great affection for each other already. You couple that with the highly charged, emotional sexual tension of the scenes in the play. They\u2019re acting out one of those in that picture a little bit.\n\nYou\u2019ve been wanting to do this play for awhile, even announcing a production that was going to debut in early 2017 with Jake Gyllenhaal. What is it about this show that speaks to you so deeply that you\u2019ve been circling around it for so long?\n\nLanford Wilson is one of our best American playwrights, and this particular play of his, for me, captures the gigantic longing for connection and love that all of us feel. It\u2019s this giant human need for love and to be loved and to risk everything for that one great love. There\u2019s something very epic about the emotional life of the play that I find very compelling. I also think that Burn This really captures beautifully a moment in the history of New York City that is very special to me because it\u2019s around the time when I first moved here and started living my life as an artist in New York. It\u2019s set in the mid-80s, and there\u2019s something incredible about the resilience of young people in the mid-80s at a moment where you turned around and everyone was dying of AIDS. I do feel like this was Lanford\u2019s AIDS play. A young dancer dies at 24 and that is what generates the events of the play. I just remember so vividly that time \u2014 the sense of loss and the potential of loss of brilliant young people whose work wouldn\u2019t live on and how it was for all of us trying to make our lives and fall in love and make work that meant something in the face of a real calamity and a terrible moment. Certainly politically, it was a very difficult time which also resonates now but that\u2019s more under the surface.\n\nThis is the first time it\u2019s been revived since it debuted in the 1980s. Why do you think its taken so long and why is now the right time?\n\nI would say that it takes a very particular group of actors to make the play live in its most vital and exciting, compelling form. We\u2019re just really lucky in this particular moment to have an actor like Adam Driver. We\u2019re reading the play now, and it feels like it was written for him \u2013 it\u2019s an unbelievable match of character to actor. And to have Keri Russell play Anna, that\u2019s reason enough to do this play.\n\nAdam has this explosive, dangerous, unpredictable animal quality that really is this character Pale. And then you\u2019ve got Keri, who is sensitive but sensible. You can see her weighing things trying to make the right decisions about her life, and yet, she\u2019s also really screwed up because she\u2019s just lost the most important person to her. She\u2019s grieving, and at the same time, trying to maintain equilibrium, and that\u2019s something that I think Keri does so magnificently. That feels very natural, and it feels like someone had her in mind when they wrote this \u2014 although, obviously, she was a child then.\n\nBoth Joan Allen and John Malkovich were heralded for their work in the original production. Have you reached out to them at all?\n\nNo, you know, I haven\u2019t. It\u2019s not an overly theatrical piece. It\u2019s a very naturalistic piece of writing. It\u2019s not flashy. It doesn\u2019t have a lot of tricks up its sleeve really at all. It\u2019s four human beings in one room over the course of a few months. The joy for me is that it isn\u2019t like a big musical with lots of moving sets and lights. There\u2019s no big video cues; there\u2019s no razzle dazzle to it. The razzle dazzle is watching four superb actors play out this drama in front of us in a room. I\u2019m much more interested in what Adam and Keri and David and Brandon have to say about the characters and what their feelings are about what happens in the play and what they\u2019re going to bring to it than I am hearing about other people at a different time in a different production. Maybe after we do it, and it\u2019s up and running, then that might be interesting. I saw that production when it was first on Broadway and they were fantastic. We\u2019re really lucky \u2014 we have Tanya Berezin, who represents the estate of Lanford Wilson. She was one of his best friends, and she has been with us in rehearsals. She\u2019s been a fantastic resource in terms of Lanford\u2019s working process and helping us to interpret certain things. I just feel like we have a direct line to the lineage of it through her.\n\nCan you tell me a bit more about how the rehearsal process has been so far?\n\nWhat we\u2019re doing is a real luxury in the theater. There\u2019s so many technical elements that you\u2019re rushing to try to accomplish that it\u2019s very rare to be able to spend day after day sitting around a table, reading through the scenes and discussing what\u2019s going on in the scenes and the backstories of the characters, and trying to understand how the themes of the play emerge in the scene. It\u2019s been a really great opportunity, and I think the actors have been appreciative of the fact that we\u2019re not just jumping up and staging it right way.\n\nYou\u2019re known for directing fairly provocative work and this play certainly falls under that designation \u2013 what is it about that more edgy material that calls to you as a director? And why do you think you\u2019re someone who has a deft hand with it?\n\nI would say that for me if you\u2019re going to ask people to spend their good money to come and see a Broadway show \u2014 it\u2019s not cheap to do that \u2014 and spend two hours of their life with you, what you have to deliver is you have to give them an experience that releases something in them. Or forces them to confront or incorporate the kind of emotions that maybe in their daily life they don\u2019t have either the courage or the opportunity or the energy or the strength to do. It\u2019s the history of drama to have this catharsis. Ever since the Greeks. I always want to push the audience to walk away knowing something about themselves that they didn\u2019t know walking into the theater. That only happens when you have something at risk and when the stakes are high and when there\u2019s a real emotion charge to it. This play is provocative in terms of what it means, what the risks are [that] we take to give ourselves over to real passionate love. There are casualties always.\n\nRelated Links:"}
-{"text": "Today Google and Facebook now have direct influence over 70%+ of internet traffic\n\nAndr\u00e9 Staltz wrote in 2017, how\n\nThe Web began dying in 2014\n\nThe third major major power controlling the internet is Amazon. To paraphrase the German statesman Klemens von Metternich,\n\nWhen Amazon sneezes, the Internet catches a cold.\n\nThe outage in 2017 stemmed from a problem with Amazon\u2019s popular cloud service Amazon Web Services that affected a big portion of its S3 system, one of AWS\u2019 storage systems. That ended up being a big deal because Amazon has about 42% of the cloud market by revenue, according to the market research firm Forrester.\n\nStaltz suggests that the growing influence of the three tech giants has made people forget what the internet was like, with the ability to remain anonymous \u201cor how easy it was to start an internet startup with its own independent servers operating with the same rights Google servers have.\u201d Because of the control the companies have over servers, accounts and networks, he fears that they could in theory deny people access to swaths of the net, and things they currently take for granted.\n\nHe concludes,\n\nThe web and the internet have represented freedom: efficient and unsupervised exchange of information between people of all nations\n\nIn a sense, we have we have lost freedom and don\u2019t realize it until the benevolent rulers turns rogue\n\nBitcoin \u2014 A Decentralized Currency\n\nIf the story of internet, moving from computer in a basement to cloud gives you a sense of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu; you probably thought of bitcoin mining. What started as few people mining using their home computer, has tuned into a activity which only the rich and crazy can dare to attempt\n\nBitcoin HashRate Distribution on Sep 17 2018 (Source: Blockchain.info)\n\nOh, you would say mining really doesn\u2019t matter. The real thing that matters is the nodes on the network, because nodes could reject any bad blocks by miners.\n\nNumber of Core Nodes (Source: coin.dance)\n\nThe current number of bitcoin nodes is notoriously low at 9174. The main reasons for this is no direct economic benefit of running a node. While a node could run as a wallet, an SPV wallet can be run at much cheaper cost without sacrificing much privacy/security. However, during UASF controversy people it was pointed that number of nodes of don\u2019t actually matter\n\nIt is economic weight these nodes stand for that is actually matters\n\nSo a node of a company like BitPay.com / Blockchain.info has much more clout than your node.\n\nA major factor currently is the Distribution of wallets.\n\nEstimated Distribution of Number of Bitcoin Wallets\n\nElectrum+ denotes electrum and other desktop wallets. The figures are very rough estimations and have been collected from various sources [1][2][3][4].\n\nWe can safely say, together Coinbase and Blockchain control more than 70% of bitcoin wallets\n\nThese two corporations have disproportional influence on the bitcoin ecosystem and are vulnerable to government controls/management goofups/security attacks."}
-{"text": "The Jamaican high commissioner has called on the UK government to halt deportations to the country until matters over Windrush and other immigration issues are resolved.\n\nCommissioner Seth George Ramocan told relatives of deportees on a recent charter flight to Jamaica that he would be holding talks with his government and the Home Office about the unlawful removal of people who are entitled to be in Britain.\n\nTwenty-nine individuals were deported to Jamaica on 6 February in a move that was described as a \u201cslap in the face\u201d for Britain\u2019s Caribbean community, 10 months after the Windrush scandal broke last April.\n\nIt has since emerged that \u2013 while the home secretary claimed all deportees had been found guilty of \u201cvery serious crimes\u201d such as murder and rape \u2013 the majority had been convicted of lesser crimes such as drug offences and dangerous driving.\n\nMany had also come to Britain as children, and some had children of their own who were born in the UK.\n\nDuring a highly charged meeting at the Jamaican embassy on Thursday, parents, children and partners of those deported, and those who remain at risk of deportation, gave emotional accounts of losing their loved ones and their fears for the future.\n\nWindrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Show all 15 1 /15 Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' arriving at Tilbury Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaican immigrants being welcomed by RAF officials from the Colonial Office after the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' landed them at Tilbury. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner who arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex, speaking at his home in Leeds PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner in Leeds shortly after he arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Gardner was 22 years old when he boarded the ship in Kingston, Jamaica, with his brother Gladstone before they and hundreds of Caribbean migrants called on to rebuild post-war Britain disembarked the ship in Tilbury Docks PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner (right), during his RAF service in 1947 PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The son of Ruth Williams, a Windrush-generation immigrant, wants to the leave the country after threats of deportation. According to his mother, Mr Haynes applied for British citizenship in 2016 but was rejected, despite Ms Williams having lived in the UK almost permanently since arriving from St Vincent and the Grenadines in 1959. Ruth Williams, 75, said she felt \"betrayed\" by Britain after the Home Office twice turned down applications for her 35-year-old son, Mozi Haynes, to remain in the country. Ms Williams is understood to have cancer and said she relies heavily on her son for support. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The British liner 'Empire Windrush' at port in 1954. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Ruth Williams, 75, with her British passport. \"I feel betrayed and a second class citizen in my own country,\" she said. \"This makes me so sad and the Home Office must show some compassion. \"I am unwell and almost 75, I live on my own and I need my son to stay here. I need my family around me and I can\u2019t face being alone. He has applied to the Home Office and been refused twice.\" PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK From the top, hopeful Jamaican boxers Charles Smith, Ten Ansel, Essi Reid, John Hazel, Boy Solas and manager Mortimer Martin arrive at Tilbury on the Empire Windrush in the hope of finding work in Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaicans reading a newspaper whilst on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' bound for Tilbury docks in Essex. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK After half a century in Britain, Anthony Bryan decided it was time to go abroad. But the decision set off a nightmare that saw him lose his job, detained twice and almost deported to Jamaica. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaica-born Anthony Bryan poses outside his home in Edmonton, north London. Now 60 and a grandfather, Bryan thought the issue could be resolved swiftly, as he legally moved to Britain with his family as part of the Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants after World War II. In 1948, the ship Windrush brought the first group of migrants from the West Indies to help rebuild post-war Britain, and many others followed from around the Commonwealth. A 1971 law gave them indefinite leave to remain, but many never formalised their status, often because they were children who came over on their parents' passports and then never applied for their own. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Three Jamaican immigrants (left to right) John Hazel, a 21-year-old boxer, Harold Wilmot, 32, and John Richards, a 22-year-old carpenter, arriving at Tilbury on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush', smartly dressed in zoot suits and trilby hats. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Newly arrived Jamaican immigrants on board the 'Empire Windrush' at Tilbury in 1948. Getty\n\nThe mother of one man on the flight explained how her son had arrived in Jamaica with \u201cno one to care for him\u201d.\n\n\"He came here when he was 11. All of our children who came here when they were young should be here. This is degrading. Our children need to come back,\" she said.\n\nA girl aged 12 told of the traumatising effect of witnessing immigration officers \u201cbreak down\u201d the door to her family door at 5am to arrest her father, who narrowly avoided deportation earlier this month.\n\n\"Having to say bye to my dad when he's in handcuffs just hurts my heart. My dad is an innocent man and he has done his time so there is no need for him to be re-detained again and again,\" she said.\n\nSpeaking at the meeting after hearing the personal accounts, the high commissioner said: \u201cWe need to look into whether people are descendants of the Windrush generations, and know that the lessons learned team have done their work.\n\n\"All of that is in process right now and I think it is only reasonable that we allow the process to be completed, because we may very well be deporting people who are entitled to be here,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cWe also need to look at cases of people who have been here since they were children and people who have mental issues. These should all be considered. We need to look concretely at what happens in these cases.\u201d\n\nLawyers and campaigners called on the high commissioner to do more to coordinate with the Home Office ahead of removal or deportation flights to ensure that due process is followed.\n\nThey also highlighted that while the Home Office considers Jamaica to be a \u201csafe country\u201d, deportees often face attacks on returning to the island because they are immediately perceived as serious criminals.\n\nAn unknown but significant number of those who were due to be deported on the 6 February flight were granted a last-minute reprieve following widespread media attention and intervention from lawyers.\n\nKaren Doyle, of the campaign group Movement for Justice, backed the commissioner\u2019s calls to suspend charter flights, describing a \u201cstructural injustice at the heart of charter flight system\u201d.\n\nShe added: \u201cThis is not about individuals it\u2019s about an evil system \u2013 this system is flawed. There needs to be a serious investigation of the facts.\u201d\n\nA Home Office spokesperson said: \u201cThe UK, like many other countries, uses charter flights to return people to their country of origin where they no longer have a right to remain."}
-{"text": "I was astonished that Hillary Clinton wept as she decried bullying, after Donald Trump\u2019s used of the word \u201cschlong\u201d.\n\nA woman who is seeking the office of \u201cCommander-in-Chief\u201d should really show a little more intestinal fortitude.\n\nThe act is laughable, because her own use of profanity is so notorious that there are whole books on the subject!\n\nA California friend, Bill Monroe, offers this example.\n\nHillary\u2019s vulgar and nasty language is well documented. To directly quote her: \u2018F**k off! It\u2019s enough that I have to see you ****-kickers every day, I\u2019m not going to talk to you too!! Just do your G*damn job and keep your mouth shut.\u2019 (From the book American Evita by Christopher Anderson, p. 90 \u2013 Hillary to her State Trooper bodyguards after one of them greeted her with \u201cGood Morning.\u201d)\n\nThat is not the only tome that documents Clinton\u2019s legendary temper. Another book, Unlikeable: The Problem with Hillary Clinton, recounts an episode with Obama as the target of one of her grand tirades.\n\nClinton requested a meeting with Obama, against the advice of hubby Bill Clinton, believing \u201cshe was being persecuted for minor, meaningless violations,\u201d author Edward Klein writes. Clinton initially took a friendly approach during the meeting and Obama reacted as if he didn\u2019t know what she was talking about, the book claims. \u201cHe was almost being deliberately dense,\u201d a Clinton source said. \u201cIt really angered her.\u201d Clinton lost her temper and called the president by his first name in an emotionally driven break with White House decorum, according to the book. \u201cWhat I want for you to do is call off your f\u2013king dogs, Barack!\u201d Clinton allegedly barked at Obama, according to Klein\u2019s account, which cited sources close to Clinton and Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.\n\nObama got off lightly compared to her husband, according to an episode described in a third book, The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House.\n\n[Author Kate Andersen] Brower gave an interview with CNN in which she is laughing and smiling while telling the story of Hillary Clinton\u2019s violent, bloody attack on her husband the President of the United States. Apparently, spousal abuse is funny if committed by a feminist icon running for president. An example of how the political press is playing this comes from Politico, which published a lengthy book excerpt that left out Hillary\u2019s alleged bloody attack on Bill. Politico did lead with the \u2018lamp throwing\u2019 incident which as the Clinton defenders might say, is \u2018old news\u2019. But Politico left out the damning alleged criminal attack.\n\nIf there is a description that Donald Trump used that should really trouble Hillary, it involved her lack of stamina.\n\n\u201cOne thing with Hillary, she doesn\u2019t have the strength or the stamina to be president. She doesn\u2019t have it,\u201d Trump said at a Wednesday-night campaign rally in Manassas, Virginia. \u201cYou ever see Hillary? And I said, \u2018She doesn\u2019t have the strength, she doesn\u2019t have the stamina,'\u201d Trump later said.\n\nBetween the weak economy, chronic civic unrest, and deteriorating international situation, the future POTUS will need to be on the go \u201cfrom day one\u201d and be able to make critical decisions at 3 am in the morning. A candidate\u2019s endurance will be serious consideration when making an informed vote in 2016.\n\nRecapping some current news stories that underscore why the concerns about Clinton\u2019s stamina are valid:\n\nPerhaps the press drama over the word \u201cschlong\u201d is a diversion from the real term we need to focus on, \u201cstamina\u201d?\n\nClinton is likely to find that Americans are more inclined to vote for a warrior instead of a weeper in the next election.\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "These two always put on an exciting display of Jiu-Jitsu and this match was no different!\n\nGET A BRAND NEW FUJI GI FOR $79.00! CLICK HERE!\n\nWould you like to write for wbbjj.com? Message us using the chat bubble on the right!"}
-{"text": "The phenomenally successful are fond of telling us about their passion for their professions.\n\nConsider Steve Jobs: \u201cThe only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle.\u201d Or Oprah Winfrey: \u201cIf you really want to fly, harness your power to your passion. Honour your calling. Everybody has one.\u201d Or Donald Trump: \u201cWithout passion, you don\u2019t have energy. Without energy, you have nothing.\u201d\n\nIf they are to be believed, passion isn\u2019t only essential for success. It\u2019s essential for happiness.\n\nIt is only relatively recently, however, that psychologists have started to test these assumptions.\n\n\u201cHaving passion for one\u2019s work is an experience with so much media hype around it,\u201d says Patricia Chen at the National University of Singapore. \u201cYet we hardly have satisfying answers to the questions: \u2018What do I have to do to find my passion? How do I become more passionate about my work? And what does experiencing passion even mean?\u2019\u201d"}
-{"text": "The Philadelphia Flyers placed goalie Michael Leighton on injured reserve with an upper-body injury and recalled Brian Boucher from Adirondack of the American Hockey League.\n\nLeighton has appeared in only one game this season, giving up five goals on 26 shots in a loss to Tampa Bay.\n\nBoucher is in his third stint with the Flyers, having led the team to the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals as a rookie and shared goaltending duties with Leighton on their run to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final."}
-{"text": "Out of great love and concern for those most vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus in our communities The Table will not be gathering for worship until social distancing measures have been lifted. We encourage everyone to practice \"Social Distancing\" to help slow the spread of the virus.\n\nThe Table is a Christian faith community marked by meaningful conversation, radical inclusivity, and community engagement. We are a \u201cReconciling in Christ\u201d congregation that welcomes and affirms, and is doing ministry with members of the LGBTQ community. We are a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America."}
-{"text": "Despite their rising popularity, most electric cars aren\u2019t considered road-trip material.\n\nTheir limited battery range means that long-distance travel must be carefully planned, with charging stations along the route mapped out in advance. Wing it, and risk running out of juice in the middle of nowhere. And most charging stations aren\u2019t all that fast, meaning long trips contain lots of downtime.\n\nNow BMW, Volkswagen and a Bay Area electric vehicle charging company want to change that.\n\nThe two German automakers have teamed with ChargePoint of Campbell to install networks of high-speed chargers along two interstate corridors. One will link San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland. The other will stretch from Washington to Boston.\n\nMBA BY THE BAY: See how an MBA could change your life with SFGATE's interactive directory of Bay Area programs.\n\nBoth networks should be running by the end of the year. The three companies announced the project \u2014 which they will jointly fund \u2014 at the 2015 Washington Auto Show on Thursday.\n\nThe chargers will be quick \u2014 capable of restoring 80 percent of the charge in a BMW i3 or Volkswagen e-Golf in 30 minutes or less. They will be spaced no more than 50 miles apart, to ensure that drivers don\u2019t get stranded.\n\nThe companies are following a path already blazed by Tesla Motors, which is building a nationwide network of its own high-speed supercharger stations along heavily traveled interstate highways, with 353 stations opened so far. But Tesla\u2019s proprietary superchargers work only with the company\u2019s Model S sedan, whose owners use the superchargers for free. They simply aren\u2019t compatible with other electrics. Hence the need for another network.\n\n\u201cAll car companies and charging companies came to the same conclusion a long time ago, that this is a critical piece for the adoption of electric cars,\u201d said Pasquale Romano, ChargePoint\u2019s CEO.\n\nChargePoint already operates 20,000 charging stations across North America, but the system so far includes just 110 DC fast chargers. The new charging corridors will add another 100. ChargePoint and its partners declined Thursday to say how much the project will cost, other than calling it \u201ca very significant investment.\u201d\n\nParticularly on the West Coast, the corridors will connect cities that have emerged as electric vehicle hotspots. California alone accounts for roughly 40 percent of all electric cars sold nationwide, with more than 100,000 already on the road.\n\nThe stations within each corridor will contain several types of chargers, since not all electric cars can use the same recharging equipment.\n\nEach station will include as many as two fast chargers. Some of those will operate at 50 kW, and will be capable of restoring 80 percent of the battery charge for an i3 or an e-Golf in as little as 20 minutes. Others will operate at 24 kW, taking about 10 minutes longer to recharge to the same level. All stations will also feature level 2 chargers, which are substantially slower but can be used by all electric cars, according to ChargePoint.\n\nFor the automakers, access to speedy charging between cities is essential to convincing drivers that electric vehicles aren\u2019t just commuter cars.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re buying more than a car \u2014 they\u2019re buying a lifestyle,\u201d said Stuart Gardner, product manager with Volkswagen of America. \u201cThis DC fast-charging network is one of the pieces to that holistic approach. It\u2019s a key building block.\u201d\n\nDavid R. Baker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: dbaker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DavidBakerSF"}
-{"text": "Director Jeremy Saulnier is on the podcast to discuss his intense new thriller Green Room. The film revolves around The \u2018Aint Rights, a young idealistic punk band who take the wrong gig while out on tour, and end up in a face-off with a Nazi skinhead gang, led by none other than Patrick Stewart.\n\nIf you thought Saulnier\u2019s previous film, the revenge thriller Blue Ruin was brutal, then strap in; Green Room goes to places few mainstream thrillers ever tread. An instant cult classic, this is a film that needs to be seen with a large (and preferably inebriated crowd) for maximum effect.\n\nWe speak with Saulnier about his background with punk and hardcore in the Washington, D.C. scene, hate groups hiding in plain site, why Patrick Stewart was right for this role, and much more.\n\nListen to the interview here, or via the embedded media player at the top of the page.\n\nGreen Room is in theatres now, and hits Blu-ray and DVD on July 12."}
-{"text": "Mercedes Benz CLS 2019 a de nouvelles fonctionnalit\u00e9s et la technologie exclusive.\n\nLa nouvelle Classe CLS de troisi\u00e8me g\u00e9n\u00e9ration conserve intact cet esprit sportif et \u00e9l\u00e9gant, quelque chose de m\u00e9chant et imposant, mais avec quelques changements. Son style ext\u00e9rieur semble raffin\u00e9, plus organique et fluide, minimaliste si possible. Il y a aussi des influences du coup\u00e9 de la marque, notamment \u00e0 l\u2019arri\u00e8re. Bien s\u00fbr, il faut noter que la chute du toit, presque comme un fastback est maintenant plus douce, ce qui marque subtilement le troisi\u00e8me volume.\n\nLe front a un changement radical, avec des projecteurs triangulaires en trois dimensions. L\u2019astuce, le look de profil tend \u00e0 se r\u00e9tracter un peu dans le fond, comme si inspir\u00e9 par un bateau de sport, ajoutant du drame et de la nettet\u00e9 au look de ce CLS.\n\nDu changement a l\u2019int\u00e9rieur du CLS.\n\nDans l\u2019int\u00e9rieur il y a un changement important, qui a trait \u00e0 son habitabilit\u00e9, puisque maintenant le CLS peut prendre cinq personnes au lieu de quatre. Le coffre de 520 litres refl\u00e8te \u00e9galement ce changement, avec beaucoup d\u2019espace. Les si\u00e8ges peuvent \u00e9galement \u00eatre rabattus individuellement, ce qui aide le CLS, aussi sportif soit-il, \u00e0 \u00eatre aussi un v\u00e9hicule pratique.\n\nMercedes Benz CLS 2019 \u2013 un tableau de bord enti\u00e8rement num\u00e9rique\n\nConduire nous nous rendons compte que c\u2019est une voiture enti\u00e8rement nouvelle et recueille une grande partie du S de classe et de classe E, \u00e0 partir de l\u2019\u00e9cran double pour le cluster et le syst\u00e8me multim\u00e9dia \u00e0 la lumi\u00e8re ambiante et la console flottante.\n\nEt comme il ne peut en \u00eatre autrement, Mercedes lui a donn\u00e9 toute l\u2019assistance possible en toute s\u00e9curit\u00e9; Active Brake Assist, Lane Keeping Assist, Attention Assist, limitation de vitesse et PRE-SAFE , sont la responsabilit\u00e9 de la maison tout les versions. Comme une option, le package d\u2019assistance \u00e0 la conduite comprend active Distance Control, Active Steering Assist, Vitesse active Limit Assist, Active Brake Assist avec fonction de traverser le trafic, Evasive direction assist\u00e9e, assistance active Blind Spot, Active Lane Keeping Assist et PRE-SAFE plus, par Peu importe o\u00f9 vous allez, le CLS prendra soin de vous, m\u00eame si vous faites une erreur ou \u00eates distrait, gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 ses fonctions semi-automatis\u00e9es.\n\nLa calandre devient plus large vers la base\n\nLa calandre a le design habituel de diamant; mais la lamelle horizontale simple est typique des mod\u00e8les de coup\u00e9 de Mercedes. Le capot moteur est un tout nouveau design compl\u00e8tement entour\u00e9 de surfaces de carrosserie. Sur le mod\u00e8le de deuxi\u00e8me g\u00e9n\u00e9ration, la hotte entre dans les phares et se rapproche de la calandre.\n\nSur les c\u00f4t\u00e9s, la nouvelle CLS conserve la taille haute et arqu\u00e9e; d\u00e9j\u00e0 une caract\u00e9ristique de marque pour le coup\u00e9 \u00e0 quatre portes. Cependant, la deuxi\u00e8me ligne de ceinture qui descend du garde-boue avant vers l\u2019aile arri\u00e8re vue sur le mod\u00e8le de deuxi\u00e8me g\u00e9n\u00e9ration a disparu. Cela donne \u00e0 la nouvelle CSL un look plus net et plus \u00e9l\u00e9gant. Il en va de m\u00eame pour les hanches arri\u00e8re muscl\u00e9es qui se fondent harmonieusement dans l\u2019arri\u00e8re plat.\n\nLe nouveau moteur six cylindres de 3,0 litres\n\nUn seul moteur a \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9voil\u00e9e pour la Mercedes Benz CLS 2019. Le coup\u00e9 \u00e0 quatre portes obtient son jus d\u2019une toute nouvelle motorisation. Le moteur en question est un six cylindres en ligne de 3,0 litres qui comprend; un d\u00e9marreur / g\u00e9n\u00e9rateur int\u00e9gr\u00e9 appel\u00e9 EQ Boost.\n\nLe moteur \u00e9lectrique int\u00e9gr\u00e9 assiste le moteur \u00e0 combustion lors de l\u2019acc\u00e9l\u00e9ration, rendant la conduite impossible. Ainsi il alimente la batterie gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 une r\u00e9cup\u00e9ration \u00e0 haut rendement. Ce faisant, cela augmente l\u2019efficacit\u00e9 \u00e9nerg\u00e9tique. Ouais, c\u2019est essentiellement un hybride. Site officiel Mercedes\n\n\u27a1 Galerie Photos et Vid\u00e9o\n\nPartager : Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nPinterest\n\nTumblr\n\nReddit\n\nLinkedIn\n\n"}
-{"text": "Spread the love\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGiven that on an average day 22 American combat veterans commit suicide, it\u2019s a species of miracle that Ivano Rodriguez is still alive. It may be an even greater miracle that Rodriguez, a resident of Washington State who has used marijuana to treat his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), hasn\u2019t been exiled to Ecuador by a federal immigration judge.\n\nMiracles are always in short supply, and Rodriguez needs at least one more in order to become a U.S. citizen \u2013 something most people would assume he earned by serving multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with the Marines. Until he becomes a citizen, Rodriguez will continue to live in the shadow of potential deportation to Ecuador, the country where he was born before being brought to the United States as a very young child.\n\nIn an interview with the Latin Times, Rodriguez explains that he enlisted in the Marines in 2006, shortly after graduating from High School in Virginia. He was one of an estimated 8,000 non-citizens who enlisted in the military that year hoping to expedite their naturalization as U.S. citizens. In the five years that had passed between 9/11 and the day Rodriguez signed his enlistment contract, thousands of \u201cgreen-card soldiers\u201d had become naturalized citizens \u2013 many of them posthumously. Rodriguez enlisted just in time for the Bush administration\u2019s \u201csurge,\u201d which demanded significant additional troops at a time when recruitment rates had plummeted.\n\nFollowing his active-duty deployment to Iraq, Rodriguez returned to Virginia and enrolled in classes at Virginia Tech as a reservist. He was recalled to active duty for a second \u201csurge\u201d in 2009 \u2013 this one in Afghanistan. His platoon was deployed to a Taliban-heavy village near the Pakistan border, where three of Rodriguez\u2019s buddies were killed, and three others seriously wounded, in a suicide bombing. Several others, including Rodriguez, were casualties of a different kind: While sound of wind and limb, they suffered serious and lasting psychological trauma of the kind that fuels the horrifying suicide rate among combat veterans.\n\nUpon returning from Afghanistan, Rodriguez once again enrolled in school \u2013 this time at the Art Institute of Washington. But his studies suffered as he found it impossible to sleep. Once he closed his eyes, Rodriguez had recurring nightmares in which he watched helplessly as people were killed in front of him.\n\n\u201cWhat did these guys die for?\u201d Rodriguez would ask himself, thinking of the fellow Marines who were killed in Afghanistan. \u201cThe answer\u2019s not there.\u201d\n\nDesperate to overcome his sleep disorder, and concerned about growing suicidal impulses, Rodriguez sought help from the Veterans Administration, which diagnosed him with PTSD in 2011. The agency simply \u201cpushed anti-depressants and pain pills and sleep aids,\u201d he recalls. Like too many others who have received such \u201ctreatment,\u201d Rodriguez began to experience the well-documented but inadequately discussed \u201cside effects\u201d of such pharmaceuticals, which include suicidal thoughts.\n\nEvery day, American combat veterans suffering from PTSD commit suicide as the result of such iatrogenic treatment. Rodriguez was fortunate enough to learn about the beneficial effects of cannabis in treating that condition. Although \u2013 or perhaps because \u2013 the VA is eager to promote the use of dangerous pharmaceuticals to treat PTSD, the agency does not validate prescriptions for cannabis to treat that condition, yet. As a result, Rodriguez has four misdemeanors on his record for possessing marijuana and \u201cdrug paraphernalia.\u201d\n\nThose misdemeanors were flagged by a Customs official at JFK Airport last year when Rodriguez was returning from a trip to visit family in Ecuador. This resulted in his arrest and detention \u2013 and in deportation proceedings under the 1996 Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (ATEDPA).\n\nEnacted in the aftermath of the April 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the first attempt to destroy the World Trade Center in 1993, ATEDPA was larded with provisions that had no plausible connection to any definable terrorist threat. It was also laden with potential landmines for individual liberties. Senator Patty Murray (D-Washington), a supporter of the bill, acknowledged that by enacting it the Senate was \u201cchipping away at the edges of freedom\u201d and that \u201cwe have no idea what kind of mistakes will be made, or whose rights will be infringed, when this bill is implemented.\u201d\n\nAmong the Americans whose rights would be infringed by that bill was Ivano Rodriguez, who was in grade school at the time when it was enacted. One criminal justice \u201cenhancement\u201d contained in that bill was a provision mandating the deportation of foreign nationals (including legal residents) who commit \u201caggravated felonies\u201d or crimes of \u201cmoral turpitude.\u201d Narcotics offenses fall into that vague and inclusive category, including unauthorized use of marijuana.\n\nAs a high school student, Rodriguez \u2013 like countless others \u2013 got in trouble for recreational marijuana use, and those juvenile offenses remain on his record. However, they didn\u2019t disqualify him from enlisting in the military on foreign battlefields where he might have been killed. Yet his use of marijuana to deal with his lasting \u2013 and potentially fatal \u2013 psychological injuries led to his arrest and could still lead to his exile.\n\n\u201cI swore an oath to the Constitution,\u201d Rodriguez recalls, pointing out that his supposed \u201cmoral turpitude\u201d didn\u2019t disqualify him for military service. \u201cIs that not enough?\u201d\n\nUnder Washington State law, Rodriguez was free to use marijuana for medicinal purposes. However, as a green card holder he is still considered to be under the jurisdiction of his home state, Virginia. His deportation hearing, as defined by the 1996 law, was held in a civil court in which he had no right to legal representation. However, as Latin Times reports, the presiding judge dismissed the complaint against Rodriguez \u201cwith prejudice.\u201d This is not the end of the matter, however.\n\nRodriguez remains a non-citizen, and his application for naturalization has been repeatedly rebuffed because of what the federal government insists is his \u201cbad moral character\u201d \u2013 supposedly demonstrated by his juvenile offense record. Once again, the federal government didn\u2019t regard him as a man of defective character when it inducted him into the Marines.\n\nWhile he remains a non-citizen, Rodriguez lives with the possibility that the government he served may seek again to banish him as punishment for using an effective but unauthorized treatment to address the lasting trauma he experiences as a result of that service. Because of the federal government\u2019s irrational commitment to pot prohibition, Ivano Rodriguez could still be forced to choose between death and exile.\n\nSpread the love\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSponsored Content:"}
-{"text": "Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has a three-day escape clause that allows him to terminate his contract now that the team's season is over, league sources confirmed.\n\nThe escape clause was a provision of the contract Marrone signed when he was hired in 2013, a stipulation made in the event of an ownership change, the sources said.\n\nMarrone, who has not discussed his contract situation with his coaches since the Bills' victory over New England on Sunday, has told his assistants to operate going forward as \"status quo,\" a league source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Caplan.\n\nMarrone and his assistants will conduct exit interviews with players on Monday.\n\nTerry and Kim Pegula officially were approved as the Bills' new owners in October, when the franchise was sold after the death of Ralph Wilson Jr. in March.\n\nThere is no indication that Marrone will take advantage of the escape clause even though there is some uncertainty about a reorganization of the front office. The Bills finished 9-7 in Marrone's second season, and sources say the Pegulas would like him to return in 2015.\n\nThe story about Marrone's three-day opt-out window was first reported by Pro Football Talk.\n\nESPN NFL Insider Adam Caplan contributed to this report."}
-{"text": "Even dating back to the beginning of his career, Paul Thomas Anderson has always liked working with musicians. In 1997, while putting the finishing touches on Boogie Nights, Anderson and several of his cast members snuck in an iconic music video for Michael Penn\u2019s Try (and yes, Michael is the older brother of actor-writer-director Sean). Over the next two decades, Anderson would lend his talents to the music videos of a diverse group of artists, including \u2014 but not limited to \u2014 Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple, Radiohead, and Joanna Newsom. Anderson\u2019s most recent music video, released just this April, was for the song \u2018Right Now\u2019 by the band Haim, proving that his film schedule won\u2019t keep him from shooting more music videos going forward.\n\nBut that\u2019s not all! According to a new post by the band (via Vulture), Anderson and Haim have cut together a short film named Valentine that will also combine two new Anderson-directed videos for the band. Better yet, you can enter to win tickets to a live screening of Valentine on 35mm and be treated to an exclusive launch concert with the band. Here\u2019s the post from the official Haim Twitter account:\n\nWhile the website doesn\u2019t officially say for sure that Anderson will be in attendance, it\u2019s probably a good bet that he\u2019ll pop in, making this Valentine screening a must-do for anyone in New York City (or willing to fly there for a long weekend). All you have to do is share your pre-order code for Haim\u2019s next album Something to Tell You and you\u2019ll be entered to win, and then you can tell all of your friends that you\u2019re one of a handful of people to have seen Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s brand new film! Or at least tell them that you saw it on 35mm, which is the way the artist really intended it to be screened. Exclusive screening meets exclusive concert? It\u2019s not often you can make both your music and film friends angry with you at the same time."}
-{"text": "The U.S. working class is currently riding a mighty strike wave, the likes of which hasn\u2019t been seen since the height of Ronald Reagan\u2019s 1980s union-busting spree. The biggest stories have dominated the headlines for weeks, or\u2014in the case of the ongoing #RedforEd movement within the education sector\u2014even years, and their main characters have become folk heroes: The CTU and SEIU teachers and support staff of Chicago fighting for a better future for their coworkers, their students, and their city. The UAW factory workers of General Motors who left the line cold for almost six weeks to end discrimination and inequality at a company that had grown fat off of a government bailout and kept the spoils for itself. The Uber and Lyft drivers leading protests for the fair wages and safer working conditions that their Silicon Valley overlords will do anything to avoid paying for. The fast food workers of #Fightfor15 calling for basic dignity, a $15 minimum wage, and a union, who have forced the national conversation (and the current crop of presidential hopefuls) to catch up to their demands.\n\nThese and so very many other players are the driving force behind our current moment of widespread labor unrest, one that has seen almost half a million workers hit the bricks in pursuit of a better deal since 2018. The year\u2019s not over yet, and it\u2019s likely that those numbers will shoot even higher before 2020. While a bona fide general strike may still be a revolutionary\u2019s daydream (for now . . . ), one thing is certain: direct action gets the goods. More and more regular working people, union and otherwise, have realized that the only way to win anything resembling equity\u2014let alone liberation\u2014is through militant collective action, and they\u2019ve shown that they are prepared to take that battle to the bargaining table, to the picket lines, and to the streets. The spirit of 1919 lives on a century later, even if it looks a little different.\n\nThe trouble now is that there are so many campaigns, actions, and contract fights happening at any given moment that it can be difficult to keep up\u2014even when it\u2019s your job to do so. I was recently commiserating over this very quandary with another labor reporter (one of the small but dedicated group of journalists covering this beat), lamenting the fact that we can\u2019t cover every story because of the dwindling number of publications to pitch, the bane of editorial indifference, and our own occasional need to sleep. Every strike or protest determines the well-being and livelihood of dozens if not hundreds of workers, but a cruel fact of our media ecosystem is that some strikes reap hundreds of headlines, while others languish in near-silence. Contrast the amount of (well-deserved!) press that the GM strike received with the coverage of the 1,800 Spectrum cable company workers of IBEW Local 3 who have been out on strike for over two and a half years. If a worker on the picket line cries out for justice and nobody hears it, what does that say about our movement? It must be emphasized: every strike matters, and every good contract won is a victory for workers everywhere.\n\nThe spirit of 1919 lives on a century later, even if it looks a little different.\n\nIt\u2019s true that the amount of labor reporting at various publications has rapidly increased over the past few years, due in no small part to digital media\u2019s post-2015 organizing wave led by the Writers Guild of America, East and the NewsGuild (as well as endless bloodletting in the form of recurring mass layoffs). The quickest way to change someone\u2019s opinion on unions is to drop them into a bargaining session with the boss to see exactly how the sausage is made; much like Soylent Green, the main ingredient is people. The fledgling organizing efforts in tech and ongoing student worker organizing campaigns at ivory towers like Harvard (whose grad student union just held a 90 percent pro-strike authorization vote!) have also attracted interest from a mainstream media who\u2019d long ago written off the working class as a bunch of bigoted roughnecks in hard hats. Of course, movement publications like Labor Notes, The Nation, and In These Times have been chronicling these stories, big and small, for decades, and upstart newsletter Strikewave has done an admirable job following in their footsteps. No one can cover everything happening in this chaotic capitalist dystopia, but it\u2019s heartening that so many of us are trying. It is my intent with this monthly missive to shed light on those labor stories that may have gotten lost in the shuffle or taken place too far outside East Coast centers of power to have warranted closer inspection from establishment sources.\n\nTake the hotel workers at Boston\u2019s Battery Wharf Hotel, who have been on strike since September 5. Represented by UNITE HERE\u2014the food service staff and hospitality union whose members have made a name for themselves with their fearlessness\u2014these seventy-five hotel workers walked following a year-long contract battle with the Ontario-based Westmont Hospitality Group, the hotel\u2019s operators. The main bones of contention were wages and pensions, as well as safeguarding job security, diversity, protections for immigrant workers, a union-provided healthcare plan, and strong sexual harassment protections. The latter are an absolute essential in an industry where women of color make up the majority of the workforce, and harassment and assault are common. Battery Wharf is the only hotel in Boston that has not agreed to UNITE HERE\u2019s terms; the union represents thirty-two hotels in the city and concluded a forty-six-day strike at the Boston Marriott in 2018.\n\nThe ever-dependable Teamsters, who handle deliveries and trash pick-ups at Battery Wharf, have refused to cross the picket line, and the strikers have also picked up support from several politicians, including Senator Elizabeth Warren. British folk singer and activist Billy Bragg played a few songs at a \u201cmassive\u201d October 4th rally, which surely provided a morale boost for those who have been putting in twelve-hour days on the picket lines for nearly two months. As UNITE HERE\u2019s Nicki Morris told me, Strike leader Serandou Kamara is a former refugee from Sierra Leone who, in 2009, at seven months pregnant, was fired along with nearly a hundred other non-union Hyatt housekeepers in favor of lower-paid subcontractors. It was then that she secured a union job and rose to become a crucial voice in UNITE HERE Local 26. While the enthusiasm and energy among Kamara and the rest of the strikers is high, with no resolution in sight, the Battery Wharf workers still have their work cut out for them.\n\nUNITE HERE\u2019s rallying cry of \u201cOne Job Should Be Enough!\u201d also echoed through the halls of Philadelphia International Airport last week, when low-wage airline food workers (the majority of whom are immigrants from West Africa) employed by LSG Sky Chefs, an American Airlines contractor, staged a die-in by the ticket counters. American Airlines hubs have the lowest wage standards for subcontracted airline catering workers, and health care is a major issue for their employees; according to a recent UNITE HERE survey of 2,200 workers, many travel back and forth from different countries to access medical care because it ends up being cheaper than going through the company insurance. In a touching display of solidarity, Boston-based Local 26 members bussed down to Philly to support their union siblings. As UNITE HERE President D. Taylor told the New York Times earlier this month, \u201cThe government is not going to take care of us. Business is not going to take care of us. We\u2019ve got to take care of ourselves.\u201d\n\nAccording to a recent UNITE HERE survey of 2,200 workers, many travel back and forth from different countries to access medical care.\n\nThe choice of a die-in was a strategic one for the airline food workers, whose right to strike is not well-protected, thanks to the Railway Labor Act. The federal law, which was passed in 1926 and amended in 1934 and 1936, oversees unionization and collective bargaining for railways and airlines; it was created with the goal of keeping the nation\u2019s transportation infrastructure running smoothly even in the face of worker unrest. As a result, it discourages these workers from striking and requires that they receive approval from the National Mediation Board before they can legally hit the picket lines.\n\nThe Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), who are revered for their militant strike tactics\u2014a profoundly destabilizing program known as CHAOS\u2014have filed two separate release requests to the NMB on behalf of their members at the regional airline Air Wisconsin (operated by United Airlines) this year alone: one in May, and another in October. Workers at Air Wisconsin make as little as $15,000 per year, their wages have been frozen since 2007, and overall, they are compensated 45 percent less than flight attendants on mainline carriers. They\u2019ve been stalled in contract negotiations with United for years, but have turned up the pressure with pickets at airports in in Milwaukee, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. With the support of the AFA-CWA and its firebrand president, Sara Nelson, Wisconsin Air\u2019s flight attendants are digging in for battle; last year, the result of their strike authorization vote was 99 percent in favor.\n\n\u201cWe have been in mediation at Air Wisconsin for three years,\u201d says AFA-CWA President Sara Nelson. \u201cThe flight attendants live in poverty and the company\u2019s wage proposal is at 2 percent. They fly under the United brand and United needs to help out. . . . Now we\u2019re turning up the heat.\u201d\n\nWhile airline workers remain hamstrung by early twentieth century labor law, more recent legislation in New York has worked to expand farmworkers\u2019 rights. The passage of the Farm Workers Bill and establishment of the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act will finally give them collective bargaining rights in the state and grant them the long-overdue basic worker protections they are currently denied under the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, which excludes several categories of vulnerable workers, including independent contractors\u2014more on that later. The bill takes effect on January 1, 2020, and will enshrine farmworkers\u2019 right to overtime pay, a day of rest each week, disability and Paid Family Leave coverage, unemployment benefits, and other labor protections. While this law is certainly good news (provided that employers actually follow its letter), one beloved brand has already potentially run afoul of its mandate.\n\nChobani Yogurt prides itself on its progressive reputation. But its workers are concerned about the company\u2019s new partnership with Fair Trade USA, an organization with a long documented history of labor violations and worker exploitation. On October 10, a coalition of labor organizations including SEIU Local 32BJ, the Workers Center of Central New York, the Worker Justice Center of New York, and the Farm Worker Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO penned an open letter to Chobani founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya. They called on the company to commit to respecting union organizing rights. So far, Chobani has made no public acknowledgement of its workers\u2019 demand to organize, even after one of the dairy farms that supplies Chobani, Mark\u2019s Farm, fired workers for trying to form a union. One former dairy worker published an impassioned op-ed in the New York Daily News detailing the grueling conditions and substandard wages that he and his coworkers endured to make Chobani\u2019s products\u2014giving the lie once again to \u201ccompassionate\u201d capitalism and demonstrating that in the wretched game of chance that is our current economic system, even the gentlest roll of the dice from a rich man\u2019s hands can spell misery for the working class.\n\nFarmworkers aren\u2019t the only group of workers excluded from the NLRA who have been speaking up and making serious gains in various state legislatures. While the passage of Assembly Bill 5 in California remains controversial for a freelance journalist carve-out that limits writers to filing thirty-five pieces per year before a company must hire them as an employee\u2014freelancers say that this will lead to publications simply hiring out-of-state writers instead\u2014it will make a serious impact on the lot of ride-hail drivers who work for apps like Uber and Lyft by forcing the tech companies to reclassify these workers as employees, and thereby provide them with basic worker protections. Uber and Lyft, however, are fighting tooth and nail to avoid treating their employees like humans, or even acknowledging them as employees, so the ramifications of AB5 are hard to predict.\n\nIn the wretched game of chance that is our current economic system, even the gentlest roll of the dice from a rich man\u2019s hands can spell misery for the working class.\n\nIn New York, the Independent Driver Guild, a Machinists Union project to organize and support app-based drivers, has been organizing since 2016 around an extremely basic human need: for drivers to have access to restroom facilities at New York City-area airports. The campaign came out of an IDG women\u2019s meet-up and has been led by women drivers, though drivers of all genders are affected by the lack of facilities. When they began organizing, there wasn\u2019t so much as a port-a-potty in the JFK airport waiting lot. As the IDG pointed out, taxi drivers, travelers, and even pets had facilities at the airport\u2014but there was no restroom for ride-hail drivers. In 2017, they were finally given port-a-potties; now, years later, drivers have won running water restroom trailers at Newark, La Guardia, and JFK. Port Authority has also passed a proposal to build permanent facilities, including a prayer/meditation area and washing station. According to the IDG, Uber agreed to contribute to the costs of the project by paying for the Port Authority trailer; Lyft declined. The guild\u2019s members are still waiting on improvements in Manhattan, though; as a guild representative said, \u201cWe submitted a proposal years ago [to the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission and Department of Transportation] and it has been sitting in bureaucracy ever since.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt should never have been this hard to get running water restroom facilities in the wealthiest metropolitan area on earth, but I am proud of our work to make this happen,\u201d says Uber driver and IDG steward Michele Dottin. \u201cI am proud to be part of the sisterhood that improved working conditions for more than one hundred thousand for-hire drivers who serve our airports, our sisters and brothers behind the wheel.\u201d\n\nThe common thread uniting all of these struggles is that they\u2019re being spearheaded by some of the most marginalized and vulnerable workers in the movement, who are fighting from positions that have historically not been well-protected by labor law while also pushing against the yoke of systemic oppression. By facing down these seemingly insurmountable odds, they\u2019ve made their mark on the current labor landscape\u2014whether or not they made headlines along the way."}
-{"text": "The industry of palm oil, the product found in everything from chocolate to lipstick that is habitually reviled by environmentalists, is facing new challenges due to unrest in key producing regions.\n\nIt was reported by the Cameroonian Association of Oil Refineries this month that the export of refined products including palm oil from several African nations, including Nigeria and Cameroon, has been \u201cvirtually at a standstill\u201d for several months due to a spate of murders and kidnappings committed by Islamic militant group Boko Haram.\n\nThe unexpected slowdown in palm oil production in Africa, seen as a key growth area for the product, comes as political tensions are heightening in Indonesia, the world\u2019s leading producer of palm oil.\n\nAccording to statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Indonesia produces around 30m tonnes of crude palm oil a year and, along with Malaysia, accounts for nearly 90% of the world\u2019s supply.\n\nProponents of palm oil point out that it\u2019s cheap and efficient to grow and use, although critics point out that huge tracts of rainforest have been cleared \u2013 at a rate of around 690,000 hectares a year between 2006 and 2010 \u2013 to make way for the crop, putting engendered species such as the orangutan under severe threat.\n\n\n\nCorruption claims\n\nThe rampant, and often illegal, clearing of land has also affected small landholders and is increasingly causing tension between the Indonesian government and the administrations that run the country\u2019s provinces.\n\nFollowing the end of Suharto\u2019s 31-year dictatorship in 1998, Indonesia went through a process of decentralising power. Much of the power over land allocation flowed to bupatis (little kings) who preside over districts and have been accused of widespread corruption in the way they hand out logging concessions.\n\n\u201cThey take decisions in best interest of companies, often from Singapore or Jakarta, rather than communities,\u201d said Tomasz Johnson, forests campaigner at the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).\n\nThe EIA conducted an in-depth investigation into the palm oil industry last year and found multiple instances of corruption and lax law enforcement.\n\nViolations included the flouting of plantation licensing laws, attempts by a palm oil firm to bribe police to drop an investigation into its activities and regional governments transferring community resources to private firms.\n\n\u201cWhen companies come up against opposition from communities, bupatis will mobilise state forces against them,\u201d says Johnson, whose research has focused on the central Kalimantan area.\n\n\u201cThere is low level oppression and sometimes violence. In Kalimantan it\u2019s rare that you go into community where there\u2019s not conflict. Often, communities have given up hope of holding onto their land.\n\n\u201cWe went to see one concession where the community believes someone was killed by security forces that were employed by a palm oil company. These people just can\u2019t win, it\u2019s a simmering human rights issue.\u201d\n\nLocal land grabs\n\nThe situation appears like it may come to a head over a contentious plan by the largely autonomous government of Aceh, on the island of Sumatra, to open up the pristine Leuser ecosystem to development. Aceh gained greater autonomy in return for an end to the armed struggle waged by separatists that largely faded following the 2004 tsunami.\n\nThe road expansion and deforestation plan, which conservationists fear would threaten two of the three largest remaining Sumatran orangutan populations and increase instances of disastrous landslides, has yet to be ratified by the Indonesian government.\n\nThere are indications that the central Jakarta administration isn\u2019t entirely happy with the pro-palm oil development decisions taken by Aceh governor Zaini Abdullah, whose predecessor Irwandi Yusuf was seen as sympathetic to environmental concerns and enthusiastically embraced the REDD+ scheme, whereby wealthy nations paid Indonesia to preserve its rainforests.\n\nPresident Joko Widodo has warned: \u201cWe mustn\u2019t allow our tropical rainforest to disappear because of monoculture plantations like oil palm.\u201d\n\nDavid Gaveau, a scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research, said: \u201cThe central government is now trying to pull back that power and recentralise things. They realised it all went too far. It\u2019s uncertain which way things will go, but there\u2019s certainly a lot of tension around it.\n\n\u201cMembers of the local governments are actually encouraging people to grab land that\u2019s under control of central government. The central government is then trying to enforce the law and arresting people. It\u2019s a cat and mouse game.\u201d\n\nThe result of a shift back to centralised government could impact the growing number of small palm oil operators who largely conduct their business free of any regulatory interference, at a time when many of the major palm oil players have committed to more sustainable practices and to reduce deforestation.\n\n\u201cThere are rogue operators who are playing the corruption game with the local authorities,\u201d said Gaveau. \u201cThey get land through dodgy deals and they are totally under the radar, they basically do what they want while the big companies are trying to clean up their acts.\n\n\u201cA big problem is the overlapping land rights, which causes a lot of conflict. When you don\u2019t have any power, someone can come in and clear your land, even though that goes against the country\u2019s constitution. While Indonesia is largely an agrarian society, there is an increasingly wealthy middle class who see land as an investment for the future.\u201d\n\nThe palm oil debate is funded by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled advertisement feature. Find out more here.\n\nJoin the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox.\n\n\u2022 This article was amended on on 24 April 2015. An earlier version omitted the word \u201cnot\u201d in a quote from Tomasz Johnson."}
-{"text": "Sir Richard Branson and his family survived Hurricane Irma by hunkering down in the wine cellar on their private island in the Caribbean.\n\nThe British billionaire and adventurer decided to stay put on Necker Island, despite it being directly in the path of the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever.\n\nThe businessman had said he planned to hide in his wine cellar - and doubted there would be much wine left when the storm subsided."}
-{"text": "\u4efb\u5929\u5802\u306f\u3001Mii\u304c\u767b\u5834\u3059\u308b\u30cb\u30f3\u30c6\u30f3\u30c9\u30fc3DS\u7528\u307f\u307e\u3082\u308a\u30b7\u30df\u30e5\u30ec\u30fc\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u300cMiitopia\u300d\u309212\u67088\u65e5\u306b\u767a\u58f2\u3059\u308b\u3002\u4fa1\u683c\u306f5,076\u5186\uff08\u7a0e\u8fbc\uff09\u3067CERO\u30ec\u30fc\u30c6\u30a3\u30f3\u30b0\u306fA\uff08\u5168\u5e74\u9f62\u5bfe\u8c61\uff09\u30029\u6708\u306b\u914d\u4fe1\u3055\u308c\u305fNintendo 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TVCM\u3011"}
-{"text": "I sure hope the aggregate effect of F*, ATS, Rust, and such is to more quickly bring about even better static checking.\n\nv0.9.0 (released before ICFP 2015) . Countless improvements, including an interactive mode, a new extraction mechanism to OCaml and F#, the ghost effect, a lot of new examples (micro-F* formalization, Wysteria, etc), hyper-heaps, build-config support, quite a bit of cleanup of the code base.\n\nF* (pronounced F star) is an ML-like functional programming language aimed at program verification. Its type system is based on a core that resembles System F\u03c9 (hence the name), but is extended with dependent types, refined monadic effects, refinement types, and higher kinds. Together, these features allow expressing precise and compact specifications for programs, including functional correctness properties. The F* type-checker aims to prove that programs meet their specifications using a combination of SMT solving and manual proofs. Programs written in F* can be translated to OCaml or F# for execution.\n\nThe latest version of F* is written entirely in F*, and bootstraps in OCaml and F#. It is open source and under active development on GitHub. A detailed description of this new F* version is available in a recent draft. You can learn more about F* by following the online tutorial."}
-{"text": "\n\nChris Fox, CP24.com\n\n\n\n\n\nMayor John Tory is pleading with residents to respect the closure of playgrounds, sports courts and other facilities within city parks amid reports that some people have torn down signage and ripped off tape that was put up to keep people away amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.\n\nOn Wednesday the city announced the closure of all facilities located within the more than 1,500 parks across Toronto, including playgrounds, basketball courts, tennis courts and off-leash dog areas.\n\nSince then, city workers have fanned out across the city to put up signage and tape advising residents of the closure.\n\nTory, however, told CP24 on Sunday morning that he is beginning to hear reports of people knocking down signs and tearing down tape so that they can access the facilities in contravention of the city order.\n\n\u201cI hear this stuff and I sort of sometimes think it is being made up but I know that it is not because it our officials who are telling me. People are tearing down the signs that we put in the parks to say that the amenities are closed. They are tearing the signs down and they are taking the tape off,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean come on people. We are not doing this because we are trying not to be nice. We are doing this because this is what the health officials tell us we have to do to stop Toronto from going in the direction of New York City or worse. We just can\u2019t do that. It would involve loss of life for our fellow Torontonians, it would involve a huge strain on the healthcare system with many more people becoming sick and it is going to involve this (the disruption to public life) lasting a lot longer.\u201d\n\nTory said that he made the \u201cdifficult decision\u201d to close all facilities within city parks solely on the basis of advice from public health officials, who indicated that it necessary to help limit the spread of COVID-19 within the community.\n\nWhile those who are found trying to access facilities that have been shuttered could face fines of up to $5,000, Tory said that he would prefer that people would cooperate so \u201cthis whole nightmare can be over a lot sooner.\u201d\n\n\u201cI would ask people to please cooperate. Please act as if you have been asked - because you have - to stay home, to stay away from these places,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is not because we are trying to be killjoys. We are trying to stop a health emergency here and to have it come to an end as soon as possible.\u201d\n\nCity has locked off-leash areas\n\nTory said that city workers have already had to padlock off-leash dog facilities because people weren\u2019t respecting the order and may take further steps to ramp up enforcement.\n\nHe said that ultimately the city's ability to limit the spread of COVID-19 and eventually allow for a return to normal life will depend on the cooperation of residents though.\n\n\"If people are ripping signs down in parks or going into areas that are taped off than it is going to take longer and I say that with no happiness whatsoever because it means that more people will get sick and more people will die,\" he said."}
-{"text": "More on Covid-19\n\nBENGALURU: Twelve new positive coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Karnataka , taking the total number of affected in the state to 175, the Health department said on Tuesday.Of the 175 positive cases, 25 have been discharged, it said.\"Twelve new positive cases have been reported from last evening to this noon...Till date 175 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed. This includes 4 deaths and 25 discharges,\" the department said in its mid-day situation update.Among the 12 new cases, four (one from Bagalkote, two from Bengaluru city and one from Bengaluru Rural) had attended Tablighi-Jamaat congregation at Delhi from March 13-18; while three from Mandya are contacts of patients with history of attending the Jamaat congregation.Others include a 41-year old woman from Bagalkote, who is neighbour of of a 75-year old man who died on April 3; 80- year old woman from Gadag with history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI); 68-year old male from Bengaluru with travel history to Dubai; and a woman (contact of a patient) and a man (with history of SARI) from Kalaburagi"}
-{"text": "CNNi talks to Joshua Meltzer of the Brookings Institution about the significance of the Paris Accord without the U.S. being a part of it.\n\nSource: CNN"}
-{"text": "It had to be done. >8D\n\n\n\nbecause only axe can match gamagori\u2019s manliness. and masochism."}
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-{"text": "\u201cThe victor in a war is usually decided before the first battle\u2019s been fought.\u201d\n\n\u2013 Prince Louis of Brabant, later eighth First Prince of Procer\n\nTraipsing through Arcadia like some sort of murderous errand boy had been oddly nostalgic, Black mused, especially with Wekesa at his side. It had been the both of them in the beginning, before they\u2019d ever met Sabah or Alaya. Their little jaunt through the realm of the Fae had not carried with it the same sense of momentous wonderment he\u2019d felt back all those years ago, but there was something refreshing about being just a man with a sword instead of the Empress\u2019 implacable right hand. Things had been simpler, when he was young. The lines between friend and foe had been clear, the dangers understandable. He and Malicia had climbed the Tower only to then understand the unspoken truth of it: the higher the edifice, the narrower the summit \u2013 and the stiffer the winds. These days they spent as much time making sure they remained on top as they did actually ruling. It was like pulling weeds, he\u2019d once told Hye, if ripping out one laid the seeds for a dozen more.\n\nHe\u2019d put aside the thoughts by the time they arrived at the fortified camp Istrid and Sacker had established southwest of Vale. The city itself had been taken without contest before he\u2019d left for Marchford, abandoned by the rebels. They\u2019d only occupied it long enough to make sure no armed insurgents would be hitting their supply lines. The combined forces of the Sixth and Ninth legions theoretically numbered at eight thousand, though in truth they came closer to ten with all the camp followers and support personnel. Leaving a garrison in Vale had not been an acceptable option, not when the Countess Marchford\u2019s host numbered twenty thousand. Half of it peasant levies, admittedly, but quantity could have a quality of its own. Wekesa dismissed that ridiculous chariot pulled by winged horses his husband had gifted him years ago as Amadeus rolled his eyes. He dismounted his own horse and allowed the necromantic construct to be led away by a legionary.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019ll be up to your neck in scheming soon, I imagine?\u201d Warlock asked.\n\n\u201cI have a few irons in the fire,\u201d Amadeus agreed.\n\nHis old friend grimaced. \u201cI\u2019ll be in my tent, then. Drinking. You always get irritatingly smug when a plan comes together.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not,\u201d Black replied, but Wekesa dismissed the words with an absent wave of the hand as he walked away.\n\nThere was no way to win with this lot. He\u2019d always made a point of not gloating even if the enemy was dead, but Hye had promptly informed him that he made such a point of not gloating that it counted as doing it. They never let anything go, really. He\u2019d worn leather pants once at age sixteen and it had taken them twenty years to stop mentioning it every time they went drinking. It would be another twenty before he lived down Stygia, and since Nehebkau now led Tenth the whole \u2018negotiating with a dragon\u2019 affair would likely follow him to his grave. Sighing, Black made his way to the command tent. Eudokia was already waiting inside, the pile of parchments that followed her like an obedient dog stacked on a table as she read through his correspondence. Amadeus cast a curious look around.\n\n\u201cSabah?\u201d\n\n\u201cGone hunting outriders,\u201d Scribe replied without looking at him.\n\n\u201cOn a horse, I hope?\u201d\n\nThe plain-faced woman shook her head and he almost frowned. The days were Captain had relied on him to cow the Beast were long gone, but if she let it out too much she still had\u2026 issues. He\u2019d have fresh meat rations set aside for her. He\u2019d barely poured himself a cup of wine when the generals arrived, Istrid striding in without bothering to be announced and Sacker following close behind. He\u2019d always liked Istrid Knightsbane, in all honesty. She had weaknesses as a commander but she was not above taking advice from her staff to make up for it \u2013 and she was viciously, viciously loyal. Sacker was another story. Though the two greenskins were as sisters, after all those years working together, the goblin general had never been part of what could generously be called the \u2018loyalists\u2019 in the Legions of Terror. Sacker had been a Matron before becoming an officer and though the official word was that no goblin could sit on the Council of Matrons while serving in the Legions he\u2019d always suspected she was the eyes and ears of the Council in the army. She would look out for goblin interests above everything else.\n\n\u201cWarlord,\u201d Istrid greeted him, clasping his arm.\n\n\u201cIstrid,\u201d he replied, then nodded at Sacker. \u201cGeneral.\u201d\n\n\u201cLord,\u201d the goblin murmured.\n\nThe eye she\u2019d lost at the hands of the Lone Swordsman\u2019s attack had been replaced by a well-crafted glass one and most of her burns had been healed through sorcery. The part of her face that had been touched by magic was not as wrinkled as the one that was untouched, making her look like she\u2019d grafted the skin of a younger goblin on her face. The effect was somewhat gruesome and knowing her she\u2019d been leveraging it ever since.\n\n\u201cCountess Talbot ain\u2019t moving,\u201d Istrid told him, accepting a cup of wine when he poured it.\n\nSacker shook her head when offered the same, her single living eye watching them carefully.\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s not retreating anymore, then,\u201d Amadeus said. \u201cGood. I was beginning to think she\u2019d march all the way to Holden.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s trying to bait us into joining up with your apprentice and sieging Liesse,\u201d Sacker spoke quietly. \u201cThat way they can cut our supply line and fall on our backs.\u201d\n\n\u201cCatherine has Liesse in hand,\u201d he simply said.\n\n\u201cSo now the blades come out, eh?\u201d Istrid grinned nastily. \u201cAbout time. It\u2019ll be like old times, stomping a Callowan host into the ground.\u201d\n\nBlack sipped at his cup, still standing. Sacker let out a small noise of amusement.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s not going to be a battle, is there?\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cNot as such, no,\u201d he agreed. \u201cWithin three days the Countess\u2019 army will collapse.\u201d\n\nIstrid looked like he\u2019d just stolen a dozen sheep from her pens. \u201cWe have them, Warlord. We force a battle here and it\u2019ll be a massacre.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to avoid,\u201d Scribe said from her corner.\n\nBoth generals jumped, though Sacker much less noticeably. Neither of them had noticed Eudokia was in the pavilion \u2013 people rarely did, unless she wanted them to. A pair of hasty \u2018Lady Scribe\u2019s later, Black cleared his throat.\n\n\u201cHalf of that army is peasant levies, Istrid,\u201d he said. \u201cFarmers and craftsmen.\u201d\n\nThere was a moment of silence.\n\n\u201cWe kill them and there\u2019s no one to till the fields when the time comes,\u201d Sacker immediately grasped.\n\nAnd there was the reason the goblin was slated to be the next Marshal, even with her mixed loyalties. She had an ability to grasp the larger picture that Istrid simply lacked.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not a coincidence that they started the rebellion just before sowing season,\u201d Amadeus said. \u201cCountess Talbot is holding all of the fields in the south hostage. If we break her army too badly or burn the farmland to smoke her out, there will be food shortages in Praes. We\u2019ve become too dependent on Callow for grain and fruits since the Conquest.\u201d\n\nHe\u2019d tacitly allowed that to happen, with Malicia\u2019s blessing. Food went into the Wasteland and luxuries into Callow: the trade relationship between the two lands bound them together tighter and improved the lot of the commons on both sides. Keeping the standards of living for the lower classes high enough was the keystone of killing rebellious sentiment in its crib, both in the Wasteland and in the former kingdom. Well-fed, gainfully employed individuals tended to think twice about throwing in their lot with rebels. They had too much to lose.\n\n\u201cNo fight at all, then?\u201d Istrid asked, disgruntled.\n\n\u201cI didn\u2019t say that,\u201d Black mused. \u201cI\u2019ll need your wolf riders ready for deployment. I am not of a mind to let rats flee the sinking ship.\u201d\n\nIstrid grunted and from the look in her eyes Amadeus knew she\u2019d be among those riders when they left camp. Peace was not something orcs were particularly fond of, and the Knightsbane less than most. Crows are already gathering for what\u2019s to come, Istrid. All you have to do is wait.\n\n\u2014\n\nMorning came and word trickled out from the enemy camp that the Duke of Liesse was dead. Amadeus had ensured as much last night by slipping Scribe a piece of parchment with the words \u2018Gaston Caen, Duke of Liesse\u2019 on it. Since being raised by a school of hired killers had left Assassin with a particularly vicious sense of humour, the Duke had been found drowned in his own chamber pot. Relatively tame, Black decided, compared to some past killings. He blamed a twisted upbringing: the people who\u2019d taught Assassin had used as a graduation exercise the murder of a target by use of as innocuous a tool as possible. Men had been killed with teacups, he\u2019d been told, filing cabinets and even once half a blunted copper coin. Assassin\u2019s own graduation exercise had been the murder of every single other assassin using them against each other. The other Named had a rather thorny take on irony. Buttering his bread, the green-eyed man paused to take a sip of tea as he watched the green fields ahead of him and the rebel host beyond them.\n\nHe\u2019d had his table set at the edge of the fortified camp, a handful of Blackguards looming behind him in a concession to safety \u2013 not that they were particularly necessary, given the very lethal wards Wekesa had set around him before stealing most of his bacon and flouncing off to bother Sabah. Ahead the Callowan army was milling aimlessly like an anthill that had been kicked, hamstrung by the death of the man they\u2019d been rebelling to put on the throne. Duke Gaston had been little more than a figurehead while Countess Elizabeth ran the campaign as his military commander and betrothed, but figureheads were important when you assembled an army drawn from the commons. The man\u2019s claim had derived from being the highest ranked remaining Callowan noble and from some extent that the ancient Dukes of Liesse had once been kings in their own right, which put the rebels in a spot of trouble.\n\nThe only duchy with a ruler left in Callow was the Duchy of Daoine in the north, where Duchess Kegan still watched events unfolding with her armies assembled at her capital. She was not a participant in the rebellion, though, and more than that nobody wanted a Deoraithe on the throne. They might have been a people admired by other Callowans, but they were not liked. Scribe dipped a wheat biscuit in her own teacup, a truly horrible habit. He frowned at her, not that she cared.\n\n\u201cWhy only the Duke?\u201d she asked.\n\nBlack had been about to reply when he felt a flicker at the edge of his awareness. Ah, the pest had arrived. The Wandering Bard sat on the edge of the table with a grin, though it disappeared rather quickly when he casually palmed a throwing knife and flicked it at her head. The blade would have buried to the hilt between her eyes had the Ashuran not come out of existence as smoothly as she\u2019d appeared. Amadeus raised an eyebrow. As he\u2019d suspected, that was not teleportation. And it did not appear to be controlled. Another flicker and the Bard reappeared in front of the table, frowning.\n\n\u201cYou know, that\u2019s-\u201c\n\nBlack\u2019s shadow extended behind him, casually adjusting the aim of a mounted crossbow towards the heroine and pulling the trigger. She flickered out of existence before the bolt could tear through her lungs. The next time the pest reappeared she was standing thirty feet ahead of him. A tendril of shadow snuck across the grass as she glared.\n\n\u201cGotta say, you\u2019re being kind of a d-\u201c\n\nThe tendril punctured the ground, setting off the demolition charges buried under the heroine. Black took a bite of his bread and chewed thoughtfully. The Wandering Bard did not reappear. Thrice beaten and she stayed gone, then. He\u2019d thought that would do the trick: Names like Bards lived closer to patterns and were able to use them, but they were also more closely affected by them. None of the times where she\u2019d been gone had been willingly triggered, he assessed. Odds were she did not control where and when she went. More than that, if the ability had not been teleportation the implications were\u2026 interesting. How could you be somewhere and then somewhere else, if not teleportation? Simply by being there, he thought, although that brought other questions with it. The appearances were not instantaneous. Where did the Bard go, when she was not in Creation? Possibly a pocket dimension. More likely, nowhere. Power did not come without costs, certainly not power of that magnitude. No wonder she drank.\n\n\u201cWhat were you asking again?\u201d he asked Scribe after a moment.\n\n\u201cWhy you had only the Duke killed,\u201d she reminded him.\n\nAn apt question.\n\n\u201cBecause the rebels are no more a monolith than we are,\u201d he said. \u201cAs we speak, Countess Elizabeth is likely trying to put herself forward as the candidate for the throne \u2013 and she does have the most troops under her command. She is, however, widely disliked by the other nobles. Gaston picking her as a bride was a slight to the Marchioness Vale, whose rank is higher even if she is not as wealthy or militarily capable. The Countess also despises, and is despised in turn, by the Baroness Dormer. Something about being rivals over the hand of the Shining Prince in their youth. The Baroness is currently in Liesse, but she is extremely popular with the men she\u2019s sent here.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat leaves the Baron Holden,\u201d Scribe noted. \u201cThe Countess\u2019 cousin once removed. He\u2019ll support her.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe would,\u201d Black agreed, \u201chad I not told you to send that letter to Grem last month. By now he\u2019ll have received a messenger informing him that Nekhaub is torching the odd barn in his holdings and that a cohort of undead is driving his landholders into the city. Not any real damage, you understand, and deaths will be avoided, but to scared civilians it will make no difference. He\u2019ll want to return to protect his lands. It\u2019s an ingrained instinct in Callowan aristocrats.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re dividing them,\u201d Scribe said. \u201cSetting them against each other.\u201d\n\n\u201cUnder the cover of dark, if I am not mistaken, the men from Dormer and Holden will desert,\u201d Black shrugged. \u201cThose from Dormer heading towards Liesse, the others towards home. That cuts down on their professional troops by a third.\u201d\n\nIt didn\u2019t, if you counted the mercenaries. Four thousand dwarven veterans, the heaviest of infantries. But since he\u2019d had Eudokia deal with that matter already there was no need to belabour the explanation. As for the Baron Holden, if he followed his men in desertion \u2013 and Black was fairly certain he would \u2013 Istrid\u2019s wolf riders would be taking him. Only when he was out of sight, though. It would not do to discourage desertion. Amadeus took another sip of tea. It was a beautiful day.\n\n\u2014\n\nWekesa was hogging the wine, as he always did. Sabah was tearing into a barely cooked side of lamb, looking vaguely guilty as she did. She avoided that kind of behaviour around her husband, who\u2019d never so much as glimpsed the Beast, but she did not need to be so delicate around other Calamities. They\u2019d all seen her in the fullness of her wrath, tearing off heads effortlessly and bathing her fur in blood. Black poured himself a cup of Aksum red before Warlock could finish it, slapping away the retrieval spell the smug-looking Sovereign of the Red Skies tried to hook around the jug.\n\n\u201cThe army looks smaller than it did yesterday,\u201d Wekesa said, trying to distract him as he pilfered some couscous from his plate.\n\nBlack refrained from rolling his eyes. Warlock only descended in petty thievery like this when he missed his husband too much, though when they\u2019d been younger he\u2019d also done it purely to spite the others. Until Hye had nailed his hand to a table, anyway. His lover did not brook threats to her morning tea. She\u2019d apparently picked that up from her father, who\u2019d been an admiral among the Teoteul until a defeat at Yan Tei hands had forced his exile. How he\u2019d managed to cross the Tyrian Sea was a story in its own right, as was the way he\u2019d romanced one of the few elves to ever leave the Golden Bloom. Amadeus patiently bid his shadow to form teeth and began sawing through the back leg of Wekesa\u2019s chair, but he deigned to reply.\n\n\u201cThe soldiers from two baronies deserted during the night,\u201d he told them.\n\nHis prediction had been mostly accurate, though he\u2019d somewhat underestimated the impact of the Duke\u2019s death. At least a thousand men from the levies had melted away under the cover of darkness, smelling a losing fight. Istrid had gone to follow the unfortunate Baron Dormer with all of her wolf riders before dawn came. They had standing orders to retreat if a hero showed up, but otherwise the outcome of that fight was settled.\n\n\u201cThey still have most of their knights,\u201d Sabah said, clearing her throat and setting aside the clean bones of her meal.\n\n\u201cThey do,\u201d Black conceded. \u201cAnd though we\u2019ve proven we can deal with them now, they\u2019ll cost us unnecessary casualties if they fight. Unlike the levies, they won\u2019t desert easily. They badly want the return of chivalric orders and only a restoration of the Kingdom can accomplish that.\u201d\n\n\u201cI still have that plague for horses you had me cook before the Conquest laying around somewhere,\u201d Warlock offered.\n\n\u201cThat kind of weapon is hard to put back in the box when it\u2019s come out,\u201d Black declined. \u201cAnyhow, the matter is handled.\u201d\n\n\u201cCan\u2019t be too handled, the horses are still there,\u201d Sabah pointed out.\n\nAmadeus reached for his wine and found the cup empty. There was a very suspicious magical siphon at the bottom of it and Wekesa hadn\u2019t refilled his own cup in some time. The Black Knight glared at the other man, who grinned mockingly. He set the teeth to saw faster.\n\n\u201cContrary to what many treatises preach,\u201d Black said, \u201cI don\u2019t believe that morale shocks off the battlefield are better off delivered all at once. Several consecutive blows bring the expectation of more to come. That perception comes in more useful than one instance of great panic.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s still hiding more tricks up his sleeve,\u201d Sabah translated for the benefit of absolutely no one.\n\n\u201cI haven\u2019t been around for too long,\u201d Warlock said. \u201cHe\u2019s gotten too-\u201c\n\nThe back leg broke and the Sovereign of the Red Skies sprawled on the grass in a messy heap. Amadeus stole his cup of wine, pointedly not smug to such an extent it looped back around to smugness.\n\n\u2014\n\nThe third morning showed another chunk of the rebel host missing. The dwarven infantry had disappeared during the night, though not before quietly butchering most of the knights in their sleep. Their contract, though paid with Proceran silver, had technically been held by the Duke of Liesse. The fig leaf had been a necessary fiction for First Prince Cordelia, who could not be seen to be too directly involved in the rebellion if she wanted popular support. Black had simply hired the dwarves in advance for when their contract with Liesse expired and had the man killed. After that their orders were to stay for a single day, wipe out the enemy cavalry in the night and march back to the Wasaliti where barges would take them down to Mercantis. It had been a hideously expensive measure to take and he\u2019d had to designate a route for the mercenaries to follow that wouldn\u2019t allow them to loot most of southern Callow on their way out, but the results spoke for themselves. The rebel army was falling apart at the seams, fights breaking out between supporters of the Marchioness and the Countess.\n\nThe levies were staying mostly out of that, leaving the squabbles to the retinues of nobles, but seeing their only remaining real soldiers take blades to each other was the final nail in the coffin of their willingness to wage this war. Which was why Black had quietly sent envoys to the most prominent leaders among them and asked for a parley halfway between the armies. Idly trotting up on his horse, the Black Knight bade it to stop in front of the dozen men and women who eyed him warily without ever touching the reins. Those were an affectation, as he controlled his mount entirely through his Name \u2013 now and then enemies tried to seize them to unhorse him and got a blade through the throat for their trouble.\n\n\u201cGood morning,\u201d Black greeted them politely.\n\nDisbelieving glances were exchanged among the envoys, to his mild irritation. Why did people always expect him to be uncivil? Being Evil was no reason to be rude. Even when it was necessary to execute someone, there was no need to be unpleasant about it \u2013 and he had no intention of killing any of these people, if they did not force him to.\n\n\u201cGood morning,\u201d a heavyset blond woman in her fifties replied, sounding as if she did not quite believe what she was saying.\n\nOne of the men, dark-haired and scarred by what he absent-mindedly decided to be a legionary\u2019s blade, spat to the side.\n\n\u201cAin\u2019t come to exchange pleasantries,\u201d the man said.\n\nBlack cocked his head to the side. The face was almost familiar, but then a lot of these soldierly types were.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve met you before,\u201d he said. \u201cSummerholm?\u201d\n\nIf it had been on the Fields of Streges, the man would not be here to stand. The soldier blinked, then shook his head.\n\n\u201cLaure,\u201d he replied. \u201cWas in command at the Muddy Gate.\u201d\n\n\u201cYour men held for half a bell,\u201d Amadeus remembered idly. \u201cRanker thought you would be the first to fold, but she always did underestimate the Royal Guard. You were next to last.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood soldiers, all of them,\u201d the man glared. \u201cMost of them dead now.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d Black spoke softly. \u201cThey fought well. They fought bravely. And they died.\u201d\n\nHe had not raised his voice or used his Name to inflict fear, but a shiver went through them nonetheless. Alaya could weave lies so beautiful you wanted to believe them and Wekesa could turn a man mad with three words but Black, Black had always preferred to use truth. Nothing cut quite so deep as an unpleasant truth.\n\n\u201cYou here to threaten us, then?\u201d a young woman spoke belligerently.\n\n\u201cDo I need to?\u201d he asked. \u201cYou know who I am. You know what I can do. Worst of all, you already know how this ends. It\u2019s the reason you\u2019re standing here in the first place.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe still got numbers on you,\u201d another man grunted.\n\n\u201cI could carpet this plain with the dead,\u201d Amadeus said frankly. \u201cMake this a victory so brutal the Fields of Streges would pale in comparison, and they were bloodier than most. But I don\u2019t want to, you see.\u201d\n\n\u201cYeah, you\u2019re a real bleeding heart,\u201d the young woman from earlier said.\n\nBlack smiled. \u201cWhat\u2019s your name, young lady?\u201d\n\nShe paled, but after so much bravado she was too proud to back down in front of the others.\n\n\u201cAmelia,\u201d she replied, chewing her lip as she did.\n\nIt seemed the rumours he could steal someone\u2019s soul just by knowing their name had not quite died out in these parts of Callow.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m a very bad man, Amelia,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat I am not is a wasteful one. I could slaughter the heart of southern Callow\u2019s people today, but all that would accomplish is the making of corpses. Corpses don\u2019t grow crops. Corpses don\u2019t pay taxes.\u201d\n\n\u201cNeither do rebels,\u201d the old soldier grunted.\n\n\u201cSo cease being rebels,\u201d Black shrugged.\n\n\u201cJust like that?\u201d the woman who\u2019d returned his greeting asked. \u201cWe just walk away?\u201d\n\n\u201cGo home,\u201d Amadeus offered. \u201cGo to your families. No sanctions will be imposed, no additional taxes levied or property confiscated. And the next time a lord comes to you with coffers full of Proceran silver talking of freedom, remember today. Remember that mercy once is an investment, but twice is a mistake.\u201d\n\nAnd I do not make mistakes, went the unspoken sentence.\n\n\u201cThere is a price, of course,\u201d he said and they stiffened.\n\nSome smiled with triumph, confirmed in their private belief that Evil could never negotiate in good faith. Callow was a land of old grudges, lovingly tended to.\n\n\u201cThe nobles,\u201d he said. \u201cThe ones who took the silver. Give them to me.\u201d\n\nHe leaned back in his saddle, then smiled at them.\n\n\u201cYou have until nightfall to think it over.\u201d\n\nHis horse wheeled away without a word as hushed whispers erupted among the envoys. Before the two bells had passed fighting erupted in the rebel camp, but it was all a foregone conclusion. Marchioness Victoria Lerness of Vale and Countess Elizabeth Talbot of Marchford were dropped off bound and gagged at the edge of his camp by men who wouldn\u2019t meet his eyes as the army started dispersing into the countryside. Some of the retinues had not fought and still lived. They would be an issue later on, he knew. He\u2019d have to assign a legion to the area to prevent the rise of banditry. The nobles were brought to his personal pavilion, where under guard they were allowed to wash up and compose themselves. Amadeus only entered afterwards, and calmly invited them to sit.\n\n\u201cMarchioness Victoria,\u201d he greeted them. \u201cCountess Elizabeth.\u201d\n\nThey were both in their forties, though even he did not look it he was older than both of them. The Countess of Marchford was fair-haired and still roughly handsome, though too sharply boned to have ever been a great beauty. The Marchioness had dark hair braided and showing thin streaks of grey, her blue eyes watery but unblinking. Neither of them showed the fear he knew they felt.\n\n\u201cThe Carrion Lord himself,\u201d the Marchioness said. \u201cShould I be honoured?\u201d\n\n\u201cCome now, Victoria,\u201d the Countess mused. \u201cAnything less would have been a slight.\u201d\n\nThough mere hours before they had been at each other\u2019s throats, in the presence of the Enemy they closed ranks without hesitation. Of all the qualities of the people of Callow, he had always admired that one best. Praesi never ceased sharpening their knives even when the enemy was knocking at the gate.\n\n\u201cI would receive your official surrender, if you would care to give it to me,\u201d Black said.\n\n\u201cOh, I don\u2019t think so,\u201d the Marchioness chuckled.\n\nThe Countess smiled. \u201cYour offer, though kind, is declined. As the commander of the armies of the Kingdom of Callow, I must inform you that our official reply is go fuck yourself.\u201d\n\nGive me a hundred officers with that kind of backbone and I\u2019d conquer all of Creation, Black thought.\n\n\u201cI expected as much,\u201d Amadeus said. \u201cCountess Marchford, the offer I made you after the Conquest still stands. A position as general at the head of a Legion as well as amnesty.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t really get it, do you?\u201d the Marchioness laughed. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t flip Elizabeth a copper if I saw her on the street starving but I would never, not for a moment, think she\u2019d make a truce with the Enemy. We were born free, Praesi. That\u2019s not something you forget.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Marchioness of Vale is correct,\u201d Elizabeth Talbot said calmly. \u201cWe both know how this ends, hound of Malicia. The noose, the chopping block, or whatever else your butchers in the East can think up.\u201d\n\nShe leaned forward, meeting his eyes.\n\n\u201cI would do it again, Carrion Lord,\u201d she spoke hoarsely. \u201cEven knowing how it ends, I would do it again.\u201d\n\nThere were a few heartbeats of silence, then he sighed.\n\n\u201cWhat an utter, utter waste,\u201d Black murmured.\n\nBut the gears were turning, and didn\u2019t that say everything that needed to be said? He rose to his feet.\n\n\u201cCrucifixion,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cReturning to Triumphant\u2019s favourite, I see,\u201d the Marchioness replied, though she paled.\n\n\u201cA legionary will be along soon, with a pitcher of wine,\u201d Black said. \u201cIt will be poisoned. A painless one \u2013 you\u2019d fall asleep and never wake. Whether or not you drink is up to you. Nailing your dead body to the cross will have the same effect as if you were alive.\u201d\n\nVillains must be graceful in victory, he believed. They knew defeat a lot more intimately than the other side. With a respectful nod, he left the two aristocrats to their last moments. The rebel army had died without the kind of battle that would make a pivot in the story unfolding across Callow. Liesse would be the closing of the rebellion, Liesse and Catherine. Looking up to the darkening sky, Black hummed an old song his mother had taught him.\n\nIt had been a beautiful day, but he\u2019d always loved the night best."}
-{"text": "Democrats are calling Judge Neil Gorsuch\u2019s dismay at President Trump\u2019s rhetorical attacks on federal judges a \u201cruse,\u201d saying it seems to be a political move designed to appease critics rather than a heartfelt worry about a runaway executive.\n\nJudge Gorsuch has told at least three senators in private meetings on Capitol Hill that he was disheartened by Mr. Trump\u2019s Twitter assaults on judges.\n\nBut Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, one of the three, said it isn\u2019t good enough \u201cto whisper in a closed room, behind closed doors.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou can\u2019t just assert I\u2019m an independent person,\u201d Mr. Schumer said. \u201cYou have to show examples.\u201d\n\nThe Democratic National Committee went even further, saying the judge\u2019s dismay was a plot by the White House.\n\n\u201cThis is clearly a meaningless White House orchestrated attempt to help Judge Gorsuch pretend he won\u2019t be a rubber stamp for the Trump administration,\u201d said DNC adviser Zac Petkanas.\n\nMr. Trump himself disputed the claim by senators that his Supreme Court pick was unhappy. The president said on Twitter that Sen. Richard Blumenthal \u201cmisrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told him.\u201d\n\nMr. Blumenthal, Connecticut Democrat, first revealed Judge Gorsuch\u2019s dismay with the president. Sen. Ben Sasse, Nebraska Republican, and Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat, said the judge expressed similar feelings to them.\n\nSign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters\n\nCopyright \u00a9 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission."}
-{"text": "CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Hue Jackson had a watershed moment even before he took his Lake Erie Leap Friday afternoon.\n\nIt was when he became emotional while thanking Browns owner Dee Haslam and the 150 or so Browns employees who jumped in with him to benefit the Hue Jackson Foundation, which aims to combat human trafficking in Northeast Ohio.\n\nThe event raised $30,000, with Jackson donating $100 for every jumper and the Haslams matching.\n\n\"Those people have been with me every day,\" Jackson said afterward. \"When you ... lose as many games as we have and you keep parking your car and walking into the building and have to see those faces each and every day, I carry them with me.\n\n\"I carry them and their families and this city with me, contrary to what anybody believes. It's on me. I wear it every day. So I just thank them for being a part of this because they didn't have to do this. They didn't have to come here and support this. I made the statement, and they said, 'No, I want to do this,' and I'm thankful.\"\n\nWith a Fox8 helicopter hovering over Huntington Beach in Bay Village and NFL Films on hand to capture it for Hard Knocks, Jackson grabbed his wife Michelle's hand and ran into the chilly lake, with temperatures about 52 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.\n\nDee Haslam grabbed Michelle's other hand and ran in too, with the horde of employees following. They all fully submerged for the cause.\n\n\"It was refreshing but it was cold, there's no doubt about that,'' said Jackson, whose young daughter, Haydyn, went in, earning a big bearhug from her dad, as did Haslam.\n\nThe Lake Erie Leap, all in good fun and for a great cause, was not without its hilarious moment. Jackson, who hates the water and had never been anywhere near Lake Erie -- not even in a boat -- almost lost his swim trunks upon impact, but quickly recovered when he popped up.\n\nThe jump, which made good on Jackson's vow after the 2016 to 'swim in the lake' if he went 1-15 again, was a symbolic washing away of 0-16, and Jackson's co-workers made sure he was properly doused. They splashed him like a bunch of fourth-graders at the community pool on opening weekend.\n\nInvigorated by the cold blast, he thrust his fists into the air while waist-deep in the water and shouted \"No more freakin' losing! Let's go.''\n\nThe group -- all clad in \"The Cleanse\" T-shirts which can be purchased for $29 to benefit the foundation -- remained in the water for just a few minutes, with plenty of high-fiving, hugs, fist-pumps and laughs.\n\n\"For me, it's going to turn the page,\" said Jackson. \"I didn't come here to lose. I'll be the first to tell you that.\n\n\"Our players don't deserve it, our fans surely don't deserve in and people in our organization doesn't deserve it. You guys don't deserve it, you want to cover a good team. So the narratives right now are all negative, and how do we get them to be positive?\n\n\"Winning is what's going to change it all, nothing else is going to. So that's what we have to do.''\n\nFor Dee Haslam, getting wet was a show of solidarity for her embattled coach.\n\n\"The last couple years have been terrible for us and been really terrible for our fans,'' she said afterwards. \"We take that responsibility and feel horrible about it because Northeast Ohio and the fans of the Cleveland Browns deserve so much more. So we're going to ... do everything we can, as we've said, to make this a winning organization.\n\n\"I think you've seen the steps we've taken, the players look great. We were in the facility today and got the chance to spend some time with the players and they're very fired up and working really hard.''\n\nThe Haslams, despite the 1-31 record, gave Jackson a vote of confidence by firing former head of football operations Sashi Brown and hiring John Dorsey.\n\nJackson has appreciated the support, and the matching donation for a cause near and dear to the Jacksons' hearts. The coach declined to elaborate on the origin of his commitment.\n\n\"Jimmy and Dee Haslam have been supporters of mine since I've been here,\" he said. \"They've never wavered, not one bit. I know people don't understand that or think that's the way it should be, but they've been as supportive as anybody I've ever been around on all fronts.''\n\nJackson wanted to send a message to the fans hat he's sorry for what they've had to endure. He chose to make the event on a Friday so that OTAs would be over and players wouldn't feel obligated to join him.\n\n\"I didn't want to make them feel like they were required to do this,'' he said. \"The biggest part for me is just watching everyone in our organization come and be a part of this and support this.''\n\nJackson glanced at the helicopter overhead and acknowledged, \"this is more than I anticipated it would be, but this is outstanding. Let's put this behind us.\n\n\"We all want to get to winning and get that stadium, and get the Dawg Pound rocking like it should be and get back to winning football games here and make Cleveland a feared place to come to.''\n\nJackson couldn't make good on his promise in January due to a stent placed in his heart in 2014.\n\n\"I don't think people get that there's still life or death here that you have to deal with. But that's real.''\n\nAbove all, he's not making any more promises.\n\n\"I would be surprised (by another 0-16),'' he said. \"And I wouldn't be standing here if that was happening again, let me put it to you like that.\"\n\nHe's hoping the next time he jumps, it's for joy."}
-{"text": "Use your head like Sadio and subscribe to the Liverpool FC newsletter Sign me up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email\n\nJurgen Klopp has hailed the \"exceptional\" impact of Alisson Becker as the new Liverpool No 1 prepares to make his debut against Napoli in Dublin on Saturday.\n\nThe \u00a365million signing from Roma only started pre-season with the Reds at their training camp in France on Tuesday but he has settled in quickly and is expected to start at the Aviva Stadium.\n\n\"We should not waste time. Yes, he will play,\" Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com\n\n\u201cI\u2019m very pleased (to be able to work with him) but first of all it\u2019s very important he can start now because the season starts in one-and-a-half weeks. Each player in the world needs training and time to adapt to his mates.\n\n\u201cWe have two games to do that before we start so it\u2019s really good. He obviously has a real presence, he\u2019s smart, he\u2019s very nice and it\u2019s good to have him around.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s only positive, even the performances in training \u2013 which is not too important in the beginning \u2013 are already exceptional, so all good.\u201d"}
-{"text": "\u201cThe Egyptian government is so deep in its own lies and propaganda, they have lost track of their own lies,\u201d Mr. Jarrar said.\n\nThere was no immediate reaction from the Egyptian government to Amnesty\u2019s assertion, which was released early Thursday Egyptian time. Officials at the Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A State Department official, responding on the condition of anonymity, did not address Amnesty\u2019s assertion about the Feb. 21 video. But the official said in an emailed statement that \u201cthe Department continues to emphasize to our Egyptian government interlocutors the importance of a comprehensive approach to counterterrorism that protects and minimizes damage to civilian populations.\u201d\n\nCluster munitions encompass an array of rockets, bombs, missiles and artillery projectiles that scatter smaller weapons, called submunitions, over a wide area. They can hit civilians far from intended targets. Roughly 20 percent fail to properly detonate upon impact, leaving unexploded bomblets that can kill civilians even years later.\n\nEgypt, like many other Middle East countries, has not signed the treaty banning cluster munitions. While the United States has not signed the treaty either, it pledged in 2008 to restrict their use.\n\nDepartment of Defense documentation obtained by Human Rights Watch and cited in their cluster munition survey shows that Egypt possessed 1,300 Rockeye cluster bombs, containing 321,000 Mk-118 submunitions, as of 2007.\n\nStephen Goose, director of Human Rights Watch\u2019s arms division, said he had not yet been able to discuss with Amnesty its assessment of the video. But he said that any use of cluster bombs \u201cby Egypt or any other fighting force is appalling\u201d and should be condemned.\n\n\u201cThat is why they have been banned internationally,\u201d he said. \u201cEgypt should cease any use of cluster bombs immediately.\u201d"}
-{"text": "What's the difference between chris brown and a locked safe? chris brown beat the shit out of rihanna\n\n193 shares"}
-{"text": "GREENSBORO, N.C. \u2014 Democrats are in the midst of an all-out blitz to turn out the early vote, hoping to bank enough votes to overwhelm Donald Trump even before the polls open on Election Day.\n\nNowhere is the urgency more apparent than in North Carolina, where, thanks in part to restrictions on early voting enacted by the Republican legislature, Democrats hold a lead in ballots cast so far but are running behind their 2012 pace.\n\n\nIn places that are home to significant African-American populations, like Greensboro\u2019s Guilford County and Winston-Salem\u2019s Forsyth County, Democrats are still smarting from legislative changes that significantly restricted the number of polling sites available for the duration of in-person early voting \u2014 a method frequently utilized by minority voters.\n\nGuilford County alone went from 16 polling sites available for the entire early-vote period in 2012 to only one location open for the first week of 2016 \u2014 and even that site was not open on the first weekend of early voting.\n\nBill Clinton rallied here Sunday with local Democrats including state Sen. Gladys Robinson to sound the alarm about the importance of casting early ballots in a state that is essential to Trump's path to victory.\n\n\u201cI get upset when I don\u2019t see that as many of you have turned to the polls as we did a couple years ago,\u201d admonished Robinson, an African-American Democrat from the area, as she warmed up for the former president. \u201cWe have to get to the polls. We have to take everybody with us.\u201d\n\nHer urgent plea \u2014 amplified minutes later by the former president \u2014 is a recognition of the headwinds North Carolina Democrats are facing, four years after Mitt Romney narrowly carried the state and after the number of early voting locations was reduced. As of Saturday, only 37 percent of the total number of Democrats who voted early in Guilford County in 2012 had done so in 2016, though that number was expected to tick up some as Sunday\u2019s full numbers trickled in, and as the state holds more expanded early-voting hours this week.\n\n\u201cFor Guilford and Forsyth, particularly with Guilford, the issue is, can they get at least some makeup of where they\u2019ve been behind that\u2019s due to the early voting changes?\u201d asked Michael Bitzer, an expert on the early vote at North Carolina\u2019s Catawba College, who provided those comparisons to 2012.\n\nThat\u2019s why Democrats are feeling the pressure this week to at least close the gap with their 2012 performance before in-person early voting, which tends to benefit their party, ends on Saturday and Republicans move to run up the score on Election Day.\n\n\u201cThis is a critical time because this is the preferred method of voting for Democrats,\u201d said Michael McDonald, an expert on the early vote who runs the U.S. Elections Project. \u201cThey are certainly mounting up a lead in the early vote. It\u2019s just, is that lead going to be good enough?\u201d\n\nAccording to McDonald\u2019s analysis, Democrats are steadily closing on their 2012 performance, and \u201con the trajectory they\u2019re on, if they keep gaining ground as they are, they should meet or exceed their 2012 levels by the end of the week.\u201d\n\nBut a significant piece of that effort hinges on African-American turnout in the final days of early voting.\n\nOn Sunday \u2014 a day on which African-Americans tend to vote in big numbers as a result of \u201csouls to the polls\u201d efforts that encourage churchgoers to head to the ballot box after services \u2014 Democrats made a major push to close the deficit, and there are signs they made some progress.\n\n\u201cIt was a big day for the Democrats,\u201d McDonald said. \u201cWithout a doubt. 48.7 percent of people who voted were Democrats, 31.9 percent were African-Americans \u2026 and they did make up some ground. There were 1,136 Democrats over their 2012 number.\u201d\n\nDemocrats are now ahead of Republicans by 13.5 percent in the early vote, he said, but it may not be enough: Republicans are overperforming their own 2012 early-vote numbers.\n\n\"Until they actually exceed 2012 numbers,\" McDonald said of Democrats, \"I think they're going to be very nervous about where they're sitting with early voting in North Carolina.\"\n\n\"Republicans tend to win on Election Day,\" said Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, in a recent interview.\n\nStill, the Hillary Clinton campaign stresses that turnout is on the upswing for Democrats now that more polling sites have opened. They cite data from the North Carolina Board of Elections showing that Democratic turnout, and particularly black turnout, has expanded at a rapid clip since more polling sites were added last Thursday, noting that in Guilford, 549 African-Americans voted last Wednesday, but 7,496 did so on Thursday.\n\nOne North Carolina Democratic operative working on several races in the state expressed confidence that the Clinton campaign would close the gap with 2012 African-American turnout, saying that on Sunday, about 32 percent of votes cast were from African-Americans, but the total share of the African-American vote is expected to be only around 22 percent.\n\n\"I think the numbers are really catching up,\" the operative said. \"Obviously, a lot of that started Thursday, Friday, Sunday voting, we're continuing to see a huge push in a lot more traditional African-American communities for folks continuing voting this week.\"\n\nOver the next week, both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are expected to campaign in North Carolina, building on visits from Bill Clinton, first lady Michelle Obama, and Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, who have all been in the state in the past week or so. The Clinton campaign has also launched aggressive advertising campaigns on African-American radio stations and in black newspapers, in addition to its extensive outreach efforts at churches and historically black colleges.\n\nA Clinton adviser stressed that a robust surrogate operation would continue in the state\u2019s African-American communities through Election Day, even though no early voting is allowed next Sunday.\n\n\u201cWhile early voting does conclude on [Nov.] 5, on the final Sunday we do plan to have some major events geared toward the African-American community in order to drum up enthusiasm for [Election Day voting],\u201d said the Clinton adviser.\n\nAdded Bitzer, \u201cIt is critical to get black votes out for Democrats to remain competitive this year, but the number of days to target on this population is growing smaller, and that will mean much more energy and attention for Election Day.\u201d\n\nThis past Sunday set the tone for the final push in the African-American community, and it\u2019s clear that early voting is still the emphasis.\n\nBill Clinton started his Sunday with a visit to a black church, where he talked up the importance of \u201csouls to the polls\u201d \u2014 the last Sunday, according to state rules, on which voting would be allowed. He reiterated that message in front of the Greensboro crowd later in the day.\n\n\u201cNo state has been a battleground for how to define the future of this country more than North Carolina,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is the last Sunday of early voting. A lot of people fought for that.\u201d\n\nThe sense that voting opportunities were under threat in North Carolina permeated several polling stations in heavily African-American neighborhoods across the state, with a number of voters pointing to restrictions on early voting times as a motivator for turning out.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s one of the driving forces for me,\u201d said Derrick Holland, a minister who had participated in a \u201csouls to the polls\u201d march to a Greensboro polling station from his church \u2014 where he said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a Democratic civil rights activist, had made a get-out-the-vote speech earlier in the day. \u201cIt\u2019s something that was fought for for so long. Now people are trying to take that away from us. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s fair.\u201d\n\nHe and his wife voted for Hillary Clinton.\n\nAn hour away, in Raleigh, a steady stream of voters flowed into the Chavis Community Center, which served as a recreational haven for African-Americans during segregation and remains a pillar of the community. Some Republicans wanted to eliminate the site as an early voting station, a decision that was ultimately blocked in a bipartisan fashion. Now, it has become so central to Democratic early voting efforts that Hillary Clinton stopped by two Sundays ago.\n\nEfforts to remove Chavis from early voting options \u201cwas part of the suppression, more than anything else,\u201d said Rep. Rosa Gill, a Democrat who represents the area and was in attendance on Sunday. \u201cIt\u2019s heavily African-American. I think it was part of the voter suppression.\u201d\n\nWake County, home to Raleigh, has been a brighter spot for Democratic early vote performance \u2014 in part due to nine early voting locations that opened two weeks ago and another 11 that opened Thursday. The county is crucial to Democratic prospects \u2014 it is the second-biggest county in the state, and Democrats must run up big numbers there in order to compensate for the redder rural areas. As of Saturday night, 54 percent of Wake County\u2019s 2012 early total was already in, according to Bitzer\u2019s calculations, and that number was expected to climb. Heavily Democratic Mecklenburg County, the biggest in the state, he said, was also showing signs of strength for Democrats.\n\nBack in Greensboro on Sunday afternoon, as another Clinton organizer warmed up the crowd for Bill Clinton, he spelled out the stakes of the next five days.\n\n\u201cIf we ensure every single registered Democrat in Guilford County gets out to vote,\u201d the organizer said, \u201cwe can win this election this week.\u201d"}
-{"text": "THE HEAVENS\u2014Responding to inflammatory remarks made by Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock during a debate Tuesday night, Our Lord God the Almighty Father sought today to distance Himself from both Mourdock and the entire right-wing fundamentalist Christian movement, sources confirmed.\n\n\n\u201cI want to make one thing absolutely clear: Mr. Mourdock\u2019s comments from last night in no way reflect my position on this or any other issue,\u201d said the Divine Creator, speaking at a press conference this afternoon to address Mourdock\u2019s remarks that rape-induced pregnancies were God\u2019s intent. \u201cAnd furthermore, I would like to take this opportunity to say definitively that I, God, do not officially sanction or condone the words or actions of anyone involved in the fanatical, conservative Christian faction that Mr. Mourdock represents.\u201d\n\n\u201cMany people hear my name in connection with the Christian Right and start to assume we are aligned in some capacity, and I\u2019m here to say, for the record, that we are not,\u201d God continued. \u201cSo let me just be clear: I don\u2019t want women to get raped\u2014not ever. I don\u2019t think their resulting pregnancies are my divine will. And if a woman is raped, then she has the right to get an abortion, period. I do not agree with Mourdock. I do not agree with the Christian Right. End of story.\u201d\n\n\nCalling Mourdock\u2019s comments \u201cthe last straw,\u201d the Lord Our Maker explained that while in the past there have been a few areas where He and the religious Right have been in agreement, more often than not, in recent years, He and Christian conservatives have grown \u201cactually quite far apart\u201d on a wide range of issues.\n\nGod then went on to cite several incidents\u2014ranging from the Westboro Baptist Church\u2019s \u201cGod Hates Fags\u201d campaign to Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin\u2019s remark this year that victims of \u201clegitimate rape\u201d rarely get pregnant\u2014as examples of what He described as \u201can unmistakable and disturbing trend toward intolerance that I do not support.\u201d\n\n\n\u201cWhat these people are saying betrays a worldview that is, frankly, completely different from my own, and it embarrasses me to even hear my name mentioned alongside theirs,\u201d God told reporters, emphatically. \u201cFor example, I\u2019m not into capital punishment at all, or really killing in general, so I\u2019m not sure where that whole talking point came from. On the same token, I don\u2019t like guns very much, and I certainly wouldn\u2019t say that everyone has a right to own guns\u2014that\u2019s absurd. Unlike Mr. Mourdock and many Christian Republicans, I agree with the overwhelming majority of climate scientists that global warming poses a major threat to the planet and must be addressed. I also believe stem cell research is very useful, and I think that if you\u2019re gay, that\u2019s fine by me.\u201d\n\n\u201cEven on some economic issues we don\u2019t quite see eye-to-eye,\u201d continued the Eternal One, a self-described Keynesian who said He has \u201cserious doubts\u201d about the merits of trickle-down economics. \u201cAnd, you know, a lot of this stuff is in the Ten Commandments, too, so I\u2019m already on record as being not in agreement with a good majority of the Christian Right\u2019s views. In fact, in the future, if people could just refrain from grouping us together in any way, I think that would be ideal.\u201d\n\n\n\u201cThat includes members of the Christian Right themselves\u2014if they could stop talking about me entirely, that would be preferable,\u201d God added. \u201cIn the end, probably best if we just completely went our separate ways here.\u201d\n\nAt press time, God\u2019s son, Jesus Christ, offered a countering view and confirmed He strongly believes pregnancies resulting from rape are, in fact, God\u2019s gift."}
-{"text": "The competition challenges multidisciplinary teams of undergraduate students to develop a project plan based on wind energy market and siting considerations, design and build a model wind turbine, and test their turbine in a wind tunnel against a set of rigorous performance criteria. Participating teams will combine the expertise of students from a variety of programs, such as engineering, business, communications, and social science, to develop state-of-the-art wind energy solutions. Participants will integrate academic coursework with tangible, hands-on learning, and earn valuable real-world experience as they prepare to enter the workforce.\n\nEach team brings diverse experiences and unique perspectives to the competition, representing schools from around the country. The Collegiate Wind Competition 2021 will bring together the next generation of wind energy pioneers with today\u2019s industry leaders.\n\nThe U.S. Department of Energy has held the Collegiate Wind Competition since 2014. The inaugural competition helped lay the groundwork for what has become the country\u2019s most prominent undergraduate-level wind energy competition."}
-{"text": "Code (CSS):\n\nroot @vuultimo:/etc# ssh -L 23946:localhost:23 10.0.0.1\n\n\n\nHost '10.0.0.1' is not in the trusted hosts file.\n\n( fingerprint md5 :**:**:** )\n\nDo you want to continue connecting? ( y/n ) y\n\nroot @10.0.0.1's password:\n\nroot @vuultimo:~# ssh -L 23946:localhost:23 10.0.0.1\n\n"}
-{"text": "Washington \u2014 The Republican National Committee confirmed Thursday it would hold its winter meetings at Trump National Doral, bringing business to one of the president's struggling properties.\n\nThe news comes weeks after President Trump canceled plans to host next year's Group of Seven summit of world leaders in Doral and weeks after a federal appeals court decided to reconsider a lawsuit accusing him of illegally profiting off the presidency through his luxury hotel in Washington, D.C.\n\nHe has since put his D.C. hotel \u2014 just a few blocks from the White House \u2014 up for sale with an asking price of as much as $500 million. According to Mr. Trump's financial disclosure report, he earned more than $100 million from his properties in 2018.\n\nGet Breaking News Delivered to Your Inbox\n\nIn a statement, RNC spokesman Michael Ahrens confirmed that the group's multiday event will be held in January at Mr. Trump's golf resort, which is located near Miami International Airport.\n\nThe RNC said the contract was signed in March and noted that the majority of RNC meetings have not been held at Trump properties.\n\n\"The media is obsessed with our spending at Trump properties and has covered it ad nauseam,\" Ahrens said. \"As we have stated multiple times, we continue to hold events at them because they have fantastic service and secure spaces that fit our needs.\"\n\nA Trump National Doral sign is seen at the golf resort owned by President Trump's company on August 27, 2019, in Doral, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images\n\nThe RNC winter meetings will be the second time in two years for Republicans to hold a major meeting at the resort. According to The Washington Post, a GOP event in Doral last year produced about $630,000 in revenue for Mr. Trump's company.\n\nCritics have noted that the Doral resort, the biggest source of revenue among Mr. Trump's 17 golf properties, appears to have been struggling since even before he became president.\n\nFinancial disclosure reports filed by the president show revenue is barely growing, up just $1 million last year, to $76 million. And the Trump Organization itself has admitted it was struggling, arguing in a tax appeal to local authorities last year that it is \"seriously underperforming,\" according to a Washington Post review of tax appeal documents.\n\nThe RNC is just the latest to face criticism over its choice of hotel.\n\nThe Department of Defense spent at least $184,000 at Mr. Trump's Turnberry golf resort in Scotland over the course of two years. Vice President Mike Pence stayed at a Trump hotel in Ireland that was 180 miles away from his meetings in Dublin. And Attorney General William Barr plans to hold a $30,000 holiday party at the president's D.C. hotel in December.\n\nStephen Gandel, Clare Hymes and Kathryn Watson contributed reporting."}
-{"text": "NFL owners meeting Wednesday will consider a proposal to refine the new rule that allows challenges involving pass interference, and may also announce locations to host upcoming drafts.\n\nOwners voted in March to allow interference calls or non-calls to be challenged by coaches and reviewed via replay as a one-year experiment.\n\nThe tweak proposed this week would take the decision to review pass interference in the final two minutes of each half out of the hands of the officials. Reviews in the final two minutes would require a coach's challenge, too.\n\n\"The concern is how many stoppages will we end up with in the last two minutes,\" Atlanta Falcons president and CEO Rich McKay said Tuesday. \"One thing we do not want to do is be a game that has multiple stops in the last two minutes.\"\n\nUnder the rule adopted in March, in the final two minutes only officials in the booth can stop the game for reviews involving pass interference, as is the case with other reviewable plays.\n\nOwners are expected to vote on whether to let the NFL competition committee decide on changing the rule after it discusses the subject with the league's coaches. McKay, a member of the committee, said the group has conference calls with coaches scheduled for early June.\n\nOwners will also consider a proposal to exempt Hail Mary passes so they're not reviewable. That would require the league coming up with the definition of a Hail Mary.\n\n\"I actually don't think it's that hard,\" McKay said. \"It's going to be from what yard line was it thrown, were there multiple receivers, how much time is left on the clock. But you want to get input from the coaches \u2014 what definition are you comfortable with?\"\n\nFuture host sites for the draft will also be discussed. The 2020 draft will be in Las Vegas, the new home of the Raiders.\n\nIt's uncertain whether owners will act on a proposed rule change that would require each team to have one possession in overtime. The change is being pushed by the Kansas City Chiefs, who lost last season's AFC championship game without getting the ball in overtime because the Patriots won the toss, received the kickoff and scored a touchdown."}
-{"text": "Two of a good thing is better than one, hunties! THIS Wednesday on Lifetime at 9/8C, Little Women LA meets RuPaul\u2019s Drag Con in an all new episode! Our favorite ladies starred on an episode of Drag Race this past season in a challenge in Episode 6, so this isn\u2019t the first collaboration between these two spectacular worlds.\n\nCHECK OUT some of the FUN we had at DRAG CON:\n\nLittle Women LA, OKCURRRR! #dragcon follow us on snapchat: @wowreport A photo posted by RuPaul\u2019s DragCon (@rupaulsdragcon) on May 7, 2016 at 10:54am PDT\n\nWhen your sis makes you laugh! @trixiemattel and @katya_zamo\u2019s #unhhh panel is happening NOW! A photo posted by RuPaul\u2019s DragCon (@rupaulsdragcon) on May 7, 2016 at 10:28am PDT\n\nWhen @theonlyalaska5000 shows up tho\u2026 A photo posted by RuPaul\u2019s DragCon (@rupaulsdragcon) on May 7, 2016 at 9:44am PDT"}
-{"text": "\"Few vs. Several vs. Handful\" Survey\n\nI've gathered all the responses I need for now. Thank you for your participation!"}
-{"text": "Last week, the Washington Post obtained a White House internal memo that debated how the Trump administration should handle federal climate science reports.\n\nThe memo presented three options without endorsing any of them: conducting a \u201cred team/blue team\u201d exercise to \u201chighlight uncertainties in climate science\u201d; more formally reviewing the science under the Administrative Procedure Act; or deciding to just \u201cignore, and not seek to characterize or question, the science being conducted by Federal agencies and outside entities.\u201d\n\nIn short, the White House considered \u2018debating\u2019 established climate science, casting doubt on scientists\u2019 conclusions, or just ignoring them. Accepting and/or acting on the findings of the scientific experts is not an option they\u2019re willing to consider.\n\nKatharine Hayhoe (@KHayhoe) So according to this memo, the administration considered 3 options--(1) framing reality as being up for debate; (2) developing their own view of reality; or (3) ignoring reality--and went with option 3.\n\n\n\nInteresting that \"accepting reality\" was not an option. https://t.co/ejqBOEa0B0\n\nClimate denial is very expensive\n\nMeanwhile, a paper published in Nature last week concluded that limiting global warming to 1.5\u00b0C above pre-industrial temperatures would save more than $20tn as compared to a temperature of 2\u00b0C. The carbon pollution cuts needed to achieve the 1.5\u00b0C target would cost about $300bn more than efforts to meet 2\u00b0C. In other words, the economic benefits of the more aggressive target would outweigh its costs by a factor of about 70-to-1.\n\nCurrent international climate policies will only limit global warming to about 3\u20133.5\u00b0C global warming, and America\u2019s policies are \u201ccritically insufficient\u201d to meet either the 2\u00b0C or 1.5\u00b0C targets. Under the Trump administration, the US has no plans to try and cut its carbon pollution, and in fact the administration has been taking every possible step to undo established climate policies and increase pollution from the coal and oil industries, even though global warming will especially hurt Trump country.\n\nBasically, taking aggressive action to curb global warming would save the world a lot of money, and it would especially benefit the economies in southern, conservative states. But it wouldn\u2019t be good for the fossil fuel industry, and the Trump administration has prioritized short-term corporate profits above all else, including American welfare and lives.\n\nIgnoring experts is stupid\n\nThere\u2019s a 97% expert consensus that humans are causing global warming, and the scientific research is clear that the consequences of continued rapid climate change could be devastating for the economy and for all species on Earth.\n\nThe case for the Trump administration approach \u2013 ignoring and casting doubt on the conclusions of climate science experts \u2013 is that of a bad gambler. It\u2019s not a 100% consensus; maybe the less than 3% of climate contrarians are onto something. Perhaps the experts are wrong and climate change won\u2019t be so bad.\n\nIf the stakes were something inconsequential like a Trump steak, that would be fine, but it should go without saying that betting the future of humanity and life on Earth on a less than 3% long shot is a bad idea. The stakes could not be higher. Prudent risk management dictates that we should be taking serious steps to mitigate the chances of such a disastrous outcome. That\u2019s why Americans buy home and auto and health insurance. It\u2019s why fewer than 17% of Americans today are smokers, down from 42% in 1965.\n\nSaving the Republican Party\n\nNot only is global warming denial terrible policy, but it\u2019s bad for the long-term health of the Republican Party. There\u2019s a climate change generation gap \u2013 most young Americans realize that humans are causing global warming, and young conservatives want their leaders to do something about it. Climate change impacts will only become more severe over time, and today\u2019s youth know that they\u2019ll have to live with the consequences of our actions today. They simply can\u2019t afford denial, and the GOP risks losing these voters forever by willfully ignoring the problem that poses an existential threat to young Americans.\n\nThere are a few glimmers of hope in the party. Trump\u2019s new Nasa administrator now accepts climate science. Eight House Republicans signed a letter to leaders of the Appropriations Committee urging them to reject any provisions in the 2019 spending bill that would undermine efforts to combat climate change. The conservative Climate Leadership Council proposed a free market, small government, revenue-neutral carbon tax ready to go as soon as the GOP can elect a leadership that\u2019s willing to make a great climate change deal.\n\nBut right now the GOP is still stuck being, as Governor Bobby Jindal (R-LA) described it five years ago, \u201cthe stupid party.\u201d Its leadership won\u2019t even consider the possibility that 97% of climate science experts are right. That denial is going to be very expensive, and as Americans increasingly accept the realities of climate change, it will also land the GOP on the endangered species list."}
-{"text": "En nueve meses, el Gobierno de M\u00e9xico desembols\u00f3 597 mil 982 d\u00f3lares por mantener almacenado al TP-01 en Estados Unidos, lo que se traduce en 11 millones 956 mil 645 pesos. Por mes paga la suma de un mill\u00f3n 328 mil pesos, en un a\u00f1o se estar\u00edan erogando casi 16 millones de pesos.\n\nCiudad de M\u00e9xico, 30 de diciembre (SinEmbargo).- En 2016, el Gobierno de Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto adquiri\u00f3 por casi tres mil millones de d\u00f3lares el TP-01 Boeing Dreamliner 787 para sustituir al anterior avi\u00f3n presidencial; empero, una vez que entr\u00f3 en funciones el actual Presidente Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador, determin\u00f3 no usarlo pues tiene en mente venderlo, tal como lo prometi\u00f3 durante su campa\u00f1a.\n\nEsa sigue siendo su firme intenci\u00f3n; sin embargo, el tambi\u00e9n denominado \u201cJos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Morelos y Pav\u00f3n\u201d no ha podido ser vendido y se encuentra actualmente almacenado en un hangar de la empresa Boeing, en Estados Unidos.\n\nDe acuerdo con informaci\u00f3n que la Secretar\u00eda de la Defensa Nacional (Sedena) proporcion\u00f3 al diario Reforma, tener guardado el TP-1 representa un gasto similar al que se tendr\u00eda si se estuviera empleando.\n\nSeg\u00fan el medio, cuando Pe\u00f1a Nieto empleaba la aeronave, el gasto promedio anual ascend\u00eda a los 17 millones de pesos, tomando en cuenta vuelos nacionales.\n\nAsimismo, la Sedena inform\u00f3 a dicho medio que en nueve meses desembols\u00f3 597 mil 982 d\u00f3lares por mantenerlo almacenado en Estados Unidos, lo que se traduce en 11 millones 956 mil 645 pesos. Por mes paga la suma de un mill\u00f3n 328 mil pesos, en un a\u00f1o se estar\u00edan erogando casi 16 millones de pesos.\n\nTan s\u00f3lo lavar el avi\u00f3n presidencial genera un costo de cinco mil d\u00f3lares, unos cien mil pesos. Adem\u00e1s, es necesario sacarlo eventualmente del hangar para mantenerlo activo, esto cuesta en promedio 67 mil d\u00f3lares (un mill\u00f3n 300 mil pesos).\n\nEstos gastos se realizar\u00e1n hasta que llegue un comprador. En el mes de julio, Banobras inform\u00f3 que ya hab\u00eda tres posibles ofertantes, sin embargo, al d\u00eda de hoy, no se ha consolidado ning\u00fan trato.\n\nEl Presidente de M\u00e9xico, Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador ha asegurado en diversas ocasiones que las ganancias obtenidas por la venta del avi\u00f3n presidencial servir\u00e1n para llevar agua potable a la comunidad hidalguense de Zacualtip\u00e1n de \u00c1ngeles, Hidalgo.\n\n\u201cTan luego se enteren que ya se vendi\u00f3 el avi\u00f3n presidencial, empiecen a pensar de que pronto va a llegar el apoyo para resolver el problema del agua\u201d, dijo L\u00f3pez Obrador durante su visita al Hospital Rural del poblado de la sierra de Hidalgo.\n\nDe acuerdo con el Jefe del Ejecutivo, cuando la venta del avi\u00f3n sea concretada, el Instituto para Devolverle al Pueblo lo Robado canalizar\u00e1 los recursos para resolver la problem\u00e1tica del agua en la zona.\n\nHace unos d\u00edas, la noticia de que el avi\u00f3n presidencial regresar\u00eda a M\u00e9xico porque no se pudo vender, comenz\u00f3 a circular en medios digitales; sin embargo, ninguna autoridad ha confirmado dicha informaci\u00f3n, por lo que todo se ha quedado en un simple rumor."}
-{"text": "Krankzinnig. Schandelijk. Obsceen. Dat het Amerikaanse weekblad Time Greta Thunberg tot Persoon van het Jaar heeft uitgeroepen. Door de broeikasgassen die de mensheid uitstoot, warmt de aarde in rap tempo op. De gevolgen zullen catastrofaal zijn. Tenzij we als mensheid heel snel heel veel werk maken van decarbonisatie. Dat wil zeggen dat we omschakelen van fossiele energie naar energiebronnen die geen broeikasgassen uitstoten. En dat is \u2013 inmiddels misschien was \u2013 heel goed te doen. Door serieus te investeren in innovatie en onderzoek, bijvoorbeeld. Door de fossiele industrie aan banden te leggen. Door prioriteit te maken van uitgebreide openbaar vervoernetwerken. Door publiek geld te gebruiken om alle woningen te isoleren.\n\nDit is geen mening. Dit is geen politiek standpunt. Dit zijn rauwe, harde feiten. Die al minstens vijftig jaar bekend zijn.\n\nGelukkig hebben we een economische elite. Zoals die van de fossiele industrie, de grootste oorzaak van dit existenti\u00eble probleem. Ook uit eigen onderzoek weten de intelligente en machtige bestuursvoorzitters van oliebedrijven dat de door mensen veroorzaakte klimaatverandering catastrofaal zal aflopen. En dat weten ze sinds de jaren zestig.\n\nDe bazen van Exxon Mobil gingen met deze kennis aan de slag. Toegewijd en keihard. Ze investeerden miljoenen in desinformatie-campagnes. De bazen van Shell ook. Het ontkennen van de door menselijk handelen veroorzaakte klimaatverandering werd zo onderdeel van het \u2018publieke debat\u2019. En de massamedia werkten mee. Door het handjevol wetenschappers dat de feiten ontkent evenveel gewicht te geven als de wetenschappelijke consensus.\n\nAlsof je de idee\u00ebn van het handjevol mensen dat claimt dat de aarde plat is (ja, die bestaan) even legitiem maakt als de consensus dat de aarde niet plat is. Alsof je die paar historici die de Holocaust ontkennen (ja, die bestaan) opvoert als legitiem onderdeel van het historiografische debat.\n\nKrankzinnig.\n\nGelukkig hebben we een intelligente politieke elite. Die de macht heeft om dit gestoorde gedrag van bestuursvoorzitters een halt toe te roepen. Door bijvoorbeeld keihard te reguleren.\n\nMaar die politieke elite deed compleet het tegenovergestelde. De fossiele industrie krijgt al decennia subsidies, belastingontwijking en deregulering. Zelfs de ruimte om nepwetenschap te bestellen aan onze universiteiten voor hun desinformatiecampagne, zoals blijkt uit de dit jaar verbroken samenwerking tussen een van de grootste faculteiten van de Erasmus Universiteit, de Rotterdam School of Management, en Shell. Daarmee verkreeg Shell onder meer formeel het recht om het RSM-curriculum en de profielen van Bachelor- en Masterstudenten te \u2018be\u00efnvloeden\u2019.\n\nSchandelijk.\n\nHet wetenschappelijke debat gaat ondertussen verder. Bijvoorbeeld over de impact van methaangas. Dat gaat in groten getale vrijkomen nu ook de permafrost aan het smelten is. Methaangas is CO 2 on steroids. Klimaatverandering komt zo in een nog grotere stroomversnelling\n\nTerwijl Amerika onder Trump harder dan ooit gas geeft om deze afgrond in te rijden, komt Europa nu pas met een nietszeggende Green Deal. Niet te verwarren met de Green New Deal van Bernie Sanders en co. Die wel een echt alternatief biedt. Maar vooralsnog kansloos is met zoveel Republikeinen en laffe Democraten aan de knoppen.\n\nEn daar is Greta Thunberg. Voor de rechtse elites een prooi voor demonisering. Niks schuwen ze om haar zwart te maken. Voor de progressieve elites is ze een postmoderne aflaat. Ze applaudisseren voor haar moed. Ze gaan met haar op de foto. Waarna ze weer zelfvoldaan naar huis keren. Om niks te doen.\n\nGreta Thunberg is Times \u2018Persoon van het Jaar\u2019 geworden omdat zij klimaatwetenschap wel serieus neemt. Greta Thunberg is een tiener. Zestien jaar oud. Een kind.\n\nEen grotere illustratie van het morele failliet van de zogenaamd slimme en kundige mensen die onze wereld runnen is er niet.\n\nObsceen.\n\nZihni \u00d6zdil is historicus.Hij schrijft wekelijks een column op deze plaats.\n\nEen versie van dit artikel verscheen ook in NRC Handelsblad van 14 december 2019"}
-{"text": "And, for you guys type-tapping away in the Facebook comments asking \"why are you writing about this\" well, firstly I consider myself a bit of a historian of weird internet thingys and, secondly, I am here to serve the people. Anyhoo, since we know America's new glorious head of state loves himself a good conspiracy theory (eg. global warming = Chinese hoax and Infowars = news) it's worth taking a peek at some of the more prominent \"alternative facts\" floating around the ol' interweb."}
-{"text": "Turkish Interior Minister S\u00fcleyman Soylu has ordered all institutions under the authority of his ministry to hang a portrait of President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan at the entrance to all official buildings, the Diken news website reported on Monday.\n\nAccording to the report, a circular signed by Soylu on July 31 was sent to the Gendarmerie Central Command, National Police Directorate, Coast Guard command, immigration authority, Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) and governor\u2019s offices in all 81 provinces, with an instruction to hang Erdo\u011fan\u2019s portrait, available at www.illeridaresi.gov.tr and measuring 50 x 70 centimeters.\n\nIt is mandatory to hang a portrait of Mustafa Kemal Atat\u00fcrk, the founding father of the modern Turkish Republic, in public buildings, including schools and universities in Turkey. (turkishminute.com)\n\nTake a second to support SCF on Patreon!"}
-{"text": "Liberals and the media are freaking out after the Fox News Channel ran a chyron posing the question \u201cA Coup in America?\u201d during an interview with Kellyanne Conway, Counselor to the President, during Saturday night\u2019s Watters\u2019 World. The segment with Conway was about revelations of anti-Trump bias in the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in to President Donald Trump and alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to win the 2016 presidential election.\n\nFox triggered liberals by tweeting a screen grab of Conway\u2019s appearance on Watters World with the offending chyron and this message, \u201c[email protected]: \u201cThe fix was in against @realDonaldTrump from the beginning, and they were pro-Hillary\u2026 They can\u2019t possibly be seen as objective or transparent or even-handed or fair.\u201d @WattersWorld\u201d\n\n.@KellyannePolls: \"The fix was in against @realDonaldTrump from the beginning, and they were pro-Hillary\u2026 They can't possibly be seen as objective or transparent or even-handed or fair.\" @WattersWorld pic.twitter.com/5u0mdmcrXL \u2014 Fox News (@FoxNews) December 17, 2017\n\nKevin Baron, Executive Editor of Defense One, hysterically reacted, \u201cCoup?! I cover wars. Militaries. Actual coups. Where citizens violently rise up and kill each other for power over each other. This is alarmingly irresponsible language, even for Fox. Inflammatory. Baseless. Dangerous.\u201d\n\nTRENDING: BREAKING: 'At Least 10 Shots' Reportedly Fired at Police By Louisville Black Lives Matter Rioters \u2014 UPDATE... At Least Two Officers Shot (VIDEOS)\n\nCoup?! I cover wars. Militaries. Actual coups. Where citizens violently rise up and kill each other for power over each other. This is alarmingly irresponsible language, even for Fox. Inflammatory. Baseless. Dangerous. https://t.co/1tGrKZGfTR \u2014 Kevin Baron (@DefenseBaron) December 17, 2017\n\nAmericablog editor John Aravosis, \u201cPizzagate, as silly as it was, led to violence. Imagine what the gun-nuts will do with the Fox Mothership telling them there\u2019s a coup d\u2019etat under way, and with republicans in congress and Trump\u2019s own White House backing them up. Republicans are playing a very dangerous game.\u201d\n\nhttps://twitter.com/aravosis/status/942229133710577664\n\nTrip Gabriel, New York Times, \u201cSuggesting there is a \u2018coup\u2019 afoot \u2013 an illegal military action against a head of state \u2013 is extreme even for hyperbolic Fox.\u201d\n\nSuggesting there is a \u2018coup\u2019 afoot \u2013 an illegal military action against a head of state \u2013 is extreme even for hyperbolic Fox. https://t.co/nxaIZEff5n \u2014 Trip Gabriel (@tripgabriel) December 17, 2017\n\nEvan McMullin, failed 2016 independent presidential candidate against Trump, \u201c\u201cA coup in America?\u201d This is incredibly irresponsible rhetoric. It\u2019s no surprise that the same network that still denies Russian interference for Trump, also uses this kind of language to describe law enforcement efforts to uphold the law and our sovereignty.\u201d\n\n\u201cA coup in America?\u201d This is incredibly irresponsible rhetoric. It\u2019s no surprise that the same network that still denies Russian interference for Trump, also uses this kind of language to describe law enforcement efforts to uphold the law and our sovereignty. https://t.co/VUilAaAhAD \u2014 Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) December 17, 2017\n\nJon Favreau, former speechwriter for President Barack Obama went after Watters, \u201cThis pathetic piece of shit just accused the men and women of the FBI of staging a coup against the President.\u201d\n\nThis pathetic piece of shit just accused the men and women of the FBI of staging a coup against the President. https://t.co/seg2eo3qfS \u2014 Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) December 17, 2017\n\nSteven Greenhouse, former NY Times reporter, \u201cWow. Fox News says Trump is threatened by a COUP. If Trump is indicted or impeached for obstruction of justice, collusion with Russia or some type of financial fraud, that\u2019s not a coup, that\u2019s called THE RULE OF LAW. Fox News is recklessly sabotaging the rule of law.\u201d\n\nWow. Fox News says Trump is threatened by a COUP. If Trump is indicted or impeached for obstruction of justice, collusion with Russia or some type of financial fraud, that's not a coup, that's called THE RULE OF LAW. Fox News is recklessly sabotaging the rule of law. https://t.co/51ki57yt4P \u2014 Steven Greenhouse (@greenhousenyt) December 17, 2017\n\nCNN\u2019s Brian Stelter was on the case, \u201cThe banner for this Fox segment asks \u201cA COUP IN AMERICA?\u201d\n\nThe banner for this Fox segment asks \u201cA COUP IN AMERICA?\u201d https://t.co/3IhmCERov7 \u2014 Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 17, 2017\n\nVideo of Jesse Watters\u2019 pre-taped interview with Conway shows neither one used the word \u2018coup\u2019 during the interview, however Watters used the phrase, \u201cCoup in America\u201d during his introduction to Conway. Conway did not disavow that characterization even though she acknowledged hearing the intro.\n\nWatters: \u201cSo the investigation in to Donald Trump\u2019s campaign has been crooked from the jump. But the scary part is we may now have proof the investigation was weaponized to destroy his presidency for partisan political purposes. And to disenfranchise millions of American voters. Now, if that\u2019s true, we have a coup on our hands in America. And Congress must force the FBI and the individuals involved to come clean on what counter-espionage agents meant by, \u201cinsurance policy\u201d to \u201cprotect the country\u201d from Donald Trump\u2019s presidency.\u201d Watters then cut to video of Trump speaking about the new revelations of bias on Friday and then introduced Conway.\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK590Y4NqyY\n\nFox also tweeted video of the Conway interview.\n\n.@KellyannePolls: \"The fix was in against @realDonaldTrump from the beginning, and they were pro-Hillary\u2026 They can't possibly be seen as objective or transparent or even-handed or fair.\" @WattersWorld pic.twitter.com/WIB3aS4KhC \u2014 Fox News (@FoxNews) December 17, 2017\n\nMore reactions are sure to follow."}
-{"text": "Trent Baalke reiterated this weekend that 49ers ownership has provided him with all the support required in his position as general manager.\n\nAnd with the team falling to 1-10 with a franchise-worst 10-game losing streak, Baalke pointed the finger directly at himself during an appearance on the 49ers\u2019 pregame show on KNBR prior to the team\u2019s 31-24 loss to the Miami Dolphins.\n\n\u201cI feel bad for the fans, I feel bad for a lot of people, the ownership in particular,\u201d Baalke said. \u201cYou know, they give us everything we need and I\u2019ve said that. I\u2019ve gone public with that. If we don\u2019t get it done, put it on me. We\u2019ve got all the resources necessary. Funding has never been an issue at the free-agent market, or any other thing that we\u2019ve needed. So it falls strictly on my shoulders. I\u2019m disappointed. I\u2019m disappointed with the outcome up until now.\u201d\n\nBaalke\u2019s comments were similar to what he told reporters on Nov. 14, before the 49ers\u2019 game against the Arizona Cardinals.\n\nThe 49ers have not been significant players in free agency. Their only notable free-agent acquisition this year was guard Zane Beadles, who has started all 11 games.\n\nBaalke has labeled the 49ers as a \u201cdraft and develop\u201d team. The 49ers have made 69 draft picks since Baalke took control of player personnel prior to the 2010 draft. The 49ers\u2019 53-man roster is comprised of 24 draft picks with five other players, including first-round picks Arik Armstead and Eric Reid, currently on injured reserve.\n\nHere is a look at all of the 49ers\u2019 draft picks since 2010 and their current status:\n\nFirst-round picks (9)\n\nT Anthony Davis (2010) \u2013 Retired\n\nG Mike Iupati (2010) \u2013 Starter, Arizona\n\nOLB Aldon Smith (2011) \u2013 Suspended list, Oakland\n\nWR A.J. Jenkins (2012) \u2013 Out of NFL\n\nS Eric Reid (2013) \u2013 Injured reserve, 49ers\n\nDB Jimmie Ward (2014) \u2013 Starter, 49ers\n\nDL Arik Armstead (2015) \u2013 Injured reserve, 49ers\n\nDL DeForest Buckner (2016) \u2013 Starter, 49ers\n\nG Joshua Garnett (2016) \u2013 Starter, 49ers\n\nSecond-round picks (7)\n\nS Taylor Mays (2010) \u2013 Out of NFL\n\nQB Colin Kaepernick (2011) \u2013 Starter, 49ers\n\nRB LaMichael James (2012) \u2013 Out of NFL\n\nOLB Tank Carradine (2013) \u2013 Backup, 49ers\n\nTE Vance McDonald (2013) \u2013 Starter, 49ers\n\nRB Carlos Hyde (2014) \u2013 Starter, 49ers\n\nS Jaquiski Tartt (2015) \u2013 Starter, 49ers\n\nThird-round picks (8)\n\nLB NaVorro Bowman (2010) \u2013 Injured reserve, 49ers\n\nCB Chris Culliver (2011) \u2013 Out of NFL\n\nOLB Corey Lemonier (2013) \u2013 Backup, Cleveland\n\nC Marcus Martin (2014) \u2013 Backup, 49ers\n\nLB Chris Borland (2014) -- Retired\n\nG Brandon Thomas (2014) \u2013 Practice squad, Detroit\n\nOLB Eli Harold (2015) \u2013 Backup, 49ers\n\nCB Will Redmond (2016) \u2013 Injured reserve, 49ers\n\nFourth-round picks (10)\n\nRB Kendall Hunter (2011) \u2013 Out of NFL\n\nG Joe Looney (2012) \u2013 Backup, Dallas\n\nWR Quinton Patton (2013) \u2013 Starter, 49ers\n\nRB Marcus Lattimore (2013) -- Retired\n\nWR Bruce Ellington (2014) \u2013 Injured reserve, 49ers\n\nCB Dontae Johnson (2014) \u2013 Backup, 49ers\n\nTE Blake Bell (2015) \u2013 Backup, 49ers\n\nRB Mike Davis (2015) \u2013 Backup, 49ers\n\nWR DeAndre Smelter (2015) \u2013 Practice squad, 49ers\n\nCB Rashard Robinson (2016) \u2013 Backup, 49ers\n\nFifth-round picks (9)\n\nC Daniel Kilgore (2011) \u2013 Starter, 49ers\n\nOLB Darius Fleming (2012) \u2013 Out of NFL\n\nDL Quinton Dial (2013) \u2013 Starter, 49ers\n\nOLB Aaron Lynch (2014) \u2013 Starter, 49ers\n\nCB Keith Reaser (2014) \u2013 Backup, 49ers\n\nP Bradley Pinion (2015) \u2013 Starter, 49ers\n\nDL Ronald Blair (2016) \u2013 Backup, 49ers\n\nT John Theus (2016) \u2013 Backup, 49ers\n\nG Fahn Cooper (2016) \u2013 Injured/practice squad, 49ers\n\nSixth-round picks (13)\n\nRB Anthony Dixon (2010) \u2013 Out of NFL\n\nTE Nate Byham (2010) \u2013 Out of NFL\n\nWR Kyle Williams (2010) \u2013 Out of NFL\n\nWR Ronald Johnson (2011) \u2013 Out of NFL\n\nDB Colin Jones (2011) \u2013 Backup, Carolina\n\nS Trent Robinson (2012) \u2013 Out of NFL\n\nOL Jason Slowey (2012) \u2013 Out of NFL\n\nLB Nick Moody (2013) \u2013 Out of NFL\n\nCB Kenneth Acker (2013) \u2013 Backup, Kansas City\n\nG Ian Silberman (2015) \u2013 Practice squad, Oakland\n\nQB Jeff Driskel (2016) \u2013 Backup, Cincinnati\n\nRB Kelvin Taylor (2016) \u2013 Released from practice squad, 49ers\n\nWR Aaron Burbridge (2016) \u2013 Backup, 49ers\n\nSeventh-round picks (13)\n\nCB Phillip Adams (2010) \u2013 Out of NFL\n\nFB Bruce Miller (2011) \u2013 Out of NFL\n\nG Michael Person (2011) \u2013 Backup, Kansas City\n\nCB Curtis Holcomb (2011) \u2013 Out of NFL\n\nOLB Cam Johnson (2012) \u2013 Starter, Cleveland\n\nQB B.J. Daniels (2013) \u2013 Out of NFL\n\nOL Carter Bykowski (2013) \u2013 Practice squad, Atlanta\n\nCB Marcus Cooper (2013) \u2013 Starter, Arizona\n\nDL Kaleb Ramsey (2014) \u2013 Suspended list/Out of NFL\n\nFB Trey Millard (2014) \u2013 Injured reserve, Kansas City\n\nT Trent Brown (2015) \u2013 Starter, 49ers\n\nTE Busta Anderson (2015) \u2013 Injured, practice squad, Chicago\n\nCB Prince Charles Iworah (2016) \u2013 Practice squad, 49ers"}
-{"text": "Saguaro National Park is using some new technology to help deter an old-time problem'\u0094cactus poachers. Operation PIT Tag inserts tiny micro-chips into cacti to allow positive identification of saguaro cacti which have been heisted from the park. The program makes those plants less attractive targets for rustlers, since it's easy to verify that a tagged cactus is \"stolen goods.\"\n\nA prickly cactus may seem an unlikely target for theft, but the multi-armed saguaro is an iconic symbol of the American southwest'\u0094and a prized landscape item in parts of Arizona and adjoining states. That \"curb appeal\" makes saguaros a target for crooks who sell the purloined cacti to nurseries and landscape contractors, and as the population continues to grow in areas such as Tucson and Phoenix, there's plenty of demand for native landscaping.\n\nMarket Demand Tempts Thieves\n\nA quick Google search will turn up plenty of vendors, including companies who will even haul and install saguaros in locations far outside their native range. Most legitimate landscapers try to be careful about sources for their plants, but saguaros are no different than any other product for which there's a steady demand, and public lands in southern Arizona are attractive targets for thieves hoping to make a quick buck.\n\n\n\nSaguaro are a popular landscape items throughout the Tucson area. Photo by Saguaro are a popular landscape items throughout the Tucson area. Photo by Ken Lund via Creative Commons.\n\nPart of the problem is inherent in the nature of the plants. Saguaros are very slow-growing; after 15 years the cactus may be only a foot tall, and a seven-footer may be about 50 years of age. The large, showy flowers don'\u0099t appear until a plant is around 35 years old, and it can take as long as 75 years for the prized \"arms\" that give a saguaro its signature shape to form. A multi-armed giant is likely more than a century old, and weighs several tons.\n\nThieves have occasionally dug up saguaros in the park and hauled them away, but rangers have also had some success in catching and prosecuting violators. Two poachers who were apprehended received hefty sentences in 2009, but it took some determined work by rangers and prosecutors to prove in court that the stolen goods came from park property.\n\nTechnology As A Deterrent\n\nThanks to a tiny electronic marvel, establishing the point of origin will now be a lot easier in cases involving heists of cacti from Saguaro National Park. With financial support from the Friends of Saguaro National Park, cacti in a variety of sizes and locations throughout the park are being implanted with PIT (Passive Integrated Transponder) tags.\n\nThe small electronic \"tags\" have been used in recent years to help monitor and identify many kinds of animals, ranging from pets and valuable race horses to wild mammals, birds and even fish. They're also an ideal solution for establishing positive identification of valuable cacti.\n\nSo... what's a PIT tag?\n\n\n\nThe PIT tag implanted in a cactus is tiny indeed. Photo by Jim Burnett The PIT tag implanted in a cactus is tiny indeed. Photo by Jim Burnett\n\nIt's a small \"chip\" that can send a unique individual code to a hand-held receiver, or \"reader.\" The term \"passive\" in the tag's name refers to the absence of a battery or transmitter in the tag itself; a low-frequency signal sent from a reader \"excites\" the circuitry in the tag, and the reader receives a unique code back from the tag. Since there is no battery to wear out and the glass-encased tag is protected from moisture, it's believed the chips could last for 75 years or more.\n\nA small, hand-held \"implant gun\" makes quick work of placing the tag into a cactus, and the resulting tiny hole on the surface of the saguaro is almost impossible to detect.\n\nThe Tags Have Multiple Benefits\n\nBenefits from the PIT tag program go far beyond theft deterrence. When a cactus is tagged, it's also photographed and measured, and its location is noted using a GPS device. There's considerable interest in the scientific community about the health and numbers of saguaro populations, and the data gathered as part of the chip program will provide valuable inventory and monitoring information for decades to come.\n\nFollowing the successful prosecution of cactus thieves in 2009, Bob Love, the park's Chief Ranger noted, \"People in the Tucson area are passionate about their saguaros. That interest in protecting the natural resources and the beauty of the area was also reflected in the support from prosecutors.\"\n\nThanks to Operation PIT Tag, it will be much easier for prosecutors and rangers to make a case against crooks who are foolish enough to remove a tagged saguaro from the park. There's been good media coverage of the program in southern Arizona, which helps increase the deterrence value'\u0094and that's a key goal for this effort.\n\nWhen it comes to protecting both individual cacti and the overall park resources, preventing thefts is clearly preferable to solving cases after the damage is done. Plant poachers have been put on notice: Thanks to these tiny chips, attempts to heist cacti from the park can result in a call of \"Tag'\u00a6you're out.\""}
-{"text": "For five days in the year, Cologne is transformed into a mecca for foodies when Anuga, the world's leading food fair, opens its doors to delights from around the globe. More than 6,000 food producers, including many German companies, will showcase their products at this year's event, from October 5 to 9.\n\nMeats, dairy products, confectioneries, bakery products and alcoholic beverages are among the major exports of the German food industry. The industry is the fourth-largest in the country. From January to September 2013, food producers increased revenue by nearly 3 percent compared with the same period a year earlier. Every third euro in the sector now comes from exports.\n\nHigh-growth emerging markets\n\n\"The EU accounts for the majority of food exports, namely 57 percent,\" said Stefanie Lehmann of the Federation of German Food and Drink Industries (BVE). \"But due to the economic slowdown, consumption in the European Union has declined and we are now observing a growing focus on third countries,\" she told DW.\n\nGermany is a huge producer of dairy products\n\nThe United States, Russia and Switzerland are also strong markets for German products, with the high-growth markets emerging in Asia. Food worth over 1 billion euros was exported to China in 2012.\n\nSince 1993, the EU internal market guarantees the free movement of goods for food producers and distributors; tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade are prohibited. \"It's different outside of the single market,\" said Lehmann. \"Special registration procedures, other requirements for food safety, labeling, expiry dates are among the many regulatory, non-tariff barriers that currently make it very difficult for small and medium-sized businesses to tap attractive markets.\"\n\nIn particular, Russia, which has been a member of the World Trade Organization for a year and is an important market for German companies, has drawn hefty criticism for introducing non-tariff trade barriers. German companies are heavily impacted by the move.\n\nQuality, customer focus\n\nBut few are prepared to abandon the market. \"Even if there is some sand in the gears here and there and everything isn't going as smoothly as it could, Russia remains a very interesting market for us,\" said Josef Tillmann, CEO of the meat food producers T\u00f6nnies. One quarter of T\u00f6nnies' production goes to non- European countries, with plans to expand in Asian markets, notably China, Japan and South Korea.\n\nDemand for German meat products is growing abroad\n\n\u201cQuality, customer focus and reliable delivery are what consumers and retailers appreciate abroad, according to Hermann Cordes with the German dairy co-operative DMK. \"There have been many food scandals around the world, especially with milk, a very sensitive product,\" he said. \"German producers can score points here with quality since consumers abroad are more willing to pay more for quality products than those in their home market. This is a door-opener for us.\"\n\nDMK produces about 7 billion kilos of milk yearly, with exports accounting for 37.5 percent of its revenue. The company has its sights set on foreign expansion, already operating offices in Moscow and Shanghai.\n\nWe have good climatic conditions in Europe and well-trained farmers to produce milk so we expect milk production here to grow in the coming years,\u201d Cordes said. \"That said, milk consumption is declining in Germany and is expected to grow only in a few countries in Europe. That's why we need to look for new markets.\"\n\nSausage in Shanghai\n\nThey include emerging countries with improving income levels and logistics infrastructure, according to Cordes, who expects growth for milk products to be driven by non-European markets in the coming years.\n\nDoes German sausage in Shanghai taste just same as in Bavaria? Or do some location-specific ingredients need to be mixed in? \"If the product is a German specialty, it must taste that way,\" said BVE's Lehmann, noting that producers still need to make adjustments in some cases certain products. \"Producers exporting to extremely hot countries need to adapt their products to the local climatic conditions,\" said Lehmann, pointing to the need to package sweets so they don't spoil and also occasionally changing the recipe to meet specific customer requirements."}
-{"text": "Because they\u2019re available to all, spending on public goods tends to be less politically contentious than other spending categories, such as antipoverty programs or unemployment benefits. Flavin suspected spending on these types of goods would be linked to higher levels of happiness in a given state. By devoting resources to amenities that otherwise would probably not exist, \u201cgovernment can help to create and sustain communities that are more enjoyable to live in,\u201d Flavin writes.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nBeyond that, it seemed likely that spending on public spaces in particular \u2014 such as parks, libraries and nature preserves \u2014 would help promote social cohesion in ways that previous research has shown to be beneficial to well-being. Finally, there\u2019s the simple fact that public investment tends to increase property values, and people with more money tend to report higher levels of life satisfaction, all else being equal.\n\nTo test his theory, Flavin collected individual-level data from the General Social Survey for the years 1976 to 2006. He was specifically interested in the survey\u2019s question on life satisfaction, which asks respondents to rate their well-being on a three-point scale: \u201cTaken all together, how would you say things are these days \u2014 would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?\u201d\n\nHe aggregated the GSS data at the state level and paired the responses with census data on state finances over the same period. He defined public goods as spending that fell into the following five categories: libraries, parks and recreation, natural resources, highways (excluding toll roads) and police protection. He calculated spending on these categories as a share of total gross state product in a given year, which allows for comparisons between states and years, and \u201caccounts for the fact that richer states may spend more (on a per capita basis) on a wide array of government programs than poorer states,\u201d as the paper explains.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nFlavin also adjusted the data for a wide array of demographic variables known to influence well-being: employment, gender, race, age, income, marital status, education, health and church attendance.\n\nWhen he ran the numbers, he found a strong and statistically significant relationship between public-goods spending and self-reported happiness. All else being equal, for public-goods spending moving from one standard deviation below the average to one standard deviation above it produced roughly a five-percentage-point increase in the likelihood of a respondent rating themselves as \u201cvery happy.\u201d That\u2019s similar to the well-being increase associated with going from below-average to above-average family income.\n\nIf money buys happiness, in other words, then so does government spending on public goods.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nInterestingly this relationship didn\u2019t hold when considering all government spending or when considering spending on other categories such as welfare or education. Those categories did not produce a meaningful change in well-being in any direction. Flavin also notes that the happiness boost from public-goods spending is roughly the same across a wide range of demographic variables: race, income, education, etc. That suggests public spending on categories accessible to everyone has a similar effect on the well-being of everyone.\n\nAs the University of Michigan\u2019s Marina Whitman noted recently, spending on public goods has been under pressure from both political parties in recent years: Republicans have been focused on cutting taxes that pay for that spending, while Democrats have been more interested in expanding the social safety net for people who need it most. The result is that, at the federal level at least, there\u2019s little discretionary money left over to spend on things like roads, bridges and parks.\n\nAmericans are deeply ambivalent about the proper role of government in providing public goods and other services. An April 2017 Pew Research Center poll found, for instance, that 48 percent said they prefer a larger government providing more services, while 45 percent said they prefer a smaller government with fewer services.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nPart of the reason for that is that few American political leaders appear to be willing to make a strong positive case for taxation. Contrast recent Democratic contortions on the question of middle-class tax increases, for instance, with how Danish author and happiness expert Meik Wiking writes about them: \u201cWe are not paying taxes, we are investing in our society. We are purchasing quality of life.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Why does anyone listen to Ben Rhodes's foreign policy opinions?\n\nRhodes was once President Barack Obama's foreign policy medium, in which role he took great pride in deceiving the media and the public on the topic of Iran. Today, he's just a partisan Twitter troll.\n\nI note this in light of Rhodes's latest gem of a response to President Trump's killing of Qassem Soleimani.\n\nTrump may have just started a war with no congressional debate. I really hope the worst case scenario doesn\u2019t happen but everything about this situation suggests serious escalation to come. \u2014 Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) January 3, 2020\n\nHaving spent the Obama administration's eight years restraining the military and intelligence community from holding Soleimani to account, Rhodes isn't exactly a credible source on this issue. Indeed, even the Europeans thought Obama gave away too much to Iran in the 2015 nuclear deal.\n\nBut what rings most hollow is Rhodes's caveat that Soleimani was a bad guy. After all, the nuclear deal Rhodes so adores granted Tehran tens of billions of dollars consciously leaving off the table any restrictions on Iran's use of that funding for its storied terrorist and paramilitary activity. Thanks to Rhodes and company, Iran has been able to use new business deals and sanctions relief to export its fanatical revolution.\n\nIn short, Soleimani died in Rhodes's debt \u2014 he at least should have sent a fruit basket (for real, no bombs included) for creating so much financial and political space for the expansion of his violence.\n\nIran is just one area where Rhodes's foreign policy commentary lacks credibility. For example, consider this, from a few days ago.\n\nTrump\u2019s cartoonish incompetence has let the total failure of his signature natsec policies - Iran, North Korea, Venezuela - escape political and media scrutiny. But the real world consequences are now obvious. \u2014 Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) December 31, 2019\n\nSurely, Trump at least deserves credit for trying to reach an agreement with Kim \u2014 whatever his failures, they have left us no worse off than before, when the Obama administration was ignoring the problem. And surely, a former top U.S. government official shouldn't be crowing with partisan excitement over the possibility of a diplomatic failure.\n\nRhodes accomplished next to nothing during his time at the apex of the U.S. foreign policy establishment.\n\nWell, I take that back: Rhodes's led Obama's outreach to the Burmese junta, a move that legitimized a despicable regime while doing nothing to prevent its murder of tens of thousands of Rohingya civilians, and the displacement of millions more.\n\nRhodes also masterminded Obama's supplication to Cuba. That move strengthened the Communist dictatorship without extracting any significant improvements to its human rights policy. Indeed, ironically, considering Rhodes's Twitter reference to Venezuela, the new wealth that Obama's Cuba policy brought to the Castro clique has allowed it to reinforce Nicolas Maduro's Venezuelan dictatorship in Caracas. Cuba's brutal security services are central in ensuring that the Venezuelan military remains tied to Maduro. In contrast, Trump administration sanctions pressure is now encouraging Cuba to reassess its support for tyranny.\n\nOn Russia, Rhodes spent Obama's presidency constantly figuring out new ways to avoid holding Vladimir Putin to account. Rhodes was never able to figure out the Russian civilian targeting strategy in Syria, even though it was blindingly obvious to anyone with a brain, let alone someone with the very highest security clearance. Nor was the great guru willing to confront Russia's election interference strategy, fearing escalation.\n\nOh, and when it came to Russia's downing of the MH-17 passenger airliner over Ukraine, Rhodes supported the Obama administration's betrayal of our allies.\n\nOn China, also, Rhodes was weak. The Obama administration entered office with a China unsure of how America would respond to its expansionism. It left office with a China that had seized vast areas of international waters, bought off American allies, insinuated the world\u2019s greatest signal intelligence platform into common use, and had thrown millions of its own people into concentration camps.\n\nBut hey, at least Obama got Xi Jinping\u2019s word that he would stop stealing U.S. intellectual property. Right? Even if that commitment was patently disingenuous, it at least gave Rhodes some good headlines.\n\nWell, perhaps Shadi Hamid sums it up best."}
-{"text": "Exactly a decade ago on Friday Stoke City won promotion to the Premier League with a tense draw against Leicester City. Their 10-season spell in the top flight is now over, after defeat at home to Crystal Palace confirmed their relegation.\n\nAt full-time they remained only three points from the last safe spot with one game to play but Swansea face Southampton on Tuesday and so one of those teams\u2019 tally will increase beyond what is available to Paul Lambert\u2019s side.\n\nPaul Lambert says Stoke sleepwalked towards relegation but will return Read more\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t put my thoughts into words so soon after the game,\u201d said Lambert. \u201cEmotions are up and down after a tough afternoon. I feel for everybody connected with the club.\u201d\n\nXherdan Shaqiri had given Stoke both the lead and a bit of hope but second-half goals from James McArthur and Patrick van Aanholt, combined with an anaemic home display in which Lambert\u2019s players looked absolutely terrified of their fate, sent them down.\n\nThis has, of course, been coming. The club left it too long to dismiss Mark Hughes, under whom the club had stagnated, waiting until January to make the change. It might have looked like deflecting blame, particularly as Stoke have won only one of Lambert\u2019s 14 games in charge, but it is tricky to disagree with his assessment of their fate. \u201cWhen you don\u2019t start right, and don\u2019t get the grip of it, then you end up in trouble,\u201d he said.\n\nPlay Video 1:02 Stoke City manager Paul Lambert 'gutted' after relegation from Premier League \u2013 video\n\nThe atmosphere was tense from the start. The home fans did their best to intimidate, booing every slight delay of a Palace throw-in as if the taker had spat on the statue of Stanley Matthews that stands outside the ground.\n\nBut that merely masked their nerves. It was a bitty game that neither team looked capable of getting hold of. Lambert spent most of his time doing shuttle runs along the edge of the technical area, jawing in the ear of the fourth official, his face turning a curious shade of puce \u2013 or, put another way, looking every inch the nervous manager.\n\nHe was briefly calmed just before half-time. Shaqiri was fouled about 25 yards out, hitched his shorts up his vast thighs and whipped the free-kick into the goalkeeper\u2019s top-left corner. It flicked off Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who had committed the foul, in the wall on the way in but nobody cared: Shaqiri skipped into Lambert\u2019s arms and there was hope in the Potteries.\n\nPatrick van Aanholt (@pvanaanholt) Normally I like to celebrate when I score but I\u2019d like to apologise to Stoke City and their fans, I wish my goal didn\u2019t relegate you, but you\u2019ll be back soon! Great club with great fans \ud83d\udc4a\ud83c\udffd\n\nYet the problem with a struggling team going ahead is it can exacerbate nerves rather than cool them. That has been a theme of Stoke\u2019s season. \u201cIt\u2019s people being anxious, worried about what might happen when we\u2019ve got the lead,\u201d Lambert said.\n\nThat anxiety manifested itself in Stoke\u2019s defensive line dropping virtually on to Jack Butland\u2019s toes, inviting Palace on. Stoke looked like a team trying to hold on for 45 minutes and, while Lambert has tightened their defence since arriving in January, it seemed a risky approach.\n\nSo it turned out, although Palace\u2019s equaliser came after one of Stoke\u2019s few attacks. Wilfried Zaha led a counter and fed Loftus\u2011Cheek, who slipped in McArthur. Shoulders slumped around the stadium when he bobbled a shot home.\n\nStoke City v Crystal Palace: Premier League \u2013 live! Read more\n\nThe decisive moment came with four minutes left. Zaha played what was actually a terrible pass looking for Van Aanholt, which Ryan Shawcross looked to intercept but poked straight into the Dutch full-back\u2019s path, and he slotted the ball beneath Butland. It was cruel, perhaps, that the final error came from the man who has been with Stoke since they came up to the top flight.\n\nThe result also confirmed that Palace are safe. Roy Hodgson has done an extraordinary job since taking over a team that had not managed a goal or a point in their first four games, (and went three more in kind under him) but he tried to direct praise towards his backroom staff. \u201cI suppose every orchestra has to have a band leader,\u201d he eventually said, when pressed for a little less modesty. \u201cI\u2019m really proud of our team\u2019s performance, not just today but over the whole season.\u201d\n\nIn some ways it might be the kindest thing that it is over now for Stoke. Even with a victory they might still have gone down this weekend, so at least this curtailed their pain. \u201cIt\u2019s a chance for Stoke to rebuild,\u201d said Lambert."}
-{"text": "New York (CNN Business) In Dan Roth's dream world, members of LinkedIn , where he has served as editor in chief since 2011, would habitually read the LinkedIn Daily Rundown with their morning cup of coffee. They'd then turn their attention to the site's podcast or newsletter during their commute to work. When they get to their desks, they'd open LinkedIn.com on their browsers, where they can read from a carefully curated feed of professional and business news throughout their work day. Users who felt inspired by the content would share links on their own timeline. They'd check their notifications tab to see if others have engaged with the content they share.\n\nWho knows? They might even talk about one of LinkedIn's articles at their next staff meeting.\n\nThis is Roth's aspiration for LinkedIn's 645 million members and for workers who have yet to use the site. He envisions LinkedIn as the perfect \"utility\" for professionals.\n\n\"LinkedIn should help you be better at what you do or what you want to do. When you come to LinkedIn, you're coming with a purpose. It's not just to waste time or to check in on family,\" Roth told CNN Business in a recent interview. \"They're coming here to get something done and everything we do is geared around making sure people are more effective at getting whatever it is they want done, done.\"\n\nIn order to fulfill this dream, Roth has hired a team of journalists and empowered them with the tools they need to discover original stories and to distribute those stories to the right audience. Having these tools at their disposal is appealing to journalists who want to know who is reading their work. While Roth has yet to dominate the working world with his editorial strategy, he is getting close: LinkedIn now has editors in the US, Brazil, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, Australia, India, Japan, China and Singapore. About 20 editors are based in the US, including its San Francisco office and in New York City, where Roth lives.\n\nMicrosoft MSFT All of this has been good for LinkedIn's traffic and ultimately its bottom line. A metric that tracks how often users are coming to LinkedIn in 30 minute intervals is up about 27% from the year prior, a LinkedIn spokesperson told CNN Business. And the company is monetizing that traffic. Satya Nadella, CEO of LinkedIn owner said on a recent earnings call that it's been \"another record year for LinkedIn, driven by all-time high engagement across the platform.\"\n\nThe three Cs\n\nRoth ended up working at LinkedIn because of an idea he had for Fortune magazine , where he was managing editor of digital initiatives. In 2011, he had plans to create an app called the Fortune 500 Plus that would connect Fortune's data with LinkedIn's to help sales people find leads. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner asked Roth if he would instead join his company to build its new content team. Roth told CNN Business that he was confused at first about why LinkedIn wanted to hire journalists. But soon he saw the potential.\n\n\"At Fortune, we were always trying to get the right people to read our stories. You were waving your hand all the time, 'Hey professionals, look over here. We got the stories.' I thought if we could design something on LinkedIn where we knew who the people were, we could get them the right headlines,\" Roth said.\n\nRoth said he had planned on staying at the job for two years. That was eight years ago and he now manages a team of 65 journalists, with plans to hire more. Jessi Hempel, formerly senior writer at Wired, joined LinkedIn as senior editor at large in October 2018. Hempel told CNN Business one of the biggest challenges she faced in previous roles was not knowing who was reading her work.\n\n\"I knew I wanted to write for tech professionals and people who cared deeply about the evolution of technology, but I'd get very little information beyond the number of clicks a story got. I'd look to Twitter to see who was talking about it. That was about it,\" Hempel said. \"LinkedIn solved that. I could tell much more about my audience based on likes and comments and could talk directly with those reading my stories.\"\n\nRoth employs an editorial strategy he calls the three Cs: create, curate or cultivate. \"Create\" involves the development of original content like Hempel's Hello Monday podcast about \"our rapidly changing work lives\" or \"The Hustle,\" a weekly newsletter about hourly workers by LinkedIn news editor Joseph Milord. \"Curate\" means analyzing the two million posts on LinkedIn every day to see if there are any interesting stories. \"Cultivate\" is when LinkedIn's editors reach out to users they think could comment about a specific news topic. For example, an internal \"generator\" tool allowed editors to email former employees of Thomas Cook after news broke that the airline had abruptly shut down , asking them if they'd be willing to write about their experience on LinkedIn.\n\nLinkedIn news editor Andrew Seaman said the editorial team embraces a technology mindset when they think about the medium and method to deliver news.\n\n\"Adopting a tech mindset means accepting that the product is going to change all the time, and, even more, helping to push that change,\" Seaman said. \"We know that the way our members consume information and news will naturally change overtime. So, we expect our method of delivery to change \u2014 sometimes rapidly \u2014 while maintaining our mission.\"\n\nLinkedIn's editorial strategy depends on conversations happening on the website itself. This is when \"curate\" comes into play. For the last few years, LinkedIn's product team has focused on ways to enable more conversation on the platform, senior director of product management Pete Davies told CNN Business.\n\n\"Dan's team can only be so big and they can't necessarily have deep expertise in everything, but you can have those experts [on LinkedIn] and when they're there it really makes interesting conversation,\" Davies said. \"You build products so it almost creates a virtuous cycle of the news leading to the deeper conversations so it goes and drives more news stories.\"\n\nA newsroom for a tech platform\n\nLike a typical newsroom, LinkedIn's team has a daily editorial meeting. On a recent Tuesday morning, four people in the New York office joined a video conference call with three remote staffers and the team in London. An editor in London said a story about Instagram hiding likes had inspired \"great conversation\" from social media strategists on LinkedIn and that they had not covered the Nobel Prizes yet due to \"lack of member sharing.\"\n\n\"Sometimes that will drive our decision-making,\" Cate Chapman, a news editor who led the meeting, told CNN Business. \"If people aren't talking about it, we'll skip it.\"\n\nOther times, LinkedIn's editorial team will try to spur conversations about a topic. That's when they use the \"generator\" tool to send a mass email or to message an individual LinkedIn member.\n\n\"All day long we're thinking about how we can get people talking,\" Roth said. \"We used to pick up the phone and ask people, 'Can you talk?' Now we reach out to 10,000 people at a time and ask that.\"\n\nLinkedIn's Daily Rundown\n\nSome of the organic conversations on LinkedIn stem from the Daily Rundown, a round-up of news LinkedIn began sending as a notification to US users in June 2017. It's now available in 12 countries and in seven languages. The headlines are viewed by more than 40 million members and receive 1 million clicks every day, according to LinkedIn. A new design for the Daily Rundown \u2014 codenamed \"Project Breakfast\" \u2014 is currently rolling out to LinkedIn users.\n\nLinkedIn users also respond to the more than 150 trending news items LinkedIn editors curate every day. The right-hand bar on LinkedIn's desktop version, called \"Today's news and views,\" looks similar to Facebook's now-defunct Trending Topics tab . But everything is curated by editors rather than relying on algorithms.\n\n\"Editors are writing those [headlines]. It's not a bunch of unknown stories, it's hand-curated,\" said Sneha Keshwani, LinkedIn's senior product manager of news. \"The recency [stamp] shows this is living, breathing, constantly updating.\"\n\nLinkedIn is far from the only destination for news on a tech platform. Other apps like Apple News, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Flipboard have also hired journalists to oversee its users' news consumption and even to create original content. Facebook, for its part, is hiring more journalists for its upcoming news tab. It's the company's second biggest effort to curate news after its previous news section faced conservative bias allegations . In tandem, more traditional newsrooms are investing in product. News Corp is reportedly building its own news aggregator, Knewz.com.\n\nBut LinkedIn is unique in its focus on news for professionals. Roth said that LinkedIn succeeds in the news business by curating content for one community rather than being everything to everyone.\n\n\"LinkedIn only thrives if we keep these professional guardrails on what we do,\" Roth said. \"We have to get the right business and professional related news and information to the right people. If we try to do everything, we don't serve the mission.\""}
-{"text": "STOCKHOLM Han kallar sig frihandelsv\u00e4n men \u00e4r samtidigt emot fri invandring. Han \u00e4r marknadsliberal men ser inga problem med Sverigedemokraternas vurmande f\u00f6r v\u00e4lf\u00e4rdsstat och folkhem. \u2013 \u00c4ven libertarianismens \u00f6verstepr\u00e4st Milton Friedman f\u00f6rklarade att man kan inte ha fri r\u00f6rlighet av m\u00e4nniskor mellan rika och fattiga l\u00e4nder, s\u00e4ger han till Nyheter Idag.\n\nHan kallas informellt \u201dMr. Brexit\u201d efter att han fick Storbritannien att ta beslutet om att l\u00e4mna Europeiska Unionen. Nu argumenterar han f\u00f6r att Sverige ska g\u00f6ra samma sak. Men Nigel Farage, tillf\u00f6rordnad partiledare i UKIP, har f\u00e5tt blodad tand efter sin seger mot EU. Nu vill han stoppa avtal som TTIP, ett transatlantiskt avtal som i vart fall p\u00e5 ytan handlar om frihandel. Men det \u00e4r inte id\u00e9erna om frihandel som Farage har problem med, det \u00e4r \u00f6verstatlighet, f\u00f6rklarar han f\u00f6r Nyheter Idag.\n\nF\u00f6r att f\u00f6rst\u00e5 hur Farage t\u00e4nker kan det vara till hj\u00e4lp att k\u00e4nna till hans bakgrund. N\u00e4r vi talar med Farage befinner han sig p\u00e5 banketten \u201dEuropean Freedom Awards\u201d, som i medier beskrivs som Sverigedemokraternas alternativa nobelfest, och bara n\u00e5gra meter ifr\u00e5n honom st\u00e5r Ian Wachtmeister, f\u00f6re detta partiledare f\u00f6r Ny Demokrati.\n\nN\u00e4r Wachtmeister var aktuell med Ny Demokrati p\u00e5 90-talet l\u00e4t retoriken inte helt olikt, varken i form eller inneh\u00e5ll, vad Nigel Farage 20 \u00e5r senare har att ber\u00e4tta.\n\nMen det finns en annan likhet. P\u00e5 70-talet var Wachtmeister direkt\u00f6r \u00f6ver Oxel\u00f6sunds j\u00e4rnverk och senare direkt\u00f6r f\u00f6r Gr\u00e4nges Aluminium, ett f\u00f6retag i den tidigare m\u00e4ktiga koncernen Gr\u00e4nges AB som f\u00e5tt sitt namn efter Gr\u00e4ngesberg d\u00e4r det l\u00e4nge brutits j\u00e4rnmalm. Verksamheten i Gr\u00e4ngesberg avvecklades 1989. Vid denna tid var basindustrin fortfarande sj\u00e4lvklar f\u00f6r Sverige och r\u00e5varusektorn satte Sverige p\u00e5 den internationella kartan.\n\nEn av de m\u00e4n som hade \u00e4renden till Stockholm och som bidrog till svensk export var Nigel Farage. Han arbetade d\u00e5 med r\u00e5varuhandel p\u00e5 London Metal Exchange, den b\u00f6rs som i praktiken s\u00e4tter priset p\u00e5 metaller v\u00e4rlden \u00f6ver.\n\n\u2013 Jag brukade komma regelbundet till Sverige mellan 1988 och 1993 i aff\u00e4rs\u00e4renden, s\u00e4ger Farage till Nyheter Idag.\n\nVill man l\u00e4ra sig grunderna i marknadsekonomi \u00e4r metallhandel v\u00e4rt att studera. Priserna p\u00e5verkas dag f\u00f6r dag av efterfr\u00e5gan och tillg\u00e5ng, men kr\u00e4ver \u00e4ven f\u00f6rst\u00e5else f\u00f6r framtida behov. P\u00e5 London Metal Exchange handlas metaller i terminer, ett framtida kontrakt, fr\u00e5n en dag till tre m\u00e5nader. Samma marknadsprinciper g\u00e4ller s\u00e5v\u00e4l f\u00f6r det stora gruvbolaget, metallhandlaren Nigel Farage och den lokala skrothandlaren som s\u00e4ljer r\u00e5vara till bruken.\n\nB\u00e5de efterfr\u00e5gan och tillg\u00e5ng p\u00e5 r\u00e5varor som metaller \u00e4r global. Kilopriset p\u00e5 aluminium skiljer sig inte alls, eller ytterst lite, mellan Kina, USA och Europa. En strejk i en koppargruva i Sydamerika har en direkt p\u00e5verkan p\u00e5 kilopriset n\u00e4r f\u00f6retaget Boliden i Sverige ska s\u00e4lja kopparkatoder. Den fria marknaden, frihandeln och de naturliga marknadsprinciperna, \u00e4r sj\u00e4lva mediet d\u00e4r allt sker. H\u00e4r \u00e4r regleringar och statlig kontroll n\u00e5got som st\u00e5r i v\u00e4gen f\u00f6r aff\u00e4rer.\n\nDet var med denna v\u00e4rldsbild som Farage kom till Sverige f\u00f6r ungef\u00e4r 25 \u00e5r sedan. Och f\u00f6r honom var Sverige unikt.\n\n\u2013 F\u00f6r n\u00e5gon som trodde p\u00e5 liten stat var Sverige ett exempel p\u00e5 ett land med en stor stat. Stor stat och stort v\u00e4lf\u00e4rdssystem. Men f\u00f6r en som tror p\u00e5 fri marknad br\u00f6t det mot alla regler jag f\u00f6rstod, eftersom det fungerade.\n\nVid denna tid s\u00e5gs Sverige som en f\u00f6rebild f\u00f6r andra l\u00e4nder, en modell med b\u00e5de fri marknad men samtidigt en stor offentlig sektor. Den stora exportindustrin skapade b\u00e5de arbeten och skatteint\u00e4kter, pengar som anv\u00e4ndes till att finansiera den v\u00e4lf\u00e4rd som allt fler i dag upplever eroderas. Men det kan samtidigt tyckas som en dubbelhet, en v\u00e4n av frihandel borde inte hylla ett land med stor statsapparat, \u00e4nd\u00e5 \u00e4r det precis vad Farage g\u00f6r n\u00e4r han beskriver Sverige.\n\n\u2013 M\u00e4nniskor hade f\u00f6rtroende f\u00f6r systemet, de var n\u00f6jda med att skattepengarna anv\u00e4ndes f\u00f6rnuftigt och ni hade inte bara ett fantastiskt utbildningssystem och v\u00e5rdsektor utan \u00e4ven en niv\u00e5 av tillfredsst\u00e4llelse i samh\u00e4llet. Vi t\u00e4nkte alltid att det svenska systemet fungerar f\u00f6r Sverige och v\u00e5rt system fungerar f\u00f6r oss.\n\nFarage kallar sig sj\u00e4lv libertarian \u201di viss utstr\u00e4ckning\u201d. P\u00e5 en rak fr\u00e5ga om det inte krockar med exempelvis Sverigedemokraternas vurm f\u00f6r v\u00e4lf\u00e4rdssamh\u00e4llet svarar han att han \u201dinte kan bry sig mindre\u201d. N\u00e4r han talar om fri marknad och klassiskt liberala principer handlar det om relationen mellan l\u00e4nder, eller nationalstater, som han s\u00e4ger. Det handlar inte alls om att l\u00e4gga sig i andra l\u00e4nders inrikespolitik. F\u00f6r honom \u00e4r det viktiga att folk \u00e4r n\u00f6jda med vilket system de \u00e4n f\u00f6redrar.\n\nOch just tillfredsst\u00e4llelse \u00e4r viktigt, ber\u00e4ttar han. Att vara n\u00f6jd med tillvaron helt enkelt. Han \u00e4r lika glad n\u00e4r jag talar med honom som han \u00e4r i alla de videoklipp d\u00e4r han sm\u00e4dar potentater i EU-parlamentet. Och i dag s\u00e4ger Farage att svensken inte \u00e4r lika glad som n\u00e4r han reste till Stockholm f\u00f6r att handla metaller f\u00f6r 25 \u00e5r sedan, n\u00e5got han inte ov\u00e4ntat skyller p\u00e5 Europeiska Unionen.\n\n\u2013 Sverige var ett land med stor stat, men det var ett av f\u00e5 l\u00e4nder med stor stat i hela v\u00e4rlden som gjorde det p\u00e5 r\u00e4tt s\u00e4tt. Nu n\u00e4r jag kommer tillbaka efter n\u00e4stan 25 \u00e5r och ser vad Sverige har gjort \u00e4r att l\u00e5ta en stor del av politiken sk\u00f6tas p\u00e5 entreprenad av institutionerna i Europeiska Unionen, en form av \u00e4nnu st\u00f6rre stat. Och det h\u00e4r landet \u00e4r inte det glada och tillfredsst\u00e4llda landet som det var f\u00f6r 25 \u00e5r sedan.\n\nMen hur mycket av v\u00e4lf\u00e4rdsstatens kollaps i Sverige kan skyllas p\u00e5 den Europeiska Unionen?\n\n\u2013 Det \u00e4r en kombination av b\u00e5da. Det \u00e4r inte bara EU:s fel, det \u00e4r \u00e4ven den svenska regeringens fel. De har tagit n\u00e5gra riktigt d\u00e5liga beslut, ingen diskussion om den saken. Det jag tycker \u00e4r intressant \u00e4r att sedan Sverige gick med i Europeiska Unionen har det g\u00e5tt utf\u00f6r f\u00f6r Sverige. Och det ganska rej\u00e4lt.\n\nDet \u00e4r inte bara EU som Farage v\u00e4nder sig emot. Avtalet TTIP mellan EU och USA \u00e4r en forts\u00e4ttning p\u00e5 de mekanismer som Farage gjort politisk karri\u00e4r p\u00e5 att bek\u00e4mpa. Detta trots att TTIP beskrivs som just ett frihandelsavtal.\n\n\u2013 Vad du g\u00f6r, som en klassisk frihandelsv\u00e4n, handlar helt enkelt om att ta bort hinder som ligger i v\u00e4gen f\u00f6r handel. Det \u00e4r vad du g\u00f6r. Vad vi ser med mekanismer som TTIP, \u00e4r inte enbart att ta bort hinder f\u00f6r handel, det \u00e4r i sj\u00e4lva verket en arkitektur som f\u00f6rst\u00e4rker \u00f6verstatlighet och makten hos multinationella f\u00f6retag med en mekanism f\u00f6r tvistl\u00f6sning som ligger \u00f6ver och bortom nationella parlament och domstolar.\n\nHur skulle du vilja implementera frihandel ist\u00e4llet, allts\u00e5 om vi tar bort TTIP?\n\n\u2013 Det finns flera varianter av handelsavtal. TTIP handlar inte om att \u00f6verkomma handelshinder, det handlar om n\u00e5got mycket, mycket st\u00f6rre och mycket mer fundamentalt. Det siktar p\u00e5 en \u00f6verstatlighet.\n\n\u2013 Hillary Clinton har sagt att hon tror den europeiska gemensamma marknaden borde utvidgas mer globalt och jag ser TTIP som en del av det.\n\nVad \u00e4r felet med det?\n\n\u2013 Tja, det beror ju p\u00e5. Om du vill ha sj\u00e4lvstyrande nationalstater, om du vill ha kontroll \u00f6ver egna gr\u00e4nser och om du tror, i en tid av \u00f6kande oro \u00f6ver internationell s\u00e4kerhet, att se om sitt eget hus \u00e4r en prioritet, d\u00e5 \u00e4r uppenbart de h\u00e4r handelsavtalen med harmonisering, mekanismer f\u00f6r tvistl\u00f6sning och m\u00f6jligen \u00e4ven fri r\u00f6rlighet n\u00e5got som g\u00e5r emot detta.\n\nEnligt Farage g\u00e5r det att vara libertarian men samtidigt st\u00e4lla sig kritisk till fri r\u00f6rlighet, eller i dagligt tal, fri invandring mellan l\u00e4nder. Principen f\u00f6r resonemanget tar sin utg\u00e5ngspunkt, precis som tidigare, i nationalstaten.\n\n\u2013 Det libertarianska argumentet, och m\u00e5nga klassiska libertarianer, s\u00e4ger att fri r\u00f6rlighet \u00e4r en sj\u00e4lvklar libertariansk sak. Men \u00e4ven libertarianismens \u00f6verstepr\u00e4st Milton Friedman f\u00f6rklarade att man kan inte ha fri r\u00f6rlighet av m\u00e4nniskor mellan rika och fattiga l\u00e4nder.\n\n\u2013 Om man \u00e4r p\u00e5 en n\u00e5gorlunda samma niv\u00e5 kan det fungera, men det vi g\u00f6r i Europeiska unionen mellan rika och fattiga l\u00e4nder, fungerar helt enkelt inte.\n\nDet kan tyckas m\u00e4rkligt att en man som argumenterar utifr\u00e5n principer om fri marknad v\u00e4nder sig emot de stora frihandelsavtalen och fri r\u00f6rlighet av m\u00e4nniskor mellan l\u00e4nder. Men skrapar man lite p\u00e5 ytan handlar det i grunden om en gammal konflikt. Id\u00e9n med att staten, eller till och \u00f6verstatliga institutioner, l\u00e4gger sig i marknaden med l\u00e5ngtg\u00e5ende regleringar \u00e4r en socialliberal id\u00e9 som har sin grund i nationalekonomen John Maynard Keynes.\n\nDet \u00e4r det tankes\u00e4ttet som dagens socialliberala etablissemang allt mer kommit att till\u00e4mpa, d\u00e4r stora \u00f6verstatliga institutioner ska garantera vad som kallas en \u201dfri marknad\u201d. I motsats till dessa id\u00e9er st\u00e5r den \u00f6sterrikiska skolan, pr\u00e4glad av nationalekonomen Friedrich von Hayek. Och p\u00e5 en rak fr\u00e5ga vem av dessa b\u00e4gge ekonomer Farage f\u00f6redrar tar det inte m\u00e5nga sekunder.\n\n\u2013 Hayek, svarar han och skrattar.\n\nFriedrich von Hayek erh\u00f6ll 1974 Sveriges Riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne tillsammans med socialdemokraten Gunnar Myrdal. Man kan s\u00e4ga att Myrdal till stor del var med att l\u00e4gga grunden f\u00f6r det Sverige som Farage hyllar och som Sverigedemokraterna vill ha tillbaka.\n\nOch kanske \u00e4r det inte en tillf\u00e4llighet att anh\u00e4ngarna av dessa id\u00e9er numera st\u00e5r att finna p\u00e5 en alternativ nobelfest, l\u00e5ngt bort fr\u00e5n dagens socialliberala etablissemang."}
-{"text": "Investigating The Kerch Strait Incident\n\nOn the 25th of November, Ukraine and Russia were involved in one of the most serious confrontations of the almost 5-year long conflict between the two countries. Russian Navy vessels first rammed and then later fired on and captured three Ukrainian Navy vessels, marking the first time Russian-flagged military units had officially attacked those of Ukraine.\n\n\n\nLike many events in this conflict, both sides put out conflicting stories of what happened, as well as statements accusing the other of breaching international law. But what can we say for certain happened?\n\n\n\nThe First Confrontation\n\n\n\nThe opening act of the clash between the two navies began around 07:00 Russian time. Three Ukrainian Navy vessels \u2013 the Gyurza-M-class artillery boats \u2018Berdyansk\u2019 and \u2018Nikopol\u2019 and the tugboat \u2018Yany Kapu\u2019 \u2013 sailed towards the Kerch Strait, aiming to transit to the Ukrainian port of Mariupol. At around this time, they were intercepted by Russian Coast Guard vessels including the \u2018Don\u2019 and the \u2018Izumrud\u2019.\n\nAt this point, the clarity of the picture begins to break down. Russia\u2019s Federal Security Service (FSB) claims that Russian vessels attempted to hail the Ukrainian ships and ask them to turn back, as they were not allowed to transit the Kerch Strait without a Russian navigator on board. The Ukrainians, for their part, claim they were illegally intercepted and had the right to free navigation through the strait.\n\n\n\nAs to what happened next, we need to analyse several primary sources. The first of these is an alleged communications intercept released by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). In it, several groups of Russian naval officers discuss the events which took place. There is no specific timeframe given, and it appears that the intercept is a collection of several recordings between different people forming seven discrete conversations.\n\n\n\n\n\nVideo 1: Intercepted Russian communications from the 25th of November released by the SBU.\n\nFrom this recording, several key pieces of information can be taken away. The first is that the Russian vessel \u2018Don\u2019 rammed the \u2018Yany Kapu\u2019 twice. Once at 07:35 at the location (44\u00b056\u201900\u2033N 36\u00b030\u201908\u2033E) and a second time at 7:44 at (44\u00b056\u201906\u2033N 36\u00b030\u201905\u2033E). The second takeaway is that Russian vessel \u2018Izumrud\u2019 was damaged in a collision with another Russian ship.\n\nAnother piece of evidence is a video showing the Russian ship \u2018Don\u2019 appearing to intentionally ram the Ukrainian tug \u2018Yany Kapu\u2019. This footage can be seen below.\n\nVideo 2: Footage of Russian Coast Guard vessel \u2018Don\u2019 ramming the Yani Kapu.\n\nFrom this footage, several things can be seen. First, the identity of the boat which the video was shot from can be determined from the distinctive off-set 30mm autocannon seen at 0\u201951\u201d in the footage, which is also present on the preexisting photos of the \u2018Don\u2019. Second, the approximate time of day that the video was shot can also be determined. In the footage, it appears to be shortly after sunrise. According to SunCalc, sunrise on the 25th of November in this area was at 7:46. As such, the video must have been shot within around an hour after sunrise the given the relatively low position of the sun in the sky. As well, in the video, a voice (presumably that of the pilot of the \u2018Don\u2019) shouts \u201ceight twenty-one (08:21)\u201d immediately after the collision. It is likely this is the time of the collision and appears to converge with the timeframe suggested by the solar position.\n\n\n\nThis is further backed up by an apparently unnoticed detail in the video. In it, the tug \u2018Yani Kapu\u2019 has already sustained damage from at least two individual strikes. This would confirm that it happened after the 07:35 and 07:44 strikes mentioned in the SBU intercept video. Photos of these areas of damage, when compared to a photo of the undamaged ship taken just a day before can be seen below.\n\nNotably, following this video, the Yani Kapu was struck at least one more time. Video released by Telekanal Zvezda shot an hour or two later in the morning, when the sun was higher in the sky, shows that the tug has sustained additional damage to its port stern, which was not present either in the ramming video or the image taken of the Yani Kapu on the 24th of November.\n\n\n\n\n\nFurther evidence also backs up information from the SBU intercept. Images released by Kerch.FM show damage sustained by the Russian Coast Guard ship \u2018Izumrud\u2019. The location of this damage (high on the starboard midship area) is consistent with a strike from a Russian vessel larger than the smaller Ukrainian boats. As well the long scar along the side of the ship is inconsistent with weapons damage. This fits in with the SBU tape wherein a collision between \u2018Izumrud\u2019 and another Russian vessel is discussed.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Second Confrontation\n\nAs the day continued, Russian Coast Guard vessels continued blocking manoeuvres against the three Ukrainian ships. A large cargo vessel was used to physically block the narrow passage under the Kerch Bridge, and a separate group of three Ukrainian naval vessels in the Sea of Azovwas forced to return to their base in Berdyansk.\n\n\n\nLittle information exists for what transpired over this period, however, the SBU intercept recording suggests that one of the Russian Coast Guard vessels took on a complement of 10 special forces soldiers to assist in later actions.\n\nThe aforementioned Telekanal Zvezda video also contains another piece of useful information. In the first few seconds of the video, a bulk freight ship identified as the \u2018Aviona\u2019 can be seen within a few hundred meters from one of the Ukrainian armoured artillery boats. Using ship-tracking website MarineTraffic, we can determine that the \u2018Aviona\u2019 was at anchor in the Kerch Strait in effectively the same location for the entirety of November 25. This gives us a new data point for the location of the Ukrainian ships later in the day, much further north than previous positions.\n\nUnder the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which Ukraine and the Russian Federation are parties to, territorial waters extend at most 12 nautical miles (22.2 km; 13.8 mi) from the baseline (usually the mean low-water mark) of a coastal state. Notably, this additional position near the \u2018Aviona\u2019 shows a Ukrainian vessel within not just the territorial waters of Crimea, but also mainland Russia.\n\n\n\nIt is also worth noting that Ukraine, as well as most Western countries, does not recognise Russia\u2019s annexation of Crimea, and by extension its territorial sea. Moreover, Ukraine has cited a 2003 agreement with Russia that denotes the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait as a shared waterway, allowing free passage.\n\n\n\nAfter 18:00 local time, however, the Ukrainian ships attempted to leave the area, and return to their home port of Odessa. They were, by all accounts pursued, intercepted, fired on, and boarded. Several Ukrainian soldiers were injured and the ships were later captured by Russian Naval forces.\n\n\n\nBoth sides made attempts to assert that this clash happened either outside of Russian-claimed territorial waters (in the case of Ukraine) and inside them (in the case of Russia).\n\nThe Russian FSB released a detailed timeline of the events of the day, including a number of geographical positions in which key events occurred. These events are plotted on the map seen below.\n\nThe Russian FSB makes that point that the initial interception, as well as the warning shots, and finally the shots which hit the \u2018Berdyansk\u2019 all took place within the \u2018territorial waters of Russia\u2019. This does not align with the location data they themselves released.\n\n\n\nSpecifically, the most serious incident \u2013 the shooting of the \u2018Berdyansk\u2019 \u2013 took place at 44\u00b051.3\u2019N, 36\u00b0 23.4 E (notated in the official release as \u0428=44\u00b0 51\u20193 \u0421\u0428, \u0414=36\u00b0 23\u20194 \u0412\u0414). We know the FSB is using decimal arc-minutes in their notation, rather than arc-minutes and arc-seconds, due to the fact that an earlier location is given as (\u0428=44\u00b0 53\u201947 \u0421\u0428, \u0414=36\u00b0 25\u201976 \u0412\u0414) something which would be impossible under a degrees and minutes notation style \u2013 specifically the final digits \u201876\u2019.\n\nAs can be seen in the above image, the FSB data, if correct, shows that the \u2018Berdyansk\u2019 was 22.72km from the coast of Crimea, and more than 500m outside of Russian-claimed territorial waters when it came under fire.\n\nUkraine for its part provided less detailed information regarding key locations during this period.\n\nUnfortunately, while Ukraine asserts that its ships were outside of the 12 nautical mile UNCLOS limit, even if their location data is taken at face value, it is inconclusive. This is due to the fact that they only provided 4-digit locations. Such locations do not pinpoint a single point but rather a rectangle approximately 1.8 km on the N-S axis and 1.3km on the E-W axis. Given this level of imprecision, the positions could be potentially within, or outside of the 12 nautical mile limit. Ukraine likely does have access to more precise location data, and could make this public if it wishes to add clarity.\n\n\n\nAdditionally, an alleged mayday call released by Ukrainian publication Liga Novosti from one of the three Ukrainian vessels includes the audio \u201cHow many wounded do you have? I need help! I need help! Mayday! Mayday!\u201d followed by the coordinates N 44\u00b0 51\u2019 00\u2019\u2019, E 36\u00b0 23\u2019 04\u2019\u2019. This location is southwest of the position Russia claims it fired on the \u2018Berdyansk\u2019, and is also outside of the 12 nautical mile limit, and thus in international waters.\n\n\n\nAs for the details of the confrontation itself, we again fall back on statements by both Ukraine and Russia, in lieu of primary sources. Interestingly, neither country\u2019s statements contradict the other aside from their positions relative to the territorial waters line. Both sides claim that Russian forces shot at and crippled the \u2018Berdyansk\u2019, capturing it and the tug Yani Kapu shortly after. Initially, the Ukrainian military claimed that both the \u2018Berdyansk\u2019 and the \u2018Nikopol\u2019 ships had been damaged, before clarifying at 23:20 (Russian time) that only the \u2018Berdyansk\u2019 was hit.\n\n\n\n\n\nPhotos of the Ukrainian ships in port in Kerch post-capture show many small calibre bullet holes in the \u2018Berdyansk\u2019 as well as at least one large calibre hole in its bridge. This larger hit especially confirms that Russian forces were not shooting to disable the vessel, but rather to harm the crew. The FSB release itself notes that the Russian Coast Guard vessel \u2018Izumrud\u2019 issued threats to the \u2018Berdyansk\u2019 that \u201cweapons to kill\u201d would be used if the vessel did not comply with its request to stop.\n\n\n\n\n\nImage 12: Interactive map showing key positions and events from the 25th of November\n\n\n\nSummary:\n\n\n\nFrom this information, several things are made clear. Firstly, based on geolocated video footage, Ukrainian ships did enter Russian-claimed territorial waters, both that of Crimea and mainland Russia in the Kerch Strait. Ukraine nonetheless argues this was legally permissible due to the 2003 agreement between the two countries. Secondly, we can say that the Ukrainian tug \u2018Yani Kapu\u2019 was intentionally rammed at least four times over a period of at least an hour. Thirdly, based on information provided by the Russian FSB which appears to incriminate themselves, the shooting of the \u2018Berdyansk\u2019 most likely took place in international waters.\n\n(18:31 GMT \u2013 1/12/18 \u2013 This article was updated to reflect that the ownership of the territorial waters extending from Crimea is disputed between Russia and Ukraine. They are in fact only Russian-claimed territorial waters, rather than internationally recognised boundaries. )\n\n"}
-{"text": "Missing rugby player found dead\n\nMissing since Saturday: Mark Dombroski\n\n\n\nLeft to right: Mark Dombroski's father John, mother Lisa and brother John appeal for the help finding the missing rugby player at a press conference today (Photograph by Blaire Simmons)\n\n\n\nThis image, appearing to show Mark Dombroski on the left, has been circulated by local rugby players as they hunt for the missing teenager (Photograph supplied)\n\n\n\nThis image, appearing to show Mark Dombroski with his back to the camera, has been circulated by local rugby players as they hunt for the missing teenager (Photograph supplied)\n\n\n\nActing Assistant Commissioner James Howard speaks at a press conference today (Photograph by Blaire Simmons)\n\n\n\nMissing rugby player Mark Dombroski has been found dead, police said this afternoon.\n\nActing Assistant Commissioner James Howard said this evening: \u0093Foul play is not ruled out.\u0094\n\nMr Howard said the body was found at Fort Prospect, near the Arboretum in Devonshire.\n\nHe was speaking after a police spokesman said just after 4.30pm: \u0093The search unfortunately has come to an end.\u0094\n\nThe news came hours after the mother of Mr Dombroski made a heartfelt plea for the safe return of her son.\n\nLisa Dombroski told a press conference held earlier: \u0093We deeply love our son, we cherish our son.\n\n\u0093We love him dearly. We want him back.\u0094\n\nThe visiting student, 19, from Pennsylvania, was seen at the Dog House on Front Street just after midnight on Sunday. He was captured on CCTV on East Broadway just after 1am and on Middle Road in Devonshire ten minutes later.\n\nThe Bermuda Police Service and the Royal Bermuda Regiment announced this afternoon they would be conducting a search in the Devonshire area for Mr Dombroski.\n\nAt 4pm, police spokesman Dwayne Caines said two groups were conducting searches in the area.\n\nMs Dombroski thanked the community for their \u0093shoulder to shoulder\u0094 support.\n\nShe added: \u0093They\u0092re helping us, they are with us.\u0094\n\nMs Dombroski said that Monday was the feast day of St Joseph.\n\nShe explained: \u0093My son is a freshman as St Joseph University. It would be a wonderful thing if on St Joseph\u0092s feast day God please would reunite us with our wonderful son.\u0094\n\nMs Dombroski was joined at the press conference by Mr Dombroski\u0092s father John, and brothers John and Kevin.\n\nPolice said at 1.15am that Mr Dombroski was captured on CCTV on Middle Road, near Shelton Road, Devonshire, walking east \u0097 the opposite direction from where he was staying at Warwick Camp.\n\nMr Howard said that a \u0093coordinated search\u0094 was being done.\n\nMr Howard said the areas of Crow Lane and East Broadway had \u0093already been checked\u0094. A search of Hamilton Harbour had also been conducted using the police marine unit.\n\nHe said police were conducting an \u0093extensive review\u0094 of the island\u0092s CCTV network.\n\nMr Howard said police were notified of Mark\u0092s disappearance by his family at 9.39am on Sunday.\n\nLocal rugby clubs have been hunting on the Railway Trail and other areas for Mr Dombroski.\n\nHe thanked members of the public for their efforts and interest.\n\nMr Howard added: \u0093We urge that all search activity be coordinated through the police, to capture all information accurately and to avoid duplication of efforts.\u0094\n\n\u0093There is an investigative process being followed, and we request the co-operation of the public in this regard.\u0094\n\nThe rugby player had been due to leave the island with his parents yesterday.\n\nPictures appearing to show Mr Dombroski in Bermuda on Saturday night have been circulated on social media among local rugby players.\n\nMr Dombroski came to the island on a rugby tour with St Joseph\u0092s University, to play in the Ariel Re Bermuda International Rugby Sevens at the North Field over the weekend. It is understood players socialised in Hamilton on Saturday night.\n\nToday, the Bermuda Rugby Football Union revealed all local rugby clubs and the local community launched an effort to search along the Railway Trail and other areas across the island for Mr Dombroski.\n\nA BRFU spokesman said: \u0093This community effort will continue and in order to aid this effort the BRFU has offered a reward of $1,000 for information regarding the whereabouts of missing Mr Dombroski.\u0094\n\nSt Joseph\u0092s University said in a statement: \u0093St Joseph\u0092s University is in touch with Mark\u0092s family and Bermuda authorities and continues to pray for his safe return.\u0094\n\nMr Dombroski was white, 6ft with a small build, and had short blond hair. He was last seen wearing khaki pants, a green T-shirt and black shoes.\n\nAnyone with photos, videos or any other information should contact police on 717-2086 or 717-0864 Crimestoppers anonymously on 800-8477."}
-{"text": "What causes floors to sag? A deep dive into the most common culprits.\n\nYour floor is supposed to be a smooth, even surface that is firm and steady beneath your feet. It is not supposed to have ridges like a potato chip. It should not offer a kid-friendly ski slope to one side, nor give way to you like memory foam insoles. And there is definitely not supposed to be a visible gap smiling at you between the baseboard trim and your flooring. You know these are signs of uneven floors, but do you know what causes them?\n\nAt Acculevel, we\u2019ve been repairing foundations and structural wood flooring systems since 1996. A sagging floor is a sign that the \u201cbones\u201d of your home are diseased or damaged. In our experience, the earlier these issues are detected and addressed, the less expensive the repairs are. In this article, we review what can cause a sagging floor, and provide details to help you determine which issue is relevant to your home.\n\nSlab Floor\n\nUnlike homes with basements or crawl spaces, a slab floor is solid concrete with no structural wood flooring system. For homes with this type of floor, soft soil or bad compaction is almost always the culprit.\n\nOnce the soil is compromised, the slab will shift, and this creates the sagging or sinking effect. Pressure from that shift will sometimes crack the slab itself, causing high and low places in the flooring.\n\nBasements & Crawl Spaces\n\nFor basements & crawl spaces, the suspect pool is considerably larger. The support structure is mostly wooden, which makes it susceptible to a variety of issues.\n\nWater\n\nWater is a probable suspect, as it seeps into the ground around your foundation. The sill plate, wood beams, and floor joists are all vulnerable to this; these wooden components on top of your foundation are the wood framing system that supports your floor.\n\nBecause it has direct contact with the concrete and can be over the exposed soil line, it often falls victim to water intrusion. Once water intrudes and saturates the wood, this leads to deterioration. It\u2019s this deterioration that causes the floor system to fail.\n\nThis joist is badly decayed, splintering around the beam.\n\nThis picture was taken by an Acculevel Project Manager on a routine free estimate appointment.\n\nHumidity\n\nBut you don\u2019t have to have standing water under your house to cause structural decay. High humidity can also damage the beams and joists that hold up your subfloor. Wood is highly porous and readily absorbs water from the air. Over time, this water saturation softens and rots the boards. As they decay, they compress under the weight of your home, lowering your floor sometimes by several inches.\n\nInsects\n\nInsects are another frequent perpetrator; termites are a well-known home invader. But there are also several subspecies of beetles that eat wood. Powderpost beetles are common and difficult to recognize. They\u2019re very small- the average adult beetle is smaller than a grain of white rice. These tiny menaces lay their eggs inside wooden beams, and when they hatch, the larvae eat the wood. Both beetles and termites will infest your structural wooden flooring system and gnaw damage as they go.\n\nHuman Error\n\nHuman error is another possibility, particularly if your home has been retrofitted with updated plumbing, electrical, or HVAC products. Making room for these types of installations can be difficult, and sometimes a contractor will cut or notch some of the joists- or even the main support beam- to make room for new pipes or venting. These cause weak spots in the flooring structure that will eventually crack or split.\n\nAge of Your Home\n\nLack of building codes- or outdated ones- are another concern. A main support beam, the post that spans the length of your home, should be sized proportionately and supported every few feet. In many homes, the beams may not be the correct size or the support posts are installed too far apart. This over-spanning puts greater stress on the beam and makes it more likely to sag and potentially even fail.\n\nAlong the same lines, if your home is more than 50 years old, it\u2019s also possible that inadequate materials are to blame. When a home is built, sometimes the beams or joists are not the correct dimensions. When this happens, a contractor will install a shim; a shim is a thin piece that adds a minimal lift to \u2018even out\u2019 the installation.\n\nMany times in construction, that shim was usually another piece of wood; at Acculevel we use steel shims to prevent compression or rot. These shims also allow us to increase the overall surface of the bearing load, so that the beam it\u2019s supporting is not crushed by the weight of your home.\n\nThe wooden shim has compressed, lowering the joist.\n\nThis picture was taken by an Acculevel Project Manager on a routine free estimate appointment.\n\nTechnology\n\nTechnology is another age-related factor. New solutions and materials are always in development, but they take time to become commonplace. Before the 1970s, pretreated or pressure-treated lumber was not widely available or regularly used by builders. Lumber installed in its original \u2018raw\u2019 form is more vulnerable to insects and water damage.\n\nNew trends in home design can have a negative effect if a remodel doesn\u2019t take the weight of the raw materials into account. Many older homes aren\u2019t built to carry the load of solid granite countertops or stone-tiled floors and walls. Recreational items like a pool table or hot tub will also add significant weight to your floor system. These are all items that can put additional stress onto an already failing wood structure.\n\nWant More Information?\n\nThere are a myriad number of causes for a sagging floor, but they all indicate you have a weakened or damaged flooring system or foundation. If you want to gain a deeper understanding of the repair process, or review the pricing for those repairs, we have a companion piece that explores the repair methods and the associated costs.\n\nReady to Take Action?\n\nFind an experienced local foundation company, and make an appointment. Before you sign a contract for any service, you should always verify the company is reputable, insured, and accredited by the Better Business Bureau.\n\nIf you live in Indiana or the surrounding states, contact Acculevel. Established in 1996, we specialize in foundation repairs.\n\nIf you have noticed sloping or sagging floors, you can request a free estimate. An experienced project manager will evaluate your foundation and recommend the best course of action for you, to keep your home strong and healthy for years to come.\n\nWe have also created a free tool that any homeowner can use to see what could be causing problems in your home and how to fix it. Identify problems, explore solutions, and get advice on how and when to take action with our Symptom Checker."}
-{"text": "President Trump Donald John TrumpFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. Former Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick MORE on Monday hailed the legacy of the American armed forces in a Veterans Day speech that came against the backdrop of protests and political turmoil that has engulfed his presidency.\n\nTrump\u2019s remarks at Madison Square Park in Manhattan were largely devoid of politics, but even in New York on Veterans Day the president could not entirely avoid the political headlines that have dogged him in Washington.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nProtesters spelled out the words \"impeach\" and \"convict\" in letters taped to the windows of a high-rise overlooking the park, and chants of \u201clock him up\u201d were heard from the crowd. Public hearings in the House impeachment inquiry are scheduled to begin Wednesday.\n\nDemonstrators gathered near the site of Trump\u2019s speech to protest his presence and could be heard by attendees chanting \u201clock him up\u201d and blowing whistles in the distance.\n\nSomeone left a message for President Trump in windows of tower overlooking Madison Square Park, where he will soon deliver speech. pic.twitter.com/f5GzB3mkWZ \u2014 Alex Leary (@learyreports) November 11, 2019\n\nProtesting Trump at the NYC Veteran\u2019s Day Parade. Trump deports vets, fires them (Vindman), and privatizes their health insurance. pic.twitter.com/fl7ShYnPlF \u2014 Rise and Resist (@riseandresistny) November 11, 2019\n\nThe speech came a few weeks after Trump announced his plans to reclassify his place of residence from New York City to Florida.\n\nThe president has ripped into New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio Bill de BlasioOVERNIGHT ENERGY: California seeks to sell only electric cars by 2035 | EPA threatens to close New York City office after Trump threats to 'anarchist' cities | House energy package sparks criticism from left and right EPA threatens to close New York City office after Trump threats to 'anarchist' cities New Year's Eve in Times Square to be largely virtual amid pandemic MORE (D) and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) since sharing the decision, complaining that local leaders don\u2019t treat him with respect. Last week, he criticized the state\u2019s attorney general for what he described as a politically driven lawsuit involving his family charity.\n\nTrump acknowledged de Blasio at the outset of his remarks on Monday, but the substance of the president\u2019s 20-minute speech largely steered clear of politics.\n\n\u201cThis nation is forever in your debt, and we thank you all,\u201d Trump said in the speech. \u201cYou are the reason our hearts swell with pride, our foes tremble with fear, and our nation thrives in freedom.\u201d\n\nTrump delivered opening remarks and laid a wreath at the 100th annual Veterans Day Parade in New York City, becoming the first sitting president to address the annual event. The president\u2019s speech focused on the service of various military branches and the military accomplishments of his administration.\n\nTrump cheered American special forces for carrying out the successful military raid that led to the death of elusive ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi weeks ago.\n\n\u201cThanks to American warriors, al-Baghdadi is dead. His second in charge is dead. We have our eyes on No. 3. His reign of terror is over, and our enemies are running very, very scared,\u201d Trump said.\n\n\u201cThose who threaten our people don\u2019t stand a chance against the righteous might of the American military,\u201d he continued.\n\nTrump, who was joined by first lady Melania Trump Melania TrumpWatchdog confirms State Dept. canceled award for journalist who criticized Trump Ginsburg becomes the first woman to lie in state in the Capitol Rabbi memorializes Ginsburg: Her dissents were 'blueprints for the future' MORE, recognized a World War II veteran and the granddaughter of a veteran who served in the Battle of the Bulge. He highlighted last week\u2019s honor for Rick Rescorla, a Vietnam veteran who died while directing the evacuation of the South Tower on 9/11.\n\n\u201cThe men and women who have donned our nation\u2019s uniforms are the bravest, toughest, strongest and most virtuous warriors ever to walk on Earth,\u201d Trump told the crowd.\n\n\u201cYou left your families and fought in faraway lands. You came face-to-face with evil and you did not back down. You returned home from war and you never forgot your friends who didn\u2019t return, including prisoners of war and those missing in action,\u201d the president continued.\n\nThe president laid a wreath at the Eternal Light Memorial in the park at the conclusion of his remarks.\n\nTrump last year faced criticism for opting not to visit Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day, as most presidents have done in the past.\n\nThe president was in Paris for the official holiday last year to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, but he had no public events scheduled upon his return to Washington. He later acknowledged he should have made a trip to the cemetery to commemorate Veterans Day.\n\nVice President Pence spoke at Arlington on Monday."}
-{"text": "President Donald Trump sits during a meeting with Chief Executive Officer of Intel Brian Krzanich in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., February 8, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts There are aspects to Trump\u2019s public comments that concern me. He says stuff that makes me sit up and take notice, especially on the military front.\n\nYet, rather than blindly accepting the \u201cnews\u201d that best supports my biases, I try to view each new Trump \u201cevent\u201d objectively.\n\nBy contrast, the progressives/liberals unfailingly fall for every bit of click-bait that reinforces their view that Trump is a detestable, woman-hating, earth killer and the epitome of a capitalist pig.\n\nOn the other side of the philosophical wall, there are an almost equal number of people who view Trump as a Knight Exemplar, come to smite the corrupt politicos and smash down the self-loathing, politically correct, climate-alarmist, and meddling-big-government, perfect-world socialists that have all but destroyed the American dream.\n\nThe extreme distance between the two perspectives creates a tradeable opportunity. Actually, a series of tradeable opportunities, which I cover below. (For more trading ideas, subscribe to my free investment newsletter, The Passing Parade.)\n\nThis is especially true because of the extraordinary media bias that takes every small thing Trump does or says and blows it way out of proportion.\n\nAny investor worth the moniker knows markets operate largely on emotion.\n\nAnd that gives rise to the Trump Trade.\n\nWhat Most People Are Missing\u2026 and How to Profit from It\n\nA more nuanced view of Trump\u2019s various strong words has to take into account his deep experience negotiating hundred-million-dollar deals in the hardball world of New York and New Jersey real estate.\n\nWe\u2019re talking about sitting across the table from dozens of the world\u2019s highest-paid lawyers and hammering out deals that mollify not just the sellers of the prime real estate, but also the zoning boards, unions, owners of neighboring properties, etc.\n\nSucceeding in that world requires a level of focus, determination, and skill that is impossible for the average person to even imagine. It is as hardball as it comes. Anywhere.\n\nNow ask yourself, how would someone with Trump\u2019s negotiating credentials approach a counterparty ahead of a negotiation?\n\nWould they signal in advance what they wanted and all that they were willing to give up in order to get what they were after?\n\nOr would they come in hard with outsized threats and posturing, setting the stage to ultimately prevail on the points that count?\n\nCase in point, Trump has made much of the idea that he\u2019ll make Mexico pay for a wall between the two countries. Among the many rejoinders to the idea, former Mexican President Fox said, \u201cI\u2019m not going to pay for that f#&#ing wall!\u201d\n\nAnd so, thanks to Trump\u2019s posturing, the negotiations began with arguing about who is going to pay for the wall\u2014not even the wall itself.\n\nGetting the opposition to negotiate at the top of the range you set, in order to eventually settle for what you actually want, is Negotiation 101. And Trump is way, way past Negotiation 101.\n\nViewed through that particular lens\u2014and I think I am at least directionally correct, as Trump would be hard pressed to forget all he has learned about negotiating just because he\u2019s been elected president\u2014we can expect his administration to be something of a rollercoaster ride.\n\nThat\u2019s because he has a big agenda.\n\nAnd he has a lot of opposition to cut through in order to accomplish that agenda. As such, I suspect hardly a week will go by without Trump saying or doing something\u2014loudly\u2014that seems outrageous, ill-advised, or bullying.\n\nAnd the media, as set against Trump as they are, can predictably be expected to scream as loud as they can about his latest outrage and all the dire consequences. Viewed from the negotiator\u2019s perspective, they are playing right into his hands.\n\nLikewise, we need to look past the posturing and try to ascertain what Trump\u2019s end goals are.\n\nWhat does Trump want accomplished in each of these situations?\n\nIn most cases, he\u2019ll be trying to deliver on his \u201cAmerica First\u201d promise. That was by far the most prominent plank in his platform and in his inauguration speech.\n\nTo get it done, he\u2019ll need to improve the competitiveness of American business by cutting taxes, slashing regulations, and directly negotiating more equitable trade agreements with important trading partners.\n\nIn Trump\u2019s view, he is America\u2019s negotiator-in-chief. It\u2019s in his blood. It\u2019s what he does best. Therefore, you can choose to get hung up on the optics, or you can take advantage of the situation by taking stock of whatever his next target may be and trading against all the easily frightened sheeple.\n\nTo make the point, let\u2019s return to the situation with Mexico.\n\nTrade Idea #1: Mexico\n\nThe chart here shows the six-month performance of the Mexican Bolsa, their stock market.\n\nSince the election, the Bolsa has traded like a yo-yo, based entirely on Trump\u2019s pre-negotiation rhetoric and the biased media\u2019s reaction to it.\n\nOn this particular trade, which will likely be a buy of Mexican stocks, I\u2019m going to watch things a bit more closely before taking a position. The real money will be made by waiting until it seems Mexico and the US are on the verge of a total breakdown in trade.\n\nIn fact, what will really be happening is Trump wearing the Mexican politicians down to ensure he gets exactly what he wants.\n\nAnd make no mistake, the US will come out on top. That\u2019s because over 81% of all Mexican exports\u2014about $310 billion worth\u2014go to the US. Mexico\u2019s second-largest trading partner is Canada at a miserly $10.5 billion.\n\nThere are a number of ways to play volatility in the Mexican market.\n\nYou can concentrate your investments in specific Mexican exporting companies who trade as ADRs on US exchanges. But for most investors, the best approach is likely buying a large and liquid diversified ETF such as the iShares MSCI Mexico Capped ETF (EWW).\n\nTrade Idea #2: Pounding on Pharma\n\nAnother recent example of the Trump Trade can be seen in the pharmaceutical sector.\n\nThat Trump would take on the sector is understandable; his most ardent supporters skew toward the 50+ age demographics.\n\nThese are the people most affected by the skyrocketing insurance costs triggered by Obamacare and by the indefensibly high cost of certain drugs required for the patient to live a normal life.\n\nA friend of mine is currently spending over $2,000 a month for a single drug, so I understand the angst on a personal level.\n\nDuring his campaign, Trump promised to bring those drug costs down, and now he is ramping up the negotiations to do just that.\n\nHere\u2019s a three-month chart of the price action in PowerShares Dynamic Pharmaceuticals (PJP), one of the more popular pharmaceutical ETFs.\n\nLike the Mexican stock market, you can see a sell-off after Trump won, and the subsequent gyrations as Trump began to use the bully pulpit of his presidency to set the stage for negotiating with the drug industry.\n\nThe recent spike in the index came after Trump sat down with key industry executives and offered to trade them a big reduction in regulation if they play ball with him on the pricing.\n\nThat\u2019s what\u2019s called a win-win in the business world. Trump gets what he\u2019s after (or at least there\u2019s a good chance he does), and the drug companies get relief from the time and money regulatory regime that is the bane of their business.\n\nWhen the Media Sells, We\u2019ll Buy\n\nGiven Trump\u2019s background, you can expect the president to go in hard every single time. And the media will inadvertently help him by whipping certain members of the public\u2014including the investment community\u2014into a frenzy of action.\n\nWhen they sell, we\u2019ll be looking to buy. And when they buy, we\u2019ll be looking to sell.\n\nIn the end, successful investment speculation\u2014and make no mistake, this is speculation\u2014requires volatility.\n\nIf nothing else, Trump is volatile. Or is happy to seem that way if, in the end, it gets him what he wants.\n\nSubscribe to The Passing Parade\n\nA rousing weekly romp on economics and markets with a dose of politics and other follies, The Passing Parade is published every Friday by Garret/Galland Research. Click here to get your free copy sent straight to your inbox."}
-{"text": "A Note on Sexual Abuse\n\nThis isn\u2019t a sob story or a cry for pity, this is a look inside the crazy mess that is my brain. This is me trying to overcome an unpleasant experience and this is for anyone who has gone through anything similar, for anyone carrying this weight on your shoulders that you can\u2019t seem to shake- hopefully this will help you know that you\u2019re not alone, and that you\u2019re not crazy if you\u2019re feeling any of these things because someone out there is feeling them too (hint: it\u2019s me, and if I\u2019m crazy then, what the hell, we can be crazy together). For anyone struggling with emotions that you can\u2019t seem to find the source of, I want you to know that it helps to talk to someone, because keeping negativity bottled up inside is the worst thing you can do for yourself. And for anyone who has gone through a similar experience- I want and need you to know that you cannot blame yourself for what happened (I\u2019m working on this too), and that your emotions are valid.\n\nA little note: Sexual abuse happens way too frequently in a University setting where heavy drinking and partying are weekly (if not nightly) events filled with hormonal young men and women. Sexual abuse is defined as any undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another- whether it be an unwarranted slap on the behind, inappropriate cat-calling or plain disrespect for personal space. Everyone has the right to feel respected and comfortable with what\u2019s happening to their body. Going to a club does not mean that you\u2019ve consented to being inappropriately groped by people whom you\u2019ve never spoken to or met before and if you\u2019re feeling uncomfortable at any point, you have the right to say no. Respecting boundaries, understanding that no means no, and that drunken people aren\u2019t in the right state of mind to consent are all important lessons that we need to keep in mind before acting upon our desires.\n\nI\u2019m \u201cOkay\u201d\n\nI wish I knew what was wrong. I wish I knew why tears swell in my eyes and fall down my face. Or why there seems to be a stubborn grey cloud inside my head looming over every moment, that I can\u2019t blow away. I wish I could explain why I feel so empty, and why feeling empty is scarier than feeling anything at all. I wish I could force out the darkness, I wish I could make it go away.\n\nWhen I think of that night, I\u2019m filled with self loathing, filled with fear and hurt. Everyone says what he did was wrong, that he had no right to take advantage of my sleeping body. That even though my first answer had been yes, the moment I said no, the single-syllabled word should have been enough to keep him away. But when I look back on that night, I can\u2019t help but blame myself. The choices were mine and mine alone, the shots at the bar, getting into his car and following him home.\n\nI don\u2019t hate him because I\u2019ve made my peace with the fact that I hold part of the blame. My family and closest friends want me to report him, but I can\u2019t. I don\u2019t believe he\u2019s a bad guy, that he meant to hurt me, and I don\u2019t want to hurt him. What I do want, is to tell him how he made me feel. I wish I could tell him what it felt like to wake up in the middle of the night with him inside me. I wish he could see the tears that were streaming down my face, when I told him \u201cno\u201d and he continued thrusting, continued insisting that it would be okay. I wish I could tell him that he made me feel dirty, like trash on the roadside that was free for the taking. I wish he knew how I wanted to be anywhere but in his bed. I want him to know these things so that he can think before he acts the next time he brings someone home, before he makes another girl feel the way he made me feel.\n\nAnd I\u2019m sorry. I\u2019m sorry to my family- for putting them through this nightmare, for making them hurt for me. I\u2019m sorry to my friends, my friends who can\u2019t do anything but listen to me ramble nonsense from the sidelines.\n\nBut most of all, I\u2019m sorry to my body. I am sorry that I did not respect you enough that night to remove myself from the situation before things went so horribly wrong. I\u2019m sorry for the time that has passed since that night, for refusing to feed you, for welcoming physical pain to alleviate the mental burden. I\u2019m sorry for the sleepless nights and tear filled moments, crouched in a corner, tugging at your hair. I\u2019m sorry that I don\u2019t know why I feel this way, that I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on in my head, what\u2019s allowing me to so easily cause you harm. I want you to know that I am trying, I\u2019m trying to work through these emotions so that I can repair the relationship I have with you.\n\nI wish I knew what was wrong- so that I could fix the problem. So that when my friends and family ask how I\u2019m doing, I can be honest. But for now, I know I\u2019ve had better days and that there have been worse, so I guess if you\u2019d like to know how I\u2019m doing, the answer is I\u2019m \u201cokay\u201d.\n\nIf you have a story to share or are interested in being featured on the blog, reach out to one of the Mental Health Awareness Directors, or email us at engsocmha@gmail.com\n\nNote that this story was previously published on thought catalog: http://thoughtcatalog.com/anonymous/2017/03/what-i-really-mean-when-i-say-im-okay"}
-{"text": "Welcome to the decentralized future of money or an epic bubble. Or both.\n\nYes, Starbucks is getting into crypto\u2014just not at the cash register. At least not yet.\n\nThe coffee retailer on Friday announced Bakkt (pronounced \u201cbacked\u201d), a joint venture with the Intercontinental Stock Exchange (NYSE\u2019s parent), BCG, and Microsoft, among others. The new company aims to create a \u201cseamless global network\u201d for spending digital assets such as bitcoin. Starbucks\u2019 payments VP said the company would play \u201ca pivotal role in developing practical, trusted and regulated applications for consumers to convert their digital assets into US dollars for use at Starbucks.\u201d\n\nThat was enough for news outlets. Various headlines trumpeted the notion that Starbucks fans would soon be able to pay for their teas and lattes with bitcoin.\n\nOn Saturday, Starbucks corrected the record. \u201cIt is important to clarify that we are not accepting digital assets at Starbucks,\u201d a spokesman told Motherboard. \u201cRather the exchange will convert digital assets like Bitcoin into US dollars, which can be used at Starbucks.\u201d They added, succinctly: \u201cCustomers will not be able to pay for Frappuccinos with bitcoin.\u201d\n\nTo be sure, Starbucks\u2019 announcement does signal a major interest into the nascent crypto industry, and retail payments will be part of that. Already, the company is beating out Apple Pay and Google Pay when it comes to frequent users of its mobile payment app. Per Fortune:\n\nThe founding imperative for Bakkt will be to make Bitcoin a sound and secure offering for key constituents that now mostly shun it\u2014the world\u2019s big financial institutions. The goal is to clear the way for major money managers to offer Bitcoin mutual funds, pension funds, and ETFs, as highly regulated, mainstream investments. The next step after that could be using Bitcoin to replace your credit card.\n\nSo crypto for croissants may very well be in Starbucks\u2019 future. For now though, regular bucks/coins/cards/Mobile Pay only please."}
-{"text": "Malcom McDowell to Play Rupert Murdoch in Fox News Movie\n\nCharlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, John Lithgow and Margot Robbie will also star.\n\nAnnapurna Pictures' Fox News movie has found its Rupert Murdoch.\n\nMalcolm McDowell is set to play the News Corp. chairman and media mogul who hired Roger Ailes \u2014 the late, disgraced Fox News chairman (to be played by John Lithgow) \u2014 in the upcoming feature that centers on the women who took on the famed toxic male culture at the news network, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.\n\nMcDowell joins Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie, who will play Megyn Kelly, Gretchen Carlson and an associate producer, respectively.\n\nAnnapurna is financing and producing the project, which was written by The Big Short scribe Charles Randolph and will be directed by Jay Roach.\n\nTheron will produce the feature along with Beth Kono and AJ Dix via their Denver & Delilah banner. Roach, Randolph and Margaret Riley are also producing.\n\nThe still-untitled project is described as an ensemble pic, with other likely characters to include former anchor Greta Van Susteren and fired host Bill O'Reilly."}
-{"text": "Performances d\u00e9cevantes avec l\u2019Equipe de France, comportements douteux avec le Paris Saint-Germain, le petit Prince du football fran\u00e7ais n\u2019y est plus. La t\u00eate ailleurs, soucieux de son avenir, le jeune attaquant de 20 ans s\u2019impatiente d\u00e9j\u00e0 et ce n\u2019est pas la premi\u00e8re fois.\n\nClairefontaine \u00e0 12 ans, Monaco \u00e0 14, les Bleus \u00e0 18. Sur papier, une chose est claire : Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 bat tous les records de pr\u00e9cocit\u00e9. D\u00e8s son plus jeune \u00e2ge, le jeune de Bondy \u00e9voquait le Ballon d\u2019Or et la ligue des Champions. Une ambition qui n\u2019a cess\u00e9 de cro\u00eetre. Une ambition sans freins, qui br\u00fble parfois les \u00e9tapes.\n\nLes d\u00e9buts d\u2019une ambition sans limites \u00e0 Monaco\n\nA l\u2019\u00e2ge de 14 ans, Mbapp\u00e9 int\u00e9grait le centre de formation de l\u2019AS Monaco. A cette \u00e9poque il \u00e9volue avec les moins de 17 ans, entrain\u00e9 par Bruno Irles. Seulement, avec ce dernier les relations ne sont pas au beau fixe. Agac\u00e9 par son manque d\u2019humilit\u00e9, Irles ne portait pas vraiment d\u2019importance au jeune attaquant. D\u2019apr\u00e8s le Parisien, dans une note confidentielle, l\u2019entra\u00eeneur \u00e9crivait d\u00e9j\u00e0 : \u201cBeaucoup de difficult\u00e9s avec l\u2019autorit\u00e9, les r\u00e8gles, la discipline, et un gros manque d\u2019humilit\u00e9\u201d. Un portrait qui n\u2019a certainement pas plu au clan Mbapp\u00e9 qui, au final, remporte la bataille.\n\nEn 2015, \u00e0 seulement 16 ans, Kylian rejoint les moins de 19 ans et fait briller son \u00e9quipe. Un talent sans \u00e9gal et son p\u00e8re en est bien conscient. Aux manettes depuis le d\u00e9but de la carri\u00e8re de son fils, Wilfried Mbapp\u00e9 est l\u2019ultime d\u00e9cisionnaire. Aussi ambitieux que son fils, voir plus, il n\u2019h\u00e9site pas \u00e0 br\u00fbler les \u00e9tapes. Apr\u00e8s une saison chez les U19, son p\u00e8re exige d\u00e9j\u00e0 que son fils int\u00e8gre l\u2019\u00e9quipe pro. Un bras de fer avec l\u2019entraineur de l\u2019\u00e9quipe r\u00e9serve, Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Barilaro, et les Mbapp\u00e9 sortent encore vainqueurs. Kylian int\u00e8gre le groupe CFA aussi vite qu\u2019il le quittera quelques mois plus tard. En effet, son p\u00e8re ne se contentera pas de ce surclassement d\u00e9j\u00e0 bien anticip\u00e9. Non, l\u2019objectif est l\u2019\u00e9quipe premi\u00e8re et, encore une fois, cet objectif sera atteint plus vite que pr\u00e9vu. Apr\u00e8s multiples n\u00e9gociations et discussions avec le club, Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 int\u00e8gre la Ligue 1, le 2 d\u00e9cembre 2015 \u00e0 16 ans. Deux mois et demi plus tard, le joueur cr\u00e9e l\u2019exploit et devient le plus jeune buteur de l\u2019histoire du club.\n\nMalgr\u00e9 tout, Leonardo Jardim, refuse d\u2019en faire un titulaire indiscutable. Une situation bien \u00e9videmment inacceptable aux yeux du p\u00e8re et du fils. D\u2019apr\u00e8s les informations de Mediapart, le p\u00e8re va jusqu\u2019\u00e0 demander une clause sp\u00e9ciale dans le contrat de son fils, lui garantissant son temps de jeu. Une premi\u00e8re pour la Ligue. Cette requ\u00eate sera finalement rejet\u00e9e. Apr\u00e8s divers coups de pression, Kylian finira par prolonger son contrat \u00e0 Monaco tout en touchant un salaire \u00e9norme du haut de ses 17 ans (1 million d\u2019euros brut par an, 1,5 la saison d\u2019apr\u00e8s). Encore une fois, l\u2019attaquant fait ce qu\u2019il fait de mieux et emm\u00e8ne son club en demi-finale de la Ligue des Champions (ce qu\u2019il attend toujours au PSG\u2026).\n\nLe PSG, pas assez ?\n\nC\u2019est sur cette note que son aventure se terminera sur le Rocher. Encore une fois, le clan Mbapp\u00e9 demande beaucoup et cette fois-ci \u00e7a ne passe pas. Le jeune joueur demandait une augmentation de 16 fois son salaire, soit 8 millions d\u2019euros par an. On connait alors la suite, Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 sera transf\u00e9r\u00e9 au Paris Saint-Germain pour 180 millions d\u2019euros. Il deviendra alors le deuxi\u00e8me joueur le mieux pay\u00e9 de Ligue 1, de quoi faire gonfler les chevilles. Mis \u00e0 part des requ\u00eates pour le moins surprenantes, l\u2019attaquant veut toujours plus, financi\u00e8rement mais surtout sportivement. Propuls\u00e9 dans un des vestiaires les plus puissants d\u2019Europe, le jeune parisien est loin d\u2019\u00eatre impressionn\u00e9 et n\u2019h\u00e9site pas \u00e0 se placer au m\u00eame rang qu\u2019un Cavani, Neymar ou encore Di Maria. Si ses d\u00e9buts au sein du club \u00e9taient plus que prometteurs, la situation a quelque peu chang\u00e9 au fur et \u00e0 mesure des performances du club. Avec uniquement le titre de Champion de France, le jeune adulte ne se sent pas combl\u00e9. Il ne tardera pas \u00e0 le faire savoir ce fameux soir des troph\u00e9es de l\u2019UNFP. \u201cPlus de responsabilit\u00e9s\u201d demande-t-il en n\u2019oubliant pas de pr\u00e9ciser \u201cPeut-\u00eatre au PSG, peut-\u00eatre ailleurs\u201d. Un coup de pression inattendu, maladroit, mais s\u00fbrement bien entendu par les dirigeants du club.\n\nMbapp\u00e9 en veut toujours plus, une attitude qui commence \u00e0 agacer le vestiaire. Le num\u00e9ro 7 devient de plus en perso et n\u2019a en t\u00eate que ses propres statistiques. Le Soulier d\u2019Or en vue, l\u2019attaquant oublie la notion d\u2019esprit d\u2019\u00e9quipe et d\u00e9cide de filer droit au but, manquant souvent l\u2019occasion pour le club et ses co\u00e9quipiers d\u2019inscrire un but. Lors de la finale perdue de la Coupe de France, Neymar n\u2019avait pas h\u00e9sit\u00e9 \u00e0 faire passer un message aux jeunes du vestiaire. \u201cLes jeunes, ils sont un peu perdus, ils n\u2019\u00e9coutent pas. Les anciens donnent des conseils mais ils r\u00e9pondent. LE coach donne des consignes mais ils r\u00e9pondent\u201d confiait-il en zone mixte. Un agacement justifi\u00e9 face l\u2019arrogance de certains dans le vestiaire parisien.\n\nLe m\u00eame ph\u00e9nom\u00e8ne se ressent en s\u00e9lection nationale o\u00f9 le joueur a encore une fois fait preuve d\u2019individualisme contre la Turquie. Outre ses performances sportives, le num\u00e9ro 10 de la s\u00e9lection appara\u00eet en retrait, agac\u00e9, fr\u00f4lant l\u2019attitude de la crise d\u2019ado. Un comportement qui traduit un profond malaise, aliment\u00e9 par l\u2019incertitude quant \u00e0 son avenir au PSG. Une incertitude qui ne risque pas de s\u2019apaiser avec le retour de Leonardo. En effet, le d\u00e9part d\u2019Antero est loin d\u2019\u00eatre une bonne nouvelle pour le clan Mbapp\u00e9. Celui qui avait tout fait pour ramener le Mon\u00e9gasque dans la capitale, il \u00e9tait l\u2019alli\u00e9 du jeune attaquant et de son p\u00e8re. Au tour de Leonardo maintenant d\u2019\u00e9tablir une relation de confiance avec toute la famille Mbapp\u00e9. Entour\u00e9 par des rumeurs de d\u00e9parts, le nouveau directeur sportif doit plus que jamais redoubler d\u2019efforts pour garder le jeune prodige au sein du PSG. Le Real n\u2019est jamais bien loin\u2026\n\nCr\u00e9dit photo : Nine.prod"}
-{"text": "cr; thefreethoughtproject.com/parking-ticket-fast-assaulted/ A video was uploaded to facebook Monday that started as a routine traffic ticket stop.The 3 men in the video were travelling together when the driverallegedly parked his car on a sidewalk. Chicago PD showed up to issue aparking citation.In the video, we can see that after the Officer is finished writingout the ticket, he moves to hand the ticket to the man receiving it.When the man takes the ticket from the officer, he is obviously upsetthat he just got a ticket, and pulls it out of the officer\u2019s handsquickly.At this point the Chicago PD officer becomes enraged and assaults the man. He grabs him by the neck and slams him into the wall.When the man asks why he is being arrested, the officer replies, \u201cyou are being stupid.\u201dThis officer should have let well enough alone, he has now left the Chicago tax payers wide open for another lawsuit."}
-{"text": "Two Americans and two Canadians who were kidnapped in Nigeria's north-central Kaduna state on Tuesday have been freed and are in good condition, police said Saturday.\n\nPolice and a special anti-kidnapping squad rescued the foreigners in the Kagarko local government area Friday night after a massive manhunt, state police commissioner Agyole Abeh said.\n\n\"No ransom was paid. It was the efforts of the police through the directives of the Inspector General of Police that led to their release,\" he said.\n\nOne suspect was arrested in connection with the kidnapping and police were on the trail of remaining suspects, Abeh said.\n\nThe foreigners have been taken to the capital, Abuja, Kaduna state police spokesman Mukhtar Aliyu said.\n\n\"They are in good condition but due to trauma they have to undergo medical observation.\" Aliyu said.\n\nGunmen ambushed the foreigners Tuesday as they traveled from Kafanchan in Kaduna state to Abuja. Two police escorts were killed in what police called a \"fierce gun battle.\"\n\nThe Americans and Canadians have not been publicly identified. Aliyu earlier said they are investors setting up solar stations in villages around Kafanchan.\n\nKidnapping for ransom is common in Nigeria, especially on the Kaduna to Abuja highway. Two German archaeologists were seized at gunpoint last year less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Abuja and later freed unharmed. Sierra Leone's deputy high commissioner was taken at gunpoint on the highway in 2016 and held for five days before he was let go.\n\nVictims typically are released unharmed after ransom is paid, though security forces have rescued a few high-profile abductees. A number of bandits, including herdsmen, have been arrested."}
-{"text": "Vladimir Alekseev,\n\nEspecially for Iran.ru\n\nUnited States moving to a new strategy toward Russia and Iran. The task - to weaken and then destroy the current state and the political structure of the two countries, as well as subdue the giant oil and gas resources of the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran, turning them into an obedient tool of conservation of American dominance, both in Europe and in Asia. But Moscow and Tehran are able to disrupt the new \"old\" ideas of Washington, as declared by NATO's plans in Wales. After all, NATO - this is the United States.\n\nMeasures taken today by the Obama administration with regard to Russia and Iran, largely duplicate items Reagan strategy, adopted in 1982 on a narrow closed meeting top officials of the American administration, which was not even invited to the Vice-President George Bush Sr. (he was not interested in the implementation of this plan by himself as representing the interests of the oil sector, the United States). Together with Saudi Arabia, which has dramatically increased the release of oil to the world market, Washington has brought down the price of Soviet oil, the cost of production of which was equal to its export price. Its significant role in reducing the country has played \"the Afghan campaign\", but the ridge of a powerful state broke destructive course \"perestroika\" in the face of Gorbachev - Shevardnadze - Yakovlev. As a result, the Soviet Union, one of the great empires of the twentieth century, after several years of economic crisis and political turmoil has disappeared from the world map.\n\nTop secret meeting of senior leadership of the USA in a narrow range\n\nWill the United States to repeat its success this time? In the first months after the second coming of Vladimir Putin as president in May 2012, it became obvious: to replace the \"reset\" Washington will develop a new strategy for Russia. And after the failure of the aggressive policy of NATO in Ukraine and in the Middle East, which once again shows the beginning of the decline of the American empire, the ruling group became the United States urgently looking for a new course. Not by chance, as in 1982, this time on the eve of the recent NATO summit in Wales and Minsk meeting of representatives of Ukraine and the New Russia to conclude an armistice again held under the deepest secrecy meeting closed part of the senior American leadership with the participation of heads of intelligence agencies, the Pentagon and foreign policy strategists in the \"narrow\" line up. Objective - essentially correct course in a dramatic weakening and further disintegration of Russia by its dismemberment, and to take urgent measures to restore its presence in the Middle East. It turned into a \"fixed by the idea\" for the USA in 2012, as soon as it became clear that Russia has gained strength and made her independent of Washington's positions on a number of issues: Syria, Iran, limiting the activities of pro-Western liberal forces within Russia, and then to the Crimea and the situation in Ukraine. And, from Washington's perspective, already quite beyond the \"permitted\" - the creation of the summer of this year, alternative international institutions within the BRICS and the SCO. Washington especially frightened the possibility of forming an axis Russia - China - Iran with a possible connection to it in the future and India. It is, believe in the United States, would mean not only the loss of the America's global role, for which she stubbornly clings to, but also the loss of control over the main sources of hydrocarbons from the supply of which depends on future economic prosperity of the West. After all, Moscow and the Persian Gulf - or rather, the Russian Federation, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Qatar - the main suppliers of oil and gas to Europe and Asian markets. That is, the further development and strengthening of the power of China and India, too, depends on what is happening in Russia and the Persian Gulf.\n\nAfter losing to Ukraine, Washington desperately searching for alternative directions strike against Russia. Given that the declared measures to strengthen NATO presence in Eastern Europe on the Russian western borders has, to put it mildly, ridiculous (5,000 soldiers of rapid reaction forces in Poland, Romania and the Baltic states), the United States decided to deploy an offensive from the south, where it is still bogged down in 2013 due to the inability of the West to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad, to be protected and which firmly stood together Russia and Iran. Thus, the onset of the US accents, and thus NATO, as the North Atlantic Alliance and America - it's the same thing, again transferred to the Middle East, this time with a focus on Iran and Iraq. After all, Iran's output after removing it sanctions and Iraq after the stabilization of the situation there as a major Middle Eastern oil and gas suppliers to the world market by the years 2018-2020 (estimated to the two countries will be able to export only the daily oil production to 20 million. Barrels per day) significantly reduce the role of the pro-Western Saudi Arabia, export opportunities for oil which does not exceed 10-11 million. barrels per day. And then there's growing regional role of Iran in political terms, the preservation of Tehran independent from the West course, the development of a peaceful nuclear program of Iran and its desire to enter the BRICS and the SCO.\n\nThe current American events - complete destabilization of Ukraine, economic sanctions, anti-pipeline construction - almost literally repeated paragraphs strategy Reagan to destroy the USSR, but in an updated version. But they were not enough as due to the inability of Kiev military means to overcome the resistance of New Russia, the unwillingness of many EU member states fully \"go\" under Washington not to lose the Russian market, and not be left without Russian gas, and because of the fact that without Iran, Iraq and Syria is impossible to create a viable alternative to the project \"South Stream\". A pro-US opportunities dwarf the emirate of Qatar LNG is not enough even for a considerable decrease in the price of Russian gas to the EU. Another thing - the eruption of Iranian gas to Europe with its largest field \"South Pars\" and start gas exports from Iraq, which is scheduled for 2016.\n\nOnly now with Iran and Iraq the United States themselves have painted themselves into a dead end, imposing economic and financial sanctions on Iran because of its nuclear program and destroying the foundations of the Iraqi state after the occupation of that country in 2003. But here still created with the United States, NATO, Turkey and Arabia Wahhabi regimes monster face LIH (now called simply the IG - Islamic State) for the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, who in June this year, he moved to Iraq and nearly captured Baghdad, at the same time proclaiming the creation of an Islamic caliphate. Just a quick and effective assistance of Iran and Russia have saved mode then regime of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki from total collapse. And now on the meeting held recently in Washington sverhzakrytom meeting decided - to use Middle Eastern Islamists to incite extremist and separatist sentiment in the Northern Caucasus with possible extrusion there IG militants from Iraq and Syria, especially terrorists \"Russian origin\", as well as instability in other Russian Muslim regions (the Volga region, metropolitan areas) to create a new force within the overall \"fifth column\" in Russia, and at the same time in parallel to take all steps for the separation of Iran from Russia and weaken Baghdad's cooperation with Russia, including in the energy sector (oil projects with the participation of Gazprom Neft and Lukoil).\n\nBids of Washington\n\nThe main rate is now Iran, more precisely, the rapid degeneration of the ruling class of the Iranian national Islamist in pro-Western liberal. You bet on the lead group president Hassan Rouhani and its supporting polusvetskih politicians and businessmen from the religious leaders of the country, headed by spiritual leader Ali Khamenei, as well as from the command of the IRGC. Thus, the White House is fixed rejection of the idea of overthrowing the current Iranian regime in its expansion plan from the inside by a pro-Western \"modification\" of the political, economic and cultural elite of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the promotion of domestic opposition to weaken the power of the current leadership, inciting ethnic tensions between the Persians, on the one hand, Azerbaijanis Kurds, Bellugi, etc. - On the other. In this case, the United States, using NATO as some kind of international cover and already decided to implement it to oust Iran from Iraq, the transformation of the current Iraqi authorities after the departure of Nuri al-Maliki as prime minister from the point of focus on Iran and the development of relations with the Russian Federation on the pro-Western course and normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia and the Sunni monarchies of the GCC.\n\nAll this, according to the Washington strategists, will allow along with armed agents under the guise of fighting terrorism in the face of the IG significantly strengthen the American military presence, and some of their allies in the British, Australians, Poles, etc. in Iraq. And later, not only with the Air, but the land component for the subsequent deployment of a military operation against Syria on its territory, but only from the east, and again under the pretext of fighting terrorism.\n\nWashington is ready to begin the bombing of the CAP in the areas where the IG units, as well as to resume military aid polusvetskoy opposition in the face of the Syrian Free Army (SSA). In said closed meeting in Washington finally came to the conclusion - to disrupt the gasket \"South Stream\" with the help of Iran can not, through the establishment of Iran LNG capacity to western financial investments (it is expensive and takes a lot of time), and by the construction of the main gas pipeline from Iran to injection into it and Qatari gas from the South Pars field in common - North Field, then adding to it the Iraqi gas and then - through Syria to the Mediterranean coast and from there to the ATS Southern Europe, or else from Syria to Turkey and the Balkans.\n\nThis project - quickly implemented and not too expensive. But as long as there is one \"but\" - the need to first convert the regimes in Iran, Iraq and Syria to the pro-American, and without the use of force, sabotage, subversive activities, involvement of the financial resources of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, this is impossible. Therefore, we must prepare for new wars and \"revolutions\" in the Middle East, but not islamistsko- \"colored\", and pro-Western liberal. Both Iran here - the main target. Without changing the inside or outside of the regime in Tehran, the United States did not implement this new strategic plan, built on the basis of the old ideas of the Reagan years. That is nothing new.\n\nUS plans are the same\n\nThe strategy of Washington at that time was laid to attack the weaknesses of the Soviet political and economic system. Measures of economic and financial order were intended to dramatically reduce the inflow of foreign currency in the budget of the USSR. The reduction in revenue budget limited the domestic and foreign policy of the Soviet Union. The point of this part of the plan was the following:\n\n1. To prevent the construction of a second gas pipeline from Siberia to Western Europe. (Start the first line of the pipeline was detained efforts in Washington to 2.5 years). Each branch gave 12-15 billion dollars in revenue a year. Available on the second branch would double the sale of gas and, consequently, the Soviet foreign exchange earnings. US's European allies have imposed a \"ceiling\" of 30% of the consumption of Soviet gas; imposed sanctions on five European companies (licensees of American companies and American subsidiaries abroad, the three of them went bankrupt), provides equipment for the Soviet gas transmission system; banned the use of drilling technologies permafrost; Oslo obliged to develop a gas field in the Norwegian Troll, despite the higher cost of goods sold of Norwegian gas to Europe (\"surcharge for security\"); banned commercial banks lending to the construction of gas pipelines in the USSR.\n\n2. Sharply lower oil prices. The Saudis then behaved very tractable in terms of increased production. Every dollar reduction in the price of a barrel of oil costing Moscow around from five million to one billion dollars. Personally, William Casey, the CIA director, was responsible for negotiations with Saudi Arabia on the issue. He was engaged in that part of the equation figured natural gas. Saudi Arabia, in exchange for its tractability, has acquired the right to purchase to protect against the \"Iranian threat\" of aircraft systems and guidance radiodetection AWACS.\n\n3. Stop the granting of loans to the Soviet Union and to force it to early payment of interest on loans. Guide commercial banks summoned to the White House and clearly impress: in addition to the extraction of profits is the interests of national security, against which they have no right to go.\n\n4. Prohibit delivery technologies. A ban on the transfer of technology has been implemented through the Coordinating Committee on Export Controls.\n\n5. Subversive and sabotage activities in the allied countries of the USSR. It was decided to organize subversive activities in Poland by the Catholic Church and the trade union \"Solidarity\" movement, to give them a secret financial, intelligence and political support. It was also decided to extend military support to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan under Reagan Washington has significantly increased the volume of deliveries of arms, added the types of weapons that could inflict maximum damage to the Soviet contingent, particularly MANPADS \"Stinger\", supplied the information from the satellites, attracted to the promotion of the mujahideen other countries - from China to Sweden. The aim was to spread the Mujahideen through the war to the Soviet Union. A comprehensive, multi-dimensional and an elaborate psychological warfare in order to sow fear and uncertainty among the Soviet leadership.\n\nThe Reagan administration's plan was developed and implemented in an atmosphere of secrecy. Knew about it only 12 people. I did not know about the plan even Vice President George Bush: Reagan's closest associates found that the oil interests of his family clan could interfere with the planned reduction in oil prices. One of the most important points of the Reagan strategy was to force the Europeans to follow the plan. According to Washington, Western Europe too profitable trades with the Soviet Union, instead of \"taking care of their own security.\" The Reagan administration demanded from Europeans to abandon the construction of the pipeline, which would create tens of thousands of jobs in Europe in the years of the highest unemployment rates, abandon a guaranteed supply of inexpensive Soviet gas and instead invest heavily in the development of Norwegian fields, and then buy expensive Norwegian gas. So after thirty years the Obama administration has developed a similar plan - now with regard to Russia and Iran. Let's see his match on points.\n\nEconomic and financial measures: three rounds of economic sanctions have already been implemented; opposition to the construction of the gas pipeline \"South Stream\" being the most active; a ban on the supply of equipment for underground mining, drilling the Arctic shelf and shale deposits - similar to the ban on the supply of drilling technologies permafrost; is the maximum pressure on European countries to those at the expense of their own interests, followed by American sanctions; also put pressure on other countries, particularly in Latin America, which are able to substitute for European exports to Russia, after he was hit by retaliatory sanctions. Instead of Norway as a source of gas for Europe elected Iran and Iraq. And now they run against a set of measures 'impact'.\n\nIf in 1982, Washington attacked the USSR through Poland and Afghanistan, then in 2013 set made in Europe through Ukraine, and the Middle East - from Syria. Line of attack is much closer to the borders of Russia itself has been going on the attack by military means. And all this we see only in the public space. In fact, the Obama administration's strategy of not less secretive than Reagan's strategy, which became known only years later, after it has produced results.\n\nOf course, the question arises: who today develops and implements a strategy against Russia and Iran? One of them - the current director of the CIA, John Brennan. He was previously head of the residency management in Saudi Arabia and, of course, has all the necessary contacts and tools to work with the Saudis. Accordingly, he knows well and Iran as the main opponent of Riyadh region. His trip to the Ukraine also highlights it as one of the band members present Washington strategists. But there are others. And almost all of them - not the public figures who are constantly flashed on television screens.\n\n************\n\nThe main thing for Russia and Iran - urgently deploy countermeasures against Washington's plans aimed at regime change in both countries. Help governments survive Syria and Iraq. And at the same time to create your own effective energy axis, capable to hold global and regional markets of hydrocarbons in their interests. Moscow and Tehran must understand that the United States and NATO is now run all the levers of ideological and economic impact to divide Russia and Iran, and the \"overcome\" them individually. Strength - only in unity. And there is no time to think. There is time only for decisive joint action."}
-{"text": "A substitute teacher in Pearland, Texas, called the police this week because she feared a 6-year-old Muslim boy with Down syndrome was a terrorist.\n\nFox 26 Houston reports that Mohammad Suleiman, the 6-year-old son of Pearland resident Maher Suleiman, got into trouble at school after his elementary school teacher called the police and told them that the boy kept repeating the words \u201cAllah\u201d and \u201cboom.\u201d\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not true, he doesn\u2019t speak at all,\u201d said Suleiman of his son, who was born with Down syndrome chromosome 21.\n\nThe teacher\u2019s phone call to police prompted both a police investigation and a Child Protective Services investigation into the Suleiman family.\n\n\u201cThe last three to four weeks have been the hardest of my life,\u201d said Maher Suleiman. \u201cMy wife and kids were crying a few days ago and I told them everything is fine.\u201d\n\nThe Pearland Police Department says that it has concluded its investigation and has found no need to take further action, while the Child Protective Services department says its investigation is ongoing.\n\nWatch Fox 26 Houston\u2019s report on the incident below."}
-{"text": "If you don't control your mind, you are a victim of it. Meditation has endured over thousands of years, with no shortage of scientific studies confirming its effectiveness.\n\nOne of the ultimate measures of adulthood isn\u2019t how much we\u2019ve accomplished, but all that we\u2019re able to weather. As we strike out on our own we\u2019re going to encounter challenges, and no matter how many we overcome there\u2019s always going to be more. When times get tough, the only option we have is to get tougher. How do we accomplish that?\n\nMeditation.\n\nThe term might conjure up images of mountain temples or austere monks holding crane poses beneath freezing waterfalls. Or perhaps you might imagine smelly yoga mats, scented candles, and tofu-jerky (yes, it tastes as bad as it sounds).\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s just not my thing,\u201d you might be tempted to say, but at this stage in our lives meditation isn\u2019t just good for us, it\u2019s essential. And as strange as it might seem at first, it simply comes down to knowing what you want and how to get there.\n\nKnow What You Want\n\nLet's be clear here: Meditation is not going to grant you a sudden burst of enlightenment. If you're looking for some brilliant epiphany that\u2019ll reveal the secrets of the universe you\u2019re in for disappointment. Meditation is likewise not going to make you a genius or grant you the ability to kill a bear in a single punch (as awesome as that would be). It\u2019s not going to make life\u2019s trials and tribulations go away.\n\nIt will, however, make them easier to deal with.\n\nMeditation isn\u2019t (as a lot of people mistakenly believe) about draining oneself of all thoughts and feelings, but instead focuses on being able to recognize, isolate, and control one\u2019s emotions. At its core it\u2019s a workout routine, designed to strengthen your resolve, willpower, and ability to handle stress.\n\nRepeated meditation produces a host of health benefits both mental and physical. While stress relief is definitely the most well-known, research has consistently shown that meditation helps promote compassion and empathy, reduces blood pressure, and (most importantly) increases activity in the areas of the brain associated with rational thinking, planning, logic, and willpower. Every time we meditate we not only help ourselves let go of the junk we\u2019ve picked up through the day, but improve at unburdening ourselves as well. Quite simply, meditation isn\u2019t just good for us, it can actually help make us good.\n\nAnd on that note\u2026\n\nKnow That It Won't Be As Hard As You Imagine\n\nOne of the reasons we\u2019re so quick to write off meditation isn\u2019t because it looks too complicated, but because it looks too simple.\n\nJust focus on breathing? Sit quietly? Do some stretches? There\u2019s no way that\u2019s going to produce any profound sense of serenity; it can\u2019t be that easy!\n\nAh, but it is.\n\nNow make no mistake, meditation is a discipline. Like any discipline it requires effort and practice. Nevertheless, a simple perspective change can make all the difference in the world.\n\nThe reason we can get frustrated at meditation is our inability to keep our minds from wandering. We\u2019re used to being bombarded with a hundred different thoughts at once \u2013 at any given time we\u2019re contemplating both what we\u2019re going to have for dinner and where we\u2019re headed in life (if there\u2019s a time for existential crisis, it\u2019s your 20s). When we find ourselves struggling to sit still for ten seconds, let alone ten minutes, we feel like we\u2019re failing. No matter how hard we try, we just can\u2019t shut things off.\n\nAnd that\u2019s normal \u2013 heck, that\u2019s fine. Our minds are meant to be used, and contrary to what you might have been led to believe, there\u2019s nothing wrong with letting your thoughts drift.\n\nRemember that meditation isn\u2019t about emptying ourselves of thought but being able to look at ourselves from a neutral perspective.\n\nIt\u2019s about being able to get out of our own heads (even for just a moment) and realistically and impartially assess what we\u2019re really feeling. Anger, sadness, and anxiety in particular can seem so powerful because we blindly experience them.\n\nMeditation allows us to look at ourselves clearly and understand \u201cHey, I\u2019m upset \u2013 depressed, anxious, sad, or angry \u2013 (and that\u2019s ok)\u201d. Simply stepping back lets us not only identify our feelings, but disentangle ourselves from them. They\u2019re still there (as they should be \u2013 you\u2019re not a robot) but they don\u2019t control us. By learning to witness your emotions and physical feelings instead of just experiencing them, you gain the invaluable tool of then learning to control them.\n\nYou\u2019re not trying to keep yourself from feeling certain things; you\u2019re empowering yourself to experience them almost as a third party. By separating yourself from your thoughts and automatic emotions, you\u2019re instantly able to put them in perspective and question their validity or intensity.\n\nKnow How You Want To Do It\n\nNow maybe you\u2019ve tried meditation before and, after an hour of shrill new age music and trying to twist yourself into \u201cdownwards-saluting-seagull\u201d or the \u201cpretzel-of-discomfort\u201d, figured that it just wasn\u2019t your thing. Don\u2019t despair just yet. Incense and bamboo might not be your speed, but don\u2019t write off meditation because of it. Meditation is about restoring your sense of balance, returning to a mentally centered state, and how that\u2019s achieved is going to differ from one person to another. What makes one person calm is going to irritate someone else, and there\u2019s nothing wrong with that. You just have to find your way of restoring yourself.\n\nAnd there\u2019s no shortage of options. Here are 3 of the most common:\n\nMindfulness\n\nMindfulness (sometimes called \u201cmindful meditation\u201d) emphasizes awareness and presence in the moment starting with the most basic of our bodily functions: breathing. This brand of meditation teaches us not to empty ourselves of thought, but to be able to distinguish thought from reality. As our minds drift (and they will drift), we\u2019ll be able to better distinguish our actual thoughts and emotions, understand what\u2019s causing them, and subsequently learn to control them rather than letting them control us.\n\nThis video succinctly explains how to get started:\n\nMantra/Recitation\n\nThe world\u2019s a scary place, and scariest when we\u2019re first trying to make our way in it. The first few years of adulthood will not be easy as we try to get a handle on life and deal with a whole host of uncertainties and unknowns. In times like this having a personal mantra can make all the difference.\n\nA mantra is simply a set of words we recite to ourselves over and over. It can be as short as a sentence or as long as a poem (though shorter\u2019s usually easier to remember). Think of it almost as a psychological anchor. No matter how chaotic life can get, or how clouded the future might seem, we have this little piece of familiarity \u2013 something to help us regain our center.\n\nWalking Meditation\n\nFor some of us, no matter how noble our intentions or mighty our resolve, sitting still just isn\u2019t going to cut it. Don\u2019t despair, there\u2019s a solution for you as well. Walking meditation (sometimes called \u201ckinhin\u201d) provides a combination of mindfulness and mantra, giving us a chance to get into our rhythm (with measured pacing) and to focus on breathing at the same time.\n\nRead Live and Dare's complete introduction to walking meditation.\n\nTai Chi\n\nThink there\u2019s no way to meditate and look like a badass? Think again. This form of meditation evolved from a 500 year old Chinese martial art, and while Tai Chi\u2019s choreographed stances can make it one of the most complex forms of meditation, it can also be the most fun. Beyond being used by Jet Li (and what other reason could you want?), chances are high that there are regular (and free) Tai Chi classes practiced wherever you\u2019re living. Simply search for Tai Chi classes in your area.\n\nKnow Where and When You'll Be Doing It\n\nWhile we should have the ultimate goal of being able to meditate anywhere it\u2019s more than likely that we\u2019re going to need a set place (and time) to get started. A real master might be able to restore serenity in bumper-to-bumper traffic, but we\u2019ll probably need to start out someplace more reasonable.\n\nFirst and foremost, wherever we pick to meditate should be removed from distractions. Turn off the radio, close the laptop, and if your dryer rumbles and howls like a wounded bison it may be best to leave it off until you\u2019re done. If you\u2019re going to meditate, then meditate \u2013 this isn\u2019t an exercise you can half-ass. If there\u2019s something you have to take care of that\u2019ll distract you otherwise, go take care of it now. It\u2019s tough to quiet the noise inside our heads, we don\u2019t need any external junk piled on.\n\nTo really lock down your practice and your progress, decide on a schedule. \u201cTuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings, after coffee\u201d or \u201ceveryday before dinner\u201d. Specific and actionable, not just \u201cstart meditating more.\u201d\n\nNow while you probably don\u2019t own your own mountain-top cabin or placid rock garden, having something green nearby is probably going to help. One of the chief hurdles we have to overcome is extricating ourselves from the rush of daily life and the tyranny of our schedules. Something natural \u2013 a house plant, a fountain, anything \u2013 will help us remember that our schedules aren\u2019t the only ones out there.\n\nOf course, technology isn\u2019t always the enemy. There are a number of great apps out on the market designed to help remind us to meditate, provide helpful tips, and even recommend specific exercises custom-tailored to our present emotions (the Stop, Breathe, & Think app is a great place to start).\n\nKnow That You'll Have To Keep Doing It\n\nDon\u2019t for a second think that this going to happen immediately. Some days will be rougher than others, some days you\u2019ll just forget, and there\u2019ll even be some days where you\u2019ll wonder if it\u2019s even worth it.\n\nThat's all part of the point of doing it, and it absolutely is.\n\nSlowly but surely we\u2019re going to learn to master ourselves: to feel, but not be ruled by feeling, to think, but not get lost in a vicious vortex of over-analysis. Pressure that would\u2019ve crushed us before will be bearable. Dilemmas that would\u2019ve seemed insurmountable before won\u2019t be able to scare us the same way. In enough time, they won\u2019t scare us at all. Our problems can be big- we can be bigger.\n\nYou will get there."}
-{"text": "Cute ginger twink. 19. About 5ft10 160 I'd say a little over 7\" and uncut. Saw him on grindr omw home from a friends and he was at some office building and could only meet up in the famly bathroom lol. Asked him if he wanted it quick or to last and he said quick so...\n\nCute ginger twink. 19. About 5ft10 160 I'd say a little over 7\" and uncut. Saw him on grindr omw home from a friends and he was at some office building and could only meet up in the famly bathroom lol. Asked him if he wanted it quick or to last and he said quick so that's what he got lol. Ended up jerking his load all over my lips :) Last part might look different cause I did the cumshot on Snapchat lol."}
-{"text": "President Obama pressed his \u201cwe can\u2019t wait\u201d campaign Saturday, accusing Republicans of stonewalling job-creating proposals.\n\nThe White House has begun taking high-profile, unilateral action on measures it says will help the economy. Obama highlighted those steps in his weekly address.\n\n\u201cThe truth is, we can no longer wait for Congress to do its job,\u201d Obama said. \u201cThe middle-class families who\u2019ve been struggling for years are tired of waiting. They need help now. So where Congress won\u2019t act, I will.\u201d\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nThe administration is trying to get community health centers to hire veterans, and last week it announced new measures to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.\n\n\u201cThese steps will make a difference. But they won\u2019t take the place of the bold action we need from Congress to get this economy moving again,\u201d Obama said before urging listeners to contact their representatives.\n\nHouse Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said that he has \"great concerns\" that Obama might be exceeding his constitutional authority in ordering his administration to adjust regulations surrounding \"underwater\" mortgages and student loans, saying, \"this idea that you are just going to go around the Congress is ... almost laughable.\"\n\nObama\u2019s address also pitched his jobs bill, which has gotten a lukewarm response in Congress. Although many congressional Democrats don\u2019t support Obama\u2019s proposal, at least in its entirety, the president\u2019s address primarily criticized Republican leaders for not advancing the bill.\n\n\u201cUnfortunately, Republicans in Congress aren\u2019t paying attention,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re not getting the message. Over and over, they have refused to even debate the same kind of jobs proposals that Republicans have supported in the past \u2026 And yet, somehow, they found time this week to debate things like whether or not we should mint coins to celebrate the Baseball Hall of Fame.\u201d\n\nHouse Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Thursday said the Republican House isn't waiting for him on jobs but the Senate is another story.\n\n\"The president has traveled the country telling Americans 'we can't wait' to pass some job bills. Well, we aren't waiting. We continue to pass job bills. Perhaps it's time for the president to deliver the 'we can't wait' message to the other body in the Capitol,\" Cantor said.\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Apple took a more than $40 billion hit today after reporting its second-quarter earnings \u2014 and it was bleak. Shares of Apple were down more than 8 percent in after-hours trading at one point today.\n\nThings went about as poorly as you could expect: the company couldn\u2019t hit revenue or earnings targets, iPhone sales fell off a cliff from the year-ago quarter, and its third-quarter guidance was pretty tepid. In short, it was not a good quarter for Apple, which blamed comparisons to a strong year-ago quarter and macroeconomic problems.\n\nFirst, the scorecard:\n\nRevenue: $50.6 billion, compared to $58 billion a year ago and $52 billion that analysts were expecting\n\nEarnings: $1.90 per share, compared to analyst estimates of $2\n\nGuidance: Between $41 billion and $43 billion, compared to $49.6 billion in the same quarter a year ago and analyst estimates of $47.4 billion\n\niPhone sales: 51.2 million, compared to analyst estimates of 50.7 million and down from 61.2 million in Q2 a year ago\n\niPad sales: 10.3 million units, compared to analyst estimates of 9.4 million units and down from 12.6 million iPads in Q2 a year ago.\n\nMac sales: 4 million units, compared to 4.4 million analyst expectations and 4.6 million in the same quarter a year ago\n\nGreater China (historically a strong growth area): $12.5 billion in revenue, compared to $16.8 billion in Q2 a year ago\n\nThere are a couple of bright spots against analyst expectations, but the miss on revenue and the very weak guidance really hit Apple very, very hard. So hard that its 8 percent drop in a single day is nearly unprecedented for the company \u2014 which has seen its shares decline 20 percent in the past year, but not really seen swings that dramatic. By Apple standards, they can sometimes be dramatic, but this was one for the books.\n\nHere\u2019s the rub. Investors tend to reward a couple of things: profitability is good, meeting expectations is good, beating them is even better. But for larger companies like Apple, Twitter, Facebook and Alphabet, growth is an absolutely massive part of the equation. And Apple today showed that not only did its sales fall year-on-year for the first time in 13 years, its next quarter is also looking equally bleak.\n\n[graphiq id=\u201dejXEg8NAEDz\u201d title=\u201dApple (AAPL) iPhone Unit Sales\u201d width=\u201d600\u2033 height=\u201d462\u2033 url=\u201dhttps://w.graphiq.com/w/ejXEg8NAEDz\u201d link=\u201dhttps://www.graphiq.com\u201d link_text=\u201dVisualization by Graphiq\u201d]\n\nTake Twitter today, for example. Twitter managed to beat analyst estimates on earnings \u2014 and its user base actually grew! Twitter has 310 million monthly active users, compared to 305 million in the previous quarter. But the company also said it would record revenue between $590 million and $610 million, well below the $678 million that analysts were expecting for Q3. For a company that does a relatively good job of monetizing its very slowly growing (and sometimes declining) user base, that\u2019s a bad thing to report.\n\nHere\u2019s another one: Alphabet. For a brief moment, Alphabet became even more valuable than Apple, because it beat in dramatic fashion what analysts were expecting from the company \u2014 and showed that it was growing, despite its cost-per-click (basically how valuable each click is to Alphabet) continuing to decline. Then the company completely whiffed on its revenue and earnings estimates that industry watchers were expecting, meaning it wasn\u2019t growing as fast as what Wall Street sought.\n\nAnd so we return to Apple. Last quarter, Apple fell just under what industry watchers were expecting \u2014 and everyone was curious if it would do it again, which it did. That\u2019s the second straight quarter where it\u2019s missed what Wall Street was seeking. Apple has historically been one of the strongest and most consistent growth stocks in not only the technology sector, but also the world. It\u2019s basically a bellwether for the technology industry \u2014 if Apple is doing poorly, something must be wrong. But in the recent quarter, it becomes increasingly apparent that its growth engine \u2014 the iPhone \u2014 is stalling.\n\nBeing a publicly traded company means that it\u2019s beholden to the whims of public investors, which have their own agenda. It means that Apple can be susceptible to individuals like Carl Icahn, who can buy up a lot of Apple stock and pressure the company to do things that it might not otherwise have in its playbook. Obviously Apple is much larger than most any other company out there, making it more difficult to do that, but it does mean that Apple can\u2019t strictly play by Apple\u2019s rules \u2014 it has to make sure it keeps Wall Street happy.\n\n[graphiq id=\u201d88HSGP7avPf\u201d title=\u201dApple (AAPL) Stock Price \u2013 1 Year\u201d width=\u201d600\u2033 height=\u201d492\u2033 url=\u201dhttps://w.graphiq.com/w/88HSGP7avPf\u201d link=\u201dhttps://www.graphiq.com\u201d link_text=\u201dVisualization by Graphiq\u201d]\n\nAnd for Wall Street, that means it wants the company to keep selling more iPhones and iPads, and find new lines of business. Apple\u2019s trying to do that by releasing updates to the iPhone and iPad in the form of new devices like the iPad Pro and the iPhone SE. It\u2019s expanding its services with things like Apple Music, which can generate new lines of revenue for the company if they hit enough scale. Apple, for example, said that Apple Music now has 13 million paying subscribers, and services revenue hit $6 billion this quarter. It\u2019s still a blip, but it\u2019s something that represents the potential for growth.\n\nThere\u2019s another potential negative to shares dropping off a cliff: recruiting. When people join companies like Apple, often some of their compensation is locked up in stock. If that stock declines, it means their compensation was less valuable than when they started. Those employees are actually losing money for each point that Apple falls, which might make them more inclined to go to companies with steady growth like Facebook \u2014 or startups that offer the opportunity to cash out big if they are successful. If Apple is going to continue innovating, it still needs smart people, and it needs to be able to pay them well (and it doesn\u2019t look like it\u2019s using its massive cash pile any time soon).\n\nApple can please Wall Street in a couple of ways. It can pay back dividends or buy back shares, giving investors a chance to actualize a return on their investments. But in order for that to be valuable, Apple has to keep going up. Sometimes a dividend or a share repurchase program helps with that, but for the most part it has to keep convincing investors that it\u2019s going to continue to grow. If that happens, Wall Street\u2019s happy \u2014 and Apple can keep doing what Apple wants to do.\n\nIf not, Apple may have to reassess its strategy, or face off with investors that have punished the company\u2019s stock in the past couple years."}
-{"text": "In an off-camera briefing at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary James Mattis says that the US is not seeking regime change or collapse in Iran, adding that no policy is in place that has been instituted like that.\n\nMattis said the US goal was to get Iran to \u201cchange their behavior on a number of threats that they can pose with their military.\u201d He did not elaborate on that point, or how the US plans to get there beyond threats and sanctions.\n\nOther officials, however, say that President Trump is continuing to push his idea of an \u201cArab NATO\u201d which would consist of the Gulf Arab states, Egypt, and Jordan. The whole point of this would be to create an alliance that would confront Iran across the Middle East.\n\nMattis didn\u2019t mention that, but did address a reported by Australian military sources who claimed that President Trump is prepared to attack Iran militarily, and that the bombing could begin in the next month. Mattis said there were no such plans, calling the reports \u201cfiction.\u201d\n\nThe Australian officials, who were not named, said that Australia had already agreed to help identify targets in Iran, and that the US attack would center on booming Iranian nuclear sites."}
-{"text": "Paramount Pictures has announced that it is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the classic Saturday Night Fever this May with a Blu-ray and Digital HD release of the Director\u2019s Cut, featuring four minutes of additional footage, including new scenes that weren\u2019t in the original theatrical version.\n\nThe Saturday Night Fever Blu-ray includes both the Director\u2019s Cut and theatrical version of the film, commentary by director John Badham, a five-part look at the film entitled \u201cCatching the Fever,\u201d deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes featurettes, a \u201870s Discopedia, and more. Check out a full list of the features here:\n\nSATURDAY NIGHT FEVER 40th Anniversary Blu-ray\n\nThe SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER Blu-ray is presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital (theatrical version only), Spanish Mono Dolby Digital (theatrical version only), Portuguese Mono Dolby Digital (theatrical version only) and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The Blu-ray includes the following:\n\nDirector\u2019s Cut in high definition\n\nTheatrical Version in high definition\n\nCommentary by director John Badham (theatrical version only)\n\n\u201870s Discopedia (theatrical version only)\n\nCatching the Fever\n\nBack to Bay Ridge\n\nDance Like Travolta with John Cassese\n\nFever Challenge!\n\nDeleted Scenes\n\nSATURDAY NIGHT FEVER 40th Anniversary DVD\n\nThe SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 televisions with English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital (theatrical version only) and Spanish Mono Dolby Digital (theatrical version only) and English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The DVD includes the following:\n\nDirector\u2019s Cut\n\nTheatrical Version\n\nCommentary by director John Badham (theatrical version only)\n\n\u201870s Discopedia (theatrical version only)\n\nCatching the Fever\n\nBack to Bay Ridge\n\nDance Like Travolta with John Cassese\n\nFever Challenge!\n\nDeleted Scenes\n\nLook for Saturday Night Fever: Director\u2019s Cut on May 2nd 2017."}
-{"text": "CHP: Big rig fire in Caldecott Tunnel extinguished, both bores reopen\n\nA big rig fire in the right bore of the Caldecott Tunnel caused delays on eastbound Highway 24, CHP said Friday morning. The fire was extinguished, but bore 1 and bore 2 remain closed. A big rig fire in the right bore of the Caldecott Tunnel caused delays on eastbound Highway 24, CHP said Friday morning. The fire was extinguished, but bore 1 and bore 2 remain closed. Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close CHP: Big rig fire in Caldecott Tunnel extinguished, both bores reopen 1 / 1 Back to Gallery\n\nCrews extinguished a big rig fire in the eastern right bore of the Caldecott Tunnel around 1 a.m. Friday morning, CHP said.\n\nBoth bores for closed for a time, creating traffic delays on eastbound Highway 24 in Oakland. Eastbound traffic was diverted to Fish Ranch Rd.\n\nBoth bores are now open.\n\nAuthorities dispatched a hazmat crew to determine the contents of the big rig's cargo.\n\nRead Michelle Robertson\u2019s latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com."}
-{"text": "(Reuters) - Allergan Plc on Tuesday reported better-than-expected quarterly profit on robust demand for Botox, boosted its earnings forecast and announced positive data on one of the two migraine treatments it is developing.\n\nThe Allergan logo is seen in this photo illustration November 23, 2015. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration/File Photo\n\nShares jumped 3 percent in early trading to $169.77 on a day of chaotic activity in the broader U.S. stock market.\n\nWall Street is focused on the company\u2019s drugs pipeline as it faces new cheaper competition for its Restasis eye treatment and its Namenda XR for Alzheimer\u2019s disease. The company sold its generic drug business in 2016, leaving its operations about split between aesthetic products and various drugs.\n\nAllergan forecast earnings for 2018 in the range of $15.25 to $16.00 per share, excluding items. Analysts, on average, expect $15.50 after the company previously projected earnings of at least $15.25 per share.\n\nThe company said its tax rate would rise to about 14 percent in 2018, reflecting a new U.S. corporate tax law that has set a fresh minimum for companies. Because the company is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, it has traditionally paid a lower tax rate than its U.S-based counterparts.\n\nChief Executive Officer Brent Saunders said on a conference call the company expects to maintain a step-back approach to mergers and acquisitions this year.\n\n\u201c2018 will most likely be a relatively boring year for Allergan on the M&A front,\u201d Saunders said.\n\nMIGRAINE DRUG\n\nData on the drug Ubrogepant - a pill used to treat migraine episodes - came a bit earlier than analysts expected and was positive. The company expects two more studies before it submits the drug for regulatory approval next year.\n\nThe treatment belongs to a class of migraine drugs being developed by rivals such as Eli Lilly, Amgen and Alder Biopharmaceuticals that target a protein associated with pain signaling called CGRP.\n\nBotox sales jumped nearly 17 percent to $864.3 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, above consensus estimates of $778.20 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Sales of dry-eye drug Restasis rose nearly 1 percent to $414.9 million, ahead of estimates of $388.6 million.\n\nAllergan recorded a gain of about $2.8 billion in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, related to recent changes in U.S. tax law. Net profit was $3.05 billion, or $8.88 per share, in the quarter, compared with a loss of $70.2 million, or $0.20 per share, a year earlier.\n\nExcluding items, the company earned $4.86 per share, beating the average analyst estimate of $4.74."}
-{"text": "Google (GOOG) CEO Larry Page and co-founder Sergey Brin often get props for their brains. But Google being named the best place to work in America by Fortune on Thursday may also have something to do with their noses.\n\nFrom the company\u2019s earliest days, the co-founders \u2014 who are said by some of the company\u2019s first employees to share an acute sense of smell and sensitivity to toxins \u2014 have had an intense focus on air quality, as one way to create a work environment second to none. The company says its air quality rivals a hospital rather than an office building, and it has long scrutinized all building materials \u2014 including, literally, a sniff test \u2014 to make sure they are free of chemicals with any health impact.\n\nAlthough Fortune\u2019s article, which lauds famous Google perks like free food, drinks and massages, doesn\u2019t mention the air, company insiders cite it as an indication of Google\u2019s intense focus on employee well-being. \u201cWe\u2019re really thinking about long-term health effects,\u201d said Anthony Ravitz, who heads the \u201cGreen Team\u201d for Google\u2019s Real Estate & Workplace Services. \u201cHow can we extend the life span of our employees by 30 years?\u201d\n\nNot a bad perk. Google capped a year when it hired about 7,000 people, the most intense growth spurt in the search giant\u2019s 13-year history, with one of the most recognized human relations honors in corporate America on Thursday, moving up from fourth to first on Fortune\u2019s annual pecking order of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. The last time it topped the list was in 2008.\n\nLast year, business software company SAS, based in North Carolina, came in first.\n\nOther Bay Area companies also made the list, including Sunnyvale\u2019s NetApp at No. 6; Mountain View\u2019s Intuit (INTU), No. 19; San Francisco\u2019s Salesforce.com, No. 27; San Jose\u2019s Adobe Systems (ADBE), No. 41; Santa Clara\u2019s Intel (INTC), No. 46; San Rafael\u2019s Autodesk, No. 52; South San Francisco\u2019s Genentech, No. 68; and San Jose\u2019s Cisco Systems (CSCO), at No. 90.\n\nThere\u2019s no doubt Google has substantial perks \u2014 ranging from the new 40,000-square-foot athletic fields and park that the company built for employees at its Mountain View headquarters last year, to the fleet of electric Chevy Volts and Nissan Leafs that Googlers can check out for free, to its efforts to create a healthy environment.\n\nLess clear, experts say, is whether what Google describes as a focus on people rather than perks, has a direct payoff on the bottom line. There is evidence, said Stanford management science professor Bob Sutton, that treating employees well does pay off.\n\n\u201cThere are large industry studies that show, on average, the firms that treat their workers do better over the long haul,\u201d Sutton said.\n\nBut that\u2019s not to say Google, despite all the workplace benefits, is nirvana. It can be a pressurized place to work, even with micro-kitchens stocked with free food.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not about bringing these perks to work, and you work a 40-hour week\u201d at Google, said Charlene Li, founder of Altimeter Group. \u201cIt\u2019s that you have all these perks that enable you to work much more than 40 hours a week.\u201d\n\nSome observers say Google\u2019s success is more the result of its global market dominance in search advertising than the payoff for how it treats its employees.\n\nGoogle\u2019s legendary perks \u201care as much the result of success, as the cause,\u201d said veteran tech analyst Rob Enderle, who has studied workplace psychology.\n\nEnderle said Google\u2019s extraordinary work environment is a powerful weapon in the bruising battle for talent in Silicon Valley, but he said perks also can become entitlements that trigger worker anger if economics ever force a company to take them away.\n\nGoogle executives don\u2019t see it that way.\n\n\u201cWhat people often focus on are the flashy, shiny things, like the massages and the food, which are really, really important to us as benefits,\u201d said Laszlo Bock, Google\u2019s senior vice president for people operations. \u201cBut they are not the real story about what makes our culture work.\u201d\n\nThe real story, Bock and other Google executives and workers said in a series of interviews this week about the company\u2019s culture, is that Google treats employees as the owners of the company, that it has an ethic of corporate transparency that allows the rank and file to criticize, question and expect honest answers from their superiors \u2014 even the CEO at the company\u2019s weekly \u201cTGIF\u201d all-hands meetings \u2014 and that the company wants employees to feel that everyone can have an impact, both internally and in the larger world.\n\n\u201cAll of that stuff is free,\u201d Bock said.\n\nContact Mike Swift at 408-271-3648. Follow him at Twitter.com/swiftstories or Facebook.com/mike.swift3."}
-{"text": "1987A supernova remnant near the center. Composite of two public domain NASA images taken from the Hubble Space Telescope. Edited with the GIMP.\n\nA team of astronomers led by the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) have succeeded in observing the death throws of a giant star in unprecedented detail.\n\nIn February of 1987 astronomers observing the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby dwarf galaxy, noticed the sudden appearance of what looked like a new star. In fact they weren't watching the beginnings of a star but the end of one and the brightest supernova seen from Earth in the four centuries since the telescope was invented. By the next morning news of the discovery had spread across the globe and southern hemisphere stargazers began watching the aftermath of this enormous stellar explosion, known as a supernova.\n\nIn the two and a half decades since then, the remnant of Supernova 1987A has continued to be a focus for researchers around the world, providing a wealth of information about one of the Universe's most extreme events.\n\nIn research published in the Astrophysical Journal yesterday, a team of astronomers in Australia and Hong Kong have succeeded in using the Australia Telescope Compact Array, CSIRO radio telescope in northern New South Wales, to make the highest resolution radio images of the expanding supernova remnant at millimetre wavelengths.\n\nRadio image at 7 mm. Radio image of the remnant of SN 1987A produced from observations performed with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA). Credit: ICRAR\n\n\"Imaging distant astronomical objects like this at wavelengths less than 1 centimetre demands the most stable atmospheric conditions. For this telescope these are usually only possible during cooler winter conditions but even then, the humidity and low elevation of the site makes things very challenging,\" said lead author, Dr Giovanna Zanardo of ICRAR, a joint venture of Curtin University and The University of Western Australia in Perth.\n\nUnlike optical telescopes, a radio telescope can operate in the daytime and can peer through gas and dust allowing astronomers to see the inner workings of objects like supernova remnants, radio galaxies and black holes.\n\nOverlay of the 7-mm radio image observed with the ATCA (brown\u2013yellow colour scale for shades and contours) on the Hubble Space telescope image observed during the same period. (blue\u2013white colour scale). (Credit: ICRAR) + Hubble (image overlay)\n\n\"Supernova remnants are like natural particle accelerators, the radio emission we observe comes from electrons spiralling along the magnetic field lines and emitting photons every time they turn. The higher the resolution of the images the more we can learn about the structure of this object,\" said Professor Lister Staveley-Smith, Deputy Director of ICRAR and CAASTRO, the Centre for All-sky Astrophysics.\n\nScientists study the evolution of supernovae into supernova remnants to gain an insight into the dynamics of these massive explosions and the interaction of the blast wave with the surrounding medium.\n\n\"Not only have we been able to analyse the morphology of Supernova 1987A through our high resolution imaging, we have compared it to X-ray and optical data in order to model its likely history,\" said Professor Bryan Gaensler, Director of CAASTRO at the University of Sydney.\n\nThe team suspects a compact source or pulsar wind nebula to be sitting in the centre of the radio emission, implying that the supernova explosion did not make the star collapse into a black hole. They will now attempt to observe further into the core and see what's there.\n\nExplore further Space image: New supernova remnant lights up\n\nProvided by International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research"}
-{"text": "1 of 2 2 of 2\n\nThe NDP has pledged that new legislation its government introduced yesterday (November 18) will reveal the invisible hand of the market that dictates fuel prices in B.C.\n\n\"It's incredibly frustrating to watch the price of gas shoot up for no reason, and British Columbians are tired of feeling ripped off whenever they fill up their vehicles,\u201d Minister of Jobs, Trade and Technology Bruce Ralston said quoted in a media release. \"This legislation sends a message to oil and gas companies: the days of setting your prices in total secrecy have come to an end.\"\n\nThe Fuel Price Transparency Act (FTPA) will give the B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC) powers to collect information from private oil and gas companies related to market conditions and factors that explain how companies set the prices that citizens pay for fuel.\n\n\"By pulling back the curtain, these companies will be publicly accountable for unfair markups and cost increases that cannot be explained,\" Ralston said. \"It will also produce a common set of facts moving forward, allowing us to properly evaluate other policy measures to bring fairness to the price at the pump.\"\n\nThrough the spring of 2019, gas prices in many regions of B.C. hovered around $1.70 per litre.\n\nThe tabling of the Fuel Price Transparency Act follows the publication of a report by the BCUC that sought to explain why gas prices are higher in southern B.C. compared to most of the rest of Canada.\n\n\u201cThe wholesale price of gasoline, which does not have fuel taxes, retail sales and carbon taxes added to it, had historically been 2.5-4 cents a litre more expansive in Vancouver than in Edmonton\u2013which reasonably reflected the cost of transporting refined products from Edmonton to Vancouver,\u201d reads a May 2019 letter that Premier John Horgan wrote announcing the investigation. \u201cStarting about four years ago, however, this spread began to widen significantly, and over the past two months has exploded. So far this month, the gap is almost 24 cents a litre.\u201d\n\nThe BCUC reported back last August and said it could not fully explain differences in prices.\n\nIts authors\u2014three BCUC commissioners\u2014found that B.C. consumers are paying about $490 million per year more than could be explained. That\u2019s the equivalent of about 13 cents per litre in wholesale gasoline prices.\n\n\"We cannot find a specific trigger in 2015 that would explain the beginning of this disconnect,\" the report states. \"While there was a change in the Trans Mountain pipeline allocation methodology, its economic effect was muted until 2018.\"\n\nGas prices in many regions of B.C. have hovered around $1.70 per litre through the spring of 2019. GASBUDDY\n\nThe FPTC will establish a reporting framework that the provincial government says should bring transparency to the market.\n\n\u201cThe FPTA will establish a regular schedule of reporting on the gasoline and diesel market, including: refined fuel imports and exports, including volume, source, destination and mode of transport; fuel volumes at refineries and terminals; and wholesale and retail prices,\u201d the release reads. \u201cCompanies will have to report their data and could face fines or administrative penalties if they fail to do so.\u201d"}
-{"text": "A majority of voters in Georgia say they have an unfavorable impression of President Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE, according to a new poll.\n\nA University of Georgia poll commissioned by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that 55 percent of registered voters surveyed say that they have an unfavorable view of Trump, compared to 39 percent who had a favorable view. Four percent were undecided.\n\nSome analysts believe Georgia could come into play in 2020, as factors such as diversifying demographics give momentum to Democrats. Trump won the state by just over 5 percentage points over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonButtigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice Senate GOP sees early Supreme Court vote as political booster shot Poll: 51 percent of voters want to abolish the electoral college MORE in 2016.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nTrump's favorability ratings are below former Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams (D), who's now weighing a possible bid for the White House or for Senate in 2020.\n\nAbrams had a favorability rating of 44 percent in the poll, but an equal percentage of registered voters had an unfavorable impression of the former state House minority leader. Ten percent of voters had no opinion.\n\nMeanwhile, Georgia Sen. David Perdue (R), whom Abrams would challenge should she run for Senate, had a favorability rating of 46 percent, while 24 percent had an unfavorable impression. Twenty-eight percent had no opinion, however.\n\nMeanwhile, Gov. Brian Kemp (R), who narrowly beat Abrams last year, had a favorability rating of 46 percent and an unfavorability rating of 39 percent.\n\nThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution/University of Georgia poll surveyed 774 registered voters in the state between March 24 and April 8. The margin of error in the poll is 3.5 percentage points."}
-{"text": "Det kan ende med en ny DONG-sag, hvis regeringen g\u00f8r alvor af forslaget om at privatisere den danske vand- og varmeforsyning.\n\nDet mener professor i samfunds\u00f8konomi Bent Greve fra Roskilde Universitet.\n\n\u00bbVi har set et ideologisk opg\u00f8r med den danske infrastruktur de senere \u00e5r, hvor frasalget af vores f\u00e6lles arves\u00f8lv skal bruges til at finansiere en politik, der ellers ikke ville v\u00e6re \u00f8konomisk holdbar. Det er uanset, hvilken farve regeringen har. Vi s\u00e5 det med DONG-salget, og det er selvf\u00f8lgelig ogs\u00e5 derfor, regeringen nu vil kigge p\u00e5 forsyningsomr\u00e5det. Det handler om at finansiere 2025-planen,\u00ab mener professoren, der er tidligere medlem af Socialdemokratiet.\n\nJyllands-Posten kunne i g\u00e5r afsl\u00f8re, at regeringen til efter\u00e5ret vil freml\u00e6gge en ny forsyningsstrategi p\u00e5 baggrund af en hemmeligholdt rapport fra konsulentvirksomheden McKinsey.\n\nRapportens hovedkonklusion er, at der er et effektiviseringspotentiale p\u00e5 7,1 mia. kr. ved at privatisere den danske vand- og varmesektor. Penge, som i sidste ende kan komme forbrugeren til gode i form af besparelser. Men den pr\u00e6mis s\u00e6tter Bent Greve sp\u00f8rgsm\u00e5lstegn ved:\n\n\u00bbId\u00e9en med privatisering af det offentlige er, at du kan skabe en konkurrencesituation, hvor flere udbydere konkurrerer om at have den laveste pris, hvilket kommer forbrugeren til gode. Men jeg har meget sv\u00e6rt ved at se, hvordan du vil skabe en konkurrencesituation i vand- og varmesektoren, hvor der jo er tale om et naturligt monopol. Hvordan vil du skabe konkurrence for et lille vandforsyningsselskab, som d\u00e6kker et bestemt lokalomr\u00e5de?\u00ab\n\nHvorfor hemmelig?\n\nUd over at s\u00e6tte sp\u00f8rgsm\u00e5lstegn ved pr\u00e6missen for privatisering, kritiserer Bent Greve ogs\u00e5, at McKinsey-rapporten holdes hemmelig for offentligheden.\n\n\u00bbDet er meget m\u00e6rkv\u00e6rdigt, for det er jo den samme diskussion, man havde om DONG-sagen. Det g\u00f8r det sv\u00e6rt for offentligheden at diskutere, hvad det saglige grundlag er for en privatisering. Hvis vi skal have en demokratisk debat om forsyningsomr\u00e5det, m\u00e5 udgangspunktet v\u00e6re, at den rapport selvf\u00f8lgelig bliver offentliggjort. Ellers aner vi ikke, hvad pr\u00e6missen er for de tal, regeringen vil f\u00f8re politik p\u00e5,\u00ab siger Greve.\n\nN\u00e5r pr\u00e6misserne for McKinsey-rapporten er hemmelige, er det if\u00f8lge professoren sv\u00e6rt for fagfolk at kigge rapportens pr\u00e6misser efter i s\u00f8mmene. Det kan nemlig godt v\u00e6re, at konsulenternes beregninger er rigtige, men at deres foruds\u00e6tninger er forkerte:\n\n\u00bbMan kunne godt forestille sig, at den private sektor i en kortere periode kan skabe besparelser for forbrugeren ved at undlade at investere i vedligeholdelse af infrastrukturen, alts\u00e5 r\u00f8rledningerne. Men giver det s\u00e5 store udgifter p\u00e5 sigt, hvis de ikke kan holde til rotter eller monsterregn? Vi ved det ikke, fordi rapporten er hemmelig.\u00ab\n\nEn anden problematik ved privatisering er, at private akt\u00f8rer naturligt er p\u00e5 markedet for at profitmaksimere. Overskuddet kan if\u00f8lge Bent Greve kun hentes to steder:\n\n\u00bbEnten er det forbrugerne, der skal betale. Eller ogs\u00e5 er det de ansatte i selskabet, som f\u00e5r d\u00e5rligere arbejdsvilk\u00e5r og l\u00f8nninger. Det er selvf\u00f8lgelig en teoretisk mulighed for, at man er bedre i stand til at organisere det hele, men det har jeg meget sv\u00e6rt ved at se.\u00ab\n\n\u2013 Men hvis Folketinget stiller en r\u00e6kke krav og forpligtigelser til virksomhederne, kunne man s\u00e5 ikke sikre sig imod forringelser af infrastrukturen og forsyningssikkerheden?\n\n\u00bbJo, et stykke af vejen, forudsat at selskaberne s\u00e5 ikke g\u00e5r konkurs, som vi har set det i andre privatiseringssager de senere \u00e5r. Og dertil kr\u00e6ver det s\u00e5, at det offentlige oparbejder et kontrolapparat, der unders\u00f8ger, at det private overholder de forpligtelser. Og s\u00e5 opbygger vi en ny administration til at kontrollere det omr\u00e5de, vi gerne vil spare p\u00e5.\u00ab\n\nEffektivis\u00e9r det offentlige\n\nI Jyllands-Postens artikel udtaler energiminister Lars Chr. Lilleholt sig positivt over for privatisering af den danske vand- og varmeforsyning:\n\n\u00bbAlt tyder p\u00e5, der er et potentiale, og s\u00e5 skal vi skabe nogle rammer for, at det kan realiseres. Jeg vil ikke som minister sidde med h\u00e6nderne i sk\u00f8det og se p\u00e5, at der er udsigt til at kunne drive selskaberne mere effektivt, og s\u00e5 ikke g\u00f8re det.\u00ab\n\nTil mediet EnergiWatch fort\u00e6ller ministeren, at det i sidste ende er kommunernes ansvar at beslutte, om offentlige vand- og varmev\u00e6rker skal privatiseres, og at regeringen kun fokuserer p\u00e5 at effektivisere forsyningssektoren.\n\nHvis den hemmelige rapport peger p\u00e5 s\u00e5 klare potentialer for besparelser, er der if\u00f8lge professor Bent Greve intet til hinder for, at regeringen selv iv\u00e6rks\u00e6tter effektiviseringerne i den offentlige sektor:\n\n\u00bbDet er jo ikke s\u00e5dan, at den offentlige sektor ikke tidligere har v\u00e6ret underlagt effektivitetskrav. Det har vi set de sidste mange \u00e5r. Hvis regeringen har en id\u00e9 om, hvor man kan g\u00f8re vand og varme mere effektivt, hvorfor s\u00e5 ikke h\u00f8ste de besparelser selv i den offentlige sektor og dermed undg\u00e5 de negative f\u00f8lger, der kan v\u00e6re ved at privatisere den offentlige sektor?\u00ab"}
-{"text": "France launches airstrikes at armed Libyan group in Chad France's defense ministry says French armed forces have launched an operation in Northern Chad to strike an armed group from Libya\n\nPARIS -- France's Defense Ministry says French armed forces have intervened in northern Chad and launched airstrikes at an armed group coming in from Libya.\n\nThe operation took place Sunday and was organized in cooperation with the Chadian army.\n\nA patrol of Mirage 2000 airplanes hit a column of 40 pickups coming from Libya that penetrated \"deep into Chadian territory,\" the ministry said, adding that the \"intervention, in response to a request from Chadian authorities, helped hinder this hostile progression and disperse the column.\"\n\nFrench President Emmanuel Macron visited Chad in December and reaffirmed French backing for African anti-extremist forces amid growing international concern about the chaos in Libya. Macron also met with French soldiers deployed in the Sahel region with Operation Barkhane, France's largest overseas military mission."}
-{"text": "An inquiry by the Australian Supreme Court has proposed new powers to officers at immigration centers, granting them right to resort to violence, should they find it necessary, according to a former Victoria supreme court judge.\n\nFollowing a Senate hearing of an amendment to the new migration bill Stephen Charles SC, who was the Victoria court of appeal judge until 2006, told the Guardian on Thursday that it would \u201cinevitably encourage violence by guards against asylum seekers\u201d by considerably expand their powers.\n\nThe new powers, applying to immigration officers, would let them use \u201creasonable force against any person\u201d to maintain order and security, which in fact could lead to \u201cbeating asylum seekers to death.\u201d The immunity from civil and criminal liability will include private contractors \u2013 people, who are less trained than police officers.\n\nREAD MORE: Abuses against refugees at Aussie-paid detention camp 'known by govt for years'\n\n\u201cTime and again police in the United States have been acquitted in circumstances such as these,\u201d Charles said. \u201cThese amendments to the Migration Act will in effect authorize guards to beat asylum seekers to death on the basis they reasonably believe it is necessary \u2026 to do so.\u201d\n\nAustralia keeps its asylum seekers at the Nauru refugee detention center, and human rights violations including rape and physical abuse have been going on since November 2013. Reports of harsh conditions at the center, consisting of two fenced-off tent camps with up to 1,200 detainees, have been recently passed to the Australian government.\n\nLegal action against human rights violators in immigration centers could only be possible if it is proven that a guard was \u201cin bad faith,\u201d which is quite difficult to demonstrate.\n\nREAD MORE: Reports of disturbance in Darwin detention center, Australia, police deployed\n\nThe President of the Australian Human Rights Commission Gillian Triggs said: \u201cSenior courts have ... explained the very high threshold that you must prove to demonstrate bad faith. It\u2019s very hard to show a subjective intent of bad faith of a serving officer acting in the course of their employment.\u201d\n\nOn Wednesday, Wickham Point Detention Centre in Darwin saw unrest, with 20 inmates reportedly harming themselves in order to avoid transfer to Nauru Island. Police responded to the rioting, though authorities denied any major \u201cmayhem\u201d.\n\nThis February, Australians held candle light vigils to commemorate Iranian man Reza Barati, 23, who was beaten to death while being held at the Manus Island detention center in Papua New Guinea. He was allegedly killed by the staff during three days of attacks by locals and rioting he was not involved in.\n\nAustralia's Geneva Consulate, vigil for first anniversary of Rezi Barati's death in detention on Manus #LightTheDarkpic.twitter.com/Dtc3e8WypS \u2014 Elizabeth Humphrys (@liz_beths) February 17, 2015\n\nFollowing the rise in violence at the Australian detention centers, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Mendez, examined Australia\u2019s asylum seeker policies. He reported various violations of the convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, signed 30 years ago at the UN Human Rights Council.\n\nREAD MORE: Thousands march in 12 Australian cities to demand end to country\u2019s \u2018cruel asylum-seeker policies\u2019\n\n\u201cThe Government always assures the Australian people that it complies with its international human rights obligations. But here we have the United Nations once again, in very clear terms , telling the Government that Australia\u2019s asylum seeker policies are in breach of international law,\u201d said Human Rights Law Centre Director of Legal Advocacy, Daniel Webb in a press release."}
-{"text": "\u00d6vertidsuttaget inom polismyndigheten har \u00f6kat kraftigt. Allt fler poliser under 40 s\u00e4ger upp sig. Antalet \u00e4renden som polisen redovisar till \u00e5klagare har minskat med 7,3 procent under \u00e5rets f\u00f6rsta sex m\u00e5nader och den s\u00e5 kallade brottsuppklarningsprocenten \u00e4r den l\u00e4gsta p\u00e5 16 \u00e5r.\n\nCenterledaren Annie L\u00f6\u00f6f kritiserar regeringen.\n\n- Situationen ter sig alltmer oh\u00e5llbar. D\u00e4rf\u00f6r kommer Centerpartiet att beg\u00e4ra en aktuell debatt i riksdagen f\u00f6r att f\u00e5 svar p\u00e5 vad regeringen g\u00f6r f\u00f6r att ta ansvar f\u00f6r situationen inom polisen, s\u00e4ger L\u00f6\u00f6f.\n\n- Jag \u00e4r mycket bekymrad \u00f6ver att statsministern inte visar st\u00f6rre ledarskap utan i st\u00e4llet avf\u00e4rdar den situation vi nu ser och den oro som polisen ger uttryck f\u00f6r med en axelryckning.\n\nF\u00f6rtroende f\u00f6r rikspolischefen\n\nStatsminister Stefan L\u00f6fven medger att l\u00e4get inom polisen \u00e4r besv\u00e4rligt men tycker att det \u00e4r att g\u00e5 f\u00f6r l\u00e5ngt att \"pl\u00f6tsligt bara skrika att det \u00e4r kris i hela polisorganisationen\".\n\n- Det finns s\u00e4kert st\u00e4llen d\u00e4r det \u00e4r v\u00e4ldigt besv\u00e4rligt och poliser slutar. Det \u00e4r inte bra och det m\u00e5ste vi ha respekt f\u00f6r, s\u00e4ger Stefan L\u00f6fven till TT i samband med ett bes\u00f6k i \u00d6rnsk\u00f6ldsvik.\n\nMer pengar kommer att tilldelas polisen i den budget som presenteras om n\u00e5gra veckor, men hur mycket vill L\u00f6fven inte g\u00e5 in p\u00e5 nu. Eventuella justeringar av den p\u00e5g\u00e5ende omorganisationen anser han \u00e4r polisledningens ansvar.\n\nFlera polisanst\u00e4llda har p\u00e5 senare tid kr\u00e4vt rikspolischef Dan Eliassons avg\u00e5ng. L\u00f6fven s\u00e4ger att han har f\u00f6rtroende f\u00f6r Eliassons s\u00e4tt att leda myndigheten och den gigantiska omorganisation som inleddes i januari f\u00f6rra \u00e5ret.\n\nAnstr\u00e4ngt \u2013 inte kris\n\nInte heller inrikesminister Anders Ygeman anser att polisen befinner sig i kris.\n\n- D\u00e4remot \u00e4r l\u00e4get f\u00f6r polisen h\u00e5rt anstr\u00e4ngt, s\u00e4ger han till TT.\n\nYgeman anser att mycket av den kritik som nu framf\u00f6rs felaktigt kopplas till den stora omorganisationen \u2013 som exempelvis tidigare nedlagda polisstationer och missn\u00f6je med l\u00f6neutvecklingen.\n\n- Sedan finns det annat som r\u00f6r effektiviteten i den nya organisationen och d\u00e4r m\u00e5ste vi vara lyh\u00f6rda och ta kritiken p\u00e5 allvar och se om vi beh\u00f6ver g\u00f6ra justeringar, s\u00e4ger Ygeman.\n\nRedan inf\u00f6r omorganisationen stod det klart att en s\u00e5 stor f\u00f6r\u00e4ndring kortsiktigt skulle p\u00e5verka utredningsresultaten negativt. Nu har drygt ett och ett halvt \u00e5r g\u00e5tt sedan omorganisationen p\u00e5b\u00f6rjades och Anders Ygeman anser att resultaten \"och k\u00e4nslan i polisorganisationen\" m\u00e5ste f\u00f6rb\u00e4ttras under h\u00f6sten.\n\n- Sedan kommer det att ta l\u00e4ngre tid att ta ut effekterna av den nya organisationen, s\u00e4ger Ygeman."}
-{"text": "L\u2019autore di questo post \u00e8 l\u2019avvocato Matteo Bonelli. Si occupa di societario e contrattualistica commerciale \u2013\n\nProviamo a tracciare i punti di alcune vicende di questi mesi: trasferimento all\u2019estero di imprese italiane, ritirata di imprese estere, immigrazione di disperati, emigrazione di talenti, arbitraggi di imprese digitali, crisi dell\u2019informazione, giustizia \u201ccreativa\u201d. Dall\u2019unione di questi punti affiora un\u2019immagine inquietante e spaventosa del nostro possibile futuro.\n\nCi potrebbe rassicurare che siamo comunque in Europa, che \u00e8 pur sempre la seconda economia del mondo. Tuttavia, anche allargando il campo d\u2019osservazione l\u2019immagine non migliora molto: diversi paesi europei hanno problemi simili ai nostri, mentre altri se ne approfittano speculando sugli arbitraggi (fiscali, di costi, di flessibilit\u00e0 del lavoro e certezza del diritto) per prosperare alle spalle dei primi. Il destino dell\u2019Europa sembra comunque segnato dalla sua irrilevanza in quasi tutti i settori emergenti. E se un organismo \u00e8 spacciato, lo sono anche i suoi parassiti. Non solo l\u2019Europa non riesce a produrre campioni digitali, ma i suoi campioni \u201canalogici\u201d sembrano destinati a far la fine di pugili suonati. Tutti vediamo come le imprese digitali abbiano stravolto interi settori: editoria, fotografia, musica, viaggi, televisione, taxi, alberghi. Le previsioni indicano che quest\u2019onda continuer\u00e0 a travolgerne altri. E quali sono i surfisti di quest\u2019onda? Essenzialmente Stati Uniti e Cina.\n\nIn un recente incontro pubblico promosso da Vito Crimi e dedicato all\u2019editoria \u2013 uno dei tanti settori travolti e stravolti dall\u2019onda digitale \u2013 il Capo Dipartimento per l\u2019Informazione e l\u2019Editoria, Ferruccio Sepe, osservava come il modello americano fosse molto diverso da quello cinese: il primo si fonda su un sistema di regole di mercato dominato da capitali privati e ispirato al c.d. Washington Consensus, il secondo si fonda sul c.d. Beijing Consensus, cio\u00e8 un sistema di regole simili, ma dominato dal capitalismo di stato. Si pone quindi un dilemma: come facciamo a recuperare l\u2019onda? Dobbiamo accelerare verso il modello americano, che fino a poco tempo fa sembrava l\u2019unico plausibile, o recuperare un modello con il baricentro spostato verso il settore pubblico?\n\nAlcuni risponderebbero che un dilemma analogo si pose anche nel primo dopoguerra, quando ci confrontammo con stati socialisti che avevano tassi di crescita superiori ai nostri. Ma poi l\u2019economa di questi stati rallent\u00f2, fino a collassare sotto il crollo del muro di Berlino. Si ripresent\u00f2 ancora negli anni novanta, quando ci confrontammo con le c.d. \u201cTigri Asiatiche\u201d: anche in quel caso molti si chiesero se i modelli di questi stati illiberali fossero pi\u00f9 efficienti dei nostri. Ma poi anche le Tigri Asiatiche finirono per rallentare, alcune addirittura collassarono.\n\nDobbiamo aspettarci una simile evoluzione (rectius, involuzione) anche del modello cinese? Forse no: in fondo la Cina \u00e8 sempre stata la pi\u00f9 grande economia del mondo, tranne che nel secolo scorso, ed \u00e8 sempre stata illiberale. Inoltre l\u2019amore dell\u2019occidente per il liberalismo \u00e8 in crisi da tempo: ovunque emergono leader che erigono muri contro la globalizzazione e rivendicano un ruolo pi\u00f9 muscolare dello stato nell\u2019economia. Recentemente Vladimir Putin ha addirittura preconizzato la fine del liberalismo.\n\nA ben vedere il liberalismo del Washington Consensus non \u00e8 mai esistito nemmeno a Washington. \u00c8 vero che quasi tutte le imprese americane sono sempre state in mano a capitali privati, diversamente da quelle europee. Ma \u00e8 anche vero che l\u2019egemonia delle imprese americane nei settori pi\u00f9 avanzati \u00e8 sempre stata tributaria di un settore pubblico che le ha sostenute. Internet \u00e8 nato in ambiente militare, l\u2019industria aeronautica e spaziale ha prosperato grazie al sostegno del dipartimento della difesa e della NASA, molte imprese tecnologiche sono nate nelle (o dalle) universit\u00e0.\n\nI pi\u00f9 fedeli all\u2019ortodossia liberale restano gli stati dell\u2019Unione Europea, che \u00e8 l\u2019unica regione del mondo in cui i governi hanno le mani legate, sia in politica industriale, sia in politica monetaria. D\u2019altra parte l\u2019Unione Europea nasce dall\u2019incubo di due guerre mondiali, proprio con l\u2019obiettivo di limitare la sovranit\u00e0 degli stati. Questo suo spirito si manifesta ancor oggi nella riluttanza della Germania ad assumersi gli onori e gli oneri di una leadership responsabile, nella divisione inconcludente dei poteri della Costituzione italiana, nella stessa governance dell\u2019Unione Europea, che Churchill promosse per neutralizzare le ambizioni degli stati nazionali e non certo per far nascere una nuova superpotenza. Non a caso l\u2019archetipo dell\u2019Unione Europea \u00e8 il Manifesto di Ventotene, ispirato pi\u00f9 dal timore di deriva degli stati nazionali, che dalle magnifiche sorti e progressive dell\u2019Europa. Di tutt\u2019altro segno sono invece la Dichiarazione di Indipendenza e la Costituzione degli Stati Uniti, impregnate della retorica ebbra e visionaria di una start-up che vuole cambiare il mondo. Sono le radici che ancor oggi alimentano l\u2019orgoglio patriottico e la leadership degli Stati Uniti nel mondo.\n\nSe il futuro dell\u2019Europa dipendesse dalla riforma del suo impianto liberale, le sue prospettive di successo sarebbero molto basse: il \u201cgenio\u201d liberale \u00e8 ormai uscito dalla lampada e non ci sono le condizioni per farvelo rientrare. Anche perch\u00e9 la governance europea sembra fatta apposta per ottenere il risultato tipico dei giochi non cooperativi: l\u2019equilibrio di Nash nel dilemma del prigioniero. Come si \u00e8 detto ci sono stati che prosperano sugli arbitraggi fiscali e regolamentari, che mai consentirebbero riforme volte a contrastarli.\n\nCon le mani legate resta quindi poco da fare. Battere i pugni per chiedere un cambiamento non \u00e8 stato vincente per Alexis Tsipras, n\u00e9 pare possa esserlo per i nuovi leader nazionalisti. Forse sarebbe pi\u00f9 utile imitare i paesi che si son fatti \u201cfurbi\u201d, dotandosi di una tecnocrazia capace di individuare strumenti tanto insidiosi quanto rispettosi delle regole europee, come i famigerati \u201cruling\u201d lussemburghesi, i \u201cResidents non Domiciled\u201d inglesi e i \u201cDouble Irish Dutch Sandwich\u201d irlandesi.\n\nCi sono poi frontiere ancora ampiamente inesplorate, come le regole sul trattamento dei dati, che potrebbero rivelarsi decisive per recuperare terreno nell\u2019economia digitale; per esempio quelle funzionali all\u2019accessibilit\u00e0 e alla portabilit\u00e0 dei dati, che potrebbero aiutare a rendere pi\u00f9 contendibili i monopoli digitali. Se poi i dati sono il petrolio dell\u2019economia digitale, ce ne sono molti che solo il settore pubblico ha o pu\u00f2 raccogliere, come quelli sui trasporti pubblici, sulla salute, sull\u2019ambiente, sul lavoro: renderli fruibili alle imprese potrebbe rivelarsi pi\u00f9 utile che destinare fondi al venture capital, allo stesso modo in cui i servizi di intelligence israeliani hanno favorito lo sviluppo di colossi della cyber security molto pi\u00f9 dei soldi della Silicon Valley.\n\nA prescindere dalle regole, sarebbe opportuno identificare processi flessibili che consentano di adottarle e modificarle con una certa frequenza, anche alla luce delle trasformazioni continue di questo settore molto dinamico e dell\u2019opportunit\u00e0 di valutare le regole in ragione dei loro risultati, piuttosto che di pregiudizi ideologici."}
-{"text": "So I met the singer of blink-182 He is very tall\n\n377 shares"}
-{"text": "Saturday 3rd June sees the launch of a special summer offer at The Wee Restaurant on Frederick Street in Edinburgh so we travelled through for a taste of their famous Shetland mussels.\n\nWe\u2019d already had a filling brunch but were starting to feel hungry again by the time 3pm arrived. For \u00a315 every Saturday in June and July between 3 \u2013 5pm, 2 people can each enjoy their Shetland mussels with bacon, fresh basil, pine nuts & Parmesan cream with a glass of wine (white, red or rose). A good deal and one which sounded like just the right amount of food required for that post-shopping dip.\n\nWe hadn\u2019t been into The Wee Restaurant since their launch so we were eager to see what\u2019s been happening since we were last there. Inside it\u2019s relaxed with friendly, prompt service. I especially love the seats, they look classy and they\u2019re comfy too!\n\nThe menu du jour looked tasty as well. We might *have* to come back!\n\nIn the mussels offer, you can choose from a small glass of red, rose or white. All 3 are organic. I chose the ros\u00e9, feeling summery and Mr Foodie chose the white \u2013 a nice light mineral wine which isn\u2019t as acidic or tart as a typical Sauvignon Blanc.\n\n\n\nYou can of course upgrade to a full bottle and linger here for the afternoon should you want more than a glass.\n\nOur mussels arrived quickly looking delish. Large and plump they soaked up the creamy sauce.\n\nThe sauce was ambrosial \u2013 filled with flavour. Basil, onion, Parmesan and bacon all mingled to make this a heavenly broth.\n\nA bowl of mussels can be quite filling we discovered once we\u2019d emptied each of our bowls of mussels and sauce.\n\nA more traditional moules marini\u00e8res-style garlic and white wine sauce is also on offer.\n\nThis is a great place to relax post-shopping, and you might be tempted to upgrade to a bottle of wine as the comfortable chairs work their magic on you.\n\nThe Wee Restaurant \u2013 Edinburgh\n\n61 Frederick Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1LH\n\nTelephone 0131 225 7983\n\nEmail edinburgh@theweerestaurant.co.uk\n\nWebsite www.theweerestaurant.co.uk"}
-{"text": "Diamond Head have made their self-titled seventh album available to stream in full.\n\nDiamond Head was released in March and can be heard in its entirety below.\n\nMainman Brian Tatler says he is thrilled that heavy metal is still as relevant as it was when the band first found fame in in the 1980s.\n\nHe tells Noisey: \u201cI think heavy metal has stood the test of time, hasn\u2019t it? I always thought rock was a very loyal style. I got into rock when I was 13 or 14, and I still love it now and I can see that in other people.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not like pop or a fad or a fashion, it never leaves you. You don\u2019t care a jot if it\u2019s not fashionable or people laugh at you. You love it because you love it. If you get into a band like AC/DC, you end up buying every single album and going to see them.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve probably seen them 12 times, I\u2019m just a loyal fan. I don\u2019t think other styles of music have that kind of loyalty and when Diamond Head play live you don\u2019t get just 40-year-old guys with their arms folded standing there, you do get young kids going berserk at the front.\u201d\n\nDiamond Head have a number of tour dates lined up for 2016.\n\nDiamond Head tracklist\n\nBones Shout At The Devil Set My Soul On Fire See You Rise All The Reasons You Live Wizards Sleeve Our Time Is Now Speed Blood On My Hands Diamonds Silence\n\nApr 22: Swindon Level 3, UK\n\nApr 23: Crumlin The Patriot, UK\n\nApr 30: Northwich Memorial Court, UK\n\nMay 01: Telford The Haygate, UK\n\nMay 07: Razzet L-Ahmar, Malta\n\nMay 11: Ibiza Hard Rock Hell Road Trip, Spain\n\nJun 05: Alvesta Muskelrock Tyrolen, Sweden\n\nJun 08: Solvesborg Rock Festival, Sweden\n\nJun 18: Daun Der Detze Rockt, Germany\n\nJul 30: Barnet Rugby Club, UK\n\nAug 12: Bloodstock Open Air, UK\n\nAug 18: Bilston The Robin 2, UK\n\nAug 27: Andalusia Skull Of Metal Fest, Spain\n\nSep 17: Puchersreuth Storm Crusher Festival, Germany"}
-{"text": "Cops trace St Andrews teacher Anjali Singh and the 16-yr-old boy to Bangalore after boy posts messages on FB.More than a month after a 25-year-old teacher from Kandivali and her 16-year-old student went missing, the Mumbai Crime Branch managed to trace the two in Bangalore, where they had been working in a mall.The two were in a relationship and there was every chance their whereabouts would have remained hidden from the cops, but the boy\u2019s Facebook posts revealed their location.Anjali Singh, who taught English at Reverend CF Andrews High School in Santacruz (E), had gone missing along with the boy, a Std IX student at the school, on January 25. The boy\u2019s parents filed a complaint at Vakola Police Station saying Anjali had kidnapped him, and other students told police that the boy and Anjali were in a \u201cserious relationship\u201d. The boy\u2019s friends told police that even though Anjali didn\u2019t teach his class, the two got talking and exchanged numbers during a dance event a few months ago.Anjali, who has been charged for kidnapping a minor, was brought to Mumbai along with the boy by a Crime Branch team from Unit 8, led by Inspector Jyotsna Rasam, and remanded in police custody till March 14.The lovers find help in GoaIn what has emerged as a script straight out of a Bollywood movie, police said the two got talking to a group of friends on a train from Goa to Bangalore, who helped them find accommodations in that city.A Crime Branch source said that the boy, who resides in Santacruz where his father owns a dairy, left home saying he needed to return the dance costumes borrowed from a friend. He met with Anjali near their school, from where they went to Thane and boarded a bus to Goa. They destroyed their SIM cards and sold off the mobile phones for Rs 17,000.The police source said the two boarded a train to Bangalore and got talking to fellow passengers, including a group of friends who promised help. \u201cOne of them found Anjali and the boy separate accommodations and within weeks, they had landed jobs as well,\u201d the police source said.Crime Branch Unit 8 chief Inspector Deepak Fatangare managed to track the mobile phones of Anjali and the boy to Goa, but the search came to a standstill as the SIM cards had been destroyed. However, a major breakthrough that would eventually solve the case came a few days ago, when the boy couldn\u2019t resist staying off Facebook.The cops, who were keeping a track of Anjali and the boy\u2019s interactions on social networking sites, found the boy had posted messages on his Facebook page. They also found out that he had logged on at an internet caf\u00e9 in Bangalore.\u201cWe traced the internet caf\u00e9 and got crucial clues about their whereabouts. A bit of legwork and we were able to nab them,\u201d said a Crime Branch officer said. Anjali told police that she and the boy fled because their respective parents wouldn\u2019t have approved of the relationship."}
-{"text": "Ian Morton/flickr\n\nReading Ken Klippenstein\u2019s piece on Elliott Broidy is quite an experience. The criminal and unethical and, frankly, frightening behavior pours forth from the page at a relentless clip. While you\u2019re looking at the article, please remember that until very recently, Elliott Broidy was a deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.\n\nHe got that job because he was effective in raising money for Donald Trump\u2019s campaign at a time when most bigwig Republican bundlers were keeping Trump at arm\u2019s length. But this is a guy who was convicted in 2009 for \u201cbribing a New York government official in a case involving state pension funds.\u201d That was an indication that he wasn\u2019t the kind of person you should employ or entrust with positions of responsibility.\n\nThe Klippenstein piece focuses on how Broidy\u2019s company, Virginia-based Circinus LLC, has people armed with AR-15\u2019s running around in Florida serving as private security forces without any permits. But that barely scratches the surface of what should concern us. Here\u2019s one example:\n\nIn March, The Wall Street Journal reported that Broidy at one point discussed a deal in which he would seek to help get the Justice Department to drop its investigation into a Malaysian government-owned investment fund\u2019s multibillion-dollar graft scandal. Broidy potentially stood to gain tens of millions of dollars in fees from one of the figures at the scandal\u2019s center if he got the investigation dropped.\n\nI wrote about that case in March.\n\nHere are two more areas of concern:\n\nBroidy resigned from the RNC last month after a report that he paid $1.6 million to a former Playboy model he had impregnated. Broidy also has close ties to United Arab Emirates adviser George Nader, who is now cooperating with the Mueller investigation.\n\nPaul Campos made an incredibly compelling case in New York magazine that Broidy is not actually the person who impregnated Playboy playmate Shera Bechard. He pointed the finger at Donald Trump and all I can say is that you should look at Campos\u2019s argument because he convinced me that this is quite likely the truth of the matter.\n\nAs for George Nader, I\u2019ve called him a legendary pervert whose fairly well known proclivities towards child pornography and pedophilia have somehow not prevented him from operating as a globetrotting dealmaker and Washington insider for decades. I would not be shocked if a lot of Trump, Cohen and Broidy\u2019s problems originated with Nader after he was arrested and became a cooperating witness in Mueller\u2019s probe.\n\nBroidy\u2019s main connection to him concerns business opportunities and security contracts in the United Arab Emirates.\n\nA top fundraiser for US President Donald Trump received millions of dollars from a political adviser to the United Arab Emirates last April, just weeks before he began handing out a series of large political donations to US lawmakers considering legislation targeting Qatar, the UAE\u2019s chief rival in the Persian Gulf, an Associated Press investigation has found. George Nader, an adviser to the UAE who is now a witness in the US special counsel investigation into foreign meddling in American politics, wired USD 2.5 million to the Trump fundraiser, Elliott Broidy, through a company in Canada, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. They said Nader paid the money to Broidy to bankroll an effort to persuade the US to take a hard line against Qatar, a long-time American ally but now a bitter adversary of the UAE. A month after he received the money, Broidy sponsored a conference on Qatar\u2019s alleged ties to Islamic extremism. During the event, Republican Congressman Ed Royce of California, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced he was introducing legislation that would brand Qatar as a terrorist-supporting state. In July 2017, two months after Royce introduced the bill, Broidy gave the California congressman USD 5,400 in campaign gifts the maximum allowed by law.\n\nYou can choose what to be most worried about, whether it\u2019s private armies operating domestically without permits or corrupting the Justice Department to cover up foreign financial crimes or corrupting politicians and directing the foreign policy legislation they introduce or bribing state officials in New York or selling access to the president and vice-president or having connections to a creep like George Nader and his nefarious wheelings and dealings, or potentially faking his paternity of a child in order to cover for the president\u2019s infidelity and involvement in an abortion.\n\nAgain, until a few moments ago, this guy was a deputy finance chairman for the Republican National Committee. The same is true of Michael Cohen.\n\nThe swamp has never been more expansive or rancid."}
-{"text": "Article content\n\nRenewable energy is set to rival coal as the main generator of the world\u2019s electricity by 2035 as the costs of technology fall and subsidies rise, the International Energy Agency said.\n\nWind farms, solar parks and hydroelectric dams are forecast to become the second biggest power generator in 2015 and rise to almost a third of all generation in 2035, a level approaching that of coal, the Paris-based agency that advises 28 nations on energy policy said today in its annual outlook.\n\n\u201cA steady increase in hydropower and the rapid expansion of wind and solar power has cemented the position of renewables as an indispensable part of the global energy mix,\u201d the IEA said. \u201cThe rapid increase in renewable energy is underpinned by falling technology costs, rising fossil-fuel prices and carbon pricing, but mainly by continued subsidies.\u201d\n\nWe apologize, but this video has failed to load.\n\ntap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Renewables to rival coal for power generation in 2035: IEA Back to video\n\nRenewable energy industry groups predict wind power installations will double over the five years through 2016, with solar photovoltaic panels tripling even as solar and wind equipment manufacturers from Denmark\u2019s Vestas Wind Systems A/S to China\u2019s Suntech Power Holdings Co. struggle with declining margins and industrywide overcapacity."}
-{"text": "Become a Member\n\nIf you are a twinless twin, we enourage you to become a member in order to have access to all the benefits of..."}
-{"text": "The Wizarding world is shocked to hear a mass Murderer has escaped from the prison they call Azkaban. Sirius Black is said to have murdered countless muggles (non magic folk) and parents are locking up their children. Harry Potter has started school and is going on his first trip to Hogs Mead when by shear luck he overhears the Miniter for Magic wisper his name. Harry Follows him using his invisibility cloak and discovers why Mr Weasley warned him about Black personally before school had started. Sirius Black had been a friend of his Parents, was the one who sold them out to Voldemort and worst of all he was and still is to this day Harry's God Father. Harry knows thats why Sirius has escaped, he knows he's coming for him and he can't wait because when he finds him, Harry will be ready.......Full of death and Suspense, this book is defiantly the darkest yet and shows that Magic isn't just cool tricks and bright lights.\n\n\n\nAR Level 6.7, 18 pts"}
-{"text": "Did you know Oscar the Grouch used to be orange? Jim Henson decided to make him green before the second season of Sesame Street. How did Oscar explain the color change? He said he went on vacation to the very damp Swamp Mushy Muddy and turned green overnight.\n\nSee Also: 9 Muppets Kicked Off Sesame Street"}
-{"text": "I invite you to meet Fahmida in the liminal act of translation beyond the wall that divides the living from the dead.\n\nIn an earlier essay for Images, Fahmida Riaz: the woman who decolonised feminism, I paid tribute to the legacy of the late Urdu feminist poet, who left us last year in November.\n\nIn that essay, I touched upon Fahmida's engagement with concepts such as the nation, body, home, belonging, culture and the work of translation.\n\nIn this follow-up piece, which has resulted out of a renewed interest in her work, I want to build upon an injunction introduced in the first essay \u2014 \u201cthe best form of mourning a writer is to read their body of work\u201d \u2014 and include the act of translation.\n\nTranslation acquires a new meaning in this manner for me: of mourning the life of the Other by inhabiting her text, internalising the vision of this text through the act of translation, as though it were my own vision, and rewriting this vision into the language I best know, the English language. To make the vision yours; to transform the dead into the living.\n\nRelated: Fahmida Riaz, the poet who lost two countries in one lifetime\n\nIt is essential, therefore, that this rewriting of visions does not turn the dead into a static thing, does not take advantage of the fact that the dead can not communicate with us. When this happens, translation becomes violence, and the rewriting, narcissistic: one can recreate Fahmida in any manner one wants, and in doing so, destroy the vision.\n\nFor example, Fahmida\u2019s poetry relies on a heavy use of intertextuality and allusion to mythologies: words such as karb, jalal, jamal and maqtal haunt her work. Yet karb is not anguish, because karb is also a wordplay on Karbala: sound mimetic of meaning.\n\nAnd jamal and jalal cannot be translated as majesty and strength, because they are meant to be read together, and in translation they lose their rhythm.\n\nFahmida, while she was using them, had felt that rhythm inside her body. For me to access the vision, I have to ensure that these rhythms are kept intact in my own body. Otherwise the vision will be lost. Therefore, in my translation of the following texts, I have let these words remain.\n\nI begin by translating the preface to A Body Torn/Badan Dareeda, which is appearing here in its first ever translation.\n\nBadan Dareeda was Fahmida\u2019s first collection of explicitly feminist verse. The poems were about sex, religion, womanhood, pregnancy, menstruation, spirituality and desire.\n\nThey were written in an extraordinary burst of creativity during 1969 and 1974, and upon their publication in 1975, received a series of harsh criticisms, including being labelled as \u201cpornographic.\u201d\n\nFor Fahmida, therefore, the form of the preface serves a special political function: to respond to these accusations and to assume the role of the literary critic.\n\nHerald Exclusive: In conversation with Fahmida Riaz\n\nToday, the preface to Badan Dareeda is a cornerstone para-text for understanding the inception of feminist literary criticism in Urdu literature.\n\nIt also serves as a cultural history of Urdu literature during the Zia era, and a history from below of the kind of censure and oppression that women experienced during that period for their work.\n\nAs memorable as Audre Lorde\u2019s Poetry is Not a Luxury and Gloria Anzald\u00faa\u2019s A Letter to Third World Women, the letter is nothing short of a Manifesto for Third World women and queer peoples struggling with violent histories of patriarchy.\n\nThe translated preface culminates in the translation of five poems from the collection, which has become a hallmark of feminist expression in the Urdu language.\n\nI invite you to meet Fahmida with me, in the liminal act of translation, beyond the wall that divides the living from the dead.\n\n***\n\nThe Preface to A Body Torn/Badan Dareeda by Fahmida Riaz\n\nTranslated by Asad Alvi\n\nDrag this body torn of mine through the town\n\nfor my self belongs to them: to the earth, and the living\n\n~ Ghalib\n\nMy first collection of poetry was published in 1967. The name of the collection was: Pathar ki Zaban. Tongue of Stone. Then, in between 1967 and 1972, I wrote many more poems. They have been collected and are appearing here for the first time in this collection, Badan Dareeda. A Body Torn. These 50 poems are the labourious work of seven long years. You will find them very different from my previous work.\n\nWhich is why there are those in this city who are not happy with it. They think the collection is fahash, or pornographic. Then there are those who think that the poems have been deliberately produced to create shock value. These observations have led me to ask an important question: why does a poet write? Let us mull over this question for a bit. Some might say that a poet writes for amusement. Others might say that she writes for fame. The assumption here is that a poet writes for self-interest. Never have there been greater lies.\n\nIf, at all, a poet takes an interest in herself, it is because she discovers there the movement of all history: its violence, its paradoxes, its terrible weight. The poet is not alone in feeling this weight. In our modern age, because human life has been commoditised, every citizen feels a karb rising inside themselves: a sense of displacement, an alienation. The citizen attempts to resolve this feeling. Some experience a return to religion. Others seek a sense of the sacred within their own professions.\n\nThink of a kumhar, for example, who comprehends the meaning of the entire cosmos in the rotation of a potter\u2019s wheel. Or the doctor, who roams around frenzied searching for a cure to an important disease. Or the lawyer, who finds in the value codings of the law and its multiple iterations some notion of divine justice. Human beings are driven for a desire to transcend the limitations of their self and aspire to something greater. We do not necessarily blame them for these ventures.\n\nBut we seem to take an issue with the figure of the intellectual. Poets, artists and philosophers are not altogether different in their desires for something greater than any other person. If there is one thing that perhaps separates them from these others, it is that they desire the intuition of this transcendence in extremis.\n\nThis means that the poet, more so than any of these other people, has to let go of her self-interest. She has to efface her own self in order to transform herself into the figure of the dissenter. Those too locked in their own identities, those who have never produced a single sound of dissent, cannot possibly know how much exhaustion comes with such a transformation. It cannot be done from a vantage point of self-interest or narcissism, as is the accusation against me. This transformation is jigar-kharash. It ruptures the body of the one doing it. In between the silent existence of trauma within one\u2019s body and actually transforming this silence into language upon one\u2019s lips, a lot is to be lost.\n\nIt is easy for those who are conjuncturally outside the space of this transformation to denounce it. They will never know the pain of it all. Yes, it is true that the identity of poets is celebrated. Long after the poet has transformed the silence which has been circling inside her body like rings of fire into language, she is hailed into recognition. There is in this period an element of sar-khushi, or self-affirmation in her life. Everyone wants to comprehend her in the complete manifestation of her jalal and her jamal. And yet, one casually forgets the subtext of violence that has led to the making of this jalal: the karb that she has had to endure.\n\nIt is the transformation of this karb into language that gives birth to poetry. In the attempt of this transformation, the poet more often than not loses her own head. And there are those poets who came before me. Which poet, indeed, in the workshop of existence, has not faced the hour when she has had to stand before the maqtal and lose her head? Which one of them has not had to pay for her language, her utterance, sometimes with her own life?\n\nIf, indeed, I am forced to stand before this maqtal today and face the gallows, I should face them with my head held high. My poems are the trace of a mangled head: emanating sounds even as it is suspended from ropes. In the light of this, A Body Torn has taken the form of a razmia, or the sound of rupture. And if such rupture indeed shocks a people, then consider the poet as having achieved her purpose: she has managed to disturb them.\n\nFahmida Riaz\n\nKarachi, 1974\n\n***\n\nFive poems from A Body Torn/Badan Dareeda\n\nTranslated from the Urdu by Asad Alvi\n\n\n\nAerophyte/Akaas Bayl\n\nthe green akaas-bayl: vine wounded\n\naround my body as a serpent sucking\n\ndrop by drop from me the waters of life\n\n\n\nboond, boond, from my ang\n\ndrying me out as a dried leaf\n\ndevoid of water, I am zard:\n\n\n\nwhite as death because of you\n\nmy blood fed against my will\n\nto the mouth of your rose\n\n\n\nI have inherited the black night\n\nand you are endowed with the sun\n\nI am sucked into a pataal\n\n\n\nand you are claimed by the akaash\n\nO akaas-bayl: mysterious, evil\n\nclasping yourself to my breast\n\n\n\nand I, with trembling fingers,\n\nuntangling your hair.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGive me your Hand/Lao, Apna Haath Lao Zara\n\nHere. Give me your hand. Enter my body and feel\n\nthe heart of a fetus beating: beyond the naaf\n\nthe umbilical cord. Feel the jumbish, the movement\n\nof my waters. Leave. Leave your hands on my cold\n\nbody. I am pulsating in pleasure as you touch me.\n\nI am your Lazarus: the pulse of your wrists give life\n\nto me. And the fetus, beneath your pulse, oscillates\n\nbetween me and you. Trace the body of this fetus.\n\nI am wincing in pleasure: my hair extending into\n\nthe night my face is the moon my lips are red.\n\nI am surprised at all of this. Before you touched\n\nme there was inside of me an aseb spreading\n\nlike a sheet of dark. I was longing for a jumbish\n\n\n\nNow from my body is bursting forth a light.\n\nAnd suddenly, I seem to believe in the scrolls.\n\nIn scrolls, in prophets, beggars, and madmen\n\nin rang, phool, kalyan, shajar, I believe in them,\n\nbelieve in the daalian swinging from the trees,\n\nbelieve in the names taught to Adam and Eve.\n\n\n\n\n\nLullaby/ Loree\n\nHovering above the neck, the kali rayn, nocturnal\n\nthis mad body searching in a profusion of darkness\n\nan ang separated from her ang: a part of her body\n\nsplit from itself by the umbilicus. It is searching\n\nfor the mang of her ang: the kali rayn, nocturnal.\n\nNever disappearing, never ceasing its own trace.\n\nI am the morni of this jungle: the ugly peacock\n\nwho swallows her own tears and begins a dance.\n\nIn the cups of my breasts, a dhara of milk flows\n\nto a rhythm of san, san. The kali rayn watches.\n\n\n\n\n\nVoh: zan-e-napaak/She: Body Abject in Blood\n\nShe: zan-e-napaak.\n\nbody abject in blood.\n\ntrapped in the heat of time\n\nin the flame of her havas/desire\n\nShe: zan-e-napaak. body abject in blood\n\nin the coupling of noor and nar\n\nshe the embodiment of iblees.\n\n\n\nin the heat of boiling blood\n\nher breasts have split in two\n\n\n\non her body: no trace of shame\n\non her lips: no sign of prayer\n\nunheard of, unseen.\n\n\n\nShe: zan-e-napaak.\n\nbody abject in blood.\n\n\n\n\n\nCome/Aao\n\nTapti dhoop: under the blistering sun\n\nmy body is a mirror reflecting sunlight.\n\n\n\nCome into me. Shatter the mirror.\n\nWitness on your body a wound.\n\n***\n\nMy special thanks to Fahmida\u2019s publisher Hoori Noorani and her publication house, the Maktaba-e-Danyal, for graciously allowing me to translate these poems and joining me in mourning Fahmida in this manner.\n\nAre you working on feminist literature in South Asia? Share your insights with us at prism@dawn.com"}
-{"text": "Breaking News: Sarah Palin has endorsed Donald Trump in the GOP primary, helping him appeal to Tea Party loyalists https://t.co/j6RImSsvyL \u2014 The New York Times (@nytimes) January 19, 2016\n\n*** Original Post ***\n\nMultiple little birdies tell me Jerry Falwell, Jr. is going to endorse Trump for president and come to Iowa with him tomorrow. \u2014 Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) January 18, 2016\n\nWow. Palin's jet following Trump campaign; endorsement imminent. Broken via flight records: https://t.co/BALN6KGFSE https://t.co/Z4rFX0mirY \u2014 Matt Popovich (@mpopv) January 19, 2016\n\nAmes\n\nGonna watch the Trump/Palin rally with the largest bottle of bourbon I can find. \u2014 Guy Benson (@guypbenson) January 19, 2016\n\nCruz spokesman: \"Deeply\" disappointing if Palin endorses Trump https://t.co/Iofd2LoB1u pic.twitter.com/H1floEjZqA \u2014 The Hill (@thehill) January 19, 2016\n\nIs this official? You betcha , according to the New York Times:and away we go...I'll admit it -- when this speculation began mounting yesterday, I wasn't remotely sold on the idea that Palin was poised jump aboard the Trump Train when so many influential figures within the conservative talk radio constellation are at long last blasting The Donald and rallying to Cruz . The Palin speculation seemed even less plausible when this rumor leaked:Falwell bestowed a fulsome introduction upon Donald \" Two Corinthians \" Trump just yesterday -- much to the dismay of many in the evangelical community -- so Deace's report made sense. Surely that's the big announcement and \" special guest \" Trump's been pumping on social media, right? Not so fast, my friends:Interesting. But so what if there's a private jet bound from Anchorage to Iowa? That could be a coincidence. Or...uh, maybe not Oh my. The jet is headed toDes Moines, then hopping over to Tulsa? Exactly mirroring Trump's campaign itinerary? Dude. This might actually be happening. And what a splash it would make less than two weeks before Iowa. Should Palin's endorsement both come to fruition (there have been clues along the way ), and push Trump over the top, emotionalist nationalistic populism will have officially -- perhaps temporarily -- supplanted principled, policy-driven, limited-government conservatism as the dominant strain within the American right-wing. I'll leave you with this, because why not?Buckle up, amigos. If you need me, I'll be passed out under my desk:The Washington Post wonders if the Iowa leg is merely a coincidental refueling stop for an unrelated flight. But that would be out of the way, geographically. The Palin buzz continues to grow, to the point of rival campaigns doing preemptive damage control"}
-{"text": "When you design user interfaces, it\u2019s a good idea to keep two principles in mind:\n\nUsers don\u2019t have the manual, and if they did, they wouldn\u2019t read it. In fact, users can\u2019t read anything, and if they could, they wouldn\u2019t want to.\n\nThese are not, strictly speaking, facts, but you should act as if they are facts, for it will make your program easier and friendlier. Designing with these ideas in mind is called respecting the user, which means, not having much respect for the user. Confused? Let me explain.\n\nWhat does it mean to make something easy to use? One way to measure this is to see what percentage of real-world users are able to complete tasks in a given amount of time. For example, suppose the goal of your program is to allow people to convert digital camera photos into a web photo album. If you sit down a group of average users with your program and ask them all to complete this task, then the more usable your program is, the higher the percentage of users that will be able to successfully create a web photo album. To be scientific about it, imagine 100 real world users. They are not necessarily familiar with computers. They have many diverse talents, but some of them distinctly do not have talents in the computer area. Some of them are being distracted while they try to use your program. The phone is ringing. WHAT? The baby is crying. WHAT? And the cat keeps jumping on the desk and batting around the mouse. I CAN\u2019T HEAR YOU!\n\nNow, even without going through with this experiment, I can state with some confidence that some of the users will simply fail to complete the task, or will take an extraordinary amount of time doing it. I don\u2019t mean to say that these users are stupid. Quite the contrary, they are probably highly intelligent, or maybe they are accomplished athletes, but vis-\u00e0-vis your program, they are just not applying all of their motor skills and brain cells to the usage of your program. You\u2019re only getting about 30% of their attention, so you have to make do with a user who, from inside the computer, does not appear to be playing with a full deck.\n\nUsers Don\u2019t Read the Manual.\n\nFirst of all, they actually don\u2019t have the manual. There may not be a manual. If there is one, the user might not have it, for all kinds of logical reasons: they\u2019re on the plane; they are using a downloaded demo version from your web site; they are at home and the manual is at work; their IS department never gave them the manual. Even if they have the manual, frankly, they are simply not going to read it unless they absolutely have no other choice. With very few exceptions, users will not cuddle up with your manual and read it through before they begin to use your software. In general, your users are trying to get something done, and they see reading the manual as a waste of time, or at the very least, as a distraction that keeps them from getting their task done.\n\nThe very fact that you\u2019re reading this book puts you in an elite group of highly literate people. Yes, I know, people who use computers are by and large able to read, but I guarantee you that a good percentage of them will find reading to be a chore. The language in which the manual is written may not be their first language, and they may not be totally fluent. They may be kids! They can decipher the manual if they really must, but they sure ain\u2019t gonna read it if they don\u2019t have to. Users do just-in-time manual reading, on a strictly need-to-know basis.\n\nThe upshot of all this is that you probably have no choice but to design your software so that it does not need a manual in the first place. The only exception I can think of is if your users do not have any domain knowledge \u2014 they don\u2019t really understand what the program is intended to do, but they know that they better learn. A great example of this is Intuit\u2019s immensely popular small-business accounting program QuickBooks. Many of the people who use this program are small business owners who simply have no idea what\u2019s involved in accounting. The manual for QuickBooks assumes this and assumes that it will have to teach people basic accounting principles. There\u2019s no other way to do it. Still, if you do know accounting, QuickBooks is easy to use without the manual.\n\nIn fact, users don\u2019t read anything.\n\nThis may sound a little harsh, but you\u2019ll see, when you do usability tests, that there are quite a few users who simply do not read words that you put on the screen. If you pop up an error box of any sort, they simply will not read it. This may be disconcerting to you as a programmer, because you imagine yourself as conducting a dialog with the user. Hey, user! You can\u2019t open that file, we don\u2019t support that file format! Still, experience shows that the more words you put on that dialog box, the fewer people will actually read it.\n\nThe fact that users do not read the manual leads many software designers to assume that they are going to have to educate users by describing things as they go along. You see this all over the place in programs. In principle, it\u2019s OK, but in reality, people\u2019s aversion to reading means that this will almost always get you in trouble. Experienced UI designers literally try to minimize the number of words on dialogs to increase the chances that they will get read. When I worked on Juno, the UI people understood this principle and tried to write short, clear, simple text. Sadly, the CEO of the company had been an English major at an Ivy League college; he had no training in UI design or software engineering, but he sure thought he was a good editor of prose. So he vetoed the wording done by the professional UI designers and added lots of his own verbiage. A typical dialog in Juno looks like this:\n\nCompare that to the equivalent dialog from Windows:\n\nIntuitively, you might guess that the Juno version, with 80 words of instructions, would be \u201csuperior\u201d (i.e., easier to use) than the Windows version, with 5 words of instructions. In reality, when you run a usability test on this kind of thing, you\u2019ll find that\n\nadvanced users skip over the instructions. They assume they know how to use things and don\u2019t have time to read complicated instructions\n\nmost novice users skip over the instructions. They don\u2019t like reading too much and hope that the defaults will be OK\n\nthe remaining novice users who do, earnestly, try to read the instructions (some of whom are only reading them because it\u2019s a usability test and they feel obliged) are often confused by the sheer number of words and concepts. So even if they were pretty confident that they would be able to use the dialog when it first came up, the instructions actually confused them even more.\n\nNow, Juno was obviously micro-managed beyond all reason. More to the point, if you\u2019re an English major from Columbia, then you are in a whole different league of literacy than the average Joe, and you should be very careful about wording dialogs that look helpful to you. Shorten it, dumb it down, simplify, get rid of the complicated clauses in parentheses, and usability test. But do not write things that look like Ivy League faculty memos. Even adding the word \u201cplease\u201d to a dialog, which may seem helpful and polite, is going to slow people down: the increased bulk of the wording is going to reduce, by some measurable percentage, the number of people who read the text.\n\nAnother important point is that many people are intimidated by computers. You probably know this, right? But you may not realize the implications of this. I was watching a friend try to exit Juno. For some reason she was having quite a bit of trouble. I noticed that when you try to exit Juno, the following dialog pops up:\n\nShe was hitting No, and then she was kind of surprised that Juno hadn\u2019t exited. The very fact that Juno was questioning her choice made her immediately assume that she was doing something wrong. Usually, when programs ask you to confirm a command, it\u2019s because you\u2019re about to do something which you might regret. She had assumed that if the computer was questioning her judgment, then the computer must have been right, because, after all, computers are computers where as she was merely a human, so she hit \u201cNo.\u201d\n\nIs it too much to ask people to read 11 lousy words? Well, apparently. First of all, since exiting Juno has no deleterious effects, Juno should have just exited without prompting for confirmation, like every other GUI program in existence. But even if you are convinced that it is crucial that people confirm before exiting, you could do it in two words instead of 11:\n\nWithout the completely unnecessary \u201cthank you\u201d and the remorse-inspiring \u201care you sure?\u201c, this dialog is a lot less likely to cause problems. Users will certainly read the two words, say \u201cum, duh?\u201d to the program, and pound the Yes key.\n\nSure, the Juno Exit Confirmation dialog trips up a few people, you say, but is it that big a deal? Everyone will eventually manage to get out of the program. But herein lies the difference between a program which is possible to use versus a program which is easy to use. Even smart, experienced, advanced users will appreciate things that you do to make it easy for the distracted, inexperienced, beginner users. Hotel bathtubs have big grab bars. They\u2019re just there to help disabled people, but everybody uses them anyway to get out of the bathtub. They make life easier even for the physically fit.\n\nIn the next chapter, I\u2019ll talk a bit about the mouse. Just like users don\u2019t/won\u2019t/can\u2019t read, some are not very good at using the mouse, so you have to accommodate them."}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nfinished one problem that deserves an hour break"}
-{"text": "Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) suggested on Sunday that Democrats will lose the 2016 presidential race because they are the party of the \u201ctop 1 percent,\u201d and that Republicans are the party of \u201chard working\u201d people.\n\nDuring an interview with ABC News, host George Stephanopolous pointed out to Cruz that the U.S. economy had created over a million jobs in the last three months, setting a 17-year record.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\n\u201cWhat does that do to your party\u2019s strategy going forward into 2016?\u201d Stephanopolous wondered, adding that GOP economic advisor Kevin Hassett even argued that Hillary Clinton could run on the slogan: \u201cRepublicans gave us a crappy economy twice and we fixed it twice.\u201d\n\n\u201cLook, if Hillary Clinton wants to run by telling Americans that the economy is doing great and that you can credit President Obama and Hillary Clinton for that, I would encourage her to follow that strategy,\u201d Cruz replied. \u201cBecause the simple reality is that\u2019s true for the wealthy.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe top 1 percent under President Obama, the millionaires and billionaires that he constantly demagogues, earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928,\u201d he continued. \u201cThose with power and influence, who walk the corridors of power of the Obama administration, have gotten fat and happy under big government.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I\u2019ll tell you, hard working men and women across America are hurting.\u201d\n\nAfter taking over all of Congress in January, one of the first bills passed by the GOP-controlled House would loosen about a dozen financial regulations on big banks that were imposed by the 2010 Dodd-Frank law after the 2008 economic collapse.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nWatch the video below from ABC\u2019s This Week, broadcast Feb. 8, 2015."}
-{"text": "Tesla has teased that Navigate on Autopilot will gradually handle more and more driving responsibilities, but those aren't just fanciful long-term plans -- they're very much on the roadmap for the near future. In the midst of a public pitch for Navigate on Autopilot, Elon Musk mentioned that Tesla is currently testing \"traffic lights, stop signs & roundabouts\" in pre-release software. It's hard not to be a bit skeptical of Musk's claim that you'll soon travel to work with \"no driver input at all,\" but this is promising if the very thought of entering a busy roundabout makes you nervous."}
-{"text": "Soi k\u00e8o Nice vs Monaco, 02h05 ng\u00e0y 25/5 \u2013 Ligue 1\n\nSoi k\u00e8o Nice vs Monaco\n\n\u0110\u1ed9i \u0111\u1ee9ng th\u1ee9 8 Nice s\u1ebd ti\u1ebfp \u0111\u00f3n Monaco trong tr\u1eadn cu\u1ed1i c\u1ee7a Ligue 1 m\u00f9a n\u00e0y. M\u1eddi qu\u00fd \u0111\u1ed9c gi\u1ea3 c\u00f9ng c\u00e1c chuy\u00ean gia soi k\u00e8o tr\u1eadn \u0111\u1ea5u Nice vs Monaco, 02h05 ng\u00e0y 25/5.\n\nNh\u1eadn \u0111\u1ecbnh k\u00e8o nh\u00e0 c\u00e1i Ch\u00e2u \u00c1 \u2013 k\u00e8o ch\u1ea5p Nice vs Monaco\n\n\u1ede tr\u1eadn \u0111\u1ea5u g\u1ea7n nh\u1ea5t, Monaco \u0111\u00e3 gi\u00e0nh chi\u1ebfn th\u1eafng v\u1edbi t\u1ef7 l\u1ec7 b\u00f3ng \u0111\u00e1 2-0 tr\u01b0\u1edbc Amiens. Ba \u0111i\u1ec3m c\u00f3 \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c trong tr\u1eadn chung k\u1ebft ng\u01b0\u1ee3c n\u00e0y gi\u00fap Monaco chi\u1ebfm v\u1ecb tr\u00ed th\u1ee9 16 tr\u00ean BXH c\u1ee7a ch\u00ednh Amiens. \u0110\u1ed9i b\u00f3ng x\u1ee9 C\u00f4ng qu\u1ed1c \u0111ang h\u01a1n \u0111\u1ed9i \u0111\u1ee9ng th\u1ee9 18 Caen 3 \u0111i\u1ec3m v\u00e0 7 b\u00e0n v\u1ec1 hi\u1ec7u s\u1ed1 b\u00e0n th\u1eafng b\u1ea1i. V\u1edbi vi\u1ec7c Ligue 1 chu\u1ea9n b\u1ecb b\u01b0\u1edbc v\u00e0o v\u00f2ng cu\u1ed1i, kho\u1ea3ng c\u00e1ch tr\u00ean \u0111\u1ee7 gi\u00fap Monaco ti\u1ebfp t\u1ee5c \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c ch\u01a1i t\u1ea1i gi\u1ea3i \u0111\u1ea5u h\u00e0ng \u0111\u1ea7u n\u01b0\u1edbc Ph\u00e1p m\u00f9a t\u1edbi.\n\nVi\u1ec7c s\u1eafp tr\u1ee5 h\u1ea1ng th\u00e0nh c\u00f4ng khi\u1ebfn Monaco kh\u00f4ng bi\u1ebft n\u00ean vui hay bu\u1ed3n. T\u1eeb ch\u1ed7 l\u00e0 \u00c1 qu\u00e2n c\u1ee7a Ligue 1 m\u00f9a tr\u01b0\u1edbc, \u0111\u1ed9i ch\u1ee7 s\u00e2n Louis II \u0111\u00e3 ph\u1ea3i tr\u1ea3i qua m\u1ed9t m\u00f9a gi\u1ea3i h\u1ed7n \u0111\u1ed9n. B\u0103ng gh\u1ebf hu\u1ea5n luy\u1ec7n \u0111\u1ed5i ch\u1ee7 li\u00ean t\u1ee5c v\u00e0 Monaco th\u01b0\u1eddng xuy\u00ean ng\u1ee5p l\u1eb7n \u1edf nh\u00f3m cu\u1ed1i tr\u00ean BXH. V\u00e0o cu\u1ed1i tu\u1ea7n n\u00e0y, Monaco s\u1ebd k\u1ebft th\u00fac m\u00f9a gi\u1ea3i nh\u1ecdc nh\u1eb1n b\u1eb1ng chuy\u1ebfn l\u00e0m kh\u00e1ch kh\u00f3 kh\u0103n tr\u00ean s\u00e2n c\u1ee7a Nice.\n\nPatrick Vieira \u0111\u00e3 t\u1eadn h\u01b0\u1edfng m\u00f9a gi\u1ea3i \u0111\u1ea7u ti\u00ean kh\u00e1 hi\u1ec7u qu\u1ea3 t\u1ea1i Nice. \u0110\u1ed9i b\u00f3ng c\u1ee7a Vieira \u0111ang \u0111\u1ee9ng th\u1ee9 8 tr\u00ean BXH v\u00e0 c\u00f3 kh\u1ea3 n\u0103ng v\u01b0\u01a1n l\u00ean v\u1ecb tr\u00ed th\u1ee9 7. Mu\u1ed1n \u0111\u1ea1t \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c m\u1ee5c ti\u00eau n\u00e0y, \u201cLes Aiglons\u201d s\u1ebd c\u1ea7n \u0111\u00e1nh b\u1ea1i Monaco v\u00e0 ch\u1edd \u0111\u1ee3i Nimes s\u1ea3y ch\u00e2n. Vi\u1ec7c \u0111\u1ea1t \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c \u0111i\u1ec1u ki\u1ec7n c\u1ea7n, t\u1ee9c l\u00e0 th\u1eafng Monaco l\u00e0 \u0111i\u1ec1u n\u1eb1m trong t\u1ea7m tay c\u1ee7a Vieira v\u00e0 c\u00e1c h\u1ecdc tr\u00f2.\n\nB\u1edfi l\u1ebd, Monaco \u0111ang ch\u01a1i t\u1ec7 khi l\u00e0m kh\u00e1ch. \u1ede 4 tr\u1eadn g\u1ea7n nh\u1ea5t nh\u01b0 th\u1ebf, \u0111\u1ed9i b\u00f3ng c\u1ee7a HLV Leonardo Jardim thua 2, h\u00f2a 2. Theo k\u00e8o nh\u00e0 c\u00e1i, Monaco thua c\u1ea3 4 tr\u1eadn \u0111\u00f3. Ng\u01b0\u1ee3c l\u1ea1i, Nice ch\u1ec9 thua 1 trong 10 tr\u1eadn g\u1ea7n nh\u1ea5t tr\u00ean s\u00e2n nh\u00e0, th\u1eafng 6 v\u00e0 h\u00f2a 3 tr\u1eadn. V\u1edbi vi\u1ec7c k\u00e8o ch\u00e2u \u00c1 \u1edf tr\u1eadn t\u1edbi l\u00e0 h\u00f2a \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c thua, Nice l\u00e0 \u0111\u1ecba ch\u1ec9 an to\u00e0n \u0111\u1ec3 \u0111\u1eb7t ni\u1ec1m tin.\n\nCh\u1ecdn Nice\n\nNh\u1eadn \u0111\u1ecbnh k\u00e8o nh\u00e0 c\u00e1i, t\u00e0i x\u1ec9u (Over/under) Nice vs Monaco\n\nHLV Vieira \u0111\u00e3 x\u00e2y d\u1ef1ng m\u1ed9t l\u1ed1i ch\u01a1i ch\u1eafc ch\u1eafn cho Nice. H\u1ecd ch\u00ednh l\u00e0 \u0111\u1ed9i b\u00f3ng \u0111\u1ec3 th\u1ee7ng l\u01b0\u1edbi \u00edt b\u00e0n th\u1ee9 3 t\u1ea1i Ligue 1 m\u00f9a n\u00e0y. V\u1edbi nh\u1eefng g\u00ec Nice \u0111\u00e3 th\u1ec3 hi\u1ec7n, s\u1ebd r\u1ea5t kh\u00f3 \u0111\u1ec3 tr\u1eadn t\u1edbi c\u00f3 nhi\u1ec1u b\u00e0n \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c ghi.\n\nCh\u1ecdn X\u1ec9u\n\nPhong \u0111\u1ed9 thi \u0111\u1ea5u g\u1ea7n \u0111\u00e2y c\u1ee7a Nice vs Monaco\n\nK\u00e8o b\u00f3ng \u0111\u00e1 h\u00f4m nay th\u1ed1ng k\u00ea Nice th\u1eafng 1, h\u00f2a 2, thua 2 trong 5 tr\u1eadn g\u1ea7n nh\u1ea5t.\n\nth\u1ed1ng k\u00ea Nice th\u1eafng 1, h\u00f2a 2, thua 2 trong 5 tr\u1eadn g\u1ea7n nh\u1ea5t. Monaco th\u1eafng 1, h\u00f2a 1, thua 3 trong 5 tr\u1eadn g\u1ea7n nh\u1ea5t.\n\n\u0110\u1ed9i h\u00ecnh d\u1ef1 ki\u1ebfn tr\u1eadn \u0111\u1ea5u Nice vs Monaco\n\nD\u1ef1 \u0111o\u00e1n k\u1ebft qu\u1ea3, t\u1ec9 s\u1ed1 Nice vs Monaco\n\nNice th\u1eafng 1-0\n\n\u0110\u00f3n xem th\u00eam nh\u1eadn \u0111\u1ecbnh c\u00e1c tr\u1eadn \u0111\u1ea5u kh\u00e1c: Soi k\u00e8o Angers vs Saint Etienne, 02h05 ng\u00e0y 25/5 \u2013 Ligue 1"}
-{"text": "An official watchdog has launched an investigation into nearly 100 companies and individuals who are accused of hiring rogue private investigators to gather information.\n\nThe information commissioner, Christopher Graham, announced on Monday that his office had opened the investigation after it was handed a confidential list of 98 companies and people by police last week.\n\nThe list, which includes law firms, insurance companies, and firms in the oil and drug industries, was compiled by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) as part of its inquiry into private eyes and the \"blagging\" of personal information.\n\nThe so-called \"blue-chip hacking\" list, drawn up during Soca's Operation Millipede, which led to the conviction of four private detectives for fraud last year, was recently subject to a row over transparency after it was handed to MPs on condition the names were not published.\n\nThe list has become controversial following claims that companies other than those in the media hired private investigators to hack and obtain secret information to promote their businesses.\n\nThe information commissioner will now examine whether the firms have broken the Data Protection Act.\n\nAccording to a statement by the information commissioner, his investigators will seek \"to establish what information the private investigators provided, and whether the clients were aware that the law might have been broken to obtain that information\".\n\nIf convicted, the firms could be fined up to \u00a3500,000. However, the watchdog may face an obstacle in bringing prosecutions as it estimated that as many as a quarter of the firms suspected of being involved in the trade may have been based outside Britain and therefore outside of its jurisdiction.\n\nThe information commissioner was given more than 20 files last week by Soca, including correspondence between the firms on the list and the private investigators, and receipts of payments. His office said details of nine other firms had been withheld by Soca, following a request by the Metropolitan police, as they \"relate to ongoing police investigations\".\n\nThe list of firms is not being disclosed for the time being by the information commissioner until he can assess the quality of the evidence against them.\n\nSoca has been criticised for keeping the list secret for several years. The agency only recently passed on the list to MPs on the home affairs select committee as part of a parliamentary inquiry into private investigators on condition that those on it were not named.\n\nSoca says the list must remain confidential as it is not alleging that the firms or individuals on it have committed a crime."}
-{"text": "Forleden s\u00e5 jeg en mand i en fejevogn sidde og f\u00e6gte med armene, mens han r\u00e5bte helt vildt ud i luften: \u201dNej, du skal ikke k\u00f8re p\u00e5 fortovet!\u201d.\n\nDet var mig, han r\u00e5bte til, fordi jeg havde taget fejl af et skilt. Jeg ville gerne undskylde, men der var ikke rigtig mulighed for tovejskommunikation, s\u00e5 jeg cyklede videre, og manden i fejevognen r\u00e5bte videre.\n\nJeg har ogs\u00e5 cyklet bag en mand, som konsekvent r\u00e5bte af alle mennesker foran ham. Alle var nogle idiotier, som skulle flytte sig, for manden havde fart p\u00e5. Jeg cyklede bag ham i et l\u00e6ngere stykke tid, og selv om jeg beundrer hans vedholdenhed, finder jeg hans aggressivitet skr\u00e6mmende."}
-{"text": "Update: it appears that after an hour\u2019s outage, all three services are back online.\n\nA Facebook spokesperson said, \u201cEarlier this evening many people had trouble accessing Facebook and Instagram. This was not the result of a third party attack but instead occurred after we introduced a change that affected our configuration systems. We moved quickly to fix the problem, and both services are back to 100% for everyone.\u201d\n\nOriginal story follows:\n\nUsers worldwide are experiencing issues connecting to Facebook, Instagram and Tinder, on the Web and via mobile apps.\n\nIt\u2019s not clear what\u2019s causing the outage, which first occurred around 1:10am ET. However, Facebook-owned mobile messaging service WhatsApp is running as usual.\n\nIt appears that hacker group Lizard Squad is claiming responsibility for the outage which might have been caused by a DDoS attack. Lizard Squad attacked Malaysia Airlines\u2019 site only yesterday and took down online gaming services Xbox Live and PlayStation Network last Christmas.\n\nhttps://twitter.com/LizardMafia/status/559963134006292481\n\nThe last instance of Facebook going down was back in September for roughly 15 minutes, when the social network went down twice that month.\n\nWe\u2019ve contacted Facebook for more details and will update this post as soon as we hear back.\n\nWhile they\u2019re down, it seems sensible to read our complete guide to backing up your computer.\n\nRead next: Meet Vivaldi, a new browser from the former CEO of Opera"}
-{"text": "With his starting quarterback fourth in the league in passing yards last season and tied for the league-lead in touchdown passes (30), Marcel Desjardins was very happy with Trevor Harris\u2019 2017 season.\n\n\u201cI thought he did very well. Obviously his stats showed that,\u201d Desjardins said last week in Banff, at the start of the GMs and team presidents meetings.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that we weren\u2019t able to win more games early on but I think it was a great learning experience for him to be the guy. I think he\u2019ll come to camp this year so much further ahead in terms of not only knowing what to expect of the rest of the group but knowing how he will react in certain situations.\u201d\n\nRELATED\n\n\u00bb CFL.ca Free Agent Tracker\n\n\u00bb Bio: Trevor Harris by the numbers\n\n\u00bb More from Chris O\u2019Leary\n\nThis will be Harris\u2019 seventh season in the CFL, but last year was his first as a full-time starter. There was no question in the Ottawa REDBLACKS\u2019 minds that Harris could do the job, but Desjardins knew that there\u2019s always a learning curve when you officially get handed the keys to an offence for the first time.\n\n\u201c(As a first-time starter) you kind of maybe overreact to certain things and not react well enough to other things. I think it\u2019s a great learning process for everybody,\u201d Desjardins said, \u201cwhether it\u2019s a quarterback or anyone else in the spotlight.\n\n\u201cHis decision making\u2026for me, for you, our decisions are maybe not behind the scenes but certainly we can spread them out a little more. His are within a fraction of a second sometimes. That\u2019s where it\u2019s tough on those guys.\u201d\n\nHarris went into last season fully aware of that too and tried to prepare himself for it. He worked with a sports psychologist ahead of the season \u2014 the same one that Tom Brady uses \u2014 and as CFL.ca\u2019s Don Landry wrote about in October, he used military-inspired combat training to help with those split-second decisions he had to make.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s one thing that Trevor is great at, is his preparation,\u201d Desjardins said. \u201cBoth Xs and Os-wise and just the mental and physical side of it in terms of preparation for the season.\n\n\u201cA lot of that is off-season work. Every guy has to understand what makes him tick. Coaches and management can help but at the end of the day it comes down to the player. He wants to do those things, but at the same time you try it and if you don\u2019t think it\u2019s beneficial it doesn\u2019t\u2019 mean you continue it. You try to get a feel for what helps you and what doesn\u2019t and why it does or doesn\u2019t and you just evolve from there in terms of your preparation.\u201d\n\nHaving signed Harris to a one-year extension on Dec. 13, 2017, Desjardins is looking forward to seeing that evolution continue when training camp opens this season.\n\n\u201cHis play, even from 2016 and when he played in 2017, it was at a high level. I think part of his equation is, again, because he\u2019s now the leader\u2026that\u2019s part of the dynamic of learning to be the starting quarterback, is to be true to who you are and don\u2019t try to force things that aren\u2019t you.\u201d\n\nDesjardins hesitates somewhat with the leader label. If you\u2019re not a rah-rah type of player, he doesn\u2019t want you to try to be that just because you\u2019re the starter. Leadership has to reflect your actual personality. At the same time, you can\u2019t just have one voice in the locker room.\n\n\u201cYou go back to look at whether it\u2019s Anthony Calvillo or Ricky Ray, guys that are not the rah-rah, vocal guys out there that have had (a lot) of success. You don\u2019t have to be that guy,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cI think (Harris) is in the middle. He has that in him when it needs to be there, but I think as part of the dynamic of our team we need to have other guys help fill that role.\u201d\n\nDESJARDINS WORKING HIS WAY THROUGH HIS FREE AGENTS\n\nWith less than a month until the free agent market opens, Desjardins has signed a number of his key players to contract extensions. Brad Sinopoli, Harris, running backs William Powell and Mossis Madu are all staying in Ottawa.\n\n\u201cYou have to prioritize, right? That\u2019s the nature of the beast. Trevor and Brad were guys we needed to get done pretty quickly and there are others, but I don\u2019t control all the elements, so to speak,\u201d Desjardins said. \u201cSo sometimes the timelines are a little more out of my control.\u201d\n\nTops on Desjardins\u2019 list as Feb. 13 nears would be receiver/returner Diontae Spencer (922 yards receiving, 1,536 total return yards), who joined the team last year after spending the previous two seasons in Toronto."}
-{"text": "\"Cleveland Rocks\" New Year's\n\nThousands of people came to Public Square for \"Cleveland Rocks\" to ring in the New Year in 2015.\n\n(The Plain Dealer)\n\nCLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Rocks New Year's Eve party has been canceled, according to a letter posted today on the CLE NYE website.\n\nEvent organizer Alonzo Mitchell blamed the cancellation on a lack of resources, saying in the letter, \"It all comes down to simple math.\"\n\n\"With the coming convention and other special projects vying for funds from a finite pool of resources, we were unable to secure the corporate and other donor support to host a NYE event that would be on par with past productions and up to the level of excellence that Cleveland deserves,\" Mitchell wrote.\n\nRefunds will be processed and available in days to come on clenye.com, the letter says.\n\nCleveland's own comedian and actor Drew Carey was set to host the event and it was to feature a performance by Australian DJ/actress Ruby Rose.\n\nRead the full cancellation notice here."}
-{"text": "WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump on Wednesday condemned the mailing of a series of explosive devices to current and former political leaders this week as \"despicable,\" saying at the White House that \u201cacts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America.\u201d\n\n\"In these times we have to unify, we have to come together,\" he said before a bill-signing event, calling the mailings \"abhorrent to everything we hold dear and sacred as Americans.\"\n\n\u201cWe are extremely angry, upset, unhappy about [what happened] this morning, and we will get to the bottom of it,\u201d he added.\n\nFirst lady Melania Trump introduced the president at the event and stated \"we cannot tolerate those cowardly attacks and I strongly condemn all who choose violence.\"\n\nThe president, who was briefed earlier on the ongoing investigation along with top officials, said a full-scale federal investigation was underway following the sending of packages containing the explosive devices to a series of current and former officials.\n\n\"The full weight of our government is being deployed to conduct this investigation and bring those responsible for these despicable acts to justice. We will spare no resources or expense in this effort,\" Trump said.\n\nThe mostly Democratic targets, whom the president and first lady did not name in their remarks, included former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Attorney General Eric Holder, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and former CIA Director John Brennan, who was the intended recipient of a package sent to CNN's New York City office.\n\nOn Monday a similar device was sent to the home of George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist and top Democratic donor.\n\nNo one has been injured by the devices.\n\nIn a joint statement, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the president's remarks on Wednesday fell short.\n\n\"We all take an oath to support and defend the constitution and protect the American people, and that is our first responsibility,\" they said. \u201cHowever, President Trump\u2019s words ring hollow until he reverses his statements that condone acts of violence.\"\n\nCNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker also expressed dissatisfaction with the president's comments. \"There is a total and complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media,\" he said in a statement Wednesday afternoon after the president spoke. \"The President, and especially the White House Press Secretary, should understand their words matter. Thus far, they have shown no comprehension of that.\"\n\nAt campaign events, President Trump has frequently criticized Democratic leaders such as Clinton and Waters, as well as CNN and the national media.\n\nTrump is expected to hold a campaign rally later this evening in Mosinee, Wisconsin."}
-{"text": "Last updated on .From the section Football\n\nMalky Mackay denies being \"racist, sexist, homophobe or anti-Semite\"\n\nFormer Cardiff boss Malky Mackay says he is not racist, sexist, homophobic or anti-Semitic despite admitting sending offensive text messages.\n\nIn an interview, Mackay claimed only three messages of thousands recovered had been sent by him.\n\n\"They are completely unacceptable, inappropriate, and for that I sincerely apologise,\" said the 42-year-old Scot.\n\n\"I'm a leader of people and it shouldn't have happened, but I'm a human being and I made a mistake.\"\n\nMackay is alleged to have shared the texts with former Cardiff colleague Iain Moody, who quit his position as Crystal Palace sporting director shortly after the allegations came to light.\n\n\"Out of 10,000 text messages in and out of someone's phone, I sent three,\" added Mackay.\n\n\"There is no excuse. It was a period where I was under pressure and stress in terms of relationships which were not going well at my football club at the time. Once again, that doesn't actually excuse anything.\"\n\nThe League Managers' Association issued a statement expressing Mackay's regret on Thursday but came under fire for describing the offensive texts as \"friendly banter\".\n\nText messages allegedly shared by Moody and Mackay (as reported in Thursday's Daily Mail) \"Go on, fat Phil. Nothing like a Jew that sees money slipping through his fingers.\" On football agent Phil Smith. \"He's a snake, a gay snake. Not to be trusted.\" Referring to an official at another club. \"Not many white faces amongst that lot but worth considering.\" Referring to a list of potential signings.\n\nA number of anti-discrimination campaigners criticised the LMA and the statement, while Cardiff City called for LMA chief Richard Bevan to resign.\n\nMackay said Bevan should remain in his job.\n\n\"I've not used the word 'banter', but the overall statement was very accurate,\" said Mackay. \"That word is wrong and the LMA soon realised that and they've tried to correct that.\n\n\"There's various parts of the statement which showed there was contrition on my part. I think every manager in the country backs the LMA and Richard Bevan. I don't think he should resign.\"\n\nThe Football Association says it is investigating claims of misconduct after being sent a dossier by Cardiff.\n\nBoth Mackay and Moody were sacked by the Bluebirds last year.\n\nMoody lost his job as head of player recruitment in October 2013 following a dispute with Cardiff owner Vincent Tan over transfer activity.\n\nThat is said to have strained the relationship between Tan and Mackay, who was sacked following a 3-0 defeat by Southampton in December.\n\nMackay added: \"These are testing times, make no mistake about that.\n\n\"But I've got values and resilience and I've got a love for British football and I will come back from this.\""}
-{"text": "Nov 9, 2013; College Station, TX, USA; Texas A&M Aggies offensive linesman Mike Matthews (56) hikes the ball against the Mississippi State Bulldogs during the second quarter at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports\n\n#12 Mississippi State vs. #6 Texas A&M: Saturday, October 4th in Starkville at 11:00 CST on ESPN. This game has all the makings of a classic, and we\u2019ll set the stage for you right here.\n\nStatistical matchup comparisons\u2026\n\nMSU rushing offense: 271 YPG (15th) vs. A&M rushing defense: 157 YPG (67th)\n\nMSU passing offense: 267 YPG (46th) vs. A&M passing defense: 220 YPG (46th)\n\nA&M rushing offense: 193 YPG (44th) vs. MSU rushing defense: 83 YPG (7th)\n\nA&M passing offense: 401 YPG (5th) vs. MSU passing defense: 319 YPG (124th)\n\nHere\u2019s the matchup of the game \u2013 Kenny Hill and the Aggies passing attack against a secondary that is supposed to be good, but has been hung out to dry a few times this year.\n\nIt may not be as big of a mismatch as it looks on paper (or computer screen as it were). The Aggies throw a lot of screens and short to intermediate routes. Getting guys in space doesn\u2019t always work against State \u2013 this is a game where Matthew Wells and Zach Jackson could play a huge factor. If they can swarm to the ball and limit those plays from turning into 5-10 yard gainers, but TFL and no gainers instead, it will keep A&M behind the chains and potentially in some 3rd and long situations.\n\nWe need plenty of this from the Psycho Defense..\n\nBIG PLAYS\n\nI think big plays are going to be a part of this game on both sides. It\u2019s just the nature of A&M\u2019s offense and defense. While MSU\u2019s ideal game plan would be to limit big plays, keep the ball in front of them and be opportunistic on defense (3rd down, red zone, turnovers); and grind the clock on offense with Josh Robinson and Dak Prescott to keep aTm\u2019s offense off the field \u2013 big plays will be there and at least in the first half of play, I say we take them.\n\nTexas A&M is 2nd in the country in 20+ yard plays with 36. Mississippi State is 7th with 32. These offenses are going to hit some home runs. And the defenses will likely allow them despite their best efforts. Mark Snyder has been taking a lot of chances and has been rewarded with a lot of sacks and tackles for loss \u2013 but they\u2019ve also given up eight plays of 30 or more yards. MSU has given up 10 of them and have virtually the same sacks and TFL stats. With A&M it\u2019s bringing pressure and getting burned, with MSU it\u2019s a solid front seven but getting burned anyway.\n\nFAST START\n\nTexas A&M wants to start fast and break you from your game plan. MSU has opened the game with a touchdown-scoring drive against everyone except South Alabama. A&M did score a TD on their opening possession against Arkansas, but then they cooled off until mid-way through the second quarter. The Hogs forced two 3-and-outs and another drive of just four plays.\n\nGetting ahead, just like State did vs. LSU, is huge\u2026.but in this game it would be even bigger. The Aggies also only managed three points on their first two drives vs. SMU so this could be an unlikely theme for a Kevin Sumlin offense. I wouldn\u2019t count on it as a fan, but certainly Geoff Collins\u2019 bunch will have the opportunities to get stops early and get some points on the board to avoid any potential onslaught that often smothers A&M opponents.\n\n4TH QUARTER\n\nWe are about to enter Week 6 of the 2014 football season, game five, and Mississippi State hasn\u2019t had to play a 4th quarter yet. In each game so far, the outcome was all but decided leading to opponents having a 26-10 scoring edge on the Bulldogs in the final frame.\n\nBy comparison, A&M has outscored their opponents 62-3 in the 4th quarter. They\u2019ve also proven they can come from 14 points back in the closing minutes and win a game.\n\nIt\u2019s not over until it\u2019s over \u2013 we all know that from the LSU game, of course, but this one is highly unlikely to be a blowout in either team\u2019s favor. It will take a full 60 minutes of relentless effort to win the game. State has not had to do that yet \u2013 and only a handful of SEC games in the Dan Mullen era have gone down to the final minute with the game still in doubt. This is something to keep in mind as the final 15 minutes approach on Saturday.\n\nTwo Heisman candidates at quarterback, two great offenses averaging well over 500 YPG, and two scoring defenses in the top 20. This is the kind of matchup you want to see as a college football fan. Luckily for us the Bulldogs are right in the middle of it on SEC West showdown Saturday. It should be a great game. Hail State!"}
-{"text": "In the 1970s, college students in archaeology such as myself learned that the first human beings to arrive in North America had come over a land bridge from Asia and Siberia approximately 13,000 to 13,500 years ago. These people, the first North Americans, were known collectively as Clovis people. Their journey was made possible, according to archaeologists far and wide, by a corridor that had opened up between giant ice sheets covering what is now Alaska and Alberta. Thus did the Clovis people move down through the North American continent, carrying their distinctive tools to various sites in the Plains States and the Southwest and then moving eastward. And all of this they did very quickly.\n\nSignificant evidence of Clovis culture had been discovered in New Mexico. In 1908, a rancher riding along an arroyo on his property near Folsom noticed what looked like large bones embedded in the embankment. They turned out to be from gigantic Ice Age bison and other late Pleistocene megafauna, such as mammoths, and they had cut marks that had clearly been made by humans. South of there, in Blackwater Draw, elegantly fashioned spear points, some about the size of the palm of your hand, turned up in the 1930s. The spear points had fluting and were large enough to fell Ice Age animals.\n\nClovis First, as it was called, was the one and only accepted explanation of initial human arrival and subsequent expansion throughout North and South America. To be taken seriously, any artifact of human culture had to be dated after those found at Clovis.\n\nI remember learning all this in introductory archaeology at a college in southeastern Pennsylvania. Little did I or my professors know that a couple hundred miles away, at a place called Meadowcroft, not far from Pittsburgh, an archaeological dig led by James Adovasio was finding evidence that would cast the primacy of Clovis Man completely in doubt and produce major challenges for existing theories of how the first human beings arrived in North America.\n\nPhoto caption James Adovasio put in years of painstaking work at the rock shelter, then spent years defending his findings. Courtesy J. M. Adovasio\n\nIt all started one day in 1955 when Albert Miller, a farmer, conservationist, and amateur historian was out hiking on his property. While passing a steep cliffside aerie with a distinctive rock overhang that yielded a naturally occurring shelter, he noticed a groundhog slip down a hole. Upon closer inspection, Miller found bones near the entrance of the hole. More than likely, the groundhog had dug up the bones and deposited them there.\n\nMiller wondered what else lay beneath that patch of soil. He fetched a shovel and a screen, then started digging. Very quickly he unearthed a flint knife and some burned bones. Already familiar with rock shelters in western Pennsylvania, he knew to expect Indian artifacts. His own interests and experiences had trained him to look for such things.\n\nAs a young man, he had been a pilot and an accomplished aerial photographer. An interest in conservation led to a project in which he planted trees on land that had been disrupted by mining. His own farm he turned into a wildlife habitat. Yet he was also fascinated by manmade things such as antiques, but not in the usual way. \u201cSome people are interested in that chair,\u201d he once said of an antique. \u201cI\u2019m interested in the people who sat in it.\u201d\n\nMiller quickly realized that the land around the rock shelter was possibly significant, so he stopped digging. Instead of exploiting the site, he selflessly became its protector. The rock overhang, he realized, might easily attract hikers looking for shelter, who might happen onto evidence of something going on here, just as he had, and feel compelled to dig. To ward off potential looters, he covered the hole and hid it from view.\n\nThe site called for professional attention, and he was willing to wait until the right archaeologists came along. For almost twenty years, the discovery remained a closely guarded secret. When Miller encountered someone he thought trustworthy who might be able to connect him to the right archaeologists, he took that person into his confidence. One such person was Phil Jack, a historian of colonial America at the state college in California, Pennsylvania.\n\nIn the meantime, Miller pursued another project of historical interest, founding the Meadowcroft Museum of Rural Life on land near the rock shelter. For this reconstructed nineteenth-century village, he and his brother Delvin\u2014a legend in harness racing\u2014restored old cabins, a schoolhouse, a church, a barbershop, a covered bridge, and a railroad car. The museum, which was run by a board, came to own the land with the rock shelter.\n\nIn the early seventies, a young archaeologist named James Adovasio was hired by the University of Pittsburgh. He put out the word among colleagues that he would be interested in hearing about any sites near the Iron City that might be appropriate for teaching students the meticulous techniques needed to excavate archaeological digs. He got a call from Jack, the historian at the state college, who told him about Meadowcroft.\n\nAdovasio visited Albert Miller, and they hit it off. Miller realized he had found the archaeologist with the appropriate skills to dig below the rock shelter. After Adovasio received permission from Meadowcroft\u2019s board, he and his students began working at the site. They were joined by teams of geologists, paleontologists, climatologists, and other experts in ancient plants, pollen, and seeds. They used trowels as if they were scalpels and even razor blades to ever so gently remove soil covering the floor of the rock shelter, layer by layer, or in the lingo of a dig, horizon by horizon. The strata beneath the spot where decades earlier Miller had spied the groundhog were uncommonly intact.\n\nThe crew chief was David T. Clark, a former U.S. marine and an \u201cutter genius with a trowel,\u201d writes Adovasio. Precise in his work and uncompromising in his standards, Clark was said to have taught his colleagues so well that they could hear it when their tools scratched another microlayer. Climate and stratigraphic expert Joel Gunn was another character in the lineup, someone the crew came to know and fear for his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personalities. The archaeologists liked to get their hands dirty. They were more comfortable, Adovasio once observed, sitting in a \u201cfront-end loader or a roadside saloon than at the Princeton Club in a Hepplewhite chair.\u201d\n\nPhoto caption In 1973 students of James Adovasio began work on the initial trench. By 1978 the team had hit bedrock. But Adovasio has left part of the site unexcavated, giving future teams with better technology the chance to learn more. Courtesy J. M. Adovasio\n\nWhen the project began in June of 1973, the team expected to dig for about three or four feet before hitting bedrock, which, of course, would be sterile in terms of human activityand thus mark the end of their work there. But, even so, students would get excellent experience, comparable to that offered by other western Pennsylvania rock shelters, going back in time perhaps three thousand years. The first human artifacts they discovered were aluminum beer cans. Lower down they found steel cans, followed by glass beer bottles, and then colonial-era glass.\n\nBy the next summer, the team had gone through ever more successive layers of parallel stratification, reaching a depth of ten feet. Surprised at being able to continue deeper, but not yet finding anything unexpected, the students cataloged every point encountered (early field use of computers assisted in this) and duly noted remains of ancient hearths. Archaic points unearthed that summer resembled others found in the same region, dating back ten thousand years.\n\nWhat the archaeologists encountered next would have disheartened any amateur who had endeavored to dig this deep: rocks. But Adovasio and his team recognized this for what it was, a spall\u2014boulders that had fallen from the rock shelter\u2019s roof thousands of years ago. They dug onward. Breaking through the spall, they began encountering the unexpected and the unknown.\n\nBecause of the stability of the site\u2014Meadowcroft Rockshelter is nestled in Morgantown-Connellsville sandstone about 300 million years old and held high above the constantly eroding waters from nearby Cross Creek\u2014the team surmised from the undisturbed strata that they were finding artifacts more than 12,000 calendar years old. Even without radiocarbon dating (which was used later on), they knew they were entering the realm of pre-Clovis.\n\nAmong the points they now encountered was one about three inches in length and lanceolate in shape, with no fluting. This was unlike any Clovis point and did not closely resemble anything previously discovered in North America. Later dubbed the Miller Lanceolate Projectile Point in honor of Albert Miller, it was proof that sophisticated toolmakers were in this region long before craftsmen at the Clovis site were fashioning their tools. The lesson was clear: Clovis was not first. One and all members of Adovasio\u2019s team repaired to a nearby watering hole to discuss, celebrate, and allow it all to sink in.\n\nBeneath the level where the Miller point was found, however, there was still more: fire pits, baskets, and cordage. While excavating the strata making up the \u201cDeep Hole\u201d they found a finished lithic tool later called the Mungai knife, which would be the oldest human artifact found at the site, dating back 16,000 years. The oldest findings at Meadowcroft, then, predated by thousands of years the time when many believed that giant sheets of glacial ice had shifted to make it possible for humans to cross the land bridge from Asia and descend through an ice-free corridor. Radiocarbon dating at the Smithsonian Institution confirmed their age.\n\nPhoto caption James Adovasio explains to visitors to the Meadowcroft Rockshelter how the archaeological work there unfolded. \u00a9 2008 Ed Massery\n\nVisitors to Meadowcroft today can peer into the dig site from a platform within the rock shelter. Tags on the boulders correspond to the horizons from which artifacts had been taken. There are eleven strata and many microlayers, covering the times of George Washington back to 16,000 years ago. Throughout antiquity and into modern times, the rock shelter was part of the marked landscape. Anyone traveling along Cross Creek would have immediately recognized it as a good place to camp for a few days or weeks.\n\nJim Ulery, a retired geologist, who helps interpret the NEH-funded public programs at Meadowcroft, and other knowledgeable guides at the rock shelter take visitors through the chronology of geologic events. Over a period of thousands of years the grain-by-grain attrition of the sandstone falling from the roof provided the stratification of the floor of the shelter, which consequently rose continuously. Those layers of stratification formed in a natural trough, oriented north to south, in the Birmingham shale making up the shelter\u2019s floor, which kept the layers intact and protected them from any kind of water erosion. The north-south orientation of the natural trough also afforded further protection from prevailing east winds.\n\nSome sense of the events of the later Pleistocene is definitely a big help during a visit to the site as you gaze across the valley sculpted by Cross Creek. About 70,000 years ago, the stream left the rock shelter high and dry as it continued shaping the valley below. Then sometime, perhaps twenty thousand years ago, hunters, travelers, foragers, and collectors of chert and jasper started using the shelter regularly, a human rhythm there that continued until the moment Adovasio\u2019s crew blocked off the area and removed their first trowel full of dirt. In all, ten thousand artifacts significant to human culture were recovered from the dig, as well as 956,000 animal bones and 1.4 million plant remains.\n\nThe findings at Meadowcroft had to be defended, however, long after the last artifact, soil sample, or molluscan remains were lifted from the Deep Hole. At conferences, in papers, and even a few drinking establishments, Adovasio has seen his team\u2019s findings tested against professional criticism. With careers at stake, the debate has been, at times, quite heated. The esteemed archaeologist Vance Haynes, a committed Clovis Firster, argued that the cultural artifacts at Meadowcroft must have been contaminated by seepage from other strata, thereby giving them false pre-Clovis radiocarbon dates. Adovasio deflected this objection by explaining that the calcium carbonate signature\u2014left from the remains of mollusks\u2014was present in all strata behind the drip line, or the tip of the shelter\u2019s roof. If there had been any groundwater seepage from any surrounding springs, the calcium carbonate signature would have been erased.\n\nUlery likes to remind visitors that a third of the shelter still needs to be worked on. Adovasio left a significant part of the pit unexcavated. This decision was both selfless and reminiscent of Albert Miller\u2019s decision not to dig any further in 1955. Ulery casts a meaningful gaze at any children on the observation platform as he explains that Adovasio wanted to wait for better technology to be available before finishing the job, in hopes that future generations of archaeologists might learn even more from the site than his crew already has.\n\nThe question still nags, Who were the first humans to arrive on the continent and when did they come? During the last ice age there was a brief window of opportunity for humans from Siberia to cross the land bridge, probably about 13,000 to 14,000 years ago. Before that, closer to the glacial maximum, the icescape may have been a treacherous expanse of jagged frozen forms\u2014unforgiving to man and beast. There would have been little for the nomads to hunt along the way, and any food they could have brought with them would have been depleted before they finished the trek. After that window, temperatures toward the end of the last ice age would have warmed enough for the land bridge to disappear beneath the sea.\n\nSo, for most of the time, it was either too dangerous or simply impossible to cross the land bridge. But there should have been a short window of opportunity between the too-cold and too-warm periods. Was it possible for the peopling of the continent to occur in such a short span of time? That is, would it have been possible for relatively small bands to cross the land bridge and within half a millennium or so reach the southern tip of South America? And what about the finds at Meadowcroft and elsewhere that predate the land bridge crossing in the first place?\n\nPhoto caption In 2013, 17,000 visitors clambered up to the observation deck at Meadowcroft Rockshelter. The structure itself is an award-winning gem constructed from the wood of several species of tree, including Douglas fir, yellow pine, and ipe (pronounced EE-PAY), a Brazilian hardwood. \u00a9 2008 Ed Massery\n\nSome Native Americans put little stock in what is often called archaeology\u2019s greatest mystery. Aren\u2019t they, they ask, the original inhabitants of North and South America? As it happens, many Indian creation myths describe the arrival of humans to the western hemisphere by sea, an idea that is increasingly gaining credence. Evidence found along the western coast, especially in California\u2019s Channel Islands and a site in southern Chile\u2014Monte Verde\u2014appears to support the possibility that a \u201ckelp highway\u201d helped bring the first Americans to these continents. Another theory even speculates that the first arrivals came on the other side of the continent, at a time when frozen northern Atlantic waters would have been passable by foot and by boat from an overpopulated area in what is today southwestern France. This group was part of the Solutrean Culture there, and their spear points resemble Clovis points. Dennis Stanford, archaeologist at the National Museum of Natural History, has become the leading exponent of this theory. In fact, the three theories are not mutually exclusive. Discoveries at Meadowcroft and at other sites in Virginia, South Carolina, and Florida all compel further speculation.\n\nOn a recent chilly evening, as the light at Meadowcroft began to wane after the last tour of the rock shelter, Jim Ulery considered the possibilities, then shook his head inconclusively. A retired geologist, a scientist, he is loath to jump to conclusions. So, we stood there quietly, peering down the dark hole and wondering, like Albert Miller and Jim Adovasio before us, what lessons further digging might yield."}
-{"text": "by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley\n\nIt\u2019s the kind of story that brings tears to Middle America\u2019s eyes: selfless Black person puts life on line for undeserving white. In a white man\u2019s world, saving a redneck from a beating qualifies a Black person for sainthood, while acting in defense of Black people makes one a dangerous militant.\n\nFreedom Rider: Saving the White Man\n\nby BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley\n\n\u201cThere would have been nothing wrong with McKeel getting a bloodied nose that day in 1996.\u201d\n\nOn June 22, 1996, a small group of Ku Klux Klan members gathered for a rally in Ann Arbor, Michigan, only to be outnumbered by a much larger group of black and white protesters. A white man in the crowd, Albert McKeel, Jr., was not wearing a KKK hood but had an SS tattoo on his arm and a shirt decorated with a Confederate flag. He was on the verge of being assaulted by the larger group when he was saved by Keshia Thomas, an 18-year old black woman.\n\nThis story was forgotten but recently came to public attention again thanks to a BBC online series about teaching kindness. The little known event gained new life and so did a standard meme which is treacherous for black people.\n\nIn a recent issue of Black Agenda Report this columnist wrote about the inexplicable determination of some black people to forgive any harm done to them by whites. Jonathan Farrell was shot to death by a white police officer in Charlotte, North Carolina yet his mother and fianc\u00e9e forgave his killer. When I discovered their comments I was perplexed, but I should not have been. The reaction to the Keshia Thomas story explains it all quite well.\n\nMichigan newspapers called her \u201ccourageous and kind.\u201d The Huffington Post said the tale will \u201crestore faith in humanity.\u201d Media outlets not only in the United States and the U.K., but as far away as Australia, felt compelled to bring the story from obscurity into the bright light of day and to breathlessly extol the virtues of saving a man who didn\u2019t deserve saving.\n\n\u201cNo one in the media attempted to give voice to any justification for the angry crowd.\u201d\n\nThis level of adulation isn\u2019t ordinarily directed at black people. Usually our actions are called into question, our successes are ignored and our missteps are punished disproportionately. What does a black person have to do to be praised? Apparently, saving a redneck from a beating is the only out.\n\nMs. Thomas says she was motivated by her own experience as the victim of violence and that she didn\u2019t want the man to be killed. An argument could be made for her actions but one could also be made for letting the racist get a stiff dose of comeuppance.\n\nBlack people chased by mobs of white people nearly always end up dead. History is replete with the gruesome documentation of shootings, hangings, burnings and evisceration. Women like Keshia Thomas were not spared from KKK terror either. There are at least 150 documented cases of black women being lynched. If Ms. Thomas and her compatriots had not felt compelled to help McKeel they should not have feared condemnation.\n\nIt is interesting that in their zeal to exalt Ms. Thomas that no one in the media attempted to give voice to any justification for the angry crowd. Neither the Huffington Post, nor the BBC nor the New York Daily News felt compelled to remind readers of the white supremacist terror that went on for decades in this country. One would think that the crowd in Ann Arbor harbored some mysterious animus which was beyond the capacity of trained journalists to understand or explain.\n\nThere was a time in America when the KKK paraded openly, and not only in the South at the scene of a lynching murder. In Washington DC they carried out large marches in the late 1920s, with numbers as high as 50,000 participants . The KKK initiated members in church ceremonies and ran candidates for office. Members of Congress and the Senate, governors and mayors, made no secret of KKK affiliations. Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia had been a klansman and was still serving in office when he died in 2010.\n\n\u201cThey see their role as protecting and upholding the privileges of the powerful and the number one power on earth is still white skin privilege.\u201d\n\nThe media who carried this resurrected tale had an agenda, and informing the public wasn\u2019t on the to-do list. They see their role as protecting and upholding the privileges of the powerful and the number one power on earth is still white skin privilege. One cannot give license to that privilege and also tell the truth.\n\nThe truth is that there would have been nothing wrong with McKeel getting a bloodied nose that day in 1996. The so-called mob wasn\u2019t nearly as bloodthirsty as his compatriots had been historically. If they had been, one teenaged girl couldn\u2019t have stopped them from doing McKeel harm.\n\nReal reporting would have demanded at the very least a debate about the events of that day, historical background and the presentation of a dissenting view from the swooning about kindness, courage, and forgiveness. But the deal was already sealed. The black woman had to be lauded for saving the white man, no matter what he represented.\n\nIt is little wonder that black people are so forgiving. It is expected of us by the larger, more powerful group. We get messages both subtle and overt that white people\u2019s feelings and wellbeing are very, very important and that our feelings count for nothing. We are taught that white people are to be protected and cared for and that we might get a little praise when we put their needs before our own.\n\nThe merits of Ms. Thomas\u2019s actions can be debated. But there is no debate about the inclination to act as she did. She saved the white man and was called good and worthy because she did so."}
-{"text": "Predictions: Woeful defeats for Man Utd and Spurs\n\nThe Premier League continues with a cracking set of games. Butch from the band The Imbiciles takes us on and has some maverick suggestions..."}
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\u30ce\u30fd\uff3c\n\n;| \uff08\u25cb\uff09\uff08\u25cb|: \u306f\u3042\u3042\u3042\u3042\u3042\u3042\u3042\u3042\u3042\u3042\uff1f\n\n:|\u30fd (_\u4eba_)/; \uff11\u4eba\uff11\u30b7\u30ea\u30a2\u30eb\u3063\u3066\u3053\u3068\u306f\u3001\u8907\u6570\u8cfc\u5165\u610f\u5473\u306a\u3044\u3063\u3066\u3053\u3068\u3058\u3083\u3093\n\n. :| |. \u2312 .|; \u307e\u3041\u5bb6\u65cf\u306e\u540d\u524d\u3068\u304b\u4f7f\u3048\u3070\u3044\u3051\u305d\u3046\u306a\u6c17\u3082\u3057\u306a\u3044\u3051\u3069\u30fb\u30fb\u30fb\n\n:h \uff0f;\n\n: /; \u2019\n\n/ \u304f\uff64 \uff3c\n\n;| \uff3c\uff3c_ \uff3c\n\n;|\u30df |`\u30fc\uff1d\u3063 \uff3c\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n.\uff3f__\n\n.\uff0f\u30ce \u30fd\u30fd:\n\n;| \uff080):\uff080)|: \u3067\u3082\u3053\u308c\u3082\u3057\u5916\u308c\u305f\u3089\u30fb\u30fb\u30fb\u30b7\u30e7\u30c3\u30af\u3063\u3066\u30ec\u30d9\u30eb\u3058\u3083\u306a\u3044\u3093\u3060\u3051\u3069\u30fb\u30fb\u30fb\n\n:|\u30fd (\u4eba)/:\n\n. :| | ^ |.\n\n:h \u30ce::\n\n:| /:\n\n/ \u304f\uff64 \uff3c\n\n;| \uff64`\uff64_\uff64 \uff3c\n\n;|\u30df| \uffe3\uff3e\uff3c \uff3c\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n.\uff3f_\n\n./ \u30cf\u30fd\n\n;| 0:0| \uff16\u500b\u304f\u3089\u3044\u8cfc\u5165\u3059\u308b\u3064\u3082\u308a\u3060\u3063\u305f\u306e\u306b\u30fb\u30fb\u30fb\n\n:|\u30fd\u03c9/ \u3044\u3084\u3060\u30fb\u30fb\uff65\u5815\u3061\u305f\u304f\u306a\u3044\u30fb\u30fb\u30fb\u843d\u3061\u305f\u304f\u306a\u3044\u3088\u304a\u304a\u304a\n\n. :|| \u2018^ |.\n\n:h \u30ce\n\n:|/:\n\n/ |\uff64 \uff3c\n\n;| \uff64\uff64_\uff64 \uff3c\n\n;|\uff90| \uffe3\uff3e\uff3c \uff3c"}
-{"text": "Blaze and Sonic decided to take a break from the usual wear and tare of a destructive war in order to play some basketball.\n\n\"Hey Blaze, are you ready to play some B-ball?\" Snoc asked, perfectly spinning a basketball on his finger. His eyes gleamed with a determination only the fastest thing alive could manage.\n\n\"Sure Sonic.\" Blaze said, fixing her tight little bra, that barely contained her massive DD breasts. They bounced and swayed gently, catching Sonic's determined eyes. Why was he so determined? He was determined to slay Blazes's delicate virginity, as any man should aspire to do. He still remembered her coming out party, but knew that lesbians were just girls desperate for a man's gentle touch.\n\nSonic stared a little longer than nessecary, and Blaze blushed.\n\n\"S-sonic. What ever could you be looking at?\" she queried, finishing adjusting her bra. Sonic was surprised how developed the 14 year old's body was. He felt his pants tighten just thinking about it.\n\n\"Nothing!\" He replied innocently, whistling a brief diddy non-chalantly while the basketball kept spinning.\n\n\"Are you ready to play now?\" He asked?\n\n\"Heck yeah! I'll beat you anyday!\"\n\n\"Oh yeah?\"\n\n\"Yeah.\"\n\n\"Wanna bet on it?\" Sonic licked his lips in his head.\n\n\"Hel yeah!\"\n\nSonic thought fora minute, using the combined brainpower of a small supercomputer and his superspeed (not to mention God's MIGHT of course) before arriving at a conclusion.\n\n\"I say that if you lose, you have to have sex with me.\" He crossed his arms and closed his eyes.\n\nBlaze moaned loudly, but accepted her fate.\n\n\"Fine I guess. Can I get some friends though? You should too so we can play a real game of B-ball.\"\n\n\"Okay, but if we win, then we all get to have sex with you!\"\n\n\"Okay!\" Blaze replied, then ran off to get some friends. Sonic did too ,but he was much faster, so he got his friends WAY before Blaze did. He brought Vector Tails Knuckles and Charmy. A solid B-ball team if Sonic ever saw one.\n\nBlaze arrived with Marine Amy Vanilla and Sally. A solid B-ball team if Blaze ever saw one (which she hadnt, because girls [like me] dont play B-ball).\n\nThen they started. THe B-ball game was really intense. Blaze scored almost as much as Sonic, but because of his superspeed, he got more. The other girls on her team sucked though. Like, really sucked, Blaze was the only one who scored because she has cat-like reflexes.\n\nIn the end, the girls lost because girls (except Blaze becauses shes a gay) dont play basketball.\n\n\"Ha!\" Sonic chuckled, watching a defeated Blaze give her girlfriend Marine a kiss. Sonic didnt know Marine was a lesbian either, but she wasnt hot, so he didnt care. Blaze was his~\n\n\"Alright Blaze, you know the deal.\" He said with a thumbs up and a big grin.\n\nSonic's friends crowded around Blaze, dropping their B-ball shorts and revealing their thick members. Sonic had a nice penis, so did Knuckles. Tails penis had a big, swollen knot at the base of his, and charmy just had a gleaming stinger wet with sweat juice and ready for action. Vecotr was the oldest, so he obviously had the biggest weiner of all of them. Sonic wondered if old men had the biggest penises of all, because they were so old!\n\n\"I'm gonna tare her insides!\" Sonic proclaimed!\n\nSonic grabbed her cute cat butt, and raised it to the sky. He ripped her gay shorts off and her bra before sticking his throbbing hard dribbling sonic weiner into her sweet virgin pussy [GET IT], claiming her forever and curing her lesbianism. She would never love another girl again!\n\nShe squealed in pain as her hymen tore before Sonic's amazing penis, her blood pouring out of her as he began forcing his hedgehog cock in and out of her at the speed of sound! She was obviously very aroused~\n\nThen Vector stuck his scaled throbbing penis into Blaze's newly christened asshole. He knew what he was doing was technically considered a felony, but sometimes the need of a sexy crocodile was worth a possible life sentence!\n\nThen Knuckles stuck his creepy four dicks into her mouth, and she scratched them with her sandpaper tongue. He smacked her for that. Knuckles is so cool!\n\nTails looked like a nervous bitch, but his cock looked like a hungry tiger searching the wild european plains for food. Even his thick knot was excited to see Blaze in such a lewd position! But he waited his turn, hoping to take Sonic's position if and when he finished (everyone knew Blaze would cum before then, because Sonic is a real ladies man).\n\nCharmy just watched and sang a song because he was half-gay and wasnt sure if he wanted to fuck such a pretty girl.\n\nBut Sonic didnt care about those guys, because he was having the best sex ever! Even Amy didn't let him do this to her! Maybe it was because she was a feminazi!\n\nVector pounded her tight butt, even though a little bit of poop got on his penis. By the end, his entire stomach was covered in cat poo! But we aren't there yet, so for now there's just a little bit.\n\nKnuckles kept smacking Blaze before stepping away with frustration, his hand red, and Blazes's faced pretty messed up! She was missing two of her teeeth as CHarmy came up to her and nervously stuck his stinger inside of her mouth. It didnt take long for him to cum his green slime into her mouth (everyone knows bee's have green cum LOOK IT UP).\n\n\"How do you like my stinger cum in your mouth, kitty cat?\" he moaned.\n\nTails stepped up behind Sonic, accidentally slapping his butt with his massive throbbing canine penis.\n\n\"Tails, dont do that! That's really gay, and God will hate us forever now!\"\n\n\"Oh well. I dont believe in God because science is much better anyway!\" He exclaimed, Sonic was so shocked, he filled Blaze's womb with his spunky hedgehog liquids (she moaned delightfully, knowing she would soon have Sonic's beautiful children).\n\nTails snickered as Sonic pulled his ragged dick from Blazes's loose vagina in defeat, his stomach covered in man-sperm.\n\nTails stepped behind her and shoved his canine penis all the way inside of her, knotting her instantly! Blaze knew that Sonic may or may not be her children's father because Tails had just knottd her, sending waves of spunky canine semen into her delicate womb mixing with SOnic's.\n\n\"Now we will never know who is Blazes's baby daddy!\" Both Tails and Sonic shouted in unison.\n\nTails ripped his knot out of Blaze, making her loose slit even looser.\n\nWith an infernal scream, Vector also came in Blaze, leaving large, bloody scratch marks in her back making her bleed down the sides of her body as the poo covered Vector ran from the scene, knowing that the police would sson find out his address.\n\nEveryone high fived each other but Blaze because she was too messed up to function like a human (not like girls like me can do that anyway!) and Knuckles because he ran away to find Marine and fuck that gay instead!\n\nA/N: The end stay uned for the sequel Knuckles x Marine!"}
-{"text": "If you have, you can contact @megaxcoin_bot right away."}
-{"text": "Well, This Is Awkward\n\nNearly five years ago, as the reign of Pakistan\u2019s Pervez Musharraf was nearing its end, opposition leader Nawaz Sharif stood before a crowd of tens of thousands of supporters in Islamabad and thundered, \"Is hanging only for politicians?\" Then he added, for emphasis, \u201dThese blood-sucking dictators must be held accountable!\u201d The crowd responded with a boisterous chant of \"Hang him! Hang him! Hang him!\"\n\nAt the time, Sharif\u2019s hostility toward Musharraf was one of the main reasons then-U.S. President George W. Bush\u2019s administration worried about the former prime minister\u2019s political resurgence. Would Sharif be content to settle scores only with Musharraf, the man, or would he extend his vengeance to Musharraf\u2019s military and its American backers as well? As it turned out, those questions went unanswered; Sharif\u2019s political power was eclipsed by the Pakistan People\u2019s Party led by Asif Ali Zardari, soon to be president, and Musharraf resigned from office and slipped out of the country before a legal noose could tighten around his neck.\n\nThat was then. Today, Musharraf lives under house arrest in his heavily fortified villa on the outskirts of Islamabad and faces multiple looming court cases that could result in treason charges, including for abetting the murder of political enemies, suspending the constitution and declaring a state of emergency, and illegally detaining judges. Whatever deluded political strategy led the general to return to Pakistan from exile in London and seek elected office has now been replaced by the same sort of cigar smoking and false bravado that too often characterized his time in power. On Tuesday, Pakistani guards found a car bomb apparently rigged to blow up Musharraf\u2019s convoy near his home. Musharraf is in deep trouble.\n\nAs everyone tried to warn him before he returned in March, Musharraf\u2019s time in Pakistani politics has passed. Now he is a threat to himself. But is he also a threat to Pakistan\u2019s political stability? To the U.S.-Pakistan relationship?\n\nIt is possible to see in Musharraf\u2019s sad fate \"a milestone in Pakistan\u2019s fledgling democracy,\" as India scholar Sadanand Dhume put it. His arrest does demonstrate the newfound strength of the civilians, a healthy development for Pakistan\u2019s political culture that has for far too long been dominated by the generals.\n\nBut Pakistan\u2019s military was already humbled in 2007 when the lawyers first stood up to Musharraf\u2019s sacking of the Supreme Court\u2019s Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and again in 2008 when the general was forced from office. Over the past five years, the political stature of the generals has taken other serious hits, above all the one immediately after America\u2019s raid on Osama bin Laden\u2019s compound in Abbottabad, which exposed Pakistan\u2019s top brass to unprecedented public criticism.\n\nThis is not to suggest that the army ever completely lost its grip on power, or that its generals (or top intelligence chiefs) didn\u2019t fight tooth and nail to defend and reassert their prerogatives. They did, and they still do.\n\nIt is to say, however, that this latest humbling of Musharraf looks more like a step back in time than a leap ahead to a bright new future. The once all-powerful tyrant is receiving another dose of comeuppance, but unfortunately not in the context of a noble \"truth-and-reconciliation\" exercise of the sort that other countries have used to bring closure to periods of civil conflict and crimes against the constitution or core human rights.\n\nInstead, Musharraf will more likely be treated to justice-as-vengeance, delivered by two of his chief political foes, once again acting in an alliance that has served their mutual purposes for years. The chief justice, whom Musharraf tried to sack in 2007, will assert his authority from the bench at least until he retires at the end of 2013. And Sharif will have his chance too if, as is widely assumed, his party wins enough seats in national elections on May 11 to form a ruling coalition in Islamabad and reappoint him as the prime minister.\n\nFortunately for the United States, unlike Bush, President Barack Obama never had reason to associate with Musharraf. So Obama will probably lose little sleep if the ex-dictator is prosecuted, imprisoned, or even put to death for violating Pakistan\u2019s constitution. Even so, the choices that Pakistan\u2019s judiciary and future government make about how to deal with Musharraf could still have dangerous repercussions.\n\nMusharraf was the leader of Pakistan\u2019s army. He was also its creation. Will the military stand idly by if its former leader is imprisoned or hanged? To be sure, there is little love for Musharraf in the ranks, and most of the officer corps probably views Musharraf as a liability best forgotten. Yet with Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani looking ahead to his own retirement later this year, at least he and his inner circle must fear that their retirement could be marred by legal battles similar to Musharraf\u2019s.\n\nMusharraf\u2019s drama will only heighten those fears. Before Musharraf\u2019s ill-considered return to Pakistan, Sharif\u2019s party announced that it planned to avert a future civil-military crisis by picking the next army chief solely on the basis of seniority. By de-politicizing the pick, the logic ran, Sharif would demonstrate his desire to avoid the past tangles with the army that characterized his time in power in the 1990s, and to focus on his party\u2019s top priority: economic reform. If Sharif instead begins his time in office by forging ahead with a show trial of the former dictator, that conciliatory approach toward the military \u2014 and with it the prospects for a reasonably stable civil-military relationship \u2014 would suffer. A persistent political crisis would distract Pakistan from its many other pressing concerns, even if it might not immediately raise the specter of another military coup.\n\nCooperative relations with the United States would also face new hurdles. Musharraf\u2019s recent admission that he approved certain U.S. drone strikes on Pakistani soil, which raised eyebrows in the Pakistani press, ties his fate to Washington even though U.S. officials would surely wish otherwise. Part of Sharif\u2019s political and legal case against Musharraf could well hinge on the old dictator\u2019s selling of Pakistani sovereignty to the Americans in the prosecution of an unpopular war against terrorists. If so, Sharif will also be sending a message to the Obama administration about the limits he intends to place on future counterterrorism cooperation, including the use of U.S. drones in Pakistan\u2019s airspace. This is unlikely to go down well in a White House that still views drones as a crucially important tool in the fight against terrorism in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border areas.\n\nIn short, the Musharraf affair will be an early test of which direction Pakistan\u2019s civilian politicians and judiciary intend to take their country and its relations with America. If Musharraf\u2019s old foes can deliver justice instead of vengeance, all would benefit. So far, however, evidence suggests otherwise: This will be a messy, perhaps even bloody, business that will damage relationships (civil military and\n\nU.S.-Pakistan) that were already bound to be fraught. In that case, the best thing would be for a friendly neighbor like Turkey or, more likely, Saudi Arabia, to broker a deal that provides Musharraf a safe, comfortable retreat and exile of the sort Sharif himself enjoyed.\n\nEither way, America\u2019s hands are \u2014 and should remain \u2014 tied. Washington\u2019s only plea to Islamabad should be in support of a fair and constitutional judicial process. For the United States, the only thing worse than watching the Musharraf debacle go down would be getting further implicated in his mess."}
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-{"text": "Back to Notorious Chicago\n\nChicago Tribune reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins (July 27, 1896 \u2013 August 10, 1969) covered these two murder cases in order to provide a \u201cwoman\u2019s angle.\u201d She left the Tribune after only six months and made millions on a play she wrote based on these two cases.\n\nOne more thing. She also snuck into Bobby Frank\u2019s funeral and interviewed Leopold and Loeb just hours before they confessed.\n\nBeulah Annan\n\nDate of Crime: April 3, 1924\n\nDate of Verdict: May 24, 1924\n\n\n\nChicago Tribune April 4, 1924\n\nBeulah May Annan, the 23 year old wife who shot \u201cthe other man\u201d Thursday afternoon to the tune of her husband\u2019s phonograph, was held to the grand jury yesterday afternoon by a coroner\u2019s jury, which charged her with the murder of Harry Kalstedt. Assisting State\u2019s Attorneys Bert Cronson, Roy Wood, and William McLaughlin are preparing to rush the case to an early trial, at which they will ask the death penalty.\n\nThursday afternoon Mrs. Annan played \u201cHula Lou\u201d on the phonograph while the wooer she had shot during a drunken quarrel lay dying in her bedroom at 817 East 46th street. And yesterday afternoon the chapel organ at Boydston\u2019s undertaking parlors played \u201cNearer, My God to Thee\u201d for an old soldier\u2019s funeral, while she waited for the inquest to start.\n\nChanges Her Story.\n\nThursday night at the Hyde Park station she insisted that Kalstedt\u2019s advances had caused her to shoot to save her honor. Several hours later, however, when the effect of the liquor had worn off, she broke down hysterically and confessed that she had lied; that Kalstedt had threatened to leave her, and that she had killed him rather than lose him. But yesterday she only shook her head dreamily and smiled when questioned.\n\n\u201cI wish they\u2019s let me see him,\u201d she said softly. \u201cStill, it would only make me feel worse.\u201d The last time she saw him was when he lay dying and she dare not feel his heart of pulse because he was \u201cso bloody.\u201d\n\nThey say she\u2019s the prettiest woman ever accused of murder in Chicago\u2014young, slender, with bobbed auburn hair; wide set, appealing blue eyes; up-tilted nose; translucent skin, faintly, very faintly, rouged, an ingenious smile; refined features, intelligent expression\u2014an \u201cawfully nice girl\u201d and more than usually pretty. She wore fawn colored dress and hose, with black shoes, dark brown coat, and brown georgette hat that turned back with a youthful flare.\n\nTalks of Little Son.\n\nWhile waiting for the inquest she talked of her early life in Kentucky and her little 7 year old son by a former marriage, who now lives with his father\u2019s people in Owensboro, Ky. Divorced from Perry Stephens after a year, she moved to Louisville, where she met Albert Annan, her present husband, whom she married in Chicago four years ago (29 March 1920). He made $50 or $60 a week as mechanic at a garage at 9120 Baltimore avenue, but she wanted to work, too, and last September became bookkeeper for Tennant\u2019s Model laundry.\n\nIt was there she met Harry Kalstedt, another employe, who took her for walks, visited her a few times in her husband\u2019s absence and shared with her a taste for \u201cbooze.\u201d\n\nBeulah May Annan\n\nRepeats Her First Story.\n\nCalmly she played with a piece of paper and softly whistled through it as Kalstedt\u2019s brother-in-law, William Wilcox, told the coroner\u2019s jury what she had told him of the tragedy the night before. He also identified the statement read by Assistant State\u2019s Attorney Roy Woods as the one she had made in his presence the preceding night.\n\nAccording to this, Kalstedt had telephoned her early Thursday morning that he was going over on the west side to get some wine, and had come to her apartment fifteen minutes later to get the money with which to buy it. She had the afternoon off from work, and he joined her art about noon with two quarts of wine. After drinking for an hour or so they started quarreling. She teased him a little about \u201cBilly, the boy with an auto,\u201d and he reproved her for doing things she shouldn\u2019t. Then she flared back; \u201cYou\u2019re just a four-flusher!\u201d and called him a \u201cjailbird.\u201d Kalstedt, it seems, had served a penitentiary sentence for a statutory crime. He retorted hotly that she was \u201cno good.\u201d\n\nA revolver was lying on the bed, and both sprang\u2014\n\n\u201cBoth went for the gun!\u201d interrupted W. W. O\u2019Brien, counsel for Mrs. Annan. \u201cBoth sprang for it.\u201d\n\nShe cupped her chin in a slim white hand, with its orange blossom ring, and didn\u2019t blanch as the state read her answer to the question:\n\nWhy didn\u2019t he get that far?\u201d\n\n\u201cDarned good reason: I shot him.\u201d\n\nShe caught him as he slipped to the floor, calling, \u201cMy God! You\u2019ve shot me!\u201d and tried to tell him it wasn\u2019t true. His hands still felt soft, his face was soft, but she couldn\u2019t feel his heart for it was \u201call bloody.\u201d\n\nShe played again with the paper as the state\u2019s attorney read her confession of intimacy with Kalstedt on three occasions and laughed lightly as the lawyers quarreled over the questioning.\n\nAccording to the testimony of Policeman Thomas E. Torton, who was called at 6:05 o\u2019clock Thursday night, the shooting must have occurred at approximately 2 o\u2019clock. For almost four hours, then she played the phonograph and paced the floor before she telephoned her husband that she had killed a man. Upon his arrival they called the police and physicians. Dr. Clifford Oliver, who arrived at 6:20 o\u2019clock, said Kalstedt had been dead only half an hour or so.\n\nHusband on Stand.\n\nMrs. Annan had posed prettily for the photographers, but her husband hid his face with his rough, scarred hands when he took the stand. He identified the revolver\u2014a .38 caliber\u2014as his, and haltingly told how he had found the man\u2014whom he did not know\u2014dead and his wife too hysterical to talk.\n\nThursday night at the station he told the officers bitterly: I\u2019ve been a sucker, that\u2019s all! Simply a meal ticket! I\u2019ve worked ten, twelve, fourteen hours a day and took home every cent of my money. We\u2019s bought our furniture for the little apartment on time and it was all paid off but a hundred dollars. I thought she was happy. I didn\u2019t know\u2014\u201d\n\nBut yesterday he wouldn\u2019t talk; just shook his head sadly to all questions.\n\nUnder advice of her attorney, Mrs. Annan made no statement.\n\nWhen the finding of murder was announced she powdered her nose, took the money her husband had borrowed, and went back to jail to await developments.\n\nChicago Tribune, 25 May 1924\n\nBeulah Annan\u2019s innocence took second stage to the Bobby Franks\u2019 kidnapping, which lead to the famous Leopold & Loeb Trial. Tribune reporter Maurine Watkins did manage to sneak her way into the funeral of Bobby Franks, the boy murdered by Leopold and Loeb, as a mourner, and she interviewed the educated young killers just hours before they confessed.\n\nBY MAURINE WATKINS\n\nBeulah Annan, whose pursuit of wine, men, and jazz music was interrupted by her glibness with the trigger finger, was given freedom last night by her \u201cbeauty proof\u201d jury.\n\nThe jury retired from Judge Lindsay\u2019s court at 8:30 and at 10:20 brought in the verdict \u201cNot guilty\u201d on the third ballot, acquitting her of the murder of her admirer, Harry Kalstedt, in her apartment, 817 East 46th street, on April 3. The fair defendant thanked the jury all around, assisted by her faithful husband, Al.\n\n\u201cO, I can\u2019t thank you!\u201d she said, flashing a glance at each one as she pressed his hand. \u201cYou don\u2019t know, you can\u2019t know\u2014but I felt sure that you would\u2014\u201d Her appealing glance finished the sentence.\n\nHusband Nearly Overcome.\n\nMr. Annan, who has stood by her from the very night he found the man lying dead in his bedroom, was almost overcome with joy and gratitude.\n\n\u201cI knew my wife would come through all right!\u201d he said, proudly. \u201cThat seemed to be the consensus of the opinion.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnother pretty woman goes free!\u201d was the only comment made by Assistant State\u2019s Attorney William F. McLaughlin, who prosecuted the case alone after the withdrawal of Roy C. Woods, who was called as a material witness.\n\nTells Sordid Story.\n\n\u201cBeautiful\u2014but not dumb!\u201d\n\nFor she had talked incessantly; two different versions of the shooting before she came to trial, and the third one\u2014when she took the stand yesterday\u2014was the charm.\n\n\u201cWe both grabbed for the gun!\u201d\n\nUnder the glare of motion picture lights\u2014Beulah took the stand. In another dress\u2014navy twill tied at the side with a child-like moire bow\u2014with new necklace of crystal and jet, she made her debut as an actress. And the jury laughingly nominated the youngest of their sheiks as a Rudolph for the titian haired sheba.\n\nPleading Eyes on Jury.\n\nMore calm than she was Friday, she answered the questions in child-like southern voice, and turned innocent, pleading eyes to jury and attorney.\n\nQ\u2014Did you shoot this man? A\u2014I did.\n\nQ\u2014Why? A\u2014Because he was going to shoot me.\n\nSimply she told the story of Kalstedt\u2019s morning visit to her apartment, after her husband had gone to work; of his attempt to borrow six dollars from her for booze; and of his subsequent return that afternoon with two quarts of moonshine.\n\nBegged Him to Go.\n\n\u201cI saw he was drunk and begged him to go,\u201d she said, \u201cbut he refused, and asked me to take a drink first. So I did\u2014just to get him to leave. But still he wouldn\u2019t go, though I begged him to, told him my husband might come home and that he would shoot us both.\u201d\n\nQ. And What did he say to that? A. He said, \u201cTo hell with your husband.\u201d Then he insisted that I take another drink and I did. Then he said \u201cLet\u2019s have a little jazz and we played the Victrola, and then\u2014\n\nShe hesitated a moment.\n\n\u201cAnd then, he said, \u201cCome on into the bedroom\u201d and I refused and begged him to go. And finally I told him\u201d\u2014she faltered, and sent an appealing glance to her attorney.\n\nHula Lou\n\nCalifornia Ramblers\n\nRecorded January, 1924\n\nHer Appeal Unheeded.\n\n\u201cYes?\u201d said Mr. Scott Stewart, encouragingly, \u201cGo ahead, Beulah, tell the jury.\u201d\n\nShe closed her eyes a moment, then bravely went on: \u201cI told him of my\u2014delicate condition. But he refused to believe me\u2014and boasted that another woman fooled him that way and that he had done time in the penitentiary for her. And I said \u2018You\u2019ll do another!\u2019 And he said, \u2018You\u2019ll never send me back!\u2019 And I said, \u2018I\u2019ll call my husband!\u2019 And he\u2019ll shoot us both!'\u201d\n\nQ.\u2014And what did he say to that? A.\u2014He said, \u201cWhere is that \u2014 gun?\u201d\n\nQ.\u2014Then what did he do? A.\u2014He started for the bedroom.\n\nQ.\u2014How did you reach the bedroom? A.\u2014Maybe he was a step ahead of me. By the time he got to the bed I was even with him\u2014he grabbed for it and got it first. Then he put up his hand and said. \u201cBy \u2014, I\u2019ll kill you yet!\n\nTells Details of Shooting.\n\nQ.\u2014Then what did he do? A.\u2014He started toward me, and I pushed his shoulder with my left hand\u2014and shot.\n\nShe closed her eyes\u2014her face pale under the glare of the movie lights\u2014in horror of the picture, and weakly described the details of the shooting. She told how she had wiped his face, had turned off the grating phonograph record, and had sunk down in a daze beside the body.\n\nShe denied having called Betty Bergman the afternoon of the murder, told again of her promised immunity if she would make the statements to the police, and denied intimacy with Kalstedt.\n\nThoroughly poised under direct questioning, she was a trifle nonplused by the opening attack of the prosecution in cross-questioning, for Mr. McLaughlin tried to establish the fact that her \u201cstory\u201d had been \u201cframed\u201d by her attorneys. But she rallied when it came to the story itself, and was only slightly daunted when he pointed out that it was remarkable that she should be a step behind Kalstedt in the \u201cgetaway,\u201d have the \u201coutside\u201d track, and yet beat him to the gun.\n\nRepudiates Old Statement.\n\nOne by one he read her the questions and answers she had made at the Hyde Park police station the night of the murder, in which she confessed killing the man after a jealous quarrel. She searched him with her shallow eyes: what was back of it all?\n\n\u201cWhen you asked this\u2014and was this your answer?\u201d he asked.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t remember.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo.\u201d\n\n\u201cI did not.\u201d\n\nOne by one she repudiated every statement in the confession, varying the defiance of her \u201cno\u201d with a childishly petulant, \u201cI don\u2019t remember.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s my story and I\u2019ll stick to it,\u201d was her attitude\u2014and she did, till she stepped down demurely from the witness stand with settled complacency of a school girl who has said her her piece.\n\nAnd under the glare of movie lights, Mrs. Mary Neal, her mother, was called by the defense as sympathy witness. Her dark eyes were and mouth set as she answered the few simple questions as to her name, relation to the defendant, etc. Al, her faithful husband, marched briskly to the stand, but was not permitted to testify oin account of his relationship.\n\nTestimony In Rebuttal.\n\nRoy C. Woods, originally a prosecutor in the case, was called by the state as a refute Mrs. Annan\u2019s testimony that he promised her immunity if she would confess to him.\n\nQ\u2014Did you state to Beulah Annan that you would help her if she would keep Wilcox\u2019s (Kalstedt\u2019s brither-in-la) name out of it> A. \u2014I did not.\n\nQ.\u2014Did you tell her it was no crime for her to shoot a man in her own house? A.\u2014Most certainly not.\n\nQ.\u2014Did you tell her that she couldn\u2019t \u201cframe\u201d anything with you? A.\u2014I did.\n\nBeulah sat with bowed head through the state\u2019s opening argument, in which Mr. McLaughlin pointed out the weak points in her story; that a woman should try to \u201csoothe\u201d a man who was threatening to attack her by drinking with him; that he knew where the gun was\u2014in a totally strange house; that he was shot in the back.\n\n\u201cYou have seen that face, gentlemen. It\u2019s probable that she hadn\u2019t had many men tell her to \u2018go to hell,\u2019 and that was why she went for the gun!\u201d the prosecutor told the jury.\n\nHis main argument was hinged on the credibility of the witness, who had made three entirely different statements ti the jury.\n\nBeulah in Tears.\n\nWilliam Scott Stewart read line by line the confessions and demonstrated the third degree methods that were used to obtain them. Then Beulah, the tender hearted slayer, broke into gentle sobs. She had played the Victrola while the man she murdered lay dying, she had laughed at the inquest, she had sat calm and composed while they descriptions of the crime but she broke down when she heard her attorney\u2019s impassioned account of the suffering she had undergone at the hands of the police and assistant state\u2019s attorneys, who questioned her for statements.\n\nAnd again, she was overcome with emotion when Mr. O\u2019Brien painted the picture of \u201cthis frail little girl, gentlement, struggling with a drunken brute\u201d\u2014and the jury shook their heads in approbation and chewed gum more energetically.\n\n\u201cThe verdict is in your hands,\u201d was the voice of the peoples\u2019 prosecutor, \u201cand you must decide whether you will permit a woman to commit a crime and let her go because she is good looking; you must decide whether you want to let another pretty woman go out and say \u2018I got away with it!'\u201d\n\nAnd they did.\n\nAFTERMATH\n\nThe day after the trial ended in acquittal, on May 25, 1924, Beulah Annan announced, \u201cI have left my husband. He is too slow.\u201d She divorced him in 1926 on the charge that he had deserted her. Beulah married two more times before dying of tuberculosis in 1928. Records for her death can be found under the name Beulah Stephens. She is buried in Mount Pleasant Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery, in Davies County, Ky.\n\nA coincidence remarked in connection with her death is the then recent publication of a short story called \u201cButterfly Goes Home,\u201d by Maurice Watkins, former Chicago Tribune reporter and author of the play, \u201cChicago,\u201d which was based on her life. It relates the death of a girl whose life was similar to that of Beulah Annan (aka the Jazz Killer), and her burial in a tiny town from whence she came.\n\nBeulah Annan with lawyer William Scott Stewart (left), her husband, Al (right) and two unidentified men.\n\n4 April 1924\n\nBelva Gaertner\n\nDate of Crime: March 11, 1924\n\nDate of Verdict: June 5, 1924\n\n\n\nChicago Tribune June 6, 1924\n\nBelva Gaertner, twice a divorc\u00e9e of page one notoriety, was placed in the county jail last night, charged by a coroner\u2019s jury with slaying Walter Law, a young automobile salesman.\n\nLaw\u2019s body was found in her car early yesterday morning. He had been shot to death with a steel bullet after a cabaret gin party.\n\nOne minute of testimony from a pal of Law\u2019s brought the turning point in the inquest. It seemingly cleared all doubt from the minds of the jurors. The witness was Pail E. Goodwin, a fellow auto salesman.\n\nSays Law Feared Woman.\n\n\u201cWalter told me Monday that he planned to take out more life insurance because Mrs. Gaertner threatened to kill him,\u201d Goodwin said under oath. \u201cThree weeks before he told me she locked him in her flat with her and threatened to stab him with a knife unless he stayed there.\u201d\n\nThat story, supplemented by a sentence or two of explanation seemed to sweep from the minds of the jury retold details of the gin party, the visible grief of Law\u2019s young wife, and child, the story of Mrs. Gaertner had told police that she was so drunk she remembered nothing between leaving the cabaret and suddenly hearing a great explosion as Law toppled against her, dead.\n\nThe state. represented by Stanley Klarkowski, assistant state\u2019s attorney, has planned to have the inquest, but as Goodwin walked from the stand, the prosecutor announced:\n\nThe state is willing to let this vase go to jury at once without further delay,\n\nDivorc\u00e9e Kept from Stand.\n\n\u201cDoes Mrs. Graetner wish to take the stand,\u201d replied Tom Reilly, one of her three attorneys, hired by her former husband, William Graetner. \u201cHer statement to the police has been admitted in evidence. That is all she cares to say?\u201d\n\nTwenty minutes later the jury came back and the foreman read the verdict:\n\nWe, the coroner\u2019s jury, find that Walter Law came to his death in the automobile of Mrs. Belva Graetner from a bullet fired by Mrs. Belva Graetner.\n\nThen came the recommendation that she be held without bail.\n\nGoodwin\u2019s brief statement on the stand switched the entire complexion of the investigation. It brought the first direct intimation that Mrs. Graetner had planned to make a target of the 29 year old male\u2014some five to ten years her junior\u2014who made her acquaintance through an automobile sale and retained it through midnight gin escapades.\n\nGingham Caf\u00e9\n\n6800 Cottage Grove avenue\n\nSimple Gingham Caf\u00e9 Idyl.\n\nPrior to Goodwin\u2019s testimony the two hours of the inquest had been taken up with details, circumstantial and corroborative, but assembled it was simply this:\n\nBelva and Walter got drunk at the Gingham Caf\u00e9. They drove home. The car was found in front of her house. Law\u2019s body hanging over the steering wheel, her gun on the floor. She was found in her apartment, her clothes covered with blood, maintaining she was \u201cso drunk\u201d she couldn\u2019t remember anything. But she had said that at the caf\u00e9 Law had proposed that they flip a coin to see which should have the first shot at the other, but that she talked him out of the idea. The questions that arose at the inquest were:\n\n\n\nDid she murder Law?\n\nDid she shoot him in self-defense?\n\nDid she accidentally kill him?\n\nDid a third person do the slaying?\n\nWanted Law for Her Own?\n\n\u201cThe motive which the state believes lies behind the case is this,\u201d Mr. Klarkowski said. \u201cMrs. Gaertner had ensnared Law. He tried to break away, to stick to his wife and family. She killed him rather than lose him.\u201d\n\nBack of Goodwin\u2019s testimony lie further details not yet brought before the public. They are an amplification of his story, made partly by himself in private statements to officials, partly by himself, in private statements to officials, partly by other friends of the dead man.\n\nLaw, these details say, had feared Mrs. Gaertner for some time. He had repeatedly tried to break away from her, but she refused to let him go.\n\nLaw was depicted as \u201ca boy who couldn\u2019t refuse\u201d when women and gin were suggested. As recently as twenty-four hours before his death he confided to his friends that \u201csome day\u2019 he\u2019s die\u2014and probably at the hands of the woman with whom he went on drinking sprees once or twice a week.\n\n\u201cI believe that when Law and Mrs. Gaertner returned from the caf\u00e9 she tried to make him enter her apartment,\u201d Mr. Klarkowski said. \u201cHe, remembering the time she locked him in and held him there at the point of a knife, refused. Then she pulled the gun, perhaps. He tried to stop her, but couldn\u2019t.\n\nPrior to Goodwin\u2019s testimony there had been a succession of witnesses whose stories told nothing to refute the statement of Mrs. Gaertner that \u201cwe got drunk and he got killed\u2014I don\u2019t know how.\u201d\n\nThen Detective Sergeant Corcoran who arrested Mrs. Gaertner, twstified him, because he was so nice. Said she was too drunk to remember leaving his caf\u00e9\u2014didn\u2019t know a thing until there was a big noise and Law toppled over.\u201d\n\n\u201cCurly\u201d Brown, manager of the Gingham, about whom Mrs. Gaertner said she and Law had some words because she danced with Brown, gave a touch which, some thought was satire.\n\n\u201cThey didn\u2019t have any gin,\u201d he said. \u201cJust ginger ale. We don\u2019t allow gin. They didn\u2019t display any gun in the caf\u00e9\u2014though they may have talked about one\u2014for I\u2019ve always got my eyes peeled for guns. They were such a nice couple\u2014I\u2019m certainly shocked.\u201d\n\nThen as people yawned and wondered if there\u2019d be anything \u201chot,\u201d a detective whispered in Klarkowski\u2019s ear.\n\n\u201cBring him in quick,\u201d said the prosecutor. And ten minutes later Goodwin took the stand.\n\n\n\nChicago Tribune June 6, 1924\n\nBelva Gaertner, another of those women who messed things up by adding a gun to her fondness for gin and men, was acquitted last night at 12:10 o\u2019clock of the murder of Walter Law. \u201cSo drunk she didn\u2019t remember\u201d whether she shot the man found dead in her sedan at Forrestville avenue and 50th street March 12\u2014\n\nBut after six and one-half hours and eight ballots the jury said she didn\u2019t.\n\nMrs. Gaerntner lost the emotionless poise she maintained throughout the trial, burst into hysterical laughter, threw her arms around her attorneys, and thanked the jury.\n\n\u201cO, I\u2019m so happy! she exclaimed over and over, \u201cso happy! And I want to hurry out now and get some air!\u201d\n\nPrepares at Once to Leave.\n\nShe left at once to get her elaborate wardrobe from the jail, and from there went home with her sister, Mrs. Charles Kruschaar. Some time within the next month, she said, she will remarry her divorced husband, William Gaertner, the wealthy manufacturer, and they will sail to Europe \u201cto forget all this.\u201d\n\nBut there\u2019s a woman who won\u2019t forget: Mrs. Freda Law, widow of the slain man, who half fainted when the verdict was read and crept away to sob in the arms of her sister: \u201cThere\u2019s no justice in Illinois! No justice! Walter paid\u2014why shouldn\u2019t she?\u201d\n\n\u201cWomen\u2014just women!\u201d was the laconic comment of Assistant State\u2019s Attorney Harry Pritzker.\n\n\u201cWhy did they take so long?\u201d said the crowd.\n\nLong Wait for Verdict.\n\nThat\u2019s what Belva Gaertner asked herself as she smoked cigarets and paced the floor of the \u201cbullpen\u201d while the jury, not six feet away, deliberated whether she had murdered Walter Law, found dead in her sedan March 12.\n\nAnd neither they nor the blas\u00e9 divorc\u00e9e, Cook county\u2019s most stylish defendant, knew that Judge Lindsay had ruled when the defense asked for nolle prosse:\n\nI haven\u2019t the power to tell the state\u2019s attorney what to do, and therefore deny the motion. But if the jury should bring in a verdict of guilty, I am confident the Supreme court would reverse the decision, as the evidence is only circumstantial: string enough to arouse suspicion of guilt, but not to convict.\n\nBelva Gaertner looking at her defense attorney, Thomas D. Nash.\n\n6 June 1924\n\nDefense Waives Argument.\n\n\u201cThe state has not made its case,\u201d was the attitude of the defense, represented by Nash & Ahern, and Marshall Sollberg, who waived their opening statement, rested without offering a single witness and waived closing argument.\n\nThe jury, who had heard only the state\u2019s plea for a \u201cjust verdict,\u201d listened gravely, and the court fans sleepily, to the instructions of the judge with their droning rhythm:\n\n\u2026beyond all reasonable doubt\u2026you shall find the defendant not guilty\u2026\n\nBut they all sat alert when he reached the age of the defendant: \u201cabout 38,\u201d and turned to stare at the slim, youthfully rounded creature who\u2019d never looked prettier.\n\nShe\u2019s Stylishly Dressed.\n\nAnd she wore a new dress\u2014caf\u00e9 su laid, braided in black, with bell shaped sleeves, and deep cuffs\u2014that clung in soft folds to her body. And the cloche hat of a deeper brown matched her eyes, and the mink \u201cchoker\u201d softened the lines of her throat. Only her hands with their rosily tinted nails showed her age\u2014and nervousness, as she played with her gloves and fur while the state attempted early in the day to prove she was not \u201ctoo drunk to remember.\u201d\n\nBelva Gaertner as Showgirl and in Prison\n\nAlfred Quodbach, proprietor of the Gingham Inn at 6800 Cottage Grove avenue, and his head waiter, William F. Leathers, testified concerning the sobriety of Law and Mrs. Gaertner while they were in the caf\u00e9 the night he was killed.\n\n\u201cPerfectly sober,\u201d was Quodbach\u2019s statement.\n\n\u201cI wish I had always been as sober as they were that night!\u201d said Leathers.\n\nFollowing testimony by the widow, Mrs. Freda Law establishing corpus delicti, the case went to jury.\n\nChicago Tribune, June 7, 1924\n\n\u201cNot guilty for Belva Graetner, who was acquitted yesterday of the murder of Walter Law, brought joy to her playmates in the county jail, and made hope spring a little higher in the hearts of the remaining women \u201ckillers.\u201d\n\nOnly Sabella Nitti mourned. Poor Sabella! who chopped her husband up one day, assisted by a roomer, the state charges. Her greeting to visitors used to be: \u201cMe choke\u201d\u2014which being interpreted reads: I\u2019m sentenced to hang\u201d\u2014and now she waits a new trial. Each acquittal brings pangs of compassion to her.\n\nShe have gun. She shoot. She go free. Me, no gun, no shoot; me here over a year.!\n\nOnly four women, the fewest in years, are now waiting trial for murder\u2014for they\u2019re getting out even faster than they\u2019re getting in! And the last two who walked to freedom in thhe last two weeks, \u201cpretty\u201d Beulah Annan and \u201cstylish\u201d Belva Graetner, robbed the women\u2019s quarters of their claims to distinction and plunged murderess\u2019 row into oblivion.\n\nTwo of these left are colored; Minnie Nichols and Rose Epps. The other two, Sabella Nitti and Lela Foster, are middle-aged and\u2014well, neither is cursed with the grace or the beauty of Diana. Then, too, Beulah and Belva killed young men friends, and these bodies only \u201cbumped off\u201d their husbands.\n\nSo they can\u2019t hope for publicity, maybe not even acquittal. They\u2019ll be given the same chance with the \u201cweapons of defense\u201d that the other women have had, powder, rouge, lipstick, and mascara. Makeup is taboo in jail, only soap and water is permitted, until those testing days when they face the \u201ctwelve good men and true.\u201d\n\nAFTERMATH\n\nIn 1925, following her acquittal, Belva remarried William Gaertner again. In 1926, Gaertner filed for divorce again, claiming she was abusive and an alcoholic. On July 5, Gaertner claimed his wife threatened to murder him after he found her with another man. She was convicted of drunk driving in November 1926.\n\nBy 1930, she and Gaertner had moved to Europe. Following William Gaertner\u2019s death on December 2, 1948, in Wilmette, Illinois, Belva moved to Pasadena, California and lived with her sister, Ethel Kraushaar. She died of natural causes on May 14, 1965, at the age of 80.\n\nChicago Tribune, January 19, 1927\n\nBeulah Annan became the bride yesterday of Edward Harlib, 26 years old, 117 East Chestnut street, a former pugilist, and thereby added a sequel to Maurine Watkins\u2019 play \u201cChicago,\u201d based upon the adventures of the most beautiful woman ever tried for murder in Cook county.\n\nDespite the bitter opposition of Harlib\u2019s family, the couple eloped to Crown Point Monday too late to obtain a license, and were married by Judge Kemp at 8 o\u2019clock yesterday morning. The bride gave her age as 23.\n\nHarlib yesterday bought his wife a bungalow site at Barrington, Ill., as a wedding present. He told interviewers he was divorced from the first Mrs. Harlib in 1922. His brother, Peter, a garage owner, had stated that Edward was still married to his first wife.\n\nBeulah Annan, who was tried for the murder of Harry Kalstedt in 1924 and who was accused of playing a jazz record on a phonograph after shooting her victim, declared she had heard she was the subject of Miss Watkins\u2019 play and was anxious to see it. Some one told her, she said, that she resembled the actress who takes the leading role of Roxie Hart.\n\nBeulah divorced her first husband, Albert, last July, after he had helped her throughout the trial. She met Harlib six months ago at a party. Both declared they were eager to forget the past and build a love nest on the lot at Barrington after a honeymoon in Los Angeles.\n\nChicago Tribune, July 10, 1920\n\n\n\nThe taxi drivers who wait for fares in the shadow of the Chicago club in Van Buren street don\u2019t know it yet but they are to have a new member in their midst on Monday morning. She is Mrs. Belle Overbeck Gaertner of the \u201chouse-of-a-thousand-detectives,\u201dwho was divorced from William Gaertner, wealthy manufacturer of scientific instruments at 5345 Lake Park avenue, three months ago.\n\n\n\nMrs. Gaertner started her career as a taxi chauffeur a few days ago. She had a meter installed in her car, obtained state and city licenses, affixed the badges to the lapels of her green uniform, and started out. And then the car broke down and a motorman bumped his street car into it as it was being towed in.\n\nMrs. Gaertner, flicking a speck of dust from the knee of her trousers, said:\n\nAnd just when the Elks\u2019 convention was on, and I looked for my biggest week. I\u2019m going to get the car back tomorrow and I\u2019ll be at the stand bright and early Monday morning.\n\n\n\nYou see, my divorce left me with $3,000, my car, my furniture, and a billiard table\u2014that was the table from which Mrs. Gaertner took the balls and hid them when I insisted on playing with my detectives who were watching me. Well, I just can\u2019t take orders from anyone. Therefore I can\u2019t hold a job. I must be my own boss. So I decided to be a taxi driver I\u2019d be my own boss, make enough to live on, and still have the pleasure of the car.\n\n\n\nBut I shall not drive at night, and I won\u2019t make trips into the suburbs. There are too many holdup men. I can change a tire and do all that has to be done to keep a car in condition unless something breaks.\n\n\n\nBut tell me something. Is there anything I can do to get the squeak out of these leather putees?\n\nMaurine Dallas Watkins\n\nReporter and Playwright\n\nMaurine Dallas Watkins moved to Chicago from Radcliffe, Massachusetts and in February, 1924 landed a job as a reporter with the Chicago Tribune. Her assignment was to write about crime in Chicago with a woman\u2019s perspective. By early April, she was winning front-page bylines, no small feat in those days, and the stories she wrote were doozies.\n\nMaurine Dallas Watkins\n\nHer first byline was published on April 3, 1924 (above) about Beulah Annan\u2019s case. She also covered Belva Gaertner\u2019s trial as well. Beulah and Belva threw themselves at the mercy of the juries. Understanding the necessity of looking good, the two women opened a kind of fashion school for female criminals at the Cook County Jail. They cut each other\u2019s hair in the latest style. They discussed how to wear cosmetics. They gave themselves and each other manicures.\u2019\n\nDespite the gruesome nature of both murders, the \u201cfashion defense\u2019\u2019 worked. Beulah and Belva were found not guilty by all-male juries, much to the disappointment of reporter Watkins. She left the Tribune after only six months and moved to New York to study playwriting. The frustrated, Watkins transformed this raw material into her classic play. Beulah became the fictional Roxie Hart.\n\nHer non-musical play \u201cChicago, or, Play Ball\u201d has become one of the most adapted plays in history. It premiered in New York in December 1926 and it first played Chicago in September 1927. The play then became a silent Cecil B. DeMille feature in 1927 (Chicago), a Ginger Rogers comedy in 1942 (Roxie Hart), a 1975 Bob Fosse Broadway musical (\u201cChicago: A Musical Vaudeville\u201d) and a 2002 Oscar-winning musical film (Chicago).\n\nWatkins was approached throughout the 1950s and the 1960s for the rights to revive her play for Broadway, which, time and time again, she refused to give. After her death, Bob Fosse negotiated with Watkins\u2019 estate and was able, with his colleagues, to buy the rights and turn the play into his famous musical. \u201cChicago.\u201d The 2002 movie starring Richard Gere is based on Fosse\u2019s musical.\n\nIn later years, Watkins often left home with a heavy veil over her face. Because of that, people thought she was eccentric. The truth is the writer had cancer which had deformed her nose and one cheek. She died of lung cancer on August 10, 1969. She was 73 years old and left a fortune worth about $2.33 million.\n\nCHICAGO, 1927\n\nMovie poster from the 1927 film, \u201cChicago.\u201d\n\nNew York Times Review, December 24, 1927\n\nChicago\n\nBy Mordaunt Hall\n\nThat a Hollywood blonde belongs to real life was to a certain extent proved in the picturization of Maurine Watkins\u2019s play, \u201cChicago,\u201d which was presented last night at the Gaiety Theatre. In this quasisatirical affair, none other than Phyllis Haver, the vampire in Emil Jannings\u2019s last film, \u201cThe Way of All Flesh,\u201d gives an astoundingly fine performance as the redoubtable Roxie Hart. Miss Haver makes this combination of tragedy and comedy a most entertaining piece of work.\n\nThis film may deal lightly with trials and juries, but there is throughout an element of truth in the action, just as there was in the play. It is a production that makes the most of the predicaments of a woman who has fired off a pistol in the heat of temper. Miss Haver goes through the different scenes with singular appreciation for serious or humorous slants of the defendant. Frank Urson, the director of this subject, whose work, it is understood, was supervised by Cecil B. DeMille, has touched up the various incidents with considerable understanding. He brings out the nonchalance of the almost tragic situation in an intelligent fashion, and he amplifies the comic turns.\n\nPerhaps Mr. Urson\u2019s best sequence is the one concerned with the defendant\u2019s lawyer\u2019s summing up of the murder case. It is quite plain that the witness, Roxie Hart (Miss Haver), has her own idea of impressing the twelve good men and true, and that some of her expressions and actions are hardly countenanced by her attorney.\n\nDuring the course of the trial, the lawyer insists that his client \u201cdroop,\u201d but Roxie is never actually in such a state of mind. She is perhaps ahead of her attorney in her feminine sense of appreciation of the weaknesses of the jurors. Through the camera, Mr. Urson is able to call attention to some gestures, and even expressions, that might have escaped notice on the stage.\n\nMr. Urson evidences the manner in which Roxie Hart basks in the spotlight of yellow journalism and the disapointment she feels when it is all over. To substantiate the fact that yesterday\u2019s news is dead, Mr. Urson turns his lens on the big letters of a front page of a newspaper, and shows it being washed away in the river. The words announce the acquittal of Roxie Hart, and yet, at that moment. Roxie was fighting over a question of money with her husband, instead of being joyous at being freed. She is the personification of modern gayety, a woman who has no thought for consequences. Money, of course, is important in her young life and the mere fact that she has, under provocation, it is true, killed a man, slides off her blonde brain as nothing more than an everyday experience.\n\nRoxie annoys her lawyer by the shortness of her dress, and she evinces but little interest in his lecture on how to conduct herself at the trial. Miss Haver brings to the part all the happy-go-lucky expressions one would expect from a girl of Roxie Hart\u2019s type. And when the jury is depicted. Mr. Urson shows the expressions of the twelve men, stressing how they are affected by feminine actions, even when these actions virtually contradict the energetic eloquence of the lawyer. And this lawyer, in the course of his speech, is not blind to the fact that Roxie looks occasionally to be anything but the drooping, virtuous girl he is describing.\n\nThis picture dashes along with considerable wit and occasional splashes of tragedy and pathos. Victor Varconi is excellent in the r\u00f4le of the husband of the wind-blown city\u2019s chief blonde. Robert Edeson is capital as the mercenary lawyer, who, at a price, does all he can in his own way to save his client from the gallows. Warner Richmond is competent as the hopeful District Attorney, the man who evidently did not prefor blondes as witnesses.\n\nThe Gay Murderess.\n\nCHICAGO, with Phyllis Haver, Victor Varcont, Eugene Palette, Virginia Bradford, Clarence Burton. Warner Richmond, T. Roy Barnes, Sidney D\u2019Albrook, Otto Lederer, May Robson, Julia Faye, Robert Edeson, Viola, Loule and others, adapted from Maurine Watkins\u2019s play of the same name, directed by Frank Urson. At the Gaiety Theatre. Premiered December 23, 1927.\n\nPhyllis Haver as Roxie Hart from the 1927 film, \u201cChicago.\u201d\n\nMotion Picture World\n\nNovember 26, 1927 & December 10, 1927\n\nROXIE HART, 1942\n\nMovie poster from the 1942 film, \u201cRoxie Hart.\u201d\n\nNew York Times Review, February 20, 1942\n\nRoxie Hart\n\nBy Bosley Crowther.\n\nA newspaper man\u2019s nostalgia for the wild and irresponsible \u201cbad old days\u201d of the Nineteen Twenties in Chicago is the very weak peg on which is hung Twentieth Century-Fox\u2019s remake of the old play, \u201cChicago,\u201d now \u201cRoxie Hart.\u201d And a weak peg it is for the reason that this is a most unsuitable time to be calling to mind the follies, the court-room circuses and vulgarities of this brashly eccentric nation during a period which might better be forgotten. However, if one can swallow a coarse jest at our own expense\u2014and swallow it without gulping over the crudities of the jest itself\u2014then one can probably garner much fun from the Roxy\u2019s new film.\n\nFor a couple of notorious madcaps, Nunnally Johnson and William Wellman, have slapped \u201cRoxie Hart\u201d together out of the bones of Maurine Watkins\u2019s old play and the flesh of their own fertile fancies, running even more wild than usual. They have got Ginger Rogers, a most credible Miss Twinkle-Toes, to play the role of the dolly who gets thoroughly pushed around in the tale. And they have used a supporting cast of able harlequins, headed by Adolphe Menjou, to make up their gallery of spoilers, hot-air artists and other assorted Chicago bums. In short, they have knocked together a rowdy and brassy burlesque.\n\nAnd that, you may possibly remember, is all the original play ever was\u2014or the first screen version, for that matter, back in 1927. For this fable of Chicago is nothing but a lot of coarse nonsense\u2014the story of a gum-chewing flapper, picked up on a murder charge, who becomes a yellow-journal sensation and the center of a flashy murder trial. It is simply a ribald wallow in the cheapness of an ugly phase of life. And although Mr. Johnson, the producer as well as the writer of the film, has endeavored to give it an aura of sentiment by telling it in flashback, it still is a trashy story without any immediate pertinence to life.\n\nAs a burlesque, however, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Wellman, who directed, have squeezed every laugh they could from it. As a matter of fact, one fault is that they have squeezed just a bit too hard. A gag such as a box full of jurors gawking at Miss Rogers\u2019s legs or a judge jumping into a news picture is funny when pulled once or twice. But several times is too many. Mr. Johnson and Mr. Wellman didn\u2019t know when to quit.\n\nThe same goes for the performers; little or no restraint was placed upon them. Miss Rogers is a talented actress, but it pains one to see her tossed into a role which requires that she do no more than play a Dumb Dora to excess, swaggering with hands on hips, chewing gum and teasing the hem of her skirt. Mr. Menjou as a tricky criminal lawyer (\u201ca simple, barefoot mouthpiece,\u201d they call him, without giving credit where it is due) plays with spectacular flourishes and so do the others in the cast. They all give the bad impression of working a shade too hard. And the film, between the script and its performance, becomes a raucous and tasteless travesty.\n\nROXIE HART; produced and written for the screen by Nunnally Johnson; based on the play, \u201cChicago,\u201d by Maurine Watkins; directed by William Wellman for Twentieth Century-Fox. At the Roxy.\n\nRoxie Hart . . . . . Ginger Rogers\n\nBilly Flynn . . . . . Adolphe Menjou\n\nHomer Howard . . . . . George Montgomery\n\nJake Callahan . . . . . Lynne Overman\n\nE. Clay Benham . . . . . Nigel Bruce\n\nBabe . . . . . Phil Silvers\n\nMrs. Morton . . . . . Sara Allgood\n\nO\u2019Malley . . . . . William Frawley\n\nMary Sunshine . . . . . Spring Byington\n\nVelma Wall . . . . . Helene Reynolds\n\nAmos Hart . . . . . George Chandler\n\nJudge . . . . . George Lessey\n\nGertie . . . . . Iris Adrian\n\nAnnouncer . . . . . Milton Parsons\n\nCHICAGO, 2002\n\nMovie poster from the 2002 film, \u201cChicago\u201d\n\nChicago Sun-Times Review, December 27, 2002\n\nChocago\n\nBy Roger Ebert.\n\n\u201cChicago\u201d continues the reinvention of the musical that started with \u201cMoulin Rouge.\u201d Although modern audiences don\u2019t like to see stories interrupted by songs, apparently they like songs interrupted by stories. The movie is a dazzling song and dance extravaganza, with just enough words to support the music and allow everyone to catch their breath between songs. You can watch it like you listen to an album, over and over; the same phenomenon explains why \u201cMoulin Rouge\u201d was a bigger hit on DVD than in theaters.\n\nThe movie stars sweet-faced Renee Zellweger as Roxie Hart, who kills her lover and convinces her husband to pay for her defense; and Catherine Zeta-Jones as Velma Kelly, who broke up her vaudeville sister act by murdering her husband and her sister while they were engaged in a sport not licensed for in-laws. Richard Gere is Billy Flynn, the slick, high-priced attorney who boasts he can beat any rap, for a $5,000 fee. \u201cIf Jesus Christ had lived in Chicago,\u201d he explains, \u201cand if he\u2019d had $5,000, and had come to me\u2013things would have turned out differently.\u201d This story, lightweight but cheerfully lurid, fueled Bob Fosse, John Kander and Fred Ebb\u2019s original stage production of \u201cChicago,\u201d which opened in 1975 and has been playing somewhere or other ever after\u2013since 1997 again on Broadway. Fosse, who grew up in Chicago in the 1930s and 1940s, lived in a city where the daily papers roared with the kinds of headlines the movie loves. Killers were romanticized or vilified, cops and lawyers and reporters lived in each other\u2019s pockets, and newspapers read like pulp fiction. There\u2019s an inspired scene of ventriloquism and puppetry at a press conference, with all of the characters dangling from strings. For Fosse, the Chicago of Roxie Hart supplied the perfect peg to hang his famous hat.\n\nThe movie doesn\u2019t update the musical so much as bring it to a high electric streamlined gloss. The director Rob Marshall, a stage veteran making his big screen debut, paces the film with gusto. It\u2019s not all breakneck production numbers, but it\u2019s never far from one. And the choreography doesn\u2019t copy Fosse\u2019s inimitable style, but it\u2019s not far from it, either; the movie sideswipes imitation on its way to homage.\n\nThe decision to use non-singers and non-dancers is always controversial in musicals, especially in these days when big stars are needed to headline expensive productions. Of Zellweger and Gere, it can be said that they are persuasive in their musical roles and well cast as their characters. Zeta-Jones was, in fact, a professional dancer in London before she decided to leave the chorus line and take her chances with acting, and her dancing in the movie is a reminder of the golden days; the film opens with her \u201cAll that Jazz\u201d number, which plays like a promise \u201cChicago\u201d will have to deliver on. And what a good idea to cast Queen Latifah in the role of Mama, the prison matron; she belts out \u201cWhen You\u2019re Good to Mama\u201d with the superb assurance of a performer who knows what good is and what Mama likes.\n\nThe story is inspired by the screaming headlines of the Front Page era and the decade after. We meet Roxie Hart, married early and unwisely, to Amos Hart (John C. Reilly), a credulous lunkhead. She has a lover named Fred Casely (Dominic West), who sweet-talks her with promises of stardom. When she finds out he\u2019s a two-timing liar, she guns him down, and gets a one-way ticket to Death Row, already inhabited by Velma and overseen by Mama.\n\nCan she get off? Only Billy Flynn (Gere) can pull off a trick like that, although his price is high and he sings a song in praise of his strategy (\u201cGive \u2019em the old razzle-dazzle\u201d). Velma has already captured the attention of newspaper readers, but after the poor sap Amos pays Billy his fee, a process begins to transform Roxie into a misunderstood heroine. She herself shows a certain genius in the process, as when she dramatically reveals she is pregnant with Amos\u2019 child, a claim that works only if nobody in the courtroom can count to nine.\n\nInstead of interrupting the drama with songs, Marshall and screenwriter Bill Condon stage the songs more or less within Roxie\u2019s imagination, where everything is a little more supercharged than life, and even lawyers can tap-dance. (To be sure, Gere\u2019s own tap dancing is on the level of performers in the Chicago Bar Association\u2019s annual revue). There are a few moments of straight pathos, including Amos Hart\u2019s pathetic disbelief that his Roxie could have cheated on him; he sings \u201cMr. Cellophane\u201d about how people see right through him. But for the most part the film runs on solid-gold cynicism.\n\nReilly brings a kind of pathetic sincere naivete to the role\u2013the same tone, indeed, he brings to a similar husband in \u201cThe Hours,\u201d where it is also needed. It\u2019s surprising to see the confidence in his singing and dancing, until you find out he was in musicals all through school. Zellweger is not a born hoofer, but then again Roxie Hart isn\u2019t supposed to be a star; the whole point is that she isn\u2019t, and what Zellweger invaluably contributes to the role is Roxie\u2019s dreamy infatuation with herself, and her quickly growing mastery of publicity. Velma is supposed to be a singing and dancing star, and Zeta-Jones delivers with glamor, high style and the delicious confidence the world forces on you when you are one of its most beautiful inhabitants. As for Queen Latifah, she\u2019s too young to remember Sophie Tucker, but not to channel her.\n\n\u201cChicago\u201d is a musical that might have seemed unfilmable, but that was because it was assumed it had to be transformed into more conventional terms. By filming it in its own spirit, by making it frankly a stagy song-and-dance revue, by kidding the stories instead of lingering over them, the movie is big, brassy fun."}
-{"text": "About Me Tokin Woman Tokin Woman is the work of Ellen Komp (aka Nola Evangelista), an activist and author who happens to be a woman. She is the author of \"Tokin' Women: A 4000-Year Herstory.\" View my complete profile"}
-{"text": "MANILA, Philippines \u2014 The Senate is set to conduct a probe into the Department of Education (DepEd)\u2019s poor performance in implementing its critical programs despite receiving the largest budgetary allocation annually, Sen. Sonny Angara said yesterday.\n\nHe said he was incensed by the disappointing performance of DepEd in 2018 as reported by the Commission on Audit (COA), \u201cwhich showed how poorly the agency is performing to the detriment of our students.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow do we expect our youth to be prepared for college and to find decent jobs later on in life when they\u2019re not getting the best education that they deserve in grade school and high school?\u201d Angara said in a statement.\n\nCiting the COA report, he said nearly 27 million textbooks were not delivered for use of the students and there were also zero deliveries for some items necessary for the success of the K to 12 program.\n\nEducation, he added, always gets the biggest share of government funds because this will ensure that the country remains competitive with people as its backbone.\n\n\u201cSo why are we shortchanging our people on this front with such inefficiencies?\u201d he asked.\n\nAngara is set to file a resolution next week to look into the chronic delays in the procurement and distribution to the end users of critical Basic Education Facilities items and the adverse effects of this on basic education outcomes, including the performance of students.\n\nThe DepEd said it was supposed to construct 47,000 new classrooms for the year but only managed to complete 11 classrooms.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s not even one percent of the target. And the COA saw some classrooms two years delayed but were reported as 99 percent complete,\u201d he lamented.\n\nThe DepEd was also supposed to distribute 38.5 million textbooks and instructional/learning materials for students and teachers, but was able to deliver 11.8 million.\n\nDuring its audit, COA also discovered that 3.4 million copies of instructional materials worth P113.7 million procured from 2014 to 2017 were left rotting inside DepEd warehouses.\n\nVarious errors were also noted by the COA in some textbooks for Grade 3 students, the cost of which was pegged at P254.3 million.\n\nA total of 3,183 science and math packages, which consist of equipment essential to learning under the K to 12 program, were targeted for distribution in 2018, but none were delivered to their intended recipients.\n\nIn the DepEd report, state auditors saw that there were undelivered science and mathematics equipment (SME); unutilized SMEs due to excessive quantities allocated and delivered to schools that did not need them; lack of knowledge and proper training of teachers to use these equipment; and a lack of storage rooms or laboratories to house these items.\n\nEven equipment for the technical-vocational-livelihood (TVL) track of the K to 12 program, amounting to 4,600 units did not reach schools.\n\nThe COA found that items for the P4.6-billion redesigned technical-vocational high school program for school year 2016 - 2017 were also unutilized or underutilized. It noted the late construction of buildings and deferred course offerings for the TVL tracks, which contributed to the dismal performance in this area.\n\nDepEd Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla, in response to the latest COA report, vowed yesterday to release millions of unused textbooks and other learning materials procured as early as 2014.\n\nShe claimed that DepEd has already allocated the materials and is in the process of releasing these to lower units.\n\n\u201cThe DepEd management assured that they will revisit the existing DepEd guidelines on the procurement of instructional materials and will evaluate the control on buffer stocks,\u201d she added. \u2013 With Janvic Mateo"}
-{"text": "Nicky Hayden says he heads to Thailand ready to learn more about World Superbikes and the Honda Fireblade CBR1000RR SP machine.\n\nThe 2006 MotoGP world champion will make his competitive debut at the Chang International Circuit this weekend for round two of the 2016 WSBK season after enjoying a solid opening round in Australia last month, taking ninth and fourth place finishes.\n\nAside from some sponsorship events and videos of the Thai track Hayden has next to no experience at the circuit and is still adapting to life on the production bike, Pirelli tyres and foreign electronics package.\n\nTherefore, the American says he heads to round two with almost no expectations and little pressure place on his shoulders.\n\n\"I'm looking forward to the race weekend,\" Hayden said. \"I have been to Thailand a couple of times before due to sponsor obligations and I always had a great reception. It is clear that people here are really passionate about the sport and hungry to know more about it.\n\n\"I've had a look at the track with some videos and it looks quite nice, I will have a proper look at it on my Fireblade on Friday morning. This is going to be a good learning weekend for me as I will get a better idea of our potential, given the lack of testing before the round.\""}
-{"text": "Stablecoins are all the rage, but creating a cryptocurrency free of volatility, and thus useful for transactions, is a real challenge.\n\nAlchemy, it turns out, was the easy part.\n\nCrypto usually trades somewhat like equity, and that is both a plus and a problem. The coins are attractive for the potential capital gains but not so great for exchange: the price of goods being bought will fluctuate by the minute in unit terms as the rate varies. And while the ups and downs may diminish over time, it is possible that crypto will always remain more an investment than an instrument of commerce and long-term savings.\n\nWays to Stabilize\n\nMany attempts have been made to contain volatility, some going back years; most have opted to link their coin to a relatively solid asset. Tether is dollar backed; Saga will be underpinned by a basket of currencies; SwissRealCoin is built atop a property portfolio. Another option is to stabilize the coin with a coin. Dai, for example, uses Ethereum to defend a peg.\n\nIt may also be possible to act as a virtual central bank, buying and selling coins depending on supply and demand in order to maintain a predetermined level. The surplus that results is used to guarantee that the currency holds. Basecoin and Seniorage Shares are two such schemes.\n\nNot Working as Planned\n\nSome critics argue that no single solution actually exists, that all methods of pegging have their flaws and that all pure plays are ultimately doomed. A dollar-backed system is highly centralized and requires on-hand and verified cash. It is also a proxy for fiat anyhow, and that fact could limit demand from crypto purists.\n\nTether, which is by far the largest in the class (with $2.5bn worth of coin in circulation), is already under pressure because of the cancellation of a key audit. On the other hand, TrueUSD, a dollar-linked stablecoin, experienced a price spike in May 2018 on rumors of a listing. The instability shook confidence in a coin that was supposed to be boring and brought in an unwelcome speculative element.\n\nCrypto-backed units look great on paper but can fall short of expectations over time. They can be expensive because of the need to reserve large quantities of coin to be unleashed against inevitable drops in value.\n\nA currency backed by nothing but smart contracts depends on faith that it will actually work in practice and generate a surplus of seigniorage over time. Doubts about the long-term prospects of such an arrangement persist. Burning through the surplus is a real possibility, and not everyone is convinced that utilizing future seigniorage, the plan if the surplus is run down to zero, will work.\n\nThe stable coin world is stuck fixing one flaw only to find others cropping up elsewhere.\n\nThe Right Mix\n\nThe Kinesis Monetary System works to build solutions to all these problems into the architecture. The minds behind it seemed to have gone down the list of what could go wrong and hardwired solutions to each into the coin.\n\nThe Australian-backed, Isle of Man-incorporated company is guaranteed by gold; it does not depend upon national currencies. It is backed 1-to-1 with bullion purchased at the time of crypto mining. The coin owner actually has title to the underlying. This greatly contrasts the workings of a bank, where deposits are technically assets of the institution.\n\nThe gold is not just any old gold. Kinesis utilizes the Allocated Bullion Exchange\u2018s (ABX) Quality Assurance Framework, which involves segregated contracts, serial numbers and bar hallmarks. ABX was founded in 2016 as the world\u2019s first electronic exchange for physical metals.\n\nKinesis avoids the inefficiencies and uncertainties of the traditional bullion market, an over-the-counter, decidedly legacy affair. It will have an international best-practices back end, which will add to the security of and ultimately confidence in the coin is created.\n\nA Step Ahead\n\nKinesis goes a few steps beyond the strong foundation. The system is designed to actually work in addition to being safe. It is more than just metal in a vault.\n\nThe strategy to achieve usability, use an active exchange is multi-pronged. To attract holdings, Kinesis will offer a return. To prevent hoarding, it will reward money velocity. In addition to the minter yield and the holder yield, a recruiter and a depositor yield will also be paid out to encourage initial participation. The lifecycle and value chain are incentivized.\n\nKinesis is working to establish a fully-operational, holistic monetary system, one that takes the stability of the traditional models and marries them with the strengths and efficiency of crypto components. It is an evolution of what exists rather than a blind leap forward.\n\nIt is being built with Gresham\u2019s Law in mind, a healthy suspicion of fiat currency and an understanding of the benefits of new technologies.\n\nMany Moving Parts\n\nThe system is arguably complex. A schematic of its workings is a challenge to follow even for the initiated. But there is a method to the madness. The complexity is not a weakness but the source of strength.\n\nThe workings include the Kinesis Currency Exchange (KCX), where the coins are produced, the Kinesis Blockchain Network (KBN), where the coins are utilized, the Kinesis Blockchain Exchange (KBE), where cryptocurrencies are traded, the Kinesis Digital Bank (KDB), where the Kinesis are held, and the Kinesis Commercial Centre (KCC), where companies can offer good and services.\n\nThe system will be integrated with the rest of the world via most conventional channels, including credit and debit cards on the Visa and MasterCard networks, payroll deductions, PayPal, Western Union, MoneyGram, ACH, telegraphic transfers and ATM networks.\n\nThe users can choose almost any form of exchange, including gold and silver (physical and segregated) as well as a number of major currencies\u2013including the yen, euro, dollar, the British pound and the Swiss franc.\n\nStanding Out and Breaking Away\n\nThe crypto market in total has an estimated 1300 coins. About 30 gold-based coins are in circulations, and many more are on the way. This includes coins from the UK\u2019s Royal Mint and Australia\u2019s Perth Mint, Singapore\u2019s Golden Currency, Russia\u2019s Gold Vein Token and Gold Mine Coin, Switzerland\u2019s Aug and Darico and UK\u2019s Flashmoni and Gold Bits Coin. It\u2019s a crowded space. Competition is significant.\n\nIf done right, Kinesis will achieve what\u2019s so far been elusive and offer a coin that is actually a useful and lasting currency."}
-{"text": "Logical Indian 969 days ago\n\nNews media is giving birth to new Burhan Wani. I also got distinction when I was on 12th, why no NEWS. Is it sympathy or hatching new conspiracy"}
-{"text": "California Democratic lawmakers compared the building of border walls to segregation and internment camps.\n\nState Sen. Ricardo Lara (D) said that California is not interested in doing business with any company that works on President Trump\u2019s proposed border walls, NPR reported.\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019re a business that wants to do work with Trump\u2019s proposed wall, then quite frankly, California doesn\u2019t want to do business with you,\u201d Lara said. \u201cWhat would we think of businesses that would work on an internment camp? What would we think of businesses that work on segregated schools?\u201d\n\nLara introduced a bill in December 2016 that initially would have required voter approval for any federally-funded infrastructure project built along the California-Mexico Border. In April 2017, he amended the bill to prohibit the State from awarding contracts to any person who works on a federally-funded \u201cwall, fence, or other barrier along California\u2019s southern border,\u201d Breitbart California reported.\n\nFormer California Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes (D), who\u2019s now a lobbyist for California contractors, noted that California is on a dangerous path with this type of legislation.\n\n\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing here is very dangerous in that we\u2019re creating a slippery slope and hand-picking projects that are not politically favorable to the California Legislature,\u201d Fuentes said. \u201cIf we have jobs or contracts that are out to bid for prisons, or for Planned Parenthood clinics \u2014 at what point do we stop hand-picking projects and put them in the crosshairs of these political conversations?\u201d\n\nLara said that the wall would hurt California in several ways and called the wall \u201cwasteful and unnecessary\u201d.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s clear that President Trump intends to stick taxpayers with the cost of a border wall that will hurt California\u2019s economy, environment and people,\u201d Lara said. \u201cAnother wall will delay cargo delivery, slow down business and take away valuable jobs.\u201d\n\nDemocratic lawmakers celebrated the release of the GOP budget which included no funding for the proposed border wall. President Trump announced on Monday that he intended to sign the budget which does include $1.5 billion for border security.\n\nWhile speaking at a ceremony honoring the Air Force Academy\u2019s football team on Tuesday, President Trump hinted that the $1.5 billion included in the GOP budget will be enough for a down payment on the wall.\n\n\u201cWe have more money now for the border than we\u2019ve gotten in ten years. The Democrats didn\u2019t tell you that. They forgot. In their notes, they forgot to tell you that. With enough money to make a down payment on the border wall,\u201d Trump said, according to Politico.\n\nAlready, Democratic lawmakers are calling this a major win with Sen. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) saying it\u2019s \u201ca defeat for President Trump,\u201d adding that the border wall is \u201cimmoral and unwise.\u201d\n\nThe Democratic National Committee (DNC) capitalized on the budget by sending out fundraising emails using DNC chairman Tom Perez\u2019s name as the sender, as Breitbart reported.\n\n\u201cLate last night, Democratic leaders reached a deal to stop a Republican-led government shutdown, and it\u2019s a major victory for all of us who are resisting the Trump agenda,\u201d the email stated. \u201cAnd it only happened because you made sure Republicans knew there\u2019d be hell to pay for backing Donald Trump\u2019s agenda.\u201d\n\nRyan Saavedra is a contributor for Breitbart Texas and can be found on Twitter at @RealSaavedra."}
-{"text": "High blood pressure ranks as the number-one risk factor for death and disability in the world. In my video, How to Prevent High Blood Pressure with Diet, I showed how a plant-based diet may prevent high blood pressure. But what do we do if we already have it? That\u2019s the topic of How to Treat High Blood Pressure with Diet.\n\nThe American Heart Association (AHA), the American College of Cardiology (ACC, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend lifestyle modification as the first-line treatment. If that doesn\u2019t work, patients may be prescribed a thiazide diuretic (commonly known as a water pill) before getting even more meds until their blood pressure is forced down. Commonly, people will end up on three drugs, though researchers are experimenting with four at a time. Some patients even end up on five different meds.\n\nWhat\u2019s wrong with skipping the lifestyle modification step and jumping straight to the drugs? Because drugs don\u2019t treat the underlying cause of high blood pressure yet can cause side effects. Less than half of patients stick with even the first-line drugs, perhaps due to such adverse effects as erectile dysfunction, fatigue, and muscle cramps.\n\nWhat are the recommended lifestyle changes? The AHA, ACC, and CDC recommend controlling one\u2019s weight, salt, and alcohol intake, engaging in regular exercise, and adopting a DASH eating plan.\n\nThe DASH diet has been described as a lactovegetarian diet, but it\u2019s not. It emphasizes fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy, but only a reduction in meat consumption. Why not even more plant-based? We\u2019ve known for decades that animal products are significantly associated with blood pressure. In fact, if we take vegetarians and give them meat (and pay them enough to eat it!), we can watch their blood pressures go right up.\n\nI\u2019ve talked about the benefits to getting blood pressure down as low as 110 over 70. But who can get that low? Populations centering their diets around whole plant foods. Rural Chinese have been recorded with blood pressures averaging around 110 over 70 their whole lives. They eat plant-based day-to-day, with meat only eaten on special occasions.\n\nHow do we know it\u2019s the plant-based nature of their diets that was so protective, though?\n\nBecause in the Western world, as the American Heart Association has pointed out, the only folks getting down that low on average were those eating strictly plant-based diets, coming in at about 110 over 65.\n\nSo, were the creators of the DASH diet just not aware of this landmark research done by Harvard\u2019s Frank Sacks? No, they were aware. The Chair of the Design Committee that came up with the DASH diet was Dr. Sacks himself. In fact, the DASH diet was explicitly designed with the number-one goal of capturing the blood pressure-lowering benefits of a vegetarian diet, yet including enough animal products to make it \u201cpalatable\u201d to the general public.\n\nYou can see what they were thinking. Just like drugs never work\u2014unless you actually take them, diets never work\u2014unless you actually eat them. So, what\u2019s the point of telling people to eat strictly plant-based if few people will do it? By soft-peddling the truth and coming up with some kind of compromise diet, then on a population scale maybe you\u2019d do more. Ok, but tell that to the thousand U.S. families a day that lose a loved one to high blood pressure. Maybe it\u2019s time to start telling the American public the truth.\n\nSacks himself found that the more dairy the lactovegetarians ate, the higher their blood pressures. But, they had to make the diet acceptable. Research has since shown that the added plant foods\u2014not the changes in oil, sweets, or dairy\u2014appear to be the critical components of the DASH diet. So, why not eat a diet composed entirely of plant foods?\n\nA recent meta-analysis showed vegetarian diets are good, but strictly plant-based diets may be better. In general, vegetarian diets provide protection against cardiovascular diseases, some cancers, and even death. But, completely plant-based diets seem to offer additional protection against obesity, hypertension, type-2 diabetes, and heart disease mortality. Based on a study of more than 89,000 people, those eating meat-free diets appear to cut their risk of high blood pressure in half. But, those eating meat-free, egg-free, and dairy-free may have 75% lower risk.\n\nWhat if we\u2019re already eating a whole food, plant-based diet, no processed foods, no table salt, yet still not hitting 110 over 70? Here are some foods recently found to offer additional protection: Just a few tablespoons of ground flaxseeds a day was 2 to 3 times more potent than instituting an aerobic endurance exercise program and induced one of the most powerful, antihypertensive effects ever achieved by a diet-related intervention. Watermelon also appears to be extraordinary, but you\u2019d have to eat around 2 pounds a day. Sounds like my kind of medicine, but it\u2019s hard to get year-round (at least in my neck of the woods). Red wine may help, but only if the alcohol has been taken out. Raw vegetables or cooked? The answer is both, though raw may work better. Beans, split peas, chickpeas, and lentils may also help a bit.\n\nKiwifruits don\u2019t seem to work at all, even though the study was funded by a kiwifruit company. Maybe they should have taken direction from the California Raisin Marketing Board, which came out with a study showing raisins can reduce blood pressure, but only, apparently, compared to fudge cookies, Cheez-Its, and Chips Ahoy.\n\nThe DASH diet is one of the best studied, and it consistently ranks as US News & World Report\u2019s #1 diet. It\u2019s one of the few diets that medical students are taught about in medical school. I was so fascinated to learn of its origins as a compromise between practicality and efficacy.\n\nI\u2019ve talked about the patronizing attitude many doctors have that patients can\u2019t handle the truth in:\n\nWhat would hearing the truth from your physician sound like? See Fully Consensual Heart Disease Treatment and The Actual Benefit of Diet vs. Drugs.\n\nFor more on what plants can do for high blood pressure, see:\n\nIn health,\n\nMichael Greger, M.D."}
-{"text": "Cape Town - The South African Rugby Union (SARU) on Friday disclosed the first details of a new-look Southern Kings franchise to participate in next season\u2019s expanded Vodacom Super Rugby competition.\n\nDeon Davids - currently coach of the SWD Academy - was named as head coach of a planned 42-player squad, of which around one half are expected to come from the existing Eastern Province Kings squad.\n\nThe Southern Kings team will be augmented by consultant coaches from the SARU mobi-unit while the financial affairs will be handled by the SARU Chief Financial Officer, Basil Haddad. Match-day eventing at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium will be handled by stadium operators, Access Management.\n\n\u201cI\u2019d like to start by thanking the players and staff of the Kings, as well as the people of the Eastern Cape for their patience while we have been working as hard as we can to put a workable plan into place,\u201d said Jurie Roux, CEO of SARU.\n\n\u201cWe are unable to go into all the player details right now as we still have to confirm some contracts and tie up loan arrangements but, considering when we started and from what base, I am very pleased with where we have come.\n\n\u201cI believe we are putting together a more than competent squad that will not only be representative of the region but coincidentally meets the targets of our Strategic Transformation Plan four years ahead of schedule.\n\n\u201cThe squad we have identified will have around 50% black players while the management team is more than 50% black. Our Rugby Department has picked the best available talent.\u201d\n\nSARU has worked with the South African Rugby Players\u2019 Association (SARPA) in communicating the plans and expectations with the Kings players.\n\nRoux said that the players and management would be paid next week although the position of players not contracted to the Southern Kings by SARU remained a question to be resolved by the EPRU.\n\nNew head coach, Deon Davids, will be assisted by Mzwandile Stick (backs coach), Barend Pieterse (forwards coach) and Nadus Niewoudt (conditioning coach) while Zingi Hela - the manager of the Border Academy - had been appointed team manager. The medical team is Dr Konrad von Hagen and physiotherapist, Kim Naidoo.\n\nRoux said: \u201cIt is a slimmed down coaching team but it will be ably supported by the expertise we have in our mobi-unit and other SARU resources to give them every chance of flying the Kings\u2019 flag with pride.\n\n\u201cNext week will be spent on medical, administration and logistical planning before the players break up and work on individualised fitness programmes before returning on January 4. We have already earmarked some warm-up matches against local opposition in January so we believe that on-field affairs are well in hand.\u201d\n\nRoux said that he hoped to confirm two new sponsorships in the New Year that would assist in funding the new-look Southern Kings.\n\nCheeky Watson, president of the EPRU, said: \u201cWe would like to thank SARU for their assistance in this regard and can\u2019t wait to work with them on this exciting venture. We\u2019re fully committed to assisting SARU in making a success of the Southern Kings in Vodacom Super Rugby next year.\u201d"}
-{"text": "The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers and other thinkers on issues both timely and timeless.\n\nAn old friend and mentor of mine, Ernan McMullin, was a philosopher of science widely respected in his discipline. He was also a Catholic priest. I don\u2019t know how many times fellow philosophers at professional meetings drew me aside and asked, \u201cDoes Ernan really believe that stuff?\u201d (He did.) Amid all the serious and generally respectful coverage of the papal resignation and the election of a new pope, I often detect an undertone of this same puzzlement. Can reflective and honest intellectuals actually believe that stuff?\n\nHere I sketch my reasons for answering \u201cyes.\u201d What I offer is neither apologetics aimed at converting others nor merely personal testimony. Without claiming to speak for others, I try to articulate a position that I expect many fellow Catholics will find congenial and that non-Catholics (even those who reject all religion) may recognize as an intellectually respectable stance. Easter is the traditional time for Christians to reaffirm their faith. I want to show that we can do this without renouncing reason.\n\nToward the end of James Joyce\u2019s \u201cA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,\u201d the protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, rejects the Roman Catholic faith he was raised in. A friend suggests that he might, then, become a Protestant. Stephen replies, \u201cI said that I had lost the faith . . . but not that I had lost self-respect.\u201d Factoring out the insult to Protestants, I would like to appropriate this Joycean mot to explain my own continuing attachment to the Catholic Church.\n\nThe Enlightenment and the Catholic Church? Yes, that needs some explaining.\n\nI read \u201cself-respect\u201d as respect for what are (to borrow the title of the philosopher Charles Taylor\u2019s great book) the \u201csources of the self.\u201d These are the sources nurturing the values that define an individual\u2019s life. For me, there are two such sources. One is the Enlightenment, where I\u2019m particularly inspired by Voltaire, Hume and the founders of the American republic. The other is the Catholic Church, in which I was baptized as an infant, raised by Catholic parents, and educated for 8 years of elementary school by Ursuline nuns and for 12 more years by Jesuits. For me to deny either of these sources would be to deny something central to my moral being.\n\nThe Enlightenment and the Catholic Church? Yes, that needs some explaining. But first let me explain my attachment to Catholicism. My Catholic education has left me with three deep convictions. First, it is utterly important to know, to the extent that we can, the fundamental truth about human life: where it came from, what (if anything) it is meant for, how it should be lived. Second, this truth can in principle be supported and defended by human reason. Third, the Catholic philosophical and theological tradition is a fruitful context for pursuing fundamental truth, but only if it is combined with the best available secular thought. (The Jesuits I studied with were particularly strong on all three of these claims.)\n\nCareful readers will note that these three convictions do not include the belief that the specific teachings of the Catholic Church provide the fundamental truths of human life. What I do believe is that these teachings are very helpful for understanding the human condition. Here I distinguish three domains: metaphysical doctrines about the existence and nature of God, historical accounts from the Bible of how God has intervened in human history to reveal his truth and the ethics of love preached by Jesus.\n\nThe ethics of love I revere as the inspiration for so many (Catholics and others) who have led exemplary moral lives. I don\u2019t say that this ethics is the only exemplary way to live or that we have anything near to an adequate understanding of it. But I know that it has been a powerful force for good. (Like so many Catholics, I do not see how the hierarchy\u2019s rigid strictures on sex and marriage could follow from the ethics of love.) As to the theistic metaphysics, I\u2019m agnostic about it taken literally, but see it as a superb intellectual construction that provides a fruitful context for understanding how our religious and moral experiences are tied to the ethics of love. The historical stories, I maintain, are best taken as parables illustrating moral and metaphysical teachings.\n\nTraditional apologetics has started with metaphysical arguments for God\u2019s existence, then argued from the action of God in the world to the truth of the Church\u2019s teachings as revealed by God and finally justified the ethics of love by appealing to these teachings. I reverse this order, putting first the ethics of love as a teaching that directly captivates our moral sensibility, then taking the history and metaphysics as helpful elucidations of the ethics.\n\nOf course, I can already hear the obvious objection: \u201cWhat you believe isn\u2019t Catholicism \u2014 it is a diluted concoction that might satisfy ultra-liberal Protestants or Unitarians, but is nothing like the robust tonic of orthodox Catholic doctrine. It\u2019s not surprising that so paltry a \u2018faith\u2019 doesn\u2019t conflict with the Enlightenment view of religion.\u201d My answer is that Catholicism too has reconciled itself to the Enlightenment view of religion.\n\nFirst, the Church now explicitly acknowledges the right of an individual\u2019s conscience in religious matters: No one may \u201cbe prevented from acting according to his conscience, especially in religious matters\u201d (\u201cCatechism of the Catholic Church,\u201d citing a decree from the Second Vatican Council). The official view still maintains that a conscience that rejects the hierarchy\u2019s formal teaching is objectively in error. But it acknowledges that subjectively individuals not only may but should act on their sincere beliefs.\n\nSecond, the Church, in practice, hardly ever excludes from its community those who identity themselves as Catholics but reinterpret central teachings (and perhaps reject less central ones). The \u201cfaithful\u201d who attend Mass, receive the sacraments, send their children to Catholic schools and sometimes even teach theology include many who hold views similar to mine. Church leaders have in effect agreed that the right to follow one\u2019s conscience includes the right of dissident Catholics to remain members of the Church. They implicitly recognize the absurdity of the claim that a dissident who has been raised and educated in the Catholic Church and has maintained, with the Church\u2019s implicit consent, a lifetime involvement in its life is not \u201creally\u201d a Catholic.\n\nRelated More From The Stone Read previous contributions to this series.\n\nThose who think of themselves as the conservative \u201ccore\u201d of the Church maintain that the faith of such \u201cliberal\u201d Catholics is nonetheless seriously defective because it deviates significantly from the hierarchy\u2019s authoritative views. But liberal Catholics like Hans K\u00fcng argue that the conservative view itself is defective. Conservatives appeal to the authority of the hierarchy to justify their position, but this appeal is circular, since the nature of hierarchical authority is part of what liberals contest. And K\u00fcng and other liberals plausibly argue that the early Church\u2019s structure was closer to the more democratic arrangements they favor than to the monarchist model of the Middle Ages.\n\nThe reasonable description of this situation is that there is deep disagreement within the Church about how its core doctrines, including those about the hierarchy\u2019s authority, should be understood. With the Second Vatican Council, the hierarchy began a move toward the liberal position, which the successors of John XXIII have tried to reverse. But history shows that Catholics play in a very long game, and there is no reason to give up hope for a new blossoming of the liberal buds.\n\nCritics outside the Church will ask how I adhere to an institution that has so many deep flaws. My first response is that the Catholic tradition of thought and practice is the only stance toward religion that, in William James\u2019s phrase, is a \u201clive option\u201d for me \u2014 the only place I feel at home. Simply to renounce it would be, as I said at the outset, to lose my self-respect \u2014 to deny part of my moral core.\n\nMy second response is that the liberal drive for reform is the best hope of saving the Church. Its greatest present danger is precisely the loss of the members whom the hierarchy and the rest of the conservative core want to marginalize. I\u2019m not willing to abandon the Church to them.\n\nGary Gutting is a professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, and an editor of Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. He is the author, most recently, of \u201cThinking the Impossible: French Philosophy since 1960,\u201d and writes regularly for The Stone. He was recently interviewed in 3am magazine.\n\n"}
-{"text": "Manslaughter Charge For Oklahoma Driver In Death Of 'Bike & Build' Bicyclist\n\nThursday, January 14th 2016, 5:12 pm\n\nBy: Richard Clark\n\nProsecutors charged a Cordell woman Thursday with manslaughter in the death of a man who was hit by a car while bicycling across the United States last summer.\n\nWashita County prosecutors charged Sarah Morris, 34, with one count of 1st-degree manslaughter and one count of improper overtaking of a bicycle. The manslaughter charge is a felony, the overtaking charge is a misdemeanor.\n\nThe crash happened on the morning of July 30, 2015, on Highway 152 south of Elk City.\n\n7/30/2015: Related Story: Man Bicycling Across America Killed In Oklahoma Wreck\n\nPatrick Wanninkhof, 25, died at the scene. The woman who was riding with him -- Bridget Anderson, 22 -- was seriously hurt. She is still recovering from her injuries.\n\nAccording to the probable cause affidavit filed by prosecutors, Morris told the trooper who investigated the crash she was driving a 2014 Chevrolet SS westbound on Highway 152 when she looked down at her cell phone. The trooper said Morris told him when she looked back at the roadway, she didn't have time to avoid hitting the bicycle riders, the affidavit says.\n\nThe affidavit says she told the trooper she did not remember if she had time to brake before impact. The also told him she didn't see the bicycle riders, according to the affidavit.\n\nWanninkhof, Anderson and 24 other bicycle riders in the group \"Bike & Build\" had spent the previous Sunday doing repairs on a Tulsa man's home.\n\n7/31/2016: Related Story: Cyclist Killed After Helping Tulsa Habitat For Humanity\n\nThe group was riding from Maine to California and helping homeowners along the way when the crash happened. After Wanninkhof's death, the group elected to finish the trip.\n\nAccording to The Independent Florida Alligator web site, Anderson's older sister filled in for her when Bike & Build held its \"wheel-dipping\" ceremony in Santa Barbara a month after the crash. The site says riders dip their back tires in the Atlantic Ocean before the start of a trip and dip their front tires in the Pacific Ocean once the trip ends.\n\nWanninkhof was from Key Biscayne, Florida, but had been living in the Bronx, New York. According to his Bike & Build page, Wanninkhof graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Materials Engineering from the University of Florida in 2012. He was teaching Physics and Computer Science at a public performing arts school in the Bronx as part of Teach for America. He said he earned a Masters in Teaching Adolescent Physics from Fordham University in 2014."}
-{"text": "By mlblogssfgiants1\n\nYou never know how important a play might be until the game plays itself out. You can\u2019t know in the second inning, for example, that nailing Prince Fielder at the plate would be so huge. The way we were hitting and scoring in Game 1, one run for the Tigers would have been pretty meaningless. But as it turned out, we couldn\u2019t afford to give an inch tonight.\n\n\u200bI\u2019m sure you saw the play. With Fielder on first, Delmon Young doubled down the left field line. I ran out to take the cutoff. Seeing Fielder round third base, Gregor fired the ball in. It sailed over my head. All I was thinking was, \u201cI hope Marco\u2019s there.\u2019\u2019\n\n\u200bHe was. He took the throw, spun and fired it home to Buster, who put down the tag and got Fielder.\n\n\u200bAfter the game, reporters asked me if that\u2019s how the play is drawn up. It is. We practice it in spring training. I go deep for the cutoff, and the second baseman follows behind me in case the throw is high or comes in on a short hop, and the third baseman covers third in case the runner tries to return to the base.\n\nI still don\u2019t know if Gregor overthrew the ball or if he meant to go to Marco. I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll find out in tomorrow\u2019s paper. It doesn\u2019t matter. It worked.\n\n\u200bThat\u2019s how things have been going for us. Things seem to be breaking our way.\n\n\u200bBut it\u2019s not luck. OK, maybe a little luck. But mostly I think you make your own luck. For example, usually if we haven\u2019t scored a run through six innings, we\u2019d be pressing. We could press ourselves right out of the game. But I didn\u2019t see any of that. We were relaxed, confident that, with the way Bum was pitching, he\u2019d keep them off the scoreboard. He had more life on the ball than his last outing and he was hitting all his spots. We wouldn\u2019t need a lot of runs to win.\n\n\u200bWhen I went up to bat with the bases loaded in the seventh and no outs, neither team had scored yet. I wanted to keep my approach as simple as possible, the way I would with two strikes. Don\u2019t try to do too much. The infielders were playing normal depth, so it seemed they were conceding the run at home if I put the ball in play. That surprised me considering the strength of our bullpen.\n\nWhen I grounded the ball to second base, I thought, \u201cOh no, double play.\u2019\u2019 Then: \u201cOK, that will do.\u2019\u2019\n\nHunter scored from third, putting us up 1\u20130.\n\n\u200bIn retrospect, to be perfectly honest, I wish I had been more aggressive up there. Smyly, their pitcher, had nowhere to put me. He was going to have to throw strikes. But I didn\u2019t know him. I might have faced him in Double A a couple years ago. I didn\u2019t know what he was going to throw.\n\n\u200bIn any event, it\u2019s probably the most productive out(s) I\u2019ve ever made. The run put us ahead for good.\n\n\u200bA lot of reporters have been asking about our defense. I\u2019m really glad it\u2019s getting some recognition. I think it\u2019s been a key to our success. Our defense has been good the whole second half of the season. Our pitchers get some credit for that. They\u2019ve been awesome. We know where to position ourselves defensively because we know our pitchers are going to hit their spots.\n\n\u200bWe need two more wins. Fifty-four outs.\n\nBut as you know we\u2019re not accustomed to being ahead in a series. This is a new experience.\n\n\u200bI like it.\n\n\u200bMy whole family is traveling to Detroit. Mom, Dad, my three sisters and Jalynne\u2019s parents. The players, wives and staff have to be at the park tomorrow morning at 8:30 to board the buses to the airport. I know it will be a happy flight (made happier by the five different kinds of little cakes Barry Zito\u2019s wife Amber has been making and sharing with everyone).\n\n\u200bMaybe the next time we\u2019re back in San Francisco, it will be for a parade. Is it bad luck to say that? But that\u2019s how it feels. We feel we\u2019re on a major roll, like nothing can stop us.\n\n\u200bOf course, Cincinnati probably felt the same way.\n\n\u200bOK, I take back the parade comment.\n\n\u200bOne game at a time. One out at a time. One pitch at a time.\n\n\u200bIt\u2019s worked for us so far.\n\n-Brandon C."}
-{"text": "VERNON, B.C.\u2014\u201cOk, let\u2019s go,\u201d shouts the tractor driver at Davison Orchards, an 81-year-old working farm in Vernon, B.C.\n\nHis green farm machine roars to life and sluggishly begins hauling 10 cars packed with visitors dressed in Canada Day red and white.\n\nThe group, a mix of tourists to the dry Okanagan region and locals alike, meander through rows of at least four apple varieties and past a pen of young goats eager for a scratch behind the ear from a child \u2014 or better yet, a handful of food.\n\nRoughly 200 kilometres east of Vancouver, the region is Canada\u2019s most productive fruit grower \u2014 getting nearly 2,000 hours of sunlight annually and up to 400 millimetres of precipitation despite its desert conditions.\n\n\u201cOur family\u2019s been farming this same (14 hectares) since 1933,\u201d explains Davison Orchards\u2019 co-owner and marketing director Tamra Davison, sitting in the shade beside the now 40-plus-hectare farm\u2019s restaurant where visitors emerge with fresh apple juice ice slush to stave off the sweltering Canada Day heat.\n\nThe Davisons emigrated from England in the 1930s with \u201cno plan,\u201d Davison explained, but were promised free rail passage west, a government policy to increase the settler population there. Disembarking in Calgary, an RCMP officer learned they\u2019d farmed hops.\n\n\u201cGet back on that train and get to B.C. \u2014 that\u2019s where all the horticulture is,\u201d he advised. With an $8,000 loan, they bought 14 hectares growing just one apple type; since then, they\u2019ve diversified into many varieties, plus cucumbers, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, melons and \u201cvalue-added\u201d pies, juices and preserves; eventually they adopted an idea from Eastern Canada and the U.S.: \u201cagri-tourism,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cWe provide jobs for 100 people,\u201d she said proudly, \u201cbecause we\u2019ve been able to attract all this interest.\n\n\u201cMore and more, people are really interested in where their food is grown and how \u2026 Canadian farmers don\u2019t get appreciated for providing food not only for local markets but worldwide.\u201d\n\nFor Canada\u2019s 150th anniversary, the Davisons offered free farm tours on their tractor-powered-train through their three-generation orchard.\n\nHer 86-year-old mother-in-law, Dora Davison emerges from their bakery, her apron covered in flour, and shows off a Canada 150 quilt she and Tamra made together \u2014 having just this year shared her lifelong quilting expertise with her daughter-in-law.\n\n\u201cAnd our own kids now want to be part of this and come back to work full-time with us,\u201d Tamra said.\n\nTwo siblings, festooned in Canada Day T-shirts and red ball caps, squeal as they scramble up a stack of hay bales three high under a small shed. Hearing a rooster crow nearby, they run to it and manage to pet it. Then it follows them, squawking, to the fruit stand where their parents wait. \u201cI pet the rooster,\u201d the young girl boasts.\n\nUp the hill two girls, 8 and 11, put a quarter into a dispenser, each get a handful of brown pellets, and excitedly feed a brown-and-white goat nearby.\n\nLoading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...\n\n\u201cIt teaches kids about food and how they grow it,\u201d explained their mother, 34-year-old Carol Martinez, who fled the civil war in El Salvador as a child \u2014 another story of migration connected to this farm through an interest in how Canada harvests its food.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m happy to be in Canada,\u201d she said. \u201cI want my kids to know where everything we eat comes from and be grateful.\u201d\n\nRead more about:"}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nAmbulance? Get me super-glue and a shot of whiskey"}
-{"text": "These hot girls at work may be bored but they sure know how to liven things up. Check out these sexy pictures taken while on the job."}
-{"text": "A new mural at a California charter school depicting President Trump's head on a spear has sparked outrage online and among parents in the community. The artist was asked to modify it due to the graphic nature of the painting, CBS affiliate KFMB reports.\n\nThe recently unveiled mural at the MAAC Charter School in Chula Vista, San Diego, depicts an Aztec warrior spearing Mr. Trump's decapitated, bloody head. By Wednesday, a black tarp was covering the picture after the display attracted attention.\n\nShasha Andrade, one of three people who worked on the piece, shared the full image of the mural across Facebook and Instagram when the painting was covered up.\n\nGet Breaking News Delivered to Your Inbox\n\nAndrade wrote on Facebook that the group agreed to change the graphic mural because of threats made to the school.\n\n\"We were just going to adjust the mural but when things got out of control and the school started receiving threats and putting the students at risk we decided to change it completely,\" she wrote on Sunday.\n\nSchool director Tommy Ramirez told KFMB the mural was a part of \"Battlegroundz,\" an annual event highlighting street murals as an urban art to raise money for scholarships for seniors. The fundraiser was on April 28.\n\n\"We understand that there was a mural painted at the event this past weekend that does not align with our school's philosophy of nonviolence,\" Ramirez said. \"We have been in communication with the artist who has agreed to modify the artwork to better align with the school's philosophy.\"\n\nMany residents in the area who spoke with KFMB considered the illustration on the wall of the school graphic and inappropriate.\n\n\"I don't like it at all,\" one resident said. \"This only incites more trouble. That's my opinion.\"\n\nA parent who lives across the street was more concerned that it was on a school's wall than with the painting itself.\n\n\"I think it's great artwork,\" he said. \"It is a little graphic but overall its a person's opinion who painted it. Now it being on a school, I see maybe they shouldn't have done that.\"\n\nIn May 2017, comedian Kathy Griffin came under fire for a photo shoot in which she was holding a model of Mr. Trump's bloody head."}
-{"text": "Description: Please check out my page for other videos and pictures. Enjoy."}
-{"text": "I know what you\u2019re thinking: Another comic-book show? From The CW\u2019s crowded superhero stable to Netflix\u2019s Daredevil/Jessica Jones/Luke Cage trio, it seems like every other TV drama these days springs from the panels of a comic book. And yet, thankfully, there\u2019s still room for a fresh voice in there, because FX\u2019s Legion is not just \u201canother comic-book show.\u201d Visually inventive and emotionally astute, it bursts out of the gate with the most exhilarating TV pilot I\u2019ve seen since Mr. Robot.\n\nThe bulk of the credit for Legion \u2014 debuting Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 10/9c \u2014 goes to creator Noah Hawley, who proved he can revitalize a franchise with FX\u2019s Fargo. As he did there, Hawley uses the original Legion comic books not as a strict blueprint, but as a jumping-off point to create his own universe \u2014 one splashed with light, sound and color. Legion not only doesn\u2019t look like any other superhero show; it doesn\u2019t look like anything else on TV. And that\u2019s a good thing.\n\nThe story centers on David Haller (Downton Abbey\u2018s Dan Stevens), a troubled young man trapped in a bleak mental institution. We learn through flashbacks that he had a rough upbringing spiked with violent outbursts, and has now been placed on a numbing pill regimen. But the arrival of a new patient named Syd (Fargo\u2018s Rachel Keller) awakens something in him, and he starts to realize that all of his psychological problems might just be his extraordinary abilities fighting to get out.\n\nAs we learn, David is a mutant with massive telepathic and telekinetic powers; one observer calls him \u201cthe most powerful mutant we\u2019ve ever encountered.\u201d (In the original Marvel comics, David is the son of Professor X, of X-Men fame.) The government fears the damage that his powers could inflict, and looks to \u201ckill him now, before he knows what he is.\u201d But David manages to connect with a team of allies who can help him unlock his potential.\n\nThere\u2019s some incredible CGI on display here, including a stunningly elaborate battle scene at the very end of the pilot. But most of Legion\u2018s eye-candy comes from the gorgeous cinematography and set design, filmed by Hawley with a precision reminiscent of Kubrick and Wes Anderson. Legion\u2018s pilot is bathed in bold primary colors and filled with inspired song choices like the Rolling Stones\u2019 \u201cShe\u2019s a Rainbow\u201d and the Who\u2019s \u201cHappy Jack.\u201d It may be too stylized for some, but for those on its particular wavelength (like me), it\u2019s an absolute tour de force.\n\nDavid and Syd\u2019s romance is essential to the story; it gives us something tangible to lean on amid all the mutant weirdness. Their unique courtship, with her not wanting to be touched and him respectfully keeping his distance, is oddly charming. (She agrees to hold a piece of fabric he\u2019s holding so they can \u201chold hands.\u201d) And Stevens\u2019 performance helps give the show some emotional heft, as David battles with his inner demons. The supporting cast is loaded, too: Aubrey Plaza is wonderfully mischievous as David\u2019s nutso pal Lenny, and Mackenzie Grey is an instant-classic villain as \u201cThe Eye,\u201d a silent henchman with a glass eye and a Phil Spector perm who ominously whittles in the background.\n\nAdmittedly, Legion\u2018s plot gets a bit confusing at times, with \u201cmemory glitches,\u201d body switches and random time jumps. But it helps that David is just as confused as we are; he acts as our surrogate, and we figure out how this strange new world works along with him. And after the relentless flash and pizzazz of the pilot, Episode 2 gives us a much-needed chance to catch our breath and learn more about David\u2019s backstory, so we can prepare for the wonders that lie ahead.\n\nComic-book fans might be eager for Legion to hurry up and get to \u201cthe good stuff,\u201d connecting David to the X-Men universe they know and love. But I\u2019m not in any hurry. Speaking as someone with next-to-zero knowledge of comic books, this is the first superhero show I\u2019ll be adding to my DVR\u2019s season-pass list. Legion has created a compelling world that firmly stands on its own\u2026 and I look forward to Hawley and the cast dazzling me even more in the weeks to come.\n\nTHE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: With breathtaking visual flair and a charming central romance, Legion quickly races to the top of TV\u2019s comic-book class."}
-{"text": "Microsoft will retire the visual design tool for its Entity Framework (EF) database tool in the upcoming version 7, in favour of a text-based \u201ccode first\u201d approach.\n\nEntity Framework is an object-relational mapping (ORM) tool. It lets developers work at a higher level of abstraction, coding with application objects rather than having to think about the SQL (Structured Query Language) that is sent to the database engine. In principle, an ORM can save developers from writing a lot of tedious code, speeding production of business applications.\n\nEF in versions up to 6 (the current iteration) supports an XML-based model (stored in .edmx files) together with a diagramming tool for Visual Studio, Microsoft\u2019s all-purpose development tool. Using the visual designer, you can design a database, complete with relationships and constraints, and then apply it to a database to generate the tables and other elements. You can also generate a diagram from an existing database.\n\nThe tool also supports a code first approach. In this scenario, you do not bother with a database diagram, but simply write classes representing the objects you want to store. You then reference these classes in a special class called a DbContext to have EF persist them to a database.\n\nIn a recent blog post Microsoft Program Manager Rowan Miller confirms that from EF 7, code first will be the only way to use EF. Miller adds that \u201ccode first\u201d is a misnomer, since you can reverse engineer an existing database to make it a database-first solution.\n\nCode first is a better approach, if only because it is simpler. If the system is maintaining an XML model, the database itself, and also a bunch of classes, there is more to go wrong. Plain text code is also easier to work with, for example in source code tools, diff tools (comparing two versions) and the like.\n\nMicrosoft also added a key feature to EF that is only available with code first, which is migrations. Migrations let you change your data classes and then update the database without losing data. However, currently only the old model-first method lets you go the other way, updating data classes from a changed database. Miller says something equivalent will be added to code first, but it is a delicate business, since the developer may have added code or comments to those classes that gets overwritten by an update.\n\nThe change does mean that the elaborate two-way database diagramming tool in Visual Studio will not work with EF7 (though EF6 will still be supported). It is one of many modelling tools to be introduced and later abandoned by Microsoft. This is bad news for developers who prefer to work with a diagram.\n\n\"We\u2019re not kidding ourselves, it\u2019s not possible to please everyone and we know that some folks are going to prefer the EF Designer and EDMX approach over code-based modelling,\" says Miller.\n\nThe snag with ORM tools, EF included, is that while they solve some problems, they introduce others. They can be less efficient than writing your own SQL, with a common problem being that the ORM tool may retrieve more data than the application actually needs for a specific operation, whereas a developer can request only the exact fields and rows that are required. The ORM layer can also be a black box that is hard to debug; you have to trace the SQL that it generates and puzzle out why it is wrong.\n\nSome developers therefore prefer to avoid EF; but integration with other Microsoft frameworks like ASP.NET MVC means that avoiding it can also require some effort.\n\nPerformance, says Miller, is also a priority for EF7. He adds that the new release, likely to coincide with the next Visual Studio, is \u201cpart v7 and part v1\u201d, which implies that some things may be a little rough in the first iteration. \u00ae"}
-{"text": "The extension is one of a string of actions taken by the administration to limit the pain inflicted by the federal shutdown, even as the extended lapse in funding brings to a halt an increasing range of government functions.\n\nAD\n\nThe move also reflects the administration\u2019s attempt to protect a U.S. agriculture community hurt by the downturn in commodity prices caused in part by Trump\u2019s trade war with China. Soybean-producing counties went for Trump by a margin of more than 12 percent, a Washington Post analysis last year found.\n\nAD\n\nThe shutdown caused the Agriculture Department to run out of money on Dec. 28 to keep Farm Service Agency offices open.\n\n\u201cUsing existing funds, we were able to keep FSA offices open as long as possible, but unfortunately had to close them when funding ran out,\u201d Perdue said in a statement. \u201cWe will therefore extend the application deadline for a period of time equal to the number of business days FSA offices were closed, once the government shutdown ends.\u201d\n\nAmid criticism from Republican farm state lawmakers on the impact of its trade war with China, the Trump administration this summer unilaterally authorized up to $12 billion in bailout payments to farmers. China has slapped retaliatory tariffs on a range of U.S. exports, including agricultural products, amid the wider trade spat.\n\nAD\n\nThe administration\u2019s bailout included about $10 billion in direct cash assistance to farmers \u2014 the bulk of which would go to soybean producers \u2014 as well as approximately $1 billion to purchase excess food supplies to distribute to food banks and nutrition programs across the country.\n\nAD\n\nBailout checks have continued to go out during the shutdown for farmers who had already certified their 2018 crop production. About $5.2 billion in bailout payments have been made since the program began, including approximately 360,000 payments since the federal shutdown began on Dec. 22, according to Tim Murtaugh, a USDA spokesman.\n\nBut farmers who had not certified their crop production cannot do so, or receive bailout checks, until the shutdown ends. Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition, said many farmers had late harvests this year and have not been able to certify their crop production.\n\nAD\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of worry,\u201d Steenhoek said.\n\nThe shutdown has affected America\u2019s farmers in other ways as well. The Agriculture Department has delayed publication of several economic reports on commodity stockpiles and other agriculture data, which help farmers estimate the amount of production necessary for the following harvest.\n\nAD\n\nAlso delayed are reports detailing the global supply of various commodities and projections of agriculture data on 44 countries \u2014 crucial data for thousands of farmers.\n\nIn the Midwest, bankers are beginning to evaluate whether to extend another year of credit for farmers. Those decisions are increasingly difficult amid ongoing trade tensions and the absence of key government statistics.\n\nAD\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re being asked to make planting decisions in an informational vacuum,\u201d said Steve Suppan, senior policy analyst at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. \u201cUnless you\u2019re a very large operator, it\u2019s got to be very difficult right now to do farm management planning with any kind of confidence at all. The shutdown aggravates that.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Two Great Lakes are seeing the highest water levels ever recorded.\n\nThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Lake Erie broke its previous record set back in 1986 while Lake Ontario surpassed a record set in 2017.\n\n\"The records on Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario are the highest levels for any month going back to 1918,\" said Keith Kompoltowicz, the Corps' chief of watershed hydrology.\n\nLake Erie reached 574.61 feet in June compared to 574.28 feet in 1986. Lake Ontario rose to 249.05 feet, up from 248.72 feet in 2017. Lake St. Clair, which connects Erie and Huron, rose to 577.40 feet in June. The record for the freshwater lake was 577.17 feet set back in 1986.\n\nNot to be left out, Lake Superior set a record for its monthly mean in June at 603.15 feet, which was 3 inches higher than the record of 602.89 feet set back in 1986.\n\nLake Michigan missed its monthly record high for June by less than an inch at 581.76 feet compared to 581.79 feet in 1986.\n\nSign up for daily news! Stay informed with WPR's email newsletter.\n\n\"The recent levels that we're seeing are very near a period of extremely low water levels,\" said Kompoltowicz. \"Up until recently, we hadn't come outside of our recorded range, but we're certainly doing that now.\"\n\nIn 2013, Great Lakes water levels were well below average and lakes Huron and Michigan saw their lowest levels ever recorded. Kompoltowicz said the lakes have been on an increasing trend ever since and all lakes are above the long-term average. The current six-month forecast indicates all Great Lakes will meet or go beyond July monthly records except on lakes Michigan and Huron.\n\nThe International Lake Superior Board of Control said water levels at the beginning of July were about an inch and a half above its record high levels for early July set back in 1943. The board said in a July 3 release that the International Joint Commission has allowed higher outflows from Lake Superior into the St. Marys River than those that were set in its 2012 plan.\n\n\"The ability to control the outflow does not mean the water levels of Lake Superior are controllable \u2026 Lake Superior is extremely large and the variability in the rainfall, runoff and evaporation that falls on Lake Superior is much greater than the ability to increase or decrease outflow,\" said Kompoltowicz.\n\nAbove-average rainfall last month contributed to rising levels on all the Great Lakes except for Lake Superior, which saw below-average rainfall for the month. Kompoltowicz said the rising water levels have caused increased instances of coastal flooding, especially during storm events. Property owners are also seeing more shoreline erosion with higher water and increased wave action."}
-{"text": "The left has long admired Canada as an enclave of social democracy in North America: for its openly socialist electoral parties, its robust welfare state, and its more moderate policy profile. Recent developments, however, have thrown that reputation into question. The country is helmed by a prime minister, Stephen Harper, known for his brazenly right-wing views and executive unilateralism. Both federal and provincial governments have embraced austerity and eroded public services. And Canada\u2019s newly aggressive exploitation of its natural resources has it trampling on civil liberties and reneging on its international obligations like, as Foreign Policy put it, a \u201crogue, reckless petrostate.\u201d\n\nThese are not changes born in the hearts and minds of the Canadian people, but an agenda designed and implemented from above, articulated in an imported conservative ideology, to abet the interests of private industry. Some of that agenda, like the shocking attack on Canada\u2019s environmental research community, has been implemented so swiftly and unilaterally that the public is just now catching up. Other aspects, like the undermining of the country\u2019s universal health care system, have been imposed more gradually, a death by a thousand cuts combined with a relentless propaganda campaign.\n\nWhat is happening in Canada is part of a much larger trend: the formidable disciplinary forces of late capitalism are exerting themselves everywhere, including in other western democracies, where governments are scaling back social programs while lavishing tax concessions and subsidies on industry. The European Union and the United States are similarly absorbing market shocks on behalf of business while allowing downturns to undermine the poor and working class. If Canada is becoming indulgent of, even slavish toward, its resource industry (the biggest contributor to GDP), it is arguably no more so than the United States in relation to its banking sector, which was never brought to heel despite causing the 2008 collapse.\n\nStill, the drastic turn in Canadian politics and policy raises some urgent questions. Why hasn\u2019t the population stopped the attack on its public services? Why have left-leaning parties lost ground at the polls while Harper and his ilk continue getting reelected? Why, in a society with a more collectively oriented spirit, has the political discourse taken a sharp turn to the right?\n\nThe answers to those questions tell a story to which the left should pay heed, for the hijacking of Canada\u2019s social democracy was made possible in part by the utter failure of its left parties, and the prospects for wresting the country from the current conservative agenda depend on the success of grassroots movements of resistance.\n\nCanada\u2019s public services, including health care and post-secondary education, the post office and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, are generally quite beloved. Unlike in the United States, where the government is viewed with some suspicion, in Canada government-administered and -funded institutions are understood to play an important nation-building role by servicing a population dispersed across a vast terrain. And the fact that all Canadians\u2019 needs are provided for has become a point of pride.\n\nOver the past few decades, however, private business interests and their neoliberal allies in government have led a concerted push to expand the role of the market and shift government expenditure away from social need. The assault on public services hasn\u2019t been conducted by criticizing them on principle, but by manufacturing crises and then suggesting that the only solution is to expand the role of the private sector.\n\nSuch is the strategy playing out right now at the post office. Last December, it was announced that Canada Post would have to phase out home delivery within five years, requiring residential customers to retrieve their mail from nearby community boxes. The change would come along with a significant increase in the cost of postage (from 63 cents to one dollar for a single stamp) and the layoff of 8,000 postal workers.\n\nThe announcement was shocking, but calculatedly so. The recommendations were prepared by a think tank arguing for privatization. It claimed that the post office is unsustainable and uncompetitive, a burden to taxpayers, and poor at meeting consumers\u2019 needs. In reality, Canada Post has netted a profit for sixteen of the last seventeen years, and, despite occasionally suffering losses, has yet to receive a single dollar in taxpayer bailout. All of the report\u2019s recommendations were part of a larger and often-used strategy to \u201crestructure\u201d services so that user costs increase while services deteriorate, and then, in response to public frustration, suggest market-based solutions.\n\nThe same strategy has been exercised repeatedly in health care: crises are brought on by underfunding, and the alleged only solution is to expand the role of private profit. Services are \u201cdelisted,\u201d i.e. taken out of universal medicare coverage, but private supplemental insurance becomes available to cover them. Public hospitals are closed but private clinics allowed to open. Wait times for services increase due to budget cuts, but patients are permitted to \u201cjump the queue\u201d and pay out of pocket for their own MRI. The public is thus softened for market-based solutions, although on an ideological level it remains staunchly committed to medicare and vocally resistant to efforts to introduce parallel private health insurance and private hospitals. The CBC, itself constantly menaced with cuts, recently held a months-long contest to select \u201cThe Greatest Canadian.\u201d The population chose Tommy Douglas, the architect of Canada\u2019s medicare system, ahead of Wayne Gretzky, Alexander Graham Bell, and Pierre Trudeau.\n\nThat underfunding services often has less to do with economic necessity than with reshaping institutions to benefit private industry was demonstrated last year when the government of oil-wealthy Alberta announced $147 million in cuts to post-secondary education, a process it described as \u201ccollaborative\u201d with colleges and universities but \u201cnot negotiable.\u201d Quickly, entire faculties, especially the arts, found themselves on the chopping block. The province warned universities that raising tuition to avoid the cuts was not an option, instead encouraging them to commercialize academic research and redirect resources towards short-term deliverables. Only after significant damage was done to staff and enrollment levels did the province restore $50 million to the education budget. After all, the province\u2019s revenues from oil sands exploration had been steadily increasing.\n\nJust how has this agenda secured such a hold on government? And why haven\u2019t Canadians voted it out at the polls?\n\nThe answer has to do with a deliberate attempt, by a handful of media outlets and political strategists, to push the entire Canadian political spectrum to the right, importing rhetoric that bears little relationship to the country\u2019s own intellectual history. Thirty years ago, conservatism in the country generally meant \u201cRed Toryism,\u201d a collectively oriented if somewhat paternalistic belief in \u201cpeace, order and good government.\u201d Unlike American conservatism, it was less concerned with rugged individualism or Christian fundamentalist moralism than with noblesse oblige and social harmony. In the last few decades, however, a number of institutions have worked aggressively to introduce radical new conservative views to the Canadian public discourse. There is the Fraser Institute, a right-libertarian think tank based in Vancouver, originally funded by the forestry industry to counter the reigning left-leaning New Democratic Party in British Columbia. There is the National Post, a newspaper that has basically run at a loss since its inception in 1998 for the sake of giving a national media platform to neoliberalism. And there is the \u201cCalgary School,\u201d a cabal of neoconservative academics, policy analysts, and pundits centered around the University of Calgary and so nicknamed after the Milton Friedman\u2013era Chicago School of Economics. The Calgary School\u2019s consolidation of influence over Canadian politics is much storied at this point\u2014they count Harper\u2019s election among their achievements.\n\nThrough a series of power moves, including forming splinter political parties and then reabsorbing their conservative electoral competitors, this new Canadian conservatism has all but supplanted the Red Tories, who now express shock at their radical policy agenda, not to mention how they conduct government. Harper\u2019s policy excesses include axing funding for women\u2019s and minority advocacy groups and cutting foreign aid, making good on his brag upon entering office, \u201cYou won\u2019t recognize Canada when I\u2019m through with it.\u201d He and his party have also made explicit moves to consolidate their hold on executive power. Harper has \u201cprorogued\u201d parliament\u2014a seldom-used maneuver to suspend legislative activity\u2014four times, sometimes to avoid investigations into his party\u2019s activity. In 2011, Conservative Party affiliates were involved in a voting suppression scandal, in which automated phone calls were placed to other parties\u2019 supporters providing false information about polling locations. Now the Harper government has introduced legislation to overhaul the elections act, reducing independent oversight and removing barriers to campaign contributions.\n\nPerhaps the main reason Harper\u2019s government has been able to maintain its hold on power has to do with the worldwide economic crisis. Canada weathered that storm much more successfully than the US, primarily because of greater regulation of its banking industry. Harper, an economist, happily takes credit for Canada\u2019s stability (even though he previously was an advocate for deregulation), positioning himself as the even hand piloting the country through the storm. In fact, for decades, the Conservatives have branded themselves as fiscally responsible and pro-growth, a strategy that is likely to succeed during times of economic duress.\n\nBut the Conservatives\u2019 triumph also derives from their electoral rivals behaving little differently. Since the 1990s, the centrist Liberal Party has embraced a hysteria about balanced budgets and debt repayment to justify cuts to social welfare programs and taxation\u2014all while polls consistently show Canadians would be willing to pay more in taxes in return for better services and a more equitable society. This understandably frustrates voters, who have been abandoning the party in droves. Meanwhile, the New Democratic Party, the explicitly social democratic alternative, has been shifting to the center in an attempt to capture votes lost by the Liberals. At its convention in 2011, the NDP removed the word \u201csocialism\u201d from the party\u2019s constitution; the NDP later came out against taxation of the wealthy, which party leader Thomas Mulcair called \u201cconfiscation.\u201d The party has even been willing to directly attack its own base, which historically has been organized labor, by forcing the renegotiation of public sector contracts in Ontario and legislating striking workers back to work in Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia. Finally, even Canada\u2019s Green Party members have come out in support of pipeline projects and oil refineries. In short, like their counterparts in Europe, Canada\u2019s left parties are increasingly willing to act as capital\u2019s executives.\n\nWhen that happens, voters are driven into the arms of any party that appears to offer an alternative. In Europe this means a growing support for parochialism and fascism. In Canada, it feeds populism, that slippery, neither-left-nor-right strategy meant to capitalize on a general sense of injustice. Populist parties promise to represent the interests of the people against the elitism and favoritism of government, and to root out the sources of social and economic stagnation, but they invariably redirect political energy toward scapegoats. They insist that they alone have the courage to stand up for the common man, but the common man they identify always resembles the dominant social group: natural-born citizens as opposed to immigrants; entrepreneurs rather than workers; able-bodied and ethnically majoritarian individuals as opposed to those \u201cspecial interests\u201d always clamouring for accommodation; the socially and financially self-sufficient but tax-burdened \u201caverage Joe\u201d who serves as a cipher for private business.\n\nPopulism secures its foothold in Canada by exploiting regional divides, in a country in which each province feels itself uniquely put upon\u2014Quebec for being a linguistic and cultural minority in a hegemonically \u201canglo\u201d country and region; the prairie provinces for being neglected by the federal government in Ontario; the Atlantic provinces for facing decades of severe economic hardship (the result of closing coal mines and depleting fisheries stocks). Whatever legitimacy these concerns have had historically, they too have been hijacked to serve a neoliberal agenda. For example, populist politicians in wealthier provinces speak of \u201cregional autonomy\u201d in order to argue against the equalizing \u201ctransfer payments\u201d those provinces are required to make to poorer counterparts (the purpose of these payments is to ensure a uniform quality of social programs across the country). Essentially, this stands in for an argument against taxing the wealthy and corporations. Or resource-intensive provinces talk of \u201cjob-killing\u201d environmental policies imposed by an obtuse do-gooder federal government, which is really an argument made on behalf of extraction companies.\n\nRegionalist populism is a chauvinism of local industry and wealthier \u201ctaxpayers\u201d with a uselessly divisive element of \u201cculture war\u201d tacked on for good measure, or perhaps for the sake of the working class. Take the recent developments in Quebec. In 2012, the Liberal government of Jean Charest was effectively deposed in the wake of massive protests against its neoliberal agenda. Most notably, Charest had attempted to dramatically raise tuition for post-secondary education by 75 percent over five years. Students in the province organized a wide-reaching strike, which galvanized broader segments of Quebec society when they saw students being criminalized and arrested. At stake, in people\u2019s imaginations, was the entire social compromise that had been struck in the 1960s between the wealthy Anglophone minority and blue-collar Francophone society. Eventually, the government felt compelled to call an election in which the Liberals lost their majority to the populist Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois, whose leader, Pauline Marois, promised to repeal the tuition hike. But what has the PQ done with this mandate? It has senselessly mired the population in a debate about a proposed \u201cCharter of Values\u201d for the province to address such urgent questions as whether public servants should be allowed to wear the hijab. It is a shockingly divisive undertaking in a province that depends upon heavy immigration to maintain its francophone population, and it has succeeded in completely displacing the questions raised by the strike.\n\nIf there is a battle over the future of Canada, its frontline is the issue of resource extraction. This is where the most frightening stories are emerging and the most dynamic forms of resistance as well.\n\nFor years now, at both the federal and a provincial level, the Canadian government has chosen to shape policy and institutions around maximizing the extraction of wealth from the country\u2019s natural resources\u2014around forestry in British Columbia, mining in the northern territories, the oil sands projects in Alberta, fishing (and now oil as well) in the maritime provinces. To prosecute its G8 status as one of the world\u2019s largest economies, Canada seems willing to play the short-term strategy of reaping resource-based profits instead of developing sustainable growth or economic diversity. And to do so, it appears willing to comprise civil liberties, democratic integrity, and environmental safety no less than other, less developed countries that rely on resource extraction.\n\nThe evidence is chilling. The government has required Environment Canada scientists to obtain permission before speaking to the media, sent government escorts to accompany researchers participating in international conferences, and reclassified entire swaths of research findings as \u201cconfidential.\u201d Meanwhile, as protests have arisen to the Keystone XL and Northern Gateway pipeline projects, the government has sent spies to intimidate community organizers, and reclassified Greenpeace and aboriginal groups as \u201cextremist threats.\u201d Documents obtained through freedom of information requests reveal that the Canadian government has even shared intelligence information with resource companies about admittedly peaceful groups and individuals posing \u201cchallenges to projects.\u201d\n\nIn addition, the government has shuttered dozens of libraries and environmental research centers, and in December literally burned or landfilled centuries\u2019 worth of materials on Canadian natural resources such as forests and waterways under the mendacious pretext of digitizing records, and at significant cost. Provincial governments are looking at partnerships with oilsands companies to develop school curriculum from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Environmental legislation has been rewritten to remove barriers to exploration, and oversight of environmentally sensitive projects has been deliberately limited. Protections for endangered species have been scaled back, and millions of dollars in funding has been cut from environmental research and climate change initiatives, while environmental charities are being subjected to tax audits. Canada has withdrawn from the Kyoto Protocol (Harper called it a \u201csocialist scheme\u201d) and the country now ranks last among OECD countries for environmental protection.\n\nThat this will have tragic consequences is easy to predict. Already, the environment is showing signs of irreparable compromise, especially around the tar sands projects in Alberta, where the clear-cutting rate is second only to the Amazon\u2019s, and where the extraction process produces enormous amounts of contaminated water (by 2010, more than a billion cubic meters). Nearby populations are reporting alarming rates of rare cancers and autoimmune diseases, and some physicians have refused to treat individuals who suggest their symptoms are related to tar sands emissions for fear of government reprisals.\n\nThe justification for prioritizing resource development is the benefit to the Canadian economy, but as Martin Lukacs argued in the Guardian, these pipeline projects \u201cdo not build a nation, but swindle it.\u201d Contrary to corporate and government claims, the employment they generate is minimal and short-term. The profits generated are mostly foreign and private, while the government\u2019s taxation and royalty rates remain incredibly low\u2014undoubtedly too low to cover the costs, in terms of health and environment, that are \u201cexternalized\u201d by resource companies and become the public\u2019s burden to bear. And an undiversified economy\u2014recall Alberta\u2019s redesign of its post-secondary institutions\u2014is vulnerable to collapse.\n\nIn addition to these material consequences, it\u2019s worth considering the effect of resource-focused policy on Canadian society and democracy. What of the perceived legitimacy of government institutions that are supposed to act in the public interest? What of the consequences for Canadian society, when economic livelihood is pitted against health and environment? What of the country\u2019s international reputation or that of its scientific community?\n\nMany have sounded the alarm about Canada\u2019s future\u2014scientists, journalists, environmental and community groups\u2014but among the most interesting efforts was a grassroots movement last winter among the country\u2019s First Nations (aboriginal) population. The Idle No More movement arose in November 2012 when four women organized teach-ins to inform the community about the federal government\u2019s proposed budget, which included provisions to weaken environmental protections and barriers to development on reserve (treaty) lands. The movement deliberately sidestepped First Nations leadership and instead quickly gained momentum through a series of peaceful protests\u2014flash mobs at shopping malls, blockades of highways and railroads\u2014and on social media.\n\nIdle No More was interesting not just because of how rapidly it galvanized attention and support both within and outside the country, but because it articulated the threat the government\u2019s plans pose to every Canadian. The movement was partly about the government\u2019s ongoing abrogation of treaty rights, but even more significantly it emphasized that if Canada continues to prioritize resource development over every other concern, it will destroy itself as a country and as a society. INM served as a reminder that while the First Nations people living on reserves may be at the literal forefront of resource exploration, they represent the Canadian population as a whole: they face a choice between short-term infrastructure growth and employment, and long-term safety and sustainability, and that choice is being made on their behalf, without their consent.\n\nIf you like this article, please subscribe or donate to support n+1."}
-{"text": "One of the biggest questions of the NBA season post-All-Star break is how much \u2014 if at all \u2014 Anthony Davis will play for the New Orleans Pelicans.\n\nAfter failing to consummate a trade before the deadline, the Pelicans announced that they would play Davis for the rest of the season.\n\nIt is largely believed that the announcement came under pressure from the league that it has the right to impose a $100,000 fine every time a team rests a healthy player.\n\nA lot has changed since that announcement\n\nSince that announcement, Anthony Davis has put up sporadic performances and injured his shoulder in a game.\n\n[Batter up: Join or create a 2019 Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for free today]\n\nThe shoulder injury wasn\u2019t serious. But it was a brief glimpse into the nightmare scenario that sees Davis get seriously hurt and plummets his trade value.\n\nThe whole situation added up to enough for general manager Dell Demps to lose his job.\n\nThe Anthony Davis injury was apparently enough for the Pelicans to ask the NBA to reconsider its reported stance on his playing status. (Getty) More\n\nReport: Danny Ferry wants to re-engage NBA on Davis\n\nInsert Danny Ferry. The Pelicans promoted the Demps adviser and former general manager of the Atlanta Hawks to replace Demps in an interim role.\n\nAnd now Ferry intends to press the NBA on its reported insistence that Davis continue to play, according to Marc Stein of the New York Times.\n\nAllowing Davis to play and get injured was apparently the final straw for Pelicans owner Gayle Benson with Demps. He was fired the next day.\n\nFerry presumably prefers to not suffer the same fate as Demps with this second chance in the NBA after a disgraceful exit from the Hawks. Convincing the NBA to not force the team to play Davis and risk a more serious injury would seem to be a check mark in his favor for any long-term employment prospects.\n\nWhat\u2019s next?\n\nHow the NBA would respond to Ferry\u2019s reported plan is a mystery. The league would obviously also prefer that Davis remain healthy. But it also wants to maintain the appearance of competitive balance while making sure its star players show up for paying customers and \u2014 more importantly \u2014 paying television networks.\n\nSo the Davis saga continues forward. Where it stops is anybody\u2019s guess.\n\nMore from Yahoo Sports:\n\n\u2022 Former NFL player fatally shot in parking dispute\n\n\u2022 QB Cousins angers Minnesota with a tweet\n\n\u2022 Just weeks after startup, AAF faced big money woes\n\n\u2022 LaMelo Ball still plans to go to college\n\n"}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\nMILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Milwaukee police say an 11-year-old girl was shot inside Sparkle Foods -- near Hopkins and Keefe on Sunday evening, June 15th.\n\n\n\nPolice say the shooting occurred as the suspects entered the business and attempted a robbery.\n\n\n\nThe victim was a customer in the store.\n\n\n\nNo one is in custody.\n\n\n\nNeighbors reported hearing gunshots around 7:00 p.m.\n\n\n\nWe're told the 11-year-old girl was shot in the leg.\n\n\n\nThe 11-year-old girl was apparently inside the store with her 17-year-old cousin.\n\n\n\nThe victim's family members tell FOX6 News they believe she will be okay. She could be released from the hospital as early as Sunday night.\n\n\n\nCommunity activists say they've seen enough violence already this summer.\n\n\n\n\"Enough is enough -- because I just cannot take another child getting shot. I just can't,\" Tracey Dent said.\n\n\n\nIt is believed Milwaukee police are looking for at least two suspects.\n\n\n\nMonitor FOX6 News and FOX6Now.com for updates.\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "A woman wearing a protective mask walks with a dog at the shopping street \"Kurfuerstendamm\", as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Berlin, Germany, April 23, 2020. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse\n\nBERLIN (Reuters) - Germany\u2019s confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 2,337 to 150,383, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Friday - a slight deceleration after three straight days of new infections accelerating.\n\nOn Thursday confirmed coronavirus cases had increased by 2,352.\n\nThe reported death toll rose by 227 to 5,321, the tally showed on Friday."}
-{"text": "As a neuroscientist, I am fascinated by infatuation; it's such a strong, mysterious phenomenon, yet is entirely scientifically-explainable.\n\nSarah Bahbah's art\n\n\"I Can't Date Them, but at Least I Can Be Their Friend!\"\n\nUnfortunately, many of us go through the experience of falling into infatuation with someone that we cannot date. In this situation, you must move on and accept that you will never be with this 'special' person, however magical and wonderful your connection with them is.\n\nMany of us make the mistake of thinking that a close friendship with our crush is the 'next best thing'. We do all that we can to get as close as possible to them, because the thought of them leaving our life is agonizing, even if we know that a friendship isn't truly what we want.\n\nIt is incredibly painful to develop strong feelings for someone, yet be unable to express it to them physically and emotionally. Here are some reasons why befriending someone that you are intensely infatuated with is a terrible idea that will only lead to anger, jealousy, embarrassment, and misery.\n\nSarah Bahbah's art\n\n1. You'll Act Like You're Dating Them\n\nEvery time you meet this individual, your heart will flutter and you'll be sure to be looking your best. You'll prioritize them over all your other friends, doing all that you can to spend one-on-one time with them.\n\nThis is because you desire more than friendship with this person, and kidding yourself that they're your platonic friend will not put an end to this. Your brain has formed romantically-driven pathways which are only growing stronger every time you see them.\n\nYou do not see this man or woman as a friend, and won't be able to do so unless you step back and distance yourself. Infatuation has a shelf-life, naturally fading after a few months; however, if you're regularly having philosophical conversations and coffee dates with this person, you will only fall harder in love.\n\nSarah Bahbah's art\n\n2. You'll Often Feel Embarrassed, Depressed and Angry\n\nWhen striving to stay as close as possible to someone that you love, you may be forgetting one fundamental thing: a friendship with this person will make you feel resentful and low. It may provide you with some sugary highs, but these will be followed by harrowingly depressive moods and pain as you return to reality and remember that they only view you platonically.\n\nThe embarrassment and feelings of low self-esteem will be unrelenting. You'll spend a lot of your time hyper-focusing on your own body language and speech patterns, desperately trying to stay within the illusory 'friendship' boundaries that you are trying to maintain. Everyone struggles and eventually gives away their true feelings, as energy doesn't lie.\n\nIt's also imperative to remember that the anger will be soul-destroying. Even if you attempt to repress it, you will feel a lot of underlying contempt towards this person for dating other people.\n\nUnrequited love will cause you to experience emotional turmoil, almost as if you were grieving a family member. Is it really a true friendship if you are desperate to be with this person romantically and are constantly unhappy, jealous and disillusioned?\n\nSarah Bahbah's art\n\n3. Your Real, Platonic Friends Will Seem Boring To You\n\nIn short, befriending someone that you are romantically interested in will warp the way that you define a 'friend'. Normal friendship obviously doesn't involve any romantic highs or undertones, so your connections with your existing friends will seem extremely dull in comparison to what you have with this person.\n\nAs I explained above, you will act and feel like you are dating them, going through all the same highs and lows as someone in a new relationship (due to dopamine and serotonin).\n\nYour platonic friends will not bring you the same ecstasy, understandably. It is dangerous to blur the lines between friendship and romance for this reason; you will become bored of your friends, and will be even more likely to only want to spend time with this person.\n\nSarah Bahbah's art\n\n4. The 'Friendship' Will Always Be Unbalanced, And You'll Want More\n\nUnfortunately, this person that you adore does not feel the same way about you. They probably enjoy spending time with you, and the connection is genuine in that sense, but they will never make as much time for you as you will for them.\n\nAware of the disparity between their feelings and yours, you will constantly try and morph yourself into a subservient version of this person (which, by the way, will only make you appear oddly clingy).\n\nIt is agonising to adore someone and want to show them the most intense forms of love and affection. However, a harsh truth about us humans is that we detest intensity when it is unrequited on our part. Imagine one of your platonic friends suddenly becoming possessive and intense in their emotions. You may pity them, bit it would become irritating after a period of time and even creepy.\n\nThe friendship will obviously always be balanced since they are not in love with you too. In fact, nothing about this connection is a friendship. You'll always linger when they smile at you, or hug you, and you'll always want the conversation to become a little more intimate and philosophical. They, on the other hand, will slowly grow sick of you as all they will see is a lovesick, unhappy, clingy puppy.\n\nSarah Bahbah's art\n\n5. The Obvious: You Will Never Be A True Friend To Your Crush\n\nWhile you should be compassionate to yourself when faced with an emotionally-demanding situation like this, you must also consider the other person in the equation. By choosing to befriend/remain friends with someone you have deep feelings for, you are selfishly dragging them into a rather artificial, unhealthy connection.\n\nThey are deserving of close friends who wholly support them and their lifestyle, and you, unfortunately, do not qualify for this position. You will never truly be there for them when they need relationship advice, or a hug because they've failed a test, since you will be unable to hide the extent of your jealousy and desire. We should not be strongly attracted to our friends.\n\nYou will also be a suboptimal friend in many other ways, all stemming from the issue that you are infatuated with them. You are hanging onto this 'friendship' to be a bit opportunistic, and may find yourself acting manipulatively to try and stop them pursuing anyone else. Regardless of your intentions, you aren't actually interested in connecting with them platonically and would hate to see them happily in a relationship. This is because a platonic friendship doesn't entail physical attraction or romantic feelings.\n\nStep back from the situation and ask yourself this question: why are you insisting on remaining their 'friend' when it is only hurting you and impinging on their freedom/ability to live their own life?\n\nThe only way out of this conundrum is to detach yourself from this person, even if it kills you to do so, and to start living for yourself. You'll regain your sense of self, develop your skills and will eventually find a partner who can love you back.\n\nThis content is accurate and true to the best of the author\u2019s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.\n\n\u00a9 2017 Lucy\n\nLucy (author) from Leeds, UK on June 30, 2020:\n\nHey there! Thank you for taking the time to share your story - I really appreciate it when people do, as I know how much it comforts others during times of emotional torture.\n\nI completely understand that you struggle to leave the limerence behind because you feel that there IS an authentic spiritual connection there. This may not be an entire falsehood - perhaps you two are people with similar brains. However, you still should not be limerent over her, nor would you be if you did not carry around beliefs in your subconscious mind that are actively manifesting limerence.\n\nPlus. the overpowering desperation and desire that come along with the intuition that you two are like-minded soulmates just another symptom of limerence. Remember, we can consider that we may be very similar to some of our friends and family members without wanting to be emotionally engulfed by them. The 'pull' that you feel towards her upon thinking these thoughts reflects that you are limerent.\n\nIn other words, when you treat the root cause and shatter the limerence, all of these feelings and 'revelations' dissolve away. Don't worry about the magical ideation, the crying, or the longing that imagining having met in your 20s drowns you in - what you need to do is treat the ROOT psychological causes of limerence.\n\nCheck out all of my articles on limerence over at www.NeuroSparkle.com\n\nI understand how nuanced, agonising and frustrating limerence is - it goes far beyond 'unrequited infatuation' and feels so spiritual, so significant and so all-encompassing. Teaching you all to free yourself from its allure is an immense passion of mine.\n\nBlabla on June 29, 2020:\n\nSo relatable!\n\nHave been in love with a coworker who had a girlfriend back then.. But once we stopped being coworkers and she moved away to another country (thanks, pandemic) & broke up with her ex, I expressed my feelings. She acknowledged that she thought about me this way, too but stopped herself cause she was not single. However, she showed no intention of coming back to the country i'm in and met a new partner already. That left me feeling like shit, especially cause we kept being in touch almost every day since she moved away! And she'd get flirty sometimes, but nothing serious.\n\nWhat's especially confusing is that there is chemistry & a soul connection (forgive my cheesiness) & she admitted that, too. :\\ Even saying how fun it'd be IF we met in our 20s. If I was rejected in a straghtforward way, I think i'd have easier time moving on - which is Not to minimize the pain from very straight-forward rejections! But somehow, I feel like yes, something is there but not enough, i am not enough.. and that's so painful. When I stop contact, she reaches out & i feel as if it's rude not to reply. No, I want to reply, actually but I know that's not in my best self-interest. Not sure how to get out of this. Will power & just cut it altogether?..\n\n...just spilling it out here. Sending love and support to all who's struggling with this kind of pain.\n\nMarie on June 28, 2020:\n\nWhat if the friend does have feelings for me but we can't be friends for other reasons?\n\nShredded1 on June 05, 2020:\n\nMany thanks indeed for your reply Lucy!\n\nThank you so much for referring NeuroSparkle website too! Read many articles and I must say that I have got many insights and maybe some answers too. I happened to come across this site while trying to figure out what is wrong with me. I had never heard the word Limerence, before you mentioned it, and then went on to read your articles on it. So I guess it is Limerence that I Aam going through. However, one question that comes to my mind is ... What if she is also in Limerence!? I am asking this because after reading your articles and going back to my thoughts on her and us, I would like to think she is also in the same boat. May I know what would you like to say about this please? TIA!\n\nLucy (author) from Leeds, UK on June 05, 2020:\n\nYou still need to rewire your brain away from the allure of this illusory connection, regardless of whether or not she is in a happy marriage. I have lots of articles on the subject and you can check out my website NeuroSparkle (linked in my bio). :)\n\nShredded1 on June 04, 2020:\n\nSpot On article and I read some of the comments too.. My question is... what if the girl is NOT in a happy marriage? yes. she is married and has a toddler for whom she does not want to come out of her marriage... at least for now.\n\nJoey g on April 14, 2020:\n\nEverything u have described is exactly what im going thru it really hit home.On one occasion id like to say everything u wrote is wrong but id be lying to myself because everything to exact detail is correct with a tear in my eye i thankyou for the truth although i wish it where not so i have to accept it\n\nLucy (author) from Leeds, UK on February 24, 2020:\n\nWell said. You can now put this behind you and get to know other interesting people (who you aren't already friends with!)\n\nJudd on February 24, 2020:\n\nI just had to tell a friend i couldn't be her friend anymore as i fancying her for the last few months, she had a partner too so it's for the best.\n\nGonna be honest i feel better already and like a load has been taken off my shoulder, i'ts not healthy lying to yourself and not admitting how you feel. It was starting to become unbearable every time i saw her because i wanted to be her partner and not really her friend.\n\nIt really isn't worth trying to be a friend in this situation, she was upset but hopefully she will understand, you have to think about your own well being in this scenario.\n\nLucy (author) from Leeds, UK on December 30, 2019:\n\nThanks so much for taking the time to comment and contribute, Azar. You've raised some extremely important questions that I'm sure will help some readers.\n\nAzar on December 29, 2019:\n\nHello. Leaving a quick comment here. For people who just read one article before deciding what to do ( been there). When the unrequired love strikes it's a very HARD battle to fight. You must be strong and MATURE. Examine what your true feelings are first and never DENY them! Because if you want a friendship with that person you must ask yourself a few questions like those : Do I want her to be happy? Do I want her to be happy with me? Can I be happy for her if she is in a long term happy relantionship? Do I get sexually attracted to her or is her personality that stuns me? . And all question that comes to mind help. Once you figured out what your true intentions are, you can make a path to move forward with what you want or not want to do next. ( also please google more article about unrequired love, you may find other more helpful).- If you are an unlucky highschool boy/girl reading this then PLEASE be very careful with what you decide...(after you decide , you may want professional help or talk to someone who is actual friend with someone they have unrequired feelings for and are HAPPY about it. DO NOT do the steps yourself . If you don't you may SAVE years of your life by going theright way for you more quicker.) , examine first the person you are having unrequired feeling to and decide first if she is a INTERESTING person or a REGULAR one and you just have a more \"heavy\" crush. ( The words interesting and regular are \"small\" but I can't use any better at this hour. ) hope you get the idea.\n\nmixed emotions???????? on December 10, 2019:\n\nI just wanna say ...i have a great/close friend,we laugh together and tell each other things about ourselves and life.Whenever i'm mad at them they always seem to get me to forgive them and when i'm down or sad they always manage to put a smile on my face again and again.I feel this connection to them,i can get lost looking into their eyes,i have these moments when my heart just melts and tingle.I think...wait i know i'm in love with them i think about them 24/7.I love them so much it hurts inside,i remember i cryed over them and they said \"why are you crying \" i said \"why do you wanna know ?\" they said \"because i care\" i said \"why?\" \"because i want to improve\" they said\n\ni 'm always sad knowing they will never think the same but my friends say \"you never know\" i've tryed cutting them off as in not being their friend but with them as you know is imposible i really adore them and i don't know what to do pls if you read this give me some good advice\n\nand an answer and what i should do.\n\nKlr on November 04, 2019:\n\nThis article is great but I disagree a little... I have been in this situation for 12yrs. During that time we have both dates other people and have 2 engagements and a failed marriage between us. We had a blow up many years ago when it originally came out that I had liked him as he claimed he would have chosen me over the person he was with (but had just broken up with) at the time. I went off at him because how could he not know and he went off at me because how could I not say something... we patched it up after both moving back to our home town. Slowly over the past couple of years our friendship has moved back to we\u2019re it was before that... in every way though... we hang out between 1-3x a week, organise events together with friends, fo our just the two of us and then go back to each other\u2019s houses and have those deep philosophical convos mentioned above. We snuggle in bed together but have never slept together. We sleep naked together.....\n\nLucy (author) from Leeds, UK on August 21, 2019:\n\nThank you for bringing that to my attention - polyamory had slipped my mind. Perhaps I should have mentioned the fact that some people thrive in non-exclusive relationships.\n\nHowever, I doubt that polyamorous folk require online assistance in the face of infatuations etc. as much as monogamous people, based on what you have stated.\n\nThis article also pertains to unrequited love, and the reasons why it is harmful to enter a pseudo-'friendship' (i.e. a platonic connection) with someone that you love. Perhaps it does apply to poly people in this sense, although I understand that certain points would have to be tweaked to fully extrapolate from it.\n\nAdam on August 20, 2019:\n\nThe article is inaccurate, It is quite possible to love someone and be happy for them to love others and support those relationships. It is called Polyamory.\n\nGeoffrey on July 19, 2019:\n\nThis article really highlighted, that I am not I infact going crazy, or weak, or that there is something wrong with me. The brain science of being in love is clearly pointed out in this article, and I feel liberated, as if I have been diagnosed at last. Now I can work on the cure. What relief to know.....that what is happening.although awful......is a normal cognitive and emotional response. ...to unrequited love.\n\nImDone on May 03, 2019:\n\nThis article was just what I needed. What sucks is I asked my friend point blank, and she confirmed what I was feeling. Only months later, she said she never had any idea. Meanwhile, she would say things like \"I Love You.\" That's been tempered with ...You are my best friend. You are my \"ride or die.\" She's a great person and I have great memories, but I finally took control. I wish her well. Maybe it will return to the right boundaries, but I have to be in charge of my life and not dreaming for something that will never come.\n\nPetra Gurney on March 18, 2019:\n\ni need answers to this love dilemma. i have unfortunately i have fallen in love with one of my close friend. but there is a big problem she is married in an unhappy marriage. i know that she has feelings to wards me and have written in a letter just sent recently that willing to be a friend to a person deeply love and not pursue any romance with them. and then wrote that the woman wish to share my life must be single. worried in case she does not want to be my friend anymore. i cannot even bring myself to tell her directly that i have romantic feelings for her in case she feels under pressure to choose between her unhappy marriage or me which i am not willing to take her away from her husband.\n\nDaniel on February 07, 2019:\n\nThank you so much for this, it's exactly what I needed to hear. I'm in this situation at the moment, not only am I miserable but you've helped me see I'm not being a very good friend either. I really need some distance from my friend, I know it will be hard but in the end it's the right thing to do.\n\nLauren on September 15, 2018:\n\nYes I've been in that situation for a really long time only I didn't notice I was in love with him until after I ended the friendship with him I feel better since I ended the friendship it was rather a permanent decision I made I'm not sorry that I won't be around for his wedding because I don't want to be I've got a good boyfriend myself so I'm focusing on him and I couldn't when I was friends with Dominic he wasn't even a good friend so it's no big loss for me for him it really must have been a big loss his relationship will probably fail because his friends will all figure out what I did that he was toxic\n\ndashingscorpio from Chicago on September 12, 2017:\n\nLife in the \"friend zone\" is pure torture for those who find themselves in that predicament. Essentially what causes this is a lack of courage to face rejection.\n\nDeep down they're hoping for a \"When Harry Met Sally\" movie moment where the (friend) realizes all they've ever wanted is right beside them. It's easier for an ex lover to become a best friend than it is for a best friend to become a lover. That's reality!\n\nIn other instances they're hoping there will be a \"moment of weakness\" when the person is distressed enough to turn to them for physical and emotional comfort one night.\n\nChoosing to hang out with someone you have a crush on while listening to them talk about dates and lovers or being a shoulder for them to cry on is an act of insanity.\n\nAs someone once said: \"Suffering is optional.\"\n\nGo after what you really want and if you're rejected move on.\n\nIn a world with over (7 Billion people) rejection means: Next!"}
-{"text": "In USA Today op-ed, Trump warns of Democratic midterms win and says party \u2018wants to model our economy after Venezuela\u2019\n\nThis article is more than 1 year old\n\nThis article is more than 1 year old\n\nDonald Trump put his name to an opinion article in USA Today published on Wednesday, in a rallying cry to voters ahead of the midterm elections and warning that a big Democratic win would bring America closer to socialism and \u201csuffering, misery and decay\u201d.\n\nThe president opened with a warning to senior citizens and all Americans of the dangers of a so-called universal healthcare system with guaranteed government health insurance for all.\n\nSign up for the latest on the US midterm elections\n\nHe went on to say Democrats were in favor of \u201copen-border socialism\u201d and raised the alarm about the country swinging to the left, particularly with the emergence of younger, progressive insurgents who have shaken up the liberal establishment this election cycle.\n\n\u201cThe truth is that the centrist Democratic party is dead,\u201d Trump wrote on Wednesday. \u201cThe new Democrats are radical socialists who want to model America\u2019s economy after Venezuela.\u201d\n\nMidterms 2018: The key races to look out for Read more\n\nDemocrats are pushing for a \u201cblue wave\u201d of support from voters this November, hoping that the backlash against Trump since his shock win in the 2016 election and the Republicans\u2019 further march to the right can inspire enough voters to cause the Democratic party to win control of one or even both houses of the US Congress.\n\nBut Trump\u2019s article warned: \u201cIf Democrats win control of Congress this November, we will come dangerously closer to socialism in America. Government-run healthcare is just the beginning. Democrats are also pushing massive government control of education, private-sector businesses and other major sectors of the US economy.\u201d\n\nHe urged that this is a fight the Republicans \u201cmust win\u201d and issued further dire predictions about a \u201cradical\u201d agenda.\n\n\u201cEvery single citizen will be harmed by such a radical shift in American culture and life. Virtually everywhere it has been tried, socialism has brought suffering, misery and decay,\u201d he wrote.\n\nThe article has echoes of Trump\u2019s shocking 2017 inauguration speech, which employed dystopian language and a bleak appraisal of the country as blighted in a state of \u201cAmerican carnage\u201d.\n\nHe warned on Wednesday: \u201cToday\u2019s Democratic party is for open-borders socialism. This radical agenda would destroy American prosperity.\u201d"}
-{"text": "The 25-year-old US whizz kid is one of just three accounts the communist state is following. But why?\n\nAge: 25.\n\nAppearance: Excessively youthful for his CV.\n\nHow so? He is one of those whizzkids who do so much to make anyone over 30 feel they should take themselves off to the nearest ice floe and die.\n\nWhat has he done? He has been a web developer (in his teens), a property and construction tycoon (he has investments everywhere from his home state of Texas to Brazil and Peru) and a golfing buddy of Dennis Quaid (photos on his website will confirm).\n\nThat's impressive, but not really newsworthy. Unless Quaid was in Les Mis\u00e9rables and I missed him. I was crying quite hard. He has hit the headlines because he is one of the few people being followed on Twitter by @uriminzok.\n\nUri Minzok? Wasn't he an extra in Fiddler on the Roof? No. \"Uriminzok\" translates as \"Our Nation\". It's North Korea's Twitter account.\n\nThat is a bit surprising. I didn't think it was all that into modern communications. Or communication at all. Oh wait \u2013 is it socialism networking? Ha ha! Socialism networking! Do you see what I did there! LOL! Mmm. I'm sure the semi-starving millions would be very amused. But you're right \u2013 at the time of writing @uriminzok was following only three accounts: Vietnam's, a Pyongyang propaganda site and Mr Dushku's.\n\nDoes Dushku know why? He has no idea.\n\nMaybe Kim Jong-un idolises the actor Eliza Dushku, thinks Jimmy is her brother and is trying to cosy up. Possibly. Although the despotic dynasty is not known for its subtlety. Anyway, Jimmy followed North Korea back, out of courtesy, adding, \"Have a nice day, my friend\" in Korean.\n\nUh-oh. Did Texas find out and hang him as a communist? No. The story emerged as a result of Google chief executive Eric Schmidt's controversial \"Embrace the digital future, comrades!\" visit to North Korea and Jimmy has now received death threats from opponents of the totalitarian regime as a result.\n\nWell, I guess exchanging pleasantries with one the world's most repressive regimes is bound to ruffle a few feathers. Unless those feathers are being boiled for soup by peasants while the leaders grow fat on the proceeds of an effectively enslaved population, yes, yes it is.\n\nDo say: \"Block. Block all Marxist cult states while you're at it.\"\n\nDon't say: \"Please like my Human Rights Are Awesome! FB page. RT.\""}
-{"text": "\n\nLast week, I posted about the first day of the Seattle International Randonneurs\u2019 Autumn 600 km brevet. When we sent our riders on their way in the early hours of this second morning of the ride, we did not know whether we\u2019d see them again further down the road.\n\n\n\nRyan and I left our motel in Twisp at the crack of dawn and cycled on empty roads up the Methow Valley. It had rained during the night despite a dry forecast \u2013 thunderstorms are hard to predict. The roads were wet, but that is what fenders are for.\n\n\n\nBy the time we reached Mazama, we were hungry. There aren\u2019t many places in North America where you can buy perfect croissants in the middle of nowhere\u2026\n\n\n\nIt was a glorious morning, but as we started the climb toward Washington Pass, we could see clouds over the mountains. Did this mean that it was raining on the other side of the Cascades? We hoped that it was just a remnant of the thunderstorm, about to dissipate, rather than a front moving in.\n\n\n\nWe met a rider from British Columbia coming the other way. We had passed him just before the first pass the day before. He had camped between the two passes, and he reported a little drizzle on the other side of the pass. He was visibly cold from the long descent in the chilly morning air, so we recommended the store in Mazama for breakfast.\n\n\n\nOur worries about the weather were unfounded: The clouds soon dissipated, and we looked forward to another sunny day.\n\n\n\nAfter a night\u2019s rest, we made short work of the pass.\n\n\n\nAs I stopped to take another photo of the towering peaks, I heard a voice yelling my name. It was Brad, standing one switchback above (the blue dot in the photo), who wondered where the other riders were. He had taken a rest and fallen asleep, and they either were behind or had passed him as he slept.\n\n\n\nTogether, we climbed the last bit to Washington Pass (Ryan on the left, Brad on the right).\n\n\n\nThe downhill allowed us to work on our aero tucks. My digital camera isn\u2019t quite fast enough to capture Ryan zooming by at 40 mph.\n\n\n\nThe North Cascades always are windy (read the sign), but on this day, it was extreme. Rounding the curves, the wind hit us with such force and noise that it felt like our eardrums would burst. Even on the steep downhill, our bikes almost stopped in their tracks.\n\nI was glad for a bike that is affected only very little by side winds. Even so, I had to grip the handlebars tightly a few times to fight the wind trying to turn the front wheel. Having descended this road on a bike with less suitable geometry, I know it can be scary.\n\n\n\nDiablo Lake\u2019s dam is where Seattle\u2019s electricity is made. We soon caught up with the second rider, Ian (wish I took a photo of him). After 50 miles in the mountains, we were close to civilization, and the thought of a cold drink and a convenience store lunch led us to increase our pace\u2026\n\n\n\nLeaving the control into a headwind, the other two riders preferred to proceed at their own pace, and Ryan and I went ahead. Above you see another control. Instead of sitting by the roadside to wait for riders spread over the better part of a day, I affixed the purple stickers to the signpost on the way out. On the way back, each rider put one on their control card to prove that they had come through.\n\n\n\nThe day before, I had noticed this bridge across the Sauk River. Now we had time to explore. It\u2019s a beautiful paved two-lane road that winds its way to Concrete. We\u2019ll have to ride that some day!\n\n\n\nTo our surprise, we caught up with our speediest rider, Ed, who had taken an afternoon nap on the bank of the river. We rode to the next town together, then Ryan and I stopped for more food, while he went ahead, since the finish was near.\n\n\n\nWe veered off the official course to head home. (The riders signed in at the motel at the finish and then mailed us their cards.) We stopped in Snohomish for dinner at a saloon, then covered the last 20 miles to Seattle and were home by bed-time. Another week-end well-spent!"}
-{"text": "\u201cWhat happens to a quark deferred?\u201d the poet Langston Hughes may have asked, had he been a physicist. If scientists lost interest in a particle after its discovery, much of what it could show us about the universe would remain hidden. A niche of scientists, therefore, stay dedicated to intimately understanding its properties.\n\nCase in point: Top 2014, an annual workshop on top quark physics, recently convened in Cannes, France, to address the latest questions and scientific results surrounding the heavyweight particle discovered in 1995 (early top quark event pictured above).\n\nTop and Higgs: a dynamic duo?\n\nA major question addressed at the workshop, held from September 29 to October 3, was whether top quarks have a special connection with Higgs bosons. The two particles, weighing in at about 173 and 125 billion electronvolts, respectively, dwarf other fundamental particles (the bottom quark, for example, has a mass of about 4 billion electronvolts and a whole proton sits at just below 1 billion electronvolts).\n\nPrevailing theory dictates that particles gain mass through interactions with the Higgs field, so why do top quarks interact so much more with the Higgs than do any other known particles?\n\nDirect measurements of top-Higgs interactions depend on recording collisions that produce the two side-by-side. This hasn\u2019t happened yet at high enough rates to be seen; these events theoretically require higher energies than the Tevatron or even the LHC\u2019s initial run could supply. But scientists are hopeful for results from the next run at the LHC.\n\n\u201cWe are already seeing a few tantalizing hints,\u201d says Martijn Mulders, staff scientist at CERN. \u201cAfter a year of data-taking at the higher energy, we expect to see a clear signal.\u201d No one knows for sure until it happens, though, so Mulders and the rest of the top quark community are waiting anxiously.\n\nA sensitive probe to new physics\n\nTop and anti-top quark production at colliders, measured very precisely, started to reveal some deviations from expected values. But in the last year, theorists have responded by calculating an unprecedented layer of mathematical corrections, which refined the expectation and promise to realign the slightly rogue numbers.\n\nPrecision is an important, ongoing effort. If researchers aren\u2019t able to reconcile such deviations, the logical conclusion is that the difference represents something they don\u2019t know about\u2014new particles, new interactions, new physics beyond the Standard Model.\n\nThe challenge of extremely precise measurements can also drive the formation of new research alliances. Earlier this year, the first Fermilab-CERN joint announcement of collaborative results set a world standard for the mass of the top quark.\n\nSuch accuracy hones methods applied to other questions in physics, too, the same way that research on W bosons, discovered in 1983, led to the methods Mulders began using to measure the top quark mass in 2005. In fact, top quark production is now so well controlled that it has become a tool itself to study detectors.\n\nForward-backward synergy\n\nWith the upcoming restart in 2015, the LHC will produce millions of top quarks, giving researchers troves of data to further physics. But scientists will still need to factor in the background noise and data-skewing inherent in the instruments themselves, called systematic uncertainty.\n\n\u201cThe CDF and DZero experiments at the Tevatron are mature,\u201d says Andreas Jung, senior postdoc at Fermilab. \u201cIt\u2019s shut down, so the understanding of the detectors is very good, and thus the control of systematic uncertainties is also very good.\u201d\n\nJung has been combing through the old data with his colleagues and publishing new results, even though the Tevatron hasn\u2019t collided particles since 2011. The two labs combined their respective strengths to produce their joint results, but scientists still have much to learn about the top quark, and a new arsenal of tools to accomplish it.\n\n\u201cDZero published a paper in Nature in 2004 about the measurement of the top quark mass that was based on 22 events,\u201d Mulders says. \u201cAnd now we are working with millions of events. It\u2019s incredible to see how things have evolved over the years.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Scythe.SG made history last weekend when they placed third at The International Dota 2 Championships held at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, instantly becoming the most successful gaming team in Singapore by prize earnings. I interviewed Scythe.SG\u2019s team leader Han Yong \u201chyhy\u201d Lim, in which he revealed that the team only had a week to practice after coming out from months of inactivity and that he doesn\u2019t consider being placed third at The International to be his most prestigious tournament finish.\n\nRead on for part one of the interview, concerning Scythe.SG\u2019s pre-Gamescom preparation, and their experiences during the tournament itself.\n\n* * * * *\n\nCan you introduce yourself, and tell us more about your history playing Dota?\n\nMy name is hyhy and I\u2019m 21 years old this year. I\u2019ve been playing Dota in Singapore for five years, and I came from teams like Aeon, KingSurf, Scythe and Zenith.\n\nThese were the very top of all the top teams in the region when they were active, right?\n\nYeah.\n\nHow did you get the invite to take part in the tournament in the first place?\n\nIceFrog personally sent me the invitation. I used to help him with the changelogs in Dota. Whenever he needed help with changes or advice from pro gamers he would approach me and a few others. From those interactions I had good relations with him, so he reserved a slot for my team for this event.\n\nCan you tell us how you formed the team for The International?\n\nAll of us came from different teams, but we gathered what we felt were the most individually skilled players in Singapore specially for this event. There was very little time to train for this event, so we felt that the best players would adapt and fit into the game quickest. We trained for about one week before the tournament and two days on LAN, so it was quite a rush.\n\nI understand that ToFu was originally supposed to play for Scythe.SG in Germany instead of iceiceice. Can you tell us more about that?\n\nInitially, ToFu was part of the team, but one week before the tournament something came up. We realised that our polytechnic examinations clashed with the event. ToFu was in his final year and final semester, so he decided it was a better option to stay for his studies instead. We actually tried whatever we could. We tried approaching the school for approval, we had letters from SCOGA (an online gaming association), but nothing went through. ToFu had no choice but to stay in Singapore, and that\u2019s why we got ice as a replacement. As for myself, I missed a paper, but I think I got it settled now.\n\nDo you feel that the last minute replacement of ToFu with ice affected Scythe\u2019s performance at the tournament?\n\nTo be honest, at the start when we took ice into the team, we were pretty shaky. We actually felt that ToFu would have been better because we had a lot of role problems. But we were already in the worst case scenario and we just had to go along with it. The trainings went well and at the tournament we were actually very surprised at how well we played. Getting to third place exceeded our expectations. Overall, I\u2019ll say that ice was still a good choice because he gave it his best, and so did all of us. I appreciate them for doing so.\n\nYou talked about ice causing some problems with team roles. Could you elaborate on that?\n\nLike I said, we\u2019re all some of the most individually skilled players in Singapore; but most of the top players are actually all carries. In a team you\u2019ll find that you actually need roles like support, you need gankers and you need an engager. So we had five carries. *laughs* We actually had to change our roles around and force some of our players into support and engaging, but we actually managed to scrape through. I was very impressed.\n\nBefore going to Germany, how did you expect to fare at the tournament?\n\nAt the start, we were very confident of placing first. We were confident of our individual skills and we thought that since it was a new game, things like team play wouldn\u2019t be so important yet. We were thinking individual skills were going to win us the game. But as we went into the tournament, we realised that it\u2019s not that true: team play is actually the important thing there. But somehow we had it in us, and we managed to get through it.\n\nSince we\u2019re on the topic, what do you think you could have done better in your games against Na`Vi?\n\nI think all of us felt the same. Every single team at the competition felt the same. Na`Vi was on a different level. I believe they were like this because they had a full month to train as a team, I believe on LAN. Their teamwork actually says a lot about them, they\u2019re very good as a team. It seems like they\u2019ve already discovered the top picks of the current game. As we all know, Dota is actually a draft game. They\u2019ve actually mastered the draft, they\u2019ve got the best picks for the game, and they basically crushed every single team. Even the Chinese, who were known for their skills and team play, they couldn\u2019t fight against the draft. So, as I said, Na`Vi is on a very different level from the rest of the teams.\n\nHow about against EHOME? You guys won them once in the winners brackets, then won them again in the best of three but lost against them in the next two games. What could you have done better against EHOME?\n\nFor the games against EHOME, we were actually preparing strategies, strategies that can only work once \u2014 especially so since China teams are very smart. They know what causes them to lose the game, so they\u2019ll work on that afterwards. After we won them (in the winners brackets), they went back and had a full day of discussion. The next time we fought them (in the losers brackets finals), it was completely different. They changed roles, they changed drafting styles, everything. We actually had another strat for them, and that\u2019s why we managed to secure our second game (against EHOME). We lost the third and fourth game to them because we ran out of strategies, and we were not prepared to fight them again.\n\nThe most important factor was that we lost to Na`Vi in the group stage and then again in the winner brackets finals. That was the point when my team\u2019s morale was at its lowest. We were actually aiming for first then, but the loss to Na`Vi was quite demoralising and we didn\u2019t prepare as well as we would have done for our usual games, so against EHOME we kinda got off track and we played bad and we lost.\n\nWhat did your team do to try to keep morale up after your loss to Na`Vi?\n\nAs the leader, I tried to remind them of the incentives and our goal (of placing first). But I think by then, first of all, we knew that Na`Vi was a very strong opponent, close to undefeatable, so we were already a bit disappointed. It was also partly because we knew that we already had the (third place) prize money on hand. It\u2019s human nature, I guess. We already had a \u201cback up plan\u201d, so we really didn\u2019t give it our out all against EHOME. We were really disappointed with that.\n\nI was wondering about that last game against EHOME, how did you guys choose your heroes? It looked like you just picked all your favourite heroes.\n\nYeah, in fact we simply picked our favourite heroes. I did mention that we managed to fix our roles, but in the final game against EHOME, they banned very smartly. We also made a few ban mistakes, we banned away some of our own heroes. For that particular game, our roles were screwed up. We couldn\u2019t get the heroes we wanted. We were forced to play heroes that didn\u2019t suit our play style and it turned out badly. We expected to lose already, but we decided to play our best and see how it goes.\n\nDid you pick Shadow Fiend for your fans? People are still talking about your Shadow Fiend after all this time.\n\nI picked Shadow Fiend not because of my fans, but because I thought it was the hero I was most confident with. I think I play best at it and was hoping that I could bring my team to victory. Sadly, in that version, SF just cannot be played.\n\nOne thing about Dota 2 \u2014 there are a lot less heroes than in the original Dota. Do you feel that the limited number of heroes affected your team\u2019s performance in the tournament?\n\nDefinitely. We have a few players who are actually known for just playing carries; they\u2019re not really all-rounded players. There were many late-game carry heroes, 1 v 5 heroes, that we couldn\u2019t use. That left our player, ice, with very limited use. That\u2019s why banning and picking was very difficult for us in Germany.\n\nI understand that Razer helped out with your team training and provided some support while you were in Germany. Can you tell us more about that?\n\nBasically, Dota 2 was not revealed to the public yet, so before going to the tournament we had to sign a non-disclosure agreement. We were not supposed to release any images or any footage of the game. Because of that, we were not allowed to go to any LAN centres to train, but we needed the LAN training experience to play well in a LAN competition. Razer was kind enough to lend us their training room and the computers were great. Training there was good, it was conducive, it was quiet, it was very private and we really could talk about everything we needed to, strategies and all that. We could even get our food and drinks here for free. It was the best place we could ask for.\n\nWhen we were in Germany, a staff from Razer \u2014 Tammy (furryfish) \u2014 gathered support from Singaporeans. They actually went down to the Colosseum cyber cafe and got our friends and people to support us while we\u2019re playing our games. This got to us when we saw it on Facebook. There was a wall of encouragement from everyone who signed, and it helped us really. But sadly we disappointed them.\n\nI don\u2019t think you disappointed anyone! But knowing that so many people back in Singapore were watching, did the pressure actually get to you while you were playing?\n\nYes, definitely. The atmosphere at the place there was enough, it was choking. The place was crowded. It was overfilled. People were cheering and clapping every now and then. The atmosphere was perfect, and the management there was great. The Valve people were very cooperative and very helpful. It was a great competition.\n\nWhat was your team\u2019s reception like in Germany?\n\nI will say that the Valve management and the other teams actually saw us as an underdog team, because Singapore Dota has been on the low and we haven\u2019t been very active. In fact, we have been totally inactive. So when we arrived at Germany, no teams actually took notice of us, except for the one team which we trained with online, EHOME. They were only team that was watching out for us. It turned out to be a bad thing, because they knew all of our strategies as we used them in trainings and they ended up being our opponents four times in the tournament. It was quite unlucky in a way, but we were still lucky that we ended up third.\n\nAs you guys made it out of the group stage, and then to the winners finals, how did everyone\u2019s perception of your team change?\n\nEveryone was shocked. They were really shocked. I recall that in the game against MYM, before we entered the booth, the fans outside were all cheering for MYM. There was nothing for our team. After we beat them, there was this huge amount of applause and congratulations from them and all that. Since then, things changed. Support came to us, but it didn\u2019t last long. *laughs*\n\nCould you share some lessons you learned from your experience in Germany for teams in Singapore and around the world to improve their game?\n\nFor teams that really want to improve, they should watch replays and see how teams win. Actually, they should watch replays and see how their own team loses. Most important is to figure out the key to drafting. Drafting is not as simple as it seems to be. There\u2019s actually a lot of things you can do to secure the picks you want. Beyond simply banning a hero, you have to think of the hero alternatives so that if it\u2019s banned, you still have a hero to fall back upon. It\u2019s a lot of preparation. We spent up to five hours after every tournament day just to sit and discuss drafting.\n\nDo you have any specific advice on drafting and banning?\n\nA very typical good draft would have an engager, a support, two carries and a ganker. Basically, if you fill up the roles with the right players, it wouldn\u2019t be too tough a game.\n\n* * * * *\n\nIn part two, hyhy talks about the tournament\u2019s impact on his family, the difference between Dota 2 and Dota Allstars, and whether he feels Dota 2 will be able to pick up from another similar game, League of Legends."}
-{"text": "NFL playoff quarterbacks will experience several critical moments where the passing plays called are duds. The pass rush has won. The protection wall is crumbling. It is time for the quarterback to move. Buy time. Extend the play.\n\nSome quarterbacks may step left or right. Some may sprint left or right. Others may spin and roll. Each quarterback in this sequence is seeking to extend the play, feet moving, head up. Each is creating a new passing play.\n\nSometimes a third or fourth or even fifth play, all in the same play, is created by extending the original.\n\nThis tactic can produce rich passing gains that often exhaust and deflate defenses. They can also kill defenses and win games.\n\nExtending passing plays has been a signature trend of the NFL's 2014 season. It will color the playoffs.\n\nIt has always been a part of the game, the art of quarterbacks mobile and savvy enough to give themselves time to find piercing passing success. Fran Tarekenton in the early 1970's during his Minnesota Vikings days used to dominate with this approach. Roger Staubach mastered it during the same era as a Dallas Cowboys' high-wire act full of flair.\n\nQuarterbacks including Dallas' Tony Romo, the Pittsburgh Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger and the Indianapolis Colts' Andrew Luck -- who all appear in this weekend's NFL playoff action -- have shown a knack for extending plays. Now, they seek to do it for a higher reward: To win and advance toward Super Bowl XLIX.\n\n\"These guys are not extending plays to just run around,\" Super Bowl XXII MVP quarterback Doug Williams said. \"They are doing it for someone in the passing game to come open. The receivers have to know the quarterback. He's outside the pocket and out there not to run but throw. And the best ones, they have what I call \u2018pocket etiquette.' Presence. Feel. Instincts. Some things are taught. Some things are caught. There are some things you can't coach. Instincts for a quarterback to know where to step, where to slide, how to extend the play best, is one of them.\"\n\nNew England Patriots' coach Bill Belichick said he always game plans with special care for quarterbacks who have those kinds of instincts.\n\n\"There are guys that can do it and some guys who can't,\" Belichick said. \"I am always concerned about the threat when they get out there and they do run. That's like having a sixth receiver, another guy you have to cover. There are a lot of games won and lost out there with this type of play in the passing game. It's become an important part of the game.\"\n\nRussell Wilson, the Seattle Seahawks' elusive quarterback, is among the best at making something out of nothing.\n\n\"You try to always be alive at quarterback,\" Wilson said. \"You are trying to help your offensive line when problems arise there. You are trying to use your God-given instincts.\"\n\nRomo explained: \"You don't know what you are going to do before it happens. It just happens. And you try to make the best of it and take advantage of a defense that is now in a little helter-skelter mode.\"\n\nPatriots quarterback Tom Brady admires the new array of NFL quarterbacks who can not only orchestrate read-option offenses, but can also extend plays from the pocket. Brady has his own methods for pulling it off.\n\nWho does it best? Super Bowl XXII MVP Doug Williams ranks the playoff quarterbacks who excel at extending plays. AFC\n\n1. Ben Roethlisberger\n\n2. Andrew Luck\n\n3. Andy Dalton\n\n4. Joe Flacco\n\n5. Peyton Manning\n\n6. Tom Brady NFC\n\n1. Russell Wilson\n\n2. Tony Romo\n\n3. Aaron Rodgers\n\n4. Cam Newton\n\n5. Mathew Stafford\n\n6. Ryan Lindley Overall\n\n1. Russell Wilson\n\n2. Tony Romo\n\n3. Ben Roethlisberger\n\n4. Cam Newton\n\n5. Andrew Luck\n\n\n\n\"It's become the best method to find a way for guys to become uncovered,\" Brady said. \"The more you do that you put pressure on the defense. A lot of times it can turn a negative play into something good. I work at it. But a lot of guys are better at it than me.\"\n\nWilliams said that may be true of Brady and of Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, but --\n\n\"That's because they don't' have to extend a lot of plays,\" Williams said. \"They do more up and back and over and slide stuff to extend and are good at it. But because they are so accurate, they don't need the extra time to extend plays. They are both so precise. But when they need to, they can extend in ways to hurt you.\n\n\"When the quarterback extends, the receiver has a reaction he is supposed to comply with. It's not sandlot. This is coached in meeting rooms. There are drills for this. For example, if one receiver goes long, another is supposed to run to the spot where that receiver just left. Another guy may be told to just keep coming back to the quarterback and let him find you. There is a method to the madness.\"\n\nIt is ordered chaos.\n\n\"It's a crucial part of the game,\" Seahawks receiver Jermaine Kearse said. \"Sometimes things don't work the way you want them to. You have to make them work by extending the play. Russell gives us a certain direction in this. We have rules on what we are supposed to do depending on where he extends and to what part of the field he extends. There is organization in the chaos.\"\n\nWashington coach Jay Gruden said these plays just \"help your football team.\" He said it is \"often not a premeditated thought but a creative one; it can be significant in the outcome. I am particularly beginning to see a lot of young quarterbacks who can do it.\"\n\nQuarterbacks extending plays causes misery for defenses.\n\nDefensive linemen can only chase effectively for so long. Defensive backs can only cover effectively for so long.\n\n\"Well,\" said Jets safety Dawan Landry, \"when the quarterbacks do this they make everyone on the field move. That extra time causes a lot of extra decision-making everywhere else. I think Roethlisberger and Aaron Rodgers are the best at it. And they've got weapons like Antonio Brown and Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb that are dynamic players freelancing on the other end of it. We practice for it. It is hard to duplicate. The receiver has the advantage because he knows where he wants to go. You've got all kinds of quarterbacks in the playoffs who do it from a little to a lot.\"\n\nPatriots cornerback Brandon Browner says the answer is to get physical.\n\n\"It makes you keep your eye on your man even longer,\" Browner said. \"I tell our guys that as long as the quarterback is running around he is more a runner than a passer and it's a chance to knock the receiver around. I tell our guys that all of the time. It's a fine line between doing that safely and getting pass interference, but there is opportunity to do that. You have to take it.\"\n\nA step left. A sprint right. A spin. A roll.\n\nEyes downfield.\n\n\"You have certain quarterbacks who can see it, who understand it,\" Washington receiver DeSean Jackson said. \"The play breaks down and they have the ability to create a new one. As an offense, you always have to look for that. I'll be keeping my eyes on the playoffs for it. Somewhere in there, it will be decisive.\"\n\n(Andrew Luck via Getty Images)"}
-{"text": "Film Publishing Rights Firm Fintage House Now Accepts Crypto For Rights Transactions\n\nDutch rights management company Fintage House has signed a deal with blockchain-based social entertainment platform TaTaTu to start accepting cryptocurrency for rights transactions, entertainment industry news outlet Variety reported Nov. 12.\n\nEstablished in 1986, Fintage House specializes in the collection and management of TV, film and music publishing rights and licensing, as well as offering revenue collection and reporting for rights owners services.\n\nContinue Reading on Coin Telegraph\n\nLike this: Like Loading..."}
-{"text": "The U.S. has confirmed the first cases of coronavirus in companion animals after two pet cats tested positive in New York state, officials with the Department of Agriculture and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed Wednesday.\n\nOfficials said the cats had mild respiratory symptoms and are believed to have contracted the virus from people in their homes or neighborhoods, The Associated Press reported. The two cats live in different parts of the state, and officials said they would not disclose any further information about their locations.\n\nOne of the two lived with a person who had a brief respiratory illness about a week before, although the person has yet to test positive, and the cat also occasionally goes outside, officials said. The second cat\u2019s owner has tested positive for the virus. The owner also has a second cat who has not shown any symptoms.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nWhile the cats are the first known pets to test positive in the U.S., a handful of tigers and lions at the Bronx Zoo have tested positive for the virus.\n\nWhile the virus appears to be transmissible from humans to animals, scientists say they have thus far not seen evidence indicating animals can pass it on to people. Scientists in Hong Kong drew similar conclusions after a dog tested positive earlier this year.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t want people to panic. We don\u2019t want people to be afraid of pets,\u201d said Casey Barton Behravesh, a CDC official who works on human-animal health connections, adding that people should not rush to get their pets tested. \u201cThere\u2019s no evidence that pets are playing a role in spreading this disease to people.\u201d\n\nWith limited coronavirus testing available, it is only recommended that pets are tested in cases where they are known to have had contact with an infected individual, the pet is displaying symptoms and other possibilities with similar symptoms have been ruled out, Jane Rooney of the Agriculture Department told the AP.\n\nOfficials recommend any pet owners with the virus avoid close contact and wear masks while caring for them."}
-{"text": "It\u2019s Organizing 101: For any social movement to expand and succeed, like-minded supporters need to connect with one another \u2014 through meetings, rallies or social media.\n\nBut white nationalism isn\u2019t just any social movement. Meetings get canceled when venue owners realize who\u2019s renting their space. Rallies come under violent attack by organized anti-fascists. And big Silicon Valley tech companies are coming under increasing pressure to kick far-right personalities off their services.\n\nSaturday\u2019s mass shooting by a neo-Nazi sympathizer at a Pittsburgh synagogue \u2014 which left 11 dead and is thought to be the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in American history \u2014 is likely to redouble the tough scrutiny on how the organized white nationalist movement spreads its message inside the U.S.\n\nMuch of that scrutiny is already falling on Gab, a social-media service that has served as a safe harbor for white nationalists at a time when the movement has faltered under intense internal and public pressure. The suspect in the Pittsburgh shooting, Robert Bowers, was an active user.\n\n\nThe white nationalist movement\u2019s most recent troubles had stemmed in large part from its rally in Charlottesville, Va., last year, where officials say one far-right demonstrator drove his car into a crowd of anti-racism protesters, killing one.\n\nAfter Charlottesville, social-media companies, payment processors and service providers, bowing to public outrage, began to crack down on far-right users and start-ups who were using such mainstream services to post online, host websites and accept donations from fans.\n\nWhite nationalists also pointed fingers internally over who was most responsible for the event\u2019s chaos and the negative \u201coptics\u201d of the rally.\n\nThe movement has been further sapped by members\u2019 arrests, fundraising problems and embarrassing media coverage of the domestic problems of key figures, including Richard Spencer of the National Policy Institute and Matthew Heimbach of the Traditionalist Worker Party.\n\n\n\u201cThe leadership of the organized movement is in pretty bad straits,\u201d said Heidi Beirich, a spokeswoman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit organization that monitors and sometimes sues far-right groups.\n\nBut one bright spot has been Gab, a Twitter-like social-media service whose logo is a green frog, which has attracted far-right users for its unwillingness to eject racist users.\n\nBowers\u2019 account featured neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic memes on his page, and he posted on the site about his plans moments before attacking the synagogue. Bowers was a \u201cverified\u201d user on Gab, which indicates he was likely a \u201cpremium\u201d account holder who paid to gain access to special features on the site, which claims more than 700,000 users.\n\nThis image shows a portion of an archived webpage from the social-media website Gab, with an Oct. 27, 2018, posting by Pittsburgh synagogue shooting suspect Robert Bowers. (AP)\n\n\nGab quickly removed Bowers\u2019 profile Saturday but has declined to eject other white nationalist posters \u2014 a no-censorship stance that very much seems part of the start-up\u2019s plan from its founding in 2016 to build an anti-establishment right-wing customer base as a pathway to profitability.\n\n\u201cWe welcome everyone, but see a unique opportunity to carve a niche in a massively underserved and unrepresented market,\u201d the company said in a June 21 prospectus filed with the Security and Exchange Commission as part of a securities offering. \u201cWe estimate that there are over 50 million conservative, libertarian, nationalist, and populist internet users from around the world who are seeking an alternative to the current social networking ecosystems.\u201d\n\nGab\u2019s operators, led by Pennsylvania-based founder Andrew Torba, who owns a majority share in the company, have bristled when mainstream news outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, have focused almost exclusively on the company\u2019s troublemaking far-right customers at the expense of less radical Gab users. (Gab didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment.)\n\nBut the far-right users are the ones who make the company so newsworthy. Due to its willingness to accept white nationalists, \u201cGab, in some ways, is the largest hate site on the web,\u201d Beirich said.\n\n\nOne of America\u2019s most prominent neo-Nazis, Andrew Anglin, who has been banned from multiple platforms \u2014 but not from Gab \u2014 has a similar assessment.\n\n\u201cI am very thankful to Torba for letting me use the site when Jews attempted to literally ban me from the internet,\u201d Anglin wrote Sunday on his neo-Nazi website, the Daily Stormer, which has also been kicked off multiple service providers. (Anglin has effectively been in hiding as the Southern Poverty Law Center tries to sue him for directing his readers to harass a Jewish woman in Montana.)\n\nNow, after the Pittsburgh shooting, Gab is growing similarly isolated as the payment processors Stripe and PayPal and the hosting service Joyent cut off services to the social-media company.\n\nOn Sunday, the company\u2019s Turkish chief technology officer, Ekrem Buyukkaya, announced that he was resigning from the company, citing the pressure of working for such a controversial employer.\n\n\n\u201cThe attacks from the American press have been relentless for two years now and have taken a toll on me personally,\u201d Buyukkaya wrote in a post Sunday. \u201cI wish Gab nothing but the best and will do everything I can to help them transition to a new CTO.\u201d\n\nLike any start-up, the troubles could pose problems for the young company\u2019s viability if they put a dent in its budget or slow its growth.\n\nIn 2017, Gab reported a net loss of more than $200,000 and a cash balance of $637,291. That same year, the company briefly sued Google for anti-competitive practices for not allowing Gab to be downloaded on the Google Play store. (Gab soon dropped the lawsuit.)\n\nIn March, Gab reported that an independent audit had expressed \u201csubstantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern,\u201d though it expressed hopes more recently that those doubts had been alleviated.\n\n\nThe company has reported collecting $1 million in crowdfunded sales of securities in 2017 and said it had hopes to collect another $5 million in another round of sales in 2018.\n\n\u201cIf we are unable to obtain sufficient amounts of capital, we may be required to reduce the scope of our planned development and operations, which could harm our business, financial condition, and operating results,\u201d the company reported in September.\n\nGab has been vowing, in posts on Twitter, to move forward as it battles to stay online \u2014 and to stay alive.\n\n\u201cNew hosting provider secured. Working around the clock to see to it that Gab.com stays online,\u201d Torba posted on Gab on Sunday. \u201cYou can\u2019t stop the power of The People in their fight for freedom and liberty against tyranny. FREE SPEECH WILL ALWAYS WIN.\u201d\n\n\nmatt.pearce@latimes.com\n\nMatt Pearce is a national reporter for The Times. Follow him on Twitter at @mattdpearce.\n\nMore national headlines"}
-{"text": "Jesus og Muhammed er p\u00e5 bar. Muhammed sp\u00f8rger om Jesus vil ha\u2019 nogle peanuts. Jesus siger ja tak og holder h\u00e5nden ud, men jordn\u00f8dderne drysser tv\u00e6rs gennem naglehullerne. \u00bbJeg glemmer det hver gang,\u00ab siger Jesus sluk\u00f8ret.\n\nDette er en af vitserne i tegneserien \u00bbJesus og Mo\u00ab, der p\u00e5 fredag udkommer p\u00e5 et dansk forlag. Hvilket forlag vides ikke, da forlagets ejer af sikkerhedshensyn ikke \u00f8nsker navnet frem.\n\nSerien er tegnet og forfattet af en britisk tegner, og i Storbritannien vakte den debat, da et parlamentsmedlem modtog d\u00f8dstrusler efter, at han havde tweetet tegninger fra den.\n\n\u00bbDet er vigtigt at f\u00e5 udgivet bogen i Danmark, fordi den er sjov og god, og fordi den passer ind i den danske satiretradition. Den er et anderledes underfundigt og vittigt indslag i religionsdiskussionen,\u00ab siger bogens danske forl\u00e6gger.\n\nI Storbritannien er serien udkommet p\u00e5 nettet i ti \u00e5r, har ogs\u00e5 v\u00e6ret trykt i tidsskriftet \u00bbThe Freethinker\u00ab, og den danske udgave har v\u00e6ret planlagt siden september. Efter attentatet p\u00e5 Charlie Hebdos redaktion, besluttede redaktionen dog, at serien skulle udgives anonymt i Danmark.\n\n\u00bbDet er fantastisk \u00e6rgeligt og p\u00e5 sin vis ogs\u00e5 et nederlag, men jeg har ansatte og familie at tage hensyn til, og det vigtigste er dog, at den overhovedet kommer ud,\u00ab siger den danske forl\u00e6gger.\n\nIntern diskussion p\u00e5 forlaget\n\nDer blev ogs\u00e5 brug for dybe ind\u00e5ndinger i den forgangne weekend, da K\u00f8benhavn genl\u00f8d af skudsalver, men efter en ny intern diskussion p\u00e5 forlaget og en ny konsultation med seriens engelske ophavsmand, besluttedes det at forts\u00e6tte udgivelsen.\n\nP\u00e5 sp\u00f8rgsm\u00e5let om Danmark ikke i h\u00f8jere grad har brug for dialog og forsoning mellem kristne og muslimer, eller melllem ikke-troende og muslimer, end en ny bunke Muhammed-tegninger, siger forl\u00e6ggeren:\n\n\u00bbDet, at man udgiver en satirisk bog, udelukker jo ikke dialog, og det er jo kun et meget lille mindretal som potentielt vil reagere med at f\u00f8le sig kr\u00e6nkede. De fleste af mine muslimske venner synes faktisk, at serien er sjov, og i\u00f8vrigt g\u00f8r den lige s\u00e5 meget grin med kristne og j\u00f8der som muslimer,\u00ab siger forl\u00e6ggeren.\n\nKristne b\u00f8r i\u00f8vrigt ikke f\u00f8le sig mere i pagt med moderne tankegang end muslimerne, siger forl\u00e6ggeren, selvom det er de sidste, han anser for at v\u00e6re den st\u00f8rste trussel. Ganske vist er det et mindretal af danske kristne, der mener, at Bibelen er skrevet af Gud eller p\u00e5 anden vis skal tages alt for bogstaveligt, men der er tegn p\u00e5, at den kristne fundamentalisme i Danmark er i v\u00e6kst, siger forl\u00e6ggeren.\n\n\u00bbSagen om pr\u00e6sten Per Ramsdal, der ikke troede p\u00e5 genopstandelsen og derfor kom til tjenstlig samtale, viser, at sp\u00f8rgsm\u00e5let om en alt for bogstavelig tro stadig er levende i Danmark,\u00ab siger den danske forl\u00e6gger.\n\nI Trykkefrihedsselskabet, hvis tidligere formand Lars Hedegaard har v\u00e6ret udsat for mordfors\u00f8g, har formanden, Katrine Winkel Holm, forst\u00e5else for forlagets \u00f8nske om anonymitet.\n\n\u00bbDet optimale ville v\u00e6re, hvis de stod frem med navns n\u00e6vnelse, og det ville de kunne g\u00f8re, s\u00e5fremt Danmark befandt sig i en normaltilstand. Men weekenden viser, at risikoen er reel, og n\u00e5r man foretr\u00e6kker at v\u00e6re anonym af frygt for attentater, er det desv\u00e6rre mest af alt et udtryk for rettidig omhu,\u00ab siger Katrine Winkel Holm.\n\nVil man anskaffe sig bogen kan betale via mobile pay, og f\u00f8lge anvisningerne p\u00e5 hjemmesiden www.jesusandmo.net/dansk. kultur@berlingske.dk"}
-{"text": "ant-steals diamond from NY wholeseller ViralHog\n\nNo, this is not deleted footage from Ant-Man & The Wasp, this is actual footage of an ant trying to steal a diamond.\n\nUnlike some insects who are completely useless to planet Earth (I\u2019m looking at you, wasps) ants are a productive species who are important to the very fabric of nature itself.\n\nAs a team, they are an unstoppable unit. On their own, they\u2019re not as useful \u2013 or so I thought. As it turns out one ant can be a very good diamond thief.\n\nAdvert\n\nWhat do ants need with diamonds anyway?\n\nThe footage was recorded at a diamond wholesaler in New York City. The person filming the attempted heist spotted movement on the table. When they zoomed in to find out what it is, it turned out to be a cheeky ant attempting to do a runner with one of the store\u2019s diamonds.\n\nTo be fair I\u2019m pretty impressed that an ant has the strength to lift up a diamond and keep on moving. However, ants \u2013 like most insects \u2013 are quite strong. According to Futurism, they are able to lift three times their own bodyweight and they can dangle while holding 100 times their own weight.\n\nWhich explains why this ant, in particular, had no trouble lifting the diamond. It\u2019s got me wondering, where is he going with it? It\u2019s not like they can pawn it off anywhere. Maybe it was sent on a solo mission on behalf of the colony to collect resources for a megastructure they are building which will one day eliminate the human race.\n\nAdvert\n\nant stealing diamond from NY wholeseller ViralHog\n\nMy God, I\u2019ve been reading way too many sci-fi novels. That being said, maybe the notion isn\u2019t too far off. Just like humans, they\u2019ve conquered the world. You can find different species of ants all across the world \u2013 save for Antarctica, the Arctic and a few islands.\n\nAnts work as a hive mind, with an army of them essentially acting as one entity. If you want an example of their ruthless efficiency, check out this video of a million ants coming together to form a bridge to take down a wasps nest.\n\nThe incredible footage was taken in Brazil, and shows hundreds of thousands of ants clambering over one another to build a living bridge.\n\nAdvert\n\nThe video was filmed and shared on Twitter by electrical engineer, and apparent part-time ant enthusiast, Francisco Boni.\n\nIn Francisco\u2019s video post he added a caption which read:\n\nAttack of legionary ants (also known as army ants or marabunta) to a wasp honeycomb. Impressive the level of swarm intelligence and collective computation to form that bridge.\n\nFlexing his knowledge on ants, he added:\n\nAdvert\n\nWhen this type of attack happens, the wasps usually escape and the ants do not leave until they\u2019ve completely looted the honeycomb, carrying pupae, larvae, and eggs, as well as some adults who did not manage to escape They can even build across the water!\n\nIt\u2019s official, my newest fear is human-sized ants coming to take over the world.\n\nTime to call in the exterminators.\n\nAdvert"}
-{"text": "Note-If you do not yet know what Liquid Democracy is, please read this great article.\n\nWhat is DemocracyDAO?\n\nNon-Technical-Think of the DemocracyDAO as a group of American voters that are able to vote on as many bills as they want. DemocracyDAO uses the Ethereum Blockchain (you don\u2019t need to know what this is) to allow liquid democracy voting. Whenever a bill is sent to Congress, it is also sent as a proposal to the DemocracyDAO and the members of this DAO vote on it. If it gets a majority vote, then our senators and representatives will be asked to vote yes. If it doesn\u2019t, they will be asked to vote no. They don\u2019t need to listen to us, but if they don\u2019t, we don\u2019t need to reelect them.\n\nTechnical-A DAO will be created with the Ethereum blockchain. This will be done with a one address-one vote system (more on this later). Once this DAO is created proposals are sent and voting can be done.\n\nHow do we ensure One Person-One Vote?\n\nWe can setup events and stands around America. People are asked for proof of citizenship and when they present it, their fingerprint is taken. This fingerprint is then converted into a series of numbers with a formula. The series of numbers is encrypted into md5 format and the fingerprint and it\u2019s corresponding numbers are deleted forever. The md5 hash is stored. This md5 hash is checked with the DemocracyDAO database to ensure that their are no repeats. If everything checks out, the person is allowed to create an Ethereum address and is given one DemocracyDAO token. This token can now be sent to any Ethereum address, allowing for a liquid democracy.\n\nWhat if someone wants to delete themselves from DemocracyDAO?\n\nIf someone wants to remove themselves from DemocracyDAO to change their address or for other reasons, they go to a DemocracyDAO station and get their fingerprint taken. It\u2019s converted into it\u2019s md5 hash and checked to the database. Once it finds the match, that md5 hash gets deleted. Now, the person logs onto their Ethereum wallet and sends their token to a new address.\n\nAre there security risks involved?\n\nOf course, nothing is risk free. It is possible for someone\u2019s wallet to be hacked through malware on their computer, but people will be taught steps to prevent this from happening. Also, that wallet can always be deleted and a new one setup. DemocracyDAO should also eliminate voter fraud because people cannot vote twice. And, electoral fraud will be eliminated because the code is open source and visible to everyone. Every transaction(vote) is also transparent and visible so there is no risk of undetected fraud. (Remember it is still anonymous, because even though the address is seen, no one knows who is connected to the address unless the owner allows it.)\n\nMore Questions?\n\nPlease comment below!"}
-{"text": "Google has lately been a company which is concentrating a lot on creating \"Indianised\" experiences for its \"The Next Billion\" program. One of the features announced last year at the company's \"Google for India\" event was the two-wheeler mode in Google maps.\n\nAt a recently held event on Google Maps, the search giant said that already 10 percent of the Indian users are using the functionality. It said that there has been a lot of learnings and improvements in the feature.\n\n\"India is the largest two-wheeler market in the world, and the millions of motorcycle and scooter riders have different navigation needs than drivers of automobiles. Two-wheeler mode in Maps shows trip routes that use \u201cshortcuts\u201d not accessible to cars and trucks,\" the company had written in a blog post at the launch.\n\nAndroidOS AndroidOS\n\nIn the early stages, the two-wheeler mode used to show some routes where two-wheelers were not allowed to ride. Google said that they have worked hard on making sure that Google Maps only shows the roads where two-wheelers can commute.\n\n\"Two-wheeler mode is really important for us. We have introduced it in India first, but we can take the learnings from here and apply it in the countries which are heavily reliant on two-wheelers for transport,\" Krish Vitaldevara said in a conversation with Killer Features.\n\nAdditionally, Vitaldevara noted that the company has made numerous changes in voice navigation introducing landmarks and references as riders might not be able to look at the phone the screen often during the journey.\n\nThis week Google introduced more India-specific functions to the maps service. One of them was to introduce voice navigation in six Indic languages including Bengali, Kannada, Tamil, Gujarati, Telugu and Malayalam. This will help the cause of a lot of local users a lot. Last year's joint report by Google and KPMG suggested that Indian language users are expected to account for the three-quarter of Indian Internet users by 2021.\n\nThe company also noted that to make it easier for users to navigate to addresses which are ambiguous or are not located precisely on the maps it will use 'smart address' feature and show the nearest landmark. Additionally, if a user feels that a particular address of a business or a house is missing they can add it easily. And after verification by the Google maps team, it will show up on the service and will be searchable for the others.\n\nAlso, Indian users will now be able to use universal addresses called plus codes."}
-{"text": "A group that spent nearly $7 million promoting a failed state question on school funding is now financing ads urging people to tell Oklahoma legislators \u201cto give our kids the schools they deserve.\u201d\n\nOklahoma's Children Our Future has purchased time on broadcast stations around the state for an ad reciting a litany of public school woes, including crowded classrooms, low teacher pay, four-day school weeks and funding cuts.\n\n\u201cHere in Oklahoma, our kids are getting shortchanged,\u201d the ad's narrator states.\n\nPublic files show the group's ad campaign was timed to begin with the start of the Oklahoma teacher walkout on April 2. The total spent on the ads was not available on Friday. The cost at one station, KOCO, the ABC affiliate in Oklahoma City, was about $17,000."}
-{"text": "From : Tab Atkins Jr. < : Tab Atkins Jr. < jackalmage@gmail.com\n\n\n\nMessage-ID : <AANLkTimRW+5+3HXP5M_sqsiTWV-pmK-DmG4nKufmeYOJ@mail.gmail.com>\n\nTo : www-style list < : www-style list < www-style@w3.org\n\n\n\nThis is an announcement of my planned changes to gradients in the Image Values spec (which turned out to be minor), based on my previous discussions with the group, particularly Brad and Simon. If nobody objects in a few days I'll make the edits. Simplify linear-gradient ------------------------ In retrospect, allowing you to mix together endpoints and angles was a bad idea. There's basically no use-case, so it's just unneeded complexity in the descriptions and implementations. I'll be changing the syntax so that you can provide *either* one or two endpoints *or* an angle, not both. The one-endpoint syntax and angle syntax will work identically to how they do now; the two-endpoint syntax should be obvious, and its omission was frankly just an oversight. I'll also be very slightly tweaking the treatment of an angle value. This will have no effect on the display of gradients, but will affect interpolating them (see below). Complete radial-gradient ------------------------ With the addition of the two-endpoint form of linear-gradients, you can now explicitly express any possible linear gradient. The same is not true of radial gradients, which currently rely very extensively on implicitly sizing things relative to the box's shape and size. I'll be changing the syntax so that the second argument, which currently determines the shape and size, can instead take two lengths, which determine the lengths of the ellipse axes in the x and y directions. Combined with the existing ability to specify an arbitrary center point in the first argument, this will allow you to express any possible radial gradient. (The current \"<shape> <size>\" value will still be allowed too, of course.) Fixing interpolation -------------------- Simon was concerned that there's no clear way to interpolate between two gradients that aren't specified in the same way - for example, transitioning between two linear-gradient backgrounds, one specified as \"left\" and the other with \"45deg\". With the above additions I have fixed this issue. When transitioning a gradient image, first convert the two endpoint forms into the explicit forms given above (for linear gradients, the two-point syntax; for radial gradient, the point-and-two-lengths syntax). Then, naively interpolate each component separately. This isn't perfect in some cases - for example, the midpoint between \"0deg\" and \"90deg\" for a linear-gradient background on a 100px by 200px box is *not* a \"45deg\" gradient, but rather a \"25px 150px to 75px 50px\" gradient, which is angled at about 63deg and has endpoints inside the box. I don't believe this is a problem in practice - I believe that rotating a gradient in a transition is a somewhat odd thing to do. As well, this can be addressed with additions to Transitions to allow keyframes to be used for a transition. (This has been previously discussed, and is something I'll be heavily lobbying for in Transitions 4.) Intermediate Forms during interpolation --------------------------------------- Simon was additional concerned with what value to return for the intermediate forms while a gradient was being interpolated. There are two possible approaches. The first is simply to return the explicit-form gradient that was calculated for rendering purposes, per the previous section. This has a major downside, though, that round-tripping it changes the essentially nature of the gradient. For example, if the two endpoint forms were \"radial-gradient(ellipse contain, ...)\" and \"radial-gradient(ellipse cover, ..)\", both change shape/size if the view box does, but an explicit intermediate form (something like \"radial-gradient(center center, 100px 50px, ...)\") won't. So, I will instead be pursuing a slightly abstracted approach. I'll introduce an \"interpolate()\" function which takes two images and a percentage, and represents the interpolated image between them at that percentage of interpolation. The interpolate() function can exist as a specified or computed value; it is converted into an explicit form per the previous section at used-value time. For now interpolate() will only be defined for gradient arguments, but it can potentially be used for *any* interpolable value. If this is interesting, we can lift the general definition out into Transitions, and change Image Values to just specify its effect when passed gradients. To provide a concrete example, say you are transitioning the background-image property, which is changing from \"radial-gradient(ellipse contain, white, black)\" to \"radial-gradient(ellipse cover, white, black)\". If the author queries for the animated value 20% of the way through the transition, the value returned to them is \"interpolate(radial-gradient(ellipse contain, white, black), radial-gradient(ellipse cover, white, black), 20%)\". Any objections? If not, I'll make the edits next week. ~TJ"}
-{"text": "Ever wonder why people don\u2019t recognize when \u201cnews\u201d reports are blatantly, obviously incorrect, improbable or impossible? Or wonder why anyone in his right mind would vote for Michelle Bachmann or Louis Gohmert or Ted Cruz?\n\nMy working thesis is that folks who don\u2019t know anything\u2013who are hazy about history, have no clue about how government functions and have only the most tenuous connection to the Constitution\u2013simply have no context within which to judge the reasonableness of assertions that more knowledgable people simply laugh at.\n\nRecently, Bill Maher cited a study showing that fewer than 17% of incoming college freshmen knew what the Emancipation Proclamation was (he described the incoming class as \u201cBasically, golden retrievers with smartphones\u201d). Unfortunately, we have a lot of studies that conclude we don\u2019t know anything. And the hits keep coming.\n\nAs if we needed even more evidence of Americans\u2019 abysmal lack of knowledge, here are the results of yet another survey I stumbled across:\n\n1. Only 45% of Americans were able to correctly identify what the initials in GOP stood for: Grand Old Party. Other popular guesses were Government of the People and God\u2019s Own Party. Republicans obviously scored much better than Democrats did on this answer. [source]\n\n2. 55% of Americans believe that Christianity was written into the Constitution and that the founding fathers wanted One Nation Under Jesus. This includes 75% of Republicans and Evangelicals. [source]\n\n3. Although a \u201crelatively\u201d high 40% of people were able to name all three of the United States branches of government \u2014 executive, legislative and judicial \u2014 a far lower percentage knew the length of a Senator\u2019s term. Just 25% responded that a Senator\u2019s term stretches for six years. Even fewer, 20%, knew how many Senators there were. [source]\n\n4. Americans are known to pick recent heads of state as among the best president in history, which is why Clinton and Reagan regularly rank higher than Lincoln, FDR and Washington. However, Hoover used to routinely top polls of the worst, but today, just 43% of Americans know who he was, according to statistics from the University of Pennsylvania. [source]\n\n5. When asked on what year 9/11 took place, 30% of Americans were unable to answer the question correctly, even as few as five years after the attack. This was according to a Washington Post poll conducted in 2006. . [source]\n\n6. It\u2019s not shocking that 80% of Americans believe that there is life out there somewhere, because it\u2019s hard to look at a vast universe and think we\u2019re completely alone. But 1 in 5 allege that an alien life form has abducted a friend or family member of theirs. Based on population estimates of around 300 million, that means that a terrifying number of people believe they have been probed. [source]\n\n7. When looking at a map of the world, young Americans had a difficult time correctly identifying Iraq (1 in 7) and Afghanistan (17%). This isn\u2019t that surprising, but only a slim majority (51%) knew where New York was. According to Forbes and National Geographic, an alarming 29% couldn\u2019t point to the Pacific Ocean. [source]\n\n8. 25% of Americans were unable to identify the country from which America gained its independence. Although 19% stated that they were unsure, Gallup findings indicated that others offered answers varying from France to China. Older folks scored much better than young people on this question, as a third of those 18-29 were unable to come up with the correct answer. [source]\n\n9. Despite being a constant fixture in school curricula, 30% of Americans didn\u2019t know what the Holocaust was. [source]\n\n10. Even though we are a predominantly Christian country, only half of Americans knew that Judaism came before Christianity, because the words \u201cOld Testament\u201d are apparently very confusing in that regard. [source]\n\n11. A surprisingly high percentage of Americans, 20%, believe that the Sun revolves around the Earth, instead of the opposite, aka the correct answer. This is despite the fact that centuries of science have consistently proved otherwise. [source]\n\n12. In 2011, Newsweek found that 29% of Americans were unable to correctly identify the current Vice President, Joe Biden, when asked to take a simple citizenship test. Although a relatively low 6% didn\u2019t know when Independence Day was, a much, much higher percentage (73%) had no idea why we fought the Cold War. [source]\n\n13. According to most polls, Americans didn\u2019t know that Obamacare was scheduled to go into effect. Kaiser puts the number at 64%, whereas others say as few as 1 in 8. [source]\n\n14. 2006 AP polls showed that a majority of Americans were unable to name more than one of the protections guaranteed in the first Amendment of the Constitution \u2014 which include speech, assembly, religion, press and \u201credress of grievance.\u201d Just 1 in 1000 could name all of these five freedoms. However, 22% were able to come up with the name of every member of the Simpson family. [source]\n\nAnd we wonder why we elect buffoons to high office.\n\nJust kill me now."}
-{"text": "Denver Pledges 100% Renewable Electricity By 2030\n\nJuly 18th, 2018 by Kurt Lowder\n\nDenver\u2019s Mayor, who is seeking a third term, has pledged the city will source 100% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. In doing so, Denver has become the 73rd city in the United States to commit to a 100% renewable electricity target; however, few have aimed to complete the transition so quickly. Nine other Colorado cities have made a renewable electricity 100% commitment, but of course Denver is the largest. The population of Denver is 693,060 (2016). Hopefully the entire Denver metro area with a population of 3,470,235 will follow the city\u2019s lead.\n\nIs this another political promise that cannot be met? The endorsement by Xcel energy would indicate that it is great policy based upon the economics alone. Colorado has an incredible combination of wind and solar resources. Only a handful of other states have similar resources. Split, by the continental divide, the eastern part of Colorado is a desert biome and has significant solar resources.\n\nIn the best regions near Denver, average winds at a height of 100 meters clock in above 10 meters per second.\n\nThis impressive combination of solar and wind requires significantly less energy storage than other states. Grid operators have become increasingly skilled at choreographing renewable energy sources. Colorado has 67 hydro power plants that supply 4% of energy needs. Three of the dams have pumped hydro capability totaling 508.5 MW. May\n\nMayor Michael Hancock stated, \u201c\u201cClimate change threatens our people directly, putting our health, environment, and economy \u2013 our very way of life \u2013 at risk.\u201d This 2030 target is an update to the 2015 Climate Action Plan referred to as the 80\u00d750 plan, which aims for 80% fewer emissions by 2050 based on 2005 emissions. Undoubtedly, the recent drastic declines in the price of wind power, solar power, battery storage, and energy efficiency have enabled Denver to step up its commitment to a sustainable future. Below are other crucial goals of the City\u2019s Plan.\n\nThe secret on Denver has been out for a while as people and companies continually move there. It is quickly becoming a city of the future. They even have plans for a Hyperloop which CleanTechnica\u2018s Steven Hanley covered last year. CleanTechnica has also covered the city\u2019s bike friendly efforts and a public/private partnership to create a microgird.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAppreciate CleanTechnica\u2019s originality? Consider becoming a CleanTechnica member, supporter, or ambassador \u2014 or a patron on Patreon.\n\nSign up for our free daily newsletter or weekly newsletter to never miss a story.\n\nHave a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.\n\nLatest Cleantech Talk Episode"}
-{"text": "As if he were after Alan Grayson\u2019s heart, former NBC News correspondent Luke Russert uncorked a disgusting tweet late Monday afternoon, claiming in his \"simple true analysis\" that \u201cmany people will literally die\u201d under the Republican plan to repeal and place ObamaCare.\n\nEight months to the day that he announced his departure from NBC and MSNBC for \u201cother endeavors\u201d and traveling the globe, Russert unleashed this tweet that, as of this writing, had yet to be deleted:\n\nWhat\u2019s \u201ctrue\u201d about this? Does Russert have any \u201cindisputable\u201d facts or way to predict the future? In this day and age where the media has stayed on top of the story about Trump alleging President Obama wiretapped him, it\u2019s important to show your work for lack of a better term.\n\nThe GOP health care plan faces criticism from the left and right, but it\u2019s safe to say that the Trump White House and House Republican leadership wouldn\u2019t have conceived of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) if this were the case.\n\n<<< Please support MRC's NewsBusters team with a tax-deductible contribution today. >>>\n\nJournalists have prided themselves on supposedly being objective and not seeking sides. For you, the readers of NewsBusters, it\u2019s clear as that this is far from the truth.\n\nWhether it\u2019s tweets like this, videos in Spanish supporting the Day Without Immigrants, or fawning over Obama\u2019s farewell address by comparing it to the one Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered, the political tweets since Russert left NBC have shown he\u2019s die-hard liberal that only played a journalist on television.\n\nSomewhere, not only Grayson is smiling but the slimy folks responsible for the video that depicted Paul Ryan pushing an old woman off a cliff."}
-{"text": "Mount Prospect woman gets probation for illegal gun sales\n\nA Mount Prospect woman pleaded guilty to selling guns illegally and was sentenced to probation.\n\nSimone Mousheh, 23, pleaded guilty Thursday to the illegal transfer of firearms in exchange for 12 months probation and 15 days in the Cook County sheriff's work alternative program, according to court records. S.W.A.P. allows judges to sentence nonviolent offenders to manual labor in lieu of jail time.\n\nShe was also ordered to pay $679 in fines.\n\nAccording to published reports, Mousheh purchased a .40-caliber gun legally then reported it stolen. Police recovered the gun from a Chicago juvenile.\n\nDuring a six-month period, authorities said, Mousheh purchased four weapons for $600 each and sold two to a Hoffman Estates man with Chicago gang ties."}
-{"text": "When the government launched a nationwide campaign to register cellphones, millions of Mexicans refused. And thousands of others registered with a familiar name: Felipe Calderon, the country\u2019s president.\n\nThe idea was that the registry would combat rampant telephone extortion rackets and kidnapping attempts. But even with the threat of having their lines disconnected, an estimated 26 million users (about 30% of all holders of cellphones in Mexico) hadn\u2019t submitted their names on the eve of the government-set deadline.\n\nSome said they were convinced that the government would use the information to spy on dissidents or anyone else out of favor. Others said they feared the information would end up in the wrong hands.\n\nThey were proved right last month when the confidential data of millions of Mexicans from official state registries suddenly became available for a few thousand dollars at Mexico City\u2019s wild Tepito flea market.\n\n\u201cMexicans left naked!\u201d complained one columnist.\n\nThreat to national security! opined experts.\n\nIn Mexico, unlike the United States, voter sign-up rolls and motor vehicle registrations are not a matter of public record. Mexicans, in theory at least, expect privacy. So when these databases began turning up in the chaotic Tepito market, Mexicans were not pleased.\n\nIn a country seized by the fear of kidnapping and held hostage by violent crime bosses, having this quantity of personal information on open display seemed tantamount to a death sentence, or, at the minimum, a magnet for trouble.\n\nIt confirmed the worst suspicions of many Mexicans: that any attempt to do their civic duty by registering property or signing up to vote would end up being used against them.\n\n\u201cThis was a devastating blow to any effort to create a relationship of trust between citizens and the authorities,\u201d said Gustavo Fondevila, a researcher at the Center for Investigation and Economic Studies, a Mexico City think tank. \u201cThere is complete mistrust toward everything the government decides, promises and especially when it asks for personal information. And it is completely justified.\u201d\n\nIt is that suspicion that fuels Mexico\u2019s notorious scofflaw culture.\n\nThe personal data discovered at the Tepito market, part of an investigation by El Universal newspaper, also included lists of police officers with their photographs, which could easily be cross-referenced with other databases to find out where they live. The paper said a complete package of data could be had for about $12,000.\n\nThe revelations lighted a fire under the Mexican Senate, where a privacy law had been languishing. Senators quickly passed the law unanimously late last month and congratulated themselves for being able to give reassurances to the public that their private data would not be misused.\n\nBut, as they say in Mexico: They were covering the well after the child had drowned.\n\nwilkinson@latimes.com"}
-{"text": "A picture emerged Friday of Gov. Ralph Northam\u2019s (D-VA) medical school yearbook showing two men \u2014 one in blackface and another wearing Ku Klux Klan attire \u2014 on the Virginia Democrat\u2019s designated page.\n\nThe Virginian-Pilot, the largest daily newspaper in Virginia, obtained the photo from the Eastern Virginia Medical School library, which can be found in school\u2019s 1984 yearbook \u2014 the same year Northam graduate from the school. Big League Politics first reported on the photo Friday.\n\nBREAKING: Gov. Ralph Northam yearbook page shows blackface and Klan photohttps://t.co/6A89ejp5Ho \u2014 The Virginian-Pilot (@virginianpilot) February 1, 2019\n\nThe Virginian-Pilot explains:\n\nOn the half-page set aside for Northam, there is a headshot of him in a jacket and tie, a photo of him in a cowboy hat and boots and a third of him sitting casually on the ground, leaning against a convertible. The fourth photo on the half-page has two people, one wearing white Ku Klux Klan robes and a hood, the other with his face painted black. The person with the black face is also wearing a white hat, black jacket, white shirt with a bow tie and plaid pants. Both are holding canned drinks. A photo from Gov. Ralph Northam\u2019s medical school yearbook shows two men, one in blackface and one in a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood, on the same page as the governor.\n\nThe two individuals pictured have not been identified.\n\nNortham and his staff have not yet issued a statement regarding the photo.\n\nIn a statement to the Washington Post, Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) defended Northam. \u201cHis whole life has been about exactly the opposite and that\u2019s what you need to examine, not something that occurred 30 years ago,\u201d he said. \u201cWhile it\u2019s in very poor taste, I would think there is problem [sic] no one in the General Assembly who would like their college conduct examined. I would hate to have to go back and examine my two years in the Army. trust me. I was 18 years old and I was a handful, OK? His life since then has been anything but. It\u2019s been a life of helping people, and many times for free.\u201d\n\nThe photo resurfaced as Virginia Democrats push to loosen restrictions on late-term abortions, which has erupted into a fierce clash due to a viral video in which a lawmaker acknowledges her legislation would allow abortions up until moments before birth. In the video recorded by the Republican Standard, Republican Del. Todd Gilbert asks Tran whether her legislation would let a pregnant woman who is dilating request an abortion if a doctor certified that the woman\u2019s mental health was impaired.\n\n\u201cMy bill would allow that, yes,\u201d Tran replied.\n\n\u201cWhat my Democratic colleagues are most concerned about is what this moment actually revealed. It was a moment of unbridled honesty about their agenda,\u201d said Gilbert, referring to a video exchange between him and Tran.\n\nNortham added fuel to the fire Wednesday by describing a hypothetical situation in a radio interview where an infant who is severely deformed or unable to survive could be left to die.\n\nIn a Thursday press conference, Northam affirmed, \u201cI don\u2019t have any regrets,\u201d when asked if he agreed with critics who argued his remarks hurt the legislation. \u201cI\u2019m a physician, I\u2019m also the governor. But when I\u2019m asked questions, a lot of times it is put in the context of being a physician, again, realizing how we approach, how we manage patients, how we offer advice and counseling,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cSo, no, I don\u2019t have any regrets, but I do find how my comments \u2013 I did answer that question. I regret that those comments have been mischaracterized. The personal insults toward me I really find disgusting. So, again as I said in my comments just earlier, we can agree to disagree\u2026 but let\u2019s be civil about it.\u201d\n\nThe Associated Press contributed to this report."}
-{"text": "UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Israel has accused Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of using commercial airline flights to ship weapons to the Lebanese Shi\u2019ite Muslim group Hezbollah.\n\nIn a letter to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon accused Iran of using airlines such as Mahan Air. The United States has sanctioned the Iranian carrier for providing services to the Quds Force, a special forces unit of the IRGC, as well as Hezbollah.\n\nIran\u2019s mission to the United Nations and Mahar Air were not immediately available to comment on the accusations.\n\nDanon wrote that Quds Force officers pack arms and materiel into suitcases that are transferred to Hezbollah either by commercial flights to Beirut or commercial flights to Damascus in Syria, and then transferred by land to Lebanon.\n\n\u201cIt is clear that Iran is still the primary supplier of arms and related materiel to Hezbollah, in blatant violation of numerous Security Council resolutions,\u201d Danon wrote. \u201cThe Security Council must condemn Iran and Hezbollah for the violation of its resolutions.\u201d\n\nDanon\u2019s letter to the 15-member Security Council, seen by Reuters, did not offer any evidence to support his accusations.\n\nThe charge may add fuel to the debate about the agreement among Iran, the United States and five other nations to remove some of the economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange for restraints on the country\u2019s alleged nuclear weapons program.\n\nU.N. Security Council missile restrictions and an arms embargo on Iran are not technically part of the nuclear agreement.\n\nU.S. President-elect Donald Trump and several of his national security appointees have criticized the nuclear deal and charged that it does not do enough to halt the Islamic Republic\u2019s support for terrorism.\u201dStop all engines on this nuclear deal. Take a step back. Really take a deep-dive look at everything going on in the Middle East,\u201d former Defense Intelligence Agency head Michael Flynn, Trump\u2019s choice for national security adviser, said in a Fox News interview in March."}
-{"text": "\n\nThe four best credit card debt relief programs for 2020 are about to get revealed. Included are the pros and cons of each debt relief program. Credit cards can be settled for less, consolidated into one lower payment, and in some cases may not have to get paid. To find out if you\u2019re eligible for a credit card relief program speak to one of our IAPDA trained counselors at (866) 376-9846. Here at Golden Financial Services, you have the power to choose from the best national debt relief programs that are currently available.\n\nWithout further ado, let\u2019s dive in!\n\nTABLE OF CONTENTS\n\nCompare Credit Card Debt Relief Programs (INFOGRAPHIC)\n\nIf you have a question or want to enroll in a debt relief program only:\n\nYou can also try this free calculator tool to get a quick quote on each credit relief program (compare your potential savings, side by side).\n\nWhat is credit card debt relief?\n\nBy definition, credit card debt relief refers to credit card debt cancelation, that offers partial or total forgiveness of high credit card balances and interest rates, or the slowing or stopping of credit card debt growth.\n\nDebt assistance programs can offer credit card relief in three ways, including:\n\n1. Settling credit card accounts for less than the full balance owed, resulting in credit forgiveness.\n\nthan the full balance owed, resulting in credit forgiveness. 2. Disputing a debt , resulting in it becoming \u201clegally uncollectible\u201d. A legally uncollectible debt does not have to get paid and can\u2019t legally remain on a person\u2019s credit report.\n\n, resulting in it becoming \u201clegally uncollectible\u201d. A legally uncollectible debt does not have to get paid and can\u2019t legally remain on a person\u2019s credit report. 3. Consolidating credit card bills into one lower interest rate, resulting in reduced payments and a faster repayment period\n\nHow to Apply for Debt Assistance and Credit Card Relief Programs\n\nUnfortunately, there are no government debt relief programs for credit cards, but you can use Golden Financial Services (GFS). Start with a free consultation by calling (866) 376-9846. Speak to an IAPDA certified counselor for free and, if eligible, choose from multiple programs. GFS is an A+BBB rated organization and has been helping America with financial solutions since 2004.\n\n\n\nNot all states qualify for consumer debt relief programs through GFS, including Connecticut and Rhode Island. In these states, we recommend you contact a non-profit consumer credit counseling company. Also, each state has different options to offer. For example, Illinois credit card reduction programs are not identical to the options available in Missouri, New York, and Alaska.\n\nTo find out what options are available in your state, click on the menu on the upper left side of this page and select \u201cdebt help near me.\u201d\n\nExample: if you have $10,000 in credit card debt\n\nA credit card settlement plan can help a person resolve $10,000 in credit card debt for $7,000, including all interest and fees. What happened to the other $3,000 and all of the interest? The remaining balance would get canceled or forgiven.\n\nHave no income? Debt relief can also offer a consumer with no income, the ability to dispute or challenge a debt and possibly not have to pay it.\n\nAre there negative consequences that come with debt relief programs?\n\nDon\u2019t take a chance getting signed up for the wrong program if you\u2019re considering debt relief. Review the following guide, and you\u2019ll know exactly what program (if any) is your best route to get out of debt because some pros and cons come with each plan.\n\nHow do credit card relief programs work?\n\nThese programs work by combining multiple credit cards into one smaller monthly payment that gets a person out of debt in a shorter timeframe.\n\nDebt relief programs give you the power to:\n\nStop paying excessive interest rates.\n\nChoose an affordable payment.\n\nDecide how fast you want to clear your card card balances\n\nTake control of your debt.\n\nHowever, there are different types of credit card relief programs. Depending on your current financial situation and goals, determines what program is right for you.\n\nAbout 20% of consumers who contact Golden Financial Services only need a reduction in their interest rates so they can get out of debt faster.\n\nThe other 85% of consumers cannot even afford to pay minimum payments and need a reduction in their high balances.\n\nCan you afford to pay more than minimum monthly payments?\n\nWhat is your goal?\n\nThink about these questions before you read on.\n\nDo credit card relief programs work?\n\nDebt relief programs are proven to work, but they only work if you enroll in the right plan.\n\nDepending on;\n\nwhat type of debt and creditors you have\n\nif you have a financial hardship (i.e., divorce, medical, reduction in income, job loss)\n\nwhat you can afford\n\nyour short-term and long-term goals\n\nthe status of your payment (i.e., if you are current or behind on credit card payments )\n\n) where you live\n\nThese are the factors that will determine what program is right for your situation.\n\nHere\u2019s how simple getting out of debt can be when using Golden Financial Services:\n\nGet your free credit report and analysis. Learn your debt relief options (you will have multiple options to pick from) Get a professional debt relief recommendation. You then get to choose a comfortable monthly payment. Financial freedom begins!\n\nStart with a free consultation from one of our IAPDA certified counselors. You will learn the simplest way to become debt-free during your consultation. There is no pressure or obligation involved.\n\nHow does a debt relief program affect your credit?\n\nDebt relief programs can positively and negatively affect a person\u2019s credit score, depending on each person\u2019s circumstances.\n\nI Can\u2019t Pay My Credit Cards.\n\nDebt can be stressful, so if you could legally stop paying credit card payments and escape your debt for less than the full balance, why not do it right?\n\nOne reason why you would not want to stop paying your credit cards is that your credit score will take a serious hit.\n\nAnother reason why you would not want just to stop paying on your cards is that creditors can take legal action against you. This is rare, but it could happen! You don\u2019t want to find yourself having to go to court over credit card debt.\n\nWe\u2019re about to go over the options that are ideal for consumers who can\u2019t afford to pay their credit card payments.\n\nI can\u2019t pay my credit cards, what can I do?\n\nFirst, it\u2019s essential to understand the process that banks go through to collect on delinquent credit card debt.\n\nIf you permanently stop paying on your credit cards, eventually the bank will end up getting paid back double what you owed. That\u2019s right, double! And in some cases even more. Some critics feel that a bank is even more profitable when borrowers default on payments, compared to when they pay their bills on time every month.\n\nOnce you stop paying on your credit card payments, within six months, most creditors will end up \u201cwriting-off the debt.\u201d By writing off the debt, a bank can show a loss and get a tax credit through the IRS.\n\nOK, so now the bank has been reimbursed 100% of what you owed, is it over now, and that\u2019s the end of it? Clean slate? No, not even close to over! The bank will make sure to destroy your credit and continue to profit off your financial hardship.\n\nNext, the credit card company sells your account to a third-party debt collection agency. Harassment starts and will continue for many years ahead.\n\nAnd that\u2019s not it. Banks have insurance. Just like how you have car insurance and when an accident occurs, you only pay the deductible while insurance covers the rest. If you had a $100,000 credit card debt that you were forced to stop paying on, the credit card company will file a claim with their banking insurance for that amount and get reimbursed.\n\nOK, enough about how the banks\u2019 profit. Let\u2019s talk about how you can win!\n\nOnce your credit card account lands in the hands of the collection agency, now you have an entirely new set of debt relief options.\n\nyou can settle the debt for less than the full balance owed, where a portion of the balance can be forgiven you can also use debt validation to dispute its validity and possibly not have to pay the debt\n\nHow does debt settlement affect your credit score?\n\nIf you\u2019re behind on your credit card monthly payments, your credit score has already been negatively affected.\n\nAs your debts are settled and paid off one by one on a debt settlement program, you may start to see an improvement in your credit score.\n\nTalk to an IAPDA Certified Counselor to see if debt settlement is right for you!\n\nHow debt validation affects your credit score\n\nDebts are not disputed on a debt validation program until they\u2019re sold to a third-party debt collection company. Like with any debt relief program, if your creditors are not getting paid every month, your credit score will go down.\n\nOnce a debt is proven to be \u201clegally uncollectible,\u201d the creditors can no longer report the debt to the credit reporting agencies (legally anyway). When a third-party debt collection account gets removed from a person\u2019s credit report, this action can have a positive effect on credit scores.\n\nHere is an example of how debt validation can get a debt off your credit report entirely and invalidated so that you don\u2019t have to pay it.\n\nDebt validation can be the least expensive way of dealing with a debt collection account. With validation services, you may not have to pay a debt and could get it removed from your credit report.\n\nIf the debt collection company can prove the debt is valid, you could settle the debt for less than the full amount owed. Debt settlement would be the next alternative to turn to.\n\nBefore using debt settlement, first, use debt validation to confirm the debt is legitimate and has not been involved in any fraudulent activity.\n\nDebt consolidation can improve your credit score.\n\nSince debt consolidation loans are used to pay off other existing debts \u2013 debt consolidation can improve your credit score.\n\nInitially, you could take a small negative hit on your credit score with debt consolidation due to;\n\nA credit inquiry appearing on your credit report after applying for the loan.\n\nA \u201cnew debt\u201d showing up on your credit after getting approved for the loan.\n\nHowever, within a few months, your credit will illustrate an improvement in credit scores due to the \u201cpast debts\u201d getting \u201cpaid in full.\u201d Debt consolidation is only beneficial if you can get approved for a low-interest loan. To get approved for a low-interest loan, you\u2019ll need a high credit score of 710 or higher. If you have bad credit, you can use a financial hardship plan that can reduce your balances. Just give us a call, and we will find the right plan for you!\n\nHow consumer credit counseling affects your credit score\n\nA credit counselor at a consumer credit counseling company may tell you that consumer credit counseling does not affect your credit score. However, that\u2019s not the truth.\n\nThe truth is, your credit report will get a third-party notation on it after joining a consumer credit counseling program. Some lenders look down upon this third notation because it appears to them that you can\u2019t manage your credit card payments without assistance.\n\nConsumer credit counseling programs require a person to close-out all of their credit cards to include them in the plan. Closing a credit card is the action that lowers your credit score the most when it comes to consumer credit counseling.\n\nDebt Negotiation\n\nDebt negotiation (also known as the debt reset program) is where your balances can get reduced to a fraction of the total owed. Debt negotiators work with each creditor to lower the balance so that it\u2019s affordable to pay off. You\u2019re probably thinking; What\u2019s the catch? Sound too good to be true? There are downsides. You have to fall behind on payments in order to qualify for a settlement. Debt negotiators only begin negotiating with your creditors after each account is charged off and sold to third-party collection agencies. Consequently, credit scores go down, creditors can potentially sue, balances rise before getting resolved, and settlements can result in potential tax consequences. The good news is that you can avoid bankruptcy or having to use an expensive loan, and pay off your accounts at an affordable rate.\n\nTo be eligible for debt negotiation, you must:\n\nowe above $7,500 in total unsecured debt be experiencing a financial hardship where you can no longer afford to make the minimum monthly payments have high-interest rates where your debt may never get paid off by making only minimum payments\n\n\n\nLet the professionals at Golden Financial Services negotiate your debt for you.\n\nWe can set you up on a debt negotiation plan where professional debt negotiators;\n\nreduce your balances by around 25%-35%, including fees\n\nyou only make one small monthly payment for all of your debt\n\nyou get out of debt within 24-42 months\n\nHow to Negotiate With Credit Card Companies?\n\nHow can I settle my credit card debt?\n\nIf you are a brave soul and looking to negotiate with your creditors, strap on your bulletproof vest, and get ready for combat. These bloodsuckers are relentless and trained to collect on debt. They go for the kill and use your emotions to get the best of you.\n\nDon\u2019t let them see that you are scared or frustrated in any way whatsoever.\n\nGo into negotiations with a stern face, and don\u2019t be emotional. Pretend you are negotiating to settle someone else\u2019s credit card debt. Have a budget and detailed notes nearby. Click here to use this free budget tool to create your budget analysis. Only speak with a supervisor who has the authorization to lower your payment. Explain your financial hardship and go over your income and expenses If you are trying to settle a debt for a one-time payoff, offer them about 20% as a starting point. Let the creditor know that if they don\u2019t accept your offer, you will be using the funds to pay off another debt. If the credit card company accepts your offer, get everything in writing before moving forward. Do not agree to settle a credit card debt unless the creditor is willing to remove it from your credit report at the time it is resolved. If unsuccessful, hang up the phone and call back a few months later. Debt settlement is like fine wine, the longer a debt sits untouched, the better it gets. Debt gets cheaper as it ages. Eventually, a debt will pass the statute of limitations and expire, where the debt collection company can\u2019t come after you, and the debt comes off your credit entirely.\n\nBefore attempting to settle a credit card debt, give us a call. At the very least, you will learn all of your debt relief options.\n\nDebt validation can offer you a less expensive resolution than debt settlement and get the debt off your credit report.\n\nConsumer Credit Counseling\n\nConsumer credit counseling programs are used to reduce the interest rates on credit card debt, making it easier to pay your credit cards off.\n\nA person is then responsible for making one monthly payment to the credit counseling company, and the company deals with paying their client\u2019s creditors.\n\nThe time it takes a person to become debt-free can be shortened with a consumer credit counseling program, and payments may get lowered.\n\nAlso, if a person recently fell behind on their credit card payments, their accounts can be re-aged to show they are current.\n\nHow to Legally Stop Paying a Debt\n\nDon\u2019t just stop paying your credit card bills. You could get served a credit card lawsuit, and your credit will be ruined.\n\nOn the other hand, if you have a legitimate financial hardship and can\u2019t afford your credit card payments, you may have no other option but to stop paying on your accounts.\n\nSo what are your options, file for bankruptcy? Not a good idea.\n\nComparing physical health to financial health, bankruptcy puts you in a wheelchair for the next seven years. With bankruptcy on your credit, you cannot buy or rent a home or even a car. Bankruptcy could get you denied for a job and also the most basic necessity that requires a credit check.\n\nConsumer credit counseling? This type of program will only reduce your interest rates and not the monthly payment. Your payment stays around the same as what it would be when paying only minimum payments.\n\nWhat about joining a debt settlement program?\n\nThis could be a viable option, but before you settle a debt and are left with scars on your credit report from late and collection marks, make sure the debt is legitimate and has not been part of any type of fraud over the years.\n\nIt\u2019s shocking, but the truth is, about 90% of debt collection accounts are either missing legally required documentation or are flawed with inaccurate details.\n\nDebt validation exposes this fact. Debt validation forces your creditors to prove they have accurate and complete records. Often, they can\u2019t prove it, and the debt is invalidated.\n\nAfter a debt is invalidated, you don\u2019t have to pay it.\n\nThe debt becomes legally uncollectible. It can no longer legally be reported on your credit report.\n\nDebt validation could allow you to legally stop paying a debt and get the negative marks removed from your credit report entirely.\n\nThis is a lifesaving program that has improved the lives of millions\u2019 of Americans.\n\nHow do you get credit card debt forgiven?\n\nA debt settlement program leads to a portion of your debt getting forgiven. This type of plan is a hardship debt management program and should only be considered as a last resort.\n\nWhen settling a debt for less than the full balance owed, the portion of your debt that gets reduced \u2013 ends up getting forgiven.\n\nThere is a downside to getting your credit card debt forgiven. Potentially, you could owe taxes on the amount saved. Your credit score will go down. Harassment and potential credit card lawsuits can occur. And not every creditor will agree to reduce your balance.\n\nBankruptcy for Credit Cards\n\nChapter 7 bankruptcy could wipe away all of your credit card balances, in exchange for your assets getting sold. You will have to give up any of your most precious assets, like that new car you just bought. Worse than that, you filing for bankruptcy is not a private matter. Future employers and even a landlord would be able to see that you filed for bankruptcy, and your credit score will take a severe fall. Bankruptcy stays on your credit report for up to 10-years, longer than almost any other type of derogatory mark.\n\nChapter 13, bankruptcy, is another story. You can use Chapter 13 bankruptcy to save your property and stay in your home. The downside is that you must pay back at least half of what you owe and your credit will take just as big a hit as when filing Chapter 7.\n\nMost consumers will apply for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, but due to their income being too high, they get pushed into Chapter 13.\n\nBalance Transfer Cards to Pay Off High-Interest Credit Card Balances\n\nBalance transfer cards carry up-front fees that range from 3%-5% of the total debt getting transferred onto the card. If you transfer $50,000 in credit card debt, that equates to around $2,500 in up-front fees. Depending on who the credit card issuer is, and your credit score will ultimately determine the total cost that you must pay when obtaining a balance transfer card.\n\nA balance transfer card can save you money. If you can eliminate $20,000 worth of interest, it\u2019s worth the $2,500 in up-front fees.\n\nThe key is the make sure that you get a balance transfer card that offers you enough time to pay off the balance while the interest rate is at 0%.\n\nMost balance transfer cards give you between 6-18 months, but the longer they provide you, the higher the interest rate usually is after that intro period ends. Also, only get a balance transfer card that pays you a generous amount in cashback and reward points.\n\nAt Golden Financial Services, we can set you up on a settlement program where more than 25% of your credit card balance is completely forgiven and wiped away clean.\n\nA few states just came out with an improved version of their credit card relief program. New York, Florida, Virginia, and Pennsylvania all offer credit card relief with credit repair now! For your state\u2019s debt relief programs \u2013 simply click here and select your state.\n\nAll of the best debt relief programs are available through Golden Financial Services. We work with the top-rated debt relief companies across the nation. Our state of the art technology makes it easy to get a quote and enroll in the repayment plan of your choice.\n\nAre You Eligible for Credit Card Debt Relief?"}
-{"text": "Otherworldly Patron: Krampus\n\nKrampus, the Christmas Demon is a specific patron. Punisher of naughty children, he sends his servants to stalk the night-darkened streets, punishing the wicked as St. Nicholas rewards the good.\n\nThis homebrew was designed for a Christmas themed one-shot. Some elements of the Fey Patron have been retained. Krampus is considered Fey.\n\nExpanded Spell List\n\nKrampus lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.\n\nKrampus Expanded Spells\n\nSpell Level Spells 1st Bane, Detect Good and Evil 2nd Aganazzar's Scorcher, Mind Spike 3rd Bestow Curse, Fireball 4th Locate Creature, Phantasmal Killer\n\nFey Presence\n\nStarting at 1st level, your patron bestows upon you the ability to project the beguiling and fearsome presence of the fey. As an action, you can cause each creature in a 10-foot cube originating from you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. The creatures that fail their saving throws are all charmed or frightened by you (your choice) until the end of your next turn.\n\nOnce you use this feature, you can\u2019t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.\n\nTorment the Wicked\n\nStarting at 6th level, you can draw energy from the suffering of the wicked. As a bonus action you may mark a creature as naughty for one minute. When you strike a naughty creature, you gain one point of torment. You may gain Torment up to one per attack or spell. If a spell has multiple missiles, you only gain torment for the first missile that successfully hits. Torment may be expended create an effect from the Torment Ability List. Spending torment on your turn is a bonus action unless otherwise specified. You may only spend torment as a reaction where specified.\n\nYou may move the mark as a bonus action or as a reaction when the target dies. When the ability ends, gain health equal to your remaining torment. If you would be incapacitated while using this ability, you instead heal a number of health equal to your torment and the ability ends.\n\nOnce you use this feature, you can\u2019t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTorment Ability List\n\nTorment Cost Ability 1 You may spend one torment to add or subtract 1d4 from the result of an attack roll you or the marked creature makes. You may use this ability as a reaction. 2 You gain advantage on all attack rolls against the marked creature or the marked creature. OR You gain an extra attack if you used the attack action this turn. 3 You may give the marked creature disadvantage on all rolls it makes until your next turn begins. 5 You may cast Eldritch Blast as a bonus action. 10 As a bonus action you may activate an action surge which functions as per the fighter class ability. The ability ends. X You may use any number of points to heal yourself an equal amount.\n\nFrightening Defences\n\nBeginning at 10th level, your patron teaches you how to turn the mind-affecting magic of your enemies against them. You are immune to being feared, and when another creature attempts to frighten you, you can use your reaction to attempt to turn the fear back on that creature. The creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC or be frightened by you for 1 minute.\n\nNight of Krampus\n\nStarting at 14th level, you can call upon the terrible realm of Krampus to surround you. Centred on you, the area in a 200 ft radius becomes difficult terrain as Fey energy transforms it into a grotesque imitation of what it once was. The air grows cold and the wails and screams of children being punished by Krampus fill the air. Creatures of your choosing that start their turn or enter the area must make a Wisdom save against your Warlock spell save DC. On a failed save they take 4d6 psychic damage and are frightened of you. On a successful save they take half damage and are not frightened. This effect lasts for 1 minute or until your concentration is broken (as if you were concentrating on a spell). Until this effect ends, you benefit as if under the effect of the Haste spell. When the effect ends, you are exhausted for one round.\n\nOnce you use this feature, you must finish a long or short rest before you can use it again.\n\nDevelopment Note: I make no promises that this is balanced. It has not been playtested. Feedback is welcome, use at your own risk."}
-{"text": "Elbiler er klimal\u00f8sningen for vores personbiler, men al ny teknologi kr\u00e6ver tilv\u00e6nning. S\u00e5dan var det, da vi gik fra hestevognen til automobilen. Fra skrivemaskinen til computeren. Eller fra den station\u00e6re telefon til iPhonen.\n\nTilsyneladende er omstillingen ogs\u00e5 sv\u00e6r for Jan Gintberg, der her i Politiken 25.1. udpensler sin lidelseshistorie om sin elbil. Tak for den. Det har sat gang i en stor debat, som er tiltr\u00e6ngt. Is\u00e6r om ladeinfrastruktur, som er en vigtig del af den gr\u00f8nne omstilling af transporten.\n\nLad os begynde, hvor vi er enige: Der skal flere ladestandere ved motorvejene, indk\u00f8bscentrene, museerne, etageejendommene, arbejdspladser og parcelhusene. Det kr\u00e6ver, at vi politikere skaber de rette rammer for, at der hurtigt kan udrulles ladestandere over hele landet. Ogs\u00e5 de steder, hvor der ikke n\u00f8dvendigvis er forretning i det. Det kunne v\u00e6re i de omr\u00e5der, hvor Gintberg k\u00f8rer lidende rundt."}
-{"text": "Good help is hard to find\u2014especially when employers are creating job descriptions based on Downton Abbey and expecting a level of service associated with five-star resorts or Buckingham Palace.\n\nDemand for the well-staffed home is on the rise, according to agencies and house managers alike. Clients are calling for live-in couples, live-out housekeepers, flight attendants for private jets, stewards for the yachts and chefs for the summer house. In San Francisco, Town and Country Resources, a staffing agency for domestic help,..."}
-{"text": "Senator Grace Poe took the top spot from Vice President Jejomar Binay in the latest presidential survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) done in early March.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nPoe and former-Interior Secretary Mar Roxas gained in the latest polling commissioned by BusinessWorld, while Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Binay lost points, with the Vice President losing the most.\n\nREAD: Poe leads, Marcos rises in People Power week poll | Palace on Roxas\u2019 poll showing: \u2018Slow but sure\u2019\n\nGaining three points from the last BusinessWorld-SWS poll in February, Poe got 27 percentage points in the March 4 to 7 survey, which was done before the March 8 ruling of the Supreme Court which cleared her to run for the May election.\n\nPoe overtook Binay for the top spot after the Vice President lost five points and went down to 24 percent, landing him in second place.\n\nRoxas got the biggest boost gaining four points, rising to 22 percent and the third place.\n\nMeanwhile, Duterte slumped three points down to 21 percent and sliding to fourth place. Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago again got four points and still ranked fifth.\n\nThe SWS pre-election survey was done after the first presidential debate in Cagayan de Oro on Feb. 21. The poll was done using face-to-face interviews with 1,800 validated voters. It had a margin of error of + or \u2013 2 percentage points.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nRead Next\n\nEDITORS' PICK\n\nMOST READ"}
-{"text": "\n\nPhoto credit\n\nDon't you believe this statement? Well, Bitnation has an already working model in the form of DBVNs: Decentralized Borderless Voluntary Nations represent an innovative governance system, stored entirely on a decentralised system that can serve its citizens with traditional services but not be restricted by a geographical concept of a nation.\n\nWhile the traditional jurisdiction is not necessarily wrong at its core, it is indeed due for an upgrade. People should be able to elect the nation of their choosing based on aspirations and not on the default the fact that you were just born in one. The current centralised systems pose many obstacles in the process of changing one\u2019s nation, but with the Bitnation system, adhering to a completely legal nation is just a few clicks or taps away!\n\nThe PAT (Pangea Arbitration Token): fuel for the new democracy!\n\nWith the help of the Pangea Arbitration Token, Bitnation citizens can earn their keep in the system by creating and solving contracts on the platform. Needless to say that this is a tremendous opportunity for professionals around the world who want to upgrade in this brave new digital world.\n\nThe ecosystem is also gamification-proof, as the PATs are gained through an underlying reputation token issued by an advanced AI system called Lucy. Users can trust the fact that the best citizens who ultimately help the platform grow, will eventually get rewarded with tokens.\n\nA locked and loaded decentralised system that solves real issues.\n\nAt a global scale, over 200 DBVNs have been created with more than 100 Consulates and Embassies that successfully serve over 10000 Citizens. With the help of the blockchain Public Notary, Bitnation can issue a wide array of jurisdictional documents like:\n\nMarriage\n\nBirth certificates\n\nOrganization registry\n\nLand Titles\n\nWills and certified testaments\n\nBitnation has a refugee emergency system that can provide a provisory blockchain ID for stateless or fleeing people. This is system has been awarded the Grand Prix at the 2017 UNESCO NETEXPLO competition. Ultimately, the core function of any nation is to foster a safe environment for their citizens and their belongings with the help of a high-performance jurisdiction system. As more of our assets become digital, it\u2019s only natural that we see a transition of the governance systems to the places they are needed the most.\n\nJaaS (Jurisdiction as a Service) is here to stay!\n\nWith the emergence of free-market arbitration, people can reclaim their sovereignty with the help of jurisdiction systems like Bitnation. The increase of individual autonomy and collective governance systems will be enabled by the blockchain system.\n\nOn the Bitnation ecosystem, users can create smart contracts based on any existing law system and upload it on the distributed ledger where people have the opportunity to adhere and participate in the makings of these newly created nations. With a healthy token-driven economy the system will also provide the safety and scalability of any contract created without the traditional coercion techniques.\n\nWebsite Telegram BOUNTY Thread ANN Thread"}
-{"text": "You might have thought that Australia's \"debate\" over online copyright infringement couldn't get any sillier. But this week the journalists' union came out as a fan of internet censorship, only to withdraw when they realised what they'd done. And Village Roadshow equated copyright infringement with terrorism and pedophilia, and came out in support of, oh, moonbats or something. Hard to say.\n\nCopyright infringement crackdown Piracy discussion paper focuses on copyright stick not content carrot Why would content owners want to make their products more easily available when the Australian government appears to be focusing entirely on deterring and punishing users for copyright infringement? Read More\n\nVillage Roadshow's submission (PDF) to the government's copyright infringement discussion paper is the loopiest, with so much shouting and whining that it's hard to take their hyperbole seriously.\n\n\"The dangers posed by piracy are so great, the goal should be total eradication or zero tolerance. Just as there is no place on the internet for terrorism or paedophilia, there should be no place for theft that will impact the livelihoods of the 900,000 people whose security is protected by legitimate copyright,\" the submission says.\n\nOh get a grip.\n\nThe tone is clearly that of Village Roadshow's co-CEO Graham Burke, whose manner at the best of times can most generously be described as eccentric. But to equate the abstract problem of a reduction in your profit margin with the damage done to the victims of child sexual abuse and the slaughter of innocents? That takes some chutzpah.\n\nThere's an entire section complaining about arch-enemy iiNet, as if that one company personifies the entire internet and its users.\n\n\"The principal opposition to a rational approach dealing with theft comes from the propaganda machine of iiNet under the heading of 'Fighting For Our Customers'. Their propaganda defines disingenuous and should be headed 'Misleading Our Customers'.\"\n\nThe \"900,000 Australians that stand to lose their jobs\" rhetoric gets a good run, and the rest of the framing is much the same as the government's discussion paper \u2014 surely a coincidence. I've dealt with that spin previously.\n\nVillage Roadshow actually makes some balanced points. The costs of implementing a so-called graduated response scheme, where action against alleged copyright infringers starts with educational notices and eventually escalates to the \"shaping\" or slowing down of their internet service, should be shared between ISPs and the copyright industry, for example. Costs should not be passed on to end users.\n\nBut that clarity will end up being lost in the headline-grabbing loopiness and the endless sore-loser whinging about iiNet's profits. Perhaps the copyright industry, and Village Roadshow in particular, should consider whether it's the wisest strategy to continue with a buffoon as their front man.\n\nAs for the Media, Entertainment, and Arts Alliance, as ZDNet reported, its submission supported the blocking of websites accused of copyright infringement with disturbing enthusiasm.\n\n\"We are concerned that the proposal for injunctions to only be available [sic] against sites that have the 'dominant purpose' of infringing copyright could create a loophole. Pirate sites can have other purposes. It would be simpler for injunctive relief to be available in relation to any infringing online services,\" it said.\n\nSimpler, perhaps, but not just. Pirate sites \u2014 a term as blunt and prejudiced as \"crack house\" \u2014 can have other purposes. Nevertheless, the MEAA seemed happy to punish legitimate users going about their legitimate business. Whatever. Block 'em, and collateral damage be damned.\n\n\"No other industry is subject to a campaign suggesting that consumers should help themselves to goods and services without paying because it is more convenient,\" they wrote.\n\nA common statement about a potential cause of copyright infringement, was utterly misrepresented as the promotion of illegal activity \u2014 a slur at best incompetent, if not unethical and defamatory.\n\nBut the MEAA's entire hardline submission was withdrawn within hours on Thursday following an online backlash.\n\nApart from a brief press release, the MEAA has refused to comment on this sudden turnaround. But according to Myriam Robin in Crikey today, \"MEAA insiders were this morning describing the whole kerfuffle as a 'f***-up', with its genesis likely in the ongoing division of different sections of the union.\"\n\nIt wasn't the MEAA's representation of journalists at play here, dedicated as such people usually are to free and open communication. The MEAA also represents actors, dancers, sportspeople, orchestral and opera performers, people working in entertainment venues and at recreation grounds \u2014 a veritable menagerie of B-Ark passengers.\n\nWithin that part of the MEAA, \"there is a concerted attempt to keep the big movie producers onside, as this can help in pay negotiations and the like,\" Robin writes. \"Yesterday's spurned submission, which read like it could have been written by the film industry lobby, ultimately went too far.\"\n\nNow, I can understand the emotions behind these two scattergun submissions, and why in the MEAA's case, one section of the organisation went so far as to forget their previously-stated policies. In the global digital revolution that's changing everything, these industrial-age entertainment-industry types look like they're on the losing side.\n\nFor actors, musicians, and all the rest, industry restructuring means that even if they're still needed in the same numbers \u2014 which I doubt \u2014 they won't necessarily be working in the same ways for the same kinds of organisations. For many of them, their jobs are doomed, and the world needs only so many baristas.\n\nFor regional middle-men in the entertainment distribution industry, well, the whole point of the internet is to connect people globally without middle-men. Who needs 'em? They're definitely doomed.\n\nThings are indeed getting desperate. This is why they promote ideas like graduated response, even though, as Rebecca Giblin of the Monash University faculty of law said in a paper on the issue: \"There is little to no evidence that that graduated responses are either 'successful' or 'effective'\".\n\nIndeed, there's a telling comment in the dumped MEAA submission: \"Clearly anything that makes piracy more complicated and time consuming will reduce its incidence.\" But this hand-waving doesn't consider whether the cost of doing this \"anything\" might outweigh the benefits. It's a logical fallacy. We must do something. This is something. Therefore we must do it.\n\nWe're watching the death throes of an industry, ladies and gentlemen. Listen to their whining. Watch them thrash about. But only for the entertainment value, not as the basis for government policy."}
-{"text": "WATCH: Dana White on why he indulges Conor McGregor\n\nConor McGregor has got his way, and not for the first time.\n\nLate last night, the UFC confirmed Conor McGregor will get a shot at history. The Notorious will challenge lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez for his belt at UFC 205 in New York's Madison Square Garden.\n\nWhile many in the fight game believe McGregor-Alvarez has been set up for purely financial reasons - the Dubliner is the promotion's biggest pay-per-view star of the last two years - UFC president Dana White insists there is a bigger reason.\n\nJust for the record @Ealvarezfight and @TheNotoriousMMA fear me I'm just a man. Your time will come to get my hands on you \u2014 khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) September 27, 2016\n\nDuring a radio interview with New York's Hot 97, White was fulsome in his praise about all that McGregor gives to the company. He remarked about him stepping up to take fights on four days' and facing a 190 lbs Nate Diaz, and winning, at UFC 202. White commented:\n\n\"Conor McGregor is a guy where, if a fight falls out, this guy will step up. He doesn't give a shit man. He's legitimately that guy. \"I've been on the phone and I've stood there in the living room many times and I've looked at guys in the face when their opponent pulls out. Nobody faces that adversity the way that Conor McGregor does. It's awesome and it makes him respect him very much. \"And that's why I give this guy way more rope than I give anybody else... Conor can say whatever the hell he wants to. He steps up on four days' notice. He can say whatever he wants. \"At the end of the day, we're in the fight game. Who really, really wants to fight. That dude does.\"\n\nWhite, like McGregor, likes to toast good business.\n\nGiven the past 18 months of main card withdrawals and controversies, White was happy to indulge McGregor because he feels his main event for the UFC's return to New York will not be changed at late notice.\n\nMcGregor will hold onto his featherweight belt until 2017 and get the opportunity to hold two UFC belts.\n\nCatch up on the first episode of Football Friday Live..."}
-{"text": "The influence of artificial sweeteners on the brain and ultimately metabolism has been hotly debated in recent years. Some studies have found adverse effects on blood sugar and insulin levels, while others have not. In a study publishing March 3 in the journal Cell Metabolism, researchers say the discrepancies in these studies may be due to how the sweeteners are consumed--or, more specifically, what they are consumed with.\n\nInvestigators report that the artificial sweetener sucralose seems to have no negative impact on its own, but when it is consumed with a carbohydrate, it induces deleterious changes in insulin sensitivity and decreases the brain's response to sweet taste as measured by fMRI.\n\n\"When we set out to do this study, the question that was driving us was whether or not repeated consumption of an artificial sweetener would lead to a degrading of the predictive ability of sweet taste,\" says senior author Dana Small, a neuroscientist who is a professor of psychiatry and the director of the Modern Diet and Physiology Research Center at Yale University. \"This would be important because sweet-taste perception might lose the ability to regulate metabolic responses that prepare the body for metabolizing glucose or carbohydrates in general.\"\n\nThe trial enrolled 45 volunteers between the ages of 20 and 45 who didn't normally consume low-calorie sweeteners. All of them were of healthy weight and had no metabolic dysfunction. Other than consuming seven beverages in the lab over a two-week period, they didn't make any changes to their diet or other habits. The investigators conducted studies on the volunteers before, during, and after the testing period, including performing fMRI scans to look at changes in the brain in response to sweet tastes, as well as other tastes like salty and sour. They also measured taste perception and did an oral glucose tolerance test to look at insulin sensitivity.\n\nThe sweeteners were consumed as fruit-flavored beverages with added sucralose, or with table sugar for comparison. In what was intended to be a control group: some of the volunteers had the carbohydrate maltodextrin added to their sucralose drinks. The researchers chose maltodextrin, a non-sweet carbohydrate, to control for the calories of sugar without adding more sweet taste to the beverage. Surprisingly, it was this control group that showed changes in the brain's response to sweet taste and the body's insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism. Given the surprising result, the researchers added a second control group, in which the participants drank beverages with maltodextrin alone. They found no evidence that consuming maltodextrin-containing beverages over the seven-day period alters insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism.\n\n\"Perhaps the effect resulted from the gut generating inaccurate messages to send to the brain about the number of calories present,\" Small says. \"The gut would be sensitive to the sucralose and the maltodextrin and signal that twice as many calories are available than are actually present. Over time, these incorrect messages could produce negative effects by altering the way the brain and body respond to sweet taste.\"\n\nShe notes that a subset of the previous studies of artificial sweeteners have involved mixing the sweeteners with plain yogurt, adding carbohydrates from the yogurt and leading to the same effects seen here as with the maltodextrin. This could explain why previous findings about artificial sweeteners have been in conflict with each other.\n\nSmall says that her team began doing similar studies in adolescents, but they ended the trial early when they saw that two of the kids who were getting the sucralose-carbohydrate combination had their fasting insulin skyrocket.\n\n\"Previous studies in rats have shown that changes in the ability to use sweet taste to guide behavior can lead to metabolic dysfunction and weight gain over time. We think this is due to the consumption of artificial sweeteners with energy,\" she notes.\n\nFuture studies will look at whether other artificial sweeteners, as well as more natural sweeteners like stevia, have the same effects as sucralose. Small expects that many of them will. \"It's hard to say, because we still don't fully understand the mechanism,\" she concludes. \"That's also something we hope to study further, especially in mice.\"\n\n###\n\nThis work was supported by the National Institutes of Health.\n\nCell Metabolism, Dalenberg et al.: \"Short-term consumption of sucralose with, but not without, carbohydrate impairs neural and metabolic sensitivity to sugar\" https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(20)30057-7"}
-{"text": "Posted on November 11, 2017 by Troels Henriksen\n\nWhen we designed the Futhark record system, we went with a notation copied from Standard ML. Specifically, given a record\n\nlet foo = { x = 2, y = 3 }\n\nwe would access field x by writing #x foo . This differs from the vast majority of languages (including most others in the ML family), which use the ubiquitous dot notation: foo.x . The main reason for adopting Standard ML\u2019s notation was ambiguity, since dot notation was used for the module system. Given an expression foo.x , is this a reference to field x of record foo , or to definition x in the module foo ?\n\nOCaml solves this ambiguity by requiring module names and variable names to be lexically distinct, specifically by requiring module names to start with a capital letter. However, adding naming constraints is a bit contrary to our language design philosophy, which states that familiarity and simplicity are key. However, given the ubiquity of dot notation in other languages, our choice to adapt Standard ML\u2019s notation is also in conflict with our philosophy.\n\nThe solution, which I believe is also used by F#, is to unify the value and module name spaces. The meaning of foo.x is then always clear, as it can be resolved by the type of the foo in scope. This does not mean that Futhark\u2019s grammar becomes context-dependent, since grammatically a field- and a module access can be treated equivalently.\n\nOf course, this would not be a blog post if not for an additional wrinkle. Futhark supports a range of primitive types, such as i32 (signed 32-bit integers), u32 (unsigned 32-bit integers), f32 (single-precision floats), and so on. For each of these types, the Futhark basis library defines a module that contains various utility functions. For example, there is a module f32 that contains such functions as f32.sqrt , f32.min , and f32.cos . The problem occurs because Futhark\u2019s approach to converting/casting between primitive values was to define a collection of special overloaded functions, one for every type, that could convert an argument of an arbitrary primitive type to the desired type. For example, there was a function f32 that could be called with any primitive value (say, an integer), and would return a corresponding single-precision float. With the unification of value and module name spaces, only one of these would be in scope simultaneously. This was a problem, as both the mathematical modules and the conversion functions were used quite liberally in existing Futhark code.\n\nSince either the conversion functions or the modules would have to be renamed, likely with a longer name, we investigated exactly how frequently they were used, based on the premise that the most frequently used constructs should be given the shortest names. We looked at the Futhark benchmark suite, which constitutes the largest single collection of Futhark code (currently 8000 non-comment and non-blank lines). The analysis showed that 205 lines contained calls to module functions, while 158 lines performed type conversions. But interestingly, the vast majority of the type conversions were either from i32 to f32 (83 instances), or the other way (33 instances). Most of the remaining type conversions involved bit fiddling in a cryptography benchmark.\n\nThis inspired a new approach: ditch the overloaded conversion functions entirely, and replace them with monomorphic versions in the per-type modules, as well as succinctly named top-level functions for the most common conversions. Thus, to convert from, say, u8 to i16 , you would now call the function u8 in the i16 module: u16.u8 . The Futhark basis library prelude (which is implicitly imported by every Futhark program) was augmented with the following function definitions:\n\n-- | Create single-precision float from integer. let r32 (x: i32): f32 = f32.i32 x -- | Create integer from single-precision float. let t32 (x: f32): i32 = i32.f32 x -- | Create double-precision float from integer. let r64 (x: i32): f64 = f64.i32 x -- | Create integer from double-precision float. let t64 (x: f64): i32 = i32.f64 x\n\nThe mnemonics behind the names is that \u201ct\u201d is for \u201ctruncate\u201d, and \u201cr\u201d is for \u201creal\u201d, as in \u201creal numbers\u201d. The versions for double-precision floats were mostly added for completeness.\n\nThe end result of this whole story is:"}
-{"text": "The zombie youth \u201coccupying\u201d Wall Street are contemptuous of the world that sustains their comforts.\n\nMichael Oher, offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens, was online on Wednesday night when his Twitter feed started filling up with tributes to Steve Jobs. A bewildered Oher tweeted: \u201cCan somebody help me out? Who was Steve Jobs!\u201d\n\nHe was on his iPhone at the time.\n\nWho was Steve Jobs? Well, he was a guy who founded a corporation and spent his life as a corporate executive manufacturing corporate products. So he wouldn\u2019t have endeared himself to the \u201cOccupy Wall Street\u201d crowd, even though, underneath the patchouli and lentils, most of them are abundantly accessorized with iPhones and iPads and iPods loaded with iTunes, if only for when the drum circle goes for a bathroom break.\n\n\nThe above is a somewhat obvious point, although the fact that it\u2019s not obvious even to protesters with an industrial-strength lack of self-awareness is a big part of the problem. But it goes beyond that: If you don\u2019t like to think of Jobs as a corporate exec (and a famously demanding one at that), think of him as a guy who went to work, and worked hard. There\u2019s no appetite for that among those \u201coccupying\u201d Zuccotti Park. In the old days, the tribunes of the masses demanded an honest wage for honest work. Today, the tribunes of America\u2019s leisured varsity class demand a world that puts \u201cpeople before profits.\u201d If the specifics of their \u201cprogram\u201d are somewhat contradictory, the general vibe is consistent: They wish to enjoy an advanced Western lifestyle without earning an advanced Western living. The pampered, elderly children of a fin de civilisation overdeveloped world, they appear to regard life as an unending vacation whose bill never comes due.\n\nSo they are in favor of open borders, presumably so that exotic Third World peasants can perform the labor to which they are noticeably averse. Of the 13 items on that \u201cproposed list of demands,\u201d Demand Four calls for \u201cfree college education,\u201d and Demand Eleven returns to the theme, demanding debt forgiveness for all existing student loans. I yield to no one in my general antipathy to the racket that is American college education, but it\u2019s difficult to see why this is the fault of the mustache-twirling robber barons who head up Global MegaCorp, Inc. One sympathizes, of course. It can\u2019t be easy finding yourself saddled with a six-figure debt and nothing to show for it but some watery bromides from the \u201cTransgender and Colonialism\u201d class. Americans collectively have north of a trillion dollars in personal college debt. Say what you like about Enron and, er, Solyndra and all those other evil corporations, but they didn\u2019t relieve you of a quarter-mil in exchange for a master\u2019s in Maya Angelou. So why not try occupying the dean\u2019s office at Shakedown U?\n\n\n\nAh, but the great advantage of mass moronization is that it leaves you too dumb to figure out who to be mad at. At Liberty Square, one of the signs reads: \u201cF**k your unpaid internship!\u201d Fair enough. But, to a casual observer of the massed ranks of Big Sloth, it\u2019s not entirely clear what precisely anyone would ever pay them to do.\n\n\nDo you remember Van Jones? He was Obama\u2019s \u201cgreen jobs\u201d czar back before \u201cgreen jobs\u201d had been exposed as a gazillion-dollar sinkhole for sluicing taxpayer monies to the president\u2019s corporate cronies. Oh, don\u2019t worry. These cronies aren\u2019t \u201ccorporate\u201d in the sense of Steve Jobs. The corporations they run put \u201cpeople before profits\u201d: That\u2019s to say, they\u2019ve figured out it\u2019s easier to take government money from you people than create a business that makes a profit. In an amusing inversion of the Russian model, Van Jones became a czar after he\u2019d been a Communist. He became a Commie in the mid-Nineties \u2014 i.e., after even the Soviet Union had given up on it. Needless to say, a man who never saw a cobwebbed collectivist nostrum he didn\u2019t like no matter how long past its sell-by date is hot for \u201cOccupy Wall Street.\u201d Indeed, Van Jones thinks that the protests are the start of an \u201cAmerican Autumn.\u201d\n\nIn case you don\u2019t get it, that\u2019s the American version of the \u201cArab Spring.\u201d Steve Jobs might have advised Van Jones he has a branding problem. Spring is the season of new life, young buds and so forth. Autumn is leaves turning brown and fluttering to the ground in a big dead heap. Even in my great state of New Hampshire, where autumn is pretty darn impressive, we understand what that blaze of red and orange leaves means: They burn brightest before they fall and die, and the world turns chill and bare and hard.\n\n\n\nSo Van Jones may be on to something! American Autumn. The days dwindle down to a precious few, like in whatever that old book was called, The Summer and Fall of the Roman Empire.\n\nIf you\u2019ll forgive a plug for my latest sell-out to my corporate masters, in my new book I quote H. G. Wells\u2019s Victorian Time Traveler after encountering far in the future the soft, effete Eloi: \u201cThese people were clothed in pleasant fabrics that must at times need renewal, and their sandals, though undecorated, were fairly complex specimens of metalwork. Somehow such things must be made.\u201d And yet he saw \u201cno workshops\u201d or sign of any industry at all. \u201cThey spent all their time in playing gently, in bathing in the river, in making love in a half-playful fashion, in eating fruit and sleeping. I could not see how things were kept going.\u201d The Time Traveler might have felt much the same upon landing in Liberty Square in the early 21st century, except for the bit about bathing: It\u2019s increasingly hard in America to \u201csee how things are kept going,\u201d but it\u2019s pretty clear that the members of \u201cOccupy Wall Street\u201d have no plans to contribute to keeping things going. Like Michael Oher using his iPhone to announce his ignorance of Steve Jobs, in the autumn of the republic the beneficiaries of American innovation seem not only utterly disconnected from but actively contemptuous of the world that sustains their comforts.\n\nWhy did Steve Jobs do so much of his innovating in computers? Well, obviously, because that\u2019s what got his juices going. But it\u2019s also the case that, because it was a virtually non-existent industry until he came along, it\u2019s about the one area of American life that hasn\u2019t been regulated into sclerosis by the statist behemoth. So Apple and other companies were free to be as corporate as they wanted, and we\u2019re the better off for it. The stunted, inarticulate spawn of America\u2019s educrat monopoly want a world of fewer corporations and lots more government. If their \u201cdemands\u201d for a $20 minimum wage and a trillion dollars of spending in \u201cecological restoration\u201d and all the rest are ever met, there will be a massive expansion of state monopoly power. Would you like to get your iPhone from the DMV? That\u2019s your \u201cAmerican Autumn\u201d: an America that constrains the next Steve Jobs but bigs up Van Jones. Underneath the familiar props of radical chic that hasn\u2019t been either radical or chic in half a century, the zombie youth of the Big Sloth movement are a paradox too ludicrous even for the malign alumni of a desultory half-decade of Complacency Studies: They\u2019re anarchists for Big Government. Do it for the children, the Democrats like to say. They\u2019re the children we did it for, and, if this is the best they can do, they\u2019re done for.\n\n\u2014 Mark Steyn, a National Review columnist, is the author of After America: Get Ready for Armageddon. \u00a9 2011 Mark Steyn\n\nAdvertisement"}
-{"text": "An axe-wielding motorist has been photographed confronting a man wielding a large knife, in a suspected road-rage incident in east London.\n\nThe driver of a blue hatchback had jumped out of his car carrying a hatchet just as the backseat passenger of the car in front emerged brandishing a pink blade.\n\nMitchell Gunn, a photographer who lives on West Road in Stratford, saw the men faced off against each other for several minutes around 1pm on Tuesday before they drove off. No one was injured."}
-{"text": "A man was hurt last night in an incident that could be called \u201cpedestrian rage.\u201d\n\nAt 7:10 p.m., a driver stopped his car at the intersection of Portland Pl. and Gottingen St. when a pedestrian \u201csmacked\u201d the car, apparently angry that the car was in the crosswalk.\n\nOnce the pedestrian got to the other side of the street, he threw a beer bottle at the car, hitting the vehicle.\n\nThe driver tried to call police, but the pedestrian opened the passenger door and began to assault the driver.\n\nThe pedestrian was arrested by Halifax Regional Police and will appear in court on charges of assault causing bodily harm and breach of probation.\n\nThe driver required medical attention for the injuries he received in the altercation."}
-{"text": "At a press conference on August 15, 2017, Donald Trump doubled down on his vile refusal to condemn white supremacist terrorism in Charlottesville, VA. He said that there were \"fine people\" in the white supremacist rally and blamed \"both sides\" for the violence and hate witnessed on all of our TV screens.\n\nFormer KKK grand wizard David Duke said what he saw in Charlottesville, VA: that it \"fulfills the promises of Donald Trump.\"\n\nWhite supremacists, neo-Nazis, and members of the \"alt-right,\" chanted \"Heil Trump!\" while marching through the streets of Charlottesville; they injured dozens of demonstrators. The rally led to an act of domestic terrorism that killed a woman peacefully standing up to white supremacy.\n\nBut all that Trump could muster in response was one weak statement where he seemed to call out the white supremacist movement. Yet, he also tweeted a picture of a \"Trump Train\" smashing into a CNN reporter, which bore a chilling resemblance to this weekend's brutal terrorist attack. And then at a press conference, he, once again, blamed bigotry and violence on \"many sides.\"\n\nTrump's response is horrifying and unacceptable, which is why we're calling on Congress to formally censure him for refusing to explicitly call out white supremacy and call it terrorism. House members can sign on to a resolution to formally censure that has been introduced by Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and Rep. Jerrold Nadler.\n\nCensure is a formal, public statement of disapproval that requires a vote by Congress.\n\nA bipartisan vote would send a strong message to Trump and the world that his behavior is unacceptable and doesn't represent American values. Several Republicans have spoken out already. That's a start, but it's not enough.\n\nWhy won't Trump condemn these white supremacist terrorists? Is it because they're part of the coalition that got him elected? Is it because he has advisers in his White House who are close to these hateful and violent groups? Is it because his campaign fueled the climate in which hate groups like these thrive and commit violence in the open?\n\nCongress must vote to formally censure Trump. We must show that Americans speak with one voice in rejecting the alt-right, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists by formally censuring Trump in both houses of Congress."}
-{"text": "A woman wielding an axe allegedly attacked two customers at a convenience store in Sydney's inner west in a \"completely random\" incident, police say.\n\nPolice said a man in his 30s was struck in the head while inside a 7-Eleven service station on Stanmore Road at Enmore early this morning and a woman in her early 40s was attacked outside the store.\n\nBoth victims were taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.\n\nThe man suffered serious head injuries and the woman's injuries were less serious, police said.\n\nA woman in her 20s was arrested a short distance from the store and police said they also seized an axe that she was still carrying.\n\nAt this stage police do not believe the woman knew the victims in the attack they said would have left other shoppers seriously rattled.\n\n\"It's a terrible incident,\" Inspector Rupert Agnew from Marrickville Police said.\n\n\"You've got people just going about their business in a store early in the morning and someone walks in with a completely random attack.\"\n\n'Blood all over the floor'\n\nWitness Nathan Wood saw the man being attacked inside the shop. ( Supplied )\n\nNathan Wood, who was on his way home from a night out, witnessed the attack on the man inside the store and called police.\n\n\"Bloody scene, a guy inside, really badly injured, blood all over the floor,\" Mr Wood said.\n\n\"He was really alert and appeared to be speaking clearly so I don't fear the injuries were life threatening.\n\n\"Police were on the scene and making sure that he wasn't bleeding out.\"\n\n\n\nThe arrested woman was taken to St Vincent's Hospital for assessment where she remains under police guard."}
-{"text": "An \u201cair bear\u201d helicopter flight has returned a polar bear to the Russian Arctic after he drifted more than 400 miles south on an ice floe.\n\nFishermen ran into the two-year-old male bear last week near Tilichiki, an isolated village in the Kamchatka region on Russia's Pacific coast.\n\nSince polar bears are not usually found in Kamchatka, it is believed that the marooned bear had floated in on a piece of ice from the neighbouring Chukotka region. He was nicknamed \u201cUmka\u201d after the playful polar bear from a Soviet cartoon.\n\nThe ice and shores of the Chukchi Sea between Chukotka and Alaska are home to 3,000 polar bears, according to a 2018 study, the largest population of the world's largest land predator. They also live on the Bering Sea just to the south.\n\nBut as sea ice melts further and faster due to global warming, polar bears are being seen more frequently outside their normal habitat.\n\nA Russian military town on the Arctic island of Novaya Zemlya was \"invaded\" by polar bears in February.\n\nA study published on Tuesday said the release of methane and carbon dioxide from thawing permafrost will accelerate climate change. Taken into account with the loss of heat-deflecting ice, this will increase global warming by 5 per cent and add up to \u00a354tn in economic consequences."}
-{"text": "Fewer teens drink and smoke cigarettes than in any time in the last 30 years, but the widespread availability of medical marijuana appears to be fueling a rise in pot use, health experts said Wednesday.\n\nOne in four of the 47,000 teens surveyed for the 2011 Monitoring the Future report said they had used marijuana during the last year, up from 21.4% in 2007. The survey, which polled students nationwide in the eighth, 10th and 12th grades, also found that 1 in 15 of the oldest students used pot on a daily or near-daily basis \u2014 the highest rate since 1981.\n\nFor the first time, researchers asked 12th-grade students about synthetic marijuana, which contains cannabinoids and produces a high similar to pot but is thought to be more dangerous because it can be contaminated with unknown substances. The finding \u2014 11% of the high school seniors surveyed had tried the substance \u2014 surprised researchers.\n\nSold by the names Spice or K2, the drug had been widely available online and in tobacco shops until recently. In February, the Drug Enforcement Administration reclassified some of the chemicals found in the products as Schedule I controlled substances, which made them illegal.\n\n\nThe survey also revealed that teens don\u2019t think of marijuana as dangerous. Because of that, \u201cwe can predict that use of marijuana is going to increase,\u201d said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which funds the annual study.\n\nThat pot has become more widely used as more states legalize the use of medical marijuana cannot be ignored, said R. Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.\n\n\u201cWe know that any substance that is legally available is more widely used,\u201d he said.\n\nThe rise of marijuana use is largely responsible for an overall increase in youth drug use over the last four years, said study leader Lloyd Johnston of the University of Michigan\u2019s Institute for Social Research, which conducts the annual survey. When marijuana is taken out of the equation, the proportion of teens reporting they had used any illicit drug declined through the first half of the 2000s and has been stable over the last three years.\n\n\nSince 1991, the proportion of eighth-grade students who said they had used alcohol within the last 30 days has declined by half, to 13%, the survey found. Rates have also fallen among older students, with binge-drinking among seniors dropping from 41% in 1981 to 22% this year. Still, about 40% of high school seniors said they had used alcohol within the last 30 days.\n\nCigarette use fell in all three age groups, which was reassuring since the 2010 survey hinted that the decades-long decline in smoking may have begun to reverse, Johnston said. In all three grades combined, 11.7% of youths said they had smoked within the last 30 days, down from 12.8% in the 2010 survey.\n\nDeclines were also seen in the use of inhalants, crack cocaine, the painkiller Vicodin, the medication Adderall for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and over-the-counter cold and cough medicines.\n\nUse of prescription drugs without medical supervision remains a concern. In 2011, 22% of high school seniors said they had misused at least one prescription drug at some point in their lives \u2014 the same rate recorded in the 2007 survey. About 15% reporting misusing such drugs within the last year, compared with 16% in 2007.\n\n\n\u201cWe are heartened by some of the results ... but there is much more work to do,\u201d said Dr. Howard K. Koh, assistant secretary for health for the Department of Health and Human Services.\n\nshari.roan@latimes.com"}
-{"text": "article\n\nThe Atlanta Falcons were not able to score a touchdown in last Sunday's game until there was 2:40 left on the clock. Many fans took to social media to voice their complaints against those officiating the game.\n\nThe Falcons lost their Christmas Eve game to the Saints after receiving 10 penalties to New Orleans' three. Fans were questioning two of those penalties which were called against Wide receiver Julio Jones.\n\nNow, there is an online petition to remove Pete Morelli\u2019s crew from the NFL. The petition reads in part:\n\n\"On December 24th, Morelli and his crew have yet again taken complete control of a game and made it practically unwatchable. The Atlanta Falcons have had 8 penalties enforced against them that 95 percent of NFL officials would not have called.\n\n\"The Falcons and Saints (both members of the NFC South) are competing for a division title and Morelli has shown his blatant bias in favor of the Saints all game. The Atlanta Falcons (9-6) face playoff elimination in a must-win week 17 matchup with the Carolina Panthers.\n\n\"As a Falcons fan, I have watched the NFL wrong our franchise for many years but more importantly as a fan of this league I believe that all of us could benefit from the immediate removal of Morelli and every one of his crew members to send a message to NFL officials that corruption within the officiating group will not be tolerated.\"\n\n\nThe poster goes on to state that Morelli \u201chas shown favoritism towards certain teams and has a personal vendetta against others.\u201d He also cites the Eagles-Panther's game earlier in the season which Morelli's crew also officiated.\n\nThe petition calls on Roger Goodell to remove Morelli to \"protect the game and to ultimately do away with corruption.\"\n\n247Sports.com noted in an article that Atlanta is not the first NFL fans to take issue with Morelli."}
-{"text": "Berlin - Ein kurzes Dr\u00fccken auf den gr\u00fcnen Knopf reicht, die schwarze T\u00fcr \u00f6ffnet sich automatisch. Dazu blinken LED-Leuchten \u00fcber den T\u00fcrfenstern ebenfalls gr\u00fcn. Nervig ist das durchdringende, laute Piepen, das sich fast so anh\u00f6rt, als ob ein Lastwagen r\u00fcckw\u00e4rts f\u00e4hrt. Das hier ist aber kein Lkw, sondern die neue Generation der Berliner S-Bahn, die ab 2021 auf dem Berliner Netz unterwegs sein soll. Das st\u00e4ndige Piepen der sich \u00f6ffnenden oder schlie\u00dfenden T\u00fcren \u2013 es soll den neuesten Sicherheitsanforderungen gen\u00fcgen \u2013 ist eine der Neuerungen, an die sich die Fahrg\u00e4ste wohl erst gew\u00f6hnen m\u00fcssen.\n\nDie Bahn hat am Dienstag ein ma\u00dfstabsgetreues Modell des k\u00fcnftigen S-Bahnwagens erstmals der \u00d6ffentlichkeit pr\u00e4sentiert. Fahrt\u00fcchtig ist der Wagen nicht, sondern nur aus Holz, Kunststoff und etwas Metall gefertigt. Hergestellt wurde er in den Filmstudios Babelsberg, ist aber wie ein richtiger Zug mit Sitzen und Haltestangen und allerlei Technik ausgestattet, die auch funktioniert.\n\nF\u00fchlen wie im Regionalzug\n\nBetritt man den Wagen, wirkt alles sehr gro\u00dfz\u00fcgig, sehr aufger\u00e4umt und modern. Die Haltestangen aus Edelstahl zum Beispiel sind oben geschwungen. Auch die Panoramafenster scheinen noch gr\u00f6\u00dfer als gewohnt zu sein. Allerdings sieht es nicht mehr so richtig nach S-Bahn aus, sondern eher nach Regionalzug. Der Grund: Die dauerhaft schmuddlig-gr\u00fcnen Sitzpolster in den heutigen Z\u00fcgen wurden durch die dunkelblauen Sitze der Deutschen Bahn ersetzt. Die sind zwar etwas hart, aber deutlich besser als die Plastikschalen bei der BVG.\n\nUnd noch etwas f\u00e4llt auf. Die Sitze am Gang scheinen \u00fcber dem Boden zu schweben. Die S-Bahn verspricht sich davon mehr Komfort f\u00fcr ihre Fahrg\u00e4ste. Denn die k\u00f6nnen unter den Sitzen auch mal einen Koffer oder eine Sporttasche abstellen, ohne dass sie gleich den Gang blockieren.\n\nS-Bahn-Chef Peter Buchner spricht daher von einem \u201eepochalen Tag\u201c, nicht nur f\u00fcr sein Unternehmen, sondern auch f\u00fcr die Fahrg\u00e4ste. So haben die neuen Z\u00fcge Klimaanlage, Video\u00fcberwachung und gro\u00dfe Mehrzweckabteile. Gleich hinter dem Fahrer zum Beispiel ist Platz f\u00fcr vier Rollst\u00fchle sowie zwei Kinderwagen. Darauf weist die gelbe Kennzeichnung auf dem Fu\u00dfboden hin. Neu sind an den Rollstuhlpl\u00e4tzen Konsolen mit mehreren Tasten, um etwa den Fahrer zu bitten, die Rampe zum Bahnsteig zu installieren. Pfiffig sind auch gro\u00dfe Displays an den Seitenfenstern, die die Fahrg\u00e4ste innen und au\u00dfen \u00fcber die S-Bahnlinie sowie die n\u00e4chsten Stationen und Umsteigem\u00f6glichkeiten informieren. Das kennt man von Stra\u00dfenbahnen.\n\n382 neue Wagen hat die S-Bahn beim Konsortium Siemens/Stadler im Wert von 900 Millionen Euro bestellt. 2020 werden die ersten Z\u00fcge getestet, ab 2021 sollen sie auf der Linie S47 zwischen S\u00fcdkreuz und Spindlersfeld, sp\u00e4ter auch auf dem Ring fahren.\n\nGetestet wird das Wagen-Modell in diesem Monat von 400 repr\u00e4sentativ ausgew\u00e4hlten Fahrg\u00e4sten sowie von mehreren Verb\u00e4nden. Sie sollen bewerten, ob die Ausstattung funktional ist, ob das Design gelungen ist und was noch verbessert werden muss. Ende Oktober wird dar\u00fcber entschieden.\n\nFarbe wie ein Senftopf\n\nAuf Verkehrsstaatssekret\u00e4r Christian Gaebler macht der Wagen einen guten Eindruck. Die Konsolen f\u00fcr die Rollstuhlfahrer aber werden keine Berliner Party-Nacht \u00fcberstehen, sagt er, weil sie nicht stabil befestigt sind. Auch gebe es beim Einsteigen eine Kante am Wagen, es bestehe die Gefahr, dass ein Fahrgast st\u00fcrzt. \u201eDar\u00fcber werden wir reden\u201c, sagt Gaebler.\n\nUm dann zu loben, dass die Farben Schwarz, Rot und Gelb an den Z\u00fcgen beibehalten wurden. Aber das neue Farbkonzept ist umstritten. Das Rot ist heller und leuchtet mehr, doch der Streifen \u00fcber der Bahnsteigkante ist nur noch sehr schmal. Oben ist der Wagen Gelb, die T\u00fcren sind schwarz.\n\n\u201eWir haben uns getraut, frischere Farben zu nehmen\u201c, sagt Buchner. Die T\u00fcren seien Schwarz, um f\u00fcr sehschwache Menschen einen gro\u00dfen Kontrast zu bieten. S-Bahn-Traditionalisten kommentieren aber bissig, der Wagen sei in einen \u201eSenftopf gefallen\u201c. Staatssekret\u00e4r Gaebler sagt es viel diplomatischer: \u201eDie Farbgebung ist vom Grundsatz gut, ein bisschen mehr Rot w\u00e4re auch nicht schlecht.\u201c"}
-{"text": "This battle goes back to the wishes of a donor who willed money to U. Missouri for specific purposes, with the caveat that if they didn\u2019t follow his instructions the money would go to Hillsdale.\n\nABC 17 News reports:\n\nMichigan college accuses MU of misusing millions in endowment\n\nA Michigan college is accusing the University of Missouri of misusing millions of dollars in an endowment from 2003.\n\nHillsdale College, located in south Michigan, sued the university in 2017 over the school\u2019s handling of a multimillion-dollar endowment to hire business and economics professors. The college says MU has not followed the instructions of the endowment and that Hillsdale should instead get the money.\n\nSherlock Hibbs, a 1926 graduate of MU, left $5 million to the university to create six professor positions in the school of business when he died in 2002. Hibbs asked the university to hire a \u201cdedicated and articulate disciple of the free and open market economy (the Ludwig von Mises Austrian School of Economics).\u201d The business school and chancellor would certify that the hires followed those tenets, then send the proof to Hillsdale College. If the spots were to remain open for five years, then the school would have to give up the money to Hillsdale College.\n\nThe college claims that university leaders balked at the idea of hiring professors that followed such ideals. Then-business school Dean Bruce Walker called the Austrian school \u201cquite controversial,\u201d according to the lawsuit, and focused on hiring people that followed some tenets that meshed well with the business school.\n\nThe lawsuit asks a judge to order the university to pay Hillsdale College for the millions already spent on the endowment and the remaining money in the program."}
-{"text": "Ireland (6) 20\n\nTries: Bowe, O'Driscoll Cons: O'Gara 2 Pens: O'Gara 2\n\nAustralia (10) 20\n\nTries: Mitchell, Elsom Cons: Giteau 2 Pens: Giteau 2 By Richard Petrie\n\nBrian O'Driscoll marked his 100th Test appearance with a last-minute try to help Ireland salvage a 20-20 draw against Australia at Croke Park. Australia led 10-6 at half-time, Drew Mitchell scoring a try, but Tommy Bowe touched down for Ireland in the second half and then Rocky Elsom scored a try. Matt Giteau kicked 10 points to put the Aussies 20-13 ahead but O'Driscoll ran in under the posts to make it 20-18. Ronan O'Gara converted with the last kick of the match to level the scores. The draw ended Australia's hopes of a Grand Slam tour of the home nations, but it was a fair result after Ireland dragged themselves back into a match that seemed to have slipped away. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. The result also maintains Ireland's unbeaten record in 2009, with games against Fiji and world champions South Africa to come. Much of the pre-match build-up focused on O'Driscoll becoming the 11th player to reach a century of Test appearances (with six of those coming for the British and Irish Lions), but he made an unwelcome contribution with his first touch of the ball. O'Gara's pass put the centre under pressure and he spilled the ball to give Mitchell a stroll to the line for the opening try in the second minute. O'Gara replied with a straightforward fifth-minute penalty after the Wallabies were penalised for offside after a knock-on. The visitors had the better of the opening 15 minutes but Giteau missed with his first penalty attempt of the game after the Irish were penalised for straying offside. Mitchell was gifted his try after just two minutes Australia were then pulled up for an offence at the line-out and O'Gara converted a penalty from in front of the posts to reduce Ireland's deficit to a point. A Giteau penalty two minutes later restored Australia's four-point advantage and then the fly-half made a break but was tackled just short of the line by Rob Kearney. On 29 minutes, Wycliff Palu was sin-binned by referee Jonathan Kaplan after the number eight was adjudged to have halted Kearney in a dangerous manner without using his arms, but Ireland failed to take advantage of their numerical advantage as the first half ended 10-6. Giteau was off target with an early penalty effort four minutes after the break and then Keith Earls was introduced as a replacement for the injured Luke Fitzgerald. 606: DEBATE Ireland were very very lucky to draw that match. They were totally outplayed for an hour\n\nweallknow Giteau successfully landed a penalty after 54 minutes but Ireland responded in emphatic fashion, Bowe crossing the line under the posts after a fine Irish move which started with a charge by prop Cian Healy. O'Gara added the simple conversion to level the scores. Australia took command again after a fine flowing move when skipper Elsom shrugged off a couple of Irish challenges and barged over the line, grounding the ball in the corner before being pushed into touch. Giteau's conversion from a tight angle made it 20-13 to the tourists. Bowe crossed the line again with three minutes remaining but replays failed to conclusively show that he had managed to ground the ball. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. With time running out, O'Driscoll - as on so many occasions in the past - proved Ireland's saviour as he caught Australia's defence napping to cruise through under the posts without a finger being laid on him. It had been a quiet game for O'Driscoll but he sprung to life just at the right time, to allow O'Gara to level the scores with the conversion. Ireland: Kearney, Bowe, B. O'Driscoll, P. Wallace, Fitzgerald, O'Gara, O'Leary, Healy, Flannery, Hayes, O'Callaghan, O'Connell, Ferris, D. Wallace, Heaslip.\n\nReplacements: Earls for Fitzgerald (53), Leamy for Ferris (75).\n\nNot Used: Cronin, Court, Cullen, Reddan, Sexton. Australia: Ashley-Cooper, Hynes, Ioane, Cooper, Mitchell, Giteau, Genia, Robinson, Moore, Alexander, Horwill, Chisholm, Elsom, Pocock, Palu.\n\nReplacements: O'Connor for Ashley-Cooper (69), Polota-Nau for Moore (64).\n\nNot Used: Dunning, Mumm, G. Smith, Burgess, Cross. Sin Bin: Palu (29). Att: 74,000 Ref: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa).\n\n\n\nBookmark with: Delicious\n\nDigg\n\nreddit\n\nFacebook\n\nStumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version"}
-{"text": "Stadt plant eine neue Eishalle f\u00fcr N\u00fcrnberg\n\nFl\u00e4chen in der Arena am Stadion reichen nicht mehr aus - 03.08.2018 05:31 Uhr\n\nN\u00dcRNBERG - Im N\u00fcrnberger S\u00fcden soll eine neue Eisarena mit drei Fl\u00e4chen entstehen. Gespr\u00e4che zwischen der Stadt und der Arena N\u00fcrnberger Versicherung laufen bereits. Der Arena-Chef aber bremst die Erwartungen noch.\n\nVolle Zuschauerr\u00e4nge haben die Ice Tigers vergangene Saison \u00f6fter erlebt. Aber auch das Eis selber ist gut besucht, so gut, dass die Arena den Bedarf an Eiszeit in der Stadt nicht mehr stemmen kann. \u00a9 Foto: Sportfoto Wolfgang Zink / ThHa\n\n\n\nVolle Zuschauerr\u00e4nge haben die Ice Tigers vergangene Saison \u00f6fter erlebt. Aber auch das Eis selber ist gut besucht, so gut, dass die Arena den Bedarf an Eiszeit in der Stadt nicht mehr stemmen kann. Foto: Foto: Sportfoto Wolfgang Zink / ThHa\n\n\n\nJ\u00fcrgen Fottner rechnet. Beziehungsweise l\u00e4sst der Gesch\u00e4ftsf\u00fchrer der Arena N\u00fcrnberger Versicherung rechnen. Aktuell sind seine Mitarbeiter beziehungsweise die des Neumarkter Bauunternehmens B\u00f6gl, zu dem die Arena geh\u00f6rt, am Kalkulieren. Es geht um eine neue Amateur-Eishalle und um eine Multifunktionsarena. Beides war vor Jahren schon Thema, direkt neben dem Stadion, als \"Arena neben der Arena\". Damals die \u00dcberlegung: eine Eishalle im ersten Stock, darunter eine kleinere Halle f\u00fcr Konzerte, aber auch f\u00fcr Ballsport.\n\nSchon damals sagte J\u00fcrgen Fottner gegen\u00fcber den N\u00fcrnberger Nachrichten: \"Max B\u00f6gl kann das bauen. Die Frage aber ist: Rechnet es sich?\" Das Ergebnis zeigt sich auch durch die drei Jahre, die seitdem vergangen sind: Es rechnet sich nicht, \"der Aufwand w\u00e4re zu gro\u00df\".\n\nDie Nachfrage aber ist da: Die Arena platzt aus allen N\u00e4hten, wenn es um Eiszeit geht, wei\u00df Fottner. Die Stadt, mit der man beim Arena-Bau eine feste Anzahl an Stunden f\u00fcr Schulen und \u00f6ffentlichen Eislauf ausgemacht hat, ben\u00f6tigt inzwischen viel mehr, auch die Vereine fragen immer wieder nach. \"Wir k\u00f6nnen aber nicht mehr Eis zur Verf\u00fcgung stellen.\"\n\nZuzug aus dem Osten\n\nTats\u00e4chlich hat sich der Eisbedarf f\u00fcr Vereine, Schulen und \u00f6ffentlichen Eislauf in den vergangenen 17 Jahren verdoppelt, \"der Zuzug von Menschen aus \u00f6stlichen L\u00e4ndern macht sich hier bemerkbar\", sagt Sportb\u00fcrgermeister Klemens Gsell. Seit Jahren beobachtet er, dass es vor allem in den in diesen L\u00e4ndern beliebten Sportarten Eiskunstlauf und Eishockey \"deutlich mehr Talente\" gibt. Das sp\u00fcrt auch der EHC 80, der Stammverein der Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers. Vor ein paar Monaten ist die U19, die sich \"Young Ice Tigers\" nennt, erstmals in die DNL, die Nachwuchs-Bundesliga aufgestiegen. Es war der vorl\u00e4ufige H\u00f6hepunkt eines Konzeptes, das Andr\u00e9 Dietzsch ma\u00dfgeblich entwickelt hat.\n\nTags\u00fcber k\u00fcmmert er sich als Torwarttrainer um Niklas Treutle und Andreas Jenike, nachmittags als sportlicher Leiter um die Zukunft des Nachwuchses. Doch der st\u00f6\u00dft in N\u00fcrnberg seit Jahren an seine Grenzen, \"es gibt einfach zu wenig Eis\", sagt Dietzsch \u2013 und denkt da an die Konkurrenz aus Mannheim oder Berlin, die seit vielen Jahren erfolgreiche Jugendarbeit machen. \"Es ist in unserem Interesse, dass sich etwas tut\", sagt Dietzsch, schlie\u00dflich wollen die Ice Tigers irgendwann einmal zu den anderen gro\u00dfen Klubs in Deutschland aufschlie\u00dfen. Zudem ist die Arena derzeit eben auch bei Hobbysportlern und Privatmannschaften beliebt \u2013 zu beliebt, um allen gerecht zu werden.\n\nEine Amateureishalle f\u00fcr N\u00fcrnberg\n\nDarum denkt die Stadt laut dar\u00fcber nach, eine Amateureishalle zu bauen. Als Standort soll laut Informationen der N\u00fcrnberger Nachrichten eine bisherige Brachfl\u00e4che in der N\u00e4he des Bundesamts f\u00fcr Migration und Fl\u00fcchtlinge im Gespr\u00e4ch sein, in den n\u00e4chsten Monaten sollen \"st\u00e4dtebauliche Rahmendaten erarbeitet\" werden. Sportb\u00fcrgermeister Klemens Gsell will nicht ins Detail gehen, sagt aber immerhin: \"Ja, die Halle ist im Bereich N\u00fcrnberg-S\u00fcd mit N\u00e4he zum Ring vorgesehen.\"\n\nDrei Eisfl\u00e4chen sind derzeit im Gespr\u00e4ch, eine Zahl, die auch den erfahrenen Eishockey-Funktion\u00e4r Andr\u00e9 Dietzsch zufriedenstellen w\u00fcrde. \"Das w\u00e4re ein riesiger Schritt\", sagt er, derzeit m\u00fcssen sich ja auch die Profis der Ice Tigers noch die gro\u00dfe Arena und die Nebenhalle mit Veranstaltern teilen. \"Wenn Apassionata ist, k\u00f6nnen wir eine Woche nicht aufs Eis\", so Dietzsch.\n\nBislang sieht man Patrick Reimer und seine Kollegen dann in der kleinen Eishalle trainieren, das soll mit der neuen Halle aber endg\u00fcltig der Vergangenheit angeh\u00f6ren. Laut Dietzsch wollen auch die Ice Tigers einmal in der neuen Eishalle in der N\u00e4he des Rings trainieren.\n\nWas ist auf dem Grundst\u00fcck machbar?\n\nEinen Verlust des Heimvorteils sieht er deshalb nicht. \"Die Eisb\u00e4ren Berlin trainieren auch im Wellblechpalast, ihrem alten Stadion, und spielen dann in ihrer Arena.\" Und was passiert dann mit der Nebenhalle der N\u00fcrnberger Arena? Die k\u00f6nnte, findet Sportb\u00fcrgermeister Gsell, \"f\u00fcr Multifunktionen inklusive Ballsportarten verwendet werden\".\n\nDeshalb ist die Arena beziehungsweise B\u00f6gl nun in die Vorplanung des Projekts eingestiegen. Es wird wieder gerechnet, schlie\u00dflich \"gibt es auch f\u00fcr so eine Eishalle, wo auch Wettk\u00e4mpfe stattfinden, eine eigene DIN-Norm\". Also m\u00fcssen die Kabinen die richtige Gr\u00f6\u00dfe haben, auch Schiedsrichter-Kabinen in entsprechender Anzahl vorhanden sein.\n\nAu\u00dferdem will die Arena schauen: Was ist auf dem Grundst\u00fcck machbar, welche Kosten fallen an und: \"Wer zahlt?\", fragt Arena-Chef Fottner. Fest steht f\u00fcr ihn nur, \"dass wenn dann wir eine solche Halle bauen und betreiben\". Mit einem Ergebnis in Sachen Vorplanung rechnet J\u00fcrgen Fottner bis Ende des Jahres.\n\nTimo Schickler und Michael Fischer"}
-{"text": "Today\u2019s conversation was with Jason Rohrer, the designer of Passage and a ton of other games, with his latest being One Hour, One Life.\n\nWe started talking about a year ago, I think possibly in response to some of the \u201cindie game apocalypse\u201d conversations that have been taking place over the past few years. Jason is an indie game apocalypse skeptic; he does pretty well with his games, and most of his friends do pretty well too (even his idea of \u201cnot doing well\u201d seems fantastic compared to what I\u2019ve come to expect). He has an explanation for why that is the case, which he shares in pretty good detail in this episode. Some people believe, and I think Jason is one of them, that generally speaking, good games marketed correctly succeed, and bad games or games that aren\u2019t marketed correctly fail.\n\nI can\u2019t say I\u2019m personally as convinced on that topic, but I won\u2019t go into detail on that here. We get into the discussion somewhat in the podcast, but I think we have a lot more to talk about for a second episode at some point. One point Jason makes which I agree with is that no one should feel like they\u2019re \u201cowed\u201d financial success, but I think there are different ways we could imagine the landscape and marketplaces working that could lead to a bit more of a \u201cgame development middle class\u201d.\n\nI really appreciate Jason\u2019s experience, and he\u2019s undeniably a great game designer, but I also wonder how deep our political differences go, and how that may also inform our philosophies on game design and development. Here\u2019s Jason\u2019s website with links to all his games. And here he is on Twitter.\n\nEDITOR\u2019S NOTE: This podcast is not actually almost 4 hours long, it\u2019s more like one hour and change. I don\u2019t know why it\u2019s showing up like that and I\u2019ll try to fix it for next time!\n\nAs always, you can support this show by becoming a patron at http://www.patreon.com/keithburgun. Thanks so much for listening!"}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nand then i said i'll post the grades on blackboard"}
-{"text": "Het energietransitiedebat van studievereniging In Duplo liet vooraf al flink wat stof opwaaien. Twee EUR-studenten spraken zich uit tegen de komst van Forum voor Democratie-politicus en \u2018klimaatontkenner\u2019 Thierry Baudet , een opvatting die de studentengemeenschap in twee\u00ebn leek te splijten . Op het podium van het Erasmus Paviljoen werd het donderdagavond een \u2018boksgevecht in twee ringen\u2019 tussen Baudet en Transitiekunde-hoogleraar Jan Rotmans, met VVD-Kamerlid Dilan Ye\u015filg\u00f6z als, in haar woorden, \u2018intermezzo\u2019.\n\nOok zonder camera\u2019s van grote televisiestations werd het energietransitiedebat van studievereniging In Duplo, dat volgens twee EUR-studenten in deze vorm niet had moeten plaatsvinden, weinig constructief.\n\n\u201cIk vind het leuk om het over de energietransitie te hebben. Maar dit is wel een rare setting.\u201d Aldus VVD-Kamerlid en klimaatwoordvoerder Dilan Ye\u015filg\u00f6z. Ze doelt op het feit dat het door studievereniging In Duplo georganiseerde debat blijft hangen op Thierry Baudets ontkenning van door mensen veroorzaakte klimaatverandering.\n\n\u2018Jullie willen argumenten horen, een eerlijk en open debat. Zonder RTL enzo daarbij\u2019\n\nOndanks dat hij in De Telegraaf aangaf om exact deze reden niet met Baudet in debat te willen, deed hoogleraar Transitiekunde Jan Rotmans dat donderdag toch. Eerst kregen alle drie de sprekers een kwartier om hun punt te maken, na een openingswoord van oud-premier Jan-Peter Balkenende. Na kort en bondig te hebben uitgelegd wat de urgentie van deze avond is (\u2018Stukken ijs zo groot als Manhattan smelten. We lopen als Nederland achter, wat is onze rol, wie gaat het oplossen en hoe?\u2019) spreekt Balkenende twee studentes die bijna vooraan zitten aan. \u201cIk vroeg jullie naar je verwachting van vanavond. Jullie willen argumenten horen, een eerlijk en open debat. Zonder RTL enzo daarbij.\u201d Dit punt had dagvoorzitter Steven van Eijck ook al gemaakt, dat door RTL en andere live-media te weren, het debat echt over de inhoud kan gaan.\n\nGeopolitiek\n\nDie hoop spreekt ook Rotmans uit. Hij houdt een helder betoog over de noodzaak van de energietransitie: niet het milieu maar de veranderende geopolitieke verhoudingen en de economie zijn de belangrijkste drijfveren. Volgens hem is er sinds het aantreden van Trump nog nooit zoveel in wind en zonne-energie ge\u00efnvesteerd in de VS. Ook interessant: \u201cIn Nederland komt 80 procent van de uitstoot van bedrijven. Daarvan is weer 80 procent afkomstig van tien bedrijven.\u201d Wat hij vindt van klimaatsceptici, wil een student weten. \u201cAlsof je een bokswedstrijd in twee verschillende arena\u2019s moet vechten. Hoe moet je elkaar dan raken? Je gaat ook niet in discussie over zwaartekracht.\u201d\n\n\u2018Alsof je een bokswedstrijd in twee verschillende arena\u2019s moet vechten. Hoe moet je elkaar dan raken? Je gaat ook niet in discussie over zwaartekracht\u2019\n\nBaudet als eigentijdse Galileo\n\nHet betoog van VVD\u2019er Dilan Ye\u015filg\u00f6z leunt vooral op het economische belang van de klimaattransitie, \u2018waar we veel geld aan gaan verdienen.\u2019 We moeten daarom \u2018op zijn Nederlands\u2019 voorop gaan lopen met innovaties en oplossingen. Ze sluit af met: \u2018Ik voel me een intermezzo tussen twee kibbelende heren, maar dat mag ik van de voorzitter niet zeggen.\u2019 Onder luid applaus gaat ze grinnikend zitten. Als Baudet de debatarena betreedt komen de telefoons van studenten tevoorschijn om foto\u2019s te maken. Je voelt: hier zijn ze voor gekomen. Hij begint met een verhaal over de existenti\u00eble crisis van de mens die haar god is kwijtgeraakt. Klimaatverandering is een religie, inclusief zondvloed. \u201cIk word verketterd!\u201d Hij vergelijkt zichzelf met Galileo, die ook tegen de status quo inging. De zaal gniffelt. Een student vraagt hem of het zin heeft om te investeren in onderwijs als je wetenschappelijke resultaten terzijde kunt schuiven. Volgens Baudet is het helemaal niet zo dat het merendeel van de wetenschap de oorzaken van klimaatverandering erkent.\n\n\u2018Klimaatmaffia\u2019\n\nAls het debat aanvangt is Rotmans helder: \u201cAlles wat je zojuist hebt gezegd klopt niet. Dat vind ik gevaarlijk, maar ik vind het ook onverantwoordelijk.\u201d Baudet: \u201cDit zijn bekende leugens van de klimaatmaffia.\u201d Ye\u015filg\u00f6z: \u201cThierry, kom eens naar een debat, lees eens een stuk.\u201d Volgens Baudet valt er helemaal geen geld te verdienen aan de energietransitie. \u201cHet is gewoon bullshit, waarom hebben we anders wetten en subsidie nodig?\u201d Ye\u015filg\u00f6z: \u201cEr zijn al veel bedrijven die hier miljoenen aan verdienen.\u201d\n\n\u2018Baudet negeert bewijs\u2019\n\nZo blijft het een debat van inhoud en kennis, versus de strategie van ontkenning, vinden studenten na afloop. Student Bedrijfseconomie en Economie Freek had meer van Baudet verwacht. \u201cHij negeerde glashard wetenschappelijk bewijs. Ik had verwacht dat hij meer inhoudelijk zou zijn. Het is natuurlijk een populist, hij draait kennis naar zijn hand.\u201d Hij sluit zich aan bij Ye\u015filg\u00f6z, dat Nederland qua kennis weer een forerunner moet worden. Danique, student Economie en Fiscale economie: \u201cDit was precies wat ik ervan had verwacht. Jammer dat er niet heel inhoudelijk werd gediscussieerd. Termen als innovatie bleven nu heel breed. Ik vind het goed dat er een klimaatontkenner was, zo kun je alle meningen horen.\u201d Ze snapt wel dat mensen gevoelig zijn voor Baudet: \u201cHij kan heel goed praten. Dan maakt het niet uit of het wetenschappelijk onderbouwd is, kijk maar naar Trump. Overigens heeft Forum voor Democratie ook goede punten, alleen niet wat betreft het klimaat.\u201d\n\n\u2018Hij kan heel goed praten. Dan maakt het niet uit of het wetenschappelijk onderbouwd is, kijk maar naar Trump.\u2019\n\nDrie zoenen voor Balkenende"}
-{"text": "Jaap Stam vertrekt bij Feyenoord. De 47-jarige trainer heeft zijn conclusies getrokken na de desastreuze 4-0 nederlaag tegen Ajax.\n\nEr was de laatste weken veel kritiek op het spel en de tactiek van Feyenoord, dat na elf speelronden op de twaalfde plaats in de eredivisie staat. In de Europa League leed de Rotterdamse club teleurstellende nederlagen tegen Rangers FC en Young Boys.\n\n\"Ik heb er goed en lang over nagedacht. Mijn uiteindelijke conclusie is dat het beter voor de club, de spelers en mijzelf is als ik een stap opzij doe\", reageert Stam op de website van Feyenoord.\n\n'Spelers wilden verder met Stam'\n\nTechnisch directeur Sjaak Troost betreurt het opstappen van de coach. \"De trainer had zeker onze steun nog en ook de spelersgroep wilde met hem verder.\"\n\n\"Maar als iemand zelf zegt: ik geloof er niet meer in en wil niet meer, dan respecteren we dat en houdt het op. Hoe jammer ook.\""}
-{"text": "As exciting as it was, I half-dreaded August first. I think we all did.\n\nWe were minor pro hockey players who\u2019d been skating since June, and we knew what August meant: NHL players were returning to the ice, and to our shinny game. It always baffled me that most didn\u2019t skate prior to that date, but living in Kelowna the trend was quite clear: the better the NHL player, the later they returned to the ice.\n\nThe real highlight of those first few weeks in August was watching everyone, even some of the best players in the game, struggle. You just can\u2019t take two-or-three months off, slap the jets back on and be playoff ready, you have to iron a few things out.\n\nThose \u201cthings\u201d seemed to be similar for everyone, whether they took a month or three off (rec players who only get out weekly know them well). Hockey\u2019s a tricky game, after all. Below are four things that seemed to happen to everyone.\n\nThe dreaded toe picks\n\nPlayers train hard during the off-season, but all that training is on the ground until this time of year. That means your feet are only as long as, well, your feet. Which makes sense.\n\nYour skates however? Those blades are longer. The highlight of every summer, for me, was seeing goal-scorer extraordinaire Dany Heatley toe pick and fall on his face at least once a summer. You know the guys just ate that up too.\n\n\"Whoops, sorry\" - collar bone shots\n\nIn your mind, you can still pick corners like you did at the end of the previous season. But it turns out a few months away and using sticks that have been drying out in your garage since your last skate doesn\u2019t quite equal pinpoint accuracy.\n\nPoor goalies. Guys are as strong as ever from months in the gym, and have broken scopes. That combo could possibly explain why it seems every goalie ever seems to hate playing summer shinny.\n\nEndless ankle passes\n\nSpeaking of goalies hating summer hockey, you should see their satisfaction level plummet when guys are playing shinny style - as in, passing every damn thing and never pulling the trigger - and they can\u2019t connect on anything. Nothing like seeing 10 total shots over 90 minutes and having them all be back-door tap-ins.\n\nGroup cardio panic\n\nYou can spend endless time in the gym lifting weights, but there\u2019s still nothing like hockey\u2019s version of cardio. It isn\u2019t running, it isn\u2019t biking, it isn\u2019t like anything really. It\u2019s anaerobic, it\u2019s stops and starts, it\u2019s playing the mirror game with an opponent between sprints. Within 30 minutes of Day 1 there\u2019s a litany of dead water bottles at the foot of the benches, and a whole bunch of players thinking \u201cI might want to up my focus on the actual on-ice part of the game.\u201d That panic means nobody misses day two.\n\n***\n\nFor context on how (comparatively) awful guys are at this time of year, consider how bad NHL hockey is in October. And that\u2019s after two months of skating.\n\nThe good news is, those first strides - rough though they may be - bring us a step closer to next season. For NHLers, 2014-15 starts this week."}
-{"text": "Manchester Ordsall Chord rail link completed Published duration 9 November 2017\n\nimage copyright Network Rail image caption The first passenger train will run across the chord in December\n\nA bridge connecting three railway stations in Manchester will open on 10 December, Network Rail has said.\n\nThe 300m (980ft) Ordsall Chord viaduct links Piccadilly, Oxford Road and Victoria stations enabling more trains to travel through the city centre.\n\nThe \u00a385m rail link is a major part of the Northern Hub upgrade for rail services across the North of England.\n\nIt will increase capacity, ease congestion and provide a direct service through to Manchester Airport.\n\nConstruction, which has taken two years, included realigning existing track, building new bridges, removing disused arches and restoring Grade I listed structures.\n\nimage copyright Network rail image caption The Ordsall Chord links Piccadilly, Oxford Road and Victoria stations\n\nIt has used 28,500 tonnes of ballast, 4,000 tonnes of steel and enough concrete to fill six Olympic-sized swimming pools.\n\nThe new chord, which crosses the River Irwell, sits close to where pioneering railway engineer George Stephenson unveiled the Liverpool-Manchester railway, the birthplace of modern inter-city railways, in 1830.\n\nNetwork Rail said the viaduct will enable an extra two fast trains per hour between Manchester Victoria and Liverpool and Leeds and Manchester, plus a direct service through Manchester city centre to Manchester Airport.\n\nIt is hoped it will reduce congestion at Piccadilly station by 25%.\n\nimage copyright Network Rail image caption The Ordsall Chord crosses the River Irwell\n\nimage copyright PA image caption The \u00a385m rail link is a major part of the Northern Hub upgrade for rail services across the North of England"}
-{"text": "reddit is way better then facebook i have friends on reddit\n\n602 shares"}
-{"text": "It's still business as usual for the X-Men movie universe as 20th Century Fox is making moves on a major new film with two long-time veterans of the franchise.\n\nA new report from Deadline reveals 20th Century Fox has hired longtime Marvel Comics scribe (and recent DC convert) Brian Michael Bendis to write a script for Deadpool director Tim Miller. Though little is known about the project at this point, it does have a working title: 143.\n\nUpdate: THR confirmed the film is Miller's Kitty Pryde solo film. More info HERE.\n\nThis will be Miller's return to the X-Men franchise after bringing the Merc with the Mouth to the big screen with Ryan Reynolds. The director left early in pre-production of Deadpool 2 after creative differences, and was replaced by John Wick and Atomic Blonde director David Leitch.\n\nMiller's next project will be yet another installment in the Terminator franchise for Paramount Pictures and Fox, with James Cameron overseeing the project.\n\nWhile Bendis recently left Marvel Comics, this film keeps him involved with the characters from the House of Ideas. He had short stints on Ultimate X-Men, All-New X-Men, and Uncanny X-Men titles throughout his tenure there, though he is best known for acclaimed runs on Daredevil, Ultimate Spider-Man, Jessica Jones (AKA Alias), and revitalizing the Avengers franchise.\n\nMany assumed that Bendis would get involved with DC's film and television projects. And given the divide between Marvel Entertainment boss Ike Perlmutter and Fox, it's worth speculating if this project could have contributed to Bendis' departure from the comics division.\n\nThe X-Men comics had two long-running titles that reached that issue number, if we're hunting for clues.\n\nUncanny X-Men #143 was a Christmas-set horror comic with Kitty Pryde in the X-Mansion when a demon named N'Garai attacked. The comic was created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne in their acclaimed run.\n\nWhile it would work as a holiday-themed horror project that could work with a low budget, it seems unlikely given the somewhat experimental release of The New Mutants is still on the docket. But it's still a possibility, especially with rumors of a Kitty Pryde movie being in development at the studio.\n\nNew X-Men #143 by Grant Morrison and Chris Bachalo could be more relevant, as it features Wolverine, Cyclops, and the thief Fantomex breaking into the Weapon Plus Project's base of operations called The World, where they learn the origin of the Weapon X project that created Logan and his predecessors, including Captain America.\n\nThis is yet another X-Men project that is said to be in the works at Fox, including movies based on Multiple Man, Gambit, X-Force, and others. All of these are in development as the looming deal with Disney works its way through regulators before the sale is finalized."}
-{"text": "Updated: June 10\n\n\n\nThe 2019 NHL Draft is an above-average draft class given there are so many forwards and particularly centers at the top, which have less projection risk than defensemen. The top tier has two fantastic prospects who could be true impact players in the NHL. The strength of this year\u2019s USNTDP team is evident, with four players from that team appearing in the top six, and five in the top 10.\n\n\n\nLast season I introduced the tiering system I used in my draft rankings and farm system rankings. I split players up into these tiers:\n\n\n\nSpecial prospect: Projects to be one of the very best players in the league at their position.\n\n\n\nElite prospect: Projects to be top 10-15 percent of the league at their position.\n\n\n\nHigh-end prospect: Projects as a top-line forward who can play on your PP1/top pairing defenseman. This is an upper half of the first round quality prospect.\n\n\n\nVery good prospect: Projects as a top-six forward/top-four..."}
-{"text": "Joachim Stamp steht vor einem Scherbenhaufen. Vor einem Jahr trat der nordrhein-westf\u00e4lische Integrationsminister mit dem Versprechen an, ihm werde gelingen, was die rot-gr\u00fcne Vorg\u00e4ngerregierung nicht hinbekam: Als islamistische Gef\u00e4hrder eingestufte Ausl\u00e4nder w\u00fcrden k\u00fcnftig z\u00fcgig abgeschoben, damit sie in Deutschland keine Anschl\u00e4ge begehen k\u00f6nnten wie Weihnachtsmarktattent\u00e4ter Anis Amri. Der FDP-Politiker, der auch stellvertretender Ministerpr\u00e4sident ist, konnte schnell Erfolge vorweisen. Regelm\u00e4\u00dfig schiebt das Land mittlerweile Gef\u00e4hrder ab. Stamp l\u00e4sst sein Ministerium und die ihm nachgeordneten Beh\u00f6rden dabei nach eigenem Bekunden alle rechtlichen M\u00f6glichkeiten ausreizen. Das ist gut so.\n\nDoch kurz nach der Abschiebung von Sami A., des mittlerweile prominentesten Gef\u00e4hrders, verdichtete sich der Verdacht, Stamp habe seine M\u00f6glichkeiten diesmal nicht aus-, sondern \u00fcberreizt. Der Tunesier war am 13. Juli auf pers\u00f6nliche Veranlassung des Integrationsministers in einer Nacht-und-Nebel-Aktion ausgeflogen worden. Das geschah, obwohl das Verwaltungsgericht Gelsenkirchen ausdr\u00fccklich ein seit langem geltendes Abschiebeverbot bekr\u00e4ftigt hatte, weil es noch nicht gekl\u00e4rt sah, ob Sami A. in Tunesien tats\u00e4chlich keine Folter droht.\n\nVon diesem Verbotsbeschluss bekam Stamp Kenntnis, noch bevor Sami A. den tunesischen Beh\u00f6rden \u00fcbergeben wurde. Dennoch lie\u00df der Minister die Abschiebung nicht abbrechen. In den folgenden Tagen und Wochen scherte er sich auch nicht darum, dass das Verwaltungsgericht Gelsenkirchen anordnete, Sami A. zur\u00fcckzuholen, um sein Verfahren ordentlich zu Ende zu bringen. Stattdessen gerierte sich Stamp, der auch Landesvorsitzender der B\u00fcrgerrechtspartei FDP ist, als der bessere Richter: Die Abschiebung sei nach Recht und Gesetz erfolgt, beschied er. Das war verst\u00f6rend. Denn Gerichte haben in Deutschland \u00fcber die Rechtm\u00e4\u00dfigkeit des Handelns der Exekutive zu entscheiden, nicht die Exekutive selbst.\n\nDie Reaktion der schwarz-gelben Regierung ist uns\u00e4glich\n\nIm Fall A. agierte Stamp, als k\u00f6nne man mit dem Islamisten nur fertig werden, wenn man es mit dem Rechtsstaat nicht so genau nimmt. In der Absicht, an Sami A. ein Exempel zu statuieren, hat er den Rechtsstaat gef\u00e4hrdet.\n\nEs ist kein Wunder, dass auch das oberste nordrhein-westf\u00e4lische Verwaltungsgericht am Mittwoch deutliche Worte fand: Die Abschiebung von A. sei \u201eevident rechtswidrig\u201c gewesen. Ausdr\u00fccklich habe das Stamp-Ministerium die f\u00fcr Sami A. zust\u00e4ndige Ausl\u00e4nderbeh\u00f6rde Bochum angewiesen, das Gelsenkirchener Gericht nicht \u00fcber den R\u00fcckf\u00fchrungstermin zu informieren. Der Vorgang ist so ungeheuerlich, dass ihn die sonst mit Presse\u00e4u\u00dferungen zur\u00fcckhaltende OVG-Pr\u00e4sidentin noch einmal kommentierte: Der Fall werfe \u201eFragen zu Demokratie und Rechtsstaat \u2013 insbesondere zu Gewaltenteilung und effektivem Rechtsschutz auf\u201c.\n\nUns\u00e4glich ist, wie die schwarz-gelbe Regierung auf die herbe Niederlage in M\u00fcnster reagiert. Innenminister Herbert Reul von der CDU \u00fcbt populistische Gerichtsschelte: Wenn die B\u00fcrger Gerichtsentscheidungen nicht mehr verst\u00fcnden, sei das Wasser auf die M\u00fchlen der Extremisten. Zudem empfiehlt Reul den Richtern, \u201eimmer auch im Blick zu haben, dass ihre Entscheidungen dem Rechtsempfinden der Bev\u00f6lkerung entsprechen\u201c. Er bezweifele, dass dies hier der Fall sei. W\u00fcnscht sich Reul eine Rechtsprechung nach Stammtischstimmungslage oder Boulevard-Laune? Interessant ist in diesem Zusammenhang, dass Sami A. erst durch die aggressive Dauerberichterstattung eines Boulevard-Blatts zu einer Causa mit vermeintlichem Beschleunigungsbedarf wurde. Systematisch imaginierte man im Stamp-Ministerium seither einen Sami-Notstand herbei, bis als Ausweg nur das Fait accompli \u00fcbrig zu bleiben schien.\n\nDer Rechtsstaat ist ein Schutzwall gegen Willk\u00fcr\n\nDabei w\u00e4re es ein Leichtes gewesen, die Geschichte rechtssicher zu Ende zu bringen. Die Gelsenkirchener Richter haben mehrfach darauf hingewiesen, dass der Fall ganz schnell erledigt gewesen w\u00e4re, wenn \u2013 wie fr\u00fcher in \u00e4hnlichen F\u00e4llen \u2013 eine diplomatische Note Tunesiens eingeholt worden w\u00e4re, in der versichert wird, dass Sami A. keine Folter drohe. Ein solches Dokument zu fordern, ist keine Marotte weltfremder Richter, sondern Ausweis rechtsstaatlichen Handelns. Jeder, selbst ein Gef\u00e4hrder, den alle loswerden wollen, hat ein Recht darauf, dass ein Gericht auf der Grundlage von \u00fcberpr\u00fcfbaren Fakten entscheidet. Der Rechtsstaat ist ein Schutzwall gegen Willk\u00fcr.\n\nIntegrationsminister Stamp h\u00e4tte sich auch nach der rechtswidrigen Abschiebung noch um eine solche diplomatische Note bem\u00fchen k\u00f6nnen, statt das Gericht zu ignorieren. Er h\u00e4tte das Verfahren damit einerseits \u201eheilen\u201c k\u00f6nnen, andererseits h\u00e4tte er auf diese Weise die Bundesregierung (die allein ein solches Dokument erbitten kann) in die Pflicht genommen, zumal Innenminister Horst Seehofer (CSU) Sami A. im Mai zur Chefsache gemacht hatte. So aber steht Stamp nun als der Alleinverantwortliche f\u00fcr das Debakel da.\n\nUnd das ist l\u00e4ngst nicht zu Ende. Denn sollte der Tunesier, wie gerichtlich angeordnet, zur\u00fcckkehren, w\u00e4re er nicht \u201enur\u201c Gef\u00e4hrder, sondern selbst gef\u00e4hrdet. Er m\u00fcsste mit viel Steuergeld zugleich bewacht und besch\u00fctzt werden."}
-{"text": "Det gamle Musikcafeen gen\u00e5bner til januar takket v\u00e6re unge kr\u00e6fter fra Aarhus? undergrundsmilj\u00f8.\n\nAnnonce\n\nAdressen Mejlgade 53 st\u00e5r formentlig fortsat klart i mange \u00e5rhusianeres erindring som stedet, hvor Musikcafeen gennem 33 \u00e5r pr\u00e6senterede tusindevis af livenavne.\n\nI 2012 rykkede folkene bag Musikcafeen ned p\u00e5 Godsbanen og \u00e5bnede det, vi i dag kender som Radar.\n\nDet gamle spillested i Mejlgade blev kort efter vakt til live med en lidt flagrende musikprofil under navnet Backstage - og lukkede igen.\n\nNu har unge kr\u00e6fter set sig lun p\u00e5 lokalerne. Til januar gen\u00e5bner det h\u00e6derkronede gamle Musikcafeen som Tape.\n\nDet er et hold af blandt andet de ih\u00e6rdige koncertarrang\u00f8rer fra Flux og Raum Eins, der er initiativtagere til Tape.\n\nRaum Eins har de seneste godt fem \u00e5r arrangeret punkkoncerter i Tr\u00f8jborg Beboerhus, mens dynamoerne bag Flux har afviklet festivaler og et hav af mangfoldige undergrundsarrangementer p\u00e5 forskellige spillesteder.\n\nMorten Ettrup fra Raum Eins fort\u00e6ller p\u00e5 Facebook:\n\n\u00bbVi slog straks til, da vi fik muligheden for at leje lokalerne, som jeg selv husker, fra da jeg som teenager tog ind for at se koncerter p\u00e5 Musikcaf\u00e9en uden at ane, hvad der spillede, og ofte fik en god, eller om ikke god, s\u00e5 i hvert fald interessant, oplevelse.\u00ab\n\n\u00bbForh\u00e5bningen er, at vi kan videregive den samme f\u00f8lelse til s\u00e5vel teens som \u00e6ldre koncertg\u00e6ngere\u00ab, tilf\u00f8jer han.\n\nFra Flux lyder det:\n\n\u00bbMed Tape \u00f8nsker vi at skabe et samlingspunkt for byens uafh\u00e6ngige koncertarrang\u00f8rer, der i h\u00f8j grad har markeret sig de senere \u00e5r med bookinger, der har v\u00e6ret med til at accelerere et progressivt musikmilj\u00f8 p\u00e5 tv\u00e6rs af genrer\u00ab."}
-{"text": "DENVER, Colo. (CBS4)\u2013 Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump spoke at the Western Conservative Summit at the Colorado Convention Center on Friday. He touched on many topics ranging from guns to borders but some say he missed his opportunity in Colorado.\n\n\u201cThe NRA endorsed me to save your Second Amendment, 100 percent we\u2019re saving your Second Amendment,\u201d said Trump.\n\nBefore Trump took the stage, former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was greeted with a standing ovation. She talked about how Trump appeals to voters.\n\n\u201cHe wasn\u2019t found among the politicians, insisting that he be elected and re-elected, less they have to come home and join us peasants through the laws that they passed, but exempted themselves from. Well-armed with identities as Americans, people of all persuasions jumped on board the Trump train,\u201d said Palin.\n\nShe also addressed the protesters gathered outside the convention center. Several were arrested as SWAT teams moved in to control the growing crowds.\n\nPalin said Trump wasn\u2019t labeled a racist until he ran for office.\n\n\u201cThose accusers are the silly protesters at Trump rallies. We\u2019ve been telling him he should hold his rallies at construction sites, we know those protesters won\u2019t show up at work sites,\u201d said Palin.\n\nTrump says he has a plan to make the borders in American mean something again.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to have strong borders. We\u2019re going to have the wall, we\u2019re going to let people who come into our country that should come into our country and they\u2019re going to come into our country legally, they\u2019re going to come in legally,\u201d said Trump.\n\nHe also segued into trade, saying the two are connected.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re being destroyed by trade\u2026 we\u2019re being destroyed at our borders, we\u2019re allowing people to come into our country from Syria and other places that shouldn\u2019t be allowed to come into our country,\u201d said Trump.\n\nTrump also took time to discuss the GOP caucus in Colorado in which former Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz took all 34 delegates. Trump supporters gathered for a protest at the state Capitol a few days later.\n\n\u201cThe system is rigged. You know, we went through the primary system and we did have problems here. You know, it wasn\u2019t a vote but someone did, it\u2019s all right, it all worked out well. In the end it doesn\u2019t matter, here we are,\u201d said Trump.\n\nFriday\u2019s speech was Trump\u2019s first visit to Colorado since becoming the presumptive Republican nominee despite it being a battleground state. But he promised he would return a lot between now and November.\n\nKendal Unruh with Free the Delegates said Trump missed his opportunity in Colorado.\n\n\u201cHe didn\u2019t talk about the sanctity of life, he didn\u2019t talk about traditional marriage, he didn\u2019t talk about the transgender bathroom bill,\u201d said Unruh.\n\nWhen asked how Trump will win Colorado, she replied, \u201cTrump is not going to win Colorado, Trump is not going to win anywhere and he\u2019s certainly not going to win in swing states.\u201d"}
-{"text": "AMD CEO, Dr. Lisa Su, has confirmed that the red team\u2019s next generation Ryzen 4000 Renoir APUs will be launching early next year. We expect that means January\u2019s annual Vega techgasm, CES, will be featuring a whole load of AMD-based laptops to kick off the new year in style. The new Ryzen 4000 7nm mobile processors will be based on the current Zen 2 processor architecture, but it\u2019s the choice of graphics component that we still don\u2019t 100% know about within the new APUs.\n\nThe current expectation is that, unlike the next-generation PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett consoles, AMD\u2019s Zen 2 APU will feature Vega-based GPUs rather than featuring the newer Navi graphics architecture packed into the RX 5700 graphics cards.\n\nGiven that the Vega architecture has already had a 7nm die shrink, made flesh in the consumer space by the abortive Radeon VII GPU, there shouldn\u2019t be any limitation in having Vega silicon sitting alongside a 7nm Zen 2 chiplet. And, by having a single eight-core Zen 2 chiplet in the package, that would mean a potential doubling of the maximum core count for mobile AMD chips.\n\nDr. Su was talking with VentureBeat after the recent earning\u2019s call, and essentially rehashed a lot of the anodyne responses given to the questions from analysts. But when talking about the product stack for next year she has confirmed that the 7nm mobile chips will be coming early on in 2020.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re also pretty excited as we go into 2020,\u201d she says. \u201cYou\u2019ll start to see our next-generation mobile products, as well, coming in early 2020. You\u2019ll see 7nm mobile chips that have yet to come to market. That\u2019s a pretty strong portfolio.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re well underway with Zen 3 as a follow-on, as well, for 2020 \u2014 lots of product activity. Even though 2019 was a big product year, I think 2020 will be an even larger product year for us.\u201d\n\nWith both the Zen 2-based APUs and Zen 3 CPUs sporting the Ryzen 4000 nomenclature we\u2019ll see a whole new generation of red team silicon flooding the market throughout the year. The good news is that AMD is still sticking with its AM4 socket at least for this next generation of chips so there\u2019s no need to ditch your motherboard just yet.\n\nAt least not until Zen 4 in 2021, anyways.\n\nThe sticking point surrounds which graphics architecture is being used with the Ryzen 4000 APUs, however. The natural assumption would have been that it would match the custom designs coming out for the next-gen consoles, pairing Zen 2 CPU and Navi GPU architectures together, but from early Renoir APU Linux driver support it seems that it\u2019s going to have a modified Vega GPU attached to it.\n\nThe expectation is that the basic GCN Vega design will be present and correct from a standard Compute Unit perspective, but that it will be appended with Navi\u2019s updated multimedia and display engine silicon.\n\nFollowing the Ryzen 4000 APUs at the start of the year will then be the Zen 3-based CPUs, likely around the summer again. Using the 7nm+ design we can expect a 10% performance bump from the new TSMC node itself, and if there\u2019s the option of a clock speed hike for the new chips we could see even greater levels of processing power with the new AMD silicon."}
-{"text": "US officials on Thursday displayed military equipment they say confirms that Iran is increasingly supplying weapons to militants across the Middle East and is continuing its missile program unabated.\n\nAt a military hangar in Washington, Brian Hook, the US special representative for Iran, showed reporters a collection of guns, rockets, drones and other gear. Some of these had been intercepted in the Strait of Hormuz en route to Shia fighters in the region while others had been seized by the Saudis in Yemen, the Pentagon said.\n\nThe presentation \u2014 very similar to a December 2017 event led by the US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley \u2014 is part of an ongoing push by President Donald Trump\u2019s administration to increase pressure on Tehran and shame Western allies into doing more to tackle Iran\u2019s regional influence.\n\nThe centerpiece of the display was what Hook said is a Sayyad-2 surface-to-air missile system that the Saudis had intercepted in Yemen this year.\n\nFarsi writing along the white rocket\u2019s side helped prove it was Iranian made, he said.\n\n\u201cThe conspicuous Farsi markings is Iran\u2019s way of saying they don\u2019t mind being caught violating UN resolutions,\u201d Hook told reporters, adding the missile was destined to Huthi rebels who are fighting the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.\n\n\u201cThe Iranians wanted to deliver this to the Huthis, who would have used it to target coalition aircraft up to 46 miles away.\u201d\n\n\u2013 US lawmakers frustrated with Saudis \u2013\n\nThe presentation came a day after US senators voted to advance a measure that could end US military support for the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen.\n\nLawmakers have grown increasingly frustrated with Saudi Arabia after the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whose death has been tied to Riyadh.\n\nHook also displayed anti-tank guided missiles that the US says Iran had provided to the Taliban in Afghanistan. They were recovered in Kandahar by the Afghan army, he said.\n\n\u201cIran has been providing material support to the Taliban since at least 2007,\u201d Hook said.\n\nWashington this year pulled out of a pact with Iran aimed at constraining its push for nuclear weapons.\n\nHook said that since leaving the deal, US officials have found \u201cfreedom and leverage\u201d to tackle Iran\u2019s regional influence, and he chided other nations for not getting on board.\n\n\u201cThe current international environment has created unacceptably low expectations for the regime in Tehran,\u201d he said.\n\nIf \u201cthe demands of \u2026 the Iranian regime seem too many, it is because Iran\u2019s malign activities are too numerous.\u201d\n\n(AFP)"}
-{"text": "Today Equality Michigan reported on the murder of Ashton O\u2019Hara, a Black transgender and genderfluid person of color who was murdered in Detroit on July 14th. O\u2019Hara\u2019s murder makes him (he was using he/him pronouns at the time of his murder) the 14th confirmed murder of a trans person this year, and the 12th of a trans person of color. If we include Mya Hall, a black trans woman who was shot by NSA Security, each of those numbers goes up by one. We\u2019re only eight months into the year and we\u2019ve already seen more trans women murdered than all of last year.\n\nAshton was celebrating his genderfluidity from a young age, telling his mother \u201cMama, you are so pretty, I want to be just like you when I grow up,\u201d when he was small. He loved children, dancing and performing at clubs. He was also passionate about doing hair and even taught himself how to braid extensions at the age of four. His mother, Rebecca, said that he was so talented he could \u201cturn a frog into a princess.\u201d She also added that she hopes speaking out about his life and death might help someone.\n\nI know Ashton is with God, but every day is a challenge. I hope speaking about this might help save somebody \u2013 even just one person saved will be worth it. A lot of people find it hard to be themselves in this world, but Ashton was always uniquely him. It\u2019s time for everyone to be respected.\n\nOnce again, the names of the trans people murdered so far this year include O\u2019Hara, who was 25 years old; Shade Shuler, 22; Amber Monroe, 20; K.C. Haggard, 66; India Clarke, 25; Mercedes Williamson, 17; London Chanel, 21; Kristina Grant Infiniti, 47; Penny Proud, 21; Taja de Jesus, 36; Yazmin Vash Payne, 33; Ty Underwood, 24; Lamia Beard, 30 and Papi Edwards, age 20. Nine of these fourteen people didn\u2019t even make it past the age of 25 and twelve of them were trans women of color.\n\nWith Ashton, there have been five \u2014 FIVE \u2014 trans people murdered in the last month alone. There is an unchecked weapon of mass destruction moving throughout America that is aimed straight at the heart of trans women and dmab trans people of color. This avalanche of murders of Black and Latina trans women don\u2019t seem to cause mainstream society to even bat an eye. We\u2019ve already seen two more murders this year than all of last year and there doesn\u2019t seem to be an end in sight. My heart is broken, my head is weary and I\u2019m shaking as I\u2019m writing this.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nI\u2019m scared \u2014 no, I\u2019m terrified for my friends and for my sisters and for my elders. I usually pass as white and I don\u2019t have to worry about many of the other factors that often put trans women in danger of being murdered so I\u2019m not going to sit here and pretend that all of these murders make me a more likely target. As a Latina trans woman, I might be more at risk than others, but I\u2019m not about to co-opt the violence that Black and darker-skinned Latina trans women and dmab trans people face. That\u2019s not what this is about. This is about all of the amazing trans women of color who have helped me, been there for me, have shown me love and have fought to give me the rights and the opportunities that I have today.\n\nI\u2019m terrified for all my trans sisters who are so hated by the men they encounter that they hear a catcall turn into the sound of a fist or a brick or a gun. I\u2019m terrified for all of my trans sisters who are so hated by the men who claim to love them that they end up dead by their hands. I\u2019m terrified for all of my trans sisters who are already not seen as human because they are Black, and have their trans womanhood used as just one more excuse for why they shouldn\u2019t be allowed to live. I\u2019m terrified for all my trans sisters who are afraid to go outside because they know that it\u2019s actually not that unlikely that they\u2019ll be next.\n\nWhat is it going to take to stop this from happening? I don\u2019t know what I should be doing. I don\u2019t know what else I can say to convince people that society needs to change. Five trans people, four of them trans people of color, have been murdered in the last 30 days and honestly, I\u2019m waiting for more names to be added to this list. Trans women, or rather, white trans women, are all over reality TV right now, and many people are telling the rest of us that that means that we should be happy that we\u2019re getting a lot more visibility. Really though, what is that visibility leading to? Correlation doesn\u2019t necessarily equal causation, but since we\u2019ve gotten all of this visibility, violence against trans women of color hasn\u2019t gone down, it\u2019s actually gone up. I don\u2019t know how many more times I can read stories like this or write stories like this. I\u2019m so afraid that the next article I write like this will be about one of my friends.\n\nNone of what I\u2019m saying hasn\u2019t been said before by other trans women of color, and specifically by Black trans women. You need to go read their words and listen to them. If you have money, you should go and support them financially. If you see transmisogyny and you can call it out, you should. If you can spread education and acceptance, you should do that. Above all, you should listen to them and care about what they\u2019re saying.\n\nI don\u2019t know what else to say. I\u2019m running out of tears, I\u2019m running out of hope and I\u2019m running out of strength. I feel defeated. I feel like my TWOC sisters aren\u2019t safe and aren\u2019t going to be safe any time soon."}
-{"text": "The Island and the Whales follows the lives of Faroese Islanders struggling to accept that their traditional foods may no longer be safe to eat because the seas are so polluted.\n\nHalfway between Norway and Iceland, the islands have almost no agricultural land. People there have survived for more than a thousand years by hunting whales and seabirds.\n\nThe famous grind whale hunt happens if pilot whales are spotted and the islanders manage to drive them ashore. The whales\u2019 throats are cut in the shallow water and the sheriff takes charge of dividing the meat and blubber amongst those who took part.\n\nEvery aspect of their hunting is collective. We see men tramping across the hills carrying thick ropes to the top of sheer cliffs. Relying on the rope and the dozen men holding it, they climb down sheer cliffs to raid gannet colonies for food.\n\nBut the Island\u2019s medical authorities are testing people for mercury and trying to persuade them to eat whale and birds less often.\n\nA thread of storytelling, legend, dance and music runs through the film and the islanders\u2019 festivals.\n\nThrough their extended families and friends, the film shows \u00adthoughtful people concerned about their environment and the species that give them food security.\n\nThe hunting scenes are not for the squeamish but no-one hunts for fun here and nothing is wasted\n\nLocal ornithologist and taxidermist, Jens-Kjeld has been keeping records of the bird populations for decades.\n\nIn a horrible example the film shows a puffin colony reduced to a few birds because their food, the sea eels, have disappeared.\n\nThe hunting scenes are not for the squeamish but no-one hunts for fun here and nothing is wasted.\n\nWhen the direct-action environmentalists in the Sea Shepherd group arrive in a hugely expensive ship to disrupt the grind and argue for veganism, they predictably fail and unite the islanders against their \u201ccultural imperialism\u201d.\n\nSea Shepherd don\u2019t appear to know or care that the fishing crash caused serious unemployment, or that it is only kept down by people leaving the islands to find work abroad.\n\nHunting for the Faroese is their history, culture and identity as people surviving by skill and ingenuity.\n\nIt is also how they can fill the freezer when there isn\u2019t much money about. This beautiful, atmospheric film shows ordinary people struggling with crises they didn\u2019t cause.\n\nThe Island and the Whales, directed by Mike Daly, is in cinemas now"}
-{"text": "The FBI had photos showing former White House staff secretary Rob Porter's alleged domestic abuse toward his ex-wife in early 2017, CNN reports, raising questions about what information senior aides such as counsel Don McGahn had access to regarding Porter.\n\nThe bureau obtained the photos of Porter's first wife, Colbie Holderness, with a black eye just seven days after President Trump Donald John TrumpUS reimposes UN sanctions on Iran amid increasing tensions Jeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Trump supporters chant 'Fill that seat' at North Carolina rally MORE's inauguration, according to CNN. Holderness provided the photos as part of Porter's background check to obtain a security clearance.\n\nFBI Director Christopher Wray testified before Congress that the bureau provided an initial report on Porter to the White House in March 2017 and a full background check report in July. A law enforcement official told CNN that the White House would have at least been told of the existence of the photos at the time.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nWhite House officials have claimed that they were unaware of the extent of the abuse allegations until the photos surfaced in media reports earlier this month along with allegations from both of Porter's ex-wives about past physical and emotional abuse.\n\nThe FBI then raised questions into when the White House would have known, with a testimony from Wray saying that the bureau had sent reports to the White House months before the initial report in the Daily Mail.\n\nThe Washington Post reported earlier this month that McGahn knew about domestic abuse allegations against Porter at least a year ago. CNN reported that a source said he learned in September that the domestic violence allegations were delaying Porter's security clearance.\n\nPorter resigned from his post shortly after the allegations came to light but has maintained his innocence."}
-{"text": "Photo: tenpoundhammer /Flickr/Creative Commons License\n\nDo you follow \"America's $1 Funnyman\" Neil Hamburger on Twitter? If not, you should. Not only because it's hilarious, but because, every now and then, he offers up an important public health service. It takes the form of a barrage of retweets from various Twitterers around the country who are in the midst of various states of food poisoning from Taco Bell. (Now and then, the retweets will focus on another fast food corporation, but mostly, it's Taco Bell at fault.)\n\nFor example, here's a recent barrage from Hamburger's account:\n\nBut this isn't all just fun and games. As Tim Heidecker, from the various Tim & Eric comedic enterprises, puts it:\n\nWhen is the health dept gonna follow up on @NeilHamburger 's Taco Bell RTs... There is clearly a problem out there!\u2014 timheidecker (@timheidecker) October 25, 2013\n\nTo get the story behind the commentary-less retweets, I emailed back-and-forth with Gregg Turkington, the comedian behind the Neil Hamburger character. Here's a peek behind the scenes.\n\nWhat's the point you're trying to make with the Taco Bell retweets?\n\nGregg Turkington: Just trying to entertain folks using subjects that I personally find very interesting.\n\nThe best part is how you never feel the need to add in your own commentary to the tweets.\n\nGregg: It's interesting how much of a point can be made without having to directly ever say anything, just by letting the retweets do the talking. I've had a few similar campaigns over the years. I think the one that shocked me even more than the Taco Bell stuff was the avalanche of tweets from young women after Aaron Hernandez was arrested, endless variations on \"He shouldn't have to go to prison -- he's too sexy\" and \"I don't care if he killed anyone -- he's HOT!\"\n\nFor the food poisoning ones, why do you specifically retweet complaints about Taco Bell?\n\nGregg: I've done the \"research,\" and no other fast-food chain has anywhere near as many \"I got sick\" tweets on a daily basis as Taco Bell. It's an epidemic! They really need to hire me as a consultant -- I'd love to give a detailed \"Food Preparation and Safety\" lecture to a gathering of national Taco Bell managers. I retweet only a fraction of the tweets that appear daily from people who were made sick by Taco Bell. Just a fraction.\n\nDo you think this is a systemic problem with the current state of food production?\n\nGregg: I do think that excessive cost-cutting and the overvaluation of \"convenience\" has really degraded the quality of life in general in America, and certainly when you're talking about fast food \"restaurants.\" That said, on the flip side, I think we're actually living in a golden age as far as restaurants and the availability of quality food is concerned, it just takes some effort to find it.\n\nWhen you initially started to do these food retweets, what made you put in those search terms? Did you get food poisoning yourself?\n\nGregg: I've only been food poisoned once -- worst week of my life.\n\nMy only food poisoning story took place at my sister's bachelorette party, where everyone decided it was a good idea to give the bowling alley's taco dip a whirl. That was a bad three days for about a dozen people.\n\nGregg: Oh god, bowling alley taco dip! That is bad, bad news. I tour a lot, rolling the dice on restaurants, so food poisoning is always on my mind. For a short time, my dad worked for the Los Angeles County Health Department inspecting restaurants. He had all kinds of truly insane stories that I found absolutely enthralling as a kid. I think I've always had a giddy, probably unbalanced, fascination with the subject.\n\nDo you remember any stories from your dad's job?\n\nGregg: I remember my dad saying that one of the worst culprits as far as restaurants making people sick is the ice machine. If the plumbing was done incorrectly/illegally, sometimes the pipe that drains the melting ice water from the ice machine hooks up with the same outlet that toilet waste is exiting from. If that backs up -- the toilet waste can then end up going UP the pipes into the ice machine, and, well, you get the picture.\n\nYou're a vegetarian. When did that start and why?\n\nGregg: I've been a vegetarian for 25 years. Sympathetic to animals. I had worked on a ranch as a teenager, and knew how intelligent and sensitive animals were. But weirdly enough, the thing that was the actual trigger was seeing the mostly-forgotten movie \"A Private Function,\" which had a pig as a main character. Eating them just wasn't something I felt good about doing anymore, and for me, personally, it made sense to stop.\n\nI haven't eaten pig for about eight months now, and the only real reason for that was because my girlfriend happened to show me a YouTube clip of a pig being a very, very, very cute pet. That was enough for me.\n\nGregg: I actually stopped eating pig first, and then after a few months was like, \"What's the difference? If I'm not eating pig, I may as well stop eating them all.\"\n\nWant recipes and food news emailed directly to you? Sign up for the new Food newsletter here!"}
-{"text": "Matchbox-keyboard is an on screen 'virtual' or 'software' keyboard which works well for small touchscreen TFTs connected to a Raspberry Pi.\n\n\n\nMatchbox-keyboard also uses XML files to specify the layout of the keys, which makes it highly customizable.\n\nThe touchscreen used in the above video is a PiScreen.\n\n\n\n1. Install prerequisite development files\n\npi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo apt-get install libfakekey-dev libpng-dev libxft-dev autoconf libtool -y\n\n2. Install and compile matchbox-keyboard\n\npi@raspberrypi ~ $ git clone https://github.com/mwilliams03/matchbox-keyboard.git\n\npi@raspberrypi ~ $ cd matchbox-keyboard\n\npi@raspberrypi ~/matchbox-keyboard $ ./autogen.sh\n\npi@raspberrypi ~/matchbox-keyboard $ make\n\npi@raspberrypi ~/matchbox-keyboard $ sudo make install\n\nInstallation of the shared matchbox libraries needs to be done after the installation of matchbox-keyboard.\n\npi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo apt-get install libmatchbox1 -y\n\n3. Create toggle script to start or stop matchbox-keyboard\n\nWe will now create a script to toggle the keyboard on and off. And then add a menu item to access the script as well as add an icon to the task bar for easy access.\n\nCreate a new file;\n\npi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo nano /usr/bin/toggle-matchbox-keyboard.sh\n\nAnd copy in the text below;\n\n#!/bin/bash #This script toggle the virtual keyboard PID=`pidof matchbox-keyboard` if [ ! -e $PID ]; then killall matchbox-keyboard else matchbox-keyboard& fi\n\nNow make it executable;\n\npi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/toggle-matchbox-keyboard.sh\n\nWe will now add an item to the start menu;\n\nFor older images;\n\npi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo nano /usr/local/share/applications/toggle-matchbox-keyboard.desktop\n\nFor newer images, including Jessie\n\npi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo nano /usr/share/applications/toggle-matchbox-keyboard.desktop\n\nCopy in this text;\n\n[Desktop Entry] Name=Toggle Matchbox Keyboard Comment=Toggle Matchbox Keyboard Exec=toggle-matchbox-keyboard.sh Type=Application Icon=matchbox-keyboard.png Categories=Panel;Utility;MB X-MB-INPUT-MECHANSIM=True\n\nTo create an icon on the task bar, open up the LXDE panel config;\n\npi@raspberrypi ~ $ nano ~/.config/lxpanel/LXDE/panels/panel\n\nIf the above file is empty, then it is most likely that you have a newer version of Raspbian, especially if you are using a Pi 2. You then would need to edit the panel config at this location;\n\nIf using RASPBIAN WHEEZY:\n\npi@raspberrypi ~ $ nano ~/.config/lxpanel-pi/LXDE/panels/panel\n\nIf using RASPBIAN JESSIE:\n\npi@raspberrypi ~ $ nano ~/.config/lxpanel/LXDE-pi/panels/panel\n\nFind this section of config (it is near the bottom);\n\nPlugin { type = launchbar Config { Button { id=lxde-screenlock.desktop } Button { id=lxde-logout.desktop } }\n\nand change it to;\n\nPlugin { type = launchbar Config { Button { id=toggle-matchbox-keyboard.desktop } Button { id=lxde-screenlock.desktop } Button { id=lxde-logout.desktop } }\n\nMore Information\n\nMatchbox-keyboard can be started from the command line with the below statement. This needs to be run from a command prompt within X which is running on the touch screen;\n\npi@raspberrypi ~ $ matchbox-keyboard\n\nAlternately, if you have SSH'd in from another PC, use;\n\npi@raspberrypi ~ $ DISPLAY=:0.0 matchbox-keyboard\n\nThis will load the default keyboard layout, seen here;\n\n\n\nMatchbox-keyboard can also resize the window with the -s integer argument. Integer is a value between 30%-100% of the screen width.\n\nHere is the defualt keyboard layout loaded at 50% of screen width;\n\npi@raspberrypi ~ $ matchbox-keyboard -s 50\n\nMatchbox-keyboard also supports custom keyboards, and there are a few loaded with the install into /usr/local/share/matchbox-keyboard/ . It is very easy to build your own."}
-{"text": "Money really does grow on trees\n\nEverybody is making money in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. Whether you are a miner, a trader, you #HODL, program, consult, etc people are getting paid money. Lots of money. But there is another approach to making that sweet, sweet crypto that has nothing to do with the above list. It\u2019s called an Airdrop, and basically it\u2019s free money.\n\nBy normal standards, an airdrop is a simple act of dropping supplies, or troops, or equivalent via parachute from an aircraft. Think the Berlin airdrop, or the Apple Iphone airdrop feature used to troll people.\n\nIn the crypto world, an airdrop is the process of distributing tokens to a crypto wallet at no extra cost. Zero. Zilch. Freeeeeeee. Companies that are trying to reward loyal customers, generate awareness about a new cryptocurrency (e.g ICO) or build a database of information for marketing generally employ airdrops.\n\nAirdrops also happen when there is a fork in a cryptocurrency. Think Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC), or Monero (XMR) and Monero Original (XMO) and Monero0 (ZMR) and Monero Classic (XMC) and MoneroV (XMV)\u2026\u2026You get the point.\n\nBut we don\u2019t care about any of that, right? What we want to know is how can we maximize the amount of airdrops received and make that phat phat crypto loot? You can check out this article for what airdrops are Cryptocurrency Airdrops, but in this piece we will see how to maximize the amount of airdrops you receive.\n\nOpen a Bitcointalk.org account\n\nThis may seem silly but Bitcointalk.org is one of the best resources for anything crypto related, Airdops included. Which makes this first step very important, since in many airdrops, they will request your Bitcointalk nickname to enter.\n\nYou will also find that 90% (clearly not scientific) of the airdrops are published here with some being exclusive for Bitcointalk members. It is highly recommended that you \u201cwork\u201d your account and raise it to Jr. Member rank, although it is preferable to become a Member to obtain the maximum benefit.\n\n**NEVER EVER GIVE OUT YOUR PRIVATE KEYS. PERIOD\n\nCrypto Exchanges\n\nGotta register for \u2018em all! Each exchange has a specific list of crypto markets they trade. No two exchanges will have the same list of crypto assets, which means if you want to take advantage of Airdrops you will have to be registered on many, many exchanges. Don\u2019t limit yourself you the Big 5: Binance, OKEx, Huobi, Bitfinex, and Upbit. Start opening accounts on lesser-known exchanges like TradeOgre, Cryptobridge, EXMO, Cryptopia, Ethfinix, Etherdelta etc.\n\nSocial Media\n\nIn many airdrops there are demand tweets, retweets, follows, Facebook page likes, join Telegram groups and so on. If you are willing to hunt airdrops, it is indispensable you open a Twitter account, a Facebook account, an Ethereum wallet and an exclusive Telegram account for airdrops.\n\nAs mentioned in the intro companies are trying to make their product shine in the overcrowded cryptocurrency world. To do so they will employ all level of marketing including influencers, paid shills (McAfee \u2013 The glorious bastard), and company reps to mount fierce marketing campaigns. If you spend enough time on social media, you will find plenty of opportunities\u2026.And scams. Don\u2019t forget to check Steemit and Medium as well.\n\nBe selective\n\nThis may seem counterintuitive as you want to cast a wide net when looking for airdrops, but you don\u2019t want to pull up used tires either. This will save you time and research, and we all know time is money. If the form asks for too many requirements such as your address, that you have a million followers on Twitter or take a selfie, abort that mission. Obviously, discard those who ask for mandatory donations or keys and denounce them to the community immediately.\n\nBitcoin Prime (Not to be confused with Bitcoin Private) is a good example of a selective airdrop. Plenty of information provided on the thread, and steps to receive the airdrop like: Follow on Twitter, join Telegram group, basic form and which exchange the asset will be traded on. This is a good blog to checkout for airdrops.\n\nCheck dedicated Airdrop tracking websites\n\nBecause Airdrops are becoming big business, a few sites list airdrops with dates and token equivalency. We know and use Airdropalert, Airdropaddict, Airdroptracker, etc.\n\nFLIP IT!\n\nRush to your exchange and flip that airdrop. You are not here to speculate on whether a coin has a future or not. You are here to maximize profits and make more BTC. Once you receive your airdrop, go to the exchange it is listed on and start finding the price you are comfortable selling at. Be heartless. This is free money.\n\nIf you fall asleep and do not sell at the right moment, the airdrop tokens will lose value and all this work would have been for nothing. Do not be surprised if the original token you were holding also crashes. Let us take the Zclassic and Bitcoin Private airdrop in February, a disaster of epic proportions.\n\nFor starters, Bittrex stated that they would NOT support the Bitcoin Private fork due to issues with the Zclassic wallet \u2013 #Yuge Blow. One of the largest exchanges in crypto not being able to guarantee tokens doesn\u2019t bode well for your airdrop. The Bitcoin private fork was originally announced on December 16th and absolutely tanked the price. This is a rare example where an airdrop done wrong can have a drastic effect on price.\n\nSecurity and Scams\n\nAirdrops are an effective technique to raise awareness about a new token or project, but it can also be used to phish for people\u2019s data, credentials and private keys. Be on guard for scams and swindlers who will try at anything to get your crypto. Store your precious crypto on secure wallets \u2013 hardware of software.\n\nAnd once again NEVER share your private keys with anyone. Not even your grandmother.\n\nConclusion\n\nAirdrops are an excellent, and legitimate, way to make extra BTC. That\u2019s what we\u2019re here for right? To increase our Bitcoin stack. If you follow these basic steps, you will find that money does actually grow on trees. Until regulation comes into play you should be doing everything to increase BTC. You won\u2019t regret it when Bitcoin hits $50,000 \ud83d\ude09\n\nInterested in other cool crypto posts\u2026.check out Mining Wars: Bitmain vs Dragonmint and The Price of Bitcoin vs Cost of Mining.\n\nFollow us on twitter @cryptoiscomin"}
-{"text": "SOFIA, Bulgaria (BulgarianMilitary.com) \u2013 A Bulgarian delegation headed by the Deputy Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov participated in the meetings of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) at the level of Defence Ministers, learned BulgarianMilitary.com\n\nThe meetings took place at New NATO Headquarters Brussels, Belgium on 3-4 October 2018 and were chaired by the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg.\n\nThere was a working dinner in the end of the first day, where it was discussed the fair burden and responsibility sharing in the Alliance, including the preparation of the national plans for increasing the military expenditure up to 2% of GDP.\n\nOn the second day, in the morning, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Defence Ministers of Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, and Slovenia on Multinational Special Aviation Program.\n\nNAC consists of Permanent Representatives of all member countries, who meet at least once a week. The Council also meets at higher levels involving Foreign Ministers, Defence Ministers (as was the case this week) or Heads of Government. It does not matter at what level the held meetings are. NAC always has one and the same effective political authority and powers of decision making, and the taken decisions have the same status and validity.\n\nNAC is the only body within the Alliance that derives its authority explicitly from NATO. The Council itself was given responsibility under the Treaty for setting up subsidiary bodies and thanks to that many committees and planning groups have been established in support to the work of NAC or for assuming responsibility in defence planning, nuclear planning, military matters, etc.\n\nAll member countries of NATO have an equal right to express their views round the Council table. Decisions are the expression of the collective will of member governments arrived at by common consent. All member governments are party to the policies formulated in the Council or under its authority and share in the consensus on which decisions are based.\n\nRead more: General Andrey Botsev (Bulgaria) Attended a NATO Military Committee Conference\n\nRead more: A Clear message from NATO: Bulgaria is a Reliable Ally\n\nRead more: A Bulgarian team participates in NATO\u2019s largest cyber defense training\n\nFollow us everywhere and at any time. BulgarianMilitary.com has responsive design and you can open the page from any computer, mobile devices or web browsers. For more up-to-date news from us, follow our Reddit, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Google+ pages. Do not miss the chance to subscribe to our newsletter.\n\nBulgarianMilitary.com\n\nSource: NATO, Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria"}
-{"text": "clogs the toilet in the morning before you get up still clogged when you get home, lets you unclog it.\n\n4,360 shares"}
-{"text": "Fourteen states and Washington, D.C. have laws or regulations effectively banning so-called conversion therapy for minors, and several others have pending legislation that would do the same\n\nMeanwhile, Republican leaders in Texas continue to needlessly and cruelly attack their LGBTQ residents, contrary to the will of their own constituents.\n\nIt would be great if the Texas GOP could join the rest of us in the year 2018"}
-{"text": "\n\nphoto: dctourism/flickr\n\nThis is a true account of wedding customs in a rural Missouri farming community prior to WWII, as told by Letty Owings, age 87. The account is limited to the small geographical area. Customs may have been different, twenty miles down the road.\n\nThe Shivaree and Farming Community Wedding Customs Prior to WWII\n\nMost country weddings in our community took place in the home. The bride and groom dressed nicely, but there were no bridal shops or wedding dress makers. A preacher would come to the home to perform the wedding. Even if people were not churchgoers, the preacher would \u201cmarry and bury.\u201d At the wedding ceremony, someone, usually a couple, would stand up as witnesses for the couple being married.\n\nThe usual refreshments and a small reception followed the wedding ceremony. A few days after the couple got settled, the community held a shivaree. The shivaree was a post-wedding noisy party for the community where the newlyweds were pressed into service as hosts. In short, the shivaree was a mock serenade and a roast of the newlyweds. People brought all sorts of noisemakers and pots and pans to bang on, and they sang songs and enjoyed refreshments, compliments of the newlyweds. Adding to the atmosphere of friendly ribbing and polite mockery, nobody bothered to dress up. Supposedly, the shivaree was spontaneous and clandestine. However, it was an organized spontaneous that wasn\u2019t really a secret. Since the newlyweds were expected to provide the refreshments for their own roast, they had to know where to be and what time to be there. Community members organized the shivaree by word-of-mouth instructions. Everyone in the community had plenty of advance notice for this \u2018spontaneous\u2019 post-wedding party, and looked forward to the fun. Newlyweds looked forward to the noisy event as well, and they would have been insulted at not being forced to host the shivaree.\n\nThe marriage rate in the community was nearly 100 percent in those days. Not getting married was almost unheard of, and for the most part, people married their neighbors. Courtships lasted 1 1/2 to 2 years, and people rarely waited past age 22 to marry. Women were younger than men in almost all cases, so you might typically see a 19-year-old woman marry a 21-year-old man, give or take. During the courtship, the woman never, ever called or contacted the man to ask the man out on a date. Men initiated all the courtship contact.\n\nThere came a time when a lot of social customs were clouded by the war overseas. Word trickled in that there was a war raging in Europe. One must bear in mind that we had no television or organized press in our community at the time. We only got our first wind charger radio in 1938. Rumors spread, conversations ensued and people exchanged opinions. Some people took the position that the war raging in Europe was none of our concern. It was Europe\u2019s war and Europe\u2019s problem, not ours. After all, WWI had been a bunch of foolishness that we had no business getting involved in, and there was no need to repeat the foolishness. People voiced this opinion even as Churchill was down on his knees begging Roosevelt for help. Others countered this view with, \u201cYes, but there\u2019s a crazy man Hitler and listen, this man is a maniac, the rumors are true, he\u2019s killing Jews and he is a madman.\u201d During this time there was a pall hanging over America and it extended to social functions in our small farming community.\n\nNo one ever came out and said, \u201cThere is a pall hanging over our social functions.\u201d However, it was apparent. For one thing, people had a sense of unease about enjoying themselves at social functions while there was so much suffering going on in Europe, and the conversations often turned to that subject, even at the likes of a shivaree. Also, people began to be self-conscious about speaking German out and about. My father\u2019s side of the family included ancestral illegal immigrants from Germany who did not care for German militarism of the time, so they bribed a ship captain and came to this country to escape it. They brought the language with them and the language sifted down through the generations, even to me as a young child. In one case, a boy\u2019s folks did not want him going out with me, because of the German. It was lost on some folks that descendants of German people from generations past were a peaceful lot. The remnants of the language became associated with the current doings of a madman in Europe.\n\nEverything changed on a Sunday. I had come home briefly from college where I was enrolled in a nature class. I wanted to collect some puffballs from the woods for my class. My father knew where to find these things so we went to the woods where they were, collected some samples, and returned home. I sat in a room with the sample collection, and my father went to the other room to listen to the wind charger radio.\n\nHe returned a few moments later and he said to me, word-for-word, \u201cHoney, we\u2019re in a war.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Nokia has refused to licence 64 of their own granted patents and 22 pending patents to allow Google to make their proprietary WebM codec a FRAND standard.\n\nGoogle has been trying to circumvent the H.264 codec and its licensing by creating its own codec system, VP8, which it purchased from On2 Technologies.\n\nGoogle initially insisted their codec did not infringe on anyone else\u2019s patents, their usual tactic when it comes to usurping the intellectual property of others and giving it away for free (see Android), but agreed eventually to a licence agreement with the MPEG LA, who owns H.264.\n\nNow Nokia has insisted this is not enough, and that Google\u2019s codecs also infringe their patents, and they will not be licensing.\n\nIn a statement given to FOSS Patents, a Nokia spokesman describes the company\u2019s latest actions as an \"unusual step,\" but claims that it is necessary to prevent Google from \"forc[ing] the adoption of its proprietary technology, which offers no advantages over existing, widely deployed standards such as H.264.\u201d\n\nIf Google did get its way Google would likely quickly convert all the video on YouTube to its own standard, and its successors, and force Windows and Windows Phone to implement an ever changing target (Google is already planning VP9) leaving everyone else a step behind, something which would benefit only Google, who of course control Android and the Chrome browser.\n\nWe have already seen this in action with Gmail and Caldav, and represents a rather nefarious strategy for the company who\u2019s motto is an imperative to themselves not to be Evil.\n\nVia The Verge.com"}
-{"text": "In the scenario that Vijay Mallya is unsuccessful in his appeal, he must be extradited within 28 days\n\nEmbattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya arrived at the UK High Court on Tuesday as he seeks permission to appeal against an extradition order signed off by UK home secretary Sajid Javid for him to be extradited to India to face alleged fraud and money laundering charges amounting to Rs 9,000 crore.\n\nThe 63-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss said he was feeling \"positive\" as he entered the Royal Courts of Justice.\n\nHe has already lost a UK High Court \"leave to appeal\" on paper, leading to an oral hearing of his renewal application this week.\n\nA two-judge bench of the Administrative Court division of the Royal Courts of Justice in London will hear the application, filed in April.\n\nDuring the day-long hearing, listed before Justices George Leggatt and Andrew Popplewell, Vijay Mallya's legal team and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) - arguing on behalf of the Indian government - will go head to head to reiterate factors for and against the businessman's extradition to Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai.\n\nThe judges are likely to reserve their judgment in the case and hand down their ruling in the coming weeks.\n\nIn the scenario that Vijay Mallya is unsuccessful in his appeal, he must be extradited within 28 days from the appeal decision becoming final. However, if he is granted permission to appeal, the case will then proceed to a full hearing stage at the UK High Court.\n\nThe appeal will mark one of the final stages of the appeals process, as the chances of permission to appeal to the Supreme Court are unlikely if such permission is already denied at the High Court stage.\n\n\"It is not for me to prejudge the outcome of the appeal, but he [Mallya] does face serious challenges in overturning the order for extradition,\" said Toby Cadman, co-founder of Guernica 37 International Justice Chambers.\n\n\"The right to appeal against an extradition order is not straightforward. His defence will have to prove fairly strong grounds to convince the judges to grant an appeal,\" explained Cadman, a UK-based barrister who handles high-profile extradition cases.\n\nAn appeal to the UK's Supreme Court is quite a rare prospect in extradition cases such as this one, as Mallya's defence team would need to have a \"point of law of general public importance\" certified by the Administrative Court of the High Court.\n\nThere is a final recourse for Vijay Mallya to approach the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) based in Strasbourg, France, to argue against his extradition to India on human rights grounds by trying to prove a real threat of harm or torture or that he would not receive a fair trial.\n\n\"The likelihood of the ECHR intervening in a case such as this is slim indeed as the threshold is very high,\" said Cadman, who explained that the European court would take into account that the human rights related arguments had already been taken into account at different levels during the UK court process and that India is democratic country with an established rule of law.\n\nMeanwhile, Vijay Mallya has continued to make a series of interventions on social media to offer \"100 per cent payback\" to state-owned Indian banks to cover his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines' debt. He remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard in April 2017, involving a bail bond worth 650,000 pounds and other restrictions on his travel.\n\nAt the end of a year-long extradition trial at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London last December, Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot had found \"clear evidence of dispersal and misapplication of the loan funds\" and accepted a prima facie case of fraud and a conspiracy to launder money against Vijay Mallya, as presented by the CPS on behalf of the Indian government.\n\nThe court had also dismissed any bars to extradition on the grounds of the prison conditions under which the businessman would be held, as the judge accepted the Indian government's assurances that he would receive all necessary medical care at Barrack 12 in Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail."}
-{"text": "Fighting reported in Tajoura today as Libya Dawn orders surrender of local brigade HQ\n\nBy Libya Herald staff.\n\nTunis, 15 April 2015:\n\nClashes have been reported in Tripoli's eastern suburb of Tajoura following an accusation by Libya Dawn that local . . .\n\nThis article is only available to subscribers. Please login or subscribe."}
-{"text": "\n\nI\n\nWhen the apostle Paul first Came to Athens, he seems clearly to have sensed the drama of his situation. He believed himself to be the apostle divinely appointed to bring the new faith in Jesus, which had originated in Judaea, to the non-Jewish peoples of the Roman Empire. He understood, too, when he came to Athens, that he was at the heart and source of that wonderful Hellenic culture that all races then admired and strove to imitate.\n\nWhen, therefore, he was given the opportunity by certain Stoic and Epicurean philosophers of explaining his new faith at the Areopagus, according to the testimony of the Acts of the Apostles, he presented his case with great care and considerable skill.1 He complimented the Athenians on their piety, evidenced by the superb monuments of their city, and he adroitly quoted from one of their poets."}
-{"text": "Pyrolysis plant for sale is urgently needed. It can effectively dispose of waste plastic, waste tyre/rubber and waste sludge into useful and valuable products: fuel oil, carbon black and combustible gas. Obtaining fuel oil from waste plastic and waste tire contributes to mitigate world oil shortages situation. Meanwhile, this business can bring great economic value for the pyrolysis project investors.\n\nBeston Waste Pyrolysis Plant To the Philippines\n\nIn October, 2018, Beston shipped a set of BLJ-16 waste tire pyrolysis plant to the Philippines. The customer bought the machine to recycle waste tires and rubbers. Because of high oil yield and high standard dedusting system, our pyrolysis oil plant has been exported to many countries: the Philippines, United Kingdom, South Africa, Hungary, Indonesia, Romania, Korea, Turkey, Dominica, Nigeria, Jordan, Netherlands, Brazil etc.\n\nEconomic Value That Pyrolysis Machine For Sale Brings\n\nWe can get economic value thorough using or selling the end products of waste plastic pyrolysis machine. Here, you can see the detailed applications:\n\nPyrolysis Oil\n\nPyrolysis Oil \u2022 can be sold directly. \u2022 Reprocessed into diesel and gasoline by waste oil distillation machine. \u2022 can be used as industrial fuel materials for burning.\n\nCarbon Black and Combustible Gas\n\nCarbon Black \u2022 can be sold directly. \u2022 Reprocessed into high quality carbon by the carbon black processing plant. \u2022 make carbon brick by briquetting equipment. Combustible Gas \u2022 can be recycled as fuel to heat the reactor\n\nSteel Wire (only tire)\n\nSteel Wire (only tire) \u2022 can be reprocessed or used to make steel and iron rod.\n\nAvailable Pyrolysis Plants for You to Choose:\n\nItem Details Model BLJ-6 BLJ-10 BLJ-16 Daily Capacity 6T 8T-10T 15-20T Working Method Batch Semi-Continuous Raw Materials Waste Plastic, Tyre, Rubber, Oil Sludge Reactor Size D2.2*L6.0m D2.6*L6.6m D2.8*L7.1m Pattern Horizontal & Rotary Heating Materials Charcoal, Wood, Fuel Oil, Natural Gas, LPG, etc. Total Power 24kw/h 30kw/h 54kw/h Floor Area (L*W*H) 30*10*8m 30*10*8m 40*10*8m Operating Pressure Normal Pressure Constant Pressure Cooling Method Water Cooling Life span 5-8 Years\n\nEnvironmental Value That Pyrolysis Plant Brings\n\nPyrolyzing large amount of waste plastic:\n\nOcean pollution is becoming an well known phenomenon in the Philippines. Main source of ocean pollution is plastic dump. The Philippines is regarded as the world\u2019s third-largest ocean polluter. According to data survey, the Philippines generates 2.7 million tonnes of plastic waste annually and 20 per cent \u2013or half a million tonnes \u2013of that leaks into the oceans. Lots of plastic is dumped that has bad impact on fragile ocean system. Therefore, how to turn these plastic into treasure is an important issue in the Philippines. Pyrolysis plant in the Philippines is a mature pyrolysis equipment in plastic recycling industry. With the plastic to oil machine, you can deal with plastic into fuel oil. Get reasonable pyrolysis plant price here.\n\nRecycling waste tire:\n\nWith the number of cars being used in the Philippines today, more and more used tires are appearing in the dumping site. At present, waste tires are either buried, or go up in smoke. Landfill is not for dealing with waste tire which is difficult for degradation. Burning tire produces a lot of smoke that pollutes the air. So, we can use pyrolysis machine to handle waste tire in an eco-friendly way. Meanwhile, you can get fuel oil, carbon black and steel wire through pyrolyzing waste tires with waste tyre recycling plant. Ask the pyrolysis machine price now!\n\nUnique Pyrolysis Plant Design:\n\nAs leading one of pyrolysis plant manufacturers, we Beston Machinery have many independent research and development design concepts. Here, we would like to share with you as the followings:\n\n\u201cThree in One\u201d System\n\nD edusting System\n\nP yrolysis Reactor Design\n\nBall Valve \u201cThree in One\u201d System: it refers to the integrated system of condenser, hydroseal and oil tank. The system has many advantages: small occupied area\n\noperating safety\n\ngood condensation effect\n\nsimple assembly\n\neasy maintenance\n\nlow transportation cost\n\nnon-clogging: it adopts thick pipeline it refers to the integrated system of condenser, hydroseal and oil tank. The system has many advantages: The unique \u201cthree in one\u201d system of of pyrolysis unit has been proved and tested repeatedly. And it has received good feedback from many customers. What\u2019s more, it becomes the main choice trend for customers. Dedusting System contains water washing, water spray, ceramic ring adsorption and activated carbon adsorption. Dedusting system of waste plastic and tyre pyrolysis plant adopts 5.5KW or 7.5KW high-power centrifugal fan with full pressure from 2002 to 2604Pa, which can effectively remove the dust generated by the reactor system and effectively avoid the dust from the reactor emission into the atmosphere. The atomizing tower adopts Bauer magnetic ring and spray device. And the effective height of the chimney is about 7 meters, ensuring that the smoke exhaust can reach the white atomized state and can meet the emission standard. In order to reach higher emission standard, activated carbon adsorption tower can be added according to customer demand. A. The body and door plate of pyrolysis reactor has 16mm thickness. Internal chasing has 12mm thickness. The 80mm thickness insulated cotton and strip thickness ensure the longer service life and better insulation effect. B. Reactor of Beston adopts large ring gear structure that is larger than other pyrolysis machine manufacturers. Also, the ring gear use the ZG310-570 that guarantees endure toughness, high hardness and wear resistance. Compared with sprocket transmission and belt transmission and other transmission modes, gear drive has superior stability, accuracy, easy installation, durability of service life and easy maintenance. Ball Valve adopts uploading hemisphere eccentric ball valve that has the advantages of easy operation and rapid open-close operation. Inside the ball valve, it adopts high sealing structure that has high sealing, corrosion resistant and heat-resistant (600\u2103). The material of our ball valve is mainly made of cast steel. These characteristics of our ball valve make it be great superior to the same industry pyrolysis equipment manufacturers using the common ball valve.\n\nBesides the above unique design concepts, you can get more advanced design from Beston Machinery. Want to know more, contact us now! Certainly, you can gethere.\n\nPyrolysis Process of Pyrolysis Plant For Sale\n\n1. Pre-treatment: generally, waste plastic and waste tire should be crushed into small pieces to improve the working efficiency.\n\n2. Feeding: use screw conveyor to pour piece of waste plastic and waste tire into reactor. Feeding system can control the speed of conveyor in the conveying process. What\u2019s more, we equipment air seal machinery to avoid air entering reactor.\n\n3. High temperature heating: MSW pyrolysis plant of our factory adopts indirect heating system to heat reactor. When it reaches the corresponding temperature, the plastic and tire begin to pyrolysis and produce oil gas.\n\n4. Cooling: it is used to condense the light oil gas into liquid oil. The condenser system is an important part of pyrolysis system, which can fully cool oil gas to increase the oil yield.\n\n5. Dedusting: Beston decusting system has four steps to totally purity the exhaust gas, such as water washing, water spray and ceramic ring absorption and activated carbon adsorption. Therefore, our pyrolysis machine can achieve no pollution emission. Dedusting is one of the comprehensive strength competition factors for pyrolysis plant suppliers.\n\n6. Discharging: at the bottom of pyrolysis reactor, we design the screw conveyor. We also design recycling cooling system in the outside of reactor to decrease temperature of carbon black. Though the design, operation safety and personal safety of workers can be guaranteed.\n\nWe list the pyrolysis process of Beston pyrolysis plant China. If you still have questions, contact us directly. Our professional engineer will answer you detailedly. Get the pyrolysis plant cost here.\n\nBeston Machinery is professional one of pyrolysis plant manufacturers in China. We can supply you high quality and non-pollution pyrolysis plants for you. If you have pyrolysis plant business plan, get the pyrolysis plant cost estimate from us. We will customize the plastic recycling plant according to your needs.\n\n"}
-{"text": "Image copyright PA\n\nSubsidies for many new solar farms are to end under plans being published by the government.\n\nThe Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is consulting on plans that would see subsidies for some new solar farms close by 2016.\n\nThe government says the move is necessary to protect consumers.\n\nThe solar industry said subsidies were one of the cheapest ways that the government could meet its climate change targets.\n\nUnder the government's plans, so called \"small scale\" solar farms will no longer qualify for support under a key subsidy mechanism - the renewables obligation - from April next year.\n\nNew projects that receive the subsidy may also see the level cut.\n\nImage copyright Reuters Image caption Energy secretary Amber Rudd said renewable energy subsidies must be cut\n\n'Blank cheque'\n\nEnergy Secretary Amber Rudd said: \"Our support has driven down the cost of renewable energy significantly.\n\n\"As costs continue to fall it becomes easier for parts of the renewables industry to survive without subsidies.\"\n\nShe told the BBC's Today programme: \"We can't have a situation where industry has a blank cheque, and that cheque is paid for by people's bills.\n\n\"We can't have a system, which we've had up to now, where there is basically unlimited [subsidy] headroom for new renewables, including solar.\"\n\nShe conceded that subsidies to the nuclear industry, such as those planned for Hinkley Point, would exceed those going to solar, but she said that nuclear provided \"a different type of electricity\".\n\n\"In the winter, at the moment, solar doesn't really deliver much electricity,\" she said.\n\nThe government plans also include reducing subsidies for power stations which convert to biomass, and proposals to review feed-in-tariff schemes.\n\nImage copyright PA Image caption The solar industry says its subsidies add \u00a33 per year to people's bills\n\n'Tiny' subsidy\n\nSmall scale solar farms, which are regarded as the cornerstone of the industry, can be up to 25 acres in size and typically power around 1,500 homes.\n\nSupporters argue that the growth of these projects has helped to drive down the cost of solar in recent years.\n\nBut the government says the amount of support for renewable energy - which is paid by households through their energy bills - is set to rise in the coming years above agreed levels.\n\nSubsidies for large scale solar farms were cut in January.\n\nThe Solar Trade Association (STA) says the industry accounts for just 6% of funds paid out under the renewables obligation.\n\nIt insists that support for solar is one of the cheapest ways that the government can meet its climate change targets.\n\nJonathan Selwyn, a board member of the STA, told the BBC that the subsidy cut would \"have a very large impact\" on the industry.\n\n\"Let's get this straight, in the RO [renewables obligation], which is the solar farm's main support subsidy, it's costing about three pounds per annum on people's energy bills - it's a tiny amount when you compare it with other types of energy, like nuclear for example.\"\n\nHe said government support had been \"absolutely instrumental in the industry's success\" over the past five years, and that the industry was \"tantalisingly close\" to being able to operate without any subsidy.\n\nHowever, he said that investor confidence would inevitably suffer by the consultation.\n\nMr Selwyn called for \"a level playing field\" for solar in relation to nuclear energy and fracking, in terms of subsidies and planning regulations.\n\n'Jobs under threat'\n\nThe Welsh government said it was concerned about uncertainty caused by the government's plans.\n\nA spokesperson said the plans have the \"potential to put jobs and investment under threat by reducing subsidies to projects already in the pipeline\".\n\n\"Again, it reinforces our call to [the] UK government to devolve all energy powers to Wales to ensure that we maximise the economic potential of renewable energy power generation and benefit communities across Wales.\"\n\nSolar farms saw \"strong growth\" in Wales between 2011 and 2015, according to Welsh government figures.\n\nIn that period, 23 farms were made operational, and planning permission was granted for 66.\n\nScotland's Energy Minister Fergus Ewing also highlighted the potential threat to jobs, and said the Scottish government had not been \"properly consulted\" about the plans.\n\nHe said: \"There are over 3,000 jobs dependent on this form of renewable energy in Scotland.\n\n\"We are concerned because just at the time where the industry has said it's getting to the point where it's able to do without subsidy in the next few years, we're faced with another reduction in support coupled with a lack of clarity on exactly what will be done.\"\n\nNiall Stuart, chief executive of industry body Scottish Renewables, said: \"This change will just erode further investor confidence in the energy sector.\""}
-{"text": "Some years ago,\n\nWhen I was a child\n\nWe lived in a small strange village\n\nNo cats exist in it.\n\nCats were living in all villages around it\n\nBut in that village No cats at all.\n\nWhy?\n\nNo one knows\n\nDogs and rats, but no cats\n\nWhat should we do?\n\nRats are everywhere free and happy\n\neat or just play\n\nalways they made troubles\n\nWho will save us?\n\nWe asked hopefully\n\nWe need a cat\n\nOnly a cat can save us\n\nA friend of my father gave us his precious cat\n\nMixed colored, white and orange\n\nHow beautiful it was!\n\nA lovely male cat\n\nIt lived with us\n\nIt believed that It is one of the family\n\nSlept in our bed\n\nAte our food\n\nAnd played with us as a brother, not as our cat\n\nWe were so happy\n\nBut happiness time often is short\n\nWe had to travel for two weeks\n\nWe couldn't take him with us\n\nWith our neighbors, we left him\n\nAfter they promised to take care of our precious lovely cat\n\nWhen we returned to the village with too much longing\n\nWe asked about him\n\nSimply they answered sorry, it died\n\nWith too much sadness and pain, How? we asked,\n\nIt refused to eat cats food and refused to sleep on the ground\n\nIt went out of the house we found it dead they answered.\n\nOh My God,\n\nWe searched for it We found its body beside a dead rat\n\nWith our love we Buried him\n\nGoodbye, our saver.\n\nGoodbye, our precious."}
-{"text": "Article content continued\n\nOn Monday, Shanghai officials said the number of dumped adult and piglet carcasses retrieved had reached 2,813. The city government, citing monitoring authorities, said the drinking water quality has not been affected.\n\nShanghai\u2019s Agriculture Committee said authorities don\u2019t know what caused the pigs to die, but that they have detected a sometimes-fatal pig disease in at least one of the carcasses. The disease is associated with the porcine circovirus, which is widespread in pigs but doesn\u2019t affect humans or other livestock.\n\nShanghai\u2019s city government said initial investigations had found the dead pigs had come from Jiaxing city in neighboring Zhejiang province. It said it had not found any major epidemic.\n\nHuang Beibei, a lifetime resident of Shanghai, was the first to expose the problem when he took photos of the carcasses and uploaded them onto his microblog on Thursday.\n\n\u201cThis is the water we are drinking,\u201d Huang wrote. \u201cWhat is the government doing to address this?\u201d\n\nHis graphic photos apparently caught the attention of local reporters, who followed up.\n\nHuang said he\u2019s most concerned about water safety. \u201cThough the government says the water is safe, at least I do not believe it \u2013 given the number of the pigs in the river. These pigs have died from disease,\u201d Huang said.\n\nThe dumping follows a clampdown on the illegal trade in contaminated pork.\n\nIn China, pigs that have died from disease should be either incinerated or buried, but some unscrupulous farmers and animal control officials have sold problematic carcasses to slaughterhouses. The pork harvested from such carcasses has ended up in markets. As a food safety problem, it has drawn attention from China\u2019s Ministry of Public Security, which has made it a priority to crack down on gangs that purchase dead diseased pigs and process them for illegal profits."}
-{"text": "Ulterior valid\u0103rii, to\u0163i membri Consiliului de Administra\u0163ie al TVR au depus jur\u0103m\u00e2ntul \u00een fa\u0163a Camerelor reunite ale Parlamentului.\n\nNoii membri ai Consiliului de Administra\u0163ie vor desemna din r\u00e2ndul lor un pre\u015fedinte, care va fi audiat \u00een Comisiile reunite de Cultur\u0103, iar apoi va primi un vot de validare \u00een plenul Parlamentului.\n\nPlenul a fost marcat de dispute pe marginea nominaliz\u0103rii Oanei St\u0103nciulescu, acuzat\u0103 c\u0103 ar avea opinii pro-legionare. UDMR a p\u0103r\u0103sit plenul, \u00een condi\u0163iile \u00een care PNL \u015fi ALDE au ap\u0103rat-o pe ziarist\u0103.\n\nProblema a fost ridicat\u0103 de deputatul Aurel Vainer, pre\u015fedintele Federa\u0163iei Comunit\u0103\u0163ilor Evreie\u015fti din Rom\u00e2nia, care a ar\u0103tat c\u0103 minoritatea pe care o reprezint\u0103 are o problem\u0103 cu propunerea PNL pentru Consiliul de Administra\u0163ie al TVR.\n\n''Atunci c\u00e2nd PNL a sus\u0163inut legea pentru combaterea na\u0163ionalismului, doamna Oana St\u0103nciulescu, ziarist\u0103 recunoscut\u0103, s-a implicat fundamental \u00een acest proces de a combate legea care a fost propus\u0103 de PNL. Vreau s\u0103 punctez \u00een mod special atitudinea pro aducere pe primul plan a mi\u015fc\u0103rii legionare, e vorba de poetul Radu Gyr, pion la mi\u015fc\u0103rii legisonare'', a declarat Vainer.\n\n\u00cen ap\u0103rarea Oanei St\u0103nciulescu a s\u0103rit senatorul ALDE Cristiana Anghel, care a spus c\u0103 nu se pot condamna to\u0163i oamenii de cultur\u0103 din respectiva perioad\u0103 doar pentru c\u0103 au avut anumite op\u0163iuni politice.\n\n''Mi\u015fcarea legionar\u0103 rom\u00e2neasc\u0103, \u00eempreun\u0103 cu cea din Bulgaria, sunt singurele mi\u015fc\u0103ri care nu au fost condamnate la Nurnberg, pentru crime de r\u0103zboi. Nu se poate s\u0103 ne \u00eengrop\u0103m toat\u0103 cultura rom\u00e2neasc\u0103 din perioada respectiv\u0103, doar pentru faptul c\u0103 unii, la un moment dat (...) Eu nu discut despre oamenii respectivi. Eu nu discut despre Nae Ionescu, Mircea Vulc\u0103nescu, Mircea Eliade, eu nu discut din punct de vedere politic. Eu pun problema pentru ceea ce reprezint\u0103 ei pentru acest neam \u015fi pentru lucrul acesta nu avem voie s\u0103 d\u0103m uit\u0103rii'', a spus Cristiana Anghel.\n\nPozi\u0163ia senatorului ALDE a st\u00e2rnit nemul\u0163umirea celor de la UDMR, care au p\u0103r\u0103sit sala de plen, nu \u00eenainte de a cere celor care ap\u0103r\u0103 mi\u015fcarea legionar\u0103 s\u0103 \u00ee\u015fi cear\u0103 scuze de la tribuna Parlamentului.\n\n''Eu sunt aici \u00een Parlamentul Rom\u00e2niei de 26 de ani. Nu am apucat o luare de cuv\u00e2nt \u00een care s\u0103 se apere mi\u015fcarea legionar\u0103 \u015fi mi-am respectat colegii din motivul respectiv. S\u0103 ne trezim \u00een 2016 c\u0103 \u00een mod direct sau indirect s\u0103 apere cineva mi\u015fcarea legionar\u0103, eu nu pot concepe acest lucru (...) Vom p\u0103r\u0103si \u015fedin\u0163a dac\u0103 cei care au s\u0103rit \u00een ap\u0103rarea celor legionarilor nu \u00ee\u015fi vor cere scuze'', a declarat Marko Bella, liderul senatorilor UDMR.\n\nSenatorul PNL Puiu Ha\u015fotti a sus\u0163inut c\u0103 ale\u015fii trebuie s\u0103 fac\u0103 o diferen\u0163\u0103 \u00eentre ''o gre\u015feal\u0103 politic\u0103 din tinere\u0163e'' a unor oameni \u015fi contribu\u0163ia pe care ace\u015ftia au avut-o la cultura rom\u00e2neasc\u0103, afirm\u00e2nd c\u0103 Oana St\u0103nciulescu nu este legionar\u0103 \u015fi c\u0103, a\u015fa cum activitatea sa parlamentar\u0103 arat\u0103, nici el nu a fost niciodat\u0103 pro-fascist sau antisemit.\n\nLiberalul a recitat de la tribuna Parlamentului versuri scrise de Radu Gyr. \"Vorbea\u0163i de Radu Gyr. Nu am s\u0103 intru \u00eentr-o polemic\u0103, dar Radu Gyr a spus \u00een poezie: \u00abAl cui e Ardealul?/ \u00centreab\u0103 p\u0103durea c\u00e2mpia \u015fi dealul/ Al nostru e, p\u0103m\u00e2nt din vechi p\u0103m\u00e2nt \u015fi s\u00e2nge din latinul nostru s\u00e2nge/ Un dor avem \u00een el \u015fi cel mai sf\u00e2nt \u015fi nimeni ast\u0103zi nu ni-l poate fr\u00e2nge\u00bb. \u015ei asta este legionar\u0103?\", a mai spus senatorul PNL.\n\n\"Am v\u0103zut \u015fi acea scrisoare a unor intelectuali, trei sferturi dintre ei \u00eemi sunt necunoscu\u0163i, poate este vina mea. Doamna Oana St\u0103nciulescu nu a vorbit din perspectiva unei laude aduse op\u0163iunilor politice ale unor oameni de cultur\u0103 de mare valoare pentru Rom\u00e2nia. Deci noi trebuie s\u0103 facem o separa\u0163ie foarte clar\u0103 \u00eentre ni\u015fte op\u0163iuni politice gre\u015fite pe care le-au avut ace\u015fti oameni \u015fi marea contribu\u0163ie la cultura Rom\u00e2niei \u015fi din aceast\u0103 perspectiv\u0103 a vorbit distinsa doamn\u0103 \u015fi a vorbit corect\", a ad\u0103ugat liberalul.\n\nDezbaterile plenului au fost apoi sistate, parlamentarii intr\u00e2nd \u00een procedur\u0103 de vot.\n\nO peti\u0163ie \u00eempotriva desemn\u0103rii Oanei St\u0103nciulescu \u00een CA TVR a fost ini\u0163iat\u0103 de mai multe personalit\u0103\u0163i ale vie\u0163ii culturale s\u0103pt\u0103m\u00e2na trecut\u0103.\n\n''Oana St\u0103nciulescu s-a f\u0103cut cunoscut\u0103 ca foarte activ\u0103 \u00een cultivarea memoriei unor personalit\u0103\u0163i \u015fi valori de extrem\u0103 dreapta din istoria culturii rom\u00e2ne\u015fti. Cu o consecven\u0163\u0103, ce trebuie subliniat\u0103, jurnalista \u00ee\u015fi face un crez din a reabilita, \u015fi eroiza o serie de personalit\u0103\u0163i de orientare legionar\u0103, xenofob\u0103, antieuropean\u0103 \u015fi antidemocrat\u0103. Pe ace\u015ftia i-a declarat repetat \u201eeroii no\u015ftri\u201c. C\u00e2teva exemple sunt revelatoare: la 23 februarie, acest an, \u00eentr-o dezbatere la Realitaea TV, Oana St\u0103nciulescu declara c\u0103 Radu Gyr, cunoscut poet legionar, autorul imnului mi\u015fc\u0103rii legionare, personalitate recuperat\u0103 de IIon Antonescu \u00een regimul c\u0103ruia a ocupat importante demnit\u0103\u0163i \u015fi scriitorul \u015fi publicistul Vintil\u0103 Horia, cunoscut ca prohitlerist sunt \u201ereperele ei morale\u201d. \u015ei, cu prestigiul c\u00e2\u015ftigat \u00eentotdeauna de omul de pe ecran, recomanda societ\u0103\u0163ii rom\u00e2ne\u015fti s\u0103 adopte aceste repere morale'', se arat\u0103 \u00een peti\u0163ie."}
-{"text": "Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has promised to hold a royal commission into mental health if his Government is re-elected next month.\n\nKey points: One-in-five Victorians will experience a mental illness this year, Government says\n\nOne-in-five Victorians will experience a mental illness this year, Government says Premier promises to implement all of the royal commission's recommendations\n\nPremier promises to implement all of the royal commission's recommendations Mental health expert urges bipartisan support for the royal commission\n\nMr Andrews made the pledge at the Men's Shed in Kyneton, north-west of Melbourne, saying a royal commission would bring mental health out of the darkness and into the \"blinding light\".\n\nHe said the inquiry would change lives and save lives.\n\n\"We don't have the best mental health system we can possibly have,\" he said.\n\n\"Only when a person is in real crisis do they get tailored individual help.\n\n\"We have a system that simply can't cope and will continue to contribute to tragedy if we don't have a royal commission and seek those answers, make that reform, drive that change and show that leadership,\" he said.\n\n\"Something is wrong with the mental health system \u2026 we have to find it and we have to fix it.\"\n\nMr Andrews said the issue had hit home for him when both of his children had returned from school with letters about the death of a student.\n\n\"When Cath showed me the note that had come home from school \u2026 that's pretty tough,\" he said.\n\n\"You think it's a set of issues that happen in other families, at other schools.\n\n\"So when it comes home to you like that, that's a real wake up.\"\n\nMr Andrews was joined at the announcement by Bob Grubb, who said joining the Men's Shed gave him the support he needed to get through his grandson's death.\n\nMr Grubb was supported through his grief by the Kyneton Men's Shed community. ( ABC News: Stephanie Anderson )\n\n\"I didn't realise that fellas have got so many tears inside of them, but I can cry now and gallons come out because of the loss.\"\n\nCommissioners would be appointed within 100 days of election\n\nMr Andrews said the Federal Government would need to be part of the process, and rejected the suggestion that mental health funding or programs would be left in limbo while the royal commission took place.\n\n\"This is not a process to avoid acting, this is a process to give us a plan of action,\" he said.\n\nMental Health Minister Martin Foley said half of all Victorians would experience a mental illness at some point in their lives.\n\nHe said more than 170,000 Victorians had accessed mental health services in the past 12 months.\n\nLoading\n\n\"Despite the fact that we've increased funding in just about every measure of the system, the truth of the matter is that our mental health system is straining at the edges,\" he said.\n\nIn a statement announcing the royal commission, Mr Andrews said 621 Victorians died from suicide last year, and this year one-in-five Victorians would experience a mental illness.\n\nMr Andrews said if Labor was re-elected, work on the royal commission would start within the Government's first 100 days, including the appointment of commissioners and the announcement of terms of reference.\n\nHe estimated the royal commission would cost $13.2 million, which would be comparable to the cost of the Royal Commission into Family Violence.\n\nHe said he hoped the royal commission would report back within two years, and promised to implement all its recommendations.\n\nMental health experts call for bipartisanship\n\nMental health expert Professor Patrick McGorry welcomed the election promise, and called on the Victorian Coalition to support it.\n\n\"The people of Victoria have been waiting for a decisive time of action for many years,\" the former Australian of the Year said.\n\n\"In the spirit of bipartisanship \u2014 and mental health has traditionally been a bipartisan issue \u2014 we would respectfully urge the Opposition to seriously consider supporting this move,\" he said.\n\nProfessor McGorry said the mental health services model needed to be completely redesigned.\n\n\"We dismantled a 19th century model 20 years ago and we built something that was flawed, under-invested and has just fallen apart actually ,\" he said.\n\n\"So we have to start again, we have to listen to the people who use the service \u2026 and design something that's really going to help them make a recovery, to respond to desperate situations and suicidal crises in a much more humane and effective way than currently.\"\n\nThe Australian Medical Association also called on the Opposition to match the Government's commitment.\n\n\"There has been a lack of investment into the mental health system over the past decade,\" said the association's Victorian president, Associate Professor Julian Rait.\n\n\"A serious and considered review of the mental health system is long overdue.\"\n\nThe Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS) hailed the promise as \"a landmark step that will save lives\".\n\n\"Mental health impacts on the lives of every Victorian, on the lives of so many families and on all of our communities,\" VCOSS chief executive Emma King said.\n\n\"Our graveyards are full of people who the mental health system failed.\n\n\"Our prisons are full of people who needed mental health support but didn't get it.\n\n\"We need to be helping people early \u2014 including in community settings such as GP clinics, mothers' groups, Neighbourhood Houses and Men's Sheds \u2014 before problems spiral out of control.\"\n\nMental Health Victoria's chief executive Angus Clelland said mental health had been the poor cousin of the health system, leaving pressure points in the system that needed to be addressed.\n\n\"Having a royal commission will look at the entire system and lock the future government into funding and investment to improve the system for everyone,\" he said.\n\nIn a statement, the Victorian Opposition did not indicate whether it would support the royal commission or not.\n\nShadow Minister for Mental Health, Emma Kealy, urged Labor to boost funding for community mental health services.\n\n\"Since Daniel Andrews has been Premier, Victoria's population has increased by around 500,000 people and at the same time he has cut community mental health funding by 17 per cent,\" Ms Kealy said.\n\n\"If Daniel Andrews is serious about doing more for mental health, he will start by reversing his cuts and finding more funding to match the population growth that has occurred on his watch.\"\n\nEditor's Note 24/10/2018 \u2014 An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Mr Grubb's grandson had taken his own life. The ABC apologises for the error and the distress caused to the Grubb family. If you or someone you know needs to speak to someone about mental health issues, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14."}
-{"text": "Rockshard Elemental By Fyreant Watch\n\n186 Favourites 6 Comments 9K Views\n\nGreat God, another Magic card! I think this guy's a cousin of the critter on my 10th Edition piece Rock Elemental. Same color and everything. Oiy.\n\n\n\nPainter 6, over a graphite underdrawing. Sky provided by a seashell, rock colors provided by some rusty train rail spikes.\n\nIMAGE DETAILS Image size 1000x792px 179.65 KB Show More\n\nPublished : Oct 15, 2007"}
-{"text": "Since apple has taken over Ikinema, their website has removed the page where we could get the runtime plugin. Please make it clear as to what you're planning to do with the runtime plugin."}
-{"text": "Cross-Framework Components\n\nSharing our experiences from the last four years of building various microfrontend solutions.\n\nMicrofrontends are becoming more popular each day. One of the reasons is that microfrontends offer a way out of the framework prison. While this may be a good reason for adopting microfrontends, it should not be the only (let alone best) reason.\n\nHow can we efficiently build this capability ourselves and what should be considered to get a great result?\n\nIn this article, I want to share our experiences from the last four years of building various microfrontend solutions. Many of our experiences and lessons learned have been shared via our open-source project Piral, which is about to be released in its v1 version.\n\nIndependent of how you imagine composing your functional components you may need (or should actually want) a pattern library/design system for your UI building blocks. The easiest way to achieve that is through cloud component hubs like Bit.dev.\n\nBit.dev is a place to publish, document and organize JS components (React, Angular, Vue, etc.). Bit gives you the freedom to continuously publish new UI components (from any codebase) to your own shared component collection or design system (in Bit.dev).\n\nExploring shared React components in Bit.dev\n\nRelated Articles\n\nBefore you dive into this article please make sure to know (or at least understand) the content of the previous two articles:\n\nIn general, if the topic of microfrontends is interesting to you then have a look at my article 11 Popular Misconceptions About Micro Frontends. One of the points raised there is that microfrontends are not about cross-framework components, even though they can be used for this case. There are better reasons and you should know these before using or dismissing microfrontends.\n\nIn case of implementation need, I outlined a few of the available architectural patterns in my article on the 6 Patterns for Microfrontends.\n\nBut now without further ado let\u2019s get right into the topic.\n\nA Strong Foundation\n\nWhatever we want to do with cross-framework components we should have a strong architecture with well-defined touchpoints. For instance, an obvious question in a single-page application may be: How does the routing work?\n\nObviously, every library or framework that comes up with a definition of components has an answer to these questions. While some choices are more constrained (usually then called \u201cframework\u201d), others give more freedom (and thus usually settle on the term \u201clibrary for creating UIs\u201d).\n\nIt makes sense to define these touchpoints first. Keep in mind that there is no need to question established choices here. For instance, when your application already makes use of React everywhere, there is no need to suddenly question the react-router package for routing.\n\nInstead, whatever new framework you'll introduce should just be able to play nicely with React Router. This may sound odd, but as we will see, this is totally possible and - ultimately - desired.\n\nAnother point that needs to be discussed and defined upfront is the degree of isolation. While it may make sense to directly access (and therefore know about) the components from other frameworks, having component aggregation as outlined in the previous article may be desired.\n\nComponent aggregation allows individual components to use components without knowing where they come from. It also enables loose coupling as the aggregator component will work with a single registered component, multiple registered components, or even with no registered component.\n\nUltimately, however, it also solves the MxN problem.\n\nSolving the MxN Problem\n\nThe MxN problem appears in a lot of places. Luckily, the solution to this problem is also known for a while. Let\u2019s have a look at the problem itself. We start with an example of programming languages.\n\nSuppose we have M programming languages and N types of machines. How many compilers do you need to write? Well, obviously the answer is MxN. That was not difficult, right?\n\nSurprise: The difficult part is not the math. The difficult part is to keep the scaling when new types of machines and new programming languages are added.\n\nFor example, taking 4 languages and 3 machine architectures we end up with 12 edges (MxN).\n\nThe MxN Problem\n\nThe solution to the previous problem was simple: Introduce an intermediate language (or in general: intermediate representation). So the M programming languages all compile to the same intermediate language, which is then compiled to the target architecture. Instead of having to scale MxN we now have M+N. Adding a new output architecture is as simple as adding a compilation from the intermediate language to the new architecture.\n\nLet\u2019s see how our example diagram changes when adding the intermediate representation (IR). We now have only 7 edges (M+N).\n\nA solution to the MxN Problem\n\nThe same has been done for IDE support, too. Instead of supporting M programming languages for N IDEs we now have a single standard for language support (called Language Server Protocol \u2014 short LSP).\n\nThis now is the secret sauce why the TypeScript team (and others, too) can support VS Code, Sublime, Atom, and many other editors. They just update their LSP implementation and the rest follows. Supporting a new IDE is as simple as writing the LSP plugin for the respective IDE \u2014 nothing more required.\n\nWhat do these tales help us now with cross-framework components? Well, if we have M frameworks than enabling cross-framework component exchange between N of them is MxN again. Solving this can now be done with the experience from the solutions above. What we need to find is a suitable \u201cintermediate representation\u201d.\n\nThe following diagram shows this for 3 frameworks. The intermediate representation allows converting from \u2014 and to \u2014 the different frameworks. Overall, we have 6 edges (2N) here.\n\nThe MxN Solution for Cross-Frameworks\n\nIf we even take one of the frameworks as IR we end up with 4 edges (2N \u2014 2) \u2014 saving two converters, but also gaining performance in the \u201chappy case\u201d, i.e., when the given framework is the one that\u2019s used most often for components.\n\nIn Piral we\u2019ve chosen React to be this intermediate solution. There have been good reasons for this:\n\nReact is supported in all major browsers, even IE11 or older\n\nReact has a very well-defined component model that is lightweight\n\nReact gives us a clear component lifecycle\n\nReact\u2019s context makes it possible to transport context information easily\n\nLazy loading and error handling are trivial to support\n\nSince React was the primary choice of our render tree we wanted to remain close to it\n\nNow for you, a different framework may be more useful. Of course, using web components can be super useful, too. We did not go for web components for a couple of reasons \u2014 which essentially match the ones just mentioned. Especially, the number of polyfills plus lack of context was concerning. Nevertheless, your list may look different here and that\u2019s perfectly fine.\n\nA Simple Wrapper\n\nLet\u2019s follow up on what we\u2019ve discussed so far. We definitely require a well-defined component lifecycle. The full lifecycle could be specified via a ComponentLifecycle interface as seen below.\n\nThis lifecycle alone is not worth much. We somehow need to connect it to a component \u2014 in our case a React component \u2014 to be mounted in the render tree.\n\nLet\u2019s define a simple function to create a React functional component wrapping the lifecycle as previously defined.\n\nAdditionally, we can bring in context-transported values such as the router context (containing \u2014 among other things \u2014 the history , location , and others).\n\nWhat are createPortal and destroyPortal ? These are global actions that allow the registration or destruction of a portal entry. A portal uses a ReactPortal child underneath to project an element from React's render tree to a different location in the DOM tree. The following diagram illustrates this.\n\nProjection of Rendering\n\nThis is quite powerful. It is so powerful that is also works in shadow DOM. That way the intermediate representation can be used (i.e., projected) anywhere, e.g., in a node that is rendered by another framework such as Vue.\n\nError handling is left to the error boundary mentioned above. The component is rather unspectacular. Therefore, let\u2019s tackle the PortalRenderer and ComponentContainer .\n\nThe PortalRenderer is super simple. In the end, it all boils down to get the ReactPortal and render it. Since these portals need to be globally distributed we can go over the store to retrieve them:\n\nNow, the ComponentContainer is where the music plays. For enhanced access to the full React lifecycle we use a Component class.\n\nIn this wrapper component, we also deal with (frankly, quite exotic) cases such as a change of the hosting DOM node. In this case we\u2019ll need to re-mount the underlying component via the given lifecycle functions.\n\nSo let\u2019s review the three crucial parts that all couple to the lifecycle:\n\ncomponentDidMount is responsible for mounting - using the captured hosting DOM node componentDidUpdate does either a re-mount (if the DOM node changed) or tries a lightweight update operation componentWillUnmount is responsible for detaching\n\nWhy are we assigning this strange data-portal-id attribute to the hosting node? This is for finding the hosting node later when using the ReactPortal .\n\nConsider we are in the tree controlled by a framework like Vue and we want to render a component from another framework. In this case we require our intermediate representation, which \u2014 as we defined \u2014 is also just a React component.\n\nMounting this React component in the Vue tree works over the DOM (alright!), but as discussed will be rendered via a portal. This way we stay in sync with the usual render tree of React and we get all the benefits, too.\n\nTo project this correctly we need, however, to identify what is the current hosting DOM node that is used by React. Luckily, we\u2019ve added the attribute to be used for this. We only need to ascend the DOM tree and find the node with the attribute.\n\nThe code can be as simple as:\n\nThis code is also prepared for usage in shadow DOM, which can make a lot of sense if web components are part of the spectrum we\u2019re dealing with.\n\nAn Example\n\nFinally, let\u2019s see how this can look in an application.\n\nLet\u2019s say we defined a React component to connect to the global state and show the value from a counter.\n\nNow we can refer to this in another component, e.g., in a Svelte component we can use a custom component such as shown in the following code.\n\nKeep in mind that the svelte-extension is (in this example) the way to access the converter going from the intermediate representation (i.e., React) to Svelte.\n\nUsing this simple example in action looks as expected.\n\nUsing the Cross-Framework Components\n\nHow do we define the converters here? The difficult part is certainly the connection to the custom element, which we solve with an event (called render-html ) that is fired once the web component is connected.\n\nOther than that Svelte makes it look very easy here. Creating a new instance of the Svelte component actually attaches it to the given target .\n\nConclusion\n\nEstablishing cross-framework component usage is a crucial part for most microfrontend solutions. The basic idea and concepts, however, can be applied to many other solutions, too. Given a solid architecture and a working domain model an implementation is not difficult either.\n\nUsing an aggregator component we could efficiently decouple producers and consumers. A single bi-directional converter for each framework was enough to cover all cases. Convenience can then be established in each framework individually. This allows many use cases from framework-independent development to rapid prototyping or experimentation with more recent technologies.\n\nWhere do you see cross-framework components shine?\n\nLearn More"}
-{"text": "The dismal list of financial executive deaths has recently increased to 11 in the last few months. Speculation has surrounded many of these deaths (and suicides) as to the reasoning; none more than the first - William Broeksmit, an executive who worked in Deutsche Bank's risk function and advised senior leadership who hanged himself in his South Kensington home in late January. However, as the WSJ reports, we now know why this poor man felt compelled to take his own life: he was \" anxious about various authorities investigating areas of the bank where he worked \" (and yes, we are well aware of the grammatical and temporal impossibilities suggested by this article's title).\n\nVia WSJ,\n\nWhile a Deutsche Bank spokeswoman said Tuesday that \"Bill was not under suspicion of wrongdoing in any matter,\" according to statements read at a coroner's inquest in London, the former senior executive at Deutsche Bank, who committed suicide in late January, was concerned about investigations into the German bank . William Broeksmit, an executive who worked in the bank's risk function and advised the firm's senior leadership, was \"anxious about various authorities investigating areas of the bank where he worked,\" according to written evidence from his psychologist , given Tuesday at an inquest at London's Royal Courts of Justice. Mr. Broeksmit, an American born in Chicago who retired from Deutsche Bank in February 2013, hanged himself at his London home on Jan. 26, according to a statement read at the coroner's inquest. ... A close colleague of Deutsche Bank co-Chief Executive Anshu Jain, Mr. Broeksmit was expected to be appointed the bank's chief risk officer in 2012, but the move was vetoed by BaFin, the German financial regulator, because of a lack of suitable experience, people familiar with the matter said at the time.\n\n...\n\n\n\nMs. Wilcox, citing written medical evidence from Mr. Broeksmit's doctor and psychologist, said the executive was sleeping badly during the summer of 2013, and his \"self-esteem had been greatly undermined.\" He was also trying to stop smoking cigars and his alcohol intake was high , according to a medical report.\n\nHere are all the recent untimely financial professional deaths we have witnessed in recent months:\n\n1 - William Broeksmit, 58-year-old former senior executive at Deutsche Bank AG, was found dead in his home after an apparent suicide in South Kensington in central London, on January 26th. 2 - Karl Slym, 51 year old Tata Motors managing director Karl Slym, was found dead on the fourth floor of the Shangri-La hotel in Bangkok on January 27th. 3 - Gabriel Magee, a 39-year-old JP Morgan employee, died after falling from the roof of the JP Morgan European headquarters in London on January 27th. 4 - Mike Dueker, 50-year-old chief economist of a US investment bank was found dead close to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State. 5 - Richard Talley, the 57 year old founder of American Title Services in Centennial, Colorado, was found dead earlier this month after apparently shooting himself with a nail gun. 6 - Tim Dickenson, a U.K.-based communications director at Swiss Re AG, also died last month, however the circumstances surrounding his death are still unknown. 7 - Ryan Henry Crane, a 37 year old executive at JP Morgan died in an alleged suicide just a few weeks ago. No details have been released about his death aside from this small obituary announcement at the Stamford Daily Voice. 8 - Li Junjie, 33-year-old banker in Hong Kong jumped from the JP Morgan HQ in Hong Kong this week. 9 - James Stuart Jr, Former National Bank of Commerce CEO, found dead in Scottsdale, Ariz., the morning of Feb. 19. A family spokesman did not say whatcaused the death 10 - Edmund (Eddie) Reilly, 47, a trader at Midtown\u2019s Vertical Group, commited suicide by jumping in front of LIRR train 11 - Kenneth Bellando, 28, a trader at Levy Capital, formerly investment banking analyst at JPMorgan, jumped to his death from his 6th floor East Side apartment.\n\nOne can only wonder how many of these unfortunate deaths were due to the similar \"investigation\" concerns."}
-{"text": "With new documents surfacing in the wake of the ongoing litigation between former players and the National Hockey League, more details are coming to light about the way the league and its member clubs handled concussions.\n\n\n\nAnd judging by several depositions taken in the concussion suit vs. the NHL, which have become publicly available through court record, multiple teams were disciplined for the ways in which they failed to adhere to and enforce certain protocols concerning head injuries.\n\n\n\nTestimony from league officials and NHL team executives revealed that the New Jersey Devils, Calgary Flames and Montreal Canadiens were all found to be noncompliant in following certain NHL-mandated rules. And though these depositions reference penalties to both the Flames and the Canadiens, testimony indicates the Devils were neither fined nor disciplined for their infractions.\n\n\n\nOf the three teams, the Devils were most frequently mentioned in relation to..."}
-{"text": "The right-wing British politician who helped persuade Britain to vote to leave the European Union has claimed Donald Trump\u2019s sweeping victory in the U.S. presidential election as the latest result of a populist wave that is set to upturn the political order in Europe in 2017.\n\n\u201cBrexit was the first brick that was knocked out of the establishment wall. A lot more were knocked out last night,\u201d Nigel Farage, the interim leader of the U.K. Independence Party, told TIME on Wednesday. \u201cThis is Brexit times three. It is a bigger country, it is a bigger position, it is a bigger event.\u201d\n\nThe potent mixture of antielitism and nativism that drove \u201cBrexit\u201d was effectively harnessed by Trump to tap into the discontent of millions of Americans who felt left behind by globalization and the establishment. \u201cBrexit is a story that had so many parallels with what happened in the U.S.\u201d says Farage in a telephone interview from the U.S, where he flew after the results emerged. \u201cAnd it is something, very wisely, that Team Trump cottoned on to very early.\u201d The former investment banker was even invited to give a speech alongside the Republican on Aug. 25 at a Jackson, Miss., rally.\n\nNow, populist parties in Europe \u2014 which include Italy\u2019s Five Star Movement and Marine Le Pen\u2019s National Front in France \u2014 stand ready to continue the fight, says Farage. \u201cI don\u2019t think it is finished yet, I think this phenomenon is set to sweep other parts of Europe over the course of a couple years.\u201d\n\n\u201cHungary is now is basically giving two fingers up to Brussels,\u201d he continues, of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban\u2019s attempt to reject the E.U.\u2019s plan to relocate refugees. \u201cYou get much the same language in Slovakia, in Poland and the Czech Republic.\u201d\n\nFarage was one of the central figures in Britain\u2019s campaign to leave the E.U. in the June 23 referendum. He led the fight for Britain to \u201ctake back control\u201d of immigration, its laws and the perceived control of U.K.\u2019s national sovereignty by the E.U. Like Trump, the campaign came under fire for its divergence from facts, xenophobic messaging and dog-whistle racism, recriminations that didn\u2019t stop 17 million Britons from voting to leave the European bloc.\n\nThe UKIP politician \u2014 a lawmaker in the European Parliament \u2014 says he was initially drawn to Trump for his views on small government and border control. \u201cDonald Trump believes in nation-state democracy, Hillary Clinton used the E.U. as a prototype for a larger global union, Donald Trump believes in sensible immigration controls \u2026 [and] recognizes the threat posed by Islamic terrorism; Hillary Clinton can\u2019t even bring herself to use the words, Donald Trump believes in helping small and medium-sized business by relieving the regulatory burden, things like this just aren\u2019t even on the agenda on the people who want global government like Hillary Clinton.\u201d\n\nThe 52-year-old also praises the President-elect\u2019s approach to foreign policy, even though Trump has been criticized for refusing to commit to defending NATO allies. He\u2019s a pragmatist rather than an isolationist, and will not lead the nation into foreign misadventures like some of his predecessors, says Farage. \u201cSaying you don\u2019t want to enter every potential war in the Middle East doesn\u2019t make you an isolationist, it makes you wise,\u201d he says.\n\nWhere Brexit differs from the policy proposals of America\u2019s 45th President, he says, is the issue of trade protectionism: Trump wants more while Britain is desperate to forge new trade deals with other countries after it leaves the E.U. But the special relationship is strong, Farage says. \u201cThe only positive trade comment he has made is about the U.K,\u201d he says. \u201cHe has said we would be at the front of the queue.\u201d\n\n\u201cOne of the good things from a U.K. perspective is we now have an American President who likes our country rather than Obama and Clinton, who look down on us and sneer at us.\u201d\n\nFarage feels personally responsible for this Western, nationalist movement\u2014 which he calls \u201cnation-states democracy.\u201d He plans to embark on a tour of Europe in 2017 to continue preaching the gospel of Brexit. \u201cThis is the extraordinary thing, those who of us who have these points of view are treated by the establishment as being so disreputable what we shouldn\u2019t even exist,\u201d he says. \u201cI think it is too late now. The genie is now completely out of the bottle.\u201d\n\nGet The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. Please enter a valid email address. Sign Up Now Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.\n\nContact us at letters@time.com."}
-{"text": "(Newser) \u2013 Egypt has found a new way to express political discontent. An opposition group has entered President Mohamed Morsi in a contest to win a space flight, the AP reports. It's a way of showing their desire to eject the leader, the April 6 Youth Movement says on its Facebook page. Members are hoping allies will vote for him to win the contest.\n\n\"No one in the universe can put up with blatant lies ... except for the brotherly people of the moon,\" the group says. \"It is for this reason that the president needs your votes. President Morsi, we wish you safe travels.\" The contest is the product of an interesting alliance: It's run by Axe, the personal grooming brand, in a partnership with Buzz Aldrin. (Read more Egypt stories.)\n\n"}
-{"text": "A woman undergoing breast cancer treatment has said her life was \u201cchanged for ever\u201d after being left paralysed by a man who went on a stabbing rampage in north London last year.\n\nAyfer Bektas, a mother of two from Edmonton, will never be able to walk again after she was attacked by Jason Kakaire as she went for an early evening walk near her home on 30 March 2019.\n\nShe sustained substantial injuries, including a severed spinal cord, and now struggles to leave the house and cannot sleep. She was stabbed with such ferocity that the knife handle snapped. The blade had to be surgically removed from her back.\n\nBektas was one of five people randomly attacked by Kakaire, 30, between 30 March and 2 April, four of whom were left with life-threatening injuries, a sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey heard.\n\nKakaire, who has been held at Broadmoor hospital, pleaded guilty to five alternative charges of wounding with intent and five charges of having a blade in public the day he was due to go on trial for attempted murder.\n\nIn a victim impact statement, read by the prosecutor, Rossano Scamardella QC, on Tuesday, Bektas described how she was the first victim of \u201ca vicious assault\u201d as she underwent cancer treatment.\n\nShe said: \u201cThe injury has totally changed my life forever. I suffer with tremendous psychological issues \u2026 and I always want someone behind me. I shout out in public \u2026 I cannot get these thoughts out of my head. I am too fearful to venture outside unless I absolutely have to. I have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety.\n\n\u201cI wake up so many times at night, if I manage to sleep at all. I do not cope well in crowded places either. My husband has not been able to work any more. My life has in one moment been turned upside down. I have no social life.\n\n\u201cI was not in employment at the time, but that\u2019s because I was battling with breast cancer, which was diagnosed five years earlier. I was still getting treatment for this.\n\n\u201cOverall, the assault has had a terrible impact on me. I hope one day I will feel strong enough to live with some enjoyment again. I hope justice is served so he is unable to do this again.\u201d\n\nThe other victims reported having similar mental and physical injuries. Suleyman Karayapi, who was stabbed as he left his home at 5am on 2 April to buy medication for his son, said he kept reliving the incident in his mind and had to be cared for by his heavily pregnant wife.\n\nHe said: \u201cMy wife only had two weeks to give birth to our child. I feared I wouldn\u2019t see [the baby] growing up. I\u2019m now suffering from depression. When I used to take my children to the park, I cannot do this. We have two children with disabilities.\n\n\u201cI am now living in fear. When I\u2019m walking outside and someone walks past me, I feel frightened.\u201d\n\nKakaire, also from Edmonton, told police he heard voices in his head in the days leading up to the attacks, telling him to kill people, the prosecutor said.\n\nHe will be sentenced at a later date after psychological reports."}
-{"text": "The NFL picture has been as foggy as Sunday night's Falcons-Patriots game, which looked like it was being played in a bowl of soup.\n\nBut as we come to the end of October, the usual suspects are starting to flex their muscle and beginning to look like teams that will be a factor come January.\n\nThose teams are the Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots. At points this season, they've all suffered through ugly losses and showed major flaws, but on Sunday they showed that they might be putting that behind and readying to make a strong push for more.\n\nThe Steelers dominated the Cincinnati Bengals at home in the second half to get to 5-2 on the season and grab a stronghold in the AFC North. The Seahawks came off their bye in usual fashion, with a dominant win against the Giants on the road. The Patriots handled the Falcons in a Super Bowl rematch at home behind a dominant performance by the defense, a unit that came in ranked 32nd in the league.\n\nThose three teams are moving up this week in the Power Rankings and could be on the verge of being No. 1 in a few weeks.\n\nGood teams cure their ills. These are three teams that have showed their flaws and now might be fixing them.\n\nIf they all do, all three will be deep playoff teams. Didn't we expect it, even when they struggled early?\n\nHere they come."}
-{"text": "Members of the Janata Dal (Secular), which faced a drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections, are all set to leave to Sri Lanka to formulate a strategy that can help steer the party in the future.\n\nSixty JD(S) members, including MLAs, MLCs and important former MLAs, MLCs and Ministers, are listed for the trip commencing over the weekend. The getaway includes a day\u2019s stay in a resort.\n\nH.D. Kumaraswamy, JD(S) State president, told presspersons here on Wednesday said the trip was \u201cparty sponsored\u201d and not the largesse of any individual within it. This was mentioned in the context of reports that Kupendra Reddy (who has filed papers for the Rajya Sabha election) or D.U. Mallikarjuna, an Independent in the fray (with JD-S support) for elections to the Legislative Council, could be sponsoring the jaunt.\n\nThe trip to Colombo is being justified on the grounds that it is cheaper than going to New Delhi."}
-{"text": "Welcome back to Fox, bitch!\n\nThe O.C.\u2018s Adam Brody is reuniting with his former network via a guest stint on New Girl, TVLine has learned.\n\nVIDEO | Exclusive: New Girl\u2018s Schmidt-Cece-Coach Triangle Turns Violent\n\nIn an episode slated to shoot next week (and air in early 2014), Brody will play Berkley, a long-ago ex-boyfriend of Jess\u2019 (Zooey Deschanel) who\u2019s now a married stay-at-home dad. He\u2019s open with his feelings and prides himself on having mastered the art of being an ex, which is probably why he and Jess (allegedly) remained the best of friends after their breakup.\n\nBrody\u2019s recent TV credits have included FX\u2019s The League and Showtime\u2019s House of Lies."}
-{"text": "How Do Polls Work? Vote for your favorite products in an existing poll or create a new one. We\u2019ll make the most popular products available on the site in limited-time events called \u201cproduct runs.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nThe Most Interesting Cat in the World\n\nadd your own caption\n\nThe Most Interesting Cat in the World\n\nadd your own caption\n\nThe Most Interesting Cat in the World\n\nadd your own caption\n\nThe Most Interesting Cat in the World\n\nadd your own caption\n\nThe Most Interesting Cat in the World\n\nadd your own caption\n\nThe Most Interesting Cat in the World\n\nadd your own caption\n\nThe Most Interesting Cat in the World\n\nadd your own caption\n\nThe Most Interesting Cat in the World\n\nadd your own caption\n\nThe Most Interesting Cat in the World\n\nadd your own caption\n\nThe Most Interesting Cat in the World\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nI don't always shed... Oh wait. i do."}
-{"text": "Amardeep Kaleka, whose father is Satwant Kaleka, the president of the temple who was shot and killed, prays in a parking lot while waiting to hear information. Credit: Mike De Sisti\n\nThe children were downstairs, in Sunday school.\n\nThe women were in the kitchen nearby, cooking the weekly meal that is free to all.\n\nAnd the gunman was striding into the wide-open Sikh Temple, bent on killing as many people as he could.\n\nThen came the shots, ripped off, according to a weapons instructor who lives nearby, \"as fast as you can pull the trigger.\"\n\nBy the time the shooter was done, six people lay dead or mortally wounded in what Oak Creek police said was being treated as a domestic terrorist incident - if so, one without precedent in Wisconsin.\n\nCounting the gunman - fatally shot by an Oak Creek police officer - the death count stands at seven.\n\n\"This,\" a temple leader said later, \"is insanity.\"\n\nIt is also the most deadly U.S. attack on Sikhs - who often have been mistaken for Muslims and targeted in hate crimes - in recent memory.\n\nWithin three hours of the mass slaying at the five-year-old temple, built on S. Howell Ave. to accommodate the Milwaukee area's growing Sikh community, a task force of federal, state and local law enforcement officers was gathering on the scene.\n\nSunday night, team members - some wearing military gear and carrying heavy weapons - surrounded a duplex in Cudahy.\n\nThe upper flat had been rented just one month ago by a single man in his 40s, the landlord, Kurt Weins, said.\n\n\"I had him checked out and he definitely checked out,\" said Weins, who refused to name the man. \"The cops told me they don't want me to say nothing right now.\"\n\nAn FBI official later confirmed that the police action in Cudahy, which involved numerous agencies and heavy military-style equipment, was related to the temple slayings.\n\nFBI Special Agent Theresa Carlson said officers were executing a search warrant. The agency said they had not established a motive.\n\nA law enforcement source familiar with the investigation said the shooter had been discharged from the Army. The source said one firearm was recovered at the temple as well as multiple magazines.\n\nOak Creek Police Chief John Edwards said officers arriving on the scene \"stopped a tragedy that could have been a lot worse.\"\n\nBeyond the murders, three people were injured in the rampage.\n\nThey included an Oak Creek police officer who was helping a victim outside the temple when the gunman opened fire on him.\n\nA second Oak Creek officer returned fire, killing the shooter.\n\nThe police officer and two other men were taken to Froedtert Hospital. All were in critical condition with gunshot wounds - one to the chest and abdomen, one to the neck, and the third to his face and extremities, a hospital spokesman said.\n\nThe mass shooting occurred some time before 10:30 a.m., as members of the temple prepared for weekly worship. The first 911 calls were recorded at 10:26 a.m.\n\nThe service was to begin at 11:30 a.m., but dozens of people were already on hand.\n\nThe temple opens at 5:30 a.m. to anyone who wants to pray on their own, and in the three days leading up to the service, priests read continuously from a holy book.\n\nIn the kitchen downstairs, women were cooking for the \"langar,\" a free, shared meal that is part of a Sikh tradition emphasizing equality and common roots.\n\nChildren were at Sunday school, where they are taught about religion, culture and the language of Punjab, the part of northwestern India that is the Sikh homeland.\n\nThen shots rang out.\n\nSeeking shelter\n\nTwo children ran to the kitchen, and they and the women there - 16 people in all - made for a pantry, closed themselves in and huddled, terrified.\n\nTwo priests and a few others locked themselves inside a bathroom. One used a cell phone to report that Satwant Kaleka, the temple president, had been shot twice and was lying on the floor, bleeding.\n\nKaleka, who died, had tried to tackle the shooter, said his son, Amardeep Kaleka.\n\nOutside, another man, shot in the abdomen, staggered to a ranch house 300 yards away and pounded on the door.\n\nJim Haase opened the door to see a gray-bearded man of 60 or 70 years old standing in a blood-soaked white tunic.\n\n\"He couldn't speak English but he was pointing at it,\" Haase said of the victim gesturing to the wound in his mid-section.\n\nA weapons instructor, Vietnam veteran and retired firefighter trained as a first responder, Haase knew what to do.\n\nHe grabbed a towel and laid the man on his front lawn to apply pressure to stop the bleeding.\n\nThe bullet, which made an entry hole no bigger than the diameter of a pen, appeared to go straight through the man, who remained conscious the whole time, Haase said.\n\nHe called Oak Creek police, then continued to tend to the victim until an ambulance arrived.\n\nPolice were at the temple within three minutes of the initial 911 call, but the very first call was so garbled that the gravity of the situation didn't come through.\n\n\"Squad, I'm taking report of a altercation, Sikh temple, 7512 S. Howell,\" the police dispatcher said. \"I have a lot of noise. I'm unable to get much info, but there's a fight . . . \"\n\nLess than a minute later, however, the dispatcher added that there had been reports of gunshots. Very shortly after that, she radioed that \"a bald male with glasses may have shot someone.\"\n\nFour of the slaying victims were found inside the temple, 7512 S. Howell. Three were outside.\n\nAmong them was the gunman himself. He had opened fire on an Oak Creek police officer who was helping a victim, when another officer shot him.\n\nThe injured officer, who has been on the force at least 20 years, is expected to survive, Chief Edwards said at a media briefing outside the temple. He did not name the officer.\n\nEdwards said the mass shooting is being treated as an incident of domestic terrorism. But FBI representatives later backed away from that categorization, saying they were still investigating motive.\n\nThough the gunman was killed outside the temple not long after the shooting spree began, it wasn't until shortly before noon that a police SWAT team entered the building and brought uninjured people out.\n\nFor Parminder Toor and the other women barricaded in the kitchen pantry, it was more than an hour of terror.\n\nToor, 54, spoke to a reporter later Sunday at Classic Lanes, a bowling alley across Howell Avenue where uninjured temple members gathered and were interviewed by police.\n\nThe women could smell oil burning in the kitchen where they had left the food cooking, and they cried as they hid from the gunman, she said through her daughter in law, Jaskiran Toor.\n\nWhen police came, the women were still wary.\n\n\"The police officers knocked on the door, (but) they were scared and didn't want to open it,\" Jaskiran Toor said.\n\nShe said the women were led out one by one with their hands behind their head.\n\nAs they walked through the temple, crying, Parminder Toor saw three bodies.\n\nOthers saw them too. Kulwant Kaur had hidden in the pantry, and as she was led out, a relative said, she saw her father-in-law lying on the floor, blood coming from his head.\n\nAlso in the kitchen when the shooting broke out, and taking refuge in the pantry, was the mother of Gulpreet Kaur.\n\n\"Two bullets passed by on either side of her, her friend was hit in the foot,\" said Kaur, 24.\n\nKaur, who was allowed in to the bowling alley, said her mother was traumatized by what happened and alternately cried and talked about what she heard and saw.\n\nObama notified\n\nWhile the FBI was taking a cautious approach on the motivation for the shootings, the incident was being watched at the country's highest levels.\n\nWhite House officials said President Barack Obama was notified of the shootings shortly before 1 p.m. by John Brennan, his Homeland Security adviser, and was getting updates through the day.\n\nMembers of the Sikh temple here expressed little doubt about the underpinnings of the rampage.\n\n\"It's pretty much a hate crime,\" said Ben Boparai, one of the temple's committee members. \"It's not an insider.\"\n\nThat would make for a different situation than the 2005 mass shooting at a service of the Living Church of God at the Sheraton hotel in Brookfield.\n\nThere, a church member, Terry Ratzmann, 44, opened fire during services, killing seven people and himself.\n\nAccording to Ri, the Oak Creek gunman first walked up to a priest who was standing outside, shot him, then entered the temple and began firing.\n\n\"It's sad, I don't know how to describe it,\" said Ri, who has been fielding calls all morning from around the world, including India.\n\n\"Sikhism is such a peaceful religion. We have suffered for generations, in India and even here.\"\n\nBaljander Khattra's thoughts also turned to the gunman as he waited at the bowling alley for word of his father.\n\n\"I don't know what that person thinks,\" Khattra said. \"...We are peaceful. The Sikh temple is open to anybody.\"\n\nWaiting for news\n\nEarlier Sunday groups of temple members gathered outside a day care center two blocks away, using cell phones, conferring in small groups and simply watching.\n\nThere were few tears, just shock and disbelief. As the sun beat down, a few small trees provided scant shade. Some older people sat in cars with the air conditioning on. By mid-afternoon the American Red Cross delivered bottled water.\n\nThe day care center parking lot filled with cars of temple-goers, including several yellow taxi cabs, some parked as though they arrived in a hurry.\n\nPeople talked of the victims, among them Kaleka, and Parkash Singh, a priest who was killed.\n\nTemple member Manminder Sethi, a dentist who works in Brown Deer, said Singh was in his mid 30s. The priest had lived in Oak Creek for several years, Sethi said, and recently returned to India to bring his wife, daughter and son to live with him in Wisconsin.\n\n\"He was a good guy,\" said Sethi, \"a noble soul.\"\n\nSatwant Kaleka's nephew, Gurmit Kaleka, said his uncle was 65 and was married with two grown sons, one of them a former Milwaukee police officer.\n\nSatwant Kaleka has been president of the church - which formerly met in a south side location - since about 1996.\n\nHe has never felt threatened or unsafe in any way, Gurmit Kaleka said.\n\nAmardeep Kaleka said his father emigrated from Punjab in 1982 with a couple of hundred dollars in his pocket, and became a successful businessman owning gas stations and other properties in the area. He co-founded and helped to build the temple.\n\n\"It was like a second home to him,\" Amardeep Kaleka said. \"He was the kind of person who, if he got a call that a bulb was out at 2 a.m., he'd go over to change it.\"\n\nDarshan Dhaliwal, who identified himself as a leader at the temple, said the temple had not been the subject of any threats or graffiti recently.\n\nMeanwhile, Brookfield police officers were dispatched to the Sikh Temple at 3675 N. Calhoun Road as a precaution in the aftermath of the Oak Creek shooting.\n\nAt least three squads were at the temple in Waukesha County and they blocked off roads leading to the building.\n\nAbout 50 people were at the Brookfield temple for a morning service and many of them went outside after they learned of the shooting in Oak Creek.\n\nGurcharan Grewal, president of the Sikh Religious Society of Wisconsin told a Journal Sentinel reporter: \"People are really shocked. There was a little bit of panic. But everything is holding together.\"\n\nAlso, in the shooting's wake, the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, locked down the mosque at 4707 S. 13th St. in Milwaukee with a police car guarding entrance doors. During the afternoon prayer, around 1 p.m., the mosque was only allowing in attendees they recognized.\n\nAnd the 128th Air Refueling Wing at Mitchell International Airport went into lockdown for a time on Sunday. No personnel were allowed in or out of the base to ensure maximum safety and security.\n\nMore than 20 million people worldwide follow the Sikh religion, established about 500 years ago in the Punjab region of India. Devout male followers must wear long beards and their hair in a turban, and in America are sometimes mistaken for Muslims; the two religions are not affiliated.\n\nIn the days after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, at least four acts of violence against Sikhs occurred in the Milwaukee area, said Swarnjit S. Arora, a founder of the local Sikh Religious Society. Two taxis owned by Sikh drivers were vandalized, and two Sikh men were assaulted, said Arora. The crimes were not widely reported by the news media because they were overshadowed by dramatic events across the nation, he said.\n\nAbout 3,000 Sikh families live in southeastern Wisconsin. A tight-knit community, they meet for religious services and to share meals at the Religious Society in Brookfield and the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, in Oak Creek, which opened in 2007.\n\nAbout this story\n\nThis story was written by Rick Romell with reporting by Mike Johnson, Karen Herzog, Annysa Johnson, Tom Daykin, Meg Jones, John Diedrich, Bruce Vielmetti, Don Walker, James B. Nelson, Georgia Pabst, Crocker Stephenson, Paul Gores, Raquel Rutledge, Bill Glauber, Ellen Gabler, Allan Vestal, Jenn Amur, Dan Egan, Craig Nickels, Nicole Levy, Aisha Qidwae and Emily Eggleston of the Journal Sentinel staff."}
-{"text": "Server Performance\n\nAs we\u2019ve mentioned over the past few weeks, one of our top priorities continues to be improving server performance. This publish has incorporated another round of performance improvements which should further reduce character warping, lag, etc. during times of peak population. We expect to incorporate another round toward the end of the week, or early next week.\n\nWeapon Balance\n\nAll Basilisks\n\nMin CoF to 0.2, from 0.5\n\nMax CoF to 0.5, from 0.7\n\nHarasser/Flash/ANT/MBTs variants\n\nBasilisks refire rate to 150ms, from 171ms\n\nSunderer variant\n\nBasilisk refire rate to 171ms, from 150ms\n\nThis change reverts an incorrect increase in Sunderer Basilisk rate of fire\n\nMR1 Fracture\n\nVertical recoil magnitude to 0.22, from 0.4\n\nCone of fire to 0.05, from 0.1\n\nIncreased projectile acceleration speed\n\nProjectile velocity to 230(max), from 180(max)\n\nMisc Additions\n\nMentorship and Drill Sergeant Ribbons\n\nThe Battle Rank cap on earning these ribbons has been increased to 30, from 19.\n\nDirectives"}
-{"text": "Backroomcastingcouch devrait vous plaire si vous aimez fakeagent, publicagent, faketaxi\u2026Le concept toujours fort simple un casting, mais de pas taff, pas de cash et m\u00eame pas de v\u00e9ritable agent\u2026..La seule diff\u00e9rence avec les sites pr\u00e9c\u00e9demment cit\u00e9s r\u00e9side dans le cadre puisqu\u2019ici tout se passe dans un pseudo bureau.. Ok et Charlotte?? et bien Charlotte est bandante \u00e0 mort! Elle suce, ce qui est d\u00e9j\u00e0 bien, mais elle ne se prive pas en plus de quelques gorges profondes\u2026notez que le gode, qu\u2019elle s\u2019est enfonc\u00e9e au pr\u00e9alable, l\u00e0 surement rendue g\u00e9n\u00e9reuse\u2026\n\n\n\nCharlotte pour BackRoomCastingCouch\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCette page a \u00e9t\u00e9 affich\u00e9e 9 402 fois depuis sa mise en ligne"}
-{"text": "African filmmakers are creating more quality movies with relevant themes and international appeal than ever before. Finding an audience is the issue, and that\u2019s where Freda Frimpong hopes to help.\n\nThe native of Ghana, who grew up in North Texas, started Kuumba Media as a distribution vessel for African films to gain exposure in the United States through festivals, video-on-demand, and specialized theatrical screenings.\n\nAs part of that effort, the Brooklyn digital media tech company is teaming up with local Alamo Drafthouse for a monthly series that includes the Nigerian drama Oga Bolaji. The film will screen on Saturday at Alamo Drafthouse Denton and on Aug. 31 at Alamo Drafthouse Cedars.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s so much film being produced in Africa,\u201d Frimpong said. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to figure out an interesting way to get it out there.\u201d\n\nKuumba has partnered regionally with the Denton Black Film Festival and the Dallas-based African Film Festival, which showed Oga Bolaji during its June event. The film from 26-year-old director Kayode Kasum \u2014 about an unlikely partnership between a middle-aged musician and a young girl \u2014 also has screened at more than a dozen other festivals.\n\nFrimpong, 30, graduated from Trinity High School in Euless before earning a theater degree from the University of North Texas. She moved to New York after graduation to pursue acting, but transitioned into behind-the-scenes roles in entertainment instead. After finishing her MBA, she launched Kuumba, translated from the word \u201ccreativity\u201d in Swahili.\n\nThe local screenings will precede the release of Oga Bolaji on Kuumba\u2019s on-demand platform, which is scheduled to debut this fall. Previously, Kuumba screened the Ghanaian comedy Bad Luck Joe at the same two Alamo locations in July.\n\n\u201cI really want to focus on bringing the value of African cinema to a global platform,\u201d Frimpong said, \u201cand give them a voice.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Nada \u00e9 igual ao Seu redor\n\nTudo se faz no Seu olhar\n\nTodo o universo se formou no Seu falar\n\nTeologia pra explicar ou big bang pra disfar\u00e7ar\n\nPode algu\u00e9m at\u00e9 duvidar sei que h\u00e1 um Deus a me guardar\n\nE eu t\u00e3o pequeno e fr\u00e1gil querendo Sua aten\u00e7\u00e3o\n\nNo sil\u00eancio encontro resposta certa ent\u00e3o\n\nDono de toda ci\u00eancia, sabedoria e poder\n\nOh d\u00e1-me de beber da \u00e1gua da fonte da vida\n\nAntes que o ar j\u00e1 houvesse Ele j\u00e1 era Deus\n\nSe revelou ao seus do crente ao ateu\n\nNingu\u00e9m explica Deus\n\nOh oh ningu\u00e9m oh\n\nNada \u00e9 igual ao Seu redor\n\nTudo se faz no Seu olhar\n\nO universo se formou no Seu falar\n\nTeologia pra explicar ou big bang pra disfar\u00e7ar\n\nPode algu\u00e9m at\u00e9 duvidar sei que h\u00e1 um Deus a me guardar\n\nE eu t\u00e3o pequeno e fr\u00e1gil querendo Sua aten\u00e7\u00e3o\n\nNo sil\u00eancio encontro resposta certa ent\u00e3o\n\nDono de toda ci\u00eancia, sabedoria e poder\n\nOh d\u00e1-me de beber da \u00e1gua da fonte da vida\n\nAntes que o ar j\u00e1 houvesse Ele j\u00e1 era Deus\n\nSe revelou ao seus do Gentio ao Judeu\n\nNingu\u00e9m explica Deus\n\nNingu\u00e9m explica\n\nNingu\u00e9m explica Deus\n\nNingu\u00e9m explica\n\nNingu\u00e9m explica Deus\n\nE se duvida ou se acredita\n\nNingu\u00e9m explica (n\u00e3o)\n\nNingu\u00e9m explica Deus (n\u00e3o)\n\nNingu\u00e9m explica\n\nNingu\u00e9m explica Deus\n\nNingu\u00e9m explica\n\nNingu\u00e9m explica Deus\n\nE se duvida ou se acredita\n\nNingu\u00e9m explica\n\nNingu\u00e9m explica Deus\n\nDono de toda ci\u00eancia, sabedoria e poder\n\nOh d\u00e1-me de beber da \u00e1gua da fonte da vida\n\nAntes que o ar j\u00e1 houvesse Ele j\u00e1 era Deus\n\nSe revelou ao seus do crente ao ateu\n\nNingu\u00e9m explica Deus\n\nNingu\u00e9m explica Deus\n\nNingu\u00e9m, ninguem explica Deus\n\nOh Deus Tu \u00e9s marivilhoso Deus\n\nOh Deus Tu \u00e9s a minha rocha e fortaleza (sim Tu \u00e9s, Aleluia)\n\nSim, Tu \u00e9s real oh oh n\u00e3o importa quem duvide\n\nTu \u00e9s Deus, Tu \u00e9s Deus, Tu \u00e9s Deus, oh Deus, Aleluia\n\nOh ningu\u00e9m explica Deus (Aleluia)\n\nO Grande \u00e9s, ningu\u00e9m explica Deus\n\nCompositores: Clovis Pinhao"}
-{"text": "We just realised that we might have forgotten to tell you one thing about the AMD Hawaii launch. The new AMD flagship announced last week is missing one crucial part, it doesn\u2019t have a Crossfire connector anymore.\n\nNaturally, it supports Crossfire, no need to panic, two to three R9 or R7 cards will work in Crossfire as long as the motherboard has enough slots. The reason behind the decision to drop the connector is relatively simple. We spoke with a few industry friends and we were told that you don't need this communication anymore as the PCIe bus is fast enough for all the frame syncing and communication necessary to make the card work synced.\n\nAnother angle is that this will mean a slight reduction in the card manufacturing cost, as the PCB doesn\u2019t have a connector and AIBs don\u2019t need to bundle a Crossfire connector bridge anymore, which was included in many generations before. It might not sound like much, but anything that cuts costs is always good, ever if we are dealing with relatively cheap components. What's pocket change on a single card is millions once you ship a lot of them.\n\nWe noticed the absence of the connector when we first saw the card, but we wanted to ask around and learn more about the decision. For example, 4K gaming will sometimes need two or three Radeon R9 290X cards at full load and this is a lot of horse power, without the need for a dedicated connector.\n\nAll the traffic is handled by the PCIe bus now, PCIe 3.0 to be exact and for all intents and purposes the era of the Crossfire bridge is over. Don\u2019t worry, AMD promises there will be no performance penalty versus and external bridge.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "The car was a 1936 Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic. Only three of these cars were ever built and it was designed by Jean Bugatti, the son of Ettore Bugatti. The cars were made from aluminium with distinctive riveted seams. This is one of only two of the cars that remain in their original condition: the other is owned by Ralph Lauren .\n\nThe car had been part of a Bugatti collection owned by neurologist Dr Peter D. Williamson. Following the death of Williamson in 2008, and the consequent sale of the other cars in the collection (for $15.5m), Gooding & Company brokered a deal on behalf of the family, with the Mullin Automotive Museum. The car is known to have been sold for at least $30 million, although some sources suggest an even higher figure.\n\nPreviously, the highest price known to have been paid for a car was for a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa. This auction carried out by Sotherbys, in Maranello, Italy, in May 2009 saw the car sold to an unknown telephone bidder for $12.2m\n\nThis specific Ferrari is considered one of the most competitive racing Ferraris ever built, having won 10 races in North and South America between 1958 and 1961. It boasts a 300 bhp, 2,953 cc single overhead cam degrees V-12 engine, six Weber 38 DCN carburetors and a four-speed manual gearbox. Only 22 of these cars were ever produced.\n\nIt would appear that year by year the highest price record is being smashed. Prior to the 2009 auction, in 2008, again at the Ferrari test track, Fiorino, in Italy at the annual Sothebys\u2019 auction, a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Spyder California came up for sale.\n\nThis car had previously been owned by actor James Coburn . This time the purchaser was not unknown: it was UK radio and television presenter Chris Evans , who paid $11m for the privilege of owning it.\n\nFollowing the sale of the Bugatti Leslie Kendall, curator of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, said: \u201cIt does sort of recalibrate things in the sense that now, it\u2019s official, certain cars have reached the level of art. People will start paying attention. It\u2019s should be obvious that there are connoisseurs out there who appreciate cars just as much as they do art, fine wine, furniture and sculpture.\n\n\u201cWhen the first car sold for seven figures, nobody could believe it. Then one went for eight figures, now the Williamson Bugatti. The nine-figure car is out there. It\u2019s just a matter of when.\u201d\n\nEdit added 14May 2010\n\nFrom the Sun newspaper today:\n\n\u201cChris Evans gave himself a present for pulling in a million more Radio 2 listeners \u2013 the most expensive car in Britain.\n\nThe Beeb DJ celebrated getting a breakfast show audience of 9.5million by paying \u00a312 million for the vintage Ferrari 250 GTO.\n\nHis latest motor cost \u00a36,000 when new in 1963.\n\nEvans, 44, who collects Ferraris as investments, flogged at least three from his existing fleet to help pay for it.\n\nJust 36 of the 174mph roadgoing racing cars were made \u2013 and Ferrari nut Evans had long dreamed of owning one.\n\nEvans, who has a \u00a345million fortune\u2026. stumped up around 20 million US dollars \u2013 and he plans to use the car on the road.\u201d\n\nAlso by C. Jordan:"}
-{"text": "NASCAR will investigate Kyle Larson\u2019s last-lap crash Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway after the No. 42 Chevrolet went airborne after a spin and rolled over several times.\n\nAfter being hit on the right side by William Byron\u2019s No. 24 Chevy, Larson\u2019s car slid sideways toward the inside SAFER barrier on the backstretch.\n\nAbout 50 feet from the wall, his right-rear tire began lifting off the pavement. Larson\u2019s car was virtually perpendicular to the pavement when it impacted the barrier head on and then flipped multiple times.\n\nNASCAR often has reacted with safety enhancement after cars have gotten airborne by spinning. After multiple cars went airborne in the May 1, 2016 race, NASCAR also launched an investigation. Larson\u2019s incident was similar to Matt Kenseth\u2019s in the race three years ago as their cars seemed to lift off without contact in both instances.\n\n\u201cInitially I thought I was going to hit the inside wall and right before I got there, it started to lift,\u201d said the Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who finished 24th. \u201cThat was probably the longest flip I\u2019ve ever had. I just didn\u2019t know if it would ever stop.\n\n\u201cI knew I was flipping and was just hoping I wouldn\u2019t get any closer to the catchfence. It was a little bit scary, but I\u2019m all right. Thanks to the fab shop at Chip Ganassi Racing for building safe race cars. Like I said, it was scary, but I\u2019m just thankful I\u2019m OK.\u201d\n\nNASCAR spokesman Tom Bryant told NBCSports.com\u2019s Dustin Long that the crash would be analyzed to \u201cdetermine all the factors that led to it.\u201d\n\nThe four-car wreck began when David Ragan (who said the wreck \u201cwas my fault\u201d) bumped Byron, starting the chain reaction that collected Jeffrey Earnhardt and Larson.\n\nIt was the second incident on the final lap. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had crashed hard into the outside wall shortly after winner Chase Elliott took the white flag, but NASCAR (which was monitoring Stenhouse\u2019s wreck) held the yellow until just as the final wreck began.\n\nNASCAR said the last yellow was because of debris from Stenhouse\u2019s No. 17 Ford. The race report initially listed the reason for the last caution as \u201c17, 24, 42, 38, 81, incident backstretch\u201d (even though Stenhouse\u2019s crash happened on the frontstretch) but was updated as of Monday morning to show the final caution was for \u201cDebris.\u201d\n\n. \u2066@bobpockrass\u2069 One of pieces from 17 on track before S/F and theN The 17 stopped right after S/F so we could not have come back under Green with car in vulnerable spot pic.twitter.com/SaoYeRrGNa \u2014 Steve O'Donnell (@odsteve) April 28, 2019\n\nFine for fans to debate it-always happens. Race weekend was awesome and drivers gave us great racing all weekend. That is the real story. Great crowds, great atmosphere and great talent displayed on the track. https://t.co/w83nUlDYnS \u2014 Steve O'Donnell (@odsteve) April 29, 2019\n\nThere were three multicar crashes in the race, but Larson\u2019s Camaro was the only car to get airborne after concerns about escalating speeds with a new rules package.\n\nRyan Newman told Long after practice Friday that NASCAR had prepared poorly for the spike in increased closing rates.\n\n\u201cI think we kept most of the race cars on the race track which was probably a lot of luck,\u201d Newman said Sunday after finishing seventh. \u201cI don\u2019t know that (the racing) was much different. You got bigger runs, but the end result was basically the same. We are still at the mercy of other people\u2019s mistakes which will always be a part of racing here. In the end I am glad all the race cars stayed on the racetrack.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Share this article! 0 Pinterest 0 StumbleUpon 0 Reddit 0 Linkedin Tumblr 0 Digg\n\nSometimes, no matter what we do, our kinky, curly hair just looks lackluster and dry.\n\nI have this issue more often than I care to mention. I live in a hot, dry climate, which plays a factor. For others, the overuse of heat on the hair is the culprit.\n\nEven our genetic makeup plays a part in hair dryness. Then there is the use of certain types of hair products. It\u2019s important to re-evaluate what we are using in our hair. Chemical-laden hair products limit our hair\u2019s ability to retain moisture and thrive.\n\nSome of us may be burying our heads in the sand by ignoring the fact that our diet plays a role in hair health. The right balance of foods, work in concert with each other. Without this synergy, the end result is natural hair that is dry and dull.\n\nIn Kate Abbott\u2019s informative article, Everyday Foods that Nourish Dry Brittle Hair, from her blog \u201cCoffee with Kate\u201d, she shares with us the proper foods for a healthy, lustrous head of hair. In plain English, she explains what our hair craves, and which foods will feed our tresses. The added benefit? An overall health boost to your entire body.\n\nWe echo her sentiment to eat vitamin and mineral rich foods for healthy hair. Say so long to bad hair days\u2026 or at least dry hair days!\n\nAuthor: Pamela Shaddock\n\nRead More\u2026\n\n\u201cChanging attitudes about natural hair\u201d is what we do at Natural Haircare News. Through informative articles, podcasts and videos, we go beyond just sharing the latest advice and tips on kinky, curly, wavy haircare \u2013 We shake things up and focus on the realities of wearing our hair natural."}
-{"text": "A plane crashed on landing at Brantford Municipal Airport Wednesday evening, coming to rest upside down next to a runway.\n\nTransportation Safety Board spokesperson Chris Krepsky said the Cessna 182 crashed at about 6 p.m.\n\nThere was one pilot aboard who was transferred to hospital as a precaution, said Krepsky.\n\n\"We don't know the nature of the crash exactly,\" said Krepsky.\n\nThe TSB did not deploy, and will follow up with the pilot on Thursday."}
-{"text": "Recently manufactured cars expose drivers to hacking attacks that could cause collisions and steal sensitive personal information, according to a report released Monday by a US Senator.\n\nThe majority of model-year 2014 cars offer network-connected features that provide driving directions, messaging, hands-free phone calls, safety monitoring, and entertainment. But a lack of security defenses makes it possible for those features to be remotely hijacked, potentially giving attackers the ability to control critical functions such as steering and braking, the 12-page report warned. Monday's report was issued by the office of US Senator Edward Markey, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the auto industry. The report is the result of correspondence with 20 automobile manufacturers that received questions from Markey about the security mechanisms they employ to prevent hacking attacks.\n\n\"These findings reveal that there is a clear lack of appropriate security measures to protect drivers against hackers who may be able to take control of a vehicle or against those who may wish to collect and use personal driver information,\" the report warned.\n\nIntrusion detection for you CAN\n\nThe report comes 19 months after whitehat hackers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek demonstrated attacks on two 2010 car models\u2014a Toyota Prius and a Ford Escape\u2014that allowed them to control the speed and braking with a connected laptop computer. The hackers piggybacked off of previous research that showed how CD players, Bluetooth units, and other on-board electronics were susceptible to hacks that allowed attackers to replace the normal firmware with malicious code. Once running, the malware is able to send malicious commands to virtually any other component connected to the vehicle's controller area network (CAN). Combined, the two demonstrations suggested it was well within the ability of a competent hacker to take control of a car's CAN using a maliciously modified CD or Bluetooth-connected smartphone.\n\nMarkey's report noted that despite the passage of two model years, most manufacturers have done little to harden vehicles against such attacks. Only two of the manufacturers contacted were able to describe any capabilities to diagnose or prevent a hack in real time, and most said they relied on technologies that couldn't use such measures at all. Such intrusion detection and prevention is standard in most networks operated by large companies and government agencies but so far is largely missing from CANs.\n\n\"Chris and I showed a year or two ago how a very simple system can prevent every attack anyone has ever come up with,\" Miller wrote in an e-mail to Ars. \"I'd love to see manufacturers begin to adopt this type of technology or for the government to require it.\"\n\nMarkey's report called on government regulators to draft standards ensuring that cars with wireless access points and data-collection features are protected against hacking events and security breaches. It also called for mandates requiring security systems to be subjected to penetration testing, in which whitehat hackers actively work to bypass the systems, and called for drivers to be permitted to opt out of data collection and to transfer driver information to off-board storage.\n\n\"The alarmingly inconsistent and incomplete state of industry security and privacy practices, along with the voluntary principles put forward by industry, raises a need for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in consultation with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on privacy issues, to promulgate new standards that will protect the data, security and privacy of drivers in the modern age of increasingly connected vehicles,\" it stated."}
-{"text": "International Success\n\n\"The Fighter & The Kid\" has charted in 4 countries.\n\nHighest Position\n\n#47, Canadian Podcasts Chart (01 Dec 2016).\n\nLongest Run\n\n121 appearances on the Canadian Podcasts Chart\n\n(28 Nov 2016 - 26 Feb 2020)."}
-{"text": "On June 30, Armenia\u2019s Parliament ratified the Russia-Armenia United Regional System of Air Defense in the Caucasian Region , thereby moving it to the operational stage. The agreement was preliminarily signed in in Moscow by Armenia\u2019s and Russia\u2019s defense ministers in December 2015, on the basis of analogous accords with Belarus and Kazakhstan in 2009 and 2013 respectively. While the approval was accompanied with speculations on how Armenia could benefit from the accord, Moscow\u2019s potential to exploit the agreement in its anti-Western posture has received less attention. In particular, the joint air-defense system presumably constitutes a reinforcing element of Moscow\u2019s anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities in the eastern flank of the Black Sea region.\n\nBACKGROUND: The annexation of Crimea has had a profound impact on the Black Sea strategic environment, giving rise to a new geopolitical paradigm. It dramatically altered the entire naval status quo of the region, portending the proliferation of A2/AD capabilities \u2013 Russia\u2019s newly adopted strategy and a critical instrument in its confrontation with the West. This approach enables Moscow to keep NATO forces far away from the coastline, substantially hindering their operational movement. The boost of Russian A2/AD capabilities also complicates NATO\u2019s efforts to create sustainable infrastructure for collective defense and deterrence, with consequences for the security of NATO\u2019s partners in the region.\n\nThe Russian A2/AD portfolio features high-precision coastal missile defense, short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile systems, high altitude surface-to-air missiles underpinned by combat aircraft capacities, cruise missiles and submarines.\n\nCountering A2/AD is fraught with a high risk of escalation combined with significant loss of time and capacities. Senior NATO officials including former Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Philip Breedlove, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee General Peter Pavel, and Commander Allied Air Command General Frank Gorenc, raised concerns about Russia\u2019s A2/AD strategy in a European context during 2015.\n\nDespite financial and technological difficulties that appear to limit Russia\u2019s options for an effective response to the implementation of NATO\u2019s defense and deterrence strategy, Moscow also faces objective political obstacles. A case in point is Georgia\u2019s aspiration for Euro-Atlantic integration, which is a geographic limitation to Russia\u2019s bid for Black Sea regional domination.\n\nTo this end, Moscow seemingly seeks to drag Armenia, its regional client state, into Russia\u2019s concerted military activities. Armenia is a member of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), challenged by a political conflict with NATO member Turkey and a military conflict with Azerbaijan. Its security ties with Russia are underpinned by the bilateral agreements reached in 1995, postulating the continual deployment of a major Russian military contingent, including the 102nd military base in Gyumri and the 3624th airbase near Yerevan. These units constitute an integral part of Russia\u2019s Southern Military District along with forces in the North Caucasus Military District, the Black Sea Fleet and air defense units in Crimea, as well as bases in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The united air defense initiative with Armenia will consolidate the operational abilities of the Southern Military District \u2013 thereby reinforcing the A2/AD strategy in the region.\n\nAgainst the backdrop of consistent militarization of Crimea, the united air defense system in the Caucasus will plausibly assume functions similar to the joint air defense bubble forged by Minsk and Moscow for the Baltics.\n\nAt least four divisions of S-300PS (NATO reporting name SA-10 Grumble) surface-to-air missile systems were in 2014 dispatched to Belarus as reinforcement to the same systems operating in Kaliningrad, Russia\u2019s enclave in the Baltics. This covenant with Belarus plays an important role in covering the 65-kilometer land corridor between Kaliningrad and Belarus, which also constitutes the only land access between Poland and the allies most vulnerable to Russia\u2019s assertive posture \u2013 Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.\n\nMoscow has seemingly managed to design a similar power projection in the South Caucasus by drawing Armenia into its strategic operational air space. Via the united air defense accord with Yerevan, Moscow is enhancing its air denial and controlling capabilities to the detriment of NATO and its regional partners.\n\nIMPLICATIONS: The emergence of a united air defense system with Armenia should be examined in the context of Russia\u2019s measures aimed at targeting NATO\u2019s interests in the wider region. The document envisions the subordination of Armenia\u2019s air defense assets under the operational strategic command of Russia\u2019s Southern Military District. This prospect implies a coordinated operability of all military assets ranging from Crimea to Armenia. The united air defense system presents a constitutive mechanism of collective defense based on hierarchic principles. As such, according to Article 6, the strategic command of the joint collective air defense system in the Caucasus will henceforth be a duty of the Russian Aerospace Forces\u2019 supreme commander in case \u201cpotential threats\u201d emerge.\n\nIn Moscow\u2019s perspective, the spectrum of \u201cpotential threats\u201d in the Black Sea-Caucasian region is clear. Referring to the military doctrine, recently adapted and imposed by Vladimir Putin, any NATO activity in Eastern Europe \u2013 and especially the partnership programs with post-Soviet states, is perceived as \u201cpotential threat\u201d to Russia\u2019s interests. Against this backdrop, it could be assumed that Georgia, being sandwiched between Russia and Armenia, represents a strategic gap in Moscow\u2019s regional A2/AD buildup. In other words, by contributing to NATO\u2019s regional agenda, Georgia thereby constitutes a \u201cpotential threat\u201d that would need to be neutralized.\n\nAt the tactical level, Russia acquires access to air defense assets stationed in Armenia. Armenia possesses surface-to-air missile systems, including a few battalions of relatively advanced S-300PS that are also in operation on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.\n\nIn addition, in 2014\u201315 Russia deployed a battalion of S-300B in its 102nd military base. These missiles also increased the risks for Armenia and Georgia, entangling these countries in Russia\u2019s regional competition for power.\n\nWith regard to Georgia, Moscow\u2019s initiative to absorb the Armenian air defense system, accompanied with Russia\u2019s military buildup in Georgia\u2019s breakaway regions, will likely give rise to additional concerns in Tbilisi. The integrated air defense system was given a \u201cseparate region\u201d status to codify Armenian air space. In compliance with the accord, the parties will allocate the assets of the air defense system for carrying out collective security control \u201cof the region,\u201d which implies that Russia managed to institute a \u201csystem of control\u201d upon the South Caucasus airspace.\n\nAt the very least, this will complicate the defense environment for Georgia. The initiative will also likely increase military tension in the Black Sea security environment. The way Russia treats such agreements with its CSTO allies is reminiscent of the principles of the Warsaw Pact, according to which the strategic command of all ally armies belonged to Moscow. The Kremlin\u2019s policy-makers are seemingly endeavoring to map out a similar hierarchic structure in relation to Armenia\u2019s, Kazakhstan\u2019s and Belarus\u2019 armies.\n\nCONCLUSIONS: It is important to note that Moscow views all military-political initiatives in the Black Sea-Caucasus region primarily through the prism of competition with the West. At this particular juncture, increased practical security cooperation drawing Georgia and Armenia under the auspices of NATO could potentially derail Russia\u2019s intentions to consolidate its influence over Armenia\u2019s military. Meanwhile, the U.S. and NATO\u2019s new programs for boosting regional stability could pose as an alternative to Russia and increase Armenia\u2019s maneuverability in terms of defense policy-making. In other words, a proactive U.S./NATO engagement in Black Sea security affairs would likely provide a substantial opportunity for Armenia to counterbalance Russia\u2019s influence.\n\nGiven Moscow\u2019s previous ambivalence in honoring its commitments to its CSTO ally Armenia, the expanded defense ties with Russia has triggered a strong disaffection within Armenian military circles, whereas the Armenian government appeared reluctant to enter the agreement. However, as some Armenian parliamentarians have suggested, a delay in ratifying the agreement could have induced Moscow to put pressure on Yerevan by cancelling the delivery of military equipment in response.\n\nFinally, a bilateral agreement between Tbilisi and Yerevan is of paramount importance to address the potential threat to Georgia emanating from a joint Russian/Armenian air defense engagement. Such an agreement should have reassuring elements committing both states to refrain from activities that could potentially affect each other\u2019s security and defense.\n\nAUTHOR\u2019S BIO: Eduard Abrahamyan, PhD, is a defense and regional security analyst and scientific researcher at the University of Leicester, UK. His expertise is on NATO\u2019s strategy evolution and adaptation in the Eastern Europe and Black Sea regions.\n\nImage Attribution: www.eurasianet.org, accessed on July 21, 2016"}
-{"text": "Getty Images\n\nWhen it happens organically, Darryl Roberts can claim it was his idea.\n\nThe Jets cornerback went on a social media tirade after yesterday\u2019s embarrassing loss, deriding fans whose sincerity he called into question.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry but it gotta be said!\u201d Roberts wrote, via the New York Post. \u201cAll y\u2019all fake ass fans f\u2014in kill me wit dat negative s\u2014, if u gon rock wit us then rock wit us but if u ain\u2019t shut tf [the f\u2014] up please & go like another team! And another thing y\u2019all need to stop @\u2019n players talkin crazy becaus y\u2019all known dam well you wouldn\u2019t buss a dam grape in a fruit fight! Ok i\u2019m done have a nice day!\u201d\n\nOK then.\n\nAfter a humilating loss to the Jets, it would take a real diehard (or a masochist) to continue to support them, with or without fruit."}
-{"text": "I am a programmer by trade for a small business (R&K Engineering). I typically write custom software for government agencies. Most of what I write I cannot readily show off since it is owned by the clients, but every once in a while I write something for myself or I write a demo that is available on my company\u2019s website for anyone to see (which is pretty cool). Neither of these occur that often, but when it does, I\u2019ll post it here. So, without further ado\u2026\n\nTea Timer\n\nMy first couple of months at R&K I spent doing odd jobs on various projects with a little bit of downtime in between. To kill time and to learn some of the technologies I would have to use there, I wrote a little application that works as a virtual egg timer for Windows. I haven\u2019t updated it in a long time, but someday I plan to rewrite it using some newer technology and improve the interface. But for now, the original version can be found on Sourceforge.net and Download.com.\n\nHigher Eduction Facilities Dashboard This is a demo I developed at work to demonstrate the concept of managing facilities on a higher education campus using GIS technology. This demo is constantly evolving. What you see here today may not necessarily be what you see tomorrow, so check back often. The demo was written in Silverlight and uses ESRI technology to support the GIS functionality. Click Here for the Higher Education Demo"}
-{"text": "A small patch, containing a new trap for, has been pushed to the PBE.Continue reading for more information!\n\n(Warning: PBE Content is tentative and iterative - what you see may not reflect what eventually gets pushed to live servers! Manage your expectations accordingly. )\n\nHeadhunter Caitlyn\n\n[ Enemy players see Headhunter Caitlyn's trap as red instead of green ]\n\n\n\n\n\nHeadhunter Caitlyn? Check out our earlier PBE coverage! ] [ Interested in a better look at\n\nOther\n\nBalance Changes * Remember *: The PBE is a testing grounds for new, tentative, and sometimes radical changes. The changes you see below may be lacking context or other accompanying changes that didn't make it in - don't freak out! These are not official notes.\n\n\n\n* Remember *: The PBE is a testing grounds for new, tentative, and sometimes radical changes. The changes you see below may be lacking context or other accompanying changes that didn't make it in - don't freak out! These areofficial notes.\n\nChampions\n\nSivir\n\nBoomerang Blade ( Q ) range increased to 1250 from 1175. [ Note: A few of her other files got tinkered with. Just a warning this might be a change to better match visuals or hitboxes rather than just a buff ]\n\n\n\n\n\nThe upcomingskin now has a new trap to match the rest of her high tech equipment!got a few new or altered sound effects in today's update. Since it would be hard to pick them out in-game, here's a video! Miss out on previous updates from this PBE cycle? Check outfor a comprehensive list of the new content in this PBE cycle or catch up with the links below !"}
-{"text": "GENEBRA \u2013 O Minist\u00e9rio P\u00fablico da Su\u00ed\u00e7a aponta que o envolvimento da Odebrecht em esquemas de corrup\u00e7\u00e3o era altamente lucrativo para a empresa. Segundo as investiga\u00e7\u00f5es do pa\u00eds europeu, para cada US$ 1 milh\u00e3o pago em propinas a pol\u00edticos, funcion\u00e1rios p\u00fablicos brasileiros e de estatais, a empresa lucrava US$ 4 milh\u00f5es com contratos que lhe eram dados por aqueles que recebiam os pagamentos.\n\nPr\u00e9dio da Odebrecht em S\u00e3o Paulo. Foto: Paulo Whitaker/Reuters\n\nLeia Tamb\u00e9m EUA e Su\u00ed\u00e7a anunciam nesta quarta-feira acordo de leni\u00eancia com Odebrecht e Braskem\n\nA mesma investiga\u00e7\u00e3o aponta que as contas secretas mantidas pela Odebrecht na Su\u00ed\u00e7a financiaram de forma \u201cregular\u201d campanhas pol\u00edticas, partidos ou pol\u00edticos no Brasil, inclusive ministros. As revela\u00e7\u00f5es fazem parte dos documentos do Minist\u00e9rio P\u00fablico su\u00ed\u00e7o que foram usados como base para multar a empresa brasileira. De acordo com as investiga\u00e7\u00f5es, pelo menos 66,5 milh\u00f5es de francos su\u00ed\u00e7os (cerca de R$ 210 milh\u00f5es) foram pagos em propinas a ex-diretores de estatais e outros funcion\u00e1rios p\u00fablicos no Brasil em propinas a partir das contas no pa\u00eds alpino.\n\nNa semana passada, a Su\u00ed\u00e7a anunciou uma multa de US$ 200 milh\u00f5es contra a Odebrecht, como parte do amplo esquema de acordos de leni\u00eancia fechados pela construtora no Brasil e ainda nos EUA.\n\nNesta ter\u00e7a-feira, 27, o Minist\u00e9rio P\u00fablico publicou os documentos datados do dia 21 de dezembro e que foram usados para justificar a multa e o confisco de recursos, explicando em detalhes como a Odebrecht fazia para pagar propinas.\n\nLucros. Segundo o MP su\u00ed\u00e7o, as investiga\u00e7\u00f5es mostram que pagar propinas garantia lucros para a empresa. Como resultado do sistema criado, os investigadores su\u00ed\u00e7os estimam que a Odebrecht \u201clucrou pelo menos 4 milh\u00f5es de euros com uma taxa de propina de 1 milh\u00e3o de euros\u201d.\n\nPor esse c\u00e1lculo, os su\u00ed\u00e7os estimam que aproximadamente US$ 100 milh\u00f5es seriam alvos de uma compensa\u00e7\u00e3o que a empresa teria de pagar. Mas ressalvam que, como o processo continua, crimes de lavagem de dinheiro podem elevar ainda mais os valores confiscados pelo Minist\u00e9rio P\u00fablico. O que determinar\u00e1 esse eventual novo confisco estaria ligado \u00e0 propor\u00e7\u00e3o estabelecida de 4 x 1 entre os lucros obtidos pela empresa e o pagamento de propinas.\n\nSe a Odebrecht ficou com os lucros, quem perdeu foi o Estado brasileiro e a popula\u00e7\u00e3o. \u201cOs interesses fiscais p\u00fablicos do Estado brasileiro foram afetados: a comunidade pagou um pre\u00e7o inflacionado pela realiza\u00e7\u00e3o dos projetos dados para a Odebrecht e tamb\u00e9m financiou a propina\u201d, afirmou o MP su\u00ed\u00e7o.\n\nPagamentos. Os nomes dos benefici\u00e1rios, por\u00e9m, foram mantidos em sigilo, j\u00e1 que as investiga\u00e7\u00f5es continuam. Mas o Minist\u00e9rio P\u00fablico confirma que foram feitos \u2018pagamentos em contas su\u00ed\u00e7as para o financiamento de campanhas pol\u00edticas no Brasil e em outros lugares\u2019.\n\nPor meio de um departamento da empreiteira dedicado ao pagamento de propinas, as transfer\u00eancias para \u201cfuncion\u00e1rios p\u00fablicos e pol\u00edticos foram de centenas de milh\u00f5es\u201d.\n\nSem citar nomes, os documentos su\u00ed\u00e7os tamb\u00e9m revelam como os investigadores chegaram \u00e0 constata\u00e7\u00e3o de que os pagamentos estavam relacionados com marqueteiros de partidos. Transfer\u00eancias, segundo eles, foram feitas para pessoas que \u201cfizeram seus nomes com a organiza\u00e7\u00e3o de campanhas pol\u00edticas\u201d. Na Su\u00ed\u00e7a, contas de Jo\u00e3o Santana \u2013 marqueteiro das campanhas presidenciais de Lula (2006) e Dilma (2010 e 2014) \u2013 est\u00e3o bloqueadas.\n\nPara os su\u00ed\u00e7os, a dire\u00e7\u00e3o da Odebrecht tinha \u201cconhecimento do estabelecimento e aloca\u00e7\u00e3o de fundos de caixa 2, a camuflagem dos fluxos de dinheiro por meio de transa\u00e7\u00f5es transnacionais desses recursos dentro desse caixa 2, assim como seu objetivo\u201d.\n\nPara o procurador-geral su\u00ed\u00e7o, \u201cisso consiste em direcionar propinas e outros pagamentos ilegais para funcion\u00e1rios p\u00fablicos no Brasil, Panam\u00e1 e provavelmente em outros pa\u00edses\u201d.\n\nCom os bancos su\u00ed\u00e7os, a Odebrecht criou um sistema de caixa 2 para obter contratos. No total, a Su\u00ed\u00e7a investigou mais de 300 transa\u00e7\u00f5es banc\u00e1rias, com o envolvimento de intermedi\u00e1rios, funcion\u00e1rios p\u00fablicos e outros suspeitos. A constata\u00e7\u00e3o foi de que um total de aproximadamente 440 milh\u00f5es de francos su\u00ed\u00e7os (cerca de R$ 1,4 bilh\u00e3o) das subsidi\u00e1rias da Odebrecht passaram pelos bancos su\u00ed\u00e7os entre 21 de dezembro de 2005 e junho de 2014. No total, o sistema criado pela Odebrecht em todo o mundo movimento de forma ilegal US$ 635 milh\u00f5es.\n\nBenefici\u00e1rios. \u201cPagamentos de propinas eram direcionados em grande parte para tomadores de decis\u00f5es nos governos, envolvendo contratos de licita\u00e7\u00e3o e contribui\u00e7\u00f5es para partidos pol\u00edticos e pol\u00edticos\u201d, explicou o MP. Com base nessas informa\u00e7\u00f5es, o MP concluiu que os pagamentos envolveram envio de recursos a funcion\u00e1rios p\u00fablicos estrangeiros usando contas na Su\u00ed\u00e7a, al\u00e9m de pol\u00edticos, doleiros e campanhas pol\u00edticas no Brasil e em outros pa\u00edses.\n\nAo Brasil, tabelas confiscadas pelos procuradores apontam que um total de pelo menos 66,5 milh\u00f5es de francos su\u00ed\u00e7os (US$ 210 milh\u00f5es) foram pagos. Entre os benefici\u00e1rios de recursos da Odebrecht est\u00e3o ex-diretores da Petrobr\u00e1s que, entre mar\u00e7o de 2008 e abril de 2014, obtiveram 43,7 milh\u00f5es de francos su\u00ed\u00e7os (R$ 138 milh\u00f5es) em contas secretas. Um outro pagamento de 8,7 milh\u00f5es de francos su\u00ed\u00e7os (R$ 27,5 milh\u00f5es) foi registrado em nome de outra pessoa n\u00e3o identificada, al\u00e9m de 14,2 milh\u00f5es de francos su\u00ed\u00e7os (R$ 44,8 milh\u00f5es) entre 2009 e 2012 a funcion\u00e1rios p\u00fablicos que teriam um papel na aprova\u00e7\u00e3o de projetos.\n\nOs su\u00ed\u00e7os tamb\u00e9m revelam que fica \u201cclaro a partir das planilhas confiscadas\u201d e pelas dela\u00e7\u00f5es que existiam acordos com pol\u00edticos e tomadores de decis\u00f5es dentro de institui\u00e7\u00f5es do governo\u201d para o pagamento de propinas. Al\u00e9m disso, houve um \u201cacordo regular para alocar certa parte desses recursos para certos pol\u00edticos ou partidos pol\u00edticos\u201d. \u201cEsses pagamentos eram feitos a partir do Caixa 2\u201d.\n\nPris\u00e3o. Um dos pontos centrais na investiga\u00e7\u00e3o no pa\u00eds europeu foi a pris\u00e3o de Fernando Miggliaccio, em 17 de fevereiro de 2016, em Genebra. Ele \u00e9 descrito pelos documentos su\u00ed\u00e7os como um \u201crespons\u00e1vel pelo departamento de \u201cOpera\u00e7\u00f5es Estruturadas\u201d, o setor na empresa respons\u00e1vel pelo pagamento de propinas. \u201cMuitos celulares, computadores e dados que estavam com esse funcion\u00e1rio\u201d foram confiscados.\n\nDe acordo com os su\u00ed\u00e7os, a empresa \u201csistematicamente impunha propinas em um sistema de caixa 2 para influenciar na obten\u00e7\u00e3o de contratos de infraestrutura\u201d. Em agosto, ele decidiu cooperar.\n\nSegundo o MP, o sistema usado para retirar das contas oficiais o dinheiro usado para o pagamento de propinas era altamente estruturado. Os recursos precisavam ser \u201caprovados\u201d pelos principais respons\u00e1veis da empresa.\n\nNa programa\u00e7\u00e3o ainda estavam os detalhes das obras, o superintendente respons\u00e1vel, o valor do contrato e a propina paga. \u201cMuitos dos planos e/ou instru\u00e7\u00f5es (\u2018programa\u00e7\u00f5es\u2019) eram feitas por semana (PROGRAMA\u00c7\u00c3O SEMANAL) ou por trimestre (PROGRAMA\u00c7\u00c3O TRIMESTRAL)\u201d, indicaram os documentos confiscados. \u201cEles provam que esses fundos do caixa 2 eram em grande parte intencionados a obter contratos\u201d, apontou.\n\nServidor. Central tamb\u00e9m na investiga\u00e7\u00e3o su\u00ed\u00e7a foi a descoberta de servidores mantidos pela Odebrecht na Su\u00ed\u00e7a, com \u201cuma enorme quantidade de dados\u201d dos pagamentos de propinas. Em novembro, o Estado revelou que o pa\u00eds europeu havia confiscado o servidor. Agora, o processo revela que, nele, dados equivalentes a 2 milh\u00f5es de p\u00e1ginas de documentos puderam ser retirados, \u201cincluindo emails, ordens de pagamentos, confer\u00eancias e contratos que serviriam para justificar pagamentos\u201d.\n\n\u201cAl\u00e9m disso, milhares de listas foram confiscadas e a partir dos pagamentos relatados por meio do sistema ilegal foram listados, com datas de pagamento, o valor e o nome dos recipientes\u201d, indicou o MP su\u00ed\u00e7o.\n\nMiggliaccio teria tentado apagar os dados do servidor em fevereiro e, de fato, sua opera\u00e7\u00e3o teria ocorrido com sucesso. Mas acabou sendo preso.\n\nEm um comunicado de imprensa emitido na semana passada, a Justi\u00e7a su\u00ed\u00e7a indica que, apesar da multa aplicada, vai continuar a investigar o caso da Odebrecht. O Estado apurou que o centro do inqu\u00e9rito, agora, \u00e9 o destino dos recursos.\n\nCOM A PALAVRA, A ODEBRECHT\n\n\u201cA Odebrecht n\u00e3o se manifesta sobre o tema, mas reafirma seu compromisso de colaborar com a Justi\u00e7a. A empresa est\u00e1 implantando as melhores pr\u00e1ticas de compliance, baseadas na \u00e9tica, transpar\u00eancia e integridade.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Out of 2.10 crore (pending) criminal cases, the total pendency is over a crore, he said (File)\n\nExpressing concern over the pendency of cases, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said on Sunday that more than two lakh cases are in courts for 25 years, while over 1,000 cases have not been disposed of even after five decades.\n\nSpeaking at a public function here, Justice Gogoi said though the judiciary faces criticism for the huge number of pending cases, it is not entirely responsible for the delay as the executive also has some responsibility in the justice delivery mechanism.\n\n\"In India, we have a little over one thousand 50-year-old cases and above two lakh 25-year-old cases,\" he said.\n\nThe CJI said, out of about 90 lakh pending civil cases, more than 20 lakh are at a stage where summons have not been served yet.\n\n\"This is about 23 per cent of the civil cases in the country. In criminal cases, the figure is worse. Out of 2.10 crore (pending) criminal cases, the total pendency at the summoning stage is over a crore.\n\n\"If summons have not been served, how do my judges start the trial? This is my question to the executive. The responsibility of summoning solely lies with the executive arm of the government,\" Justice Gogoi said.\n\nHe said out of the total pending criminal cases, about 45 lakh are petty offences.\n\nJustice Gogoi said he had addressed the chief justices of various high courts on July 10, during which he requested them to \"go after\" the 50-year-old and those pending for 25 years.\n\nHe instructed Gauhati High Court acting Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami to clear such long pending cases in Assam as soon as possible.\n\nHe also expressed hope that the Centre will accept his proposal to raise the retirement age of high court judges to 65 years from the current 62.\n\n\"The immediate result - there will be a freeze of retirement for three years. In these three years, we can try and fill up the 403 vacancies by good judges. This is my dream. It should be carried out by my successor Chief Justice (of India) and I don''t see why he cannot change the face of Indian judiciary,\" Justice Gogoi said.\n\nOn the trial courts, the CJI said already around 4,000 posts have been filled of 6,000 vacancies and 1,500 more will be filled up by the end of this year.\n\n\"As far as the high courts are concerned, out of 1,079 posts all over the country, 403 are vacant. I have requested the chief justices (of the high courts) to send their recommendations.... Make good recommendations,\" he said.\n\nIn Assam and other North East states, there is no case which is 50 years old, but there are 106 cases which are pending for 25 years, Mr Gogoi said."}
-{"text": "ALLENDALE, Mich. - Heath Parling wore long sleeves and a stocking cap on the sideline. The Grand Valley State quarterback was doing his best to stay warm.\n\nBut the offense couldn\u2019t get much going and was just as cold as the frigid weather Saturday night in a 37-14 loss to Ashland University at Lubbers Stadium.\n\nGrand Valley entered the game winning four of its last five games, but it falls to 4-5 with the loss. The last time the Lakers had a losing record this late in the season was 1984 when they went 0-10.\n\n\"We had nothing going offensively,\" GVSU coach Matt Mitchell said. \"We struggled to run the ball effectively in the first half and we struggled to protect our quarterback. We also had a lot of dumb penalties. That's the type of play from a football team that's not acceptable.\"\n\nOne bright spot was Jamie Potts. The junior tight end from Muskegon Oakridge, set a career high with 172 yards receiving on nine receptions. His previous high was 157 yards.\n\nGVSU trailed 27-0 midway through the third quarter and it was beginning to look like they might get shutout for the first time this season. But Parling connected with Potts for a 28-yard touchdown pass with 1:55 to go in the third to make it 26-7.\n\nMore: Box score\n\nBeing a GVSU running back has become a health hazard of late. They were already without starter Kirk Spencer, who is out with a foot injury. Chris Robinson, who set a school record with 261 yards rushing on 33 carries last week, left Saturday\u2019s game after the first quarter, carrying the ball only five times for five yards. Early in the third quarter, third-stringer Terrell Dorsey was being treated by a trainer, but returned to the game.\n\nDorsey, a redshirt sophomore from Mansfield, Ohio, finished with 12 carries for 82 yards. He entered the game with 91 total yards in three games.\n\nParling was 19-of-34 passing for 266 yards and two touchdowns.\n\nGrand Valley finishes out its schedule hosting Tiffin next week at 4 p.m. and at Saginaw Valley on Nov. 15.\n\nHIGHLIGHTS\n\n*Heath Parling dropped back and threw a bomb to his favorite target, Jamie Potts, who was busting up the middle of the field. Potts made an overhead catch for 52 yards to the 15-yard line late in the first quarter. GVSU got as close as the 7-yard line, but couldn't punch the ball in and turn the ball over on downs.\n\n*Matt Mosely, a senior defensive lineman, had an impressive sack of Ashland quarterback Travis Tarnowski for a loss of eight yards with 6 minutes left in the game. He leads the team with six sacks this season.\n\n*Parling threw a low pass from 18 yards out with 2:08 left in the game that was almost intercepted, but the ball popped out of the defender's hands and into the awaiting hands of Matt Williams in the end zone.\n\nLOWLIGHTS\n\n*The defensive backs got burned on a couple of Ashland passes in the first half, including a touchdown pass from Travis Tarnowski to Dan Pitko with 5:10 left in the first quarter. Pitko faked left and cut right, leaving the defensive back in his dust and went in the end zone for a relatively easy touchdown reception.\n\n*On an Ashland punt, which went high in the air, Matt Williams came charging in to make the catch, but bobble the ball, turning it over on the Ashland 40-yard line late in the first quarter.\n\n*Parling had three nice shots at the corner of the end zone with less than 2 minutes left in the first half. Two were well defended and the third, Potts caught the ball, but couldn\u2019t stay in bounds.\n\n*Ashland\u2019s 6-foot-6, 231-pound freshman tight end Austin Shaheen caught a pass at the 40-yard line and dragged his defender for another 20 yards before landing at the GVSU 15-yard line."}
-{"text": "In the latest salvo in one of radio\u2019s most vicious rivalries, the Opie & Anthony show\u2018s Gregg \u201cOpie\u201d Hughes Thursday called out fellow SiriusXM personality Howard Stern for his reduced schedule of two-and three-day workweeks, and rerun-laden programming, saying that the King of All Media \u201cdoesn\u2019t give a f*** about his radio show\u201d anymore.\n\nThe rant came after Hughes and co-host Anthony Cumia were bemoaning studio-related problems, with Opie grousing that Stern\u2019s wing of the company\u2019s New York City compound is undergoing a \u201cmajor remodeling\u201d despite the fact that \u201che doesn\u2019t even do radio shows anymore!\u201d\n\nCo-host Jim Norton then mentioned that Stern\u2019s organization has hired an efficiency expert (later identified as chief operating officer Marci Turk) to streamline the show.\n\n\u201cThe king is panicking, the king is panicking!\u201d Opie said. \u201cHire me to be the efficiency expert over there and I\u2019ll tell you what needs to be done: He has to do radio shows!\n\n\u201cHe could blame everyone around him, he can blame his staff, he could fire people, he could bring in efficiency experts, but in the end, the guy\u2019s got to do radio shows. I\u2019ve heard from his audience, they don\u2019t want to hear reruns anymore \u2026 you gotta f***ing do radio shows, period.\u201d\n\nWith Stern\u2019s reduced live on-air schedule, his two channels on Sirius often air week-long, themed compilations, a tactic Opie said has run its\u2019 course.\n\n\u201cGreat reruns, but it doesn\u2019t matter anymore \u2014 [fans] don\u2019t care, they don\u2019t want to hear the show repackaged over and over again. They take the same bits, and they put a package around, and they think their hardcore fans won\u2019t notice.\n\n\u201cThe guy HAS to do radio shows. Everyone knows what needs to be done \u2014 he needs more content.\u201d\n\nAs Stern himself has acknowledged he does less live shows during the summer \u2014 two days a week \u2014 due to his judging gig on NBC\u2019s America\u2019s Got Talent, on-air personality Sam Roberts noted that \u201cthere are a significantly more episodes of America\u2019s Got Talent than there are of the Stern show\u201d during the year\u2019s hottest months.\n\nOpie \u2014 who conceded there\u2019s a bit of personal jealously in Stern\u2019s ability to command a high-paid gig on a network show \u2014 discounted the NBC primetime hit as an updated version of The Gong Show \u201cwith a little more class\u201d and \u201ca little more shine.\n\nHollywood Divorce Lawyers Tell All \u2014 Prostitutes, Cross Dressing, Drugs & More Shocking Split Secrets\n\n\u201cInstead of hitting that gong, they hit that stupid x!\u201d he said. \u201cDon\u2019t make believe it\u2019s some amazing TV show \u2014 you\u2019re a judge on a gong show!\u201d\n\nCumia said that despite Stern\u2019s ascent into radio\u2019s stratosphere as the edgiest of the shock jocks, he believes the Private Parts star \u201calways, always, always\u201d strived to be accepted in the mainstream, and his toned down, family-friendly persona on the NBC show confirms as much.\n\n\u201cHe came off anti-establishment, anti-Hollywood, but every opportunity he got to so something like that, he jumped on,\u201d Cumia said. \u201cHe wanted to be the TV guy \u2014 the guy that was accepted radaronline.com/exclusives/2013/01/howard-stern-apologizes-to-lena-dunham-for-little-fat-chick-remark/ by mainstream America \u2014 and now he is!\u201d\n\nWatch the video on RadarOnline.com (Warning: Contains explicit language)\n\nThe bad blood between the shows goes back to the late 1990s, when both programs were under the umbrella of Infinity Broadcasting. Stern, who famously battled the FCC for years fighting for his own free speech, used his influence to implement a gag order on the rival show after they ran afoul of him.\n\nBoth The Howard Stern Show and the Opie & Anthony show air weekdays on SiriusXM at 6 am ET."}
-{"text": "I don\u2019t know if anyone actually cares about facts anymore, but let\u2019s run through the tapes here.\n\nIn the 2012 election, Donald Trump supported former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. As the returns rolled in, and it became clear that President Obama had a lock on the electoral college even as he was initially losing the popular vote, conservatives like Donald Trump exploded.\n\nThe electoral college is a disaster for a democracy. \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012\n\nHe also encouraged people to respond to a potential popular vote winner, but electoral loser, by \u201cmarching on Washington\u201d and taking other action.\n\nLets fight like hell and stop this great and disgusting injustice! The world is laughing at us. \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012\n\nWe can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided! \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012\n\nSome of his tweets were later deleted, but showed even more forceful opposition to the college:\n\nOf course, President Barack Obama went on to win the popular vote and the electoral vote, rendering much of Trump\u2019s rantings pretty useless.\n\nAnd to be fair, right after his election victory, Trump said he still supported abolishing the electoral college in a 60 Minutes interview.\n\nBut that was then, and this is now. Within the last hour on Twitter, Donald Trump has come out in defense of the Electoral College.\n\nThe Electoral College is actually genius in that it brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play. Campaigning is much different! \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2016\n\nDisbelief in Donald Trump\u2019s never-ending ideological changes isn\u2019t even a good story anymore. It happens almost every day, with President-elect Trump just saying whatever strikes his fancy him at any given time. And this isn\u2019t limited to issues either \u2014 but also people. His tune quickly changed on President Obama and the Clintons the minute they congratulated him on his great victory.\n\nThis man\u2019s only ideology is himself, where the best method of lobbying him is flattery, and pure self-interest is the only litmus test for his beliefs. Perhaps some Americans will argue that this is true for all politicians, and perhaps they are right, but the extent to which many of us accept it when it comes from this so-called \u201coutsider\u201d is bemusing."}
-{"text": "The Xperia Z2 is an excellent smartphone with all the components you'd expect from a flagship device, providing a pleasing user experience. The trouble is, it doesn't excite me.\n\nSony Xperia Z2 deals Sony Xperia Z2 Unlocked... Amazon $275.97 Sony XPERIA Z2 D6503 FACTORY... Amazon $299.99 Sony Xperia Z2 - Unlocked... Amazon Prime $614.97\n\nThe Sony Xperia Z3 may be Sony's current flagship handset, but that doesn't mean the dust has settled on the Sony Xperia Z2.\n\nReleased over a year ago and a little over 12 months since the Xperia Z hit the shelves, the Xperia Z2 still has a lot to offer. It builds on its predecessor, the Sony Xperia Z1 with an improved screen, increased power under the hood and a slightly more compact chassis.\n\nThere's no question that the Xperia Z2 went head to head with the Samsung Galaxy S5, HTC One M8, LG G3 and Nokia Lumia 930 last year - and with that in mind it' has its work cut out.\n\nThe introduction of the Xperia Z3 meant a price reduction for the Z2 making it even more appealing for some. Sony also added to the older phone by packing it with an update that included Hi-Res audio, a new battery saving mode and even the ability to play your PS4 remotely (cunningly called Remote Play).\n\nNow that Android 5.0 Lollipop has landed, this phone is a real win for the lower cash.\n\nIt carried a lofty price tag of around \u00a3545 at launch, as you'd expect from a flagship handset but then the SIM-free Xperia Z2 dropped down to a more reasonable \u00a3300, $400 (around AU$580) SIM-free. In the UK you can grab the Z2 for free on two-year contracts starting at \u00a317 per month.\n\nThe Sony Xperia Z2 is pretty much on par with its direct rivals despite the arrival of the Xperia Z3. Although it's slightly cheaper than some now, so if you're looking for a way to choose between them pricing could be a factor that'll help you make up your mind.\n\nYou'd be hard pushed to tell the Z1 and the Z2 apart, as they look almost identical with the same metal and glass design providing a sturdy and premium, if not a little industrial, finish.\n\nSony has carried the same design principles through to the Z3 so the two handsets look very similar, although there are slight differences in the dimensions. The Z3 has been on a diet and thus, is 0.7mm thinner and 9g lighter than the Xperia Z2.\n\nThe slabs of glass on the front and rear of the Xperia Z2 may add a level of class to the handset, but they're also a magnet for fingerprints and dust.\n\nI was constantly wiping the Sony Xperia Z2 to clear the smudges off the screen, but within minutes they built up again. This got rather frustrating after a while, and with exactly the same thing happening round the back I felt like I was fighting a losing battle.\n\nOn a positive note the Xperia Z2's body appears to be far more robust than that of the Z1 and Z1 Compact, which were found to scratch and scuff remarkably easily making the handsets look bruised and battered.\n\nRound the front Sony continues its trend of sizable bezels above and below the display, extending the length of the Xperia Z2 making it taller than its predecessor as well as the One M8 and Galaxy S5.\n\nThese extra large bezels do detract slightly from the overall finish of the handset, but I suspect in a similar fashion to the black bar below the screen on the One M8, they're all about squeezing in the latest tech under the hood.\n\nSony has narrowed the width and shaved off some of the depth in an attempt to make the Xperia Z2 usable in one hand, and for the most part it is.\n\nIt's by no way a small device, but I was able to hold the Xperia Z2 in my hand and access pretty much the whole expanse for the 5.2-inch display without calling in my second paw.\n\nThe metal and glass body doesn't give a huge amount of grip, and the flat angular design means it's not the comfiest handset to hold for extended period of times.\n\nI came straight from the HTC One M8 to the Xperia Z2 and the curved rear on the HTC made it far more palm-friendly than Sony's offering.\n\nPerhaps a nod towards HTC is the arrival of dual front facing speakers on the Xperia Z2, although at first glance you may not notice they're there.\n\nSony has been far more subtle with its placement compared to HTC, with small deviations in design at the top and bottom of the Xperia Z2's frame revealing slender speaker grills.\n\nThat subtle integration does mean that the bezels above and below the display are more pronounced, where as at least on the M8 the additional height appears more justified thanks to the big grills.\n\nHidden behind the upper speaker is a RGB notification LED, allowing the Xperia Z2 to alert you to a new message, Facebook post or email without you having to wake the screen. Different colours denote notifications from different services, making it easier for you to decide whether or not to check it out.\n\nFlip the Xperia Z2 to landscape for a movie marathon or gaming session and you'll immediately benefit from the new speaker location. The Xperia Z1 had its speaker location on its base which was easily covered when held in landscape.\n\nBack to portrait and the centralised power/lock key down the right side of the Xperia Z2 nestles under your thumb or finger, making it extremely easy to access.\n\nThe volume rocker sits just below, again in an easy to reach position, while towards the base of the handset you'll find the dedicated shutter key which provides a shortcut to the camera app as well as a way to snap pictures underwater.\n\nSony has kept up its dust- and waterproofing tradition with the Xperia Z2 and thus you find the first of two flappy bits on the right of the handset.\n\nIt's tasked with covering the microSD slot, allowing you to build on the mediocre 16GB of internal storage with support of cards up to 128GB in size.\n\nI found this flap, and the one of the left side covered the microSIM and microUSB ports, easy to remove and replace - although I fear for their durability. All it takes is for one of those flaps to fail and next time you take your Xperia Z2 into the bath it's game over.\n\nThere have already been reports of the Xperia Z2 failing to keep the water out, but during my dunking time with the handset I didn't experience any leakage. Just remember to close those flaps firmly!\n\nIt is frustrating to have to open a flap to access the charging port, and with it being located on the side of the device rather than the base like the Galaxy S5, it makes the Z2 harder to handle when plugged in.\n\nAnyone looking to upgrade from the original Xperia Z though will be pleased to see an uncovered headphone jack up top, continuing the tradition from the Z1.\n\nRound the back the Xperia Z2 doesn't look that much different than the front, with the understated 20.7MP camera lens and single LED flash the only blemishes on the glass covered surface.\n\nThe Sony Xperia Z2 doesn't do anything outlandish in terms of style, and it's yet another black slab of glass - but it is a well built, premium, functional and waterproof device which certainly trumps the design of the Galaxy S5.\n\nThere's an argument to be made that it's been overshadowed by the arrival of the Sony Xperia Z3. And while that's true to some extent, it's only the case if you absolutely have to have the latest and greatest device.\n\nOtherwise there's still plenty you can get from the Xperia Z2, as I shall demonstrate over the next few pages."}
-{"text": "On Monday in Ahmedabad, president Donald Trump and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the world\u2019s largest cricket stadium, jointly addressing an audience of 125,000 jubilant Indians.\n\nIt was the first stop on Trump\u2019s maiden diplomatic two-day visit to India, in Modi\u2019s home state of Gujarat. Certainly, there are few places in the world where Trump can enjoy the sort of rock-star reception, replete with folk dancers and Bollywood singers, that India afforded him.\n\nThe event, billed as \u201cNamaste Trump\u201d, was a nod to the \u201cHowdy Modi\u201d spectacle rolled out for Modi last fall in Houston. Both stocky strongmen exchanged embraces and rhetorical flourishes, as Trump painfully contorted his way through snippets of Hindi and the names of hallowed figures from Sachin Tendulkar to Swami Vivekananda.\n\nTrump received the pageantry befitting an autocrat whose ego is bound up with crowd sizes. Modi and his fabled \u201c56-inch chest\u201d can summon up throngs at the scale that would make Trump blush.\n\nTrump has long expounded over his fraternal relationship with Modi. Indeed, there\u2019s much that Trump must admire \u2013 and perhaps is envious of \u2013 when he takes a look at how his Indian ruling counterpart operates.\n\nSince the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took power in 2014, Modi and his regime have presided over a steady erosion of the institutional and ideological foundations of the Indian secular republic to realize the political horizon of a Hindu Rashtra (nation) where minorities are second-class citizens, if not cleansed from the body politic altogether.\n\nModi, like Trump, channeled populist rage and majoritarian resentment by directing ire upon a corrupt \u201cglobalist\u201d establishment, and branding himself as a pro-growth economic reformer and anti-red tape crusader.\n\nTrump\u2019s nativist \u201cAmerica First\u201d policy is matched by the BJP\u2019s autarkic \u201cMake in India\u201d drive. Ironically, at the heart of the ongoing economic strain between the two is that Modi is too protectionist for Trump\u2019s ostensibly mercantilist sensibilities.\n\nTrump\u2019s pro-Wall Street administration is underpinned by corporatism and fueled by white identity politics. Meanwhile, jobless growth and crony capitalism define Modi\u2019s stewardship over the economy, as popular anxiety has been ensnared by a virulent Hindu identity politics. During Modi\u2019s first term, this played out in the form of mob-led cow vigilante violence, that primarily targeted Muslims in grisly public lynchings.\n\nThe culture of impunity is unparalleled. While Trump surrounds himself with a revolving door of unsavory figures and controversially pardoned those like Michael Milken (and might extend clemency to Roger Stone), Modi counts amongst his political cadre Amit Shah, the Indian home minister who has escaped murder and kidnapping charges, and Yogi Adityanath, a bigoted monk and current chief minister of the country\u2019s most populous state.\n\nAfter the BJP secured a second term in May last year, the gloves came off.\n\nWhile Trump\u2019s Muslim ban and anti-immigration measures had to bypass Congress, Shah managed to push the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a chilling anti-Muslim citizenship law, through the Indian Parliament. He also revoked the autonomy of Kashmir, India\u2019s only Muslim-majority state, which has endured the longest internet shutdown recorded in any democratic country along with widespread detentions and ongoing human rights abuses.\n\nThe BJP has also primed the country for a National Register of Citizens drive before 2024, aimed at identifying and removing illegal immigrants in what is essentially a bureaucratic cleansing initiative. Detention centers that could rival China\u2019s are being built for those eventually displaced and rendered stateless, in what could end up being the largest disenfranchisement drive in history.\n\nIn response to widespread anti-CAA protests, the government\u2019s crackdown has been unrelenting. Systematic targeting of university students and Muslims by police brutality and far-right thuggery has wrought an escalating climate of violence across India\u2019s streets.\n\nTrevor Noah mocks Trump for butchering India speech\n\nDisinformation campaigns were critical digital components in both Trump\u2019s and Modi\u2019s electoral victories. But the scourge of fake news has ravaged India\u2019s public discourse to the extent where it has been weaponized by those in power to devastating effect.\n\nOne of the most stunning developments is how the Indian press has cravenly bent the knee, pumping out government propaganda and acting as Modi\u2019s jingoistic press secretary. Journalists are threatened, dissent is gagged. Trump on the other hand is regularly lambasted by the US media, with even occasional pushback from Fox News.\n\nFascism ultimately ends with one-party rule over the state\u2019s legal, institutional and ideological apparatuses. A cult of personality that harnesses nostalgia for a mythical past in service of national renewal is very much part of an old playbook that Modi and Trump have benefited from.\n\nThe difference is that Modi is comfortably \u2013 and terrifyingly \u2013 ahead of the pack of ascendant far-right regimes strewn across the international arena. Under his reign, Indian democracy has degenerated into a brutish theocracy that draws upon vast reserves of anger, social sadism and hyper-masculine worship of power."}
-{"text": "SEATTLE \u2014 A select group of minors will go into Washington state\u2019s new legal pot stores on a covert mission: to try to buy weed for the state.\n\nTo curtail youth access to legal marijuana, state officials want to use minors in pot-buying stings next year when stores are expected to open.\n\nCharged with implementing the new law that allows adults to possess an ounce of pot, the state Liquor Control Board already uses minors in \u201ccontrolled buys\u201d of alcohol at retail stores.\n\nJustin Nordhorn, the board\u2019s enforcement chief, said it makes sense to apply the same practice to pot, particularly with the federal Department of Justice watchdogging the state\u2019s newest legal intoxicant. \u201cOf course the feds are looking at a tightly regulated market around youth access, and I think this shows we\u2019re being responsible,\u201d he said.\n\nThe agency also will ask the legislature to set penalties for minors who attempt to purchase legal pot and those who use or manufacture fake ID cards for that purpose.\n\nAlison Holcomb, chief author of the new law, said using minors in pot-buying stings would support the state and federal emphasis on limiting youth access. But as criminal-justice director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, Holcomb said she does not think adding criminal laws for pot possession is a good idea. She said she would prefer a focus on other prevention strategies.\n\nThe head of a statewide substance-abuse prevention group also supports the stings, as long as minors are not put in danger. Because pot shops might open as cash-only businesses, \u201cit seems the potential for crime is higher, so protection for minors in sting operations must be seamless,\u201d said Derek Franklin, president of the Washington Association for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention.\n\nStings appear to be warranted in alcohol enforcement. Data for the past 17 months show that alcohol retailers had an 85 percent compliance rate in youth stings. In other words, for every seven times minors working for the state tried to buy alcohol in stores, bars or restaurants, they succeeded once.\n\nWhile Washington has licensed more than 20,000 locations to sell alcohol, the state plans to allow just 334 marijuana stores, making it easier, in theory, to enforce the law at them.\n\nThe state now hires 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds across the state to use in alcohol stings, Nordhorn said. About 30 minors, both men and women, work for the liquor board. They get paid about $10 an hour, Nordhorn said, and they tend to be students interested in law enforcement and substance-abuse prevention.\n\nNordhorn plans to send minors into pot stores to try to purchase products. It\u2019s the store clerks\u2019 responsibility to make sure customers are 21. The law does not allow minors even in stores.\n\nIf there is a pot sale, the minor would go outside, where an enforcement officer would be waiting, Nordhorn said. The officer would go in and cite the store for a violation.\n\nThe penalty for a first offense is a 10-day suspension of a store\u2019s license or a $2,500 fine. A second violation in three years would bring a 30-day license suspension. A third violation in three years would cost a business its license."}
-{"text": "What to Know A distraught mom sent a letter to Amazon addressing the bullying her daughter gets for sharing a name with the smart device Alexa\n\nShe said her daughter Alexa gets teased by children at school, and even when out shopping. Reports show she's not the only one.\n\nAn Amazon representative responded to the letter, apologizing on behalf of Jeff Bezos and saying she would forward the complaint on\n\nA distraught mom has sent a letter to Amazon pleading with the company to help stop the bullying she says her 6-year-old daughter has experienced from sharing the same name with its virtual assistant device Alexa.\n\n\u201cMr. Bezos, I write to you as a father and human being rather than the CEO of Amazon,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are not asking for wealth or recognition from this request. We just want to correct an error we believe was a giant mistake.\u201d\n\nThe Lynn, Massachusetts, woman, who wanted to be known by her first name Lauren to protect her child's identity, wrote to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos last week after saying she witnessed her 6-year-old daughter being bullied at school and in public, with kids ordering her daughter to complete tasks and laughing at her.\n\n\u201cKids are telling her, \u2018Turn on my T.V., tell me today\u2019s weather\u2026,\u201d Lauren wrote in the letter. \u201cThey laugh at her and treat her like a servant, and this has been an ongoing issue, everywhere we go.\u201d\n\nThe letter went on to describe that everywhere the family goes, people acknowledge the name her daughter shares with the Amazon device, and often makes jokes asking if her daughter \u201cCan do the same things the Alexa device does?\u201d The letter was originally sent three weeks ago, but Lauren sent it again early last week, and told NBC 4 she got an apology from a member of technical support on behalf of the CEO.\n\nLauren says these incidents have occurred numerous times throughout the last year, constantly making her daughter Alexa upset, and she was at a loss of what to do. \u201cIt\u2019s the world we live in,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd people mean no harm. But Alexa is a person, not a machine, and people have to stop referring to her like she is one.\u201d She says companies should not be using women's names to name their products.\n\nLauren claims her daughter is not the only Alexa that this has happened to, and says she is aware of at least one other seven-year-old whose mother shared the same grievance as her. With 11 million Amazon Echo and Dot products now in homes worldwide since its launch in 2014, Alexa is inescapable.\n\nMany women around the world have reported how problematic it is to share their name with the Amazon homing device. An article in The Seattle Times found four women who considered changing their own names just to escape the jokes. Last year, the Wall Street Journal reported a story of a woman whose daughter named Alexa often thinks her mom is talking to her, when in fact she is trying to address the artificial intelligence.\n\n\u201cThis is everywhere,\u201d Lauren wrote to Bezos. \u201cYou\u2019ve already ruined the name, but you don\u2019t have to continue to hurt these girls and women. I ask, make an apology and start a movement. I am.\u201d\n\nAn Amazon representative named Patricia, from Amazon's Tech Support Customer Relations Team, replied to Lauren's letter last week \"on behalf of Jeff Bezos.\" She apologized for the experiences Lauren and her family had been going through.\n\n\"I'm very sorry to hear about the experience you're having. I definitely understand this has been frustrating,\" Patricia wrote. \"I really appreciate the time you've taken to voice your concern and let us know about the issues you've run into. I have sent your feedback on to our internal teams. Thanks for making sure we're aware of your experience.\"\n\nLauren said that she assumes this will be the only response from the email she sent, but said it was a start.\n\nAmazon did not respond to NBC New York's request for comment."}
-{"text": "Voiceless is a short documentary film based on a schoolboy who hanged himself and left behind a diary of abuse by playground bullies. Vijay Singh\u2019s, 13, bullying went un-noticed for a long time before he decided it had come to a stage where he could not take it any more. He also wrote a chilling poem in his schoolbooks about his torment at the hands of race-hate pupils.\n\nThis poem is a harsh reminder to the effects of bullying back then and now. Bullying is still a taboo today and is avoided most times as some feel it is not as serious as one may think but the truth is, bullying is more alive than ever and the more we turn a blind eye to the issues, the closer we are to losing people we dearly love.\n\nThis video was aimed to create awareness and to help people understand the seriousness of bullying. The last thing we expect is anything terrible happening to our loved ones. We are always exposed to dramatic and hurtful experiences through the pain of others and least expect anything similar to happen to us. But the truth is, it is closer to home than we think.\n\nThis is something we must fight together. Bullying must stop, because it\u2019s just not fair. We are all equal- regardless of race, faith or beliefs.\n\nSo please spread the poem of Vijay Singh and stop the bullies.\n\nDIARY OF DESPAIR\n\nMONDAY -My money was taken\n\nTUESDAY-Boys called me names\n\nWEDNESDAY-My uniform was torn\n\nTHURSDAY-My body pours with blood\n\nFRIDAY-It\u2019s ended\n\nSATURDAY-Freedom"}
-{"text": "by Brett Stevens on August 2, 2017\n\nWe are told that scientists are our new overlords because they are \u201cobjective,\u201d which means a combination of lacking self-interest, not having one team over the other to root for, and being free from the normal superstitions and neuroses that make people unreliable narrators. And yet, none of this is true.\n\nThe first thing to know about scientists is that they are employees, but for them, the profit motive is direct. In academia and independent research, those who make the headlines are those who get promoted and eventually get to positions of high salary and high stability.\n\nThat in turn means that scientists are dependent on audience. Like politicians, they have constituents, but in this case, the constituents are those who buy the media products that enable those headlines to occur. If there is public interest in some topic, they want scientific heroes, and there is big money in being the next Craig Venter or P.J. Meyers.\n\nWhat that tells us is that scientists are far from unbiased or lacking in self-interest. On top of that, we are now seeing that their ideological biases \u2014 part of finding constituents \u2014 are also just as \u201csubjective\u201d as those of anyone else, as a recent study finds that scientists who support theories of nurture over nature tend to disbelieve the scientific method itself:\n\nFor instance, on the topic of gender identity, an evolutionary social sciences scholar said: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I believe gender identity reflects a mixture of genetic and culture inputs, with the genetic being somewhat more important\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, while a literary studies scholar said: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I agree that biological characteristics play a role in gender-identity formation but I suppose I absolutely disagree that they do so \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcpredominantly\u2019\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. Perhaps most worrying, in the sense of undermining hopes of any future consensus on understanding human behaviour and culture, is that the scholars who favoured environmental and cultural explanations for behaviour also tended to doubt the scientific method: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Human behaviour is not subject to immutable laws, and, therefore, can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be studied scientifically,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said a religious studies scholar. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Scientific knowledge has something to tell us about material artefacts and their production, but \u00e2\u20ac\u02dchuman nature\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dchuman experience\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and \u00e2\u20ac\u02dchuman behaviour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 are not empirically stable,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said a literary studies scholar.\n\nThe scientific method, a general procedure for verifying the empirical basis for any observation, is the core of science itself. To disbelieve it is like being a Pope who is an atheist, although at this point, we probably have one of those too.\n\nThose who favor \u201cnurture\u201d are the ones who believe that education, training, self-help books, government films and social pressures are more important than genetic ability. That is: they are \u201cmagic dirt\u201d believers who think you can take anyone, regardless of genetics, and make him into an ideal citizen.\n\nNaturally, this is a denial of Darwinism, since the theory of natural selection finds that general inclinations toward behaviors are genetically-coded, as are abilities. Nurture plays some role, mostly in that it is possible to damage potential in a child, for example, but nature determines the raw material with which nurture works.\n\nSpecifically, intelligence is heritable, and since we now know that many genes contribute to intelligence, it is not possible for a random mutation to make someone a genius. They might have a few of these genes tweaked, but will not get the whole intelligence package, which is why hereditary caste systems are more functional than \u201cmeritocracies.\u201d\n\nIn the meantime, we can stop worshiping scientists and science because they are clearly just as fallible as any other human effort.\n\nTags: bias, evolutionary social science, nature, nurture, Realism\n\nPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus."}
-{"text": "Article content\n\nA Russian cannibal pedophile and his 12-year-old \u201cgirlfriend\u201d have been busted for hacking a man to death and then eating his body parts.\n\nCops say the unnamed 22-year-old accused killer and the girl were living with victim Alexander Popovich, 21, outside of St. Petersburg.\n\nWe apologize, but this video has failed to load.\n\ntap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Pedophile cannibal, 'girlfriend', 12, 'cook the brains' of victim Back to video\n\nThe girl was allegedly a willing participant and was likely groomed online, police said.\n\nThe debauched duo \u201ccooked the brains\u201d of Popovich and when cops went looking for him they found his head cooking in the oven of his home.\n\nThe man and girl reportedly told investigators: \u201cThere was nothing else to eat.\u201d\n\nAs for the girl, she was a runaway who had been reported missing but described as looking around 15 or 16 years old."}
-{"text": "Hillary Clinton has found a new attack dog. Speaking at a Cleveland event, former first daughter Chelsea Clinton unloaded on her mother's sole Democratic rival.\n\n\u201cWe are not electing a king, we are electing a president,\" Chelsea said, unloading on Sanders and suggesting that the Democratic socialist does not understand how the presidency works.\n\n\"We need someone who understands what they have to do in the job [as president] but also in partnership with congress, governors and mayors.\"\n\n\"My mother understands how the government works.\"\n\nChelsea Clinton attacked Sanders for his criminal justice reform initiative. As the Independent reports:"}
-{"text": "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans on Wednesday passed a bill in the House of Representatives that touched on nearly every step U.S. agencies take in creating and applying new rules, continuing their blitz to radically reform \u201cabusive\u201d federal regulation of areas from the environment to the workplace.\n\nThe U.S. Capitol Building is lit at sunset in Washington, U.S., December 20, 2016. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts\n\nIn a 238-183 vote, the House passed the \u201cRegulatory Accountability Act,\u201d which combined eight bills aimed at changing how the vast government bureaucracy runs. Only five Democrats voted for it.\n\nThe legislation would give President-elect Donald Trump tools \u201cto wipe out abusive regulation,\u201d said Bob Goodlatte, the Judiciary Committee chairman who is among the many House leaders calling for lighter regulation and saying the costs to comply with federal rules are too high.\n\nRepublicans say there is little accountability for regulations that apply to almost every aspect of American life because they are created by appointed officials and not elected representatives. Federal agencies operate either independently or under the president\u2019s authority.\n\nThe current reform push is part of Trump\u2019s campaign promise to \u201cdrain the swamp,\u201d House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Wednesday.\n\nAs House Republicans push for reform - last week they passed bills requiring Congressional approval of major rules and giving Congress power to kill dozens of recently enacted ones - Democrats are fighting back.\n\nDemocrats have said the many extra procedures required by the reform bills would stall agencies\u2019 work, making it impossible to create needed regulations on the environment, financial markets and other areas. Democrats contend that slowing down rulemaking is intended to help big businesses escape oversight.\n\nThe accountability act would jeopardize the government\u2019s capability \u201cto safeguard public health and safety, the environment, workplace safety and consumer financial protections,\u201d the Judiciary Committee\u2019s senior Democrat, John Conyers, said before the vote.\n\n\u201cWorse yet, many of these new requirements are intended to facilitate the ability of regulated entities - such as well-funded corporate interests - to intervene and derail regulatory protections they oppose,\u201d Conyers said.\n\nSpecifically, the bill would require agencies to post more detailed information on proposals for an extended period of time, limit judge\u2019s interpretations in legal challenges, and require agencies to enact the lowest-cost version of a rule.\n\nThe House is expected to vote on Thursday on changes to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the major securities and derivatives regulators.\n\nStill, none of these bills may become law, as Democrats hold enough seats in the Senate to filibuster."}
-{"text": "A new kind of lens reaches an unprecedentedly sharp focus by giving up on being perfect. The lens is the first ever to help take visual light images of structures smaller than 100 nanometers (four one-millionths of inch), which could make it useful for nanotechnology and probing the insides of cells.\n\nOrdinary lenses, like those used in magnifying glasses, have curved surfaces that bend light to a single point. A small object sitting at that point appears larger and sharply focused, helping myopic readers discern fine print and old-school detectives search for fingerprints. But conventional lenses need to be almost perfect to work. Scratches and roughness destroy the clear image.\n\n\"Every deviation from the perfect surface results in a deteriorated focus,\" said Elbert van Putten, a graduate student at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. \"And in practice you'll always see surface defects.\"\n\nThe smallest object on which physicists have managed to focus a single conventional lens is 200 nanometers across, just larger than the smallest known bacteria (although more complicated microscopy systems have reached down to 50 nanometers). But a lot of structures that physicists and chemists are interested in, like subcellular structures, nanoelectric circuits and photonic structures, are less than half that size.\n\nTo push the focal limit beneath 100 nanometers, van Putten and colleagues abandoned the idea of a perfect lens.\n\n\"We took a completely different approach: We deliberately made the surface porous so that it strongly scatters light,\" van Putten said. The results were published May 13 in Physical Review Letters.\n\nThe researchers started with a 400-nanometer thick wafer of gallium phosphide, a material that strongly slows light that travels through it. Then they etched a random pattern of scratches and holes into the wafer's surface using sulfuric acid.\n\nWhen light hits the holey wafer, it scatters off in all directions \u2013 exactly the opposite of what you normally want from a lens. But where ordinary lenses focus light after it passes through the glass, the scattering lens manipulates the light before it ever hits the rough surface.\n\nThe researchers analyzed the patterns made by the scattered light, and computed the pattern the incoming light waves would need to have in order for the lens to converge them to one spot. They then programmed a laser to send this adjusted light through the lens.\n\n\"Even though light is scattered into all directions, you can steer it into one spot again,\" van Putten said.\n\nTo test their scattering lens, van Putten and colleagues took photographs of gold nanoparticles 97 nanometers across. The resulting image (above, right) was much sharper than the blurry print taken with a conventional lens (left).\n\n\"The focus is always at the theoretical limit, as sharp as it could be,\" van Putten said. \"We're not hindered anymore by surface errors.\"\n\nImage courtesy Elbert van Putten.\n\nCitation: Scattering Lens Resolves Sub-100 nm Structures with Visible Light. E.G. van Putten, D. Akbulut, J. Bertolotti, W.L. Vos, A. Lagendijk, and A.P. Mosk. Physical Review Letters, vol. 106, May 13, 2011. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.193905.\n\nSee Also:"}
-{"text": "Brian Manzullo\n\nDetroit Free Press\n\nMany basketball experts expect the Detroit Pistons to take the next step toward contention in the Eastern Conference next season.\n\nReggie Jackson would agree with that.\n\nThe 26-year-old Pistons point guard joined ex-Pistons \"Bad Boy\" Rick Mahorn and Tom Byrne on SiriusXM NBA Radio to discuss the coming season and isn't keen on putting a cap on where the Pistons can go in 2016-17.\n\n\"I don't believe there necessarily is a ceiling,\" Jackson said. \"We can go as far as we want. But it's really going to come from internal growth as a team. Not just in skills but mentally, as well, and being ready for the burden of the season.\n\n\"Just stay motivated through the season. Like I said, it's a long, 6- to 9-month season, so you've got to stay locked in, stay geared, you're going to have your ups and downs, going to have your tough times, but you gotta rely upon everybody in the organization, especially the teammates that get you through it. You gotta be mentally tough and, if we can check each other, then I think we can have another great year ... and have an even better year.\"\n\nThe Pistons finished 44-38 last year and reached the postseason for the first time in seven years, but were swept in the first round by the eventual NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers.\n\nJackson's production is a prime reason the Pistons improved by 12 games from 2014-15; he averaged a career-high 18.8 points to go along with 6.2 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game as the team's starting point guard.\n\nAnd Stan Van Gundy was busy this off-season to add some key pieces to this young core, drafting power forward Henry Ellenson out of Marquette with the 18th overall pick and signing guard Ish Smith, along with big men Jon Leuer and Boban Marjanovic.\n\nJackson said he's been spending much of his off-season working out and staying in contact with his team. He admits, however, it's getting a little tiring and he's anxious to get the 2016-17 season started.\n\n\"Once you get a taste of (the playoffs), you want more,\" Jackson said. \"I know going into the playoffs last year, myself, I was the only starter who had been in the playoffs. And just seeing the expressions of the guys throughout being there, seeing how they handled the playoffs, even though it was a short, four-game stretch, I think we were ready.\n\n\"I think we got a lot of experience out of it. Seeing the glare in everybody's eyes. They wanted more. They definitely wanted more.\"\n\nContact Brian Manzullo: bmanzullo@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianManzullo.\n\nDownload our Pistons Xtra app on iTunes or Android!"}
-{"text": "A Minnesota congressional candidate hoping to unseat Ilhan Omar with promises of being tough on crime faces felony shoplifting charges, according to a report.\n\nDanielle Stella, 31, was arrested twice this year in the thefts of 279 items worth more than $2,300 from a Target and $40 worth of goods from a grocery store, The Guardian reported.\n\n\u201cI am not guilty of these crimes. In this country I am innocent until proven guilty and that is the law,\u201d the special-education teacher told the news outlet.\n\n\u201cIf I was guilty of crimes, I would never run for public office, putting myself in the public eye under a microscope to be attacked by all political sides,\u201d added Stella, who this week described Minneapolis as \u201cthe crime capital of our country.\u201d\n\nStella told police that she \u201cremembers arriving at Target to purchase items but nothing else\u201d due to post-traumatic stress disorder, and that she \u201cnormally she goes to Target with someone because of anxiety around people,\u201d according to a criminal complaint cited by The Guardian.\n\nAn arrest warrant was put out for Stella for alleged contempt of court on April 4 after she failed to show up for a court hearing in the Jan. 8 Target case, the paper reported, citing police and court records.\n\nOn April 28, she was arrested in nearby Bloomington, Minnesota, for allegedly stealing a bottle of tick spray for cats, according to the report.\n\nStella is reportedly a believer in the infamous QAnon conspiracy, whose movement believes a deep state of Hollywood celebs and Democrats is working to undermine the president and is running an international pedophile ring.\n\nLast month, Stella registered with the Federal Election Commission as a candidate for the GOP nomination in Minnesota\u2019s fifth congressional district.\n\nShe has accused Omar \u2013 one of four freshman congresswomen who comprise the far-left \u201cSquad\u201d \u2014 of being a criminal for advising immigrants how to avoid agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement."}
-{"text": "JehutyRunner said: I'm in. I've never played a Thief game in my life, but I hadn't played a Deus Ex game until Human Revolution. I'm in for anything Eidos Montreal makes after Deus Ex Click to expand...\n\nWho gives a flying fuck if it's next gen or not? Focus on the goddamn game for once people.This is a problem you need to remedy. Your first exposure to those series should not be the most modern game."}
-{"text": "Well, here\u2019s one way to enact change in your neighborhood: Soho activists have raised enough money to establish a nonprofit\u2014which they\u2019re calling a \u201cneighborhood improvement district\u201d\u2014to help clean up trash in the area. Residents were fed up with litter on the sidewalks and overflowing waste baskets, \"despite funneling millions into city coffers from its astronomical sales and property taxes,\" as a press release puts it.\n\nOrganizers did not want to set up a traditional Business Improvement District, saying they were hesitant to \"cede control of their neighborhood to a real estate-driven B.I.D.\" In a release, they elaborated:\n\nCommunity opposition stemmed from fears that real-estate developers would use the B.I.D. to further turn SoHo into a mall, while eliminating current zoning regulations that prohibit oversized retail stores more typical of Herald Square.\n\nAnd so, the all-volunteer nonprofit Clean Up SoHo has recently formed after the group raised an impressive $100,000. The initiative was spearheaded by Sean Sweeney, director of the SoHo Alliance; local resident Dianne Mendez, who runs an art salon on West Broadway; and the realtor Danielle Nazinitsky, who also writes the blog SoHo Strut.\n\nThe group blames increased tourism for the neighborhood's litter problem. A group of local activists, residents, independent realtors, and small business advocates met about a year ago to discuss the issue and brainstorm ways to fix it; they organized with help from the Soho Alliance throughout 2017.\n\nFundraising has come from a number of local sources, including the boards of area co-ops and condos, shops, restaurants, and neighborhood residents\u2014even Bloomingdale\u2019s and the Richard Rodgers family trust contributed, the group reports.\n\nOthers pledged $1,500 each to purchase more than 30 heavy-duty, metal wastebaskets to replace the mesh baskets currently out on the streets. Finally, a grant of $60,000 from Councilmember Margaret Chin came through and with that, Clean Up SoHo hired a private cleaning service to begin sweeping the sidewalks and emptying the litter baskets.\n\nBut even though the group calls their initiative \u201cpeople power in its purest form,\u201d it\u2019s not clear whether this model of neighborhood activism would be easily replicated in areas that are less well-off\u2014without, say, a Bloomingdale\u2019s to donate to the cause."}
-{"text": "Leslie Benzies, former president of Rockstar North and lead producer of the Grand Theft Auto series for GTA 3 through GTA 5, is suing his prior employer Take-Two Interactive (which owns Rockstar) for $150 million in unpaid royalties. His suit alleges \"numerous deceptions\" on the part of Rockstar and its co-founders, Sam and Dan Houser, that eventually led to his forceful ousting from the company.\n\nBenzies' suit claims that he was given a period of paid time off to celebrate the monumental success of the GTA franchise, particularly GTA 5. \"When attempting to resume his duties upon conclusion of his sabbatical on April 1, 2015, Mr. Benzies found himself unable to enter the Rockstar North office because his facilities access device had been deactivated,\" Benzies' lawyers write in their official statement.\n\nThis conflicts with Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick's account, which he gave during a conference call this February. \"I can confirm that Leslie Benzies went on sabbatical in September of 2014,\" Zelnick said. \"He's decided not to return to Rockstar Games.\" Rockstar and Take-Two are adamant that Benzies resigned \"without Good Reason,\" as noted in documents filed with the United States District Court, Southern District of New York.\n\nRead more: Red Dead Redemption 2 review: \u201cWhen the credits roll, you\u2019ll have created enough incredible memories to fill ten lesser games\u201d\n\nI haven't seen a legal fight set to get this ugly since the founders of Infinity Ward sued Activision.\n\nSeen something newsworthy? Tell us!"}
-{"text": "Scots warned of 'difficult 2017' over inflation rise Published duration 7 November 2016\n\nimage copyright Thinkstock image caption Prices are rising as the cost of imported goods adjust to the lower value of sterling\n\nScots are facing a \"difficult 2017\" of higher prices and lower wage growth following the collapse in the value of sterling, according to a report.\n\nAccountants and business advisers BDO LLP found inflation was expected to continue over the next few months, leaving consumers with less to spend.\n\nThe price of many imported goods is rising as they adjust to the lower value of sterling.\n\nThe decline of sterling has also knocked business confidence, BDO said.\n\nAccording to the Business Trends Report, the inflation index is at its highest level in more than three years - climbing to 102.8 in October from 102.1 in the previous month - and above the long-term trend of inflation at 100.\n\nThe BDO's output index, which indicates how businesses expect to perform in the three months ahead, fell to 96.6 from 96.9.\n\nMartin Gill, head of BDO LLP in Scotland, said: \"Rapidly rising inflation is quickly going to hit the pockets of Scottish consumers, affect the profit margins of businesses and ultimately slow the growth of the economy.\n\n\"The Nissan and Hinkley announcements are a positive start post-Brexit for the UK as a whole but the Scottish government needs to inject greater confidence back into the Scottish economy.\n\n\"We need a positive Autumn Statement and Scottish government budget in December that highlights immediate investment in infrastructure to help soften the blow to both consumers and businesses, and to encourage growth.\""}
-{"text": "3 Things A Business Degree Student Could Learn From Silvio Berlusconi\n\nEveryone needs an icon, an inspiration, someone who shows just how much can be down and how well. Not necessarily a role model, because the most successful people tend to have extremely negative qualities, but even the most evil character can teach some important lessons. For example: Darth Vader teaches you the value of presentation, black is always in fashion, and don\u2019t jump uphill at a man with a light sabre, you idiot.\n\nBut since the dark lord of the Sith isn\u2019t a great exemplar for business degree students (the profit/loss sheet on the Death Star is horrifying), we\u2019ve looked for a more down to Earth villain. Italian ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is a glory of capitalism. He is at least four different male fantasies crammed into one body. He\u2019s made more money than Midas, twisted the law into shapes which would confuse Escher, and scored with more women than the entire population of several colleges.\n\nWhat lessons can a business degree student take from this mastermind?\n\nNetworking\n\nThe single most important lesson in any business degree is networking, and Silvio masters this the same way Genghis Khan mastered making first impressions: way harder and better than anyone had ever dreamed possible, and than most people had even had even had nightmares about. Mr. Berlusconi has a more powerful network than most Yakuza and uses it much more blatantly.\n\nIf you don\u2019t make connections during your business degree it might as well be a piece of novelty toilet rule. Luckily modern technology means you can mingle without ever having to stand up, which is great, because when you work online you can take the time to craft the perfect image. Or, like Silvio, you can just own most of the TV stations and tell them to do it instead.\n\nThink Big\n\nNo-one gets a business degree because they want to be a faithful secretary. It\u2019s more a Gordon Gecko without the bad ending thing, power and riches and most importantly the feeling of doing something worthwhile with your time. This means you have to aim high and just keep climbing, an no-one solved his problems by aiming higher than Silvio. When his businesses were under legal investigation, he became the government and changed the rules. When Medusa cinemas were investigated for embezzling five million Euros, the judge decided that Silvio probably had nothing to do with it because the amount is too small. When you\u2019re excused on the grounds that you couldn\u2019t be bothered with a paltry seven digits, that\u2019s the success of thinking big.\n\nUnderstand The Rules\n\nThe most important thing in any project is a clear understanding of the rules. Some will say that this is to make sure you obey them, but come on, we\u2019ve already mentioned Gordon Gecko and Silvio Berlusconi in this article. Sure, Berlusconi might have been finally forced to resign as prime minister, but he still has more money and sex than everyone you know put together.\n\nThe real reason you need to understand the rules is to succeed as quickly as possible. The hardest work in the world doesn\u2019t necessarily, or often, lead to a the best reward. That\u2019s why you\u2019re studying a business degree instead of bomb disposal. A clear set of guidelines means clear targets and knowing exactly what you\u2019re allowed \u2013 or able \u2013 to do to get what you want. When you study for a business degree you\u2019re practicing dealing with the real world by getting ready to do the same. You have a clear set of tasks and courses to complete and, by far the most importantly, you have total command of your own time and resources to do so. That benefit cannot be overstated. So many jobs are based on sitting down and doing what you\u2019re told \u2013 you want to be master of your own destiny. And like Silvio Berlusconi, you want to fill that destiny with money and fun."}
-{"text": "By Allison Lampert and Hyonhee Shin\n\nMONTREAL/SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States has blocked efforts by a U.N. agency to improve civil aviation in North Korea at a time when Pyongyang is trying to reopen part of its airspace to foreign flights, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.\n\nThe U.S. move is part of a negotiating tactic to maintain sanctions pressure on North Korea, one of the sources said, ahead of a second summit between President Donald Trump and leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam in late February.\n\nWashington is seeking concrete commitments from Pyongyang at the summit to abandon its nuclear and missile programs.\n\nThe United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), with 192 member countries, has been working with Pyongyang to open a new air route that would pass through North and South Korean airspace.\n\nAirlines currently take indirect routings to avoid North Korea due to the threat of unannounced missile launches, which have been witnessed by some passengers on commercial flights.\n\nIf the space was deemed safe, international airlines could save fuel and time on some routes between Asia and Europe and North America, and North Korea could begin reviving its own commercial aviation industry.\n\nThe cash-strapped country has a population of more than 25 million but its economy has been squeezed by a series of sanctions for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.\n\nMontreal-based ICAO was prepared to help improve North Korea's aviation system by leading training sessions between its military and civil aviation staff, two sources said.\n\nNorth Korea also asked ICAO for access to U.S.-produced aeronautical charts, they said.\n\nU.S SEEKS LEVERAGE\n\nBut the United States discouraged the U.N. agency from helping North Korea with its air program as Washington wanted to \"pool all the leverages and incentives\" until Pyongyang makes substantial progress on denuclearization, a third source said.\n\n\"They would keep tight hold of all available leverage to make sure there is no loophole until the North Koreans take action that deserves a reward,\" the source said.\n\nStory continues\n\nAll sources spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.\n\nICAO cannot impose binding rules on governments, but wields clout through its safety and security standards which are approved by its member states.\n\nAsked for comment, a U.S. State Department official said it does not publicly discuss details of diplomatic conversations. An ICAO spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\n\nSouth Korea's foreign ministry declined to comment, and North Korean mission to the United Nations in New York did not respond to a request for comment.\n\nIn 2017, the United States proposed the U.N. Security Council freeze the assets of state-carrier Air Koryo, which flies to a handful of cities in China and Russia, as part of new sanctions on Pyongyang. The measure was dropped during negotiations between the 15 members.\n\nAirlines including Air Koryo and Air China Ltd offer less than 200,000 available seats a year in the North Korean market, according to a January note from independent research firm CAPA Centre for Aviation.\n\nThat compares with over 13 million seats available in the South Korean market, which has roughly double the population, CAPA said.\n\nThe biggest beneficiaries of lifting air restrictions over North Korea would be South Korean carriers including Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines Inc, according to CAPA.\n\nDENUCLEARIZATION PRESSURE\n\nThe United States has doubled down on sanctions enforcement ahead of the planned second summit amid concerns Pyongyang is not committed to denuclearization, though Washington promised to relax some rules on humanitarian aid.\n\nSouth and North Korea, meanwhile, have rapidly advanced relations, which prompted U.S. officials to openly warn against moving too quickly without sufficient progress on denuclearization.\n\nA fourth source told Reuters that the U.S. move to facilitate humanitarian aid was intended to appease South Korea, facing some complaints that Washington is not willing to make any concessions.\n\n\"But they made it clear that there will be no relief of economic sanctions until they see substantial progress,\" said the source who also spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.\n\n(Reporting By Allison Lampert in Montreal and Hyonhee Shin in Seoul. Additional reporting by Jamie Freed in Singapore, David Shepardson in Washington and Michelle Nichols in New York; Editing by Tracy Rucinski and Lincoln Feast)"}
-{"text": "Gov. Jerry Brown signed a new bill to reduce methane and soot pollution in California. By 2030, dairy farmers will be required to cut methane emissions 40 percent below their 2013 levels."}
-{"text": "Dani Alves says he will wear the No. 23 shirt with his new club Juventus in honour of LeBron James.\n\nThe defender completed his move from Barcelona to the Italian champions on Monday, and in his introductory news conference on Tuesday, Alves said he selected his new number with the NBA star in mind.\n\n\"I've picked the No. 23 shirt. LeBron James is someone I admire for the way he constantly reinvents himself and never rests on his laurels, always aiming for new challenges and triumphs,\" Alves said.\n\nAlves' change in numbers parallels James' own switch. To honour former teammate Xavi, the Brazil international wore No. 6 last season at Barcelona -- the same number James wore while with the Miami Heat before he reclaimed the No. 23 shirt when he rejoined the Cleveland Cavaliers.\n\nJames brought the Cavaliers their first NBA championship earlier this month, and Alves said he considers the basketball star a role model.\n\n\"After leaving Miami, where he was enjoying a good career, he's come back with a bang and reinvented himself,\" Alves said. \"It's a decision that brought about my choice to move to a new country, meet new teammates and experience another type of football.\"\n\nAfter winning the La Liga title the past two seasons with Barcelona, Alves will join the five-time defending Italian champs, but he says he's set his sights on winning the Champions League with Juventus.\n\n\"The club's dream is to win the Champions League, and I hope to help them achieve this,\" Alves said. \"I can't say exactly what Juventus require to win the Champions League. That's something I'll begin to work out from now onwards.\n\n\"We need to believe we can win the Champions League if we are to do so. My teammates and I will give it our best shot.\"\n\nDani Alves wore No. 6 last season for Barcelona. PAU BARRENA/AFP/Getty Images\n\nAlves also explained that the challenge of playing in Italy had motivated him to leave Spain, where he also played for Sevilla.\n\n\"It's an honour to be here. Juve have a great dream, and I want to make it a reality,\" he said. \"The club's history fascinates me. I also wanted a new experience, in a new country.\n\n\"Juventus is a club full of interesting challenges and goals. There's a unique opportunity to go down in history here.\n\n\"I'm not someone who looks for an easy ride. I'm not a star, I'm a real grafter.\"\n\nInformation from Press Association was used in this report."}
-{"text": "\u00d7 Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}\n\nAmerican alligators, once on the verge of extinction, have made a remarkable recovery. Alabama\u2019s largest reptile, alligators can be found across most of the Southern third of the state and have been confirmed farther north but not in large populations. They live near lakes, rivers, ponds and sometimes creeks. An expansive population of alligators calls Lake Eufaula home.\n\nJordan Graves, an Alabama Extension regional agent in forestry and wildlife, said that it is hard to name a main food source for alligators.\n\n\u201cAlligators are opportunistic predators and sometimes scavengers,\u201d Graves said. \u201cTheir diet can consist of fish, turtles, beavers, deer and wild pigs. When they are hungry, alligators will eat just about anything that comes close enough. The world-record alligator had two squirrels and an adult white-tailed doe in its stomach when it was harvested.\u201d\n\nAlabama holds the world record for the largest alligator harvested. Measuring 15 feet 9 inches and weighing 1,011.5 pounds, the giant was caught in September 2014 in Camden along the Alabama River. Male alligators in the wild on average will grow up to 11 feet 2 inches, and females will grow up to 8 feet 2 inches long. Large males can weigh up to 1,000 pounds. Alligators in the wild can have a life span of 30 to 50 years."}
-{"text": "Canal + propose ce soir une soir\u00e9e sp\u00e9ciale Karim Benzema. L'attaquant du Real Madrid sera l'invit\u00e9 en direct du \u00ab Canal Football Club \u00bb \u00e0 19 h 10 avant la diffusion \u00e0 21 heures d'un long documentaire d'une dur\u00e9e de deux heures consacr\u00e9 \u00e0 celui qui est d\u00e9sormais le 7e buteur de toute l'histoire des Merengue.\n\nLIRE AUSSI\n\n\u00ab Le K Benzema \u00bb raconte le Karim Benzema que le grand public ne conna\u00eet pas forc\u00e9ment. Gr\u00e2ce aux t\u00e9moignages, entre autres, de Zidane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ancelotti, du rappeur Booba, de son agent ou encore de son p\u00e8re, le film bascule sans cesse entre le Benzema footballeur et le Karim intime. Chez lui \u00e0 Madrid ou \u00e0 Bron, dans la banlieue de Lyon, o\u00f9 il a grandi, le joueur se livre sans retenue. Dans sa voix, on entend alors un gar\u00e7on lib\u00e9r\u00e9, d\u00e9contract\u00e9, heureux de donner sa version des faits.\n\n\u00abLe K Benzema\u00bb : \u00abDes petits jeunes de quartier qui gagnent des millions...\u00bb\n\nL'\u00e9pisode de la sex-tape, aussi, occupe une large partie du documentaire et revient sur la dr\u00f4le d'enqu\u00eate men\u00e9e par certains policiers (toute la proc\u00e9dure est en passe d'\u00eatre annul\u00e9e par la justice). A propos de son ex-partenaire en bleu Mathieu Valbuena, qui a refus\u00e9 de s'exprimer face cam\u00e9ra, tout comme No\u00ebl Le Gra\u00ebt, le pr\u00e9sident de la F\u00e9d\u00e9ration fran\u00e7aise, Benzema dit : \u00ab Il est tomb\u00e9 sur la t\u00eate. \u00bb"}
-{"text": "Jason Chaffetz\n\nHard on the heels of announcing that he\u2019s not running again in 2018 and may even resign before then, House Oversight Chair Jason Chaffetz is taking three or four weeks off from his duties to have foot surgery.\n\n\u201cAlmost 12 years ago, I shattered several bones in my foot which required 14 screws and a metal plate to repair,\u201d Chaffetz wrote on Instagram. \u201cThe University of Utah doctors now recommend immediate surgery to remove all the hardware or I could be at risk for serious infection.\u201d Okay \u2026 but here\u2019s where it gets good:\n\nI\u2019m sorry to miss the important work we are doing in Washington. This is not an opportune time to be away but medical emergencies are never convenient. I appreciate my constituent\u2019s patience and understanding as I take time to recover.\n\nUh huh. This actually sounds pretty darn convenient. I\u2019m sure he\u2019s distraught at missing the infighting, failed votes, and general series of disasters House Republicans are likely to inflict on themselves as they tackle Trumpcares 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0, along with whatever else they come up with. In fact, Chaffetz is leaving so quickly he\u2019ll avoid the government spending vs. government shutdown debate happening as this week draws to a close\u2014he told Politico he\u2019s flying out Thursday morning.\n\nPerhaps this experience will help Chaffetz gain sympathy for people with invisible disabilities, because:\n\nx Hmm. I spotted him on the Hill today at votes walking just fine. https://t.co/MMb0biUEuJ \u2014 Ed O'Keefe (@edatpost) April 27, 2017\n\nWell, at least he\u2019ll have health coverage despite this pre-existing condition. Unless his fellow Republicans do away with that while he\u2019s recuperating."}
-{"text": "O maior p\u00fablico do S\u00e3o Paulo no campeonato era o cl\u00e1ssico contra o Palmeiras, no Morumbi, onde mais de 33 mil pessoas foram assistir a partida\n\nAntes desta partida, o recorde de p\u00fablico pertencia ao Gr\u00eamio, que colocou 50.116 pessoas em sua arena, no confronto contra o Corinthians. Na sequ\u00eancia vem o Flamengo, com 42.575 pessoas na partida contra o Atl\u00e9tico-MG, na primeira rodada. E depois vem o Corinthians, no cl\u00e1ssico contra o Tricolor paulista, com 42.443 presentes, em Itaquera."}
-{"text": "There's something inexplicably tranquil about gazing at fish in an aquarium as they swim back and forth, darting about rocks or that tacky plastic treasure chest sitting in the corner. But what if you could have one on your desk, without all the water changes, filter cleaning and general maintenance? That's probably a ways off, but Memukhin Oleg's \"Fishing Day\" explores such a (not entirely virtual) reality. As you'll see in the video below from The Creators Project, he's used a handful of different 3D modeling techniques to bring artificial fishies to life. They react to a handheld submarine, schooling and separating as they might in the real world, flitting through a gaudy shipwreck you'd find at a pet store's aquarium aisle. It's all really, really impressive and there's even a breakdown of how the effects shot came together. The only bad part? The video's a bit on the short side."}
-{"text": "VIEWS: 6457\n\nGerman Anal Abuse - Part 2\n\nGerman anal slave's use continues, more roughing up and hard anal action with humiliation! Part 2 of the two."}
-{"text": "This week, Juergen announced the Spring Framework 4.1 release candidate. Now is the time to test those new features and see how they can make your applications better!\n\nOne of those new features is the flexible resolution and transformation of static web resources. Spring framework already allows you to serve static resources using ResourceHttpRequestHandlers . This feature gives you more power and new possibilities.\n\nResourceResolvers and ResourceTransformers\n\nResourceResolvers and ResourceTransformers are at the very core of this new feature.\n\nResourceResolvers can resolve resources, given their URL path. They can also resolve the externally facing public URL path for clients to use, given their internal resource path. ResourceTransformers can modify the content of resolved resources.\n\nHere\u2019s a diagram illustrating what happens when serving static resources with ResourceHttpRequestHandlers :\n\nRequest for Resource | | HTTP request v Resolvers chain: FirstResolver, SecondResolver, ThirdResolver (each resolver can return the resource or delegate to the next one) | | Resolved Resource v Transformers chain: FirstTransformer, SecondTransformer (each transformer can transform the resource or just pass it along without modification) | | Transformed Resource v HTTP Response with Resource content\n\nHere\u2019s another one showing how a chain of ResourceResolvers can update links to resources for HTTP client\u2019s use:\n\n\n\n\n\nResource link in a template source file\n\n|\n\n| Resource path (like \u201c/css/main.css\u201d)\n\nv\n\nResolvers chain: FirstResolver, SecondResolver, ThirdResolver\n\n(each resolver can modify the resource path or delegate to the next one)\n\n|\n\n| Updated resource path (like \u201c/css/main-0e37f12.css\u201d)\n\nv\n\nResource link in a rendered template\n\n\n\nNow, let\u2019s take a look at what ResourceResolvers implementations have to offer:\n\nResolver Name Goal PathResourceResolver finds resources under configured locations (classpath, file system\u2026) matching to the request path CachingResourceResolver resolves resources from a Cache instance or delegates to the next Resolver in the chain GzipResourceResolver finds variations of a resource with a \u201c.gz\u201d extension when HTTP clients support gzip compression VersionResourceResolver resolves request paths containing a version string, i.e. version information about the resource being requested. This resolver can be useful to set up HTTP caching strategies by changing resources\u2019 URLs as they are updated.\n\nAnd now, ResourceTransformers :\n\nTransformer Name Goal CssLinkResourceTransformer modifies links in a CSS file to match the public URL paths that should be exposed to clients CachingResourceTransformer caches the result of transformations in a Cache or delegates to the next Transformer in the chain AppCacheManifestTransfomer helps handling resources within HTML5 AppCache manifests for HTML5 offline applications\n\nThe key goal of those new additions to ResourceHttpRequestHandlers is to make it easy to optimize and work with optimized static resources for front-end performance.\n\nYet another asset pipeline?\n\nMany libraries and frameworks address those issues with full, integrated assets pipelines which often offer strong, opinionated solutions about the programming languages, technologies and project structure to use. Those asset pipelines take care of resources optimization when creating the deployable application and/or while the application is running.\n\nIn Spring Framework 4.1, we\u2019ve chosen a path that relies on optimizing resources at build time using the best tools out there for your application and leveraging Resolvers and Transformers at runtime. For JavaScript applications, we want to leverage the same toolchains used by JavaScript developers, like grunt and gulp to optimize resources at build time. Same thing about Dart and TypeScript - native tooling always offers the best experience.\n\nThose ecosystems are rich (actually much richer than the options available in Java) and constantly evolving. We believe that relying on those ecosystems and on a flexible solution in the Framework is the best approach here.\n\nSo your application should find the right balance and leverage:\n\n* transpiling, minifying, concatenating\u2026 tasks at build time using native tools for your client side application\n\n* resolvers and transformers provided with the framework (and also create your owns!)\n\nLooking at the upcoming standards, such as HTTP/2 and ECMAScript 6, it makes even more sense - defining changes will happen in this space in the next years.\n\nResource versioning\n\nStatic web resources versioning is a central concern when pushing web apps to production and very much a server-side concern. Spring Framework 4.1 aims to provide first class support through various strategies including content-based hashing (like in Git, also known as fingerprinting) as well as versions that apply to entire sets of files (e.g. required for working with JavaScript module loaders).\n\nUnderlying all this is the idea of \u201ccache busting\u201d where resources are served with aggressive HTTP cache directives (e.g. 1 year into the future) and relying on version-related changes in the URL to \u201cbust\u201d the cache when necessary. This could be a content-based hash version that changes whenever the content of the file changes or a version determined through some other means (e.g. simple property, git commit sha, etc).\n\nSource code layout\n\nAnother very important question is where your sources are located and how your application is organized - as Java developers, we\u2019re used to find those in src/main/webapp . But is it really the best location?\n\nNowadays, most web applications are made of a client application running in the browser and a server application, both communicating over HTTP or websockets. Each of those can have its own dependencies, tests, build tools, etc. So why can\u2019t we decouple those and reflect that separation of concerns in our codebase?\n\nBreaking your web application in modules - a client module and a server module - can dramatically improve your development experience and gives the freedom your application needs.\n\nWe use the same layout in Project Sagan and I discussed the rationale behind this in details in a previous screencast, Project Sagan: client-side architecture.\n\nHere\u2019s an example of project layout:\n\nspring-app/ |- build.gradle |- client/ | |- src/ | | |- css/ | | |- js/ | | |- main.js | |- test/ | |- build.gradle | |- gulpfile.js |- server/ | |- src/main/java/ | |\u2013 build.gradle\n\nBoth Resolvers/Transformers and build tools can offer similar features around resource handling. So which one should we use?\n\nSpring Resource Handling showcase application\n\nIn the Spring Resource Handling showcase application, we are demonstrating several key features:\n\nCache busting static resources in HTML responses, CSS files, and HTML5 appcache manifests\n\nstatic resources in HTML responses, CSS files, and HTML5 appcache manifests A new project layout as mentioned earlier\n\nas mentioned earlier Template engine integrations, such as Groovy markup templates and Handlebars\n\nintegrations, such as Groovy markup templates and Handlebars Using LESS as a CSS alternative, with the client side pre-processor during development and a build processor for production\n\nas a CSS alternative, with the client side pre-processor during development and a build processor for production A complete build tool chain, using Gradle and gulp; future examples can demonstrate the same features using grunt, maven, etc\n\nNote that this new project layout has two key advantages:\n\n1. Better developer experience, since resources are served unoptimized, directly from the disk at development time\n\n2. Optimal performance in production, since static resources are optimized by the build and packaged in a webJAR - so they are ultimately served from the classpath in production\n\nWe\u2019re waiting for your feedback\n\nThe Spring Resource Handling showcase application is still work in progress, and we\u2019re preparing enhancements for easier configuration (see SPR-11982); of course, the feedback of the community will be very useful here.\n\nFor more of this, don\u2019t forget SpringOne 2GX 2014 in Dallas, TX - Rossen and I will cover this subject in a dedicated session."}
-{"text": "Ronald Daniels, the president of Johns Hopkins University, recently became the latest academic to offer his opinions on the funding crisis in biomedical research. It has been almost a decade since the National Academy of Sciences reported that young investigators are receiving an ever-shrinking share of key research grants. Although some reforms were implemented by the National Institutes of Health, a major funding source for biomedical research, it is clear that they haven\u2019t changed much.\n\nFor example, the leading NIH grant\u2014the R01\u2014is awarded more than twice as often to scientists over 65 years of age than those under 36 years, and only 1.3 percent of all grant funding was awarded to investigators under 36 years in 2012.\n\nDaniels lists a number of repercussions of this dire funding situation for the youngest researchers. It is leading to an exodus of young scientists from the academic biomedical workforce, forcing them onto alternative career paths. It\u2019s creating a shortage of investigators who are pursuing novel discoveries and therapeutics, a loss of a generation of future scientific leaders, and delaying the growth of diversity in the biomedical workforce. In general, Daniels argues, it\u2019s causing the disappearance of scientists who would be poised to bring new, disruptive ideas to the table.\n\nDaniels addresses three primary reasons why young scientists are missing out on the money. First, scientists are undergoing longer training periods, which precludes them from applying for grant money at a young age. Second, the grant process itself favors incumbent scientists over new entries. And finally, the relative imbalance of funds at universities and research laboratories has deterred young scientists from seeking faculty positions in the first place, so there\u2019s fewer young people in a position to apply for these grants.\n\nAge imbalance\n\nData indicates that the average age scientists have received their degrees has remained relatively constant over the years, but that the average age scientists obtain a faculty position has risen steadily. This rise has been attributed to longer post-doctoral training periods, which has also been cited as a major factor in the increase in average age when a young investigator receives his/her first major grant.\n\nOne hypothesis about this is that the training period has lengthened due to an increase in the knowledge that must be mastered before one can function as faculty. Daniels treats this with skepticism, stating that the general body of scientific knowledge has been rising for centuries and, over the last 20 years, technology has changed so that it\u2019s easier to transfer information and knowledge to everyone, including potential faculty.\n\nAn alternative that Daniel mentions is the imbalance of the biomedical workforce. There are fewer academic positions available, yet each successful academic trains far more students than necessary for faculty needs. While this is a fair point, Daniels does not provide any reasons for the bottom-heavy biomedical workforce other than the lack of academic positions. A growing surplus of young biomedical scientists could also be driven in part by an increase in the number of people staying in higher education as a result of the recession.\n\nDaniels also states that there\u2019s a catch-22 involved: the complex grant applications can be difficult for young investigators to navigate, while the preliminary data they require can be difficult to obtain without a prior source of funding. He also notes that the peer-review component of the grant review process can favor those who are already established experts in the field or are well-connected within the scientific community. Although this bias may be entirely unintentional, it could be exacerbated during times of financial hardship.\n\nThe piece also discusses the interplay between funding from outside grants and funding provided by universities. Universities have continued to increase the money they allocate to sponsor research over the last half century. Several factors contribute to this expense, including a rise in startup packages given to get young scientists started, as well as the need for universities to fill the widening gap between appointment to a faculty position and receipt of an R01 grant. Daniels aptly points out that these constraints could cause universities to prefer hiring established faculty members who come with their own grants over new, unproven investigators.\n\nPossible fixes\n\nDaniels suggests several ways we could redress the barriers that are deterring young scientists. The first proposal is to reinvest in our nation\u2019s science enterprise to correct the decreased budget that NIH has experienced. Daniels also proposes providing a mechanism to give young, unproven investigators funds that can transition into R01s should the investigators complete a set of approved research milestones outlined in their grant applications. Daniels also addresses the difficulty of obtaining preliminary data due to lack of funds by proposing the development of a new funding program that could provide a low level of easy-to-obtain funds for pilot projects.\n\nThere's also the need for a reform of the peer review process, Daniels further argues. He encourages the NIH to consider finding new ways to attract distinguished senior-level scientists to review panels and broadening the scope of knowledge each panel holds. He also suggests that the NIH modify its review panel model, which requires a consensus by all panel members in order to select candidates. He also argues for reallocating funds to interdisciplinary research and perhaps even moving away from funding research proposals and instead investing in faculty that are judged to have high potential for creativity and productivity.\n\nFinally, Daniels discusses ways to improve the career path, citing the need to provide young scientists with more exposure to core facilities to promote the career path of the staff scientist. He also tackles the problems of the post-doctoral training length by suggesting limiting federal funding for post-doctoral positions to 5 years while expanding grants that can help post-docs transition to research independence. That would both better prepare post-doctoral researchers for academia and slowly decrease the biomedical workforce\u2019s reliance on post-doctoral researchers.\n\nOverall, the reforms Daniels suggests would significantly improve the likelihood of young scientists obtaining funds from the top funding agencies like NIH, which should help them remain in academia. In particular, his suggestion to limit post-doctoral funding would help reverse some of the imbalance within the work force. From there, his suggestions for introducing more diverse grant types to fund unproven scientists and a modification of the review panel consensus process, if implemented, would provide young scientists with more opportunities for advancement within academia.\n\nHowever, these reforms appear to be only a temporary fix, as Daniels has not addressed the larger issue of the increased competition within the biomedical workforce, which could be attributed to the workforce imbalance. It is still unclear why so many students are choosing to pursue higher education in this area and whether biomedical graduate program expansion is contributing to these problems.\n\nAnother important aspect to investigate is the average retirement age of academics. Across the board America has seen an increase in the average retirement age, and it would be worth understanding whether this trend held in academia, as it could delay the availability of jobs for young researchers. It is also unclear what impact the competitive nature of obtaining private sector jobs has had on the biomedical workforce and training periods. An understanding of these aspects could shed some light on the root causes for the imbalance of the biomedical workforce, as well as the extended training periods, both of which are contributing to the funding issues.\n\nPNAS, 2015. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1418761112 (About DOIs)."}
-{"text": "Click to viewThere's only one thing better than robots that can destruct things: robots that can destroy things and terrify people by firing flameballs, bowling balls, watermelons and bloody pig entrails at high speed. Like the Robopult, a gigantic $70,000 industrial robotic arm hacked to throw all these things like a Terminator version of Roger Clemens. We talked with Aaron Rasmussen about how the heck they managed to get an industrial robot and some of the details of this crazy project:\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJesus D\u00edaz: How the heck did you get your hands on a giant industrial robotic arm?\n\n\n\nAaron Rasmussen: My friend had it for his company, and it was caught in some sort of accounting limbo. So he agreed to let us use it if we didn't break it. We had to give it back after, sadly. That robot goes for about $70,000.\n\nJD: OK, so that was free. What about the cost for the whole project? I saw that you \"rented\" (buy and return) an HD camera for free from Fry's...\n\n\n\nAR: The total cost was actually only about $1,000, or about $1,220 if you count the camera that gets hit by the bowling ball:\n\n\u2022 Truck rental: $716.13\n\n\n\n\u2022 Gas for truck $72.86\n\n\n\n\u2022 Bowling Balls $60.00\n\n\n\n\u2022 The pig entrails, water for us, carrots, watermelons, eggs and such came to around: $100\n\n\n\n\u2022 We found scrap parts for the catapult arm\n\n\n\n\u2022 We traded computer services for the heavy equipment (Skylife and tractor).\n\n\n\n\u2022 The RV camper van was a junker from a friend of a friend.\n\n\nLooking at the full video, it seems like the best way to spend a weekend and $1,000 with friends. I personally can't wait for some kind of laser arm version. [Mana]"}
-{"text": "Overmars over mogelijke samenwerking: \u2018Wij zijn geen filiaal van Barcelona\u2019\n\nBarcelona heeft interesse in een samenwerking met Ajax, zo beaamt directeur Marc Overmars van de Amsterdammers. Als het aan de grootmacht uit Spanje ligt, maken meerdere talenten op huurbasis de oversteek naar Ajax om ervaring op te doen. Overmars geeft kort voor de wedstrijd tussen Ajax en PSV aan dat de plannen niet vergevorderd zijn.\n\nDit decennium werden Isaac Cuenca en Bojan Krkic al door Ajax gehuurd van Barcelona, terwijl Jasper Cillessen en Frenkie de Jong werden verkocht aan de club. Van een offici\u00eble samenwerking is nog geen sprake. \"Het is bekend dat wij op goede voet leven met Barcelona\", erkent Overmars, zelf oud-speler van Bar\u00e7a. \"Barcelona wil wel met ons in gesprek, om te kijken of ze spelers kunnen stallen.\"\n\n\"Maar er zit altijd een maar aan: wij gaan natuurlijk niet te veel spelers van Barcelona halen\", benadrukt de directeur spelersbeleid in gesprek met de NOS. \"Wij zijn geen filiaal van die club.\" Als het tot een samenwerking komt, dan hoeft het volgens Overmars niet alleen te gaan om spelers die nog geen enkele ervaring hebben. 'Iets oudere spelers', of spelers die net doorgebroken zijn, zouden ook in aanmerking kunnen komen.\n\n\"Maar zover zijn de plannen nog helemaal niet ontwikkeld\", voegt Overmars daaraan toe. Hij gaat tot slot in op een mogelijk vertrek van David Neres; Ajax heeft goede hoop dat de Braziliaan behouden kan blijven. \"We gaan er alles aan doen om Neres hier te houden, en ik denk dat dat gaat lukken. De spelers die wel vertrekken moeten we zo goed mogelijk zien te vervangen.\"\n\n"}
-{"text": "Fiorina put the children \u2014 whose faces Yahoo Health has chosen to obscure \u2014 front and center without their parents\u2019 permission. (Photo: Charlie Neibergall/AP Photo)\n\n\n\nImagine you are a 4-year old child on a preschool field trip to the botanical gardens. One minute you are looking at flowers, the next minute, you are sitting at former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina\u2019s feet as the presidential hopeful gives a \u201cright to life\u201d forum speech.\n\nNo, this isn\u2019t the Onion; yes, this is what happened to a group of Iowa preschoolers yesterday at the Greater Des Moines botanical gardens who found themselves unwittingly used as props for a graphic speech given by the candidate in front of a wall-size poster of a fetus, reports the Guardian.\n\n\n\nParents of the children claim they never gave the Fiorina campaign permission to include their children in her stump speech; as parent Chris Beck told the Guardian, \u201cThis kids went there to see the plants. [Fiorina] ambushed my son\u2019s field trip.\u201d\n\nBeck added: \u201cTaking them into a pro-life/abortion discussion [was] very poor taste and judgment. I would not want my 4-year old going to that forum \u2014 he can\u2019t fully comprehend that stuff. He likes dinosaurs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Transformers.\u201d\n\nThe Mayo Clinic says that for toddlers, sex education isn\u2019t a single tell-all discussion. They recommend taking advantage of everyday opportunities to discuss sex. If there\u2019s a pregnancy in the family, for example, tell your child that babies grow in a special place inside the mother.\n\n\n\nAn episode of PBS Newshour that aired in May discussed the way that Dutch schools begin their sexual education programs in kindergarten in a way \u201cto get kids thinking and talking about the kind of intimacy that feels good and the kind that doesn\u2019t.\u201d For example, children read storybooks with their teacher showing different animals hugging and are asked to explain why someone might choose to give someone else a hug.\n\nYes, this is considered sex ed. And, yes, that is what appropriate sex ed looks like for a 4-year old, who probably has no idea what the birds and the bees are.\n\n\n\nRead This Next: Support for Legal Abortion at Highest Level in 2 Years\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Health on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.\n\n"}
-{"text": "The collapse of Israel\u2019s \u2018Periphery Doctrine\u2019\n\nReports that Turkey would halt military cooperation with Israel and not send back the ambassador it withdrew after the deadly Israeli commando operation to stop a Gaza aid convoy make it apparent that the partnership between Ankara and Jerusalem is coming to an end. Moreover, the rupture in the relationship between these two governments indicates that one of the major components in Israeli national security\u2013the so-called Periphery Doctrine of forming alliance with non-Arab states in the periphery of the Middle East with which Israel has not had direct conflict, including Turkey, Iran and Ethiopia, as well with ethnic and religious minorities, like the Maronites in Lebanon and the Kurds in Iraq\u2013has been tossed into the dustbin of history.\n\nThe Periphery Doctrine, advanced by Israel\u2019s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion and by Eliahu Sassoon, one of Israel\u2019s leading Middle East experts and the first Israeli diplomatic representative in Ankara, was conceived as a way of offsetting the diplomatic and economic boycott of the Arab World and as a traditional balance-of-power strategy aimed at countering pan-Arabism. The fact that Turkey, a member of NATO, as well as the Shah of Iran and Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, maintained friendly ties with Washington and the West and had long standing conflict with Arab states (Turkey with Syria; Iran with Iraq; Ethiopia with Sudan) helped strengthen Israel\u2019s partnerships with these pro-American and non-Arab countries.\n\nBut Ben-Gurion and other Israeli leaders regarded the Periphery Doctrine as a temporary strategy that needed to be sustained as long as the Arab nations refused to recognize Israel and make peace with it. It was not seen as a substitute for the central tenet in Israeli policy\u2013achieving peace with Israel\u2019s Arab neighbors. Nor could it serve as an alternative to a strategic relationship with a strong, external military power, such as the Soviet Union in the 1940\u2019s, France in the 1950\u2019s, and the United States after 1967.\n\nOverall, the Periphery Doctrine proved to be at best a cost-effective but short-term form of Realpolitik, and at worst a long-term strategic illusion. Israel\u2019s close relationship with Ethiopia and Iran foundered after the fall of their ancien regimes and the ensuing political turmoil that engulfed each country. And it could not sustain a long-term and steady relationship with ethnic and religious minorities in the region, such as the Maronites and the Kurds.\n\nIn fact, it was obvious to Israeli policymakers that as long as Israel remained in a state of war with the major Arab countries, economic considerations, military interests and religious affinity would place clear limits on the willingness and the ability of Turkey and other periphery nations and minorities to expand ties with Israel. From that perspective, the relationship between Israel and Turkey\u2013or for that matter, Iran or Lebanon\u2019s Maronites\u2013never amounted to a \"strategic alliance.\" The Turks, like other targets of the Periphery Doctrine, regarded their ties with Israel as a way of hedging their bets, providing them with additional diplomatic and military resources to resist pressure from aggressive Arab nationalist governments and movements.\n\nFrom that perspective, the notion advanced by neoconservative foreign policy types since the First Gulf War, that a stronger Israel-Turkey \"strategic\" alliance would transform the post-Cold War Middle East and help form a U.S-oriented condominium in the region, forcing pro-American Arab governments like Jordan and Egypt to join the new bloc, while isolating more radical actors like Saddam\u2019s Iraq and the Ayatollahs\u2019 Iran, was just one more example of the fantasies concocted by those who had brought us the \"liberation\" of Iraq.\n\nDaniel Pipes, who was a staunch proponent of the Israel-Turkey alliance along these lines, wrote in 1998 in Commentary magazine that the post-Cold War \u2018New Middle East\u2019 was \"rapidly sorting itself into two new regional power blocs.\" At the center of one bloc \"stand Turkey and Israel, two countries that in many ways are natural partners.\" Both countries are non-Arab, democratic, and Western oriented, and \"each maintains a large military and faces a major threat of terrorism.\" Both put great store in their relationship with the United States, and each \"has problems with both Syria and Iran, the two countries that happen to stand in the center of the opposing bloc.\" Pipes even suggested that unlike the \"superficiality\" of the relations between Syria and Iran, which according to him, were reminiscent of those between Germany and Japan during World War II, the relationship between Israel and Turkey \"resembles that between the United States and Great Britain in that war.\"\n\nIt was the high level of expectations produced by Pipes and other champions of the Turkish-Israeli \"strategic\" alliance that may have ended up helping produce the kind of cracks now so apparent in the imaginary \"special relationship\" between the two, and the conventional wisdom that seems to see a direct relationship between the Islamist ideology of the current Turkish government and the deterioration in the relationship with the Jewish State.\n\nBut in general, the peaks and dips in the Israeli-Turkish relationship, even during the rule of secular governments in Ankara, were reflected inversely by developments in the Arab-Israeli conflict and the waves of strain and rapprochement in the relationship between Turkey and the Arab states. In 1947 Turkey voted against the United Nations partition plan and the creation of Israel; but in 1949, after Egypt and Jordan signed armistice agreements with Israel, Turkey became the first Muslim state to recognize Israel. Diplomatic missions were opened in December 1950 at the legation level in Ankara and Tel Aviv, although from 1956, following the attack by Israel against Egypt, the legation in Tel Aviv was reduced to the lowest diplomatic level of charge d\u2019affaires. This lasted until December 1991\u2013six weeks after the start of the Arab-Israeli peace conference in Madrid\u2013when the Turks decided to upgrade the diplomatic representation of Israel (and the PLO) to the ambassadorial level. Earlier on during the First Intifada, Turkey had signaled its support for the Palestinian cause by becoming the fourth country\u2013and the only government then maintaining diplomatic relationship with Israel\u2013to recognize Palestine as an independent state.\n\nIndeed, while much has been made of the recent Turkish strategy of improving ties with the Arab states, Turkey\u2019s long term interests have always been based on the understanding that geographical proximity, economic interests and civilizational considerations require that it normalize the relationship with its neighbors. These were the very same factors that were making it unlikely that Ankara would establish a full-fledged alliance with a Jewish state as long as Israel remained at war with the Arab World.\n\nShort-term political and military considerations\u2013the two countries\u2019 problems with Syria and tensions with Iran\u2013as well as the need to contain the pressure from Arab nationalist led by Egypt\u2019s Gamal Abdel Nasser and backed by the Soviet Union\u2013created an regional environment more conducive to Israeli-Turkish cooperation. At the same time, the relationship between the two countries soured when Turkey leaders concluded that maintaining the nation\u2019s interests in the Middle East required distancing it from Israel.\n\nHence Turkey downgraded its relationship with Israeli after forming the Baghdad Pact with Iraq in 1955 (joined by Britain, Pakistan and Iran) and pledged to come to the support of Jordan if attacked by Israel. Moreover, Turkey joined most of the Arab and Muslim governments in denouncing Israel in response to its invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories, reflecting the reality in which Turkey regarded Israel not as an ally\u2013but as just another important regional player with which it shares some mutual interests.\n\nBut not even the members of Turkish secular elites, including the military, bought into the strategic fantasy advanced by Pipes and others of joining Israel in becoming the American hegemon\u2019s twin sheriffs in the Middle East. Indeed, the Turkish opposition to the American invasion of Iraq and the isolation of Iran, as well as to Israeli policies towards the Palestinians, were opposed by the majority of the Turks. Meanwhile, the end of the Cold War, the downfall of the radical pan-Arabist project, as well as the Arab peace agreements with Israel provided new opportunities to improve their ties with the Arab states.\n\nInterestingly enough, some Israeli policymakers, including former Israeli foreign minister and Labor Party leader Shlomo Ben-Ami, were mirror-imaging this new Turkish orientation by stressing that long-term Israeli interests lied in improving relationship with Egypt and the rest of the Arab World, including the Palestinians, and in abandoning the illusion that an alliance with Turkey would be a substitute for a strategy to integrate Israel into the Middle East.\n\nIsrael\u2019s periphery alliance with Turkey, Iran and Ethiopia \"was created in the 1950s as a tool for avoiding peace with the Arabs,\" explained Ben-Ami in a recent interview with the Israeli daily Ha\u2019aretz. \"A return to this alliance goes through reconciliation with the Arab world,\" he stressed, concluding that \"Turkey is telling us in effect: In order to reach us, the second circle, you have to make peace in the first circle, and we want to be the mediator.\"\n\nLeon T. Hadar is a research fellow at the Cato Institute and author of Sandstorm: Policy Failure in the Middle East (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005)"}
-{"text": "Tesla is introducing a new \u2018fair use\u2019 policy for its Supercharger network today. This is to deter the commercial use of its charging stations, which has become a problem in some markets, and to focus on the original intended use of the Supercharger network: enabling long-distance travel in electric vehicles.\n\nThe automaker says that any new or used Tesla vehicles purchased after today and is used for commercial purposes cannot use any Tesla Supercharger worldwide.\n\nAccording to the added statement on Tesla\u2019s legal page, those commercial purposes include:\n\nas a taxi;\n\nfor ridesourcing or ridesharing (through Uber, Lyft or similar services);\n\nto commercially deliver or transport goods;\n\nfor government purposes; or\n\nfor any other commercial venture.\n\nThe change is going to affect many people and companies, like Tesloop, which largely rely on Tesla\u2019s Superchargers to provide its transport services in southern California, and the many taxi drivers using Tesla vehicles.\n\nFortunately, the change seems to only apply to vehicles purchased today onward \u2013 meaning that existing fleets are safe, but any new Tesla vehicle to their fleet will not be able to use the Supercharger network.\n\nTesla says that if an owner doesn\u2019t comply, they will be able to \u201climit or block their vehicle\u2019s ability to use Supercharger stations.\u201d\n\nSome Tesla owners complained that services, like Tesloop or the large Tesla taxi fleet in Amsterdam, were abusing the Tesla Superchargers \u2013 sometimes by even leaving vehicles at stations overnight:\n\nTesla later introduced \u201cidle fees\u201d to stop drivers from leaving their vehicles at Supercharger and it even announced the end of free unlimited Supercharger access by making it only for new vehicles purchased before December 31 through the referral program.\n\nFor commercial use, Tesla says that it will offer charging alternatives to Supercharger network.\n\nWe have previously seen examples of this, like Tesla building a privately owned Supercharger station to a taxi fleet in Montreal.\n\nElectrek\u2019s Take\n\nAll these changes appear to be driven by Tesla\u2019s goal to maintain the original intended use of the Supercharger network: long-distance travel.\n\nThe automaker wanted owners to be able to go on road trips virtually anywhere without having to worry about charging. They have mostly succeeded with the impressive growth of the network over the past 4 years (now over 1,000 stations and 8,000 Superchargers), but the free access also resulted in some abuse.\n\nNow with those new changes and also a new type of \u201curban Supercharger\u201d for those who need more frequent charging, Tesla seems to be on the right track.\n\nHopefully, this decision should result in a better experience for regular Tesla owners and the automaker will still deploy more dedicated chargers for commercial use \u2013 like it plans to do with Megachargers for Tesla Semi.\n\nFTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.\n\nSubscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast."}
-{"text": "Imagine a sector projected to add \u00a3241 billion to our economy between 2015 and 2020; representing nearly 5% of economic output and growing; and which showcases UK knowhow on a global stage. Now, imagine the UK voluntarily forfeiting its say on the international laws governing that sector, while at the same time pursuing policies which will clip its wings before reaching its full potential.\n\nAt any other time in our history, the notion would be absurd. Yet that is what Brexit will wreak upon our data economy.\n\nThe UK currently has a world-leading data economy, second only to the US in terms of prestige. Our use of machine learning and other forms of artificial intelligence is considered so advanced that we have the opportunity to lead AI regulation worldwide, according to a recently published House of Lords report. Our towering financial services sector, impressive research industry and well-respected intelligence services all arguably owe their global reputation to these data processing algorithms.\n\nDemand a vote on the Brexit deal Click here to find out more\n\nAs an EU member, the UK has access to the Digital Single Market, ensuring the free flow of non-personal data across borders. Our military, law enforcement, financial services and academic research depend upon this access, as do countless UK companies wishing to advertise products and services to continental buyers.\n\nThe UK also helped shape one of the most stringent data protection frameworks ever to be enshrined in law. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives EU citizens a host of new rights over the use of their data: the right to request a copy of all personal data held by a company; to have this data erased from a company\u2019s database; to opt out of data collection. It boosts data security too, compelling companies to disclose breaches within 72 hours, or face hefty fines.\n\nCrucially, any nation who wants unfettered access to the data of EU citizens must demonstrate a comparable level of data protection to the GDPR. Only 12 countries outside of the EU meet this standard. At this late stage in the Brexit process, negotiators still haven\u2019t agreed how data will be shared after Brexit in March 2019. Without a transitional arrangement for data in place, the UK will be classed as a \u201cthird country\u201d, which will hinder the free flow of data until an agreement is reached.\n\nEven if an agreement is reached, so much of the UK\u2019s economy and public sector depends on sharing data with our EU partners that we\u2019re likely to be bound to EU data laws but with no say at the top table. That\u2019s relinquishing sovereignty, not taking back control of it as Brexiters promised.\n\nEdited by Luke Lythgoe"}
-{"text": "\u7c73Google\u306e\u89aa\u4f1a\u793e\u3067\u3042\u308bAlphabet\u5098\u4e0b\u306e\u751f\u547d\u79d1\u5b66\u4f01\u696dVerily Life Sciences\u306f7\u670814\u65e5\uff08\u73fe\u5730\u6642\u9593\uff09\u3001\u30b8\u30ab\u71b1\u3084\u30c7\u30f3\u30b0\u71b1\u306a\u3069\u306e\u30a6\u30a4\u30eb\u30b9\u3092\u5a92\u4ecb\u3059\u308b\u30cd\u30c3\u30bf\u30a4\u30b7\u30de\u30ab\u3092\u99c6\u9664\u3059\u308b\u30d7\u30ed\u30b8\u30a7\u30af\u30c8\u300cDebug Project\u300d\u306e\u30d5\u30a3\u30fc\u30eb\u30c9\u30ef\u30fc\u30af\u3092\u7c73\u30ab\u30ea\u30d5\u30a9\u30eb\u30cb\u30a2\u5dde\u30d5\u30ec\u30ba\u30ce\u3067\u5b9f\u65bd\u3059\u308b\u3068\u767a\u8868\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\nVerily\u306e\u30e9\u30dc\u3067\u4eba\u5de5\u7684\u306b\u751f\u7523\u3057\u305f\u4e0d\u598a\u868a\uff08\u4ea4\u5c3e\u3057\u305f\u30e1\u30b9\u306e\u5375\u304c\u5b75\u5316\u3057\u306a\u3044\u3088\u3046\u306b\u3059\u308b\u30d0\u30af\u30c6\u30ea\u30a2\u3092\u6301\u305f\u305b\u305f\u30aa\u30b9\uff09\u3092\u6bce\u9031100\u4e07\u5339\u305a\u3064\u300120\u9031\u306b\u308f\u305f\u3063\u3066\u7dcf\u8a082000\u4e07\u5339\u3092\u7d04121\u30d8\u30af\u30bf\u30fc\u30eb\u306e\u7bc4\u56f2\u306b\u653e\u3059\u3002\u671f\u9593\u4e2d\u3001\u6bce\u65e5\u591c\u660e\u3051\u524d\u306b\u30c7\u30d0\u30c3\u30b0\u5c02\u7528\u30d0\u30f3\u304c\u5bfe\u8c61\u5730\u57df\u3092\u5de1\u56de\u3057\u3066\u642d\u8f09\u3057\u305f\u4e0d\u598a\u868a\u3092\u653e\u51fa\u3059\u308b\u3002\n\nDebug\u30d7\u30ed\u30b8\u30a7\u30af\u30c8\u306e\u4e0d\u598a\u868a\u653e\u51fa\u8eca\n\n\u3053\u3046\u3057\u305f\u5bb3\u866b\u99c6\u9664\u65b9\u6cd5\u306f\u300c\u4e0d\u598a\u866b\u653e\u98fc\u300d\u3068\u547c\u3070\u308c\u308b\u3002\u5927\u91cf\u306e\u4e0d\u598a\u868a\u304c\u91ce\u751f\u306e\u30e1\u30b9\u306e\u868a\u3068\u4ea4\u5c3e\u3059\u308c\u3070\u3001\u305d\u306e\u5375\u306f\u5b75\u5316\u3057\u306a\u3044\u306e\u3067\u3001\u6210\u866b\u304c\u6e1b\u3063\u3066\u3044\u304f\u3002\u306a\u304a\u3001\u4e0d\u598a\u868a\u306f\u30d0\u30af\u30c6\u30ea\u30a2\u3092\u4fdd\u6709\u3059\u308b\u3060\u3051\u3067\u3001\u907a\u4f1d\u5b50\u64cd\u4f5c\u306f\u3055\u308c\u3066\u3044\u306a\u3044\u3002\n\n\u30d5\u30ec\u30ba\u30ce\u3067\u306f2016\u5e74\u306b\u868a\u9632\u9664\u4f01\u696d\u306eMosquitoMate\u3068\u521d\u306e\u5c0f\u898f\u6a21\u306a\u4e0d\u598a\u866b\u653e\u98fc\u3092\u884c\u3063\u3066\u304a\u308a\u3001Verily\u306f\u4eca\u56de\u3001\u5927\u91cf\u306e\u4e0d\u598a\u868a\u751f\u7523\u3068\u52b9\u679c\u7684\u306a\u653e\u98fc\u65b9\u6cd5\u958b\u767a\u3067\u5354\u529b\u3059\u308b\u3002\n\nVerily\u306e\u4e0d\u598a\u868a\u751f\u7523\u30e9\u30dc\n\nVerily\u306f\u3053\u306e\u30d5\u30a3\u30fc\u30eb\u30c9\u30ef\u30fc\u30af\u306e\u6210\u679c\u3092\u4eca\u5f8c\u3001\u4e16\u754c\u3067\u751f\u304b\u3057\u3066\u3044\u304d\u305f\u3044\u3068\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002"}
-{"text": "Companies\n\nCruzio Internet/Santa Cruz Fiber Condemns Congress\u2019s Move to Abolish Privacy Protections\n\nShare This: email Linkedin\n\n(Contributed)\n\nMarch 28, 2017 \u2014 Santa Cruz, CA\n\nCruzio won\u2019t sell your data. Period.\n\n[March 29, 2017: Update 1 from Cruzio: CEO and founder, Peggy Dolgenos says: \u201cCruzio and Santa Cruz Fiber are proud to say we\u2019ve continued our strong stand for internet privacy, especially in light of the actions Congress just took weakening consumer rights. We\u2019ve always been against the collection and selling of customer data \u2014 a practice we do not participate in. Whether it is legal or not, Cruzio will not sell personal information. We never have, and we never will. Yesterday we took it a step further and signed on with the Electronic Freedom Foundation\u2019s list of independent ISPs across the nation opposing Congress\u2019s repeal of privacy protections.\u201d]\n\n[March 29, 2017: Update 2 from Cruzio: The Battle for Online Privacy Has Shifted to the States\u2013And That\u2019s a Good Thing.]\n\nLast week, the U.S. Senate has voted to allow internet service providers to access \u201csensitive information\u201d such as your browsing history and location data. This bill is now headed to the House of Representatives. If this passes a House vote on Tuesday and gets signed into law by the President, internet service providers won\u2019t have to ask your permission before selling your information to other companies.\n\nOver the last few days, a lot of people have asked Cruzio and Santa Cruz Fiber if we\u2019ll be taking advantage of this new law to mine and sell our customer\u2019s data. We want to put those concerns to rest right here, right now: in our 28 years as an independent ISP we have never taken part in these practices, and you can be sure that we never will. Period.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve never seen our customers\u2019 data as a potential source of profit, and we don\u2019t think it ever should be.\u201d said Cruzio CEO and founder, Peggy Dolgenos. \u201cAs a matter of fact, Cruzio has joined more than a dozen independent ISPs from across the country in speaking out against the new law. Large ISPs, like cable and phone companies, are conspicuously absent. They are the ones who pushed Congress to repeal privacy provisions.\u201d\n\nTuesday\u2019s vote will shape the future of privacy on the internet, and Cruzio is taking a stand against it. Rest assured, though, that however the vote goes, our customer\u2019s privacy will always come first.\n\nAbout Cruzio Internet/Santa Cruz Fiber\n\nFounded in 1989, Cruzio is one of the largest independent internet service providers in California, and has recently introduced previously unavailable enterprise-level internet services to Santa Cruz County, representing a huge investment in the Santa Cruz community.\n\nTagged Cruzio"}
-{"text": "It\u2019s one of the first questions you might ask before you travel to another country: is it safe to drink the tap water there? Not doing your homework could ruin your vacation and leave you with such maladies as diarrhea and hepatitis A.\n\nThe below infographic, compiled by Just the Flight, looks to help travelers know where it is and isn\u2019t safe to drink. It uses data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and goes country by country \u2013 blue means go ahead and drink, and red means stay away from tap water.\n\nInfographic: Just the Flight\n\nYou\u2019ll find entire continents deemed safe or unsafe to drink, which may overlook more localized water conditions. For instance, Armenia\u2019s water is declared unsafe, yet I recently drank the tap water in the capital city of Yerevan for a month, and I never got sick or sprouted a tail.\n\nRelated: Mosquitoes and West Nile Virus: Your Guide to Staying Safe this Summer\n\nWhat to do if you\u2019re in a red zone? Your best bet is to stick to drinking bottled or boiled water. Don\u2019t take drinks with ice in them, and beware of drinking foods such as fruit or salads, which may have been rinsed with tap water.\n\nJust the Flight\u2019s interactive graphic also includes the price of bottled water and beer around the world.\n\nWATCH: Heaven on Earth: The Hidden Oasis of the Arabian Desert\n\nLet Yahoo Travel inspire you every day. Hang out with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Check out our original adventure travel series A Broad Abroad.\n\n"}
-{"text": "The December 18th, 2019 episode of AEW Dynamite ended with the Dark Order attacking several of the company\u2019s top babyface wrestlers. The segment has been poorly reviewed by many. Jim Ross took some time on a recent episode of his \u201cGrillin J.R\u201d podcast to address the angle.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s as if we\u2019ve created this amazing sin that can never be duplicated,\u201d Ross said on the show. \u201cSince the \u201970s, how many matches you think I\u2019ve called that were the absolute drizzling sh*ts? Every brand with some big names. You ain\u2019t gotta be an unknown under a mask to s**t the bed. I knew that the crowd did not go crazy on how we went off the air, because I was in the arena.\u201d\n\n- Advertisement -\n\nRoss would continue to say that AEW management is aware of the response to the angle, however. He would continue to say hopefully something like that will not happen again.\n\n\u201cIt was poorly-executed, folks,\u201d JR continued. \u201cAnd hopefully nothing like that will ever occur again. And I know everybody that has some ability to change things in AEW are well aware of it.\u201d\n\nAmongst the criticisms of the segment involved one masked Dark Order member throwing several punches which missed the mark by a solid margin. Ross addressed the viral clip as well.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know what to say other than if I had not seen that clip that went viral as you mentioned, Conrad, I would not have known just how bad it was.\u201d"}
-{"text": "More than 1,000 French riot police and special forces raided housing estates in a troubled Paris suburb at dawn yesterday, kicking open doors and arresting 33 people in a search for the suspected ringleaders of violent riots last year.\n\nPresident Nicolas Sarkozy's political opponents called the operation an excessive \"security spectacle\" after pictures of armoured police trucks and \"RoboCop\" riot police were broadcast by television reporters tipped off in advance. Leftwingers accused Sarkozy, who is suffering in the polls, of trying to bolster his UMP party ahead of local elections next month.\n\nThe operation focused on 10 apartment blocks in Villiers-le-Bel and the surrounding area north of Paris, which saw three nights of serious rioting last November after two teenagers died in a motorbike crash with a police car. Although the unrest was contained within a few days, it was more serious than weeks of rioting in 2005 because the Villiers-le-Bel rioters fired guns at the police. During the unrest, 130 officers were injured, including at least 10 hit by buckshot or pellets.\n\nSarkozy vowed to track down the riot ringleaders \"one by one\". In December police leafleted the estates offering cash rewards for information. This month, launching an aid package for France's troubled high-rise blocks, where youth unemployment can reach 40%, Sarkozy vowed a \"war without mercy\" on crime.\n\nThe labour minister, Xavier Bertrand, said the arrests of people aged 17 to 31 showed \"there is no zone of lawlessness in our republic\". But the socialist S\u00e9gol\u00e8ne Royal said launching the raids with cameras in tow during an election period served \"to influence opinion, to scare\".\n\nSarkozy has sunk to his lowest ever poll ratings. This weekend politicians, including the former conservative prime minister Dominique de Villepin and Royal, signed an appeal against the emergence of an \"elective monarchy\" in France. They did not name Sarkozy, but delivered a thinly veiled attack against a monarchic form of \"purely personal power\"."}
-{"text": "In a 1946 essay in the London Tribune entitled \u201cIn Front of Your Nose,\u201d George Orwell noted that \u201cwe are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield.\u201d\n\nThe intellectual battlefields today are on college campuses, where students' deep convictions about race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation and their social justice antipathy toward capitalism, imperialism, racism, white privilege, misogyny and \u201ccissexist heteropatriarchy\u201d have bumped up against the reality of contradictory facts and opposing views, leading to campus chaos and even violence. Students at the University of California, Berkeley, and outside agitators, for example, rioted at the mere mention that conservative firebrands Milo Yiannopoulos and Ann Coulter had been invited to speak (in the end, they never did). Demonstrators at Middlebury College physically attacked libertarian author Charles Murray and his liberal host, professor Allison Stanger, pulling her hair, twisting her neck and sending her to the ER.*\n\nOne underlying cause of this troubling situation may be found in what happened at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., in May, when biologist and self-identified \u201cdeeply progressive\u201d professor Bret Weinstein refused to participate in a \u201cDay of Absence\u201d in which \u201cwhite students, staff and faculty will be invited to leave the campus for the day's activities.\u201d Weinstein objected, writing in an e-mail: \u201con a college campus, one's right to speak\u2014or to be\u2014must never be based on skin color.\u201d In response, an angry mob of 50 students disrupted his biology class, surrounded him, called him a racist and insisted that he resign. He claims that campus police informed him that the college president told them to stand down, but he has been forced to stay off campus for his safety's sake.\n\nHow has it come to this? One of many trends was identified by Weinstein in a Wall Street Journal essay: \u201cThe button-down empirical and deductive fields, including all the hard sciences, have lived side by side with \u2018critical theory,\u2019 postmodernism and its perception-based relatives. Since the creation in 1960s and '70s of novel, justice-oriented fields, these incompatible worldviews have repelled one another.\u201d\n\nIn an article for Quillette.com on \u201cMethods Behind the Campus Madness,\u201d graduate researcher Sumantra Maitra of the University of Nottingham in England reported that 12 of the 13 academics at U.C. Berkeley who signed a letter to the chancellor protesting Yiannopoulos were from \u201cCritical theory, Gender studies and Post-Colonial/Postmodernist/Marxist background.\u201d This is a shift in Marxist theory from class conflict to identity politics conflict; instead of judging people by the content of their character, they are now to be judged by the color of their skin (or their ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, et cetera). \u201cPostmodernists have tried to hijack biology, have taken over large parts of political science, almost all of anthropology, history and English,\u201d Maitra concludes, \u201cand have proliferated self-referential journals, citation circles, non-replicable research, and the curtailing of nuanced debate through activism and marches, instigating a bunch of gullible students to intimidate any opposing ideas.\u201d\n\nStudents are being taught by these postmodern professors that there is no truth, that science and empirical facts are tools of oppression by the white patriarchy, and that nearly everyone in America is racist and bigoted, including their own professors, most of whom are liberals or progressives devoted to fighting these social ills. Of the 58 Evergreen faculty members who signed a statement \u201cin solidarity with students\u201d calling for disciplinary action against Weinstein for \u201cendangering\u201d the community by granting interviews in the national media, I tallied only seven from the sciences. Most specialize in English, literature, the arts, humanities, cultural studies, women's studies, media studies, and \u201cquotidian imperialisms, intermetropolitan geography [and] detournement.\u201d A course called \u201cFantastic Resistances\u201d was described as a \u201ctraining dojo for aspiring \u2018social justice warriors\u2019\u201d that focuses on \u201cpower asymmetries.\u201d\n\nIf you teach students to be warriors against all power asymmetries, don't be surprised when they turn on their professors and administrators. This is what happens when you separate facts from values, empiricism from morality, science from the humanities.\n\n*Editor's Note (8/18/17): This sentence was edited after the print article was posted online. The original stated that students at Middlebury College \u201cphysically attacked\u201d Charles Murray and his campus host, Allison Stanger. In fact, a police investigation determined that it appears several participants in the demonstration against Murray came from outside the campus community and that those wearing masks used \u201ctactics that indicated training in obstruction and intimidation.\u201d Although the attackers were never identified, and thus the police were unable to press charges, Middlebury maintains that the masked assailants were not students but outside agitators. It has also made an official statement that \"the College disciplined 74 students with sanctions ranging from probation to official College discipline, which places a permanent record in the student\u2019s file.\""}
-{"text": "The other day somebody asked me how to learn D3.js from scratch. I quipped that it took me writing a book to really learn it. It's one hell ofa library.\n\nMost people don't go that far. They don't have to. Most people start with a problem, find similar examples, do some copy pasta, tweak until it works and end up with a working visualization they don't understand. You'd be surprised how few people actually understand how their D3 dataviz works.\n\nAnecdata: I wrote a book on it to learn it.\n\n\n\nNormal curve is like this \ud83d\udc47\n\n\n\n1) have problem/idea\n\n2) find similar example\n\n3) tweak until solve\n\n4) repeat\n\n5) get frustrated\n\n6) learn 1 or 2 basic concepts\n\n7) epiphany\n\n8) lose touch with why it felt hard at first\n\n9) teach \u2014 Swizec Teller (@Swizec) February 8, 2018\n\nThat was a funny tweet. It delighted 3 people, that's my bar for success.\n\nBut the idea that there's only 1 or 2, maybe 3, key concepts you have to grok to understand every D3 example out there ... it kept me up at night. What are those 3 key insights into D3?\n\nAll D3 examples are split into two parts: Data manipulation and DOM manipulation. First you prep your values, then you render.\n\nYou have to go through many examples to notice what's going on. Inference learning is hard. Most beginners miss this pattern and it makes D3 look more confusing than it is.\n\nLet's take an example from D3's docs, a bar chart with a hover effect.\n\nMike Bostock, the creator of D3, built this chart in 43 lines of code. Here they are \ud83d\udc47\n\nThere are two parts to this code: Data manipulation and DOM manipulation.\n\nBostock here first prepares his data:\n\nsome sizing variables (margin, width, height)\n\ntwo scales to help with data-to-coordinates conversion (x, y)\n\nloads his dataset (d3.tsv) and updates his scales' domains\n\nuses scales to calculate attributes during DOM manipulation\n\nIn the DOM manipulation part, he puts shapes and objects into an SVG. This is the part you then see in the browser.\n\nDOM manipulation in D3 happens via D3 selections. They're a lot like jQuery $(something) . Personally I like to do this part with React as described in my book, React+D3v4.\n\nHere Bostock does a few things\n\nselects the <svg> node (d3.select)\n\nnode (d3.select) appends a grouping <g> node (.append) with an SVG positioning attribute (translate)\n\nnode (.append) with an SVG positioning attribute (translate) adds a bottom axis by appending a <g> , moving it, then calling d3.axisBottom on it. D3 has built-in axis generators\n\n, moving it, then calling on it. D3 has built-in axis generators adds a left axis using the same approach but rotating the ticks\n\nappends a text label \"Frequency\" to the left axis\n\nuses selectAll.data to make a virtual selection of .bar nodes and attach some data, then for every new data value (.enter), appends a <rect> node and gives it attributes\n\nThat last part is where people get lost. It looks like magic. I've been using D3 for years and it still looks like magic.\n\nIt's a declarative approach to rendering data. Works great, hard to understand. That's why I do it in React instead :)\n\nYou can think of .enter as a loop over your data and everything chained after .enter is your loop's body. Sort of like doing data.map(d => append(rect).setManyAttributes())\n\nSavvy?\n\nScales are D3's most versatile concept. They help you translate between two different spaces. Like, mathematical spaces.\n\nThey're like the mathematical functions you learned about in school. A domain maps to a range using some sort of formula.\n\nColored shapes in the domain map to colors in the range. No formula for this one, which makes it an ordinal scale.\n\nlet shapes = d3.scaleOrdinal() .domain(['red triangle', 'orange rectangle', ...) .range(['red', 'orange', ...)\n\nOnce you have this scale, you can use it to translate from shapes to colors. shapes('red triangle') returns 'red' for example.\n\nMany different types of scales exist. Linear, logarithmic, quantize, etc. Any basic transformation you can think of exists. The rest you can create by writing custom scales.\n\nYou're most often going to use scales to turn your data values into coordinates. But other usecases exist.\n\nSure .enter.append looks like magic, but D3 layouts are the real mind=blown of the D3 ecosystem. They take your input data and return a full-featured visualization thing.\n\nLike a force layout using forces between nodes to place them on the screen.\n\nOr a circle packing layout that neatly packs circles.\n\nI don't know how these work internally. I've yet to try building one for others to use.\n\nBut here's a key insight about the magic of layouts: They're the data part.\n\nYou take a forceLayout for example and feed it your data. It returns an object with a tick event callback.\n\nvar simulation = d3.forceSimulation() .force(\"link\", d3.forceLink().id(function(d) { return d.id; })) .force(\"charge\", d3.forceManyBody()) .force(\"center\", d3.forceCenter(width / 2, height / 2));\n\nThis simulation now handles everything about rendering nodes. Changes their positions on every tick callback.\n\nBut it is up to you to render them. A layout handles your dataviz in the abstract. You're still the one in control of rendering.\n\nFor a force layout, you have to update the DOM on every tick of the animation. For circle packing, you render it once.\n\nIt took me a while to get this and once I did, all the fancy looking visualizations started to make sense.\n\nTo summarize, you need to grok 3 key insights for D3 to make sense. Once they click, a whole new world opens up.\n\nCode is split into data and DOM manipulation Scales are great and used a lot You're always in control of rendering\n\nDid you enjoy this article? \ud83d\udc4e \ud83d\udc4d\n\nPublished on February 8th, 2018 in Front End, Technical\n\nLearned something new?\n\nWant to become a high value JavaScript expert? Here's how it works \ud83d\udc47 Leave your email and I'll send you an Interactive Modern JavaScript Cheatsheet \ud83d\udcd6right away. After that you'll get thoughtfully written emails every week about React, JavaScript, and your career. Lessons learned over my 20 years in the industry working with companies ranging from tiny startups to Fortune5 behemoths. Start with an interactive cheatsheet \ud83d\udcd6 Then get thoughtful letters \ud83d\udc8c on mindsets, tactics, and technical skills for your career. \"Man, love your simple writing! Yours is the only email I open from marketers and only blog that I give a fuck to read & scroll till the end. And wow always take away lessons with me. Inspiring! And very relatable. \ud83d\udc4c\" ~ Ashish Kumar Your Name Your Email Your Address Subscribe & Become an expert \ud83d\udc8c Join over 10,000 engineers just like you already improving their JS careers with my letters, workshops, courses, and talks. \u270c\ufe0f\n\nHave a burning question that you think I can answer? I don't have all of the answers, but I have some! Hit me up on twitter or book a 30min ama for in-depth help.\n\nReady to Stop copy pasting D3 examples and create data visualizations of your own? Learn how to build scalable dataviz components your whole team can understand with React for Data Visualization\n\nCurious about Serverless and the modern backend? Check out Serverless Handbook, modern backend for the frontend engineer.\n\nReady to learn how it all fits together and build a modern webapp from scratch? Learn how to launch a webapp and make your first \ud83d\udcb0 on the side with ServerlessReact.Dev\n\nWant to brush up on your modern JavaScript syntax? Check out my interactive cheatsheet: es6cheatsheet.com\n\nBy the way, just in case no one has told you it yet today: I love and appreciate you for who you are \u2764\ufe0f"}
-{"text": "re:Invent has come and gone, and it\u2019s another year of exciting announcements. Unsurprisingly, serverless was hot on the lips of everyone at the conference.\n\nThere were a number of updates for AWS Lambda, the most important of which were:\n\nLayers\n\nCustom runtime support\n\nALB support\n\nWebSockets for API Gateway and Lambda\n\nFirecracker\n\nThese have been covered extensively by other blogs, so we will touch on them only briefly. However, serverless is so much more than just Function-as-a-Service (FaaS), so let\u2019s talk about some of the other serverless announcements. I for one was very impressed by the database and AI announcements at re:Invent this year.\n\nBut first, let\u2019s quickly catch you up on the Lambda announcements.\n\nThe Lambda announcements\n\nLayers\n\nLambda Layers lets you share arbitrary code and data across multiple functions, even across multiple regions and accounts. It provides an easy way to share libraries and static data across your organization and addresses a common concern about Lambda users.\n\nI think it\u2019s a great way to distribute dependencies such as the MaxMind database \u2014 third-party dependencies with a stable API but frequent data changes, so the updates are considered fairly safe. But I wouldn\u2019t consider using Lambda Layers as a replacement for existing package managers such as NPM. Most dependency updates contain behaviour or API changes, and need to go through the usual security scanning and integration testing before they should be deployed to the live AWS environment.\n\nCustom runtime\n\nLambda custom runtime allows you to create a custom language runtime for Lambda.\n\nThis is a very cool feature for Lambda, especially for developers who are itching to use their favourite language with Lambda. But as Paul Johnston rightly pointed out, creating your custom runtime should be considered as a \u201clast resort\u201d.\n\nALB support\n\nALB support for Lambda allows you to mix Lambda-based HTTP handlers with other container or EC2-based handlers under the same load balancer. This simplifies how you manage your infrastructure and makes it easier for you to choose the right tool for the job. However, from the cost perspective it doesn\u2019t appear to offer any advantage over API Gateway.\n\nWebSocket for API Gateway and Lambda\n\nWebSocket for API Gateway gives you another way to implement real-time applications with Lambda. Previously you had to choose between AppSync and IOT Core, both are still valid choices given the context of GraphQL and IOT respectively. However, this new feature gives you the option of using plain WebSockets with a REST API, and removes a lot of the extra complexity that comes with using AppSync and IOT Core.\n\nFirecracker\n\nThere was a lot of excitement around the Firecracker announcement at re:Invent, and rightly so, as I think it will have a huge impact on Lambda and Fargate in the future. Once Firecracker is rolled out to the entire Lambda fleet it should have noticeable impact on both cold and warm performance. More importantly, as Firecracker changes how networking is done at the hypervisor level it will have an even bigger impact for functions running in VPCs. Marc Brooker hinted at massive reduction to VPC cold start time for Lambda during the SRV409 session I attended.\n\nDatabase Announcements\n\nCompared to previous years, I have been especially impressed with the database-related announcements at this year\u2019s re:Invent. To be honest, I felt AWS had been falling behind Azure and GCP in terms of its database offerings in recent years. DynamoDB in particular, had started to look dated compared to the likes of Azure Cosmos DB and Google Spanner.\n\nDynamoDB\n\nI was really happy to see that the DynamoDB team has addressed some long standing complains from its customers, and given DynamoDB a much needed makeover. There were two big announcements for DynamoDB:\n\nDynamoDB Transactions\n\nWith DynamoDB Transactions, you can make coordinated, all-or-nothing changes to multiple items both within and across tables. They provide atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability (ACID) in DynamoDB.\n\nPreviously, transactions in DynamoDB has to be orchestrated from the client, which introduces additional complexity to our applications. It was also impossible to guarantee data consistency across the whole transaction as conditional checks are carried out individually. Lastly, both the update and the rollback operations are subject to throttling limits, individually. It means that you have to pay a great deal of care towards error handling, or risk leaving your tables in an inconsistent state if rollbacks cannot be completed in their entirety. This often necessitates the use of patterns such as the Saga pattern.\n\nThe new DynamoDB Transactions feature addresses all of the problems above, and makes it easy for you to maintain data consistency in your application. I cannot overstate how much a game changer this is for DynamoDB users.\n\nDynamoDB On-Demand Pricing\n\nOn-Demand Pricing is a new pricing model for DynamoDB where you no longer have to worry about provisioned throughputs. Instead, you only pay for read and write request units that you actually use, plus the usual data storage costs.\n\nNotice that these are measured in request units, so the size of the payload matters. One read request unit represents a read for an item up to 4KB. Reading an 8KB item would therefore consume two read request units. Similarly, one write request unit represents a write for an item up to 1KB.\n\nAt $1.25 per million write request units and $0.25 per million read request units, it\u2019s possible for the new pricing model to be considerably more expensive. However, it\u2019s important to consider the following factors:\n\nYou can\u2019t predict your throughput precisely, and the burst capacity is often not enough to deal with sudden spikes in throughput.\n\nThe built-in auto-scaling mechanism does not react quickly enough to spikes in throughput, nor does it scale up aggressively enough (more details here).\n\nThe built-in retry behaviour in AWS SDKs can often exasperate these spikes.\n\nYou have to employ defensive coding techniques to handle the ProvisionedThroughputExceededException all over the place.\n\nall over the place. The impact of DynamoDB throttling to user experience is often more expensive to repair than the cost of over-provisioning the tables to begin with.\n\nGiven these contributing factors, most teams would use reserved throughputs that are many times their actual throughput. In the worst case, I have seen a DynamoDB table with 3000 provisioned write units and a peak consumption of ~150 write units per second.\n\nWhich is why, in practice, switching to the On-Demand Pricing is not likely to cause your DynamoDB costs to increase dramatically. But it will free you from worrying about DynamoDB throttling, and save you the engineering efforts you have to put in to mitigate them otherwise. If you are using DynamoDB then I think you should default to using the On-Demand Pricing unless you have a strong reason not to.\n\nAurora\n\nThe big announcement for Aurora was the introduction of the new data API for Aurora Serverless. It addresses the issue that Aurora Serverless still required persistent connections and was therefore difficult to use from Lambda functions.\n\nWhile I was initially excited about the announcement, analysis by Jeremy Daly revealed some significant issues with the current implementation:\n\nAverage response time for a query is around 200ms!\n\nResponse format is too verbose.\n\nNo support for parameterised statements.\n\nNo support for IAM roles.\n\nAs such, I don\u2019t think the new data API is ready for production use just yet. Hopefully these issues are addressed by the time the feature becomes generally available.\n\nAmazon Timestream\n\nA time series data is essentially a sequence of data points stored in time order, such as the temperature of London, or the price of the MSFT stock, or the location of an autonomous self-driving car. Time series databases have long been the bedrock for application monitoring solutions such as Prometheus.\n\nI have worked in several business domains where I had to use relational databases to solve the problem of time series data, and scalability and performance were always an issue. With Amazon Timestream we have a fast, scalable, fully managed, pay-per-use time series database at our disposal.\n\nThe service is still in preview, so I don\u2019t have any hands-on experience to report. Based on the information on its product page, you will have a number of built-in analytics functions - smoothing, approximation and interpolation. It also integrates with the new Amazon Forecast service, presumably as the time series datastore for Forecast. I for one am very excited to see how this service evolves and whether it lives up to the hype.\n\nAmazon Quantum Ledger Database (QLDB)\n\nYou have probably heard the joke that \u201cBlockchain is just a very slow database\u201d, and there are certainly some truth to that. But if you take away the distributed consensus aspect of blockchain, the underlying ledger technology can be very useful in its own right. The new Quantum Ledger Database (QLDB) is an immutable, append-only, fully-managed database where transactions can be cryptographically verified. It also has a SQL-like syntax, and should be easy for developers to migrate from existing relational databases.\n\nQLDB can be very useful for workloads where you have strong audit requirements, such as financial transactions for banks, or patient care records in the healthcare industry. It can also be useful for recording control plane changes in a system (I\u2019m making a distinction here from end-user facing business applications), which is exactly how AWS uses this technology internally. Anytime an EC2 instance is spawned or stopped, those control plane changes are logged in their internal version of QLDB.\n\nWhile I\u2019m sure it would be useful for building blockchains, given that AWS offers a managed blockchain service that supports both Hyperledger and Ethereum, you probably wouldn\u2019t need to build one from scratch yourself.\n\nConclusions\n\nThat\u2019s it for our roundup of the most noteworthy Lambda and database announcements at re:Invent this year. There are many other serverless-related announcements that we weren\u2019t able to cover, such as:\n\nand much more.\n\nMy overall feeling towards this year\u2019s serverless announcements is one of huge optimism. AWS continues to move further up the value chain in terms of its ML offerings, with even more managed AI services that address specific business needs. These services would have a massive impact on how we deliver business values quickly and address common user needs with robust technologies that Amazon itself is built upon. I\u2019m also excited by the improvements to the Lambda platform and the future improvements that Firecracker can bring.\n\nBut the most important updates that can make an immediate impact on so many applications today, in my opinion, are the new DynamoDB features. DynamoDB is such a core service and the de facto database option for many AWS customers. The new DynamoDB Transactions and On-Demand Pricing features address two of the most common issues DynamoDB customers experience. Both of these are game changers.\n\nWith that, I\u2019m looking forward to re:Invent 2019 already! Happy holidays everyone!\n\nPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus."}
-{"text": "The wife of mass shooter Omar Mateen has reportedly been arrested in connection to his June 12 rampage at a gay nightclub. The FBI arrested Noor Salman on an obstruction of justice charge, The New York Times reports. This California resident has been scheduled for an appearance in a San Francisco federal court. Another report from CBS news said she has also been charged with aiding and abetting.\n\nInvestigators say Mateen murdered 49 people and injured 53 at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. It\u2019s the biggest mass murder in American history, and he even called 911 on himself. He pledged allegiance to ISIS as seen in police department transcript, though no hard links to the terrorist organization have been substantiated. He died in a gunfight with cops.\n\nEver since the shooting, the idea that Salman would be charged has been floated. She said she\u2019s not culpable.\n\n\u201cI was unaware of everything,\u201d she told The New York Times in a November report. \u201cI don\u2019t condone what he has done. I am very sorry for what has happened. He has hurt a lot of people.\u201d\n\nWill she get convicted? The feds haven\u2019t publicly announced charges, so what they think she specifically did remains unclear. There are some points to consider, however. LawNewz.com columnist Ronn Blitzer examined the likelihood of an arrest in a June article.\n\nHere he is on a possible charge for aiding and abetting:\n\nBoth Florida and federal statutes say that anyone who \u201caids, abets, counsels\u201d or procures the commission of an offense is treated the same as the person who committed the act. By going with her husband as he acquired a gun and visited the building that he later attacked, possibly to case the place, Salman may be guilty of aiding and abetting, especially if she was the one driving.\n\nHe later wrote:\n\nOf course, having enough evidence to arrest someone and having a strong enough case to convict them are two very different things. At this point in time, we just don\u2019t know what Salman knew, or what she was thinking. Did they conspire together, or did she simply remain silent while he planned everything himself? She claims she knew her husband wanted to commit an offense, but did she know that at the time she went with him to buy a gun? When she went along with him to Pulse prior to the shooting, did she know or even suspect that the venue would be his target? If she was aware of these things, did she accompany him voluntarily?\n\nBlitzer said the FBI wouldn\u2019t arrest someone unless they\u2019re confident it will likely end in a conviction.\n\nThis is a developing story. We will update as more information becomes available.\n\nUpdate \u2013 January 16, 2017, 12:26 p.m.: We\u2019ve added information on how Salman addressed allegations that she knew about Mateen\u2019s plan. We also added excerpts from Ronn Blitzer\u2019s June article on whether she would face charges.\n\nHave a tip we should know? [email protected]"}
-{"text": "***Warning*** This petition text contains references to sexual violence.\n\nRight now, millions of sexual violence survivors are at risk for re-traumatization from the television programs they watch. But there\u2019s one easy thing the FCC can do to stop that -- create a \u201csexual violence\u201d content warning for television.\n\nThis would have been particularly helpful to survivors watching the most recent episode of Game of Thrones. The character, Jaime Lannister rapes his sister/lover in a scene that is later described by the director to \"end\" consensually. This was not the first time for the show as they continue to use rape as a form of entertanment.\n\nThe title of the program and the information listed for the episode did NOT include information about a rape scene, nor was there a content warning specific to sexual violence at the beginning of the show. And it\u2019s not just Game of Thrones -- in the past graphic scenes of sexual violence have appeared in The Walking Dead, Girls, Silent Witness, Bates Motel, Scandal and other programs.\n\nThe picture with this petition is of myself and two of my friends who are advocates and fellow survivors. As survivors and advocates we understand how damaging this content can be to someone who is not expecting it and is not able to prepare for it. Survivors\u2019 memories of their own assault can be triggered by sights, sounds, smells or even feelings that they experience. These triggers can bring back memories of the trauma and cause intense emotional reactions and physical reactions, especially in survivors with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).\n\nMillions of television viewers are sexual violence survivors. According to RAINN statistics, 1 in 6 women and 1 in 33 men have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime. That means that of the audience for the episode of Bates Motel which featured a rape scene, there were potentially over 450,000 survivors in the audience (assuming that out of the 4.6 million viewers, half were women and half were men). These survivors deserved a warning.\n\nFortunately, there\u2019s an easy solution -- The FCC, via the TV Parental Guidelines, should create a \u201csexual violence\u201d content warning at the beginning of any television show that will be airing an episode with sexual violence.\n\nSuch a warning will empower survivors by giving them the choice on whether or not they want to watch, and if they do, they can prepare themselves for the scene. It will also allow families to decide what type of violent content they want to view. The FCC has already designated \u201cfantasy violence\u201d as a subset of violent content that affects viewers differently than other forms of violence, they need to do the same for sexual violence.\n\nPlease join us in asking the FCC to create a \u201csexual violence\u201d content warning, including a resource for survivors like the RAINN 24-Hour Hotline (800) 656-HOPE, to be shown before programs with scenes of sexual violence."}
-{"text": "With the recent approval of New Hampshire\u2019s medical marijuana legalization measure, 20 states have now passed a medical cannabis law, either through a voter-approved initiative, or through a legislative proposal. It\u2019s worth pointing out that this makes 40% of the entire United States.\n\nThis is exciting, and inspiring. As advocates of cannabis law reform, we obviously understand that this isn\u2019t enough \u2013 and even in the 20 medical cannabis states the laws aren\u2019t perfect \u2013 but we can\u2019t lose sight of the fact that it\u2019s an astonishing turn of events that in 17 years, from the passing of Prop 215 in California in 1996, to the victories over the past several years, things have advanced quickly, and public opinion has shifted drastically; in fact, polling shows that over 80% of those in the U.S. support legalizing the use of cannabis for medical purposes (some of the most recent polling shows it as high as 85%). This is huge, and shows that even after decades of intense propaganda, the public can still be swayed with logic, compassion and facts.\n\nThings aren\u2019t slowing down anytime soon.\n\nThe Illinois Legislature has recently approved a measure legalizing medical cannabis, which the governor isn\u2019t expected to veto. This makes state number 21. New York \u2013 whose House has approved a measure legalizing medical cannabis; it awaits a vote in the Senate \u2013 could turnout to be the 22nd (as could any number of other states).\n\nSoon \u2013 if not by next year \u2013 50% of the U.S. will have legalized medical cannabis, or at least passed some form of positive medical cannabis law. The states that continue to prohibit medical cannabis will topple quickly from there, simultaneous with the uprising of recreational legalization.\n\nThe pressure on the feds is mounting like never before.\n\n\u2013 TheJointBlog"}
-{"text": "When USA Today caught up with John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein at the premiere of their directorial debut Vacation, the screenwriters talked more about the Spider-Man reboot. \"There's not much we can say because we just got hired,\" said Daley. Goldstein then said the movie will be different from the previous because \"The tone will be really grounded, about a real kid who gets these powers and what that means with a geeky, outcast kid and how he deals with them.\" \"You don't instantly become a superhero, it's a long journey. [Peter Parker] is spending a lot more time in high school. And so we have time to sort of develop the powers with him and experience the wish fulfillment. And also just the fact that it's really alienating to other people.\"\n\n\n\nJohn Francis Daley continued, \"I don't think the origins story is gonna be in there, and also I think we're going to avoid the emo dance [from Spider-Man 3]... as much as I loved it.\" Jonathan M. Goldstein then explained how Peter Parker is \"not a popular kid, he's a little geeky, and he's self-conscious... as we were in high school, so we want to sort of tell that story, and the fact that getting powers and becoming Spider-Man doesn't solve your problems.\" Back to Daley, he added, \"Because he has to keep it a secret from everyone, so it just makes everything worse for him.\"\n\nMeanwhile, the new Spider-Man director Jon Watts has also talked more about the reboot during his chat with The Daily Beast. In addition to revealing that he once saw the filming of Sam Raimi's original Spider-Man movie on the Brooklyn Bridge from his dorm room, Watts also discussed working with the aforementioned screenwriting duo. \"I still don\u2019t quite believe it,\" he said of being hired by Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures. \"I\u2019m still waiting for someone to tell me it was all a prank. I\u2019m really not sure what I did to get the job, but I\u2019m happy that whatever I did worked.\"\n\n\n\nWatts continued, echoing an inspiration for the Spider-Man reboot that Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige had previously mentioned: \"The thing that everyone keeps saying is that it\u2019s sort of like the John Hughes version of Spider-Man, which I think is a really cool take on it. He\u2019s in high school, and the questions that that raises I think we haven\u2019t explored as much as we can. In the comics so much of it was about him juggling his high school life and trying to be a superhero. I think there\u2019s a lot to do there.\" And given John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein were literally just hired to script the movie, as they mentioned above, Jon Watts then discussed collaborating with them. \"We\u2019re just getting started,\" he said. \"It remains to be seen how we\u2019re going to do that, but Marvel is a very collaborative place and it\u2019s Marvel and Sony, which is an interesting dynamic.\"\n\n\n\nDirected by Jon Watts, Marvel and Sony's untitled Spider-Man reboot so far stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker and Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, and is scheduled to open in theaters on July 28, 2017. However, the friendly neighborhood web-slinger will first make his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut alongside Earth's Mightiest Heroes in Captain America: Civil War on May 6, 2016."}
-{"text": "About\n\nA dog just living for that hustle."}
-{"text": "The 50th anniversary of the August 1963 March on Washington is a moment to consider how close the U.S. has come to Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of a nation where people are judged not on the color of their skin, but on the content of their character. About six in 10 whites told a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll that America has achieved the Rev. King's dream. Blacks see it differently, though. Only one in five said the goal has been reached.\n\nAttitudes toward race have changed enormously. \"It's not respectable..."}
-{"text": "As Iraqi and international forces make preparations ahead of a final offensive on Mosul, the Islamic State\u2019s stronghold in Iraq, and Russian forces continue their assault on Raqqa, IS\u2019s Syrian \u201ccapital,\u201d the radical organization\u2019s propaganda apparatus is apparently trying to maintain an image of business as usual in its under-siege fiefdom.\n\nIS published pictures of busy markets, stoning of suspected prostitutes, execution of a suspected traitor (above), and amputation of the legs of those who committed \u201cimmorality.\u201d\n\nIn the IS-controlled Dijla region in Iraq, four suspected prostitutes were pictured being stoned in what the organization called \u201ca religious commandment.\u201d In the pictures, an IS operative is seen standing next to a pile of rocks and reading out the \u201cindictment\u201d in front of an angry mob, while the bystanders are then invited to stone the convicts, probably to death.\n\nSimilar pictures from Raqqa show the execution of a presumed collaborator with the US-led coalition or \u201cthe Crusader coalition\u201d in IS\u2019s words. Here too, after being read the \u201csentence\u201d in front of an angry mob, the convict is crucified and stabbed in his chest, then shot in the head.\n\nAfter the crucifixion, the body of the deceased is left hanging with a sign attached to him, saying: \u201cThis is the spy Muhamad Adnan, who gave away information about houses and military barracks with a view of having them bombed and their Muslim dwellers killed.\u201d\n\nIn pictures emanating from Afghanistan\u2019s Khorasan region, which is partly controlled by IS, the organization\u2019s members are seen amputating the limbs of men suspected of \u201cdisturbing the peace on earth.\u201d\n\nIt is unclear what offense they committed, but they were punished \u201cin keeping with Sharia law,\u201d the statement said.\n\nBut in Mosul, the \u201ccapital of the caliphate\u201d in Iraq, IS labors to emphasize that life goes on as usual with pictures of the city\u2019s busy markets, whose stalls are filled with fresh produce.\n\nAll pictures via Islamic State Telegram Forum"}
-{"text": "During a campaign stop in Staten Island, New York, on Sunday, Trump explained to reporters how easily he would be able to bribe delegates if he wanted to, according to the New York Times.\n\n\u201cLook, nobody has better toys than I do,\u201d he told reporters, according to the New York Times. \u201cI can put them in the best planes and bring them to the best resorts anywhere in the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re basically buying these people,\u201d Trump continued. \u201cYou\u2019re basically saying, \u2018Delegate, listen, we\u2019re going to send you to Mar-a-Lago on a Boeing 757, you\u2019re going to use the spa, you\u2019re going to this, you\u2019re going to that, we want your vote.\u2019 That\u2019s a corrupt system.\u201d\n\nTrump indicated that such bribery would be unfair, according to the Times.\n\nThe real estate mogul has been railing against the Republican primary process as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has been able to secure delegates at state conventions in Colorado and Wyoming, even as Trump has handily won several primaries."}
-{"text": "NETWORK FINALS: BIG BROTHER and SHADES OF BLUE gained 0.1 in final numbers, while the IHEARTCOUNTRY FESTIVAL lost the same.\n\nBroadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart\n\nCABLE HIGHLIGHTS: It was an up-and-down night for HBO, where SHARP OBJECTS jumped 0.12 to 0.36, and the season finale of SUCCESSION rose 0.07 to 0.20, but LAST WEEK TONIGHT was down 0.07 to 0.27. On AMC, a WALKING DEAD preview special for next season was at 0.44, pushing PREACHER up 0.08 to 0.30. Scripted was led by Starz\u2019s POWER, up 0.03 to 0.56. TNT\u2019s CLAWS edged up 0.02 to 0.44. Adult Swim\u2019s VENTURE BROTHERS returned at 0.34. Hallmark\u2019s CHESAPEAKE SHORES returned at 0.21. On Showtime, WHO IS AMERICA continued to build, up 0.03 to 0.13, a pivotal episode of THE AFFAIR gained 0.02 to 0.10, and OUR CARTOON PRESIDENT ticked down to 0.03/101K.\n\nE!\u2019s season premiere of KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS shared the Sunday cable crown at 0.64, in line with last year\u2019s 0.70 premiere, and lead-out VERY CAVALLARI had a one-tenth boost to 0.32. ESPN\u2019s MLB SUNDAY NIGHT game was also at 0.64. On TLC, 90 DAY FIANCE was at 0.62, compared to last week\u2019s 0.70/0.54, and UNEXPECTED returned at 0.37. On VH1, a special Sunday BASKETBALL WIVES was at 0.42. Discovery\u2019s NAKED & AFRAID crashed by 0.27 to 0.41, and ULTIMATE NINJA CHALLENGE premiered at 0.20. Paramount\u2019s BAR RESCUE had a 0.12 leap to 0.38. On Food Network, FOOD NETWORK STAR lost 0.07 to 0.37, and BEAT BOBBY FLAY was down 0.02 to 0.27. HGTV\u2019s line-up was led by CARIBBEAN LIFE at 0.35/0.34, compared to last week\u2019s 0.36/0.33. Bravo\u2019s REAL HOUSEWIVES OF THE POTOMAC returned at 0.33. MTV\u2019s RIDICULOUSNESS was at 0.31/0.30/0.28. On ID, AMERICAN MONSTER was at 0.27, and ON THE CASE was down 0.05 to 0.26.\n\nTop 50 Original Cable Telecasts with Demographic Detail\n\nTop 150 Original Cable Telecasts\n\nTo search for a show: type Ctrl-F and type your show title in the search box.\n\nTop 150 Original Cable Telecasts: Sunday August 5, 2018 P18-49 P2+ Rank Program Net Start Mins Rating (000s) 1 KEEPING UP KARDASHIANS E! 9:00 PM 61 0.64 1,364 2 MLB SUNDAY NIGHT L: RED SOX/ YANKEES ESPN 8:00 PM 294 0.64 2,746 3 90 DAY FIANCE: BEFORE 90: N/A TLC 8:00 PM 125 0.62 1,814 4 POWER 5 STARZ PRIMARY 8:01 PM 59 0.56 1,326 5 WALKING DEAD S9 PREVIEW AMC 9:00 PM 60 0.44 1,258 6 CLAWS TURNER NETWORK TELEVISION 9:00 PM 62 0.44 1,281 7 BASKETBALL WIVES 7 VH1 10:00 PM 61 0.42 944 8 NAKED AND AFRAID DISCOVERY CHANNEL 9:00 PM 62 0.41 1,345 9 BAR RESCUE PARAMOUNT 10:00 PM 61 0.38 829 10 UNEXPECTED TLC 10:05 PM 66 0.37 1,099 11 FOOD NETWORK STAR 14 FOOD NETWORK 9:00 PM 60 0.37 1,489 12 SHARP OBJECTS HBO PRIME 9:03 PM 52 0.36 1,173 13 CARIBBEAN LIFE HOME AND GARDEN TV 9:00 PM 30 0.35 1,704 14 HAWAII LIFE HOME AND GARDEN TV 10:30 PM 30 0.34 1,702 15 VENTURE BROTHERS ADULT SWIM 12:00 AM 30 0.34 660 16 CARIBBEAN LIFE HOME AND GARDEN TV 9:30 PM 30 0.34 1,707 17 REAL HOUSEWIVES POTOMAC BRAVO 8:00 PM 60 0.33 1,025 18 HAWAII LIFE HOME AND GARDEN TV 10:00 PM 30 0.32 1,706 19 VERY CAVALLARI E! 10:01 PM 59 0.32 606 20 RIDICULOUSNESS SSN11 MTV 9:02 PM 31 0.31 729 21 BEACHFRONT BARGAIN HUNT HOME AND GARDEN TV 8:30 PM 30 0.31 1,588 22 RIDICULOUSNESS SSN11 MTV 8:31 PM 31 0.30 682 23 PREACHER AMC 10:00 PM 65 0.30 879 24 RIDICULOUSNESS SSN11 MTV 9:33 PM 31 0.30 712 25 BEACHFRONT BARGAIN HUNT HOME AND GARDEN TV 8:00 PM 30 0.29 1,517 26 RIDICULOUSNESS SSN11 MTV 8:00 PM 31 0.28 650 27 LAST WEEK TONIGHT HBO PRIME 11:10 PM 30 0.27 994 28 YELLOWSTONE LIVE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 9:00 PM 60 0.27 1,554 29 AMERICAN MONSTER INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY 9:00 PM 60 0.27 1,251 30 BEAT B.FLAY FOOD NETWORK 10:00 PM 30 0.27 935 31 90 DAY FIANCE: B90D COUNT: N/A TLC 6:00 PM 120 0.27 866 32 ON THE CASE WITH PZ INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY 10:00 PM 60 0.26 1,326 33 ULTIMATE SUMMER COOK OFF FOOD NETWORK 8:00 PM 60 0.25 923 34 GIRL MEETS FARM FOOD NETWORK 11:00 AM 30 0.24 903 35 CHESAPEAKE SHORES HALLMARK CHANNEL 9:00 PM 56 0.21 1,669 36 WICKED TUNA: OUTER BANKS NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 8:00 PM 60 0.21 863 37 SPORTSCENTER WEEKEND-AM L ESPN 11:00 AM 60 0.20 492 38 TIME MACHINE: RISE & FALL OF PABLO ESCOBAR, THE HISTORY 9:00 PM 125 0.20 815 39 SUCCESSION HBO PRIME 10:01 PM 66 0.20 730 40 ULTIMATE NINJA CHALLENGE DISCOVERY CHANNEL 10:02 PM 61 0.20 688 41 MOVIE- ORIGINAL PREM: SISTERS SECRET, A (2018) LIFETIME TELEVISION 8:00 PM 123 0.19 806 42 BSBL TONIGHT: SUN CTDWN L ESPN 7:00 PM 60 0.19 680 43 HISTORY OF COMEDY CNN 10:00 PM 60 0.19 856 44 SPORTSCENTER LATE L ESPN 12:54 AM 96 0.19 595 45 SPORTSCENTER WEEKEND-PM L ESPN 12:00 PM 60 0.18 431 46 GC PREGAME LI GOLF CHANNEL 1:45 PM 15 0.17 999 47 SPORTSCENTER WEEKEND-AM L ESPN 10:00 AM 60 0.17 432 48 2000S CNN 9:00 PM 60 0.16 638 49 E:60 ESPN 9:00 AM 60 0.16 400 50 THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE HBO PRIME 7:00 PM 115 0.15 583 51 SPORTSCENTER WEEKEND-AM L ESPN 8:00 AM 60 0.15 375 52 PGA TOUR GOLF CHANNEL 11:58 AM 107 0.15 963 53 SNAPPED OXYGEN MEDIA 6:00 PM 60 0.15 459 54 SPORTSCENTER EARLY L ESPN 6:00 PM 60 0.15 349 55 MY HAUNTED HOUSE TRAVEL CHANNEL 8:00 PM 60 0.14 370 56 WHO IS AMERICA S1 SHOWTIME PRIME 10:00 PM 25 0.13 313 57 HAUNTED THINGS TRAVEL CHANNEL 9:00 PM 60 0.13 382 58 RAPUNZELS TANGLED ADV. DISNEY CHANNEL 8:00 AM 30 0.13 636 59 THESE WOODS ARE HAUNTED TRAVEL CHANNEL 10:00 PM 60 0.13 397 60 AM JOY: N/A MSNBC 10:00 AM 120 0.13 999 61 RELIABLE SOURCES CNN 11:00 AM 60 0.13 778 62 ITS COMPLICATED: ITS COMPLICATED HBO PRIME 4:50 PM 120 0.13 387 63 SPORTSCENTER SPECIAL ESPN 1:00 PM 60 0.12 308 64 AMAZING PLANET NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 10:00 PM 60 0.12 898 65 BURIED IN THE BACKYARD OXYGEN MEDIA 7:00 PM 60 0.12 442 66 FOX & FRIENDS SUNDAY FOX NEWS CHANNEL 9:00 AM 60 0.12 1,570 67 SPORTSCENTER WEEKEND-AM L ESPN 7:00 AM 60 0.11 292 68 FOX & FRIENDS SUNDAY FOX NEWS CHANNEL 8:00 AM 60 0.11 1,517 69 LIGA MX: TIJUANA VS LEON FOX DEPORTES 8:54 PM 149 0.11 246 70 WATCH WHAT HAPPENS LIVE BRAVO 11:00 PM 30 0.11 387 71 CNN NEWSROOM CNN 6:00 PM 60 0.11 638 72 I WAS PREY ANIMAL PLANET 10:02 PM 61 0.11 469 73 BEACH BITES W/ KATIE LEE FOOD NETWORK 12:30 PM 30 0.11 637 74 LIFE, LIBERTY AND LEVIN FOX NEWS CHANNEL 10:00 PM 60 0.11 1,358 75 OBJECTIFIED: PAM ANDERSON FOX NEWS CHANNEL 8:00 PM 60 0.11 1,027 76 CNN NEWSROOM CNN 8:00 PM 60 0.11 649 77 WICKED TUNA OBX CPL NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 7:00 PM 60 0.11 456 78 CNN NEWSROOM CNN 7:00 PM 60 0.10 671 79 INSIDE POLITICS CNN 8:00 AM 60 0.10 679 80 SUNDAY MORNING FUTURES FOX NEWS CHANNEL 10:00 AM 60 0.10 1,329 81 AFFAIR, THE S4 SHOWTIME PRIME 9:03 PM 53 0.10 507 82 HMM ORIGINAL MOVIE: GSM-PANDORAS BOX MURDERS HALLMARK MOVIES & MYSTERIES 9:00 PM 120 0.10 1,506 83 CNN NEWSROOM CNN 5:00 PM 60 0.10 638 84 STATE OF THE UNION CNN 9:00 AM 60 0.10 725 85 FOX NEWS SUNDAY FOX NEWS CHANNEL 2:00 PM 60 0.10 1,035 86 MLB REGULAR SEASON: ANGELS/INDIANS TBS NETWORK 1:00 PM 204 0.10 294 87 MSNBC LIVE W/ A.WITT: N/A MSNBC 12:00 PM 120 0.10 859 88 SOMETHINGS KILLING ME HLN 8:00 PM 60 0.09 457 89 FAREED ZAKARIA: GPS CNN 10:00 AM 60 0.09 724 90 MEGA MAN 2018 THE CARTOON NETWORK 6:30 AM 30 0.09 256 91 MEDIA BUZZ FOX NEWS CHANNEL 11:00 AM 60 0.09 1,165 92 AMERICAS NEWS HQ FOX NEWS CHANNEL 12:00 PM 60 0.09 1,069 93 LIGA MX L: SANTOS / PUEBLA UNIVISION DEPORTES 6:30 PM 150 0.09 316 94 FOX & FRIENDS SUNDAY FOX NEWS CHANNEL 7:00 AM 60 0.09 1,067 95 MSNBC LIVE W/ A.WITT MSNBC 9:00 AM 60 0.09 662 96 CNN NEWSROOM CNN 2:00 PM 60 0.09 661 97 AMERICAS NEWS HQ FOX NEWS CHANNEL 1:00 PM 60 0.09 991 98 IT CAME OUTTA NOWHERE TRAVEL CHANNEL 4:00 PM 60 0.08 382 99 SECRETS OF THE ZOO NAT GEO WILD 9:00 PM 60 0.08 599 100 AFTERNOON BASEBALL GAME: HOU AT LAD/DET AT OAK MLB NETWORK 4:11 PM 174 0.08 300 101 BREAK HBO PRIME 6:50 PM 10 0.08 226 102 LAND OF THE LOST HBO PRIME 7:45 AM 102 0.08 171 103 BBCA MOVIE: PIRATES/CARIBBEAN:DEAD MA BBC-AMERICA 4:00 PM 210 0.08 293 104 FOX REPORT WITH JON SCOTT FOX NEWS CHANNEL 6:00 PM 60 0.08 903 105 MSNBC LIVE W/VOSSOUGHIAN MSNBC 4:00 PM 60 0.08 704 106 NEW DAY SUNDAY CNN 7:00 AM 60 0.08 586 107 POWERNATION: TRUCK TECH PARAMOUNT 10:00 AM 30 0.08 240 108 POWERNATION: DETRO MUSCLE PARAMOUNT 10:30 AM 30 0.08 215 109 MLB TONIGHT SUNDAY MLB NETWORK 7:05 PM 55 0.08 260 110 NEXT REVOLUTION, THE FOX NEWS CHANNEL 9:00 PM 60 0.07 1,118 111 BARNWOOD BUILDERS DIY NETWORK 9:00 PM 60 0.07 499 112 DR POL COMPILATION NAT GEO WILD 8:00 PM 60 0.07 603 113 CNN NEWSROOM CNN 3:00 PM 60 0.07 527 114 NASCAR CUP SERIES PRE NBC SPORTS NETWORK 1:00 PM 60 0.07 345 115 CNN NEWSROOM CNN 4:00 PM 60 0.07 564 116 MSNBC LIVE W/D.GURA: N/A MSNBC 2:00 PM 120 0.07 731 117 FOX DEPORTES EN VIVO ESP FOX DEPORTES 11:23 PM 37 0.07 112 118 AMATEUR SOFTBALL L: ASIA PACIFIC/SOUTHWEST ESPN 2:00 PM 134 0.07 218 119 AMERICAS NEWS HQ FOX NEWS CHANNEL 4:00 PM 60 0.07 671 120 MSNBC LIVE W/A.MOHYELDIN MSNBC 5:00 PM 60 0.07 705 121 MEET THE PRESS MSNBC 6:00 PM 60 0.07 745 122 FOX & FRIENDS SUNDAY FOX NEWS CHANNEL 6:00 AM 60 0.07 774 123 IT CAME OUTTA NOWHERE TRAVEL CHANNEL 3:00 PM 60 0.07 358 124 WEEKEND EXPRESS HLN 9:00 AM 60 0.07 247 125 FATE OF THE FURIOUS, THE: FATE OF THE FURIOUS, THE MAXPRIME 9:40 PM 136 0.07 177 126 INSIDE TRAINING CAMP LIVE NFL NETWORK 4:00 PM 60 0.07 178 127 CNN NEWSROOM LIVE CNN 2:00 AM 60 0.06 297 128 POLITICS NATION MSNBC 8:00 AM 60 0.06 463 129 TED BUNDY: SERIAL MONSTER: PART 1 REELZCHANNEL 9:00 PM 120 0.06 235 130 KASIE DC: N/A MSNBC 7:00 PM 120 0.06 788 131 CONTACTO DEPORTIVO L UNIVISION DEPORTES 9:00 PM 60 0.06 187 132 NFL TOTAL ACCESS: N/A NFL NETWORK 7:00 PM 120 0.06 161 133 MSNBC LIVE WKND EDITION MSNBC 7:00 AM 30 0.06 312 134 WEEKEND EXPRESS HLN 7:00 AM 60 0.06 259 135 NEW DAY SUNDAY CNN 6:00 AM 60 0.06 499 136 SPORTSCENTER WEEKEND-AM L ESPN2 9:00 AM 60 0.06 157 137 HAPPY DEATH DAY MAXPRIME 10:00 AM 96 0.06 136 138 INSIDE TRAINING CAMP LIVE NFL NETWORK 5:00 PM 60 0.06 131 139 POWERNATION: EXT OFF ROAD PARAMOUNT 9:30 AM 30 0.05 195 140 E:60 ESPN2 10:00 AM 60 0.05 136 141 BOURNE SUPREMACY, THE MAXPRIME 1:40 PM 108 0.05 170 142 INSIDE TRAINING CAMP LIVE NFL NETWORK 6:00 PM 60 0.05 127 143 SEGURIDAD DE FRONTERA UNIVERSO 3:00 PM 60 0.05 121 144 WEEKEND EXPRESS HLN 8:00 AM 60 0.05 200 145 HAPPY DEATH DAY MAXPRIME 8:00 PM 96 0.05 120 146 STAR FALLS TEENNICK 9:00 PM 30 0.05 144 147 LIGA MX L: TIJUANA XOLOS/LEON FOX SPORTS 1 9:00 PM 124 0.05 103 148 INSIDE TRAINING CAMP LIVE NFL NETWORK 2:00 PM 60 0.05 123 149 YOUR BUSINESS MSNBC 7:30 AM 30 0.05 288 150 INSIDE TRAINING CAMP LIVE NFL NETWORK 3:00 PM 60 0.05 123\n\nPREVIOUS SUNDAY NETWORK SCORECARDS (FAST NATIONALS)\n\nPREVIOUS SUNDAY CABLE & BROADCAST NATIONALS\n\n###"}
-{"text": "Welcome friend! I'm an animator and storyboard artist! Commissions are closed! I hope you enjoy my messy looking and scratchy art!\n\ntwitter: @faragonart\n\nReblogs and asks are moved to my side blog: Faragonreblogs. Email: faragonart@gmail.com"}
-{"text": "Six seeks weeks ago I lost my appeal (in the court of appeal) which meant I had to pay David de Freitas legal costs. The judge ordered me to pay an \"interim payment\" of \u00a3400,000 by the 19th December 2018, but I had run out of money.\n\n\n\n\n\nMr de Freitas legal bill is probably somewhere around \u00a31.8m. I didn't make the payment of \u00a3400,000 so David de Freitas applied to have me bankrupted and that's what has happened. It's no secret, the bankruptcy is being advertised in the Gazette as with all bankrupts, so might as well put it here as part of the narrative.\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Maynard Police are seeking the public's assistance in finding an armed robbery suspect after the Corner Store on Walnut Street was robbed at gunpoint on Sunday evening, Sept. 15. [Surveillance Footage/Courtesy of the Maynard Police Department] \u25b2\n\nMaynard police are still investigating an armed robbery that took place Sept. 15, according to a press release from Police Chief Mark Dubois.\n\nThe robbery took place at the Corner Store at 49 Walnut St. just before closing at 8:54 p.m.\n\nWhen police arrived they learned that a man had entered the store, pointed a handgun at the clerk and demanded money.\n\nAccording to store owner Mike Patel, the suspect left the store with about $900 in cash. Patel's father-in-law was running the store and counting cash from the drawer at the time.\n\nThe suspect is described as a white male, approximately 5 feet 5 inches tall, with a slender build. He was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt at the time of the robbery.\n\nThe Maynard Police Department is releasing video surveillance footage from the robbery, hoping someone will recognize the suspect and come forward with information leading to his identification and capture.\n\nAnyone with information is asked to call the Maynard Police Department at 978-897-1011.\n\nThis is a developing story. We will provide more information as it becomes available.\n\nWant Maynard and Stow news delivered to your inbox? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter."}
-{"text": "Ceci ne pr\u00e9tend \u00e9videmment pas \u00eatre une description objective et compl\u00e8te de la manif, mais rapporte simplement ce que j\u2019ai vu.\n\nTout a commenc\u00e9 de mani\u00e8re festive, dans le stationnement d\u2019un Walmart. Nous \u00e9tions quelques ( de 3 \u00e0 5, je dirais, au terme d\u2019 un petit calcul maison sans pr\u00e9tention) milliers de personnes. Le Walmart (comme le Macdo) \u00e9tait ferm\u00e9: on a au moins r\u00e9ussi \u00e7a! Mais je soup\u00e7onne que le petit bois\u00e9 avoisinant n\u2019aura jamais vu autant d\u2019urine!\n\nLe d\u00e9part a \u00e9t\u00e9 donn\u00e9 et on a march\u00e9 environ un kilom\u00e8tre vers le Palais des congr\u00e8s de Victo, qui est en fait un h\u00f4tel. La foule s\u2019est mass\u00e9e devant ce lieu. Il n\u2019y avait alors, c\u2019est important de le dire, que quelques policiers \u00abordinaires\u00bb (une dizaine?) , en costume usuel, qui en bloquaient l\u2019acc\u00e8s.\n\nEntre eux et nous des cl\u00f4tures de m\u00e9tal, pas bien hautes. Je suis face au Palais. assez pr\u00e8s pour bien voir la sc\u00e8ne. Derri\u00e8re nous, un camion dans lequel une personne hurle des slogans ou harangue la foule.\n\nSur ma droite, quelques casseurs entreprennent de renverser les cl\u00f4tures. Ils y arrivent et avancent vers les quelques flics qui se trouvent l\u00e0. D\u2019autres barri\u00e8res tombent ou sont secou\u00e9es, sur ma gauche et devant moi.\n\nPeu apr\u00e8s, l\u2019anti-\u00e9meute arrive: boucliers, casques, matraques, la totale. Et ils sont tr\u00e8s, tr\u00e8s nombreux: au moins une cinquantaine.\n\nIls font reculer les personnes qui se sont trop rapproch\u00e9es. Quelques projectiles sont lanc\u00e9s. J\u2019aper\u00e7ois alors tr\u00e8s clairement des policiers de l\u2019anti\u00e9meute qui vont s\u2019assoir en retrait. \u00c7a m\u2019intrigue. Ils enl\u00e8vent leurs casques. \u00c9trange? Non. Ils se mettent quelque chose sur la t\u00eate: \u00e7a y est, je comprends: ce sont des masques \u00e0 gaz. J\u2019en informe les compagnons qui m\u2019entourent: on va peut-\u00eatre \u00eatre gaz\u00e9s. On s\u2019attend qu\u2019ils d\u00e9clarent la manif ill\u00e9gale et qu\u2019ils nous demandent de nous disperser. On s\u2019attend \u00e0 ce que si la foule refuse, il y aura avertissement puis jets de gaz.\n\nJ\u2019\u00e9tais tout pr\u00e8s. Je m\u2019attendais \u00e0 tout ce que je viens de dire en raison de ce que j\u2019avais vu et de ce que je sais (pense savoir?) de la gestion des manifs.\n\nEh bien, je n\u2019ai rien, absolument rien entendu: aucune annonce que la manif \u00e9tait ill\u00e9gale, aucun avertissement, rien. Tout d\u2019un coup, tr\u00e8s, tr\u00e8s vite, des gaz ont \u00e9t\u00e9 lanc\u00e9s. Si vous n\u2019avez jamais v\u00e9cu \u00e7a, vous devez savoir que \u00e7a fait tr\u00e8s, tr\u00e8s mal. On a du mal \u00e0 respirer. On cherche son souffle. Mais quand on respire, \u00e7a augmente le mal; vos yeux br\u00fblent, aussi, atrocement. Ils coulent. Chez certaines personnes, ils deviennent d\u2019une rougeur extr\u00eame. On n\u2019a d\u2019autre choix que de chercher de l\u2019air pur. On s\u2019enfuit donc, \u00e0 toutes jambes, tout le monde.\n\nJ\u2019ai vu, fuyant \u00e0 c\u00f4t\u00e9 de moi, des jeunes (dont certains qui savent, eux: ils ont des masques de plong\u00e9e sur les yeux, portent un foulard \u2014 imbib\u00e9 d\u2019eau citronn\u00e9e, je pense \u2014 sur le bas du visage), mais aussi des personnes d\u2019un \u00e2ge avanc\u00e9 (le dangereux White Block, je pr\u00e9sume?) et m\u00eame, \u00e7a je ne l\u2019oublierai pas de sit\u00f4t, un jeune papa avec un tr\u00e8s jeune enfant dans les bras, le petit hurlant de douleur. Je serais surpris si le papa avait entendu un avertissement et choisi de rester sur place. Je croiserai plus tard d\u2019autres parents avec de jeunes enfants terroris\u00e9s.\n\nNous courons donc, port\u00e9s par la foule qui va o\u00f9 elle peut mais, et on ne le comprendra que plus tard, malgr\u00e9 nous dans la mauvaise direction, celle du vent. Nous nous r\u00e9fugions derri\u00e8re un b\u00e2timent. L\u2019air est plus respirable. Des gens vomissent, d\u2019autres hurlent, d\u2019autres reprennent tant bien que mal leur respiration.\n\nEt l\u00e0, on est gaz\u00e9s une deuxi\u00e8me fois. On reprend notre course, on fuit. On doit \u00eatre \u00e0 plusieurs centaines de m\u00e8tres du Palais des congr\u00e8s.\n\nOn court le plus souvent les yeux ferm\u00e9s: \u00e7a fait tr\u00e8s mal autrement. J\u2019ouvre les yeux. Nous sommes dans une sorte de champ qui donne sur la cour arri\u00e8re de maisons. La rue est \u00e0 cinquante m\u00e8treset les maisons faissant barri\u00e8re, l\u2019Air y est meilleur. Des tas de gens sont l\u00e0 . J\u2019aper\u00e7ois un homme, le propri\u00e9taire de cette maison-l\u00e0 sans doute. Il me faut de l\u2019eau. Je vais lui en demander. Pas le temps: il nous dit de filer et de ne pas passer sur son terrain. On est \u00e0 cinquante m\u00e8tres d\u2019un air plus pur, on a les yeux en feu. Il ne veut pas qu\u2019on fasse ces 50 m\u00e8tres sur son bout de gazon. Sa femme l\u2019appuie: elle sort sur son balcon et nous hurle des injures. On reprend notre course, les yeux ferm\u00e9s.\n\nIl a plu. On se met de l\u2019eau de pluie recueillie sur l\u2019herbe sur les yeux.\u00c7a calme. Les effets des gaz prennent fin. On revient vers la manif, en croisant tout au long du chemin de retour des gens de tous \u00e2ges qui, comme nous, ont \u00e9t\u00e9 gaz\u00e9s sans avertissement entendu. La manif d\u00e9g\u00e9n\u00e8re. Comme bien d\u2019autres qui n\u2019ont plus le go\u00fbt, ou l\u2019\u00e2ge ou le courage d\u2019affronter des policiers arm\u00e9s et violents on d\u00e9cide de rentrer.\n\nOn a de quoi jaser en route et de quoi m\u00e9diter sur d\u2019innombrables sujets. Par exemple, qu\u2019auriez-vous r\u00e9pondu, vous, ayant v\u00e9cu ce qui pr\u00e9c\u00e8de \u00e0 de nombreuses reprises, \u00e0 une demande minist\u00e9rielle de condamner la violence? Et bien d\u2019autres."}
-{"text": "I just love so many of these have you had any body ask to have then printed on t shirts they would sell like crazy"}
-{"text": "I am back in Auburn for the next couple weeks \u2014 visiting my folks while also taking in the Tractatapalooza that Kelly and Arata are putting on (today \u2013 March 5, at the Museum of Art), and also dropping some science for the Molinari Society panel on Spontaneous Order, which will be at the Austrian Scholars Conference 2011 (March 10-12, at the Mises Institute).[ ] Since I generally avoid flying these days, and Greyhound over that distance is too long to be workable, getting to Auburn meant renting a car, and a long drive, mostly along I-40, from Las Vegas to Alabama.\n\nWhile I was in Texas, I was stopped on a flimsy excuse, detained, interrogated, and subjected to a long forced search of my car by two cops from the Texas Highway Patrol.\n\nI am fine: I was not arrested, not ticketed, and nothing was seized; at the end of the day, aside from a paper warning, I ended up with nothing other than an annoying delay, an attempt at a petty humiliation, and a sad reminder of the sort of random-sweep police state tactics that are routinely used, with the minutest of ritual gestures at a sort of farce on due process, against people who are often legally innocent, who are suspected on the most unreasonable of suspicions and detained on the most specious of pretexts, and who, even if they are legally at risk, are almost never morally guilty of threaten the rights or liberties of any identifiable human victim whatever. I am awfully lucky in a couple of respects, and the sad fact is that many people are subjected to this kind of thing who come away from it a lot worse, even though they are no less innocent than I was.\n\nI didn\u2019t have much at hand to record what was going on, and I had a long drive ahead of me, so bear in mind that this is all written from memory, and the location is an estimate. Because there was no escalation of legal threats against me, I just got on my way as quickly as possible and did not take down the details or the detaining officers\u2019 names.\n\nI had stopped for the night in Tucumcari, New Mexico, and in the morning I set out along I-40 into Texas, towards Amarillo. About half an hour past the state border, near Vega, a black Highway Patrol SUV pulled onto the road behind me and followed me in the left lane. The posted speed limit was 70 mph, and at the time I was driving on cruise control at about 75 or 77mph or so. Since my speed was so close to the posted limit, I wasn\u2019t sure whether the cops intended to pull me over or just wanted to pass me and drive up the road, so at the next opportunity I signaled and shifted over to the right hand lane, then slowed down to 70mph even. The patrol car did not get over or flash their lights, but did not pass me either, and continued driving in the left lane just a little behind me or to the side of me for several miles. (We passed by at least one exit.) There\u2019s no way to know for sure, but in retrospect I wouldn\u2019t be surprised he was hanging back to see if he could catch me in a traffic violation that would provide a stronger pretext for the stop. Finally he got tired of waiting for me to change lanes without a signal or whatever; he slowed down again, shifted into the right lane behind me, and flashed their lights; I pulled onto the shoulder, took out my wallet and waited with my hands on the steering wheel.\n\nNot the actual police who rifled through my car, but close enough that you get the idea.\n\nNow the first state trooper gets out of his SUV, in the usual Texas Highway Patrol silly-suit. I didn\u2019t ask for a name, so we\u2019ll call him Cowboy Hat. Cowboy Hat tells me he pulled me over for driving a little fast ; I said sorry about that, handed him my driver\u2019s license, and when he asked for proof of insurance I told him that the car was a rental and handed him the rental contract. Cowboy Hat asked where I was going and I said Alabama; he thought about this for a minute and then decided to have me step out of the car, then sit down on the passenger side in the Cowboy-mobile while he typed things up on his computer. He then began asking more questions, mostly about things that were none of his business (where I worked, what I did, how I could take a two-week vacation from my job to visit my family, why I live in Las Vegas, what my wife does there, where my luggage was, why I rented a car to drive out of town, etc.) When he began repeating questions that were already asked and answered, changing subject seemingly at random, and peppering them with questions about my history with the law \u2014 if I had any warrants out, if I\u2019d ever been in trouble, it became clear that he was using the standard cop procedure to try to put me off guard and work up an answer that would help him gin up some reasonable suspicion. Then Cowboy Hat came around directly to asking if I had any drugs in the car. Nope. Any guns? Nope. Any cocaine? Nope. Any marijuana? Nope. I should have forgotten about trying to get back on the road quickly, and just trusted my instincts earlier that this was where the whole thing was going and simply said that he had my identification and I would not answer any more questions without an attorney. This wouldn\u2019t have changed my situation with him any \u2014 it was clear enough by now that he was going to do anything he could to get to a search of the car, but it would have made me feel better and relieved me of having to try to explain my business to a belligerent armed stranger who believes that it is his job to try to trip up, manipulate and lie to the Suspect Individuals he forces off the road.\n\nIn any case, at this point Cowboy Hat wrapped up by asking me if he could look in the trunk. I told him, calmly, Not without a warrant. The dramatic irony here is that I knew there was in fact nothing at all in the trunk \u2014 literally nothing, not even my underwear; just the rental company\u2019s spare tire and jack. I had no drugs or guns to find anywhere in the car, and I had left all my luggage plainly visible in the back seat. But I do not believe in allowing police to search me or anything of mine without a warrant. I value my privacy, and I do not believe in giving government police any latitude to harass or humiliate random people off the street. (There is in any case no possible legal benefit to helping out the police in their efforts to search, seize or question; you may as well make them work for it.)\n\nTo his partial credit, Cowboy Hat didn\u2019t go out of his way to try and further bully or intimidate me after that. (I\u2019d say he was polite, but of course there is no way to be polite to someone when you\u2019ve used coercion to pull them off the road, while they are minding their own business, and interrogated them about a lot of things which are none of your business.) He simply said that he was giving me a warning for the speed, and he would be calling a canine unit to do an open-air search with a drug sniffing dog. I shrugged and waited in the SUV. While we were waiting for the handler and the dog to arrive, Cowboy Hat suggestively informed me that I seemed a bit nervous, as if he meets a lot of people every day who love to be pulled over and interrogated by highway police.\n\nAfter a very short time \u2014 maybe 2 or 3 minutes at most \u2014 another SUV comes down the highway and pulls over onto the shoulder. Another cowboy hat gets out \u2014 we\u2019ll call him Officer Friendly with what looks like a golden retriever. They then commence to engage in the Supreme Court-approved method of ginning up Probable Cause for a warrantless forced search when you don\u2019t have any; it looks something like this. Officer Friendly jogs all the way around the car with the dog at a run. Then at a slightly slower pace he directs the dog over to the car, pulls back a little on the leash to get the dog to jump up and stick its face at the door or window, and jogs down a bit to the next part of the car. When it\u2019s jumping up at the passenger-side front door the same way it jumped up at the other doors, the dog paws at the door a bit. They come back around and do the same trick again. I guess this is signalling. Of course, this is odd, since I know that there are no drugs in the car. There are, however, food from breakfast and wrappers from some gas-station snacks in the front seat.\n\nOfficer Friendly comes over to talk to Cowboy Hat for a minute then turns to me to ask whether there are any illegal drugs in the car. Nope. Any guns? Nope. Cowboy Hat then informs me that the dog signaled and that he is going to search the car. The passenger-side window was rolled down to talk to him when he first made the stop, so he goes over and unlocks the car at that door, then starts rifling through my stuff in the front seat and the back seat while I sit in the SUV and wait. Officer Friendly comes by, I guess to watch me.\n\nHe\u2019s a chatty fellow and tries to talk. I guess it\u2019s possible he was doing a Good Cop/Bad Cop thing in tandem with Cowboy Hat to try to get more information or check my story, but I don\u2019t think he had much invested one way or the other in the bust and didn\u2019t ask much in the way of direct questions, so I chatted with him about websites and college football. Meanwhile Cowboy Hat is now rifling through my luggage in the back, dragging out my box of book and pamphlets to look through, and finally comes back around to demand the keys for the trunk. The dog didn\u2019t indicate anything at all anywhere near the trunk, but whoever said probable cause has to be very probable? He takes the keys and opens up the trunk, to find nothing at all in it. He stands there staring for a minute and then picks up the cover to look down at the spare tire compartment. He stands there staring for another minute, feels around in the compartment, and finally shuts the trunk. But while he\u2019d gotten what he asked for, he hadn\u2019t gotten what he wanted. I expected I\u2019d be done in another minute, but instead Cowboy Hat goes around and spends another five or ten minutes opening up the hood and staring at the engine block, feeling around under the car to find my magic compartment or whatever he expected, and finally tossing everything back into the backseat and closing up the car.\n\nHe gives the keys back and has Officer Friendly hand me back my driver\u2019s license and printed citation. Officer Friendly tries to shrug off the obvious false positive from the dog-sniff, and says that, since it was a rental, there\u2019s No knowing what was in that car the day before yesterday. I shrug and Cowboy Hat mutters that I\u2019m free to go and I should drive safe, at which point I waited for the next opportunity, got back on the road, and changed my planned route so as to spend as little time on Texas highways as possible (I was going to take I-40 to I-20 through Dallas; instead I took I-40 across the panhandle, straight through to Oklahoma City and on to Memphis). I didn\u2019t take down the time, but my subjective recollection is that the whole thing took about half an hour or so.\n\nOn my way from Vega to Amarillo and out of the state, I noticed that the Highway Patrol was everywhere \u2014 there had been one stop I saw before Cowboy Hat stopped me, and by the time I got past Amarillo I saw a total of 7 or 8 other cars pulled over, with more than one of them involving multiple lights-flashing patrol cars on a single pulled-over car, and more than one with another person being obviously interrogated at the side of the road. I wonder how many of them were trying to work their way up to a search like the one inflicted on me. Given the response time for the dog handler on my own search, it\u2019s obvious that they were keeping the dogs nearby. I don\u2019t know, but given the obviously pretextual stop in my case, the really dense police presence, and the high number of multiple-cruiser stops, I wonder whether this was part of another stupid drug corridor sweep.\n\nAs for the search: it was based on suspicion that consisted entirely of the fact that I was very slightly over the speed limit (no more so than surrounding traffic), that I was driving a rental car from out of state, and Cowboy Hat\u2019s completely unquantifiable gut feeling that I must be hiding something. When I refused to consent to a baseless search this was taken as reason to detain me longer and find a way to carry out the search by hook or by crook. The hook in this case was a farcical ritual in which a dog was jogged around the car to get a signal which I know to have been a false positive, so that Cowboy Hat could toss my books and papers, pop my car\u2019s hood, and rifle through my underwear. I never had any drugs and in fact I have never carried drugs or a gun in my car in my entire life. If I had, this would, of course, be a peaceful lifestyle choice that is none of Cowboy Hat\u2019s business anyway. But I hadn\u2019t, and the fact that the magical dog-search was used to justify a warrantless contraband search of a random car pulled over on something that couldn\u2019t even merit a traffic ticket is a good indication of just how secure you are in your person, papers, and effects these days. There are, I guess, four possible explanations of why the dog signaled in the first place. I know that it is not because there were drugs in the car (as Cowboy Hat found out); that leaves us with the following:\n\nIt could have been a fraudulently-obtained false positive. Handlers of course have no trouble making trained dogs do more or less whatever they want them to do. You might think that it\u2019s uncharitable to believe that police would do this as a pretext for an otherwise-baseless search, but given the long history of acknowledged police abuse, the incessant series of baseless asset forfeiture cases, and the weekly parade of corruption stories, I have no reason to extend the benefit of the doubt to a random cop off the street. It could be a simple false positive; sometimes dogs do the things that human trainers interpret as a signal, even though they didn\u2019t smell anything, either for reasons of their own or because they are expected to. There\u2019s no way to ask the dog for clarification, of course. Without any conscious manipulation police dogs have been observed to give absurdly high false-positive rates, especially when handlers subconsciously signal the fact that they expect to find something. It could be that the dog was jumping at the food I had in my passenger-side front seat \u2014 there were left-overs from breakfast and snack-wrappers there, and if the dog could smell drugs he no doubt could smell breakfast too. As I repeatedly told Cowboy Hat (because he repeatedly asked), this was a rental car which I had had for all of one day (which was clear from the rental contract). Of course, it\u2019s possible that the dog really smelled drug residue; although I have no reason to assume that that\u2019s the case. But if it is the case, I was, after all, driving a car that had been driven by hundreds of people before me. Any one of them could have put anything in the car.\n\nSome of these explanations are more benign and others are more malign. But whichever explanation is the correct one, it ought to be a reminder how incredibly thin and really stupid this sort of evidence is as a probable cause basis for holding me or anybody else hostage and rifling through our stuff. Given how absurdly little transparency there is in the training and handling of police dogs, that dogs are far more likely than not to signal when subconsciously primed by their handlers, that the signals are all common dog behaviors that may be provoked by any number of things, and that even if the signal is in some sense accurate, in a case like mine there is no way to determine whether it came from anything I did or from something that any one of a hundred people before me did, causes for search can get by on being pretty improbable.\n\nI am glad that I stood up for my rights in all this, whether or not I had anything to hide. I\u2019d do the same in a heartbeat, and would in fact cooperate less than I did. I should say that there are a couple respects in which I was just plain lucky. I happened not to be carrying any drugs or guns, but if I were, there is no reason why I ought to be subjected to this kind of interrogation, or search, or hauled away to be locked in a cage at the end of it. I am lucky that Cowboy Hat, unlike some cops, did not choose to escalate his intimidation tactics when I asserted my rights, although if he had I would have stuck to my refusal all the more firmly. I am relatively privileged, as far as law-force encounters go, in that I\u2019m white, Anglo, no longer a teenager, and seem obviously to be what the cops would consider middle class. If I spoke with a different accent, or had a different color of skin, or looked younger, I would no doubt have had it even worse. And it is just sheer, dumb luck that, besides not carrying any drugs or guns in the car, I also was not carrying any significant amount of cash (I had all of $3 in singles in my wallet).\n\nWhether or not they found anything, no matter how flimsy the pretext, had I been carrying any amount of cash above what Cowboy Hat personally felt to be reasonable and lawful, I could quite probably have been subject to asset forfeiture, based on nothing more than the sniff-test and the amount of the money. It\u2019s happened plenty of tims before, including with Texas cops. If I had had cash, and they decided to seize it, it would almost certainly be gone forever; the money would be kept back in Texas, and the burden would be on me to prove (how?) that it wasn\u2019t drug-related. Lots of people are, unfortunately, much less fortunate than I am in some or all of these respects, and are subjected to all kinds of hell on similarly flimsy grounds (the car, it was 5mph over the speed limit! the dog, she barked! I had a feeling!). I was just lucky.\n\nThe consolation in all this is twofold.\n\nFirst, the entire experience was exasperating, but since I knew ahead of time that there was nothing \u2014 literally nothing \u2014 in the trunk, I did get the minor satisfaction of watching Cowboy Hat standing around like a jackass staring at an empty trunk, peeking with fading hope at the spare tire, and then spending the next few minutes wandering around trying to find some kind of secret compartment in my engine block or under the car.\n\nSecond, while I was subjected to a flimsy stop, a harassing interrogation, and an utterly bogus forced search, I asserted my rights, and while they were harassing me, Cowboy Hat, Officer Friendly, and their magic golden retriever were off the road for a good half-hour or more, occupied on petty harassment of me with nothing at all to show for their effort at the end of it. That all sucks, but the minor consolation is that at least while they wasted their time on me, the road was that much more open for honest drug-dealers, gun-smugglers and people with cash under their seat to drive through unmolested. I didn\u2019t volunteer for this, but given that I was drafted into it I consider making the cops work for their search, and this entire waste of police time and resources, to be a minor act of public service to my fellow motorists, who might have came out of it worse than I did.\n\nSee also:"}
-{"text": "The European CityMobil2 project aims to demonstrate automated road transport systems in Europe, develop guidelines to design and implemented such systems and propose a legal framework for certifying such systems.\n\nOne of their key activities is to demonstrate autonomous buses operating in various European cities. From July until today (September 4) two autonomous electric buses supplied by French company Robosoft carried passengers on a 1.3km pedestrian stretch next ta a beach near Oristano in southern Italy. The small-scale demonstration operated on 38 days and transported 1600 persons in 3000 trips.\n\nEach bus was overseen by an experienced bus driver at all times; for legal and insurance reasons all passengers had to register as \u2018testers\u2019 before boarding. Participation and acceptance \u2013 also on part of the professional bus drivers recruited for the demo (who could have been worried that the buses were an early step towards replacing them) \u2013 were very positive.\n\nValuable lessons were learned during the demo. Not everything worked as expected. For safety purposes, the car\u2019s maximum speed was reduced from the planned 15 to 20km/h to 12km/h. This was due to the large number of pedestrians which were on the road at peak times and technical issues that had to do with sensor range.\n\nThe autonomous operation was also limited because of problems with GPS reception. Localization was uniquely based on GPS \u2013 which is not a very practical approach for autonomous vehicles (fortunately the next demonstrators will use additional localization mechanisms). Before the demonstrator started, trees had been cut back to ensure good GPS reception but nevertheless during todays live demonstration in a webinar GPS reception was spotty and the driver had to manually override the vehicle.\n\nAnother critical problem has hampered the project in the last few days: The sensors started to report non-existing obstacles. This causes the bus to stop immediately. Because of this problem, the bus had to be driven manually for the live demonstration. Surprisingly the team did not have an explanation for this problem. Robosoft is epxected to analyze the problem to determine the cause. But it is hard to understand that such a critical issue is neither analyzed nor fixed when it arises.\n\nWe applaud the hard work that has been put into these demonstrators. But the demonstrator also shows that Europe needs to become much more serious in its efforts to develop autonomous vehicles if it does not want to get completely outdistanced by the American competition.\n\nSources: CityMobil2 webinar on 2014-09-04, CityMobil2"}
-{"text": "Decentralized applications (dApp) has started making the headlines since 2018. As the crypto bear market extends into 2019 and gambling dApps which help EOS and Tron rise to compete with Ethereum as host blockchains begin to lose momentum, will the hype around the dApp field die down this year?\n\nData from the decentralized app tracker DappReview shows the dApp ecosystem seems to be thriving in terms of user numbers as new users continued to grow over the past two months.But on the other hand, the average daily trading volumes in the dApp markets of EOS, Tron and Ethereum dropped by 60-70 percent during this year\u2019s Spring Festival holiday from February 1 to Feb. 10, compared with the December figure.\n\nWhy did this happen? According to DappReview, as China has the most players in developing and using decentralized gambling which records the most dApps among all categories, the Chinese New Year celebrations led to the decreasing activities on major dApp platforms. Moreover, big miners\u2019 flagging interest in mining \u201cgame tokens\u201d was also blamed for the decreasing trading volume.\n\nLast but not least, although new users continue to flock to dApps, the lack of high-quality blockchain-based applications on the three public chains can hardly retain users and do little to increase trading volume and activities.\n\nTron has surpassed Ethereum and EOS in dApp Usage owing to the thriving of games on the platform with mining and gaming modes. Over the past two months, dApp users on Tron blockchain reached 267,000, followed by EOS ( 197,000) and Ethereum (151,000).\n\nWhen it comes to active users(addresses), Tron dominates the competition, too. During the same period of time, active users on Tron reached 16,236 who traded more than 60 times with over 6,000 TRX tokens each time. In comparion, there were 13,845 active addresses on EOS who traded more than 60 times with over 60 EOS each time, and the active user number on Ethereum was only 2133, referring to those who traded more than 60 times with 1.5 ETH each time.\n\nThe top 1,000 addresses contribute more than 80 percent of transaction volumes in the dApp market of EOS, TRON or Ethereum. The remaining hundreds of thousands of addresses are responsible for 20% of trading volumes.\n\nDappReview notes that Tron and EOS has outperformed Ethereum in the dApp industry. Besides, the real users on these three popular dApp blockchains have ranged between 2,000 to 6,000 every day, and the relatively stable market is waiting for the next blockbuster game.\n\nDapp Review thinks enthusiasm for dApps does not diminish, but miners and gambling dApps have entered a down cycle. If the dApp industry wants to gain more traction in 2019, it should focus on valuable projects and real-world use."}
-{"text": "As a truck screeches to a halt on an Indian highway in the middle of the night, devout young Hindus armed with sticks scramble inside, searching for cows they consider sacred.\n\nAlmost every night, the vigilantes lie in wait for suspected cattle smugglers in the desert state of Rajasthan, ready to fight to protect the animals, a revered symbol of India's majority Hindu religion.\n\n\"Smugglers often open fire or try to run us over. I even get death threats but nothing bothers me,\" said Babulal Jangir, a leader of the Gau Raksha Dal (Cow Protection Squad).\n\n\"My heart beats only for my dear cow mother.\"\n\nCow slaughter and consumption of beef are banned in Rajasthan and many other states of officially secular India, which has substantial Muslim and Christian populations.\n\nBut the recent killing of at least three Muslims suspected of eating beef or smuggling cows by Hindu mobs have heightened fears of rising violence against India's religious minorities.\n\nThe deaths have also sparked a wider debate about growing religious intolerance since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government came to power at general elections last May.\n\nDozens of authors have returned India's highest literary award in protest over the rise in violence, which they fear includes the recent murder of a secular intellectual, while petitions demanding government action have attracted signature from scientists, actors and filmmakers.\n\nThe government has been accused of failing to rein in Hindu hardliners, while its ministers have at times appeared to be inflaming the debate.\n\nModi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a crushing blow in a weekend state election, in part, analysts say, because of its attempts to polarise voters along religious lines.\n\n- Beaten to death -\n\nIn September, a Muslim family was attacked outside Delhi by a group of Hindus after false rumours they were keeping beef in their home. The father was beaten to death and his son was severely injured.\n\nStory continues\n\nSeveral other incidents were reported weeks later, including the killing of a truck driver in northern Himachal Pradesh state for attempting to smuggle cattle to a slaughter house.\n\nCritics say Hindu hardliners and their radical elements have become more emboldened since Modi's landslide victory last year.\n\nJangir said his squad has grown to some 20,000 members, ranging from farmers to lawyers and teachers, along with a fast growing network of informers prowling Rajasthan's major roads.\n\n\"It is extremely disturbing when ordinary people take the law into their hands,\" said Zafarul Islam Khan, president of the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, a leading Muslim body.\n\n\"They (right-wing groups) have their goons going around saying 'we will dispense justice, there is no need for courts'. What is really sad is that they seem to enjoy police and political patronage,\" he said.\n\nBut Jangir, who runs a furniture business, has no sympathy for beef eaters and his team have no qualms about dispensing \"rough justice\", usually in the form of beatings.\n\n\"Anyone who eats cow meat should be handed the death sentence,\" the 42-year-old said, adjusting buckles on his bullet-proof vest.\n\nOn the night an AFP team joined one of their patrols, the mob became heated when cows were found inside a stopped truck.\n\nThe anxious driver was finally allowed to proceed when he produced documents showing the cows were headed for a dairy, not an illegal slaughter house or across the border to Bangladesh where beef is in high demand.\n\n\"Our Hindu scriptures say 330 million gods and goddesses reside in one cow,\" said Manoj Jangir, another squad member, who has a degree in political administration.\n\n- 'Our blood starts boiling' -\n\nThe BJP has rejected the violence and denies local media reports the Modi government is moving to introduce a nationwide ban on cow slaughter.\n\n\"No one can indulge in any kind of violence. We don't support these groups,\" GVL Narsimha Rao, a BJP spokesman, told AFP.\n\nIn southern Kerala and the remote northeast -- areas with large Christian populations -- beef is legally and widely consumed.\n\nBut in Rajasthan and other states, eating, killing or selling cows is a non-bailable offence, though the consumption of buffalos is allowed as they are less revered. In western Maharashtra, offenders can be jailed for up to five years.\n\nStill, an illegal trade thrives in trucking cows across the country into Muslim-majority Bangladesh.\n\n\"It is a kind of do or die thing for us. When we see how cows are stuffed inside trucks our blood starts boiling,\" said Maniram Babu, 31, a mechanic and squad member.\n\n\"We get very emotional and then we can't stop ourselves from teaching them (the smugglers) a lesson or two.\""}
-{"text": "Unfortunately, a well-reasoned critique of consumer capitalism isn\u2019t enough to stop the tears of your betrayed loved ones when you have rightfully boycotted \u201cThe Holidays.\u201d And while \u201cplanting a tree in your name\u201d seems to be entirely socially acceptable, \u201cI wrote your name on a rock and threw it at a cop\u201d seems not to be.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t want anything\u201d seems to be equally taboo.\n\nSo, for all of those who have to shop for a critical theorist, radical or metaphysical asshole, you may behold the commodification of the revolution.\n\nOr jump to these categories: Movies \u2013 Wearables \u2013 Art \u2013 Books\n\nKnick Knacks\n\nRadical Amigurumis\n\n\u201cAmigurumi is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting stuffed animals, people or inanimate objects. The word \u2018amigurumi\u2019 is derived from merging the Japanese words \u2018ami\u2019, meaning \u2018knitted\u2019 or \u2018crocheted\u2019, and \u2018nuigurumi\u2019, meaning stuffed \u2018doll\u2019\u201d\n\nCheck them out here.\n\nNoam Chomsky Candle\n\nPay homage to the patron saint of fighting imperialist propaganda with a Noam Chomsky candle.\n\nVia Unemployed Philosopher\u2019s Guild.\n\nKarl Marx Piggy Bank\n\nVia Amazon.\n\nPhilosopher Finger Puppets\n\nWill to Power Bar\n\n\n\nVia Unemployed Philosopher\u2019s Guild.\n\nJames Baldwin Pillows\n\nVia Etsy.\n\nNietzsche Dishwasher Magnets\n\nVia Amazon.\n\nNietzsche Mug\n\n\n\nVia Etsy.\n\nRosa Luxemburg Tea Towel\n\n\n\nI don\u2019t fully understand what a tea towel is, as a brutish American, but it\u2019s cool nonetheless.\n\nVia Radical Tea Towels.\n\nFreudian Sips Mug\n\nVia Amazon.\n\nHegel Phone Case\n\n\n\nVia Zazzle.\n\nCritical-Theory.com Bookmarks\n\nMore shameless self promotion. Sweet book not included.\n\nHelp support us and grab some rad bookmarks on Etsy.\n\nCheesy Heidegger Ornament\n\nVia Zazzle.\n\nClass Struggle Board Game\n\nCopies are hard to find of this 1978 classic, and tend to be very expensive. But if you\u2019ve got a few hundred bucks to blow, why not?\n\nVia Amazon."}
-{"text": "Get Top Online 50 Courses Learn for Electrical Engineering Free\n\n\n\n\n\nRegardless of whether you are a secondary school understudy anticipating graduating and proceeding onward to a vocation in electrical designing or somebody hoping to return and concentrate an unexpected field in comparison to the one in which you presently work, it very well may be hard to discover projects and courses fit to your requirements that likewise are reasonable. All things considered, on account of the web, associations between advanced education establishments and open courseware suppliers, and new permitting rules for Electrical Engineering Setup to Online. , it is conceivable to learn electrical building on the web. What's more, for this situation, we chose to add to the arrangement and scour the web for the most trustworthy, dependable wellsprings of data on electrical building that just so happen to be free.\n\n\n\n\n\nTo make our rundown, the assets must be from specialists with long periods of experience, top colleges, or potentially driving experts in electrical designing. We likewise looked for assets that incorporate a few highlights or themes identified with electrical designing, so you can take advantage of your time and get a few administrations from one asset. A few of the assets we've picked gotten rave surveys from past and flow understudies who exceedingly prescribe them to individuals simply starting to ponder electrical building. What's more, remember, they are for the most part free. We offer 50 of the best assets for learning electrical designing here, in no specific request.\n\n\n\n\n\nMost Important to Guide Learn by Free Electrical Engineering Program Online\n\n\n\n\n\nMITOpenCourseWare gives address notes, tests, and recordings with no required enrollment. The course most appropriate for those trying to learn electrical building is Circuits and Electronics, which incorporates in excess of 20 video addresses.\n\n\n\n\n\nMAKE magazine is on YouTube, conveying DIY to innovation. For individuals who need to learn electrical designing on the web, Collin Cunningham's MAKE Series is an ideal spot to begin. Many recordings including Collin and his skill are accessible on YouTube, complete with showings and clarifications on Electrical Engineering Free Programming Setup.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Digital Library is refreshed and incorporates objects made and worked by teachers from the Fox Valley Technical College and different universities in the Wisconsin Technical College System. The learning objects are proposed for instructors and understudies. The Electromechanical Library's emphasis is on gadgets, frameworks, and applications, and incorporates a vigorous gathering important to individuals who need to contemplate electrical building.\n\n\n\n\n\nDarryl Morrell gives instructional recordings covering a wide scope of electrical building points on his YouTube channel. Instructive and amusing to watch, Darryl has in excess of 15,000 endorsers and 3,000,000 perspectives. His recordings incorporate data about DC Circuit Analysis, AC Circuit Analysis, Signals, and that's only the tip of the iceberg.\n\n\n\n\n\nArduino is an \"open-source gadgets prototyping stage dependent on adaptable, simple to-utilize equipment and programming.\" The best part about Arduino is that they give materials to buy just as free online video instructional exercises so amateurs in electrical designing can pick up hands-on understanding and practice.\n\n\n\n\n\nWith in excess of 70 electrical building courses to browse, the National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) is a standout amongst the most helpful online assets for anybody keen on concentrate electrical designing. Different sorts of courses are accessible from NPTEL, including video, web, and those with a schedule, among others. Peruse the course titles and pick that that best fit your requirements\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "In the summer of 2017, George Norcross, the South Jersey political power broker, put out an \"urgent\" request to meet with Phil Murphy, the Democratic nominee for governor.\n\nNorcross, a wealthy insurance executive and perhaps the most powerful unelected Democrat in the state, was alarmed. He had just gotten word that a top Murphy lieutenant was quietly plotting to depose Senate President Stephen Sweeney, a close political ally of Norcross and a friend stretching back to their high school days.\n\nSeveral Democratic senators had recently alerted Sweeney that they had been approached by Brendan Gill, Murphy's campaign manager, about the possibility of removing Sweeney from the Senate president post through a party caucus vote after the November election.\n\nNorcross said he caught up with Murphy that day at the Tropicana Hotel in Atlantic City. An \"astonished\" Murphy denied any knowledge of Gill's efforts and argued that \"nobody in his right mind\" would try to knock Sweeney from his perch, Norcross said in an interview last week.\n\nNJ legal weed:What we know after lawmakers kill the bill, say voters should decide\n\nWe take a closer look:Is Phil Murphy's foundation really like the Trump Foundation?\n\nNew Jersey:Graduation tests are the next battleground for NJ schools\n\nIf Gill was attempting to marshal votes, it certainly didn't happen with his approval, Murphy replied, according to Norcross' account. Norcross thought Murphy was lying. In his view, there was no way that Murphy's joined-at-the-hip campaign manager could carry out a coup plot without Murphy's blessing.\n\n\"He swore up and down that he was supporting [Sweeney],'' Norcross said. \"His nose had grown so long he had trouble getting out of the door.\"\n\nGill denied hatching any plan to dislodge Sweeney from the Senate president post, and Murphy's office declined to comment. Murphy allies were reluctant to get into a point-by-point rebuttal of Norcross \u2014 and Sweeney's claims. In the view of Murphy's allies, relitigating events of the 2017 campaign is a strategic, almost Trump-like diversion from the controversy of the moment: a sustained probe into tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks that were steered to companies and allies in Norcross' South Jersey orbit.\n\nBut in the eyes and the long memories of Norcross and Sweeney, all the bad blood with Murphy flows from this brief episode. In their eyes, it ratified suspicions that the progressive Murphy \u2014 who endorsed Sweeney's reelection \u2014 was a determined enemy and would attempt to defeat or defy them once in office.\n\nAnd in the process, Murphy has made an enemy out of Sweeney, who has control over the Senate and has the power to block large portions of Murphy's progressive agenda. The friction between the two could now determine the fate of Murphy's pledge to raise taxes on millionaires, the push to legalize marijuana and Sweeney's vow to squeeze cost cuts from public employee benefits.\n\n\"There is no question ... they wanted to show Sweeney who the boss was,'' Norcross said of the targeting of Sweeney. \"If you try to kill the king, you better make sure you kill him from a political standpoint.\"\n\nMurphy \"didn't want me here. It was clear,\" Sweeney said during a joint editorial board meeting with the Asbury Park Press and NorthJersey.com on Tuesday. He said the summer of 2017 coup attempt \"kind of speaks volumes, doesn't it?\"\n\nAs Norcross and Sweeney see it, Murphy's investigation into corporate tax breaks \u2014 which benefited Norcross and his allies \u2014 is proof of Murphy's intentions.\n\nTax break investigation brings spotlight\n\nYet, to some grassroots liberal groups, North Jersey Democrats and public employee unions, the intensive investigatory spotlight on tax breaks has brought a long-overdue reckoning for a Norcross-Sweeney political alliance that has dominated the Trenton agenda for far too long.\n\nThe panel of white-collar criminal lawyers, formed by Murphy and armed with subpoena power, is examining the 2013 tax incentive law, signed by Christie, that sparked a gold rush of companies to the waterfront in Camden, the economically depressed city near Philadelphia that Norcross has long championed.\n\nOf the $1.6 billion in tax breaks for companies that agreed to make capital investments in Camden, at least $1.1 billion went to Norcross\u2019 own insurance brokerage, his business partnerships and charitable affiliations, and clients of the law and lobbying firms of his brother Philip, an investigation by WNYC and ProPublica found.\n\nThe panel has raised questions about whether firms falsely threatened to leave the state in order to extract the tax incentives. The task force has a \u201ccriminal referral\u201d to an unnamed law enforcement agency regarding potentially unregistered lobbying related to the drafting of the 2013 law. The subject of the referral has not been disclosed.\n\nNorcross has unapologetically defended their work steering companies to Camden. The companies have helped spark a long-awaited renaissance in Camden. Norcross, who normally shuns the spotlight, has publicly lashed out at Murphy, accusing him of trying to \"smear\" his family.\n\nHis push-back crystallized Tuesday in the form of an expected lawsuit, claiming that the investigatory panel lacks the constitutional authority to operate. The suit also asserts that panel members have \"falsely and publicly accused\" him and his allied organizations of misconduct.\n\nDarryl Isherwood, a Murphy spokesman, maintained that the task force was to increase accountability, not carry out a political agenda. It was created in the wake of a state comptroller's report in January that found gross mismanagement of corporate subsidies.\n\n\u201cGovernor Murphy\u2019s task force has never been about one geography, one company or one person,\" Isherwood said in a statement. \"It has always been about ensuring that every dollar of taxpayer money is accounted for, and every promised job was created. The task force will continue its work until that job is complete.\u201d\n\nTeachers union gets political\n\nTension between Norcross and Sweeney and the Murphy campaign had been building long before that summer 2017 summit meeting at the Tropicana.\n\nThe New Jersey Education Association, the state's most powerful public employee union, with 200,000 teachers and staff, had put a bull's-eye on Sweeney's back in 2017. A year earlier, Sweeney canceled a promised Senate vote on a constitutional amendment guaranteeing annual state payments to the pension system.\n\nIt was the union's top priority, and Sweeney went quickly from savior to traitor.\n\nFurious NJEA officials then embarked on a plan for payback, recruiting Fran Grenier, a Salem County Republican and supporter of President Donald Trump, to defeat Sweeney in his reelection for the 3rd Legislative District, which includes parts of Salem, Gloucester and Cumberland counties.\n\nNorcross, who was involved in fundraising for Sweeney, worried that defending Sweeney would be costly and drain resources that could be better spent on other Democratic candidates in competitive races that fall. In a meeting with Murphy that spring, Norcross said he asked Murphy, who was endorsed by the NJEA, to have the union halt its campaign against Sweeney.\n\nMurphy declined, arguing that he lacked the authority to persuade the union to back off. To Sweeney and Norcross, that seemed implausible, given Murphy's status as a Democratic nominee, and \u2014 by all indications \u2014 the far-and-away front-runner to win in November.\n\nHis opponent, Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, trailed in fundraising, organizational support and the polls. That gave Murphy powerful leverage over the union, which, after eight years of being thrashed by Christie, was eager to have an ally in the governor's office. The union, in Norcross and Sweeney's view, had no choice but to heed Murphy's request.\n\n\"What are they going to do? Back Guadagno?'' Sweeney said in an interview. \"They [the NJEA] would have shut it down.\"\n\nTo some Murphy allies, the request to call a halt was unreasonable, given the NJEA's fury over Sweeney. One associate noted that Sweeney had set the union \"on fire\" with his actions and now was expecting Murphy to put it out.\n\nMurphy's reluctance only fostered the impression among the Norcross and Sweeney camp that Murphy tacitly approved of NJEA's plans to remove Sweeney and weaken the Norcross-South Jersey bloc in the Legislature.\n\nFailed coup attempt\n\nBy late summer in 2017, Sweeney got calls from a group of senators about Gill's overtures. He called Murphy. \"I said, Phil, my members are calling me. They wouldn\u2019t be calling me if it wasn\u2019t taking place,' \" Sweeney said.\n\nJoe Cryan, a former Union County assemblyman who was running for his first term in the Senate, confirmed that he was approached. He also said Gill \"hinted\" at the possibility of enlisting him as a candidate for Senate president, a move that would require a majority of the 25 Democratic senators.\n\nBut Cryan said he had already pledged his support for Sweeney. He declined to discuss the matter further.\n\nBob Gordon, a former Bergen County senator, was also approached. Gordon, who was appointed by Murphy to the Board of Public Utilities, declined to comment.\n\nHudson County Democrat Brian Stack, who is also the mayor of Union City, also was reportedlyapproached. Stack did not respond to a phone message seeking comment. And Sen. Nicholas Scutari of Union County recalled the idea being floated by someone connected to Murphy's campaign, but not Gill.\n\nScutari said he \"didn't take it seriously\" and dismissed it as the common kind of chatter about leadership changes often heard during campaign season.\n\nIn November, Sweeney returned to the Senate president's post, which he has held since 2010. Meanwhile, Murphy invited Norcross out to dinner in Red Bank in February 2018, making good on a friendly wager over the Super Bowl.\n\nIt may have been a chance to clear the air and hit the reset button on their relationship.\n\nNorcross said they talked sports and family and other topics. But there was no discussion about politics, he said."}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\nPhoto by Justa Jeskova\n\n\n\n\n\nAN OPEN LETTER TO ALL RIDERS\n\nDear Mountain Bikers,\n\n\n\nThe new Idaho Wilderness designation with its devastating loss of mountain bike trails; the emergence of the Sustainable Trails Coalition attempting to secure congressional legislation opening up access to some trails in some Wilderness; the increased activity from pro Wilderness groups around the country and IMBA's release of its 2016 Advocacy Position have generated a long overdue conversation about bicycles in Wilderness. Several people have asked me for my position.\n\n\n\nI believe that mountain biking is compatible with the history and philosophy of Wilderness designation. We should be allowed on some trails in some Wilderness areas. We should certainly be allowed on trails we rode before they were designated Wilderness. We've lost far too many.\n\n\n\nIn the United States, designated Wilderness is the label we apply to the wildest, most natural, most undeveloped places and until 1984, early mountain bikers rode in the Wilderness. The very essence of mountain biking is to ride through places like this; to experience the sights, sounds, and smells; to feel the bike as it moves along the trail, to taste the air, the sweat and the dirt. The idea that mountain biking is or is not compatible with the wildest places spills over into all other access arguments. The facts are with us on this one and it's a battle we must win.\n\n\n\nThe Wilderness ban is bad public policy and it's clearly not what the authors of the iconic 1964 Wilderness Act intended.\n\n"}
-{"text": "Sylvia Joseph, a school bus driver, wasn't worried when co-workers delivered the bad news on Sept. 6.\n\nWhile she was out on her route, Newark police had ticketed and towed her car for being parked when the street was to be cleaned on North 13th Street between Fourth and Park avenues.\n\nJoseph knew the city had messed up, because she had gotten a similar ticket once before. Last year's ticket, issued by the Newark Parking Authority, and this latest ticket from Newark police -- should have never been written.\n\nShe received the same $45 ticket on Sept. 20, 2017, but this time she was also hit with a $138 towing fee.\n\n\"I'll get it back,\" said Joseph, a Newark resident. \"They're going to hate to see me coming again.\"\n\nThat section of North 13th Street where she received the ticket is not listed in the municipal street sweeping ordinances. (I know because I wrote a column about last year's ticket, too).\n\nOnly two sections of North 13th Street, from Davenport to Third Avenue and from Third to Springdale Avenue, are listed in city ordinances.\n\nLast year, Joseph went to court and told municipal prosecutors there was no signage that said motorists couldn't park on the street. There weren't any street poles, either.\n\nBenjamin Ramos, chief of Traffic Signals Maintenance and Operations, confirmed her complaint last year when an investigation was done the same day. He wrote a letter to the court that said her ticket should be dismissed.\n\nIt was, but Joseph still wasn't satisfied. She wanted to know how people would know that they should not park on the street if there aren't any signs.\n\nThe court, she said, told her that the city did not have to post the street signs. That explanation didn't make sense to her (or to me), or Ramos, who had said federal law requires signs to be installed. The issue reached City Clerk Ken Louis, who said the ticket should not have been written once he saw that the city's street sweeping ordinances didn't include the block where Joseph was parked.\n\nThe parking authority, which uses city ordinances as a guide to issue tickets, said it would not monitor that street anymore, and Newark was supposed to install accurate signs so motorists would not be confused about parking on the street.\n\nWe now know that didn't happen. Instead, the city actually installed no parking during street sweeping signs.\n\nJoseph said she continued to park on the street where her job is located and didn't have any problems until Sept. 6 of this year.\n\nThe Newark police officer, not realizing that residents could actually park on the street, ticketed and towed several cars, including Joseph's. She filed her complaint a week later on Sept. 12, and that's when the city realized it had erred - again.\n\nIn a letter to Joseph, Ramos wrote the city is aware that there is no ordinance for street sweeping on the street where she received the ticket for the second time.\n\nHe copied the municipal court administrator, and requested that Joseph's summons be dismissed.\n\n\"The signs should of never been put back up due to no ordinance for street cleaning,\" he wrote on a traffic ticket complaint sheet.\n\nKimberly Singleton, manager of the Division of Traffic & Signals, has now solved the problem once and for all -- we hope. A day after Joseph filed her complaint, Singleton had all of the signs on that street removed.\n\nIn the meantime, Joseph will be reimbursed. She filed a claim with the law department.\n\nBut, what about the other people who were ticketed and towed that day?\n\nThey're clueless.\n\nIf they're reading this story, the city owes them a refund. (Make sure you have the ticket and tow receipt.)\n\nAnd, write a thank you note to Ms. Joseph. She was on the case last year and knew what to do when the same mistake happened again.\n\nRead More\n\n'This place is an institution.' Clothing store closing after 119 years.\n\nPrincipal gave bullied kids a way to wash clothes at school, now Ellen gave him $50K\n\n'Experienced in grief,' New Jersey's 9/11 families help others cope\n\nBarry Carter may be reached at bcarter@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BarryCarterSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook."}
-{"text": "This video has been removed for right reasons.\n\nSinger George Michael has died aged 53, his publicist has said.\n\nAndy Moore takes a look back at his career."}
-{"text": "Robots are increasingly replacing humans in a variety of mundane tasks, like bolting a car together or making lollipops, but now they are moving into the security business.\n\nMicrosoft recently installed a fleet of 5-feet-tall, 300-pound robots to protect its Silicon Valley campus. The robots are packed with HD security cameras and sensors to take in their organic, protein-based surroundings. There\u2019s also an artificial intelligence on board that can sound alarms when the robot notices something awry. It can also read license plates and cross-reference them to see if they\u2019re stolen.\n\nThe K5 robots come from a California company called Knightscope, which calls the robots \u201cautonomous data machines\u201d that provide a \u201ccommanding but friendly presence.\u201d Sounds like something a robot manufacturer would say.\n\nLet\u2019s be honest though, the robots look pretty damn cool. They\u2019re like modern versions of R2-D2.\n\nThankfully\u2014or sadly, depending on how you look at it\u2014the K5 robots don\u2019t have any weapons on them. All they can do is assess a situation, sound an alarm to defuse it, or call a human security officer to the scene. There are, however, plans equip the robots with tasers sometime in the future.\n\nMicrosoft\u2019s new protectors are fairly autonomous. A single charge will last 24 hours, and if the robot notices that its battery is getting low, it will return to a charging port and plug itself in. It can fully recharge in 20 minutes, which is pretty insane.\n\nThere are plans to one day expand the use of Knightscope\u2019s robots and have them patrol the streets as part of human police units. We can\u2019t even imagine what would happen if Elon Musk heard about this.\n\nUpdate 6:54pm CT, Nov. 24: Microsoft has recently put up a blog post clarifying exactly what\u2019s going on with these patrol bots: While the bots are for security, they aren\u2019t being used at Microsoft. At a recent Microsoft event, Knightscope showed off its K5 Autonomous Data Machines. The blog post described the K5 as \u201ca security robot that provides a commanding but friendly physical presence for onsite security.\u201d\n\nThe bots, while hosted at Microsoft, are not part of the campus\u2019 security. \u201cAt Microsoft, we love robots of all shapes and sizes. However, we do not have robots providing security on our campus.\u201d Hopefully in the future, these bots will find employment.\n\nH/T Extreme Tech | Videos/Photos: \u00a9 Knightscope, Inc. 2014 (www.knightscope.com)"}
-{"text": "David Cassidy is in critical condition, and his organs are shutting down.\n\nHe was admitted to a Florida hospital three days ago and is currently in induced coma, TMZ reports.\n\nThe Partridge Family alum apparently is suffering from liver and kidney failure, and in dire need of transplants. A source told the outlet that the situation is \"looking grim.\"\n\nThe singer's health has apparently been in decline for the past two months.\n\nCassidy's family is said to be by his side at the hospital and have been told to prepare for the worst.\n\nCassidy's health made headlines back in March when he revealed he was battling dementia. His condition came to light after a troubling on-stage performance caused many to show concern for the former teen idol's health."}
-{"text": "When it comes to Spurs, The Fighting Cock very rarely get it wrong. Therefore who better than the TFC team and guests to predict what will happen this season. Case, Windy, Bardi, Ricky, Flav, Rob White, Thelonious and James Maw have looked into their crystal balls and predicted what will happen this year. Please note, should you make any money by betting on our predictions, please send 10% of your winnings to us. Have a great season. Love the shirt, sing your heart out and Come On You Spurs!!!\n\nWhat are you most looking forward to about the forthcoming season?\n\nCaseTFC: Making The Fighting Cock website a paid membership service and rinsing some Spurs fans for their hard-earned cash.\n\nBardiTFC: The look of horror on the face of Pochettino\u2019s translator as the Argentinian offers to insert Chirpy into Neil Ashton via Andros Townsend\u2019s forehead. Failing that the commentary \u201cHarry Kane scores his first England hattrick\u201d with the image of the striker pulling up his shirt to reveal the message \u2018Windy, this is for you! F*ck you Flav'\u201d\n\nRickyTFC: Apart from recording the podcast, drinking expensive cans of beer in the Bell & Hare beer garden with my Tottenham fwends and missing my train stop because of excess drinking from a glorious win, I\u2019d have to say a playing style and Erik Lamela.\n\nRobaWhite: I\u2019m most looking forward to the end of the season! No, seriously excited to see if Poch can make a difference. As ever eagerly anticipating the first home match.\n\nWindyCOYS: On the pitch \u2013 an exciting new attacking philosophy that combines defensive structure with creative freedom. We have so much untapped potential in the squad, and I\u2019m looking forward to seeing what Pochettino can do.\n\nOff the pitch \u2013 plenty of 1882 (with shoes well and truly on), some away days and, of course, recording the podcast.\n\nFlav_Bateman: Singing songs at Tottenham; signing shirts; posing for pictures; pouting. Tits.\n\nSpooky23: The moment Roberto Soldado controls the ball with the back of his neck, loops it over his head, lets it run down his chest onto his foot, flicks it up and hits it on the volley into the corner of the goal from 35 yards out to complete his first half hat-trick against the scum at their swamp.\n\nTheloniousFilth: 1882 nights, drunken away days, and a more eye-catching playing style courtesy of our new manager.\n\nJamesMawFFT: Seeing Erik Lamela in a dinner jacket on Instagram when he wins PFA Player of the Year.\n\nWhat do you think our new manager\u2019s biggest challenge is?\n\nCaseTFC: Winning the Premier League in his first season\u2026 blindfolded.\n\nBardiTFC: Coming to terms with the expectation levels at White Hart Lane. We want to win, and we want to win well.\n\nRickTFC: Pochettino is well known for his high pressing tactics, i\u2019d say his biggest challenge is getting his team to maintain that tempo for 90 minutes. Good luck with that Sweatienne Capoue.\n\nRobaWhite: Working with Mr Levy. Managing expectations of the natives.\n\nWindyCOYS: Getting the best out of players that he didn\u2019t sign, and wouldn\u2019t necessarily have chosen. But having seen what he did with some of Southampton\u2019s players, I\u2019ve every faith in him getting the best out of at least some of them.\n\nFlav_Bateman: Harry Kane.\n\nSpooky23: Making sure he avoids eye to eye contact with Chirpy. How can anyone trust a chicken that looks like something George Lucas would use in a Star Wars prequel, walking around the stadium touching up kids and adults with limp arm shakes and pats on the back? Pure evil. Stay away Poch, or you\u2019ll be a broken man like AVB.\n\nTheloniousFilth: Convincing the world that Kyle Naughton is a professional footballer.\n\nJamesMawFFT: Winning over those moaners and groaners in the crowd who barely gave AVB a chance \u2013 particularly with Redknapp (and Hoddle) returning for our first home game of the season. If he does that, there\u2019s just the small matter of placating Levy.\n\nWho will be the first name on the team sheet on opening day?\n\nCaseTFC: Hugo Lloris.\n\nBardiTFC: Christian Eriksen, he started to prove last season that he has the power to be a match winner.\n\nRickyTFC: Hugo Lloris, Jan Vertonghen, Christian Eriksen. All three.\n\nRobaWhite: Hugo Lloris.\n\nWindyCOYS: Lloris \u2013 he\u2019s just brilliant.\n\nFlav_Bateman: Harry Kane\n\nSpooky23 Lloris is such a given he shouldn\u2019t be considered for this question. It\u2019s like asking \u2018Will the Tottenham players wear football boots for the match?\u2019. So with that in mind, I\u2019d select Erik Lamela. That way nobody will ever make a joke about him being missing or dead.\n\nTheloniousFilth: Hugo Lloris\n\nJamesMawFFT: Real answer and comedy answer are the same \u2013 Hugo Lloris.\n\nWho is your player to watch?\n\nCaseTFC: The King Asiatic Nobody\u2019s Equal, Big Harry Kane. Warm it up!\n\nBardiTFC: Eric Dier as I have never seen him play.\n\nRickyTFC: Erik Lamela is looking hungry, he\u2019s bonding with his team mates and he\u2019s going to be playing with confidence. It\u2019s his time. Erik\u2019s coming to get you.\n\nRobaWhite: The fella Lamela. Has to be his time to shine.\n\nWindyCOYS: There are quite a few youngsters that I half expect to break through this season, but I think Harry Kane in particular will excel under Pochettino. F Flav right in the P.\n\nFlav_Bateman: Harry Kane\n\nSpooky23: I expect Lamela to slowly slowly shine. But all eyes on Eriksen who will be our catalyst for creative cohesion. If he can retain some consistency and if we can protect him and the space around him, then he\u2019ll make us tick.\n\nTheloniousFilth: Lamela, with a full pre-season behind him, and the confidence of the manager and his team-mates should be a sight to behold.\n\nJamesMawFFT: Andros Townsend. He\u2019ll improve given the right coaching and tactical guidance and hopefully Pochettino can give him that.\n\nIt\u2019s Spurs, so something will probably go wrong spectacularly \u2013 what will it be?\n\nCaseTFC: Early December fixture, Lamela rounds 3 players and scores an absolute \u201cTony Yeboah\u201d. The whole team piles on him in celebration and Lamela is left in a crushed mess at the bottom. Out for 6 months. The Mail go with the headline \u201cFlat Erik\u201d and the Mr Ozio track is Christmas number 1 after a campaign by the scum.\n\nBardiTFC: Soldado takes a selfie whilst driving and runs over the car park attendant at Spurs Lodge and gets sent to prison.\n\nRickyTFC: We\u2019ll blow yet another lead, whether goals or points to them lot down the road.\n\nRobaWhite: It will be discovered that Mr Levy has sold fracking rights under the site for the new ground, causing large sinkholes to open up all around the N17 area.\n\nWindyCOYS: Modibo Ma\u00efga will score against us. No, hang on, that\u2019s crazy talk.\n\nFlav_Bateman: Harry Kane.\n\nSpooky23: We lose 5-2 to Woolwich after dominating and then capitulating but the game is abandoned and replayed and we lose 5-2 again. Then in the return fixture due to a space time anomaly that sees a worm hole suck the Woolwich coach into deep space, the game is forfeited in Tottenham\u2019s favour and the Premier League computer awards Woolwich a 5-2 win.\n\nTheloniousFilth: We get stripped of our Europa League trophy because we played an ineligible player.\n\nJamesMawFFT: I can see the stadium issue rumbling on in the background for a while yet. I can imagine there being a few more obstacles to overcome on that front.\n\nWhat would you consider to be a successful season?\n\nCaseTFC: Winning something\u2026. anything. That\u2019s how you measure success after all. I really want to win the FA Cup, I love that competition. If that doesn\u2019t happen then as long as there are signs of progress/potential under Pochettino and our fanbase are a bit more united then that would certainly be an improvement on the previous years.\n\nBardiTFC: Playing good football and uniting a fanbase that has been fractured for quite sometime and in turn making White Hart Lane a happy place.\n\nRickyTFC: Semi final of any cup. Coming away from WHL not only satisfied, but jubilant over one of the \u2018Top 4. We have a clear plan and philosophy. We may not be smashing everyone, but I can see what we\u2019re trying to do. Erik Lamela removing that silly earring and wearing his hat correctly.\n\nRobaWhite: Keeping the same manager, so some stability, instead of one step forward two steps back.\n\nWindyCOYS: Enjoying the football, and winning a trophy. I\u2019m desperate for us to win something.\n\nFlav_Bateman: Finishing above West Ham.\n\nSpooky23: Style. Swagger. Swashbuckle.\n\nTheloniousFilth: Eye-catching football, faith in our manager, players all playing like they want to be there.\n\nJamesMawFFT: I\u2019ll consider this season a success if I\u2019m not wishing it was over after six months. I want to see us improve our style of play and give the cups a proper go \u2013 off the top of my head I can only remember us playing genuinely well in one cup/European game since Milan away three-and-a-half years ago (that was Inter at home in 2013).\n\nWhere do you think we will finish in the Premier League?\n\nCaseTFC: It\u2019s easy to expect too much these days after our flirt with the Champions League. You can look at who we\u2019ve sold and ponder the \u201cwhat if\u2019s\u2026\u201d but we\u2019re not in position to compete with the draw or money of someone like Real Madrid. So we lose our best players and we try and rebuild. Unfortunately, that\u2019s just how it works.\n\nWe\u2019re not top of the food chain. I expect us to push for CL places again but finish about 5-6th. I don\u2019t see how you can expect much more than that when you look at the other teams.\n\nBardiTFC: Realistically 5th, but with our Magnificent Seven now fully adjusted to life in North London, perhaps we can sneak third.\n\nRickyTFC: 5th/6th. A top four finish is just too much to ask at this moment in time. First season under Pochettino and we don\u2019t have the financial clout like the rest.\n\nRobaWhite: 5th.\n\nWindyCOYS: 6th.\n\nFlav_Bateman: 3rd\n\nSpooky23: Top 4. I\u2019m a maverick with delusion. We are always competitive even when on paper we stand no chance. Ignore last season, the pressure is off this time round and although it might initially be slow-brooding, others will also need to find their feet.\n\nMomentum. Get it right at home, get the crowd loud and proud and you stand every bit a chance of making others insecure. Football is boring if you\u2019re defeatist before a ball is kicked. Heart on sleeve.\n\nTheloniousFilth: 6th, but there is no reason we can\u2019t finish in the top 4 if our players click, I worry about Pochettino not having a plan B but he has a better squad now than he did at Southampton so hopefully that will be put right.\n\nJamesMawFFT: 6th\n\nAnd how will we do in the cups (FA Cup, League Cup, Europa League)?\n\nCaseTFC: We\u2019re gonna win the FA Cup and go no further than the quarter finals in the others.\n\nBardiTFC: Knocked out early in the FA Cup, losing in the semi final of the League Cup to United, but we will march to glory in the Europa League. Warsaw in spring will be Lillywhite.\n\nRickyTFC: FA Cup \u2013 quarter final, League Cup \u2013 semi final and Europa League \u2013 quarter final.\n\nRobaWhite: FA Cup 5th round, League Cup Semi, Europa Last 8.\n\nWindyCOYS: FA Cup \u2013 Quarter-final. League Cup \u2013 Winners. Europa League \u2013 Semi-final.\n\nFlav_Bateman: We\u2019ll probably win them all.\n\nSpooky23: Would like us to look like we have some conviction to win a cup. The FA Cup would be a good standing point but the Europa League would be equally good, for the banter of qualifying for the CL.\n\nThe thing that concerns me is that the bread and butter of the league is where you build character and momentum. We must not get distracted and prioritise. But hey, no pressure. Echo of glory and all that.\n\nTheloniousFilth: FA Cup: Quarter Final Capital One Cup: Finalists Europa League: Win\n\nJamesMawFFT: I can see us getting to Wembley one way or another, and hopefully at least the last four of the Europa, which would be new territory for modern-day Spurs. I\u2019d quite like this to be a 2006/07-style season with a shedload of cup games.\n\nFinally, who would be your dream podcast guest for this season?\n\nCaseTFC: Gazza would be pretty special. Or that girl who sucked-off 24 lads for a drink in Magaluf. One of those two.\n\nBardiTFC: The Ossie Ardilles and Ricky Villa double act would be fantastic. As Spurs are slowly becoming ever more Argentinean it would be great to spend an evening listening to them talk about 1978, ticker tape, Mario kempes, coming to Spurs, Euro and FA Cup glory and the change in culture. David Ginola comes a close second.\n\nRickyTFC: Jude Law, he\u2019s well fit and he supports Tottenham. I\u2019ve got things on my chest I need to ask him innit.\n\nRobaWhite: Charles Bronson, high security lifer in Dartmoor prison, not the actor. Interviewed in his cell by Ricky, who has to be smothered in Lurpack.\n\nWindyCOYS: Ledley. My hero.\n\nFlav_Bateman: Spooky\n\nSpooky23: Tori Black or Lexi Belle. Or both. Would sh*g them in the toilet. How is that connected to Spurs? It\u2019s the Fighting Cock. We do what we want. So I\u2019ll be having Tori and Lexi thank you very much.\n\nTheloniousFilth: Wiley\n\nJamesMawFFT: Tim Sherwood. He can do the youth update."}
-{"text": "4.5 / 5 ( 102 votes )\n\nCute athletic young 18 year old boy recording himself sticking carrot up his ass hole and jerking off 'till he shoots his cum over his abs in private video."}
-{"text": "Hillary Clinton\u2019s campaign closely monitored reports of Bill Clinton\u2019s alleged mistresses, including rumors surrounding one woman nicknamed \u201cThe Energizer\u201d who routinely visited his home.\n\nHillary Clinton\u2019s aide Cheryl Mills sent an email inquiring about a Daily Mail report speculating about the identity of Energizer.\n\n\u201cWho is the \u2018Energiser\u2019 (sic) who has been Clinton\u2019s secret lover?\u201d she asked, sending a link to the story.\n\n\u201cWell they sure managed to get every name into one story,\u201d replied Podesta wryly, after reading the story in the email chain that included Tina Flournoy, Bill Clinton\u2019s chief of staff. \u201cI guess you got to give them credit for that.\u201d\n\nFlournoy then suggested that the trio get together for a phone call to discuss the issue offline.\n\nThe emailed discussion occurred in July 2014, as rumors swirled around Clinton\u2019s relationship with his wife. The conversation was made public as part of the WikiLeaks leaks of Podesta\u2019s private email account.\n\nIn December of 2014, Mills emailed Podesta with the subject line \u201cJulie.\u201d\n\n\u201cSaw her pic in this or last weeks Enquirer,\u201d Podesta wrote. \u201cProbably need to revisit our Whitehaven conversation.\u201d\n\nThe New York Post reports that the email was likely discussing Julie Tauber McMahon as the \u201cEnergizer\u201d according to a book by former agent Ronald Kessler.\n\n\u201cK,\u201d Mills replied.\n\nIt was not the only story that the team flagged for closer discussion.\n\nIn Feb. 2014, the three aides emailed about Kathleen Willey insisting that Hillary enabled Bill\u2019s behavior and tried to discredit her allegations.\n\n\u201cWell, this certainty shows an organized assault,\u201d Podesta replied, after Flournoy said that she saw the story the previous night and \u201cignored it.\u201d\n\nThe running theory was that the hits on Clinton\u2019s personal life were being \u201ccoordinated\u201d by nefarious parties, including Fox News chief Roger Ailes.\n\nIn February 2014, Washington Post reporter Dan Balz emailed Former Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides to ask about rumors.\n\n\u201cConfidentially: Rumors around that the NYT is digging into Clinton/Bill Clinton and ready to pop something,\u201d he wrote. \u201cDo you know what this is about?\u201d\n\nNides forwarded the email to Mills who sent the email to Flournoy and Podesta and Bruce Lindsey, a lawyer working for the Clinton Foundation\n\nFlournoy replied with inside information from New York Times reporter Amy Chozick.\n\n\u201cAccording to Amy C of the Times \u2013 they don\u2019t have the story and are working off of rumors. Rumor they are trying to run down is that he had a \u201croommate\u201d in Chappy,\u201d Flournoy wrote. \u201cThis is somewhat of a coordinated effort \u2013 Roger Ailes deeply involved.\u201d\n\nIt appears that the New York Times story on the topic was never published.\n\nIn March 2014, Mills emailed Podesta and Flournoy a link to a TMZ story about Bill Clinton posing with \u201ctwo star hookers at the famed Nevada Bunny Ranch brothel.\u201d\n\nThere is, as yet, no response from Podesta released."}
-{"text": "Baba Booey. Fa-fa-fooey. Ta-ta-toothy. Ma-ma-monkey. Gary DellAbate goes by many names, but his job has been the same for over twenty years: hes the guy who runs the Howard Stern Show , booking all the guests, running the shows back office, and when necessary running interference between Howard and upper management. Hes also one of the shows most recognizable on-air personalities, thanks in no small part to his iconic nickname Baba Booey, a moniker which stuck to him like glue after an on-air slip-up in July 1990, in which he repeatedly mispronounced the name of his (professed to be favorite) cartoon character, Quick Draw McGraw sidekick Baba Looey. Since that day, the name has spread like a virus throughout pop culture, popping up as a punchline everywhere from comedy shows like Saturday Night Live and The Late Show with David Letterman to news shows like Larry King Live and Peter Jennings ABC newscast, thanks to the efforts of dedicated crank callers. The title of his new memoir, which recounts some of his personal and show-related drama, says it all: They Call Me Baba Booey DellAbate was there throughout Howard Sterns signature run at New Yorks K-ROCK radio in the late '80s and early '90s, appeared briefly in the autobiographical, and continued on long enough to see Stern finally escape his much-hated censors in FCC-controlled radio when he departed for the artistic freedom of Sirius Satellite Radio in 2005. Hes also outlasted many other show notables, including Jackie The Joke Man Martling Stuttering John Melendez , and blue-collar comic Artie Lange , whose run on the show began to deteriorate in 2008, due in part to the comedians admitted struggle with heroin addiction. A vicious on-air spat between Lange and DellAbate in 2009 was one of that years many uncomfortable Artie moments, before Lange was dismissed in December 2009, and subsequently attempted suicide. As if that werent enough drama, the Stern show is now barreling towards what may be its final two months on the air, with both Stern and Sirius bosses playing chicken over the terms of his potential re-signing. Gary DellAbate recently called upto talk about his impressive run on Americas most popular radio show.: I was a little surprised that the A.J. Benza fight story didnt rate a mention in your book. You got punched in the head!: You know, its just not that kind of book. The book is more about my personal life, growing up, some of my trials and tribulations and how it sort of led me to the show. And then some funny moments from the show, but its not really a show book. So, thats why stuff like that wouldnt necessarily end up in there.: You didnt feel the need to compile every great Gary moment from the show.: Yeah, I just sort of didnt go that way. As I was writing the book what came into my head is sort of what got put in there. If you read the whole book, you can see that the show stuff is just sort of dropped in where its relevant, because I didnt want to just crowbar in every single story. The story of how I met Howard is relevant, because thats how I met Howard, you know? How I got the name Baba Booey is obviously relevant to the book, and I also thought the video tape story was relevant, quite honestly, just because I cant believe how many people still ask me about that. And also, its a story about me, and I tried not to put in stuff just because it was a cool story about Howard.: Is there a show-only book in your future, you think?: Ive had offers to do that for years and years, and for tons and tons of money. Its something I dont think Howard would want me to do, and its also something that I wouldnt be comfortable doing. If I did a book with all the stories about what goes on behind the scenes, I think Id have a difficult time in the future. I know that I wouldnt hire a guy who wrote a book saying a bunch of mean shit about people, if he was going to then come and work for me.: One of my favorite books of the last few years was the oral history of Saturday Night Live. I think that would be a great format for your show history as well.: It would be an amazing format, I think youre absolutely right. Oral histories are my favorite books. I actually read a similar one about Richard Nixon. I think the reason why those books work is the same reason why The History of Howard Stern shows on Sirius work so great, because you get five different people giving perspectives on the same story. Its great hearing everybodys different angles on things. I do think that would be a phenomenal format to do a history of the show, someday.: You certainly take a diplomatic line in this book, except for an expected word or two about Don Imus.: I did sort of settle one score, and I wonder how its all going to shake out, because now Howard 100 News is trying to get a hold of this person and speak to them. Its a woman that I worked with who was a traffic reporter at NBC.: Roz Frank?: Yep. I think I gave it to her a little hard. Its pretty straight-forward, but she may not recognize that thats the way it went down. And I was joking with somebody and I said, you know, if that would have been five years later I probably wouldnt even have written it in the book, but that was such an important time for me. I was scratching and clawing my way into the business, and I was taking all this shit, which was very reminiscent of the shit I had taken from my mother.: Like you said, the origins of Baba Booey is a key story in the book, and all the subsequent goofing it led to. Its amazing that you ended up hiring Sal Governale, who was a superfan who lived to goof on you. Howard used to let him on the air just to torture you.: Heres the deal with that: he did really well in the contest [to win the on-air sidekick spot vacated by Stuttering John in 2004], and he didnt win, but Howard said I really like him a lot. And the funny thing in dealing with him for the contest and all the other stuff is that except when he was busting my balls in those particular instances, he was actually a pretty okay guy. The thing that became funny to everyone involved is that once Sal started working with us we came to realize that all the stuff Sal used to say about me was really about him. He was the one who was a pussy-whipped guy. He was the one in a marriage where his wife was breaking his balls and he couldnt do anything about it. So, I went from not really being afraid of Sal, but being leery of Sal, to really being more sympathetic to Sal. And my wife didnt fully understand that at first. I remember we were laying in bed one night and my wife goes How are you going to have that guy there every day? How are you going to live with that? and I said to her I gotta tell you, I can hang out with him, hes sort of a good guy. And she goes Thats impossible. But I do, I like Sal, I like him a lot. He can be goofy and he can be a nutjob, but hes also got a really big heart. Ive gotten along with him wonderfully from the day he started working here.: The stuff with his wife is radio gold.: [laughs] Its not that hard to get it out of him, which is why hes so great.: Did allowing people to goof on you in general ever threaten to undermine your authority as the show producer? Do people understand on-air/off-air?: I think most people have understood that, and most of the people who didntthereve been times that I had interns who probably thought I was a douche because Howard was treating me like a douche, but they come and go, you know? And there were times that I felt I was being undermined with Stuttering John, but it wasnt really because of that, because John would be on the back-end of that too. It was more that John sort of knew that Howard loved having him on the air, so he really didnt have to ever listen to me in the office. He knew that I couldnt fire him, because he was really good on the air. John was excellent on the air, and really not a great worker in the office. But I felt much more embarrassment from when Howard played the videotape of me [begging an old girlfriend to get back together]. I just felt like a tool, you know? And I felt like everyone in the office was looking at me as such.: Would you have handed over that tape eventually, just for the show, without the money Howard and others put up?: No. I am a complete and utter whore, and I am here to say right now that I would never have done that, if not for the money.: When they played it on the air, it definitely made for a classic show. Another classic would be the 9/11 show, when Howard stayed on the air throughout the chaos. What part did you play in keeping things on track that day, keeping the show on?: I played a part in the sense that I followed Howards lead. I knew that we were staying on the air. I knew we were going to shift gears in the way that we did the show. We were taking a lot of phone calls in the back from people, and I was trying to make sure that the right people and the right information were getting through to Howard as quickly as I could. It was almost like we suddenly went from doing a comedy show to working in a news room. Howard was the anchor and I was the guy in the back trying to feed him the right information.: Did you have a sense even then that it would be maybe your most important show?: I dont know that I knew it that day, but I knew it not long after. As the show went on, the mood went from Wow, a plane crashed into the World Trade Center, thats crazy, to something else. I think the defining moment of the day was when I was sitting on the couch [in the studio] and Howard was sitting at his console and suddenly the second plane hit the second tower. You know, Ive heard it said that when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald that was one of the first times that news stations had ever done an instant replay. They just reran the tape and people watching were thoroughly confused they thought multiple people were getting shot. And I remember looking at that second tower going down and not being entirely sure that it really was the second tower, and that I wasnt watching some sort of weird replay. And then we recognized it, and Howard looked over at me and said Were under attack. Thats when it hit me. I was like, oh my God, we, this country, are under attack. Only then was it really driven home to me what was happening.: Have you ever thought of putting out a sort of box set of the definitive shows?: Well, I dont think wed ever commercially release it, but what we do have is History of Howard, and people can listen to that. And were actually making our way up to the 9/11 years now. I get a copy of that stuff on DVD and I put them in a drawer, and I feel like one day when my kids are older and Im gone I can have handed those over and itll be like This is who your father was.: And what about the Channel 9 shows? You guys have been trying to buy those back forever.: You know, Ive never really been in the loop on what thats about, but it appears that its never going to be resolved, from what I can tell. I mean, if it hasnt been resolved by now then who knows if it ever will be. And I almost wonder how those shows would hold up, although I suspect they would hold up pretty well. But you have to put those shows in perspective theyre twenty year old shows. They would probably seem tame in comparison to some of the stuff thats on TV now, but for what we were doing at the time, they were completely radical and innovative.: Is there anything about your off-air conversations with Howard that people might find interesting or surprising?: Its funny, I was just talking to someone else about this earlier, but Howard and I communicate in a very odd way. Theres never been a time when hes sat down with me and said to me Hey, I think youre a great producer. I mean, hell say stuff like You did a great job and stuff like that, but weve never sat down and had, like, a heart-to-heart talk where hes said I think youre a great producer and then I said I think youre a great boss. But through the way we speak about each other in interviews and on the air and through emails, we know it. I dont need him to say that. I know how he feels about me. But we certainly dont have these crazy heart-to-heart conversations off the air.: People always ask if Howard is the real guy on the air, or if thats an act. Do you think of yourself as having a radio persona?: Well, I developed a radio persona in the sense that.I dont think I act any differently on the air than I otherwise would, but because Ion the air I get to say shit that I wouldnt get to say if I was a CPA. If someone comes on and I say God, that chick is ugly, I would never have sex with her, well, if you said that at a party you probably wouldnt be invited back to any more parties, but its perfectly acceptable to say it on the air, you know? Im not saying stuff on the radio to try and be outrageous, I just get to say things that I usually wouldnt get to say.: There was a recent on-air bit where you played an IQ game and you ended up mispronouncing the word machine as mac-hine. When youre doing something like that, are you thinking to yourself: if I dont screw this up, then wheres the bit?: No, no, I really didnt know that I was walking into that one, it just sort of happened. I mean, look, I did the IQ test. And I was just talking to another person on our staff about doing one and he doesnt want to do it. He said Its a losing proposition! and I said, Listen, brother, nobody could take that test who had more to lose than me. Im the producer of the show. If my IQ test comes in low, Ill never live it down. Ill never be respected again. So, I do think Im a willing participant in the fun. The IQ test was proof of that.: I was going to ask why your Afghanistan USO trip didnt make the book, but it occurred to me that you made that trip with Artie, and maybe youre laying off the Artie stories for now.: No, its funny that you say that because I was thinking about that as well the other day. The writer and I sat down and went through it and it just didnt fit into that part of the book, but Im actually keeping a list for a paperback slash second book if anybody is interested. And I think just having some distanceI mean, you can go on my website and see where I have a story written up. It just didnt end up in the book. And I think Ive been pretty brutally honest about what happened with Artie while we were over there, and everybody else. So, it is there if anybody wants to see it.: Was 2009 a tough year in general on the show? I remember that incredibly personal fight between you and Artie, which was really a no holds barred situation.: I dont know if 2009 was a tough year, but I wasnt really hurt by the accusations that Artie was making so much as I was hurt by the fact that he knew he was purposefully saying something that he knew would hurt me. It was like Artie knew what my Achilles heel was and he just went for it. That was more difficult for me than the stuff he was actually saying. I was afraid of [not performing well at USO stand-up] before we went there, but by the time we got back I knew that I had done a decent job. Not a great job, but I knew I had done a decent job. And I knew that Artie was just going there because he knew that it would upset me.: Joking that he was glad Dave Attell had less time on stage so you could perform, and so on.: Yeah, and listen, Artie could have brought along another comedian who was more talented than me. The other guys who were on the bill were incredibly talented, but what I found out there was that its not all about the shows. I wouldnt say the shows were a minor part of it, but they were really just one element of what its about, the reason that you go over there. The bigger reason is the eight or twelve hours a day that you spend walking around, talking to people, hanging around with them, thats the real gift thats being given, not only to the people there, but to us as well. When you hang out with those people you find that theyre just grateful that somebody is coming to visit.: Speaking of comedy, are you still out hunting for new talent these days? Lots of people whove gotten a break on the show are doing very well.: You know, I used to go to the comedy clubs once in a while, but I was never really on the ground looking for talent. Once in a while somebody would say Youve got to come and see this comedian but it wasnt the main way that we got guests. Even though in the past we have broken some new talent like Sam Kinison and people like that, its not really the format of our show. And the great thing is that you really dont have to go out anymore. I dont have to go to comedy clubs, Ive got people saying Heres seven links to my client on Youtube, you know? Thats the way that you see them. And people might say that its not the same thing as being in the club, but you can get a pretty good feel for somebody off of that. I find myself watching a lot of DVDs at home and watching a lot of Youtube videos and listening to a lot of CDs in my car and also listening to stuff on my iPod that people have sent me.: Artie recently did some stand-up at a club, I read. He seems to be getting back in the swing of things. If he decides to tell his story on another show is that okay with you?: I think Id be a little bummed out. I mean, listen, I think telling it to us would certainly be the most interesting way to tell it. We are the other pieces of that puzzle. Artie could tell us what was going on and we could tell him what we were thinking and what we believed at that time. So, I do think it would make for the most interesting interview.: But Howard is resisting it.: I dont know that Howard is resisting. I just dont know that everybody is ready to pull it together.: If the Howard Stern Show is done in eight weeks, do you feel like you guys have done what you set out to do in radio?: God, yes. Howard was in the history books even before he went to satellite radio. And I think that going to satellite radio just cemented that forever. When we showed up to Sirius Satellite Radio they had four hundred thousand subscribers. Now, with the company merged, they have twenty million subscribers. Its a very viable format that was not very viable before Howard Stern got there. If Howard had gone to XM instead of Sirius, Sirius would have probably just gone out of business. I mean, just the fact that Howard went to the company with the lesser amount of subscribers and managed to actually overtake the other company? Holy shit. In the last twenty-five years of radio, who has had a bigger impact than Howard Stern? Ive been glad to be a part of that. And Id love to go on. I want to keep going."}
-{"text": "AN ABC-Washington Post poll shows 61 percent of Democrats support Hillary Clinton for president in 2016, far more than other contenders. If she wins the White House, health reform could become even more painful than ObamaCare.\n\nClinton ducks questions about her views on health reform. But the plan she proposed in 1993, as first lady, raises concerns.\n\nThat proposal was even more coercive than ObamaCare. She put price controls on doctors and limits on how much health care the nation could consume annually and how much you could buy for your own family \u2014 even if you paid for it yourself.\n\nTrue, that was 20 years ago. But it\u2019s an important window into her thinking.\n\nBefore Americans choose candidates for 2016, they ought to ask how much power they want government to have over their health care and whether Clinton stands by the coercive plan she proposed the last time she was in the White House.\n\nStart with whether the government should force us to have insurance. The Obama administration is using ads and street fairs to convince people to get covered. Millions are still saying \u201cno.\u201d ObamaCare penalizes the uninsured but also offers exemptions, including just pleading \u201chardship.\u201d\n\nThe Congressional Budget Office estimates that 90 percent of the uninsured will not be penalized.\n\nClinton wouldn\u2019t take \u201cno\u201d for an answer. If you failed to enroll or the plan you chose was oversubscribed, government would assign you one (Health Security Act of 1993, pp. 144, 146; the text is available online).\n\nAs for people not paying their premiums, Hillary told a House hearing back then that an equivalent amount would \u201cbe deducted from their wages or obtained through tax deductions in some other way.\u201d\n\nUnder Hillary\u2019s plan, to see a doctor you would have to prove you\u2019re enrolled or get enrolled on the spot. The doctor could only be paid by the plan, not by you.\n\nGovernment officials would put price controls on what doctors charge, barring them from charging more or accepting payments directly from patients (pp. 236-237). Why would anyone want to pay a doctor directly? Privacy for one thing. Access, for another.\n\nAccess would have been a problem. Her plan limited what you would be allowed to pay for insurance. That limits how much money is in the pot to take care of you when you\u2019re sick. It turns insurers into rationers.\n\nPrinceton Prof. Paul Starr (Hillary\u2019s Jonathan Gruber) said it would force doctors and hospitals \u201cto manage under constraint.\u201d Under HillaryCare, government could outlaw any plan that cost 20 percent above the average plan.\n\nIn contrast, ObamaCare doesn\u2019t outlaw generous plans. Its Cadillac tax, scheduled for 2018, would discourage them, but union opposition makes that tax an uncertainty.\n\nUnder ObamaCare, people who can afford it pay concierge doctors extra to get care without waiting. But Clinton\u2019s scheme effectively barred you from going outside the system to get better or faster care.\n\nThe biggest difference between ObamaCare and Hillary\u2019s approach is how they rein in the nation\u2019s health spending. ObamaCare tries payment innovations, such as Accountable Care Organizations, with little progress so far.\n\nFederal actuaries predict health spending will increase rapidly, hitting a staggering 19.3 percent of GDP by 2023.\n\nHillary wouldn\u2019t put up with that.\n\nHer plan used coercion. At the time, she said, \u201cWe all must learn to live within a budget.\u201d The government would impose a dollar limit on what the nation could spend.\n\nIf spending neared that limit, insurers and government payers would be legally required to cut payments to doctors, nurses and hospitals to avoid going over budget (p. 137). Such central planning \u2014 even in the face of unforeseen problems such as the flu or EV-68 \u2014 would risk patients\u2019 lives and the livelihoods of doctors and nurses. Is that what Americans want?\n\nHillary may have discarded some of her radical ideas. And, of course, anything she proposes would have to get through Congress. Nonetheless, voting for Hillary before knowing where she stands on health reform could be dangerous to your health.\n\nBetsy McCaughey is author of \u201cBeating Obamacare 2014.\u201d"}
-{"text": "President Bush claimed on Thursday that U.S. forces and Iraqi tribesman have \"systematically dismantled\" the terrorist group Al Qaeda in Iraq in the long-troubled Anbar Province. And indeed, while Al Qaeda in Iraq remains dangerous and active, particularly in parts of northern Iraq, the terrorist group is having increasing difficulty pulling off its signature type of attack, deadly car bombings.\n\nBut terrorism experts are warning that defeating Al Qaeda in Iraq could bring a whole new set of risks.\n\nFor one thing, as U.S. intelligence agencies have told Congress, its operatives could shift their efforts to plotting outside the country if it becomes significantly more dangerous for Al Qaeda in Iraq to stage attacks in Iraq.\n\n\"Defeating Al Qaeda in Iraq could actually lead to the spread of violence to other places because those guys could be leaving to find other safe havens to continue their fight,\" says Mohammed Hafez, the author of Suicide Bombers in Iraq: The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom. \"They are likely to go to places where there are existing conflicts.\"\n\nThe two most obvious destinations are Afghanistan or Pakistan, where they could potentially link up with other jihadists who have been carrying out a growing number of suicide attacks. Fighters could be drawn to the relative lawlessness of Yemen, the total anarchy of Somalia, or to Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.\n\nWriting in the current issue of CTC Sentinel, the monthly journal of the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Hafez analyzes the experiences of Arab jihadists who went to Afghanistan in the 1980s to the fight the Soviet Union and later formed the backbone of al Qaeda, the terrorist network headed by Osama bin Laden.\n\nThousands of Arab volunteers were trained to fight the Soviets, but when the conflict ended, many migrated to other conflict zones around the world to continue the fight. They also had forged close ties with each other, helping them to put together a global jihadi network that allowed al Qaeda to spread its tentacles into Europe, Africa, and Asia.\n\nToday's jihadists in Iraq are getting even more hands-on combat experience than their predecessors in Afghanistan. \"What's just as important as the fighting skills are the logistical skills\u2014the back administration office work that needs to be done for terrorism to take place,\" says Hafez. He is talking about skills like raising money for operations, forging documents, and smuggling fighters across international borders.\n\nIt is unclear how much U.S. officials or Iraq's neighbors have done to prepare for this threat. Hafez says that border controls must be strengthened and that American and Iraqi officials need to share intelligence on these militants with all of Iraq's neighbors to prevent them from escaping Iraq.\n\nOf particular concern is Syria, through which the bulk of foreign fighters entered Iraq. \"But they won't be willing to host the jihadis in the way Pakistan did\" in the 1990s, says Hafez. \"They will probably have to cross multiple borders, which increases their chances of being caught.\"\n\nOne other key factor could also limit how many Al Qaeda in Iraq members end up fighting elsewhere in the future. The bulk of these foreign fighters came to Iraq to be suicide bombers. \"That means,\" says Hafez,\" many won't be around.\"\n\nThis discussion, of course, could be premature. Al Qaeda in Iraq has not yet been defeated and could still regroup successfully."}
-{"text": "Are animals taking up residence in your home or office? Our wildlife experts can offer a wide variety of services to you. Our certified Orlando animal removal technicians can not only safely and humanely remove these pesky house guests but will also clean up any smell or evidence they have left behind. They will repair any damage done, and seal up your home or office so that they can not re-enter. They will work to quickly and effectively determine what the animal plaguing your home is, and remove it in a humane manner and clean with products that are environmentally friendly and safe for you, your friends, and your loved ones. Once your home is cleaned, we will make an effort to find out how the animals entered in the first place, and seal these entry points, effectively making your home impenetrable to unwanted guests. Our results are 100% guaranteed and we cannot wait to work with you to fulfill your needs!\n\nOur working hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. We are closed on Saturdays and Sundays but you are welcome to leave us a voice message or send an email. We promise we will get back to you as soon as possible."}
-{"text": "MANILA (UPDATE)\u2014Filipinos can still use e-cigarettes and vaping devices in their home, President Rodrigo Duterte said Wednesday even as he discouraged the public from doing so.\n\nDuterte, however, said he has banned the importation of e-cigarettes and their use in public places to protect the health of Filipinos.\n\n\u201cAnd I immediately ordered last night to confiscate and arrest people vaping in public places. Meaning to say, the safest way to do it is in your house,\u201d he said in a speech during the 80th anniversary of the Department of National Defense.\n\n\u201cBut if you are not that stupid, when you do that, you contaminate all including your children in the family,\u201d he added.\n\nThe President also ordered the Philippine military to join in the crackdown.\n\nDuterte expressed his strong dislike for vaping, especially how \u201cit\u2019s being used by the youth of this country with gusto, not realizing the danger.\u201d He chalked it up to \u201cyouthful negligence.\u201d\n\n\u201cLast night I ordered the local law enforcement agencies and the military \u2013 you are supposed to help this campaign \u2013 to arrest anybody vaping or even smoking in public,\u201d he said.\n\n'BAD TEACHER'\n\nDuterte gave the order in the absence of an executive order and assured law enforcers and military that \u201cthe order, the executive order, never mind, it will come,\u201d adding, \u201cI do not want anybody in the Philippines vaping.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo not worry. Just stop it,\u201d said Duterte. \u201cAnd the police, do your work. The Armed Forces, do your work. I will take full responsibility alone. Nobody else. Ako lang.\u201d\n\nIn describing the new crackdown on vaping, Duterte used statements he first made to talk about the war on drugs.\n\n\u201cYou are protected because I\u2019m ordering you a legal order preventing injury to the Filipino children. That is what I meant when I say do not destroy my country because I will kill you.\u201d\n\nHe also placed some blame on the bad influence the youth may get from the streaming website Netflix, particularly the film \u201cBad Teacher.\u201d\n\n\u201cNetflix. There\u2019s a \u2018Bad Teacher.\u2019 You can see how they smoke. Very casual thing and nonchalance about the law. That is because their Constitution \u2013 they say allows it.\u201d\n\nBad Teacher is a 2011 romantic comedy starring Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz.\n\nVAPE BAN\n\nDuterte on Tuesday banned vaping in public places as well as the importation of e-cigarettes. Police on Wednesday announced the start of its crackdown on vape users.\n\n\u201cThe e-cigarette is making it worse. There are chemicals that are added to nicotine which we do not know. And I am not about ready to allow the young people of the Philippines to get sick and to die,\u201d the President said.\n\nThe Department of Health (DOH) last week confirmed its first reported case of an illness related to vaping or the use of e-cigarettes, one involving a teenage girl.\n\nAround 1 million Filipinos use e-cigarettes, according to the DOH.\n\nIn the United States, some 42 people have died while 2,172 were sickened from the use of e-cigarettes as of Nov. 14.\n\nMore than three-quarters of those sickened used tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive substance of marijuana, with or without nicotine products.\n\nOf the THC-containing products, two-thirds also tested positive for Vitamin E acetate, a cutting agent believed to be used to stretch the amount of THC oil, and an early suspect in efforts to determine the cause of the injuries, according to a Reuters report.\u2014With a report from Chiara Zambrano, ABS-CBN News"}
-{"text": "Plenty of people, including us, like Windows 10. It's a substantial upgrade over Windows 8.1, giving users a plethora of improvements and features. We aren't, however, a big fan of how Microsoft is pushing this upgrade to some people. Ten months since Windows 10's release, users on Windows 7, and Windows 8.1 continue to report incidents about Microsoft forcefully downloading and upgrading their computer to Windows 10. You can stop the company from doing that with a new tool.\n\nWell known software developer Steve Gibson has released a new tool called Never 10, which according to claims, allows a user to completely disable automatic updates. \"The elegance of this \"Never 10' utility is that it does not install ANY software of its own. It simply and quickly performs the required system editing for its user,\" says Gibson on his page about the new utility.\n\n\"Using this utility, inexperienced users will be able to easily use Never 10 themselves, while advanced users will likely appreciate that fact that no additional software is installed and will be able to refer friends and family, whom they support, to this easy-to-use utility,\" Gibson notes.\n\nAll a user is required to do is install this free application, and run it. This should come as a big relief to many Windows 7 users who're afraid that one day they will accidentally click on a prompt and Microsoft will upgrade their computer to Windows 10.\n\nMicrosoft has made Windows 10 available as a free update to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users - provided they have the genuine licensed copy. Last year, the company gave users with the ability to reserve their copy of Windows 10 when it becomes available on July 29. But later, the company also began downloading the Windows 10 installation files on different systems, and many users accidentally clicked on update prompts, ending up getting Windows 10 on their system."}
-{"text": "Ahead of a free F1 2019 update that adds the full 2019 F2 season, check out this guide to what makes F2 so entertaining \u2013 from those who know it best\u2026\n\n\ufeff\n\nIn eager anticipation of the forthcoming F2\u2122 2019 season, Codemasters today released the first in a new series of videos focusing on the FIA Formula 2 Championship\u2122. For the first time in the official videogame\u2019s history, players are now able to choose from both F1 and F2. Fans of F2 were able to play the full 2018 season at launch and, in the coming weeks, Codemasters is set to release an update giving players access to the full 2019 season.\n\nPaul Jeal, F1 Franchise Director at Codemasters, explains further: \u201cWe were delighted to include F2 in F1 2019 this year, and the reaction to its inclusion has been fantastic. Not only are the cars great fun to drive, but the unique race weekend format of Formula 2, and the near equal cars makes for a perfect gaming combination.\n\nWith both the F1 & F2 seasons about to resume from the summer break this weekend, at the FORMULA 1 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX 2019, I know that many of our fans are looking forward to getting their hands on the latest car & driver line-ups and experiencing a full F2 2019 Championship.\n\nFor those fans who aren\u2019t as familiar with Formula 2 as they are with Formula 1, we have spoken to several former drivers, the commentators and F2 themselves on what makes it so different from F1, as well as touching on the predominant themes of rivalry and the pathway to F1. It was fascinating to get a great insight from those who have been there and done it and I hope our fans enjoy this series of videos over the coming weeks\u201d\n\nWith appearances from George Russell, Lando Norris and Alex Albon, who themselves have risen from F2 to F1 in the 2018 season, alongside the likes of F2 experts Bruno Michel, Davide Valsecchi and Alex Jacques, the series of videos will excite gamers ahead of the forthcoming 2019 F2 season.\n\nFollow Codemasters F1\u00ae games blog and social channels on Twitter and Facebook for future updates and buy F1\u00ae 2019 now from http://www.formula1game.com/"}
-{"text": "Close video DNC files lawsuit against Trump camp, others over 2016 hack In a remarkable echo of the Watergate era, the DNC has filed a lawsuit against the Donald Trump campaign, members of Trump\u2019s inner circle, Russia, Wikileaks, and others over the hack of e-mails and other data by Russia during the 2016 campaign. In a remarkable echo of the Watergate era, the DNC has filed a lawsuit against the Donald Trump campaign, members of Trump\u2019s inner circle, Russia, Wikileaks, and others over the hack of e-mails and other data by Russia during the 2016 campaign. share tweet email Embed\n\nNot long after Richard Nixon\u2019s operatives were arrested for the Watergate burglary, the Democratic National Committee launched a civil suit against the Republican president. Last week, in a remarkable historical echo, the DNC filed a similar lawsuit against the Russian government, Donald Trump\u2019s campaign, and WikiLeaks, alleging they coordinated to disrupt the 2016 campaign.\n\nThe judge in the case, as luck would have it, was a former Watergate prosecutor.\n\nNot surprisingly, the president, who\u2019s already the subject of a criminal investigation, heard about the civil case, and on Friday afternoon, Trump shared his initial reaction:\n\n\u201cJust heard the Campaign was sued by the Obstructionist Democrats. This can be good news in that we will now counter for the DNC Server that they refused to give to the FBI, the Debbie Wasserman Schultz Servers and Documents held by the Pakistani mystery man and Clinton Emails.\u201d\n\nTo the extent that reality still has any meaning, nearly all of this was nonsense. The DNC, for example, didn\u2019t refuse to cooperate with the FBI. For that matter, DNC officials aren\u2019t in Congress, and therefore can\u2019t be \u201cobstructionists.\u201d (The original version of Trump\u2019s tweet also referred to Wendy Wasserman Schultz, instead of Debbie.)\n\nBut the words that stood out were, \u201cwe will now counter.\u201d\n\nIndeed, over the weekend, Trump added, \u201cSo funny, the Democrats have sued the Republicans for Winning. Now he R\u2019s counter and force them to turn over a treasure trove of material, including Servers and Emails!\u201d\n\nObviously, the president doesn\u2019t write well, and at face value, much of his missive may seem like gibberish, but what he seemed to be trying to say is that he and his party will file some kind of counter-suit, which in turn will lead to a \u201ctreasure trove\u201d of materials for the GOP, all of which Trump considers \u201cfunny.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s true that civil suits can produce important materials \u2013 I imagine that\u2019s one of the key reasons the DNC filed its case in the first place \u2013 though it\u2019s unclear what the president would hope to get out of Democrats. Indeed, I haven\u2019t the foggiest idea what he\u2019d consider grounds for such a lawsuit.\n\nMore to the point, however, there\u2019s no reason to accept Trump\u2019s promises about a counter-suit at face value.\n\nRemember when Trump vowed to file lawsuits against the many women who accused him of sexual misconduct? His rhetoric proved hollow. Remember when Trump\u2019s lawyers threatened a case against the publisher of \u201cFire and Fury\u201d? Or when they were prepared to sue CBS News over a Stormy Daniels interview?\n\nThose suits never materialized, either.\n\nTrump and his team have an unfortunate habit of threatening all kinds of litigation, which they have no intention of ever filing. FiveThirtyEight counted the number of times during the 2016 presidential campaign that the Republican threatened to sue various people or organizations, and found 20 separate incidents \u2013 nearly all of which amounted to nothing.\n\nIt\u2019s possible this time will be different, and the president\u2019s lawyers will think of some kind of reason to counter-sue the DNC, but given recent history, it\u2019s more likely Trump is just casually throwing around empty threats for no reason \u2013 again."}
-{"text": "Do you have BASIC authentication turned on for Solr? Are you using a self signed SSL Certificate? Do you want to index to this server using SolrJ? Ive taken a couple of tries to get all the magic incantations to work, but finally have done it. Hopefully this saves you some of the pain I experienced in searching around StackOverflow and random blog posts.\n\nSome of the error messages you might get are javax.net.ssl.SSLPeerUnverifiedException: peer not authenticated or unauthorized access .\n\nTo sum it up, you have to fake out the certificate checking and then wrap your http call with something called Preemptive Authentication.\n\nHere is the method, you can get it here.\n\nTo use this class just pass in your regular client and username/password combo:\n\nBy the way, the equivalent of all of this in curl is:"}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nposts something infallibly funny on reddit Deletes if it doesnt get double-digit upvotes"}
-{"text": "Adrian: I am sorry for any inconvenience that this has caused. I can offer you a 15% off coupon from Origin with your next purchase.\n\nAdrian: I am sorry, but I can not offer you a refund.\n\nyou: Why can't you offer me a refund?\n\nyou: Your product is defective\n\nAdrian: Return Policy\n\nyou: I can call my bank and have the refund done that way.\n\nAdrian: I can offer to assist you with any trouble shooting issues.\n\nyou: Why can Amazon users get refunds but I can't?\n\nAdrian: That is understandable, but I must inform you that if you choose to dispute it, your account will be banned.\n\nAdrian: I am sorry, but I can not speak on another company's policy.\n\nAdrian: Now this just released.\n\nyou: I am at a loss of words\n\nAdrian: So the servers are having issues, with more servers opening up as other countries release then we will show these issues resolving themselves.\n\nyou: Yes, but it is not capacity demand I am debating\n\nAdrian: I can understand this causing frustrations and I do apologize for this.\n\nyou: Your servers are not the issue\n\nyou: The game/back end is\n\nyou: \"Game updates\" are not an excuse to hide behind\n\nAdrian: I am sorry, but I am not able to process a refund.\n\nAdrian: Is there anything else that I can assist you with?\n\nyou: You were offering refunds according to your press release!!!!\n\nyou: In response to the launch day trouble Hatam said \" If you regrettably feel that we left you down, you can of course request a refund for your order at http://help.origin.com/contact-us , though we are currently still in the process of resolving this issue. \"\n\nyou: Why lie??\n\nyou: I have done nothing wrong in expecting what is quoted.\n\nAdrian: That is correct, that this is where you can request a refund, but as our policy is stating it is also the our discretion to process a refund.\n\nyou: http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/210/9330019.page#top\n\nyou: Process a refund.\n\nAdrian: As I stated before, we are not able to offer a refund.\n\nAdrian: Is there anything else that I can assist you with?\n\nyou: This chat text goes viral."}
-{"text": "\u2022 J\u00fcrgen Klopp wants defensive reinforcements for his squad \u2022 Ilori has not played a competitive game for Liverpool\n\nLiverpool have responded to their mounting injury problems in central defence by asking Aston Villa to cancel Tiago Ilori\u2019s season-long loan at Villa Park.\n\nLiverpool running more under J\u00fcrgen Klopp than with Brendan Rodgers Read more\n\nIlori, the London-born Portugal Under-21 international, has not played a competitive game for Liverpool since signing for \u00a37m from Sporting Lisbon in 2013. The 22-year-old is yet to feature for Villa either this season, despite their struggle at the bottom of the Premier League, but such is the shortage of fit centre-halves available to J\u00fcrgen Klopp that his parent club are exploring the possibility of an Anfield return.\n\nLiverpool were without the injured Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho for Tuesday\u2019s impressive Capital One Cup semi-final at Stoke City and ended the first leg with midfielder Lucas Leiva alongside Kolo Tour\u00e9 in central defence after Dejan Lovren suffered a hamstring strain.\n\nPhilippe Coutinho also damaged his hamstring in the 1-0 win \u2013 the extent of his and Lovren\u2019s injuries have not been confirmed \u2013 and Tour\u00e9 finished his first full game in almost a month struggling with cramp.\n\nKlopp\u2019s side are in the midst of a demanding run of games with Friday\u2019s FA Cup third-round tie at Exeter City followed by home league games against Arsenal and Manchester United.\n\nIlori would represent a stop-gap option should Villa agree to cancel his loan. The former Villa manager Tim Sherwood agreed a \u00a31m fee to sign Ilori on loan with a view to a permanent transfer this summer, expected to be around \u00a36m, but his failure to break into R\u00e9mi Garde\u2019s team may encourage the Midlands club to sever ties.\n\nSchalke\u2019s Jo\u00ebl Matip is another centre-half of interest to Liverpool, and eligible to sign a pre-contract agreement given the Cameroon international\u2019s deal expires at the end of this season, but the German club have been reluctant so far to consider the possibility of a permanent January exit. Neven Subotic is another central defender under consideration. Klopp knows the Serbian well from their time together at Borussia Dortmund but his former club want a substantial fee for a temporary loan deal."}
-{"text": "IBM Deploys An Upgraded Enterprise Blockchain To Support SMEs\n\nThe Vice President of IBM Blockchain Technology, Jerry Cuomo, has announced the release of \u201cVersion 2\u201d of the IBM enterprise-blockchain platform.\n\nIn a blog introducing the next generation fork on the platform, Cuomo unveiled a new pricing model that is designed to allow businesses to pay for DLT solutions that are quoted as per their specific needs.\n\nThis strategy seeks to ease the adoption of Blockchain technology for small and medium enterprises that are often burdened by high costs of network ownership when they decide to adopt DLT. Additionally, this ambitious solution is being realized by creating a versatile Blockchain platform that matches the available tools with particular business models to deliver enterprise goals and meet the expectations of clients.\n\nIntroducing The \u201cPay As You Grow\u201d Model\n\nThe IBM enterprise Blockchain has undergone a soft fork and is now in its \u201cversion 2\u201d phase. Beneath the technical additions, there is an aspect of the platform that has been strategically redesigned and it is concerning the pricing model.\n\nThe new pricing approach is dubbed \u201cpay as you grow\u201d and it allows SMEs to adopt the IBM enterprise Blockchain and incur related costs as per their capacity to utilize the new features of the DLT ecosystem.\n\n\u201cVersion 2\u201d Is Redefining The High-Value Blockchain Service\n\nThe first version of the IBM enterprise Blockchain was proffered at a premium rate in a model that fails to accommodate the capacity of a particular business to fully utilize the platform. This limitation affected SMEs as they simply do not have the ability to fully adopt the IBM enterprise Blockchain and the implications were negative and counter-productive.\n\nAdditionally, another challenge of the initial release is that even the major firms could not satisfy standards of full-scale adoption of the ecosystem. This means that clients of IBM enterprise Blockchain regardless of their size are likely to have incurred costs for services that could not utilize.\n\nIBM Aims To Increase Adoption Of Its Enterprise Blockchain\n\nCuomo also admits that \u201cversion 1\u201d of the technology has been standing on its own way of success as clients have been adopting it without a prior proof of technology that informs them about the idealness of the tools to their business models.\n\nFor this reason, many clients have been feeling disenfranchised by the IBM enterprise Blockchain pricing model which can consequentially discourage them from even considering any DLT solution in the future.\n\nTherefore, by IBM rectifying the shortcoming of its pricing model, there could be more SMEs using the enterprise Blockchain both in the short term and long term and faith in Distributed Ledger Technology could improve as a result.\n\nIBM Offers Different Blockchain Solutions For A Range Of Use Cases\n\nIBM offers a variety of DLT solutions besides the enterprise Blockchain with a strong workforce of 1,600 globally that supports the operations.\n\nSome of the Blockchain divisions include; the IBM Food Trust Network, IBM\u2019 Blockchain Software, etc.\n\nMeanwhile, Vetrax, a supply chain manager in the oil and gas industry, is the first client of the \u201cversion 2\u201d IBM enterprise Blockchain."}
-{"text": "Tr\u00f8im-selskap skal p\u00e5 b\u00f8rs \u2013 verdi opp mot 23 milliarder\n\nJakter 4,4 milliarder kroner i forbindelse med USA-noteringen."}
-{"text": "Photo : Ross Kinnaird ( Getty )\n\nJust because the Olympics are long over doesn\u2019t mean that we\u2019re done with the fallout from the Rio de Janeiro Games. According to a report from Brazil, the debt incurred by the local organizing committee has dramatically increased to more than three times the original estimate. In December 2016, the debt was listed at $32 million USD; two years later, that figure has more than tripled to $113 million.\n\n\nBoth the Brazilian government and that destroyer of cities better known as the IOC have refused to help the local organizing committee dispatch its debts.\n\nThe fact that the Rio organizing committee is even still a thing, with a staff of seven full-time employees more than two years after the Games ended, is due to its ongoing legal troubles. Jornal Noroeste, the publication that reported the debt figure, says the committee is facing nearly 600 lawsuits stemming from its failure to pay suppliers and workers.\n\n\nMeanwhile Tokyo, the Olympics\u2019 next victim, has already gone way over budget in its own preparations. Cities are refusing to host the Games and sports federation heads are giving interviews where they unabashedly admit to preferring working in dictatorships to hosting competitions.\n\nFeels like we\u2019re in the end throes of the Olympics."}
-{"text": "Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) talked about hunting during an October 25 interview without mentioning that he has not had a Montana hunting license in six years.\n\nOn September 18, 2018, Breitbart News reported that Tester voted for Sen. Dianne Feinstein\u2019s post-Orlando Pulse gun control package. On October 18, 2018, Breitbart News reported that Tester voted with gun control Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) against both of President Trump\u2019s pro-Second Amendment Supreme Court nominees, Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.\n\nFox News noted that although Tester campaigns on his love for hunting, he has not had a Montana hunting license in six years.\n\nIronically, during an October 25 interview on NBC Montana, Tester talked of hunting when he gets the chance but did not mention that it has been more than half a decade since he had a hunting license in his home state. When asked how he views a gun Tester said, \u201cIt is a tool to me, I use it to control pests, I use it when I\u2019m able to go hunting to be able to go hunting, and in butchering animals.\u201d\n\nTester did not mention that he spent six years without a hunting license at any point in the interview.\n\nOh man, NRA D-Rated @JonTester really stepped in it tonight. Claims he goes hunting but hasn't had a hunting license in SIX YEARS! Just another Washington liberal \u2026. #mtsen #mtpol pic.twitter.com/oLEBUsZ8XD \u2014 Matt Rosendale (@MattForMontana) October 25, 2018\n\nAlthough Tester voted against President Trump\u2019s pro-Second Amendment nominees, he was Johnny-on-the-Spot for confirming Barack Obama\u2019s anti-gun Supreme Court picks. He voted with gun control Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to confirm Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.\n\nAWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange."}
-{"text": "A little known fact of the 1916 Easter Rising is that there were more civilians killed during that week than British soldiers or Irish Volunteers. However, those non-combatants, the hundreds of men, women and children who were killed that Easter week, have no memorial. They lie throughout the many graveyards of Dublin, forgotten, a silent reminder of a city at war and of man's inhumanity to man.\n\nNot many people know of the scale of death and destruction that was inflicted on what was then considered the second city of the British Empire.\n\nAs the Dublin Metropolitan Police was withdrawn from the city streets and law and order collapsed, many of the poorer classes saw an opportunity to loot the many premises that had been left unguarded. As doors were broken open and windows smashed, tales of ragged street urchins collecting booty from Noblett's sweet shop on O'Connell Street and women stockpiling shoes and dresses soon became legend.\n\nWhile some of Dublin's citizens appealed to the looters to stop, the Irish Volunteers and the military shot at the large groups that rushed from building to building. However, as the battles intensified throughout the city, many civilians found themselves caught in the crossfire.\n\nThere were to be many casualties. A blind man who emerged on to O'Connell Street was shot by a sniper and collapsed on to the ground. A medic from the St John's Ambulance ran to his aid and applied a field dressing to the wound. As both men stood up and tried to extricate themselves from the firing line, two shots rang out in quick succession, killing both men. Many more were to fall on that street as a very real war erupted.\n\nEven the salubrious surroundings of the Shelbourne Hotel on St Stephen's Green was not a safe haven for its many visitors, who were staying there for the bank holiday weekend.\n\nWhile walking through the revolving doors of the hotel, George Smethwick was shot and seriously wounded. Victor Brooke was hit in the leg as he sat down for lunch in the dining room and Mr Armiger had his jaw shattered by a bullet as he sat down in the sitting room of the hotel.\n\nThe wounded and the remaining guests were transferred to the safety of the writing room at the back.\n\nNearby an eight-year-old girl, Doreen Carphim, was shot and wounded. Many of the casualties were non-combatants, and the nearby Mercer's Hospital recorded 16 dead and 278 wounded during Easter week. The hospital was overwhelmed and temporary casualty clearing stations had to be provided at premises on Merrion Square and Harcourt Street.\n\nA fierce gun battle at Mount Street in Ballsbridge resulted in numerous deaths among the residents as many left their houses to investigate what was happening in their city. Even those who remained indoors were not safe as Elizabeth Kane was killed and her daughter seriously wounded when their house, 20 Delahunty Buildings, came under fire. Mr Hayter, a local grocer was killed as he attempted to cross the line of fire.\n\nIn order to retake the metropolis from Irish Volunteer forces, British troops directed artillery fire on to the city with devastating results. Fires erupted throughout O'Connell Street, adding to the ones that had been set by the looters. The conflagration spread, destroying everything in its path. The fire brigade service was unable to attend to the inferno as battles throughout the city prevented them from leaving their stations.\n\nA number of bizarre events occurred during that week, the most unusual being the twice-daily truce that was observed by both sides as James Kearney, the park keeper, entered St Stephen's Green to feed the ducks.\n\nPaul O'Brien's new book, which is part of the 1916 In Focus series, is entitled 'Shootout \u2013 The Battle for St Stephen's Green 1916' and it chronicles one of the key protracted engagements of the Rising. Published by New Island on April 29, priced \u20ac12.99, it is available nationwide and from www.NewIsland.ie\n\nIrish Independent"}
-{"text": "Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas took his first pole position by beating team-mate Lewis Hamilton by just 0.023 seconds at the Bahrain Grand Prix.\n\nHamilton was ahead by 0.052secs after the first laps in the top-10 shootout but appeared to have a scrappy final lap, allowing Bottas to edge ahead.\n\nIt was Mercedes' first front-row lock-out of 2017, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel third, 0.478secs off the pace.\n\nRed Bull's Daniel Ricciardo took fourth ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.\n\nSunday's Bahrain Grand Prix is live on the BBC Sport website and radio 5 live.\n\nSparks fly in Bahrain, as the race is held under floodlights\n\nMercedes' special engine mode\n\nMercedes' advantage of nearly half a second was by far their biggest over Ferrari so far this season.\n\nBut an advantage in qualifying does not necessarily mean Mercedes' superiority will translate into the race on Sunday.\n\nMercedes have a qualifying engine mode that adds more extra power than their rivals, and Hamilton expects Ferrari to have an advantage on tyre usage in the heat.\n\nFor Bottas, who has replaced world champion Nico Rosberg following the German's retirement, it was his most convincing qualifying performance of the year, after trailing Hamilton by 0.2-0.3secs in the first two races.\n\nHamilton was quickest in the first two sessions and on their first runs in final qualifying, but was made to pay the price on his final lap for a slow middle sector, in which he lost 0.2secs, and then a mistake at the final corner, where he needed to correct a slide on entry.\n\nHow Bottas did it\n\nIt was an impressive performance by Bottas, especially after a dispiriting race in China last weekend where he spun behind the safety car and finished sixth.\n\nThe Finn appeared to adjust his approach to counter Hamilton's pace.\n\nHe had been quicker than Hamilton in the first two sectors of his first lap only for Hamilton to find extra pace in the third.\n\nBut, on his final lap, he took it easier in the first sector and then pushed harder in the next two and it made the difference.\n\n'Been a while...' The last time a Finn took an F1 pole was back in 2008 for the British Grand Prix - in which Hamilton was also doing the congratulating, that time for Heikki Kovalainen\n\nWhat they said\n\nBottas, whose first pole came in his 82nd grand prix, said: \"It took a few races but got it and hopefully it's the first of many.\n\n\"I just want to say a big thank you to the team. Both starting from the front row. We really focused on the evening conditions and got a lot of lap time out of the car.\n\n\"It's not an easy track to get anything right. It's quite technical. Easy to lock up and miss the apex. It is getting the lap together and it was a good enough balance for pole.\"\n\nThat's Bottas' first career pole position since he joined the sport with Williams in 2013\n\nHamilton said: \"Big congratulations to Valtteri. He has been working so hard. Today he was just quicker, so hats off to him.\n\n\"The first lap was good. But it was so close. I was losing a bit of time in the first sector. The second lap was not as good. Just overall a little bit down. Overall, a great battle. That's how close qualifying should be. I'm generally happy with the job I did.\"\n\nVettel said: \"I was generally very happy with how it went. We had some issues on Friday, just in terms of balance, Q2 was tight - just 0.05secs. I was very happy with my first lap but I was a bit down because 0.4secs was more than I expected. The last lap I tried a bit harder and it didn't work.\"\n\nHot hot heat: track temperatures rose to more than 45C earlier during practice\n\nRicciardo beats Verstappen in Red Bull scrap\n\nRicciardo benefited from a poor performance by Raikkonen, struggling with his dreaded understeer, to pip the Finn by just 0.022secs and take the final spot on the second row.\n\nThe Australian also beat team-mate Max Verstappen, who was sixth, for the first time this season in qualifying - the Dutchman blaming Williams driver Felipe Massa for blocking him.\n\nMassa was eighth, behind Renault's Nico Hulkenberg, with Haas driver Romain Grosjean and Hulkenberg's team-mate Jolyon Palmer 10th and in the top 10 for the first time this season, albeit 1.2secs off the German.\n\nFernando Alonso has won the Bahrain Grand Prix more than any other driver, in 2005, 06 and 10, but he won't win this weekend in the underpowered McLaren\n\nMcLaren madness\n\nFernando Alonso, who has been the centre of attention this weekend after Wednesday's news he will compete in the Indianapolis 500 instead of the Monaco Grand Prix, was 15th.\n\nThe Spaniard said he was on course for about 12th or 13th on the grid with a lap 0.5secs quicker than in first qualifying but suffered an engine failure towards the end of the lap.\n\nTeam-mate Stoffel Vandoorne was 0.3secs slower than the Spaniard and did not make it out of first qualifying. Vandoorne's weekend has been plagued by engine problems - he lost two MGU-Hs, the part of the hybrid system that recovers energy from the turbo, on Friday.\n\nBoth men are likely to suffer engine penalties later in the season as a result of Honda's reliability issues."}
-{"text": "UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia objected on Thursday to a United Nations Security Council condemnation of North Korea\u2019s latest rocket launch because the U.S.-drafted statement labeled it an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and Moscow disagrees, diplomats said.\n\nA man watches a TV broadcasting still photographs released by North Korea's state-run television KRT of North Korea's Hwasong-14 missile, at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji\n\nSecurity Council statements have to be agreed by all 15 members. The Russian mission to the United Nations said it had proposed amendments to the U.S. draft. It was not immediately clear if the United States would continue to negotiate with Russia in an effort to reach a council consensus on a statement.\n\nMoscow\u2019s resistance to defining Pyongyang\u2019s missile launch as long-range does not augur well for Washington\u2019s planned push to impose new U.N. sanctions on North Korea. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Wednesday that she plans to propose new measures in coming days.\n\nMoscow has said it believes North Korea fired an intermediate range ballistic missile on Tuesday, while China has not identified the rocket launched. North Korea said it tested an ICBM and the United States said that was likely true.\n\n\u201cThe rationale is that based on our (Ministry of Defense\u2019s) assessment we cannot confirm that the missile can be classified as an ICBM,\u201d Russia\u2019s U.N. mission said in an email to its Security Council colleagues.\n\n\u201cTherefore we are not in a position to agree to this classification on behalf of the whole council since there is no consensus on this issue,\u201d the email said.\n\nHaley on Wednesday denounced Russia\u2019s reluctance to recognize that North Korea had test-launched an ICBM, which some experts believe has the range to reach the U.S. states of Alaska and Hawaii.\n\n\u201cIf you need any sort of intelligence to let you know that the rest of the world sees this as an ICBM, I\u2019m happy to provide it,\u201d she told the Security Council on Wednesday.\n\nPOSSIBLE SANCTIONS\n\nHaley did not give details on what sanctions would be proposed, but outlined available options. North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.\n\n\u201cThe international community can cut off the major sources of hard currency to the North Korean regime. We can restrict the flow of oil to their military and their weapons programs. We can increase air and maritime restrictions. We can hold senior regime officials accountable,\u201d Haley told the council meeting.\n\nDiplomats said Washington proposed such options to Beijing two months ago, but that China had not engaged in discussions on the measures and instead only agreed to adding some people and entities to the existing U.N. sanctions list in June.\n\nFollowing a nuclear weapons test by North Korea in September, while U.S. President Barack Obama was still in office, it took the U.N. Security Council three months to agree strengthened sanctions. It was not immediately clear how long U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s administration was prepared to negotiate with China and Russia on possible new U.N. sanctions.\n\nTrump has threatened to use trade to pressure Beijing to do more to rein in North Korea and U.S. officials have said the United States might seek unilaterally to sanction more Chinese companies that do business with North Korea, especially banks."}
-{"text": "GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- After turning the idea of an obituary on its head, Robert \"Bob\" Eleveld gave the concept of a memorial service the same treatment.\n\nEleveld published what his family is calling a \"nobit\" in the obituary section of The Grand Rapids Press last week.\n\nIn that article, he explained he was still among the living and invited friends and family to join him for a \"celebration of life\" open house on Saturday, March 18.\n\nHundreds of friends and family turned out Saturday to celebrate the life of the prominent Grand Rapids attorney and local political figure.\n\nThe next day, Eleveld died peacefully in his bed while the University of Michigan basketball game flickered on the television. He was surrounding by his family, who read him the notes of love, respect and appreciation left by those attending Saturday's event.\n\nMichele McIsaac, Eleveld's partner for about 24 years, said she was glad the family had the chance to give Bob the final party he so wanted.\n\n\"We were fortunate enough to make Bob's wish come true,\" McIsaac said. \"He wanted to go out with a bang and he went out with a bang.\"\n\nThough Eleveld was not feeling well enough to attend Saturday, a great many of his friends and family turned out. His daughter, Kerry Eleveld, estimated as many as 500 people in attendance at Thousand Oaks Golf Club.\n\n\"It was just sort of an outpouring of love for my father in that room,\" she said \"And celebratory in most ways. Of course there were some sentimental moments. But the party, for the most part, was celebratory through and through.\"\n\nFred Boncher, who has known Eleveld for 40 years, said his friend has always been universally loved and respected.\n\n\"When I die I hope that they will put on my tombstone, 'He was a good man,'\" Boncher said. \"And that really sums up Bob. He was a good man.\"\n\nHolding a \"celebration of life\" open house before his death is something he and his family began discussing late in 2016 as treatment options narrowed and the rare type of cancer from which he suffers progressed.\n\nThough some might find the decision odd, his daughter said nothing could be more appropriate for her father.\n\n\"I think of him as a creator of community,\" Eleveld said. \"And this is one last moment where he can sort of bring people together in an unusual way.\"\n\nMany attending the event Saturday said they enjoyed the opportunity to share a happy moment centered around their friend.\n\nJames A. Mitchell expressed great admiration of his friend and his decision.\n\n\"I always think about the fact that, you know, our friends pass away and we never really got to tell them how important they were to us, in our lives,\" Mitchell said. \"So we tell family how important they were.\n\nAttendees at Saturday's event had the opportunity to \"write a message for Bob,\" which family later read to him.\n\n\"They were quite beautiful, actually,\" Kerry Eleveld said.\n\nNancy McDonough said she was \"honored\" to share many fun family events with Eleveld over the years.\n\n\"You've always been such an inspiration and such a great, great person,\" McDonough said. \"And I'm glad we had a chance to know you.\"\n\nHis daughter said she doesn't think her father was sad he was not able to attend.\n\n\"For him, I don't think it was so much about him as it was about bringing people together,\" Eleveld said.\n\nTwo of her father's key requirements during the final planning process, she said, were that plenty of shrimp and roast beef would be available for his party guests.\n\n\"By the time that it was over, there wasn't a piece of shrimp or a slice of roast beef to be had,\" Eleveld said. \"I'm pretty sure he'd say we did it right.\"\n\nRobert Eleveld earned his bachelor's degree degree from Dartmouth College in 1958 and went on to graduate from University of Michigan Law School in 1961. He served in the Michigan Air National Guard from 1961 to 1967.\n\nEleveld has practiced law in Grand Rapids for more than 50 years, including with Varnum Riddering Schmidt & Howlett, his own law practice and most recently with McGarry Bair.\n\nHe was also long active in local politics, serving as chairman of the Kent County Republican Party and running for a seat in the Michigan House of Representatives in 2002 and 2004. He helped head the West Michigan campaign for Republican presidential candidate John McCain in 2000.\n\nThough a longtime Republican, Eleveld broke from others in his party in support of same-sex civil unions and on the issue of abortion.\n\nMitchell said he is grateful for the opportunity to tell Eleveld how much he has meant to him.\n\n\"And it's a real honor to have the opportunity to tell you how much you meant to me and how much your friendship meant to me all these years as we labored in the vineyards as taxpayers and good Republicans,\" he said.\n\n\"I pray God will hold you in the palm of His hand and deliver you to the new world when we can get together again. God bless you, my dear friend.\"\n\nBut it was not only close friends sharing in Eleveld's celebration.\n\nHis daughter said the family was thrilled when the original story of Eleveld's \"nobit\" was published far and wide by The Associated Press. The story drew praise from many who did not know Eleveld but found beauty in the concept of the party itself.\n\nKerry Eleveld said one of her friends stood in line Saturday with someone who admitted to not knowing Eleveld personally. But far from classifying any such attendee as a party crasher, Eleveld said her father would have welcomed them with open arms.\n\n\"I think my dad would have been delighted by that,\" she said. \"If my dad could make one more connection by having this party ... for him, that would have been the best.\""}
-{"text": "A British citizen has died from rabies after being bitten by a cat while visiting Morocco.\n\nPublic Health England (PHE) issued a warning to travellers on Monday following the UK resident\u2019s death.\n\nIt said there was \u201cno risk to the wider public in relation to this case\u201d but health workers and close family and friends were being assessed and offered vaccination \u201cas a precautionary measure\u201d.\n\nNo more details have been released about the case.\n\nRabies does not circulate in either wild or domestic animals in the UK, but the disease is common in Asia and Africa and can be passed to humans through injuries such as bites and scratches.\n\nFive UK residents were infected with rabies after \u201canimal exposures abroad\u201d between 2000 and 2017, said PHE.\n\nMary Ramsay, head of immunisations at the body, said the latest case was \u201can important reminder of the precautions people should take when travelling to countries where rabies is present.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you are bitten, scratched or licked by an animal you must wash the wound or site of exposure with plenty of soap and water and seek medical advice without delay,\u201d she added.\n\nPHE warns visitors to countries where rabies is endemic to avoid contact with dogs, cats and other animals where possible, and to seek advice about the need for rabies vaccination before travelling.\n\nThe rabies vaccine is highly effective at preventing the disease if given promptly after exposure.\n\nSupport free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events\n\nDeaths from rabies are extremely rare in the UK.\n\nThe last reported case of rabies in the UK had previously been in 2012, when a British grandmother died after being bitten by a dog while on holiday in India.\n\nNo human cases of infection from animals in Britain other than bats have been reported since 1902.\n\nThe last known infection from an animal in the UK was in 2002, when a 56-year-old bat handler died of the disease in Scotland. He had been bitten by a Daubenton\u2019s bat several weeks earlier."}
-{"text": "A private group seeking to fund and build a wall on the border between the U.S. and Mexico says it has completed a half-mile of the barrier, according to The Washington Times. It is reportedly the first such privately funded and built construction.\n\nOrganizers with We Build the Wall say the group has sealed off a break in existing border fencing using an 18-foot steel bollard wall. It's a similar design to those used by the Border Patrol, according to the Times, and cost about $8 million.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re closing a gap that\u2019s been a big headache\u201d for the Border Patrol, former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R), the group\u2019s general counsel, told The Washington Times.\n\nAir Force veteran Brian Kolfage first announced a fundraiser for a private border wall in December amid a standoff between President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE and congressional Democrats over funding for a barrier. He raised more than $20 million. Earlier this month, amid reports there was no indication the group had completed any construction, Kolfage defended the group\u2019s efforts, writing, \u201cWe are in the homestretch and it\u2019s on a need to know basis.\u201d\n\nIn January, GoFundMe announced it would refund the $20 million, saying Kolfage had changed the terms after initially promising to refund all donations if the fundraiser fell short of its $1 billion goal.\n\n\u201cIf a donor does not want a refund, and they want their donation to go to the new organization, they must proactively elect to redirect their donation to that organization,\u201d a GoFundMe spokesman told The Hill in January. \u201cIf they do not take that step, they will automatically receive a full refund.\u201d\n\nOver the past week, Kolfage has tweeted hints about a potential unveiling and on Monday triumphantly posted a video of the wall."}
-{"text": "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a man who certainly divides opinion. To some, especially those in high office, Assange is a traitor and a threat to national security. To many others, Assange is a cyber freedom fighter, who is determined to expose the underhand dealings, and alleged illegal activity, of governments and powerful individuals.\n\nAs most people know, Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012. Ecuador granted Assange political asylum after Swedish prosecutors requested his extradition over allegations of sexual assault and rape in Sweden. Assange has always maintained his innocence and he believes that the allegations were fabricated. Assange asserts that the ultimate aim, is to find a means by which he can be renditioned to the U.S., to face charges over WikiLeaks release of secret material that U.S. authorities would have preferred to remain buried.\n\nAs previously reported in the Inquisitr, the United Nations has ruled that Assange is being \u201cillegally detained\u201d by British and Swedish authorities. Late last year rumors were rife that claimed Assange had either been assassinated or renditioned to the U.S. by the CIA. Those rumors came at a time when Assange and WikiLeaks were releasing material that Hillary Clinton\u2019s supporters claimed cost her the presidential election.\n\n(Image by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)\n\nAssange and WikiLeaks were accused of collaborating with Russia to damage Clinton, thereby ensuring an electoral victory for Donald Trump. WikiLeaks failed to release any information that was damaging to Trump, and Assange claimed that they simply didn\u2019t have any. Suspicions, that Assange and WikiLeaks were in league with Donald Trump\u2019s campaign, were raised higher still when Assange gave interviews to Sean Hannity, on the right-wing Fox News outlet.\n\nThose commentators may have been surprised, when the Trump administration took action against Assange this week, that go far beyond anything done by the Obama administration.\n\nAttorney General Jeff Sessions Makes Arresting Julian Assange A \u2018Priority.\u2019\n\nAs reported by Australian news outlet SBS, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made the arrest of Assange \u201ca top priority.\u201d In response to a question about Assange, Sessions said that every effort will be made to ensure that Assange ends up in jail.\n\n\u201cWe are going to step up our effort and already are stepping up our efforts on all leaks.\u201d \u201cThis is a matter that\u2019s gone beyond anything I\u2019m aware of. We have professionals that have been in the security business of the United States for many years that are shocked by the number of leaks and some of them are quite serious.\u201d \u201cWhenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail.\u201d\n\nJeff Sessions comments come in the wake of WikiLeaks publication of material from a leak of CIA intelligence files. In an interview with Democracy Now, Assange claims that WikiLeaks have released less than one percent of the CIA material. Assange claims that the CIA material, known as Vault 7, constitutes the \u201clargest intelligence leak in history.\u201d\n\nAssange states that the Vault 7 material released to date proves that the CIA are routinely using hacking to access information on private citizens.\n\n\u201c[The CIA are] specialized in semi-automated hacking processes.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s creation of viruses, Trojans, etc., to put in people\u2019s computer systems, telephones, TVs, and have those then report back to CIA listening posts that collect that information, ingest it into the broader CIA process.\u201d \u201cAnd also information can be pushed, using these mechanisms, onto those telephones, computers, etc., etc., to, for example, plant information that could implicate someone falsely, or perhaps even truly, in a crime.\u201d\n\n(Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)\n\nGiven the damage that the WikiLeaks revelations can do to the reputation of the U.S. establishment and to the CIA, it is no surprise to see that CIA director Mike Pompeo has lashed out at WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. According to CBS News, Pompeo has called WikiLeaks a \u201chostile intelligence service.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is: A non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia.\u201d\n\nWhilst the CIA has not made any comment on the authenticity of the WikiLeaks information, Assange claims the leak came from former CIA contractors who worked for U.S. intelligence.\n\nAssange has always believed that the U.S. establishment is determined to see him in a U.S jail. The Obama administration may not have made its intentions towards Assange and WikiLeaks public, but the Trump administration certainly has. By doing so, Jeff Sessions and Mike Pompeo, have made it clear that Assange is one of their top priorities. They have also made it clear that it will not be safe for Assange to leave London\u2019s Ecuadorian Embassy. Given that the UN have already declared that Assange is illegally detained, it could be argued that Sessions and the CIA have imposed a sentence of life imprisonment within the Ecuadorian Embassy.\n\n[Featured Image by Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Images]"}
-{"text": "$70,000 donated to Counterparty - How best to spend it? e.g. broadcast the BTC denominated transaction fees paid to Bitcoin miners in the previous block (or N-5 block). This could become a way for traders to hedge risk of a \u201cfee event\u201d, or just of rising fees.\n\nI like the idea!\n\nThe opportunity to hedge some of the risk associated with blockchain bloat (rising fees) adds value to bitcoin businesses.\n\nIt\u2019s in line with Counterparty\u2019s vision as a peer to peer financial platform\n\nA valuable use case for XCP\n\nImplementing it is not that difficult\n\nUsing it eliminates 3rd party risk\n\nHere\u2019s one way to implement it:\n\nAn oracle will every 12 blocks broadcast the median fee of the previous 12 blocks. The oracle is built into the protocol, so this is fully automated.\n\nAn even better solution could be to have the oracle cycle through several metrics, e.g. median fee, median block size, uniform random number.\n\nTo add this in the best way we should also"}
-{"text": "Coburn\u2019s intended departure from the Senate would cut short a nine-year career. Coburn won't serve out Senate term\n\nOklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn confirmed Thursday night that he will not serve out his full Senate term and intends to step down after 2014 because of deepening health problems.\n\nIn a statement, Coburn acknowledged that he is battling a serious recurrence of cancer and said he would continue to fight for his priorities during the remainder of his time in office.\n\n\n\u201cCarolyn and I have been touched by the encouragement we\u2019ve received from people across the state regarding my latest battle against cancer. But this decision isn\u2019t about my health, my prognosis or even my hopes and desires,\u201d Coburn said. \u201cAs a citizen, I am now convinced that I can best serve my own children and grandchildren by shifting my focus elsewhere.\u201d\n\n( Earlier on POLITICO: Battling cancer again, Coburn may cut short his term)\n\nCoburn notified aides of his intentions earlier in the day; his spokesman denied to POLITICO earlier in the evening that the senator planned to leave the Senate.\n\nThe 65-year-old physician\u2019s decision to resign marks a shift in his plans: In an interview earlier this month, he said he believed he was \u201cplenty healthy enough to serve out my term,\u201d but acknowledged that circumstances could change.\n\n\u201cThe decision I make will be made in conjunction with my family as to how I can best implement and impact things. And if I don\u2019t think I can, I won\u2019t,\u201d Coburn said at the time.\n\n( PHOTOS: Who's leaving Congress?)\n\nCoburn\u2019s departure from the Senate will cut short a nine-year career in the chamber and a longer tenure in Congress that dates back to the 1994 Republican revolution. An obstetrician by training, Coburn served six years in the House \u2014 often clashing with his GOP colleagues as well as Democrats and participating in attempt to depose then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich \u2014 before standing by a pledge to step down after three terms.\n\nHe returned to politics in 2004 when one of Oklahoma\u2019s Senate seats opened up, winning an upset victory in the Republican primary and defeating a highly touted Democratic recruit in the general election. Easily reelected in 2010, Coburn has long said he would not seek a third term in 2016.\n\nCoburn\u2019s resignation is expected to set up a special election to fill out the remainder of his term in deeply conservative Oklahoma.\n\n( Also on POLITICO: Tom Coburn slams jobless benefits \u2018spin\u2019)\n\nCoburn has fought cancer on and off for years: In addition to the recurrence of prostate cancer that he announced in November, Coburn has also grappled with melanoma and colon cancer. He had brain surgery about six years ago as a result of a benign brain tumor.\n\nAs of last week, he was facing the prospect of serious surgery that would require doctors to enter through the rib cage \u2013 a procedure serious enough that Coburn had already begun to discuss the possible ramifications for his Senate career with close family and friends.\n\nAsked recently if he thought Coburn would serve out his term, North Carolina Richard Burr, a friend of the Oklahoman\u2019s, said: \u201cCould he? Sure. Will he? I don\u2019t know the answer to that.\u201d\n\nBurr added: \u201cHealth treatments are a pretty demanding thing, and I think Tom has always been one that gives 100 percent in everything that he does. And if at any point he feels like he can\u2019t give 100 percent to be a representative of Oklahoma, then I\u2019m sure that will have an influence on maybe what he did.\u201d\n\nIn the interview this month, Coburn said that he felt strong and recalled starting one workday at 4 a.m. and ending around 7:30 p.m., a far longer day than many staffers about half his age put in.\n\n\u201cMy health is good, as far as endurance,\u201d Coburn said then. \u201cProbably people should judge my mental health rather than my physical health on why you want to be here.\u201d\n\nManu Raju contributed to this report."}
-{"text": "The Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore is introducing a tough new rule that will censor websites that are read from inside the country, even if they are not hosted there.\n\nThe new rule, which will come into effect on Saturday (1 June), will require local news websites and those that report regularly on Singapore and get at least 50,000 unique visitors from Singapore over two months to apply for an individual license.\n\nThe license will require the sites to comply with existing regulations that include banning \u2018material [that] advocates homosexuality or lesbianism, or depicts or promotes incest, pedophilia, bestiality and necrophilia\u2019.\n\nAny content found to be in breach of those regulations will be expected to be removed within 24 hours, a statement from government agency MDA said. In addition the sites will have to pay a \u2018performance bond\u2019 of $50,000 (Singapore dollars, $40,000, \u00e2\u201a\u00ac30,000).\n\n\u2018It is extremely disturbing,\u2019 said gay Singaporean writer and performance artist Ng Yi-sheng to Gay Star News.\n\n\u2018However, there is a chance that the law will be executed very inconsistently (like many laws in Singapore). At this first stage of the law\u2019s application, MDA is only going after major corporate news websites. They might decide not to go after [LGBT websites] Fridae, Trevvy, etc, because it\u2019d place them in a too politically awkward situation.\u2019\n\nMDA published a list of the sites they are asking to apply for licenses which includes Yahoo News, Asia One, Business Times and Channel New Asia.\n\n\u2018Ultimately, gay activism won\u2019t suffer that much, because a specific issue like this can be easily disseminated via blogs and Facebook walls. It\u2019s the more general coverage of human rights abuses here that will suffer,\u2019 added Ng.\n\nJean Chong from LGBT rights group Sayoni said she thinks the new law will be aimed at sites critical of the government. \u2018It\u2019s another censorship attempt by the government and the online community is incensed,\u2019 she said.\n\nVeteran gay rights campaigner Alex Au dissected the MDA\u2019s announcement on his popular blog Yawning Bread, which could be a victim of the new rule.\n\n\u2018Instead of imposing new regulatory conditions on online media, why not dismantle the straitjackets on offline media?\u2019 Au wrote. \u2018You\u2019d notice that the government is silent on this.\u2019\n\nOpposition parties have also been critical. Singapore Democratic Party and National Solidarity Party both called the new rule a \u2018regressive\u2019 step, Wall Street Journal reports.\n\nIn an interview with Gay Star News last December Pink Dot spokesperson Paerin Choa said that existing media censorship laws affecting TV and press were \u2018the worst\u2019 of all the issues LGBT people face in Singapore.\n\n\u2018Content that justifies, promotes or glamorizes gay lifestyle is banned,\u2019 Choa said. \u2018So basically if a gay person finds love and lives happily ever after \u2013 that story is banned. Brokeback Mountain is allowed, because the gay person dies and lives a sad lonely life.\n\n\u2018So you have very skewered portrayal of gay people in local mainstream media. It leads to an ignorance about what being gay is about in the general public.\u2019"}
-{"text": "SIKAR (RAJ): Jain monk and religious leader Tarun Sagar today said India has more \"traitors within than the number of terrorists in Pakistan \".Those who live and eat in the country, raise pro-Pakistan slogans, he alleged without naming anyone.\"People living in the country shout revere Pakistan, aren't they traitors? India has more traitors within than the number of terrorists in Pakistan,\" Sagar said in a press conference here.The religious leader said terrorists never attack from the front like a tiger, instead they attack like a wolf (from the behind).Hitting out at discrepancies prevailing in the country, he said India is not a poor country, actually there is inequality."}
-{"text": "Dagger Shifter\n\nWalking the border between dimensions, Dagger Shifters are rogues who specialize in magical teleportation to achieve their goals. Combining their unique abilities with roguish skill, Dagger Shifters are able to leap around the battlefield to deal surprise attacks, sneak into secure locations undetected, and escape from tricky situations in the blink of an eye.\n\nShift Daggers\n\nAt 3rd level, choose a dagger from your inventory to mark as a Shift Dagger. The number of daggers you can have marked in this way is equal to half your Sneak Attack die rounded down, and you can change which daggers you have marked during a short or long rest. Unless you allow it, you are immune to damage dealt by attacks made against you using these daggers.\n\nWhen a creature or object you can see is hit by an attack using your Shift Dagger, you can use your reaction to magically teleport to an open space of your choosing within 5 feet of the target, and the dagger appears in your hand. If no such space exists, this ability can not be used. When you make an attack and use this feature, the attack qualifies for Sneak Attack so long as it was not made at disadvantage.\n\nDagger Shift\n\nAt 3rd level, you can use a bonus action to magically teleport to any of your Shift Daggers within range, and you are aware of the precise location of all your Shift Daggers within that range. If you attempt to teleport to a dagger located on a space that is occupied, you instead go to the nearest unoccupied space of your choosing. Upon teleporting, you choose whether the dagger returns to you, or if it is left in place.\n\nThe range of this ability is 30 feet, which increases to 60 feet at 13th level.\n\nSo long as you and your Shift Dagger are on the same plane of existence, you can also use a bonus action to summon it back to you.\n\nShifting Strike\n\nAt 9th level, you gain the ability to magically teleport yourself between multiple enemies, making a strike on each one.\n\nChoose up to five creatures or objects you can see within 30 feet of you. As an action, make a melee weapon attack against each one with one with a finesse weapon you are holding. On a hit, the target takes the damage from your attack. Each hit qualifies for Sneak Attack so long as it was not made at disadvantage, and the damage dice for your Sneak Attack can either be applied to a single creature, or split up between them. At the end of this action, you then teleport to an unoccupied space you can see within 5 feet of one of the creatures you hit. If no such space exists, you return to the space you made the attack from.\n\nThis ability can be used once per long rest. The number of uses increases to two at 13th level, and three at 17th level.\n\nCounter-Shift\n\nAt 13th level, you learn how to shift more than just yourself.\n\nWhen a creature you can see is hit by an attack using your Shift Dagger, you can use your reaction to attempt switch places with the target. An unwilling target must succeed a DC 15 Charisma saving throw or else you switch places. If the attack had advantage the DC increases to 17. If disadvantage the DC decreases to 13. On a successful save, the dagger drops onto the creature's space. When using this feature, the attack deals no damage or any other effect to the target.\n\nShifty Dodge\n\nAt 17th level, you can use your teleportation to dodge a devastating attack, and potentially redirect it onto an enemy.\n\nWhen you are hit by an attack, you can use your reaction to make an attack with your Shift Dagger. If you already used your reaction, you gain one more this turn to use exclusively with this feature. This attack deals no damage, and cannot target your attacker. If your attack hits another creature or object, you switch places with the target, causing the original attack to hit the target instead. If you miss, or if the target is a location, you magically teleport to the dagger or nearest unoccupied space to it of your choosing and avoid being hit by the original attack.\n\nOnce you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest."}
-{"text": "Rom\u00e2nia are un nou cod de procedur\u0103 penal\u0103. Acesta a fost adoptat \u00een aceast\u0103 sear\u0103 \u00een Camera Deputa\u021bilor cu c\u00e2teva minute \u00eenainte de ora 22:00. Codul de procedur\u0103 penal\u0103 a fost adoptat cu 175 de voturi pentru, 78 \u00eempotriv\u0103 \u0219i o ab\u021binere.\n\nProtestele de la finele anului trecut din \u00eentreaga \u021bar\u0103 au fost cauzate de o serie de modific\u0103ri aduse Codului penal printr-un proiect de lege al membrilor PSD. Mul\u021bi au crezut c\u0103 eforturile c\u00e2torva sute de mii de rom\u00e2ni de a ie\u0219i la protest se vor reflecta \u00een anularea unui Cod de procedur\u0103 penal\u0103 care avantajeaz\u0103 infractorii \u00eentr-un mod v\u0103dit. \u00cen realitate, a fost vorba doar de o simpl\u0103 am\u00e2nare, iar dup\u0103 aproximativ \u0219ase luni, Codul penal propus de social democra\u021bi are toate \u0219ansele s\u0103 intre \u00een vigoare.\n\n\u00cenainte s\u0103 ajung\u0103 \u00een Camera Deputa\u021bilor, cu rol de camer\u0103 decizional\u0103, noul cod penal a trecut printr-o dezbatere rapid\u0103 \u00een cadrul comisiei speciale conduse de Florin Iordache. Acel eveniment s-a petrecut \u00een prima parte a zilei de azi, 18 iunie 2018. Nu a trecut mult timp p\u00e2n\u0103 c\u00e2nd o variant\u0103 f\u0103r\u0103 nici un fel de modific\u0103rii a legii propuse de PSD a ajuns \u00een Camera Deputa\u021bilor pentru a fi subiectul unor dezbateri aprinse, pe parcursul mai multor ore. Votul final a fost la ora 21:57.\n\nDup\u0103 ce a fost aprobat de Camera Deputa\u021bilor, codul de procedur\u0103 penal\u0103 urmeaz\u0103 s\u0103 ajung\u0103 pe biroul pre\u0219edintelui Klaus Iohannis pentru a fi promulgat. Pe de alt\u0103 parte, oficialii grupurilor PNL \u0219i USR din Parlament au anun\u021bat c\u0103 vor ataca legalitatea noii legi la Curtea Constitu\u021bional\u0103.\n\nCodul penal al Rom\u00e2niei, modificat: care sunt schimb\u0103rile \u00eengrijor\u0103toare\n\nDup\u0103 cum s-a v\u00e2zut \u0219i la protestele de anul trecut, schimb\u0103rile aduse Codului de procedur\u0103 penal\u0103 al Rom\u00e2niei sunt \u00eengrijor\u0103toare. O parte dintre ele le voi itera mai jos:\n\nrevizuirea hot\u0103r\u00e2rilor judec\u0103tore\u015fti definitive poate fi cerut\u0103 \u00een cazul \u00een care solu\u021bionarea cauzei nu este semnat\u0103 sau redactat\u0103 de c\u0103tre judec\u0103torul care a participat la proces\n\ntermenele pentru exercitarea c\u0103ilor de atac declarate \u00eempotriva hot\u0103r\u00e2rilor pronun\u021bate p\u00e2n\u0103 la data intr\u0103rii \u00een vigoare a prezentei legi \u0219i pentru motivele prev\u0103zute de aceasta \u00eencep s\u0103 curg\u0103 la data intr\u0103rii sale \u00een vigoare.\n\npentru arestarea preventiv\u0103 vor fi necesare probe sau indicii temeinice (ex: dac\u0103 suspectul a s\u0103v\u00e2r\u015fit o infrac\u0163iune, a influen\u0163at martorii sau a \u00eencercat s\u0103 distrug\u0103 probe)\n\ninstan\u021ba de apel nu mai poate s\u0103 dea o pedeaps\u0103 cu condamnare unei persoane care a fost achitat\u0103 \u00een prim\u0103 instan\u021b\u0103 dec\u00e2t dac\u0103 apar probe noi\n\ndezv\u0103luirile \u00een timpul urm\u0103ririi penale referitoare la faptele \u015fi persoanele care fac obiectul procedurii sunt interzise, cu excep\u021bia cazului \u00een care se justific\u0103 interesul public \u201eprev\u0103zut de lege\u201d\n\nconvorbirile, comunic\u0103rile sau conversa\u021biile interceptate \u015fi \u00eenregistrate, care nu privesc fapta ce formeaz\u0103 obiectul cercet\u0103rii, nu pot fi folosite sau ata\u015fate la dosarul de urm\u0103rire penal\u0103\n\ndurata urm\u0103ririi penale este redus\u0103 la un an. Dac\u0103 procurorii nu reu\u0219esc \u00een decurs de un an s\u0103 trimit\u0103 \u00een judecat\u0103 persoana \u00een cauz\u0103, atunci dosarul se claseaz\u0103 automat\n\ndenun\u0163urile vor aduce reduceri de pedeaps\u0103 doar dac\u0103 sunt f\u0103cute \u00een maximum 6 luni de la fapt\u0103\n\naudierea unei persoane nu poate dura mai mult de 6 ore din 24 de ore, iar perioadele de 6 ore nu pot fi consecutive, intervenind un interval de 12 ore\n\nse elimin\u0103 camera preliminar\u0103 (prin modific\u0103ri operate la Legea 304 pentru punere \u00een acord)\n\nNoul cod de procedur\u0103 penal\u0103: cine s-a opus\n\nProiectoul de lege pentru schimbarea codului penal a fost adoptat cu 175 de voturi pentru, 78 \u00eempotriv\u0103 \u0219i o singur\u0103 ab\u021binere. \u00cen mare parte, decizia a fost luat\u0103 de deputa\u021bii PSD-ALDE \u0219i UDMR. \u00cen minoritate, opozi\u021bia a fost format\u0103 din membrii USR, PNL \u0219i PMP.\n\nDup\u0103 vot, foarte mul\u021bi deputa\u021bi ai opozi\u021biei \u0219i-au exprimat dispre\u021bul pentru rezultatele dezam\u0103gitoare. \u201eDe ast\u0103zi, pedofilii, criminalii filma\u021bi cu telefonul mobil vor sc\u0103pa dac\u0103 nu vor fi alte probe! De ast\u0103zi, Rom\u00e2nia este un rai al infractorilor!\u201d Acestea au fost cuvintele lui Dan Barna de la USR la scurt timp dup\u0103 aflarea rezultatelor de la vot. Cei care sunt curio\u0219i \u0219i vor s\u0103 citeasc\u0103 \u00eentregul proiect de lege care a trecut prin \u201dComisia special\u0103 a Camerei Deputa\u021bilor \u0219i Senatului pentru sistematizarea, unificarea \u0219i asigurarea stabilit\u0103\u021bii legislative \u00een domeniul justi\u021biei\u201d, pot parcurge PDF-ul disponibil la aceast\u0103 adres\u0103."}
-{"text": "Pour BFMTV et CNews, pas de meilleur sp\u00e9cialiste de P\u00e9tain qu\u2019Eric Zemmour. Elle se sont donc empress\u00e9es de l\u2019inviter \u00e0 commenter la \u201cpol\u00e9mique\u201d cr\u00e9\u00e9e par Emmanuel Macron. Un pr\u00e9sident qui, hormis cette \u00e9tourderie due \u00e0 la fatigue, a su renouer le dialogue avec les Fran\u00e7ais\u2026 et m\u00eame les convaincre. Enfin, surtout Josiane.\n\n\u00ab Est-ce qu\u2019on a raison de ne plus fleurir la tombe du mar\u00e9chal P\u00e9tain \u00e0 l\u2019\u00cele-d\u2019Yeu ? \u00bb B\u00eatement, je ne m\u2019\u00e9tais pas pos\u00e9 la question. Merci \u00e0 BFMTV d\u2019y avoir pens\u00e9. Mercredi soir, alors que le bandeau interroge \u00ab P\u00e9tain, le r\u00e9trop\u00e9dalage ? \u00bb, Olivier Truchot re\u00e7oit logiquement le meilleur sp\u00e9cialiste de P\u00e9tain, Eric Zemmour, pour v\u00e9rifier s\u2019il fut vraiment \u00ab un grand soldat \u00bb, comme l\u2019affirme Emmanuel Macron. Et aussi pour lui demander si, \u00ab finalement, P\u00e9tain, il a \u00e9t\u00e9 utile pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale ? \u00bb Certainement, mais Pierre Laval n\u2019a pas d\u00e9m\u00e9rit\u00e9.\n\nDR\n\n\u00ab Merci de venir et d\u2019accepter le d\u00e9bat \u00bb, salue Pascal Praud le lendemain, accueillant \u00e0 son tour le sp\u00e9cialiste de P\u00e9tain, chez qui il d\u00e9c\u00e8le \u00ab une forme de courage intellectuel \u00bb. A accepter l\u2019invitation de porte-voix aux plateaux garnis d\u2019un public conquis riant avec lui, comme jeudi matin sur CNews. Cette bonne ambiance (il y a l\u00e0 Emmanuelle M\u00e9nard, J\u00e9r\u00f4me B\u00e9gl\u00e9, Jean-Claude Dassier) donne l\u2019occasion au \u00ab pol\u00e9miste \u00bb d\u2019\u00e9noncer quelques v\u00e9rit\u00e9s g\u00e9n\u00e9rales, comme la veille sur BFMTV : \u00ab Tous les historiens sont r\u00e9visionnistes, ils r\u00e9visent le pass\u00e9. \u00bb Imparable. Du coup, tous les \u00e9l\u00e8ves qui r\u00e9visent leurs cours d\u2019histoire sont r\u00e9visionnistes ?\n\nDR\n\nSur CNews, Eric Zemmour d\u00e9plore la peine inflig\u00e9e \u00e0 son mar\u00e9chal incompris. \u00ab Je ne fais pas grand cr\u00e9dit aux tribunaux de la Lib\u00e9ration. C\u2019est la justice des vainqueurs. \u00bb Pareil au proc\u00e8s de Nuremberg : aucun nazi parmi les jur\u00e9s. J\u00e9r\u00f4me B\u00e9gl\u00e9, du Point, a lu son livre : \u00ab Ce que vous dites sur Robespierre est int\u00e9ressant. On en fait le pire des salauds sauf que c\u2019est un peu plus compliqu\u00e9 que \u00e7a. \u2014 Eh ben voil\u00e0 ! \u00bb, r\u00e9agit l\u2019invit\u00e9, combl\u00e9. Robespierre et P\u00e9tain, m\u00eame combat ! Aucun des deux n\u2019est le salaud qu\u2019on croit.\n\n\u00ab Il y a dans la vie de P\u00e9tain des \u00e9pisodes qui sont glorieux \u00bb, rappelle Eric Zemmour\u2026 Oups, pardon, je me suis tromp\u00e9, j\u2019ai tout m\u00e9lang\u00e9, ce n\u2019est pas Eric Zemmour qui dit \u00e7a, c\u2019est Christophe Barbier. Et il sait de quoi il parle : \u00ab Moi, j\u2019ai connu des Poilus qui avaient servi sous P\u00e9tain \u00e0 Verdun. P\u00e9tain, par sa tactique, avait \u00e9pargn\u00e9 leurs vies. \u00bb Mais pas celle des mutins fusill\u00e9s sans jugement. La l\u00e9gende du g\u00e9n\u00e9ral \u00ab \u00e9conome en sang \u00bb se r\u00e9pand de cha\u00eene en cha\u00eene\u2026\n\nDR\n\nJusqu\u2019\u00e0 l\u2019intervention d\u2019un historien \u2014 enfin ! \u2013 sur le plateau de Ruth Elkrief. Pour Jean-Yves Le Naour, rendre hommage \u00e0 P\u00e9tain constitue \u00ab une erreur historique et juridique (\u2026) Les militaires voulaient sans doute leur petit d\u00e9fil\u00e9 pour f\u00eater leur victoire\u2026 Quelle belle victoire, un million quatre cent mille morts ! Comm\u00e9morer, c\u2019est se souvenir ensemble, c\u2019est pas c\u00e9l\u00e9brer je ne sais quelle victoire ou gradaille galonn\u00e9e qui est morte dans son lit ! \u00bb Gradaille ? Cet argot antimilitariste d\u00e9cr\u00e9dibilise son auteur. \u00ab Comme en Union sovi\u00e9tique sous Staline, on va l\u2019effacer parce qu\u2019il g\u00eane ? Non ! \u00bb, proteste Eric Zemmour\u2026 Oups, re-pardon, je me suis encore m\u00e9lang\u00e9, c\u2019est Franz-Olivier Giesbert qui r\u00e9pond \u00e7a. Pas facile de s\u2019y retrouver\u2026 Sur CNews, Eric Zemmour formule quasiment la m\u00eame r\u00e9plique au vice-pr\u00e9sident du Crif : \u00ab Vous \u00eates stalinien, vous effacez Trotsky ! \u00bb\n\nDR\n\n\u00ab Pour conclure, s\u2019enquiert Ruth Elkrief, cette pol\u00e9mique est inutile ou elle est int\u00e9ressante et instructive ? \u00bb \u00ab Elle est tr\u00e8s malheureuse, r\u00e9pond Jean-Yves Le Naour. J\u2019ai l\u2019impression d\u2019une r\u00e9gression, on revient au discours de de Gaulle de 1966. \u00bb Un discours opportun\u00e9ment exhum\u00e9 par les communicants de l\u2019Elys\u00e9e pour justifier les paroles du pr\u00e9sident, un discours illico multidiffus\u00e9 sur toutes les cha\u00eenes, du C \u00e0 vous de France 5 au 20 heures de France 2 en passant par BFMTV, et fr\u00e9n\u00e9tiquement encens\u00e9 par les \u00e9ditorialistes \u00e0 l\u2019unanimit\u00e9. De Gaulle y met les \u00ab d\u00e9faillances condamnables \u00bb de P\u00e9tain sur le compte de \u00ab l\u2019usure de l\u2019\u00e2ge \u00bb qui frappait un homme dans \u00ab l\u2019extr\u00eame hiver de sa vie au milieu d\u2019\u00e9v\u00e9nements excessifs \u00bb. Bienvenue dans le \u00ab nouveau monde \u00bb d\u2019Emmanuel Macron.\n\nDR\n\nP\u00e9tain est toujours \u00e0 la une dans C \u00e0 vous, jeudi soir : \u00ab Un pr\u00e9sident ne devrait pas dire \u00e7a comme \u00e7a, dans ce cadre-l\u00e0, estime Ya\u00ebl Goosz, chef du service politique de France Inter. L\u00e0, il est rattrap\u00e9 peut-\u00eatre par la fatigue. Quatre heures de sommeil par nuit depuis dimanche, \u00e7a fait six jours et demi qu\u2019il est sur la route\u2026 \u00bb Et soudain, l\u2019envie de rendre hommage \u00e0 P\u00e9tain\u2026 A qui cela n\u2019est-il pas arriv\u00e9 ?\n\nDR\n\n\u00ab L\u00e0, il y a un couac, juge aussi Jean-Michel Aphatie. Bien s\u00fbr qu\u2019il ne faut pas rendre hommage \u00e0 P\u00e9tain ! Il le sait puisqu\u2019il a particip\u00e9 aux discussions dans les semaines qui ont pr\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9\u2026 \u00bb \u00ab Mais alors, s\u2019\u00e9tonne Anne-Elisabeth Lemoine, comment on explique \u00e7a ? \u00bb \u00ab Je sais pas, la fatigue, l\u2019inattention\u2026 \u00bb Une \u00e9tourderie, \u00e7a peut arriver \u00e0 tout le monde.\n\nDR\n\nPatrick Cohen exprime sa peine : \u00ab Tous les jours, il y a des discours solennels dont il ne reste rien, on n\u2019en parle pas, on ne les entend pas. \u00bb Je comprends mieux ma sensation de manque depuis dimanche. L\u2019\u00e9ditorialiste d\u2019Europe 1 regrette la focalisation sur les rencontres improvis\u00e9es d\u2019Emmanuel Macron. C\u2019est que, comme dit Ruth Elkrief (je me demande si la m\u00e9taphore est bien choisie), \u00ab il va au front, il va au contact avec les gens \u00bb. \u00ab Je suis partag\u00e9, h\u00e9site Jean-Michel Aphatie. J\u2019ai peur qu\u2019on ait un regard de journaliste l\u00e0-dessus. \u00bb Il ne manquerait plus que \u00e7a.\n\nDR\n\n\u00ab Je suis partag\u00e9, reprend Jean-Michel Aphatie, parce que quand m\u00eame, il a une t\u00eate sympathique, le pr\u00e9sident. \u00bb Comme le mar\u00e9chal P\u00e9tain, qui avait une t\u00eate de papi-g\u00e2teau. \u00ab Il a de la s\u00e9duction, il a du sourire. \u00bb Le k\u00e9pi et les feuilles de ch\u00eane lui iraient tr\u00e8s bien. \u00ab Quand il dit \u201cl\u2019essence, c\u2019est pas Bibi\u201d, c\u2019est assez spontan\u00e9. \u00bb Et bien argument\u00e9. \u00ab Il y a un certain courage \u00e0 faire \u00e7a, il est quand m\u00eame beaucoup plus d\u00e9tendu que Sarkozy. \u00bb Et que de Gaulle. \u00ab Pourtant, certains ont besoin de laisser \u00e9clater leur col\u00e8re \u00bb, note BFMTV qui, jeudi, diffuse le dialogue entre une retrait\u00e9e et le pr\u00e9sident.\n\nDR\n\nSelon la reporter, \u00ab calme et impliqu\u00e9e, la r\u00e9ponse du pr\u00e9sident semble avoir atteint son but \u00bb. Pas possible ? \u00ab Il a dit qu\u2019il allait nous aider, essayer de changer les choses, t\u00e9moigne la retrait\u00e9e. J\u2019esp\u00e8re pouvoir lui faire confiance. \u00bb \u00ab Vous avez \u00e9t\u00e9 convaincue ? \u00bb \u00ab Oui. \u00bb \u00c7a marche ! BFMTV peut enlever le point d\u2019interrogation de son bandeau \u00ab Macron : reconqu\u00eate par le dialogue ? \u00bb \u00ab Macron et les Fran\u00e7ais : il adoucit le ton \u00bb, indique celui de LCI. \u00ab On a cette impression plus ou moins confus\u00e9ment qu\u2019il \u00e9coute davantage, avance Julien Arnaud. Il \u00e9vite les sorties un peu trop brusques, il est plus dans l\u2019\u00e9coute que dans la contre-attaque. \u00bb Et plus dans la s\u00e9duction des p\u00e9tainistes que dans la d\u00e9fense de la R\u00e9publique.\n\n\u00ab C\u2019est d\u00e9cid\u00e9, assure le reporter. Pendant une semaine, il va changer de ton, quelles que soient les critiques. \u00bb D\u2019o\u00f9 sa r\u00e9ponse \u00ab calme et impliqu\u00e9e \u00bb \u00e0 la question sur l\u2019hommage \u00e0 P\u00e9tain. \u00ab Depuis trois jours, le ton reste mesur\u00e9. \u00bb D\u2019o\u00f9 sa d\u00e9fense \u00ab mesur\u00e9e \u00bb d\u2019un hommage \u00e0 P\u00e9tain. Arlette Chabot analyse : \u00ab Emmanuel Macron a bien compris que les petites formules \u00e0 l\u2019emporte-pi\u00e8ce \u00e9taient mal comprises\u2026 \u00bb Les Fran\u00e7ais sont trop b\u00eates.\n\nDR\n\nJulien Arnaud r\u00e9appara\u00eet. \u00ab On va discuter avec une dame qui a \u00e9chang\u00e9, aujourd\u2019hui, avec Emmanuel Macron, elle s\u2019appelle Josiane. \u00bb Tiens, la revoici ! Elle s\u2019appelle donc Josiane. \u00ab Bonsoir Josiane. Alors, est-ce qu\u2019il vous a convaincue, le pr\u00e9sident ? \u00bb \u00ab Je veux penser qu\u2019il est sinc\u00e8re, je veux y croire. \u00bb C\u2019est confirm\u00e9, Emmanuel Macron a reconquis les Fran\u00e7ais en adoucissant le ton.\n\nEt ce n\u2019est pas fini. Sur France 5, Patrick Cohen anticipe l\u2019apoth\u00e9ose. \u00ab Il y a l\u2019\u00e9clat qu\u2019aura la c\u00e9r\u00e9monie du 11-Novembre avec l\u2019ensemble des chefs d\u2019Etats. \u00bb Vivement dimanche. \u00ab \u00c7a devrait mettre tout le monde d\u2019accord \u00bb, admet Ya\u00ebl Goosz. J\u2019ai h\u00e2te d\u2019\u00eatre d\u2019accord avec Eric Zemmour. \u00ab C\u2019est spectaculaire \u00bb, promet Jean-Michel Aphatie. Je vais en prendre plein les mirettes. \u00ab \u00c7a peut laisser cette impression-l\u00e0 ? \u00bb, lui demande Patrick Cohen. \u00ab En tout cas, \u00e7a va \u00eatre fort et \u00e7a va balayer beaucoup de choses. \u00bb Notamment la fatigue et les couacs qu\u2019elle engendre. \u00ab C\u2019est une image qui va rester, qui est belle. \u00bb Mais on trouve aussi de tr\u00e8s beaux portraits de P\u00e9tain."}
-{"text": "BOSTON (CBS) \u2013 In a telephone hearing Tuesday at 10 AM, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will hear arguments on a proposal to release some prisoners to avoid overcrowding and encourage social distancing in Massachusetts jails and prisons amid the COVID-19 outbreak.\n\nThe emergency petition, filed by the ACLU, Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and Committee for Public Counsel Services, proposes the SJC rule to release certain inmates. Right now, according to the filing, the state has about 16,000 people incarcerated.\n\n\u201cCorrectional facilities, where physical distancing and vigilant hygiene are impossible, can be petri dishes for the spread of infectious disease,\u201d the petition reads.\n\nIf the proposal is approved, the following inmates would be released:\n\n\u2022 Inmates whose cases have not yet been heard, have been deemed not dangerous, and are still presumed innocent\n\n\u2022 Inmates near the end of their sentence or eligible for parole or medical parole\n\n\u2022 Inmates considered vulnerable to COVID-19\n\n\u201cPeople who are in simply because they can\u2019t make bail, for example,\u201d said Carol Rose, an attorney at the ACLU. \u201cThey shouldn\u2019t be suffering a death sentence because they\u2019re poor.\u201d\n\nMore than a dozen stakeholders have filed letters in support and opposition to the petition. One letter is co-signed by six different district attorneys, including Bristol County DA Thomas Quinn. \u201cIt\u2019s just not acceptable, not prudent, and shouldn\u2019t be done,\u201d he told WBZ in an interview. \u201cI\u2019m concerned about the victims, their well-being, their safety,\u201d he added. \u201cI\u2019m not being unsympathetic, I\u2019m concerned about the inmates\u2019 well-being, but that doesn\u2019t mean wholesale release.\u201d\n\nOther district attorneys like Suffolk County DA Rachael Rollins are in support of the motion. Rollins \u201c\u2026agrees that decarceration in certain instances is the just, humane, and right thing to do,\u201d according to a filing with the SJC.\n\nSome district attorneys tell WBZ they have been working already on a case-by-case basis to release inmates deemed appropriate for release to free up space, and are being conscious about who is taken into custody. As of Monday night, the Middlesex District Attorney\u2019s Office had released 63 inmates since the coronavirus outbreak, according to a spokesperson from the office.\n\nBristol DA Quinn believes the case-by-case analysis is the right way to move forward without releasing large numbers of inmates.\n\nResponses to the proposal come from victims\u2019 families, Attorney General Maura Healey, several district attorneys, Sheriffs and police departments, and more.\n\nREAD THE FULL PETITION HERE"}
-{"text": "Study in Africa Yields New Diabetes Gene\n\nPosted on July 30th, 2019 by Dr. Francis Collins\n\nCaption: Volunteering my medical services in Nigeria three decades ago inspired me to learn more about type 2 diabetes in Africa and beyond. Credit: Margaret Collins\n\nWhen I volunteered to serve as a physician at a hospital in rural Nigeria more than 25 years ago, I expected to treat a lot of folks with infectious diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis. And that certainly happened. What I didn\u2019t expect was how many people needed care for type 2 diabetes (T2D) and the health problems it causes. Surprisingly, these individuals were generally not overweight, and the course of their illness seemed different than in the West.\n\nThe experience inspired me to join with other colleagues at Howard University, Washington, DC, to help found the Africa America Diabetes Mellitus (AADM) study. It aims to uncover genomic risk factors for T2D in Africa and, using that information, improve understanding of the condition around the world.\n\nSo, I\u2019m pleased to report that, using genomic data from more than 5,000 volunteers, our AADM team recently discovered a new gene, called ZRANB3, that harbors a variant associated with T2D in sub-Saharan Africa [1]. Using sophisticated laboratory models, the team showed that a malfunctioning ZRANB3 gene impairs insulin production to control glucose levels in the bloodstream.\n\nSince my first trip to Nigeria, the number of people with T2D has continued to rise. It\u2019s now estimated that about 8 to 10 percent of Nigerians have some form of diabetes [2]. In Africa, diabetes affects more than 7 percent of the population, more than twice the incidence in 1980 [3].\n\nThe causes of T2D involve a complex interplay of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. I was particularly interested in finding out whether the genetic factors for T2D might be different in sub-Saharan Africa than in the West. But at the time, there was a dearth of genomic information about T2D in Africa, the cradle of humanity. To understand complex diseases like T2D fully, we need all peoples and continents represented in the research.\n\nTo begin to fill this research gap, the AADM team got underway and hasn\u2019t looked back. In the latest study, led by Charles Rotimi at NIH\u2019s National Human Genome Research Institute, in partnership with multiple African diabetes experts, the AADM team enlisted 5,231 volunteers from Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya. About half of the study\u2019s participants had T2D and half did not.\n\nAs reported in Nature Communications, their genome-wide search for T2D gene variants turned up three interesting finds. Two were in genes previously linked to T2D risk in other human populations. The third involved a gene that codes for ZRANB3, an enzyme associated with DNA replication and repair that had never been reported in association with T2D.\n\nTo understand how ZRANB3 might influence a person\u2019s risk for developing T2D, the researchers turned to zebrafish (Danio rerio), an excellent vertebrate model for its rapid development. The researchers found that the ZRANB3 gene is active in insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. That was important to know because people with T2D frequently have reduced numbers of beta cells, which compromises their ability to produce enough insulin.\n\nThe team next used CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing tools either to \u201cknock out\u201d or reduce the expression of ZRANB3 in young zebrafish. In both cases, it led to increased loss of beta cells.\n\nAdditional study in the beta cells of mice provided more details. While normal beta cells released insulin in response to high levels of glucose, those with suppressed ZRANB3 activity couldn\u2019t. Together, the findings show that ZRANB3 is important for beta cells to survive and function normally. It stands to reason, then, that people with a lower functioning variant of ZRANB3 would be more susceptible to T2D.\n\nIn many cases, T2D can be managed with some combination of diet, exercise, and oral medications. But some people require insulin to manage the disease. The new findings suggest, particularly for people of African ancestry, that the variant of the ZRANB3 gene that one inherits might help to explain those differences. People carrying particular variants of this gene also may benefit from beginning insulin treatment earlier, before their beta cells have been depleted.\n\nSo why wasn\u2019t ZRANB3 discovered in the many studies on T2D carried out in the United States, Europe, and Asia? It turns out that the variant that predisposes Africans to this disease is extremely rare in these other populations. Only by studying Africans could this insight be uncovered.\n\nMore than 20 years ago, I helped to start the AADM project to learn more about the genetic factors driving T2D in sub-Saharan Africa. Other dedicated AADM leaders have continued to build the research project, taking advantage of new technologies as they came along. It\u2019s profoundly gratifying that this project has uncovered such an impressive new lead, revealing important aspects of human biology that otherwise would have been missed. The AADM team continues to enroll volunteers, and the coming years should bring even more discoveries about the genetic factors that contribute to T2D.\n\nReferences:\n\n[1] ZRANB3 is an African-specific type 2 diabetes locus associated with beta-cell mass and insulin response. Adeyemo AA, Zaghloul NA, Chen G, Doumatey AP, Leitch CC, Hostelley TL, Nesmith JE, Zhou J, Bentley AR, Shriner D, Fasanmade O, Okafor G, Eghan B Jr, Agyenim-Boateng K, Chandrasekharappa S, Adeleye J, Balogun W, Owusu S, Amoah A, Acheampong J, Johnson T, Oli J, Adebamowo C; South Africa Zulu Type 2 Diabetes Case-Control Study, Collins F, Dunston G, Rotimi CN. Nat Commun. 2019 Jul 19;10(1):3195.\n\n[2] Diabetes mellitus in Nigeria: The past, present and future. Ogbera AO, Ekpebegh C. World J Diabetes. 2014 Dec 15;5(6):905-911.\n\n[3] Global report on diabetes. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2016. World Health Organization.\n\nLinks:\n\nDiabetes (National Institute of Diabetes ad Digestive and Kidney Diseases/NIH)\n\nDiabetes and African Americans (Department of Health and Human Services)\n\nWhy Use Zebrafish to Study Human Diseases (Intramural Research Program/NIH)\n\nCharles Rotimi (National Human Genome Research Institute/NIH)\n\nNIH Support: National Human Genome Research Institute; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities"}
-{"text": "Description\n\nThe AVIS-PRY is a unique keychain that is small yet elegant tool designed to handle most everyday tasks. Features of the AVIS-PRY include ease of use, small form factor and easy blade replacement. You can simply remove the blade, carry this on a plane and then pick up a new blade when you get to your destination. It easily slips into a pocket, it doesn\u2019t weigh much and it uses a common utility razor blade available at any hardware store.\n\n\n\nThe first generation design of this tool was featured in a successful KICKSTARTER campaign.\n\nLink to the Kickstater campaign: http://kck.st/2l9aHmr\n\n\n\nThis tool features a Prybar and bottle opener.\n\n\n\nSpecifications:\n\nLength\u2026\u2026\u2026.3.0 in.\n\nWidth\u2026\u2026\u2026\u20261.34 in.\n\nThick\u2026\u2026\u2026\u20260.24 in.\n\nWeight (with out blade)...... 2.01 oz.\n\n\n\nFeatures\n\n\u00b7 Replaceable standard utility blade\n\n\u00b7 Bottle opener\n\n\u00b7 Prybar\n\n***The blade deployment requires a two handed operation, specifically designed to prevent accidental deployment when stored.\n\n\n\nThe Body\n\nIt is made from Grade 5 Titanium (6AL4V). Titanium was chosen due to its durability, light weight and high corrosion resistance. It is bead blasted and stone washed to give it a nice finish that is cool to the touch and wears gracefully with age. It features a two tone (blue and bronze) anodized finish.\n\n\n\nThere is a magnet inside the body. The magnet prevents the blade from rattling and it is also a safety feature that prevents the blade from sliding out inadvertently.\n\n\n\nThe Scale\n\nThe Top face or scale is made out of Copper with a nice antique look patina. This material is extremely strong yet can produces a very nice finish to accent the titanium body.\n\n\n\nThe Button Lock\n\nThe button lock is Grade 5 Titanium (6AL4V).\n\n\n\nThe Blade\n\nThe AVIS-PRY has been designed to specifically use a standard utility blade, widely available at any hardware or office supplies store.\n\n\n\nThe AVIS-PRY has been tested with the following blades:\n\n\n\n\u00b7 DEWALT Carbide Utility Blade\n\n\u00b7 Milwaukee General Purpose Utility Blade\n\n\u00b7 Stanley 11-921 No. 1992 Utility Blade\n\n\n\nPlease check out our Kickstarter Campain!!"}
-{"text": "Ruiz Healy, Tere Vale y Paola F\u00e9lix, debaten sobre el tema de los polic\u00edas \u201cEl SNSP inform\u00f3 que la tasa de polic\u00edas por cada habitante est\u00e1 muy por debajo de la fijada por ONU; el salario promedio neto de un polic\u00eda estatal es de 9,933 pesos y seguro de vida; se informo que en el pa\u00eds hay un polic\u00eda por cada 1,000 habitantes, es necesario reclutar a m\u00e1s polic\u00edas, de acuerdo a un estudio nos vamos a tardar 3 a\u00f1os 4 meses en lograrlo porque la capacidad de las academias de polic\u00edas solo da para que egresen cada a\u00f1o 28,514\u201d\n\nTelef\u00f3rmula en vivo"}
-{"text": "What is DGD\n\nDGD is token for governance of the DigixDao ecosystem, DGD token holders will be able to vote on proposals for DigixDao. As a reward for voting and taking part in the growth of Digix, DGD holdres will receive rewards related to DGX, a token that represents 1 gram of gold. This tokenization of backed up gold reserves aims to provide a store of value and stability within the crypto ecosystem."}
-{"text": "Anzeige\n\nGeahnt hatte man es schon, dass die Sache mit den Bio-Eiern einen Haken haben k\u00f6nnte. Es gibt einfach zu viele davon. In jedem Supermarkt stapeln sich die mehr oder weniger gr\u00fcnen Kartons mit den Abbildungen gl\u00fccklicher Legehennen zwischen stilisierten Grashalmen.\n\nSeit 2009 hat sich die Produktion von Bio-Eiern verdoppelt, auf jetzt sage und schreibe mehr als 1,2 Milliarden St\u00fcck pro Jahr. Allein in Deutschland. Der Marktanteil geht auf zehn Prozent zu, obwohl die \u00d6ko-Eier zum Teil doppelt so teuer sind wie Standardware.\n\nMerkw\u00fcrdig blo\u00df, dass das gl\u00fcckliche Federvieh kaum jemals irgendwo beim Scharren im Sand gesichtet wird. Dabei m\u00fcssten Millionen von Hennen auf den Weiden herumpicken. Seit der ARD-Sendung \u00fcber die \u201eEierl\u00fcge\u201c am Montagabend zur besten Sendezeit wissen wir, wo die vielen \u00d6ko-Legehennen sich normalerweise befinden: im Stall, oft unter \u00fcbelsten Bedingungen. Eng zusammengepfercht, manche mit Parasiten \u00fcbers\u00e4t, die Herden von Kadavern und kranken Tieren durchsetzt.\n\nAnzeige\n\nWie kann das sein? Versprochen wird \u00d6ko, die Realit\u00e4t ist industrielle Landwirtschaft der schlimmen Sorte. Teilweise, so wurde deutlich, durch ans Kriminelle grenzende Praktiken. Bei einigen Betrieben in den Niederlanden und Deutschland entdeckte der Tiersch\u00fctzer Jan Pfeifer Stromkabel vor den Ausl\u00e4ufen, die die H\u00fchner am Freigang hindern, und dokumentierte diese in heimlichen Aufnahmen.\n\nPfeifer war eine Art Kronzeuge der Sendungsmacher Monika Anthes und Edgar Verheyen. In der halbst\u00fcndigen Sendung berichteten Beamte des nieders\u00e4chsischen Landesamtes f\u00fcr Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit auch von systematischen Betr\u00fcgereien zur Verdichtung des Tierbestands weit \u00fcber das erlaubte Ma\u00df hinaus, alles, um den Gewinn zu steigern.\n\nDie buchstabengetreue Umsetzung untauglicher Vorschriften\n\nDoch so weit m\u00fcssen die Halter gar nicht gehen. Ein Kernsatz, der den Regelfall eher treffen d\u00fcrfte, stammte von dem Lebensmittel\u00f6konomen Markus Mau: \u201eDie gesetzlichen Mindestvoraussetzungen werden erf\u00fcllt, und zwar exakt die Mindestvoraussetzungen.\u201c Nach der entsprechenden EU-Verordnung d\u00fcrfen pro Quadratmeter Stallfl\u00e4che nicht mehr als sechs Tiere gehalten werden, und pro Henne m\u00fcssen vier Quadratmeter Freifl\u00e4che zur Verf\u00fcgung stehen. Zwischen zehn Uhr und Sonnenuntergang ist Freigang f\u00fcr die Hennen zu erm\u00f6glichen.\n\nAnzeige\n\nKlingt gut, aber die Realit\u00e4t sieht anders aus. Riesige leere Fl\u00e4chen vor riesigen St\u00e4llen bleiben fast leer, einfach weil die Tiere sich nicht raustrauen \u2013 auch ohne Elektrodraht. Luftaufnahmen belegten das eindrucksvoll. Die nat\u00fcrliche Furcht des Federviehs vor gro\u00dfen Freifl\u00e4che war sinnvoll zur Arterhaltung, als der Habicht noch die gr\u00f6\u00dfte Gefahr f\u00fcr H\u00fchner war. Heute ist es die Gier mancher Gro\u00dfbetriebe.\n\nSie k\u00f6nnten Unterst\u00e4nde f\u00fcr die V\u00f6gel bauen oder Geb\u00fcsche pflanzen, um den nat\u00fcrlichen Instinkten der H\u00fchner zu entsprechen, die eine Zuflucht in der N\u00e4he erwarten. Aber wozu? Es ist viel einfacher, die Eier aus dem Stall zu sammeln, als sie personalintensiv aus der Wiese zu klauben. Auch der Kot l\u00e4sst sich so leichter und billiger entfernen.\n\nDas Ergebnis ist reine Massentierhaltung bei buchstabengetreuer Umsetzung untauglicher Vorschriften \u2013 und eklige Aufnahmen, die zum Teil schwer zu ertragen sind. Die Betriebe redeten sich damit heraus, dass es sich bei den desolat aussehenden Tieren um \u201esehr alte Best\u00e4nde\u201c gehandelt habe, die aber fachgerecht tier\u00e4rztlich betreut w\u00fcrden. Einerlei.\n\nAnzeige\n\nDenn gerade das wollen die Verbraucher nicht mehr, erst recht nicht K\u00e4ufer, die bewusst mehr f\u00fcr Eier mit der Kennzeichnung \u201e0\u201c ausgeben, also f\u00fcr \u00d6ko-Eier. Sie haben sich unter den vier Haltungsformen \u2013 K\u00e4fighaltung, Bodenhaltung, Freilandhaltung und \u00d6ko-Erzeugung \u2013 f\u00fcr ein subjektiv empfundenes ethisches Optimum entschieden. Es wird ihnen vorenthalten. Der Titel der Sendung war gerechtfertigt: Eierl\u00fcge.\n\nAuch die Konsumenten m\u00fcssen sich ehrlich machen\n\nDamit ist es auch nur konsequent, wenn sich B\u00fcrgerinitiativen gegen Produzenten von Bio-Eiern bilden wie in Oranienburg. Dort will laut TV-Bericht ein Investor zwei St\u00e4lle bauen. Jeweils 120 Meter lang, jeder f\u00fcr 21.000 Legehennen. \u201eNicht bei uns\u201c, sagten die Protestierer.\n\nUm zu belegen, dass es auch anders geht, wurde den Zuschauern Hans Dieter Greve pr\u00e4sentiert, ein Muster-Bio-Bauer mit Strohhut und Latzhose von einem Hof, der auch noch Hasenkrug hei\u00dft. Seine Hennen strolchen laut SWR wirklich durchs Gras, in das er sie mit einem mobilen Stall an unterschiedlichen Stellen aussetzt. Daf\u00fcr kosten die Eier im Handel anschlie\u00dfend 35 Cent das St\u00fcck, statt 26 Cent beispielsweise bei Ware aus einem Hof, der Aldi S\u00fcd belieferte \u2013 bis der SWF kam.\n\nDie deutsche Gefl\u00fcgelwirtschaft k\u00e4mpft seit Jahr und Tag um ein besseres Image, unter anderem mit einer Kampagne unter dem Titel \u201eDas deutsche Ei \u2013 ein starkes St\u00fcck\u201c. Das daf\u00fcr ausgegebene Geld wird keinen Effekt haben, solange der \u00d6ko-Anspruch und eine traurige Realit\u00e4t so weit auseinanderklaffen, dass die Vermarktung als \u201eBio\u201c an eine Verh\u00f6hnung der Verbraucher grenzt.\n\nDass das Sendematerial zum Teil mit illegalen Mitteln, darunter Einbruch, entstanden ist, hilft den \u00d6ffentlichkeitsarbeitern der Gefl\u00fcgelwirtschaft kaum weiter, in Zeiten, in denen der Staat selbst geklaute Steuer-CDs kauft und auswertet.\n\nAber auch die Konsumenten m\u00fcssen sich ehrlich machen. Ein gr\u00fcner Aufdruck auf der Schachtel macht noch kein \u00d6ko. Und auch bei einem hohen Preis ist nicht immer sicher, ob er eher dem Tierwohl oder der Marge von Erzeugern und H\u00e4ndlern zugutekommt. Wir werden uns selbst um belastbare Informationen dar\u00fcber k\u00fcmmern m\u00fcssen, woher unser Essen kommt.\n\nDenn \u201edem Verbraucher wird eine Idylle vorget\u00e4uscht, die so nicht existiert\u201c, wie es an einer Stelle der Sendung hie\u00df. Wie gesagt: Geahnt hatte man es schon. Jetzt sind wir um eine Illusion \u00e4rmer. Gut so, ARD."}
-{"text": "Accepter\n\nM\u00eame si vous \u00eates d\u00e9j\u00e0 gav\u00e9s de cookies, les n\u00f4tres vous apporteront une exp\u00e9rience encore plus app\u00e9tissante. Ils nous aident \u00e0 vous proposer des offres correspondant \u00e0 vos envies, enregistrent vos param\u00e8tres sur notre site et nous signalent lorsqu'une page est trop lente ou instable. En cliquant sur \"accepter\", vous confirmez \u00eatre d'accord avec leur utilisation pour la sauvegarde de vos pr\u00e9f\u00e9rences et l'analyse statistique et marketing ( ). Pour plus d'information ou le r\u00e9glage des options, merci de cliquer ."}
-{"text": "basriket asked: I saw a post that said you said Modern Horizons was a love letter to Time Spiral. Does this mean the number of mechanics in it is going to be in the double digits or that it has a lot of old references it? Or both?\n\nBoth. : )"}
-{"text": "Article content\n\nControversial Conservative MP Rob Anders may not find the welcome mat out as he attempts to make the move from a big-city riding where he lost his nomination to a brand new rural one.\n\nEarlier this year, Anders lost a bitterly fought nomination battle in Calgary Signal Hill, which takes in a large part of the constituency that he has represented in Ottawa for 17 years.\n\nWe apologize, but this video has failed to load.\n\ntap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Controversial MP Rob Anders faces uphill battle as he tries to move from big-city riding to brand new rural one Back to video\n\nHe is now seeking the Conservative nomination in the riding of Bow River east of Calgary. It covers a large swath of southern Alberta, including the communities of Strathmore, Brooks, Taber and Vauxhall.\n\nAnders\u2019s entry into the race has residents talking and is causing some resentment, says Brooks Mayor Martin Shields, who is one of three other candidates seeking the nomination.\n\nWhen there was a drop-in candidate, it became more apparent that we really need to have somebody local run\n\n\u201cI was not happy and not pleased,\u201d Shields said in a recent interview. \u201cIf you lose your own nomination in your own riding, I think it\u2019s a message that maybe running somewhere else, where you\u2019re not from, is not something you should do."}
-{"text": "West Palm Beach Trenchless Sewer Relining\n\nIf your property was built before 1970 then the chances are you have cast iron pipes under your house that are cracked, have holes in them or the pipe floor is completely missing. As a result you may be experiencing repeated drain backups and you may have been told by plumbers that you need to dig up your floors to put in new PVC pipes. The good news is this is completely unnecessary because our trenchless sewer repair system can restore your pipes in a couple of days and the pipe lining has a 50 year warranty. It actually has a 100 year designed engineered life.\n\nThis process is much less involved than a complete overhaul of a sewer system. When sewer pipes need repair, opt for West Palm Beach trenchless sewer replacement. Google\n\nBenefits Of Trenchless Sewer Lining (Cured In Place Pipe, CIPP)\n\nNo Excavation Required\n\nLess expensive \u2013 pipe relining costs about 60% less than excavation\n\nSave Your Floor Tile/Marble/Wood \u2013 it\u2019s usually impossible to find matching floor surfaces that were installed decades ago\n\nClean, No sewer bacteria in your home \u2013 since the drain is not being cut into pieces inside your residence, there is no need to sanitize the property afterwards\n\nStay in your residence \u2013 pipe relining is done from outside, so you can stay in your residence\n\nSpeed \u2013 pipe lining takes 1 day, not 3 weeks as for pipe replacement by excavation\n\nEnvironmentally friendly \u2013 pipe replacement by excavation means tons of waste concrete and pipe have to be disposed of in landfills\n\nHow Is Trenchless Pipe Lining Installed?\n\nFrom outside the house we dig up the grass to open the pipe Next we use hydrojetters and other machines to remove old rust and scale from the cast iron drains Then a pipe video inspection is done to ensure the drain is ready to receive the pipe lining The video camera is also used to measure how long the liner will be and the exact locations of incoming pipe connections from branch lines These measurements are used to cut the flexible pipe lining tube to the correct length and to cut out small pieces of lining where the incoming branch line connections are Then a 2-part epoxy is mixed and used to wet the liner material thoroughly Now the liner is ready to be pulled into the pipe, and a temporary balloon inside the liner is inflated for 4 hours During this time the epoxy resin heats up and turns the pipe lining material into rock, that lasts 100 years Finally the balloon is removed and a \u201cfinal\u201d video inspection is done to ensure correct installation\n\nHow Does Trenchless Sewer Relining in West Palm Beach Work?\n\nThe first step is to do a thorough inspection of the existing pipes. From that point, the lines will be cleared. Generally, this is performed by a rooter. Through video inspection, sewer repair technicians will confirm that it is possible to insert new lining into the pipes. In some cases, the damage or deterioration may be too severe for West Palm Beach trenchless sewer replacement. However, in most cases, one spot can be excavated in order to insert a liner made of felt. This felt has been treated with epoxy. Once the lining is inserted in the pipe, the epoxy will cure in place, also referred to as CIPP. CIPP, or Cured In Place Pipe Lining, will actually cook once it is inserted and will then harden. When the process is over, a new pipe line will be intact within the old pipe line.\n\nWe Are Professional Trenchless Sewer Specialists in West Palm Beach\n\nFor anyone who has a problem with sewer lines, it\u2019s time to consider West Palm Beach Trenchless Sewer Relining. Turn to the experts who make it their business to make sewer repairs in the most economical way. Trenchless sewer relining is less disruptive and more efficient. It is a worthwhile investment that will mean positive results in producing new pipe line that is durable and effective. Call a Trenchless Sewer Specialist in West Palm Beach today!"}
-{"text": "This FAQ, together with the summary of the relevant requirements of the UEMO, illustrations and advice, is for general reference only. Readers should refer to the provisions of the UEMO for a complete and definitive statement of the law.\n\n1. Background of the Do-not-call Registers\n\nQ1.1: What are the Do-not-call Registers for? A: The provision of Do-not-call Registers is an important measure in the UEMO to protect the public from receiving unsolicited commercial electronic messages sent to their telephone or fax numbers. The Do-not-call Registers aim to strike a balance between the interests of recipients and senders of commercial electronic messages. The Do-not-call Registers will be made available to senders of commercial electronic messages for them to ascertain whether the user of a telephone or fax number does not wish to receive unsolicited commercial electronic message at that telephone or fax number. By registering his telephone / fax number to a Do-not-call Register, the user in effect has opted out from receiving further commercial electronic messages at this telephone / fax number from all senders. Similar registers have been set up by the USA, UK, Australia and India governments. Back to the top\n\nQ1.2: Which government department administers the Do-not-call Registers? A: Under the UEMO, the Communications Authority (\"the CA\") is empowered to establish Do-not-call Registers in Hong Kong. The Office of the Communications Authority (\"OFCA\") is the government department responsible to administer the day-to-day operations of Do-not-call Registers. Back to the top\n\nQ1.3: What is the fee of registering a number in Do-not-call Registers? A: You do not need to pay any fee for registering your numbers on Do-not-call Registers. Back to the top\n\nQ1.4: How many registers are there? A: CA has established three registers, namely, a Do-not-call Register for fax (the Fax Register), a Do-not-call Register for short messages (the Short Messages Register) and a Do-not-call Register for pre-recorded telephone messages (the Pre-recorded Register). The Short Messages Register generally covers SMSs and MMSs sent over mobile network as well as short messages sent over fixed network. The Pre-recorded Register generally covers pre-recorded voice and video calls. CA will not establish a do-not-call register for emails because it will do more harm than good to the problem of unsolicited emails. Such a register would help spammers obtain valid email addresses easily and then send spam emails to the email addresses on the register from overseas, making enforcement very difficult. Back to the top\n\nQ1.5: What is the effect of registering my number in a Do-not-call Register? A: By registering your number in a Do-not-call Register, you are protected by the UEMO in that all senders of commercial electronic messages are not allowed to send any further commercial electronic messages to your registered number from the 10th working day after your number is listed in the Do-not-call Register unless you have given your consent to this sender to send you such messages. Any further commercial electronic messages sent to your registered number starting from the protection commencement date without your consent is a breach of the UEMO and the CA will consider taking appropriate enforcement actions against the concerned senders. For more information on protection commencement date, please see Question 1.7. Back to the top\n\nQ1.6: Do-not-call Register and Consent, which comes first? And how can I withdraw my consent from individual sender? A: Regardless of the time of registering your number on the Do-not-call Register and the time of giving your consent to an individual sender, a valid consent always overrides the registration on the Do-not-call Register. For example, if recipient A gives consent to sender B for sending commercial electronic messages, even if recipient A subsequently registers his telephone number on the Do-not-call Register, sender B is still allowed to send recipient A commercial electronic messages until recipient A withdraws his consent. If you have given your consent to a sender but later on you wish to stop receiving further commercial electronic messages from this sender, you may make an unsubscribe request to this sender. In other words, an unsubscribe request should be treated as a withdrawal of consent, as well as an indication that no further commercial electronic messages should be sent to the concerned electronic address. If a sender receives both a consent and an unsubscribe request from a recipient, the latest one would prevail. Back to the top\n\nQ1.7: After I have successfully registered my telephone number, when will the protection commence so that I will not receive any more unsolicited commercial electronic messages? A: The protection commencement dates for numbers registered on the Do-not-call Registers will be the 10th working day from the registration date. The registration date can be checked at the web site www.dnc.gov.hk. After the protection commencement date, you can expect not to receive any more unsolicited commercial electronic messages at your registered number. Having said that, you will still receive commercial electronic messages from senders to whom you have given consent, even if the consent was given before you register your number on the Do-not-call Register. You have to withdraw the consent from these individual senders to whom you have given your consent in order to stop them from sending further commercial electronic messages to you. Back to the top\n\nQ1.8: How is working day counted in the UEMO? A: Working day means any day other than a public holiday (including Sundays but not Saturdays) or a black rainstorm warning day or gale warning day. Back to the top\n\nQ1.9: How long will numbers remain valid in Do-not-call Registers? A: There is no expiry date for numbers registered in Do-not-call Registers. If in the future you wish to remove your number from the Do-not-call Registers, you will have to cancel the registration of your number. To do this, you can call the Do-not-call Register hotline from the number that you wish to cancel the registration and you should enable calling number display. Then, please select \"to cancel a registered number\" in the voice menu. Back to the top\n\nQ1.10: What information is contained in Do-not-call Registers? A: The information in Do-not-call Registers released to senders will only contain the registered numbers and their respective registration dates. Back to the top\n\n2. Registration on the Do-not-call Registers\n\nQ2.1: How can I register my telephone number to a Do-not-call Register? A: The Do-not-call Registers system deployed for registration is an Interactive Voice Response system. You must call the Do-not-call Register hotline from the telephone number or fax number that you wish to register and enable outgoing calling number display. The system will capture your number and prompt you to press a key to confirm the registration of the calling number. After the registration process, your number will be listed in the Do-not-call Register before the end of the day. Back to the top\n\nQ2.2: When will I be able to register my number in the Do-not-call Registers? A: There will not be any deadline for registration. You can register your number(s) onto the Do-not-call Registers on any day. Back to the top\n\nQ2.3: I realise that outgoing calls made from my residential fixed line number do not have any calling number display. What should I do so that I can register my number in the Do-not-call Registers? A: Before you make the call to the registration hotline, you need to dial \"1357\" first to enable the outgoing calling number display. Back to the top\n\nQ2.4: I have previously requested my telecommunications service provider to withhold my outgoing calling number display. What should I do so that I can register my number in the Do-not-call Registers? A: Before you make the call to the registration hotline, you need to dial \"1357\" first to enable the outgoing calling number display. Back to the top\n\nQ2.5: Can prefix 8 personal numbers be registered in Do-not-call Registers? A: Personal numbers are mainly used by customers for call forwarding to their preferred destinations, which might be a fixed line number, a mobile number or a voice mailbox. So the user would not be able to \"call\" from such prefix 8 personal numbers and the Do-not-call Register would not be able to capture the calling number and complete the registration. As a result, special arrangement will be made for registration of prefix 8 personal numbers in the Fax Register, the Short Messages Register and the Pre-recorded Register. Please use any phone to call the registration hotline and choose \"Register Another Number\" and input the prefix 8 personal number that you would like to register. Then, a call will be placed back to the number to be registered, asking the user to confirm the number registration. Before the registration, you should call-forward your personal number to a telephone number or a fax number which you can answer/access. Back to the top\n\n3. Registration process for phone/fax lines that do not show the correct calling number display\n\nQ3.1: I am using a fixed phone which cannot support the correct calling number display in making outgoing calls. In that case, how can I register my telephone number? A: If our system cannot capture a valid calling number display of your call, our system will ask you to input the 8-digit telephone number you wish to register and tell you that it will call back within a specified time period. In a moment, the system will call you back at the inputted 8-digit telephone number and prompt you to confirm your request for the registration of that telephone number. Please note that this call-back arrangement is available for registration of prefixes 2 and 3 fixed numbers and prefix 8 personal numbers. There will be no call-back arrangement for prefixes 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 mobile numbers as these numbers, in general, should be able to show the correct outgoing calling number display. There are rare situations in which prefixes 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 mobile numbers cannot show the correct outgoing calling number display, and special arrangement will be provided for registration of such numbers (please see Question 4.8). For call-back or fax-back arrangement of the Fax Register, please see Questions 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5. Back to the top\n\nQ3.2: If I am not able to receive the returned call in the call-back arrangement, will the system retry? How many times will the system retry. A: If you are not able to receive the returned call in the call-back arrangement, the system will retry after around 15 minutes. In general, the system will attempt to call you back up to 3 times before recording the registration as failed. If you cannot answer any of these calls, you would have to call the registration hotline again and repeat the registration process. Back to the top\n\nQ3.3: I wish to register my electronic fax mailbox number in the Fax Register. However, I cannot make outgoing calls from my fax mailbox number and it cannot answer incoming calls in a call-back arrangement. In that case, how can I register my fax mailbox number in the Fax Register? A: In the Fax Register, our system has implemented a feature of fax-back arrangement to address the problem encountered by fax mailboxes. You can use any phone to call the registration hotline of the Fax Register, choose to input the 8-digit fax number you wish to register, select the option of call back by fax and then hang up. In a moment, our system will send a fax page containing an authentication code to the inputted number. Please use any phone to call 1835005 and follow the voice prompt to enter the authentication code in order to complete the registration process. Back to the top\n\nQ3.4: I wish to register my fax number in the Fax Register. However, my fax machine does not have a handset for me to make a telephone call. In that case, how can I register my fax number in the Fax Register? A: In the Fax Register, our system has implemented a feature of fax-back arrangement to address the problem encountered by fax machines without a handset. You can use any phone to call the registration hotline of the Fax Register, choose to input the 8-digit fax number you wish to register, select the option of call back by fax and then hang up. In a moment, our system will send a fax page containing an authentication code to the inputted number. Please use any phone to call 1835005 and follow the voice prompt to enter the authentication code in order to complete the registration process. Back to the top\n\nQ3.5: In the fax-back arrangement, if I did not receive the fax page containing the authentication code, will my registration be successful? A: In a fax-back arrangement, if the fax page containing the authentication code is not received because your fax line is busy, the system will try to send you the fax page again after around 15 minutes. Nevertheless, if you did not receive or lost the fax page, you would not be able to enter the authentication code into the system and registration of the number will not be successful. In order to register the number, you will need to call the registration hotline again and repeat the registration process. Back to the top\n\nQ3.6: Can I register my fixed line number and mobile number in the Fax Register? A: Yes. Both fixed and mobile numbers can be registered in the Fax Register. Please use the phone of the telephone number that you wish to register to call the registration hotline of the Fax Register. Please enable outgoing calling number display before calling the registration hotline. If you have previously disabled the calling number display, please dial \"1357\" before the registration hotline number when you make a call for number registration, or re-enable outgoing calling number display before calling the registration hotline. If your fixed phone cannot display the correct outgoing calling number display, please choose to input the 8-digit number you wish to register and select the option of call back by voice and then hang up. A call will be made to the inputted number and ask you to confirm the number registration. Back to the top\n\n4. Other Questions regarding the Do-not-call Registers\n\nQ4.1: How can I check if my number is registered in a Do-not-call Register or not? A: You can check the registration status of your number by calling the registration hotline of Do-not-call Registers from the number you want to check. Alternatively, you may check the registration status through the web site www.dnc.gov.hk. Back to the top\n\nQ4.2: How can I cancel/withdraw the registration of my number in a Do-not-call Register? A: You must call the registration hotline from the number that you wish to cancel the registration and you should enable calling number display. You will have to select the \"to cancel a registered number\" in the voice menu. For prefix-2 and -3 fixed line / fax numbers or prefix-8 personal numbers that do not support correct calling number display, the feature of call-back arrangement is provided. Once your number is cancelled in a Do-not-call Register, it will be removed from the Do-not-call Register by the end of the day. Back to the top\n\nQ4.3: After registration, I have my telephone number ported from one operator to another, do I need to re-register this number again? A: For numbers that have been ported between operators, there is no need to re-register because there has been no change of ownership of registered user. Back to the top\n\nQ4.4: I have terminated the service of my telephone number, do I need to cancel my registered number from the Do-not-call Registers? A: There is no need for you to cancel the registration. OFCA has asked network operators to provide OFCA with lists of terminated numbers so that OFCA could remove the terminated numbers from Do-not-call Registers in accordance with the lists. If you have terminated the service of your telephone number (which has been registered on the Do-not-call Registers) and are later reassigned with the same number again, you would have to do the registration on that number again by calling the registration hotline if you would like the protection on your number to continue. Back to the top\n\nQ4.5: If I do not want to put my number on any Do-not-call Registers, how can I stop senders from sending commercial electronic messages to me? A: Senders are required to provide unsubscribe facility in every commercial electronic message they send out. Even if your number is not registered in any Do-not-call Registers, you can ask senders to stop calling or sending messages to your number again by making unsubscribe requests to them. However, it should be noted that person-to-person interactive communications are exempted from the UEMO. Back to the top\n\nQ4.6: I am using a pre-paid SIM mobile number. Can I register my pre-paid SIM mobile number? A: Yes. Pre-paid SIM mobile numbers can be registered on any of the Do-not-call Registers. Back to the top\n\nQ4.7: Can someone download the Do-not-call Registers in order to find out valid telephone or fax numbers and send out commercial electronic messages to the numbers? A: Section 58(2) of the UEMO provides that any information obtained from the Do-not-call Registers should not be used for purposes other than those specified in section 31(2)(b), i.e. for registered users of electronic address to notify senders not to send further commercial electronic messages, and for senders to honour such requests. Misuse of Do-not-call Registers is an offence liable to a fine up to HK$1,000,000 and imprisonment of up to 5 years. Back to the top\n\nQ4.8: If my telephone set does not support tone dialling or my mobile number cannot show the correct outgoing calling number display, how should I register my telephone number? A: In such situation, you would need to fill in an application form and send to OFCA with a recent telephone bill (or other document) which shows that you are the registered user of the telephone/fax number that you would like to register. The application form can be downloaded from OFCA's web site www.ofca.gov.hk. Back to the top"}
-{"text": "The Emoji Movie\n\nGene, a multi-expressional emoji, sets out on a journey to become a normal emoji."}
-{"text": "The Uruguay striker says he is keen to play with the Sweden international after completing his reported \u20ac63m move to PSG from Napoli on Tuesday\n\nNew Paris Saint-Germain signing Edinson Cavani has insisted that he is looking forward to linking up with Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the French capital this season following the completion of his \u20ac63 million transfer on a five-year deal.Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis claimed that the Sweden international was not eager to play alongside the Uruguay striker and would seek a move away from the club this summer.However, the Uruguayan striker claims that he is excited about playing alongside his star team-mate and competing with the Swede and Monaco's Radamel Falcao to be the best goalscorer in France.\"I know that Ibra's a world champion, it'll be a pleasure to play alongside him,\" the 26-year-old told reporters. \"It's very good that he's with us. I hope to be able to form a good partnership with him.\"It's going to be hard [to be Ligue 1's top scorer next season] because we are three big strikers and our ambition is to score for the team.\"It will be very tight but very attractive to watch. I look forward to the competition. Hopefully we will be in good form and bring a lot of goals into Ligue 1.\"This project is very rich, very motivating, very ambitious. Honestly, I am a player who always wants to win. For me this is a club where many would like to play.\"PSG are among the top in the world and is one of the teams that can fight for the Champions League. That's why I made this decision.\"The Parisiens president Nasser Al-Khelaifi also expressed a desire to see his two star strikers line up alongside each other but admitted that whether they play together frequently is up to new trainer Laurent Blanc.\"We bought Cavani to play with Zlatan, but the final decision rests with the coach,\" said the 39-year-old."}
-{"text": "\u00a9 Joe Fionda\n\n\n\nDrone operators refer to children as \"fun-size terrorists\" and liken killing them to \"cutting the grass before it grows too long,\" said one of the operators, Michael Haas, a former senior airman in the Air Force\n\nHaas said operators become acculturated to denying the humanity of the people on their targeting screens. \"There was a much more detached outlook about who these people were we were monitoring, he said. \"Shooting was something to be lauded and something we should strive for.\"\n\nThe killings, part of the Obama administration's targeted assassination program, are aiding terrorist recruitment and thus undermining the program's goal of eliminating such fighters, the veterans added.. Haas also described widespread drug and alcohol abuse, further stating that some operators had flown missions while impaired.In addition to Haas, the operators are former Air Force Staff Sergeant Brandon Bryant along with former senior airmen Cian Westmoreland and Stephen Lewis.\"We have seen the abuse firsthand,\" said Bryant, \"and we are horrified.\"The Department of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Beyond the press conference , the group also denounced the program yesterday in an interview with the Guardian and in an open letter addressed to President Obama.At the press conference, Bryant said drone killings of civilians is exacerbating the problem of terrorism. \"We kill four and create ten [militants],\" Bryant said. \"If you kill someones father, uncle or brother who had nothing to do with anything, their families are going to want revenge.\"The Obama administration has gone to great lengths to keep details of the drone program secret, but in their statements today the former operators opened up about the culture that has developed among those responsible for carrying it out.The deaths of children in strikes was rationalized by many drone operators, Haas said, with minors in the targeted warzones described as \"fun-size terrorists\" and their potential deaths in strikes likened to \"cutting the grass before it grows too long.\"Drone operators, he said, would frequently get intoxicated using bath salts and synthetic marijuana to avoid possible drug testing and in an effort to \"bend that reality and try to picture yourself not being there.\" Haas said he knew at least a half-dozen people in his unit who were using bath salts and that drug use had \"impaired\" them during missions.The Obama administration's assassination program has come under increasing scrutiny in recent months. This October, The Intercept published a cache of classified documents on the program leaked by a government whistleblower that showed how the program killed people based on unreliable intelligence, that the vast majority of people killed in a multi-year Afghanistan campaign were not the intended targets, and that the military by default labeled non-targets killed in the campaign as enemies rather than civilians.The operators said that they felt increasing urgency to speak out in the wake of the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris last week; they believe drone assasinations have fed the rise of the extremist group Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the attacks.Westmoreland said of drones that \"In the short term they're good at killing people, but in the long term they're not effective., but you also have expats who are watching what's going on in their home countries and seeing regularly the violations that are happening there, and that is something that could radicalize them.\"In their open letter to Obama, the former drone pilots made a similar point, writing that during their service they \"came to the realization that the innocent civilians we were killing only fueled the feelings of hatred that ignited terrorism and groups like ISIS,\" going on to describe the program as \"one of the most devastating driving forces for terrorism and destabilization around the world.\"At the press conference today, the pilots echoed these sentiments. \"It seems like our actions of late have only made the problems worse ... The drones are good at killing people, just not the right ones,\" Bryant said. \"Have we forgotten our humanity in the pursuit of vengeance and security?\""}
-{"text": "\u201cIn retrospect we should have pushed harder,\u201d he said. Infrastructure Australia examines the businesses cases of major transport projects across the nation and advises the federal government on how to invest public money. \u201cAll of those papers should have been published \u2013 the submissions and analysis, business case, assessments,\u201d said Mr Deegan, who was appointed by Kevin Rudd and later removed by Tony Abbott. The three biggest earners from the Andrews government's unprecedented transport construction boom are building firms John Holland, CPB Contractors and Lendlease. Loading\n\nContracts posted on the state government's tenders website and in VicRoads' annual statement of consultancies show that CPB signed contracts worth $4.6 billion since December 2014 to deliver big road and rail projects. Lendlease won contracts worth $3.03 billion. As part of the consortium contracted to build the East West Link, they were paid out many millions of dollars as part of the $1 billion settlement when the Andrews government spiked the project. And John Holland signed up to $2.6 billion\u2019s worth of work. Economics and engineering consulting firms also earned good money off the back of the state\u2019s transport building binge. Victorian Premier Dan Andrews and the minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan mark a major milestone at the Metro tunnel, North Melbourne. Credit:Joe Armao Accountancy firm PwC (which wrote the business case for the East West Link, which Labor dumped) has earned $6.3 million since Daniel Andrews came to power, Ernst & Young $10.2 million, KPMG $9.5 million and Deloitte $1.4 million since 2014.\n\nErnst & Young\u2019s transport team is led by Tony Canavan, previously a senior Department of Treasury and Finance official; his firm is now advising the government on funding the North East Link - at $15.8 billion, the state\u2019s most expensive ever project. A company called Smedley Technical and Strategic has also won $10.1 million in work since 2016, helping the government put together public-private partnerships including Transurban\u2019s West Gate Tunnel and the North East Link. Director Shaun Smedley worked for the government until 2015 as a director on the doomed East West Link. Working with Smedley is Les Bull, once a public servant in charge of delivering EastLink and Peninsula Link. In an interview with The Age last week, Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan was asked whether the government was acting in the best interest of Victorians in the way it proceeded with big projects.\n\n\"The broader Victorian community have been really well served by having the top quality expertise,\" she said. \"We have outstanding individuals who have provided us with outstanding advice.\" The Age also asked Major Transport Infrastructure Authority director-general Corey Hannett if there was a cycle of well-connected insiders being appointed repeatedly to big projects. Mr Hannett, who has overseen $16 billion worth of work under this government since December 2014, said this was not correct and that there was competitive tension to get the best prices on all jobs. \"We have to put people in positions of responsibility who have skills to match these jobs. And in terms of all the technical advisors, there are tenders for everything. People don't just go and get work based on knowing someone; all our advisory services are tendered out.\" Victoria lacks an overarching transport plan to guide decisions about what gets built and when. Experts say this means that mega-projects are driven by, and timed according to, the electoral cycle while lower profile works were ignored.\n\nDespite the absence of a plan, the state is forging ahead with $47 billion in major works. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be reaching for construction solutions in the first instance; we should be using our existing assets more efficiently,\u201d RMIT Professor of Urban Policy Jago Dodson said. Professor Dodson said a $6.7 billion proposal that Transurban had brought to Labor, the West Gate Tunnel toll road in Melbourne\u2019s west was a good example. It replaces a $500 million plan Daniel Andrews proposed in while in opposition. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video \u201cThe classic incoherence of the West Gate Tunnel assessment is that they declined to do any [patronage analysis] of the adjoining rail line, on which they are spending $11 billion to build a tunnel,\" he said. \u201cThat\u2019s where a plan would have been useful.\u201d\n\nPublic Transport Users Association president Tony Morton said the government should rely less on the private sector to build infrastructure, even if it meant paying more upfront costs and wearing any political damage if the project went awry. The Victorian public should be more involved in transport planning, he said and pointed to how transport planning was done in big Canadian cities, often cited because of their similarities to Australia's capitals. In Vancouver, public meetings are held to discuss goals for the city\u2019s transport, and decisions are then passed onto planners who are required under law to meet these publicly-agreed objectives. By comparison, when the Victorian community was invited to consultation meetings about big builds, the government's purpose was to \u201csay what they\u2019re going to do, not ask what you think\u201d, the association's spokesman Tony Morton said. \u201cThe key decisions are made somewhere else.\" Local councils should be more involved in planning mega-projects, but they are often overridden by the state government, Morton said. \u201cThe whole planning regime that we have in Victoria likes to operate as an entity unto itself.\u201d\n\nWhile the biggest projects get the attention, small or medium-sized projects often struggle to get funding after all the cash goes towards mega-projects. \u201cWe have forgotten small projects, because of this ongoing ethos that big is beautiful and there is a better chance of a political consensus if you go big,\u201d says University of Technology Sydney professor Garry Glazebrook. Ending the trend of building huge toll roads and instead prioritising upgrades to the bus and tram network would have a massive influence on how people commute, Melbourne University transport planning lecturer John Stone said. \"We need to stop thinking that building big roads is actually helping,\" he said. \"We really just need to fix the imbalance we\u2019ve had in place for the last 50 years.\""}
-{"text": "As you head to the bar for New Year's Eve, or to a friend's party, there may be alcohol involved, making it impossible to drive home safely.\n\nA new California state law that takes effect Jan. 1 is hoping to change that for the sake of public safety.\n\nUnder Assembly Bill 711, alcohol manufacturers and licensed sellers can offer free or discounted rides through ride-sharing services like Uber or Lyft, or taxicabs. This is to ensure drinkers are transported home safely.\n\nCodes or vouchers can be given to alcohol sellers or directly to alcohol consumers. However, they cannot be offered as incentives to buy a company's product.\n\nLyft has publically stated support for the bill.\n\nUber sent a statement to NBC 7 Wednesday saying they were in favor of the legislation, \u201cWe are always supportive of efforts to reduce drunk driving. That is why we have partnered with MADD over the past few years to promote safety and getting a designated driver.\u201d\n\n\n\nCurrent California law prohibits alcohol licensees from giving discounts to consumers.\n\nThere are some exceptions to this rule, wine and liquor manufacturers have been allowed on a temporary basis to pay for rides for drinkers attending private, invitation-only events.\n\nThis new initiative would relax those rules, allowing alcohol manufacturers to give out free or discounted rides in all cases to keep drunk drivers off the road.\n\n\n\nThe measure was introduced by Assemblyman Evan Low, D-Cupertino.\n\nProponents of the bill said forty-four other states and the District of Columbia allow liquor manufacturers to pay for free or discounted rides during legislative analysis.\n\nBut some are against the measure. Alcohol Justice, a nonprofit based in San Rafael, stated, \"While drunk driving is a serious concern to public safety, and efforts to reduce it should generally be applauded, this bill implicitly allows for beer manufacturers to promote the overconsumption of alcohol.\"\n\nAlcohol Justice goes on to say, \"It will negatively impact public health and safety and increase the potential for alcohol-related problems.\""}
-{"text": "This week\u2019s Top Downloads list kicks off with Hello Games\u2019 ambitious exploration opus, No Man\u2019s Sky, which tops PlayStation Store\u2019s PS4 chart. Just behind it is this year\u2019s installment of EA\u2019s seminal sports series, Madden NFL 17. Battlefield hype is high, with BF4 surging to the number 3 spot just ahead of Battlefield 1\u2019s release next month. Read on for the rest of the PS4, PS3 and PS Vita charts, and let us know in the comments what you think will take top honors this month.\n\nPS4 Games 1 No Man\u2019s Sky 2 Madden NFL 17 3 Battlefield 4 4 TOM CLANCY\u2019S RAINBOW SIX SIEGE 5 Battlefield Hardline 6 Grand Theft Auto V 7 Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition 8 Rocket League 9 ABZ\u00db 10 Batman: The Telltale Series \u2013 Episode 1: Realm of Shadows 11 7 Days to Die 12 Deus Ex: Mankind Divided 13 Overwatch: Origins Edition 14 resident evil 4 15 INSIDE 16 DOOM 17 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18 The Last Of Us Remastered 19 Overcooked 20 Assassin\u2019s Creed Syndicate\n\nPS3 Games 1 Battlefield 4 2 The Last Of Us 3 Minecraft: PlayStation 3 Edition 4 Battlefield Hardline 5 Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 6 Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse 7 LittleBigPlanet 3 8 Okami HD 9 Need for Speed Most Wanted 10 Madden NFL 17 11 Minecraft: Story Mode \u2013 Episode 1: The Order of the Stone 12 MLB The Show 16 13 Gran Turismo 6 14 Red Dead Redemption 15 Dragon Age: Inquisition 16 EA SPORTS FIFA 16 17 Dragon\u2019s Dogma: Dark Arisen 18 Sports Champions 2 19 Goat Simulator 20 Destiny\n\nPS4 Add-ons 1 Call of Duty: Black Ops III \u2013 Descent 2 The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited \u2013 ESO Plus 3 Call of Duty: Black Ops III \u2013 The Giant Zombies Map 4 Batman: The Telltale Series \u2013 Season Pass 5 Tom Clancy\u2019s The Division Expansion I: Underground 6 Fallout 4: Nuka-World 7 Rocket League \u2013 Masamune 8 Destiny: The Taken King 9 Call of Duty: Black Ops III \u2013 Season Pass 10 Tom Clancy\u2019s Rainbow Six Siege \u2013 Season Pass\n\nPS3 Add-ons 1 Call of Duty: Black Ops II Nuketown Zombies Map 2 Call of Duty: Black Ops II Vengeance 3 Call of Duty: Black Ops III \u2013 The Giant Zombies Map 4 Call of Duty: Black Ops II Apocalypse 5 Call of Duty: Black Ops II Uprising 6 Call of Duty: Black Ops II \u2013 Revolution 7 Call of Duty: Black Ops III \u2013 Awakening 8 Minecraft Battle Map Pack 1 9 Minecraft: Story Mode \u2013 Episode 7: Access Denied 10 Destiny: The Taken King\n\nPS Vita Games 1 GOD EATER: Resurrection 2 Bastion 3 GOD EATER 2 RAGE BURST Launch Bundle 4 Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition 5 Saturday Morning RPG 6 Ratchet & Clank Collection 7 Grand Theft Auto PS Vita Collection 8 Gal*Gun: Double Peace 9 Hyperdimension Neptunia ReBirth3: V Generation 10 Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme VS-Force Bundle"}
-{"text": "doesn't understand why women don't have sex as much as men calls girls that have sex sluts\n\n155 shares"}
-{"text": "(CNN) The rampage at a gay nightclub in Orlando Sunday drew universal condemnation from both parties but exposed deep divisions over how to respond, with President Barack Obama urging new gun laws and Republicans largely silent on the issue.\n\nAt least 49 people were killed and 53 more wounded in what is now the deadliest mass shooting in American history. Democrats, led by President Obama, made a now-familiar call for tighter gun laws. Many Republicans simply expressed their condolences and condemned the attack while Donald Trump blasted Obama and Hillary Clinton for refusing to blame the violence on radical Islam.\n\nHere's a look at how the political world responded to the attack.\n\nObama\n\nObama called the shooting an \"act of terror\" that served as a \"sobering reminder that attacks on any American, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation is an attack on all of us.\"\n\nJUST WATCHED Obama: This was an attack on all of us Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Obama: This was an attack on all of us 00:47\n\nIn remarks from the White House briefing room, Obama said, \"No act of hate or terror will ever change who we are or the values that make us Americans.\"\n\nHe also waded into the gun control debate. The Orlando shooting rampage, he said, is a reminder of how easy it is for someone to get a hold of a weapon that could kill people in a \"school, or a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub.\"\n\n\"And we have to decide if that's the kind of country we want to be,\" Obama added. \"And to actively do nothing is a decision as well.\"\n\nThe President was briefed Sunday morning by several officials, including FBI Director James Comey and Lisa Monaco, Obama's homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, according to the White House. He also ordered American flags to be lowered to half staff to honor the victims.\n\nBiden\n\nVice President Joe Biden was also briefed on the shooting and canceled a planned trip to Miami, Florida, to attend a fundraiser for Democratic National Committee chairwoman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz\n\nBiden \"offered his prayers for all those killed and injured in the shooting and sends his condolences to all the families and loved ones of the victims,\" according to a statement from his spokesman.\n\nTrump\n\nTrump, the presumptive Republican nominee, said Obama was far too timid in his White House appearance. Trump called on Obama to step down from the presidency and challenged Clinton to ratchet up her language about terror threats.\n\n\"President Obama disgracefully refused to even say the words 'Radical Islam,'\" Trump said in the statement. \"For that reason alone, he should step down. If Hillary Clinton, after this attack, still cannot say the two words 'Radical Islam' she should get out of this race for the Presidency.\"\n\nTrump's campaign canceled a planned rally Monday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, \"due to the horrific tragedy that has just taken place in Orlando, Florida,\" a campaign statement said. But the candidate will pivot the focus of a scheduled Granite State speech the same day. The speech will no longer focus on what Trump has called a litany of scandals involving Bill and Hillary Clinton. Now, according to a Trump campaign statement, it will \"address this terrorist attack, immigration, and national security.\"\n\nTrump initially responded to news of the shooting through a series of tweets, including one that noted his early condemnation of radical Islam.\n\n\"Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!\"\n\nAppreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart! \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2016\n\nClinton\n\nClinton's campaign issued a hard-hitting statement accusing Trump of politicizing the shootings.\n\n\"This act of terror is the largest mass shooting in American history and a tragedy that requires a serious response,\" said campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri. \"Hillary Clinton has a comprehensive plan to combat ISIS at home and abroad and will be talking to the American people in the coming days about steps she would take to keep the country safe. In contrast, Donald Trump put out political attacks, weak platitudes and self-congratulations. Trump has offered no real plans to keep our nation safe and no outreach to the Americans targeted, just insults and attacks. In times of crisis more than ever, Americans are looking for leadership and deserve better.\"\n\nClinton and Obama postponed a rally scheduled for Wednesday in Green Bay, Wisconsin, which would have been their first joint appearance since she became the presumptive Democratic nominee last week.\n\nClinton echoed Obama's language in a separate statement Sunday, calling the shooting an \"act of terror\" and an \"act of hate.\"\n\n\"For now, we can say for certain that we need to redouble our efforts to defend our country from threats at home and abroad,\" she said. \"That means defeating international terror groups, working with allies and partners to go after them wherever they are, countering their attempts to recruit people here and everywhere, and hardening our defenses at home. It also means refusing to be intimidated and staying true to our values.\"\n\nCongress\n\nThe LGBT congressional caucus issued a statement saying they were \"horrified by the tragic shooting.\"\n\n\"Though details are still emerging, an attack during Pride Month against Pulse, an iconic gathering place for LGBT Floridians, has a particularly insidious impact on our entire community. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by this tragedy,\" said Roddy Flynn, executive director of the LGBT Equality Caucus.\n\nFlorida Sen. Marco Rubio said attackers like the shooter in the Orlando massacre are \"the new face of the war on terror.\"\n\n\"They have said openly that they intend to target us here, and one of the hardest parts of this war is the individual who carries out an attack by themselves in a soft target like this, basically, in Orlando, Florida,\" Rubio said in a phone interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday.\n\nA top Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer of New York, wrote on Twitter: \"Horrified and saddened by the appalling attack at Orlando LGBT nightclub. Praying for the victims and their families.\"\n\nSen. Elizabeth Warren, a leading Trump critic, tweeted a series of mostly positive messages. The Massachusetts Democrat didn't directly confront Trump, but criticized his message obliquely.\n\n\"That's the message of Pride. That's who we are. That's how we'll defeat hate, & how we protect America. #loveislove\"\n\nThat's the message of Pride. That's who we are. That's how we'll defeat hate, & how we protect America. #loveislove \u2014 Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) June 12, 2016\n\n\"America is strongest when we unite & celebrate our diversity. When we promote those values abroad & live them here at home. #loveislove\"\n\nAmerica is strongest when we unite & celebrate our diversity. When we promote those values abroad & live them here at home. #loveislove \u2014 Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) June 12, 2016\n\nThe runner-up to Trump in the Republican primary field, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, issued a lengthy statement calling for all Americans to \"unite in defeating radical Islamic terrorism.\"\n\n\"The next few days will be sadly predictable,\" Cruz said. \"Democrats will try to use this attack to change the subject. As a matter of rigid ideology, far too many Democrats -- from Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton -- will refuse to utter the words 'radical Islamic terrorism.' They will claim this attack, like they claimed every previous attack, was isolated and had nothing to do with the vicious Islamist theology that is daily waging war on us across the globe.\""}
-{"text": "Why Afghanistan?\n\nBy James Rothenberg\n\n26 May, 2010\n\nCountercurrents.org\n\nWhat are we doing in Afghanistan? According to U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, the Administration together with the Congress are working to complete our \u201cmission\u201d. This is good news for enthusiasts of American imperialism who naturally take to national, militaristic, rallying calls. Mission is a carefully chosen word. Used in this sense by propagandists, it connotes purpose, goodness, unity, and suggestively\u2026Stop! Because once you accept the premise that we have a mission in Afghanistan, you are sufficiently indoctrinated.\n\nWith this level of indoctrination, attention can be safely turned away from the mission itself onto its details, things like strategy, tactics, timing, resources, and flexibility. Schumer assures us that, in this debate over details, all the president\u2019s advisers are getting their say.\n\nHe calls the War in Afghanistan a \u201ccomplex issue\u201d to which there are no easy answers. There are easy answers, but Washington doesn\u2019t like them. And what makes the issue complex is the circular way Washington must represent the situation in order to keep the public in line with the program. Foremost in this regard is to frighten, therefore the inevitable scare talk about protecting our country from terrorists (in lieu of a truly formidable enemy) and, in general, cultivating enemies (Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela), the one thing that is indispensable to the Pentagon.\n\nThe thinking person must examine the concept of terrorism and the government\u2019s repeated reference to it. If one accepts the State Department\u2019s definition limiting it to non-state actors, the U.S. is conveniently exempt. This certainly answers the question of why no government officials will be considered terrorists, but it is hardly because of the popularly accepted notion of innocence. State terrorism is violence on a scale (for example, \u201cShock and Awe\u201d in Iraq) that is not approachable by non-state actors.\n\nWe talk about \u201cdefeating\u201d al Qaeda. What can that possibly mean when their methods are those of the already defeated? It is the method of those that lack \u2013 no size, no resources, no army, navy, or air force \u2013 possessing a very finite ability and number that cannot be reduced to zero. Indeed, all indications are that our military aggression (with even mere military presence constituting low-grade aggression) in Muslim lands will move the number, predictably, in the opposite direction of zero.\n\nThe point is not that small scale terrorism has a place because large scale terrorism exists. That is simply a fact. The point is to oppose all forms of terrorism, wherever it emanates from. The citizen is in no position to affect foreign terrorism, but has a natural and proper role to address the terrorism carried out by our own government. Understanding why it is that our government exploits small scale terrorism to advance its own agenda is a step in this direction.\n\nWhich brings us to the real mission, actually obliquely referred to here by Schumer:\n\n\"We can achieve victory in Afghanistan when we have an environment that is conducive to economic development and most importantly when the Afghans have a security infrastructure that permits them to independently fight off and neutralize the Taliban insurgency in that country.\"\n\nPutting aside what he relegates most importance to, the two operative words are \"economic development\", and it is not theirs that we are interested in. If we are not interested in helping Cuba\u2019s economic development, 90 miles from our shore, why would we care about Afghanistan, halfway around the world.\n\nAll the troops, all the missiles, all the Predator drones are there to bring Afghanistan under American dependence, consolidating U.S. presence in the oil and gas rich Caspian Basin with its geopolitical significance toward potential enemies Russia and China, and encircling Iran. We\u2019re fighting them \u201cover there\u201d not so we don\u2019t have to fight them \u201cover here\u201d, but because that\u2019s where the oil and gas are. Try telling that to the American public and see if it turns up a few less patriots.\n\nThe vaunted \u201cstability\u201d that Washington yearns for in foreign countries has nothing to do with stability. What country has been more stable than Cuba for the past 50 years? Stability in the State Department sense means compliance with U.S. instructions, access for U.S. investment, access to the country\u2019s raw materials, and the necessary military basing these entail. The cheapest asset of U.S. multinationals is the U.S. military, serving to protect foreign investment with costs of blood and limb, paid for in full by the commons.\n\nCollateral to this use of the military, some GIs in Afghanistan are now said to be under Army investigation for allegedly killing three Afghan civilians in Kandahar earlier this year, as well they should be. But notice the distinction between this, an instance of military justice, and the enforcement work known as domestic justice. Domestically, at least sometimes, we use the weak to get the strong. There is a compelling logic to this because the weak only do what the boss allows. Besides, there is much in this for the prosecutor in the way of making a reputation, and what it says for career advancement.\n\nIn the military, the strong are used to get the weak. Careers are advanced by sealing off potential damage from above, for example, then Major Colin Powell in Vietnam, the subject being possible U.S. atrocities. If all the truth were known, the responsibility in Afghanistan rests with those who give orders, ultimately, Washington.\n\n\n\njrothenberg@taconic.net\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Twitter will soon begin emailing you a weekly digest of your own feed.\n\nThe summary will include tweets and links that are likely to be important to you based on what the people who you follow share.\n\nIt will also include the \"most engaging\" tweets and stories those people saw in their own feeds, if they retweet or favorite them.\n\n\"Stories feature a design similar to the recently updated Discover tab, emphasizing who shared each story beneath summaries to help you decide which ones matter most to you,\" reads a Monday post on the Twitter blog.\n\n\"Click any headline to finish reading the story, add your take by tweeting directly from the email, and see related Tweets from the people you follow.\"\n\nThe announcement makes Twitter's recent move to hire the team behind RestEngine, a personalized email marketing provider, less mysterious.\n\nTwitter also acquired a startup called Summify earlier this year, which offered a product similar to this new email digest. Before it was acquired, Summify emailed users five stories that they should read based on what their friends on social networks shared and engaged with.\n\n\u201cYou get your stories once a day or every few hours \u2026 and then you\u2019re done,\u201d Summify co-founder Mircea Pa\u015foi told Mashable months before the sale. \u201cThat\u2019s the feeling that people actually enjoy \u2014 that they\u2019re done and there\u2019s not more that they need to read.\u201d\n\nMaking information that is shared on Twitter easier to absorb for all Twitter users makes sense for the social network. As of October, 40% of Twitter users who actively log into Twitter don't ever Tweet. They're there to listen.\n\nEmail digests are set to roll out to everyone \"over the next few weeks.\"\n\nDo you think a weekly Twitter digest will be helpful? Or will it just create more spam in your already overflowing inbox? Let us know in the comments.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPhoto courtesy of iStock, kizilkayaphotos"}
-{"text": "Key Points\n\nQuestion What are the associations between specific birth defects and specific childhood cancers?\n\nFindings In a large population-based registry study of more than 10 million children in 4 states, assessment of cancer risk among children with birth defects identified, 40 specific birth defect\u2013childhood cancer associations were identified that were statistically significant, including several novel associations. Cancer risk increased with an increasing number of major nonchromosomal birth defects.\n\nMeaning Children with nonchromosomal birth defects have an increased relative risk of cancer, although the absolute risk remains low at less than 1%.\n\nAbstract\n\nImportance Birth defects affect approximately 1 in 33 children. Some birth defects are known to be strongly associated with childhood cancer (eg, trisomy 21 and acute leukemia). However, comprehensive evaluations of childhood cancer risk in those with birth defects have been limited in previous studies by insufficient sample sizes.\n\nObjectives To identify specific birth defect\u2013childhood cancer (BD-CC) associations and characterize cancer risk in children by increasing number of nonchromosomal birth defects.\n\nDesign, Setting, and Participants This multistate, population-based registry linkage study pooled statewide data on births, birth defects, and cancer from Texas, Arkansas, Michigan, and North Carolina on 10 181 074 children born from January 1, 1992, to December 31, 2013. Children were followed up to 18 years of age for a diagnosis of cancer. Data were retrieved between September 26, 2016, and September 21, 2017, and data analysis was performed from September 2, 2017, to March 21, 2019.\n\nExposures Birth defects diagnoses (chromosomal anomalies and nonchromosomal birth defects) recorded by statewide, population-based birth defects registries.\n\nMain Outcomes and Measures Cancer diagnosis before age 18 years, as recorded in state cancer registries. Cox regression models were used to generate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs to evaluate BD-CC associations and the association between number of nonchromosomal defects and cancer risk.\n\nResults Compared with children without any birth defects, children with chromosomal anomalies were 11.6 (95% CI, 10.4-12.9) times more likely to be diagnosed with cancer, whereas children with nonchromosomal birth defects were 2.5 (95% CI, 2.4-2.6) times more likely to be diagnosed with cancer before 18 years of age. An increasing number of nonchromosomal birth defects was associated with a corresponding increase in the risk of cancer. Children with 4 or more major birth defects were 5.9 (95% CI, 5.3-6.4) times more likely to be diagnosed with cancer compared with those without a birth defect. In the analysis of 72 specific BD-CC patterns, 40 HRs were statistically significant (adjusted P < .05) after accounting for multiple comparisons. Cancers most frequently associated with nonchromosomal defects were hepatoblastoma and neuroblastoma.\n\nConclusions and Relevance Several significant and novel associations were observed between specific birth defects and cancers. Among children with nonchromosomal birth defects, the number of major birth defects diagnosed was significantly and directly associated with cancer risk. These findings could inform clinical treatment for children with birth defects and may elucidate mechanisms that lead to these complex outcomes.\n\nIntroduction\n\nGlobally, more than 250 000 children are diagnosed with cancer annually,1 and in the United States, cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease in persons younger than 20 years.2 Being born with a birth defect is one of the strongest known risk factors for cancer in children.3 For example, children with trisomy 21 have a 20-fold increased risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).4,5 Whereas the association between chromosomal anomalies and cancer is recognized, a growing number of studies indicate that children with nonchromosomal birth defects may also be at increased risk of developing cancer.4,6-14\n\nDespite the recognized association between birth defects and childhood cancers in general, the ability to identify associations between specific birth defects (eg, craniosynostosis) and specific cancer subtypes (eg, hepatoblastoma) has been limited in previous studies by insufficient sample size given the relative infrequency of these diagnoses.4,7,9,14,15 In addition, findings from previous studies suggest there may be an association between the number of birth defects per child and cancer risk,14-16 but larger populations are needed to better investigate the extent to which having multiple birth defects is associated with increased risk. The identification of birth defect\u2013childhood cancer (BD-CC) patterns contributes to our understanding of potentially shared origins,6,7 and the identification of previously unrecognized Mendelian disorders and may inform cancer surveillance or screening strategies for children with certain birth defects. To address this need, we established a diverse population-based birth cohort of more than 10 million births for January 1, 1992, to December 31, 2013, by pooling statewide data on births, birth defects, and cancer from Texas, Arkansas, Michigan, and North Carolina. We aimed to estimate cancer risk in children with chromosomal anomalies and nonchromosomal birth defects; identify novel and confirm previously reported BD-CC patterns; and evaluate whether cancer risk changes as the number of birth defects per child increases.\n\nMethods\n\nStudy Design and Participants\n\nThree data linkages were performed in each state: (1) birth defects registry to birth certificates; (2) cancer registry to birth certificates; and (3) birth defects registry to corresponding cancer registry. Linkages yielded 4 study groups: (1) children without a birth defect or cancer; (2) children with a birth defect but without cancer; (3) children without a birth defect but with cancer; and (4) children with both a birth defect and cancer. This study was approved by following regulatory bodies: Baylor College of Medicine institutional review board (IRB); Texas Department of State Health Services IRB; North Carolina Division of Public Health IRB; University of North Carolina Chapel Hill IRB; Arkansas Department of Health Scientific Advisory Committee; University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences IRB; and Michigan Department of Health and Human Services IRB. A waiver of consent was granted by the IRBs of all participating institutions because the study used existing, deidentified public health data and recontact of participants to obtain informed consent would not be possible given the scope of the study.\n\nBirth Certificate Data\n\nThe study included all recorded live births in Texas from January 1, 1999, to December 31, 2013 (n = 5 742 007); in Arkansas from January 1, 1995, to December 31, 2011 (n = 629 086); in Michigan from January 1, 1992, to December 31, 2011 (n = 2 570 403); and in North Carolina from January 1, 2003, to December 31, 2012 (n = 1 239 578). Differences in study years reflect availability of data from state-specific registries. Demographic data, including self-reported maternal race/ethnicity, were obtained from birth certificates. Data were retrieved between September 26, 2016, and September 21, 2017, and data analysis was performed from September 2, 2017, to March 21, 2019.\n\nBirth Defects Ascertainment\n\nBirth defects surveillance systems in Texas, Arkansas, and North Carolina employ active ascertainment methods to identify infants and pregnancies with birth defects; passive ascertainment methods are used in Michigan. These methods have been described previously.4,17-21 Diagnoses were coded using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention modification of the British Paediatric Association Classification of Diseases and the World Health Organization\u2019s International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification. Specific birth defects included in analyses were major birth defects19,20 included as part of the National Birth Defects Prevention Network annual report17 or the National Birth Defects Prevention Study.19\n\nChildhood Cancer Ascertainment\n\nData on cancer site, morphologic features, behavior, and age at diagnosis were obtained from population-based cancer registries of the participating states. All these registries follow the standards of the National Program of Cancer Registries within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and are certified as to the completeness, timeliness, and quality of their data by the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries.22\n\nThe childhood cancer cases identified across the 4 states were coded into 12 major groups according to the International Classification of Childhood Cancer, third edition. The classification schema used is publicly available (https://seer.cancer.gov/iccc/iccc3_ext.html). Children diagnosed at younger than 18 years are included in the analysis. In the subset of 235 children with more than 1 cancer diagnosis, only the first primary cancer was considered.\n\nRecord Linkage\n\nIndividual records in the assembled birth cohort were linked across data sources using both deterministic and probabilistic linkage procedures by investigators from each participating state: Texas, M.A.C. and P.H.L.; Michigan, G.C.; North Carolina, T.A.D. and R.E.M.; and Arkansas, W.N.N. At least 95% of birth defect diagnoses and more than 75% of childhood cancer diagnoses across the cohort were matched to birth certificates.4,21,23 Linked data were then deidentified and provided to the primary investigators (P.J.L., J.M.S., with assistance with data cleaning and processing), who systematically cleaned and coded the data across states for analysis.\n\nStatistical Analysis\n\nSummary statistics describing the number of births, birth defects, and cancer diagnoses were calculated overall and by state (eTable 1 in the Supplement). Subsequent analyses were conducted separately among children with nonchromosomal defects (ie, children with no syndromic diagnosis [514 140], chromosomal anomalies [21 861], or single-gene disorders if indicated [3566]), with each group compared with the reference group of 9 641 507 children without a birth defect.\n\nOwing to concern that the proportional hazards assumption might be violated,7 we evaluated Cox, Weibull, and log logistic regression models for time-to-event analyses. Because there were no differences across models (eTable 2 and eTable 3 in the Supplement), we computed Cox regression models to generate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs for each BD-CC combination to be consistent with previous assessments.4,9,15 To comply with state data-suppression rules, measures of association were only computed when there were 5 or more cases of a BD-CC combination (resulting in 600 pairwise associations; eTable 4 in the Supplement). We also computed models for risk of any cancer, any malignant hematologic neoplasm, any central nervous system (CNS) tumor, and any non-CNS solid tumor according to the number of major nonchromosomal defects present. Person-years were calculated as time from birth to death, cancer diagnosis, or end of the study period in those alive without cancer (December 31, 2011, in Arkansas and Michigan; December 31, 2012, in North Carolina; and December 31, 2013, in Texas). Covariates evaluated in all models included maternal age, child sex, state of birth, and maternal race/ethnicity.24 In addition, models for hepatoblastoma, Wilms tumor, and ALL were adjusted for birth weight because of the well-established associations of these cancers compared with others (ie, risk for ALL and Wilms tumor risk increase in parallel with birth weight, whereas hepatoblastoma risk decreases as birth weight increases).25-27 Finally, models including ventricular septal defects, atrial septal defects, or patent ductus arteriosus were adjusted for birth weight and gestational age in sensitivity analyses because of the known associations of preterm birth with these cardiac phenotypes.19\n\nWe focused our reporting of specific BD-CC associations on those that were statistically significant after accounting for multiple comparisons. To identify these, we computed Bonferroni-Holm adjusted P values for birth defect variables in the subset of models from eTable 4 in the Supplement, which reported HRs for a specific cancer (N = 72 BD-CC associations) to fix the family-wise error rate at \u03b1 = .05. Statistical analyses were performed in R version 3.3.3 using the survival, ggplot2, and survminer packages (The R Foundation for Statistical Computing). Associations between specific birth defects and specific childhood cancers were deemed statistically significant if their P value was below the critical value established by the Bonferroni-Holm multiple testing correction procedure. All P values were 2-sided.\n\nResults\n\nThe numbers of births, diagnoses of birth defects, diagnoses of cancer, and diagnoses of both a birth defect and cancer (ie, co-occurring diagnoses) are presented in Table 1. Median length of follow-up was 8.5 years among children without birth defects and 8.1 years among children with birth defects. Overall, more than 530 000 children were diagnosed with at least 1 birth defect in our assessment. Compared with children without birth defects, those with chromosomal anomalies were 11.6 (95% CI, 10.4-12.9) times more likely to be diagnosed with any cancer in childhood or adolescence (Table 2). All chromosomal anomalies (ie, trisomy 13, 18, 21, and Turner syndrome) and all single-gene disorders with specific diagnostic codes included in these birth defects registries (ie, neurofibromatosis and tuberous sclerosis) were associated with an increased risk of cancer. In addition, after excluding those 2 groups (ie, those with any chromosomal anomalies or single-gene disorders), children with nonchromosomal birth defects were 2.5 (95% CI, 2.4-2.6) times more likely to be diagnosed with cancer (Table 2). All final models were adjusted for maternal age, child sex, and state of birth, because additional variables (ie, maternal race/ethnicity and plurality) did not influence BD-CC associations (eTable 5 in the Supplement). We further stratified our results by race/ethnicity and observed similar associations across all groups (eTable 6 in the Supplement). Nonchromosomal defects most strongly associated with cancer diagnosis included biliary atresia and spina bifida (Table 2; eTable 7 in the Supplement). The risk of specific cancers among children with any chromosomal anomaly and among children with any nonchromosomal birth defect is presented in eTable 8 in the Supplement.\n\nWe observed that as the number of major nonchromosomal birth defects per child increased, the risk of cancer also increased, with markedly greater risks among children with 2 or more major birth defects (Figure 1). This was true for any childhood cancer (Figure 1A) or when separately analyzed for hematologic cancers (Figure 1B), CNS tumors (Figure 1C), or non-CNS tumors (Figure 1D) (P for trend < .001 for each). Overall, children with 4 or more major birth defects were 5.9 (95% CI, 5.3-6.4) times more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than children without a birth defect. By evaluating the associations between specific cancer types and groups of birth defects, we made certain observations (Figure 2). For example, bone tumors were not associated with birth defects. In addition, some cancers, such as ALL, were associated with a few categories of birth defects, whereas others, such as germ cell tumors, were associated with defects in multiple organ systems.\n\nForty of the 72 BD-CC associations remained statistically significant after Bonferroni-Holm correction and adjustment for maternal age, child sex, state, and birth weight (Table 3 includes the top 25 associations, and eTable 9 in the Supplement includes all statistically significant associations). There were 5 specific associations between chromosomal anomalies or single-gene disorders and childhood cancers (Table 3): hepatoblastoma among children with trisomy 18; ALL and acute myeloid leukemia among children with trisomy 21; and astrocytoma and non-rhabdomyosarcoma soft-tissue sarcoma among children with neurofibromatosis. Thirty-five of the BD-CC associations included nonchromosomal defects. For example, children with several forms of nonchromosomal congenital heart disease had an increased risk of hepatoblastoma and neuroblastoma. These associations remained consistent and statistically significant when also adjusting for gestational age in models that included congenital heart disease phenotypes associated with preterm birth (data not shown). Hydrocephaly and obstructive genitourinary defects were each associated with risk of multiple cancers. Notably, hydrocephaly (a CNS congenital anomaly) was associated with 2 CNS tumors, astrocytoma and ependymoma. To address the potential of hydrocephaly secondary to cancers diagnosed within the first year of life, we restricted analyses to children diagnosed with hydrocephaly when younger than 1 year and with their tumor at older than 1 year; these associations remained statistically significant (eTable 10 in the Supplement).\n\nDiscussion\n\nIn this population-based cohort of more than 10 million births across 4 racially and ethnically diverse US states, we observed that children with chromosomal anomalies, as well as children with nonchromosomal birth defects, were more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than unaffected children. Notably, some of these associations were for cancers that are not typically considered part of cancer predisposition syndromes (eg, germ cell tumors; Figure 2), which could inform clinical review among these patients. Based on our findings and the overall prevalence of birth defects, approximately 9.2% of childhood cancers could be attributed to these conditions. However, the overall absolute risk of cancer in children with any birth defect is less than 1%. These estimates of absolute risk are much lower than for those with known single-gene cancer predisposition syndromes (eg, 15% cancer risk in TP53-associated Li-Fraumeni syndrome), because the genetic factors underlying birth defects are heterogenous.\n\nCancer Risk in Children With Chromosomal Anomalies\n\nOur large study population allowed us to estimate the magnitude of risks between several chromosomal anomalies and childhood cancer with better precision. For example, although there have been case reports of hepatoblastoma28-30 and Wilms tumor31 among children with trisomy 18, we were able to provide what is to our knowledge the first population-based estimate of the association between trisomy 18 and hepatoblastoma (HR, 79.1; 95% CI, 27.7-226.2). In addition, although the association between trisomy 18 and Wilms tumor was not included in Table 3 owing to the number of co-occurring cases (ie, <5), there was also an association (HR, 51.2; 95% CI, 16.2-161.9) similar to hepatoblastoma. The absolute risk of cancer in children with chromosomal anomalies was highest for ALL among those with trisomy 21 (0.9%; eTable 11 in the Supplement).\n\nCancer Risk in Children With Nonchromosomal Birth Defects\n\nWe observed that an increasing number of major nonchromosomal birth defects were associated with an increasing risk of developing cancer independent of the category of cancer (hematologic cancers, CNS tumors, and non-CNS solid tumors). The risk increased particularly among those with 2 or more birth defects, although the absolute risk of developing cancer remains less than 1% in children with 4 or more major birth defects, because childhood cancer is a rare outcome (eTable 12 in the Supplement). The patterns of children with multiple birth defects and cancer identified through this study indicate the possibility of undiagnosed or as-yet-unrecognized cancer predisposition syndromes.13\n\nBecause of our sample size, we were able to conduct novel analyses of specific BD-CC associations, overcoming a limitation of previous registry linkage studies.4,6,7,15 The cancers most frequently associated with nonchromosomal defects were hepatoblastoma and neuroblastoma. This finding is consistent with previous hypotheses that embryonal tumors could be associated with developmental disruptions rather than with carcinogenic exposures, thereby sharing pathophysiologic features with birth defects.8,15 To our knowledge, few studies to date have evaluated shared pathways between these birth defects and embryonal tumors, and only a few syndromes associated with birth defects (eg, Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome) are known to be associated with an increased risk of certain embryonal tumors (eg, hepatoblastoma).27,28\n\nHepatoblastoma has been reported in other studies of cancer risk among children with birth defects.9,13,15 In a combined report by the Children\u2019s Oncology Group and the Utah Population Database, genitourinary defects were associated with hepatoblastoma.28 This association was also reported in an independent study using data from Washington State.14 In these studies,14,28 congenital heart disease overall was also associated with hepatoblastoma, consistent with our findings that 4 different cardiac phenotypes were associated with hepatoblastoma risk. As noted, the mechanisms underlying these associations are unclear; however, these patterns could represent previously unidentified developmental disorders.8,14,28\n\nFour of the 6 specific birth defect\u2013neuroblastoma associations involved cardiac phenotypes. Although associations between congenital heart disease and neuroblastoma have been previously reported,8,32 results have been equivocal.33 This could be owing to heterogeneity among individual congenital heart disease phenotypes and the different origins (and potential cancer associations) therein.34 The association between congenital heart disease and neuroblastoma is biologically plausible because neural crest\u2013derived cells are essential in cardiac development,34 and neuroblastoma originates from embryonal neural crest\u2013derived cells.33 Neural crest cells play an important role in the septation of the outflow tract of the heart,35 which is consistent with the associations we observed specifically between ventricular outflow tract defects and neuroblastoma.\n\nAnother novel finding of our study was the observation of increased cancer risk in children with craniosynostosis. Previous population-based studies have not reported increased cancer risk in children with craniosynostosis,4,6,7,9,12,13 possibly owing to its low birth prevalence (6.3 per 10 000 live births).18 In the study by Botto et al,36 there was a nonsignificantly increased risk of any cancer among children with craniosynostosis. Craniosynostosis is not a characteristic birth defect in common cancer predisposition syndromes other than rare RECQL4-associated disorders. There are some case reports suggesting associations between craniosynostosis and hepatoblastoma,37 Wilms tumor,38 medulloblastoma,39 and neuroblastoma.40 Notably, fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) genes have been implicated in the development of craniosynostosis41 and it is suspected that they play a role in some childhood cancers.41,42 If validated, our findings may implicate genes related to craniofacial development in cancer risk.43\n\nFinally, the association observed between biliary atresia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma may be attributable to liver transplant, immunosuppressive therapy, and subsequent lymphoma risk,44 underscoring the potential role of nongenetic exposures in certain BD-CC associations.\n\nLimitations\n\nSeveral limitations must be considered. Although procedures for cancer registries are consistent across states, there is less uniformity in birth defect surveillance procedures.17 To address differences by case ascertainment methodology (active vs passive), we evaluated the risk of specific cancers for children with birth defects in Texas (active) and Michigan (passive) separately and found consistent associations across these states (eTable 13 in the Supplement). Another potential concern is that during the diagnostic evaluation of children with cancer, birth defects may also be identified. To address this, we evaluated the associations restricted to children diagnosed with a birth defect at younger than 1 year and with cancer at older than 1 year in Texas and North Carolina (states only ascertaining birth defects through the first year of life). Twelve of the 13 BD-CC associations with 5 or more co-occurring diagnoses remained statistically significant, suggesting that ascertainment bias in children with cancer does not fully explain the observed associations (eTable 14 in the Supplement). Owing to limitations in linkage procedures, children who migrated away from their state of birth would be lost to follow-up; therefore, data from these children would not be appropriately censored or identified if they subsequently were diagnosed with cancer. However, data from our group suggest that there is nondifferential migration based on the presence or absence of a birth defect,45 which limits the possibility of differential misclassification.\n\nConclusions\n\nUsing a large and diverse population-based cohort, our results demonstrate precise estimates of cancer risk in children with chromosomal anomalies and nonchromosomal birth defects and observed that cancer risk increased with the number of birth defects reported per child. We described several novel BD-CC associations, including craniosynostosis and hepatoblastoma; pyloric stenosis and medulloblastoma; and several different cardiac phenotypes and neuroblastoma. The BD-CC patterns observed in our study may represent novel cancer predisposition syndromes. If further validated, our results may inform cancer surveillance protocols for early tumor detection in children with specific birth defects. Future studies should evaluate the molecular features of children with co-occurring birth defects and cancers to further elucidate the mechanisms that lead to these complex outcomes.\n\nBack to top Article Information\n\nAccepted for Publication: March 8, 2019.\n\nPublished Online: June 20, 2019. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2019.1215\n\nCorrection: This article was corrected August 8, 2019, to delete erroneous cohort totals in the Abstract that were included during the final stages of the editorial process, as well as to fix typographical errors in the Results section of the Abstract and Methods section of the article body.\n\nCorresponding Author: Philip J. Lupo, PhD, MPH, Department of Pediatrics, Section of Hematology-Oncology, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, MS: BCM305, Houston, TX, 77030 (philip.lupo@bcm.edu).\n\nAuthor Contributions: Drs Lupo and Schraw had full access to all the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Drs Lupo and Schraw contributed equally and are co\u2013first authors.\n\nConcept and design: Lupo, Schraw, Desrosiers, Canfield, Meyer, Oster, Schiffman, Mueller, Scheurer, Plon.\n\nAcquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: Lupo, Schraw, Desrosiers, Nembhard, Langlois, Canfield, Copeland, Meyer, Brown, Chambers, Sok, Danysh, Carozza, Sisoudiya, Hilsenbeck, Janitz, Oster, Scheuerle, Luo, Mian, Mueller, Huff, Rasmussen, Scheurer, Plon.\n\nDrafting of the manuscript: Lupo, Schraw, Desrosiers, Nembhard.\n\nCritical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: All authors.\n\nStatistical analysis: Lupo, Schraw, Desrosiers, Nembhard, Brown, Chambers, Hilsenbeck, Janitz, Luo, Huff.\n\nObtained funding: Lupo, Desrosiers.\n\nAdministrative, technical, or material support: Lupo, Schraw, Canfield, Copeland, Meyer, Sok, Danysh, Sisoudiya, Janitz, Oster, Mueller, Scheurer, Plon.\n\nSupervision: Lupo, Scheurer.\n\nConflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Lupo reported receiving grants from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) and from Alex\u2019s Lemonade Stand Foundation during the conduct of the study. Dr Schraw reported receiving grants from CPRIT during the conduct of the study. Dr Danysh reported receiving grants from Alex\u2019s Lemonade Stand Foundation and from CPRIT during the conduct of the study. Ms Sisoudiya reported being a CPRIT trainee under the Baylor College of Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Training Program, funded by CPRIT, during the conduct of the study. Dr Hilsenbeck reported receiving grants from CPRIT and from Alex\u2019s Lemonade Stand Foundation, and grants from NCI during the conduct of the study. Dr Schiffman reported receiving other support from ItRunsInMyFamily.com outside the submitted work. Dr Mueller reported receiving sub-award funding from Alex\u2019s Lemonade Stand Childhood Cancer Foundation to conduct a similar project with different data source; the principal investigator of that project was Dr Lupo. Dr Plon reported receiving grants from CPRIT and from Alex\u2019s Lemonade Stand Foundation during the conduct of the study and serving on the Scientific Advisory Board of Baylor Genetics Laboratories. No other disclosures were reported.\n\nFunding/Support: This work was supported by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT RP140258, RP170071, RP160097, and RP160283), National Cancer Institute (CA125123), Arkansas Biosciences Institute, and Alex\u2019s Lemonade Stand Foundation.\n\nRole of the Funder/Sponsor: The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.\n\nAdditional Contributions: We would like to acknowledge the various state agencies that made this work possible, including the Texas Birth Defects Registry, Texas Cancer Registry, Texas Center for Health Statistics, Texas Department of State Health Services, Arkansas Reproductive Health Monitoring System, Arkansas Cancer Registry, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, North Carolina Central Cancer Registry, North Carolina Birth Defects Monitoring Program, North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics, and the North Carolina Division of Public Health. We would also like to acknowledge Marlena S. Bannick, BS, of the University of Washington for her input on the statistical methods. None of the contributors were compensated."}
-{"text": "Tepic.- Esta tarde en el poblado de Lo de Lamedo habitantes de la zona ubicaron en el interior del Motel denominado \u00abCampestre Caba\u00f1a Quinta\u00bb toneladas de alimentos distribuidos en despensas.\n\nDe manera inmediata las personas comenzaron a llevarse los paquetes, en las im\u00e1genes obtenidas por el equipo de NTV se puede aprecias a ni\u00f1os y adultos llevando los alimentos a sus hogares, m\u00e1s de una veintena de personas participaron en el saqueo.\n\nDe manera extraoficial se presume que estas despensas iban a ser utilizadas para la compra de votos este pr\u00f3ximo domingo, sin embargo hasta el momento no se sabe a qu\u00e9 partido pol\u00edtico podr\u00edan pertenecer."}
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-{"text": "Updated at 2 p.m. Wednesday with comments from Brett Shipp.\n\nLongtime Dallas television reporter Brett Shipp has resigned to run for Congress.\n\nBrett Shipp (via Twitter)\n\nShipp, 59, will run as a Democrat in a bid to oust Republican Pete Sessions from Texas' 32nd District, WFAA-TV (Channel 8) reported. His last day at the station was Wednesday.\n\n\"I absolutely have reached my threshold of tolerance for negative discourse, toxic politics and the lack of civility. I've had enough,\" Shipp told The Dallas Morning News. \"I cannot sit back and do nothing.\"\n\nShipp has been an investigative reporter at WFAA since 1995. According to his biography on the station's website, he has won three Peabody Awards and was the first Dallas reporter in New York after the Sept. 11 attacks.\n\n\"We are grateful for the many contributions Brett has made to WFAA and the field of journalism,\" said Carolyn Mungo, the station's executive news director.\n\nShipp posted a \"Brett Shipp for Congress\" image on his Twitter page Wednesday but locked his tweets from being viewed.\n\nShipp, a Dallas native, attended Highland Park High School and Stephen F. Austin State University. His father, Bert Shipp, spent 40 years as a reporter and editor at WFAA.\n\nHe plans to officially announce his candidacy at a news conference Thursday.\n\nDallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price laughed upon hearing that Shipp would run. The two have a history of clashes, as Shipp focused many investigative reports on Price, and in 2011, Shipp accused Price of shoving him.\n\n\"An ice cube's chance in hell,\" Price said of Shipp's likelihood of winning. \"Name recognition is not always what it's about. One of my opponents had name recognition. But what are you known as?\"\n\nBrett Shipp and Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price had a physical run-in in 2011. (File Photos / WFAA-TV (Channel 8))\n\nBut Shipp said he would be a good elected official and public servant, adding that his years as an investigative reporter made him an ideal candidate to weed out corruption and inefficiencies in Washington.\n\n\"I can do all of this,\" Shipp said. \"I've done it all before.\"\n\nShipp joins a crowded field vying for the Democratic nomination in the 32nd Congressional District. Four candidates have emerged as major contenders: former Hillary Clinton senior adviser Ed Meier, Dallas lawyer and former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development special assistant Colin Allred, former deputy undersecretary for rural development Lilian Salerno and Dallas lawyer George Rodriguez.\n\nShipp will have to catch up with some of the leading contenders in fundraising, but his name recognition could result in his needing fewer dollars than a lesser-known candidate.\n\n\"In a crowded field, the fact that he's been on TV on a large station has gotten him a ton of earned media and name ID. The name Brett Shipp will get attention,\" said state Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas.\n\nAnchia said the other contenders have been in politics longer and have public service records that they can tout to Democratic Party activists. Shipp has spent most of his career in the media.\n\n\"People are going to ask, 'What have you been doing over the years?' And he's going to have to have an answer for that,\" Anchia said.\n\nDemocratic Party strategist Matt Angle said Shipp's challenge will be to move his campaign beyond his well-known name.\n\n\"People don't have an impression of him politically,\" Angle said. \"He has to make it clear as to why he's running for Congress and why people should vote for him.\"\n\nShipp said he would assure voters that he's the right candidate.\n\n\"I have the unique ability to make a difference,\" he said. \"I know it's going to be tough, but I can do it.\"\n\n{\"type\":\"video\",\"title\":\"Dallas News Video\",\"author_name\":\"Dallas News\",\"_id\":\"E2Z2VsZDE628Tl5IvAzdqcgpTkshddhv\",\"provider_name\":\"Ooyala\",\"html\":\"\n\n\",\"raw\":\"{\\\"type\\\":\\\"video\\\",\\\"title\\\":\\\"Dallas News Video\\\",\\\"author_name\\\":\\\"Dallas News\\\",\\\"_id\\\":\\\"E2Z2VsZDE628Tl5IvAzdqcgpTkshddhv\\\",\\\"provider_name\\\":\\\"Ooyala\\\",\\\"html\\\":\\\"\\\\u003Cdiv class=\\\\\\\"oo-vid-container\\\\\\\" data-oo-content-id=\\\\\\\"E2Z2VsZDE628Tl5IvAzdqcgpTkshddhv\\\\\\\"\\\\u003E\\\\u003C\\\\/div\\\\u003E\\\\u003Cscript defer src=\\\\\\\"https:\\\\/\\\\/www.dallasnews.com\\\\/resources\\\\/motif\\\\/dist\\\\/js\\\\/ooyala.js\\\\\\\"\\\\u003E\\\\u003C\\\\/script\\\\u003E\\\"}\",\"providerType\":\"ooyala\",\"providerLink\":\"https://www.dallasnews.com/oembed\",\"embedType\":\"video\"}\n\nStaff writer Naomi Martin contributed to this report."}
-{"text": "Police have not identified a motive behind the small fire\n\nNEW ORLEANS \u2014 Police arrested three people after a Tulane campus dormitory door was set on fire in what some people are calling a politically motivated attack.\n\nAccording to our partners at The New Orleans Advocate, Robert Money, 21; David Shelton, 20; and Naima Okami, 20, face counts of aggravated arson in the case. Shelton and Money are current students at Tulane, while Okami attends Brown University, according to Tulane officials.\n\nAccording to TUPD officials, a plastic sign attached to a door in the Weatherheard Hall dormitories was set on fire just after midnight Saturday.\n\nTUPD officials said as the investigation continues, it is not clear what motivated the sign burning. However, the political group Young Americans for Liberty (YAL), a libertarian organization with chapters at several colleges across Louisiana, said the burning was meant to target one of their Tulane chapter members.\n\nPictures provided by the group show a TUPD officer examining that damage on the door of Peyton Lofton, a chapter officer in Tulane's YAL organization.\n\nGroup officials said he was recently \"doxxed,\" or targeted and outed on the Internet for his political beliefs, on social media by an \"anti-YAL social media account.\" According to the school's directory, Lofton is enrolled in Tulane's school of liberal arts."}
-{"text": "Screenshot by Dara Kerr/CNET\n\nTwo technology artists who head Google's \"Big Picture\" visualization research group debuted a new project this week that shows a time-lapse animation of wind speeds across the U.S.\n\n\"An invisible, ancient source of energy surrounds us--energy that powered the first explorations of the world, and that may be a key to the future,\" the artists wrote in a post yesterday. \"This map shows you the delicate tracery of wind flowing over the US right now.\"\n\nThe black map, simply named \"Wind Map,\" displays white streaks that show varying wind speeds from 1 to 30 miles per hour. The stronger the winds, the more dense the white streaks. As the wind courses across the county, certain patterns emerge, such as swirls around the Rockies and powerful blasts coming off the Great Lakes.\n\nFernanda Viegas and Martin Wattenberg, the map creators, got the surface wind data from the National Digital Forecast Database , which is downloaded once an hour. They wrote that they would like to design a visualization for the entire Earth but haven't yet found a global source for detailed live wind data.\n\nIn a similar project, NASA recently created a visualization of ocean and sea currents over a two-year period."}
-{"text": "A proposed law currently moving through the Philippine Congress, supported by President Rodrigo Duterte, would potentially make minors as young as nine criminally liable for their actions.\n\nSalvador Panelo, a representative for Duterte, said current law allows adults to put children up to crimes \u201cbecause they know the children will be freed.\u201d So under the proposed new law, President Duterte seeks to \u201cprotect the children\u201d by dissuading criminals from using them as drug mules.\n\nDuterte has consistently claimed existing law hampers efforts by law enforcement to act against minors who work on behalf of drug gangs.\n\nNonetheless, the measure has drawn sharp condemnation from opposition leaders and human rights groups. Some have called it a \u201cstark mockery of the field of child development.\u201d Others have also spoken out, saying the government should focus more on targeting high-level criminals and traffickers, rather than set its sights on junior offenders.\n\nPhilippine jails are also ranked amongst some of the most overcrowded in the world, a result of Duterte\u2019s ongoing crackdown against the illicit drug trade. Partly as a result, the financially struggling government has been unable to set up the mandated number of juvenile justice law centers for minors.\n\nThe Philippines is a signatory to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, whereby incarceration of a minor is deemed \u201ca measure of last resort.\u201d The measure is waiting on approval by the full House."}
-{"text": "Madelen Janogy fick n\u00e5got av ett genombrott efter ett fint VM-slutspel f\u00f6r Sverige i somras och har \u00e4ven under h\u00f6stens EM-kval levererat, bland annat genom att g\u00f6ra tv\u00e5 m\u00e5l i bortam\u00f6tet med Ungern. Totalt har det blivit fyra m\u00e5l p\u00e5 elva A-landskamper. I klubblaget Pite\u00e5 var hon den h\u00e4r s\u00e4songen \u00e5ter en viktig pj\u00e4s med sina \u00e5tta fulltr\u00e4ffar p\u00e5 19 matcher i damallsvenskan.\n\nNu, n\u00e4r kontraktet l\u00f6pt ut med Pite\u00e5, blir det i st\u00e4llet en forts\u00e4ttning i den tyska ligan d\u00e4r det v\u00e4ntar spel med storklubben Wolfsburg. Janogy presenterades under torsdagen och kontraktet \u00e4r skrivet \u00f6ver 30 juni 2021.\n\n- Det k\u00e4nns j\u00e4ttesk\u00f6nt att det \u00e4ntligen \u00e4r klart och att man vet vad man ska g\u00f6ra n\u00e4sta \u00e5r, s\u00e4ger Janogy till Fotbollskanalen.\n\n- Det verkar vara en v\u00e4ldigt proffsig klubb och v\u00e4ldigt utvecklande. Det \u00e4r m\u00e5nga otroligt duktiga fotbollsspelare d\u00e4r s\u00e5 jag \u00e4r supertaggad att f\u00e5 komma dit och tr\u00e4na med s\u00e5 m\u00e5nga bra spelare och f\u00f6rs\u00f6ka bidra med det jag kan och forts\u00e4tta vinna titlar.\n\nI Wolfsburg spelar sedan tidigare landslagskollegorna Hedvig Lindahl och Fridolina Rolf\u00f6.\n\n- Jag har pratat en del med \"Frido\" och h\u00f6rt om hur det \u00e4r och s\u00e5 och fr\u00e5n henne har jag bara h\u00f6rt positiva saker. Det k\u00e4nns v\u00e4ldigt sk\u00f6nt att jag har kunnat prata med henne innan och f\u00e5tt lite information och f\u00e5tt h\u00f6ra hur hon k\u00e4nner och t\u00e4nker, s\u00e4ger Janogy.\n\n\u00c4r det n\u00e5got speciellt som hon har n\u00e4mnt som du fastnat f\u00f6r?\n\n- Att det \u00e4r en v\u00e4ldigt proffsig klubb med bra f\u00f6ruts\u00e4ttningar och att tr\u00e4ningarna \u00e4r otroligt bra och p\u00e5 en h\u00f6g niv\u00e5, s\u00e5 det \u00e4r v\u00e4ldigt utvecklande.\n\nDen tuffa konkurrensen i den tyska j\u00e4tten \u00e4r ingen som skr\u00e4mmer Janogy.\n\n- Jag t\u00e4nker att det ska vara lite s\u00e5. F\u00f6r mig handlar det om att inte stressa och pressa \u00f6verhuvudtaget och l\u00e5ta det ta tid. Men samtidigt hela tiden vara med och tr\u00e4na p\u00e5, f\u00f6r jag tror att det kan g\u00f6ra v\u00e4ldigt mycket f\u00f6r min utveckling att f\u00e5 tr\u00e4na med s\u00e5 bra spelare.\n\nHur k\u00e4nns det att ta avsked av Pite\u00e5?\n\n- Det \u00e4r j\u00e4ttetungt. Det var ett v\u00e4ldigt tufft beslut, jag stortrivs i Pite\u00e5 och har hittat v\u00e4ldigt n\u00e4ra kompisar h\u00e4r och utvecklats under de h\u00e4r tre \u00e5ren. S\u00e5 det var j\u00e4ttejobbigt faktiskt.\n\nWolfsburg toppar den tyska ligan framf\u00f6r Hoffenheim och laget \u00e4r obesegrat efter 13 spelade omg\u00e5ngar."}
-{"text": "Eric Bolling\u2019s teenage son passed away last night, according to Huffington Post journalist Yashar Ali. A source told Mediate that the cause of death was suicide.\n\nBolling broke his silence on the death of his only son, 19-year-old Chase Bolling, saying he was devastated and needed prayers.\n\nHe also sent out an update from authorities regarding his deceased son\u2019s condition and asked for respect during his family\u2019s grievance period.\n\nReports say Bolling\u2019s son committed suicide. Eric Bolling sent out a tweet with an update from authorities, \u201cAuthorities have informed us there is no sign of self harm at this point. Autopsy will be next week. Please respect our grieving period.\u201d\n\nAuthorities have informed us there is no sign of self harm at this point. Autopsy will be next week. Please respect our grieving period. \u2014 Eric Bolling (@ericbolling) September 9, 2017\n\nTRENDING: Crowd Begins Chanting \"Fill The Seat\" at Trump Rally in North Carolina - President Trump Announces He Will Name Nominee this Week - A WOMAN\n\nPlease pray for Eric Bolling, his wife and loved ones who are hurting during this time."}
-{"text": "What to Know The man, who has not been identified, was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital for evaluation and the flight eventually was able to leave.\n\nPolice were forced to take a man into custody at Miami International Airport early Monday morning after they say he barged onto a plane.\n\nOfficials from the airport said the incident took place on board American Airlines Flight 1060, which was bound for Newark, New Jersey, and was scheduled to leave shortly before 7 a.m. ET.\n\nMiami-Dade Police say the man, who had a ticket for the flight, began yelling loudly before he bypassed a gate agent and got on the plane.\n\nOfficers say the man began saying things that led them to believe he was in some sort of crisis, forcing them to take him into custody and delay the flight\u2019s takeoff.\n\nCell phone footage shot by witnesses showed the man being taken into custody by multiple officers.\n\nThe man, who has not been identified, was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital for evaluation and the flight eventually was able to leave."}
-{"text": "GIS-Datenerfassung\n\nGIS-Datenerfassung ist eine Technik, mit der Informationen \u00fcber verschiedene Kartenattribute, Einrichtungen und Organisationsdaten erhoben, digitalisiert und in einem GIS-Zielsystem als geeignete Layer gespeichert werden."}
-{"text": "Move over Cheesy Tots there\u2019s a new big cheese in town: Cheese Bites.\n\nBurger King has been spotted selling new Cheese Bites at select locations in Texas, according to YouTube food reviewer Aaron Sanchez, better known to his fans as \u201cFull Nelson Eats.\u201d\n\nJudging by the image provided by Arron, Cheese Bites appear to feature a crispy-fried bread coating surrounding a \u201cmelty, cheesy\u201d center.\n\nAn 8-piece order of Cheese Bites is priced at $1.99, while a 20-piece order comes in at $3.99, although prices may vary.\n\nWhile details remain elusive at this time, I\u2019m assuming Cheese Bites are being offered as part of a test market at select locations in Texas.\n\nDrop Chew Boom a note here, if you can provide additional details on Cheese Bites.\n\nImage \u2013 @FullNelsonEats"}
-{"text": "This article originally appeared on VICE Canada.\n\nFor most people, going to the gym can be quite a painful process. Not only do you have to rub shoulders with sweaty bodies which are exponentially firmer than your own, but you\u2019ll have to do so in front of floor-to-ceiling mirrors, in which your own red face will inevitably catch eyes with random guys\u2019 sex faces as they pound that last bicep curl. But for a small minority of people, the gym isn\u2019t just a sweaty pit designed to make you feel physically inferior, it can be a place where your whole sense of identity is challenged and put into question.\n\nFor non-binary and gender non-conforming folk, the idea of a hyper-gendered space such as a gym is something many choose to avoid. Simply entering into such a strict binary environment is mistakenly taken as an invite for strangers to police your gender. And while many restaurants, schools, and businesses are waking up to the struggles of non-binary and gender non-conforming people and putting in measures to make life easier for them, including gender neutral bathrooms and gender neutral service in restaurants, it seems sadly most gyms haven't put this on their agenda for 2018, with only a small number of gyms advocating for gender-neutral spaces.\n\nAfter a friend of mine told me of their traumatic experiences as a non-binary person at the gym, I decided to look into the ways cisgendered folk can support our non-binary and gender non-conforming friends in these spaces. So I spoke to some of my non-binary and gender non-conforming friends to find out what their experiences look like and to see what measures should be put in place to advocate for better and more accepting spaces in the future.\n\nSkylar, 34, Vancouver\n\nVICE: So tell me, have you experienced anything that has made you uncomfortable at your gym?\n\nSkylar: Two or three years ago, I would go to the gym and people would just stare at me. If I was in the women\u2019s changing room, women would think I was in the wrong room or women would walk in and think they were in the wrong room. I stopped using the women's changing room because I was making so many people feel uncomfortable, just by being there. I was being treated like I shouldn't even be in that space, it was horrible. I've been binding my chest for a very long time, and I kind of look like a girl but I don\u2019t\u2014my breasts aren't there, I\u2019ve got hips and a small waist, muscles, and I\u2019ve had a lot of people stare at me. I know a lot of trans and non-binary folks that won\u2019t even walk into a gym because it\u2019s way too uncomfortable for them.\n\nWhat about your experience now?\n\nI have to change at home before I go. Reason being at my gym, Steve Nash, they have three change rooms; two are for men and one is for women and there\u2019s no handicapped or single-stalled bathroom for any type of non-binary person or transperson to use. So while I\u2019m at the gym, I also can\u2019t use the bathroom. I actually have to leave and go to the Tim Hortons to go pee, and it\u2019s very, very frustrating. I brought this to their attention two years ago and they didn't seem to want to do anything about it. I told them \u201cyou\u2019re Davie street, this is the gay neighborhood and you should be considerate.\u201d They still haven't done anything about it.\n\nWere you tempted to leave because of this?\n\nAbsolutely. One of the hardest things was trying to cancel my membership and telling them why\u2014because I'm trans and there\u2019s no way to use the bathroom and there no way I can change. That was really uncomfortable to have to explain that to a heterosexual cis male, who has no idea what my experience is like. The man on the phone while I was speaking to him said \u201coh, well your voice doesn't sound like a guy\u201d and I just felt so defeated and I didn't have the energy to put up a fight. It was so next-level insulting.\n\nThat sucks! What are some measures they could put in place to make you and other non-binary or gender non-conforming folks feel more comfortable?\n\nFirstly, make sure they have space for people to go and change and use a bathroom. They should also allow people upon signing up to chose their preferred pronoun as well as the name they would like to be called. That was another experience at Steve Nash, they wanted to call me by my birth name as well as them calling me \u201cshe,\u201d it was very traumatizing. They need to make it so that it\u2019s easy for you to say \u201cthis is who I am, this is what I want to be called.\u201d I just think it\u2019s in the infrastructure of how a gym is set up; they operate in such a hyper-gendered way, that that's just what they\u2019re used to. I think it\u2019s just about education really.\n\nIs progress being made?\n\nI do think so. Four or five years ago, I felt a lot more uncomfortable at gyms than I do now. It\u2019s a different age now. I think the general public are learning more about trans folks and non-binary folks and so it\u2019s not quite a shock for them to see someone who is trans or non-binary at the gym nowadays.\n\nFray, they/them, 29, Toronto\n\nVICE: Hello Fray, could you describe your experiences day to day at your gym?\n\nFray: As of recently, I no longer go to my gym. The experience became too uncomfortable for me, so I now chose to exercise with a friend at home.\n\nAh, I\u2019m sorry! Would you describe your gym as being a hyper-gendered space?\n\nIt absolutely is. I think naturally a space where you have people undressing, or in tight exercise clothes means that our bodies are more on display, which invites people to look at you more than they would outside that environment. Plus lots of gyms have workouts designed \u201cfor men\u201d or \u201cfor women,\u201d and certain classes specifically targeted for women or men, any space like that is naturally going to be extremely gendered.\n\nHave you ever felt unwelcome?\n\nYes, primarily because it\u2019s just a constant reminder that there are men and then there are women and then there\u2019s me, in the middle somewhere. As a non-binary person I have spent the last five years actively trying to separate myself from the \u201cbinary experience\u201d because I don\u2019t identify with it, and a space like a gym seems to reinforce that rather than tear it down.\n\nWhat\u2019s the set-up at your gym?\n\nMy gym has a women\u2019s only section in it, this is where women can go to workout away from guys. For many of my cisgendered female friends, this is an important space for them. However for me, it obviously isn't my space, and although it\u2019s a positive thing for cisgendered women it\u2019s still enforcing gendered spaces. I used to use the women section just because I would feel much more conformable there and away from the huge cis males on the general gym floor. I had to stop using it because I had three or four separate occasions where women in that section would ask me to leave. I don't look feminine enough for the women\u2019s section but I would feel unsafe in the men's, so that was a deal breaker for me.\n\nAre you going to go back any time soon?\n\nUntil I find a gym with gender-neutral stalls and areas, I don\u2019t see a way to go back and I don\u2019t want to. I\u2019m not mad about it, but I had to make a choice and accept that right now that\u2019s not a space that is healthy for me.\n\nGus, he/they, 37, Queens\n\nVICE: So tell me about your gym.\n\nGus: My gym feels hyper-gendered, as the locker rooms definitely are, but the free weights/weight bench section tends to be mostly men. This is sometimes too intimidating or overwhelming, so I\u2019ll either wait until it\u2019s less crowded, or use other machines.\n\nCan you remember times that made you feel unwelcome?\n\nEarlier in my transition, after I had top surgery, but before I went on T, I used the women\u2019s locker room, but barely. I would walk in with my head down, put my stuff in a locker, pee, and run out. I would often get stared at by members and staff, and there were several instances where members and staff would ask me if I knew I was in the women\u2019s locker room. It was always mortifying. If your appearance doesn\u2019t fit in with stereotypical gender performances, you will always be ostracized on some level. This is something I hope shifts within my lifetime.\n\nIs it an easy fix?\n\nPartly. A reworking of locker rooms would be the only way to make trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming folks feel safe in locker rooms. Dressing room-type stalls with floor-to-ceiling doors in which people could change and shower with full privacy.\n\nWhat other measures should gyms put in place to make your experiences more comfortable?\n\nEach gym should also have a way for members to communicate name/gender marker changes in a way that is private, and doesn\u2019t out them to other members and staff, plus a way to add/change people\u2019s pronouns, so when a person checked in at the front desk, their name and pronoun would come up. Maybe this would eliminate a lot of misgendering with greetings and farewells. \u201cHave a good day, friend,\u201d instead of, \u201chave a good day, sir\u201d or \u201chave a good day, ma\u2019am.\u201d\n\nI had the benefit of finding a personal trainer who had no judgment about trans people, but that\u2019s not always the case. Perhaps each gym should have at least one trainer who is advertised as being LGBTQ friendly, and make sure that person has done sensitivity training, as well as received education about how cross-hormone treatment works in relation to diet and exercise.\n\nHave your experiences been primarily negative at your gym?\n\nNo, definitely not. The most positive experience I had was about six months into starting hormone treatment. I\u2019d reached a point where using the women\u2019s locker room was no longer possible due to facial hair starting to grow in, but I didn\u2019t feel safe using the men\u2019s locker room either. I went back to a manager with a request and she responded positively and said she would be happy to do whatever it took to make me feel comfortable. She also called in the other manager and brought him up to speed so there wouldn\u2019t be any issues. It felt very empowering to be so understood and validated. Granted, I shared a lot of personal information in the process, but it resulted in a workable situation for everyone. For now, this solution is working well.\n\nElliot, they/them, 36, Los Angeles\n\nVICE: Hey Elliot, so what\u2019s your experiences day-to-day at your gym?\n\nElliot: I work as a trainer at Everybody, a queer non-gendered gym, so my day-to-day experiences at my gym are positive and affirming. I never have to stress about what changing area or bathroom to use, and I am surrounded by people like me all day.\n\nHow lovely! How does your gym set itself apart from a gendered gym?\n\nMy gym has one locker room for people of all genders to use, with private changing and shower areas, and multiple all-gender toilets. Typical standards of beauty and health are not valued at my gym, so results and goals are not gendered. In the fitness industry, everything is gendered, even certain exercises are are categorized as \u201cfor men\u201d or \u201cfor women.\u201d It is a huge relief to be freed of that burden, even if it\u2019s just in this space.\n\nHave you ever felt uncomfortable in a gym before?\n\nAll of the time. I avoid changing or showering when I am away from my gym. If I must use the bathroom, I appraise which one will be the safest for me, if a non-gendered one is not available\u2014I keep my eyes down, rush in, and rush out. For the most part, I just hold it, and avoid drinking anything.\n\nWhat are some measures that gyms could put in place to ungender these spaces to make people feel more comfortable?\n\nTrain staff to use non-gendered language, and to ask guests what their personal gender pronouns are... never assume! Provide non-gendered changing/shower areas, and bathrooms. Feature gender non-conforming folks in your social media and advertising.\n\nHow important is it that you can identify with the folks you train?\n\nI am out and visible as a trans-masculine non-binary person, I don\u2019t hide who I am, this alone helps folks open up to me. It is a privilege to live and work in a place where it is safe for me to do this. Because my community is disproportionately underemployed, I offer sliding scale rates, and make myself very available to answer questions. I also founded a group called the TG/NB Project, which offers a free group fitness class for and by trans and non-binary folks every Monday night.\n\nAmazing! Have you seen things shift in the last few years?\n\nI have! The success of Everybody has been stellar, and it serves as a shining example of the reality of a large-scale, profitable, non-gendered wellness space. It is my hope that other people will have the courage to create such spaces in their community. We are are seeing more spaces starting to de-gender single occupancy bathrooms, and the body positive movement has made huge strides in changing the general population\u2019s concept of a \u201cworthy\u201d body. As more folks seek to queer the fitness industry from the inside, we are going to continue to see it develop into something more welcoming for all bodies."}
-{"text": "New Triumph Bonneville family revealed\n\nThree all-new versions - Street Twin, T120 and Thruxton - with 900cc and 1200cc liquid-cooled engines | Ride-by-wire throttle, traction control and riding modes as standard"}
-{"text": "Image caption The views on secret justice adopted by some in the UK's intelligence community is at loggerheads with many human rights campaigners\n\nThe demand for changes to the UK's justice system has been driven by Britain's intelligence agencies MI5 and MI6, who were left battered and bruised by the Binyam Mohammed and Guantanamo Bay cases.\n\nThey argue that the Binyam Mohammed case has affected intelligence sharing with the US and that the civil cases had to be settled without being tested in court.\n\nThis, they say, shows a new system is needed.\n\nBut it is a view that is being challenged by MPs. The parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights disputes whether there is a sufficient basis for departing from traditions of open justice and moving to a system they see as inherently unfair.\n\nThe committee says that the case for change is based on \"vague predictions\" and \"spurious assertions\" about catastrophic consequences.\n\nIn the Binyam Mohammed case, Britain's spies argued the revealing of intelligence passed to the UK by the US breached the so-called \"control principle\" in which the originator of intelligence retains control over its disclosure.\n\nSecurity v liberty? Intelligence services say evidence should be heard in secret to protect national security\n\nBut civil liberties campaigners say evidence needs to be tested in open court\n\nIntelligence services say current Public Interest Immunity (PII) Certificate means material is excluded rather than considered\n\nBut campaigners say PII system has worked so far\n\nSenior intelligence officials maintain that this has led to changes in behaviour by the US in the years since.\n\nUS 'unhappiness'\n\nOne official told me that in some cases - notably that of a feared Mumbai-style attack just over a year ago in Europe - the US passed the actual intelligence over but withheld some of the details on the source, leading Britain to devote some of its resources investigating it.\n\nBut, while officials claim there is greater nervousness from the US, there is no suggestion that life-threatening intelligence has been withheld or that the fundamentals of the relationship have altered.\n\nCritics also argue that American unhappiness over one breach of the control principle is not a sufficient reason for Britain to deviate from its traditions of justice.\n\nThey also say that in the Binyam case the judges only released some material because they saw that it had already emerged in an American court case.\n\nThe government also points to the settling of a civil claim by former detainees out of court - at the taxpayer's expense - to prevent sensitive material being introduced in court.\n\nThey argue that, in such a case, it would be fairer to move to a Closed Material Proceeding where only the Judge and Special Advocates could hear the secret material.\n\nImage caption Binyam Mohamed was held in Guantanamo Bay before being returned to the UK in early 2009\n\nThey argue this is preferable to the current system where if a Public Interest Immunity (PII) Certificate is agreed by a judge, the material is not considered at all.\n\nBut critics argue the PII process has not yet been found wanting.\n\nThey also say that even though the new system would allow material to be heard by a judge and Special Advocates, it would not have been tested in open court with the chance for the litigants or their normal lawyer to dispute what was said.\n\nThe proposals as currently set out allow the secretary of state to move to closed proceedings when they decide it is in the \"public interest\".\n\nCritics say this power should be in the hands of a judge - rather than just subject to judicial review - and that the test should be national security, rather than the much broader concept of \"public interest\".\n\nThis seems to be the area where Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is calling for change.\n\nBut opponents of the proposals are suspicious.\n\nSome of them believe that the government deliberately outlined extensive proposals in the Green Paper, knowing it could then be seen to give ground but retain what it really wants - closed proceedings in national security cases.\n\nThe critics argue though that it is the very principle of closed proceedings which is flawed.\n\nThe government maintains that it is the best way of dealing with cases without damaging security."}
-{"text": "Danyal Bashir, 20, (pictured outside court) has been sentenced to nine months in a young offender institute\n\nA thug who pushed a traffic warden in the road before stamping on his head in a 'ferocious and extreme' sustained attack has been detained for nine months.\n\nDanyal Bashir pulled 21-year-old Charlie Weston off his moped after he put a ticket on an illegally parked car in Alum Rock, Birmingham.\n\nMr Weston was repeatedly punched, stamped on and kicked in the throat while Bashir, 20, tried to remove his helmet.\n\nThe gang was filmed by onlookers who 'voyeuristically' posted the sickening footage on social media, leaving Mr Weston to feel viewers were 'glorifying in his misery'.\n\nAfter leaving Mr Weston lying in the road and threatening to run him over, the yobs stole his moped before dumping it in a nearby street.\n\nToday Bashir, who was 19 at the time, was sentenced to nine months in a young offender institute after previously admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm.\n\nSentencing him at Birmingham Crown Court, Judge Kristina Montgomery QC said the footage showed the ferocity of the sustained attack.\n\nTraffic warden Charlie Weston was set upon after he started checking vehicles in the street\n\nMr Weston, from Wolverhampton, was set upon on September 14 just ten minutes after he started checking vehicles in the street.\n\nShocking footage of the attack posted on social media went viral, leading to police launching a major manhunt for the attackers and identifying Bashir.\n\nProsecutor Gary Cook said: 'Six males approached Mr Weston, they surrounded him and asked him whether he liked shouting at a woman.\n\n'He was then punched to the side of the head and someone kicked his bike and he fell over into the road.\n\n'Whilst on the ground he was kicked and stamped on repeatedly. He recalls his head being impacted a number of times. It seemed to him to last an eternity and then it stopped.'\n\nThe judge said Mr Weston's motorcycle 'was taken from him to humiliate him' and he now suffers sleepless nights, anxiety and 'hates his job.'\n\nShocking footage of the attack posted on social media went viral, leaving Mr Weston to feel viewers were 'glorifying in his misery'\n\nShe added: 'What you did that day was for nothing more than your own personal self-gratification, it was completely unacceptable.\n\n'This was an attack on public servant going about his duty. When they are met with violence that is an aberration in society.\n\n'Firstly you used your shod foot as a weapon. You were playing a leading role in a group attack.'\n\nAfter the attack, the former security guard spent four hours in hospital where he was treated for bruising to his hands and head and a split lip.\n\nDespite his injuries, he was back at work the next day.\n\nBashir, who has a previous conviction for assault, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm at a previous hearing.\n\nHe was ordered to spend nine months in a young offenders' institution."}
-{"text": "Mugshot: An interpol photograph of Matthew Nolan when he was using a false name\n\nThe star-studded premiere of the sci-fi spectacular Interstellar was a rare step into the Hollywood limelight for Christopher Nolan, the British director of the \u00a3105 million blockbuster.\n\nMaster storyteller Nolan wrote the screenplay for the film with his younger brother Jonathan a decade after they first won acclaim for their dark reboot of the Batman franchise. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and Michael Caine, Interstellar is released in Britain this weekend.\n\nBut as the plaudits for their fantasy adventure roll in, the Nolans have another compelling story to hand. It would certainly make a movie, but they are most unlikely to be writing a screenplay any time soon.\n\nFor it is the real-life tale of the third Nolan brother, Matthew, and his links to lurid allegations of a contract killing in which an American financier was beaten to death.\n\nMatthew, the eldest of the brothers, faces the persistent allegation that he was a \u2018hired killer\u2019, the hitman behind the financier\u2019s death.\n\nHe was arrested and imprisoned during extradition proceedings \u2013 and prepared a bizarre escape attempt involving tied-together bed sheets.\n\nThe extraordinary story centres on the accusation by authorities in Costa Rica, filed in an extradition request to a US court, that Nolan was a \u2018hired killer\u2019 contracted to kidnap and torture American accountant Robert Cohen, 63, while he was on a trip to the Central American country.\n\nCohen\u2019s badly beaten body was found near the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica in 2005.\n\nThe court heard that \u2018there was little doubt that Cohen\u2019s death was caused by trauma\u2019 while a Costa Rican pathologist was said to have found evidence he was subjected to pain and anguish before he was bludgeoned to death.\n\nThe American justice system refused to extradite Matthew. He was released from prison and remains a free man. Yet not everyone agrees with the decision.\n\nIn another blockbuster-style twist to the long-running saga, the Costa Rican authorities have told The Mail on Sunday they consider the case still \u2018active\u2019 and want to put Nolan on trial. And the victim\u2019s daughter, Alisha, wants Nolan to face court in Costa Rica.\n\nThe three Nolan brothers have had a cosmopolitan upbringing. They were born in London to Brendan Nolan, a British advertising executive, and their American mother Christina, and have spent much of their lives shuttling between the US and Britain.\n\nJonathan, 38, and Christopher, 44, who were educated at \u00a330,000-a-year Haileybury school in Hertfordshire, are now two of the most highly sought talents in the screen industry, and are feted in Hollywood.\n\nMatthew, 46, chose to make his mark in business. He worked as a property developer in Chicago and married his wealthy American wife Erika in a lavish society ceremony at one of the city\u2019s most exclusive venues in 1999.\n\nPosing for the wedding photographs, the three handsome English brothers seemed the epitome of American success. But despite the glamorous lifestyle Matthew enjoyed with his wife and two sons, it would seem that he had major financial problems: he and Erika filed for bankruptcy in 2009.\n\nThe tangled story of the murder and Nolan\u2019s alleged involvement were laid out in extraordinary detail by an Illinois Federal Magistrate during a hearing in 2009 into the extradition request.\n\nThe US District Court was told the victim, Cohen, worked as an accountant for Florida millionaire gem dealer Robert Breska, who was sentenced to four years in jail in the 1980s after being exposed as a drug trafficker.\n\nWhen \u00a35 million of Breska\u2019s money went missing he, according to American court papers, blamed Cohen despite counter allegations that Cohen\u2019s Costa Rican business partner Mario Quintana stole the money.\n\nCohen, it seems, was in no doubt about the trouble he was in.\n\nIn 2004, Quintana was discovered shot dead, in an apparent suicide.\n\nCohen, realising that he had lost all chance of recovering the cash, said, according to the court documents, that Breska \u2018is capable of putting my life in danger\u2026 if anything were to happen to me. Mr Breska would be the person responsible.\u2019\n\nBreska, the court heard, brought Nolan in to recover the lost money and introduced him to Cohen.\n\nNolan, it was said, was calling himself Matthew McCall Oppenheimer in an attempt to hoodwink Cohen into believing he was a scion of the Oppenheimer diamond family.\n\nThe Costa Rican investigators told the American court that this assumed identity was to hide Nolan\u2019s real occupation as a hired killer.\n\nThe court papers said: \u2018Breska told Cohen this man was a multi-millionaire and a member of a family that was dedicated to the jewellery business.\u2019 They added that Cohen and Nolan met in March 2005 in Costa Rica, where Nolan also met hotel bellboy Luis Alonso Douglas Mejia, who subsequently was convicted in Costa Rica of Cohen\u2019s kidnap and murder.\n\nAccording to the Costa Ricans, witnesses claimed they saw Cohen and Nolan together in the capital San Jose. Later Mejia and Nolan allegedly forced Cohen into a Toyota hire car in a local shopping centre car park on March 6.\n\nWhen the FBI were called in to help locate Nolan, agents discovered he had flown out of Costa Rica the same day to Houston, Texas, then went on to Paris, New York and finally Miami, all the time allegedly using a fake Paris address and his father\u2019s UK mobile number for his contact details.\n\nThree days later, however, Nolan was allegedly back in Costa Rica and rejoined Mejia, who was holding Cohen captive. The court heard the Costa Rican authorities claimed the pair \u2018continued to torture the victim\u2019, damaging his internal organs. The torture \u2018caused a massive haemorrhage and resulted in death\u2019. Cohen\u2019s body was discovered on March 10.\n\nAnne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey star in Interstellar, which hit UK cinemas on Tuesday\n\nAt Nolan\u2019s extradition hearing, Judge Michael T Mason noted that Nolan flew out of the country the following day and added: \u2018There is competent evidence that Nolan continued his efforts to locate Breska\u2019s assets following Cohen\u2019s death.\u2019\n\nNolan remained at liberty for another four years until 2009, when he was trapped by FBI agent Pablo Araya \u2013 who discovered Nolan was due to attend his own bankruptcy hearing in Chicago.\n\nAraya, who arrested Nolan, said: \u2018Matthew Nolan was the most arrogant person I have talked to.\n\n\u2018I grabbed him after he had eluded me for one or two years, and when I arrested him his words to me were, \u201cYou would never have got me if it wasn\u2019t for the bankruptcy.\u201d But it was his greed that got him \u2013 because of his bankruptcy.\u2019\n\nNolan was arrested and sent to Chicago\u2019s Metropolitan Correctional Center while the extradition hearing was prepared. It took place later that year.\n\nGiving his decision, Judge Mason refused to extradite Nolan on kidnapping and murder charges, ruling that Costa Rica had not submitted sufficient evidence that Nolan was a \u2018person who kills\u2019.\n\nWhen asked how Nolan had escaped extradition, Agent Araya said: \u2018I do not know how he paid for his defence. He was going through bankruptcy. Someone paid for a high-powered attorney.\n\n\u2018The Costa Rica extradition request was not up to the legal standards required and it took a good lawyer to see that and the good lawyer fought it and prevailed.\u2019\n\nEven then, Nolan\u2019s anxious wait was not over. The court did approve his extradition on false passport charges \u2013 but the Costa Rican authorities abandoned their request and in 2010 Nolan was released.\n\nBut by then this story had already taken another extraordinary twist.\n\nEarlier that year, in April, Nolan had pleaded guilty to preparing an escape from the Chicago jail, from where there had never been a successful breakout. Guards discovered a 31ft-long \u2018rope\u2019 made up of bed sheets, and a harness, razor and clip designed to unlock handcuffs.\n\nAraya said: \u2018It was make-believe stuff. Prison guards had his cell turned over and he had ropes made up. The guard said it was the best rope they had ever seen made.\u2019\n\nMatthew Nolan\u2019s brush with the law and bankruptcy does not appear to have impaired his lifestyle. He and his wife \u2013 a Pilates instructor \u2013 and their sons Parker and Peter live in substantial four-bedroom townhouse in Chicago.\n\nHis lawyer, Andrea Gambino, last week said: \u2018Matthew Nolan is innocent of the charges levelled against him by the government of Costa Rica.\u2019\n\nBrothers Jonathan (left) and Christopher Nolan (right) wrote and directed space blockbuster Interstellar\n\nShe added that the American courts had concluded the Costa Rican extradition request contained an \u2018excessive amount of sheer speculation, inconsistent statements and typographical and/or translation errors.\u2019\n\nReferring to murder victim Robert Cohen\u2019s 44-year-old daughter, Ms Gambino said: \u2018Mr Nolan respects Ms Cohen\u2019s grief and is sorry for her loss.\u2019\n\nBut Alisha continues to believe that justice has been denied. Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, Alisha, from Orlando, Florida, said: \u2018I think that judge was wrong to rule that there was not enough evidence to go ahead with extradition because I think the evidence was strong.\n\n\u2018My mom and I want justice. We believe Matthew Nolan should stand trial in Costa Rica for the murder of my father. I believe that, if Nolan was not from a famous family, it would be a different situation.\u2019\n\nThere may yet be more plotlines to play out in this byzantine tale.\n\nIn 2012, Matthew Nolan filed a court action against the US Government alleging that the Bureau of Prisons had inflicted \u2018physical, psychological and psychiatric injury\u2019 during his incarceration at the Chicago prison.\n\nAnd he may not yet be entirely free from the threat of standing trial because, five years after Nolan was released, the Costa Rican authorities are still not giving up their attempts to extradite him.\n\nA spokeswoman for Costa Rica\u2019s Public Ministry, which deals with legal matters, told The Mail on Sunday last week that they dropped the extradition action only because the use of a false passport was \u2018secondary\u2019 to the \u2018main ones [which] were murder and kidnapping.\u2019\n\nThe spokeswoman said: \u2018This evidence that the US judge considered was insufficient to link Mr Nolan with the crimes committed against Mr Cohen, is the same evidence used to condemn Mr Mejia here in Costa Rica.\n\n\u2018The Costa Rican Public Ministry and the respective Costa Rican authorities have done everything possible to submit Mr Nolan to legal procedure, which is still open against him because of such matters committed against and harming Mr Cohen.\u2019"}
-{"text": "india\n\nUpdated: Oct 16, 2016 15:40 IST\n\nA meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Nepal\u2019s Prime Minister Prachanda on the sidelines of a BRICS dinner turned into an impromptu trilateral when Prime Minister Narendra Modi dropped by and spent more than 20 minutes with the two leaders.\n\nThe incidence raised eyebrows as it is unusual for a scheduled bilateral meeting to go this way. It wasn\u2019t immediately clear why Modi joined the session. Officials familiar with the development said Prachanda was waiting for the Brazilian delegation to move before he could leave the venue and Xi chose to give him company. That is when Modi joined in, said an official on the condition of anonymity.\n\nPrachanda\u2019s son, Prakash Dahal, posted several photographs of the meeting on his Facebook page, which was quickly picked up by the social media. Dahal described the meeting as \u201ccoincidental\u201d.\n\nPrime Ministers Narendra Modi (left) and Nepal\u2019s Pushpa Kamal Dahal \u2018Prachanda\u2019 (centre) with Chinese president Xi Jinping (right) in Goa on Saturday. (Prakash Dahal/Facebook)\n\nWriting in Nepali, he said, \u201cwith the help of right support from these major countries, Nepal\u2019s prosperity is possible\u201d.\n\nIndia and China compete to grow their influence in Nepal. Wedged between the giant Asian neighbours, the Himalayan nation is of strategic interest to both India and China. Xi was supposed to visit Nepal on his way to the BRICS summit, but the plan was dropped after a regime change in Kathmandu in August saw Prachanda replacing KP Oli, who was regarded as a closer ally of Beijing. After coming to power, Prachanda chose India as the destination for his first foreign visit last month."}
-{"text": "\"TechKnow\" visited Colorado to learn more about cannabidiol (CBD), a marijuana extract low in THC that has been helping counteract seizures in patients with epilepsy, including children. According to Epilepsy Foundation, one in 26 people in the United States currently struggles with epilepsy, a neurological disorder that can result in one person having as many as 30 seizures a day. For parents, CBD could hopefully be a way to prevent their children from joining approximately 50,000 people who die from epilepsy complications each year.\n\nTo first understand how cannabidiol affects seizures, it's important to know what happens in the brain during an epileptic seizure."}
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-{"text": "WATERFORD HURLERS RECEIVED a major boost last week with the news that Walsh Park was deemed acceptable to host their home games in the Munster SHC this summer.\n\nTempers flare between Waterford and Clare earlier. Source: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO\n\nAnthony Daly believes the GAA\u2019s decision \u201chas changed the whole dynamic\u201d of the Munster championship. Waterford were forced to play their games at neutral venues last year and finished bottom of the province without a win in their four games.\n\nThe Deise, under new boss Paraic Fanning, will welcome Daly\u2019s native Clare in the opening round of the round-robin phase on 12 May and All-Ireland champions Limerick on 2 June.\n\n\u201cThe whole Walsh Park thing has changed the whole dynamic,\u201d says Daly. \u201cI would have said that Clare were in a fantastic position with Cusack Park being such a fortress.\n\n\u201cHaving Tipp and Cork coming to Ennis, Limerick logistically is lovely and for most of the hurling people it\u2019s nearly easier than Ennis even though it\u2019s away from home, and then we were thinking we\u2019d have Waterford in Thurles.\n\n\u201cBut now we have to go down to Walsh Park the first day and you have Tipp coming to the Park then. So you could be looking like you\u2019re out of it.\n\nIt\u2019s all about getting off to the start and trying to come out of Walsh Park with something is going to be tough.\u201d\n\nWith five teams vying for the top three places in Munster to remain in the hunt for the All-Ireland series, Daly is expecting another enthralling provincial campaign.\n\n\u201cI know it was like that in Ennis last year. The atmosphere! I was on the Sunday Game that night nearly crying that I wasn\u2019t in Ennis for the Limerick game.\n\n\u201cWalsh Park will lend to that sort of thing. A walk-up venue in the City as such. In the roof of the city, you could say. It\u2019s going to be very interesting.\n\nAnthony Daly was speaking at the the Renault GAA World Games launch in Croke Park. Source: E\u00f3in Noonan/SPORTSFILE\n\n\u201cIn Munster it could go any way. We\u2019ll be doing preview nights in the next few weeks and I don\u2019t know what way I\u2019ll go.\n\n\u201cI\u2019d say all the five managers in Munster are just saying, \u2018get me into the three, I\u2019ll take it, whatever about winning the Munster championship\u2019.\n\n\u201cThis Walsh Park thing is after putting a real spanner in the works. Padraic (Fanning, Waterford manager) will be licking his chops saying, \u2018Jesus, this is going to be unreal! 11,000 people locked in! Lock the gates, don\u2019t let them out!\u2019\u201d\n\nBe part\n\nof the team Access exclusive podcasts, interviews and analysis with a monthly or annual membership. Become a Member\n\nMeanwhile, Rory O\u2019Carroll trained for the first time with Daly\u2019s Kilmacud Crokes hurlers last night after returning home from New Zealand.\n\nThe 29-year-old won three All-Irelands and two All-Stars during his career with the Dublin footballers before departing to the southern hemisphere in the winter of 2015.\n\nJim Gavin and Rory O'Carroll embrace after the 2015 All-Ireland final. Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO\n\nO\u2019Carroll is still young enough to resume his inter-county career with Jim Gavin\u2019s side, although the Dublin boss has been reluctant in recalling players who\u2019ve returned from abroad mid-season.\n\nA switch to the Dublin hurlers has also been touted for the defender. He\u2019s a talented hurler having won the Dublin SHC title with Kilmacud in 2012, while he was part of the county U21 side that lifted the Leinster hurling crown in 2010.\n\nO\u2019Carroll is in line to feature with Crokes as they begin the Dublin SHC campaign against Na Fianna at Parnell Park next month.\n\n\u201cWe had a dark lad back training last night, Rory O\u2019Carroll, how he\u2019ll be now in the next few weeks will be interesting,\u201d said Daly.\n\nO\u2019Carroll\u2019s younger brother Bill is currently part of Mattie Kenny\u2019s county set-up.\n\nBill is just about getting back from injury now, I think he completed his first Dublin session on Tuesday night. Things are starting to come into play, obviously, things move on for people.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re a great club and there was a great crowd last night and a great buzz there.\u201d\n\nSubscribe to our new podcast, The42 Rugby Weekly, here:"}
-{"text": "Blizzard Entertainment today made wildly popular real-time strategy game StarCraft a free download for Mac and PC, nearly two decades after its original release.\n\nThe RTS hit was universally acclaimed when it launched in 1998, and went on to become an e-sport phenomenon in South Korea, where big-prize tournaments and TV channels drew legions of fans to the game.\n\n\n\nThe free download is the game's first in eight years and includes the Brood War expansion pack. The patch 1.18 download also sports a handful of new features, including windowed mode, a better online game search engine, and improved response times during multiplayer battles.\n\nBlizzard's decision to make the title freely available comes ahead of this summer's Remastered edition of StarCraft, which promises enhanced 4K graphics, better audio, high-quality cinematics, and a redesigned matchmaking system.\n\nMaking vintage StarCraft free also offers a unique opportunity for getting in some practice before the new version is released: Blizzard says owners of the original game and the remastered edition will be able to play each other online. Nostalgic gamers can find the free download of the original StarCraft here"}
-{"text": "In the final minute of the third quarter of Monday's matchup with the Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders running back Darren McFadden threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to fullback Marcel Reece, bringing back memories of DMC's days in the Wild Hog offense at the University of Arkansas.\n\n"}
-{"text": "On Sept. 19, 2019, SaskPower announced that they would be immediately suspending all net metering solar programs in the province of Saskatchewan.\n\nSince then, SaskPower launched a new net metering program on Nov. 1, 2019 that put a STOP to the 20% rebate and is going to pay you nearly 50% LESS (7.5 cents/kWh) for any power you send back to their grid via net metering.\n\nWhy should you care? After meeting with both Minister Dustin Duncan and SaskPower President Mike Marsh, there appears to be no interest in reviewing the program that will end up killing this green, job creating industry in Saskatchewan\n\nActivity in the solar industry is down 99%.\n\n72 jobs have already been lost.\n\nSolar companies are considering moving to Alberta and the United States and most companies report they will close their solar operation by August 2020 !\n\n! It is also now confirmed by energyhub.org that Saskatchewan has the best solar resource in Canada, and now the worst solar program in all of Canada. We are DEAD LAST.\n\nSaskatchewan people deserve the choice to produce their own green energy through their crown utility with an industry that creates good paying green jobs right here in our province.\n\nWe are asking for a FAIR one-to-one net metering program where SaskPower will pay the same price for power sent to the grid as power being consumed from the grid. This is standard across North America and it will make it more feasible for the people of Saskatchewan to continue to invest in solar and go green.\n\nPLEASE sign this petition and spread the word to help us rally the province. URGENT ACTION is required as over 500 Saskatchewan jobs are on the line.\n\nAdditionally, can we ask for your help to put the pressure on the Sask Party government to change their short-sighted policy?\n\nPLEASE EMAIL THE FOLLOWING WITH YOUR NAME TO:\n\npremier@gov.sk.ca\n\nenv.minister@gov.sk.ca\n\nContact your local MLA https://www.legassembly.sk.ca/mlas/\n\nFind out which constituency you are in at https://www.elections.sk.ca/voters/gis/\n\nDear Premier Moe & Minister Duncan:\n\nI am a concerned citizen asking for you to stand up for jobs and innovation in our province with a fair deal for rooftop solar.\n\nSaskPower has misled the public into believing that Saskatchewan people paying thousands of dollars to generate their own green power is of little or no value.\n\nRooftop solar is a net benefit to our grid, as confirmed in studies of solar around the world, not a subsidy as SaskPower and you have falsely led people to believe.\n\nYou and SaskPower saw the benefits of rooftop solar previously and I ask you to revisit that previous perspective.\n\nDozens of jobs have already been lost. Companies are already leaving for Alberta and the United States. Citizens don\u2019t have fair access to generate power on our grid.\n\nThis is unacceptable.\n\nI ask you to immediately implement a fair one to one net metering program with a small capital incentive, at the very least for residential customers.\n\nUtility scale solar is fine but it gives jobs to companies outside our province. SaskPower also isn\u2019t considering the capital, land purchasing, maintenance and transmission costs when they compare its value to rooftop solar.\n\nSo I\u2019m asking you to take a strong leadership position against SaskPower.\n\nSaskatchewan people want rooftop solar, and we deserve a fair deal from our crown.\n\nThe new program is not fair.\n\nSaskatchewan went from an average solar program to the absolute WORST in Canada according to energyhub.org. DEAD LAST.\n\nWe should have the best solar programs in Canada considering the solar potential here, not dead last. It\u2019s embarrassing.\n\nSo my question to you is, will you modify the current solar program for Saskatchewan residents to ensure that it is fair?\n\nI\u2019m asking you to protect Saskatchewan jobs, ensuring fairness for Saskatchewan people and for your support in building a strong green industry right here in our province.\n\nI look forward to your timely response.\n\nSincerely,\n\n- Your Name\n\nPlease SHARE this to others and ask them to email the Premier, Minister Duncan and their local MLA as well. Thanks so much for your support."}
-{"text": "One does not simply have one glass of chocolate milk\n\n1,165 shares"}
-{"text": "DeMarco Murray gained 228 yards against the Bears on 32 carries and 9 receptions. This post will breakdown his plays.\n\nStats \u2013 32 carries, 179 yards (5.6 ypc), 1 TD, 9 rec on 10 targets for 49 yards for 228 total yards\n\nThe Bears defense was ranked 27th in total team DVOA rankings, but 15th against the run through Week 13. In this game it was the Cowboys\u2019 offensive line that dominated the line of scrimmage allowing Murray to gain 179 yards on the ground through easy openings.\n\nPlay 17 is an off-tackle run to the right from I-formation that is blocked beautifully by the Cowboys\u2019 offensive line mainly through RT Free, RG Martin and FB Clutts for the 8 yard gain.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/JixOKrF.jpg\n\nMurray reads the right tackle and fullback blocking the two edge defenders then cuts back inside.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/ea5DCyX.png\n\nMurray then sees the inside hole between the center and the right guard, but sees DT92 Paea sealing the A-gap against C Frederick, so he cuts back through the original hole.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/fBjtYdl.png\n\nPlay 19 was one of my favorite runs by Murray. It\u2019s a dive play through the middle, but Murray reads that the hole is closed and then bounces it to the outside for the big gain. Murray\u2019s cut outside is what makes CB23 Fuller lose contain on the edge.\n\nMurray reads the gap between the center and the right guard is sealed, so he bounces to the outside left.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/YxwdhqI.png\n\nAfter Murray makes his way to the outside he reads that CB23 Fuller is playing too far to the inside, so Murray makes another cut outside to get free for the large gain on the play.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/y5ZZ0GD.png\n\nWatch how fluidly Murray makes his cuts. He plants and then drives efficiently not taking any unneccessary steps. Most of his runs showed this great ability to change directions and drive through the hole on simple cuts.\n\nPlay 15 and 24 showed Murray\u2019s fluid cutting ability as well as impeccable blocking by the Cowboys\u2019 offensive line.\n\nPlay 15:\n\nLook at how big the holes are for Murray to run through. The offensive line is dominating the defensive line in the trenches. This is key all night.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/YRDqUVV.png\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/kHfrCdY.png\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/ER3hWvt.png\n\nPlay 24:\n\nPlay 24 is similar to play 15 in that Murray does a good job of reading the openings created by the Cowboys\u2019 offensive line.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/l7ESGBV.png\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/XKmrt2f.png\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/DhF7tvK.png\n\nPlay 29 was similar to Play 24 where Murray reads that the hole between the center and left guard were closed so Murray cuts to the opposite hole for the big gain on the play.\n\nMurray reads the hole between the left tackle and the left guard is closed so he cuts back to the right.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/lfiWfz5.png\n\nBy this point center Frederick has blasted open his hole with the help of right guard Martin. Murray sees this an accelerates through the whole.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/3Yad3E7.png\n\nAlthough, Murray, had a great game statistically, there were times I felt like Murray prematurely cut due to impatience or simply chose the wrong hole. This happened in plays 3, 12, and 28.\n\nPlay 3:\n\nMurray is in offset-I formation with TE82 Witten on the right side of the line. In this play, Murray patiently follows his blockers on the stretch play to the right and sees a wide open hole between Witten and the FB44 Clutts, but chooses not to take it. I don\u2019t understand Murray\u2019s thought process here. WR88 Bryant (off-screen) is blocking the edge and all Murray would have to do is cut through this hole and out run the safety for a large gain on the play. Very dissapointing result.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/yyq9arx.png\n\nPlay 12:\n\nIn this play, Murray has a wide open hole between the center and the left guard, but does not use is as he sees SS21 Mundy. Instead he choses the smaller hole between the center and right guard and predictably guets tackles. I understand that Mundy was closing the gap, but Murray probably could have over-powered him or at least dragged him an extra yard or two with his speed and raw power.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/wUG50n8.png\n\nPlay 28:\n\nIn this play, Murray watches TE82 Witten engage the defender and he cuts back inside. Good move.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/ycvphrJ.png\n\nMurray then follows this cut with another cut back inside through Witten and RG70 Martin which was closed. The obvious hole was between the Martin, who was pulling from the opposite side, and LG77 Leary who does an excellent job of blocking his man.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/EV1wJXN.png\n\nThe absolute worst run of the night by Murray occurred in play 27 where Murray dances behind the line of scrimmage for a large loss on the play. This play should not make you happy as a Cowboys\u2019 fan.\n\nMurray reads DT92 Paea gaining penetration on C72 Frederick, so Murray cuts back in the other direction. Good decision.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/ZNOUkmz.png\n\nMurray then decides to cut back to the left after reading the right edge defender has contain. Another good decision. It is at this point where Murray should just run hard through the middle and try to salvage the play, but he doesn\u2019t.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/08AOFpf.png\n\nInstead, Murray then tries again to bounce outside losing 14 yards on the play and by not going down.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/H9IYKXH.png\n\nMurray simply needs to make his decision on which cut to take and stick to it. Making matters worse, Murray gained 40 yards on the previous play and then the Cowboys had to kick a field goal after such a great play to start the drive.\n\nActually, the most impressive run of the night belonged to Joseph Randle in the 3rd quarter. Randle used his vision and cutback ability to score a 17 yard touchdown in Play 25.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/AIgbpM6.jpg\n\nIn this play Romo and Randle line up in the singleback formation and it\u2019s a man-blocking run to the left side. Randle makes some great cuts through the holes created by the offensive lineman to score a touchdown. Watch Randle use his vision and agility through each opening.\n\nRandle reads the LG Leary and LT Smith have their men sufficiently blocked. Same with C Frederick.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/GW5OzDt.png\n\nRandle cuts inside to see RG Martin blcok out LB57 Bostic on the play.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/4Moxp7w.png\n\nRandle then sees that RT68 Free missed his chop block on the right side, so Randle cuts back left.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/xHfO1R9.png\n\nFinally, WR88 Bryant blocks out CB23 Fuller and Randle uses his speed to cut around the edge for the score. Amazing play by Randle that sadly does not get enough attention due to Murray\u2019s 32 carries on the evening.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/jolHQYh.png\n\nIn conclusion, the Cowboys\u2019 offensive line deserves the majority of the credit. Murray did a great job for the majority of the night making quick cuts to find holes and then use his power to gain yards on the play. Every member of the offensive line gained positive grades by ProFootballFocus. For reference PFF gave the following scores: LT77 Smith (+2.7), LG65 Leary (+6.2), C72 Frederick (+7.3), RG70 Martin (+3.2), and RT68 Free (+3.2)."}
-{"text": "One person is dead and an MLGW worker has been sent to the hospital after he was assaulted on the job!"}
-{"text": "It\u2019s getting dark. Thunderstorms are forecast and I\u2019m loitering around a park in Croydon past closing hours, waiting to meet a total stranger. Alarm bells should be ringing if it weren\u2019t for our shared interest: bats. This isn\u2019t an eccentric date, I\u2019m tagging along to a bat survey.\n\nThe stranger is an ecologist for the National Bat Monitoring Programme (NBMP), an annual event in which volunteers across the country survey bat populations. Since 1996, this world-leading project has given us an insight into the long-term population trends of UK bat species \u2013 an invaluable resource for conservation and government bodies. While I\u2019m no stranger to bat surveying, this is my first time participating in one as part of the NBMP. I\u2019ve also taken the opportunity to drag my friend Wayne along for his first bat walk.\n\nWayne is a true urbanite with no issue cutting across parks and poorly-lit alleyways at night, but he\u2019d struggle to keep his nerve at the sight of a daddy longlegs. By the end of tonight I hope to make a convert of the nature-phobe.\n\nThe air is thick with humidity and full of midges taking advantage of the moisture \u2013 perfect feeding conditions for our insect-loving bats, so long as the weather holds. Wayne doesn\u2019t share my optimism. He\u2019s cursing at the biting insects when suddenly a wood pigeon coos ominously from the tree tops. I\u2019m fighting to contain my laughter as he begs for us to leave, convinced that the \u201csketchy birds\u201d are singling us out. Luckily our ecologist turns up.\n\nCitizen scientists surveying bats at night. Photograph: Anne Youngman. Copyright bats.org.uk\n\nArmed with our bat detectors, torches and clipboards, we begin the survey. We aren\u2019t just wandering around in the dark, but have a planned route with 10 stops along the way. The surveys are systematic, so the procedure can be repeated in subsequent years, making the data more reliable. Our bat detectors splutter and hiss as they convert the ultrasonic soundscape to an audible level, treating our ears to a cacophony of squeaks, pops, buzzing and other curious sounds.\n\nWe\u2019re at the fourth checkpoint when the bats finally make an appearance. For the first time all night, Wayne is silent, mesmerised as the bats dive, bank and swoop through the air, chasing down their insect meals with painstaking precision.\n\nThe bats treating us to the aerial display are common and soprano pipistrelles. These are the bats found most frequently around the UK, partly thanks to their unfussy attitude for roosting spots. Being crevice-dwellers, they happily snuggle under hanging tiles, roof felt or drain pipes, but this also puts them at risk from building renovators. Even flood lights can drive bats from their roosting spots, which has recently been an issue with churches. Other bat species are more particular in where they roost, such as the common noctule, a tree connoisseur that prefers woodpecker and rot holes.\n\nA Daubenton\u2019s bat in flight. Photograph: Arterra Picture Library/Alamy\n\nSuddenly a series of crackles spits out of the speaker. We turn to the lake and can make out fast-moving shadows skittering dangerously close to the water\u2019s surface \u2013 Daubenton\u2019s bats! These water specialists are adapted for hunting just above the water, hawking flying insects and trawling the water for larvae with their elongated feet. This is great news for the park, as research suggests that these bats could serve as indicators of healthy water ecosystems.\n\nDid I manage to convert Wayne to the magical, twilight world of bats? \u201cNo\u201d he says as we wind down in the pub afterwards. \u201cBut I don\u2019t mind pigeons any more.\u201d I take that as a small victory.\n\nThe National Bat Monitoring Programme includes surveys for all levels of experience from total beginners to experts. International Bat Weekend is on 26 and 27 August 2017.\n\nCharlie Hearst is a National Bat Monitoring Programme volunteer and member of the London Bat Group\n\n"}
-{"text": "A Canadian man is fighting to have his name on a vanity plate. (Photo: Archive Photos/Getty Images)\n\nA Canadian man says that his request for a personalized license plate has been rejected on the grounds that it contains an \u201cunacceptable slogan.\u201d\n\nThe CBC reports that Dave Assman, who pronounces his last name as \u201cOss-men,\u201d has been prohibited from putting his last name on his license plate \u2014 and he\u2019s determined to fight the ban.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s my last name. I\u2019ve always had it,\u201d the Saskatchewan resident told the CBC. \u201cI\u2019m not ashamed of it. There\u2019s nothing bad about it.\u201d\n\nFor Assman, his name carries a proud legacy. His great-grandfather, an Assman himself, would help other farmers during hard times.\n\n\u201cFarmers would come in the early \u201930s and they borrowed money from him,\u201d Assman said. \u201cInstead of him foreclosing on their land, he just either forgave it, or let them pay when they could.\u201d\n\nBut according to government officials, a license plate featuring the name could offend others.\n\n\u201cEven if a word is someone\u2019s name and pronounced differently than the offensive version, that\u2019s not something that would be apparent to other motorists who will see the plate,\u201d SGI spokesperson Tyler McMurchy explained.\n\nRead more from Yahoo Lifestyle:\n\nFollow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "16497138-mmmain.jpg\n\nRunning back Orleans Darkwa could factor into the Giants' gameplan this week. (William Perlman | NJ Advance Media)\n\nEAST RUTHERFORD \u2010 Each day it's looking less and less likely that Giants starting running back Rashad Jennings will play Sunday in Tennessee. He has a sprained ankle suffered in last week's loss to the Jaguars that has kept him off the practice field so far this week.\n\nUnless Jennings makes a miraculous recovery, gets on the practice field Friday and proves to coach Tom Coughlin and the Giants that he's healthy enough to run and cut without restrictions, there will be a new face in the backfield.\n\nRookie Andre Williams is expected to start against the Titans if Jennings can't play. Fellow rookie Orleans Darkwa would also get some snaps. It sure sounded Thursday as if Darkwa (6-0, 215) was part of the plan. The Tulane product was signed off the Miami Dolphins practice squad last month.\n\n\"He is working his way into it, he has been here a little while, he is smart, conscientious, we trust him,\" offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo said. \"He has a little different flavor back there for us. Next man up.\"\n\nDifferent flavor is an interesting term. The Giants have been insistent on stacking their backfield this season with big, powerful, straight-line backs. Darkwa brings slightly different skills to the table.\n\n\"He is a shiftier type guy and we like him \u2026 stay tuned. We will leave it at that,\" McAdoo said.\n\nThis is what happens in Week 14 when you are 3-9 and have 20 players \u2010 including three running backs (David Wilson, Peyton Hillis and Michael Cox) \u2010 on injured reserve. The secret weapon becomes an undrafted rookie who spent much of the season on Miami's practice squad.\n\nMcAdoo noted that Darkwa does have \"a good set of hands.\" With that not being Williams' strength, there is a good chance Darkwa is utilized in passing situations.\n\nIt's an area where the Giants have lacked production. Their running backs have combined for 49 total receptions this season. Chicago's Matt Forte and Pittsburgh's Le'Veon Bell each have more than the entire Giants backfield.\n\nThis is where the Giants were hoping to have Wilson. He was the different kind of back that would have provided a more versatile backfield.\n\nIt also didn't help when Jennings missed four games earlier this season with a knee injury. Williams caught 10 passes in four years at Boston College. Catching the ball out of the backfield is not his forte.\n\nEnter Darkwa on Sunday in Tennessee. It looks as if he'll be asked to play that role.\n\nThe Giants also signed veteran running back Chris Ogbonnaya this week for depth.\n\nJordan Raanan may be reached at jraanan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JordanRaanan. Find NJ.com Giants on Facebook."}
-{"text": "0.0\n\nThe rise of inside sales has led to new opportunities as well as new challenges for today\u2019s sales manager. One might find oneself managing a sales team that is new to the field, a team that telecommutes, or even a team assembled from different locations across the globe.\n\nFortunately, there are many inside sales tools that can help one\u2019s people management strategies. These exciting technologies can make the difference in effectively training new employees and generally reaching their full potential in inside sales.\n\nUse of sales performance management software to guide and incentive personnel, along with sales operation management and territory management software can lead to increased productivity and efficiency. It\u2019s no wonder that such tools as WalkMe, Beqom, Optymyze, AlignStar, and Anaplan are at the forefront of insides sales.\n\nWalkMe\n\nMost sales CRMs, like Salesforce, can be fairly confusing to new hires. This results in long training times and poor knowledge retention. Large enterprises constantly look for sales training solutions that can help new sales reps hit the ground running. WalkMe provides enterprises with onscreen contextual guidance, in the form of step-by-step walkthroughs. WalkMe cuts the learning curve, increases productivity and even monitors performance. The real beauty of WalkMe is that it can be easily integrated into any website or sales CRM. Currently serving some of the world\u2019s largest enterprises, WalkMe is a key tool for people management in the fast-paced inside sales realm.\n\nBeqom\n\nAnother tool that one can use in people management is Beqom, a Sales Performance Management system that provides employees with clear direction and understanding of their performance relative to internal and external benchmarks. Beqom\u2019s incentive management software leads to a focused, motivated team\u2014and a motivated team is a successful team.\n\nOptymyze\n\nSimilarly, Optymze is Sales Operation Management software that centrally manages sales people, channels, and territories, allowing for easily accessible information on your sales team, channels, and territories in just a few clicks. Sales Operation management software leads to more useful data, as well as improved sales performance and better customer-client relations.\n\nAlignStar\n\nLikewise, AlignStar is territory management software that uses GIS mapping technology to provide a geographic view of sales territories, historical sales data and quotas. This is useful in mapping out just where your inside sales are happening in the real world. Territory management software can cut down on the time spent in territory planning and aligning, and identify white-space opportunity for increased revenue.\n\nAnaplan\n\nOf course, there\u2019s Anaplan, which uses Sales Performance Management technology to align sales behaviors with company goals. Customer relation management (CRM) is key to any successful sales company, and Anaplan can provide sales forecasts to guide effective future strategies. It\u2019s no wonder that companies are turning to cutting edge technology like Anaplan to optimize their operations.\n\nIn this day and age, sales training solutions designed to help organizations salespeople master the policies, procedures, processes, methodologies, practices, and market and product information required to fulfill sales responsibilities can make all the difference in your company\u2019s success. Whether you\u2019re a VP of sales, a director, or a sales application leader, sophisticated use of contextual training platforms like WalkMe and other cutting edge technologies leads to better trained salespeople, happier teams, and better results for your company."}
-{"text": "The Massachusetts Department of Public Health says it is investigating a fifth suspected case of acute flaccid myelitis, the rare, polio-like illness that causes muscle weakness and paralysis.\n\nThe first case of the illness, for which there is no specific treatment or cure, was confirmed in Massachusetts in August, according the department. All of the cases, the two confirmed and five suspected, are in children.\n\nSo far in 2018, there have been 62 confirmed cases of AFM in 22 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The cause of the illness is not known; it causes sudden onset of muscle weakness and even paralysis. Symptoms include facial droop, difficulty moving the eyes, slurred speech, and difficulty swallowing."}
-{"text": "There\u2019s a new, candy-flavored amphetamine on the market.\n\nAdzenys, as the chewable, fruity medication is called, packs the punch of Adderall and is geared toward children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.\n\nThe drug hit the market last week and is already stirring controversy: Some psychiatrists worry that Adzenys will accelerate a trend toward overmedicating kids \u2014 and could be yet another gateway into ADHD drug abuse.\n\nadvertisement\n\nPresenting amphetamines in a tasty, convenient package is \u201ca recipe for people to request it and then sell it,\u201d said Dr. Mukund Gnanadesikan, a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Napa, Calif.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not a big fan of controlled substances that come in forms that can be easily abused \u2014 and certainly a chewable drug falls into that category,\u201d Gnanadesikan said.\n\nadvertisement\n\nAdzenys, an extended-release amphetamine, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in January for patients 6 years and older. It comes in six dose strengths. The Dallas company behind the drug, Neos Therapeutics, began ramping up commercial efforts this week in order to get \u201cahead of back-to-school season,\u201d CEO Vipin Garg said. \u201cWe\u2019re launching now at full speed.\u201d\n\nThe company has 125 sales reps across the United States, and they\u2019re having \u201cno problem\u201d getting appointments with doctors interested in prescribing this new formulation, Garg said. The product is winning support from doctors who see it as a convenient way to give children the drugs they need. And analysts are generally bullish about Neos\u2019s prospects.\n\nA booming market for ADHD drugs\n\nThere\u2019s a very real population of children and adults whose lives are vastly improved by medications like Adderall and Ritalin, which stimulate the central nervous system and affect chemicals in the brain associated with impulse control. But the line between need and want is increasingly blurry.\n\nAbout 75 percent of children diagnosed with ADHD are on medication \u2014 a statistic that concerns many psychiatrists. (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises parents to try behavior therapy before pharmaceutical intervention.)\n\nIn teens and adults, there\u2019s also rampant misuse: These stimulants are commonly used as party drugs and as performance enhancement aids; some students say the meds help them focus and improve their grades.\n\nAll that adds up to a booming market. Sales for ADHD medications were at $4.7 billion in 2006, had nearly tripled to $12.7 billion by last year, and are projected to grow to $17.5 billion by 2020, according to a 2015 report from market research firm IBISWorld.\n\nAdzenys is the first extended-release drug for ADHD that dissolves in the mouth (though a rival drug, Shire\u2019s Vyvanse, comes in capsules that can be opened so the medication can be sprinkled over food). It\u2019s also the first to come in a blister pack, not a pill bottle \u2014 making it exceptionally portable and convenient.\n\nGarg says the new, quick-dissolving formulation will help harried mothers get their kids medicated faster before school. It could also be useful for the adult ADHD population, he said: If they forget to take their pill with breakfast, they could just pop a tablet on the way to work. He sees the dissolving tabs as part of a broader trend to making medications and supplements of all types more pleasant to take.\n\n\u201cYou go to a pharmacy, and everything is in gummy bear format,\u201d Garg said. \u201cWhy would that be the case if there wasn\u2019t a need for this?\u201d\n\nA convenience for harried moms \u2014 or for dealers?\n\nAdzenys XR-ODT extended-release tablets NEOS\n\nSome psychiatrists see no reason to worry about Adzenys. Those who abuse the drug won\u2019t care if it comes in the form of a nice-tasting chewable or a traditional pill: They\u2019re only focused on the effects of the drug, said Dr. Ben Biermann, an assistant professor of psychiatry at University of Michigan\u2019s C.S. Mott Children\u2019s Hospital.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s nothing revolutionary about this drug,\u201d Biermann said. \u201cIt\u2019s simply another delivery mechanism for a medication that already exists and has widespread use.\u201d\n\nAnd for kids who balk at swallowing pills, Adzenys could be a boon, said Dr. Greg Mattingly, a child psychiatrist who teaches pharmacology at the Washington University School of Medicine.\n\n(Mattingly, who is a board member of the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders, said he has no financial stake in Neos, but did present research on the drug at this week\u2019s American Psychiatric Association meeting in Atlanta.)\n\nNewsletters Sign up for Morning Rounds Your daily dose of news in health and medicine. Please enter a valid email address. Privacy Policy Leave this field empty if you're human:\n\nJust this week, Mattingly prescribed Adzenys for the first time \u2014 to a 9-year-old boy who had been taking ADHD meds for some time. The child hated the liquid formulation and had trouble swallowing pills, so the family felt the chewable tabs offered new hope, he said.\n\nStill, for those who believe ADHD is wildly overdiagnosed and overmedicated, the idea of making a drug more tasty and convenient is jarring.\n\nIt\u2019s a move that sanctions \u201can orally disintegrating amphetamine for kids by the morally disintegrating FDA,\u201d said Dr. Alexander Papp, an adult psychiatrist affiliated with University of California, San Diego.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s next?\u201d Papp scoffed. \u201cGummy bears?\u201d"}
-{"text": "By: Ty O'Keefe\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAl Iaquinta's impressive win over top-five contender Kevin Lee at last weekend's UFC Milwaukee has raised some interesting questions about a few very intriguing potential matchups within the sport's premier lightweight division. And many believe that a 155-pound showdown between Iaquinta and former two-division champion Conor McGregor is at the top of that list.\n\n\n\n\n\nDuring Monday's edition of \"The MMA Hour,\" Ray Longo, Iaquinta's head coach at Serra-Longo MMA, spoke to host Luke Thomas about exactly who he'd like Iaquinta to face next after he defeated a top-five contender in Milwaukee.\n\n\n\n\n\n\"I'd really like to see him fight Conor [McGregor] next,\" said Longo. \"I don't think Conor deserves the Khabib [Nurmagomedov] rematch at all. It looks like they're going to give [Tony] Ferguson [to] Khabib, which is 100 percent fair. That makes fair sense, not everything is fair sense, it's money sense.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\"But I'd like to see Al get a big money fight against a great guy who can bring a lot of eyeballs to pay-per-view,\" continued Longo. \"I think that would be great. I think Al deserves it and I think that's a great matchup. I'd love to see it and I'd love to be a part of it.\"\n\n\n\n\n\nWhile McGregor isn't exactly known for taking fights against anyone other than champions or big pay-per-view draws, there's reason to believe that he'd be interested in a bout with Iaquinta.\n\n\n\n\n\nAbove all else, a lot of folks think Iaquinta did better than McGregor against Nurmagomedov when \"Ragin Al\" fought the Russian for the 155-pound crown on a day's notice at April's UFC 223. Following a full training camp ahead of UFC 229, McGregor suffered a fourth-round, submission loss to Nurmagomedov. And despite the fact that neither Iaquinta nor the lightweight champ had the chance to prepare for their unlikely clash, all that seems to matter is that Nurmagomedov finished McGregor, but couldn't finish Iaquinta.\n\n\n\n\n\nForever known as someone who'd rather forge his own path to Octagon success rather than follow more traditional avenues to UFC glory, Iaquinta's rebellious image and ability to entertain throughout pre-fight festivities may also appeal to a showman such as McGregor. Iaquinta's relationship with the UFC has definitely improved in 2018, but that doesn't mean he'd hold back if faced with one of the Irishman's verbal onslaughts.\n\n\n\n\n\nSince losing to Nurmagomedov, McGregor has made it clear that he's willing to work his way back to a title shot, and that means at least one bout against one of the division's top contenders. Unfortunately, SBG coach John Kavanagh has publicly stated that he'd need convincing before agreeing to ever train McGregor for another fight because he believes that his star student should consider retirement. But the former two-division champ recently posted pictures of a training session with a promising caption that supports the belief that he'll continue to fight in the UFC.\n\n\n\n\n\nSo does Iaquinta-McGregor actually make sense for both fighters and the lightweight division? At this point, it does. Now that Iaquinta has cracked the top five following his second win over Lee, he's in a position to challenge any of the UFC's top 155-pounders outside of Nurmagomedov, and \"Ragin' Al's\" reputation as a tough-as-nails brawler only adds legitimacy to his newly-attained status. And for McGregor, a potential win over America's most dangerous real estate agent could be the first step towards earning another elusive title shot.\n\nBut remember, just last month fight fans were buzzing about a possible matchup between McGregor and Donald Cerrone following \"Cowboy's\" welterweight win over Mike Perry, and Cerrone has since been booked to face Alexander Hernandez instead.\n\n\n\n\n\nWhen coupled with his relatively recent performance against Nurmagomedov, Iaquinta's win over then-No. 4 Lee definitely qualifies him for a shot at the Irishman. However, McGregor's future will remain uncertain until his issues with the Nevada State Athletic Commission are resolved in early 2019. Until then, we'll just have to wait and see if a bout between these two lightweights will become a reality."}
-{"text": "Only Louisiana, North Carolina, Arizona and Hawaii rank lower, according to a survey.\n\nFlorida is the fifth-worst state in the country to be a teacher, according to a new analysis from financial site WalletHub.\n\nThe survey compiled data from numerous categories, including salaries, pensions, student-teacher ratios, public-school spending per student, teacher turnover, safety and union strength, according to the organization's website. Florida ranked above only four other states overall: Louisiana, North Carolina, Arizona and Hawaii.\n\nShare your thoughts by joining the Herald-Tribune\u2019s Sarasota and Manatee Schools Facebook group.\n\nWalletHub\u2019s data also found that Florida teachers were paid on average less than teachers in 45 other states, when cost of living was taken into account. Florida ranked 41st for public-school spending per student, 25th for average starting salary for teachers and 26th for quality of school systems.\n\nThe survey adds context to a debate that has continued to play out locally after teachers and district employees picketed outside of Sarasota County district headquarters last year asking for a raise. Contract negotiations between the teachers\u2019 union and the district lasted more than five months before an agreement was reached that instituted both merit-based pay and eliminated the district\u2019s previous salary system in which teachers received raises based on their experience level.\n\nBefore the teachers' union was set to picket outside of the Landings, the district's administrative offices, administrators posted a message on the street-facing sign calling Sarasota County teachers the \"best paid in the state.\" That phrase came from data that indicated Sarasota's teachers were the second-highest paid in the state based on average salary, but took into account the fact that they receive additional benefits like free health insurance and longevity pay raises.\n\nVoters in Manatee County earlier this year passed an optional property tax referendum after district leaders said much of the added revenue would go to boost teachers' salaries. Manatee\u2019s starting wage for a first-year teacher of $44,405 surpasses slightly Sarasota's $44,340.\n\nWhile Manatee and Sarasota teachers may stack up well compared to other districts in Florida, WalletHub's survey found that salaries in Florida, both starting and average, did not compete well with many of the country's other states when factoring cost of living into the analysis.\n\nIn Michigan, the state that ranked highest for annual salaries adjusted for cost of living by WalletHub, teachers on average were paid about $62,000 a year in the 2016-17 school year, according to the Michigan Department of Education. In Sarasota County, the average teacher was paid about $54,000 last year, but the median salary, which reflects the exact middle of all salaries paid to all Sarasota County teachers, came to about $48,000 last year, making Sarasota County the seventh-highest paid traditional county in Florida by median salary.\n\nBut Sarasota's teachers are still making more than the average numbers for teachers across the state. Teachers in Florida made on average about $48,000 last year, according to data from the state. Sarasota County teachers also have an average of about 12 years of experience, about a year more than the state average of 11 years."}
-{"text": "California welfare recipients will no longer be able to use their state-issued debit cards at medical marijuana shops, psychics, massage parlors and many other businesses whose services have been deemed \u201cinconsistent\u201d with the goals of the program.\n\nThe Schwarzenegger administration sent a letter to county welfare directors Monday announcing that ATMs and point-of-sale card readers in such business will be removed from the network that accepts California\u2019s Electronic Benefits Transfer cards.\n\nThe letter said the cards, which allow access to cash meant to help families pay rent and clothe their children, also will no longer work at bail bond establishments, bingo halls, gun shops, bars, race tracks, smoking shops, tattoo parlors and on cruise ships.\n\nReached late Monday afternoon, Department of Social Services spokesman Michael Weston could not say how much welfare money had been spent at or withdrawn from businesses subject to the new ban. He also would not elaborate on how those businesses were chosen. The letter said simply that the businesses are \u201cinconsistent with the intent\u201d of the program.\n\n\nIn June, Schwarzenegger eliminated casinos and poker rooms from the network after The Times reported that more than half of the licensed gambling establishments in California had ATMs that accepted the cards.\n\nThe casinos were listed on a Department of Social Services website that allows welfare recipients to search for addresses of ATMs where they can withdraw cash provided under the Temporary Aid for Needy Families program.\n\nLast month, Schwarzenegger ordered casinos outside of California removed from the network after The Times reported more than $69 million in welfare benefits had been accessed from machines outside of the state since 2007, including nearly $12 million in Las Vegas.\n\nAbout $1.5 million had been spent or withdrawn in Florida, state records show. More than $16,000 had been accessed on cruise ships, including several that sail primarily from Miami.\n\n\nDebit cards replaced traditional welfare checks and food stamps in 2000. The cards not only make it easier to distribute and track benefits, they also help reduce the stigma associated with being on public assistance because they look like any other bank card.\n\njack.dolan@latimes.com"}
-{"text": "Kelowna-Mission MLA Steve Thomson has been acclaimed as the new Speaker of the B.C. Legislature.\n\nThe former Liberal forestry minister will preside over the house as Premier Christy Clark's minority government attempts to maintain its hold on power.\n\nThomson was the only candidate for the position and was acclaimed by the legislature Thursday morning.\n\n\"I can't think of a better choice to set the tone, or a bigger man to enforce the rules,\" said Premier Clark afterwards, referring to Thomson's roughly 6' 6\" frame.\n\nNDP Leader John Horgan also liked the choice, saying, \"It's good to have a rugby guy in the chair,\" adding he's found Thomson fair with all members.\n\nKelowna-Mission MLA and former Liberal forestry minister Steve Thomson was elected speaker of the legislature Thursday morning. (Megan Thomas/CBC)\n\nCritical role at critical time\n\nThe Speaker's role in the legislature is normally to maintain decorum and ensure procedures are followed \u2014 and to cast the deciding vote in a tie.\n\nBut in this case that tie-breaking duty is critical because the Liberal government has a minority of 43 seats in the 87-seat legislature.\n\nThe government is expected to be defeated as early as next week in a confidence vote by the NDP and the Green alliance \u2014 together the parties have 44 seats.\n\nClark has already said she does not expect a Liberal MLA will stay on as Speaker if her party is defeated, meaning the NDP or Greens would likely have to appoint their own Speaker if they are asked to form the next government by the lieutenant-governor.\n\nThat would mean both sides of the legislature would be tied with 43 votes, meaning the Speaker could have to cast the deciding vote.\n\nAlthough there is debate here over how a Speaker should vote, according to British parliamentary rules established by John Evelyn Denison \u2014 a 19th-century Speaker of the British House of Commons \u2014 the principle is to always vote in favour of further debate, or when no further debate is possible, to vote in favour of the status quo."}
-{"text": "[219 Pages Report] The laboratory balances and scales market is projected to grow from an estimated USD 1.3 billion in 2018 to USD 1.6 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 3.7% during the forecast period. The study involved four major activities to estimate the current market size for lab balances and scales. Exhaustive secondary research was done to collect information on the market and its different sub-segments. The next step was to validate these findings, assumptions, and sizing with industry experts across the value chain through primary research. Top-down and bottom-up approaches were employed to estimate the complete market size. Thereafter market breakdown and data triangulation was used to estimate the market size of segments and sub-segments.\n\nSecondary Research\n\nIn the secondary research process, various secondary sources such as annual reports, SEC filings, press releases & investor presentations of companies, white papers, certified publications, articles by recognized authors, gold standard & silver standard websites, regulatory bodies, and databases (such as D&B Hoovers, Bloomberg Business, and Factiva) were referred to identify and collect information for this study.\n\nPrimary Research\n\nThe lab balances and scales market comprises several stakeholders such as laboratory balances and scales platform manufacturing companies, product sales and distribution companies, pharmaceutical, cosmeceutical, and biotechnology products testing laboratories, chemical and Material Testing laboratories, food and beverages testing laboratories, and clinical research organizations (CROs). The demand side of this market is characterized by the expansion of research pipeline among Pharma-Biotech & CROs and regulatory framework for product safety in bio-pharma technology industry. The supply side is characterized by advancements in technology. Various primary sources from both the supply and demand sides of the market were interviewed to obtain qualitative and quantitative information.\n\nFollowing is the breakdown of primary respondents:\n\nTo know about the assumptions considered for the study, download the pdf brochure\n\nMarket Size Estimation\n\nTop-down and bottom-up approaches were used to estimate and validate the total size of the lab balances and scales market. These methods were also used extensively to estimate the size of various sub-segments in the market. The research methodology used to estimate the market size includes the following:\n\nThe key players in the industry and markets have been identified through extensive secondary research\n\nThe industry\ufffds supply chain and market size, in terms of value, have been determined through primary and secondary research processes\n\nAll percentage shares, splits, and breakdowns have been determined using secondary sources and verified through primary sources\n\nData Triangulation\n\nAfter arriving at the overall market size using the market size estimation processes as explained above the market was split into several segments and sub-segments. In order to complete the overall market engineering process and arrive at the exact statistics of each market segment and sub-segment, the data triangulation and market breakdown procedures were employed, wherever applicable. The data was triangulated by studying various factors and trends from both the demand and supply sides in the lab balances and scales industry.\n\nReport Objectives\n\nTo define, describe, and forecast the global laboratory balances and scales market by product, end user, and region\n\nTo provide detailed information about the major factors influencing market growth (key drivers, restraints, opportunities, and industry-specific challenges)\n\nTo strategically analyze micromarkets1 with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and their contributions to the global market\n\nTo analyze market opportunities for stakeholders and provide details of the competitive landscape for key global players\n\nTo forecast market value of various segments and sub-segments with respect to four main regions, namely, North America (US and Canada), Europe [Germany, France, the UK, and Rest of Europe (RoE)], Asia Pacific [China, India, Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific (RoAPAC)], and the Rest of the World (RoW)\n\nTo profile the key global players active in the global laboratory balances and scales industry and comprehensively analyze their global revenue shares and core competencies2\n\nTo track and analyze competitive market-specific developments such as product developments & commercialization, strategic mergers, market expansions, as well as agreements in the global market\n\nScope of the Report\n\nReport Metric Details Market size available for years 2016\ufffd2023 Base year considered 2017 Forecast period 2018\ufffd2023 Forecast units Value (USD) Segments covered Product, end user, and region Geographies covered North America (US & Canada), Europe (Germany, France, UK, and RoE), APAC (Japan, China, India, and RoAPAC), and the RoW Companies covered Major 10 players covered, including A&D Company, Ltd (Japan), Metler Toledo international, Inc. (US), Sartorius AG (Germany), Shimadzu Corporation (Japan), and PCE Instruments (UK).\n\nThis research report categorizes the lab balances and scales market based on product, end user, and region.\n\nLab balances and scales Market, by Product\n\nLab Balances\n\nMicro & Ultra Micro Balances\n\nTop Loading/Precision Balances\n\nAnalytical Balances\n\nPortable/Compact Balances\n\nMoisture Balances\n\nOther Balances (includes hanging pan balances, triple beam balances, trip balances, equal arm balances, pan balances, and spring balances, among others)\n\nLab Scales\n\nBench Scales\n\nCompact Scales\n\nCounting Scales\n\nOther Scales (includes pocket scales, micro scales, accurate scales, paper scales, and high-resolution tissue scales, among others)\n\nLab Balances and Scales Market, by End User\n\nPharmaceutical, Cosmeceutical, and Biotechnology Products Testing Laboratories\n\nChemical and Material Testing laboratories\n\nFood and Beverages testing Laboratories\n\nPetroleum Product Testing Laboratories\n\nResearch Laboratories and Academic Institutes\n\nOther End Users (include the textile laboratories, water testing laboratories, and regulatory authorities, among others)\n\nLab Balances and Scales Market, by Region\n\nNorth America US Canada\n\nEurope Germany France UK RoE\n\nAsia Pacific China Japan India RoAPAC\n\nRest of the World\n\nAvailable Customizations\n\nWith the given market data, MarketsandMarkets offers customizations as per the company\ufffds specific needs. The following customization options are available for the global laboratory balances and scales report:\n\nProduct Analysis\n\nProduct Matrix, which gives a detailed comparison of the product portfolios of the top five global players\n\nGeographical Analysis\n\nFurther breakdown of the Rest of Europe laboratory balances and scales industry into Poland, Italy, Spain, and other European countries (aggregated)\n\nFurther breakdown of the RoW laboratory balances and scales industry into the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa\n\nCompany Information\n\nDetailed analysis and profiling of additional global players (Up to 5 OEMs)\n\nThe lab balances and scales market is projected to grow from an estimated USD 1.3 billion in 2018 to USD 1.6 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 3.7% during the forecast period. Growth in the lab balances and scales market is primarily driven by factors such as technological advancements in laboratory balances and scales; expansion of research pipeline among pharma-biotech and CROs; increasingly stringent regulatory framework for product safety in biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries; and growing public emphasis on Implementation of stringent food safety guidelines.\n\nBy product, the lab balances segment is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period\n\nLaboratory balances are used to compare the mass of two different objects (such as solids, liquids, and tissues) those are used in laboratories. The growth of the lab balances segment is attributed to factors such as the greater regulatory compliance for product quality and increased research pipeline that replicate into higher lab balances usage.\n\nBy End User, pharmaceutical, cosmeceutical, and biotechnology product testing laboratories are expected to be the largest contributor to the lab balances and scales market\n\nPharmaceutical, cosmeceutical, and biotechnology products testing laboratories utilize lab balances and scales to determine the weight of biopharmaceutical substances for research & development activities and quality assurance. Factors driving the growth of the pharmaceutical, cosmeceutical, and biotechnology products testing laboratories segment include growing developmental pipeline of key manufacturers and expansion of research facilities by the product manufacturers & private organizations in the industry.\n\nNorth America is expected to hold a significant share in the lab balances and scales market during the forecast period\n\nThe North America is one of the major revenue generating regions in the lab balances and scales market. North America and Canada are the major countries responsible for the dominant position of this regional market owing to factors such as presence of stringent regulatory guidelines and extensive regulatory compliance for product quality among target end user industries and the strong presence of major market players in the region. Furthermore, growing research pipeline among the biopharmaceutical companies and ongoing technological advancements in the field of lab balances and scales are also driving the growth of this regional market.\n\nKey Market Players\n\nA&D Company, Ltd (Japan), Metler Toledo international, Inc. (US), Sartorius AG (Germany), and Shimadzu Corporation (Japan) were the top players in the global laboratory balances and scales market. Other prominent players present in this market include PCE Instruments (UK), Kern & Sohn GmbH (Germany), RADWAG Balances and Scales (Poland), Adam Equipment Co. (UK), Avery Weigh-Tronix, LLC (UK), Bonso Electronics International, Inc. (China), Essae Group (India), Gram Precision S.L (Spain), Humboldt Scientific, Inc. (US), Scientech, Inc. (US), and Danaher Corporation (US), among others.\n\nMettler-Toledo International, Inc. (US) is one of the leading players operating in the lab balances and scales market. The company has manufacturing facilities across the US, Germany, the UK, Switzerland, and China and has a strong distribution network across more than 100 countries includes Canada, France, Switzerland, India, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Singapore, Brazil, Mexico, Denmark, and Poland, among others.\n\nThe company offers a wide range of laboratory balances; those are used across various testing laboratories such as drug testing labs, food testing labs, beverages testing labs, and biotechnology labs, and petrochemical testing labs. The company mainly focuses on the development of technologically innovative products to further strengthen its position in the market. As a part of this organic growth strategy, the company launched XPR Micro and Ultra-Micro Balances in June 2016.\n\nRecent Developments\n\nIn June 2016, the company launched the XPR Micro and Ultra-Micro balances. This helped Mettler-Toledo to improve its position in the lab balances and scales market.\n\nKey questions addressed by the report:\n\nWhat are the growth opportunities related to the adoption of ultra-micro balances across major regions in the future?\n\nEmerging countries have immense opportunities for the growth and adoption of lab balance and scales. Will this scenario continue in the next five years?\n\nWhere will all the advancements in products offered by various companies take the industry in the mid- to long-term?\n\nWhat are the various laboratories wherein lab balances and scales finds a high adoption rate?\n\nWhat are the new trends and advancements in the lab balances and scales market?\n\nTo speak to our analyst for a discussion on the above findings, click Speak to Analyst"}
-{"text": "A new memorial to Emmett Till was dedicated on Saturday in Mississippi after previous historical markers were repeatedly vandalized.\n\nThe new marker is bulletproof.\n\nTill, 14, was kidnapped, beaten and killed in 1955, hours after he was accused of whistling at a white woman. His body was found in a river days later. An all-white jury in Mississippi acquitted two white men of murder charges.\n\nThe brutal killing helped spur the civil rights movement.\n\nPatrick Weems, executive director of the Emmett Till Memorial Commission, said the new marker was dedicated on Saturday. Members of Till\u2019s family, including a cousin who was there the night Till was kidnapped, attended the ceremony at the site where the teen\u2019s body was pulled from the Tallahatchie river.\n\nThis is the fourth historical marker at the site. The first was placed in 2008. Someone tossed it in the river. The second and third signs were shot at and left riddled with bullet holes.\n\nThe new 500lb steel sign has a glass bulletproof front, Weems said.\n\nWeems said the markers were placed as an attempt to acknowledge the truth of what happened there and hopefully spark \u201cnew conversations\u201d.\n\n\u201cFor 50 years nobody talked about Emmett Till,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we just have to be resilient and know there are folks out there that don\u2019t want to know this history or who want to erase the history. We are just going to be resilient in continuing to put them back up and be truthful in making make sure that Emmett didn\u2019t die in vain.\u201d\n\nTwo of Till\u2019s cousins, the Rev Wheeler Parker and Ollie Gordon, attended Saturday\u2019s ceremony, Weems said. Parker traveled with Till in the summer of 1955 from Chicago to the Mississippi Delta to visit relatives.\n\nIn a speech in Mississippi last year, Parker recalled the sense of danger he felt when they encountered the woman at the store. Parker awoke hours later \u2013 at 2.30am \u2013 to the sound of Till\u2019s assailants knocking on the door of their grandparents\u2019 cabin and his grandmother offering them money to leave the family alone."}
-{"text": "According to the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), New York City's app-based drivers are in need of a serious pay raise. That's based on a study conducted by Dr. James A. Parrott of the Center for New York City Affairs New School and Dr. Michael Reich of the University of California Berkley at the request of the TLC. Titled 'An Earnings Standard for New York City\u2019s App-Based Drivers: Economic Analysis and Policy Assessment,' that research is currently being used to back a TLC proposal to set a minimum pay standard of $17.22 per hour for those workers. That would include drivers for Uber and Lyft, in addition to those putting in hours for Via and Juno. That's the independent contractor equivalent of $15 per hour, including time off and would be the first time a pay rate has been standardized for independent contractors \u2013 since drivers are not classified as employees of their respective companies.\n\nIn effect, the change would result in a pay increase for 85-percent of drivers who would earn an extra $6,345 per year on average at a net increase of around 22.5-percent. Moreover, the policy wouldn't necessarily apply only to the above-listed companies in the long-term since it's intended to serve two separate purposes. Namely, the city is looking to reduce the overall impact of the more affordable services on more traditional taxi drivers' income. Yellow taxis are outnumbered by a factor of nearly eight-to-one. At most recent count the app-based companies had hired approximately 80,000 drivers making around 600,000 trips per day throughout the first quarter of 2018. The proposed legislation would be applicable to any company serving more than 10,000 trips daily on average. On the other hand, the city is also keen to solve the problems associated with the fact that drivers for those companies are underpaid. That's estimated to be largely due to the number of drivers with respect to the number of customers. According to the study, around 40-percent of drivers with the lowest hourly earnings are working for ride-sharing service providers. Sixteen percent of those workers qualify for Medicaid and eighteen percent qualify for food-based assistance. So the proposal also includes an addition $1 bonus per pickup on shared-rides.\n\nAs of this writing, the policy proposal has not been enacted and there's no guarantee it ever will. However, this does track closely with similar proposals in other countries which were eventually enacted via legislation. For example, the E.U. now classifies ride-sharing drivers as taxi drivers. It also follows other reports which have shown that the drivers are barely earning minimum wage in many areas while not earning it at all in others. Uber drivers, in particular, seem to be facing those types of issues but is hardly alone in its practices. If the proposal is successful, drivers in New York City will arguably stand a much better chance at earning living wages."}
-{"text": "Flutterbat from you is always sweet. Really love the cozy look of this and feel as she peers of the bed. It's so cute and love how it turned out with the expression is perfect and the lighting really gives a nice atmosphere and mood to this. The pure red of her eyes are well shown and how you captured Flutterbat is perfect! Cuteness levels raised. I definitely love the details given to the bed sheets also, you do so well with that, the realistic yet still pony look of it. The shading of the sheets are done well to show as if it were dark and how lighting looks with that. It amazes me, which you always do. Her mane and tail that droop cutely, and give that laid back look, it's wonderfully done and melts my heart. Gorgeous, unique lighting. What more can I see. I love this to pieces!!! <333"}
-{"text": "Apple's long-awaited AirPower could be launching in the near future, based on coding changes that 9to5Mac's Guilherme Rambo says he found in the latest iOS 12.2 beta, released yesterday morning.\n\nThere have been \"significant changes\" to the wireless charging code in the beta update, including \"code responsible for identifying that two devices are charging on the same mat,\" which could indicate that Apple is planning an \u200cAirPower\u200c launch soon.\n\n\n\nApple's \u200cAirPower\u200c charging mat will be able to charge an iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods (with a new wireless charging case) all at once. The \u200cAirPower\u200c charging mat was first announced in 2017 alongside the \u200ciPhone\u200c X, but has seen production difficulties that led to multiple delays.\n\nIn the iOS 12.2 beta specifically, there are changes to the 3D animations that are displayed on the largest of the charging devices to let you know charging levels.\n\nApple has been silent on the \u200cAirPower\u200c ever since announcing it, but there have been continual signs that the Cupertino company is still working on it, including multiple recent rumors that a launch is happening in the spring.\n\nApple on Monday introduced a new iPad Air and an iPad mini 5, and today introduced refreshed iMacs, suggesting it is perhaps aiming to roll out all of its spring hardware updates ahead of its services-focused event on March 25.\n\nAhead of when the iPads and iMacs launched, we heard from a source that suggested Apple would debut new products on Monday through Wednesday, with a new iPod touch set to be announced tomorrow. We haven't heard word of an \u200cAirPower\u200c launch or an \u200cAirPods\u200c launch with new wireless charging case, but that doesn't mean it's not going to happen.\n\nThere's a chance we will see \u200cAirPower\u200c and \u200cAirPods\u200c this week, but if not, it certainly seems like we're at least a bit closer to a debut."}
-{"text": "Smartphone users are becoming aware that their phone number and location isn\u2019t private when they use the internet on their data plans thanks to the selling of your mobile advertising id (MAID). According to Wired\u2019s Andy Greenberg, it only costs $1,000 to track someone online. When you visit a website on your smartphone, both the site itself and advertisers on the site can view your mobile IP address which they can then tie to your mobike advertising id. Since the IP address is given by your telecom from the cell tower, your IP address when you\u2019re using 4G or 3G will always be tied back to your billing information. While this makes sense from a security perspective, what doesn\u2019t make sense is that companies around the world are able to take your mobile IP address, which is given away every single time you visit a website or use an app, and find out your full phone number, home address, email address, and even location (as given by the cell tower) because this information is readily sold by telecoms to third parties. This isn\u2019t a supercookie, it simply works with your telecom provided mobile IP address \u2013 and changing it with a VPN like Private Internet Access.\n\nHow to keep your private information from being sold when using your smartphone: Change your smartphone\u2019s IP address\n\nBack in 2015, Verizon was stopped by the Federal Communications Commission from serving a super cookie that allowed similar always-on tracking to be deployed and used by advertisers. The past decision does seem to be keeping Verizon from doing the exact same thing; however, it seems that telecoms have realized that they already have a persistent method of tracking their users (the IP addresses they give our smartphones) \u2013 and an ability to sell corresponding billing information to eager advertisers. All they need to do is run a query. Up until last week, it was possible to see this for yourself by using one of two public facing demos of being able to find your information with just a mobile IP address \u2013 but they have since been taken down. It\u2019s worth remembering that every telecom and internet service provider (ISP) in the world has this technical ability at the tips of their fingertips \u2013 this is not just an American problem.\n\nHow did they get my number?\n\nThe world is finally starting to understand the privacy sacrifices we make when using smartphones. The FCC is supposed to protect our internet privacy, but we know that is no longer the case. As the news has disseminated around the smartphone using population, many have connected the dots about why they\u2019ve been receiving more and more spam calls on their phone numbers that they\u2019ve never given out. One Redditor commented:\n\n\u201cSprint does it too. Source: I started getting random phone calls from random ass places once I got with sprint.\u201d\n\nAnother Redditor described the same issue on another American telecom\u2019s service:\n\n\u201cI was with T-Mobile for years and would get 1-2 calls a month from scammers. I switched to Verizon and got them daily. Sometimes multiple times a day. I called Verizon only to have them try and sell me a call blocker service for $4.99/Mo. I downloaded a free can blocker app and have blocked 100+ numbers in 8 months\u2026\u201d\n\nThe solution is simple: Change your IP address to protect your privacy. Until legislation is passed that fixes this, makes it actually opt-in, or punishes the perpetrators, your privacy is at risk \u2013 especially since using WiFi isn\u2019t necessarily a tenable alternative given the recent revelations of the WPA2 KRACK.\n\nLike this article? Get notified by email when there is a new article or signup to receive the latest news in the fight for Privacy via the Online Privacy News RSS Feed."}
-{"text": "El informe del Abogado General del Tribunal de Justicia de la Uni\u00f3n Europea deja claro que no se puede dictar una sentencia en el asunto de las cl\u00e1usulas suelo que perjudique seriamente a los bancos hasta el punto de llevarlos a la ruina \u201cporque eso da\u00f1ar\u00eda el bienestar de los ciudadanos\u201d. Los expertos de las asociaciones de consumidores empiezan a creer, tras analizar pormenorizadamente dicho informe, que ha habido presiones pol\u00edticas para evitar un colapso en el sector. La mejor prueba de ello es que en los \u201ctests de estr\u00e9s\u201d anuales, que los acuerdos de Basilea exigen que se hagan en esta \u00e9poca, han sido confeccionados bajo la hip\u00f3tesis de una devoluci\u00f3n total del dinero indebidamente cobrado en los contratos hipotecarios por las cl\u00e1usulas suelo. Y el resultado de este supuesto no se ha dado a conocer.\n\nLa banca europea atraviesa por un momento dif\u00edcil. Se est\u00e1 estudiando la posibilidad de conceder un rescate a la italiana y el fantasma de la quiebra Lehman Brothers sobrevuela un sector al que, encima, se le han juntado las consecuencias del Brexit. Un c\u00f3ctel perfecto para el estallido de una burbuja financiera de consecuencias incalculables para la econom\u00eda. A\u00f1adir a esto 7.800 millones m\u00e1s para los bolsillos de los clientes hipotecados ser\u00eda desastroso. El Banco de Espa\u00f1a desarroll\u00f3, el pasado mayo, una ardorosa defensa de la irretroactividad de las sentencias que declaran nulas las cl\u00e1usulas suelo hipotecarias. La m\u00e1xima autoridad monetaria en Espa\u00f1a lleg\u00f3 a decir que \u201cla aplicaci\u00f3n retroactiva de la sentencia del Tribunal Supremo de mayo de 2013 podr\u00eda haber minado la capacidad del sistema bancario espa\u00f1ol de contribuir a la recuperaci\u00f3n econ\u00f3mica y al bienestar de los ciudadanos, con negativas consecuencias desde el punto de vista de la estabilidad financiera y del crecimiento de la econom\u00eda en Espa\u00f1a\u00bb.\n\nA pesar de ello, la Comisi\u00f3n Europea, en principio, asumi\u00f3 la retroactividad total al considerar que \u201csi la clausula se anulaba totalmente, habr\u00eda que devolver todo el dinero cobrado indebidamente. Es decir, desde el mismo momento en que el tipo de inter\u00e9s pactado traspasa el l\u00edmite dispuesto en el contrato\u201d. Pero en los \u00faltimos d\u00edas la propia Comisi\u00f3n ech\u00f3 marcha atr\u00e1s \u201cpor razones macroecon\u00f3micas\u201d.\n\nLas asociaciones de consumidores espa\u00f1olas est\u00e1n convencidas de que a la hora de elaborar este informe, el Abogado General del TJUE se ha plegado a las presiones efectuadas por la banca y las autoridades monetarias que ven peligrar el sistema si se adopta una decisi\u00f3n como la que est\u00e1n solicitando. La casi totalidad de los juzgados donde se analizan las demandas individuales y colectivas presentadas sobre este asunto, est\u00e1n a la espera de que el TJUE se pronuncie tras conocer el informe de su Abogado General, para dictar sentencia en funci\u00f3n de la jurisprudencia que se origine.\n\nY esto ocurrir\u00e1 a finales de a\u00f1o. A los demandantes no les van a devolver m\u00e1s de lo que se les haya cobrado indebidamente desde mayo de 2013. Casi nada si tenemos en cuenta que las propias entidades bancarias decidieron, en aquella \u00e9poca, dejar en suspenso las clausulas suelo.\n\nEn cualquier caso, los bancos, el gobierno espa\u00f1ol, el BCE y las autoridades de la UE respiran tranquilos. A trancas y a barrancas, el sector en Espa\u00f1a saldr\u00e1 adelante. Aunque todav\u00eda hay que pagar los 30.000 millones del rescate pedido para que no se hundiese el sistema en su d\u00eda."}
-{"text": "True to his \u2018anti-imperialistic\u2019 rhetoric, Venezuela\u2019s embattled President Nicolas Maduro now says that his country could stop selling its crude oil to the United States.\n\n\u201cThe day that they don\u2019t want us to sell them our oil, we are just picking up our stuff [and] we\u2019ll sell all our oil in Asia. No big deal,\u201d AFP quoted Maduro as saying on Tuesday, while he was formally installing General Manuel Quevedo to lead debt-stricken state oil producer PDVSA.\n\nAccording to OPEC\u2019s secondary sources, Venezuela\u2019s crude oil production was 1.863 million bpd in October, down by 43,600 bpd from September. While Venezuela has been desperately trying to stave off what most see as an inevitable default, its production has been progressively dropping every month this year. U.S. imports of crude oil from Venezuela have also been dropping in recent weeks, according to EIA data\u2014in many weeks to below 500,000 bpd from some 700,000-800,000 bpd earlier this year. In January and February 2017, shipments to the US even topped 1 million bpd.\n\n\u201cMr President Donald Trump: you decide, dude,\u201d Maduro said, as quoted by AFP.\n\n\u201cIf you want us to keep selling oil, we\u2019ll sell oil. But if you start listening to far-right extremists, Venezuela is grabbing its little boats and taking its oil around the world, and we\u2019ll sell it just the very same,\u201d Maduro said. Related: U.S. Oil Has One Fatal Weakness\n\nAt the end of August, the U.S. stepped up its sanctions on Venezuela, prohibiting dealings in new debt or equity issued by PDVSA or the government. Maduro claims that the string of U.S. sanctions imposed this year on Venezuela amount to \u201cfinancial persecution\u201d.\n\nIn a surprise move over the weekend, Maduro named a National Guard major general as the new head of PDVSA and the country\u2019s oil ministry\u2014 Manuel Quevedo.\n\nQuevedo vowed on Tuesday to end corruption at PDVSA, but didn\u2019t mention how he would approach the company\u2019s huge foreign debt. Analysts and bond investors will be closely following Quevedo\u2019s statements and moves to try to figure if the new chief will continue Maduro\u2019s policy to try to service debt at all costs\u2014even if payments are late\u2014despite cash reserves quickly running out.\n\nBy Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com\n\nMore Top Reads From Oilprice.com:"}
-{"text": "About This Game \"This is where we go to remember our son Joel, up through here along this path. We want to show you who he was, and how his life changed us. Can we walk here together for a while?\"\n\n\n\nA videogame developer's love letter to his son; an immersive narrative driven experience to memorialize Joel Green and, through his story, honor the many he represents. That Dragon, Cancer is a poetic and playful interactive retelling of Joel\u2019s 4-year fight against cancer.\n\n\n\nUsing a mix of first-person and third-person perspective, and point-and-click interaction, this two-hour narrative experience invites the player to slow down and immerse themselves in a deeply personal memoir featuring audio taken from home videos, spoken word poetry, and themes of faith, hope, despair, helplessness and love, along with in-game tributes to the loved ones of over 200 of our Kickstarter backers.\n\n\n\nCan you find hope in the face of death?\n\n\n\n\n\nNote: Thank You For Playing is an independent project, produced and directed by Malika Zouhali-Worrall and David Osit. The Green family along with the rest of the Numinous team did not produce the film, but they are very honored to be the subjects of the film."}
-{"text": "Uppertale By wolfifi Watch\n\n878 Favourites 48 Comments 11K Views\n\nI really hope no one has owned the name yet, because I have no idea what to call this AU of mine.\n\n\n\nAfter fighting with myself whether to upload this here or not, I need to let it all out before I forget about it tomorrow.\n\n\n\n[EDIT:07/01/19]\n\n\n\nAn AU where the monsters won the war against humans, and now reside in the surface. In each few millennia passes the barrier will sometimes create a small hole that only a size of a child can pass, the humans who have grown ill and anxious as to who will be next after the sixth failed attempt of sending their selected one to free them, they send you to the surface. However, the skies that was told you were once told before are nowhere to be found as it grow dark, darker till it is but pitch black and only the light of your lantern can light your way through the foggy forest and towards the King's castle.\n\n\n\nGame @ Undertale\n\nAU @ Mine\n\nIMAGE DETAILS Image size 1300x1200px 310.5 KB Show More\n\nPublished : Dec 23, 2015"}
-{"text": "Should you ever be mauled by a Royal Bengal tiger, it is likely you will be attacked from behind. The animal will leap for your throat and snap your windpipe and spinal cord, using its clumpy paws with claws that retract, much like a kitty-cat\u2019s, to keep you from wriggling too much. If you look into its eyes, you\u2019ll notice the irises are amber and viscous like a healing crystal. Then, when you stop thrashing around, it will drag your corpse into a private spot and begin a nose-to-tail portioning of meals. It will start with your thighs and buttocks, the most succulent meat, and pick its way through to the gnarly bits over the next three to five days.\n\nThis information is imparted to me, without sensation or hysteria, by a 37-year-old man called Mohammad Abdul Goni, known to everyone as Tiger Goni. We are sheltering from an unholy downpour in the cabin of a chugging, belching launch shaped like a Jack Purcell high-top. The boat is moored besides a village called Horinogor opposite the Sundarbans mangrove forest in Bangladesh. I had been forewarned that Goni was eccentric and maniacally brave \u2014 \u201cnuts\u201d was the word used \u2014 and it was said he believes he can communicate with tigers. I began to imagine a Kurtz-esque off-the-grid renegade. So, I am disappointed to find a smiley father-of-two with cropped hair and a bright polo shirt who, stood next to me, barely comes up to my armpits.\n\nGoni has the oddest job description I\u2019ve ever come across: he rescues \u2014 or recovers the bodies of \u2014 people who have been savaged by tigers in the Bangladeshi Sundarbans. As soon as he receives a call, day or night, Goni and two colleagues from the Emergency Response Team (ERT) jump in their boat and head to the spot where the victim was last sighted. Whatever the state of the body, and whether the tiger has finished its meal or not, Goni\u2019s sworn assignation is to deliver the remains either to a hospital or back to the victim\u2019s home village. Most Bangladeshis are Muslim and, according to shariah law, burial should take place as soon as possible after death. Since 2007, he estimates he has retrieved 100 victims of tiger attacks from the forest and saved more than 30 lives.\n\n***\n\nSo, how does Goni feel about tigers? Does he fear them? Hate them? \u201cNo,\u201d he replies, sucking on his cigarette. Goni smokes relentlessly, but when your job is rescuing dismembered bodies from the jaws of tigers, you maybe don\u2019t worry so much about your nicotine intake. \u201cI love the tiger just a little less than I love my mother. For us, in the Sundarbans, they are priceless things. Without the tigers, our existence is in danger.\u201d It is an unexpected answer from someone in his line of work. Yet, during two weeks in Bangladesh, I hear the sentiment expressed by nearly everyone I speak to about the Bengal tiger: from fishermen and honey collectors, whose lives are in peril every time they step in the forest, to even victims of tiger attacks and the widows whose husbands died. People revere them almost as gods. And, in a bizarre twist, each now depends on the other for its survival.\n\nFor thousands of years \u2014 since tigers wandered into these parts from south China and Southeast Asia \u2014 an arrangement of sorts has existed between man and beast. Inhabited areas belonged to the people who lived there; should tigers enter them, they could expect to be surrounded and battered to death by villagers. But the Sundarbans forest \u2014 protected by Unesco as a World Heritage site and uninhabited in Bangladesh \u2014 was definitely theirs. It is common, for both Hindus and Muslims, to offer a prayer to Bonbibi, the lady of the forest, when they enter the Sundarbans to protect them from the tigers. One begins, \u201cMother, we are entering your kingdom\u2026\u201d\n\nIn recent years, however, the relationship has changed dramatically. As we speak, Goni constantly glances at his mobile phone, as though he might be called into action any second. But it doesn\u2019t ring, and the reality is that the ERT has not been so busy of late. In fact, when we meet in mid-May, he has not had to retrieve a single body in 2015. It\u2019s very hard to gauge accurately how many people are killed by tigers in the Sundarbans annually: one recent study from Jahangirnagar University in Savar put the average figure at 27 per year in Bangladesh; dig around, though, and you can find estimates from a handful up to 150. Goni\u2019s not sure, either, but he remembers 2010 and 2011 as being especially busy.\n\nIn one sense, of course, declining numbers are good news. After all, human lives are at stake, a fact that for Goni, and many others round here, has a personal resonance. In 2007, before he worked with the ERT, Goni was harvesting honey one day, high up in a tree, when he heard screams from below. Through the smoke the collectors billow out to anaesthetise the wild bees, his saw his friend being attacked by a tiger.\n\n\u201cI was in a fix,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI couldn\u2019t decide what to do. After a few moments, I climbed down the tree, picked up my stick and went to the tiger. I was face to face with him; he roared at me and it was so noisy that it felt like the ground shook. I roared back and we stood for some minutes until the tiger eventually retreated. But my friend was dead.\u201d Goni looks down at the floor. \u201cIf I had taken the decision a little faster then perhaps I could have saved his life.\u201d\n\nBut the decrease in attacks on humans also hints at a worrying development: the tigers themselves are being killed off at an alarming rate, mainly by poachers to service a lucrative trade in body parts for traditional medicines, especially in China, and skins for interior decoration. With the global population of tigers in the wild estimated by the National Geographic Society at just 2,500 \u2014 a fall of 97 per cent in the last century \u2014 there is genuine concern the animal could become extinct, perhaps by 2022, ironically the next Chinese year of the tiger. In this context, the Sundarbans, with numbers of Royal Bengal tigers in the hundreds, remains one of the last strongholds on the planet.\n\nWhile I am in Bangladesh, a comprehensive tiger survey is being carried out by the Forest Department, its results due in a couple of months. Goni, and many others, are pessimistic both for the tigers and for the effect their dwindling numbers will have on the human population and the Sundarbans. \u201cPeople say that eight tigers are killed every month by poachers,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s true, but the accidents are occurring much less than before, for sure.\u201d\n\n***\n\nThe earliest known mention of man-eating tigers in these parts is from 1599, in letters from Portuguese Jesuit missionaries. Tigers are adaptable and extraordinarily efficient predators, but they are mostly secretive and reclusive and do not typically have a taste for human flesh. Something, though, in the humid, salty and remote mangrove forests is clearly different: these particular tigers never feared man. During colonial times, when the global tiger population was around 100,000 and the Sundarbans extended hundreds of miles north to the suburbs of the city of Calcutta, tigers were said to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people every year.\n\nThe Royal Bengal tiger, Panthera tigris tigris, is not \u201croyal\u201d at all: that was just the name given to it by the British because of its mood and attitude. Befitting their regal nomenclature, Bengal tigers are feared and revered among the nine subspecies that scientists recognise. Shere Khan, the villain of Rudyard Kipling\u2019s The Jungle Book, is one; so, too, is Richard Parker, the misnamed antagonist in Yann Martel\u2019s Man Booker Prize-winning novel, The Life of Pi. Even as he faces his imminent demise, the story\u2019s hero Pi Patel is beguiled by this creature who we learn was captured in the Bangladeshi Sundarbans before ending up in the life raft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.\n\n\u201cWhat art, what might,\u201d Martel writes. \u201cHis body, bright brownish orange streaked with black vertical stripes, was incomparably beautiful, matched with a tailor\u2019s eye for harmony by his pure white chest and underside and the black rings of his long tail\u2026 [His] face looked like the wings of a butterfly and bore an expression vaguely old and Chinese. Every hair on me was standing up, shrieking with fear.\u201d\n\nLike all societal misfits, Royal Bengal tigers are partly a product of their upbringing and environment. Mangrove forests are low-lying tracts of salt-resilient trees that are neither quite sea nor land. Mangroves are mostly found in the tropics and are typically small, but the Sundarbans \u2014 at the mouth of the Ganges Delta, 60 per cent in Bangladesh, the rest in India \u2014 is the largest expanse in the world. At 10,000sq km, it\u2019s just a little smaller than Yorkshire. Its name possibly comes from the Bengali language, meaning \u201cthe forest of beautiful trees\u201d, but equally could derive from sundari, the dominant tree of the area.\n\nThe Sundarbans is, in some senses, a place of substantial bounty. It is home to unfathomable varieties of trees, birds and reptiles; humans \u2014 up to 300,000 every day \u2014 enter to fish, collect wood and the most delicious honey, available for only a few weeks each year. But this is also a place of hardship. Tigers, the largest of the big cats, have evolved to be about half the size in the Sundarbans than they are elsewhere. Uniquely, they have taught themselves to swim and, when they\u2019re in the mood, paddle so furiously they can keep pace with a motorboat. And they have been forced to eat whatever they can catch, which means fish, monitor lizards and, at a stretch, human beings.\n\nIt is a menacing landscape, defined by forbidding aerial tree roots (pneumatophores), which rise upwards from the gloopy swampland like spikes to provide oxygen for the mangroves. That, combined with the mud, which envelops you up to your knees with every step, deters all but the most intrepid, or desperate, visitors. Besides tigers there are king cobras, other venomous snakes including kraits, sharks and saltwater crocodiles, which scare Goni more than anything. The land, which is on sea level and sinking, is prone to flooding and is sporadically battered by cyclones. The last big one, Cyclone Aila in 2009, saw the water rise by six metres and made over half a million Bangladeshis homeless.\n\nIf that wasn\u2019t enough, there are human dangers, too: dacoits (bands of pirates) patrol the waterways armed with AK-47s, extorting money from anyone who makes a living here. If they don\u2019t pay, the dacoits kidnap their relatives and demand a swingeing ransom. Considerable resentment has built: not long ago in Horinogor, where I meet Goni, three pirates turned up at a local market and, unarmed and outnumbered, were set upon and killed by villagers.\n\nThe Sundarbans is often labelled one of the most dangerous spots on Earth and certainly there can\u2019t be many places facing its challenges. Yet within this hostile and dysfunctional environment, the Royal Bengal tiger assumes a strange and surprising authority. In one sense, it presents the most terrifying threat to the 1.7m Bangladeshis living on the borders of the forest and who depend on its bounty for their livelihoods. Research done by the University of Kent in 2013 identified 24 \u201clocally relevant\u201d dangers, from climate change to the pirates, faced by the people of the Sundarbans. Tellingly, the only threat cited by more than 50 per cent of respondents was being attacked by a tiger.\n\nNevertheless, the extinction of tigers in the Sundarbans would create many more problems than it solves. Without them lurking in the shadows, many more people than currently do so would enter the forest. \u201cEven my wife would go in and cut trees!\u201d one fisherman I meet says. In no time, locals believe, the natural resources of the Sundarbans would be stripped. Even the meagre existence they enjoy in the poorest corner of one of the poorest countries in the world would be taken from them.\n\nAlthough tigers are terrifying, it\u2019s felt they are at least fair. The same cannot be said of the dacoits or even employees of the government\u2019s Forest Department, underpaid and overworked, who nominally have authority over the region. The cynicism is understandable. In 2012, the carcass of a tiger was found in the forest: it had been skinned, its head and paws hacked off and its entrails cleaned out; the Forest Department reported that it had died of \u201cold age\u201d. \u201cOnly the tigers can save the Sundarbans,\u201d the fisherman goes on to say. \u201cYou can bribe the Forest Department, you can handle the pirates with money. But you cannot corrupt the tiger.\u201d\n\n***\n\nMy journey to the Sundarbans had been an unexpected one. A couple of years ago, I was contacted by an old zoologist friend, Adam Barlow, who had read an article I\u2019d written. We\u2019d met in our halls of residence at university and had bonded, during our initiation to the rugby club, over the fact that neither of us much fancied eating a Mars bar covered with pubic hair. We hadn\u2019t spoken for almost 20 years, and it turned out that for much of the last decade he had been living in Bangladesh working with a non-profit called the Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (now rebranded as WildTeam) on a research project about the region\u2019s man-eating residents. One of the most conspicuous dangers that tigers faced came when they wandered into inhabited areas, usually by accident or desperation, and they were attacked by villagers. Confronting a tiger conferred great status: one study found that 89.4 per cent of people agreed with the statement that \u201cpeople who kill tigers are brave\u201d.\n\nAfter detailed consultations with villagers across the Sundarbans, Adam came up with a counter-intuitive proposal: the formation of Volunteer Tiger Retrieval Teams (VTRT). When a tiger entered a village, these unpaid locals would take charge and return the animal, where possible, to the forest. Adam knew the idea was a gamble: \u201cThe big question,\u201d he told me, \u201cwas why would they ever spend their time being trained and then risk their lives saving tigers?\u201d\n\nI told Adam I\u2019d like to go with him to Bangladesh. The appeal was not strictly based on checking up on the work of the VTRT. Mainly, I just wanted to see a Royal Bengal tiger in the wild. The attraction, in part, was that this was a long way from the traditional safari experience. In the Sundarbans, there are no trackers out in the field, finding the animals each morning, while you toddle along in a Land Rover sipping chilled bottled water. No one could predict if you would see a tiger and how it would respond if you did cross paths. It felt dangerous, primitive, vital, especially sitting at a desk thousands of miles away contemplating it. Of course, I wasn\u2019t wholly unaware of the idiocy of it, too: the people who enter the Sundarbans every day do so because they have no alternative; a privileged person actively looking for a Royal Bengal tiger becomes, in this sense, a little insulting.\n\nBy the time we\u2019d made the arrangements, Adam was living back in the UK, but I decided to go anyway. I\u2019d read enough to have some appreciation of how precariously balanced the situation was; it was now or never if Royal Bengal tigers were going to be saved in Bangladesh. To add extra intrigue and jeopardy, the only people who could secure their future were the ones most at risk of being attacked by them. We spoke on the phone before I left and the last thing Adam said was, \u201cYou\u2019d be the only westerner to be eaten by a tiger in 200 years or something. It could be one of those emotional pieces where I finish it off for you.\u201d\n\nOut in Bangladesh, the difference the VTRT programme had made became clear. There are 49 teams across the Sundarbans and more than 360 volunteers. Since they were formed in 2008, there have been more than 50 incidences of tigers entering a village and none so far has resulted in the death of a tiger. When one of the volunteers was killed by a tiger, there was concern that the whole system of VTRTs might unravel. Instead, the dead man\u2019s son took his place on the team. The fact that they are not paid has proved to be a masterstroke: the villagers appear to feel it is their project, not one imposed on them by a remote authority.\n\nIn the village of Kadamtala, I meet eight VTRT volunteers: they include fishermen, a carpenter, small-business owners; they are aged between 20 and 70, and all wear orange hi-vis vests, one of the few rewards of their job. In 2008, a tiger had entered Kadamtala and killed three people and picked off a few chickens and goats. Eventually, a mob formed of many thousands from all around the surrounding areas and cornered the tiger in a house. A fishing net was thrown over the exits to stop it escaping; it was restrained with a lasso and savagely bludgeoned to death. \u201cEverybody wanted revenge for the people the tiger killed,\u201d says Mohammad Hossein Ali, a volunteer. \u201cVery few people had sympathy with the tiger; the majority wanted the tiger to die.\u201d\n\nThen, only four years later, in 2011, Kadamtala\u2019s VTRT team, under Adam\u2019s guidance, became the first to successfully tranquillize a tiger and return it to the wild. So what changed? \u201cBefore, we didn\u2019t realise how important the Sundarbans is, and how important the tiger is for the Sundarbans,\u201d says Mohammad Hossein Ali. \u201cThe Sundarbans is how all of us here make our living. It provides us with oxygen and it protects us from cyclones. If we can protect the Sundarbans, then maybe our next generation will not face such great problems.\u201d\n\n***\n\nThere is something hypnotic about the Sundarbans. It\u2019s not so much that it is beautiful; the landscape, viewed from WildTeam\u2019s launch, is in fact relatively monotonous: the trees are low, dense, impenetrable. What you do feel, though, is an eerie sense of menace: it\u2019s misty, often spooky, and you\u2019re constantly aware you are far away from help. If I lived in the Sundarbans, I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019d believe in spirits, too. No one is in control: not the government, not the villagers, not even the tigers. It feels, in the true sense of the word, wild.\n\nPart of the incongruity comes from how different the Sundarbans is from the rest of Bangladesh. With 164m people in a land just fractionally bigger than England, this is one of the most densely populated places on the planet; the only countries more crammed are tiny nation-states such as Monaco and Vatican City. Bangladesh, especially its gridlocked capital Dhaka, is frenetic and impossible. Yet, here is an uninhabited, undiscovered region where you can chug around for a day in a boat and scarcely see another soul; the dacoits tend not to bother westerners because it will bring too much attention to their activities. The Sundarbans feels old-fashioned, even ancient: in some villages, locals still fish at night with short-haired otters, as they have done for centuries; the otters are harnessed and herd the fish into a net to receive offcuts from the catch.\n\nMy stay in the Sundarbans is full of incongruous experiences. One day, I watch a group of children sprint from the water after seeing a venomous snake swimming towards them; I assume they are scared, but they run to get sticks to pummel it, long past the point a referee should have intervened. In complete darkness one night, my translator, Robi, began singing, almost in falsetto: \u201cNear, far, wherever you are...\u201d He knocks out the whole thing, word perfect, and announces, \u201cThat is a tune from Titanic by the Canadian artist Celine Dion.\u201d I ask if he knows any more tunes and he sings a Limp Bizkit number. I meet one tourist in my entire trip, a French girl who, after two months in India, is grateful she is no longer seen as a \u201cwalking wallet\u201d. This is remarkable and sad considering what Bangladesh has to offer visitors.\n\nIn 1989, Ted Hughes, then the poet laureate, spent 10 days in Bangladesh. He told his hosts that he wanted to visit the Sundarbans and see a Royal Bengal tiger. He was informed, with a smile: \u201cWe can take you to the tigers, but we cannot guarantee that the tigers will come to you!\u201d In the event he didn\u2019t see any, but he was inspired to compose a number of poems, notably \u201cFour Things Created by God\u201d, in praise of the tiger and its magical homeland. It ends: \u201cBangladesh take care of the Sundarbans.\u201d\n\nI\u2019m not sure when it becomes clear to me that I am not going see a Royal Bengal tiger. I\u2019m equally unclear whether I am disappointed or mightily relieved. But, like Hughes, it was more of a preoccupation before my visit than it is when I am in the Sundarbans. When you are there, it makes perfect sense that there is a near-mythical creature that is both the greatest threat to interlopers and also the benign protector of the region. It begins to feel almost churlish to demand that it show itself. It\u2019s that religious idea that if you need proof something exists then you are not worthy of seeing it. Or maybe it\u2019s just really difficult in a deep, tangled forest to spot a rare and solitary animal that only moves for four hours a day.\n\nIt\u2019s tempting, as Hughes did, to beseech Bangladesh to look after the Sundarbans and its tiger population. But it\u2019s also not a stretch to see how maintaining an area of pristine wilderness might not be a preoccupation of those leading the country. Bangladesh is a nation that only appears on the international agenda in the aftermath of a disaster. In recent times, headlines have come from the collapse of the Rana Plaza sweatshop in 2013 that led to the death of 1,100 workers. Or the four violent and very public assassinations of secular bloggers that have been a recurring story throughout 2015. Watching the slow and begrudging attempts to prosecute the guilty in those cases makes it hard to imagine that police will track down the poachers and the dacoits, who operate with the sophistication of drug syndicates, in the Sundarbans.\n\nOn my final day in Bangladesh, back in Dhaka, I visit Dr Anwarul Islam, the genial CEO of WildTeam. The NGO is flourishing these days: it has 80 full-time staff, all Bangladeshi, and recently won a $12m grant from the United States Agency for International Development to fund its activities for the next four years. Still, the tone of my conversation with Dr Anwarul is mostly a little gloomy. The battle to save the Royal Bengal tigers has become less about conservation and more about gathering intelligence on poachers and working with law-enforcement agencies. Bangladesh scores very badly on any corruption index so this is inevitably a frustrating path. Convincing politicians, starting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to become seriously invested in the subject remains a hope, though not a serious expectation.\n\n\u201cIf our prime minister says, \u2018I declare war against the poachers! I am going to do everything to protect the tigers\u2019, then she becomes a world leader for tiger conservation,\u201d Dr Anwarul says. \u201cWe tell the Forest Department that, but we are not allowed to reach the prime minister.\u201d He shrugs and continues, \u201cBut if you look at our population, look at the area we have, look at our challenges \u2014 should she talk about humans? Or talk about tigers? It\u2019s not a priority area, that\u2019s the problem.\u201d\n\nA shake of the head. \u201cThe Sundarbans are our Taj Mahal,\u201d says Dr Anwarul. \u201cYou can build 10 Taj Mahals, but you can\u2019t build the Sundarbans. Everyone knows that.\u201d\n\nAt the end of July, the results of the tiger census in Bangladesh were announced. The news wasn\u2019t good. In 2004, the previous survey estimated there were 440 Royal Bengal tigers in the region; now, there are somewhere between 83 and 130, a 75 per cent reduction. The statistics, reported by both the BBC and The New York Times, were shocking enough that there was an immediate response from the Bangladeshi government. In early August, police, acting on a tip-off about a tiger-poaching ring, raided a hideout deep in the Sundarbans. A 20-minute shoot-out ensued, leaving seven poachers dead and a handful of officers injured. Three mature, 10ft tiger skins were seized, each with a value of \u00a32,000 and all of which, from their look and smell, had been taken in the previous week.\n\nWhether this was a show of force, in part to impress foreign eyes, or the start of a much-needed crackdown on poaching, only time will tell. By 2090, the population of Bangladesh is projected to reach 300m; that\u2019s awfully crowded and it\u2019s not easy to see where the Royal Bengal tigers will fit in. \u201cYou have to be hopeful, otherwise you are hopeless,\u201d says Tiger Goni, back on the boat. He flicks his umpteenth cigarette out the window of the cabin into the water: \u201cEven if there is only one tiger left, we will do everything in our power to protect it.\u201d\n\nThis content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io"}
-{"text": "Editor's Note: The U.S. Air Force has responded to concerns raised in this article.\n\nThe Global Positioning System faces the possibility of failures and blackouts, a federal watchdog agency has warned the U.S. Congress. Mismanagement by and underinvestment by the U.S. Air Force places the GPS at risk of failure in 2010 and beyond. The problem: Delays in launching replacement satellites, among other things.\n\nAccording to the Government Accountability Office report, \"In recent years, the Air Force has struggled to successfully build GPS satellites within cost and schedule goals\" as part of a $2 billion modernization program.\n\n\"If the Air Force does not meet its schedule goals for development of GPS IIIA satellites, there will be an increased likelihood that in 2010, as old satellites begin to fail, the overall GPS constellation will fall below the number of satellites required to provide the level of GPS service that the U.S. government commits to.\"\n\nConsidered by the GAO to be \"essential to national security\" the GPS is also widely used by business and consumers and is a driver for next-generation location-based mobile applications used with smartphones and other devices.\n\n\"Such a gap in capability could have wide-ranging impacts on all GPS users,\" the GAO report states, \"though there are measures the Air Force and others can take to plan for and minimize these impacts.\"\n\nIt is hard to imagine the U.S. government could allow this to happen. Actually, that's a lie, it's easy to imagine, but there is also time for corrective action to be taken. The first replacement satellite is expected to be launched this November, some three years after the original launch date. Speeding up future launches can solve the problem, but is likely to come at a high price.\n\nThe American GPS, though the pioneering consumer satnav system, is not alone. Russia, China, and India each have systems of their own, which are being expanded.\n\nThe European Union's Galileo system, intended as a rival for GPS, is expected to begin its rollout later this year.\n\nThe delay and potential failure of GPS gives these other nations the potential to rival the U.S. in space, something the U.S. government is unlikely to accept. The report is a black eye for the Air Force, which developed the GPS system during the 1980s and has maintained it since.\n\nAt last count, David Coursey owned more than a dozen GPS devices and expects his government to keep them working. He Tweets as dcoursey and can be reached using the email form at www.coursey.com/contact."}
-{"text": "Tom King may have had his Batman run cut unceremoniously short by DC Comics, but it can't be denied that his influence as a writer continues to spread across the DC Universe. Earlier this year, King penned a Superman story for Walmart which saw Superman imagine Lois Lane being brutally murdered over and over. This, King said, was what true love was like. And since then, this insightful vision of Superman's relationship has made it way to other comics, such as Justice League, where a Superman trapped in the sixth dimension spent last issue imagining the entire world being destroyed, and, of course, Lois along with it.\n\nAnd in this new preview of Justice League #25, Superman is back at it again, as he continues to relive old traumas and imagine the deaths of loved ones. This time, it's his son, Jonathan Kent, who Superman pictures dying, according to the preview, a hundred times over.\n\nMaybe Superman doesn't care about Lois anymore because she's such a bad role model?\n\nAt this point, this vision of Superman is ingrained in the canon. Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Capable of imagining the gruesome deaths of loved ones in unlimited fashion for all eternity!\n\nAlso in this preview, the Justice League face off against their future selves\u2026 and would you believe they have no respect for their elders?\n\nJustice League #25 hits stores on Wednesday. H/T to Newsarama for the preview.\n\nJustice League #25\n\n(W) Scott Snyder, Jorge Jimenez, James TynionIV (A) Javi Fernandez (A/CA) Jorge Jimenez\n\nThe \"Sixth Dimension\" storyline wraps up in this oversize issue as Superman faces down the World Forger to save the Justice League! Can Superman withstand the might of a being that can create worlds from nothing?! Plus, with the Justice League away, Mr. Mxyzptlk's been wreaking havoc! Can anyone on Earth stand up to the fifth-dimensional menace?\n\nRATED T+\n\nIn Shops: Jun 05, 2019\n\nSRP: $4.99"}
-{"text": "Fortune has revealed its list of the top companies to work for in America and Google is number one, again. And for the first time ever the annual ranking also includes the list of the top 10 best companies for women to work at.This is the 6th time Google has cinched first place. No surprise with the chance to work on cool products and the famous employee perks. Among them, 12-weeks paid paternity leave for both men and women, and a free cafeteria. Google will even have someone do your laundry for you.\n\nOther companies have cool benefits too. At Marriott International (No. 53), you get free hotel rooms for life, even after you leave the company. At Cisco Systems (No. 70), 95 percent of the employees get to work home two days a week. Game company Activision Blizzard (No. 96) gives cash bonuses to employees and their families for daily steps tracked on Fitbits.\n\nFortune\n\nTrending stories,celebrity news and all the best of TODAY. This site is protected by recaptcha\n\nBut you can't get on the list just by throwing a few foosball tables around the office. Factors like a sense of mission and trust were also considered.\n\nHere's the top overall:\n\n1. Google2. Boston Consulting Group3. Acuity4. SAS Institute5. Robert W. Baird6. Edward Jones7. Wegmans Food Markets8. Salesforce.com9. Genentech10. Camden Property Trust\n\nFortune also broke out the most female-friendly companies. They based it on the percentage of women at the companies and in executive positions, and flexible work options.\n\nHere's the top 5 for women:\n\n1. Meridian Health2. Children's Healthcare of Atlanta3. Perkins COIE4. Alston & Bird5. Novo NordiskTo get the results, the magazine annually partners with Great Place to Work and sends out detailed surveys to random samples of over 250,000 employees from the over 250 firms nominated to take place in the survey. To be eligible, a company must be at least five years old and have more than 1,000 U.S. employees.\n\nEmail ben.popken@nbcuni.com or tweet @bpopken."}
-{"text": "US watchdog slams $500-a-gallon fuel for Afghan hospital 24 October, 2013\n\n\n\nKABUL: A US-funded project to build a hospital in Afghanistan paid $500 a gallon for fuel instead of a market rate of $5, a watchdog said Wednesday in a damning report into overspending and waste. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said that construction of the 100-bed hospital in Gardez, Paktiya province, was 23 months behind schedule. It accused USAID's implementing partner, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), of \"weak internal controls\" that led to overpayments of at least $507,000. \"IOM paid the contractor $300,000 for 600 gallons of diesel fuel \ufffd a cost of $500 per gallon. According to IOM officials, the market price in Afghanistan for diesel fuel should not exceed $5.00 per gallon,\" the SIGAR report said. \"IOM (also) paid $220,000 for an automatic temperature control device that should have cost between $2,000 and $10,000. \"IOM could not provide us with a vendor invoice for either of these payments,\" it added. \"USAID did not discover the overpayments and reimbursed IOM for these unwarranted costs.\" SIGAR, which has issued a string of highly critical assessments of US reconstruction projects in Afghanistan, recommended that USAID should seek to recover the cash from IOM. The watchdog said that USAID had responded to its draft report by agreeing to conduct an audit to determine whether overpayments were made. Richard Danziger, IOM's chief of mission for Afghanistan, said it denied any overpayments and expected to be cleared by the audit. \"We will cooperate with the audit and are confident that any allegations will be proved to be incorrect,\" Danziger told AFP, adding that the delays in construction were due to the hostile environment in Gardez. The SIGAR report will raise further worries about wastage of the billions of dollars of international aid spent in a country that is set to rely on donor funding for years as it battles a resilient Taliban insurgency. In July, SIGAR criticised USAID for spending nearly $50 million on programmes, which had failed to strengthen Afghan local government or improve stability. It has also said the US was not properly monitoring a programme to train judges and lawyers, and was spending $771 million on aircraft for Afghanistan in a project that was at risk in part due to a lack of literate recruits. End."}
-{"text": "LOS ANGELES \u2014 Actor James Garner, best known for his prime-time television roles as the wisecracking frontier gambler on \u201cMaverick\u201d and as an ex-con turned private eye on \u201cThe Rockford Files,\u201d has died at age 86, Los Angeles police confirmed early on Sunday.\n\nGarner, who built a six-decade career playing ruggedly charming, good-natured anti-heroes and received the highest honor of the Screen Actors Guild in 2004, was found dead from natural causes on Saturday night at his Los Angeles home, according to police.\n\n\n\n\n\nThere were no further details immediately available on the circumstances of his death. Garner underwent surgery for a stroke in 2008, two years after appearing in his last big-screen role as a wealthy grandfather for a film adaptation of the best-selling book \u201cThe Ultimate Gift.\u201d\n\nAn Oklahoma native, Garner entered show business in the 1950s after serving in the Korean War and first rose to fame on the TV western \u201cMaverick,\u201d a sardonic alternative to the more serious frontier shows then popular on American prime time.\n\nHe was Bret Maverick, a cardsharp and ladies man who got by on his wits instead of a six-gun and would just as soon duck a fight as face a showdown. Co-star Jack Kelly played his more straight-laced brother, Bart.\n\nGarner left the ABC show in 1960 in a contract dispute with producers but brought his \u201cMaverick\u201d-like alter ego to a series of films, including \u201cThrill of It All,\u201d \u201cMove Over, Darling,\u201d \u201cThe Great Escape\u201d and \u201cSupport Your Local Sheriff!\u201d\n\nGarner once said his screen persona as an easy-going guy smart enough to steer clear of a fight actually ran only so deep.\n\n\u201cAt times it\u2019s like me, but I used to have this temper,\u201d he told Reuters in a 2004 interview. \u201cI used to get in a fight in a heartbeat. But that was many years ago.\u201d\n\nWith his wry, low-key presence, good looks and thick dark hair, Garner was hailed by some as Hollywood\u2019s next Clark Gable or Cary Grant.\n\nBut he ended up scoring his next big hit on the small screen in the 1970s, starring as canny private detective Jim Rockford, a wrongly accused ex-convict starting life over in a beachfront trailer home, on \u201cThe Rockford Files.\u201d\n\nThe show ran on NBC from 1974 until Garner abruptly quit the series in 1980. He reprised Rockford for several TV movies in the late 1990s.\n\nThe role earned Garner an Emmy Award in 1977. He received his sole Oscar nomination for his work opposite Sally Field in the 1985 feature comedy \u201cMurphy\u2019s Romance.\u201d\n\nGarner said his favorite role was as the cowardly U.S. soldier who falls for Julie Andrews before being sent on a dangerous wartime mission in the 1964 film \u201cThe Americanization of Emily.\u201d\n\nHe teamed up with Andrews again in the 1982 film \u201cVictor/Victoria.\u201d\n\nHe returned to the big screen in 2000 in Clint Eastwood\u2019s astronaut adventure \u201cSpace Cowboys\u201d and two years later in \u201cDivine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.\u201d\n\nIn a spate of late-career TV work, Garner played a recurring role as a hospital chief executive on \u201cChicago Hope\u201d in 2000 and starred as a conservative Supreme Court chief justice in the short-lived 2002 series \u201cFirst Monday.\u201d\n\nIn 2003, he joined the cast of the ABC sitcom \u201c8 Simple Rules,\u201d playing a grandfather after the untimely death of series star John Ritter.\n\nThe following year, Garner showed off his big-screen acting chops again, starring opposite Gena Rowlands as the devoted elderly husband of an Alzheimer\u2019s disease sufferer in Nick Cassavetes\u2019 adaptation of the bestseller \u201cThe Notebook.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Fox News' Shep Smith seemed to strongly endorse President Obama's newly announced support of same-sex marriage on Wednesday.\n\nAmidst much hype and bated breath, Obama told ABC News' Robin Roberts that he has completed his so-called \"evolution\" on the issue and now believes that same-sex couples should be allowed to wed.\n\nOn his Fox News show, Smith played the tape of Obama speaking, and then said, \"the president of the United States, now in the 21st century.\"\n\nA couple of minutes later, Smith was speaking to his colleague Bret Baier. He asked Baier if the GOP would campaign against same-sex marriage \"while sitting very firmly, without much question, on the wrong side of history on it.\"\n\nSmith closed out the segment by noting that the issue of gay marriage is still up to individual states. He said that Obama's endorsement \"makes no legal change for now, which may sound familiar to a couple of generations ago, but that's where we are.\""}
-{"text": "MTHF18 Elders Panel\n\nCHAIR IN TRANSGENDER STUDIES: https://www.uvic.ca/research/transchair/index.php TRANSGENDER ARCHIVES: https://www.uvic.ca/transgenderarchives/ DONATE: https://extrweb.uvic.ca/donate-online/transchair \u201cThe Elders Panel\" features a panel of trans elders providing live first-hand oral testimony about their experiences as elders of trans activism. WHEN: 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM, Sunday, March 25th, 2018 WHERE: B150 - Bob Wright Centre HOW MUCH: FREE for all conference registrants. Open to the public by donation. WHO: Christine Burns: \u201cRescuing Trans History\u201d Miqqi Alicia Gilbert: \u201cOne Week A Year: The Pragmatic Reality of Self-Actualization\u201d Aidan Key: \u201cA Gender Odyssey: Aidan Key\u2019s Journey to Leadership, Education & Activism\u201d Maria Sundin: \u201cEnding Forced Sterilization in Sweden\u201d CHRISTINE BURNS \"Rescuing Trans Histories\" Christine was a key part of Britain\u2019s \u2018Press for Change\u2019 campaign for transgender rights from 1993 until 2007, becoming one of the vice-presidents in 1996. This means that she was involved throughout the years when the organisation was at its peak and had a key role in many of the groundbreaking successes which occurred, culminating in the passage of the UK's Gender Recognition Act in 2004. She has written several books, including a two-part history of the PFC campaign, Pressing Matters. She also penned the first National Health Service policy guide relating to trans patients and staff. She is now editing an anthology-based history of Britain\u2019s trans community. Christine lives in Manchester, England, officially retired in 2013, and concentrates most of her time doting on her grandchildren, researching her family\u2019s ancestry, reading detective fiction, gardening and riding her bike. MIQQI ALICIA GILBERT \"One Week a Year: The Pragmatic Reality of Self-Actualization\" Miqqi Alicia Gilbert, Ph.D. aka Michael A. Gilbert, is Full Professor of Philosophy at York University, Toronto, Canada. Miqqi Alicia has published scholarly articles in gender theory including an essay in Hypatia in 2009, \u201cDefeating Bigenderism.\u201d S/he is a life-long cross-dresser and an activist in the transgender community. Miqqi Alicia has made a point of being out and public and has appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines in Canada and the US, as well as interviews on radio and television. S/he has been the book review editor and regular columnist for Transgender Tapestry, a recipient in 2007 of an IFGE Trinity Award, and Director of Fantasia Fair for 8 years. S/he has presented workshops at numerous trans events including Fantasia Fair, Southern Comfort, Esprit, IFGE and First Event. Hir website is located at: http://gilbert.info.yorku.ca/. Hir newest book, Arguing with People, was published by Broadview Press in the spring of 2014. AIDAN KEY \"A Gender Odyssey: Aidan Key\u2019s Journey to Leadership, Education & Activism\" Aidan Key is the founder of Gender Diversity, an organization dedicated to providing support and educational services with respect to the inclusion of transgender and gender-diverse children. Key has served as a consultant to dozens of school districts across the United States navigating the questions and concerns regarding transgender K-12 student inclusion. Key is the co-author of Gender Cognition in Transgender Children (Psychological Science 2015), the Trans Bodies, Trans Selves (Oxford University Press, 2014) and Transgender Student Advocacy and Support: Evolving Ethics in a Time of Devolving Policy (presented 2017: Philosophy of Education Society Annual Conference). He facilitates the nation\u2019s largest network of parent support groups and offers trainings and policy development for schools, organizations, and other youth-based agencies across the nation. MARIA SUNDIN \"Ending Forced Sterilization in Sweden\" Maria Sundin is a senior Swedish trans activist, sexologist and clinical social worker. She has been involved in trans as well as LGBT organizations for the past 25 years. She is a member of the Innovative Response to Global Trans Women and HIV (IRGT). She also serves on the Steering Committee of The Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) and is a Board Member of Sweden's LGBTQ Social Democrats. Maria served for a long period as a Board Member of the Swedish Federation for LGBTQ Rights (RFSL) as well as a Co-chair and Executive Board Member of Transgender Europe (TGEU). She is also extensively involved in trans de-pathologisation, transgender human rights and combatting HIV in our community Stephen Whittle was previously scheduled but is no longer able to attend."}
-{"text": "Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera [Google Translate] published a headline today that translates to \"the bill that could ban the iPhone in Italy.\"\n\n\n\nThe bill in question, Senate Act 2484, is aimed at ensuring Italians have open access to software, content, and services. The portion of the bill potentially relevant to Apple essentially says that users should have the right to download any software, whether proprietary or open source, on any platform.\n\nAn excerpt from Article Four of the loosely translated bill:\n\nUsers have the right to, in an appropriate format to the required technology platform [\u2026] use fair and non-discriminatory software, proprietary or open source [\u2026] content and services of their choice.\n\nIt's well known that iOS is a walled garden, in which apps can only be distributed through the App Store, and only if developers adhere to Apple's guidelines. The only way to download apps outside of Apple's parameters is by jailbreaking, which is in violation of Apple's end-user agreement.\n\nNaturally, there are some concerns about how the iPhone and other devices could be affected if the bill is approved, although the prospect of any Apple product being outright banned in Italy seems highly unlikely.\n\nThe bill was introduced last year by Stefano Quintarelli, an Italian entrepreneur and member of the Scelta Civica political party in Italy. The bill was approved by the Chamber of Deputies in July 2016, and it now must be approved by the Senate of the Republic, within Italy's parliamentary government.\n\n(Thanks, Macitynet and iSpazio!)"}
-{"text": "Vice President Joe Biden will fly into Columbus on Wednesday to tell U.S. workers that more of them will soon be eligible for overtime pay. At an appearance at Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream's headquarters Downtown, Biden will announce changes to federal overtime rules that the Obama administration says will allow about 4.2 million salaried workers to become eligible for overtime pay.\n\nWASHINGTON - Vice President Joe Biden will fly into Columbus on Wednesday to tell U.S. workers that more of them will soon be eligible for overtime pay.\n\nAt an appearance at Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream's headquarters Downtown, Biden will announce changes to federal overtime rules that the Obama administration says will allow about 4.2 million salaried workers to become eligible for overtime pay.\n\nCurrently, salaried workers making more than $23,660 a year are exempt from overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours a week. Biden said late Tuesday that under a rule effective Dec. 1, 2016, that threshold will rise to about $47,476.\n\nThe administration has not changed exemptions to the rules for some workers who perform certain job duties, such as jobs in which the worker regularly supervises two or more employees as part of the primary duties or interviews, selects and trains employees.\n\nIn a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Biden said the new rules will provide millions with access to the middle class.\n\n\"If you work overtime, you should actually get paid for working overtime,\" he said.\n\n>> What people are saying about the new rule\n\nIn 1975, Biden said, 62 percent of salaried workers were eligible for overtime pay. Today, it's 7 percent. It will be the first time in 12 years that the threshold will have been raised.\n\nHe said the new rule would give employers a choice: Either pay the worker overtime, or cap salaried workers' hours at 40 per week. \"Either way, the worker wins,\" he said.\n\nOpponents of the rule say it will burden businesses overwhelmed with regulations and force many on the management track back into the hourly workforce. Hourly workers are generally paid overtime.\n\n\"This causes a lot more paperwork and hassle and expense for businesses, and the effect on the economy is negligible,\" said Jack Mozloom, a spokesman for the National Federation of Independent Business, which opposes the rule.\n\nIn February, six Ohio Republicans joined some 100 other lawmakers in a letter to Labor Secretary Thomas Perez opposing the move. Reps. Jim Renacci, R-Wadsworth, Steve Chabot, R-Cincinnati, Brad Wenstrup, R-Cincinnati, Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, Steve Stivers, R-Upper Arlington, and Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, signed the letter.\n\n\"Many small businesses, which operate on thin margins yet still pay competitive salaries, provide great benefits and positive workplace environments, simply cannot afford to increase their workers' salaries to the new salary threshold that has been proposed,\" the letter read.\n\nMozloom argues that in many communities, the cost of living is low, and $47,000 is considered a very good salary. The new rule, he said, will hurt entry-level managers, who need the title of manager on their resume to move forward professionally. Many current salaried employees, he said, essentially will be demoted to an hourly status.\n\n\"If the president is to be taken seriously about his worries about stagnant wages, he can't be happy about a policy that promotes more low-paying, part-time jobs,\" Mozloom said. \"He ought to be worried about the elimination of well-paying, salaried positions like the ones that will go away under this rule.\"\n\nBut proponents of the rule say it will give workers an opportunity to either find more work-life balance or receive more take-home pay.\n\n\"To me it's a great idea,\" said Amy Hanauer, executive director of left-leaning Policy Matters Ohio. \"People should be paid for the hours they work. A modest salary is expected to be a salary for a full-time work week. If you're working more hours than that, you deserve to be paid for that.\"\n\nPerez said he projects the new rules will mean some $12 million more in U.S. workers' pockets over the next decade. Beyond that, he said, it will help workers understand when they're owed overtime.\n\n\"Everybody will receive clarity on where they stand, so they can stand up for their rights,\" he said.\n\njwehrman@dispatch.com\n\n@jessicawehrman"}
-{"text": "A recent post of mine on the situation in Syria (http://steveellnersblog.blogspot.com/2018/04/in-conflict-in-syria-there-doesnt-seem.html) led to some interesting and critical comments coming both from those who felt I was too hard on Assad and Russia and those who felt I was letting them off the hook. The position I presented reflects my view of the current situation worldwide. As is often the case, the issue of Syria has to be placed in a broader, in this case global, context. Contextualization is fundamental for the achievement of an objective analysis and evaluation of the Syrian government and others that confront U.S.-promoted intervention, put forward an anti-imperialist discourse, and (in some cases) raise socialist banners, such as Nicaragua, Venezuela and Libya under Gaddafi.\n\nThe forces of reaction and conservative movements have not enjoyed such world-wide hegemony at the state and transnational levels since the days of Metternich: throughout Europe, throughout Latin America, the U.S., the Philippines, Australia, etc. As a result, the options for leftist governments are more limited than was the case a decade ago. When Hugo Ch\u00e1vez was president, he counted on the support of Latin America as a whole. Now with Maduro, the situation is the opposite.\n\nAs a result, progressive governments see the need to follow a more pragmatic strategy than in the past, and take advantage of allies and semi-allies wherever possible. In this context, I believe that leftists need to occupy a middle ground between two extremes: one is what I call \u201cleftist utopianism\u201d and the other \u201cultra-pragmatism.\u201d \u201cLeftist utopianism\u201d is characterized by a purist mentality that ignores contexts. It leads nowhere and indeed was rejected by Marx in his polemical writings in opposition to the utopian socialists as well as the Young Hegelians.\n\n\u201cLeftist utopianism\u201d takes an all-or-nothing approach. It thus refrains from attempting to determine the relative seriousness of the errors of progressive governments, and ends up condemning all of them as sell-outs. Such an intransigent position is excessive. Thus, for instance, criticism of the populist policies of progressive governments that go overboard in providing handouts to non-privileged groups cannot be given the same weight as the privatization of strategic sectors of the economy carried out by the right.\n\nLeftist utopianism in the second decade of the twenty-first century manifests itself in the position that condemns Russia and China for their imperialist motivations and, in effect, lumps them in the same category as the U.S. Since Russia and China are not socialist and not even democratic, and have global ambitions, then ipso facto they must be imperialist powers and can\u2019t be any less destructive and harmful than the U.S. But the fact of the matter is that neither of these two countries behaves like the pre-World War I European powers described by Lenin, nor like the U.S. since 1946. Neither Russia nor China has military bases scattered throughout the world and both have provided political and economic support for progressive governments such as Venezuela. Furthermore, China\u2019s and Russia\u2019s bilateral economic deals may favor their own interests but do not attach strings fostering dependence, as in the case of the IMF, World Bank and Washington. In contrast, the U.S. has close and powerful military ties with repressive and reactionary or conservative governments such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Colombia, and openly promotes regime change against governments they consider contrary to its national interests (as it has done in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, and Venezuela). Indeed, under Trump, the argument of the need to defend U.S. \u201cnational interests\u201d has increasingly become an explicit justification for U.S. intervention abroad.\n\nAnother manifestation of \u201cleftist utopianism\u201d and purism is the blanket condemnation of progressive governments that are facing a destabilizing campaign promoted by Washington. This position correctly points to the blunders, excessive pragmatism (or \u201copportunism\u201d), crass populism and large-scale corruption of these governments, but ends up placing them in the same sack as the opposition closely tied to Washington. In the process, the \u201cleftist utopian\u201d position ignores their positive features. It also fails to recognize that the errors that are being committed by progressive governments are largely overreactions to the aggressive illegal and semi-legal actions of an opposition with immense resources supplied by the local bourgeoisie and foreign powers.\n\nThe opposite extreme is \u201cultra-pragmatism\u201d which refrains from criticizing governments that confront U.S. imperialism. This position has several strands. One is based on an outlook that emphasizes realpolitik. It claims that progressive governments of third-world nations and relatively small ones are impotent in the face of global realities, specifically pressure from the world\u2019s hegemonic superpower, namely the United States. The only viable strategy that can be pursued is the befriending of an emerging superpower, specifically Russia and China. In the face of these global imperatives, the domestic policies of these vulnerable nations are of secondary consideration. A second version of \u201cultra-pragmatism\u201d is the notion that leftists in the U.S. and elsewhere should refrain from leveling criticism of any nature at progressive governments under siege. Since first world leftists are not citizens of those nations, they have no right to voice criticism. In addition since those governments are under imperialist attack any criticism of them undermines the effort to defend national sovereignty.\n\nI reject the ultra-pragmatic position for various basic reasons. Most important, twenty-first century progressive governments in Latin America have committed serious errors in a democratic context, which are topics of great importance to the left in all democratic nations, both developed and underdeveloped. Even though the errors are often overreactions to disruptive campaigns carried out by the forces of reaction, nevertheless, the errors have to be analyzed and assimilated. Such a learning process is not academic or superfluous, but rather is an overriding imperative. It is not enough for leftists to reject the populist policies of progressive governments with the sole argument that they impede economic development. The reasons progressive governments have reverted to populist policies have to be considered, and realistic alternatives formulated. In short, serious objective analysis of the complex situations facing the left in power is urgently needed and the examination process cannot be the exclusive preserve of the citizens of each respective nation.\n\nIn addition, ultra-pragmatism on the left ignores the fact that leftists throughout history have always been characterized by idealistic motivation. The principled positions they assume and their exemplary behavior and sacrifices distinguish them from those located elsewhere on the political spectrum, and have historically been their strong point. There is thus a \u201cpragmatic\u201d reason why corruption and opportunistic behavior in general cannot be condoned or overlooked. Any indecisiveness along those lines discredits the left and robs it of one of its most powerful banners.\n\nFinally, the left cannot lose sight of the fact that China and Russia are merely circumstantial allies. The orthodox communists tend to be more sympathetic to China than Russia. But in the case of both nations, their economic systems are not conducive to international solidarity (in contrast to the efforts of the Cuban government over the last half a century) and their political systems hardly represent role models. The \u201cultra-pragmatists\u201d sometimes appear to ignore these plain facts.\n\nPresident Maduro and the Chavista leadership do not serve as a source of inspiration, as did his predecessor Ch\u00e1vez. But contrary to the thinking of \u201cleftist utopianism,\u201d the positive features of Maduro\u2019s government need to be raised not only because they counter the deceptive coverage of the commercial media, but because they enhance the effectiveness of much-needed international solidarity. These \u201cpragmatic\u201d considerations need to be brought into the picture in any discussion over anti-imperialism in the twenty-first century."}
-{"text": "Shattered glass from a window that fell from The Mira Hotel and killed a pedestrian in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Edmond So"}
-{"text": "Personal Importations\n\nBRINGING IT WITH YOU\n\nIf you choose to import beverage alcohol products when returning to Ontario from a trip abroad you must:\n\nBe an Ontario resident 19 years of age or older;\n\nBe bringing products back for personal use only;\n\nNot exceed a total of 45-litres of beverage alcohol (any combination of wine, spirits or beer);\n\nHave all proof-of-purchase documentation including sales and credit card receipts ready to present to Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) officials when you are going through Customs;\n\nPay all applicable import and excise duties, taxes and levies as detailed below.\n\nIf you\u2019ve been out of the country for 48 hours or longer you may, under the federal duty-free entitlement, bring back either 1.14 litres of spirits, 1.5 litres of wine or 8.5 litres of beer (24 standard sized bottles). No duties, taxes or levies will be assessed on this entitlement when you make your declaration to CBSA. A duty free entitlement is not included or counted as part of the 45-litre maximum volume limit. If you\u2019ve been out of Canada for less than 48 hours and wish to bring back any beverage alcohol, you\u2019ll be required to pay all applicable duties, levies and taxes at the border.\n\nHAVING IT SENT TO YOU\n\nIf bringing products home personally is not possible, you may arrange for them to be shipped to you in Ontario provided the requirements described below are met. Please note that a duty-free entitlement is not available to you if you use this method.\n\nYou must make all transportation arrangements (you must use a freight shipping service not a postal channel) and your shipment will be processed somewhat differently than a personally accompanied importation when it reaches Ontario, Canada. Rather than being processed by CBSA, your direct shipment will be processed by the LCBO\u2019s appointed customs broker, currently UPS Supply Chain Solutions (see information below). The LCBOs broker will calculate the applicable taxes, duties and levies as detailed below, as well as a broker fee to process the transaction. When making a direct shipment you must:\n\nBe an Ontario resident 19 years of age or older;\n\nBe importing products for personal use only;\n\nNot exceed a total of 45-litres of beverage alcohol (any combination of wine, spirits or beer);\n\nProvide documentation indicating the value of your shipment (supplier invoices, etc.) along with proof of payment (typically a credit card receipt).\n\nIn addition, the shipment must:\n\nBe consigned to the LCBO c/o yourself on the shipment manifest or bill of lading;\n\nBe clearly marked as beverage alcohol on all transport and customs documentation;\n\nNot include any non-alcohol items, just beverage alcohol;\n\nBe accompanied by a completed Canada Customs Invoice (CCI) indicating the brand name(s), vintage if applicable, alcohol by volume, format, quantity and accurate valuation (as noted above). CCIs are available by clicking here.\n\nIt is your responsibility to ensure the above documentation is fully completed and accurate in order for the LCBO\u2019s broker to account to CBSA for the release of your shipment with minimal disruption. It is also your responsibility to pay any additional storage charges, processing fees or other related service charges incurred due to incomplete or inaccurate documentation.\n\nIf you are expecting a direct shipment, please ensure it is referred to the LCBO\u2019s customs broker:\n\nUPS Supply Chain Solutions\n\nAttention: LCBO Team\n\nTel: 905 677-6735\n\nFax: 905-677-2689\n\n\n\nIMPORTANT INFORMATION\n\nAs noted, beverage alcohol can be imported into Ontario by residents for personal use by following the procedures noted above. It is very important to remember that beverage alcohol brought in either on your person (accompanied) or via direct shipment (unaccompanied) may not, in any circumstance, be used at a licensed establishment, or a Private, Public or Industry Promotional Special Occasion Permit (SOP) event. However, the holder of an Industry Promotional permit may use accompanied and direct shipment imported beverage alcohol if they applied for a permit for the purpose of conducting market research.\n\nShould you have any questions regarding the importation of beverage alcohol into Ontario for your own personal use or for other LCBO services, please refer to the contacts listed below."}
-{"text": "There will never be a match like this in the coming 50 or 100 years | Cricket World Cup Final 2019\n\nNew Zealand and England played the most epic world cup finals of all time in the 2019 Cricket World Cup. The Match result is decided with the bizarre rule of scoring most boundaries even after the Super Over."}
-{"text": "I visited to check the story in Opensecrets.org, but found the side not responding.\n\nWhile The Examiner writes that this was a big bonus, one of the commentators there says that this was a political campaign contribution. During the elections many companies contributed to this or that candidate.\n\nExaminer Writes:\n\n\"Senator Barack Obama received a $101,332 bonus from American International Group in the form of political contributions according to Opensecrets.org. The two biggest Congressional recipients of bonuses from the A.I.G. are - Senators Chris Dodd and Senator Barack Obama.\n\n\"The A.I.G. Financial Products affiliate of A.I.G. gave out $136,928, the most of any AIG affiliate, in the 2008 cycle. I would note that A.I.G.\u2019s financial products division is the unit that wrote trillions of dollars\u2019 worth of credit-default swaps and \"misjudged\" the risk.\"\n\nRick commented on the same places writing \"This wasn't a \"bonus\", it was a political contribution. Also, the contribution likely came earlier in the election cycle, before the bailout. Republicans take contributions from corporations too, at least they did when they were in power, now they can't really help anyone.\"\n\nSincere the Examiner already reports this news, it would be very good if someone from the Obama administration responded to that and explained what was the payment that his campaign allegedly received from AIG.\n\nWe emailed Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe asking for a clarification on Examiner's report, but have not heard from him yet."}
-{"text": "Photo Credit: Young National Union (Ichud Leumi)\n\nStarting at 12 PM today, Thursday, April 20, 2017, \u201cYoung National Union\u201d (Ichud Leumi) activists are hosting a FREE BBQ outside the Ofer Prison, on Road 443 just outside of Jerusalem.\n\nGrilling the food just outside the prison walls, the delicious smell wafts through the prison\u2026 and their intention is to taunt the convicted PA terrorists who are hunger-striking to receive 5-star accommodations and privileges.\n\n\n\n\nPA terrorists imprisoned in Israeli jails started a \u201chunger strike\u201d in protest to Israel\u2019s decision to reduce security prisoner privileges \u2014 such as no longer being able to receive FREE (paid for by the Israeli tax payers) Education, including University degrees and Post Doctorate degrees.\n\nDespite receiving far more benefits than many petty-crime prisoners around the world, the convicted PA terrorists insist they deserve free education, almost unlimited family visitation rights and more. As a result \u2014 they have started a hunger strike which bothers much of the media in Israel and around the world, and encouraged the NY Times to provide Op-Ed space to convicted mass-murderer Marwan Barghouti (and initially leaving out the part that he is a convicted mass murderer).\n\nThe terrorists in Gaza who currently hold the bodies of IDF soldiers offer no privileges to Israel, such as the Red Cross verifying that the bodies exist, nor did they ever let the Red Cross see IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, whom they held imprisoned for 5 years.\n\nWe at the Muqata, who are long time BBQ aficionados, hope that the BBQ bash is a success and the hunger strikers fail miserably in their attempts to receive any benefits.\n\nBon Appetite!\n\nUpdate:After a bit, the police ended the BBQ and ordered everyone to leave."}
-{"text": "Remember gym class? If you\u2019re a child of the 80\u2019s or 90\u2019s, you were probably part of a group of kids who had to start writing essays instead of running laps. At least in Massachusetts, where I grew up, the education reforms demanded that kids learned more about how the body works while participating in phys-ed.\n\nSo you know there are 5 main components of fitness: cariovascular endurance, muscular endurance, strength, flexibility, and body composition. There\u2019s actually a pretty good breakdown on the way I learned it back in high school right here.\n\nMy gym teacher always warned us not to neglect any areas in our training regimens. I\u2019m not sure too many of us had training regimens, but whatever. As a traditional martial artist, I thought I had things figured out pretty well. I used to do katas and lift weights and jog and stretch. I\u2019d even run some sprints every once in awhile.\n\nThen I started watching UFC, and I realized I was really pretty out of shape!\n\nYeah, \u201csupplements\u201d or not, Sean Sherk is a BEAST!\n\nSo I upped my game. Obviously not to that level, but I realized that being a modern martial artist in the age of the super-athlete means getting in the best shape possible. And that\u2019s been my quest for the past few years. It\u2019s a learning process, and you\u2019ve seen some of it develop on this blog.\n\nA martial artist needs to add a few extra elements to the main fitness compnents listed above. Examples include explosiveness (for shooting and striking), agility (so as not to get taken down or hit), and sports-specific drills.\n\nFor the amateur athlete, that\u2019s a lot to manage!\n\nWhat I tend to do is focus on different components during different seasons. For example, during the winter months, when I\u2019m feeling less energetic, I train more for maximum strength and explosiveness. I find these workouts are usually a little less demanding because of their slower pace. Plus it\u2019s really satisfying to throw weights and sandbags around in my garage when it\u2019s too cold to run outside.\n\nIn the summer, I train more for cardiovascular endurance and include more interval training in my workouts. Most people want to shed their winter weight to get ready for the beach; I guess I\u2019m no exception. I usually weigh ten pounds less during the summer than in the winter.\n\nI\u2019m starting to rethink this approach to training, though. Like Billy Bob always warned, it\u2019s unwise to neglect any areas of your training. For me, this weak spot is muscular endurance.\n\nI\u2019ve noticed lately that my legs and arms give out on me when working out for extended periods. I\u2019m guessing it\u2019s because I haven\u2019t maintained a high enough training volume, and I rarely \u201crep-out\u201d any of my main exercises. So I decided to try some training routines to fix this problem.\n\nHave you ever heard about the Lion\u2019s Den tryouts? They\u2019re the stuff of nightmares.\n\nHistorically, The Lion\u2019s Den is known for its brutal try-outs because once accepted into the Den, the members would live in Ken\u2019s home having their dinner provided by Shamrock. Ken needed to make sure only the best got through. The try out consisted of the following: * 500 squats\n\n* 200 push ups\n\n* 200 sit ups\n\n* Sprints while carrying a man of near equal weight on their back\n\n* 2-mile run with a man of equal weight on your back\n\n* Repeated runs up and down bleacher steps\n\n* Bear-crawls up steep hills\n\n* Lugging heavy barrels of water and sand bags up steep hills The candidates who were still left at this point would then go on to do as many pull-ups as they can without stopping. From there, the candidates went to the actual Lion\u2019s Den facility for several hours of sparring. Shamrock wanted fighters that could get through this ordeal without quitting, even after their body had failed on them. It was at this point, when the candidate was still trying even long after their muscles had failed, that Shamrock knew he had a Lion\u2019s Den member on his hands.\n\nSomehow I stories about these tryouts might be a little exaggerated. For example, Roy Nelson used to be part of the team, I find it hard to believe he could get through this workout. Maybe I\u2019m wrong, but I bet his partner during the 2-mile run had to drop out!\n\nFollowing the \u201cBody-By-Shamrock\u201d plan detailed above is a little over the top. (I recently tried half of the first portion, and I couldn\u2019t walk for a week!) But it brings up a good point. A martial artist should be physically capable of meeting the physical demands he or she might face during training or even in a real fight. While you may not need to get through a 25-minute championship UFC bout, it is important to have the muscular endurance to defend yourself in a fight.\n\nLegend has it that Bruce Lee started his obsession with fitness after tiring too quickly during a battle against a rival kung fu practitioner. The results of Lee\u2019s obsession speak for themselves!\n\nThe point I\u2019m trying to make here is that it\u2019s important to maintain ALL the different components of fitness. We\u2019re not marathon runners or powerlifters: as a martial artists, we need to be as well rounded in our approach to fitness as possible. Ignore this at your own peril!\n\nNow, if you don\u2019t mind, I\u2019m going to limp to the medicine cabinet for some more Advil. Do you have some great workouts to help with muscular endurance? Please share them here. I could use some suggestions! I have a few I\u2019ve been putting together that I\u2019ll share soon."}
-{"text": "This post was made with an older stylesheet\n\nBe careful this is another extremely tentative design and just arrived a few hours ago. It hasn\u2019t even been reviewed from Gnome Design Team and there isn\u2019t any official discussion about the following mockups.\n\nEnjoy ;)\n\nThe CPU Monitor that let us also to power off the Applications directly from here. As you can notice, most of processes are hidden under the more button and we can actually see only the Applications or more correctly the top CPU consuming processes (which for most of the users are the Apps or a memory leaked Gnome Shell :) ).\n\nThe CPU usage is a composite of all CPU cores. Very clean for rookies without sacrificing advanced features for veterans :)\n\nThings are exactly the same for the memory meter also. You can close Apps, you can see more processes.\n\nThis is so cool for Laptops. We can monitor the battery usage per Application, but what is more cool is the fact that we can monitor the usage since last re-charge!\n\nThe storage usage. We can also watch our Cloud storage units here like Drop Box\n\nand we can navigate into the folders and delete files right off here. That\u2019s a bit confusing.. I don\u2019t really know how this will work.\n\nSurprise! Gnome OS ! I won\u2019t even comment on this, not now ;)\n\nSoftware selection shows the Applications sorted by size, and it seems that we can remove/uninstall them from here.\n\niComment\n\nThere aren\u2019t many information about Usage. I guess these images will be uploaded on Gnome Live and we\u2019ll get more infos. The only official thing I could find about Usage were the objectives which are very clear from the above images ;)\n\nGoals\n\nHelp the user understand what is going on with the system\n\nHelp identify problem areas\n\nDisplay overview of:\n\n- Disk space used/available by type of data\n\n- Memory used/available\n\n- Number of active users\n\n- Applications that are actively using CPU\n\n- System CPU usage\n\n- Network bandwidth\n\n- Battery consumption\n\nAllow the user to forcefully close applications\n\nThat\u2019s all for now!"}
-{"text": "I only realized as I was writing this article that it was Friday the 13th. I am not necessarily superstitious but there was quite some movement around the Montreal Impact. The club announced that Tyson Wahl was traded to the Colorado Rapids for an International Spot in 2014. The Californian native was an interesting addition to the club via the expansion draft. He filled the role of central defender and left back: he was not perfect but he worked hard . He replaced the injured Josh Gardner as the full-time left back but was then himself replaced by Jeb Brosvky, bringing in more defensive assurance and athleticism.\n\nThe arrival of Dennis Iapichino has permanently pushed Tyson Wahl down the pecking order. It's a good thing that he finds himself closer home to the West Coast and with a Colorado Rapids team in need for defenders. His versatility was precious for the birth of the Montreal Impact MLS-version and we wish him the best.\n\nFrom the Montreal Impact press release (about the Tyson Wahl trade):\n\nWe want to thank Tyson for his time in Montreal, said Impact head coach Jesse Marsch. He was very committed and showed a lot of leadership to this organization. We wish him the best of luck with the Rapids.\n\nAlthough it wasn't always easy for him during his stay, he remained a true professional from the first day, added Impact sporting director Nick De Santis. \"We want to thank him for his services and wish him the best in Colorado.\n\nMore after the jump\n\nIn other news, Jesse Marsch confirms that Dennis Iapichino will make the trip to Philadelphia but no confirmation whether he will start or not. He also hinted to Alessandro Nesta's possible start against the Houston Dynamo, setting that game as a potential target game for the International defender to play some Major League Soccer.\n\nInjury Report\n\nMontreal Impact -- OUT: DF Matteo Ferrari (R quad strain); DF Nelson Rivas (abdomen); FW Bernardo Corradi (L knee ACL tear); FW Andrew Wenger (L hamstring strain)\n\nPhiladelphia Union -- OUT: FW Chandler Hoffman (L big toe fracture); FW Krystian Witkowski (concussion symptoms); DOUBTFUL: DF Bakary Soumare (R knee meniscus recovery); QUESTIONABLE: DF Ray Gaddis (R shoulder contusion); PROBABLE: DF Carlos Valdes (R knee contusion); GK Zac MacMath (R ring finger avulsion)\n\nQuotes\n\nMontreal Impact\n\nJustin Mapp\n\n\"They are in really good form right now,\" said Impact head coach Jesse Marsch. \"Under their new head coach, there is a renewed energy within the group. They have a lot of youthful, mobile players that like to move the ball a lot. They are a version of the way we like to play. We match up well with them and it is an important game for both teams in the standings.\"\n\nHassoun Camara\n\n\"It's tough to win on the road, but we are playing a team right behind us in the standings,\" said defender Hassoun Camara. \"But it's important to try and get points because it is the key to moving up in the standings. We have some momentum from our win on Sunday and we plan to use some of that to get a result in Philadelphia.\"\n\nPost-Practice Scrum\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPhiladelphia Union\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press\n\nWASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a wide-ranging bill to improve the nation's water infrastructure, including a Florida project intended to reduce toxic algae blooms that have devastated coastal marine life and emptied beaches.\n\nThe new law will help create a reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee designed to filter out toxins that contribute to harmful algae blooms that have killed turtles, fish and other marine life \u2013 even manatees \u2013 and have ravaged South Florida's tourism-driven economy.\n\nThe America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 authorizes more than $6 billion in spending over 10 years for projects nationwide, including the $1.3 billion Everglades Agricultural Area reservoir. The law also boosts projects to restore Gulf Coast wetlands damaged by Hurricane Harvey and improve harbors in Seattle, Savannah, Georgia, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.\n\nThe law also sets up a new framework intended to increase local input on large water projects run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.\n\nCongress approved the bill with just one dissenting vote, by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. Lee said the measure spends federal dollars on a series of local projects that should be funded and maintained by state and local governments.\n\nSen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said the new law helps the economy, cuts red tape and improves aging drinking water systems in communities such as Flint, Mich.\n\nJust as important, the law demonstrates that lawmakers from both parties and all regions can join together for projects to improve infrastructure, Barrasso said.\n\n\"It doesn't get a lot of press \u2013 conflict is what gets covered \u2013 but this is a good, solid, major piece of infrastructure legislation,\" he said in an interview. The next step is an infrastructure bill to improve roads and bridges, Barrasso said, acknowledging that such a bill was unlikely before the next session of Congress.\n\nTrump said during a White House ceremony that he pledged to fix the nation's crumbling infrastructure during the campaign and \"today we're taking another major step toward that goal.\"\n\n\"After years of rebuilding other nations, we are finally rebuilding our nation,\" Trump said.\n\nFlorida Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat who is locked in a close re-election fight with Republican Gov. Rick Scott, hailed the water bill. Nelson praised Republican Sen. Marco Rubio for working with him to advance the Everglades project.\n\n\"This reservoir is particularly important right now to help mitigate the toxic algae crisis that's sweeping the state, but it's also critical for our broader Everglades restoration effort,\" Nelson said.\n\nRubio said on Twitter he was glad Trump signed the legislation, which also was pushed by Florida Republican Rep. Brian Mast.\n\n\"This is an important step toward solving Florida's water challenges,\" Rubio said.\n\nEric Eikenberg, CEO of the nonprofit Everglades Foundation, said approval of the reservoir project is almost two decades late. He urged the Army Corps of Engineers to build the project in four years \u2013 not 10 or 15 years, as some have speculated.\n\n\"Florida's estuaries, coastlines and America's Everglades are imperiled, and the people of Florida cannot afford to wait,\" Eikenberg said."}
-{"text": "Raymond Noel died during a police pursuit, despite the promise of reforms introduced in Victoria in 2015\n\nThis article is more than 11 months old\n\nThis article is more than 11 months old\n\nRaymond Noel Lindsay Thomas died in a police chase that began when he was driving home from a Sunday night dessert run to his local supermarket in suburban Melbourne.\n\nJust before 11pm on 25 June 2017, with a block of chocolate on the passenger seat, Raymond Noel, as his family called him, started his Holden Commodore station wagon, pulled out of the car park at the Preston South Woolworths on to Dundas Street, and turned left.\n\nWithin minutes he was dead, thrown from his car when it ploughed into four parked cars and caught alight on Victoria Road, just 2.4km from the supermarket.\n\nTanya Day died 17 days after falling asleep on a train. Now her family want answers Read more\n\nHe was pursued by a highway patrol car. The police announced his death in a radio call to their area command, just 21 seconds after first formally calling in their pursuit. The call was short. \u201cHe\u2019s come to grief. He\u2019s come to grief.\u201d\n\nMore than two years later, Raymond Noel\u2019s family have begun the lengthy process of a coronial inquest to determine how and why the police pursuit occurred.\n\nFirst, the coroner, John Olle, must determine when the pursuit began. According to both the police driver, Sergeant John Sybenga, and his offsider, Senior Constable Debra McFarlane, it did not start until they turned from Dundas Street on to Victoria Road. They said they had run the Commodore\u2019s number plates on Dundas Street, determined it was unregistered, and turned to follow it. At Victoria Road, both officers said in their sworn statements, they saw that someone \u2014 believed to be the Commodore \u2014 had hit a parked car and initiated a pursuit.\n\nGPS data retrieved from the highway patrol car\u2019s mobile data terminal tells a different story.\n\nA map showing the distance from the South Preston Woolworths to the crash site A map showing the distance from the South Preston Woolworths to the crash site on Victoria Road\n\nThe speed limit on Dundas Road is 50km/h. Counsel assisting Michael Rivette told a directions hearing at the coroners court in Melbourne on Wednesday that the GPS data indicated the police car reached more than twice that speed.\n\nRivette said the mobile data terminal recorded speeds of 93km/h, 111km/h and 116km/h at various points on Dundas Road, before the pursuit, according to police statements, had even begun.\n\nOnce police turned into Victoria Street, the speeds recorded by the GPS system were even higher: 121km/h, and then 154km/h.\n\nRaymond Noel\u2019s speed just before the crash, calculated by two CCTV cameras along Victoria Road, was 157km. He had veered on to the wrong side of the road and lost control of the Commodore when he swung back in an effort to avoid an oncoming car, the coroners court heard.\n\n\u201cSpeed of the police vehicle at all relevant times is highly critical and the evidence at the moment is deficient in relation to that,\u201d Rivette said.\n\nThe accuracy of the mobile data terminals was tested, and eventually accepted, at an inquest in 2012.\n\nIf Victoria police do not accept that the GPS data is showing the accurate speeds, and that their officers\u2019 statements are inconsistent with the objective data, the accuracy of the systems will have to be proved again.\n\n\u2018Big man with a big heart\u2019\n\nAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are over-represented in all death in custody statistics, but that over-representation is higher in deaths involving a motor vehicle pursuit. According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, Indigenous people made up 20% of all deaths in police custody between 1989-90 and 2016-17 but 22% of all motor vehicle deaths.\n\nIndigenous deaths in custody worsen in year of tracking by Deaths Inside project Read more\n\nAccording to evidence before the court, police did not identify Raymond Noel before the crash and his race, and at this stage, it is not included as a causal factor in the inquest scope.\n\nRaymond Noel was from a well-known Aboriginal family in Thornbury. At 6\u20198\u201d (203cm) tall, he stood out. His family called him \u201cBig Raymond\u201d, the \u201cgentle giant\u201d. He was particularly devoted to his nieces.\n\n\u201cOur Raymond was a big man with a big heart,\u201d his family said on Wednesday. \u201cAs big and strong as he was, Raymond had a caring nature and a beautiful soul.\u201d\n\nI am bewildered to be honest that all these years later we don\u2019t have in-car video, in-car audio John Olle\n\nHe was a Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Wiradjuri man. His father, Ray Thomas, is an award-winning artist whose work has been acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria.\n\nHis family is arguing, through the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, for limitations to the discretion of police officers to start a pursuit. Those limitations have been put in place before, by Olle.\n\nThomas sat in the front row of the coroners court on Wednesday, sandwiched between his son Frank and a family ally, and nodded as Olle addressed him.\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t bring Raymond Noel back but we can learn lessons,\u201d Olle said. \u201cThat\u2019s the hope.\u201d\n\nPolice pursuit policy\n\nIn 2015 police reformed their pursuit policy in response to recommendations Olle made in an inquest into the death of Sarah Booth, a 17-year-old killed in a police pursuit in 2006.\n\nEric Whittaker begged corrective services officer for help before his death, calls reveal Read more\n\nOlle\u2019s recommendations included a rule that police \u201cshould never pursue a vehicle simply because it is fleeing\u201d but must instead believe on \u201creasonable grounds\u201d that intercepting the vehicle was \u201cnecessary to prevent a serious risk to public health and safety\u201d. Vehicles could also be intercepted in response to a serious criminal offence or to prevent a serious criminal offence that would cause serious harm.\n\nA recommendation to install video cameras in all highway patrol vehicles, at an estimated cost of $2.4m, was not implemented.\n\n\u201cI am bewildered, to be honest, that all these years later we don\u2019t have in-car video, in-car audio,\u201d Olle told the court on Wednesday. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t have to go through this process [of reviewing data].\u201d\n\nThe assistant commissioner Robert Hill told the media in 2015 that under the previous policy \u201cyou could effectively pursue anyone or anything in terms of offending\u201d.\n\nBut the newly restricted policy was broadened again when a driver who evaded police pursuits killed five pedestrians in Bourke Street mall in 2017.\n\n\u201cThis pursuit policy has had a number of iterations and changes,\u201d counsel for the family, Antony Trood, said. \u201cTo understand the current one we need to know the background, we need to know the changes.\u201d\n\nThe inquest will be heard in April 2020."}
-{"text": "Auction of Brazilian Airports Indicates New Profile in Concessions\n\n03/17/2017 - 13h33\n\nAdvertising\n\nJOANA CUNHA\n\nFROM S\u00c3O PAULO\n\nWithout the presence of any of the Brazilian companies involved in the country's Lava Jato operation, the government auctioned four airports in capital cities. Germany's Fraport acquired the airports in Fortaleza and Porto Alegre, Vinci, of France, the Salvador airport, and Switzerland's Zurich, the Florian\u00f3polis airport.\n\nThe total obtained, including the winning offers plus the contributions to be paid along the 30-year concessions (25 in the case of Porto Alegre), is R$ 3.7 billion (US$ 1.2 billion), above the minimum expected of R$ 3 billion (US$ 965 million).\n\nIn July, R$ 1.46 billion (US$ 469 million) will be paid when the contracts are signed.\n\nThe auction took place on Thursday, March 16, and was dominated by foreign companies - a sharp contrast in comparison with previous actions, which included Brazilian construction companies such as Engevix, Carioca and Odebrecht, currently investigated in the Lava Jato operation, as well as CCR. Among its partners, CCR has Camargo Corr\u00eaa and Andrade Gutierrez, also targeted by the investigation.\n\nDespite the lower number of competitors (three) in comparison with the previous airport public tenders (11 groups in 2012 and five in 2013), Brazilian President Michel Temer said that the country recovered \"credibility in the international scenario.\"\n\nThis time, state-owned company Infraero will not be a partner in the management, which was mandatory in the previous auctions. Anac, Brazil's National Civil Aviation Agency, says that the private management will transport 59% of the air passengers in the country in ten airports.\n\nTranslated by THOMAS MUELLO\n\nRead the article in the original language"}
-{"text": "The defender has come all the way through our Academy ranks and made his senior debut in September 2017, replacing Davide Zappacosta in a League Cup tie against Nottingham Forest.\n\nHe spent last season in League One with Coventry City, where he made 40 appearances for the Sky Blues and helped the newly-promoted side to a respectable league finish of eighth.\n\nSterling, 19, will now link up with Paul Cook\u2019s Latics, following in the footsteps of Reece James, who spent the season at the DW Stadium last term. Wigan finished 18th in the Championship, 12 points clear of the bottom three."}
-{"text": "The Filipino president of a so-called United Nations Open University insists on the legality of its operation in Bangkok, Thailand.\n\nGion Gounet said on Friday that the UN International Open University of Humanity Health Sciences and Peace (UNIOUHHSP) had documents to operate.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\n\u201cAs of the moment, we are currently on the mandate for the legal office not to disclose any proceedings or comments not until they have completed fully our documentations,\u201d told INQUIRER.net in a telephone interview.\n\nGounet, who calls himself as the \u201cUnited Nations Ambassador of Goodwill for Visual Arts,\u201d said that university officials started planning their next steps after INQUIRER.net published an exclusive report on their operation.\n\n\u201cI know that the damage has been done, but apparently we are duly registered. That\u2019s just it for the meantime,\u201d he said.\n\nLast week, INQUIRER.net reported on the first commencement exercises of the university, which was led by Gounet and Edgar B. Eleguen as the \u201cConsul Academic Dean of Indo-China Region.\u201d\n\nThe university was operated by the same people who led the Duterte Partners for Change movement in Thailand.\n\nIn one of the documents obtained by INQUIRER.net, \u201cstudents\u201d were asked to deposit their payment to Partners for Change.\n\nThe pro-Duterte group also promoted the program in their social media accounts.\n\nAn unknown number of graduates were conferred with \u201cmasters and PhD degrees\u201d and diplomas on peace mediation after attending a seminar, a written exam, and a rehearsal for the graduation rites.\n\nAll were conducted in one day for few thousand baht.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nThe \u201cgraduates\u201d were promised that the diploma could be used to renew their teaching license from the Thailand Ministry of Education (Khrusapa).\n\nThey would also hold the title as \u201cPeace Mediation and Special Arbitrary Officer\u201d in the community.\n\nThe diploma also supposedly \u201cboosts the graduates\u2019 visa application in the countries that are members of the UN.\u201d\n\nTaken down?\n\nThe university heavily relied on Facebook to promote their activities and to recruit \u201cstudents.\u201d They targeted overseas Filipino workers who work as teachers and development workers in Thailand.\n\nBut on Friday, an hour after this reporter interviewed Gounet, the university Facebook page could not be accessed by the public. Apparently, the page had been taken down.\n\nBut a similarly named Facebook page that carries instructions for students could still be accessed.\n\nBefore the page was taken down, UNIOUHHSP posted this statement:\n\n\u201cThe International Open University of Humanity Health Science and Peace is a Charter Intergovernmental Institutions which mainly aim to give higher education for Nations around the World with headquarters in California under the UN-IGO Systems and is established and recognized jointly by UN-IGO, UN Academic, UN ECOSOC (Status-Inter-Governmental Institutions), Commonwealth Higher Education Council, International Online Education Accreditation Commission, World Accreditation Board on Online Universities also recognized with International Council of Online, Open and Distance Education under Continue Higher Education Programs extending assistance to people working abroad and to indigenous communities with lowest tuition fees and with highest academic standards having faculty management globally and is administered by Diplomats of United Nations-IGO Systems, Government of Commonwealth, CoE also World Accreditation Board on Online Universities etc & recognize under Higher Education Accreditation board TEXAS Government Since 2014.\u201d\n\nThey also published their email addresses ([email protected], [email protected]) which were registered with Gmail, Google\u2019s email service, and not under any UN domain name.\n\nEleguen did not respond to INQUIRER.net\u2019s requests for comments, but he asked for the news outfit\u2019s e-mail address.\n\nAs of this writing, Gounet has not sent documentation that would support UNIOUHHSP\u2019s affiliation with the UN.\n\n\u2018Fake UN ambassador\u2019\n\nAfter the news broke, many schools and organizations in the Philippines quickly denied their ties with the \u201cfake\u201d UN school.\n\nThe International Youth Council Pilipinas, Inc. (IYC), which partners with various UN agencies for their projects, took to Facebook to warn the public that Gion Gounet or Gibson Guibone (legal in name) was not a UN Ambassador of Goodwill nor affiliated with their organization.\n\n\u201cWe did our background checking and found that he is NOT an ambassador he claims to be,\u201d Alvin Dakis, IYC chairman said. \u201cWe then alerted the UN Office in the Philippines which we believed aided the release of UN\u2019s Cease and Desist order against him and coordinated with the Department of Foreign Affairs about his activities. But lo and behold, he still continue his operations and now has been scamming Filipinos in Thailand.\u201d\n\nDakis also told INQUIRER.net in an interview IYC had alerted the UN office in the Philippines and the Department of Foreign Affairs about Gounet\u2019s activities as early as September 2016.\n\n\u201cHe is a fraud,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will not allow any person or entity to taint IYC\u2019s reputation and to use the just cause of the organization to the Filipino youth for fraudulent activities.\u201d\n\nHe said that IYC\u2019s connection with Gounet was quickly terminated last year when they found out that he was not a UN ambassador and that he was just misrepresenting the world organization in his dealings.\n\nBut Dakis said that they were surprised when they discovered that Gounet continued to use IYC\u2019s name in its dealings, organizing activities involving money under the group.\n\nINQUIRER.net independently verified the ambassadorship of Gounet and found out that he was not listed as a UN ambassador of goodwill nor as a UN messenger of peace.\n\nSuch roles and titles are given to international public figures, artists, musicians, development workers and athletes who advocate certain UN causes.\n\nSome Filipino UN goodwill ambassadors include Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, for the UN program on HIV/AIDS,and actress KC Concepcion, for the World Food Program.\n\nDespite this, Gounet has repeatedly represented the UN in public and private events, some of these were even covered in the media. Some media reports identified him as a UN ambassador.\n\nThe UN Philippine office could not be contacted for a comment, but the Philippine Embassy in Thailand released a brief statement urging Filipinos to be vigilant against fraudulent institutions of learning. /atm\n\nRead Next\n\nEDITORS' PICK\n\nMOST READ"}
-{"text": "Shares\n\n\n\nYears of analyzing popular but dubious claims leads to the impression that just about all knowledge that filters down to the popular consciousness is essentially wrong, at least as a first approximation. This may sound cynical, but think about any area in which you have specialized knowledge and compare that to what the average person believes about that area. Now extrapolate that to every other area of specialized knowledge.\n\nI may be skeptical, but I am not a nihilist. I do think the situation can be and is being improved by popularizing science and other areas of knowledge. Experts need to be directly involved in teaching the public about their area, and when they are, popular beliefs can be corrected.\n\nOne example is the myth that we only use 10% of our brain. This is still fairly popular, and was recently a central plot element to the blockbuster movie, Lucy. However, Google \u201c10% brain\u201d and you will find nothing but links to sites debunking this myth, at least in the first few pages.\n\nAnother popular but baseless myth is the notion that people are either dominantly left-brained or right-brained in their personality and cognitive style. Google \u201cleft brain right brain\u201d and you get more of a mix of credulous sites, like this personality testing site, which states:\n\nWe go through life attached to a lot of personality-related labels \u2013 introverted, optimistic, strong but silent, drama queen, etc. But left-brain or right-brain? These are not so well-known. Interestingly however, whether it is our left hemisphere that is more dominant or our right one, the distinction can impact our personality and the decisions we make. For example, left-brain people are more organized and systematic. Right-brain people are more creative and intuitive. So which side of your brain do you wake up on in the morning? Find out with this test!\n\nPopular culture seems to latch onto ideas that are sexy or meet some psychological need. The idea that we only use 10% of our brains means we have massive untapped potential. The left brain-right brain thing feeds into our fascination with ourselves and the feeling of control and understanding we get by attaching simple, all-encompassing labels to people.\n\nA recent study directly addresses the question of whether or not there is a neurological basis to hemisphere-dominant cognitive styles, but before we review the study let\u2019s go through a little background on the brain.\n\nIt is certainly true that the brain is divided into two hemispheres, right and left. These hemispheres also carry out some different tasks. Specific cognitive abilities localize in one of three basic patterns. They can be bilateral or diffuse, so they do not localize to one hemisphere. Much of what our frontal lobes do, such as attention, are bilaterally redundant in this fashion.\n\nOther abilities localize to both hemispheres for the opposite side. For example, each hemisphere processes vision for the opposite side of the universe.\n\nStill other abilities are localized and lateralize to one hemisphere. For left-hemisphere-dominant people (which is most people) language and math localize to the left hemisphere, while music and visual-spatial processing localize to the right hemisphere. It is this fact which seems to have led to the right brain-left brain idea.\n\nHowever, just because there are specific abilities that localize to a specific part of the brain in one hemisphere, that does not mean that our general personality or cognitive style also localizes to one hemisphere or displays hemispheric dominance. Many basic cognitive functions just don\u2019t localize in this way.\n\nFurther, the two hemispheres have massive interconnectedness. The corpus callosum, for example, is a thick cable running between the two hemispheres, and there are other, smaller cables. There are many networks in the brain that span the two hemispheres. Both sides of our brain work together seamlessly to produce one consciousness.\n\nThere is no significant basis in neuroscience for the hypothesis that people have hemisphere-dominant cognitive styles. This is just a popular made-up myth. I could only find one psychology researcher, Morton, supporting this notion in the published literature, calling the phenomenon \u201chemisity.\u201d\n\nIf we take \u201chemisity\u201d as a serious proposal, what does the evidence show?\n\nA 2013 study directly addressed this question with functional MRI scanning of different subjects.\n\nLateralization of brain connections appears to be a local rather than global property of brain networks, and our data are not consistent with a whole-brain phenotype of greater \u201cleft-brained\u201d or greater \u201cright-brained\u201d network strength across individuals. Small increases in lateralization with age were seen, but no differences in gender were observed.\n\nWhat they found when they looked at thousands of regions in the brain is that there were localized hubs of activity associated with specific tasks, but no global pattern of hemisphere dominance. Despite Morton\u2019s claims and popular belief that people sort into a binary system of left- or right-brained, looking at brain activity did not support this claim.\n\nConclusion\n\nAnother popular myth bites the dust. The notion that people are dominantly left- or right-brained never had a solid foundation in neuroscience, and now the best evidence we have is convincingly negative.\n\nAs myths go, this one is fairly benign, but not completely. Any time our understanding of the world is muddied with simplistic and incorrect notions, there is the potential for mischief. In this case, attempting to pigeonhole with a false binary label can be extremely counterproductive in interpersonal relationships and especially psychology.\n\nSuch notions also are sometime applied to education with the belief that children have different learning styles that need to be catered to. This also does not appear to be true.\n\nLabeling people as left or right brained is no better than approaching people according to their astrological sign or blood type, except that it has the patina of neuroscience that may cause some otherwise-rational people to take the idea seriously."}
-{"text": "(This story has been refiled to fix editing credit)\n\nMANILA (Reuters) - Thousands of commuters flock to Manila\u2019s railway tracks every day, but rather than boarding the trains, they climb on to wooden carts pushed along the tracks, to avoid the Philippine capital\u2019s infamous traffic gridlock.\n\nThe trolleys, as the carts are known, most of them fitted with colorful umbrellas for shade from the sun, can seat up to 10 people each, who pay as little as 20 U.S. cents per ride, cheaper than most train rides.\n\n\u201cI do this because it gives us money that\u2019s easy to earn,\u201d said Reynaldo Diaz, 40, who is one of more than 100 operators, also known as \u201ctrolley boys\u201d, who push the carts along the 28-km (17-mile) track, most wearing flimsy flip-flops on their feet.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s better than stealing from others,\u201d said Diaz, adding that he earned around $10 a day, just enough for his family to get by. A trolley boy since he was 17, he lives in a makeshift shelter beside the track with his two sons.\n\nDiaz said the trolley boys were just \u201cborrowing\u201d the track from the Philippine National Railways, but the state-owned train company has moved to halt the trolley service after the media drew attention to its dangers recently.\n\nThe risk arises because those pushing and riding the trolleys have to watch out for the trains to avoid collisions.\n\n\u201cOf course we get scared of the trains,\u201d said Jun Albeza, 32, who has been a trolley boy for four years after he was laid off from plumbing and construction jobs.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why, whenever we\u2019re pushing these trolleys, we always look back, so we can see if there\u2019s a train coming. Those in front of us will give us a heads-up too.\u201d\n\nWhen a train approaches, the trolley boys quickly grab the lightweight carts off the track and jump out of the way along with their riders.\n\nStill, there have been no fatal accidents since the makeshift service started decades ago, some of the trolley boys told Reuters.\n\nA Manila police officer confirmed that records showed no casualties related to the trolley boys.\n\n\u201cIt is really dangerous and should not be allowed, But we understand that it\u2019s their livelihood,\u201d said the officer, Bryan Silvan.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re like mushrooms that just popped up along the tracks and they even have their own association.\u201d\n\nWhen the Philippine National Railways began operation in the 1960s, its network of more than 100 stations extended to provinces outside Manila.\n\nBut neglect and natural disasters have since caused it to cut back operations by two-thirds, even as the capital\u2019s population has ballooned to about 13 million.\n\nFor office workers and students, the minutes shaved off daily commutes justify the risks of trolley rides.\n\n\u201cThe distance to our workplaces is actually shorter through this route,\u201d said one office worker, Charlette Magtrayo."}
-{"text": "OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--npm, Inc., which runs the world\u2019s largest software registry and maintains the \u2018npm\u2019 software development tool, today announced JavaScript predictions for 2019 and beyond, informed by the company\u2019s report, This Year in JavaScript.\n\nIt can be difficult to predict how an ecosystem as large, varied and dynamic as JavaScript will evolve, but npm, Inc. Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Laurie Voss predicts the following in 2019:\n\nDevelopers will abandon one of their current tools. Frameworks and tools don\u2019t last in JavaScript. The average framework has peak popularity of three to five years, followed by years of slow decline as organizations maintain legacy applications but move to newer frameworks for new work. Developers should be prepared to learn new frameworks, and not hold on to current tools too tightly. React will continue to be the dominant framework. While 60% market share for a web framework is unheard of, this is partly because React isn\u2019t a full framework; it\u2019s part of one. This fact allows it to flexibly cover more use cases. If a developer is building a web app in 2019, React will lend a big advantage in terms of tutorials, advice and bug fixes. Developers will need to learn GraphQL. It might be too early to put GraphQL into production, especially if an organization\u2019s API is already done, but 2019 is the year to get up to speed on the concepts of GraphQL. There\u2019s a good chance developers will be using them in new projects later in 2019 and beyond. A developer within each organization will introduce TypeScript. An npm, Inc. survey of over 16,000 members of its developer community discovered an adoption rate of over 50% for Microsoft, Inc.\u2019s programming language, a rate that implies that TypeScript has grown to become more than just a tool for enthusiasts. Real people are getting real value out of the extra safety provided by type-checking. In particular, members of larger teams should seriously consider adopting TypeScript in projects in 2019.\n\nnpm\u2019s report, due to be updated in the first quarter of 2019, was compiled in partnership with the JS Foundation and the Node.js Foundation. It reveals that JavaScript is the world\u2019s most popular programming language. While 93% of respondents use the language to write code for the web, a still-substantial 70% say they write JavaScript that runs on servers such as Node.js.\n\nOther key takeaways include:\n\nSecurity concerns: For many developers, npm has simply become the way to build websites. The survey revealed that 77% of respondents said they were concerned about the quality and security of the open source libraries they use, while 52% said the tools currently available were inadequate.\n\nFor many developers, npm has simply become the way to build websites. The survey revealed that 77% of respondents said they were concerned about the quality and security of the open source libraries they use, while 52% said the tools currently available were inadequate. Demographics: In the npm community, 25% of developers have been using JavaScript for less than two years, while 51% have been using npm for less than two years\u2014a side effect of the community doubling in size during that time. Nearly 70% of npm users mostly taught themselves JavaScript, while 22% learned on the job.\n\nIn the npm community, 25% of developers have been using JavaScript for less than two years, while 51% have been using npm for less than two years\u2014a side effect of the community doubling in size during that time. Nearly 70% of npm users mostly taught themselves JavaScript, while 22% learned on the job. React/GraphQL growth continues: React continues to dominate the web scene. Over 60% of survey respondents say they use React, although growth in 2018 has been slower than in 2017. Meanwhile, GraphQL adoption numbers continue to explode, driven by the popular client library Apollo.\n\nReact continues to dominate the web scene. Over 60% of survey respondents say they use React, although growth in 2018 has been slower than in 2017. Meanwhile, GraphQL adoption numbers continue to explode, driven by the popular client library Apollo. Transpiler popularity: Babel is the transpiler choice for 65% of npm users, given its versatility outside the React ecosystem. Surprisingly, nearly 50% of developers reported using TypeScript, the type-checked JavaScript variant from Microsoft.\n\nAbout npm, Inc.\n\nnpm, Inc., founded in Oakland, California, in 2014 by Isaac Z. Schlueter and Laurie Voss, maintains the npm package manager for JavaScript and hosts the world\u2019s largest software registry. Created in 2009 as an open-source package manager for Node.js, npm has been embraced by millions of developers worldwide for client- and server-side applications as diverse as IoT, mobile development, financial services and aerospace. More than 150,000 companies, including BBC, Coinbase, eBay, Electronic Arts, Nvidia and Slack, rely on npm\u2019s products and services to reduce developer friction and build amazing things."}
-{"text": "Herbert Hoover famously called alcohol Prohibition the \u201cNoble Experiment,\u201d and it certainly began with noble intentions. Prohibitionists expected the absence of legal alcohol would solve a plethora of social ills created by drinking. Their hopes were summed up by the preacher Billy Sunday, who, on the eve of Prohibition, exulted, \u201cThe reign of tears is over, the slums will soon be a memory; we will turn our prisons into factories and our jails into storehouses and corncribs. Men will walk upright now, women will smile, and children will laugh. Hell will forever be for rent.\u201d\n\nFor \u201cdry\u201d advocates, alcohol represented a threat to society, particularly to the family. A vote for Prohibition was a vote for a healthy family. Who could possibly be against that?\n\nThe Wet Resistance\n\nThe answer, it turned out, was lots of people. There were, of course, wet detractors from the start. Journalist H.L. Mencken often derided Prohibition in his articles; sarcastically quipping that \u201ca Prohibitionist is the sort of man one couldn\u2019t care to drink with, even if he drank.\u201d In 1925, Mencken summed up the record of Prohibition to that point: \u201cThere is not less drunkenness in the Republic but more. There is not less crime, but more. There is not less insanity, but more. The cost of government is not smaller, but vastly greater. Respect for law has not increased, but diminished.\u201d\n\nAnd there were soon an abundance of repeal groups: The Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, The Crusaders, Labor\u2019s National Committee for the Modification of the Volstead Act, Republican Citizens Committee Against National Prohibition, the United Repeal Council, and so on.\n\nLearn More: 5 weird ways Prohibition still exists today\n\nBut arguably, and surprisingly, the greatest foes of Prohibition were women \u2014 surprising, perhaps, because women had played such a prominent and crucial role in the passage of the 18th Amendment. Everyone knew that any decent, upright woman was for a dry America. As Ella Boole, the president of the Women\u2019s Christian Temperance Union, declared, \u201cI represent the women of America!\u201d\n\nSurprisingly, the greatest foes of Prohibition were women.\n\nNot only did this turn out to be untrue, women against Prohibition actually helped achieve something unique in American history: the repeal of a constitutional amendment.\n\nAn Uphill Battle\n\nOne reason the repeal of Prohibition seems so shocking is that it is extremely rare to see major national policies reversed on a dime, because regulations are almost always easier to create than to remove. Public choice theory provides some illuminating, if bleak, explanations for this.\n\nFirst, voters have little incentive to educate themselves about government policies. This \u201crational ignorance\u201d occurs because, for most people, the cost of being well informed greatly exceeds the benefits. Thus, voters are often extremely ignorant of many political failures.\n\nSecond, the errors made by ignorant voters are not random and therefore don\u2019t simply cancel each other out. Instead, voters\u2019 beliefs are skewed by systematic cognitive and ideological biases. And making matters worse, the cost of indulging such biases is often extremely low, with the result that even simple, easily verifiable facts often fail to persuade the voting public.\n\nSimple, easily verifiable facts often fail to persuade the voting public.\n\nFinally, regulations will often create what economist Gordon Tullock called a \u201ctransitional gains trap.\u201d Even if a policy is inefficient for society as a whole, it is likely that someone somewhere is benefiting from it, and those special interests will have a powerful incentive to fight to keep it. But while the benefits go to just a few people or groups, the costs are spread out over all of society. Concentrated benefits and dispersed costs make repealing regulations extremely difficult.\n\nSo what was different about Prohibition? How did the wets overcome these vast hurdles to repeal? There isn\u2019t one answer, but the arrival of the Great Depression (along with Hoover and Roosevelt\u2019s costly recovery programs) helped create political demand for more government revenue, which taxes on legal alcohol sales could help fill. Another important factor was the role of political entrepreneurs, particularly women, in helping to overcome the ignorance, bias, and interests that stood in the way of repeal.\n\nWomen against Prohibition\n\nOne of the early supporters of the wet cause was M. Louise Gross, a secretary to a leading Tammany Hall district leader in New York. In 1922, she helped found the Molly Pitcher Club, named after a Revolutionary War folk heroine, which took a stance against Prohibition based on personal liberty and individual rights.\n\nThe club did not turn out to be a rousing success and was ultimately forced to go through several reorganizations. What was noteworthy, however, was that Gross and the Molly Pitcher Club helped deconstruct the myth that all women were for Prohibition. In fact, there were women working for repeal almost from the very beginning of the \u201cNoble Experiment.\u201d But it would take a former Prohibitionist and political entrepreneur changing her mind for real change to begin.\n\nBy 1928, one supporter of Prohibition, Pauline Sabin, had had enough. She was a wealthy, respected, and politically connected New Yorker, and when Ella Boole declared she represented the women of America, Sabin proudly told The Lookout, \u201cWell, lady, here\u2019s one woman you don\u2019t represent.\u201d After seeing the effects of Prohibition in action, Sabin formed the Women\u2019s Organization for National Prohibition Reform (WONPR) in 1929. As she explained, \u201cI was one of the women who favored Prohibition when I heard it discussed in the abstract, but now I am convinced that it has proved a failure.\u201d\n\nThe Molly Pitcher Club helped deconstruct the myth that all women were for Prohibition.\n\nWONPR was important for repeal because it was successful in publicizing the negative unintended consequences of Prohibition. As Sabin explained, \u201cIn pre-Prohibition days, mothers had little fear in regards to the saloon as far as their children were concerned\u2026 Today in any speakeasy in the United States you can find boys and girls in their teens drinking liquor, and this situation has become so acute that the mothers of this country feel something must be done to protect their children.\u201d\n\nWONPR not only highlighted the costs of Prohibition but also showed why it ran counter to the original temperance goal. Grace Cogswell Root described one incident involving a WONPR activist that highlights the credibility and respectability the organization had earned:\n\n[Mrs. Casserly] was nearly knocked down by a Dry worker, who loudly called out that she must be a childless woman if she wished to get liquor back. Mrs. Casserly replied that she was working against Prohibition because she had four children, and asked the Dry worker how many children she had. Her antagonist, hanging her head, replied that she had none, and walked off. Later she came back, saying that after thinking over their conversation she had realized she was in the wrong, and wished to acknowledge it. Later she signed a WONPR membership card and became one of its workers.\n\nThe organization expanded rapidly in its short but highly successful history. At its start in 1929, it had 100,000 members; by 1930, it had 300,000. By the time the 21st Amendment was ratified, repealing Prohibition in December 1933, its membership topped 1.1 million. Contrast this with the Women\u2019s Christian Temperance Union, which at its peak claimed only 372,000 members, and it is easy to see how skilled Sabin and WONPR were at changing minds.\n\nWhile there were many factors leading to repeal, the efforts of groups like WONPR undoubtedly played a key role in ushering in legalization by educating the public and exposing the ignorance, bias, and entrenched interests surrounding Prohibition. They showed that not only was the \u201cNoble Experiment\u201d a failure, but the truly noble thing to do was to admit it and repeal it. A wet America wasn\u2019t just good for drinkers, it was the right thing to do for all Americans \u2014 families and mothers included."}
-{"text": "With Obama yet again on TV, taking credit for the Fed's reflation of the stock market as somehow indicative of an economic \"recovery\" (\"fiction peddlers\" not allowed in the crowd), here is another way of showing the unprecedented transformation in the US labor pool: since December 2014, the US has added just under 450,000 waiters and bartenders, and no manufacturing workers.\n\nBehold: \"Obama's recovery.\"\n\nAnd here is the longer-term picture, going back to the start of the crisis in December 2007: please do not \"peddle fiction\" upon seeing this chart."}
-{"text": "MLB commissioner Bud Selig will receive the first-ever Commissioner Bud Selig Leadership Award at the Baseball Assistance Team charity dinner next Tuesday night. No word on whether or not Selig also will present the award to himself.\n\n[tweet https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/425749617095892992 align=\u2019center\u2019]\n\nAll jokes aside, the B.A.T. is a non-profit organization affiliated with Major League Baseball, helping those in the \u201cbaseball family\u201d who have fallen on hard times.\n\nSelig has been a polarizing figure throughout his tenure as commissioner, and he is planning to retire at the end of the 2014 season after 22 years in the role."}
-{"text": "TORONTO -- Natalia Chiles doesn't understand why Instagram banned her cannabis teacup giveaway.\n\nWhen the Edmonton social media influencer posted about it a few days before legalization, she thought everything was in the clear. The contest promised a set of regular teacups painted with gold cannabis leaves -- no big deal, right?\n\nWrong.\n\nInstagram pulled the post down saying it violated their community guidelines. Chiles says she could only assume it's because the cups are painted with cannabis images. But she wasn't sure since Instagram never got back to her.\n\n\"It's so frustrating,\" said Chiles, who runs the account \u0393\u00e5\u00f2hiiighvibes on the platform.\n\n\"This is a teacup, this isn't even a cannabis accessory. What's the difference if it has a rose or a leaf printed on it?\"\n\nWhat angers Chiles most is that Instagram doesn't seem interested in providing clarity around cannabis legalization in Canada or explaining why they disapprove of some posts.\n\nInstagram has strict rules around cannabis portrayal that are intended to prohibit the facilitation of smoking weed. While you can post about weed-related content and advocate for marijuana, promoting the sale of the drug is against the rules, it says.\n\n\"Because of the borderless nature of our community, we try to enforce our policies as consistently as possible,\" said Instagram representative Alex Kucharski in email.\n\nBut in a separate statement on Tuesday he acknowledged that Instagram \"reviewers\" made the wrong decision on the teacup post and that it didn't violate the terms.\n\n\"Our team processes millions of reports each week, and sometimes we get things wrong. We're sorry for the mistakes,\" he wrote.\n\nThose loose rules are what frustrated Jodie Emery when her business account was temporarily deactivated earlier this year. Instagram acknowledges that removal was in error, too.\n\nEmery operates an Instagram profile for Jodie's Joint, a Toronto coffee shop she owns that's also a hub for cannabis and hemp advocacy.\n\nIn August, Emery learned her account was shut down after Instagram felt it violated their guidelines.\n\nConfused over how she broke the rules, Emery appealed the closure and asked the company to clarify.\n\nShe says the Jodie's Joint account was reactivated about a week later without Instagram giving her a clear answer to what happened.\n\n\"It's very difficult for a lot of entrepreneurs and advocates who depend on social media for outreach... when they lose those accounts,\" she says.\n\nEmery hoped the federal government would clarify acceptable practices in the weeks leading up to legalization, but she says they've done little to help people understand how a section of the Cannabis Act applies to social media influencers.\n\n\"I call it a bong show,\" she says of how Ottawa is handling the situation.\n\nApplying the Cannabis Act to internet culture only creates more confusion for Instagrammers, some of them say.\n\nUnder federal law, the promotion of cannabis and its related accessories -- or any service tied to cannabis -- is prohibited unless steps are taken to prevent young people under 18 from viewing the activity.\n\nHowever, it's nearly impossible for Instagrammers to know if their posts are being viewed by underage users on one of the most popular apps for teenagers.\n\nEqually problematic is the prohibition of testimonials and endorsements. The Cannabis Act states that weed and any associated brands cannot be presented in a way that \"evokes a positive or negative emotion\" which includes presenting a lifestyle of \"glamour, recreation, excitement, vitality, risk or daring.\"\n\nSo where does that leave Instagrammers who build their entire personas on portraying a glamorous life of recreation and excitement?\n\nNikki Jackson isn't waiting around to find out -- she's already living her best cannabis life on Instagram.\n\nWhen legal weed was introduced last week, the Victoria-based social media influencer wasted little time before lighting up for her 17,000 followers on the \u0393\u00e5\u00f2Savvystonedgirl account.\n\nShe posted about rubbing elbows with iconic stoner Tommy Chong at a corporate event, filmed herself taking a hit from a tiny pipe shaped like a saxophone, and vouched for a new \"smooth\" strain of cannabis she enjoyed.\n\nShe says if any of those posts crossed the line between commentary and endorsement she might not know it. That's one of the reasons she launched a group chat with about 15 of her closest \"Canadian stoner\" friends in hopes of stoking conversations about what's acceptable on social media.\n\nShe figures if Instagram and the federal government can't draft clear standards for influencers, maybe the stoners can forge a pathway for themselves.\n\n\"None of us want to get in trouble for doing this, but we still want to advocate for the normality of cannabis,\" Jackson says.\n\n\"So we've been having an intense conversation for about a week now... to try and comply a little bit more.\"\n\nThey've already drafted a few ideas.\n\nSome influencers added \"Adult Content 19+\" to their profile descriptions to show they're making an effort to deter minors. A few went a step further by adding disclaimers to each cannabis post warning about the effects of smoking marijuana, Jackson says.\n\nIt's an effort she hopes will keep Instagram and the federal government off their backs.\n\n\"I don't think they're going to come down on the influencers as hard as they're going to come down on the companies,\" she says of the possibility of being fined over breaking the law.\n\n\"Most of us think it's more of a fear-mongering thing.\"\n\nThat hasn't stopped Amanda Rose from worrying about losing her Instagram account.\n\nRecently she received a notification from the platform telling her an image she posted of concentrates a few months ago violated their guidelines.\n\n\"That's kind of got me nervous because I've never had a post reported before,\" she says.\n\nRose, who has over 9,000 followers on her \u0393\u00e5\u00f2cbddarling account, says she hopes clearer guidelines are provided to Instagrammers soon.\n\n\"I just got into it because I really wanted to share my story,\" the Otterville, Ont., resident says of using the platform.\n\n\"I'm more of a strain nerd the way that somebody geeks out about video games.\"\n\nShe hopes when the confusion over social media calms down there will be a role for influencer will play as educators of cannabis products.\n\n\"I want to look at it, smell it, touch it and tell people about it,\" she says.\n\n\"But I don't want to get in trouble for doing it.\""}
-{"text": "Calgary police have released a video they say shows a man who falsely identified himself as a ride-hailing company driver before sexually assaulting a woman.\n\nThe incident took place early on the morning of March 5. A group of people were standing outside a restaurant in the 300 block of 11th Ave. S.W. when a man in a blue minivan pulled up and said he was a ride-hailing driver, according to police.\n\nOne woman had arranged for a ride with a company and thought the man was there to pick her up.\n\nPolice said the driver insisted on walking the woman to her door once they arrived at her home and then proceeded to make unwanted comments before repeatedly and inappropriately touching the woman.\n\nAfter the alleged assault, the man left and the woman called police.\n\nVideo released\n\nPolice have now released video footage from near the location where the woman was picked up, which shows a man getting out of a navy blue 2008 to 2010 Dodge Caravan and approaching a different woman.\n\nThat woman continued walking and the man got back in the van.\n\nPolice said the minivan appeared to have something hanging in the back window and had cloth seats.\n\nThe man is described as light skinned, in his early 30s with a distinct accent. He stands approximately 5-10\" tall, with a medium build, dark eyes and no facial hair.\n\nHe was wearing a black baseball hat, black and white shoes and gloves.\n\nAnyone with information is asked to contact Calgary police at 403-266-1234, or anonymously at Crime Stoppers."}
-{"text": "No seriously, she has one. Go look in her gallery on the GF wiki"}
-{"text": "The movie industry has evolved rapidly over the years from traditional cinema filming to over-the-top (OTT) platform. An interesting article from Recode, \u2018\u2019Here\u2019s who owns everything in Big Media today\u2019\u2019, show an overview of the media landscape. Conglomerate firms like AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, Disney and Netflix have monopolised the media industry, each with a market cap of more than USD $150 billion.\n\nPresently, these big media companies control most of the market share and own majority of the businesses in the entertainment industry, be it production studios, film enterprises, cinemas, cable TVs, etc. Therefore, considering the influence and control exercise by a few big organisations in the media space, many are concerned regarding the outlook of the media industry. The following are potential consequences due to monopolisation.\n\n1. Barrier to entry in the media industry\n\nThe media business has always been characterised as an oligopoly. Large media firms have spent years investing in quality Intellectual Property (IP), content, brands and distribution capacity to establish a presence in the industry. Using these dominant positions acquired, they can generate a competitive edge toward gaining a larger market share. This is essentially what independent filmmakers and producers lack access to and eventually lose out.\n\n2. Deprived of innovation in film production\n\nBudget constraint is a major challenge for independent filmmakers and producers to showcase talent in the media industry. Although they possess the potential to create innovative content, but the lack of funding has deprived them the resources needed to exhibit creativity in the media space. This is because a large portion of the budget is being allocated to distributors, marketing companies and other intermediary channels to promote films. Such situation evidently hinders media growth and development, creating stagnation in the industry.\n\n3. Lack of content diversity in the media space\n\nMedia consolidation has changed the landscape of the industry toward commercialisation rather than entertainment. Most media conglomerates are profit driven where stakeholder interests come before public interests. The industry has been subjected to crisis due to monotony. Film making is structured in a way to increase revenue rather than the overall development of the entertainment industry. Hence, the audience choice of content and movie selections are not significant anymore due to that fact that concentration of media ownership is in the hands of these conglomerate firms.\n\nSpokkz empowering viewer communities\n\nIn view of these pre-existing problems encountered in the traditional media industry, Spuul has launched its own blockchain platform called Spokkz, a crowdfunding mechanism that allow the community to select and fund streaming content projects. The team behind the Spokkz initiative is committed toward creating a decentralised ecosystem that can promote and facilitate community engagement between different stakeholders in the marketplace. This will be the next step toward disrupting the traditional media landscape.\n\nSpokkz is regaining the rights and access that stakeholders should have to engage in the media space. Currently, these conglomerate media firms are in control to an extent neglecting the presence and opinions of smaller players in the market. If the fate of the media industry gets to be decided by just a few large media organisations, shouldn\u2019t we all be concerned?\n\nSource:\n\nhttps://www.recode.net/2018/1/23/16905844/media-landscape-verizon-amazon-comcast-disney-fox-relationships-chart\n\nFollow us on social media:\n\nTwitter: https://twitter.com/SpokkzOfficial\n\nReddit: https://reddit.com/r/Spokkz\n\nMedium: https://medium.com/Spokkz\n\nTelegram: https://t.me/SpokkzOfficial\n\nBitcoin Talk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4480708\n\nYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWtrnwbeAUwNDzTcilDWCBQ"}
-{"text": "After over four decades in business, the 3Mile tavern in east Saint John has closed.\n\nA sign on the door Friday read \"Thanks for 41 great years!!\"\n\nThe 3Mile Steak & Rib House opened in 1978, but the original tavern on the site went up much earlier than that.\n\nThe 3Mile Beverage Room back in 1978. (Facebook)\n\nThe tavern underwent many expansions under the current ownership, including the addition of Tonic Nightclub, Legends Bar and Grill, and Coasters, a lounge geared toward VLT gamblers.\n\nIt was a popular spot for pool, wings and Chase the Ace.\n\nThe entertainment complex in flood-prone Glen Falls has been hit hard in recent decades, including an especially severe flood in October 2009.\n\nAfter over four decades in business, the 3Mile tavern in east Saint John has closed. 0:33\n\nIt closed for four days in late January because of flood damage from the recent ice storm.\n\nNorth end Saint Johner David Barsalou, a patron of many decades, was one of a dozen or so people who drove up to the entertainment complex on Golden Grove Road on Friday morning to see if the rumours were true.\n\nThe doors were locked at the bar and restaurant on Friday morning. (Julia Wright / CBC)\n\n\"It's a great spot \u2014 a great gathering spot for anybody from Saint John.\"\n\n\"This is sad to see. It's a tough day for Saint John to see a place like this close after so many years.\"\n\nOwners Peter Bardsley and Kim Hunter could not immediately be reached for comment.\n\nThe entertainment complex has drawn big crowds in years past for special events, concerns and functions. (Facebook)\n\nSaint John Harbour MLA Gerry Lowe, who operated numerous bars in the city, said he's \"sorry that it came to this and sorry for the 25 or so people there that were put out of work.\"\n\nSome of the employees, Lowe noted, would have been there for decades.\n\n\"It was the place to go. They always had a good crowd. It's been there for a long time \u2026 I was surprised by it.\"\n\n\"To me, it's an institution.\""}
-{"text": "VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / November 9, 2017 / In less than a decade, Silver Wheaton built a multi-billion-dollar business by pioneering the concept of silver streams. Now diversified and known as Wheaton Precious Metals, the word \"Wheaton\" remains nearly synonymous with success and streams. Now, the idea of streams has made its way to the burgeoning legal cannabis industry and the aptly named Cannabis Wheaton Income Corp. (CBW.V) (CBWTF) is leading the charge.\n\nIn mining, a stream is an agreed upon amount of a precious metal that a miner is contractually bound to deliver in exchange for upfront cash. Generally speaking, the terms of the agreement aren't as onerous as conventional financing contracts, especially for smaller companies that predatory lenders often rake across the coals with highly-dilutive funding. Streams are beneficial to both parties, as the miner gets much-needed capital and companies like Wheaton, Royal Gold and others employing streaming models get precious metals without having to go through all the hassles and expenses of mine development.\n\nCannabis Wheaton is using the stream, or streaming, model to fund cannabis companies, taking an equity stake and future cannabis product in exchange for its investment. While the company has agreements with more than a dozen partners, to date it has made sizeable investments in two, with more planned upon management completing due diligence and negotiation of terms.\n\nCannabis Wheaton Chairman and CEO Chuck Rifici told Baystreet.ca that he only wants to do deals that are immediately accretive and structured as a \"win-win\" for both companies. To lend some color on different opportunities, he explained that one way to effectively create value is to build capacity with licensed producers. For example, if a cultivator is looking for financing to build a 100,000 square-feet facility, his team could negotiate financing to build a larger facility, say, 150,000 square-feet, increasing production capacity and improving yields and efficiency.\n\nIn this scenario, the grower wouldn't have to concede any of its planned cannabis production and Cannabis Wheaton would negotiate a deal for a percentage of, or all of, the additional 50 percent. The grower gets the funding necessary without having to give away the farm through ultra-dilutive financing and Cannabis Wheaton is guaranteed product for future sales at cost or as a royalty for its investment and services.\n\nFurthermore, streaming partners of Cannabis Wheaton get the benefit of working with one of the most seasoned team of veterans in the industry. Rifici is well respected as one of the most prominent entrepreneurs in the cannabis business, in 2012 founding Tweed Marijuana Inc., now known as Canopy Growth Corp., and building it into a juggernaut with 500,000 square-feet of growing capacity and a market capitalization of a $3.75 billion. Rifici has surrounded himself with some of the most well-known and successful names in all aspects of the space, including CBW President Hugo Alves and EVP of Strategy Mike Lickver, two men regarded as Canada's leading advisors in the cannabis industry.\n\nThe degree of investment can vary for Cannabis Wheaton. For instance, last month they provided Beleave Inc. (CSE:BE)(OTCQX:BLEVF) with C$5.0 million in non-dilutive financing by way of what is called a \"D.O.P.E. Note,\" an acronym for a \"debt obligation repayable in product equivalents.\" Beleave is using the funds to add scale through an expansion facility next to its current production facility in Hamilton, Ontario.\n\nWhile that gives Cannabis Wheaton the \"stream,\" in the case of RockGarden Medicinals, CBW acquired the whole company, putting in its portfolio a wholly-owned licensed producer (LP) under Canada's Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR).\n\nNow partnered, Cannabis Wheaton - which could perhaps most accurately be described as an asset management company - has plenty of skin in the game, explaining why they take the vetting process to the degree that they do before investing some of the C$85 million that they have raised this year. This also keeps the partners working closely together to build value in all aspects of business development, including branding, legal guidance, cultivation oversight, patient and customer portfolios and construction management in addition to merely just financing.\n\nStory continues"}
-{"text": "President Obama, speaking at the G-20 meeting in St. Petersburg on Friday, reminded me of an investment banker trying to sell a deal he doesn't believe in. And the customer knows it.\n\nHalting. Hesitant. Uncertain. Uncomfortable. That's what Obama's statement and body language had to say.\n\nOn the verge of a potentially huge defeat on the Syrian question in Congress, President Obama is in a box. He's looking for a way out, but he can't find one. He's losing supporters in the legislature at home, and he didn't gain any at the G-20 summit abroad.\n\nWhen Obama speaks to the American people on Tuesday, maybe he'll pull a rabbit out of the hat. But House and Senate members and their staffers on both the left and right say the grassroots do not want a Syrian bombing mission. I can't speak for the left. But I know conservatives do not trust the president in his role as commander in chief. They want more than a shot across the bow, but they're not hearing clear strategies and intentions.\n\nWorse, in recent days, the president has retreated back to terms such as \"limited,\" \"narrow,\" \"tailored,\" and \"negotiated.\" He is reminding everyone that he has no intention of a Bashar al-Assad regime change or of crippling the Syrian military.\n\nSome news accounts imply a tougher mission that would take out the Syrian air force and airports and cripple command and control, along with any related chemical-weapons delivery systems. But this sounds more like Secretary of State John Kerry, who has done a good job outlining the military and strategic imperatives of a tough attack. It's not coming from President Obama.\n\nAt the G-20, it was Vladimir Putin who sounded tough as he pledged aid to Syria in the event of an American attack. And that brings up the question of retaliation by Iran and Hezbollah. In that event, what will Israel do? Counterattacks have not been addressed. There's no sense of what might happen next.\n\nA congressional defeat on Syria might well be catastrophic for American credibility, as Sens. John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham suggest and as Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor echo in the House. Everybody seems to know this except the president.\n\nIt's a very bad situation in and of itself. But spillover effects into economic and fiscal affairs will make it worse.\n\nFor example, take Friday's jobs report. It came in well below expectations. In fact, it looks like the pace of job creation is slowing, meaning there will be no second-half economic upturn.\n\nOnly 152,000 private jobs were created in August, while June and July were revised down by 74,000 jobs. Measured over three-month periods, job creation has dropped from 236,000 last February to only 158,000 through August.\n\nAnd while unemployment dropped slightly for August, down from 7.4 to 7.3 percent, the participation rate fell again as more discouraged workers left the labor force. Adjusted for inflation, wage earnings have completely flattened out.\n\nPeople are buying cars, and the ISM reports are strong. But business investment in long-lived projects -- the most powerful job-creator of all -- is actually falling.\n\nSo it's still an anemic 2 percent economy. And when the president returns from overseas, he'll get no plaudits for a new employment boom. More important, should Obama lose the congressional vote on Syria, his entire domestic agenda might fall apart.\n\nAt least three key democratic senators on the banking committee are saying no to the possible nomination of Obama-favorite Larry Summers to the Federal Reserve. And when the Fed itself meets on Sept. 17 and 18, it will probably defer any widely advertised bond-purchase cutbacks until the Syrian crisis has passed.\n\nTwo weeks after that, unless a continuing resolution gets passed, the government shuts down. And two weeks after that, the nation's borrowing power expires, making a higher debt ceiling necessary to keep operations going.\n\nAnd on top of all that, the military is screaming that they need more money, because the president is asking them to do more with less.\n\nHow can a president defeated on Syria hope to cope with all this? It's almost beyond imagining. Which begs perhaps the largest question of all: Will a Syrian defeat in Congress cripple the administration completely, with 40 months left in the executive's term?\n\nNone of this is as important as America's global credibility, when the U.S. must not stand back and let rogue dictators use weapons of mass destruction. That said, Obama's foreign-policy blunders may end his domestic policy, too."}
-{"text": "In few hours from now, the State is going to witness the historic celebration of the 50th year of Nagaland Statehood with the President of India Pranab Mukherjee inaugurating it. The State of Nagaland was formally inaugurated by the 2nd President of India Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan as the 16th State of the Indian Union on the 1st of December, 1963 at the Kohima Local Ground.\n\nWhile commemorating this \u201cHistoric Event\u201d on 1st of December, 2013 in the State, one cannot help but fondly remembers those who made the Statehood happened 50 years ago. These Naga leaders who had formed the Naga People\u2019s Convention (NPC) in late 50s had sacrificed, toiled and even risked their precious lives during that turbulent period and finally could succeed to convince the Union Government under the first Prime Minister Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru to create a separate State of Naga people on the basis of a \u201c16-Point Memorandum\u201d which finally became the \u201c16-Point Agreement.\u201d This \u201cAgreement\u201d was signed between the Government of India and the NPC in 1960 and that led finally to the formation of the State of Nagaland in 1963.\n\nThe State was born out of \u201cPolitical Agreement\u201d between the Government of India and the NPC and some of the salient features of this \u201cAgreement\u201d are the incorporation of certain points such as \u2014 1. Religious and social practices of the Nagas, 2. Naga customary laws and procedures, 3. Administration of civil and criminal justice involving Naga customary laws and 4. Ownership and transfer of land and its resources\u2014 in the Article 371 (A) of the Constitution. This makes the State and its people \u201cunique.\u201d\n\nSome of the signatories of the \u201c16-Point Agreement\u201d became Chief Ministers in the post-Statehood periods. They were late P Shilu Ao, late JB Jasokie and Dr SC Jamir. Vizol was one of the signatories in the 16-Point Memorandum but was not a signatory when the \u201c16-Point Agreement\u201d was inked between the Government of India and the NPC. It is so poignant at this junction to say that Dr SC Jamir is still alive and keeping well. He is presently Governor of Odisha. He will have a lot to tell the moving history of the pre and post-Statehood eras.\n\nIt is also equally emotional to note that seven who served as Members of the Interim Body of Nagaland are still alive. It is really a momentous for these grand Naga leaders and they should be well-honored.\n\n50 years is a long journey in human history. The State has produced nine Chief Ministers since 1964 till date (this is not included in the Chief Ministers\u2019 multiple tenures). They are late P Shillu Ao, late TN Angami, late Dr Hokishe Sema, late Vizol, late JB Jasokie, Dr SC Jamir, KL Chishi, late Vamuzo, and Neiphiu Rio. It may be mentioned that late Dr Hokishe Sema was the first Naga who became Governor of Himachal Pradesh from 1983 to 1986. They were all \u201cunique\u201d leaders in their times and also many of those who served in the Interim Body Period became successful politicians in later part of their lives. They all are now \u201chistory.\u201d\n\nThis writer was privileged to have interviewed late Dr Hokishe Sema, late JB Jasokie, late Vizol and late Vamuzo while they were alive. These leaders had visions for the Nagas. They had done their parts in shaping the destiny of the Nagas.\n\nWhile remembering these leaders, we can flash back a little bit of what the State was in 1963. The population of the newly created Nagaland State was 3.69 lakh. Literacy was at the nadir with little over sixty thousand Nagas were literate. Not a single college was there when the State was created, except two Government High Schools. Only 11 Government Middle Schools and 180 Government Primary Schools were there. There were only two civil hospitals and smaller hospitals and dispensaries in the whole of the newly created State of Nagaland in 1963. Road communication was horrible as blacked-topped roads totaling about 168 kilometers at that point of time. Basic necessities such as water supply, electricity, were nil.\n\nToday, the State has about one lakh Government employees in a population of nearly two millions. It has now 28 Government Higher Secondary schools, 273 Government High Schools, 878 Government Middle Schools and 1794 Government Primary Schools. On top it, nearly 900 private schools are there. The State\u2019s road stretch altogether is now 10176 kilometers. Today the State is proud of having 58 Colleges when it did not have even a single College in 1963. In Health Sectors too, the State has progressed immensely. There are many departments now. The State has progressed a lot in many areas in the last 50 years and successive Government under various Chief Ministers had contributed their shares in shaping the State. It is a process and it has to go on and there is no limit in the journey of development and progression.\n\nWhile saying so, some very pertinent issues remain critical till today and these need paying immediate attention. That unlike other states, the State of Nagaland does not have any source on its own to generate income and it had to depend solely on the Center for the overall wellbeing of the State. Earlier the State had two Mills namely Sugar Mill and Paper Mill. Unfortunately, both of these Mills miserably failed in spite of several attempts to revive by the successive Governments in the State. Somehow, a ray of hope has come this time, when the Center has approved the revival of the sick Paper Mill at Tuli under Mokokchung district with the releasing of Rs 100 crore as first installment.\n\nWe can write many things of what had happen in Nagaland in the last 50 years but it is not possible to narrate stories of 50 years in just 1000 words or so. But the fact is many things are yet to be done. Today\u2019s Naga youth are more informed, educated and well-versed. They cannot be easily fooled by some dramatic gestures of politicians. They know where they are headed to.\n\nThe State has the highest literacy in the country, but the \u201cemployable factors\u201d used to come in from time to time. Our educational systems are not up to the mark. The saddest part is the State does not have even a single Engineering College or a single Medical College or a single Technical College ever after 50 years of its Statehood. And we are expecting our educated youth to compete with their counterparts who have been brought up and educated in an environment of modern educational facilities.\n\nThis writer has been persistently highlighting about the pathetic condition of the State particularly with regard to not having any single Medical College or Engineering College or Technical College even to the extent of discussing the matters with various union Ministers and high profile officials of the Center. They listened to and even sometimes made emotional apologies that the State of Nagaland underwent in such a way without such facilities till date. They also assured that they would look into the matters and see that things were happening on the ground. We should also admit at the same time that the State seemed lacking political will as well as bureaucratic bargaining skills. Nevertheless, the President while inaugurating the \u201cGolden Jubilee Celebration\u201d of the Nagaland Statehood should think for a moment whether it is right that the people of Nagaland deserve this kind of treatment even after 50 years of Statehood which they got through series of \u201cpolitical negotiations and bloodsheds.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\ncomplains about long wait in line up takes 5 minutes to order"}
-{"text": "Including pensioners, 3 crore people will be directly impacted by Pay Commission recommendations, say analysts.\n\nHighlights Government staff's salaries will go up 23.5% after pay panel hike\n\nExperts say, they should use it to reduce high-cost debt\n\nThey can also consider increasing life insurance cover, say experts\n\nIn a big bonanza for 1 crore government employees and pensioners, the Union Cabinet today approved the Seventh Pay Commission's recommendations. Effective January 1, government staff salaries will go up 23.5 per cent.The Pay Commission's recommendations also influence wages of employees of state-owned firms, local bodies and 29 states. Including pensioners, analysts say that 3 crore people will be directly impacted by the Pay Commission's recommendations.So if you are among the beneficiaries, have you decided where you are going to spend the money?As your income stream is going to increase, instead of spending the money hastily, you should do proper financial planning, say experts.\"Do a proper analysis of your financial situation, look for the gaps which are preventing you to reach your goals and try to fill them,\" says Anil Rego, CEO and founder of financial advisory fund Right Horizons.If you have a home loan running, you can consider reducing it by increasing the equated monthly instalment (EMI), says Mr Rego.This will reduce your overall cost of borrowing and strengthen your financial position in the long run. If you have any other high cost debt, you can consider getting rid of it.Also, a part of the salary hike can go towards increasing the SIPs or systematic investments plans in mutual funds. It will help you to meet your long-term goal likes retirement or children's education/marriage.The lump sum that you may receive in the form of arrears can be invested in a short-term debt mutual fund and transferred systematically to equity mutual funds, say experts.One can also consider using the money towards increasing life insurance cover, said Mr Rego.If you have any short-term goal like buying a car in the next one year, you should keep the money in more liquid and relatively safe debt instruments like fixed deposits (FDs).Suresh Sadagopan, Founder of Ladder7 Financial Advisories says \"A lot of people wrongly believe that real estate can only give good returns over long period of time.\"\"Investing in property should be seen in conjunction with the overall portfolio. If a person already has a property, it may not be a great idea to invest in real estate further given the illiquidity and low rentals,\" he added.\"Invest some portion towards skill enhancement so that even after retirement you are able to generate cash flow for yourself,\" says Vishal Dhawan, founder and chief executive officer of Plan Ahead Wealth Advisors."}
-{"text": "click to enlarge Photo via Wikipedia\n\nFentanyl, an opioid 50 times stronger than heroin, is becoming a rising concern as its presence was detected in more than half of overdose deaths in 10 states last year according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.The proliferation of fentanyl-related deaths has been attributed in part to the drug being combined with cocaine. Fentanyl-laced cocaine is considered especially dangerous for users who have no tolerance for opioids, as it leads to higher chances of death from overdose.The consequences of the spread of fentanyl-laced cocaine have emerged in the city of Cleveland over the last few years. According to the Cuyahoga Country Medical Examiner's office, of the 477 fentanyl related fatalities in 2017, 200 of those were attributed to a fentanyl/cocaine combination. This is up from 92 fentanyl and 24 fentanyl/cocaine related deaths registered in 2015.By June 2017, the Medical Examiner's office found traces of fentanyl in 299 packages of cocaine, up from nine found in 2015. While these numbers should alarm all cocaine users, Cuyahoga County medical examiner Dr. Tom Gilson says they should be a heightened cause for concern amongst African-American users.\"Over the space of three years we have almost a 14-fold increase in fentanyl deaths among African-Americans,\" Gilson told NPR . \"The opioid epidemic started in white suburbia but with the infiltration of fentanyl into the cocaine market we are definitely now seeing many more African-Americans dying of this problem.\"The reasoning behind why batches of cocaine were laced with fentanyl in the first place are unknown. Current theories include carelessness with packaging as well as suppliers locking in customers with the highly addictive fentanyl.So far, public warnings for fentanyl-laced cocaine have been issued in New York City Rhode Island , and Tennessee. In a press conference , Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Assistant Director T.J. Jordan summarized the dangers of the drug.\"Here's why we're so concerned,\" Jordan said. \"What you might buy and use, thinking it's a good time, could cost you your life.\""}
-{"text": "There has been a significant focus on India\u2019s rising importance in contemporary global political matters, as the world looks up to India as a partner on a wide array of issues. Multiple factors are responsible behind this shift in stature.\n\nIn just five years, India has shown a more confident and proactive approach towards shaping global policies and the increase in global stature is a product of this approach.\n\nIt is this confident and proactive approach of the Indian government towards global politics that is responsible for India being able to garner support from most countries after the Pulwama attacks. It is well known now that the global diplomatic community recognised India\u2019s legitimate right to defend itself, as India undertook a non-military strike at a terror camp inside Pakistan.\n\nThis is in stark contrast with the events that transpired after 26/11 where the global community was nudging India towards a dialogue with Pakistan, as India repeatedly sent dossiers to our neighbour in anticipation of an action against terrorists.\n\nSadly, there was no action back then. India gave Pakistan proof even after the Pathankot attack as an opportunity to demonstrate its willingness to work against terror. Yet again, Pakistan squandered away the opportunity and the Indian government post the Uri attack had to eventually respond by a surgical strike.\n\nBy the time Pakistan\u2019s prime minister requested for evidence after the Pulwama attacks, the Indian government had already made its stand clear, that the defence forces will respond appropriately to unprovoked aggression.\n\nPost Pulwama, the global diplomatic community did not \u2018nudge\u2019 us towards discussing or providing evidence to Pakistan. It stood with India post the attack in solidarity, as it continues to stand proudly with India post the retaliatory airstrikes.\n\nThis is a formal recognition of the fact that for far too long, India has been at the receiving end of terrorism that is provided a safe harbour in Pakistan. A major reason behind this is that India has started playing a proactive role in multilateral agencies and international forums. Most nations have expected India to play a leading role during such negotiations, but successive governments had avoided it as we feared it may upset some of our allies and certain global powers.\n\nA consequence of this departure from previously stated foreign policy since non-alignment days, has resulted in India forging closer ties with our allies while many other nations have started to view India as a key strategic partner in their development journey.\n\nThere is a shift towards the notion of a \u2018natural alliance\u2019 based on shared principles and values, a cultural history and common challenges. This has resulted in India forging a new kind of alliance with multiple countries across the globe.\n\nFor instance, the International Solar Alliance, is one such endeavour, where India brings together 122 countries on a common forum with the agenda of ensuring energy security while simultaneously reducing the dependence upon fossil fuels. Another good example would be the strong ties that India shares with Israel which are derived from a common strategic interest in the Middle Eastern region or the alliances with south east Asian countries that have historically been close allies of India. Most of these alliances find their merit in heterogeneity of its members.\n\nSome partnerships are with high income countries while others with medium or low-income countries. The formation of such alliances is no longer based on the \u2018North\u2019 versus the \u2018South\u2019, as international relations and forums have started to be more heterogenous.\n\nThe new alliance is unlike a conventional alliance or a group of countries as this is based upon shared strategic interests, which implies that in multi-lateral negotiations, the stand taken by most of these countries is common.\n\nA key aspect behind this tectonic shift in global diplomacy is India\u2019s recent push to engage with our diaspora much more effectively and regularly. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has himself held several meetings with Indians abroad and he has channelised his visits to act as a branding exercise for \u2018Brand India\u2019. This marketing strategy has surpassed the expectations of most analysts as India witnesses record foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows since 2014.\n\nAdditionally, for countries where India does not have active partnerships in the areas of economic association, cultural relations or defence partnership, the common challenges such as energy security or the threat of climate change align together a series of mutual interests that are then pursued by the Indian government. Therefore, effectively we are forging close relations with countries in one area with the intention of furthering our partnership in other areas of mutual interest.\n\nA strong economy is, however, a small aspect of soft-power potential. A major change has been in acknowledgment of the fact that India had historic strong ties with several nations in the south east and south Asia region. These ties were routed in the strong cultural and trade ties that existed between the people of the two regions. The Ministry of External Affairs and the Prime Minister had advocated for an Act East Policy, which can be seen as a mechanism to use the historical ties as a catalyst for forging strong future partnerships.\n\nThe Ministry of External Affairs under the leadership of Sushma Swaraj has had a significant role to play as India stepped up its diplomatic efforts and tried to foster closer and peaceful ties with all nations across the globe.\n\nIndian government has always formulated policies based upon ethics and morals since ancient times and when the Yemen crisis occurred, Indian government upheld these values as it undertook a massive operation to rescue Indians stuck in the active war-zone. In those operations, India also extended its help to several other countries that requested for assistance thereby showing that India is willing to play a larger role in global matters and is always willing to assist as and when a crisis occurs.\n\nIndia\u2019s new approach towards its foreign relations is a multi-dimensional one with the view that relation with different countries should lie in the broad and mutually exclusive categories of cultural, strategic and economic interests. A good example of this could be India-US\u2019s relations as we continue to have our strategic and regional interests aligned despite disagreements regarding free trade and reciprocal tariffs.\n\nThis view is important, as India may have a strong cultural and economic partnership with certain nations, but it may not have any strategic partnership just yet. This multi-dimensional view of relations with other countries has led to the understanding that diplomatic relations may not always be a zero-sum game and it is this understanding that is propelling the growth of our soft-power potential across the globe.\n\nIt is this renewed understanding backed by India\u2019s willingness to play a larger role and engage more frequently with other nations that has enabled the Indian government to formulate a new normal in India\u2019s diplomatic relations.\n\nThis new normal has a confluence of India\u2019s historical and cultural ties combined with strategic and economic interests, which are shaping up the formation of a \u2018natural\u2019 alliance between key countries across the globe. This new normal combined with India\u2019s hard stance on its national security will act as a strong deterrent against other nations that until now conveniently utilised unconventional strategies to create unrest in India."}
-{"text": "Police are asking the public for information after human remains were discovered in a wooded area of Roseville, authorities said Tuesday. The Roseville Police Department said it received a call Feb. 12 from someone reporting they found bones in a wooded area near the 600 block of Riverside Avenue. Officers went to the area and found the skeletal remains, which experts believe had been there for about two years, according to a news release from Roseville police. An investigation is underway to determine cause of death, and it's unknown if there was foul play, police said. Roseville police said they worked with the Placer County Sheriff's Office and the Chico State Anthropology program to search the area. Authorities believe the remains are those of a dark-haired male who was about 6 feet, 2 inches tall. Roseville police asked anyone with information about the remains to contact Detective Darren Marks at dmarks@roseville.ca.us.\n\nPolice are asking the public for information after human remains were discovered in a wooded area of Roseville, authorities said Tuesday.\n\nThe Roseville Police Department said it received a call Feb. 12 from someone reporting they found bones in a wooded area near the 600 block of Riverside Avenue.\n\n\nOfficers went to the area and found the skeletal remains, which experts believe had been there for about two years, according to a news release from Roseville police.\n\nAn investigation is underway to determine cause of death, and it's unknown if there was foul play, police said.\n\nRoseville police said they worked with the Placer County Sheriff's Office and the Chico State Anthropology program to search the area.\n\nAuthorities believe the remains are those of a dark-haired male who was about 6 feet, 2 inches tall.\n\nRoseville police asked anyone with information about the remains to contact Detective Darren Marks at dmarks@roseville.ca.us."}
-{"text": "It\u2019s hot stove season up here, but thanks to the Coriolis Effect or something, in Australia the stove is ice-cold\u2014it\u2019s the baseball action that is hot.\n\n\nAfter the singing of the national anthem (\u201cAdvance Australia Fair\u201d), the bullpens of the Brisbane Bandits and Melbourne Aces remained standing, their caps over their hearts. It kept going. It was a good old-fashioned showdown-under, not even breaking for water\u2014a helpful attendant hydrated the Bandits so they didn\u2019t have to abandon their patriotism).\n\nIt went into the third inning, when a fly ball down the left field line sent Melbourne players scattering and making it official: Brisbane loves Australia more."}
-{"text": "Aaaannnnndddd\u2026. we\u2019re back! Although the quality of this recording is slightly below what we usually upload, it\u2019s all we have at the moment. Enjoy this short but amazing (as always!) gig at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada!\n\nFILE FORMAT: MP3 (128kbps)\n\nTRACKS\n\nViva Las Vegas (Elvis Presley cover) Human Mr. Brightside Shot At The Night All These Things That I\u2019ve Done When You Were Young\n\n(MEGA)\n\nDecryption Key:\n\nUxGAFORy38oNcjarITFavZPVqNLVfKtFgqroDSs68z0"}
-{"text": "Romney turns down The Donald\n\nMitt Romney just told Fox News's Neil Cavuto that he won't be taking part in the Donald Trump-moderated Newsmax debate.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not participating in that,\" he said, per POLITICO's Juana Summers, adding that he had talked to The Donald and said, \"I indicated that we just can\u2019t make this debate; we\u2019ll focus on the other two that we\u2019ve got.\u201d"}
-{"text": "+ = ?\n\nThe Idea\n\nBeing a console junky, I am always looking for ways to improve my experience at the terminal. One thing that is is dire need of improvement is the console bell. You know, the really annoying beeping sound that occurs when you pressed the wrong key, that you immediately disable when setting up a new computer. Unfortunately, the bell really does provide a useful service: that of allowing the system to notify you when you need to fix your input. It is possible to turn on a \u2018visible bell,\u2019 which inverts the foreground and background colors of the console. In practice, though, I find this almost as annoying as the bell, and disable it as well.\n\nSo what else can we try? It occurred to me that there is an obvious solution: haptic feedback! The only trouble is, I don\u2019t know of many keyboards that have a vibrating motor built in. Of course, this is an easy thing for a DIYer to fix. It turns out that is is quite straightforward to add the vibrator motor to the keyboard, however patching a terminal program to activate the buzzer took a bit more head scratching. Instructions after the break\u2026\n\n\n\nPreparing the Vibrator Motor\n\nThe first step was to secure a vibrator motor. I happened to have one from an old cell phone, so I pulled it out and dusted it off. It had very short leads on it, so the first order of business was to solder some longer wires to it.\n\n\n\nBecause the leads were so tiny and fragile, I added some shrink tubing to hold everything together. I put a small diameter tube over each wire individually, then two layers of larger shrink tubing over the whole thing. It ended up looking like this:\n\n\n\nLater on, I added a connector to the end of the motor leads.\n\n\n\nInterfacing to the keyboard\n\nThe next step was to figure out how to hook the motor up to the keyboard. Because I was using a USB keyboard, I knew that there would be a good 5v power source available. To trigger the motor, I decided to use the scroll lock LED. My initial plan was to use a sneaky signaling system where I would flash the LED faster then the eye can see, and program a microcontroller to look for the signal and turn on the vibrator. That turned out to be overkill, and I ended up switching the motor on and off using the scroll lock LED directly. I decided to modify my Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000. Getting it apart was a little tricky. All the screws in the back had to be removed, then the space bar was (carefully) popped off, revealing two further screws. There was a final clip at the front center of the keyboard, which came apart easily once the space bar screws were removed.\n\n\n\nI really lucked out choosing this keyboard- the controller board uses nice, through-hole discrete components. It was short work to hook up a multimeter and figure out which of the large resistors connected to our Scroll Lock LED. To do this, I attached one lead to a ground connection, and then probed the ends of the resistors with the other lead while toggling the scroll lock LED (tip: if the scroll lock button is disabled on your system like it is on my Ubuntu one, you can use the command \u2018xset led 3\u2032 to turn it on, and \u2018xset -led 3\u2032 to turn it off).\n\n\n\nOnce I identified the proper end of the proper resistor, I rigged up a transistor to drive the motor. Because the LED is being controlled from the low side (meaning it is always connected to +5v, and the controller connects and disconnects the ground side to turn it on and off), I needed to use a PNP transistor to turn the motor on and off in phase with the LED. I replaced the original resistor that was powering the LED to get a higher motor current, and added a transient suppression diode in parallel with the motor:\n\n\n\nI soldered some leads onto the +5v and GND connections from where the USB connector interfaced with the board, and also soldered a lead to the LED wire that I had identified previously. I then built a prototype of the circuit on a breadboard, and connected it up:\n\n\n\nOnce I was satisfied that the circuit would work, I mounted it on a little pc board from radio shack and stuck it in the keyboard.\n\n\n\nThe final mechanical bit was to attach the buzzer motor to the keyboard. I decided to glue it to the left-side wrist rest, so that it would be closest to my hand when it vibrated. I had some Aleene\u2019s 7800 adhesive laying around that I decided to try; I will try to remember to update later to tell if it worked or not. Before gluing the two parts together, I used some sandpaper to rough them up, and some IPA to clean off the sanded surfaces. I then used a \u2018C\u2019 clamp to hold the two pieces together during drying.\n\n\n\nModifying the Terminal Program\n\nWith the hardware bit finished up, it was time to work on the software bit. So far, I had been triggering the LED on and off manually, and I needed a way to integrate the buzzer into the terminal. I first pulled down the source for gnome-terminal, but found that it was really a front-end for a library, and that I would need to compile and install the library to get it to work. Instead, I switched to Xterm, which implements its terminal functions directly.\n\nI modified Xterm version 235 (available here) to flash the scroll lock LED instead of turning on that horrid buzzer. It turned out that I only had to patch one file, misc.c. I am not an experienced X11 programmer, so it took a while to figure that out :-). The patch follows. Of course, the best way to do this would be to modify the low-level X libraries, but that would be significantly more work.\n\n787a788 , 816 > > #define CAPSLOCKLED 1 > #define NUMLOCKLED 2 > #define SCROLLLOCKLED 3 > > /* Turn the Scroll Lock LED on momentarily, to trigger a vibration motor */ > void > VibrateBell ( ) > { > TScreen * screen = TScreenOf ( term ) ; > XKeyboardControl keyboard_control ; > unsigned long mask = KBLed | KBLedMode ; > > /* Turn the Scroll Lock LED on */ > keyboard_control. led = SCROLLLOCKLED ; > keyboard_control. led_mode = LedModeOn ; > XChangeKeyboardControl ( screen -> display , mask , & keyboard_control ) ; > XSync ( screen -> display , false ) ; > > /* Wait a while */ > usleep ( 100000 ) ; > > /* Turn the Scroll Lock LED off */ > keyboard_control. led = SCROLLLOCKLED ; > keyboard_control. led_mode = LedModeOff ; > XChangeKeyboardControl ( screen -> display , mask , & keyboard_control ) ; > } > > 824c853 < XkbBell ( screen -> display , VShellWindow , percent , which ) ; --- > // XkbBell(screen->display, VShellWindow, percent, which); 826c855 < XBell ( screen -> display , percent ) ; --- > // XBell(screen->display, percent); 827a857 , 858 > > VibrateBell ( ) ;\n\nResults\n\nAfter re-assembling the keyboard, the modified Xterm program was run. The vibrator does work as designed; however, the vibration is too weak to shake the keyboard, and as a result is too hard to feel well. The vibration definitely can be heard, which means that it works as a notification of sorts. I might try replacing the PNP transistor with a P-channel MOSFET, which has the potential to drive the buzzer harder. During testing, I noticed that it is currently drawing 65 mA using the current setup, while it is capable of 100 mA when connected directly to the power supply. All in all, a fun experiment!\n\nAs a side note, this method could probably be used as a simple way to control other devices using the computer. It is especially handy for ones that you want mounted in or near the keyboard. Be careful when driving devices directly from an LED signal though, in case a rogue program decides to turn it on for a long time."}
-{"text": "Lenovo and Google had already announced plans to launch the first commercially-available smartphone to use Google\u2019s Project Tango technology. Now Lenovo has set a launch date: June 9th.\n\nThat\u2019s when the company will unveil the new phone with cameras for capturing and interacting with 3D imagery.\n\nIt\u2019s also the date of Lenovo\u2019s second annual Tech World conference.\n\nGoogle has been working on Project Tango for a a few years, and the company has made some limited edition phones and tablets featuring the technology available to developers. But Lenovo is the first company expected to sell a Project Tango phone to the general public.\n\nLenovo says applications for the technology could include navigation, gaming, and more. For example, you could use your phone to create 3D maps of your home or workplace and do some virtual re-decorating before spending money on paint or new furniture. Or you could play games where virtual aliens hide behind the real walls in your space.\n\nThe company says Tech World will also feature an announcement of \u201cnew mobile technology designed by Motorola that will dramatically change the way people think about and use their most personal devices \u2013 in a snap,\u201d which sounds to me like it\u2019s either a camera-related announcement, or something designed to save you time\u2026 or both.\n\nUpdate: It seems likely that the \u201cin a snap\u201d language refers to a new modular system that allows you to connect accessories such as battery packs or camera upgrades to the back of the phone.\n\nShare this article: Share this: Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nReddit\n\nPocket\n\nTumblr\n\nPinterest\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\n"}
-{"text": "Super Bowl Sunday is typically considered a quiet day for the NBA, but one of its biggest stars put in an honest day of work for this year's game between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers. One day after dropping a tight game to the Golden State Warriors and honorary Panther #KeepPounding drummer Stephen Curry in nearby Oakland, Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Kevin Durant served as a credentialed photographer on the Super Bowl 50 sidelines at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara.\n\n[Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]\n\nTake a look here:\n\nLast night, @KDTrey5 was shooting the lights out of Oracle.\n\n\n\nTonight, he's shooting #SB50 for the Players' Tribune. pic.twitter.com/FrZe039F5G\n\n\n\n\u2014 The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) February 7, 2016\n\nDurant was credentialed through The Players' Tribune, for which he carries the title of Deputy Publisher. Evidence suggests that he was not merely a bystander on the sidelines, but an active photographer throughout the game. It's not clear how many colleagues he blocked with his lanky frame, although we're sure his height allowed him some angles most photographers aren't able to get.\n\nView photos KD takes in the Super Bowl scene. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) More\n\nView photos Kevin Durant sits at the scorer's table to check in for another photographer. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) More\n\nIt's a bit of a role reversal for Durant, who has recently been quite critical of the media's treatment of professional athletes. We'll have to see if his experience Sunday lends him a new outlook on that relationship.\n\n- - - - - - -\n\nEric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!\n\nFollow @FreemanEric"}
-{"text": "Polikarbonat , kadar se uporablja kot kritina, ima veliko prednosti. Najprej so ti materiali ugodni za uporabo, saj imajo prozorno teksturo in tako prepu\u0161\u010dajo svetlobo, so prosojni in imajo UV za\u0161\u010dito. Prav tako imajo plo\u0161\u010de iz polikarbonata majhno te\u017eo in so lahke za obdelavo. Makrolon plo\u0161\u010de so tudi cenovno ugodne in enostavne za monta\u017eo.\n\nPlo\u0161\u010de iz polikarbonata so obstojne na udarce, mo\u017eno ih je rezati s cirkularno \u017eago in zagotavljajo UV za\u0161\u010dito pred son\u010dnimi \u017earkami, hkrati pa dobro prepu\u0161\u010dajo vidno svetlobo. Zna\u010dilnost plo\u0161\u010d iz polikarbonat je tudi, da v nasprotju s PVC kritino bledijo zelo po\u010dasi ali sploh ne. Poleg stre\u0161ne kritine je polikarbonat uporabljen tudi pri zaslonih mobilnih telefonov in za stekla pri letalih.\n\nMakrolon plo\u0161\u010de (kot lexan themoclear) zagotavljajo kvaliteto \u0161tevilnemi arhitekti, oblikovalci in praktiki se zavedajo kakovosti polikarbonatov kot kritine za nadstre\u0161ke. Makrolon polikarbonatna kritina vam je na voljo v dveh verzijah. Prekatna polikarbonatna kritina in polna polikarbonatna kritina. Kot kritine za nadstre\u0161ke lahko uporabite polne in prekatne plo\u0161\u010de. Kritina za nadstre\u0161ke je torej pojem, pri katerem se spla\u010da razmisliti.\n\nKako lahko ugotovite, ali je polikarbonat prava izbira za vas? Enostavno! Samo polikarbonat lahko nudi idealno kombinacijo mo\u010di, stro\u0161kovne in energetske u\u010dinkovitosti. Nobena zasteklitev ne more presegati MAKROLON\u00ae polikarbonatno plo\u0161\u010do za vrhunsko zmogljivost. To je prava izbira za skoraj vse zahtevne zasteklitve. Prav tako je ve\u010dkrat mo\u010dnej\u0161i od akrilnega stekla, ki ponujajo varnostno razse\u017enost, ki jo ne more premagati noben drug bistri material za zasteklitev. Zaradi fleksibilnosti pri oblikovanju, je MAKROLON polikarbonatna plo\u0161\u010da lahko hladno oblikovana, brez predhodnega oblikovanja in izdelave. Vzdr\u017eljivost polikarbonata in energetska u\u010dinkovitost pove\u010data dolgoro\u010dne prihranke pri stro\u0161kih.\n\nPrekatne polikarbonatne plo\u0161\u010de so odli\u010dna zamenjava za druge tradicionalne materiale, ki so se uporabljali za zastekljevanje razli\u010dnih povr\u0161in.Kljub znatno ni\u017eji te\u017ei pa imajo mnogo odlik in prednosti, med drugim so odpornej\u0161e od drugih poznanih materialov, enostavno se obdelujejo in montirajo, njihova mala te\u017ea pa pomeni tudi znatno ni\u017eje stro\u0161ke prevoza, la\u017ejo obdelavo in la\u017ejo monta\u017eo. Slednje pride do izraza pri zastekljevanju svetlobnikov na strehah ali pri graditvi nadstre\u0161ki, ko moramo ve\u010d kvadratov velike kose dvigovati na velike vi\u0161ine.\n\nPolikarbonatne plo\u0161\u010de Makrolon uporabljamo za izdelavo nadstre\u0161kov za avto,terase,balkone,dovoze ali veterne stene. Polikarbonatne plo\u0161\u010de so termoplasti\u010dne umetne snovi brezbarvnega vide\u017ea. To je trden material, uporaben pri temperaturi med -100 in +135 stopinj Celzija. Polikarbonatne plo\u0161\u010de se uporabljajo za stre\u0161ne povr\u0161ine, pergole, rastlinjake, pregradne stene, tople grede in nadstre\u0161ke. Makrolon ve\u010dslojne plo\u0161\u010de so UV odporne.\n\nNadstre\u0161ki za avto in terase\n\nNadstre\u0161ki so namenjeni za enostavno in varno za\u0161\u010dito va\u0161ega avtomobila,terase,vhoda pred vremenskimi vplivi kod so sneg, zmrzal, to\u010da, de\u017e, sonce. Zagotavljajo odli\u010dno toplotno in zvo\u010dno izolacijo ter izjemno prepustnost svetlobe, upo\u010dasnijo prehitro propadanje zunanjega inventarja in opreme, za\u0161\u010ditijo va\u0161 avtomobil pred rjavenjem in bledenjem barve ter zmanj\u0161ajo mo\u017enosti po\u0161kodb zaradi spolzkih, poledenelih in zasne\u017eenih povr\u0161in va\u0161ega doma.\n\nNadstre\u0161ki za avto in terase podjetja Prizma d.o.o. so razli\u010dnih oblik in namembnosti. Prostostoje\u010di avtomobilski nadstre\u0161ki so tako namenjeni za avtomobile, tak\u0161ni, ki so pritrjeni na \u017ee obstoje\u010di element, pa so uporabni na terasah in balkonih. Avtomobilski nadstre\u0161ek je lahko izdelan iz razli\u010dnih materialov, lahko ga pobarvamo, vro\u010de pocinkamo ali oboje hkrati. Na voljo pa so vam tudi aluminijasti nadstre\u0161ki. Nadstre\u0161ke izdelamo v skladu z va\u0161imi \u017eeljami, upo\u0161tevamo pa tudi priporo\u010dila stroke.\n\nZakaj se spla\u010da investirati v nadstre\u0161ek za teraso ali balkon? Najprej zato, ker bo ta dlje \u010dasa kot sicer ohranjal lep videz in odpornost materialov, iz katerih je izdelana terasa, in boste zato imeli manj stro\u0161kov za njihovo vzdr\u017eevanje. Poleg tega bo vhod ali okna na tistem mestu varoval pred vremenskimi vplivi. Nadstre\u0161ki za terase pa so prakti\u010dni tudi zato, ker za\u0161\u010ditijo va\u0161o vrtno garnituro pred de\u017ejem, to\u010do in soncem. Prav tako so uporabni v primeru, da su\u0161ite perilo na terasi ali balkonu. Zaradi vseh teh razlogov so nadstre\u0161ki za teraso zelo pametna dolgoro\u010dna investicija, ki pripomore k za\u0161\u010diti va\u0161ega doma in imetja skozi leta.\n\nKovinski so zelo prakti\u010dni, saj vas zavarujejo skozi celo leto. Bodisi v primeru de\u017eja kot v primeru pripekajo\u010dega sonca boste lahko u\u017eivali na va\u0161i terasi ali balkonu, ne da bi ob\u010dutili negativne posledice vremena. So zelo uporabni tudi v primeru, da imate vrtno garnituro in orodje, ki jih \u017eelite za\u0161\u010dititi pred vremenskimi vplivi. Prav tako je nadstre\u0161ek za teraso nujen za perilo, ki se su\u0161i na odprtem. Na voljo so tudi ograje za terase, ki so izredno prakti\u010dne, \u0161e posebno \u010de imate male otroke ali \u017eivali. Dovolite si brezskrbno u\u017eivati na odprtem in si \u0161e danes oglejte na\u0161o cenovno ugodno ponudbo, ki jo sestavljajo nadstre\u0161ki za terase, jeklene konstrukcije in ograje za terase.\n\nZato, da se bo va\u0161 nadstre\u0161ek nad vhodom ohranil skozi leta, poskrbimo pri nas z vro\u010dim cinkanjem. Gre za poseben termi\u010dni proces, ki \u0161\u010diti kovinske konstrukcije pred rjo in jih hkrati zavaruje tudi pred obrabo, korozijo in vremenskimi vplivi. Posebna tehnika vro\u010dega cinkanja velja za eno izmed naju\u010dinkovitej\u0161ih za\u0161\u010dit pred kemijsko reakcijo med materialom vhodnih nadstre\u0161kov in okoljem. Z uporabo vro\u010dega cinkanja se strankam zni\u017eajo stro\u0161ki za protikorozijsko za\u0161\u010dito, poleg tega pa je tak\u0161na za\u0161\u010dita tudi okolju prijazna.\n\nV primeru slabega vremena je iskanje klju\u010dev pod de\u017ejem lahko zelo neprijetno, tako kot se tudi gostje, ki \u010dakajo, da jim odpremo vrata, nimajo najbolj lepo. Nadstre\u0161ek nad vhodom je v tem primeru edina prava re\u0161itev, saj vas zavaruje pred vremenskimi vplivi dokler ne vstopite v svoj dom. Oglejte si ponudbo na\u0161ega podjetja in izberite med raznoraznimi vhodnimi nadstre\u0161ki tistega, ki se najbolje prilega va\u0161emu stilu in potrebam.\n\n\n\nNadstre\u0161ki - katalog PRIZMA\n\n\n\nMakrolon\u00ae znamka predstavlja vsestranski obmo\u010dju zgornjega razreda polne (GP) in multiwall (ve\u010dslojne) polikarbonatne plo\u0161\u010de, ki izpolnjujejo najrazli\u010dnej\u0161e zahteve. Uporabljajo se v modernih gradbenih projektih, kot so \u0161portni objekti ali na \u017eelezni\u0161ki postaji za stre\u0161ne kritine, kompleksne kupolaste strukture in stre\u0161na okna. Uporablja se tudi za lahke stre\u0161ne konstrukcije in za zimske vrtove. Veliki spekter uporabe je z Makrolon\u00ae plo\u0161\u010dami. V industrijskih aplikacijah se uporablja zaradi izjemno visoke odpornosti proti udarcem in kot zanesljivo re\u0161itev za za\u0161\u010ditnih steklih ter pokrivala strojev. Na podro\u010dju vizualnih komunikacij velika uporabe je za reklame.\n\n\n\nZa splo\u0161ne namene, ki zahtevajo odli\u010dno za\u0161\u010dito pred udarci brez dodatne abrazije in UV odpornosti, je polikarbonatna plo\u0161\u010da MAKROLON GP vse, kar potrebujete. Na voljo v \u010distih barvah in barvni (po naro\u010dilu) je polikarbonatna plo\u0161\u010da MAKROLON GP visokozmogljiv material za zasteklitev vseh namenov, ki je vzdr\u017eljiv in stro\u0161kovno u\u010dinkovit. To u\u010dinkovitost podpira celovita garancija proti zlomu.\n\n\n\nVse vrste MAKROLON polikarbonatnih plo\u0161\u010d mo\u017eno je kraj\u0161ati,o\u017eati, oblikovati in namestiti z lahkoto. Polikarbonatna plo\u0161\u010da MAKROLON se lahko namesti z mokrim ali suhim sistemom zasteklitve, \u010deprav uporaba PVC tesnila ni priporo\u010dljiva. Polikarbonatna plo\u0161\u010da MAKROLON se lahko uporablja tudi za dvojno zasteklitev ali za za\u0161\u010dito pred prevleko za dodatne izolacije in varnost. Ohranite ustrezno lo\u010ditev med zasteklitveno plo\u0161\u010do, da prepre\u010dite stike med visoko vlago in / ali visokimi toplotnimi pogoji.\n\n"}
-{"text": "Image copyright Reuters Image caption Beckham said he and wife Victoria teach their children the importance of hard work\n\n\"Hard work\" is the key to his 19-year marriage, David Beckham has admitted.\n\nHe has \"grown to ignore some of the negative stuff\" that is said about him and wife Victoria, he told Australian TV show The Sunday Project.\n\nThe pair are \"proud of the family\" and teach their four children - Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz and Harper - the importance of hard work, he added.\n\nBeckham spoke to the programme before joining the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in Australia for the Invictus Games.\n\nImage copyright PA Image caption The couple attended the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's wedding in Windsor\n\n\"I think if you know each other well, if you know you've got great friends and great family behind you, the thing we have to do is protect our children and we are very proud of the family,\" he said on the show.\n\n\"We are hard working and we feel that is the right way to bring up our children to prove and to show to them you have to work really hard to be successful,\" he went on.\n\nThe retired footballer also touched on a recent Vogue front cover image of the Beckham clan - which he was absent from.\n\n\"Difficult situations\"\n\nHe explained that the cover was \"all about Victoria's 10 years in fashion\".\n\n\"The amount she has achieved in such a short space of time - four beautiful young children, we have a beautiful dog - but obviously in her business world to be on the front cover of Vogue was a huge thing and then we did a separate picture for another cover,\" he said.\n\n\"But to be married for the amount of time that we have, it's always hard work, everybody knows that but you make it work.\n\n\"You make difficult situations like travelling away, being away from each other, you make it work.\"\n\nLooking ahead to his attendance at the Invictus Games for wounded service personnel, he commented: \"With Harry, to have come up with something that changes people's lives is incredible and I'm going over as an ambassador of the games but I'm really going over as a fan.\""}
-{"text": "\n\nThe Samsung 900X4C is one of the affected devices. As well as the samsung-laptop Linux driver, there are other ways of confusing the firmware on some Samsung laptops in UEFI mode to the extent that they will no longer boot. Matthew Garrett indicated as much in a recent blog post, in which he says that it appears that even normal userspace applications in Windows are able to trigger the problem. The kernel developer advises users to run in BIOS mode whatever their operating system. This requires instructing the UEFI firmware to use the CSM (compatibility support module) to boot the operating system; operating systems installed in UEFI mode are, however, unable to boot via CSM.\n\nGarrett, who was involved in work on UEFI support in the Linux kernel, bases his comments on the information available to him. His comment about other ways of triggering the problem chimes with a report from a reader who, in creating UEFI boot entries, managed to confuse the firmware on his Samsung laptop to the extent that it was no longer possible to access the UEFI setup. When the problem first came to light, Greg Kroah-Hartman, who worked on the samsung-laptop driver, made it clear in a post on Google+ that, in his view, Samsung was the only party in a position to resolve the cause of the problem and that a firmware update was required.\n\nAccording to current understanding, the problem affects at least 300E5C, 530U3C, 700Z3C, 700Z5C, 700Z7C and 900X4C series Samsung laptops. Changes have now been merged into Linux versions 3.8-rc6, 3.7.6 and 3.2.38, which deactivate the samsung-laptop driver when booting via UEFI to prevent damage to the laptop.\n\n\n\nA firmware update to fix the problem is not yet in sight.\n\nAccording to the Ubuntu bug report which first brought the problem to light, Samsung developers were aware of the problem several weeks ago. A comment by Canonical and Debian developer Steve Langasek, posted several days ago, revealed that the Samsung development team had recently made major progress in their investigations, but it remains unclear when a firmware update will be released.\n\n(djwm)"}
-{"text": "A slew of negative reports hit the cryptocurrency world Tuesday.\n\nFacebook announced a ban on advertisements for \"binary options, initial coin offerings and cryptocurrency.\" The blanket decision is part of the social media giant's efforts to prohibit ads for financial products and services \"that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices.\"\n\nThe news followed a Bloomberg report, citing a source, that on Dec. 6 the U.S. Commodity Futures and Trading Commission subpoenaed Bitfinex, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, and a digital coin company called Tether that is run by many of the same people as the exchange. The CFTC and a representative for the companies did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.\n\nAlso on Tuesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that a court approved an emergency asset freeze for AriseBank, which claimed it raised $600 million in sales of new digital coins. Two websites for the Dallas-based firm were unavailable Tuesday morning, and its lawyers couldn't immediately be reached for comment.\n\nBitcoin tumbled 12 percent to a low near $9,810 on CoinDesk before recovering slightly, and all major cryptocurrencies sold off.\n\nThe headlines hit as U.S. stocks tumbled for a second straight day amid a jump in Treasury yields. Some market analysts have attributed the cryptocurrency mania to the generally positive sentiment generated by stock market gains \u2014 the S&P 500 is in its second-longest bull market ever, a period without a drop of more than 20 percent from a recent high.\n\nWorries about regulation persist in east Asia, a major market for cryptocurrencies. South Korea's Financial Service Commission is trying to limit speculation. It confirmed Tuesday, South Korean time, to CNBC that new measures, such as bans on anonymous trading accounts, had been implemented.\n\nIn Japan, regulators are still trying to handle the fallout from a Friday hack on a major local exchange called Coincheck, which lost the equivalent of more than $500 million. Coincheck said the stolen NEM coins were held in storage linked to the internet, making it easier for hackers to steal the cryptocurrency.\n\nAlex Sunnarborg, founding partner of Tetras Capital, noted the hack likely \"spooked the market a bit, and especially among those with balances on exchanges, leading to the recent selling and drop in prices across crypto assets.\"\n\nDespite Tuesday's slew of worrying headlines, bitcoin has survived worse over the years. It recovered from a more than $2,000 drop in September following China's cryptocurrency crackdown and has bounced back from several other plunges of more than 20 percent.\n\n\"Because of the growth of the industry last year, there are some cracks in the industry as well that are being quickly ironed out,\" said Joe DiPasquale, founder and CEO of BitBull Capital, a cryptofund that invests in other cryptofunds.\n\nHe said hedge-fund managers he spoke with \"are pretty encouraged now for the defining of a new bottom for bitcoin around $10,000. It's a support level that can be moved up from. The other things are growing pains for the industry.\""}
-{"text": "It will be a Rydell High School reunion in December when John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John visit Tampa for a special \u201cMeet and Grease\u201d movie sing-along event at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre.\n\nReleased in June 1978, the movie just celebrated its 40th anniversary last year and remains one of the most popular musicals of all time.\n\nTickets for the Dec. 14 screening start at $39. A limited number of VIP tickets will be available, which include a meeting with the stars before the event at 5 p.m. There are 150 VIP tickets available that come with a price tag of $1,000. For that, you get a reserved seat in rows 1-20 for the movie, a pre-show meet and greet with John Travolta and Oliva Newton-John with a photo opportunity; a pre-signed autographed item and a swag bag with Grease themed gifts.\n\nTickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. at livenation.com. Other Meet and Grease tour dates are scheduled for West Palm Beach on Dec. 13 and Jacksonville on Dec. 15.\n\nDuring the 8 p.m. screening, sing-along lyrics will appear on screen. After, Travolta and Newton-John will do a question and answer session. \u201cAll audience members are encouraged to come dressed as your favorite character from Grease,\u201d according to a news release.\n\n\u201cGrease holds such a special place in my heart that when John and I talked about this reunion I was excited,\u201d said Newton-John in the release. \u201cThe film finds a new generation of fans each year and now 41 years later it will be great to have the chance to meet some of them in person!\u201d\n\n\u201cOlivia and I wanted to present the opportunity to meet Danny and Sandy in-person,\" Travolta said in the release. \u201cI hope you join us. This is a first!\u201d\n\nBased on a Broadway show of the same name, the story is set in the fall of 1958 at Rydell High and follows innocent new girl Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) and bad boy greaser Danny (John Travolta) through their tumultuous love story. After a summer romance, Danny and Sandy are thrown for a loop when they unexpectedly run into each other on the first day back at school.\n\nBoth Travolta and Newton-John have ties to the Tampa Bay area.\n\nTravolta and his wife, actor Kelly Preston, are Scientologists and frequent the world headquarters in Clearwater. They also have a home in the gated community north of Ocala called Jumbolair. It\u2019s designed for fellow aviation enthusiasts and boasts the longest private paved runway in the country.\n\nNewton-John, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, is on the board of advisers for the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa and has said Lee Moffitt has been a mentor to her for her own cancer center in her hometown of Melbourne, Australia."}
-{"text": "Mi\u0119sny Armagedon ruszy\u0142!\n\n\u0141opatka po 20 z\u0142, schab po 25 z\u0142, kark\u00f3wka nawet 25-30 z\u0142, \u015bwi\u0105teczna szynka po 50 z\u0142, za\u015b dobra grillowa kie\u0142basa 20-25 z\u0142 to ju\u017c raczej realne ceny, ni\u017c z\u0142y sen. A wy\u015bcig cen dopiero w bran\u017cy mi\u0119snej ruszy\u0142. Problem bran\u017cy mi\u0119snej jak w soczewce skupia nieudolno\u015b\u0107 i \u201emisiewiczostwo\u201d kolejnych ekip rz\u0105dz\u0105cych Polsk\u0105 \u2013 PSL, PO, PiS, z tym \u017ce po raz pierwszy zaczniemy to realnie odczuwa\u0107 we w\u0142asnym portfelu. I nie pomog\u0105 tutaj kolejne obietnice +500. Gospodarka zacz\u0119\u0142a puka\u0107 do wyborczych drzwi..."}
-{"text": "Bitcoin (CURRENCY:BTC) and cryptocurrency advocate Andreas Antonopoulos literally wrote the book on Maserting Bitcoin was interviewed by James in Panama City, Panama during the Cryptobuyer Panamchain Conference.\n\nTranscript:\n\nJames West: My guest this segment is Andreas M. Antonopoulous. He is the author of Mastering Bitcoin. Andreas, thank you for joining me today.\n\nAndreas Antonopoulos: Thank you so much for having me.\n\nJames West: Andreas, you spend significantly all of your time in the Blockchain/bitcoin universe. What is the difference \u2013 and pardon me for this most elemental question \u2013 between Blockchain and Bitcoin?\n\nAndreas Antonopoulos: Bitcoin is the original technology that uses a data structure called the Blockchain as one of its underlying components. And it uses that in order to achieve certain properties, and these properties are decentralization, censorship resistance, borderless operation, neutrality, and openness. That\u2019s the definition.\n\nThe truth is that the term Blockchain has been hijacked, mostly by financial technology companies, to piggyback on the idea of these properties \u2013 these positive properties. But in fact, to enable mostly the banks to try to do business as usual without changing anything. So Blockchain is a marketing term that strips all of the interesting properties of openness, neutrality, decentralization, borderless action, and censorship resistance, and turns it into a slow, inefficient database that allows banks to remain in control of centralized, surveillance-focused money, without any of the interesting properties.\n\nJames West: Hmm. That is one heck of an answer. The government, then, perceives bitcoin as a threat, because if a government loses control of its currency, historically, we\u2019ve observed the government loses control. And so if bitcoin is, in fact, going to disintermediate the government-controlled currencies and thereby the way in which they remain in control, how is it that bitcoin can be allowed to survive by governments that control large military organizations and have demonstrated historically a willingness to suppress such subversive technologies?\n\nAndreas Antonopoulos: I think control is an illusion, and maintaining the illusion of control with the illusion of power is delusion. The bottom line is that technologies like bitcoin are not allowed; they simply never ask for permission. They exist despite government control, and historically, attempts by governments to control technologies have proven again and again and again to be utterly futile. The progress of knowledge, and the use of knowledge by people who have very little to lose to gain personal independence, freedom from oppression, corruption and control, historically, has been an unstoppable force.\n\nGovernments have tried to control the printing press, governments have tried to control the internet, governments have tried to control radios, governments have tried to control many forms of expression and communication. In the end, they fail, and they will fail again here. So it\u2019s not a matter of them approving or not approving of this technology. The question is not whether they have the authority to control this technology; no one is questioning their authority. What smart technologists do is question their ability to control this technology. They have all the authority in the world, they simply do not have the means to apply that authority on something as decentralized, diffuse and powerful as cryptocurrency.\n\nJames West: Is it safe to say, in your opinion, then: are we in the midst of a global revolution whereby normal, everyday citizens are actually taking control of their financial destiny by disintermediating government through the choice of cryptocurrencies over FIAT currencies?\n\nAndreas Antonopoulos: Arguably, in the truest sense of the word revolution, where revolution is turning in a circle, we are returning back to financial independence and sovereignty for individuals. For thousands of years, people have been able to trade and engage in commerce without surveillance, without control, with complete anonymity. They did so when currency was precious metals, they did so when currency was the exchange of other tokens, and for decades and decades during the era of cash \u2013 perhaps centuries during the era of cash \u2013 cash is a bare instrument with zero transaction fees, with no surveillance, and complete anonymity.\n\nGovernments are trying to persuade us that unless every transaction is monitored and every individual is identified, the world will descend into chaos. That\u2019s a lie. We have had anonymous commerce for thousands of years. The idea of all commerce being under surveillance is itself a historical anomaly, a fascist dream, and it has already failed before it was even put into place.\n\nJames West: The opinion, or the perception, of a large portion of the population \u2013 and we won\u2019t even talk about where their interests are aligned \u2013 suggests that governments maintain control by printing money; they become self-enriched through the dilution of the monetary supply, which, at the end of the day, is to some degree supposed to be a representation of the total potential output of a nation, combined with its actual assets. And so, since the time that FIAT currencies have been separated from that real relationship, they\u2019ve been able to dilute the monetary supply to their own benefit without any interruption, without any interference, without even any participation of the average citizen.\n\nThere is some discussion in circles that are probably sponsored by those interests, who suggest that the programmers and the developers of Blockchain and bitcoin are, essentially, creating their own money and are, in fact, just a new version of the old central banker that has yet to mature to the point of hyperinflation that has gripped most of the world\u2019s currencies. How do you respond to that?\n\nAndreas Antonopoulos: I mean, it\u2019s a fundamental misunderstanding of how the technology works, which isn\u2019t surprising, because quite honestly, the average person on the street doesn\u2019t understand how money or banking or fractional reserve or Central Banks work. They don\u2019t. if you talk to the average person, they have this constructed mythology about money that is about as factually accurate as Santa Claus. The average person on the street, if you ask them, will tell you that for every piece of paper they have in their wallet, there is some mythical fortress full of gold corresponding to that. They still believe that currencies are denominated by the gold standard; that is a pervasive mythology that exists throughout society.\n\nThey also believe that the value of a currency is assigned by a government and controlled by a government. Economists, of course, know this isn\u2019t true, and anyone who\u2019s educated in monetary policy understands this isn\u2019t true.\n\nIt\u2019s not surprising that with a technology like cryptocurrencies, which is complex, new, and poorly understood, that people don\u2019t understand how it works, how it acquires its value, and how its supply is constrained.\n\nThe truth is that with some cryptocurrencies \u2013 not all, but some cryptocurrencies \u2013 the supply is constrained in a such a way that the developers have no ability to modify it. And that would be the case for bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies in the space. So hyperinflation, in itself, is not technically possible, because the developers are not in control. Control, instead, is diffused among thousands of parties, tens of thousands of parties who participate in the system. But it\u2019s difficult to understand the idea of a system of rules without rulers, a system of deterministic anarchy, which is what cryptocurrencies are. Meaning, there are no leaders, but there are very specific rules. The lack of leaders doesn\u2019t mean a lack of rules; quite the opposite.\n\nIn cryptocurrencies, the rules are absolutely predictable. I cannot tell you what the interest rate will be for the US dollar will be next Friday; I can tell you what the interest rate will be for bitcoin in the year 2140, and as long as the algorithm continues to operate that way, that\u2019s exactly what it will be.\n\nJames West: Okay. Let\u2019s focus a bit on the potential for hyperinflation, which is by all accounts, especially in your book, it\u2019s very clear that this is the best mechanism we have to protect ourselves from the hyperinflationary, self-interested, government-driven FIAT currency. Is not every time there\u2019s a fork in the cryptocurrency, an actual case of inflation, if not hyperinflation? And secondarily to that, is it not true that if all of our transactions are going to be across a range of cryptocurrencies, then aren\u2019t those cryptocurrencies ultimately dilutive to the global GDP potential of the planet, and therefore, ultimately subject to hyperinflation if no regulation is in place to determine how many currencies there are, how much of each currency there is?\n\nAndreas Antonopoulos: I don\u2019t think so. I mean, first of all, I\u2019m not an economist, and secondly, I\u2019m interested in the technology behind this, not just the economics. But from the perspective of an economist, I would think that in the presence of a free market where these currencies operate with a free exchange rate, and they each have predictable issuance schedules, the market is going to match the supply of those currencies to the actual underlying productivity, eventually, in the long term, and arrive at an equilibrium price that represents the underlying value.\n\nPart of the reason we have these explosions of hyperinflation and these issues with FIAT currencies is because there are enormous barriers to arbitrage between different currencies \u2013 borders, limitations on capital transfer and flow \u2013 which allow governments to effectively take an entire population hostage. So let\u2019s take an example that\u2019s relevant here in Latin America, which is the example of Venezuela.\n\nIf everybody in Venezuela had the option to use any currency they want, then the hyperinflation that happens in the bolivar not only would not affect the vast majority of the population, it wouldn\u2019t happen in the first place, because as soon as the government tried to dilute the value of the cryptocurrency, the population would exit that currency, arbitrage away the difference, and deflate it in response, reaching equilibrium.\n\nThe only reason it can go out of control is because this method of indirect taxation, theft from the productive classes, is only possible if you can apply currency controls, take the entire population hostage, and take them on a suicide drive into oblivion of the monetary system. And that is no longer possible. Today, the number of people who can exit a failing national currency is a fraction of the population; tiny, tiny numbers who have the technical literacy, the access to capital, the use of electronic technology, digital technology like smart phones, to say, You know what? You take your currency wherever you want; I\u2019m going to move some of mine into bitcoin or some other cryptocurrency.\n\nBut fast-forward 10 years, and imagine what happens when 10, 15, 20 percent of the population can exit at a time of hyperinflation? Can say, You know what? You go ahead and do whatever you want; I\u2019m going to put my wealth somewhere else.\n\nAt that point, it starts becoming an equilibrium force. Potentially, governments won\u2019t even attempt to do these things of currency manipulation, because they already know that it will be futile, because the population will exit. So I tink we\u2019re seeing an end, or the beginning of the end, to that. By enabling global flows of traffic without restriction, by allowing populations to exit from failing currencies.\n\nJames West: All right. So let\u2019s consider that for a second: if every government, and this is the case, I\u2019m sure you will acknowledge, that is running a deficit, which is essentially an extension of the ability to print their own money for their own interests, and the way that this debt is maintained is that each country acknowledges another country\u2019s debt by holding some of that debt, and the implied trade-off is that \u2018I\u2019ll hold your debt, you hold my debt, and that way, we can keep printing, because right now we\u2019re only measuring debt in trillions, and over the next 20, 30, 40, 50 years, we can go to quadrillions, quintillions, septillions\u2019.\n\nYeah, so at what point does the government step in to try to limit the effect of bitcoin by digitizing their own currency and calling it bitcoin?\n\nAndreas Antonopoulos: I mean, they can digitize their own currency and call it whatever they want; it doesn\u2019t change the fact that that currency will be centrally controlled, will have an unpredictable and uncontrolled issuance rate, and will share none of the interesting properties of these cryptocurrencies. So just because they call it something doesn\u2019t make it so. And if people really do have a choice to choose whichever currency they want to use, then they\u2019ll call it whatever they want, they\u2019ll issue it, and no one will use it. And so then what?\n\nIf the end of monetary policy is a race to the bottom for every government in the world to issue quadrillions in debt, we know what happens next. This costs $1.00 today, $10.00 tomorrow, $1,000 on Friday, $100,000 the week after, a trillion dollars the week after that, and currency becomes meaningless.\n\nThere\u2019s this moment I watched in a BBC documentary where they were interviewing someone in Zimbabwe who was trying to buy something with a wheelbarrow stacked with cash, and the cash equivalent of these quadrillions of notes was about $2 or $3. They were moving this wheelbarrow, and the journalist from the BBC was perplexed by this and said, \u2018Aren\u2019t you worried that someone\u2019s going to steal your cash?\u2019 And the person said \u2018No, I\u2019m worried that someone\u2019s going to steal my wheelbarrow, because that\u2019s actually worth something.\u2019\n\nThis is the end of monetary policy; that is the endgame, and we see it play out again and again. Historically, that is how all FIAT currency goes. Some currencies are the exception, but the rule is that.\n\nJames West: Okay. Not to make you nervous or more, perhaps, concerned wit p ersonal security than you already are, but you\u2019ve just advocated for the end of monetary policy, which is the mechanism of control exercised by all governments, ex-military. So if the end of monetary policy implies the end of monetary control, then is not the military option truly representative of the threat of government trying to suppress the expression of freedom that all human beings are essentially instilled with at birth?\n\nAndreas Antonopoulos: I mean, I\u2019m not advocating for anything; I\u2019m simply observing and predicting what will happen based on the historical patterns. In the end, if people have a choice, they will exercise it, and exercise it to their best interest. I think one of the troubling aspects of where we\u2019re going in this world is, the more and more dictatorships and extreme governments resort to violence against their own people. But one of the peculiar things that happens with a monetary crisis is that in order to have the soldiers pull triggers against their own people, they have to be fed. And the moment you can\u2019t feed them with the currency that your government prints because they no longer can spend that, they stop pulling triggers, or, as we\u2019ve seen historically again and again and again, they turn the guns around, as happened in Albania in Timisoara Square in 1989 when the dictator invited a million people from all over Albania to tell them about their new food policies, and the soldiers stopped pointing the guns at them, and 24 hours later, Ceausescu was dead.\n\nAs has happened historically in hyperinflation environments. And I\u2019ll give you an example: recently I was watching on television in Venezuela where they had two medium-level soldiers posing for the cameras with the bounty that they were given for preserving the peace. And they had two or three rolls of toilet paper and two or three bars of soap. They\u2019re not being bought off or bribed with luxuries; we\u2019re already in the end stage, where the best bribe that can be given is the absolute barest essential of toilet paper and soap. How long before the government can\u2019t even afford toilet paper? Because what they\u2019re printing is toilet paper.\n\nAnd that that point, that whole system of violence falls apart, right? So you can only coerce people so long. I\u2019m not advocating for that. I think that\u2019s a terrible outcome. One of the reasons I\u2019m interested in cryptocurrencies is not the potential for disrupting monetary policy, but for preventing monetary policy from devolving into this state. If cryptocurrency was already in place and a viable exit for a significant percentage of the population, these countries wouldn\u2019t get to the point of hyperinflation and monetary collapse, because the productive middle classes and labour classes would exit before that happened.\n\nSo the point here is, it\u2019s almost as if these countries are in, like, imagine a big room, and it\u2019s on fire, right? And the officials are telling everybody, there\u2019s no fire, don\u2019t worry about it. All we\u2019re doing is pointing at the exit signs. If that\u2019s a crime, then they\u2019re going to say that we started the fire, right? We didn\u2019t start the fire; we\u2019re just pointing at the exit.\n\nJames West: Sure.\n\nAndreas Antonopoulos: And people have a choice. They can stay in there or they can exit, and more and more people are beginning to discover that it\u2019s safer outside.\n\nNow, the interesting thing is that until now, exit from a country meant physically removing yourself: refugees, flight, and that creates its own dangers \u2013 exploitation, human despair, catastrophe, tragedy. But one of the interesting things that happens with cryptocurrency is your ability to stay put, stay in place, and economically exit without leaving the country. Continue to trade with your neighbours, engage in commerce with other people; exit only from the currency, and stay where you are, so you don\u2019t have to abandon your home, your family, your country. And that, I think, has the potential for a peaceful transition to a world with more choice, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m interested in this technology.\n\nJames West: Okay. As the devil\u2019s favourite advocate, I want to challenge you on the concept of the security and the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies. First of all, I\u2019d like to ask you: is not the entire bitcoin ecosystem centralized on the internet?\n\nAndreas Antonopoulos: So, centralized and decentralized are not a true/false statement; centralization and decentralization is a scale, right? So I think the interesting question is, are these systems more or less decentralized than other alternatives we have already? And I would argue that they are more decentralized than, in fact, anything we\u2019ve ever had before in the financial domain.\n\nAre they as decentralized as they could be? No, and yes, the internet is currently required in order to run this infrastructure. But one of the really important things to realize is that what these technologies do is, they convert money into a datatype, into a piece of content, that then becomes something you can transmit over any medium of communication. What people don\u2019t realize is that the internet is simply one transport mechanism. You don\u2019t need the internet in order to operate cryptocurrencies. You could operate cryptocurrencies over shortwave radio. You could operate cryptocurrencies off mesh wi-fi. I could use smoke signals and semaphore flags to transmit a bitcoin transaction in 260 bytes. Money has now become pure data, completely detached from the medium of exchange, completely detached from the medium of communication, free to flow. Any form of communication that is possible is now also a form of commerce, is now also a form of currency transmission. All communication is financial communication, because financial communication can be done on any means of communication.\n\nSo the internet is the best, most convenient, most decentralized mechanism we have today to transmit bitcoin, but in the absence of the internet, we can transmit bitcoin through any other means of communication.\n\nJames West: Okay. Then you say you could use smoke signals and semaphore code to send a transaction; you have 470,000 followers, give or take, is that the right number, on Twitter?\n\nAndreas Antonopoulos: Something like that.\n\nJames West: And so, if I was to extrapolate that from the fact that you\u2019re obviously an authority in the space, and I look at the global population relative to your Twitter following, which is an imperfect example admittedly, but you can send smoke signals and transmit transactions that clearly demonstrates to me that there\u2019s a level of sophistication going on there that requires a book to explain it.\n\nAndreas Antonopoulos: Yes.\n\nJames West: And so how am I going to transact in the absence of a, you know, government-maintained internet?\n\nAndreas Antonopoulos: You won\u2019t. Not today, and quite honestly, you don\u2019t need to. But necessity is the mother of invention, and there\u2019s no greater necessity than the despair of a monetary collapse. It\u2019s striking to me that when I talk to people, mostly in Western developed nations, they ask me why this system is necessary. But when you talk to people in Latin America, when you talk to people in countries that are undergoing monetary crisis, why is not the question; how, is the question. And the thirst to learn. And the risks people will take, and the amount of difficulty they will go through and complexity and learning they will go through, in order to secure the future of their family, is astonishing to me.\n\nSo in the West, people will not even bother to try to figure out how a bitcoin ATM works and it\u2019s too much hassle, and I don\u2019t need it, and in any case I can just use my Visa card. If that bitcoin ATM was the difference between your family escaping a distressed country, you would learn how to use it. And that\u2019s what I\u2019ve seen: when I visit countries where there is an element of crisis, even small crisis \u2013 my home country, Greece. People are much more willing to become creative, to learn difficult things.\n\nAnd we\u2019re still in the very early stages. This is still, I think, the equivalent of where the internet was in the 90s. at that time, I was already using the internet. I could see this incredible potential, I could see where it was going, and I kept telling everyone around me, and they said Nah, it\u2019s too difficult! You have to get a modem, you have to find an ISP, your phone number, and plug it in, and I don\u2019t even know what half the plugs in the back of my computer do, and I have to set the IRQ for Comm 3 on my PC and I don\u2019t understand any of it. And then open a browser, and download this \u2013 impossible, right?\n\nIt\u2019s important to separate having a vision of what comes in the future from what is possible today for the majority of people, and I think there you have two big differences: the difference between those who have financial privilege and do not, and the difference between a generation that is born directly into a world where cryptocurrencies have always existed, and a generation for whom cryptocurrencies are something alien and strange.\n\nWhen you talk to someone in their 20s or younger and you ask them \u2018What do you think of money on the internet?\u2019 Like, well, obviously, of course! How else could it be? The idea of money being controlled by governments and controlled within borders is already alien to the next generation. In 20 years, that generation is in charge, and then it will be very difficult to explain the consensus algorithm of a central bank of 12 people who are not elected, deciding on the interest rate for an entire country and then taking the entire population hostage. They will say \u2018That\u2019s not possible; you must be joking. There\u2019s no way we actually ran money that way, it makes no sense.\u2019 So that\u2019s the generational gap. It\u2019s happening today.\n\nWhen a 10-year-old starts using cryptocurrency today, they are not allowed to open a bank account in many countries till they\u2019re 16, in other countries until they\u2019re 18. That ten-year-old walks into the bank at 16 and is told that they can only access their money Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, that they have to pay a fee to store their money in somebody else\u2019s hands, that the interest rate they\u2019ll get for their deposits is 0.01 percent, but if they spend more than they have, the interest they\u2019ll pay is 25 percent. And they will walk straight out of that bank and say \u201cYou know what? You\u2019re insane! I\u2019ve been using cryptocurrencies for six years, and this stuff makes no sense.\u201d\n\nJames West: All right. I\u2019m going to demonstrate to you unequivocally the full scope of my ignorance now and suggest to you that, wasn\u2019t gold a superior alternative to cryptocurrencies in that it has a finite supply, it takes great effort to extract, its value is apparent to even the most unsophisticated individual who happens across it, and yet governments have still managed to corrupt and more or less destroy its value as a reserve currency? So, at the end of the day, I\u2019m not convinced that the bitcoin or the Dash or the Rippl or the Ethereum, even, with its smart contracts, is a superior choice to a global monetary system than something that is naturally controlled by scarcity.\n\nAndreas Antonopoulos: Yeah. If I could hold a gold deposit in my head by memorizing 12 words and transmit it in a matter of seconds anywhere on the planet using any communication device, divisible by 8 to 10 or 18 decimal points, for any payment as small as a micropayment or nanopayment, or a payment as large as an inter-country transfer in the billions of dollars; if I could do that with gold, then gold would be superior. Gold is very effective of many things, but portable it is not. It\u2019s heavy, it\u2019s difficult to subdivide, it\u2019s difficult to measure its quality, it is not self-evidently unforgeable, because as we\u2019ve seen again and again, it can be substituted for other metals and hidden; and it cannot be transmitted electronically in seconds anywhere around the world, or carried across a border in my head through 12 memorized words. Cryptocurrency can.\n\nIn many ways, I think the characterization as \u2018digital gold\u2019 applies. We\u2019ll wait and see what history has to say.\n\nJames West: Okay. I\u2019m going to worry that concept just a little bit more, if you don\u2019t mind. The very un-transportability of gold, to me, is a positive. You can\u2019t carry it away while I\u2019m sleeping, walk into my house and walk away with gold. On the other hand, with bitcoin, you have 12 words that are going to reveal exactly the extent, existence and portability of your fortune, and I\u2019m a bad actor in the global society, then it would be far preferable to me to hold you down and strangle you, assuming that I was able to, and force you to reveal your 12 words and exactly how I access your cryptocurrency. Or threaten your family in exchange for giving me that information. Whereas, with gold, if it\u2019s hidden, it\u2019s not to say that I couldn\u2019t also torture you and get you to reveal the location of your gold, but then I\u2019m also faced with the additional challenge of transporting it.\n\nSo I mean, I just don\u2019t see the superiority of bitcoin over gold in that sense.\n\nAndreas Antonopoulos: Yeah. I mean, fair enough. There\u2019s nothing forcing you to use a cryptocurrency instead of gold, and in fact, one of the interesting aspects of cryptocurrency is, they actually make ownership of gold easier, because you can use cryptocurrency to buy gold very easily across borders. So I think sophisticated investors, but also just regular people who want to have security, will diversify into different assets that give them different properties.\n\nI think that programmable digital money is easier to secure in the long run than any form of physical system, because we can use physical security for our digital money in the form of locks and vaults and guards and dogs and guns. You can use those things to secure digital keys. But you can also use programmable features: enforceable time delays, enforceable multi-signature capabilities that separate controls between multiple people. Various forms of trust intermediaries that you might have. All of which can make the control and ownership of digital assets far more secure than control and ownership of physical assets.\n\nAt some level, they have parity, meaning that you can physically secure both gold and a digital key in a vault; but in other ways, programmable systems are going to be much more secure in the future, because you can do things to a programmable asset that you simply can\u2019t do to a physical asset.\n\nSo, you know, I don\u2019t think we should look at these things as \u2018choose one or the other\u2019, whether that\u2019s choose between one cryptocurrency or another cryptocurrency or it\u2019s between choose a cryptocurrency, a precious metal, or FIAT currency. I think we need to start getting comfortable with the idea that we now live in a world where people have choice, and they will use that choice responsibly to diversify and have assets in different categories which give them the best ratio of risk and stability. That\u2019s up to every individual. What I\u2019m interested in is choice.\n\nJames West: Okay. Much as I\u2019d like to spend the rest of my time holding you down and trying to get you to give me your 12 words, I\u2019m going to finish instead with the final question, which takes us to the ultimate in elementary: who is Satoshi Nakamoto, and how did he come up with this idea?\n\nAndreas Antonopoulos: I don\u2019t know. Obviously, I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t want to know. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s relevant. I think the one thing that Satoshi Nakamoto, the persona, which may be one person, may be a man, may be a woman, may be three different people, may be a hundred different people: the one thing that the Satoshi Nakamoto persona taught us was, in the value of a mathematically elegant system that does not require us to trust, or appeal to the authority of, anyone.\n\nThe number one lesson of the Satoshi Nakamoto persona is, it doesn\u2019t matter who Satoshi Nakamoto is. And I\u2019ve used this analogy before: I can use Euclidean geometry to do calculations and know that it works in a Euclidean space, even if Euclid was an asshole. Even if Euclid was a fraud. Even if Euclid didn\u2019t exist, but was a fabrication of some school of philosophy, a coalition between multiple mathematicians, a historical anomaly that was written after the fact \u2013 it doesn\u2019t matter. It stands alone as objective truth because it works, and the same thing applies to cryptocurrencies. It is better to not have a founder who is present. The best thing Satoshi Nakamoto ever did was disappear. The second-best was invent bitcoin.\n\nJames West: That\u2019s phenomenal. I\u2019m going to leave it there. Thank you very much for your input today.\n\nAndreas Antonopoulos: Thank you so much.\n\nMore Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin Investing Coverage"}
-{"text": "'Team Poison' hacker, 18, who published Tony Blair's address book online faces jail\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHacked: Tony Blair's address book was published online by Team Poison member Junaid Hussain\n\nA teenager faces jail for stealing Tony Blair's address book and publishing it on the internet.\n\nJunaid Hussain, 18, from Birmingham, hacked into the personal Gmail account of the former Prime Minister's special adviser Katy Kay using an ID 'Trick'.\n\n\n\nAccording to The Sun Hussain took email addressees and private phone numbers of Mr Blair, his wife, and sister-in-law, as well as contacts in the House of Lords and Parliament.\n\nThe defendant pleaded guilty to publishing the address book and admitted to making nuisance telephone calls to a counter-terrorism hotline at a Plea and Case Management Hearing at Southwark Crown Court in London.\n\nThe court heard how he made hoax calls to the helpline between J anuary 1, 2010 and 14 April 2012, which prevented legitimate callers getting through.\n\n\n\nHe will be sentenced on July 27. A further offence was left to lie on file.\n\nThe investigation was conducted by the Police Central eCrime Unit, who investigate the most serious cases of cyber crime.\n\nGuilty: Hussain, from Birmingham, admitted conspiracy and computer charges at Southwark Crown Court\n\nScotland Yard said further investigations are ongoing into the activities of other members of Team Poison.\n\nDefending Ben Cooper said the teenager's offences had been a prank.\n\n\n\nJudge Peter Testar told Hussain he should be under no illusions that he could go to jail.\n\n\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Top Drones to Buy Chinese drones are GEMS! DJI may be expensvie but Eachine is the best drone for beginner. Product SKU: 100006 Product Brand: EACHINE Product Currency: USD Product Price: 30.41 Price Valid Until: 2020-12-31T10:14:00 Product In-Stock: Available Editor's Rating:\n\n9\n\nThe invention of Drones has changed the way we shoot pictures. Social networking sites like Instagram and Facebook has been challenging people for a long time to post the best shot pictures, and drones have now paved the way for those \u201cwow\u201d shots. Weddings and other social events are no longer complete without those awesome aerial shots, thanks to drones that fly above us, adding a burst of romance to the frame. Avid travellers carry drones with them to far off places to get the best pictures of nature. Utilize these Chinese drones this 2020 for your travel!\n\nWhat started primarily for defence purposes has now taken over the world for many purposes not limited only to surveillance. In fact, a drone has almost become a necessity in the world of film making and photography. Even if you are not a professional, a drone can help you become a celebrity overnight on Instagram with those long and wide aerial shots.\n\nBut, do you know how to choose a drone or what the best drone in the market is? That is where we come in. We have done the homework and listen out the best drones among the innumerable ones on Aliexpress. Most drones listed below are of small sizes. Do check if you can import them into your country without any law infringement.\n\nREVIEW OF THE 5 BEST CHINESE DRONES\n\nSo here are the reviews of some of the Best and Cheap Chinese drones in Aliexpress to provide you with a clear idea.\n\n1. SYMA X8 Series Drone\n\nIf you are looking for a cheap drone that will serve your basic purpose well, SYMA X8 Series offers amazing quality and will not be too heavy on your wallet. The camera in a drone plays a vital role and the X8 series stands up to the mark as one can easily attach their favourite action camera to the drone.\n\nBe it GoPro or the popular SJCAM, this drone does not limit it to certain types. The controller seems to be good, comfortable to hold and easy to handle. The battery also lasts for quite some time, though not like the more expensive brands of drones. SYMA X8 Series seems to be a perfect choice.\n\nGrab it for from USD 105\n\nSYMA X8 Pro version\n\nVery good item quality unbeatable price\n\nGrab it for from USD 105\n\n2. Xiaomi RC Drone\n\nXiaomi needs no introduction. Anybody who loves gadgets knows that this is one of those really innovative brands selling highly advanced devices at affordable prices. One of the newest devices by Xiaomi is the Quadcopter Chinese Drone with HD 108-P camera powered by Ambarella ISP processor. There are 2 mechanical axes and 3 electronic axes gimbal, both of which provide well-balanced shots. The controller is without doubt sturdy and helps navigate the drone well. Like other Xiaomi products, this is easy to set up and use. This drone has a range of 1 km and can fly for 25 minutes continuously. Without a doubt, this drone also looks very good, like all other products from this Chinese brand.\n\nPrice: $559\n\nFeatures:\n\n1. HD 1080P camera powered by Ambarella ISP processor and CMOS sensor provides perfect HD picture and video.\n\n2. The 2-axis mechanical and 3-axis electronic gimbal provides stable and smooth footage in any situation.\n\n3. With a lightweight design, the drone flies faster.\n\n4. With quick-release propellers, fast and powerful propulsion with a durable, well-balanced design.\n\n5. Flight time is up to 25mins with 11.1V 2000mAh lipo battery.\n\n6. 1km range 5.8G real time transmission system.\n\n7. With DIY port, you can explore your way to play with the drone, like driving a servo, lighting a led or fireworks.\n\n8. Remote Controller has a built-in LCD screen, DVR, and User Interface.\n\n9. Headless Mode, no need to adjust the position of aircraft before flying.\n\n25 mins of flight time with 1km range.\n\nMore Specs\n\nMax Flying Height:500m\n\nMax Speed:18m/s\n\nMax Ascent Speed:6m/s\n\nMax Descent Speed:5m/s\n\nPrice: $559\n\n3. DJI Mavic Mini Drone\n\nThe DJI Mavic Mini drone is one of the most fun drones that we have ever used. What\u2019s important while flying a drone is the ease of take-off and landing, and the comfort with which we can navigate. It becomes tedious when the remote control does not talk to the drone properly. This drone eases out those issues with a strong signal between the controller and the drone. Boasting of supreme accuracy, this drone is indeed very simple to navigate and it is almost a pleasure flying this.\n\nThe real-time feature makes this drone a fun-to-use device as one can keep a check on what the drone is focusing on.\n\nBest Price at USD 538\n\n\n\n\n\nThis drone is suitable for professional work or office projects as they assure us of the accuracy and the quality of the images. The video quality is also top-notch. Presence of the gimbal and shock absorbers are an added benefit as we don\u2019t have to worry about unnecessary issues with the drone. The controller is also designed to fit in the hand comfortably and can be folded if required.\n\nAdditionally, this drone can be easily controlled using your smartphone or tablet. That makes it even more attractive as it means carrying lesser equipment into the field, especially for those using this for professional purposes.\n\nDJI Mavic Mini Review\n\nEverything is fine, packed well, delivery 14 days. The drone is steep, compact, light, the quality of shooting is good, autonomy is 20-25 min.\n\nEverything is fine! Seller big respect 5 stars, will be my favorite DJI store! Checked at home, keeps position well. The camera compared to FIMI X8 is just fire! Again at home the camera checked, on the street has not yet checked, winter and cold, but I think it will not disappoint.\n\nProbably this is the main store, DJI for Russia. The goods you are sure to receive, but send will be long, maybe change track number, promise to send EMS, in fact by ordinary mail (Hong Kong, Singapore, Finland, etc. p.), promise to lower customs value, deceived, and all in this key.\n\nBest Price at USD 538\n\nRELATED: Check out our Headphones Review\n\n4. DJI Phantom 4\n\nAnother amazing drone from the DJI brand, the Phantom 4 is one of the best in the market. With a 4K camera and at a price of $1199, the DJI Phantom 4 comes equipped with the best intelligence like an obstacle sensing system and modern technology that enables it to possess advanced aerodynamic mechanism, ensuring a stable and smooth flight. The drone can fly at a high speed of 45 mph and can brake quickly too.\n\nThis is the dream drone, if you may call it that! It is obvious that the price is on the higher end, but this is a premium product, priced accordingly. This is surely a great investment for those who use these professionally as this drone can get you images and coverage like no other.\n\nCheck out this store\n\n5. EACHINE Quadcopter Drone (*Hottest Drone on Aliexpress)\n\nAfter looking at the more expensive drones, we finally come to the hottest selling drone on Aliexpress \u2013 the one by Eachine. Costing less than $50, the price difference between this and the other premium brands is of course, huge. This is a professional drone that both amateurs and professionals can use with ease, as it is very simple to set up and operate.\n\nThis is also small, light in weight and convenient to carry around. This drone allows you to attach an external camera. You can expect to capture high definition images even when it is circling in the air as you can attach the premium GoPro-type cameras for getting the best picture clarity.\n\nThis brand offers two versions of the drone available in the market, thus giving customers more choice.\n\nPrice: US $30.41\n\nFeatures:\n\n-Foldable arms, small size, easy to carry.\n\n\u2013 When the drone is in high altitudes, the retention mode provides a stable flight.\n\n\u2013 With WIFI function you can connect APP, APK system to take photos, video, real-time transmission through the phone image.\n\n\u2013 You can choose 2 cameras. With the angled camera 2.0MP 720p you get wide high-end images and video definition.\n\n\u2013 With headless mode, there is no need to adjust the position of the plane before flying.\n\n\u2013 The special key return function makes it easy to find the way home.\n\n\u2013 2.4 GHz technology adopted for Anti-interference.\n\n\u2013 4 channels that can do up, down, forward, backward, left, right flying and rolling 360 \u00b0.\n\n\u2013 6-axis rotation that can have a more stable flight and be easy to control.\n\n\u2013 It has 3-level flight speed to change that can make more fun with the flight.\n\n\u2013 The quadcopter fuselage is made of high strength and engineering resistant plastics, lightweight and durable.\n\nReviews by real buyers\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJust like the pic, everything works did a test flight but remember to first AJUST THE TRIM! to keep it in one place or it\u2019ll drift, and there\u2019s plenty of videos on YouTube to easily learn to AJUST trim, seller did communicate,24 hour response time, which is fine so be patient\u2026. took almost a week to process order so hoping my next order won\u2019t take as long but the seller is honest and I recommend him\n\nOrdered the maximum package with 3 batteries and a bag. Came right in the bag. Everything works, everything is whole. Purchase satisfied. Waiting for the exit to nature for testing. When ordering my configuration in the russian federation was not. The seller contacted, offered delivery from china. i agreed. Delivered by courier to the address, personally in hand. Everything is at the highest level. I recommend! Control from phone via app works.\n\nVery fast shipment delivered in 17 days really great all parts placed in complete box hope we can use it without distortion for long time\n\nPrice: US $30.41\n\nShould you INVEST in these Chinese Drones?\n\nFor your professional or fun projects, choose among these as the drones not only give amazing experiences to the pilots but also cost less. Also, a small front camera is attached that gives the pilot a clear view of the front. 4K images and videos can be produced and the pilot can even get to see the surroundings from a completely different vision.\n\nShipping Drones into country.\n\nYou gotta make sure when purchasing. Check with the seller on whether they have the experience of shipping to your country or city. We know for sure India is one that is tough to ship into. So India buyers please take note. The above buyers do ship these drones worldwide.\n\nWarranty\n\nMost sellers offer a guarantee. If the item is dead at the time of arrival, it can be returned within 14 days and it will be replaced with a new item. Also, drones come with basic 3 months sellers warranty.\n\nRead also:\n\nBest Things to buy on Aliexpress\n\nBest Airpods Clone\n\nBest Apple Watch Clone"}
-{"text": "\"To me, it was obvious he had a plan, an agenda, and the Olympics fell right into it. He never told me he'd run for governor of Massachusetts. But I knew he was an ambitious man who had his mother's good looks, his father's charisma and his own intellect. I knew he was a man going somewhere.\" - Robert Garff, chairman of the SLOC for the 2002 Winter Olympics\n\nRepublican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney considers his management of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games as the turnaround point in his career. He even wrote a 2004 memoir entitled, \"Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership and the Olympic Games\".In the book, Romney exclaims, \u201cI led an Olympics out of the shadows of scandal\u201d and it has been his recurrent mantra on the campaign trail for the 2012 election. Romney continuously cites his Olympic experience as a prime example of his managerial expertise and a reason he should replace Barack Obama as president. In his victory speech after the Florida primary sealing his nomination, he said, \"My leadership helped save the Olympics from scandal.\"Romney\u2019s subordinates and supporters go even further in their assessment of Romney\u2019s Olympic role. Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney\u2019s deputy campaign manager, told the Boston Globe that the former Olympic chief \u201crescued the Olympics and restored pride in the United States at a critical time in our history.\u201d Fehrnstrom added, \u201cHe organized and ran the Winter Olympic Games in 2002. He\u2019s run a state successfully. I think that\u2019s a big difference between these two.\u201dBut while Romney and his surrogates deem his salvaging of the scandal-plagued Games a turnaround point in his career , in Utah an alternative view of Romney\u2019s contributions has taken hold, with some questioning whether he overstated his contributions and the extent of the crisis.In interviews after the conclusion of the Games, Romney said the plight of organizers was so daunting he might never have taken the job had he realized the depth of the crisis. But according to an April 2012 article in Salt Lake Magazine , before Romney took over as Salt Lake Games chair, the IOC made it clear that despite the scandal, Utah would still host the Games. Furthermore, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) had already raised $1 billion dollars toward a $1.45 billion projected budget, with three years to go before the Opening Ceremony.Former Utah Governor and Republican presidential candidate Jon M. Huntsman Jr. criticized the selection of Romney\u2019s as not being \u201copen, fair and honest,\u201d and described his selection of organization leaders as \u201ccronyism at its peak.\u201d Former Salt Lake City mayor Deedee Corradini acknowledges Romney simply did \u201cfine work\u201d preparing a games that slipped and fell but was never gravely wounded. \u201cI don\u2019t remember him as a savior of the Olympics,\u201d she said. \u201cHe came in and did a good job. He did a very good job.\u201d She added, \u201cI think our Olympics would have been good no matter what.\u201dSome who worked with Romney contend that fixing Salt Lake's problems was primarily an image problem . Ken Bullock, who represented the Utah League of Cities and Towns on Salt Lake Olympic Committee\u2019s (SLOC) board, said \"Mitt, he was a great image for the Games; he did instill confidence in people, but to say he saved us, that's misplaced.\" He continued, \u201cPeople should remember the Games, not the individual.\u201d Others who worked closely with Romney say such statements wildly underestimate his impact.Fraser Bullock, no relation to Ken, also helped Romney run the Games and is a major donor to a super PAC that is supporting Romney's presidential aspirations. Bullock recalls of Romney stepping in as Chairman, \u201cYou\u2019ve got a budget deficit, and all of the sudden no sponsors want to be a part of it,\u201d and added, \u201cWe were stymied in what we wanted to do\u2026.Mitt got out there and made it happen, personally. I had nothing to do with that. He just did it, and without that, we would have failed. He was tireless.\u201d Another former Salt Lake City Mayor, Rocky Anderson \u2013 a Justice Party presidential candidate and polar political opposite of Romney - said Romney was \u201ca great leader\u201d of the Games.Not everyone declared Romney performance worthy a gold medal . David Wallechinsky is an author and the vice president of the International Society of Olympic Historians. He says that Romney improved the situation in Salt Lake , but that the claim that he \"helped save the Olympics\" is too broad. \u201cThe bribery scandal was a low point for the Olympic movement, but it wasn\u2019t an existential threat. It wasn\u2019t going to threaten the Olympic movement, which survived two world wars, major boycotts and terrorist attacks,\"But Romney claims that he was a turnaround specialist , not just a great leader. It can be argued that too much was at stake for either the U.S. government or the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to allow the Salt Lake Olympics to fail. Long before the scandal was revealed, U.S. television rights to the Salt Lake City Games were sold to NBC for $545 million. That being noted it begs two questions; If the Olympics were never in any real danger, did they need saving? And, Is Romney\u2019s stance that he saved the Games true if the Games were never truly in jeopardy?Romney maintains that the Games were profitable, but were those profits overstated and the result of creative accounting ? Romney worked extensively to secure more federal funding for the Salt Lake Games. According to his book, he directed Cindy Gillespie, the Olympic committee\u2019s lobbyist, \u201cto bring in more federal funding than had ever been appropriated for any Olympics, summer or winter.\u201d Romney personally made the case for that federal support with Utah\u2019s governor at the time, Mike Leavitt (R); the George W. Bush administration; and senior members of Congress, including his onetime political opponent, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and friendly Republican senators who helped direct an additional $1.3 billion of taxpayer money purportedly for security concerns.The truth is the appropriation paid for much more than security , like $70 million given to the Utah Athletic Foundation to maintain Utah\u2019s Olympic venues in perpetuity, a horse adoption program, a new sewage system, reconstruction of the freeway system, a light rail system, new parking lots, housing for news media covering the Games and weather forecasting - all of which fell outside the operating budget.In his book Romney also said he \u201cwanted to serve the community, not run for office,\u201d though just a month after the Games ended he announced his candidacy for governor of Massachusetts. The narrative he puts forth of his Olympic experience is an indispensable part of that tale.The challenges faced by the SLOC hardly rate in comparison to other Games. Throughout history, the Olympics have been laced with scandals , some more egregious than the Salt Lake\u2019s bidding controversy. Type \u201cOlympic scandal\u201d into Google and see for yourself.By all accounts, Mitt Romney did help the Salt Lake City Olympics image after the embarrassing scandal was revealed and he brought the 2002 Winter Olympics to a successful conclusion. But it is a stretch to suggest the future of SLC Olympics themselves were at stake before Romney\u2019s time as CEO and the facts show as much."}
-{"text": "Latest release provides improved multimedia support, increased Linux integration and new bug reporting helper tool.\n\nTo enable organizations and developers to more easily and flexibly create and deploy on premises and cloud applications, we are pleased to announce the general availability of Oracle VM VirtualBox 5.1, the latest release of the world\u2019s most popular free and open source, cross-platform virtualization software.\n\nA key tool for developers and users creating cloud and local applications without the overhead of using a full server environment, Oracle VM VirtualBox runs on standard x86 desktop and laptop computers. It allows users to set up multi-platform virtual machine environments for software development, testing, and general purpose operating system (OS) virtualization, with optional runtime encryption. Software engineers can develop for cloud technologies such as Docker and OpenStack from within Oracle VM VirtualBox VMs directly on their Windows, Mac OS, Oracle Linux and other Linux operating systems, and Oracle Solaris machines, making it easier to create multi-tier applications with just a standard laptop. Oracle VM VirtualBox also enables users to create and update virtual machines locally, including the OS and applications, and then package them into an industry standard file format for easy distribution and cloud deployment in conjunction with Oracle VM Server, or other server virtualization solutions. Oracle VM VirtualBox allows users to run nearly any standard x86 OS to run applications that are not available natively on their systems.\n\nWith thousands of downloads for each day, Oracle VM VirtualBox 5.1 continues to remain the best virtualization solution available for standard desktop and laptop computers and, at the same time, addresses the challenges to enable the use of a wide range of virtual machine environments and operating system with emulation of latest technologies available, improved performance and increased integration.\n\nThe 5.1 release supports the latest guest or host operating systems including: Mac OS X Yosemite, Windows 10, Oracle Linux, Oracle Solaris, other Linux operating systems, and legacy operating systems. New main capabilities in Oracle VM VirtualBox 5.1 are:\n\nImproved Performance : Significantly improved performance for multi-CPU virtual machines and networking.\n\nBug Reporting Tool : New utility able to collect all the information and logs related to the host and guest operating system, for debug or analysis purposes.\n\nImproved Logging Window : New logging functionalities to highlight and filter information related to guest Virtual Machines.\n\nImproved multimedia availability : Improved support for different USB devices and multi-channel audio availability.\n\nFlash storage emulation : New NVMHCI storage controller emulation available, able to emulate NVME devices - Flash storage - on guest Virtual Machine.\n\nImproved Linux integration : Automatic modules deployment in case of a Linux Kernel upgrade and improved systemd integration for the latest releases of popular Linux distributions.\n\nSupporting Resources"}
-{"text": "YouTube\u2019s \u2018Planet Explorer\u2019 has released a new video for Infinity: Battlescape, showing one of the first mods for Infinity: Battlescape. This mod changes the the blaster sound (to something similar to the one found in Star Wars), adds camera perspective, and changes the atmosphere of some planets. And to be honest, Infinity: Battlescape feels like a truly next-gen experience.\n\nI mean, the feeling of actually entering the atmosphere of a detailed planet (okay, there are no cities and huge forests but still) at will and in real-time is extraordinary. Just head over at the 1:45 mark.\n\nInfinity: Battlescape\u2019s Kickstarter ends in 6 days and it has not met yet its initial goal.\n\nEnjoy the video!"}
-{"text": "Religious hate crime has rocketed by 40 per cent in a year across England and Wales, as the number of offences recorded hits a record high.\n\nStatistics released by the Home Office showed more than half of religiously-motivated attacks in 2017-18 were directed at Muslims and the next most commonly targeted group was Jewish people.\n\nPolice recorded a total of 94,098 hate crime offences \u2013 more than double the total five years ago \u2013 and all categories saw a rise.\n\n\u201cThis increase is thought to be largely driven by improvements in police recording, although there has been spikes in hate crime following certain events such as the EU referendum and the terrorist attacks in 2017,\u201d the Home Office document said.\n\n\u201cIt is thought that the sharp increase in religious hate crimes is due to a rise in these offences following the terrorist attacks in 2017.\u201d\n\nThe period covered by the report, April 2017 to March 2018, covers the Islamist atrocities in Manchester, London Bridge and Parsons Green, as well as the far-right Finsbury Park attack.\n\nDarren Osborne, who ploughed a hired van into Muslims leaving Ramadan prayers, cited Isis-inspired attacks among his motivations after being radicalised online in a matter of weeks.\n\nThe Home Office said terror offences may also be considered hate crimes, but while the Finsbury Park attack was counted because it was directed against Muslims, Islamists\u2019 declared hatred for western values could not yet be counted.\n\nNumber of racially or religiously aggravated offences recorded by the police by month, April 2013 to March 2018 (Home Office)\n\nIman Atta OBE, the director of Islamophobia monitoring group Tell Mama, warned of the potential for \u201creal impacts on long-term social cohesion\u201d.\n\n\u201cWe saw this coming years ago,\u201c she added. \u201dThe snail-like pace of social media to act on anti-Muslim accounts from 2012, the rise of the far-right and manipulation of the online world by them, terrorist attacks, inflammatory media headlines and the mainstreaming of anti-Muslim bigotry into the political mainstream have all added to the problem.\u201c\n\nThree-quarters of hate crimes were recorded as racially motivated, with the number of offences rising by 14 per cent.\n\nPolice currently include xenophobic attacks and those against refugees and travellers in the category.\n\nAnother 12 per cent of incidents were motivated by sexual orientation, up 27 per cent, 9 per cent religious, up 40 per cent, 8 per cent disability, up 30 per cent, and 2 per cent transgender, which was up 32 per cent.\n\nThe overall conviction rate for hate crimes has increased to 84.7 per cent, but only a small proportion of reported incidents \u2013 12 per cent \u2013 end with someone being charged or summonsed to court.\n\nAround two-thirds of victims felt police had treated them fairly, lower than average, and they were more likely to say they had been emotionally affected or been left feeling vulnerable.\n\nAlex Mayes, policy advisor at Victim Support, said there was greater awareness around hate crime and an improved police response.\n\n\u201cThese statistics also mirror our own experience as over the past year we have offered information and support to around 25,000 people which is an increase of 23 per cent on the previous year,\u201d he added.\n\nBrexit racism and the fightback Show all 9 1 /9 Brexit racism and the fightback Brexit racism and the fightback Demonstrators protest against an increase in post-ref racism at London's March for Europe in July 2016 PA Brexit racism and the fightback These cards were found near a school in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, the day after the EU referendum Twitter/@howgilb Brexit racism and the fightback LONDON, UK - JULY 16 : A speaker addresses the EDL members at Hyde Park. About a hundred members of The English Defence League (EDL) march on Park Lane for a rally in Hyde Park. The march on 16 July 2016 was heavily policed keeping the group away from the public. (Photo by David Mbiyu/Corbis via Getty Images) Getty Brexit racism and the fightback Romford, Essex, June 25 @diamondgeezer Brexit racism and the fightback A worker at this Romanian food shop was asleep upstairs at the time of this arson attack in Norwich on July 8, but escaped unharmed. Hundreds later participated in a \u2018love bombing\u2019 rally outside the shop to express their opposition to racism and their support of the shop owners. JustGiving/Helen Linehan Brexit racism and the fightback This neo-Nazi sticker was spotted in Glasgow on June 26 Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback But after news emerged of neo-Nazi stickers appearing in Glasgow, some in the city struck back with slogans of their own. Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback The Peoples Assembly Against Austerity, Black Live Matters and The Socialist Workers Party organised a march on Saturday July 16th in London, United Kingdom, against austerity, cuts and Racism. The groups also marched in solidarity against Tory government policies. (Photo by Gail Orenstein/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Getty Brexit racism and the fightback More signs began to appear in some parts of the UK, created by people who wanted to show their opposition to post-referendum racism Courtesy of Bernadette Russell\n\n\u201cDespite these rises, hate crime remains hugely underreported. We want people to know that hate crime will be taken seriously and there is support available to anyone who needs it.\u201d\n\nDiane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, said: \u201cThe fact that hate crime has more than doubled in the last five years must serve as an urgent wakeup call. We must stand up to hatred and discrimination wherever it is found.\n\n\u201cThe Tories promised to tackle burning injustices but they are clearly not tackling the injustice of people being attacked simply because of their religion, sexuality, the colour of their skin or their disability.\u201d\n\nThe figures were released the day after the government announced a wide-ranging review of hate crime laws, which will consider whether to add new \u201cprotected characteristics\u201d including age and gender.\n\nA spokesperson for the Law Commission told The Independent both misogyny and misandry would be considered and it is \u201cnot prioritising one area over another\u201d.\n\nBaroness Williams, the minister for countering extremism, said the government \u201cstands in solidarity\u201d with communities affected by hate crime.\n\n\u201cGovernment and police forces must not be complacent in rooting these crimes out,\u201d she added.\n\n\u201cIt is why today we have launched a newly updated Hate Crime Action Plan and announced a wide-ranging review of hate crime laws to be conducted by the Law Commission.\u201d\n\nSupport free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events\n\nYvette Cooper, chair of the Home Affairs Committee, said more action was needed to counter online offences.\n\nShe added: \u201cHate crimes can be devastating for victims, deeply divisive for communities, and dangerously linked to extremism \u2026 it is very damaging both for those who are targeted by appalling violence or abuse and for entire communities too.\u201c\n\nHate crime is not an offence in itself, but is used to describe other crimes \u201cmotivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic\u201d, such as attacks and vandalism.\n\nViolence against the person, public order offences, criminal damage and arson made up 96 per cent of hate crime-flagged offences. There were 1,065 online hate crimes in the year.\n\nBut despite the increase in recorded crime, the number of completed prosecutions fell by over 2 per cent from 14,480 in 2016-17 to 14,151 in 2017-18.\n\nHatred was used to increase punishments handed out in court in more than two-thirds of cases involving hostility on the grounds of race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or disability in the year.\n\nA Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) report said sentences were \u201cuplifted\u201d in around 7,700 cases, compared to just a handful a decade ago.\n\nChris Long, a chief crown prosecutor, said: \u201cWe know being a victim of hate crime is particularly distressing because of the personal nature of the incident and the CPS is committed to robustly prosecuting these cases.\n\n\u201cThe continuing increase in the number of offenders who receive increased sentences is a testament to the work of the CPS in building the cases correctly and providing the courts with the information they need to sentence appropriately.\u201d"}
-{"text": "- Berpidato dalam suatu acara di NTT, Ketua Fraksi NasDem DPR Viktor Laiskodat bicara soal partai-partai politik yang dituduhnya pro-khilafah dan intoleran. Tak tanggung-tanggung, Viktor menuding empat parpol yang disebutnya mendukung keberadaan negara khilafah di Indonesia.Pidato Viktor soal tudingan terhadap empat parpol pro-khilafah tersebut salah satunya termuat dalam video berdurasi 02.05 menit. Di menit-menit awal video, Viktor bicara soal kelompok-kelompok ekstremis yang ingin mengubah NKRI jadi kekhilafahan.\"Kelompok-kelompok ekstremis ini ada mau bikin satu negara lagi, tidak mau di negara NKRI, mau ganti dengan nama negara khilafah,\" ujar Viktor dalam video itu seperti yang dilihat detikcom pada Jumat (4/8/2017).Viktor lalu menyebut para pendukung kelompok ekstremis tersebut. Ada empat parpol yang disebutnya mendukung gerakan khilafah ini.\"Sebagian kelompok ini yang hari ini mau bikin negara khilafah. Dan celakanya, partai-partai pendukungnya itu ada di NTT juga. Yang dukung supaya ini kelompok ini ekstremis ini tumbuh di NTT, partai nomor satu Gerindra. Partai nomor dua itu namanya Demokrat. Partai nomor tiga namanya PKS. Partai nomor empat namanya PAN. Situasi nasional ini partai mendukung para kaum intoleran,\" kata Viktor yang pidatonya bercampur antara bahasa Indonesia dan bahasa daerah.Di video tersebut, Viktor seperti berpidato di hadapan masyarakat. Kepada masyarakat, Viktor lantas menjelaskan arti negara khilafah dalam pengertiannya sendiri.\"Mengerti dengan khilafah? Semua wajib salat, semua lagi yang di gereja. Mengerti? Mengerti? Negara khilafah tidak boleh ada perbedaan, semua harus salat,\" ujar Viktor.Diapun bicara soal pencegahan pembentukan negara khilafah oleh kelompok ekstremis tersebut. Dia mengambil contoh masa lalu soal PKI. Lebih lanjut, dia juga bicara soal Perppu 2/2017 tentang Ormas.\"Kita bunuh pertama mereka sebelum kita dibunuh. Ingat dulu PKI 1965? Mereka tidak berhasil, kita eksekusi mereka. Gue telepon lu punya ketua umum di sana, suruh you jangan tolak-tolak itu Perppu yang melarang untuk, Perppu Nomor 2 Tahun 2017,\" pungkas Viktor yang disambut tepuk tangan dan tawa masyarakat setempat.Berikut pidato Viktor:Kelompok-kelompok ekstremis ini ada mau bikin satu negara lagi, dong tidak mau di negara NKRI, dong mau ganti dengan nama negara khilafah. Negara khilafah itu berarti ... (bahasa daerah) dengan NKRI. Ada sebagian kelompok ini yang hari ini mau bikin negara khilafah. Dan celakanya partai-partai pendukungnya itu ada di NTT juga. Yang dukung supaya ini kelompok ini ekstremis ini tumbuh di NTT, partai nomor 1 Gerindra. Partai nomor dua itu namanya Demokrat. Partai nomor tiga namanya PKS. Partai nomor empat namanya PAN. Situasi nasional ini partai mendukung para kaum intoleran, intoleran itu ... (suara tidak terdengar jelas) intoleran. Yang dong suka orang lain, dong suka .... (suara tidak jelas)Jadi catat baik-baik, yang calon bupati, calon gubernur, calon DPR yang dari partai tadi tersebut, kalau tusuk tertusuk tumbuh untuk sampeyan pilih itu, maksudnya pilih supaya ganti negara khilafah.Mengerti dengan khilafah? Semua wajib salat. Semua lagi yang di gereja, mengerti? Mengerti? Negara khilafah tidak boleh ada perbedaan, semua harus salat.Saya tidak provokasi, nanti orang timur yang nanti, nanti negara hilang kita bunuh pertama mereka sebelum kita dibunuh. Ingat dulu PKI 1965? Mereka tidak berhasil kita eksekusi mereka. Gue telepon lu punya ketua umum di sana, suruh you jangan tolak tolak itu perppu yang melarang untuk perppu nomor 2 tahun 2017 (prokprokprok). Duduk di sini dari partai apa nih? Nah oli tamoes.. tau oli tamoes, tadi masih di Gerindra... (bahasa daerah).Viktor sudah dihubungi soal pidatonya tersebut, namun yang mengangkat seorang perempuan yang diduga sekretarisnya. Perempuan itu mengatakan Viktor belum bisa menerima telepon karena masih kunker di dapilnya."}
-{"text": "Youth crime more than halved under National\n\n\n\nMark Mitchell - Justice\n\n18 April 2018\n\nYouth crime more than halved under National\n\nLatest figures showing that the youth offending rate more than halved over National\u2019s time in office prove that National was on the right track and the new Government\u2019s softer policies will risk undoing the good work, National\u2019s Justice Spokesperson Mark Mitchell says.\n\n\u201cIn his first statement on youth justice today, Associate Justice Minister Aupito William Sio celebrated the significant drop in youth offending achieved under the National Government.\n\n\u201cBetween 2009/10 and 2016/17, offending for children aged 10-13 years dropped by 59 per cent, while offending by young people aged 12-14 years fell by 63 per cent.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a result of National\u2019s huge focus on tackling youth offending. Initiatives like the Youth Crime Action Plan, our social investment approach, and the roll out of the Rangatahi Courts have had a real impact.\n\n\u201cEarly results have shown that young people who attend Rangatahi Courts committed 14 per cent fewer offences and were 11 per cent less likely to commit a new serious offence in the following year than comparable youth.\n\n\u201cNational\u2019s plan was working, so it\u2019s concerning to hear statements from the Ardern-Peters Government indicating that it wants to go soft on crime.\n\n\u201cWe know that there is still a small group of young offenders who are much harder to crack. That\u2019s why we announced a policy during the campaign to introduce a new category of Young Serious Offenders and greater powers for courts to deal with those offenders.\n\n\u201cThe challenge for the new Government will be to not only tackle offending by this very serious group of young criminals, but to ensure that the overall youth offending rate continues to trend down.\u201d\n\nends\n\n\u00a9 Scoop Media\n\n"}
-{"text": "Componen\u021bii forma\u021biei Jiul Podari \u0219i \u00eentreg staff-ul acesteia vor face deplasarea la Bucure\u0219ti pentru mitingul PSD care va avea loc tot s\u00e2mb\u0103t\u0103, anun\u021b\u0103 Jurnal de Craiova.\n\nEchipa din Podari a depus o cerere \u00een care a \u00een\u0219tiin\u021bat AJF Dolj c\u0103 nu poate organiza meciul cu FC U Craiova, astfel c\u0103 echipa lui Mititelu va c\u00e2\u0219tiga partida la masa verde.\n\nEchipa lui Mititelu a c\u00e2\u0219tigat cu autoritate play-off-ul \u0219i va juca la baraj \u00eempotriva Gloriei Corne\u0219ti, c\u00e2\u0219tig\u0103toarea Ligii a 4-a din D\u00e2mbovi\u021ba.\n\nAlb-alba\u0219trii sunt aproape s\u0103 cucereasc\u0103 \u0219i Cupa Rom\u00e2niei, zona Dolj. \u00cen returul semifinalelor, FC U Craiova s-a impus cu 12-0 \u00een fa\u021ba echipei ACS Unirea Am\u0103r\u0103\u0219tii de Jos, \u00eentr-o partid\u0103 oprit\u0103 de arbitru cu 15 minute mai devreme din cauza condi\u021biilor meteo nefavorabile. \u00cen tur, Craiova se impusese cu 5-0."}
-{"text": "Facebook is being used for a coordinated disinformation campaign again \u2014 but this time, it's getting way out in front of the threat, before it's even clear where the threat is coming from.\n\nWhy it matters, per the Axios tech team: It shows that social media interference didn't end with the 2016 election. This disinformation campaign, like the one in 2016, appears aimed at sowing discord to create feedback loops encouraging people to push against the establishment.\n\nWhat we know:\n\nFacebook announced it has removed eight Pages and 17 accounts from Facebook, along with seven Instagram accounts, that violated its ban on \"coordinated inauthentic behavior.\"\n\nThe Pages with the biggest followings: \u201cAztlan Warriors,\u201d \u201cBlack Elevation,\u201d \u201cMindful Being,\u201d and \u201cResisters.\u201d\n\nMore than 290,000 accounts followed at least one of those Pages, while others had smaller followings.\n\nWhat they did: They created more than 9,500 posts. The \"Resisters\" also promoted a \"No United The Right 2 \u2014 DC\" event and got help from the administrators of five legitimate Pages.\n\nThe content appeared to be aimed at left-leaning voters. When asked, Facebook told reporters \u201cWe\u2019re not characterizing the broad nature of the content at this point.\"\n\nWhat we don't know:\n\nWho's behind them. Facebook says it can't connect them to any specific group, like the Russian-based Internet Research Agency that abused social media platforms in the 2016 election. (Lawmakers were less shy about making the Russia connection.)\n\nWhat their goals were. Facebook stuck to describing what the Pages and accounts did, not trying to determine what their motivations were.\n\nThought bubble from Axios' Joe Uchill: The posts appear to be the early stages of a social media campaign. \"Right now, the released content is just building rapport with an audience. Based on the groups, it's a broad cross section of left subgroups \u2014 an African-American group, a Latino group, a women's group and people likely to be interested in pages about 'mindfulness.'\"\n\nThe bottom line: The announcement was Facebook's way of saying, \"look, we're on top of it this time.\" It's also a way to subtly compete with Twitter and Google, which will now be under pressure to catch disinformation campaigns early, too.\n\nGo deeper: See the political disinformation Facebook axed"}
-{"text": "Oh so you want me to tolerate religion? Please tell me how you feel about homosexuality.\n\n53,230 shares"}
-{"text": "SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnian police have seized 665 kg (1,466 pounds) of a potent form of cannabis known as skunk hidden inside a truck, and arrested one person in one of the biggest drug hauls in the Balkan country, the prosecutor\u2019s office said on Wednesday.\n\nThe stash was discovered during a search of the vehicle in the southern coastal town of Neum. It had been smuggled from neighboring Montenegro to Croatia and was destined for Western drug market, the office said in a statement.\n\nThe stash is worth several million euros, it said, adding that an investigation into the crime had started. Bosnia has stepped up its fight against drug trafficking and other forms of organized crime as part of its bid to join the European Union."}
-{"text": "For most animals, sex is good, and the more the better. But for female Australian jumping spiders, once in a lifetime seems to be plenty.\n\nIn a new study, the creature resisted researchers' best efforts to get it in the mood: a comfortable piece of crumpled paper in which to build a home, plenty of baby flies to eat, and a new prospective mate every 10 days.\n\nHere's looking at you: Servaea incana, also known as the Australian jumping spider. Credit:Rowan McGinley\n\nNothing seemed to work. After mating once they just keep kicking potential new partners in the face and scurrying away.\n\nResearchers believe the behaviour, only now being studied closely, is part of the ongoing battle of natural selection: males want to pass their genes on as many times as possible, while females are after the best DNA for their spider-children."}
-{"text": "Der Putschversuch in der T\u00fcrkei heizt die Stimmung in Deutschland auf. Kurden, Aleviten und G\u00fclen-Anh\u00e4nger klagen \u00fcber aggressive Erdogan-Unterst\u00fctzer. Eine Kopftuch-Aktivistin hat S\u00e4uberungsw\u00fcnsche.\n\nAnzeige\n\nNach dem abgewehrten Putschversuch und der Verhaftung Tausender mutma\u00dflicher Regierungsgegner in der T\u00fcrkei droht sich der Konflikt nach Deutschland auszuweiten: Sicherheitsbeh\u00f6rden und Politiker bef\u00fcrchten wachsende Spannungen zwischen t\u00fcrkischen Nationalisten einerseits und Anh\u00e4ngern der kurdischen PKK sowie anderen Gegnern von Staatschef Recep Tayyip Erdogan andererseits.\n\nIn mehreren deutschen St\u00e4dten gingen am Wochenende T\u00fcrkischst\u00e4mmige auf die Stra\u00dfen. In Berlin demonstrierten in der Nacht auf Samstag 3000 vor der Botschaft ihres Herkunftslandes, skandierten den Namen des t\u00fcrkischen Pr\u00e4sidenten und riefen \u201eAllahu akbar\u201c (Allah ist gro\u00df). In Frankfurt und Hamburg demonstrierten etwa 1500, in Essen laut Polizeiangaben bis zu 5000 Menschen gegen den Putschversuch.\n\nIn Gelsenkirchen belagerten am Samstagnachmittag rund 150 Erdogan-Anh\u00e4nger einen Jugendtreff der Organisation Hizmet, die der G\u00fclen-Bewegung angeh\u00f6rt, und schlugen mit Pflastersteinen die Scheiben ein. Die t\u00fcrkische Regierung beschuldigt die Anh\u00e4nger des seit 17 Jahren in den USA lebenden islamischen Predigers Fethullah G\u00fclen, hinter dem Umsturzversuch zu stecken. Dieser wies die Anschuldigung umgehend zur\u00fcck.\n\n\u201eMan kann nur noch von Anfeindungen sprechen\u201c\n\nAnzeige\n\nAuch der deutsche Hizmet-Zweig verurteilte den Putschversuch: \u201eDie schlechteste Demokratie ist besser als jeder Putsch\u201c, teilte sie mit. F\u00fcr Hizmet-Sprecher Ercan Karakoyun zieht der Konflikt in der T\u00fcrkei unheilvolle Kreise. \u201eSeit dem Putschversuch werden unsere Mitglieder bedroht und unsere Einrichtungen besch\u00e4digt oder mit Spr\u00fcchen wie ,Reize nicht den T\u00fcrken\u2018 beschmiert. Die derzeitige Situation ist be\u00e4ngstigend\u201c, sagte Karakoyun der \u201eWelt\u201c. G\u00fclens Anh\u00e4nger hatten die Erdogan-Regierung in den ersten Jahren wegen demokratischer Reformen unterst\u00fctzt. Inzwischen gelten Hizmet-Engagierte in der T\u00fcrkei \u2013 wie viele Kurden auch \u2013 als Terroristen.\n\n\u201eWir leben nicht in einem demokratischen Land\u201c Auf dem Bazar wird wieder gehandelt, der Verkehr rollt \u00fcber den Bosporus. Doch am Stra\u00dfenrand stehen verlassene Panzer - und auch bei den Menschen haben die Ereignisse der letzten Tage Spuren hinterlassen. Quelle: Die Welt\n\nDer Vorsitzende der Kurdischen Gemeinde in Deutschland, Ali Ertan Toprak, klagt: \u201eDer Ton zwischen den konservativ-islamisch gepr\u00e4gten und den liberal-s\u00e4kularen T\u00fcrkeist\u00e4mmigen wird sch\u00e4rfer und aggressiver.\u201c Es finde \u201ekein demokratischer Diskurs zwischen den t\u00fcrkeist\u00e4mmigen Gruppen in Deutschland statt\u201c, sagt Toprak der \u201eWelt\u201c, \u201eman kann nur noch von Anfeindungen sprechen.\u201c\n\nSo gibt es etwa vor der aus Ankara finanzierten Ditib-Moschee in Hagen einen Aushang: \u201eVaterlandsverr\u00e4ter d\u00fcrfen hier nicht mehr beten!\u201c Und die Kopftuch-Aktivistin Bet\u00fcl Ulusoy schrieb am Wochenende auf T\u00fcrkisch auf Facebook: \u201eBevor der Putsch losging, ist er gescheitert. Aber alles hat einen Segen, jetzt k\u00f6nnen wir ein wenig Dreck s\u00e4ubern. Jeder kriegt seine Strafe. Mit Gottes Erlaubnis.\u201c Ulusoy hatte im vergangenen Jahr erfolgreich durchgesetzt, bei ihrem Referendariat im Bezirksamt Berlin-Neuk\u00f6lln ihr Kopftuch tragen zu d\u00fcrfen.\n\nGro\u00dfes Konfliktpotenzial\n\nAnzeige\n\n\u201eEs hat am Wochenende auch in Deutschland die ersten gewaltt\u00e4tigen Auseinandersetzungen gegeben\u201c, sagte der Vizevorsitzende der Alevitischen Gemeinde in Deutschland, Aziz Aslandemir, der \u201eWelt\u201c. \u201eAus der T\u00fcrkei h\u00f6ren wir, dass nun Erdogan-Anh\u00e4nger Stra\u00dfenz\u00fcge verw\u00fcsten, die haupts\u00e4chlich von sozialdemokratischen Oppositionellen und Aleviten bewohnt sind.\u201c Das sei \u201esehr be\u00e4ngstigend\u201c, sagte Aslandemir. \u201eVon den muslimischen Verb\u00e4nden in Deutschland haben wir noch keine Distanzierung geh\u00f6rt.\u201c\n\nWie gro\u00df das Konfliktpotenzial ist, l\u00e4sst sich an den starken Wahlergebnissen f\u00fcr Erdogan unter den T\u00fcrkischst\u00e4mmigen in Deutschland ablesen. Auf 59,7 Prozent kam die islamistische Regierungspartei AKP bei der Parlamentswahl im November hierzulande.\n\nVon den etwa 3,5 Millionen T\u00fcrkischst\u00e4mmigen in Deutschland ist allerdings weniger als die H\u00e4lfte wahlberechtigt; 570.000 von ihnen w\u00e4hlten laut der staatsnahen Nachrichtenagentur Anadolu in den t\u00fcrkischen Konsulaten. Laut der Agentur erzielte Erdogan in keinem anderen europ\u00e4ischen Land solch ein hohes Ergebnis; in Gro\u00dfbritannien etwa kam die Partei nur auf rund 20 Prozent. Insgesamt \u2013 also mit den Stimmen der in der T\u00fcrkei sowie im Ausland lebenden T\u00fcrken, erhielt die AKP 49,5 Prozent der Stimmen.\n\nKeine Handhabe gegen das Zeigen des \u201eWolfsgru\u00dfes\u201c\n\nAnzeige\n\nDie prokurdische HDP erreichte bei den t\u00fcrkischen W\u00e4hlern in Deutschland laut Andalou 15,9 Prozent, die rechtsextreme MHP (Partei der Nationalistischen Bewegung) w\u00e4hlten hierzulande 7,5 Prozent. Diese Gruppierung ist als parlamentarischer Arm der rechtsradikalen Bozkurt-Bewegung (Graue W\u00f6lfe) noch weit nationalistischer als Erdogans AKP.\n\nDennoch zieht sie viele Auslandst\u00fcrken an; auch auf den Demonstrationen am Wochenende zeigten t\u00fcrkische Rassisten den sogenannten Wolfsgru\u00df \u2013 etwa in M\u00fcnchen. Dort st\u00f6rten sich Lokalpolitiker von SPD und Gr\u00fcnen an den \u201et\u00fcrkischen Faschisten\u201c, wie es Marcel Rohrlack, der Vorsitzende der Gr\u00fcnen Jugend, ausdr\u00fcckte. Rechtlich l\u00e4sst sich gegen das Zeigen des Wolfsgru\u00dfes in Deutschland nichts ausrichten.\n\nAls im April ein Foto eines Berliner Polizisten kursierte, der in voller Montur das Erkennungszeichen der Rechtsradikalen mit seinen Fingern formte, stellte der Berliner Linke-Abgeordnete Hakan Tas eine Anfrage an den Senat. Der antwortete: \u201eDas Zeigen des Wolfsgru\u00dfes ist strafrechtlich nicht relevant. Die Pr\u00fcfung disziplinarrechtlicher Ma\u00dfnahmen bei Namhaftmachung des betreffenden Polizeibeamten bleibt hiervon jedoch unbenommen.\u201c\n\nWissensl\u00fccken \u00fcber die t\u00fcrkischen Rechtsradikalen\n\nDie Senatsinnenverwaltung stellte bei der Beantwortung der Anfrage zwar fest, dass die Grauen W\u00f6lfe Anh\u00e4nger \u201eeiner nationalistischen und rassistischen Ideologie\u201c seien. Doch auch in der Polizei scheint das Wissen \u00fcber die t\u00fcrkischen Rechtsradikalen noch ausbauf\u00e4hig zu sein. Die Onlineredaktion der Berliner Ordnungsh\u00fcter erkl\u00e4rte im Internet: \u201eDieses Zeichen hat viele Bedeutungen. In Grundschulen wird das als ,Leisefuchs\u2018 gelehrt.\u201c\n\n\u201eEin Land mit Todesstrafe kann nicht Mitglied der EU sein\" Immer wieder wird Pr\u00e4sident Erdogan aufgefordert, die Grundrechte einzuhalten. Falls die T\u00fcrkei wieder die Todesstrafe einf\u00fchren sollte, w\u00e4ren f\u00fcr Berlin die EU-Beitritts-Verhandlungen vorbei. Quelle: Die Welt\n\nDie Integrationsbeauftragte der Unionsbundestagsfraktion, Cemile Giousouf (CDU), sagte der \u201eWelt\u201c: \u201eIch bef\u00fcrchte, dass nach dem Putschversuch der innert\u00fcrkische Konflikt auch auf deutschen Stra\u00dfen ausgetragen wird.\u201c Zwar seien Demonstrationen akzeptabel, \u201eaber wenn dabei \u2013 wie in Gelsenkirchen \u2013 ein der G\u00fclen-Bewegung nahestehendes Jugendcaf\u00e9 angegriffen wird, geht dies entschieden zu weit. Das hat mit Versammlungsfreiheit auch absolut nichts mehr zu tun.\u201c\n\nUnd noch etwas ist Giousouf wichtig: \u201eEines f\u00e4llt mir leider auch auf, n\u00e4mlich dass die Reden t\u00fcrkischer Politiker sehr schlecht ins Deutsche \u00fcbersetzt werden.\u201c Gerade in einer so emotional aufgeladenen Situation wie der jetzigen komme es \u201eaber auch auf die Zwischent\u00f6ne an, um die Spannungen nicht noch unn\u00f6tig anzuheizen.\u201c\n\nVielleicht k\u00f6nnte auch das einen Beitrag dazu leisten, dass sich nicht noch einmal Ausschreitungen wie am Ostersonntag wiederholen. Damals lieferten sich in Aschaffenburg Hunderte t\u00fcrkische Nationalisten mit einigen Dutzend PKK-Anh\u00e4ngern eine Stra\u00dfenschlacht, bei der auch Polizisten angegriffen wurden."}
-{"text": "Jets Fans Fly \u2018Cheaters Look Up\u2019 Banner Over Patriots Training Camp\n\nTouch\u00e9.\n\nGet a compelling long read and must-have lifestyle tips in your inbox every Sunday morning \u2014 great with coffee!\n\nPatriots training camp opened to the public today, giving Pats fans worn weary by months and months of stagnant Deflategate talk a respite from PSIs and busted cell phones. It was to be a safe-haven from league persecution and the hatred of 31 other ringless franchises. It was to be sacred.\n\nNot so.\n\nThe @JetsFanMedia plane banner troll is probably the most Jets move ever (other than butt-fumbling, of course).pic.twitter.com/Wn6i8tVkRA \u2014 Daniel Pesquera (@DPesqueraWBZ) July 30, 2015\n\nShots fired! \"Cheaters look up @JetsFanMedia\" wow Plane flying around training camp pic.twitter.com/37pQRhQ1lb \u2014 Bryan Salmond (@BSalSportsGuy25) July 30, 2015\n\nIndependent fan site NYJetsFans.com flew a banner reading \u201cCHEATERS LOOK UP @JETSFANMEDIA\u201d over the festivities.\n\nThis season is going to be bizarre."}
-{"text": "Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), or roadside bombs, are the insurgents' preferred method of attacking coalition troops.\n\nSenior US General John Abizaid says they are the \"single greatest source of our casualties and remain the enemy's most effective weapon\".\n\nAccording to sources quoted by the New York Times, the number of roadside bombs rose in July to the highest monthly total of the war.\n\n'DAISY CHAIN' IED AMBUSH SCENARIO IEDs are used in a range of scenarios by insurgents. This graphic shows one method employed against coalition forces. 1: Hidden insurgent with detonator watching the road 2: Coalition convoy 3: IEDs buried in grass verge linked by 'daisy chain' of wire 4: Anti-tank mine used as IED\n\nIEDs killed 427 American soldiers in Iraq in 2005, and 227 this year, according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count website.\n\nResearch analyst Francois Boo, of GlobalSecurity.org, says insurgents are skilled at developing more sophisticated and more powerful devices as US troops improve their tactics to deal with them.\n\nThey are the perfect asymmetric weapon - cheap, effective, and anonymous\n\nUS General John Abizaid\n\nMany are made from leftover munitions and explosive materials. New technology and tactics are available to bomb-makers on the internet.\n\nThe US says sophisticated bomb-making material from Iran has been found in IEDs in Iraq.\n\nInfrared devices - set off as a vehicle breaks the beam, like a burglar alarm - are believed to have been a response to US troops using equipment to jam devices triggered by mobile phones and other types of transmitters.\n\n'No silver bullet'\n\nOther tactics range from burying IEDs in roadside verges to disguising them in plaster of Paris, rubbish or dead animals. Bridges and underpasses on Iraq's roads provide places to plant devices.\n\nWithout an end to the insurgency and a political solution on the ground the IED threat is going to remain\n\nFrancois Boo\n\nGlobalSecurity.org\n\nIn some circumstances, a moving bus or lorry has been used to slow military convoys alongside a series of planted devices, maximising the damage on detonation.\n\nPatrols also face the threat of vehicles - everything from cars and lorries to donkey carts and ambulances - loaded with explosives and being used in attacks.\n\nTwo years ago, many attacks on coalition troops started with a roadside bomb - followed by insurgents opening fire on the crippled vehicle or convoy. Subsequently, the bombs have often been used as the main element of the attack.\n\nThe US military is investing millions of dollars in combating IEDs. Efforts have included improving armoured protection for vehicles and troops and better communication about new insurgent methods.\n\nThe US says it is producing results, with nearly half of IEDs found and disabled before they can be detonated. In the six months before March 2006, coalition forces found and cleared nearly 4,000 IEDs, uncovered more than 1,800 weapons caches and bomb-making plants, and killed or detained hundreds of insurgent fighters and bomb-makers.\n\nIraqi civilians, who already have to live with the threat of suicide bombers, are now becoming victims of IEDs.\n\nMr Boo says this is partly a result of the coalition troops' increased vigilance and partly due to a change in strategy by the insurgents.\n\nTen civilians died and 69 were wounded when two roadside bombs detonated in a busy market in the al-Shurja district of Baghdad on 8 August. A few days earlier, a bus carrying at least 23 Iraqi soldiers was destroyed by a roadside bomb on the road between Tikrit and Baiji.\n\nThere is no technical \"silver bullet\" to end the threat, says Mr Boo.\n\n\"Without an end to the insurgency and a political solution on the ground the IED threat is going to remain. It can only be mitigated.\""}
-{"text": "Federal officials arrested a young New York City man today for allegedly supporting ISIS - the culmination of an elaborate FBI and NYPD sting operation in which the 22-year-old was duped by at least four undercover law enforcement agents, according to court documents.Bronx resident Sajmir Alimehmeti was arrested before dawn this morning without incident. A criminal complaint filed by the Department of Justice alleges that he helped a person he believed to be an ISIS recruit - who was in fact working for federal authorities - travel to Syria to fight with ISIS by giving advice and helping the individual get last-minute supplies. Alimehmeti was also charged with passport fraud for allegedly lying about losing his passport in an attempt to get a new one.Alimehmeti attempted to join ISIS himself in 2014 but was stopped in the United Kingdom twice, the complaint says - the first time because \"authorities found camouflage pants and shirts, as well as nunchucks, in Alimehmeti's luggage\" and the second time because U.K. authorities found \"images of [ISIS] flags\" and \"improvised explosive device attacks\" on his cellphone. He was sent back to the U.S.The complaint says that U.K. authorities shared this information with the U.S. in late 2014 and that by the fall of 2015, a complicated plan had come together to use a team of undercover agents in an investigation into Alimehmeti's purported connection to ISIS, including the staging of one agent's fake travel to Raqqa, Syria, complete with photographs of the agent with what looked like desert in the background.Alimehmeti spent some time with a rotating cast of undercover agents and allegedly repeatedly showed his support for ISIS. Upon learning of the one undercover agent's apparent travel to Syria, Alimehmeti \"expressed excitement and indicated, in sum and substance, that he was jealous of [the undercover employee] and that [the employee] should 'hook him up,'\" according to the complaint.\"I'm ready to f---ing go with you, man ... You know I would ... I'm done with this place. There are kuffar [unbelievers] everywhere,\" he said later, upon learning of another \"ISIS recruit's\" plans to travel to Syria, according to the complaint.A search of Alimehmeti's computer turned up more purported evidence of his support for ISIS, including a photograph of him with the black flag commonly associated with ISIS in the background. The computer also contained photos of ISIS fighters in the Middle East, the FBI said.Making yet another appearance in a domestic terrorism case is Anwar al-Awlaki , the U.S.-born member of al-Qaeda who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2011. Al-Awlaki's sermons preaching jihad and violence against the West have been found on computers of several Americans accused of terrorism-related crimes, and he is believed to have inspired several attacks against the American homeland. The FBI says several of his lectures were found on Alimehmeti's computer."}
-{"text": "\"It's not over yet, X! The battle! The ANGST! The DESTRUCTION! I will make you understand the TRUE potential of Reploids!\"\n\n\"I'll finish this! Right HERE, right NOW!! I WILL DEFEAT YOU, SIGMA!!\"\n\n\n\nCome on, you know I had to!"}
-{"text": "Pope Saint Gregory I, also known as the Great, was the Pope of the Catholic Church between 590 and 604 AD.\n\nGregory was born around 540 in Rome. The exact date of his birth is unknown. Although the Western Roman Empire had collapsed long before his birth, many ancient Roman families still commanded great wealth and influence in the city. Gregory was born into one such family. His great-great-grandfather was Pope Felix III who reigned from 483 to 492. (Astute readers may suspect this to be a scandal, but this was at a time before the clergy took vows of celibacy.)\n\nHis father was named Gordianus, and he was a senator and a Prefect of Rome. Gordianus also held a position in the Church with the title of Regionarius, but there are no records from the time which describe the post. Gregory's mother was Silvia, also from a noble family. Silvia's sister (Gregory's aunt), Pateria are both recognized as saints in the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Gregory had a brother, but nothing is recorded, neither his name or his fate.\n\nGregory's family was very wealthy and owned estates on the island of Sicily which provided income.\n\nWhen Gregory was just two years old in 542, the Plague of Justinian swept through the region. This plague was caused by a now-extinct strain of Yersinia Pestis, more commonly known as the Black Death. The plague was the most severe outbreak of deadly disease the world had ever known and remained the worst such incident until the Black Death in the 14th century. About a third of the population in Italy was wiped out by the disease.\n\nIn addition to disease, the barbarian Ostrogoths sacked Rome in 546. The Franks attempted an invasion in 554. Both of these incursions were short lived. It is unclear how these massive events impacted Gregory's development as a child, but it is thought his family retreated to Sicily during part of that time. Peace followed in Italy after these upheavals.\n\nGregory was well educated and excelled in all his studies. He also became an expert in law. He excelled so much he became the Prefect of Rome, just as his father had been. Gregory was only 33 years old.\n\nAfter Gregory's father had died, Gregory had the family villa in Rome converted into a monastery. Today the monastery still stands as the San Gregorio Magno al Celio. This famous monastery fell into ruin in the following centuries but was restored during the 17th and 18th centuries.\n\nAs a monk, Gregory was hard and strict. When a monk on his deathbed confessed to stealing three pieces of gold, Gregory ordered he be left to die alone. After the poor monk had died, Gregory ordered his body thrown on a dung heap along with the three coins. Then, in a turn of heart, Gregory offered 30 Masses for the deceased monk.\n\nPope Pelagius II, who reigned from 579 to 590, chose Gregory to serve as an ambassador to the imperial court in Constantinople.\n\nThe Pope had a problem with the Lombards invading from the west. Gregory was ordered to request military aid from the emperor. But the emperor felt there were greater threats to the east, and he refused Gregory's request.\n\nIn 590, Pope Pelagius II died, and Gregory was proclaimed pope by acclamation. This was not something Gregory wanted, but he accepted the burden nevertheless.\n\nGregory made clear he preferred the monastic life in a series of writings praising it. He also referred to himself as a servant of God. The habit remains in practice to this day and many clergy still refer to themselves as servants.\n\nPope Gregory was famous for the emphasis he put on missionary work. He sent many people out to bring many to Jesus and into the Church. Anglo-Saxon Britain was, at that time, still on the frontier of Christendom. It was Pope Gregory who dispatched St. Augustine (of Canterbury) to Kent in 597 (not to be confused with St. Augustine of Hippo).\n\nPope Gregory made many changes to the Mass, some of which remain today, The position of the Our Father in the Mass remains where Pope Gregory placed it.\n\nHe emphasized the aspect of service to the poor for deacons. The number of deacons was increasing in number and they were seen as less essential as extensions of the Bishop than they were in the early Church. Deacons were often tasked with giving alms to the poor, and at least one was assigned to each church and ordained for this purpose.\n\nPope Gregory may have also established \"cantus planus,\" known in English as plainchant. Most today know this style of singing as Gregorian Chant. The melodious, monophonic music is known throughout the Church and closely associated with medieval monasteries. Gregorian chant gives us the oldest music we still have in the original form, some dating to the centuries just after the death of Gregory. It remains a matter of some dispute just how involved Pope Gregory was in the development of the style. Some music historians argue the credit is a misattribution that rightly belongs to his less famous successor of a century later, Gregory II.\n\nWe ask you, humbly, to help. Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you. Help Now >\n\nPope Gregory was well known for his alms to the poor, and he gave quite generously of the riches donated to the Church by the wealthy people of Rome. Everything from money to land was given to the poor in some fashion. He made clear to his subordinates that their duty was to relieve the distress faced by the poor.\n\nHe ordered his clergy to go out into the streets to find and care for the poor in person. Any clergy who were unwilling to go into the streets and help the poor were replaced. Assets of the Church were liquidated to provide income for alms. Clergy doing this work were paid four times a year and given a gold coin as a sort of bonus.\n\nWhen a famine struck Rome in the 590s, Pope Gregory ordered the Church to use its assets to feed the poor. At that time, the Church controlled nearly two thousand square miles of land, overseen by the clergy and used to generate income. Now, instead of selling the produce of the land, Pope Gregory ordered it shipped to Rome and given away for free. In this way, he saved thousands of people from certain death.\n\nPope Gregory himself refused to eat until his monks returned from their work of handing out food.\n\nHe also made certain to dine with a dozen poor people at each meal.\n\nGregory is widely considered the be the first medieval pope, and he was a prolific writer.\n\nBecause of his great respect for the poor, it was Pope Gregory and the Church that became the most respected --and obeyed force in Rome and across Italy.\n\nFrom the time of Gregory onwards, the people looked to the Church for government rather than the distant and indifferent emperors in Constantinople.\n\nPope Gregory suffered from arthritis in his last years. He died on March 12, 604 AD. He was immediately proclaimed a saint by means of popular acclaim.\n\nSaint Gregory's relics remain in St. Peter's Basilica to this day.\n\nIn 1969, the Second Vatican Council moved Saint Gregory's feast day from March 12 to September 3 so it would not fall during Lent. During Lent, there are no obligatory memorials. The Eastern Orthodox Church also venerates Saint Gregory, honoring him on March 12.\n\nBoth Anglican and Lutheran Christians also venerate Pope Saint Gregory.\n\nHe is the patron saint of musicians, singers, students, and teachers."}
-{"text": "Tuesday is the last day to request a mail ballot for the Nov. 4 general election.\n\nRegistered voters can apply for a mail ballot through their county registrar\u2019s office; some of these offices offer the service online. An application also can be obtained online through the secretary of state\u2019s office, but it must be printed, filled in and sent to a voter\u2019s county office by Tuesday\u2019s deadline.\n\nApplications also are included in sample ballot booklets sent to voters.\n\nA mail ballot (formerly called an absentee ballot) must be received by county election officials by the time polls close on election day. Voters can drop them off with the envelope signed as instructed at any polling place on election day.\n\n\nVoters can also get a mail ballot in person at the county office, complete it on the spot and turn it in.\n\nA few counties also offer some form of early \u201csatellite\u201d balloting, underway now.\n\nFor example, Los Angeles County voters can cast ballots, even on weekends, at the registrar\u2019s office in Norwalk. Most county registrars will be open the weekend before the election, said Orange County\u2019s top election official, Neal Kelley, who also heads a statewide organization of county clerks.\n\nThe Nov. 4 ballot includes choices for governor and other statewide offices as well as six state ballot measures. Every House of Representatives seat and Assembly post, and half of the state\u2019s Senate seats, also will be decided.\n\n\nMany local jurisdictions are holding elections the same day for offices or ballot measures, including several proposals for campus improvement bond measures.\n\nThe deadline to register to vote was Oct. 20.\n\njean.merl@latimes.com\n\nTwitter: @jeanmerl"}
-{"text": "Daniel Zolnikov, a young civil libertarian Republican representing Billings House District 45, has been relatively alone among Republicans in his outspoken support for medical marijuana in Montana, outlining his stance and speaking with constituents in a post on his Facebook page in June.\n\n\u201cMedical marijuana should not be a moral decision made by the state, it should be a personal decision made between patients and their doctors. Our state law is the only thing standing between patients and help, and I'm ready and willing to work with anyone who wants to help fix the law,\u201d Zolnikov said in the post.\n\nZolnikov said he has been working with Bridget Smith, D-Wolf Point, and the Montana Cannabis Industry Association for months to draft legislation that balances the desires of both Democrats and Republicans.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s one group worried about it being the Wild West and another group worried about it being cut off at the knee so it doesn\u2019t work, and I\u2019m the guy in the middle who wants it to be very functional,\u201d Zolnikov said.\n\nHe said he hasn\u2019t received any blowback from other Republican legislators and that some House Republicans he\u2019s spoken to are happy he\u2019s there to make sure the legislation is functional instead of a program easy to abuse or impossible to use."}
-{"text": "And so, the IOC has just decided that, for the London Olympic Games, the rule of sex will be based on something called \"functional androgens\" (or \"functional testosterone\"). This means that an athlete who was raised a girl and identifies as a woman will be allowed to play as a woman so long as the IOC does not discover that her body makes and responds to high levels of androgens. Androgens, of which testosterone is one type, naturally occur in both male and female bodies, but higher production usually means more male-typical development.\n\nNotice that the IOC won't just be looking at how much androgens a woman's body makes, but also how much her cells respond. This is because some women are born with testes that make a lot of testosterone, but they lack androgen-sensitive receptors, so the androgens have little-to-no effect on their cells. This condition is called complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. Those who have it -- women like Spanish hurdler Maria Patino -- develop essentially as girls and women.\n\nThe new IOC policy isn't meant to pick out these women. The athletes who are targeted by this policy on \"female hyperandrogenism\" include women born with conditions that can result in masculinization -- conditions including partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome and Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia.\n\nThis hormone-honing approach to sex divisions in sports appalls the other camp, whom we might call the Identifiers. The Identifiers, led mostly by outsiders, believe the line between men and women athletes ought to be based in self-identity. The Identifiers take the messiness of sex development as a reason to give up on biology as the way to distinguish athletes by sex. They argue that, since the borders between sex categories are naturally open, we should not attempt to police them. Instead, we ought to go simply with an athlete's self-identity as man or woman (only requiring, perhaps, that it be confirmed by her or his legal status).\n\nMake no mistake: there are problems with the new IOC biologically-oriented policy. For one, the policy doesn't actually specify what is the permissible level of functional testosterone for women athletes. As a result, there is no way for a woman to get herself tested in private, in advance of the games, to see if she should avoid the possibility of being plucked out of play for a sex crime, so to speak. It also seems odd that apparently the committee isn't going to decide a level until they get a case. That's like writing a criminal law after you've arrested a suspect.\n\nThe new policy gives away another problem in its title: \"IOC Regulations on Female Hyperandrogenism.\" Why specify \"female\"? Because the IOC is allowing male athletes to play with conditions that cause them to be hyperandrogenized -- sometimes the very same conditions for which women will be disqualified! The result is that a woman's supposed disease is accepted by the IOC as a man's natural advantage. This hardly seems like a fair way to treat a lady, unless your goal is to keep her down."}
-{"text": "Last updated on .From the section Football\n\nNewcastle United have sacked head coach Steve McClaren.\n\nThe former England boss won just six of 28 Premier League games in charge of the Magpies, who are just one place off the foot of the table.\n\nMcClaren and his team were booed off following Saturday's 3-1 loss to Bournemouth at St James' Park - their third successive league defeat.\n\nHowever, in a statement McClaren said: \"I remain confident that we would have stayed in the Premier League.\"\n\nHe added: \"I am obviously disappointed with the decision.\n\n\"Whilst there has been a lot of intense speculation surrounding my position over recent days, my sole priority has been to maintain my professionalism and carry on with my work to best prepare the team.\n\n\"For every supporter of Newcastle, I genuinely hope the club can produce the results I believe they are capable of to maintain their Premier League status.\"\n\nMcClaren's future has been a source of almost constant speculation since the defeat by the Cherries.\n\nMatch of the Day presenter Gary Lineker tweeted: \"Newcastle have finally put Steve McClaren out of his misery.\n\n\"The running of that great football club is beyond shambolic.\"\n\nIan Dennis, BBC Radio 5 live's senior football reporter, said Benitez had been identified as a replacement for McClaren at a board meeting on Monday.\n\n\"Rafa in the driving seat to replace McClaren,\" tweeted former Magpies striker Michael Owen. \"Whoever takes over, I still expect Newcastle to stay up.\"\n\nMcClaren, 54, signed a three-year contract with the Magpies in June after the club avoided relegation on the final day of last season.\n\nNewcastle's next game is at leaders Leicester City on Monday.\n\nClub statement\n\n\"After the defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday, the club has spent some time considering its position and has today concluded that Steve McClaren's employment with the club will end with immediate effect.\n\n\"We acknowledge that reaching this decision has taken a number of days and that this has caused uncertainty for everyone involved, in particular for Steve and the players, for which we apologise.\n\n\"However, we felt that this time was necessary to ensure the right decisions were reached with the best interests of the club at heart.\n\n\"Managing director Lee Charnley added: 'I would like to thank Steve personally for his services to Newcastle United.\n\n\"'He is a man of integrity and class and he has conducted himself with great dignity during this difficult time.\n\n\"'Steve worked tirelessly to try and bring success to Newcastle United.\n\n\"'He has the utmost respect of all the players, staff and management and he leaves with our very best wishes and sincere thanks.\n\n\"'We feel that a change is now needed in order to give the club the best possible chance of securing its Premier League future. A further announcement on a successor to Steve will be made in due course.'\"\n\nReaction\n\nFormer Newcastle defender Steve Howey agreed with Lineker that the club's handling of McClaren's sacking had been \"pretty shambolic\".\n\nHe added: \"That seems to sum Newcastle up at the moment.\n\n\"Everyone thought after the defeat by Bournemouth there would be discussions straight after the game with the board - which Steve is on - and a decision could be made before the new week started.\n\n\"It dragged on and, to be fair to Steve, he's shown superb professionalism. He's carried on knowing all along that he was going to be leaving.\"\n\nAnalysis\n\nBBC Sport's chief football writer Phil McNulty:\n\nSteve McClaren was an uninspired, seemingly safe, appointment by Newcastle United after they escaped relegation from the Premier League on the final day of last season.\n\nDismissed by Derby County after they failed to reach the Championship play-off despite strong financial backing, McClaren arrived as damaged goods.\n\nHe was fortunate to get the job and it proved comprehensively beyond his capabilities, despite an \u00a380m expenditure since the summer, resulting in just six wins and a place in the relegation zone.\n\nBut how much influence did McClaren have over transfer policy? Chief scout Graham Carr appears to wield the power, but McClaren took responsibility.\n\nThis unwieldy system must be scrapped and the manager must be allowed to manage, otherwise Newcastle will never escape the shadow hanging permanently over this giant of a club.\n\nAlan Shearer on Newcastle, McClaren and Benitez\n\nNewcastle's recent form\n\nMcClaren spent about \u00a380m on players during his time at St James' Park, including \u00a330m on midfielders Jonjo Shelvey, Andros Townsend and Henri Saivet in January.\n\nHowever, the signings have failed to help improve the club's form and they have won just one of their past six league games, conceding 14 goals in defeats by Watford, Everton, Chelsea, Stoke and Bournemouth.\n\nAs well as Newcastle, Derby and England, McClaren has managed Middlesbrough, Dutch side FC Twente and Wolfsburg in Germany."}
-{"text": "Syrian Helicopters dropping bombs on Sheikh Miskin, in an attempt to push back the 'moderate rebels' hopping the borders of Israel & Jordan. Daraa, Syria. 12-15-2014The Syrian Arab Army\u2019s 5th and 7th Divisions are continuing their operations against the Al-Nusra Front in the city of Sheikh Miskeen, while members of the National Defense Forces (NDF) combat the latter near the Shiekh Miskeen-Nawa Road. Yesterday, firefights were reported in the East and South Districts of Sheikh Miskeen, with the majority of fighting taking place at city cemetery.Syrian rebels backed by the United States are making their biggest gains yet south of the capital Damascus, capturing a string of towns from government forces and aiming to carve out a swath of territory leading to the doorstep of President Bashar Assad\u2019s seat of power.The advances appear to be a rare visible success story from efforts by the U.S. and its allies to train and arm moderate rebel fighters."}
-{"text": "Sign up to receive two FREE daily bulletin e-mails, as well as breaking news as it happens Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email\n\nA terrified pensioner thought she was going to be killed when she was attacked by a dog in her own back garden.\n\nThe 78-year-old suffered bites to her hand and leg when a Staffordshire Bull Terrier lunged for her in what was described as a \u201cnasty\u201d incident.\n\nSouthern Derbyshire Magistrates\u2019 Court heard that the dog was already subject to a voluntary control order following a previous incident.\n\nThe bench imposed a destruction order on the dog, named Lola, meaning she has now been condemned to death.\n\nAs for the tearful owner, teacher Maria Cellupica, 62, of Curzon Street, Long Eaton, she was fined and ordered to pay compensation.\n\nJudith Anderson, chair of the magistrate bench, said: \u201cWe are going to order the making of a destruction order in respect of the dog, Lola.\n\n\u201cThe dog escaped accidentally, not through carelessness. You are of previous good character.\u201d\n\nThe court heard how the incident took place on February 1, in Long Eaton about 10.30am.\n\nPeter Bettany, prosecuting, read a statement from the victim which said: \u201cI was in my garden and I noticed a dog standing at the back door. I don\u2019t know how it got there and I had never seen it before.\n\n\u201cThe dog went to lunge for me, grabbing hold of my right hand with its mouth, biting me. I pulled my hand away and got free. I was terrified.\n\n\u201cIt bit my left leg, fastening itself to my left knee. I thought it was going to kill me. It wasn\u2019t growling. I was screaming and screaming.\u201d\n\nThe court heard how the victim got inside the house and was bleeding.\n\nMr Bettany said she could see inside the flesh from the wound and went to A&E by ambulance.\n\nCellupica was interviewed about the incident and told police the dog was subject to a voluntary control order in respect of a previous incident.\n\nThe court heard the dog was six-years-old and they had got her from the RSPCA four years ago.\n\nAlice Hornsby, mitigating, told the court Cellupica had worked as a teacher since 1982 and was deeply regretful.\n\nShe said: \u201cShe has pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and should get credit for that. She co-operated fully with the police investigation. This was a nasty incident.\n\n\u201cShe has let the dog out to go to the toilet and went to take some washing upstairs. When she returned, she closed the door to the garden.\n\n\u201cWhen she realised the dog wasn\u2019t inside, she went into the garden looking for her. She doesn\u2019t know how the dog escaped from the back garden.\n\n\u201cShe is devastated that the victim has suffered the injuries she has, she is devastated she let her out - she was in the garden for a matter of moments - and she devastated the fact that her dog\u2019s life is at risk.\u201d\n\nMs Hornsby told the court Cellopica, who works as a head of faculties at a school in Loughborough, was extremely remorseful and was extremely sorry for what happened.\n\nCellupica pleaded guilty to one charge of being an owner/person in charge of a dog dangerously out of control causing injury.\n\nMagistrates placed a destruction order on the dog which the defendant would have to pay for.\n\nThe bench then fined her \u00a3418, ordered her to pay \u00a3500 in compensation, \u00a385 in court costs and a \u00a341 victim surcharge.\n\nThis took her total to pay to \u00a31,044."}
-{"text": "Send this page to someone via email\n\nPolice are investigating after two men walked into a hospital with gunshot wounds following a shooting in east-end Toronto early Wednesday morning.\n\nToronto police said someone called 911 after they heard gunshots from their balcony around 5:15 a.m. at Wakunda Place near O\u2019Connor Drive and Victoria Park Avenue.\n\nOfficers arrived on scene and located shell casings but no victims were found.\n\nPolice said two men had walked into a nearby hospital with gunshot wounds in connection to the shooting. Their injuries are considered non-life-threatening.\n\nAuthorities are looking for two teenage male suspects seen fleeing the area.\n\nStory continues below advertisement"}
-{"text": "Thursday, so time to check some places I have blogged about in the past to see if they are still around\u2026and to make new pics and feature them in my Thursday Tours!\n\nI started my tour on Pigeon Island, a wonderful place with green forests and surrounded by the sea and mountain ranges. Perfect for some wide shots and enjoy the panorama!\n\nNext stop was Sarawak, the beautiful home of Ermandalee (go see her pics on Flickr!)! Lovely green forests and many photogenic spots! Really worth a visit if you haven\u2019t been there, and also a place to return to often!\n\nMy last destination of this tour was Sunny Fields. The home of TMD Mainstore, who sells aircrafts and monorails and offers a complete airport with landingstrip for all to enjoy! I particularly like this for the dessert look and feel and since you can rez your aircraft to fly\u2026.you can also (of course!) rez props for photoshoots :)\n\nHappy Touring!"}
-{"text": "At the business ends of the extensive web of fibre optic cables that thread around the world, the pulses of light they carry have to be converted into electronic signals.\n\nThis is done using laser-based \u2018local oscillator\u2019 systems and complex digital signal processing, which essentially unpack the information sent by photons (the elementary particles of light) and translate it into electronic information computers can use.\n\nIt all happens in far less time than a blink of an eye. But when it comes to financial trading systems, the Internet of Things, mobile phone networks and warehouse-scale data centres every (micro)second counts.\n\nThis week, researchers from the University of Sydney, Monash University and Australian National University, have published a paper on a new technique that does a quicker job than the laser oscillators \u2013 using sound.\n\n\u201cThe fact that this system is lower in complexity and includes extraction speedup means it has huge potential benefit in a wide range of local and access systems,\u201d said the paper\u2019s co-author and director of the University of Sydney Nano Institute, Professor Ben Eggleton.\n\nIn the paper \u2013 Chip-based Brillouin processing for carrier recovery in self-coherent optical communications, published yesterday in Optica \u2013 the researchers describe their method of processing a photonic signal in a filter built into a chip.\n\nThe filter is made from a glass known as chalcogenide, a thin film of which is used on rewritable optical discs like CD-RWs and certain random-access memory devices such as PRAM.\n\nThe material has special, acoustic properties that allows it to \u2018capture\u2019 the incoming information \u2013 with a technique called large-gain stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) \u2013 and transport it on the chip to be processed into electronic information.\n\nThe result is quicker and has more capacity than the usual method, removing the need for complicated laser oscillators and digital signal processing.\n\n\u201cThis will increase processing speed by microseconds, reducing latency or what is referred to as \u2018lag\u2019 in the gaming community,\u201d saidlead-author Dr Amol Choudharyfrom the University of Sydney.\n\n\u201cWhile this doesn\u2019t sound a lot, it will make a huge difference in high-speed services, such as the financial sector and emerging e-health applications,\u201d he said.\n\nDr Amol Choudhary and Professor Ben Eggleton\n\nThe researchers also hinted at their technique\u2019s potential for quantum-state measurements.\n\n\n\n\u201cOur demonstration device usingstimulated Brillouin scatteringhas produced a record-breaking narrowband of about 265 megahertz bandwidth for carrier signal extraction and regeneration. This narrow bandwidth increases the overall spectral efficiency and therefore overall capacity of the system,\u201d Choudhary added.\n\nThe team is now preparing to prototype receiver chips for further testing.\n\nThe work follows a demonstration last year fromresearchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Ultrahigh bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS), based at theSydney Nanoscience Hub, in which photonic data on a microchip was slowed down for processing by storing it as sound.\n\n\u201cIt is like the difference between thunder and lightning,\u201d researchers said at the time."}
-{"text": "'That\u2019s a huge loss to growers if they can\u2019t control (the pests). There are not a lot of insecticides that control either of these pests,' says Alexandra Stinson\n\nResearcher Alexandra Stinson in one of her test fields at the Muck Crops Research Station in the Holland Marsh. Jenni Dunning/BradfordToday\n\n1 / 1 Researcher Alexandra Stinson in one of her test fields at the Muck Crops Research Station in the Holland Marsh. Jenni Dunning/BradfordToday\n\nA black beetle a little bit longer than the width of your pinky finger is causing havoc in the Holland Marsh, and one University of Guelph research student is trying to solve the problem.\n\nAlexandra Stinson has been using different insecticide treatments on 30-by-20-metre test plots at the Muck Crops Research Station in the marsh, just outside of Bradford West Gwillimbury, to find a sustainable way to deal with agricultural pests.\n\nThat little black beetle, known as the carrot weevil, and the carrot rust fly are her prime targets at eradicating from marsh crops.\n\n\u201cThey both cause direct economic damage,\u201d Stinson explained. \u201cWe eat the carrot root. They actually lay their eggs in the carrot root or next to it (and tunnel their way through).\u201d\n\nThat means, she added, that growers cannot sell those vegetables.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a huge loss to growers if they can\u2019t control (the pests),\u201d she said. \u201cThere are not a lot of insecticides that control either of these pests.\u201d\n\nMore people started to come up with pest-management techniques 30 to 40 years ago, with many farmers using Imidan insecticide, she said.\n\n\u201cAt first it worked very, very well. (Now), weevils are becoming resistant to Imidan,\u201d Stinson said, noting farmers now use Rimon insecticide.\n\nIt is her goal to look at alternative insecticides, decrease the weevil\u2019s resistance to them, and improve chemical controls, all while aiming to keep the ecosystem healthy.\n\nStinson said most growers spray their crops with insecticides at the \u201ctrue-leaf stage,\u201d when those first sprouts come up after the first two, which resemble bunny ears.\n\nWeevils, she added, used to start showing up at the \u201cfourth true-leaf stage,\u201d meaning when there are four sprouts after the bunny-ear leaves, but now they are showing up earlier.\n\nThis will be Stinson\u2019s second full season in the marsh since starting her research in fall 2017, and already she is seeing results.\n\nSo far, Stinson said she has found spraying at the second true-leaf stage \u201ccan actually reduce a lot of damage at harvest time,\u201d and waiting to plant carrots during the first week of June, compared to the start of May, can yield up to 90 per cent better produce.\n\nThis is because weevils lay their eggs but will die off or move on to other areas if there are no carrots for them to eat, she said.\n\nAnd planting later, she added, also means growers could use less insecticide on their crops.\n\nStinson will now spend one to two days a week at the research station, managing the plots, weeding, and applying insecticides before she harvests twice \u2014 in August and October \u2014 to see what damage, if any, there is from the bugs.\n\nWorking just a couple fields over from actual Holland Marsh vegetable growers, she said she looks forward to sharing her results with them when she finishes her research in January 2020.\n\nFor now, there will be a grower and public outreach day at the Muck Crops Research Station, 1125 Woodchoppers Lane, Kettleby, on July 5 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to showcase all the research that is happening there.\n\n\u201cThe research that we do is super beneficial to the growers here,\u201d Stinson said."}
-{"text": "Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti confirmed Wednesday that he is in talks with the International Olympic Committee to let Paris host the 2024 Olympics and have L.A. wait until 2028 in exchange for the IOC funding youth sports programs in L.A.\n\n\u201cAs we\u2019ve talked to the Olympics they\u2019ve asked us to think about \u2013 both Paris and us \u2013 what would it take for us to consider one of us going first and the other going second,\" Garcetti said at a press conference. \"My dream is not so much just to bring the Olympics here, but is to bring youth sports for free to every zip code.\"\n\nGarcetti added that he wanted the funds to be distributed \"right now.\"\n\nLA2024 declined to comment on Garcetti's remarks. Garcetti's spokesman, Alex Comisar, said he had no details to add beyond what the mayor said.\n\nNext week, the International Olympic Committee's executive board will consider a proposal for a rare two-city bid, something the full IOC would vote on in July.\n\nThe Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the IOC is leaning towards awarding Paris the 2024 games and L.A. 2028, and that in addition to youth sports the IOC would also kick in funding for L.A.'s Olympic organizing committee to keep operating an additional four years.\n\nPreviously, Garcetti seemed cool to the idea of waiting until 2028.\n\n\"We\u2019re eager, ready and excited to host 2024 and that is all we are focused on,\" Garcetti said in January.\n\nBut his stance has softened in recent weeks as it appears more likely the IOC will award a dual bid. On Wednesday, seeming to refer to President Donald Trump's unpopularity around the world, he suggested L.A. should be happy to get an Olympics at all.\n\n\"Given some of the challenges we face globally right now with leadership, that would be I think quite a coup and something for us all to celebrate,\" Garcetti said.\n\nThe 1984 L.A. Olympics generated a $250 million surplus, and that money has been used ever since to fund sports in Southern California through the LA84 foundation."}
-{"text": "The nomination process for X-Mormon of the Year is underway \u2014 please be sure to get in your nominations before next weekend when the voting begins.\n\nNow, it\u2019s also time to start on the Brodie Awards!! The Brodie Awards are a fun little yearly activity intended to give some extra recognition and signal boost to the best LDS-interest content published/posted during the past year. This is your opportunity to review your favorite pieces, find out about great works you may have missed, and even promote your own work!\n\nAs usual, I will start by posting a list of suggested categories (from last year), but the precise list of award categories depends on your suggestions. Please feel free to browse the sidebar for ideas on award categories we\u2019ve used in the past for ideas. Below the suggested categories, I will post the nomination guidelines.\n\nYear-long awards for people and groups:\n\nBest New Blog/Channel/Podcast\n\nBest Humor/Satire Blog/Channel/Podcast\n\nBest Scripture Study Blog/Channel/Podcast\n\nBest Mormon History Blog/Channel/Podcast\n\nBest LDS-Church-Info Site\n\nBest LDS-interest Discussion Forum\n\nBest Exmormon Reddit Contributor\n\nBest faithful-perspective Mormon Blog\n\nAwards for Individual Works:\n\nBest LDS-Interest Book (Fiction)\n\nBest LDS-Interest Book (General non-fiction)\n\nBest LDS-Interest Book (Narrative non-fiction)\n\nBest LDS-Interest Song\n\nBest Poem\n\nBest LDS-Interest Comic or Image\n\nBest Mormon-Themed Meme\n\nBest Post Title\n\nFunniest Humor Piece\n\nFunniest Parody\n\nBest Metaphor/Analogy/Allegory\n\nBest From the Pulpit Sermon\n\nMost Poignant Personal Story\n\nBest Exit Story\n\nBest Original Research Regarding Mormonism\n\nBest Leak or Personal Recording\n\nBest LDS Church Watch Piece\n\nBest Response to Apologetics\n\nBest LDS-Culture Piece\n\nBest History Piece\n\nBest Scripture Study Piece\n\nMost Insightful Commentary on the CoJCoL-dS\n\nBest Philosophical/Theological Discussion\n\nBest Podcast Episode\n\nBest Short Media Presentation\n\nAnd here are the nomination guidelines:\n\nPlease nominate as many people, books, blogs, sites, podcasts, songs, articles, images, etc. as you want. However, please do not nominate more than two individual works by any one author/artist.\n\nYou are encouraged to nominate your own works. No one knows better than you do which pieces were your best. No more than two, though.\n\nPlease nominate works that first appeared during 2017.\n\nPlease try to nominate people and works that have some connection with Mormonism (eg. either the work touches on Mormonism, or the author is a current or former Mormon and/or is an active participant in our community).\n\nA category must have at least three nominations in order to be included in the voting and awards phase.\n\nYou may suggest your own categories \u2014 however please do it as early as possible in the nominations process, to give others plenty of time to add nominations in your proposed categories.\n\nAny other proposed changes to the categories or to the guidelines are welcome \u2014 feel free to discuss it in the comments.\n\nThe nominations will be open until mid-January, 2018, depending on my schedule. I will finalize the dates and categories and add my own nominations a few days before the nominations close and voting begins.\n\nHow to nominate: Just post your nominations as comment to this thread, but please include links to the works you nominate. If your nomination comment ends up in the spam filter, please email me (chanson dot exmormon at gmail dot com) and I will fish it out.\n\nI can\u2019t wait to review all of the best works from 2017!!!"}
-{"text": "Coin-op Parts\n\nPartial List\n\nThe list below is some of the most commonly asked for parts.\n\nBase shipping via USPS Priority in the USA is $7.00.\n\nWe no longer ship outside the USA other than to Canada at a base fee of $10.00.\n\nALL SALES FINAL\n\n(:(Sorry, no CCs or PayPal):)\n\nMay 1, 2013... We are saying good-bye to Happ after 27 years.\n\nWe are discontinuing sales of Happ products, so when stock on-hand\n\nis gone it will not be restocked. These items are sold on numerous other\n\nsites & with prices escalating every time we reorder we really cannot save\n\nyou any money negating the need for us to supply these items.\n\n\n\nThis Page\n\nUpdated 6/12/2016\n\n\n\nSecurity Torx Bits & Handle Special $7\n\n\n\nSeveral of the newbies have asked me for my\n\nBad Trader List & it is now here.\n\nIt's a BIG ONE!\n\n\n\n\n\nCurrent Sale Items"}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWhat he looked like before\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n-He's become innocent-looking \u314b\u314b\u314bWhat happened?-Why did he lose so much weight? \u3160\u3160-It could be that lost muscles and he's wearing circle lenses \u3160\u3160 I personally liked his vampire visuals-For a moment, he looked like Chanyeol in the last gif-A lot of people don't know that during his modelling days, he used to have a thin and delicate frame but he bulked up for his roles. He's back to his old appearance-Is it for a role?-He looks different but I can't pinpoint what changed specifically-Why does he look so innocent all of a sudden..."}
-{"text": "MIAMI - T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who has the most catches in a Bengals season, caught on to LSU quarterback Joe Burrow early. Like back on Sept. 7. And promptly anointed him the best quarterback in the country. Now Houshmandzadeh is helping to train Burrow for his first NFL pass, when another Bengals receiver is the likely target this September.\n\nHoushmandzadeh, down here to work for Fox Sports Radio early in Super Bowl week, checked in by phone to say he'll be in on Burrow's workouts under the direction of former Bengals back-up quarterback Jordan Palmer when they begin next week in Orange County, Calif.\n\nHoushmandzadeh, who has worked with Bengals wide receiver John Ross in the past, is going to direct the receivers. But, like he says, anything he can do.\n\n\"If I can drop him a nugget, help show him what an NFL receiver sees, every little bit helps,\" said Houshmandzadeh, who became a believer after he watched Burrow sift Texas for 491 yards on 31 of 39 passing. \"It showed his pocket presence and his ability to scramble and pass and run was impressive early on and that pretty much held true the rest of the season.\n\n\"Love the tape. To me, anticipation is what makes a quarterback accurate. Accuracy comes from throwing it before he's open and you're throwing him open. And that's accuracy. That completion percentage he had in college, he does that very well. I think Joe is going to be really good.\"\n\nBurrow is headed to California to prep for the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis later this month and continue his work there through April 23, the day the Bengals are expected to make him the first pick in the draft.\n\n\"A lot of it is the mental aspect. How to handle it,\" Houshmandzadeh said. \"How to study a playbook, how do you learn a playbook, learn concepts, things that change protections, what does each guy do in certain coverage.\""}
-{"text": "Ten years ago the Australian government launched a National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH). It injected A$800 million into homelessness services and A$300 million to build 600 new homes for people experiencing homelessness. It was later announced that another A$400 million would be available under the National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) to build new housing and supported accommodation for the homeless. Total recurrent expenditure (at 2016-17 prices) on homelessness services has increased by 28.8%, from A$634.2 million in 2012-13 to A$817.4 million in 2016-17.\n\nBut despite this, the number of people experiencing homelessness and the rate of homelessness have both increased. Our research points to problems in the public housing system as one of the more important causes of these increases.\n\nAccording to census figures released on Wednesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the number of homeless people in Australia has risen by 14% to 116,427. The rate of homelessness has increased from 47.6 people per 10,000 of the population in 2011, to 49.8 per 10,000 now. (The ABS defines homelessness here.)\n\nThere is some good news: the numbers of Indigenous homeless and homeless children and youth (aged 12-18) have declined by 26%, 11% and 7% respectively since 2011. But on the downside, increases are particularly pronounced in New South Wales (where the homelessness rate rose by 27% and among people aged over 65 (by just over 30%) and overseas-born migrants (by 40%).\n\nRead more: More and more older Australians will be homeless unless we act now\n\nWhy are we still going backwards?\n\nChanges in Australian housing and welfare systems and wider social and economic developments appear to have more than offset any benefits from the NPAH and NAHA. Our research sheds some light on the role played by Australia\u2019s housing system. Using the internationally recognised and unique Journeys Home longitudinal survey, we find that public housing is the most important factor in preventing homelessness among vulnerable people.\n\nPublic housing is particularly effective because it is affordable. It has also traditionally offered a long-term refuge for precariously housed people. This is because public housing leases provide the benefits of security of tenure commonly associated with home ownership.\n\nDean Lewins/AAP\n\nIt is perhaps no accident that NSW was one of the first states to introduce fixed-term tenancies in public housing. This eroded one of the major attributes of tenure, in a state that has seen relatively large increases in homelessness numbers.\n\nThe empirical evidence also suggests that community housing fails to provide the same protection for people at risk of homelessness. While community housing is affordable, the security of tenure is weaker, which may explain these findings.\n\nDespite such evidence, the stock of public housing continued to decline between the 2011 and 2016 censuses. State government-initiated transfers of stock to the community housing sector accelerated this trend. In 2013 Australia had a public housing stock of 325,226 dwellings. This declined by 3.2% to 314,864 usable dwellings in 2017.\n\nRead more: Australia needs to reboot affordable housing funding, not scrap it\n\nWhere are the additional homeless coming from?\n\nOne of the more alarming changes is a sharp increase in the number of homeless people over 65. This partly reflects Australia\u2019s ageing population. However, the increase is such that the elderly\u2019s share of the total homelessness count has also risen.\n\nFurthermore, our research suggests that this trend could become protracted. This is because the homeless elderly have much less chance of escaping into formal housing than younger people experiencing homelessness. We have little understanding of the reasons for this, but gaps in service provision to the aged could be partly responsible.\n\nThe other group who feature prominently among the homeless are overseas migrants. They now make up 46% of the homeless, despite representing just 28% of the Australian population. The number of homeless overseas-born migrants has soared by 40% since the 2011 Census, from 38,085 to 53,606 people.\n\nIt turns out that homeless overseas-born migrants are concentrated among those living in severely overcrowded dwellings \u2013 a little over half of those living in these conditions were born overseas. We know little about these homeless people. Discrimination could be a factor, though some characterise this group as students living in group households who should not be considered homeless. But this is speculation and further study is certainly required.\n\nRead more: Ghost-hunting: will the census reveal the true scale of homelessness in Australia?\n\nIn view of the latest census results, it is clear to us that governments need to reassess their approach to what is turning into an intractable social problem.\n\nWe do not deny that situational factors, such as drug abuse, domestic violence and so forth, are important here. But equally, there is strong evidence that structural problems in our housing market are a significant cause of growth in the numbers of homeless people.\n\nUntil these problems are resolved, service provision and support will remain a band-aid masking deeper social and housing system issues."}
-{"text": "Get over 50 fonts, text formatting, optional watermarks and NO adverts! Get your free account now!\n\nWhenever I see someone who is drving like an asshole with a handicap plate - I assume it was their driving that caused their handicap\n\nCheck out all our blank memes"}
-{"text": "Alors qu'est \u00e9voqu\u00e9e la suppression des trains de fret qui relient chaque jour Perpignan et le march\u00e9 de Rungis, le patron de la SNCF Guillaume Pepy rappelle sur France Bleu Paris que les wagons frigorifiques sont en fin de vie et que leur remplacement repr\u00e9sente un investissement consid\u00e9rable.\n\n\"Je suis choqu\u00e9\", assure sur France Bleu Paris mardi 14 mai le patron de la SNCF Guillaume Pepy \u00e0 propos de l'\u00e9ventuelle suppression des trains de fret qui relient chaque jour Perpignan et le march\u00e9 de Rungis. Des trains qui seraient donc remplac\u00e9s par pr\u00e8s de 20 000 camions par an.\n\nJe suis choqu\u00e9, pas besoin de me l'expliquer mais le sujet est simple : les wagons frigorifiques sont en fin de vie, et il faut en racheter des nouveaux.Guillaume Pepy\u00e0 France Bleu Paris\n\nUn investissement de \"30 millions d'euros\", estime Guillaume Pepy. Or, \"si on les ach\u00e8te, il nous faut en face un contrat qui nous permette dans la dur\u00e9e de faire cet investissement\". Car, rappelle le patron de la SNCF, \"nous manions de l'argent public, donc il faut faire attention \u00e0 la gestion\". La ministre des Transports Elisabeth Borne a annonc\u00e9 vendredi dernier qu'elle allait r\u00e9unir \"la semaine prochaine\" les acteurs concern\u00e9s par la possible fermeture de cette liaison."}
-{"text": "By Elliot Foster\n\nBoxing Scene has been informed that a show which was cancelled earlier this week will now be rescheduled.\n\nThe inaugural It\u2019s A Bout Boxing Ireland card \u2013\u2013 T\u00e1imid Laochra \u2013\u2013 was previously set for April 1 at the National Stadium in Dublin.\n\nBut it will now take place on April 28 at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght, South Dublin.\n\nThe Boxing Union of Ireland withdrew permission for the 14-fight show on Monday afternoon \u201cdue to a number of conditions not being complied with by the promoter.\u201d\n\nPromoter Marcus Anderson-Hitchen, of It\u2019s A Bout Boxing, told \u2018Scene on Monday evening that all issues were being worked on and that he was endeavouring to reach an agreement with FS Promotions\u2019 Frank Stacey, with whom he\u2019s co-promoting under the It\u2019s A Bout Boxing Ireland umbrella, for the show \u2013\u2013 which is set to feature the return of Cuban-born Cork heavyweight Mike Perez \u2013\u2013 to go ahead in future.\n\n\u201cDue to a number of technical and logistical issues, missed deadlines and administrative problems over the past few weeks, It\u2019s A Bout Boxing Ireland were forced to postpone this weekend\u2019s T\u00e1imid Laochra show in the National Stadium, as most of you are already aware,\u201d a statement issued on Friday and sent to Boxing Scene read.\n\n\u201cWe hold our hands up and accept responsibility for the problems which led to the cancellation of the show. These issues are now resolved.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s A Bout Boxing Ireland would again like to apologise to the boxers and the fans for the delay and confusion, plus the total inconvenience to them, and thank them all for their understanding and support.\u201d\n\nTickets for the April 1 card remain valid for the rescheduled date, at the 2500-capacity venue, and a sell-out crowd is expected.\n\nThe show will be slightly scaled down from what was planned for April 1, but it will still be televised via Showcase TV (Sky channel 212) and be headlined by Perez against an opponent to be named.\n\nBoxing Scene understands that the meeting between It\u2019s A Bout Boxing Ireland and Mel Christle of the BUI will take place next week and that further names for the card will be revealed in due course.\n\nIn other news, young Bray bantamweight Regan Buckley has quickly secured a new date for his pro bow.\n\nThe 20-year-old will now punch for pay for the first time on May 27 at the National Stadium in Dublin.\n\nEric Donovan, Sean Creagh, Stephen Carroll, Crank Whitehouse, Lynn Harvey and fellow debutant John Joyce will also feature on the bumper bill which is promoted by Leonard Gunning of Boxing Ireland and Tony Davitt.\n\nElsewhere, Sean Higginson will make his pro debut in his home city.\n\nThe Belfast featherweight has been added to Kieran Farrell\u2019s April 22 card at The Devenish Complex after the promoter\u2019s April 14 at the Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Manchester \u2013\u2013 on which Higginson was originally set to have his first fight \u2013\u2013 was moved back to May 27.\n\nJoe Fitzpatrick, Mark Morris, Dan McShane, Sean McGlinchey, Sean Magee, Mathew Fitzsimons, Ger Healy, and Ronnie Clark all feature on the April 22 card which is headlined by the British Challenge super-featherweight title clash between Feargal McCrory and Jay Carney.\n\nBut a new debut date is awaited for Waterford welterweight Dylan Moran and further details will be revealed in due course."}
-{"text": "\uff08\uff23\uff2e\uff2e\uff09 \u7c73\u5357\u90e8\u30eb\u30a4\u30b8\u30a2\u30ca\u5dde\u30e9\u30d5\u30a1\u30a4\u30a8\u30c3\u30c8\u306e\u6620\u753b\u9928\u3067\uff12\uff13\u65e5\u591c\u3001\u9283\u6483\u304c\u3042\u3063\u305f\u3068\u306e\u901a\u5831\u304c\u3042\u308a\u8b66\u5bdf\u304c\u51fa\u52d5\u3057\u305f\u3002\u5730\u5143\u8b66\u5bdf\u306b\u3088\u308b\u3068\u3001\u591a\u6570\u306e\u8ca0\u50b7\u8005\u304c\u51fa\u3066\u304a\u308a\u3001\u9283\u3092\u6483\u3063\u305f\u8005\u3082\u6b7b\u4ea1\u3057\u305f\u3068\u307f\u3089\u308c\u308b\u3002\n\n\u9283\u6483\u304c\u3042\u3063\u305f\u6620\u753b\u9928\u306f\u300c\u30b0\u30e9\u30f3\u30c9\u30b7\u30a2\u30bf\u30fc\uff11\uff16\u300d\u3067\u3001\u7c73\u4e2d\u90e8\u6642\u9593\u5348\u5f8c\uff17\u6642\u534a\u3054\u308d\u901a\u5831\u304c\u3042\u3063\u305f\u3002\n\n\u73fe\u5834\u4ed8\u8fd1\u306b\u3044\u305f\u5973\u6027\u306f\u300c\u591a\u304f\u306e\u5c11\u5973\u304c\u53eb\u3073\u58f0\u3092\u3042\u3052\u3001\u8ab0\u304b\u304c\u6483\u305f\u308c\u308b\u306e\u3092\u805e\u3044\u305f\u300d\u300c\u591a\u304f\u306e\u4eba\u304c\u9003\u3052\u51fa\u3057\u305f\u300d\u3068\u8a9e\u3063\u305f\u3002\u5973\u6027\u306e\u5144\u5f1f\u3082\u8179\u90e8\u3092\u6483\u305f\u308c\u305f\u5973\u6027\u3092\u76ee\u6483\u3057\u3001\u300c\u670d\u304c\u8840\u3060\u3089\u3051\u3060\u3063\u305f\u3002\u5b8c\u5168\u306b\u304a\u3073\u3048\u305f\u72b6\u614b\u3067\u79c1\u3092\u898b\u3066\u3044\u305f\u300d\u3068\u8ff0\u3079\u305f\u3002\n\n\u540c\u5730\u57df\u306e\u30d4\u30b6\u5e97\u306e\u7d4c\u55b6\u8005\u306b\u3088\u308b\u3068\u3001\u73fe\u5730\u306f\u5c01\u9396\u3055\u308c\u3001\uff12\uff10\uff5e\uff13\uff10\u53f0\u306e\u6551\u6025\u8eca\u304c\u5230\u7740\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3002\n\n\u30eb\u30a4\u30b8\u30a2\u30ca\u5dde\u306e\u30b8\u30f3\u30c0\u30eb\u77e5\u4e8b\u306f\u77ed\u6587\u6295\u7a3f\u30b5\u30a4\u30c8\u30c4\u30a4\u30c3\u30bf\u30fc\u3067\u300c\u4eca\u73fe\u5730\u306b\u5411\u304b\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\u88ab\u5bb3\u8005\u3084\u305d\u306e\u5bb6\u65cf\u306e\u305f\u3081\u306b\u7948\u308d\u3046\u300d\u3068\u6295\u7a3f\u3057\u305f\u3002"}
-{"text": "Bipper is just really really excited to destroy things.\n\nHere\u2019s the finished drawing from the stream last night - I totally er, slapped on a BG from a another map part I already drew, but might as well eh. I love drawing in the GF art style and I think I\u2019ll do some more often. nwn\u2019"}
-{"text": "Director: Shona Auerbach.\n\nScreenplay: Andrea Gibb.\n\nStarring: Emily Mortimer, Gerard Butler, Jack McElhone, Mary Riggans, Sharon Small, Sean Brown, Jayd Johnson, Katy Murphy, Cal Macaninch.\n\nAfter \u201cOne More Kiss\u201c, the second instalment of my Scottish trilogy is this highly underrated little gem from first time feature director Shona Auerbach. It\u2019s a film that shows a real delicacy and understanding for human relationships and a sensitive perception of life in general.\n\nFrankie (Jack McElhone) is a 9 year old deaf boy has never met his father. His mother Lizzie (Emily Mortimer) left him years ago but never had the heart to tell her son. Instead, she concocts a story and tells Frankie that his father is working on a ship, sailing around the world. She also sends letters to Frankie, pretending to be his dad in far off places. Her story threatens to come to pieces though when Frankie discovers that his dad\u2019s ship is due to dock at their hometown of Greenock. Instead of telling Frankie the truth, Lizzie employs the services of a stranger (Gerard Butler) to pretend that he\u2019s Frankie\u2019s father.\n\nEvery now and again you come across a low-key drama with real depth and honesty that when it\u2019s all over you are left feeling genuinely touched; a tear may even well-up or for that matter fall. This is that type of drama. It\u2019s a film that tugs on the heartstrings but doesn\u2019t use any form of manipulation to do so. It\u2019s just good, honest, storytelling that uses observation and an understanding of life and the heartbreaking complexities therein. It touches on the extent that parents will go to protect their children and also the difficulties faced by broken, impoverished families. What it also does, is put your faith in the kindness of strangers. That being said, this is not a film that\u2019s depressing. In fact, it\u2019s quite the opposite. It\u2019s a life-affirming story filled with humour as well as pathos and everyone hits just the right note. It\u2019s also a film that could claim to showcase the real charm and charisma of Gerard Butler before he hopped aboard the fame train. He\u2019s an enigmatic presence and delivers a wonderfully subtle turn that gained him a lot more recognition amongst critics and filmgoers alike. The same could be said of Emily Mortimer; she is absolutely superb as a supportive but desperate mother striving to protect her son and further excellent support is delivered by young Jack McElhone as the eponymous and gentle natured Frankie. He doesn\u2019t physically talk throughout the film but we get to hear his thoughts through the letters he writes to his absent and elusive father. It\u2019s through these heartfelt, emotional performances that the film really resonates. That\u2019s not to take away from writer Andrea Gibb\u2019s endearing screenplay or director/cinematographer Shona Auerbach\u2019s sensitive handling of the material though; everyone pulls their weight in capturing just the right tone here. It\u2019s a such a shame that Auerbach hasn\u2019t made a film since as on this evidence, she certainly has the ability and a 15 minute standing ovation at Cannes would further fuel that.\n\nA sweet and poignant little drama with fantastic performances all round. A film with a head and a heart and good feel for the moment.\n\nNext up\u2026 \u201cThe Angels\u2019 Share\u201c.\n\nMark Walker"}
-{"text": "Spostarsi in bicicletta in citt\u00e0, proposto l\u2019obbligo del casco e di targa con tanto di immatricolazione: sono alcuni dei punti previsti in un nuovo disegno di legge \u2013 a modifica del decreto legislativo 1992, n. 285 in materia di circolazione dei velocipedi \u2013 presentato dal senatore de Bertoldi (FDI).\n\necondo il ddl, sarebbe necessario introdurre una sorta di immatricolazione per le bici, con contrassegno per il telaio e targa posteriore, e rendere obbligatoria anche l\u2019assicurazione per responsabilit\u00e0 civile, cos\u00ec da poter rispondere in caso di incidenti in cui la colpa sia del ciclista o condivisa con chi coinvolto.\n\n\u201c\u00c8 davvero un tema urgente considerando che l\u2019attuale normativa \u00e8 troppo lacunosa sia sul piano della sicurezza e sia su quello della condotta dei ciclisti. Inoltre, dinanzi alla diffusione di bici elettriche c\u2019\u00e8 l\u2019esigenza di una normativa pi\u00f9 severa e stringente che disciplini il fenomeno, mentre l\u2019introduzione della responsabilit\u00e0 civile consentir\u00e0 di ridurre il peso sui cittadini a causa dei furti e dei sinistri causati proprio dalle stesse biciclette, tutelando al contempo gli interessi dei pedoni e dei ciclisti\u201d, spiega il senatore de Bertoldi.\n\nNella fattispecie, riguardo alla circolazione delle biciclette, il disegno di legge proposto vorrebbe introdurre: un contrassegno apposto sul telaio, da applicare sui lati o posteriormente, una targa posteriore contenente i dati di immatricolazione, l\u2019obbligo di indossare il casco protettivo durante la circolazione, l\u2019obbligo dell\u2019assicurazione di responsabilit\u00e0 civile e infine l\u2019espresso divieto all\u2019interno dei centri abitati della loro circolazione in senso opposto a quello di marcia degli altri veicoli.\n\nQuest\u2019ultimo punto cozzerebbe con quanto invece si prevedeva in sede di approvazione dell nuovo codice della strada che voleva, tra le altre cose, proprio la possibilit\u00e0 per i ciclisti di camminare contromano nei centri urbani.\n\nPer ora \u00e8 tutto in fase di proposte e approvazione. Ma quello che forse maggiormente preoccupa le associazioni di ciclisti potrebbero essere spese di pratiche e assicurazione.\n\nvia greenme.it"}
-{"text": "\u30ea\u30c8\u30a2\u30cb\u30a2\u306e\u6559\u4f1a\u304b\u3089\u767a\u898b\u3055\u308c\u305f\u30df\u30a4\u30e9\u3002\u540c\u3058\u5730\u4e0b\u5893\u5730\u306b\u3042\u3063\u305f\u5b50\u4f9b\u306e\u4f53\u306e\u4e00\u90e8\u304b\u3089\u3001\u4e16\u754c\u6700\u53e4\u306e\u5929\u7136\u75d8\u30a6\u30a4\u30eb\u30b9\u304c\u898b\u3064\u304b\u3063\u305f\u3002\uff08PHOTOGRAPH BY KIRIL CACHOVSKIJ, DELFI\uff09 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-{"text": "WASHINGTON\u2014Challenging commonly held misperceptions, the U.S. Department of Justice published a report this week revealing that the vast majority of UFO abductions are perpetrated by aliens a person knows rather than extraterrestrials unfamiliar to victims. \u201cThe popular notion of UFO abductions is of a person being beamed up into the sky by strange, hostile beings from Sirius or Andromeda, but the reality is that most of these abductions are committed by an extraterrestrial acquaintance the victim trusts and feels comfortable around,\u201d DOJ spokesman Devin Shane said of the estimated 2,800 reported victims of UFO abduction last year, many of whom were taken against their will into an advanced spacecraft and subjected to psychological experiments and medical examinations by nonhuman entities they already knew through family or friends. \u201cWhile it\u2019s true that a significant number of abductions are still carried out by extrasolar reptilian beings with planetary invasion-related motives, data shows that known relationships with extraterrestrials are by far the greater danger to civilians, with many aliens committing abduction for personal reasons, such as indulging their own cravings for power, control, or revenge, or siphoning human energy from host bodies in order to replicate.\u201d Officials noted, with a degree of optimism, that evidence now shows only 10 percent of all UFO abductions result in aliens impregnating the victim with thousands of eggs.\n\nAdvertisement"}
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-{"text": "\u30b9\u30ea\u30ca\u30e0\u5171\u548c\u56fd\u306e\u30b3\u30d0\u30eb\u30c8\u30e4\u30c9\u30af\u30ac\u30a8\u30eb\uff08Dendrobates tinctorius azureus\uff09\u3002\uff08PHOTOGRAPH BY REINHARD DIRSCHERL, ULLSTEIN BILD, GETTY IMAGES\uff09 [\u753b\u50cf\u306e\u30af\u30ea\u30c3\u30af\u3067\u62e1\u5927\u8868\u793a]\n\n\u5357\u7c73\u306e\u68ee\u6797\u306e\u5965\u6df1\u304f\u306b\u306f\u3001\u6355\u98df\u8005\u304b\u3089\u8eab\u3092\u5b88\u308b\u305f\u3081\u306b\u30e2\u30eb\u30d2\u30cd\u306e\u6bd2\u6027\u306e200\u500d\u3082\u5f37\u529b\u306a\u6bd2\u3092\u84c4\u3048\u308b \u30e4\u30c9\u30af\u30ac\u30a8\u30eb 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\uff09\n\n\u300c\u914d\u7dda\u306e\u5f31\u3044\u3068\u3053\u308d\u3092\u3001\u3044\u308d\u3044\u308d\u306a\u9053\u5177\u3067\u5207\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u306e\u3067\u3059\u300d\u3002\u7c73\u30d0\u30fc\u30b8\u30cb\u30a2\u5927\u5b66\u306e\u751f\u7269\u5b66\u8005\u3067\u3001\u30bf\u30fc\u30d3\u30f3\u6c0f\u306e\u8ad6\u6587\u3092\u8ad6\u8a55\u3057\u305f\u751f\u7269\u6bd2\u306e\u5c02\u9580\u5bb6\u30d6\u30c3\u30c1\u30fb\u30d6\u30ed\u30c7\u30a3\u30fc3\u4e16\u306f\u305d\u3046\u8aac\u660e\u3059\u308b\u3002\n\n\u30d5\u30ad\u30e4\u30ac\u30de\u5c5e\u306e\u30d2\u30ad\u30ac\u30a8\u30eb\u306e\u4ef2\u9593\uff08Atelopus spumarius\uff09\u3082\u6bd2\u3092\u3082\u3064\u3002\uff08PHOTOGRAPH BY RODRIGO BUENDIA, AFP, GETTY IMAGES\uff09 [\u753b\u50cf\u306e\u30af\u30ea\u30c3\u30af\u3067\u62e1\u5927\u8868\u793a]\n\n\u6b21\u30da\u30fc\u30b8\uff1a\u6bd2\u306b\u3082\u85ac\u306b\u3082\u306a\u308b"}
-{"text": "Some instructional videos featuring the Motorola Droid 3 on Verizon's network surfaced on YouTube on Sunday, thanks to enthusiast blog PhonePad. The two videos show off the buttons on the phone, the various methods of text input on the Droid 3 (physical keyboard, virtual keyboard, and Swype), and handing of contact information.\n\nDetails on the Droid 3 have been trickling out for some time now. The device is expected to have a 4-inch, 960x540 qHD display and a dual-core processor, as well as an HDMI-out port and an 8-megapixel camera with a flash that will take HD video. Boy Genius Report has speculated that the phone will not have access to Verizon's 4G LTE network, a decision that wouldn't situate it well against competitors in the coming months.\n\nThe Droid 3 instructional videos are directed at beginners, and don't focus on what is new or different about the phone from its predecessors. A couple physical changes of note are the migration of the power button from the top right of the phone\u2014where it was on the Droid 2\u2014to the top center, and the addition of a number row to the physical keyboard. The top sliding layer of the Droid 3 also no longer fully covers the bottom portion.\n\nAn official release date and price for the Droid 3 still haven't been announced, but recent speculation pegs it for a launch later this month. We've embedded all three videos of the Droid 3 below.\n\nUpdate: all three of the YouTube videos were pulled down, but here is one that was put up on Vimeo."}
-{"text": "Tales of a Former Disassembly Addict\n\nLike many people who learned to program on home computers in the 1980s, I started with interpreted BASIC and moved on to assembly language. I've seen several comments over the years--including one from Alan Kay--less than thrilled with the 8-bit department store computer era, viewing it as a rewind to a more primitive time in programming. That's hard to argue against, as the decade prior to the appearance of the Apple II and Atari 800 had resulted in Modula-2, Smalltalk, Icon, Prolog, Scheme, and some top notch optimizing compilers for Pascal and C. Yet an entire generation happily ignored all of that and became bit-bumming hackers, writing thousands of games and applications directly at the 6502 and Z80 machine level with minimal operating system services.\n\nThere wasn't much of a choice.\n\nIn Atari BASIC, this statement:\n\nPRINT SIN(1)\n\nwas so slow to execute that you could literally say \"dum de dum\" between pressing the enter key and seeing the result. Assembly language was the only real option if you wanted to get anywhere near what the hardware was capable of. That there was some amazing Prolog system on a giant VAX did nothing to change this. And those folks who had access to that system weren't able to develop fast graphical games that sold like crazy at the software store at the mall.\n\nI came out of that era being very sensitive to what good low-level code looked like, and it was frustrating.\n\nI'd routinely look at the disassembled output of Pascal and C compilers and throw up my hands. It was often as if the code was some contrived example in Zen of Assembly Language, just to show how much opportunity there was for optimization. I'd see pointless memory accesses, places where comparisons could be removed, a half dozen lines of function entry/exit code that wasn't needed.\n\nAnd it's often still like that, even though the party line is that compilers can out-code most humans. Now I'm not arguing against the overall impressiveness of compiler technology; I remember trying to hand-optimize some SH4 code and I lost to the C compiler every time (my code was shorter, but not faster). But it's still common to see compilers where this results in unnecessarily bulky code:\n\n*p++ = 10; *p++ = 20; *p++ = 30; *p++ = 40;\n\nwhile this version ends up much cleaner:\n\np[0] = 10; p[1] = 20; p[2] = 30; p[3] = 40; p += 4;\n\nI noticed that under OS X a few years ago--and this may certainly still be the case with the Snow Leopard C compiler--that every access to a global variable resulted in two fetches from memory: one to get the address of the variable, one to get the actual value.\n\nDon't even get me started about C++ compilers. Take some simple-looking code involving objects and overloaded operators, and I can guarantee that the generated code will be filled with instructions to copy temporary objects all over the place. It's not at all surprising if a couple of simple lines of source turn into fifty or a hundred of assembly language. In fact, generated code can be so ridiculous and verbose that I finally came up with an across-the-board solution which works for all compilers on all systems:\n\nI don't look at the disassembled output.\n\nIf you've read just a couple of entries in this blog, you know that I use Erlang for most of my personal programming. As a mostly-interpreted language that doesn't allow data structures to be destructively modified, it's no surprise to see Erlang in the bottom half of any computationally intensive benchmark. Yet I find it keeps me thinking at the right level. The goal isn't to send as much data as possible through a finely optimized function, but to figure out how to have less data and do less processing on it.\n\nIn the mid-1990s I wrote a 2D game and an enhanced version of the same game. The original had occasional--and noticeable--dips in frame rate on low-end hardware, even though I had optimized the sprite drawing routines to extreme levels. The enhanced version didn't have the same problem, even though the sprite code was the same. The difference? The original just threw dozens and dozens of simple-minded attackers at the player. The enhanced version had a wider variety of enemy behavior, so the game could be just as challenging with fewer attackers. Or more succinctly: it was drawing fewer sprites.\n\nI still see people obsessed with picking a programming language that's at the top of the benchmarks, and they obsess over the timing results the way I used to obsess over disassembled listings. It's a dodge, a distraction...and it's irrelevant.\n\npermalink October 18, 2009\n\npreviously"}
-{"text": "It was a few years ago now that Google announced most of its searches occur on mobile devices across many countries, with confirmation last year from Hitwise reporting that almost 60% of US searches were from mobile, as well. With that, understandably, Google is also moving towards a mobile-first index. However, not all SEO tools have the functionality or reports to deliver mobile-focused data and results.\n\nThe reality is that due to high mobile usage across certain industries and countries, it's already critical to take mobile search behavior and optimization into consideration to establish a winning SEO strategy. For example, as can be seen below in data obtained from SimilarWeb, this is especially important in the restaurants & delivery, health, pets, and beauty sectors, as well as many others:\n\nSince I enjoy testing SEO tools \u2014 as you might have already guessed from some of my previous posts \u2014 to identify better ways to develop my day-to-day work, I began to check specifically which tools include any type of mobile-targeted functionality. Although the offerings are still far from ideal, with the existing ones we can at least answer the most common mobile-focused questions when developing an SEO process.\n\nWhile testing out these tools, I could see that a few of them offered different types of mobile-focused functionalities. To facilitate their usage I created a \u201cMobile SEO Stack\u201d graphic \u2014 easy to save and share \u2014 where I've mapped each tool to the most common mobile-focused SEO questions that they can answer. So without further ado, here it is...\n\nThe Mobile SEO Stack\n\nYou\u2019ll see that some of them have a yellow dot rather than a white one \u2014 for example, SEMrush for the \u201cWhat\u2019s your Mobile Audience Search Behavior?\u201d question. This is because the tool can only partially answer the question due to some type of restriction. In the case of SEMrush, they only provide mobile data for the US at the moment.\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a summary of the questions answered, along with the 28 tools included:\n\n1. What\u2019s your mobile audience search behavior?\n\nObtain the queries already sending you or your competitors mobile search visibility and/or traffic, the pages earning the existing mobile visibility and traffic, and the mobile search share of these or any other terms you want to assess and potentially target with your mobile web presence.\n\n2. What\u2019s your site mobile search visibility & traffic performance?\n\nFrom third-party mobile ranking sources which are handy when you're starting out (or to double-check for terms that you might not be directly tracking) to rank trackers that support mobile search results, it's fundamental to understand your mobile search performance at a ranking and traffic level to identify opportunities. Are you targeting the right terms and ranking with the right pages?\n\n3. What\u2019s your competition's mobile web search visibility?\n\nIt's important to give context to your mobile visibility. Remember that just because you're not getting a high share of mobile visibility, traffic, and conversions it doesn't mean there's no opportunity; analyze what your competitors are doing to use alongside your mobile search behavior analysis to establish your own mobile SEO strategy.\n\nSimilarWeb\n\nSistrix\n\nSearchMetrics\n\nSEMrush (only provides mobile data for the US)\n\n4. Does your site have a mobile web version?\n\nFrom page-level mobile emulators and validators to bulk ones that facilitate the process, it's critical to verify whether all of your ranking site pages offer a responsive, dynamic-serving, or independent mobile web version:\n\n5. How do mobile search crawlers access your site?\n\nUsing historical Google crawling data, some SEO crawlers will offer the option to emulate the smartphone version of Googlebot. There are also log analyzers that allow you to check the actual behavior of mobile search crawlers accessing your site. Are they going where they should and seeing what they're meant to?\n\n6. What\u2019s your mobile site speed?\n\nObtain your site's page speed information (as seen by the mobile search bots as well as mobile users) at a site and page level, and directly obtain recommendations to improve if necessary.\n\n7. Is your mobile web content effectively rendered?\n\nVerify how your mobile web content is being rendered by Google itself at a page level or emulate it at a site level. Are you showing an intrusive interstitial that never finishes loading, or your actual content?\n\n8. Are the different areas of your mobile web content optimized?\n\nSometimes SEO fundamentals are forgotten when using independent or dynamic-serving mobile sites. Are the titles, meta descriptions, headings, etc. correctly set and targeting the relevant queries?\n\n9. Is AMP effectively implemented?\n\nVerify whether you're correctly tagging both your site pages referring to the AMP versions & vice-versa, and if they feature the required tags without critical errors that would keep them from appearing in mobile search results.\n\n10. How do your ranked pages look in mobile SERPs?\n\nCheck out how your ranking pages are shown in Google's mobile search results. Is the title being truncated? Are you losing visibility over your competition's featured snippet? Use these to identify potential reasons for lower CTR.\n\n11. What\u2019s the AMP impact on mobile visibility & traffic?\n\nIdentify which queries your AMP pages are being shown for in both rich and non-rich results, and their performance for those queries. What share of additional organic traffic are they bringing to your site?\n\n12. What\u2019s your mobile visibility's impact on conversions?\n\nAre your mobile SEO efforts paying off? Explore how your mobile search rankings are translating into conversions.\n\nI hope \u201cThe Mobile SEO Stack\u201d is useful for your mobile SEO analyses and processes!\n\n\n\nThis is only the first version, so if you know of any other tools that have mobile-focused functionality or data, please let me know in the comments \u2014 I'll be happy to test and include them.\n\n"}
-{"text": "End Surprise Billing\n\nSurprise medical bills can devastate and bankrupt families. If a patient is on a ventilator or in severe pain, the last thing on their mind is discussing the price of treatment. This initiative stops surprise billing, saving Arizona families more than $200 million each year."}
-{"text": "Daddy feels SO good\n\nby KellyPayne\n\nYour daughter Kelly can be known for rule breaking, so you've placed a hidden camera in her room, that you've secretly been enjoying yourself to as you know your daughter is not only smoking hot, but also rather promiscuous. Today, she's smoking, listening to music, and masturbating. You call out to her asking her to turn her music down, saying you can smell smoke... Finally you come into her room admitting you have a camera in her room, you knows shes lying. She's annoyed, \"GO AWAY DAD, I'm FINE!\" You pry a bit and learn she just got dumped by her boyfriend, you sit down beside her and smoke with her, offering her a back rub. She notices your boner, and is surprised. You continue to pull her close, grab her, finger her bringing her to orgasm. (VS) Excited and aroused by your sexual desire for her and attention she pulls up her dress and begs for your cock, you shove your hard cock deep inside her warm wet pussy as she moans out in pleasure covering your cock in her cum. Your so caught up in pleasure you cum inside her... oops. She tells you don't worry, she'll grab a plan B later today, but insists on making you cum again. She climbs on top of you and starts stroking your cock, talking dirty to you. She knows how much you love your little girls wet pussy, knows you've been fantasizing about her and uses this to get your cock throbbing hard again so she can ride your cock till you cum a second time inside your little girls pussy."}
-{"text": "Each year, we like to run a series of posts called \"90-in-90.\" The idea is that we'll take a look at every player on the roster, from the very bottom to the top and break them down a few ways. This roster will certainly change, and some days we'll have more than one so it's not exactly 90 players in 90 days. At this point, it's a name we're keeping around for street cred.\n\nLast spring, the San Francisco 49ers signed British discus thrower and one-time rugby player Lawrence Okoye to a 3-year contract as an undrafted free agent. Okoye came in with no experience playing American football. The closest he came to that was the fact that his dad played some football at Nebraska back in the 1980s.\n\nOnce Okoye decided he wanted to play football, he took part in the Super Regional Combine, and then proceeded to sign with the 49ers after the draft. Part of the reason he chose the 49ers was the presence of defensive line coach Jim Tomsula. While Tomsula is notable in his ability to develop talent, he also spent a lot of time coaching in NFL Europe. He dealt with a lot of players that had little to no American football experience, which was a perfect situation for Okoye.\n\nOnce Okoye signed, last offseason was entirely about just learning the very basic fundamentals that American players take for granted. It started with him just learning how to put on his pads, and moved on to the basics of defensive line work. The 6'5, 304 pound monster of a man is an incredible athletic specimen, but he still had to learn the basics of the game.\n\nOkoye got some preseason action, playing six defensive snaps and one special teams snap vs. the Broncos (quick analysis), four defensive snaps vs. the Chiefs (quick analysis), and eight defensive snaps against the Vikings. In that last game, Okoye injured his knee, and was waived/injured two days later. He cleared waivers and spent the season on injured reserve. The general belief was that it was not too serious, but it afforded the 49ers the opportunity to retain him without taking up a spot on the 53-man roster or the practice squad.\n\nWhat to expect in 2014:\n\nOkoye gets a full offseason to work with Jim Tomsula, following spending the entire year with the team while on injured reserve. There were limitations to what kind of work he could do while on injured reserve, but there was still plenty of value to be had in just being around the team and hearing what the coaches have to say.\n\nAs we move into 2014, expectations increase, but only because there were virtually no expectations last year. He now knows how to put on his pads and uniform. He knows the basics of getting down into a 3-point stance. He knows how football works. He still has plenty to learn about fundamentals, but there was nowhere to go but up after last season. That being said, it's hard to know how much to expect in 2014. My expectations are pretty low, with the practice squad being the realistic best case scenario in my mind. He's smart and shown an ability to learn new things very quickly (see how quickly he became an Olympic discus thrower). Maybe he takes a huge leap with the help of Jim Tomsula. I wouldn't set your expectations too high, but anything is possible.\n\nOdds of making the roster:\n\nI would have to say pretty slim. He could surprise us, but if he stays healthy, my expectation this year is practice squad. The 49ers are already fairly deep along the defensive line with Tank Carradine and Quinton Dial getting more into the mix. Okoye has shown he could be a standout special teams option, and that has me wondering about how that could impact his roster chances. Last week in OTAs, he ran down defensive back Darryl Morris along the sideline in a kick return drill. Morris ran a 4.33 40 coming out of college, while Okoye is 304 pounds.\n\nWe already knew Okoye was a great athlete, but this goes to show how ridiculous that athleticism can be. Could it be enough to secure a special teams specific roster spot? If Okoye flashes in special teams, but the 49ers decide they want him to spend a year on the practice squad, they would need to waive him before signing him to the practice squad. If he flashed enough on special teams, do we potentially see another team try and claim him? It is way too early to know any of this for certain, but given how quickly Okoye has adapted to other sports, I don't think it's necessarily out of the realm of the possible given how important athleticism can be for straight special teams work."}
-{"text": "A black stud spread ass of a sexy slut and he finger and lick her asshole She sucks his dick and the get her asshole fucked hard in many positions with his BBC He cums in her mouth\n\nPublished by DarkSodomy"}
-{"text": "Elektryczne Zespo\u0142y Trakcyjne EN57 s\u0105 dobrze znane wszystkim, kt\u00f3rzy je\u017cd\u017c\u0105 po Polsce poci\u0105gami. Pierwszy sk\u0142ad oznaczony numerem 001 rozpocz\u0105\u0142 s\u0142u\u017cb\u0119 2 II 1962 roku.\n\nPrace nad nowym elektrycznym zespo\u0142em trakcyjnym prowadzi\u0142o w latach 1959 - 1961 Centralne Biuro Konstrukcyjne Przemys\u0142u Taboru Kolejowego z Poznania, a produkcj\u0119 rozpocz\u0119to w 1961 we wroc\u0142awskich zak\u0142adach Pafawag. EN57 bez wi\u0119kszych modernizacji by\u0142y produkowane do 1993 roku, a to oznacza, \u017ce by\u0142 to najd\u0142u\u017cej produkowany pojazd szynowy na \u015bwiecie. \u0141\u0105cznie wyprodukowano 1452 sk\u0142ady, a zdecydowana wi\u0119kszo\u015b\u0107 z nich trafi\u0142a na polskie tory - zaledwie 40 wyeksportowano do by\u0142ej Jugos\u0142awii.\n\nPoci\u0105gi - cho\u0107 zapewniaj\u0105 niski komfort - do dzi\u015b u\u017cywane s\u0105 przez Przewozy Regionalne, a w ostatnich latach wiele sk\u0142ad\u00f3w przesz\u0142o g\u0142\u0119bokie modernizacje. Modernizacj\u0105 EN57 s\u0105 cho\u0107by poci\u0105gi Feniks z pozna\u0144skiej Fabryki Pojazd\u00f3w Szynowych. Przewo\u017anik by\u0142 wielokrotnie krytykowany przez specjalist\u00f3w za ci\u0105g\u0142e modernizowanie przestarza\u0142ych sk\u0142ad\u00f3w, ale swoje dzia\u0142ania t\u0142umaczy\u0142 op\u0142acalno\u015bci\u0105 takiego rozwi\u0105zania.\n\nFaktem jest jednak, \u017ce coraz trudniej na polskich torach spotka\u0107 niezmodernizowany sk\u0142ad EN57. Okazuje si\u0119 jednak, \u017ce EN57-001 wci\u0105\u017c istnieje i w dodatku w 2017 roku zosta\u0142 obj\u0119ty ochron\u0105 konserwatorsk\u0105 -Potwierdzamy, \u017ce jednostka EN57-001 zosta\u0142a obj\u0119ta ochron\u0105 konserwatora zabytk\u00f3w. Mamy \u015bwiadomo\u015b\u0107 szczeg\u00f3lnego znaczenia tego pojazdu z punktu widzenia historii i rozwoju kolejnictwa w Polsce. St\u0105d ju\u017c w ubieg\u0142ym roku zarz\u0105d sp\u00f3\u0142ki Przewozy Regionalne zdecydowa\u0142 o cofni\u0119ciu wcze\u015bniejszej decyzji o zez\u0142omowaniu tej jednostki, aby w d\u0142u\u017cszej perspektywie czasowej odpowiednio wyeksponowa\u0107 niew\u0105tpliwie unikatowy egzemplarz EN57 - informowa\u0142 w\u00f3wczas na \u0142amach portalu Rynek Kolejowy Dominik Lebda, rzecznik prasowy PR.\n\nAutor: BS"}
-{"text": "One of CNN\u2019s most frequent guests was in court today fighting another round of criminal charges. Over the weekend the cable news network was honored for its coverage of a controversy he helped to inflame.\n\nThe Associated Press reports today:\n\nAttorney\n\npleaded not guilty Monday to charges that he stole millions of dollars from clients, cheated on his taxes and lied to investigators...\n\nAvenatti rose to fame representing porn actress Stormy Daniels in her legal battles against President\n\n.\n\nHe was indicted earlier this month on 36 counts, including wire and bank fraud. His trial is scheduled to start June 25...\n\nAvenatti was arrested in March in New York in a separate case alleging he demanded millions to stay quiet about claims he planned to reveal about Nike paying high school athletes. He has denied wrongdoing in that case as well.\n\nMichael AvenattiDonald Trump\n\nAccording to Bill D\u2019Agostino at NewsBusters, over the past year one media outlet has been particularly significant in the Avenatti rise to fame. \u201cCNN was the porn lawyer\u2019s top cable enabler with a whopping 121 appearances,\u201d writes Mr. D\u2019Agostino. This column will go out on a limb and suggest there are probably full-time employees at CNN who don\u2019t appear more than 121 times in a year. Not that all CNN staff were thrilled that their network became the go-to platform for Mr. Avenatti to peddle his various claims, but it didn\u2019t necessarily bother the larger community of Beltway journalists.\n\nThis past weekend, the White House Correspondents Association lauded CNN for its coverage of one of the big stories of 2018:\n\nAn Honorable mention for the Merriman Smith Award in broadcast goes to CNN, Confirmation vote on\n\n.\n\nFrom the judges: CNN\u2019s coverage on the day of the hearings on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was aggressive, relied on deep sourcing and felt like one was watching a symphony. The news-making moments in which\n\n, R-AZ, was confronted by two women was just a piece of the extensive coverage that followed every angle, all day.\n\nBrett KavanaughSen. Jeff Flake\n\nIn those \u201cnews-making moments\u201d the protesters confronting Sen. Flake harangued him with unproven allegations against Mr. Kavanaugh, who was then a federal judge and is now a Supreme Court Justice. Of course one of the reasons he is now a Justice is that a majority of senators did not believe allegations against him promoted by Mr. Avenatti."}
-{"text": "Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan Patrick Michael ShanahanHouse Armed Services chairman expresses confidence in Esper amid aircraft carrier coronavirus crisis Boeing pleads for bailout under weight of coronavirus, 737 fallout Esper's chief of staff to depart at end of January MORE on Thursday acknowledged that the growing tensions with Iran \u201cmay involve sending additional troops\u201d to the region.\n\nShanahan's comments marked the first public confirmation that the Trump administration is considering sending additional U.S. forces to curtail what it claims is \u201ctroubling and escalatory indications and warnings\u201d from Iran.\n\n\u201cWhat we're looking at is: Are there things we can do to enhance force protection in the Middle East? ... It may involve sending additional troops,\u201d Shanahan told Pentagon reporters prior to meeting with Vietnam's deputy prime minister and foreign minister.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nThe Pentagon has already deployed a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East, and news reports emerged this week that Shanahan on Thursday was set to present the White House with a request to deploy 10,000 troops to the Middle East.\n\nAn earlier report said that the U.S. could send upwards of 120,000 additional troops.\n\nShanahan denied those reports.\n\n\u201cI got up this morning and read that we were sending 10,000 troops to the Middle East and then I read about, more recently, there's 5,000. ... There is no 10,000 and there is no 5,000. That's not accurate,\u201d he said.\n\nShanahan added that he and other security officials are \u201cgoing to give the president an update on the security situation in Iran.\u201d He also stressed that any additional military movement would be for deterrence purposes.\n\n\u201cThis is not about war. We have a mission there in the Middle East: freedom of navigation, counterterrorism in Syria and Iraq, defeating al Qaeda in Yemen, and the security of Israel and Jordan.\u201d\n\nShanahan said that he is in regular contact with U.S. Central Command head Marine Corps Gen. Frank McKenzie and will be meeting with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford as well as speaking to head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Scott Miller, on the situation.\n\nThe new comments come as Shanahan and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday briefed lawmakers on intelligence detailing recent actions by Iran. The Trump defense chief asserted after the briefings that U.S. efforts to deter Iran in the region have worked.\n\nShanahan said Thursday that should \u201cthings change, then my plan will be to update Congress because they've certainly been very clear to 'keep us current.'\u201d"}
-{"text": "Donald Trump responds to Hillary Clinton calling half of his supporters a \"basket of deplorables\" at a fundraiser. Trump said Clinton spoke with \"hatred\" for the people who make this country run. The Republican nominee for president said Clinton \"came out of hiding\" and revealed her \"true self,\" viewing people as subjects to her own rule. Trump also called on Clinton to apologize.\n\n\n\n\"That was her true thoughts,\" he said. \"She revealed herself to be a person who looks down on the proud citizens of our country as subjects for her rule.\"\n\n\n\n\"You can not lead this nation if you have such a low opinion of its citizens,\" Trump said Monday in Baltimore. \"If she doesn't retract her comments in full I don't know how she can campaign further.\"\n\n\n\n\"I was deeply shocked and alarmed this Friday to hear my opponent attack, slander, smear, demean these wonderful amazing who are supporting our campaign by the millions,\" Trump said of Clinton's remark. \"Our support comes from every part of America and every walk of life. We have the support of cops, soldiers, carpenters, welders, the young and the old and millions of working class families who just want a better future and a good job. These were the people Hillary Clinton so viciously demonized. These were among the countless Americans Hillary Clinton called deplorable, irredeemable and un-American.\n\n\n\n\"Nobody has heard anything like this,\" Trump said at the National Guard Association Conference. \"She called these patriotic men and women every vile name in the book. She called them racist, sexist, xenophobic, Islamaphobic. She called half of our supporters a 'basket of deplorables' in both the speech and an interview.\"\n\n\n\n\"She divides people into baskets as though they were objects, not human beings,\" Trump said.\n\n\n\n\"Hillary Clinton made these comments at one of her high dollar fund-raisers on Wall Street,\" Trump said. \"She and her wealthy donors all had a good laugh. You heard them. They were all laughing. Good solid laugh. They were laughing at the very people who paved the roads, and these are the roads that she with all of her security drive on. Paint the buildings she speaks in and importantly all of the other functions.\"\n\n\n\n\"Hillary Clinton spoke with hatred and derision for the people who make this country run. She spoke with contempt to the people who follow the rules, pay their taxes and scratch out a living for their family. A hard-earned living, too,\" Trump said.\n\n\n\n\"While Hillary Clinton lives a sequestered life behind gates and walls and guards she mocks and demeans hard-working Americans who only want their own families to enjoy a fraction of the security enjoyed by our politicians,\" he said. \"After months of hiding from the press, Hillary Clinton has revealed her true thoughts. That was her true thoughts. She revealed herself to be a person who looks down on the proud citizens of our country as subjects for her rule. She viewed it as hers. Her comments displayed the same sense of arrogance and entitlement that led to violation of federal law as secretary of state.\"\n\n\n\nTrump elaborates further on the 'deplorables' comment:\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA WOMAN reported that three teenagers attempted to rob her at about 5:20 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, in the 4200 block of North Lockwood Avenue, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police.\n\nThe 51-year-old woman reported that after driving her vehicle to pick up her son, three teenage males approached her and one of the teens demanded her keys and that after she refused, she grabbed her purse and locked her vehicle door, and later ran into a nearby building a screamed for help and the teenagers ran way southbound, according to police.\n\nA WOMAN reported that she was robbed at about 10 p.m. Friday, Jan. 19, in the 5300 block of North Central Avenue, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police.\n\nThe 21-year-old woman reported that while she was walking a man approached her and asked for the time, and that when she bent down to pick up her cell phone, the man pointed a handgun at her, and took her wallet containing $55 in cash, her Social Security Card, a credit card and a State identification card from her and fled, according to police.\n\nA MAN REPORTED that he was robbed at about 9:35 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, in the 6800 block of West Byron Street, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police.\n\nThe 29-year-old man reported that after he exited his vehicle to check his gasoline cap, a man pointed a handgun at him and demanded money, and took $200 in cash, a watch and a leather bracelet, according to police.\n\nAN EMPLOYEE reported that a man took items from the Dollar Tree store, 5316 N. Milwaukee Ave., at about 2:10 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 17, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police.\n\nThe employee reported that a man entered the store and took candy bars valued at approximately $560 and then exited the store without paying for the items, according to police.\n\nA MAN REPORTED that his vehicle was burglarized between 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 19, and 6:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, while it was parked in the 5200 block of West Belmont Avenue, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police.\n\nThe man reported that when he returned to his vehicle he discovered that a passenger side window had been broken and that his vehicle stereo valued at $400 was missing, according to police.\n\nA WOMAN reported that her residence in the 5400 block of North Nagle Avenue was burglarized between 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police.\n\nThe woman reported that when she returned home she discovered that the rear door had been forced open and that jewelry, a purse and $500 in cash were missing, according to police.\n\nAN EMPLOYEE reported that an office building at 5660 N. Elston Ave. was burglarized between 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, and 6 a.m. Friday, Jan. 19, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police.\n\nThe employee reported that when he returned to the business he discovered that a side door had been forced open and that five Bosch demolition hammers valued at $7,500 were missing, according to police.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Nigeria Dapchi school kidnappings: What we know Published duration 26 February 2018 Related Topics Nigeria schoolgirl kidnappings\n\nimage copyright Reuters image caption The school had more than 900 students\n\nThe kidnap of more than 100 girls from a boarding school in north-eastern Nigeria has become shrouded in confusion.\n\nWe know that a group of militants, presumably from Boko Haram, arrived in the town of Dapchi, Yobe State, during the evening of Monday, 19 February.\n\nThey headed for the Government Girls Science and Technical College, fleeing a little while later.\n\nOriginally, it was claimed many of the girls had escaped and no-one had been kidnapped. But a week later, authorities have admitted they were taken by the Islamist extremists.\n\nSo, what exactly is going on?\n\nWhy don't we know what happened?\n\nThe initial confusion appears to have come from a teacher, who spoke to the press after the attack.\n\nHe said the militants were searching for food, and not trying to kidnap anyone. The girls, he said, had run into the bush and were hiding.\n\nAccording to the BBC's Halima Umar, who is based in the capital Abuja, the government seems to have embraced this version of events, only accepting the girls had been kidnapped later on.\n\nHowever, the story became more confused when different branches of government and the army began diverging in their accounts - to the extent that the rescue of some girls was announced at a time when no official had acknowledged that any had been kidnapped.\n\nHow many girls have been taken?\n\nOne of the biggest arguments between parents of the missing girls and the authorities has been over the number of students taken.\n\nParents insisted from the beginning more than 100 girls were missing from the school, which has 926 students. Authorities said the figure was as low as 40 and continued to say that many had run away into the bush and would no doubt reappear soon.\n\nimage copyright Reuters image caption Relatives have gathered at the school to wait for news\n\nIn the end, fed up with the confusion, parents formed a group and produced a list of 105 names.\n\nThe government has since come back and said the total number of missing girls is, in fact, 110.\n\nWhat are the parallels with the Chibok kidnappings?\n\nWill Ross, the BBC World Service Africa editor, noted chilling similarities to the April 2014 abductions in Chibok, some 275km (170 miles) south-east of Dapchi.\n\nOn that occasion, he says, the military and the government initially denied the kidnappings and stayed silent as the jihadists drove more than 270 girls into the bush and set up camp.\n\nFour years on and the world is once again getting denials and misinformation from the authorities and disbelief and anger from the parents.\n\nSome in Nigeria have accused the government of being slow to respond or issue public statements.\n\nThere is a feeling that no lessons have been learnt by current administration, which come to power partly because of the public anger over the way the previous government had handled the Chibok abduction, and the Boko Haram crisis more generally.\n\nMore than 100 of the Chibok girls remain in captivity to this day. Whether the Nigerian authorities will be able to find, and rescue, the Dapchi girls remains to be seen.\n\nWhy was there no security at the school?\n\nDespite the kidnap of the Chibok girls in April 2014, there doesn't appear to have been a security guard at the school in Dapchi.\n\nAnd yet, parents sent their daughters anyway.\n\nThe BBC's Abuja reporter says this is down to a renewed sense of optimism which flooded in after Muhammadu Buhari's election in 2015, as well as repeated assurances the army was winning the battle against the Islamist militants.\n\nWe also know there were soldiers guarding checkpoints near the town, because Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Gaidam told journalist the militants struck hours after the army withdrew their forces from checkpoints in Dapchi.\n\nThe army has now confirmed it did remove the soldiers - and Nigerians want answers on who ordered soldiers to be withdrawn a day before the attack.\n\nWhy can't they find the girls?\n\nIt has taken a week for the government to accept the fact the girls have been taken and finally launch a large-scale search.\n\nPresident Buhari says troops and reconnaissance aircraft would be used and no stone left unturned in the hunt for the girls. They are refusing to give any further details of the search.\n\nimage copyright Reuters image caption The girls' belongings remain inside the school\n\nBut one local media outlet, the Daily Trust, reports that half the girls have already been whisked out of Nigeria and into neighbouring Niger by the militants.\n\nHowever, if they are still in Nigeria, our reporter believes they will have travelled to the Sambisa Forest - because, thanks to its vast size and thick tree coverage, it is the only place they can effectively hide.\n\nThis is where Boko Haram had its headquarters, and where it took the Chibok girls.\n\nThe Nigerian government says it has beaten Boko Haram - is that true?\n\nMajor General Roger Nicholas, who leads operations in the north-east, declared the group had been \"completely\" defeated in January.\n\nThis mass kidnapping suggests otherwise.\n\nBBC Africa's security correspondent Tomi Oladipo has previously pointed out these promises contradict the amount of money it is investing in new equipment to tackle the group, and the fact they are known to be active in the Lake Chad basin.\n\nMeanwhile, the BBC has been told that the army had been close to capturing Boko Haram's leader in January, but halted for a number of days before they were attacked.\n\nWhen they returned, the camp had cleared out."}
-{"text": "They've left their everyday lives behind on I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and have more than a few spare minutes to mull over weighty issues.\n\nAnd on the show on Sunday, American actor Tom Arnold and Australian comedian Nazeem Hussain turned to war and religion.\n\nTom, 57, said he thinks religion starts all wars, before the pair faced off in a fiery exchange as they discussed Islam.\n\nScroll down for video\n\nJungle talk? On I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! Tom Arnold (seen) and Australian comedian Nazeem Hussain argued about religion\n\n'Do you think it would be a better world if we didn't have religion?,' Tom asked Nazeem at the camp, saying he thought most wars were started because of faith.\n\nNazeem, 31, - who is of Sri Lankan descent and is Muslim - said he thought the statement was too broad.\n\n'That's that's like saying why doesn't everyone believe what we believe, and that's believe in nothing,' he said.\n\nSharing their views: Nazeem is seen here during the exchange. Tom, 57, said he thinks religion starts all wars, before the pair faced off in a fiery exchange as they discussed Islam\n\nNazeem said to camera that his and Tom's argument wasn't 'personal' and they were happily 'talking about ideas.'\n\nNazeem was quick to point out to Tom that all religions are peaceful.\n\n'They fight in the name of religion, but the religion doesn't say go fight in the name of this,' Nazeem said.\n\nTom remained adamant that religion was a cause of death for millions.\n\nHaving his say: Tom remained adamant that religion was a cause of death for millions\n\nNazeem then referenced Soviet Union dictator, Joseph Stalin, claiming he killed millions of people 'in the name of, essentially, atheism.'\n\nTom - who was previously married to actress Roseanne Barr and who was Christian but converted to Judaism - mentioned the crusades.\n\n'You aren't saying millions and millions of people have been slaughtered in the name of religion on this planet?,' Tom asked.\n\nNazeem replied and started to weigh into the Islam debate: 'OK fine, if there's no religion, people will still have beliefs they adhere to.'\n\n'So I don't know, I think it's easy for us to go in the west: Religion, religion, religion causes everything. It's people that are self-interested.'\n\nStanding his ground: Nazeem suggested democracy can be just as much of an excuse: 'I think it's easy for us to go in the west: Religion, religion, religion causes everything. It's people that are self-interested.'\n\nTom asserted that he thinks people have done 'terrible things' in the name of religion, with Nazeem saying democracy is the same.\n\n'People in the name of democracy do a lot of things too. Terrible people do terrible things and use whatever language that appeals to sell that. If you have religious people in front of you, you will manipulate religious language to sell that to the people.'\n\nTo camera, Tom agreed with his camp mate.\n\nTalking gangsters in paradise: Nazeem then spoke about radical Islam, saying the radicals are 'gangsters' and are not representations of all Muslims\n\nNazeem added: 'It makes people feel good they're not religious by talking about religion being a bad force.'\n\nNazeem then spoke about radical Islam, saying the radicals are 'gangsters' and are not representations of all Muslims.\n\n'As Muslims, when you see people doing stuff in the name of Islam all the time, I don't think, \"oh, I wish Islam didn't exist. I think I wish those idiots didn't exist.\"\n\n'Those people are gangsters. They don't care about anybody.'\n\nTaking it on board: Tom added to camera that he respects what Nazeem said and they had more in common than divided them\n\nTom added to camera that he respects what Nazeem said and joked: 'As I told Steve, It doesn't matter what we think, because people like Naz will be running the world. We're going to be dead,' referring to their camp mate, Steve Price, 62.\n\nDuring the show on Sunday, the camp mates had to complete a grueling tucker trial.\n\nSome of the contestants - including Tom and Nazeem - had to bungee jump 100 metres over a waterfall.\n\nTom also went off at camp about the lack of food.\n\nNo fear: Some of the contestants - including Tom and Nazeem - had to bungee jump 100 metres over a waterfall for the tucker trial\n\n'I will go home. I will walk out of here,' Tom says to camp.\n\n'This is stupid. To starve people. Feed us some f**king food. We're human. It's a TV show, not the military,' he said.\n\n'We're not going to war!'\n\nWhen Lisa Curry urged him to remember that people were 'suffering all over the world,' he continued to blow up at the other celebrities.\n\n'That's bulls**t comparison,' Tom yelled.\n\n'People suffered all over the world, that's bulls**t. This is a f**king TV show. I didn't sign up for this TV show to see if I could suffer as much as the people around the world. I mean, to use that as an example,' he added.\n\n'Go home if you don't like it. Suck it up buttercup,' Lisa told him.\n\nEnraged, Tom continued to yell, with Nazeem jumping in to tell him to calm down and stop having a go at Lisa."}
-{"text": "BEIJING (Reuters) - Foreign investors remained enthusiastic about China, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday, following U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s claim that his tariffs are causing companies to move production away from the world\u2019s second largest economy.\n\nTrump said in an interview aired on Sunday that his tariffs on Chinese goods are causing companies to move manufacturing out of China to Vietnam and other Asian countries, and added that any agreement to end a trade war with China cannot be a \u201c50-50\u201d deal.\n\nNo further trade talks between top Chinese and U.S. trade negotiators have been scheduled since the last round ended on May 10 - the same day Trump raised the tariff rate on $200 billion worth of Chinese products to 25% from 10%.\n\nTrump took the step after China sought major changes to a deal that U.S. officials said had been largely agreed.\n\nSince then, China has struck a sterner tone in its rhetoric, suggesting that a resumption of talks aimed at ending the 10-month trade war was unlikely to happen soon.\n\nChinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang, responding to a question on Trump\u2019s claim at a daily news briefing, said foreign investors were \u201cstill bullish\u201d on China.\n\n\u201cEven though over the past year or more the United States has continued to menace Chinese products with additional tariffs, everyone can see that the enthusiasm for foreign investors in China remains high,\u201d Lu said.\n\nLu listed companies, including Tesla, BASF and BMW, as all having recently increased their investment in China. He added that China would continue to improve business and investment conditions for foreign companies.\n\nBut foreign firms have grown weary of what they say are China\u2019s piecemeal economic reforms.\n\nSlideshow ( 3 images )\n\nLong considered a cornerstone of an otherwise fraught bilateral relationship, the U.S. business community in China in recent years has advocated a harder line on what it sees as discriminatory Chinese trade policies.\n\nThe American Chamber of Commerce in China said in February that a majority of its members reported in an annual survey that they favored the United States retaining tariffs on Chinese goods while Washington and Beijing try to hammer out a deal to end the trade war.\n\nAt the time, which was well before the latest tariff hikes, the chamber said that 19% of its member companies were adjusting supply chains or seeking to source components and assembly outside of China as a result of tariffs, while 28% were delaying or cancelling investment decisions in China.\n\nChina\u2019s other trade partners also complain about unfair treatment.\n\nThe European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said on Monday that compelled transfers of technology to Chinese firms in exchange for market access are increasing for European companies despite Beijing saying the problem does not exist.\n\nResolving that issue in an enforceable manner is a core U.S. demand in trade negotiations."}
-{"text": "After careful analysis, the U.S. Department of the Treasury determined that Puerto Rico is insolvent and any action taken must be within this framework.\n\nTherefore, the view of Treasury is that Puerto Rico is closer to Detroit in the 2010s than it is to either New York in the 1970s or Washington, D.C., in the 1990s. In fact, the population loss in Puerto Rico in 2015 will be similar to the one experienced by Detroit during 2000-2010. Consequently, Treasury put forward a plan that would entail concessions and adjustments by the people of Puerto Rico, the federal government and bondholders. The plan received widespread acceptance among the political parties and business community in Puerto Rico. However, it has not gained traction among bondholders and the members of Congress who support them.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nThe Treasury proposal provides federal funding to address structural impediments to economic growth in Puerto Rico such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program. The plan also provides federal funding to shore up Puerto Rico's fiscal deficit, like equal participation in health programs such as Medicare (for which Puerto Ricans pay under the same rules as U.S. participants) and Medicaid (for which Puerto Ricans contribute no federal taxes).\n\nIf Treasury is going to put money on the table, it will require some form of a federal control board. Thus, it is a sine qua non for federal support to establish some form of federal control board. Most Puerto Ricans understand this. By the same token, the purpose of federal support for Puerto Rico is not to bail out bondholders. They must take significant discounts on their debt. As such, Treasury is proposing that all Puerto Rico debt could go through a restructuring process under Chapter 9 of the federal Bankruptcy Law. Bondholders are terrified that a federal judge would weigh in the different interests and rule on debt discounts (\"haircuts\") that would be fair to all the stakeholders. Instead, bondholders are demanding their pound of flesh.\n\nSen. Chuck Grassley Charles (Chuck) Ernest GrassleyCollins says she will vote 'no' on Supreme Court nominee before election The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - Trump, GOP allies prepare for SCOTUS nomination this week Gardner signals support for taking up Supreme Court nominee this year MORE (R-Iowa) is rightly concerned that public-sector employment represents 26 percent of the total employment in Puerto Rico. However, the problem is not the numerator, meaning the number of public sector employees in Puerto Rico. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, as of June 2015, Puerto Rico had 66 public sector employees per 1,000 residents compared with 68 public sector employees in the United States. The problem is with the denominator, meaning the total number of employees and in particular, the number of private-sector employees in Puerto Rico. For each 1,000 residents, Puerto Rico has 193 private sector employees compared with 374 in the United States. There is no doubt that the private sector in Puerto Rico needs to grow much more. To properly address the Puerto Rico debt crisis, the focus must be on increasing private-sector employees on the island. This is in line with Treasury's proposal, such as the EITC credit. Focusing on the 66 public sector workers per 1,000 residents is shortsighted and ultimately, futile.\n\nThe Treasury proposal of dealing with all debt under the framework of Chapter 9 bankruptcy is correct because it addresses the need to quickly reach a settlement on all debt and the problem of all the debt being intertwined. The negotiations with Puerto Rico Electric and Power Authority (PREPA) bondholders lasted over a year and ended with a $600 million concession from bondholders, even though the book value of PREPA is negative $1.7 billion. The main concern with the preliminary PREPA agreement is that it would entail an increase in electricity rates that would make Puerto Rico even less competitive, reduce the number of private-sector employees, promote emigration, reduce tax collections and therefore negatively impact the capacity of the island to service other debt, such as general obligation bonds.\n\nI have a daughter studying college in Missouri and another living in Puerto Rico. Bondholders are counting on fathers like me to tell their children that they should either return or stay in Puerto Rico, despite an economy that will negatively impact their careers. That they should return or stay in Puerto Rico despite a creaking infrastructure that could make it difficult to take a shower, since earlier in the year, thousands of San Juan households had dry taps five days of the week due to insufficient investment to handle a drought. That they should return or stay in Puerto Rico, with the peace of mind that they will pay taxes so that bondholders get most of their money. Regrettably for bondholders, many Puerto Rican parents are not giving this message to their children.\n\nThe Treasury plan is a good starting point to get Puerto Rico out of its debt crisis. If bondholders reject this approach, they run the risk of what happened with Shylock in Shakespeare's \"The Merchant of Venice.\" He won most of the legal arguments \u2014 but he still could not collect Antonio's debt.\n\nFeliciano is president of Advantage Business Consulting."}
-{"text": "Tasty Chips has introduced the Saw Bench Synthesizer \u2013 a portable and affordable monophonic synthesizer, with a 100% analog signal path\n\nFeatures:\n\nSmall and portable, yet ergonomic. Focus on hands-on controls with good grouping and spacing.\n\nA four-pole diode ladder VCF, with high resonance and even self-oscillation\n\nSeparate ADSR envelopes for VCA and VCF\n\nLFO with 3 waveforms, plus a Sample & Hold, for VCF\n\nFrequency Modulation for deep growling bass sounds\n\nManual controls such for Env and LFO enable, waveform selection, ADSR mode /\n\nLFO switching\n\nMIDI controls of all digital features (envelopes, VCF cutoff, LFO, etc)\n\nSturdy metal casing.\n\nHere\u2019s a video demo:\n\nAll sounds in the video, by Pieter van der Meer, are from the Sawbench synthesizer, except for the drum sounds.\n\nNote: While the specs mention a \u2018study metal casing\u2019, Tasty Chips hasn\u2019t posted any pictures of this on their site yet.\n\nThe Saw Bench Synthesizer is priced at 99 EUR incl VAT. See the Tasty Chips site for details."}
-{"text": "Everyone\u2019s had their run-ins with contamination in the lab. There are two main types of contamination\u2014biological (bacteria or fungi) and chemical\u2014both of which can easily ruin your day, making cell cultures unusable and skewing your experimental results. Below, we\u2019ll review many of the ways you can avoid spreading contamination throughout your lab.\n\nSterilize your equipment\n\nThe most common preventative measures against contamination in the lab is sterilization. Autoclaving, which involves applying intense heat and pressure, is used in most labs to clean equipment and consumables. When autoclaving, don\u2019t forget to use containers that are specialized for the elevated heat and pressure of autoclave cycles; polypropylene is usually a suitable material for autoclave bins, while Pyrex glass and metal can also be autoclaved without breaking or warping. For all containers, remember to apply labels to that won\u2019t fail under the extreme temperatures and pressure of the cycle you\u2019re using, and that are appropriate for the surface of your containers (applying a thermal-transfer printout will also give you the greatest resistance against smudging caused by heat).\n\nSterilization should occur frequently at the bench as well. A 70% solution of ethanol, sprayed over your bench or inside your biosafety cabinet, will remove almost all bacterial and fungal contaminants, while using a diluted concentration of bleach will disinfect just as effectively. When cleaning consumables and equipment prior to placing them in a biosafety cabinet, make sure you give a few minutes to off-gas them, as ethanol can still linger in the air. Here, chemical-resistant labels will ensure they stay affixed when coated with the sterilizing agent and using a thermal-transfer printout will resist the smudging that comes with exposure to ethanol and bleach.\n\nCheck the quality of your water and air\n\nConsistently checking the quality of the air and water in your lab can save you from unwanted hassles later on, when contamination begins to creep into your cultures. Systems like XiltriX can keep track of possible contaminants in the air of your lab and incubators, alerting you instantly though a cloud-based system whenever something unusual appears. For baths and incubators, using autoclaved water is necessary, and it\u2019s worth changing at least once a week. There are several antibiotic solutions that can be applied as well, such as SigmaClean\u00ae,which will prevent the growth of bacteria and fungi. In cases where the water is suspected of contamination, especially mycoplasma, there are fluorescence-based or polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based kits that can detect the contaminant. Mycoplasma is especially difficult to catch, since it\u2019s hard to detect by eye, even using a microscope. Frequently testing samples of all your cell lines, even if they don\u2019t look contaminated, could save you a lot of hassle, particularly when your cell-based experiments are giving you results that don\u2019t make sense compared with your old findings.\n\nFor IVF labs, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are also considered airborne contaminants. VOCs, like aldehydes and alcohols, can come from a variety of sources, including certain kinds of furniture, plasticware that hasn\u2019t been off-gassed, and even perfume. These VOCs can have a particularly negative effect on birth rates, so making sure they\u2019re eliminated is important for any IVF lab. Reducing VOCs could also theoretically help standardize experiments with any type of cell that is as sensitive to them as human eggs, sperm, and embryos are.\n\nConsider antibiotics\n\nNot everyone is on board using antibiotics for cell culture. Some antibiotics, like penicillin/streptomycin (PenStrep), induce genome-wide changes in gene expression and regulation.1 Because of resistance, they also don\u2019t guarantee that your cultures will remain contaminant-free. However, many still rely on antibiotics to ensure the purity of their cultures, yielding consistent results regardless of their off-target effects. Remember, when using antibiotics, it\u2019s always a good idea to test the effect of the antibiotics on your experimental output to see if they inadvertently affect the system you\u2019re working on.\n\nOrganize your lab\n\nNo matter how many methods you use to avoid contamination, nothing will work consistently unless you plan ahead. When preparing for an experiment, it\u2019s always important to set aside everything that must be decontaminated beforehand; this ensures that nothing needs to be cleaned last-minute, risking both contamination and ruining the timing of your assay. Organizing your stocks of bottles and other solutions also prevents dust buildup, which can spread bacterial and fungal cells to your samples. A great way to keep everything organized and scheduled is using a laboratory information management system (LIMS), which will help keep track of your inventory and schedule decontamination protocols. To get the most out of your LIMS, it\u2019s key to identify important samples and reagents with barcode or radio-frequency identification (RFID) labels, as this will make it easy to know what should and shouldn\u2019t be kept on your bench, in addition to managing the things you need prior to working under sterile conditions. For PCR or any other technique that\u2019s sensitive to chemical contaminants, it\u2019s worth setting aside a set of dedicated pipettes, in a clean and safe location, for that specific technique.\n\nUse common sense measures\n\nDon\u2019t forget to use proper protective equipment, especially when you\u2019re working in sterile conditions. It\u2019s not just to protect yourself from your own samples and chemicals; it\u2019s also to protect your cells and samples from you! Wearing gloves, a lab coat, lab glasses (when appropriate), and hair ties will avoid particles, like keratin and bacteria from your skin, falling into your tubes, vials, and plates. Also, clean up when you\u2019re done! Traces of cell lines left on the bench can cross-contaminate your samples, as can chemicals, such as formaldehyde, which once wrecked the quantitative PCR results of a certain lab that will not be named here. It\u2019s also unbelievably aggravating\u2014and potentially dangerous\u2014when someone leaves unknown powder around the measuring scale, which can contaminate the lab\u2019s air supply.\n\nKeeping your lab clean can be difficult, especially in large labs performing multiple assays simultaneously. However, if you can organize your workflow and inventory, in addition to implementing the basic tenets of sterile technique, you stand a good chance of keeping your cells and reagents free of contaminants, reducing the effort, time, and money lost due to tainted supplies and failed experiments."}
-{"text": "Having played in the US, Paredes is yet to appear in Liga MX but is now on his way back."}
-{"text": "Allow us to introduce...\n\nGullible Glen\n\nGullible Glen believes in the best of humanity. He's a good guy, but have an unrealistic approach to things."}
-{"text": "\u00ab Go back a post || Return to G-A-Y homepage || Haul tail to next post \u00bb\n\n03/01/2011\n\nVideo: Even AFA's General Counsel finds DOMA indefensible!\n\nby Jeremy Hooper\n\nRight now, someone is in Hell doing triple axels while dodging flying pigs. For the American Family Association General Counsel, Pat Vaughn, has declared DOMA unconstitutional:\n\nNow, Pat's wrong about his marriage stance. He's wrong when he says the President supported DOMA as a candidate. He's wrong in equating theoretical Roe v. Wade non-defense with that which to the current administration's dropped DOMA support.\n\nBut an American Family Association attorney and radio personality actually calling the Defense Of Marriage Act unconstitutional on air? We always thought they had a seven-second delay (or perhaps a big hook on a stick) to censor such off-message comments.\n\nYour thoughts\n\nPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.\n\nDisqus\n\nG-A-Y Comments Policy"}
-{"text": "Chairman of the Music Managers Forum and co-manager of Radiohead Brian Message sees BitTorrent as a \u2018natural ally\u2019 and wants to work with the file-sharing website to strengthen the relationship between artists and fans.\n\nSpeaking at a Westminster Media Forum entitled \u2018The UK music industry \u2013 copyright, business and the next steps for the Live Music Act\u2019 last week, Message said that the UK music industry was no longer about sales - but \u201ca living, breathing and evolving relationship ..."}
-{"text": "\u2022 A daily summary of global reports on security issues.\n\nNorth Korea's reclusive dictator Kim Jong-il has been diagnosed with life-threatening pancreatic cancer, a South Korean TV station reported Monday.\n\nThe report cited unnamed South Korean and Chinese intelligence officials. Representatives from the two countries are meeting now in Seoul to discuss how to deal with a North Korea that has become increasingly belligerent in recent months.\n\nHowever, South Korean officials declined to officially confirm the report, and US officials had no comment, according to Reuters.\n\nMike Chinoy, author of Meltdown: The Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis, raised concerns about the reliability of the report. \"The way information leaks out of South Korea is very prone to manipulation,\" he told Voice of America.\n\n\"You have the South Korean intelligence service, which is highly politicized, which has a conservative bent,\" says the expert with the California-based Pacific Council on International Policy. \"Clearly, they know a lot, but they have a long track record of manipulating what they know for their own political purposes.\n\nThe report heightens uncertainty about North Korea's direction and worries over Mr. Kim's succession. Bloomberg reported that the news contributed to a slide in both the Korean currency, the won, and the South Korean stock market to their lowest level in two months.\n\nSouth Korea's YTN Television broadcast the news Monday, according to a report from the English-language edition of the Chosun Ilbo, a South Korean daily.\n\nThat and other reports noted that Kim looked \"gaunt\" and ill during a rare public appearance last Wednesday to mark the 15th anniversary of his father's death. Chosun Ilbo cited other South Korean media reports:\n\nLast month a South Korean newspaper reported that Pyongyang was trying to import expensive medical equipment to treat the leader through intermediaries in China. The report did not specify the disease, but said Kim's condition was serious.\n\nReuters added further details on pancreatic cancer and Kim's many suspected health problems. It said that Kim was thought to have suffered a stroke a year ago, and to suffer from other health problems.\n\nSeparately, the Chosun Ilbo reported that South Korean intelligence officials speculate that Kim's death could result in a power struggle between his youngest son and heir apparent, Kim Jong-un, and a faction lead by Jang Song-taek, the leader's brother-in-law and a member of the National Defense Commission, and \"the purported No. 2 man in North Korea.\"\n\nMany analysts have speculated that there is a connection between the question of who will succeed the senior Kim to lead North Korea, and Pyongyang's recent aggressive behavior.\n\nOn April 5, North Korea made a failed attempt to put a satellite in orbit, in violation of UN resolutions. Days later it pulled out of the six-party talks aimed at ending its nuclear program, and later expelled International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors. On May 25 it tested a nuclear device, and on June 8, it sentenced two US journalists arrested on the border with China to 12 years of hard labor.\n\nIn a June report, the International Crisis Group wrote that North Korea's nuclear test \"might be about ensuring that the military will accept whatever decision Kim Jong-il has made on his successor.\" The ICG added:\n\nA likely succession in North Korea could unleash instability, or it could result in a much more belligerent or isolated military regime. The transfer of power after Kim Jong-il is far less clear than when his father died in 1994."}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\ngas tank on empty car shuts off at pump"}
-{"text": "Commerzbank, a banking and financial services provider in Germany, has conducted a blockchain-based money market security transaction pilot, in collaboration with Siemens and automotive company Continental.\n\nIn January, the partners conducted a money market security transaction worth \u20ac100,000 ($113,340) on a blockchain-powered platform, where Continental acted as the security issuer to Siemens, while Commerzbank acted as the service partner and provided R3\u2019s Corda-based blockchain platform for the pilot. The pilot project allowed the companies enjoy transactions with greater flexibility, efficiency and transparency, as reported.\n\nPeter Rathgeb, Corporate Treasurer at Siemens, has stated that the pilot project demonstrated shorter throughput times and faster time-to-market. However, he also added that there exist some key challenges such as security, performance, and creation of European legal standard to allow blockchain-based transactions."}
-{"text": "Two teenage boys who plotted a Columbine-style gun and bomb attack on their school in North Yorkshire have been handed 12 and 10-year custodial sentences.\n\nThomas Wyllie and Alex Bolland, both 15, were said to have \"hero-worshipped\" Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, who opened fire on students at Columbine High School in Colorado in April 1999, killing 13 people and themselves.\n\nIt was one of the deadliest school shootings in US history.\n\nProsecutors told Leeds Crown Court how the youngsters who planned their own version of the attack in Northallerton were so serious about it that they had drawn up a \"hit-list\" of targets, including bullies and teachers.\n\nThey were just 14 when they were making their deadly plans, which included downloading bomb-making manuals and researching weapons.\n\n\nProsecutor Paul Greaney QC told the jury: \"Eighteen years after the Columbine Massacre and nearly 4,500 miles away, two young teenagers in North Yorkshire became fascinated with Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.\n\nImage: The contents of a rucksack found in one of the boys' hideout, which prosecutors claimed were for building an explosive\n\n\"The two teenagers researched and discussed those killers and their interest in them turned to hero-worship. It was against that background that they plotted their own attack upon the school they attended.\"\n\nBoth warned friends of what they wanted to do, and Wyllie - who was described as the leader and main instigator - wrote about what jurors were told was his \"twisted ideology\" in a diary.\n\nAmong the notes in the journal - recovered from his home last October - were items he thought would be needed to go on the murderous rampage, including napalm, pipe bombs and firearms.\n\nImage: Wyllie was asked in a text message by a female friend if he was joking\n\nThe inside cover featured a message apologising for either committing \"one of the worst atrocities in British history\" or killing himself.\n\nIn a secret hideout in Catterick Garrison, Wyllie also kept a rucksack filled with screws, boards and flammable liquid, which prosecutors suggested were gathered with the intention of building an explosive.\n\nHe was given the 12-year sentence, with his accomplice - who suffered from bullying at school and was said to have lost interest in the plan part of the way through - given 10 years.\n\nIn a message to a female friend last September, he revealed details about the plot.\n\nShe asked him if it was a joke, to which he replied: \"No. No-one innocent will die. We promise.\"\n\nImage: A balaclava was among a number of items recovered by police\n\nThe following day, he made \"clear and unvarnished confessions\" to a teacher and then to police officers.\n\nDuring an interview, he claimed that his targets were \"infecting the gene pool\" and that he and his accomplice would be doing a \"service to society\" if they carried out their attack.\n\nThe teacher present told the trial it was \"the most dreadful thing that a student has ever said to me\".\n\n\"He was so emotionless about the plan,\" the teacher added.\n\nImage: A flammable liquid bottle was found in a rucksack\n\n\"He seemed to feel that it was something that needed to be done.\"\n\nThe older boy, Wyllie, denied any knowledge of the plan during the interview, but the court heard how he started researching the Columbine massacre again within minutes of the officers leaving.\n\nJurors were told of how he tried to involve his then-girlfriend in the plan, describing her as \"his Dylan Klebold\" and repeatedly asking her to get hold of one of her father's shotguns.\n\nImage: A chat between the two boys about the plot\n\nThe boy - described in evidence by the girl's mother as \"devious and primitive\" - also warned her that he wanted to murder her parents so that he could run away with her and become a \"natural born killer\".\n\nHer mother said he had \"quite a lot of power and control\" over her, admitting she was \"vulnerable\" at the time.\n\nThe boy was eventually arrested after his hideout was discovered by officers on 22 October last year.\n\nThree days later he was joined by the younger boy and his mother at a North Yorkshire Police station, with the force later accepting that they \"did not meet those standards that are expected\" in the way they dealt with the boys.\n\nImage: A note found in Wyllie's journal apologising for the atrocity\n\nThey both stood trial, but were found guilty of conspiracy to murder by a jury in May, with the older boy additionally being convicted of unlawful wounding.\n\nThe sentences were handed out on Friday, with the judge also lifting reporting restrictions on naming the teenagers after representations from the media.\n\nHead of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, Detective Chief Superintendent Martin Snowden, said: \"This is a deeply unsettling case and the cause of significant concern for all associated with it.\n\n\"The impact of it has been felt profoundly by the staff at the school, its pupils and their parents, and indeed the local community.\n\n\"We are extremely grateful for their support and the assistance we have received from North Yorkshire Police and the local authority during the course of our investigation.\n\nImage: People flee from Columbine High School during the mass shooting\n\n\"These boys demonstrated a very real interest in violence and had both expressed a desire to act out their fascinations.\n\n\"Disturbingly, they had gone beyond the fantasy and had begun to take very real steps towards making it a reality.\n\n\"They'd conducted research online, created a plan and identified potential targets.\n\n\"They'd looked into weapons, how they could get hold of them and where they could be stored.\""}
-{"text": "Borderlands definitely shocked gamers with it\u2019s truly unique gaming style including stylish arts and impressive CG, it delivered beyond most of our expectations for sure. Due to the success GearBox received from the title, it seems they might be gearing up for something bigger than DLC.\n\nAccording to a recent trademark, it appears that GearBox have trademarked the name \u201cBorderworlds\u201c. Although there is no official confirmation by this by either Take-Two or GearBox, this hints at a possible release of a sequel to Borderlands.\n\n[Via]"}
-{"text": "There may have actually been a \u201cvast right-wing conspiracy\u201d against Hillary Clinton after all.\n\nThe claim, which had been repeated by Clinton to explain decades of fierce opposition, had long been mocked by conservatives, but Donald Trump\u2019s former deputy campaign manager may have accidentally admitted that it was indeed real. David Bossie, a top Trump aide during the 2016 presidential campaign, appeared on Fox News Sunday and seemed to give credence to the idea that conservatives have spent years trying to tear down Clinton.\n\n\u201cThere is a vast left-wing conspiracy that has been going on since the president won this election,\u201d David Bossie said (via Newsweek).\n\n\u201cAll throughout the transition and during his first two years. A vast left-wing conspiracy, very similar words to what Hillary Clinton called a vast right-wing conspiracy.\u201d\n\nHost Chris Wallace tried to interject and say that the idea of a conspiracy against Clinton \u201cdidn\u2019t turn out to be true,\u201d but Bossie stuck by his claim.\n\n\u201cNo, it was true. Chris, there was an effort by the conservative movement to undermine President Clinton.\u201d\n\nHillary Clinton raised the idea of the conspiracy in 1998, as Republicans were leading impeachment efforts against her husband\u2019s presidency. In a nationally televised interview on the Today show, Clinton said that her husband was the victim of a \u201cpolitically motivated\u201d prosecutor who was part of a \u201cvast right-wing conspiracy,\u201d the Washington Post noted.\n\n\u201cI think as this matter unfolds, the entire country will have more information, but we\u2019re right in the middle of a feeding frenzy right now, and people are putting out rumor and innuendo,\u201d she said, telling the press to \u201cjust to be patient, take a deep breath, and the truth will come out.\u201d\n\nFormer Trump Campaign Deputy Manager David Bossie Says Hillary Was Right About Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy https://t.co/F69jrsra58 pic.twitter.com/IAB4OzTUNj \u2014 Mediaite (@Mediaite) November 25, 2018\n\nThe campaign to impeach Bill Clinton ended when the U.S. Senate voted to acquit him, and his popularity soared after the impeachment scandal. Donald Trump has not enjoyed a similar bump amid his own political investigation. As the Russia investigation continues to expand and has picked off a number of members of his inner circle, Trump has seen his approval ratings linger in the high-30s and low 40s.\n\nBut Trump has still found a popular target in Hillary Clinton. Though Trump defeated her in 2016 and she has reiterated that there are no plans to run for president again, Clinton has remained in Trump\u2019s sights as he continues to launch attacks via Twitter. This weekend, he accused Clinton of \u201cmonetizing political influence\u201d through her foundation \u2014 a charge that comes as Trump\u2019s own foundation is facing a lawsuit from the state of New York, claiming that Trump used it as a personal bank account."}
-{"text": "Vinyl enthusiasts regularly drop thousands of dollars on stereo equipment so they can experience the purest possible sound, but one hardcore Beatles fan just invested more than $12,000 in a remarkably rare turntable that will probably never even be used.\n\nWhatSellsBest reports that a 1964 NEMS Beatles Record Player, offered in near-mint condition with all its original parts intact, was recently offered by a well-known memorabilia dealer on eBay with a starting price of 99 cents. Twenty-nine bids later, the turntable found its new home -- at a final price of $12,100.\n\nAs the article points out, these record players were one of the earliest pieces of licensed Beatles merchandise -- and given that they were manufactured in a limited run of 5,000, it's extremely rare to find one that's been this well-preserved. The player's vendor acknowledged as much in the listing, which read in part, \"Folks, this one is it! The winner of the all time best record player I have ever offered for sale, and it even edges the one I owned myself in 1982, which before now... Held the title!\"\n\nOnce again, it just goes to show you that it's worth hanging onto tie-in products inspired by your favorite bands -- and who knows? If your kids bring home, say, a One Direction mp3 player, maybe it'll end up helping pay for a nice vacation someday."}
-{"text": "Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The Florida Keys was one of the US areas hit hardest by Irma\n\nParts of the Florida Keys, the low-lying islands which bore the brunt of Hurricane Irma when the category-four storm struck on Sunday, have reopened.\n\nEntry is being restricted to residents and business owners as work continues to clear roads and check the state of bridges linking the islands.\n\nNearly 6.9 million homes were without power in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama.\n\nIrma, which has since rapidly weakened, is being linked to 11 deaths in the US.\n\nWhy was Florida spared worst of Irma?\n\nEurope steps up response to Irma\n\nSeven people died in Florida, three in Georgia and one in South Carolina, according to US media.\n\nThe storm also left a trail of destruction in the Caribbean, where nearly 40 people were killed.\n\nInteractive See how Road Town, Tortola has been damaged by Hurricane Irma 9 Sep 2017 31 Mar 2015\n\nInteractive See how Providenciales, Turks and Caicos, has been damaged by Hurricane Irma 10 Sep 2017 1 Jan 2016\n\nFrench President Emmanuel Macron has arrived in the region and is to visit devastated French islands, while UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is heading to the British Virgin Islands.\n\nBoth France and Britain have been criticised for not doing enough to help their nationals in overseas territories affected by the hurricane.\n\nDutch King Willem-Alexander spent Monday night on the Dutch side of St Martin, an island shared between France and the Netherlands.\n\nHe told the NOS public newscaster: \"I have seen proper war as well as natural disasters before, but I've never seen anything like this.\"\n\nFlorida Governor Rick Scott used the same word - \"devastation\" - after flying over the Keys on Monday.\n\n\"I just hope everybody survived,\" he said. \"It's horrible what we saw.\"\n\n\"We saw a lot of boats washed ashore and we saw any, basically, any trailer park there overturned.\"\n\nMedia playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's correspondents in the region chart Irma's path of destruction\n\nThe Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates one in four homes in the Keys has been destroyed and that 60% were damaged.\n\nThousands of people ignored calls to evacuate last week, and clung on in the dangerously exposed islands during the storm.\n\nHowever, Governor Scott added: \"I didn't see the damage I thought I would see.\" Storm surges had turned out to be \"not as bad as we thought\", he said.\n\nTeams are still working to clear Highway 1, the road connecting most of the inhabited islands, and bridge inspections are continuing.\n\nMedia playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Patrick Spoon videoed his walk around Charleston as Irma hit\n\nSome residents were allowed into the towns of Key Largo, Tavernier and Islamorada on Tuesday morning, authorities in Monroe Country said.\n\nThey were warned that services on the islands were limited: most areas were still without power and water, mobile phone signals were patchy and most petrol stations were still closed.\n\nThe US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln has arrived off Florida and other navy ships were in the area on Tuesday to help distribute food to the Keys and evacuate residents.\n\nIn Jacksonville, Mayor Lenny Curry said 356 people had to be rescued amid record-high storm surges and flooding, the Florida Times-Union reported.\n\nA Jacksonville Pizza Hut sparked online backlash after a manager threatened to punish employees who evacuated too early for Irma.\n\nMedia playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Aerial footage shows the damage to homes in Orlando, Florida\n\n\"You cannot evacuate Friday for a Tuesday storm event!\" the restaurant's manager told employees in a notice, which was shared online.\n\nJacksonville officials began ordering a mandatory evacuation for parts of the city on Friday.\n\nIn a statement, Pizza Hut said the manager who posted the notice did not follow company guidelines.\n\nOther parts of the state escaped the storm lightly compared to the Caribbean islands.\n\nImage copyright Reuters Image caption A local resident looks inside a collapsed coastal house after Hurricane Irma passed the area in Vilano Beach, Florida\n\n\"The storm surge flooding in Miami is a mere fraction of what would have happened if the core of the storm had been further east,\" Rick Knabb, former director of the National Hurricane Center, said in a tweet.\n\nThe storm was downgraded as it moved north towards Atlanta, Georgia, with maximum sustained winds of 35mph (56km/h), the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in a statement.\n\nAnother hurricane, Jose, has been weakening over the western Atlantic, with swells due to affect parts of Hispaniola (the island split into Haiti and the Dominican Republic), the Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands, later this week."}
-{"text": "Merck vaccine scientists blew the whistle on similar fraud inside Big Pharma\n\nNo punishment for scientific fraud\n\nNearly all vaccines are founded on fraud\n\nEven vaccines that might actually work are intentionally laced with aluminum, MSG, mercury and formaldehyde\n\n(NaturalNews) Yet another vaccine researcher has been caught faking research on a bogus AIDS vaccine, adding to the pattern of scientific fraud and criminality that characterizes the modern-day vaccine industry. Dr. Dong-Pyou Han from Iowa State University has resigned this week after admitting he spiked rabbit blood samples with healthy human blood to falsely show the presence of antibodies that would \"prove\" his AIDS vaccine worked.The National Institutes of Health (NIH) was so convinced by the fraud that they gave Han $19 million in research funding. The NIH later found the fraud after attempting to replicate Han's work and figuring out something was terribly wrong with the research.Newly-released federal documents reveal the stunning breadth of the fraud. As the findings state:A summary of the fraud was also posted on RetractionWatch.com , a site that frequently posts details of Big Pharma research fraud.Han's $19 million vaccine research fraud eerily resembles the vaccine industry fraud exposed by former Merck virologists Stephen Krahling and Joan Wlochowski. In a little-known False Claims Act filing , these two scientists accused Merck ofin order to make the vaccines appear to be effective.This fraud is what allowed Merck to falsely claim its mumps vaccine is 95% effective, say the scientist whistleblowers. In reality, the fraudulent Merck mumps vaccine actually contributed to the spread of mumps across America, they explain.The spread of mumps, of course, results in more people buying mumps vaccines. This is how scientific fraud can produce enormous profits for vaccine companies. In many cases,The fact that an AIDS vaccine research has now been caught faking his bogus AIDS vaccine in precisely the same way Merck scientists say Merck faked their vaccine tests is yet another significant red flag that screams the obvious: the vaccine industry is riddled with scientific fraud.For being caught stealing $19 million in taxpayer grant money and faking AIDS vaccine research, Dr. Dong-Pyou Han is merely barred from receiving government contract money for the next three years.No jail time. No criminal charges. Not even an effort to force him to repay the funds he essentially stole.Vaccine manufacturers, too, are routinely caught engaging in widespread bribery and committing multiple felony crimes. GlaxoSmithKline, for example, admitted to committing multiple felonies in a recent settlement with the Department of Justice.Pfizer has also admitted to committing felony crimes , yet all these companies -- GSK, Pfizer, Merck and more -- remain free to do business with the very same governments they routinely defraud.In the vaccine industry,, and it's found in the fraudulent science, drug price fixing, widespread bribery of doctors, the faking of \"scientific\" evidence and the industry's payoffs to the mainstream media in the form of advertising money.Now you understand why. Flu shots don't prevent the flu. Mumps and measles vaccines actually cause mumps and measles. Polio vaccines cause widespread paralysis and polio-like symptoms.It is an historical fact -- a fact the CDC has desperately tried to cover up -- that 98 million Americans were injected with polio vaccines laced with cancer-causing viruses. The CDC recently scrubbed this historical information from its website in part of a revisionist history scheme.It is also a fact that former Merck scientists Dr. Maurine Hilleman openly admitted -- on tape! -- that vaccines contained huge numbers of cancer-causing \"stealth\" viruses. Click here for the shocking transcript of the recording by Dr. Hilleman Here's just a small snippet of that transcript:Just to make sure vaccines are as destructive as possible, the vaccine industry makes sure that nearly all vaccines are laced with neurotoxic chemicals.As Natural News has repeatedly reported, even the CDC continues to admit that vaccines are intentionally formulated with MSG, formaldehyde, mercury and aluminum In a few more years, the CDC will no doubt scrub that from its website too. Then it will pretend vaccines never contained mercury and that anyone who says vaccines once contained mercury is obviously crazy and not to be trusted.When it comes to vaccines, you see,. Logic and science are thrown out the window. Efficacy is utterly abandoned. Vaccines never need to prove they actually work. They areby the followers of the reductionist medical cult known as \"western medicine.\"No one is allowed to question vaccines using any scientific questioning. No one is allowed to compare vaccinated children to unvaccinated children and compare the outcomes. Anyone who dares to conduct research on the dangers of vaccines is immediately and permanently denied funding by the NIH, a taxpayer-funded group that actually pays the vast majority of Big Pharma's R&D costs.When it comes to vaccines, you see,... quite possibly because they've vaccinated each other and are quite literally suffering from chronic mercury poisoning (which damages the brain). The actions of this fake AIDS vaccine researcher aren't even unusual: they're par for the course. This is how nearly all vaccines get made! It's the only way to make deadly, contaminated genetic cocktails appear to be effective when they really aren't.Take away the fraudulent research and the vaccine industry collapses overnight. If subjected to the scrutiny of rational science, vaccines would almost immediately be declared quackery."}
-{"text": "In July of 1917, teenage cousins Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths took two photographs \u2013 the first of Frances with a group of Fairies, the second of Elsie with a Gnome \u2013 in the garden of Elsie\u2019s home in England. Three years later, after various experts had incorrectly confirmed the photographs\u2019 authenticity, Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle heard of their existence and immediately contacted the girls and their families in order to discover more. Almost instantly Doyle, a spiritualist, believed the girls\u2019 story and proceeded to write a feature about the phenomenon for Strand Magazine. The photos of the \u2018Cottingley Fairies\u2018 were quickly world renowned and the centre of much debate. It wasn\u2019t until 1981 \u2013 64 years later \u2013 that Elsie confessed to having made the Fairies using paper and cardboard.\n\nBelow are two of the letters written by Doyle; the first to Elsie, the second to her father. Others can be seen here.\n\nTranscript follows.\n\nTranscripts\n\nLetter One\n\nDear Miss Elsie Wright I have seen the wonderful pictures of the fairies which you and your cousin Frances have taken, and I have not been so interested for a long time. I will send you tomorrow one of my little books for I am sure you are not too old to enjoy adventures. I am going to Australia soon, but I only wish before I go that I could get to Bradford and have half an hours chat with you, for I should like to hear all about it. With best wishes Yours sincerely Arthur Conan Doyle Mr Gardner told me about it.\n\nLetter Two\n\nDear Mr. Wright I have seen the very interesting photos which your little girl took. They are certainly amazing. I was writing a little article for the Strand upon the evidence for the existence of fairies, so that I was very much interested. I should naturally like to use the photos, along with other material, in my article but would not of course do so without your knowledge and permission. It would be in the Xmas number. I suggest 1. That no name be mentioned, so that neither you nor your daughter be annoyed in any way. 2. That the use be reserved for the Strand only until Xmas. After that it reverts of course to you. 3. That either \u00a35 be paid to you by the Strand for the temporary use, or that if you don\u2019t care to take money, you be put on the free list of the magazine for five years. The articles appear in America in connection with the Strand publication. I would, if you agree, try to get you another \u00a35 from that side. If this is all agreeable to you I or my friend Mr Gardner would try to run up & have half an hours chat with the girls Yours sincerely A Conan Doyle"}
-{"text": "Some residents of a suburban Moncton, N.B., neighbourhood spent a stressful night in lockdown as RCMP searched for a gunman who killed three RCMP officers and wounded two others Wednesday evening.\n\nOn Friday morning, RCMP announced they had apprehended the suspected shooter, Justin Borque, 24, in a wooded area nearby where the shootings occured.\n\nBill Daigle, who lives one block from where the shooting took place, said police presence in his neighbourhood overnight was heavy.\n\nIt sounded like it was happening in our backyard. - Bill Daigle, Moncton resident\n\n\"I've never heard so many sirens in all my life,\" Daigle said, explaining helicopters circled his house and armoured vehicles drove through the area frequently.\n\nHe was working with his wife in his front lawn when he heard what he first believed were fireworks.\n\n\"It quickly became apparent that it was gunfight that we were hearing,\" he said. \"It sounded like it was happening in our backyard.\"\n\nDaigle's teenage daughter was working at a nearby grocery store during the shootings. She did not arrive home until after 5 a.m. Thursday as the store went into lockdown and staff inside were secured in a safe area.\n\nShe is \"still in shock,\" but glad to be home, Daigle said.\n\nDaigle, who runs a local pawn shop, said \"this sort of thing just doesn't happen in this part of the world.\"\n\nStressful, sleepless night\n\nWill Njoku lives with his wife and three children in Moncton in an area near the shooting.\n\nHe spent a \"sleepless\" night in his basement, he told CBC News on the phone.\n\nHe first heard what sounded like firecrackers Wednesday night, he said. But a neighbour soon called to tell him a gunman was on the loose nearby.\n\n\"That kind of freaked us out, obviously,\" he said.\n\nAround 9 p.m., he and his wife woke up their three children and moved them to the basement. While his boys will \"never hear anything about it,\" Njoku said it was a stressful night, with he and his wife exhausted from wondering where the gunman might be.\n\n\"It became more and more stressful as the night wore on,\" he said.\n\n'Not like any shots we had heard before'\n\nDr. Heidi James, whose home borders the woods where the suspect is believed to be, told CBC News \"the night was largely sleepless for me.\"\n\nJames, her husband and their two young children eventually took refuge in their basement, with her children under the impression they were camping out in a different part of the house for fun.\n\nJames said she had some concerns for her family's safety during the night because the suspect is still at large.\n\n\"It's certainly terrifying,\" she said. \"No doubt about it.\"\n\nJames said she has been hearing a helicopter passing over her house regularly Thursday morning, and has seen some police vehicles and officers pass by her house.\n\nPrevious Next was watching cartoons with her family when she heard five loud bangs outside. \u200bOn Wednesday, James\n\nJames said neighbourhood kids sometimes play with air rifles in the woods near her home, so at first she thought the sounds may be harmless.\n\n\"But these were not like any shots we had heard before,\" she said.\n\nShortly after hearing what were clearly gunshots, James received a call from a friend who lives nearby alerting her to the manhunt unfolding outside her home, she said.\n\n\"My husband peered out the window and saw a car with the windows blown out and what he believed was a body on the ground covered by a blanket,\" she said.\n\n\u201cOnce we got our wits about us we took the kids to a safe place \u2026 first to a bathroom, then to a closet and then eventually back to a safe bathroom.\u201d\n\n'It was hard to breathe'\n\nHeather Boucher Robinson lives just outside the mandatory lockdown area, but placed her house under self-imposed lockdown Wednesday night.\n\nAround 9:30 p.m., Boucher Robinson returned home from Wal-Mart after seeing the heavy police presence and said \"we locked everything down. We closed the drapes. We got into the back bedroom.\"\n\nThere we were in the dark, on all fours, crawling across our kitchen floor down to the basement. - Heather Boucher Robinson\n\nShe barely slept after one particularly scary experience. She was on the phone with a co-worker when her husband told her to hang up and drop to the floor. There were rumours of gunshots around the corner from their home.\n\n\"There we were in the dark, on all fours, crawling across our kitchen floor down to the basement,\" she said.\n\nBoucher Robinson said that moment is when she felt truly afraid, thinking that the gunman could be outside her home.\n\n\"It was hard to breathe,\" she said.\n\nOnly after 9 a.m. Thursday did they leave the basement and re-enter the main area of the house.\n\nBoucher Robinson, who moved into her home six months ago, said it was \"a complete panic\" Thursday night.\n\n\"We know how to prepare if there's a big winter storm or a nor'easter coming. We don't know how to prepare for some kind of emergency,\" she said, adding she moved to the Maritimes so she could live in \"a slow-paced, safer, trusting area.\"\n\n\"That feels like that's been shattered here in the last 15, 16 hours.\"\n\n'Like a storm day without the storm'\n\nSonia Dever took her two-year-old daughter to her in-law's home this morning after her husband left for work because she felt safer there as the house is further away.\n\nDuring the drive, the streets were barren, she said. Most businesses are closed, public transit is not running and postal workers are not delivering mail.\n\n\"It's like a storm day without the storm,\" Dever said.\n\nLast night, Dever says she didn't sleep much and checked on her daughter about every five minutes \"to make sure that she was still there.\"\n\nDever said she couldn't begin to imagine how the families of the killed RCMP officers are feeling.\n\n\"And the ones that are out there still protecting us: hats off.\"\n\nVanessa Bernatchez was with several other people in the living room of her home in the Pinehurst subdivision of Moncton, watching out the window as an RCMP officer took cover behind a police cruiser and scoped out the area, apparently looking for the shooter.\n\nOnce we got our wits about us we took the kids to a safe place \u2026 first to a bathroom, then to a closet. - Heidi Adams, Moncton resident\n\nBernatchez recorded the scene on her smartphone and later uploaded the video to Facebook.\n\nShe told CBC News that at one point, she watched as the gunman came walking down the street, but the RCMP officer ducking behind the vehicle did not see him.\n\nAnother person with Bernatchez attempted to tap on the glass window in an effort to warn the officer.\n\nThe Mountie was unable to hear their warning.\n\n\u201cIt was too late, he went down. We knew it was over,\u201d Bernatchez said.\n\nOn the video, she can be heard screaming: \u201cCall 911.\u201d\n\nBernatchez told CBC News that after shooting the RCMP officer, the gunman casually walked out of view into a nearby wooded area.\n\n'Clearly aiming' for the driver\n\nLocal photographer Daniel St. Louis took some of the earliest photos from the scene. He was at a friend\u2019s house when he saw tweets and received text messages referencing a heavy police presence in the area, so he decided to take what gear he had with him and drive over to where RCMP were reportedly setting up roadblocks.\n\nShattered glass surrounds a police SUV with multiple bullet holes in the front windshield at the scene of the shootings in Moncton, N.B. (Daniel St. Louis/Submitted) In just a few blocks, St. Louis came across two vehicles with bullet holes in them or blown-out windows, one of which clearly had blood in and around it, he told CBC News.\n\nThe second vehicle, an unmarked RCMP SUV, had \"very sharp, small bullet holes in the front windshield,\" he said. From what he saw, he said he believed \"somebody was aiming, clearly aiming, for the driver as a target.\"\n\nThe area was calm, he said, with some pedestrians still walking nearby and cars driving in the neighbourhood.\n\nAt one point, St. Louis said, he came across a body on the side of a street. He called police, who told them they knew of the body.\n\nAs he called police, an off-duty fireman arrived at the scene and checked the person's pulse.\n\nWhile St. Louis said he did not take a good look at the body, he did see signs that the person was hit in the face.\n\nThat's when he said he thought, \"OK, this is a serious reality check and it's more than what I had bargained for.\"\n\nAt that point, he decided it was time to leave the scene and get to safety with his kids.\n\n\u201cWe just locked the doors,\u201d St. Louis said."}
-{"text": "About Toronto Toker\n\nI am a medical marijuana patient and youtuber, and have been for a few years. I am very passionate and knowledgable about cannabis. I want to help share my knowledge with inexperienced patients through Dankr, and review products to ensure there is a standard in the community."}
-{"text": "Article content\n\nIt rarely gets any media play anymore, even though every prime minister of the day, regardless of party, puts out a statement celebrating that June 27 is Multiculturalism Day in Canada.\n\nEvery PM has a stack of similar statements that must go out.\n\nWe apologize, but this video has failed to load.\n\ntap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or BONOKOSKI: Why Multiculturalism Day is the likely last thing on our minds Back to video\n\nIncreasingly, as Canada becomes more and more \u201cmulticultural,\u201d there are the required statements marking the celebrations of various ethnic groups, their key religious dates and their most important holidays.\n\nThis was not always the case.\n\nIt wasn\u2019t that long ago, in fact, that Toronto got its very first Roman Catholic police chief \u2014 still white but not a Protestant\u2014 when Bill McCormack took over a still largely white force in 1989, and set out to ease growing black tensions in a city that was still predominately comprised of white Europeans.\n\nToday it is a mixture of all colours and all races like no other city in the country, and certainly no other cosmopolitan city in North America."}
-{"text": "Hi there! We are happy to announce an update to CoGe today: version 1.8 is here, with some nice new features and bug fixes!\n\nISF Generator Support\n\nCoGe 1.8 adds support for ISF Generators, making it possible to leverage the power of realtime, OpenGL Shader based generators.\n\nThere are 2 possible ways to use these generators:\n\nISF Generators located at ~/Library/Graphics/ISF or /Library/Graphics/ISF are accessible from the right-click menu of Media Slots You can simply drag&drop the .fs files from Finder directly.\n\nOther additions\n\nCoGe now has a new, IPC-based QC and ISF thumbnail generator - which should prevent crashes related to QC-problems while generating thumbnails -, and this build also adds support for Vuo 1.2.6.\n\nGet it now\n\nCoGe 1.8 is a free update, so grab it while it is hot \u2013 use the built-in updater or just download the latest version from the website.\n\nFor a full list of fixes and changes, please check out the changelog. Thanks to everyone who submitted bug reports and also thanks for your help with testing out the beta builds!"}
-{"text": "Original Nazi Christmas decorations bearing swasitikas have appeared for sale on an online auction site.\n\nThe four Christmas tree baubles were advertised for sale at a starting price of \u00a359, on the Czech Republic website Aukro, sparking widespread outrage.\n\nThe baubles are red with the Nazi Swastika painted in the centre of a white circle.\n\nThe seller, who identifies himself on the site as Anti95, described the questionable Christmas baubles as \"original decorations used by SS units over 70 years ago.\"\n\nThe SS could sit around and have fun at Christmas with their pretty baubles while thousands were being tortured and murdered by them. These disgusting decorations should be destroyed, not preserved. - Vaclav Ceska\n\n\"I offer Christmas decorations of SS units,\" he wrote. \"The decorations are authentic and not damaged. They are made of blown glass and they are in original colours and good condition. These are very precious pieces. The offer is for collecting purposes only.\"\n\nThe decorations have incited the anger of people across the Czech Republic which was annexed by Hitler in 1938 and was not liberated until the end of the war.\n\nCommenting on the auction website's Facebook page, a deeply offended Jana Bodinkova said: \"It makes me sick. My granddad would cry if he saw this. It is incredible that we have something like this here now.\"\n\nVaclav Ceska, 59, from the capital Prague reiterated the sentiment saying: \"This is absolutely disgraceful. My grandparents fought in the resistance against the Nazis and remember the atrocities committed by the SS. The SS could sit around and have fun at Christmas with their pretty baubles while thousands were being tortured and murdered by them. These disgusting decorations should be destroyed, not preserved.\"\n\nJozsef Helmeczy wrote in disgust on Facebook posted: \"Are you kidding me? I would forbid it.\"\n\nFollowing the furore regarding the decorations, the unidentified owner of the baubles issued a statement denying that he had any affiliation or support for any right-wing groups.\n\nHe wrote: \"I declare that I am not a member of any movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms or the movement which support national, racial or class hatred to other group of people. I don't support movements like the SS either.\""}
-{"text": "\u201cIn the 1800s we had a bubble in railroads, and almost every one of them went bankrupt,\u201d said \u201cDowntown\u201d Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management. \u201cBut what was left behind in the wake of that financial wreckage were the tracks, and the trains, and the stations, and the expertise to build more.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s the analogy Brown sees with the bitcoin bubble of 2017, as explained in a recent episode of Bitcoin Macro, a pop-up podcast series featuring speakers from CoinDesk\u2019s upcoming Invest: NYC conference on Tuesday, Nov. 12.\n\n\u201cEventually the technology [railroads] found a way to be profitable, useful, and became woven into the fabric of our society,\u201d Brown said. \u201cSo it\u2019s possible that the crypto investments people made in 2017 were stupid, but that they had the right idea.\u201d\n\nThe last six months have seen a growing dialogue between the bitcoin industry and leaders in global finance. No longer written off as some ignorable niche, increasingly people are asking: Is bitcoin a macro asset? Is it a safe-haven asset? How will it perform in the next recession?\n\nBrown is a regular contributor to CNBC. In this episode of Bitcoin Macro, CoinDesk\u2019s head of strategy, Nolan Bauerle, talks with Brown about:\n\nWhy bitcoin feels like a protest asset but doesn\u2019t see huge amounts of capital flowing into it from turbulent regions.\n\nWhy U.S. dollars and assets like Manhattan real estate are still the top options for moving wealth out of countries.\n\nWhy it\u2019s impossible to know how bitcoin will react in a recession given the unique set of circumstances surrounding the market\u2019s past 11 years.\n\nWhy the bitcoin and crypto spaces have veered back and forth between overly optimistic and overly pessimistic.\n\nWhy true technology disruptions tend to happen long after their earliest promoters have left the stage.\n\nWhy the impact of bitcoin may be something very different than the macro, non-sovereign money narrative in favor today.\n\nListen to the podcast here or read the whole transcript below.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (00:09)\n\nWelcome to Bitcoin macro, a Pop-up podcast produced as part of the CoinDesk Invest New York conference in November. I\u2019m your host, Nolan Bauerly. Both the podcast and the event explore the intersection of bitcoin and the global macroeconomy with perspectives from some of the leading thinkers in finance, crypto and beyond.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (00:34)\n\nWelcome to the latest edition of our pop-up podcast around bitcoin. This podcast, in particular, is designed to shed light on some of the content that you\u2019re going to hear about at Consensus: Invest on November 12th, here in New York City. Today we have a veteran speaker of our series and a crossover star, Josh Brown, who certainly is known for his role in mainstream financial news, a regular on CNBC, various other networks. Josh Brown has been with us at Invest since it launched in 2017. He gave terrific advice to the original attendees of that conference and was our final keynote fireside chat with Howard Lindzon, his good friend.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (01:23)\n\nLast year he came back to let the audience know what asset managers are really concerned about when it comes to cryptocurrencies in general. And this year he\u2019s going to involve himself as our master of ceremonies, and we\u2019ll introduce all of our great panelists, and we\u2019re happy to have him. So crossover star, I think, is a good way to describe you. A lot of people know you over crypto, but you\u2019re certainly well known for your mainstream financial news.\n\nJosh Brown: (01:48)\n\nHi Nolan, it\u2019s great to be with you.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (01:50)\n\nGreat to have you aboard. So we\u2019re going to jump right in. This podcast is really all about bitcoin. And the first question is about bitcoin behaving as a macro asset. So you\u2019ve seen a lot of what\u2019s going on in the world today. You\u2019re pretty plugged in. How do you see bitcoin fitting in here? Is it an actual asset that you can see as a way to hedge macroeconomic changes? Or is it sort of still in the wings waiting to be built up and mature a little more before it\u2019s really in the major leagues of macro assets?\n\nJosh Brown: (02:24)\n\nAs I said to you just prior to recording, I see myself as more of a student than a teacher in this realm, but I\u2019m an apt pupil, and I try to pay attention to various opinions and, of course, look at charts and price action. And I try my best to understand what\u2019s happening. To answer that question directly, I would say I do not believe that bitcoin behaves in any way like a macro asset. And the only reason I\u2019m saying that is because we have no evidence that it\u2019s correlated with any other macro development. In other words, I wish I could say when \u2026 Think about gold. When people are worried about inflation, and I\u2019m not saying gold is a great inflation hedge, but when people are worried about it, there are trades where you can see flows go into that asset class. It\u2019s demonstrative.\n\nJosh Brown: (03:21)\n\nSo you could say whether or not you think gold is an inflation hedge, you know that other people do, and it acts that way. Think about utility stocks. All year long, the story has been the federal reserve about to lower rates, now they\u2019re lowering rates. Maybe they\u2019re going to lower rates more. And as that process has happened, you\u2019ve seen money flow into utility stocks, which are prized for their high yields. So if you\u2019re not getting yields in bonds, what\u2019s the next best thing or the next, next best thing? It\u2019s high yielding equities, and utilities are considered to be among the safest high yielding stocks. So you could say that, that\u2019s a macro asset. What can we say about bitcoin that\u2019s even close to being comparable? In the month of October, I think it\u2019s a world record of people around the world involved in various protests, whether we\u2019re talking about Santiago, or we\u2019re talking about what\u2019s going on in Hong Kong. All over the world, there are millions and millions of people taking to the streets.\n\nJosh Brown: (04:20)\n\nWhy isn\u2019t bitcoin up 50% if in fact it\u2019s a protest asset? Well, it isn\u2019t, so I don\u2019t know. If we\u2019re worried about disinflation and we say that maybe people, if they\u2019re scared of their own currency, there\u2019ll be this huge rush into bitcoin. Well, where is that happening? It isn\u2019t. So I would love to be able to answer in the affirmative and say, \u201cYes, bitcoin has now taken its place among the Pantheon of asset classes that people can use to express a macro view.\u201d But it just isn\u2019t, there\u2019s no evidence for that. So my answer to you is no it isn\u2019t, but maybe that\u2019ll change at some point.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (04:57)\n\nYeah. And that you\u2019re focusing on the behavior I think is the important part here. A lot of people get caught up with what they want it to be and they sort of will fall into kind of a bubble, where they see it behaving in ways that maybe it isn\u2019t actually, given the facts, and that you underlined here that the behavior of it, given all these conditions is pretty clear. It looks like a speculative asset that people are interested in making some money on, and certainly there needs to be a high risk tolerance to get exposure even to this day.\n\nJosh Brown: (05:29)\n\nIf we\u2019re saying that bitcoin\u2019s most obvious use case is the ability to get out of a fiat currency and move money out of a country, or \u2026 it\u2019s got huge competition. US dollars are what people want all over the world. In Asia, maybe they want the yen when they fear for the safety of the currency, or the capital markets, or the economy in which they live. This is a fact, and then if we\u2019re saying, \u201cWell, people are going to use bitcoin when they want to get out of the denomination of whatever their country is\u201d, or the jurisdiction. They want to, I don\u2019t want to use the word hide money, but they want to literally move money where it can\u2019t be touched. Well, real estate has been a much, much more prominent way to do that. Look at Vancouver, half the buildings are Chinese money.\n\nJosh Brown: (06:21)\n\nLook at the towers they\u2019re putting up in New York. They just put the capstone, I think it\u2019s called, or whatever. They just put the cap on something called Central Park tower. I think it\u2019s 1400 feet high. It\u2019s the tallest residential building in the Western hemisphere. It\u2019s only going to have 70 something apartments. So who\u2019s buying those apartments? Well, it\u2019s not like a guy who\u2019s a lawyer in New York City. These are $7, $10, $20, $50 million apartments. You could think about these as safe deposit boxes for Russians, Indians, Chinese, people that are trying to have assets outside of the country. Nobody\u2019s even going to live in half these apartments. And that\u2019s just one tower of five that I could reference off the top of my head.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (07:10)\n\nThe one they built on Lexington, the skinnier one that went up earlier, I can\u2019t remember the name right now, but you can see the windows are empty. The lights are off every single night.\n\nJosh Brown: (07:19)\n\nOf course. You want to laugh? When they built 437 Park, which I think was the largest until this new one, the tallest, they did something for New York City called a traffic study. So if you want to build something of size, you have to spend millions of dollars and a couple of years studying what the impact will be on local traffic. And the joke is there ain\u2019t going to be no fucking traffic, because no one\u2019s going to live there. So that is the way you\u2019re seeing foreign nationals move money out of their currency, or out of their government\u2019s jurisdiction and into what they consider to be a safer place. And you\u2019re just not seeing those dollar flows into bitcoin to the same extent. So it\u2019s hard to make the case that functionally that\u2019s what\u2019s really happening there.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (08:05)\n\nAnd you mentioned something that I hadn\u2019t really heard before. We call it a safe-haven asset, but you called it a protest asset as well. And I think that\u2019s a really interesting label, and that its behavior really hasn\u2019t mimicked what you\u2019d expect from a protest asset. Now I saw it traded at a premium when the Hong Kong protests began, it traded about a $100 premium. And that was really because people were worried about using their Oyster cards, their Metro cards to get home back to China if they\u2019re going to the mainland, because they were going to get tracked, and basically just really worried about local dollars being tracked. But we haven\u2019t really seen that premium stick, and we haven\u2019t really seen that sort of flow towards using this so that you\u2019re not surveyed and you\u2019re not spied on so they know where your simple consumption dollars had gone.\n\nJosh Brown: (08:52)\n\nSomebody was telling me about Venezuela, and I\u2019m aware of what\u2019s going on in the economy there, and it\u2019s been going on for years. And hyperinflation, the collapse of institutions, people starving. It\u2019s a horrible, horrible situation. Now, if you were to tell me 30% of all Venezuelans have moved their money from the local currency into bitcoin, then I would shut my mouth and I would say, \u201cOkay, there\u2019s something substantial here.\u201d But I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the case, do you?\n\nNolan Bauerle: (09:24)\n\nNo, I mean, and we\u2019ve seen Turkey, for example, has seen a lot of users, let\u2019s say buyer [inaudible 00:09:32].\n\nJosh Brown: (09:32)\n\nYeah. Great example. Another inflationary situation where people for political reasons want assets out of that country, and the local currency and economy is collapsing.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (09:44)\n\nYeah. But, like you\u2019re saying, we just haven\u2019t seen that kind of use.\n\nJosh Brown: (09:48)\n\nYeah. Where is it, where is it? When does it start? So I\u2019m not saying it can\u2019t, I\u2019m just saying I\u2019m not seeing it.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (09:54)\n\nNow moving onto a recession. A lot of rumors of recessions, we\u2019re still doing pretty well here in the United States, but it\u2019s certainly crept in, in other jurisdictions. So we\u2019ve seen this sort of cheap money around the world for a long time, and it looks like even from high risk tolerance from the VC side of things, because money, it\u2019s just available and it looks like every idea out there is funded and the risk tolerance has grown to a certain extent here. Now, if that changes, if a recession does cause some kind of liquidity crunch, or some inability to get access to this cheap money again, how do you think bitcoin behaves?\n\nJosh Brown: (10:34)\n\nI guess we have no \u2026 in the United States, we have no prior history of it, so we\u2019ll say we\u2019ve been in expansion for 11 years, so it\u2019s the longest expansion ever. So I don\u2019t know the answer.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (10:49)\n\nYeah, well they\u2019re-\n\nJosh Brown: (10:50)\n\nWe\u2019ll find out.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (10:53)\n\nAnd my final question for you, and really this is sort of tapping on your exposure to mainstream media, mainstream financial world. Bitcoin really popped in everyone\u2019s consciousness in 2017 when I met you at that great dinner that we had down near Chinatown. And you wrote a beautiful blog post. I thought it was \u2026 I really realized what a fantastic writer you were.\n\nJosh Brown: (11:16)\n\nAh, thank you.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (11:17)\n\nI think it was something into [inaudible 00:11:18], and it was great.\n\nJosh Brown: (11:19)\n\nYeah. Yeah.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (11:21)\n\nSo here it is. It popped into world consciousness in 2017. Everyone started talking about it, and it\u2019s already mutated a few times in people\u2019s minds since then. In the last six months though, what have you seen that\u2019s changed, or if anything, is it just the same old story?\n\nJosh Brown: (11:35)\n\nSo when I was a keynote speaker in the closing panel of Consensus: Invest 2017 the first year, the audience was filled with young people, primarily, mostly dudes, and they had made a lot of money. I think the price of bitcoin at that time was $15,000 or $16,000, and my message to that audience at that time was, \u201ccalm down.\u201d It\u2019s okay to feel like you\u2019re missing out. You don\u2019t have to do something just because everyone else is doing it and they seem to be getting rich. And of course, it would only take a couple of weeks for that to look like really good advice. But that is always good advice. Maybe now we\u2019re in the polar opposite situation, where instead of fear of missing out, there\u2019s this just incredible amount of pessimism that everything that people thought would be true about digital currencies, and cryptography, and blockchain is now like a joke in the mainstream financial media, or at least it\u2019s being derided on a daily basis.\n\nJosh Brown: (12:47)\n\nAnd so maybe now things have gotten too pessimistic. And the only other example of this kind of thing that I could think of for my own career and experience, I remember my formative years in the industry we were doing the dot com bubble, and everything came apart relatively quickly. It only took from March of 2000 to, let\u2019s say, the end of 2001 for people to just be completely wiped out, not just in financial terms, although they were, but emotionally, and mentally. And just nobody wanted to hear anything about technology ever again. And in the ashes of that experience, Google was born. In the ashes of that experience very quietly with very little fanfare Steve jobs rejoined Apple as the CEO. The seeds for the technology boom that we\u2019ve now been living through over the last, let\u2019s call it 12 years or 15 years, were born in the ashes of that prior mania.\n\nJosh Brown: (13:52)\n\nSo I think statistically, spiritually, any way you want to look at it, there was absolutely a bubble in anything related to crypto going into the end of the year of 2017. I don\u2019t think anyone would deny that it was insane just as the internet mania, but the thing is all of the predictions that were made about the transformative power of the internet actually ended up coming true. It just took longer than what people expected, and the companies involved were very different. If you think about the original dot com bubble, we were worshiping at the altar of fiber optic plays like JDS Uniphase and Nortel. And we were buying up stocks like AOL, and Excite, and Lycos and Yahoo. None of which are particularly relevant anymore. But all the predictions, we\u2019re going to buy groceries on the internet. It happens. We\u2019re going to buy pet food on the internet, it happened.\n\nJosh Brown: (14:51)\n\nToys, books. We\u2019re going to communicate all day long. All of those predictions came true. It\u2019s just the investments weren\u2019t right. So if there is a crypto future and there is a blockchain future, it\u2019s highly possible that the early entrants, who came along in 2015, \u201916, \u201917, \u201918, aren\u2019t going to be a part of it. And a lot of the investments that have been made will turn out to be zeros. But it doesn\u2019t mean that the future is written. So if I could maybe flip the script and this year offer that, I know it\u2019s not that hopeful, but it\u2019s somewhat hopeful to the audience. Then I\u2019ll feel as though I\u2019ve said something that\u2019s somewhat meaningful.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (15:33)\n\nWhat you\u2019re basically saying is the world today is recognizable to the entrepreneurs and visionaries of 25 years ago. They would recognize what we\u2019re doing today as the thing they predicted, but as you said, maybe coming at it from a different angle, with different names, on a different platform. The specifics are perhaps different, but the overall outline of it is pretty much in line with what those folks had envisioned.\n\nJosh Brown: (16:00)\n\nYou know, this predates what I just talked about. In the 1800s we had a bubble in railroads, and almost every one of them went bankrupt. But what was left behind in the wake of that financial wreckage were the tracks, and the trains, and the stations, and the expertise to build more. And I mean we have trains to this day, and we had bullet trains. And what they\u2019re building to connect \u2026 I was just down in Orlando, and I saw all the facilities that they\u2019ve built for the bullet train that\u2019s going to take people from Miami to Orlando in 15 minutes.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (16:37)\n\nJeez.\n\nJosh Brown: (16:37)\n\nBut that system that they\u2019re building is a descendant of money that was lost to overambitious investment all the way back in the 1840s. So I know people don\u2019t have that much patience to wait 160 years to see their dreams come true, but I\u2019m just pointing out, after the railroad bubble, there were probably a lot of people running around saying, \u201cYou see, it\u2019s all stupid.\u201d No, it wasn\u2019t all stupid. And we had functional railroads from the civil war on. So eventually the technology found a way to be profitable, useful, and became woven into the fabric of our society. So it\u2019s possible that the crypto investments people made in 2017 were stupid, but that they had the right idea. And that in the wreckage of the bubble having burst, new companies, new ideas, new entrepreneurs, new uses come about, and the whole thing rebuilds itself.\n\nJosh Brown: (17:34)\n\nAnd all of a sudden there are people with profitable investments. And just as a Coda to that, I took the long Island railroad into Manhattan today from long Island. And in every car, there are advertisement posters. And in a car I happened to have been riding in today were posters for the Genesis crypto exchange. And I know that\u2019s Tyler and Cameron [Winklevoss] and I would imagine they spent a ton of money on this, but everyone riding that train car was surrounded by posters for this new monetary exchange or brokerage or whatever you want to call it. And most of the people looking at this poster were like, \u201cWhat the hell does that mean?\u201d But some people know. And I just find it interesting that there were still people willing to invest, and advertise, and market new products. And as long as that continues, maybe there is a future that\u2019s more in the near term than what I think now for these types of technologies.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (18:32)\n\nSo like you\u2019re saying, the tracks were laid to bring you from Miami to the happiest place in the world in such a short amount of time. And perhaps the tracks are still there to bring bitcoin to the moon and realize everyone\u2019s-\n\nJosh Brown: (18:48)\n\nWhen moon.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (18:48)\n\nWhen moon, when moon.\n\nJosh Brown: (18:49)\n\nWell, look, I think we could separate what we think the price of the thing does versus what we think the utility will be. That\u2019s where I\u2019ve been since December of 2018. We wrote a blog post basically saying, I\u2019m done speculating on the price of bitcoin. I think it\u2019s a mania. However, I\u2019m open-minded to the possibility that blockchain will become a transformative technology. The caveat is that it might be very unsexy. It might show up in the income statement of a company that managed to save a few million dollars, by going from database to a blockchain. I don\u2019t know that that implies that the price of a digital coin will go up, but I\u2019m trying to stay open-minded.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (19:34)\n\nIt\u2019s not the romance of pamphleteering around the French Revolution or the American Revolution that everyone was sort of-\n\nJosh Brown: (19:42)\n\nNo, right, it could just be corporate cost savings. And again, that is a sort of revolution. It just won\u2019t involve people waving flags and storming the barriers.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (19:54)\n\nWell, Josh, thanks for your time today.\n\nJosh Brown: (19:56)\n\nDid I bring everybody down? I don\u2019t want to do that.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (19:59)\n\nNo, no. It was fantastic and we\u2019re looking forward to hearing more in just over a week now. So thanks for your time and see you soon.\n\nJosh Brown: (20:07)\n\nAll right, Nolan. Thank you.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (20:08)\n\nBye, Josh.\n\nNolan Bauerle: (20:14)\n\nEnjoyed this episode? I\u2019d like to personally invite you to come to Invest: New York in November. The event features not only the speaker you just heard, but an array of other amazing thinkers. Visit coindesk.com and click events, or simply follow the link in the description. Thanks for listening, and see you in New York City.\n\nJosh Brown image via CoinDesk archives"}
-{"text": "Two tonnes of seafood originating from the coast of Pakistan arrived in the city of Karamay, in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang Uyghur, from routes that are part of the Belt and Road Initiative, according to a report by Global Times.\n\nGlobal Times said the seafood \u2014 which travelled more than 34 hours from the port of Gwadar \u2014 was presented at a tasting event in Karamay, where locals tested samples and even made on-the-spot purchases.\n\n\"It's fresh and has a delicate taste,\" one participant at the event stated.\n\nThe shipment of 16 types of deep-sea edibles included lobsters and black sea bass, all originating from the Indian Ocean.\n\nThe seafood will also be showcased on Saturday at an event for three days by Karamay-based Xinjiang Yufei International Fishing Co, who were responsible for packaging and refrigerating the goods.\n\n\"After this event, we will also have a flagship store, and later we will import more kinds of Gwadar seafood to Karamay,\" said Ma Jinglu, a manager in Yufei's administration division.\n\n\"The seafood will be sold both online and offline, allowing people to order the seafood to their homes with a press of a finger on their mobile phones.\"\n\nYufei General Manager Luo Jun insisted that the company was already preparing to import more shipments of seafood to Karamay.\n\nYufei was the first Chinese enterprise to own a business license in Pakistan and established a branch in Gwadar port in May.\n\nThe company invested approximately $74 million in establishing seafood freezing workshops, seafood deep processing workshops, an ice making factory, a sea water desalination factory, a packaging factory and a maritime scientific research center in Gwadar.\n\nAccording to Global Times Ma said Chinese companies had received a warm welcome in Pakistan. He also believed that a railway project between China and Pakistan will largely cut the cost of shipping seafood.\n\n\"We will send Gwadar's seafood to Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Karamay and Urumqi. We also plan to sell it to Dubai and Iran in the future,\" Ma said.\n\nLuo noted that the Belt and Road Initiative has provided a rare opportunity for his company. \"The local government of Karamay has established a good platform (for such trade), and residents in Pakistan also strongly support the platform as it has increased local revenues,\" Luo said.\n\nReuters reported that Pakistan expects up to 4 per cent of global trade to pass through it by 2020, with transit and rent revenues amounting to $6 billion to $8 billion a year."}
-{"text": "After watching a documentary about his life, Johnny Bench had tears in his eyes. The film covered his Hall of Fame baseball career and the new phase of his life that he describes as Mr. Mom. All of it had him emotional.\n\nBench watched the documentary, \u201cMLB Network Presents: Bench,\u201d for the first time at a private screening this week at Great American Ball Park. The film weaves through his childhood, his Major League career, his time in show business and now his life as a 71-year-old single father of two young boys.\n\nThe documentary will premiere at 8 p.m. Wednesday on MLB Network.\n\n\u201cThere was a lot of trepidation about today,\u201d Bench said afterward. \u201cSometimes you see yourself on film and you think it never comes out (correctly). I couldn\u2019t have dreamed it would\u2019ve come out this good. To have so many friends and people you respect talk about you, it was great. It was fabulous. It was tearful, it really was.\u201d\n\nThe documentary, narrated by Dayton native Martin Sheen, begins with Bench scrolling through a scrapbook with newspaper clippings of his baseball career. It shows many of his highlights with the Big Red Machine and it\u2019s the side of Bench that many Reds fans remember.\n\nThen the film moves into a morning at the Bench home in Florida. He wakes his kids up for school, asks if he needs to pick out their clothes, makes them omelets for breakfast and combs their hair \u2013 \u201cGirls are going to go crazy today,\u201d he tells them.\n\nMore:Reds' Joey Votto stars in MLB Network oral history of Roy Halladay no-hitter\n\nMore:In trades, Cincinnati Reds' front office balances 2019 season vs. future\n\nREDS FAN? Subscribe today to get access to all of our coverage.\n\nGet the latest Reds news. Download our app on both the Apple App Store and Google Play for Android users.\n\nBench\u2019s role as Mr. Mom \u2013 it\u2019s the name of a song by the band Lonestar \u2013 was profiled in Sports Illustrated last summer, which served as the inspiration for the documentary. Bench had one son, Bobby, from his second marriage and two boys in his fourth marriage: 12-year-old Justin and 9-year-old Josh.\n\nThere are a few scenes where Bench is watching old highlights with his three children and his two youngest boys will tease him about his hair or speed on the bases.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s just fabulous to listen to them,\u201d Bench said. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever laughed as much as I laughed in the last year or half since I had the boys. I have them for 38 weeks. We just have that ritual.\u201d\n\nThe 90-minute film features interviews with Tony Perez, Pete Rose, Al Michaels, Reggie Jackson, Steve Blass, Bob Knight, Brent Musburger and Toby Keith. MLB Network interviewed some his childhood classmates and found an old yearbook. Keith, the country music star, said he played catcher and wore No. 5 as a youth baseball player, long before he became friends with Bench.\n\nThe Hall of Fame catcher, listening to his friends talk about how much he meant to them, said it was more than he could\u2019ve ever expected. George Foster attended the screening with him.\n\n\u201cFor people to really feel that way about me, dang, man,\u201d said Bench, smiling. \u201cI\u2019m proud. I really am. This old 71-year-old broken down catcher is really proud.\u201d\n\nThe film has several lighthearted moments, displaying Bench\u2019s storytelling ability and humor. He told a story about his 1970 hometown MVP parade in Binger, Oklahoma, a town with less than 700 residents, where everybody had roles in the parade, so the streets were empty, and they just waved at each other.\n\nBench loved watching the old TV clips of his playing days. It brought forgotten memories rushing back to him. In the film, he said his favorite moment of his career was walking into the clubhouse after their 1975 World Series title.\n\n\u201cThat was the greatest moment when everybody was a World Champion,\u201d Bench said. \u201cIt didn\u2019t matter. I can still see Bill Plummer. I can still see Merv Rettenmund and Terry Crowley. When you saw those pictures \u2026 you saw all those guys that really made you.\u201d\n\nThe documentary includes Bench\u2019s friendship with Rose, including their low point when Rose was suspended from baseball, when Bench needed surgery on his lung and the moment when he found out he was elected to the Hall of Fame.\n\nBench immediately thanked producer Tony Ferraiolo afterward and kept mentioning that he was lucky.\n\n\u201cI was blessed,\u201d he said. \u201cI worked hard for it and I got lucky. I swear, I look back and I say, \u2018Did I really do those things?\u2019\u201d"}
-{"text": "Now that Quentin Tarantino\u2018s The Hateful Eight has been released nationwide, many have probably forgotten that Tarantino vowed to never make the movie after his script was leaked online and further distributed by Gawker. Tarantino\u2019s first official announcement of dropping his lawsuit and deciding to go ahead ahead and make the movie was at a staged live-read at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. At said event, most of the cast was present, reading the lines for whom Tarantino originally wrote many of the parts for (including Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins, Kurt Russell, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, James Parks, Dana Gourrier, Zoe Bell and Bruce Dern). Once the full cast for stage read was announced the declaration of \u201cwe\u2019re back on!\u201d seemed like a splashy foregone conclusion.\n\nHowever\u2014as I was in attendance that April night in 2014\u2014there was a more interesting announcement that Tarantino made that day: that this would be the only staging of that draft\u2019s original ending. \u201cThe ending needs some work,\u201d Tarantino told the audience, \u201cand so the entire fifth chapter will be changed.\u201d Other than the announcement that the ending would change, the other changes from this stage to celluloid transition was casting; French Bob (played by Inglourious Basterds\u2019 Denis Menochet on the theatre stage) became Mexican Bob (Demian Bichir), James Remar\u2018s part was re-cast with a bonafide movie star (who we won\u2019t discuss until after posting our spoiler warning), and Amber Tamblyn\u2018s Daisy was recast with Jennifer Jason Leigh (whom, I will say I spotted in the audience of the live-read talking to Harvey Weinstein and I astutely wrote that she should be in a Tarantino film; hey readers, sometimes armchair casting actually happens!).\n\nAs the first four chapters were performed exactly as written and staged 19 months prior (with the great cinematic additions of cinematographer Robert Richardson and composer Ennio Morricone), when I saw the movie The Hateful Eight, I was most interested in seeing how Tarantino tweaked \u201cChapter Five\u201d. And he sure did.\n\nSo here we are. The headline for this article will serve as the first nail in the spoiler door, and this will be the second nail to shut it completely. WARNING: The conclusion of The Hateful Eight is discussed in detail below; please continue reading only if you\u2019ve seen the film and are interested in this trivia and comparison with the original ending.\n\nIf you\u2019re only interested in who the last man standing was, well, originally it was only Chris Mannix (Goggins) who \u201csurvived\u201d the shootout (although in the stage reading, he also received a wound that we presumed will bleed him to death during the blizzard) and Oswaldo (Roth) screams in pain from his soon-to-be-fatal wounds. But who shot who and the order of doing so was drastically different in Tarantino\u2019s earlier draft. As far as the orgy of violence goes, the biggest difference between the original draft and the film lies with Jody\u2019s character (Channing Tatum played Jody in the film; Remar played Jody in the stage read); in the original script and stage read, Jody got off a lot more rounds, not just some buckshot into Warren\u2019s privates. Jody shot Warren (Jackson) many times above ground and he also wounded Mannix. Warren is the one who kills Bob the Mexican in the film, but on stage it was Mannix who killed the Frenchman. But more than who killed who\u2014in terms of violence\u2014it was the treatment of Jody that most shifted from stage to screen.\n\nAs our own Matt Goldberg pointed out, the film version of The Hateful Eight gets a riotous laugh from Jody\u2019s inglorious death. After spending all of Chapter Four setting up Jody as a criminal mastermind within the gang, he spends most of Chapter Five in the basement where he does hit Warren with a shotgun blast from below, but when he gives himself up and exits the basement he is instantly shot in the head, his head exploding into blood that coats his sister\u2019s (Leigh) face. In the original script and stage read everyone gets a few kills, including Daisy who delivers the fatal shot to Warren, who did indeed die on stage.\n\nEssentially the original script just ended in a big chaotic shootout with extra shots to the male genitals. If you\u2019ve seen the finished film each kill is deliberate and one on one, not a barrage of bullets spraying all around. But more substantial than the killing order is the additional and necessary dialogue that Tarantino added before and after the final execution of Daisy. In the stage reading Daisy does explain the reward on all of the outlaws who\u2019ve been killed, and she does explain that additional reinforcements are coming, and that she\u2019ll let Mannix collect on those who are dead if he lets her go. On stage, she\u2019s already killed Warren. But in the film she tries to get Mannix to turn against Warren and she attempts to bait him with not only the cash rewards, but also a racist rant about the untrustworthiness of Warren (who has already spared Mannix\u2019s life and teamed up with him as the only ally, because Mannix was about to drink the poisoned coffee).\n\nIn both versions Mannix does shoot Daisy instead of attempting to collect a reward. But in the film, Tarantino uses Daisy\u2019s racist reminder of how frequently (and abhorrently) Warren\u2019s trustworthiness shifts solely because of his skin color. Even though all of the eight individuals are untrustworthy, and have revealed themselves to be liars (although Mannix is the only one whose truthiness is never revealed; is he actually the sheriff?), Warren is only untrustworthy because he admitted that he faked a letter from president Abraham Lincoln in order to keep white folks from killing him simply because they revere Lincoln, and that Lincoln taking a shine to him could give him the type of respect that is afforded to white people from the get go. Daisy forces Mannix to choose sides, and the only thing going against Warren is that he misused the honorable Lincoln\u2019s name.\n\nWe never learn if Mannix is actually the sheriff of Red Rock. In this way, Mannix is akin to the briefcase in Pulp Fiction, the contents of which are only known by the individual character. What is revealed in the film\u2014and not the stage reading\u2014is the entirety of Warren\u2019s forged Lincoln letter, which Mannix reads out loud to end the film; he compliments Warren\u2019s flowery additions of Mary Todd to sell it to the already teary reader. Warren doesn\u2019t need to know if Mannix is telling the truth about being the sheriff and Mannix doesn\u2019t need to prove it to him. Likewise, by reading aloud the Lincoln letter that he knows to be faked, Mannix affords Warren an equal racial plane of existence; Warren doesn\u2019t need to carry the seal of approval from an esteemed white man to prove his worth to Mannix. His worth\u2014though earned as a gunslinger and bounty hunter\u2014is earned through his actions, the same as any person should receive regardless of skin color.\n\nIn the stage reading and Tarantino\u2019s original script, the Lincoln letter is never brought up again after Warren admits that he faked it and explains why. Like many, I think that The Hateful Eight is a lesser work for Tarantino, a bit of a bloated rehash of Reservoir Dogs as the A-side, with some hints of Django Unchained on the B-side. But having attended the stage read and now having seen the final film, it is interesting to see what Tarantino changed. It was only one chapter, but every change he made in that final chapter made for a better film, and added more meaning, weight and importance. His judgement was correct in every capacity of his final act rewrite. Now if only he\u2019d felt the need to make the themes that became apparent in the last chapter a little more apparent throughout the rest of the script, we might\u2019ve received something more substantial throughout. As is, although it isn\u2019t one of his best works, Tarantino\u2019s 8th film ended up being a better product than his original draft.\n\nSounds off in the comments below on your thoughts about The Hateful Eight and the revisions described above. The Hateful Eight is currently playing in theaters nationwide."}
-{"text": "A series of three Hawaiian language courses for various levels of experience will be offered at Volcano Art Center beginning in December.\n\nLed by Kaliko Beamer-Trapp, the classes\u2014called Papa \u02bb\u014clelo Hawai\u02bbi\u2014are offered to anyone interested in learning the rich and vibrant Hawaiian language, including visitors and residents.\n\nEach eight-week series will cover a different reading topic from selected works of traditional Hawaiian literature from the 1800s. Vocabulary and lessons will be based around the readings. The classes are ideal for teachers, cultural practitioners and those interested in speaking the Hawaiian language on a daily basis.\n\nLevel 1 Introductory\n\nSPONSORED VIDEO\n\nThis introductory class will focus on vocabulary, counting, simple conversation, grammar and sentence structures. No previous knowledge is needed to attend.\n\nDates: Tuesdays, Dec. 3 to Feb. 4, 4 to 5 p.m. (No classes on Christmas Eve and New Year\u2019s Eve)\n\nLevel 2 Intermediate\n\nThis class will focus on expanding vocabulary and conversational skills and understanding how repeating Hawaiian word and phrase patterns can communicate many types of sentences. The class will be taught in Hawaiian about 10% of the time to improve students\u2019 listening comprehension.\n\nDates: Tuesdays, Dec. 3 to Feb. 4, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. (No classes on Christmas Eve and New Year\u2019s Eve)\n\nLevel 3 Advanced\n\nThis class is for students who can already speak and understand some Hawaiian language. More than 50% of the class will be taught in Hawaiian language to increase comprehension and immerse students in the language.\n\nDates: Tuesdays, Dec. 3 to Feb. 4, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. (No classes on Christmas Eve and New Year\u2019s Eve)\n\nAll classes will be held at Volcano Art Center\u2019s Ni\u2018aulani Campus in Volcano Village. The class fee for any level is $95 and $85 for VAC members. No textbook is required; reading materials will be provided by the instructor. To register, or for more information, contact Volcano Art Center at (808) 967-8222 or visit www.volcanoartcenter.org."}
-{"text": "FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on Thursday that the euro zone economy was in a period of \u201cprotracted\u201d economic weakness, with inflation staying low and the balance of risks tilted toward the downside.\n\n\u201cIncoming information since the last Governing Council meeting indicates a more protracted weakness of the euro area economy, the persistence of prominent downside risks and muted inflationary pressures,\u201d Draghi told reporters after a policy meeting.\n\nNevertheless, he said the bank expected the bloc\u2019s economy to eke out \u201cmoderate but positive\u201d growth in the July-September quarter.\n\nThe ECB earlier approved fresh stimulus measures to prop up the euro area economy, cutting rates deeper into negative territory and relaunching an extended bond purchase scheme."}
-{"text": "It sounds like a remainer\u2019s worst nightmare: a museum of Brexit with a grand atrium dominated by the \u201c\u00a3350m for the NHS\u201d bus, leading to galleries displaying a selection of Nigel Farage\u2019s louder tweed jackets.\n\nThe reality is quite different, not least as the proposed Brexit museum, officially pitched as a \u201cmuseum of sovereignty\u201d, is thus far nothing more than an idea coupled with an appeal for exhibits.\n\nThe brainchild of a small number of people closely connected to Ukip and the wider leave campaign, it has been launched with a website containing details of places where people can donate items, anything from drafts of major speeches to campaign memorabilia and photographs.\n\nWhile a location for the planned museum is yet to be determined, the organisers stress the project is as much about gathering an archive of material connected to a pivotal moment in the UK\u2019s postwar history that might otherwise be lost.\n\nPro-Brexit leaflets featuring the former prime minister Tony Blair. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a long, slow business,\u201d said Lee Rotherham, a veteran anti-EU campaigner and historian. \u201cIt\u2019s too early to move on to the legacy side of Brexit now, but unless we start the process now, some of the material will potentially be gone.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe hope, he said, would be to collate an academic trove of artefacts, papers and books chronicling not just Brexit, but also the decades of often fringe Eurosceptic activism that preceded it \u2013 the bulk of it not preserved in digital form \u2013 going back to 1973, when the UK joined the European Economic Community.\n\nThis would include input from supporters of EU membership, Rotherham said: \u201cIf somebody wanted to donate one of Ted Heath\u2019s hats, I\u2019m sure it would have pride of place. That\u2019s part of the narrative as well.\u201d\n\nAccording to Gawain Towler, the recently departed head of media for Ukip who is one of the organisers, another motivation is that most academic study on the subject tends to be dominated by the pro-EU side.\n\n\u201cI think if you\u2019re looking for research grants you\u2019re much more likely to get research grants if you subscribe to the same point of view as the people who make the decisions. I\u2019m not saying this is a monstrous thing \u2013 it\u2019s just the way it is,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve spoken to a couple of academics from the other side of the argument, who think it\u2019s a brilliant idea. There\u2019s a recognition that the academic debate is utterly skewed to the side that didn\u2019t pull it off. That\u2019s not good for comprehension and understanding.\u201d\n\nOn the museum, Towler said he had heard from one senior Brexit figure with 15 years\u2019 worth of material in a shed, and he has promised to make a personal contribution. \u201cI will no doubt give my collection of Brexit-related mugs from the last 20 years,\u201d he said. \u201cMy favourite one is a \u2018William Hague: election winner\u2019 mug, which has got to be one of the most obscure pieces of ephemera I\u2019ve ever found.\u201d\n\nCould a beer glass used by Nigel Farage become a museum exhibit? Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA\n\nFarage will also be asked for a donation, Towler said. \u201cI know Nigel is a supporter of the project. I haven\u2019t got anything specific from him yet. Maybe an ashtray and an empty pint glass.\u201d\n\nAnd yes, there has been some thought given to acquiring the referendum battle bus that transported Boris Johnson and others around the country while bearing the controversial claim that leaving the EU could result in \u00a3350m a week for the NHS.\n\nRotherham said: \u201cIt was a hired bus. I thought about that. What we\u2019d have to do is drop a line to the company about when they were looking at selling it. But then of course it would go for a premium, so I\u2019m not so sure that would be value for money.\u201d\n\nWhile the project is not intended to be a triumphant memorial for the leave side, it has attracted critics.\n\nJames McGrory, who heads the anti-Brexit Open Britain group, said: \u201cIt is a shame that this initiative did not come earlier because some things have been lost forever to future generations, like Boris Johnson\u2019s moral compass.\n\n\n\n\u201cIf all else fails, they could just store Nigel Farage in there. He is a relic from a bygone era after all.\u201d"}
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-{"text": "We recently released Ernest, a rich text editor package for Umbraco that helps editors write clear and concise content by highlighting passages or words that might be a problem, and then offering suggestions as to why they might have issues. Ernest follows through our long-held philsophy that the key to a successful website is a well-designed back office that our clients can use with as little friction as possible, that aids them in their goals, and feels like it does exactly what they want.\n\nErnest also served as a testbed platform for Offroadcode to experiment with a project that we've been exploring for a while: using the React for custom property editors or other packages inside the Umbraco back office.\n\nA natural question to ask is \"Why?\" After all, the Umbraco back office is built in Angular, and Angular controllers are expected for something as simple as a property editor, let alone more ambitious projects. Why not just use Angular?\n\nUsing Angular is great, and it works well for a lot of teams and is the standard for working in the Umbraco back office. But for a while now we've been wondering \"What if?\"\n\nExperience\n\nThe first answer is that we use React as our library of choice when designing complex interactive modules or web apps for client websites. In the last twelve months alone I've literally authored or edited hundreds of thousands of lines of code in React.\n\nAngular is a fairly intensive and highly opinionated framework that resembles the metaphorical purse with the kitchen sink in it. It's a lot. React, by comparison, is a library that does one thing and does it well: create interactive UIs. And it does it without making any assumptions about the rest of your technology stack.\n\nAs such, we find that React is the right size for our projects, giving us the flexibility to use it at a number of scales for a number of purposes. And with this institutional experience, we can much more quickly create views and interactions in a property editor or package using React over Angular. We don't have to relearn how to do the same thing a different way, and can more quickly onboard team members into a back office project.\n\nEcosystem\n\nErnest uses Draft.js, a rich text editor framework based upon React. It's a powerful and flexible tool that allowed us to make exactly the editor experience we wanted without having to reinvent the wheel.\n\nAlthough the faddishness of JavaScript libraries and frameworks over the past decade is a great source of jokes for programmers, especially in other parts of the stack, to make at one another's expense, right now React is in a dominant position over Angular in drawing the attention of developers. There's more coders making more tools, like Draft.js, for one another to use with React. And unlike Angular, React doesn't have a community split between incompatible versions to further dilute the user base (Angular 2, anybody?)\n\nThis difference in interest can be starkly illustrated by the amount of downloads each has seen in the last six months on npm, per npm trends.\n\nBy making React available to use in the back office, we've made it possible to take advantage of the contributions of these other developers, reducing the amount of work we need to bring a new project to life.\n\nOK, So How?\n\nOnce we decided to try to bring React into the back office, we needed to determine how we were going to do it. We explored a lot of different solutions that other developers have used to bring React into Angular or vice versa in other projects, such as ngReact and ngImport.\n\nUltimately we decided against using them, as we were already going to be utilizing React inside Angular inside the Umbraco back office module. The less complications we introduced into the code at the interface between the two libraries, the better. As such, we ended up utilizing React and Angular without any additional connective tissue from such a solution, and focused on keeping a small footprint on the communication between the two.\n\nHere's how we did it:\n\nThe Example Projects\n\nThe source code for Ernest can be found here on Github, for those curious to explore it. Before we made Ernest, though, I made a proof-of-concept minimal property editor to test what we were doing. Inspired by the chimeric nature of the codebase, I named the test project React Angular Chimera. The focus is on using as little code as possible to accomplish our aim, and code is heavily commented throughout. For the purposes of this article, I'll be referring to code in Chimera, and not Ernest.\n\nUsing Webpack\n\nI knew right away that I wanted to use Webpack for this project. Introducing React into a property editor brings the potential for a sizeable codebase in itself, as well as any potential modules (such as Draft.js in Ernest). Webpack would allow us to bundle it, and with the UglifyJS Webpack Plugin we would benefit from tree-shaking to help get the bundled script even smaller. Also, with my React experience I've become rather attached to utilizing various Babel/ES6 features that aren't always available yet on the browser without compiling first.\n\nThe Angular Code\n\nThe goal for what we're doing is to keep the need to author Angular code to a minimum so we can leverage our React experience and ecosystem. If we stripped out comments, in total we're seeing less than thirty lines of Angular-related code at all. This is true not only in Chimera, but in the much more complex Ernest.\n\nBecause we're doing this all with Webpack, first we have our entry point into the JavaScript, which I've called app.js in the Chimera project:\n\nimport AngularWrapper from './controllers/AngularWrapper'; angular.module('umbraco').controller(\"ReactAngularChimera.AngularWrapper\", AngularWrapper)\n\nAs you can see, there's not much there. We're importing the module from our Angular Wrapper (which will be detailed below) and injecting it into the Umbraco Angular module used by the back office.\n\nOur Angular Wrapper module, which is the Angular controller called AngularWrapper.js, is by design also fairly barebones. You can see it here with comments stripped out:\n\nimport React from 'react'; import ReactDOM from 'react-dom'; import ReactLogic from '../components/ReactLogic/ReactLogic'; const AngularWrapper = function($scope, $element) { $scope.setVariables = function() { $scope.reactNode = $element[0].querySelector('.react-mount-node'); }; $scope.updateAngular = function(value) { $scope.model.value = value; $scope.$apply(); } $scope.updateReact = function(newValue) { const value = newValue ? newValue : $scope.model.value; ReactDOM.render( , $scope.reactNode); } $scope.init = function () { $scope.setVariables(); $scope.$watch('model.value', function(newValue) { $scope.updateReact(newValue); }); $scope.updateReact(); } $scope.init(); }; AngularWrapper.$inject = ['$scope', '$element']; module.exports = AngularWrapper;\n\nThis looks a bit different from the normal controller declaration pattern because we're using Webpack and import/export declarations.\n\nFirst we're declaring the controller:\n\nconst AngularWrapper = function($scope, $element) { // snip - removed the content };\n\nThen we're injecting the Angular dependencies we'll need in it:\n\nAngularWrapper.$inject = ['$scope', '$element'];\n\n$scope is familiar to anyone who's had to make anything in Angular before. We're also using $element so we can take advantage of its functionality for finding something inside the view the controller was bound to.\n\nSpeaking of the view, let's look at that quickly before we come back to where the magic starts to happen. It's container.html, and it looks like this:\n\nReact in Angular Chimera Example Angular-controlled span: {{model.value}}\n\nWe're binding our controller to it, and we'll be looking at it again in a moment.\n\nTo make our Angular controller utilize a React view, we need to do three things:\n\nWe need to tell ReactDOM to render our React view somewhere inside the Angular's view. We need to be able to pass values from our Angular $scope into the React view as props, AKA parameters that can be passed into components and used as desired. We need to watch for when changes inside our React view occur so they can be returned to our Angular $scope .\n\nWe injected $element into our Angular controller so that we can, inside the Umbraco back office, locate the specific element that we want our React code to bind to the DOM inside. In $scope.setVariables() we do that with:\n\n$scope.reactNode = $element[0].querySelector('.react-mount-node');\n\nWith $element[0] we get the view's container element that's bound to this controller, and then with vanilla JS's querySelector() we search for a child component with the class .react-mount-node. Inside container.html we have just that:\n\nThis is where the React is going to mount and do its thing.\n\nNow that we know where we'll be mounting the React, we need to have the properties that we'll be passing into it as props. Because we're making an Umbraco property editor, we know that in this case the value we want to keep synched is the $scope.model.value that the propery editor saves.\n\nInside $scope.init() we therefore set a watch on model.value, and we're going to use that to update our React:\n\n$scope.$watch('model.value', function(newValue) { $scope.updateReact(newValue); });\n\nNow, whenever our Angular's $scope changes model.value, we can pass that into React. The function that does this, $scope.updateReact(), looks like this:\n\n$scope.updateReact = function(newValue) { const value = newValue ? newValue : $scope.model.value; ReactDOM.render( , $scope.reactNode); }\n\nFirst, we're getting the value from the scope.\n\nThen, using ReactDOM.render() we either mount or update our React component, passing in the value as a prop, mounting it to the node we assigned as $scope.reactNode.\n\nAt this point it's possible that you're wondering, \"Wait... isn't it incredibly slow to re-mount the node using ReactDOM.render() every single time $scope.model.value updates?\"\n\nI was worried about that too, so I hunted down an answer. Thankfully, none other than Dan Abramov himself was able to supply me with the answer from an earlier tweet he'd made on that exact topic:\n\nMisconception: calling ReactDOM.render() second time is very slow. Reality: it has the same performance as setState() on root component.\n\n-Dan Abramov (@dan_abramov) on Twitter, 24 Jan 2016\n\nWhich is perfect, as this will make it easy for us to keep our React up to date with the changes to the $scope.\n\nOne property we're placing on the React component is onValueChange={$scope.updateAngular}, which helps us complete our list of needs in the Angular controller. Inside our React component, which we'll see shortly, whenever there is a change that we need to propogate up to the Angular, the passed in $scope.updateAngular() function is called.\n\nThe function looks like this:\n\n$scope.updateAngular = function(value) { $scope.model.value = value; $scope.$apply(); }\n\nAnd it takes the value placed into it, applies it to $scope.model.value, and insures that it's applied.\n\nNow the loop is completed. Whenever we save our page, the property editor's value, passed up from the React component, properly saves with it.\n\nThe React Code\n\nWith our wrapper above, we've made our Angular controller as simple as possible, reserving our React to handle any complex logic or other actions in addition to rendering the view, allowing us to have one source of truth.\n\nIn our Chimera example, our React component is kept similarly small, rendering an input textbox and handling changes to its value. Our file, ReactLogic.js looks like this with the comments stripped out:\n\nimport React from 'react'; class ReactLogic extends React.Component { constructor(props) { super(props); } onValueChange = (e) => { this.props.onValueChange(e.target.value); }; render () { const props = this.props; return ( React-generated input: ); } }; module.exports = ReactLogic;\n\nWe're using the standard React.Component pattern for creating a React component with class ReactLogic extends React.Component {};. We have the construtor() with props being passed on it and making a call to super(props).\n\nThere's only two member functions. render() is required in a React component, and is responsible for returning the JSX that creates our view.\n\nrender () { const props = this.props; return ( React-generated input: ); }\n\nIn it we're taking this.props which was passed in from our Angular wrapper, and passing its value into the value of our textbox. Whenever our Angular wrapper updates, it will trigger its ReactDOM.render() call and send it down to the component, triggering a re-render.\n\nAdditionally, we've bound this.onValueChange to the onChange event of our input. This function is responsible for notifying our Angular wrapper that there's been a change, and looks like this:\n\nonValueChange = (e) => { this.props.onValueChange(e.target.value); };\n\nthis.props.onValueChange() is the $scope.updateAngular() function passed through from our Angular Wrapper. So the value of our textbox is passed up to the Angular $scope whenever a change is made. The watcher on our scope notices, and triggers the update back down into the React component, updating its props.\n\nStitching It All Together\n\nNow that we have all this code, I compile it down in my project by running npm run webpack (more instructions on setting up the Chimera repo and editing it exist in its README.MD file) which generates out bundle.js in a distribution folder. As a result, the package.manifest is fairly standard:\n\n{ propertyEditors: [{ name: \"React in Angular Chimera\", alias: \"ReactAngularChimera.Editor\", icon: \"icon-newspaper\", group: \"media\", editor: { view: \"~/app_plugins/ReactAngularChimera/views/container.html\", valueType: \"JSON\" } }], javascript: [ \"~/app_plugins/ReactAngularChimera/js/bundle.js\" ], css: [ \"~/app_plugins/ReactAngularChimera/css/styles.css\" ] }\n\nWhat About Dependency Injections?\n\nIn our Chimera example we don't need more complex Angular native functionality like $http or Umbraco back office resources like contentResource. In cases where this were so, we have a couple different ways we could interact with those.\n\nFor core Angular modules, we could inject them using something like ngimport. We can pass Umbraco services or resources into our component via AngularWrapper as props in our ReactDOM.render() call, or we could pass in another function in our wrapper into the component and have it deal with the resources directly in the wrapper.\n\nWhat About Performance?\n\nOur Chimera example is a simple textbox, and as such there's no good reason to go through this much effort to make it with React inside Angular. But with Ernest, which is a good deal more complex and uses Draft.js, it's a fair question to ask: does doing things this way hurt our performance?\n\nIn my testing, and the testing of other projects that use React in Angular, I can say that the rendering and responsiveness does not suffer. There's also no noticeable lag to first render. I believe (but don't have benchmarks on hand as I write this post) that in fact, the rendering speed is improved with how React handles the virtual DOM versus Angular 1's method of redrawing.\n\nThe biggest outlier could be package script size. At present, after building with Webpack using treeshaking, Ernest's script runs around 500 KB. I'm sure there's additional saving on size that could be done to reduce this, and I'm convinced that a reasonably complex rich text editor alternative that's Angular-only would be comparably sized once all of its assets are accounted for.\n\nIn Conclusion\n\nIn the end, I felt that React and the tools around it have come to the point where it takes only minimal effort to include it in an Umbraco package as a replacement for Angular's view rendering. As someone who spends much more time with React due to our company's work on many complex front end applications, I believe that it's going to help reduce the development time needed to create more complex back office projects, as I have a fresh knowledge base, familiarity with its ecoystem of related products, and can escape some of Angular's opinionated behaviors that don't work for me.\n\nIf you'd like to give building a property editor or other complex project a shot, please feel free to look at the code inside React-Angular-Chimera on GitHub, which is as minimal of a use-case as I could think of, or take a deeper dive into Ernest for something more complex if you want to see examples in action.\n\nFurthermore, if you have any questions about using React in this context in general, or Ernest in particular, please feel free to ask. I'm on Twitter as @cssquirrel, and you can always hit us up here at Offroadcode to chat or talk about any project by getting in touch."}
-{"text": "Yesterday, former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore won a Republican primary runoff election to win the party\u2019s nomination to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the U.S. Senate. Moore was buoyed by the support of prominent backers of President Donald Trump (if not Trump himself) and by the extreme Religious Right figures who have supported him throughout his career.\n\nMoore, who has twice lost his seat on the Alabama supreme court for defying the federal judiciary, has a decades-long history of extremism. We\u2019ve gone back in the archives to compile a few lowlights:\n\nGod\u2019s Judgment on America\n\nCNN reported recently on a February speech in which Moore suggested that the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were God\u2019s judgment on America for having \u201cdistanced ourselves\u201d from God, including efforts to \u201clegitimize sodomy\u201d and \u201clegitimize abortion.\u201d\n\nMoore has long warned that God is judging America. In a 2012 speech, Moore said that Satan was behind marriage equality and legal abortion, which is why God \u201chas a controversy with the inhabitants of this land, and until we reject those evils, we shall suffer accordingly\u201d:\n\nHomosexuality is a \u2018Criminal Lifestyle\u2019\n\nMoore has made no secret of the fact that he believes that, in his words, \u201chomosexual conduct should be illegal,\u201d once saying that marriage equality would \u201cliterally cause the destruction of our country.\u201d\n\nBut there may be no clearer example of Moore\u2019s extreme anti-gay animus than the 2002 case in which he voted to grant custody of three children to their abusive father over their mother, who was in a same-sex relationship, because homosexuality is a \u201ccriminal lifestyle\u201d and \u201can inherent evil\u201d:\n\nHe cited biblical law, including the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, to make his case that \u201ca sexual relationship between two persons of the same gender-creates a strong presumption of unfitness that alone is sufficient justification for denying that parent custody of his or her own children or prohibiting the adoption of the children of others\u201d since \u201chomosexual conduct by a parent is inherently detrimental to children.\u201d Homosexuality, Moore wrote, is a \u201ccriminal lifestyle\u201d that is \u201cabhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature and of nature\u2019s God upon which this Nation and our laws are predicated.\u201d \u201c[E]xposing a child to such behavior has a destructive and seriously detrimental effect on the children. It is an inherent evil against which children must be protected,\u201d he said. \u201cThe effect of such a lifestyle upon children must not be ignored, and the lifestyle should never be tolerated,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThe common law designates homosexuality as an inherent evil, and if a person openly engages in such a practice, that fact alone would render him or her an unfit parent.\u201d\n\n\u2018False Religions\u2019\n\nMoore told Vox last month that the Constitution was written to \u201cfoster religion and foster Christianity,\u201d a distillation of his long-held Christian nationalist worldview.\n\nMoore has taken umbrage at efforts to accommodate people of non-Christian faiths, saying that Rep. Keith Ellison, a Muslim, shouldn\u2019t be seated in the U.S. House after being sworn in on a Quran and, at his Foundation for Moral Law, representing protesters who disrupted a Hindu prayer in the U.S. Senate, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s a shame that not one U.S. Senator stood up to defend a tradition that goes back to the very first Continental Congress of acknowledging the one true God of the Holy Scriptures.\u201d\n\nIn a radio interview in 2012, Moore lamented that \u201cfalse religions\u201d were taking hold in the United States: \u201cChristians are being persecuted while people of a religion foreign to our country are doing what they want.\u201d\n\nIn the recent interview with Vox, Moore claimed that there are \u201ccommunities under Sharia law right now in our country,\u201d although he could not name any such communities.\n\nBirtherism\n\nMoore, like Trump, repeatedly questioned Barack Obama\u2019s eligibility to be president. In 2014, he filed a dissenting opinion siding with birther activists who wanted to require Alabama\u2019s secretary of state to investigate the birth certificates of presidential candidates.\n\nMoore has also cast doubt on Obama\u2019s Christianity, saying in 2012 that while he didn\u2019t \u201cknow\u201d the president\u2019s faith, Obama did favor the Muslim faith.\u201d\n\nAnti-choice Extremism\n\nOn top of warning that God will judge America for legal abortion, Moore has embraced the support of extremist anti-choice activists, including one who has said that it is \u201cjustifiable\u201d to murder abortion providers. In 2015, Moore accepted an award from Operation Save America, a group that wants the government to treat women who have abortions like murderers.\n\nBetween his stints on the Alabama supreme court, Moore used his Foundation for Moral Law to advocate extreme \u201cpersonhood\u201d measures that would outlaw all abortions and could even ban common forms of birth control. On the court, Moore worked with his prot\u00e9g\u00e9, Justice Tom Parker, to create a legal \u201cpersonhood\u201d framework with the goal of undermining abortion rights; Moore concurred in one opinion in which Parker argued, according to a Rewire analysis, that the law requires the \u201cjailing and prosecuting women for not just endangering a developing fetus, but in the case of abortions as well.\u201d\n\nFree Pre-K is Hitler Youth\n\nFor several years in between his gigs on the Alabama supreme court, Moore wrote a column for the far-right publication WorldNetDaily. In one memorable 2007 column, Moore wrote that then-Sen. Hillary Clinton\u2019s efforts to expand funding pre-K were \u201canother unjustifiable attempt to indoctrinate our youth.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen the mind of a young child is subjected to state control before fundamental concepts and basic beliefs are formulated,\u201d he wrote, \u201cthe child is much more likely to learn a liberal social and political philosophy with the state as his or her master. Creation and God-given rights are more easily replaced with evolution and government-granted rights. Totalitarian regimes like those of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin knew well the value of a \u2018youth corps.\u2019 As Hans Schemm, leader of the Nazi Teacher\u2019s League, once observed, \u2018Those who have the youth on their side control the future.\u2019\u201d\n\nIn 2015, Moore told extremist radio host Kevin Swanson\u2014who frequently states that the biblical punishment for homosexuality is death\u2014that \u201cI don\u2019t think Christians can actually justify sending their children to schools\u201d that teach evolution.\n\nWhite Supremacist Ties\n\nBack in 1995, Moore addressed a convention of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a white supremacist group that two decades later was cited by the man who killed nine black churchgoers in Charleston.\n\nBut Moore has a much closer relationship with white nationalism: Much of his career has been funded by Michael Peroutka, a former board member of the neo-Confederate League of the South, who as recently as 2012 was leading a meeting of the group in the \u201cnational anthem\u201d of \u201cDixie."}
-{"text": "I am the Virtual Reality Evangelist at NextVR. I spend a ton of time flying around the world to personally give business leaders their first virtual reality experience. I champion for the best human experience in virtual reality and NextVR technology. Hired as the 4th employee at NextVR, I work at the intersection of marketing, business development, and product."}
-{"text": "Charlie Baker, Legal marijuana, Massachusetts Legislature, Massachusetts politics, Stan Rosenberg, State Government\n\nSHARE\n\nSTATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE\n\nAFTER MASSACHUSETTS VOTERS just said yes to legalizing marijuana Tuesday, Gov. Charlie Baker, an outspoken opponent of the referendum, said he wants a more efficient process of permitting retail pot shops than the extensive procedures the state engaged in to implement medical marijuana.\n\nGet the Daily Download Our news roundup delivered every weekday.\n\nEmail *\n\n\u201cBy the time we took office we hadn\u2019t opened a single dispensary in Massachusetts and we were two years behind the effective date of that law. I think it\u2019s important that we move as briskly as we can and we take a look at everything,\u201d said Baker, who said the process should be \u201cresponsible and timely.\u201d\n\nAn advocate of lawmaking by the ballot, Baker reasoned that the public had spoken, though he is also keeping his options open to amend the new law.\n\n\u201cOur view on this is that the people spoke and we\u2019re going to honor that. But we need to make sure that we implement this in a way that is consistent with a lot of the rhetoric and the dialogue that took place during the course of the campaign, which is that it will be done in a way that does protect public safety,\u201d Baker said. Baker said he would speak to members of the Legislature about potentially making changes to the law.\n\nTreasurer Deborah Goldberg, who will appoint all three members of the Cannabis Control Commission and whose office will oversee the marijuana industry in Massachusetts, said Wednesday she doesn\u2019t think there should be \u201crigid deadlines\u201d for the law\u2019s implementation.\n\nGoldberg talked to reporters in her office Wednesday about implementing the marijuana legalization law passed by voters Tuesday.\n\n\u201cWe really need to be reasonable. This is about the will of the people and I take that very, very seriously, but if you think about it in the context of how long, even if you\u2019re on a private business, how long it takes to get up and running,\u201d Goldberg told reporters in her office. \u201cSome of those deadlines are pretty tough.\u201d\n\nAs approved by about 54 percent of voters Tuesday, the law requires the commission to begin accepting retail license applications from established medical marijuana dispensaries by Oct. 1, 2017 and from others hoping to sell marijuana and associated products by Oct. 1, 2018.\n\nGoldberg said her office may not be able to meet the prescribed deadlines, in part, because of the technical infrastructure that will be required. Even before voters went to the polls Tuesday, Goldberg\u2019s office had published a request for qualifications to begin the search for a company to build the \u201cIT backbone\u201d that will allow the state to track marijuana \u201cfrom seed to sale,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cWhen we get that information back they may say to us, \u2018we can\u2019t do this and have you up and running by October to take in applications,'\u201d Goldberg, a Brookline Democrat, said. She predicted that responses to the RFQ would come to her office in January or February.\n\nAsked if she would like to see the Legislature alter the law to defer those deadlines, Goldberg said, \u201cI believe that we will need more time and I think we will be better informed about that when we get the responses to the RFQ.\u201d\n\nThe treasurer said her office has been preparing to wrestle with regulating the new industry since the legalization question was first certified for the ballot and is \u201cready to work collaboratively with folks in order to get this up and running.\u201d\n\nSenate President Stan Rosenberg, who supported the ballot measure, and House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who opposed it, have both indicated a willingness to open up the legislation for some changes.\n\nOn the afternoon after the election, where Baker\u2019s positions were defeated on the two ballot questions he campaigned on and Donald Trump was elected president, the governor held a press conference at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation about the progress of tearing down toll plazas to help transition the Massachusetts Turnpike and other roads into all electronic tolls. None of the questions at the presser were about tolls.\n\nUnlike the retail marijuana referendum placing the industry under the treasurer\u2019s jurisdiction, medical marijuana centered regulatory authority within the executive branch in the Department of Public Health. Under the law that passed Tuesday the governor is responsible for appointing a 15-member Cannabis Advisory Board to advise the Cannabis Control Commission.\n\nAdult possession, cultivation and gifting of marijuana will become legal Thursday, Dec. 15.\n\nLawmakers\u2019 perennial aversion to adopting a more permissive set of laws regulating the drug set the stage for three successive ballot questions, which in 2008 decriminalized possession of up to an ounce, in 2012 legalized medical marijuana sales, and on Tuesday legalized retail sales.\n\nAfter their 2012 victory, marijuana advocates protested that the state was taking too long to permit medical marijuana dispensaries. The state\u2019s first medical marijuana dispensary opened in June 2015 and the Baker administration overhauled the process for permitting the facilities.\n\nMeet the Author Andy Metzger Reporter , CommonWealth magazine About Andy Metzger Andy Metzger joined CommonWealth Magazine as a reporter in January 2019. He has covered news in Massachusetts since 2007. For more than six years starting in May 2012 he wrote about state politics and government for the State House News Service. At the News Service, he followed three criminal trials from opening statements to verdicts, tracked bills through the flumes and eddies of the Legislature, and sounded out the governor\u2019s point of view on a host of issues \u2013 from the proposed Olympics bid to federal politics. Before that, Metzger worked at the Chelmsford Independent, The Arlington Advocate, the Somerville Journal and the Cambridge Chronicle, weekly community newspapers that cover an array of local topics. Metzger graduated from UMass Boston in 2006. In addition to his written journalism, Metzger produced a work of illustrated journalism about Gov. Charlie Baker\u2019s record regarding the MBTA. He lives in Somerville and commutes mainly by bicycle. About Andy Metzger Andy Metzger joined CommonWealth Magazine as a reporter in January 2019. He has covered news in Massachusetts since 2007. For more than six years starting in May 2012 he wrote about state politics and government for the State House News Service. At the News Service, he followed three criminal trials from opening statements to verdicts, tracked bills through the flumes and eddies of the Legislature, and sounded out the governor\u2019s point of view on a host of issues \u2013 from the proposed Olympics bid to federal politics. Before that, Metzger worked at the Chelmsford Independent, The Arlington Advocate, the Somerville Journal and the Cambridge Chronicle, weekly community newspapers that cover an array of local topics. Metzger graduated from UMass Boston in 2006. In addition to his written journalism, Metzger produced a work of illustrated journalism about Gov. Charlie Baker\u2019s record regarding the MBTA. He lives in Somerville and commutes mainly by bicycle. Meet the Author Colin A. Young Guest Contributor\n\nThe governor said he did not want a repeat of that.\n\n\u201cI think we\u2019re going to take a look at whatever elements we need to look at to make sure this thing gets implemented in an efficient and effective way. I don\u2019t want to go through, for example, sort of the disconnects and the false-starts that were associated with the state\u2019s implementation of the medical marijuana law,\u201d Baker said.\n\nSHARE"}
-{"text": "In this Mormon Stories Podcast episode, we interview millennial apologist Jaxon Washburn. Jaxon is 19 year old, pre-mission Mormon apologist attending Arizona State University.\n\n\n\nJaxon was introduced to issues of Mormon faith as his mother lost belief in and left the LDS church, while his father remained faithful to the church. Jaxon\u2019s involvement in an interfaith family led to strong personal interest in matters of faith, which has led to extensive interfaith efforts.\n\nIn this interview Jaxon discusses his own history of doubts, including his experiencing watching the church evolve as an active Mormon youth in how it speaks about and teaches certain issues. He explains how he reconciles difficult Mormon issues and also discusses his view of classic and modern Mormon apologetics, including the newly coined term/wave of \u201cneo-apologetics.\u201d\n\n________________________________________\n\nPart 1: Jaxon shares his background in the LDS Church\n\nPart 2: Jaxon discusses what his current beliefs are\n\nPart 3: Jaxon and John discuss the truth claim \u201cissues\u201d of the LDS Church\n\nPart 4: Jaxon and John have a conversation about apologetics and the role they play in Mormonism\n\n________________________________________\n\nPart 1:\n\n\n\nPart 2:\n\n\n\nPart 3:\n\n\n\nPart 4:\n\n"}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\ncomplains about the bitchy, whiny stuff on reddit by making a bitchy, whiny post to reddit"}
-{"text": "Amazon has announced a new deal to provide 100 per cent renewable electricity in all of their UK buildings.\n\nAmazon has announced a new deal to provide 100 per cent renewable electricity in all of their UK buildings.\n\nThe electricity will be fully backed by Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin Certificates (REGOs) and will be generated from renewable sources such as solar or wind.\n\nIn addition to this, they will also install up to 20 megawatts of solar storage systems on fulfilment centre rooftops across the UK in the next eighteen months. This is part of Amazon\u2019s commitment to deploy solar systems on 50 customer fulfilment centres globally by 2020.\n\nThe solar panels are expected to generate the equivalent amount of electricity required to power over 4,500 UK homes and will reduce the company\u2019s carbon footprint by 6,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.\n\nStefano Perego, Operations Director for Amazon UK, said: \u201cAs our fulfilment network continues to expand, we want to help generate more renewable energy at both existing and new facilities around the world in partnership with community and business leaders. We are putting our scale and inventive culture to work on sustainability, which is good for the environment, our business, our customers, and the communities in which we operate. By diversifying our energy portfolio, we can keep business costs low and pass along further savings to customers.\u201d\n\nAmazon also plan to install battery systems at a number of its fulfilment centres. These batteries will be charged at times of low demand and then used to power its buildings when commercial and consumer use is highest to ensure the grid can meet customer needs at peak times.\n\nThis announcement follows the UK Government\u2019s Green GB week with several companies such as BT and John Lewis committing to a sustainable future.\n\nPhotograph: Amazon\n\nInterested in learning more about energy transition? Join us in Katowice for the Sustainable Innovation Forum 2018 alongside COP24 for the latest insights on the Green Economy, Sustainable Mobility, Energy Transition and Climate Finance.\n\nClick here for further information."}
-{"text": "The Department of Homeland Security is increasing its preparations for domestic unrest by spending half a million dollars on fully automatic pepper spray launchers and projectiles that are designed to be used during riot control situations.<<<Read the Rest>>>"}
-{"text": "I\u2019ve seen a lot of curious (bordering on horrific) code in my life; and I\u2019d say about half of it was written by me. If you don\u2019t attest to the fact that you once wrote crap code then you\u2019re either a liar or perhaps, have omnipotent powers!\n\nHere\u2019s a relatively small collection of what I see as bad JavaScript practices; in other words \u2013 a list of how to write really really ugly JavaScript that will break! I know it\u2019s quite a negative angle to take but it\u2019s easier than writing a post on best practices, plus it gives me a chance to vent! Many of these are things I\u2019ve done in the past; I\u2019ve since discovered the errors in my ways.\n\nNon-constructor identifiers beginning with a capital letter\n\nVariable names should only begin with a capital if they\u2019re pointing to constructor functions. Doug Crockford has more:\n\nThere is a convention that all constructor functions are named with an initial capital, and that nothing else is spelled with an initial capital. This gives us a prayer that visual inspection can find a missing new .\n\nNot following conventions will only get you in trouble! So, to be clear, this is all wrong:\n\nvar Color = 'red' ; var SomeNumber = 234 ; var AnArray = [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] ; var Foo = { bar : 123 } ; // None of them should start with a capital letter!\n\nOnly functions that are constructors should be identified with an initial captial letter, not regular functions. E.g.\n\n/* This is a regular function. */ function sum ( ) { var total = 0 , i = 0 , len = arguments. length ; for ( ; i < len ; ++ i ) { total += arguments [ i ] ; } return total ; } /* This is a constructor function */ function Widget ( innerText , styles ) { this . innerText = innerText ; this . cssStyles = styles ; }\n\nNot using the var statement to define variables\n\nNot using the var statement when defining variables for the first time is a very bad idea. These variables will become part of the global scope. This sucks because you won\u2019t get any warning. Not only is it a bad practice but it can have a negative affect on performance, after-all, the further away a scope is the longer it takes to access. So, always use the var statement:\n\nfoo = 3 ; // NO! var foo = 3 ; // YES\n\nPrefixing every new variable in a given scope with var\n\nThere\u2019s no point in having several var statements if you only need one:\n\nvar someVar1 = 'a' ; var someVar2 = 'b' ; var someVar3 = 'c' ; // Much easier: var someVar1 = 'a' , someVar2 = 'b' , someVar3 = 'c' ;\n\nUsing non-strict comparison operators, and then comparing across different types\n\nThere are two classes of comparison operators; those that type-cast ( == / != ) when required and those that don\u2019t ( === / !== ). You don\u2019t ever want to use the former!\n\n1 == \"1\" ; // true false == \" nt \" ; // true [ [ ] , [ ] ] == true ; // true // ... Confused?\n\nSee? It\u2019s obviously a bad idea! Please only ever use strict-equality comparison operators; they\u2019ll check that the two operands are identical, not just \u201cequal\u201d:\n\n1 === \"1\" ; // false false === \" nt \" ; // false [ [ ] , [ ] ] === true ; // false // Just as expected!\n\nNot \u201ccaching\u201d non-varying complex objects\n\nThis is vitally important; if you\u2019re going to be repeatedly using an object you should name it and save it! A basic example:\n\nfunction myFunction ( arg ) { var configObj = { option1 : 123 , option2 : 456 } ; // do stuff }\n\nconfigObj is being created every time the function is executed. It doesn\u2019t change on each call so there\u2019s no point in having it in the function body. Here\u2019s a better alternative:\n\nvar myFunction = ( function ( ) { var configObj = { option1 : 123 , option2 : 456 } ; return function ( arg ) { // do stuff } ; } ) ( ) ;\n\nHere we\u2019re storing configObj in a \u201cprivate\u201d scope only accessible to \u201cchild\u201d scopes. It\u2019s only being created one time so we\u2019ve instantly shaved notable milliseconds off execution time!\n\nDoing too much in a loop or recursive function\n\nDoing too much in a loop can have terrible affects on performance. Every single thing you do inside a loop will add to its overall execution time and if this grows beyond about ~50ms (100ms max) the user will start noticing. There are a couple of small enhancements you can make to optimise your loops:\n\nCache object properties before the loop: for ( var i = 0 , len = array. length ; i < len ; ++ i ) { } /* Notice we're caching the \"length\" property so we don't have to check it on every iteration */\n\nLoop in reverse if possible: var i = array. length ; while ( i -- ) { /* Combining the control condition and any control variable changes makes it much faster! */ }\n\nNot understanding and therefore not appreciating the benefits in abstracting repeatedly utilized code versus having a wall of unreadable code\n\nUrm, yeh, the title says it all really! Compare this:\n\ndocument. getElementById ( 'foo' ) . style . border = '3px solid #FFF' ; document. getElementById ( 'foobar' ) . style . border = '3px solid #FFF' ; document. getElementById ( 'foofoobar' ) . style . border = '3px solid #FFF' ; document. getElementById ( 'foofoobarbar' ) . style . border = '3px solid #FFF' ;\n\n\u2026 to this:\n\nvar allMyFoos = '#foo, #foobar, #foofoobar, #foofoobarbar' ; jQuery ( allMyFoos ) . css ( 'border' , '3px solid #FFF' ) ;\n\n(Yes, jQuery is a superb example of \u201cabstracting repeatedly utilized code\u201d)\n\nChoosing terseness over readability\n\nReadability is always better than terseness. There may be some situations where the more concise approach has other benefits but your main focus should normally be the readability of your code; not just to you, but to other developers. There\u2019s no need to dumb-down your code though; readability is not the same as simplicity.\n\n// 1: while ( parent. nodeName . toLowerCase ( ) !== 'div' && ( p = parent. parentNode ) ) ; // 2: do { if ( parent. nodeName . toLowerCase ( ) === 'div' ) { break ; } } while ( parent = parent. parentNode ) ; // 3: do if ( parent. nodeName . toLowerCase ( ) === 'div' ) break ; while ( parent = parent. parentNode ) ;\n\nThe above constructs all do the same thing but one is clearly more readable that the other two. Unfortunately with readability you gain (arguably) unnecessary cruft.\n\nNot knowing what DRY is, or how to apply it to JavaScript\n\nThere are many different ways to express this concept but essentially it centers around not repeating yourself. A good example:\n\nelemCollection [ i ] . style . color = 'red' ; elemCollection [ i ] . style . backgroundColor = 'blue' ; elemCollection [ i ] . style . border = '2px solid #000' ; elemCollection [ i ] . style . paddingLeft = '3px' ; elemCollection [ i ] . style . marginTop = '3px' ; elemCollection [ i ] . style . fontSize = '1.2em' ; elemCollection [ i ] . style . fontStyle = 'italic' ;\n\nThe above mess can be expressed in a much cleaner way:\n\napplyCSS ( elemCollection [ i ] , { color : 'red' , backgroundColor : 'blue' , border : '2px solid #000' , paddingLeft : '3px' , marginTop : '3px' , fontSize : '1.2em' , fontStyle : 'italic' } ) ;\n\n(Using the following helper function:)\n\nfunction applyCSS ( el , styles ) { for ( var prop in styles ) { if ( ! styles. hasOwnProperty || styles. hasOwnProperty ( prop ) ) { el. style [ prop ] = styles [ prop ] ; } } return el ; }\n\nCommenting every line\n\nAs Jeff Atwood boldly said:\n\nIf your feel your code is too complex to understand without comments, your code is probably just bad. Rewrite it until it doesn\u2019t need comments any more. If, at the end of that effort, you still feel comments are necessary, then by all means, add comments. Carefully.\n\nWe\u2019ve all done it; commented almost every other line thinking that it brings a whole new level of clarity to our code, when it actually impedes readability and distracts from the code itself. Just try to limit how many comments you add; they\u2019re not always as helpful as you think they are!\n\nUsing browser detection instead of feature detection\n\nFeature-detection is future-proof. Browser-detection isn\u2019t. It\u2019s as simple as that!\n\nIf, for example, you needed to find out whether a browser supports the min-height CSS property, you could test it in the following way:\n\nvar minHeightSupport = ( function ( ) { var aHeight , bHeight , doc = document , aDiv = document. createElement ( 'div' ) , bDiv = document. createElement ( 'div' ) ; aDiv. style . position = bDiv. style . position = 'absolute' ; doc. body . appendChild ( aDiv ) ; doc. body . appendChild ( bDiv ) ; bHeight = bDiv. clientHeight ; doc. body . removeChild ( bDiv ) ; aDiv. style . minHeight = ( bHeight + 1 ) + 'px' ; aHeight = aDiv. clientHeight ; doc. body . removeChild ( aDiv ) ; return aHeight > bHeight ; } ) ( ) ;\n\nWriting feature-tests can be a long and challenging exercise but in the end you should be left with something that\u2019s very reliable! The above test goes something like this:\n\nCreate two DIV elements, \u201caDiv\u201d and \u201cbDiv\u201d. Absolutely position them so the page doesn\u2019t shift. Append them both to the document. Save bDiv \u2018s current height then remove it from the document. Set aDiv \u2018s min-height property to one more than bDiv \u2018s height. If aDiv \u2018s overall height is greater than bDiv \u2018s height then min-height must be supported!\n\n(The above function is just an example; I haven\u2019t tested it sufficiently yet.)\n\nCreating DOM elements within a loop\n\nIt\u2019s slow; very slow actually. When you have no other choice then make sure you\u2019re using a document fragment that will be inserted into the document later, don\u2019t create and append individual DOM elements in to the actual document.\n\nRegular slow approach:\n\nfor ( var i = 0 ; i < 100 ; ++ i ) { elementInDocument. appendChild ( document. createElement ( 'div' ) ) ; }\n\nUsing a document fragment:\n\nvar fragment = document. createDocumentFragment ( ) ; for ( var i = 0 ; i < 100 ; ++ i ) { fragment. appendChild ( document. createElement ( 'div' ) ) ; } elementInDocument. appendChild ( fragment ) ;\n\nUsing innerHTML and array.join() (even faster):\n\nelementInDocument. innerHTML += Array ( 101 ) . join ( '<div/>' ) ;\n\nUsing inline event handlers, YUCK!\n\nJust don\u2019t do it! Take the unobtrusive approach instead.\n\nBig no-no! \u2013\n\n< a href = \"javascript:void doSomething();\" > Click < / a > <!--OR--> < a href = \"#\" onclick = \"return doSomething();\" > Click < / a >\n\nMuch better:\n\njQuery ( 'element' ) . click ( doSomething ) ;\n\n(I\u2019m not saying you have to use jQuery but you should develop a couple of abstractions to make it easier to work with events and DOM elements \u2013 at the least)\n\nHaving long HTML strings in your JavaScript\n\nThey\u2019re ugly and hard to maintain. Either use DOM methods or put the HTML elsewhere; maybe in a template file or somewhere in the document, in a comment node or a hidden element. Seriously, just look at this:\n\nvar widgetStructure = '<div id=' + widgetID + '>' + '<h2 id=\"' + widgetTitleID + '\">' + widgetTitle + '</h2>' + '<div id=\"' + widgetContentID + '\" style=\"' + widgetContentStyles + '\">' + ( function ( ) { var paras = '' ; for ( var i = 0 ; i < paraItems. length ; ++ i ) { paras += '<p>' + paraItems [ i ] + '</p>' ; } return paras ; } ) ( ) + '</div>' + '</div>' ;\n\nYes, I have seen that done before; ugly as sin! Please don\u2019t do it!\n\nThanks for reading! Please share your thoughts with me on Twitter. Have a great day!"}
-{"text": "Petycja o usuni\u0119cie krzy\u017cy chrze\u015bcija\u0144skich z miejsc publicznych!\n\nAndrzej S. kieruje swoj\u0105 petycj\u0119 do: Pos\u0142owie na Sejm Rzeczypospolitej kieruje swoj\u0105 petycj\u0119 do:\n\n\n\nDrodzy Polacy, ka\u017cdy cz\u0142owiek r\u00f3wnie\u017c w Polsce ma prawo, do wolno\u015bci sumienia, do wolno\u015bci wyznania i do ateizmu. Miejsca publiczne z natury rzeczy, powinny by\u0107 dla wszystkich w r\u00f3wnej mierze i bez dominacji w obszary wolno\u015bci. Je\u017celi dziewi\u0119\u0107dziesi\u0105t dziewi\u0119\u0107 os\u00f3b ma inne zdanie, to w miejscu publicznym ta jedna osoba r\u00f3wnie\u017c ma takie samo prawo do w\u0142asnego. Miejsce publiczne jest a raczej powinno by\u0107 dla wszystkich takie samo, bez przymusu i uw\u0142aczania godno\u015bci.\n\n\n\nKrzy\u017c chrze\u015bcija\u0144ski jest dla wyznawc\u00f3w i maj\u0105 pe\u0142ne prawo korzysta\u0107 z jego wizerunku. Nie maj\u0105 jednak, \u017cadnego prawa, by w miejscu publicznym kogokolwiek przymusza\u0107 do kontemplacji krzy\u017ca, je\u017celi sobie tego nie \u017cyczy. Takie s\u0105 naturalne zasady wsp\u00f3\u0142\u017cycia spo\u0142ecznego w cywilizowanym spo\u0142ecze\u0144stwie.\n\n\n\nZwracam si\u0119 do ka\u017cdego, kto ceni sobie wolno\u015b\u0107 osobist\u0105, kto ceni sobie wolno\u015b\u0107 bli\u017aniego i ka\u017cdego, kto szanuje godno\u015b\u0107 i chce j\u0105 okaza\u0107, by podpisa\u0142 petycj\u0119. Usun\u0105\u0107 krzy\u017ce chrze\u015bcija\u0144skie z miejsc publicznych. Do\u0142\u0105cz i podpisz.\n\n"}
-{"text": "Sotto alla crosta terrestre - che si spinge fino a qualche decina di chilometri di profondit\u00e0 - vi \u00e8 il mantello, che arriva fino al nucleo esterno del pianeta, che inizia a circa 2.900 chilometri di profondit\u00e0. Il mantello \u00e8 diviso in due ampie regioni: la prima termina a circa 660 chilometri sotto la superficie, la seconda arriva fino al nucleo esterno. La diversit\u00e0 tra il mantello superiore e il mantello inferiore non \u00e8 chimica, ma fisica: gli stessi elementi che compongono il mantello superiore si trovano anche nel mantello inferiore, strutturati per\u00f2 in modo differente.\n\nFin qui la geofisica di base, perch\u00e9 c'\u00e8 uno scenario tutto nuovo da aggiungere alla descrizione schematica.\n\nUno studio rivela l'esistenza di una geografia sorprendente in prossimit\u00e0 del confine tra le due parti del mantello, con \"catene montuose\" impressionanti, \u00abqualcosa di unico\u00bb, affermano i ricercatori, con vette che si alternano a grandi pianure in un ambiente che farebbe impallidire le regioni dell'Himalaya e del Karakorum.\n\nIl Mondo di Sotto. A mettere in luce questo incredibile paesaggio da mondo perduto sono stati Wenbo Wu e Sidao Ni (Accademia delle Scienze, Cina) e Jessica Irving (Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Princeton University), nel corso di uno studio delle registrazioni delle onde sismiche generate dal devastante terremoto del 1994 in Bolivia.\n\nCuriosit\u00e0: se la tecnologia ci permettesse di | NASA se la tecnologia ci permettesse di attraversare il centro della Terra , come sarebbe il viaggio?\n\nSecondo i ricercatori, le aree pianeggianti tra le catene montuose potrebbero essere quelle in cui mantello superiore e inferiore entrano in contatto, mentre quelle frastagliate, ossia le vette, sarebbero zone di minor contatto tra le due regioni del mantello.\n\nLa scoperta, al di l\u00e0 del fatto che dipinge un mondo sotterraneo dall'aspetto fantascientifico, offre nuovi spunti di riflessione sul comportamento del mantello, soprattutto in relazione al fatto che \u00e8 dal mantello che avvengono le grandi risalite di magma alla base del movimento delle zolle.\n\nPer approfondire: | Focus chi era Inge Lehmann , la geofisica danese che per prima ipotizz\u00f2 che il nucleo terrestre non \u00e8 un'unica sfera liquida ma \u00e8 costituito da due parti, un nucleo interno e uno esterno con propriet\u00e0 fisiche molto diverse.\n\nLo studio, pubblicato su Science (sommario) e ripreso in un articolo sulle pagine della Princeton University, parte dall'elaborazione dei dati analitici delle onde sismiche che si sono propagate all'interno della Terra in seguito al violento terremoto, di magnitudo 8.2, che nel 1994 colp\u00ec la Bolivia. In quell'occasione le onde sismiche si sono ripetutamente riflesse sui vari strati delle profondit\u00e0 della Terra permettendo di ottenere una \"radiografia\" del pianeta con dettagli che poche altre volte si \u00e8 riusciti ad avere."}
-{"text": "Looking for shark crafts for preschoolers or toddlers? Then you've got to try this huge shark suncatcher craft! It's a perfect Shark Week craft idea!\n\nContact paper crafts are so easy to do, but I particularly love using contact paper to make suncatchers because they let just the right amount of light through.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSo we created a giant shark suncatcher craft as part of an under the sea theme. It's a perfect way to work on fine motor skills and because of its scale, it was meant to be a collaborative project for my boys. Three year old K, however, had other plans and barely participated.\n\n\n\n\n\nWhat You Need to Make this Shark Craft\n\nTo make a giant shark suncatcher, we used:\n\n\n\n\n\nTape\n\nTissue paper, various colors cut into little squares (We like to reuse our tissue paper from birthday gifts, so I had no gray on hand. So we used a combination of light blue, white, and purple.)\n\n\n\n\n\nHow to Make a Giant Shark Suncatcher for Shark Week!\n\nOn the non-sticky side of the contact paper, I drew the outline of a large shark. Then I taped the contact paper to a window. My boys love working on a vertical surface and I recently read that it's actually good to encourage kids to work on a vertical surface. Here's the shark before I peeled off the backing to reveal the sticky side of the contact paper. Great shark, isn't it?\n\n\n\n\n\nYou can either encourage your kids to rip the tissue paper into pieces or use scissors to cut the tissue paper into little squares. I went with option B as I was trying to avoid the mess that is usually associated with option A. Then let them decorate the shark.\n\n\n\n\n\nYou could seal the final craft with another piece of contact paper. I didn't, but I also didn't have another piece of contact paper that large kicking around. Regardless, I love how it turned out! Here's what it looks like from inside the house.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAnd here's how it looks from outside looking in. He's totally cute, right? And fun fact: his names is Rhymes. Upon completion, five year old J declared, \"I will call you Rhymes. Rhymes the shark.\"\n\n\n\n\n\nOther Ideas You'll Love\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis shark craft was part of the Light & Reflections Series. Here's some other fun ideas from this series:"}
-{"text": "Brooklyn\u2019s finest needs no introduction especially when being accompanied by 5 unreleased tunes. Sure you may have heard one or two of these Previews but odds are you\u2019ll find something new, and they all go hard.\n\nStarting with a Preview of \u201cSnap\u201d which has been floating around the blogosphere for a while now. None the less, it features some insane vocal work on some creepy vocals, mixed with Baauer\u2018s some hot and heavy sounds. Next is a Untitled collab with UZ, this isnt confirmed yet but the sounds definitely resemble both artists work. \u201cBaddest\u201d and this is yet another incredibly unique tune, with an infectious melody mixed with huge bells and funky samples. Don\u2019t miss these last two, \u201cSlip\u201d and this collab with Sleepyhead, titled \u201cPurebread\u201d. It will be interesting to see how many of these tracks end up on his 2013 album release with LuckyMe.\n\nBaauer\n\nSoundcloud | Facebook | Twitter\n\nBaauer \u2013 Snap | Stream Only\n\nUZ X Baauer \u2013 Untitled | Stream Only\n\nBaauer \u2013 Baddest | Stream Only\n\nBaauer \u2013 Slip | Stream Only\n\nBaauer & Sleepyhead \u2013 Purebread | Stream Only\n\n5 Unreleased Baauer Tracks: Snap, Baddest, Slip, Purebread + Untitled"}
-{"text": "The world runs on important math, but it's the useless kind that I crave. I don't care about the gas mileage of my car; I want to know how long a penny can sit in my glove box before out-staying its welcome in gas cost (140,000 miles). I want to see the calculations that explain when Ice Cube's \"good day\" really is (January 20th).\n\nFortunately, Reddit has an army of calculator fetishists waiting for your most absurd questions. Here are some highlights.\n\nHow fast would you have to scroll to read every published tweet?\n\n500 million average daily tweets * 2.5 cm average length per tweet.\n\nAnswer = 521 km/h or 324 mph\n\n- www.fableinteractive.com\n\nHow much is a gallon of my semen worth?\n\nSome sperm banks pay $500 for good semen. If you ejaculate the maximum humanly possible volume of 10 milliliters each time, that's 378.5 wank sessions for 3785 milliliters (1 gallon) * $500.\n\nAnswer = $189,250\n\n- BoobRockets\n\nCan Kendrick Lamar afford to fill a swimming pool full of liquor?\n\n750 ml of Jack Daniels is $24.99. Lamar, worth $10 million, could purchase 400,160 bottles of JD. 79,283.263128 gallons of JD fills a pool 55' long, 25' wide, and 9.6' deep, leaving a little left over.\n\nAnswer = Yes\n\n- JBrad0322\n\nHow much do you have to cry to die of dehydration?\n\nThe average American (177.9 lbs, 53% water) would need to lose 15% bodily fluid (14.14 lbs of water). Crying at the greatest possible volume (2.2 micro liters per minute).\n\nAnswer = 5.64 years (23,900 viewings of The Notebook ) of hardcore boohooing to dehydrate.\n\n-kibitzor\n\nHow much money does the Joker burn in The Dark Knight?\n\nA $100 million pallet is 92,160 cubic inches. Estimating that Joker's cash stack is 5.832 million cubic inches, that's 5.832 million/92160*$100 million.\n\nAnswer = $6.328 billion\n\n- Felosele\n\nAccording to scripture, what is the temperature of heaven and hell?\n\nHell \u2013 Revelations 21:8 calls hell a \"lake which burneth of fire and brimstone.\" To maintain liquid (lake) form and not vapor (cloud), molten brimstone or sulfur must be \u2264 sulfur's boiling point (444.6\u00b0C).\n\nHeaven \u2013 Isaiah 30:26 says heaven receives from the moon as much radiation as Earth from the Sun, plus \"sevenfold as the light of 7 days.\" The Stefan-Boltzmann 4th power law for radiation (H/E)4 = 50, where E is the absolute temperature of Earth (300\u00b0K), deems Heaven 798\u00b0K or 525\u00b0C.\n\nAnswer = Heaven (525\u00b0C) is hotter than hell (445\u00b0C).\n\n- Applied Optics\n\nBill Gates is so rich, he'd be wasting time to pick up $45,000.\n\nThis content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.\n\nIf the film Gravity were real, this is how much money in equipment was lost in space?\n\n1 Science Platform Research Satellite $1.5 Billion + 1 Space Shuttle $1.7 Billion + 1 International Space Station $150 Billion + 1 Chinese Space Station ($3 Billion estimate based on cost of larger Mir Space Station) + 1 Soyuz Capsule ($4.1 Million) + 1 Clooney-esque Manned Maneuvering Unit ($10 million).\n\nAnswer = $156,214,100,000\n\n- Theorex\n\nDue to our electoral college inefficiency, you could become president with only 22% of the popular vote.\n\n\n\nThis content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.\n\nGive a man a fish, feed him for a day. To feed him for a lifetime, give him\u2026\n\nAnswer = More fish\n\nThis content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io"}
-{"text": "Note: Latency in the video stream means index items will appear first.\n\n09:34:07 Oral Questions to the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union\n\n09:34:10 Q1. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on further devolution of power and resources from Whitehall to local communities as part of his Department's preparations for the UK exiting the EU. (907589)\n\n09:34:16 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n09:34:32 Chi Onwurah MP (Newcastle upon Tyne Central, Labour)\n\n09:35:04 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n09:35:39 Julie Cooper MP (Burnley, Labour)\n\n09:36:12 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n09:36:40 Rt Hon Sir Desmond Swayne MP (New Forest West, Conservative)\n\n09:36:57 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n09:37:23 James Duddridge MP (Rochford and Southend East, Conservative)\n\n09:37:42 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n09:37:55 Richard Arkless MP (Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish National Party)\n\n09:38:12 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n09:38:26 Mr Philip Hollobone MP (Kettering, Conservative)\n\n09:38:43 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n09:38:58 Mr Dennis Skinner MP (Bolsover, Labour)\n\n09:39:59 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n09:40:18 Jenny Chapman MP (Darlington, Labour)\n\n09:41:08 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n09:41:36 Q2. What assessment his Department has made of the likelihood of the UK having to contribute to the EU budget after the UK has left the EU. (907590)\n\n09:41:40 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n09:42:01 Andrew Rosindell MP (Romford, Conservative)\n\n09:42:23 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n09:42:52 Wayne David MP (Caerphilly, Labour)\n\n09:43:07 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n09:43:43 Mr Peter Bone MP (Wellingborough, Conservative)\n\n09:44:03 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n09:44:18 Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP (Leeds Central, Labour)\n\n09:44:59 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n09:45:44 Matthew Pennycook MP (Greenwich and Woolwich, Labour)\n\n09:46:16 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n09:46:52 Q3. What steps the Government is taking to prepare for triggering Article 50. (907591)\n\n09:46:57 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n09:47:39 Heidi Alexander MP (Lewisham East, Labour)\n\n09:48:21 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n09:49:03 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n09:49:38 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n09:50:49 Stephen Gethins MP (North East Fife, Scottish National Party)\n\n09:51:11 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n09:52:10 Stephen Gethins MP (North East Fife, Scottish National Party)\n\n09:52:42 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n09:53:21 Michael Tomlinson MP (Mid Dorset and North Poole, Conservative)\n\n09:53:31 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n09:53:41 Keir Starmer MP (Holborn and St Pancras, Labour)\n\n09:54:20 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n09:55:00 Keir Starmer MP (Holborn and St Pancras, Labour)\n\n09:55:38 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n09:56:10 Q4. What plans his Department has to assess the potential economic effects of the UK exiting the EU across different regions and nations of the UK . (907592)\n\n09:56:19 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n09:56:35 Alison McGovern MP (Wirral South, Labour)\n\n09:56:58 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n09:57:25 Charlie Elphicke MP (Dover, Conservative)\n\n09:57:43 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n09:58:01 Christina Rees MP (Neath, Labour (Co-op))\n\n09:58:29 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n09:58:59 Andrew Stephenson MP (Pendle, Conservative)\n\n09:59:14 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n09:59:32 Ms Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh MP (Ochil and South Perthshire, Scottish National Party)\n\n09:59:43 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n09:59:55 Q6. What steps the Government is taking to ensure that the result of the EU referendum is delivered in a timely manner. (907595)\n\n10:00:00 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:00:12 Sir Edward Leigh MP (Gainsborough, Conservative)\n\n10:00:53 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:01:39 Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP (Wolverhampton South East, Labour)\n\n10:02:01 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:02:16 Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP (North Shropshire, Conservative)\n\n10:02:47 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:02:50 Rt Hon Alex Salmond MP (Gordon, Scottish National Party)\n\n10:03:18 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:03:42 Q7. What discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on maintaining police and security cooperation with EU partners after the UK leaves the EU. (907596)\n\n10:03:46 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n10:04:04 Craig Whittaker MP (Calder Valley, Conservative)\n\n10:04:21 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n10:04:46 Rt Hon Nigel Dodds MP (Belfast North, Democratic Unionist Party)\n\n10:05:10 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n10:05:26 Mr David Burrowes MP (Enfield, Southgate, Conservative)\n\n10:05:35 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n10:05:53 Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP (Exeter, Labour)\n\n10:06:11 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n10:06:27 Q8. What his policy is on giving evidence to select committees other than the Committee on Exiting the European Union. (907598)\n\n10:06:36 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:06:56 Paul Flynn MP (Newport West, Labour)\n\n10:07:31 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:08:07 Mr Robin Walker MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Worcester, Conservative)\n\n10:08:44 Lucy Frazer MP (South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)\n\n10:08:58 Mr Robin Walker MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Worcester, Conservative)\n\n10:09:20 Rt Hon Cheryl Gillan MP (Chesham and Amersham, Conservative)\n\n10:09:50 Mr Robin Walker MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Worcester, Conservative)\n\n10:10:21 Dr Tania Mathias MP (Twickenham, Conservative)\n\n10:10:42 Mr Robin Walker MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Worcester, Conservative)\n\n10:11:05 Maria Eagle MP (Garston and Halewood, Labour)\n\n10:11:13 Mr Robin Walker MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Worcester, Conservative)\n\n10:11:32 Jim Shannon MP (Strangford, Democratic Unionist Party)\n\n10:11:48 Mr Robin Walker MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Worcester, Conservative)\n\n10:11:58 Paul Blomfield MP (Sheffield Central, Labour)\n\n10:12:22 Mr Robin Walker MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Worcester, Conservative)\n\n10:12:34 Q10. Whether the Government plans to seek a transitional deal with the EU as part of its strategy for the UK exiting the EU. (907600)\n\n10:12:38 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:12:51 Emma Reynolds MP (Wolverhampton North East, Labour)\n\n10:13:23 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:14:29 Patrick Grady MP (Glasgow North, Scottish National Party)\n\n10:14:47 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:15:14 Q11. What representations he has received from universities on priorities for his negotiations on the UK leaving the EU. (907601)\n\n10:15:18 Mr Robin Walker MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Worcester, Conservative)\n\n10:15:40 Gavin Newlands MP (Paisley and Renfrewshire North, Scottish National Party)\n\n10:16:01 Mr Robin Walker MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Worcester, Conservative)\n\n10:16:23 Chris Elmore MP (Ogmore, Labour)\n\n10:16:41 Mr Robin Walker MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Worcester, Conservative)\n\n10:16:54 Jeff Smith MP (Manchester, Withington, Labour)\n\n10:17:12 Mr Robin Walker MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Worcester, Conservative)\n\n10:17:42 Tom Pursglove MP (Corby, Conservative)\n\n10:18:06 Mr Robin Walker MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Worcester, Conservative)\n\n10:18:14 Q15. What recent discussions he has had with Ministers of the Scottish Government on the Government's plans for the UK leaving the EU. (907605)\n\n10:18:38 Roger Mullin MP (Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party)\n\n10:18:45 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n10:19:10 Q17. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the status of EU nationals in the UK as part of his Department's preparations for the UK exiting the EU. (907607)\n\n10:19:28 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:20:24 Helen Hayes MP (Dulwich and West Norwood, Labour)\n\n10:20:50 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:21:32 Ruth Cadbury MP (Brentford and Isleworth, Labour)\n\n10:21:58 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:22:32 Topical Questions to the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union\n\n10:22:42 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:23:30 George Kerevan MP (East Lothian, Scottish National Party)\n\n10:23:56 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:24:30 Mr Peter Bone MP (Wellingborough, Conservative)\n\n10:24:56 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:24:58 Paul Blomfield MP (Sheffield Central, Labour)\n\n10:25:34 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:26:18 Nigel Huddleston MP (Mid Worcestershire, Conservative)\n\n10:26:32 Mr Robin Walker MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Worcester, Conservative)\n\n10:27:02 Mary Creagh MP (Wakefield, Labour)\n\n10:27:34 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:27:44 Mr David Nuttall MP (Bury North, Conservative)\n\n10:28:05 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n10:28:11 Graham Jones MP (Hyndburn, Labour)\n\n10:28:27 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n10:28:41 Andrew Stephenson MP (Pendle, Conservative)\n\n10:28:54 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n10:29:01 Roger Mullin MP (Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party)\n\n10:29:15 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:29:29 Sir William Cash MP (Stone, Conservative)\n\n10:29:50 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n10:30:05 Helen Goodman MP (Bishop Auckland, Labour)\n\n10:30:26 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:30:47 Rt Hon Maria Miller MP (Basingstoke, Conservative)\n\n10:31:11 Mr Robin Walker MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Worcester, Conservative)\n\n10:31:32 Ms Margaret Ritchie MP (South Down, Social Democratic & Labour Party)\n\n10:31:46 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:32:04 Martin Vickers MP (Cleethorpes, Conservative)\n\n10:32:20 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n10:32:30 Kate Green MP (Stretford and Urmston, Labour)\n\n10:32:54 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:33:21 Michael Tomlinson MP (Mid Dorset and North Poole, Conservative)\n\n10:33:35 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:33:45 Deidre Brock MP (Edinburgh North and Leith, Scottish National Party)\n\n10:34:00 Mr Robin Walker MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Worcester, Conservative)\n\n10:34:25 Henry Smith MP (Crawley, Conservative)\n\n10:34:42 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n10:34:58 Sammy Wilson MP (East Antrim, Democratic Unionist Party)\n\n10:35:28 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:35:56 Tom Pursglove MP (Corby, Conservative)\n\n10:36:08 Rt Hon David Jones MP, Minister of State (Department for Exiting the European Union) (Clwyd West, Conservative)\n\n10:36:28 Simon Danczuk MP (Rochdale, Independent)\n\n10:36:39 Rt Hon David Davis MP, The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Haltemprice and Howden, Conservative)\n\n10:37:05 Business Statement: Leader of the House\n\n10:37:14 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n10:40:24 Valerie Vaz MP (Walsall South, Labour)\n\n10:45:59 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n10:54:53 Rt Hon Maria Miller MP (Basingstoke, Conservative)\n\n10:55:16 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n10:55:50 Pete Wishart MP (Perth and North Perthshire, Scottish National Party)\n\n10:57:38 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n10:59:11 John Stevenson MP (Carlisle, Conservative)\n\n10:59:33 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:00:23 Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP (Leigh, Labour)\n\n11:01:09 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:01:53 Oliver Colvile MP (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport, Conservative)\n\n11:02:19 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:02:59 Rt Hon Nigel Dodds MP (Belfast North, Democratic Unionist Party)\n\n11:03:38 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:04:05 Martin Vickers MP (Cleethorpes, Conservative)\n\n11:04:32 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:05:17 Christian Matheson MP (City of Chester, Labour)\n\n11:05:33 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:06:06 Bob Blackman MP (Harrow East, Conservative)\n\n11:06:29 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:06:51 Maria Eagle MP (Garston and Halewood, Labour)\n\n11:07:26 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:08:08 Mr Stewart Jackson MP (Peterborough, Conservative)\n\n11:08:41 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:09:16 Ian Mearns MP (Gateshead, Labour)\n\n11:09:42 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:09:59 Ms Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh MP (Ochil and South Perthshire, Scottish National Party)\n\n11:10:23 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:11:04 Chris White MP (Warwick and Leamington, Conservative)\n\n11:11:21 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:12:07 Luciana Berger MP (Liverpool, Wavertree, Labour (Co-op))\n\n11:12:55 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:13:44 Mr David Burrowes MP (Enfield, Southgate, Conservative)\n\n11:14:01 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:14:38 Rt Hon Alex Salmond MP (Gordon, Scottish National Party)\n\n11:15:00 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:16:00 Mr Peter Bone MP (Wellingborough, Conservative)\n\n11:16:39 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:16:58 Chris Law MP (Dundee West, Scottish National Party)\n\n11:17:31 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:18:48 Tom Pursglove MP (Corby, Conservative)\n\n11:19:11 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:19:44 Margaret Ferrier MP (Rutherglen and Hamilton West, Scottish National Party)\n\n11:20:22 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:20:48 Henry Smith MP (Crawley, Conservative)\n\n11:21:43 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:22:47 Bill Esterson MP (Sefton Central, Labour)\n\n11:23:20 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:24:02 Brendan O'Hara MP (Argyll and Bute, Scottish National Party)\n\n11:24:42 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:25:32 Jonathan Reynolds MP (Stalybridge and Hyde, Labour (Co-op))\n\n11:26:03 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:26:48 Kirsten Oswald MP (East Renfrewshire, Scottish National Party)\n\n11:27:17 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:27:27 Jessica Morden MP (Newport East, Labour)\n\n11:27:58 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:28:27 Greg Mulholland MP (Leeds North West, Liberal Democrat)\n\n11:29:06 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:29:45 Dr Rupa Huq MP (Ealing Central and Acton, Labour)\n\n11:30:20 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:31:40 Jim Shannon MP (Strangford, Democratic Unionist Party)\n\n11:32:16 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:33:13 Stephen Doughty MP (Cardiff South and Penarth, Labour (Co-op))\n\n11:33:42 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:35:04 Ms Margaret Ritchie MP (South Down, Social Democratic & Labour Party)\n\n11:35:30 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:36:14 Paul Flynn MP (Newport West, Labour)\n\n11:37:06 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:38:06 Chris Stephens MP (Glasgow South West, Scottish National Party)\n\n11:38:40 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:38:55 Peter Grant MP (Glenrothes, Scottish National Party)\n\n11:39:26 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:40:01 Alan Brown MP (Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party)\n\n11:40:30 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:41:30 Patrick Grady MP (Glasgow North, Scottish National Party)\n\n11:42:00 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:42:46 Gavin Newlands MP (Paisley and Renfrewshire North, Scottish National Party)\n\n11:43:03 Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Aylesbury, Conservative)\n\n11:44:09 Points of Order\n\n\n\nRt Hon Alex Salmond MP (Gordon, Scottish National Party)\n\n11:44:36 Mr Speaker\n\n11:45:03 Brendan O'Hara MP (Argyll and Bute, Scottish National Party)\n\n11:45:39 Mr Speaker\n\n11:46:25 Valerie Vaz MP (Walsall South, Labour)\n\n11:48:07 Mr Speaker\n\n11:48:12 Mr Peter Bone MP (Wellingborough, Conservative)\n\n11:48:29 Mr Speaker\n\n11:51:34 Backbench Business: Acceleration of the state pension age for women born in the 1950s\n\n11:51:38 Division\n\n12:02:42 Backbench Business: Transgender equality\n\n12:02:47 Rt Hon Maria Miller MP (Basingstoke, Conservative)\n\n12:21:37 Angela Crawley MP (Lanark and Hamilton East, Scottish National Party)\n\n12:33:22 Ben Howlett MP (Bath, Conservative)\n\n12:43:14 Ruth Cadbury MP (Brentford and Isleworth, Labour)\n\n12:52:36 Lyn Brown MP (West Ham, Labour)\n\n13:02:47 Kirsten Oswald MP (East Renfrewshire, Scottish National Party)\n\n13:11:10 Chris Elmore MP (Ogmore, Labour)\n\n13:22:14 Hannah Bardell MP (Livingston, Scottish National Party)\n\n13:31:39 Sarah Champion MP (Rotherham, Labour)\n\n13:43:55 Caroline Dinenage MP (Gosport, Conservative)\n\n14:01:56 Rt Hon Maria Miller MP (Basingstoke, Conservative)\n\n14:03:29 Backbench Business: Future of the UK fishing industry\n\n14:03:43 Melanie Onn MP (Great Grimsby, Labour)\n\n14:14:55 Neil Parish MP (Tiverton and Honiton, Conservative)\n\n14:27:08 Rt Hon Alan Campbell MP (Tynemouth, Labour)\n\n14:35:55 Sir Henry Bellingham MP (North West Norfolk, Conservative)\n\n14:44:42 Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP (Exeter, Labour)\n\n14:54:29 Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP (North Shropshire, Conservative)\n\n15:04:22 Rt Hon Alistair Carmichael MP (Orkney and Shetland, Liberal Democrat)\n\n15:13:15 Derek Thomas MP (St Ives, Conservative)\n\n15:20:05 Stephen Gethins MP (North East Fife, Scottish National Party)\n\n15:25:29 Mr Andrew Turner MP (Isle of Wight, Conservative)\n\n15:30:07 Dr Eilidh Whiteford MP (Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party)\n\n15:39:32 Peter Aldous MP (Waveney, Conservative)\n\n15:47:04 Ms Margaret Ritchie MP (South Down, Social Democratic & Labour Party)\n\n15:54:16 Martin Vickers MP (Cleethorpes, Conservative)\n\n16:01:11 Jim Shannon MP (Strangford, Democratic Unionist Party)\n\n16:09:04 Oliver Colvile MP (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport, Conservative)\n\n16:15:24 Kevin Hollinrake MP (Thirsk and Malton, Conservative)\n\n16:21:30 Scott Mann MP (North Cornwall, Conservative)\n\n16:27:49 Angus Brendan MacNeil MP (Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party)\n\n16:37:32 Sue Hayman MP (Workington, Labour)\n\n16:44:01 George Eustice MP, The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Camborne and Redruth, Conservative)\n\n16:58:23 Melanie Onn MP (Great Grimsby, Labour)\n\n17:00:08 Adjournment: Proposed abolition of Christchurch and East Dorset councils\n\n17:00:17 Mr Christopher Chope MP (Christchurch, Conservative)"}
-{"text": "WASHINGTON \u2014 The United States Postal Service announced plans today to transition to a new delivery schedule during the week of Aug. 5, 2013 that includes package delivery Monday through Saturday, and mail delivery Monday through Friday. The Postal Service expects to generate cost savings of approximately $2 billion annually, once the plan is fully implemented.\n\n\u201cThe Postal Service is advancing an important new approach to delivery that reflects the strong growth of our package business and responds to the financial realities resulting from America\u2019s changing mailing habits,\u201d said Patrick R. Donahoe, Postmaster General and CEO. \u201cWe developed this approach by working with our customers to understand their delivery needs and by identifying creative ways to generate significant cost savings.\u201d\n\nOver the past several years, the Postal Service has advocated shifting to a five-day delivery schedule for mail and packages. However, recent strong growth in package delivery (14 percent volume increase since 2010) and projections of continued strong package growth throughout the coming decade led to the revised approach to maintain package delivery six days per week.\n\n\u201cOur customers see strong value in the national delivery platform we provide and maintaining a six-day delivery schedule for packages is an important part of that platform,\u201d said Donahoe. \u201cAs consumers increasingly use and rely on delivery services \u2014 especially due to the rise of e-commerce \u2014 we can play an increasingly vital role as a delivery provider of choice, and as a driver of growth opportunities for America\u2019s businesses.\u201d\n\nOnce implemented during August of 2013, mail delivery to street addresses will occur Monday through Friday. Packages will continue to be delivered six days per week. Mail addressed to PO Boxes will continue to be delivered on Saturdays. Post Offices currently open on Saturdays will remain open on Saturdays.\n\nMarket research conducted by the Postal Service and independent research by major news organizations indicate that nearly seven out of ten Americans (70 percent) supported the switch to five-day delivery as a way for the Postal Service to reduce costs in its effort to return the organization to financial stability.\u00b9 Support for this approach will likely be even higher since the Postal Service plans to maintain six-day package delivery.\n\nThe Postal Service is making the announcement today, more than six months in advance of implementing five-day mail delivery schedule, to give residential and business customers time to plan and adjust. The Postal Service plans to publish specific guidance in the near future for residential and business customers about its new delivery schedule.\n\nGiven the ongoing financial challenges, the Postal Service Board of Governors last month directed postal management to accelerate the restructuring of Postal Service operations in order to strengthen Postal Service finances.\n\n\u201cThe American public understands the financial challenges of the Postal Service and supports these steps as a responsible and reasonable approach to improving our financial situation,\u201d said Donahoe. \u201cThe Postal Service has a responsibility to take the steps necessary to return to long-term financial stability and ensure the continued affordability of the U.S. Mail.\u201d\n\nThe operational plan for the new delivery schedule anticipates a combination of employee reassignment and attrition and is expected to achieve cost savings of approximately $2 billion annually when fully implemented.\n\nThe Postal Service is currently implementing major restructuring throughout its retail, delivery and mail processing operations. Since 2006, the Postal Service has reduced its annual cost base by approximately $15 billion, reduced the size of its career workforce by 193,000 or 28 percent, and has consolidated more than 200 mail processing locations. During these unprecedented initiatives, the Postal Service continued to deliver record high levels of service to its customers.\n\nWhile the change in the delivery schedule announced today is one of the actions needed to restore the financial health of the Postal Service, legislative change is urgently needed to address matters outside the Postal Service\u2019s control. The Postal Service continues to seek legislation to provide it with greater flexibility to control costs and generate new revenue and encourages the 113th Congress to make postal reform legislation an urgent priority.\n\nThe Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.\n\n\u00b9 Sources: Gallup Poll, March 26, 2010 \u2022 New York Times/CBS News, June 27, 2012 \u2022 USA Today, March 17, 2010 \u2022 Washington Post, March 30, 2010\n\n# # #\n\nFor reporters interested in speaking with a regional Postal Service public relations professional, please go to http://about.usps.com/news/media-contacts/usps-local-media-contacts.pdf.\n\nPlease Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at http://about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm.\n\nWe will provide a satellite/fiber feed from 3 p.m. EST to 5 p.m. EST. We will continuously re-feed the press conference video during this timeframe. Stations can contact Encompass directly to arrange a fiber switch. 800-243-1995. Stations experiencing technical difficulties should call the Encompass Technical Operations Center (TOC) at 678-421-6604.\n\nG17-K13 Slot B (9MHz)\n\nD/L Freq: 11955.5 H\n\nFEC: 3/4\n\nSR: 6.1113\n\nDR: 8.448\n\nSD 16x9\n\nA self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation \u2014 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office\u2122 Boxes. The Postal Service\u2122 receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com\u00ae, the Postal Service has annual revenue of approximately $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world\u2019s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, Oxford Strategic Consulting ranked the U.S. Postal Service number one in overall service performance of the posts in the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute. Follow the Postal Service on www.twitter.com/USPS and at www.facebook.com/USPS"}
-{"text": "\u201cYou gotta get All-Star break outta you,\u201d Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton told media gathered for the first official team practice since the NBA took its annual break. Basketball is back, which means the Lakers are back in the gym.\n\nThe franchise is focused on the final stretch of the season, set to resume action Friday night when they host the Dallas Mavericks. Walton had his team, with the two additions and subtractions he admitted are still an adjustment, back on the grind.\n\n\u201cToday was more technical, getting back to the structure and the details of what we want to do, mainly defensively,\u201d Walton said.\n\nThe Lakers are on pace to crush their best winning percentage over the last five seasons, sitting at .404. The last time they were this high was back in 2013-14, with a .329. They need only four more wins to match that win total.\n\nWalton has three goals to get them there and beyond in the final 25 games.\n\n\u201cDefensively get back to where we were. We want to be a Top-10 defensive team for these last 25 games. We want to continue to play at the pace that we\u2019ve done, I think going into the break we were No. 1 in pace still. We want to continue to develop our young players. They need to keep playing, they need to keep getting reps, they need to keep finishing, learning how to win games,\u201d Walton said.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of little goals that we have that we talk about, but the main ones are defense, our pace offensively, and then continuing to give some of these young guys opportunities to grow knowing that we\u2019re really gonna need them in the future.\u201d\n\nThe Lakers should get a boost with Lonzo Ball likely set to return against the Mavericks, ironically the same team he suffered the knee injury against. They could certainly use it as well, hanging onto their three-game losing streak during the break.\n\n\u201cIt unfortunately, from what I saw, had a lot to do with I think that we gave into fatigue honestly ...\n\n\u201cWe gave into that physical and mental fatigue that comes at that time of the season, that with the wining we had been doing before that we were really still enjoying that feeling,\u201d Walton said of what he thought was the main reason the switch turned off on the Lakers.\n\n\u201cI expect us to be much better now that the break is behind us.\u201d\n\n*All quotes transcribed via Lakers.com"}
-{"text": "Your Bike Has Been Stolen\n\nThese thieves picked the wrong bike to steal"}
-{"text": "Bitcoin\u2019s (BTC) price shot up along with gold and stock futures after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced a quantitative easing package with no upper limit to support the economy amid the coronavirus crisis.\n\nImmediately after the 12:00 UTC announcement, bitcoin jumped from $5,860 to $6,628 in an hour, according to CoinDesk\u2019s Bitcoin Price Index. Gold, a classic safe-haven asset, rose from $1,494 to $1,524 over the same time frame.\n\nThe Fed\u2019s announcment indicates it is taking stronger actions, including open-ended asset purchases, to support the flow of credit to households and businesses.\n\n\u201cThe Federal Reserve will continue to purchase Treasury securities and agency mortgage-backed securities in the amounts needed to support smooth market functioning and effective transmission of monetary policy to broader financial conditions,\u201d the central bank said.\n\nEssentially, the Fed now stands ready to expand its bond purchases as required. The central bank\u2019s balance sheet hit a record $4.7 trillion last week.\n\nWith the Fed going all-in to support the economy, sentiment on Wall Street turned positive alongside the uptick in bitcoin and gold. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which were down nearly 900 points during the European hours, are now reporting a 400-point gain.\n\nThe foreign exchange market reacted to the Fed\u2019s new QE effort by offering the greenback. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against majors, fell from 102.80 to 101.70 following the central bank\u2019s announcement.\n\nBitcoin\u2019s move higher along with gold is likely to revive the safe-haven narrative but it will be interesting to see if the positive correlation persists.\n\nBoth gold and bitcoin have fallen sharply over the last two weeks, reviving memories of the 2008 crash when the yellow metal had declined by 30 percent from $1,030 to $680 from March to October before decoupling in November. Gold went on to hit record highs above $1,900 per ounce in September 2011.\n\n\u201cHistory doesn\u2019t repeat itself but given the deluge of fiscal and monetary stimulus, incoming bitcoin bulls are hoping that it will rhyme,\u201d said crypto derivate research firm Skew Market in its daily update."}
-{"text": "Donald Trump has said that he is \u201cso proud\u201d of Nascar after reports suggested that the American motorsport will sack any individual who protests against the national anthem in the wake of the widespread NFL \u2018Take a Knee\u2019 gestures.\n\nPresident Trump is facing a large backlash over comments he made last week that claimed American football players should be fired if they kneel down during the American national anthem, a gesture that was started by ex-NFL quarterback Colin Kaeperknick to protest against police brutality and racial inequality that has been adopted by a number of fellow players.\n\nThree teams \u2013 the Tennessee Titans, Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers \u2013 elected to remain in the stadium tunnel ahead of their matches on Sunday in a further protest against Trump\u2019s recent comments, but many team owners in Nascar suggesting that they will fire drivers who refuse to respect the national anthem, with Trump supporting them.\n\nDonald Trump's international Presidential trips Show all 22 1 /22 Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Donald Trump's international Presidential trips French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump talk as they leave the Army Museum at Les Invalides in Paris AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump arrive for the group photo at the G7 Taormina summit on the island of Sicily in May 2017 Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Mr Trump was pressed on the subject at the G7 summit in Italy Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump gives a speeech at the Warsaw Uprising Monument on Krasinski Square Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May during a ceremony at the NATO headquarters before the start of a summit in Brussels, Belgium Reuters Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Montenegro's Prime Minister Dusko Markovic is seen to the right of Donald Trump at a Nato summit in Brussels REUTERS Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Pope Francis meeting with US President Donald J. Trump EPA Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Pope Francis poses with US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump arrives at Palazzo del Quirinale ahead of the meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella Ufficio Stampa Presidenza della via Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump is seen during a joint press conference with the Palestinian leader at the presidential palace in the West Bank city of Bethlehem AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas meets US President Donald Trump PPO via Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with US President Donald Trump prior to the President's departure GPO via Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands after delivering a speech at the Israel Museum AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump lay a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance as White House senior advisor Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump watch on during a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump visit to Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem accompanied by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu GPO via Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump takes his seat before his speech to the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia Reuters Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, US President Donald Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump look at a display of Saudi modern art at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud take part in a signing ceremony at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips King Salman presents Donald Trump with The Collar of Abdulaziz al-Saud Medal at the Royal Court Palace on 20 May AP Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump is welcomed by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud upon arrival at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk on the South Lawn prior to their first foreign trip Getty Images\n\n\u201cSo proud of NASCAR and its supporters and fans,\u201d tweeted Mr Trump. \u201cThey won't put up with disrespecting our Country or our Flag - they said it loud and clear!\u201d\n\n\u201cMany people booed the players who kneeled yesterday (which was a small percentage of total). These are fans who demand respect for our Flag!\n\n\u201cThe issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race. It is about respect for our Country, Flag and National Anthem. NFL must respect this!\u201d\n\nMr Trump\u2019s comments came after a number of Nascar team owners confirmed reports that they would sack drivers or team personnel if they refuse to stand for the national anthem. No protests took place at Sunday\u2019s race at New Hampshire Motorspeedway, but both Richard Childress and Richard Petty, two legends of the sport, confirmed that they would not allow it.\n\nBrad Keselowski honours the American national anthem ahead of the Nascar race at New Hamshire Motorspeedway (Getty)\n\n\"Anybody that works for me should respect the country we live in,\u201d Mr Childress said. \u201cSo many people gave their lives for it. This is America.\" He also added that any member of his team seen protesting against the anthem should be warned that \u201cit\u2019ll get you a ride on a greyhound bus\u201d.\n\nPetty, the most accomplished driver in Nascar history with the most wins and poles of any driver, said: \"Anybody that don't stand up for the anthem ought to be out of the country. Period. What got 'em where they're at? The United States.\"\n\nA third team owner, Joe Gibbs, who won three Super Bowls as coach of the Washington Redskins, added: \u201cSo much has been sacrificed for our country and our flag. It's a big deal for us to honour America. I'm proud of the way we've represented ourselves, and I'm proud of this sport, too. I think this sport has a certain way they look at things. I really appreciate that.\u201d\n\nMr Trump has supported Nascar team owners who will ban drivers that protest (EPA)\n\nHowever, Chip Ganassi, who runs teams in both Nascar and IndyCar, echoed Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin after he allowed his players to take their own stance and not allow it detract from the aim of winning their encounter against the Chicago Bears on Sunday."}
-{"text": "ISIS warriors cite the Koran as they look forward to raping captured Yazidi slave women. This is the most disgusting spectacle in a long time. This should be required viewing for anyone who calls Islam a \u201cgreat religion\u201d or for those American blacks who embrace Islam because they blame Christianity for slavery, not acknowledging that it was Christians who led the anti-slavery crusade.\n\nHat tip: The Right Scoop."}
-{"text": "NewEconoLabs (NEL) has published its bi-weekly report for the back half of August. NEL is a Chinese based community development group dedicated to enhancing the NEO ecosystem. Various updates were reported on projects such as NEODUN, CryptoGladiator, and other core NEL projects.\n\nCore projects\n\nThe NEL blockchain browser and wallet both received updates. The user experience was enhanced on the blockchain browser by improving the localization features. The site will automatically default to the user\u2019s language (English or Chinese) based on their browser settings, and the manual language selector now has consistent placing on both versions.\n\nThe NEL wallet was also the subject of user experience improvements, with a new user interface under development and additional changes made to data loading methods.\n\n100 NNC was also awarded to GitHub user treasureDouDou for proposals made to the https://github.com/NewEconoLab/nel-wallet-vue project.\n\nNEODUN\n\nVarious language updates were made to the NEODUN hardware wallet. NEL completed the English version of the NEODUN firmware and interface, and completed testing. The NEODUN Driver was also renamed to the NEODUN Manager and made easier to switch between languages.\n\nA bug was fixed with the signature mechanism of the device and additional prompts were added to the UI to improve the user experience.\n\nCryptoGladiator\n\nA range of bugs have been addressed in NEL\u2019s newly launched CryptoGladiator game. An issue with SGAS redemption has been been diagnosed with a fix on the way, whilst the ability to lease gladiators for cloning has been put on hold whilst the clone cooling function is repaired.\n\nAn Android .apk file has been developed and tested and is expected to be released soon, along with a new system called \u201cExpedition\u201d.\n\nNEO Game Development Competition\n\nThe NEO Game Development competition that was hosted by NEL and supported by NEO Global Development came to a close, with the the awards ceremony held on August 31st in Shanghai. The grand prize went to CardMaker, with the full list of grand prize winners found here.\n\nThe full bi-weekly report can be found at the link below.\n\nhttps://medium.com/neo-smart-economy/nel-second-bi-weekly-report-of-august-51600ff0d47e"}
-{"text": "Boxes sealed with ATHEIST tape lost by USPS 10X more often than controls\n\nAtheist Shoes (\"a cadre of shoemakers and artists in Berlin who hand-make ridiculously comfortable, Bauhaus-inspired shoes for people who don't believe in god(s)\") noticed that a disproportionate number of their shipments to the USA were delayed or lost. A customer suggested this may be because USPS workers were taking offense at the ATHEIST packing tape they used to seal the boxes. So the company tried an A/B split, and found that boxes emblazoned with ATHEIST tape were 10 times more likely to go missing in the USPS and took an average of three days longer than their generic equivalents. They've stopped using the ATHEIST packing tape.\n\nWeChat users in U.S. will not be penalized, says Justice Department \u2022 Users who sued claim Trump's ban on WeChat prohibits \"millions of WeChat users in the United States \u2026 from using the most popular social media space for Chinese speakers in the world.\" The Justice Department said on Wednesday that U.S.-based users of the Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat will not face civil or criminal penalties, [\u2026] READ THE REST\n\nVinyl records now outselling CDs For the first time in nearly four decades, vinyl records have outsold CDs. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), there were $232.1 million in vinyl music sales and $129.9 million in CD sales during the first half of 2020. Of course, that's pennies compared to streaming music's revenue of $4.8 billion for [\u2026] READ THE REST\n\nTrump to approve Oracle Tiktok deal Tuesday: CNBC The arranged deal in which Donald Trump's political ally and campaign donor Larry Ellison and his company Oracle become the sole U.S. technology provider to Tiktok, from China's ByteDance, is reportedly getting Trump's approval today. The Oracle-Tiktok deal will be announced by the White House on Tuesday afternoon, CNBC reported on Tuesday morning, citing sources. [\u2026] READ THE REST\n\nElectrical engineering is one of the most stable professions around, and this training can help get you there When you were a kid, your mom and dad probably told you to grow up and become a doctor or a lawyer. Practical people that they were, your parents probably assumed that if you were able to scale the educational heights of those revered professions, you'd be handsomely rewarded with a hefty paycheck. While you [\u2026] READ THE REST\n\nThe Jamstik lets you practice your guitar skills anytime, anywhere A decent starter electric guitar will often run you about $500 nowadays. If you'd rather learn to play before you dump hundreds into a cool instrument, the Jamstik Guitar Trainer is a brilliant way of turning you into a guitar player without the huge upfront expense. In addition to saving you money, the Jamstik has [\u2026] READ THE REST"}
-{"text": "Bill O\u2019Reilly\u2019s controversial slavery comments continue to incite outrage.\n\nOn Tuesday\u2019s episode of \u201cThe O\u2019Reilly Factor,\u201d the TV host said slaves who worked on the White House were \u201cwell-fed\u201d and had \u201cdecent lodgings.\u201d His comments came as a reaction to Michelle Obama\u2019s speech at the Democratic National Convention Monday, where she said, \u201cI wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn ... \u201d\n\nAfter that, outlets were reporting that the divisive political commentator defended the use of slavery, while O\u2019Reilly claimed he was being attacked by \u201cmedia deceivers.\u201d\n\nOn Wednesday, \u201cLate Late Show\u201d host James Corden sifted through the nonsense to explain the exact problem with O\u2019Reilly\u2019s remarks:\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019re a privileged older white man, maybe you should not be pointing out the positive aspects of slavery. In fact, never do \u2014 never, ever, ever, ever, ever \u2014 do that,\u201d said Corden.\n\nWow. Maybe celebs should sing \u201cCarpool Karaoke\u201d to that. Forget your fake rap battles, James Corden. That\u2019s how you drop the mic.\n\n\u201dThe Late Late Show\u201d airs weeknights at 12:37 a.m. ET on CBS."}
-{"text": "Getty Images\n\nWhile much remains unknown about the offense Chip Kelly wants to run \u2014 or who he wants to run it \u2014 it\u2019s clear that he wants to run a lot of it.\n\nThe Panthers defensive players looked gassed after last night\u2019s no-huddle first half, and at least one of them admitted it.\n\n\u201cI got tired, but that\u2019s all part of the game. Just got to fight through it, get to the next play and keep sound fundamentals,\u201d rookie defensive tackle Star Lotulelei said, via Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer. \u201cGet off the ball is what we teach in our defensive line room. So that\u2019s what I have to do.\u201d\n\nGetting off the field would have helped, if the goal was just catching a breath. The Eagles gained 257 yards in the first half with the starters on the field, converting all four of their third down attempts against the Panthers\u2019 first defense.\n\nFor the night, the Eagles ran 69 plays. That\u2019s well off last week\u2019s 86 in their fast-break game against the Patriots, but it\u2019s still a pace not many are accustomed to."}
-{"text": "While hosting small business owners at the White House recently, President Donald Trump didn\u2019t say much about his tax policy plans. The few words he offered, however, suggest that small business owners like us are going to be disappointed when Republican tax proposals are formally unveiled this fall.\n\n\u201c[My administration is] pursuing bold tax cuts so our companies can thrive, compete and grow,\u201d Trump said at the small business event.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nWhat President Trump Donald John TrumpUS reimposes UN sanctions on Iran amid increasing tensions Jeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Trump supporters chant 'Fill that seat' at North Carolina rally MORE and his allies do not understand is that small businesses don\u2019t want or need tax cuts in a vacuum. Instead, we want meaningful tax reform that will even the playing field for all businesses, large and small.\n\nPresident Trump has indicated that he intends to enact tax policies that will only benefit the wealthiest businesses. For example, the president said he wants to lower the top pass-through rate to 15 percent. While it is true that 82 percent of small businesses pass through their profits and losses to their personal returns, the vast majority already pay 15 percent or less.\n\nIn fact, according to data from the Tax Policy Center, only 12.6 percent of all small businesses pay more than a 25-percent rate. Importantly, virtually no small business owners making less than $100,000 would get any benefit from the proposal.\n\nThe pass-through rate reduction idea is far from the only problem with President Trump\u2019s plans. His suggestion to cap the corporate rate at 15 percent is also a bad idea because it would add a whopping $5.5 trillion to the deficit over 10 years without closing any of the corporate tax loopholes that put businesses like ours at an unfair advantage.\n\nThen there is the estate tax, which President Trump wants to eliminate. The argument for killing off the so-called \u201cdeath tax\u201d is often based in the false narrative that small, family businesses are unfairly burdened when those businesses are passed on to the next generation.\n\nIn reality, the estate tax, which only applies to estates valued above $11 million for married couples, and $5.5 million for single people, impacts only about 50 of our nation\u2019s 28 million small businesses and small farms.\n\nInstead, small business owners like us want tax reform that will level the playing field so we are not stuck footing the bill when large corporations take advantage of loopholes and avoid paying their fair share.\n\nIn fact, Small Business Majority\u2019s polling found that 90 percent of small business owners believe big corporations are using loopholes to avoid taxes that small businesses have to pay. Similarly, nine out of 10 small business owners believe that U.S. multinational corporations\u2019 use of these loopholes to shift U.S. profits overseas is a problem.\n\nOne way to address the concerns of small business owners is through repatriation, but the White House\u2019s repatriation proposal to bring back to the U.S. funds that are kept offshore at a reduced tax rate is problematic, because it fails to address the underlying problem of allowing multinational corporations to defer paying taxes on foreign profits in the first place.\n\nThis loophole costs the U.S. Treasury Department more than $1 trillion over 10 years, and only serves to benefit 50-60 multinationals at the expense of small businesses. Failing to address the underlying issue will mean that this problem will continue to arise again and again.\n\nIf President Trump is serious about real tax reform, he should make some of the following recommendations:\n\nEliminate unfair corporate loopholes while responsibly lowering business tax rates in a manner that ensures a net revenue increase;\n\nEnsure any changes to the corporate and personal tax code have a significant, direct benefit to small businesses instead of large businesses and hedge funds;\n\nCrack down on the ability of large corporations to reduce their tax burden simply by parking their profits offshore or moving their headquarters outside the country;\n\nUphold the estate tax, which impacts virtually no small businesses or small farms.\n\nAdopting just one of these principles would go a long way toward helping America\u2019s small businesses compete and create more jobs. Isn\u2019t that supposed to be the point of business tax reform?\n\nAnne Zimmerman is owner of Zimmerman and Co. CPAs in Cincinnati. Mike Brey is president and CEO of Hobby Works in the Washington, D.C., area. Both are members of Small Business Majority\u2019s Small Business Council.\n\nThe views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill."}
-{"text": "The stepbrother of the man who murdered Grace Millane has said her killer \"doesn't have any shred of a decent human being inside him\".\n\nHe apologised to Ms Millane's family in the interview on New Zealand television, which was released a day after his stepbrother was found guilty of murdering the British backpacker.\n\nImage: Grace Millane died last December after she was strangled\n\nThe man, who cannot be named, said he was disappointed that his stepbrother did not confess to the crime.\n\nHe told TVNZ: \"Sorry for their loss. To know it's one of our family members, even though it's not our actions, it's very difficult, and I can't imagine the pain and hurt and what they've had to go through, through court.\"\n\nThe Grace Millane case from start to finish\n\nThe 27-year-old killer - described as a \"sociopath\" during the trial - strangled Ms Millane, 21, during a date in Auckland on 1 December 2018 after they met on the dating site Tinder.\n\n\nHe shoved her body inside a suitcase before burying her in the Waitakere Ranges outside the city.\n\n'Grace was our sunshine'\n\nThroughout the trial, he denied murdering her, arguing that she died accidentally during consensual sex in which she asked to be strangled as part of a BDSM practice.\n\nThe stepbrother added: \"I don't think it was a violence thing, to me, I think it was power, it was just in a split moment, he enjoyed the power and kept going.\"\n\nImage: The suspect cannot be identified for legal reasons\n\nMs Millane's killer is facing life in prison with a minimum of 10 years when he is sentenced on 21 February."}
-{"text": "Interest in Bitcoin Cash was higher than for Ethereum from the 30th of July to the 5th of August according to Google Search Trend data.\n\nInterest in ethereum then rose while interest in Bitcoin Cash is projected to fall, but the data is currently incomplete to be able to conclusively say.\n\nThe week in question covers August 1st, the day when Bitcoin Cash was created. Therefore its rise in interest may have been limited to the event, but we\u2019ll have to wait and see how it develops in the coming days and weeks.\n\nOn the price front, it has somewhat stabilized just above $300 after its volatile trading period during the first week of August, with the currency seemingly going through some consolidation.\n\nIt has attracted some interest, with BitGo stating that \u201cdue to strong customer interest BitGo will enable full support of Bitcoin Cash. You\u2019ll soon find a new coin in the BitGo interface and be able to fully send and receive BCH from your BitGo wallet.\u201d\n\nIt thus appears, as some expected, that much of the bitcoin ecosystem will support Bitcoin Cash or already has done so with the currency tradable on many exchanges.\n\nEthereum, however, has seen a much more significant price rise during the same period. More than doubling from a recent bottomg of $130 to rise above $300 before slightly falling today.\n\nIts market cap is also considerably higher at nearly $30 billion, with the platform finding much interest due to its smart contracts functionalities.\n\nThey may be coming to Bitcoin Cash too through Rootstock, but ethereum has already established significant network effects in that area after the launch of the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance.\n\nHowever, the currency is yet to reach a new all-time high, so overshadowed by bitcoin\u2019s price movements and events during August, but they have plenty in stock for Autumn, including Devcon 3."}
-{"text": "Against today being the deadline from House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to turn over responsive documents to the committee, Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray head to Speaker Paul Ryan\u2019s office for an unscheduled meeting.\n\nIt\u2019s important to remember, though it might not be pertinent to this meeting, that Nunes and Ryan are both Go8 members. As such they are both allowed to receive and discuss the most confidential intelligence information from any intelligence agency. They, along with six others are at the top of the intelligence oversight pyramid.\n\nFBI Director Christopher Wray attending the meeting with Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein represents to top of both the FBI and DOJ side of the intelligence gathering system within the Department of Justice. Presumably the meeting is Rosenstein instead of Sessions because the subject matter surrounds something Sessions has recused himself from.\n\nAccepting the recused Sessions angle, the meeting between Speaker Paul Ryan, Wray and Rosenstein is then almost guaranteed to be about the Devin Nunes demand for the material that led the National Security Division of the DOJ to assemble a FISA request; ie. the application content, and did it hold information surrounding the Steele Dossier etc.\n\nI would warn people not to read too much into this meeting. It could possibly be a typical chain-of-command explanation where Rosenstein is explaining, and Wray backing him up, why the DOJ must delay responding. It would be an accurate approach to inform the House Speaker prior to responding to Chairman Nunes request.\n\nWASHINGTON DC \u2013 Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Chris Wray made an unannounced visit to Speaker Paul Ryan\u2019s office Wednesday as the Justice Department grapples with an increasingly hostile faction of House Republicans demanding documents related to the bureau\u2019s Russia probe. Rosenstein was spotted entering Ryan\u2019s office, and a spokesman for the speaker confirmed that Rosenstein and Wray had requested the meeting. A second person familiar with the meeting said it was related to a document request issued over the summer by House intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes. (read more, but see through the spin)\n\nThe FBI Counterintelligence Division began an official counterintelligence investigation on/around July 15th, 2016. The target of the investigation was the Donald Trump campaign. The FBI has refused to answer questions or allow investigative oversight toward the origin of their endeavor.\n\nIn October 2016, immediately after the DOJ lawyers formatted the FBI information (Steele Dossier etc.) for the FISA application, the head of the NSD, Asst. Attorney General John P Carlin, left his job. During his exit John Carlin informed the FISA court the DOJ-NSD frequently provided false information to the court to gain FISA warrants \u2013 Read Here.\n\n\u2666FBI Agent Peter Strzok has been reassigned to the HR department. \u2666FBI Lawyer Lisa Page, personal legal aide to FBI Asst. Director, Andrew \u201cAndy\u201d McCabe, has been returned to the DOJ side. \u2666FBI Chief Legal Counsel James Baker has been relieved of his duties by FBI Director Christopher Wray. \u2666FBI Asst Director Andrew McCabe has announced his intent to retire in March.\n\nChairman Devin Nunes wants answers to the origin of the FBI counterintelligence operation. Back in February 2017 Devin Nunes went to a secure SCIF and saw some of the unmasking reports that stemmed from that operation."}
-{"text": "As I was driving home one day, pondering how the 2018 season would play out for the West Virginia Mountaineers, I began thinking about all of the good times we\u2019ve had since head coach Dana Holgorsen took over. Don\u2019t let the haters fool you either, there have been some very good times. Without further ado, here are the top ten wins in Dana Holgorsen\u2019s West Virginia tenure.\n\n10. #11 WVU 70, #25 Baylor 63 (2012)\n\nThe Mountaineers first Big 12 Conference game was a record-setter. It defined \u201cBig 12 Football\u201d to the world and announced that the Mountaineers had the talent to compete in the Big 12. Baylor, before they became world beaters (and cheaters!) under former head coach Art Briles, were known as this quirky, difficult team on the Big 12 schedule.\n\nBriles\u2019 offense split the receivers as far out as possible, threw deep a lot and forced you to pick your poison: play one-on-one with the receivers so your safety could help in run defense or bracket a receiver and defend the run with six in the box.\n\nThe game saw former quarterback Geno Smith throw for school record of 656 yards. He tied a Big 12 record with eight passing touchdowns. Both teams traded scores in the first half, including the young Mountaineer defense allowing a 67-yard touchdown reception as time expired in the first half. The Mountaineers reeled off a 21-7 third quarter and hung on for a 70-63 final score.\n\n9. WVU 30, #11 Oklahoma State 21 (2013)\n\nIn what would go down as a dismal season for WVU, the team did pull off an unlikely upset in Morgantown. The Oklahoma State Cowboys came to Morgantown ranked #11 and sitting at 3-0. They would leave Morgantown with their first loss that season. The Mountaineers shuffled quarterbacks throughout the 2013 season but against Oklahoma State, former kisser of Nick Saban\u2019s daughter Clint Trickett engineered some Mountaineer magic.\n\nKeith Patterson\u2019s defense generated three turnovers over J.W. Walsh and proved opportunistic, scoring thirteen points off those turnovers. The win would put the Mountaineers at 3-2 in the young season, before everything spiraled out of control for the Mountaineers.\n\n8. #23 WVU 30, South Florida 27 (2011)\n\nThis game featured one of my favorite catches of all time by Stedman Bailey. The Mountaineers blew a 20-13 fourth quarter lead against the South Florida Bulls to find themselves down 27-20.\n\nRunning back Dustin Garrison tied the game at 27-all with five minutes left. On the ensuing USF possession, current Indianapolis Colts linebacker Najee Goode forced a fumble by quarterback BJ Daniels and the Mountaineers were set up with a chance to tie the game.\n\nGeno Smith was sacked with 45 seconds left in the game. This put the team behind the eight-ball as the clock was winding down. On fourth and ten, Geno fired a pass across the middle that was caught by a diving Stedman Bailey. Bailey had the wind knocked out of him but had to get set so the Mountaineers, who were out of timeouts, could spike the ball and set up kicker Tyler Bitancurt. Garrison astutely yanked Bailey to his feet and forced the wide receiver to get set.\n\nBitancurt\u2019s kick sailed through the uprights, giving the Mountaineers a share of the Big East title in their final season in the Big East.\n\n7. West Virginia 46, #24 Texas Tech 35 (2017)\n\nIt was a long time coming, the win against Texas Tech Red Raiders. The Mountaineers beat Baylor in 2014 and then suffered two-and-a-half years before they beat another ranked team. The Mountaineers lost 10 straight games to ranked teams before finally getting the monkey off their back.\n\nDefensive coordinator Tony Gibson has proven to be kryptonite to Kliff Kingsbury\u2019s high octane Air Raid offense. Despite the Red Raiders ranking in the top five in total offense, West Virginia has generally held the fighting Ryan Gosling\u2019s below their season average.\n\nIn 2017, quarterback Will Grier threw four touchdowns in the second half as the Mountaineers overcame a 35-17 deficit to secure their first win over a ranked team.\n\n6. West Virginia 17, Kansas State 16 (2016)\n\nWhen the Mountaineers joined the Big 12, Kansas State Wildcats had proven to be a thorn in the Mountaineers side. Luckily for WVU, the margin of victory was decreasing each passing year. In 2015, with a chance at an eight-win season regular season and a five-game win streak to end the season, West Virginia allowed a kickoff return by return specialist Morgan Burns and couldn\u2019t overcome wizard Bill Snyder.\n\nThat luck changed in 2016 when the Mountaineers finally caught a break. Jesse Ertz was no Colin Klein and Bill Snyder was unable to conjure up magic from his wealth of junior college recruits and two-star athletes. With the Mountaineers lifeless on offense, receiver Shelton Gibson went up for a Skyler Howard pass and had his helmet ripped off. Gibson hung onto the ball and kick started the offense.\n\nQuarterback Skyler Howard threw for 298 yards including the game-winning touchdown to Jovon Durante. The Wildcats missed a potential game-winning field goal and the Mountaineers had their first win over Snyder and the Wildcats.\n\n5. WVU 21, Pitt 20 (2011)\n\nThe 104th version of the Backyard Brawl featured Pitt being Pitt. With Tino Suseri, remember that guy, the guy who was supposed to be better than Geno, holding the ball down one and a chance to be a hero, Pitt took back to back sacks to end the game.\n\nWest Virginia started slow, a theme for the Mountaineers in 2011. The Pittsburgh Panthers jumped out to a 20-7 lead with 11 minutes left in the third quarter. They then failed to score again as West Virginia scored two rushing touchdowns.\n\nWith Suseri facing a 1st and 10 on his own 44, Suseri fired an incomplete pass. On second down, Tino rolled out to his left but was chased down by Najee Goode and Bruce Irvin. On third down, Bruce Irvin stripped Suseri of the ball, ending the game.\n\nOverall, the Mountaineers collected TEN sacks on Suseri, including 4 in that final drive. The 104th version of the Backyard Brawl wasn\u2019t an instant classic but it was the last time the two teams played. It would be on this list no matter what.\n\n4. WVU 43, Arizona State 42 (2015)\n\nThis is one of my favorite games. I had no idea what to think about this game but I remember staying up all night, watching us go back and forth with former Pitt Panther head coach Todd Graham and the Arizona State Sun Devils. This was the first season with Skyler Howard at quarterback and Tony Gibson calling the shots on defense.\n\nThe game, the last bowl game played before the last BCS title game, lasted until three AM eastern. At the end of the first half, following Howard\u2019s second touchdown of the half, kicker Josh Lambert\u2019s point after kick was blocked and returned for two points and a safety.\n\nThe safety forced the Mountaineers to free kick, which gave the Sun Devils at their own 49. They quickly moved the ball and kicked a field goal as time expired, cutting the lead to 22-18 instead of it being 23-13.\n\nThe bowl game also featured David Sills catching his second touchdown of the season on only his 7th reception. Even that early we could tell all Sills did was catch touchdowns.\n\n3. #8 WVU 48, #11 Texas 45 (2012)\n\nIn 2012, this was the game that convinced me (before I knew better) that West Virginia was going to be a world-beater. Texas Longhorns, at the time, were looking like a very good football team. The 2012 version of the Longhorns would win 9 games, the last time they were that close to winning double digits.\n\nBoth teams entered the game at 4-0 and the Mountaineers left Austin, Texas at 5-0 and looking like the team to beat. Geno Smith and Tavon Austin connected 10 times for 102 yards, including three times on fourth down, once for a long touchdown.\n\nThe defense bent but didn\u2019t break. Karl Joseph cemented his legacy early in his freshman year when he committed murder on Marquise Goodwin. This was the highpoint of the 2012 season.\n\n2. WVU 41, #4 Baylor 24\n\nThe last \u201cbig\u201d win by the Mountaineers occured in 2014. In Tony Gibson\u2019s first year as defensive coordinator, he found his identity in this game. Gibson famously noticed that no one was willing to challenge Baylor one-on-one. Gibson told his corners, \u201cWe\u2019re playing man press and you need to accept this challenge\u201d. His corners responded by holding the buzzsaw Baylor Bears to 318 total yards.\n\nMost people remember this game for the final score but I always remember it for Kevin White displaying his full GrownAssMan #GAM powers. White hauled in two touchdowns, including a beautiful one-handed grab. Baylor also committed pass interference penalties on nearly every down and the refs called their bluff.\n\nClint Trickett connected with Mario Alford mid-way through the 4th quarter, pushing the score to the final of 41-24. From there on, you saw Baylor quit. The loss would be the only blemish on Baylor\u2019s schedule and it ultimately kept them out of the BCS Championship game.\n\n1. #23 WVU 70, #15 Clemson 33 (2011)\n\nThe ultimate game under Dana Holgorsen. West Virginia took on the Clemson Tigers in the Discover Orange Bowl and laid what can only be described as \u201ca smackdown of epic proportions\u201d. The first half was a back and forth affair as teams traded scoring possessions. The Mountaineers held a 21-17 edge as Clemson drove down the field. Standing at the WVU 3 yard line, Clemson handed the ball off to running back Andre Ellington. He was stood up at the goalline and eventually stripped by linebacker Darwin Cook. Cook raced down the field before anyone realized what happened and scored a 99-yard touchdown and took out the Orange Bowl mascot.\n\nCook\u2019s touchdown turned the tide and the Mountaineers scored 35 points in the second half. Clemson withered, pulling their trademark \u201cClemsoning\u201d. Tavon Austin and Geno Smith perfected the Jet Sweep Touch Pass as Austin scored four times on the play. Geno Smith tied the national bowl record with six touchdown passes.\n\nAustin tied a record for any bowl game with four touchdown catches. Smith went 31 for 42, and had 401 yards passing to break Tom Brady\u2019s Orange Bowl record. Smith also ran for a score, helping West Virginia break the bowl record for points established six nights earlier when Baylor beat Washington 67-56 in the Alamo Bowl."}
-{"text": "By Jason Mark\n\nSequoiadendron giganteum. That's the scientific name for the giant sequoia: the mammoth trees found in California's Sierra Nevada that are the largest organisms on Earth, and among the longest-lived. Biologists estimate that about half of all sequoias live in Giant Sequoia National Monument, a 328,000-acre preserve in the Southern Sierra Nevada established by President Clinton in 2000.\n\nNow that national monument is in jeopardy.\n\nWhen President Donald Trump signed an executive order in April directing Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke to review national monuments established since 1996 and larger than 100,000 acres to determine whether they should be rescinded or reduced in size, it appeared that California's national monuments were relatively safe. Although California is home to six of the 27 monuments under review (more than any other state), its monuments haven't been as controversial as others on Zinke's list.\n\nSo far, much of the Zinke's attention has been focused on Utah's Bears Ears\u2014which earlier this month the interior secretary said he was likely to recommend downsizing\u2014and Maine's Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, where, despite strong support from local residents and the rest of the state's political establishment, Gov. Paul LePage is waging a one-man campaign to abolish the monument. It seemed likely that the six California monuments (Mojave Trails, Sand to Snow, Berryessa Snow Mountain, San Gabriel Mountains, Carrizo Plain, and Giant Sequoia) would escape the unprecedented Trump-Zinke assault on public lands.\n\n\"When we first heard that Trump wanted to look into the monuments, we thought it wouldn't do much to change things here,\" said Arturo Rodriguez, policy coordinator for Wild Places, an environmental organization in the southern Sierra Nevada. \"Now, we've started organizing and calling friends\" to protect Giant Sequoia National Monument.\n\nThe fight over the future of Giant Sequoia will intensify Tuesday, June 27, as supervisors in two California counties vote on measures to roll back protections for forests within the monument. Supervisors in Tulare County will consider a resolution urging Sec. Zinke to \"clearly permit the removal of dead or dying hazard trees and to allow the U.S. Forest Service to actively manage the groves\"\u2014a demand that echoes the wishes of logging companies, which for years have sought to cut timber in the monument. Also Tuesday, supervisors in Kern County will vote on a resolution calling on Sec. Zinke to reduce Giant Sequoia National Monument by 200,000 acres.\n\nWhile the Kern County proposal to slash the monument by two-thirds would still protect the groves where the giant sequoia are found, conservationists say the idea ignores the biological necessity of protecting the entire ecosystem. For the sequoias to thrive, the forests surrounding them also have to thrive, too.\n\n\"This is the remaining extent of the largest trees on the planet, the largest living things on the planet, and they exist within the context of an area that has been heavily logged,\" said Paul Ringgold, chief program officer of Save the Redwoods League. \"In addition to the 90,000 acres that are specific to the giant sequoia groves, we believe that the rest of the area is deserving of protection so that it can function as a whole ecosystem, and not just as a zoo or a bell jar placed over these remaining sequoia groves and calling it good.\"\n\n\"These groves are part of a larger web of life,\" said Ryan Henson, senior policy director at the California Wilderness Coalition. \"They are surrounded by tree species that would be giants in and of themselves if they weren't dwarfed by the sequoias.\" Henson said that the current 300,000-plus acres of protection are necessary to give sequoias the ability to spread to new areas as temperatures increase due to climate disruption. \"Giants need room to roam\u2014even if they're trees.\"\n\nSome of the arguments being deployed against Giant Sequoia misrepresent basic facts about how the monument is being managed and appear to be a thinly veiled attempt to allow commercial logging in the area, conservation groups say. The Kern County draft resolution, for example, says that \"dying trees from the many years of drought are directly threatening our mountain communities,\" in the words of the Kern County draft resolution. But according to Susan Britting, executive director of Sierra Forest Legacy, the management plan for the monument allows for select logging along Forest Service roads to reduce fire risk and intensity. The wildfire issue, Britting said, \"is a red herring.\"\n\nAnd while monument opponents claim there wasn't adequate public input in President Clinton's decision to create the monument\u2014 \"local officials were not invited for public comment, feedback was not received from the community,\" the Tulare County draft resolution says\u2014the effort to create the monument was, in fact, broad-based. In the lead up to monument designation, 65 California state legislators and 16 members of Congress from California wrote to President Clinton asking him to protect the area. The Sierra Club gathered some 600,000 postcards from people in support of monument creation. \"The vetting went on for several years, with stakeholders and researchers examining the benefits of that landscape from an economic value, a water quality and habitat value, and looking at the various pros and cons,\" Ringgold said.\n\n\"The way I see it, and this is just my read, is that the logging companies are letting the county commissioners carry water for them\" said Chad Hanson, director of the John Muir Project, a forest watchdog group. \"They have a history of logging that area. There is mature timber there that they would love to log if they could.\"\n\nIndeed, even after the monument was created, logging companies were trying to cut timber there.\n\nThe original management plan for the monument\u2014drafted by the George W. Bush administration and released in 2005\u2014allowed for commercial logging in the area. Conservation groups sued to stop that plan, and in 2006 a federal judge ruled against logging in the monument. Since President Trump took office, the timber industry has begun lobbying for greater logging in the national forests.\n\nAsked for its stance on Giant Sequoia National Monument, the California Forestry Association, a timber industry group, said: \"We fully support the protection of the giant Sequoia trees and know that the best way to protect them is to manage the surrounding forestlands by reducing the fuel loads and thinning the surrounding forest to help protect the giant sequoias from catastrophic wildfire. Restricting forest management within the 327,000 acres has created overly dense forestlands. These unhealthy forest conditions are being exacerbated by the bark beetle and are at risk of catastrophic wildfire.\"\n\nIn response, Hanson, a forest and fire ecologist, pointed out that giant sequoias actually require fire for their seeds to effectively germinate and grow into saplings, and he noted that hundreds of scientific studies now conclude that post-fire habitat is some of the very best and most biodiverse wildlife habitat. \"When the logging industry says 'thinning', they are really talking about intensive commercial logging projects that would destroy the giant sequoia forest ecosystems and associated forests in the monument,\" Hanson said.\n\nEven as some officials in Kern and Tulare counties make the case for downsizing the national monument, other community leaders have spoken out in favor of sustaining Giant Sequoia at its current size. Two weeks ago, the city council of Porterville, California\u2014one of the primary gateway communities into the monument\u2014debated a resolution calling for a reduction in the monument's size. The Porterville city council ended up voting 3-2 against monument downsizing and decided to write a letter to Zinke in support of the monument.\n\nWhile area environmentalists applauded the Porterville vote, the meeting left them worried about the political machinations that appear to be behind the push for monument reduction. One of the more interesting moments at the public meeting (which Wild Places filmed) occurred when council member Cameron Hamilton said that the monument-reduction resolution \"came from Congressman McCarthy\"\u2014that is, Republican Kevin McCarthy, the House Majority Leader. McCarthy's office did not respond to requests to clarify council member Hamilton's statement.\n\n\"We don't know McCarthy's motivation,\" said Rodriguez of Wild Places. But he says that his group and others remain cautiously optimistic that they will be able to successfully defend the monument. \"It's high on our priority list, and we're doing everything we can to get the message out. This place is beautiful. Instead of decreasing it, we should be talking about increasing it.\"\n\nReposted with permission from Sierra Magazine."}
-{"text": "When the Duchess of Cambridge, formerly known as Kate Middleton, emerges from the doors of the private Lindo Wing at St. Mary\u2019s Hospital in central London with her newborn child, she\u2019ll be met by a 60-ft.-long bank of photographers and cameramen standing four deep. They\u2019ll be ready for her: just under two weeks before the baby\u2019s officially announced due date of July 13, members of the press have already neatly marked out their positions on the pavement directly opposite the Lindo Wing with tape bearing the names of their various news organizations and photo agencies. Colored tape marks out squares on a large section of the sidewalk that has been defined by metal barriers \u2014 and which faces the door where Kate, William and their baby are due to make their first public appearance.\n\nLondon-based freelance cameraman Kris Burzynski, 61, was one of the first to arrive. On the evening of June 30, he and his colleagues at the Associated Press claimed their position at the front of the tangle of cables, stepladders and microphones, and since then they\u2019ve been working in shifts: at 10 a.m. on July 2, Burzynski was just finishing a 12-hour stint. He says the high points of his 32-year career have been his numerous assignments in war zones around the globe \u2014 a world away from his current assignment of standing for hours on end on a chilly London street. But he says the waiting around doesn\u2019t bother him. \u201cI\u2019m a freelancer,\u201d he says. \u201cThe longer I wait, the more money I make.\u201d\n\n(MORE: Why the Royal Baby Is Already a Global Figure)\n\nFor freelance photographer Kelvin Bruce, 45, who only covers official royal engagements, the royals are his livelihood. After making sure his position on the sidewalk is still reserved, he fires off some test shots with the 300-mm lens he\u2019ll be using on the day. As for when that might be, he says he hasn\u2019t heard any rumors: \u201cGod knows, to be honest.\u201d But the waiting will all be worth it in the end, as after 20 years in the business, he says the best part of the job remains the moment he gets the perfect shot. \u201cYou put a lot of effort into it, and you\u2019ll get it,\u201d he says. But he acknowledges that in a situation like this, it will be hard to miss the shot. \u201cEveryone will get the same picture,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can\u2019t not get it, really \u2014 you\u2019re only standing on a step.\u201d If you mess it up, he says, \u201cyou don\u2019t deserve to get it.\u201d\n\nNot everyone milling around opposite the Lindo Wing is waiting to capture the moment the world first sees the royal baby. Kaya Mar, a Spanish-born artist who has lived in the U.K. for 40 years, specializes in political paintings \u2014 his past works have satirized the amount of money spent on the Queen\u2019s Diamond Jubilee and former Prime Minister Tony Blair\u2019s relationship with the U.S. \u2014 which he takes to display at political conferences and other high-profile events. His latest work, which he brought from his home in Ealing, West London, to show off to the world\u2019s press, is a 4-ft.-high portrait of Kate cradling a golden baby. Kate has a halo. \u201cThe woman has everything. If someone has everything, what do you give to them? So I gave her a halo, because she\u2019s got everything,\u201d he explains.\n\n(MORE: Royal Baby\u2019s Bump to British Economy Estimated at $376 Million)\n\nTony Day, 39, a freelance cameraman who has covered royal events in the past, expects, from experience, to see more eccentrics like Mar over the coming days. \u201cIt\u2019s not been too bad, so far. It\u2019s still early yet for that kind of thing,\u201d he says. Sitting on folding chairs, he and soundman John Harrison, 50, are passing the time by organizing a sweepstake on the date of the royal baby\u2019s birth. Day, who is betting on July 15, is planning to go to a local bookmaker and get an odds sheet and tape it to a nearby concrete pillar. Harrison, also a freelancer and hoping for a long, profitable wait for the baby to arrive, is going for July 23 (\u201cI\u2019m optimistic,\u201d he says). If he gets his way, then for the dozen or so members of the press camped opposite the Lindo Wing, it could be a long three weeks.\n\nMORE: Retailers Cash In With Wacky Royal-Baby Souvenirs"}
-{"text": "Britain Proposes 10-Year Prison Terms for Copyright Infringement\n\nOnline piracy isn\u2019t something that happened in the late-90s; it\u2019s a continued scourge on a now-decimated recording industry. It\u2019s also a massive-and-growing threat to larger industries like television, film, and gaming.\n\nBut is this a battle that can be fought by stiffer penalties and heavier hammers?\n\nWelcome to the debate in Britain, where long, decade-long prison terms for online copyright infringement are being soundly rejected by the public, with copyright violations themselves not being viewed as a serious crime.\n\nCurrently, British statutes call for two-year term maximums. And that may be the extent of it: according to just-released survey data, nearly 98% of the British public hate the idea of a long-term lockup for infringement.\n\nThe debate over prison terms started last year, when UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) recommended far stiffer incarceration for large-scale online piracy. The recommendation was taken very seriously by the British government, which announced plans to pursue full, ten-year prison term maximums to adequately deter infringement activity.\n\nFor starters, the shift would better align copyright infringement penalties with crimes like counterfeiting, as determined in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. It would also create a totally different terrain for UK-hosted piracy operators.\n\nThe British public seems to disagree. Part of the resistance comes from the crime itself, which is not being viewed as a serious offense, especially against bigger crimes like murder, violent attacks, terrorism, and rape. \u201c10 years is too high; copyright infringement is not a serious crime\u201d was one oft-repeated survey comment, though it should be noted that a large percentage of the survey respondents came through the Open Rights Group, a non-profit dedicated to online freedoms and less-restrictive copyright laws.\n\nAnother major concern was the possibility of abuse by judges against small-time swappers, and even those unaware of copyright law. Specifically, a lack of language specifically targeting commercial, large-scale infringers was missing, opening the door to small-scale violators facing big-scale penalties.\n\nSo, shut the ten-year initiative down? On this, the Intellectual Property Office remained totally vague, especially given the likely skew of the findings. \u201cThis proposal has clearly struck a chord with many stakeholders, which is reflected in the high number of responses,\u201d the report concluded. \u201cAs a result, the Government is now carefully considering the best way forward.\u201d\n\nTop image by Claire, CC by 2.0."}
-{"text": "Creating an honest and open culture is hard to do, but the benefits are pretty clear. Organizations that foster an atmosphere where people can engage in a critique of their project/idea/design/etc. without feeling that they are being personally critiqued are ones that succeed. Some of the most successful organizations in the world are ones that have embraced open cultures: Bridgewater Associates, Google, and Qualtrics are just a few examples.\n\nRay Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater, is well known for building the largest hedge fund in the world; he\u2019s also regarded for his ebook, Principles. In it he shares his life and business management tactics. One of the most striking lessons from his book is from the section on truth \u2014 his most fundamental principle:\n\nI learned that there is nothing to fear from truth. While some truths can be scary\u2014for example, finding out that you have a deadly disease\u2014knowing them allows us to deal with them better. Being truthful, and letting others be completely truthful, allows me and others to fully explore our thoughts and exposes us to the feedback that is essential for our learning.\n\nBridgewater has gone to great lengths to ensure transparency at all levels of the firm, notably they record all meetings and allow any employee to go back and watch what occurred. Likewise, Qualtrics allows all employees to see what every other employee is working on and their progress on that project (they can even watch all the security footage if they cared too). When a professor of mine took our class to visit Google\u2019s NYC HQ we all had to sign a NDA at the door, because Googlers have no qualms about dragging a whiteboard into the middle of a hall and asking random bypassers to critique their project.\n\nAs Ryan Holiday pointed out in his new book, Growth Hacker Marketing, the Socratic method is quite effective for applying the Lean Startup\u2019s \u2018Product Market Fit\u2019. In the book Holiday says, \u201cWe must simply and repeatedly question every assumption. Who is this product for? Why would they use it? Why do I use it?\u201d In order to build an amazing product you need to question yourself and question your customers.You need to determine what the needs of the market are.\n\nThere\u2019s an ego component when you deploy the Socratic method. If you\u2019re continually questioning it can offend people, which is why you have to question the process \u2014 not the person. Be cognizant of this, especially the first few times you deploy this technique.\n\nOpen cultures fight off mediocrity, because when everyone is honest about their goals and progress they become much more accountable. The Socratic method is just one way to build an open culture. By having frank discussions where you are not afraid to drill into your organization's core tenants you set a strong precedent for honesty and openness.\n\nSo, how do you actually use the Socratic method?\n\nSocrates\u2019 approach \u2014 a cycle of continual questioning \u2014 would expose contradictions that falsified the original assumption. He always began by having the person he engaged with clarify their thoughts.\n\nHe wanted his students to dig beneath the surface of their ideas, and value the process of developing questions. Start off with questions such as:\n\n\u2018Why do you say that?\u2019, \u2018Could you explain further?\u2019\n\nYou want to drill down to the simplest, purest assumptions. If these do not hold up to logic than they cannot lay the foundation for the rest of your argument.\n\nYou want to drill down into the evidence for their argument. At this stage it is necessary to understand the basis for their beliefs:\n\n\u2018Why do you say that?\u2019, \u2018What led you to this assumption?\u2019\n\nTry to pull out alternative viewpoints, get inside the mind of your consumer (or better yet someone who you think would never buy your product or service):\n\n\u2018Is there another way to see this?\u2019, \u2018How can we counter this argument?\u2019\n\nUse the line of questioning to arrive at the implications of your assumptions. Try to determine what would happen if you changed the variables around your idea:\n\n\u2018What would be the result if _____ happened?\u2019, \u2018How does ____ affect ____?\u2019\n\nFinally, question yourself. Question the questions you've asked. Question your motives for asking those questions. Question your biases:\n\n\u2018Which of the questions I asked were most useful?\u2019, \u2018Which were the hardest to answer?\u2019, \u2018Why do you think I asked you that question?\u2019, \u2018Was there anything I should have asked but didn\u2019t?\u2019"}
-{"text": "india\n\nUpdated: Mar 31, 2020 23:06 IST\n\nThe 1,000-odd foreign nationals who are in the country to participate in Tablighi Jamaat activities could be barred from returning over violation of their visa conditions, a government official said on Tuesday. The official said most of them had entered the country on tourist visas, but appeared to be involved in activities that require a missionary visa.\n\nThe visa status of the foreign Tablighi Jamaat workers came into focus after 24 people living in the headquarters of the religious sect in Delhi\u2019s Nizamuddin area tested positive for coronavirus on Monday. Authorities rushed to evacuate the five-storey building and test the hundreds of inmates who were still around for the highly contagious Sars-Cov-2 virus. More than 300 others have symptoms of Covid-19, a Union home ministry statement issued on Tuesday evening said.\n\nThe home ministry said 1,203 Jamaat workers at the Hazrat Nizamuddin Markaz had been medically screened, an exercise that started on March 26. Those who had symptoms have been sent to hospitals; others to state-run quarantine centres at Narela, Bakkarwala and Sultanpuri. By the evening, the government said, every Jamaat worker would be moved out of Nizamuddin Markaz.\n\nThe home ministry also cited several messages that had been sent to the states alerting them to the need to locate, identify and screen the foreign and Indian workers of the sect. One of the earliest messages was sent on March 21, after one of the Jamaat volunteers was reported positive for the virus.\n\nThe last one was on March 29 from the Intelligence Bureau director, telling state police chiefs to track down these workers and their contacts for the Sars-Cov-2 pathogen.\n\nSimultaneously, the home ministry has also asked state police officials to report back if their activities were consistent with their visa. A senior government official suggested that all of them appeared to have violated their visa conditions since they entered the country on a tourist visa, not a missionary visa.\n\nOf the 1,746 persons staying in Hazrat Nizamuddin Markaz on March 21, the home ministry said 216 were foreigners and 1,530 were Indians. Apart from them, there were 824 foreign Tablighi Jamaat workers in different parts of the country for missionary work.\n\nThe security establishment carries out rigorous checks for requests for a missionary visa as compared to tourist visa applications.\n\n\u201cUsually, all the foreign nationals visiting India as a part of the Tabligh team come on the strength of a tourist visa. MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) had already issued guidelines that they should not indulge in missionary work on tourist visa. State Police would be examining categories of visas of all these foreign TJ workers and take further action in case of violation of visa conditions,\u201d the home ministry statement confirmed."}
-{"text": "Rumors about the royal family have been rapidly circulating lately, in particular regarding feuds. First, there was speculation that Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle did not get along.\n\nThis went on for months, with people even saying the supposed rift was the real reason Meghan and Prince Harry decided to move to Windsor. Even though these rumors were put to rest, more have surfaced, this time about a feud between Prince William and Prince Harry.\n\nThe famously close brothers are said to be involved in a rift with each other, leaving many fans wondering what it could possibly be about. With another rumor circulating, in which people think that William may have cheated on Kate with her friend, Rose Hanbury, fans can\u2019t help but wonder if the two scandals are related.\n\nIs Prince Harry\u2019s feud with his brother over the rumored Rose Hanbury affair?\n\nWhat is going on?\n\nIn recent weeks, Kate Middleton and her friend Rose Hanbury have had some sort of a falling out. They were close for years, with Rose\u2019s family being connected to the royals for quite some time. Her grandmother was even a bridesmaid to Queen Elizabeth when she married Prince Philip.\n\nNo one knows exactly what happened between Rose and the duchess, but many fans suspect an alleged affair with Prince William thanks to tabloid stories and zero evidence.\n\nAre the brothers feuding?\n\nOver the past few weeks, there has been talk of a royal feud between two of our favorite princes. The brothers have always been extremely close, supporting each other during both difficult and happy times, and always laughing, joking, and spending time together. After Meghan Markle and Harry got married, it was thought that their wives were at odds.\n\nNow that those rumors are finally dying down, fans feel that the real tension is between William and Harry. Many people felt even more so that the rumors were true when the brothers were photographed exchanging cold looks on Easter Sunday.\n\nWhat is the feud about?\n\nNo one knows for sure, and no official statements have been released. Initially, it was believed that William had expressed concerns that Harry and Meghan\u2019s relationship had moved too fast, making Harry absolutely livid.\n\nThere was never any proof of this, but fans didn\u2019t stop wondering what possibly could be causing tension between the two princes. Now, many feel that the rumored Rose Hanbury affair could be the cause of the feud.\n\nHarry and Kate have always been close\n\nEven before Kate married into the royal family back in 2011, she was close friends with Prince Harry. The two could often be seen enjoying each other\u2019s company, at times even sitting next to each other at royal events.\n\nIt certainly makes sense that Harry would want to protect Kate, and if the cheating rumors turned out to be true, he would likely want to provide all of the support that he possibly could to his sister-in-law.\n\nIs the alleged feud over the Rose Hanbury rumors?\n\nIt doesn\u2019t seem to be. The cheating rumors have not actually been confirmed at this point, and William and Kate don\u2019t seem fazed by the speculation one bit. This likely indicates that they are, in fact, nothing but rumors, and there would be no tension between William and Harry regarding what fans are thinking.\n\nIf the brothers actually are feuding, we do not know what has caused the disagreement between them. We do know, however, that if anyone can work out whatever is going on, William and Harry can. They have a strong, brotherly bond that can\u2019t be broken, and while it is certainly possible that they have hit a rough patch, whatever it is will likely pass soon."}
-{"text": "Page not found\n\nThe page you are looking for might have been moved, deleted, or renamed. Please use the navigation menu to find what you were looking for.\n\nWe're mapping our old site to our new structure. Please bear with us and try using the new navigation menu icon in the upper left. Our website was registered in 1995, so there are many URLs to remap. Here are some high volume pages you may be looking for."}
-{"text": "The U17s and U18s welcome the Bloomington Thunder to USA Hockey Arena for the final home games of the season with a pair of 7 p.m. ET matchups Friday (March 24) and Saturday (March 25).\n\nThe U17s are looking to bounce back after a pair of losses last weekend to Sioux City on Friday (March 17, 2-1) and Saturday (March 25, 8-1). They play their last home game of the season Friday night (March 24) before finishing the season on the road against the Fargo Force and Youngstown Phantoms.\n\nThe U18s are looking to continue their winning ways following a series sweep against Dubuque winning, 5-2 and 3-1 last weekend. They wrap up their last home game of the season at USA Hockey Arena hosting Bloomington Saturday night (March 25) before hitting the road to face the Muskegon Lumberjacks in their final USHL matchup."}
-{"text": "Longtime major league hurler Jerome Williams has retired, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports (Twitter links). Williams is now at the Winter Meetings interviewing with teams for a coaching job, according to Fenech.\n\nNow 37, Williams hasn\u2019t suited up for a major league team since 2016, when he threw 17 1/3 innings with the Cardinals. Williams spent parts of the past two seasons pitching in Venezuela, Mexico and with the Somerset Patriots of the independent Atlantic League. However, the right-hander did enjoy a long career in the majors, during which he recorded a 4.59 ERA across 1,029 2/3 innings (236 appearances, 149 starts) and amassed at least 100 frames in seven seasons. Known for sporting a puka shell necklace and a pink glove, Williams nobly used his time in the spotlight to raise awareness for cancer in honor of his mother, who passed away of breast cancer in 2001.\n\nA first-round pick of the Giants in 1999, Williams was their top-ranked prospect twice (in 2000 and \u201901) and was also among baseball\u2019s 50 best farmhands three times (2000-02), according to Baseball America. Williams debuted in San Francisco in impressive fashion in 2003, when he put up a stingy 3.30 ERA and totaled 2.0 fWAR over 131 innings and 21 starts, though he wasn\u2019t able to replicate that success over the rest of his career.\n\nAfter Williams\u2019 effectiveness dipped in his second and third seasons, the Giants traded him (and David Aardsma) to the Cubs in 2005 for reliever LaTroy Hawkins. That was the first in a long line of big league transactions Williams was part of, though it was the only trade involving him. Along with the Giants, Cubs and Cardinals, Williams pitched for the Nationals, Angels, Rangers, Astros and Phillies at baseball\u2019s highest level. The nomadic Williams also took the mound in pro leagues in Puerto Rico, Taiwan and Long Beach, Calif.\n\nMLBTR congratulates Williams on an interesting playing career and wishes him the best in his attempt to join the coaching ranks."}
-{"text": "Taipei\u2013The working class in Taiwan have seen no salary hikes for an average of 2.3 years, or 840 days, a survey released by the online job bank yes123 indicated Friday.\n\nThe duration of the wage stagnation is the longest in four years, compared with the results of the website\u2019s similar surveys over the past years \u2014 2.2 years in 2016, 2 years in 2015 and 1.9 years in 2014.\n\nAsked how long they can endure the frozen wages, 66 percent of the respondents said between six months and two years, while 12.8 percent said 0-0.6 years, 1.6 percent said 5-6 years, 1.3 percent said 6-7 years, and 1.1 percent said 7-8 years.\n\nThe results indicate that the maximum duration the working class can endure seeing their wages not raised at all was 1.7 years on average, according to the survey on salary satisfaction and intention to change jobs.\n\nThe poll shows that 82.1 percent of the respondents felt discontent with the wages they enjoy now, a new high in four years. It also found that 83.1 percent of the respondents want to find a new job this year.\n\nIn 2016, the real regular salary of employees in the industrial and services sectors in Taiwan was NT$37,305 (US$1,201) per person per month, lower than the NT$37,792 16 years ago in 2000, according to data of the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.\n\nThe survey was conducted online from Jan. 25 to Feb. 3 among randomly selected yes123 members who have a job. A total of 1,386 valid samples were collected, with a margin of error of 2.63 percentage points.\n\nSource: Focus Taiwan News Channel"}
-{"text": "If you\u2019re not up to an angry rant, you might want to navigate away from this page!\n\nSo I just happened to notice a rant by a fellow blogger (Thanks MacPsych!) that he posted the night before Tumblr enforced their nudity ban \u2013 though I didn\u2019t happen to notice his post until the night after Tumblr enforced their nudity ban \u2013 with a generous 14 days warning, I might add. I was clearly asleep at the wheel\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nI\u2019m presently staying at Peace Blue Naturist Resort on Phuket, Thailand. My morning ritual involves walking about one kilometer to either Rawai or Naiharn beach, then strolling along with sea wondering to myself, \u201cWhy the hell are rules regarding nudity so incredibly rigid here!?\u201d This also leads me into a series of mind-games where I start paying closer attention to the attire of the people I pass along the way. In this part of the country, some are wrapped in enough clothing for the coldest of days in Chicago, while others could be the poster child for the definition of scantily clad \u2013 in that way that draws your attention to particular physical attributes. (I won\u2019t even bother to digress into the remarkable attributes of the Speedo and German men.)\n\nBut as I was making my way back, the simplest of facts occurred to me! I\u2019ve traveled to nearly fifty countries on six continents where I have spent time \u2013 on each of these continents \u2013 with naked people and people wearing cloths. NEWS FLASH: With very few exceptions, they ALL look just about the same, with one set of accoutrements or the other.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWhile this is a country mile from anything close to rocket science, what I don\u2019t understand is why Tumblr not only decided to follow suit with Facebook and Instagram regarding policies on nudity, but seems to have carved an even wider swath than their prudish media counterparts. For me, Tumblr was something of a Naturist Clearing House\u2026 I followed blogs that focused on real naturist photography, avoiding those that had a voyeuristic edge, and simply blocking the ones that were overtly sexual. (I don\u2019t actually have a problem with sexual imagery, I just didn\u2019t want it cluttering up the message of my naturist blog!) But most importantly, when I found a photo that I thought portrayed naturism in a particularly positive or holistic light, I\u2019d reblog it as if to say, \u201cSee! This is what naturism is really about! Simply being naked in the woods, or at a lake, or with friends and family at the beach.\u201d\n\nBut I was too late. By the time I got to my my Tumblr site, it had been ravaged into ruins by the Tumblr bots, tagging or removing at least 90% of the photos I had amassed there over the years, many of which were directly from my own blog posts, like this one.\n\nHere\u2019s the real kicker though! To create this blog post, I performed a series of Google image searches, all of which included the word nudist, naturist, or even known naturist destinations like those in Croatia and France. In an effort to demonstrate some sense of diversity, so that we might take note of the fact that black, Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern and Europeans all have the same body parts, but simply in varied proportions. But as I conducted my search, Mr. Google pulled down copious amounts of some of the randiest, raunchiest pornography I have ever seen. In fact, it took me forever to find the eighteen images included in this post amidst literally thousands of images ranging from the mildly provocative, to people doing things I had never even dreamed of before! (And I have a pretty vivid imagination.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSo nice work Tumblr. (And you too Instagram and Facebook \u2013 though you should know, Mr. Zuckerberg, there are quite a few hot sex clips slipping through your web-bots right onto my news-feed while you\u2019re busy putting me and my naturist friends in FB jail. You just might want to look into that.) In one foul swoop, Tumblr wiped out galleries of real naturist images that people have been collecting and sharing for years. Yeah, I know, supposedly there\u2019s a tool that allows you to go back and recapture those, but I\u2019ll go ahead an pull down the shredded remnants remnant of my Tumblr blog, as I\u2019m sure most others already have. No need to clutter up all that web space with naked people playing volleyball, laying in the sand, and swimming in the sea when those gigabytes could be much better appropriated to legitimate porn sites, many of which I inadvertently visited today while they were hiding behind photos of people walking on a nude beach.\n\nGood lord, social media, what\u2019s next? Maybe you should concentrate on something that matters, liking bringing down the American government by broadly distributing fake news in an effort to eat away at the pillars of democracy. Amazing that you have time to handle all that, while enforcing exposed nipple laws at the same time!"}
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-{"text": "Last month, Facebook rocked the world with its blockbuster Libra announcement. Even a year ago, the idea that an iconic United States company would launch a digital currency or that a sitting president would tweet about it seemed insane.\n\nWelcome to the new normal.\n\nThe Libra announcement sent politicians scrambling, hit the mainstream media like a hurricane, and left many crypto influencers wondering if the social network giant just turned 90% of altcoins worthless. What tiny crypto project with a few dozen programmers can stand against the combined might of not just Facebook but also the titans of the tech and payment processing world, such as Uber, Lyft, Paypal, Visa and Mastercard?\n\nBut there\u2019s a new hope on the horizon. One company on the planet has the power to take on the social media monster and win: Telegram.\n\nIf Libra is the Empire Strikes Back, Telegram is A New Hope\n\nWhile Facebook has 1.8 billion users, Telegram raised $1.7 billion.\n\nWhile Facebook has the unwashed masses who\u2019ve never held a Bitcoin, Telegram has the entire crypto community that lives and breathes altcoins for breakfast.\n\nWhile Mark Zuckerberg is the poster child for the internet as a surveillance economy, Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, is a fight-the-power renegade, with digital privacy being a focus throughout his career.\n\nWhile Zuckerburg looks like someone doing a bad impression of Data from Star Trek, Durov looks like he just stepped off the stage of Magic Mike.\n\nIf you\u2019re a pioneering member of the crypto community, you might have looked with scorn on the Telegram fundraiser, which beat the initial coin offering regulatory backlash by raising all of its money from private accredited investors, rather than crowdsourcing it from the people. Maybe you only read the short Telegram white paper that looks and reads more like slick marketing than a detailed deep dive?\n\nYou should take a closer look.\n\nThe Dark Knight Rises\n\nThe more you look, the more you realize there\u2019s a lot to root for if you\u2019re longing for a legitimate top contender to take on Libra \u2014 i.e., the nightmare of cyberpunks.\n\nStart with Pavel Durov.\n\nThe man built two successful companies, including VKontakte (aka VK), a Facebook-equivalent that is especially popular in Russia, and he followed that up with Telegram. That means he knows how to build real, working, scalable platforms when most crypto projects can\u2019t even get their testnets off the ground. He\u2019s also an antihero and iconoclast with a philosophy of radical individualism and self-sovereignty that matches the cypherpunk ethos that launched Bitcoin and a thousand other crypto ships.\n\nEven better, he backs that philosophy up with action.\n\nCurrently, Facebook faces a $5 billion fine from the Federal Trade Commission for protecting users\u2019 data the way the mob \u201cprotects\u201d small businesses. Durov, on the other hand, refused to create a backdoor to Telegram when the Russian Supreme Court demanded it \u2014 and even as American companies like Apple, which normally stand tough on privacy, caved and yanked Telegram from the app store. While Zuckerberg built his company on surveillance as a business model, Durov built his company on privacy.\n\nIf you only skimmed the brief white paper for TON, you might have missed that Durov isn\u2019t alone. He's backed by a bevy of math geniuses and hardcore programmers, who started coding in diapers and won strings of gold medals at the International Math Olympiad while you were watching Saturday morning cartoons. One of those folks is Pavel's brother Nikolai Durov, chief technology officer of Telegram, who solved cubic equations at the age of eight, started coding at nine and wrote his first operating system at 13 \u2014 in assembly language.\n\nNikolai Durov also wrote the much longer and more comprehensive technical white paper, which weighs in at a whopping 132 pages. It\u2019s a dense, complex and ambitious outline for the new Telegram Open Network (TON) platform. However, some have bashed it as a fantasy for promising a sci-fi utopia that solves every single problem in crypto.\n\nIt\u2019s not the first time Telegram faced criticism for its architectural choices, with Gizmodo\u2019s William Turton once writing an article with the headline \u201cWhy You Should Stop Using Telegram Right Now.\u201d The article hits Telegram hard for choosing client-server encryption instead of end-to-end encryption by default. Even though Telegram defends its choice of architecture, as it gives people the best of both worlds with the choice of secret chats, the criticism continues to dog the company to this day.\n\nSome redditors even panned the white paper as nothing but a bunch of buzzwords and hand-waving.\n\nBut read through it closely and you\u2019ll realize that, if Telegram pulls off even a quarter of what is proposed, it could prove revolutionary.\n\nIf it works, TON will solve the issues surrounding scaling, storage and decentralized identity as well as protect the platform against constant assault from hostile powers. Yes, the paper is a grab bag of ideas \u2014 some of them unique and some taking inspiration from a wide spectrum of sources \u2014 but building on other people\u2019s good ideas isn\u2019t a bad thing, it\u2019s a virtue.\n\nIt\u2019s only a problem for people suffering from not-invented-here syndrome, a debilitating mental disease that makes people think they have all the answers and that nobody else has any idea worth doing.\n\nWhile Libra\u2019s white paper frequently drops the term Blockchain \u2014 a total of 40 times in the 26-page text \u2014 apparently in an attempt to stretch its meaning far enough so that a \u201ccryptographically authenticated database\" can also be called one, the TON team knows the difference between a blockchain and a hole in the wall. It is looking to deliver a massively sharded and scalable system that sends and receives not only money, but encrypted messages and a killer sticker collection that makes the emojis from WhatsApp\u2019s messenger look like ASCII art. It wants to do all that while enabling robust peer-to-peer encrypted storage for your important documents and even allows for decentralized virtual private networks.\n\nWhile Facebook soaks up the punishment and pressure from hysterical governments and politicians who say with a straight face that they\u2019re worried that Libra\u2019s wallet \u2014 which is compliant with Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering laws \u2014 can be used for \u201cterrorism,\" Telegram\u2019s team wisely stays out of the spotlight, just like Satoshi Nakamoto did with Bitcoin. If you want to build a platform in peace, it is better to do your work in private and not draw the attention of publicity-seeking politicians trying to get reelected in battleground states.\n\nGovernments love cutting off the head of the snake. If you don\u2019t give them a head to cut off, then they don\u2019t know where to strike.\n\nBut even with all that going for them, does Telegram have the power to build a true platform for e-commerce and the decentralized applications of tomorrow? Can it stand against the titanic forces behind Facebook's nascent digital currency and the masters of the e-commerce universe backing it?\n\nThat is the trillion dollar question, as the platforms that win the day might end up controlling a massive chunk of the world economy and could make or break nations, companies and people. With so much at stake, it\u2019s going to be a war.\n\nThe Man in the Arena\n\nTo win, it will take a hero.\n\nThe might of the world\u2019s old-guard is nearly absolute. Nation states print money, and printing money is the power of God.\n\nTo break the stranglehold, you need to build a perfect platform: one that\u2019s easy to use, scales massively and is impossible to bring down \u2014 a Hydra with a thousand regenerating heads. It must have all the features of the old financial system and new ones that nobody can resist. It\u2019s got to bring in people and businesses with ease so that it grows too big to fail.\n\nThe age of surveillance capitalism is upon us, and it\u2019s growing stronger every day. It\u2019s a dragon that\u2019s eaten the world.\n\nFacebook is the dragon\u2019s head.\n\nIf there\u2019s anything that can bring that dragon crashing from the skies, the early odds go to Telegram.\n\nWhile Libra can and will leverage Facebook\u2019s 1.7 billion users to rapidly accelerate adoption, Telegram\u2019s user base of over 200 million people is a growing force in its own right.\n\nAnd even with fewer users, Telegram has one major advantage: Most Facebook users wouldn\u2019t know a Bitcoin from a casino chip. On the other hand, Telegram is well known for its vibrant, technically savvy community \u2014 including most of the world\u2019s crypto-faithful, who host their user groups and do their day-to-day business there.\n\nThat means if TON drops a bunch of coins in its Telegram-attached wallet, a bigger percentage of those users will probably know how to spend, save and send that money, while Facebook\u2019s users might start ringing the support lines, wondering how to reset the password on their private key.\n\nThat\u2019s not to say Telegram\u2019s team is perfect by any means. It has faced intense criticism for a hand-waving white paper that promises much without telling people exactly how it will work. Beyond that, there has mostly been radio silence from the team since its mega ICO. There is a private beta, but it\u2019s closed to the wider public for now. In the end, the project might prove too ambitious even for a talented team with a lot of capital on hand.\n\nThe company is also running out of time to deliver. If its team is going to succeed, it needs to step up now. The stakes have never been higher. People willingly sacrifice privacy for convenience without a second thought. The original crypto dream of self-sovereignty is slowing warping into a terrifying Black Mirror episode, in which blockchains don\u2019t enable privacy but rather ubiquitous surveillance on an unprecedented scale. Blockchain analytic tools peer deeply into transactions, and the SEC is looking for teams and tools dedicated to blockchain analysis. Facebook will happily give third parties that convenience and a two-way mirror into all of our lives.\n\nTelegram might not be the hero we expected \u2014 or even the one we wanted \u2014 but it may be our last, best hope for a future that doesn\u2019t turn into a dystopian nightmare of panopticoins.\n\nThe crypto revolution started idealistically with a twinkle in Satoshi\u2019s eye. There\u2019s always a certain naivety in revolutions. You have to be crazy to take on entrenched adversaries. The kings of the world have the money, the guns and the legal hammers, and they\u2019re willing to use them at all costs to keep a firm grip on the royal scepter.\n\nBut some revolutions find a way.."}
-{"text": "When top congressional and administration tax reform negotiators met at the White House with President Donald Trump on Tuesday their message was basically the same. They stressed the urgency of getting the House moving on a tax bill by the end of the month.\n\nIf that timetable slipped, one of the president's top agenda items could get pushed into next year and maybe vanish entirely, joining Obamacare repeal as an epic legislative failure. But Trump had his own message. He told the so-called \"Big Six\" negotiators that he still wants to get to 15 percent as the top corporate tax rate even though no one working on tax reform thinks that's possible without blowing up the deficit or requiring big cuts to existing deductions that would not be politically tenable.\n\nTrump's fixation on getting to 15 \u2014 instead of the 20 to 25 percent range targeted by other administration officials and senior GOP legislators \u2014 highlights a fundamental problem with his presidency thus far. Trump doesn't understand how Congress works or why the president can't just simply have whatever he wants whenever he wants it.\n\nOn Obamacare, Trump just assumed Congress would be able to repeal and replace even if he never really had any idea what a replacement would look like and made no consistent case for an alternative. He complained endlessly about Senate filibuster rules even though Senate Republicans needed just 51 votes to repeal Obamacare and couldn't get there.\n\nAnd instead of trying to work with Mitch McConnell to figure out a path forward on health care, Trump got frustrated and angry and torched his relationship with the Senate Majority Leader, who holds the keys to getting any of Trump's agenda enacted into law. Trump is now working to try to repair that relationship ahead of a tax reform push.\n\nTrump also has now scrambled the political calculus around raising the nation's debt limit and funding the government by rescinding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. Trump's attorney general, Jeff Sessions, called DACA dead and ripped beneficiaries of the program as job stealers.\n\nOn Tuesday night, however, Trump tweeted that if Congress does not act in the six-month window he provided, he would \"revisit\" the issue. Trump's Justice Department on Wednesday said it had no idea what the president meant by this.\n\n@realDonaldTrump tweet\n\nTrump appears to mean that he could extend the program if Congress doesn't. In saying so, he effectively gave away any leverage he had to try to force congressional action by Republicans, who have no idea how they might pass a DACA extension and desperately want to punt the issue back to the White House.\n\nNow Democrats on Capitol Hill are saying they will support a bill to tie Hurricane Harvey relief to a debt-ceiling increase but only to lift the nation's borrowing limit for three months. They want to maintain the debt limit as a bargaining chip to force a DACA extension. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday criticized the three-month extension gambit as unworkable.\n\nSo there is now no clear path forward on raising the debt limit or keeping the government open past Sept. 30 and no clarity on what might happen to the 800,000 people who benefit from the DACA program.\n\nAll this must be sorted out before Republicans in Congress can really turn to putting together a tax bill that can pass both the House and Senate. Which makes Trump's insistence on 15 percent even more frustrating to those working on the issue. The Big Six long ago moved away from 15 percent and set to work making the hard choices on deductions and investment expensing necessary to get to a rate as close to 20 percent as possible.\n\nThe president demanding Republicans find a way to get to 15 percent sets their work back and sets the stage for disappointment when legislation finally emerges that has a higher target for the top corporate rate.\n\nTrump will be making the case for tax legislation in a speech in North Dakota on Wednesday, aimed at pressuring the state's vulnerable Democratic senator, Heidi Heitkamp, to get on board with Republicans on the issue. At this point, however, it remains unclear that there will even be a tax reform bill this year for Heitkamp to support or oppose.\n\n\u2014 Ben White is Politico's chief economic correspondent and a CNBC contributor. He also authors the daily tip sheet Politico Morning Money [politico.com/morningmoney]. Follow him on Twitter @morningmoneyben."}
-{"text": "0 SHARES Share Tweet\n\n\u201cThe sun, the earth, love, friends, our very breath are parts of the banquet.\u201d \u2013 Rebecca Harding Davis\n\nI have had the privilege of experiencing and participating in the birth of each of my three children. As I took part in this wonderful miracle I remember the lessons taught to me and their mom about breathing during Lamaze classes. I\u2019ll admit like most men, I wasn\u2019t too keen on participating with this, but I learned according to mommybites.com,\n\nDeep breathing initiates the parasympathetic nervous system, also known as the \u201crest and relax\u201d state. When the body is situated in this state, the heart rate slows down, intestinal and glandular activity increase, and the sphincter muscles relax. All of these occurrences support the body\u2019s ability to birth more easily.\n\nSo even though I still don\u2019t all together understand the science behind this I will agree it works. Imagine that, how just breathing in a certain way can have such a significant impact on one of life\u2019s most precious miracles! As I reflect on the importance of breathing correctly during this time I cannot help but think of the many times I could have used this same technique to release some of my tension during a stressful time, paused for a few minutes prior to making an important decision or simply to help me relax prior to sleeping for the night. It almost seems to easy to be effective. So easy that many of us choose to seek more complex solutions to answers that could be right before us. In this our journeys become longer, harder and much more complex than they need to be, but I suppose these are the lessons that we must learn, and as we grow these journeys become shorter and simpler depending on what we have actually acquired.\n\nHow we approach the difficulties in our lives is directly tied to our life experiences. For example if I have consistently failed at some particular thing, whether a relationship, educational pursuit or working on personal growth, I will approach that thing potentially with doubt and anxiousness. I will replay my past scenarios and essentially allow the script to write itself. Stepping back to mediate, pray or think of the situation from a different perspective unfortunately is not our typical plan of attack. It easier for us to worry about the outcome, imagine all the ways we could fail and what that failure looks like, than it is to possess the faith and belief to see a dream come into fruition. That said, we must change our experiences in order to change our behaviors.\n\nI remember a night, after finally accepting that a relationship was really over. The air felt so thick that it was as if I could suffocate from it. Everything about my life at that time seemed like it was in a state of confusion. I reflected on pictures, pleasant memories and what was imperative for me to do with my next steps. It was not until I had released that I had failed, at yet another marriage was I able to move forward. In that state of humility I took many deep breaths of reflection, regret and remorse. This place of reflection not only allowed me to see my part with the failure of my relationship, but it also permitted me to take responsibility for it and take essential steps to help others heal, along with myself.\n\nMy choice to finally be still during this time of duress versus essentially traveling in perpetual circles proved to be the turning point in my journey to become whole. The ability to cast down guilt, naysayers and being my own worst enemy was critical to any hope that I was going to attain and sustain. I attribute the ability to move forward to my faith in God, the power of His Spirit and the art of reflecting. You see it was that night of reflection that created the opportunity for me to clearly see how I had screwed things up. Breathing deeply forced me to go deeper into the \u201cwhy\u201d I was making poor relational decisions versus stopping at only the \u201cwhat\u201d. These are the questions I failed to ask myself in times prior, so it was easy to continue, business as usual. Jacking up people\u2019s lives, including my own.\n\nFor years I would awake in the middle of the night clinching and grinding my teeth due to stress. I would worry about what others thought of me, how my life got to where it was and how I was going to make improvements. The steps to becoming whole were profound, but they were not necessarily these earth-shattering moments for everyone to witness. It was during my quiet times where the changes began. During these quiet times, I prayed, journaled and reflected on my past. I wanted answers that only God could give me. Although I had a few great counselors and friends, it was not their responsibility to give me answers, only to show me the way towards some of them. Ultimately I had to muster up the courage and dare to believe that life could go on again, but this time in a better way. This did not mean that I did not have a past to reconcile with, but it did mean that I no longer had to be defined by it.\n\nLearning to take a moment to pause and breathe has helped my life tremendously. Once I stopped reacting and pointlessly defending myself to people who really had no impact on my life was when I begin live free of bondage. Even when others do have an impact on my life, I still choose to make decisions based on my truth, not theirs. I consult others when absolutely essential, but the choices I make regarding my life and future are not up for a democratic vote. As I pause and take the time to seek the best answers for me, I do it with grace, gratitude and patience \u2013 all while taking the time to breathe deeply. In this place, even when the outcome is less than desired, because I have owned it and understood the real risk or potential issues regarding it, I still have a peace that keeps me still and content.\n\nWhat dreams or life purposes are you giving up too soon on due to a poor perspective? Let\u2019s take some advice from the many women during labor that must push, breathe and believe the pain of childbirth will ultimately deliver a new life. Let\u2019s push our dreams and life goals out with a perspective of grace, gratitude and patience along with a commitment for a better tomorrow for us and all those involved. Let us remember to breathe deeply and as each breath is released from our lungs we enable our body\u2019s, soul\u2019s and spirit\u2019s to reflect on the greater purpose that God has for us. As we each recognize that the air we breathe is essential for life, let us also recognize the way in which we take that air in and out of our bodies is just as important.\n\nWe have the power to impact our own atmosphere with the ideas, perspectives and level of faith we bring to each circumstance and situation we face, and although breathing has become an involuntary act since birth for every healthy human being, how we breathe has not. As I have learned, remembering to breathe is not just the simple act of inhaling and exhaling, but at the most critical times it is the choice to breathe deeply, reflect and pause, which can literally alter our current state, like it does during child-birth.\n\nKeep Pressing,\n\nHank G"}
-{"text": "SEOUL (Reuters) - Japanese citizens angry at South Korea\u2019s role in a diplomatic row over their wartime history that has spilled into trade have found some unlikely allies: South Korean commentators using YouTube to attack their own president, Moon Jae-in.\n\nA mobile phone for a live broadcast films members of a conservative civic group taking part in a protest in Seoul, South Korea, July 11, 2019.REUTERS/Cha Sang-mi\n\nThe South Korean leader has drawn the ire of conservative commentators at home for wrecking ties with Japan, a former colonial ruler now a key economic partner and fellow security ally of the United States.\n\nTo thousands of Japanese viewers, the YouTube channels offer a rare honest appraisal of an untrustworthy man who has turned against a neighboring democracy while courting the dictator of North Korea.\n\nRelations between the two deteriorated this year as simmering disputes over Japan\u2019s wartime use of forced South Korean labor reignited and Japan imposed export curbs on high-tech materials to South Korea.\n\n\u201cThe responsibility for this situation lies with President Moon Jae-in and his government\u2019s foreign policy,\u201d Ko Sung-kook, host of Kosungkook TV on YouTube, said on a broadcast earlier this month.\n\nKo, a veteran political commentator who has used YouTube as his main platform since last year, has 375,000 subscribers, including thousands watching him from Japan and some Japanese diplomats, he told Reuters, tuning in for the \u201creal voice of conservatives\u201d in South Korea.\n\nSpeaking in his modest office that doubles as a studio, Ko declined to identify the Japanese diplomats.\n\nStanding on a stage in Tokyo\u2019s bustling Shinjuku district in May, with Japanese, South Korean and U.S. flags in the backdrop, Ko addressed an enthusiastic crowd of more than 300, including Japanese right-wing activists and fans.\n\n\u201cIs Japan with us, or against us?\u201d he said through an interpreter. \u201cYes, Japan is with us, as we saw from the (Korean) war, as Japan supported almost everything they could as a U.S. strategic base.\u201d\n\nBut the Moon Jae-in administration had turned the relationship of South Korea and Japan into the worst since the two countries normalized diplomatic ties in 1965, he said.\n\n\u201cSTOP ANTI-JAPAN TRIBALISM\u201d\n\nConservative South Korean YouTube commentators have seen their fan bases grow sharply at home thanks to their unforgiving criticism of the liberal president, who has struggled to fulfill his goals of creating jobs and reducing inequality while improving ties with North Korea\u2019s Kim Jong Un since coming to office in 2017.\n\nAs relations between Seoul and Tokyo deteriorated sharply this month, the channels have also resonated with Japanese viewers who had previously felt it was hard to get an accurate picture of South Korean views from mainstream media.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m surprised at how decent this opinion is,\u201d one viewer replied to one of the videos in Japanese. \u201cIf people would listen to this Korea will also survive. It seems that Moon is deliberately trying to abolish Japan. It\u2019s all for Kim Jong Un.\u201d\n\nTakabayashi Shigeo, a 39-year-old Japanese researcher who studies Korean history, subscribes to three South Korean YouTube right-wing political channels.\n\n\u201cThese shows sometimes contain extreme views, but they are still useful for Japanese people to know about what South Koreans think,\u201d Shigeo said.\n\nKikuko Suzuki, a Japanese fan of a YouTube channel that airs anti-Moon videos, volunteered to translate shows on the channel for Japanese audience.\n\nSuzuki, a tour guide in South Korea, said she showed Japanese visitors the videos to illustrate how some South Koreans still like Japan.\n\n\u201cThey love it,\u201d Suzuki said of the videos, some of which call for an end to \u201canti-Japanese tribalism\u201d in South Korea.\n\n\u2018SUPER CHAT\u2019 YEN\n\nSome YouTube channels already offer Japanese subtitles, and others plan to follow suit.\n\nMajor Japanese media outlets including NHK and the Sankei newspaper feature popular conservative South Korean columnist Jeong Kyu-jae.\n\n\u201cWe have Japanese fans and they know we are the mainstream conservative,\u201d Jeong told Reuters on the sidelines of a book promotion event this month.\n\nJeong says he receives \u201csizeable\u201d contributions in Japanese yen from among his almost-500,000 YouTube channel subscribers, but declined to disclose the donors.\n\nEven some of the more minor YouTubers, using nothing more than a smartphone and a tripod, have found an audience in Japan.\n\nBroadcasting live from anti-Moon rallies in Seoul, they proudly show off pledges of yen coming in via Super Chat, a YouTube tool that lets viewers pay content providers.\n\n\u201cI have 85,000 subscribers and among them are 15 people from Japan who shoot me yen by Super Chat, and one of them has been sending 2,000 yen five times a month for a year,\u201d said Ji Dae-hong, one of the broadcasters."}
-{"text": "Laura Jane Grace confirmed today that longtime Against Me! bassist Andrew Seward has rejoined the band. Seward played with the group until 2013, and he reappeared onstage with the band at a few recent gigs, as reported by Punknews.org.\n\nCiting a \u201cperiod of great change\u201d for both herself and the band, Grace said she doesn\u2019t \u201cknow how to succinctly explain the reasons behind\u201d Seward rejoining the band after five years away. Read LJG\u2019s full announcement via Instagram below.\n\nAgainst Me!\u2019s 2016 album, Shape Shift With Me, featured Swedish musician Inge Johansson on bass, and he toured with the band following its release. Seward last played on 2010\u2019s White Crosses \u2014 he was replaced by Johansson in 2013.\n\nAccordingly, Grace stated on Monday that she\u2019s \u201cforever thankful for our time playing together\u201d with Johansson, and she wished the bassist \u201cnothing but the best in life.\u201d See Against Me!\u2019s upcoming tour dates down after the announcement.\n\nAgainst Me! tour dates\n\n07/26 \u2013 Maquoketa, IA @ Codfish Hollow Barnstormers\n\n07/27 \u2013 Chicago, IL @ Wicker Park Festival\n\n07/28 \u2013 Chicago, IL @ Subterranean\n\n07/29 \u2013 Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme\n\n07/31 \u2013 Toledo, OH @ Civic Music Hall\n\n08/01 \u2013 Columbus, OH @ A&R Music Bar\n\n08/02 \u2013 Morgantown, WV @ 123 Pleasant St.\n\n08/03 \u2013 Brooklyn, NY @ House of Vans\n\n08/04 \u2013 Asbury Park, NJ @ Stoked For The Summer\n\n08/05 \u2013 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar\n\n08/07 \u2013 Louisville, KY @ Mercury Ballroom\n\n08/08 \u2013 Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall\n\n08/09 \u2013 Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall\n\n08/13 \u2013 Mexico City, Mexico @ Sala Corona\n\n08/15 \u2013 Santiago, Chile @ Espacio San Diego\n\n08/17 \u2013 Buenos Aires, Argentina @ Uniclub\n\n08/19 \u2013 Curitiba, Brazil @ Joker Pub Caf\u00e9\n\n08/20 \u2013 S\u00e1o Paulo, Brazil @ Carioca Club\n\n08/21 \u2013 Natal, Brazil @ Ribeira\n\nWatch more: 10 songs to get you hyped for Warped Tour\n\n"}
-{"text": "A 52-year-old man was charged Friday with the killing of TV producer and director Barry Crane more than three decades ago, prosecutors said.\n\nEdwin Jerry Hiatt II was charged with one count of murder with a special allegation that he used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a heavy decorative object, during the commission of the crime, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.\n\nHiatt is accused of killing Crane on July 5, 1985 in his Studio City town house, officials said.\n\nA housekeeper found Crane, 57, in the garage. He had been bludgeoned by a large ceramic statue, prosecutors said. He also had a telephone cord wrapped around his neck, they said.\n\nHiatt was arrested this week in North Carolina where he is awaiting extradition.\n\nCrane directed dozens of episodes of such hit 1970s and '80s TV shows as \"The Incredible Hulk, \"Hawaii 5-O\" and \"The Six Million Dollar Man.\"\n\nHe also produced the show \"The Magician\" and was associate producer for \"Mannix\" and \"Mission: Impossible.\" He also was a world-class bridge player.\n\nThere was no word on a motive for the killing.\n\nCrane's death went unsolved until police said they matched a fingerprint from Crane's stolen car to Hiatt last year. FBI investigators then obtained discarded cigarette butts and a coffee cup from the parking lot of the auto repair shop in Burke County where Hiatt worked.\n\nDNA from some items matched that from cigarette butts found in Crane's stolen car, which was discovered shortly after his death on a mountain road, investigators said.\n\nOn March 8, homicide detectives went to North Carolina to interview Hiatt. \"During the interview, Hiatt admitted to killing Barry Crane,\" an LAPD statement said.\n\nIt wasn't known whether Hiatt had a lawyer.\n\nCo-workers told the News Herald that Hiatt was a generous and peaceful man.\n\n\"He wouldn't hurt a flea,\" Dee Hall said. \"This is something that supposedly happened 30 years ago, the man's changed.\""}
-{"text": "StartupBus is a cross-country hackathon for entrepreneurs. This year, to challenge the male dominated status quo of the tech industry, the event featured a bus made up exclusively of women, trans, and gender nonconforming folks. It was an opportunity to empower female creators, and to allow women to meet, network, and share their experiences working in all-male environments."}
-{"text": "Beatrix von Storch, stellv. Fraktionsvorsitzende der AfD im Bundestag, zu einem unfassbaren Fall islamischer Selbstjustiz in Deutschland:\n\n\"Wer ernsthaft denkt, er d\u00fcrfe seine Schwester totschlagen, weil sie sich nicht zwangsverheiraten lassen will, der ist bei uns nicht integrierbar, der ist nicht sozialisierbar, dem ist nicht zu helfen.\"\n\nOffizieller Kanal der AfD-Fraktion im Deutschen Bundestag\n\nJetzt abonnieren \u25ba https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_dZp8bZipnjntBGLVHm6rw/about?sub_confirmation=1\n\nAndere Social Media Kan\u00e4le\n\nAfD-Fraktion in Facebook:\n\nhttps://www.facebook.com/afdimbundestag/\n\nAfD-Fraktion auf Twitter:\n\nhttps://twitter.com/AfDimBundestag/\n\nAfD-Fraktion auf Instagram:\n\nhttps://www.instagram.com/afdimbundestag"}
-{"text": "\u30df\u30e3\u30f3\u30de\u30fc\u306f\u3001\u6700\u5927\u90fd\u5e02\u30e4\u30f3\u30b4\u30f3\u306b\u65b0\u305f\u306a\u7d4c\u6e08\u7279\u5225\u533a\uff08\uff33\uff25\uff3a\uff09\u3092\u8a2d\u7f6e\u3059\u308b\u3002\u540c\u5e02\u3067\u306e\uff33\uff25\uff3a\u306f\u65e5\u672c\u304c\u5354\u529b\u3057\u3066\u6574\u5099\u4e2d\u306e\u30c6\u30a3\u30e9\u30ef\uff33\uff25\uff3a\u306b\u7d9a\u304f\uff12\u30ab\u6240\u76ee\u3067\u3001\u30e4\u30f3\u30b4\u30f3\u306e\u5730\u65b9\u653f\u5e9c\u95a2\u4fc2\u8005\u306b\u3088\u308b\u3068\u3001\uff12\uff10\uff11\uff18\u5e74\u306e\u958b\u767a\u7740\u624b\u3092\u4e88\u5b9a\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3002\u73fe\u5730\u7d19\u30df\u30e3\u30f3\u30de\u30fc\u30fb\u30bf\u30a4\u30e0\u30ba\u304c\u5831\u3058\u305f\u3002\n\n\u5730\u65b9\u653f\u5e9c\u306e\u30c8\u30c3\u30d7\u3068\u4f1a\u8ac7\u3057\u305f\u540c\u56fd\u56fd\u4f1a\u8b70\u54e1\u3089\u306b\u3088\u308b\u3068\u3001\u65b0\uff33\uff25\uff3a\u306f\u30e4\u30f3\u30b4\u30f3\u5357\u90e8\u306e\u30c0\u30e9\u3001\u30ab\u30a6\u30e0\u3001\u30af\u30f3\u30b8\u30e3\u30f3\u30b4\u30f3\u306e\uff13\u90e1\u533a\u306b\u307e\u305f\u304c\u308b\u898b\u901a\u3057\u3067\u3001\u4e2d\u592e\u653f\u5e9c\u3082\u3059\u3067\u306b\u8a2d\u7f6e\u3092\u627f\u8a8d\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\uff33\uff25\uff3a\u8a2d\u7f6e\u306b\u4f34\u3044\u3001\u56fd\u969b\u7a7a\u6e2f\u3068\u5927\u578b\u8239\u8236\u304c\u5165\u6e2f\u53ef\u80fd\u306a\u6df1\u6d77\u6e2f\u3082\u65b0\u305f\u306b\u5efa\u8a2d\u3059\u308b\u3082\u3088\u3046\u3060\u3002\n\n\u540c\u5e02\u306b\u306f\u73fe\u5728\u3001\u30e4\u30f3\u30b4\u30f3\u56fd\u969b\u7a7a\u6e2f\u304c\u3042\u308b\u307b\u304b\u3001\uff11\u6708\u306b\u65e5\u63ee\u306a\u3069\u306e\u4f01\u696d\u9023\u5408\u304c\u57fa\u672c\u5951\u7d04\u3092\u7d50\u3093\u3060\u30cf\u30f3\u30bf\u30ef\u30c7\u30a3\u30fc\u56fd\u969b\u7a7a\u6e2f\u3082\u90ca\u5916\u306b\u5efa\u8a2d\u3055\u308c\u308b\u4e88\u5b9a\u3060\u3002\u3057\u304b\u3057\u3001\u30af\u30f3\u30b8\u30e3\u30f3\u30b4\u30f3\u9078\u51fa\u306e\u56fd\u4f1a\u8b70\u54e1\u306f\u300c\u30e4\u30f3\u30b4\u30f3\u7a7a\u6e2f\u306f\u62e1\u5f35\u304c\u9650\u754c\u306b\u9054\u3057\u3066\u304a\u308a\u3001\u30cf\u30f3\u30bf\u30ef\u30c7\u30a3\u30fc\u7a7a\u6e2f\u306f\u30e4\u30f3\u30b4\u30f3\u304b\u3089\u9060\u3044\u300d\u3068\u8ff0\u3079\u3001\u65b0\u7a7a\u6e2f\u306e\u5efa\u8a2d\u304c\u5fc5\u8981\u3060\u3068\u306e\u8003\u3048\u3092\u793a\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\u307e\u305f\u3001\u6df1\u6d77\u6e2f\u306f\u30af\u30f3\u30b8\u30e3\u30f3\u30b4\u30f3\u306e\u30ec\u30c3\u30b4\u30c3\u30b4\u30f3\u306b\u5efa\u8a2d\u3055\u308c\u308b\u898b\u901a\u3057\u3067\u3001\u65b0\uff33\uff25\uff3a\u3068\u306e\u9593\u306b\u306f\uff16\u8eca\u7dda\u306e\u8217\u88c5\u9053\u8def\u3082\u3064\u304f\u3089\u308c\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3002\u305f\u3060\u3057\u3001\u30c0\u30e9\u306f\u30e4\u30f3\u30b4\u30f3\u306e\u5e02\u8857\u5730\u306b\u901a\u3058\u308b\u5927\u578b\u6a4b\u304c\uff11\uff17\u5e74\u306b\u7740\u5de5\u4e88\u5b9a\u3068\u306a\u3063\u3066\u304a\u308a\u3001\u571f\u5730\u4fa1\u683c\u304c\u4e0a\u6607\u4e2d\u3060\u3002\u5225\u306e\u56fd\u4f1a\u8b70\u54e1\u306f\u3001\u65b0\uff33\uff25\uff3a\u306e\u8a2d\u7f6e\u63a8\u9032\u306b\u3088\u308a\u4e00\u5c64\u306e\u5730\u4fa1\u9ad8\u9a30\u3092\u62db\u304f\u6050\u308c\u304c\u3042\u308b\u3068\u306e\u61f8\u5ff5\u3092\u793a\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\u73fe\u5728\u3001\u30e4\u30f3\u30b4\u30f3\u306e\u5730\u65b9\u653f\u5e9c\u306f\u65e5\u672c\u306e\u56fd\u969b\u5354\u529b\u6a5f\u69cb\uff08\uff2a\uff29\uff23\uff21\uff09\u3084\u97d3\u56fd\u306e\u56fd\u969b\u5354\u529b\u6a5f\u69cb\uff08\uff2b\uff2f\uff29\uff23\uff21\uff09\u3001\u4ecf\u958b\u767a\u5e81\u3001\u82f1\u56fd\u969b\u958b\u767a\u7701\u3068\u3068\u3082\u306b\u3001\uff14\uff10\u5e74\u307e\u3067\u306e\u958b\u767a\u30de\u30b9\u30bf\u30fc\u30d7\u30e9\u30f3\u3092\u7b56\u5b9a\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\u95a3\u50da\u306e\u4e00\u4eba\u306f\u3001\u65b0\uff33\uff25\uff3a\u306e\u958b\u767a\u3092\u691c\u8a0e\u3059\u308b\u306e\u306f\u540c\u30d7\u30e9\u30f3\u306e\u7b56\u5b9a\u4f5c\u696d\u7d42\u4e86\u5f8c\u306b\u306a\u308b\u3068\u3057\u305f\u3046\u3048\u3067\u300c\uff33\uff25\uff3a\u3068\u7a7a\u6e2f\u3001\u305d\u3057\u3066\u6e2f\u3082\u3064\u304f\u3089\u308c\u308b\u3060\u308d\u3046\u300d\u3068\u767a\u8a00\u3057\u305f\u3002\uff08\u30b7\u30f3\u30ac\u30dd\u30fc\u30eb\u652f\u5c40\uff09"}
-{"text": "A new wave of NFL free agency is expected to pick up this week since signings will no longer count against a team\u2019s compensatory pick formula starting at midnight (12:00:00 on May 8). The Eagles are among the teams who have been biding their time while playing the comp pick game.\n\nPhiladelphia already has one of the most talented rosters in the league but there\u2019s always room for improvement. Not to mention Howie Rosman has about $22 million in cap space to work with. Here\u2019s a look at some targets who could make sense for the Eagles.\n\nDE EZEKIEL ANSAH\n\nAnsah is one of the most intriguing free agents remaining on the market. He led the NFL in pressure rate last year with 20 pressures in 101 pass rush snaps, per Pro Football Focus. Ansah\u2019s market has evolved slowly as he\u2019s recovery from shoulder surgery.\n\nHere\u2019s what I wrote about Ansah as a possible Eagles target earlier this year:\n\nI can\u2019t help but wonder if Ansah might be one of the top free agent pass rushers the Eagles are rumored to be targeting. Jim Schwartz\u2019s Lions selected Ansah with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. There are some issues with Ansah that could potentially drive down his price to make him more affordable. He\u2019s missed 14 games in his past three seasons and he finished with sacks totals of two in 2016 and four in 2018. Spotrac projects Ansah\u2019s next contract to be less lucrative ($13.5 million average annual) than what Brandon Graham\u2019s next pay day will be ($15.4 million average annual). Maybe Schwartz feels like Ansah is the answer for the Eagles. (*booing ensues*)\n\nAnsah would be a great addition to the Eagles\u2019 defensive end rotation, which is looking thin if Chris Long doesn\u2019t return. For a team that likes to heavily rotate their pass rushers, the Eagles\u2019 depth really drops off after the trio of Brandon Graham, Derek Barnett, and Vinny Curry. If one of those three guys gets hurt, the Eagles are suddenly looking at one of Josh Sweat, Shareef Miller, Daeshon Hall, or Joe Ostman being a top three defensive end on the team. That\u2019s not ideal.\n\nSigning Ansah makes a lot of sense for the Eagles but one would imagine he\u2019ll be looking for a bigger role than what Philly will be offering him. Ansah has already taken some free agent visits and the Eagles seemingly haven\u2019t been among those trips.\n\nIt\u2019d be nice if Schwartz could convince his former draft pick to spend a year with the Eagles before allowing Ziggy to test the market again in 2020. Just not counting on it to happen.\n\nDE DERRICK MORGAN\n\nMorgan might be a more realistic signing for the Eagles. The 30-year-old has previously made it sound like he\u2019s moving on from Tennessee. Morgan wouldn\u2019t be some high impact player like Ansah but he could give the Eagles more depth.\n\nThe 2010 first-round pick was selected three spots after Graham at No. 16 overall. He\u2019s had a solid nine-year career with the Titans. Morgan\u2019s coming off a down year with only 0.5 sacks in 2018 but he had sack totals of nine and 7.5 in 2016 and 2017, respectively.\n\nMorgan\u2019s a Lancaster, PA native and attended high school in Coatesville. Maybe he has interest in moving back closer to home.\n\nDE PERNELL MCPHEE\n\nI wrote about McPhee as a potential Eagles target earlier this offseason:\n\nThe Ravens selected McPhee with a fifth-round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. He then signed with the Bears during the same offseason that Joe Douglas left Baltimore to join Chicago\u2019s front office. McPhee could fit in the Eagles\u2019 defensive end rotation if they\u2019re looking for a veteran.\n\nMcPhee also overlapped with Fletcher Cox at Mississippi State, for what it\u2019s worth.\n\nMcPhee didn\u2019t log a sack in limited playing time with Washington last year but he did rank 59th out of 173 edge rushers in pressure rate. He had eight quarterback hits and seven hurries in 203 defensive snaps, per PFF.\n\nDE WILLIAM HAYES\n\nHayes was selected by the Titans in the fourth-round of the 2008 NFL Draft while Schwartz was Tennessee\u2019s defensive coordinator. Hayes played for former Dolphins defensive coordinator and current Eagles defensive special assistant Matt Burke in Miami over the past two seasons.\n\nHayes, who recently turned 34, is coming off an ACL injury that he suffered in Week 3 last year. That\u2019s not great. The upside is that Hayes ranked 28th out of 119 edge rushers in pressure back in 2017.\n\nOG JEFF ALLEN\n\nAllen is a player the Eagles were rumored to be interested in back in 2016. Philadelphia decided to sign Brandon Brooks away from the Texans instead. It\u2019s safe to say the Eagles got that decision right. Brooks has been a Pro Bowl guard for the Eagles while Allen struggled to play well and dealt with injury issues after signing with Houston.\n\nBut with Brooks now recovering from an Achilles injury, the Eagles could afford to add some interior offensive line depth. Signing the 29-year-old Allen makes a lot of sense. He\u2019s versatile and has experience playing at tackle, guard, and center. He\u2019s also known for being a good locker room guy.\n\nThe Eagles have familiarity with Allen since he played for the Chiefs while Pederson was Kansas City\u2019s offensive coordinator from 2013 through 2015.\n\nOG STEFEN WISNIEWSKI\n\nBack in March, the Eagles declined Wisniewski\u2019s option for the 2019 season. He\u2019s failed to receive strong interest on the market to this point but maybe they\u2019ll change with teams no longer having to worry about him impacting their comp pick formula.\n\nI\u2019d think Wis doesn\u2019t have a ton of interest in returning to the Eagles because he feels like he should be starting. He said that he felt like his 2018 benching wasn\u2019t performance-related.\n\nIf Wis sees his market dry up, though, he could decide the Eagles are ultimately his best option in 2019. There could be an avenue to playing time, anyway, with Brooks recovering from injury and Isaac Seumalo subject to struggles.\n\nIf I was the Eagles, I\u2019d consider placing the rarely-used May 7 tender (formerly the June 1 tender) on Wis. In short, this would allow the Eagles to 1) bring Wis back at a reasonable cost or 2) allow him to still count towards the Eagles\u2019 comp pick formula if he signs with another team.\n\nRB JAY AJAYI\n\nWait. Why is Ajayi making this list? The Eagles already have Jordan Howard, Miles Sanders, Corey Clement, Josh Adams, Wendell Smallwood, Boston Scott, and Donnel Pumphrey. And the Eagles already gave out Ajayi\u2019s No. 26 jersey to Sanders.\n\nI\u2019m not including Ajayi here because I think he\u2019ll be on Philadelphia\u2019s roster in 2019. I\u2019m including him because I think they could offer him a May 7 tender in order to try to get a comp pick for him, similar to what I just talked about with Wis.\n\nOver The Cap comp picks expert Nick Korte recently talked about this possibility:\n\n2. Art. 9, \u00a71(b)(i) of the CBA allows for a team after the May deadline (formerly June 1) to place on any of their remaining UFAs a tender that's a 10% raise from his prior year's salary. \u2014 Nick Korte (@nickkorte) May 6, 2019\n\n4. 2 years ago, the Patriots dusted off using this rarely used tender on another RB, LeGarrette Blount. A week later, Blount signed with\u2026the Eagles.\n\n\n\nBlount counted in the 2018 compensatory pick formula, though the pick for him was over the 32 pick limithttps://t.co/7gl9rO8Aua \u2014 Nick Korte (@nickkorte) May 6, 2019\n\n6. As far as I know the May 7 tender isn't guaranteed, so if Ajayi signs it, or is unable to find a contract with another team, the Eagles could just cut him or rescind the tender and move on. I'm sure that Ajayi would find that frustrating if he's no longer in the Eagles' plans. \u2014 Nick Korte (@nickkorte) May 6, 2019\n\n7. But Howie Roseman has proven himself to be devoted to manipulating the compensatory pick formula. He tried to get an extra 6th rounder with the shenanigans he did to Mike Wallace's contract. I could see him going to lengths to get a 4th rounder. \u2014 Nick Korte (@nickkorte) May 6, 2019\n\nCB KAYVON WEBSTER\n\nFrom earlier this offseason:\n\nI wrote about Webster as a potential target back in 2017: \u201cWebster was a third round pick by the Broncos in the 2013 NFL Draft. He overlapped with Undlin in Denver from 2013-2014. Webster had his most productive season as a rookie when he had one interception, 10 passes defensed, one forced fumble, and 37 tackles. Webster\u2019s playing time decreased ever since then because he\u2019s been stuck behind big money corners Aqib Talib and Chris Harris Jr. along with 2014 first-round pick Bradley Roby. Broncos writers identify Webster as a very good special teams player and suggest he could be looking for a bigger role on a new team. The 26-year-old defensive back might be an interesting buy-low option for the Eagles.\u201d Webster was reportedly set for a free agent visit with the Eagles that offseason but he signed with the Rams instead. Webster only played two games for the Texans in 2018 after dealing with injuries. The Eagles have a lot of talented youth at corner but it might be nice to add an inexpensive veteran like Webster, who can serve as an experienced backup and play special teams.\n\nJalen Mills and Ronald Darby are still recovering from significant injuries suffered in 2018. If they\u2019re at risk of missing games early in 2019, it wouldn\u2019t hurt to add a veteran like Webster.\n\nThe oldest corner on the Eagles\u2019 roster is Josh Hawkins, who is 26. Webster is 28.\n\nS GLOVER QUIN\n\nI think the Eagles might be done adding safeties. Malcolm Jenkins and Rodney McLeod are the projected starters, though McLeod is coming off ACL/MCL recovery. The Eagles signed Andrew Sendejo to seemingly be their third safety. The Eagles also recently claimed Blake Countess and his $2 million salary off waivers.\n\nThere\u2019s been talk (including from myself) that the Eagles could cut Sendejo to save a fourth-round comp pick and $800,000. I\u2019m not going to dismiss that possibility. But it might not have to come to that. If the Eagles use the May 7 tender to get Wis and/or Ajayi to count TOWARDS their comp pick formula, they won\u2019t need to cut Sendejo to save a fourth-round pick. So we\u2019ll see how that goes.\n\nIf the Eagles do want to add a safety who doesn\u2019t impact their comp pick formula, Quin could be of interest as the team\u2019s new version of Corey Graham. The Lions originally signed Quin while Schwartz was Detroit\u2019s head coach. At 33, Quin\u2019s best days are behind him. It\u2019s also not like the Eagles have needed to wait to sign him since he was cut by the Lions earlier this offseason. Still, I\u2019ll mention him here due to the Sendejo comp pick consideration.\n\nI\u2019ll also give honorable mention to Tre Boston, who is still on the market for some reason. I\u2019m guessing he\u2019s hoping for a bigger role than Philly could reasonably offer.\n\nRB DARREN SPROLES\n\nSproles previously said he was going to make his decision to retire or not in May. Well, it\u2019s May now. The feeling here is that Sproles would like to play in 2019. I also feel like Pederson would like to have Sproles back. But I\u2019m not so sure the front office will be eager to pay a 36-year-old running back who\u2019s only been able to play in nine games the past two years due to injury.\n\n...\n\nWho do you want the Eagles to sign?"}
-{"text": "FX\n\nTV academy members are in for a treat on Tuesday, May 29 when FX\u2019s comedy series \u201cBaskets\u201d will take over the Hollywood Arby\u2019s located at 5920 Sunset Blvd. \u201cBaskets\u201d showrunner Jonathan Krisel and cast members Zach Galifianakis, Louie Anderson and Martha Kelly will staff the Emmy FYC event during lunch hours, serving combo meals and curly fries for in-house patrons and drive-thru customers. Arby\u2019s is the favorite fast-food restaurant of the Baskets family on the show, so it\u2019s the perfect venue to host the awards shindig.\n\nEmmy voters in attendance will also get to enjoy self-serve frozen yogurt from The Frobot that was featured in the fifth episode of Season 3. TV screens will be set up throughout the restaurant broadcasting a marathon of the 10-episode third season, which aired between January and March of this year. And there will be a photo opportunity with the clown car that\u2019s frequently seen at the Baskets Family Rodeo.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a very unconventional FYC event,\u201d teases an FX representative. In addition to Galifianakis, Anderson and Kelly, more \u201cBaskets\u201d stars expected to appear at Arby\u2019s are Garry & Jason Clemmons (the DJ Twins), Alex Morris (Ken) and sign-spinner Erik Argote (Sleepy).\n\nAnderson won the Emmy Award for Best Comedy Supporting Actor in 2016 for playing Christine Baskets, the mother of Galifianakis\u2019 twin brothers Chip and Dale. Anderson was nominated again last year, though he lost to Alec Baldwin (\u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d). Galifianakis, who\u2019s also a producer on the series, scored a Best Comedy Actor bid last year, losing to Donald Glover (\u201cAtlanta\u201d).\n\nSeason 3 of \u201cBaskets\u201d focused on the family\u2019s journey as the new owners of a rodeo in Bakersfield, California. As Chip and Dale struggled working so closely with their overbearing mother, Christine and Ken\u2019s relationship deepened. Galifianakis recently told our sister site Deadline that \u201cWe\u2019ll see what happens\u201d when it comes to the plot of next year\u2019s Season 4.\n\nBe sure to make your Emmy predictions today so that Hollywood insiders can see how their TV shows and performers are faring in our odds. You can keep changing your predictions as often as you like until just before nominees are announced on July 12. And join in the fun debate over the 2018 Emmys taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our television forums. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.\n\nSIGN UP for Gold Derby\u2019s free newsletter with latest predictions"}
-{"text": "Saturday Night Live returned to NBC this weekend, Alec Baldwin in tow, for another season likely peppered with parody of Donald Trump.\n\nAiring live in all U.S. time zones, as it did for four episodes last season and will continue to do all of this season, the show averaged just over 7 million viewers and a 1.9 rating among adults 18-49. Those figures both represent declines of a little more than 15 percent from the prior opener \u2014 no surprise given last year's presidential election cycle.\n\nSNL will likely reap considerable lifts from time-shifting. And while it may not hit the highs of the previous year, Saturday's numbers still represent the show's second most-watched premiere since 2010.\n\nThe 2016-17 SNL opener, one that set a eight-year premiere high for the venerable sketch series, averaged 8.3 million viewers and a live 2.3 rating among adults 18-49. That ultimately just scratched the surface, with SNL hitting more episodic highs throughout the season. Its aggressive lampooning of the election and the Trump White House inspired an unpredictable momentum, and, all told, SNL wrapped the season with an average 11 million viewers and a 3.5 rating among adults 18-49, per Nielsen's live-plus-seven-day ratings.\n\nThose numbers made for the show's most-watched season in 23 years and the highest-rated in seven. SNL also finished the season as the No. 5 non-sports show on broadcast, trailing only The Big Bang Theory, This Is Us, Empire and Modern Family in the key demo.\n\nThough Baldwin's return for his portrayal of the president is proof-positive that executive producer Lorne Michaels and company intend to stay the course with political parody, most parties involved with the show have publicly acknowledged the unique nature of the 2016-17 season. And while SNL may continue to reap much more attention than it has years, the recent ratings highs are likely behind it.\n\nSaturday's premiere was hosted by Ryan Gosling and musical guest Jay Z. Upcoming episodes will feature Gal Gadot and Kumail Nanjiani."}
-{"text": "Hold the applause on environment\n\nPrior to the vote, the author of the Environmental Emergency Declaration motion was quoted in the media as saying that a declaration would \u201cgive the city further impetus.\u201d It is true, the community\u2019s major buy-in occurred years prior and was already strategically implemented: \u201cKingston \u2014 Canada\u2019s Most Sustainable City.\u201d It is a vision that is fully expressed in the community-built Sustainable Kingston Plan.\n\nEnvironmentally conscious people of a broad demographic clapped when the motion passed unanimously. This applause was neither hard fought, hard earned, nor well deserved. Following the lead of other cities on both sides of the border was the least we could do.\n\nOf greater significance, since implementing the Sustainable Kingston Plan, the city managed to attract foreign investment from companies that value our elevated social capital as we press to meet and surpass Paris Accord targets. How incredible that companies value our plan.\n\nAt council, I proposed we instead formulate a motion that included: Celebrating stakeholders contributing to our social capital, touting the measurable outcomes of sustainability as a municipal showcase, and modelling for other municipalities how to similarly get on track for Paris Accord targets while still attracting investment. I asked that the emergency declaration motion be withdrawn to consider a new motion built on those premises.\n\nGiven that I proposed different terms, why did I vote in favour? The motion had support to pass, so I voted in favour to honour the youth whose attention is focused on the environment, and so not to unnecessarily divert their energy from where it needs to be. We need environmentally conscious citizens to insist on motions and policies that are more integrative and require that Kingston operate through a leadership lens on issues where it is poised to do so.\n\nIt was mature of council to demonstrate cohesion based on the spirit of the motion, despite its flaws. Going forward, your applause will require more than symbolic declarations. Bring forward your integrated approaches about citizenry/environment/business for producing net sustainability gain. How ought we exercise our role as a leader at the municipal government level to make a broader impact?\n\nWhether you wish to propose an environmental concern or an environmental solution, I am interested to receive them, tap into the community intellect, and represent valuable concepts that can help Kingston grow more as a policy, environment and innovation leader.\n\nI am keen to receive your input (simon@simonchapelle.ca) and will present your views at our strategic planning sessions.\n\nSimon Chapelle\n\nCity councillor, Loyalist-Cataraqui District"}
-{"text": "In 2012, the University of Illinois received a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund three years of training courses for new farmers at its campuses in Urbana and St. Charles and at the Dixon Springs Agricultural Center near Simpson. A yearlong program, it offers 12 classes \u2014 one each month, on a Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The program requires a $300 deposit that is refunded if students attend at least 10 of the sessions. Information can be found at newillinoisfarmers.org."}
-{"text": "The Catholic Church should discourage Christian women from marrying Muslim men as such unions can create \u201cserious crises\u201d and contribute to the \u201cdemographic invasion\u201d of Europe, an Egyptian priest has said.\n\nAddressing the ongoing Synod on the Family at the Vatican, Fr Garas Boulos Garas Bishay, who serves as a Coptic Catholic priest in Sharm el Sheikh, said that mixed marriages between Christian women from Russia and Europe and Muslim men are \u201ca profound and worrying concern\u201d.\n\nThe problem not only applies to majority Muslim countries, Fr Garas said, but also to European nations where Muslims are settling.\n\nHe asked why Christians seem more willing to give up their culture and faith to take part in \u201cwithout realizing it and with tremendous superficiality, the realisation of the Islamic plan of \u2018demographic invasion.\u2019\u201d\n\nWomen who enter into these relationships, he added, are often \u201cdeceived and abused\u201d, while their children can be \u201cdisoriented and disturbed\u201d by the radically different cultures of their parents.\n\nCatholic website Zenit quotes Fr Garas as saying: \u201cIt should not be forgotten that Islamic law permits polygamy and the Koran obliges the parents to provide an Islamic education for the children.\n\n\u201cThere is a profoundly different cultural and religious anthropology that may easily give rise to serious crises within the couple, even leading to irreparable fractures and grave consequences for the children.\u201d\n\nThe Catholic News Service says Fr Garas was invited to the Synod on the Family as one of several \u201cobservers\u201d allowed to give brief presentations to Catholic bishops. He is pastor of the Our Lady of Peace Parish that deals with a large number of Christian refugees fleeing Islamists in Libya.\n\nThere are growing concerns the Synod could leave the Church more divided than before, with ultra-liberal bishops wanting to allow remarried divorcees to receive communion, something conservatives say violates Church teaching.\n\nHowever, according to Church law, no matter what the bishops conclude, only the Pope can alter Church practice."}
-{"text": "cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });\n\nMass resistance and struggle against Israel are necessary to \u201cliberate Palestine,\u201d Joint List MK Haneen Zoabi said on Thursday.\u201cAhed Tamimi is not just one, she is a whole generation... We are not waiting for the criminal [Israel] to understand,\u201d Zoabi said.\u201cWe need to force it to leave through a struggle. Only a mass struggle will liberate Ahed and the Palestinian people.\u201dZoabi made the comments in response to an announcement on Wednesday that Tamimi, a Palestinian teenager whose assault on IDF soldiers stationed outside her home can be seen in a viral online video, reached a plea deal, by which she will serve a total of eight months in prison.The video sparked emotions for and against Tamimi. Some Israelis expressed pride that the soldiers stood and took the blows and didn\u2019t respond, while others said it made the army look weak. Meanwhile, Tamimi became a symbol for pro-Palestinian groups around the world, with the hashtag #NoWayToTreatAChild trending on social media after her arrest.The Joint List MK said it is a success for the \u201cresistance\u201d that \u201cZionism, the last occupier in the world,\u201d is afraid of a child, meaning Tamimi.According to Zoabi, Tamimi is \u201cbeing punished not because she committed a crime or hurt anyone, but because she did the right thing, and said to soldiers who were persecuting children: \u2018I am not afraid of you.\u2019 And she is a brave teen, and all of the occupier\u2019s courts\u2019 actions only make her courage greater.\u201dIDF had no right to be in the Tamimis\u2019 yard, Zoabi added, saying: \u201cWe need to chase them out until the final stage, their total withdrawal.\u201dLast week, the Knesset Ethics Committee suspended Zoabi from the Knesset for a week for calling IDF soldiers \u201cmurderers,\u201d which the panel said violates MKs\u2019 vow to try to increase public trust in the Knesset.In 2014 she was suspended for six months, after she made statements justifying the kidnapping of three Israeli teens who were found to be murdered by Palestinians, and supported Hamas rocket attacks on Israel during Operation Protective Edge.During the operation, she traveled to Qatar, which was funding Hamas, and met with former Balad chairman Azmi Bishara, who fled Israel while he was being investigated for spying for Hezbollah during the Second Lebanon War.In 2011, she was suspended from the Knesset for two months, after she physically attacked an usher. The previous year, she participated in the infamous 2010 Gaza flotilla, which was stopped by Israel Navy commandos.Other MKs in the Joint List also voiced support for Tamimi, but stopped short of calling for a \u201cstruggle.\u201dJoint List MK Aida Touma-Sliman compared Tamimi\u2019s verdict to that of Elor Azaria, the IDF soldier convicted of manslaughter for killing an already-subdued Palestinian terrorist, and was this week granted a third off his sentence by the Parole Board. He will serve only nine months out of a 14-month sentence.Touma-Sliman said the similar lengths of their sentences \u201cproves how problematic and cruel military rule over another nation is, and what the ramifications of such rule is.\u201cAhed did what any other person with a conscience would do,\u201d she argued. \u201cThe slap she gave the soldier is a slap to all of Israeli society and a call to wake up. There is no enlightened occupation. We must wake up and free both nations from this system of oppression. A 17-year-old girl belongs in school and not behind bars.\u201d"}
-{"text": "A few days after I started wearing the Time Round, Pebble's ultra-thin new smartwatch, I shut off notifications. This was partly practical\u2014I get too many notifications, and the iPhone offers no filtering control over them\u2014but also a thought experiment. Right now most people see a smartwatch as nothing more than a notification machine, a slightly faster way to see what that buzz in my pocket was all about. What if we took that away? What else could it be?\n\nUnder that lens, the $249 Time Round comes into clearer focus. So does Pebble in general. It's not trying to make a shrunken computer for browsing Instagram or editing documents. It is, simply, trying to design a high-tech answer to the question we implicitly ask every time we look at our watch: What's going on? Minus the constant dinging and buzzing, I started to figure out what a smartwatch might actually add to my life. (Then I turned notifications back on, because I'm evidently a masochist.)\n\nReally, the new watch has but one unique characteristic: It actually looks like a watch. I know!\n\nPebble clearly designed the Time Round (ugh, that name) in opposition to the blocky rectangles that sit on the wrists of hyper-connected nerds everywhere. It's round, in case you didn't figure that out yet, which is up to you to care about or not but either way it feels far better on my wrist. It weighs less than an ounce, and is only 7.5mm thick\u2014the Apple Watch is about 50 percent larger in both dimensions, and feels like a lot more when you have it on your wrist all day. I hardly notice the Round on my wrist at all; it's one of the first smartwatches I've comfortably worn 24 hours a day.\n\nIts face is 38.5mm across, which is slightly larger than the smaller Apple Watch. It comes in silver, black, and rose gold, and you can buy 10 different styles of 14mm or 20mm bands. Small watch, plus small bands, plus lots of options, equals a watch most people can comfortably wear. If I were buying one, I'd get the silver case with the nubuck brown leather band, but to each their own.\n\nNo matter which you buy or how fancy the leather sounds, there's still nothing sexy or luxurious about the Time Round. Its design is more like a $30 Timex or Swatch than something a guy in white gloves would lift out of a glass case. It's not ugly, though, it's just utilitarian. (The best-looking models are the ones that put time markers on the giant bezel so it looks like the ring is that big on purpose.) It's made of fairly plasticky-feeling stainless steel1, and I worry about how the four mushy buttons will hold up long-term, but I've had no problem with it so far.\n\nIn turning its blocky rectangle into a sleek circle, Pebble made two big sacrifices. The first is that the Time Round is much less waterproof than the other models. It's not waterproof, actually. It's just splashproof, which means you can wear it while you wash your hands but not in the pool or shower. For most people, that won't really matter.\n\nPebble also sacrificed a lot of battery life to get the Time Round as small and thin as it is. It's not complicated math: smaller thing means less room for battery means less battery life. I've still been getting at least a day and a half out of the watch, and usually more like two and a half. I don't mind that number, and I'll gladly trade a little longevity for looks in this case. If you want more, go buy the other Pebbles.\n\nThe Time Round does the same things as the other Pebbles, except for the things it can't do because a few developers haven't updated their apps to work with the Time interface. (Get it together, Jawbone.) You can track your steps with a few apps, set alarms with a few others, and use the built-in microphone to set reminders or take notes. There's nothing remarkable or even surprising here, just simple things. I use the Music app all the time, the Swarm app occasionally for checking in to new restaurants, and a step-tracker in the background. That's about it.\n\nMost of the specs and software are the same across all the watches, which means the interface is still slow, and it's still unnecessarily animated and cartoony. (The unfolding letter is cute, Pebble, but I'd rather just see the email. My arm's hurting from holding my wrist up.) The whole look and feel needs some love, but I'm really growing fond of the timeline metaphor Pebble uses for organizing all your information.\n\nYour watchface is the center of the experience\u2014it's right now. Scroll up with the top button on the right side of the watch, and you move back in time. You'll see sports scores, appointments, incoming texts and calls, and whatever else you want in there. Scroll down, and you see what's coming next. After spending so much time with the Apple Watch or Android Wear, where everything's different and in different places, I love that I can describe a smartwatch's interface in six words: All your information in a timeline. The timeline can clutter easily if you're not choosy with what you allow in, and it does limit the things you can actually do with the watch itself, but I don't think Pebble cares about what you can do. I like that.\n\nThe point of the Time Round lies in the name, stupid as it is. It's round. And it's about time. When you look at your watch, you're really looking to see if you need to be somewhere, or if you have something you're supposed to be doing. The Time Round can provide all that in five seconds, and then throw in the Warriors score just for good measure. Then, like with any watch, you stop looking at the stupid thing and go on about your business.\n\nYou could almost argue that the get-in-get-out mentality excuses the dim, low-res 1.25-inch screen on the Time Round. Almost. It's great that Pebble found a way to make an always-on display that doesn't crush the battery, but I want more than the jagged text. More than the dim screen you can hardly see without turning the light on. More than the light that turns on every time you get a notification, so the whole world can see, and then goes off way too quickly. I'm in on e-paper, slow refresh rate and everything, but it's hardly glance-and-go when you have to squint at the screen three inches from your face just to see it.\n\nThese are the same problems the other Pebble Time models have. And we're still waiting on the developer community to build the feature-adding \"Smart Straps,\" smart-home control, and a million cool apps Pebble keeps promising. Pebble still sucks with an iPhone, because you can't control which notifications you see and you can't do anything with them. Pebble's working on that, but for now, if you use an iPhone, there's no smartwatch worth buying other than the Apple Watch. (That sucks.) If you're on Android, you get much finer control and many more useful features.\n\nHonestly, you could read my review of the Pebble Time from May and not be missing much. Only one big thing has changed: The Time Round is good-looking. Not high-fashion or high-class\u2014you won't see Pharrell and Katy Perry Instagramming themselves wearing one, and no one in Switzerland is sweating through their pocket square worrying about Pebble's design chops. Yet it's good-looking in a white-collar sort of way. It's the stainless-steel oven of smartwatches.\n\nAt $249, the Time Round is more expensive than it looks or feels, which is a shame. But this is the first smartwatch I've used in a long time that offers me more peace than anxiety. I don't worry about figuring it out or making the most of it, or whether I should be doing this thing on my watch or my phone or my laptop. I don't think about it at all most of the time. I just check the time, and it tells me what I need to know. That's the job, isn't it?\n\n1 UPDATE: An earlier version of this piece said the Time Round was made of plastic. It's actually made of stainless steel. It just feels like plastic.\n\nYou may also like:"}
-{"text": "A pochi giorni dalle elezioni comunali di Riace, la Procura di Locri ha notificato l\u2019avviso di conclusione indagini per uno stralcio dell\u2019inchiesta \u201cXenia\u201d. Questa volta a essere indagata \u00e8 il candidato a sindaco Maria Span\u00f2 che guida la lista \u201cIl cielo sopra Riace\u201d dove uno dei candidati consiglieri \u00e8 proprio l\u2019ex primo cittadino \u201csospeso\u201d Mimmo Lucano. Per molti anni la Span\u00f2 \u00e8 stata assessore proprio di Lucano e, in concorso con lui, secondo il sostituto procuratore Michele Permunian, avrebbe rilasciato carte d\u2019identit\u00e0 a soggetti stranieri primi dei previsti requisiti.\n\nL\u2019accusa \u00e8 di falso ideologico commesso dal pubblico ufficiale in certificati o autorizzazioni amministrative. In sostanza, stando al capo di imputazione, avrebbe falsamente attestato che il Jawad El Bahri, un ragazzo di 30 anni di origine marocchina, fosse residente nel Comune di Riace. Stessa cosa per la nigeriana Success Adekanye per quale, sempre, in concorso con Mimmo Lucano, l\u2019ex assessore Span\u00f2 avrebbe attestato pure che la ragazza fosse munita di permesso di soggiorno.\n\nL\u2019avviso di conclusione indagini non ha sorpreso la candidata a sindaco di Riace la cui posizione \u00e8 stata stralciata durante le udienze preliminari quando il gup di Locri, a inizio aprile, si era accorto di un difetto di notifica. \u201cMi contestano solo la firma in due carte di identit\u00e0 \u2013 \u00e8 il commento di Maria Span\u00f2 \u2013 Ma la firma \u00e8 un atto formale da parte dell\u2019amministratore , la fase istruttoria viene fatta dall\u2019ufficio. L\u2019amministratore non ha il compito di controllare la fase istruttoria, anche perch\u00e9 questo \u00e8 un compito sia dell\u2019ufficio che del responsabile dell\u2019ufficio. In questa vicenda ci sono tanti fatti curios che non voglio commentare. Sicuramente non si tratta di una nuova inchiesta\u201d, ha aggiunto.\n\nOltre alla Span\u00f2, la Procura ha notificato la chiusura delle indagini anche ad altri due soggetti: Annamaria Maiolo e Valentina Micelotta coinvolte nella parte dell\u2019inchiesta relativa alla gestione dei fondi dell\u2019accoglienza. Maiolo, infatti, era la presidente dell\u2019associazione \u201cOltre Lampedusa\u201d e, oltre che di associazione a delinquere, \u00e8 accusata di aver annotato per un mese la presenza di un immigrato del Bangladesh che in realt\u00e0 si trovava a Milano."}
-{"text": "We all gripe about movies, don't we? High ticket prices, chatty people in the theater, the eerie, distracting glow of cell phones -- and to top it off, the high cost of popcorn, candy and soda.\n\nA man in Michigan decided he's had enough and filed a class action against AMC Theaters, the second largest theater chain in the U.S., alleging that high concession prices amount to price gouging -- something the Michigan Consumer Protection Act was designed to prevent, the L.A. Times reported.\n\nJoshua..."}
-{"text": "Oscars: Estonia Nominates '1944' for Foreign-Language Category\n\nElmo Nuganen's film is an epic of war on two fronts, as Estonians fight retreating Nazis and invading Soviets.\n\nEstonia Monday nominated Elmo Nuganen's war-time epic 1944 for the foreign-language Oscar race.\n\nThe story of a country torn apart as the Red Army advances from one side and the Nazis conduct a fighting retreat from the other, the film tells the story of two brothers forced into choices that put them on opposing sides.\n\nThe film, which had its domestic premiere in February, has been a box-office hit in the small Baltic republic, with more than 100,000 tickets sold so far. The only other film to have done as well is Nuganen's 2002 film Names in Marble.\n\nNuganen is also known as one of Estonia's top actors and played a lead role in Zaza Urushadze's Tangerines, the Estonian-Georgian co-production that was the Baltic country's Oscar nominee last year that made it to the Academy shortlist of five in the foreign-language film race.\n\n1944 was lensed by Rein Kotov and produced by Kristian Taska, Taska Film, Estonia and Ilkka Matila, MRP Matila R\u00f6hr Productions, Finland. World sales are handled by Eyewell AB, Sweden."}
-{"text": "Bitcoin hat einen viert\u00e4gigen Verlusttrend beendet und handelt aufgrund steigender Spekulationen, dass die USA m\u00f6glicherweise negative Zinss\u00e4tze annehmen k\u00f6nnten, stabil um 9.000 USD.\n\nDie nach Marktwert h\u00f6chste Kryptow\u00e4hrung stieg am Dienstag um fast 3%, nachdem sie in den vorangegangenen vier Tagen Verluste erlitten hatte \u2013 der l\u00e4ngste t\u00e4gliche Verlust seit mehr als zwei Monaten, so der Bitcoin-Preisindex von CoinDesk.\n\nDer Preisanstieg am Dienstag fiel mit der erneuten Forderung von US-Pr\u00e4sident Donald Trump nach negativen Zinss\u00e4tzen zusammen\n\n\u201eSolange andere L\u00e4nder die Vorteile negativer Zinss\u00e4tze erhalten, sollten die USA auch das\u201e GESCHENK \u201cakzeptieren. Gro\u00dfe Zahlen! \u201c, Twitterte Trump. Im Rahmen von Bitcoin Superstar m\u00fcssen Banken bei der Zentralbank Zinss\u00e4tze f\u00fcr das Parken von Bargeld (\u00dcberschuss \u00fcber die Norm hinaus) zahlen. Im Wesentlichen werden Gesch\u00e4ftsbanken daf\u00fcr bestraft, dass sie \u00fcbersch\u00fcssiges Bargeld halten, um sie zu zwingen, die Kreditvergabe an Unternehmen und Verbraucher anzukurbeln.\n\nL\u00e4nder wie Japan, die seit 2016 die Negativzinspolitik betreiben, haben jedoch immer noch keinen nachhaltigen Anstieg der Wachstumsrate verzeichnet und bleiben weit von ihrem Inflationsziel entfernt. Auch Europa scheint es nicht geschafft zu haben, das Wachstum mit Hilfe negativer Zinsen zu st\u00fctzen, wie das Wall Street Journal feststellt.\n\nTrotzdem will Pr\u00e4sident Trump negative Zinsen. Auch die Zinsm\u00e4rkte spielen mit der Idee, in den USA Kreditkosten unter Null zu haben. Am Dienstag fielen die Futures-Kontrakte auf Fed-Fonds unter Null, was bedeutet, dass die Anleger im Juni 2021 negative Zinss\u00e4tze erwarteten.\n\nViele Krypto-Marktanalysten glauben, dass unkonventionelle Geldpolitiken wie negative Zinsen und K\u00e4ufe von Verm\u00f6genswerten in gro\u00dfem Ma\u00dfstab inflation\u00e4rer Natur sind und ein gutes Zeichen f\u00fcr Bitcoin sein k\u00f6nnten, das ein begrenztes Angebot hat und im Laufe der Zeit die Produktion verringert.\n\nSaifedean Ammous, Autor von \u201eThe Bitcoin Standard\u201c, erkl\u00e4rte auf der Konferenz \u201eConsensus: Distributed CoinDesk\u201c am Montag, dass die Attraktivit\u00e4t der Kryptow\u00e4hrung in der Tatsache liege, dass ihre programmierte Geldpolitik der reaktiven Geldpolitik der traditionellen Zentralbanken \u00fcberlegen sei.\n\nIn der Tat sind traditionelle Zentralbanken reaktiver Natur, da sich ihre Haltung neben den Ver\u00e4nderungen in der Wirtschaft \u00e4ndern wird. Das schafft viel Unsicherheit. Im Gegensatz dazu ist die Geldpolitik von Bitcoin auf 21 Millionen Einheiten festgelegt und das Angebot wird alle vier Jahre um die H\u00e4lfte reduziert. Bitcoin wurde am Montag zum dritten Mal belohnt, wodurch die Belohnungen pro abgebautem Block um 12,5 BTC auf 6,25 BTC reduziert wurden.\n\nW\u00e4hrend das negative Interesse f\u00fcr Bitcoin ein gutes Zeichen sein k\u00f6nnte, scheinen die Fed-Beamten derzeit nicht geneigt zu sein, diesen Weg einzuschlagen\n\nZum Beispiel haben der Pr\u00e4sident der Fed von Richmond, Thomas Barkin, und der Pr\u00e4sident der Fed von Chicago, Charles Evans, k\u00fcrzlich Widerstand gegen negative Zinss\u00e4tze ge\u00e4u\u00dfert.\n\nAuch der Vorsitzende Powell wird voraussichtlich w\u00e4hrend seines Webcasts mit dem Peterson Institute for International Economics am Mittwoch gegen 9:00 Uhr Eastern Time (13:00 UTC) Hoffnungen auf Raten unter Null zerst\u00f6ren.\n\nObwohl es unwahrscheinlich ist, dass Bitcoin die Bereitschaft signalisiert, k\u00fcnftig negative Zinss\u00e4tze zu ber\u00fccksichtigen, kann Bitcoin m\u00f6glicherweise Gebote finden und \u00fcber 9.000 USD steigen.\n\nW\u00e4hrend die Preise am Dienstag bislang gestiegen sind, ist ein zinsbullisches Follow-Through bislang schwer fassbar geblieben. Die Kryptow\u00e4hrung hat noch keine Akzeptanz \u00fcber 9.000 USD gefunden und wird zum Zeitpunkt der Drucklegung um 8.930 USD gehandelt, was einem Gewinn von 1% am Tag entspricht.\n\nEinige Beobachter erwarten, dass sich Bitcoin vorerst seitw\u00e4rts bewegt. \u201eWir erwarten kurzfristig eine laufende Konsolidierung zwischen 8000 und 9.500 US-Dollar. Die implizite Volatilit\u00e4t (IV) und das Handelsvolumen gingen nach der Halbierung dramatisch zur\u00fcck, was auf eine mangelnde Ausrichtung von BTC hinweist \u201c, sagte Matthew Dibb, Mitbegr\u00fcnder und COO von Stack, einem Anbieter von Kryptow\u00e4hrungs-Trackern und Indexfonds."}
-{"text": "Lesbian fun gone wrong... caught eating pussy so tied together to fuck each other\n\n19:27 84%"}
-{"text": "CNN is the worst fake news shill in all of media.\n\nThat was the consensus of a live studio audience when Fox News\u2019 Sean Hannity posed the question while filming his show at CPAC on Wednesday.\n\n\u201cOf all the media outlets, which one was the worst?\u201d Hannity asked. \u201cCNN!\u201d the audience shouted in unison.\n\nA man in the audience yelled out, \u201cThey gave [Hillary] the questions!\u201d\n\nCNN\u2019s Chris Cuomo: 12-year-old girls who don\u2019t want to see penises in locker rooms are intolerant\n\nHannity replied in disbelief: \u201cI know! They gave her the debate questions at CNN.\u201d\n\nHannity raised the question while discussing the blatant leftist bias of mainstream media. While liberal press bias has been in place for decades, reporters usually tried to hide their political leanings. But no longer. The media\u2019s anti-Trump bias is now relentless and out in the open.\n\nSean Hannity previously explained that he is a commentator who doesn\u2019t hide his political views, so the audience knows exactly where he stands. But the folks at CNN insist they\u2019re \u201cobjective journalists\u201d while shilling leftist propaganda masquerading as \u201cnews.\u201d\n\nCNN\u2019s mask was torn off when Wikileaks revealed its collusion with Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party. \u201cIt was the single most corrupt, revealing moment about media bias, disinformation and propaganda,\u201d Hannity said.\n\nAnti-Trumper Ben Stein slams CNN during CNN interview: Stop using Trump as a punching bag!\n\n\n\nHannity said it\u2019s clear the mainstream media (which leans 90% liberal) is pushing anti-Trump narratives in order to influence their viewers.\n\n\u201cThe media is against our president,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have Democrats against the president. We have freaky weird snowflakes against the president. And we even have weak Republicans against the president.\u201d\n\nMany on Twitter agreed with Hannity, and most will never forget how CNN colluded with Hillary during the presidential election.\n\nBroadcasting from CPAC, Sean Hannity asks activists in attendance which outlet was the worst in the campaign. \"CNN!\" crowd yells in unison. \u2014 Tom Kludt (@TomKludt) February 22, 2017\n\nHaHa FakeNews CNN strikes (fails) again\u2026 Kellyanne is on TV nearly every day and I am watching her right now on Hannity at CPAC. \u2014 Ken Andrews (Gator) (@ken1911acp) February 23, 2017\n\nCan't wait to see CNN crash and burn tomorrow. Lets hope for treason charges. #CNNLeaks #Fakenews pic.twitter.com/VpY42dW8Sb \u2014 Russell Garvey \u274c (@GoodWorkDJT_TY) February 23, 2017\n\nhttps://twitter.com/LadydeManorBorn/status/834629119308607488\n\nWhy no mention of former CNN employee Donna Brazile leaking debate questions to Hillary Clinton, @DanaBashCNN? @ChrisCuomo? #DNCdebate pic.twitter.com/veSXsOebPe \u2014 Raven (@KazeSkyz) February 23, 2017\n\nThe \"Donald Trump and Russia\" fake news with zero evidence is just a deflection from what we learned in the wiki leaks emails ?? #CPAC pic.twitter.com/2gAkE5Q76h \u2014 Melissa A. (@TheRightMelissa) February 20, 2017\n\nsorry but u don't get to call urselves journalists when u were caught Colluding with the DNC & Clinton Camp. U R Hacks #NotTheEnemy #AMJoy pic.twitter.com/qlyqy4MvQG \u2014 Melissa A. (@TheRightMelissa) February 18, 2017\n\nTucker Carlson schools delusional Bob Beckel over Sweden\u2019s Muslim crime wave"}
-{"text": "Marijuana remains the drug of choice for members of the Canadian army, based on the Force's latest blind drug testing report that also found cocaine is gaining popularity among some members.\n\nThe report, done between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2013, found the overall drug consumption rate has been relatively stable since 2010 but suggested young, non-commissioned members were more prone to do drugs.\n\nThe findings, contained in a 42-page report obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, included testing for 11 controlled substances at 26 Armed Forces units across the country. There were 4,198 participants from most ranks and age groups.\n\nThe testing found that 279 urine specimens \u2014 or 6.6 per cent \u2014 tested positive for at least one drug, with pot detected in 5.3 per cent of all of the samples. That's up from the 4.2 per cent in 2012 and 4.8 per cent the year before that.\n\nPositive test results for marijuana came from 19 units, with the bulk from 3 Royal Canadian Regiment and 2 Service Battalion in Petawawa, Ont.\n\nThe report says nine units had cocaine-positive samples, with the most again from members in 3 Royal Canadian Regiment in Petawawa. Results showed 44 samples overall had traces of cocaine, up from the 29 positive samples the previous year, making it one of the higher rates since the testing started in 2007.\n\nWhile the numbers were considered low, members of the psychosocial health dynamics team who wrote the report said there was a higher likelihood that members tested positive for cocaine in 2013 than in 2009.\n\n\"There was a significant difference for the proportion of cocaine-positive samples, such that 2013 blind drug testing participants were significantly more likely to test positive for cocaine than those tested in 2009,\" the report states.\n\nDrug use higher in junior members\n\nThe results found that drug use is significantly more likely to occur among junior non-commissioned members aged 27 years or younger.\n\nThe document offers no reasons for the perceived increase, but cautions that the most recent samples were more likely than those in 2009, 2011 and 2012 to be rejected because of a flaw. It said eight units had samples that tested negative for drugs, but were found to be diluted.\n\nThe Canadian Forces has a zero-tolerance policy for illicit drugs and conducts testing to gather data to guide its Drug Control Program. No one from the Defence Department was available for an interview on the report, but a spokeswoman said in an email that \"the results are not used for disciplinary purposes as no urine sample can be attributed to a specific member.\"\n\nThe findings might provide insight into where drug use is occurring, what types of drugs are being taken and what population is most involved.\n\n\"The units identified in the present analysis as having the highest proportion of positive tests may provide the army with locations to target drug intervention efforts,\" the report states.\n\nReport could shape intervention strategy\n\n\"Because younger and low-ranking members had higher drug use rates, it might also be beneficial to focus those interventions on these populations.\"\n\nTraces of morphine, methamphetamine, and the amphetamines MDMA and MDA were also found at low rates.\n\nThe anonymous samples were sent to an independent lab contracted by the military, with the results provided last March.\n\nThe units in the study were chosen by the Chief of Land Staff or by the unit's commanders or commanding officers, and did not include the Royal Canadian Navy or Royal Canadian Air Force."}
-{"text": "At KubeCon+CloudNativeCon Europe 2019, Iqbal Farabi and Tara Baskara from GO-JEK presented their findings on experiments to benchmark various cloud native databases, such as Vitess, CockroachDB, FoundationDB, TiDB, YugaByte DB, etc. They applied the following filters to the list:\n\nOpen source\n\nOperational database\n\nACID compliance\n\nProvides SQL-like API\n\nThe result was the following list of databases to benchmark:\n\nFor the database benchmarking, they used go-ycsb, a Go port of Yahoo! Cloud System Benchmark (YCSB) from PingCAP. Feel free to check out the video recording and slides.\n\nWe highly appreciate the great work from Iqbal Farabi and Tara Baskara. Their presentation about benchmarking cloud native databases is a great one, and we believe it could benefit the entire cloud native and open source database community.\n\nHowever, in the TiDB part of the presentation, the benchmark results were not ideal. We tried to reproduce what's in the slide, but because there was some unclear information about the setup and configuration, we have got very different benchmark results. If you are interested in our results, feel free to email: info@pingcap.com. As a next step, we will work closely with Iqbal Farabi and Tara Baskara to update the results.\n\nIn the meantime, their work got us into thinking: why is it so hard to benchmark distributed databases? As mentioned by < antirez > in Why we don't have benchmarks comparing Redis with other DBs, you can see how choosing an unrealistic deployment and workload for a benchmark can easily impact the reaction to the results.\n\nIf you're an avid reader of distributed system news like we are, you've probably seen your share of benchmarks. You've also probably stopped taking them at face value.\n\nUnfortunately, benchmarks are hard to get right, and even more unfortunately, many articles touting benchmarks are actually benchmarketing, showcasing skewed outcomes to sell products.\n\nSo why do it at all? Let's take a look at some of the motivations for benchmarking, the common tools, and discuss a few things to keep in mind when benchmarking.\n\nWhy benchmark at all?\n\nIf you don't have reproducible, fair benchmarking, you can be blinded by your own hubris. Our contributors and maintainers depend on benchmarks to ensure that as we strive to improve TiDB, we don't negatively impact its performance. To us, not having benchmarks is like not having logging or metrics.\n\nFor our business, benchmarks give us tangible, real data we can share with both potential and existing users:\n\nHow will new feature X impact the performance of workload Y that customer Z uses?\n\nBeing able to benchmark against these workloads can inform our development, and positively impact all users \u2014 not just the originating benchmarker.\n\nWhile benchmarks can be used for these noble purposes, they can also be used for evil. They can be used for benchmarketing, which skews the results in favor of a particular deployment. Sometimes it's hard to spot, and for some readers, the easiest way to understand if something is or isn't benchmarketing is to look in the comments.\n\nWhat makes it so hard?\n\nOn the surface, benchmarking sounds pretty easy. You turn on the service, you make a bunch of requests, and you measure the time it takes.\n\nBut as you start to dive in, the story changes. Computers aren't the same, and distributed systems are even less so.\n\nDifferent RAM configurations, CPU sockets, motherboards, virtualization tools, and network interfaces can all impact the performance of a single node. Across a set of nodes, things such as routers, firewalls, and other services can also interact with metrics.\n\nHeck, even processing architectures aren't even all the same! For example, our software uses Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (SSE3), a feature that isn't available on all processors. This could mean huge performance differences between otherwise similarly-specced machines.\n\nSo instead of worrying too much about the specifics of how workloads perform on a particular machine, it's fairly common to focus on relative benchmarks between different versions of the same product, or different products, on the same hardware.\n\nWhile everyone wants to be incomparable, it's very important to compare yourself to something. Knowing relative numbers gives us the ability to understand how a new change might impact our product, or to learn our weaknesses based on the results of another product.\n\nThe status quo\n\nIt's fairly common to see articles touting benchmarks gathered off big cloud machines in fairly small deployments. The author will go over the deployment specifications, then run a few tools like Yahoo! Cloud Serving Benchmark (YCSB) and Transaction Processing Performance Council Benchmark C (TPC-C), and show off some graphs comparing the outcomes to either other versions or other products.\n\nThis is pretty awesome, actually.\n\nBeing able to (mostly) replicate their deployment, readers should be able to replicate their results. It also gives readers a chance to see any configuration the author might have done to favor results.\n\nFor example, it would be hardly fair to test key-value store TiKV 2.1 with sync-log off vs TiKV 3.0 with sync-log on. There are big performance (and safety) characteristics between the two settings.\n\nComparing products can be even worse. Products with different features and configurations are hard to compare \u2014 especially if the author is an expert in one system and a novice in another.\n\nIf you're like some of our contributors, you might have smirked at a few benchmarks before as you saw configurations that clearly favored one product or another. They're as subtle as possible, of course, but they're often the key to understanding a surprising result.\n\nDistributed systems are complex!\n\nWhen you consider a distributed system, it's important to choose a realistic topology. We doubt a user will ever deploy six stateless query layers (like TiDB) to talk to two key-value store (TiKV) services and one Placement Driver (PD) service, so why would we benchmark that?\n\nChoosing the right machines is important too. Production deployments of distributed systems often suggest (or require) certain configurations. For example, we suggest you use your fastest storage and memory nodes to serve TiKV. If most TiKV nodes were running on a spinning disk machine, it's likely system performance would be heavily degraded, and benchmarks would be skewed.\n\nWe maintain a dedicated cluster of machines that our maintainers can use for benchmarking and testing. This gives us consistent, reliable benchmarks, because the topology is stable, and the machines do not run other noisy VMs or services.\n\nAlso, distributed systems like TiDB are often flexible, and tuning can dramatically impact the metrics for specific workloads. Tuning the database properly to the workload can help us properly test features, and inform our users of possible easy-gains for their use cases.\n\nDifferent scenarios, different standards\n\nDatabases have an incredible variety of use cases and workloads. Understandably, there is no universal, all-encompassing benchmark. Instead, we have a variety of tools at our disposal.\n\nThe TPC-C benchmark is an Online Transactional Processing (OLTP) standard that takes the perspective of distributing orders to customers. The metric it measures is the number of orders processed by the benchmark per minute.\n\nThe TPC-C tries to measure the essential performance characteristics of some operations portrayed through the lens of a company distributing products to warehouses and districts, and then on to customers.\n\nThe benchmark doesn't attempt to measure the impact or cost of ad-hoc operational or analytical queries, such as the effect of decision support or auditing requests.\n\nIt uses fixed, scaling, and growing tables, and has a number of operations, such as creating new orders, paying for orders, checking the status of orders, and inquiring into the stock level of items.\n\nThe benchmark defines strict requirements for response time and consistency, and it uses multiple client connections to do this. (An example of a multiple client connection is creating an order with one client, and checking for it with another.)\n\nThe TPC-C has been one of the more popular OLTP benchmarks for a couple of decades, and it is commonly used to determine a system's cost or power efficiency. It's useful for determining the common, day-to-day performance of an OLTP database.\n\nThe TPC-H benchmark is a decision-support benchmark. It operates over a minimum dataset size of about 1 gigabyte, though it's commonly run on larger populations. It measures metrics through composite queries per hour. (The standard discourages comparing between sizes, which is misleading.)\n\nThe TPC-H tries to measure the ability of a database to handle complex, large, ad-hoc queries. It functions similar to how a data lake functions in an extract, transform, load (ETL) pipeline, staying closely synchronized with an online transactional database. Complex queries are run over the dataset ad-hoc, and at varied intervals.\n\nIn many ways, TPC-H complements TPC-C. TPC-H represents the analytical database which handles the queries the TPC-C doesn't.\n\nSysbench\n\nUnlike the TPC benchmarks, sysbench is a scriptable benchmarking system in C and Lua. It offers a number of simple tests, and allows them to define subcommands (for example prepare and cleanup).\n\nBecause it's scriptable, you can use sysbench to create your own benchmarks, and also use the included benchmarks like oltp_read and oltp_point_select .\n\nSysbench is useful when you're trying to isolate problem cases, or want specific workload metrics.\n\nYCSB\n\nThe YCSB is a framework and common set of workloads for evaluating databases. Unlike the TPC benchmarks, it supports key-value stores, such as TiKV or redis. It reports in operations/sec.\n\nYCSB is not as complex as the TPC benchmarks, but it has a number of fairly simple core workloads that you can use to evaluate system performance. Workloads A through F each offer a simplified workload of situations such as photo tagging, session stores, news, conversations, and user settings management.\n\nPingCAP maintains a Go fork of YCSB that we regularly use to test our own database and those of our respected colleagues.\n\nWhat makes a good benchmark?\n\nThe best benchmark has two things going for it: It is reproducible and convincing.\n\nAs we discussed earlier, when you benchmark a distributed system there are a wide variety of variables. Choosing and detailing the topology, hardware, and configuration of the deployment is key for reproducibility. If you're testing multiple products, make their configurations as equivalent as possible.\n\nIt's not fair to compare an in-memory, single-node service against a persisted, redundant service. Pay attention to consistency guarantees in the documentation. If one database uses snapshot isolation by default, and the other requires you to enable it, make sure to make the configurations consistent so the comparison is fair.\n\nBeing convincing also involves accepting your weaknesses. A benchmark result where your preferred database clearly outperforms all the others in every result feels a lot like benchmarketing. Including outcomes that don't favor your preferred database can help keep you honest, and show folks you aren't trying to be evil.\n\nHow to make a decent benchmark\n\nBefore we even get started on making a benchmark, we need to Read Those Fricking Manuals\u2122 for each of the databases we'd like to benchmark, as well as each of the tools or workloads we want to benchmark. Understand what the tools are good at, and what they're bad at.\n\nNumbers that are just numbers mean nothing \u2014 you must have an understanding of what you have benchmarked, and what the results mean. You should ensure that the benchmark configurations, specs, and topologies are all realistic and appropriate for the situation.\n\nPay attention to tuning guides or recommended deployment options. If possible, use official deployment tools like TiDB Ansible or TiDB Operator, because they often are built to handle things like essential OS configuration.\n\nIf you're looking for a model to start from, our friends at Percona do a great job with their benchmarking articles like PostgreSQL and MySQL: Millions of Queries per Second.\n\nFocus on a realistic metric\n\nThe TPC-C and TPC-H don't focus on just plain operations/second. TPC-H only measures complex queries. In contrast, TPC-C doesn't consider ad-hoc or complex queries, it just measures how many orders can be processed. Consider the use cases that you need to evaluate, and find or create a benchmark that is an appropriate match.\n\nSince you're considering a distributed system, you should also consider testing the database over different latencies or failure cases. You can use tools like traffic control ( tc ) to introduce delays or unreliability in a controlled way.\n\nYou should also consider what percentiles you're interested in, and how much outliers mean to you. Measuring only the 99th percentile of requests can be misleading if one system has some possibly problematic outliers.\n\nStutter can affect high-load databases just like other performance games. You can learn more about percentiles and stutter in Iain's (NVIDIA) excellent stutter article.\n\nDistribute the workload\n\nA naive approach to writing a benchmark might involve a single client interacting with a distributed database and running a workload.\n\nHowever this is rarely a realistic situation. It's much more likely that a large number of clients will be interacting with the database. Consider the TPC-C. It's unlikely that all of the warehouses and districts would connect over the same connection, or wait to take turns running their queries!\n\nWhen you benchmark a distributed system intended to handle a high volume of traffic, like TiDB, using only one connection will almost certainly result in your benchmarking tool becoming bottlenecked. Instead of benchmarking the database, you're actually benchmarking the tool!\n\nInstead, it's better to use multiple connections like TPC-C and sysbench do. Not only is this more realistic, in many cases it will result in more accurate performance numbers. This is because distributed algorithms like 2PC are impacted by network round trips, and the overall throughput of the system will be higher, despite the average latency being possibly higher too.\n\nDig into the why\n\nA good benchmark report doesn't just show off numbers and state \u201cX is faster\u201d \u2014 that's not interesting! Why is X faster? Is it because of mistakes? Or is it the result of deliberate choices that had consequences?\n\nTalking about why one test subject is faster not only makes the results more interesting, it also makes them more legitimate. If an author can explain why results differ, it demonstrates that they performed the necessary research to make an accurate benchmark.\n\nConsult the experts\n\nIf you're surprised or puzzled by your initial results, sometimes it's a good idea to email or call the database vendor. It's very likely they can help you find a tuning option or implementation detail that might be causing these results.\n\nIt's common for proprietary databases to have restrictive clauses against publishing benchmarks. We don't. At PingCAP, we love reading the benchmarks folks do on our database, and we try to help them set up fair, realistic scenarios for their benchmarks.\n\nAfter all, talk is cheap \u2014 show us the code!"}
-{"text": "With the Tampa Bay region stalled on meaningful public transit investment, the city of Tampa is asking residents whether expanding an existing tourist-centric streetcar might help alleviate their transportation woes.\n\nCurrently, the novelty line runs 2.7 miles between the Ybor City and Channel District neighborhoods, a short stretch that doesn\u2019t reach downtown\u2019s highest job concentrations, let alone the airport or the University of Tampa. It doesn\u2019t even begin operation until noon on weekdays, and 11 a.m. on weekends, greatly diminishing its usefulness to commuters.\n\nNow, with $1 million from the Florida DOT, and another $677,390 from the city\u2019s own coffers, Tampa is considering what an expanded streetcar system might look like, and engaging in a series of public feedback sessions. Despite a perception that the streetcar is for tourists, not residents, Christina Barker, special assistant to the mayor, says the public\u2019s support for new transit options is high.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re hearing a lot of different opinions about how the streetcar can be used and where it could be going, but I think the overall theme is there is demand for this kind of transportation option, that people want more options, and they don\u2019t want to need to get in their cars to go everywhere,\u201d she says.\n\nRight now, that\u2019s a Tampa resident\u2019s best option: their own car if they can afford it, the free Downtowner circulator van if they can\u2019t. According to an investigation by the Tampa Bay Times earlier this year, among the 30 largest U.S. metros, the Tampa Bay region ranks near the very bottom for transit coverage and usage, and spends far less on transit than any other major metro area. As a result, most people who can drive do so, leading to worsening congestion as other options like Lyft and Uber also clog the roads and surface parking slowly disappears, replaced by housing.\n\nBarker says congestion and transportation always rank among residents\u2019 and potential businesses\u2019 primary concerns. \u201cBut as a city we tend to have to rely heavily on our surrounding county for funding sources and different avenues to build these bigger projects, and they haven\u2019t been panning out,\u201d she says. \u201cSo we took a step back and started looking inward to, what is a project that the city can really champion that\u2019s our own?\u201d\n\nThe streetcar wouldn\u2019t solve regional transportation issues, then, but it might be able to connect dense Tampa neighborhoods where transit demand is high. At an April 4 meeting, consultant HDR presented six possible corridors to the public. Attendees were able to register their feedback and preferences in real time using software called Mentimeter.\n\nOf the 69 people in attendance, 55 said they primarily commuted by car. Most didn\u2019t live in the downtown core, but about half commuted there for work. Their responses to specific corridors showed a clear preference for a north-south route, specifically one that would connect the downtown to the Marion Transit Center and the Tampa Heights neighborhood. A diagonal corridor slicing through downtown from northeast to southwest, passing through the University of Tampa, was the second most popular option. Three possible east-west corridors received about equal support.\n\n\u201cTo build a streetcar system that encompasses more of the city, it would have to be done in phases. So what we\u2019re looking for right now is: What is the logical next step?\u201d says Barker.\n\nSteve Schukraft of HDR says the city will focus on one route for now, while keeping the system flexible to introduce more service in the future. Based on feedback, Tampa and HDR will select two or three possible alignments to present to the Federal Transit Administration for approval.\n\nHe also says the proposal is still mode neutral. This could be a traditional streetcar expansion, or the system could use rubber-tire vehicles or even be equipped to handle autonomous vehicles in the future. Whether or not traditional streetcar technology is utilized might depend on how far the system is expected to expand. For 5- to 6-mile downtown connections, a streetcar is just fine. Over longer distances, the system would need more power.\n\nIn the public meetings, say Schukraft, while most people are open to the idea, \u201cWe are getting some skepticism about extending streetcar partly because of the concerns about current service. \u2026 Because of budget constraints, it hasn\u2019t provided a consistent full-day service that\u2019s close enough headways for people to make that a commute choice. So it\u2019s a special purpose service and a special purpose trip now, so people are skeptical of investing more in that because they don\u2019t believe it would address downtown\u2019s transit concerns.\u201d\n\nBarker hopes the public feedback process is changing how people think of the streetcar, but she too acknowledges that the streetcar\u2019s current limits make some residents wary of expansion. Local station News Channel 8 recently took a skeptical look at the economics of it all, noting that no matter what, the streetcar, like most transit systems, won\u2019t pay for itself. But it could do better than it does now, says Barker.\n\n\u201cIf it operated during commuting hours, if it connected to more jobs, I think you\u2019d see a much bigger return on investment than we\u2019re seeing right now,\u201d Barker says. \u201cHistorically we haven\u2019t necessarily funded operations of the streetcar that would demand the ridership that we\u2019d like to see it have.\u201d She also hopes the feedback sessions are informing the public on how other cities\u2019 streetcar systems work. Unlike in D.C. or Seattle, Tampa\u2019s streetcar does not run in the middle of the roadway but in its own right-of-way. Maintaining that design in an expansion could allow Tampa to avoid the slow speeds and traffic issues that have sometimes accompanied other streetcar projects.\n\nThe final public meeting, at which HDR will present results from the first two sessions, will be held on May 2."}
-{"text": "On Tuesday, yet another story was published about ethically dubious actions by Scott Pruitt, who is already having quite a week. According to the report from the Washington Post, soon after beginning his term as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Pruitt reached out to the president of Chick-fil-A to try to get his wife a job as the owner of a Chick-fil-A franchise.\n\nAccording to the Post:\n\nThree months after Scott Pruitt was sworn in as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, his executive scheduler emailed Dan Cathy, chairman and president of the fast food company Chick-fil-A, with an unusual request: Would Cathy meet with Pruitt to discuss \u201ca potential business opportunity\u201d?\n\nA government scheduler\u2014we\u2019ll return to her later\u2014arranged a call, which was later canceled. Pruitt eventually spoke with someone from the company\u2019s legal department. A Chick-fil-A spokesperson confirmed the nature of the call to the Post, and email records released under a Freedom of Information Act request by the Sierra Club corroborate the exchange and others Pruitt had in an effort to obtain work for his wife.\n\nHis wife, Marlyn, started the franchisee application, the company told the Post, but never finished. Around the same time, Pruitt approached the chief executive of a New York nonprofit called Concordia and asked him to call Marlyn. According to the Post, the executive and Marlyn Pruitt talked about \u201cher interest in event planning for nonprofits,\u201d and the executive offered her the opportunity to become involved in event planning for the organization.\n\nThat executive paid Marlyn Pruitt $2,000 for three days\u2019 work in helping to organize the nonprofit\u2019s annual conference, at which Scott Pruitt was invited to speak. In his travel to the conference, he spent $1,200 on first-class plane tickets and $670 on one night in a hotel. (\u201cNeither Mr. nor Mrs. Pruitt ever solicited a position for Mrs. Pruitt at Concordia, nor was it a condition of the agreement for the administrator to speak,\u201d the executive told the Post.)\n\nSeveral EPA aides told the Post that Pruitt had repeatedly expressed that he wanted his wife to get a job because he was anxious about the cost of maintaining his homes in Washington and Oklahoma. Helping his wife get a job by using his prominent position would seem, then, to be a matter of personal gain\u2014something that is prohibited by federal ethics laws.\n\nFederal ethic rules also ban public officials from using their staff for private gain, meaning his use of the government scheduler to arrange the call with Chick-fil-A\u2019s president could also violate the rules. This is the same problem that emerged Monday when it was revealed that Pruitt had been questioned about tasking an aide with helping him find an apartment and a used Trump Hotel mattress. Weirdly enough, the aide in the mattress story, Millan Hupp, is the sister of the aide in Tuesday\u2019s story, Sydney Hupp, according to the Post. Sydney Hupp left the EPA last year, the Post reports.\n\nPruitt, who, among the other members of the administration, has a particularly long list of scandals, is the subject of 12 federal investigations to do with his spending decisions as the head of the EPA and his ties to lobbyists. Ethics watchdogs have flagged his purchases of first-class flights for \u201csecurity\u201d reasons, his use of a 24-hour security detail in response to an overblown concern about threats, and the sweetheart deal in which he paid $50 a night to rent out a townhouse from a lobbyist."}
-{"text": "New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Saturday promised to reform the country's gun laws, a day after at least one gunman attacked worshippers in two mosques, killing 49 and wounding 42 others.\n\nThe attack, labeled terrorism by the prime minister, was the worst ever peacetime mass killing in New Zealand and the country raised its security threat level to the highest.\n\nArmed police were deployed at several locations in all cities, unusual in a country where levels of gun violence are low.\n\nThe gunman broadcast footage of the attack on one of the mosques in the city of Christchurch on social media. A \"manifesto\" was also posted online, denouncing immigrants as \"invaders.\"\n\nThe video footage, posted live online as the attack unfolded, showed a man driving to the mosque, entering it and shooting randomly at people inside.\n\nWorshippers, possibly dead or wounded, lay on the floor, the video showed. Reuters was unable to confirm the authenticity of the footage.\n\nPolice said three people were in custody including one man in his late 20s who had been charged with murder. He will appear in court on Saturday. Police have not identified the suspects.\n\n\"Our investigations are in their early stages and we will be looking closely to build a picture of any of the individuals involved and all of their activities prior to this horrific event,\" Police Commissioner Mike Bush said.\n\nArdern said the main perpetrator used five weapons during his rampage, including two semi-automatic weapons and two shotguns, which he was legally licensed to own.\n\n\"I can tell you one thing right now, our gun laws will change,\" Ardern told reporters.\n\nThe man facing murder charges was an Australian citizen who had spent a lot of time traveling overseas and spent time only sporadically in New Zealand, Ardern said.\n\nNone of those arrested had a criminal history or was on any watchlist in New Zealand or Australia.\n\nAmong the wounded, two were in a critical condition, including a four-year-old child, he said.\n\nThere was a heavy police presence at the hospital where families of the wounded had gathered. Funerals were planned on Saturday for some of the victims, several of whom were born overseas.\n\nDozens of people laid flowers at cordons near both mosques in the South Island city, which is still rebuilding after a devastating earthquake in 2011 that killed almost 200 people.\n\nSORROW, SYMPATHY\n\nLeaders around the world expressed sorrow and disgust at the attacks, with some deploring the demonisation of Muslims.\n\nU.S. President Donald Trump, who condemned the attack as a \"horrible massacre,\" was praised by the accused gunman in a manifesto posted online as \"a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.\"\n\nAsked by a reporter in Washington if he thought white nationalism is a rising threat around the world, Trump said: \"I don\u2019t really. I think it\u2019s a small group of people that have very, very serious problems. I guess if you look at what happened in New Zealand perhaps that\u2019s a case, I don\u2019t know enough about it yet.\"\n\nArdern, who was flying to Christchurch on Saturday, said she had spoken to Trump, who had asked how he could help.\n\n\"My message was sympathy and love for all Muslim communities,\" she said.\n\nPolitical and Islamic leaders across Asia and the Middle East voiced concern over the targeting of Muslims.\n\n\"I blame these increasing terror attacks on the current Islamophobia post-9/11,\" Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan posted on social media. \"1.3 billion Muslims have collectively been blamed for any act of terror.\"\n\n'SHOOTING EVERYONE IN THE MOSQUE'\n\nOne man who said he was at the Al Noor mosque told media the gunman burst into the mosque as worshippers were kneeling for prayers.\n\n\"He had a big gun...He came and started shooting everyone in the mosque, everywhere,\" said the man, Ahmad Al-Mahmoud. He said he and others escaped by breaking through a glass door.\n\nFacebook said it had deleted the gunman's accounts \"shortly after the livestream commenced\" after being alerted by police. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube all said they had taken steps to remove copies of the videos.\n\nArdern said she had asked authorities to look into whether there was any activity on social media or elsewhere ahead of the attack that should have triggered a response.\n\nForty-one people were killed at the Al Noor mosque, seven at a mosque in the Linwood neighborhood and one died in hospital, police said.\n\nThe visiting Bangladesh cricket team was arriving for prayers at one of the mosques when the shooting started but all members were safe, a team coach told Reuters.\n\nMuslims account for just over 1 percent of New Zealand's population, a 2013 census showed, most of whom were born overseas.\n\nSocial media was flooded with messages of shock, sympathy and solidarity.\n\nOne image shared widely was of a cartoon kiwi, the country's national bird, weeping. Another showed a pair of figures, one in a headscarf, embracing. \"This is your home and you should have been safe here\" the caption read."}
-{"text": "Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.) defied Virginia Democrats when commenting Thursday on a state bill that would expand the ability of women to seek abortions up to the moments before birth.\n\n\"Delegate Tran has a bill to change the existing Virginia law. I support the existing Virginia law, which has been in place since the mid-70s,\" Kaine said during an interview with Daily Caller reporter Kerry Picket. \"And it puts conditions on a third trimester abortion. I support the existing law, not the Tran bill. I don't think the existing law needs to be changed.\"\n\nDemocratic Del. Kathy Tran introduced a bill in the Virginia House of Delegates earlier this week aimed at scaling back restrictions on abortion in Virginia.\n\nWhen asked if he would comment on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's (D.) controversial comments about how after a child was born, the mother and the physician could have a \"discussion\" about whether the infant lives or dies, Kaine replied he would not \"comment on comments.\"\n\n\"I'll just tell you the existing Virginia law, I think is the right law,\" Kaine said. \"And it's consistent with Roe v. Wade, where the state is able to impose meaningful regulations on a third trimester pregnancy.\"\n\nPicket asked if he thought Tran's proposal was radical, prompting Kaine to repeat that he supported the existing law.\n\n\"All I'll say is that I support the existing law and I don't think that it should be changed,\" he said.\n\nTran's bill stirred controversy after colleagues questioned her on Tuesday about its implications.\n\n\"Where it's obvious that a woman is about to give birth, she has physical signs that she's about to give birth, would that still be a point at which she could request an abortion if she was so certified?\" Majority Leader Todd Gilbert (R.) asked during the presentation. \"She's dilating.\" Tran replied that was a decision the woman and her doctor would have to make before choosing to have an abortion. Gilbert asked specifically if the measure would allow for abortion right before birth. \"My bill would allow that, yes,\" Tran said.\n\nIn response, some Democrats have backed off the bill. One of its co-sponsors, Democratic Del. Dawn Adams, apologized for her initial support.\n\n\"I made a mistake, and all I know to do is to admit it, tell the truth, and let the chips fall where they may,\" she wrote. \"If you follow my newsletter or have written to me to ask about my votes, you know that I do my best to read and research every bill I vote on. But I did not read a bill I agreed to co-patron and that wasn\u2019t smart or typical. I will work harder and be better for it.\""}
-{"text": "Just weeks after entering the world of the web browser, search engine giant Google has given software developers a sneak peak of the first phone to use Google\u2019s phone operating system, called Android.\n\nJust weeks after entering the world of the web browser, search engine giant Google has given software developers a sneak peak of the first phone to use Google\u2019s phone operating system, called Android.\n\nGoogle executive Mike Jennings was demonstrating Android at a Google developers\u2019 day in London when he appeared to inadvertedly show off the phone, which is called the Dream.\n\nWhile the phone was covered in masking tape, observers said it looked like the Dream, which is pictured above.\n\nFor some sneak footage that was shot at an early demonstration, watch below.\n\nThe Dream is expected to be officially launched in New York next Tuesday, when Google and mobile phone carrier AT&T will hold a joint press conference.\n\nAs well as the slide-out qwerty keyboard pictured above, the Dream is expected to have a built-in global positioning system and run the suite of Google applications, including g-mail, Google maps and, if course, Google\u2019s new web browser, Chrome.\n\nThis morning technology site ChrunchGear quoted an unnamed person involved with the development of the phone as saying the Dream would cost $US200 under contract with AT&T. That will put the Google phone on a crash course with Apple\u2019s iPhone, which sells for $US199 under contract.\n\nAccording to The Times of London, the manufacturer of the handset, Taiwanese company HTC, expects to ship 600,000 to 700,000 units of the new phone this year, while analysts have a more conservative estimate of 300,000 to 500,000 units.\n\nRelated stories:"}
-{"text": "Formello, nella sfilata di carnevale spunta barcone dei migranti con la scritta \"no pago affitto\" in riproduzione....\n\nUna scialuppa in mezzo alle onde di carta e plastica, bambini e adulti con la faccia pitturata di marrone e poi cartelli degli scafisti con le scritte: \"Porti aperti\", \"No pago affitto\", \"Voglio wi-fi\" che parafrasano i testi del rapper Bellofigo. E' uno dei carri di Carnevale che ha sfilato ieri a Formello, comune di 13mila abitanti, alle porte di Roma. A trainare la scialuppa-barcone una jeep costellata di bandiere tricolore. L'allegoria carvevalesca sugli sbarchi degli immigrati se non ha creato scalpore in piazza tra le centinaia di persone, che hanno assistito al corteo nel piccolo comune affacciato sulla Cassia bis, sta scatenando polemiche e critiche sui social dove sono rimbalzate le immagini della messa in scena dedicata alla tragedia degli sbarchi accompagnata da un sosia di Matteo Renzi.Critiche sul cattivo gusto e accuse di razzismo. Ma il sindaco di Formello, Gianfilippo Santi non trova alcun imbarazzo anzi difende la sfilata. \"Non era neppure un carro vero. Nessuno si \u00e8 scadalizzato in piazza anzi tutti si sono divertiti. Chi solleva accuse di razzismo lo fa solo per attaccarmi politicamente perch\u00e9 dopo 25 anni ora c'\u00e8 una giunta diversa non pi\u00f9 di sinistra. Io sono un sindaco centrista di una lista civica\".\n\nQuindi sindaco secondo lei quei carri non esprimono contenuti discriminatori? Gli immigrati vengono rappresentati con cartelli accanto con scritto: \"non pago affitto\", \" voglio wi-fi\" con gli stereotipi cari alla destra e alla lega anti-immigrazione. \"No assolutamente - insiste Santi - Io sono un cattolico praticante e qui da noi non ci sono problemi di discriminazione\". Non la ritiene neppure una scelta di pessimo gusto? \"No, ripeto \u00e8 solo un'accusa strumentale. Anche lo scorso anno sono stato contestato per in carro sul Vesuvio e i napoletani. No, non penso di dover chiedere scusa a nessuno\" conclude il primo cittadino.Ma c'\u00e8 chi la pensa diversamente. \"Durante la festa del carnevale formellese ha sfilato un carro sarcastico sul tema dei migranti. Una jeep che traina un gommone con sopra alcuni bambini e delle scritte quali vogliamo il wi-fi, No pago affitto. E anche se a carnevale ogni scherzo vale, lo definirei \"il carro della vergogna\". Ormai sta dilagando nel comune sentire l'incitamento all'odio, alla paura e alla divisione. E' invece opportuno trasmettere ai nostri figli messaggi di inclusione e accoglienza soprattutto durante giornate di festa di Paese in cui le famiglie si riversano nelle piazze con gioia\" incalza la presidente di Legambiente di Formello Maria Teresa Altorio.\"Usare una festa popolare, di gioia, divertimento puro per irridere, offendere chi arriva in Italia dopo aver superato sacrifici incredibili e a rischio della vita \u00e8 becero, e una vera istigazione al razzismo\", scrive il segretario del Pd Lazio Bruno Astorre. \"Il razzismo esiste eccome, altrimenti un gioco, una festa, come il carnevale, non si trasformerebbe a Formello in una dichiarazione di scherno contro l'altro. Dove a farne le spese sono soprattutto bambini e bambine, che per crescere e costruire un futuro migliore, avrebbero bisogno di messaggi di pace, inclusione, serenit\u00e0, e non di questa becera strumentalizzazione. Abbiamo il dovere di fermare tutto questo\", commenta Marta Bonafoni, capogruppo della Lista Civica Zingaretti in Regione Lazio.Nel tardo pomeriggio, dopo le polemiche che hanno travolto la manifestazione di carnevale, ritorna sull'argomento il sindaco di Formello che ammette ma solo parzialmente l'errore: \"La sfilata e' stata fatta dalla Pro Loco, se ci fossimo accorti dei cartelli li toglievamo e finiva la storia - spiega Gianfilippo Santi all'Agi - Le persone che li hanno portati nel corteo si sono giustificate dicendo che non volevano fare male a nessuno e che era una cosa goliardica. Prendono le distanze - conclude - dalle accuse di razzismo\"."}
-{"text": "Direi che come prima volta mi e' andata bene, pertanto la recensione di oggi sara' caratterizzata da toni essenzialmente positivi. Corporation Of Consumption sono(chitarra),(voce),(batteraio),(chitarra, gia' militante negli) e(basso, anche batteria e vox dei Gargantha ).L'idea del gruppo nasce in una serata alcolica nel lontano Febbraio 2009, per poi concretizzarsi ufficialmente nel Giugno 2011. Con il loro primo demo, i Corporation of Consumption ci propongono un buon grindcore bello pesto cosi' come essi stessi lo definiscono sul loro bandcamp Subito una nota positiva per la intro, tratta dal monologo di Lino Banfi in Vieni Avanti Cretino , che in qualche modo vuole far presagire cio' che l'ascoltatore trovera' nelle tracce a seguire. Infatti queste ultime non ci deludono, sparandoci in endovena poco piu' che 10 minuti di puro grindcore abrasivo, chiaramente ispirato ai Napalm Death , caratterizzati da trivellanti rullate di blastbeat , pesanti e taglienti riff di chitarra quasi sempre ultraveloci e un cantato aggressivo. Degna di nota e', che la mia mente malata ha interpretato come un riferimento alle locuste del mondo videoludico frenetico, caotico e post-apocalittico di Gears Of War (anche se non e' cosi' lasciatemi sognare, 'naggiaggesu'!).Ma la traccia che piu' mi e' piaciuta 4' senza dubbio, che, senza contare la intro, e' anche la piu' corta. Come ben sappiamo la breve durata e' un marchio di fabbrica del grindcore . Quest'ultima infatti, oltre alle altre buone qualita' delle altre tracce, possiede quel nonsoche', quei cambi di tempo e quella ritmica incalzante che ti fa venir voglia di ballare per intenderci e mio parere la rende un tantino superiore.In conclusione direi che, pur non proponendo granche' di nuovo o originale, e' un demo di ottima fattura e mi sento di consigliarlo, ma solo a veri appassionati del genere. Voialtri andate a mor\u00ec ammazzati!Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Corporation-of-Consumption-COC/452276348131399 Bandcamp: http://corporationofconsumption.bandcamp.com/ E-mail: Questo indirizzo e-mail \u00e8 protetto dallo spam bot. Abilita Javascript per vederlo."}
-{"text": "New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced that night one of the NJPW G1 Climax will air live on AXS TV on July 6 from Dallas, Texas. Here\u2019s the press release:\n\nTHE BIGGEST PRO WRESTLING TOURNAMENT IN THE WORLD, THE G1 CLIMAX, COMES TO AMERICA FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 29 YEARS AND WILL AIR LIVE FROM DALLAS ON AXS TV SATURDAY, JULY 6\n\nLos Angeles (March 1, 2019) \u2013 A pro wrestling spectacle unlike any other, NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING (NJPW) will hold the opening night of the 29th annual G1 CLIMAX tournament for the first time ever in the United States live on AXS TV on Saturday, July 6. NJPW takes over the American Airlines Center with the sport\u2019s best athletes competing for glory as the top heavyweight wrestler of the summer.\n\nThe G1 CLIMAX is the most prestigious tournament in pro wrestling, beginning with night one in Dallas, Texas and continuing across Japan until the Aug. 12 finale in Tokyo. The best of NJPW\u2019s roster will be represented in the tournament with around 20 wrestlers participating every year. Acclaimed NJPW commentator Kevin Kelly will call the action on AXS TV.\n\n\u201cThe G1 CLIMAX tournament is the greatest tournament in pro wrestling and differentiates NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING from the competition,\u201d said AXS TV FIGHTS CEO Andrew Simon. \u201cHaving night one take place in the United States shows that NJPW is now a global company with worldwide interest. We are excited to broadcast this historic night live to AXS TV fans.\u201d\n\nThe event will be the fourth NJPW U.S. event to be broadcast live on AXS TV.\n\nAXS TV premieres new episodes of NJPW every Friday night at 8pE/5pP as part of the weekly \u201cFriday Night Fights\u201d block leading into the new hit series WOW-WOMEN OF WRESTLING at 9pE and LEGACY FIGHTING ALLIANCE live at 10pE.\n\nFor G1 CLIMAX in Dallas ticket information, visit njpw1972.com."}
-{"text": "Today's Forecast A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds. Mostly sunny, with a high near 79. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms."}
-{"text": "It's likely not the first thing you think of when you see elephant dung, but this material turns out to be an excellent source of cellulose for paper manufacturing in countries where trees are scarce, scientists report. And in regions with plenty of farm animals such as cows, upcycling manure into paper products could be a cheap and environmentally sound method to get rid of this pervasive agricultural waste.\n\nThe researchers are presenting their results today at the 255th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).\n\nThe idea for the project germinated on Crete, where Alexander Bismarck, Ph.D., noticed goats munching on summer-dry grass in the small village where he was vacationing. \"I realized what comes out in the end is partially digested plant matter, so there must be cellulose in there,\" he recalls.\n\n\"Animals eat low-grade biomass containing cellulose, chew it and expose it to enzymes and acid in their stomach, and then produce manure. Depending on the animal, up to 40 percent of that manure is cellulose, which is then easily accessible,\" Bismarck says. So, much less energy and fewer chemical treatments should be needed to turn this partially digested material into cellulose nanofibers, relative to starting with raw wood, he conjectured.\n\nAfter working with goat manure, Bismarck, who is at the University of Vienna, Austria, his postdoc Andreas Mautner, Ph.D., and graduate students Nurul Ain Kamal and Kathrin Weiland moved on to dung from horses, cows and eventually elephants. The supply of raw material is substantial: Parks in Africa that are home to hundreds of elephants produce tons of dung every day, and enormous cattle farms in the U.S. and Europe yield mountains of manure, according to Mautner.\n\nThe researchers treat the manure with a sodium hydroxide solution. This partially removes lignin -- which can be used later as a fertilizer or fuel -- as well as other impurities, including proteins and dead cells. To fully remove lignin and to produce white pulp for making paper, the material has to be bleached with sodium hypochlorite. The purified cellulose requires little if any grinding to break it down into nanofibers in preparation for use in paper, in contrast to conventional methods.\n\n\"You need a lot of energy to grind wood down to make nanocellulose,\" Mautner says. But with manure as a starting material, \"you can reduce the number of steps you need to perform, simply because the animal already chewed the plant and attacked it with acid and enzymes. You inexpensively produce a nanocellulose that has the same or even better properties than nanocellulose from wood, with lower energy and chemical consumption,\" he says.\n\nThe dung-derived nanopaper could be used in many applications, including as reinforcement for polymer composites or filters that can clean wastewater before it's discharged into the environment, Bismarck says. His team is working with an industrial consortium to further explore these possibilities. The nanopaper could also be used to write on, he says.\n\nThe researchers are also investigating whether the process can be made even more sustainable, by first producing biogas from manure and then extracting cellulose fibers from the residue. Biogas, which is mostly methane and carbon dioxide, can then be used as a fuel for generating electricity or heat."}
-{"text": "There are 800 Jews buried on a scraggly hill on the outskirts of Lakewood, their graves unmarked, unkempt and vandalized. Most years, the Hill, as the old cemetery is known, doesn\u2019t get mowed more than once in the spring, leaving graves lost by summer\u2019s end beneath a tangle of weeds.\n\nWhen asked why the Hill doesn\u2019t get mowed more than that, one caretaker said, \u201cBecause they didn\u2019t pay.\u201d\n\nThis year, days before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, weeds were cut down \u2013 a rare sign of care for a plot of land that\u2019s all too often ignored.\n\nDenver resident Ted Ruskin was shocked when he first saw the Hill, in 1989, which had already suffered from 30 years of neglect. Ruskin owned a memorial company and also was vice-president of the Synagogue Council of Greater Denver.\n\n\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe my eyes,\u201d he said. \u201cThere were a tremendous number of memorials knocked over, weeds and garbage. It was terrible. I was appalled.\u201d\n\nRuskin began marshaling volunteers for an annual cleanup with help from the Council. He did so until a few years ago, when his eyesight failed and he had to stop. Since then, more tombstones have been knocked over, more trash has built up amid the snarl of weeds and rusted markers, and broken beer bottles litter the cemetery\u2019s \u201cGenizah\u201d grave, a sacred place for worn-out prayer books.\n\nThe main section of the Golden Hill cemetery, started in 1908, is on the south side of Wide Acres Road in west Lakewood and is still active. The Hill, on the north side of the road and overlooking downtown Denver, was established in 1915. The first burial took place that year. No one has been buried there since the 1980s.\n\nIn 1995, the Hill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, one of only three Jewish cemeteries nationwide with that distinction.\n\nThe whole cemetery was built for Jewish tuberculosis victims, many who came from Eastern Europe in the early 1900s for the Colorado cure: isolation from the general population, a good diet, temperate weather and fresh, dry air. Many faced poverty. Tuberculosis was a disease of the poor, spread through crowded living conditions.\n\nJewish tuberculosis patients went to one of two sanitariums in Denver for the Colorado cure: National Jewish Hospital and the Jewish Consumptive Relief Society. National Jewish opened in 1899 with a motto of \u201cnone who pay may enter, and none who enter may pay.\u201d\n\nJeanne Abrams of the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Denver said that while the hospital did great work, it had rigid rules. Patients were limited to six months of care, and had to have at least $50 in savings so they could return home and not be a burden on their communities.\n\nNational Jewish also was nonsectarian, and didn\u2019t observe kosher laws until almost two decades after it opened.\n\nIn response to Denver\u2019s need for an observant sanitarium, working class Jewish men founded the Jewish Consumptive Relief Society in 1904 and recruited Dr. Charles Spivak, a Russian immigrant, to run it. The organization\u2019s motto, from the Talmud, is \u201che who saves one life saves the world.\u201d\n\nSpivak was a pioneer in the treatment of tuberculosis. He believed people would heal faster in an environment in which they felt comfortable. So, JCRS had a kosher kitchen from day one, and its staff respected the Yiddish language spoken by many of its patients.\n\nThe Relief Society also differed from National Jewish in another key way \u2014 it took tuberculosis patients in all stages of the disease, including people who might die just days after their arrival. More than 7,000 were treated at the JCRS sanitarium in its 36-year history, and scores of them didn\u2019t survive.\n\nBoth sanitariums needed a cemetery. Golden Hill, near the foothills, was the result. It was started by the West Side Benevolent Society, a mutual aid organization founded by prominent members of Denver\u2019s Jewish community to buy the land for the cemetery.\n\nFor the first few years, all tuberculosis victims, rich and poor, from JCRS and National Jewish, were buried in the main section of Golden Hill. Those from JCRS \u2014 who tended to be more devout and less well-off financially \u2014 were mostly buried in unmarked graves.\n\nBut by 1915, according to a cemetery ledger from the Foothills Genealogical Society, the poor began to be buried on the Hill so they wouldn\u2019t \u201cinfect\u201d those buried in the main section. According to records from the Jefferson County Historical Commission, burying tuberculosis victims on the Hill was a way to segregate them from the general population, since it was believed back then that people \u201cvisiting a cemetery could contract the disease through the deceased.\u201d The practice also reflected more than a bit of elitism from wealthy families who buried their loved ones on more level ground in a meticulously manicured part of the cemetery just down the hill and to the south.\n\nRecords show that families with money spent between 30 cents and a dollar for a burial. But if burial expenses weren\u2019t paid for, graves were marked with temporary metal plates, most of which rusted, disintegrated or have been stolen. Of the 200 tombstones placed on the hillside, many have succumbed to wind, rain and snow. Or worse. Dozens have been toppled and shattered by vandals.\n\n\u201cThe second there are signs no one\u2019s paying attention, that\u2019s when the wrong people pay attention,\u201d according to local historian Jennifer Goodland, who has researched the stories of some of the people buried on the Hill.\n\nMost of the dead on the Hill were men, since Jewish cemeteries, at least until the mid-20th century, were segregated by gender. Many were young \u2014 in their 20s and 30s \u2014 who had come from their respective \u201cold countries\u201d in search of promise in the western U.S.\n\nThere was Joel Cagon who during World War I served in the \u201cJewish Unit\u201d of the Royal Fusiliers, a British army battalion, and was a prisoner of war in Palestine.\n\nAnd Martin (Mendel) Abelson, a World War I veteran turned stockbroker who was a delegate to the 1916 Republican convention, according to a local paper. Abelson ran on a platform of respecting the rights of everyone, regardless of nationality, a radical notion in those days.\n\nMorris Rosenberg immigrated from Adampol, Poland, a town of middle-class and upper-class Jews. He came to the United States during the 1912-14 peak of Polish immigration. About 20 years later during World War II, his town of Adampol became a slave-labor subcamp connected to Sobibor, one of three main Nazi extermination camps. Adampol has no memorial to its Jews. The last synagogue was torn down in the 1970s and turned into a parking lot.\n\nOne of the first women buried on the Hill was Ida Hayum, who was born in Lohrhaupten, Germany in 1910. Like many Jews fleeing the rise of the Nazi Party, she and her husband came to the United States from Europe in 1935. Her town, Lohrhaupten, had already suffered its share of anti-Semitic attacks. Violence against Jews cut the population from 59 in 1861 to 21 by 1933. By 1940, the last 18 Jews in Lohrhaupten were sent to the concentration camps and to their deaths. Like Adampol and many other communities throughout Europe, Lohrhaupten also never memorialized its Jewish residents.\n\nHayum\u2019s and Rosenberg\u2019s graves on the Hill are some of the last reminders that those communities ever existed.\n\n\u201cNever forget,\u201d goes the solemn vow borne out of the Holocaust.\n\nBut remembering takes both time and money.\n\nDespite its historical importance for Denver and the Front Range Jewish community, the Hill shows signs of years of benign neglect because few funds are available to pay for even the most minimal care. That care now consists of mowing the hill once a year for Memorial Day, leaving it overgrown by early summer and looking like a wasteland by the Jewish high holy days this time of year.\n\nRestoring the Hill and the memory of the 800 buried there will take money, according to cemetery director Neal Price. But making the Hill a replica of the main section, with its manicured grass, isn\u2019t in keeping with the Hill\u2019s historic designation. The cemetery needs new security fencing, road improvements and foundations for toppled tombstones. The yucca plants that have overtaken much of the grounds need yanking. The dirt should be seeded with native grass. Each grave should be properly marked.\n\nNow nearly blind, Ruskin isn\u2019t able to do the work himself. So he\u2019s applying for a $25,000 restoration grant to Historic Denver. Price estimates the total budget at around $100,000, and he also is looking for funding. The work is vast, Price said.\n\nWhen the sanitariums needed a place to bury their dead, the West Side Benevolent Society bought land that was once part of a farm owned by John Clark Welch, a Golden pioneer who helped found the Colorado School of Mines.\n\nToday, the farm is long gone. In its place, on the north side of West Colfax and across the street from the Hill, a multi-story office building is going up. Businesses line West Colfax from that part of Lakewood all the way to Denver.\n\nHouses line the streets surrounding the main section of the cemetery on its south and west sides.\n\nBut somewhat telling of the Hill, its nearest neighbor, on its west side, is an empty warehouse that has been vacant for years.\n\nPhoto credit: Jennifer Goodland\n\nThanks to Historian Jennifer Goodland of Big Year Colorado for this story and for her invaluable assistance throughout this project."}
-{"text": "Well, all users except the ones happily (and consensually) sharing nudity, erotic art, fan illustrations and sexy GIFs on Tumblr -- and that means a lot of young women, queer people and gender-nonconforming folks will be left behind.\n\nA January 2017 study found 72 percent of Tumblr's users were female, with an average age of 26, and 22 percent of users logged on specifically to see pornography. Tumblr is credited for fostering the porn GIF boom, and it has long been lauded as a space with porn created by women, for women.\n\nFanfiction, fan art and broader homage communities take this idea one step further, inviting in creators and consumers of all backgrounds, including and especially LGBTQI people. Fandom is a place where young gay women and others can finally insert themselves into a world they love and explore relationships that set their souls on fire, just like straight, cisgender kids do with the existing stories in popular culture.\n\n\"Women, queer people, gender-nonconforming people -- you know there's always been a lot of, how dare you?\" McGuire said. \"It's what one of my friends in college used to call the lesbian-porn effect. Like, there are a lot of people who are just disgusted and horrified by the existence of actual lesbians in the real world, but who also love lesbian porn because then they can imagine themselves with those two women and they're still the center of the story. Even if the story was never meant to include them at all. There's a lot of stuff on Tumblr that does not create that space for the people that have historically been catered to.\"\n\nIn the wake of Tumblr's decision to ban adult content, two reasons emerged as likely catalysts. First, the Tumblr app unceremoniously disappeared from the iOS App Store on November 16th, and executives eventually said it was because images of child sexual abuse were discovered on the platform, despite attempts to scan and ban such content. During this time, Tumblr was also quietly banning blogs with NSFW content, including erotic illustrations and sex workers selling commissions (not child exploitation, mind). The Tumblr iOS app is still unavailable.\n\n\"Apple is weirdly puritanistic.\"\n\n\"They're trying to sell a commodity,\" McGuire said. \"They're trying to sell the idea that Tumblr can be monetized. And they're trying to get rid of the parts of Tumblr that certain people look at and go, oh, we don't want those kinds of people. A lot of it, I do think, feeds back to the fact that Apple is weirdly puritanistic.\"\n\nThe second likely reason is Tumblr's parent companies, Oath and Verizon (Oath also owns Engadget). Tumblr was gobbled up by Verizon in June 2017 as part of the Yahoo sale, and since that time the site has become more prohibitive. Safe mode is now automatically enabled for every user, blocking \"explicit\" content by default, and the site's community guidelines have been overhauled a few times.\n\n\"The puritanistic nature of this is coming from, 'We think the gays will hurt our financial chances,'\" McGuire said. \"It's coming from the idea that any LGBTQ content is innately adult and thus is innately less marketable. You know, you make your movie PG because you want to have more people come in and see it. Well, if you treat a little girl kissing a little girl as inherently NC-17 or X, then obviously fewer people will see it and you should take that away. And that's why this is such a dangerous attitude.\"\n\nA not inconsiderable number of us started writing fanfic because we wanted to live the stories that we loved, and then discovered that we loved telling stories. We wanted to do it always and forever and maybe...maybe we wanted to tell OUR OWN STORIES. \u2014 Seanan McGuire (@seananmcguire) March 28, 2018\n\nWhen Verizon was in the process of buying Yahoo and Tumblr, many people in fandom communities saw the writing on the wall, largely because they'd endured this process before. Fanfiction and fanart has found a home at a handful of sites over the years, from LiveJournal and FanFiction.net to DeviantArt and Tumblr -- but it seems that every time it settles in at a particular site, the terms of service get updated and the community is purged.\n\nFanfiction itself isn't banned in Tumblr's new rules. As the Tumblr Help Center puts it, \"Written content such as erotica ... can be freely posted on Tumblr.\" However, the new rules blow up entire fandom communities, because these spaces celebrate art and writing in equal measure. Besides, with an increasing focus on eradicating pornography on the site, many fan-fiction writers and readers feel it's only a matter of time. They're not welcome on Tumblr any longer.\n\nThe Tumblr fandom community is splintering, but there are efforts to keep things together. There's discussion about migrating to services like Pillowfort or Dreamwidth, but there's no way to direct the exodus. After Tumblr, there's no sole repository for nerdy, pop culture-infused, queer, female-led, NSFW stories and art.\n\nWhen men write fanfic, there is a tendency for the media to report on it as \"transformative\" and \"transgressive\" and \"a new take on a classic story.\"\n\n\n\nWhen women do it, the same media goes \"hee hee hee she wrote about dicks.\" \u2014 Seanan McGuire (@seananmcguire) March 28, 2018\n\nThe best hope for the future of fanfiction is Archive of Our Own (AO3, as it's commonly called), an online collection hosted by The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), a nonprofit group founded by fans after LiveJournal distanced itself from the community in 2007. AO3 includes stories from a broad range of fandoms, with 184,907 works set in the Harry Potter universe and 273,354 about Marvel characters alone. However, AO3 comes with its own limitations.\n\n\"We own the servers,\" McGuire said. \"That's why it's a nonprofit. So as long as people are willing to utilize the service that has been built for them by people that have been through this before, fanfic is likely to be fine. The problem is that AO3 is not set up for the graphic work. It was never meant to be a graphic fannish archive, and it doesn't have the structure or the robustness for that. So, we're going to lose a lot of the fan art communities. We're going to lose a lot of the graphics communities.\"\n\nAO3 published an update on December 8th about Tumblr's adult-content ban and what it would mean for the community going forward. It offers tips on preserving online work and lays out a system for inviting new creators to share their wares on the site.\n\n\"After seeing that commercial platforms such as LiveJournal (and Tumblr) will always serve their own interests over the interests of fans, the OTW dedicated the AO3 to the principle that fans need a fan-operated, nonprofit archive of our own,\" AO3's post reads. \"We can't predict or recommend what the next best platforms are to replace Tumblr, but we can promise that with your support, we'll continue to provide a home for fanworks at the AO3, and continue working toward a platform that can host multiple media types.\"\n\n\"You are the hero here.\"\n\nFanfiction isn't lost, but it does have to regroup online yet again. Thousands, if not millions, of readers around the world have found solace in the clicks between chapters and the freedom to explore parts of themselves otherwise ignored by the broader culture. As a medium dominated by women and people at odds with traditional social structures, fanfiction creators understand what it means to fight for mere existence. Tumblr isn't their first, or last, battle.\n\n\"What we're doing with fanfic is just maintaining a tradition that goes back to the beginning of the human race,\" McGuire said. She studied folklore at the University of California Berkeley and recalled something she learned about classic fairy tales before The Brothers Grimm got their hands on them: Characters rarely received physical descriptions, so people anywhere could retell the story and relate to it.\n\n\"It is very much about, the story is yours,\" she said. \"The story has always been yours. Let me take you into the deep, dark woods and trust that you will come out the other side because you are the hero here.\""}
-{"text": "A New Zealand inventor has put a bizarre floating machine that can also take to the skies up for sale"}
-{"text": "Image: Etel\u00e4-Karjalan museo\n\nHobbyists sweeping fields and roadsides with metal detectors in the areas of Rautj\u00e4rvi and Ruokolahi in South Karelia have recently turned up some rare finds.\n\nMost recently, the South Karelia Museum in Lappeenranta was given a silver plaque that so far has defied explanation.\n\n\"Its ornamentation is derived from the island of Gotland, which in itself of not strange in Finland. But no other object like this one has ever been found in Finland,\" says the museum\u2019s Jukka Luoto.\n\nLuoto has been in contact with experts in Sweden about the artefact, but no information about it has been forthcoming from there either.\n\n\"Studies of the plaque are continuing, and we are seeking how it relates to this area's history,\" Luoto continues.\n\nTwo finds\n\nThe silver plaque was discovered by a hobbyist making a sweep of a field with a metal detector at Rautj\u00e4rvi. Another find has also been reported in the same area.\n\nAccording to Jukka Luoto, locals discover several items ever year that can be dated to the prehistoric Iron Age period. Once found, they are turned over to the South Karelia Museum and from there on to the National Museum.\n\n\"I will be meeting with the discoverer on Monday to evaluate this latest find. We will see if he can keep it or if it will go into the national collection,\" Luoto explains.\n\nThere is such a wealth of artefacts being found that some of the pages of South Karelian, perhaps Finnish history as a whole, may have to be rewritten.\n\nA thousand years past\n\nFew of the discoveries by local hobbyists are tools such as axes or sickles. Most are jewellery.\n\n\"These finds are changing the time scale of habitation. The oldest finds are from the middle of the Merovingian era of the Iron Age, that is between 600-800 AD. Most are from the Viking age, about 200 years later. We can ponder if the present people of South Karelia were living in this landscape then,\" Luoto points out.\n\nAccording to Luoto, the traditional view has been that the area was inhabited by the Sami people who later moved northwards as the ancestors of the present Finns migrated into the region.\n\n\"But, this will certainly be studied in more detail in coming decades. These finds speak at least of outside contacts.\""}
-{"text": "Ranking member Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., left, confers with Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, left, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, during a break in the testimony of top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine William Taylor, and career Foreign Service officer George Kent, before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019, during the first public impeachment hearing of President Donald Trump's efforts to tie U.S. aid for Ukraine to investigations of his political opponents. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)\n\nRanking member Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., left, confers with Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, left, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, during a break in the testimony of top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine William Taylor, and career Foreign Service officer George Kent, before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019, during the first public impeachment hearing of President Donald Trump's efforts to tie U.S. aid for Ukraine to investigations of his political opponents. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)\n\nWASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The online spin began even before Wednesday\u2019s impeachment hearing got underway.\n\nMoments before House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff could welcome witnesses to the first public hearing of the impeachment inquiry, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to dismiss the \u201cNew Hoax. Same Swamp.\u201d\n\nFormer Obama administration aides-turned-podcasters dissected the hearings in real time. They broadcast their running conversation on Slack, an instant messaging platform popular in workplaces, over YouTube to thousands of left-leaning followers.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nAnd partisans on both sides of the aisle used Twitter to debate the significance of a revelation by William Taylor, the top diplomat in Ukraine, that one of his staff members overheard a telephone conversation in which Trump discussed \u201cthe investigations.\u201d\n\nSo went the national conversation surrounding the first presidential impeachment hearings of the hyperpartisan, social media era.\n\nIt is a moment when influence and misinformation efforts move at lightning speed and with a sophistication that would have been unimaginable when the nation last went through a presidential impeachment more than 20 years ago, an era when dialup modems and AOL message boards powered the digital town square.\n\nEven before the Democratic House investigators\u2019 counsel Daniel Goldman could end his first round of questioning, Trump backers labeled the hearing an inconsequential #Snoozefest.\n\n\u201cFor as much time as the Democrats have spent trying to orchestrate \u201cpolitical theater\u201d they have done a terrible job,\u201d presidential son Eric Trump declared on Twitter. \u201cThis clown show is horribly boring. There is not a single person outside the beltway who is engaged in this nonsense. Can\u2019t wait to win again in 2020! #DCSucks.\u201d\n\nTommy Vietor, a former Obama White House spokesman and co-host of Pod Save America, applauded Schiff for keeping early questioning focused on Taylor\u2019s revelation that a staff member overheard a telephone conversation between Trump and Gordon Sondland, an ambassador to the European Union, that he found concerning.\n\nTaylor said the staffer asked Sondland what President Trump thought about Ukraine. Sondland responded that Trump cared more about investigating Biden.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\n\u201cReally smart of Schiff to start with the new revelations, get Taylor to repeat it,\u201d Vietor wrote in a real-time Slack commentary posted on YouTube. \u201cCreate more snippets to share.\u201d\n\nSome on the left pushed #TrumpBribery, a hashtag used nearly 50,000 times before the hearings even kicked off. Democrats, who have at times struggled to craft an easily explained narrative around Trump\u2019s conduct with Ukraine, celebrated its success.\n\n\u201cBOOM: #TrumpBribery is trending nationally and has already been tweeted over 10,000 times. Let\u2019s keep it going!\u201d Scott Dworkin, co-founder of the Democratic Coalition Against Trump, cheered on Twitter.\n\nBefore the day\u2019s witnesses could deliver their opening statements, Republicans questioned Schiff\u2019s fairness and created a moment that supporters could share on social media at the top of the hearing.\n\nRep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, pointedly asked Schiff when he would allow members of the intelligence committee to question the whistleblower whose complaint spurred the impeachment inquiry. The whistleblower had raised concerns that Trump inappropriately pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden\u2019s business dealings in the Ukraine.\n\n\u201cOf the 435 members of Congress, you are the only member who knows who that individual is,\u201d Jordan told Schiff. \u201cAnd your staff is the only staff of any member of Congress that has had a chance to talk to that individual. We would like that opportunity. When might that happen in this proceeding today?\u201d\n\nThe whistleblower contacted Schiff\u2019s staff before filing the complaint with the inspector general\u2019s office. But attorneys for the whistleblower said their client never met with Schiff.\n\n\u201cFirst, as the gentleman knows, that\u2019s a false statement,\u201d said Schiff, whose response was met with laughter by some in the Capitol Hill hearing room. \u201cI do not know the identity of the whistleblower, and I\u2019m determined to make sure that the identity is protected.\u201d\n\nThe Republican National Committee posted video on Twitter of Jordan pressing Schiff but did not include the California lawmaker\u2019s response. The clip was shared from the RNC account more than 1,300 times.\n\nEven the sartorial choices of witness George Kent, a deputy secretary of state who wore a patterned green bow tie and matching pocket square, spurred partisan debate on Twitter.\n\n\u201cImagine being George Kent and deciding to wear a bow tie to go up against Donald Trump,\u201d tweeted One America News Network host Jack Posobiec, a self-described nationalist-conservative.\n\nThe liberal commentator John Nichols was more appreciative of Kent\u2019s neckwear.\n\n\u201cWell, yes, it\u2019s obvious by now that George Kent\u2019s superpowers are associated with the bow tie,\u201d Nichols wrote.\n\n___\n\nSeitz reported from Chicago."}
-{"text": "Dr. Fadi Dagher has a new plan for the former Buffalo Travel Lodge site at Main and Dodge streets. A five-story, 215-unit apartment building is now proposed for the site located near the Summer-Best light rail station.\n\nDagher purchased and demolished the run-down motel in 2014 and proposed a new hotel for the site. The hotel plan was ditched in 2016 and plans for a four-story, 90,000 sq.ft. office building were drawn up for the site.\n\nDagher\u2019s Cedarland Development/D&S Capital Real Estate is working with student housing specialist Blackfish Investments on the project. From the project application:\n\nD & S\u2019s proposed Project consists of a high-quality, 5-story mixed-use redevelopment on three vacant parcels located at the corner of Main and Dodge Streets currently known as 1159 Main and 11 & 19 Dodge Streets in the City of Buffalo. The combined approximately 1.551 acre Site is the location of the former, dilapidated Buffalo Tourist Lodge, and has been vacant and utilized for surface parking since the lodge was demolished in July of 2014.\n\nThe approximately 130,000 SF building will include approximately 215 apartment units (consisting of 85 one-bedroom, 15 two-bedroom and 115 studio apartments), as well as three ground-level commercial spaces of approximately 1,200 SF each. The apartment units will be located on floors 1 \u2013 5 (the 1st floor will include 4,200 SF of residential amenity, office and co-work space), and the 5th floor will feature interior lounge space with an adjacent exterior rooftop deck.\n\nGreat care has been given to the design of this vibrant and modern mixed-use building, which is intended to maximize compliance with UDO standards. Further, based upon D & S\u2019 consultation with Councilman Darius Pridgen and outreach to neighboring residents and property owners, D & S has undertaken changes to the Dodge Street fa\u00e7ade to enhance its residential appearance in order to respect and benefit adjoining land uses. The resulting building design incorporates many architectural features that will create visual interest including, among other things, a highly articulated fa\u00e7ade that features balconies, creative window patterns and dynamic lighting effects that both echo the City\u2019s radial street design and transit system and foreshadow the diverse architecture of the burgeoning medical campus to the south. Streetscape improvements will include 12 street trees in the furnishing zone and five planters along the building frontage zone trees on Main Street and Dodge Street. The rooftop of the 5th floor will feature an energy-efficient solar panel system.\n\nSite ingress and egress will occur via Dodge Street only. Although the UDO prescribes no minimum parking requirements, the project will include 89 off-street vehicular parking spaces behind the building as well as an enclosed bicycle storage area to serve the needs of residential and commercial users at this transit-oriented development.\n\nThree variances are needed from the Zoning Board of Appeals that will consider the project at its meeting on September 19:\n\nParking Lot Greenspace \u2013 The requirement for 10% interior greenspace in the parking lot under UDO \u00a7 7.1.5(C)(1) (the site plan calls for 6.5 % interior greenspace due to the irregular lot configuration);\n\nDouble Island Dimensions \u2013 the requirement for parking lot double row interior islands of 8\u2032 feet in width and 300 SF under UDO \u00a7 7.1.5.C.3(b) (the site plan calls double islands of widths ranging from 5\u2032 \u2013 14\u2032 and SF ranging from 227 \u2013 282.\n\nBalcony Encroachment \u2013 the prohibition on ROW encroachment in UDO \u00a7 3.3.4, n. 3 (the balconies on Dodge Street encroach 1\u2019 into the ROW).\n\nArchitectural Resources is designing the new building.\n\nGet Connected: Cedarland Development, 716.217.9105"}
-{"text": "Chinese bitcoin miners now control as much as 66% of global hash rate, according to media reports.\n\nChina\u2019s Sichuan province accounts for over half the global hash rate, according to a study by London-based digital asset manager CoinShares, Reuters reported on December 11.\n\nHash rate is a measure referring to the overall computing power involved in validating transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain. As reported, more power suggests greater network security as well as interest in the profitability potential of mining Bitcoin, Coindesk reported.\n\nAccording to the report, the Chinese share of hash rate has surged from 60% in June 2019 and is the highest recorded by CoinShares since the firm started monitoring the measure in 2017.\n\nWhile Sichuan province reportedly accounts for over 50% of the global hash rate, other leading crypto mining centers in China include the provinces of Yunnan, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, the report notes. Other hubs include sites in the United States, Russia and Kazakhstan, CoinShares reported.\n\nChris Bendiksen, head of research at CoinShares, suggested that the recent surge in China\u2019s hash rate is likely to be a result of applying more advanced mining hardware. He noted in the report:\n\n\u201cThis is beneficial to the Chinese mining industry [\u2026] If you are the first to increase your proportion of the hashrate, and you can do that before your competitors, that\u2019s generally good.\u201d\n\nAs recently reported by Cointelegraph, Bitmain and Canaan Creative are the top mining chip suppliers in China. Meanwhile, Bitmain appears on track to monopolize China\u2019s crypto mining market as some reports claim that the company accounts for 75% market share of the crypto hardware market worldwide.\n\nAccording to documents filed on Nov. 20, Canaan raised $90 million in its initial public offering, which reportedly amounted to 75% less than expected.\n\nAnother major bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer, MicroBT, is allegedly facing an intellectual property infringement dispute with Bitmain, as MicroBT\u2019s founder was reported to be held by Shenzhen Police to assist in an investigation."}
-{"text": "I kinda failed with this one, I was too lazy to draw Dagi's right hand...But I'm still proud of it"}
-{"text": "Israeli officials say the country is bracing for possible Iranian retaliation after the U.S. killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani \u2014 and has started taking precautionary measures.\n\nWhy it matters: Some Iranian officials mentioned Israel as a \"co-conspirator\" in Soleimani's death alongside the U.S. Israeli officials say Iran could retaliate against Israel as part of any larger move against the U.S. by using their proxies in Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.\n\nIt is still unclear if the U.S. gave Israel any heads up before the strike on Soleimani in Baghdad.\n\nThe big picture: It seems Iran was caught by surprise by the U.S. strike and miscalculated Trump\u2019s thinking.\n\nIran's national security council, headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, convened to discuss different options, though the easiest way for Iran to retaliate is in Iraq through its proxies there.\n\nIt seems to want and use this development to push for a strategic change in Iraq \u2014 mainly for Iraq's parliament to move to get U.S. forces out of the country.\n\nWhat's happening: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to cut short his visit to Greece and return to Israel on Friday in order to monitor the situation.\n\nIsraeli defense minister Naftali Bennett convened an emergency meeting at the IDF's headquarters in Tel Aviv to discuss the situation.\n\nThe Israeli army also announced it was closing the Mount Hermon ski resort in the northern Golan Heights. The site on the border with Syria is a potential target for rocket fire by pro-Iranian militias in Syria.\n\nWhat they're saying: \"Just as Israel has the right of self-defense, the United States has exactly the same right,\" Netanyahu said in a statement.\n\n\"Qasem Soleimani is responsible for the death of American citizens and many other innocent people. He was planning more such attacks.\"\n\n\"President Trump deserves all the credit for acting swiftly, forcefully and decisively. Israel stands with the United States in its just struggle for peace, security and self-defense.\"\n\nWhat's next: Israeli officials don't know if and how Iran will retaliate \u2014 but the current decision is to keep a low profile and not get involved in the tensions in Iraq.\n\nFor this reason, Netanyahu's office asked all government ministers to refrain from public statements on the issue.\n\nGo deeper: America's war footing against Iran"}
-{"text": "Following the recent very positive progress in Salvador\u2019s health, the Portuguese national broadcaster RTP has announced that they are going to air a two-part documentary about their triumphant 2017 Eurovision victory.\n\nUnder the title \u201cSem Fazer Planos Do Que Vir\u00e1 Depois\u201d (Without making plans of what will come after), the documentary will be broadcast on 26 and 27 December at 21:00 local time.\n\nA long journey to reminisce\n\nHosting the documentary are the journalists Nuno Galopim and Miguel Pimenta. Regarding the winning Eurovision entry Amar pelos dois, the first presenter has made the following statement:\n\nThis song depicted the Portuguese heart and conquered the world. This is a story we want to share with everyone.\n\nNuno and Miguel have decided to explore the entire Salvador\u2019s journey from his winning performance in the Portuguese national final Festival da Can\u00e7\u00e3o last March to the Eurovision Grand Final evening in Kyiv, when he managed to give his country the previously impossible; their first Eurovision victory after 53 whole years of participation, making his compatriots proud.\n\nThe two documentary episodes will be featuring Salvador, his sister and composer of the winning song Amar pelos dois Lu\u00edsa Sobral, as well as other Portuguese artists in exclusive behind-the-scenes footage during their preparations, interesting testimonies and musical moments.\n\nHere is a short documentary\u2019s teaser that RTP released yesterday with Salvador speaking:\n\n\"Toda a gente dizia que n\u00e3o era uma can\u00e7\u00e3o para o Festival\" O pai do Salvador Sobral estava errado. E a RTP guardou para n\u00f3s uma prenda tardia que nos vai fazer apaixonar novamente por \"Amar pelos Dois\".Nos dias 26 e 27 de dezembro, re\u00fanam-se em frente \u00e0 televis\u00e3o para assistir ao document\u00e1rio de duas partes sobre a vit\u00f3ria de Salvador no #FestivaldaCancao e, depois, no Eurovision Song Contest. Geplaatst door RTP \u2013 Festival da Can\u00e7\u00e3o op vrijdag 15 december 2017\n\nFollowing Salvador Sobral\u2019s victory in the 62nd Eurovision Song Contest last May, the 2018 edition of the world\u2019s biggest annual music show will be taking place on 8, 10 and 12 May at the Altice Arena of the Portuguese capital, Lisbon. As confirmed by the EBU, 43 countries are going to take part, which equals the record-high number of participating nations in 2008 and 2011.\n\nWill you be there in Lisbon?"}
-{"text": "Lena Dunham, star of the HBO series Girls and this generation\u2019s voice for all things weird, is feeling the heat from recent molestation accusations. Yeah, I was shocked, too.\n\nThe most brutal of these accusations come from Kevin D. Williamson of National Review magazine and Bradford Thomas of the website Truth Revolt, who claim that Lena admits to sexually abusing her little sister, Grace, in her memoir, Not That Kind of Girl.\n\nI took one look at these headlines and said, \u201cHA, I wonder how these cool old guys twisted her words into making her sound like a total creep-o.\u201d But then I clicked some things here and read some things there, and now I\u2019m a mixture of confused, stunned, and annoyed.\n\nIf you\u2019re not familiar with the excerpts that are floating around, here are a few of the selections. Keep in mind that Grace is much younger than Lena, a toddler when Lena is about seven years old in this first passage:\n\nOne day, as I sat in our driveway in Long Island playing with blocks and buckets, my curiosity got the best of me. Grace was sitting up, babbling and smiling, and I leaned down between her legs and carefully spread open her vagina. She didn\u2019t resist and when I saw what was inside I shrieked\u2026.My mother didn\u2019t bother asking why I had opened Grace\u2019s vagina. This was within the spectrum of things I did.\n\nAnother passage from Lena\u2019s book, as Grace gets older:\n\nAs she grew, I took to bribing her time and affection: one dollar in quarters if I could do her makeup like a \u201cmotorcycle chick.\u201d Three pieces of candy if I could kiss her on the lips for five seconds. Whatever she wanted to watch on TV if she would just \u201crelax on me.\u201d Basically, anything a sexual predator might do to woo a small suburban girl, I was trying.\n\nLena also admits to masturbating next to her sister while they share a bed.\n\nThis describes child-on-child sexual abuse, which is defined as sexual activity between children that occurs without consent, without equality, or as a result of coercion. In this case, molestation results without consent and from Lena\u2019s coercive tactics.\n\nI don\u2019t believe all instances of child molestation are perpetrated by pedophiles; sometimes the perpetrator has other motives for his or her actions besides a sexual attraction to children. Curiosity, as in Lena\u2019s case, can lead to molestation. But that does not excuse the act.\n\nIt doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re a weird seven-year-old. It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re curious. It doesn\u2019t matter if you thought it was OK at the time and didn\u2019t know any better. Sexually experimenting with a younger sibling when they cannot consent (or hardly talk, for that matter) is wrong. To coerce a younger child into kissing and touching and doing things she otherwise would not even think of participating in might not be sexual abuse by a pedophile, but it certainly isn\u2019t OK.\n\nLet\u2019s also remember that Lena directly compares herself to a sexual predator, as quoted above, and is now upset that people are calling her a sexual predator. She backed herself into a corner and now she\u2019s pissed that everyone else putting her on blast.\n\nDo I think these descriptions constitute a serious case of sexual abuse? Not really. But it doesn\u2019t help that Lena denies that there\u2019s any problem here. Since the accusations, Lena has tweeted that she thinks the accusations are ridiculous and uncalled for. She speaks with no remorse of the instances, and I think that\u2019s the biggest error of all.\n\nIn general, yes, all children are curious about vaginas and penises and sex, but not all children go messing with their siblings to satisfy that curiosity. It would go a long way to just say, \u201cI did this. In retrospect, it wasn\u2019t the right thing to do.\u201d Instead, she completely excuses herself from any wrongdoing.\n\nAlso, what about the parents in this situation? Lena claims that her mother didn\u2019t ask why Lena was looking at her sister\u2019s vagina, because that was just among some of the things she did. Perhaps with a little more parental guidance about personal and sexual boundaries, this whole mess could have been avoided in the first place.\n\nIn general, you can\u2019t directly describe acts of molestation without being accused of molestation, especially if you\u2019re not even a little sorry about it. That\u2019s not how life works, Lena. You made your bed, now it\u2019s time to lie in it (this time without your sister)."}
-{"text": "When French president Macron declared 'war' on COVID-19 on Monday evening, he also announced a sweeping ban on movement, enacting an Italian-style lockdown across the nation. The restriction began noon on Tuesday, and comes as France nears 7,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with the number rapidly rising.\n\nWhile the people within France are under lockdown, social media users have launched an initiative to show their support to the country's healthcare workers.\n\nNumerous hashtags have been launched including #OnApplaudit and #TousAlaFen\u00eatre, meaning 'we applaud' and 'all at the window,' calling on people across France to take to their windows on the first night of the shutdown to applaud healthcare workers.\n\nSocial media users use 'We Applaud' hashtag to symbolically applaud healthcare workers\n\nFrench MEP Raphael Glucksmann, shared the hashtag, urged people to express their solidarity.\n\n\"Show gratitude, our admiration and our support to those who brave the danger, the fatigue, the lack of resources to treat us,\" he said on Twitter.\n\nOthers set up Facebook events, scheduling a time for applause to all in the system. One such posted noted to a lack of basic equipment faced by medical professionals, with shortages in face masks and hand sanitisers.\n\n\"It is not a question of saying 'thank you' as if it makes up for the lack of equipment they are facing, but of saying our admiration for their dedication,\" the description noted.\n\n\"Today we applaud them. Tomorrow we are building a new society in which their status will be fairly recognised\".\n\nThis mirrors similar scenes of gratitude shown in countries such as Spain and Italy - also in lockdown with cases of COVID-19 soaring, with those in Italy sharing the hashtag 'applauso'.\n\nBeyond the countries that have enacted lockdowns including France, Italy and Spain, most European countries have put in place measures for self-isolation. Ireland has shut down bars and banned mass gatherings, while the UK has urged people to avoid social contact."}
-{"text": "Roy Hodgson hopes to bring through more young players like Aaron Wan-Bissaka at Crystal Palace\n\nAhead of Crystal Palace's meeting with Brighton, live on Sky Sports on Saturday, Roy Hodgson tells Nick Wright why Palace's academy is central to the club's future, how the TV show Homeland reminds him of modern-day management, and why he hasn't given any thought to retirement.\n\nRoy Hodgson's managerial career has spanned more than four decades. It has taken in eight different countries, with spells in charge of 16 clubs and four national teams - including, of course, his own - but half an hour in his company at Crystal Palace's Beckenham headquarters makes it abundantly clear that his passion for the job burns as brightly as ever.\n\n\"I think that's very, very important,\" he tells Sky Sports in between sips of a cappuccino in the first-floor canteen overlooking the club's training pitches. \"I very much doubt that you could find someone working at this high level who doesn't feel the same as he did when he first started.\n\n\"Those 95 minutes of a Premier League match, with between 20,000 and 70,000 people watching on the terraces and tens of millions watching all around the world, are a very, very exciting, tension-filled time. If you had the attitude that it's just another game, just another day of my life, I don't think that you would last very long.\"\n\nIt is 18 months since Hodgson was appointed as manager of his boyhood club. He took them from the bottom of the Premier League to an 11th-placed finish in his first season, and now, having only lost one of their last eight games in all competitions, Palace are heading in the same direction. Beat arch-rivals Brighton on Saturday and the top half will be within reach.\n\n2:52 Highlights from Crystal Palace's 3-1 win over Burnley Highlights from Crystal Palace's 3-1 win over Burnley\n\nHodgson has done a fine job, in other words, earning him a contract extension which will take him up to the summer of 2020. His longevity is extraordinary in the context of modern football - at 71 and 198 days old, he recently overtook Sir Bobby Robson as the oldest manager to take charge of a Premier League game - but he insists there is no secret to it.\n\nHighs and lows\n\n\"I suppose the word that I would most like to see used is competence,\" he tells Sky Sports. \"I'm not so certain that you can survive for so long and be without a job at so few moments during that long period of time without being competent and having quality as a coach and manager that people recognise and want to tap into.\n\n\"I think enthusiasm is also important because there are highs and lows. Coming back after our last two away victories [against Leicester and Burnley], you feel in a really, really good place. But if we don't win tomorrow, I will be very, very low. That's what the job is. Unfortunately, there is no way of partitioning it so that you only get the good part.\"\n\nHodgson delivers that last line with a smile. He knows how quickly the mood can change. In an age of social media and wall-to-wall football coverage, it only takes a few poor results for the pressure to be cranked up. Short-termism, he says, is just part of the job as a modern-day manager.\n\n\"I'm afraid that's to do with money and the importance of the Premier League,\" he says. \"There is so much money as a reward for being a Premier League team that unfortunately it's always going to lead owners to get into situations where they feel under pressure and feel the need to do something.\n\n\"They can't do anything more than appoint the manager and give him the responsibility for trying to get good performances out of the team. So in that environment, there is always going to be a risk that they are going to do the only thing they really can do, which is to change the manager.\n\nRoy Hodgson signed a contract extension at Palace in August\n\n\"It's much easier getting rid of managers than players. The player sits there, whether he's playing or not playing, whether he's contributing or not contributing, and if he's got that contract in his pocket, it's your responsibility to look after him - even to the extent that if he is out of contract, you still have to look after him during the summer months until the season starts again.\"\n\nCoping with critics\n\nEven for a manager of Hodgson's experience, it requires considerable resilience to cope with the level of scrutiny that comes during the more difficult periods. Often, he says, there is also a need for restraint - particularly when the criticism is not entirely fair or accurate.\n\nWilfried Zaha has impressed for Crystal Palace recently\n\n\"I don't know that anybody copes with it well, if the truth's known,\" he says. \"None of us really want the criticism that comes during those times, when things aren't going well. The problem with criticism is often that it is a conglomeration of half-truths. Someone will be able to find a statistic or a fact that makes it hard to dismiss their argument as wrong. But it is wrong, you know it's wrong, you just can't prove it.\n\n\"If you want a great analogy, all you have to do is look at the TV show Homeland, which I'm watching for the first time, years after everyone else. In every episode, there is someone who finds themselves in a terrible, unfair situation which is totally wrong, but they can't prove it. That's often where we are as football managers.\"\n\nAcademy emphasis\n\nThankfully, Palace's recent results have given Hodgson some relief in that regard. The mood around the club is positive right now - and it has been enhanced by the continued emergence of Aaron Wan-Bissaka. The Croydon-born right-back is the first Palace academy product to establish himself in the senior side since Wilfried Zaha.\n\nI get an awful lot of satisfaction from the day-to-day work, the interaction with the players, the chance to be with them on the training field and work at the various things we work at to prepare the game. Roy Hodgson on his love for management\n\nHodgson's intention is that many more will follow him. Palace's South London catchment area is a hotbed of talent, with Wan-Bissaka, Jadon Sancho, Joe Gomez and Declan Rice just some of the exciting young players to have emerged from the area in recent years, and Hodgson, a South Londoner himself, is determined for Palace to capitalise.\n\n\"It is an area which has got the potential to produce the players, that's something we're very conscious of here at the club,\" he says. \"We're trying to improve our academy, improve our facilities, attract more players and make certain that when those players come, we work hard with them to make sure that they go the same way as Wilf Zaha and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.\n\nAaron Wan-Bissaka has flourished under Roy Hodgson\n\n\"We would be very happy if our academy could produce more players like Aaron and Wilf because players like that are very, very difficult to find in the transfer market. And if you are fortunate enough to find them, you will have to have an awful lot of money to spend to buy them.\n\n\"Obviously we need investment in the first team, but we also need the academy. We need to make certain that by developing our status as a bona fide Premier League club in the south-east, we'll be the club people want to send their children to and the good young players will want to come to.\n\n\"Part of that is making sure they know they will have chances. It won't just be a question of, 'Well, I'll be their best young player for two or three years, but when a vacancy comes up in the squad they will go and spend 50 or 60 million on the best player in France, Spain, Germany, Italy or wherever it happens to be.'\n\nCrystal Palace vs Brighton is live on Sky Sports on Saturday\n\n\"I think we have an advantage in that sense because we aren't that type of club. I don't see us going down that road where all of a sudden we're another Manchester City, Chelsea or Manchester United. I see us as a club which has to use money wisely, make sure the players coming in are the right types, and that there are players coming up from the academy.\n\n\"That vision is shared by Steve Parish and the American owners. It's a major priority, after the priority, and the priority for us now and probably for a good number of years, is staying in this league. Can we stay in this league and constantly improve? Can we fight off the spectre of relegation more easily each year until such a time that people are not naming us as potential relegation candidates at the start of every season?\"\n\nNo retirement plans\n\nThat is the next step for Palace and it is one that, at 71, Hodgson still hopes to oversee. Even with his current contract due to expire at the end of next season, the prospect of retirement is a long way from his mind.\n\n\"They are not thoughts that I wish to entertain,\" he says. \"I have no wish to entertain them. I don't feel the need in any way to entertain them.\n\nRoy Hodgson has worked as a manager since 1976 and counts Italian giants Inter Milan among his former clubs\n\n\"I live in the present, basically. I try to make certain my life is as good as it can be at any given moment in time, doing what I've got to be doing and living my life the right way. In moments like this, where fortunately that is very much the case, I just try to profit from it without trying to get the crystal ball out and think what will it be like in March 2020.\n\n\"I just don't know, but at the moment I see no reason why I should fear that it's going to be vastly different, because up until now, in the year and a half that I've been here, I certainly haven't noticed any difference in how I feel.\n\n\"You cross bridges when you come to them. There's no point imagining bridges or dreaming up bridges. You might as well carry on doing the thing you love doing, get as much enjoyment from it as possible, and try to be as good at the job as you can. After that, we'll see what the future brings.\"\n\nWatch Crystal Palace vs Brighton live on Sky Sports Premier League HD from 11.30am on Saturday"}
-{"text": "Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren on average pays her female staffers $20,000 less than her male staffers.\n\nMale staffers in Warren\u2019s office took home a median annual salary of $73,750 in 2016, according to an analysis by the Washington Free Beacon, while female staffers brought home a median of $52,750 in 2016 \u2014 a discrepancy of more than $20,000.\n\nThat means female staffers in Warren\u2019s office on average bring home just 71 cents for every dollar their male counterparts make.\n\nThe top five highest-paid staffers in Warren\u2019s office were all men, earning between $113,750 and $156,000.\n\nJust one female staffer in Warren\u2019s office, her director of scheduling, earned more than $100,000 in 2016.\n\nWarren is fond of tweeting on both her personal and Senate Twitter accounts about the injustices of women being paid less than men.\n\n\u201cI cannot believe I have to give another speech fighting for equal pay for equal work for women,\u201d reads one tweet from her Senate account.\n\nFollow Hasson on Twitter"}
-{"text": "Sheila Dixit passed away at 3.55 pm at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute on July 20, 2019. This video was originally published on January 30, 2018, and is being republished in memory of her tenure as the former Chief Minister of Delhi.\n\n\n\n\ufeff"}
-{"text": "The layoff notices last year were dramatic: The farmer-owned cooperative NORPAC was bankrupt and eliminating more than 1,000 jobs at fruit and vegetable processing plants in the Salem area.\n\nMeanwhile, Willamette Valley farmers watched the bankruptcy unfold and tallied its impact on their wallets, their loans and their farms.\n\nTHANKS TO OUR SPONSOR: Become a Sponsor\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s pretty devastating,\u201d said Gary Cook of Cook Family Farms, a member grower who also serves on NORPAC\u2019s board. He estimated the cooperative owes him more than $200,000 for the crops he harvested in 2019 alone.\n\nNow those farmers are watching a Portland bankruptcy court, to see if NORPAC will be sold in the coming days \u2014 and, if so, what that means for them.\n\n\u201cWe have entered into an agreement with a company named Lineage [Logistics] that is a cold storage company,\u201d said Al Kennedy, a lawyer with Tonkon Torp representing NORPAC in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding. \u201cThey have agreed to purchase the Brooks facility, the Salem facility and the Stayton facility for a purchase price of $49 million.\u201d\n\nCorn goes from ear to frozen product at the NORPAC Foods facility. Marion County has the highest agricultural production value of any county in Oregon. Timothy J. Gonzalez / Statesman Journal\n\nThe sale hearing is scheduled for Jan. 14. Competing bids are due Friday.\n\nIt's unclear which facilities would continue to process fruits and vegetables if the sale goes through. The Capital Press reported last month that agribusiness entrepreneur Frank Tiegs planned to temporarily lease one plant from Lineage, while buying another and gutting a third. Tiegs' Oregon Potato Company recently agreed to pay more than $100 million for a NORPAC subsidiary in Quincy, Washington, in addition to bulk inventory and intellectual property.\n\nFarmers are watching the current pending sale closely.\n\nNORPAC was one of the biggest food processors in the region, freezing and bagging fruits and vegetables produced by more than 200 growers. Many of those farmers were member growers, holding what amounts to an equity stake in the now-bankrupt cooperative.\n\nTheir names are at the bottom of a long list of creditors.\n\nTHANKS TO OUR SPONSOR: Become a Sponsor\n\n\u201cBig chunk of change I\u2019m not getting paid,\u201d said Terry Beilke of Beilke Family Farm in Brooks. \u201cPainful, but we\u2019ll survive.\u201d\n\nBeilke declined to say how much he was owed, but said he didn\u2019t expect to be compensated in full.\n\n\u201cOh no, absolutely not.\u201d\n\nBecause member growers rank low on the list of NORPAC creditors waiting to be repaid, they're watching the price tag of the sale to Lineage Logistics, one of the largest cold storage companies in the world.\n\n\u201cMost of the proceeds will go to CoBank, who is the secured lender for the company and was owed approximately $125 million,\u201d said attorney Al Kennedy.\n\nHe said non-member growers, who sold produce to NORPAC on a contract basis, should also be paid in full, due to protections under state and federal law.\n\nThe NORPAC Foods processing plant in Stayton, Ore. David Davis and Kelly Jordan / Statesman Journal\n\nWhat\u2019s left over for NORPAC\u2019s member growers depends on the cooperative\u2019s net revenue, according to Kennedy. While that figure is still uncertain, he said it could conceivably be nothing.\n\n\u201cI think it is unlikely that they\u2019ll get any further payment,\u201d he said.\n\nGary Cook of Cook Family Farms said he\u2019d been a NORPAC member grower since 1982. He\u2019s not expecting those decades of ownership to yield another dime.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s gonna take some time to build our financial footing to what it was,\u201d he said.\n\nCook is watching NORPAC\u2019s pending sale for more than its price tag. It\u2019s important to him that farmers in the Willamette Valley have a place to sell their vegetables down the road.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve lost everything else,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that\u2019s the only hope for the future is that we can deliver some of these crops\u201d\n\nHe\u2019s hoping at least one of the processing plants will continue to operate under new owners."}
-{"text": "I recently spoke with Norem, a pioneer of the defensive pessimism theory. Her 2002 book on the topic is maybe not quite as famous as Peale\u2019s, but perhaps it will catch on if the Debbie Downers among us manage to outshine the shiny happy people.\n\nA lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows, and you can take a test to find out if you\u2019re a defensive pessimist here.\n\nOlga Khazan: What is defensive pessimism?\n\nJulie Norem: It\u2019s a strategy for dealing with anxiety and helping to manage anxiety so that it doesn\u2019t negatively influence performance. If you feel anxious in a situation, it doesn\u2019t really matter if it\u2019s realistic or not, you feel how you feel. It\u2019s hard not to feel that particular way. If you feel anxious, you need to do something about it. Usually people try to run away from whatever situation makes you anxious. But there are other ways of dealing with it. Defensive pessimism is one way.\n\nWhen people are being defensively pessimistic, they set low expectations, but then they take the next step which is to think through in concrete and vivid ways what exactly might go wrong. What we\u2019ve seen in the research is if they do this in a specific, vivid way, it helps them plan to avoid the disaster. They end up performing better than if they didn\u2019t use the strategy. It helps them direct their anxiety toward productive activity.\n\nKhazan: How would I apply this in real life?\n\nNorem: Public speaking is my favorite example. If I\u2019ve got a speech I\u2019m going to give, and I\u2019m anxious about it, I start thinking, this is going to be a disaster. I\u2019m going to walk onto the stage and trip over the microphone cord. And I\u2019m going to knock over the pitcher of water that\u2019s by the podium. And the audio-visual stuff isn\u2019t going to work. I\u2019m going to get questions from the audience I\u2019ve never thought of.\n\nSo I define some very clear steps I can take. I\u2019m going to bring duct tape to tape down the microphone cord. I\u2019m not going to wear high heels. I\u2019m going to email my PowerPoint to the AV director and have it on a flash drive. Once I do all those things, I\u2019ve built in a lot of safeguards and I\u2019m very likely to have things go well.\n\nKhazan: How does this benefit the person, exactly?\n\nNorem: They tend to be better-prepared. They may not be un-anxious, but they feel more in control. In some sense, they\u2019ve peaked in anxiety before their actual performance. By the time they get to the event itself they\u2019ve taken care of almost everything.\n\nIt\u2019s living the Boy Scout motto of \u201cbe prepared.\u201d But people need motivation for that, and they need to get over the initial panic and anxiety.\n\nKhazan: What are some of the drawbacks? Can it ever become demotivating or be a source of obsession?\n\nNorem: The biggest negative impact potentially comes from other peoples\u2019 reactions. If you\u2019re doing it out loud, other people tend not to like it. They tend to have questions about your competence. \u201cIf she\u2019s so worried about this, maybe she\u2019s not up to this.\u201d If it\u2019s a first impression, that can be one of the drawbacks."}
-{"text": "Ouch doesn\u2019t come close: Torz Reynolds cut the tattoo out with a scalpel\u2026 without any anaesthetic (Picture: News Dog Media)\n\nTalk about a bloody Valentine.\n\nTorz Reynolds took drastic measures when she discovered her boyfriend had been cheating on her with another woman.\n\nNot wanting to bear his name in a tattoo on her arm any more, and apparently not being willing to wait to book an appointment with a laser technician, she cut out the phrase \u2018Chopper\u2019s B****\u2019 using a scalpel.\n\nThe 26-year-old, from London, used tweezers to pull the skin off her arm, before tying it up in a ribbon and posting it to Stuart \u2018Chopper\u2019 May, 26.\n\n\nAccording to the Daily Mail, Ms Reynolds had tearfully seen \u2018Chopper\u2019 off at the airport after he left to pursue his dream job in Alaska, in the US.\n\n\n\nBut she later learned he had diverted to Essex, to shack up with a woman he had been having an affair with for the last six months.\n\n\u2018Posting the tattoo to Chopper sent a clear message. Now he knows never to mess with me again,\u2019 Ms Reynolds said.\n\n\u2018I packaged it up so it really did look like a present. I even used different handwriting so he\u2019d have no idea that it was me.\u2019\n\nShe added: \u2018And the end of the day it\u2019s only skin and it will grow back.\u2019"}
-{"text": "Share this\n\nArticle Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nEmail You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. University Stanford University\n\nSupplies of a promising drug for cancer and HIV\u2014provided by a feathery creature of the sea\u2014is about half what it was in the 1990s. Now, scientists have come up with a synthetic alternative.\n\nAs reported in Science, the new synthetic supply will be enough to continue ongoing trials testing its effectiveness as a cancer immunotherapy and for treating Alzheimer\u2019s disease and HIV.\n\nPrincipal investigator Paul Wender, a professor of chemistry at Stanford University, says he got so excited about the project at one point, \u201cI put on my lab coat and did some crystallizations,\u201d one of the basic steps of chemistry lab work usually left to students, not full professors.\n\nFor him, the findings are the result of decades of work and an accident in the Gulf of Mexico almost 50 years ago.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s basically three elephants going down to a salt shaker.\u201d\n\nLike many other naturally occurring chemicals put into service as pharmaceuticals, bryostatin was discovered following what was essentially a fishing expedition. In the 1960s, having had some success developing drugs from terrestrial flora and fauna, scientists began to shift attention to marine life.\n\nThe story of bryostatin itself began in 1968, when a marine biologist working in the Gulf of Mexico collected a plethora of marine organisms and sent them to the National Cancer Institute for analysis. One of those organisms, Bugula neritina, a pest best known for fouling up marine environments, showed some promise as an anti-cancer agent.\n\nA decade and a half later, researchers reported the structure of the active ingredient, which they dubbed bryostatin 1 after the animal\u2019s common name, brown bryozoan.\n\nUnfortunately, bryostatin 1 is very hard to come by. When scientists went back and swept up 14 tons of B. neritina, they managed to extract just 18 grams of bryostatin. \u201cIt\u2019s basically three elephants going down to a salt shaker,\u201d Wender says.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s it, we\u2019re going to roll up our sleeves and make bryostatin because it is now in demand.\u201d\n\nWorse, subsequent studies showed that B. neritina produces bryostatin only in depths greater than about 10 feet and in warmer seas closer to the equator, and only during certain times of the year. (In fact, the NCI\u2019s 14-ton collection came from California, because subsequent samples from the Gulf of Mexico proved inactive.) And while there was a way to synthesize bryostatin in the lab, it took 57 steps and wasn\u2019t very efficient.\n\nWender and his group have been working with bryostatin analogs\u2014chemicals inspired by bryostatin, but not quite the same\u2014since the 1980s but only recently began thinking about how to make bryostatin itself in a lab.\n\n\u201cOrdinarily, we\u2019re in the business of making chemicals that are better than the natural products\u201d such as bryostatin, Wender says. In other words, they try to come up with chemicals inspired by nature, but more effective.\n\n\u201cBut when we started to realize that clinical trials a lot of people were thinking about were not being done because they didn\u2019t have enough material, we decided, \u2018That\u2019s it, we\u2019re going to roll up our sleeves and make bryostatin because it is now in demand,'\u201d Wender says.\n\nAfter decades of experience with bryostatin analogs and two years of concerted effort, the lab came up with a much shorter, 29-step process and a yield of 4.8 percent, tens of thousands of times more efficient than extracting bryostatin from B. neritina, and substantially simpler and more efficient than the previous synthetic approach.\n\n\u201c\u2026we have an opportunity to start in earnest a clinical conversation about eradicating HIV/AIDS.\u201d\n\nThe team members have now produced over 2 grams of bryostatin 1, and once production is scaled up, they expect manufacturers could produce about 20 grams per year, enough to cover clinical and research needs. That is a bit more than was ever extracted from B. neritina and enough to treat about 20,000 cancer patients or 40,000 Alzheimer\u2019s patients.\n\nThe results could also be a boon for HIV/AIDS research. In late September, researchers reported that a bryostatin 1 analog could help wake latent HIV-infected cells, making them more susceptible to attack by HIV drugs or the immune system.\n\nWith new insight into\u2014and a new supply of \u2013bryostatin 1, Wender says, \u201cwe have an opportunity to start in earnest a clinical conversation about eradicating HIV/AIDS.\u201d\n\nThe National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the American Cancer Society, and the National Cancer Institute funded the work.\n\nStanford University has filed a provisional patent application on the technology, which Neurotrope BioScience has licensed for the treatment of neurological disorders. Stanford has granted an option to license to Bryologx Inc. for use in HIV/AIDS eradication and cancer immunotherapy. Wender is an adviser to both companies and a co-founder of the latter.\n\nSource: Stanford University"}
-{"text": "180 million lawsuit will be tested in Alberta later today as junior hockey players accuse the Canadian Hockey League of failing to meet basic employment requirements.Filed in Ontario in 2014, the lawsuit claims players have been paid less than minimum wage and is seeking back wages, overtime and vacation pay, as well as punitive damages.While none of the allegations have been proven in court, the lawsuit suggests it\u2019s common practice for players to be paid as little as $35 per week for between 40 and 65 hours of work.If the junior players are successful in court, the civil suit will be certified as a class action and thousands of athletes could be affected \u2013 already, more than 220 players from the OHL and WHL have registered to join should the suit proceed.The CHL has insisted the players are \u201camateur student-athletes\u201d rather than professional sportspeople, pointing to the millions of dollars it pays out in post-secondary scholarships as proof.However, Ted Charney \u2013 whose Toronto law firm is representing the players \u2013 has said the lawsuit isn\u2019t about whether the players are professional or amateur, but whether they are employees or independent contractors.The certification hearing is scheduled to conclude Friday but it could take several weeks for a decision to be released. A certification hearing is scheduled for March in Toronto, where the OHL is headquartered.A similar action has been taken against the QMJHL and its clubs. A certification hearing has not been scheduled."}
-{"text": "LAS VEGAS - After more than a year and $100 million upgrading restaurants, guest rooms, the casino floor and more, The Strat in Las Vegas is nearing the end of its renovation project.\n\nGolden Entertainment representatives told the Las Vegas Review-Journal they hope the renovations encourage guests to stay longer at the 24-story hotel and its landmark 1,149-foot (350.2-meter) tower with a restaurant, thrill rides and observation platform 921 feet (281 metres) above the Las Vegas Strip.\n\nThe investments \u201cwere aimed to really offer a full-resort experience that can\u2019t be replicated elsewhere,\u201d company chief executive Blake Sartini said. New signage and video screens also remind guests that the property now goes by a new name.\n\nThe property opened in 1996 as the Stratosphere. Golden Entertainment bought it in October 2017 and began renovations in mid-2018. It renamed the property The Strat Hotel, Casino and SkyPod a year ago.\n\nStephen Thayer, vice-president and general manager, said remodeling the 80,000-square-foot (7,432-square-meter) casino created an open layout and new colour scheme including natural lighting, blues and golds.\n\nNearly half the 2,472 rooms have been renovated, with more scheduled, Thayer said.\n\nFood and drink options have been expanded, with the observation deck cocktail bar now called 108 Drinks and an updated Top of the World restaurant featuring a new menu, carpet and furniture.\n\nOutside, a 30,000-square-foot (2,787-square-meter) tent houses the new acrobatic show, \u201cCelestia.\u201d\n\nBrent Pirosch, consulting director at CBRE\u2019s Global Gaming Group, told the Review-Journal the renovations should help the property compete for walk-in customers on a stretch of the Strip resort corridor now experiencing a resurgence in investment and attention.\n\nThe multibillion-dollar Resorts World project is set to open in 2021 and the long-mothballed property now called the Drew Las Vegas is due to open in 2022.\n\nThe Sahara Las Vegas started a multimillion-dollar renovation in 2018. At the nearby Circus Circus, new owner Phil Ruffin told casino regulators in December he plans to renovate and expand the property he bought last year from MGM Resorts International."}
-{"text": "A former top Arizona prosecutor and anti-illegal immigration crusader used his office to destroy political enemies, filed malicious and unfounded criminal charges and committed perjury and other crimes, a state legal ethics panel ruled on Tuesday in Phoenix.\n\nThe three-member panel voted unanimously to disbar Andrew Thomas, the former Maricopa County attorney, and his former top deputy, Lisa Aubuchon. Thomas was elected in 2004 and resigned in 2010 during his second term to pursue an unsuccessful run for Arizona attorney general.\n\n\"This is the story of the public trust dishonored, desecrated and defiled,\" the ethics panel said.\n\nAs chief prosecutor for Arizona's most populous county, which covers much of the Phoenix area, Thomas, a Republican, gained national prominence after joining forces with Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County's controversial sheriff, in aggressively pursuing, detaining and prosecuting undocumented immigrants.\n\nA series of failed public corruption prosecutions, also closely plotted with Arpaio, proved Thomas's downfall. After the cases collapsed, a far-reaching independent investigation authorized by the Arizona Supreme Court revealed stunning ethical lapses, according to the scathing 247-page report by the review panel.\n\nThomas suffered from \"profound arrogance\" that led him into \"ethical ruin,\" said the panel, headed by William O'Neill, the state's presiding disciplinary judge.\n\nThomas, aided by Aubuchon, \"outrageously exploited power, flagrantly fostered fear, and disgracefully misused the law,\" the panel said.\n\nIn a decision read from the bench, O'Neill said the panel found \"clear and convincing evidence\" that Thomas and his deputy brought unfounded and malicious criminal and civil charges against political opponents, including four state judges and the state attorney general.\n\nThe charges were ultimately rejected by state grand juries or thrown out of court as meritless, but not before wrecking havoc on the lives of those targeted.\n\nThomas used his office to settle political scores and worked closely with Arpaio's office in the discredited prosecutions, said Bennett Gershman, a national expert on prosecutor misconduct who acted as a consultant for the ethics investigation.\n\n\"Anybody who disagreed with them, they indicted,\" Gershman said.\n\nIn one instance, Thomas brought criminal charges against a state judge with no evidence and no investigation, in order to stop the judge from filing an adverse ruling the following day in a corruption case. In another case, Thomas indicted a county official on more than 120 misdemeanor and felony counts, despite having clear knowledge that the statute of limitations for almost all of the alleged crimes had passed more than a year earlier.\n\nThomas and Arpaio are under investigation by a federal grand jury for possible civil rights and other charges, according to court documents obtained by the Arizona Republic in 2010. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Phoenix declined to comment on the grand jury proceedings.\n\nDespite the harsh sanctions, Thomas remained defiant on Tuesday, declaring in a statement that his disbarment was the result of a \"political witch hunt.\"\n\n\"Today, corruption has won and justice has lost,\" Thomas said. \"I brought corruption cases in good faith involving powerful people, and the political and legal establishment blatantly covered up and retaliated by targeting my law license.\"\n\nThomas' claims of persecution rang false to Rick Romley, a fellow Republican who served as Maricopa County attorney for 16 years prior to Thomas's election to the office in 2004.\n\n\"There is no credibility in that statement,\" Romley said in an interview with The Huffington Post. \"It really begs the question of whether or not he is delusional.\"\n\nRomley, who led several major corruption probes during his tenure, applauded the ethics panel's ruling.\n\n\"It's absolutely clear that this wasn't a search for justice,\" he said of Thomas's contested prosecutions. \"This is an issue of vindictiveness and a clear abuse of power.\"\n\nArpaio issued a statement on the disciplinary panel's decision, but did not leap to his former ally's defense.\n\n\"Today's decision no doubt is a disappointment to Andrew Thomas, his family and his colleagues,\" said Arpaio, dubbed \"America's Toughest Sheriff\" by conservatives. \"He was a hard-working professional who served the people of this county for many years.\"\n\n\"As there are several lawsuits involving some of the same parties and issues involved in today's decision, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further,\" Arpaio said."}
-{"text": "Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Transgender builder Samantha Bowler says police urged her to move home\n\nFour out of 10 hate crime victims in Wales know their abuser, while nearly a third think about moving house to escape the crime, says a new study.\n\nResearch by Race Equality First and Cardiff University also shows one in five of those abused (18%) considers leaving the country.\n\nThe study will feed into a new Welsh government plan to tackle incidents.\n\nHate crimes are offences against race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity.\n\nCharity Race Equality First said hate crime was a \"daily reality\" for many.\n\nMore than 1,800 people were surveyed and 60 victims were interviewed in a three-year research project backed by Big Lottery funding.\n\nThe research also highlights which victim groups are more or less likely to be satisfied with the response of the criminal justice system to hate crimes Dr Matthew Williams, Principal investigator\n\nThose behind the research claim it is part of the biggest hate crime study ever carried out in Wales and England.\n\nPrincipal investigator Dr Matthew Williams said they focused on understanding the nature and impact of hate crimes and incidents on different groups from various backgrounds.\n\n\"The research also highlights which victim groups are more or less likely to be satisfied with the response of the criminal justice system to hate crimes and garners opinions on what should be done with hate crime perpetrators,\" he said.\n\nNearly a third of victims who took part in the study said they were victimised at or near their home, while around a quarter were victimised in a public place.\n\nAttacker\n\nTwo-thirds indicated they had been targeted by the same perpetrator multiple times, and a similar proportion said they were victimised by multiple abusers.\n\nThose interviewed believed that hate crime was motivated by drink and drugs, hostility towards certain groups, and negative and stereotyped portrayals of minorities in the media.\n\nHATE CRIME STATISTICS From 2011 to 2012, 43,748 hate crimes were recorded by the police in Wales and England\n\n35,816 (82%) were race hate crimes\n\n1,621 (4%) were religion-related hate crimes\n\n4,252 (10%) were sexual orientation hate crimes\n\n1,744 (4%) were disability hate crimes\n\n315 (1%) were transgender hate crimes\n\nSource: Home Office\n\nThe research, which is published ahead of hate crime awareness week next month, also shows:\n\nNearly a third (29%) of all victims think about moving away from their homes\n\nNearly one in five (18%) think about leaving Wales\n\nMore than four out of every 10 victims (43%) knew their attacker.\n\nThe all-Wales hate crime research will be launched by the Minister for Communities Jeff Cuthbert at the Senedd.\n\nHe said the Welsh government was committed to tackling the offence and was working on a framework for action.\n\nThis aims to deal with incidents in Wales and address abuse and attacks experienced by alternative subcultures - such as the way people dress.\n\nMr Cuthbert said: \"The framework outlines how we want to work with partners across the three key areas of prevention, supporting victims and improving responses.\n\n\"This will ensure we focus on making a real difference to people in Wales.\"\n\nMr Cuthbert said consultation over the framework was open until 18 October and a final version of it would be launched in spring 2014."}
-{"text": "Blog\n\nDowneast Maine Art Festivals 2015\n\nWhy have just one festival when you can have three? The Downeast Maine Arts Festivals consist of three art fairs:\n\nNortheast Acadian HarborFest August 1-2\n\nBar Harbor Fine Arts Festival August 7-9 AND September 11-13\n\nOrganized by artist Marc Fink, these events feature juried artists from all over the US and Canada and are scheduled around Mt Desert Island\u2019s peak tourist season.\n\nThe Northeast Acadian Harborfest is located on the Northeast harbor marina waterfront and will be even bigger and better this year. The first Bar Harbor Fine Arts Festival will be held at the Bar Harbor Inn\u2019s property on the waterfront, and, because it is so popular, a second edition will be held in September.\n\nSome of this year\u2019s artists include painter Bette Anne Wygant; Rosemarie Mazzei, a fused glass tableware artist; felt artist Gayle Hallin; chainmaille jeweler Jana Margeson; photographer Kathy Hally; Diane Kaylor, collage creator; sculptor Jim Flood; and more.\n\nMaps and directions can be found at www.marcfink.com/shows, and, if you are staying the night, be sure to book a room soon!\n\nPosted June 2015\n\nArt Gallery Finder"}
-{"text": "exfoliate:\n\nsapphicsupergirl:\n\n\u201cwhy aren\u2019t u talking abt this one Problematic thing involving that actor/show u like??\u201d listen. i am tired. im putting down my pitchfork. i\u2019ll acknowledge that thing was bad if it was but im tired of vilifying ppl for their mistakes just bc they\u2019re famous. i want to enjoy things. i want Peace\n\nFor a long time I was second guessing everything I liked because they did this or that wrong, the actors did this, the writers did that, they left out this or ignored that\u2026 It\u2019s just too much.\n\nIt\u2019s just so tiring. Acknowledge where they can do better, but give yourself a break for the things you like. No one is perfect and you can like things that aren\u2019t perfect."}
-{"text": "Intel SSD DC S4500. (Image credit: Intel)\n\nIntel has been in the spotlight for security research ever since the Meltdown and Spectre flaws were revealed in 2018. Researchers have recently started to uncover new flaws in Intel\u2019s software, too, including a high-severity flaw in its processor diagnostic tool, found by security researcher Jesse Michael from Eclypsium, and a bug in its data center SSDs, found by Intel engineers.\n\nTwo New Flaws Found in Intel's Software\n\nThe flaw in the processor diagnostic tool (CVE-2019-11133) is rated 8.2 out 10 on the CVSS 3.0 scale, making it a high-severity vulnerability. The flaw \u201cmay allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege, information disclosure or denial of service via local access,\u201d according to Intel\u2019s latest security advisory. Versions of the tool that are older than 4.1.2.24 are affected.\n\nThe second vulnerability, found by Intel\u2019s internal team, is a medium-severity vulnerability in Intel\u2019s SSD DC S4500/S4600 series sold to data center customers. The flaw found in the SSD firmware versions older than SCV10150 obtained a 5.3 score on the CVSS 3.0 scale, so it was labeled medium-severity. The bug may allow an unprivileged user to enable privilege escalation via physical access.\n\nAs one of the flaws was uncovered by Intel itself and for the other the Eclypsium research coordinated with Intel for its disclosure, Intel was able to have ready the patches in time for the public announcement.\n\nIntel's Security Issues Continue\n\nLast month, Intel revealed multiple flaws in the company\u2019s NUC system firmware, Compute Cards and the RAID Web Console 3, many of which were high-severity. In total, Intel patched 25 flaws across multiple platforms.\n\nAll of these flaws show us that Intel's security strategy was lacking in the past, to say the least. If Intel is now making an honest effort to secure its products, then we should see fewer and fewer serious security issues affecting Intel\u2019s next-generation products. However, things may get worse before they get better, as more researchers focus on uncovering all of Intel\u2019s past security mistakes."}
-{"text": "Product Description\n\nI could give two shits about A Woman Cannot Survive On Self Quarantine Alone She Also Needs To Watch Gilmore Girls shirt . The Doctors back story. United overbooked then forced a paid seated customer to leave. They should have kept upping the and hotel for a volunteer until they got one or several. If they had done so it may have cost them tens of thousands. While I don\u2019t in any way condone this what does it have to do with this specific incident? Nothing. No one who was aboard the plane has come forward to proclaim that this man was being belligerent or abusive towards the staff in any way. He simply didn\u2019t want to be removed from a flight he had paid to be on. is past doesn\u2019t change how United treated him or the fact that airlines shouldn\u2019t be allowed to do this to paying customers. surprised you did this For all we know this guy was on the mend having just getting his medical license back.\n\nA Woman Cannot Survive On Self Quarantine Alone She Also Needs To Watch Gilmore Girls shirt, hoodie, sweater, longsleeve and ladies t-shirt\n\nWho are we to judge A Woman Cannot Survive On Self Quarantine Alone She Also Needs To Watch Gilmore Girls tshirt . Keep the focus on United. You love to make beautiful artwork with your needle. You\u2019re an artist, a craftsman, a future (or current?) Etsy merchant. You\u2019re immersed in a tradition of needlework that has been handed down for centuries. You do this for love, for joy and to express yourself. You also do it to keep your hands busy so you won\u2019t jab people in the eye with your needle or strangle them with your thread. Don\u2019t let the jerks get to you, or get in the way of your cross-stitching. They\u2019re not worth it. Lovers of coffee, unite! Speak the truth about what fuels your creative juices with this simple yet eye catching design. Let the world know that the sweet tasting power of the coffee bean has helped give birth to much of your artistry. Whether you prefer a t-shirtv\u00b4_or the comfortable and cozy warmth of a hoodie, this graphic design is perfect if you\u2019re in search of everyday apparel with a little bit of flair.\n\nYou Can See More Product: https://trendteeshirts.com/product-category/trending/"}
-{"text": "Iran actor/director Javad Hashemi says US president is a main character in his upcoming flick.\n\nThe director said to local media that 'The City of Cats' is in the making with Trump's animated character costars with Iranian artists including Farhad Ayesh Amin Zendegani.\n\nHe added that the flick has extraordinary visual effects, animating Trump in this live action animated hybrid.\n\n\u201cTrump will be naturally animated with 3D visuals, talking, laughing and crying just like other actors,\u201d Hashemi said, adding, \u201cI totally trust the visual effects to the extent that I omitted a real character in my film \u2026 replacing it with animated Trump.\u201d\n\nAG/AG"}
-{"text": "Secretary of State John Kerry (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)\n\n(CNSNews.com) - On three national television programs on Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry repeated an argument President Barack Obama had made on Saturday when Obama announced that he wanted Congress to authorize him to use military force in Syria.\n\nThe president does not need authorization from Congress to initiate acts of war, Kerry said.\n\n\u201cHe has the right to do that no matter what Congress does,\u201d Kerry said on CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union. \u201cThat is his right and he asserted that in his comments yesterday.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe President has the right and he has asserted that right that he could do what\u2019s necessary to protect the national security of the United States at any point in time,\u201d said Kerry.\n\nThe secretary of state made the same argument on NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press.\u201d\n\n\u201cI said that the President has the authority to act, but the Congress is going to do what\u2019s right here,\u201d Kerry told host David Gregory.\n\nKerry also made the argument on ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week With George Stephanopouos.\"\n\n\u201cThe President has the right--as you know, George,\u201d said Kerry. \u201cThe President of the United States has the right to take this action, doesn\u2019t have to go to Congress, but he does so with the belief \u2013 and this is why I think it\u2019s courageous--the president knows that America is stronger when we act in unity.\u201d\n\nIn a speech delivered in the White House Rose Garden on Saturday, Obama first said that he had decided to take military action in Syria. Then he said that he had also decided to seek congressional authorization for that action. Then he said that he did not need congressional authorization, and could unilaterally order the U.S. military to take action in Syria without congressional authorization.\n\n\u201cNow, after careful deliberation, I have decided that the United States should take military action against Syrian regime targets,\u201d Obama said in his Saturday speech.\n\nThen Obama said: \u201cI will seek authorization for the use of force from the American people's representatives in Congress.\u201d\n\nThen Obama said: \u201cYet, while I believe I have the authority to carry out this military action without specific congressional authorization, I know that the country will be stronger if we take this course, and our actions will be even more effective.\u201d\n\nWhen the Constitutional Convention considered the constitutional language governing the war power in August 1787, the draft language presented to the convention said that \u201cCongress shall have the power \u2026 to make war\u2026\u201d\n\nAccording to the notes of the convention that James Madison kept that day, Elbridge Gerry and Madison himself \"moved to insert 'declare,' striking out 'make' war; leaving to the Executive the power to repel sudden attacks.\"\n\nRoger Sherman of Connecticut agreed with this language, saying the \u201cExecutive shd. be able to repel and not to commence war.\u201d\n\nGerry himself said he \u201cnever expected to hear in a republic a motion to empower the Executive alone to declare war;\u201d and George Mason indicated his support for the Madison-Gerry amendment, saying he \u201cwas agst giving the power of war to the Executive, because not safely to be trusted with it.\u201d\n\nGeorge Washington, who commanded the American army during the revolution and who presided over the Constitutional Convention, governed according to Madison\u2019s and Gerry\u2019s understanding of the constitutional language they had proposed\u2014and that the convention had approved and the states had ratified\u2014when he served as the nation's first commander in chief.\n\nWashington did not believe the Constitution authorized the president to order military action without congressional authorization unless it was necessary to \u201crepel sudden attacks.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Constitution vests the power of declaring war with Congress,\u201d President Washington wrote in 1793, \u201ctherefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject, and authorized such a measure.\"\n\nAfter Obama gave his speech on Saturday saying that he would seek congressional authorization to attack Syria--while insisting he did not need congressional authorization to attack Syria--the House Republican leadership (including House Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy and House Republican Conference Chairman Cathy McMorris Rogers) issued a statement saying that \"the responsibility to declare war lies with Congress.\"\n\n\u201cUnder the Constitution, the responsibility to declare war lies with Congress,\" said the Republcan leaders. \"We are glad the president is seeking authorization for any military action in Syria in response to serious, substantive questions being raised. In consultation with the president, we expect the House to consider a measure the week of September 9th. This provides the president time to make his case to Congress and the American people.\""}
-{"text": "Un \u00e9ditorial de la presse officielle chante les louanges du candidat r\u00e9publicain et recommande aux \u00e9lecteurs am\u00e9ricains de voter pour lui.\n\nNOUVEAU HORS - S\u00c9RIE \u00c0 quoi ressemblera le monde de demain, et, surtout, quel monde voulons-nous ? > Commander la version PDF\n\nNOUVEAU HORS - SERIE L\u2019Atlas de l\u2019eau vous invite \u00e0 comprendre les enjeux de l\u2019eau dans le monde en plus de 30 cartes et infographies. > Commander\n\nPACK RENTR\u00c9E GYMGLISH Choisissez vos langues pr\u00e9f\u00e9r\u00e9es et pr\u00e9parez la rentr\u00e9e avec des cours en ligne dr\u00f4les et personnalis\u00e9s. 1 mois d\u2019essai gratuit >\n\n\u201cUn homme politique avis\u00e9\u201d, \u201cun candidat \u00e0 la pr\u00e9sidence qui voit loin\u201d : Donald Trump a rarement les faveurs des m\u00e9dias internationaux, mais il pla\u00eet \u00e0 la presse officielle nord-cor\u00e9enne. Un \u00e9ditorial paru dans DPRK Today fait l\u2019\u00e9loge du candidat r\u00e9publicain \u00e0 la pr\u00e9sidence, rapporte la presse am\u00e9ricaine.\n\nL\u2019article, sign\u00e9 d\u2019un universitaire nord-cor\u00e9en, ne repr\u00e9sente pas une ligne officielle mais refl\u00e8te certainement la position du r\u00e9gime, indiquent des experts au site am\u00e9ricain sp\u00e9cialis\u00e9 NK News.\n\n\n\n\n\n\u00c0 lire aussi : Etats-Unis. Pourquoi Donald Trump ne gagnera pas\n\n\u201cIl y a beaucoup d\u2019aspects positifs dans les mesures \u2018incendiaires\u2019 propos\u00e9es par Trump\u201d aux yeux de l\u2019auteur, qui cite notamment la proposition \u00e9mise par le candidat de tenir des pourparlers directs avec le dirigeant nord-cor\u00e9en Kim Jong-un, ainsi que sa menace de retirer les forces am\u00e9ricaines de Cor\u00e9e du Sud si S\u00e9oul ne paye pas pour sa d\u00e9fense.\n\nL\u2019\u00e9ditorial donne aussi des conseils aux \u00e9lecteurs am\u00e9ricains en vue du scrutin pr\u00e9sidentiel du 8 novembre. \u201cLe pr\u00e9sident que les citoyens am\u00e9ricains doivent \u00e9lire n\u2019est pas l\u2019ennuyeuse Hillary (\u2026) mais Trump\u201d, assure-t-il, selon NK News."}
-{"text": "Roy Hodgson said England will play with style in Euro 2016 and insisted it was a \u201cgood problem\u201d, only a week before their opening game of the tournament, that he was still trying to find a system where Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy could flourish in the same team.\n\nHodgson\u2019s tactic to use Kane and Vardy as split strikers, with Rooney operating in the No10 role, struggled to take off in the 1-0 win against Portugal on Thursday, and the England manager must decide whether to keep his midfield diamond or revert to a 4-3-3 formation against Russia on 11 June.\n\nKane and Vardy were asked to double up as wide players, marking the Portugal full-backs, when England did not have the ball and Rooney\u2019s position at the forward tip of the diamond meant removing Dele Alli from his best role. Hodgson was irritated by questions about what he called \u201cthe Wayne Rooney show\u201d and made it absolutely clear, yet again, that his captain would be a mandatory starter in France. \u201cYou\u2019re talking about the player who has played 111 games for England and scored 52 goals, so perhaps his best position is anywhere on the field,\u201d he said pointedly.\n\nRoy Hodgson hits back at critics over use of Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy Read more\n\nRooney\u2019s preference when he is not starting as a striker is to operate on the left side of midfield, believing he can see more of the game and therefore exert a greater influence from that position than in the No10 role. \u201cIt\u2019s a good problem to have, shoehorning in attacking players,\u201d Hodgson said. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve had that for a long time \u2013 a lot of good attacking players to shoehorn in \u2013 so you won\u2019t find me complaining.\u201d\n\nHodgson goes into the tournament knowing his job is on the line, with the Football Association waiting to see how England play before deciding whether he warrants another contract. One of the mandates is for him to deliver a team who play attractive football and Hodgson has been stung by the criticism of the team\u2019s performance against Portugal.\n\n\u201cWe do try to play with style,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll always try to play with style. If you watch the game again, you will see some very good moments in our attacking play. We do it because we think it\u2019s the best way of winning \u2013 pushing our full-backs forward, getting our width in that area, trying to get midfield players into the pockets, trying to get our front players behind the opposition\u2019s back players. We don\u2019t lump the ball into the box, hoping for the best. We try to recirculate the ball and that\u2019s what we did [against Portugal] on many occasions. It gave me satisfaction.\n\n\u201cWould I have liked to have seen more goal chances? A little bit more success with the final passes? More composure in the final third? Of course I would. But this is 11 players playing against 11 others \u2013 11 human beings. Some had good games and others didn\u2019t have such good games, and that\u2019s going to be my fate going to this tournament. We don\u2019t have hindsight. We don\u2019t know how well or badly each player, when we select the team, is going to play.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile Harry Kane has admitted England struggled to implement their diamond formation effectively against the Portuguese as the Tottenham forward and Vardy drifted too wide to accommodate Rooney\u2019s presence in the middle. \u201cWe\u2019d been working on it in training, trying different systems, and we went with the diamond but they made it difficult when they wentdown to 10 men,\u201d he added.\n\n\u201cThey really dropped off and shut up the middle of the pitch. Jamie and I felt we had to go a bit wider to get the ball and in hindsight, maybe we should have stayed a bit closer together.\u201d"}
-{"text": "The new president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews has demanded the expulsion of Ken Livingstone and Jackie Walker from the Labour party by the end of July.\n\nIn her first broadcast interview since being elected to the role on Sunday, Marie van der Zyl pledged that under her leadership the Board of Deputies would continue to press Jeremy Corbyn to take more action against antisemitism in the party.\n\nSpeaking to BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today programme, Van der Zyl said she expected Labour to throw out Livingstone, the former London mayor who is suspended from the party after comments he made about Adolf Hitler\u2019s support for Zionism; and Walker, a former vice-chair of Momentum who is suspended over critical comments she made about Holocaust memorial day.\n\nChakrabarti: Ken Livingstone should no longer be in Labour party Read more\n\nVan der Zyl said: \u201cEnough is enough and we now need to see actions and not words \u2026 which include a swift action in relation to the outstanding disciplinary cases \u2026 There\u2019s Ken Livingstone and there\u2019s also the case of Jackie Walker. We are expecting and hoping that that will be resolved by the end of July.\u201d\n\nShe said the Board of Deputies would continue to protest and demand inquiries and debates in parliament if no further action was taken.\n\nHer remarks increase the pressure on Labour to expel the pair. On Sunday, Shami Chakrabarti hinted she may quit the Labour frontbench if Livingstone was not expelled at his next disciplinary hearing.\n\nHer frontbench colleagues Emily Thornberry and Nia Griffith have made similar calls. But Corbyn has said the party\u2019s disciplinary process must be allowed to take its course without interference.\n\n\n\nIn speeches before her election, Van der Zyl was highly critical of Corbyn. She was quoted as saying that he was \u201cinfested by his bigotry\u201d and that the Labour party did not belong to him.\n\nHowever, in her interview she was more conciliatory. \u201cWe want to see Jeremy Corbyn lead the Labour party and carry out his pledge to root out antisemitism and all forms of racism within the party,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cWe are not saying don\u2019t vote Labour, but as we\u2019ll be seeing from the results, especially in Barnet [in local elections earlier this month], the voters have spoken.\n\n\u201cWhat the Board of Deputies wants is to see Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party be accountable and to root out antisemitism and all forms of racism \u2013 that\u2019s what we want.\u201d"}
-{"text": "(3/25/2019)\n\nby NATHANIEL NELSON\n\n\n\nUnderneath the streets and homes of Trempealeau, beneath layers of sediment built up over hundreds of years, the remnants of an ancient civilization lay dormant, waiting to be found. Archeologists Robert \u201cErnie\u201d Boszhardt and Danielle Benden have been spending the last decade combing the Wisconsin bluffs for evidence of a Mississippian city tracing back 1,000 years, and next Wednesday, the two will share their most recent findings at a public event.\n\n\n\nAccording to Benden, the history of Trempealeau\u2019s Native civilization, known as the Mississippians, traces to a location more than 500 miles down river. \u201cAbout 1,000 years ago, they were living at what was essentially America\u2019s first city,\u201d she said. The city, known as Cahokia, was a 2,200-acre metropolis on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River across from what is now St. Louis, Mo., that was home to tens of thousands of people \u2013\u2013 more than London at the time.\n\n\n\nHowever, for an unknown reason, a group of Mississippians loaded up canoes and paddled up the river, settling in modern-day Trempealeau.\n\n\n\nBenden grew up in La Crosse, Wis., and while her friends were entranced with the glamorized cultures of ancient Greece and Egypt, Benden was more interested in what had happened closer to home.\n\n\n\n\u201cI really took an interest in the history of the area where I grew up. A lot of my friends were fascinated by faraway lands, but for me, it was always about understanding the past in where I grew up, Benden said. \u201cTrempealeau, in particular, is such an unbelievable site.\u201d\n\n\n\nIn 2009, Benden and Boszhardt worked with a colleague in Illinois to begin an investigation of the Trempealeau land. The topography showed that there were at least three separate rectangular-topped mounds, which were indicative of a Mississippian city. While much has been written about the history of other regional cultures, including that of the animal effigy mounds of Wisconsin and Iowa, the human-made flat-topped mounds were less-documented and different.\n\n\n\nOver several years, the two discovered that there was, in fact, a settlement in Trempealeau, but it was bigger than they ever imagined.\n\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to dig in Trempealeau to find rocks transported hundreds of miles to create arrowheads,\u201d Boszhardt said. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like Jamestown. When you excavate the British colonies on the east coast, you\u2019ll find British pottery.\u201d\n\n\n\nArtifacts like pottery, stoneware, architecture and religious artifacts have been found, and the site continues to grow. Benden and Boszhardt now operate an archeological tour company called Driftless Pathways, but each year, the two return to the Coulee region to continue their research.\n\n\n\nThis last year, they made another very large discovery. Originally, there were three mounds that were known, with another two suspected. In researching, they found another big surprise.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe thought there might be another a quarter of a mile away, but we now have found another. Now there are six known platform mounds in Trempealeau, which is amazing to realize. There\u2019s probably more,\u201d he said.\n\n\n\nAnother discovery came over the past two years, as the group was working on a new property. In one of the newly discovered mounds, the two uncovered something incredible \u2013\u2013 a burnt temple. Wood, stone, and other materials were found preserved in the ground. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty spectacular for Midwestern archeology to find a burnt temple structure,\u201d he added.\n\n\n\nBut what is the goal? According to Benden, the two want to discover why the group came to Trempealeau and settled there, of all places. It\u2019s a long way from the Mississippian home base of Cohokia, and trade wasn\u2019t one of their larger operations, so why Wisconsin?\n\n\n\n\u201cWe think they selected Trempealeau because of its location and the Trempealeau Mountain. For many native people, [it is] a special and sacred place,\u201d Benden said. Native cultures oftenmarveled at the magic and power of the mountain, and Beenden said they believed the Mississippian people came to the area to harness that power. \u201cFrom a geological standpoint, it\u2019s important because it is the only remnant bluff completely surrounded by water,\u201d she added.\n\n\n\nNext week\u2019s presentation, held at the village hall, is an annual update that the two give to the community to keep residents up to date on their findings. Boszhardt explained that they typically go over the history of the project and why it was started before moving onto more recent discoveries, and then open up the presentation for questions.\n\n\n\nThey will also be selling their book, titled \u201cBeneath Your Feet: Archeology at Trempealeau,\u201d which was written in 2016 to give community members an easier way to look at and read about the findings of the project.\n\n\n\n\u201cThis was sort of a payback to the community, to write a popular book,\u201d Boszhardt said.\n\nMost of the time, archeological digs are short and simple \u2013\u2013 Boszhardt worked as a contract archeologist for many years, and it was common for a project to last no more than a week or two. But this one won\u2019t be ending anytime soon.\n\n\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s still so much we don\u2019t know,\u201d Benden said.\n\n\n\nThe presentation \u201cBeneath Your Feet: Archeological Excavations at the Ouellette Locality in Trempealeau,\u201d will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 27, in the Trempealeau Community Room at Village Hall in Trempealeau. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Benden or Boszhardt at info@driftlesspathways.com."}
-{"text": "This is the first time I\u2019ve told this story publicly. It was 1985: Perestroika \u2014 a shift in communist ideology \u2014 had already happened, but glasnost \u2014 the major political reforms to complement the change \u2014 didn\u2019t come until 1986 and 1987. At that time, family counseling centers had just started to spring up in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). One wasn\u2019t far from where my relatives used to live, on 25 Rubinstein street. Now it\u2019s been turned into a bar. Don\u2019t let the word \u201cfamily\u201d fool you \u2014 the center was actually the first legal organization dedicated to \u201csexology\u201d or what you might call \u201csexual pathology.\u201d I was 17 then. The predominant social opinion was that homosexuality was a disease that needed to be treated. So I went to the counseling center. A doctor sat in the corner of a gigantic room that looked like it belonged in a manor house. I told him my problem and he said I should consult Boris Aronov, a doctor at psychoneurological center number three. Clutching my referral slip, I set off for Park Pobedy metro station. I walked through courtyards filled with blooming lilacs: Everything looked provincial. There was a school with two wings, and past that the psychoneurological facility. The doctor was Jewish, aged somewhere between 60 and 70. He told me he would treat me with aversion therapy that would reprogram me to feel \u201cdisgust toward the male sex.\u201d How did this aversion therapy work? First, I had to write an essay about my sexual experiences, or, in Soviet medical jargon \u201cacquaintanceship and subsequent intercourse.\u201d I wrote the essay, first setting the scene. It happened outside. I was walking through the Primorsky district \u2014 I lived then in Sestroretsk \u2014 when I saw a young man on the beach. We went into something that resembled a half-constructed outhouse or ruined cafeteria or motel, and then, in the words of the famous comedian Alexandrov, \u201cwe performed that sweet act, but only sweetly at first, and then \u2014 like dogs.\u201d\n\nnews Russian Version of Elton John Biopic Censors Gay Sex Scenes Read more\n\nThe essay ended up being quite long, what with the description of the landscape, the way essays were meant to be. Afterwards, Dr. Aronov hypnotized me, but first he rewrote my essay. It started like this: \u201cYou\u2019re walking along the seashore when you see a handsome sailor walking toward you.\u201d Even though I was supposed to be under hypnosis, Dr. Aronov\u2019s methods, of course, didn\u2019t work. I found the whole thing terribly funny. I mean, you try hypnotizing a 17-year-old boy. He waved some sort of little hammer in front of my face and I, in order not to torture the poor old guy, and also to prevent him from attempting any drug treatments, pretended the hypnosis was working. I lay as still as an Egyptian mummy and tried not to howl with laughter. \u201cA sailor is walking toward you\u2026\u201d A sailor? I thought. Where did this sailor come from? There are no sailors in Sestroretsk. The sea there is only three meters deep, and that\u2019s only if you walk all the way to Finland. You could only run into a sailor in Kronstadt. \u201cA sailor is walking toward you. Suddenly, he rips open his tunic and you see his beautiful hairless chest.\u201d Good God, I thought, this isn\u2019t what I wrote! But I forced myself not burst out laughing. I just kept on lying there. \u201cYou walk into a dilapidated bathroom on the seashore and then the police, vigilantes, drag you to the station. The shame! What will your parents say? Your teachers? You want to get into university, right? Now wake up!\u201d I woke up. \u201cThanks,\u201d I said. An enormous dildo and some kind of pump were in the corner of the room. I later learned that these were used to treat erectile dysfunction.\n\nFortunately for me, Dr. Aronov assigned a doctor named Yekaterina Abelevna Golynkina to my case. She was thin and beautiful. \u201cDon\u2019t listen to him,\u201d she said. She gave me some books by Jung, Freud and Fraser. \u201cForget about this,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re fine. Live your own life.\u201d She told me that from now on I would only see her. She\u2019d check me off as having received treatment and then would remove me from the register as quickly as possible. Yekaterina, that wonderful doctor, now lives in Paris and is a successful psychologist. She has completely forgotten her Soviet roots. Half a year later, the whole episode, thank God, was finished. Though not entirely. Which is to say, it would have been completely finished if not for two remarkable events. The first: On one unfortunate day I received a postcard. If you\u2019ve never received a postcard imagine that somebody\u2019s written on your Facebook wall. But instead of \u201cHappy Birthday,\u201d they\u2019ve written \u201cFrom Mental Hospital \u2116 3 of the Leningrad City Health Commission\u201d and something along the lines of \u201cExecutive Committee of the Council of Working People\u2019s Deputies.\u201d On the other side the postcard read: \u201cPavel Albertovich, since you belong to a risk group (302.0\u2014Homosexuality)...\u201d To understand the full impact of this, it\u2019s important to note that there were only about 40,000 people living in Sestroretsk. We knew all the postmen by name. The card went on: \u201c...it is thus necessary that you appear at Botkin Hospital for an AIDS test.\u201d My heart sank in horror \u2014 my parents could have read this.\n\n\u201cYou walk into a dilapidated bathroom on the seashore and then the police, vigilantes, drag you to the station. The shame! What will your parents say? Your teachers? You want to get into university, right? Now wake up!\u201d\n\nThe second event: a call from Dr. Aronov. At that time, there was a theory that homosexuality is caused by a lack of testosterone. They took my blood, packed it in a sealed vial, then sent me to a gynecologist. This was the only place in Leningrad where you could get your testosterone and hormone levels tested. Even today, this is still a complex \u2014 albeit routine \u2014 analysis, but back then it was basically still in an experimental stage. To this day, I think that if I\u2019d had low testosterone levels I might not be sitting here in front of you. But it turned out that everything was normal. One morning a few years later \u2014 the cherry on top of this story \u2014 I heard a voice over the loudspeaker during my final exams. I recognized his voice immediately: \u201cOur guest today is a psychologist, Dr. Boris Isaakovich Aronov.\u201d My heart sank again. I thought he was going to talk about how he treated homosexuality, and, God forbid, start naming names. I wouldn\u2019t have expected anything less from that idiot. But it was something else entirely. In 1941, when the Germans laid siege to Leningrad from three sides and the Finns from the fourth, and the Baltic Fleet under Admiral Tributs was defeated (we all know the terrible history of 1941, during which my grandfather was killed), Boris Isaakovich Aronov worked in a special medical unit that rehabilitated submarine sailors. Finally I understood why sailors kept cropping up in his stories, why he kept turning all of my characters into sailors! I allowed myself to think about what I could not on the divan in Dr. Aronov\u2019s office and burst out laughing. Why am I telling you all this? When I tell the story of Dr. Aronov in private circles, people often say to me: \u201cYou must be traumatized.\u201d But I don\u2019t have any lasting trauma because of my meetings with Dr. Aronov. Because in the Soviet Union, we all learned how to be resistant. Now, by and large, resistance is no longer taught. Maybe it should be."}
-{"text": "A Child Bride At 13, She's Turned Herself Into A Prize-Winning Wrestler\n\nEnlarge this image toggle caption Poulomi Basu/for NPR Poulomi Basu/for NPR\n\nThis story is the first in an occasional series on India: Against the Odds.\n\nEarly morning light filters into the cavernous gymnasium as Neetu lunges, climbs and contorts her body into impossible positions. She shimmies up a thick rope that dangles from the two-story ceiling, her heavily muscled arms propelling her upward. She races through calisthenics with 25 other young women in the boot camp atmosphere of Chhotu Ram Stadium and Wrestling Center, in the Indian state of Haryana, known for its wrestling tradition.\n\nThe grueling twice-a-day practice\u2013 4 hours in the morning and 3 1/2 in the afternoon-- is her ordinary routine.\n\nBut there is nothing ordinary about this young woman, who prefers to be known simply by her first name.\n\nHer journey to become a promising athlete began from a most unpromising place: as a child bride.\n\nAt 13, Neetu was married off to a man three times her age. \"He was mentally challenged,\" says Neetu. When he defecated in the house, she refused to clean it up, incensing her mother-in-law. Even worse was a father-in-law who acted like a sexual predator.\n\n\"One day when no one was home, he took me into his bedroom and pulled off my veil,\" she remembers. \"He warned \u2014 'Don't tell anyone.' \"\n\nNeetu lives in a world where, as she puts it, \"If a man does something bad to a girl, it's her fault.\" Still she told her father, who extracted her from the marriage.\n\nBut to avoid any social stigma, her parents soon married her off again. At age 14, she gave birth to twin sons.\n\nTo help support her family, Neetu has tried on many careers. She's worked as a beautician, a maid, a shop clerk and a self-taught tailor.\n\n\"I learned to sew just by unstitching old suits and restitching them back together. I couldn't afford training. I had no money,\" she says.\n\nThen she got into a neighborhood scrape, stepping in to defend an in-law, and took a blow to the head with an iron rod. She was unconscious for weeks. Even when she recovered, she was not the same. \"I started having fits.\" Her tailoring clients stopped coming.\n\nBeing poor did not dent the dreams of this seemingly indefatigable young woman. Nor did the fact that she only had a 7th grade education. Since childhood she had a knack for sports, high-hurdling over her grandmother's bushes. Neetu recalls astonished neighbors seeing her, a small girl, haul home heavy iron canisters of gas for cooking.\n\nWatching the TV coverage of international games staged in New Delhi several years ago, Neetu was inspired by wrestling, an individual sport \u2014 \"You get lost in a team,\" she says. And now it's become her passion.\n\n\"I love my wrestling,\" she says. \"Wrestling is my life. I have to do this for my children, so that they can do all the things I couldn't do in my childhood.\"\n\nDisadvantaged girls like Neetu increasingly see the sport, with its potential earnings, as a path out of poverty, says coach Mandeep Singh. There is prize money and there are jobs to be had. India's Railway Board, for example, sponsors athletes to be part of the Railways official wrestling squads. By their mid-20s, athletes must retire, then assume a permanent post with the railroads, a job many wrestlers covet.\n\nFew train with Neetu's discipline. For more than two years, she rose at 3 a.m. for the bumpy hour-and-a-half bus ride from her village of Bedwa to her punishing morning workout in the city of Rohtak. After practice, she'd return home to do housework, then journey back in the afternoon for more drills. At home, Neetu would sprawl out on her bed with her boys helping with their homework. \"I would sneak out to call a friend who knew English and return to impress them with what I knew,\" she laughs.\n\nAt the gym she cuts a solemn figure. Coach Singh sternly instructs, \"Don't be passive,\" and Neetu listens with the rapt devotion reserved for a priest. With her sculpted limbs, shorn hair, and sweat-ringed T-shirt, there is no mistaking Neetu for anything but an elite athlete. Pinning her practice partner to the mat, she seems to have wrestled the child bride out of herself.\n\nEnlarge this image toggle caption Julie McCarthy/NPR Julie McCarthy/NPR\n\nCoach Singh says she takes direction like few do.\n\n\"She's different in terms of will power. And being married with small children from a deprived background, it's an achievement to even be here,\" Singh says. \"During training, she doesn't take a break for even one minute. She's determined to become something.\"\n\nNeetu now lives in a small room near the gym, sparing herself the long commute back and forth from her village. This winter she added acting to her long list of jobs. She won a bit part in a movie about a fabled Indian wrestler who taught his daughters the sport and is using the money to pay the rent. Film scouts looking for a powerfully built female spotted her at a recent national championship.\n\nIn her humble quarters, Neetu squats on the concrete floor, fixing milk and an egg, one of the few sources of protein in her diet.\n\nThe new living arrangement means she can only see her twin sons on the weekend. She says their father, her second husband, has been a savior.\n\n\"He's given me a new life. He pulled me out of hell and brought me to heaven. I'm able to wrestle because of him. I'm away and we don't have a usual husband-wife relationship. He's made a huge sacrifice,\" Neetu says.\n\nHe wasn't always supportive. When she first confided her dream to wrestle, husband Sanjay Kumar called it \"crazy.\" Neetu then weighed 175 pounds.\n\nBut she shed 60 pounds \u2014 and any inhibition about pursuing her God-given talents. Sanjay lent moral support. When his business selling milk failed, he adjusted to a new role as house-husband: \"I learned to do housework by watching her.\"\n\n\"The hard work is Neetu's,\" he says.\"I've just encouraged her, and I'm with her all the way. Neetu is not the kind of girl to back down.\" Still, Sanjay had a caveat: \"If you start, you have to succeed, or we'll get a bad name.\"\n\nThe fear of getting a bad name, of being disgraced, is often used to intimidate independent-minded women, says Jagmati Sangwan, a former member of the Indian National Volleyball team. She now leads the All India Democratic Women's Association and, like Neetu, is from Haryana. Sangwan calls her home state a \"predominantly feudal, patriarchal society,\" especially tough for female athletes.\n\n\"The mindset is that if women will participate in sports they will become more and more confident,\" she explains. And then men fear \"they will be losing their control over these women.\"\n\nEnlarge this image toggle caption Poulomi Basu/for NPR Poulomi Basu/for NPR\n\nA child bride no more, Neetu puts her age at 21. A competitor once alleged she's older, but her passport says she's 20. Absent official birth records, there's often confusion about how old people are in India.\n\nOne Sunday, back home in her village, Neetu wrestled with her sons in their hometown playing field, a stony lot. Nothing in her surroundings lends itself to athletic glory. The streets of her village are open sewers. Cattle are quartered steps from villagers' homes. The hard-scrabble reality makes her dream to be a world-class athlete, seem implausible. Conservative mores made the climb steeper.\n\nThere were insinuations: \"Is she really at a gym?\" asked gossipy neighbors. \"Why don't you wear bangles\" and traditional dress, villagers asked, repelled by her tracksuits.\n\n\"I never replied back,\" Neetu says.\n\nEventually, the village came around \u2014 once she started winning events.\n\n\"Even people who had spoken ill of me, said, 'Train our daughters to wrestle. Make them like you.' \"\n\nNewly respectful neighbors delighted in the attention she brought to their inconspicuous village, beginning with her first national medal in 2015 during India's 35th National Games, where she won a bronze in the 53 kilogram (116 pounds) category. Last summer she joined the Indian women's team competing for the Junior World Championship in Brazil.\n\nBut Neetu also made concessions to rural traditions, covering her head in public as a sign of modesty, even if it meant simply throwing her jacket over her head.\n\nBalkesh Ahlawa, a 45-year-old villager, remarked, \"She's changed everything! Everybody believes that a girl can now say \u2014 'I want to do something.' \"\n\nAfter upending stereotypes in her own village, Neetu quietly raises awareness in others. At a girls' school, where the students welcome her with songs and skits about discrimination against girls in traditional families, Neetu tells her story of striving despite every disadvantage. She tears up sharing painful facts of her life. But seems awed by her own progress \u2014 a girl who picked cotton to pay her bus fare \"taking a plane for the first time to Brazil\" to compete.\n\nShe tells the girls to stay in school and dream big dreams.\n\nFor her part, Neetu is eyeing Tokyo and the 2020 Olympic Games. With determination as rock-hard as her muscles, she declares, \"I will go there. I'm 21, and four years ago the Silver Medalist was 34, and a mother.\n\n\"That,\" she says, \"gives me confidence. I can do it, I can do it.\""}
-{"text": "Jim Seida / NBC News The water that swept through Colorado a month ago turned the once-bustling village of Glen Haven into a virtual ghost town. Richard Wobbekind, an economist at the University of Colorado, says the loss of just one season of tourist traffic can doom a town like Glen Haven.\n\nBy Tony Dokoupil, Senior Staff Writer, NBC News\n\nGLEN HAVEN, Colo. \u2013 Flanked by a boom mic and an American flag, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper praised his state for rebounding after last month\u2019s historic flood. \u201cYou can\u2019t help but be inspired,\u201d he told the Loveland Chamber of Commerce this week, celebrating a \u201cspirit of recovery\u201d that has opened most roads and emptied every temporary shelter.\n\nBut while the bigger cities of central Colorado \u2014 from Boulder to Loveland to Fort Collins \u2014 are bustling again, at least two once-gleaming villages in the foothills are virtual ghost towns, isolated by gaps in the asphalt and rivers that undid a century of civilization in a week of heavy rain. In Glen Haven, a 400-person jewel box on the road to Rocky Mountain National Park, an estimated 80 percent of the homes are empty and every business downtown is closed or totally gone \u2014 swept seven miles into the town of Drake, a thousand-person tourist draw that\u2019s also now obliterated and empty except for a handful of holdouts who refused to be evacuated.\n\n\u201cWe saw the whole town kind of explode,\u201d said Bob Smallwood, Glen Haven\u2019s assistant fire chief, and one of ten people left in a 200-home neighborhood called The Retreat.\n\nThe water that cascaded out of the Rockies last month ripped through 24 counties, killing nine people and dampening 2,500 square miles in the heart of Colorado. But the communities of Glen Haven and Drake may be the most devastated, deserted areas left \u2014 as well as the most at risk of becoming genuine ghost towns before the \u201cspirit of recovery\u201d finds them too.\n\nJim Seida / NBC News A month after the flood a Ford Bronco and other debris remain piled against the Town Hall, which slid 20 feet off its foundation into the Glen Haven General Store. Six of the seven buildings downtown have been totaled.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of talk and a lot of meetings but not much action,\u201d said Steve Childs, owner of the Glen Haven General Store, which was knocked sideways in the flood by a Ford Bronco and the remnants of Town Hall.\n\nThough still officially closed by the county, with roads blockaded to discourage mischief and buildings nailed with red signs reading \u201cUNSAFE,\u201d NBC toured Glen Haven and Drake this week with a pass from the sheriff and the good will of locals. The result, coupled with interviews with more than a dozen residents, was a tour of two map-dots that feel forgotten by the relief effort \u2014 and the locals are fighting to make sure they aren\u2019t forgotten by history.\n\n\u201cI need help,\u201d said Jason Gdovicak, chief of Glen Haven\u2019s volunteer fire department. \u201cI need to know what the plan is, you know, the long-term recovery plan.\u201d\n\nFor weeks the Glen Haven native has been leading an all-volunteer clean-up, taking a leave of absence from his real job as a building manager with the YMCA in Estes Park, the comparatively untroubled city seven miles south. For 36 days he says he saw no county or state road crews in Glen Haven, a delay that Larimer county (which has responsibility for Glen Haven) says was unavoidable given the magnitude of damage in the area.\n\nWhatever the reason, it slowed the return of other services, trapping at least half the town in the 18th century: high on the mountain without phone or power, or a way down that doesn\u2019t involve a backpack and very sore feet. A county crew materialized at the top of the road Thursday and another continued to nibble westward along County Road 43 from Drake, aiming to access a side road into the most isolated neighborhood of Glen Haven. But huge tracts of roadway between the two towns are scoured to bedrock, and expected to stay that way until at least 2015.\n\nJim Seida / NBC News \"We've had to go back to enforcing our own laws,\" said Clifton DeWitt, a volunteer firefighter in Glen Haven, Colo. residents have turned to each other, carrying guns and running a check point abandoned by the National Guard.\n\nIt\u2019s a similar scene in Drake, where U.S. Highway 34 has been returned to canyon in places and a bridge washed out, cutting off access to the mountain. The difference in Drake is that the road work is booming, as the state shells out to restore access to Estes Park, the headquarters to Rocky Mountain National Park. But the progress comes at a cost: The road is closed indefinitely during construction, and residents get only one four-hour window a week to work on their homes or welcome damage assessors, before abandoning town again as the road re-closes.\n\nThe result is \u201ca barren wasteland,\u201d says Drake resident Susan Egloff, who fled last month as the waters rose, sending her house down river toward Loveland. The 51-year-old office manager returned for the first time two weeks ago, finding one of her family\u2019s cars intact. Last week her son found another balled like Play-Doh a mile downstream. One has to marvel at the destruction, she says, and to laugh at the insanity of the scenario: a disaster so bad it can\u2019t be even reached by disaster relief.\n\nIn a season without a thousand-year flood, the roads would unspool beautifully around Drake and Glen Haven, carrying 35,000 cars a day. The area itself would swell to 50,000 people, especially in October, a month of leaf-peeping and elk-mating. In Glen Haven, the daily population would double to 800 souls, with hour-long lines for cinnamon rolls outside the General Store. And in Drake, the bar at the River Forks Inn would be two-deep with fly fishermen lying about their luck.\n\nInstead, up and down Big Thompson Canyon and the North Fork toward Glen Haven, homes remain hastily abandoned. Front doors swing open. Flowers wait for the watering can. Cars sit packed for day trips. Apples go unpicked in the trees. Mountain lions make tracks where there should be tourists' feet. And everywhere enthusiastic signs point the way to establishments that no longer exist.\n\nJim Seida / NBC News \"I was so relieved to see the place standing,\" said Dave Johnson of his family's cabin in Glen Haven, Colo. Johnson and his family have been coming to the cabin since 1963.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s kind of scary,\u201d said Dave Johnson, the president of the Glen Haven homeowners association. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of spooky.\u201d\n\nAs winter approaches it\u2019s only going to get worse for both towns. Many homes in the area are considered seasonal or secondary, which federal assistance won\u2019t cover, and while a Federal Emergency Management Agency representative says that requests for public assistance through firehouses and homeowners associations should be approved, they haven\u2019t been yet in Glen Haven \u2014 the kind of paperwork delay Gov. Hickenlooper has blamed on furloughs at FEMA\u2019s Washington office during the government shutdown.\n\nBut who should clean up the destroyed downtowns and private roads chewed through by water? That\u2019s easy to answer in a tax center like Boulder or Fort Collins, which has its own heavy equipment and a staff of skilled operators. Small towns rely on the county, in this case Larimer, which so far hasn\u2019t found the funds to help with the \u201ccommunity needs\u201d list on the fire house wall in Glen Haven. It includes dump trucks, dumpsters, chainsaws, a wood chipper, barricades and traffic cones.\n\n(\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a traffic cone left in northern Colorado,\u201d said Steve Johnson, one of Larimer County\u2019s commissioners, when Glen Haven asked for more.)\n\nFirefighter Clifton DeWitt was out trying to help others when he and his truck were swept away in the floodwaters that were overtaking Glen Haven, Colo. Hear his story.\n\nTo really understand the future of Drake or Glen Haven, however, it\u2019s necessary to understand their immediate past. Both were at the center of Colorado's deadliest flash flood, in 1976, which killed so many people so quickly that Larimer hired extra morticians to process the bodies. This time the death toll was lower, but the destruction was far greater because the flood lasted not hours but days.\n\nIn Drake, according to Sgt. Gerald Baker, a first responder in the county sheriff\u2019s office, \u201ca whole mountain came down\u201d in a mudslide so loud that people covered their ears. They \u201cbelieved the earth was coming to an end,\u201d he said, and after debris temporarily dammed up the river, it almost did for some people. The blockage released a \u201ctsunami\u201d of water into the canyon. Or as a member of the road crew rebuilding Highway 34 put it: \u201cGoodbye, Drake.\u201d\n\nAfter the 1976 Colorado floods, looting was rampant in Glen Haven, Colo. This time, though, residents are packing heat to discourage similar behavior.\n\nIn Glen Haven, the creek burst its banks on the fourth day of rain and the volunteer firefighters fled to higher ground, spending a tense night drinking Canadian Hunter and Coors Extra Gold and waiting for dawn. When it arrived, Gdovicak recalled, they saw that the town was gone, having \u201cwashed around the corner in one fell swoop\u201d and taking most of the road with it, according to one firefighter.\n\nThey went to work. Coordinating evacuations. Clearing a helicopter landing zone. Zip-lining residents over the water to safety. Others chipped in, running a private front-end loader, driving a dump truck that just happened to be in town. For a time the National Guard set up a check point and Estes Park Light and Power got quickly to work (though without quick result).\n\nBut mostly the residents turned to each other. The 1976 floodwaters were followed closely by looters, so this time the townspeople have made a stand, wearing firearms and running the check point left behind by the National Guard a few weeks ago. They make sure all visitors sign in at the fire house. \u201cWe\u2019ve had to go back to enforcing our own laws,\u201d said Clifton Dewitt, a Glen Haven firefighter. And the county sheriff\u2019s office doesn\u2019t disagree. \u201cThose hillbillies police themselves,\u201d joked Sgt. Baker.\n\nWhat Glen Haven and Drake can\u2019t do themselves however is secure their future. Very few people had flood insurance for the 1976 flood; even after it was dubbed a 500-year event very few people changed their policies. Steve Childs, who has owned the General Store for 33 years \u2014 running it with his wife, whose father owned it before they did \u2014 had flood insurance but dropped it figuring fires were a bigger threat. Now his store should be bulldozed, according to an engineer, and Childs will have to find the money himself.\n\nBecky and Steve Childs first met in the Glen Haven General Store 33 years ago; now they own it. The Colorado floods damaged the historic landmark so severely it might have to be demolished.\n\nIn Drake, in the heart of the town, the River Fork Inn is likewise gutted and uninsured. And neither Childs nor Bill Jones, the owner of the Inn in Drake, know how they\u2019ll ever rebuild. At this point they don\u2019t even know if they\u2019ll be allowed to do so. After the 1976 disaster the state forbid rebuilding on the flood plain for a year, and only allowed rebuilding after that if the structures were \u201c51 percent\u201d intact, a bar most businesses in these towns can\u2019t meet.\n\n\u201cWait and see,\u201d said Childs, who vows to be back in one form or another, even if it takes two or three years. Jones isn\u2019t so confident and perhaps with good reason. \u201cJust missing one tourist cycle is pretty deadly in this business,\u201d said Richard Wobbekind, an economist at the University of Colorado, who worries that canyon communities like Glen Haven and Drake will fade with the season, a 21st-century contribution to the pantheon of former places \u2014 and a spectral reminder of nature\u2019s absolute worst.\n\nSlideshow: Deadly floods swamp Colorado John Wark / AP Days of heavy rainfall flooded Colorado mountain towns, obliterating roads and leaving many people stranded. Launch slideshow\n\nRelated:\n\nThis story was originally published on"}
-{"text": "As DSOGaming pointed out this morning, Mortal Kombat is about as confirmed for Steam as it can get without an actual announcement. Not only did it get a Steam App ID and achievement list a while back, the test app is now being played.\n\nValveTestApp230800, aka Mortal Kombat, saw a spike in active players today after an update, which we have to assume means ValveTestApp230800 is now being tested by ValveTestApp230800 testers. Warner Bros. hasn't officially confirmed a PC version of Mortal Kombat, so until then, we look forward to the release of ValveTestApp230800.\n\nThere is the off chance this Steam data was fabricated to divert our attention from some great and mysterious plot taking place within the highest ranks of the PC gaming elite, but devious machinations seem a smidgen less likely than seeing Mortal Kombat on Steam. Occam's razor\u2014the principle that the hypothesis which makes the least assumptions should be tested first\u2014applies here. If not, we'll likely be silenced by Occam's razor wire, the favorite brand of the world's leading hypothetical assassin squads."}
-{"text": "Apart from Embargo, whose kitchen is operated by Fish Boss, Swanbourne's The Pizza Lounge would cook up wood-fired pies, Varsity will flip their signature sumptuous burgers \u2014 and then there's Big Don's Smoked Meats, featuring a massive outdoor smoker which at two tonnes is Australia's biggest barbecue. \"We're here for the entire summer with a tavern license, so with liquor licensing laws now restricting pop-up bars to 21 days now, it's a bit more feasible for us as we can open longer here,\" Mr Wilson said. Embargo and three other new tenants have extended the precinct's outdoor areas. Credit:David Prestipino Mr Wilson couldn't say if Embargo would become a permanent fixture at the precinct. \"We've got the option to hang around if we want ... but we'll test the waters, see how it goes, make the most of the summer and then we'll speak to the owners of the complex after that,\" he said.\n\nThere are still fine-dining establishments at the precinct, including The Point Bar and Grill, whose owner Neil Irvine took sole ownership in October of the On The Point complex after being in partnership with Ku De Ta shareholder Steve Palmer. Embargo, which features a sprawling beer garden, licensed jetty and children's play zone, was already proving a hit ahead of summer, with the venue partly booked for Christmas functions over the next two weekends. Ku De Ta's industrial feel has been replaced by a light, colourful interior by Embargo. Credit:David Prestipino The new quartet of tenants have already turned their hands to creating family-friendly spaces through the extension of outdoor areas decked with shaded high tables on fake grass overlooking the river and a sideshow of fun entertainment like ping pong tables and arcade games. The fine-dining feel of the precinct has been brightened by Embargo's bright interior and exterior decor more in tune with the stylish, natural relaxed surrounds of On The Point.\n\n\"There's lots of fun stuff, it's almost the complete opposite for people who have been here... we've basically turned everything into a bar. The fine dining restaurants are gone, we've turned it into casual dining,\" Mr Wilson said. \"It's now a place where parents and young families can cruise during the day and, once the evening starts and there's a bit of a party, by that stage the kids are peeling out and it's a young venue, which is what Embargo has always been about. The new tenants have created family-friendly spaces that house ping pong tables and arcade games. Credit:David Prestipino \"Whether it's been at (Embargo) South Perth, Vic Park and Elizabeth Quay, we've always been really family-friendly and for people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, even 70s, the whole way through ... and then once it kicks on on a Friday and Saturday evening, it's a bit younger you know, 20s, 30s, 40s.\" Fine dining is not lost though; there's Irvine's The Point upstairs and Chinese restaurant 8 On The Point which, despite recent reports, is \"not going anywhere\" according to Mr Wilson.\n\n\"It's going very well, it's busy every day but on a Thursday and Friday it's manic ... their dim sum is amazing,\" he said of the dual-Gold Plate establishment. Mr Wilson said his team's entire focus this summer was the On The Point venture and it was a no-brainer to give it a shot once the established space became free. Embargo offers casual dining with views of the river that patrons will appreciate. Credit:David Prestipino \"We're used to setting up in the middle of a park,\" he said. \"At South Perth and Vic Park there was no water, no power no sewerage. Elizabeth Quay has got some toilets and some water and power but there's still nothing there, you've just got a fence and that's it.\n\nLoading \"Here we've got the advantage of having air-con, a proper kitchen \u2014 the four different kitchens \u2014 and perfectly established bars. \"I'd like to think we've got the plus side, all the best parts of the pop-up; that casual vibe, relaxed, bring your family, bring your dog down \u2014 you can still do that here \u2014 all those things that people liked about Embargo. \"Plus hopefully all these extra things ... if it's raining, if it's 41 degrees outside, you can still come down, have a drink here, sit in the air-con and enjoy the view.\" Tenants hope Embargo hype will spread\n\nOn The Point's fellow tenants hope the new quartet will provide some flow-on business over summer while they wait to see what plans the City of Perth has to push more people to the precinct. Ahead of a council meeting later this month, WAtoday understands discussions have been held with the council about a reduction in fees at the Point Fraser carpark built specifically for the precinct, while a billboard along Riverside Drive and lighting on the massive trees surrounding the precinct have also been mooted. Embargo and its new tenants will be open all summer at On The Point. Credit:David Prestipino CoP chair commissioner Eric Lumsden said they were approached by the development's owners recently to discuss several issues and potential opportunities at the site. \"Discussions with commissioners and City officers have taken place and it is likely that this matter will be addressed,\" he said."}
-{"text": "This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.\n\nLILITZ, Penn. \u2014 A Chinese restaurant in Pennsylvania has been caught with deer brains, heads and unidentifiable animal body parts on their premises.\n\nPennLive reported that the New China House restaurant in Lititz was handed 18 violations and ruled out of compliance by the Pennsylvania Game Commission earlier this month.\n\nThe Pennsylvania Game Commission is investigating the restaurant after inspectors reportedly found deer heads, brains and unidentifiable remains of other animals on the business\u2019 premises.\n\nThe owner of the restaurant, who was identified only as \u201cChun,\u201d told PennLive that the restaurant does not sell deer meat. The owner said the deer parts were for soup he was going to make his wife.\n\nInspectors removed more than four trash bags worth of prepared food from the restaurant and the owner could face citations, according to the report.\n\nBut the restaurant remains open, according to PennLive\u2019s article which was published on Dec. 30.\n\nThere must be an imminent health hazard for the state Department of Agriculture to close a restaurant, according to Lydia Johnson, director of the Department of Agriculture.\n\nThe restaurant also had 14 violations from an inspection on July 15, 2015, according to the paper.\n\n40.157317 -76.306901"}
-{"text": "Microsoft has now commented on the promotion, providing IGN with the following statement:\n\n\"Microsoft was not aware of individual contracts Machinima had with their content providers as part of this promotion and we didn\u2019t provide feedback on any of the videos. We have asked Machinima to not post any additional Xbox One content as part of this media buy and we have asked them to add disclaimers to the videos that were part of this program indicating they were part of paid advertising.\"\n\nRegarding Microsoft's involvement in its YouTube promotion, Machinima told IGN:\n\n\"This partnership between Machinima and Microsoft was a typical marketing partnership to promote Xbox One in December. The Xbox team does not review any specific content or provide feedback on content. Any confidentiality provisions, terms or other guidelines are standard documents provided by Machinima. For clarity, confidentiality relates to the agreements themselves, not the existence of the promotion.\"\n\nOriginal story follows:\n\nLoading\n\nMachinima has reportedly offered YouTube influencers financial bonuses for promoting the Xbox One, as long as the details of said promotional agreement were kept confidential, according to Ars Technica.\n\nThe promotion, outlined in what appear to be leaked emails to popular Machinima personalities and a since deleted Tweet from Machinima's UK community manager, offered video content producers an additional $3 CPM ($3 per thousand video views) for posting videos including at least 30 seconds of Xbox One gameplay footage in the first two minutes, and a verbal mention that the console was being played. It was also stipulated that producers tag their videos 'XB1M13' and post between 3 AM ET, January 13 and 2:59 AM ET, February 10 to be eligible for payment.To worsen what appears to be an already questionable situation, an alleged leaked copy of the promotion's terms and conditions obtained by Ars Technica specified that content creators were not to say \"anything negative or disparaging about Machinima, Xbox One, or any of its games,\" nor were they to mention their involvement in the agreement.If Microsoft is determined to have had knowledge of this promotion, the website believes the arrangement might violate the FTC's guidelines for the use of endorsements in advertising, which need to be transparent \"when there is a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product that might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement.\"Interestingly, the leaked email said the promotion would cease once a collective 1.25 million views on these videos were reached, and Machinima's PopTent feed lists the promotion as expired, suggesting that it reached its goal by January 16.Editor's Note: This article originally stated that Microsoft was responsible for the promotion, but no explicit evidence has emerged to support that claim, and the text has since been edited. We've reached out to Microsoft and will update this story with any comment we receive.\n\nLucy O'Brien is Entertainment Editor at IGN AU. Follow her ramblings on IGN or Twitter."}
-{"text": "Review: 'The Handmaid's Tale' Season 2 is still strong, but verges on misery porn\n\nKelly Lawler | USA TODAY\n\nShow Caption Hide Caption Elisabeth Moss finds handmaid protests 'moving' \"The Handmaid's Tale\" star Elisabeth Moss says she's moved to see activists in handmaids' costumes while protesting proposed bans on abortion procedures, after the success of the Hulu series. (August 8)\n\nGilead is not an easy place to pay a return visit.\n\nWhen The Handmaid's Tale premiered in 2017, it presented a patriarchal and theocratic dystopia that, for some, eerily echoed current trends in politics, making it a touchstone for the left and a symbol of the \"resistance.\" The iconic red and white handmaid costume has been seen at marches, protests and Halloween parties, often used as a symbol of sexism and oppression. The world that it represents is dark and terrible, full of rape, torture and slavery.\n\nComing off a historic Emmy win (the first in the outstanding drama category for a streaming series) and a mountain of hype, Handmaid's returns for a second season (April 25, \u2605\u2605\u2605 out of four) that somehow finds a way to be even darker. And it doesn't always serve the series, which is better focused on humanity's will to endure and survive than its ability to torture and maim.\n\nThe writers put the characters through even more harrowing torments. That certainly underlines the point that this dystopia is horrific, and provides shock and gore on par with Game of Thrones. But it gives the drama, still beautifully acted and shot, an exploitative vibe that it mostly avoided last year.\n\nHandmaid's was too capital-I important, and too intellectual, to be pulpy and cheap. But in the first six episodes made available for review, it verges on that territory, from an excruciatingly long sequence of dozens of people being led to a gallows to another (in the same episode) of a woman being handcuffed to a stove with an open flame. Fans often noted that the violence and anguish made the series difficult to watch, and the problem has only increased this time around.\n\nMore: Offred gets a taste of freedom in 'Handmaid's Tale' Season 2 trailer\n\nMore: 'Handmaid's Tale' Season 2: 'We're all living in an Atwood world,' creator says\n\nThe new season picks up immediately after last year's cliffhanger finale, in which Offred (Elisabeth Moss, with a performance that continues to earn the Emmy she won last year), a few weeks pregnant, was taken by the country's brutal police, unaware whether the van she climbed into meant her salvation or end. The cliffhanger is resolved quickly and brutally, and without spoiling anything, our hero spends much of the new season working to free herself and her unborn child from Gilead's clutches.\n\nFrom the opening sequence, the series almost delights in putting its pitiful characters through even more horrors and abuses. We visit the Colonies, areas of extreme toxic waste where the worst offenders are worked to death, and where Emily/Ofglen (Alexis Bledel) was sent after she was arrested in Season 1. We see new and varied punishments for unruly handmaids and other citizens, in graphic detail. The somber tone is reflected in the season's color palette, which makes some scenes appear too muddy to see what's going on.\n\nHandmaid's big improvement over the excellent first season is that it more seamlessly toggles between scenes with Offred and the rest of the characters, adding more flashbacks to the time \"before\" and giving the supporting cast greater depth. Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) is less of a cartoon villain in those flashbacks, and Emily gets a heartbreaking backstory.\n\nExpanding Handmaid's into a multi-season TV series from a single novel by Margaret Atwood was always going to be tricky, and to maintain the core of the series as it moves beyond the book's roadmap, its characters have to suffer. Still, there's only so much trauma audiences can take before it becomes too much. Handmaid's would do well with a lighter touch."}
-{"text": "Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Wyre Davies reports\n\nThe Zika virus is likely to spread across nearly all of the Americas, the World Health Organization has warned.\n\nThe infection, which causes symptoms including mild fever, conjunctivitis and headache, has already been found in 21 countries in the Caribbean, North and South America.\n\nIt has been linked to thousands of babies being born with underdeveloped brains and some countries have advised women not to get pregnant.\n\nNo treatment or vaccine is available.\n\nThe virus was first detected in 1947 in monkeys in Africa. There have since been small, short-lived outbreaks in people on the continent, parts of Asia and in the Pacific Islands.\n\nBut it has spread on a massive scale in the Americas, where transmission was first detected in Brazil in May 2015.\n\nLarge numbers of the mosquitoes which carry the virus and a lack of any natural immunity is thought to be helping the infection to spread rapidly.\n\nMore on the Zika virus:\n\nMedia playback is unsupported on your device Media caption What is the Zika virus and why is it spreading across South America?\n\nThe alarming threat of Zika virus\n\nOlympics plans announced by Rio authorities\n\nThree Britons \"contract Zika virus\"\n\nMothers' fears amid outbreak\n\nZika virus triggers pregnancy delay calls\n\nMosquito\n\nZika is transmitted by the bite of Aedes mosquitoes, which are found in all countries in the region except Canada and Chile.\n\nIn a statement, The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the regional office of the WHO, said: \"PAHO anticipates that Zika virus will continue to spread and will likely reach all countries and territories of the region where Aedes mosquitoes are found.\"\n\nPAHO is advising people to protect themselves from the mosquitoes, which also spread dengue fever and chikungunya.\n\nMedia playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Mila talks about the day she found out\n\nIt also confirmed the virus had been detected in semen and there was \"one case of possible person-to-person sexual transmission\" but further evidence was still needed.\n\nAround 80% of infections do not result in symptoms.\n\nBut the biggest concern is the potential impact on babies developing in the womb. There have been around 3,500 reported cases of microcephaly - babies born with tiny brains - in Brazil alone since October.\n\nPAHO warned pregnant women to be \"especially careful\" and to see their doctor before and after visiting areas affected by the virus.\n\nColombia, Ecuador, El Salvador and Jamaica last week recommended women delay pregnancies until more was known about the virus.\n\nAlthough officially PAHO says \"any decision to defer pregnancy is an individual one between a woman, her partner and her healthcare provider\".\n\nMaria Conceicao Queiroz said there was a sense of fear where she lives near the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro: \"Every one is at risk, we're all scared of getting Zika.\n\n\"We're surrounded with dirty water, polluted water, but what can we do but put repellent on, to try to keep the mosquitoes away.\"\n\nGlobal threat\n\nProf Laura Rodrigues, a fellow of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said some data suggested that up to one-in-fifty babies had birth defects in one of the worst hit areas - Pernambuco state in Brazil.\n\nShe said: \"Until November we knew nothing, this has caught us by surprise and we're trying to learn as fast as we can.\n\n\"Wherever there is dengue, there is mosquito, then it will spread and not just in Americas I think there is a very real chance it will spread in Asia.\"\n\nPAHO advice is to ensure all containers that can hold even small amounts of water should be emptied and cleaned to prevent mosquitoes breeding.\n\nAnd that people should protect themselves by using insect repellent, covering up and keeping windows and doors closed.\n\nThe director general of the WHO, Margaret Chan, said the outbreak was \"extremely worrisome\".\n\nFollow James on Twitter."}
-{"text": "In addition, Lego has also expanded by pairing with Lucasfilm on the Star Wars franchise for off-screen sales of sets of spaceships and space warriors as well as lucrative TV specials and video games. It followed up by capitalizing on other pop culture brands to develop Lego versions of characters like Harry Potter, Iron Man and Batman, among others.\n\nThe company\u2019s move into other platforms wasn\u2019t part of its long-term plan, however. \u201cIt was definitely more of a natural evolution,\u201d said Jill Wilfert, vice president for licensing and entertainment at Lego.\n\nLego tested the waters first, taking a conservative approach to multimedia before diving in. \u201cWe really don\u2019t want to force fit it,\u201d Ms. Wilfert said. \u201cSo far, we\u2019ve had good results, which is a testament to the quality of the brand.\u201d\n\nStill, the company has been criticized for missing some potentially lucrative opportunities, especially in video games. It partnered with developers like TT Games, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Superscape for highly successful video games based on Star Wars, Batman and the Harry Potter properties, but it failed to create a digital version of its branded appeal for unfettered, creative play.\n\nInstead, Minecraft, the Swedish video game, swooped into the space, fulfilling the desires of millions of children for online toy boxes to create anything they could imagine. So far, Minecraft has sold more than 35 million copies.\n\nAnalysts and experts still consider Lego a success on many fronts. Profit surged 35 percent to a record 5.61 billion kroner ($993 million) in 2012, thanks in part to growth in its Friends line. (The privately held company, which is based in Billund, Denmark, will report 2013 earnings on Feb. 27).\n\nThe Friends line, aimed at girls, is thematically different from other lines, with brick toys employing pink-and-purple color schemes for baking and kitchen sets, as one example. Last month, the Sociological Images blog published a letter from a 7-year-old girl who complained that there were \u201cbarely any Lego girls\u201d and all they did was \u201csit at home, go to the beach and shop.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Mini Facial\n\nAn active facial that cleanses, purifies and aids in the healing of acne and troubled areas. Includes a thorough cleansing, extractions and a healing mask that helps minimize the appearance of pores and heals irritated skin, facilitating the elimination of excess oil. This treatment delivers results, ending with essential vitamin nourishment, leaving your skin clean, calm and balanced. Enjoy a hot stone neck and shoulder massage and an indulgent vitamin-rich hand treatment. Purpose A deep clean facial is great for oily or problematic skin. If you suffer from acne breakouts often, this is a good solution for the problem. You will get to experience steaming, deep cleansing and facial extractions in just one hour of this facial session. Steaming will loosen the dirt and debris in the first layer of your facial skin. Cleansing will remove the impurities from your face, as well as soothe any irritations. Facial extractions will help remove any sebum that is clogging your pores. Additionally, you will also get a chance to try a mud mask, which will help tighten the skin. The final touch to the facial will be a soothing skin moisturizer. The moisturizer will provide sun protection for the face. After the facial, your skin will definitely feel invigorated and detoxified once more. Duration Price 30 Min $ 50\n\nESSENTIAL FACIAL\n\nAn active facial that cleanses, purifies and aids in the healing of acne and troubled areas. Includes a thorough cleansing, extractions and a healing mask that helps minimize the appearance of pores and heals irritated skin, facilitating the elimination of excess oil. This treatment delivers results, ending with essential vitamin nourishment, leaving your skin clean, calm and balanced. Enjoy a hot stone neck and shoulder massage and an indulgent vitamin-rich hand treatment. Purpose A deep clean facial is great for oily or problematic skin. If you suffer from acne breakouts often, this is a good solution for the problem. You will get to experience steaming, deep cleansing and facial extractions in just one hour of this facial session. Steaming will loosen the dirt and debris in the first layer of your facial skin. Cleansing will remove the impurities from your face, as well as soothe any irritations. Facial extractions will help remove any sebum that is clogging your pores. Additionally, you will also get a chance to try a mud mask, which will help tighten the skin. The final touch to the facial will be a soothing skin moisturizer. The moisturizer will provide sun protection for the face. After the facial, your skin will definitely feel invigorated and detoxified once more. Duration Price 30 Min $ 50\n\nG.M Collin Oxygenating Facial\n\nThis lifting treatment will visibly restore your skin to a youthful look. \u2022 A double exfoliation, utilizing both enzymatic and chemical actives, eliminates the dead skin cells to instantly clarify the skin and allow an increased absorption of the subsequent ampoules. \u2022 The delicate texture of the hydrolifting fluid imparts hydration to the skin providing a silky comfort. You enter your relaxing journey with a flowing massage of the Restorative Cream followed by the Hydrolifting Toning Mask, allowing you to succumb to a restful destination. \u2022 This treatment profoundly improves the visible toning of the face and neck and improves hydration for an age-defying radiance. Duration Price 60 Min $ 100 ( buy 5 get 1 free)\n\nG.M Collin Hydrolifting facial\n\nThis lifting treatment will visibly restore your skin to a youthful look. \u2022 A double exfoliation, utilizing both enzymatic and chemical actives, eliminates the dead skin cells to instantly clarify the skin and allow an increased absorption of the subsequent ampoules. \u2022 The delicate texture of the hydrolifting fluid imparts hydration to the skin providing a silky comfort. You enter your relaxing journey with a flowing massage of the Restorative Cream followed by the Hydrolifting Toning Mask, allowing you to succumb to a restful destination. \u2022 This treatment profoundly improves the visible toning of the face and neck and improves hydration for an age-defying radiance. Duration Price 60-75 Min $130 (buy 5 get 1 free)\n\nG.M Collin Custom FAcial\n\nPersonalized facial that includes cleaning, exfoliation, steam, extractions of any imperfections, and massage of your face, neck and shoulders, also with o1ur signature mask treatment. Consult with our specialist to determine your skin type.\n\nDuration Price 90 Min $ 130\n\nG.M Sea C Spa\n\nThis age-defying treatment is the perfect choice to reverse the visible signs of aging and energize the skin. \u2022 Following the initial cleansing and exfoliation, a powerful antioxidant, the 15% Vitamin C Serum, with cosmetic benefits is applied. \u2022 Afterwards, all the benefits of the sea will be offered to your skin, with the application of Seaweed Patches. Your skin will be caressed and your senses exalted with essences reminiscent of delicate orange blossoms, as the patches are activated with a continuous massage of the activating lotion, dissolving them and infusing the skin. \u2022 The Thermal Organic Mud Mask provides a tranquil moment to de-stress and unwind. \u2022 This rejuvenating treatment visibly improves the skin\u2019s elasticity, leaving it looking rejuvenated and feeling soft and supple. Duration Price 75min.+ $ 140 (buy 5 get 1 free)\n\nG.M Botinol\n\nInnovative and non-invasive, with instant and long lasting visible results, perfectly describes this treatment. \u2022 The Retinol is released from the cap of the vial, into the serum beneath it, containing Argireline\u00ae and Myoxinol\u00ae, and applied with precision to expression lines. \u2022 The hydro-energizing gel, with its pleasing, refreshing scent, is skillfully massaged into the skin, allowing a respite from your hectic day. The algae pellicles are applied, activated, then covered with a thermic sheet carrying you into a dream like state. \u2022 An application of the Corrective Cream completes your treatment. The appearance of expression lines and wrinkles is dramatically reduced, with a more youthful and refreshed look. Duration Price 75min.+ $ 165 ( buy 5 get 1 free)\n\nG.M Collagen treatment\n\nThis exclusive, highly acclaimed, intensely rejuvenating treatment dramatically reduces visible lines and wrinkles. \u2022 The Energizing Serum is applied after cleansing and exfoliation to ensure better penetration into the skin. \u2022 Next the Intensive Complex is carefully massaged into the skin, preparing it for the application and activation of the Collagen Pellicle. \u2022 The treatment concludes with an application of the velvety Vitality Cream, leaving your skin feeling as silky and smooth as it looks. Duration Price 75min.+ $150 (buy 5 get 1 free)\n\nLaser hair removal\n\n\n\nLaser Hair Removal(small areas) Price Per Session(pay as you go) Upper lip $50 Chin $50 Upper Lip/Chin $80 Chin Jawline $80 Neck $80 Neck/(Back Hairline) $80 Face(Upper Lip,Chin,Cheeks,Sideburns,Forehead) $1250 Under Arms $100 Bikini Line/Inner Thigh $100 Brazilian $250 Stomach $150-$175 Back $250-$350 Shoulders $180 Full Chest $260 Hair Chest $150 Lower Leg $150 Thighs $150-$250 Full Legs $300\n\nAQUA PEEL\n\nAqua Peels provide a safe, non-invasive treatment to rejuvenate skin. With the use of exfoliation, iontophoresis, hydration, and integrated vacuum extraction, the procedure is an all-encompassing tool to combat impurities. This clinic delivers a comprehensive, all-in-one RF Deep Facial Cleansing solution with the use of aqua peels. The skin will glisten as it\u2019s treated leading to a tighter, cleaner finish. Duration Price 60-75mins $180 (buy 5 get 1 free)\n\nOmega Light Therapy"}
-{"text": "Another Australian study, of 150 10-year-olds, found that in the heart pumping process, the left ventricles were slower to untwist in children with a higher body-mass index, a relationship of weight to height, said a co-author of that study, Walter Abhayaratna, a researcher at Australian National University.\n\n\u201cThese studies are interesting, imperfect corollary evidence of something we all believe is true,\u201d said Dr. Lee Goldman, a cardiologist who is dean of the faculties of health, sciences and medicine at Columbia University. \u201cThe obesity epidemic in adolescents is the biggest adverse time bomb we\u2019ve got going on in coronary diseases. These are high tech ways of adding more evidence.\u201d\n\nDr. Goldman was a co-author of a study published in December 2007 in The New England Journal of Medicine in which a computer model was used to predict whether heart disease deaths in the United States would rise. The authors predicted that by 2035, there would be 100,000 additional cases of heart disease attributed to current instances of obesity in children, an estimate especially noteworthy given that advances in treatment have reduced cardiac deaths in recent years.\n\nAnother study published in the same journal at that time further bolstered the link between childhood obesity and heart disease. Analyzing the records of 276,835 Danes who were examined as children in 1930, researchers from Denmark found that the higher the children\u2019s body-mass index in 1930, the greater the chances they would develop heart disease.\n\nWhile it is too early to know if the current generation of American children will suffer more heart attacks, strokes or other heart problems, or experience them sooner, many heart researchers consider the growing corroboration of links between childhood obesity and heart disease alarming. Still, Dr. Raghuveer said that for the children she studied, hope was not lost.\n\n\u201cA lot of these kids\u2019 arteries, even though they are in the early stages of atherosclerosis, are not hardened or calcified, not really advanced,\u201d she said. \u201cThere may be an opportunity to implement lifestyle alterations, be it exercise, be it diet, or perhaps even medication. Perhaps it may be reversed.\u201d\n\nDr. Raghuveer\u2019s study used an ultrasound method called carotid artery intima-media thickness or CIMT to measure the thickness of the inner walls of the carotid arteries, located in the neck. Scientists, who measure the carotid artery because it is easier to capture images of neck arteries than the coronary arteries directly connected to the heart, say increased thickness in the carotid artery wall indicates greater amounts of fatty plaque in the arteries leading to the heart and brain. When such plaque ruptures, it can result in clots that lead to heart attack or stroke."}
-{"text": "some of my favourite paintings i did for the starbomb videos i worked on with the rest of studio yotta: luigi\u2019s ballad (those ones are based on instructions by arin) and it\u2019s dangerous to go alone. had to dig out my near-dead old computer to get the older ones. and lemme tell you something folks its a miracle that noisy piece of shit even started up, so im pretty lucky to have gotten these back\n\nthe liberty city reveal looks a bit different in the actual cartoon cuz i wanted the colour palette to contrast even more with old man\u2019s blue segments - so everything had an orange hue added to it in AE. its colour theory 101 but it works.\n\nas a bonus there\u2019s some comparisons - the thumbnail versions of shots in pre-production and their prettier counterparts in the final thing. preserving the life and energy of the thumbnails can be really tricky at times.\n\nand as a double bonus here\u2019s the hyrule map on imgur, it was one of the last things i did for the cartoon as a last ditch attempt to cram in as many references as possible to the games."}
-{"text": "Moving from internal combustion to electric power does more than reduce tailpipe emissions: it will fundamentally shatter today\u2019s auto maintenance and service sector.\n\nThe decline is mathematical. With one-fifth the number of powertrain parts and an almost total elimination of oil (a), the typical automotive dealer will suffer 35% declines in maintenance and service revenue, or roughly $1,300, for an EV versus an internal combustion engine vehicle over a five-year period (b).\n\nBut this disruption is not even. Two of the top three maintenance items \u2014 oil changes and brake service (24% and 5%, respectively, of all maintenance transactions in the U.S. market) \u2014 are reduced or eliminated entirely by the move to EVs (c).\n\nWhy are brakes impacted? EVs often use a process called regenerative braking, which slows vehicles down while also saving energy. The reduced wear on pads and rotors is striking: some Toyota Priuses are still operating on their first set of brake pads after more than 100,000 miles of use, whereas you\u2019d normally assume pads would be replaced after about 30,000 miles.\n\nEVs eat tires faster\n\nOne of the beneficiaries of electrification will be tires, with multiple positive tailwinds: cars are driven more each year. Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) is 3.25 trillion annually in the U.S. and is growing at about 1% year over year. Because consumers are keeping cars longer (11.1 years on average), this results in more replacement tires consumed throughout the ownership period (d,e).\n\nThe other significant growth lever for tires is the secondary effect of the powertrain: EVs consume tires at a much higher rate than internal combustion vehicles. They\u2019re heavier and create near-instant torque off the line. You don\u2019t need to hunt for long to find a Tesla owner who\u2019s replaced their tires after a mere 10,000 miles. One of our portfolio companies, Zohr, an on-demand tire replacement service, sees its EV customers coming back for tire replacements 30% more frequently than traditional internal combustion vehicle owners. While EVs have less of a need to visit a service shop, they\u2019ll need tire replacement more often.\n\nTires are also a key line of defense in maintaining high fleet uptimes. Aperia Technologies, another of our tire investments, can auto-inflate commercial tires from inside the wheel itself. Keeping a tire optimally inflated reduces heating and flexing in the sidewall, a primary cause for blowouts. This prevents severe accidents, expensive road service calls ($600+) and fines for late delivery.\n\nFor opportunities in the tire market, we are keeping an eye on convenience and efficiency. But we\u2019re also interested in how that impacts the tire distribution ecosystem. This could translate into a service business (like Zohr, or Costco) white labeling its own tires, offering them on a subscription model or offering a guaranteed uptime policy. We believe this will take hold in both commercial and passenger vehicles, although possibly on different time horizons.\n\nGlass and visibility\n\nThe core growth drivers of the glass category are similar to tires (increased VMT and vehicle age). We include all visibility products (windshield glass, wipers, cleaning fluids, headlights and bulbs) in this grouping, as they are increasingly tied to on-board technology like sensors and cameras. As more vehicles add sensors for advanced driver assistance features (ADAS), they won\u2019t operate unless they\u2019re kept clean. One of our companies, Seeva, was designed around visibility and sensor cleaning as a core enabling technology of tomorrow\u2019s vehicles.\n\nElectric vehicles also have more demanding cooling needs. They need to be incredibly efficient when cooling the cabin, careful not to impact vehicle range. The first line of defense against these thermal losses are more efficient glass structures and materials. Coupled with the increasing trend of larger windshields and moonroofs \u2014 note Tesla\u2019s Model X panoramic glass costs $2,300 to replace \u2014 we\u2019re entering an era of big, beautiful and expensive visibility.\n\nVisibility is one of the most exciting areas for innovation and investment. Frankly, it\u2019s always been a profit center for suppliers like Valeo (which makes things like wiper arms, blades and motors) and chemical companies that sell consumables like washer fluids. Technology is likely to drive down the profits of those traditional areas \u2014 consider how a thin film or hard coating might mean fewer sprays of fluid and fewer passes of a wiper blade \u2014 but will increase overall the total amount of profit potential across the whole vehicle.\n\nThis is due to the far greater surface area we now consider to be the domain of visibility \u2014 what used to only mean the windshield and headlights will soon mean dozens of sensors and surfaces that require clear, machine-verified visibility.\n\nThe automobile business is highly interdependent, and no more so is this felt than the $500 billion after-service market (f). We expect more big investments across tires and visibility in the years to come. And you can bet that entrepreneurs who previously found fortune in quick lube shops will shift to tires and glass as the market moves beneath them.\n\nCitations:\n\na) Parts comparison ICE vs EV (P115)\n\nb) AlixPartners\n\nc) NPD study\n\nd) Moving 12-Month Total Vehicle Miles Traveled, U.S. Department of Transportation Traffic Trends\n\ne) IHS Market study on car ownership length\n\nf) Size of after-service market\n\nReilly Brennan, founding general partner of Trucks VC, will join TechCrunch onstage for TC Sessions: Mobility, a one-day conference on May 14, 2020 at the California Theater in San Jose, Calif. that brings together the best and brightest engineers, investors, founders and technologists to talk about transportation and what is coming on the horizon."}
-{"text": "Yeah, I Baby Trapped My Boyfriend. So What? For those who don't know, to \"baby trap\" someone means to get pregnant on purpose so that they will stay with you. Having a child together creates a lifelong connection, and often makes it harder to break up. Even babies that are supposedly accidents could actually have been conceived as a way to try and baby trap the father. Do you know anyone this has happened to?\n\nYeah, I Baby Trapped My Boyfriend. So What? For those who don't know, to \"baby trap\" someone means to get pregnant on purpose so that they will stay with you. Having a child together creates a lifelong connection, and often makes it harder to break up. Even babies that are supposedly accidents could actually have been conceived as a way to try and baby trap the father. Do you know anyone this has happened to?"}
-{"text": "A big old house to download :) The interior is empty, to let you decorate it as you want. Don't forget to share it :) Do..."}
-{"text": "Verso le elezioni M5s: l'ex nuotatore Fioravanti candidato ministro dello Sport\n\nCondividi\n\n\"Domenico Fioravanti, il nuotatore pi\u00f9 medagliato del nuoto azzurro, qualora il M5s andasse al governo, sar\u00e0 il nostro ministro dello Sport. Di Maio ha chiesto la sua disponibilit\u00e0 e lui ha accettato\". Cos\u00ec Alessandro Di Battista nel corso della presentazione del programma sport dei 5 stelle a Pescara con Domenico Fioravanti, Simone Valente e Zdenek Zeman.Rivestire il ruolo di ministro dello Sport nello squadra di governo M5S \"sar\u00e0 un grande onore e un grande privilegio, ma anche una grande responsabilit\u00e0. Io mi reputo un uomo di sport ma anche al servizio dello sport\", convinto della necessit\u00e0 di \"valorizzarlo e spiegarlo ai nostri figli\". Cos\u00ec Domenico Fioravanti, \"molto emozionato\", prende la parola all'Aurum di Pescara dopo che Alessandro Di Battista ha annunciato il suo impegno nella squadra con cui il Movimento spera di arrivare a Palazzo Chigi.Sul fronte dello sport, dice il campione olimpionico, \"bisogna lavorare\" per trasmettere ai giovani e ai pi\u00f9 piccoli \"le regole e i sani valori\", compreso il \"rispetto dell'avversario. Ho vissuto sullamia pelle il bello e il brutto dello sport, mi ha insegnato a non mollare mai, mi ha insegnato che \u00e8 normale perdere e anche questo bisogna spiegarlo ai giovani. Tutti noi ci siamo ritrovati a rialzarci dopo una sconfitta\", l'importante \u00e8 farlo \"senza scorciatoie, senza l'utilizzo di sostanze proibite. Non \u00e8 importante se qualche volta perdiamo e cadiamo, quel che conta \u00e8 rialzarsi per il raggiungimento degli obiettivi. Semmai sar\u00f2 ministro, non sar\u00f2 solo presente al taglio dei nastri - promette Fioravanti - ma lo sar\u00f2 in prima persona nelle palestre, nelle piscine e negli impianti sportivi per mostrare che non siamo solo 'figurine'\", ma vicini \"ai piccoli e ai giovani che rappresentano il motore del futuro\". Ieri i pentastellati avevano annunciato altri potenziali ministri.\"Ha destato inquietudine e indignazione nel mondo ebraico italiano la notizia della candidatura a ministro dell'Industria da parte del M5S - in un eventuale governo Di Maio - di Lorenzo Fioramonti, docente di economia contraddistintosi in passato per aver sostenuto la campagna d'odio e boicottaggio contro Israele. Fioramonti \u00e8 arrivato persino a rifiutare di partecipare a un evento in Sudafrica, dove insegna, perch\u00e9 era prevista la presenza dell'ambasciatore israeliano Arthur Lenk\". Lo si legge su Pagine ebraiche 24, testata dell'ebraismo italiano edita dall'Ucei."}
-{"text": "O'Reilly: \u201cUsing The Bible\u201d To Reject Marriage Equality Is \u201cA Loser All Day, Every Day\u201d"}
-{"text": "A pregnant woman on Feb. 5, 2019, is helped across the border from Venezuela to Colombia, where some 35,000 Venezuelans come to buy food and medicines every day and now anxiously await the distribution there of humanitarian aid from abroad, but which President Nicolas Maduro has forbidden entry into Venezuela. EFE-EPA/Schneyder Mendoza\n\nSome 35,000 Venezuelans seeking the minimum amount of food and medicines they need to survive cross daily into Colombia, as seen in this photo of Feb. 5, 2019, and are now anxiously awaiting the distribution of humanitarian aid from abroad, but which President Nicolas Maduro has forbidden entry into Venezuela. EFE-EPA/Schneyder Mendoza\n\nSome 35,000 Venezuelans cross daily into Colombia to buy the minimum amount of food and medicines they need to survive, as seen in this photo of Feb. 5, 2019 - they now anxiously await the distribution of humanitarian aid from abroad, though President Nicolas Maduro has forbidden its entry into Venezuela. EFE-EPA/Schneyder Mendoza\n\nThe arrival of humanitarian aid for Venezuelans, announced by the nation's interim president, Juan Guaido, is anxiously awaited by those who daily cross the Simon Bolivar International Bridge.\n\nThis bridge, which connects Cucuta with San Antonio del Tachira, Venezuela, is crossed every day by some 35,000 Venezuelans seeking the minimum amount of food and medicines they need to survive.\n\nAnd with Guaido's announcement that Cucuta will be one of the three supply centers for humanitarian assistance, expectations are growing among the mass of pedestrians crossing this bridge and the other border crossing, the Francisco de Paula Santander International Bridge, which communicates Cucuta with Ure\u00f1a in Venezuela.\n\nLuis Carrero, for example, is a 47-year-old teacher who crosses the border once a week to buy medicines for his mother who suffers from cancer and who is now hopeful of getting the medication she has been missing.\n\n\"My mother suffers from breast cancer and unfortunately in our country the medication is non-existent,\" he told EFE.\n\nCarrero said that incumbent Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro \"tries to look\" stronger than he is, like when he vowed that no humanitarian aid was going to enter the country because Venezuelans \"are not beggars.\"\n\nThe teacher added hopefully \"that when the humanitarian aid is allowed into the country, it is the Venezuelan people who will watch over it, accompany it and make sure it is distributed in the right places.\"\n\nThe same hope was shared by Emberly Alexandra Quiroz, 25, who could not hide from EFE her exasperation with the Maduro government.\n\n\"I haven't yet seen the aid, but when I see it, well...I'd love it to reach Venezuela so everything gets better and we can get rid of Maduro, because we can't stand him anymore,\" she said.\n\nGuaido's announcement of a \"world coalition for the humanitarian aid and freedom of Venezuela\" gave many new hope for the future of their country.\n\nThat is the case of Belky Lizcano, 61, a teacher who comes to Cucuta to buy diapers and milk for her nephew.\n\n\"May God let them enter Venezuela with this aid,\" Lizcano told EFE, and stressed her disagreement with Maduro: \"Yes we need humanitarian aid in Venezuela and we need it now.\"\n\nHope is mixed with impatience in some Venezuelans, who can't wait to see the more than 6 tons of humanitarian aid, collected primarily by the United States with the collaboration of Colombia, leave Cucuta and cross bridges to bring relief to a desperate nation."}
-{"text": "Washington (CNN) Lawmakers return to the Capitol on Tuesday with little time to tackle big-ticket items to avoid a government shutdown and raise the nation's debt limit.\n\nBut the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey may actually make it easier to get the bitterly divided Congress to get on the same page to address fiscal challenges, especially when they are likely tied to disaster relief for millions of victims.\n\nRepublicans also must reach agreement soon on a budget blueprint for next year if they want to use special rules to avoid a Democratic filibuster of a major tax overhaul, the GOP's biggest goal for the remainder of the year. They also hope to create a tax code with fewer loopholes and deductions as well as lower corporate and individual rates -- no easy task.\n\nGOP lawmakers are still reeling since the Obamacare vote before the August recess. In returning to Washington they will confront an increasingly tense relationship with President Donald Trump, who lashed out at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans over the break. The rift has soured an already uneasy alliance and possibly made it harder for Congress and the White House to find common ground on the jammed fall agenda.\n\nHurricane relief\n\nThe Trump administration sent Congress Friday a request for $7.85 billion in new money to support disaster response efforts for Hurricane Harvey and House Republicans are expected to schedule a vote on Wednesday, congressional sources told CNN.\n\nThe ultimate price tag for the massive recovery and rebuilding effort is expected to be well more than $100 billion, and by far the largest relief effort taken up by Congress.\n\n\"The number is going to be big,\" Texas GOP Rep. Will Hurd said on CNN last week. But Hurd noted the immediate priority is to get the Federal Emergency Management Agency another infusion of cash in its emergency response account before the broader package can be drafted later in September.\n\nSo far there has been bipartisan support to get those affected by Harvey all the help they need.\n\nIn recent debates over disaster aid some conservatives, including then GOP congressman and current Vice President Mike Pence, have insisted that disaster relief must be offset with spending cuts elsewhere. It's unclear whether there will be a significant bloc demanding any reductions to cover some of the aid, but notably House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, a leading conservative, has already stated he won't make that demand.\n\nSpending and debt limit\n\nJUST WATCHED Flake backs higher debt ceiling, Harvey funding Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Flake backs higher debt ceiling, Harvey funding 01:15\n\nThe addition of a disaster relief package could actually make getting other complicated items -- a spending bill to avoid a shutdown and a measure to raise the debt limit -- through this fall. Before the devastating storm wreaked havoc across southeast Texas and parts of Louisiana, top Republican leaders were searching for a strategy to thread the needle on those issues, which regularly cause internal splits and headaches.\n\nMany conservatives have demanded that any legislation to increase the debt limit be accompanied by spending reforms. Pairing the Harvey relief package with a bill to increase the credit limit and potentially a longer-term spending deal through 2018 would put pressure on those on the right of the GOP conference.\n\nMany of those who have opposed similar packages in the past, such as Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, are the same ones who will be requesting massive federal assistance for their own constituents this fall.\n\nTreasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday that he and Trump would like to see Harvey funding tied with a debt ceiling bill.\n\n\"Without raising the debt limit, I'm not comfortable that we will get the money that we need this month to Texas to rebuild,\" he said on Fox News.\n\nThe Trump administration hasn't pressed for House Speaker Paul Ryan and McConnell to bundle the issues, but it's possible that leaders will try to avoid a fight over the credit limit by heading it off earlier in the month.\n\nRepublican leaders and aides on both sides of the Capitol are discussing several options. One scenario would be to have the House approve the short-term Harvey funding package and have the Senate attach a bill to increase the debt ceiling without any conditions and send it back to the House for final action. There would be immense pressure on the House to back the package and send it to the President, but GOP leaders would need to rely on Democrats for a big chunk of the votes.\n\nAfter a tumultuous summer when GOP leaders and many rank-and-file Republicans distanced themselves from the President after a string of controversial comments, there is growing sense that Republicans want to avoid even the threat of a shutdown, which would only increase the spotlight on the gridlock in Washington.\n\nNational Flood Insurance Program\n\nPhotos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Downtown Houston is seen behind the flooded Buffalo Bayou a few days after Hurricane Harvey came ashore in August 2017. The Category 4 storm caused historic flooding. It set a record for the most rainfall from a tropical cyclone in the continental United States, with 51 inches of rain recorded in areas of Texas. An estimated 27 trillion gallons of water fell over Texas and Louisiana during a six-day period. Hide Caption 1 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas NASA astronaut Jack Fischer photographed Hurricane Harvey from the International Space Station. Hide Caption 2 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Steve Culver comforts his dog Otis in the hurricane aftermath. Harvey destroyed most of his home in Rockport while he and his wife were there. Hide Caption 3 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Houston police officer Daryl Hudeck carries Catherine Pham and her 13-month-old son, Aiden, after rescuing them from floodwaters. Hide Caption 4 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas A damaged home is seen in the Key Allegro neighborhood of Rockport. Hide Caption 5 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas A car is submerged by floodwaters on a freeway near downtown Houston. Hide Caption 6 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Melani Zurawski cries while inspecting her home in Port Aransas, Texas. Hide Caption 7 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas A graveyard is flooded in Pearland, Texas. Hide Caption 8 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Soldiers with the National Guard patrol Rockport, looking for residents trapped in their homes. Hide Caption 9 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Evacuees are loaded onto a truck in Houston. Hide Caption 10 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas People push a stalled pickup through a flooded street in Houston. Hide Caption 11 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Rockport residents return to their destroyed home. Hide Caption 12 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Rescue boats fill Tidwell Road in Houston as they help flood victims evacuate the area. Hide Caption 13 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas People wait to be rescued from their flooded home in Houston. Hide Caption 14 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Volunteers in Dallas organize items donated for hurricane victims. Hide Caption 15 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas When Harvey slammed the Texas coast and flooded much of Houston, volunteers sprang into action. Some came from as far away as the Florida Everglades, boats in tow, ready to rescue people trapped in their homes. Hide Caption 16 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Larry Koser Jr. and his son Matthew look for important papers and heirlooms inside a flooded home in Houston. Hide Caption 17 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Members of the National Guard rest at a furniture store in Richmond, Texas. Hide Caption 18 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Volunteer rescue workers help a woman from her flooded home in Port Arthur, Texas. Hide Caption 19 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas This aerial photo shows flooded residential neighborhoods in Houston. Hide Caption 20 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Tammy Dominguez and her husband, Christopher, sleep on cots at the George R. Brown Convention Center, where thousands of people were taking shelter in Houston. Hide Caption 21 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas An elderly patient waits to be rescued from the Gulf Health Care Center in Port Arthur. The facility was evacuated with the help of first responders and volunteers. Hide Caption 22 of 22\n\nAs the flood waters continue to recede in Houston, homeowners are wondering if they'll get enough money to rebuild -- that's where the National Flood Insurance Program comes in. But the program is set to expire at the end of the month unless Congress re-authorizes it.\n\nAfter a slate of devastating storms this century -- including Katrina and Sandy -- the program has about a $25 billion debt and lawmakers have been debating a complete overhaul ahead of the re-authorization deadline. But with lawmakers split along regional lines, it appears the most likely outcome by September 30 is a short-term extension.\n\nRepublican Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas is the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. He's been pushing legislation that reforms the program, but his proposal faces criticism for raising rates for policy holders to keep the program afloat.\n\nOn the Senate side, a few bipartisan bills are floating around that also seek to reform and re-authorize the NFIP, but the committee that oversees the issue, the Senate banking committee, hasn't settled on one single bill.\n\nSen. Sherrod Brown, the committee's top Democrat, said it was \"too early\" to predict how Harvey will affect the timeline of re-authorization but said \"it is likely that Congress will pass a short-term extension to ensure the program doesn't lapse.\"\n\nRepublican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana is also on the committee and vowed on CNN's \"New Day\" on Thursday that \"Congress is going to do whatever it takes.\"\n\n\"If you had flood insurance and you paid your hard-earned dollars in premiums, by God, you're going to get paid\" he said.\n\nTax reform\n\nJUST WATCHED Trump talks tax reform, sends prayers to storm victims Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump talks tax reform, sends prayers to storm victims 04:30\n\nRepublicans believe passage of a tax bill would both drive economic growth for the next decade and reinvigorate their supporters, who have been frustrated since the GOP failed to deliver on their top priority to repeal the Affordable Care Act. A tax bill could stand as their lone major accomplishment to show voters before the 2018 midterm election.\n\nOne leading congressional expert doubts a tax bill will be approved and expects Congress to only pass the \"bare minimum\" in the coming months, blaming Trump's \"behavior\" for the inability to pass more.\n\n\"2017 will be one of least productive Congresses in many years,\" said American University political science professor James Thurber. \"President Trump is undermining the leadership in the House and Senate and making it very difficult to get legislative momentum.\"\n\nTrump will meet with the so-called \"Big Six\" leaders working on tax legislation on Tuesday, which includes McConnell, Ryan, top committee chairmen, along with Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, and White House chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn.\n\nIt will be their first meeting since Trump blasted McConnell on Twitter for not getting the votes for health care reform and other issues. McConnell will also be back at the White House for a meeting of the top four bipartisan leaders on Wednesday on the broader legislative agenda.\n\nWhile their interaction could be awkward, McConnell allies believe the low-key Kentuckian will be unemotional and professional in his dealings with Trump and will keep the focus on passing their to-do list.\n\n\"It is amazing that he continues to attack his own leadership,\" Thurber said. \"Trump may be forcing the four leaders to work more closely together on certain issues like hurricane relief and infrastructure.\"\n\nOther items of note\n\nBeyond the critical fiscal issues, Congress hopes to address other pressing items this fall, including passing a major defense policy bill, confirming scores of nominees to serve in the Trump administration, and passing a children's health insurance bill that could be used to approve funding to stabilize individual health insurance markets, something that is needed now that Obamacare remains intact.\n\nAnother must-pass measure on the docket is a bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration, which also faces a deadline of September 30.\n\nBoth the House and the Senate have yet to pass a bill to renew the agency's legal authority. Under consideration on the House side is Trump's proposal to privatize the air traffic control system, while the Senate transportation committee advanced a bill earlier this summer without it."}
-{"text": "On Sunday, the Cannabis Wedding Expo is coming to Portland to help Oregonians incorporate legal marijuana into the celebration of their love. But if you don't want to shell out the 10 whole dollars in cover charge, or you have a physical aversion to expos, don't worry. We called the experts and asked them to tell us the weed strains they would recommend people serve at weddings.\n\nDon't Edit\n\nWedding Cake: 24.28 percent THC\n\nWedding Cake is obviously going to be your first choice, if you\u2019re going on name alone. It\u2019s a hybrid of \u201cGSC\u201d (formerly \u201cGirl Scout Cookies\u201d) crossed with Cherry Pie.\n\nChris Jett, a lead budtender Nectar, told us that Wedding Cake will create a \"relaxed, uplifted, euphoric kind of feeling\" and is \"great for stress relief.\"\n\nDon't Edit\n\nGrapefruit: 13 percent THC, .2 percent CBD\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t want people passing out at your wedding,\u201d according to Jett, so he recommends a sativa like Grapefruit, which he called \u201cmotivational, uplifting, creative, euphoric.\u201d\n\nDon't Edit\n\nStardog: 19 percent THC\n\nBriana Burke, inventory manager at Jayne, suggests a hybrid for the big day. \"You don't want anyone to get too stoned with an indica,\" she told us, \"but you don't want anyone to have a panic attack either.\"\n\nTo that end, she suggested Stardog, which, she said, is also a beautiful looking flower. \u201cIt just sparkles,\u201d she said.\n\nAnd, it\u2019s uplifting and productive effects will add to the positive wedding vibes.\n\nDon't Edit\n\nPineapple Express: 21 percent THC, .23 percent CBD\n\nBurke told us that the classic Pineapple Express is a great strain for a wedding, because it\u2019s \u201chappy, energetic and uplifting.\u201d\n\nDon't Edit\n\nDon't Edit\n\nMountain Girl: 17 percent THC, .1 percent CBD\n\nBurke called Mountain Girl, \u201ca great strain for anxiety and stress which a lot of people seem to have at weddings.\u201d\n\nShe said it\u2019s \u201ca little more mellow\u201d and also, it has a cute name.\n\nDon't Edit\n\nLemon Cheesecake: 20 to 22 percent THC\n\n\"If you're getting married,\" Nick Ladd, a budtender at downtown Serra, told us, \"you're going to want to feel really good about yourself.\"\n\nFor that, he recommends Lemon Cheesecake, a high sativa that \u201ctastes really good\u201d and has a \u201cvery uplifting feel.\u201d\n\nDon't Edit\n\nSilverhawks: 17 to 18 percent THC, less than 1 percent CBD\n\nAccording to Ladd, Silverhawks, another strong sativa, will facilitate \u201ca lot of stimulating conversations with people at your wedding\u201d while creating \u201ca unified collective of people just having a good time.\u201d\n\nDon't Edit\n\nMount Hood Magic Durban: 25.10 percent THC, 1.98 percent CBD\n\nIf you are hosting serious cannabis users at your nuptials, Kia Delaware, a budtender at Collective Awakening, suggested Mount Hood Magic Durban, which she said is \"kind of on the psychedelic side but uplifting.\"\n\nBut, she warned, this one is for \u201cmore seasoned\u201d users.\n\nDon't Edit\n\nOrphan Love: 21.83 percent THC, .06 percent CBD\n\nDelaware said if you have newer, less expert users, Orphan Love is a good mix of head and body high that leaves you functional so \u201cyou won\u2019t just be in a corner figuring out what your life.\u201d\n\nAlso, bonus, according to Delaware, \u201cit smells like Cinnamon Toast Crunch.\u201d\n\nDon't Edit\n\nDon't Edit\n\nCourtesy of the Cannabis Wedding Expo\n\nStill want to go to the expo?\n\nFind out more about it here."}
-{"text": "ALBANY - Controversial former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke Jr. will be the keynote speaker Wednesday at the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police\u2019s 2018 Annual Law Enforcement Vendor Exposition.\n\nThe expo will be at the Capital Center.\n\nClarke is expected to talk about the role of law enforcement in political protests and riots, criminal justice reform, homeland security and the impacts of criminal justice policies and policing on cities.\n\nBaldwinsville Chief Michael Michael Lefancheck, president of the association, said Clarke is the first speaker the group has had at its vendor expo. The idea is to bring in an interesting speaker for the group's members in an attempt to improve attendance, he said.\n\n\"Our goal is always to provide our members with a wide variety of speakers,\" he said. \"The speakers' opinions are their own. We don't always have to listen to people who have the same point of view as us.\"\n\nClarke rose to prominence after being appointed to his position in a 2002 election. He repeatedly ran as a Democrat but most of his views align with conservatives. He has been a frequent guest on Fox News and has spoken out against the Black Lives Matter movement as well as what he sees as failed policing policies in American cities.\n\nMayor Kathy Sheehan panned his planned appearance in the city.\n\n\"While I fully support the First Amendment rights granted in our Constitution, it is unfortunate that NYSACOP would invite such a divisive keynote speaker to this event,\" she wrote in a tweet.\n\nClarke's tenure as Milwaukee County sheriff was fraught with controversy and multiple inmate deaths. Deputies at the jail shackled pregnant women while they gave birth, according to a lawsuit and at least one baby died. Another woman was awarded $6.7 million by a federal jury after she accused a jail guard of repeatedly raping her.\n\nIn 2016 the jail turned off water to a bipolar inmate\u2019s cell. The man eventually died of dehydration. The county district attorney\u2019s office later charged three employees with felony in connection with the death. Clarke was not charge or implicated in the man\u2019s death.\n\nClarke has also made a series on controversial comments on race, gun control and once called for the suspension of habeas corpus in the United States, insisting that there were \"hundreds of thousands\" or \"maybe a million\" people who \"have pledged allegiance or are supporting ISIS, giving aid and comfort.\"\n\nHe resigned as sheriff in August 2017 and joined the pro-Donald Trump America First Action Super PAC as a spokesman and advisor.\n\nA petition to Chief Michael Lefancheck, president of the association, had gained around 240 signatures as of Monday morning."}
-{"text": "There are nice teenager ladies you simply enjoy to witness jack and Alina is certainly one among them. When lamb commences pushing Rodney\u2019s firm chisel deep in her taut coochie lamb behind slightly include herself."}
-{"text": "If you buy something through a link on this page, we may earn a small commission. How this works.\n\nWhat is testicular torsion? The most common cause of an emergency related to the male genitourinary tract is a highly painful one called testicular torsion. Men have two testicles that rest inside the scrotum. A cord known as the spermatic cord carries blood to the testicles. During a torsion of the testes, this cord twists. As a result, blood flow is affected and the tissues in the testicle can start to die. According to the American Urological Association, this condition is uncommon and affects only about 1 in 4,000 under the age of 25. Torsion is most common in adolescent males. Those between 12 and 18 years old account for 65 percent of people with the condition, according to Cleveland Clinic. However, infants and older adults can also be affected.\n\nWhat causes testicular torsion? Many of those who have testicular torsion are born with a higher risk for the condition, although they may not know it. Congenital factors Normally, the testicles can\u2019t move freely inside the scrotum. The surrounding tissue is strong and supportive. Those who experience torsion sometimes have weaker connective tissue in the scrotum. In some instances, this may be caused by a congenital trait known as a \u201cbell clapper\u201d deformity. If you have a bell clapper deformity, your testicles can move more freely in the scrotum. This movement increases the risk of the spermatic cord becoming twisted. This deformity accounts for 90 percent of testicular torsion cases. Testicular torsion can run in families, affecting multiple generations as well as siblings. The factors contributing to a higher risk aren\u2019t known, though a bell clapper deformity may contribute. Knowing that others in your family have experienced testicular torsion can help you request emergency treatment immediately if its symptoms affect you or someone in your family. Not everyone who experiences this condition has a genetic predisposition to it, however. Approximately 10 percent of those with testicular torsion have a family history of the condition, according to one small study. Other causes The condition can occur at any time, even before birth. Testicular torsion can occur when you\u2019re sleeping or engaging in physical activity. It can also occur after an injury to the groin, such as a sports injury. As a preventive step, you can wear a [AFFILIATE LINK:] cup for contact sports. Rapid growth of the testicles during puberty may also cause the condition.\n\nWhat are the symptoms of testicular torsion? Pain and swelling of the scrotal sac are the main symptoms of testicular torsion. The onset of pain may be quite sudden, and the pain can be severe. Swelling may be limited to just one side, or it can occur in the entire scrotum. You may notice that one testicle is higher than the other. You may also experience: dizziness\n\nnausea\n\nvomiting\n\nlumps in the scrotal sac\n\nblood in the semen There are other potential causes of severe testicular pain, such as the inflammatory condition epididymitis. You should still take these symptoms seriously and seek emergency treatment. Testicular torsion usually occurs in only one testicle. Bilateral torsion, when both testes are simultaneously affected, is extremely rare.\n\nHow is testicular torsion diagnosed? Tests that can be used to diagnose torsion include: urine tests, which look for infection\n\nphysical exams\n\nimaging of the scrotum During a physical exam, your doctor will check your scrotum for swelling. They may also pinch the inside of your thigh. Normally this causes the testicles to contract. However, this reflex may disappear if you have torsion. You might also receive an ultrasound of your scrotum. This shows blood flow to the testicles. If blood flow is lower than normal, you may be experiencing torsion.\n\nWhat treatments are available for testicular torsion? Torsion of the testes is a medical emergency, but many adolescents are hesitant to say that they\u2019re hurting or seek treatment right away. You should never ignore sharp testicular pain. It\u2019s possible for some to experience what\u2019s known as intermittent torsion. This causes a testicle to twist and untwist. Because the condition is likely to recur, it\u2019s important to seek treatment, even if the pain becomes sharp and then subsides. Surgical repair Surgical repair, or orchiopexy, is usually required to treat testicular torsion. In rare cases, your doctor may be able to untwist the spermatic cord by hand. This procedure is called \u201cmanual detorsion.\u201d Surgery is performed as quickly as possible to restore blood flow to the testicles. If blood flow is cut off for more than six hours, testicular tissue can die. The affected testicle would then need to be removed. Surgical detorsion is performed under general anesthesia. You\u2019ll be asleep and unaware of the procedure. Your doctor will make a small incision in your scrotum and untwist the cord. Tiny sutures will be used to keep the testicle in place in the scrotum. This prevents rotation from occurring again. The surgeon then closes the incision with stitches.\n\nWhat\u2019s involved in the recovery from testicular torsion surgery? Orchiopexy doesn\u2019t typically require an overnight stay in the hospital. You\u2019ll stay in a recovery room for several hours prior to discharge. As with any surgical procedure, you may have discomfort after surgery. Your doctor will recommend or prescribe the most appropriate pain medication. If your testicle needs to be removed, you\u2019ll most likely stay in the hospital overnight. Pain relief Your doctor will most likely use dissolvable stitches for your procedure, so you won\u2019t need to have them removed. After surgery, you can expect your scrotum to be swollen for two to four weeks. You can use an ice pack several times a day for 10 to 20 minutes. This\u2019ll help to reduce swelling. Hygiene The incision made during surgery may also ooze fluid for one to two days. Make sure to keep the area clean by washing gently with warm, soapy water. Rest and recovery Your doctor will recommend refraining from certain types of activities for several weeks following surgery. These include sexual activity and stimulation, such as masturbation and intercourse. You\u2019ll also be advised to avoid athletic or strenuous activities. During this time, it\u2019s also important to refrain from heavy lifting or straining during bowel movements. Make sure to get plenty of rest to allow your body to fully recover. Don\u2019t remain completely sedentary, however. Walking a little bit each day will help increase blood flow to the area, supporting recovery.\n\nWhat complications are associated with testicular torsion? Testicular torsion is an emergency requiring immediate care. When not treated quickly, or at all, this condition can result in severe complications. Infection If a dead or severely damaged testicle tissue isn\u2019t removed, gangrene may occur. Gangrene is a potentially life-threatening infection. It can spread rapidly throughout your body, leading to shock. Infertility If damage occurs to both testicles, infertility will result. If you experience the loss of one testicle, however, your fertility shouldn\u2019t be affected. Cosmetic deformity The loss of one testicle can create a cosmetic deformity which may cause emotional upset. This can, however, be addressed with the insertion of a testicular prosthesis. Atrophy Untreated testicular torsion can result in testicular atrophy, causing the testicle to shrink significantly in size. An atrophied testicle can become unable to produce sperm. Testicular death If left untreated for more than several hours, the testicle may become severely damaged, requiring its removal. The testicle can usually be saved if it\u2019s treated within a four-to-six-hour window. After a period of 12 hours, there\u2019s a 50 percent chance of saving the testicle. After 24 hours, the chances of saving the testicle drop to 10 percent.\n\nWhat conditions may resemble testicular torsion? Other conditions affecting the testicles may cause symptoms similar to those of testicular torsion. No matter which of those conditions you think you may have, it\u2019s important to see your doctor immediately. They can rule out testicular torsion or help you obtain any necessary treatment. Epididymitis This condition is typically caused by a bacterial infection, including sexually transmitted infections such as chlamydia and gonorrhea. Symptoms of epididymitis tend to come on gradually and may include: testicular pain\n\npainful urination\n\nredness\n\nswelling Orchitis Orchitis causes inflammation and pain in one or both testicles as well as the groin. It can be caused by either a bacterial or a viral infection. It\u2019s often associated with the mumps. Torsion of the appendix testis The appendix testis is a small piece of normal tissue located at the top of the testis. It serves no function. If this tissue twists, it can cause symptoms similar to testicular torsion, such as pain, redness, and swelling. This condition doesn\u2019t require surgery. Instead, a doctor will observe your condition. They\u2019ll also recommend rest and pain medication."}
-{"text": "Ecuador\u2019s FLOK Society (Free-Libre, Open Knowledge) project was originally commissioned in 2013 through a tripartite agreement involving the Ecuadorian Coordinating Ministry of Knowledge and Human Talent, Senescyt (The Secretary of Innovation and Technology) and the IAEN (The National Institute of Advanced Studies).\n\nThe project marked the first time a nation state commissioned a practical plan to transition to a mature Peer to Peer Economy. It was initiated to \u201cfundamentally re-imagine Ecuador\u201d, based on the principles of open networks, peer production and a commons of knowledge.\n\nAn Ecuatorian platform for the creation of transition policies to an open knowledge society\n\nThe FLOK (free, libre, open knowledge) Society project is in progress in Ecuador, creating an open platform for open technology-focused policy making, enabled by a combination of open technical infrastructures and democratic decision making. The current project resulted in a set of 10-15 policy frameworks for the National Assembly of Ecuador, and other public institutions, culminating in a participatory policy summit at the end of May 2014.\n\nOverview of FLOK\u2019s Research Plan\n\nDaniel Araya and Paul Bouchard\n\nThis research stream will focus on institutional support for capacity building with a special focus on open learning and community driven collaboration. Within this research stream, learning is viewed as a pillar of development and growth in the context of a broad transition to a social economy that embodies reciprocity and commons-based value creation. This includes a particular stress on active public policies that respond to growing social challenges facing Ecuadorean society. Beyond conventional systems of learning and education that might depend upon closed proprietary structures, this research will utilize commons-based learning networks to harness open science and open educational resources (OER). Perhaps most importantly, this includes a broad interest in advancing the public good through partnering frameworks with civil society. Read more at Stream 1 Human Capabilities\n\nGeorge Dafermos\n\nThe aim of this research stream is to look at possible ways of enhancing the productive capacities of the Ecuadorian economy and transforming it in the direction of the commons and peer production through the development of:\n\nRead more at Stream 2 Commons-oriented Productive Capacities\n\nJohn Restakis\n\nThe research will focus on the institutional supports that are necessary for the transition to, and the ongoing support of, the social and economic systems that embody fundamental principles of reciprocity, co-operation, sharing, and commons-based value creation and utilization. This will include an examination of legislation for co-operatives, NGOs, and social enterprises; public policy with respect to the promotion of co-operative and commons-based production models; public policy with respect to the promotion and extension of the social and solidarity economy; tax policy with respect to co-operative, social, and non-profit enterprises; public policy with respect to the protection, expansion, and management of common-pool resources; and public policy with respect to the establishment of partnering frameworks for co-production of goods and services by the state and civil society. You can read more about it here\n\nJenny Torres\n\nScope:\n\nThe scope of this research is to achieve rules and norms of openness and the commons orientation of digital infrastructures; important aspects of digital usage such as privacy, security; individual and collective rights of expression through digital media.\n\nKey words: open technical infrastructures; privacy; security; data ownership; digital rights\n\nTasks:\n\nInsuring privacy protection\n\nLimiting the dependence on centralized infrastructures under foreign control ; supporting the construction of more autonomous distributed networks\n\nLimits on the surveillance of citizens through digital rights\n\nInstituting a right of personal data ownership\n\nRead more here\n\nJanice Figueiredo\n\nThis research stream will investigate how shared, open and commons infrastructures could promote sustainable ways of living for the collectivity. In this context, the research stream understands that physical infrastructures such as housing, healthcare and food are basic human needs and fundamental human rights, as proclaimed by the The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.\n\nThe research will examine how commons-oriented practices could enhance the availability and quality of such physical infrastructures in the public sphere.\n\nThe increasing concentration of populations in urban areas brings urban sustainability as a major concern for governments. The research will seek successful open, shared and commons-based practices worldwide and in Ecuador to build and enhance sustainability in urban centers and will examine how they could be implemented, promoted and expanded through local, regional and national public policies.\n\nThe following areas will be investigated:\n\nHousing Health / Social Care Food / Urban Agriculture Collaborative Consumption Sustainability\n\nThe research will also examine collective practices that create and expand commons value, such as citizen urban prototyping and commons-oriented crowdfunding. (e.g. Goteo). Read more here\n\nLinks\n\nYou can find out more about FLOK Society and its current status in the links below."}
-{"text": "The Democratic frontrunner picks out her latest target in the GOP field, chiding the Wisconsin governor for his proposed $300m cut to his state\u2019s college system\n\nThis article is more than 5 years old\n\nThis article is more than 5 years old\n\nHillary Clinton has made her first direct dig into Scott Walker, the hardline conservative favourite for president who is now fading in Donald Trump\u2019s shadow, as the Democratic frontrunner continued to condemn Republicans on the campaign trail.\n\nThe Wisconsin governor \u201cseems to be delighting in slashing the investment in higher education in his state\u201d, Clinton said during a town hall-style event in the early voting state of New Hampshire on Tuesday.\n\nClinton, while trotting out her plan on college affordability, has been robust in her attacks on Republican candidates of late \u2013 speaking out against gaffes on women\u2019s reproductive rights from Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.\n\nBut she saved a special salvo for Walker for failing to support student loan refinancing options \u2013 just as the rightwing stalwart showed signs of weakness in the first formal polls since the first Republican debate last week.\n\nTrump makes 'blood' truce with Fox then says he is top candidate for women Read more\n\nTrump, the real-estate mogul whose unexpected and unpredictable campaign has stolen thunder from establishment Republicans like Bush and Walker, was expected to suffer among likely voters as a result of his attacks on Fox News host Megyn Kelly. But two surveys released on Tuesday showed Walker down instead:\n\nRasmussen Reports still has Trump as the frontrunner with 26% support among 651 voters polled nationwide, compared to Walker, who has stumbled 5 percentage points to 9%.\n\nA Suffolk University poll of voters in the first state to vote, Iowa, shows Trump in the lead, though with fewer voters supporting him. Still, he remains well ahead of Walker, who slipped in the state to 10% support.\n\nClinton also accused the governor of \u201crejecting legislation\u201d that would help Wisconsin students repay their loans.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know why he wants to raise taxes on students, but that\u2019s the result,\u201d she told the crowd at River Valley Community College in Claremont.\n\nScott Walker (@ScottWalker) .@HillaryClinton attacks me again, but there's only one candidate who's openly campaigning on a massive new tax hike and that's Hillary. -SW\n\nScott Walker (@ScottWalker) .@HillaryClinton I\u2019ve frozen in-state tuition rates for four years, while you charged colleges $225K+ just to show up. -SW\n\nEarlier this year, Walker proposed a budget cut of $300m to the University of Wisconsin system, which led to outrage from educators and students alike.\n\nOn Wednesday, the governor accused Clinton of \u201coffering the same bait and switch as President Obama, making promises to students while delivering higher tuition costs and tax increases\u201d.\n\n\u201cAs governor, I froze college tuition at Wisconsin colleges four years in a row,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cAmericans need a leader who delivers results not empty promises.\u201d\n\nScott Walker wants to fire academics with whom he disagrees politically | Michael Mann and Randi Weingarten Read more\n\nAfter last week\u2019s debate, Walker seemed already to be looking past the crowded Republican primary and ahead to a general-election face-off with Clinton, insisting he would not \u201ctrash-talk\u201d his party rivals but \u201cfocus on what we have to offer, why we\u2019re the best candidate to take on the real opponent \u2013 which is Hillary Clinton\u201d.\n\nClinton had previously lumped together Walker and Bush as part of a \u201cfull-on assault on women\u2019s health\u201d, but this week she has been targeting individual Republican contenders for their anti-abortion remarks while looking at the wider field.\n\nOn Tuesday morning, Walker called Clinton\u2019s earlier attacks on the GOP \u201canother example of how she\u2019d further divide this nation\u201d.\n\nScott Walker (@ScottWalker) Our focus should be on unity as \"One Nation.\" @HillaryClinton's attacks are another example of how she'd further divide this nation. - SW\n\nHours later, Clinton continued to take aim at the Republican presidential candidates, joking with the crowd that she \u201cadmires\u201d whoever among them watched the debates last week.\n\n\u201cThere was not one word from one of those candidates about making college more affordable or dealing with debt,\u201d Clinton said.\n\nShe chided: \u201cI don\u2019t know who they\u2019re talking to out on the campaign trail \u2013 well, I kind of do.\u201d\n\nThe line was met with scattered laughs to an audience of supporters. Clinton has said repeatedly that college affordability and student loan debt is one of the issues voters raise with her on the campaign trail.\n\nThe former secretary of state is on a two-day swing through New Hampshire to roll out her new plan to ensure students can attend American colleges and universities without having to take out a loan. The plan also includes more refinancing options for Americans who are already saddled with student loan debt.\n\nHer proposal led to a Twitter spat between her campaign and that of Bush, with Clinton\u2019s team giving the former Florida governor a grade of \u201cF\u201d on college debt forgiveness.\n\nHillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) .@JebBush Fixed it for you. pic.twitter.com/d4q9EWpXCA\n\nBush\u2019s team got in on the action as well.\n\nJeb Bush (@JebBush) .@HillaryClinton fixed your logo for you. pic.twitter.com/141nXHQe4Z\n\nThe Clinton campaign sees Walker and other candidates who have not made college affordability a priority as ripe for attack on the issue.\n\nWalker\u2019s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment."}
-{"text": "When Brian Gutekunst took over as the top personnel executive for the Green Bay Packers he declared that he would be more aggressive in free agency. The statement and the actions so far by Gutekunst is quite a difference from how Ted Thompson ran the Packers roster. This spring, Gutekunst has added Muhammad Wilkerson, Jimmy Graham, and Tramon Williams via free agency. But as the crop of free agents dwindled this spring, Gutekunst made sure to tell fans that the Packers would still be seeking additions all the way up to training camp. This past week, Gutekunst and the Packers showed that was the case, when they brought on another player via free agency. Addition of Marcedes Lewis provides more depth for the Green Bay Packers.\n\nAddition of Marcedes Lewis Provides More Depth for the Green Bay Packers\n\nIt shouldn\u2019t come as much of a surprise that head coach Mike McCarthy would bring in another tight end. McCarthy played tight end in college and has a soft spot in his heart for the tight end position. But the addition of tight ends isn\u2019t about McCarthy\u2019s personal feelings. McCarthy prioritizes tight ends in his offense and has talked for many seasons about bolstering the position.\n\nWith Graham and Kendricks already in the fold, Lewis rounds out the position. The Packers now have three proven NFL tight ends on their roster.\n\nLewis is a former first-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played 12 seasons for the Jaguars accumulating 375 receptions for 4,502 yards and 33 career receiving touchdowns. Just last season, Lewis hauled in five touchdowns. It appears that Lewis still has a place in a passing game, but for the Packers, he will need to contribute in another way.\n\nExceptional Blocker\n\nWith Graham, the Packers have a tight end who they can split out and stretch the middle of the field. Graham is considered more of a big wide receiver than a tight end. He has shown throughout his career that he struggles as a blocker.\n\nKendricks also brings his own attributes to the Packers offense. He can be used as a moving tight end and even as an h-back. Kendricks can be lined up wide like Graham, but he also can be lined up in the backfield as a fullback. With the ability to line up as a fullback, Kendricks can give Aaron Rodgers a receiving option out of the backfield. Kendricks is a willing blocker and is a better blocker than Graham, but still, it isn\u2019t something he thrives at.\n\nWith Graham and Kendricks not the best of blockers, that is where Lewis enters the picture. Lewis was known for his run blocking ability while playing for the Jaguars. In fact, as pointed out in a recent article by Joe D\u2019Aloisio of Fansided.com, Pro Football Focus graded Lewis out as the top run-blocking tight end from last season. During his time with the Jaguars, six running backs rushed for 1,000 yards. That includes last season when then-rookie running back Leonard Fournette rushed for 1,040 yards.\n\nRunning Game Impacts\n\nThe Packers will need a tight end who can block at a high level. It appears they have the pieces to have a sound running game with Jamal Williams, Aaron Jones, and Ty Montgomery returning. Lewis can help take the trio of ball carriers to the next level and take the pressure off of Rodgers and the passing game.\n\nLewis can help in the running game, but also in pass protection. The starting right offensive tackle position for the Packers is up in the air. The usual starter, Bryan Bulaga, is coming off another knee injury and his status for the start of the season is questionable. His top two backups, Kyle Murphy and Jason Spriggs, are also coming off season-ending injuries. What Lewis can do in the passing game is help whoever will be the starter. The most important thing for the Packers offensive line is to protect Rodgers. Lewis and his willingness to block can do just that.\n\nThree Equals One\n\nAll NFL teams would like a tight end who thrives at everything that is asked of them. But that is very rare to find in today\u2019s NFL. That is why Gutekunst and the Packers have brought in Graham, Kendricks, and now Lewis. The addition of Marcedes Lewis brings in another tight end who thrives at something the other two don\u2019t. Although much will be made of Lewis\u2019 blocking ability, he still can be utilized in the passing game.\n\nWith the release of wide receiver Jordy Nelson, the Packers will need to find other receiving options to take over his contributions. It might come from one of the young wide receivers on their roster, but it also could come from one of the three tight ends. It wouldn\u2019t be shocking if McCarthy has a package that gets all three tight ends on the field at the same time.\n\nSome Monday morning general managers might feel that Gutekunst is doing the same thing Thompson did. Thompson brought in Martellus Bennett and Kendricks last off-season and it was a disappointment. But Graham and Lewis are different players who have different mindsets than Bennett did. We won\u2019t know until the season starts if any of these pickups will be the right call. But as of right now, it appears that Gutekunst is doing the right things.\n\nMain Photo:\n\nEmbed from Getty Images"}
-{"text": "\n\n(written from a Production point of view Real World article\n\nInvestigating a planet surrounded by a powerful energy field, the crew of the Defiant discovers their own descendants, and learns that in two days they will crash two hundred years in the past.\n\nContents show]\n\nSummary\n\nTeaser\n\nOdo, Kira Nerys, and Jadzia Dax sit having breakfast in the mess hall of the USS Defiant. Lieutenant Commander Dax states that she can't wait to sleep in her own bed, remarking on the uncomfortable bunks on the Defiant. Major Kira says that she could use a visit to the Golian Spa. Dax comments that Kira and Shakaar should both go, to which Kira says that she and Shakaar aren't seeing each other anymore. Odo, who has had feelings for Kira for a long time, asks about the breakup. Kira says that she and Shakaar went to the Kenda Shrine on Bajor to ask the Prophets if they were meant to walk the same path. Upon hearing that the Prophets said no, Dax remarks that Kira makes it sound so cut and dried. Kira responds that people are either meant to be together or not. Dax states that any relationship can work if the partners really work at it. Odo, still contemplating the ramifications of the conversation, says that he has no opinion on the subject and hastily leaves. Kira wonders if he is all right and Dax reminds her that the subject of relationships has always made Odo uncomfortable. Odo stands outside the mess hall alone and absorbs what Kira just said.\n\nLater, on the bridge of the Defiant, mugs of raktajino are being passed around to everyone. Captain Benjamin Sisko declines, saying that he is trying to cut down. Chief Miles O'Brien then begins talking about a doll house he is making for Molly's birthday, lamenting the fact that even with a micro-lathe he might not get it done in time. Commander Dax then begins to get some readings on her console. An energy barrier of some kind is encasing the fourth planet of a nearby star system. Major Kira begins scanning and states that there could be lifeforms on the surface of the planet, but the interference from the energy barrier is making it difficult to be certain. Dax seems more interested, wanting to know how the lifeforms adapted to the quantum fluctuations in the barrier. While it is an intriguing scientific possibility, O'Brien wants to push off an investigation until the next time they go by this planet. Dax says that the interference is intensifying so that in a few weeks, a probe would not make it through the barrier. Dax knows that everyone wants to go home, but this is the only chance to make a survey. After ordering modifications to the shields, Sisko gives the go ahead.\n\nAs the Defiant enters the barrier, the ship starts to shake. Dax tries to adjust the shields, but the shaking gets more violent. Energy begins to arc across the bridge consoles and Major Kira is struck by a discharge. While caught in the energy, it appears as if there were two Kiras, slightly out of phase with each other. After a moment, the energy dissipates and the ship is through the barrier. Sisko calls Dr. Julian Bashir to the bridge to check on Kira. O'Brien then tells the captain that the inertial dampers are off-line and the gyromagnetic stabilizers have depolarized, stranding the Defiant in orbit for a few days. Suddenly, Lieutenant Commander Worf says that they are being hailed from the surface. Upon scanning the surface he also reports that there are several settlements on the planet, with approximately eight thousand inhabitants \u2013 Human inhabitants. Stunned, Sisko answers the hail. On the viewscreen, a Human woman and a Trill man welcome them to Gaia, calling Captain Sisko by name. The woman says that they have been expecting them. The man speaks up, saying it is a long story. He invites them to beam down and talk about it over some raktajino, and then catches himself. \"I forgot. You're trying to cut down.\"\n\nSisko, Dax, Worf, and O'Brien beam down into a cluster of adobe-like buildings, surrounded by farmland. Children who were playing a game with a ball stop and stare at the newcomers. The two people who made the hail introduce themselves as Miranda O'Brien and Yedrin Dax. Sisko asks for an explanation. Miranda tells them that the settlement was founded by the crew of a Starfleet vessel that crashed on the planet two centuries prior. She reveals that the ship that crashed was the USS Defiant. In two days, when Captain Sisko tries to leave orbit, Miranda says that they will be thrown back two hundred years into the past. The people they see now are the crew's descendants.\n\nAct One\n\nYedrin sees that the Starfleet officers are skeptical and tells Jadzia to scan him. With her tricorder, she finds the Dax symbiont in Yedrin. It was passed down to Jadzia's descendants for three generations. He also tells her to scan Miranda. Jadzia finds that Miranda's DNA is similar to Miles', making her an O'Brien. Miranda also states that she is also a Tannenbaum, a descendant of Rita Tannenbaum, an ensign on the Defiant's engineering crew. Miranda then relates to Miles that they were trapped two hundred years in the past without any chance of seeing their families or friends. Yedrin says that Miles was the last to give up hope, but he eventually married Rita ten years after the Defiant crashed. Yedrin still sees doubt on Sisko's face and offers to tell him something that only Curzon would know. He begins a story about a dancer on Pelios Station, but Sisko cuts him off as both Yedrin and Jadzia smile knowingly. A young boy named Gabriel asks Worf if he is the son of Mogh and if he can kill someone just by looking at them. Worf responds \"Only when I am angry.\" The boy's eyes get wide and he runs off.\n\nMiranda then directs them into a nearby structure. As they enter, two girls are sitting at a table near a viewscreen, salvaged from the bridge of the Defiant. The girls are doing schoolwork with the help of the image of Quark. Yedrin says that Jadzia designed the educational program, saying she thought Quark would make a great math teacher. Jadzia comments on one of the girl's spots. Lisa says that most people don't have them as most of their ancestors were Human. She says that they make her special. The other girl, Molly, says it is just genetics, like Torvin's cranial ridges. Miles is taken aback at the name of the girl and Yedrin says that the name was passed down through the O'Brien line. Worf asks if they ever tried to send out a distress call. However, being two hundred years in the past, the Bajoran wormhole undiscovered, and in the Gamma Quadrant, it was never done. Lisa then says that their ancestors decided to make the planet their new home, naming it Gaia. Molly gets in on the story saying that their ancestors needed to build a shelter quickly before winter came. The structure they are in was built and all forty-eight crewmen had to sleep in it.\n\nSisko seizes on the number and confronts Yedrin. Yedrin explains that the energy discharge that struck Kira damaged her neural pathways. The Defiant doesn't have advanced enough medical equipment that Bashir needs to repair the damage, and therefore Kira died a few weeks after the crash. Miranda tells the girls to leave, to spare them from an adult conversation, and sends them to their parents to help with the planting. Sisko states that they need to get Kira back to the station as soon as the Defiant is repaired. Yedrin agrees. Worf says that if they escape from the planet, the inhabitants' timeline will collapse and everything will cease to exist. Yedrin, however, says that he has a plan. The key was Kira. The energy discharge caused a subspace doubling effect. He says that for an instant, every molecule in Kira's body had a corresponding quantum duplicate. If certain modifications to the Defiant's systems were made, they could amplify the doubling effect and duplicate the entire ship. One ship would be sent back in time and one would pass through the barrier unaffected. From the logs he retrieved, Yedrin says that the Defiant encountered a temporal anomaly thirty-nine hours after arriving in orbit. Yedrin says that there are eight thousand people on the planet and this plan is their only choice. Sisko orders Jadzia to evaluate the plan and, if it is sound, begin the modifications. Yedrin thanks Sisko, to which Sisko says \"Anything for you\u2026 Old man.\"\n\nBack aboard the Defiant, Kira is resting on a bio-bed in sickbay while Bashir is scanning a vat containing Odo. He puts Odo into a stasis device, telling Kira that because of the quantum fluctuations in the barrier, Odo can't hold his shape. Bashir says that Odo will be fine, but Kira needs to undergo a complete neural pathway induction when they get back to the station. Kira says that she feels fine. As he turns to leave, Kira asks where he is going. Bashir states that he wants to go down to the planet and meet his descendants. Kira looks at the stasis device, and turns when the doors open to admit a person who looks like Odo. He is dressed like the colonists and his facial features are more defined, but it is Odo, two hundred years older than the one sitting in the device. Odo explains that he learned to counter the barrier's effects and that he has gotten better at shape-shifting over the years. Odo then says that she is as beautiful as he remembered. Kira is somewhat shocked by this, and is even more shocked when Odo says that he loves her and has always loved her.\n\nAct Two\n\nKira begins questioning Odo about this revelation, saying that she never knew. Odo did everything he could to make sure she didn't find out. Kira begins saying how hard it must have been for him every time she came to him for advice about Bareil and Shakaar. Odo says that he wanted to be a good friend. He has been waiting two hundred years to say this, and all he wants is for Kira to spend some time with him on Gaia.\n\nBack on the planet, Sisko is meeting some of his descendants, holding a baby. Miranda says that the child has Sisko's eyes. Jadzia then calls Sisko with good news: she has gone over the sensor logs and Yedrin's plan will work. Sisko then holds the baby over his head and talks to her \"Everything's going to be all right.\"\n\nNearby, Worf is inspecting the town well as Bashir walks up to him. Worf is making a survey of the settlement's infrastructure at the captain's request so that they can leave behind supplies. Bashir says that he was doing the same at the clinic. Bashir appears overly pleased with himself. He has met one of his descendants, his great-great-great-great-granddaughter \u2013 the doctor of the settlement. Suddenly, Gabriel comes running up to them shouting that \"They're here!\" The Klingons have arrived.\n\nThree people are standing in the street, holding spears and wearing knives. Two of the Klingons appear Human, while the other only has faint forehead ridges. Brota greets Worf and states that they are the Sons of Mogh. They are Worf's descendants, some by blood and some by choice. They live as warriors. Gabriel then says that he wants to become a Son of Mogh, to which Parell says that when he is older, he can prove himself and take a Klingon name. Brota says that the Sons of Mogh are gathering to celebrate Worf's return. Worf honors them by saying he will feast with them.\n\nIn engineering, Jadzia and Yedrin are working on modifying the Defiant's systems. Yedrin smiles as Jadzia adjusts her hair, remembering that the summer after the crash, Jadzia cut it short and that Worf hated it. Yedrin then remembers promising to grow it back for the wedding, which Sisko performed. As they talk about the wedding, Jadzia asks if they were happy. Yedrin says that Worf is a good man, and that in time she will learn to handle him.\n\nBack on Gaia, Miles is installing a new pump for the town well as Bashir stands talking with him. People from the Defiant are talking with their descendants, which disturbs him. Bashir is going on about his descendants and says that he ends up with Ensign Angie Kirby, a new crewman who just transferred aboard. Bashir then begins to talk about Miles and Rita Tannenbaum. Miles rounds on Bashir and states he doesn't want to talk about it. \"I have a wife and kids back home.\" Seeing that he has touched on a sensitive subject, Bashir leaves Miles to his work, while Lisa and Molly look and laugh at him nearby.\n\nElsewhere on Gaia, Kira is praying over her own grave while Odo looks on. As Kira finishes, she comments \"Praying over your own grave\u2026 that's got to be a new one.\" Odo says that if the Prophets were listening, they might be confused. Kira then talks about Yedrin's plan, saying that it is a little strange. She has always believed that people have one path to follow and now, they are using technology to circumvent that. Odo says that he is in favor of the plan, Kira would get her treatment and the Gaia's timeline would get preserved. He then goes on to say that even though the plan won't change anything for him, the Odo on the Defiant won't have to lose her. Kira is touched by this.\n\nBack at the settlement, Sisko and some children are tossing a baseball around. Jadzia walks up with a PADD and doesn't look happy. She presents evidence to Sisko that Yedrin faked the logs so that the crew would think that his plan would work. There was never going to be a duplicate Defiant, just one. If Jadzia hadn't figured it out, they would have been stranded and Kira would have died.\n\nAct Three\n\nIn the meeting hall, Sisko and Jadzia have confronted Yedrin. Jadzia accuses Yedrin of betraying them. Yedrin asks what they will do. When Sisko tells him, Yedrin pleads with him saying that if the Defiant doesn't go back in time, eight thousand people will simply cease to exist. Sisko explains that he can't deliberately maroon his crew. Yedrin tells Sisko to look around, see all of the things that his crew and their descendants will build. Jadzia asks about Kira, to which Yedrin asks if one life is too much to ask if it would mean saving eight thousand. Sisko explodes at Yedrin, demanding to know how he can make that decision. Yedrin replies saying that he is responsible, and looks to Jadzia. She was the one that insisted that the Defiant investigate the planet. She knew that she should have been more careful, but she wanted to make a huge discovery. And because of that, the Defiant was sent to the past, Kira died, and forty-eight people were stranded. Yedrin tells of guilt that has been passed down through Dax. He says that the community is his responsibility, and that for two centuries he has watched it grow. Sisko is moved by Yedrin's plight, but says that his people have a right to go home to their families and no one has the right to ask anyone to die.\n\nLater that night, Worf and Kira are sitting near a fire pit. They both do not like what is going to happen. Although the colonists are milling around, the mood is somber. Only the children seem unaffected. Kira comments that everyone is going to die because she has to get treated for something she can't even tell she has. Worf tells her not to blame herself and Kira moves off to return to the Defiant. Nearby, Miranda is tending some plantings and seedlings. Gabriel mentions that everyone is quiet and asks what is wrong. Miranda tells him it is nothing to worry about, not able to tell him the truth. As Gabriel leaves, the Klingons approach Worf and tell him that there will be no feast. Worf asks them to join him at the fire. He tells them of the honor to know that his legacy has thrived. Brota tells of a beast that he killed with Worf's own mek'leth. They then tell him that their ceasing to exist will not earn them a place in Sto-vo-kor. They all then unsheathe their daggers and ask Worf to kill them. Worf hesitates, but then tells them that he will do what they ask tomorrow.\n\nKira is back at her grave. Odo finds her and asks her why she came back. She wanted to be sure that this was where she belonged. As she looks at him, she says that the path the Prophets have laid out for her ends on Gaia. Odo protests, but Kira stops him. She can't let the captain go through with his plan if it means that eight thousand people will cease to exist, even if she has to.\n\nAct Four\n\nSisko, Jadzia, Worf, Bashir, and Miles are sitting in the Defiant's mess hall, hearing what Kira has said. Bashir reminds her that if she doesn't go back to the station for treatment soon, she will die. Kira says that she has accepted this and if they don't take the Defiant back in time, they would be cheating fate. Miles dismisses this, saying he has a wife and children back on the station who need him. Kira states that the Prophets will take care of them, but Miles responds that he doesn't believe in them. Worf then comments that their families will survive either way, but the colonists will not. He says that if Kira is willing to sacrifice her life, he would be willing to remain on Gaia. Miles still refuses to consider staying and tells Worf that it would be easy for him, he never sees his son. Worf bristles as he tells Miles that he is afraid to face his destiny. As Miles continues to get exasperated, he turns to Jadzia, Bashir, and Sisko. He tells them that no one has the right to tell him that he can't go home to his family. When Sisko says that he is hearing what everyone has to say, Miles asks if they are actually considering going back in time. Sisko seems unsettled by the arguments, but finally turns to Kira to say that they are not. Kira protests, but Sisko is adamant as he dismisses them.\n\nAs Jadzia and Worf are walking through the settlement on Gaia, they contemplate what they are going to do. They come upon Sisko who is getting one last look around. Suddenly Gabriel comes running around the corner, almost hitting Sisko. When asked where he is going, Gabriel tells them that he is going to the fields for the planting. As the three Starfleet officers round the next corner, they see several colonists getting ready to go to the fields. Yedrin sees them and says that planting day was always important.\n\nOut in the fields, the colonists and most of the Defiant's crew are working at the various tasks of farming; plowing, fertilizing, planting and watering. Miles walks up, not doing any of the work, to give Sisko a status report. He says that the Defiant is ready to leave orbit. Molly, who is nearby, asks Miles if he is going to help. Miles says that he is busy, to which Molly says that he doesn't look busy. Sisko hands Miles a farming tool and tells him to get to work. People all around then notice that Worf is leading some of the Klingons towards them. Parell and Brota say that they do not see any enemy to fight, as Worf had told them. Worf says that they are trying to plant their fields before the sun sets and that time is their enemy. The Klingons exchange a look, and realize that Worf is offering them a challenge. The Klingons then join the colonists in their toil.\n\nAs Miles is working, he tells Molly that he has a little girl with the same name. When Molly asks if she can meet her, Miles looks sad knowing it can never happen. Moved by Molly, Miles goes to find Sisko and Kira. Miles tells them that they can't leave, they can't let all these people die. Sisko nods in agreement after a moment while Kira smiles sadly.\n\nAct Five\n\nAfter their labors in the field, Sisko and Jadzia have told Yedrin and Miranda about their decision. Yedrin hands Jadzia a PADD which contains the navigational logs from the original crash. All Jadzia has to do is download them into the ship's auto-pilot and it should send the Defiant back to the right point in time.\n\nOn the Defiant, Odo is saying goodbye to Kira. Odo is trying to talk Kira out of her decision. She says that her decision isn't based on her, it is about all of the colonists and their descendants. Odo asks about the descendants that won't be born if the Defiant doesn't return to DS9 but seeing he can't change her mind, asks that if Kira knew about his feelings years ago would she do things differently. As Kira says that it maybe would have, she kisses him and turns to leave.\n\nOn the bridge, the crew is at their posts. Sisko asks if everyone has had a chance to record a message to their families. Everyone nods and Miles says that he has downloaded the recordings into a class 4 probe that will start transmitting a locating signal as soon as it clears the barrier. As the probe launches, Sisko orders helm control to be transferred to auto-pilot. The shields are raised as the Defiant breaks orbit. Scans show an unusual temporal signature, the anomaly that will take them back in time. The seconds count down as the Defiant heads towards impact when suddenly the ship veers away. The auto-pilot can't be overridden and the ship clears the barrier, emerging in normal space with the planet and the barrier behind the ship. Miles consults his console and reports that someone changed their flight plan, and that he didn't do it. Sisko orders a scan of the surface and Kira reports that there is no sign of the settlement or the inhabitants. Everything is gone.\n\nSisko and Jadzia are walking down a corridor as they discuss what happened. Whoever changed the flight plan knew their way around the Defiant's security systems. Jadzia says that it must have been one of the crew. Sisko then says that it could be someone who used to be part of the crew. This leads to them suspecting Yedrin, but Jadzia states that all he cared about was the settlement. Sisko supposes that he could have changed his mind. Perhaps seeing everyone again made him decide not to let them go through with the plan, Sisko says. When Jadzia voices her lament that everyone they had met never existed, Sisko corrects her saying \"They existed. And as long as we remember them, they always will.\"\n\nAn upset Kira is lying on her bed in her quarters when the door chimes. In walks Odo, who says that the other Odo came up to the ship and linked with him. Now he knows everything that the other Odo had told Kira. She remarks on his reactions from earlier when she talked of Shakaar. Odo had come to accept the fact that Kira was involved with someone else when suddenly all of that changed. Odo then tells her something else that the other Odo wanted her to know. He was responsible for changing the flight plan so that Kira didn't have to die. Kira is shocked by this and Odo says that the other Odo did it because he loved her. When she asks if that makes it right, he replies that he doesn't know but the other Odo thought so. Odo leaves her quarters as she considers everything that has happened.\n\nMemorable quotes\n\n\"I've always thought Quark would make a great math teacher.\"\n\n- Yedrin Dax\n\n\n\n\"Praying over your own grave. That's got to be a new one.\"\n\n- Kira, standing over her gravesite on Gaia\n\n\n\n\"Are you the son of Mogh?\"\n\n\"Yes, I am.\"\n\n\"Is it true you can kill someone just by looking at them?\"\n\n\"Only when I am angry.\"\n\n- Gabriel and Worf, at their first meeting\n\n\n\n\"They existed. As long as we remember them, they always will.\"\n\n- Sisko, to Dax\n\n\n\n\"You said there was an enemy for us to fight.\"\n\n\"They are attempting to plant their fields before the sun sets. Time is their enemy. We should help them defeat it.\"\n\n- Brota and Worf\n\n\n\n\"There's something else the other Odo wanted you to know: he was responsible for changing the Defiant's flight plan.\"\n\n\"Why?\"\n\n\"So that you wouldn't have to die.\"\n\n\"I can't believe it! Eight thousand people!\"\n\n\"He did it for you, Nerys, he loved you.\"\n\n\"That makes it right?!?\"\n\n\"I don't know. He thought so.\"\n\n- the present day Odo and Kira\n\n\n\n\"Alright we'll make a quick survey, but if all we detect is some fungus, we're not beaming down.\"\n\n\"What if it's smart fungus?\"\n\n- Sisko and Dax\n\nBackground information\n\nStory and script\n\nProduction\n\nThe planting scenes were filmed at Ahmanson Ranch, near Ventura, California, but on the day of the shoot, there were gale force winds, and equipment trucks had to be used as wind blocks. It was so cold, that the crew were all wearing snow jackets, but the actors had to wear shirt-sleeves because it was supposed to be a beautiful day. Between takes, the actors had to be sprayed down to make it look like they were sweating. ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion )\n\n) This episode is the first episode of Star Trek to feature the use of a freestanding ladder. ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion )\n\nto feature the use of a freestanding ladder. ( ) Paul Baillargeon composed the music for the episode. Referring to the score of the scene where the Defiant crew help the Gaians to farm; Baillargeon commented: \"I did something where I did a whole cue where I got into a fugue-type thing that's nearly a jig. That's a perfect example of something I'd never heard on a Star Trek show. So I tried it and they said hey, that's very nice. But that could have been a no-no. I didn't know what to expect. The worst thing that could happen is they'd tell me you're really going overboard and it sounds like an ancient fair. It's not medieval but it's like Prokofiev stuff, a lot of flutes, a lot of violins\". (The Music of Star Trek, p 194)\n\nReception\n\nMark A. Altman ranked the episode among the best of the series. ( Cinefantastique volume 36, 2003)\n\nvolume 36, 2003) Neither Nana Visitor nor Rene Auberjonois were overly happy with how their characters were written in this episode. According to Visitor, \"I'm not a huge fan of that whole romantic storyline. I think it's much more interesting to have a real deep friendship without it becoming physical. I would have liked Odo and Kira to stay like that. I did think this episode was brilliant. But it isn't one of my favorites, because I just wasn't crazy about my part in it.\" Auberjonois was also a little displeased with his part; \"He allows an entire civilization to just disappear in a blink. He could rationalize it because of his love, but it's a big thing. It's tricky. I'm still not sure about it, or what kind of message it sent to the audience.\" Ronald D. Moore, however, has the answer; \"It tells the audience how deeply this man can love. He can love to the point that he will sacrifice an entire world for a woman.\" (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)\n\nTrivia\n\nRemastered version\n\nRemastered footage from the episode is featured in the documentary What We Left Behind.\n\nApocrypha\n\nTo convince Sisko that he is who he claims to be, Yedrin mentions a particular dancer that both Ben and Curzon Dax met on Pelios Station, which was previously alluded to in \" Facets \". The short story \"The Music Between the Notes\", from The Lives of Dax compilation, tells the full story of Sisko, Dax and the dancer.\n\nVideo and DVD releases\n\nStarring\n\nAlso starring\n\nGuest stars\n\nCo-stars\n\nUncredited co-stars\n\nReferences\n\nAlpha Quadrant; auto-pilot; Bajor; Bajoran wormhole; Bareil Antos; beast; blood; chattel; class 4 probe; dancer; Dax, Curzon; DNA; dollhouse; fall; farm animal; field; flight plan; founder; fungus; furniture; Gaia; Gamma Quadrant; generation; gelm bread; gift; Golian Spa; grandfather's great-great-great-grandfather; gyromagnetic stabilizer; heart; honor; inertial damper; Kenda Shrine; kerripate; Klingon; Kirby, Angie; maimed; marooning; mek'leth; meter; micro-lathe; milking; Mogh; navigational log; neural pathway; neural pathway induction; neural tissue; O'Brien, Keiko; O'Brien, Kirayoshi; O'Brien, Molly; \"Old Man\"; operating table; path; Pelios Station; portable generator; Prophets; quantum duplicate; quantum fluctuation; raktajino; replicator; Rozhenko, Alexander; security protocol; Shakaar Edon; shield generator; shield harmonics; Sisko, Jake; Sons of Mogh; southern peninsula; Southern peninsula settlements; Sto-vo-kor; summer; sunset; tessipate; torga; tricorder; Torvin; warrior; wedding; winter; yar-bear; yelg melon\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "With shrinking bezels and a higher screen-to-body ratio, smartphone manufacturers have been experimenting different designs for their devices. From various notch types, pop-up modules to punch-hole designs, we have seen it all. Now Chinese smartphone maker Vivo has patented several quad punch-hole designs for its devices. The design was patented with China\u2019s National Intellectual Property Administration. The patent reveals smartphones with multiple punch-hole display designs. While these are just patent designs, it is unclear if Vivo will use them in its upcoming smartphones.\n\nAccording to the patent, there are three different full-screen designs featuring quad-cameras within the display. The main difference between the designs is the position of camera sensors. In the first design, there is a camera cutout at every corner of the display. There are two versions of a punch-hole design in the top corner. The first one has a large dual punch-hole at the top corner edges of the screen with a black bar between them. The last design shows smaller dual cutouts on the top corners.\n\n\n\nThe patent also reveals the back panel of the smartphone. It appears to sport a vertically stacked quad-camera setup at the top left corner. There is a volume rocker and power buttons on the right side, and what we assume is an Assistant button on the left side of the device.\n\nWe expect to to see some form of this design implemented in the coming months.\n\nSource | Via"}
-{"text": "The University of Virginia\u2019s Thomas Jefferson statue was vandalized on Friday, April 13, Jefferson\u2019s birthday.\n\nWatch the video here.\n\nThe university released a statement, saying, \u201cThe university is disappointed that individuals vandalized the statue of Thomas Jefferson on the Lawn on the day that we honor his contributions to our University and to our democracy.\u201d\n\nThis isn\u2019t the first time the statue has been vandalized.\n\nIn September 2017, \u201cBlack Lives Matter \u2014 F*** White Supremacy\u201d was written on a banner that was draped over the monument.\n\nThe protest has cleared, but the shroud on the Thomas Jefferson statue at the Rotunda remains. pic.twitter.com/BqYtCEtH5q \u2014 Alexis Gravely (@_AlexisWasHere) September 13, 2017\n\nThe Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today!"}
-{"text": "your are style always seems to be smooth and natural nothing is over the top or out of place. well done!"}
-{"text": "As a reaction to gibes from Moscow, NATO defense ministers declared during their meeting in Brussels that the alliance will \"continue to support Ukraine's sovereignty and its territorial integrity.\" Such comments from NATO ministers are unlikely to be followed up with troop movements. Previously Russian President Vladimir Putin has put Russian troops at the border to Ukraine on alert. Russia's defense minister, Sergei Shoigu said the Russian forces' maneuvers were not connected to the crisis in Ukraine.\n\nIn a joint declaration, the NATO defense ministers pledged their support for the implementation of reforms in Ukraine. \"NATO stands ready to continue to engage with Ukraine and assist with the implementation of reforms. Defense reform and military cooperation remain key priorities,\" the document said.\n\nFurthermore, ministers thanked the Ukrainian military for not intervening in the power struggle between the pro-Russian ex-President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition. \"A sovereign, independent and stable Ukraine, firmly committed to democracy and the rule of law, is key to Euro-Atlantic security,\" the NATO ministers' statement said.\n\nRussiais needed\n\nNew German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has to deal with the crisis in Ukraine at her first a NATO summit. \"It is very important for the daily life of the people that Ukraine finds its way back to stability,\" she said. Ukraine must not break apart, von der Leyen added.\n\n\"We not only have the NATO-Russia Council, we also have the NATO-Ukraine Council. That means that we have two lines of communication which are established and which we should link,\" she said.\n\nNATO has special relations with both Russia and Ukraine that can be used, according to diplomats at the NATO headquarter in Brussels. Russia has to be in integrated in the stabilization process in Ukraine, the German defense minister demanded.\n\nNATO defense ministers pledged their support for Ukraine during the NATO summit in Brussels\n\nThe NATO defense ministers are supposed to talk to a Ukrainian delegation on Thursday (27.02.2014). Ukraine is taking part at the summit as it provides troops to NATO's mission in Afghanistan. Ukrainian soldiers have been part of NATO's international missions. \"They are a very important providers of troops,\" NATO diplomats said in Brussels.\n\nFlexible schedule for NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan\n\nThe defense ministers also discussed how to organize the withdrawal of combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and the framework for a post-2014 presence in Afghanistan.\n\nAfghan President Hamid Karzai has, however, so far refused to sign a security agreement with foreign powers despite it having already passed an Afghan tribal council. Karzai has said the agreement should be signed by his successor after presidential elections in April. But NATO has pushed Karzai to sign the deal sooner to provide NATO nations with planning security. Originally, NATO has set an ultimatum until the end of January 2014. That is not mentioned anymore and NATO suddenly appears flexible. A decision from the Afghan government is not needed until the end of October 2014, according to NATO insiders. Then NATO needs precise instructions how many troops should stay as trainers and advisors.\n\nNot without pressure\n\nNATO plans to withdraw all its combat troops from Afghanistan until the end of 2014\n\nThe timetable is accompanied by threats to keep up the pressure on Karzai. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that NATO will consider a total troop withdrawal by the end of the year if there is no green light given for the successor mission. He repeated similar statements from US President Barack Obama.\n\n\"We have the political will to continue to support Afghanistan with training, advice and additional assistance. Therefore it is important that the Afghan government invites us. We need to be welcomed there,\" von der Leyen added.\n\nA deal for legal security\n\nThe United States and the rest of NATO need the deal with the Afghan government to protect their troops from prosecution in Afghanistan and to clearly settle the legal status of the NATO troops in the country. The Afghan government additionally has to explicitly invite to a successor mission to be on the safe side under international law. NATO also wants to secure its presence in Afghanistan after 2015 by a mandate from the UN Security Council. But it wouldn't be mandatory for a mission without combat troops.\n\nMilitary planners in Brussels are acting as if the security agreement with Afghanistan already exists. Should it not be signed by October, experts have said, the alliance will still have other moves to make. NATO would like to station between 8,000 and 12,000 troops in Afghanistan from 2015. There are currently 53,000 foreign soldiers taking part in NATO's International Security Assistance Force.\n\nThe military in Brussels temporarily plans as if the deal with Afghanistan already exists. In case the deal is not achieved there will be other option in October, according to NATO. From 2015 on NATO wants to keep between 8000 and 12000 troops in Afghanistan. At the moment the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has stationed 53000 troops in Afghanistan. Every month the number of troops in Afghanistan decreases. The Afghan army has been formally responsible for the security in the country since last year."}
-{"text": "1940. The Luftwaffe has been pounding merchant fleets and the industrial infrastructure of Great Britain for three months. The Royal Air Force is exhausted, but still manages to push the enemy back enough to dissuade them from preparing a coastal landing.\n\nOn September 15th, 1940, the German air force began a massive attack on London. More than 1500 aircraft took part in that attack. British pilots managed to repel this enormous strike, making ground landing operations impossible for Germany. Since that day, this huge operation has been known as \u201cThe Battle of Britain\u201d\n\nThe event begins on September 13th (15:00 GMT) till September 16th (07:00 GMT) \u2014 The Battle of Britain\n\nFeatures"}
-{"text": "October 15, 2019 Javier Eguiluz\n\nUPDATE: this feature was finally removed from Symfony before Symfony 4.4 release. Instead, DoctrineBundle now does the same thing as explained in this blog post but without you having to configure anything.\n\nIn the Messenger component, middleware is used to configure what happens when you dispatch a message to a message bus. In Symfony 4.4 we've added a new middleware to clear Doctrine's entity manager after each message is consumed.\n\nEnable it by adding messenger.middleware.doctrine_clear_entity_manager to the middleware of your buses:\n\nYAML 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 # config/packages/messenger.yaml framework : messenger : buses : messenger.bus.default : default_middleware : false middleware : # ... - 'doctrine_clear_entity_manager'\n\nXML 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 <!-- config/packages/messenger.xml --> <?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" ?> <container xmlns= \"http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services\" xmlns:xsi= \"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\" xmlns:framework= \"http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony\" xsi:schemaLocation= \"http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony https://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony/symfony-1.0.xsd\" > <framework:config> <framework:messenger> <!-- ... --> <framework:middleware id= \"doctrine_clear_entity_manager\" /> <framework:bus name= \"messenger.bus.default\" default-middleware= \"false\" /> </framework:messenger> </framework:config> </container>\n\nPHP 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 // config/packages/messenger.php $container -> loadFromExtension ( 'framework' , [ 'messenger' => [ 'buses' => [ 'messenger.bus.default' => [ 'middleware' => [ // ... 'doctrine_clear_entity_manager' , ], 'default_middleware' => false , ], ], ], ]);\n\nThe first advantage of this middleware is that it reduces the memory consumption when handling messages in long-running processes. The second advantage is that it prevents unexpected side-effects. For example, in the case of an user account recovery process (where an email is sent asynchronously with Messenger and AMQP), if the email address is updated after the first try, the second email is sent to the old email address. Using this middleware will solve that problem."}
-{"text": "London | Heidelberg, 18 August 2015\n\nSpringer confirms that 64 articles are being retracted from 10 Springer subscription journals, after editorial checks spotted fake email addresses, and subsequent internal investigations uncovered fabricated peer review reports. After a thorough investigation we have strong reason to believe that the peer review process on these 64 articles was compromised. We reported this to the Committee on Publishing Ethics (COPE) immediately. Attempts to manipulate peer review have affected journals across a number of publishers as detailed by COPE in their December 2014 statement. Springer has made COPE aware of the findings of its own internal investigations and has followed COPE\u2019s recommendations, as outlined in their statement, for dealing with this issue. Springer will continue to participate and do whatever we can to support COPE\u2019s efforts in this matter.\n\nThe peer-review process is one of the cornerstones of quality, integrity and reproducibility in research, and we take our responsibilities as its guardians seriously. We are now reviewing our editorial processes across Springer to guard against this kind of manipulation of the peer review process in future.\n\n\n\nIn all of this, our primary concern is for the research community. A research paper is the result of funding investment, institutional commitment and months of work by the authors, and publishing outputs affect careers, funding applications and institutional reputations.\n\n\n\nWe have been in contact with the corresponding authors and institutions concerned, and will continue to work with them.\n\nContact\n\nShane Canning | Shane.Canning@springer.com\n\nGrace Baynes | g.baynes@nature.com"}
-{"text": "What is so Hot On Bed?\n\nLook At 1:05 She Is Counting shots On Bed"}
-{"text": "New Swansea manager Paul Clement has confirmed that Alan Curtis is no longer a part of the club's coaching set-up.\n\nAddressing the media on Thursday, Clement said Curtis - who first joined Swansea 45 years ago - is \"stepping aside from first-team coaching duties on the field\".\n\nHowever, Clement explained that Curtis will be offered a job elsewhere in the club as Swansea hurried to calm fans upset by the treatment of a club legend.\n\n\"People might think he has been forced to leave, and that is certainly not the case,\" Clement explained. \"We want him to stay at the club. After discussions with [chairman] Huw Jenkins today, as far as we\u2019re concerned, Alan has a job here for as long as he wants - for life if necessary.\"\n\nFans had been angered by news that 62-year-old Swans stalwart Curtis was sacked by text message on Wednesday morning and it is thought this could have led the club into a rethink.\n\nWhile not addressing that suggestion directly, Clement acknowledged that supporters would be upset to see the fan favourite no longer directly involved with the playing staff.\n\nCurtis joined the club as a 17-year-old, making 350 appearances before spending years on the backroom staff, as well as steering them to Tuesday's 2-1 win over Crystal Palace as caretaker manager.\n\n\"I\u2019m sure there will be fans disappointed Alan is not involved in first team, but this happens all the time at other clubs,\" Clement expained. \"I\u2019ve not confirmed what the rest of the backroom staff will be like.\"\n\nClement, who joined Swansea after serving as Carlo Ancelotti's assistant manager at Bayern Munich, said he had not spoken to Curtis since the win over Palace but hopes he will stay on.\n\n\"He\u2019s absolutely respected by players and fans, but that\u2019s down to him to discuss with the chairman tomorrow,\" Clement said. \"I hope he stays in another role, that role is to be discussed. In the short time I\u2019ve met him I\u2019ve tried to help."}
-{"text": "The stomach bug norovirus has become infamous for sickening hundreds of passengers on cruise ships. But it's also possible to catch the virus, which causes vomiting, diarrhea and nausea, while swimming, say, in your local lake, river or town pool, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\n\nThe center's report highlighted an outbreak of norovirus that sickened 70 people in Oregon in July 2014, which it linked to a contaminated lake that people had been using for recreation, including swimming. Those who swam in the lake were 2.3 times more likely to get sick than those who did not go in the water, the CDC found.\n\nNorovirus is highly contagious and can be passed from one person to another through contaminated foods or surfaces, notes the CDC. Far beyond its penchant for striking cruise ship passengers, the virus is fairly common and accounts for 19 million to 21 million cases of sickness in the U.S. every year.\n\nBut how did so many visitors who went swimming at Blue Lake Regional Park in Oregon last summer get sick? Experts theorized that a swimmer who had been sick with norovirus vomited or had diarrhea in the lake, contaminating water that others then swallowed.\n\n\"Keeping germs out of the water in the first place is key to keeping everyone healthy and helping to keep the places we swim open all summer,\" said Michael Beach, associate director for healthy water at the CDC.\n\nAfter the outbreak in Oregon last July, the lake was closed for 10 days. Most of those who were sickened were children aged 4 to 10 years. Swimming areas that are not treated with chlorine, such as lakes and ponds, are riskier than those that are, such as pools that have been properly maintained.\n\nAs spring heats up into summer and the swimming season begins, the CDC recommends that people avoid swimming if they had been sick and that children be taken on bathroom breaks to prevent accidents in the water. It also suggested swimmers avoid swallowing water from lakes and pools."}
-{"text": "ESSENDON was unaware of Conor McKenna's decision to play in a Gaelic football relegation playoff game for his local club in Ireland at the weekend.\n\nMcKenna scored a second-half goal to help Eglish defeat Edendork, 2-9 (15) to 1-10 (13), and move closer to maintaining its Division One spot.\n\nThe fixture was played in the early hours of Sunday morning, Melbourne time, and Eglish is now awaiting the Division Two playoff winner.\n\nEglish is a small village in Northern Ireland county Tyrone, where McKenna played in the minors in the Gaelic Football Association championship before joining the Bombers as an 18-year-old in 2014.\n\nAn Essendon spokesperson told AFL.com.au that club officials hadn't spoken to McKenna and would wait until he returned to Melbourne to find out the full details and why he played.\n\nMcKenna's countryman and Geelong footballer Mark O'Connor was forced to apologise last year after the Cats discovered he played for his Irish club Dingle in the off-season.\n\nHawthorn's Conor Nash also played for his local Gaelic team, Simonstown, without the Hawks' knowledge ahead of the 2018 season, but ex-Blue Ciaran Byrne sought approval to play for St Mochta's last year.\n\n\"Going home, I suppose, you can get caught up in a lot of things in the local community and people asking you to play who are not really thinking of your best interests,\" Nash told AFL.com.au.\n\n\"I got caught up in that a little bit. I played only half a game of football, which wasn't my wisest decision, but I came back here and we had a chat about it and dusted it over.\"\n\nByrne retired from the AFL soon after and subsequently sustained a broken ankle in a separate Gaelic contest.\n\nMcKenna has become one of Essendon's most valuable players, evidenced in him finishing fourth in this year's Crichton Medal count, behind only winner Zach Merrett, Dylan Shiel and Adam Saad.\n\nThe 23-year-old defender averaged a career-high 21 disposals and five rebound 50s, as well as having 28 more running bounces than any other player in the competition.\n\nOften, McKenna will burst past an opponent with the aid of one of his trademark 'solos', where he chips the ball to himself \u2013 a must-have skill in the Gaelic game.\n\nHe missed just one game this past season, to travel home to Ireland to attend his brother Emmet's wedding.\n\n\"I was very happy to be home for a week,\" McKenna told AFL.com.au in August.\n\n\"I still struggle a wee bit with homesickness and stuff like that, so to get home for a week and spend time there was very beneficial for me and my season.\n\n\"It gave me something to work towards, like I had only a few weeks left then I could go home for a week and reset, then come back and go again for the finals.\"\n\nView this post on Instagram Great week back home for Emmet and Kim\u2019s wedding A post shared by Conor Mckenna (@conor.mckenna.75) on Jul 29, 2019 at 3:51am PDT\n\nThe Bombers have tripled their Irish playing presence for next season, signing Irish young guns Ross McQuillan and Cian McBride on two-year rookie contracts."}
-{"text": "The New Politics of Sex:\n\nThe Sexual Revolution, Civil Liberties, and the Growth of Government Power (pdf download; Amazon)\n\nBy Stephen Baskerville\n\nKettering, OH: Angelico Press, 2017\n\nFor half a century, conservatives have been putting their readers to sleep with denunciations of the sexual revolution as a kind of anarchic free-for-all where men\u2019s sexual impulses are gratified at the expense of women\u2019s long-term well-being. But, as I have explained at length elsewhere, the current hook-up scene is no chaos of random coupling; it is a Darwinian competition between women for the attentions of a relatively small number of men. This mating system\u2019s predictable output\u2014possibly its intended output\u2014is a large number of disappointed young women ripe for a message of resentment and revenge upon the opposite sex.\n\nPower abhors a vacuum, and breakdowns of order prove no more than brief transitional phases leading to controls more oppressive than the restraints initially cast off. The sexual revolution did not usher in prolonged anarchy; it replaced a voluntary system of self-control according to principles equally applicable to all with the bureaucratically enforced \u201cempowerment\u201d of one sex at the expense of the other. Thanks to recent headlines, it is finally beginning to dawn on even the dimmest conservatives that the sexual revolution has not \u201cliberated male sexuality,\u201d but subjected men to an arbitrary and hostile regime from which none of them is safe.\n\nThere is nothing \u201cironic\u201d about the cheek-by-jowl existence of a casual sex scene and a bureaucracy dedicated to punishing the men who participate in it: the former acts as a necessary feeder for the latter. The proof is that no feminist has ever encouraged young women behave in ways which would prevent their getting hurt in the first place. Feminists find the hook-up scene far too useful to shut down.\n\nThe failure of conservatives to understand the nature of the new sexual regime has, as Stephen Baskerville, professor of government at Patrick Henry College, demonstrates in the book under review, made them into its unwitting accomplices. Indeed, the new sexual-bureaucratic despotism could not have been constructed without their active participation. Back in the 1970s when the movement was getting started, feminists wrote tracts advocating the abolition of marriage\u2014and, of course, they got nowhere. Eventually they realized they could quietly redefine fornication as rape and easily stampede naive conservatives into a campaign to punish the \u201crapists.\u201d\n\nExtremist ideologies break out of the margins to assume power when they create a new politics that existing elites fail to understand, or when they can deceive enough of the elites into believing that their agenda is compatible with existing values. This is usually accomplished not by the most extreme ideologues but by those who manage to co-opt, appropriate and distort the respectable values of the mainstream and use them to camouflage their innovations.\n\nFeminism has been wildly successful because it learned how to exploit \u201cthe natural concern of every society to protect and provide for women and children.\u201d\n\nLike the sexual revolution itself, the feminist bureaucracy which now manages its fallout originated on America\u2019s university campuses. Back in about 1970, piggybacking on the Black Studies movement, feminists began demanding and getting their own academic courses of study. Their success was due in part to a superficial resemblance between rising ideological movements and intellectual breakthroughs: in both cases, outsiders perceive an insurgent group which claims to represent a new way of looking at things struggling for recognition against an entrenched establishment. This also helps explain the success of the authoritarian ideological movements studied by Kevin MacDonald in The Culture of Critique. Only those with expertise in the relevant subject matter can reliably distinguish between well-promoted ideological fads and true intellectual revolutions. Hundreds of historians, scientists and literary scholars voted to institute women\u2019s studies programs at their universities in the 1970s and -80s without any clear idea what they were doing.\n\nThe original, straightforward name \u201cfeminist studies\u201d was soon cast aside in favor of the deceptively neutral-sounding \u201cwomen\u2019s studies\u201d (and more recently by \u201cgender studies\u201d). From the start, however, such programs avoided the objective, scientific study of women or the sexes: women\u2019s studies professors teach their students nothing about sexual genetics, fetal hormonalization, or empirically observable behavioral differences between men and women. Indeed, they advocate the suppression of such research. As two dissident feminist professors have phrased it, \u201cFeminist research demands loyalty to an ideological agenda rather than empirical adequacy and logical consistency.\u201d\n\nFeminist \u201ctheory,\u201d as it is grandly called, is a crude social determinism, and the reason feminists cling to it is obvious: insofar as sex differences are naturally determined, they cannot be changed to suit feminist preferences. But \u201ctheory\u201d plays a distinctly supporting role in what is essentially a political movement driven, in Baskerville\u2019s words, \u201cby a hatred of restraint and authority, and a thirst for unrestricted freedom and revenge.\u201d\n\nSexual radicalism adopts irreconcilably contradictory positions as needed: all gender differences are social constructions, but women have special \u201cneeds.\u201d Women are oppressed by artificial gender roles, but those same roles make women more \u201ccaring\u201d and \u201ccompassionate.\u201d Men and women must be treated identically, except when men must be excluded from certain competitions so that women can win. Fathers should assume equal responsibility for rearing children, but custody (along with the power and money that accompany it) must go to mothers. Alison Jaggar proclaims unashamedly that feminists should insist on having it both ways: \u201c\u2026where women\u2019s interests are being damaged by being treated either differently from or identically with men.\u201d\n\nContradictions in the realm of logic are justified as furthering opportunism in the realm of politics. Miss Jaggar\u2019s book, Living with Contradictions, is treated as a classic of \u201cfeminist philosophy.\u201d Other feminists denounce rationality and science per se as patriarchal conspiracies to oppress women.\n\nDespite the field\u2019s scandalous intellectual inadequacies, as of 2014 there existed \u201cmore than 200 chairs for gender/queer studies, nearly all held by women, and around thirty interdisciplinary gender institutes,\u201d all suggesting to the callow minds of students that feminism is a field of objective knowledge analogous to physics or French literature. It was from the midst of this resentment-driven ideological ghetto disguised as a scholarly discipline that the new rules governing sex originated, and it was in American universities that they were first applied.\n\nRape: Not What It Used to Be\n\nFor decades, feminists have assiduously promoted the lie that one woman in four (sometimes five) is raped while attending university. \u201cReputable scholars who investigate [such] claims,\u201d writes Baskerville, \u201creadily conclude that it is not simply exaggerated but a hoax.\u201d At most, a lot of women, unprotected by traditional behavioral expectations, are learning the hard way that fornication is not the path to happiness.\n\nWhen such cases were brought before ordinary courts of law, they quickly got thrown out. So universities began, under feminist pressure, to establish internal procedures to handle accusations of sexual misconduct. These do not have to abide by the principles that govern ordinary courts of law, notably the presumption of innocence. One attorney cited by Baskerville describes the result as\n\na disciplinary procedure where students nearly always lack lawyers, no legally trained judge oversees the process, testimony is not under oath, hearsay is freely considered, relevant evidence or even proper notice of the charges may not be given to both parties, students may be forced to incriminate themselves, and whatever \u201cjury\u201d is empaneled may not be of one\u2019s peers.\n\nSuch travesties of judicial procedure are now legally mandated at all colleges which receive federal funding, i.e., at nearly all of them. During the Obama presidency, Assistant Secretary of Education for civil rights Russlynn Ali even issued a directive to university officials demanding that campus tribunals adopt a lower standard of proof for cases of sexual misconduct than required by ordinary courts of law. This directive, by the way, included no period for public notice, comment, and possible amendment, as legally required for federal regulations: \u201cit was simply an arbitrary order issued from the pen of a functionary.\u201d\n\nSince rape (as traditionally understood) is such a serious crime, convictions have always required proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Now campus kangaroo courts are convicting men on the basis of a preponderance of evidence standard, the lowest standard recognized by law. As Baskerville points out, the only possible explanation for this change is that the authorities want not to punish more actual rapists, but to secure more guilty verdicts against men.\n\nWhy would an Assistant Secretary of Education for civil rights be pronouncing on how criminal cases are adjudged? Because American courts have ruled that rape and sexual assault are forms of discrimination. Such is the hold of liberal ideology over the legal minds of America that judges are apparently no longer able to imagine any other form of wrongdoing. So officially, rape is now wrong because it \u201cdiscriminates against\u201d women.\n\nSome think the present system does not go far enough. Colorado Congressman Jared Polis advocates expelling all male students accused of sexual assault: \u201cIf there\u2019s ten people who have been accused and under a reasonable likelihood standard maybe one or two did it, it seems better to get rid of all ten people.\u201d\n\nIndeed, feminist law professor Catherine MacKinnon does not think consent is a meaningful concept, and \u201chas repeatedly suggested that virtually all heterosexual intercourse amounts to rape.\u201d She is not a fringe figure; for many years, she was the single most cited feminist \u201cscholar\u201d in the world, and has repeatedly been called upon to advise the governments of individual states and Canadian provinces.\n\nSusan Brownmiller, author of the standard feminist text on rape, called rape \u201ca conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear.\u201d On this view, whether a particular man is innocent or guilty of a particular act is not especially important; even the defendant who is innocent in a particular case is part of the same male conspiracy against women. As Baskerville notes, such assigning of collective guilt to categories of people is a typical mark of totalitarian regimes. It justifies us in considering feminism part of the larger phenomenon that has been called \u201cCultural Marxism.\u201d\n\nThe new thinking is being written into law. California law now requires that to avoid a rape conviction, male university students must \u201cdemonstrate they obtained verbal \u2018affirmative consent\u2019 before engaging in sexual activity.\u201d Not just obtain it, but demonstrate, in court, that they obtained it. Asked how innocent people are supposed to prove they received verbal consent, the California assemblywoman who authored the law replied, \u201cYour guess is as good as mine.\u201d The impossibility of acquittal seems to be the whole point of the law.\n\nThe madness has long since spread beyond university campuses. Washington state has formally shifted the burden of proof in all rape trials to the defendant. In North Carolina, naming the person accused along with the time and place is sufficient to secure a rape conviction. Baskerville found one case in Texas where police were ordered to hide exculpatory evidence.\n\nRape accusers remain anonymous, but the accused do not, even after the accusation is demonstrated to be false. The past sexual history of the accuser is not admissible as evidence, but that of the accused is. Accusers are exempt from polygraph tests, but not the accused. Even a history of false accusations is not admissible.\n\nMight crime labs step in to defend the innocent men now abandoned by the legal system? Labs have been found guilty not just of mistakes but of deliberate falsification of evidence. The Washington Post, among others, has documented how feminist laboratory technicians doctor and fabricate evidence to frame men they know to be innocent.\n\nThe Innocence Project is a nonprofit legal organization which seeks to exonerate the innocent through DNA evidence. In twenty-six years of operation, they have freed 362 wrongly convicted men who had been made to serve sentences of up to 27 years. Many of these cases, perhaps most, appear to be rape convictions, but the directors refuse to reveal the numbers.\n\nPolice investigators typically estimate false accusations of rape as running between forty and fifty percent of the total. Deception is, after all, the natural weapon of the sex which cannot get its way by force. Motivations for false accusations include providing an alibi, seeking revenge, obtaining sympathy and attention, gaining custody of children, extorting money from celebrities and, in the gender-neutral military, avoiding deployment to war zones. Feminists vigorously oppose any prosecution of false accusers.\n\nConfronted with proof of widespread malfeasance, public officials typically complain that the justice system is \u201coverworked and underfunded.\u201d This is clearly a self-serving argument; as Baskerville points out, \u201cif they simply stop accusing innocent men, they would no longer be overworked and underfunded.\u201d We may expect wrongful convictions to continue for as long as officials owe their jobs to ensuring that they do. Rape accusations are \u201ca thriving bureaucratic enterprise that can create business for itself by encouraging hysteria.\u201d\n\nHarassment\n\nRefraining from casual sex does not protect a man, who may still be accused of \u201csexual harassment.\u201d This expression, which first appeared in print in 1978, originally referred to the misuse of positions of authority to extort sexual favors. Of course, as Baskerville notes, such behavior has always been contrary to codes of professional conduct, and women have long been defended in such situations by male relatives: \u201cnothing indicates the hysteria over \u2018harassment\u2019 is a necessary but excessive response to a real problem; from the start it was another ideological power grab, using sexual dynamic and government power to emasculate and feminize.\u201d\n\nIt should also be pointed out that, in the words of dissident feminist Camille Paglia, \u201cfor every male harasser there are ten female sycophants using their sexual attractions to get ahead.\u201d Baskerville cites survey findings, for example, that \u201ctwo-thirds of British women admit using their cleavage to advance their careers.\u201d Sexual harassment rules do nothing to discourage such behavior.\n\nLike other ideological terms, \u201csexual harassment\u201d soon fell victim to reckless verbal inflation, until it could be used to describe any male behavior to which a woman might object. The meaning can even be extended ad hoc to fit new cases as they arise. Obviously, it is impossible to defend oneself against a charge whose meaning can be expanded at will, nor can there be any presumption of innocence in such cases: \u201cBecause the crime is offending someone, the accused is guilty by virtue of being accused.\u201d\n\nAt universities, the concept of \u201charassment\u201d is now employed to forbid and punish criticism of feminism. \u201cAntifeminist intellectual harassment\u201d is said to occur whenever \u201cthe appropriate application of feminist theories or methodologies to research, scholarship and teaching is devalued, discouraged, or thwarted.\u201d A man found guilty must\n\nspend time learning about, and even leading, activities related to women at the college. He also undertakes\u2026 to write a letter of apology to the student [who accused him], expressing his esteem for her abilities and detailing what he has learned from his [anti-harassment] training. The trainer suggests that this letter (to be submitted first to the trainer for \u201creview\u201d) also be approved by the department chair and the university\u2019s Equal Employment Opportunity office.\n\nBaskerville notes the similarity to communist party discipline.\n\nAccusations of sexual harassment are not usually tried in court. Instead, organizations such as schools and corporations are held legally liable for failure to act on female complaints. This forces them to assume the role of feminist policemen. Incentives dictate acting to minimize their own liability, not handling accusations fairly. \u201cUniversities tend to prefer the least expensive path to resolution of sexual harassment cases,\u201d writes one dissident feminist, \u201cand this often means settling out of court, usually by paying off the complainant, regardless of the merits of the charge.\u201d Private companies best protect themselves through termination of the person accused.\n\nORDER IT NOW\n\nThe theory behind the sexual harassment movement is that men\u2019s natural attraction to women is in reality an exercise of power over them. On this view, the teenage boy screwing up his courage to speak to the girl he has his first crush on is \u201creally\u201d exerting power over her. Here as elsewhere, however, feminists are inconsistent when it suits them. Common sense suggests that women\u2019s newfound ability to destroy men\u2019s careers by filing false or frivolous complaints of \u201charassment\u201d against them is a dangerous form of arbitrary power, but feminists never recognize it as such: for them, only men ever have power\u2014just as, according to the same way of thinking, only Whites can be racist. Yet at the same time they insist that female bosses be able to accuse male subordinates of something called \u201ccontrapower harassment.\u201d\n\nAlso, the concept of sexual harassment is not applied to lesbians. Many women\u2019s studies professors, e.g., are notorious for trying to seduce their students. They insist there is nothing wrong with such behavior. One writes: \u201cIt is because of the sort of feminist I am that I do not respect the line between the intellectual and the sexual.\u201d\n\nFeminists are now pushing the concept of \u201csexual harassment\u201d on children. In Minnesota during one recent school year alone, over 1000 children \u201cwere suspended or expelled on charges related to sexual harassment.\u201d The authorities express frustration over the stubborn tendency of little girls to enjoy the flirtatious attention of boys; they try to convince girls as young as six to issue the scripted threat: \u201cStop it! That\u2019s sexual harassment, and sexual harassment is against the law.\u201d\n\nDomestic Violence\n\nIt is well established that men and women commit violent acts in the home in roughly equal numbers, and that an intact family is the safest environment for both women and children. Such facts have not prevented feminists from whipping up public hysteria over \u201cdomestic violence,\u201d for which men are presumed to be exclusively responsible. Indeed, terms like \u201cviolence against women\u201d and \u201cmale violence\u201d are beginning to appear even in government documents. Here again we see the quasi-Marxist assignment of criminal guilt to categories of people rather than the individuals who commit particular illegal acts.\n\nSuch violence need not be violent: criticizing, name calling and denying money are now officially listed as forms of domestic violence. The only possible purpose of such verbal inflation, as Baskerville points out, is to target men who have not committed any violent assault. This is one reason statistics on domestic violence cannot be trusted. There is another: they are based not on convictions or even formal charges, but on \u201creports.\u201d Because domestic violence is now a multi-billion dollar a year industry, interest groups and government agencies have strong incentives to manufacture false accusations and exaggerate incidents.\n\nIn practice, accusations of domestic violence are usually made to secure advantages in divorce and custody disputes. Feminist literature complains not that violent husbands are avoiding conviction, but that accused fathers sometimes retain access to their children. After all, when husbands are convicted of criminally assaulting their wives, they get locked up and no question of custody arises. It becomes an issue in divorce cases only because accusations do not have to be proven.\n\nBar associations and even courts themselves sponsor public seminars on how to fabricate abuse accusations. \u201cWith child abuse and spouse abuse you don\u2019t have to prove anything,\u201d the leader of one seminar quoted in the Chicago Tribune tells divorcing women. \u201cYou just have to accuse.\u201d Another astonished witness reports:\n\nA number of women attending the seminars smugly\u2014indeed boastfully\u2014announced that they had already sworn out false or grossly exaggerated domestic violence complaints against their hapless husbands, and that the device worked! The lawyer-lecturers invariably congratulated the self-confessed miscreants.\n\n\u201cWomen lie every day,\u201d writes one female Canadian judge. \u201cEvery day women in court say, \u2018I made it up. It didn\u2019t happen\u2019\u2014and they\u2019re not charged.\u201d\n\nDivorcing wives can also get restraining orders issued against their husbands simply by claiming to be afraid. The order will usually give her the home, the children, child support and maintenance.\n\nAnother possibility is to go to a battered women\u2019s shelter. These institutions are not what their name suggests. There are said to be over 2000 such shelters in the United States, and there simply aren\u2019t enough battered women to keep all of them in business. Rather, they are \u201cone-stop divorce shops\u201d that exist mostly to separate children from their fathers.\n\nExtended investigations [of shelters] by Canada\u2019s National Post and others revealed a violently anti-male agenda, corruption, drug and alcohol use, child abuse, and even, ironically, violence against women. American journalist Cary Roberts found \u201cprison-camp like working conditions, misappropriated shelter assets, falsified documents, illicit drug activities, horrific child abuse, illegal cover-ups, complacent oversight agencies, and more.\u201d\n\nPopular hysteria about \u201cviolence against women\u201d has also resulted in legal reforms meant to maximize convictions:\n\nWith most crimes, police generally do not arrest suspects without a warrant unless they personally witness it. Yet the mob justice surrounding domestic violence has brought the innovation of mandatory arrest, even when it is not clear that any deed has been committed at all. \u201cNo drop\u201d prosecution is another innovation requiring prosecutors to prosecute cases they would otherwise abandon for lack of evidence or because they judge that no crime has occurred at all.\n\nHarriet Harman, deputy leader of the British Labour Party, has proposed allowing women to kill their \u201cintimate partners\u201d with impunity as long as they \u201cclaim past, or fear of future, abuse.\u201d\n\nOther New Crimes\n\nSexual harassment, a redefined rape, and domestic violence that need not be violent are the principal ideological weapons in the feminist arsenal, but there are several others as well.\n\nStalking is a crime invented in California in 1990. Within three years, every state in the union had passed anti-stalking laws. Many other countries have now joined in: a case of legislation by bandwagon. The original idea was that criminals often \u201cstalk\u201d their victims before assaulting them, so outlawing \u201cstalking\u201d would help prevent actual assaults. As one former Associate Attorney General has written: \u201cWe should not have to wait until an overt act of violence occurs to take action.\u201d\n\nBut as with harassment, no one is able to define precisely what is meant by stalking. In effect, the new laws mean that people can be prosecuted not for acts they have actually committed, but for acts they may possibly intend to commit in the future. As Baskerville notes, this \u201cdirectly violates the fundamental common law principle that a man can only be punished for a crime that he has actually committed.\u201d Indeed, since anyone might commit a crime at some future time, \u201cwe could just arrest the entire population.\u201d\n\nIn practice, the chief application of this juridical abortion has been in divorce cases: involuntarily divorced fathers trying to see their own children are accused of \u201cstalking\u201d them. Letter writing and phone calls are some of the acts which can be prosecuted by means of anti-stalking laws.\n\nLaws against child abuse and neglect have also been made into feminist weapons in the struggle against fathers and families. Baskerville provides some historical background:\n\nThe professionalization of social work in the early twentieth century\u2014at the instigation of feminists like Jane Addams\u2014created a plainclothes gendarmerie with a vested interest in other people\u2019s children. As governments wrested charitable work from churches and other private foundations, social workers became government officials with \u201cextraordinary police powers,\u201d though without the restraints we normally impose on police to protect the rights of the accused.\n\nThe Mondale Act, passed by Congress in 1974, mandated the establishment of Child Protective Services agencies by the states and created financial incentives for finding (or inventing) child abuse. Similar legislation quickly followed in other countries. By the 1980s, government agencies were whipping up sensational accusations of child abuse.\n\nEventually, the truth came out: social workers had badgered very young children to come up with lurid stories of abuse, disregarding their denials. All such stories turned out to be fabrications, but the episode left a trail of \u201ctorn-apart families, hideous injustices, psychologically damaged children, incarcerated parents, and ruined lives.\u201d Thanks to governmental immunity laws, no one can be held liable for such outrages, even if they can be proven to have fabricated accusations maliciously. \u201cChild protection officials,\u201d reports Baskerville, \u201care recruited largely from the ranks of divorced women and from graduates of social work and \u2018women\u2019s studies\u2019 programs, where they are trained in feminist ideology that is hostile to parents and especially to fathers.\u201d Seized children may be deliberately taught to hate their fathers, or persuaded he has abused them.\n\nTo this day, according to one expert:\n\nFalse charges can happen to any parent merely by a stranger picking up the telephone and anonymously calling a well-publicized hotline number to say, without any evidence, that a parent maltreated his or her child. This involves a massive number of children and families each year. It is almost impossible to fully insulate one\u2019s family from the threat of a system that on very little pretense can simply reach into the home and take away one\u2019s offspring.\n\nAs with the other new ideological crimes, there is no presumption of innocence and no clear definition of the crime: it is up to social workers to determine what counts as abuse. Baskerville comments dryly: \u201cFree societies do not normally permit civil servants to adjudicate crime ad hoc.\u201d\n\nThe irony, as the author points out, is that the best way to increase the chances of a child being abused is to separate it from its father. Sexual abuse in particular is extremely rare on the part of biological fathers. (This is hidden in the official statistics by counting stepfathers and boyfriends as \u201cfathers.\u201d) In the name of protecting children, feminists are removing their natural protectors.\n\nA fairly recent trend is the federal campaign against bullying, enthusiastically promoted by the Obama administration. Something everyone previously thought was childish misbehavior is now officially a federal civil rights violation. Like the other quasi-crimes we have been discussing, it has no exact definition, but is said to include \u201cteasing, name-calling, spreading rumors, threatening, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.\u201d A number of anti-bullying intervention programs have been established, but researchers have found none that are effective. In fact, \u201cthe average teacher actually reported more bullying after intervention than before.\u201d\n\nAt first glance, the anti-bullying crusade may appear unrelated to feminism. But, as Baskerville points out, it has traditionally been fathers who intervened against bullies, taught their children how to protect themselves, and disciplined them if they bullied others. Not coincidentally, single mothers are the most enthusiastic proponents of anti-bullying legislation: \u201cWith the systematic banishment of fathers by feminist-controlled divorce courts, single mothers can only cope by criminalizing one another\u2019s children.\u201d\n\nI shall conclude this list of newly invented crimes against the matriarchy with a small but telling recent example.\n\nRealization of the value of breastfeeding, along with more women in the workplace, has led to attempts to develop more tolerant attitudes toward public nursing. [But] the new measures do not merely \u201cpermit\u201d it (something that could be effected simply by removing prohibitions); they inflict penalties on anyone who objects. In some jurisdictions it is now a crime to \u201cinterfere\u201d (whatever that means) with a woman breastfeeding.\n\nThis new legislation is a symptom of \u201csomething unhealthy about our political culture: an inability to distinguish between permitting a practice\u201d and forbidding its disapproval. Yet moral disapproval is the only alternative to legal punishment; without it, there is \u201cno middle ground left between criminalizing one side or the other.\u201d The penal apparatus then becomes a political prize that must be used against our opponents if only to keep it from being used against us. Obviously, this dangerous mindset contributes to America\u2019s present extreme political polarization.\n\nFeminists have begun agitating against male behavioral tendencies they call manslamming, mansplaining, and manspreading\u2014with more, no doubt, to come. As the author says, \u201conce the principle has been established that only men can be guilty of certain crimes, few limits remain against criminalizing the peculiarities specific to them.\u201d\n\nConclusion\n\nThe reader may be familiar with the old feminist chestnut \u201crape is about power, not sex,\u201d which goes back to the 1970s. In truth, for feminists, even sex itself is \u201cabout power, not sex.\u201d Catherine MacKinnon, e.g., defines sex\u2014not construes or interprets it, but defines it\u2014as a construct of male power. On this view, the shy teenage boy screwing up his courage to speak to the girl he has his first crush on is in reality imposing a kind of force on her, virtually attempting to rape her.\n\nHow could anyone be drawn to such a perverse way of looking at human relationships? Baskerville finds a clue in the attraction of women to powerful men. This is one reason, after all, why men seek power and why the domain of power is traditionally understood as masculine: \u201cCivilized society channels this power differential into social harmony, economic prosperity, and political stability through marriage.\u201d\n\nThe author also makes the important point that traditional male authority within the household exists separately from the state and serves as a limitation upon it; feminist power is always allied with the state and serves to augment its power. Triumphant feminism is re-creating the \u201ccombination of political corruption, economic stagnation, swollen prison populations, and politicized criminal justice\u201d familiar to us from Soviet communism.\n\nBy redefining men\u2019s attraction to women as an exercise of power over them, feminists are most likely projecting their own preoccupation with power upon their enemies, heterosexual men. In Baskerville\u2019s words, the newly ideological offenses serve to\n\ncriminalize those whose positions and power [feminists] crave for themselves and to whom they appear to be imputing their own sexual-political fantasies. Romantic and family intimacy are not merely collateral damage but the targeted enemy.\n\nBy undermining male authority, feminism is deliberately sabotaging heterosexual attraction\u2014and, of course, sabotaging the continuation of our race.\n\nFor the new rules invented by feminism are likely to prove ineffective against those whose reproductive behavior is most governed by natural instinct. The new ideological regime is mainly altering the behavior of those most accustomed to self-control and rule-following. For this reason, I believe feminism constitutes a threat to Western civilization equal in importance to the ethnic competition more usually discussed on this site. In the end, we will be forced to choose between continuing to indulge feminism and securing our own survival.\n\nProf. Baskerville\u2019s website; contains links to podcasts, reviews and his other work."}
-{"text": "Cooking is simple, really. You buy food (often the most difficult part), cut it up (while leaving fingers intact), combine a few flavors, and apply heat. The result -- once you know what you're doing -- is predictable and is called dinner. But you can eat well or poorly, which is where this article comes in.\n\nMy first instruction: Don't overcomplicate the process. If somebody were to tell you that you should shop only at a farmer's market, it would be a bit like telling you that you should watch sports only in person. It just isn't only so. Yes, buy the best quality food you can find on your way home from work (farmer's markets are great this time of year), but remember: \"Perfect\" is the enemy of \"good.\" It's the enemy of \"great,\" too, come to think of it.\n\nThere are fewer than 10 distinct cooking techniques, and five are your go-to plays: roasting, broiling/grilling, braising, boiling, and saut\u00e9ing. Master them and the possibilities for creating simple, delicious, healthy food in your kitchen become endless. With the recipes here, I'll guide you through some examples of each technique and then offer seasonal alternatives and flavor variations to up the ante. Each of these dishes will give you ample opportunity to refine your new skills and underscore how easy it is to change a few ingredients and arrive at a completely new and satisfying dish. Consider it your blueprint for a lifetime of better eating.\n\nMaster these five techniques and the possibilities for creating simple, delicious, healthy food in your kitchen become endless.\n\nThe Technique: Roasting\n\nRoasting employs dry, indirect heat to add a tasty crust to meat or to brown a pan of vegetables. It's also a great way to intensify the natural sweetness of fruits and vegetables, as you'll see with this layered vegetable dish, akin to ratatouille. It's a side dish for your steak or a vegetarian entr\u00e9e, if that's what you're looking for.\n\nRoasted Vegetables with Olive Oil\n\nMakes 4 to 6 servings\n\nTime: 1 hour, mostly unattended\n\n1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil\n\n1 1/2 to 2 lb eggplant, preferably small, sliced 1/2-inch-thick\n\n2 large onions, sliced\n\n1 lb zucchini, trimmed and cut into large chunks\n\n2 red or yellow bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and sliced\n\n4 plum tomatoes, cored and chopped (or use a 16 oz can diced tomatoes, drained)\n\nFresh herbs, to taste, plus more for garnish (Use whatever's available: thyme, rosemary, basil, parsley.)\n\nSalt and ground black pepper\n\n10 garlic cloves, peeled and halved\n\n1. Preheat the oven to 400\u00b0 F.\n\n2. Lightly coat a casserole dish or heavy, ovenproof skillet with a few tablespoons of olive oil and then layer the eggplant, onion, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, herbs, salt, pepper, and garlic cloves. (The order doesn't matter at all.) Repeat. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and place in the oven.\n\n3. Bake for about an hour, pressing down on the vegetables occasionally with a spatula, until they are tender. Garnish with more herbs, drizzle with extra olive oil, and serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.\n\nPer serving: 259 calories, 6 grams (g) protein, 30 g carbohydrates, 15 g fat (2 g saturated), 12 g fiber, 24 milligrams (mg) sodium\n\nChange It Up: Roasted Winter Vegetables with Olive Oil\n\nNo layers here: Combine 1 pound of red potatoes, a half pound of carrots, and a large sweet potato, all peeled and chunked; 1 or 2 large onions, peeled and quartered; 10 garlic cloves, unpeeled; and 2 parsnips or turnips, chunked. Combine with oil, salt, and pepper as above; a sprig or two of thyme or rosemary is also great. Roast as above, shaking the pan occasionally, until the vegetables are browned and tender.\n\nThe Technique: Broiling/Grilling\n\nMan's first cooking technique may also be his most flavorful. Whether you heat from the top, using the broiler, or underneath, on the grill, the food acquires a tasty crust. It works well with meats, of course, but also with fish, vegetables, and pizza.\n\nBroiled Chicken with Mediterranean Flavors\n\nMakes 4 servings\n\nTime: 45 minutes\n\nSalt and ground black pepper\n\n1 tsp fresh thyme leaves\n\n1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary\n\n1/4 cup roughly chopped parsley\n\nOlive oil as needed\n\n8 bay leaves\n\n8 chicken thighs or drumsticks, or a combination\n\n2 lemons, cut into quarters\n\n1. Preheat the broiler (or heat a grill, if you prefer, to medium).\n\n2. Combine the salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, and parsley in a bowl and add enough olive oil to make a paste. Lift the chicken skin and slide a bay leaf between the skin and the meat. Next, insert a portion of the herb mixture. Push the skin back into place and sprinkle it with salt and pepper.\n\n3. To broil, start with the chicken skin-side down and cook until the top is firm and the fat from the skin has rendered, about 8 to 10 minutes. Turn the chicken skin-side up to crisp. Remove when browned and firm all over. Serve hot or at room temperature, with lemon wedges. (Remove the bay leaves: They're a choking hazard.)\n\nPer serving: 196 calories, 27 g protein, <1 g carbohydrates, 9 g fat (2 g saturated), <1 g fiber, 121 mg sodium\n\nChange It Up: Spicy Grilled Chicken\n\nIn a food processor, combine 1 tsp crushed red pepper, 2 peeled garlic cloves, a 1-inch piece of peeled and roughly chopped ginger, 1 Tbsp rice-wine or other vinegar, 1 Tbsp sugar, and 1 cup canned coconut milk. Process until well combined. Transfer to a saucepan, and simmer over medium heat until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat and cool. Next, make a series of angular slashes in the chicken parts -- two or three slashes per part -- and spread about half of the sauce onto the chicken and into the slashes. Marinate, if you like, and then grill or broil as instructed above, basting with the remaining sauce.\n\nThe Technique: Braising\n\nBraising is the technique responsible for the most-tender meats and the most-complex flavors. To begin, brown the meat on the stove top. Then turn down the heat and cook the ingredients in a small amount of liquid until very tender. Once everything's in the pan, braising requires little or no effort from you. This sweet, smooth Moroccan dish is a great example of the alchemic powers of slow, moist cooking.\n\nLamb Tagine with Fresh Fruit\n\nMakes 4 servings\n\nTime: 1 1/2 hours, mostly unattended\n\n1 Tbsp olive oil\n\n2 lb boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 1-inch chunks\n\nSalt and pepper to taste\n\n1 large onion, chopped\n\n1 Tbsp minced garlic\n\n1 tsp minced ginger\n\n1 Tbsp honey\n\nPinch allspice\n\nGround red pepper, to taste\n\n1/2 tsp ground cinnamon\n\n1 cup red wine or chicken stock\n\n4 apples, pears, or quinces, peeled, cored, and quartered\n\n1 Tbsp lemon juice, or to taste\n\n2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds\n\nChopped fresh parsley or cilantro leaves for garnish\n\n1. Heat the olive oil on high in a broad skillet or Dutch oven. Add the lamb a little at a time. Sear until the meat is nicely browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, remove to a plate, and lower the heat to medium.\n\n2. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, honey, allspice, cayenne, and cinnamon, along with a little more salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens. Return the lamb to the skillet and add the liquid. Bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 45 minutes, stirring once or twice. If the mixture dries out, add wine or stock.\n\n3. When the lamb is tender, add the fruit and cook until the fruit is soft, about 15 minutes. Add the lemon, sesame seeds, and garnish, and serve.\n\nPer serving: 451 calories, 49 g protein, 29 g carbohydrates, 14 g fat (4 g saturated), 4 g fiber, 260 mg sodium\n\nThe Technique: Boiling\n\nPut food in water. Boil until done. You, too, can employ this technique for a healthy soup made with fresh, end-of-summer vegetables. Or trade the seasonal vegetables for pasta or root vegetables for a hearty, midwinter variation.\n\nLate-Summer Minestrone with Fresh Herbs\n\nMakes 4 to 6 servings\n\nTime: 45 minutes to 1 hour\n\n4 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil\n\n1 medium onion, chopped\n\n2 carrots, peeled and chopped\n\n2 celery stalks, chopped\n\n2 sprigs fresh thyme\n\n2 cups summer vegetables (such as green beans, zucchini, or summer squash, peeled if necessary and diced smaller than 1/2 inch), or dark, leafy greens (such as kale or collards), roughly chopped\n\nSalt and freshly ground black pepper\n\n6 cups any stock (we like Pacific Organic Low Sodium Chicken Broth), or water\n\n1 cup cored, seeded, and chopped fresh tomatoes (Canned are fine, too.)\n\n1/2 cup each chopped fresh parsley and basil leaves\n\nFreshly grated Parmesan (optional)\n\n1. Put 3 tablespoons of the oil in a large, deep saucepan or stockpot and turn the heat to medium. Add the onion, carrots, celery, and thyme. Cook, stirring, until the onion softens, about 5 minutes.\n\n2. Add the summer vegetables and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, for 1 or 2 minutes, and then add the liquid and the tomatoes. Bring to a boil, and adjust the heat so the mixture bubbles gently. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft and the tomatoes are broken up, about 15 minutes. (You can prepare the soup in advance up to this point. Cover, refrigerate for up to 2 days, and reheat before proceeding.)\n\n3. Stir in the remaining herbs, taste and adjust the seasoning, add the remaining olive oil, and serve. Top with cheese at the table if you like.\n\nPer serving: 215 calories, 2 g protein, 21 g carbohydrates, 2 g saturated), 5 g fiber, 626 mg sodium (with stock)\n\nChange It Up: Winter Minestrone\n\nUse hard, root vegetables, such as potatoes, parsnips, turnips, or more carrots, peeled if necessary and cut into small cubes; cooking time will be a few minutes longer. Fresh herbs are optional.\n\nPasta \u00e9 Fagioli (Pasta and Bean Soup)\n\nUse whatever vegetables you like -- about half as much as above -- and add 2 cups cooked beans (kidney, white, chickpeas, or a mixture). At the same time, add 1/2 cup of small pasta, like tubetti, or spaghetti broken into bits. Five minutes before serving, stir in a teaspoon of minced garlic.\n\nThe Technique: Saut\u00e9ing\n\nSaut\u00e9ing simply means cooking in a pan with butter or oil over fairly high heat.\n\nIt produces crisp, hot, delicious food on the stove top. This dish, a classic Spanish tapa, takes any vegetable and binds it with egg for a fast, delicious appetizer or a light meal.\n\nSnap Pea and Egg Spread\n\nMakes 6 to 8 servings\n\nTime: 20 minutes\n\n1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil\n\n1 lb fresh snap peas or snow peas, washed and chopped in half\n\nSalt and ground black pepper\n\n1 Tbsp minced shallot\n\n1 Tbsp minced garlic\n\n2 eggs, lightly beaten\n\n1. Put the olive oil in a large, deep skillet and turn the heat to medium. A minute later, add the snap peas. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the peas are soft but not brown, 5 to 10 minutes.\n\n2. Lower the heat, stir in the shallot and garlic, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the eggs and cook, stirring, just until the mixture holds together, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve immediately on toasted bread.\n\nPer serving: 147 calories, 4 g protein, 7 g carbohydrates, 11 g fat (2 g saturated), 2 g fiber, 33 mg sodium\n\nChange It Up: Mushroom and Egg Spread\n\nPerfect dead-of-winter food: Substitute 1 pound of fresh mushrooms (preferably a mixture of two or three kinds, trimmed and roughly chopped) for the peas, and proceed as above.\n\nAsparagus and Egg Spread\n\nWhat you want in the spring: Substitute 1 pound of fresh asparagus for the snap peas or snow peas. Break off the bottoms and chop the rest into 1-inch pieces. Proceed as above.\n\nMark Bittman Mark Bittman is a bestselling author (How to Cook Everything), New York Times food columnist (\"The Minimalist\"), public television host, and regular Today Show guest.\n\nThis content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io"}
-{"text": "Novelist Jonathan Lethem told me in a recent interview that President Donald Trump is dreaming, and there's a whole industry committed to keeping him asleep. In the several months since Lethem offered that wisdom, I have kept on wondering what happens when Donald Trump is finally forced from his slumber?\n\nWe now know the answer.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nOver the tumultuous last two weeks, it has become clear that a patriotic whistleblower had documented how Donald Trump abused his presidential power to extort and bribe Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden for crimes the latter has not committed.\n\nThis is the second time that Donald Trump had colluded with a foreign country to interfere in an American presidential election on his behalf. The Trump administration\u2019s own redacted summary of his phone conversation with Zelensky corroborates the whistleblower\u2019s account. Trump and his representatives, in their bizarre efforts to manufacture a defense for their apparent crimes, have also verified the whistleblower\u2019s account.\n\nLast week, other high-level officials revealed that Trump told Russian diplomats and others during a 2017 private meeting that he was not concerned that Vladimir Putin\u2019s agents subverted the 2016 presidential election on his behalf.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nTrump\u2019s efforts to collude with Ukraine against Joe Biden, the Democratic Party, Congress (which appropriates taxpayer money) and the American people is also a betrayal of America\u2019s foreign policy: Aid and assistance were withheld for personal and political gain, in a way that benefited a hostile foreign power.\n\nGiven what is already known about Trump\u2019s Ukraine scandal, and the highly inappropriate and unusual efforts to conceal the president\u2019s communications with foreign leaders, this is a vast conspiracy that may involves dozens of people in the Trump White House.\n\nIn response to this newest \u201crevelation\u201d about Trump\u2019s apparent and obvious corruption, general criminality and lack of respect for the rule of law and the United States Constitution, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has finally decided to begin a formal impeachment inquiry against Trump.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nIn an interview last week with David Remnick of the New Yorker, Pelosi explained her decision this way: \u201cJust impeaching Trump for his bad behavior isn\u2019t worth it. But, if he challenges our system of checks and balances as he is doing, if he undermines our democracy, our electoral system, as he is doing, if he undermines his own oath of office as he is doing, it is a challenge to our Constitution.\u201d\n\nWriting at the Atlantic, Adam Serwer offered this historical context for Pelosi\u2019s decision in his essay \u201cWhy Republicans Aren't Turning on Trump\u201d:\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nThis is one reason that perceptions among Democrats shifted so fast. In a republic, the people are sovereign. The president used his authority to criminalize or suppress his political rivals, in violation of the people\u2019s right to choose their leadership. His acts exemplify the scenario the Framers feared when they contemplated a corrupt president using executive power to keep himself in office, unaccountable to the people who elected him. Trump\u2019s conduct here is not just impeachable; it is why the impeachment clause exists.\n\nHow has Donald Trump responded to the Democratic Party\u2019s belated efforts to use the power granted to Congress by the Constitution to exercise \u201cchecks and balances\u201d over his illegitimate regime?\n\nPredictably, Trump is raging like an adult baby who in seven decades of life has never been told \u201cno.\u201d\n\nDuring a private meeting last Thursday, Trump reportedly threatened the lives of the whistleblower and whoever provided that person information about the president\u2019s conversation with Zelensky.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nOn Sunday, the president threatened the whistleblower again, proclaiming on Twitter that the whistleblower will face \u201cbig consequences\u201d for \u201cspying\u201d on the president.\n\nOn Saturday, Trump launched (another) racist and anti-Semitic attack against the Democrats he believes are \u201cconspiring\u201d against him in some sort of \u201ccoup d\u2019\u00e9tat\u201d or \u201cuprising.\u201d (Reps. Jerry Nadler and Adam Schiff, the chairs of important committees, are both Jewish. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar, persistent Trump critics on the Democratic left, are women of color.)\n\nHow are Donald Trump\u2019s enablers, protectors and supporters reacting to what appears to be his inevitable impeachment by the House of Representatives?\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nTrump lies in the arms of Fox News and the broader right-wing echo chamber. Its hosts and guests are like fairies who play with Trump\u2019s hair and stroke him to sleep.\n\nBut while the Mad King\u2019s court is trying to lull Trump back to sleep, there are hushed murmurs from the shadows. At some point, the instinct for self-preservation will kick in.\n\nWriting at Truthout, Chris Hedges describes this scene:\n\nThe ground has shifted fast, and as is usually true for any politician, most Republicans are ultimately concerned with self-preservation. Historically, they\u2019ve been more afraid of the response of Trump\u2019s base than of aligning with racism, oppression and corruption. But Trump has cause for concern, as cracks in the GOP\u2019s previously united defense of Trump emerged throughout the week.\n\nAdam Serwer offers this note of caution: \u201cUnless Republican support for Trump craters, Republican legislators will not turn against him. And Republican support for Trump cannot crater as long as many Republicans view their political rivals as illegitimate political actors rather than fellow citizens.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nTrump\u2019s public are possessed by steely loyalty. To decry or condemn Trump would be the same as to condemn themselves. Trump\u2019s cultists will be loyal to the Great Leader until the end. They are the guardians of his sleep.\n\nCollectively, Donald Trump, his advisers and other minions, rank-and-file supporters, the Republican Party, and Fox News and the right-wing media are like a mating ball of fascist authoritarian snakes.\n\nWhat of other, better Americans? The age of Trump has been very difficult.\n\nTrumpism has revealed that our country\u2019s political traditions and institutions were not designed to confront the enemies within \u2014 in this case, a president and political party who have utter contempt for democracy and the rule of law.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nAmerican fascism and the enduring power of white supremacy, nativism and other social pathologies can no longer be denied. Most nonwhites already knew this to be true, as a matter of survival. But too many white Americans were still lying to themselves about the hypnotic power of white supremacy, and about how many of their fellow white citizens (and a small, pathetic number of nonwhites) would embrace racial authoritarianism and fascism if it were presented to them by the right messenger.\n\nMany millions of Americans will protest \u201cThis is not who we are!\u201d when confronted with another example of the Trump regime\u2019s boundless and inexhaustible cruelty. They are stuck in infantile naivet\u00e9 about the true character of their own country \u2014 and, by implication, the true character of many of its people.\n\nTruth and empirical reality itself have been debased, twisted, and corrupted by the Trump movement and the global New Right.\n\nTrump and his allies\u2019 shock doctrine assault on American democracy and society has put the American people, with relatively few exceptions, in a state of learned helplessness.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nIronically, Trump\u2019s overreach in the Ukraine scandal has begun to force at least some Americans out of their pitiable state of weakness.\n\nAs these \"Good Americans\" rise from their state of learned helplessness, they are experiencing hope and fear, exhilaration and worry, exhaustion and rejuvenation, highs and lows, smiles and cries. Because Donald Trump and his authoritarian movement have subjected the American people to so much abuse, there is great fear of disappointment \u2014 the reasonable worry that one can never really escape the abuser. Such an emotional dynamic holds true if the abuser is a parent or intimate partner \u2014 or, in this case, is president of the United States.\n\nThis is a condition of emotional whiplash.\n\nIt is natural for those in such an emotional state to fear being too hopeful. Disappointment is always so close, and so seemingly inevitable.\n\nTo escape learned helplessness, a person must go from a passive and reactive mindset to one of lived agency and action.\n\nYes, we must always acknowledge that hope is a dangerous thing. Yes, there is a looming sense of potential anticlimax: Donald Trump has repeatedly escaped any accountability for his vile behavior. Yes, the hope we feel may be temporarily beaten down by the reality that even if Donald Trump is impeached in the House of Representatives, his Republican minions in the Senate will acquit him promptly \u2014 or may never hold a trial leading to a formal vote on his guilt or innocence.\n\nBut despots, tyrants, authoritarians and demagogues such as Donald Trump are universally afraid of hope. They know that when a people embrace hope and then act upon it, their regime will be torn down. Whatever form it may take, authoritarianism is raw hegemonic power that is hyper-aware of its own vulnerability. Trump and his Republican Party know this to be true. That is why they fear and hate \"We the People\" democracy.\n\nTo fully purge America of Trumpism (and all that caused it) will require a national reckoning. This will be painful. It will also be joyous. Hope is a necessary precondition for that resistance, that struggle, and the building of a new and better America after Donald Trump."}
-{"text": "Churnalism is a form of journalism in which press releases, wire stories and other forms of pre-packaged material are used to create articles in newspapers and other news media in order to meet increasing pressures of time and cost without undertaking further research or checking. BBC journalist Waseem Zakir has been credited for coining the term churnalism. According to Zakir, the trend towards this form of journalism involves reporters becoming more reactive and less proactive in searching for news - \"You get copy coming in on the wires and reporters churn it out, processing stuff and maybe adding the odd local quote. It's affecting every newsroom in the country and reporters are becoming churnalists.\"\n\nFor example, since I hate writing introductory paragraphs I copy-pasted the last two paragraphs from Wikipedia rather than bother to write them myself. I put them into a blockquote to make it clear that they're not mine, because I believe that I should make it clear to my readers what parts of an article I've written, and what parts I haven't.\n\nJournalists engaging in churnalism don't bother with this, but a website launched a couple of months ago, Churnalism.com, has been set up to catch them out:\n\nChurnalism.com is an independent, non-profit website built by the Media Standards Trust (charity number 1113680) to help the public distinguish between original journalism and 'churnalism'.\n\nIt's a fascinating tool, and like all good tools it's very simple to use. If you paste the text from a press release into the box on the front page, the software will trundle off and have a bit of a rummage around stories it's seen in the UK media lately to see how much their text matches the words in the press release.\n\nAre some science journalists guilty of churnalism? Absolutely. For a bit of fun I had a play with some copy from the UCL press office. Out of 18 stories released by UCL this year, three or four have been substantially copied, while most of the rest apparently lacked the necessary 'yakawow' to really make an impact in the media at all. You can see the churnalism results below:\n\nPredictably, dinosaurs, space and sex feature prominently. The press release about a new 'thunder-thighs' dinosaur was carried almost verbatim by the Telegraph and Independent, while copy about its single-fingered relative formed the backbone of pieces in the Mail, Times and Mirror. A Mail article about Saturn is more substantially rewritten, but contains no original reporting. The Telegraph are caught out again with a version of \"Love: it's all the same to the brain\" that, if not quite a carbon-copy, is at the very least pretty bloody boron.\n\nSpacedinos like Henrietta are notoriously yakawow.\n\nAside from my brief effort, you can find numerous examples of science story shenanigans on the site, so just how widespread is this? Manual searches aren't going to tell us much, but churnalism.com has a public API, so an enterprising sort could perhaps set up some code to look at RSS feeds from major sources like EurekAlert!, plug the text into the site and find matches automatically. The results would be interesting, and I hope someone does it.\n\nDoes churnalism in science reporting actually matter? Well in individual cases it probably doesn't a lot of the time, but if we look at the big picture there are two serious problems with it.\n\nFirstly, churnalism like this undermines editorial integrity. It's really not a lot different to running unmarked advertorials: both practices allow a potentially-biased third party to have their unchallenged message disguised as a piece of objective journalism, and published under a supposedly neutral(ish) banner. There's nothing wrong with substantial quoting (around 25% of this article is quotes), but failure to properly attribute material deceives readers, and if newspapers are going to use third-party copy this extensively then at the very least it should be clearly marked as such.\n\nSecondly, it makes the paid journalists who do it redundant. Or to borrow Ed Yong's words:\n\n\"If you are not actually providing any analysis, if you're not effectively \"taking a side\", then you are just a messenger, a middleman, a megaphone with ears. If that's your idea of journalism, then my RSS reader is a journalist.\"\n\nThere's nothing wrong with curating content to pass on for a wider audience - Ed Yong and I do that daily on Twitter - but if journalists aren't contributing original reporting, or providing context, or challenging statements made by university press officers, or even just adding informed opinion, then they're not really doing journalism. At a time when we need to develop new models to support professional journalism online, that may not be a wise path to travel too far down.\n\nContact: layscience@googlemail.com | @mjrobbins\n\n\u2022 This post was amended on 27 April to remove a paragraph saying that a piece by a Daily Mail reporter, Fiona MacRae (whose name was originally misspelt McRae) was copied from a press release by online retailer abeautifulmummy.co.uk. The post stated \"The site tells us that 96% of the PR copy has been used ('cut'), making up 97% of the Mail article ('pasted').\" The Daily Mail contacted the Guardian to say that this was incorrect. In the first instance it was news agency copy based on the press release that the Daily Mail site published under the byline 'Daily Mail Reporter', and it was this agency material, not a press release, that was later rewritten by Fiona MacRae with some additional reporting. The blog author, Martin Robbins, will post further on this subject in the thread below, which will remain open for any ensuing comments."}
-{"text": "SINCE the arrival of Common Worship, the Sunday lectionary between Easter and Pentecost (based on the Revised Common Lectionary) prescribes readings from the Acts of the Apostles at the principal Sunday service.\n\nThese are meant to replace an Old Testament reading during Eastertide, which means that, if there are three readings at a Sunday eucharist, they are all from the New Testament. Even if there is to be only one reading before the Gospel, Acts has precedence. (An Old Testament option is provided, somewhat grudgingly, but even if this is used it must not supplant the Acts reading).\n\nThere is an obvious logic to reading the early chapters of Acts in Eastertide, as the Church lives out its Easter hope and looks forward to the coming of the Holy Spirit.\n\nBut, although it makes sense in thematic terms, I find it hard work liturgically. The problem is the clash of two often strong (and sometimes long) narrative passages coming one after the other: Acts and then a Gospel; either one of the resurrection appearances of Jesus, or a passage on resurrection life from John. You want to listen to those: they really matter.\n\nActs needs space to be heard well, which is why I find that I am more likely to attend to it when it is read in the course of the daily office than when it is crowded into a Sunday eucharist.\n\nIt is not that I don\u2019t appreciate Acts: in purely literary terms, it is probably one of the best compositions in the Bible, skilfully crafted to tell its story of the Spirit\u2019s work in the Early Church. It also wonderfully reflects the Mediterranean urban world in which Christianity emerged and spread, giving a vivid insight into ordinary secular life, commerce, travel, law, and gossip, as well as the dangers of fire and shipwreck. Thematically, it both completes the mission of Jesus from Luke\u2019s Gospel, and provides a careful apologetic for the mission of Paul, who, at the end of the story, is in Rome, still free, though awaiting trial.\n\nI know that there are those for whom the Acts of the Apostles is a blueprint for the mission of the Church today, and who might jump at the chance for a programmatic exposition of the narrative in preaching. I don\u2019t read Acts in that way, but I do see anticipations and warnings of how the Spirit works through human frailty to form communities shaped by the gospel. I don\u2019t always like the results \u2014 one thinks of Ananias and Sapphira \u2014 but we need to know the worst if we are to emulate the best.\n\nSo, I want to do justice to the Acts of the Apostles, but I am afraid that, on Sunday mornings between Easter and Pentecost, it all rushes past in a bit of a blur."}
-{"text": "Image caption Fraill (left) initiated the Facebook exchanges after Sewart was cleared\n\nA juror, who contacted a defendant via Facebook, has admitted contempt of court in the first case of its kind in the UK involving the internet.\n\nLondon's High Court heard that Joanne Fraill, 40, contacted Jamie Sewart, 34, who had already been acquitted in a drugs trial costing \u00a36m in Manchester.\n\nBecause other defendants were still on trial, the judge decided to discharge the jury, and the case collapsed.\n\nSewart was also found to be in contempt.\n\nShe had admitted the online contact took place but denied it amounted to an offence.\n\nThe case, brought by the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve QC, was heard by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, sitting with Mr Justice Ouseley and Mr Justice Holroyde.\n\nAnalysis Last year, the Lord Chief Justice used a speech to effectively warn that someone will end up behind bars if jurors use the internet to find out information about cases they are trying. That someone is Joanne Fraill, a previously hard-working woman of good character who broke every rule in the book. Her case and likely forthcoming jail sentence for Contempt of Court sets a legal precedent because it is the first time that the judiciary has tackled what many of their number suspect has been going on. There are anecdotal stories of jurors digging around the internet to research defendants and academic research found as many as 12% of jurors in big trials could be doing so. The finding against Fraill is a very public statement by the Lord Chief Justice that just because it is easy to contact people online, it is unacceptable to do so where it interferes with justice.\n\nSentencing is expected to take place on Thursday.\n\nThe maximum penalty for contempt is two years imprisonment.\n\nLord Judge told mother-of-three Fraill, from Blackley, Greater Manchester, that she should expect to be sent to prison.\n\nBut he said he would not be able to decide on the length of the term until a linked appeal against conviction brought by another defendant in the case - who was potentially affected by her actions - was concluded.\n\nHe told Sewart, from Bolton, that any prison sentence on her would be suspended because she has a three-year-old child from whom she had already been separated during the crown court trial.\n\nAt the High Court hearing, Fraill admitted she had made online contact with Sewart and discussed the case with her while the jury's deliberations were continuing.\n\nShe also admitted revealing details of the jury's deliberations during that online conversation - contrary to Contempt of Court Act 1981 - and conducting internet research into a defendant whose case she was trying as a juror during the trial.\n\nThat was despite the judge reminding all the jurors that they must decide the case solely on the evidence given in court.\n\n'Home and dry'\n\nFraill was on a jury in a case which had already been halted twice.\n\nAll that note-taking was just killing time. lol. drew more than I wrote Facebook comment by Joanne Fraill\n\nOn 3 August last year, the judge in the third trial of the alleged drugs gang gave jurors the option of deciding the verdict by a majority rather than unanimously.\n\nBut the High Court was told the trial was stopped the following day when Sewart's solicitor informed the court that his client and Fraill had been in contact by Facebook.\n\nThe court heard the initial contact came after Fraill went on the social networking website and tracked down Sewart, saying: \"You should know me - I've cried with you enough.\"\n\nFraill was said by her lawyer to have felt \"considerable empathy\" for Sewart as the trial \"\"gathered in momentum and intensity\".\n\n\"Can't believe they had u on remand,\" she said in another one of their conversations, a transcript released by the court shows.\n\nFraill added she thought she recognised one of the other defendants and when asked by Sewart how the jury was dealing with one of the outstanding charges said: \"Cant get anywaone to go either no one budging... don't say anything cause jamie they could cause miss trial\".\n\nThe two continued to talk about the case and used expressions such as \"lol\" and other internet slang, as well as variants of spelling commonly used in such messages.\n\nFrail also said: \"At least then yer all home n dry\".\n\nAnd Sewart responded: \"Ha ha, ur mad. I really appreciate everythin. If i cud of kissed u all i would of done ha ha.\"\n\nHer conduct, though reprehensible, was not calculated or designed by her to subvert the trial process Peter Wright QC\n\nShe went on to say: \"Keep in touch and I'll get u a nice pressie...\"\n\nThe pair agreed to become Facebook friends after the trial.\n\nFraill also described her role on the jury in their conversations. \"All that note-taking was just killing time. lol. drew more than i wrote lol,\" she said.\n\nSolicitor General Edward Garnier QC told the High Court that that contact and discussion were in direct breach of the judge's repeated directions to the jury - and it constituted a contempt of court.\n\nPeter Wright QC, for Fraill, said his client was terrified at the prospect of prison and was distraught and inconsolable about what she had done.\n\nHe described her as a woman of completely unblemished character before she \"lost her senses\" in the Facebook exchanges.\n\nHe said she only contacted Sewart because she saw in the younger woman's life her own.\n\n\"Her conduct, though reprehensible, was not calculated or designed by her to subvert the trial process, although it is conceded that that was an inevitable consequence of it,\" he added.\n\nLeaving court, Sewart said she was \"massively relieved\" to be told she would not serve a custodial term.\n\nShe added: \"I regret everything. She contacted me. My mind was in a whirlwind. I had just been acquitted. When I sat back and thought about it I realised I should report it and I did.\""}
-{"text": "Develop Lisp applications using the Cusp Eclipse plug-in\n\nLisp isn't just for artificial intelligence anymore -- Try it and you may think of Java and C programming differently\n\nCusp, an Eclipse development environment for Lisp\n\nCusp is a development environment for the Common Lisp programming language. Using Lisp, you can develop all sorts of applications, including Web applications. Lisp is the second oldest programming language still used widely today (after Fortran) and is known as the first functional language. The creation of Lisp began in the late 1950s and was first implemented in 1958 by the MIT Artificial Intelligence (AI) Project. Its strength is in the processing of lists: AI and symbol mathematics. In fact, Lisp is short for \"list processor,\" which was the need under which this programming language was created, as you'll see in the following paragraphs (see Related topics for Lisp historical information).\n\nYou'll notice that Lisp is not at all like other general programming languages. For example, in most general programming languages, you perform multiplication just as you would on paper: int times = 5 * 5 ;.\n\nWith Lisp, the following would produce 75: (* 5 5 3) . The maximum in this list: (MAX 9 8 7 6 20) returns 20.\n\nNotice that the phrase \"first functional language\" here is apt, as everything is based on functions. Each function can have a variable number of parameters. The processing of these lists using recursion and Lisp functions like car and cdr is the power of list processing using Lisp.\n\nGiven Lisp's age, you can find many development environments for it. However, also inherent to old programming languages, the tool support is mostly text-based and not intuitive for newcomers. Thus, one reason to try Cusp is that it has an intuitive GUI for newcomers to learn and develop Lisp in, rather than a text-based \"try-to-remember-all-of-these-commands\" type of interface. It also has the advantage of the superb project management features inherent in the Eclipse GUI framework.\n\nBefore going on, you'll need to download the latest Eclipse classic bundle from Eclipse.org. Then you'll learn how to install and set up Cusp.\n\nInstalling Cusp\n\nYou should now have a zipped-up archive of the Eclipse classic bundle. Un-archive it and run eclipse.exe.\n\nTo get the latest version of Cusp: click Help > Software Updates > Find and Install. Click the Search for new features to install option. Now click the New Remote Site button. Type the name as Cusp update site and the URL as http://www.sergeykolos.com/cusp/update , and click OK (see Figure 1).\n\nFigure 1. Entering remote site information for Cusp\n\nClick the checkbox next to the new remote site you added and click Finish (see Figure 2).\n\nFigure 2. Selecting the Cusp Eclipse Update Site\n\nYou'll be brought to another window where you need to expand the Cusp Eclipse Update Site and select Cusp, as shown below.\n\nFigure 3. Selecting features to install\n\nClick Next. Then read and accept the license agreement by clicking I accept the terms in the license agreement and click Next. Make sure all the libraries are selected, as shown below, and click Next again.\n\nFigure 4. Selecting optional features\n\nThe last page gives you an installation summary of the features you're about to install. Click Finish. The plug-in and its components will download and install. After the download, you'll get a warning saying that you're about to install an unsigned feature. Click Install all. At the end of the installation, you'll be asked to restart Eclipse; click Yes.\n\nYou've installed the Eclipse Cusp plug-in. Next, you'll set up a Lisp project.\n\nSetting up a Lisp project\n\nBefore Lisp development can begin, you need to set up a new Lisp project. You can do so by going to File > New > Project. Expand the Lisp folder, click Lisp Project, and click Next. Choose a name for the new project, my_new_lisp_project, as shown below, then click Finish.\n\nFigure 5. Naming your new Lisp project\n\nAfter clicking Finish, your new project gets created and the Lisp perspective opens, as shown below.\n\nFigure 6. The Lisp perspective\n\nBehold the Lisp perspective. The Lisp Navigator window shows your open project, along with its associated files. The Outline window shows an outline of the currently open file. The top-right window, showing main.lisp, is the Lisp development window. The bottom-right window, REPL, is the command-line Lisp interpreter, where you can run Lisp commands.\n\nIn the event you close Eclipse and reopen it, you'll need to load your projects .asd file, as shown below.\n\nFigure 7. Loading your ASD file\n\nNote that you need to right click the my_new_lisp_project.asd file under the my_new_lisp_project folder and select Load asd. What this essentially does is compile your Lisp project in the REPL window, allowing you to enter Lisp commands that can use your new code.\n\nNext, you'll try out some Lisp development using Cusp.\n\nLisp development using Cusp\n\nFirst, you'll define a simple custom function and test it, as well. Open the main.lisp file and, using the defun (define function) command, and add the following:\n\n... (defun first_howdy_function () \"howdy ho\")\n\nSave the file. To export the function from within the package, type the following code in defpackage.lisp:\n\n... ;; Exported symbols go here first_howdy_function ))\n\nThe function can be used from outside the package. To test your new function, type the following in the lower window of REPL: (my_new_lisp_project:first_howdy_function) .\n\nNote that for the scope you're in, this is the same as entering (my_new_lisp_project::first_howdy_function) . This is what you would have to type if you didn't export the function in defpackage.lisp.\n\nClick Send and check out the output. The output from entering either of the above commands is as follows:\n\nCOMMON-LISP-USER> (my_new_lisp_project:first_howdy_function) \"howdy ho\"\n\nThere you have it: your first Lisp Howdy function.\n\nTry an echo function with an input to it:\n\n... (defun first_echo_function (echoval) echoval)\n\nAs with the last function, export it in defpackage.lisp. You'll test this first_echo_function by typing the following in the lower portion of the REPL window: (my_new_lisp_project:first_echo_function '(\"howd\" \"y h\" \"o\")) . Note that the '(\"howd\" \"y h\" \"o\") portion is the syntax for defining a list. First, the single quote must precede the parentheses, then the list elements are defined within the parentheses. The output is shown below:\n\nCOMMON-LISP-USER> (my_new_lisp_project:first_echo_function '(\"howd\" \"y h\" \"o\")) (\"howd\" \"y h\" \"o\")\n\nYou'll create a method to process each list element individually, which is the true power of Lisp. Define it as follows:\n\n(defmethod concat2 ((str1 string) (str2 string)) (concatenate 'string str1 str2))\n\nNote that the above method actually defines a type string. Up to now, you've been using Lisp as a largely typeless language. Though the double quotes implicitly types data as strings, the above method explicitly types both the input and output to the concat2 function as strings. This method also uses the built-in concatenate function to combine two strings and return them as a single string.\n\nTo test concat2 , export it, then type (my_new_lisp_project:concat2 \"howd\" \"y ho\") . Its output is as follows:\n\nListing 7. The output of concatenating two strings\n\nCOMMON-LISP-USER> (my_new_lisp_project:concat2 \"howd\" \"y ho\") \"howdy ho\"\n\nThere you have it. The strings \"howd\" and \"y ho\" become \"howdy ho.\" Now you'll create a more generalized concatenation function using the two functions Lisp is famous for: car and cdr .\n\nListing 1. Concatenating three elements in a list\n\n(defun concat3 (args_list) (concat2 (car args_list) (concat2 (car (cdr args_list)) (car (cdr (cdr args_list))))))\n\nNote that this function still uses the concat2 function, but takes as its input a parameter list. Take note of how each section of the concatenation is retrieved from args_list . The car takes the first element from the list. The cdr returns the list minus the first element. You can see how you'd get the first element by just calling the car function on the list. Obtaining the second element requires calling the cdr on the list, then the car on the new list. The third element is taken by calling the cdr on the list twice and calling car on the final list.\n\nThe output of the above function after exporting it is as follows:\n\nCOMMON-LISP-USER> (my_new_lisp_project:concat3 '(\"howd\" \"y h\" \"o\")) \"howdy ho\"\n\nAnd there you go. The three strings were concatenated correctly to produce \"howdy ho.\" Next, you'll create a recursive function.\n\nRecursion using Lisp\n\nThe last function you're going to create is going to take some recursion, where the true power of list processing using Lisp lies. Iteration is possible (looping through each item one by one), but unlike general languages like the Java language, recursion is by far the easiest way to process lists in Lisp. You'll know exactly what recursion is by the end of this section.\n\nBegin by creating a recursive concat function.\n\nListing 2. Recursive concatenation (unlimited parameters)\n\n1 (defun concat_recursive (args_list) 2 (if (equal (cdr args_list) nil) 3 (car args_list) 4 (concat2 (car args_list) 5 (concat_recursive (cdr args_list)))))\n\nRecursion can be a difficult concept to tackle, so lets walk through this one:\n\nAssume an arbitrary argument list is passed to the above function.\n\nIf there is only one element in the list (the (cdr args_list) portion on line 2 returns nil), return the single element (the (car args_list) on line 3).\n\nportion on line 2 returns nil), return the single element (the on line 3). If there is more than one element in the list (meaning the (cdr args_list) portion on line 2 did not return nil), return the result of concatenating (using concat2 ) the first element of the list (see line 4) and the result of recursively calling concat_recursive using the result of (cdr args_list) as parameters (see line 5).\n\nWhen passing the following list as a parameter, '(\"ho\" \"wd\" \"y\" \" h\" \"o\") , the following is a walk-through of the output:\n\nThe first time line 2 is reached, the if statement is false, and concat2 is called with \"ho\" and (concat_recursive '(\"wd\" \"y\" \" h\" \"o\")) .\n\nstatement is false, and is called with and . The second time line 2 is reached, the if statement is again false, and concat2 is called with \"wd\" and (concat_recursive '(\"y\" \" h\" \"o\")) .\n\nstatement is again false, and is called with and . The third time line 2 is reached, the if statement is again false, and concat2 is called with \"y\" and (concat_recursive '(\" h\" \"o\")) .\n\nstatement is again false, and is called with and . The fourth time line 2 is reached, the if statement is again false, and concat2 is called with \" h\" and (concat_recursive '(\"o\")) .\n\nstatement is again false, and is called with and . The fifth time is the magical time when the recursion ends. This is because this time, the if statement on line 2 is now true, and \"o\" is simply returned. The recursion unwinds as follows:\n\nFourth time: \" h\" and \"o\" are concatenated and returned. Third time: \"y\" and \" ho\" are concatenated and returned. Second time: \"wd\" and \"y ho\" are concatenated and returned. First time: \"ho\" and \"wdy ho\" are concatenated and returned as the final result.\n\nstatement on line 2 is now true, and is simply returned. The recursion unwinds as follows:\n\nAnd there you have it \u2014 \"howdy ho\" ultimately gets returned, as shown below:\n\nCOMMON-LISP-USER> (my_new_lisp_project:concat_recursive '(\"ho\" \"wd\" \"y\" \" h\" \"o\")) \"howdy ho\"\n\nYou have added recursion to your Cusp development arsenal. Try out the debugger next.\n\nDebugging using Cusp\n\nThink of input conditions that will cause concat_recursive to fail, so that the debugger might come in handy. One is that you could send a number mixed in with the strings to see what happens. Remember that the concatenation using concat2 requires two strings, so a number will cause this function to break within the recursion.\n\nType the following command: (my_new_lisp_project:concat_recursive '(\"ho\" \"wd\" \"y\" 55 \" h\" \"o\")) . Note the number 55 without being enclosed in double quotes is not a string and will cause the debugger to appear, as shown below.\n\nFigure 8. Triggering the debugger\n\nNotice the main error triggering the debugger is that concat2 cannot be called on the list: (55 \" ho\") . Also notice that the \" h\" and \"o\" were already concatenated before the error got triggered.\n\nIn the debugger window, you can also see the ==Backtrace== , shown in Figure 8. Each of the lines underneath it (0-19, in this case) give a detailed trace from when you click Send to the occurring fault. Here, you can also see and follow the recursion leading up to the numeric 55 that triggered the fault.\n\nWhat now? You have three options in the above case to exit the debugger, and to modify and validate your input to the function: You can abort the command and return to the regular REPL window; you can close the connection (via testing, it's found you'll need to reboot Eclipse to restart the Lisp processor if you choose this option); or you can simply abort the debugger and return to the regular REPL window. The best option to exit the debugger is always to abort the command and return to the regular REPL window.\n\nThere you have it. You've implemented a recursive function in Lisp.\n\nSummary\n\nYou completed this Lisp development using the Cusp Eclipse plug-in successfully. You should now know why Lisp is so powerful. Through simple recursive statements, you can power process lists of symbols and data easily. Cusp complements the capabilities of Lisp with the help of the built-in Cusp debugger, a solid GUI with project management capabilities, an interactive Lisp editor, and the command-line interface to the Lisp processor where you can enter commands and test your code. Be sure to review the Related topics for more information.\n\nDownloadable resources\n\nRelated topics"}
-{"text": "Rumors about Generation 2 Pokemon and the elusive Ditto have circulated since the first week of Pokemon GO. But for the first time, we actually have new information on both!\n\nv0.45.0 brought new code to the APK that revealed new features soon to come. The Silph Road has audited the APK to see what could be learned. After a preliminary look through the v0.45 APK\u2019s code, we can confirm the following:\n\n1. ONE NEW MOVE HAS BEEN ADDED TO THE GAME: TRANSFORM\n\nIt is a quick move (as opposed to a charge/special move).\n\nTRANSFORM now appears both in the GAME_MASTER file with its own animation sequence (as all moves have) and the APK code itself, as the only new move addition yet since the game launched.\n\n2. 100 NEW POKEMON ARE NOW REFERENCED IN THE GAME\u2019S CODE\n\nPokedex #152 (Chikorita) to #251 (Celebi)\n\nMoveset data has not appeared for the 100 new species, and a client-side update (e.g. v0.45.1) will be required for them to begin appearing in-game\n\n3. 52 NEW POKEMON FAMILIES NOW APPEAR\n\nAgain from Chikorita to Celebi\n\nIncludes Ho-Oh and Lugia, etc.\n\n4. NEW SPONSOR: GLOBE NOW APPEARS\n\n(This may have been added in v0.43.4, but either way was previously announced and discussed on the Road)\n\n5. THE LOCKOUT SYSTEM\n\nA bunch of new code for the anti-gym-sniping (lockout) system has appeared.\n\nIt appears to function just as described, with a new error message if you are locked out, an \u2018ending millisecond\u2019 timer for deploy lockouts, etc.\n\n6. THE QUEST SYSTEM\n\nDaily quest code, including daily bonuses and a weekly bonus according to a multiplier have now appeared\n\n7. THE \u2018CONDOLENCE\u2019 RIBBON\n\n(This also went live in the previous version, but we wanted to catalog it here for historical reasons.)\n\nUsed when Niantic placed a black condolence ribbon on Thai players at the passing of the King.\n\nA WORD ON DITTO\n\nWhile it may seem Ditto is now in the game, the GAME_MASTER file does not currently include the recently added move TRANSFORM in Ditto\u2019s movesets. Currently, the only move Ditto knows is: STRUGGLE . It is possible that TRANSFORM may never officially become a Ditto \u2018move\u2019 so to speak, but will instead simply be an \u2018occurrence\u2019 that happens every time Ditto enters combat. Notably, however, the TRANSFORM animation sequence was not only added as an animation sequence, but as a \u2018move\u2019 in the movelist in the APK code.\n\nA WORD ON GEN 2\n\nPresently, no moveset data has been assigned to the new species. Furthermore, the moves themselves haven\u2019t even appeared in the code yet. This means a server and client-side change will have to occur before Gen 2 is launched. So nothing to hold your breath for, travelers. It may yet be a few more weeks or months. But Niantic has certainly been picking up momentum. At this point, it\u2019s anyone\u2019s guess when these major additions might find their way into the Pokemon GO universe.\n\nIt may only take a server-side update, to update Ditto\u2019s moveset. It is our opinion that if the GAME_MASTER file is ever updated to give Ditto the new Transform move, we can almost guarantee that gelatinous beast will be findable in the game. We\u2019ll certainly be looking!\n\nHopefully these efforts to boil down the update are useful for helping you know what\u2019s happened, confirming that no new features were overlooked, and quelling or confirming rumors, travelers.\n\nNiantic is hauling. We haven\u2019t seen re-balances and additions come back to back this quickly in the history of the game. Can\u2019t wait to see what their plans are on these new fronts! Something tells us big things are happening sooner than later\u2026\n\nTravel safe,\n\n\u2013 Executive Dronpes \u2013"}
-{"text": "Pol\u00edtica\n\n\u201cLlamamos a los orientales a una verdadera rebeli\u00f3n democr\u00e1tica que nos lleve a revelarnos contra la desesperanza\u201d, dijo el candidato de Cabildo Abierto.\n\nEn el club Juan Zorrilla de San Mart\u00edn de Artigas, Guido Manini R\u00edos candidato del partido Cabildo Abierto llev\u00f3 a cabo su lanzamiento de campa\u00f1a junto a su esposa, Irene Moreira, que es edila del Partido Nacional, Alicia Deciderio, vicepresidenta del Partido Cabildo Abierto, entre otras autoridades y allegados.\n\n\"Hoy es un d\u00eda hist\u00f3rico para nuestro movimiento y para nuestro pa\u00eds. Es un d\u00eda hist\u00f3rico para la ciudad de Artigas y los artiguenses\", comenz\u00f3 Manini R\u00edos durante su oratoria.\n\n\"Hoy hace su lanzamiento de campa\u00f1a un partido de alcance nacional, llamado a ser protagonista en la pol\u00edtica de nuestro pa\u00eds: el Partido Cabildo Abierto\", agreg\u00f3.\n\nManini R\u00edos destac\u00f3 el lugar en donde se llev\u00f3 a cabo el lanzamiento, que es \"la ciudad m\u00e1s alejada de Montevideo. Eso es para demostrar que las propuestas son para todas las partes, las zonas que a veces quedan afuera de las decisiones que toman bur\u00f3cratas que est\u00e1n c\u00f3modamente sentados en las sillas de la capital\".\n\n\"Cabildo Abierto ha nacido como un viento renovador en la pol\u00edtica, en un sistema pol\u00edtico en el cual la gente cada vez cree menos. Tomamos esos nombres y queremos impulsar a Cabildo Abierto como una opci\u00f3n para la gente\", a\u00f1adi\u00f3.\n\nPor otro lado, el candidato a la presidencia por Cabildo Abierto record\u00f3 que en recorridas por Montevideo y el interior ha notado una \"profunda preocupaci\u00f3n de miles de uruguayos que han perdido la esperanza y nos alarma ver la resignaci\u00f3n de la gente ante cosas que nos golpean duramente como gente comiendo de la basura, durmiendo en la calle, viviendo de limosnas y lo peor de todo, si ning\u00fan camino a su alrededor que les permita pensar salir de esa situaci\u00f3n\"\n\n\"Nos preocupa que estemos acostumbrados a ver la sistem\u00e1tica violaci\u00f3n de los derechos humanos que se producen en este pa\u00eds como nunca en su historia\", dijo Manini R\u00edos.\n\nAdem\u00e1s, destac\u00f3 la \"incapacidad del Estado\" y se\u00f1al\u00f3 que \"No puede garantizar libertad y derechos\". \"Vamos a cambiar eso si o si, llamamos a los orientales a una verdadera rebeli\u00f3n democr\u00e1tica que nos lleve a encontrarnos con nuestras ra\u00edces y a revelarnos contra la desesperanza\", explic\u00f3 el excomandante en jefe del Ej\u00e9rcito Nacional.\n\nPor otro lado, Manini R\u00edos destac\u00f3 que los problemas en la salud, como la \"falta de ambulancias, emergencias sin insumos necesarios, falta de planes concretos, medicamentos costosos, y escases de especialistas\" son temas que est\u00e1n en su agenda de gobierno.\n\nAdem\u00e1s, aprovech\u00f3 para criticar a la ley de bancarizaci\u00f3n obligatoria y a los negocios del gobierno, se\u00f1alando que el Estado \"le pone alfombra arroja a empresas extranjeras, pero permite que quiebren y cierren las empresas locales\".\n\n\"Lo vemos en la industria l\u00e1ctea, citr\u00edcola, arrocero, eso no puede pasar cuando hablamos de un pa\u00eds productivo en serio\", enfatiz\u00f3.\n\nPor otra parte, en materia de seguridad, Manini R\u00edos dijo: \"Se le termino el recreo a los malandras. Vamos a procurar las herramientas legales necesarias para en los primeros meses de nuestro gobierno empezar a cambiar y que se sienta un viento diferente, que el delincuente va a pagar caro por su delito\".\n\n\"Vamos a proponer una ley de urgente consideraci\u00f3n para combatir la delincuencia en forma integral, le daremos el respaldo necesario a la polic\u00eda\", a\u00f1adi\u00f3.\n\nEn el tema justicia, el candidato de Cabildo Abierto se\u00f1al\u00f3 que van a proponer otro CPP, debido a que \"el que est\u00e1 en vigencia es un fracaso, no ha estado a la altura de los requerimientos de estos tiempos, donde hay responsabilidad en todo el sistema pol\u00edtico, que lo vot\u00f3 pensando en que iba a hacer magia\".\n\n\"Vamos a atender a la situaci\u00f3n de las c\u00e1rceles del Uruguay, una verg\u00fcenza nacional. Vamos a hacer el primer lugar donde manden los guardias y no los presos. Vamos a hacer trabajar a todos los presos, para que le devuelvan al estado lo que gasta en ello y que empiecen a rehabilitarse agarrando habito de trabajo\", destac\u00f3.\n\nLa batalla al narcotr\u00e1fico y combatir la corrupci\u00f3n fueron temas que destac\u00f3 Manini R\u00edos de cara a su agenda de gobierno.\n\n\"Vamos a disponer auditorias en todas las reparticiones p\u00fablicas. Queremos mostrarle al pueblo uruguayo en qu\u00e9 situaci\u00f3n se recibi\u00f3 el pa\u00eds, llevar ante la justicia si surge presunci\u00f3n de delito\", explic\u00f3.\n\n\"Estamos dispuestos a asumir el papel que la constituci\u00f3n nos otorga, vamos a ejercer la autoridad como corresponde a partir de marzo de 2020 va a haber un gobierno que va a enfrentar a todos aquellos que ponen en riesgo el cumplimiento o respeto a los DDHH de los uruguayos\", concluy\u00f3 en su oratoria.\n\nMontevideo Portal"}
-{"text": "Advocates hope a human rights settlement involving a transgender woman who was barred from a Hamilton bus terminal washroom will lead to greater inclusivity.\n\nCoun. Aidan Johnson says the city must tighten up policy regarding transgender rights, which were enshrined by changes to Ontario's human rights code in 2012.\n\n\"We need to do a better job of enforcing our existing policy and this case made that clear.\"\n\nIn 2014, a security guard denied a transgender woman access to a women's washroom at the MacNab bus terminal. She took her case to Ontario's human rights tribunal.\n\nOn Monday, the city announced some of the terms of the settlement.\n\nIt plans to \"codify\" its commitment to safe and accessible use of municipal facilities, such as washrooms, in a formal written policy, give extra training to employees and post signs where needed.\n\nThe rest of the settlement terms are confidential, city spokesperson Kwab Ako-Adjei noted, declining to say whether financial compensation was involved.\n\nSome municipal facilities already have gender-neutral signage indicating that either gender can use an available washroom, Ako-Adjei said.\n\n\"But where that's not the case, we will post the appropriate signs nearby emphasizing our commitment (to respecting trans rights).\"\n\n[ Trans woman barred from women's bathroom at MacNab terminal ]\n\n[ Burlington may make family bathrooms gender neutral ]\n\nSince 2012, new city employees have been obliged to take training that deals with a variety of workplace harassment and human rights issues.\n\nBut the city hopes to make differing departmental policies uniform across the board, Ako-Adjei noted.\n\nAfter the 2014 incident, the city apologized to the woman, who hasn't been identified by name.\n\nThrough a representative, the complainant originally told The Spectator she was not pursuing the complaint for cash compensation.\n\nIn Monday's joint statement, the complainant said she hopes \"employees will be more aware and respectful in the future.\"\n\nClara Matheson, her lawyer, said the resolution sends a \"strong message\" that should encourage municipalities to review their policies.\n\n\"It's really about inclusion, and a person's human right to be treated with dignity and respect,\" said Matheson, who works with the Human Rights Legal Support Centre in Toronto.\n\nIn 2012 the Ontario legislature passed www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&BillID=2574 \">Toby's Act, amending the province's human rights code to include gender identity and gender expression as prohibited grounds of discrimination.\n\nAs a result, trans people have the legal right to use a washroom or change room based on their self-identified gender.\n\nLoading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...\n\n\"It's important that all public washrooms are accessible to people according to their gender expression,\" said Cole Gately, a trans activist who lives in Hamilton.\n\n\"The person who is most vulnerable when a trans person uses a public washroom is the trans person,\" he added.\n\nSafety for trans people is one of the main drivers of Burlington's effort to make its washrooms more accessible, says Coun. Blair Lancaster.\n\nThe city is \"re-signing\" single-unit public washrooms so that they're not directed exclusively to men and women.\n\n\"We're getting feedback on what the sign should actually say,\" said Lancaster, a member of the city's inclusivity committee.\n\nJohnson \u2014 Hamilton's first openly gay councillor \u2014 argues making the city a better place for trans people also makes economic sense.\n\nFor decades, many in the LGBTQ community have left for Toronto, \"where there's a more welcoming community.\"\n\n\"So this isn't just a human rights issue. This is, 'Does Hamilton want a brand of welcoming, and a brand of inclusivity, and a brand of modernity?'\"\n\nDeirdre Pike, a local LGBTQ activist, believes the city is taking positive steps.\n\nShe hopes city hall takes the time to train its several thousand employees and not just a few.\n\n\"When you put up a sign without the adequate training behind it, it really can increase acts of violence or harassment.\"\n\nJohnson plans to float a motion at Wednesday's council meeting to have the city fly the Transgender Pride flag for the first time at City Hall during Hamilton LGBT Pride Week in June.\n\nHis motion also proposes clarifying the city's recognition of trans equality."}
-{"text": "Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), enterprise blockchain firm R3 and other participants have completed a blockchain trial that they say resulted in faster property transactions.\n\nThe tech partner on the project, R3-affiliated Instant Property Network (IPN), announced Thursday that the trial used test data to carry out simulated property transactions over a distributed ledger system over a five day period. The effort, the firm said, demonstrated that the real estate buying and selling process could be reduced from more than three months to \u201cless than three weeks.\u201d\n\nCurrently, the property market uses a paper and email-based approach, which is \u201ccomplex, slow, and inefficient,\u201d IPN said. There are generally at least eight parties involved in each property transaction, besides the buyer and seller, all of whom have to go through the process of sharing information involving many documents, platforms and databases. That leads to \u201cdelays in transactions, errors, increased costs and uncertainty for all parties,\u201d said the firm.\n\nUsing blockchain technology for the process could save the global property market about $160 billion annually, IPN suggested.\n\nDan Salmons, director for mortgage innovation at RBS, said:\n\n\u201cWhat has made a real difference here is that R3 has brought representatives of all the key parties involved in the process together, so as a result we can see the potential for a network of this kind to improve transparency and speed for customers, and reduce cost and complexity for all involved.\u201d\n\nIPN claims to have created a system where participants in a real estate sale can transact directly and retain control over their own data. The firm said it is now onboarding \u201cdozens\u201d of more private and public sector firms for the next phase of the project, and is targeting September for the release of the next version of its platform.\n\nOther participants in the trial included U.S.-based law firm Squire Patton Boggs, U.K.-based law firms Ashurst and Clifford Chance, and property data firm Search Acumen, according to the announcement.\n\nCommenting on the effort, R3 CEO David Rutter said, \u201cNot only has it shown that distributed applications work and the benefits are real and substantial, it has also shown that there is huge appetite in the market to evaluate it.\u201d\n\nHome for sale image via Shutterstock"}
-{"text": "Police are looking for people they say fired multiple gunshots toward two rock climbers in Little Cottonwood Canyon on Monday. No one was hurt.\n\n\n\nUnified Police Lt. Brian Lohrke said Tuesday that no suspects had yet been identified in the incident, and it was uncertain if the shots were fired to scare the climbers, or with the intent of wounding them. The incident remained under investigation.\n\n\n\nThe shots were fired about 6 p.m. Monday. UPD canyon patrol officers responded and escorted the climbers to safety. Police found shell casings at the scene across Little Cottonwood Road near 5300 East, about 500 feet from where the two were climbing.\n\nClimbers at the scene told police they could hear the bullets whizzing by, striking rocks around them, Lohrke said.\n\n\n\n\u201cOne witness stated [that] a green passenger car with approximately three occupants could have been involved,\u201d Lohrke said. \u201cThe vehicle left the canyon before officers arrived.\u201d\n\n"}
-{"text": "Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday continued a pattern of pardons tied to Christian religious days, granting clemency to 65 convicted criminals, including a Los Angeles man who spent 15 years in prison for a 1977 murder conviction.\n\nBrown\u2019s pardon of Robert Phillip Brown provided no details of the convict\u2019s crime, nor his case for clemency, other than to say the man had obtained a Superior Court order last year testifying that since release from prison, \u201che has lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character, and conducted himself as a law-abiding citizen.\u201d\n\n\nThe governor also gave clemency to Francisco Nunes, who served two years in prison for a 1996 involuntary manslaughter conviction in San Diego County, and James Vercillino, convicted of vehicular manslaughter in 1987 in Santa Clara County.\n\nThe remaining pardons involve drug-related convictions.\n\n\nBrown granted 128 pardons in 2012, up from 21 his first year in office, and surpassing the 16 pardons and 10 commuted sentences that his predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, signed in seven years in office. Seventy-nine of Brown\u2019s 2012 pardons were announced on Christmas Eve. Saturday\u2019s press release announcing the latest batch of pardons tied them to \u201cthe eve of Easter.\u201d\n\nAs a young man, Brown spent four years in a Jesuit seminary studying to be a Catholic priest.\n\n\npaige.stjohn@latimes.com"}
-{"text": "Adam Schefter explains the impact Justin Houston's recovery from ACL surgery could have on the Chiefs. (0:31)\n\nKANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Justin Houston had ACL surgery in February, putting his availability for the 2016 season in doubt.\n\nChiefs trainer Rick Burkholder said the normal rehab period for such a procedure is between six and 12 months.\n\n\"We're hoping just because of his work ethic and he's been a fast healer in the past that's not the case and that he'll be able to play this season,'' Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. \"It's too early to be able to tell on that.\"\n\nHouston is one year removed from a 2014 season in which he led the NFL with 22 sacks. His 2015 season was interrupted by a knee injury that caused him to miss the regular season's final five games. He returned to play in both playoff games, though he wasn't effective and didn't play a full role in either game.\n\nHouston went to see noted orthopedic surgeon James Andrews after the season for the knee injury, which the Chiefs said was to the posterior cruciate ligament. Andrews performed arthroscopic surgery on Houston's knee in early February.\n\n\"When Dr. Andrews took a look inside his knee, he determined his ACL was intact,'' Burkholder said. \"It just wasn't functioning. He didn't do anything at that moment, brought him out of surgery. We all got on the phone, discussed everything and decided to have his ACL fixed.\"\n\nChiefs linebacker Justin Houston led the NFL with 22 sacks in 2014. AP Photo/Ed Zurga\n\nBurkholder said Houston had the ACL surgery on Feb. 16.\n\n\"Right now he's in the middle of the process of total rehabilitation for an ACL injury,\" Burkholder said. \"It was a little bit tricky because his ACL wasn't torn, but it wasn't functioning the way it should. So Dr. Andrews fixed that.\n\n\"It's too early to tell where he's at right now,\" Burkholder said. \"But he's on the road to recovery.\"\n\nThe Chiefs would replace Houston with Dee Ford, their first-round draft pick in 2014. Ford started in Houston's absence late last season and had a three-sack game against the San Diego Chargers.\n\nThe Chiefs recently re-signed their other outside linebacker, Tamba Hali."}
-{"text": "Beautiful Melbourne 1947)\n\nThis film, put together by the Brotherhood of St Laurence in 1947, increased public awareness of the dire state of those living in slum housing in Melbourne.\n\nLength: 16 minutes 10 seconds Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1 (Academy full frame)\n\nFeatured in the The Depression collection\n\nProduction company: Realist Film Unit\n\nSource: NFSA title number: 5821\n\nEducation Resources:\n\nclip 1, 2"}
-{"text": "Customers play a car racing arcade game at a Dave & Buster's Entertainment Inc. location in Pelham, New York, U.S. on Friday, March 24, 2017.\n\nCheck out the companies making headlines midday Wednesday:\n\nMattel \u2014 Toy maker Mattel's stock jumped 5.3% on news that the company rejected a second merger offer from Bratz doll maker MGA Entertainment. MGA CEO Isaac Larian revealed the attempted merger in emails he shared with Reuters, which showed he demanded to become Mattel's chairman and CEO and that all of Mattel's board members resign \"without any further compensation.\"\n\nBeyond Meat \u2014 The plant-based meat products maker jumped 12.6% after the company announced that its breakfast sandwiches are now available at almost 4,000 Tim Hortons restaurants across Canada. Beyond Meat did not include the Canadian coffee chain in its revenue forecast as it was still in testing stages.\n\nLam Research \u2014 Lam Research, which specializes in semiconductor processing equipment, dropped more than 5% after an analyst at Evercore ISI downgraded the stock to in line from outperform, citing a slower-than-expected recovery within the chipmaker space. The analyst also downgraded and cut price targets on other semiconductor stocks, including Western Digital and Micron Technology.\n\nDave & Buster's Entertainment \u2014 Shares of Dave & Buster's plunged more than 22% on a disappointing quarterly report. The restaurant and entertainment company reported earnings of $1.13 per share on $364 million in revenue, both missing consensus estimates from Refinitiv. The company also lowered its full-year revenue guidance.\n\nChico's FAS \u2014 The retailer's stock fell 3.8% on the back of a bigger-than-expected drop in quarterly same-stores sales. Chico's reported same-store sales dropped 7% in the previous quarter, while analysts polled by Refinitv expected a slide of 6.6%. The weak sales offset stronger-than-forecast earnings.\n\nCrowdStrike Holdings \u2014 Shares of CrowdStrike Holdings, a company that provides cloud-based security, skyrocketed more than 70% in their first day of trading. The company's IPO was priced at $34 per share. CrowdStrike shares traded around $67 a share midday.\n\nCisco Systems \u2014Cisco shares fell 2.2% after an analyst at William Blair downgraded the stock from to market perform from outperfom. The analyst cited \"tightening demand across the IT infrastructure universe\" and increased competition, among other factors, for the downgrade.\n\nFarfetch \u2014 Shares of the online luxury retail platform climbed 0.4% after KeyBanc initiated them with an overweight rating, citing a potential for a \"secular tailwind\" for the company as luxury goods gain a bigger online presence.\n\nTeva Pharmaceutical Industries \u2014 Teva shares dropped more than 4% after a judge rejected its $85 million settlement with the state of Oklahoma to end an opioids-related case. The news raised concern that Teva's liability in the case could be bigger than the settlement.\n\n\u2014CNBC's Marc Rod, Elizabeth Myong, Mallika Mitra and Jesse Pound contributed to this report."}
-{"text": "Following his visits to Tampa and Orlando last Friday, Democratic U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders is offering endorsements to some local candidates in Florida, including Anna Eskamani, Carlos Guillermo Smith, and Lee Mangold in Florida House races.\n\nSanders, the Senator from New Hampshire, went to both towns to stump for Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum\u2018s gubernatorial campaign. But before the speeches, he sat down with a number of local Democrats in each place.\n\nThe result: the patriarch of current Democratic progressive politics is weighing in on some of their races.\n\nIn Central Florida, Sanders announced endorsements of Mangold in House District 28, Eskamani in House District 47, and Smith in House District 49.\n\nSanders also endorsed Democrat Sanjay Patel\u2018s congressional campaign in Florida\u2019s 8th Congressional District, covering Brevard County, north Indian River County, and east Orange County.\n\nIn addition, Sanders announced his backings for Cindy Polo in House District 103, Dotie Joseph in House Disrict 108, Wesley Anne Beggs for Sarasota County Commission, and Sarah McFadden in House Districxt 106.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m proud to be supporting nine incredible candidates for office in Florida,\u201d Sanders tweeted, with pictures of the nine, including Gillum. \u201cEarly voting has begun so let\u2019s get out the vote to transform Florida from the bottom on up!\u201d\n\nA couple of the campaigns were touting their endorsements.\n\n\u201cSenator Sanders is a champion for all these values, as am I,\u201d Mangold, who faces Republican David Smith in the HD 28 race, stated in a news release. \u201cI\u2019m truly honored to receive his endorsement and I will continue to fight for ALL working families \u2013 regardless race, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability \u2013 to ensure that we don\u2019t reserve the American Dream for only a select few or allow it fade away.\u201d\n\nOffered Eskamani, who awaits a winner of the Republican primary, Mikaela Nix or Stockton Reeves, in the November election:\n\n\u201cWe envision a Florida where every person \u2014 no matter who they love, how much money they make, where they live, or who they worship \u2014 can live life to its fullest potential. I feel confident that with our victory in November, we\u2019ll be able to build that state together.\u201d"}
-{"text": "On a surprisingly unsexy stretch of south LA adjacent to a SpaceX parking lot, Elon Musk unveiled The Boring Company\u2019s working test tunnel Tuesday evening, and invited the public to inspect his first big hole in the ground. This long-anticipated tunnel is the first rideable prototype emerging from Musk\u2019s years-long, multi-city endeavor to provide a clean, efficient solution to urban congestion that famously emerged out of his frustration with LA traffic.\n\nThe Hawthorne tunnel on view on is merely a proof-of-concept, and not intended for general public consumption. The technology used to build it was only the first-gen Boring Machine named Godot (as in, \u201cWaiting for,\u201d) and is the best they have until second-gen \u201cLine-Storm\u201d (see a rendering below) is finished.\n\n\"This is what physics suggests should be possible.\"\n\nEven then, the promise of tunneling tech that is ten times better than what\u2019s currently the industry standard doesn\u2019t manifest until \u201cPrufrock,\u201d its third-gen machine, can be modified based on the expected learnings of Line-Storm. \u201cThis is what physics suggests should be possible,\u201d Musk told invited guests.\n\n\"Linestorm\"\n\nSo what\u2019s special about this Hawthorne test tunnel? Well, it works, for one \u2014 a feat that Musk, also the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, was eager to celebrate by offering demo rides to invited guests and members of the media.\n\nBoring Company Launch Event: What Elon Unveiled\n\nThe event centered on what\u2019s confusingly referred to as the \u201ctwo-mile test loop\u201d (it\u2019s actually 1.14 miles). The cozy 12-foot diameter tunnel has overhead lighting strips (\u201cThey\u2019re functional,\u201d commented Boring Company representatives to me) that look almost like party lights, blazing a rainbow ombre trail through the atmospherically misty white tunnel and, now, a test track. When a Tesla Model X enters the Loop, specially aligned wheels fit snugly within concrete guidance tracks, or \u201cshelves,\u201d as you see below:\n\nThough it\u2019s far from a \u201chyperloop,\u201d the tracks are designed to eliminate the potential for navigational errors and ensure safe passage through the narrow tube as passengers zipped away at a coy 30ish mph (well below the 150mph capable speed) during test rides.\n\nAt the other end of the track, docking on the exposed-girder car lift, the extra-broad forehead of the Model X\u2019s windshield allowed for an inspiring view of that widening patch of sky before our driver \u2014 who in future iterations will be replaced by an autonomous EV \u2014 popped up surface-side and smoothly turns out onto a sun-drenched street. Michael Jackson\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Stop \u2018Til You Get Enough\u201d whooped on surround-sound speakers.\n\nThe test tunnel remains rough around the edges, and the guiding \u201cskates\u201d on the car lurched us side to side a few times as we sped over concrete shelves that hadn\u2019t been polished up yet. This is one of many items on the Boring Company\u2019s to-do list; settling on the best way to manufacture these shelf segments quickly and smoothly.\n\nDespite its small stature, the Hawthorne tunnel has already contributed immense knowledge to research and development for tunneling technology. Local regulatory committees and geographical quirks of the region (earthquakes, methane, oil fields) also make Hawthorne an ideal place to refine the process, Musk said.\n\n\u201cHawthorne is like Broadway for tunneling,\u201d he quipped. \u201cIf you can build a tunnel here, you can build a tunnel anywhere.\u201d\n\n\"If you can build a tunnel here, you can build a tunnel anywhere.\"\n\nThe Boring Company aims to be as vertically integrated as possible, and is the first construction company to make and cure the concrete tunnel segments on site with dirt trucked out continuously from the excavation that proceeds without pause, rather than ferrying materials back and forth between construction and manufacturing. By syncing and automating the formerly tedious process of digging, excavating, and reinforcing, the Boring Machine\u2019s patient and electronic progress cuts down on time, cost, and environmental impact.\n\nWhat\u2019s Next for the Boring Company Test Tunnel\n\nWhen visualizing future operations, Musk continues to suggest a $1 admission per pedestrian passenger, to undercut or match current public transportation costs, and make it as widely accessible as possible \u2014 which is nice, considering that otherwise, you\u2019d need to own a modded-out autonomous Tesla with deployable tracking wheels.\n\nMusk hasn\u2019t patented this technology either, and openly invites other companies to try their hands \u2014 both at a solution to traffic, and at engineering their current and future vehicles to integrate into Loop-standard tunnels.\n\nFor now, he has abandoned the \u201cskate\u201d idea of attaching mini sleds to cars, and will instead focus on deployable wheels for future Tesla models, which means that other auto manufacturers will also need to develop similar vestigial add-ons to their products. The industry will undoubtedly catch up, but for a while, it seems to be a wide-open field for Tesla.\n\nYou can check out a short clip of the new souped-up Model X being used to test the Hawthorn tunnel in the video below."}
-{"text": "Export/Download Printable Text (.txt) CSV Multiverse id (.txt) Markdown/Reddit MTGO (.dek) MTG Salvation\n\nMTG Arena\n\nCopy to clipboard\n\n3 Abyssal Persecutor (IMA) 78 3 Bazaar Trader (WWK) 3 Cascade Bluffs (2XM) 313 3 Crumbling Necropolis (MYS1) 45 3 Dark Ritual (MYS1) 82 3 Darksteel Reactor (DST) 3 Demonic Tutor (MYS1) 93 3 Donate (UDS) 3 Forbidden Crypt (6ED) 4 Graven Cairns (2XM) 320 4 Immortal Coil (ALA) 3 Island (ZNR) 269 3 Lich's Mirror (ALA) 3 Lightning Bolt (JMP) 342 3 Mind Spring (C20) 116 3 Mountain (ZNR) 275 4 Rupture Spire (JMP) 495 3 Scrambleverse (M12) 6 Swamp (ZNR) 272\n\nCopied to clipboard. You can now import it in the MTG Arena client.\n\nIn TappedOut's comments/forums\n\nIn TappedOut's comments/forums with pie-chart\n\nOn your blog\n\nThis will require TappedOut.js included in your blog."}
-{"text": "Cow? Horse? Camel?\n\nYOLO creators Joseph Redmon and Ali Farhadi from the University of Washington on March 25 released YOLOv3, an upgraded version of their fast object detection network, now available on Github.\n\nAt 320 x 320, YOLOv3 runs in 22 ms at 28.2 mAP, as accurate but three times faster than SSD. It also runs almost four times faster than RetinaNet, achieving 57.9 AP50 in 51 ms on a Pascal Titan X.\n\nThe first generation of YOLO was published on arXiv in June 2015. The model framed objects separated by bounding boxes and associated class probabilities to treat them as a regression problem. A base YOLO model could detect images in real-time at 45 frames per second, while Fast YOLO was capable of processing 155 frames per second, while still outperforming other real-time detectors.\n\nIn 2016 Redmon and Farhadi developed YOLO9000, which could detect up to 9,000 object categories using the improved YOLOv2 model. At 67 frames per second, the detector scored 76.8 mAP on the visual object classes challenge VOOC 2007, beating methods such as Faster RCNN. The model was also trained to detect unlabelled objects.\n\nThe new YOLOv3 follows on YOLO9000\u2019s methodology and predicts bounding boxes using dimension clusters as anchor boxes. It then guesses an objectness score for each bounding box using logistic regression. The model next predicts boxes at three different scales, extracting features from these scales using a similar concept to feature pyramid networks. Redmon uses a hybrid approach to perform feature extraction, building on former YOLOv2, Darknet-19 and residual networks. The new network, Darketnet-53, is significantly larger and has 53 convolutional layers.\n\nWhen the duo ran YOLOv3 on Microsoft\u2019s COCO Dataset it performed on par with RetinaNet and SSD variants, indicating the model\u2019s strength at fitting boxes to objects. However when the IOU threshold raises the model struggles to align boxes perfectly with objects. Redmon and Farhadi say the model does not work well on average AP between 0.5 and 0.95 IOU metric, but performs very well on a threshold metric of 0.5 IOU. It also performs better with small objects than with large objects.\n\nOn a side note, it\u2019s worth mentioning that Redmon and Farhadi\u2019s paper is not only a step forward in object detection, it\u2019s also peppered with humour. Andrej Karpathy retweeted that the paper \u201creads like good stand up comedy.\u201d\n\nAli Farhadi is the Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. He also leads Project Plato \u2014 which uses computer vision to extracting visual knowledge \u2014 at the Allen Institute of Artificial Intelligence. His student Joseph Redmon is the YOLO paper\u2019s first author. Redman\u2019s personal website is called Survival Strategies for the Robot Rebellion.\n\nJournalist: Meghan Han | Editor: Michael Sarazen\n\nDear Synced reader, the upcoming launch of Synced\u2019s AI Weekly Newsletter helps you stay up-to-date on the latest AI trends. We provide a roundup of top AI news and stories every week and share with you upcoming AI events around the globe.\n\nSubscribe here to get insightful tech news, reviews and analysis!"}
-{"text": "Unable to prevent revellers urinating against their trees, Roskilde Festival in Denmark installed tree-mounted urinals by Dutch designers Aandeboom.\n\nThe movie above shows the P-Tree urinals in use at Mysteryland festival near Amsterdam.\n\nThe urinals are made of rotational-moulded plastic and can either connect to the main sewage system or a tank with a pump.\n\n50 of the orange urinals were strapped to tree trunks for the festival last weekend.\n\nHere are some more details from Aandeboom:\n\nP-Tree at Roskilde Festival 2011\n\nThe P-Trees were a great success at the Roskilde Festival 2011 in Denmark, with more than 100,000 visitors and many of them using the P-TREE more than once. For Roskilde AANDEBOOM produced 50 P-Trees in the typical Roskilde Orange color. The P-Trees were placed on 2 different spots near the main stage. By using the P-Tree the festivals problem with public peeing was significant reduced.\n\nThe P-Tree is a temporary tree-friendly urinal that can be fixed on every tree using straps and lashings. The P-Tree gives a feeling of freedom.\n\nThe P-Tree can be hooked up to a central sewage system or connected to a tank with a pump.\n\nMaterial: rotation moulded recycled plastic, stainless steel and straps and lashings. The P-Tree and lashings are available in different RAL colours."}
-{"text": "Moses Malone, the legendary 3-time NBA MVP who had one of the sport's most storied careers, has passed away at age 60.\n\nDet. Jeffrey Scott of the Norfolk, Virginia Police Department confirmed that Malone died in a Norfolk hotel room. He said there was no indication of foul play. Malone's body was discovered when he failed to report to a celebrity golf tournament in which he was scheduled to play.\n\nMalone, whose nickname was \"The Chairman of the Boards,\" was one of the NBA's all-time 50 greatest players, and was the most successful basketball player of his era to jump right from high school to the pro ranks.\n\nGet Breaking News Delivered to Your Inbox\n\nAmong his many feats, he helped end the city of Philadelphia's pro sports championship drought, earning the NBA Finals MVP in 1983 when he and \"Dr.\" Julius Erving brought home the series victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.\n\nPhiladelphia 76ers Julius Erving, left, and Moses Malone, right, hold the NBA Championship trophy after defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles, May 31, 1983 AP Photo/File\n\nIn a statement, the 76ers said: \"It is difficult to express what his contributions to this organization - both as a friend and player - have meant to us, the city of Philadelphia and his faithful fans. Moses holds a special place in our hearts and will forever be remembered as a genuine icon and pillar of the most storied era in the history of Philadelphia 76ers basketball.\"\n\nOne of the greatest to ever represent the city of Philadelphia. #FoFoFo https://t.co/oTbrBf8yfy -- Philadelphia 76ers (@Sixers) September 13, 2015\n\nOne of the greatest to ever represent the city of Philadelphia. #FoFoFo https://t.co/oTbrBf8yfy \u2014 Philadelphia 76ers (@Sixers) September 13, 2015\n\nMalone is the NBA's career leader in offensive rebounds and led the league in rebounds per game for five straight seasons from 1980-85.\n\nMalone was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001 and attended the induction ceremonies for the year's class in Springfield, Massachusetts this weekend.\n\nDrafted by the Utah Stars of the ABA in 1974, Malone went on to play for eight NBA clubs and was the league's MVP in 1979 and 1982 while playing for the Houston Rockets.\n\n\"Everyone in the organization is deeply saddened by the passing of Moses Malone,\" Rockets owners Leslie Alexander said. \"Moses was a true gentleman and one of the great Rockets - and greatest NBA players - of all time. He will be forever missed. Our deepest condolences go out to his family and friends.\"\n\nMalone joined the 76ers the following season and added his third MVP award while leading the 76ers to that championship after making his famed \"Fo', Fo', Fo',\" prediction that the Sixers would win their playoff series in four-game sweeps.\n\n\"No one person has ever conveyed more with so few words - including three of the most iconic in this city's history,\" 76ers CEO Scott O'Neil said. \"His generosity, towering personality and incomparable sense of humor will truly be missed.\""}
-{"text": "A federal judge blocked enforcement of President Donald Trump\u2019s ban on transgender men and women serving in the U.S. armed forces on Monday.\n\nTrump\u2019s memorandum on the ban, which he released in August after first announcing the policy change in a series of tweets in July, has faced legal challenges from current and aspiring transgender service members who \u201cfear that the directives of the Presidential Memorandum will have devastating impacts on their careers and their families,\u201d United States District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her order.\n\nThe reasons the Trump administration gave for enacting the ban, she continued, \u201cdo not appear to be supported by any facts.\u201d While Trump defended the policy change as a cost-saving measure, analyses of the military budget found that spending on health care for transgender service members would be minuscule.\n\nTrump\u2019s memorandum came just over a year after the Pentagon\u2019s 2016 decision to lift the ban on transgender service members, which followed an exhaustive review of military readiness policies. However, Trump claimed he reversed the decision after consulting military experts.\n\nMonday\u2019s court order requires both Trump and the plaintiffs to file a joint status report detailing how they plan to proceed in the matter by Nov. 10.\n\nRead the full court order here."}
-{"text": "\n\nView Larger Map\n\nToronto is home to some pretty strange houses and front lawns. And living around Dupont and Christie, I've had a chance to take a look at quite a number of them, clustered as they are in this area. I've often wondered, however, where else I could find such quirky architecture and/or laugh-inducing landscaping. Well, by combining the resource (read distraction) that is Google Street View with the recommendations of blogTO's followers on Twitter, my curiosity has been mostly satisfied. I've just taken a virtual tour of some of the weirdest properties in the city, and I thought I'd share the experience.\n\nI don't know the stories behind most of these \"projects,\" but a little digging revealed some interesting information about the ones in my neighbourhod. The infamous white elephant on Yarmouth Rd., for instance, was designed by Matt Donovan as part of his thesis project at OCAD, entitled \"An Elephant in the Room.\" The sculpture was then given to James Lawson, a resident on the street. Although I'm constantly amazed that other residents haven't battled to have the elephant \"put to rest,\" I have to say that having walked by it hundreds of times, it's really grown on me. I can't imagine the street without it.\n\nJust around the corner to the west is another oddity. Known as the \"House of Parashos,\" when I first moved into the area, I thought that it might be an oddly placed Greek restaurant. As it turns out, the house is resident Andy Parashos's ode to Greece, and is the result of years of work.\n\n\n\n\n\nView Larger Map\n\nHeading back toward the east, I was anxious to see the Street View capture of 473 Clinton St., a property covered with pool cues and other woodworks. Unfortunately, the foliage of the trees on the property covers much of homeowner Albino Carreira's work. For a closer look, check here.\n\n\n\nView Larger Map\n\nThose unfamiliar with Mr. Carreira's house, might just have seen his minivan around town. Covered in figurines of all kinds, the white Plymouth Voyager resembles something of a moving art installation. Parked just up the street from Carreira's home on the day Google did its sweep, it's thankfully unobstructed and easy to zoom in on.\n\nBelieve it or not, all three of the above properties were the subject of an art exhibit curated by Duncan Farnan at the Harbourfront Centre a few years ago.\n\n\n\nView Larger Map\n\nMoving away from my own area, my information about these oddball houses is less researched. I've heard that the cubes on Sumach St. are actually an occupied home, the architectural design of which was inspired by similar abodes throughout Rotterdam, but I've yet to confirm this.\n\n\n\nView Larger Map\n\nThe \"doll house\" at 44 Bertmount Ave. is also pretty fascinating, if not from an architectural standpoint (!).\n\n\n\nView Larger Map\n\nLess gaudy, but still strange is 157 Coxwell Ave.\n\n\n\nView Larger Map\n\n199 Gladstone Ave. is odd in a subtle sort of way.\n\n\n\nView Larger Map\n\nThe wacky homes at Leslie St. and Bond Ave. may have been around for a decade or so, but never cease to look strange to me. Rumour has it that an architect built the residences to live in himself (herself?), but perhaps someone out there has more details or accurate information.\n\n\n\n\n\nView Larger Map\n\nIt's easy to make fun of these places, but at the end of the day, I firmly believe that they add an intriguing element to this city that it desperately needs. Thanks to our loyal followers on Twitter for so many good suggestions. And, of course, if you know of other wacky properties around town, leave a comment and I'll try to add to the post!\n\nReader Suggestions:\n\nThe tiny house at 36 Hanson St., courtesy of commenter, Mark.\n\n\n\nView Larger Map\n\nThe narrowest house in the city at 339 Shuter St., courtesy of commenter, the Beerad.\n\n\n\nView Larger Map\n\nA strange, church-like structure at 78 Abbott Avenue, courtesy of commenter, Kevin.\n\n\n\nView Larger Map\n\nA rival to the \"House of Parashos\" on Cedarcrest Blvd., courtesy of commenter, Rob\n\n\n\nView Larger Map\n\nHere's a Twitter recommendation that I forgot. The house is located on Markham St. south of Dundas St. Are those stuffed animals in plastic bags?"}
-{"text": "Bethesda Games has released the first official trailer for Fallout 4. After starting a 24-hour countdown clock yesterday, the developer released a teaser trailer announcing the new game, which can be seen below.\n\nThe fourth game in the core Fallout series, it is the third since Bethesda acquired the series, following Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. The franchise was created by Interplay Entertainment in 1997.\n\nThe Fallout series takes place in a post-apocalyptic, retrofuturistic wasteland in the 22nd and 23rd century. Typically, players take control of one of the Wasteland\u2019s inhabitants as they embark on an adventure through one a specific area of the barren United States. Fallout 4 Previous locations have included Southern California, Washington D.C., and Las Vegas.\n\nIt looks like Fallout 4 will take players to post-apocalyptic Boston, as som previous rumors had suggested.\n\nBethesda is promising to premiere the game at their E3 Showcase on Sunday, June 14 at 7:00pm PT, so look forward to seeing the game in action then, and maybe even getting a release date."}
-{"text": "I&I Editorial\n\nAt first impression, former Vice President Joe Biden\u2019s commanding win in South Carolina looks like a real resurrection. The most stunning thing about it, in fact, may be that his 48% of the vote in a crowded field immediately booted Pete Buttigieg out of the presidential race. The ex-South Bend, Indiana, mayor, for all intents and purposes, had tied Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for the top spot in both Iowa and New Hampshire.\n\nEven in the age of streaming and social media, Buttigieg\u2019s unexpected wins or near wins feel like they were just seconds ago. Yet now possibly the best debater in the Democrat field is suddenly gone.\n\nBut no matter what happens on Super Tuesday, Democrats seeking to oust President Donald Trump in November who are happy about Saturday are celebrating a Pyrrhic \u2013 or maybe more accurately geriatric \u2013 victory.\n\nButtigieg\u2019s campaign is telling reporters that he departed the race for the sake of party unity and the need to settle on a nominee who will win a little more than eight months from now. The subtext, however, is to stop the far-left Sanders from leading the entire Democratic slate on a kamikaze mission while there remains time to do so.\n\nIn last week\u2019s CBS debate, Buttigieg warned, \u201cwe\u2019re not going to win these critical, critical House and Senate races if people in those races have to explain why the nominee of the Democratic Party is telling people to look at the bright side of the Castro regime.\u201d\n\nThe continued candidacy of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who finished behind even the fourth-place Buttigieg in the Palmetto State on Saturday, also helps in the anti-Sanders mission since her votes would almost all belong to the Vermont socialist were she to drop out.\n\nEven given his purported centrism, is Biden really the man with the best chance of beating the president?\n\nAt the end of his interview headlining the \u201cFox News Sunday\u201d program, Biden got host Chris Wallace mixed up with rival NBC \u201cMeet the Press\u201d host Chuck Todd. A minor flub? Perhaps, but they are part of a routine pattern that shows no sign of lessening for Biden.\n\nStumbles Or Senility?\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s Chris, but anyway \u2026\u201d a sympathetic Wallace corrected him, after Biden said, \u201cAlright Chuck. Thank you very much.\u201d Then an obviously frustrated Biden said, \u201cI mean Chris. I just did Chris. No, no, I just did Chuck. I tell you what, man, these are back to back. Anyway, I don\u2019t know how you do it early in the morning, too.\u201d\n\nEarlier, Biden did not seem capable of explaining to Wallace why he wrongly claimed he was \u201carrested on the streets of Soweto\u201d in South Africa seeking to see an incarcerated Nelson Mandela (more than 760 miles away at the time in Robben Island) when, according to the Biden campaign, he was actually detained briefly at the airport in Johannesburg for refusing to be segregated from the blacks in his delegation. He also told Wallace that last week\u2019s gaffe \u2014 \u201cI\u2019m a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate\u201d \u2014 was actually a reminiscence of his days campaigning in Delaware.\n\nHis remark in a debate in September asserting that non-white parents \u201cdon\u2019t know what quite to do, play the radio, make sure the television \u2026 make sure you have the record player on at night\u201d in an age in which even CDs and DVDs, never mind LPs and 45s, have been rendered obsolete, also suggests senility, as does his pledge on Friday that \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to appointing the first African-American woman to the United States Senate.\u201d He obviously meant the Supreme Court.\n\nAnd these are but a small sampling of the continuous magnetism between Biden\u2019s foot and mouth.\n\nTrump\u2019s laugh line at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday that \u201cJoe\u2019s not going to be running the government\u201d is actually a realistic and grave concern that will be fully fleshed out by the Trump campaign if Biden wins the nomination. A Democrat president in 2021 and beyond who is fatigued and strained by age, and possibly dementia, will be dominated and manipulated by whoever is around him, in this case the increasingly dominant and aggressive left of the party.\n\nSanders, though more than 14 months older than Biden, shows his age far less and is sure to be a powerful, assertive force both at this year\u2019s Democratic convention in Milwaukee and during a Biden presidency, as will Sanders allies, ranging from Warren to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York City. Just as AOC\u2019s \u201cSquad\u201d has made Nancy Pelosi\u2019s speakership much more complicated, the forces of the left within the party, even outside Congress in the shape of ideologically driven Democrats, such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, can be expected to make it their business to bully a weak president surrounded by surrogates, handlers, and puppetmasters.\n\nChances are, though, it will never get that far. An anti-establishment president with a historically strong economy, one of the most loyal bases in political history, and an unprecedentedly combative style is unlikely to fall to a lifelong professional politician whose eccentricities were already legion, but is now unmistakably a shadow of his former self.\n\nIn the aftermath of the costly Battle of Asculum in the third century B.C., King Pyrrhus of Epirus famously answered the congratulations extended to him with the admonition, \u201cIf we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.\u201d In his campaigns in the years thereafter, Pyrrhus was subjected to repeated defeat and revolt, hence the term \u201cpyrrhic victory.\u201d Which is exactly what seems to be coming in the months ahead for the warring factions of the Democratic Party if Joe Biden emerges as their alternative to Donald Trump.\n\n\u2014 Written by Thomas McArdle\n\nNote to Readers: Issues & Insights is a new site launched by the seasoned journalists behind the legendary IBD Editorials page. Our mission is to use our decades of experience to provide timely, fact-based reporting and deeply informed analysis on the news of the day.\n\nWe\u2019re doing this on a voluntary basis because we think our approach to commentary is sorely lacking both in today\u2019s mainstream media and on the internet. If you like what you see, feel free to click the Tip Jar over on the right sidebar. And be sure to tell your friends!\n\nWe Could Use Your Help Issues & Insights was founded by seasoned journalists from the IBD Editorials page. Our mission is to use our decades of experience to provide timely, fact-based reporting and deeply informed analysis on the news of the day. We\u2019re doing this on a voluntary basis because we think our approach to commentary is sorely lacking both in today\u2019s mainstream media and on the internet. You can help us keep our mission going. If you like what you see, feel free to visit our Donations Page by clicking here. And be sure to tell your friends! You can also subscribe to I&I: It's free!\n\nShare this...\n\n\n\n\n\nReddit\n\nLinkedin\n\nemail"}
-{"text": "My class skyped James Franco this morning So I guess you could say things are gettin' pretty serious\n\n106 shares"}
-{"text": "Watch also in iWant or TFC.tv\n\nOutsourced PLDT workers protest the termination of their service contract with the company. But PLDT asserts, the move is part of a labor department order. - Business Nightly, ANC, July 2, 2018"}
-{"text": "Cyber attacks have changed over past few years. Rogue hackers can now take over your PC and lock down files unless you are ready to pay them money. These types of attacks are called as Ransomware, and they use kernel-level exploits that attempt to run malware with the highest privileges, e.g., WannaCry and Petya ransomware. In order to mitigate these types of attack, Microsoft has rolled out a feature which allows you to enable Core Isolation and Memory Integrity to prevent such attacks.\n\nWindows Defender Security Center offers this feature. Called Device Security, it offers status reporting and management of security features built into your devices \u2013 including toggling features on to provide enhanced protection. However, It doesn\u2019t work on a software level; the hardware needs to support it as well. Your firmware should support Virtualization, which enables the Windows 10 PC to run applications in a container, so they don\u2019t get access to other parts of the system.\n\nEnable Core Isolation & Memory Integrity\n\nSign in as an administrator and open Windows Defender Security Center, and look for Device Security option. Here you should check if Core Isolation under Virtualization is enabled on your PC. Core isolation provides virtualization-based security features to protect core parts of your device.\n\nClick on Core isolation details, and you will be offered to enable Memory Integrity. Memory integrity (hypervisor-protected code integrity) is a security feature of Core isolation that prevents attacks from inserting malicious code into high-security processes. Toggle to turn it On.\n\nOnce enabled, it will ask you to restart the PC to completely enable Memory Integrity.\n\nIf later on, you face application compatibility issues, you may need to turn this off.\n\nThat said, there are two more options that might be available depending on the hardware of your PC.\n\nSecurity Processor only shows up if you have TPM available with your PC hardware. They are discrete chips soldered to a computer\u2019s motherboard by the OEM. To get the most out of TPM, OEM must carefully integrate system hardware and firmware with the TPM to send it commands and react to its responses. The newer TPMs can also provide security and privacy benefits to the system hardware itself. So make sure to check for all of these if you are buying a new PC. Secure Boot prevents malicious code to load up before your OS. They are hard to crack but with secure boot its taken care.\n\nWindows 10 also offers Hypervisor Protected Code Integrity (HVCI) when you start with clean installs. Those who are on old hardware, you will have the ability to opt-in post the upgrade using the UI in Windows Defender Security Center (WDSC). This enhancement will ensure that the kernel process that verifies code integrity runs in a secure runtime environment."}
-{"text": "A total of 5 RCTs and 40 observational studies were included in the qualitative synthesis, of which 27 studies were included in the meta-analyses. Circulating concentrations of vitamin E were lower in patients compared to controls (pooled standardized mean difference (SMD): -1.57, 95%CI: -3.09, -0.05; p = .042). However, this difference was not present when restricting the analyses to the subgroup of studies with high quality scores. Poor study quality and a substantial heterogeneity in most studies was found. No vitamins or minerals have been repeatedly or consistently linked to clinical parameters. In addition, RCTs testing supplements containing these vitamins and/or minerals did not result in clinical improvements.\n\nThe databases PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Knowledge, and PsycINFO were searched for eligible studies. Articles published from January 1 st 1994 for CFS patients and 1990 for FMS patients till March 1 st 2017 were included. Articles were included if the status of one or more vitamins or minerals were reported, or an intervention concerning vitamins or minerals was performed. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed the risk of bias.\n\nMany chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) patients (35\u201368%) use nutritional supplements, while it is unclear whether deficiencies in vitamins and minerals contribute to symptoms in these patients. Objectives were (1) to determine vitamin and mineral status in CFS and FMS patients as compared to healthy controls; (2) to investigate the association between vitamin and mineral status and clinical parameters, including symptom severity and quality of life; and (3) to determine the effect of supplementation on clinical parameters.\n\nCompeting interests: S.J.L.B. obtained grants from DSM and Friesland Campina, and S.J.L.B. and I.M. obtained funding from the Top Institute Food and Nutrition (TIFN, grants CH-001 and CH-003, respectively). This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. We would like to emphasize that all aspects of this review were objectively assessed, and that all authors involved have acted conscientiously. The other authors declare that they have no known conflicts of interest.\n\nRecently, a review investigating hypovitaminosis D in both chronic pain and FMS patients showed that these patients were at significantly higher risk of hypovitaminosis D than healthy controls [ 18 ]. Unfortunately, further reviews on vitamin and mineral deficiencies among CFS and FMS patients are lacking. We therefore carried out this first systematic review on vitamin and mineral status in CFS and FMS. We explored the following research questions: first, what is the evidence for deficiencies in vitamin and mineral status in CFS and FMS patients as compared to healthy controls? Second, is vitamin and mineral status associated with clinical parameters, including symptom severity and quality of life, in CFS and FMS? Third, what is the evidence for an effect of vitamin and mineral supplementation, as compared to placebo, on clinical parameters in CFS and FMS patients? Because it is currently unknown whether CFS and FMS result from the same etiology, we analyzed results both for the combined and for the separate syndromes.\n\nVitamin and mineral deficiencies may play a role in the pathophysiology of both CFS and FMS, although mechanisms behind this hypothesis are not entirely clear [ 7 , 8 ]. In addition, results of studies investigating the effects of nutritional supplementation or dietary intake on, for example, symptom severity in these patient groups, are conflicting [ 9 \u2013 12 ]. Nevertheless, a large proportion of CFS and FMS patients indicate they use nutritional supplements (35%-68%) [ 10 , 13 \u2013 15 ], compared to the Dutch general population (27\u201356%) [ 16 ]. The higher nutritional supplement use among patients may be due to encouragements by specialty stores, the internet or (complementary medicine) clinics. Vitamins and minerals in these products are sometimes supplemented in doses high enough to cause health problems, for example gastric discomfort, insomnia, dizziness and weakness [ 17 ]. More information is needed on the evidence for (marginal) vitamin and mineral deficiencies in CFS and FM, and the potential benefits in taking nutritional supplements.\n\nChronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) are syndromes of unknown origin. The core symptom of CFS is profound disabling fatigue [ 1 ], whereas FMS is characterized by chronic widespread pain [ 2 , 3 ]. CFS and FMS are known for substantial clinical and diagnostic overlap, for example, chronic pain and fatigue are common in both patient groups. The two syndromes are often comorbid; up to 80% of CFS patients reported a history of clinician-diagnosed FMS [ 4 , 5 ]. This has resulted in the hypothesis that these syndromes share etiological pathways [ 6 ].\n\nWe first constructed an overview of available data on the different vitamins and minerals. Characteristics of the included studies were systematically listed to generate a clear overview of the current literature on vitamins and minerals in CFS and FMS patients. For those vitamins and minerals with more than five studies available, we did quantitative syntheses on aggregated data. For these syntheses, data was pooled with the random effects model of meta-analysis, using Stata statistical software, version 14 (Statacorp LP, Texas). To allow pooling across studies that used different outcomes of vitamin or mineral plasma or serum levels, we calculated the standardized mean difference (SMD). For proportions of deficiencies, the odds ratio (OR) was calculated and pooled. Subsequently, the SMD and OR for each study were weighted by their inverse variance and the corresponding 95%CI were calculated. The existence of heterogeneity among studies was assessed by Q-tests, and the degree of the heterogeneity was quantified by calculating the I-squared (I 2 ) value. Publication bias was inspected visually by a funnel plot, and an Egger\u2019s test was conducted to quantify funnel plot asymmetry [ 28 ]. The Tweedie\u2019s Trim and Fill test was performed as an additional sensitivity analysis to identify and correct for funnel plot asymmetry arising from publication bias [ 29 ]. When the Trim and Fill test was performed, and additional studies were added to the analyses, contour-enhanced funnel plots were used instead of regular funnel plots to examine whether asymmetry in the funnel plots was due to publication bias [ 30 ]. Subgroup analyses were performed including studies with more than half of the maximum study quality score (>9 quality points), if more than three studies with a sufficient quality score were available. Furthermore, vitamin and mineral status of CFS and FMS patients were investigated separately if more than three studies were available. Findings were considered statistically significant if P<0.05.\n\nTo assess quality of RCTs, the Cochrane Collaboration\u2019s tool for assessing risk of bias was employed [ 20 ]. For observational studies, literature indicates lack of a single methodological assessment tool [ 21 , 22 ]. Therefore, we adjusted a previously developed quality tool for observational studies in this field [ 23 ], for use in studies that focus specifically on the association between vitamin and mineral status and CFS or FMS. Eight of the nine items in this original quality tool originated from guidelines or tools for either reporting or appraising observational research [ 24 \u2013 26 ]. These items were adjusted to the specific question on vitamins and minerals and classified into three key domains: appropriate selection of participants (validated disorder, representative controls, in- and exclusion criteria, disease characteristics), appropriate quantification of vitamin and mineral status (duplicate quantification, appropriate outcome), and appropriate control for confounding (assessed confounders, analyses adjusted). The item: \u201cIs the assessor blind for disease status\u201d, was excluded since from the original quality tool since it is not applicable in the current review. Furthermore, we added the item \u201cAre methods for assessment of vitamin and mineral status clearly stated\u201d, based on the adapted Newcastle Ottawa scale for cross-sectional studies ( S2 Appendix ) [ 27 ]. RCTs that contained relevant observational data (n = 4/5), were assessed with both the Cochrane tool and the observational studies quality tool. For both quality tools, items were rated as (0) low risk, (1) medium risk, and (2) high risk of bias. The maximum attainable quality score was 14 for RCTs, and 18 for observational studies.\n\nFrom the included articles, the following information was extracted: name first author, publication year, type FSS, number and age of the participants, and vitamin or mineral status. In addition, data on smoking habits or alcohol use, diet (and assessment tool used), BMI (or waist circumference, waist-hip ratio), physical activity (assessment tool), socioeconomic status, ethnicity, severity of illness (assessment tool), duration of illness, co-morbidities (somatic and psychiatric), medication use, clinical parameters including symptom severity and quality of life, and in case of RCTs the relevant co-intervention(s) were also extracted.\n\nParticipants of the included studies had to be adults (i.e. \u226518 years) suffering from CFS or FMS according to the official diagnostic criteria [ 1 \u2013 3 ]. Studies that involved patients with a combination of CFS and FMS or other comorbid medical conditions were excluded. Furthermore, the vitamin or mineral status had to be assessed or reported in the article, or there had to be an intervention concerning vitamins or minerals. Patients were compared with healthy controls in observational studies, or vitamin and mineral supplementation were compared with placebo in intervention studies. Lastly, cross-sectional studies comparing cases and controls, cohort studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included. Case reports, clinical cohorts without appropriate controls (e.g. controls with musculoskeletal pain or fatigue), (systematic) reviews, expert opinion, and other study designs were excluded.\n\nTitle and abstract were screened by two independent reviewers (M.L.J. and I.M.) for the following criteria: (1) CFS or FMS patients; (2) vitamin or mineral status; and (3) study design. Studies which were in agreement with the eligibility criteria were retrieved as full text. Discrepancies between the two researchers were resolved by consensus, and when needed a third assessor was consulted (J.G.M.R.). Reasons for exclusion and percentage of agreement, as Cohen\u2019s kappa, between the assessors were documented.\n\nThe databases PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Knowledge, and PsycINFO were systematically searched. Articles published between January 1 st 1994 and 1990, for CFS and FMS respectively, and March 1 st 2017 were included. We focused on the most recent diagnostic guidelines, namely the International Center of Disease Control (CDC) diagnostic criteria for CFS that was established in 1994 [ 1 ], and the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria for FMS in 1990 [ 2 ]. To retrieve relevant articles from PubMed, we formulated a search string ( S1 Appendix ) that consisted of CFS, FMS, and synonyms, vitamins, minerals, micronutrients and synonyms, while excluding systematic reviews or animal studies. This search string was adapted according to the thesaurus of the databases EMBASE, Web of Knowledge, and PsycINFO. All included studies were screened for potential references that were not included in the first search. Duplicates were removed, as well as studies including pediatric participants. There were no language restrictions; included non-English articles were translated (French, Italian, Polish, and Turkish articles) by native speakers.\n\nFinally, we tested whether publication bias could have affected the results. Corresponding funnel plots can be found in Fig 4 . Egger's test showed that there was significant funnel plot asymmetry in vitamin E (p = .039), with no significant asymmetry among the other analyses. Trimming was performed in the calcium studies using the Trim and Fill test, and the contour-enhanced funnel plot revealed two added studies in the statistically significant areas. No studies were trimmed or filled among the vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin D deficiency, vitamin E, and magnesium studies, indicating absence of substantial publication bias.\n\nSubgroup analyses were performed separately for the syndromes, when more than three studies were available per syndrome. Since vitamin D, vitamin D deficiency and calcium were only determined in FMS patients, additional subgroup analyses were possible for vitamin C, vitamin E and magnesium. No statistically significant difference between patients and controls was found in the three studies investigating circulating concentrations of vitamin C in FMS patients (patients n = 101, controls n = 100; pooled SMD:0.14, 95%CI:-0.16,0.44; p = .32). However, the heterogeneity was substantially lower (I 2 = 13.3% versus 88.5% in the overall analysis including CFS patients), indicating a high consistency of studies\u2019 results. The significant difference in circulating concentrations of vitamin E between patients and controls disappeared when the single CFS study was excluded (patients n = 141, controls n = 120; pooled SMD:-0.95, 95%CI:-2.41,0.50; p = .20. Lastly, no considerable differences were found in analyses of the five studies investigating circulating concentrations of magnesium in FMS patients (patients n = 203, controls n = 133; pooled SMD:-0.51, 95%CI:-1.34,0.32; p = .23).\n\nSubgroup analyses were performed including studies with more than half the maximum study quality score (>9 quality points), if more than three studies with a sufficient quality score were available. The additional analysis was not possible for magnesium, since only two studies achieved more than half of the maximum quality score. No differences in circulating concentrations of vitamin C (patients n = 93, controls n = 102, pooled SMD:-0.78, 95CI:-1.95, 0.39; p = .19) [ 32 , 42 , 43 , 67 ], vitamin D (patients n = 358, controls n = 376, pooled SMD:-0.07, 95%CI:-0.44,0.30; p = .71) [ 35 , 49 , 61 , 65 , 70 \u2013 72 ], vitamin D deficiency (patients n = 121, controls n = 130; pooled OR:-0.12, 95%CI:-1.24,1.01; p = .84) [ 49 , 61 , 65 , 70 ], and calcium = (patients n = 184, controls n = 178; pooled SMD:0.18 95%CI:-0.18,0.54; p = .34) [ 49 , 61 , 71 , 72 ] were found. The significant difference in circulating concentrations of vitamin E between patients and controls disappeared when studies with low quality score were excluded (patients n = 91, controls n = 90, pooled SMD: -1.86, 95%CI:-4.28, 0.56; p = .13) [ 32 , 67 , 73 ].\n\nVitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin D deficiency (<20ng/ml), vitamin E ( Fig 2 ), and the minerals calcium, and magnesium status, and were reported in more than five studies and were therefore investigated using meta-analysis ( Fig 3 ). Meta-analysis revealed that circulating concentrations of vitamin E were lower in patients compared to controls (patients n = 162, controls n = 140; pooled SMD:-1.57, 95%CI:-3.09,-0.05; p = .042). No differences were found in patients compared to controls in circulating concentrations of vitamin C (patients n = 124, controls n = 132; pooled SMD:-0.55, 95%CI:-1.38,0.28; p = .19), vitamin D (patients n = 871, controls n = 1039; pooled SMD:-0.17, 95%CI:-0.41,0.06; p = .15), and vitamin D deficiency (patients n = 435, controls n = 604; pooled OR:0.23, 95%CI:-0.54,0.99; p = .17). There were no differences between patients and controls in circulating concentrations of the minerals calcium (patients n = 620, controls n = 518; pooled SMD:-0.15, 95%CI:-0.50,0.19; p = .38), and magnesium (patients n = 218, controls n = 148; pooled SMD:-0.59, 95%CI:-1.33,0.15; p = .12). All analyses revealed substantial to considerable heterogeneity in the effect sizes, as can be found in Fig 2 .\n\nAll studies that investigated vitamin B12 (n = 1) [ 62 ], folic acid (n = 1) [ 62 ], iron (n = 2) [ 48 , 50 ], molybdenum (n = 1) [ 66 ], phosphorus (n = 4) [ 46 , 49 , 61 , 71 , 72 ] sodium (n = 3) [ 42 , 46 , 66 ], and iodine (n = 1) [ 66 ], and the majority of studies that investigated potassium (n = 3/4) [ 42 , 46 , 59 ], and selenium status (n = 4/5) [ 39 , 46 , 66 , 69 ] found no statistically significant difference between patients and controls ( Table 3 ). In contrast, all studies that investigated vitamin B1 (n = 1/1) [ 54 ], and manganese (n = 1/1) [ 46 ], and the majority of studies that investigated vitamin A (n = 2/4) [ 39 , 67 ], found statistically significant lower serum values in patients versus controls. The majority of the studies that were not suitable for inclusion in the meta-analyses reported significantly lower vitamin E in patients versus controls (n = 3/4) [ 55 , 56 , 73 ]. Statistically significant results were found in the majority of the included studies investigating copper (n = 3/4) [ 46 , 48 , 66 ], ferritin (n = 4/5) [ 46 , 50 , 62 , 66 ], and zinc (n = 5/7) status [ 48 , 51 , 66 , 69 ]. However, the direction of the differences was equivocal for all three minerals: levels of copper were higher among patients in 3 studies and lower in 1, levels ferritin were higher among patients in 2 studies and lower in 2, and levels of zinc were lower in 3 studies and higher in 2.\n\nAll studies investigating vitamin A (n = 1) [ 67 ], vitamin C (n = 1) [ 67 ], ferritin (n = 2) [ 50 , 62 ], iron (n = 1) [ 50 ], and selenium (n = 1) [ 69 ], found no significant associations between vitamin and mineral status and clinical parameters in FMS patients ( Table 3 ). Most studies investigating vitamin D (n = 6) found no significant associations between vitamin D and clinical parameters in CFS [ 75 ] and FMS [ 35 , 49 , 65 , 72 , 76 ] patients. However, two studies found significantly higher VAS-score for pain in patients with vitamin D levels <30 ng/ml compared to FMS patients with vitamin D levels of >30ng/ml [ 44 , 60 ]. Significant negative associations were found for vitamin E in plasma and fatigue in CFS patients (n = 1/2) [ 73 ], and serum and erythrocyte magnesium and fibromyalgia symptoms (n = 1/3) [ 34 ]. A significant positive association was found for serum zinc and somatic symptoms in fibromyalgia patients (n = 1/3) [ 48 ].\n\nFive RCTs were included. The first RCT determined the effect of magnesium citrate treatment in combination with amitriptyline versus amitriptyline only, on FMS symptoms, over a period of 8 weeks [ 34 ]. They found that amitriptyline and magnesium supplementation was more effective on all measured outcomes than amitriptyline alone. The second RCT investigated the effect of a polynutrient supplement (containing several vitamins (including A, B, C, D, E), minerals (including calcium, magnesium) and (co)enzymes), on fatigue and physical activity of patients with CFS, over a period of 10 weeks [ 37 ]. They found no significant difference between the placebo and treatment group on any of the outcome measures. A third RCT examined vitamin C and E treatment combined with exercise versus exercise only, in FMS patients, over a period of 12 weeks [ 57 ]. Although both interventions lead to significantly higher vitamin A, C, and E serum levels, the FMS symptoms did not improve in both groups. Furthermore, the most recent RCT investigated the effect of vitamin D, on symptoms in CFS patients, over a period of 6 months [ 75 ]. Despite a statistically significant increase in vitamin D, they found no evidence of improvement in symptoms of fatigue or depression. Lastly, in the fifth RCT, cholecalciferol was administered for 20 weeks in FMS patients, with the dosage depending on patients calcifediol levels [ 74 ]. A significant treatment effect on intensity of pain was found in the treatment group versus placebo. No changes in somatization, depression and anxiety, physical and mental health, and FMS symptom severity were observed in both the treatment and placebo group.\n\nCharacteristics of the included studies are presented in Table 1 , and results of the quality assessment in Tables 2 and 3 . Most studies involved FMS patients (n = 35/45); 4 of the 5 RCTs also contained relevant observational data. Vitamin and mineral status was mainly assessed in plasma or serum (n = 40/45). Furthermore, quality scores revealed poor study quality (i.e. equal or less than half of the maximum study quality score) in the vast majority of observational studies (n = 27/44; range 4\u201314 points) and RCTs (n = 3/5; range 5\u201312 points). Only few observational studies defined all described in- and exclusion criteria for the investigated population, including medication use, somatic morbidity, and psychiatric morbidity (n = 10/44). The CFS or FMS diagnostic criteria were often described in observational studies, but researchers failed to state whether or not the syndromes were diagnosed by a physician (n = 40/44). Disease characteristics were frequently not fully presented (n = 15/44), or were completely absent (n = 18/44) in observational studies. Almost all observational studies did not assess vitamin or mineral in duplicate (n = 38/44). Most studies that assessed vitamin or mineral status did not clearly state the methods for assessment of vitamin and mineral status (n = 27/44). Furthermore, most observational studies did not adjust their analyses for any potential confounders (n = 43/44). Lastly, most RCTs had a medium to high risk of bias for random sequence generation (n = 3/5), allocation concealment (n = 3/5), blinding of outcome assessment (n = 4/5), incomplete data (n = 4/5), selective reporting quantification (n = 3/5), and other bias (n = 5/5).\n\nDiscussion\n\nWe found little evidence to support our hypothesis that vitamin and mineral deficiencies play a role in the pathophysiology of both CFS and FMS, or that the use of nutritional supplements is effective in these patients. Poor study quality and considerable heterogeneity in most studies was found, which makes it difficult to reach a final conclusion. Consistent significant lower circulating concentrations were found repeatedly and in the majority of studies for vitamin A and vitamin E in patients compared to controls. However, the significant difference in circulating concentrations of vitamin E between patients and controls disappeared when excluding low quality studies. None of these or other vitamins and minerals have been repeatedly or consistently linked to clinical parameters. In addition, RCTs testing supplements containing these vitamins and/or minerals did not result in clinical improvements.\n\nThis review has several strengths. First, this is the first review focusing on vitamin and mineral deficiencies among CFS and FMS patients. We were able to give a clear overview of the current knowledge existing in literature. Second, we included only studies that examined CFS and FMS patients according to the official diagnostic criteria. We therefore have included relatively homogeneous groups of patients. Third, because we defined strict in- and exclusion criteria, e.g. patients should meet the official diagnostic criteria, or clinical cohorts must have an appropriate control group, poor quality studies were filtered out. Nevertheless, the vast majority of the included studies scored a quality score below a reasonable study quality. Fourth, enough studies that investigated similar vitamins or minerals were available, which made it possible to conduct six meta-analyses. Lastly, we had no language restrictions for the included abstracts or full text articles, which enabled us to include all relevant articles.\n\nWe must acknowledge that this study also has its limitations, which are mostly due to limitations in original studies on which this review was based. First, most studies were observational in nature. In general, observational studies have a lower validity than RCTs, and they are more susceptible to bias (e.g. selection and information bias) and confounding factors. Potential confounders were assessed in about half of the studies, but almost no studies adjusted their analyses for potential confounders. Consequently, the results of the current review may be affected by the methodological weaknesses that are accompanied by the observational study designs. Second, quality assessment revealed a poor study quality in the majority of studies. This demonstrates that substantial improvements can be made in terms of study quality, especially in specification of in- and exclusion criteria, presenting disease characteristics of the participants, making use of validated methods to assess vitamin and mineral status, to perform the vitamin and mineral assessments in duplicate, and, as mentioned earlier, to adjust analyses for potential confounders. Furthermore, a quality issue in research on CFS and FMS patients is that of careful selection of control groups. Our quality assessment showed that many included studies fell short because of the selection of the controls, which could result in inaccurate study results. Third, a problem that affects the validity of meta-analyses is the presence of publication bias. Funnel plots indicated the absence of publication bias in the majority of the meta-analyses. Trimming was performed among the calcium studies, and two \u201cmissing\u201d studies were added, while no significant funnel plot asymmetry was present. However, trimming was performed in the statistically significant areas, which argues against the presence of publication bias. Although Egger\u2019s test is preferred for more than 10 studies, it revealed significant funnel plot asymmetry in vitamin E, while no trimming was performed. It is therefore possible that the significant outcomes of vitamin E in patients are influenced by publication bias. Lastly, a substantial to considerable heterogeneity in most studies was found, which makes it difficult to reach a final conclusion about vitamin status in CFS and FMS patients.\n\nThis review reveals that very few RCTs have investigated the effect of vitamin and mineral supplementation versus placebo in CFS and FMS patients. Most published RCTs found no treatment effect of vitamin and mineral supplementation on clinical parameters. So, the evidence for beneficial effects of supplementation in CFS and FMS patients is not proportional to the large quantity of supplements that are used by these patients. Nevertheless, the industry of vitamin and minerals supplements is increasing, for example, Americans spend an estimated $36.7 billion each year on supplements [77]. This is important information, since the vitamins and minerals in these products are sometimes supplemented in doses high enough to cause side effects, for example gastric discomfort, insomnia, dizziness or weakness [17]. The vast majority of available studies concerned FMS patients. Several FMS studies investigated vitamin D, whereas most CFS studies have focused on vitamin E. Only one CFS study that investigated vitamin E was suitable for inclusion in the meta-analysis. It is remarkable that the significant difference of vitamin E between patients and controls disappeared when the single CFS study was excluded in the sensitivity analysis, while the studies that were not suitable for inclusion in the meta-analysis reported significant lower vitamin E concentrations in particularly CFS patients versus controls. Further research is needed to determine whether this may indicate that vitamin E levels are lower in CFS patients, but not in FMS patients. This systematic review and meta-analysis provides no further insights in whether the remaining vitamins and minerals differ between these two medical conditions.\n\nWe conclude that there is little evidence to support the hypothesis that vitamin and mineral deficiencies play a role in the pathophysiology of both CFS and FMS. Furthermore, the current literature on vitamins and minerals in CFS and FMS is of poor quality and stresses the need for well-performed intervention research, and large population-based and age-matched prospective studies in CFS and FMS, in order to gain more insight in the role of vitamins and minerals in the pathophysiology of CFS and FMS. According to our results, potential vitamins and minerals that should be further examined include vitamin A and vitamin E."}
-{"text": "Experts have shown that when certain parts of cannabis are used to treat cancer tumours alongside radio therapy treatment the growths can virtually disappear.\n\nThe new research by specialists at St George's, University of London, studied the treatment of brain cancer tumours in the laboratory and discovered that the most effective treatment was to combine active chemical components of the cannabis plant which are called cannabinoids.\n\nTwo of these called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) were tested as part of the research into brain cancer which is particularly difficult to treat and claims the lives of about 5,200 each year. It also has a particularly poor prognosis as the rate of survival after five years of patients' diagnosis is around 10%.\n\nCannabinoids are the active chemicals in cannabis and are also known more specifically as phytocannabinoids. There are 85 known cannabinoids in the cannabis plant.\n\nThe new research is the first to show a drastic effect when combining THC and CBD with irradiation. Tumours growing in the brains of mice were drastically slowed down when THC/CBD was used with irradiation.\n\nDr Wai Liu, Senior Research Fellow and lead researcher on the project, said: \"The results are extremely exciting. The tumours were treated in a variety of ways, either with no treatment, the cannabinoids alone, and irradiation alone or with both the cannabinoids and irradiation at the same time.\n\n\"Those treated with both irradiation and the cannabinoids saw the most beneficial results and a drastic reduction in size. In some cases, the tumours effectively disappeared in the animals. This augurs well for further research in humans in the future. At the moment this is a mostly fatal disease.\n\n\"The benefits of the cannabis plant elements were known before but the drastic reduction of brain cancers if used with irradiation is something new and may well prove promising for patients who are in gravely serious situations with such cancers in the future.\"\n\nThe research team are discussing the possibility of combining cannabinoids with irradiation in a human clinical trial.\n\nThe research has been published in the Molecular Cancer Therapeutics journal.\n\nCannabinoids are the active chemicals in cannabis and are also known more specifically as phytocannabinoids. There are 85 known cannabinoids in the cannabis plant. The primary psychoactive component of cannabis is called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)."}
-{"text": "In December, a new chapter in the Star Wars saga will begin when Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- the seventh Star Wars film and the first to take place after Return of the Jedi -- arrives in theaters. As the excitement for the new film builds, Lucasfilm and its partners will explore the aftermath of Return of the Jedi in a series of canonical projects debuting in September, and Marvel Comics leads the way with Greg Rucka and Marco Checchetto's Star Wars: Journey to The Force Awakens: Shattered Empire #1 ( JUL150767 )! Emperor Palpatine's twenty-year reign of terror came to an abrupt and fiery end in the skies above the forest moon of Endor. A decisive victory for the Rebel Alliance, to be sure, but even with the loss of its leadership, the Empire's Moffs and regional governors retained their hold on important systems from the Core to the Outer Rim, thanks to the might of the Imperial Starfleet. Now, with a power vacuum atop the Empire, those Moffs will jockey for position and control, and the heroes of the Rebel Alliance will soon discover that a wounded and fractious Empire may be more dangerous than any threat they faced before! Greg Rucka, the acclaimed writer of Wolverine and Cyclops, reteams with his collaborator on The Punisher, Marco Checchetto, for a Star Wars tale that will reveal the untold story of the aftermath of the Battle of Endor and the political machinations that ensued. The Rebellion's desperate struggle to liberate the galaxy from the Empire's tyranny will face new challenges, and Rucka and Checchetto will bring their incisive storytelling to a story that no Star Wars fan will want to miss. A new addition to the Star Wars canon, Star Wars: Journey to The Force Awakens: Shattered Empire will take readers into uncharted territory and set the groundwork for the new Star Wars film. Put your Empire Strikes Back soundtrack in the stereo and cue up \"The Imperial March\" when you read Rucka and Checchetto's Star Wars: Journey to The Force Awakens: Shattered Empire #1 ( JUL150767 ) on September 9th at your local comic shop! Star Wars: Journey to The Force Awakens \u2013 Shattered Empire #1 Written by GREG RUCKA Art by MARCO CHECHETTO Cover by PHIL NOTO Available on September 9th at your local comic shop !"}
-{"text": "Russian president Vladimir Putin at a polling station during the Moscow city Duma elections. (AFP)\n\nPro-Kremlin candidates have suffered major losses in a Moscow municipal election following an opposition-led strategic voting campaign, Russian news agencies reported on Monday.\n\nWith all the votes counted, candidates supported by the ruling United Russia party lost out to the opposition in 20 of the city's 45 voting districts.\n\nCommunist, independent and liberal candidates achieved significant gains against those allied with United Russia, bringing more political diversity to the assembly.\n\nThe Communists won 13 seats, up from only five previously.\n\nThe liberal Yabloko party won three seats, plus an independent candidate supported by the party won another seat. The left-leaning Just Russia party also won three seats after having none previously.\n\nPro-Kremlin deputies, both United Russia candidates and independents supported by the party, had held 38 of the assembly's seats after the previous election in 2014.\n\nNo candidates ran under its banner this year as the party is deeply unpopular.\n\nNine previous deputies of United Russia retained their seats after running as independents, but the party's leader in Moscow Andrei Metelsky lost a re-election bid.\n\n\"We will carry out work on our mistakes,\" Metelsky told RIA Novosti news agency.\n\nAnother high-profile loser was Valeriya Kasamara, the deputy head of the Higher School of Economics, a leading university. She was seen as a pro-Kremlin candidate and her posters were visible across the city.\n\nOne of the university's students, a Navalny supporter, is currently facing criminal charges for his popular political video blog after he took part in protests.\n\nIn addition, 13 candidates won who were nominally independent but were reportedly supported by United Russia.\n\nThese included Olympic synchronised swimmer and television sports commentator Maria Kiselyova and Natalya Metlina, a presenter on Zvezda defence ministry television channel.\n\nA further three candidates won who held United Russia seats in the previous parliament but this time represented a pro-Kremlin movement called My Moscow.\n\nAfter his allies were banned from the vote, main opposition leader Alexei Navalny put forward a \"Smart Voting\" plan urging Muscovites to support those who had the highest chances of beating pro-Kremlin candidates -- many of them Communists.\n\nTwenty of the candidates on Navalny's \"smart voting\" list won, which he called a \"fantastic result\" on Twitter.\n\nThere was a slightly higher turnout than for previous polls in 2014 at just over 21 percent."}
-{"text": "WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump\u2019s threatened government shutdown over his border wall would leave most federal workers untouched but would, ironically, hit those who actually guard the border: agents for ICE and Border Patrol, who would likely have to work without pay for the duration of the impasse.\n\nTwo years after campaigning on forcing Mexico to pay for a 30-foot \u201cgreat wall\u201d along the southern border, Trump is again trying to use a government funding deadline to make Congress give him wall money, instead.\n\n\u201cIf we don\u2019t get the wall money,\u201d Trump said as he left the White House on a trip to Argentina this week: \u201cPossible shutdown.\u201d\n\nTrump has made this threat on several previous occasions but has backed down each time. But even if he follows through this time around, his decision to sign spending bills earlier this autumn covering about two-thirds of the government means that the shutdown would be relatively limited. Military service members, employees at Veterans Affairs hospitals and many thousands of other federal employees and contractors would not be affected if Trump and Congress miss a Dec. 7 deadline to renew funding for the remaining third of the government.\n\nThat third, however, includes customs officers, immigration agents and all other employees of the quarter-million-strong Department of Homeland Security as well as another half dozen other agencies, including the departments of State, Justice and Interior. All would stop receiving paychecks for however long it takes for Congress and Trump to pass and approve a new spending bill.\n\nBloomberg via Getty Images U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers observe vehicles standing in line at the San Ysidro port of entry in Tijuana, Mexico, on Monday, Nov. 26, 2018.\n\n\u201cThis is standard Trump. His tariffs are hurting his voters far more than those who voted against him. And sending troops to the border over Thanksgiving hurt the military he says he supports,\u201d said Stan Collender, a longtime former congressional budget staffer. \u201cTrump\u2019s shutdown plans will be more of the same, with the border patrol and ICE being harmed the most because they\u2019ll very likely to be forced to work without pay, and without any guarantee they will be paid.\u201d\n\nPast government shutdowns have ended with Congress appropriating back pay for federal employees, which would almost certainly happen again in another shutdown. The problem for employees has been getting through the shutdown period.\n\nA shutdown lasting only a few days might not have much of an effect, but one that drags out into weeks would force employees to dip into savings or borrow money to take care of bills.\n\n\u201cBridge loans. Payday loans. That sort of thing,\u201d Collender said.\n\nTrump had threatened to shut down the government back in March after Fox News\u2019 evening hosts criticized him for his willingness to sign a $1.3 trillion spending bill that did not include any money for his long-promised wall. He wound up signing it anyway because, he said, of all the money it was providing for the military.\n\nIf Trump waits until the next Congress, the only way he might get anything will be to make a deal with the new Democratic House majority that will want something he finds especially distasteful. Stan Collender, former congressional budget staffer\n\nOver the summer, Trump again promised his political rally audiences he would shut down the government at the end of September if he did not get wall money. This time, Republican congressional leaders talked him into waiting until after the midterm election, telling him he would have more leverage then.\n\nIt was never clear how that could possibly be true, given the likelihood that Democrats would gain a number of seats in the House. Two months later, budget experts like Collender who predicted that Trump would, in fact, have far less leverage appear to have been proven correct.\n\nAnd with Democrats taking charge of the House in January, Trump\u2019s bargaining position will only get worse, Collender said.\n\n\u201cIf Trump waits until the next Congress, the only way he might get anything will be to make a deal with the new Democratic House majority that will want something he finds especially distasteful \u2014 his tax returns, compliance by his family and Cabinet with congressional subpoenas, et cetera \u2014 in exchange,\u201d he said.\n\nTrump already appears to be laying the groundwork for another retreat. In an interview with the Washington Post this week, Trump claimed he had a fallback plan in case lawmakers again refuse to give him money for his wall, which included the continued used of active-duty troops he deployed to the Mexican border in the days leading up to the midterm elections.\n\n\u201cNow, if we don\u2019t get it, will I get it done another way? I might get it done another way. There are other potential ways that I can do it,\u201d he told the Post. \u201cYou saw what we did with the military, just coming in with the barbed wire and the fencing, and various other things.\u201d\n\nTrump promised to build a \u201cgreat wall\u201d along the Mexican border the day he announced his candidacy in June 2015, and to force Mexico to pay for it. He repeated that promise many hundreds of times through Election Day in 2016, and even detailed that he would build it 30 feet tall out of reinforced concrete and that it would extend deep underground to prevent tunneling.\n\nAfter his election, though, he never broached the topic of paying for it with Mexican leaders even a single time, and earlier this year started looking for money from Congress to force American taxpayers to foot the bill, instead."}
-{"text": "Overview\n\nBuilt on the outskirts of Detroit\u2014for another year or so\u2014and with a well-deserved spot in driveways across the country, the Ford Focus is as American as apple pie. During its journeys, the Focus has accumulated many gifts, and it has bestowed them on the American consumer; among them are lithe handling and impressive fuel efficiency. Unfortunately, these gifts come with some compromises. The Focus is outclassed by larger rivals that offer more passenger space, larger cargo holds, and more modern features. Still, it's an easy car to recommend, and its two body styles\u2014hatchback and sedan\u2014offer broad appeal. There are even high-performance ST and RS versions and a plug-in electric model, but we review those models separately.\n\nNote that the Focus has ceased production; 2018 was the last year it was made.\n\nWhat's New for 2018?\n\nThe SE EcoBoost Appearance package is now the SE Appearance package and is available on all SE models regardless of engine choice. The rest of the updates actually involve reducing equipment on S, SE, and SEL models. These changes include two-way adjustable headrests that replace last year's four-way adjustable units, the deletion of the turn-signal indicators on exterior mirrors of SE trims, the deletion of rear-seat floor mats in S models, and the disappearance of the auxiliary input jack and door-release handle ambient lighting elements in all models. SE and SEL models no longer come equipped with a driver's-side seatback map pocket, and the single-disc CD player has been removed from S and SE models.\n\nFord Focus Pricing and Which One to Buy\n\nThe Focus is available as a sedan and for extra money as a hatchback. We'd gladly pay the additional dough for the Focus SEL hatchback ($22,545) for its increased practicality and equipment. Opting for the SEL gets you a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, an 8.0-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and dual-zone automatic climate control. Being Midwesterners, we'd also select the Cold Weather package, which includes heated front seats and a heated steering wheel to make frigid mornings less unpleasant.\n\nEngine, Transmission, and Performance\n\nLikes: Manual transmission is available, great steering, fun to drive.\n\nDislikes: Six-speed automatic is unrefined, both the four-cylinder and three-cylinder engines are slow.\n\nNone of the Focus's powertrains are particularly inspiring. The standard four-cylinder is not as punchy as the turbocharged engines available in many competitors, while the tiny, efficient turbo three-cylinder available on the sedan is overmatched by the Focus's weight.\n\nThe Focus is one of the more amusing cars in its segment to hustle down a twisty road. Its fun-to-drive nature doesn't come at the expense of comfort, either, as the Focus boasts a composed ride and a relatively isolated interior that make it feel more expensive than it is.\n\nFuel Economy and Real-World MPG\n\nThe Focus makes up for its lackluster power with impressive efficiency. It's among the best fuel sippers in its segment, outperforming its average EPA ratings\u2014and most of its competitors\u2014in our real-world testing with a result of 38 mpg. If you're seeking maximum fuel efficiency, the turbocharged 1.0-liter three-cylinder with the standard six-speed manual is the setup to choose. It comes standard with an engine stop/start system and is rated at 40 mpg highway by the EPA.\n\nInterior, Infotainment, and Cargo\n\nLikes: Easy-to-use optional infotainment system, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are available.\n\nDislikes: Cramped back seat, outdated interior design, disappointing standard infotainment system.\n\nThe Focus has gone a long time without an interior overhaul, and its widespread use of plastic trim and outdated-looking cabin are clearly weak points. At least the controls are mostly straightforward and easy to use. Your friends and family won't enjoy being stuffed into the small rear quarters of the Focus, as legroom for back-seat passengers is sorely lacking compared with nearly all of its rivals. Small windows don't help alleviate the claustrophobic feel of the interior.\n\nThe optional touchscreen infotainment system\u2014called Sync 3\u2014is refreshingly easy to use, with well-organized menus and large on-screen buttons. The base setup uses a much smaller screen and offers far fewer connectivity features. We recommend stepping up to either the SEL or Titanium trims, which have the more advanced system with an 8.0-inch touchscreen. Sync 3 is simple to use and supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration.\n\nPracticality is not the Focus's strong suit. While its cargo-carrying numbers are average, storage space for small items in the cabin is lacking. In our testing, it fit four of our carry-on suitcases with the rear seats in use and 15 carry-ons with the rear seats folded.\n\nSafety and Driver-Assistance Features\n\nThe Focus achieves only average crash-test results and lacks many of the active safety features of its competition. While it achieved a five-star rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), it lags behind in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's small overlap crash test, where it only achieves an Acceptable rating\u2014most of its newer rivals were rated Good in this test. Few active safety features are available, and the ones that are\u2014namely blind-spot monitoring and lane-departure warning\u2014are only offered as part of an option package on the top Titanium trim level, meaning you'll pay more than $25,000 for a Focus so equipped. Key safety features include:\n\nAvailable blind-spot monitor\n\nAvailable lane-departure warning\n\nAvailable lane-keeping assist\n\nWarranty and Maintenance Coverage\n\nFord's warranty program is entirely average among its peers, without the complimentary scheduled maintenance that GM offers on many of its vehicles."}
-{"text": "According to a Wednesday report on Twitter by John McClain of the Houston Chronicle, former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Munchak will be the Pittsburgh Steelers new offensive line coach.\n\nMunchak interviewed with the Steelers late last week and was reportedly trying to decide between them and the Houston Texans.\n\nMunchak grew up in Scranton, PA as a Steelers fan and played his college football at Penn State.\n\nMunchak became the Tennessee offensive line coach in 1997 and held that position for 14 years (1997-2010) before becoming their head coach in 2011. Four of his players totaled 10 Pro Bowl invitations and his offensive lines have paved the way for five different running backs to total an NFL-high 12 1,000-yard rushing seasons from 1997-2010.\n\nThis is obviously a huge get for the Steelers and Munchak will be responsible for getting tackles Mike Adams and Marcus Gilbert to start playing like second-round draft picks. In addition, young players such as David DeCastro, Kelvin Beachum and Maurkice Pouncey will most certainly benefit from his arrival.\n\nThe hiring of Munchak now means that the Steelers have three former head coaches on their staff as defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau and offensive coordinator Todd Haley are also former head coaches."}
-{"text": "Article content continued\n\nIt\u2019s a targeted message aimed at a family-owned Canadian company, and it\u2019s a political manoeuvre delivering a crippling blow to an industry that too often takes hits intended to elicit a response from government that may or may not have anything to do with agriculture. This is no exception.\n\nThe Canadian farmer did not arrest Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou. The Canadian farmer did not cause or even encourage the U.S. soybean trade war with China. The Canadian farmer didn\u2019t raise the alarm on glyphosate.\n\nWe didn\u2019t elect U.S. President Donald Trump. We didn\u2019t put tariffs on pulse exports to India.\n\nThe Canadian farmer is, however, affected by all of these erratic developments.\n\nCanola is a uniquely Canadian commodity. Its etymology is the contraction of \u2018Canada\u2019 and \u2018ola,\u2019 a suffix tied to many vegetable oils. Agricultural scientists Keith Downey (Agriculture Canada) and Baldur R. Stefansson (University of Manitoba) bred the commodity in the \u201870s from the rapeseed plant.\n\nAmid this uncertainty, canola remains a commodity shrouded in optimism. Agricultural reporter Ed White asked farmers over Twitter if the recent news from China has changed their seeding intentions.\n\nThe responses were telling and largely pointed to Canada\u2019s continued commitment to growing canola. Many farmers said they were not changing their plans. There are, after all, only a limited amount of crops we can grow in Canada and seeding changes can mean a disruption to a healthy rotation."}
-{"text": "One of the biggest, if not the biggest issues of climate science skepticism is the criticism of over-reliance on computer model projections to suggest future outcomes. In this paper, climate models were hindcast tested against actual surface observations, and found to be seriously lacking. Just have a look at Figure 12 (mean temperature -vs- models for the USA) from the paper, shown below:\n\nThe graph above shows temperature in the blue lines, and model runs in other colors. Not only are there no curve shape matches, temperature offsets are significant as well. In the study, they also looked at precipitation, which fared even worse in correlation. The bottom line: if the models do a poor job of hindcasting, why would they do any better in forecasting? This from the conclusion sums it up pretty well:\n\n\u2026we think that the most important question is not whether GCMs can produce credible estimates of future climate, but whether climate is at all predictable in deterministic terms.\n\nSelected sections of the entire paper, from the Hydrological Sciences Journal is available online here as HTML, and as PDF ~1.3MB are given below:\n\nA comparison of local and aggregated climate model outputs with observed data\n\nAnagnostopoulos, G. G. , Koutsoyiannis, D. , Christofides, A. , Efstratiadis, A. and Mamassis, N. \u2018A comparison of local and aggregated climate model outputs with observed data\u2019, Hydrological Sciences Journal, 55:7, 1094 \u2013 1110\n\nAbstract\n\nWe compare the output of various climate models to temperature and precipitation observations at 55 points around the globe. We also spatially aggregate model output and observations over the contiguous USA using data from 70 stations, and we perform comparison at several temporal scales, including a climatic (30-year) scale. Besides confirming the findings of a previous assessment study that model projections at point scale are poor, results show that the spatially integrated projections are also poor.\n\nCitation Anagnostopoulos, G. G., Koutsoyiannis, D., Christofides, A., Efstratiadis, A. & Mamassis, N. (2010) A comparison of local and aggregated climate model outputs with observed data. Hydrol. Sci. J. 55(7), 1094-1110.\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nAccording to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global circulation models (GCM) are able to \u201creproduce features of the past climates and climate changes\u201d (Randall et al., 2007, p. 601). Here we test whether this is indeed the case. We examine how well several model outputs fit measured temperature and rainfall in many stations around the globe. We also integrate measurements and model outputs over a large part of a continent, the contiguous USA (the USA excluding islands and Alaska), and examine the extent to which models can reproduce the past climate there. We will be referring to this as \u201ccomparison at a large scale\u201d.\n\nThis paper is a continuation and expansion of Koutsoyiannis et al. (2008). The differences are that (a) Koutsoyiannis et al. (2008) had tested only eight points, whereas here we test 55 points for each variable; (b) we examine more variables in addition to mean temperature and precipitation; and (c) we compare at a large scale in addition to point scale. The comparison methodology is presented in the next section.\n\nWhile the study of Koutsoyiannis et al. (2008) was not challenged by any formal discussion papers, or any other peer-reviewed papers, criticism appeared in science blogs (e.g. Schmidt, 2008). Similar criticism has been received by two reviewers of the first draft of this paper, hereinafter referred to as critics. In both cases, it was only our methodology that was challenged and not our results. Therefore, after presenting the methodology below, we include a section \u201cJustification of the methodology\u201d, in which we discuss all the critical comments, and explain why we disagree and why we think that our methodology is appropriate. Following that, we present the results and offer some concluding remarks.\n\nHere\u2019s the models they tested:\n\nComparison at a large scale\n\nWe collected long time series of temperature and precipitation for 70 stations in the USA (five were also used in the comparison at the point basis). Again the data were downloaded from the web site of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (http://climexp.knmi.nl). The stations were selected so that they are geographically distributed throughout the contiguous USA. We selected this region because of the good coverage of data series satisfying the criteria discussed above. The stations selected are shown in Fig. 2 and are listed by Anagnostopoulos (2009, pp. 12-13).\n\nFig. 2. Stations selected for areal integration and their contribution areas (Thiessen polygons).\n\nIn order to produce an areal time series we used the method of Thiessen polygons (also known as Voronoi cells), which assigns weights to each point measurement that are proportional to the area of influence; the weights are the \u201cThiessen coefficients\u201d. The Thiessen polygons for the selected stations of the USA are shown in Fig. 2.\n\nThe annual average temperature of the contiguous USA was initially computed as the weighted average of the mean annual temperature at each station, using the station\u2019s Thiessen coefficient as weight. The weighted average elevation of the stations (computed by multiplying the elevation of each station with the Thiessen coefficient) is H m = 668.7 m and the average elevation of the contiguous USA (computed as the weighted average of the elevation of each state, using the area of each state as weight) is H = 746.8 m. By plotting the average temperature of each station against elevation and fitting a straight line, we determined a temperature gradient \u03b8 = -0.0038\u00b0C/m, which implies a correction of the annual average areal temperature \u03b8(H \u2013 H m ) = -0.3\u00b0C.\n\nThe annual average precipitation of the contiguous USA was calculated simply as the weighted sum of the total annual precipitation at each station, using the station\u2019s Thiessen coefficient as weight, without any other correction, since no significant correlation could be determined between elevation and precipitation for the specific time series examined.\n\nWe verified the resulting areal time series using data from other organizations. Two organizations provide areal data for the USA: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Both organizations have modified the original data by making several adjustments and using homogenization methods. The time series of the two organizations have noticeable differences, probably because they used different processing methods. The reason for calculating our own areal time series is that we wanted to avoid any comparisons with modified data. As shown in Fig. 3, the temperature time series we calculated with the method described above are almost identical to the time series of NOAA, whereas in precipitation there is an almost constant difference of 40 mm per year.\n\nFig. 3. Comparison between areal (over the USA) time series of NOAA (downloaded from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/cag3/cag3.html) and areal time series derived through the Thiessen method; for (a) mean annual temperature (adjusted for elevation), and (b) annual precipitation.\n\nDetermining the areal time series from the climate model outputs is straightforward: we simply computed a weighted average of the time series of the grid points situated within the geographical boundaries of the contiguous USA. The influence area of each grid point is a rectangle whose \u201cvertical\u201d (perpendicular to the equator) side is (\u03d5 2 \u2013 \u03d5 1 )/2 and its \u201chorizontal\u201d side is proportional to cos\u03d5, where \u03d5 is the latitude of each grid point, and \u03d5 2 and \u03d5 1 are the latitudes of the adjacent \u201chorizontal\u201d grid lines. The weights used were thus cos\u03d5(\u03d5 2 \u2013 \u03d5 1 ); where grid latitudes are evenly spaced, the weights are simply cos\u03d5.\n\nCONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION\n\nIt is claimed that GCMs provide credible quantitative estimates of future climate change, particularly at continental scales and above. Examining the local performance of the models at 55 points, we found that local projections do not correlate well with observed measurements. Furthermore, we found that the correlation at a large spatial scale, i.e. the contiguous USA, is worse than at the local scale.\n\nHowever, we think that the most important question is not whether GCMs can produce credible estimates of future climate, but whether climate is at all predictable in deterministic terms. Several publications, a typical example being Rial et al. (2004), point out the difficulties that the climate system complexity introduces when we attempt to make predictions. \u201cComplexity\u201d in this context usually refers to the fact that there are many parts comprising the system and many interactions among these parts. This observation is correct, but we take it a step further. We think that it is not merely a matter of high dimensionality, and that it can be misleading to assume that the uncertainty can be reduced if we analyse its \u201csources\u201d as nonlinearities, feedbacks, thresholds, etc., and attempt to establish causality relationships. Koutsoyiannis (2010) created a toy model with simple, fully-known, deterministic dynamics, and with only two degrees of freedom (i.e. internal state variables or dimensions); but it exhibits extremely uncertain behaviour at all scales, including trends, fluctuations, and other features similar to those displayed by the climate. It does so with a constant external forcing, which means that there is no causality relationship between its state and the forcing. The fact that climate has many orders of magnitude more degrees of freedom certainly perplexes the situation further, but in the end it may be irrelevant; for, in the end, we do not have a predictable system hidden behind many layers of uncertainty which could be removed to some extent, but, rather, we have a system that is uncertain at its heart.\n\nDo we have something better than GCMs when it comes to establishing policies for the future? Our answer is yes: we have stochastic approaches, and what is needed is a paradigm shift. We need to recognize the fact that the uncertainty is intrinsic, and shift our attention from reducing the uncertainty towards quantifying the uncertainty (see also Koutsoyiannis et al., 2009a). Obviously, in such a paradigm shift, stochastic descriptions of hydroclimatic processes should incorporate what is known about the driving physical mechanisms of the processes. Despite a common misconception of stochastics as black-box approaches whose blind use of data disregard the system dynamics, several celebrated examples, including statistical thermophysics and the modelling of turbulence, emphasize the opposite, i.e. the fact that stochastics is an indispensable, advanced and powerful part of physics. Other simpler examples (e.g. Koutsoyiannis, 2010) indicate how known deterministic dynamics can be fully incorporated in a stochastic framework and reconciled with the unavoidable emergence of uncertainty in predictions.\n\nh/t to WUWT reader Don from Paradise\n\nShare this: Print\n\nEmail\n\nTwitter\n\nFacebook\n\nPinterest\n\nLinkedIn\n\nReddit\n\n\n\nLike this: Like Loading..."}
-{"text": "\n\nPhoto Credit: Sergei Belski/USA TODAY Sports\n\nAt this point it\u2019s hard to imagine the Vancouver Canucks deciding to send their leading goal scorer back to junior. In the unlikely event that the club does decide to sent 2014 first-round draft pick Jared McCann back East to winter in the Soo though, it will be because of his still iffy defensive play.\n\nMcCann, 19, wasn\u2019t supposed to be leading the team in scoring. He wasn\u2019t even supposed to be in the NHL. The teenaged centre has exceeded expectations for the past couple of months though, and now it seems impossible to imagine that the Canucks would elect not to utilize the first year of his entry-level deal.\n\nOn Friday night McCann scored a mammoth tally \u2013 his fifth goal in nine games \u2013 to open the scoring against the Arizona Coyotes. It was a goal-scorers goal, a remarkable display of pure skill and an exclamation mark on McCann\u2019s increasingly strong case for remaining in the show past the 10-game mark. From the horses mouth, one hell of a quote:\n\nMcCann on scoring in Game No. 9: \u201cIt leaves no doubts.\u201d #Canucks \u2014 Brad Ziemer (@BradZiemer) October 31, 2015\n\nThat\u2019s great stuff. If you\u2019re a Canucks fan, you have to love this young man\u2019s confidence.\n\nThe only remaining suspense regarding McCann\u2019s fate, really, is whether or not head coach Willie Desjardins buys that his defensive game can hold up in the NHL. Well, that and the organization\u2019s concerns about whether McCann, who weights 180 pounds soaking wet, can hold up physically over the course of a full season.\n\nOf late though Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins, who is still reluctant to play McCann late in the third period of close games as evidenced by Thursday night\u2019s game in Dallas, has discussed McCann\u2019s lack of defensive quality at length.\n\n\u201cYou can send him back,\u201d Willie said in answer to a question about whether McCann could be sent back earlier this week, by way of Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Province. \u201cf you look at the (Montreal Canadiens\u2019) opportunities (in Tuesday night\u2019s 5-1 Canucks in). He was on the ice for the goal they scored. You have to be able to defend.\n\nAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below\n\n\u201cBut I do think he\u2019s getting better defending. If he was absolutely awful on his D, even if he was scoring it wouldn\u2019t matter.\n\n\u201cHow do you play a guy if he can\u2019t defend? You can\u2019t play him late in a game. But his defending has been okay. He hasn\u2019t been bad at defending.\u201d\n\nTo the eyes McCann looks like he has mature level of defensive awareness. His positioning is generally pretty good, and he certainly works hard on the back check. The on-ice results have been less than stellar though.\n\nIn even-strength situations the Canucks are giving up shots against at a way higher rate with McCann on the ice than they\u2019re surrendering with any other forward on the sheet. It isn\u2019t even close. Vancouver\u2019s opposition is generating over 38 shots per 60 minutes on 5-on-5 ice time, which is a ghastly number. Relative to the performance of the rest of the team, McCann\u2019s defensive results by this metric are the third worst among forwards in the NHL so far, according to hockeyanalysis.com.\n\nThe Canucks are outscoring the opposition with McCann on the ice at even strength, but that\u2019s largely the result of favourable bounces at both ends of the rink (McCann\u2019s combined on-ice shooting and save percentage sits at 107.4). Even though McCann\u2019s on-ice save percentage is sky high, the Canucks are still surrendering goals against at a very high rate when he\u2019s on the ice.\n\nAdvertisement - Continue Commenting Below\n\nWhen regression hits, which it will, the Canucks will likely begin to bleed goals against with McCann on the ice if his two-way results don\u2019t improve significantly over the balance of the campaign (assuming they keep him, of course).\n\nThere is some good news here. McCann is playing a premium position with a high level of defensive responsibility, and he\u2019s only 19-years-old. His early season struggles in this area are entirely expected.\n\nIn fact, Bo Horvat was the Canucks\u2019 single worst player by team relative shot differential a year ago, and his results in the first half of the year were particularly troublesome. He\u2019s figured it out, and is now Desjardins\u2019 preferred defensive centreman. The learning curve for very young NHL centreman is a real thing.\n\nAnd anyway McCann\u2019s offensive value surely outweighs his defensive issues. A good portion of McCann\u2019s hot goal scoring act is the result of fortunate bounces \u2013 he\u2019s shooting 31.3 percent which, yeah, isn\u2019t going to last even if his wrist shot is hot fire \u2013 but his healthy shot rate is a positive indicator. As is the fact that the Canucks are generating shots at a higher rate with McCann on the ice than they are with any other forwards aside from the first line and also Sven Baertschi.\n\nThe Canucks should keep McCann past the ninth game. As McCann convincingly said on Friday, there\u2019s really no doubt that he\u2019s ready to play and contribute at this level.\n\nIf Desjardins\u2019 continues to be skeptical about McCann\u2019s play on the defensive side of the puck and monitors his young forward\u2019s minutes in the third period of close games, well, that would be a well founded tactical choice as well. Especially as McCann works through the two-way growing pains that are inevitable for a 19-year-old centreman at the NHL level.\n\n\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)\n\nAmazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, who announced they are divorcing after 25 years of marriage, did not have a prenuptial agreement \u2014 meaning they will divide their gargantuan fortune equally, according to a report on Thursday,\n\nBezos, 54 \u2014 who sits at the top of Forbes\u2019 world billionaires ranking with a real-time worth of $137.1 billion \u2014 and MacKenzie, 48, an award-winning novelist, live in Washington state, a \u201ccommunity property state,\u201d meaning divorcing couples without a prenup split assets 50-50, according to TMZ, which cited \u201csources with direct knowledge\u201d of their arrangement.\n\nSince Amazon was founded a year after the Bezoses tied the knot, MacKenzie could fetch as much as $66 billion based on the value of the company today, according to CNBC.\n\nTo fund a settlement of that magnitude, Bezos would have sell or pledge shares, which could dilute his ownership and control of the company.\n\nHe owns just under 80 million shares, or just under 16 percent of Amazon, CNBC reported, citing regulatory filings.\n\nBut divorce lawyers say MacKenzie will very likely want the family fortune to keep growing, so she would probably not push for a settlement that would require him to sell shares, according to the news outlet.\n\nThe couple on Wednesday described their breakup as very amicable.\n\n\u201cWe want to make people aware of a development in our lives,\u201d Bezos tweeted. \u201cAs our family and close friends know, after a long period of loving exploration and trial separation, we have decided to divorce and continue our shared lives as friends.\u201d\n\nHe continued: \u201cWe feel incredibly lucky to have found each other and deeply grateful for every one of the years we have been married to each other. If we had known we would separate after 25 years, we would do it all again.\u201d\n\nThe couple will remain \u201ccherished friends,\u201d the statement read.\n\nAs Page Six exclusively reported, Bezos has been dating former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez, the wife of Hollywood talent mogul Patrick Whitesell."}
-{"text": "The Supporters' Shield is the toughest trophy to win in Major League Soccer. We could quibble over what trophy is the most important, and there isn't a right answer there. The toughest trophy to win, though, that's the Supporters' Shield.\n\nIt requires nine months of excellence. Any single poor performance could cost you the race; every single goal over 34 games matters. You can't just turn it on or off when you feel like it. You have to be committed every day; you have to be talented enough to beat the best teams; experienced enough to navigate the inevitable lows; deep enough to deal with tired legs.\n\nAnd nobody has done that better this decade than the New York Red Bulls.\n\n10 playoff appearances 3 Supporters' Shields\n\nThey have made the playoffs every single year. They have the second-highest points per season average over the 10 years (of any club with more than three MLS seasons). Five times they finished top of the Eastern Conference. Three times they won the most difficult trophy there is to win.\n\nWe often associate consistency of performance with consistency of approach \u2014 Sporting Kansas City are the prime example. The Red Bulls are the opposite. They've been through four managers and two distinct identities in the last 10 years.\n\nThe decade started with Hans Backe, Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez (and Luke Rodgers, of course). RBNY were one of the biggest spenders in the league; they made the playoffs three straight years but failed to win a trophy. Marquez and Backe departed after the 2012 season, Mike Petke took over and steered the club to its first Supporters' Shield the following year. Petke appeared to be the longterm solution.\n\nThen came one of the wildest moments in MLS history. Ali Curtis, the newly appointed technical director, fired the New York native and Red Bulls legend after two seasons, two playoff appearances and a major trophy. Curtis inserted Jesse Marsch, who only had one season of head coaching experience. (It's weird to think about now that we watch Marsch coaching in the UEFA Champions League, but when Marsch got hired by Curtis, it was a gigantic leap of faith.) It was a decision that few other people in sports would have the guts to think about, much less pull off. Such was the questioning of the decision that Curtis and Marsch took part in a town hall meeting with the fans to explain the decision face to face.\n\nIt was more than just a transformation in the dugout. To augment the coaching change, club and global soccer legend Thierry Henry announced his retirement. The era of star power for RBNY had officially ended; they were transitioning from a club dependent on stars to a club dependent on a system.\n\nHistory probably hasn't done what the Red Bulls accomplished in 2015 justice.\n\nThe gamble paid off, and then some. Marsch won the Supporters' Shield in his first season and established a clear, lasting identity for the club. They took pressing and playing intensity to a new level. Luis Robles, Dax McCarty, Sacha Klejstan and Bradley Wright-Phillips created one of those teams that don't need a qualifier sentence. Marsch also put an emphasis on player development, bringing Matt Miazga and Tyler Adams through the academy and on to big European transfers, and Aaron Long from USL to MLS Defender of the Year. Marsch's success made him the unquestioned face and decision-maker of the club.\n\nThen Marsch left midway through 2018, also for Europe's elite, and... RBNY won another Supporters' Shield. Chris Armas took over and the team went 12-2-3 down the stretch to nip Atlanta to the Shield. The managers have changed; the players have changed; the lifting of hardware has not.\n\nThe wrench in all of this \u2014 and the gigantic pit in the stomach of every RBNY fan \u2014 is obviously the lack of an MLS Cup. So much regular-season success, so little playoff success. The failure in one frontier, however, shouldn't overshadow the triumph in another. While the Red Bulls haven't won an MLS Cup, they've still climbed a few mountains.\n\nClubs of the Decade\n\n3. New York Red Bulls\n\nCheck back Thursday as we reveal No.2 on Bobby Warshaw's list of the best clubs of the past decade."}
-{"text": "So, my father used what was called a \"mattock handle.\" It was a large piece of wood about four-and-a-half feet long and it had about a thirteen, fourteen-inch circumference. And he would swing that like a baseball bat when he was beating one of the kids. And he did it such that he would hit us five or ten times, and then he would scream at us about what we'd done wrong, and how we were going to go to Hell for it, and how God hated sinners, and in the Old Testament times I would have been taken out of the city gates and stoned because I was disobedient. This was the kind of rhetoric that we heard, and then he would go back to the physical beating and he would work himself up into this frenzy. And it would be bad enough that you literally couldn't sit down, or lie down on your backside for two or three days."}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\ncomments that your submission is awesome doesn't upvote"}
-{"text": "Vor den entscheidenden Jamaika-Sondierungsrunden zeigt sich der Gr\u00fcnen-Chef gegen\u00fcber Union und FDP kompromissbereit \u2013 wenn diese es auch sind. \u00dcberraschend beweglich zeigt sich \u00d6zdemir beim Thema Auto.\n\nCem \u00d6zdemir h\u00e4lt das Spekulieren \u00fcber Neuwahlen seitens der FDP f\u00fcr \u201eunverantwortlich\u201c. Foto: AFP\n\nBerlin - Die Gespr\u00e4che \u00fcber eine \u201eJamaika\u201c-Regierung gehen in ihre hei\u00dfe Phase. Im Interview redet Gr\u00fcnen-Chef \u00d6zdemir \u00fcber den schlechten Start und m\u00f6gliche Gemeinsamkeiten.\n\nHerr \u00d6zdemir, im Fu\u00dfball spricht man vom erwartet schweren Spiel? Haben Sie geahnt, dass es so kompliziert wird mit \u201eJamaika\u201c?\n\nDass es schwer wird, war klar. Manchmal habe ich mich gefragt, ob f\u00fcr Fouls in den Sondierungsgespr\u00e4che n nicht auch ein Videobeweis hilfreich w\u00e4re. Aber wahrscheinlich w\u00fcrde das den Streit nur verl\u00e4ngern wie aktuell in der Bundesliga.\n\nEs sieht nicht gut aus bisher, oder?\n\nWir f\u00fchren Gespr\u00e4che, die sich keiner von uns gew\u00fcnscht hat. Wir haben gerade eine Phase erlebt, in der manche den anderen Partnern offenbar m\u00f6glichst schmerzhaft zwischen die Beine gr\u00e4tschen wollten. So funktioniert das nicht. Jetzt m\u00fcssen sich alle aufeinander zubewegen.\n\nWir brauchen eine handlungsf\u00e4hige proeurop\u00e4ische Regierung in Berlin. Wer jetzt leichtfertig \u00fcber Neuwahlen spekuliert und unverantwortlich mit dem W\u00e4hlerwillen umgeht, holt die Krise nach Europa und damit auch nach Deutschland zur\u00fcck.\n\nLiberale treibt die Sorge um, dass ihre Handschrift in einem Koalitionsvertrag nicht erkennbar ist und sie die Fehler der schwarz-gelben Regierungszeit wiederholen.\n\nAngst ist kein guter Ratgeber. Alle Parteien m\u00fcssen sich wiederfinden. Ich sehe genug Spielraum f\u00fcr alle, um sich mit Inhalten zu profilieren. Dazu braucht es aber Bereitschaft aller, Kompromisse einzugehen.\n\nWo darf die Konkurrenz gl\u00e4nzen?\n\nDie FDP kann mit uns gemeinsam die notwendige Modernisierung durchsetzen bei der Infrastruktur, bei den Netzen f\u00fcr Daten, Strom und Verkehr. Bei der Bildung steht schon einiges auf der Habenseite \u2013 von verbesserten Lehr- und Lernbedingungen an unseren Schulen bis hin zu einem erneuerten Hochschulpakt. Diese Anliegen einen uns. Es kann eine steuerliche Entlastung geben. Uns ist wichtig, dass gerade die kleinen und mittleren Einkommen profitieren. Der CSU bieten wir an, gemeinsam mit uns daf\u00fcr zu sorgen, dass sich Menschen in l\u00e4ndlichen R\u00e4umen nicht abgeh\u00e4ngt f\u00fchlen. Gemeinsam k\u00f6nnen wir daf\u00fcr sorgen, dass es mehr Ordnung im Asylsystem gibt.\n\nDas h\u00f6rt sich gut an, harte gr\u00fcne Zugest\u00e4ndnisse sind das aber auch noch nicht.\n\nIch bitte um Verst\u00e4ndnis, dass ich die Verhandlungen am Verhandlungstisch f\u00fchre. Aber ich signalisiere gerne: Wir sind bereit, Br\u00fccken zu bauen und laden die anderen Partner ein, mitzubauen. Erfolgreich werden wir aber nur sein, wenn alle zusammen anpacken. Nehmen Sie die Verkehrswende. Mir ist klar, dass wir alleine nicht das Enddatum 2030 f\u00fcr die Zulassung von fossilen Verbrennungsmotoren durchsetzen werden k\u00f6nnen. Wir m\u00fcssen nat\u00fcrlich jetzt den Pfad ebnen f\u00fcr die emissionsfreie Mobilit\u00e4t mit verbindlichen Ma\u00dfnahmen. Die Autoindustrie wird so oder so den Schalter umlegen, das muss eine neue Bundesregierung unterst\u00fctzen und gerne beschleunigen. Ich w\u00fcnsche mir ein klares Bekenntnis, dass wir alles daf\u00fcr tun, um die Fahrzeuge der Zukunft \u2013 vernetzt, automatisiert und emissionsfrei - zu bekommen. Da muss es konkrete Schritte geben.\n\nWelche sollten das sein?\n\nDas hei\u00dft zum Beispiel, dass wir beim Dienstwagenprivileg \u00f6kologische Anreize setzen und bei der Kfz-Steuer ein Bonus-Malus-System zugunsten der Elektromobilit\u00e4t schaffen. Und ich erwarte, dass die Gerichtsurteile zu den Stickoxidemissionen umgesetzt werden, damit wir die St\u00e4dte sauber bekommen.\n\nUnd wie sieht es bei der Steuerpolitik aus?\n\nBei den Steuern wissen wir, dass es f\u00fcr die FDP wichtig ist Profil zu zeigen. Das darf nicht auf Kosten von Zukunftsinvestitionen gehen. Das vollst\u00e4ndige Auslaufen des Solidarit\u00e4tszuschlags entlastet besonders die h\u00f6heren Einkommen. Wir brauchen aber gezielte Entlastungen f\u00fcr untere und mittlere Einkommen.\n\nM\u00fcssen Union und FDP beim Klimaschutz flexibel sein und die Gr\u00fcnen bei Migration?\n\nSo funktioniert das nicht. Jedes Thema steht f\u00fcr sich. Wir brauchen eine gute L\u00f6sung beim Klimaschutz. Das beinhaltet die Zusage, bis 2020 insgesamt 40 Prozent weniger CO2 auszusto\u00dfen als 1990. Wer dieses Ziel in Frage stellt, der steht zu den l\u00e4ngerfristigen erst recht nicht.\n\nUnd beim Asyl?\n\nWir wissen schon, dass das f\u00fcr CDU und CSU von gr\u00f6\u00dfter Bedeutung ist. Aber eben auch f\u00fcr uns. Auch da m\u00fcssen sich alle bewegen. Wir k\u00f6nnten \u00fcber ein Einwanderungsgesetz eine Entlastung beim Asyl schaffen und daf\u00fcr sorgen, dass schneller das Land verlassen muss, wer hier keine Bleibeperspektive hat. Klar ist f\u00fcr uns: F\u00fcr eine bessere Integration m\u00fcssen wir die Familienzusammenf\u00fchrung wieder erm\u00f6glichen. Da geht es um eine sehr \u00fcberschaubare Zahl von Menschen, die doch auch nicht alle auf einen Schlag kommen werden. Da w\u00fcnsche ich mir von den anderen Parteien mehr Realismus.\n\nWie wollen Sie Christian Lindner beim Klimaschutz \u00fcberzeugen?\n\nIch w\u00fcrde ja mit Christian Lindner gerne mal die Mittelst\u00e4ndler in Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg besuchen und ihm zeigen, wie die Unternehmen dort l\u00e4ngst gutes Geld mit Energieeffizienztechnologie verdienen und Arbeitspl\u00e4tze schaffen. Die Wirtschaft hat sich l\u00e4ngst auf den Klimaschutz vorbereitet. Die warten darauf, dass die Politik entscheidet. Die wollen kein Zickzack, sondern Investitionssicherheit.\n\nLindner zeigt sich Ihren Angeboten gegen\u00fcber bisher hartleibig, und Horst Seehofer ist einem offenen Aufstand von der Jungen Union ausgesetzt. Haben Sie Zweifel, ob der Bayern-MP \u00fcberhaupt noch ein volles Verhandlungsmandat f\u00fcr Jamaika hat?\n\nHorst Seehofer verhandelt in der Sache hart, aber l\u00f6sungsorientiert. Er macht keinen Klamauk, und ich erlebe ihn als verl\u00e4ssliches Gegen\u00fcber. Er ist unser Gespr\u00e4chspartner f\u00fcr die CSU.\n\nTeilen Sie J\u00fcrgen Trittins Analyse vom Wochenende, dass nicht die FDP das Hauptproblem in den Gespr\u00e4chen ist, sondern dass die Merkel-CDU eine Totalblockade macht?\n\nAlle werden sich bewegen m\u00fcssen. Auch die Kanzlerin. Ich erlebe, dass sie bisher zuh\u00f6rt, moderiert und viele Fragen stellt. Aber jetzt kommt die Woche der Wahrheit. Wir Gr\u00fcnen haben \u00fcbers Wochenende klare Priorit\u00e4ten f\u00fcr uns benannt, damit wir mit den Gespr\u00e4chen vorankommen k\u00f6nnen. Ich bin gespannt, ob Seehofer, Merkel und Lindner das auch geschafft haben.\n\nWie geschlossen sind die Gr\u00fcnen denn aus dem Prozess herausgekommen?\n\nSehr geschlossen, da muss ich meine Partei loben. Jetzt kommt es auf zwei Sachen an. Erstens: Definieren, was die wirklich wichtigen Kernbereiche f\u00fcr einen sind. Zweitens: Zugestehen, wo die anderen wichtige Sachen f\u00fcr sich brauchen und wo man ihnen entgegenkommen kann. Darauf sind wir vorbereitet. Ich hoffe, dass die anderen das ebenso gemacht haben. Sonst, wird\u2019s nichts.\n\nIst das zwischen Ihnen und Trittin, der regelm\u00e4\u00dfig harte Attacken reitet, eigentlich Arbeitsteilung nach dem Muster: Guter Gr\u00fcner \u2013 B\u00f6ser Gr\u00fcner?\n\nGut sind wir hoffentlich alle, vor allem sind wir gut vorbereitet. J\u00fcrgen Trittin hat eine enorme Sachkenntnis und n\u00fctzt uns sehr mit seiner Erfahrung. Genauso \u00fcbrigens wie Winfried Kretschmann.\n\nBei der Union und der FDP sagen sie, es sei nicht klar, ob Cem \u00d6zdemir bei den Gr\u00fcnen den Hut aufhabe, er m\u00fcsse sich in Telefonkonferenzen r\u00fcckversichern?\n\nIch pflege ganz offensichtlich einen anderen F\u00fchrungsstil als die FDP, wo au\u00dfer Christian Lindner niemand Prokura hat. Das irritiert die FDP wahrscheinlich. So k\u00f6nnen sie aber doch so gro\u00dfe Themengebiete nicht klug verhandeln. Wir stimmen uns ab und sind gut vorbereitet. Wir k\u00f6nnen entscheiden und sind handlungsf\u00e4hig."}
-{"text": "A young bank teller is shot dead during a robbery. The robber flees in a stolen van and is chased down the motorway by a convoy of police cars. Careening through traffic, the robber runs several cars off the road and clips several more. Eventually, the robber pulls off the motorway and attempts to escape into the hills on foot, the police in hot pursuit. After several tense minutes, the robber pulls a gun on the cops and is promptly killed in a hail of gunfire. It is later revealed the robber is a career criminal with a history of violent crime stretching all the way back to high school.\n\nNow tell me: Are you picturing a male or a female robber? If you look back at the last paragraph, you\u2019ll notice that I didn\u2019t actually specify the robber\u2019s sex. Nonetheless, I\u2019d be willing to bet that you were picturing a man. Don\u2019t worry\u2014you weren\u2019t being sexist; you were simply playing the odds. Most men are not especially violent, but most people who are especially violent are men. And rare though they might be, men such as our fictitious robber are the extreme of a more general trend, namely that men are more violent than women, more in-your-face aggressive, and more prone to taking risks.\n\nPhotograph by Refat / Shutterstock\n\nWhy? Where do these all-too-familiar sex differences come from? A recent New York Times opinion piece weighed in on this difficult question, and came to a fairly common conclusion. The headline captured the gist: \u201cIt\u2019s Dangerous to Be a Boy: They smoke more, fight more and are far more likely to die young than girls. But their tendency to violence isn\u2019t innate.\u201d (Emphasis added.) In other words, sex differences in aggression come entirely from the environment: from culture rather than biology, nurture rather than nature. Let\u2019s call this the Nurture Only position.\n\n\n\nNow, there\u2019s no real doubt that social forces help to shape violence and aggression. Decades of research have shown that people\u2019s behavior\u2014aggression included\u2014is responsive to incentives and training. The question, then, is not whether social forces matter, but whether social forces are the whole story. And the answer, in a nutshell, is \u201calmost certainly not.\u201d Biology matters as well. Here\u2019s how we know\u2026\n\nAn initial line of evidence is that it\u2019s not only in the West that we find sex differences in aggression. Wherever in the world we look, men are more violent and aggressive than women, especially with other men. The clearest and most persuasive evidence for this comes from homicide statistics: In every country, without fail, men commit the vast majority of homicides (and are more likely to be the victims of homicide as well). If the sex difference in aggression is just an arbitrary product of culture, why does it rear its ugly head in every human group?\n\nThat was a rhetorical question, of course, but I should mention that some sociocultural theorists think they have an answer to it. The eminent psychologists Alice Eagly and Wendy Wood, for instance, argue that, although men clearly do engage in higher rates of violence, this isn\u2019t a result of evolved differences in men and women\u2019s minds. Instead, it\u2019s an indirect effect of evolved differences in men and women\u2019s bodies: namely that men are larger, stronger, and faster than women, and that women get pregnant and produce milk for the young. Because of these non-negotiable physical differences, men in every culture are funneled into social roles involving aggression and physical strength, whereas women are funneled into roles involving childcare. Like the ex-soldier who keeps on polishing his boots every day for the rest of his life, the roles we play in the world have enduring effects on our behavior and personalities. Over time, men actually become more aggressive and women become more caring.\n\nIn short, Eagly and Wood provide a non-evolutionary-psychological explanation for the cross-cultural trend: The psychological sex differences are found in every culture because the physical sex differences are found in every culture. The physical differences are direct products of evolution; the psychological differences are not. If we re-engineered society\u2019s gender roles, argue Eagly and Wood, the psychological differences would quickly fall away.\n\nIt\u2019s a clever argument, and one worth taking seriously. On balance, though, I don\u2019t think it flies. To begin with, the Eagly\u2013Wood theory raises some awkward questions. Why wouldn\u2019t natural selection create psychological sex differences as well as physical ones? The mere existence of the physical differences tells us that human males have been subject to stronger selection for aggression and violence than females. Why would this selection pressure shape our muscles, our skeletons, and our overall body size, but draw the line at our brains? And why would natural selection give men the physical equipment needed for violence but not the psychological machinery to operate it? This would make about as much sense as giving us teeth and a digestive system, but not a desire to eat.\n\nWhy wouldn\u2019t natural selection create psychological sex differences as well as physical ones?\n\nOn top of that, if sex differences in aggression were all down to gender roles, the differences would be larger in cultures with stricter gender roles and greater gender inequality. That\u2019s not what we find, though. On the contrary, it seems to be the other way round. A recent large-scale, multinational study revealed, for instance, that sex differences in adolescent physical aggression are smaller, rather than larger, in less gender-equal nations. Culture clearly matters when it comes to sex differences in aggression\u2014but the effect of culture is apparently very different than the social role theory would lead us to expect.\n\n\n\nNot only does culture affect us in unexpected ways, many of the social forces invoked by the cultural theorists have an unfortunate habit of not existing. Consider the claim that society encourages males to be aggressive. This is probably true in some ways; we do sometimes give boys the message that they ought to be tough and not cry. Overall, though, we spend a lot more time discouraging male aggression than female aggression. Why? Because males are more aggressive! Or consider the claim that we tell girls to be quiet and passive. Again, we probably do this sometimes. More often, though, we tell boys to be quiet and passive. Why? Same reason: Boys are louder and more disruptive!\n\nIn the first piece of research I did as a graduate student, I found that people judged an aggressive act performed by a man to be less acceptable than the same act performed by a woman. This perception apparently translates into real-world behavior. In childhood, boys are punished more often and more severely for aggression. Similarly, in adulthood, male defendants get harsher sentences for the same crimes, even controlling for criminal history. Males, it seems, are more aggressive despite culture, not because of it. And this isn\u2019t just the case in the West. In most cultures, boys are taught not to be aggressive, but in all cultures, boys and men are more aggressive anyway.\n\n(To preempt a common misunderstanding, this isn\u2019t to deny that culture has any effect; we\u2019ve already seen that it does. The point is simply that culture couldn\u2019t be the entire explanation for the sex difference in aggression, because the sex difference in aggression appears even when culture pushes harder against male aggression than female.)\n\nSome argue that, even if culture doesn\u2019t create the aggression sex difference out of nothing, it does still amplify a relatively trivial inborn difference. Often, though, culture may do the reverse: By clamping down on male aggression, culture may make the sex difference in aggression smaller than it would otherwise have been.\n\nOther evidence pushes us toward the same conclusion. The evolutionary psychologist John Archer points out that if the gender gap in aggression were due solely to socialization, it would presumably be smallest in the very young, then grow steadily as the years went by. After all, the longer we live, the more time the forces of socialization have to sink their claws into our minds and behavior, and thus the bigger any gender gaps should be.\n\nThat\u2019s the theory; the reality, however, is quite different.\n\nFirst, the sex difference in aggression appears very early in life\u2014usually before children take their first bite of their first birthday cake. From the moment they can move around under their own their steam, boys engage in more rough-and-tumble play than girls. The same sex difference is found in other juvenile primates, and appears to be related to testosterone exposure in the womb. In humans, the sex difference shows up long before kids understand that they\u2019re boys or girls, so it can\u2019t just be that they\u2019re conforming to social expectations about how boys and girls ought to act. In any case, children are terrible at conforming to social expectations, as any parent who\u2019s tried to persuade their progeny to sit nicely and quietly in a restaurant will readily confirm. And not only does the sex difference in aggression emerge early, it remains static until puberty. Absolute levels of aggression trend downward for both sexes; however, the gap between the sexes barely budges. If socialization creates the sex difference, why doesn\u2019t continued socialization before puberty pry the sexes apart?\n\nIf we could cryogenically freeze all the males in this age bracket, we would instantly eliminate most of the crime and violence that plagues human societies.\n\nSecond, as with many sex differences, the sex difference in aggression suddenly swells at puberty, and is larger among adolescents and young adults than among any other group. Like bull elephants in musth, human males often go a little crazy at this stage in the life cycle. The evolutionary psychologists Margo Wilson and Martin Daly dubbed this the young male syndrome: Males in the grip of this syndrome are more likely than any other demographic to be imprisoned, to kill someone, or to be killed by someone else\u2014most often another young male. The behavioral geneticist David Lykken summed up the situation well when he observed that, if we could cryogenically freeze all the males in this age bracket, we would instantly eliminate most of the crime and violence that plagues human societies.\n\n\n\nHow would the Nurture Only approach explain the violence gap that opens up between the sexes at puberty? Is there a sudden surge in gender socialization\u2014a surge which, for some unknown reason, happens at exactly the same stage of life in every culture and in many sexually dimorphic species? Is it just a coincidence that this alleged surge in socialization comes at the same time as the massive surge in circulating testosterone that accompanies puberty in males?\n\nThird, after the violence and mayhem of early adulthood, male aggression steadily nosedives through the remainder of the lifespan. The socialization hypothesis offers no particular reason to expect this. But the decline in violence coincides almost perfectly with the decline in testosterone found in men throughout the adult years, and mirrors the decline found in males of other species. Once again, this is much easier to explain in evolutionary than in sociocultural terms.\n\nA final line of evidence that sex differences in aggression have biological underpinnings is that these differences are not unique to human beings. Indeed, in some cases, the parallels across species are striking. Consider humans and chimpanzees. Among humans, males commit around 95 percent of homicides, and are around 79 percent of homicide victims. Among chimps, on the other hand, males commit around 92 percent of \u201cchimpicides,\u201d and are around 73 percent of chimpicide victims. In short, the sex difference in lethal aggression in the two species is remarkably similar in size.\n\nAnd chimps are just the beginning. Sex differences in aggressive behavior are found in a great diversity of species, including most mammals. Why would differences that clearly have an evolutionary origin in other species have an entirely different genesis in our own? In the absence of a convincing answer to this question, the default assumption should be that they wouldn\u2019t have a different genesis, and thus that the sex differences we see in our species have the same root cause as those in our nonhuman kin.\n\nNone of this implies, by the way, that we\u2019re necessarily stuck with male aggression, or stuck with aggression in general. As the psychologist Steven Pinker demonstrated in The Better Angels of Our Nature, levels of violence and warfare have fallen steadily over the decades, centuries, and millennia, despite the fact that aggression is part of human nature. In various ways, from policing and government to trade and moral norms, we\u2019ve managed to pull ourselves, to a significant extent, out of the vortex of violence and bloodshed that characterized our species for the bulk of its tenure on Earth.\n\nIf we want to continue on this trajectory, however, or ideally to hasten our progress, our best bet is presumably not to delude ourselves about the true causes of our behavior. As policy wonks like to say: Wrong diagnosis; wrong cure. Let\u2019s get the diagnosis right so that we can maximize our chances of curing the scourge of human violence.\n\nSteve Stewart-Williams is an associate professor of psychology at Nottingham University Malaysia Campus and the author of The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve (Cambridge University Press, 2018), excerpts from which formed the basis of this article. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStuWill.\n\n\n\nGet the Nautilus newsletter The newest and most popular articles delivered right to your inbox!\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Victorian Railway Maps 1860 - 2000\n\nThe inspiration for this atlas came from my own historical research. So much of the history of the Victorian Railways is best expressed geographically, but producing maps for various dates by photocopying and liquid paper was not successful. The acquisition of suitable software made the production of a set of maps feasible though not easy. The goal was to draw an accurate map of Victoria for the 1 July of each decade from 1860 to 2000. Each map was to show, on a single A3 sheet, each station, stopping place, and significant private sidings. Due to limitations of scale, private sidings within three quarters of a mile of a station are not generally shown, nor are all private sidings at very complex locations.\n\nThe maps are in Acrobat PDF format and are scaled to fit A3. You need to have installed the Acrobat 4.0 (or above) reader to view the diagrams. Acrobat 3.0 will not work for all the maps - mainly the larger maps around 1940. The latest Acrobat reader can be downloaded for free from Adobe\n\nContents\n\nGeographical Sources\n\nThe goal was to produce reasonably accurate maps of the Victorian Railways. The small scale worked to meant that extreme accuracy was unnecessary. This is fortunate due to the paucity of available information. Production of the maps required combining information from a wide variety of sources. The core of the work was from the Australian topographical maps. A wide selection was examined to obtain the basic information: 1:63,630 (inch to the mile), 1:100,000, 1:253,440 (four inches to the mile), and 1:250,000. These maps were sufficient to show the location of most lines. Station locations were mainly added from copies of Broadbent\u00eds eastern, western, and central 'official' road and railway maps of Victoria dating from the early 1950s. Odds and ends were filled in from a variety of other sources, including copies of Morgan\u00eds Melbourne Street Directory (especially useful for the Black Rock extension of the Sandringham street railway), Melways, the ESMap Outer Melbourne Directory, and the VicRoads Country Directory. Final holes were filled in from published railway histories. Particularly useful were Norman Haughton\u00eds \u00ebThe Beechy\u00ed, Stamford, Stuckey, & Maynard's 'Powelltown', and Chris Wurr\u00eds recent article on the remnants of the Robinvale - Lette line. When all else failed, the mileages were looked up in the grades book and the locations identified from adjacent road crossings, river courses, or significant curves.\n\nHistorical Sources\n\nDetermining the period during which a station or siding was open was the other half of the puzzle. Basic lists were compiled from the annual Commissioner's reports, but the information in them had to be treated with a certain amount of caution. Ignoring simple errors, these reports do not show all stations and sidings (particularly those which did not generate any revenue for that year), but would show stations only open for part of the year. Opening and closing dates of lines and stations between 1894 and 1994 were checked against Jungwirth & Lambert's invaluable 'Weekly Notice Extracts'. Dates prior to 1894 were checked in the Chronological Index held in the ARHS Archives at Windsor. Each map was then checked against the working timetable closest to the nominal date I had access to; normally this was within one to two years of the decade. Stations on the very early network were checked against Harrigan's venerable 'Victorian Railways to '62'. A particular problem occurred with attempting to plot the 1990 and 2000 maps: sidings, stations and whole lines simply disappeared with no formal notification of closure; or a notification that was very much post hoc.\n\nHistorical Overview\n\n1860 This map captures the railway network of Victoria at an interesting date. The first sections of the Victorian Railways had opened, but the mileage of the privately owned railways exceeded that of the government lines. This changed rapidly, of course, with the extension of the public lines to Sandhurst, Echuca, and Ballarat, and the purchase of the Geelong and Melbourne Railway.\n\n1870 By 1 July 1870, construction of the lines to Ballarat, Sandhurst, and Echuca had been completed and the Victorian Railways was firmly established. In the city, the suburban lines to the south and east were still privately owned, although the separate companies had amalgamated into one.\n\n1880 After pausing to recover after the massive expenditures of the initial main lines, construction resumed in the late 1870s with lower and cheaper standards. Trunk lines had been pushed to Wodonga, Sale, Portland and Colac. Construction was continuing west towards the South Australian border. A number of branch lines had been opened to serve the populous gold mining districts, particularly around Maryborough, Inglewood, and Beechworth, and the first purely agricultural branch lines had been constructed.\n\n1890 The late 1880\u00eds was marked by a frenzy of railway construction as branch lines were constructed to serve new agricultural communities (and to support suburban land speculation). By the 1 July 1890 the construction of lines passed in the massive 1884 'Octopus' act had largely been completed. One subtle change from earlier years was that stations were now spaced much closer together. Compare the number of stations on the NE line in 1890 with that in 1880, for example.\n\n1900 The early 1890s was marked by a massive depression as the speculative bubble of the late 1880s burst. Most of the 'new' lines shown on this map were the final lines of the 1884 Octopus Act and were completed in the early 1890s. By the turn of the century construction of new lines had resumed, however, particularly in the north west of the state to open up the Mallee. A notable new line in the north east was the first trial narrow gauge line to Whitfield.\n\n1910 The first decade of the twentieth century saw surprisingly little constrution. The other two trial narrow gauge lines (to Beech Forest and Gembrook were opened) as were two additional narrow gauge lines: to the gold mining town of Walhalla deep in the Victorian Alps, and the tiny horse worked tram to Port Welshpool in the southeast of the state. On the broad gauge the major extension was to the Chaffey brothers irregation settlement at Mildura.\n\n1920 Despite the Great War, the teens saw significant extensions of rail service, particularly in the wheat growing areas in the north west and west. The new lengthy parallel lines were considered to be cheaper to operate that the numerous short \u00ebcockspurs\u00ed built in the late 1880s; compare the railway network in the north west with that of the Golburn Valley. Other line constructed during this decade were 'infill' lines, particularly in the Cressy plains west of Geelong, and lines to Cohuna, Colbinabbin, and Girgarre. In the northeast and east lines were being pushed through heavy country towards Cudgewa and Orbost.\n\n1930 By 1930 the railway map of Victoria was largely complete. A number of minor extensions had been completed during the twenties within Victoria (Carpolac, Bolangum, Patchewillock, Meringur, Robinvale, Yungera, Alvie, Red Hill, Strezlecki, and Woodside) but the best land had long been settled and the remaining land was very marginal for agriculture.. Victoria was, in fact, looking to the underpopulated Riverina in NSW and had obtained agreement to build several lines north of the border and to purchase the Deniliquin line. The lines to Balranald and Stony Crossing had been opened, and the lines to Oaklands and Lette were under construction. The last named line was never completed.\n\n1940 The thirties was the great depression and the Victorian government had little money to spend on new railway construction, even if there had been places left to build lines to. While the line to Oaklands opened in this decade, the line from Topiram to Strezlecki had closed after less than a decade of use; the harbringer of later cuts.\n\n1950 The Second World War gave a respite to the railways and only a few insignificant sections of line were closed during the forties. These were spread out over the state: the Stony Crossing line beyond the border in the northwest, the Grampians line in the west, the Tatong line in the north east, the Wensleydale line in the south west, a further section of the Strezlecki line in the east, and the East Kew line in the metropolitan area.\n\n1960 The fifties saw the loss of a number of short branch lines, particularly in mountainous or hilly country where the only traffic had been timber or livestock. Many of the lines closed had been unprofitable for years, and the growth of the trucking industry (particularly in the unrestricted zone around Melbourne) meant that there was little prospect for traffic. By 1960 the Eastern district, the South Western district around Colac, and the Central Highlands between Ararat and Seymour were virtually denuded of branch lines.\n\n1970 The news of the sixties was the contruction of the NE Standard Gauge to Albury, opened in 1962, the reopening of the Avoca - Ararat line in 1966, and the reopening of Puffing Billy (to Menzies Creek in 1962). The remainder of the network was relatively stable with only a few lines closing, including the lines to Heathcote, Waubra, Weeaproinah, and Murrabit.\n\n1980 The late seventies saw the replacement of the roadside goods and country railmotor services by road transport from regional hubs. The result was the virtual elimination of branch lines outside the grain producing areas. A more subtle effect was the closure of many of the wayside stations on the 'main' lines that remained; in fact many of the 'stations' that remained south of the divide had no traffic but only remained as safeworking locations.\n\n1990 Many of the smaller silos, serving marginal grain country, were closed to rail traffic in the eighties in favour of road haulage to larger centralised silos. This caused the closure of a number of grain branch lines, particularly the shorter lines, and the elimination of many smaller \u00ebstations\u00ed on those lines that remained open. The remaining branch lines outside the grain area were eliminated, and in the eastern part of the state even the main lines were beginning to be cut back. Replacement of traditional safeworking systems by systems that required no local staff saw safeworking locations rationalised and relocated, particularly in the south of the state.\n\n2000 The final map shows the current rail network. The major change in the nineties has been the conversion of the Western line to Adelaide to Standard Gauge. This required provision of Standard Gauge to Yaapeet, Hopetoun, Portland, and Dunolly (the last provides access to the major grain terminal at Dunolly), but the former main line between Ballarat and Ararat, and the Mt Gambier line were not converted and were mothballed. Today, the state essentially consists of four networks: the electrified metropolitan public transport system which has hardly changed since electrification in the twenties; the country passenger network to Warrnambool, Ballarat, Bendigo, Swan Hill, Shepparton, Albury, and Sale; the standard gauge interstate lines to Adelaide and Albury; and the grain network, principly west of Murtoa, north of Maryborough and north of Seymour, with its main line connections to the ports at Geelong and Portland.\n\nCopying Permission\n\nThese maps are intended to be used as a resource by historians and others. Permission is consequently granted to copy the maps contained in this atlas for personal use.\n\nAcknowledgements\n\nI would like to thank Michael Guiney for his careful checking of the maps, but any remaining errors remain the author\u00eds. I would be pleased to receive corrections so that the maps can be corrected if a future edition is ever required.\n\nI would be pleased to hear of any corrections. Please send email to andrew.waugh@dvc.vic.gov.au\n\nOther Australian railway maps\n\nOther Australian railway mapping can be found at:\n\nThanks to John Cleverdon for putting me onto these other maps."}
-{"text": "Accusations of poor care and frequent over-prescription of opioid painkillers once earned the Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Tomah, Wis., the nickname \u201cCandy Land.\u201d\n\nNow, a US Senate investigation has revealed that a VA inspector general\u2019s review of the facility discounted evidence and witness testimony, while the agency\u2019s internal watchdog also declined to make its investigation report public.\n\nThe report is the latest blow to the embattled Department of Veterans Affairs that has been dogged by a myriad of scandals in recent years, including veterans dying while waiting for care. The Tomah scandal suggests that the VA's problems are not merely administrative, but may actually involve a level of willful neglect.\n\nIn 2014, investigators at the VA found doctors were frequently over-prescribing painkillers, with some veterans nicknaming former chief of staff David Houlihan \u201ccandy man\u201d as a result. The deaths of three people under care at the facility also remain under investigation.\n\nBut the investigation by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, due for release Tuesday ahead of a hearing, found that the inspector general, which is tasked with keeping an eye on VA facilities, did nothing to identify wrongdoing at the facility.\n\n\u201cPerhaps the greatest failure to identify and prevent the tragedies at the Tomah VAMC was the VA Office of Inspector General\u2019s two-year health care inspection of the facility,\u201d the report notes, according to an advance copy obtained by USA Today.\n\nFollowing news reports of the death of Jason Simcakoski, who died of \u201cmixed drug toxicity\u201d after having taken 13 medications prescribed by the hospital in a 24-hour period, the VA launched another investigation, finding doctors at the facility had failed to properly advise Mr. Simcakoski of the risks of taking the drugs. They also bungled the immediate emergency response after discovering him unresponsive in his bed in August 2014, the VA\u2019s report found last year.\n\nThe controversy over conditions at Tomah and the inspector general\u2019s inaction has also become a political battle between a current and a former Wisconsin senator locked in an election contest.\n\nTuesday\u2019s hearing, scheduled for 10 a.m., Central time, at the Cranberry County Lodge in Tomah, is expected to feature testimony from VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson and new Inspector General Michael Missal.\n\nThe replacement of the watchdog came amid other critiques of the office\u2019s investigations in other states, including Illinois, Louisiana, and Texas, USA Today reports.\n\nWhile Mr. Missal has promised greater transparency, the investigator who led the Tomah inquiry and decided to keep it secret, Dr. John Daigh, is remaining in his current role, the paper reports.\n\nGet the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy\n\nJohnson said the IG\u2019s delay in making its findings public were part of a larger pattern. \u201cThe reasons the problems were allowed to fester for so many years is because in the inspector general's office, for whatever reason, for years, the inspector general lacked the independence and had lost the sense of what its true mission was, which is being the transparent watchdog of VA system,\u201d he told USA Today.\n\nThis report contains material from the Associated Press."}
-{"text": "Image caption The IFS estimates the average household will be \u00a3200 worse off\n\nThree-quarters of a million more people are set to become higher-rate taxpayers in April, according to a leading economic research body.\n\nThe Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) estimates the average household will be \u00a3200 a year worse off as a result of tax rises and benefit cuts taking effect on 5 April.\n\nAt present there are more than 30 million income tax payers in the UK.\n\nSome 500,000 people will no longer pay income tax owing to the changes.\n\nThis is because the point at which any income tax starts to be paid - known as the personal allowance - will rise.\n\nWinners\n\nThe IFS report explains that the pattern of gains and losses as a result of the tax reforms is complex.\n\nIt concludes that the main winners from the 2011 tax changes will be lone parents who are not working, and low-to-middle income households without children.\n\nTax terms explained Taxable income: Includes money earned from employment, self-employment, savings, pensions and shares\n\nIncludes money earned from employment, self-employment, savings, pensions and shares Non-taxable income: You don't pay tax on some benefits or premium bond winnings\n\nYou don't pay tax on some benefits or premium bond winnings Income tax allowance: The amount you can earn tax-free. From April, it will be \u00a37,475 per person for those under 65\n\nThe amount you can earn tax-free. From April, it will be \u00a37,475 per person for those under 65 Income tax threshold: This is the point where tax rates change. The new threshold at which you start paying the 40% rate will be \u00a335,001 of taxable income. This is in addition to your personal allowance. Taking this into account, you will pay the higher rate on earnings from \u00a342,476.\n\nThis is owing to the rise in the personal allowance, and rises in the child element of Child Tax Credit.\n\nFrom the start of the next tax year, the government is also increasing the main rate at which National Insurance is charged.\n\nAs a result of these changes, an individual earning \u00a37,475 a year will pay \u00a3275 a year less in income tax and National Insurance.\n\nThose earning up to about \u00a335,000 a year will also be better off owing to the changes being introduced in April, though to a lesser degree as this income rises, according to the report.\n\nLosers\n\nThe threshold for the higher-rate 40% income tax rate will be \u00a335,001 of taxable income from April, compared with \u00a337,401 this financial year.\n\nTaking into account the personal allowance, individuals will start to see their income tax and National Insurance payments increase sharply when their earnings rise above \u00a342,475.\n\nThe biggest losers are the very richest households owing to restrictions on the amount that can be contributed to a private pension.\n\nThey have also been affected by the 50% income tax rate on earnings above \u00a3150,000 and withdrawal of the income tax personal allowance above \u00a3100,000 that were introduced in April 2010.\n\nFor every \u00a32 earned above \u00a3100,000, \u00a31 of the personal allowance is lost.\n\nThe removal of that allowance means that betwen \u00a3100,000 and \u00a3114,950, earnings attract a marginal tax rate of 60%.\n\nWe cannot justify taxing the poorest to pay benefits such as tax credits and child benefit to higher earners Treasury spokesman\n\nThe report adds that working couples with children will lose significantly from cuts to tax credits.\n\nJames Browne, a senior research economist at the IFS who wrote the report, said: \"Further reductions in household income are inevitable as government policies aimed at helping to reduce government borrowing from its post-World War II high are introduced.\n\n\"The set of the changes coming in April is complex and the pattern of gains and losses reflects this.\"\n\nA Treasury spokesman said: \"Stable, balanced public finances benefit everyone as they create the right conditions for growth and help keep interest rates down. The government have had to make tough choices but have always been clear that those with the broadest shoulders should carry the greatest burden.\n\n\"It is a matter of fairness. We cannot justify taxing the poorest to pay benefits such as tax credits and child benefit to higher earners. The changes to be made in April mean that tax credits will be targeted at those who need them most.\"\n\nHe said that the shift of people into the higher tax bracket was an accumulation of measures from the previous administration and this government. The Treasury's own estimate was of 650,000 more people becoming higher rate taxpayers.\n\nFuture changes\n\nMore changes are also planned for subsequent years.\n\nChild benefit is set to be withdrawn for higher rate taxpayers from April 2013.\n\nImage caption Working couples with children are losing out, the report says\n\n\"If the government were to meet its aspiration of having a \u00a310,000 income tax personal allowance in 2015-16, this would increase the number of higher rate taxpayers by a further 850,000 and take another million people out of income tax altogether,\" the report added.\n\nAt the weekend, Chancellor George Osborne told the BBC he had to make hard economic decisions.\n\nSpeaking to the Politics Show on Sunday Mr Osborne said no politician liked cutting spending and increasing taxes, but he was trying to clear up the \"mess\" Labour had left.\n\nHe added: \"I feel every day a huge responsibility to get these decisions right for Britain.\""}
-{"text": "\u201cIf the United States had to fight Russia in a Baltic contingency or China in a war over Taiwan, Americans could face a decisive military defeat,\u201d a report from the US National Defense Strategy Commission states.\n\nIt\u2019s a dire warning.\n\nThe bipartisan panel says the United States has lost its military edge. It expects Beijing to be in a position to muscle Washington out of Asia within just 17 years - by 2035.\n\nThe annual report released yesterday warns China already has the ability to \u2018contest\u2019 US forces on land, sea and air within the \u2018second island chain\u2019 \u2014 a ring bounded by Japan in the north, Guam in the east and Palauto the south.\n\nAnd that freshly found military capability presents challenges to US assumptions of supremacy in the Indo-Pacific region, it warns.\n\n\u201cAs military modernisation progresses and Beijing\u2019s confidence in the People\u2019s Liberation Army increases, the danger will grow that deterrence will fail and China will use force as a regional hegemon,\u201d the report reads.\n\nAnd while the report doesn\u2019t declare China to be a \u201cpeer competitor\u201d \u2014 meaning that China isn\u2019t as powerful as the United States in all areas \u2014 it warns the \u2018first island chain\u2019, which includes the contested South China Sea and its controversial artificial island fortresses, is already all but withinin Beijing\u2019s grasp.\n\nRELATED: China\u2019s island-grabbing campaign gets close to home\n\nAt the heart of the matter is the US military \u2018losing its edge\u2019 to fight in heavily militarised zones \u2014 regions encompassed by advanced anti-access/area-denial weaponry, such as the Baltic, Black and South China Seas.\n\n\u201cAmerica\u2019s ability to defend its allies, its partners, and its own vital interests is increasingly in doubt. If the nation does not act promptly to remedy these circumstances, the consequences will be grave and lasting.\n\n\u201cPut bluntly, the US military could lose the next state-versus-state war it fights,\u201d the report concludes.\n\nRISING DRAGON\n\nDramatic technological advances by China in the cyber, space and hypersonic realms also may have given it the edge in key battlefronts.\n\nThe US report warns Beijing had invested heavily in upgrading weapons in all theatres. This included underwater drones, new amphibious aircraft, stealth bombers, hypervelocity missiles and cannons \u2014 and its artificial island fortresses.\n\n\u201cHad we addressed some of these issues years ago, we wouldn\u2019t be where we are,\u201d Carolyn Bartholomew, the commission\u2019s vice chair said.\n\nRELATED: President Xi orders \u2018preparations for fighting a war\u2019\n\nAmong aspects of concern, the committee found:\n\n- China\u2019s new Strategic Support Force had the capability to prevent the use of space, cyberspace and the electromagnetic/radio spectrum in the region.\n\n- Ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missiles had advanced sufficiently to pose a \u201cserious strategic and operational challenges for the US and its allies and partners throughout the Indo-Pacific\u201d.\n\n- And China\u2019s coast guard had now abandoned its civilian policing status to become a fully-fledged military unit.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a massive reorganisation of the military in order to provide more guidance from the top,\u201d the commission\u2019s chair, Robin Cleveland, said earlier this week.\n\nAnd, given the centralisation of power under China\u2019s Communist Party rule, that places much more control in the hands of President Xi Jinping.\n\n\u201cAuthoritarian competitors \u2014 especially China and Russia \u2014 are seeking regional hegemony and the means to project power globally,\u201d the report reads. \u201cThey are pursuing determined military build-ups aimed at neutralising US strengths.\n\nIt\u2019s a warning seemingly supported by a fresh decree by China\u2019s People\u2019s Liberation Army. This week it asserted its forces \u201cmust prepare to move beyond a strategy of simple self defence\u201d.\n\nLast month, President Xi Jinping warned his military should \u201cconcentrate preparations for fighting a war\u201d.\n\nFALLING EAGLE\n\n\u201cMany of the skills necessary to plan for and conduct military operations against capable adversaries \u2014 especially China and Russia \u2014 have atrophied,\u201d the commission report argues.\n\nThis was because a long-term focus on fighting insurgents and minor powers had resulted in a neglect of the threat of \u201cgreat power competition\u201d.\n\nRELATED: Australia \u2018sleepwalking\u2019 into war \u2014 former Defence chief\n\nThis has changed, the report agrees, but the continued need to fight in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and against terrorist insurgents around the globe is holding the military back.\n\n\u201cDue to political dysfunction and decisions made by both major political parties... America has significantly weakened its own defence,\u201d the committee judges.\n\n\u201cThreats posed by Iran and North Korea have worsened as those countries have developed more advanced weapons and creatively employed asymmetric tactics \u2026 Around the world, the proliferation of advanced technology is allowing more actors to contest US military power in more threatening ways.\u201d\n\nRELATED: President Xi has built the perfect dystopia\n\nBut, mostly, this lack of preparedness would result in \u201cenormous\u201d losses if the US military was forced to confront China or Russia, it says.\n\n\u201cThe US military could suffer unacceptably high casualties and loss of major capital assets in its next conflict \u2026 the United States is particularly at risk of being overwhelmed should its military be forced to fight on two or more fronts simultaneously.\u201d\n\nThe committee was formed to evaluate President Trump\u2019s 2018 National Defense Strategy.\n\nWhile it endorsed the strategy, the committee warned Washington wasn\u2019t moving fast enough \u2014 investing enough \u2014 to halt the slide.\n\nThis is despite a $US716-billion US defence budget this year \u2014 four times the admitted size of China\u2019s and more than 10 times that of Russia.\n\n\u201cThere is a strong fear of complacency, that people have become so used to the United States achieving what it wants in the world, to include militarily, that it isn\u2019t heeding the warning signs,\u201d commissioner Kathleen Hicks said. \u201cIt\u2019s the flashing red that we are trying to relay.\u201d"}
-{"text": "The body of missing former NRL player Chad Robinson has been found in a car at Kenthurst in Sydney's north-west.\n\nThe 36-year-old disappeared from his Kellyville home in November.\n\nElectricity workers discovered the body and police said there were no suspicious circumstances.\n\nA Facebook page, set up to help in the search for Robinson, now includes a post about the family's heartbreak over the discovery.\n\n\"There are no words for our whole families loss and especially his two beautiful kids,\" it said.\n\nLoading\n\nRobinson's family made an emotional plea after he went missing, with his sister Monique Brennan saying his disappearance was totally out of character.\n\n\"We dearly miss our brother and really want to see him come home,\" she said.\n\n\"We love him and we can't imagine life without him.\"\n\nRobinson was a forward for the Parramatta Eels between 2000 and 2008, but played for the Sydney Roosters between 2002 and 2004."}
-{"text": "I\u2019ve been a fan of Stephen Colbert for a long time, ever since his days on The Daily Show and continuing through his years doing The Colbert Report . One reason is that his comedy is, in general, the sort that skeptics appreciate. For example, his recurring \u201cThe W\u00f8rd\u201d segment on The Colbert Report , for instance, brilliantly deconstructed the deceptive ways that politicians and others use language. Then, he coined the term \u201ctruthiness,\u201d which describes the belief or assertion that a particular statement is true based on the intuition or perceptions of some individual or individuals, without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts. Then, of course, there\u2019s his regular segment, which debuted in 2015, on The Tonight Show With Stephen Colbert mocking the expensive quackery and nonsense that Gwyneth Paltrow sells through her Goop lifestyle brand. In it, Colbert touts his own lifestylbrand, Covetton House.\n\nSo it was that when I first learned that Gwyneth Paltrow would be a guest on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, I was puzzled. The reason, of course, is because over the last two years, through his Covetton House segments, Colbert had turned Gwyneth Paltrow and her lifestyle brand Goop into a running punchline in which he periodically mocked all the New Age nonsense sold by Goop, as I noted in one of my discussions of all the quackery and pseudoscience marketed primarily to credulous women with, as Mitchell and Webb would put it, more money than sense. Each segment follows the same general pattern. In the first half, Colbert comedically mocks various overpriced nonsensical items sold by Goop, and in the second set he parodies them by introducing Covetton House products patterned on the previously mocked Goop products. Indeed, I find it worth posting a couple of examples, because Colbert\u2019s mockery was so spot on and devastating, For instance, here is where he introduced a fake Covetton House \u201clifestyle summit\u201d:\n\nAnd here he is in a sketch mocking the \u201chealing stickers\u201d Goop made the news for advertising last summer:\n\nHere, Colbert makes fun of the new Goop magazine:\n\nAnd what \u201clifestyle brand\u201d would be complete without a catalog of holiday offerings?\n\nPretty darned funny, right? Colbert and his writers demonstrated a true gift for skewering the pseudoscience, quackery, and New Age silliness that is Goop.\n\nFast forward to 2018, and we have a very different Stephen Colbert. Here he is with Gwyneth Paltrow, who is taking advantage of her appearance to play along with comedy that, unlike previous Covetton House segments, doesn\u2019t really draw blood but instead serves as, more or less, a commercial for this weekend\u2019s In Goop Health summit in New York:\n\nYou can see why I was so disappointed. This is a classic example of a promotional appearance, in which Paltrow gamely plays along with the parody, which, unlike previous Covetton House segments, doesn\u2019t really hit home very hard at all, other than a brief dig at an $84 water bottle with an amethyst crystal inside to \u201cinfuse your water with positive energy,\u201d in which he joked that you have to be careful drinking from this bottle or you might \u201cinfuse your trachea with a big rock.\u201d The rest of the sketch consists of lame jokes in which Colbert\u2019s Covetton House persona worshipfully gushes over Paltrow; offers her a Yoni egg, allowing Paltrow to tell him that you don\u2019t eat them; prompts Paltrow to deliver a joke about her smoothie containing the \u201ctears of butterflies during Oprah\u2019s Golden Globes speech\u201d (which is mildly amusing); pokes gentle fun at the \u201csound bar\u201d at In Goop Health in which \u201cbinaural\u201d sounds are offered to aid in meditation; makes lame jokes about bath salts as drugs; and in general burnishes Paltrow\u2019s Goop brand. It ends up with a gag in which Colbert uses one of Paltrow\u2019s face creams that is portrayed as \u201ctoo strong for him.\u201d\n\nImmediately following the commercial break, we\u2019re treated to this nauseatingly fawning interview:\n\nIn it, Paltrow is basically allowed to promote herself, her Goop brand, and her In Goop Health summit. It starts with a softball question of why she started her Goop lifestyle brand, in which she basically brags how she started the brand out of curiosity and wondering whether she could \u201cget answers\u201d and actually launch a company and now has 150 people working for her. The next softball is a the question, \u201cWhat do you say to people who roll their eyes at a catalog where you can buy an island in Belize?\u201d My reaction was: WTF? The Goop catalog features an island you can buy? Her response is that it\u2019s a \u201cridiculous but awesome\u201d guide, after which she goes on about how Goop offers products at \u201call price ranges\u201d and how Goop \u201cbelieves in really good products.\u201d\n\nI guess that these \u201creally good products\u201d must include jade eggs that women can stick up their vaginas, magic stickers that supposedly readjust your energy, and psychic vampire repellent, and the like. Oh, and coffee enemas, one of the ultimate forms of fashionable \u201cdetoxification\u201d quackery as I\u2019ve discussed more times than I can remember. Coffee enemas are, of course, a staple of cancer quackery, particularly the Gerson protocol but also the Gonzalez protocol. There is no good scientific evidence that they improve health outcomes for any condition, much less \u201cdetoxify.\u201d (Let\u2019s just put it this way. Your liver is quite good at \u201cdetoxifying\u201d your body and, unless it\u2019s failing for some reason, does not need help. Promotion of quackery like this has real world consequences.\n\nPaltrow also brags about how much \u201cgreat content\u201d there is on the Goop website, while Colbert shows off her second issue of Goop, which is all about sex and love. Colbert also gushes over the size of the rock on Paltrow\u2019s engagement ring, her relationship with her ex-husband, when the next Iron Man movie will be coming out, and other lightweight topics for a celebrity interview. Basically, Colbert was fully and unnecessarily complicit in selling the Goop brand on his show.\n\nNow, I\u2019m not so naive as to have believed fully that Colbert was enough of a skeptic not to do this, but I had hoped, based on his long history, that maybe he was. I also realize that it\u2019s all show biz here; so you never know how seriously Colbert (or any other comedian) takes his parodies. Did he do them because he was really alarmed at all the fashionable nonsense Goop is promoting, or did he do them because Goop and its wares are such an easy target for comedy? After this segment, I\u2019m starting to think the latter. Maybe I was naive after all.\n\nBe that as it may, I remind Colbert that Goop is about more than just fluffy, silly nonsense like jade eggs, magic energy stickers, and water bottles with amethysts in them to infuse your water with energy. It\u2019s part of the mainstreaming of pseudoscience and quackery. Goop also strikes back when attacked, such as when Paltrow ordered her quack doctors to slime Dr. Jen Gunter, one of the foremost critics of Goop, with a condescending, misogynistic, mansplaining hit piece. I can\u2019t help but note that one of those doctors, Dr. Aviva Romm, appeared to distance herself from Goop after that incident. Maybe Goop was too much even for her.\n\nFinally, let\u2019s not forget that the latest In Goop Health summit, which Colbert so gamely promoted by having Paltrow on his show, is a veritable quackfest. One of its main speakers is Dr. Kelly Brogan, a \u201cholistic\u201d psychiatrist who denies that HIV causes AIDS, advocates treating depression \u201cnaturally,\u201d and is rabidly antivaccine, as evidenced by her publication of an e-book that features basically every antivaccine trope you can think of, a veritable cornucopia of antivaccine misinformation. As I\u2019ve noted in both my posts about her, Brogan considers the late Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez her mentor and clearly idolizes him. Gonzalez, of course, was a cancer quack who advocated a regimen consisting of many supplements plus coffee enemas to treat pancreatic cancer, basically his special variant of the Gerson protocol. Through a cherry picked \u201cbest case series\u201d of twelve patients with advanced pancreatic cancer treated with his protocol who did better than expected, his advocates finagled an NIH grant to do a randomized trial of his protocol. When the results were published, it was a disaster\u2014for patients on the Gonzalez protocol, whose median survival was around one-third that of patients receiving standard-of-care. The Gonzalez protocol was, not unexpectedly, worse than useless for pancreatic cancer. Gonzalez, of course, made excuses for the failure of his protocol, but none of them could explain such a huge difference in outcomes between the two groups in the trial. None of this stopped him from, in his later years, claiming that he could have saved Steve Jobs if only Jobs had come to him. Ultimately, last year he died of what appeared to be a heart attack, which led \u00fcber-quack Joe Mercola\u2019s girlfriend Erin Elizabeth to declare him a victim of pharma hit squads.\n\nSo what we have here is Stephen Colbert promoting a conference, In Goop Health, where tickets range from $650 for the \u201cTurmeric\u201d level to $2,000 for the Ginger level and both levels are sold out. The conference touts \u201ccutting-edge panels of health-defining doctors and experts, along with a hall of experiential activations, ranging from binaural beats meditation to acupressure and tarot card readings.\u201d Speakers include not just Brogan, but other quacks like Dr. Sara Gottfried, whose \u201cexpertise\u201d includes \u201cexpertise includes natural hormone balancing, the brain/body connection, and how to optimize the gene/environment interface\u201d; Dr. Tazia Bhati, who specializes in the quackery of functional medicine; and Karen Newell, founder of Sacred Acoustics, who touts such nonsense as \u201cdevelop such skills as lucid dreaming, astral travel, telepathy, remote viewing, self-hypnosis, and different forms of energy healing.\u201d The list goes on.\n\nAgain, I\u2019m not so naive as not to appreciate that this is all show biz or to realize that it\u2019s too much to expect a comedian to be a skeptic. Show business is basically artifice, and the Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report was never real. Rather, he was a character patterned largely on Bill O\u2019Reilly to skewer right wing pundits and the misinformation spewed by media outlets like FOX News. Even so, I always liked to think that, in order to successfully create and portray such a character, there had to be at least a grain of understanding of skepticism. Certainly, Colbert\u2019s Covetton House bits appeared to be the work of genuine skeptics; that is, until now. While I\u2019m not so clueless as to expect that Colbert would have Paltrow on his show and attack her, other than gentle ribbing. That\u2019s not what late night talk shows do, by and large. Their purpose is to promote whatever projects the celebrity guests on the show are doing or products they are selling. I just wish that, in this case, Colbert and his producers had just said no to having Paltrow on their show to promote hers. They didn\u2019t have to have her on. They didn\u2019t have to promote her brand so obsequiously. Sadly, they chose to do so.\n\nGwyneth Paltrow\u2019s conquest of Stephen Colbert and The Late Show lead me to believe that I was too optimistic when I asked earlier this year whether she and Goop are winning against skeptics. The answer to that question is clearly yes."}
-{"text": "*If you are thinking of moving to the Seychelles, you can find all of my posts about life in Seychelles here*\n\nTwo weeks ago we were burgled.\n\nI\u2019d love to say that it was the first time since we\u2019ve lived here. Sadly, it isn\u2019t.\n\nIt\u2019s taken me all this time to write about it. This blog is usually reserved for all the nice things in our lives. A record of our sons growing up and all the beautiful things about living in the Seychelles. But, I need to write this down, as much as I\u2019d rather forget it, I think that it\u2019s starting to become a worrying part of life here so it would be wrong of me not to record this. The darker side of expat life in the Seychelles\n\nWhen we moved to Praslin, our little island in the Seychelles, we were naive.\n\nWe felt so safe, in a little beautiful, tropical bubble.\n\n\n\nOur house was a little one level two bed place. We left our doors unlocked, and curtains open a lot of the time. We forgot that there are bad people all over the world.\n\nThings started small. Our neighbours and us had some flip flops stolen from the front of our houses, our hammock was stolen from the front of the house while we were away on Mahe, things like that.\n\nIt stepped up a notch when there was a pevert at my window while I was at home alone with Arthur one night when he was small. I was stupid for leaving curtains open I know, but in my defence my bedroom was at the back of the house and there was a big garden behind for a house I knew was empty. Therefore someone had to come looking to see in which I wouldn\u2019t dream about happening here.\n\nThe worst thing about it for me was that he tried to get my attention. What was he expecting to happen, I\u2019d let him in?! Anyway I screamed at him and he ran off. The next morning we discovered that he had moved a gas bottle had been moved so that he could look through the bathroom window which was quite high so he\u2019d watched me in the shower as well.\n\nI honestly felt truly violated and it took me a long time to sleep properly again. I also don\u2019t think it wasn\u2019t coincidence that it was at this time I got a taste for rum!!\n\nWe decided to move house after our neighbours also had incidents along similar lines and our landlord was not prepared to do anything to improve security. We were pretty certain it was just one disgusting guy targeting us all so moving away from the area would help!\n\nSo, we moved into our lovely new house, it was fenced in and we felt so safe all over again.\n\nA couple months later my bike was stolen from the garden. We were annoyed and upset, but had left it unlocked so had to accept that it was sort of out on display asking to be taken! However, this was the most valuable thing we\u2019d had stolen, before that, as I mentioned it was minor things.\n\nThen nothing happened to us for another few months. Our new landlords also own the house next to ours and they had been renovating it, they went away one weekend and came back and the TV had been stolen, they had broken in through the patio doors. We have two sets of patio doors in our house, our landlords put extra bolts on one set but the others worked differently so they left those while they decided the best way to deal with those ones.\n\nWe had no problems until we went away to Mahe to have Freddie. We were gone for two weeks. Fortunately for us, as long as we\u2019ve lived in the Seychelles we have locked our real valuables away in a safe place away from our house whenever we\u2019ve gone away. We were recommended to do this because we have been told petty theft is a problem here although originally we\u2019d never seen it as an issue ourselves. I\u2019m so pleased we took that advice now!\n\nAnyway, someone broke in through our patio doors. They raided our alcohol cupboard and took about \u00a3200 worth of spirits and wine. (We aren\u2019t big drinkers by the way but we do like nice bottles of spirits!!)\n\nThey were even brazen enough to drink a whole bottle of Whisky while they were here and put the empty bottle back into the box!! Randomly they also took 4 pairs of Marks shorts, but like old ones he would only wear round the house!!\n\nAgain, we were really upset with this. We did know however that the patio doors were a weak spot on the house. Annoyingly our landlord had put deadbolts on one set of our patio doors before we\u2019d gone to Mahe but not another.\n\nThe whole thing was a surreal experience, it was the day we were bringing Freddie home from hospital and all of a sudden we were dealing with police and security. Such a shame to have to deal with that on what should have been such a special day. The good thing was that the police did get fingerprints from the bottle of whisky that was put back in the box and so hopefully something will come out of that \u2013 although that hasn\u2019t happened yet!\n\nEven at this point we didn\u2019t feel too concerned for our security, we figured that these people had been watching the house, the same as what had happened next door, and knew that it was empty. We also knew it could have been a lot more costly for us had we not locked things other items away!!\n\nThen last week while we were all asleep someone came into our house.\n\nFreddie woke up around 1 so I got up to feed him. I reached for my iPad like I do every night to check the time and it wasn\u2019t there. I was sure I\u2019d put it on charge on my bedside table but figured I must have left it downstairs.\n\nAfter being annoyed that I couldn\u2019t use my iPad while I was feeding I woke up more and realised that I was really sure I\u2019d had it when I went to bed. I then went downstairs to have a look around, I couldn\u2019t find it anywhere. I went back up to bed and tried to see if I\u2019d accidently left it in the bed before I went to sleep, this woke Mark up. He confirmed that I had definitely had it upstairs, we looked around the room and realised that a few other things were also missing. We had definitely been burgled.\n\nThey had came upstairs into our bedroom, they took my iPad and a portable speaker and emptied our wallets (luckily there wasn\u2019t much in them) they also took our external hard drive which had all our movies on.\n\nWe discovered that they had come in through the back door which was unlocked. We never use this door, ever. It could have been unlocked for ages, we know it was locked when we came back from Mahe as we checked all the doors then. We don\u2019t know who unlocked it, it really could have been anyone.\n\nThe thing is, is that someone came into our garden with the intention of breaking in. As I mentioned, our garden is fenced so you don\u2019t just stumble upon the back door. This person would have had to come up to the door to test it, you don\u2019t do that in the middle of the night unless your intention is to break in, it just so happened that their job was made a little easier by our negligence.\n\nThat night, after the realisation sunk in that someone had been in the house while we were there, my heart broke and I burst into tears.\n\nI couldn\u2019t stop thinking about what would have happened if one of us had woken up, would they have ran away, would it have got violent, did they have a weapon with them in case that happened? I feel physically sick at the idea of it.\n\nIt\u2019s been two weeks now and I can\u2019t get over it.\n\nEvery time I wake up to feed Freddie I can\u2019t get back off to sleep, I hear noises that sound like someone is in the house, I swear I see movement out of the corner of my eye.\n\nI know that eventually, this will get better, but I wonder if it should get better. Should I always be this alert now, just in case?\n\nWe now have a puppy, Koopa, who sleeps outside.\n\n\n\nHe is here not only as our family pet, but also as our alarm, to bark if someone comes onto the property. Right now he\u2019s not really a force to be reckoned with but any noise is a deterrent to thieves.\n\nLast week, we found out that our friends living near by were burgled. They broke in through a window while they were out.\n\nAnother of our friends has just moved house to the other side of the island after being broken into on numerous occasions and having hundred of pounds worth of stuff taken.\n\nIt is becoming increasingly clear that expats are being targeted. There is a growing drug problem here. Unfortunately that results in an increase in petty crime to fund drug habits.\n\nAside from the drug problem though, we have been told on numerous occasions that there are many who feel no stigma in regards to theft here. That it\u2019s ok to steal from those who have more than you.\n\nWe are stepping up security in our home to help protect us from people getting in. We know that, in reality if someone really wants to break in, they will always find a way but we want do make it as difficult for them as possible.\n\nWe are also seriously considering moving house as for some reason, there seems to be dramatically fewer problems with crime on the other side of the island. However, we don\u2019t just want to rush and move anywhere, it\u2019s obviously a big deal to move house with two small children and a puppy, and we have to ensure we move into a place that can meet our needs.\n\nI don\u2019t want to feel like I\u2019m running away, like these people judge won but our family\u2019s safety must come first!\n\nI want to add that by no means had this made me feel that we should leave the Seychelles. Theft and other similar crimes are unfortunately a side effect of living somewhere where there is a large economical divide. This is something that we have now experienced first hand and through our friends. It\u2019s a sad thing, however we do still love living here and there are so many wonderful things about living here.\n\nWe are using it all as a lesson to never be sloppy with security, wherever we are in the world, and to remember that as much as we don\u2019t like it, there are \u2018bad\u2019 people wherever you go, including a tropical paradise!\n\n***update 10/05/2017 I have written a post reflecting on this and about crime in the Seychelles, take a read**"}
-{"text": "Standing on an improvised stage and wrapped in the black, red and gold German flag, Rotem Ahituv stared out at thousands of protesters spread below him and offered the demonstrators a kind of absolution that only someone like him could give.\n\n\u201cI am Jewish,\u201d he told the crowd. \u201cMy family has lived here in Germany for 700 years, and I can tell you that I see here no Nazis.\u201d\n\nIn a short and passionate speech that quickly went viral on the Internet, Ahituv, an Israeli immigrant to Germany, spoke about the threat of a Muslim takeover of Europe and declared that Germany\u2019s Jews stand with Pegida, the populist right-wing movement that had organized the January 26 demonstration in Frankfurt.\n\nThe group, whose name is a German acronym for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, has organized similar demonstrations in cities across Germany. The largest have been in Dresden, Pegida\u2019s base, where as many as 25,000 people have taken part. The protesters say they support Pegida\u2019s call for more restrictive immigration policies and for the right to preserve and protect a Christian-Jewish dominated Western culture.\n\nAhituv told the crowd in Frankfurt that mainstream politicians and media, who have labeled Pegida as xenophobic, racist and even Nazi, are wrong and misleading. \u201cRight here I see only Germans who love their country and want to save Germany from the Islam that wants to take over, to take your traditions, to take your beliefs, to take all of this down,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we will not let it!\u201d\n\nIn taking his stand, Ahituv was not just opposing Germany\u2019s leadership and all its mainstream parties; he was standing, too, against Germany\u2019s Jewish establishment. Communal leaders have strongly backed Chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s description of Pegida as a group led by individuals whose hearts \u201care cold and often full of prejudice, and even hate.\u201d\n\nJosef Schuster, chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, has condemned Pegida as an \u201cimmensely dangerous\u201d movement that consists of neo-Nazis, parties from the far right and citizens who think that they can finally let out their racism and xenophobia.\n\n\u201cThe Pegida-movement definitely doesn\u2019t serve the interests of Germany\u2019s Jewish community,\u201d he wrote to the Forward in an email. \u201cThey want to exclude the Muslims and foreigners [from] German society. Somebody who roots against one minority is also able to root against other minorities\u201d\n\nYakov Hadas-Handelsman, Israel\u2019s ambassador to Germany, voiced the same fear. \u201cTheir actions \u2014 racially, religiously, socially, economically or otherwise justified,\u201d he told the Forward, \u201care directed today against one group, and tomorrow against another.\u201d\n\n\u201cSince the Second World War, Germany has been a place of democracy, pluralism and freedom,\u201d Hadas-Handelsman noted. \u201cThese values should be treasured\u2026. Those who incite racism and anti-Semitism use the democratic rules of the game to hurt democracy.\u201d\n\nBut Ahituv is not the only Jew in Germany who thinks Pegida might be good for the Jews. The once unthinkable idea of a Jewish alliance with the German far right wing has gained some traction, especially following the recent terror attacks in Paris.\n\nJews are terribly afraid of the Muslims, according to Henryk Broder, a well-known journalist and outspoken personality in the German-Jewish community. Broder said German Jews should support the anti-Islamization movement.\n\n\u201cThe Muslim community in Germany is the only threat to the Jews,\u201d Broder said, adding that he does not agree with everything Pegida says, but thinks the Jewish establishment should listen to the movement instead of just demonizing it.\n\nAccording to Rabbi Walter Rothschild, Pegida is raising important questions that mainstream politics has avoided. Rothschild, who is chief rabbi of Schleswig-Holstein, a federal state in northern Germany, said that there was a need in German society to discuss to what extent a minority should be allowed to maintain cultural norms that override core principles of Western civilization. Within the Muslim minority \u2014 which amounts to 5% of Germany\u2019s population of 82 million \u2014 there are some communities, Rothschild said, that disregard Western values like women\u2019s rights or freedom of speech and preach anti-Semitism.\n\n\u201cIf you are going to have a mosque, then don\u2019t teach hatred in it,\u201d he said. \u201cYes, you can have a school, but don\u2019t teach people to be terrorists. Yes, you can have your own political opinion about the Middle East, but don\u2019t walk up and down [in street demonstrations] saying, \u2018Kill the Jews!\u2019 \u2014 which is what they did in Berlin.\u201d Rothschild was referring to pro-Palestinian protests that took place in the German capital during Israel\u2019s military offensive against Hamas in Gaza last summer.\n\n\u201dThis is a cultural issue,\u201d Rothschild concluded. \u201cJews in Europe are mostly on the side of modern Western values. There are some Muslims who are against modern Western values. Why should I support the right of Muslims to be against what I believe in?\u201d\n\nMuch of Pegida\u2019s popularity can be attributed to the organizers\u2019 efforts to appeal to mainstream Germans. The movement has been strictly nonviolent, and its main battle cry is \u201cWe are the people!\u201d \u2014 a slogan used by pro-democracy activists who protested against East Germany\u2019s authoritarian regime in the 1980s.\n\nFrom its early days, Pegida presented itself as pro-Jewish, and Israeli flags have been a common sight in demonstrations. When a photo showing Pegida\u2019s founder, Lutz Bachmann, mugging in a Hitler costume was revealed, Bachmann was forced to resign from the movement\u2019s leadership. Pegida\u2019s spokesman, Christian Mayerhoff, recently gave an exclusive interview to the Israeli news website Ynet, in which he said Jews should stand together with Pegida \u201cagainst Islamism and jihadism.\u201d\n\nPegida\u2019s pro-Jewish terminology is less about recruiting Jews \u2014 who account for less than 0.2% of Germany\u2019s population \u2014 and more about advertising their regard for the boundaries of German political correctness. For some Pegida supporters, being Jew-friendly is a way to whitewash their radical ideology, explained Nathan Gelbart, chairman in Germany of Keren Hayesod, the Zionist fundraising organization.\n\nImage by Getty Images Pegida supporters hold a cross at a January rally in Dresden.\n\nGelbart, a native German Jew who has been active in the country\u2019s Jewish community for more than a decade, is neither for nor against Pegida. He is aware of Merkel\u2019s fierce condemnation of the movement. But he is reluctant to take a stance against Pegida, because he thinks many of its supporters are concerned citizens with understandable fears.\n\nPegida \u201cis a melting pot,\u201d Gelbart said. \u201cWe are seeing neo-Nazis participating in their rallies; we are seeing extreme leftists participating, and we are also seeing \u2014 and this is what I think we have to take seriously \u2014 a lot of people who are simply afraid of aggressive Islam, and they are simply afraid of losing their values.\u201d\n\nWhile Pegida continues to attract supporters from all parts of the German society, a huge movement opposed to the movement\u2019s agenda has also arisen in response. As Pegida rallies have grown in size and gained greater attention, anti-Pegida protests have sprung up throughout Germany and have by far outnumbered Pegida\u2019s protests. In Dresden, the city where Pegida was founded and has been most successful, the Jewish community collaborated with churches, mosques and local not-for-profit organizations to set up protests against Pegida and to show support for Germany\u2019s Muslims.\n\n\u201cWe, as Jews, our voices are being heard,\u201d said Adi Liraz, who immigrated to Germany from Israel in 2003, and has been participating in protests against Pegida in Berlin. \u201cWe are in a privileged place in which we can practice our religion and it is accepted by the German society. That is not the case for Muslims living here. So we want to use our privilege \u2014 and the fact that we are heard \u2014 to improve the situation for the Muslims.\u201d\n\nLiraz said Pegida is using German Jews for its own racist purposes. She is part of Salaam-Schalom, a Berlin-based inter-cultural dialogue group whose members include Jews, Muslims, Christians and atheists. Salaam-Schalom is one of the groups that have helped organize anti-Pegida protests in Berlin.\n\n\u201cAs someone who lives in Germany, I don\u2019t want to live in a racist society. I want to live in a society which accepts different people from different cultural backgrounds,\u201d Liraz said. \u201cI don\u2019t think any person has the right to say you belong here or you don\u2019t belong here.\u201d\n\nIn her landmark speech to the nation on New Year\u2019s Eve, Merkel spoke of her determination to welcome refugees from the Middle East to Germany. She noted that Germany had received more than 200,000 applications from asylum seekers in 2014, making it the country accepting the largest number of refugees in the Western world. Many of those refugees, she said, were in fact fleeing violent conflicts, such as the one in Syria and Iraq involving brutal Islamist movements such as the Islamic State. More broadly, the largest group of Muslims in Germany consists of the children and grandchildren of Turkish immigrants who first came to the country at the government\u2019s own invitation in the 1950s and \u201960s to labor as guest workers in jobs that Germans didn\u2019t want.\n\nPegida\u2019s next demonstration in Dresden is planned for February 9, as are anti-Pegida marches in various German cities. In its first protest following the terror attacks in France, Pegida had its largest showing ever. But since then the numbers have decreased, in part due to internal struggles the movement is undergoing with the departure of Bachmann. Nevertheless, Germany\u2019s inter-ethnic tensions are not likely to disappear soon, as the country grows ever more diverse. And Germany\u2019s Jewish population \u2014 once the populists\u2019 main target, today a protected minority whose voice is amplified \u2014 will continuously be asked to take sides.\n\nContact Yermi Brenner at yermibrenner@gmail.com"}
-{"text": "Image copyright PA Image caption Dan Evans was first arrested in August 2011\n\nEx-News of the World journalist Dan Evans has been given a 10-month jail sentence suspended for a year at the Old Bailey.\n\nHe pleaded guilty in September to two counts of phone hacking as well as making illegal payments to officials and perverting the course of justice.\n\nHe was a prosecution witness against his former editor Andy Coulson in the hacking trial.\n\nThe judge said he had reduced Evans's sentence as a result.\n\nEvans is thought to be the first journalist to be convicted of making illegal payments to public officials.\n\n'Clean breast'\n\nLast year, he admitted accessing the voicemails of 200 celebrities, politicians and sportspeople, and listening to more than 1,000 voicemails while he worked at the News of the World.\n\nEvans also admitted hacking phones while he worked for the Sunday Mirror.\n\nImage copyright Getty Images Image caption Andy Coulson was jailed at the Old Bailey for 18 months earlier this month\n\nEvans, 38, of Kilburn, north London, pleaded guilty to one count of hacking at the Sunday Mirror, where he worked from 2003-2005, and one at the News of the World, where he worked from 2004-2010.\n\nMr Justice Saunders also ordered Evans to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work in the community.\n\nPassing sentence, the judge said he had taken into account the guilty pleas and Evans's agreement to give evidence in the hacking trial and possibly other future trials.\n\n\"In the circumstances of this case, and in particular the co-operation that Mr Evans has given and has agreed to give the police and the prosecution in the future as compared with the lack of co-operation from others, I do feel able to suspend the sentence for a period of 12 months,\" the judge added.\n\n\"I would not have done that had Mr Evans not made a clean breast of his involvement in these offences.\"\n\nHe indicated Evans would have faced a sentence of two years imprisonment, had he not pleaded guilty and agreed to give evidence.\n\nMr Justice Saunders imposed suspended terms of four months for the phone hacking, four months for perverting the course of justice and two months for misconduct in public office, all to run consecutively.\n\nHe said if Evans had been convicted by a jury after a trial, he would have imposed a nine-month sentence for phone hacking, nine months for perverting the course of justice and six months for misconduct in public office.\n\nImage copyright PA Image caption Rebekah Brooks and her husband Charlie Brooks were cleared following the phone-hacking trial\n\nEarlier this month, former News of the World editor Coulson was jailed for 18 months for conspiracy to hack phones.\n\nFive fellow defendants - including former News International chief Rebekah Brooks - were cleared of all charges.\n\nMr Justice Saunders said Evans was one of \"the only people who have been prepared to give evidence of their knowledge and involvement in phone hacking at the News of the World\".\n\nThis was despite \"undisputed evidence\" of a great deal of hacking at the paper from 2004-2006, the judge added.\n\n\"Why so few people have been prepared to give evidence in court about what went on is not for me to say but it makes Mr Evans's position unique.\"\n\nCharges dropped\n\nMeanwhile, four security personnel who worked for Mrs Brooks and her husband Charlie in July 2011 have had charges of perverting the course of justice dropped.\n\nDavid Johnson, Lee Sandell, Daryl Jorsling and Paul Edwards were formally found not guilty after prosecutors offered no evidence against them.\n\nIt was alleged they had been involved in a plot to hide material from police investigating phone hacking.\n\nMrs Brooks and her husband Charlie were cleared of a similar charge at their trial.\n\nMrs Brooks was also cleared of conspiracy to hack phones and making illegal payments to public officials."}
-{"text": "Kimi Raikkonen was left with mixed feelings after his best result of the season in Brazil. Frustrated after finishing fourth behind McLaren\u2019s podium-sitter Carlos Sainz, Raikkonen was at least relieved by a positive turn of form for Alfa Romeo after he'd gone seven races without a point. \u201cYeah, obviously a lot of things happened in the end, a bit disappointed,\u201d said Raikkonen post-race. \u201cI think we had the speed but with the last set [of soft tyres] I had a bit too much understeer, especially trying to follow the McLaren, I couldn\u2019t get past on the restart \u2013 it [the door] was twice closed \u2013 but anyhow, at least we got points on two cars and that\u2019s a much more positive end of the weekend.\u201d READ MORE: The Winners and Losers of the Brazilian Grand Prix\n\nKimi Raikkonen: 'A positive end to the weekend'\n\nThat seven-race scoreless streak was the longest of Raikkonen\u2019s career and the Finn started Sunday's Grand Prix eighth \u2013 making up two places when the final Safety Car was brought out due to Ferrari\u2019s crash, and another during the restart. After Lewis Hamilton\u2019s post-race penalty for colliding with Red Bull\u2019s Alex Albon, Raikkonen was promoted to P4 \u2013 his best finish for Alfa romeo \u2013 meaning he missed out on a podium by half a second to Sainz at the flag. Team mate Antonio Giovinazzi, who recently renewed his contract to stay at Alfa Romeo for 2020, had more reasons to celebrate, however, after taking the best finish of his F1 career with fifth at Interlagos.\n\nAntonio Giovinazzi: 'Fantastic' race for us\n\n\u201cIt was fantastic, I think the best things to celebrate the renewal of the contract for next year,\" commented the Italian. \u201cReally happy with the race, really happy with the start and the restart after the safety car \u2013 so really happy with the result.\u201d Between them, Giovinazzi and Raikkonen combined to give the team their first double top-six finish since the 2012 German Grand Prix (when they were known as Sauber). It means eighth-placed Alfa Romeo are now a healthy 29 points clear of Haas in the constructors' table, and just 10 behind Racing Point heading into the season finale in Abu Dhabi."}
-{"text": "Heroes:\n\nHege Dalen and her partner Toril Hansen were eating supper in the camping area opposite Utoya [sic.] island when they started hearing gunshots and screaming\u2026.\n\nDalen and Hansen drove their boat to the island, and fished out of the water people who were in shock and young people who were injured and transported them ashore. Every now and then bullets almost hit the boat.\n\nSince they couldn\u2019t fit everyone into the boat all at once, they returned to the island four times. They might have saved as much as forty people from the clutches of the killer."}
-{"text": "Tesla\u2019s efforts to ramp up production of its Model 3 electric sedan have gone from \u201cproduction hell\u201d to \u201cdelivery logistics hell\u201d, according to its chief executive Elon Musk.\n\nShares of Tesla (TSLA) plummeted more than 7% after reports that the U.S. Justice Department requested documents related to CEO Elon Musk\u2019s tweet about taking the company private. On Monday, Vernon Unsworth filed a lawsuit for libel and slander after Musk accused the British cave rescuer of being a \u201cpedo man.\u201d\n\nWhile investors are concerned about Elon\u2019s behavior, his younger brother, first business partner and perhaps closest ally, Kimbal Musk, is remaining steadfast in his support.\n\nRestaurateur Kimbal, who is also a Tesla board member, said it\u2019s all hands on deck at the company in an interview for Yahoo Finance\u2019s Breakout Breakfast series Monday morning.\n\n\u201cI trust my brother\u2019s vision. I\u2019m biased but I think he\u2019s the greatest entrepreneur of our day. Right now what we\u2019re focused on is deliveries. I know the news likes to talk about other things, but we have a lot of cars to deliver,\u201d he said.\n\nKimbal rightfully points out that recent \u201cnews\u201d has been laser-focused on Elon\u2019s behavior \u2014 and not Tesla\u2019s inventory problem. The company, which has a backlog of 420,000 Model 3s, has also promised shareholders profitability by third or fourth quarter. Kimbal said he\u2019s trying to do his part by helping with the delivery process.\n\nOn Tuesday afternoon, Kimbal made his way to a Tesla delivery hub in Red Hook, Brooklyn to help the team deliver Model 3s. He said he\u2019s even personally driving one to a happy customer. Kimbal also plans to deliver cars in Denver when he returns home later this week.\n\n\u201cWe have a lot of cars to deliver. It\u2019s a very exciting time for the company and a lot of the stuff gets caught up in the noise out there, but as an entrepreneur, you have to always remember to focus on what the critical issue is at hand. And if you get caught up in the noise you stop focusing on the business,\u201d he said.\n\nWhen asked about serving on Tesla\u2019s board of directors, Musk said he \u201ccan\u2019t talk and represent the company,\u201d but he took the opportunity to plug the Model 3 once again.\n\nIn an interview with The New York Times last month, Kimbal praised his brother\u2019s authentic leadership style.\n\n\u201cThe reason Elon seems to attract drama is that he is so transparent, so open, in a way that can come back to bite him,\u201d Kimbal told the New York Times. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t know how to do it differently. It\u2019s just who he is.\u201d\n\nKimbal\u2019s strong allegiance to Elon has sparked criticism about the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of the board in representing shareholders.\n\n\u201cThe Tesla board has done incredible work overseeing the largest value creation in the auto industry in 100-plus years, despite many setbacks. Tesla owes its very existence to this board!\u201d Musk tweeted after a Forbes article accusing the board of directors of being submissive enablers was published.\n\n\n\nMelody Hahm is a senior writer at Yahoo Finance, covering entrepreneurship, technology and real estate. Follow her on Twitter @melodyhahm.\n\nRead more:\n\nThere\u2019s an uptick in housing inventory, but don\u2019t expect price relief\n\nHighly unusual investment: Own part of this world-class bar\n\nMen and women aren\u2019t that different: investing app Stash\n\nRVs and recliners are back thanks to millennials\n\nAnaheim wants to be the Disneyland of beer"}
-{"text": "A town in Argentina has become the first in the country to ban beauty pageants, passing a new ruling which will see the annual contests replaced by awards for those who have contributed the most to their community."}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe base Thai red curry glue is customarily made with a mortar and pestle, and stays soggy all through the arrangement procedure. The red shading got from dry red goad chillies \u2013 which is dried prik chee fa red chilies. The fundamental fixings incorporate (dried) red bean stew peppers, garlic, shallots, galangal, shrimp glue, salt, kaffir lime leaves, coriander root, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns and lemongrass. Today, the readied Thai red curry glues are accessible at business sectors created in mass amounts, and furthermore accessible in packaged container delivered by certain brands.. Red curry is a well known Thai dish comprising of red curry glue cooked in coconut milk and included with meat, for example, chicken, hamburger, pork, duck or shrimp, or vegan protein source, for example, tofu.The readied red curry glue is cooked on a pan with cooking oil, to which coconut milk is included. At that point the meat as protein source is included into the curry-base soup. Different sorts of meats could be made as red curry, for example, chicken, hamburger, pork, shrimp, duck, or even outlandish meats, for example, frog and snake meats. The most widely recognized be that as it may, are chicken, pork and meat. The meat is cut into nibble estimated pieces. Regular added substances are fish sauce, sugar, hacked kaffir lime leaves, Thai eggplant, bamboo shoots, thai basil (bai horapha). Tofu, meat analogs or vegetables, for example, pumpkin can be substituted as a pseudo-veggie lover choice, however because of the nearness of shrimp glue in curry glue, substituting protein does not make the dish vegan. There are, notwithstanding, vegan red curry glues accessible. This dish regularly has a soup-like consistency and is served in a bowl and eaten with steamed rice. Red curry glue itself is the center enhancing for various other non-related dishes such Thot man pla (fish cakes) and sai ua (flame broiled Chiang Mai wiener).1 lb boneless chicken bosom1 can bamboo shoots, cut3 tbsp red curry glue2 glasses coconut milk2 crisp red bean stew, cut corner to corner1/2 glass Thai sweet basil leaves (bai horapah), torn2 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla)1/4 tsp ocean salt1/2 tsp palm sugarThai sweet basil leaves (bai horapah) for topping Procedure -"}
-{"text": "WASHINGTON (VosIzNeias) \u2013 Yemen\u2019s government has filed a request for a Memorandum of Understanding [MOU] with the US State Department in an attempt to claim ownership over Jewish cultural items it claims were smuggled out of Yemen illegally, claiming them as \u201cnational cultural artifacts.\u201d Fox News reported.\n\nAmong the items are a centuries old Torah scroll that was smuggled to Israel by the family of Manny Dahari, whose family has owned the scroll for at least 300 years.\n\nThe request by the Yemeni government was filed with the Cultural Property Advisory Committee, and a hearing was held on October 29-30. If granted it would recognize Yemen\u2019s ownership of the items, and anyone transporting or possessing such items, could face sanctions.\n\nA decision from the State Department is expected over the next few days.\n\nA century ago, Yemen boasted one of the largest Jewish populations in the world. But wars, terrorism, and violence targeting this minority forced most of them to flee for their lives, with many settling in the United States or Israel.\n\nJewish groups worldwide have asked the U.S. government not to honor by Yemen\u2019s request. The fear is that Yemen wouldn\u2019t properly care for the relics. The government has a history of persecuting Jews and, destroying homes, synagogues and other remnants of Jewish life in Yemen.\n\n\u201cJewish cultural property such as Torah Scrolls does not constitute the national heritage of governments who expel or who forced their Jewish communities to flee anti-Semitic prosecution,\u201d says Sarah Levin, the executive director of Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa (JIMENA). Yemeni Jews are part of a distinct ethnic Jewish rite known as \u201cMizrahi.\u201d While Mizrahi Jews once called lands like Yemen and Iran their homes, they now mostly live in Israel."}
-{"text": "Image copyright Getty Images\n\nAn increase in reported cases of a rare polio-like illness that mostly affects children is being investigated by Public Health England.\n\nAcute flaccid paralysis (AFP) affects the nervous system, causing one or more of the limbs to become weak or floppy.\n\nPHE said 28 cases had been reported in England. Typically, a \"handful\" of cases are reported each year.\n\nThe disease remains very rare but anyone who develops weakness in any limb should seek medical help, it says.\n\n'Investigating causes'\n\nThe majority of cases reported in England have been since September. There has also been a rise in reported cases in the US.\n\nDr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisations at PHE, said: \"AFP is very rare. However, if you or your child develops weakness in any limb, you should seek medical care immediately so that appropriate testing and care can be given.\n\n\"We are investigating potential causes and working hard to build better awareness amongst health-care professionals about how to test and manage patients with AFP.\n\n\"We are ensuring up-to-date information is available for patients and their families who may be affected.\"\n\nCertain viruses are known to cause AFP, including polioviruses and non-polio enteroviruses.\n\nEnteroviruses commonly cause mild infections with a range of symptoms, including colds, coughs and diarrhoea.\n\nSuch illnesses from viral infections are common, especially in children, and most people recover.\n\nA type of enterovirus called EV-D68 and other viruses have been detected in several cases of AFP so far in 2018.\n\nBut PHE stresses that the risk of developing neurological symptoms due to a viral infection is extremely low.\n\nAFP can be difficult to diagnose.\n\nDoctors will typically examine a patient's nervous system and look at images of the spinal cord and brain.\n\nThey can also test the fluid around the brain and spinal cord and may check the nervous system conduction.\n\nDoctors should report any suspected cases of AFP to Public Health England and samples should be sent to specialist labs for additional testing."}
-{"text": "A Fox Lake woman was critically injured Sunday after she was hit on her motorcycle in a hit-and-run crash in north suburban unincorporated Antioch.\n\nThe woman, 30, was westbound on her Harley Davidson motorcycle about 1:45 a.m. on Grass Lake Road when she crossed into the eastbound lanes and struck a Chrysler near Hillside Avenue, the Lake County sheriff\u2019s office said.\n\nThe Chrysler took off from the scene and stopped at a restaurant in the 24500 block of West Bluff Lane, where the driver, a 26-year-old man, reported his vehicle stolen, the sheriff\u2019s office said.\n\nAfter being questioned, the man admitted that his vehicle had not been stolen and he was driving the Chrysler at the time of the crash, the sheriff\u2019s office said.\n\nThe woman driving the motorcycle was taken to Condell Medical Center with serious-to-critical injuries, the sheriff\u2019s office said.\n\nThe driver of the Chrysler was taken to the hospital for toxicology testing, the sherriff\u2019s office said. Charges are pending."}
-{"text": "World's Largest English Language News Service with Over 500 Articles Updated Daily\n\n\"The News You Need Today\u2026For The World You\u2019ll Live In Tomorrow.\"\n\nWhat You Aren\u2019t Being Told About The World You Live In\n\nHow The \u201cConspiracy Theory\u201d Label Was Conceived To Derail The Truth Movement\n\nHow Covert American Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations\n\nDecember 1, 2015\n\nPutin Orders Russian Military: Prepare Syria To Become \u201cObama\u2019s Graveyard\u201d\n\nBy: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers\n\nA truly sobering report issued by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) today appears to show that President Putin is preparing his military forces for World War III after he ordered Minister of Defense Sergey Shoigu and Head of Russian Aerospace Forces Victor Bondarev to being preparing Syria to become an \u201cimpenetrable zone of conflict\u201d that would, in fact, become \u201cObama\u2019s graveyard\u201d and spell the ending of the NATO-Western alliance against the Federation.\n\nAccording to this report, this grave war order was secured after President Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached an agreement late yesterday providing that Israel will not interfere with Federation air or land forces operating in Syria even in the event of an all-out war with the Obama regime led NATO military alliance who are attempting to aid their Islamic State allies currently being obliterated by Russian airstrikes and Syrian Army ground attacks.\n\nNecessitating the timing of this order, this report continues, was President Putin\u2019s refusal yesterday to obey the Obama regime\u2019s warning against the Federation arming its fighter aircraft operating in Syria with air-to-air missiles\u2014which when this Pentagon demand was ignored, the US announced it would begin an immediate massive air power exercise involving F-16 fighter jets, E3 AWACS surveillance and command jets, KC-135 refueling tankers, RC-135 intelligence-gathering planes, and B-1 and B-52 bombers with them, also, refusing to disclose the total number of planes involved.\n\nEqually as provocative against the Federation necessitating this war order, this report notes, was Germany, this morning, announcing it too was sending thousands of it military ground and air forces to battle in Syria, while at the same time stating that they would not share any intelligence with Russia they had against Islamic State terrorists, and would in no way cooperate with the current legitimate Syrian government currently in power.\n\nWith the Syrian government, like Lebanon, Iran and now Iraq, being the only Middle East nations to support the rights of woman and other religions within their borders, this report says, the joining of the Germans on this side of the Islamic State and their woman hating Saudi Arabian backers defies all logic, but becomes understandable when viewed in the context that the Obama regime led West really does want a global war.\n\nAnd as if these provocations by the Obama regime against the Federation were not by themselves sufficient enough to cause the issuing of this war order, this report also notes, NATO\u2019s announcement today that they were inviting the Balkan country of Montenegro to join their military alliance against Russia is cause enough alone for a massive war to begin.\n\nTo the Obama regime\u2019s supposed war against Islamic State terrorists in Syria , this report explains, it is nothing more than a mirage as yesterday\u2019s Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) report proves in their detailing of their attacks on 29 November that states:\n\n\u201cIn Syria, coalition military forces conducted three strikes using bomber and remotely piloted aircraft on Nov. 29. Near Dayr Az Zawr, one strike destroyed an ISIL excavator and three ISIL bulldozers and damaged an additional ISIL bulldozer. Near Al Hawl, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL checkpoint and an wounded an ISIL fighter.\u201d\n\nAnd while Obama regime forces have left these Islamic State terrorists short one excavator and 3 bulldozers, this report continues, Aerospace Forces, at the same time, have been systematically obliterating these barbarians source of wealth\u2014and described by President Putin as a \u201cliving oil pipeline\u201d stretching between Islamic State territory and Turkey with \u201cvehicles, carrying oil, lined up in a chain going beyond the horizon\u201d and \u201cday and night they are going into Turkey where these trucks always go there loaded, and back from there \u2013 empty.\u201d\n\nAs to why the Obama regime has not targeted the Islamic States illegal oil wealth, having only bombed them 260 times in nearly two years, this report says, is due to their support of Turkey\u2019s Erdogan regime, and about whom new documents were released this week proving this criminal organization had so much illegal Islamic State oil flowing to them they had to actually buy tanker ships to handle it all.\n\nAnd with Turkey\u2019s President Erdogan saying today he would resign if it\u2019s proved his criminal organization is buying illegal Islamic State oil, this report points out, he should actually step down now as the evidence for his doing so has not only been fully documented by Russia with satellite photos, but also by London\u2019s Guardian News Service who in July wrote: \u201cAfter a US attack on the compound of a Daesh (ISIL) leader in Syria in May, direct dealings between the terrorist organization and Turkey became undeniable.\u201d, and The Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University who in their report wrote:\n\n\u201cTurkey Provides Military Equipment to ISIS (ISIL Daesh), Turkey Provided Transport and Logistical Assistance to ISIS Fighters, Turkey Provided Training to ISIS Fighters, Turkey Offers Medical Care to ISIS Fighters, Turkey Supports ISIS Financially Through Purchase of Oil, Turkish Forces Are Fighting Alongside ISIS.\u201d\n\nSo by the Obama regime\u2019s cover-up and complicity with Erdogan\u2019s criminal cartel\u2019s illegal association with Islamic State terrorists, this report gravely states, it becomes understandable why Russia\u2019s NATO envoy, Aleksandr Grushko, warned earlier today: \u201cBy \u2018covering\u2019 Turkey politically, NATO took responsibility for downing of Russian Su-24 \u2013 envoy \u201cNATO, which gave no principled assessment of this illegal act and, as a matter of fact, politically covered for Ankara as the member of the alliance, thus shares responsibility for the incident. Once again, we see that political considerations are getting the upper hand over objectivity and mere common sense.\u201d\n\nAnd to the effect of President Putin\u2019s order to his top military commanders to turn Syria into \u201cObama\u2019s graveyard\u201d, this report continues, was the immediate deployment to this war zone of advanced Russian fighter aircraft, the movement of Federation Aerospace Forces aircraft and ground troops to al-Shayrat air base, near the central city of Homs, and, most crucially, the deployment throughout Syria of electromagnetic weapons designed to turn this war zone into a virtual \u201celectronic ghost world\u201d.\n\nAlso to be immediately \u201cdeployed/implemented\u201d in this war zone too, this report gravely concludes, is what many call Russia\u2019s \u201cultimate weapon\u201d\u2014otherwise known in the perception warfare community as \u201cReflexive Control\u201d whose basic principles are:\n\nDistraction\u2014during preparatory stages of combat operations, creating a real or imaginary threat against one of the most vital enemy places such as flanks and rear, forcing him to reevaluate his decisions to operate on this or that axis.\n\nOverload\u2014often manifested by sending the enemy a large amount of conflicting information.\n\nParalysis\u2014creating the belief of a specific threat to a vital interest or weak spot.\n\nExhaustion\u2014cause the enemy to carry out useless operations, thereby entering combat with expended resources.\n\nDeception\u2014during preparatory stages of combat operations, force the enemy to reallocate forces to a threatened spot.\n\nDivisive techniques\u2014cause the enemy to believe he must operate in opposition to coalition interests.\n\nPacification\u2014through a peaceful attitude and approach cause the enemy to lose vigilance.\n\nDeterrence\u2014create the impression of superiority.\n\nProvocation\u2014force enemy action advantageous to your side.\n\nSuggestion\u2014offer information that affects the enemy legally, morally, ideologically or in other areas.\n\nPressure\u2014offer information that encourages society to discredit its own government.\n\nAnd though not stated in this MoD report being referenced, the most astute reader of this report can be left with no other impression than Russia\u2019s President Putin has, indeed, made the choice to confront NATO directly over the Syrian issue, will not back down.\n\nAnd, as always, the West, especially President Obama, will grossly underestimate the Russian peoples and government willingness to sacrifice everything, if they must, to save the Christian world from what they believe are satanic barbarians.\n\nDecember 1, 2015 \u00a9 EU and US all rights reserved. Permission to use this report in its entirety is granted under the condition it is linked back to its original source at WhatDoesItMean.Com. Freebase content licensed under CC-BY and GFDL.\n\n[Ed. Note: Western governments and their intelligence services actively campaign against the information found in these reports so as not to alarm their citizens about the many catastrophic Earth changes and events to come, a stance that the Sisters of Sorcha Faal strongly disagrees with in believing that it is every human beings right to know the truth. Due to our missions conflicts with that of those governments, the responses of their \u2018agents\u2019 against us has been a longstanding misinformation/misdirection campaign designed to discredit and which is addressed in the report \u201cWho Is Sorcha Faal?\u201d.]\n\nAdele\u2019s High Castle In Mali Prompts Scandal\n\nThey Are Going To Come For You\u2026Why Are You Helping Them?\n\nReturn To Main Page"}
-{"text": "KFC is kicking off the 2019 football season by revealing its latest celebrity Colonel: Sean Astin. Famously known for playing Rudy in the original 1993 sports film, Austin will reprise his role to become \u201cColonel Rudy.\u201d\n\nColonel Rudy will make his national game-time debut in KFC\u2019s most unexpected TV commercials yet, dubbed \u201cRudy II\u201d, just in time to kick off Thursday Night Football on September 5, 2019.\n\nAdditionally, Colonel Rudy will also introduce KFC\u2019s latest limited-time deal. Starting Monday, September 9, fans can get a free chocolate cake drizzled with vanilla icing with the purchase of a 10-piece meal at participating locations nationwide.\n\nAs per Wikipedia:\n\nRudy is a 1993 American biographical sports film directed by David Anspaugh. It is an account of the life of Daniel \u201cRudy\u201d Ruettiger, who harbored dreams of playing football at the University of Notre Dame despite significant obstacles.\n\nImage \u2013 KFC"}
-{"text": "The Living Dead is a series of three films focussing on the power of the past. It was the second major documentary series made by Adam Curtis. In it he investigated the way that history and memory (both national and individual) have been used by politicians and others. It was braodcast in 1995. The series features Paul Fussell whose book The Great War and Modern Memory is in the Listmuse 100 Best History Books of All Time list.\n\nOn the Desperate Edge of Now\n\nYou Have Used Me as a Fish Long Enough\n\nThe Attic"}
-{"text": "CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Wildlife suffered higher than normal losses this winter in severe weather across the western United States, where the toll included the deaths of all known fawns in one Wyoming deer herd and dozens of endangered bighorn sheep in California.\n\nWildlife managers in Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Oregon and Washington also reported higher losses of animals in the wake of one of the coldest and snowiest winters in decades. Parts of the Rockies saw snowfall as late as mid-June.\n\n\"This year we kind of had all the factors that we don't want -- we had deep snow, we had periods of fairly cold weather, subzero, and then we also had some crusting on top of that snow,\" said Roger Phillips, spokesman for the Idaho Fish and Game Department.\n\nWildlife managers have been assessing the damage using radio collars and surveys of herds following a winter in which many parts of the West recorded record snowfall, including places where deer, pronghorn antelope and elk migrate each fall to escape the harsher mountain winters. Prolonged snow cover on winter grounds made it difficult for wildlife to find food, and spells of bitter cold made matters worse for the weakened animals by hardening the snow.\n\nMule deer in several Rocky Mountain states and elk in eastern Washington were hit hard. Wyoming was expecting above-normal losses among antelope as well, although it didn't have an accurate accounting yet.\n\nWyoming last saw comparable wildlife deaths over three decades ago, said Bob Lanka, supervisor of statewide wildlife and habitat management program with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.\n\n\"It's been a long, long time since we experienced this kind of loss,\" he said.\n\nMeteorologist David Lipson of the National Weather Service in Riverton blamed the rough winter on \"unusually strong rivers of moisture\" flowing into the West from the Pacific Ocean, where a weak and unusually short-lived La Nina occurred.\n\nIn California, the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep, which is listed as an endangered species, lost an estimated 40 to 60 animals.\n\n\"We're not including any predation or normal mortality or any other kind of losses; that's just from the snow, from getting trapped up in the snow and not having food, some of them starving and then some of them directly impacted by avalanches,\" said Jason Holley, supervising wildlife biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.\n\nMontana wildlife were spared the deadly conditions seen in neighboring states, according to Ken McDonald, wildlife division administrator with the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department. Nevada saw near average wildlife losses statewide, while a few isolated areas in the northeast part of the state had slightly higher than average mortality, said Tom Donham, a Nevada Department of Wildlife biologist.\n\nWildlife managers are responding by reducing hunting permits in the hard-hit areas.\n\n\"There will be less hunting opportunity this coming fall for sure, and the people that do get a license, whether it's a general license or a limited quota tag, I don't think there's going to be any doubt they're going to notice less animals on the landscape,\" Lanka said.\n\nMike Clark, owner of Greys River Outfitters in western Wyoming, said the loss of mule deer and antelope tags will be hard on his business, which includes deer, antelope and elk hunts.\n\n\"Luckily, we can still work with some elk,\" Clark said.\n\nHowever, outfitters have to be careful not to overhunt elk and overload their fall hunting camps with too many hunters to make up for the decline in deer hunting, he said.\n\n\"It just takes away from the quality of the hunt if you got too many hunters in camp,\" Clark said.\n\nBiologists say the wildlife herds eventually should recover with the help of reduced hunting and a return to at least normal weather conditions next winter. However, forecasters say it's too early to predict how next winter will play out.\n\n\"What happens in the future depends a lot on what kind of winter we see next year,\" Phillips said. \"If we have back-to-back hard winters, it could be tough.\"\n\n-- Bob Moen"}
-{"text": "Will we ever shake hands again? Or hug?\n\nYes. Though we may do so a little less often\u2014and with some trepidation.\n\nThe coronavirus has turned life upside down, and when it\u2019s over\u2014which seems far off and even worse, indeterminate\u2014our lives will be changed permanently. That\u2019s always the case after an economic crisis like the Great Recession of 2008-2009 or the stock market crash of 1987. It\u2019s even more true following major turning points in history like 9/11, World War II/the atomic bomb and the Great Depression.\n\nThe cause and effect is axiomatic and Newtonian. The bigger the cause, the greater the effect.\n\nClearly this is a biggie.\n\nMy point is the pandemic and its aftermath will be super-consequential for how we live the rest of our lives. It\u2019s not too soon to think about that, in fact it\u2019s responsible to do so\u2014even though the virus has yet to peak\u2014if only to take our minds off the never ending river of difficult news.\n\nIn its essence a post-pandemic world, (or really one where we acknowledge and accept that pandemics can and will occur\u2014more on that from Dr. Mehmet Oz below) is about mitigating a new type of risk. There will be implications across the board; for business, government, culture, sports and the arts, as well as behavior like shaking hands.\n\nLet\u2019s start with some first order effects for commerce, and move on from there.\n\nFirst many businesses that are booming during the pandemic will continue to thrive, maybe not explosively, but should grow above trend for some time. People are already busy figuring out the new, new things.\n\n\u201cI think the next generation of amazing companies will be invested as we come out of this,\u201d Mark Cuban, billionaire entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks wrote us in an email. \u201cSomeone will have a unique and compelling vision of what the world on the other side can look like that will make us all wonder \u2018why didn\u2019t I think of that?\u2019\u201d\n\nLet\u2019s run quickly through the obvious to get your juices flowing: Teleconferencing and remote working tools; (Zoom\u2014the No. 1 downloaded app for iOS\u2014Skype, Teams, Slack, Hangouts, WebEx, etc.) Medical supplies and medicine, (masks, gloves, gowns, ventilators, rubbing alcohol, and then, huge, vaccines.) Cleaning supplies, (I know Clorox has outperformed the market by 30 percentage points year-to-date and still has a P/E of 27, but you have to figure CLX and its ilk will do well over the next five to 10 years.)\n\nView photos Clorox bleach disinfecting wipes on shelf in grocery store, graphic element on black More\n\nStreaming services like Netflix of course and the other FANGS as I wrote about last week are generally well-positioned. Same for meal kits, grocery and food delivery, and digital cooking and weight loss ideas. Ditto for exercise-from-home programs like Mirror and Peloton etc. (NB: The great TP hoard of 2020 will end at some point.)\n\nBy the way, while some may continue working from home, most will run screaming from the house\u201415 pounds heavier\u2014back to work when that all-clear bell sounds. As many of us are figuring out, WFH can be significantly more stressful than the office. \u201cPeople see staying home has lots of advantages, but people want to see other people,\u201d says Kathleen Day, an author and lecturer at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. \u201cWho knew grocery shopping could be a social activity?\u201d\n\nOn the flip side of the companies that will make out, are those that will suffer. Mark Penn of the Harris Poll says many Americans won\u2019t fly even six months after the virus is mostly gone. \u201cPeople see airports and particularly planes and they really fear that,\u201d Penn told me. \u201cAirlines are going to have their job cut out for them.\u201d More so with cruise ships of course, as well as hotels and resorts and all the millions of jobs associated with them."}
-{"text": "From a Single Cell to a human being in a billion years? Impossible. Making man from mud? No problem.\n\n16,513 shares"}
-{"text": "Talk about rare parts finds, someone in Germany is selling one Wankel Rotor and Housing for a Mercedes-Benz C111 experimental automobile.\n\nHow this German eBay reseller found such a rare piece of automotive history is beyond me but it\u2019s for sale. A single Wankel Rotor and housing listed by eBay user BlitzBlitz popped up for sale earlier this week (Feb. 22, 2019) for a \u201cBuy it now\u201d price of $13,600. Fortunately, if you actually have a legitimate use for this magic German Dorito, BlitzBlitz is accepting Best Offers.\n\nCheck out a couple of screenshots of the rotary below.\n\nLooking over this seller\u2019s listings, it\u2019s not like BlitzBlitz resells particularly expensive automotive parts. Most of the parts he does sell are your average Garage sale fare of small to medium-sized vintage or NOS parts easily shipped.\n\nThis is certainly his eBay Magnum Opus as it\u2019s his most expensive listing a part so rare that there\u2019s literally no market price points for.\n\nThe Mercedes-Benz C111 was, after all, an experimental car that Mercedes developed in the early \u201970s as a rolling testbed for new technologies. Although the C111 had its most performance success with a turbocharged straight-five diesel, it was its early rotary engines, which this part came from, that earned this experimental car some automotive press ink.\n\nEmbed from Getty Images\n\nAs mentioned, Mercedes teased its fanbase by showing this car off at the 1969 Franfurt Auto Show with no intention to sell one despite some fans of the brand literally submitting blank checks to Mercedes to whet their appetites.\n\nThe first version of the C111 rotary had a tri-rotor setup good for 0-62 MPH in five seconds and a top speed of 161 MPH. In 1971, the year this rotor for sale was manufactured, Mercedes came out with a C111-II powered by a quad-rotor tuned to 350 HP that dropped that 62 MPH time by .2 seconds and raised the top speed to 186 MPH.\n\nAlthough Mazda had success with rotaries, Mercedes certainly did not see a future with this high-revving gas guzzler. Its poor thermal efficiency meant the rotary was a thirsty engine and its reliability was questionable.\n\nThroughout the cars short-lived history, Mercedes only made 16, which makes this engine part a bit of an anomaly. Who, exactly, is going to buy one? If anything it\u2019d be Mercedes themselves since they presumably own most of the C111\u2019s and this part IS shipping from Stuggart where Mercedes is headquartered.\n\nAnyways, if you\u2019re a baller with money to burn for no real reason, boy do I have the part for you.\n\nIt\u2019s noteworthy that this is at least the second time this part has been listed, down from $14,900. What a bargain.\n\nSource: eBay"}
-{"text": "The standoff between Russia and the West has shown little sign of abating throughout 2018, and recent U.S. efforts to ramp up the pressure on the Kremlin signal that such tensions are only going to increase in the year to come. One key element of U.S. pressure on Moscow centers on Washington's ties with former Soviet countries on Russia's periphery, from Eastern Europe to the Caucasus to Central Asia. Because of Russia's lack of geographic barriers, these territories form buffer states that protect the country's core from foreign powers while also providing a conduit for the Kremlin to project influence outward. Indeed, Russia's rise and fall as a regional and global power has historically depended on its ability to control these territories; as a result, these states have naturally played a crucial role in the United States' containment strategy against Russia in the post-Soviet period. And as tensions grow between..."}
-{"text": "PARIS (Reuters) - France\u2019s prime minister will present plans on Monday to crack down on rioters, his office said, after a new flare-up of violence linked to the yellow vest protest movement.\n\nA protester walks past a graffiti during a demonstration by the \"yellow vests\" movement in Paris, France, March 16, 2019. The graffiti reads: \"Paris burns.\" REUTERS/Benoit Tessier\n\nRioters ransacked stores and restaurants while lighting fires along Paris\u2019 Champs Elysees avenue on Saturday as they clashed with police.\n\nCutting short a weekend ski trip, President Emmanuel Macron returned to Paris late on Saturday for a crisis meeting with ministers at which he ordered decisions to be taken rapidly \u201cso this doesn\u2019t happen again\u201d.\n\nPrime Minister Edouard Philippe\u2019s office said the latest violence showed current security arrangements were \u201cinsufficient\u201d.\n\n\u201cDrawing conclusions from these shortcomings, the prime minister will present the president tomorrow with measures necessary to adapt the security forces stance so they can act with firmness at any time,\u201d it said in a statement.\n\nCleaners swept up broken glass, while shop owners boarded up smashed windows on Sunday after the worst unrest in central Paris since violence peaked before Christmas in a weekly series of protests.\n\nVandals left hardly a storefront or cafe unscathed on Saturday, breaking windows and looting luxury stores as they clashed with riot police.\n\nSlideshow ( 3 images )\n\nBUILDINGS TORCHED\n\nRioters also set fire to an upmarket handbag store and badly damaged Fouquet\u2019s restaurant before setting fire to the famous brasserie\u2019s canvas awning.\n\nTwo newstands were burnt to their metallic frames and in a nearby street a bank branch was set on fire, badly damaging the building and apartments above it.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not a tourist but if I were, I would be quite surprised if I arrived in Paris to find the Champs Elysees in such condition,\u201d a pensioner who only gave his name as Serge told Reuters TV.\n\n\u201cPeople often talk about the \u2018City of Lights\u2019, the \u2018Fashion Capital\u2019 and all that, but all you can see is destruction, rubbish, protests, burnt kiosks,\u201d he added.\n\nPolice estimated that 10,000 people joined the latest yellow vest protest in Paris and Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said a hard-core of about 1,500 was intent on causing trouble.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be able to stop these people, I don\u2019t know how, but that\u2019s what we\u2019ve asked the prime minister,\u201d Jean-Noel Rheinhardt, who heads a committee representing businesses on the Champs Elysees, told BFM TV.\n\nThe yellow vest movement emerged in November originally to oppose now abandoned fuel tax hikes and the high cost of living.\n\nThe protests quickly spiraled into a broader movement against Macron, his pro-business reforms and elitism in general.\n\nThe demonstrations, held every Saturday in Paris and other cities, have been generally getting smaller since December, when Paris saw some of the worst vandalism and looting in decades.\n\nAfter the spike in violence, Macron offered a package of concessions worth more than 10 billion euros ($11 billion) aimed at boosting the incomes of the poorest workers and pensioners."}
-{"text": "2020-09-20\n\nHet wereldwijde PTZ-camera\u2019s-marktonderzoeksrapport bevat kritische informatie en feitelijke gegevens over de PTZ-camera\u2019s-markt en biedt een algemene statistische studie van deze markt op basis van marktfactoren, marktbeperkingen en zijn toekomstperspectieven. PTZ-camera\u2019s Marktaandeel, omvang, groeimogelijkheden en trends worden ook in overweging genomen in de PTZ-camera\u2019s-industrie. Ontvang een voorbeeldkopie van het rapport \u2013Continue Reading"}
-{"text": "I'm too hung over to pack for my trip to Europe tomorrow\n\n110 shares"}
-{"text": "De wet die de zondagsrust regelt, gaat verdwijnen. Minister Plasterk heeft toegezegd dat hij de Zondagswet zal intrekken. Hij komt daarmee tegemoet aan een wens van de Tweede Kamer.\n\nEen meerderheid van de partijen vindt al langer dat de wet niet meer van deze tijd is. Aanvankelijk voelde Plasterk weinig voor intrekking. Uit een onderzoek dat hij liet doen bleek dat er in de praktijk weinig problemen zijn.\n\nMaar de Kamer hield vast aan haar wens. Partijen als VVD, PvdA en D66 gaat het om het principe dat er geen uitzondering gemaakt kan worden voor \u00e9\u00e9n specifiek geloof. De minister geeft daar nu gehoor aan. Gemeenten krijgen nu de mogelijkheid om zelf te regelen wat wel en niet op zondag is toegestaan.\n\nLetterlijk\n\nOm de Zondagswet in te trekken is een nieuwe wet nodig. Als die klaar is mogen allerlei organisaties, zoals kerken, er nog op reageren. D66 vindt zo'n consultatieronde overbodig.\n\nPlasterk beklemtoonde dat hij het zorgvuldig wil doen. Intrekking van de Zondagswet moet wat hem betreft niet worden gezien als onderdeel van een groter programma om religie uit de samenleving te bannen. Formuleringen als \"Bij de gratie Gods\", gaan niet verdwijnen uit de aanhef van wetten, zei hij."}
-{"text": "Leaders of the Democratic Party have ripped President Trump for his administration\u2019s response to the coronavirus, but Donald Trump Jr. says he\u2019s not surprised at their rhetoric.\n\n\u201cNot at all,\u201d he said on Fox News. \u201cI mean, we\u2019ve seen \u2014 like you said, we\u2019ve seen this play out for four years. Anything that they can use to try to hurt Trump, they will. Anything he does in a positive sense, like you heard from the reporter that was just suspended from ABC, they will not give him credit for. The playbook is old at this point.\n\n\u201cBut for them to try to take a pandemic and seemingly hope that it comes here, and kills millions of people so that they could end Donald Trump\u2019s streak of winning, is a new level of sickness. You know, I don\u2019t know if this is coronavirus or Trump derangement syndrome, but these people are infected badly.\u201d\n\nDemocrats have been grasping at anything they think will hurt Trump. They conducted probes into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia for years \u2014 which went nowhere. Then they impeached the president over a phone call with the president Of Ukraine in an attempt to oust him from office, which quickly died in the Senate.\n\nTRENDING: BREAKING: Omaha Bar Owner Charged For Killing Rioter Who Attacked Him and His Business Has Committed Suicide\n\nNow, Democrats are gleeful about the slide in the stock market and the fears over coronavirus, which appear as if they could damage the U.S. economy. To Democrats, that\u2019s great, since Trump is running for re-election with one of the strongest economies in decades.\n\nIn Hollywood, actress Patricia Arquette is urging Americans to join a one-day economic shutdown in order to damage the U.S. economy \u2014 and Trump.\n\n\u201cA REMINDER: Please contact everyone you know. On Monday, March 2nd, there is an Economic Shutdown. #Shutitdown. It\u2019s easy,\u201d she wrote in an Instagram post.\n\n\u201cDO NOT SPEND ANY MONEY ON ANYTHING ANYWHERE. our goal is to cause a $238.2 billion dollar blip on the federal government\u2019s records.\u201d\n\nShe isn\u2019t the only liberal openly hoping for a recession. HBO\u2019s \u201cReal Time\u201d host Bill Maher said last year: \u201cSo I\u2019ve been saying for about two years that I hope we have a recession. A recession would be very worth getting rid of Donald Trump and these kind of policies.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Few things are more defining for a commercial platform than the floor. The luster and sheen of the floor bring a lovely d\u00e9cor and feel to an office. However, without proper care on a regular basis, the look can quickly turn and show age, wear and tear.\n\nLeave it to Extreme Cleaning Services Toronto to help return the look of your flooring to an excellent condition.\n\nThe condition of your floors says the most about the state of your business. The shine from a floor after professional cleaning services is one of the first things any customer will see.\n\nDust On Floor\n\nFurthermore, dust and dirt will collect inside the grout, the slightly different colored paste-like material between the individual tiles. This is the likely area for dirt to collect from spills and traffic. Our process promised that your tile and stone floors would look their absolute best.\n\nHealth Of Employees\n\nIn addition, from the point of view of health and safety, our commercial floor cleaning company is able to ensure that there is nothing left around that your staff could be harmed by. This could help to reduce the chances of any accidents in the future, and therefore would be a great thing for you to consider.\n\nCommercial cleaning services can also leave employees much happier. Cleaner offices are more pleasant to work in, and since the floor carries such a large part of that impression, proper cleaning services are key to maintaining this healthy work environment.\n\nOverall, the clean and tidy floor around the office is a great idea, and you should find that a commercial floor cleaning company are able to deal with all of this for you. In time, you will be able to notice the difference in your company, and this means that taking the decision to hire a professional company to deal with your commercial floor cleaning is one that you will not regret.\n\nExtreme Cleaning Services has the professionals and tools for the proper care of the floor. Professional floor cleaning is not just for pleasant appearances, it also assists in protecting and extending the durability of flooring by using appropriate cleaning techniques and products that are environmentally friendly, non-hazardous and provide a healthy environment for clients and employees.\n\nThey are also skilled in identifying and determining the best procedures and products for your commercial platforms.\n\nGive us a call (647) 772-7962 or use the form for a free estimate."}
-{"text": "A South Elgin man was charged with impersonating a firefighter during a traffic stop Monday.\n\nGuy M. Landmeier, 45, faces felony charges of false personation of a firefighter, according to the Kane County state\u2019s attorney office.\n\nPolice stopped Landmeier for an alleged traffic violation about 8:15 a.m. at Route 56 and Hankes Road in Sugar Grove, the state\u2019s attorney\u2019s office said. Upon questioning, Landmeier allegedly said he was a firefighter with the Rutland-Dundee Township Fire Protection District and displayed a badge.\n\nOfficers contacted the fire protection district and learned Landmeier last worked as a firefighter with the Rutland-Dundee Township Fire Protection District in 2009 and shouldn\u2019t have the badge, the state\u2019s attorney\u2019s office said.\n\nLandmeier was released from custody on the condition he surrender his badges and anything else identifying himself as a firefighter, the state\u2019s attorney\u2019s office said.\n\nHe is scheduled to appear in court August 8, the state\u2019s attorney\u2019s office said. If convicted, Landmeier faces probation or one to three years in prison.\n\nRead more on crime, and track the city\u2019s homicides."}
-{"text": "ELIZABETH, New Jersey (WABC) -- Chaos and panic erupted in a mall in New Jersey Monday after a large fight broke out, with some shoppers thinking they heard gunfire.It happened at the The Mills at Jersey Gardens in Elizabeth.City officials in Elizabeth said there was no shooting in the mall, although that was the initial report that came in. Police say the fight broke out in the food court.No shell casings were found, and there were no gunshot victims. The loud noise was the sound of a chair slamming down on the floor during the chaos.\"It was like 13 of us in the bathroom with a baby,\" said Tiamoyia White.White said that somebody yelled 'shooter,' and after that, everybody just ran.Elizabeth Major Christian Bollwage says between eight to 10 people were injured during the mayhem.Several people, reportedly including two pregnant women, suffered minor injuries as shoppers tried to evacuate.A 12-year-old broke his leg and an 8-year-old child suffered a cut finger.Bollwage doubts this incident is linked to other similar panics caused at malls across the country Monday.Mall-goers across the country had the same reaction to rumors of gunfire in Illinois, Colorado, and closer to home at the Roosevelt Field Mall on Long Island, and The Shoppes at Buckland Hills mall in Manchester, Connecticut, where several people were arrested.Brawls broke out at malls crowded with shoppers seeking post-Christmas deals.Videos posted on social media show a stampede-like scenario play out at Jersey Gardens.This video shows some people running inside one of the stores:And this video shows heavy police presence in the mall:The race to get out of the mall created an awful bottleneck, with traffic so bad it took up to two hours to drive or even walk out.The Mills at Jersey Gardens released a statement Monday night saying,"}
-{"text": "Aside from the \u201cKing in Yellow\u201d mythos, Chambers most notable contribution to weird fiction is the following story. \u201cThe Maker of Moons\u201d is typical of the majority of Chambers\u2019 weird fiction in that it collates a variety of genres into a marketable pop hit that is at parts forgettable and at others blazingly original. \u201cThe Maker of Moons\u201d is seemingly equal parts horror story, romance, mystical fantasy, spy/detective story, farcical comedy (in the style of P. G. Wodehouse), and science fiction. However, the story is primarily grounded in the regrettable genre of Yellow Peril fiction: anti-Chinese suspense novels that highlighted the threat that insidious Chinese sorcerers, aristocrats, and super villains posed to unsuspecting Western culture. These criminal masterminds infiltrated American and European society covertly, often with plots to upend the Western economy, enslave white women, or cause wars between rival Christian countries. The stories were, like Chambers\u2019 \u201cMaker of Moons,\u201d a blending of several genres: horror, spy fiction, fantasy, suspense, romance, and detective stories. The most notable example of this is Sax Rohmer\u2019s \u201cFu Manchu\u201d series, which followed the exploits of Nyland Smith and Dr. Petrie in their fight to prevent the eponymous super villain from conquering Western society. \u201cThe Maker of Moons\u201d starts out like a typical spy story, then takes a turn for romance, and then lands squarely in yellow peril when a sinister Chinese face is seen peering through some branches in rural New York, but as the story plows on \u2013 and it is a remarkably good story, I might add, in spite of its racism and clunky plot missteps \u2013 we recognize the unmistakable prefiguration of H. P. Lovecraft. \u201cThe Maker of Moons\u201d was a profound influence on Lovecraft, especially on two of his most famous masterpieces, \u201cThe Call of Cthulhu\u201d and \u2013 more obviously \u2013 \u201cThe Whisperer in the Darkness.\u201d\n\nIn fact, before you have read the first three pages you will encounter the impossible-to-miss prototype for Lovecraft\u2019s crablike Mi-go, and by the end of the story you will encounter a formless and \u201cnameless\u201d monster of truly Lovecraftian proportions. \u201cThe Maker of Moons\u201d may have revoltingly racist undertones, but its namesake and mythological basis is founded in Chinese mythology, namely the god of marriage and so-called \u201cMoon Maker\u201d Yue-Laou, a cupid-like deity who takes the shape of a bent, old man always seen standing under the moon, who acts as a supernatural matchmaker \u2013 binding intended lovers together by the waist with a silk rope. This is a benevolent guardian of romance \u2013 the perfect character for one of Chambers\u2019 sappy love stories \u2013 but our sometimes wayward writer makes the uncharacteristic decision to blend such a sentimental figure with a heavy dose of vague malevolence and sinister ambiguity: this Maker of Moons ties his lovers together by their throats and leers at them from the shadows with a glower.\n\nChambers introduces here yet another mythical kingdom \u2013 one which obviously influenced Lovecraft\u2019s Dream Cycle \u2013 in the vein of Ys, Atlantis, Xanadu, or Shangri-La: the other dimensional realm of Yian, a paradise accessible in China, but belonging to an otherworldly dimension of space. Like Lovecraft\u2019s dream world kingdoms, this one is both alluring and somehow sinister, like a poisonous flower. It is a world where the music of silver bells fills the air, and a river flows through it which is spanned by a thousand bridges, a world where lilies gibber and quiver, where the intoxicating perfume of flowers fills the air. And yet it is a goblin-haunted realm where headless dogs flush out prey, hellish, hairy, yellow scorpion-like gremlins swarm, and the great, faceless, bloated, wormlike demon, Xin, casts its shadow over the lilies and causes men to lose their minds. Largely influenced by Edgar Allan Poe \u2013 particularly the fable \u201cSilence\u201d \u2013 Chambers\u2019 multi-layered adventure-romance-thriller-fantasy-horror story acted as a bridge from 19th century weird fiction to the 20th century\u2019s brand, and while it \u2013 like nearly all of Chambers\u2019 works \u2013 is weighed down by flaws, it is a fascinating story and one which deserves far more attention from readers and critics alike.\n\nA fascinating, almost intoxicating fantasy, \u201cThe Maker of Moons\u201d is largely considered Chambers\u2019 most notable, non-Carcosan masterpiece. It was an obvious influence on Lovecraft\u2019s \u201cThe Whisperer in the Darkness,\u201d as well as the Fu Manchu series of novels. When our playboy protagonist notices a strange, crablike insect \u2013 a goggle-eyed cretin with yellow hair and a scorpion tail \u2013 crawling out of his friend\u2019s pocket, he is introduced to a world of intrigue, espionage, weird horrors, and cosmic madness that shuttles him from aimless bachelordom to high adventure and horror. What follows is a fascinating mashup of genres: spy novel, murder mystery, crime thriller, conspiracy theory, science fiction, Lovecraftian cosmicism, romantic fantasy, Poe-esque love-tragedy, and time-wormy escapade. Briefly put, what if a the Chinese demi-god, the Maker of Moons, escaped from an alternate dimension and set up a counterfeiting operation in the New York mountains -- one with global domination as its aim? A stranger, more twisty plot has rarely been conceived.\n\nRoy, our protagonist, opens the story with a declaration that he desires to reveal all he knows of the insidious Yue-Laou and the Xin. Proceeding with the story, he describes how he encountered his friend Godfrey at a jewelers where he is admiring an intricately crafted golden snake which Godfrey claims was found in upstate New York in the Cardinal Woods. Lost in conversation, Roy suddenly notices the aforementioned scorpion-like creature scuttle into Godfrey\u2019s pocket. As if lost in a Kafka play, Roy is stunned by Godfrey\u2019s casual disinterest in the otherworldly monster -- which he claims to have been found with the golden snake -- and the conversation ends as they are joined by Barris, a government agent. Tying these stories together, Barris informs them that Chinese alchemists have found the secret to producing gold from crude matter, and are working on a plot to destroy the world economy from the wilds of upstate New York. Intrigued, the three depart New York City together for the Cardinal Woods near Starlit Lake, where the golden snake and alien crab/scorpion/caterpillar were discovered. Barris heads off into the woods (seeking the leaders of the conspiring alchemists) while Roy heads out on a hunt.\n\nThere, by Starlit Lake, he encounters an enchanting woman named Ysonde, who claims to be visiting from the otherworldly city of Yian, and is drawn to him because of a crescent-shaped birthmark on his forehead which she recognizes from her homeland. She is surrounded by intricate sculptures of her making, and Roy wonders if she made the gold snake. He finds himself entranced by their conversation, but when she suddenly disappears, he chalks it up to a hallucination and continues hunting. Later, Barris confirms that he has made in-roads into his investigation, and Roy tells him that he saw an out-of place Chinese man in flowing robes while on his hunt. The next day Roy meets Ysonde again and learns more details of the fantastical city of Yian. After this fleeting encounter he mentions the city to Barris who \u2013 after much prodding \u2013 confesses that he has heard of the place: a city \u201cwhere the great river winds under the thousand bridges \u2013 where the gardens are sweet scented, and the air is filled with the music of silver bells \u2026 across the seven oceans and the river which is longer than from the earth to the moon\u2026\u201d Yian, as it turns out, is the base of the alchemists and their leader, Yue-Laou, the Chinese sorcerer known as the Maker of Moons. In fact, as Barris admits, he once resided in Yian and fell in love with one of its residents before she was taken from him.\n\nRoy, who suspects that Ysonde may be the elder Barris\u2019 love child, seeks her in the woods that night. The elements seem disturbed: animals flee in herds from the surrounding woods, driven by a ravenous horde of the yellow, crablike monsters, who seem to be poisoning the air and heralding the arrival of great evil. Terrified, Roy and Ysonde finally meet -- evading both the panicked woodland creatures and the scuttling crabs of Yian -- where she warns him of the approaching pack of headless Yeth-hounds (the hellish spirits of murdered children). Overwhelmed by the horrors around him, Roy suddenly notices that the sky has become flooded with rising moons which seem to be rising from the Starlit Lake. They find the Maker of Moons creating the glowing satelites by blowing them off of a glowing sphere in his bony hand, causing the tides to surge and the world to spin into chaos. Locked in an embrace, the lovers are horrified as Yue-Laou summons the Lovecraftian monster Xin \u2013 a mind-crushing precursor to Cthulhu, a shapeless, worm-like mass \u2013 but is interrupted by Barris, who empties his pistol into the Maker of Moons just before he is attacked by Xin. Suddenly, Roy awakens from his memories with Ysonde bending over him at his writing desk, chiding him for writing such silliness, and causing us to wonder if she is being sarcastic, if Roy made it all up, or if he is insane.\n\nThe story\u2019s plot is filled with fascinating cliffhangers, unanswered questions, and clues to deeper meanings and broader webs. Perhaps most notable is its controversial ending, which has led many if not most readers to conclude that the whole story was a fantasy written about a normal man and his normal wife \u2013 a little roleplaying exercise, maybe. Most scholars completely disagree, and so do I \u2013 in my opinion, at least, there are three far more appealing options which make far more sense: Ysonde has either entirely forgotten her past and is therefore an unreliable character, or we are led to believe that Roy is unsure of the veracity of his experiences and is the sole witness to the wonders he saw, leaving him unable to decide whether his impressions were genuine or not. I find absolutely no reason to believe that he is writing a fun little romance during a boring afternoon. He genuinely believes what he has seen, and his friends are unquestionably downstairs with guns ready to sally forth into the woods. The only question we now have is: did Roy hallucinate what he saw, or was it genuine, and has Ysonde thus had her memory erased in the process of being married to him through the machinations of the Maker of Moons.\n\nThere is also a third theory, I should mention, that views this moment as Ysonde trying to gaslight her husband in an attempt to prevent his certainly doomed expedition. This interpretation is also perfectly valid. With its dreamlike atmosphere, story of strange love, and the ambiguous motives of its characters, \u201cThe Maker of Moons\u201d has a clear lineage to Edgar Allan Poe, specifically his stories \u201cThe Gold Bug\u201d and \u201cSilence\u201d and the poem \u201cUlalume.\u201d Like \u201cThe Gold-Bug,\u201d the adventure begins when a gold-seeming creature is discovered in the woods of Eastern America, followed by a puzzling discovery (Poe\u2019s is a treasure map, Chambers\u2019 is Ysonde) that redirects the aimless protagonists efforts, and concluding with a group of friends heading out to the woods on a treasure hunt. \u201cUlalume\u201d and \u201cSilence\u201d are manifested here in the unique imagery and language that Chambers uses: gibbering, pulsing lilies, the placename \u201cWeir,\u201d the motif of crying out the name of a lover and being led on a dazed nocturnal hike to discover her in the countryside, the disturbing presence of the full moon, the unsettling gaze of a lynx, and the ambiguous reality of a lover.\n\nOnce Chambers had put his own spin on these motifs, pairing them with tropes from horror, cryptozoology, romance, fantasy, and spy and detective fiction (all liberally coated with yellow peril), the story found new life when it was discovered by H. P. Lovecraft. \u201cThe Maker of Moons\u201d was fantastically influential to some of Lovecraft\u2019s most highly regarded stories, particularly \u201cThe Call of Cthulhu\u201d (an ancient, pagan cult practices hideous rites under the noses of the general public in the American woodlands; they are worshipping an other-dimensional god who dwells in an alien city which can be accessed on earth), the Dream Cycle (including \u201cThe Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath,\u201d \u201cThe White Ship,\u201d \u201cThe Silver Key,\u201d and \u201cThe Strange High House in the Mist,\u201d all of which reference Yian-like worlds that have a blended nature: both impossibly beautiful and alluring and vaguely sinister and forbidding; the dream cycle even includes a Xin-like monster called the Dohle (\u201cBelow him the ground was festering with gigantic Dholes, and even as he looked, one reared up several hundred feet and leveled a bleached, viscous end at him\u201d)), and most tellingly of all, \u201cThe Whisperer in the Darkness\u201d (a loner in the woodlands of northeastern America comes into contact with bristly, crablike aliens who have a plan that may or may not include dominating the earth, but which certainly is sinister towards human beings; he reports this to a young friend before he seems to be killed, and the friend is forced into action when newspaper reports seem to confirm the story).\n\nBy itself \u201cThe Maker of Moons is a memorable and unique weird tale. It has weaknesses, slow parts, untidy explanations, and elements that we can\u2019t help but wish Chambers had expanded on, but it is also one of the first American stories to effectively hint at the existence of alternate dimensions and to effectively suggest the immenseness of its horrors and fantasies without going into too much detail. Like Bierce\u2019s \u201cThe Damned Thing,\u201d we know just enough about Yian and the Xin and the Yeth Hounds to be completely engaged, but \u2013 also like Bierce \u2013 Chambers demonstrates rare self-restraint by offering us glimpses but without any clear views. The actual motives behind Yue-Laou, the actual nature of Ysonde (is she really good or was her strange way of being bound to Roy by the throat an intentionally sinister coupling), the actual significance of Roy\u2019s birth mark, the actual fate of Barris, the actual motives of the alchemists, its actual relationship to the Kuen-Yuin, and the actual meaning of Ysonde\u2019s final words are all left up to our imagination. In this way Chambers is a tantalizing writer, and \u201cThe Maker of Moons,\u201d in spite of its flaws, is in many ways comparable to \u201cThe King in Yellow.\u201d\n\nYou can find the original story HERE!\n\nAnd you can find our annotated and illustrated collection of Chambers' best weird fiction HERE!"}
-{"text": "The thought of Toy Story character Woody being considered an airport terror threat may seem laughable to most, but not so for the Heathrow security staff who confiscated a miniature toy gun from the doll before allowing it to travel with its owner.\n\nA puzzled father uploaded a picture of the moment staff chose to remove the tiny firearm after examining his Woody figurine.\n\n\"I have travelled the world with Toy Story\u2019s Woody, taking pics for my son,\" the father told Reddit users. \"At Heathrow, security just confiscated his \u201cweapon\u201d, keep the world safe boys\u2026\"\n\nDownload the new Independent Premium app Sharing the full story, not just the headlines\n\nHe added this was the first time he had ever had trouble taking Woody aboard a flight before. \"[The] guy didn\u2019t notice me taking the pic\", he said. He was actually quite nice [and] tried to see if they would override the rule \u2026 but in the end he had to take the gun.\"\n\nSome Reddit users responded with surprise, while others could not help but drop in the obligatory Toy Story quotes, with one replying: \"'Did they find the snake in his boot?\"\n\nA spokesperson for the Department for Transport would not comment directly on the incident, but said: \"We do not comment on specific incidents or details of our security regime.\n\n\"Airports and airlines can use their discretion to remove any item being carried in hand luggage when they believe it may be perceived as a threat\", they told The Daily Mail."}
-{"text": "\u2013\n\nAs one of the driving forces in entertainment, Disney has done a phenomenal job of carving out niches and dominating those markets. They\u2019re got animation on lock with the double whammy of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation, they\u2019re critically and commercially dominating the superhero sphere through their Marvel branch, and with their Lucasfilm acquisition, they\u2019ve returned Star Wars to the top of the pop culture totem pole. But one of their most ingenious recent developments is the push for live-action remakes of their animated classics, which have proven not only a brilliant business move, but a delight for fans with hits like Cinderella and, perhaps to a lesser degree, Maleficent.\n\nLooking ahead at the projects in the works, it\u2019s clear that the live-action remakes have become a priority for the studio, and they\u2019ve found a solid creative partner on that front in former Iron Man collaborator Jon Favreau, who directed and produced this year\u2019s box office smash, The Jungle Book. The live-action/photo-real CGI update of the 1967 classic was a triumph with critics and audiences alike, and the studio was so confident in it, they greenlit the sequel before it even hit theaters. And while Favreau is hard at work on the follow-up, he\u2019s also been handed the keys to one of Disney\u2019s most beloved films of all time, The Lion King. And it\u2019s a move that makes perfect sense. After all, Favreau already proved he can handle not only the tremendous technical challenges, but the narrative challenge of keeping the story rooted in adventure and making sure those photoreal beasties don\u2019t become straight-up terrifying.\n\nWith The Jungle Book now available on home video, Collider\u2019s Steve Weintraub recently sat down with Favreau to chat about the film and he took the opportunity to get some updates on the status of Favreau\u2019s upcoming projects. The director talked about what he learned from The Jungle Book that he\u2019s carrying over to The Lion King, the importance of nailing the story before moving on to effects, and a lot more. Check out what he had to say below.\n\nAsked about his progress on the two features, Favreau made it very clear that these high-tech live-action remakes take a lot of time. Naturally, the photorealistic CGI worlds take time on a technical level, but most importantly, they\u2019ve got to get the story locked in first.\n\nI think nothing\u2019s quick. This is a slow process and rushing it is not a good idea because a lot of when people react to visual effects they don\u2019t like, often times it\u2019s because it\u2019s rushed and because it\u2019s not well thought through ahead of time. Having gone up to Pixar and working with them on this and other projects \u2014 and they\u2019re about as technical as you get \u2014 they always say the same thing \u2014 it\u2019s all about story. Make sure the story is perfect before you launch forward into the next phase. The technical phase doesn\u2019t come until the human storytelling phase is done.\n\nAnd while Favreau and his team are hard at work on cracking the stories for both films, each has its own set of challenges. For The Jungle Book 2, it\u2019s all about making sure that story feels connected to the world and tone they built in the first film:"}
-{"text": "Apple has almost certainly acquired German computer vision company SensoMotoric Instruments, a provider of eye tracking glasses and systems, based on evidence compiled by MacRumors.\n\n\n\nOn May 2, Apple's vice president of corporate law Gene Levoff, representing Delaware-based shell company Vineyard Capital Corporation, granted power of attorney to German law firm Hiking K\u00fchn L\u00fcer Wojtek to represent Vineyard Capital Corporation in all business related to the acquisition of SensoMotoric Instruments.\n\n\n\nOn June 16, SensoMotoric Instruments filed several documents with the German Company Register outlining new articles of incorporation. SensoMotoric's previous managing director Eberhard Schmidt was replaced by Dr. Ali Sahin, one of the German attorneys representing Vineyard Capital Corporation.\n\nVineyard Capital Corporation is listed as having acquired all company shares of SensoMotoric Instruments.\n\nApple takes steps to hide its acquisitions through shell companies, which essentially only exist on paper, but Levoff's signature on one of the documents is a clear giveaway that Vineyard Capital Corporation is Apple. Levoff even notarized the document in Cupertino, California, where Apple is headquartered.\n\nSensoMotoric Instruments recently updated its website, removing over a dozen pages with detailed information about its products. The website also no longer has a jobs portal, news blog, schedule of events and workshops, contact information, list of distributors and resellers, or mailing list signup form.\n\nAn archived version of the website from last week indicated the company was hiring, but the current version does not. Schmidt's name and headshot have also been removed from the website now that he is no longer managing director. Christian Villwock, Director of OEM Solutions Business, was also removed.\n\nThe acquisition is backed up by an anonymous tipster, who told us that he allegedly spoke to an Apple employee today who said the deal has been completed. Additionally, one of SensoMotoric's clients informed us that they have been attempting to contact the company for several weeks without hearing back.\n\nApple and SensoMotoric Instruments did not respond to multiple requests for comments. SensoMotoric's phone line was out of service.\n\nSensoMotoric Instruments, founded in 1991, has developed a range of eye tracking hardware and software for several fields of use, including virtual and augmented reality, in-car systems, clinical research, cognitive training, linguistics, neuroscience, physical training and biomechanics, and psychology.\n\nThe company's Eye Tracking Glasses, for instance, are capable of recording a person's natural gaze behavior in real-time and in real world situations with a sampling rate up to 120Hz. As seen in the video below, one possible use case is for athletes looking to evaluate and improve their visual performance.\n\nSensoMotoric has also developed eye-tracking technology for virtual reality headsets such as the Oculus Rift, which can analyze the wearer's gaze and help to reduce motion sickness, a common side effect of VR. The solution can also allow for a person's gaze to control menus or aim in a game with their gaze.\n\nSensoMotoric's other eye-tracking solutions include standalone devices, such as the RED250mobile, which allows saccade-based studies to be conducted at 250Hz for researchers who require both mobility and high sampling rate.\n\nApple has reportedly prototyped a pair of \"smart glasses\" that would connect to an iPhone and display \"images and other information\" to the wearer, and SensoMotoric's eye-tracking technology could feasibly play a role in that product alongside solutions from Apple's other acquisitions like Faceshift.\n\nApple CEO Tim Cook has also repeatedly expressed a \"profound\" interest in augmented reality, calling the technology \"a big idea\" like the smartphone. He said augmented reality should \"amplify\" human contact, but noted \"there are things to discover before that technology is good enough for the mainstream.\"\n\nWith iOS 11, Apple is delving into augmented reality in a big way, introducing an ARKit development platform that will allow developers to quickly and easily build augmented reality experiences into their apps and games.\n\nSensoMotoric Instruments is headquartered in Teltow, Germany, near Berlin, and its website said it had an office in Boston as well. It's unclear if the company and its roughly 60 employees, according to LinkedIn, will merge within Apple or remain an independent subsidiary. Financial terms of the deal are unknown.\n\nEric Slivka contributed to this report.\n\nUpdate: \"Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,\" an Apple representative said in a statement to Axios, essentially confirming the deal."}
-{"text": "NordLink-projektet blir Europas l\u00e4ngsta HVDC-l\u00e4nk och m\u00f6jligg\u00f6r \u00f6verf\u00f6ring av 1400 MW f\u00f6rnyelsebar energi. HVDC-tekniken utvecklas och levereras av ABB i Ludvika. I ordern ing\u00e5r \u00e4ven HVDC-kabel fr\u00e5n ABB:s enhet i Karlskrona.\n\nABB har tagit hem order v\u00e4rda runt 900 miljoner dollar fr\u00e5n ett konsortium best\u00e5ende av de ledande energif\u00f6retagen Statnett och TenneT samt banken KfW f\u00f6r att leverera landbaserade HVDC-omriktarstationer och kabelsystemet i den tyska sektionen som del i den f\u00f6rsta l\u00e4nken n\u00e5gonsin mellan Norges och Tysklands kraftn\u00e4t. L\u00e4nken blir 623 km l\u00e5ng - den l\u00e4ngsta HVDC-l\u00e4nken i Europa. Den ber\u00e4knas tas i kommersiell drift 2020. Kontraktet inkluderar \u00e4ven ett fem\u00e5rigt serviceavtal.\n\n\"Vi \u00e4r glada att samarbeta med TenneT och Statnett i ytterligare ett viktigt projekt som kommer att st\u00f6dja integrationen av den europeiska energimarknaden. Den smarta kombinationen av f\u00f6rnybar kraftgenerering till exempel sol och vind i Tyskland och vattenkraft i Norge, visar att vi tekniskt kan m\u00f6jligg\u00f6ra en h\u00e5llbar gr\u00f6n energipolitik i hela Europa\", s\u00e4ger ABB:s koncernchef Ulrich Spiesshofer. \"Denna order understryker ABB:s tekniska ledarskap inom HVDC och \u00e4r ytterligare en milstolpe i att \u00e5terf\u00f6ra v\u00e5r division Power Systems till l\u00e5ngsiktig tillv\u00e4xt och l\u00f6nsamhet.\"\n\nNordLink blir mycket viktig som l\u00e4nk mellan Norge och Tyskland och har betecknats som ett av Europeiska kommissionens projekt av gemensamt intresse f\u00f6r att hj\u00e4lpa till att skapa en integrerad energimarknad inom EU. Den kommer att \u00f6ka energis\u00e4kerheten i b\u00e5da l\u00e4nderna och st\u00f6dja integrationen av f\u00f6rnybar energi i l\u00e4ndernas kraftn\u00e4t genom att m\u00f6jligg\u00f6ra \u00f6verf\u00f6ring av vind- och solkrafts\u00f6verskott fr\u00e5n Tyskland till Norge och \u00f6verf\u00f6ring av vattenkraft i motsatt riktning. L\u00e4nken kommer att \u00f6verf\u00f6ra kraft med en rekordkapacitet p\u00e5 1400 MW, vilket \u00e4r tillr\u00e4ckligt f\u00f6r att f\u00f6rs\u00f6rja 3,6 miljoner tyska hush\u00e5ll.\n\n\"NordLink-projektet visar \u00e4n en g\u00e5ng ABB:s satsning p\u00e5 effektiv anv\u00e4ndning av f\u00f6rnybara energik\u00e4llor; vi levererar ren kraft till miljoner m\u00e4nniskor och st\u00f6djer energipolitiken i Tyskland och Norge\", s\u00e4ger Claudio Facchin, global chef f\u00f6r ABB:s division Power Systems. \"Vi var f\u00f6rst med HVDC-teknik och forts\u00e4tter att utveckla nya tekniska l\u00f6sningar som g\u00f6r projekt som NordLink genomf\u00f6rbara.\"\n\nABB ska designa, konstruera, leverera och drifts\u00e4tta tv\u00e5 omriktarstationer p\u00e5 525 kV 1400 MW genom att anv\u00e4nda sin VSC-teknik med sp\u00e4nningsstyrda omriktare kallad HVDC Light\u00ae. En station kommer att vara bel\u00e4gen n\u00e4ra Tonstad i s\u00f6dra Norge och den andra n\u00e4ra Wilster i norra Tyskland.\n\nSom del i projektet ska ABB \u00e4ven konstruera, tillverka och installera ett massaimpregnerat kabelsystem p\u00e5 525 kV i den tyska sektionen, som kommer att inkludera 154 km sj\u00f6kabel och 54 km landkabel.\n\n\"Vi \u00e4r v\u00e4ldigt glada \u00f6ver den h\u00e4r betydelsefulla ordern f\u00f6r ABB. Det \u00e4r en av de st\u00f6rsta ordrarna n\u00e5gonsin f\u00f6r ABB i Sverige och bef\u00e4ster ABB som en v\u00e4rldsledande leverant\u00f6r av h\u00f6gtekniska l\u00f6sningar f\u00f6r framtidens energisystem. NordLink-projektet inneh\u00e5ller b\u00e5de kablar fr\u00e5n Karlskrona och HVDC-teknik fr\u00e5n Ludvika och \u00e4r ocks\u00e5 ytterligare ett steg mot ett h\u00e5llbart samh\u00e4lle med \u00f6kad anv\u00e4ndning av f\u00f6rnybara energik\u00e4llor\", s\u00e4ger Johan S\u00f6derstr\u00f6m, vd f\u00f6r ABB Sverige.\n\n\"NordLink-projektet visar \u00e4n en g\u00e5ng att ABB med sin ledande HVDC Light-teknik \u00e4r v\u00e4rldsledande inom HVDC-\u00f6verf\u00f6ringar. Den teknikutveckling som bel\u00f6nats med Polhemspriset 1999 och 2014 ing\u00e5r som viktiga best\u00e5ndsdelar i leveransen till TenneT och Stattnet och ordern \u00e4r dessutom den enskilt st\u00f6rsta ordern f\u00f6r ABB:s kabelfabrik i Karlskrona\", s\u00e4ger Per Eckemark, divisionschef f\u00f6r ABB Power Systems i Sverige.\n\nABB har tilldelats cirka 100 HVDC-projekt sedan tekniken introducerades f\u00f6r 60 \u00e5r sedan. Det motsvarar en total installerad kapacitet p\u00e5 mer \u00e4n 120 000 MW och utg\u00f6r cirka h\u00e4lften av installerad global bas. ABB vidareutvecklade tekniken p\u00e5 1990-talet genom att introducera VSC-HVDC, kallad HVDC Light\u00ae. ABB \u00e4r ledande inom VSC-teknik och har, med den nyligen driftsatta l\u00e4nken Skagerrak 4, levererat 15 av 18 s\u00e5dana projekt som \u00e4r i kommersiell drift v\u00e4rlden \u00f6ver. ABB har mer \u00e4n hundra \u00e5rs kraftkabelexpertis och har tagit hem ordrar p\u00e5 mer \u00e4n 8 300 km HVDC-kabel. ABB \u00e4r den enda leverant\u00f6ren som kan leverera b\u00e5de massaimpregnerad och extruderad kabel med en sp\u00e4nningsniv\u00e5 p\u00e5 525 kV.\n\nABB (www.abb.com) \u00e4r ledande inom kraft- och automationsteknik. V\u00e5ra l\u00f6sningar f\u00f6rb\u00e4ttrar prestanda och minimerar milj\u00f6p\u00e5verkan f\u00f6r kunder inom energi, industri, transport och infrastruktur. ABB-koncernens bolag verkar i omkring 100 l\u00e4nder och har ungef\u00e4r 140 000 medarbetare.\n\nF\u00f6r mer information kontakta:"}
-{"text": "A premier rebounder, Alex Yetna, a 6-foot-7 power forward out of Putnam Science Academy, has committed to South Florida. What he lacks in ideal height, the native of France more than makes up for with how hard he plays and his instincts near the basket.\n\nWhile Old Dominion, St. John\u2019s and Oregon State remained involved, a quick visit to South Florida last weekend was all that was needed for Yetna to commit to the first-year staff.\n\n\u201cThey definitely are bringing in a new style of play: a competitive, up-tempo system that is definitely something that Coach (Brian) Gregory and his staff hit on,\u201d Yetna said. \u201cIt is a good fit for me to get better, the coaches understand how I play and they have talked to me about making me the best that I can be but also make an impact right away.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Is there a place for project management in Agile?\n\nThere is debate on the role of management in Agile and Lean projects - is there a place for project management in Agile? Well indeed there is because agile methodologies are in essence nothing other than a set of management frameworks.\n\nWhat makes a good agile team/\u2019s manager, development manager, chief architect, programme manager or whatever title they are given. The titles are a bit misleading so let\u2019s not start not with a title. Instead let's use a job description to make it easier to decide where this manager fits into an agile framework. Putting the title to one side, the role we are looking at, is the one held by the person who is responsible for leading the team (or teams) to a product release.\n\nThey are the link to the customer, or for internal teams the link to the business. They are the ones who are pivotal in translating a business need into a product that delivers value. To them the team is everything for without it there is no product. This is not to say they do not serve the business as well. They serve both by communicating the needs of the business to their teams.\n\nBelow I will refer to them as development managers.\n\nNegotiating\n\nSo now we know who they are let\u2019s look at the tasks they have to perform. The main one is arbitration, they need to act as the umpire. Smoothing conflict starts by negotiating a path between the desires of the business and the teams who will deliver them. They need to be adept at recognising what desires will deliver value and which ones will not. Above all they work with people.\n\nThe development manager will be responsible for requirements elicitation, communication, delegation, facilitation, recognising and managing risk, team building and recruiting. They strive to protect their teams from feature creep, bad smells, anti-patterns. They make opportunities for code reviews, they also make opportunities to obtain frequent feedback.\n\nWhen their teams have an internal difference it is the development manager who can help them choose the right option. To do this they use their advantages of:\n\nvisibility of the wider picture\n\nexperience of similar decision points\n\ntechnical knowledge\n\nunderstanding of the dynamics of the team\n\nThey use all of these attributes to moderate the debate and assist the team to find the right solution.\n\nThe development manager needs to negotiate the scope of the work the resources required and the time frame to delivery. It is best to keep the scope to the minimum that is viable for value to be gained. Three fast and small but good releases are much better than one large one. The customer may want an all singing all dancing release and this will bring a need for negotiation.\n\n\n\n\n\nI was involved in a start up business within the group of companies I worked for. The newly installed MD wanted an application with all the features and then some. Feedback was sought as functionality was delivered. He became insistent that without all features he would not accept anything.\n\nHe also chopped and changed what this set of features were. This was mainly a ruse to cover the fact that his startup had no traction and was not delivering any sales. While the team welcomed change they were getting frustrated by the apparently arbitrary shift from one thing to another. The negotiation winner here, was to deliver a small product that drove sales.\n\nDevelopment managers lead, they do not write code.\n\nSome hold the view that a development manager should also write code, this is bull. They need to understand code, they need to read code, they will probably have written code but that should remain in the past. They may be a test engineer or a another type application expert.\n\nThey need to be technologically knowledgeable smart, aware, experimental and enquiring. They need to continuously improve their knowledge on the subject. They must like the users of the systems they are involved in building. They will have belief and be evangelical of agile and lean principles.\n\nThere are very good programmers who are not very good at communicating, the classic introvert. There are very good programmers who are extrovert and just love gassing away. There are those who may have been good programmers but have transferred to a leadership role. The development manager does not need to distracted by writing code good or bad. This is an activity they need to delegate.\n\nLet the development manager leave writing code alone and concentrate on leading those who are actively programing. They will on occasion dip back into getting their hands dirty but they will do it as a scientist not as an engineer. The scientist experiments to find answers the engineer builds solutions.\n\nThe development managers interest in new technology may lead them to undertake empirical investigation. For instance they may pick a technology up, take it to hello world and beyond. In doing so they will evaluate the usefulness of different emerging technologies and trends. If these offers solutions they are in a position to introduce it to their teams.\n\nThe rules are there are no rules\n\nThere are rules that applied to the leadership however. Sometimes we referred to them as the non rules. These non rules were really just guarantees as to what the teams were entitled to expect. There were only a handful and all of them had the number 10 in them.\n\nDevelopers are bad at looking after their own self development or seeking help. One non rule we had was the 10% rule. This was where 10% of the working week (3.5 hrs) is made available for self development. This half day study time was slotted in for learning a new skill or honing an existing one. Individuals pairs or small groups had time allocated for discovering new technology or soft skills.\n\nThe 10% rule included explorations into new hardware and processes as well as exploring new languages or trying out a new types of data stores. I have had to drag developers kicking and screaming into utilising this time. The development manager will play a valuable part in the quest to amplify learning.\n\nThe development manager will act as the enabler for self learning processes. They will take suggestions on what the team would like to look into further. As a scientist not a developer they may vet new developments in code or databases, they will benchmark and assess. They will prepare the ground for further experimentation and at the same time be pragmatic to avoid trendiness.\n\nThe development manager will set up the environments to run whatever the learning process requires. They will establish playground or find an online playpen. They will do a bit of research and sift through what background or resources are available to find the most useful sources. They may take it to \u2018hello world\u2019 and then hand over a curated environment to team members to evaluate and play with.\n\nAnother non rule was the 10 minute rule. if you are stuck on a problem for longer than 10 minutes ask someone for help. Articulating the problem would most often fix it. The first instinct of a development manager writing code will be to grab the keyboard and try fix the problem. Worse still they may take it on themselves to fix, deeming it too difficult for the skills of person who asked for help. Big mistake, people learn nothing from seeing someone else do it. They learn from discovering how to do it themselves.\n\nRespect\n\nThe development manager is not hands on, they are there to help. Leading a colleague to a solution is helpful. Encouraging them to see through the problem and to find a solution for themselves is even more helpful. If the solution is beyond the skill and knowledge of the development manager all well and good. They can research, learn from the team or simply note that this team member has the answers up their sleeve.\n\nThe team will respect the manager for not talking down to them and for enabling them, for supporting them and for encouraging them. If they have to write production code they will not have the focus or the time to give enough to their project team. Their project teams will need them focused on the team\u2019s needs and on the needs of the business.\n\nIt is said that the team will have more respect for someone also writes code. My experience shows this not to be the case. The last thing the team needs is a part time coder nostalgic to get their hands dirty. They will not respect the coder who is their on the presumption they are a better coder than themselves.\n\nIf the development manager tries to multitask the they will resent the time they are not writing code. They will be distracted, they are not delegating. Their teams will resent not having the support they need. If their background was testing or infrastructure engineering or application training there is possibly less temptation for them to get their hands dirty. Yet the focus must be on the team and the product not their history.\n\nThe reasons development managers manage is to best serve their teams. It is not to establish a management centric culture. It is not to build hierarchies it is to help, assist and make their team\u2019s lives easier. Management is providing opportunities for their teams to excel, improve and learn. To deliver value to the customer. It is acting as a link between the stakeholders and the production teams.\n\nStyle\n\nI have been responsible for quite a few development managers and they each have their own style yet they all share some stylistic attributes. They all demonstrate clearly and openly the trust they have in their teams and the individuals within them. They are comfortable in one to one discussions with team members and in group discussions. They all have two ears and one mouth. That is they listen more than they talk.\n\nThey also appreciate the style of their teams and its members. The recognise the learning styles of the individuals in the team and are then able to adjust how they deal with the individuals by adjusting their own style. The can also use this knowledge to adjust the team to make it rounded and get a good mix of personalities. With insight into style the team dynamics can be optimised.\n\nFlavours\n\nStyle also covers the type of agile framework that is best for the team. Some teams will naturally go for one or other methodology. Some will craft their own. It does not matter too much if all teams follow the same methodology. It demands even more agility on the behalf of the development manager if they all use different frameworks. I would advise against imposing a framework, let team find one.\n\nThe team should decide what style of working suits them the most. XP, FDD, Scrum, Kanban, Lean etc. all have agile principles. These main frameworks have enough core tenets on which to build an agile way of working. Agile methodologies need to be agile in themselves, I find Scrum the least agile of all the ones listed above yet it is popular.\n\nRules v\u2019s culture\n\nAll agile principles propose that teams should be self organising and that they should be empowered so let them choose, develop or mutate their own style. In other words a style should fit around the team. The team should not be fitted into the style.\n\nThe need for esta\u00adblished boun\u00adda\u00adries will still exist. It is important to remember this is not the wild west. There are boundaries, anarchy is not to be encouraged, anti patterns are taboo, risk is to be avoided or mitigated, best practice must prevail.\n\nThe best way of ensuring boundaries are drawn within the territory of best practice and excellence is to develop, instill and then continue to influence the culture. A development manager will; add to and play a big part in forming the culture that their teams operate within. Cultures need to be built, modified, reinforced and nourished. A culture will contain processes, techniques and patterns.\n\nThe culture is what transmits a vision of desirable beha\u00advior when a system of dictats and rules are not appropriate. A culture where the desire to, empower the team and trust motivated people to do their jobs, is a good replacement for rules. A self organising team establish and introduce best practice. A culture that encourages continual incremental improvement builds integrity into the product.\n\nThe structure of communications\n\nRegardless of which agile framework is used the development manager will need to ensure that they have some core processes available and followed. Regular communication being perhaps the most important of these. The XP standup can be held sitting down as long as is not around a table and it sticks to a time limit. The idea is to keep the meeting short.\n\nI found splitting the traditional daily meeting into two daily meetings quite useful. I named these meetings morning prayers and evensong. Daily meetings can be done remotely using any conferencing app that has text and voice or better still text, voice and video.\n\nDaily meetings\n\nMorning prayers were as the name suggests in a morning after everyone had settled in. It was allocated set duration of around 10 minutes (a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 15). It was used to discuss what each member of the team was going to achieve that day and what resources or dependencies they needed, e.g. a test instance on the server, dependencies, a clone of a database or clarification on how a feature should work.\n\nProblems discovered in the stand are then taken off line to be resolved. The purpose of the meeting is to bring issues to the attention of the development manager and identify blockers. It is not desirable to try and fix the issue in the meeting. Once identified the development manager will allocate the resources to remove the problem.\n\nEvensong was an hour before the end of play, the same 10 mins allowed team members would cover what they had actually achieved. By this point it the day everyone has a good idea of what progress they have made. It also everyone a chance to reflect on what they have done. It did this while there is 45 mins left to maybe, check over work done, remove some technical debt, clean it up and better still share it.\n\nIf the level of work completed was not what was expected to have achieved it gives a chance to point out what the blockers are. It gives the team and the development manager an opportunity to plan the work for the following day. It provides information for the planning process, updating release schedules and the road map.\n\nPeriodic meetings\n\nOn Friday afternoon there is an additional ceremony, a sort of special mass, and it has a party feel to it. Wine and bread are imminent at the review theatre. The Friday review allows everyone to put on the finery and parade their work to each other, to other teams, to the customer and to the business. It is the place from where feedback emanates. It is pat on the back time.\n\nFriday demos might not be actually held on a Friday. They could take place anytime when the appropriate stakeholders are available. For the development manager it is a time for pride and praise all round (hopefully). For the team it is a chance to view integrations and deployments in situ.\n\nRetrospectives\n\nI read somewhere that retrospectives should be at the end of an iteration. If that were the case the iterations are too long. Continuous deployment encourages short iterations. Sometimes these are daily and it is possible to have multiple iterations completed in a single day. There is no need to have retrospectives daily. A retrospective is an opportunity to change the way we work and this is not a daily task.\n\nSome functionality may not lend itself to such short iterations and the length of iterations needs to be kept to a minimum. If long iterations become frequent it is time to look at other ways of building a product. The architecture could be wrong and a design that increased the number of services may be a better solution. Ever smaller iterations are not the end of reflection or retrospectives. That dear old mantra:\n\nWhat have we done well\n\nWhat do done badly\n\nWhat should we stop doing\n\nWhat should we start doing\n\nis a set of questions that still need to be asked periodically and can really be asked on any occasion. This reflection is the root of the retrospective process and may be done in at some depth. It can take place alongside or within a code review. Natural time periods between retrospectives will appear, as will natural break points in production.\n\nLocation\n\nIt is important to have the right location, the team must be away from their desks and not on a computer. There were times I gave the development managers my office to hold these meetings. Too many teams and my having no office put paid to that.\n\nThe location needs to have a whiteboard, it is good if it has a large monitor. I incorporated informal areas where these meetings could be held. They were also where we sometimes met with stakeholders. They were not formal conference rooms nor were they held sitting around a table.\n\n\u2026\n\nOriginally published on September 16 2014 It was based on notes published on an internal company blog and relates to the development managers at that company.\n\nWith recent events reminding me that once again British cycling is a beacon for teamwork and continual incremental improvement. Derived from Dave Brailsford's framework of the \"aggregation of marginal gains\" where individuals are charged with breaking down and improving individual elements of their technique and ability seeking to improve their overall performance, the British team taking 12 medals at Rio is as good a place as any revisit strategies for success.\n\nIt is not intended as a formula or a prescription to follow. It is an simply an example of how this management role has worked in the past. I was lucky to have a couple of star managers grow into this role, one came from a technical product training background the other from a testing background. Both knew enough about code to understand it. Both were astute technologists, both embraced continuous improvement and continuous integration. Yet the reason they were both stars was because they were very people focused. They also liked users."}
-{"text": "Alex Jones defended ally and \u201clistener\u201d Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) from media attacks over his controversial vaccination remarks by lashing out at a CNBC anchor who challenged Paul. Jones, who helped Paul get elected to the Senate in 2010, called CNBC's Kelly Evans a \u201cwhore\u201d and \u201cpimp\u201d for \u201csigning on to a system of murder, you little piece of trash, tramp, filth, scum woman!\u201d\n\nPaul has been heavily criticized after he said this week that vaccines should be voluntary because there are purportedly \u201cmany tragic cases of walking, talking, normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines.\u201d Paul has faced further criticism for attempting to shush CNBC's Evans during their contentious conversation about vaccines.\n\nJones is a leading conspiracy theorist. His own biography states he \u201cis considered one of the very first founding fathers of the 9-11 Truth Movement.\u201d He has also alleged bizarre conspiracies about the Aurora movie theater shooting, the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, among many others.\n\nIn a February 3 video posted to his YouTube channel, Jones lashed out at critics of Sen. Paul.\n\nJones said \u201cRachel Maddow, Obama, Fox News, Bill O'Reilly, all of them, attacking anybody that tells the truth. They're just like, 'There are no side effects, it's totally safe, and it will protect you, you will not get the measles, if you get this shot.' All pure bull. Doesn't protect you. Can give you the measles -- super dangerous.\u201d\n\nHe later added that the government is trying to \u201cbully us into medical tyranny. That's what Obamacare is. It's a bunch of forced inoculations, rationing the care. This is the same government that puts troops on secret no treatment lists to die. They don't have the moral authority to tell us anything with their history of secret testing and the rest of it! It's sick! It's a sick joke! Man -- these people make me want to throw up.\u201d\n\nJones then proceeded to attack Closing Bell co-anchor Evans with misogynistic language for challenging Paul about vaccines during her February 2 interview. Jones called her \u201ca media whore. She's there to whore out the American people and sell us lies. She's not a whore, she's a pimp.\u201d Jones concluded that people like Evans (a \u201cdumb lady\u201d ) are \u201csigning on to a system of murder, you little piece of trash, tramp, filth, scum woman! You arrogant piece of garbage! I'm sick of all you people up there lecturing us. She's the type of woman that wants Super Bowl ads to say, 'Sorry you had a boy.' All a bunch of pinhead cult members.\u201d\n\nJones praised Paul for his vaccine stance, saying he and father Ron Paul \u201chave some basic morals, folks. They know how dangerous the vaccines are. They know what's in the inserts. They're not just going to go along with the system and lie ... that's why I like Rand Paul.\u201d"}
-{"text": "The endless streams of confetti that rained down during this year's Macy's Thanksgiving day parade was more than just your average bits of torn paper \u2014 according to New York news station WPIX-TV, parade-goers found that shredded police documents from the Nassau County police department were mixed in with the usual confetti. The shredded documents apparently contained plenty of sensitive info that was easily identifiable, including social security numbers, license plate numbers, incident reports, and even names of detectives \u2014 some of which were found to be undercover. While all of the confetti has likely been swept away by now, it's still a rather surprising mis-step for an agency in which you'd expect security to be of the highest concern.\n\nMacy's couldn't confirm or deny whether it had used shredded police documents in the parade, saying only that it uses \"commercially manufactured, multicolor confetti, not shredded paper.\" The Nassau County police department said that it is \"very concerned about the situation,\" and also said it will be \"conducting an investigation into this matter as well as reviewing our procedures for the disposing of sensitive documents.\" Regardless of how it happened, we'd expect that Macy's will be a lot more careful with its confetti next year, and that the Nassau police department will take better care of its sensitive documents in the future."}
-{"text": "A defense attorney says Colorado movie theater shooting suspect James Holmes tried unsuccessfully to call a University of Colorado, Denver, psychiatrist nine minutes before the attack.\n\nDefense attorney Tamara Brady said Thursday that James Holmes placed the call to an after-hours number at a hospital at the University of Colorado, Anschutz campus.\n\nBrady says Holmes thought he could reach Dr. Lynne Fenton, a psychiatrist, at that number.\n\nHolmes is accused in the July 20 shooting that left 12 people dead and 58 wounded in Aurora.\n\nBarry Gutierrez / AP Defense attorney Daniel King leads other public defenders into court Thursday for a motions hearing for suspected theater shooter James Holmes in district court in Centennial, Colo.\n\nThe detail came out during a hearing about Holmes' relationship with Fenton, to whom he mailed a package containing a notebook that reportedly contained violent descriptions of an attack.\n\nWatch US News crime videos on NBCNews.com\n\nFenton, who took the stand Thursday, testified she was sent the package on July 19.\n\nThe package was seized by police on July 23 -- just three days after the shooting. According to court documents, she never had the package in her possession.\n\nMore coverage of the Aurora theater shootings on NBCNews.com\n\nDistrict Court Judge William Sylvester made no decision Thursday on whether the package should be released to prosecutors, NBC station KUSA reported. The hearing was continued to Dec. 20.\n\nRj Sangosti / Pool via Reuters file Colorado shooting suspect James Holmes is shown at his first court appearance in Aurora, Colo., in July.\n\nThe court discussed whether the notebook was sent during the time Holmes and Fenton had a doctor-patient relationship. The defense argued the notebook sent to Fenton is privileged information due to her relationship to Holmes as his psychotherapist. The prosecution says Fenton's relationship had already ended.\n\nStay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter\n\nFenton testified on Thursday that she felt her professional relationship ended on June 11. Fenton claimed she did not see or talk to Holmes in between June 11 and July 19 - when the prosecution says the package was sent to her.\n\nThe Associated Press contributed to this report.\n\nMore content from NBCNews.com:\n\nFollow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook"}
-{"text": "This piece was originally published on AlterNet. Please note the addendum at the end about my use of the word \"crazy\" in this piece.\n\n*\n\nAre less established religions really crazier than older mainstream ones? Or are mainstream religions just more familiar?\n\nDoes any religion make more sense than any other?\n\nAtheists, by definition, don't think any religion has any reasonable likelihood of being true. And yet, for some weird reason, we're often asked to choose between them. Believers often accuse us of ignoring more moderate and progressive religions while we trash the low-hanging fruit of hard-line fundamentalism. We're accused of disregarding sophisticated modern theology so we can zero in on the simplistic faiths held by the hoi polloi. (Neither accusation is fair; many atheists, including myself, have taken aim at both modern theology and progressive religion, and in any case fundamentalism and other widely-held religions are valid targets for critique -- but that's another rant.) Yet at the same time, many believers seek our approval for their particular beliefs. \"Sure,\" they'll say, \"a lot of those other religions are silly -- but my religion makes sense! Don't you agree? Don't you? Huh?\"\n\nFor the most part, it's a game I don't like to play. I think all religions are equally implausible, equally based on cognitive biases, equally unsupported by any good evidence whatsoever. But sometimes, the battiness of a particular religion is powerfully borne in on me, to the point where it becomes impossible to ignore. And it forces me to consider the question: Is this religion really any more batty than any other? Or is it just less popular? Less familiar? Is it simply newer, and thus has had less time for the more wildly ragged edges of its wackiness to smooth out? Is this religion really as crazy as it seems -- or are all religions equally crazy?\n\nMagic Hats Versus Magic Snakes\n\nFirst, just to be very clear: I'm not saying that all religious believers are crazy. I'm saying that religious beliefs are crazy. I'm criticizing the ideas, not the people. And when I say \"crazy\" (or \"nutty\" or \"batshit\" or \"lunatic\" or what have you), I don't mean \"literally, clinically mentally ill.\" I mean \"crazy\" in the colloquial sense. I mean... well, I'll get to that.\n\n\n\nI was in Salt Lake City a few weeks ago giving a talk, and I took the opportunity to visit the Mormon Temple Square. If you're not a Mormon, you can't go inside the Mormon Temple itself; but Temple Square has all sorts of attractions for the non-Mormon visitor, including the tabernacle, the assembly hall... and two different visitors' centers, specifically designed to explain Mormonism to the non-Mormon, and to make the religion seem inspiring, and to entice people into the faith.\n\nI have no doubt that it has that effect on many people. Mormonism is one of the fastest-growing religions on the planet; there must be something about it that people like. But its effect on me... Well, it was inspiring, all right. It inspired me right into a rollercoaster ride of hilarity and horror. It inspired me, at one point, to out-loud laughter that I was literally, physically unable to control. It inspired me to get the hell off their property, take several deep breaths, and rant incoherently with my wife about what an appalling nightmare of indoctrination and brainwashing it was, before we plunged back in. It inspired me to work on my atheist activism ten times harder than I ever had. Its effect on me was not to entice me into the faith. Its effect was to make me think, even more strongly than I had before, \"This religion is batshit crazy.\"\n\nBut then I started thinking.\n\nHow much crazier is this, really, than any other religion?\n\n\n\nLet's not mince words. There is some profoundly crazy stuff in Mormonism. The magic underwear. The retroactive baptism of the dead. Getting to be a god on your own planet after you die. The Garden of Eden being in Missouri. The foundational story of Joseph Smith reading secret magical golden plates through a magic hat. The baptismal font sitting on the backs of twelve cows. (Okay, fine, oxen. Still.) The washings and anointings and veils and temple garments and secret handshakes and other highly ritualized pseudo-Masonic ceremonies. Lying for the Lord. (No, really. Look it up.) The casual shrugging-off of well-known, thoroughly documented facts of history and archaeology that contradict Church doctrine. The shameless, barefaced retroactive continuity, to the point of actually lying about the religion's history. (\"Polygamy is not a central tenet of Mormonism, and it never was. Racial bigotry is not a central tenet of Mormonism, and it never was. Stop looking at The Book of Mormon. No, stop it. We'll tell you what our religion says, thank you very much.\") Mormonism loves to present a wholesome, clean-cut image of almost obsessive normality to the public... but when you scratch the surface, what you see is howling, chaotic lunacy. That assessment may seem harsh -- but if these ideas were presented in any context other than a religious one, nobody would be debating it.\n\nBut then I started thinking:\n\nHow much crazier is this than any other religion?\n\n\n\nHow much crazier is this than talking snakes? People living inside giant fish? Boats that carry two of every living creature on the planet? Magic crackers that turn into the body of your god when you eat them? Magic fruit that ruins the lives of all your descendants? Virgins giving birth? Sprinkling magic water on babies so if they die they won't burn forever in Hell? A planet that was created 6,000 years ago, despite an overwhelming body of evidence to the contrary from every relevant scientific field? A god who sacrifices himself to himself to save the world from the punishment he himself was planning to dole out?\n\n\n\nAnd let's not just pick on Christianity. How much crazier is this than ritual washing in a polluted magic river? Transferring your sins to a live chicken, waving it over your head, and having it slaughtered? Transferring your sins to a bundle of money, waving it over your head, and donating the money to charity, because the chicken thing is just too weird? The compulsory covering of women's bodies from head to toe? The compulsory wearing of hats? A god who's okay with you smoking weed, but doesn't want you drinking alcohol? A god who's okay with you drinking alcohol, but doesn't want you smoking weed? A god who doesn't want you to draw pictures of real things? A god who wants you to cut off your daughter's clitoris? A god who wants you to cut off the tip of your baby boy's penis?\n\nPlenty of religions are loaded with crazy when you scratch the surface. You don't even have to scratch very hard.\n\nSo why do these older, more mainstream religions seem less crazy?\n\nA lot of it, I think, is popularity. If lots of people believe something, we're more likely to give it credibility. This is a bias that all human brains are vulnerable to, and it's largely unconscious. (Although many religious believers will make this argument consciously and overtly. Spend enough time in the atheist blogosphere, and I guarantee you'll see it pop up: \"How can you dismiss something that so many people believe in?\") We're social animals, and we're wired to think that if everyone else thinks something, it's probably true. Or at the very least, that it's not batshit insane on the face of it, and we ought to give it serious consideration.\n\n\n\nFrom a strictly evolutionary standpoint, this bias makes sense. Other people can, in fact, be a useful reality check: if everyone in your tribe is screaming \"Tiger!\" and you don't see one, it still makes sense to run. But it's a confounding bias to contend with when you're rigorously examining a truth claim. It makes it hard to voice unpopular perceptions... and indeed even to conceive of them. It's very, very difficult to be the first person to say out loud, \"The Emperor has no clothes.\" It's even more difficult to say it to ourselves.\n\n\n\nThen adding to this de-crazification phenomenon, we have the power of time. In the earlier days of a religion, the battier elements are much more prominent. But with time, if a religion flourishes and becomes more mainstream, the rough edges get smoothed off. \"Our Savior is returning within a generation\" turns into \"Our Savior is returning one of these days.\" \"You have to wear a ginormous hat all the time\" turns into \"It'd be nice if you wore a little hat in the temple.\" \"God created the entire universe out of nothing in six days\" turns into \"God created matter and energy and the laws of physics and let them unfold into life as we know it, and when we say 'day' we don't mean a literal 'day,' and it's absurd and unfair for you to think that we do.\" The battier elements get abandoned entirely, or get hidden out of sight, or get shoved to the back burner as trivial and peripheral, or start being seen as metaphorical instead of literal. (45% of all U.S. Catholics don't even know that, according to the doctrine of their own Catholic Church, the magic cracker literally becomes the body of their god when they eat it. They think it's symbolic. They apparently weren't paying attention in catechism class.)\n\nThe fascinating thing about Mormonism is that we can see this process happening in real time. As a religion founded within the last two centuries, during a time of good historical record-keeping, Mormonism is an intriguing case study of how a religion transforms from a despised fringe cult to a popular branch of mainstream modern faith. And part of that picture is the ways that the fringier elements have either been abandoned wholesale or kept out of the public eye. .. and indeed kept out of the eyes of its own adherents until they've already bought in. (Mormonism even has a \"milk before meat\" concept: teach the easy, non-controversial stuff about Mormonism first, and wait to teach the batty stuff until adherents are too deeply invested to leave.) The degree to which Mormonism has become mainstream is the degree to which the less digestible nuts have been eliminated from the fruitcake.\n\nBut most of this phenomenon, I think, is simple familiarity.\n\n\n\nI didn't learn about magic Mormon underwear until I was an adult. So when I did, the battiness of the belief smacked me in the face. I was like, \"Really? Magic underwear? Really?\" And the same was true for the magic hat, and the secret handshakes, and the Garden of Eden being in Missouri, and so on and so on. Every time I learn something new about Mormonism and Mormon history, it's... well, it's new. And I can see its craziness with fresh eyes.\n\n\n\nBut I've known about magic crackers and talking snakes since I was very young. So they just seemed normal. Part of the cultural landscape. I didn't believe in them -- but for years, I didn't think about them very hard. And again, because these beliefs were widely held, when I did think about them I gave them more credit than they actually deserved.\n\nSo is it fair to think that Mormonism -- or Jehovah's Witnesses, or Scientology, or any other relatively new religion -- is really any crazier than more mainstream religions? Is it fair to think that it's crazier than the mainstream varieties of Catholicism or Baptism, Hinduism or Buddhism, Judaism or Islam?\n\nI spent my day at Temple Square going back and forth on this question. One minute, I'd be thinking, \"Well, okay, this is pretty nuts... but it's not really any crazier than magic crackers and magic snakes.\" The next minute, I'd be confronted with some new form of wacko, and I'd be thinking, \"No, this really is crazier.\"\n\nSo which is it?\n\nI think the answer depends on what exactly we mean by \"crazy.\"\n\nCrazy Is as Crazy Does\n\nLike I said earlier, when I say \"crazy\" here, I don't mean \"mentally ill.\" I mean... well, what, exactly?\n\n\n\nIf by \"crazy\" we mean \"out of step with cultural norms\"... then yes, Mormonism really is crazier. Pretty much by definition. To some extent, battiness and reasonableness are defined by social norms. In the Victorian era, it was considered entirely normal for women to wear tightly-laced corsets, all day, every day of their adult lives, to the point where their physical functioning was seriously impaired and their internal organs were deformed. In modern society, doing this would generally be considered pretty damn freaky. Instead, many women in modern society wear high-heeled shoes that impair their functioning and deform their feet, all day, every day of their adult lives... and this is considered standard, non-crazy behavior. So yes, by this definition, the more mainstream a religion is, the less crazy it is. And so yes, by this definition, Mormonism is crazier than, say, Catholicism.\n\nBut if what you mean by \"crazy\" is \"out of touch with reality\"?\n\nThen it's all equally crazy.\n\n\n\nAny belief in a supernatural world that affects the natural one is equally implausible, equally the product of cognitive biases, equally unsupported by any good evidence. Some religions contradict reality quite blatantly, flatly stating that well-established historical and scientific facts aren't true. (Young-earth Creationism does this with basic facts of evolution; Mormonism does it with basic facts of human history.) Other religions do a better job of presenting a plausible face and shoehorning their beliefs around reality. (The standard progressive Christian belief in theistic evolution is Exhibit A. Theistic evolution is entirely inconsistent with even the most basic facts of evolution, but these believers can still convincingly tell themselves and others, \"No, no, we think science is great, of course we accept evolution, we're not out of touch with reality.\")\n\nBut all religions are out of touch with reality. All religions are implausible, based on cognitive biases, and unsupported by any good evidence whatsoever. All of them ultimately rely on faith -- i.e., an irrational attachment to a pre-existing idea regardless of any evidence that contradicts it -- as the core foundation of their belief. All of them contort, ignore, or deny reality in order to maintain their attachment to their faith.\n\nAnd by that definition, all religions are equally crazy.\n\nSome just hide their craziness better than others.\n\n*\n\nNote: I have read the comments criticizing my colloquial use of the word \"crazy\" in this piece, and am seriously considering them. I'm not sure I agree with them, and I'm a bit puzzled at the automatic assumption that I don't have any experience myself with mental illness. (That's not, in fact, the case. I've struggled with depression off and on for most of my adult life, and while I don't currently consider myself as someone with mental illness, I am someone with a history of mental illness, and I have to carefully manage my life so as to minimize a chance of a recurrence.) But I have heard the criticisms, and I am taking them seriously. I've decided to go ahead and reprint this piece as originally written, with the original language, since I think it's important that the stuff I write for AlterNet be archived here in more or less its original form. (Especially since the comment threads on AlterNet are so -- how shall I put this? -- challenging, and re-posting them here gives my readers a chance to discuss my pieces in a more welcoming forum.) But the message has been received, and I'll be re-thinking this language in the future."}
-{"text": "You can father a child, but being a dad takes a different kind of courage. There is nothing like a dad's love, and that's something that Trajuan Briggs wanted to share with his friends and followers. The 26-year-old academic advisor is a father to an adorable little toddler, Isiah.\n\nFathers we should start a thread of pics showing how our kids sleep on us. I'll start \ud83d\ude02 pic.twitter.com/XFiNU5kGZS \u2014 A Pot of Gumbo \ud83c\udf5b (@Qool_Runnings) April 10, 2019\n\nBriggs, who goes by 'A Pot Of Gumbo' on Twitter, shared an adorable picture of his little tyke sprawled over his shoulders, fast asleep. \"Fathers, we should start a thread of pics showing how our kids sleep on us,\" he wrote. Little did he know that his sweet picture with Isiah would spark a trend that's got us melting in our seats.\n\nExcited dads were eager to join in the thread because many of them faced a similar naptime ritual. They shared images of their own kids napping peacefully in the oddest places, and in the weirdest positions.\n\n7 yrs and counting. pic.twitter.com/wLwSEtRVTL \u2014 Tiddyknuckles von Bumberhooten (@gotdamnmonster) April 11, 2019\n\nThe dads shared thoughts on fatherhood too. Briggs's post was retweeted 22.3k times and gained over 80k likes. But it wasn't just dads that were sharing pictures of their little tykes passed out on them.\n\nMy brothers and their princesses\u2019 \ud83d\ude2d\ud83e\udd70 pic.twitter.com/LPZhsGeMG6 \u2014 Leave Me Alone \ud83e\udd17 (@ooh_alise) April 11, 2019\n\nBrothers, uncles and even godfathers joined in on the positivity, adding to the trending thread. \"This thread is LIFE\ud83d\ude0d\ud83d\ude0d\ud83d\ude0d,\" wrote one user. \"Absolutely beautiful,\" admitted another. People were praising the pictures for their positive representation of fatherhood.\n\nMy nephew, but man was dude fighting sleep so hard \ud83e\udd23 pic.twitter.com/SlZmRn8XBC \u2014 Kujo (@BREEZO47) April 11, 2019\n\nThis is exactly the kind of positivity that the world needs. Kudos to these dads and their amazing love!"}
-{"text": "O'Dowd claims that big-name pitchers \"consistently struggled\" when facing batters a third time at Coors Field. Is he right? I don't think so.\n\n\n\nFirst, a little background. In his radio interview last Wednesday with Goodman and Hastings, O'Dowd was predictably asked about the Rockies' \u201cpaired pitching system,\u201d and whether Project 5183 would continue into 2013. O'Dowd, in turn, gave his predictable answer, discussing the Rockies' youth, the concerns about altitude and the need to \"think outside the box.\" He also revisited the trope that otherwise-successful pitchers have historically struggled at Coors Field.\n\n\n\nBut, this time, he added a wrinkle to his claim. For the first time that I\u2019ve heard, O\u2019Dowd contended that these elite pitchers \"consistently struggled\" when facing batters for a third time in a game at Coors Field. He said this applies to any pitcher logging more than 50 career innings at Coors, and emphasized he's not talking only about Rockies pitchers, but opponents\u2019 pitchers. Specifically, he named John Smoltz, Curt Schillng, Randy Johnson and Clayton Kershaw.\n\n\n\nThis is an important point, because it's fuel for the drive to adopt an unconventional pitching regime, whether it be a four-man rotation on a strict pitch count, or a five-man on an adaptable pitch count, or some other variation on a theme that, at its heart, says that pitching at Coors Field requires something unorthodox. That's a dubious claim, since the success of Rockies' pitching in 2009 was built on a standard rotation facing batters under the usual circumstances (i.e., a flexible pitch count around 100 pitches, unless the pitcher was struggling and therefore needed to depart sooner, or was excelling and could go longer).\n\n\n\nI've previously taken exception to O'Dowd's claim that elite pitchers struggled when visiting Coors, since they fared worse at other parks (http://bit.ly/UBWl9y). But O'Dowd's claim on Wednesday was more specific, and more disconcerting, than in the past. He's isolating a particular issue (facing batters a third time) and identifying it as a factor for why the elite pitchers haven't had success at Coors. It's also an indication that, despite the removal of the strict 75-pitch count for next season, the front office is considering limiting starting pitchers' exposure to the opposition's hitters for a third time in a game. If Weiss' hook will be quicker once the visitor's 28th batter comes up, that has serious implications for middle relief. The Piggybackers are dead; long live the Piggybackers.\n\n\n\nBut departing from the orthodox is premised, at least in part, upon the purported struggles of elite pitchers the third time through the lineup at Coors. Is O'Dowd right? Baseball Reference has the career splits at Coors, as well as career splits for pitchers facing the opposition's lineup a third time in a game. That\u2019s almost everything we need to test the claim.\n\n\n\nThe one thing BRef doesn\u2019t have already computed (or at least I couldn't find it) is splits on how pitchers have fared specifically at Coors against the Rockies' lineup a third time in the game. But BRef does have game logs, so the information is there. And I went through it, reviewing the performances the third time through the lineup at Coors, collecting the stats, and calculating Opp OPS.\n\n\n\nThe first question is, which pitchers? That was (for me) an easy one to answer: the ones O'Dowd claims \"consistently struggled,\" so Smoltz, Schilling, Johnson and Kershaw. I added a fifth to the roll call, Greg Maddux, because he's been cited repeatedly as having struggled at Coors (e.g., http://usat.ly/UBWrOn ; http://bit.ly/UBWyts)). Maddux\u2019s name is mentioned often enough that, even though O'Dowd didn't cite to him in the interview, I thought it was fair to add him.\n\n\n\nThe second question is, how should we define \"struggle?\" To me, there are two measures of \"struggling\" in this context. One is straightforward: Did the pitcher perform worse his third time through the lineup at Coors Field in a particular season than his overall numbers at Coors for that season? The second is to look at how the pitcher fared overall against the third time through all lineups as compared to their overall Opp OPS, and then to determine whether the pitcher outperformed (or underperformed) against those baseline numbers at Coors Field. A third, related way to evaluate \"struggling\" is to see whether the pitcher's performance the third time through the Rockies' lineup was better or worse than his third time through all lineups in all parks for the season. I think that's ultimately less of a separate test and more of a cross-check.\n\n\n\nThe third question is, what information should be included? I answered this by limiting the analysis to plate appearances by hitters for the third time in the game. I've ignored the fourth (or fifth) time through, and I've ignored games where, for better or worse, the pitcher didn't face batters for a third time. That also means ignoring relief appearances. I did include, however, pinch hitters facing the pitcher for the first time in the lineup's third revolution. While that might weigh against the pitcher (the pinch hitter usually is hitting for the Rockies' pitcher), I take O'Dowd's assertion to be less about hitters seeing a pitcher for a third time, and more about the physical and mental fatigue associated with going through 28+ batters in a game.\n\n\n\nOf course, this ultimately results in a small sample size for most of these pitchers. But \u201cstruggling\u201d when facing batters a third time isn\u2019t my claim. It\u2019s O\u2019Dowd\u2019s. And this small sampling may be motivating big changes to how the starting pitchers are used going forward.\n\n\n\nSo, what do the stats show for how these pitchers performed the third time through the Rockies' lineup as compared to their overall numbers at Coors? Here is the link to Table 1: http://bit.ly/UkLSNj (Twitlonger doesn't support tables, so I've had to link them separately.)\n\n\n\nLooking at how these pitchers performed league-wide against the oppositions' lineups a third time in the seasons where they faced a Rockies\u2019 lineup the third time, did they outperform or underperform at Coors Field? Here's the link to Table 2: http://bit.ly/UkLZbD\n\n\n\nAnd as a cross check of sorts, here are the Opp OPS for these pitchers at Coors Field facing the lineup a third time, compared to their Opp OPS facing the lineups of all opponents a third time for these seasons, linked as Table 3: http://bit.ly/UkM3Iy\n\n\n\nAgain, I don\u2019t think of this third category as particularly helpful as an independent way to evaluate the pitchers\u2019 performances at Coors Field. The issue is whether the pitchers are struggling the third time through the lineup relative to their overall performance against the same lineup, not whether they have more or less success facing batters a third time at Coors Field relative to facing batters a third time in other parks.\n\n\n\nNow that we have the numbers, do they support O'Dowd's claim that these pitchers consistently struggled through the third time of the lineup at Coors Field?\n\n\n\nJohn Smoltz Did Not Consistently Struggle. There couldn't be much worse of an example to support O'Dowd's claim than Smoltz. In the five seasons in which he faced the Rockies' lineup a third time, he did better the third time through in four of those seasons, or 80 percent. Not only are these good numbers standing on their own, but they're generally better than Smoltz usually did against the third time through the order. In these same seasons, Smoltz only did better overall against lineups a third time through in two of the five seasons (40%). Smoltz may be generally sympathetic to the Rockies' pitching woes (see http://bit.ly/UBWHwQ), but he didn't struggle in the way O'Dowd claims.\n\n\n\nCurt Schilling Did Not Consistently Struggle. Just from eyeing the game logs, Curt Schilling didn\u2019t always have great outings at Coors Field. His overall numbers bear that out. But Schilling didn't consistently struggle against Rockies hitters when facing them for the third time, either. In fact, he performed better in four seasons out of nine (44%). In these same seasons, Schilling pitched better the third time through in only three of nine years (33%). He therefore outperformed at Coors Field, pitching better when facing batters a third time at Coors than he did league-wide. Schilling didn't have his best days at Coors Field, but he didn't consistently struggle when facing the lineup for the third time.\n\n\n\nRandy Johnson Did Not Consistently Struggle. Looking just at his Coors Field numbers, there's no question that Randy Johnson generally didn't pitch well against the lineup the third time through, beating his overall numbers in only three out of eight seasons (37.5%). But when compared with his league-wide numbers, Johnson was better against the Rockies' lineup than he was against other clubs\u2019 lineups the third time. In the applicable seasons, Johnson was better against the third time through all lineups in all parks in only one out of these eight years. So, at least in the seasons in which he faced the Rockies, Johnson wasn't as good against anyone's lineup the third time through. Johnson outperformed these numbers at Coors Field, pitching better the third time through against the Rockies in 37.5% of the seasons (as compared to only 12.5% of these seasons league-wide). Ultimately, Johnson did not consistently struggle at Coors Field, particularly as compared to his league-wide numbers for these seasons.\n\n\n\nKershaw May Not Consistently Struggle, But He's Been Comparatively Worse The Third Time Through At Coors Field. Kershaw's numbers essentially are a mirror image of Randy Johnson's. He doesn't consistently struggle at Coors per se the third time through the Rockies lineup: he was better the third time through in two out of five seasons (40%). Not terrific, but not \"consistently struggling.\" But when compared to his overall performance against lineups the third time through, Kershaw has significantly underperformed at Coors Field. He is typically a better pitcher the third time though the lineup, having bested his overall Opp OPS in three out five seasons (60%). He's only done that in two seasons at Coors Field. In my mind, then, Kershaw has struggled at Coors Field, since he's not been as good a pitcher the third time through the Rockies' lineup than he has been against other teams in other parks. Moreover, using the cross-check laid out above, Kershaw\u2019s Opp OPS the third time through at Coors has been substantially worse than his raw Opp OPS the third time through the lineup (specifically, worse in four out of five seasons). Viewed in this light, I think it's fair to say that Kershaw has consistently struggled at Coors Field the third time through the lineup.\n\n\n\nGreg Maddux Consistently Struggled. Although unmentioned by O'Dowd, it's worth reviewing Maddux's numbers since he's often cited as an elite pitcher who had difficulty succeeding at Coors Field. Again, I think that's overblown, but he's still worth reviewing. And the numbers indicate that he consistently struggled the third time through the Rockies' lineup at Coors Field. In nine seasons where he faced Rockies hitters three times, he only achieved a better OPS Against relative to his season's Coors Field Opp OPS in two seasons (22%). This is not only struggling in its own right, but it's struggling as compared to Maddux's overall numbers against lineups a third time through. Against all teams in all parks, he performed better when facing batters a third time in a game in four out of the nine relevant years (44%)\u2014so significantly better than he performed at Coors Field. While unmentioned by O'Dowd in his interview, Maddux is a good example of a pitcher who consistently struggled the third time through the lineup at Coors Field.\n\n\n\n***\n\n\n\nSo where does that leave us, in terms of elite pitchers who \"consistently struggled\" at Coors Field? Of the five pitchers evaluated, one consistently struggled (Maddux), one has struggled only in comparison to his overall numbers (Kershaw), one didn't consistently struggle as compared to his overall numbers (Johnson), and two didn't consistently struggle at all (Smoltz and Schilling).\n\n\n\nThe good news is that one of the two struggling pitchers is the only one on the list who's still active (and pitching for a division rival, to boot). That offers some encouragement the next time Kershaw takes the mound at Coors Field. The bad news is that there's little to support O'Dowd's claim that the elite pitchers he named consistently struggled when facing batters a third time at Coors Field. In fact, I'd say he's wrong.\n\nReply \u00b7 Report Post"}
-{"text": "Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Wattie\n\nOTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada\u2019s ruling Liberals won a special election in British Columbia on Monday, picking up a parliamentary seat in a province where insiders had feared the party could lose support in a 2019 federal election.\n\nProvisional results showed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s Liberals won the constituency of South Surrey\u2014White Rock with around 47 percent of the vote, knocking the official opposition Conservatives into second place, with 42 percent.\n\nThe Conservatives had held the seat before the incumbent legislator retired this year.\n\nThe result shows strength for the Liberals in British Columbia, where party officials have for some time privately predicted some losses in 2019, in part due to a contentious decision in late 2016 to approve the expansion of a crude oil pipeline to the Pacific coast.\n\nOfficials also cite an alleged conflict-of-interest problem involving Finance Minister Bill Morneau.\n\nNational polls show that Trudeau - who took office in November 2015 - still enjoys a lead over the Conservatives and would retain power if an election were held now.\n\nIt was the second time in six weeks that the Liberals had won a seat from the Conservatives in a special election. In late October, they took the Quebec parliamentary constituency of Lac-St-Jean.\n\nThree other special elections on Monday went as expected, with the Liberals retaining safe seats in Ontario and Newfoundland while the Conservatives easily kept hold of a seat in Saskatchewan."}
-{"text": "on \u2022\n\nBased on lots of requests for English translation, Shri Karthik Sundaram (skarthik999@gmail.com) had done a fantastic translation work.\n\nSri Rudra worship ranks amongst the foremost modes of worship practiced in Hinduism since ancient times. Lord Siva is referred to as \u201cSri Rudra\u201d in Vedas, Mahabharata, Ramayana and itihasas. He is also addressed as \u201cMaha Rudra\u201d as he is the head of the Rudra\u2019s army (Rudra Sena). Even though \u201cRudra\u201d refers to Siva paramatma, it is also to be understood that this term is also used to refer to many individuals and groups.\n\nIn Saiva agamas and traditions, the five great Gods \u2013 Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra, Maheswara and Sadasiva evolved from the Parasiva. These five Gods respectively perform the duties of creation, preservation, destruction, blessing and hiding as elucidated in the Saiva Siddanta texts. Moreover, it is understood from Saiva tantras that this universe originated from \u201cKalagni Rudra\u201d and in the end attains its dissolution in Him.\n\nIs He One..? Eleven..? Many..?\n\nIt is mentioned in the Sivapuranas that Lord Siva created the Rudras from Brahma\u2019s forehead to help Brahma in his Creation duties. These eleven rudras are referred to as \u201cEkadasa Rudras\u201d. They have been potrayed as Mahasakthi\u2019s Guardian deities in the Sakta tantra texts. In this manner, descriptions of countless Rudras as the sentries of Sri Lalitha Tripurasundari\u2019s \u201cSri Chintamani graha\u201d can be found.\n\nThe portion of the Vedas that praise Rudras is known as ShataRudreeyam. In addition, it is understood that even humans can become part of the Rudra ganas through their power of penance. Since many groups were prevalent amongst them, they were also called as \u201cRudrapalganatthar\u201d (\u201cRudras of many groups\u201d).\n\nIs Rudra a Tamil word Or a Sanskrit word? \u2013 This by itself is a topic of heavy research.\n\nIn Tamil, \u201cRu\u201d means \u201cHigher\u201d and \u201cdiram\u201d means \u201cpath\u201d. Hence \u201cRudra\u201d means \u201cone who tries to walk the high path\u201d. It was believed that for such practitioners, their third eye of wisdom would open. This third eye was referred to as \u201cRudra\u2019s eye\u201d (Rudrakkan)\u201d. Such men came to be known \u201cOne with Rudra\u2019s eyes\u201d (\u201cRudrakkannar\u201d). It is believed that there once existed a land called \u201cLemuria\u201d, inhabited by Tamils and later consumed by the sea. Few researchers opine that many of the Tamils that lived here possessed the third eye and these were the \u201cRudras\u201d. \u201cRudra\u201d in Sanskrit means \u201cone who makes you cry\u201d. To the question \u201cWho is made to cry?\u201d they respond with \u201cBad ones\u201d. In addition, they also refer to Rudra as the one who drives out sorrow. This meaning can be found in a couplet from the \u201cKandapurana\u201d.\n\nEleven Rudras\n\nOnce upon a time Brahma became incapable of performing the Creation activity. When He fell down dead from exhaustion, his body split and arose in eleven forms through the grace of Lord Rudra. These eleven forms are the \u201cEkadasa Rudras\u201d as per Mathysa Purana.\n\nThis story is found in other texts with some variations. On Brahma\u2019s request, Siva created the eleven Rudras from Brahma\u2019s forehead. On seeing them, Brahma fainted and these Rudras took up the Creation activity thereafter. Each Rudra created One Crore similar Rudras. After Brahma woke up from this stupor, he sighted Eleven Crore Rudras, became angry and cried and petitioned Siva.\n\nHence, Lord Siva ordered the Rudras to stop the Creation activity. He created a separate world for the Rudras and asked them to go and live there. The Linga that the Rudras worshipped is known as \u201cRudrakoteeswara\u201d.\n\nIt is mentioned that these Rudras reside even beyond their world in Soldiers that fight, their Weapons of war and in their Anger.\n\nThese Rudras are not worshipped in the Idol form. Though they are typically worshipped in the form of Eleven Lingas, in the Kanchi Kailasanathar temple, idols of Ekadasa Rudras can be found.\n\nThe names of these Eleven Rudras are Mahadeva, Hara, Rudra, Sankara, Neelalohita, Esana, Vijaya, Bhimadeva, Bhavodbhava, Kapali and Sowmya.\n\nIt is also understood that in their Lingas the following weapons would be engraved respectively \u2013 \u201cThomaram\u201d(??), \u201cKodi\u201d(Flag), \u201cVal\u201d(sword), \u201cVajram\u201d(Thunderbolt), \u201cAmbu\u201d(Arrow), \u201cAnkusa\u201d(??), \u201cMani\u201d(Bell), \u201cTamarai\u201d(Lotus), \u201cThandu\u201d( Stem), \u201cVil\u201d(Bow) and \u201cMazhu\u201d(??)\n\nIn the Srimad Bhagavatha too, the history of Rudras is mentioned slightly differently. Their names are Aja, Ekapada, Agniputra, Virupaksha, Raivata, Hara, Padarupa, Tryambaka, Asuresa, Savitra and Sayanta.\n\nThirunavukkarasa has sung in praise of Kanchi Ekambara where he refers to Ekadasa Rudras worshipping the Lord Ekambara.\n\n\u201cShatam\u201d means Hundred. In this way, for the eight directions, Heaven and Underworld there are ten Rudras for each direction and these Hundred Rudras are known as \u201cShata Rudras\u201d. The names of these 100 Rudras are also mentioned in many texts. The Vedas too extol them. They are mentioned as capable of flying over the Sea and Sky, bear the \u201cDeer\u201d and \u201cMazhu (??)\u201d, and are similar to Siva in appearance.\n\nWhen the Vedas refer to Indra and other devas, the \u201cNama:\u201d is mentioned after their names. However, the same Vedas mention the \u201cNama:\u201d before Rudra respectfully. The Vaidika Saivities firmly believe that these Vedic portions refer only to the Maha Rudra shining as the Parama Siva.\n\nLord Siva granted the Pasupathastra to Arjuna. The great weapon that He gave Shanmukha is known as \u201cRudra Pasupathastram\u201d as mentioned in the Kandapuranam.\n\nSri Rudram and Sri Rudra Japa\n\nTrayee Vidya refers to Rig, Yajur and Sama Vedas and Yajur Veda is the central portion. This is branched into Shukla and Krishna Yajur vedas. In the Krishna Yajur Veda, there are Seven Cantos(parts) in the Taittireeya samhita of which Sri Rudram is the Fifth \u201cPrasna\u201d (chapter) of the Fourth canto.\n\nThere are Eleven \u201cAnuvakas\u201d (Paragraphs) in Sri Rudram. This is referred to variedly as Sri Rudram, Maha Rudram, Shata Rudreeyam and Namakam. It is a wonder of wonders that Siva Nama is embedded in the center of the Sri Rudram.\n\nChanting Sri Rudram standing in water is supposed to bring in the rains. This is used without fail during Siva linga Abhisheka and Siva Puja.\n\nMany have translated Sri Rudram into Tamil and tried to give it a poetic form in Tamil. Sri Rudram is considered as a main authoritative text for Saivites.\n\nThirunavukkarasa Nayanar\u2019s \u201cThirutthandagam\u201d is praised as the Tamil version of Sri Rudram.\n\nWith respect to Sri Rudra chanting, Sri Ekadasarudreeyam, Rudra ekadasi, Maharudram and Atirudram are the group worship modes practiced amongst the vaidik Saivites.\n\nNowadays, in temples like Chidambaram, Ekadarudra homa has become very popular. As a result of these, immediate grace of Lord Siva is said to be obtained. In the Periapurana, \u201cRudra pasupathy Nayanar\u201d is counted amongst the 63 Nayanars. He is one who chanted the Sri Rudram. He is not referred to as having performed any other type of worship or service to Siva Bhaktas. Hence, to highlight the benefits of chanting Sri Rudram alone, his history is said to be included in the Periapurana.\n\nRudraveena, Rudraprayag, Rudraparvat, RudraRishi Durvasa, Chaturdasi Rudravrata, Rudrapatta, Rudragni, Rudradeepa are to be thought of as related to Sri Rudra.\n\nRudra Worship\n\nTo have temples for Ruda Murti is very rare. RudraMaanikkuli BhimaRudra temple is one such popular temple. Near Kadalur, in ThiruMaanikkuli, there is the temple of \u201cAmbujakshi\u201d sameta \u201cVamanapureeswara\u201d.\n\nHere, in front of the Sanctum, on a Blue cloth curtain, the form of Bhimasankar is woven with Red threads. This form is done with great workmanship and is seen with Flames of fire (\u201cAgnijwala\u201d) and eight hands. All the pujas performed during the four times of the day are only for this deity etched in the curtain. Post the puja, only the Camphor Deeparadhana is performed for the Shivalinga in the Sanctum. The background behind this unique practice is found in the many sthala purana stories associated with this temple.\n\nSimilarly, in the Naganathaswamy temple in Kumbakonam, pujas are performed for the Pralayakaala Rudra.\n\nIn Thiruvenkadu, there is a beautiful huge form of Aghora Rudra.\n\nIn Thiruvannamalai, there is a sannidhi for KalagniRudra. But this murti is worshipped as Bhairava.\n\nOn similar lines, figures of the Ashta Rudras \u2013 Bhava, Sarva, Esana, Pasupathy, Rudra, Ugra, Bhima, and Mahadeva have been identified by researchers on the temple perimeter walls in Thirukadayur. But the names of the Ashta vasus have been framed over the above in what could be a case of mistaken identity.\n\nIt is said that Lord Siva performs the Rudratandavam (Rudra dance) in the \u201cMayanam\u201d (Tamil: burial ground).\n\nHere \u201cMaya\u201d means \u201cCreation\u201d and \u201cAyanam\u201d means \u201cfollowing the way\u201d. Some seniors opine that it is wrong to say that the word \u201cMayanam\u201d is derived from the Sanksrit \u201cSmasanam\u201d(Sanskrit: burial ground). Hence, it is understood that the Rudra worshippers and Pasupathas called their way as \u201cMaayaanam\u201d.\n\nThe five Mayanams of Kacchhi Mayanam, Thirukadavoor Mayanam, Veezhi Mayanam, Kaazhi Mayanam and Naaloor Mayanam are shown to be of significance to Siva worshippers.\n\nThough, at present there is no evidence of Rudra worshop in Eelam(Ceylon), in places like Naguleswaram, Munneswaram, Thirukketheeswaram there are Rudra Mayanams nearby and temple tanks in the vicinity. These highlight the possibility of Rudra worship having been performed in such places.\n\nIn a place called Avarankaal in Yaazhpanam, very close to the burial ground, the presence of a big Siva temple with Rajagopuras facing the burial ground links it to Rudra worship. It could also be inferred that in later times, this Siva worship merged with Bhairava worship.\n\nTo conclude, particulars of Rudra worship are scarce. There are many opinions and researches to identify and differentiate Rudra worship with Siva worship. Hence research on Rudra and Sri Rudram should intensify. Past researches should be popularized. By this, Tamil Saivite scholars should create more clarity on Rudra.\n\nShare this: Facebook\n\nEmail\n\nPinterest\n\nTwitter\n\nTumblr\n\nLike this: Like Loading...\n\nCategories: Announcements"}
-{"text": "Arsenal are checking on Belgian goalkeeper Guillaume Hubert and have sent scouts to watch the 22-year-old in action.\n\nRepresentatives from the north London club were in Belgium at the weekend as he played for Standard Liege in their 2-2 draw with Gent.\n\nIt was the sixth time this season Arsenal had a representative at one of Standard's games with Hubert tipped to make a step up in level.\n\nStandard Liege goalkeeper Guillaume Hubert was watched by Arsenal scouts on Sunday\n\nHubert has been watched six times by the Gunners and could be a replacement for Petr Cech\n\nHubert is 6ft 6in, has been capped at Under-21 level and is pushing for a call-up to Roberto Martinez's national side.\n\nHe had trials with Stoke as a junior while Liverpool, Swansea and Leicester City have all monitored his performances over the past 18 months.\n\nArsenal are the latest to consider whether he is worth a transfer gamble with Arsene Wenger planning ahead with Petr Cech now 34 and David Ospina considering a move away.\n\nThe Gunners do also have to consider the future of Wojciech Szczesny, who is still on their books despite having spent the last two seasons on loan at Roma.\n\nCech is now 34 and Arsenal are eyeing up a permanent replacement for their No 1 goalkeeper"}
-{"text": "George Frey/Getty Images North America/AFP | Emissions rise out of two large smoke stacks at Pacificorp's 1000-megawatt coal-fired power plant on October 9 outside Huntington, Utah.\n\nThe concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has hit a new high, the UN said Monday, warning that drastic action is needed to achieve targets set by the Paris climate agreement.\n\nAdvertising Read more\n\n\"Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surged at a record-breaking speed in 2016,\" the World Meteorological Organisation said.\n\n\"Globally averaged concentrations of CO2 reached 403.3 parts per million in 2016, up from 400.00 ppm in 2015 because of a combination of human activities and a strong El Nino event,\" it said.\n\nThe Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, the UN weather agency's annual flagship report, tracks the continent of dangerous gasses in atmosphere in the post-industrial era (since 1750).\n\nThe report also said that the last time Earth experienced similar CO2 concentration rates was three to five million years ago, when the sea level was up to 20 metres (66 feet) higher than now.\n\n\"Without rapid cuts in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, we will be heading for dangerous temperature increases by the end of this century, well above the target set by the Paris climate change agreement,\" WMO chief Petteri Taalas said in a statement.\n\n>> The cost of climate change: Hurricanes Harvey and Irma highlight risks\n\nThe historic agreement approved by 196 countries two years ago is facing renewed pressure following US President Donald Trump's decision to quit the accord.\n\nBut nations are set to press on with the task of implementing it at climate talks in Bonn next week.\n\n\"The numbers don't lie. We are still emitting far too much and this needs to be reversed,\" the head of UN Environment Erik Solheim said in a statement, reacting to the new report.\n\n\"What we need now is global political will and a new sense of urgency.\"\n\nThe Greenhouse Gas Bulletin tracks concentrations of gasses in the atmosphere, rather than emissions with data compiled from a monitoring station in Mauna Loa, Hawaii.\n\n(AFP)\n\nDaily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning Subscribe"}
-{"text": "Tally ERP 9.6.6 Crack + Activation Key (Torrent) 2020 Full Download\n\nTally ERP 9 Crack is the perfect GST and business the executive\u2019s instrument for little and best dimension business. It has impeccable capacities and takes finish control of capacities, so it is the best business sidekick for you. This ground-breaking programming has diverse functionalities in business, for example, stock, Accounting and back, deals and buy, finance, work costing, fabricating, and numerous others. This is a product that is fit for your business accompanies the abilities of TDS, TCS, GST, Excise, and VAT instruments.\n\nTally ERP 9Price programming deals with all business complexities since it has a fitness plan planned. When you confront numerous complexities in multi-day, it adjusts and handles everything thinking with greater adaptability. With this product you can do consequently you\u2019re estimating process because of its previously clarified groupings. It\u2019s extremely straightforward just make and print the bill.\n\nTally ERP Full Version Zip blunder discovery and rectification office make it all the more incredible, so the client can encounter its abilities that are basic, quick, dependable, careful and so forth. Tally.ERP programming gives the office in diagrams of records setting; additionally, it permits gathering your record accounts and the ideal time. The client can make more records according to client prerequisites.\n\nTally ERP Crack + Windows 10 & Latest Data Converter 2020 Download\n\nTally ERP Tutorial encourages you to see information, accordingly, these perspectives assist you with analyzing information. Dynamic intrigue estimation and characterize it for your clients so they can without much of a stretch view your solicitations. At long last, you can state, Tally is the best and driving business the board and GST programming that makes you empower business at the world dimension.\n\nMoreover, Tally ERP 9 Crack can convert many files at a time. Many users remain always worried about that their lot of time waste during doing jobs. But I am sure that by using this tool you can save you a lot of time. Moreover, it is a basic application of our PC without it we cannot make our work more effective and sufficient. Tally ERP 9 crack patch free download a tool that also gives information about the files which we are editing. I just want to say one thing that it is a program that you use ever. Simple is that tally crack is a complete package for doing a good job.\n\nTally ERP 9 Crack [Activation Code + Feature of Tally] Download\n\nTally ERP Full Form is a very lightweight program but very attractive and amazing. So we can say that easily it is a tool that solves all types of problem-related to editing files just in few seconds. As well as, it contains all types of advance alliance so that is why it is a more famous program all around the world. Furthermore, it is more payable software. But don\u2019t worry you can download it from our site without paying any money. In last, I just want to edit one thing that when you use this application you will be happy and enjoy it.\n\nTally ERP 9 Crack Features:\n\nThe security of the executives:\n\nIt isn\u2019t programming for your GST and business the board yet it likewise has highlights for your saving money exchange and service charges pay from your home. Stock good and bad times status reports can get rapidly it doesn\u2019t make a difference where you are?\n\nBusiness Management:\n\nTally.ERP is the best programming for the arrangement of your objectives for business the board. It gives the total answer for business executives.\n\nBookkeeping Management:\n\nBookkeeping is the essential and imperative component of an effective business. With bookkeeping the executive\u2019s property you are breakthrough and precise with your monetary information; finish your lawful necessities and duty liabilities and numerous different conceivable outcomes.\n\nSpending Control:\n\nIt is productive programming to control your spending whether it is the short or long haul. First arrangement and structure of your association. Characterize various consumptions and toward the end characterized work period.\n\nAssociated Capabilities:\n\nThe present business choices depend on electronic innovations. All clients comprehend the capacity of data trading b/w diverse PC. It makes associated abilities all the more incredible, precise and progressive.\n\nExceptional Manufacturing:\n\nEach industry or business needs one of a kind of work. This product gives the office to all entrepreneurs to make an interesting assembling process. The counting apparatus decreases cost and complexities and track stock.\n\nAssessment Compiling:\n\nAssessment incorporating is imperative for each business. It improves your every progression of expense consistency. Instinctive insight based plan assist you in managing your duties.\n\nHow to Crack?"}
-{"text": "can't find the button to hold the elevator for the person running to it filled with sorrow and regret for the rest of the day\n\n1,896 shares"}
-{"text": "impresses girl by telling her she's beautiful in german tells her it meant \"you have a nice shirt\"\n\n113 shares"}
-{"text": "Valve decided to release an authentication function for Steam called Steam Guard in order to make the service safer. But now, you need that function to be able to sell and trade items on the community market, and there's no Steam app for Windows platforms (Like Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 10 Mobile). I know the user base is way smaller than Android and iOS, but it's no excuse to leave your customers without an option.\n\nPlease Valve, if you don't want the trouble of supporting the platform with a full Steam app (Which would be the ideal option), at least give us a Steam Guard only app, so we don't have to rely on unofficial third-party solutions."}
-{"text": "Pop music star Shakira is under investigation in Spain for possible tax evasion during the three years before she officially moved to Barcelona, Spanish authorities said Tuesday.\n\nShakira switched residences in 2015 from the Bahamas to Barcelona, where she lives with her partner, Barca soccer player Gerard Pique, and the couple\u2019s two sons.\n\nSpanish tax authorities suspect the Colombian singer already lived in the northeast city between 2012 and 2014, when she allegedly failed to pay income taxes in Spain.\n\nProsecutor Jose Miguel Company said the tax authorities referred the probe to the Barcelona prosecutor\u2019s office in December. He said a decision on whether to press charges or not is expected by mid-June.\n\nAnna Forastier, a spokeswoman for auditing firm PwC, said the company has been hired by Shakira for the investigation. Forastier declined to disclose any details.\n\nShakira was named in the \u201cParadise Papers\u201d leaks that detailed the offshore tax arrangements of numerous high-profile individuals, including musical celebrities like Madonna and U2\u2032s Bono.\n\nThe documents obtained by German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and investigated by Spanish news website El Confidencial showed that in 2009 Shakira had relocated her intellectual property rights and brands to a company based in Malta, the tiny European Union nation that has faced allegations of being a tax heaven.\n\nShakira and Pique\u2019s relationship dates back to 2011, when Shakira started frequenting Barcelona. El Confidencial, citing papers it obtained from offshore services providers, reported that she listed the Bahamas as her official residence until 2015.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s public knowledge that this is not the case,\u201d Company told The Associated Press.\n\nIf the probe finds wrongdoing, Shakira would engross a list of celebrities that have been in trouble with Spanish tax authorities, including footballers Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.\n\nIn November, Shakira cancelled the first concerts to promote her 11th album, \u201cEl Dorado,\u201d for what she said were medical reasons. The tour is scheduled to begin in June in Germany and then stop in nine more European countries before moving to the United States."}
-{"text": "3D Realms and Voidpoint really screwed the pooch with Ion Fury. All they had to do was deliver a retro-made first-person shooter on the Build Engine; slap a price tag on it and sell it. That\u2019s all they had to do. Yet the whole thing turned into a dog and pony crap-show, which resulted in the game getting censored, a moderator censoring the forums and proclaiming he \u201chated gamers!\u201d on social media, followed by reviews getting flagged and banned. Ion Fury basically died in the water before it even made it ashore. Funnily enough, along with the emergence of some cheats for the game, there\u2019s also a neat little mod that features a bottle of soap that best describes the corporate atmosphere at 3D Realms and Voidpoint.\n\nThe mod comes courtesy of phredreeke, who uploaded the mod to Moddb.com.\n\nSo what does the mod do? It adds a Soyp bottle to the game, as depicted in the image below.\n\nYes, it\u2019s a \u201cSoyp\u201d bottle.\n\nFor those of you who don\u2019t know, Voidpoint replaced the \u201cOgay\u201d bottle in the game, which was originally a lampoon on Olay.\n\nVoidpoint removed it after ResetEra launched a hate campaign against the developer. Voidpoint attempted to defend the capitulation by saying that soap wasn\u2019t the \u201chill to die on\u201d.\n\nWe didn\u2019t compromise our artistic integrity. We\u2019re changing a bottle of soap that said \u201cOgay\u201d on it to something less offensive. That\u2019s it. We\u2019re 100% with you on the \u201cfuck censorship\u201d standpoint but a stupid joke about gay soap isn\u2019t the hill to die on. \u2014 Voidpoint\u2019s ION FURY out NOW (@voidpnt) August 20, 2019\n\nSo yeah, they decided to give up the fight for free speech over pixelated soap.\n\nAnyway, a list of cheats were also rolled out for the game over on GameFaqs.\n\nYou can check those out below:\n\nEffect Code Break the Map IMDUMB Feel the Payne IMLIKEMAX Give Everything (Weapons, Ammo, Keys) IMAFK Pause AI IMMOBILE Solve Loneliness IMLONELY Toggle Clipping IMFREE Toggle Debug Data Dump IMREALBUILDER Toggle Flying IMLIFTED Toggle God Mode IMGOD Toggle Show All Map IMLOST Unlocks all weapons and provide unlimited ammo along with invincibility IMD4N\n\nAlternatively, if would prefer using a trainer, there\u2019s one available for download from over on MegaDev.info.\n\nThe trainer features the following cheats for Ion Fury:\n\nInfinite Ammo\n\nInfinite Medkit\n\nInfinite Armor\n\nGodmode\n\nThe god mode makes it so that you\u2019re invincible and can breeze through all the baddies, while the infinite ammo and infinite medkits are useful for those of you who don\u2019t want to go all in on the god mode, but still want to cheese your way to the credits.\n\n\ufeff\n\nThere\u2019s also a premium trainer available over on Cheat Happens.\n\nThe trainer features the following options:\n\nUnlimited Health\n\nUnlimited Armor\n\nUnlimited Ammo\n\nUnlimited Bombs\n\nThe trainer does require a membership before using it, so keep that in mind.\n\nHowever, the whole Soyp mod is still a real treat, even if you don\u2019t own the game. It\u2019s a good reminder that even the indie sector of the gaming industry is converged and lacks balls. But then again, lacking balls just means that Voidpoint is following in the footsteps behind the game\u2019s main protagonist.\n\n(Thanks for the news tip J.F. Crimson)"}
-{"text": "Tribute to Adam West in LA!\n\nHoly Bat-signal, Batman! In a fitting tribute to pop culture icon Adam West, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Police Department Chief Charlie Beck will join surprise Bat-guests for a ceremonial lighting of the Bat-signal at City Hall this Thursday evening, June 15.\n\nThe legendary star of the classic Batman TV series, which aired from 1966-68, passed away on Friday, June 9 at the age of 88. In rememberance of West\u2019s unforgettable portrayal of the celebrated \u201cBright Knight,\u201d Mayor Garcetti and Chief Beck will light the iconic Bat-signal, which will be projected onto the tower of Los Angeles City Hall at Spring Street. Attending Bat-fans are invited to don their Bat-suits and trusty utility belts in honor of West\u2019s signature role as the true crimefighter.\n\nHere are the details of the ceremony:\n\nWhen: Thursday, June 15\n\nTime: 9:00 PM PST\n\nLocation: Los Angeles City Hall, Spring Street Steps: 200 N Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90012\n\nIf fans are not able to join in the tribute Thursday night, the West family encourages Adam\u2019s \u201cold chums\u201d to make a donation to the Adam West Memorial Fund for St. Jude Children\u2019s Research Hospital and Idaho-based charity for children diagnosed with cancer and their families, Camp Rainbow Gold."}
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-{"text": "With her husband's newest scandal, the devout young mother of four has been thrust into the spotlight.\n\nAll About Josh Duggar's Wife Anna: Her Parents Are Even 'More Extreme' Than the Duggars, Says Source\n\nAnna Duggar\u2019s siblings beg her to leave husband Josh after his shocking double life is revealed. Subscribe now for more on the cheating scandal and the Duggars\u2019 ultra-conservative lifestyle, only in PEOPLE!\n\nIt\u2019s been a hellish week for Anna Duggar.\n\nGet push notifications with news, features and more.\n\nFor this week\u2019s cover story, a source close to Anna gave PEOPLE exclusive insight into what Josh\u2019s embattled wife is really like.\n\nGrowing up as one of eight children to parents Mike and Suzette Keller, Anna had a strict, religious childhood similar to that of the Duggars. \u201cHer parents are even a little more extreme,\u201d the source told PEOPLE of the Kellers.\n\n\u201cAnna and her siblings were always taught that if you follow these 10 steps or whatever, God would bless you.\u201d\n\nWhen Anna, now 27, met Josh at a Christian homeschooling convention back in 2006 when she was a teen, she wasn\u2019t allowed to gush about him to her siblings. \u201cThat\u2019s not something that\u2019s shared amongst siblings,\u201d says the source. \u201cThey always got 15-minute, one-on-one sessions with their mom every week. That was the time to share their feelings, but other than that they had to keep their feelings to themselves.\u201d\n\nAnna was particularly close to her youngest sister Susanna. \u201cGrowing up, they were attached at the hip,\u201d says the source. \u201cThey did everything together.\u201d\n\nRELATED VIDEO: Josh Duggar Admits To Being \u2018Unfaithful\u2019 To His Wife\n\nDespite her rigid upbringing, Anna still had spunk. Says the source, \u201cShe\u2019s really fun. She was always the bossy sister, but in a fun way. If she and her siblings were playing a game, she would make sure they were doing it exactly by the rules. They always had a good time together.\u201d\n\nNow, a source close to Josh\u2019s family says Anna is isolated and has changed drastically. \u201cEver since she met [the Duggars] she has acted more like Michelle,\u201d says the other source. \u201cShe talks like her, real soft. She, like, whispers.\u201d\n\nWhile some of her siblings have been outspoken about wanting her to leave Josh, the source close to Anna says that thanks to the brand of patriarchal Christianity that her in-laws and parents prescribe to, divorce is highly unlikely.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think her parents ever thought they would ever come to a situation like this,\u201d says the source, revealing that Anna\u2019s sister Rebecca is going through her own divorce right now. \u201cThey just don\u2019t know what to do,\u201d the source says of Anna\u2019s parents. \u201cThey always taught their kids that divorce was never an option. They never even thought about cheating. But that\u2019s not how life works.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Naming his latest discovery after Obama was a 'small way' of honoring him\n\nPlatt retired right after naming the worm, ending his career on a high note\n\n'It's long. It's thin. And it's cool as hell,' Platt said of the new-found parasite\n\nAn Indiana scientist has further etched Barack Obama's name in posterity - this time in biology books rather than history.\n\nThomas Platt, a newly retired biology professor at Saint Mary's College in Indiana, discovered a parasite and earned the right to name it.\n\nHe chose Baracktrema obamai, which now designates a tiny parasitic flatworm that lives in turtles' blood.\n\nA new study officially names the two-inch, hair-thin creature after Obama.\n\nPlatt who ended his career in a bang by discovering and naming the flatworm, says the name is an honor, not an insult.\n\nThomas Platt, a newly retired biology professor at Saint Mary's College in Indiana, discovered a parasite and named it after Barack Obama (pictured on Thursday in Laos)\n\nPlatt (left) chose the name Baracktrema obamai for the tiny flatworm (right) that lives in turtles' blood. He said it was a small way to honor the president\n\nHe has discovered and named more than 30 new species in the past.\n\nBut Platt typically named them after people he knew personally - his father-in-law, his doctorate adviser and other people he had 'a great deal of respect for'.\n\nNaming his latest discovery after Obama was a 'small way' of honoring him, Platt, who is a distant relative of the president, said Thursday.\n\nPlatt said Baracktrema obamai reminds him of the president because it's 'long, thin and cool as hell'.\n\nSome people pay thousands of dollars for the privilege of having a species named after them, Platt added.\n\nParasites live in and get nutrients from host animals. Baracktrema obamai 'are phenomenally incredibly resilient organisms' according to Platt.\n\n'I hold them in awe and with phenomenal respect,' Platt said.\n\nThe worm is related, distantly, to a parasite that can cause a devastating disease in humans, but it causes no harm to turtles.\n\nParasites are crucial to life and all around us, according to Rutgers biologist Michael Sukhedo, editor of the Journal of Parasitology, where the study appears.\n\nAbout seven out of 10 animals on Earth are parasites.\n\nNaming a new species - especially in the final paper of a career - 'is a big decision,' Sukhedo said.\n\nObama already has a spider, a fish and even an extinct lizard named after him.\n\nAlthough names are usually bestowed as an honor, Sukhedo admits once or twice parasites have been named as a tool of revenge \u2014 something Platt said isn't the case here.\n\nOne time, Sukhedo said, a biologist named an entire group of parasites after her ex-husband: microphallus."}
-{"text": "I'm not familiar with Sailor Moon, but anything that involves Star and Marco (Starco, actually) will make me squeal internally.\n\nNice drawing, as usual."}
-{"text": "Browse > Home Politics / Imperial Jury Indicts Luke Skywalker; Galactic Empire Cleared | EOTT LLC\n\nImperial Jury Indicts Luke Skywalker; Galactic Empire Cleared\n\nAn imperial grand jury investigating criminal allegations against the Galactic Empire stemming from a series of undercover videos instead indicted two Rebel Alliance activists who shot the footage.\n\nIn a stunning turn of events, the imperial grand jury declined to indict officials from the Empire, and instead handed felony charges against Grand Master of the New Jedi Order Luke Skywalker and fellow Rebel Alliance activist Han Solo. Skywalker was also charged with a misdemeanor count related to having the hots for his sister, which members of his own legal team even admitted was \u201ctotally weird and deserved.\u201d\n\nThe case sprang from a number of undercover videos in which members of the Rebel Alliance posed as Stormtroopers and captured several Empire employees appearing to discuss profiting off of the Jedi purge. However, when the videos were released online last year, the Galactic Empire claimed rebels had edited the videos to \u201ccreated a misperception.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Rebel Alliance uses the same undercover techniques that imperial journalists have used for decades,\u201d Skywalker said in a statement in response to the indictment.\n\nGalactic Empire officials hailed the indictment as vindication of the dark side, saying, \u201cAs the Tatooine dust settles and the truth comes out, it\u2019s become totally clear that the only people who engaged in wrongdoing are those that used the Force to produce this fraud, and we\u2019re glad they\u2019re being held accountable.\u201d\n\nAt press time, seriously, why is that whole Luke being in love with his sister thing even in the movie? You\u2019re telling me that no one, not one single person working on set said anything to George Lucas? Something like, \u201cdude, what the heck is up with that?\u201d"}
-{"text": "Princess Twilight Sparkle has been getting strange looks from the castle guards, Celestia has been avoiding her, and it's all starting to get to her. Something's wrong, but she doesn't know what changed.\n\nKodeake \u00b7 8.9k words \u00b7 211 17 \u00b7 3.7k views 8.9k words211173.7k views"}
-{"text": "Residents of a Toronto Community Housing (TCH) building are raising concerns over their health after a sewage backup on Saturday caused feces and toilet water to flood the hallway.\n\nRaw sewage flooded into the main floor hallway at 145 Neptune Drive, in the Bathurst Street and Highway 401 area, forcing frustrated residents to call 9-1-1 for help dealing with the stinky situation.\n\n\u201cYou can see the toilet paper, pieces of feces. You can see what people have had in the washroom when they flush,\u201d resident Prunett Williams told CityNews on Saturday. \u201cThis week alone we have had this happen at least five times. The smell is unbearable.\u201d\n\nResidents say they\u2019re just not getting the answers they want from TCH about a permanent fix and one woman says these multiple occurrences are putting her health in jeopardy.\n\nJosie Corridor says she goes for dialysis three days a week and when the sewage system backs up her sink floods.\n\n\u201cI cannot take that smell. I have to wear a mask,\u201d she explained. \u201cI spoke to my doctors and they told me I\u2019m not allowed to stay here when that happens.\u201d\n\nCorridor says they deal with these types of issues about once a month and multiple times the sewage backup has ruined her medication and damaged medical equipment to deal with her diabetes.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s all money that\u2019s coming out of my pocket that I have to replace,\u201d she said. \u201cMy medication is not cheap.\u201d\n\nLike other tenants in the building, Corridor has asked TCH for a transfer.\n\n\u201cWe would move people if there was an immediate problem but that\u2019s not what we\u2019re facing now,\u201d TCH spokesperson Sara Goldvine explained. \u201cRight now our focus needs to be on helping people stay in their homes and making sure that it\u2019s clean and safe for them to do so.\u201d\n\nTCH is urging Corridor buy renter\u2019s insurance in case of any further medication damage.\n\n\u201cSomebody has to be held accountable because how long can we put up with this?\u201d said Corridor\n\nOlder pipes are being blamed for the backup issue in the building. Some of the pipes were replaced in August.\n\nTCH says that while the building is a priority, it is still dealing with the backlog of repairs in housing across the city."}
-{"text": "An animated map of nuclear explosions, from 1945-1998, via BoingBoing. (Thanks to my colleague Silvia Killingsworth for pointing it out.) It was made by an artist named Isao Hashimoto, who is from Japan\u2014site of the only two of the two thousand fifty-three explosions recorded here that were acts of war. (Two too many?) It is the sort of set of pictures that makes you want to read\u2014to learn more, for example, about how it came to be that France exploded more than a tenth of those bombs (two hundred and ten); China blew up forty-five. Not that anyone was taking cover in Provence: if you don\u2019t watch the icons above and below the map, you might think that Algeria, and not France, was the world\u2019s fourth nuclear-armed power (and that Australia, not Britain, was the third). The Gerboise Bleue explosion, of a seventy-kiloton device, took place in 1960, in the Sahara desert, in the midst of the Algerian war; several others followed. (Later, after Algeria gained its independence, France\u2019s tests moved to French Polynesia; its last one was in 1996.)\n\n[#image: /photos/590958526552fa0be682d195]\n\nIn case anyone was wondering, the animation deals with tests, not possession, and so neither South Africa nor, more controversially, perhaps, Israel is there. (As it happens, a book published this May, \u201cThe Unspoken Alliance,\u201d by Sasha Polakow-Suransky, takes an interesting look at the secret history of co\u00f6peration between the militaries of those two countries and their nuclear programs.) And, again, it only goes up to 1998.\n\nWatch the video a second time, though, and you might be struck by something else. The explosions speed up for stretches, but then they do slow down. Always useful to remember that the world can get less scary, in some respects, even as it gets scarier in others."}
-{"text": "Media bias has reached new lows in this election cycle with at least one major outlet saying it can\u2019t, in good conscience, cover it fairly. Evidently the public is beginning to notice.\n\nThe anger is reaching a boiling point at Donald Trump rallies, and it\u2019s not just directed at Hillary Clinton and the Democrats. At a recent rally, the hostile crowd had a CNN crew cornered and was chanting \u201cDo your job! Do your job!\u201d\n\nConservatives are noticing the media is out to get them and their candidates. The New York Times admitted as much in an op-ed last week. New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin calls it \u201cthe complete collapse of American journalism as we know it.\u201d\n\nDan Gainor of Media Research Center says it\u2019s actually nothing new.\n\n\u201cJournalism, in many ways, has always been this corrupt and one-sided,\u201d he begins. \u201cIt\u2019s just never been this open about it.\u201d\n\nHe points to the \u201cyellow journalism\u201d of the late 1800s, all the way through Walter Cronkite\u2019s open opposition to the Vietnam War, to the selective edits of CNN and NBC \u2013 and he suggests it\u2019s not likely to change any time soon.\n\nSo how is anyone supposed to find the truth in all the noise? \u201cIf you want to be a good news consumer \u2013 if you want to really know what\u2019s going on \u2013 you have to read [reports from] multiple outlets,\u201d Gainor answers. \u201cAnd not all of them right-wing, and not all of them left-wing.\u201d\n\nAnd the MRC spokesman says it\u2019s important to realize that America is a diverse nation.\n\n\u201cI think people aren\u2019t as pigeonholed as media want us to be,\u201d he tells OneNewsNow. \u201cWhat\u2019s conservative \u2013 social conservative, fiscal conservative, neocon, libertarian? You can have an argument about pretty much any issue on the right without even inviting in the left or independents.\u201d\n\nMRC compiles studies from its News Analysis Division documenting distorted media coverage and/or media omissions.\n\n\u2014-\n\nCopyright OneNewsNow.com. Reprinted with permission."}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\nThe girls will be in Japan on May 2nd and May 4th to meet a total of 5,000 fans. It's been 3 years since the girls' last fanmeeting in the country, so both the girls and their fans are already looking forward to seeing each other.\n\n\n\n\n\nThey'll be in Tokyo on the 2nd and Kobe on the 4th!\n\n\n\n\ufffdwill be heading over to Japan in May!"}
-{"text": "Image caption Alun Davies: 'What we're doing is looking at the lowest common denominator'\n\nThe Labour-run Welsh Government is moving away from \"radicalism\" in its ambitions, a former minister has said.\n\nLabour AM Alun Davies said: \"If somebody opposes us here, or if somebody disagrees with us there, we will retreat.\"\n\nHe made his remarks on BBC Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement while speaking on plans to drop the Welsh Language Bill.\n\nThe Welsh Government declined to comment beyond a statement made by the Welsh language minister on Friday.\n\nThe Blaenau Gwent AM said: \"I want to support a radical reforming government.\n\n\"I want to be proud of the Welsh Government and proud of its ambitions and proud of its commitment to realising those ambitions.\n\n\"I am absolutely terrified that we are moving away from that radicalism and that we are moving away from that commitment to reform and what we're doing is looking at the lowest common denominator.\"\n\nImage copyright Labour Image caption Alun Davies: 'I want to be proud of the Welsh Government'\n\nHe said he was \"profoundly disappointment\" by the recent announcement that the language bill was being dropped.\n\nHowever, the move was welcomed by campaigners who claimed it would have weakened protection for the language.\n\nThe former lifelong learning and Welsh language minister said that in 13 years as an AM he had never broken the Labour whip.\n\nBut he said that during a debate on criminal justice policy earlier in the week he had felt \"almost compelled\" to do so because \"a minister wouldn't commit to sustaining and supporting the policy of the government\".\n\nOn the Welsh language, Mr Davies said that the commitment of Welsh Language Minister Eluned Morgan and First Minister Mark Drakeford was unquestionable."}
-{"text": "A local news reporter recently stated Hillary Clinton\u2019s Secret Service prohibited flash photography at the second presidential debate for fear it may trigger her \u201cseizure disorder.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is the reason it was banned apparently,\u201d PIX 11 reporter Kristin Cole said on air while taking a selfie with a disposable camera. \u201cBecause Secret service did not trust people to disable the flashes on their cameras.\u201d\n\nCole went on: \u201cAnd they were afraid it would sort of inspire Hillary\u2019s seizure disorder, that she would have a problem with that again.\u201d\n\nIn a subsequent report, New York\u2019s PIX11 retracted the reporter\u2019s comments saying the statements \u201cwere not based on fact but on speculation.\u201d\n\n\u201cBoth her comments about the photography ban and Clinton\u2019s health were not based on fact but on speculation. PIX11 regrets the error,\u201d the CW network affiliate wrote Tuesday.\n\n\u201cThe comments were made during an unscripted exchange, which has circulated online since it aired, featuring Cole and news anchors discussing the ban on flash photography at the debate.\u201d\n\nOn Monday, I misspoke on the air about why flash photography was banned at the debate. This is the full correction https://t.co/AlNoExHwrC \u2014 Kirstin Cole (@kirstincoletv) October 11, 2016\n\nCole\u2019s purported error follows months of speculation that Hillary suffers from Parkinson\u2019s or a similar disease and experiences seizures from flashing lights, as revealed by a Secret Service agent to Infowars in August.\n\nBack in September Clinton was also seen wearing blue-tinted glasses similar to those worn by victims of epileptic seizures \u2013 shortly before she collapsed at the 15th memorial for the 9/11 victims.\n\n\u201cEpileptic patients often wear Zeiss Z1 blue lenses in particular because they are effective at treating photosensitive epilepsy,\u201d wrote Kit Daniels.\n\nWhile she claims to have misspoken, Cole\u2019s remarks do nothing to help the Clinton campaign battle rumors of Clinton\u2019s ill health.\n\nThe Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today!"}
-{"text": "A number of users of the popular email app Spark reported being locked out of their Apple IDs overnight, something developer Readdle later linked to server upgrades it was making.\n\nThere was \"no breach or data leak,\" the company stated early on Friday via Twitter. Instead, server upgrades intended to prepare for the upcoming Spark for Mac are thought to have potentially triggered iCloud's security algorithms, although Readdle noted that it was \"working with Apple to learn more details.\"\n\nNot all Spark users have been affected, but some people may still be locked out. Others have allegedly had success using a recovery or password reset."}
-{"text": "Afgelopen woensdag schreef Sargasso over een mini-college van Susan Crockford over ijsberen op een Haagse middelbare school, zoals vermeld op klimaatontkennersblog climategate.nl. Crockford is door de klimaatontkennende stichtingen Clintel en de Groene Rekenkamer uitgenodigd om in Nederland een paar dagen mis- en desinformatie te verspreiden over ijsberen en klimaatverandering. Zaterdag is Crockford in Almere, zondag in Diergaarde Blijdorp \u2013 waar de dierentuin zich van distantieerde \u2013 en dinsdag dus in Den Haag bij 120 leerlingen van het Lyceum Ypenburg.\n\nClintel beroept zich op het \u2018both sides\u2019-argument:\n\nDe leerlingen van het @LyceumYpenburg verdiepen zich terecht in alle zijden van de klimaatdiscussie. Er is nog hoop. https://t.co/tWcn1jiIwg \u2014 Stichting Clintel (@Clintel_NL) November 13, 2019\n\nFossielvrij Den Haag pikte het bericht op en gaf de info door aan de Haagse fractie van GroenLinks, die gisteren schriftelijke vragen voor de gemeenteraad heeft ingediend:\n\nHeeft het college weet van deze gastles of andere Haagse scholen waar Stichting Clintel een rol in zou spelen? Is het college het met GroenLinks eens dat gastlessen van klimaatontkennende organisaties en andere organisaties met pseudowetenschappelijke doeleinden bij Haagse scholieren ongewenst zijn? Heeft het college er kennis van of het voor die leerlingen op de desbetreffende middelbare school verplicht is om aan deze gastles deel te nemen, en deelt het college de mening met GroenLinks dat dit nooit het geval zou moeten zijn? Is het college het met GroenLinks eens dat gastlessen van dergelijke organisaties mogelijk een ondermijnende werking hebben ten opzichte van het Haagse beleid omtrent milieueducatie en de gratis lessen, excursies, leskisten, keuzekisten en projecten die de gemeente aan de scholen beschikbaar stelt? Kan het college dat toelichten? Is het college bereid om met scholen(gemeenschappen) in gesprek te gaan over het belang van goede klimaateducatie en de verwarring waar dergelijke ondermijnende (gast)educatie over wetenschappelijk onderbouwde processen van klimaatverandering toe kunnen leiden? Is het college bereid om namens de raad aan Haagse scholen de boodschap over te brengen dat het als onwenselijk gezien wordt dat scholen met klimaatontkennende organisaties in zee gaan?\n\nEn voor wie nog denkt dat Crockfords observaties over ijsberen niet per se iets zeggen over haar standpunt over klimaatverandering, dan raden we Crockfords Twitter-tijdlijn aan \u2013 om te beginnen haar gepinde tweet:\n\nThe children need to see this: no climate emergency for #polarbears means no climate emergency period https://t.co/FQmv5yeWzH \u2014 Susan Crockford (@sjc_pbs) September 27, 2019\n\nPrecies de boodschap van stichting \u2018There is no climate emergency\u2019 Clintel. Zoals Tweede Kamerlid Lammert van Raam (PvdD) tweette over Clintels schoolbezoek: \u201chet mag natuurlijk allemaal, zo\u2019n klimaatontken-tournee. Maar ondertussen\u2026\u201d hebben wetenschappers de klimaatcrisis vooral onderschat, niet overschat.\n\n\u2014\n\nUpdate 4-2-2020: het Haagse College van B&W heeft inmiddels geantwoord:\n\nDit valt niet onder de verantwoordelijkheid van het college. Scholen zijn verantwoordelijk voor de inrichting van hun onderwijsprogramma en gastlessen. Tevens acht het college het zeer onwenselijk om als overheid te bepalen met welke organisaties een onderwijsinstelling wel of niet contact mag hebben.\n\nDaarbij merken we graag op dat dit standpunt niet zo vanzelfsprekend is als het misschien lijkt, want de regering onderzoekt momenteel of de Onderwijsinspectie toezicht moet houden op sponsoring, gastlessen, lespakketten en techniekfestivals van bedrijven, naar aanleiding van de Motie Van Raan over het inspec\u00adteren van lesma\u00adte\u00adriaal van (fossiele) bedrijven. Als de regering erkent dat de verspreiding van desinformatie door fossiele bedrijven onwenselijk is, waarom zouden andere verspreiders van desinformatie over klimaat, zoals Clintel, zich dan wel met onderwijs mogen bemoeien?\n\n\u2014\n\nEdit 18-11-2019: de reacties zijn gesloten. Onderwerp is uitvoerig behandeld, gezien de herhalingen verwachten we geen nieuwe inzichten meer."}
-{"text": "Novos desenvolvimentos do caso de Tancos. A revista \u201cS\u00e1bado\u201d avan\u00e7a que os procuradores do processo foram proibidos de fazer perguntas a Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa e a Ant\u00f3nio Costa, devido \u00e0 dignidade dos cargos.\n\nNo in\u00edcio da semana, a Procuradoria-Geral da Rep\u00fablica revelou que o Minist\u00e9rio P\u00fablico ponderou chamar o Presidente da Rep\u00fablica e o primeiro-ministro a depor como testemunhas. Mas esta sexta-feira, a revista revela que as perguntas at\u00e9 j\u00e1 estavam feitas, mas o diretor do Departamento Central de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o e A\u00e7\u00e3o Penal (DCIAP) mandou parar tudo por considerar que as perguntas n\u00e3o tinham utilidade para a investiga\u00e7\u00e3o ou, pelo menos, n\u00e3o se podiam considerar absolutamente necess\u00e1rias.\n\nPara al\u00e9m disso, Albano Pinto, que foi at\u00e9 2017 auditor jur\u00eddico do Minist\u00e9rio da Defesa, invocou a dignidade dos cargos e a falta de tempo para obter a necess\u00e1ria autoriza\u00e7\u00e3o do Conselho de Estado.\n\nSegundo a revista, os procuradores ter\u00e3o inclusive sido proibidos de colocar aos generais v\u00e1rias quest\u00f5es, sobretudo as que envolvessem o Presidente da Rep\u00fablica. Revoltados, os procuradores exigiram ordens por escrito.\n\nJ\u00e1 o jornal \u201cP\u00fablico\u201d noticia que a Inspe\u00e7\u00e3o-Geral da Defesa n\u00e3o conseguiu responsabilizar nenhum militar pelos procedimentos usados na recupera\u00e7\u00e3o do material roubado.\n\n\n\nO ministro da Defesa, Gomes Cravinho, deu 15 dias aos inspetores para apurarem a legalidade da atua\u00e7\u00e3o da Pol\u00edcia Judici\u00e1ria Militar. Em causa estava a eventual infra\u00e7\u00e3o das pr\u00f3prias normas de funcionamento por parte daquele corpo militar.\n\nNo relat\u00f3rio, os inspetores escrevem que ter\u00e3o \u201cocorrido desvios ao padr\u00e3o de atua\u00e7\u00e3o e procedimentos\u201d, mas n\u00e3o foi poss\u00edvel identificar os respons\u00e1veis pelas a\u00e7\u00f5es e decis\u00f5es tomadas naquele contexto\u201d."}
-{"text": "On 3rd January 2016, I started my first side project of the year, despite having few more side projects up my sleeve. It's called RailRouter SG. It's a web app for people to explore MRT and LRT routes in Singapore. On 20th January 2012, I built BusRouter SG which is initially known as 'Singapore Bus Routes Explorer'. It's a web app for people to explore bus stops and routes for all bus services in Singapore. Quite similar to RailRouter SG but for buses instead.\n\nI've built a lot of things. From small web applications to desktop applications. From small libraries to browser add-ons. From basic demo projects to web-based multiplayer games. Even then, I still find myself not that great compared to other people with more than hundreds of projects, like TJ Holowaychuk and Sindre Sorhus.\n\nSo asking myself few questions. Why do I build it? What motivates me to build it? Is there a need for this kind of app? Do people request for this? Am I doing this for fame and fortune? Well, no. There's only one reason.\n\nCuriosity\n\nSome people call it an 'idea'. I prefer to call it 'curiosity'. Sayanee asked a question in my AMA, How do you get your next idea to work on? and my brief answer is:\n\nI usually don't find for ideas. For me, ideas come from being aware of things around you.\n\nAnd being aware leads to being curious:\n\nFirst is being aware of things around you, be curious about them, think about them, and things just naturally flow from that point.\n\nMore than 10 years ago, I used to take buses all the time. At first, it's quite exhilarating because there were no apps or smart phones at that time. No Google Maps, no directions, no GPS. Every time I take a bus, I have to board the bus and ask the driver if the bus goes to destination X. And once I tried it few times, it slowly becomes a routine for me to take bus from point A to point B and vice versa. I have to memorise bus numbers and their routes. Whenever I look at bus stops, I'll observe every bus that stops there and note to myself, \"Ah okay, these buses stop here, I'll have to memorise them in case I need to come here one day.\" A question always pops into my mind, what if one day, I missed my stop? Where would I end up at? In fact, where does the bus end up anyway? I know that every bus has a route but I don't know how the route looks like.\n\nThat curiosity has stuck with me for a long time.\n\nFrom my experience, there's a difference between wanting to build something and starting to build something. Curiosity is the first trigger to make me feel like I want to build something. Or perhaps in other words, I need to build something. It's quite similar to what people say that they have an idea and they want to materialize it into something more solid. So now that I have the curiosity to ignite my project, how do I start? When do I start?\n\nSpark\n\nSpark is the second trigger. For some people, this trigger happens in seconds right after the first trigger. For others, it happens in few weeks, months or even years. For me and BusRouter SG, it happened on 7th January 2012 when I read this tweet:\n\nif i could view bus routes on a map the way you can view subway routes on a map, i would take them a whole lot more. \u2014@mengwong\n\n9 days later, I tweeted:\n\nIf I'm not mistaken, there are 318 bus services and 4617 bus stops in Singapore.\n\n4 days after that, I launched BusRouter SG to the public.\n\nPerhaps there's another term for this. It's kind of like a magical moment for me to start building it. It feels like good timing for me to start now rather than later. This kind of spark doesn't have to come from other people, places or any external inspirations. Sometimes it comes from within, for example when I'm taking a shower, hiking up a hill, or talking to a friend.\n\nObviously, this is not all that magical. Things don't just suddenly happen in the timing between the first trigger and the second trigger. For years, I subconsciously kept my curiosity somewhere at the back of my mind, and constantly adding small bits and pieces of information to slowly grow the idea. I need to know where to get the data and which sites have it. I need to make sure there's a feature to detect my current location to instantly find nearby bus stops. I know that I can't draw thousands of bus stops and routes on the map because it'll be too overwhelming for the user, so I need to think of a better UI for this. I kind of draw mockups in my head and learn from how other apps present huge amount of data with a simple user interface. I probably need a better name for the app. I need to market it so that users would learn about it and use it, because I know there's no point launching an app that no one uses. I kind of want to display a realtime bus arrival information for every bus stop but the API was not perfect at that time, so I'll probably do that in the next phase.\n\nSome people call this 'Product planning', as an ongoing process to define a product's feature set. And it has to be simple and feasible in terms of time and money spent for development. That's when the term 'Minimum Viable Product' (MVP) came into the picture.\n\nFrom my experience in building apps, I learnt this the hard way. In fact, I don't even have or know the term until I read some articles that mention them. And I'm like, \"Oh, there's a term for this? Okay, cool.\" So how minimum does the product need to be? For my own side projects, I always try to estimate if I can finish it in a day. How about a week? Two weeks? A month? I usually avoid side projects that last more than a month because I always feel bored looking at the same thing over and over again. Basically maximum one month. Within a month, I have to launch it publicly. If somehow I'm unable to publish it, I have to at least make it open-source and let the world see my code.\n\nLaunch\n\nThis is the ultimate third trigger. I call this a trigger because it's like a game-changer, well, depending on how you launch it. I've seen some developers didn't even manage to cross this line because of lame reasons like the app is not perfect yet or the code is too ugly. I've also seen some developers did a soft-launch for their side projects, which I think is pretty lame too. When I launch a product, I tweet it. I tell people. I try to blog about it. I post it on Hacker News. I want many, many people to look at my imperfect app or ugly code.\n\nThe moment when I launch a project, my senses are heightened. Suddenly I become aware of bugs that I didn't notice while coding. I start writing good READMEs so that developers understand what I did. I start writing good copy for non-technical users to understand what the product does. I check for grammatical errors, broken links and broken flows.\n\nIt's addictive. After the project is launched, I start to learn how to market it, experiment with advertising, play around with SEO, think about monetisation, and even pitch it to other people. It's surprisingly a lot of work.\n\nEvery single time when I do all these work, I start to understand the situation and difficulties behind all the non-engineering work. In a typical company, these are done by other departments; marketing, sales, advertising, social media, designers, bloggers and copywriters. There are times when I find it funny that I could understand what other (non-engineering) people do, but they don't understand what I do \ud83d\ude25\n\nFeedback\n\nWhen the project is public, I start to get many types of feedback from people. Positive feedback makes me happy. Negative feedback makes me try harder. Unconstructive feedback makes me learn how to ignore them. No feedback? Well... either try harder or be patient. It's always surprising when the project that you thought no one is going to care, actually cares. If there's still no feedback, just move on, start another project, go though the whole cycle again starting from the first trigger!\n\nSometimes I'll get one more type of feedback, which I think is worse than negative ones. It's the kind of feedback that makes me feel really bad and start to lose my love on the project, which ultimately lose my passion in building things. Obviously when we build stuff for the public, things don't always go your way. I'm not sure how to describe this but it's kind of like a moment when I ask myself, \"Oh god, what have I done?\". I've had my bad moments. I've done a lot of mistakes. I also know that some people have had it worse than me. One of them is Remy Sharp, who has the courage to even write a 5-part story on the dark side of JS Bin, especially part 5.\n\nIt's like a test for mental strength. A test to see if I'll give up and quit. As what most people think, it's just a side project, right? How bad could it be? Well, you'll never know until you launch it.\n\nMaintenance\n\nI call this the maintenance phase, the period of time when I have to continuously handle user feedback, do customer support, fix bugs, add features and improve the project. It's a bit like an endurance test to see how long I can last maintaining everything and stay focused on them. At this stage, many things could happen. Some people end up stop maintaining and starting something else. Some people manage to monetize their own project and let it self-sustaining. Some people manage to turn a side project into a startup, for example, Lanyrd.\n\nThis 'maintenance' phase doesn't always work with the first trigger, curiosity, also known as the 'starter' phase. It's very difficult to start something new while maintaining the old stuff. Vice versa, it's hard to dedicate the time on maintenance when you keep creating new things.\n\nJames Long mentioned:\n\nThere are two roles for any project: starters and maintainers. People may play both roles in their lives, but for some reason I\u2019ve found that for a single project it\u2019s usually different people. Starters are good at taking a big step in a different direction, and maintainers are good at being dedicated to keeping the code alive.\n\nAs for me, I try my best to play both roles. It's challenging. Sometimes I fail. Sometimes I got bored. Sometimes the projects I built became deprecated.\n\nFew weeks ago, I got a new GitHub issue reported on an old project that I'm no longer using. The project is called mangafeeder, built in 2012, and never had any issues or pull requests until that very day. It was hosted on AppFog V1 which became retired since December 15th last year, and I didn't even realise it. When I read the reported issue, I was very surprised that someone is actually using it. Despite the fact that I've built a lot of things, this shouldn't be that surprising anymore but I can't help it. I tried to redeploy the app to the new AppFog V2, found it quite troublesome so I decided to deploy it to Heroku instead. The site is up and I resolved the issue with a reply.\n\nThe response I got is this:\n\nawesome \ud83d\udc4d\n\nSomehow it reminded me of the WWDC 2012 developer appreciation video, especially the part where Emil Ovemar said:\n\nIt's really fantastic to see what we have created has made a difference in people's lives. Those reactions worth way more than any downloads.\n\nFrom time to time, I always see people getting excited or obsessed over the numbers. Number of downloads, likes, loves, retweets, reposts, reshares, stars, followers, fans, visits, impressions and clicks. For me, those are just nice-to-haves. They are not really the most important thing in the world.\n\nThe number one reason why I don't give up and will continue building things is the positive response from other people. The thank you's. The \"Oh my god, you saved my life\" kind of feedback. Sometimes when I get 9 positive feedback and suddenly one negative feedback, it will make me feel bad for the rest of the day. I personally learnt that if one day, I get 9 negative feedbacks and one positive feedback, I should be happy instead, thinking that I helped at least one person.\n\nBeyond side projects\n\nFew days ago, on January 21st, I gave a talk on this topic, at the time of writing, to a group of students in General Assembly Singapore. I drew this simple diagram as a visual way to describe the complete 'side project timeline'. It's a rough sketch of how I visualize it in my mind.\n\nI mentioned that if you look at this timeline, it's a bit like a startup, but without the business strategy, hiring process, VC funding and money.\n\nI took a third look at this and realise that it's a bit like life itself. 'Curiosity' begins when you're born into this world. 'Spark' probably begins when you start studying in school. 'Launch' happens when you graduate. 'Maintenance' is when you start working, buying a house, having a family and kids. Okay, pardon me, probably I got too far with this \ud83d\ude05\n\nNevertheless, it's a journey.\n\nA journey that I wish that more people would be able to experience and tell the story."}
-{"text": "\u7cd6\u8cea\u3092\u56f3\u308b\u624b\u6bb5\u304c\u306a\u3044\u306e\u3067\u305d\u306e\u8fba\u306f\u5272\u611b\u3057\u307e\u3059\u304c\u3001\n\n\u708a\u98ef\u5668\u3068\u3057\u3066\u306e\u6a5f\u80fd\u3060\u3051\u3092\u307f\u3066\u3082\u79c1\u7684\u306b\u306f\u4f7f\u3048\u308b\u708a\u98ef\u5668\u3067\u3059\u3002\n\n\u3053\u308c\u3067\u7cd6\u8cea\u30ab\u30c3\u30c8\u3067\u304d\u308b\u306a\u3089\u304a\u624b\u8efd\u3067\u3059\u3002\n\n\u305f\u3060\u3001\u4eca\u307e\u3067\u306e\u708a\u98ef\u5668\u3068\u9055\u3046\u305b\u3044\u304b\u3001\n\n\u4f55\u3082\u8003\u3048\u305a\u708a\u3044\u3066\u307f\u305f\u3089\u3044\u3064\u3082\u3068\u9055\u3046\n\n\u708a\u304d\u3042\u304c\u308a\u306b\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n5\u6bb5\u968e\u3042\u308b\u708a\u304d\u3042\u304c\u308a\u3092\u3072\u3068\u307e\u305a\u306f\u8a66\u3057\u3066\u307f\u3066\n\n\u81ea\u5206\u306b\u3042\u3063\u305f\u708a\u304d\u3042\u304c\u308a\u3092\u63a2\u3059\u3068\u826f\u3044\u3068\u601d\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\n\n\u6c17\u3065\u3044\u305f\u70b9\u3068\u3057\u3066\u306f\u3044\u304f\u3064\u304b\u3042\u308b\u306e\u3067\u3059\u304c\n\n\n\n\ufffd\u3005\u767c\u6c17\ufffd\u3084\u3084\u3042\u308b\n\n\u6c34\u30bf\u30f3\u30af\u304c\u3042\u308b\u305b\u3044\u304b\u9ad8\u3055\u304c\u3042\u308b\u306e\u3067\u3001\n\n\u4eca\u307e\u3067\u306e\u708a\u98ef\u5668\u3068\u540c\u3058\u5834\u6240\u306b\u306f\u7f6e\u3051\u306a\u3044\u5834\u5408\u3082\n\n\u51fa\u3066\u304d\u305d\u3046\u3067\u3059\u3002\n\n\u8a2d\u7f6e\u5834\u6240\u306e\u30b5\u30a4\u30ba\u306f\u78ba\u8a8d\u3057\u305f\u65b9\u304c\u3044\u3044\u3068\u601d\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\n\n\ufffd\ufffd\u96fb\u6e90\u30b1\u30fc\u30d6\u30eb\n\n\u4f7f\u7528\u96fb\u529b\u304c\u5927\u304d\u3044\u305b\u3044\u304b\u30b1\u30fc\u30d6\u30eb\u304c\u3084\u3084\u77ed\u304f\u3001\u592a\u3044\u3067\u3059\u3002\n\n\u7f6e\u304d\u5834\u6240\u306b\u3088\u3063\u3066\u306f\u96fb\u6e90\u306e\u5ef6\u9577\u3084\u53d6\u308a\u56de\u3057\u3092\u691c\u8a0e\u3059\u308b\u5fc5\u8981\u304c\u3042\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u30d1\u30bd\u30b3\u30f3\u306a\u3069\u306e\u592a\u76ee\u3067\u56fa\u3044\u96fb\u6e90\u30b1\u30fc\u30d6\u30eb\u3092\u60f3\u50cf\u3059\u308b\u3068\u3088\u3044\u304b\u3068\u601d\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\n\n\ufffd\uff26\u9ded\u6597\u52bc\u786b\u9e7d\ufffd\n\n\u304a\u91dc\u304c\u5185\u7aaf\u3068\u5916\u7aaf\u306e\u4e8c\u91cd\u69cb\u6210\u306e\u305f\u3081\u3001\u3054\u98ef\u306e\u72b6\u614b\u3084\u91cf\u306b\u3088\u3063\u3066\u306f\n\n\u5185\u7aaf\u304c\u56de\u8ee2\u3057\u3066\u3057\u307e\u3044\u3001\u4e0a\u624b\u304f\u3088\u305d\u3046\u3053\u3068\u304c\u3067\u304d\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\n\n\u7279\u306b\u91cf\u304c\u6e1b\u3063\u3066\u304d\u305f\u3068\u304d\u306b\u306f\u5927\u5909\u3067\u3059\u3002\n\n\n\n\ufffd\u305f\u7d45\u7e54\u9d50\ufffd\n\n\u6c34\u30bf\u30f3\u30af\u3060\u3051\u306f\u3069\u3046\u306b\u3082\u3044\u305f\u3060\u3051\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\n\n\u6c34\u30bf\u30f3\u30af\u306f\u30d5\u30bf\u3092\u5916\u3057\u3066\u6d17\u6d44\u306a\u3069\u3092\u3059\u308b\u306e\u3067\u3059\u304c\n\n\u3084\u308f\u3089\u304b\u3044\u6750\u8cea\u306e\u305b\u3044\u304b\u3001\u306f\u3081\u5408\u308f\u305b\u308b\u306e\u304c\u5927\u5909\u3067\u6642\u9593\u304c\u304b\u304b\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u30b3\u30b9\u30c8\u3068\u9ad8\u6e29\u5bfe\u7b56\u306a\u306e\u3060\u3068\u306f\u601d\u3044\u307e\u3059\u304c\u3001\n\n\u306a\u3093\u3067\u3053\u3053\u3060\u3051\u3053\u308c\u307b\u3069\u30c1\u30fc\u30d7\u306a\u3093\u3060\u308d\u3046\uff1f\u3068\u7591\u554f\u306b\u601d\u3046\u51fa\u6765\u3067\u3059\u3002\n\n\u3053\u306e\u90e8\u5206\u306f\u7c73\u306e\u6c41\u306a\u3069\u304c\u6392\u51fa\u3055\u308c\u308b\u90e8\u5206\u3060\u3068\u601d\u3044\u307e\u3059\u306e\u3067\n\n\u6d17\u6d44\u983b\u5ea6\u304c\u9ad8\u304f\u306a\u308b\u90e8\u5206\u3067\u3059\u3002\n\n\u983b\u5ea6\u304c\u9ad8\u3044\u306e\u306b\u30d0\u30e9\u3057\u306b\u304f\u3044\u3001\u7d44\u307f\u7acb\u3066\u306b\u304f\u3044\u3068\u3044\u3046\n\n\u3053\u306e\u88fd\u54c1\u6700\u5927\u306e\u4e0d\u6e80\u90e8\u5206\u3067\u3059\u3002\n\n\n\n\u4e0d\u6e80\u3092\u3044\u304f\u3064\u304b\u66f8\u304d\u307e\u3057\u305f\u304c\n\n\u6c34\u30bf\u30f3\u30af\u306e\u90e8\u5206\u3092\u9664\u3051\u3070\u3001\u6982\u306d\u6e80\u8db3\u3057\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n"}
-{"text": "I believe they slipped something into his chocolate milk. Never trust Celestia and Luna with your drinks.\n\nI was at my aunt's for the longest time and there was no internet, so I wrote \"Broken Spirit\" Writing that gave me inspiration for this.No it's not really a particular scene - I just really wanted to draw them all together.This is the song I chose for the reconciling. (TRY TO JUST LISTEN TO THE SONG AND IGNORE THE BUNNEH [link] From somewhere off scene Fluttershy is watching and grinning.I don't know what they're doing to him; I think they just kind of tackled him to the ground and are climbing on him. Poor Discord. He's laughing too hard to fight back.Discord, Celestia, Luna \u00a9 Lauren Faust"}
-{"text": "Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) new proposal to prohibit corporate funding of party conventions drew sharp criticism from lobbyists on Monday, with some arguing the move would discourage cities from offering to host the quadrennial gatherings.\n\nSanders's plan, unveiled Monday by the Democratic presidential candidate, would ban corporate contributions to the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee next July if Sanders is the nominee. If he becomes president, Sanders vowed to shift to mandatory public funding for Democratic and Republican conventions.\n\n\"On the substance side, hosting a convention is a major endeavor that can strap the budgets of parties and cities - the money has to come from somewhere and cutting off corporate donations may further depress interest in hosting a convention,\" said Stewart Verdery, CEO of public affairs firm Monument Advocacy.\n\n\"On the image side, the Democrats always have to balance their populist rhetoric with quieter outreach to the business community - telling companies who would like to partner with the party to take their ball and go home will easily feed into an anti-capitalist motif,\" he added.\n\nSeventeen donors funded about 75 percent of the 2016 Democratic National Convention, which included donations of more than $1 million from companies like Comcast, Peco Energy, AT&T, Facebook and Bank of America, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.\n\nIn his proposal, Sanders said lobbyists from donor companies \"were everywhere and filled the VIP suites\" at the convention, which was held in Philadelphia, home to Comcast and Peco.\n\nNone of the companies that contributed more than $1 million responded to requests for comment.\n\nIn 2016, the Democratic host committee raised $69.7 million for the convention; the Republican panel raised $65.7 million.\n\n\"I don't think that limiting the ability of corporations to participate in the Democratic process is a good idea,\" said lobbyist headhunter Ivan Adler. \"Once you head down the slippery slope like this, it's hard to get back.\"\n\nOne Republican lobbyist questioned whether big-monied individuals will really be pushed to the sidelines.\n\n\"Money is like water. It finds its way. If people want to figure out ways to contribute, they''ll figure out a loophole,\" the lobbyist said.\n\nSanders's campaign pushed back on some of the criticism.\n\n\"Bernie Sanders is building an unprecedented grassroots campaign to end corruption, and as a nominee would host a grassroots conventions for delegates, party members, teachers, workers, nurses, farmers, and students - corporate lobbyists will never buy influence with Bernie, period,\" Josh Orton, Sanders's national policy director, said in a statement.\n\nSanders's plan would also ban all corporate donations for inaugural events and cap the individual donation for inaugurations at $500.\n\nOne Democratic lobbyist said this was a \"desperate\" move by Sanders to gain ground on Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), his chief ideological rival in the Democratic primary.\n\n\"Bernie is falling behind Warren and needs to try to be relevant again following her missive on taxing free speech and lobbying; this is simply a game of one-upmanship from a desperate campaign that doesn't have the ability to draft a 27-page thesis like Warren,\" a Democratic lobbyist said.\n\nWarren last week unveiled a plan to tax corporations and organizations that spend $500,000 or more annual on lobbying the federal government, a move that lobbyists argued would be unconstitutional.\n\nEnd Citizens United, a progressive group that pushes for reforms to end political corruption, applauded Sanders's proposal for financing party conventions.\n\n\"The Senator's new plan to end the corrupting influence of corporate money in politics builds upon his career-long work to fix our broken political system and take the power away from corporations and mega-donors,\" Tiffany Muller, the group's president, said in a statement.\n\nHis plan also includes a massive overhaul of public elections by ending super PACs, abolishing the FEC, banning donations from federal lobbyists and corporations, among other ideas.\n\nUpdated at 8:07 p.m."}
-{"text": "Image caption MPs complained about a backlog of asylum cases\n\nGay and lesbian people seeking asylum in the UK from persecution abroad are being ordered to \"prove\" their sexuality, MPs have said.\n\nIn extreme cases claimants had handed over photographic and video evidence of \"highly personal sexual activity\" in an effort to persuade officials, the Home Affairs Committee found.\n\nThe gay rights group Stonewall called the testing system \"distressing\".\n\nThe Home Office promised to monitor and maintain standards.\n\nIn its report on the asylum system, the committee said it was concerned by the quality of the UK Border Agency's decision-making, as 30% of appeals against initial decisions had been allowed in 2012.\n\nAnd a backlog of 32,600 asylum cases that should have been resolved in 2011 was yet to be concluded, while the number of applicants still waiting for an initial decision after six months had risen by 63% last year.\n\nMedia playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Archive: Speaking in February, one gay asylum seeker recounts their story\n\n'Absurd'\n\nSome had been waiting up to 16 years, while the housing with which they were provided was sometimes \"appalling\".\n\nIt also said poor decision-making by officials was raising the risk of the UK harbouring war criminals.\n\nThe committee also focused on the situation facing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people seeking asylum.\n\nIn its report, the committee said they faced \"extraordinary obstacles\" in persuading immigration officers of their case.\n\nIts chairman, Labour MP Keith Vaz, told BBC News: \"It is absurd for a judge or a caseworker to have to ask an individual to prove that they are lesbian or gay, to ask them what kind of films they watch, what kind of material they read.\n\n\"People should accept the statement of sexuality by those who seek asylum. This practice is regrettable and ought to be stopped immediately.\"\n\nA Supreme Court ruling in 2010 stated that the \"underlying rationale\" of the United Nations Refugee Convention was that people should be able to \"live freely and openly\" in their own country without fear of persecution.\n\nThis judgement, the committee said, had effectively overturned the Border Agency's previous emphasis on \"voluntary discretion\" - which had meant it should be seen an option for claimants to conceal their sexuality in order to avoid abuse.\n\n'Weakness'\n\nThe report said: \"The battleground is now firmly centred in 'proving' that they are gay. In turn, this has led to claimants going to extreme lengths to try and meet the new demands of credibility assessment in this area, including the submission of photographic and video evidence of highly personal sexual activity to caseworkers, presenting officers and the judiciary.\"\n\nThe committee said: \"We were concerned to hear that the decision making process for LGBTI applicants relies so heavily on anecdotal evidence and 'proving that they are gay'.\"\n\nIt added that \"it is not appropriate to force people to prove their sexuality if there is a perception that they are gay. The assessment of credibility is an area of weakness within the British asylum system.\n\n\"Furthermore, the fact that credibility issues disproportionately affect the most vulnerable applicants - victims of domestic and sexual violence, victims of torture and persecution because of their sexuality - makes improvement all the more necessary.\"\n\nThe Refugee Council said the committee's report reflected its \"grave concerns\" about the UK asylum system.\n\nChief Executive Maurice Wren said: \"Failing to treat asylum seekers with dignity and, simultaneously, failing to deal effectively and fairly with their claims has created an expensive and counter-productive bureaucratic nightmare that all too often denies vulnerable people the protection from persecution and oppression they desperately need.\"\n\nStonewall says LGBTI people in some countries have suffered rape, torture and death threats.\n\nSpokesman Richard Lane said: \"Being gay isn't about what nightclubs you go to; it is a fundamental part of who you are.\n\n\"Sadly, in far too many cases, valuable time is spent attempting to 'prove' a claimant is gay in this way rather than establishing whether they have a legitimate fear of persecution.\n\n\"This is not only a waste of time and resources but can be deeply distressing to asylum seekers, many of who have fled for fear of their lives.\"\n\nA Home Office spokesman said: \"The UK has a proud history of granting asylum to those who need it. We are committed to concluding all cases as quickly as possible, but asylum cases are often complex and require full and thorough consideration.\n\n\"We have robust mechanisms in place to monitor standards of housing provided to asylum seekers.\"\n\nHe added: \"We will continue to monitor performance to ensure that standards are met.\""}
-{"text": "Gianluca Petecof and Dennis Hauger faced extreme heat, wind and rain in their battle for the win of the dramatic third Italian Formula 4 race at the Hungaroring.\n\nVan Amersfoort Racing driver Hauger started the race from pole, and led away with ease while Petecof stalled and fell to 20th. A crash on the second lap led to the race being restarted using the original grid, putting Petecof back up to second.\n\n\u201cPure mistake. I didn?t expect that level of grip at the [first] start,\u201d Petecof told Formula Scout. \u201cI misjudged the clutch bite point and stalled, but thankfully there was a red flag after so that helped us.\u201d\n\nIn the time between the race stopping and restarting, the cloud level had dropped and the circuit was hit by high winds and heavy rain. At the restart it was Petecof who took the lead, with Hauger stalling.\n\n\u201cIt was really difficult [conditions]. Thankfully we didn?t have rain in the middle of the race, apart from the last lap. Which I don?t know if it?s best or worse, because it was extremely difficult with Dennis behind me.\n\n\u201cThere was ridiculous wind through the whole race, huge front wind in the straight. Of course it was destabilising the car in a few corners, but in the end to have a dry track for the majority of the race helped a little bit as well.\u201d\n\nHauger also found the wind to be a complicating matter, which died down after a few laps.\n\n\u201cIt?was quite different with the wind,\u201d Hauger said. \u201cGoing into the first corner you could brake a bit later, but on the straights the car would move quite a bit because the wind was really hard. Bit difficult at the beginning but you just had to adapt to it. \u201c\n\nA crash between two backmarkers led to a safety car period, but it wasn\u2019t until the late rainstorm that Hauger was able to pressure Petecof, getting alongside through several of the Hungaroring\u2019s twisting corners.\n\n\u201cI had a good safety car restart, was able to pull the gap enough to have lets say a calmer last two laps,\u201d said Petecof.\n\n\u201cBut then I saw the rain coming, I tried to not lose too much time, but he caught me anyway. Really close, there was one particular point where we nearly touched, but thankfully we both finished the race.\u201d\n\nHauger added: \u201cI got up again [from stalling], and on the last lap I tried to go for a move that I saw. It was really risky with a driver in front of me.\n\n\u201cOf course I enjoyed the close fighting. But I think at one stage it got too close, and then I decided just to take the points instead because I didn?t want to end up in a crash.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Photo: Jean Ho\n\nIn HateSong, we ask our favorite musicians, writers, comedians, actors, and so forth to expound on the one song they hate most in the world.\n\n\nThe hater: With her debut album, Good For Her, out this Friday, Emily Heller is striving even further to make her mark on the comedy world. She\u2019s been named a \u201ccomic to watch\u201d by both Variety and Comedy Central, appeared on Conan and @Midnight, and is a regular on TBS\u2019 Ground Floor. She also hosts the podcast Baby Geniuses, as well as the Above Average series The Future. Good For Her is a fun but dark look at being a woman in your 20s, from adventures in shitty employment to what it\u2019s like to be single in the age of Tinder. Pre-order it now via Kill Rock Stars.\n\nThe hated: Taylor Swift, \u201cYou Belong With Me\u201d (2008)\n\nThe A.V. Club: Why is this the song you picked?\n\nEmily Heller: I picked this song because I find it despicable. I think it\u2019s a very evil song about trying to steal someone\u2019s boyfriend masquerading as a love song. It\u2019s a horrible, evil song.\n\n\nAVC: Right. If the guy in this song shouldn\u2019t be with his girlfriend, that\u2019s up for him to decide and not Taylor Swift.\n\nEH: Right, absolutely. To be fair to Taylor Swift, this was six years ago before she realized she needed to call herself a feminist, but it\u2019s like this stage of pseudo-feminism that everyone goes through where they think hating pretty women makes you likable. And I get where that comes from, but it\u2019s especially ludicrous coming from a 5-foot-9 waifish blond millionaire.\n\n\nAVC: She also wears more short skirts than T-shirts these days, I would guess.\n\nEH: I was trying to figure out what the other girl did wrong in the song. If you look at the lyrics of the song, she talks about what she wears, which we know is a foundation for anything wrong. The only thing you have to latch onto to say, \u201cOh yeah, she sucks\u201d is that he made a joke that she didn\u2019t think was funny. We don\u2019t even know what the joke was. What if it was super racist? What if this is a love story about two racists falling in love?\n\n\nAVC: We don\u2019t know.\n\nEH: We don\u2019t know! I mean, it is about her being better because she\u2019s blond. It very well could be.\n\n\nI really hate it.\n\n\nAVC: This song certainly hasn\u2019t aged along with Taylor Swift.\n\nEH: Yeah, this is the kind of stuff she\u2019s definitely not doing anymore.\n\nAVC: I don\u2019t think she does it live very often. I saw her this summer and I don\u2019t think she did it. I wanted her to.\n\n\nEH: Really? That\u2019s interesting. Wait, you like this song?\n\nAVC: I don\u2019t know. She did her entire new record, which I like, but there were some points where I thought I\u2019d like to hear some older stuff. I like country-fried Taylor Swift.\n\n\nEH: I do feel like if I saw her and she was singing this live, I\u2019d definitely dance and sing along. Don\u2019t get me wrong\u2014it\u2019s that kind of song.\n\nAVC: You definitely know every word, whether you want to or not.\n\nEH: Absolutely. I wish she was singing about something else though, because then I\u2019d really enjoy it.\n\n\nAVC: This was her big crossover hit, too. This is what made the rest of the music world realize who she was.\n\nEH: I just hate anyone who is masquerading as an underdog. And that\u2019s what she\u2019s doing.\n\n\nAVC: Well, then you hate Taylor Swift.\n\nEH: Yeah, I guess I do. That\u2019s kind of her whole thing, and that\u2019s what this whole song is about. She plays both of the women in the video. She plays the evil girlfriend who really did nothing wrong except touch another guy\u2019s face in the video, which is something her boyfriend did before she did. So, she didn\u2019t even do anything wrong or that the guy hadn\u2019t done before. Anyway, the evil girl is a brunette in the video, which is a very weird move on [Swift\u2019s] part to be like \u201cthe brunette is the evil one and I\u2019m the underdog.\u201d It\u2019s just backward; that\u2019s not how it works.\n\nAVC: It\u2019s very much based in high school drama.\n\nEH: It very much is. And I\u2019m all for the pining song; I love songs where the person who\u2019s singing it is in love with someone who doesn\u2019t love them back. But I feel like those songs should not be about the person that he or she\u2019s in love with who\u2019s not you.\n\n\nAVC: You\u2019d rather a song be about \u201cwe can\u2019t be together\u201d and not, \u201cwe can\u2019t be together because you\u2019re with some dumb bitch\u201d?\n\nEH: Exactly. Or \u201cI don\u2019t get why you don\u2019t want me.\u201d I love those songs. I like \u201cWhy Don\u2019t You Love Me?\u201d by Beyonc\u00e9. A song like that.\n\n\nThis feels like a worse version of \u201cDancing On My Own\u201d by Robyn. \u201cDancing On My Own\u201d doesn\u2019t talk about how skanky the girl he\u2019s actually dancing with is. It\u2019s just about the pain you feel when you watch them together. It\u2019s more genuine, more relatable. This song is just about how slutty this other girl is. It\u2019s crazy.\n\nAVC: There\u2019s definitely some implied slut-shaming, like, \u201cOhhh, short skirts.\u201d You know what that means.\n\n\nEH: Short skirts. High heels. She\u2019s a cheerleader. Taylor Swift is like, \u201cI wear T-shirts, so I guess that\u2019s why you don\u2019t like me.\u201d Which, by the way, if this is a guy who only cares about that, why are you in love with him? If you have such a problem with people who dress like that and that\u2019s what he\u2019s into, you\u2019re not a good match! You don\u2019t belong together!\n\nThis is not a song that Taylor Swift the person wrote; this is a song that Taylor Swift the panderer wrote. That\u2019s the thing I also find really gross about it. Regardless of what she\u2019s saying, it just feels disingenuous and it was clearly written for a very specific audience of fat, nerdy girls. And as an adult fat, nerdy girl, I don\u2019t appreciate it. I don\u2019t appreciate being pandered to by a super hot blond woman.\n\nAVC: I don\u2019t appreciate it, but I understand the sentiment. In high school, I would have understood this song to my core.\n\n\nEH: There are plenty of guys that I could have listened to this song and cried about, but also, it\u2019s fucking Taylor Swift. She doesn\u2019t get to sing this song, I\u2019m sorry!\n\nAVC: Who would you rather sing this song?\n\nEH: The one saving grace of this song is that I one time saw a shot-for-shot remake of the music video, but with a guy playing her part so it was a story about a gay guy in love with the football player being like, \u201cYou belong with me and not with her\u201d and I was like, \u201cOh my God, this makes so much more sense!\u201d\n\n\nAVC: Like, \u201cstop kidding yourself\u201d?\n\nEH: Yeah. \u201cI\u2019m the one who understands you.\u201d It turns it into this beautiful, gorgeous sentiment and at the end of the video when he shows up at the prom and they admit that they love each other, it\u2019s so much better. So I think a gay guy should be singing it."}
-{"text": "Get the Edinburgh stories that matter to you sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter Sign me up Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email\n\nA devastated dog owner has shared photos of the aftermath of an shocking attack that took place on a Lothian bus on Tuesday (13 August).\n\nGillian Scobie says that a friend who was walking her three-year-old poodle cross dog was waiting to get off the bus at Fairmilehead near Liberton when an off-lead Staffordshire bull terrier ran downstairs and launched itself at her small pet.\n\nHer dog was badly injured in the incident and had to be taken to the vet.\n\n(Image: Facebook / Gillian Scobie)\n\nShe took to a local labradoodle Facebook group to share photos of the aftermath of the attack - including puncture wounds to her dog's neck - and said:\n\n\"My poor baby was attacked on a Lothian region bus yesterday...I wasn't there but I'm devastated... a staffy ran downstairs & attacked my boy as he was waiting to get off.\"\n\nLothian Buses have a policy that all dogs must be kept on leads at all times, and usually only one dog is allowed on board at any one time, although allowing dogs on board is always at the discretion of the driver.\n\nThe owner of the staffy has not yet been traced.\n\nA police spokesperson confirmed: \"We received a report that a dog was injured by another dog in the Fairmilehead area on 13 August, and enquiries are continuing.\"\n\n(Image: Gillian Scobie / Facebook)\n\nFellow members of the Facebook group expressed their sympathy at the attack, with one woman saying:\n\n\"Poor wee lad, hope he gets better soon, he's a gorgeous wee boy, it's getting our of control the amount of dogs getting attacked, it makes you scared to take your dog out, hope the man gets charged, good luck with the police.\"\n\n(Image: Gillian Scobie / Facebook)\n\nEdinburgh Live have reached out to Ms Scobie for comment.\n\nLove pets? So do we! Join our friendly Facebook group Edinburgh Loves Pets to chat with other pet lovers in the city.\n\nTo receive one WhatsApp message a day with Edinburgh Live's headlines, as well as breaking news alerts, text NEWS to 07899067815. Then add the number to your contacts as 'Edinburgh Live'.\n\nFor more stories from across the Edinburgh area like our Facebook page , or follow us on Twitter and Instagram . You can also subscribe to our newsletter: enter your email in the blue box at the top of this article."}
-{"text": "MEET the retired lawyers who are going big by thinking smalls \u2014 after setting up a luxury knicker brand from their own kitchen table.\n\nIan and Vicki Ashman were both senior partners in international law firm Walkers Global until 2013 when they sold part of the business.\n\n4 Vicki and Ian at home in south Dublin Credit: Douglas Fisher\n\nAlthough initially planning to enjoy retirement, the high-flying pair were unable to quell their entrepreneurial spirit and decided to set up a high-end underwear brand, Scrumpies of Mayfair.\n\nThe couple \u2014 who have six kids \u2014 now run the sexy lingerie firm from their mansion in Killiney \u2014 which was once the home of Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid.\n\nAnd they are hoping to expand the brand across the Middle East and Europe in the coming months.\n\nVicki said: \u201cWe were both working for Walkers, mainly in the Caribbean but also all over the world. Then in 2010 they set up a Dublin office. We came over here then as the founding partners and hired most of the Irish lawyers.\n\n4 Viki and Ian's lingerie is a big hit in UK\n\n\u201cOur youngest child was just two at the time and Ireland seemed a good place for kids. We live in a beautiful part of Ireland, we\u2019re near the sea, the mountains and there\u2019s good schools nearby.\u201d\n\nShe added: \u201cThe kids have their Irish passports now and they are properly Irish.\u201d\n\nAs well as their Dublin base, the couple also keep a townhouse in London\u2019s Mayfair \u2014 which is where they got the name for their brand.\n\nAnd Vicki told how they are loving their new venture in the fashion world, which is a far cry from her corporate law career.\n\n4 The couple's new venture in the fashion world is a far cry from being a corporate law career\n\nShe said: \u201cWhen we first retired, Ian had planned to become fluent in French and I wanted to write a book.\n\n\u201cBut we found we needed entrepreneurial projects to keep us going.\n\n\u201cCorporate law \u2014 without doing it a disservice \u2014 is not creative. It\u2019s all about rules and applying them. Getting involved in the design and creativity of this business was completely new.\n\n\u201cI was at a meeting with our designer and he asked, \u2018Are these designs too Nicki Minaj?\u2019 I\u2019d never been to a meeting before where anyone could be talking about Nicki Minaj.\u201d\n\nAs well as building the new brand from scratch, Ian and Vicki\u2019s other projects included constructing 11 new houses on a site in Carrickmines, south Dublin.\n\nThey also renovated their home over two years, turning the seven-bedroom palatial gaff into a modern family pad.\n\nVicki said: \u201cIt was a labour of love as it needed a lot of work. A number of people had tried over the years to renovate bits and pieces of it but we\u2019ve now built a 21st century home in the building\u2019s old shell. There\u2019s underground heating, geothermal heating and state-of-the-art technology. It was a big project as it\u2019s an 11,000 sq ft house.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s an important house in the history of Ireland so there\u2019s that pressure as well. We\u2019re happy it will be here long after we\u2019re gone.\u201d\n\n4 Archbishop of Dublin used to live in the couple\u2019s Killiney home\n\nAs well as renovating the home, the couple refurbished the gate lodge and surrounding buildings.\n\nVicki said: \u201cIan\u2019s personality would be very much, \u2018If you\u2019re going to do something, do it well\u2019. It\u2019s now like a mini-estate. There were ruins in the gardens that we\u2019ve turned into store houses and sheds.\n\n\u201cWe started it in 2013 and completed it in 2015. There\u2019s a nice quality of life to living in Ireland.\n\n\u201cI haven\u2019t lived in the UK for 20 years so for us it\u2019s closer to home than the Caribbean.\n\n\u201cWe can fly with CityJet to London City Airport and be back in Mayfair 40 minutes after we land.\u201d\n\nCurrently available exclusively online at scrumpiesofmayfair.com, much of the brand\u2019s business comes from the UK and 80 per cent of customers are men buying for their other halves.\n\nI think people are possibly a little envious that we could do something that sounds \u2014 and in reality is \u2014 more exciting than what we were doing before. Viki Ashman\n\nBut the firm hopes to change that by offering the product at a cheaper price when bought without its premium present-style packaging.\n\nIan and Vicki also have plans to expand the brand globally and are hoping to have a turnover of \u20ac3.4million in three years.\n\nAnd Vicki told how they plan to bring distribution to Ireland in the wake of Brexit.\n\nShe said: \u201cIt\u2019s an Irish company. At the moment much of our sales are in the UK and we have distribution there. The product is made in Italy and Latvia and we will probably bring \u00addistribution to Ireland with Brexit.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re really happy with where we are with the business at the moment. We\u2019re developing all the time and the sky\u2019s the limit. We hope to eventually go into loungewear as well.\u201d\n\nVicki revealed former colleagues in the corporate law world are surprised by the power couple\u2019s decision to set up a knicker brand.\n\nShe said: \u201cI think people are possibly a little envious that we could do something that sounds \u2014 and in reality is \u2014 more exciting than what we were doing before.\n\nMost read in news Exclusive HAPPY MEAL McDonald\u2019s worker who paid for lad\u2019s meal has secretly bought food for MONTHS radio shake up RTE stars pay tribute to Bryan Dobson and Aine Lawlor as they swap roles HORROR CRASH Four people rushed to hospital after scrambler collides with car in Dublin LOTTO LUCK EuroMillions numbers in for \u20ac130million jackpot and Plus draw TIME AT THE BAR Boozy Brits kicked out of pubs & bars across UK early as 10pm curfew begins DOC'S PRAISE Dr Fauci reveals he's 'impressed' with Ireland's handling of Covid-19 crisis\n\n\u201cIt would have been easy to become a consultant but that wouldn\u2019t have been the same thing. Job satisfaction is important to us.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s interesting, it\u2019s fun and it\u2019s also hard work. You don\u2019t just snap your fingers and set up a global brand.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re working hard at it \u2014 Ian\u2019s golf handicap has actually gone up since he retired. It\u2019s all good material for when I eventually write my book. I haven\u2019t given up on that yet.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Submitted by Carson Now Reader on Tue, 10/15/2019 - 10:53am\n\nView the full image Lori Bagwell plays disc golf at new Carson Ridge Disc Golf Park.\n\nAs Carson City\u2019s disc golf complex nears completion, the Foundation for Carson City Parks and Recreation\u2019s president, David Johnson, announced that the Foundation recently received a generous donation from the Nevada Division of the National Pony Express Association, for the sponsorship of a hole at the Carson Ridge Disc Golf Park.\n\nJohnson said the donation recognizes and affirms the hard work put in over the last several years by the members of the Eagle Valley Disc Golf Association to spearhead the establishment and undertake the construction, with city assistance, of a tournament-class disc golf facility here in Carson City.\n\nThe Carson Ridge Disc Golf Park, located on the east side of Carson City, off Flint Drive, will have a total of 27 holes \u2014 a 9 hole short, family and beginner-friendly, course, and an 18 hole tournament course for skilled disc golf players. The Disc Association anticipates a November 2019 opening.\n\nThe Eagle Valley Disc Golf Association is a partner project of the Foundation for Carson City Parks and Recreation. The Foundation is a private, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to provide an umbrella under which various organizations and citizens can come together to explore innovative ways to promote, facilitate, and fund their activities.\n\nIt assists these organizations and individuals with similar goals to promote and meet Foundation objectives by acting in a fiduciary capacity by managing and protecting monies raised for their projects.\n\nProjects, past and present, facilitated by the Foundation include this summer\u2019s reopening of the Carson City Railroad Association\u2019s Carson and Mills Park Railroad; the Carson City Tennis Club; Bob Boldrick Theater Lobby Improvements, in conjunction with the Carson City Chamber of Commerce; the Lone Mountain Cemetery Headstone Project; Carson City Gun Range improvements; the recent Ross Gold Park improvements, upgrades to the dog parks at Fuji Park and the installation of a dog fountain at Sonoma Park\u2019s dog park; efforts to fund the construction outdoor Pickle Ball courts, and Pete Livermore Sports Complex improvements (funding from the former \u201cComstock Sports Association\u201d).\n\nIn addition, the Foundation also manages the Wungnema House, under a lease from Carson City, as a place for small gatherings and meetings for community organizations and individuals."}
-{"text": "Cople\u015fi\u0163i de nostalgie, milioane de utilizatori Facebook \u015fi Instagram au postat zilele astea poze cu ei de acum un deceniu! Printre ace\u015ftia se num\u0103r\u0103 \u015fi c\u00e2teva personalit\u0103\u0163i locale, ale c\u0103ror fotografii din tinere\u0163e i-au emo\u0163ionat pe fani.\n\nIon \u0162iriac\n\nLoredana Groza\n\nLiviu Dragnea\n\nPavianul cu mantie\n\nTudor Chiril\u0103\n\nMihai \u015eora\n\nMihai G\u00e2dea\n\nViorel Lis\n\nMihaela R\u0103dulescu\n\nNea Costel, drojdier\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "06 Mart 2017 Pazartesi, 06:00\n\nT\u00fcrkiye\u2019de izin al\u0131nmadan g\u00f6nderilen e-posta ve SMS\u2019lere son verilmesiyle ilgili yasa 1 May\u0131s 2015\u2019ten bu yana y\u00fcr\u00fcrl\u00fckte. Ama her se\u00e7im d\u00f6neminde oldu\u011fu gibi Ankara B\u00fcy\u00fck\u015fehir Belediye Ba\u015fkan\u0131 Melih G\u00f6k\u00e7ek, Anayasa Referandumu \u00f6ncesi de yine bo\u015f durmad\u0131. G\u00f6k\u00e7ek\u2019in 3 Mart\u2019ta kat\u0131ld\u0131\u011f\u0131 ve payla\u015ft\u0131\u011f\u0131 g\u00f6r\u00fcnt\u00fcler nedeniyle \u00f6z\u00fcr dilemek zorunda kald\u0131\u011f\u0131 Beyaz TV\u2019deki program\u0131n duyurusu i\u00e7in on binlerce cep telefonu abonesi yine SMS\u2019ler ile taciz edildi. Yasa bu tarz SMS\u2019ler i\u00e7in izin al\u0131nmas\u0131 ve at\u0131lan SMS\u2019lerde \u201c\u0130ptal\u201d ve \u201cRet\u201d se\u00e7eneklerinin olmas\u0131n\u0131 \u00f6ng\u00f6r\u00fcyor ama G\u00f6k\u00e7ek i\u00e7in at\u0131lan SMS\u2019lerde \u00f6ndeki d\u00f6nemlerde oldu\u011fu gibi yine t\u00fcketiciye bu hak verilmedi.\n\n\u0130zinsiz SMS\u2019leri d\u00fczenleyen \u201cTicari \u0130leti\u015fim ve Ticari Elektronik \u0130letiler Hakk\u0131nda Y\u00f6netmelik\u201d h\u00fck\u00fcmlerine ayk\u0131r\u0131 hareket edenlere 50 bin TL\u2019yi bulan cezalar \u00f6ng\u00f6r\u00fcyor. Ancak bu yapt\u0131r\u0131mlar, \u2018ticari\u2019 SMS ve e-postalar\u0131 kaps\u0131yor. G\u00f6k\u00e7ek ise y\u00f6netmeli\u011fin kamu t\u00fczelki\u015filerine tan\u0131d\u0131\u011f\u0131 ayr\u0131cal\u0131\u011f\u0131 kullan\u0131l\u0131yor. Y\u00f6netmelikte, \u201cDevlet, mahalli idareler ve di\u011fer kamu t\u00fczelki\u015filerinin kamuoyunu bilgilendirmek amac\u0131yla g\u00f6nderdikleri iletiler\u201d d\u00fczenleme kapsam\u0131 d\u0131\u015f\u0131nda tutuluyor. Di\u011fer bir ifadeyle G\u00f6k\u00e7ek cep telefonu abonelerine istenmeyen SMS\u2019ler g\u00f6ndermeye devam ediyor.\n\n\u2018Ret\u2019 yoksa cezas\u0131 2 bin TL\n\nG\u00fcmr\u00fck ve Ticaret Bakanl\u0131\u011f\u0131\u2019n\u0131n verilerine g\u00f6re \u015fu ana kadar t\u00fcketicilerden istenemeyen ticari iletilerle ilgili olarak 241 bin 215 \u015fikayet ba\u015fvurusu yap\u0131lm\u0131\u015f, kesilen idari para cezas\u0131 tutar\u0131 ise 8.3 milyon TL\u2019yi a\u015fm\u0131\u015f. Uygulamada, onays\u0131z ileti geldi\u011finde 1-5 bin TL aras\u0131nda ceza kesiliyor. Birden fazla ki\u015fiye \u00e7oklu ileti g\u00f6nderildi\u011finde ise bu ceza 10 kat\u0131na kadar \u00e7\u0131kar\u0131l\u0131yor. Mesajda ileti\u015fim bilgilerine yer verilmediyse 10 bin TL ceza uygulan\u0131yor. Vatanda\u015f\u0131n ret hakk\u0131na yer verilmemesi halinde ise ceza miktar\u0131 2 bin TL."}
-{"text": "Scottish first minister says party\u2019s support for minority Labour government would not be conditional on Ed Miliband scrapping nuclear missile system\n\nNicola Sturgeon has dropped demands that a minority Labour government must cancel a new Trident nuclear weapon in return for the Scottish National party\u2019s backing at Westminster.\n\nThe SNP leader said that her party could comfortably vote for Labour policies on a case-by-case basis without a deal on Trident, after implying repeatedly in recent months that cancelling its \u00a3100bn replacement would be a critical issue for the party.\n\nIn a wide-ranging video interview with the Guardian, Sturgeon again played down the prospects of the SNP forging a formal coalition deal with Labour if, as the polls strongly suggest, her party overtakes Labour as Scotland\u2019s largest party at Westminster by winning dozens of extra seats in May.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s more likely to be an arrangement where we would support Labour on an issue-by-issue basis,\u201d she said, in the first of a filmed series of leader\u2019s interviews by the Guardian. \u201cOn that basis, there are many issues we could agree on which we would support but we would not vote for Trident.\u201d\n\nWe will never vote for the renewal of Trident; that\u2019s a decision which will be made in the next Westminster parliament Nicola Sturgeon\n\nAsked explicitly if that meant the SNP could still back Labour policies without Ed Miliband promising to scrap Trident, she did not disagree, replying: \u201cBut we would not in any vote support the renewal of Trident and I can\u2019t make that any clearer than I have already made it.\u201d\n\nSturgeon also implied she now saw Trident as a stand-alone question after refusing to confirm it was a red-line issue in any future dealings with Labour. \u201cWe will never vote for the renewal of Trident; that\u2019s a decision which will fall to be made in the next Westminster parliament. We will never vote for that,\u201d she said, after being asked how deep that red line was.\n\nIn her maiden speech as new SNP leader last November, she won jubilant cheers from delegates at the party\u2019s annual conference by explicitly linking support for Labour with Trident, stating \u201cthink how much more we could win for Scotland from a Westminster Labour government if they had to depend on SNP votes.\n\n\n\n\u201c[And] conference, hear me loud and clear when I say this: they\u2019d have to think again about putting a new generation of Trident nuclear weapons on the river Clyde.\u201d\n\n\n\nSince then, Sturgeon has repeatedly linked support for Labour policies with cancelling Trident\u2019s replacement, helping to bolster her standing among the SNP\u2019s activist base, anti-nuclear campaigners and smaller left-wing parties.\n\nSturgeon said that if the SNP entered into a deal with a Labour government, offering its support on an issue-by-issue basis, the party would help create \u201ca more effective government and a government that actually delivers some of the policies Labour supporters are probably crying out to hear a Labour leader argue for\u201d.\n\nWith Miliband due to address a special one-day Scottish Labour conference on Saturday, he too is expected to take an ever firmer stance against the idea of a formal deal with the SNP if, as the polls suggest, he fails to win an overall majority.\n\n\n\nLast week, Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, hinted heavily during a visit to Edinburgh that Labour favoured a minority government.\n\nStating an SNP coalition \u201cis not part of our plan, it\u2019s not what we want,\u201d Balls added: \u201cThe idea of coalition now at Westminster is pretty unpopular and the Lib Dems are really, really unpopular. So there\u2019s no enthusiasm for this kind of discussion with the Liberal Democrats or the SNP; that\u2019s why we\u2019re fighting to get a majority.\u201d\n\n\n\nLabour officials say privately there is no prospect of Miliband agreeing any deal with the SNP that forces him to cancel Trident, or which boosts the SNP\u2019s agenda to greatly increase Scotland\u2019s economic autonomy. That would alienate its crucial and far larger English electorate.\n\nDropping Trident\u2019s cancellation as a red-line issue and playing down a coalition deal would give a large group of SNP MPs much greater freedom to portray themselves as Scotland\u2019s champions.\n\nSturgeon is hoping to make the SNP a centre-left force at Westminster, able to forge alliances with the Welsh nationalists Plaid Cymru and the English Green party, attacking Labour from the left.\n\nAsked a series of questions from prominent Scots, including the comedian Rhona Cameron, cult novelist Irvine Welsh and pop group the Proclaimers, Sturgeon confirmed the SNP would never form a coalition with a minority Tory government or help it informally.\n\nIn a quick-fire round, Sturgeon \u2013 who is Scotland\u2019s first female first minister and the first woman to lead the SNP \u2013 said she ironed her husband\u2019s shirts. \u201cIt\u2019s possibly the only domestic thing I really do,\u201d she said.\n\nWatch the full interview\n\n"}
-{"text": "This week at 60PlusMILFs.com, we're celebrating Rita Daniels' 10th anniversary as a SCORE Group model. When we asked her how she would have responded if someone had told her back in 2009 that she'd still be going strong in 2019, Rita said. \"I probably would've just laughed. I really didn't know it was going to be such a fun adventure and that I would really get into it like I have. I've had guys in airports come up to me and say, 'Oh my gosh, you're Rita Daniels.' I've had a lot of firsts with the SCORE Group, and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for 10 years of all these firsts.\"\n\n\n\nAmong the firsts: Rita's first fuck scene, first interracial, first anal, first interracial anal, first threesome, first anal threesome, first three-way with a girl and a guy, first DP, first six-way with five other GILFs in Granny Fuck Club. Rita has done it all at 50PlusMILFs.com and 60PlusMILFs.com, and later this week, Rita is going to celebrate another first:\u2026\n\nRelated Tags"}
-{"text": "Starting today, the city Department of Education is forcing deadwood from the Absent Teacher Reserve on schools that don\u2019t want them. It\u2019s almost inevitable that the hit will fall largely on low-performing schools in low-income neighborhoods.\n\nATR teachers have been repeatedly passed over by principals. About a third were originally removed from classrooms because of a legal or disciplinary case.\n\nAlmost four out of 10 haven\u2019t been in a classroom for over six years. Another 12 percent have been rated ineffective or unsatisfactory.\n\nBut the ATR \u2014 educators paid to do little or nothing because the city can\u2019t fire them \u2014 is an embarrassment, so Chancellor Carmen Fari\u00f1a has opted to start emptying it out by forcing these staffers on schools that have open positions on the books.\n\nSuch vacancies are far more common at troubled schools, so they\u2019re the ones that will \u201cwin\u201d these unwanted teachers.\n\nAnd never mind Team de Blasio\u2019s promise to close the ATR without resorting to forced placements.\n\nAsked about the issue at a recent news conference, Fari\u00f1a insisted that ATR teachers are \u201cactually OK . . . not only OK but good.\u201d Really, Madame Chancellor?\n\nBack when she was an Upper East Side principal, Fari\u00f1a refused to hire teachers assigned her by the DOE. How will she handle anyone who follows her example now?\n\nHundreds of parents rallied last week with the activist group StudentsFirstNY to protest the first wave of 400 ATR rejects being sent out to the classroom.\n\nOne of them was Harold Wilson of East New York, who said: \u201cMy child deserves a great education, just like the kids in the mayor\u2019s neighborhood. We need great teachers, not leftovers.\u201d\n\nCount it as one more injustice inflicted on the have-nots by a mayor who first won office thundering about the \u201cTwo New Yorks.\u201d"}
-{"text": "PUBLIC CITIZEN FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT\n\nThe movement to get money out of politics and establish that constitutional rights are for people, not corporations, is gaining ground by the day. Today, the Oregon Legislature passed House Joint Memorial 6 (HJM 6), becoming the 16th state to call on Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The bipartisan measure passed the state House by a 48-11 margin, with 14 Republican votes (the majority of state House Republicans), and the state Senate by a 17-13 margin, with one Republican, Senator Betsy Close (R-Albany), voting in favor.\n\nWe're thankful for Oregonians for Restoring Constitutional Democracy; this huge win for campaign finance reform could not have happened without them and the amazing grassroots effort by the coalition, which includes Common Cause Oregon, Move to Amend, Main Street Alliance and the Democracy Alliance.\n\nThat effort paid off: Lincoln County and Eugene have both passed ballot initiatives calling for an overturn of Citizens United, and Newport, Port Orford, Portland, West Linn and Yachats town or city councils have passed resolutions calling for an amendment. These cities and towns in Oregon are among the nearly 500 municipalities around the country that have called for a constitutional amendment. They all recognize that Citizens United, which gave corporations a green light to spend unlimited amounts to influence elections, is corrosive to democracy because it gives people less power and corporations even more sway over policies that affect us all.\n\nOregon joins four other states \u2013 Delaware, Maine, West Virginia and Illinois \u2013 that have called for a constitutional amendment over just the past two months. All of the resolutions this year have passed with bipartisan support in at least one chamber. This is an issue that affects every American, regardless of political affiliation.\n\nTruthout doesn\u2019t take corporate funding - that\u2019s why we\u2019re able to confront the forces of greed and regression. Support us in this mission: make a tax-deductible donation today by clicking here.\n\nThe other states that have called for an amendment to overturn Citizens United are California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Connecticut, Maryland, Colorado and Montana. The Washington, D.C., Council has called for an amendment as well.\n\nAfter this crucial victory, it is time for Oregon to take this fight to the national stage and persuade Oregon's congressional delegation to commit to a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. Already, U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio and Kurt Schrader \u2013 all Democrats from Oregon \u2013 are co-sponsors for resolutions in Congress. They are among more than 100 current members of Congress who have co-sponsored an amendment during this congressional session.\n\nWe call on U.S. Reps. Susan Bonamici (D-Ore.) and Greg Walden (R-Ore.) to hear the people and legislature of Oregon \u2013 their constituents \u2013 and co-sponsor an amendment in the 113th Congress.\n\n(Photo: swatjester)\n\nTruthout doesn\u2019t take corporate funding - that\u2019s why we\u2019re able to confront the forces of greed and regression. Support us in this mission: make a tax-deductible donation today by clicking here."}
-{"text": "JONESBORO, AR \u2014 The offense was clicking, and quickly. The tempo was as planned. SMU wanted to wear down the Arkansas State defensive line early. And with Shane Buechele's first three passes landing perfectly in his target's hands, it seemed like his groove had been found the moment the game started.\n\nBut then, out of nowhere, his pass was tipped. And it landed right in the arms of a defender. He ran it all the way to the SMU 7-yard-line. On the next play, the Mustangs were down seven points.\n\nThere was a little of both for the SMU offense. Some great, fast-moving and unstoppable offense. And there was some times when it struggled like it did on that fifth pass of the game. But in the end, there was more good than bad in the Mustangs\u2019 37-30 season-opening win.\n\n\u201cWe knew their strength on defense was their front line,\u201d said head coach Sonny Dykes. \u201c... We wanted to equalize it the best that we could. The way you do that is going as fast as you can and wear them down.\u201d\n\nSMU wore down its opponent on a hot and muggy Arkansas evening. The end result was a tone-setting win that showed how far it\u2019s come as a program since getting doubled up by North Texas in last year\u2019s season-opener.\n\nBuechele finished 30-of-49 for 360 yards, with exactly half of those yards going to Reggie Roberson Jr. on 11 receptions. SMU dominated time of possession in the first half, running 57 plays to ASU\u2019s 30. But they missed several red zone opportunities, with kicker Kevin Robledo getting four field goal opportunities in the first half.\n\nXavier Jones had three touchdowns - his role mostly serving as a drive-finisher. Especially after Buechele struggled in the red zone early, SMU ended up going to Jones later on.\n\n\u201cHe had a great game,\u201d Buechele said of Roberson Jr. \u201cWe game-planned for it. It was just good for us to keep going, and distribute the ball to him. He did great things with the ball in his hands.\u201d\n\nArkansas State scored the first two touchdowns of the second half to get a one-touchdown lead. Then C.J. Sanders immediately returned the kickoff for an SMU touchdown. A missed PAT kept the deficit at one point.\n\nSMU scored on the next drive, with Jones punching in a one-yard conversion. That put the Mustangs up for good.\n\nThe sheer number of opportunities for SMU outweighed its inability to convert on a great number of them. In the end, SMU scored 37 points but could have had a lot more.\n\n\u201cI just feel like it was the first game, you know,\u201d Roberson Jr. said. \u201cThe first game is not gonna be great. As long as we get the dub, we\u2019re gonna go into practice tomorrow, and just coach it up.\u201d\n\nAfter getting the lead, SMU waited with anxiety as true freshman WR Keke Burns went down with an injury, and was later taken off on a stretcher and to an ambulance. The postgame prognosis from Sonny Dykes was optimistic, and he had been moving around.\n\nThe Mustangs would go up by two touchdowns, after Jones ran it in unimpeded from five yards out. With all the momentum, SMU nearly gave it away.\n\nArkansas State made a run, and had a drive with two minutes left with a chance to tie the game, but the Mustangs defense locked down when it mattered. With the ball on the 19-yard-line, ASU QB Logan Bonner took a sack and fumble to end the game.\n\nThe Mustangs got what they came for in Jonesboro. They set the tone for the season. They got a road win against a winning program. They showed they're the program they\u2019ve been advertising throughout the offseason.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s certainly a step,\u201d Dykes said. \u201cAnytime you win on the road, it\u2019s a step. That\u2019s a hard thing to do, especially as an underdog. I think it\u2019s a step. I think we\u2019ve got to keep taking steps.\""}
-{"text": "Ed, you\u2019re not helping. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images\n\nThe sexual assault allegation against Brett Kavanaugh has put Republicans in quite the jam. On the one hand, they think failing to put Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court in the next few weeks will hurt them in the midterms, and maybe even prevent them from putting another conservative on the Court. On the other hand, it\u2019s no longer acceptable to dismiss women alleging sexual misconduct as \u201ca little bit nutty and a little bit slutty.\u201d\n\nA few more moderate Republican senators successfully pushed to let Christine Blasey Ford testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, while rejecting her request for an FBI investigation into her allegation. Meanwhile, Kavanaugh backers have already come up with a theory that exonerates him, without calling Ford a liar. Earlier this week, Senator Orrin Hatch said Kavanaugh told him \u201che didn\u2019t do that, and he wasn\u2019t at the party,\u201d so clearly Ford must be \u201cmistaken.\u201d The same possibility of mistaken identity was floated by The Wall Street Journal editorial board, and by the Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker, who mused, \u201cCould there be a Kavanaugh doppelganger?\u201d\n\nEd Whelan, a former law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia and the president of a think tank called the Ethics and Public Policy Center, took this theory to a new, wildly irresponsible place on Thursday night, actually identifying a classmate of Kavanaugh\u2019s at Georgetown Prep, and suggesting that he, not the future judge, might have attempted to rape Ford.\n\nThe tweetstorm showed the results of Whelan\u2019s internet sleuthing. The supposed evidence (which we are not embedding because there\u2019s no reason to think the classmate was actually involved) includes:\n\n\u2022 A Google map of where Ford, Kavanaugh, and other alleged witnesses lived when they were in high school.\n\n\u2022 Real estate photos of the home where Whelan thinks the incident might have occurred, based on Ford saying the house was \u201cnot far from\u201d the Columbia Country Club.\n\n\u2022 A floor plan that shows that the upstairs bathroom is across from a bedroom in this house, just like Ford described.\n\n\u2022 And finally, the big reveal: 35 years ago, this was the home of a Georgetown Prep student who looks kind of like Kavanaugh and was also friends with Mark Judge (who was allegedly present during the assault). Yearbook photos and a current photo of the classmate are provided for comparison to Kavanaugh.\n\nAs Twitter users discussed the irony of the head of the Ethics and Public Policy Center possibly being sued for defamation, Whelan added a disclaimer:\n\nTo be clear, I have no idea what, if anything, did or did not happen in that bedroom at the top of the stairs, and I therefore do not state, imply or insinuate that Garrett or anyone else committed the sexual assault that Ford alleges. \u2014 Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC) September 20, 2018\n\nFord quickly issued a statement dismissing the theory. She said of Kavanaugh and the classmate, \u201cI knew them both, and socialized with\u201d them. She said she\u2019d visited the other classmate in the hospital, so \u201cthere is zero chance that I would confuse them.\u201d\n\nWhelan is friends with both Kavanaugh and Leonard Leo, the Federalist Society executive director who is advising the White House on the nominee. Whelan has become one of the judge\u2019s most prominent defenders, and he\u2019s reportedly advising on Kavanaugh\u2019s confirmation effort as well. Earlier in the week he teased that he had information that would clear Kavanaugh\u2019s name.\n\nBy one week from today, I expect that Judge Kavanaugh will have been clearly vindicated on this matter. Specifically, I expect that compelling evidence will show his categorical denial to be truthful. There will be no cloud over him. \u2014 Ed Whelan (@EdWhelan123) September 18, 2018\n\nSenator Feinstein will soon be apologizing to Judge Kavanaugh. https://t.co/FeeuDmQNz1 \u2014 Ed Whelan (@EdWhelan123) September 18, 2018\n\nPolitico reported on Tuesday that Whelan had told at least three associates that his confidence in his assertions is \u201cclose to 100 percent.\u201d His claims reportedly sparked \u201cintense speculation\u201d among conservatives and even White House aides.\n\nBut Whelan\u2019s claim is the only one being taken seriously by conservatives, including several close to Kavanaugh, who were tantalized by his assertions, given his decadeslong friendship with Kavanaugh and close involvement with the nomination process. A graduate of Harvard Law School who served as a law clerk to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, and a blogger on legal issues for National Review Online, he has worked alongside Federalist Society executive director Leonard Leo advising the White House on judicial nominations.\n\n\u201cEd Whelan is the model of careful, discerning legal analysis and commentary. It\u2019s why all of us who know him take everything he says and writes so seriously,\u201d said Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review, where Whelan writes on judicial issues.\n\nAs of late Thursday night, Whelan had not backed off from his assertions. He did not respond to requests for comment from the Washington Post, but retweeted a jab at Ford\u2019s attorney.\n\nLEAKED: @DebraKatzKMB has released her demands for the composition of the panel for next week's #KavanaughConfirmationHearing: pic.twitter.com/uMwogF0HOj \u2014 ConfirmKavanaugh (@confirmkav) September 21, 2018\n\nThe Post reported that top Republicans tried to distance themselves from Whelan after his tweetstorm flopped:\n\nRepublicans on Capitol Hill and White House officials immediately sought to distance themselves from Whelan\u2019s claims and said they were not aware of his plans to identify the former classmate, now a middle school teacher, who could not be reached for comment and did not answer the door at his house Thursday night.\n\nGarrett Ventry, communications adviser for the Senate Judiciary Committee, tweeted that they had no involvement:\n\nTo reporters asking: The Senate Judiciary Committee had no knowledge or involvement. https://t.co/MBmqrwMyp5 \u2014 Garrett Ventry (@GarrettVentry) September 20, 2018\n\nEven right-wing outlets from Hot Air to the Washington Examiner dismissed the theory and said Whelan was wrong to identify the classmate. \u201cIt is inconceivable that this Whelan defense will help Kavanaugh in any way. In fact, it\u2019s so nasty and desperate-seeming that it taints Kavanaugh, despite that fact that he might have had nothing to do with it,\u201d wrote The American Conservative\u2019s Rod Dreher.\n\nHowever, it appears Republicans haven\u2019t ruled out the mistaken identity defense entirely. Per the Post:\n\nKavanaugh and his allies have been privately discussing a defense that would not question whether an incident involving Ford happened, but instead would raise doubts that the attacker was Kavanaugh, according to a person familiar with the discussions.\n\nWhelan concluded his Twitter thread by saying it\u2019s unfortunate that the classmate is being drawn into the controversy, blaming Senator Dianne Feinstein for his decision to tweet out the man\u2019s name, photo, and former address.\n\nIt is regrettable that private citizens are being drawn into this. But that is the product of Senator Feinstein\u2019s shockingly shoddy handling of the whole matter. \u2014 Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC) September 20, 2018\n\nIf the matter had been handled as it should have been, the Committee would have investigated the matter over the summer and resolved it privately to everyone\u2019s satisfaction without the smearing of Kavanaugh and the dragging of the names of others into the public eye. \u2014 Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC) September 20, 2018\n\nBottom line: I believe that a fair assessment of this evidence powerfully supports Judge Kavanaugh\u2019s categorical denial. \u2014 Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC) September 20, 2018\n\nObviously, conducting a \u201cfair assessment of this evidence\u201d shouldn\u2019t involve one of Kavanaugh\u2019s friends consulting Google, then posting his findings in an incendiary Twitter thread; it\u2019s a job for law enforcement. All Whelan did was vividly illustrate why Republicans are wrong to reject Ford\u2019s call for an FBI investigation prior to her testimony."}
-{"text": "HONG KONG: China rejected on Tuesday (Aug 13) what it called a \"wrongful statement\" on Hong Kong by United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, saying it amounted to interference in its domestic affairs and sent \"the wrong signal to violent criminal offenders\".\n\nEarlier, Bachelet had urged Hong Kong to exercise restraint and investigate evidence of its forces firing tear gas at protesters in ways banned by international law.\n\n\n\nChina's mission to the UN in Geneva said in a statement that Hong Kong protesters had smashed public facilities, paralysed the airport, blocked public transport and used lethal weapons, \"showing a tendency of resorting to terrorism\".\n\n\"The Chinese central government firmly supports Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and the HK SAR government in discharging their duties in compliance with the law and supports the Hong Kong police force and judicial organs in enforcing the law decisively,\" it said.\n\n\n\nProtesters clashed with police at Hong Kong's international airport on Tuesday as flights were disrupted for a second day.\n\n\n\nThe scuffles broke out in the evening between police and protesters, after an injured person was taken out of the main terminal by medics.\n\n\n\nHundreds of flights were cancelled or suspended on Tuesday as demonstrations at the aviation hub entered a fifth day.\n\n"}
-{"text": "I just came home from work to so much happiness in a tiny little box! My redditor totally read everything I put in my description and fulfilled my every wish. Check out my awesome hipster glasses (yes, I look like a complete tool--mission accomplished), sour gummy worm(s), Doctor Who/Back to the Future tshirt, and my skullcandy earbuds, which I'm currently using as earplugs to block out the Bjork my boyfriend is playing."}
-{"text": "Tracy Loew\n\nStatesman Journal\n\nFederal environmental regulators penalized eight Oregon facilities, including Pacific Coast Seafood, Oregon State University, and two Stayton gas stations, during the first three months of 2016.\n\nViolations of environmental laws put public health and the environment at risk, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in a news release Tuesday.\n\nThe facilities cited were:\n\nOregon State University, Corvallis: $275,000 for violating hazardous waste management rules.\n\nOregon Ice Cream, LLC, Eugene: $55,000 for violating risk management program requirements.\n\nPortland General Electric Beaver Generating Plant, Clatskanie: $2,025 for violating spill prevention and control rules.\n\nPacific Coast Seafood Company, Warrenton: $1,925 for violating spill prevention and control rules.\n\nStayton Arco AM/PM, Stayton: $420 for violating underground storage tank rules.\n\nStayton Texaco, Stayton: $420 for violating underground storage tank rules.\n\nBureau of Indian Affairs Roads Department \u2013 Warm Springs, Madras: $420 for violating underground storage tank rules.\n\nWarm Springs Forest Products Industries, Warm Springs: Administrative compliance order, for allowing its federal water pollution permit to expire.\n\n\u201cEPA enforces federal environmental laws to protect communities and to keep our air, land, and water healthy,\u201d the agency said in its release. \u201cThese compliance and enforcement efforts also level the playing field by deterring violators who might otherwise have an unfair business advantage over environmentally compliant facilities and businesses.\u201d\n\ntloew@statesmanjournal.com, 503-399-6779 or follow at Twitter.com/Tracy_Loew\n\nOSU pays $275,000 to settle hazardous waste violations\n\nEPA does not plan further investigation\n\nMedical waste could mean cash for Marion County"}
-{"text": "5 Comments\n\n11 Most Expensive Toll Roads in America\n\nTypically used to fund the construction of new roadways\u2014and to maintain old ones\u2014toll roads are a necessary evil. Though there are still 22 states that don\u2019t collect tolls, there are plenty throughout the country that can really put a dent in your wallet. The next time you find yourself driving around the country, make sure you avoid these 11 most expensive toll roads in America.\n\n[wptab name=\u201dNew Jersey Turnpike\u201d]\n\n11. New Jersey Turnpike: 11.4 cents per mile\n\nStretching from the George Washington Bridge just outside of New York to I-295 near the Delaware Memorial Bridge, the New Jersey Turnpike easily earns a spot on this list. While the cost per toll varies based on the closed billing system, it typically costs 11.4 cents per mile on this 122-mile road.\n\n[/wptab]\n\n[wptab name=\u201dFlorida State Road 417\u2033]\n\n10. Florida State Road 417: 14.3 cents per mile\n\nThe Florida State Road is 54 miles of roadway between two different parts of I-4. This road stretches from Celebration in the south to Sanford in the north, making it a popular destination for tourists heading to Orlando. While it is convenient, it can cost up to a total toll of $7.75 for the route.\n\n[/wptab]\n\n[wptab name=\u201dTriangle Expressway\u201d]\n\n9. Triangle Expressway (Raleigh): 14.5 cents per mile\n\nRaleigh and Durham are linked by the Triangle Expressway, making it easier for people to move from one city to the next. This ease comes at a cost, though. While it is only 19 miles long, it costs 14.5 cents per mile to go through, making the trip between the two cities quite expensive.\n\n[/wptab]\n\n[wptab name=\u201dTexas State Highway 130\u2033]\n\n8. Texas State Highway 130: 14.6 cents per mile\n\nKnown for having the fastest speed limit in the United States, the Texas State Highway 130 is also one of the most expensive toll roads in America. Linking San Antonia with Austin, this 41-mile segment of highway costs around $6 if you use the entire road, which is the equivalent of 14.6 cents per mile.\n\n[/wptab]\n\n[wptab name=\u201dSR-73\u2033]\n\n7. SR-73 (Orange County, California): 25 cents per mile\n\nBetween San Juan Capistrano and San Joaquin Hills in Orange County lies SR-73. This 12-mile toll stretch can change costs based on the exit you use. For those who leave the highway at the El Toro/Laguna Canyon Road exit it costs $3, while those that leave at the Bonita Canyon Drive exit only have to pay $1.75.\n\n[/wptab]\n\n[wptab name=\u201dE-470\u2033]\n\n6. E-470 (Denver): 33 cents per mile\n\nOver the 47 miles of the E-470, there are five different toll plazas you must pass through. Each of these plazas costs $3, making it very costly to travel on this road. If you go through the entire highway, you will spend around 33 cents per mile.\n\n[/wptab]\n\n[wptab name=\u201dDelaware Turnpike\u201d]\n\n5. Delaware Turnpike: 36 cents per mile\n\nThe Delaware Turnpike stretches 11 miles between Baltimore and Philadelphia, connecting the two major cities. To get onto the road, it costs $4 alone, while the cost to drive on it has increased due to a variety of renovations and repairs, easily making it one of the most expensive toll roads in America.\n\n[/wptab]\n\n[wptab name=\u201dChicago Skyway\u201d]\n\n4. Chicago Skyway: 51.2 cents per mile\n\nLocated near the Windy City, the Chicago Skyway connects the Illinois\u2019s I-90 with the Indiana Tollway. Only 7.5 miles in length, it costs $4 to get onto this toll road. The cost of this toll road is much higher than other tolls in the area, which average about 75 cents to get onto.\n\n[/wptab]\n\n[wptab name=\u201dFort Bend Parkway\u201d]\n\n3. Fort Bend Parkway (Houston): 53.3 cents per mile\n\nBeginning in Sugar Land, Texas, a suburb of Houston, the Fort Bend Parkway stretches for 7.5 miles and costs about $4 to get on, increasing in cost as you go. The road is a commonly used way of getting to the Sam Houston Tollway, which is a larger road that circles downtown Houston.\n\n[/wptab]\n\n[wptab name=\u201d17-Mile Drive\u201d]\n\n2. 17-Mile Drive (California): 54.4 cents per mile\n\nLeading the list of the most expensive toll roads in America is 17-Mile Drive in California. Located on the Monterey Peninsula, linking Pacific Grove with Pebble Beach, this road costs $9.25 for a single car to enter. Though there aren\u2019t any tolls in between the exit and entrance of the road, this fee alone has earned 17-Mile Drive the title of the most expensive toll road.\n\n[/wptab]\n\n[wptab name=\u201dChesapeake Expressway\u201d]\n\n1. Chesapeake Expressway (Virginia): $1.05 per mile\n\nFor a weekend drive along this convenient byway during peak season (during daylight between Memorial Day and Labor Day), a simple 7.65-mile stretch can cost you $8-$9 in cash, depending on the number of vehicle axles. That easily makes it the most expensive toll road on the East Coast, and possibly the country.\n\nThe next time you find yourself on a road trip, make sure you keep an eye out\u2014and your wallets open\u2014for the most expensive toll roads in America.\n\n[/wptab]\n\n[end_wptabset]"}
-{"text": "(CNN) On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump promised to take a blowtorch and pliers to the Washington political establishment.\n\nBut three weeks into his presidency, he has been repeatedly disarmed and frustrated by partisan opponents and the machinery of a government designed to check his power.\n\nIt hasn't been for a lack of trying. Trump over his first 21 days in office has issued a barrage of executive actions aimed at delivering on a range of policy pledges -- including many of his most aggressive and controversial. But the January 27 travel ban has become a millstone on the neck of a young administration that has spent the last two weeks digging deeper into a legal battle that now seems destined for the Supreme Court.\n\nMuch of the emerging image of dysfunction has been painted by Trump's own staff. The calls are coming from inside the White House -- and they are going to reporters , who have been flooded with accounts of a frenetic and angry president, who bounces from political frustration to personal grudge -- often in his bathrobe , according to a New York Times account disputed by the White House -- in the space of a few minutes.\n\nNow, with the foot soldiers of his Republican majority under siege in their home districts , the blustering outsider who chalked up his predecessors' failures to their lack of will or guile, is seeing his own challenged daily.\n\nA growing barrier to 'The Wall'\n\n\"I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I'll build them very inexpensively,\" Trump said during his June 2015 campaign kick-off. \"I will build a great great wall on our southern border and I'll have Mexico pay for that wall.\"\n\nTrump's promise to build a wall on the southern border was a consistent crowd-pleaser during the campaign. Congressional Republicans have vowed to finance its construction, but have been short on the how and when details.\n\nHis guarantee that the Mexican government would foot the bill, which could, according a Reuters report out Thursday, cost more than $20 billion, had been one of the pitch's key selling point. But their president, under pressure at home, has balked and dismissed it out of hand. When the White House floated a 20% tariff on Mexican imports to cover the upfront costs, there was a rare bipartisan meltdown and the trial balloon was quickly deflated.\n\nRepeal and replace Obamacare with ... what?\n\n\"Something terrific,\" Trump said during a July 2015 interview with CNN's Dana Bash , who asked what he would push in place of Obamacare.\n\nPressed to provide a bit more detail, Trump advocated for allowing people to buy insurance across state lines. But that carries concerns for critics from both sides of the aisle.\n\nIt's been more than 18 months since that conversation -- and nearly seven years since President Barack Obama signed and Affordable Care Act into law -- but Trump and Republicans do not yet have a viable replacement to shop. In a Sunday interview with Fox News, the President called the process \"very complicated\" and suggested it could last into 2018 -- a midterm election year.\n\nAnd with demonstrators flooding town hall meetings to rail against Republicans' health care plan, or a convincing lack thereof, full repeal seems a long ways off.\n\nSeriously urge everyone to watch this entire question from a woman at GOP #Obamacare townhall in Tennessee: pic.twitter.com/8mBGE1z6Rj \u2014 MJ Lee (@mj_lee) February 10, 2017\n\nSome doubts on the homefront\n\nA little more than a week before his inauguration, Trump declared at a wild press conference in New York that \"Russia, China, Japan, Mexico, all countries will respect us far more, far more than they do under past administrations.\"\n\nJUST WATCHED Watch the entire Donald Trump news conference Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Watch the entire Donald Trump news conference 56:51\n\nTrump during his campaign, and after being elected, asserted over and again the US, mostly because of Obama, had been diminished in the eyes of the world. He pledged to reverse that and restore those purported losses.\n\nWhile it's unclear exactly how outsiders' views of the US have shifted over the past three weeks, Gallup found that only 29% Americans believe \"other countries around the world have respect for the president.\" Two-thirds of respondents said they did not.\n\nHere's how those numbers stack up against Presidents Obama and George W. Bush at similar stages of their first terms:\n\nTravel ban and a reckoning with the courts\n\nThe executive order, which also paused the US refugee program and halted the entry of Syrian refugees indefinitely, set off mass protests around the country. Within 24 hours, judges were hearing arguments against it. Now, after seeing it blocked in multiple venues, Trump will have to decide if he wants a Supreme Court showdown or to go back to the drawing board.\n\nJUST WATCHED Trump hints at new security measures Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump hints at new security measures 00:54\n\nOn Friday, he signaled both options remained on the table. And more pointedly, doubled down on his argument in favor of some kind of ban.\n\n\"There are tremendous threats to our country,\" he said during a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, eschewing specifics but suggesting that he, as President, was privy to information that would shake the broader public.\n\nHowever it plays out, what's clear now is that Trump's December 2015 announcement \"calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on\" is a long way off -- and even more measured versions have significant challenges ahead.\n\nSanctuary cities no harbor for Trump's policies\n\nIn another early executive action, Trump signed an order seeking to \"ensure that jurisdictions that fail to comply with applicable Federal law do not receive Federal funds, except as mandated by law.\"\n\nDelivered days before the travel ban, this too set off an avalanche of protest, both in the streets and among mostly Democratic leaders in major urban centers like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Smaller cities like New Haven, Connecticut, and Austin, Texas, have also threatened to fight back in court.\n\nJUST WATCHED Mayors fight Trump's sanctuary city order Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Mayors fight Trump's sanctuary city order 02:03\n\nAnd in an ironic twist, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (among others) pointed to a 2012 Supreme Court case to explain why they're so confident. The ruling in NFIB vs. Sebelius , which allowed states to reject Medicaid expansion without the threat of losing pre-existing funds, set a precedent Trump's opponents say will prevent him from using federal money as a tool to coerce local governments.\n\nIn the private dealings of his family business, Trump's decision-making went unquestioned -- at least publicly. But the presidency is ruled by a different calculus, one its new resident, three weeks into his four year term, is struggling to command."}
-{"text": "Two papers published in Nature this week call into doubt recent predictions of imminent Antarctic ice sheet collapse. They are led by King\u2019s College London and Victoria University of Wellington, and involve colleagues from across the US, Canada, UK and Europe, including the University of Bristol.\n\nThe first paper suggests that sustained collapse of Antarctic ice-cliffs into the ocean, caused by rising global temperatures and melting ice shelves, may not have a large impact on sea level rise. This means that high-profile and controversial predictions from 2016, which claimed that this type of cliff collapse could add more than a metre to rising seas by 2100, may be substantially over-estimated.\n\nDr Tamsin Edwards, Lecturer in Physical Geography at King\u2019s College London, who led the work, explains: \u201cUnstable ice-cliffs in Antarctica were proposed as a cause of unstoppable collapse of large parts of the ice sheet in the past. They were, therefore, also predicted to cause rapidly rising seas with global warming in our near future. But we\u2019ve re-analysed the data and found this isn\u2019t the case.\u201d\n\nBy looking at ice losses three-million-years ago, 125,000 years ago, and over the last 25 years in more detail, the team show that unstable ice-cliff collapses aren\u2019t needed to reproduce sea level rises in the past. When they remove this proposed mechanism from the model, they predict that there is only a five percent chance that the Antarctic contribution to sea level rise will exceed 39 cm by 2100 - much lower than the previous predictions of over a metre.\n\nDr Edwards added: \u201cWe\u2019ve shown that ice-cliff instability doesn\u2019t appear to be an essential mechanism in reproducing past sea level changes and so this suggests \u2018the jury\u2019s still out\u2019 when it comes to including it in future predictions. Even if we do include ice-cliff instability, our more thorough assessment shows that the most likely contribution to sea level rise would be less than half a metre by 2100.\u201d\n\nProfessor Tony Payne, a co-author on the paper and professor in Bristol\u2019s School of Geographical Sciences, commented: \u201cThis is a significant step forward in efforts to reconcile recent estimates of future sea level rise and will of great use in the upcoming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment of the impacts of future climate change.\n\n\u201cIt is also a useful reminder of the caution required in using geological data to constrain future sea level rise.\u201d\n\nIn a second paper, led by Associate Professor Nick Golledge from Victoria University of Wellington, they show that current climate models do not consider the full effect of melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. Overall, both papers agree that the most likely Antarctic contribution to sea level rise will be around 14 \u2013 15 centimetres under conditions of very high greenhouse gas concentrations."}
-{"text": "A parade of half-naked hipsters dressed like Jesus, a six-foot tinfoil-fitted robot dancing to techno music, a grandfather hula-hooping in a leopard man-thong: these are the characters who inhabit Dolores Park. On any given sunny weekend in San Francisco, 10,000 people flock to the palm-laden park in the Mission.\n\nIn the last decade, Dolores has morphed into a minimally-regulated free space: vendors peddle goods, drug dealers conspicuously sling product, and Mission denizens fearlessly sip PBR tall boys in public. On the last Sunday of every month, the park embraces its free spirit attitude by hosting the Really Really Free Market, where \u201cnothing is bought and nothing is sold.\u201d People bring all kinds of free stuff -- from highchairs to titanic-sized sweatpants that have seen better days -- and take what they need.\n\nHow did Dolores Park evolve into the city\u2019s reigning symbol of Laissez-faire transaction, and do vendors and citizens really enjoy unregulated privileges within the park\u2019s confines? How do these vendors fare on a nice day?\n\nCemetery to Fixie Paradise: History of Dolores Park\n\nHipster Hill has a history even deeper than your v-neck. Inhabited by Ohlone indians for several centuries, the land was split when the Spanish arrived in 1776 and set up Mission San Francisco Dolores. Spanish ranchers and Ohlones shared the space rather peacefully until the Gold Rush in 1849. Settlers, gamblers, tavern keepers, and a hodgepodge of degenerates then set up camp and overtook the majority of the park\u2019s current day land. In the same year, a city survey was conducted, revealing that only four parks existed within San Francisco: Portsmouth, Union, Washington, and Columbia.\n\nIn 1861, Congregation Sherith Israel purchased the space and used it as a Jewish cemetery; over 1,900 bodies were buried there before it became defunct in 1894. A 1939 article from the San Francisco Chronicle includes a resident\u2019s recollection of what Dolores Park\u2019s current-day land looked like after being neglected for a number of years:\n\n\"Time, weather and vandals assumed control, weeds choked the gravel paths, over-ran the graves. Tombstones fell. Ornaments, such as brooding angels became bedraggled -- wings, arms, and legs missing.\"\n\nDuring the late 19th century, cemeteries were the only large-scale outdoor spaces in San Francisco, and served as parks; people would picnic, play catch, and generally spend the day carousing among tombstones. But following the development of Central Park in New York, the City of San Francisco began to reconsider its need for urban parks. Late 1897 saw the organization of the Mission Park Association, a group with the goal of securing a major park space in the Mission. In 1905, after years of lobbying, the association convinced the the City of San Francisco to purchase Congregation Sherith Israel\u2019s land for $293,000 ($7.7MM in 2013 dollars), and declared the goal of creating \u201cone of the most beautiful parks to adorn San Francisco.\u201d The bodies were exhumed and moved to Colma, south of the city\u2019s boundaries.\n\nBarnum and Bailey Circus, the world\u2019s most famous act at the time, agreed to dump hundreds of pounds of clay and sand to level a portion of the park\u2019s land in exchange for use of the space for a few months to perform their new act. An article from the San Francisco Call in 1905 laid out plans for the new space:\n\n\u201cThe park will contain a miniature lake 300 by 50 feet, so constructed that children can wade in it in warm weather. A magnificent stone stairway will lead down to the water from Church and Twentieth streets. On one end of the park a 12-lap cinder track will be laid, and inside the circle made by it will be erected an outdoor gymnasium. There will be two tennis courts in the grounds and two baseball grounds. A large bowling green will be laid out in the other section...The garden effect will be semi-tropical and the entire park stocked with broadleaf plants. A row of palms will border the entire square and an avenue of trees will be planted along the inner edges.\u201d\n\nBut in 1906, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake destroyed 80% of San Francisco, and a string of fires broke out that lasted nearly a week and killed over 3,000 people. Dolores Park was converted into a refugee camp, and remained one until 1908. According to a historic evaluation of the park, the camp included \u201c512 three-room houses for 1,600 refugees\u201d and cost the city $74,000; the displaced paid rent to stay there.\n\nIn 1908, construction on the park resumed with vigor. The city\u2019s 1910 Annual Report described the progress that had been made just two years later:\n\n\u201cThere are terraces, two tennis courts, a wading pool and an athletic field. Grassy borders, shade trees, groups of palms and flowering shrubs, render the grounds attractive. The expectations of the founders of the Park have been met.\u201d\n\nThe reported cost for the tennis courts was $1,018; the pool was $127.50. In total, the report lists $1,820 in in total renovation costs for the park up to 1910.\n\nImprovements continued through the 1920s and 1930s, but stagnated during the Great Depression and World War II, given the wartime shortage of materials and labor.In the years following the war, an influx of Latin American immigrants settled in the Mission and Dolores Park became a cultural hotspot for the community, but the landscape remained largely unchanged, save for a few additions: in 1966, a replica of the Mexican Liberty Bell was installed in the park; in 2009, a new playground was installed.\n\nWhile the 1960s are often cited for the open use of drugs in Dolores park, it wasn\u2019t until the 1990s that drug dealing became pandemic; with it, a free market sprung up in the park -- and not just for drugs.\n\nA Laissez-faire Zone for Vendors?\n\nToday, Dolores park seems to be a paradigm of free-market capitalism. Vendors roam openly beneath Mexican fan palms, selling goods to the needy masses. For weed smokers and PBR drinkers, Dolores is the Elysian Fields; police presence is sparse and the goods are plentiful. But since the inauguration of the park\u2019s new playground, surrounding communities have lobbied for a more family-friendly park, and there has been more of a concerted effort to curb illegal distribution. While some vendors have continued business as usual, other have been cited and ceased.\n\nThe \u201cTruffle Guy\u201d is among the lucky: he is unquestionably a Dolores Park staple. Toting a trademark straw hat, and an array of copper pots, he\u2019s gained a cult following as a (supposed) weed chocolatier. His golf-ball-sized treats come in six flavors -- coconut, espresso, cinnamon, ginger, pecan, and mocha -- and you can buy three for $10 (or seven for $20); he says \u201cone is usually enough for the average person.\u201d\n\nAlso known as \u201cTrevor,\u201d he is itinerant, and has an unpredictable schedule; some weekends, he\u2019s out in full force, and other weekends, he\u2019s nowhere to be seen. But on the days he ventures out, he does well for himself. A source who claims to know Trevor well tells us the chocolate prince sells 120 truffles making his rounds on a good day, securing $400-500 in revenue.\n\nHis fan-produced Yelp page (that\u2019s right, he actually has a Yelp page) boasts 64 reviews, and a 4.5 star average rating -- higher (figuratively, and literally) than some Michelin rated restaurants. His business was hilariously placed on Google Maps, and he\u2019s even been eternalized on a t-shirt. Online, buyers furiously debate whether or not his products are actually \u201cenhanced.\u201d One user claims, \u201chalf an hour in, I tripped so hard I ripped my pants; \u201d another contests, \u201ctotal duds...where\u2019s the beef?\u201d\n\nThe Truffle Guy has many competitors, including local gangs who sling in the park, and the \u201cGanja Treat Man.\u201d \u201cHave no fear, the real ganja man is here!\u201d was a sales call commonly heard in Dolores until the Ganja Man was arrested and cited in 2012. Witnesses say they saw plainclothes cops stop the vendor, question him, and take him away in cuffs, his skull-embossed wizard cane in tow.\n\nTailing the Truffle Guy, and cashing in on weed-induced munchies, is the \u201cCostco Pizza Man.\u201d He merely buys four Costco pizzas for $9.95 a pop, and sells them for $4 per slice. Accounting for his $40 overhead, with ten slices per pizza, the Costco Pizza Man makes away with a quick $120 profit over an hour or two (his slices tend to sell quickly). Rumor has it that before he slung pizza, he sold beer out of paper bags; after being warned by police, he changed his business model.\n\nSelling beer in Dolores is certainly not a novel idea. For years, a man named James, more lovingly known as \u201cCold Beer, Cold Water,\u201d sold -- you guessed it -- cold beer, and cold water. Known for distributing PBR for a mark up (two cans for $5), CBCW often filled his small cooler with three 12-packs (purchased for $15 each at a corner store), and sold out within 20 minutes. He\u2019d then return and repeat the cycle. Over a few hours, he would make $200-300, according to Uptown Almanac.\n\nCBCW was arrested in 2012 during a crackdown, and was ordered to no longer sell beer. The police allowed him to continue selling water bottles, but his profits dwindled almost entirely.\n\n\u201cHey Cookie!\u201d is a goddess among baked-goods connoisseurs. Pigtailed, and wearing any of her 25 milkmaid-esque dresses, she circulates Dolores Park on the weekends, selling an amalgam of (non-laced) cookies. She says \u201csome people are put off to be offered a non-medicinal treat in the park,\u201d but she\u2019s thrived. With a long list of treats -- paleo coconut cups, gluten-free rich chocolate morsels, snickerdoodles, vegan mexican wedding cookies -- she\u2019s risen the ranks of Dolores street vendors. While she hesitates to discuss profit, she has accrued regular business outside of the park\u2019s confines, often selling at local bars, and companies (Apple, Twitter, and Ubisoft included).\n\nAnother treat, paletas (Mexican ice cream bars), are plentiful in the park, but one man, \u201cHector,\u201d says he has an edge over competing vendors: he\u2019s been selling his coconut-flavored bars in Dolores Park since 1990. Over nearly twenty-five years, he\u2019s learned the hot spots and has developed a natural intuition for seeking out high-demand environments. He doesn\u2019t solely sell his pops in Dolores, but says that \u201con a good weather Saturday, it\u2019s the best place to make money.\u201d\n\nWhen he first began, Hector purchased them wholesale from Delicias de Jalisco for $0.42 each, and he\u2019d sell between 75 and 100 fruit bars a day, at $0.75 each, netting him about $30 on an average day. Things haven\u2019t gotten much better over the years. Today, he gets his bars from La Michocana at $0.65 a piece, and turns each one over for $1.50; on a good day in Dolores, he sells 100 bars and brings in $68.\n\nBut popsicle sales are especially dependent on good weather and on mildly rainy, windy, or otherwise chilly days in the park, Hector's sales drastically decline. When the weather is bad enough to keep hacky-sacking hipsters indoors, Hector doesn\u2019t even bother selling for the day. It\u2019s a tough life -- the hours are brutally long, he\u2019s on his feet all day, and his makeshift cart creaks and wobbles like a 90-year-old\u2019s knee cap -- but he persists, and chips away at making an honest living.\n\nConclusion\n\nWith Dolores Park slated for a $12.4 million renovation in 2014, we wonder how a half-closed park will affect foot traffic, the vendors who rely on extra weekend income, and the enforcement of park laws.\n\nYou\u2019d never know it from experiencing a Saturday in Dolores Park, but there exists a tireless set of park rules and regulations in the San Francisco Municipal Code. Smoking is prohibited, public drinking is prohibited, and vending food and/or alcohol is strictly defined as illegal. Add to the mix city violations -- drinking in public, peddling without a permit, marijuana possession (albeit the lowest priority of the SFPD) -- and it\u2019s a wonder that Dolores Park continues to function as it does.\n\nSeveral crackdown efforts have been made. In 2012, 17 citations were handed out to vendors in just a two-month span; in 2013, the city imposed a curfew on hanging out in Dolores park, and closed it between the hours of 10 PM and 6 AM. But still, laws of any sort seem to be very sparsely enforced: hipsters continue to drink, stoners continue to blaze, and vendors continue to sell goods, largely without any hassle from the police.\n\nSo, is Dolores Park truly a free market economy? Not entirely -- but it\u2019s probably as close as you can get in San Francisco. The forces of supply and demand are minimally impacted by laws and regulations; goods are sold at freely set prices, adjusted based on desirability. The vendors are more often at the mercy of sunny skies and generous crowds than legislation and police. By most accounts, Dolores is a capitalist\u2019s utopia, and both the vendors and their clientele intend to keep it that way.\n\nThis post was written by Zachary Crockett. Follow him on Twitter here, or Google Plus here."}
-{"text": "A ransomware infection has crippled the US network of one of the world's largest shipping giants \u2014COSCO (China Ocean Shipping Company).\n\n\"Due to local network breakdown within our America regions, local email and network telephone cannot work properly at the moment,\" said the company in a press release. \"For safety precautions, we have shut down the connections with other regions for further investigations.\"\n\nBut while the company described the incident as a \"network breakdown,\" according to internal emails seen by several maritime news sites [1, 2], the company referred to the incident as a ransomware infection.\n\nCOSCO warns employees not to open suspicious emails\n\nCOSCO warned employees in other regions not to open \"suspicious emails\" and urged its IT staff to perform a sweep of internal networks with antivirus software.\n\nThe type of ransomware that infected the company's network is still unknown. COSCO did not respond to multiple requests for comment sent by Bleeping Computer.\n\nThe incident took place on Tuesday, July 24, but today, the company's American Region IT infrastructure was still down, including email servers and telephone network, according to a Facebook post. The company's US website was also down and was still down at the time of this article's publication.\n\nThe company's US employees have resorted to using public Yahoo email accounts to answering customer problems reported via social media.\n\nIncident not as big as Maersk's NotPetya problems\n\nCOSCO is the world's fourth-largest maritime shipping company. A.P. M\u00f8ller-Maersk, the world's largest shipping firm, also suffered a ransomware infection last year when it was one of the NotPetya ransomware outbreak's largest victims.\n\nSpeaking at a panel on securing the future of cyberspace at the World Economic Forum held in January in Davos, Switzerland, Maersk's CEO said the company's engineers had to reinstall over 4,000 servers, 45,000 PCs, and 2500 applications over the course of ten days in late June and early July 2017, following the NotPetya outbreak.\n\nThe COSCO incident is much smaller in size and nature compared to Maersk's NotPetya troubles. Some of Maersk's shipments were trapped in some ports because of NotPetya, something that doesn't seem to have happened to COSCO, according to current reports."}
-{"text": "I wanted him to watch a movie with me he said he was busy watching six\n\n117 shares"}
-{"text": "Jans Aasman is CEO of Franz Inc. He recently took time to talk to Dr. Dobb's about Lisp and other subjects.\n\nDr. Dobb's: Jans, when I hear \"Franz\" I can't help but add \"Lisp\". Is Lisp still at the core of what Franz is up to these days?\n\nAasman: I know you journalists want clarity, so my clear answer is a resounding \"yes\" and \"no\".\n\nYes #1, we are still investing in our Lisp (Allegro CL). We recently released a new version, 8.2, and are planning v9.0 for later this year. We run on more platforms than ever, and we have our updated IDE running on the Mac. Also, real soon we'll announce our SMP (Symmetric Multi Processing) version of Allegro CL to automatically take advantage of all the multicore processors in a system.\n\nYes #2. AllegroGraph is the most ambitious internal projects we have ever worked on at Franz. It is a robust commercial graph database that is, in our humble opinion, the most scalable graph database for RDF data available, and it is all written in Lisp. So we are eating our own dog food. Actually, by doing this we have made many low level advancements in Allegro CL to improve data manipulation capabilities for \"Big Data\". It is important to note that we own the entire technology stack which allows us to make optimizations all the way down to the hardware level.\n\nNo. What we see is that AllegroGraph is now more than half of our business, so in that sense you could say AllegroGraph is a new core.\n\nDr. Dobb's: Did Lisp play a part of the recently announced Franz-IO Informatics partnership to deliver \"fit for purpose\" applications created by a Semantic application framework?\n\nAasman: No, not really. We used some Lisp in the project, just to do data manipulation but for the most part the work was done by AllegroGraph and the IO Informatics tools.\n\nDr. Dobb's: Why is Lisp so ideally suited to \"semantics\" such as with the Semantic web?\n\nAasman: There are several ways to answers this question, let me try a few.\n\nThe main argument would be that Lisp is still the premier language for Artificial Intelligence and the Semantic Web is a sane and more modest revival of AI.\n\nThe first applications written in Lisp were semantic networks. People would write knowledge processing applications and expert systems that were always built on top of a semantic network. Some of these semantic networks were more like frame-based system, where a frame is a thing that has a type (say 'person') and a bunch of arbitrary attributes (say 'first-name' 'last-name' 'dob', etc). These frame systems had, from day one, the capability to add any arbitrary attribute. The whole semantic web is just like a frame system. You have things that have a type and then a bunch of (arbitrary) attributes and then some logic around it to make it smart. Lisp was good at frames then and now with modern hardware it is even better at it now.\n\nOne other reason that our Lisp is ideally suited for semantics is that we have a built in Prolog in our Lisp. Prolog is a declarative language build around logic and it is on many levels more powerful and practical than all the other logics invented by the semantic web community. We can use Prolog as a perfect rule-based system and query language for our triple store. So in our Lisp the rule and query language was built in from day one.\n\nAs an aside, many of the founders of the Semantic Web are Lisp people.\n\nThe first triple stores were written in Lisp (Ora Lassila from Nokia Labs).\n\nJim Hendler and Dean Allemang wrote the book: the working Ontologist. Jim Hendler was also the driving force behind DAML that later became OWL\n\nDeborah McGuinness who was on all the committees that lead ultimately to ontologies.\n\nThe first scalable reasoners for the Semantic Web were all written in Lisp (think of Fact by professor Ian Horrocks, think of Racer by Prof Haarslev and Prof Moller)\n\netc, etc.\n\nAlso see the paper The Use of Lisp in Semantic Web Applications.\n\nDr. Dobb's: What's new with Lisp?\n\nAasman: Do you mean with Lisp in general or the Lisp that Franz provides? Let me take the second interpretation: From our (biased) Franz perspective here are the exciting things:\n\nSymmetric Multi Processing\n\nThe IDE and graphics system now run on all major platform, including the Mac\n\nYou can debug Lisp programs visually in a stepper\n\nWhen you download our free version of Allegro CL you get (also for free) a professional object-oriented database (AllegroCache) and semantic web database (AllegroGraph).\n\nDr. Dobb's: What is a \"dynamic object caching database\"\n\nAasman: Dynamic object caching means that the language makes sure that the objects are in memory when you need them (and more importantly), get rid of them when you don't need them anymore. We also sell an object-oriented database (AllegroCache) that is totally integrated in the language itself. Not some wrapper around a relational database but a completely native object-oriented database that is completely embedded in the language. So you can program as if objects are in memory but they are actually on disk.\n\nDr. Dobb's: Thanks for your time."}
-{"text": "Thanks !\n\n\n\nThis one is during the meeting between Krishna and Karna on the first day before the war, when Krishna reveals Karna's true identity as the eldest of the Pandavs and asks him to join his brothers."}
-{"text": "\uff15\u6708\uff12\uff17\u65e5\u3001\u7c73\u30c6\u30ad\u30b5\u30b9\u5dde\u3084\u30aa\u30af\u30e9\u30db\u30de\u5dde\u3067\u5927\u96e8\u306b\u3088\u308b\u6d2a\u6c34\u88ab\u5bb3\u304c\u62e1\u5927\u3057\u3001\uff12\uff16\u65e5\u307e\u3067\u306b\u5c11\u306a\u304f\u3068\u3082\uff11\uff15\u4eba\u304c\u6b7b\u4ea1\u3057\u305f\u3002\u30c6\u30ad\u30b5\u30b9\u5dde\u30d2\u30e5\u30fc\u30b9\u30c8\u30f3\u3067\u540c\u65e5\u64ae\u5f71\uff08\uff12\uff10\uff11\uff15\u5e74 \u30ed\u30a4\u30bf\u30fc/DANIEL KRAMER\uff09\n\n\uff3b\u30d2\u30e5\u30fc\u30b9\u30c8\u30f3 \uff12\uff17\u65e5 \u30ed\u30a4\u30bf\u30fc\uff3d - \u7c73\u30c6\u30ad\u30b5\u30b9\u5dde\u3084\u30aa\u30af\u30e9\u30db\u30de\u5dde\u3067\u5927\u96e8\u306b\u3088\u308b\u6d2a\u6c34\u88ab\u5bb3\u304c\u62e1\u5927\u3057\u3001\uff12\uff16\u65e5\u307e\u3067\u306b\u5c11\u306a\u304f\u3068\u3082\uff11\uff15\u4eba\u304c\u6b7b\u4ea1\u3057\u305f\u3002\u5f53\u5c40\u8005\u306b\u3088\u308b\u3068\u3001\u72a0\u7272\u8005\u306f\u3055\u3089\u306b\u5897\u3048\u308b\u898b\u901a\u3057\u3002\n\n\u30c6\u30ad\u30b5\u30b9\u5dde\u3067\u306f\u30e1\u30e2\u30ea\u30a2\u30eb\u30c7\u30fc\u306e\u9031\u672b\u306b\u8c6a\u96e8\u304c\u8972\u3044\u3001\u6570\u767e\u68df\u306e\u5bb6\u5c4b\u304c\u640d\u58ca\u3002\u8a18\u9332\u7684\u306a\u6d2a\u6c34\u306b\u3088\u3063\u3066\u3001\u30d2\u30e5\u30fc\u30b9\u30c8\u30f3\u306e\u5893\u5730\u3067\u306f\u57cb\u3081\u3089\u308c\u305f\u68fa\u304c\u3080\u304d\u51fa\u3057\u306b\u306a\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\n\n\u30d2\u30e5\u30fc\u30b9\u30c8\u30f3\u306e\u30d1\u30fc\u30ab\u30fc\u5e02\u9577\u306f\u8a18\u8005\u4f1a\u898b\u3067\u300c\u591a\u304f\u306e\u4eba\u3005\u304c\u6c34\u4e2d\u3067\u8eca\u3092\u904b\u8ee2\u3059\u308b\u3088\u3046\u306a\u72b6\u6cc1\u3067\u3001\u8eca\u3092\u653e\u68c4\u3057\u306a\u3051\u308c\u3070\u306a\u3089\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f\u300d\u3068\u8a9e\u3063\u305f\u3002\uff11\uff10\uff10\uff10\u53f0\u4ee5\u4e0a\u306e\u8eca\u306f\u3001\u30d2\u30e5\u30fc\u30b9\u30c8\u30f3\u306e\u6d2a\u6c34\u3067\u6c34\u6ca1\u3057\u305f\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3002\n\n\u30c6\u30ad\u30b5\u30b9\u5dde\u306e\u30a2\u30dc\u30c3\u30c8\u77e5\u4e8b\u306f\u3001\u7adc\u5dfb\u3084\u5927\u96e8\u306b\u3088\u308b\u6d2a\u6c34\u88ab\u5bb3\u304c\u5e83\u304c\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3092\u53d7\u3051\u3001\u5dde\u5185\u306e\u5c11\u306a\u304f\u3068\u3082\uff14\uff10\u90e1\u3067\u975e\u5e38\u4e8b\u614b\u3092\u5ba3\u8a00\u3002\u540c\u5dde\u3067\u306f\u5dde\u5175\u3082\u6d3e\u9063\u3055\u308c\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002"}
-{"text": "If a shirt or dress made with a new type of thread is heated to a certain temperature (266 degrees, hot enough to melt some types of plastic), the thread will dissolve, making zippers and buttons fall off, and the fabric can be used again. It\u2019s one step in making clothing more recyclable: Right now, disassembling a garment is so labor-intensive that it rarely happens.\n\nThe thread, called Smart Stitch, is one of five early-stage designs to win the 2018 Global Change Award, a competition sponsored by the philanthropic arm of Swedish fast-fashion empire H&M, which aims to help the fashion industry shift from the standard linear model\u2013where clothes often end up in the landfill\u2013to a circular model, where materials can be reused or composted. An online vote currently in process will decide which of the winners gets the largest piece of a million-euro prize.\n\nCrop-A-Porter, one of the winning designs, makes fabric out of crop waste. After farmers harvest pineapples or bananas, the waste is typically burned or left to rot on the ground, emitting greenhouse gases. The new process, which extracts cellulose from the waste to make new fiber and textile, turns the waste into a new source of income for farmers. Clothing made from the fabric can be composted.\n\nAnother concept for compostable clothing, called Algae Apparel, harvests algae\u2013which can be grown without the environmental impact of a crop like cotton\u2013and turns part of the algae into fiber, and breaks down another part of the algae into a powder that can be used to dye clothing. (The designers also claim that because algae contains antioxidants, it\u2019s beneficial to wear next to skin.)\n\nAnother design uses mycelium, the thread-like part of a fungus like a mushroom, to grow clothing. The mycelium begins life in large petri dishes, and then is transferred to a mold, where it grows into the shape of a garment. Without having to cut and sew fabric, there is no waste of material. Durability might be a challenge for the designers\u2013it\u2019s hard to imagine a fungus surviving the laundry\u2013but if the clothing wears out, it can be composted or buried in the ground.\n\nTo help with more conventional fabric, another team created The Regenerator, a process that uses a mild chemical to break down cotton-polyester blend fabric so it can be reused. The process breaks down the polyester, leaving the cotton intact.\n\nAt scale, any of these solutions could have a meaningful impact on the growing problem of clothing waste. In the U.S., over about two decades, the amount of clothing thrown out each year has doubled from 7 million tons to 14 million tons. By 2030, as the global population grows 16%, one estimate suggests that clothing consumption will grow 65%, as 3 billion people move into the global middle class."}
-{"text": "Article content\n\nShiv Dilawri, head of the massive Ottawa-based Dilawri automotive car dealership, was going through airport security one day when an employee paused to look at his passport.\n\n\u201cOh, Dilawri,\u201d the security worker said. \u201cDo you own that car dealership?\u201d\n\nWe apologize, but this video has failed to load.\n\ntap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Meet Ottawa's radio jingle master, Andrew Huggett \u2014 you know his work (with video) Back to video\n\nDilawri said he did.\n\n\u201cI want to sing your jingle to you. Do you mind if I sing your jingle to you?\u201d asked the security guard before, at the top of his lungs, letting loose a lusty rendition of the ubiquitous rock \u2018n roll radio jingle \u201cNobody Deals like Dilawri.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s the sort of brand-name recognition companies dream of. It\u2019s the sort of musical fame most songwriters and composers dream of delivering. But the man behind Dilawri and countless other Ottawa radio jingles is hardly acknowledged at all, outside of his own small, insular circle of musical colleagues.\n\n\u201c(The Dilawri episode) is the stuff you can\u2019t buy, right?\u201d says Andrew Huggett, jingle writer extraordinaire and the driving force responsible for what he claims is about 80 per cent of the local commercials you hear on the radio today."}
-{"text": "Investigators are waiting to see if it is safe to enter a smouldering Chevron oil refinery after it was ravaged by fire, sending plumes across the San Francisco bay area and Californian gasoline prices surging.\n\nExperts warned it could take months to repair the refinery in Richmond, a 2,900-acre facility which refines about 150,000 gallons of gasoline daily, 15% of the state's daily needs.\n\nMonday evening's blaze began in a tower and spread to at least three units used to cool water, prompting hundreds of people to seek treatment for respiratory problems and panic buying at the pumps, raising prices 11% in the bay area.\n\nHowever, initial predictions that prices could exceed $4 per gallon were scaled back because spare capacity in other west coast refineries could fill much, if not all, of the gap.\n\n\"There's room in the system to pick up the slack,\" Rob Schlichting of the California Energy Commission told reporters. \"The large jump we saw on Wednesday in prices I think was mostly panic buying.\"\n\nChevron was expected to file a structural engineering and environmental report by Friday specifying how investigators could safely enter the facility.\n\nThe all-clear would let a team of Chemical Safety Board inspectors \u2013\n\nthe same which investigated the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico \u2013 to begin sifting through the charred equipment of a refinery which opened in 1902.\n\nThe Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory lists the refinery as one of California's top emitters of toxic chemicals. It has been cited by San Francisco Bay area regulators for violating air regulations 93 times in the past five years, reported AP. The number increased from 15 violations in 2007 to 23 in both 2010 and 2011.\n\nAfter the fire residents besieged legal firms \u2014 queues snaked around blocks \u2014 to register compensation claims.\n\nThe fire began after vapour ignited but the cause remained unclear. A second, smaller fire erupted on Wednesday. Chevron issued a statement saying it resulted in \"no injuries, presented no immediate threat to the public and was extinguished in minutes.\"\n\nThe company said the refinery was now partially operating, but did not say how much it was producing, nor the extent of damage and likely duration of repairs.\n\nFixing water cooling units would take time, Richard Kuprewicz, a pipeline safety expert, told the San Francisco Chronicle.\n\n\"They've got to rebuild them, and that will take a while. If they work 24/7, it will still take a while. Some of this stuff is not available off the shelf; the parts have to be ordered. They can scour the country, but it's not a like a car part. You're not going to fix it in a couple days.\"\n\nA 2008 hurricane which closed Gulf coast refineries sent prices in the south east briefly soaring to $5.21 a gallon. Analysts said this week's surge in prices at California's gas pumps \u2013 they hovered at $3.88 on Thursday \u2013 would continue but not as drastically as initially feared."}
-{"text": "This \"critically-acclaimed\" and \"insanely successful\" Unreal Engine course was created in collaboration with Epic Games.\n\nThe course has been fully updated and remastered to Unreal Engine 4.22+. Existing students get all the new material for free.\n\nGet plugged into our communities of amazing developers on Facebook (nearly 20k), in our own TA-curated Community (17k views/day), and our student chat group (10k live at any one time).\n\nThe course now has high-quality handwritten subtitles throughout, available as closed captions so you can turn them on or off at your convenience. This is one of the best Unreal Engine tutorials on the web.\n\nThis course started as a runaway success on Kickstarter. Get involved now, and get access to all future content as it's added. The final course will be over 50 hours of content and 300+ lectures.\n\nLearn how to create and mod video games using Unreal Engine 4, even if you're a complete beginner. Unreal is a free-to-use game development engine used by AAA studios and indie developers worldwide. It can be a complex beast to get into, but we break it down step-by-step\n\nAlready know Unreal and want to learn VR or Multiplayer? Check out our other Unreal courses, just look for the green leaf for our other world-class Unreal courses.\n\nWe start super simple so you need no prior experience of Unreal or coding! With our online tutorials, you'll be amazed at what you can achieve. We believe project-based learning is the best way to learn Unreal Engine.\n\nBenefit from our world-class support from both other students, and the instructors who are on the forums regularly. Go on to build several games including a tank game, and a First Person Shooter.\n\nYou will have access to a course forum where you can discuss topics on a course-wide basis, or down to the individual video. Our thriving discussion forum will help you learn and share ideas with other students.\n\nYou will learn C++, the powerful industry-standard language from scratch. By the end of the course, you'll be very confident in the basics of coding and game development, and hungry to learn more.\n\n\"Any serious game programmer needs to know C++\"Jason Gregory, Lead Programmer at Naughty Dog (creators of Uncharted & The Last of Us)\n\nAnyone who wants to learn to create games: Unreal Engine is a fantastic platform which enables you to make AAA-quality games. Furthermore, these games can be created for Windows, consoles, macOS, iOS, Android and Web from a single source!\n\nIf you're a complete beginner, we'll teach you all the coding and game design principles you'll need. If you're an artist, we'll teach you to bring your assets to life. If you're a coder, we'll teach you game design principles.\n\nWhat this course DOESN'T cover...\n\nWhereas this course is already huge, we can't possibly cover everything in that time. Here are some things we will not be covering...\n\nTeam collaboration topics.\n\nEditor plugins or modifications.\n\nPhysics engine modification.\n\nMultiplayer features.\n\nStart to learn Unreal C++ now, you won't be disappointed!"}
-{"text": "The House of Representatives is set to leave town Thursday morning for a two-week break without reaching an agreement on health care. It\u2019s another blow to Republicans and the Trump administration who had worked this week to revive the failed effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.\n\nAfter Republicans failed to garner enough votes nearly two weeks ago to pass the American Health Care Act, some Republicans instrumental in the bill\u2019s failure \u2014 especially the conservatives \u2014 expressed renewed motivation to find a way to reach consensus with their more moderate counterparts.\n\nThe Trump administration in recent days has led discussions among the disparate groups in an attempt to reach a Republican compromise. But those talks went nowhere when an agreement could not be reached on a few issues and a late-night meeting with Vice President Mike pence and representatives of the relative factions of House Republicans Tuesday failed to move the effort forward.\n\nThe issues still separating them include insurance regulations. Conservative members want to get rid of regulations imposed on insurance companies that they say drive up the cost of health care but ensure that sick people maintain health care that covers an array of procedures and preventative care.\n\nModerates, meanwhile, are opposed to stripping the regulations, concerned that too many people would lose coverage and that the cost for sicker and older people would become too great.\n\nTrust among House Republicans have suffered in recent weeks as some members are frustrated with the conservative House Freedom Caucus whom some say will come around to support any bill.\n\nCongress will return from recess with a crowded agenda that starts with the need to pass a funding measure to prevent a government shutdown. They\u2019ll also have to consider a debt ceiling increase and would like to also tackle tax reform. And, of course, health care."}
-{"text": "History is safe\u2026 for at least a little while longer.\n\nThe CW has added four episodes to the second season of DC\u2019s Legends of Tomorrow, TVLine has learned, giving White Canary and the gang a bit more time to fix all of those historical aberrations.\n\nThe latest order brings the Season 2 episode total to 17.\n\nThrough the first four episodes of Season 2, Legends has been a steady performer now in Thursday\u2019s lead-off spot, drawing 1.8 million total viewers and a 0.6 demo rating most every week.\n\nRELATED Legends Stars Talk Ray\u2019s \u2018Screwed\u2019 Status, Juggling Slavery and Zombies\n\nLegends stands as the fourth-highest rated CW series, behind The Flash (1.1), Supergirl (1.0) and Supernatural/Arrow (tied at 0.7), and year-over-year has matched time slot predecessor Vampire Diaries\u2019 demo delivery while drawing a 40 percent larger audience.\n\nHow do you feel about getting more Legends? Drop a note in the comments!"}
-{"text": "Diesel fuel prices across the U.S. continued their recent downward trend during the week ending Aug. 26, falling by 1.1 cents from the previous week, according to the Department of Energy\u2019s weekly report.\n\nThe U.S.\u2019 average price for a gallon of on-highway diesel is now $2.983. Fuel prices have dropped for seven consecutive weeks, but have only fallen by six cents during that period. The nation\u2019s fuel prices are approaching the 2019 low of $2.965 set back during the weeks ending Jan. 21 and Jan. 28.\n\nDuring the most recent week, prices fell in all regions except California, which held without change. The most significant decrease was seen in the West Coast less California region, where prices dropped by 1.9 cents.\n\nThe nation\u2019s most expensive diesel can be found in California at $3.887 per gallon, followed by the Central Atlantic region at $3.186 per gallon.\n\nThe cheapest fuel is in the Gulf Coast region at $2.744 per gallon, followed by the Lower Atlantic region at $2.874 per gallon.\n\nPrices in other regions, according to DOE, are:\n\nNew England \u2013 $3.031\n\nMidwest \u2013 $2.89\n\nRocky Mountain \u2013 $2.936\n\nWest Coast less California \u2013 $3.139\n\nProMiles\u2019 numbers during the same week saw fuel prices fall by 1.4 cents to $2.886 per gallon nationwide.\n\nAccording to ProMiles\u2019 Fuel Surcharge Index, the most expensive diesel can be found in California at $3.788 per gallon, and the cheapest can be found in the Gulf Coast region at $2.751 per gallon."}
-{"text": "by Vivian Chou\n\nfigures by Daniel Utter\n\nDonald Trump\u2019s election as the 45th President of the United States has been marked by the brewing storms of racial conflicts. A rise in racial incidents ensued in the immediate aftermath of Trump\u2019s victory in November 2016. Since the beginning of 2017, over 100 bomb threats have been made against Jewish community centers and schools. Trump\u2019s travel ban, signed in late January 2017, initially affected about 90,000 people from seven Middle Eastern countries; 87,000 of those banned were Muslims. Minorities such as American Muslims and black Americans have expressed fears over racial relations under Trump. Undeniably, the topic of race\u2014and racism\u2014has gripped America and the world throughout.\n\nOver the last decade, there have been hopes that the US has become a post-racial society, free of racial prejudice and discrimination. However, the most recent months indicate the contrary: race remains an incendiary issue. Race and racism are not new issues, but in today\u2019s 21st century Trump-era, discussions about race are distinct from those of the past in that they possess an entirely new dimension: that of genetics and DNA.\n\nRace in the new era of human genetics research\n\nIn 2003, scientists completed the Human Genome Project, making it finally possible to examine human ancestry with genetics. Scientists have since tackled topics such as human migrations out of Africa and around the world. And it\u2019s not just scientists who are excited about human genetics: widely affordable at-home ancestry test kits are now readily available from companies like 23andMe, Family Tree DNA, and Ancestry. For $99\u2014around the price of a romantic dinner or a pair of Nikes\u2014a customer can receive an analysis from 23andMe indicating that they are, for instance, 18.0% Native American, 65.1% European and 6.2% African.\n\nThe soaring popularity of ancestry testing bespeaks a widespread perception that we can use these tests to dissect, delineate, and define our ancestral composition. Indeed, social media is teeming with blog posts, and even livestream videos, from excited customers bursting to broadcast their test results and their reactions. Ancestry test kits are the new \u201cit\u201d item\u2014and with their success is the tacit admission of our belief that our DNA can sort us into categories like the \u201cfive races:\u201d African, European, Asian, Oceania, and Native American (Figure 1A).\n\nNew findings in genetics tear down old ideas about race\n\nEstimating our ancestral composition down to 0.1% seem to suggest that there are exact, categorical divisions between human populations. But reality is far less simple. Compared to the general public\u2019s enthusiasm for ancestry testing, the reaction from scientists has been considerably more lukewarm. Research indicates that the concept of \u201cfive races\u201d does, to an extent, describe the way human populations are distributed among the continents\u2014but the lines between races are much more blurred than ancestry testing companies would have us believe (Figure 1B).\n\nA landmark 2002 study by Stanford scientists examined the question of human diversity by looking at the distribution across seven major geographical regions of 4,000 alleles. Alleles are the different \u201cflavors\u201d of a gene. For instance, all humans have the same genes that code for hair: the different alleles are why hair comes in all types of colors and textures.\n\nIn the Stanford study, over 92% of alleles were found in two or more regions, and almost half of the alleles studied were present in all seven major geographical regions. The observation that the vast majority of the alleles were shared over multiple regions, or even throughout the entire world, points to the fundamental similarity of all people around the world\u2014an idea that has been supported by many other studies (Figure 1B).\n\nIf separate racial or ethnic groups actually existed, we would expect to find \u201ctrademark\u201d alleles and other genetic features that are characteristic of a single group but not present in any others. However, the 2002 Stanford study found that only 7.4% of over 4000 alleles were specific to one geographical region. Furthermore, even when region-specific alleles did appear, they only occurred in about 1% of the people from that region\u2014hardly enough to be any kind of trademark. Thus, there is no evidence that the groups we commonly call \u201craces\u201d have distinct, unifying genetic identities. In fact, there is ample variation within races (Figure 1B).\n\nUltimately, there is so much ambiguity between the races, and so much variation within them, that two people of European descent may be more genetically similar to an Asian person than they are to each other (Figure 2).\n\nDoes \u201crace\u201d still mean something?\n\nThe divisions between races are doubtlessly blurred, but does this necessarily mean that race is a myth\u2014a mere social construct and biologically meaningless? As with other race-related questions, the answer is multi-dimensional and may well depend on whom you ask.\n\nIn the biological and social sciences, the consensus is clear: race is a social construct, not a biological attribute. Today, scientists prefer to use the term \u201cancestry\u201d to describe human diversity (Figure 3). \u201cAncestry\u201d reflects the fact that human variations do have a connection to the geographical origins of our ancestors\u2014with enough information about a person\u2019s DNA, scientists can make a reasonable guess about their ancestry. However, unlike the term \u201crace,\u201d it focuses on understanding how a person\u2019s history unfolded, not how they fit into one category and not another. In a clinical setting, for instance, scientists would say that diseases such as sickle-cell anemia and cystic fibrosis are common in those of \u201csub-Saharan African\u201d or \u201cNorthern European\u201d descent, respectively, rather than in those who are \u201cblack\u201d or \u201cwhite\u201d.\n\nHowever, even if scientists agree that race is, at most, a social construct, any cursory search of the internet reveals that the broader public is not convinced of this. After all, if an Asian person looks so different from a European, how could they not be from distinct groups? Even if most scientists reject the concept of \u201crace\u201d as a biological concept, race exists, undeniably, as a social and political concept.\n\nThe popular classifications of race are based chiefly on skin color, with other relevant features including height, eyes, and hair. Though these physical differences may appear, on a superficial level, to be very dramatic, they are determined by only a minute portion of the genome: we as a species have been estimated to share 99.9% of our DNA with each other. The few differences that do exist reflect differences in environments and external factors, not core biology.\n\nImportantly, the evolution of skin color occurred independently, and did not influence other traits such as mental abilities and behavior. In fact, science has yet to find evidence that there are genetic differences in intelligence between populations. Ultimately, while there certainly are some biological differences between different populations, these differences are few and superficial. The traits that we do share are far more profound\n\nScience and genetics: Instruments of modern racism\n\nDespite the scientific consensus that humanity is more alike than unlike, the long history of racism is a somber reminder that throughout human history, a mere 0.1% of variation has been sufficient justification for committing all manner of discriminations and atrocities. The advances in human genetics and the evidence of negligible differences between races might be expected to halt racist arguments. But, in fact, genetics has been used to further racist and ethnocentric arguments\u2014as in the case of the alt-right, which promotes far-right ideologies, including white nationalism and anti-Semitism.\n\nConsidered a fringe movement for years, the alt-right gained considerable attention and relevance during Trump\u2019s presidential campaign. Indeed, Steve Bannon, the current senior counselor and chief strategist to President Trump and the former chief executive officer of Trump\u2019s campaign, has notable ties to the alt-right. Once relegated to obscure internet forums, the alt-right\u2019s newest pulpit is the White House.\n\nMembers of the alt-right are enthusiastic proponents of ancestry testing as a way to prove their \u201cpure\u201d white heritage (with Scandinavian and Germanic ancestry being among the most desirable) and to rule out undesired descent from any other groups (including, unsurprisingly, Africans and the Ashkenazi Jews, but even certain European groups, such as Italians and Armenians). The belief in white superiority, and the need to preserve it, drives the alt-right movement\u2014and genetics is both the weapon and battle standard of this new, supposedly \u201cscientific\u201d racism.\n\nThose who disagree with alt-right ideologies may assume that the alt-right is merely spewing ignorant nonsense. This is certainly true for some of the alt-right. What is perhaps a more difficult truth is that many of the alt-right do, in fact, understand biology and genetics to an impressive extent, even if this understanding is flawed.\n\nFor instance, alt-right proponents have stated, correctly, that many people with European and Asian descent have inherited 1-4% of their DNA from Neanderthals ancestors, and those of African descent do not have Neanderthal heritage. They are similarly correct that Neanderthals had larger skulls than humans. Based on these facts, some within the alt-right have claimed that Europeans and Asians have superior intelligence because they have inherited larger brains from their Neanderthal ancestors.\n\nHowever, this claim ignores that while there is evidence for the effect of Neanderthal DNA on certain traits, there has been no evidence for its effect on intelligence. Furthermore, scientific research indicates that the Neanderthals were not necessarily more intelligent simply because they had larger skulls. Unsurprisingly, the alt-right tends cherry-pick the ideas that align with their preconceived notions of racial hierarchies, ignoring the broader context of the field of human genetics.\n\nFighting racism with understanding\n\nJust as the alt-right is no longer an easily dismissed fringe group, their arguments have some factual basis, and cannot be swept aside as the babbling of the scientific illiterate. The alt-right is not clumsy in their use of science and genetics in their battle for their \u201cideals.\u201d Those who oppose the alt-right, and other racist entities, must arm themselves with the same weapons: education, namely scientific and genetic literacy.\n\nMounting scientific evidence has shown that humans are fundamentally more similar than different from each other. Nonetheless, racism has persisted. Scientific findings are often ignored, or otherwise actively misinterpreted and misused to further racist agendas of extreme political groups. Opponents of these forces must, through their own education and awareness, combat these misleading interpretations and representations of scientific findings.\n\nToday, the question of \u201crace\u201d is no longer merely a political and social issue: as science has rapidly advanced, it has become irrevocably intertwined. The genome contains powerful insights about our biology that could unite us as a species, but which could also be dangerous and divisive if used without understanding. As we look forward to 2017 and onwards, it becomes ever more important to understand what our DNA says about what it means to be human.\n\nVivian Chou is a Ph.D. candidate in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences program at Harvard Medical School.\n\nFor more information:\n\n\n\nThe Atlantic \u201cWill the alt-right promote a new kind of racist genetics?\u201d (December 2016)\n\nHarvard Magazine \u201cRace in a genetic world\u201d (2008)\n\nLivescience \u201cGenetic ancestry tests mostly hype, scientists say\u201d (2007)\n\nScience \u201cThe science and business of genetic ancestry testing\u201d (2007; original paper cited in the Livescience article above)\n\nNature Genetics \u201cImplications of biogeography of human populations for \u2018race\u2019 and medicine\u201d (November 2004)"}
-{"text": "With just under 100 days until the start of Penn State\u2019s season, the Big Ten, Fox, and ESPN have announced start times for some early season games.\n\nPenn State\u2019s season opener against Idaho will kick off at 3:30 p.m. on BTN. Its second game of the season on Sep. 7 against Buffalo will be played under the lights at Beaver Stadium, starting at 7:30 p.m. on FOX.\n\nThe following week, the 100th meeting between Penn State and Pitt will kick off at noon on ABC.\n\nThe Nittany Lions will go to Maryland on Friday, Sep. 27, which will kick off at 8 p.m. on FS1.\n\nPenn State returns home on Oct. 5 for a matchup with Purdue that will kick off at noon on ABC, ESPN, or ESPN2."}
-{"text": "Seagull put to sleep after getting stuck in TV aerial in Gorleston\n\nNorfolk Fire and Rescue Service Archant Norfolk Photographic \u00c2\u00a9 2011\n\nA seagull has had to be put to sleep after getting caught in a TV aerial in Gorleston.\n\nShare Email this article to a friend To send a link to this page you must be logged in.\n\nThe bird broke its wing after flying into the structure on top of a house in Beccles Road at about 9am this morning (July 12).\n\nA spokesman for the RSPCA said their officers must prioritise the welfare of animals and simply leaving him up there to suffer was not an option.\n\nThey added: \u201cThe gull was clearly in distress and we were very concerned for his welfare.\n\n\u201cSadly, the gull was tangled in fishing wire which is how he had become stuck under the aerial; his wing was severely broken and he was suffering with fly strike, so sadly he had to be put to sleep to prevent further suffering.\u201d\n\nNorfolk Fire Service assisted the RSPCA due to the dangerous nature of the rescue from the roof and used an aerial ladder platform.\n\nThe spokesman added: \u201cIt is not uncommon for the fire service to provide help in these circumstances.\u201d\n\n\u2022 If you find an injured gull, see one trapped in netting, or have any information on a gull being treated cruelly, please call the RSPCA\u2019s cruelty line on 0300 1234 999."}
-{"text": "Labor is demanding Prime Minister Tony Abbott tell Australians why he has abruptly cancelled a trip to Indonesia, amid reports an asylum seeker operation is underway.\n\nMr Abbott is hoping to arrange a visit to Indonesia to meet president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono soon, after declining an invitation to attend the Open Government Partnership conference in Bali early next week.\n\nThe invitation was seen as an attempt to try and mend relations between the two countries, which have been strained ever since it was revealed Australian spies tapped the president's phone in 2009, when Labor was in power.\n\nBut in a statement, a spokesman for Mr Abbott says the Prime Minister is now \"unable\" to make it to Bali.\n\n\"The Prime Minister is grateful for the invitation,\" the spokesman said.\n\n\"Unfortunately the Prime Minister is unable to attend at this time and he hopes to visit Indonesia to meet with the president at a mutually convenient time.\"\n\nAlthough Mr Abbott gives no official explanation for cancelling the visit, government sources have told the ABC it is due to a current \"on-water operation\" taking place on the high seas which could cause \"embarrassment\" to the Indonesian president.\n\nThe West Australian newspaper is reporting an asylum seeker boat has been spotted between Java and Ashmore Reef.\n\nIt is the Coalition's policy to turn back asylum seekers where it is safe to do so, something Indonesia dislikes.\n\nConcern decision adds further strain to 'stressed' relationship\n\nThe Opposition's foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek says the Government needs to make the real reason for Mr Abbott's non-attendance clear.\n\n\"Indonesia's an important friend for Australia, the relationship is under stress at the moment,\" Ms Plibersek said.\n\n\"Rejecting this invitation at this late stage really does put extra strain on the relationship.\n\n\"It's very important the Prime Minister discloses the reason that he's really not going, because Australians deserve to know why he's putting further pressure on the relationship with such an important neighbour.\n\n\"It's ironic that the invitation to Indonesia was to a conference on open government and our Prime Minister won't tell us why he's rejected the invitation at this late stage.\"\n\nFinance Minister Mathias Cormann is providing a different explanation saying Mr Abbott's cancelled visit to Bali falls close to the budget, which is due to be delivered in just over a week's time.\n\nThe date the budget is handed down is fixed every year to the second Tuesday in May.\n\nMr Yudhoyono's spokesman Teku Faizasyah says the Indonesian government is \"well aware\" of the Australian Government's upcoming budget and will not comment on whether or not an asylum seeker operation is taking place."}
-{"text": "\n\nIn Saturday's loss by the Swope Park Rangers at Saint Louis FC there were some questions about calls that were made, or not made in the game.\n\nWhen asked about the officiating after practice this week, Rangers head coach Marc Dos Santos responded, \"Let me be clear, I hate talking about refs and I want to respect them as professionals but let's just analyze facts. There are plays minute 30, minute 38 and minute 42. Look, one is a clear red card on (the foul on) Granitto, a tackle from Bond that is a clear red card. He only gets a yellow and a minute later Ballo sees a second yellow and is sent off. So instead of starting the second half a man up, we start playing the second half a man down. It changes things. \"\n\nThe Rangers had questioned prior to the match about referee Luigi Lazareno to see if he had been the middle official before. He was assigned by PRO (Professional Referee Organization) and they were told it was his first match at center but he had worked as an assistant the week before. It was also the first USL match of the year for the rest of the crew.\n\nWith the game being between two opponents destined to be rivals because of the cross-state history between St. Louis and Kansas City and a large crowd, the Rangers were understandably concerned prior to the match.\n\nThe Rangers requested two of the incidents be reviewed by the USL Disciplinary Panel but first let's take a look at a foul that was called. Right at the 37:39 mark, a ball bounced outside the box when Swope Park defender Jimmy Mulligan and Saint Louis FC mid Drew Conner both went for it. It appears that Mulligan saw Conner sliding in and pulled up but ended up falling over Conner as he slid through.\n\nThe referee was decisive and quickly called it in favor of Saint Louis FC and Chad Bond scored on the resulting free kick.\n\nThe question is what is the foul? Even the Saint Louis announcers were surprised that is was called against Swope Park. Could it have been a delayed advantage call from a previous foul? If so there was no indication.\n\nDangerous tackle on Duke\n\nThe first of the two calls that the Rangers requested to be reviewed was Richard Dixon's tackle on Christian Duke at 30:20. Duke was chasing down a ball and Dixon lunged with both feet out and came close to scissoring (if he did not) Duke to the ground as he slid through Duke's ankle.\n\n\"I think the tackle by Dixon on Duke was a clear yellow for sure,\" Dos Santos stated. \"In some countries it could have been a red.\"\n\nThis is exactly the type of call that PRO is focusing on at the MLS level. Seattle Sounder Oniel Fisher was red carded for a much less dangerous tackle on Sporting Kansas City's Connor Hallisey early in the season.\n\nPRO should have the same standards throughout, if it is illegal and a red at MLS it should be a red at USL.\n\n\"A hard, wild tackle\"\n\nThe other incident was Chad Bond's tackle on Tomas Granitto at 42:20. The Saint Louis announcer even called it \"a hard, wild tackle\". Granitto got to a loose ball before Bond who lunged out with extended right leg and studs directly out connecting with Granitto's ankle. Luckily he was not seriously hurt but it could have easily been a season ending injury. The ref did issue a yellow but why not red? Studs out, straight leg, contact....\n\nUSL review\n\nWhen asked what the USL review decided, the Rangers responded, \"The USL has informed us that they will not review either incident. The explanation provided to us was that the USL does not examine incidents which were seen by the referee.\"\n\nIn MLS, those two incidents would have been looked at and likely would have received additional punishments. While it is understandable that USL and MLS have different rules for their league model, PRO referees in both leagues should strive to have the same criteria for what is and isn't a card and USL should review these types of plays.\n\nSwope Park GM Kurt Austin in response to a request for comment:\n\n\"Player safety is our chief concern and ultimately, that is the responsibility of the players on the field. However, match officials and the league's disciplinary panel are in place to hold players accountable when their actions endanger another's safety. Major League Soccer has been a leader for the sport in this regard. We trust that the USL and PRO will consider implementing a similarly strong stance for the good of the game.\"\n\nBonus:\n\nDixon not only was not carded for the foul on Duke, nor was the play reviewed but instead, Dixon is rewarded by being named to the USL team of the week.\n\nTo see and hear the whole match, watch here."}
-{"text": "Better Life Lab is a partnership of Slate and New America\n\nThe case for a basic income, a policy that would give all citizens cash payments at regular intervals throughout their lives, is gaining traction. Prominent tech entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, academics across the ideological spectrum from Philippe Van Parijs to Charles Murray, labor organizers like Andy Stern, and policymakers such as Michael Tubbs, the 27-year-old mayor of Stockton, California, support basic income policies as a way of reducing poverty and mitigating the negative impact of unemployment due to automation. But they understate the feminist case for giving people cash. Proponents of the UBI would do well to acknowledge the gender implications of the policy, and feminists, in turn, should throw their support behind the movement.\n\nHere are the top three reasons UBI is a feminist cause:\n\n1. Women Are More Likely to Be Poor\n\nGlobally, women are more likely to live in extreme poverty than men. In the United States, women as a group are poorer than men due to the economic burdens associated with caregiving and the segregation of women into \u201cpink-collar\u201d industries that typically pay less than male-dominated industries. One of the main benefits of implementing a UBI in the U.S. and elsewhere is that giving people cash is a relatively direct and effective way to fight poverty.\n\nThe basic income is also a matter of economic justice for women as a whole. While capitalism has been beneficial to women on balance, the current system reflects historical patterns of female exclusion from labor markets and policies that denied property rights to women. For example, throughout the 19th century and into the 20th century, married women lacked legal protections for their property rights under the legal doctrine of coverture. And until the 1980s, husbands retained unilateral control over marital property in some jurisdictions. As I have argued elsewhere, a UBI would make capitalism more just by compensating those who live with the legacy of historical and enduring economic injustices.\n\nAnd because a basic income would make the decision to work more voluntary, women would no longer choose to remain in toxic jobs solely because they can\u2019t afford not to. In this way, a UBI could address gender-based mistreatment in workplaces. By freeing women of their economic dependence on employers, a UBI would also improve women\u2019s bargaining positions, enabling them to negotiate for more flexible hours or better conditions.\n\nBut a UBI would not discourage work to an extent that would undermine the economy. People would still need to work to afford most consumer goods and luxuries. And unlike minimum wage requirements, touted by Fight for $15 activists, a UBI neither raises the cost of employing low-income workers relative to other workers nor disproportionately burdens employers to provide a decent standard of living for people in their communities. With an even starting ground, the opportunities to move beyond the lowest-paying work could be more readily available to marginalized workers who\u2019ve been left out for too long.\n\n2. Women Could Make Unfettered Decisions About How to Structure Their Families and Lives\n\nChild care is extraordinarily expensive, and women, especially single moms, end up shouldering an enormous burden for this cost. Some parents who would prefer to work are unable to because they cannot afford quality child care for their kids. Women are more likely to leave the workforce for this reason than men. A UBI for mothers and children would enable women who want to work to pay for child care.\n\nIn addition, a UBI (including child benefits) would formally recognize and reward socially valuable labor that people currently perform outside of the paid economy, such as caregiving for children, disabled people, and elderly relatives. The UBI could amount to \u201cwages for housework,\u201d something feminists in the 1970s pushed for.\n\nFurthermore, because a UBI aims to pay all individuals and not households, it allows people to make decisions about marriage and cohabitation based their intrinsic desires, not based on tax policies such as the \u201cmarriage penalty\u201d that working couples currently face or means-tested welfare programs that withhold benefits from women when their household income increases after marriage.\n\nA further benefit for families? With an added, guaranteed boost to their income, women in abusive relationships would have the financial security to leave, even if they lack qualifications or credentials that would enable them to support themselves and their families. UBI would do more than almost any other economic policy imaginable to make women less susceptible to abuse both in the workplace and at home.\n\n3. Respect: Universal, Rather Than Targeted Assistance, Will Defy Stereotypes\n\nHistorically, feminists not only critiqued outright sexism but also the paternalism of efforts to protect women from the world by robbing them of their autonomy. Paternalism has long been used to justify policies that limit women\u2019s and other marginalized people\u2019s choices, like bans on abortion, or sex work, or women working in dangerous industries, on the grounds that they are incapable of deciding for themselves how to live their lives. Today, many social policies in the U.S. are influenced by extremely paternalistic thinking that perpetuates discriminatory stereotypes about women\u2019s abilities to make informed and reasonable decisions for themselves.\n\nConservative complaints about welfare recipients spending benefits on junk food and luxuries have been part of a more general racialized narrative, which has informed existing welfare policy and also perpetuated offensive and stigmatizing stereotypes about members of marginalized groups, especially women of color. But liberals who support limiting the provision of benefits to housing, food, and health care are subject to the same charges of paternalism when they advocate for in-kind benefit policies (such as food transfers and food vouchers) that perpetuate a politics of suspicion and mistrust, instead of supporting cash benefit programs.\n\nMost of the arguments against UBI also ring of paternalism. How could we trust that low-income women would use the money to do the things I\u2019ve detailed here? Low-income people, like the rest of their fellow citizens, are generally the best judges of whether a profession or purchase is in their overall interest, and the evidence suggests that recipients of cash transfers generally spend their income on necessities. Trusting women and all people with the right to spend their money how they see fit, as UBI allows, would push back against decades of paternalistic social policy.\n\nUBI activists still disagree about whether UBI is a right or a benefit, whether it should be provided in addition to or instead of other benefits, and about how large the UBI should be. But the core case in favor of the UBI\u2014that it has the potential to significantly alleviate poverty and liberate all citizens from many of the injustices associated with the current economic order\u2014is a case that all feminists should get behind."}
-{"text": "(CNN) It's almost time for the \"Orange is the New Black\" cast to say goodbye. And we can already tell it's going to be a tearjerker.\n\nAhead of the debut of the Netflix series' final season , cast members sang lines to the show's theme song in a bittersweet promo video.\n\nSome of the stars included Uzo Aduba, Dascha Polanco, Danielle Brooks, Taylor Schilling, Natasha Lyonne, Kate Mulgrew, Adrienne Moore, Jackie Cruz and Diane Guerrero.\n\nIn an a capella rendition of Regina Spektor's song \"You've Got Time,\" the actors take turns singing the lyrics as they walk around the show's set. But rather than the upbeat tone of the original, their version is somber and emotional.\n\nThe lyrics will pull at your heart:\n\nRead More"}
-{"text": "Port Fairy Folk Festival Committee Postpones 2021 Event\n\nThe Port Fairy Folk Festival Committee today announced that the 2021 Festival will not go ahead.\n\nPresident of the Port Fairy Folk Festival Committee, John Young said this was the Festival\u2019s most difficult decision to make in its 44-year history.\n\n\u2018\u2019Health and safety are at the forefront for the Port Fairy community. With restrictions on gatherings and too many uncertainties attached to the current global pandemic, we had to make this choice\u201d.\n\n\u2018\u2019The community, our volunteers, the hundreds of performers, the many contractors and of course the thousands of patrons involved are at the top of our minds when we are planning our annual festival. Rather than invest into a risky and unsafe time for live music and large gatherings, we will focus our energies on producing a truly wonderful Port Fairy Folk Festival experience in 2022,\u2019\u2019 said Mr Young.\n\nFor over four decades, the Port Fairy Folk Festival has been presenting extraordinary international and local folk, blues and roots artists to thousands of music lovers each year over the March long weekend.\n\nThe Port Fairy Folk Festival Committee extends its support to the live music industry across Australia and to all those who have been severely impacted by this pandemic, as we work together to preserve the future of major festivals, events and cultural activities.\n\nThe 45th Port Fairy Folk Festival will take place on 11 \u2013 14 March 2022.\n\nPlease note that due to staff working remotely at this time, office phones are currently unmanned.\n\nThe Port Fairy Folk Festival will never request your credit card details online. The only authorised, online source of tickets for The Port Fairy Folk Festival is Try Booking. The Port Fairy Folk Festival will not be responsible for losses incurred by victims of phishing or other forms of online scams. Learn more about spotting scams here.\n\nSketch artwork by Angela Williams \u2013 follow her at www.instagram.com/lunchsketch"}
-{"text": "During my visit through South Africa I stopped at the highest bridge jump in the world because I like jumping off of things. A few days later, I went skydiving."}
-{"text": "TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- It became apparent quickly that Alabama's Josh Jacobs was not going to be contained by expectations. On a field full of blue-chip prospects, this nobody, this three-star throw-in from Oklahoma whom everyone saw as a way of filling out Alabama's 2016 signing class, made a habit of standing out at practice.\n\nHe shouldn't have been getting many reps to begin with. Sophomores Bo Scarbrough, a former five-star athlete, and Damien Harris, a former four-star prospect and the No. 2-rated back in his class, were expected to gobble up the carries. And as far as for which freshman to watch? That was supposed to be B.J. Emmons, the top-rated back in that year's class -- not Jacobs, who was primarily a Wildcat quarterback during his senior year of high school.\n\nBut there Jacobs was, stealing reps and making a name for himself behind the scenes almost immediately. He could run with power and speed, which was nice, but he also was a hellacious blocker and skilled at catching the ball out of the backfield. Playing receiver, he would later say, came naturally to him. And he wasn't shy about contributing on special teams, either, whether that meant returning kicks or sprinting downfield to make a tackle.\n\nAs a freshman that season, Jacobs would earn a handful of carries in the season opener against USC and appear in every game thereafter. He'd win SEC Freshman of the Week after rushing for 100 yards against Kentucky, and three times he'd show up on the coaching staff's players of the week, twice on offense and once on special teams. All told, he'd finish fourth on the team in rushing with 567 yards and four touchdowns, and lead all running backs in receiving yards (156).\n\nDuring the offseason, Emmons transferred, and Jacobs continued to improve. As a sophomore, there were those around the program who believed he had the potential to be the most productive back on the team -- not Harris or Scarbrough.\n\nIt was such that Alabama's top-ranked defense struggled to contain him in practice. Just as easily as he'd slip away and evade tackles, he'd lower his head and run right through them.\n\nFormer Alabama linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton said the problems Jacobs presented on defense led to Hamilton and his teammates getting cussed out routinely by coaches during practice. Hamilton, who is now with the Washington Redskins, would refer to Jacobs as the \"total package.\"\n\n\"I try to mix it up,\" Jacobs said. \"I try to run people over some times and then juke them. I want to keep them on their toes.\"\n\nJacobs battled through flu-like symptoms to be named the SEC championship MVP. AP Photo/John Bazemore\n\nAnd to think, no one knew who he was back at McLain High School in Tulsa. Justice Hill, an Oklahoma State commitment from the more established Booker T. Washington High on the other side of town, overshadowed him.\n\nJacobs' coach, Jarvis Payne, said the local newspaper thought he was padding his star's stats and that they had to come out to see for themselves. As only Missouri Southern and some other non-FBS schools had offered him scholarships, Jacobs and Payne put together a highlight tape and posted it on social media in an attempt to drum up interest.\n\n\"The floodgates opened up,\" Payne said. \"Indiana called and Purdue called and it just opened up.\"\n\nNick Saban didn't see Jacobs' highlights until after Alabama's win over Clemson in the CFP National Championship Game that January, when most of his staff at Alabama had already moved on to next year's signing class. But the six-time championship-winning coach saw speed and hands and quickness on that tape. Saban's first instinct, he would later admit, was that something had to be wrong with him, though. Maybe, he guessed, Jacobs was too small, and that's what had scared off other colleges.\n\nThen-running backs coach Burton Burns would visit McLain High and report back that smallness was no such issue. His grades were good, too. He'd passed his ACT on the first try, Payne added. Burns watched him play basketball that evening -- and throw down a thunderous dunk that left onlookers slack-jawed -- and told Saban, \"This is a pretty good-looking guy.\"\n\n\"We kept searching and searching and searching and never really ever found anything\" in the way of flaws, Saban said.\n\n\"Everyone was trying to find something wrong because nothing really good comes from this area of town,\" Payne said. \"But he's just that diamond in the rough.\"\n\nAfter practice, Burns and Jacobs spoke for an hour. The first thing Jacobs noticed, he said, was Burns' championship rings. Alabama would soon offer him a scholarship, as would nearby Oklahoma, at last. The Friday before signing day, Jacobs took a last-minute official visit to Missouri, followed by a visit to Alabama the next day.\n\nPicking the Crimson Tide was a dream come true for Jacobs. But it was also about proving a point. He wanted to show everyone, including himself: I can play with anybody.\n\nJacobs admits to playing with a chip on his shoulder. Whatever his role is, he said, he wants to embrace it.\n\nSure, he's an \"electrifying player,\" Harris said. He finds the end zone on 12 percent of his touches and averages 3.67 yards after contact. He has 666 yards and 13 touchdowns from scrimmage and ranks second among Power 5 players with 30.6 yards per kick return (minimum 10 returns). But it's not any of those stats that Harris said impresses teammates most.\n\n\"He's playing unbelievable football right now,\" Harris said. \"Yeah, he does things he gets a lot of credit for, like scoring touchdowns and making big returns in the return game, but he also does the dirty work that no one really sees. Someone who does all those things and not ask for more credit than what they're getting gets a lot of credit amongst the team.\"\n\nThere's seemingly nothing Jacobs can't or won't do. During the season opener against Louisville, he took a kick back 71 yards for a touchdown. Against Texas A&M, he threw not one but two key blocks to spring Henry Ruggs III for a touchdown. And against Auburn, he not only knocked one defender off his feet during one memorable run, he also caught a 33-yard touchdown pass over the middle of the field.\n\nWhen Jacobs ran for 97 yards on 20 carries against Mississippi State, it prompted Saban to say that Jacobs \"was a demon running it.\"\n\n\"The beginning of every game, I just want to hit somebody just for myself to get the butterflies out,\" Jacobs said.\n\nThat physical running style is going to test the linebackers of Oklahoma during the Capital One Orange Bowl on Dec. 29 in Miami. Against his home state school, it will be interesting to see if Jacobs comes out even more fired up than usual.\n\nAfter all, it's one thing to get overlooked by far-off programs like Alabama. It's quite another when it's the Sooners and they're a two-hour drive away.\n\nHe has had three seasons to prove that he's more than the three-star prospect no one expected to succeed, and yet the chip on his shoulder is still there. It's as if the advice Payne gave him early on at Alabama is still ringing in his ears.\n\n\"Keep working,\" Payne would tell him. \"They're going to have a new darling every year. They're going to recruit the best guy every year. So you always have to be ready to compete.\"\n\nSaid Payne: \"He's all heart, man.\"\n\nJacobs is a rarity in today's game. He's good enough to start and rarely ever does. He means as much as anyone to Alabama's offense not named Tua Tagovailoa, and yet he never complains about his role.\n\nThere may not be a player in the College Football Playoff who exemplifies the role of an all-purpose back more than Jacobs. Last year, there were those who believed he was the best back on Alabama's roster. This year, an AFC scout who visited practice agreed, calling him the Tide's most complete back and a future high-round draft pick.\n\nTo say that Saban appreciates Jacobs' mentality would be an understatement.\n\n\"This guy is one of the finest people, hardest workers,\" Saban said on his radio show recently. \"... Never complains about how many carries he got, how many passes he got, how many plays he played. When you say, 'You're in,' he's excited and big eyes to get in there. You just love to have guys like that on your team.\"\n\nAgainst Georgia in the SEC championship game, Jacobs battled flu-like symptoms and couldn't eat the day of the game. Running on multiple IVs, he rushed for 83 yards and a pair of touchdowns on eight carries and won the game's most valuable player award.\n\nPayne called him \"old-school\" like that.\n\n\"I saw him put our team on his back, and he willed us in the playoff,\" Payne said. \"I knew when he got his chance he'd make the best of it. That's what he's doing now.\""}
-{"text": "Germany needs an industrial revival of the sort it experienced in the late nineteenth century, but this will be possible only if the state offers technological backing to German companies. The US government\u2019s successful Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency should serve as a model for Germany and Europe to follow."}
-{"text": "Image copyright AFP Image caption The Taiji hunt, seen here during the 2014 season, has received widespread criticism\n\nJapan has started its controversial annual dolphin hunt in the coastal town of Taiji.\n\nThe hunt sees the animals driven into a cove where most are slaughtered for their meat with knives in shallow waters.\n\nOther dolphins are sold to aquariums and marine parks.\n\nThe Taiji hunt has been carried out for decades and gained global attention when it was the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove in 2009.\n\nJapan this year also resumed catching whales for profit, in defiance of international criticism.\n\nMedia playback is unsupported on your device Media caption For some this is a tradition that goes back centuries - but others disagree\n\nThis year's Taiji hunt kicked off on Sunday, but according to Japanese media the boats returned without any dolphins.\n\nAccording to environmentalist group The Dolphin Project, five Risso's dolphins were killed on Monday.\n\nThe overall quota for the season allows for more than 1,700 animals to be killed or captured.\n\nEnvironmentalists say the drive hunt is extremely cruel and the dolphins can take up to 30 minutes to die by suffocation or drowning.\n\nYet the fisherman from Taiji say the community's livelihood is dependent on the trade.\n\nThe dolphin hunting season is expected to last for about six month.\n\nDemand for dolphin and whale meat has been on the decline over the past years and both have been found to have unhealthy levels of mercury.\n\nAnimals caught alive and sold to marine parks fetch a far higher price than the meat yet there is growing pressure on the parks not to buy dolphins captured in Taiji.\n\nJapan has already come under criticism this year for resuming commercial whaling after it left the International Whaling Commission (IWC).\n\nCommercial whaling ships left port on 1 July this year and the first whales have already been killed and sold.\n\nUnder an IWC moratorium, whaling had effectively been banned since 1986.\n\nJapan though had never fully stopped whaling - it has been conducting what it said were research missions killing hundreds of animals each year."}
-{"text": "Elsa stifles another yawn. The words in her textbook have started blurring together under the fluorescent lighting of the laundromat. She squints at the washer her clothes are currently in, noting that it has twenty more minutes before finishing, and she'd have to dry them for at least forty minutes afterwards. Only then could she head back to her room and get a meager amount of sleep before she has to teach tomorrow's lecture.\n\nShe still can't believe she ran out of clothes. The last few weeks had been much more hectic than usual\u2014between her teaching and an unexpected bump in lab time, she somehow forgot to do her laundry until all she had left was currently on her body; a pair of navy, coffee-stained shorts and her raggedy alumni shirt.\n\nShe's thankful to live so close to the laundromat, and even more thankful that the weather is still warm enough outside to not necessitate wearing more than what she has on. While she's mostly immune to the cold, she doesn't want to attract any unwarranted attention her clothing would offer if there was snow on the ground.\n\nThe bell above the laundromat's door jingles, causing Elsa to snap out of her thoughts. She turns towards the door, wondering who else is desperate enough to do their laundry at 2am on a Wednesday.\n\nA man and a woman shuffle in, only to stop dead in their tracks when they see her. Elsa stiffens\u2014these people look like a walking horror scene. Blood stains their shirts in liberal spatters, and their pants are covered in twigs and mud. Their skin isn't spared either; the left side of the man's face is completely covered in blood, ostensibly coming from the cuts above his eye.\n\nAnd the woman\u2026Elsa has to wonder how she can look simultaneously filthy and beautiful. Her eyes are bright and alert despite the time, and they flash teal under the light Elsa found so annoying just a minute ago. Her figure is slender, accentuated by the tight tank top under her green and black flannel, and her copper hair is kept in a loose, mostly undone ponytail.\n\nAfter a tense moment of silence, the woman leans towards the man and whispers something. He quickly nods. \"We're hunters, Level Ones,\" the man calls out to Elsa. His voice is clear and confident, easily carrying over the rattle of Elsa's washer.\n\nElsa releases a breath, relaxing a little. So they were hunters. That certainly explains\u2026well, everything about their appearances. \"Ice fae,\" she replies back.\n\nNeither of them look surprised by the admission, but that's probably because she carries all the proper physical characteristics of her species\u2014the white-blonde hair, the dark blue eyes, the snowy skin.\n\nThe pair make their way over to a machine only a few down from Elsa's, speaking quietly to one another. Elsa tracks them with interest; it's not often she sees hunters, much less Level Ones. What had these two just taken down, a feral pack of werewolves? A coven of vampires who strayed from their sanctioned blood supply? She's thinking so hard about the possibilities that she doesn't even realize the two are beginning to strip right in front of her.\n\nShe wants to avert her gaze. She really does. But, well, she has eyes and there's not much else to focus on at the moment.\n\nThe woman collapses on the wooden bench like a sack of potatoes, wasting no time yanking her shoes off. Her mismatched socks are next, carefully peeled off to reveal dainty feet and blue-painted nails.\n\nElsa\u2014with a huge amount of effort\u2014turns her attention back to the textbook in her lap. This is stupid of her, no it's more than that. It's...it's lecherous. That woman might be a freshman, for crying out loud. But Level Ones were usually older, right? She tried to recall what she learned about hunters from her high school class on Guild employment.\n\nHunters were relatively low on the Guild totempole, yet they were of the utmost importance for those who lived near the wild. Arendelle is one such place, being flush against the largest stretch of forest in the Pacific Northwest. Here, hunters were treated with the respect their abilities deserved; especially the Level Ones who protected the city from the dangerous supernatural threats that were beyond the scope of Level Two training.\n\nAnd that means the incredibly beautiful woman currently undressing must be older than eighteen, right? Elsa takes another peek towards her\u2014and sucks in a surprised breath.\n\nThe woman had already shrugged out of her flannel and tossed it into the washer. Now she crosses her arms in front of her, bruised and bloody fingers gripping at the hem of her shirt and slowly...slowly pulling it over her head.\n\nInch by tantalizing inch, the dirty shirt lifts higher, exposing lightly tanned, almost golden skin. Her stomach is flat and lean, and did Elsa ever think belly buttons were cute before this moment? She wants to do nothing more but dip her tongue into that divot, kiss that smooth skin, run her fingers across those tantalizing ribs\u2014\n\n\"I'm stuck.\"\n\nElsa blinks hard, taking a second to realize her face is engulfed in a blush of epic proportions. Since when have I been such a peeping tom? The worrying question is put aside when the woman speaks again.\n\n\"Kristoff,\" she nearly whines, her face obscured by the bottom half of her shirt, \"can you help me get this off?\"\n\nThe man next to her snorts in amusement. He's already out of his pants and shirt, leaving him clad only in a sleeveless undershirt and a pair of boxer-briefs. Even though Elsa has no interest in men, she can still appreciate how good looking he is\u2014he has clearly defined abdominals under the shirt, and his quads flex impressively as he walks in front of Anna, obscuring most of Elsa's view.\n\n\"Alright,\" he says, and Elsa can picture the bemused smile that must be on his face, \"this is gonna hurt, but it'll be like pulling off a bandaid.\" He grips the shirt, and the woman raises her hands in preparation. \"One, two...three!\"\n\n\"Oww, fuck, fuck, fuck\u2014\" the woman hisses when the shirt gets caught against something. As Kristoff gently fixes the problem, the cursing subsides. \"Ahh, that's better. Thanks.\"\n\nKristoff steps back and tosses the shirt in with the other dirty clothes. \"Any time. Just get your pants off and we can start the load.\"\n\n\"Right!\" And with that, she begins to unzip her jeans. When she pulls one leg out, the material follows, turning it inside out. Her foot gets caught, and she stumbles against Kristoff, who doesn't even budge at the weight of her against him. Muttering darkly to herself, she drags her other leg out and throws the pants into the washer with more force than necessary.\n\nAaand Elsa's staring again.\n\nBut really, how could she not? The full picture of the hunter is now on display\u2014her bra and underwear are both black, with the latter looking like it's made of some sort of silky material. Even with the bruises of all different colors and shapes sullying the otherwise flawless skin, Elsa can appreciate just how long and lean those legs are.\n\nThose legs flow upwards into gently curved hips and what is most likely a firm backside (Elsa can't see her back, but she's more than capable of using her imagination). Elsa's eyes drag across the woman's body\u2014past that cute bellybutton\u2014to focus on the rest of her. Her chest is smaller than Elsa's own, but those breasts would be able to fit perfectly into her palms, and she can now see the constellation of freckles dotting the skin of her chest, arms, and face.\n\nDear god, her face.\n\nThe wild copper hair is now completely free of its ponytail and Elsa can see streaks of grime within its strands. Adorable freckles trail along sharp cheekbones and the bridge of a small nose. Her full, pink lips are stretched into a smile, and something tells Elsa that that's her default expression. Not that she's complaining; the smile brightens her eyes, and they almost appear to be luminous now.\n\nBut that smile, those eyes...they're directed at her hunting partner. The tendril of hurt unfurling in Elsa's stomach is completely unexpected and more than that, it's entirely unwarranted.\n\nWho is she to expect a stranger to look at her like that? She's a nobody, too awkward and closed-off for most people to tolerate. Unless she's teaching, the only other places she occupies are her office and apartment, in that order.\n\nShe doesn't deserve to have this woman's gaze on her, especially not when she's just been acting like a total pervert. If her clothes weren't locked in the washer right now, she'd haul them out and hang them to dry in her bathroom. But until the load is done, she's stuck here and forced to contemplate just how sad her life is.\n\n\"It's your turn to get the bleach,\" the woman is saying, motioning towards the washer. \"It's easier for you to reach anyways.\" Her hands are on her hips, and she hasn't spared Elsa a single glance since she first arrived.\n\nKristoff sighs as he sinks to his knees and reaches behind the machine. He stands up a few seconds later, a bottle of color-safe bleach in one hand and a wadded up shirt in the other. He tosses the shirt at the woman. \"Here, you need it more than I do.\"\n\nShe shoots another smile at him as she unfolds the blue and white flannel. \"Should I find that offensive or thoughtful?\" Ever so carefully, she guides her arms through the sleeves and gingerly shrugs it over her shoulders. The shirt hits her mid-thigh, covering up enough of her to not completely distract Elsa.\n\nWhile she's buttoning up, Kristoff pours some of the bleach into the washer and walks over to the backpack he brought with him. Rifling through it, he comes up with enough quarters to feed the machine. It rumbles to life, and he covers a yawn with a giant hand\u2014the first sign of fatigue Elsa's seen from either of the hunters.\n\nChoosing to ignore his partner's quip, he says, \"Rock-Paper-Scissors or thumb war?\"\n\nElsa raises an eyebrow at the randomness of the question, but the woman seems to understand its meaning. \"Rock-Paper-Scissors, obviously. I'm pretty sure your thumb is dislocated.\" She pokes the offending digit, and Kristoff winces in confirmation.\n\n\"That would have given you an easy victory, but suit yourself,\" he replies, playfully glaring at her. \"Best out of one, because I'm tired and wanna go home.\"\n\n\"Alright,\" she agrees, curling one of her hands into a fist and placing it on top of the other. \"Let's get this over with.\"\n\nHe mimics her pose and they narrow their eyes in concentration.\n\n\"Rock, paper, scissors!\" they both shout in sync.\n\nElsa can't see the end result, but Kristoff's happy exclamation is enough to let her know he won the round.\n\n\"What, no!\" the woman protests, \"Best two out of three, please!\"\n\nKristoff hefts up his backpack and gives her a superior look. \"Nope, rules are rules. Text me when the dryer's done and I'll pick you up. Oh, and one more thing\u2026\" he leans close to her, whispering something that has her turning bright red. Pulling away, he winks at her. \"Think about it.\"\n\nShe stares at him in disbelief. \"That's not\u2014you're clearly lying!\" she sputters.\n\nHe just shrugs and begins to walk out of the laundromat, throwing a peace-sign over his head. \"See ya in a bit, Anna.\"\n\nAnna. The name is light and airy, reminding Elsa of summer and sunshine. It suits her perfectly.\n\nAnna grumbles as she sits down on the bench in front of her machine, blush starting to subside. She seems stiffer than just a few moments before, more tense. Elsa wonders what Kristoff said to her, then she wonders if the two of them are more than just hunting partners. They were clearly comfortable around each other, and not the least bothered by their states of undress.\n\nElsa pinches the bridge of her nose. That is none of her business. Whatever they are to each other, it shouldn't\u2014doesn't\u2014matter. She turns back to her textbook, because she knows she'll never be able to work up the courage to speak to her anyways.\n\nAnd for about fifteen minutes, that's fine. She makes some notes in the margins, highlights a few passages. She doesn't look at Anna once during this time, and it almost feels like things are returning to normal.\n\nIt isn't until she transfers her laundry over to the dryer and is re-settling into her book that she's forced to remember who she's here with.\n\n\"Oh shit,\" the words are quiet, hardly more than a whisper over the din of the machines. But Elsa hears them, and it takes all of her self-control to keep her eyes on her book. She's not going to look up, she's not going to get dragged back into that black hole of a person, that stranger she's been ogling ever since she got here.\n\nSo it's somewhat of a surprise when she feels a soft, quick pressure against her shoulder.\n\nElsa twitches violently, her book hitting the floor as she stands, hands curling and ready to freeze whatever just touched her.\n\nAnna\u2014who had somehow padded over to her as silently as a wolf\u2014recoils, looking like she was the one who nearly jumped out of her skin. \"I'm so sorry!\" she exclaims, eyes anywhere but Elsa. \"I was just\u2014my friend took our money with him, and I was wondering if you had any extra quarters I could borrow for the dryer? I could pay you when he comes back, but I don't want to text him now since he's probably sleeping.\"\n\nFriend...she said Kristoff was her friend. Not boyfriend, fiance, or husband. That makes Elsa feel much more hopeful than she should, but she can't help but hang onto that hope.\n\nAnna is even more gorgeous when there's only a few feet separating them. She's still averting her gaze, toeing at a crack in the linoleum floor. She hasn't even rolled up her sleeves, Elsa thinks fondly. The baggy shirt is clearly not hers and the sleeves stretch out far beyond her hands, obscuring them from view.\n\n\"I\u2026\" Elsa tries to find her voice. \"I have some quarters.\"\n\nAnna finally looks up at her, relief clear on her face. \"Thank you so much!\"\n\nBut Elsa doesn't hear the words, not really. Her heart feels like it's being tugged in fifty different directions and there's a roaring in her ears.\n\nMine.\n\nThe thought is a punch to her gut, and she's finding it hard to breathe.\n\nMine.\n\nThose vibrant eyes, when they finally looked directly into her own, had unlocked something inside of her. Something innate in all ice fae, something both wonderful and terrifying.\n\nThis hunter, this beautiful woman...she was Elsa's mate.\n\n\"So, umm...you said you had some change?\" Anna's voice, which was so confident earlier, is now timid and unsure. She clearly doesn't know what to think of Elsa's reaction\u2014Elsa is still standing, fists clenched at her sides to prevent her from reaching out and touching, jaw clamped shut and aching to prevent her from saying the wrong thing.\n\nHumans aren't like ice fae. They don't feel that tug, that overwhelming urge to be near their mate. This stranger has no idea who she is, and it will stay that way unless Elsa actually does something.\n\nCarefully uncurling her fists, she turns and rummages through her bag until she finds a few quarters. But she can feel herself shaking as she brings the change to Anna.\n\nThe hunter is smiling patiently, and has helpfully rolled up one of her sleeves to expose a hand. A hand that should, by all rights, be disgusting to look at\u2014what with the blood and dirt under the fingernails, and the streaks of flaking mud rendering most of her palm filthy. But Elsa wouldn't mind knowing what that hand feels like against her face, against other parts of her.\n\nThe rush of emotion that accompanies the thought causes her own hand to tremble, and she watches\u2014as if in slow motion\u2014the coins she was holding clatter to the floor.\n\n\"Oh no, I\u2014\"\n\n\"It's no problem, I got it\u2014\"\n\nThey speak over each other, both ducking to retrieve the quarters. Elsa's forehead hits something solid on the way down, and Anna whimpers.\n\nDid I just... Elsa looks up in horror from her spot on the floor. The hunter is wincing, clutching at her nose as blood streams between her fingers.\n\nElsa gasps at the sight. The impulse to reach out and heal is so strong that she can't help but gently press her fingers to Anna's cheek for a moment. \"Are you\u2026\"\n\nAnna recoils, her back audibly hitting a washer. \"I'm fine,\" she tries to assure Elsa, voice muffled. Her eyes have begun to water and blood is now dripping all over the flannel shirt. \"I\u2014I think you just dislodged a blood clot from earlier. No big deal.\"\n\nIt certainly looks like a big deal. \"Can you tilt your head back?\" Elsa asks, scooting closer to her. \"I can heal it if you'd like.\"\n\nSomehow, Anna shrinks even further away from her touch. \"N-no, that's not necessary. You don't want to touch me right now. I'm covered zombie guts and other fun stuff. Bleeding'll stop by itself.\"\n\n\"Please let me\u2014\" Elsa forces herself to stop talking. Takes a calming breath. Tries again in a much more dignified manner, \"I'm a certified healer, and as a Level One hunter you know that when an ice fae sees an injury, it's in our instinct to heal it. So,\" she raises one of her hands again, slowly splaying her fingers out between them, \"may I help you?\"\n\nAnna squints at her, eyebrows raised in a mix of pain and exasperation. \"You just had to fall back on Protocol, didn't you?\" she mumbles around her hands.\n\nElsa can't prevent a tremulous smile from overtaking her. \"Often times, those who are injured don't know what's in their best interest. Healers are trained to resort to Protocol if nothing else works.\" She thanks her lucky stars that she's been keeping up with her certification for no other reason than habit.\n\nAnna's resigned sigh is gurgly and she looks like she immediately regrets the action, but soon tilts her head back against the washer and stares at the ceiling. \"Okay, I...I accept your offer,\" she says, struggling to get the words out as the blood from her nose begins to trickle down into her throat. Her hands are still cupped around her chin, and Elsa gently takes a hold of one.\n\n\"This won't take very long, but I'll need you to relax,\" Elsa says, voice soothing and low. She repositions herself so she's squarely in front of Anna, ignoring the fact that it places her between Anna's bare legs.\n\nOne of her hands comes up to lightly hold the spot where Anna's head meets the back of her neck, and the other sweeps across her face. A stab of guilt goes through her when she sees how much blood Anna has already lost due to her\u2014it's under her fingers now, wet and mixing with whatever else is on Anna's face.\n\nShe stills her hand when her thumb brushes across the bridge of Anna's nose and Anna winces at the light pressure of it. Elsa suppresses a frown at the response; no matter what Anna said, this was more than just a blood clot.\n\nShe pushes away that worrying thought; the injury would be healed regardless, and any negative thoughts now could interfere with the process. She takes a long, even breath, then delves into a deep part of herself.\n\nAnna's eyes flutter shut as the first sign of healing begins, and Elsa follows suit soon after. It's easier to concentrate when she doesn't see the injury, but rather senses it.\n\nAnna is more damaged than Elsa thought. It's not just her nose, which has already begun to repair itself at Elsa's behest. There's also the usual accessory scrapes and bruises people have come to expect on a hunter's body, but more than that\u2026\n\n\"Your back,\" Elsa murmurs, eyes still closed. Her hold on Anna's neck shifts, fingers burying themselves into copper hair. \"Why haven't you done anything about your back?\"\n\nIt's ugly, and it must hurt. So many muscles are knotted and pulled that it's a miracle Anna was able to stand up straight, and a large, slashing wound stretches from her right shoulder blade down towards her left hip. The wound had started to bleed again recently, most likely from when Anna practically threw herself against the washer.\n\n\"It's fine,\" Anna's reply is breathy, not entirely there; a side effect of the healing process. \"I was...I was going to put a salve on it when I got home.\"\n\nElsa tuts under her breath. She can fix this now, save Anna the pain of having to wait for some stupid salve to work. When she's finished with Anna's nose, her hands wander across Anna's back, probing gently at the wound through the soft fabric of the flannel before sliding her fingers under the shirt.\n\nAnna jerks in her grasp. \"Wait\u2014\"\n\nElsa doesn't wait, and that probably breaks about eight different rules about consent during the healing process. But this is Elsa's mate and she's in pain. To do nothing would be even worse, and she's in too deep right now to concentrate on anything but Anna's wounds.\n\nShe moves even closer to Anna, until she's almost pressed against her, until she can feel Anna's ear next to her lips. The body beneath her shivers, and Elsa wonders if it's due to more than just the cool hands now trailing along her spine.\n\nShaky breaths rattle through Anna, and she breaks from Elsa's hold as soon as her back is finished healing. They open their eyes at the same time, and Elsa heats up when she realizes how close they still are.\n\nAnna immediately averts her gaze. \"Umm...that was\u2026\"\n\nElsa's eyes widen, and her stomach clenches painfully. Oh god, what did she just do? She...she violated her mate while she was vulnerable, ignored her when she started to protest.\n\nShe swallows thickly, feeling sick. \"I am so sorry. I-I didn't ask for your permission before I kept healing you, and that was...that was really wrong of me. I'll understand if you want to press charges, and\u2014\"\n\n\"Whoa!\" Anna holds up her hands, waving them furiously in front of Elsa's face. \"I'm not going to report you,\" she exclaims as if the very idea is preposterous. \"I was just worried that you'd drain yourself trying to heal me. I've seen it happen before, and I didn't want you to like, pass out in the laundromat. That wouldn't be very cool.\" She pauses and rubs at her neck. \"So I guess what I'm trying to say is...thank you.\"\n\n\"Oh. Well, I\u2026\" Elsa trails off, a weight feeling like it's been lifted off her chest. She doesn't hate me. I somehow haven't screwed it up. And yet she can't just come out and say, 'I did it because you're my mate and I can't stand to see you in pain'. She has to tread carefully from now on. \"I'm Elsa Norling,\" she says hesitantly. Introductions were always a good start, right?\n\nAnna grins, the action highlighting just how much blood is smeared across the lower half of her face, and reminding Elsa of a lioness after feasting on a gazelle. At least it brings a warmth into her eyes, making the macabre sight a little more bearable to look at. \"Anna Theron.\"\n\nElsa narrows her eyes in consideration. 'Theron' sounds familiar, but she doesn't know any hunters in person. Then it hits her. \"Wait, are you\u2026\"\n\nAnna has the grace to look a little embarrassed at the recognition. \"Yeah. Alaric and Lydia Theron are my parents.\"\n\n\"Wow,\" Elsa says softly. The Therons were two of the top hunters in Arendelle, responsible for saving the city and its inhabitants from countless supernatural threats. They're also media darlings, both being ridiculously attractive and charming. It's really no wonder Anna is so...so everything.\n\nAnd now that she has Anna in front of her, she can't help but ask, \"What you said earlier, about zombie guts, were you being serious?\" Living in Arendelle, she's seen things, but nothing that put her in the middle of danger. She can't imagine how intense a hunter's life must be.\n\n\"Yeah, actually,\" Anna says, smiling faintly. \"Zombies were involved in this production of 'Dirty Jobs'. But I mean, you don't have to ask if it's not something you're interested in.\"\n\nElsa's eyebrows draw together. Did Anna think she was asking just out of politeness? It's strange; most hunters\u2014especially the younger ones\u2014tended to boast about their cases loudly and often. Yet Anna is trying to appear modest even when it's clear she's had a busy, dangerous night.\n\n\"I want to know,\" Elsa gently insists. I want to know everything about you, she adds silently, because it's both true and too scary to voice out loud.\n\nAnna abruptly stands up. The position puts Elsa at eye level with those toned thighs, and she looks away sharply, not at all liking the rush of blood suddenly pounding in her ears.\n\nAnna doesn't seem to notice her reaction, but instead meanders back over to her washer and plinks the quarters down on the dryer next to it. By the time she returns, Elsa has relocated herself to the bench and stowed away most of her impure thoughts.\n\nAnna settles down next to her, shifting slightly so they're face to face. She claps her hands once in anticipation of her story. \"Okay, so you know how necromancers aren't supposed to bring any negative emotions into their rituals?\" she asks with no further ado.\n\nElsa nods, though she knows nothing of the sort. But it does make sense in some odd way; the few necromancers she's seen around town have all seemed like incredibly cheerful people.\n\n\"Well, apparently this necromancer was new and to top it off, had just walked in on his girlfriend cheating on him a few hours prior. Not exactly great conditions when he's been hired to set up a meeting between a recently deceased man and his widow.\"\n\n\"What happened?\" Elsa asks, unable to stop herself from leaning towards her.\n\n\"He raised the man successfully, but he also raised almost everyone else in the graveyard,\" Anna grimaces at the memory. \"And because he was so angry and hurt, the dead just sort of...went haywire, for lack of a better word. They absorbed his feelings and started destroying everything in their path, too out of control to obey him. That's when he called the Guild. Kristoff\u2014that's my hunting partner\u2014and I were the closest, so away we went.\"\n\nAnna's eyes slide past her, a distant look in them as she continues, \"There was...a lot of chaos. Thankfully the graveyard was on the smaller side, but that doesn't mean it was a cakewalk. I usually use my bow when hunting, but zombies require decapitation. I haven't had to use a sword in a while, so I was a little rusty and got hit a few more times than I normally would've.\" Her nose wrinkles cutely. \"Not many people are unfortunate enough to be thrown through tombstones, but I think that's how I hurt my back.\"\n\nWhen Elsa frowns and Anna's quick to reassure her, \"Don't worry though! It was really soft stone.\"\n\nThere's a beat of silence as Elsa absorbs the earnestness in Anna's tone before they burst out laughing at the same time. The sound of her own laughter is almost foreign to her ears, and she can't quite remember the last time she's felt like this\u2014so light and carefree, despite knowing she only has a few hours until she has to be in class.\n\nNothing could have prepared her for what it would be like to find her mate. She used to roll her eyes whenever she came across a news article or fluff piece about a fae finally finding their other half. That would never happen to me, she promised herself when she saw how lovestruck, how completely gone they were. But now she's one of them, and how could she not be?\n\nEven when Anna objectively looks like...well, like she just fought twenty zombies, Elsa barely notices the dirt, grime, and blood anymore. All she sees are those beautiful eyes, the playful quirk of her lips, and the easy, confident way she holds herself.\n\n\"So what about you?\" Anna says once her laughter subsides, \"What brought you here this time of night?\"\n\nElsa squirms and stares down at her shorts. \"It was nothing so exciting, I assure you. I just forgot to do laundry.\" She subtly tries to cover the coffee stain near her thigh, hoping Anna hasn't already noticed it.\n\nShe glances back up in time to see Anna nod knowingly. \"School can do that to you. Are you a senior too?\"\n\n\"First year grad student,\" Elsa breathes, too relieved in knowing Anna isn't a freshman to control her voice.\n\n\"Oh yeah?\" Anna's eyes light up with interest. \"What are you studying?\"\n\nElsa turns towards Anna a bit more. \"Conservation politics for endangered magical species. So many of them are still hunted for their various properties without consideration for the animals themselves. It's something so many people\u2014humans, fae, everyone\u2014would rather ignore than fix. I would like to be an advocate for those species, make sure they don't become extinct because their horns or hearts are needed for superficial apothecary goods.\"\n\nAnna hums in response, but she's looking past Elsa in quiet thought. Elsa bites at her lip, knowing how strongly she just came across. Hunters in general weren't known for their consideration of those they were hunting; it was said they were trained to answer their assignments with ruthless efficiency, not thought. From her research, Elsa had learned of the many organizations for which rogue hunters killed endangered species in exchange for hefty paychecks.\n\n\"You're right,\" Anna says after a few moments, pulling her gaze back to Elsa, \"everyone is so focused on maintaining relations between Level Ones that other creatures get cast aside. And it's a tricky thing; humans don't want to tell trolls not to use endangered plants, because that could mean humans are told to stop poaching phoenixes. So everyone just self-governs, which really means nothing changes.\"\n\nElsa smiles brightly, and the sight seems to catch Anna off-guard\u2014she flashes a quick smile of her own and her cheeks take on a light pink hue. \"Exactly!\" Elsa says excitedly, \"Those are the kinds of issues I would like to help solve at some point. But for now it's just grading papers and taking classes.\" Repressing the urge to continue what she could easily talk about until dawn, she shifts the topic slightly. \"So what have you been studying?\"\n\n\"Zoology,\" Anna answers, shoulders slumping a little. \"It's the expected major for professional hunters, but\u2026I honestly don't want to keep hunting past graduation,\" she confesses, mouth twisting unhappily.\n\n\"Why is that?\" Elsa asks, genuinely surprised. Professional hunting is almost considered a rock star career and Anna's parents were among the most famous hunters in the province.\n\n\"It's just\u2026\" Anna tugs at the hem of her flannel, frowning when her hand comes across a fresh bloodstain, \"I don't care for it, to be honest. I mean yeah, I'm really good at it, but that doesn't mean I like it. I've been thinking lately that I might make a good medic, or maybe a nurse. Someone who is familiar with a hunter's injuries and can heal them when they're unlucky enough not to be near an ice fae,\" she smiles wryly at Elsa before abruptly sighing. \"Sorry, I know that's a weird thing to unload on a stranger. And I probably sound really whiny.\"\n\n\"You don't!\" Elsa is quick to assure her, reaching out to put a comforting hand on Anna's knee before she can think better of it. The skin is warm under her palm, muscles tensing under her fingers.\n\nBut Anna isn't convinced. \"No, I do!\" she nearly groans in realization, \"I sound like every spoiled kid who complains about being good at something. It's horrible.\"\n\n\"If it's so horrible\u2026\" Elsa starts, encouraged that Anna is talking so openly with her already, \"maybe you could make it up to me?\"\n\nAnna raises an eyebrow with wary curiosity. \"What do you mean?\"\n\nElsa takes a deep breath to make sure she's really doing this. \"Maybe we could get a drink sometime?\" she finally asks, the words coming out more timidly than she had hoped, \"Perhaps some coffee?\"\n\nAnna stares at her for what feels like a whole minute, completely blindsided. Her mouth has dropped open slightly and those bright eyes have gotten bigger. Right when Elsa fears she's made a horrible mistake, Anna stirs. \"You mean...like a date?\"\n\nElsa's on shaky ground now; even if the hunter in front of her\u2014her hunter\u2014was interested in females, there was no guarantee she'd be interested in dating a non-human. That's the real danger of having a human soulmate; there's no way to know if the bond will be reciprocated, and the effects of a broken heart for a fae can be painful enough to die from.\n\nBut Elsa tries to ignore that. Tries because Anna is still staring at her with what seems like interest now instead of confusion. \"Y-yes,\" she breathes, and the strangest combination of stark relief and horrible anxiety course through her with that answer, \"like a date.\"\n\nAnna's eyebrows shoot up to her hairline and she grins. But the grin is quickly stifled, and she purses her lips instead. \"Now I owe Kristoff twenty bucks.\"\n\nElsa's heart sinks. Did the hunters have some kind of bet involving her? Is that what they were talking about right before Kristoff left?\n\nAnna must see the hurt starting to spread across her face. \"No!\" she frantically shakes her head. \"I didn't mean that in a shitty way! Kristoff just thought...well he thought that you were\u2026\" the tips of Anna's ears turn pink and she averts her eyes, \"checking me out earlier. I mean, when we were changing. I told him he was being an idiot, because someone like you definitely wouldn't be interested in me. I mean you're like, Hollywood gorgeous and I'm\u2014\"\n\n\"Beautiful,\" Elsa murmurs. She can't even feel bad for saying the word because of how goddamn true it is.\n\n\"I\u2014I'm not,\" Anna sputters, gesturing to her general state. \"I'm covered in blood and guts. That's the last thing I am.\"\n\nElsa stay quiet, letting the silence of her disagreement stretch between them.\n\nAnna shifts, uncomfortable with the lack of response. Her teeth sink into her bottom lip and she stands after a pause. \"This doesn't make sense to me,\" she says, not looking at Elsa.\n\n\"What doesn't?\" Elsa asks, trying not to let any desperateness seep into her voice. This is the only thing that makes sense to her right now\u2014both of them here, at this moment\u2014and so she doesn't understand where Anna's confusion is coming from.\n\n\"Earlier, you\u2026\" Anna frowns, eyebrows drawing together, \"you said you were an ice fae, right?\"\n\nElsa closes her eyes. So it's going to come down to this after all, is it? She would never take back being a creature of ice and snow, of healing and light. But that doesn't stop the pain from blooming in her chest at Anna's response. \"Yes, I'm fae,\" she says quietly, proudly. She won't apologize for what she is, not even to Anna.\n\nAnna sighs, already knowing that would be the answer. \"It's just\u2026I don't know much about ice fae,\" she admits. \"But I know you have mates and I...I'd feel like I would get in the way of that. You just asked for one date, I know that, but if it becomes more than that...you'd just be playing a waiting game, right? And no one blames fae for that,\" she adds quickly, realizing how that sounds, \"It's part of who you are, but I don't want to be a benchwarmer. I've been there before and I can't do it again.\"\n\nShe clamps her mouth shut, still not looking at Elsa. All the energy she had earlier has evaporated, leaving behind an exhausted and vulnerable girl.\n\nThe instinct to heal her again nearly bowls Elsa over, but she can't fix these kinds of injuries, not the same way she fixed Anna's nose and back. She's just as human as Anna when it comes to handling someone's emotional pain.\n\nBut there's a sense of calm under that instinct because maybe she might just be able to give Anna an answer she wants to hear. \"You wouldn't be a benchwarmer,\" she says softly, almost to herself.\n\nAnna finally looks up at her, eyes made impossibly teal by the white light of the laundromat and the dark blood still on her face. \"What does that mean?\" The words are equally faint, and she tilts her head endearingly.\n\nBut then the realization of Elsa's words\u2014and the weight of their true meaning\u2014has Anna reeling and she takes a couple steps backwards until she bumps into a dryer. The dazed, slightly off expression is the same as when Elsa healed her earlier; a comparison that would be amusing at any other point in time. Now it just adds to the anxiety building in her chest as she waits for Anna to say something.\n\n\"Wait, am I\u2026\" Anna swallows hard, shaking her head against the possibility even as she speaks again, \"Am I your\u2014\"\n\nThe laundromat's door swings open violently, slamming against the wall with a loud crack. Anna and Elsa both jump, and Elsa turns to see Kristoff storming in, spots of angry red on his cheeks and snowflakes melting against his beanie.\n\nHe cuts between them, outstretching a gloved hand to Anna. \"We need to go,\" he says without any sort of explanation. Panic is lurking at the edges of his eyes, so at odds with the playful demeanor he had earlier.\n\nAnna stares at him like he's grown another head. \"But what about our clothes? And\u2014\" she starts to gesture at Else when Kristoff cuts her off.\n\n\"They can wait!\" he nearly yells in exasperation, causing Anna to flinch in surprise. \"I put fresh clothes and boots in the car so you can change on the way to the hospital.\"\n\nAnna's mouth drops open and she immediately pushes away from the dryer. \"Who is it?\"\n\nA pang goes through Elsa when she hears the sheer worry in her voice, and she senses this is far from the first time Anna's asked that question. She grips her arms tightly, willing herself not to get between the two hunters and comfort Anna.\n\nKristoff takes a step closer, lowering his voice. \"Something happened to Hiccup and it\u2026\" he casts a sharp look at the floor. \"It sounds pretty bad.\"\n\n\"Hiccup,\" Anna echoes, swaying slightly. \"Is he in stable condition?\"\n\n\"For now. He just went into surgery.\" Kristoff's jaw tenses, but that doesn't stop his lips from trembling. \"We would have known sooner if I hadn't been sleeping. I took the pager with me and I just didn't hear it. I'm sorry Anna\u2014\"\n\nAnna reaches up and puts a hand against the back of his neck. \"You didn't do anything wrong. The page wasn't a call for backup, was it?\" When Kristoff feebly shakes his head, she continues, \"Then it was an update on his situation, a situation that happened who knows how long ago. We wouldn't have been able to help him even if you had been awake. All we can do now is be there for him, right?\"\n\nKristoff doesn't reply, but he seems more grounded now. Anna moves her hold to his upper arm and starts to guide him out of the laundromat. As she reaches for the door, she hesitates and turns back to look at Elsa.\n\nThe calm disposition she had put up for Kristoff slips, and Elsa can see the fear as plain as day. Anna bites her lip, caught between the condition of her friends and the confession Elsa just dropped in her lap.\n\nFor a moment, it looks like she chooses Elsa. For a breath, it seems like she'll stay.\n\nBut then Anna tears her gaze away from her and pushes the door open, guiding Kristoff into the night and leaving her alone in the laundromat once more.\n\nFive days later\n\nElsa stares blankly at the test in front of her, not really looking at the answers her student had scrawled down. She can't focus, not even on the simple task of grading papers.\n\nShe hasn't been able to since the night she saw Anna for both the first and last time, since she was cast aside right after she practically told Anna that she was Elsa's mate.\n\nAnd the thing is, Elsa can't even blame Anna for making that choice. Here was this stranger who said they had some sort of mystic bond with her that most humans can't comprehend, and then there was one of Anna's friends in the hospital, getting prepped for some kind of surgery. It certainly didn't seem like an easy choice for Anna to make, but that didn't make it hurt any less.\n\nGiving up on grading for the time being, she flicks her pen to the side, watching as it slowly rolls towards the edge of the desk and topples off completely.\n\nElsa puts her elbows on the desk and lays her head down on top of them. She still has at least another fifteen minutes until her office hours are up and she can't bear to sit here any longer. This has quite possibly been the worst Monday of her life and she just wants it to be over already.\n\nElsa had stayed an additional two hours at the laundromat that night to see if the hunters were coming back for their clothes, but there was no sign of either of them. Dejected and shaky with exhaustion, she had gone home and thought of the various ways she could contact Anna.\n\nFacebook seemed like the obvious answer, but it made her strangely uncomfortable when she found Anna's profile, showing the woman smiling broadly next to the bronze statue of their school's mascot. What am I supposed to say to her over a stupid Facebook message? She cursed herself for not giving Anna her phone number when she had the chance.\n\nApart from wandering the campus like a ghost on the off-chance of bumping into Anna, Elsa didn't know what else to do. So she turned even more inwards than usual; playing mopey songs loud enough for her neighbor to bang repeatedly on her wall, eating almost nothing but chocolate and baked goods, and snapping at students whenever they were texting or talking during her lecture.\n\nShe's actually about to snap again when she hears a timid knock on the door before it's pushed open without warning. The reproach dies on her lips when she looks up and sees Anna standing before her.\n\nElsa quickly straightens up, pushing loose strands of hair away from her face and smoothing the front of her shirt. She wants to say something\u2014she really does\u2014but she's just as starstruck as she was in the laundromat, and can't help but stare once more.\n\nAnna's so much cleaner now, her hair vibrant and plaited into two braids underneath a dark blue beanie. Snow flakes melt on her black utility jacket and underneath is a faded gray shirt with a Young Frankenstein poster emblazoned across it. Her cheeks and nose are pink from the cold weather.\n\nAnd more importantly, Anna is here. She sought Elsa out with no prompting and of her own volition. The thought warms Elsa to the core.\n\n\"So, I umm\u2026\" Anna starts, and Elsa snaps out of her daze to realize the other woman is blushing furiously because of her blatant staring. \"I never paid you back for those quarters.\"\n\nSilence stretches out between them while Elsa tries to process that statement.\n\nAnna grimaces, looking appalled at herself. \"Wow, I was trying to be funny but that was actually horrible. Please forget I said that.\"\n\nElsa smiles timidly, secretly relieved Anna's not just here to return a few quarters. \"How did you find me?\"\n\n\"Oh,\" Anna seems surprised that she's being left off the hook so easily. Jerking her thumb at the door, she replies, \"You said you were a grad student studying conservation politics, so I looked up the department and found your name and office hours. I hope that's not weird.\"\n\n\"It's not!\" Elsa says quickly. \"I'm...I'm really glad you're here.\"\n\nAnna's head dips down and she's at a momentary loss for words. Elsa waits for her to speak, for Anna to tell her why she's standing in the middle of her office.\n\nAnna takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, looking back up to lock eyes with Elsa. \"I didn't want to leave the laundromat that night, but Hiccup\u2026Kristoff wasn't lying\u2014he really was in bad shape, and he...he lost his leg,\" she blinks hard, the pain in her eyes clear from across the room. She visibly fights against it, tamping it down. \"We stayed with him for the rest of the night and almost all of the next day.\"\n\nAnna crosses the room and stops when she's just short of Elsa's desk. She hesitates, looking like she wants to sit down before deciding against it. Smiling awkwardly at the pause in her explanation, she continues, \"After that...I looked up all I could about ice fae, about your lives and magic...and soulmates. There was so much I didn't know\u2014so much I still don't know\u2014but I didn't want to come here completely ignorant of what it would mean to be...yours.\"\n\nA delightful shiver spreads down Elsa's spine at that word coming from Anna's mouth. So Anna hadn't forgotten about her\u2014she had been doing the exact opposite; researching and learning about the bond they now shared.\n\nThis woman\u2026Elsa doesn't know what she's ever done to deserve someone like her. It's why she feels obligated to tell her, \"This bond...it doesn't have to always be romantic in nature.\"\n\nOf course Elsa wouldn't mind at all if that's where the bond takes them. Hell, she still can't stop staring at Anna like she's the only source of water in a desert wasteland.\n\nAnna quirks her lips in thought, straying a little closer to Elsa's side of the desk. Elsa now has to tilt her head up quite a bit to look at her properly, and the position makes her feel all the more vulnerable.\n\n\"I read that too,\" Anna says after a moment of consideration. \"But I've been thinking and I'd like to get some coffee together and talk some more, like you suggested. Would that still be okay?\"\n\nElsa's heart leaps into her throat, and it must show on her face. \"Okay? That's...that would be wonderful.\"\n\n\"Then it's a date,\" Anna says, and her smile is as warm and beautiful as sunrise after a terrible storm."}
-{"text": "Buying second hand furniture is a smart way to save money, find unique pieces, and shop in a more sustainable way. \u201cSecond hand\u201d means pre-owned (aka preloved) and encompasses vintage, antique, and contemporary pieces.\n\nHere are a couple definitions that will help you navigate the market:\n\nVintage: to qualify as vintage, the piece must be least 30 years old.\n\nto qualify as vintage, the piece must be least 30 years old. Antique: being more than 100 years old qualifies an item as antique.\n\nBuying something that is already in the existing pool of goods saves the energy that would be used to create a new item, and may keep a perfectly good piece from ending up in the landfill.\n\nThis vintage wine rack is an excellent example of the WONDERS that can be found \u2013 and made \u2013 of previously owned treasures!\n\nAccording to the Wall Street Journal, the cost of furniture has fallen an average of 50% over the past 30 years. Cheap furniture imports drive down prices and create a market full of throw-away furniture. However, buying second hand means you can buy quality pieces at a fraction of their original cost. When you are considering second hand furniture, there are several things to keep in mind.\n\nKnow Where to Look\n\nKnowing the best places to look is the first step to finding your piece! Trove Market, yard sales, thrift shops, flea markets, estate sales, auctions, consignment stores, and Craigslist \u2013 begrudgingly, of course \u2013 are where second hand deals thrive.\n\nDon\u2019t be afraid to ask for a discount! If you don\u2019t find what you\u2019re looking for just keep going back to see what\u2019s new. Use your best judgment when deciding to take something free or from the curb into your home. Never take mattresses or upholstered pieces as they may contain bedbugs.\n\nBe Patient & Quick\n\nBe patient as you wait for the right piece (and price) to come along. Browse Trove and check your local shops frequently. Tell your friends what you are looking for! Chances are somebody knows somebody who is selling something that\u2019s right up your alley.\n\n\n\nWhen serendipity finally finds you, snap your new piece up before someone else does! Be prepared by having a photo of the space and the dimensions you need in hand, so you know if there will be any hiccups fitting that new piece in your home.\n\nPictured: Adrian Pearsall for Craft Associates Cloud Sofa Sectional\n\nGet Creative\n\nUnfortunately, you can\u2019t always afford the thing that you want and you may never find it for a steal. Sometimes, you have to get creative to solve your problem. When you see an interesting piece, think about how it can be repurposed to fit your needs. A stool can be used as a nightstand, a large vase can be repurposed as an umbrella stand. With some creative thinking, you can end up with the perfect one-of-a-kind solution!!\n\n\n\nNow get out there and have some fun! :)"}
-{"text": "Over the next few weeks, on Wednesdays, we will be discussing Matthew Vines\u2019 book, God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships. (See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)\n\nI chose this particular book because I think it provides the most accessible and personal introduction to the biblical and historical arguments in support of same-sex relationships, and because Matthew is a theologically conservative Christian who affirms the authority of Scripture and who is also gay. His research is sound and his story compelling, and he\u2019s a friend\u2014someone I like and respect and enjoy learning from.\n\n(Scheduling note: Our next installment in this series will be on October 22. I\u2019ll be on the road speaking next week and unable to moderate and participate in the conversation.)\n\nToday we reach a critical chapter in Matthew\u2019s book, for it deals with one of the two New Testament texts commonly cited to oppose same-sex relationships.\n\nRomans 1\n\nPerhaps the most significant passage in the debate regarding the Bible and same-sex relationships is Romans 1: 26-27, which opponents to same sex relationships often point to as a \u201cclear\u201d statement on the matter.\n\nThe passage is part of the apostle Paul\u2019s message at the opening of Romans about how \u201call have sinned and fall short of the glory of God\u201d (Romans 3:23). Romans 1 focuses on how Gentiles have fallen short, and Romans 2 focuses on how Jews like himself have fallen short. (This sets up Paul\u2019s argument that redemption for both is offered through Jesus Christ.)\n\nAccording to Paul, the sins of the Gentiles are rooted in their worship of idols, which led them to indulge in vices like envy, slander, gossip, murder, arrogance, and \u201cshameful lusts.\u201d Here he notes: \u201cEven their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones\u201d and the men \u201cabandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.\u201d\n\n\u201cPau\u2019s depiction of same-sex behavior in this passage in indisputably negative,\u201d acknowledges Matthew. \u201cBut he also explicitly describes the behavior he condemns as lustful. He makes no mention of love, fidelity, monogamy, or commitment. So should we understand Paul\u2019s words to apply to all same-sex relationships, or only to lustful, fleeting ones?\u201d\n\nTo get to the bottom if this question, we have to discern why Paul wrote what he did\u2014the principle behind his statements.\n\n[Here, almost as an aside, Matthew makes a very important point: \u201cFocusing on the reason behind biblical statements is not a new principle. Christians of all stripes ask not only what but why when we study Scripture.\u201d He cites slavery as an example. The New Testament authors often tell slaves to submit to their masters (Titus 2:9-10, 1 Timothy 6:1-2, Colossians 3:22-25, Ephesians 6:5-9, 1 Peter 2:18-24), a point not lost on those Christians who advocated for the preservation of slavery during the Civil war. To make a case for abolition, Christians had to look beyond what appears on the surface to be an endorsement of slavery to examine why the New Testament authors wrote what they did. While Matthew doesn\u2019t spend much time on this particular issue, this is what ultimately changed my mind about LGBT people and the Bible. The moment I realized I couldn\u2019t win a \u201cproof text\u201d war with a slave-owner was the moment I realized that in discussions like these, we can\u2019t rely on a few Bible verses pulled from their context\u2014not when lives are at stake. But more on that at a later date\u2026]\n\nSo what did Paul mean when he wrote Romans 1?\n\nAs has already been shown, same-sex relations in the first century were not thought to be the expression of an exclusive sexual orientation but were widely understood to be the product of excessive sexual desire wherein the one engaging in same-sex behavior did so out of an excess of lust that could not be satisfied. The most common forms of same-sex behavior in the Greco-Roman world, Matthew notes, were pederasty and sex between masters and their slaves, and the majority of men who indulged in those practices also engaged in heterosexual behavior with their wives. So we\u2019re not talking about committed, monogamous, sacrificial relationships here. Not by a long shot.\n\nCiting the writings of Philo, Plato, and Dio Chyrysostom, Matthew notes that same-sex relations were not considered objectionable to these writers because partners shared the same anatomy, but \u201cbecause they stemmed from hedonistic self-indulgence.\u201d\n\nMatthew provides multiple examples of this reality (both in this chapter and others). Particularly relevant in this case is Dio Chyrysostom\u2019s argument that some men had such insatiable sexual appetites they abandoned the \u201ceasy conquest\u201d of women for more challenging sex with males, and John Chrysostom\u2019s commentary on Romans 1 in which the father of the Church states: \u201c[Paul] does not say that they were enamored of one another but that they were consumed by lust for one another! You see that the whole of desire comes from an excess which cannot be contained itself within proper limits.\u201d\n\nThe concept of same-sex orientation and the notion of committed same-sex relationships was simply not part of Pauls\u2019\u2014or these other writers\u2019\u2014 worldview. \u201cIn Paul\u2019s day, same-sex relations were a potent symbol of sexual excess,\u201d writes Matthew, and so \u201cthey offered an effective illustration of Paul\u2019s argument: We lose control when we are left to our own devices.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut while that principle remains true today,\u201d he says, \u201cthe specific example Paul drew from his culture does not carry the same resonance for us. This is not because Paul was wrong\u2014he wasn\u2019t addressing what we think of today as homosexuality. The context in which Paul discussed same-sex relations differs so much from our own that it cannot reasonably be called the same issue. Homosexuality condemned as excess does not translate to homosexuality condemned as an orientation\u2014or as a loving expression of that orientation.\u201d\n\nI don\u2019t know about you, but I don't know any gay, lesbian, and bisexual Christians today who pursue same-sex relationships because they have grown tired of heterosexuality and want to try something new. The gay, lesbian, and bisexual Christians I know tell me they have experienced same-sex attractions for many years, often since childhood, and simply want to be in a committed, sacrificial relationship with someone to whom they are attracted. And Matthew's analysis of this passage, which is shared by many other biblical scholars, gives me reason to believe Romans 1 isn't speaking about them.\n\nUnnatural \u2013 like long hair\n\nSo what about the words \u201cnatural\u201d and \u201cunnatural\u201d? Wouldn\u2019t they suggest that Paul, like so many who crudely argue the case today, condemned same-sex behavior because the \u201cparts don't fit?\u201d\n\nMatthew again returns to what no good biblical scholar would dispute: that many of the gender roles alluded to in Scripture are rooted in patriarchy. In the ancient world, if a man took the active role in a sexual encounter, his behavior wad generally deemed \u201cnatural.\u201d If he took the passive role, he was derided for engaging in \u201cunnatural\u201d sex for supposedly playing the role of a woman. The opposite was true for women: sexual passivity was deemed \u201cnatural,\u201d while dominance was \u201cunnatural.\u201d\n\nOnce again, Matthew cites multiple ancient authors, including Philo, Plato, and Josephus, to show how the terms \u201cnatural\u201d and \u201cunnatural\u201d were used in ancient writings. \u201cThey were not synonyms for \u2018straight\u2019 and \u2018gay,\u2019\u201d he concludes. \u201cThey were boundary markers between what did and did not conform to customary gender roles within a patriarchal context\u2026In societies that viewed women as inferior, sexual relationships between equal-status partners could not be accepted. Same-sex unions in particular disrupted a social order that required strict hierarchy between the sexes. We see this hierarchy reflected in Romans 1 by the use of the phrase \u2018their women\u2019 in verse 26, which points to the subordinate role of women in ancient times.\u201d\n\nThis doesn\u2019t mean Paul himself was sexist, Matthew argues, particularly given his high praise of women throughout his epistles. But it could mean he simply invoked the terms \u201cnatural\u201d and \u201cunnatural\u201d as a shorthand reference to what the ancient world would have understood as a violation of accepted cultural norms regarding gender roles, motivated by excessive, unctrolled lust.\n\nHere is where Matthew makes one of his best points of the book, one that I particularly resonated with given my own experience with head coverings during my year of biblical womanhood.\n\nThe apostle Paul makes the very same appeal to \u201cnatural\u201d and \u201cunnatural,\u201d in the context of gender roles, when he argues that women should wear head coverings: \u201cJudge for yourself,\u201d he writes, \u201cIs it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair it is her glory?\u201d (I Corinthians 11:13-15)\n\n\u201cNature\u201d and \u201cdisgrace\u201d\u2014these are the very same words Paul uses when discussing same sex behavior in Romans 1:26-27! And yet most Christians today do not read 1 Corinthians 11 as a universal dictum regarding God\u2019s design for hairstyles and head coverings.\n\nCiting Jim Brownson\u2019s scholarship on the topic, Matthew notes that these norms regarding hair length, head coverings, and hierarchal gender roles were rooted in the honor-shame cultures of the Mediterranean, where violating them could do serious harm to the spreading of the Gospel.\n\nConcludes Matthew: \u201cFor Paul, same-sex desire did not characterize a small minority of people who were subject to special classification\u2014and condemnation\u2014on that basis. Rather, it represented an innate potential for excess within all of fall humanity.\u201d\n\nHe cites fifth century Christian bishop Julian of Eclanum who interpreted Romans 1 as a contrast of those who make \u201cright use\u201d of sexual desire with those who \u201cindulge in the excess of it.\u201d For Julian, the moral of Romans 1 is that \u201che who observes moderation in natural [desire] uses a good thing well; but he who does not observe moderation abuses a good thing.\u201d\n\nThis is a takeaway that applies to all readers of the text\u2014gay or straight.\n\n***\n\nAlso, if you want to learn more about the Bible and sexuality, check out the Reformation Project conference in Washington D.C., November 6-8. Speakers include David Gushee, Allyson Robinson, Gene Robinson, Justin Lee, Jane Clementi, Danny Cortez, Frank Schaefer, James Brownson, Kathy Baldock, Alexia Salvatierra, and Amy Butler.\n\n***\n\nQuestions for Discussion:\n\n1. What do you think of this interpretation of Romans 1? If it is not a condemnation of people who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual, what might be the message? What can we learn from it?\n\n2. This study has shown the degree to which patriarchal assumptions affected so much of what was considered \"shameful\" and \"unnatural\" in the ancient world. How do we continue to relate to Scripture as inspired and authoritative, even when it reflects these (and other) cultural norms that no longer apply today?\n\nI will be monitoring the comment section closely over the next 24 hours, after which the thread will be closed. Thanks for your participation!"}
-{"text": "Unglaubliche Szenen nach einem schweren Unfall auf der A1 bei L\u00fcbeck: Ein Verkehrsteilnehmer filmt, wie zahlreiche Autofahrer nicht warten, bis die Unfallstelle ger\u00e4umt ist. Stattdessen wenden sie und fahren durch die Rettungsgasse zur\u00fcck zur letzten Auffahrt.\n\nNorbert Lehmkuhl, Gesch\u00e4ftsf\u00fchrer einer Innenausbaufirma in L\u00fcbeck, ver\u00f6ffentlichte seine Aufnahmen am Dienstag auf Facebook. Im Gespr\u00e4ch mit FOCUS Online sagt er: \u201eSo etwas habe ich noch nie erlebt. Das war wie von einer anderen Welt. Ich wusste gar nicht, ob ich selbst noch auf der richtigen Spur bin. Von den Verkehrss\u00fcndern wurde ich angep\u00f6belt. Ich bin wirklich erschrocken.\u201c\n\nIn der Rettungsgasse gewendet: Chaoten m\u00fcssen mit Verfahren rechnen\n\nDie r\u00fccksichtslosen Fahrer m\u00fcssen jetzt mit einem Ordnungswidrigkeitsverfahren rechnen. Die Polizei sichtet derzeit das eingegangene Videomaterial.\n\nUnfall mit einem Schwerverletzten auf der A1\n\nWas war zuvor passiert? Ein voll beladener Sattelzug aus Portugal fuhr am Dienstagvormittag ungebremst auf einen VW Caddy und einen weiteren Lkw auf. Der Lkw-Fahrer wurde eingeklemmt und konnte erst nach einer Stunde befreit und schwer verletzt in ein Krankenhaus gebracht werden. 13 Rettungsfahrzeuge und ein Rettungshubschrauber waren im Einsatz. Die Autobahn in Richtung Norden blieb f\u00fcr mehrere Stunden voll gesperrt. Der Sachschaden betr\u00e4gt mehr als 80.000 Euro.\n\n\"Habe ich ja noch nie gesehen\": Helfer filmen Rettungsgasse und sind begeistert"}
-{"text": "They\u2019re either feeling their oats after the media gun control love fest this past weekend, or they just know that their increasingly left-leaning voter bases expect this kind of futile legislative gesture, no matter the chances of passage.\n\n\u201cYou do not have the right to bear bullets,\u201d said Congresswoman and former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz at a press conference Monday announcing the introduction of a bill that would require instant background checks to purchase ammunition.\n\nOf course, it could be both, no?\n\nWithout background checks on ammunition sales, there\u2019s nothing to stop dangerous people \u2013 barred from buying guns \u2013 from amassing vast ammunition arsenals. This ludicrous loophole puts lives at risk. \u2014 Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) March 26, 2018\n\nThe bills have been introduced by two of Congress\u2019s most anti-gun and least-liked members.\n\nThe Ammunition Background Check Act was introduced by Wasserman Schultz in the House and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) in the Senate. Like its name implies, it would require anyone looking to buy bullets to be subjected to background checks, similar to the one required to purchase a firearm in the first place.\n\nNormally we\u2019d say this doesn\u2019t have a snowball\u2019s chance in Broward County of passing, but these days\u2026who knows?"}
-{"text": "Send this page to someone via email\n\nThe BC Coroners Service has now identified two men who died while on vacation on Salt Spring Island last week.\n\nMasashi Shintani and Ryo Yamaguchi, both 25 and originally from Japan, went swimming with a friend at Weston Lake last Tuesday.\n\nThey were trying to reach a wharf but didn\u2019t make it to the other side.\n\nThe two men were rescued from the water and transported to hospital but could not be resuscitated.\n\nStory continues below advertisement"}
-{"text": "Russian luxury phone company Caviar has come up with one of its most meta iPhone releases ever: the iPhone 11 Pro Superior Jobs, which has a real piece of the Apple kingpin's iconic black turtleneck sweater on it!\n\nIt's the latest in the crazy \"collaborations\" between the Russian company and various celebrities, which also includes Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier as well as The Beatles, known as the Superior collection.\n\n\u2022 Read more: iPhone 11 Pro review\n\nStarting at $6,290 for a standard 64GB model, up to $7,460 for the 512GB Max version, the iPhone 11 Pro Superior Jobs is \"a tribute to the immortal genius\" in the style of the original iPhone.\n\nThe $6,000 iPhone 11 Pro Superior Jobs has a piece of Steve Jobs' turtleneck in the Apple logo (Image credit: Caviar)\n\nIn the center of the embossed Apple logo is an actual piece of Steve Jobs' iconic black turtleneck sweater, while at the bottom is the engraved autograph of Steven Paul Jobs. This design is limited to just nine pieces worldwide.\n\nIf you're more interested in legendary boxers or iconic musicians, though, Caviar has more up its sleeve (hat tip to LetsGoDigital).\n\nThe iPhone 11 Pro Superior Ali & Frazier celebrates one of the most epic showdowns in the history of the sweet science, that being the Thrilla in Manilla between Muhammad Ali and Smokin' Joe Frazier.\n\nRanging from $11,990-$13,160, and limited to three pieces, the phone features a red swatch from Ali's trunks and a blue swatch from Frazier's, along with a 24-karat gold championship belt in the middle of the phone.\n\nCombat sports more your thing? This $12,000 iPhone 11 Pro has pieces of Ali and Frazier's trunks (Image credit: Caviar)\n\nIf one is good and two is better, then four must be the best, right? Well, if you're a Beatles fan this is probably the case, as the iPhone 11 Pro Superior The Beatles continues the mad haberdashery trend with \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 swatches of the suits worn by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison.\n\nOnly one of these phones will be available, and it will cost you $11,210 for a 64GB iPhone 11 Pro or $12,380 for a 512GB iPhone 11 Pro Max.\n\nAnd of course, if all of that is too pedestrian, you can buy a $7,000 iPhone 11 Pro with a piece of the Titanic, or a $33,000 one with a piece of Yuri Gugarin's spaceship on it!\n\nAnd if you're a Beatles fan, surely you want an $11K iPhone 11 Pro with pieces of the awesome foursome's suits! (Image credit: Caviar)\n\nRead more:\n\nThe best camera phone in 2019: which is the best smartphone for photography?\n\nBest iPhone for photography: the iPhone 11 Pro or a cheaper, older model?\n\nApple iPhone 11 Pro review"}
-{"text": "\u200bBrampton voters elected the following offices on Monday, October 22, 2018:"}
-{"text": "* Required field. By submitting this form, you agree that you are opting in to receive promotional emails from Bodybuilding.com. You may opt out at any time by followingthe opt-out instructions provided in said emails.\n\n"}
-{"text": "The upcoming 20th Pok\u00e9mon movie, I Choose You, is a reimagining of the anime\u2019s first season \u2014 but don\u2019t expect everything to be the same. Among the biggest changes are new takes on classic moments and, for whatever reason, the replacement of Ash Ketchum\u2019s best friends, Brock and Misty.\n\nBrock and Misty left their posts as gym leaders early on in the anime to accompany Ash on his journey to becoming a Pok\u00e9mon master. (He\u2019s a charmer, that kid.) I Choose You forfeits these characters in favor of two new fellow trainers. There\u2019s Souji, whose partner is a Lucario \u2014 a fourth-gen Pok\u00e9mon, and thus another retcon \u2014 and Makoto, who buddies up with a Piplup.\n\nBoth are prominent in the film\u2019s promotional material; check them out in the latest extended trailer for I Choose You. The jury\u2019s still out on whether they\u2019re as memorable as the lovelorn Brock and stubborn Misty, but we imagine it will be hard to get nostalgic fans to warm up to them.\n\nCount us among the skeptics: It\u2019s odd to replace Ash\u2019s best friends with two newcomers, even if I Choose You isn\u2019t a straight remake of the original Pok\u00e9mon anime. A story this familiar and beloved may be able to withstand some tweaks, but dropping some of the most visible characters may not be one of them.\n\nThe good (?) news is that both characters, and some other fan favorites, make an appearance during the end credits. That\u2019s ... something, at least.\n\nI Choose You premieres in Japan on July 15. A Western release date has not been announced \u2014 and don\u2019t expect Brock and Misty\u2019s return to be announced alongside it.\n\nCorrection: Lucario is a fourth-gen Pok\u00e9mon, not third-gen. Point still stands: It sure wasn\u2019t in the original anime."}
-{"text": "Le 22 d\u00e9cembre 2017, Th\u00e9riault est occup\u00e9 \u00e0 faire d\u00e9filer son fil Facebook. Il voit appara\u00eetre une publicit\u00e9 de Google vantant son assistant personnel, le Google Home, \u00e0 qui l\u2019on peut poser des questions.\n\nL\u2019internaute \u00e9crit une premi\u00e8re publication en faisant une requ\u00eate grivoise \u00e0 l\u2019assistant personnel. Il r\u00e9cidive 20 minutes plus tard, en \u00e9crivant l\u2019invitation \u00e0 organiser une attaque terroriste.\n\nSa publication a \u00e9t\u00e9 signal\u00e9e tr\u00e8s rapidement \u00e0 la GRC. Les policiers de Qu\u00e9bec ont arr\u00eat\u00e9 Th\u00e9riault chez lui le jour m\u00eame.\n\n\u00c0 LIRE AUSSI: Un homme accus\u00e9 de menaces contre les musulmans.\n\n\u00abNiaiser Google\u00bb\n\nAu proc\u00e8s, Nicolas Th\u00e9riault a fait valoir qu\u2019il voulait seulement \u00abniaiser Google\u00bb. Il est bien s\u00fbr au courant de la tuerie \u00e0 la Grande Mosqu\u00e9e de Qu\u00e9bec du 29 janvier 2017, mais il n\u2019y pensait pas, dit-il, en \u00e9crivant ce qu\u2019il qualifie de blague.\n\nLe minist\u00e8re public n\u2019achetait pas cette version. Le procureur de la Couronne a \u00e9voqu\u00e9 plusieurs vid\u00e9os partag\u00e9s par Nicolas Th\u00e9riault qui d\u00e9montre, selon la poursuite, un caract\u00e8re haineux.\n\nTh\u00e9riault avait partag\u00e9 via Facebook des vid\u00e9os d\u2019auteurs divers montrant des musulmans f\u00eatant No\u00ebl, sur la pr\u00e9sence des immigrants \u00e0 Paris, sur un attentat terroriste \u00e0 Melbourne, sur des viols collectifs commis par des migrants, etc.\n\nLe juge Christian Boulet de la Cour du Qu\u00e9bec a retenu le t\u00e9moignage de Nicolas Th\u00e9riault et estime que les propos \u00abirr\u00e9fl\u00e9chis et d\u00e9risoires\u00bb ne constituent pas une incitation \u00e0 la haine. \u00abSi on consid\u00e8re le contexte d\u00e9crit par le d\u00e9fendeur, les circonstances entourant cette d\u00e9claration, ainsi que son destinataire, Google, j\u2019ai un doute raisonnable que cette communication interpellante et inappropri\u00e9e exprimait la haine et ce, m\u00eame si dans son \u00e9tourderie, le d\u00e9fendeur a publi\u00e9 cette r\u00e9ponse \u00e0 Google sur son Facebook, la rendant ainsi accessible \u00e0 de nombreuses personnes\u00bb, conclut le juge Boulet.\n\nApr\u00e8s son acquittement, Nicolas Th\u00e9riault a tenu \u00e0 s\u2019adresser aux repr\u00e9sentants des m\u00e9dias. \u00abJ\u2019ai fait \u00e7a sans avoir r\u00e9fl\u00e9chi et je regrette, assure l\u2019internaute. Je suis contre toute forme de terrorisme. Il faut d\u00e9noncer le terrorisme islamiste et d\u00e9noncer le terrorisme d\u2019extr\u00eame droite. Mais c\u2019est s\u00fbr que j\u2019ai d\u00e9velopp\u00e9 une aversion pour toutes les religions parce que je n\u2019aime pas \u00e7a.\u00bb"}
-{"text": "The FIFA Council held its ninth meeting today in Miami, where the members of FIFA\u2019s strategic and decision making body voted on a number of agenda items that will shape the future of international competitions, chief of which was the introduction of a revamped, 24-team FIFA Club World Cup .\n\nCONFIRMED: The FIFA Council today ratified that Video Assistant Referees (VAR) WILL be used at the #FIFAWWC this summer in France. pic.twitter.com/qSX10wIGjL\n\nThe FIFA Council unanimously approved the Activity Report, the Governance Report and the Financial Report \u2212 a set of three documents that summarise FIFA\u2019s achievements over the course of 2018. The reports break down the huge financial success of the 2015-2018 cycle and FIFA\u2019s strong and sustainable position to keep investing in football development in the years to come. The reports are available for download in the links below:\n\nThe members of the FIFA Council were provided with an overview of the significant overhaul of the FIFA World Football Museum, which has transformed it into a sustainable investment in football culture and heritage. The museum has optimised its expenditures and improved its financial operational results, while still seeing an increase in the number of visitors.\n\nMeeting no. 10 of the FIFA Council is scheduled to take place in Paris on 3 June 2019, in the lead-up to the 69th FIFA Congress and the opening of the FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup France 2019."}
-{"text": "As of September 2017, every Certificate Authority is obligated to check the CAA DNS records for a domain it is about to issue a certificate to. This gives more control to the domain owner and can limit which Certificate Authorities are allowed to issue certificates.\n\nThis change had been announced a long time ago and is, as of today, in effect.\n\nWhat are CAA records?\n\nCAA stands for \u201cCertificate Authority Authorization\u201d and is a special type of DNS record that tells which Certificate Authorities can issue certificates for your domain and subdomains. It also has a method of sending alerts whenever a Certificate Authority receives a request for a new certificate that is forbidden as per your CAA records.\n\nHere\u2019s what the CAA records look like for our own domain, dnsspy.io.\n\n$ dig +short +noshort dnsspy.io CAA dnsspy.io. 3600 IN CAA 0 issue \"letsencrypt.org\" dnsspy.io. 3600 IN CAA 0 iodef \"mailto:support@dnsspy.io\"\n\nThere are 3 different types of CAA records: issue , issuewild and iodef . For more details on these records, the official CAA RFC is worth a read. If you\u2019re looking for a more abbreviated explanation, this blogpost on CAA DNS records covers it pretty well.\n\nOur CAA records tell the world that;\n\nWe only accept certificates issued by Let\u2019s Encrypt\n\nIf another CA receives a request for our domain, it should report the violation via e-mail to our support address, support@dnsspy.io.\n\nThis gives us more visibility whenever someone tries to get certificates for our domain(s).\n\nCan I still get certificates even if I don\u2019t have CAA records?\n\nYes.\n\nA Certificate Authority has to query for CAA Records and if it finds them, it needs to honor what is mentioned in them. However, if there are no CAA records it\u2019s the same as saying \u201cany Certificate Authority can issue certificates for my domain\u201d. Of course, that CA still needs to perform all the validation before it actually issues a certificate.\n\nWho has CAA records today?\n\nThat\u2019s actually a very short list, because there aren\u2019t many DNS providers out there that support them. Many of the big players have their CAA records already;\n\n$ dig +short +noshort google.com CAA google.com. 86400 IN CAA 0 issue \"symantec.com\" google.com. 86400 IN CAA 0 issue \"pki.goog\"\n\nGoogle allows only certificates from Symantec and their own CA, https://pki.goog/.\n\n$ dig +short +noshort services.mozilla.com CAA services.mozilla.com. 300 IN CAA 0 issue \"digicert.com\"\n\nMozilla has CAA records only on their subdomain for now, and only allows certificates from digicert.com.\n\nMany only publish issue records and no iodef records, indicating they don\u2019t want a notification anyone someone tries to get a certificate for their domain.\n\nCAA vs. Certificate Transparency\n\nAre the new CAA records even relevant with the upcoming of Certificate Transparency?\n\nWe absolutely believe it is. With CAA records, you limit who is allowed to issue certificates in the first place. With Certificate Transparency, where all issued certificates are published to public logs, you know which certificates got issued. There are great upcoming tools like Oh Dear! that allow you to monitor Certificate Transparency (+ HTTPS in general) if that\u2019s what you\u2019re looking for.\n\nCAA records prevent unwanted CA\u2019s from creating certificates, Certificate Transparency monitors which CA\u2019s actually issued them.\n\nHow can I know my CAA records are configured OK?\n\nWe\u2019re glad you asked.\n\nWe built a CAA record validator a while back, so you can test your DNS records. There are quite a few interesting cases about CAA records, when they apply and when they don\u2019t (especially around DNSSEC, subdomains, CNAME\u2019s etc.).\n\nIf you\u2019re looking for assistance in building CAA records, the SSLMate CAA Record Generator is a great start. They also set up an interesting CAA test suite website that further explains when CAA applies and when it doesn\u2019t.\n\nSupport for CAA records has been available in DNS Spy from the early days. If your domain has CAA records, we can monitor & alert on its changes. Make sure to sign up & monitor your DNS for unexpected changes!"}
-{"text": "\n\n1ST CAMO MILITARY SHIRT\n\nColors: Beige, Navy\n\nJP retail: \u00a531,680\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43886243/?did=72794983\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1ST CAMO CREWNECK\n\nColors: Yellow, Green\n\nJP retail: \u00a521,780\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43886809/?did=72799549\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1ST CAMO FULL ZIP HOODIE\n\nColors: Yellow, Green\n\nJP retail: \u00a528,380\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43886818/?did=72799613\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1ST CAMO SHARK FULL ZIP HOODIE\n\nColors: Yellow, Green\n\nJP retail: \u00a5xxxxx\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1ST CAMO LIGHT WEIGHT DOWN JACKET\n\nColors: Yellow, Green\n\nJP retail: \u00a532,780\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43886259/?did=72795158\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1ST CAMO HOODIE COAT\n\nColors: Yellow, Green\n\nJP retail: \u00a544,880\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43886860/?did=72799924\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBENCH COAT\n\nColors: Burgundy, Navy\n\nJP retail: \u00a543,780\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43886269/?did=72795290\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1ST CAMO SLIM SWEAT PANTS\n\nColors: Yellow, Green\n\nJP retail: \u00a520,900\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43886796/?did=72799425\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGLITTER BUSY WORKS TEE\n\nColors: White, Black\n\nJP retail: \u00a58,800\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43886093/?did=72792447\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGLITTER NYC LOGO TEE\n\nColors: White, Black\n\nJP retail: \u00a58,800\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43886094/?did=72792459\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCOLLEGE L/S TEE\n\nColors: White, Black, Yellow, Orange, Blue, Sax\n\nJP retail: \u00a58,800\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43886152/?did=72793707\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1ST CAMO APPLIQUE OXFORD BD SHIRT\n\nColors: White, Gray, Pink\n\nJP retail: \u00a521,780\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43886237/?did=72794923\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFLEECE ONE POINT CREWNECK\n\nColors: Black, Navy, Beige\n\nJP retail: \u00a521,780\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43887183/?did=72802071\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCOLLEGE FULL ZIP HOODIE\n\nColors: Gray, Red, Navy\n\nJP retail: \u00a526,180\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43886912/?did=72800456\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBAPE DOUBLE KNIT WIDE PULLOVER HOODIE\n\nColors: Black, Gray\n\nJP retail: \u00a525,080\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43886199/?did=72794391\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFLEECE ONE POINT ZIP HOODIE\n\nColors: Black, Navy, Beige\n\nJP retail: \u00a528,380\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43887186/?did=72802104\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAURORA SHARK HOODIE JACKET\n\nColors: Green, Blue\n\nJP retail: \u00a542,680\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43886250/?did=72795058\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBAPE DOUBLE KNIT PANTS\n\nColors: Black, Gray\n\nJP retail: \u00a519,800\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43886311/?did=72795608\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFLEECE ONE POINT PANTS\n\nColors: Black, Navy, Beige\n\nJP retail: \u00a518,700\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43887181/?did=72802044\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2008 TYPE-05 SHARK DENIM PANTS\n\nColors: Black, Indigo\n\nJP retail: \u00a526,400\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43886306/?did=72795563\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSHARK PAPER WEIGHT\n\nColors: Silver\n\nJP retail: \u00a57,480\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43886885/?did=72800144\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nABC SHARK RUG\n\nColors: Green\n\nJP retail: \u00a520,680\n\nUS retail: $xxxxx\n\nhttps://zozo.jp/shop/bapeland/goods/43886950/?did=72800854\n\n\n\n\n\nColors: Beige, NavyJP retail: \u00a531,680US retail: $xxxxxColors: Yellow, GreenJP retail: \u00a521,780US retail: $xxxxxColors: Yellow, GreenJP retail: \u00a528,380US retail: $xxxxxColors: Yellow, GreenJP retail: \u00a5xxxxxUS retail: $xxxxxColors: Yellow, GreenJP retail: \u00a532,780US retail: $xxxxxColors: Yellow, GreenJP retail: \u00a544,880US retail: $xxxxxColors: Burgundy, NavyJP retail: \u00a543,780US retail: $xxxxxColors: Yellow, GreenJP retail: \u00a520,900US retail: $xxxxxColors: White, BlackJP retail: \u00a58,800US retail: $xxxxxColors: White, BlackJP retail: \u00a58,800US retail: $xxxxxColors: White, Black, Yellow, Orange, Blue, SaxJP retail: \u00a58,800US retail: $xxxxxColors: White, Gray, PinkJP retail: \u00a521,780US retail: $xxxxxColors: Black, Navy, BeigeJP retail: \u00a521,780US retail: $xxxxxColors: Gray, Red, NavyJP retail: \u00a526,180US retail: $xxxxxColors: Black, GrayJP retail: \u00a525,080US retail: $xxxxxColors: Black, Navy, BeigeJP retail: \u00a528,380US retail: $xxxxxColors: Green, BlueJP retail: \u00a542,680US retail: $xxxxxColors: Black, GrayJP retail: \u00a519,800US retail: $xxxxxColors: Black, Navy, BeigeJP retail: \u00a518,700US retail: $xxxxxColors: Black, IndigoJP retail: \u00a526,400US retail: $xxxxxColors: SilverJP retail: \u00a57,480US retail: $xxxxxColors: GreenJP retail: \u00a520,680US retail: $xxxxx\n\n~~Japan retail is 30-40% less than US/UK/EU stores.There's money to be saved by buying from Japan.Not familiar with the ordering process? Check out the guide below.~~"}
-{"text": "This item has been removed from the community because it violates Steam Community & Content Guidelines. It is only visible to you. If you believe your item has been removed by mistake, please contact Steam Support\n\nThis item is incompatible with DayZ. Please see the instructions page for reasons why this item might not work within DayZ.\n\nCurrent visibility: Hidden This item will only be visible to you, admins, and anyone marked as a creator.\n\nCurrent visibility: Friends-only This item will only be visible in searches to you, your friends, and admins.\n\nBlack Mountain Panorama\n\nTitle Description Taken from the castle of Black Mountain in the early morning Save Cancel\n\nCreated by Earlycore\n\nOffline File Size Posted Size 0.000 MB 8 Dec, 2014 @ 11:48pm 4017 x 831 162 Unique Visitors 0 Current Favorites"}
-{"text": "\"Elefant im Raum\" Peter M\u00fchlbauer\n\nStealthy. Screenshot: TP\n\nEU schafft Geoblocking ab - aber nicht f\u00fcr Streaming\n\nDie Verhandlungsf\u00fchrer der EU-Kommission, des EU-Parlaments und des EU-Ministerrats haben sich auf einen Verordnungsentwurf zur Einschr\u00e4nkung von Geoblocking geeinigt (vgl. EU-Kompromiss steht: Geoblocking beim Online-Shopping soll eingeschr\u00e4nkt werden). Digitalbinnenmarktkommissar Andrus Ansip lobt diesen Entwurf \u00f6ffentlich als \"hervorragende Nachricht f\u00fcr die Verbraucher\", der \"sp\u00e4testens ab Weihnachten 2018\" nicht mehr unter \"ungerechtfertigte[r] Diskriminierung beim Online-Shopping\" leiden m\u00fcsse.\n\nF\u00fcr \"digitale Inhalte\" wie gestreamte Serien erwirkte die Medienindustrie eine Ausnahme (vgl. Internet-TV: EU-Abgeordnete dampfen geplantes Aus f\u00fcr Geoblocking stark ein), obwohl das Sperren von IP-Nummern nach L\u00e4nderzuordnung gerade hier in der Praxis besonders viele europ\u00e4ische Nutzer betrifft und beispielsweise daf\u00fcr sorgen kann, dass sich ein bezahlter Netflix-Zugang nicht im Urlaub nutzen l\u00e4sst. Die EU-Abgeordnete Dita Charanzov\u00e1 von der neuen tschechischen Regierungspartei ANO (vgl. Tschechien: Babi\u0161 regiert mit Minderheitenkabinett) spricht angesichts dieser Situation von einem \"Elefanten im Raum\".\n\nVPNs und Browsererweiterungen\n\nLediglich \"Nachrichten\" und \"Beitr\u00e4ge zum aktuellen Zeitgeschehen\" sollen dem im EU-Parlament federf\u00fchrenden Rechtsausschuss nach zuk\u00fcnftig EU-weit online abrufbar sein. Die CSU-Europaabgeordnete Angelika Niebler, die in der Vergangenheit unter anderem als vehemente Bef\u00fcrworterin von Softwarepatenten von sich Reden machte und Schriftf\u00fchrerin im ZDF-Fernsehrat war (vgl. Von wegen staatsfern), lobt diese weitgehende Beibehaltung von Geoblocking im Medienbereich als Gew\u00e4hrleistung daf\u00fcr, dass die \"kreative Industrie in Europa\" weiterhin wie gewohnt produzieren kann.\n\nNachdem das Streaming-Geoblocking-Ende, mit dem unter anderem Kino.de fest gerechnet hatte, vorerst weiter ausbleibt, werden Nutzer auch weiterhin auf VPN-Anbieter und Browsererweiterungen wie Stealthy zur\u00fcckgreifen, deren Nutzung dem Portal zufolge keine Urheberrechtsverletzung ist, \"solange es sich [\u2026] nur um einen Stream und nicht um einen Download handelt\". Ein Vorab-Download, den Netflix inzwischen bei einen Teil seiner Inhalte erm\u00f6glicht hat, ist wiederum eine andere M\u00f6glichkeit, im Auslandsurlaub weiter Zugriff auf Serien zu haben.\n\n\u00d6sterreichischer Handelsverband warnt vor negativen Folgen f\u00fcr kleine und mittlere Unternehmen\n\nBeim Online-Kauf nichtdigitaler Waren, wo das Geoblocking abgeschafft wird, sollen Anbieter zuk\u00fcnftig auch nicht mehr die M\u00f6glichkeit haben, Nutzer umzuleiten, anstatt zu blockieren. Auch das \"analoge Geoblocking\" \u00fcber die ausschlie\u00dfliche Akzeptanz von EC- oder Kreditkarten aus einem Land soll zuk\u00fcnftig nicht mehr m\u00f6glich sein. Allerdings haben H\u00e4ndler weiter die M\u00f6glichkeit, Kunden aus bestimmten EU-L\u00e4ndern h\u00f6here Preise zu berechnen. Sie d\u00fcrfen das jedoch nicht mehr mit unterschiedlichen Mehrwertsteuers\u00e4tzen begr\u00fcnden. Fehlen Lieferm\u00f6glichkeiten in ein Land, soll der Kunde die Ware abholen oder sich selbst um den Versand k\u00fcmmern d\u00fcrfen.\n\nNicht alle Unternehmen sind mit Ansips Entwurf zufrieden: Rainer Will, der Gesch\u00e4ftsf\u00fchrer des \u00f6sterreichischen Handelsverbandes kritisiert beispielsweise, dass der Verordnungsentwurf \"in [seiner] vorliegenden Form [\u2026] eine reine Superstar-Regulierung\" sei, die mit ihren \"\u00fcberbordenden Regulierungen [\u2026] die Dominanz globaler Online-Player [\u2026] befeuert\", und insbesondere [kleine und mittlere Unternehmen] in ihrer Gesch\u00e4ftst\u00e4tigkeit gef\u00e4hrdet\". Die steigenden \"administrativen Kosten [\u2026] durch die in den 27 EU-Staaten unterschiedlichen Gesetze\" und die damit verbundenen neuen \"Rechtsunsicherheiten\" sind seiner Ansicht nach f\u00fcr KMU \"kaum zu stemmen\", weshalb er einen R\u00fcckzug solcher Anbieter aus dem Internet bef\u00fcrchtet. Das habe dann letztendlich auch negative Folgen f\u00fcr den Konsumenten.\n\nEine andere neue Vorgabe der EU-Kommission soll nicht erst in neun Monaten, sondern bereits ab Fr\u00fchjahr 2018 gelten: Sie regelt den Br\u00e4unungs- und Knusprigkeitsgrad von Pommes Frites, Chips, Keksen und anderen Nahrungsmitteln, die dadurch weniger Acrylamid enthalten sollen. Acrylamid war Anfang der Nuller Jahre ein gr\u00f6\u00dferes Medienthema, nachdem es schwedische Wissenschaftler in st\u00e4rkehaltigen Lebensmitteln nachwiesen, die bei Temperaturen \u00fcber 120 Grad Celsius zubereitet wurden. Sp\u00e4ter kam heraus, dass Acrylamid in der Nahrung das Krebsrisiko beim Menschen (anders als Experimente mit M\u00e4usen suggeriert hatten) nicht signifikant erh\u00f6ht und dass Personen, die solche Lebensmittel essen, statistisch gesehen sogar ein etwas geringeres Risiko aufweisen, an Darmkrebs zu erkranken (vgl. England: Wirte sollen Strafe zahlen, wenn sie Kartoffeln knusprig braten). (Peter M\u00fchlbauer)"}
-{"text": "The video will start in 8 Cancel\n\nGet the FREE Mirror Football newsletter by email with the day's key headlines and transfer news Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email\n\nSuper agent Mino Raiola has been suspended for three months by the Italian FA.\n\nThe man who brokered Paul Pogba's then world record \u00a389million move from Juventus back to Manchester United in 2016 now won't be able to deal either to or from Italy until August 9.\n\nThat date is two weeks before the 2019/20 Serie A season starts, but just one day prior to the new Premier League season.\n\nRaiola's cousin Vincenzo Raiola has also been banned for two months.\n\nThe Italian FA didn't provide the reason for the bans, but said in a statement: \"The Sports Procurators Commission, any other exception, deduction and defence rejected, condemns Mr Carmine [Mino] Raiola and Mr Vincenzo Raiola, on his own behalf and as legal representatives of the companies they represent to sanction of the suspension from the exercise of the activity of sports attorney to the extent, respectively: with regard to Mr. Carmine Raiola, of 3 months, with regard to Mr. Vincenzo Raiola, of 2 months.\"\n\n(Image: AMA/Corbis via Getty)\n\nRaiola also represents United goalkeeper Sergio Romero, but recently ended his representation of forward Romelu Lukaku.\n\nThe Belgian has been linked with summer switches to Juventus and Inter Milan, and is now represented by Italian agent Federico Pastorello.\n\n(Image: Eamonn and James Clarke/PA Images)\n\nArsenal's Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Marseille's former Manchester City and Liverpool forward Mario Balotelli and LA Galaxy's Zlatan Ibrahimovic are all current clients of Raiola's.\n\nThe ban won't prevent Raiola from brokering other transfers, such as Pogba's rumoured move to Real Madrid ."}
-{"text": "Share this article:\n\nHenrico County is postponing this week\u2019s meetings of the Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals in consideration of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.\n\nThe Planning Commission meeting for plans of development and subdivisions, set for Wednesday, March 25, is now scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday, April 1.\n\nThe Board of Zoning Appeals meeting set for Thursday, March 26 is now scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday, April 2.\n\nMeetings of the Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals typically are held in the Henrico County Government Center Board Room, 4301 E. Parham Road.\n\nThe Code of Virginia permits planning commissions to set a time frame for postponing meetings when attendance of members and the public may be hazardous due to weather or other conditions. Henrico\u2019s Planning Commission adopted a resolution in 2014 establishing a period of one week for postponement.\n\nAdditional information about Henrico County government changes in operation is available on the COVID-19 updates webpage. Updates also are available from the county\u2019s facilities and services hotline at (804) 501-5655; the line is staffed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday."}
-{"text": "Over the past week, President Donald Trump has been considering an outright ban on nearly every electronic cigarette and vapor product on the market. Not only would the implementation of a flavor ban be disastrous for public health, but it may cost Trump the election in 2020.\n\nIn a piece for the Washington Examiner, I explained:\n\n\"Internal polling conducted by Americans for Tax Reform in October 2016, just five months after the Obama administration announced their own timeline for a de facto e-cigarette ban, found that 4 out of 5 adult vapers' vote-moving issue was where a politician stood on the issue of taxing, regulating, and banning e-cigarettes.\"\n\nLink to poll.\n\nWhat might that mean in 2020? If you look at the 12 states which will likely determine the outcome of the election, based on the margin of victory or loss by Donald Trump in 2016 and changing political currents, there are at least 4.15 million adults in battleground states that use electronic cigarettes, according to FDA-funded survey data. Those states include Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Georgia, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Maine, Arizona, and Nevada.\n\nHere's how that breaks down per state (click to enlarge):\n\n(Click to enlarge an excel version of this graphic.)\n\nIf voter turnout holds flat in 2020 over 2016, there are roughly 2.55 million vaper voters scattered across these 12 key battleground states. The data on the number of adult vapers may underestimate the true figure because adult use of these products has increased in the last two years. To ignore that these adults have used e-cigarettes to quit smoking cigarettes, something that they're proud of and strongly believe in would be among the biggest political miscalculations of the presidential campaign in 2020. Not only do these people rightly attribute the use of flavored nicotine products to saving their lives, but their family members, friends, and neighbors have likely heard their stories as well.\n\nIf Trump wants to depress voter turnout or turn voters away from his winning message in states where the margin of victory could be just a few thousand votes, banning flavored nicotine e-cigarettes would be a great way to go about it."}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nEveryone's out drinking and grilling And I'm just sitting here browsing reddit"}
-{"text": "A 7-year-old boy in India had a legion of teeth removed from his mouth \u2014 526 teeth, to be exact. The unusual surgery was performed at Saveetha Dental College and Hospital in Chennai, India.\n\nThe boy was brought to the hospital with swelling in his lower right jaw, and he was found to be suffering from \"compound composite ondontome,\" according to a press release from the hospital.\n\nThe boy had a swollen jaw since he was 3, and when he finally had surgery on it at age 7, doctors found a sack with hundreds of small teeth inside. Saveetha Dental College\n\nHe was first taken to a hospital for a swollen jaw at the age of 3, but he refused to cooperate for any investigative procedures at the time. So his condition was left undiagnosed for four years.\n\nGet Breaking News Delivered to Your Inbox\n\nWhen he came back at age 7, his parents worried that he might have cancer in his jaw. The doctors decided to operate, and found what they described as a \"bag like mass, which was removed in its entirety,\" according to the press release. The sack weighed almost half a pound. Inside were 526 tooth-like structures.\n\n\"It was reminiscent of pearls in an oyster,\" the doctors said. It took five hours of meticulous searching to remove every single extra tooth.\n\nThey ranged in size from 1mm to 15mm and resembled a tooth with a crown covered by enamel and a root-like structure. It was unlike anything the doctors had seen before. \"This pandora box of miniature teeth is a jewel on our crown,\" doctors said.\n\nThey say this is the first time ever that so many teeth were seen in a single individual."}
-{"text": "Although reported in France since the 1970s under pressure from feminists, gender stereotypes persist in children\u2019s literature. According to Anne Dafflon Novelle, there has been even a regression in this area in recent decades (1). How appears this sexism?\n\nMore male characters\n\nIn children\u2019s literature, female characters are underrepresented in the leading roles (2, 3); the title makes often first contact with one character, who happens to be male in 2 / 3 of cases, according to a study published in 2002 (3). When two characters are mentioned, they are two girls in only 4% of the cases against two boys in 30% of cases.\n\nA character is almost always on the covers of albums for children. A male character appears on over three quarters of these illustrations (77.7%), whereas less than half the covers (48.9%) contained at least one female character \u2026 (3)\n\nEven inside illustrated books, the male presence is growing. Hence 90% of the books present at least one male character, while only 73% of the books present at least one female character. This imbalance is particularly increased for childish characters, as little girls appear in only 42.5% of the books, and little boys in 56.8% (3). Another study states that 51.3% of the book tells the story of a hero and only 24.7% narrate the story of a heroine (4).\n\nImpact of the type of characters: human, animal or anthropomorphic.\n\nThere are three main categories of characters: the human characters, anthropomorphic characters and real animals. The ratio between the sexes is fairly balanced in the \u201chuman\u201d illustrated books\u201d as a male appears in about 92% of the books and a female character in about 84%. But the probability of seeing a female character decreases in \u201canthropomorphic\u201d illustrated books, as the likelihood is only 74% against 94% for boys! These trends are increasing again in the illustrated book with real animals: we encounter a male in 96% of the books, while only 69% of the books contain at least one female character (3, 4).\n\nDifferent gender roles\u2026\n\nGirls or women little access to the main role, although they are slightly more numerous than male characters in minor roles. Female characters are usually represented inside and are less active. When women are shown working (which is twice less than for male characters \u2026), they are represented in traditional and undiversified occupations (teaching and child care in half the cases, trading in 30% of the cases \u2026) (2, 3). Sometimes, female characters appear in non stereotyped activities, but the goal in this case seems to bring out the \u201cabnormal\u201d aspect of the situation: so women\u2019s work is devalued (3). Furthermore, the maternal function is present in the illustrated book (there\u2019s a mother in approximately 40% of books) and appears as the major model of the adult female: only 20% of the books about humans and 25% of the books with humanized animals are depicted whith a female character who is not a mother (3).\n\nMen\u2019s roles are more diverse: in addition to their professional activities, much more varied, fathers are more often represented in the process of sharing leisure activities with their children (2). In addition, over one third of the books about humans and half of those about humanized animals represent an adult male who is not a father. (3)\n\nFinally, the type of animals used to represent an anthropomorphic character will differ depending on the sex of the character. Hence, male heroes are much more represented in the form of powerful animals (bears, wolves, etc.) or under the traits of an animal from children\u2019s collective imagination (rabbits). In contrast, female characters take the form of small and / or demeaning animals, such as mice or insects. In addition, animals which are selected to embody them are less diverse than them used to represent males. (2, 4)\n\nConsequences\n\nSexism in children\u2019s literature has consequences on children\u2019s development, as they integrate very quickly societal norms. Thus, according to a study published in 1978 (5), girls who have read books with female characters presented in non-traditional roles consider women could engage in occupations or activities not stereotypically feminine, more often than girls who have seen only traditional female characters.\n\nIn addition, it has been shown that self-esteem of children increases when they are in contact with heroes of the same sex (6). Thus, self-esteem of girls may be affected since there are few heroines in the books they read.\n\n\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-\n\nReferences\n\n1. Novelle Dafflon, Anne. Sexisme dans la litt\u00e9rature enfantine : quels effets pour le d\u00e9veloppement des enfants ?\n\nhttp://www.cemea.asso.fr/aquoijouestu/fr/pdf/textesref/SexismeLitteratEnfants.pdf\n\n2. Ferrez, Eliane et Novelle Dafflon, Anne. Sexisme dans la litt\u00e9rature enfantine. Analyse des albums avec animaux anthropomorphiques/Sexism in children\u2019s literature. Analysis of picture books with anthropomorphical animals. Les Cahiers internationaux de psychologie sociale. 2003, Vol. 57. Abstract\n\n3. Brugeilles, Carole, Cromer, Isabelle et Cromer, Sylvie. Les repr\u00e9sentations du masculin et du f\u00e9minin dans les albums illustr\u00e9s ou comment la litt\u00e9rature enfantine contribue \u00e0 \u00e9laborer le genre. Population. 2002, Vol. 57, pp. 261-292. Full text\n\n4. Dafflon Novelle, Anne. La litt\u00e9rature enfantine francophone publi\u00e9e en 1997. Inventaire des h\u00e9ros et h\u00e9ro\u00efnes propos\u00e9s aux enfants. Revue suisse des sciences de l\u2019\u00e9ducation. 2002, Vol. 24, pp. 309-326. Full text\n\n5. Ashby, M. S. et Wittmaier, B. C. Attitude changes in children after exposure to stories about women in traditional or nontraditional occupations. Journal of Educational Psychology. 1978, Vol. 70, pp. 945-949. Abstract\n\n6. Ochman, Jan M. Journal Name. The effects of nongender-role stereotyped, same-sex role models in storybooks on the self-esteem of children in grade three. Sex Roles. 1996, pp. 711-735. Abstract"}
-{"text": "History is usually airbrushed to remove a figure who has fallen out of favor with a dictatorship, or to hide away an episode of national shame. Leave it to Hollywood to erase from a national triumph its most iconic moment.\n\nThe new movie, \u201cFirst Man,\u201d a biopic about the Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, omits the planting of the American flag during his historic walk on the surface of the moon.\n\nRyan Gosling, who plays Armstrong in the film, tried to explain the strange editing of the moon walk: \u201cThis was widely regarded in the end as a human achievement. I don\u2019t think that Neil viewed himself as an American hero.\u201d Armstrong was a reticent man, but he surely considered himself an American and everyone else considered him a hero. (\u201cYou\u2019re a hero whether you like it or not,\u201d one newspaper admonished him on the 10th anniversary of the landing.)\n\nGosling added that Armstrong\u2019s walk \u201ctranscended countries and borders,\u201d which is literally true, since it occurred 238,900 miles from Earth, although Armstrong got there on an American rocket, walked in an American spacesuit and returned home to America.\n\nApollo 11 was, without doubt, an extraordinary human achievement. Armstrong\u2019s famous words upon descending the ladder to the moon were apt: \u201cOne small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.\u201d A plaque left behind read, HERE MEN FROM THE PLANET EARTH SET FOOT UPON THE MOON, JULY 1969 A.D. WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND.\n\nBut this was a national effort that depended on American derring-do, sacrifice and treasure. It was a chapter in a space race between the United States and the Soviet Union that involved national prestige and the perceived worth of our respective economic and political systems. The Apollo program wasn\u2019t about the brotherhood of man, rather about achieving a national objective before a hated and feared adversary.\n\nThe Soviets putting a satellite, Sputnik, into orbit before us was a profound political and psychological shock to the US. The Soviets weren\u2019t shy about what it meant. The historian Walter McDougall writes in \u201cThe Heavens and the Earth,\u201d his book on the space race: \u201cIn the weeks and months to come, Khrushchev and lesser spokesmen would point to the first Sputnik, \u2018companion\u2019 or \u2018fellow traveller,\u2019 as proof of the Soviet ability to deliver hydrogen bombs at will, proof of the inevitability of Soviet scientific and technological leadership, proof of the superiority of communism as a model for backwards nations, proof of the dynamic leadership of the Soviet premier.\u201d\n\nThe US felt it had to rise to the challenge. As Vice President Lyndon Johnson put it, \u201cFailure to master space means being second best in every aspect, in the crucial arena of our Cold War world. In the eyes of the world first in space means first, period; second in space is second in everything.\u201d\n\nThe mission of Apollo 11 was, appropriately, soaked in American symbolism. The lunar module was called Eagle and the command module Columbia. There had been some consideration to putting a UN flag on the moon, but it was scotched \u2014 it would be an American flag and only an American flag.\n\nThe video of Armstrong and his partner Buzz Aldrin carefully working to set up the flag \u2014 fully extend it and sink the pole firmly enough in the lunar surface to stand \u2014 after their awe-inspiring journey hasn\u2019t lost any of its power so many decades later.\n\nThe director of \u201cFirst Man,\u201d Damien Chazelle, argues that the flag planting isn\u2019t part of the movie because he wanted to focus on the inner Armstrong. But surely, Armstrong, a former Eagle Scout, must have had feelings about putting the flag someplace it had never gone before.\n\nThere may be a crass commercial motive in the exclusion of the planting of the flag \u2014 the Chinese, whose market is so important to big films, wouldn\u2019t like it. It also speaks to the allergy of our elites to patriotism. In their account of a great national success, they forget to plant the flag \u2014 even if the American heroes they depict didn\u2019t."}
-{"text": "Type: Manga\n\nGenre: Monster Girl, Teasing, Orgasm Denial, Bondage, Mind Break, Multiple Orgasms\n\nLanguage: English\n\nPages: 20\n\nAshtari is seemingly the angel of the office, but she is secretly controlling the orgasms of her co-workers using her ancient Egyptian magic. She approaches her unsuspecting co-worker Ikenie and puts a spell on him, preventing him from cumming. There are only two ways to break the spell, either lasting a whole week without cumming or by submitting to Ashtari and becoming her slave. Before long, Ikenie becomes a drooling mess under Ashtari\u2019s relentless assault. All he can think about is how desperately he needs to cum."}
-{"text": "Developer: Faerin Consider supporting the dev if you like the game and want them to do what they love. Click on dev's link for more info.\n\nPlease co-operate with us by reporting dead links, bugs, wrong info, new games updates and any idea in comment section Post your problem in our Discord server for faster response. Click here to join\n\nGame Informations\n\nIn this game you will play as a young adult, who is living together with his attractive (step*)mother and 2 hot (step*)sisters, in a city filled with even more gorgeous women!\n\nEach NPC has their own storyline and you get to decide when and where you would like to explore and which girl you want to pursue. Every update will expand on existing storylines, but also on adding new locations, girls, jobs, events, etc.\n\n* Depending on your preferences.\u200b\n\nHaving Trouble Playing the latest version: Check this Guide Out!\n\nN.B. 1 \u2013 Saves from versions earlier than 0.83 will not work with the current version as they aren\u2019t compatible with the revamped UI\n\nN.B. 2 \u2013 v1.0.0 is not the final release of Man of the House, this is just a milestone, one which we are all very proud of reaching"}
-{"text": "Adam Schefter explains why the NFL has brought the hammer down with heavy fines on multiple teams - including the Seahawks, 49ers and Broncos - for mask violations during their games. (0:39)\n\nThe NFL fined three head coaches -- Denver's Vic Fangio, Seattle's Pete Carroll and San Francisco's Kyle Shanahan -- $100,000 each for not wearing masks Sunday, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter.\n\nIn addition, the league fined each coach's team $250,000, sources said.\n\nThe $1,050,000 in punishments comes a week after the league sent a memo to teams reinforcing its requirement that coaches wear coverings over their mouths and noses at all times on the sidelines during games, threatening discipline for those who don't comply.\n\nThe sharply worded message, written by executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent, came in response to wide variance in compliance during the first Sunday of the 2020 season.\n\nSeattle's Pete Carroll was one of three head coaches handed a $100,000 fine by the NFL for failing to comply with the league's face covering requirement on Sunday, sources told ESPN. Elaine Thompson/AP\n\nPlayers are exempt from these protocols.\n\nMore fines could be coming, as several other coaches violated the league's rules, among them New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick and both coaches in Monday night's game, Jon Gruden of the Las Vegas Raiders and Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints.\n\nGruden wore his face mask like a chin strap and Payton wore his gaiter like a turtleneck.\n\nFollowing the Raiders' 34-24 win over the Saints on Monday night, Gruden, who last week said he felt the league's memo was directed at him, revealed he'd had COVID-19 and apologized for violating the rules.\n\n\"I'm doing my best,\" Gruden said. \"I've had the virus. I'm doing my best. I'm very sensitive about it ... I'm calling plays. I just wanna communicate in these situations, and if I get fined, I'll have to pay the fine, but I'm very sensitive about that and I apologize.\"\n\nThe Associated Press contributed to this report."}
-{"text": "ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT (AP) \u2014 China is farther along in its development of a new stealth fighter jet than the U.S. had predicted, and that plane and other Chinese military advances are worrisome, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Saturday.\n\nThe United States is also nervous about a new Chinese ballistic missile that could theoretically explode a U.S. aircraft carrier nearly 2,000 miles out to sea. China has also apparently beaten U.S. estimates to develop that weapon.\n\n\u201cThey clearly have potential to put some of our capabilities at risk,\u201d Gates said en route to military talks with Chinese leaders. \u201cWe have to pay attention to them, we have to respond appropriately with our own programs.\u201d\n\nThe United States has long known that China wanted to field a stealth jet, but development outpaced U.S. intelligence estimates, Gates said.\n\nChina is still years behind U.S. capabilities in radar-evading aircraft, and even by 2015 the United States would still have far more such aircraft flying than any other nation in the world, Gates said.\n\nChina says it does not pose a threat and its military forces are purely for defense \u2014 which in its definition includes deterring Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing claims as its territory, from declaring formal independence.\n\nIn an apparent nod to U.S. calls for more openness, China allowed video and pictures of last week\u2019s runway tests of its prototype stealth fighter to be taken and posted online.\n\nWhile there was no official comment on the tests of the J-20, photos and video of the plane taxiing on the runway were widely distributed. That was a sign of official approval because government censors routinely remove politically sensitive content.\n\nGates is trying to coax Chinese military leaders into more regular discussions with the U.S. A predictable framework for such contacts could help avert the need for some of the capabilities now in development, Gates said.\n\nThe Pentagon is focusing scarcer defense dollars on ways to counter the kinds of weapons China is now building. For example, Gates said recently he wants to spend more on a new long-range nuclear bomber and updated electronics gear for the Navy that could throw an incoming missile off course.\n\nGates said he has been concerned about the anti-ship missile since he became defense secretary. It\u2019s unclear how close the \u201ccarrier killer\u201d DF-21 missile is to being usable.\n\nChina announced a smaller-than-usual increase last year in its military budget, 7.5 percent, bringing it to $76.3 billion. But actual spending, including money for new weapons and research and development, is believed to be as much as double that. China has the second largest defense budget in the world, trailing only the U.S.\n\nGates is also visiting South Korea, for brief talks about averting war with the North, as well as Japan, which is alarmed by Chinese military moves.\n\nThe China invitation was a coup for Gates, who invited a Chinese counterpart for similar talks and a visit to the U.S. nuclear weapons headquarters in 2009. A reciprocal invitation was expected in 2010, but China withheld it in protest of a planned $6.4 billion arms sale to China\u2019s rival, Taiwan."}
-{"text": "This post is part of my Explaining My Configs series where I explain the configuration files (and options) I use in detail.\n\nThis post could either be read as a whole, or as a reference (click on a line to jump to its explanation).\n\nThis post covers nftables the next generation packet filtering subsystem of the Linux kernel. It's meant to replace the netfilter ( iptables ) subsystem in the kernel, and has many advantages. Not long ago I decided to decipher my iptables rules and migrate to nftables . This configuration is the result of that effort. The resulting nftables rules are more readable, maintainable and less redundant than the previous IPv4 and IPv6 iptables equivalent, and if only because of that, I feel like the migration was worth it.\n\nI implemented a rather basic firewall. I use it to protect my servers, and I think it suffices. If you feel otherwise, please let me know. I hope to make these posts live examples of my configurations and would adjust as I encounter new scenarios that I need to protect against.\n\nKeep in mind, since this is a firewall configuration, in this post I assume some basic understanding of networking and firewalls.\n\nEdit: this config has evolved since it was first published. While investigating nftables related issues I also came across new resources and got useful suggestions from people on the nftables IRC channel, namely: arturo and evilman.\n\nWhat is this config for?\n\nUnlike many other configurations, a firewall usually has many goals and touches many areas. For example, my firewall is configured to make my server more secure by filtering some kinds of traffic, but also implements port forwarding (see my previous post about VPN port forwarding) and a NAT gateway for my VPN server. Therefore the why of this configuration is less clear, but I hope my usecases become more clear as I go through the config.\n\nThe config file\n\nClick on a line to jump to its explanation.\n\nReviewing the config\n\nflush ruleset\n\nClears the previous ruleset. This flushes out all the tables, chains and rules so we can start clean. This is not done automatically so without this, previously added rules would still be in effect.\n\ntable inet filter {\n\nThis defines a table. A table is a container for chains (and sets). This line defines a table with the family inet and name filter . inet is a dummy family that means internet address (both IPv4 and IPv6). I wanted a shared config between the two so I chose this one, alternatively I could have restricted it to either by using ip or ip6 .\n\nset tcp_accepted { type inet_service ; flags interval; elements = { http, https, ssh, xmpp-client, xmpp-server, } } set udp_accepted { type inet_service ; flags interval; elements = { openvpn, 60000 - 61000 , } }\n\nThis creates two sets of type inet_service (port number or range). The flags interval directive enables ranges (like the mosh one). After that, you just set elements to add members to the set. Having a set is a clean and efficient way to later reference all of these values in the rules. We can use port numbers, service names and port ranges.\n\nSets provide a performant way to use generic sets of data, that can be dynamically manipulated, so they are very suitable for tasks like IP blocking. More about sets on the nftables wiki page.\n\nThese two are the lists of allowed ports that will be used later.\n\nchain base_checks {\n\nThis directive creates a chain called base_checks . A chain is a container for rules.\n\nThis chain does a few basic checks I wanted to reuse without having to repeat myself. Unlike, for example, the input chain, this chain doesn't naturally receive packets for processing, it has to be called explicitly with either jump or goto .\n\nct state { established , related } accept\n\nThis is our first rule, and it includes a lot of new syntax to review. Let's first start with what it does. This rule is here to allow already established or related connections through. If the connection has already been established, it probably means it was already allowed by us earlier and we can just continue allowing it.\n\nct is used to tap into the connection tracking entry associated with the packet. In this case, we are accessing the state of the connection, and checking if it's in the set {established, related} . If it is in it, accept the packet, otherwise, continue to the next rule.\n\nct state invalid drop\n\nThis is similar to the previous line, but this time, instead of checking if the state is within a set, we only check if the connection state is invalid and if so, we drop the connection. That is, we just ignore the packet as if it never came in.\n\n}\n\nThis is a curly bracket. You know what it does. I had to put it here because I promised to explain every line.\n\nchain input { type filter hook input priority 0 ; policy drop ;\n\nLike with the base checks chain, this defines a chain with the name input . The name doesn't matter, but I chose input to stick with the already familiar iptables convention.\n\nUnlike the base checks chain, in this one we tell nftables what kind of packets we would like to accept and what we would like to do with them by default.\n\nWith the type statement, we tell nftables our chain will be of type filter (filtering packets), and it will do so on input packets (incoming packets). We also set a priority of zero, although I read that priorities aren't currently used, so I will skip explaining them for now.\n\nThe last thing that we do in this line is declare the default policy for this chain. That means all packets that are not handled are dropped by default.\n\niifname lo accept\n\nPackets from the loopback interface are generally safe, so just accept everything coming from there.\n\njump base_checks\n\nThere are two ways to move the flow of the rule processing to another chain: jump and goto . The only difference between them is that in case the target chain doesn't decide what to do with the packet (e.g. accept), jump will return to the previous position and continue processing, while goto will just decide based on the chain's default policy.\n\nI use jump here because I want to continue processing after the base checks.\n\nip protocol icmp icmp type { echo - request , echo - reply , time - exceeded , parameter - problem , destination - unreachable } accept ip6 nexthdr icmpv6 icmpv6 type { echo - request , echo - reply , time - exceeded , parameter - problem , destination - unreachable , packet - too - big , nd - router - advert , nd - router - solicit , nd - neighbor - solicit , nd - neighbor - advert , mld - listener - query } accept\n\nThese three commands let some ICMP and all IGMP packets go through. This list may not be complete, but it has served me well so far.\n\nAs you may remember, our table type is inet which means IPv4 or IPv6. However, ICMP is different to ICMPv6. This means that we have to do our checks in with version specific directives. The ip and ip6 directives do that. After more version specific checks, we match the version specific types.\n\nIf everything matches, we accept, otherwise, we move on.\n\ntcp dport @tcp_accepted accept udp dport @udp_accepted accept\n\nThese two rules are in charge of accepting incoming connections. One starts with tcp and one starts with udp to restrict based on the protocol. We then match the dport (destination port) against the sets we defined earlier to check if we would like to allow it.\n\nchain forward { type filter hook forward priority 0 ; policy drop ;\n\nThis is very similar to the input chain, however this time we will be filtering packets with the forward hook, that is, packets that are going to be forwarded by our firewall. This is only useful if your firewall is meant to be forwarding packets, like if for example it's used as a gateway.\n\nPlease take a look at the packet forwarding extra note. It contains more actions needed for this to work.\n\nip saddr 192 . 168 . 87 . 0 / 24 iifname tun0 accept\n\nHere we allow packets to be forwarded from the VPN to the rest of the network. My VPN device is called tun0 and 192.168.87.0/24 is my VPN's netmask.\n\nFirst of all, because again I'm dealing with IPv4 specific information (the netmask) in an inet table, I have to prefix the directive with ip . Then I check if the IP is in the VPN range and the packet came from the VPN interface, if so, I will accept it for forwarding.\n\nip daddr home_srv ct status dnat accept\n\nHere I allow forwarding all the traffic directed to my home server. We rely on DNS (at the time of rule loading). Make sure to hardcode this hostname in your /etc/hosts or have another way to ensure that the DNS can't be manipulated by an attacker. The name is resolved at the time of rule loading.\n\nct status dnat makes sure we only allow packets that have had dnat done on them. We use that because we want to only forward packets that have been NATed by us.\n\nchain output { type filter hook output priority 0 ; policy accept ;\n\nI think this behaviour is already the default, but I include it here for completeness. This chain accepts all outgoing packets.\n\ntable ip nat {\n\nThis table will take care of all of the NAT. Since this is an IPv4 NAT, this table's family is set to ip .\n\nchain prerouting { type nat hook prerouting priority 0 ;\n\nYet another chain, this time called prerouting. Unlike the chains before, this chain is of type nat and not filter . This type means we will be changing packets instead of deciding their fate like we did before. Also, this time, we are using the prerouting hook. All packets entering the system are processed by this hook and it's invoked before everything else. We are using this because we would like to modify the packets, and only then pass them on to the rest of the rules for processing.\n\ntcp dport 2222 dnat home_srv udp dport 61001 - 62000 dnat home_srv\n\nThese two lines take care of port forwarding. Like in the filter rules, we check if the packet is of a specific protocol and destination port, but this time, instead of accepting, dropping or rejecting, we dnat (destination nat), where we change the destination address from the server's address to the home server's one (see comment about name resolution) so the packet is forwarded there.\n\nchain postrouting { type nat hook postrouting priority 100 ;\n\nThis chain is very similar to the prerouting chain, but it instead hooks on postrouting . This is the hook on the other end of prerouting , this processes all packets that leave the system, after all the decisions have been made.\n\noifname { ens3 , tun0 } masquerade\n\nBefore I explain this line, let me explain what it solves. Computers behind a NAT, for example home_srv , are not aware of the NAT or their internet facing IP address, so when they send packets, the source IP is their IP. For example, when home_srv sends a packet to 8.8.8.8 , the source address will be 192.168.87.10 and the destination will be 8.8.8.8 . The main problem with that, is that when 8.8.8.8 replies, it will reply to 192.168.87.10 which won't be routed back to home_srv because it's a private address.\n\nTo solve this problem you would want to use something called source NAT. In the previous section we modified the destination address (destination NAT), in this one, we want to change the source address to be that of our external, internet routeable, ip address so in my case 149.154.152.35 .\n\nThis means we could have just used oifname ens3 snat 149.154.152.35 to make it work. However, sometimes computers have multiple interfaces, or changing IP addresses, so this can become really annoying to maintain.\n\nThis is what masquerade is for. It automatically rewrites the source IP of forwarded packets to the one of the output interface.\n\nNote: I expected just having masquerade here to work, just like it used to with iptables . However it broke connections through the lo interface. I had to add the oifname condition to filter lo out. I started a discussion about it on the nftables mailing list.\n\nExtra notes\n\nRule debugging\n\nnftables supports tracing which lets you see all the rules a packet has been evaluated against and the resulting decision.\n\nUnfortunately I only managed to get it to work on my laptop, and not on my server. I'm still investigating.\n\nEdit: corrected a mistake and note that I now got it to work on one of my machines.\n\nPacket forwarding\n\nDon't forget to set the following kernel parameters (using sysctl ) to enable packet forwarding in the kernel (if you need it). Also, don't forget to make these changes permanent.\n\nnet.ipv4.ip_forward = 1 net.ipv6.conf.all.forwarding = 1\n\nUseful reference\n\nI recently found a useful reference: link.\n\nPlease let me know if you spotted any mistakes or have any suggestions, and follow me on Twitter or RSS for updates."}
-{"text": "Less than four months after California voters approved Proposition 47, the landmark law is already having significant effects on Los Angeles County\u2019s criminal justice system.\n\nA new report by the county chief executive office attempts to measure the effects of the law, which downgrades some drug and theft felonies to misdemeanors, though officials said it\u2019s still far too early to draw final conclusions:\n\nJAILS\n\nIn the county jails, overcrowding has eased, as people serving time on Proposition 47 charges are released and new offenders are not being locked up. This allows more serious offenders to serve a larger percentage of their sentences instead of getting out early.\n\n\nSome people caught carrying drugs or drug paraphernalia are not being arrested at all. Narcotics arrests in areas patrolled by the Sheriff\u2019s Department are down 38% from Nov. 5 to Jan. 5 compared with the same period a year ago, the report said.\n\nBy the end of January, according to the Sheriff\u2019s Department, the decrease in narcotics arrests was even greater, down 48% from a year ago.\n\nThe report cites a drop in the jail population from about 18,000 inmates to 15,360 on Jan. 5. With some county-sentenced inmates serving more time, the population has since rebounded to about 17,000, according to the Sheriff\u2019s Department.\n\nCOURTS\n\n\nLocal criminal courts will process 4,000 to 14,000 applications from pretrial defendants who were arrested for felonies but can now have their charges reduced to misdemeanors, the report said. An additional 20,000 applications could come from people currently incarcerated, the report said.\n\nAnother category of cases is expected to keep judges, prosecutors and public defenders busy: the people who have already served their time and can now change the felonies on their criminal records to misdemeanors. Those cases could top 300,000 and date back decades.\n\nThe report quantifies a widely expected impact on court-ordered drug treatment programs: a decrease in enrollment because defendants are no longer threatened with much jail time. Sign-ups for the programs dropped from 99 defendants a year ago to 49 in the first two months after Proposition 47 passed.\n\nProposition 47 could prompt a \u201ctotal redesign\u201d of some county drug treatment programs, said Holly McCravey, an official who oversees those programs.\n\n\n\u201cNow since we don\u2019t have a hammer \u2014 maybe the hammer was a little too strong \u2014 I think the county has to focus a little more on how do we actually engage this population and get them into the services they need,\u201d she said.\n\nMisdemeanors can also be used as an incentive to enter treatment if the customary penalties are increased, said Lenore Anderson, executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice, which coordinated the campaign to pass Proposition 47. Defendants can \u2014 but rarely do \u2014 receive up to a year in jail.\n\n\u201cWe had had for a long time a system overrun by felonies. Now we\u2019re in transition period, and we can adapt,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cHolding a year over someone\u2019s head is a consequence.\u201d\n\nPROBATION\n\n\nThe county Probation Department has seen a reduction of about 3,000 cases from the same time last year, probation officials said Wednesday. The bulk of the offenders who had been on felony probation and have had their crimes reduced to misdemeanors under Proposition 47 have either been released from probation or placed on a lower-level type of probation in which they are required to stay out of trouble but not to check in with a probation officer. But department Chief Jerry Powers noted that most of the decrease has been in lower-risk offenders who were not receiving intensive monitoring or services in the first place.\n\nThe report also noted that the reduction in probation caseloads could be countered by a new state law requiring \u201csplit sentences\u201d with jail time followed by probation in many cases.\n\nMENTAL HEALTH\n\nThe county\u2019s mental health system is also adjusting to Proposition 47. As inmates with serious mental illness, including those declared incompetent to stand trial, are released earlier than expected from state hospitals, they will require county mental health services, which means a longer wait for others in need of those beds.\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s impacting everything,\u201d said Mary Marx, district chief for the Department of Mental Health. \u201cIt\u2019s a domino effect.\u201d\n\nIn the jails, the proportion of mentally ill inmates increased slightly, from 18% to 20%, according to the report, with more of them acutely ill than before Proposition 47. But Dr. Stephen Shea, the county\u2019s medical director for jail mental health programs, said Wednesday that the initial increase appeared to be a temporary \u201cblip\u201d and has since stabilized.\n\nMONEY\n\nInitially, there will probably be less money available to help crime victims. Those convicted of misdemeanors pay less in fines than felony offenders, so the amount of money in the state\u2019s victim restitution fund will decrease. Victims of Proposition 47 crimes will not be eligible for county victim assistance, because misdemeanors are not included in the program.\n\n\nBut beginning in July 2016, any money the state saves from Proposition 47 will be used for victim services as well as treatment and youth programs.\n\nAccording to the Los Angeles County district attorney, the Proposition 47 money could be used for additional staff to work with victims, including interpreters for victims not fluent in English.\n\nThe report includes a preliminary list of county programs that could benefit from the future Proposition 47 money. These include urgent care centers for the mentally ill, substance abuse programs, a six-month program for juvenile offenders and a post-release program for juveniles coming out of probation camps.\n\ncindy.chang@latimes.com\n\n\nabby.sewell@latimes.com"}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nThis dish is more unsatisfying than your sex life"}
-{"text": "Fighting over a backyard playhouse isn\u2019t at the top of the to-do list for parents of a little girl with leukemia.\n\nBut Wednesday, for Pete Schultz of Raymore, it seemed like the thing to do.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t get it,\u201d Schultz said of his homeowners association board denying permission \u2014 at least initially \u2014 for a playhouse for his 6-year-old daughter, Ella Joe.\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s earned this \u2014 she deserves it. She can\u2019t get out and play with other kids. This playhouse is what she would have. Is it really going to hurt someone?\u201d"}
-{"text": "Good Guy Greg\n\naccidentally leave my library book somewhere during the day\n\nreturns the book to the branch"}
-{"text": "STUTTGART. Der Bischof der Di\u00f6zese Rottenburg-Stuttgart, Gebhard F\u00fcrst, hat sich vom Aalener Pfarrer Wolfgang Sedlmeier distanziert, weil dieser in der Pfingstmesse ein Kopftuch getragen hat. \u201eDie Form, in der Pfarrer Sedlmeier w\u00e4hrend der Pfingstmesse in der Aalener Marienkirche seinen Protest gegen die Diskriminierung von Kopftuchtr\u00e4gerinnen durch die Fraktionsvorsitzende der AfD im Deutschen Bundestag zum Ausdruck gebracht hat, ist sicher grenzwertig und nicht sehr gl\u00fccklich gew\u00e4hlt. Ich werde deshalb in den n\u00e4chsten Tagen ein kl\u00e4rendes Gespr\u00e4ch mit ihm f\u00fchren\u201c, sagte F\u00fcrst auf Anfrage der JUNGEN FREIHEIT.\n\n\u201eDessen ungeachtet stehe ich inhaltlich voll und ganz hinter der R\u00fcge, die Bundestagspr\u00e4sident Sch\u00e4uble Frau Weidel f\u00fcr ihre \u00c4u\u00dferungen im Parlament erteilt hat.\u201c\n\nGeist des Pfingstevangeliums\n\nDer Pfarrer hatte aus Solidarit\u00e4t mit Moslems und als Protest gegen die AfD-Bundestagsfraktionsvorsitzende Alice Weidel in der Messe am Pfingstsonntag ein Kopftuch getragen. Wer Menschen wegen ihrer religi\u00f6sen Kopfbedeckung diskriminiere, versto\u00dfe gegen die Menschenw\u00fcrde und gegen den Geist des Pfingstevangeliums, begr\u00fcndete Sedlmeier seine Aktion nach einem Bericht der Schw\u00e4bischen Zeitung.\n\nAnla\u00df war die Rede Weidels w\u00e4hrend der Generaldebatte zum Haushaltsentwurf in der vergangenen Woche. Darin hatte Weidel von \u201eKopftuchm\u00e4dchen und alimentierten Messerm\u00e4nnern und sonstigen Taugenichtsen\u201c gesprochen. Bundestagspr\u00e4sident Wolfgang Sch\u00e4uble (CDU) erteilte ihr deshalb einen Ordnungsruf.\n\nGegen die herabw\u00fcrdigende und beleidigende Weise Weidels wolle er ein Zeichen des Protests setzen, sagte Sedlmeier und zog sich am Ende seiner Predigt ein Kopftuch \u00fcber. Mit diesem trat er dem Bericht nach dann auch vor den Altar. Die Gemeinde dankte es ihm mit klatschendem Beifall. Nach der Messe stand der Pfarrer auch am Kirchenausgang mit Kopftuch. Daf\u00fcr habe er viel Zustimmung erhalten, schildert das Portal den Vorgang. (krk)"}
-{"text": "New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday the weekend bombing in Chelsea was an act of terror, but the FBI said that there is no reason to believe a terror cell \"is operating here.\"\n\n\"We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror,\" de Blasio said at a news conference.\n\nOn Saturday, a bomb exploded in the New Jersey shore town on Seaside Park, forcing the cancellation of a large charity race. Later that day, a bombing in New York's Chelsea neighborhood injured 29 people. Officers found a possible secondary device nearby. On Sunday, five additional explosive devices were found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey."}
-{"text": "Accessories\n\nIntroducing the perfect accessory to put your Trident Z Royal or Trident Z RGB memory kit on display, the Royal Display Box lets you show off the defa...\n\nRead More"}
-{"text": "Armed with her sleek blaster and three projectiles, Batgirl\u2122 doll is ready to take on any mission \u2014 from target practice to saving the day! She\u2019s dressed for adventure in signature colors and comes with iconic accessories \u2014 utility belt, bat-shaped wings, mask-inspired glasses, and a headband with bat-shaped ears. Kids can play out even more Super Hero stories with the handheld Batgirl\u2122 Blaster, six soft darts, and wearable utility belt. The darts can launch up to 50 feet to really let the fun fly! The gift set includes:\n\nDC Super Hero Girls\u2122 Blaster Action Batgirl\u2122 Doll (DWH91)\n\nDC Super Hero Girls\u2122 Batgirl\u2122 Blaster (DWW39)\n\nSKU #: FRT31"}
-{"text": "While the road to production on the latest Bond film has been rather arduous thanks to the financial troubles of MGM, principal photography on Skyfall is officially underway with director Sam Mendes behind the lens, anchored by a stellar supporting cast including Javier Bardem as the villain and Ralph Fiennes in an as yet undisclosed role. Steve is currently in New York doing the press rounds for Martin Scorsese\u2019s family film Hugo and got the chance to sit down with screenwriter John Logan, who was one of the writers on Bond 23.\n\nLogan talked about how he first came aboard the project, his approach to scripting a film that\u2019s part of a 50-year franchise, the process of crafting the series\u2019 notorious action set-pieces with the aid of Mendes, and how he weaves action into the story. Hit the jump to read the full interview.\n\nMendes and Logan have known each other for years, so when the director asked Logan to come aboard the project he jumped at the chance:\n\n\u201c[Mendes] said there\u2019s this great script by Purvis and Wade that existed, but he wanted me to come onboard and I did the ultimate thing you never do which is I said \u2018Yes. I don\u2019t care what you pay me, I don\u2019t care what I have to do, yes,\u2019 because I grew up\u2014the first Bond movie I ever saw was Diamonds are Forever, I remember every moment of it.\u201d\n\nWhile it\u2019s been said that Skyfall will be a standalone film in the series instead of a direct sequel like Quantum of Solace, Logan sees the pic a bit differently:\n\n\u201cIt has nothing to do with being a standalone film, as far as I\u2019m concerned, because I don\u2019t think these films are standalone, I think they\u2019re part of a legacy. When I was working on it I was deeply aware as much of Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale as I was of Thunderball, as I was of Ian Fleming in the 50\u2019s writing it, you know you\u2019re a float in a parade.\u201d\n\nThat being said, Logan didn\u2019t feel devoutly deferent to the series as he had a great sense of freedom when drafting the screenplay:\n\n\u201cWhat was particularly thrilling about this is the freedom, because I had the fear that you would going into a franchise movie that you have to put all the toys back in the sandbox, but I\u2019ve never felt anything but completely free as a writer to explore different material, to explore different ideas with these characters and this world. It\u2019s been amongst the best experiences I\u2019ve ever had on a movie.\u201d\n\nFinally, when asked about how he approaches the action set-pieces in the film, Logan said that it\u2019s an extremely collaborative process with Mendes extensively involved, though the action is always in service to the story:\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a very collaborative process, and Sam is front and center on everything. He\u2019s got an amazingly exciting adventure mind, which not all filmmakers do\u2026The important thing for me is making sure that the action belongs in that movie, cause there\u2019s such a thing as a Bond kind of action, and then there\u2019s a subset of that which is our Skyfall kind of action, they all have their own definitions.\u201d\n\nThey\u2019re currently two weeks deep into production and the plot is being kept under lock and key, but I\u2019m definitely enticed not only by the involvement of Logan and Mendes, but also the fantastic cast that they\u2019ve put together. We\u2019ll find out for certain if Skyfall delivers next November.\n\nHere\u2019s the part of Steve\u2019s video interview with Logan on Bond followed by the transcript. Look for their full conversation soon.\n\nWhat was it like getting that phone call saying \u201cHey, how would you like to be involved with this Bond film?\u201d\n\nIt was amazing. It happened because Sam Mendes and I have known each other for 15 years from theater circles, and we ran into each other at Bar Centrale down on 46th after the theater, and we were talking [in] booths next door to each other and he said, \u201cCan you have lunch tomorrow?\u201d I said \u201cSure let\u2019s have lunch, that\u2019s great\u201d and I knew he was doing it. So we had lunch and he said there\u2019s this great script by Purvis and Wade that existed, but he wanted me to come onboard and I did the ultimate thing you never do which is I said \u201cYes. I don\u2019t care what you pay me, I don\u2019t care what I have to do, yes,\u201d because I grew up\u2014the first Bond movie I ever saw was Diamonds are Forever, I remember every moment of it. I\u2019m particularly pleased that Skyfall comes out on the 50th anniversary of Dr. No, so for 50 years this franchise has been going incredibly strong through 23 movies, so to be part of that is incredibly fun. You know I flew in on the set two days ago and I fly back Wednesday back to Pinewood. It\u2019s thrilling.\n\nI heard that, and I know that you can\u2019t talk about anything specific, but I did hear that this is a standalone movie. Talk a little bit about the freedom of not having to go back to the other movies.\n\nIt has nothing to do with being a standalone film, as far as I\u2019m concerned, because I don\u2019t think these films are standalone, I think they\u2019re part of a legacy. When I was working on it I was deeply aware as much of Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale as I was of Thunderball, as I was of Ian Fleming in the 50\u2019s writing it, you know you\u2019re a float in a parade. What was particularly thrilling about this is the freedom, because I had the fear that you would going into a franchise movie that you have to put all the toys back in the sandbox, but I\u2019ve never felt anything but completely free as a writer to explore different material, to explore different ideas with these characters and this world. It\u2019s been amongst the best experiences I\u2019ve ever had on a movie. Mind you we\u2019re two weeks into filming, so we\u2019ll see.\n\nRegarding the action set pieces, how much was in the script that you were given and how much came from you?\n\nIt\u2019s a very collaborative process, and Sam is front and center on everything. He\u2019s got an amazingly exciting adventure mind, which not all filmmakers do. The important thing about action sequences, and you know my first movie was Any Given Sunday so you\u2019re sitting there with Oliver Stone talking about football action, or Gladiators with Ridley Scott, or throat slitting with Tim Burton, is that the action is appropriate to the story, there\u2019s no such thing as generic action because then you\u2019re watching stunts, you\u2019re watching special effects and you\u2019re very impressed by the second-unit photography but you\u2019re not engaged. So the important thing for me is making sure that the action belongs in that movie, cause there\u2019s such a thing as a Bond kind of action, and then there\u2019s a subset of that which is our Skyfall kind of action, they all have their own definitions. And it\u2019s different than the other movies because it\u2019s unique to itself the same way a plane crash in The Aviator is a different kind of action than a football scene in Any Given Sunday."}
-{"text": "The Dallas Stars announced today the club's full 2015 Training Camp roster. The Stars roster consists of 57 players, including 33 forwards, 18 defensemen and six goaltenders. Training camp will open on Friday, Sept. 18 at Cedar Park Center in Cedar Park, Texas.\n\nTo view the full 2015 Dallas Stars Training Camp Roster, click here . Player group assignments will be announced on Friday morning.\n\nThe Stars also released the team's upcoming schedule (all times listed in CT and are subject to change):\n\nFriday, Sept. 18:\n\n\u20229:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. - Group A Practice (Cedar Park Center)\n\n\u202211:30 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. - Group B Practice (Cedar Park Center)\n\n\u20221:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. - Group C Practice (Cedar Park Center)\n\n\n\n*Click here for Day 1 Training Camp Teams\n\n\n\nSaturday, Sept. 19:\n\n\u20229:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. - Group B Practice (Cedar Park Center)\n\n\u202212 p.m. - Groups A & C Scrimmage (Cedar Park Center)\n\n\n\n*Click here for Day 2 Training Camp Teams\n\nSunday. Sept. 20:\n\n\u20221 p.m. - Victory Green vs. White Scrimmage (Cedar Park Center)\n\n\n\n*Click here for intrasquad scrimmage lineups\n\n\n\nMonday, Sept. 21:\n\n\u20229:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. - Group A Practice (Cedar Park Center)\n\n\u202212 p.m. - Groups B & C Scrimmage (Cedar Park Center)\n\nTuesday, Sept. 22:\n\n\u202210 a.m. - 11 a.m. - Morning Skate (Cedar Park Center)\n\n\u202211:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. - Practice for Non-Game Team (Cedar Park Center)\n\n\u20227:30 p.m. - Dallas Stars at Florida Panthers (BB&T Center - Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)\n\nWednesday, Sept. 23:\n\n\u2022Day Off\n\nThursday, Sept. 24:\n\n\u202210:30 a.m. - Morning Skate (Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco)\n\n\u202212:30 p.m. - Practice for Non-Game Team (Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco)\n\n\u20227 p.m. - Dallas Stars at St. Louis Blues (Scottrade Center - St. Louis, Mo.)\n\nFriday, Sept. 25:\n\n\u202210 a.m. - Practice for Group A (Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco)\n\n\u202211:30 a.m. - Practice for Group B (Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco)\n\nSaturday, Sept. 26:\n\n\u202210:00 a.m. - Morning Skate (Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco)\n\n\u202211:30 a.m. - Practice for Non-Game Team (Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco)\n\n\u20227 p.m. - Dallas Stars vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas)\n\nSunday, Sept. 27:\n\n\u202210:15 a.m. - Morning Skate (Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco)\n\n\u202211:30 a.m. - Practice for Non-Game Team (Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco)\n\n\u20227 p.m. - Dallas Stars vs. Florida Panthers (American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas)\n\nMonday, Sept. 28:\n\n\u202210 a.m. - Practice for Group A (Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco)\n\n\u202211:30 a.m. - Practice for Group B (Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco)\n\nTuesday, Sept. 29:\n\n\u202210:15 a.m. - Morning Skate (Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco)\n\n\u202211:30 a.m. - Practice for Non-Game Team (Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco)\n\n\u20227:30 p.m. - Dallas Stars vs. St. Louis Blues (American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas)\n\nWednesday, Sept. 30:\n\n\u202210:15 a.m. - Off-Ice Workout (Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco)\n\n\u20226 p.m. - Dallas Stars Season Ticket Holder Event at Six Flags (Arlington, Texas)\n\nThursday, Oct. 1:\n\n\u202210:30 a.m. - Morning Skate (Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco)\n\n\u202212:30 p.m. - Practice Non-Game Team (Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco)\n\n\u20227:30 p.m. - Dallas Stars at Tampa Bay Lightning (Tampa, Fla.)\n\nFriday, Oct. 2:\n\n\u202211 a.m. - Practice (Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco)\n\nSaturday, Oct. 3:\n\n\u202210:30 a.m. - Morning Skate (Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco)\n\n\u202212:30 p.m. - Practice for Non-Game Team (Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco)"}
-{"text": "In this fallen world, where foolishness regularly inoculates itself with itself in order to preserve itself, there are now two main arguments against legalizing the mild drug called marijuana while giving a pass to the far more dangerous drugs called alcohol and tobacco. And so, on the verge of an election in which pot is on the ballot in six states \u2014 Massachusetts, Montana, Colorado, Oregon, Arkansas (!), and Washington, where it might actually pass \u2014 we give you these arguments against, followed by a rebuttal from Norm Stamper, Seattle's former police chief and a passionate advocate of legalization.\n\nRepresenting the old-school moral crusaders, we have Paul Chabot, a Republican lobbyist from California who led the successful fight against that state's legalization effort, Proposition 19.\n\n\"This is incremental degradation of community values,\" Chabot tells The Politics Blog. \"They start with helping sick people and then it's ending marijuana 'prohibition,' as the other side likes to call it. The end stage is legalization of every drug under the sun and eventually prostitution.\"\n\nChabot does not believe that nearly 45,000 Americans are in prison for marijuana possession. \"These are typically hard-core gangbangers who pled to a lesser charge to avoid a trial,\" he says. \"Only 0.7 percent of people are actually in prison for marijuana possession. It's really a very, very finite small amount.\"\n\n(For the record, 0.7 percent of America's 2,266,800 state and federal prisoners is 15,867 people.)\n\nChabot also denies that people lose school loans or get kicked out of public housing or get arrested because of their race in disproportionate amounts. \"It's a $100 citation in California,\" he says. \"Kids smoking a joint at a party. Those aren't the people going to jail.\"\n\nHe raises alarms about the potency of modern marijuana. \"When I was twelve, I went through rehab for marijuana and alcohol. The marijuana I was smoking was 1- to 3-percent THC \u2014 ditch weed, basically. In today's marijuana, the THC has risen from 16-percent to 33-percent potency.\"\n\nAnd Chabot raises health concerns. \"We have more children entering rehab for marijuana than any other drugs combined. And marijuana usage has been linked to testicular cancer, schizophrenia, depression, and a number of other physical and mental health problems.\"\n\nChabot admits that even food and water have \"been linked\" to many health problems and seems to accept that alcohol is a far more dangerous drug than marijuana \u2014 most experts say that alcohol causes 75,000 deaths a year while marijuana causes pretty much zero. But Chabot doesn't consider fairness issues valid. \"Two wrongs don't make a right,\" he says.\n\nNor does Chabot believe that blood and urine tests are effective in testing for marijuana, despite their use by businesses and police departments all around the world. \"The truth is you cannot test the percentage level for THC for driving behind the wheel,\" he says. \"It's impossible. Blood or urine but it only shows on or off, there's no way to test the percentage.\"\n\nAfter extensive consultations with police and medical professionals, the legalization proposal in Washington State has been set at a blood level of 0.05 active THC. But Chabot doesn't believe that the government has the right or ability to set any acceptable level for this particular drug. \"Even if they could set a level, who is to determine that and how is that determined?\"\n\nAt the root of all Chabot's concerns is skepticism about the notion of freedom itself. \"It's not a utopia system where we expect everyone to be responsible about their vices,\" he says. \"I'm a dad. I've got three kids. It wasn't like this when I was growing up. We've already seen a problem with alcohol, tobacco. I don't think we should cross the line and try to legitimize marijuana.\"\n\nFor good measure, Chabot throws in the old \"gateway drug\" argument \u2014 \"Ecstasy, cocaine, etc., a lot of these kids start off with smoking marijuana\" \u2014 and brushes off the concern that prohibitionists like himself are actually creating a gateway for illegal behavior in general by putting kids in close association with criminals. He even denies that alcohol prohibition led to glory days for Al Capone and the mob.\n\nMy book, Our Eternal Battle Against Evil, looks at organized crime,\" says Chabot. \"Organized crime existed long before Al Capone and long after. Al Capone was going to go into milk to make money. Wherever they can make money, they will.\"\n\nAnyway, he says, prohibition \"didn't outlaw all liquor, just the hard stuff.\"\n\nThat would come as a surprise to FDR, whose first act as president was to legalize beer.\n\n\"No, the illegal stuff was hard liquor,\" Chabot says. \"And a lot of research says prohibition of alcohol actually worked.\"\n\nBottom line, Chabot believes the fight against marijuana is a fight against evil itself. \"We tell people, go to a park in San Francisco. The swings your child slides down, the merry-go-rounds made for kids \u2014 it's people openly doing drugs. We try to fight back against the San Francisco values.\"\n\nMarijuana opponent No. 2 is Steve Sarich, who runs a group funded by the medical marijuana movement, No on I-502 \u2014 named for the Washington-state initiative that he sees as a kind of Trojan horse.\n\n\"It will be the end of the fourth amendment,\" Sarich says. \"A police officer can file an affidavit that he believes you're stoned, and he can take your blood. When our country comes down to when a policeman's signed statement can get your blood tested, the fourth amendment is dead.\"\n\nSarich is basically worried about per se laws \u2014 Latin for \"in itself.\" If you have a 0.08 blood alcohol level, you are considered impaired per se. Because California voters who turned down Proposition 19 last year told pollsters they were worried about impaired pot smokers on the road, Washington legalizers did a lot of research to come up with a reasonable per se level for pot. Sarich doesn't think police will use this in a reasonable way to actually stop impaired drivers.\n\n\"It's the new prohibition,\" he continues. \"It's a brilliantly devious scheme. THC stays in your blood system for 30 days. The limit in the new law is over 5 milligrams. I wake up with four to five times that quote-unquote impairment level every day. They're estimating that over 10,000 people will be arrested and charged with per se DUID in the state of Washington in the first year. The state wants $2 million to retrain all their police officers to be DRE \u2014 drug recognition experts. If they say you look stoned, that will be prima facie evidence for probable cause \u2014 just him saying you look stoned!\"\n\nAre we a touch paranoid, perhaps? Sarich denies it: \"Your tail light's out, I don't like the tint of your windows, you're driving while black. Cops' favorite thing to say is 'I smell pot.' And he might be correct. But is the guy impaired? I'm four times the legal limit right now and I'm not impaired \u2014 I hope I don't sound impaired.\"\n\nSarich doesn't think the state law will have any effect on federal law. \"I call this the unicorn fairy-dust theory \u2014 if they legalize it, the Feds will leave us alone and every 13-year-old girl will get her own unicorn and fairy dust.\"\n\nHis arguments, though, all have giant holes in them. Cops can already stop drivers they consider impaired, they already use the broken-tail-light premise, and the medical-marijuana clinics he supports are also illegal under federal law. It's very difficult to see how making marijuana legal will hurt marijuana smokers \u2014 and hard not to suspect that he's really just trying to protect the medical-marijuana business from competition.\n\n\"You're asking how am I vested in this,\" Sarich says. \"I'm only vested to protect the rights of patients. You'll never see me involved in legalization. This will wipe out medical cannabis in the state of Washington.\"\n\nTo Norm Stamper, who fought on the front lines of the drug war as a policeman in San Diego before moving to the chief's job in Seattle, Chabot and Sarich's objections range from thin to dishonest.\n\n\"We have spent many billions of dollars enforcing marijuana prohibition to essentially no avail,\" says Stamper. \"All it does is increase crime. There are 60,000 people dead in Mexico as a result of the drug war in the last five years, 50 to 70 percent of the cartels' profits are derived from marijuana, and it is a completely unregulated business \u2014 the cartels decide who they're going to sell it to and what price, and they don't give a damn if you're 15 years old.\"\n\nStamper heaps scorn on Chabot's medical alarms of what marijuana has \"been linked\" to, exactly.\"We know marijuana is safer than alcohol and healthier than alcohol \u2014 I highly recommend the book, Why Are We Driving People to Drink, which has all the latest peer-reviewed studies. Marijuana is safer, period.\"\n\nOf course, he adds, everyone on the I-502 campaign \"to an individual\" agree that children should not be smoking pot. That's another argument for legalization. \"I really do believe in my heart of hearts that we really will reduce access,\" Stamper says. \"Regulation works. Kids know it's easier to score marijuana than peach brandy at a liquor store. Also, there's very good reason to believe that, since the initiative will generate up to half a billion dollars a year in tax revenues and a huge percentage of that is being earmarked for prevention and treatment, we will see an increase in the number of people who come forward and say, 'I have a problem with marijuana' \u2014 because they're no longer criminals but people who are experiencing a medical problem. So, paradoxically, there's a good reason to believe that usage will go down rather than up.\"\n\nStamper also dismisses Chabot's argument that legalization would send a society-approves-of-pot message to kids. \"It's important to be connected to what's real, and what's real is that kids have free access to marijuana today. I suspect the Concerned Parents and other anti- groups really don't realize how easy it is to get. There's a very well-done pamphlet by the I-502 campaign called 'What About The Kids,' written by two physicians have done exhaustive studies. They'e very strong supporters of Initiative 502, along with many, many in the law-enforcement community, two past United States attorneys, a special agent in charge of the FBI office, judges, police officers, and so forth, because they think it will be better for our children to embrace a regulatory as opposed to a prohibition model. If we want to support criminal sanctions to people who provide marijuana to children, we have to legalize it. You can't regulate something that's unlawful.\"\n\nWhat we need, Stamper says, are informational programs \"that don't lie to these kids and insult them\" \u2014 like Chabot's notion of marijuana as a gateway drug, for example. \"We can safely say that 100 million Americans have tried at least once, including the last three presidents,\" Stamper continues, \"and a large percentage of those 100 million Americans have found out that it is not a gateway drug.\"\n\nDitto Chabot's claim that people are losing student loans or being kicked out of public housing. \"Chabot is just plain wrong. Let's remember this war has gone on for over 40 years now. Many people over that time have had their lives devastated for a simple marijuana arrest. Any police officer can tell you that. And if you're arrested for a single marijuana joint in public housing, you are automatically ejected from public housing.\"\n\nHe's no more sympathetic to the gang-bangers-plea-bargaining-to-possession argument. \"It is true that there are may people in jail or prison who have had their sentences bargained using marijuana possession as a chip in the bargaining process,\" Stamper admits. \"I'm convinced that one of the reasons some police officers oppose legalization is they like the leverage it gives them \u2014 in New York City alone, you get 50,000 arrests a year for simple possession, and those are physical-custody arrests. And these are young people, overwhelmingly black or brown.\"\n\nWhat about Chabot's superweed argument, that pot now is stronger than ever before? \"The answer is, they smoke less of it. It's as simple as that. If you're looking at 150-proof alcohol versus 5.0 alcohol, presumably you're going to drink less \u2014 unless you really are an addict, and that suggests a need for medical treatment, not putting somebody behind bars.\"\n\nAnd Chabot's claim that there is no way to test THC?\n\nThis one leaves Stamper baffled. \"I don't know what he's talking about. Years ago, before I left the San Diego Police Department, I drove to a lab to pee in a bottle for my mandatory drug test. Even then, we were able with urine and certainly with blood to detect trace amounts of THC \u2014 heck, if you had a poppy bagel, opioids would supposedly show up.\"\n\nLet's turn to Sarich then. Is there any validity to this argument about per se laws and the problem of measuring THC levels in drivers?\n\n\"The per se is set at 0.05 of active THC. He's talking about trace amounts of non-active THC, cannabinoids that can be in the system for several weeks. But what will be tested for is only active THC, and that leaves the system at same rate as alcohol. So if you make the responsible decision, you give the keys to someone else or you don't get behind the wheel, you're fine.\"\n\nHappy responsible decision-making, America.\n\n(This post has been updated to reflect Paul Chabot's current profession. He is not a member of Congress, though he did once run for state assembly in California and lose.)\n\n--\n\nStay tuned to The Politics Blog all weekend long on RSS and Twitter for live election coverage from the swing states.\n\nThis content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io"}
-{"text": "(While ringing up a customer, the computer flags cold medicine and asks for age verification.)\n\nMe: \u201cSir, I need to verify your date of birth.\u201d\n\nCustomer: \u201cWhy?\u201d\n\nMe: \u201cYou\u2019re trying to buy medicine and I just need your date of birth to confirm you are over the age of 18.\u201d\n\nCustomer: \u201cOh. April 20th, 1420.\u201d\n\nMe: \u201cSir, I really need your actual birth date to continue.\u201d\n\nCustomer: \u201c4-20-1420. Put it in.\u201d\n\n(I enter the date. The system accepts. I look in disbelief.)\n\nCustomer: \u201cTold you.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Hello\n\nInterested in booking an office space, scheduling a tour, or learning more? Just complete the form below and a Select Office Suites representative will contact you."}
-{"text": "O presidente do partido de extrema-direita j\u00e1 havia confirmado que apoiava o protesto\n\nO fot\u00f3grafo do SOL Bruno Gon\u00e7alves captou o momento em que a PSP levantou o l\u00edder do Partido Nacional Renovador (PNR), Jos\u00e9 Pinto Coelho, que estava sentado na rotunda do Marqu\u00eas de Pombal, acompanhado por outros manifestantes.\n\nEm declara\u00e7\u00f5es ao i, o presidente do partido de extrema-direita j\u00e1 havia confirmado que apoiava o protesto dos coletes amarelos, mas que n\u00e3o fazia parte da organiza\u00e7\u00e3o.\n\n\"Tamb\u00e9m estamos contra a pasmaceira que se vive e contra a pasmaceira que se vive e contra a impunidade da corrup\u00e7\u00e3o. N\u00e3o \u00e9 preciso perceber de economia para perceber que basta que deixassem roubar para os portugueses viverem melhor. Concordamos com isso tudo\", referiu, acrescentando ainda que estaria na manifesta\u00e7\u00e3o marcada para esta sexta-feira.\n\nOs manifestantes gitam palavras de protesto como \"abaixo a corrup\u00e7\u00e3o\" e tentam congestionar o tr\u00e2nsito.\n\nVeja o v\u00eddeo."}
-{"text": "If you use Uber, you\u2019ve seen the map that comes up when you want a ride. The map shows little car graphics hovering adorably around your location and the wait time for a pickup. Once you request a ride, you can watch a little car creep closer to your destination as you wait. It\u2019s a marvel of technology! Except it\u2019s bullshit.\n\n\nAlex Rosenblat and Luke Stark, researchers studying Uber\u2019s user interaction, discovered that the map Uber shows passengers of its available local drivers isn\u2019t very accurate/may be intentionally misleading. I know\u2014Uber, doing something sketchy?! We inhabit a wild world. But read on:\n\nRosenblat interviewed Uber drivers as research, including an Uber driver \u201cHeather\u201d who noticed that the passenger map wasn\u2019t showing correct information, and published an account on Motherboard:\n\nWhen Heather asked an Uber Help staff member, however, she was told that the rider map was just a \u201cscreen saver.\u201d \u201cThe app is simply showing there are partners on the road at the time,\u201d the staffer wrote in an email. \u201cThis is not a representation of the exact numbers of drivers or their location. This is more of a visual effect letting people know that partners are searching for fares.\u201d \u201cI know this seems a misleading to you but it is meant as more of a visual effect more than an accurate location of drivers in the area. It would be better of you to think of this as a screen saver on a computer.\u201d\n\n\nA screen saver on a computer! What a fantastic excuse. The next time anyone tells me, \u201cKate, the blog post you wrote is bad and you are bad,\u201d I am going to say, \u201cIt would be better of you to think of this as a screen saver on a computer.\u201d Ditto for if I accidentally make a seXXXt-tweet, Anthony Weiner style. \u201cExcuse me. It is just a screen saver on a computer my friends, carry on.\u201d\n\nThere are two different maps that Uber drivers can see: The driver map, which shows where people are requesting rides, and the passenger version, which ostensibly shows passengers where cars are but is apparently a screen saver on a computer.\n\nSince Uber drivers have access to the driver app map as well as the passenger version, they can check the discrepancy between the two. Drivers have been wondering about why Uber puts \u201cphantom\u201d or \u201cghost\u201d cars on passengers\u2019 maps for a while. In one of many driver forum threads about the \u201cghost cars,\u201d a driver said that Uber claimed it was just a technical issue:\n\nThis came up in our weekly virtual Uber webinar. They claim this is a new technical issue and are looking into it. Yeah, just like the ETA\u2019s doubling after accepting it. Funny how all these \u2018technical issues\u2019 work in Uber\u2019s favor and against drivers.\n\n\nAnother driver suspects that Uber was putting their car on the passenger map, even when they were signed out and not working as a driver:\n\nWhen I logged onto the rider app lat night it showed a car parked right in front of my building. It had to have been my car and I was not logged on as a driver. The ghost car was almost exactly where my car was parked. CREEPY\n\n\nWhen Rosenblat asked about the issue, however, an Uber representative gave a very different answer:\n\n\u201cThe map is as accurate as possible in the close vicinity of your location,\u201d the representative wrote.\n\n\nOther drivers haven\u2019t been buying that, because they\u2019re not stupid:\n\nAnd now that this research corroborates suspicions that Uber is manipulating its passenger maps to make it look like there are more drivers, more Uber drivers are noticing:\n\n\nI\u2019ve asked Uber for clarification on its map/screen saver. I don\u2019t know if we\u2019ll get a straight answer about this, but there is a good reason why Uber would want to manipulate its passenger map results: When you open the app and see a bunch of available cars nearby, it makes it seem like it\u2019s definitely the quickest way to get a ride, which makes Uber seem more attractive.\n\n\nUpdate: \u201cOur goal is for the number of cars and their location to be as accurate as possible in real time. Latency is one reason this is not always possible. Another reason is that the app only shows the nearest eight cars to avoid cluttering the screen. Also, to protect the safety of drivers, in some volatile situations, the app doesn\u2019t show the specific location of individual cars until the ride is requested,\u201d an Uber spokesperson told Gizmodo. [Motherboard]\n\n"}
-{"text": "Greetings Adventurers,\n\nOne more week we continue with the addition of Succession skills for other classes. This time is the turn to shine for the Valkyrie and the Tamer. What are you waiting for? Seize your forgotten power!\n\nAlso, as winter holidays are approaching, the world of Black Desert will be celebrating them as well with the arrival of the Holiday of Fortunes event. This event will reward you with awesome items of high value, so don't miss this special chance!\n\nFinally, a new diary titled \"Herald's Journal\" has arrived to your shelf. Complete each chapter of this new journal to earn bonuses such as HP, DP and Max Stamina for your entire family.\n\nEnjoy the new holiday events and see you next week with more awesome content!\n\nPlease note maintenance next week will be held on Tuesday, December 17th. 2019.\n\n[New Events]\n\nClick < Here > for the full details on this event which offers rewards up to $200/\u20ac200 value!\n\nThe festive spirit is filling up the world of Black Desert Online, so tackle the special quests that will reward you with awesome prizes for completion.\n\nThe biggest rewards of the year are here for the holiday season, and you can claim them simply by logging into the game daily during the event period!\n\nOn December 25, 2019, a surprise event will proceed so please stay tuned!\n\n*About [Event] Lv. 57 Travel Kit: When you open an [Event] Lv. 57 Travel Kit you will get, among other items, an [Event] Lv. 58 Travel Kit. The level in the item name indicates minimum level a character needs to be at to open the travel kit. You will keep getting higher level travel kits, until you get an [Event] Lv. 60 Travel Kit, which contains Gold Bar 100G, Shakatu's Luxury Box x1, Concentrated Magical Black Stone (Weapon) x5, Concentrated Magical Black Stone (Armor) x5, Artisan's Memory x10, and Advice of Valks (25-35) x1.\n\nCheck attendance daily and stack up on rewards like [Event] Lv. 57 Travel Kit*, Advice of Valks, Value Pack, and more!\n\nRookie and Returning Attendance rewards have been refreshed!\n\nClick < Here > to learn all about the snowy fun events!\n\nEvent 2: You better watch out, you better not cry\n\nHelp Lara build a snowman for the kids and get [Event] Lara's Warm Black Tea!\n\nEvent 1: Do you want to build a snowman?\n\nClick < Here > for the full details.\n\nReach Lv.56 with any class and obtain [Event] Armstrong's Skill Guide (1 Day) at max 5 times during the event period via Challenges (Y) tab.\n\nAdventurers who reach a certain level with their Valkyrie and Tamer characters during the event period can obtain rewards below via the Challenge tab (Y)!\n\n[Ongoing Events]\n\nClick < Here > to see how you can participate to win Succession outfits and more!\n\nEvent 2. Dual EXP Share Event (for all classes): December 4 (after maintenance)\u2013December 17 (before maintenance)\n\nEvent 1. Celebrate Warrior & Ranger Succession! (for Warrior and Ranger): December 4 (after maintenance)\u2013December 24 (before maintenance)\n\n[Ended Events]\n\n[Reward Distribution]\n\nTo all winners, please claim your reward via in-game mailbox (B).\n\n[Content]\n\nWe suggest that you select the difficulty level appropriate for the size of your guild.\n\nOnce you have collected all the required Giant Mudster Summon Scroll Piece items, you can summon Giant Mudster. Go to Guild window, then the Guild Boss Subjugation tab and you will see that the \"Find Location\" and \"Summon\" buttons have appeared. Once you press the \"Find Location\" button and go to the location where the boss can be summoned, you could select the difficulty level.\n\nYou can obtain summon scroll piece items by completing guild boss subjugation quests. The example below demonstrates what to do once you have all the summon scroll piece items.\n\nYou need \"summon scroll piece\" items to summon guild bosses.\n\nFrom now on, once you have satisfied the conditions to summon a guild boss, you can summon the boss by finding the location of the spawn point from the Guild Boss Subjugation tab in the Guild window.\n\nThe biggest change is that you no longer need to use summon scrolls.\n\nChanged the way you summon guild bosses.\n\nPets that can only learn Angry/Jump/Play/Crouch motions:\n\nPets that can only learn Joy/Angry/Jump/Play motions:\n\nPets that can only learn Joy/Feed/Angry/Sleepiness/Jump/Weeping motions:\n\nPets that do not have extra motions:\n\nHowever, some pets either cannot learn any extra motions, or can only learn certain ones.\n\nThe number of extra motions your pet has will depend on its level.\n\nPets will now be guaranteed 100% to acquire 1 type of extra motion whenever they level up.\n\nComplete all 3 chapters of the Herald\u2019s Journal to get rewards such as Extra Stamina, HP, Weight and +1 DP.\n\nYou must have the knowledge Rubin and have reached Lv. 56 first.\n\nThe journal kept by Calpheon\u2019s loudest herald Rubin which contains news he gathered from all over the continent is now available.\n\nA new adventure journal, Herald's Journal, has been added.\n\nWhen the cooldown for refreshing barter information has passed\n\nWhen barter is available\n\nA message window about refreshing barter information will now appear for the following conditions.\n\nAlong with this revamp, we simplified the conditions for summoning the guild bosses, especially Khan. Before, you had to complete guild missions 80 times to summon Khan, but now you can summon Khan after completing guild missions 5 times.\n\nThere used to be different summon scrolls based on the size of your guild. Now, the system has been revamped so that you can select the difficulty of the guild bosses regardless of the size of your guild. Before, small guilds were only able to summon guild bosses for small guilds. Now, you can challenge more powerful guild bosses for better rewards regardless of the size of your guild, simply by adjusting the difficulty level. According to this new system, \"0\" difficult level guild bosses are approximately the same difficulty as the guild bosses from guild summon scrolls for extra large guilds. The \u201c0\u201d difficulty level is the base level, and it will get more challenging as you increase the number. We are planning to keep working on the difficulty of the bosses at each level, to ensure an enjoyable experience for everyone.\n\nAny guild member can now view the type of guild bosses and the number of guild bosses that can be summoned by looking through the Guild window. However, guild bosses can now be summoned only once per week.\n\nWe focused on \"accessibility\" as we revamped the way you summon Guild Bosses. There is no longer the burden of someone having to be in charge of handling summon scrolls. You will now automatically accumulate summon scroll piece items as you complete guild boss subjugation missions.\n\nPlease note that you can also continue to use existing guild boss items you still possess.\n\nThe number of guild boss summons and summon scroll piece items reset on Monday at 00:00 UTC, so don't forget to go on a guild boss raid with your guild on the weekends!\n\nNow, you can summon and defeat Khan after completing five guild missions that allow you to obtain Khan Summon Scroll Piece items.\n\nBefore, you had to collect the Cerulean Wave Crystals through guild missions, collect summon scroll piece items by defeating the Cox Pirates' Shadow Ghost, and then change the collected pieces to Leanar's Celestial Map in order to summon Khan.\n\nSince the way guild boss subjugation works changed, the way you summon Khan, the Eye of the Great Ocean, also changed.\n\nIf too many guild bosses have already been summoned in your current server, a system message will tell you that too many have already been summoned. In this case, you can either wait a while, or you can move to another server and summon a guild boss there.\n\nYou can only summon each type of guild boss via the Guild Boss Subjugation tab once a week, and there are a limited number of guild bosses which can be summoned per server at a time.\n\nThere are certain restrictions for summoning guild bosses.\n\n[By Class]\n\nTo go from using Awakening to Succession skills, you need to reset your skills and relearn \"Succession: Power of the Beast.\"\n\nTo go from using Succession to Awakening skills, you need to reset your skills to unlearn \"Succession: Power of the Beast.\"\n\nAfter completing the Succession quests and learning the skill \"Succession: Power of the Beast,\" you can go back and forth between Succession and Awakening skills by resetting your skills.\n\nTo learn certain Succession skills, you will first need to learn the preceding skills from the \"Main\" tab first.\n\nYou will be able to learn and use skills in both the \"Main\" and \"Succession\" tabs. However, if there is both an \"Absolute\" and \"Succession\" versions of the same skill, you must choose as you cannot use both versions of the skill.\n\nAdded the \"Succession\" tab to the Skill window. The skills in this tab are affected by the AP of both Main and Awakening Weapons.\n\nYou will no longer be able to use your Celestial Bo Staff skills.\n\nYou will learn the skill \"Succession: Power of the Beast\" which will allow you to learn more powerful Shortsword skills.\n\nAfter Awakening the Tamer, accept the quest \"[Tamer Succession] True Loyalty\" from the Black Spirit to start the Succession quest series.\n\nTo go from using Awakening to Succession skills, you need to reset your skills and relearn \"Succession: Valkyrie's Vow.\"\n\nTo go from using Succession to Awakening skills, you need to reset your skills to unlearn \"Succession: Valkyrie's Vow.\"\n\nAfter completing the Succession quests and learning the skill \"Succession: Valkyrie's Vow,\" you can go back and forth between Succession and Awakening skills by resetting your skills.\n\nTo learn certain Succession skills, you will first need to learn the preceding skills from the \"Main\" tab first.\n\nYou will be able to learn and use skills in both the \"Main\" and \"Succession\" tabs. However, if there is both an \"Absolute\" and \"Succession\" versions of the same skill, you must choose as you cannot use both versions of the skill.\n\nAdded the \"Succession\" tab to the Skill window. The skills in this tab are affected by the AP of both Main and Awakening Weapons.\n\nYou will no longer be able to use your Lancia skills.\n\nYou will learn the skill \"Succession: Valkyrie's Vow\" which will allow you to learn more powerful Longsword and Shield skills.\n\nAfter Awakening the Valkyrie, accept the quest \"[Valkyrie Succession] The Calling\" from the Black Spirit to start the Succession quest series.\n\nThe four different types of Breath of All Creations items has one of the following four different stats, as follows.\n\nUse Simple Alchemy in the Processing window on Energy of All Creations x1, Oil of Fortitude x20, and Mystical Spirit Powder x20 to get Breath of All Creations.\n\nThe Energy of All Creations items have expires in 7 days. Once it expires, you can no longer use it, so you should use it before it does.\n\nThere are four types of Breath of All Creations items, and also four types of Energy of All Creations items. The four Energy of All Creations items can be obtained by defeating the guild boss Lava Chief.\n\nAdded the Breath of All Creations items, and their key materials the Energy of All Creations items.\n\nFor details on newly added Pearl Shop Update, please click < Here >\n\nWe also returned all of your expired Crow's Trade Voucher to you via in-game mail.\n\nAll Crow's Trade Voucher items in your possession have been removed and returned to your as non-expiring vouchers via in-game mail.\n\nYou can now sell Cerulean Wave Crystal items to guild shops for 100,000 Silver.\n\nYou can get Stone of Malice at a certain chance from looting the boss Giant Mudster. The rest of the ingredients can be gathered or looted from monsters.\n\nThe ingredients for making a Magic Crystal of Infinity - Skill are: Fruit of Destruction x2, Magic Crystal of Crimson Flame - Power x1, Ruby x2, Everlasting Herb x6, Stone of Malice x1\n\nMagic Crystal of Infinity - Skill can be produced by using an Alchemy Tool in your residence if you are at least Alchemy Apprentice 1.\n\nAdded a new crystal, Magic Crystal of Infinity - Skill, and one of its ingredients, Stone of Malice.\n\nThe Breath of All Creations expires in 14 days. Once 14 days have passed, you can no longer use the item, so be careful!\n\nThe effects of a Pure Black Stone and a Breath of All Creations do not stack, so if you use both of them, then only the effects of the Pure Black Stone will be applied. Please be careful that you do not use a Breath of All Creations while the effects of the Pure Black Stone are in effect!\n\nThe Breath of All Creations has a duration of 10 minutes, and its effect will not disappear even if your character dies. There is also a cooldown of 240 minutes, and all Breath of All Creations items share the same cooldown, so we recommend that you use it at the right moment.\n\nThere is something you should be aware of before using the Breath of All Creations.\n\n[Quest]\n\nThe following monsters will no longer drop the item [Guild] Celestial Map Piece \u2013 Oquilla's Eye.\n\nChanged the quest reward for [Co-op] Defeat the Shipwrecked Cox Pirates' Ghost.\n\nFixed the issue where you could not drag certain windows (e.g. Quick Hotkey, Maid/Butler List, Attendance Reward) by clicking on the upper-right sections of the windows.\n\nFixed the issue where the text did not fit inside the tooltips for certain set effects.\n\nFixed the issue where it was difficult to scroll through an NPC's Item Exchange List with your mouse.\n\nFixed the issue where it was difficult to enter your current enhancement chance into the UI when you got an alert message for attempting to enhance an item with a very high enhancement chance, closed the message UI, then tried to enhance again and got same alert message.\n\nThe Exchange button will now always appear when you interact with NPC Duncan, even if you do not possess any Shining Medal of Honor.\n\nIf the contents of your entry in the Notepad UI gets long, a scrollbar will now appear after you press ENTER. Before, the scrollbar only appeared after you clicked on the UI, or changed its size.\n\nFixed the issue where the effects of certain weapons remained visible even after your character became invisible via certain skills.\n\nFixed the issue where Shais would get stuck in the barricades near the Eastern Gateway.\n\nFixed the graphical issue with areas of Marni Farm Ruins.\n\nFixed the issue where gatherable resources did not appear in a part of Hexe Sanctuary.\n\nFixed the issue where you could go inside a certain tree at the Lemoria Guard Post.\n\nFixed the graphical issue with NPCs overlapping with certain structures in parts of Valencia.\n\nFixed the issue where the icon for gathering appeared at the Desert Naga Temple even when there were no gatherable resources.\n\nFixed the following issues in a certain area: abnormal appearance on the 3D minimap; frame rate drop; ships getting stuck in a shipwreck.\n\nFixed the issue where you could perform abnormal gathering in parts of the Battle Arena. Fixed the issue where abnormal gatherable resources appeared in parts of the Battle Arena.\n\nFixed the issue where if you chose the Total Score option in the Altar of Blood Ranking window, you could not undo it.\n\nThe appearances of Improved Epheria Sailboat and Improved Epheria Frigate will now change if you equip gear for them.\n\nChanged the names of certain villager NPCs at Gr\u00e1na.\n\nFixed the issue where you could walk through certain walls in Gr\u00e1na.\n\nFixed the issue where you could not properly move on certain rooftops in Duvencrune.\n\nFixed the graphical issue where certain structures appeared floating at Marak Farm.\n\n[Kunoichi] Fixed the issue where the effects of the Tendon Cutter skill did not match the character's movements.\n\nFixed the issue where coupons sometimes could not be added to the Coupon menu (in the top right corner in the Pearl Shop) if they were originally received as an Attendance Reward.\n\nFixed the issue where you would sometimes get stuck in a fort, command post, or recovery center after changing servers.\n\n[Wizard] Fixed the graphical issue with the neck appearing disconnected under certain circumstances.\n\nFixed the issue where you could not use the repair function at your campsite if you had previously opened the Campsite Storage window first.\n\nFixed the issue where the mouseover tooltips for the \"Storage\" and \"Open Central Market\" buttons in the Maid/Butler List window did not disappear.\n\n[Tamer] Fixed the graphical issue where the arms of the Treant Camouflage outfit were too reflective.\n\nFixed the issue with the size of the speech bubble for the Dark Rift button on the bottom right corner of the game display.\n\nFixed the issue where the cow milking minigame's mouse key guide overlapped with the minigame UI.\n\nFixed the issue where you could not load items from your inventory to your ship's cargo at the wharf and the message \"The distance is too great.\" appeared, even though you were close enough.\n\nFixed the issue where you could not see text after the thirtieth line if the size of the Notepad UI was made smaller than default.\n\nFixed the issue where the icons of certain Interior items did not appear correctly in the Item Exchange List windows of NPCs.\n\nFixed the issue where the My Information window was not brought forward when it was selected if both the My Information and the Ship Information windows were opened.\n\nFixed the issue where the effects of the guild skill Ample Storage were not applied.\n\nUIs will now be brought forward when you click on or drag the UI.\n\nFixed the issue where the color of the text indicating the number of items at NPC shops sometimes turned gray.\n\nFixed the issue where the buttons that appear when you interact with NPCs sometimes appeared cramped after you restored down your game window during a dialogue with an NPC.\n\nFixed the issue where items moved to your inventory when both your ship and horse's inventory UIs were opened, and you tried to move items from your ship to your horse.\n\nFixed the awkward navigation for the following quests. [Valkyrie] Ideology at the Tip of the Lancia\n\n[Valkyrie] A Real Valkyrie\n\n[Valkyrie] Divine power\n\nFixed the issue where it was impossible to keep playing the game if went to the Node Manager of an unconnected node to trade, then pressed the Node Management button to open the World Map.\n\nFixed the issue where the hair of the Shai NPC at Brellin Farm would look awkward.\n\nFixed the issue where the Processing progress would be abnormal when you opened the Inventory during Processing.\n\nFixed the issue where the key guide for continuously feeding Honey Wine would be displayed in the Grow Fairy window."}
-{"text": "For R. Jai Gillum, the roles she and her husband aim to fill as leaders of the state go far beyond the realms of politics.\n\nJACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- She's the first lady of the state's capital. Tallahassee, home to the Rattlers and Seminoles, is where R. Jai Howard met Andrew Gillum. Both of them were members of the student government association at Florida A & M. She would go on to earn a biology degree and master of public health there and Andrew's political career would go far beyond FAMU, with sights now set on becoming Florida's first black Governor.\n\n\"It might be overwhelming. I think he feels like there's a lot on his shoulders,\u201d R. Jai said. \u201cThere's a lot at stake.\"\n\nFor R. Jai Gillum, the roles she and her husband aim to fill as leaders of the state go far beyond the realms of politics.\n\n\"On November 6 we don't want tears and people feeling like we didn't do all that we could do but also knowing that we're carrying a lot of hopes and dreams for a lot of other folks and we just want to do right by them as much as we can,\" she said.\n\nShe\u2019s a working mother of three who has learned to juggle life on the campaign trail stumping for her husband of nine years. Overwhelmed herself at times realizing the impact of his aim to make history.\n\n\"I look out into the audience and it's so diverse and there are multiple people in tears as he's speaking, and that was a sobering moment for me,\" R. Jai said. \"I teased him. I said it was like being at a Michael Jackson concert and then I laughed.\u201d\n\nRemaining jovial through adversity she says has pulled them through painful times.\n\n\"After going through years of tests no one could tell us why we weren't able to have children, which is very unsettling,\" R. Jai said as the huge smile she often wears dimmed.\n\nIt's an issue not often spoken about publicly but she wants to change that. R. Jai and her husband struggled with fertility for four years before they were finally able to have their twins, Caroline and Jackson through In vitro Fertilization.\n\n\"Something like this really tests your faith,\u201d R. Jai said. \u201cWe were able to get pregnant and experienced four miscarriages. Three in one year so that was a really tough experience.\u201d\n\nHer youngest, Davis, seemingly came along years later with ease. She keeps them in mind when making all decisions including one that has already changed their lives.\n\n\"We did have some conversations about, 'well what do you think about governor?' And I was pregnant at the time so it was a fun conversation,\u201d R. Jai said. \u201cI appreciated that he asked me but I also knew it wasn\u2019t a question for me to say no to. I think that Andrew is destined to do what he's doing. I would have never forgiven myself if I stood in the way of that.\"\n\nBeing raised in Montgomery, Alabama with her mom was a union organizer, R. Jai learned early on the value of perseverance.\n\n\u201cThe interesting thing about going through the primary was that no one else besides our supporters thought it was going to be what it was. But we always did.\u201d\n\nIt was a win that lead to life in the fast lane.\n\n\u201cWhen you get a phone call from President Bill Clinton and Secretary Hillary Clinton to your cell phone saying we've been watching the race we just want to congratulate you, he gets off the phone and we both go 'oh my God,\u2019\" R. Jai said waving her hands in excitement.\n\nFormer President Obama would later make a similar call to Gillum pledging his support.\n\n\u201cI know he values a call from President Obama the same as this little boy that has walked up to him wearing an Andrew Gillum t-shirt and being so excited,\" R. Jai said. \u201cIt's the same level of not wanting to let either of these people down. Maybe even more so the little boy.\u201d"}
-{"text": "A 2-year-old girl who was shot by her mother this month in northeast Denver continues to improve, her relatives said Monday.\n\n\u201cShe opened her eyes today,\u201d Liliana Castro said of her niece, Isabel Perez, who remains hospitalized at Denver Health Medical Center. \u201cWe\u2019re just waiting to see when she will get out of the hospital.\u201d\n\nOn Feb. 6, Isabel\u2019s mother, Mayra Perez, 23, shot and killed her other two children, Nevaeh Morales, 4, and Erick Perez, 1, Denver police have said. She then fatally shot herself inside the home the family shared in the 4900 block of North Pearl Street.\n\nRelatives, including Isabel\u2019s father, Ricky Perez, remain by Isabel\u2019s bedside.\n\nPolice have not disclosed a motive but have said the couple had been arguing, and Ricky Perez left the house the night before to cool off. He returned the next day, discovered the bodies of his wife and children and called 911.\n\nCastro said it is unclear when Isabel might be able to leave Denver Health.\n\nSadie Gurman: 303-954-1661, sgurman@denverpost.com or twitter.com/sgurman"}
-{"text": "\u203b2018 \u5e74\u9593 USEN HIT \u30e9\u30f3\u30ad\u30f3\u30b0\u756a\u7d44\u306f\u300112\u670829\u65e5\uff5e2019\u5e741\u67084\u65e5\u306b\u653e\u9001\u3057\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u5404\u30b8\u30e3\u30f3\u30eb\u4e3b\u8981\u30c1\u30e3\u30f3\u30cd\u30eb\u306e\u30aa\u30f3\u30a8\u30a2\u5b9f\u7e3e\u3084\u3001\u30ea\u30b9\u30ca\u30fc\u306e\u7686\u69d8\u304b\u3089\u306e\u30ea\u30af\u30a8\u30b9\u30c8\u3092\u57fa\u306b\u72ec\u81ea\u306b\u96c6\u8a08\u3057\u305f\u300c2018 \u5e74\u9593 USEN HIT \u30e9\u30f3\u30ad\u30f3\u30b0\u300d\u3092\u767a\u8868\uff01\u4eca\u5e74\u306f\u3069\u3093\u306a\u30a2\u30fc\u30c6\u30a3\u30b9\u30c8\u304c\u30e9\u30f3\u30af\u30a4\u30f3\u3059\u308b\u306e\u304b\uff1f \u3069\u3046\u305e\u3054\u671f\u5f85\u304f\u3060\u3055\u3044\uff01"}
-{"text": "While continuing to publicly downplay warning signs that the U.S. economy is barreling toward a recession, the Trump White House is reportedly weighing a number of supposed stimulus measures, including more tax cuts for the rich and large corporations.\n\nPolitico reported late Tuesday that Trump officials are considering \"a cut of an additional percentage point or two to the corporate tax rate,\" which the GOP tax law slashed from 35 percent to 21 percent in 2018.\n\n\"The American people are waking up to the damage he has done to our economy by waging senseless trade wars and handing out trillions in tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations.\"\n\n\u2014Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary\n\n\"That's on top of a potential payroll tax cut,\" the news outlet noted, \"which the Obama administration had used to shore up the economy, and a move to index the capital gains rate to inflation, which potentially could be done through an executive order.\"\n\nA payroll tax cut, which Trump on Tuesday confirmed he is considering, would temporarily boost workers' paychecks.\n\nBut, as the Washington Post reported Monday, depending on how it is designed, a payroll tax cut could \"pull billions of dollars away from Social Security.\"\n\nThe other option Trump is considering, indexing capital gains to inflation via executive order, would primarily benefit wealthy investors. According to Chye-Ching Huang of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 86 percent of the benefits would go to the top one percent.\n\nThe Trump administration has been mulling indexing capital gains to inflation through executive action since last year, despite warnings the move may be illegal. As Common Dreams reported last month, a group of more than 20 Republican senators, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), is urging the president to push ahead with the executive order.\n\n\"We have been talking about indexing for a long time,\" Trump told reporters Tuesday. \"I can do it directly.\"\n\nTrump tells WH pool he could index capital gains to inflation -- effectively a huge tax cut, primarily befalling the wealthy -- through executive action, without going through Congress. Here's what Trump's own AG Bill Barr said about that in 1992, the last time he was AG pic.twitter.com/MdFGrzmqCo \u2014 Catherine Rampell (@crampell) August 20, 2019\n\nJournalist Matt O'Brien derided the White House's reported ideas to ward off a recession as handouts to the rich that would do little to stimulate the economy.\n\n\"Hilariously, two of Trump's ideas for stimulating the economy are 1) cutting the corporate tax rate a little more (after cutting it a lot didn't do much), and 2) indexing capital gains to inflation,\" O'Brien tweeted on Tuesday. \"It's tax cuts for the rich all the way down.\"\n\nTrump's reported plans to put more money in the pockets of the wealthiest Americans and large corporations come just a week after the Treasury bond yield curve inverted for the first time since the Wall Street crash of 2008. The inverted yield curve has preceeded every major economic downturn over the past 50 years.\n\nEconomists and other observers were quick to point to Trump's reckless trade war with China, the world's second-largest economy behind the U.S., as a key reason for recession fears. As Common Dreams reported last week, the Twitter hashtag #TrumpRecession went viral shortly following the inverted yield curve.\n\nFormer Labor Secretary Robert Reich tweeted Tuesday that \"we already know about Trump's racism, xenophobia, and fear-mongering.\"\n\n\"Now,\" said Reich, \"the American people are waking up to the damage he has done to our economy by waging senseless trade wars and handing out trillions in tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations.\""}
-{"text": "We\u2019re constantly hearing complaints in Congress about American companies that relocate their headquarters overseas for tax avoidance. But when do you hear anybody mentioning the cruise industry\u2019s Panamanian connection? The cruise companies may not really live here, but they certainly can lobby here.\n\n\u201cPowerful is an understatement,\u201d said Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. He\u2019s the sponsor of a bill that would increase consumer protection for cruise passengers. The bill, which can\u2019t even get a committee hearing, would also require the ships to have up-to-date technology that detects when passengers fall overboard. Now this would seem like something you\u2019d expect them to have around.\n\nAn average of about 20 people fall off cruise ships every year, which the industry points out is only about one in a million travelers. But still, I suspect that passengers work under the assumption that if they do somehow wind up in the water, someone will notice. This spring, a 33-year-old American woman disappeared during a cruise in the Gulf of Mexico. No one realized she was gone for 10 hours, and by the time searchers could start looking for her, the area they needed to cover was more than 4,000 square miles. While it\u2019s the least thing anyone worries about when a person is missing at sea, let us point out once again that it was the taxpayer-funded Coast Guard doing the searching.\n\nThe cruise industry says the overboard technology hasn\u2019t been perfected. Blumenthal says it\u2019s been well tested. Seems like the sort of disagreement that would be easy to resolve with \u2026 a committee hearing.\n\nMost cruise vacationers seem to enjoy their experience \u2014 the industry says nearly 90 percent declare themselves satisfied. It\u2019s not our business to get in between anybody and an ocean breeze. Our requests are modest, really: Make the cruise ship companies that are, for all practical purposes, American pay American taxes. Leave the whales alone. Give that bill a committee hearing. And stop scaring the penguins."}
-{"text": "By Thanh Nien News - Wednesday, January 28, 2015 09:58\n\nCages of living cats smuggled from China are loaded off a truck in Hanoi on January 27, 2015. Photo credit: Kien Thuc Hanoi police Tuesday seized a truck smuggling more than three tons of cats, all alive, to sell to restaurants in Vietnam.\n\nThey checked the truck at around midnight when it was parked on a street, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.\n\nHoang Van Hieu, the 30-year-old driver and owner of the undocumented shipment, said he bought the cats at the border area and that all of them were from China, the paper said.\n\nPolice are investigating further, saying they will deal with the cats \"in accordance with the laws\".\n\nIn Vietnam, smuggled products are required to be destroyed. It is uncertain at this point what local authorities would do with these cats.\n\nCat smuggling from China is not new, but the practice has become more widespread recently.\n\nInsiders said the biggest markets for cat meat are in Thai Binh and Nam Dinh provinces near Hanoi, where the meat is still considered by some as a delicacy and served at festive occasions like wedding parties.\n\nAnimal rights groups have condemned cat and dog meat trade in several Asian countries, including China and Vietnam.\n\nVietnamese health officials have warned of the risks of rabies, fungal skin diseases and typhoid fever to people involving in the smuggling, slaughtering and eating of animals that have not been tested.\n\nCats are also the primary hosts of Toxoplasmosis gondii, a parasitic organism that can cause encephalitis and other neurological diseases, they said.\n\nUPDATE: This video, released by Hanoi Police news website, anninhthudo.vn, shows police officers checking the truck full of cats."}
-{"text": "Junior doctors in Britain plan to strike because an 11 percent increase in basic pay does not make up for what they call a 31 percent decrease in night and weekend pay. Photo by lenetstan/Shutterstock\n\nLONDON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Doctors in Britain have announced three planned strikes in January and February after contract negotiations with the government broke down again over pay rates and work hours. If carried out, they would be the first such walkout in 40 years.\n\nThe British Medical Association announced junior doctors in the country would provide only emergency care for 24 hours starting on January 12, for 48 hours starting January 26, and a full shut-down on February 10 if the dispute has not been resolved, reported the BBC.\n\n\nNational Health Service ministers offered doctors an 11 percent raise in pay, however the doctors claim it will only offset other pay curbed in the deal, including higher pay for \"unsociable\" hours, or nights and weekends.\n\nThe goal of lowering expenses for the NHS, which finished last year with a $2.9 billion deficit, would allow for more services to be provided seven days a week, and help improve patient waiting times. While weekends are currently paid at a higher rate, the governments proposed contract would include 12 Saturday hours at the regular pay rate, as well as extending the regular pay rate three hours each weekday evening.\n\nThe BMA has voiced concerns this could lead to overworked doctors and weaken safeguards that limit excessive hours.\n\nThe BMA, which represents doctors who work for Britain's National Health Service, issued the new call for strikes, or \"industrial action,\" after several weeks of negotiations leading up to Christmas failed bring the two sides to an agreement. Similar strikes were called off in November after the NHS said it would not impose a new contract and would restart negotiations.\n\nAs many as 99 percent of the 37,000 junior doctors in the BMA voted in favor of strikes in November, which the group called after meeting with NHS ministers for just an hour on January 4.\n\n\"The government has repeatedly dragged its feet throughout this process, initially rejecting our offer of talks and failing to make significant movement during negotiations,\" said Mark Porter, chair of the BMA, according to the Financial Times. \"We sincerely regret the disruption that industrial action will cause, but junior doctors have been left with no option.\"\n\nBritish Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt called the strikes unnecessary because he felt the negotiations were progressing, especially on protections to prevent doctors from being overworked, and thought the sides would start finding common ground on pay as well.\n\nWhile weekend pay was being brought down, Hunt said basic pay was being increased. The new contract proposals from NHS also say doctors are not allowed to work more than four nights in a row, but that a balance must be struck because hospitals have three times fewer staff on weekends because the facilities can't afford to hire more people at the weekend rate.\n\n\"The Government is, understandably, putting round the fact that agreement is almost there,\" Porter said, according to The Telegraph. \"It's almost there in their mind but not in the minds of junior doctors. An 11 per cent pay increase doesn't compensate when you take away a 31 per cent average payment for working the unsocial hours. Anybody can do the maths on that.\""}
-{"text": "The Flatbush Zombies and their diehard fanbase are doing their part to help those suffering through the longstanding clean water crisis of Flint, Mich. Meechie Darko posted a message to social media on Monday challenging fans to bring cases of bottled water to their Detroit, Michigan tour stop today (May 15) at the Royal Oak Theater in exchange for signed posters from the trio to the first 250 people to make donations.\n\nThe group's official Instagram reposted the message as well yesterday. \"Michigan, we are asking our fans to please bring a case of water to the show at the Royal Oak Theater to help with water issues in Flint. The first 250 fans with cases will receive a signed show FBZ poster! Thank you,\" the handwritten note reads.\n\nThe Zombies kicked off their See You In Hell Tour last month with an energetic Coachella set and have brought Pro Era's Kirk Knight and Nyck Caution along for the extended journey across North America, which culminates in San Francisco, Calif. on June 16.\n\nThe trek comes in support of the trio's sophomore studio album Vacation in Hell. Released on April 6, the 19-track effort boasts features from some of hip-hop's royalty such as Jadakiss, Bun B, Denzel Curry, Nyck Caution and others. Production on the project doesn't disappoint and finds the likes of Erick the Architect, Tyler Dopps and Hector Delgado behind the boards, to name a few.\n\nThe New York squad joins a laundry list of hip-hop artists that have come to the repeated aid of the Flint community over the past few of years after it was revealed the city's water was tainted with lead and other toxic chemicals. The list includes The Game, Vic Mensa, Wiz Khalifa, Big Sean, DJ Mustard, Eminem, Pusha T and Diddy to name a few.\n\nCheck out the Flatbush Zombies' post asking for fans help below. Purchase tickets to the See You In Hell Tour here."}
-{"text": "Export/Download Printable Text (.txt) CSV Multiverse id (.txt) Markdown/Reddit MTGO (.dek) MTG Salvation\n\nMTG Arena\n\nCopy to clipboard\n\n3 Axebane Guardian (RTR) 3 Azor's Elocutors (RTR) 2 Azorius Guildgate (RNA) 243 2 Boros Guildgate (C19) 234 3 Crackling Perimeter (GTC) 2 Dimir Guildgate (GRN) 245 1 Door to Nothingness (M13) 3 Doorkeeper (MYS1) 53 3 Fog Bank (MYS1) 117 2 Golgari Guildgate (C19) 247 3 Greenside Watcher (GTC) 2 Gruul Guildgate (RNA) 249 3 Hold the Gates (GTC) 3 Hover Barrier (RTR) 6 2 Izzet Guildgate (C19) 253 2 Orzhov Guildgate (WAR) 269 3 Primal Clay (A25) 228 2 Rakdos Guildgate (C19) 267 2 Selesnya Guildgate (GRN) 255 2 Simic Guildgate (C19) 275 3 Tree of Redemption (ISD) 191 3 Vampire Nighthawk (C20) 140 3 Wall of Fire (MYS1) 167 3 Xathrid Gorgon (M13) 54 4 Boros Charm (GK1) 84 4 Dispel (MYS1) 76 4 Heroes' Reunion (RTR) 3 Ranger's Guile (M21) 199\n\nCopied to clipboard. You can now import it in the MTG Arena client.\n\nIn TappedOut's comments/forums\n\nIn TappedOut's comments/forums with pie-chart\n\nOn your blog\n\nThis will require TappedOut.js included in your blog."}
-{"text": "Le 8 mars, Journ\u00e9e internationale des droits de la femme, le prestigieux New York Times n\u2019a rien trouv\u00e9 de mieux pour illustrer la terrible oppression des femmes que de donner la parole \u00e0 quatre femmes qui sont \u00ab victimes \u00bb de la vilaine, vilaine loi 21.\n\nLe reporter du NYTimes au Qu\u00e9bec, Dan Bilefsky, ne donne la parole qu\u2019\u00e0 une personne en faveur de la loi 21 alors qu\u2019en th\u00e9orie un reportage devrait pr\u00e9senter les deux c\u00f4t\u00e9s d\u2019une pol\u00e9mique.\n\nTrois lignes seulement pour donner la parole \u00e0 Radhia Ben Amor, coordonnatrice de recherche, \u00e0 l\u2019universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al, qui affirme qu\u2019elle a quitt\u00e9 la Tunisie pour vivre dans un pays plus la\u00efc. \u00ab Je ne me sentirais pas confortable d\u2019\u00eatre face \u00e0 une juge ou une avocat en cour qui porterait le hijab parce que je m\u2019inqui\u00e8terais de leur neutralit\u00e9 \u00bb.\n\nC\u2019est tout.\n\nMonsieur Bilefsky \u00e9crit : \"Some feminists in Quebec support the ban, arguing that keeping religion out of public life can help further women\u2019s rights.\" Mais il n'interviewe aucune de ces f\u00e9ministes !Il ne donne pas la parole \u00e0 des femmes de l\u2019AQNAL , pas de micro tendu \u00e0 un organisme regroupant des femmes qui sont en faveur de la loi 21.\n\nPar contre, quatre t\u00e9moignages tr\u00e8s \u00ab human interest \u00bb avec des femmes qui se disent victimes de la loi... sans qu\u2019\u00e0 aucun moment le journaliste ne vienne apporter des contre-arguments (comme par exemple, la loi de l\u2019\u00c9tat a pr\u00e9s\u00e9ance sur la loi de Dieu).\n\nLe probl\u00e8me, c\u2019est que Bilefsky reprend le t\u00e9moignage d\u2019Amrit Kaur, cette enseignante sikhe portant le turban, en refaisant les m\u00eames omissions que le fameux reportage biais\u00e9 que lui avait consacr\u00e9 Radio-Canada. Vous vous souvenez, l\u2019enseignante qui avait \u00ab fuit \u00bb la loi 21 ?\n\nAu moins Radio-Canada avait eu la d\u00e9cence de corriger le tir (apr\u00e8s mes interventions et celles de Mathieu Bock-C\u00f4t\u00e9). Mais pourquoi le NYTimes reprend-il ces informations incompl\u00e8tes ?\n\nOn pr\u00e9sente Amrit Kaur ainsi : \u00ab A Sikh teacher with a turban moved about 2,800 miles from Quebec to Vancouver, calling herself a \u201crefugee in her own country.\u201d \u00bb \u00ab Une enseignante sikhe portant le turban a travers\u00e9 2 800 miles du Qu\u00e9bec \u00e0 Vancouver, et se qualifie de r\u00e9fugi\u00e9e dans son propre pays \u00bb.\n\nVoici les diff\u00e9rents probl\u00e8mes avec le reportage du NYTimes :\n\n1-Le NYTimes ne souligne pas qu\u2019Amrit Kaur peut sans probl\u00e8me enseigner dans n\u2019importe quelle \u00e9cole priv\u00e9e au Qu\u00e9bec, la loi 21 ne s\u2019appliquant qu\u2019aux \u00e9coles publiques. Et ne pr\u00e9cise pas qu\u2019en Colombie-Britannique, elle travaille dans une \u00e9cole priv\u00e9e. Elle affirme devoir s\u2019exiler \u00e0 2800 miles du Qu\u00e9bec pour se trouver du travail, mais le reporter ne souligne pas qu\u2019elle n\u2019avait pas \u00e0 s\u2019exiler ... puisqu\u2019elle pouvait trouver du travail ici au priv\u00e9.\n\n2-Le NYTimes \u00e9crit : \u00ab The ban on religious symbols passed the day that Amrit Kaur, a Sikh who wears a turban, graduated from teachers college. So she moved to the other side of the country \u00bb. Le reporter affirme que la loi 21 est pass\u00e9e au Qu\u00e9bec le jour m\u00eame o\u00f9 Amrit Kaur a obtenu son dipl\u00f4me d\u2019enseignante... mais ne mentionne nulle part qu\u2019elle \u00e9tudiait en Ontario ! Il fait donc croire \u00e0 ses lecteurs qu\u2019il y a une suite logique entre la loi 21 et sa d\u00e9cision de partir \u00e0 l\u2019autre bout du pays... alors qu\u2019elle est dipl\u00f4m\u00e9e de l\u2019Ontario... o\u00f9 la loi 21 ne s\u2019applique pas ! Et on passe bien s\u00fbr sous le tapis le fait qu\u2019elle est d\u00e9j\u00e0 loin du Qu\u00e9bec... vu qu\u2019elle a pass\u00e9 des ann\u00e9es d\u2019\u00e9tudes dans une autre province !\n\nDan Bilefsky, auteur de l\u2019article, omet de mentionner que Mme Kaur est vp de l\u2019organisation mondiale des sikhs . Pourtant, une simple recherche sur google l\u2019aurait men\u00e9 \u00e0 cette info : https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=307719773254899\n\nEn contraste avec ce reportage biais\u00e9 du NY Times, voici les modifications qui ont \u00e9t\u00e9 apport\u00e9es par Radio-Canada, \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9poque, \u00e0 son propre reportage biais\u00e9, apr\u00e8s nos diff\u00e9rentes interventions : \u00ab La version originale du texte mentionnait que Amrit Kaur est vice-pr\u00e9sidente pour le Qu\u00e9bec de l'Organisation mondiale des sikhs du Canada. Nous avons cependant pr\u00e9cis\u00e9 que l'organisme a ajout\u00e9 sa voix \u00e0 la contestation de la loi 21 devant les tribunaux. Il a \u00e9galement \u00e9t\u00e9 pr\u00e9cis\u00e9 que la loi n\u2019aurait pas interdit \u00e0 Mme Kaur d\u2019enseigner au Qu\u00e9bec mais dans un \u00e9tablissement priv\u00e9. \u00bb\n\nUn autre probl\u00e8me avec le texte du NYTImes. Pourquoi ne pas avoir mentionn\u00e9 que les institutions d\u2019enseignement au Qu\u00e9bec ne recensent aucun cas de profs ayant quitt\u00e9 \u00e0 cause de la loi 21 ?\n\nPourtant, Radio-Canada avait fait rajouter cette information dans les modifications \u00e0 son propre reportage : \u00abDans les deux institutions (Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al et Universit\u00e9 Laval ), on ne recense pas de cas connus de dipl\u00f4m\u00e9s en sciences de l'\u00e9ducation en 2019 qui ont quitt\u00e9 le Qu\u00e9bec pour se soustraire \u00e0 la loi 21.\u00bb\n\nCela remet le cas, isol\u00e9, de Mme Kaur, en perspective, non ?\n\nLe NYTimes \u00e9crit: \u00ab She said the suggestion by supporters of the bill that her turban would make her indoctrinate children was misguided. \u201cIt is the state that is imposing secularism as a religion on me,\u201d\n\nMonsieur Bilefsky lit-il Le Devoir ? https://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/574072/loi-sur-la-laicite-de-l-etat-des-educatrices-voilees-ont-fait-du-proselytisme\n\nEst-il au courant des deux affidavits d\u00e9pos\u00e9s en Cour dans le cadre des contestations de la loi 21 ? \u00ab Deux m\u00e8res montr\u00e9alaises affirment que des \u00e9ducatrices voil\u00e9es ont fait pression sur leurs filles pour qu\u2019elles adoptent elles aussi des pratiques musulmanes \u00bb ?\n\nEn donnant la parole, \u00e0 quatre contre un, \u00e0 des opposants \u00e0 la loi 21, en laissant entendre que la loi 21 vise sp\u00e9cifiquement les femmes, en ne donnant pas un portrait complet de l\u2019enseignante sikhe, le NYTimes a pr\u00e9sent\u00e9 un reportage biais\u00e9.\n\nQue fera le gouvernement Legault pour d\u00e9fendre la r\u00e9putation de la province et de sa loi sur la la\u00efcit\u00e9 ?"}
-{"text": "If you do not have the PIN, please click here to request it from Disabled Account.\n\nSNAPCHAT ME fgkk858 This VERY hot str8 guy w/gf wanted to experience a gh bj today. This is the same hot guy from my August 31 video of the same name. I had no choice but to swallow his load. When i got his message, i dropped everything i was doing, as you can see the shaving...\n\nSNAPCHAT ME fgkk858 This VERY hot str8 guy w/gf wanted to experience a gh bj today. This is the same hot guy from my August 31 video of the same name. I had no choice but to swallow his load. When i got his message, i dropped everything i was doing, as you can see the shaving cream in my ear, to set up the gh. Comment and rate my vids!!!"}
-{"text": "Paris \u2013 D\u00e9voil\u00e9 jeudi dernier, le programme d\u2019Emmanuel Macron n\u2019en finit plus de diviser. Parmi les mesures promulgu\u00e9es, l\u2019ancien ministre pr\u00e9voit notamment que les ch\u00f4meurs de moyenne et longue dur\u00e9e puissent se d\u00e9placer, si et seulement si, ils sont accompagn\u00e9s d\u2019une personne en CDI ayant valid\u00e9 sa p\u00e9riode d\u2019essai. Analyse.\n\n\u00ab Il y a un double objectif : d\u2019une part, apporter aux personnes en difficult\u00e9 le concours de personnes fortes, belles, muscl\u00e9es et adoub\u00e9es par le monde de l\u2019entreprise, d\u2019autre part, encadrer les ch\u00f4meurs, ces \u00eatres immoraux et abjects qui vivent aux crochets de l\u2019\u00c9tat \u00bb, explique l\u2019ancien ministre en sirotant un jus de papaye \u00e0 la terrasse d\u2019un caf\u00e9, place du Faubourg Saint-Honor\u00e9.\n\n\u00ab La plupart emploient tr\u00e8s mal leur temps libre \u00bb, poursuit-il. \u00ab Ils passent leur journ\u00e9e \u00e0 fl\u00e2ner en terrasse, \u00e0 voir leur famille ou pire \u00e0 faire du b\u00e9n\u00e9volat \u00bb, grimace-t-il avec d\u00e9go\u00fbt. \u00ab Quand je pense \u00e0 toutes ces heures o\u00f9 ils pourraient courir les salles de march\u00e9, se faire tailler des costumes sur mesure ou boire des Mojitos avec de beaux traders bronz\u00e9s, \u00e7a me rend malade ! \u00bb, \u00e9ructe-t-il en frappant \u00e9nergiquement du poing sur la table.\n\nGr\u00e2ce \u00e0 un bracelet \u00e9lectronique situ\u00e9 \u00e0 la cheville du ch\u00f4meur, l\u2019employ\u00e9 en CDI recevra une notification sur son smartphone aussit\u00f4t que le ch\u00f4meur quitte son domicile pour l\u2019accompagner jusqu\u2019\u00e0 sa destination. \u00ab Tout le long du trajet, il pourra v\u00e9rifier qu\u2019il va bien pointer au P\u00f4le Emploi tout en lui racontant sa plus belle LBO et en lui montrant la fiche de paie de son treizi\u00e8me mois. Il faut que le ch\u00f4meur retrouve le go\u00fbt et la valeur du travail ! \u00bb, hurle-t-il en renversant plusieurs tables dans le caf\u00e9.\n\nConcernant l\u2019attribution des ch\u00f4meurs aux personnes en CDI, Emmanuel Macron n\u2019exclut pas qu\u2019un seul employ\u00e9 puisse prendre en charge plusieurs personnes en recherche d\u2019emploi en s\u2019appuyant sur le mod\u00e8le d\u2019Uber Pool. \u00ab \u00c0 condition que l\u2019employ\u00e9 soit prudent et veille \u00e0 compter ses ch\u00f4meurs \u00e0 chaque feu rouge et entre chaque station de m\u00e9tro \u00bb, convient-il. \u00ab Les ch\u00f4meurs ne manqueront pas une occasion de fausser compagnie \u00e0 leur ma\u00eetre pour retourner tirer au flanc \u00bb.\n\nInterrog\u00e9 sur la restriction des libert\u00e9s individuelles des citoyens, Emmanuel Macron ne se laisse pas d\u00e9monter : \u00ab Il fallait que le ch\u00f4meur y r\u00e9fl\u00e9chisse avant de perdre son travail. Je ne reculerai devant rien pour que la France retrouve le plein emploi ! \u00bb, a-t-il ajout\u00e9 avant de faire une cl\u00e9 de bras au gar\u00e7on de caf\u00e9 venu lui r\u00e9clamer un pourboire."}
-{"text": "Premium Materials\n\nFace it - the red dot on your new Apple Watch Series 3 is an eyesore. Every time you look down at your wrist, it's there staring back at you. Laughing at you. You have no idea why it's red. This kind of uncertainty can ruin lives. Thankfully, dbrand has the medicine. We've engineered a 5.7mm, precision-cut Digital Crown skin from authentic, true-textured 3M vinyl. In fact, we've even gone so far as to offer a red dot for your red Crown. How's that for innovation, Jony Ive? Go ahead - give us $4.95 for a dot that's smaller than the tip of an eraser. In fact, buy 79,535 of them and we'll use the money to purchase a new Lamborghini Aventador."}
-{"text": "The quality and reliability of some weather forecasts would diminish and could put the public at risk under a plan to end local forecasting services in WA and most other states, and move to a centralised unit based in Melbourne and Brisbane, according to the Community and Public Sector Union.\n\nMore than 200 forecasters across the country were told last week about the plan to centralise local forecasting in the two major centres by 2020 \u2014 which the union claims is the biggest shake-up to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) in 110 years.\n\nThe move follows a long-running pay dispute which left frosty relations between staff and head office at the bureau.\n\nSome BoM staff included messages including #5yearpayfreeze, #SupportUs and #BoMonStrike in weather updates during the pay dispute. ( Supplied )\n\nThe union representing bureau staff said they were \"horrified\" by the plan, under which up to 40 forecasters in Perth would be affected.\n\n\"We'll lose between 30 and 40 highly skilled, highly trained forecasters who are very aware of conditions in WA, the vast land mass that we have,\" CPSU organiser Melanie Booth said.\n\n\"They have built up their experience about that and weather patterns here for a good 10 to 15 years some of them, if not more.\n\n\"It's going to be a brain drain and it's going to mean the quality of the service will be hugely reduced.\"\n\nBushfires and cyclone forecast accuracy impacted: union\n\nThe north of Western Australia is known locally as \"cyclone alley\". ( Supplied )\n\nMs Booth said forecasters feared a centralised service could put WA communities at risk during extreme weather events such as bushfires and cyclones.\n\n\"Local fire conditions will be handled from Melbourne and Brisbane,\" she said.\n\n\"If there is more than one major incident happening across Australia, which is a pretty large land mass, then the fear is that the bigger population centres will get the attention first.\n\n\"The other thing is the nuances of people knowing in time for evacuating and things like that \u2014 there's fewer controls over that.\n\nShe said the oil and gas industry in particular relied on knowing if there was even a small risk of cyclones hitting their infrastructure.\n\nLarge bushfires \u2014 such as the one in Yarloop in 2016 \u2014 have claimed lives in Western Australia in recent years. ( AAP/DFES )\n\nThe union said it was unclear if jobs would be cut or if West Australian staff would be asked to relocate.\n\n\"Highly trained staff, you don't replicate them overnight,\" Ms Booth said.\n\n\"If they choose not to relocate then there's going to be a net loss of those skills in the Bureau of Meteorology.\n\n\"This is actually the biggest change to the way (BOM) is organised and how they provide their services to the Australian public in 110 years.\"\n\nBureau denies jobs to go\n\nIn a statement, the BOM said it was consulting with staff on the \"proposed transformation\" and was committed to providing localised expertise to each state and territory.\n\n\"Claims of cost-cutting and job losses are simply untrue and there are no plans to remove the bureau's local presence from any state or territory,\" the statement said.\n\n\"A proposed new approach to improve services, which is being discussed in consultation with staff, customers and stakeholders, would involve general forecasting services moving to specialised hubs, allowing locally-based staff more time to provide specialist expertise to key state sectors such as emergency services, agriculture and energy.\n\n\"A further benefit would be the creation of new teams of experts focussed on providing advice on the key natural hazards which affect life and property.\"\n\nNew federal Environment Minister and Member for Durack Melissa Price said there had been an ongoing business review of what the BOM does throughout Australia.\n\n\"There is also a review of what is the technology that they're using now, could they improve the use of their technology,\" she said.\n\n\"I know there's been a few people, especially Tasmanians, [who] are getting very, very excited and obviously a bit concerned that this means a loss of jobs.\n\n\"I'm assured that's not what it means. Like any department they have a business review every couple of years to see if what they're doing is delivering a good service.\n\n\"But I can assure people that they really do not need to be concerned about this review.\"\n\nShe said centralising services outside of WA would \"be a very bad outcome\".\n\nBOM could become 'faceless organisation'\n\nWA Pastoralists and Graziers Association president Tony Seabrook said he had serious concerns about the proposal.\n\n\"There are a few groups of people in the community that absolutely depend on forecast, and aviation is one, maritime is another,\" he said.\n\n\"But farmers make day-to-day decisions based on the forecasting that we get, and they can be very significant decisions to do with livestock welfare.\n\n\"If they can absolutely guarantee there will be no diminution of the services provided, then there might be a case, but based on previous experience, the further away from the centre of activity that people like forecasters are, the less likely we'll get the accurate forecasting that we need.\n\n\"They may say with computers they can do it just as well, but somehow or another most of us will have a grave fear that the centralisation of forecasting may actually mean forecasting \u2026 might not be as accurate.\"\n\nMr Seabrook also said he was worried the bureau would become a \"faceless organisation\" with few opportunities for interaction."}
-{"text": "The Forty-spotted Pardalote (Pardalotus quadragintus), an endangered Tasmanian songbird, has been experiencing unexplained declines in its remaining habitat, and a new study in The Condor: Ornithological Applications describes how competition with a related species for nest cavities may be putting extra pressure on these vulnerable birds. Amanda Edworthy of Australian National University spent two years monitoring nests of Forty-spotted Pardalotes and Striated Pardalotes at three sites around Tasmania, documenting that about 10% of Forty-spotted Pardalote nests were ultimately taken over by their bigger, more aggressive cousins.\n\nDuring the breeding seasons of 2013-2014 and 2014-2015, Edworthy searched for nests of both pardalote species in Tasmania's dry coastal forests, monitoring them every four days and using climbing gear to observe nests high in trees. She also used freeze-dried pardalote specimens as dummies to test how the birds responded to intruders, placing them in lifelike positions outside nests and recording the birds' reactions. While she didn't see a single instance of Forty-spotted Pardalotes taking over a Striated Pardalote nest site, Striated Pardalotes usurped about 10% of the Forty-spotted Pardalotes nesting attempts she monitored, with these takeovers occurring most frequently at sites with greater Striated Pardalote population density. Forty-spotted Pardalotes responded less aggressively to Striated Pardalote dummies than to dummies of their own species, likely due to caution in the face of a threatening competitor, while Striated-spotted Pardalotes displayed similar amounts of aggression to dummies of both species.\n\nAccessing pardalote nests required determination and comfort with heights. \"I learned to climb trees just for this project,\" says Edworthy. \"Tasmania's gum trees are some of the tallest flowering plants in the world, and I had nests ranging from eye level to 30 meters above the ground, with most of them well above ladder height. My field assistants and I would either hike or bike all the gear out to each nest every four days or so, and haul ourselves up into the canopy. We got some great views of Tasmanian coastline and forest canopies from the tops of trees, though when the wind came up, it was a bit frightening to see the trunk of the tree moving below me and to feel how elastic trees are in the wind. Climbing let us consistently access nests of Forty-spotted Pardalotes for the first time--previous studies were done from the ground or with ladders.\"\n\nStriated Pardalotes are native to Tasmania, so removing them isn't an option, but there are other strategies that could help level the playing field. Adding nest boxes in Forty-spotted Pardalote habitat could help reduce competition for tree cavities, but because this can also increase population densities of Striated Pardalotes, it has to be done carefully. Nest boxes could be optimized for Forty-spotted Pardalotes by using smaller entrance diameters and considering their preferences for nest height and location.\n\n\"It is a global imperative that any research undertaken on threatened species focuses on aiding conservation efforts,\" according to Dr. Sally Bryant, chair of the Tasmanian Land Conservancy's Forty-spotted Pardalote Recovery Program. \"Edworthy's work achieves this by showing not only how the endangered Forty-spotted Pardalote is outcompeted and usurped for nest sites by the more dominant Striated Pardalote, but how this can be alleviated through the provision of nest boxes and probably improved even further with refinement of nest box design and review of their placement in the forest landscape.\"\n\n###\n\n\"Competition and aggression for nest cavities between Striated Pardalotes and endangered Forty-spotted Pardalotes\" will be available November 4, 2015 at http://www. aoucospubs. org/ toc/ cond/ 118/ 1 .\n\nAbout the journal: The Condor: Ornithological Applications is a peer-reviewed, international journal of ornithology. It began in 1899 as the journal of the Cooper Ornithological Club, a group of ornithologists in California that became the Cooper Ornithological Society."}
-{"text": "Zie https://bertschelfhout.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/sprakeloos/\n\n\u2013 For the people without FB, who can help finding Debbie.-\n\n\u2013 Mag ik uitdrukkelijk vragen aan de pers om discretie aan de dag te leggen ten aanzien van familie en vrienden. Deze post heeft de bedoeling een hulp te zijn bij mensen die in Nepal verblijven en kunnen helpen bij de opsporing van Debbie a.d.h.v. de foto en informatie. \u2013\n\nDebbie Maveau is al enkele dagen vermist. Vandaar de oproep aan alle mensen met contacten in Nepal. Graag haar foto doorgeven en vragen of men daar kan uitkijken voor haar. Alle informatie kan je rechtstreeks doorgeven aan onderstaande mensen.\n\nZe startte de trekking \u2018Langtang Tracking\u2019 op 31 mei te Syabrubesi. Deze duurt 6 dagen en normaalgezien zou ze terug zijn in Belgi\u00eb vrijdag 8 juni. Buitenlandse Zaken volgt de zoektocht op vanuit de ambassade van New Delhi in India, en het ereconsulaat in Nepal. Ervaring of contacten in de regio? Informatie bijft welkom.\n\nNeem contact op met:\n\nJonas Bossuyt:\n\nmail : jonas_bossuyt@hotmail.com (maandag op het vliegtuig richting Nepal).\n\nFlorence Warlop\n\nmail : florence_warlop@hotmail.com\n\nAlvast bedankt.\n\nDebbie Maveau : MISSING in NEPAL!\n\nShe started on the 31 of may the Langtang tracking at Syabrubesi for 6 days but she didn\u2019t return yet. If you can help finding her. Please contact family and friends.\n\nSeen her?\n\nmail : jonas_bossuyt@hotmail.com\n\n( in Nepal now)\n\nmail : florence_warlop@hotmail.com\n\n( in Belgium)\n\nEven the slightest information helps!\n\n50.850980 3.353722"}
-{"text": "Here\u2019s something we\u2019ve not seen in a long while: five sunspots on the Sun at once. Is the Sun finally waking up from its unusually long and deep solar minimum slumber? While activity on the Sun usually ebbs and flows on a fairly predictable 11-year cycle, this current cycle has been anything but conventional. In 2009, there were 260 days (71% of the time) that the Sun was \u2018spotless,\u2019 but now in 2010 so far, the Sun has had spots been spotless for only 35 days. With the last solar maximum occurring in 2001, maybe the Sun is just now ramping up to the next maximum, which is set for 2013. Recent solar flares on August 1 and 7, and now these sunspots may be signaling that the Sun is \u201cthrowing off the covers\u201d and starting to wake up.\n\n\n\nThis marvelous image from the Solar Dynamics Observatory shows that at about 8:55 UTC on August 1, a measurable solar flare triggered an event known as a coronal mass ejection (CME). This is where the \u201catmosphere\u201d of the Sun sends out a burst of energized plasma. In this case, nearly the entire Earth-facing side of the Sun was involved.\n\nThe High Energy Astrophysics Picture of the week Page used that great \u201ccovers\u201d analogy:\n\nThe Sun, after a long sleep, is finally waking up. And like any irascible sleeper vigorously throwing off the covers. In this case the covers are composed of high-energy electrons and protons being shot out into space at a tremendous rate. The image above, obtained by the Solar Dynamics Observatory on August 1, shows almost the entire earth-facing side of the sun erupting at once. In this extreme ultraviolet image you can see evidence of extremely ultraviolent activity: a C3-class solar flare (white area on upper left), a solar tsunami (upper right), multiple filaments of magnetism lifting off the stellar surface, large-scale shaking of the solar corona, and a coronal mass ejection. The coronal mass ejection, or CME, showered the earth with charged particles, producing spectacular aurora (northern lights) as far south as Iowa and Telemark, Norway.\n\nAnd another CME on August 7 has not yet triggered a major geomagnetic storm, but high latitude sky watchers should take a look tonight, just in case.\n\nSources: High Energy Astrophysics Picture of the Week, SolarCycle24.com, SpaceWeather.com"}
-{"text": "Donald Trump hasn\u2019t changed much since taking office, but the structure surrounding the president has evolved more than once. The latest iteration of conditions in the White House appears designed to allow Trump to feel less constrained than he\u2019s been.\n\nThe New Yorker\u2019s Susan Glasser recently published a report on the Republican\u2019s habit of getting in his own way.\n\nThis is likely to happen even more in the coming months, because of another one of the key events of the past year: Trump\u2019s firing of his top officials, including Tillerson, the White House chief of staff John Kelly, and the national-security adviser H. R. McMaster, and replacing them with hard-liners more willing to accept Trump\u2019s positions. All those moves, as the foreign-policy analyst Thomas Wright put it to me, are \u201cpart of a deliberate strategy to maximize his freedom to operate.\u201d And that was before the news of Mattis\u2019s departure hit.\n\nAround the same time, the New York Times reported that the president \u201cappears determined to assemble a new team of advisers who will not tell him what he cannot do.\u201d It came on the heels of a report from Politico that said acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, having seen John Kelly fail to instill a sense of discipline in the president, \u201cintends to give Trump more leeway to act as he chooses.\u201d\n\nA Washington Post report added, \u201cFor President Trump, the era of containment is over.\u201d\n\nAnd what, pray tell, does this unrestrained presidency look like? For one thing, Donald Trump flip-flopped his way into a government shutdown with no plan to get out of it, no strategy on how to manage it, and no ability to strike a deal to resolve it.\n\nFor another, no one seems to know for sure exactly what Trump\u2019s immigration plan is. He apparently wants a wall, but he has no idea how to get one; he quietly abandoned his original construction plan; his own team doesn\u2019t really expect it to be built; and even his allies aren\u2019t sure whether it\u2019s a \u201cmetaphor\u201d or not.\n\nMeanwhile, the administration\u2019s policy in Syria has descended into total incoherence, with Trump making poorly thought out pronouncements that contradict each other, while White House National Security Adviser John Bolton contradicts both his boss and himself.\n\nThe common thread tying together practically all of Trump\u2019s troubles is rampant incompetence. The president may finally have the \u201cfreedom to operate\u201d he\u2019s craved, but the result is a governing dynamic in which the amateur president appears to have no idea what he\u2019s doing."}
-{"text": "I robot, la tecnica, l\u2019altro \u2013 un estratto da \u201cGuida ai super robot\u201d di Jacopo Nacci di Vanni Santoni pubblicato marted\u00ec, 6 dicembre 2016 \u00b7 2 Commenti\n\n\n\nEsce in questi giorni per Odoya il saggio di Jacopo Nacci Guida ai super robot \u2013 l\u2019animazione robotica giapponese dal 1972 al 1980. Si tratta di un libro importante, che analizza con lo spessore necessario \u2013 e tenendosi distante da nostalgismi o, peggio, ironie \u2013 il filone pi\u00f9 importante di quella che \u00e8 forse la principale \u2018\u2018cultura condivisa\u2019\u2019 di due generazioni di italiani (e solo di italiani, poich\u00e9 l\u2019importazione in massa, ben prima che manga e anime venissero di moda, dei cartoni animati giapponesi, \u00e8 un fenomeno esclusivo del nostro paese, legato al proliferare delle TV private). Pubblichiamo quindi, per gentile concessione dell\u2019editore un estratto dai paragrafi La tecnica e il sogno, Dominio della tecnica e La dimensione storico-politica dell\u2019anime super-robotico, dedicati principalmente al capostipite Mazinga Z. (V.S.)\n\n* * *\n\nMazinger Z di Go Nagai esce in versione manga il 2 ottobre 1972, e il primo episodio della versione anime, prodotta dalla Toei Animation, sar\u00e0 trasmesso il 3 dicembre 1972. L\u2019opera di Go Nagai introduce una nuova consapevolezza dell\u2019era della tecnica, una razionalizzazione, una riduzione del gigante di ferro a macchina scientifica, inerte e controllabile, progettata e costruita dalla scienza dell\u2019essere umano: tutto ci\u00f2 \u00e8 intuibile immediatamente dal tenore della storia, dalle soluzioni narrative e da una serie di accorgimenti estetici, primo fra tutti l\u2019assenza delle pupille nel robot, una caratteristica non cos\u00ec diffusa precedentemente e che da questo momento si imporr\u00e0 come standard, e che rappresenta l\u2019espulsione dell\u2019ultimo tratto magico dal topos del \u201cgigante di metallo\u201d.\n\nIl super robot, dunque, nasce ponendo al centro la questione della tecnica. Tuttavia, proprio mentre si svolge questa operazione, che potrebbe essere letta come il frutto di una inedita volont\u00e0 di realismo e l\u2019indizio di una maggiore dimestichezza con le questioni tecnologiche, assistiamo al sorgere di caratteri irrazionalisti nuovi, diversi dalle ingenuit\u00e0 delle opere precedenti, pi\u00f9 sottili e pi\u00f9 subdoli: con il Mazinger Z di Nagai, il robot assume tratti estetici demoniaci, come se la sua riduzione a macchina e il controllo potenzialmente totale che su di essa pu\u00f2 essere esercitato non facessero che nascondere ancora di pi\u00f9 una sua natura minacciosa. Insomma, mentre si riconduce il robot al suo statuto di oggetto inanimato, emerge un\u2019angoscia nuova, ed emerge proprio da questa riduzione del robot a oggetto: \u00e8 sufficiente guardare la sequenza in cui il Mazinger sale dalla piscina, quando ancora l\u2019Hover Pilder non si \u00e8 agganciato, per rendersi conto che, fondando il super robot classico, Nagai scopre qualcosa di perturbante.\n\nForse dobbiamo prendere seriamente in considerazione la possibilit\u00e0 che con Mazinger Z Nagai faccia qualcosa di pi\u00f9 dell\u2019introdurre qualche peculiarit\u00e0 che far\u00e0 canone, e che sia questo qualcosa di pi\u00f9 a dare vita al genere dei super robot: \u00e8 qualcosa che vive nelle tavole secche e furiose del suo manga, nei cieli lisergici e nelle inquadrature dell\u2019anime, nelle forme minacciose del suo robot e nella mostruosit\u00e0 dei suoi nemici, nelle continue allusioni sessuali, nella violenza che innerva ogni sua visione, nella suggestione terrificante del metallo e della tecnica. \u00c8 qui che Go Nagai fa sorgere qualcosa di potente, di primordiale, quasi terrorizzante, che si sintonizza immediatamente con l\u2019inconscio e l\u2019immaginario di chi assiste alle sue apocalissi.\n\nSe dunque il super robot nasce ponendo la questione della tecnica, \u00e8 in questo modo che la pone. Perch\u00e9 la questione della tecnica non \u00e8 una questione meramente tecnologica, l\u2019anime super-robotico non ci dir\u00e0 come funziona realmente un robot gigante: ci parler\u00e0 del nostro rapporto con la tecnica in generale, della nostra tendenza a controllare e manipolare le cose, di come la tecnica possa trasformare noi stessi in cose, perch\u00e9 ne abbiamo troppa fame o perch\u00e9 capitiamo nelle mani di chi ne ha troppa fame, di come i soggetti possano tragicamente diventare oggetti. Per farlo spalancher\u00e0 un varco su un mondo popolato da un passato che torna per fare di noi cose morte, automi, mezzi: perch\u00e9 il nostro stesso passato, ci\u00f2 che siamo stati, a volte dispone di noi come fossimo oggetti; perch\u00e9 la parte di noi che vorremo lasciarci indietro non vuole morire, vuole uccidere noi, la nostra evoluzione, inchiodarci per sempre a lei. E l\u2019unico modo di difendersi dal passato mortifero che abita l\u2019abisso al di l\u00e0 del varco sar\u00e0 affidarsi a un guardiano figlio della tecnica, un mediatore di mondi, e quindi una creatura divina.\n\n\u00c8 per questo che, proprio mentre nasce mettendo in scena apertamente la tecnologia, l\u2019anime di super robot gi\u00e0 si distingue per qualit\u00e0 mitologiche: racconta per simboli, astrazioni, visioni, richiede allo spettatore una sospensione del pragmatismo e dell\u2019incredulit\u00e0, non tanto per il tipo di tecnologia escogitata, quanto per il modo in cui l\u2019esistenza di questa creatura tecnologica si dispiega nel mondo in cui la sua storia \u00e8 ambientata.\n\nCon Mazinger Z diventa fondamentale il tema della tecnica, o, potremmo dire, del dominio della tecnica, inteso sia come padronanza della tecnica, sia \u2013 al contrario \u2013 come dominio sull\u2019umano da parte della tecnica o dominio esercitato mediante la tecnica. Dato che la tecnologia \u00e8 il simbolo principale della tecnica, Mazinger Z introduce l\u2019ambiente pi\u00f9 consono al tema: la base, vero e proprio castello dello scienziato, e spesso degli eroi. Protetta all\u2019occorrenza da una barriera di energia, la base ospita in modo permanente il robot e i suoi moduli, e diviene da questo momento l\u2019ambiente centrale dell\u2019anime super-robotico: \u00e8 l\u2019alcova del gigante di metallo ed \u00e8 l\u2019unico spazio in cui la tecnica sembra realizzarsi senza presentare un aspetto negativo; non a caso, \u00e8 anche l\u2019unico spazio dove il super robot \u00e8 inattivo.\n\nPer il super robot, infatti, le cose non sono cos\u00ec limpide.\n\nPrima di morire, Ju\u0304zo\u0304 Kabuto dice al nipote che, con Mazinger Z, Ko\u0304ji potr\u00e0 trasformarsi in un dio o in un demone. Subito dopo, un avventato Ko\u0304ji sale sul robot e, non riuscendo a controllarlo, rischia di uccidere il fratellino Shiro\u0304: all\u2019eroe si chiede attenzione e disciplina, perch\u00e9 ha il gravoso compito di divenire l\u2019umanit\u00e0, la testa, la ghiandola pineale del robot, imparando a dirigerne la potenza. Questa funzione cerebrale dell\u2019eroe si riflette in un suo rapporto con il super robot che \u00e8 molto pi\u00f9 immediato di quanto si potrebbe pensare: non solo, come \u00e8 noto, il pilota subisce in prima persona gli attacchi che colpiscono il robot (il che \u00e8 anche spiegabile in termini fisici: i colpi ricevuti sbalzano, e i raggi si propagano), ma al pilota si richiede esplicitamente forza fisica e mentale.\n\nSe dunque l\u2019eroe disciplina se stesso per dominare la tecnica, dal canto suo il nemico non solo \u00e8 animato dalla fame di potere \u2013 e la tecnica \u00e8 la suprema forma di potere \u2013 ma appare invaso dalla tecnica, anche visivamente: l\u2019ermafrodita Ashura, il decapitato Blocken, il raddoppiato Pigman sono umanoidi generati dalla manipolazione dei cadaveri, e i micenei sopravvissuti nel sotto- suolo si sono irrimediabilmente trasformati in una gerarchia oscura di mostri semi-antropomorfi con parti meccaniche e organi duplicati e spostati. Per non parlare delle bestie meccaniche: giganteschi schiavi fatti di metallo e istinti primordiali.\n\nLa tecnica \u00e8 dunque presente su entrambi i fronti della guerra, auspicabilmente dominata o tragicamente dominante, in una contrapposizione che in Mazinger Z appare schiettamente nippocentrica: da una parte il japanium estratto dal Fuji e l\u2019energia fotonica, l\u2019energia pulita che promette un superamento dell\u2019energia atomica; dall\u2019altra un Occidente la cui storia \u2013 dalla civilt\u00e0 micenea al Terzo Reich \u2013 \u00e8 ricompresa sotto il segno della sfrenata volont\u00e0 di potenza europea che si traduce nell\u2019abuso della tecnica. E qui \u00e8 subito necessaria una digressione.\n\nSe infatti in Mazinger Z l\u2019aspetto demoniaco della tecnica sul versante dei buoni si riduce al volto minaccioso del robot, altrove il rapporto tra la tecnica e l\u2019eroe \u00e8 molto meno pacifico, e talvolta la padronanza dei mezzi si rovescia in un dominio da parte dei mezzi: in Kyashan (1973), Tetsuya Azuma rinuncia alla sua umanit\u00e0, e plausibilmente ad avere rapporti sessuali con Luna, per combattere gli androidi; in Great Mazinger (1974) Tetsuya Tsurugi viene condotto alla cabina di pilotaggio viaggiando dentro un sarcofago trasparente che definire claustrofobico sarebbe eufemismo; in Raideen (1975), Akira dirige i movimenti del robot anche mediante delle protesi meccaniche che gli serrano le braccia e contemporaneamente lo costringono al suo posto (ed \u00e8 significativo, in quest\u2019ottica di passivit\u00e0, che almeno nella prima parte della serie Akira entri di schiena nel corpo del gigante); per incorporarsi in Tekkaman (1975), Jo\u0304ji Minami affronta ogni volta una devastante passione cristologica lasciandosi torturare dal filo spinato; in Diapolon (1976), Takeshi deve ogni volta gonfiarsi, ingigantire dolorosamente il suo corpo biologico di decine di metri per aderire al robot come se questo fosse un\u2019armatura, cio\u00e8 per rendersi adeguato alla tecnica, rappresentata dal robot. Un robot che ha la forma di un giocatore di football americano. Perch\u00e9 questa strana forma?\n\nNel filone dell\u2019animazione robotica degli anni Settanta sono costantemente in azione due distinte dimensioni simboliche: c\u2019\u00e8 una dimensione simbolica collettiva, sociale, storica e politica legata all\u2019immaginario e al significato della Seconda guerra mondiale; e c\u2019\u00e8 una dimensione simbolica che riguarda la vita mentale, affettiva, personale dell\u2019eroe, il suo conflitto interiore, una dimensione psicologica, insomma, che \u00e8 pi\u00f9 strettamente connessa all\u2019aspetto mitologico del super robot. A volte una delle due dimensioni prevale, ma sono sempre en- trambe presenti, e si riverberano l\u2019una sull\u2019altra, arricchendosi di senso reciprocamente; e in corrispondenza di questa duplicit\u00e0 dimensionale, ci sono anche due questioni della tecnica, una pi\u00f9 legata ai fatti storici e una pi\u00f9 strettamente filosofica.\n\nPer la cultura giapponese del Novecento, la questione tecnologica non \u00e8 politicamente neutra: storicamente la tecnologia era legata all\u2019immagine dell\u2019Occidente, ed \u00e8 il campo sul quale le bombe di Hiroshima e Nagasaki hanno decretato nel modo pi\u00f9 terrificante la vittoria dell\u2019Occidente, ma proprio per questo \u00e8 anche un campo sul quale si vorrebbe dimostrare una raggiunta parit\u00e0, se non una vera e propria superiorit\u00e0. Insomma la tecnologia \u00e8, nell\u2019immaginario giapponese, un territorio \u2013 se non il territorio \u2013 di relazione, contaminazione e competizione tra il Giappone e l\u2019Occidente.\n\nAbbiamo visto come in Mazinger Z sia all\u2019opera una certa retorica nippocentrica: da una parte la rivalsa tecnologica, la fiducia nei giovani e un cauto ottimismo rispetto alla possibilit\u00e0 di servirsi della tecnica con il giusto spirito; dall\u2019altra un nemico che mette insieme alcuni tratti tipicamente occidentali. Questi riferimenti nazionali e continentali cos\u00ec evidenti si attenueranno negli anime successivi; ci\u00f2 che invece ritroveremo spesso sar\u00e0 la connotazione nazista dell\u2019avversario: di Hell, nel manga di Mazinger Z, viene detto che ha prestato servizio sotto i nazisti, nell\u2019anime si dice solo che \u00e8 tedesco, ma nazista \u00e8 il conte Blocken, e il nome delle sue Croci di ferro certamente rimanda a un preciso immaginario. Hell, tra l\u2019altro, traffica con i cadaveri, \u00e8 cos\u00ec che crea i suoi generali, e anche questo \u00e8 un tratto nazistoide: nell\u2019immaginario collettivo, i nazisti sono le figure pi\u00f9 proverbiali e tragiche del dominio della tecnica come controllo, disposizione e annichilimento degli esseri umani, della riduzione dei soggetti a oggetti, dunque.\n\nCome si \u00e8 detto, non \u00e8 un caso raro: negli anime di combattimento tecnologico di questo periodo il nemico \u00e8 quasi sempre rappresentato sulla scala estetica e talvolta ideologica dei fascismi europei; lo era gi\u00e0 in Kyashan, dove i riferimenti politici e simbolici erano netti e il terrificante Bryking aveva il volto pi\u00f9 mussoliniano mai apparso in un anime, e sar\u00e0 cos\u00ec anche per quanto riguarda l\u2019anime super robotico, nei nomi dei gerarchi avversari \u2013 dopo Blocken incontreremo Hidler, Doppler, Kloppen e Gattler \u2013, nei tripudi di saluti assurdi e braccia tese, in ogni genocidio tecnicamente pianificato cui gli invasori vorranno sottoporre il popolo della Terra.\n\nTuttavia, negli anime super-robotici successivi a Mazinger Z, il nemico sembra assemblare in diverse combinazioni sia tratti nazifascisti, sia tratti militaristi in riferimento a una civilt\u00e0 del passato, che dunque plausibilmente rimandano alla vecchia generazione giapponese, e in certi casi, bench\u00e9 pi\u00f9 impliciti, tratti statunitensi; pi\u00f9 impliciti perch\u00e9, sebbene non sembri lecito ricondurre l\u2019esasperato militarismo del tipico avversario super-robotico agli americani dell\u2019immaginario condiviso, la loro presenza emana dallo stesso riferimento storico alla guerra, dalle situazioni di occupazione aliena (gli USA occuparono il Giappone dopo la guerra), dalle infinite repliche delle esplosioni a fungo cui gli stessi eroi riducono i loro nemici, una scena che genera nello spettatore l\u2019impressione di un tragico miscuglio di vendetta, transfert, liberazione e autopunizione.\n\nI tre diversi tratti del nemico si amalgamano nelle figure della spietatezza, dell\u2019implacabilit\u00e0: in Zambot 3, le bombe umane saranno la furiosa sintesi di Yoshiyuki Tomino fra metodi nazisti, fantasma della bomba, e una perversione grottesca dell\u2019etica del kamikaze, rivisitata non come scelta ma come maledizione e punizione sadica.\n\nSi noti che, in tutti e tre i casi, l\u2019avversario ha un rapporto psicologicamente ambivalente con l\u2019eroe: i nazifascisti sono il male, ma sono stati gli alleati durante la Seconda guerra mondiale; gli Stati Uniti hanno sganciato la bomba ma sono i nuovi alleati, i protettori di un Giappone che ha rinunciato al militarismo; la vecchia generazione giapponese ha creduto in ci\u00f2 che era sbagliato, ma \u00e8 la generazione dei genitori e dei nonni, e qui c\u2019\u00e8 un non sempre chiarissimo misto di condanna e revanscismo da parte dell\u2019anime super-robotico: si scorge a volte un tentativo di separare la tradizione nazionale dall\u2019ultranazionalismo, o anche la volont\u00e0 di non lasciar ridurre l\u2019etica samurai alla sua umiliante declinazione fascistoide. L\u2019eroe \u00e8 dunque sempre in qualche modo coinvolto personalmente nell\u2019universo dell\u2019avversario.\n\nMa il riferimento alla Seconda guerra mondiale, sul versante degli eroi, si incardina anche nella figura dell\u2019orfano. \u00c8 vero che l\u2019orfano nell\u2019animazione giapponese \u00e8 dappertutto, non solo negli anime di super robot; ed \u00e8 vero che le ragioni della sua presenza sono pi\u00f9 d\u2019una e diverse, vanno da una situazione sociale di assenza dei padri determinata dalla rinascita economica del dopoguerra all\u2019adozione, da parte degli autori di anime, di soggetti tratti dal romanzo europeo per l\u2019infanzia, nel quale gli orfani abbondano. Ciononostante un conto \u00e8 un orfano sulle Alpi, e un altro conto \u00e8 un orfano tra le macerie di citt\u00e0 distrutte da invasori: le bande di orfani autorganizzati di Godam, e quella dello stesso protagonista di Daltanious, che si muove in un ambiente di rovine urbane e torrette di controllo degli invasori, non possono non far pensare ai postumi della guerra, e nel caso di Daltanious anche all\u2019occupazione statunitense.\n\nIn conclusione non deve sfuggire che l\u2019animazione super-robotica degli anni Settanta \u00e8 un prodotto del Novecento e del metallo pesante delle ideologie; risente del fallimento bellico e umano del militarismo giapponese, della disillusione che ne segu\u00ec, del trauma della bomba atomica, della miseria e della disperazione della guerra, del desiderio di rivalsa tecnologica. Non va dunque sottovalutata la portata dell\u2019elaborazione collettiva di cui gli anime si sono fatti carico in quegli anni: chi li indaga a fondo e trascorre il suo tempo fra esplosioni a fungo, alieni fascisti, controllo dei corpi e delle menti, orfani, macerie, fame e radiazioni, non pu\u00f2 non sentirsi sommerso e impregnato da una tristezza infinita e definitiva.\n\nOra forse abbiamo aggiunto un po\u2019 di spessore alla costrizione della tecnica che traspare nelle sequenze di Raideen e di Tekkaman, e persino al bizzarro aspetto americanoide del Diapolon, a cui Takeshi deve dolorosamente adeguarsi: \u00e8 per questo che, se si liquidano certe soluzioni narrative come ingenuit\u00e0 o insensatezze o manifestazioni di un presunto masochismo \u2013 quando basta pulire lo sguardo da pregiudizi sminuenti per rendersi conto che gli autori stanno gridando qualcosa \u2013 ci si impedisce di ammirarle nella loro straordinariet\u00e0, nel loro misto di genuinit\u00e0, dolore, urgenza storica e psicologica.\n\nSalva"}
-{"text": "Un auto se estrell\u00f3 esta ma\u00f1ana contra un bar ubicado en una esquina de Palermo. En el coche viajaba una pareja, que no sufri\u00f3 heridas y que, tras el impacto, dej\u00f3 una frase que asombr\u00f3 a los dos empleados que se encontraban en el local. \"Venimos a tomar un caf\u00e9\", dijeros antes de irse caminando y dejar el veh\u00edculo abandonado en el lugar.\n\n\n\nEl episodio se produjo alrededor de las 6.40 en la esquina de Scalabrini Ortiz y Paraguay. El coche, un Peugeot 206, destroz\u00f3 las puertas de vidrio y se meti\u00f3 de lleno dentro del bar, que en ese momento se preparaba para abrir sus puertas.\n\n\n\nEn el interior hab\u00eda dos empleados -uno de ellos acomodando las mesas del sal\u00f3n- que se salv\u00f3 por poco de recibir el impacto del auto. \"Estaba en la parte de atr\u00e1s y escuch\u00e9 una explosi\u00f3n. Cuando sal\u00ed vi un auto incrustado y pens\u00e9 en mi compa\u00f1ero que estuvo en el sal\u00f3n 30 segundos antes, pero por suerte no le pas\u00f3 nada\" dijo uno de ellos en declaraciones al canal de cable C5N.\n\n\n\nDA\u00d1OS. El coche destruy\u00f3 el frente vidriado del bar. (Gustavo Ortiz)\n\nEl empleado cont\u00f3 que del lado del conductor descendi\u00f3 una mujer y del lado del acompa\u00f1ante, un hombre de entre 20 y 30 a\u00f1os. \"Venimos a desayunar\", les dijo -seg\u00fan testigos con algunas copas de m\u00e1s- a los empleados que miraban con ojos de asombro lo sucedido. \"Se fueron caminando como si no hubiera pasado nada, no estaban heridos\", relataron.\n\n\n\nEl negocio cuenta con c\u00e1maras de monitoreo, lo que podr\u00eda ayudar a determinar qu\u00e9 sucedi\u00f3 antes de que el coche termine dentro del negocio. El veh\u00edculo, ante la ausencia de sus conductores, fue retirado por una gr\u00faa con importantes da\u00f1os en su parte frontal y la llanta delantera derecha totalmente destrozada.\n\n\n\n(Con informaci\u00f3n de la agencia T\u00e9lam)\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "On that aspect, Sullivan was fairly direct. \u201cSoliciting investigations into a domestic political opponent \u2014 I don\u2019t think that would be in accord with our values,\u201d he said.\n\nBut at certain points, Sullivan also said that his understanding of a July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukraine\u2019s president, in which Trump repeatedly asked Ukraine to investigate Biden, was that it was part of broader U.S. concerns about ending corruption in Ukraine.\n\nThe president has \u201cdenied that there was any quid pro quo,\u201d Sullivan noted.\n\nThroughout his testimony, Sullivan frequently reverted to what Menendez criticized as a \u201csee no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil\u201d approach, basically stating that he was unaware of much of what was happening involving Ukraine policy.\n\nThe diplomat acknowledged that he was the one who informed Foreign Service veteran Marie Yovanovitch that she was being pulled out early from her post as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. But he said that despite trying to find out why, he was never given any reason other than Trump had lost confidence in her.\n\nYovanovitch was the victim of a drumbeat of allegations led by allies of Trump, according to documents turned over to Congress by the State Department inspector general. Sullivan said he was aware of the smear campaign and believed that Rudy Giuliani, Trump\u2019s personal lawyer, was involved.\n\nHe also said he was looped in when the State Department was given a packet of material that appeared to be aimed at denigrating Yovanovitch. \u201cIt didn\u2019t provide to me a basis for taking action against our ambassador,\u201d said Sullivan of the packet, which Giuliani is suspected of helping put together.\n\nSullivan said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had tried to find out exactly why Trump was unhappy with Yovanovitch, but that after several months, the reason \u2014 which Sullivan said he was never told \u2014 became irrelevant because it was clear the president wanted her out.\n\nSullivan said he thought Yovanovitch was an excellent diplomat. She testified before House impeachment investigators earlier this month, sharing that he\u2019d told her she\u2019d \u201cdone nothing wrong,\u201d but was being pulled out early anyway, just weeks after being asked to extend her stay.\n\nSullivan said he was not aware of all of the machinations involving Ukraine policy, but made clear that he did know Giuliani was playing an outside role in shaping it. He stressed that his focus, though, was largely limited to Giuliani\u2019s attacks on Yovanovitch.\n\nDemocratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut pressed Sullivan as to why \u2014 based on their own testimonies to House investigators \u2014 U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland had gone beyond pushing Ukraine to end its internal corruption and asking for probe that would have damaged Biden and his son, Hunter.\n\nSullivan essentially pleaded ignorance of these other activities, and admitted he did not press for more information. Murphy said his lack of curiosity was \u201cconcerning.\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s no evidence that the Bidens have done anything illegal, but Idaho Sen. James Risch, the Republican chairman of the committee, tried to throw Sullivan a lifeline. He said that if a U.S. president\u2019s domestic political rival was involved in corruption in a foreign country, that could be an unusual case that might require a rethink of what the president could demand of that country.\n\nSullivan is a relatively well-regarded figure on Capitol Hill, and his nomination to serve as the U.S. envoy in Moscow is expected to make it through the Senate. One of the people who introduced him on Wednesday was Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, a member of the committee."}
-{"text": "The Syria story just keeps getting weirder and weirder. So who knew that back in May, 2013 Carla Del Ponte, a member of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria, stated that she believed the rebels had been engaged in chemical weapons attacks. Specifically, she told Swiss-Italian television:\n\nI have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated\u2026This was used on the part of the opposition, the rebels, not by the government authorities.\n\nInteresting indeed. So earlier this year there emerged evidence that the rebels used chemicals weapons, but for some reason I don\u2019t recall President Obama yelling about red lines and cruise missile strikes back then. Do you? No, of course not, because it doesn\u2019t fit into the U.S. agenda, which is regime change in Syria.\n\nSo let\u2019s look at this from all angles. First, let\u2019s assume the rebels did use chemical weapons earlier this year. If that is that case, and then Assad used them months later, we have absolutely no reason to become involved as both sides are guilty. We should do nothing, at least nothing militarily.\n\nSecond, lets assume the rebels did not use chemical weapons earlier this year. Why would Assad use them knowing the U.S. would then get involved (which is clearly our desire), particularly since he is not in a desperate situation at the moment by any means. It makes no sense. If we take a step back and examine this logically, the most logical conclusion is that someone who wanted the U.S. to get involved used the weapons. That could be a lot of different parties, least likely of which is Assad.\n\nFinally, why would we believe the current claims any more than the prior claims, especially since there appears to be no evidence that Assad was behind the latest attacks? The truth is we really can\u2019t know what happened, which is precisely why we should stay out.\n\nFrom the UK Telegraph (May, 2013):\n\nI have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated,\u201d\n\nA United Nations inquiry into human rights abuses in Syria has found evidence that rebel forces may have used chemical weapons, its lead investigator has revealed.\n\nCarla Del Ponte, a member of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria, said that testimony gathered from casualties and medical staff indicated that the nerve agent sarin was used by rebel fighters. \u201cOur investigators have been in neighbouring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals and, according to their report of last week which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated,\u201d Ms Del Ponte said in an interview broadcast on Swiss-Italian television on Sunday. \u201cThis was used on the part of the opposition, the rebels, not by the government authorities,\u201d she added. Ms Del Ponte said the inquiry has yet to see any direct evidence suggesting that government forces have used chemical weapons, but said further investigation was required before this possibility could be ruled out. The UN commission, which is investigating human rights abuses in Syria since the start of the civil war, later released a statement distancing itself from the allegations. It said that investigators had \u201cnot reached conclusive findings as to the use of chemical weapons in Syria by any parties to the conflict\u201d. The White House said it was \u201chighly skeptical\u201d of suggestions that Syrian rebels used chemical weapons. \u201cWe find it highly likely that chemical weapons, if they were in fact used in Syria \u2013 and there is certainly evidence that they were \u2013 that the Assad regime was responsible,\u201d spokesman Jay Carney said. The Syrian civil war, which began with anti-government protests in March 2011, has now claimed an estimated 70,000 lives and forced 1.2 million Syrian refugees to flee. Full article here. In Liberty,\n\nMike Follow me on Twitter!\n\n\n\nDonate bitcoins: Like this post?Donate bitcoins: 3J7D9dqSMo9HnxVeyHou7HJQGihamjYQMN\n\nFollow me on Twitter."}
-{"text": "M\u00f6jligheten till ansvarsutkr\u00e4vande \u00e4r grundl\u00e4ggande i varje representativ demokrati. F\u00f6r att medborgarna ska kunna fullg\u00f6ra sin plikt, och i praktiken utkr\u00e4va ansvar, m\u00e5ste en rad faktorer f\u00f6religga. Dels m\u00e5ste det vara tydligt vem ansvar ska utkr\u00e4vas av, dels m\u00e5ste medborgarna vara inf\u00f6rst\u00e5dda med vilka \u00f6verv\u00e4ganden som ligger bakom de fattade besluten.\n\nN\u00e4r statsminister Stefan L\u00f6fven (S) framtr\u00e4dde i en f\u00f6rinspelad intervju i Aktuellt p\u00e5 onsdagskv\u00e4llen var det framf\u00f6r allt svaret p\u00e5 fr\u00e5gan om vem som b\u00e4r ansvaret f\u00f6r den svenska coronastrategin som stack ut. P\u00e5 den direkta fr\u00e5gan om vem som styr Sverige i den r\u00e5dande krisen, regeringen eller Folkh\u00e4lsomyndigheten, svarade statsministern utan att darra p\u00e5 manschetten att \u201dregeringen styr alltid landet\u201d. Gott s\u00e5.\n\nF\u00f6ljdfr\u00e5gan, om det \u00e4r regeringen eller myndigheten som b\u00e4r ansvaret f\u00f6r den omstridda v\u00e4g Sverige valt, avf\u00e4rdade emellertid L\u00f6fven. Fr\u00e5gan var \"v\u00e4l spekulativ\" enligt statsministern och det konkreta svaret uteblev. Men om det visar sig att fler m\u00e4nniskor d\u00f6r per capita i Sverige \u00e4n i j\u00e4mf\u00f6rbara l\u00e4nder m\u00e5ste medborgarna ha m\u00f6jlighet att utkr\u00e4va ansvar (SVT 1/4).\n\nStatsministerns svar \u00e4r ytterst anm\u00e4rkningsv\u00e4rt. Fr\u00e5gan om vem som tar ansvar f\u00f6r de rekommendationer som expertmyndigheten ger \u00e4r h\u00f6gst relevant och f\u00f6rtj\u00e4nar att seri\u00f6st besvaras i ett l\u00e4ge d\u00e4r os\u00e4kerheten kring den valda metodens, vilken den nu \u00e4r, effektivitet f\u00f6rblir stor. Svaret \u00e4r d\u00e4rut\u00f6ver en f\u00f6ruts\u00e4ttning f\u00f6r ett framtida adekvat ansvarsutkr\u00e4vande, vilket kr\u00e4ver tydlighet kring vem som b\u00e4r ansvar och hur beslut fattats.\n\nOm varken allm\u00e4nheten eller medierna har insyn i hur modellerna eller ber\u00e4kningarna ser ut, eller vilka olika scenarier man laborerar med, blir det n\u00e4stintill om\u00f6jligt att i efterhand utv\u00e4rdera de vidtagna \u00e5tg\u00e4rderna.\n\nD\u00e4rf\u00f6r vore det v\u00e4lg\u00f6rande om Folkh\u00e4lsomyndigheten, men framf\u00f6r allt regeringen som i realiteten har det yttersta ansvaret, tog ett mer proaktivt grepp och p\u00e5 ett transparent vis redogjorde f\u00f6r de avv\u00e4gningar och antaganden som gjorts, med tydliga h\u00e4nvisningar till den evidens som besluten baseras p\u00e5. I ett l\u00e4ge d\u00e4r det framst\u00e5r som om svenska myndigheter sitter inne med kunskap som andra l\u00e4nders experter saknar (hur annars tolka den s\u00e5 diametralt annorlunda v\u00e4g som Sverige valt?) \u00f6kar behovet av en rak och \u00e4rlig kommunikation.\n\n\u201dDet svenska experimentet\u201d, som den svenska smittbek\u00e4mpningsstrategin med skr\u00e4ckblandad f\u00f6rtjusning kommit att kallas p\u00e5 sina h\u00e5ll i v\u00e4rlden, baseras p\u00e5 v\u00e4djanden, inte f\u00f6rbud. Budskapet till m\u00e4nniskor har de senaste dagarna varit att man b\u00f6r \u201dfundera p\u00e5 om det \u00e4r n\u00f6dv\u00e4ndigt att \u00e5ka bort i p\u00e5sk\u201d utan att n\u00e5gon v\u00e4gledning kring hur pr\u00f6vningen av n\u00f6dv\u00e4ndigheten ska g\u00f6ras.\n\nDen offentliga strategin inneb\u00e4r s\u00e5ledes att den enskilda individen \u00e5l\u00e4ggs ett stort eget ansvar. Ocks\u00e5 utifr\u00e5n detta perspektiv hade det varit rimligt att p\u00e5 ett pedagogiskt vis redog\u00f6ra f\u00f6r det underlag p\u00e5 vilka besluten fattats.\n\nI l\u00e4nder d\u00e4r regeringscheferna tydligt deklarerat att de, i egenskap av politiskt ansvariga, fattat de l\u00e5ngtg\u00e5ende besluten \u00e4r ansvarsf\u00f6rdelningen uppenbar och medborgarna p\u00e5 det klara med var ansvarsutkr\u00e4vandet ska riktas. Ocks\u00e5 svenska medborgare f\u00f6rtj\u00e4nar att behandlas p\u00e5 detta vuxna s\u00e4tt. I grunden \u00e4r det en fr\u00e5ga om f\u00f6rtroende."}
-{"text": "In the middle of Los Angeles \u2014 a city with some of the most expensive real estate in the world \u2014 there are a half a dozen exclusive golf courses, massive expanses dedicated to the pleasure of a privileged few. How do private country clubs afford the property tax on 300 acres of prime Beverly Hills real estate? RH brings in tax assessors, economists, and philosophers to probe the question of the weird obsession among the wealthy with the game of golf."}
-{"text": "Following a week that saw the departure of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, rumors are already swirling about the next official to Trump wants out.\n\nAccording to a new report, the president has been talking to advisers about firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.\n\nThe president and the Fed chief have been at odds over increases in the interest rate, which the central bank has done four times this year, including an increase of a quarter point to 2.5 percent this week. The president has publicly criticized the rate hikes.\n\nBloomberg reports that sources familiar with the complaints say Trump has been talking privately this week about firing Powell.\n\nBoth the White House and a Fed spokeswoman declined to comment to Bloomberg, which also reports the president's ability to fire Powell, part of a board of governors for the traditionally independent central bank, is legally murky.\n\nPowell, who joined the board in 2012, became chairman in February with Trump's approval. Trump's opinion has soured, but the president has said in recent months he would not fire Powell."}
-{"text": "Stay on Top of Emerging Technology Trends Get updates impacting your industry from our GigaOm Research Community\n\nSemiconductors have transformed many modern industries (computers! LEDs!) and if startup Phononic has its way it will change heating and cooling, too. On Wednesday, Phononic announced that it\u2019s secured a series D round of $44.5 million in financing to help get more of its next-gen heating and cooling products out there in the market.\n\nThe company is using thermoelectric materials \u2014 which are semiconductors that can turn heat into electricity \u2014 to create products that can make use of wasted heat (like in a car engine or power plant flue) or use electricity to remove heat (like in a refrigerator). Phononic has been pretty solely focused on next-gen cooling products up to this point, and the team has made things like solid-state heat pumps that can be used in compressor-free refrigeration units (a super quiet, efficient fridge) and fan-free cooling products for electronics like servers and computer graphics cards (a computer that doesn\u2019t turn on a noisy fan when hot).\n\nPhononic is currently shipping products for those electronics customers, and it will also start shipping a quiet efficient refrigerator for labs, research centers and medical facilities next year. The company has also been working on residential products \u2014 a quiet home wine chiller and replacements for window-mounted air conditioners \u2014 with a partner in China and plans to introduce those residential products in early 2015.\n\nClearly North Carolina-based Phononic\u2019s thermoelectric materials have a lot of applications, but figuring out the killer products that could take off commercially will be the next step for the company. This latest round is intended for growth and scale. Here\u2019s an interview I did with Phononic CEO Anthony Atti in 2011 when they were first developing the technology behind these products.\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cZ-91xXdUg\n\nPhononic received a $3 million grant from the Department of Energy\u2019s ARPA-E program to work on the technology and later raised funding from Valley investors Venrock and Oak Investment Partners. To scale the residential-focused tech Phononic is focused on Asia, and in its Series C round brought in Beijing-based Tsing Capital.\n\nThe Series D round was led by Eastwood Capital Corp, the Wellcome Trust and a syndicate made up by WLR China Energy Infrastructure Fund, Tsing Capital, Venrock, Oak and Rex Health Ventures. Phononic has raised about $78 million to date.\n\nFirst Solar\u2019s former President-turned-investor Bruce Sohn and \u201cAnthony Fadell\u201d (I\u2019m thinking this is Nest Labs CEO and investor Tony Fadell) are listed on the latest SEC filing, indicating they could also be investors. I\u2019ll update this when I hear back from Phononic on whether or not Fadell and Sohn are investors. Nest was also backed by Venrock.\n\nOther startups are working on using thermoelectric materials to capture waste heat at oil drilling, mining and power plant sites. Alphabet Energy recently launched the world\u2019s first industrial scale thermoelectric generator, which captures waste heat from the exhaust stack of a diesel generator, and converts that heat into usable electricity. When installed in an offgrid remote location, the product can significantly reduce the amount of diesel fuel needed.\n\nWhile Alphabet Energy scales up thermoelectrics on a large scale, other startups are using thermoelectrics to go small. Stealthy Silicium Energy is looking to develop thermoelectrics for wearable computing that can increase battery life."}
-{"text": "KCK (Kurdistan Communities' Union) Executive Council Co-Presidency has released a statement about the triple bomb attacks perpetrated by ISIS against civilians in Til Temir city of Rojava yesterday, which left 25 people dead and 122 others wounded.\n\nOffering condolences to the families of victims and peoples of Rojava, KCK said the mass killing has been been perpetrated by ISIS which is supported by the Turkish state and its allies in the region.\n\n\u201cThe conscience of humanity will not be in peace unless the forces supporting ISIS and its massacres are tried. Those behind ISIS are as guilty as ISIS itself which has become the greatest crime organisation targeting humanity\u201d, KCK said.\n\n'TURKEY PROVIDED THE GREATEST SUPPORT TO ISIS'\n\nThe statement stressed that there are two alliances in the Middle East today; one being the resistance for humanity that unitsd around Rojava Revolution, and the other of the enemies of humanity that unite around ISIS.\n\n\"Rojava Revolution represents democratization for Syria and the Middle East, while ISIS and its allies represent despotism for Syria, Iraq and the Middle East. ISIS came forward in the Middle East as an actor backed by those that want to overcome the political crisis in the region by rendering themselves a main force. ISIS came out as a player of the plan by external forces, but it turned into a monster that could even target these forces themselves as the political crisis and social problems get heavier in the Middle East. ISIS is backed by many circles but Turkey has been the one to provide the greatest support. Those familiar with Turkish state's enmity towards Kurds can understand very well why Turkey supports ISIS.\"\n\nRemarking that Rojava Revolution, on the other hand, has given the greatest struggle against ISIS, KCK said; \"It is essentially the Turkish state that makes ISIS attack Rojava Revolution. It is the policies of the Turkish state that keep ISIS standing in Syria and Iraq today. The AKP government now places its hope on creating a Shiite-Sunni axis after seeing the fact that it will entirely lose in the Middle East. AKP is doing this to sustain its ruling, which is why it serves as the major leader of the policy that keeps ISIS standing.\"\n\n'AKP SEES ROJAVA AND PKK AS AN OBSTACLE'\n\nThe statements by KCK also stressed that the AKP government sees the Rojava Revolution and PKK as the greatest obstacle to its policies on the Middle East, and therefore makes ISIS attack Rojava Revolution as well as Bakur\u00ea (North) Kurdistan and democracy forces in Turkey.\n\nDescribing Ankara bombing and Til Temir massacre as a consequence of the same policy, KCK noted that ISIS mainly attacks the forces targeted by the Turkish state, and the alliance formed around Rojava Revolution. \"ISIS is engaged in no single action against the AKP government or its policies. It has already come to light whom ISIS targets and whom it doesn't.\"\n\n'TURKISH STATE TRIES TO THROTTLE THE ROJAVA REVOLUTION'\n\nKCK pointed out that the Turkish state continues its attacks and makes a huge effort to throttle the Rojava Revolution, noting that this is why ISIS has attacked Til Temir now as the revolutionaries of Rojava and Syrian forces have proved the only force capable of ending the ISIS.\n\nAccording to KCK, Turkish state conducts every kind of attacks to hinder the developments and achievements in Rojava and Syria such as the recent formation of Syrian Democratic Forces and establishment of the Democratic Syria Federation Assembly.\n\nCALL TO INTERNATIONAL POWERS\n\nKCK stated that ISIS is perpetrating massacres in Rojava and across the region with Turkish state support, and called upon all international powers, democratic powers in the region and those forming a coalition against ISIS to see the Turkish state's malignant role in the Middle East.\n\n\"These forces should see the fact that Turkish state is the main force behind the ISIS groups that have become fascist gangs whose attacks and massacres target peoples, democracy forces and all humanity. The Turkish state blackmails the whole world and bargains by making ISIS attack these communities. Turkey doesn't only support and foster ISIS, but also tries to market ISIS over the fear it spreads. The world history has never witnessed such a dirty relation and policy.\"\n\nKCK pointed out that the dirtiest and ugliest blackmail of the human history is being perpetrated by the AKP government against the entire world.\n\n\"The only way to hinder massacres by ISIS is to adopt a stance against the Turkish state. International forces shall either surrender to the Turkish state's blackmail, or adopt a counter stance and support Syrian Democratic Forces to defeat ISIS and its supporters. These attacks are actually perpetrated by ISIS and Turkey to overcome their present weak position. Should a committed fight be given against ISIS and a stance be adopted against AKP's policies, both ISIS and AKP policies will be collapsed.\"\n\n'ISIS AND AKP WILL BE DEFEATED'\n\nKCK emphasised that Turkish state's backing of ISIS while it is on the other hand engaged in policies to sell it out, manifests that both the Turkish state and ISIS are living their weakest time.\n\n\"The Turkish state and ISIS are trying to save themselves by conducting these attacks. Yet, both will be defeated thanks to the struggle of democracy forces, and both will be brought to account for the massacres they perpetrated."}
-{"text": "The Toronto Maple Leafs announced today that the hockey club has acquired goaltender Frederik Andersen from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for the 30th overall selection from the 2016 NHL Entry Draft (originally acquired by Toronto from Pittsburgh) and a second round selection from the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.\n\nAndersen posted a 22-9-7 record with a 2.30 goals-against-average (GAA) and .919 save-percentage (SV%) in 43 games (37 starts) last season with the Ducks. The 26-year-old also went 3-2 with a 1.41 GAA and .947 SV% in five playoff starts in the 2016 post-season.\n\nIn 125 career regular season games with Anaheim, Andersen has posted a 77-26-12 record with a 2.33 GAA and .918 SV%. He also holds a 17-9-2 career post-season record with a 2.34 GAA and .916 SV%. In 2014-15 season, Andersen became the fastest goaltender to reach the 26-win mark (26-5-0) in NHL history and tied the league record for the fastest to 50 career wins (50-13-5), originally set by Montreal\u2019s Bill Durnan (50-9-9) in 1944. During the 2013-14 season, Andersen was named to the NHL All-Rookie Team after posting a 20-5-0 record with a 2.29 GAA and .923 SV% in 28 appearances. That season he led all rookie goaltenders in wins, goals-against average and save percentage -- the best numbers in those categories by any rookie netminder since 2010-11.\n\nThe Herning, Denmark native was selected by Anaheim in the third round (87th overall) of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft."}
-{"text": "Jokowi juga dituding menggunakan pulpen khusus yang dicurigai sebagai alat bantu komunikasi.\n\n\"Capres 01 dan 02 tidak ada yang menggunakan alat bantu, jadi clear seperti itu,\" kata Wahyu saat dihubungi, Senin (18/2/2019).\n\nDikonfirmasi secara terpisah seperti dikutip Serambinews.com dari Kompas.com, komisioner KPU, Viryan Azis, mengatakan bahwa peserta debat diperbolehkan membawa alat tulis selama debat berlangsung.\n\nBaik Jokowi maupun Prabowo sama-sama membawa alat tulis yang diletakkan di meja mereka masing-masing di atas panggung debat.\n\n\"Kan enggak apa-apa bawa kertas, catatan, dan di meja kecil itu masing-masing ada. Dan itu sudah dikomunikasikan, enggak ada masalah,\" ujar Viryan di KPU, Menteng, Jakarta Pusat.\n\nIsu penggunaan alat komunikasi oleh Jokowi ramai dibahas di media sosial.\n\nDalam isu yang tersebar luas di media sosial disebutkan bahwa Jokowi menggunakan earphone Bluetooth kecil di telinganya.\n\nBeredar pula gambar saat Jokowi menggenggam pulpen yang diduga sebagai alat untuk mengontrol komunikasi lewat earphone Bluetooth itu.\n\nJokowi membantah spekulasi tersebut.\n\nIa pun lantas menunjukkan pulpen yang ia gunakan dalam debat semalam kepada awak media.\n\nIa memastikan bahwa pulpen yang dibawa ke panggung debat adalah pulpen asli.\n\n\"Ini pulpennya. Ya cek saja. Jadi enggak usah buat isu-isu yang fitnah begitulah,\" kata Jokowi.\n\nSelengkapnya simak video ini:"}
-{"text": "For many fliers Sunday, it was holiday travel woes, round two.\n\nAs of 6:30 p.m. ET, more than 3,000 U.S. flights were delayed and more than 190 were canceled, according to FlightAware.com\n\nThe line for security screening at Chicago Midway International Airport on Sunday morning was so long that reporter Denise Whitaker of CNN affiliate KOMO measured it: 1.2 miles.\n\nTraveler Sarah Crowder called it the worst she's seen, prompting the Chicago Tribune's Brian Cassella to call on the Transportation Security Administration to \"do better.\"\n\nSunday is one of the busiest travel days of the year, as millions of people return home after the Thanksgiving holiday.\n\n\"This happens sometimes,\" Chicago Aviation Department spokeswoman Karen Pride said, according to CNN affiliate WLS . \"There was a period of time earlier this morning, between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m., that lines were long because that is when most people are traveling for the holiday period.\"\n\nOn Wednesday, the weather was widely blamed, as snow snarled traffic for parts of the country.\n\nA major winter storm on the rise is impacting millions of travelers on the East coast. CNN's Brian Todd reports.\n\nBut conditions were much better Sunday in many areas, with \"warmer and more tranquil conditions\" in parts of the country including the East Coast, CNN meteorologist Todd Borek said. The temperatures were in the upper 40s in Chicago.\n\nWhile a lot of attention goes to the airports -- where the interconnected flight travel system can have a domino effect -- the vast majority of Thanksgiving travelers hit the road.\n\nNinety percent of travelers were expected to go by road, AAA said, helped by the lowest gas prices in five years.\n\nIn all, more than 46 million people were expected to travel 50 miles or more for Thanksgiving, marking the highest volume since 2007."}
-{"text": "Minutes after PM Narendra Modi called for a 21-day nationwide lockdown to contain the novel coronavirus stating midnight, the Ministry of Home Affairs came out with a comprehensive list of essential services that will remain operational during the nationwide lockdown.Allaying fears, Modi also said people need not panic about availability of essential commodities and medicines during the 21-day nationwide lockdown as the Centre and various state governments will work together to ensure this.1. Offices Of the Government Of India, its Autonomous/ Subordinate Offices and Public Corporations shall remain closed.Defence, central armed police forces, treasury, public utilities (including petroleum, CNG, LPG, PNG), disaster management, power generation and transmission units, post offices, National Informatics Centre, Early Warning Agencies.2. Offices of the State/ Union Territory Governments, their Autonomous Bodies, Corporations, etc. shall remain closed.Police, home guards, civil defence, fire and emergency services, disaster management, and prisons. District administration and Treasury Electricity, water, sanitation Municipal bodies\u2014Only staff required for essential services like sanitation, personnel related to water supply etcThe above offices (Sl. No 1 & 2) should work with minimum number Of employees. All other offices may continue to work-from-home only.3. Hospitals and all related medical establishments, including their manufacturing and distribution units, both in public and private sector, such as dispensaries, chemist and medical equipment shops, laboratories, clinics, nursing homes, ambulance etc. will continue to remain functional. The transportation for all medical personnel, nurses, para-medical staff, other hospital support services be permitted.4.Commercial and private establishments shall be closed down.Shops, including ration shops (under PDS), dealing with food, groceries, fruits and vegetables, dairy and milk booths, meat and fish, animal fodder. However, district authorities may encourage and facilitate home delivery to minimize the movement of individuals outside their homes. Banks, insurance offices, and ATMs. Print and electronic media Telecommunications, internet services, broadcasting and cable services. IT and IT enabled Services only (for essential services) and as far as possible to work from home. Delivery of all essential goods including food, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment through E-commerce.5. Industrial Establishments will remain closed.a. Manufacturing units of essential commoditiesb. Production units, which require continuous process after obtaining required permission from the state government6. All transport services air. rail, roadways will remain suspended.a. Transportation for essential goods only b. Fire, law and order and emergency services.7. Hospitality Services to remain suspendedHotels, homestays, lodges and motels. which are accommodating tourists and persons stranded due to lockdown, medical and emergency staff, air and sea crew, b. Establishments used! earmarked for quarantine facilities.8. All educational, training, research. coaching institutions etc. shall remain closed.9. All places of worship shall be closed for public. No religious congregations will be permitted, without any exception.10. All social, political, sports, entertainment, academic, cultural, religious functions/ gatherings shall be barred.11. In case of funerals, congregation of not more than twenty persons will be permitted.12. All persons who have arrived into India after 15.02.2020. and all such persons who have been directed by health care personnel to remain under strict home/ institutional quarantine for a period as decided by local Health Authorities , failing which they will be liable to legal action under Sec. 188 oi the IPC.13. Wherever exceptions to above containment measures have been allowed. the organisations/employers must ensure necessary precautions against COVID 19 virus, as well as social distance measures, as advised by the Health Department from time to time.14.n order to implement these containment measures, the District Magistrate will deploy Executive Magistrates as Incident Commanders in the respective local jurisdictions. The Incident Commander will be responsible for the overall implementation of these measures in their respective jurisdictions. All other line department officials in the specified area will work under the directions of such incident commander. The Incident Commander will issue passes for enabling essential movements as explained.15. All enforcing authorities to note that these strict restrictions fundamentally relate to movement of people, but not to that of essential goods.16. The Incident Commanders will in particular ensure that all efforts for mobilisation of resources, workers and material for augmentation and expansion of hospital infrastructure shall continue without any hindrance.17. Any person violating these containment measures will be liable to be proceeded against as per the provisions of Section 51-60 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, besides legal action under Section 188 of the IPC (as per appendix).18. The above containment measures will remain in force, in all parts of the country, for a period of 21 days with effect from 25.03.2020."}
-{"text": "Steve Berkowitz\n\nUSA TODAY Sports\n\nWith the addition of Maryland and Rutgers in July 2014, the Big Ten Conference began seriously flexing its financial strength, the conference\u2019s new federal tax return shows.\n\nThe conference had $448.8 million in total revenue during a fiscal year ending June 30, 2015 \u2014 a figure that represents a nearly $110 million increase over what it pulled in during its 2014 fiscal year.\n\nAs a result, the conference distributed roughly $32.4 million to each of its longest-standing 11 members, amounts that put those schools on par with amounts the Southeastern Conference distributed to each of its 14 member schools from conference revenue that totaled $527.4 million.\n\nPac-12's Larry Scott hits milestone for commissioner pay\n\nNebraska, Maryland and Rutgers are each on separately negotiated paths to full shares of Big Ten revenue. In fiscal 2015, Nebraska received $19.8 million, Maryland $24.1 million and Rutgers nearly $10.5 million, according to the new return, which the conference provided Wednesday in response to a request from USA TODAY Sports.\n\nThe return also showed that the Big Ten loaned Maryland an additional $11.6 million. That money was an advance against future conference distributions, deputy commissioner Brad Traviolia said in an interview. Traviolia declined to discuss the reasons for the loan, but as part of a settlement to a legal dispute with the Atlantic Coast Conference over its exit fee, Maryland agreed in August 2014 to let the ACC keep more than $31 million in revenue share money the conference had been withholding from the school.\n\nThe additions of Maryland and Rutgers resulted in increased TV revenue for the Big Ten from deals that were renegotiated with the conference's TV partners, Traviolia said. Like other Power Five conferences, the Big Ten also got a revenue boost from the inaugural College Football Playoff.\n\nEarlier Wednesday, the Pac-12 Conference released its new tax records, which showed $439 million in total revenue and per-school shares of about $25.1 million.\n\nThe Big Ten\u2019s new return showed that commissioner Jim Delany was credited with nearly $2.3 million in total compensation during the 2014 calendar year. (Under IRS rules, a non-profit organization must report its revenue and expense data based on its fiscal year; but it must report compensation data based on the calendar year completed during its fiscal year.)\n\nDelany\u2019s pay represents a sizable decrease compared to what was reported for him for 2013, when he was credited with $3.4 million, including $1 million in bonus pay of which more than $800,000 had been reported as deferred on prior years\u2019 returns.\n\nIn 2014, Delany had just more than $1.9 million in base pay (down from $2.05 million in 2013); nearly $275,000 in deferred compensation and no bonus.\n\nPac-12 commissioner Larry Scott was credited with a total of $4.05 million for 2014 on his conference\u2019s new return, includes $2.55 million in base salary and $1.25 million in bonus pay. Then-SEC commissioner Mike Slive was credited with just under $3.7 million, nearly all of which was in the form of base pay.\n\nTraviolia declined to detail the impact that adding Maryland and Rutgers had on the Big Ten's TV deals, but the conference's tax returns give some indication of the impact of adding the Washington and New York markets. The Big Ten annually provides a figure for what it terms \"Sports Revenue.\" Based on the way the conference categorizes other revenue streams, \"Sports Revenue\" includes \u2014 but is not exclusively comprised of \u2014 TV revenue and revenue from football bowl games.\n\nThe conference reported about $317 million in \"Sports Revenue\" in fiscal 2014 and almost $397 million in 2015 \u2014 an $80 million difference. Based on reports from other conferences that approximate their bowl revenue increases from the CFP, it is likely that $50 million to $60 million of the Big Ten's \"Sports Revenue\" increase is attributable to the TV rights fee increases that resulted from adding Maryland and Rutgers.\n\nThe Big Ten's television strength was demonstrated on the new tax return in another way \u2014 the reporting of a $22.6 million dividend from Big Ten Network Holdings LLC, an amount that Traviolia said is connected to the conference's after-tax portions of Big Ten Network profits that it shares with network co-owner Fox. (The Big Ten Conference's share of those profits are in addition to a television rights fee payment it gets from the Big Ten Network, Traviolia said,)\n\nTraviolia said that the $22.6 million in dividend money was used to provide the loan to Maryland, as well as $1 million of the amounts distributed to each of the conference's 11 longest-standing member schools."}
-{"text": "UPDATE: The 1 p.m. Tuesday snow observation at Erie International Airport was 1.5\" of new snow since 7 a.m. This brings the daily total to 20.5\" of snow. The 2-day total since midnight Christmas Day is 54.5\" of snow. The storm total since snow began after 7 p.m. Christmas Eve is 56.5\" of snow."}
-{"text": "President Donald Trump just issued what was arguably the most bald-faced lie of his entire presidency \u2014 and that\u2019s saying something.\n\nFollowing massive bipartisan condemnation of Trump\u2019s disastrous Monday press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, in which he questioned whether Russia was responsible for meddling in the 2016 US election, Trump held a surprise press appearance on Tuesday afternoon to try to walk back his comments.\n\nSitting at a table in the White House with members of Congress, Trump read directly off a sheet of paper that had clearly been prepared by his advisers. In halting speech, he asserted that he had \u201cfull faith and support for America\u2019s great intelligence agencies\u201d and that he \u201caccepted\u201d US intelligence\u2019s findings that Russia was behind cyberattacks leading up to the election.\n\nHe claimed that he had misspoken at yesterday\u2019s press conference when he told reporters \u201cI don\u2019t see any reason why it would be [Russia]\u201d that interfered in the 2016 election. According to Trump, he meant to say, \u201cI don\u2019t see any reason why it wouldn\u2019t be [Russia].\u201d\n\nThat might be plausible in theory, but if you look at the actual context of what Trump said, it makes no sense, and it\u2019s very clear that he was expressing skepticism about Russia\u2019s guilt. Here\u2019s the key sentence, in italics, surrounded by context:\n\nMy people came to me, Dan Coats came to me and some others; they said they think it\u2019s Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it\u2019s not Russia. I will say this. I don\u2019t see any reason why it would be, but I really do want to see the server. But I have confidence in both parties. ... I think it\u2019s a disgrace that we can\u2019t get Hillary Clinton\u2019s 33,000 emails. So I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. And what he did is an incredible offer. He offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators, with respect to the 12 people [Russian agents indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller for election interference]. I think that\u2019s an incredible offer.\n\nHe\u2019s saying, clearly, that there\u2019s a conflict between US intelligence and Russian claims, that he\u2019s not sure who\u2019s right, and that he would appreciate Russian intelligence\u2019s help in clearing up what happened.\n\nThis isn\u2019t an issue of one skeptical word that could have been misspoken, but of an entire block of words obviously expressing skepticism about Putin and Russia\u2019s guilt.\n\nWhat\u2019s more, in Trump\u2019s walkback statement on Tuesday afternoon, he still ended up reiterating his skepticism. When Trump said, \u201cI accept our intelligence community\u2019s conclusion that Russia\u2019s meddling in the 2016 election took place,\u201d he immediately followed it up by saying, \u201cCould be other people also. A lot of people out there.\u201d He clearly doesn\u2019t believe that Russia was involved. He just doesn\u2019t, and he\u2019s trying to convince us that he didn\u2019t mean what he said.\n\nThis has happened before. As the Toronto Star\u2019s Daniel Dale notes, it\u2019s similar to Trump\u2019s infamous statement expressing sympathy with the Charlottesville white supremacist marchers, in which he read prepared remarks that directly contradicted his ad-libbed, more sincere comments:\n\nRemember the Charlottesville saga: Trump expressed his true views, there was an outcry, he dutifully read a staff-written walk-back statement, then soon after he abandoned the walk-back and even more forcefully expressed his true views. \u2014 Daniel Dale (@ddale8) July 17, 2018\n\nLet\u2019s not dance around this: Trump is trying to gaslight the entire world, to assert that he said something he clearly didn\u2019t by sheer force of confident assertion. The president is lying to us, he\u2019s doing it brazenly, and we shouldn\u2019t let him get away with it."}
-{"text": "Summary\n\n\n\nWorld Community Grid launches an Android application, allowing volunteers to donate their mobile devices' spare computing time to accelerate critical humanitarian research, starting with the FightAIDS@Home project.\n\n\n\nMore Information:\n\nIBM press release\n\nCitizenIBM blog post by Dr. David Anderson, who leads the BOINC effort at the University of California, Berkeley, discussing the significance of this milestone to volunteer computing.\n\nAndroid Frequently Asked Questions\n\nOverview video of the FightAIDS@Home project (produced by Chemical & Engineering News)\n\n\n\n\n\nWith the release of a BOINC app for Android, smartphone and tablet users can now join World Community Grid, or add their Android devices to an existing account.The first World Community Grid project available for Android computing is the FightAIDS@Home project conducted out of the Olson Laboratory at The Scripps Research Institute. World Community Grid volunteers can use their phones and tablets to help the Scripps team search for new candidate drugs to block enzymes that the deadly AIDS virus depends on. We will be adding additional World Community Grid projects to the Android app in the future, and are also investigating options to expand to other mobile platforms.This development makes sense because of the rapid rise of mobile computing. When World Community Grid was launched in 2004, an average desktop computer might have had a 2 GHz processor and 256 MB of RAM. Nine years later, many mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are just as powerful.And there are a lot of them. There will be nearly 2 billion smartphones in use worldwide by the end of 2013, and the tablet market is growing rapidly as well, with tens of millions already in use. Android is the most popular operating system, which means that over a million new Android devices are activated every day. These mobile devices represent a huge and unprecedented amount of computing power in the hands - quite literally - of individuals all over the world.These devices have transformed peoples'\u0080\u0099 lives, as many readers will know from experience. But now, these powerful portable devices can help save lives by accelerating vital research into areas such as disease, energy, and the environment.The World Community Grid team has worked hard to ensure that volunteers can donate mobile device processing time as easily and unobtrusively as they donate computer processing time. Because mobile devices are designed for portability and extended battery life, the app is designed to minimize the impact that World Community Grid will have. By default, the app will only run calculations when the device is plugged in and charging (for example, overnight) and will only transmit data over WiFi (settings are configurable).Be one of the first to participate in an entirely new phenomenon: mobile volunteer computing. Put your phone or tablet to good use! If you are not already a member join World Community Grid now, or if you are already a member, download the app on your Android device."}
-{"text": "Paris (AFP) - Chimpanzees can be lethally violent to each other but this stems from an inherent streak and not, as some have suggested, from human interference, a study said on Wednesday.\n\nZoologists, led by the famed Jane Goodall, have speculated for years on the causes of \"chimpanzee wars\" among Man's genetically-closest relatives.\n\nOne theory is that the apes are made more aggressive as a result of human influence: loss of habitat or food creates ever-greater competition for resources.\n\nBut new research, published in the journal Nature, said coordinated violence by Pan troglodytes is an evolutionary strategy.\n\nChimps kill to wipe out rivals, thus gaining territory, mates, water or food, it suggests. In Darwinian terms, they seek an advantage to help them survive and hand on their genes to future generations.\n\nThe evidence comes from an examination of five decades of research into 18 closely-studied chimpanzee communities in African forests.\n\nThe researchers pored over 152 killings by chimps, most of which were carried out by males acting together.\n\nThe groups would often band together to carry out murderous raids on another community, typically killing rival males and infants who were not genetically related.\n\nThey sometimes snatched babies from nursing mothers to slaughter them but spared the females.\n\nThe investigators had to determine whether these acts were driven by hunger, human disturbance or deforestation and whether the protected area the chimps inhabited was large or small.\n\nMost of the killings occurred in east African communities that were least affected by human interference of any kind.\n\n\"Wild chimpanzee communities are often divided into two broad categories depending on whether they exist in pristine or human-disturbed environments,\" said David Morgan, a specialist in ape conservation at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, Illinois, who has studied chimps in central Africa for 14 years.\n\n\"Study sites included in this investigation spanned the spectrum. We found human impact did not predict the rate of killing among communities.\""}
-{"text": "india\n\nUpdated: Oct 22, 2019 23:58 IST\n\nNew Delhi: A survey by India Today-Axis My India has suggested a neck and neck fight in Haryana and predicted it could have a hung assembly even as most exit polls have indicated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would return to power easily.\n\nIt suggests that the Dushyant Chautala-led Jantantrik Janata Party (JJP) may win 6-10 seats in the 90-member state assembly and could play a crucial role in the government formation.\n\nAfter the polling ended on Monday, most other pollsters predicted that Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was set to lead the government again.\n\nThe India Today-Axis My India exit poll results show the BJP would be marginally ahead of rival Congress with 32-44 seats. It has predicted 30-42 seats for the Congress.\n\nIn the last assembly election, the BJP won 47 seats while the half-way mark in Haryana assembly is 45. The Congress had just 15 seats.\n\nIn terms of vote share, the India Today-Axis My India poll predicts 33 % for the BJP and 32 % for the Congress. The JJP it predicted would get 14 %. Region-wise, it predicted that the BJP would win 6 of the 14 seats in Ambala. The Congress is expected to win 7 seats and the JJP one.\n\nIn the Faridabad region, it has given the BJP 5 of the 12 and the Congress 6. In Gurgaon, has it predicted that the BJP would win 7 of the 11 seats, while the Congress and others would bag two seats each.\n\nIn the Hisar region, the BJP and the Congress are likely to win 6 seats each. The JJP could win 5 seats in this region, it said. In Karnal, it predicted 4 for the Congress and 8 for the BJP. Khattar is a contestant from this region.\n\nThe poll gave the Congress 10 out of 20 seats in Rohtak, an area that is seen to be a stronghold of former chief minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The poll gave the BJP 6 seats in Rohtak.\n\n\u201cWe are of the firm belief that we will get 45-50 seats and the Congress will form the government comfortably. This survey is closer to the reality,\u201d said Haryana Congress leader Ved Prakash Vidrohi. He expressed confidence that the party would register a better performance than what this poll has suggested.\n\nOther polls have shown the BJP emerging as a clear winner. News 18-IPSOS has predicted the BJP would win 75 seats. The Congress, the same poll said, would get 10 seats.\n\nThe most conservative projection came from the Republic-Jan Ki Baat poll, which suggested that the BJP would bag between 52 and 63 seats and the Congress 15-19 seats. It gave the third position to the new party, JJP.\n\nThe ABP-C Voter poll gave the BJP 70 seats, the Congress eight seats, and others 12 seats in the state. The Times Now poll gave 71 seats to the BJP, 11 to the Congress and eight to others.\n\nHindustan Times has not conducted any exit polls on its own, or partnered with any agency for the purpose, and cannot independently verify the authenticity of the polls. The results of the elections will be declared on October 24."}
-{"text": "Brett Gardner\u2019s posted a walk rate north of 10% six times in his 11-year big-league career, including each of the last four seasons. He\u2019s racked up 2.5 WAR or better in every full season he\u2019s played, on the back of sometimes elite defense, consistently above-average offense, and the ability to knock a few dingers into the short porch in Yankee Stadium III. In other words, Gardner is a Very Useful Player, the kind of complementary piece every contending roster needs.\n\nThat\u2019s not Gardner\u2019s reputation, though. Instead, Gardner is regarded more as a \u201cpest.\u201d Not because of his conduct as a person \u2014 I\u2019ve never met him, though I\u2019m sure he\u2019s a lovely human and fine conversationalist \u2014 but rather as a leadoff hitter. And the numbers mostly bear this out: this year, he\u2019s seeing 4.15 pitches per plate appearance, 10th best in the American League. Last year, it was 4.23 pitches per plate appearance, seventh best in the American League. In 2016, Gardner saw 4.09 pitches per plate appearance, 16th best in the Junior Circuit. You get the idea: Gardner is a tough out. Jeff Sullivan wrote about this last year during the playoffs.\n\nGardner\u2019s a pest in another way, too \u2014 namely, for how much time he requires between pitches. Consider: in 2018, Gardner has a pace of 24.8 seconds, placing him among the bottom-third of qualified batters by that measure. Last year, he was a bit slower (25.2 seconds), also among the league\u2019s slowest third of qualifiers. In 2016, he finished among the slowest bottom-fifth. That doesn\u2019t make him the most deliberate of hitters but still pretty methodical.\n\nWhatever the case, it\u2019s enough to have caught the attention of Major League Baseball, which just fined Gardner for what it called \u201crepeated pace-of-play violations\u201d in May and June. The New York Post reports that the fines totaled $3,500 and are a result of six occasions, specifically, on which Gardner took too much time getting into the batter\u2019s box.\n\nIf you\u2019ve ever watched Gardner get into the batter\u2019s box, you know that he doesn\u2019t exactly sprint out there. I couldn\u2019t find a whole lot of publicly available video of Gardner walking to home plate in May and June \u2014 with all due respect to Brett, it doesn\u2019t make for stimulating television \u2014 but there is some extant footage of Gardner\u2019s typical pre-at-bat routine.\n\nHere\u2019s Gardner from last year\u2019s playoffs, about to face Cody Allen of the Indians. I wouldn\u2019t be in a rush to face Cody Allen, either, but Gardner seems to need to clean the top of his bat in his armpit before he faces him, which, of course, takes time.\n\nIt\u2019s something like this that led to Gardner being fined. You see, Rule 5.04(b) says this:\n\nThe Rule states that a batter must take his position \u201cpromptly\u201d but doesn\u2019t explicitly define that term. It does, however, get pretty specific about when a batter can and can\u2019t leave the batter\u2019s box:\n\nAnd the Rule contains penalties for noncompliance, too:\n\nPresuming that MLB followed this rule, Gardner was probably fined only after an umpire already warned him to stop taking so long to get in the batter\u2019s box. That assumes, of course, that all six fines weren\u2019t just levied because he didn\u2019t get to the batter\u2019s box from the on-deck circle quickly enough, but it stands to reason that the same previous-warning rule would apply; that\u2019s because this is the only penalty section in the whole Rule.\n\nBut Gardner, despite having presumably received a warning to hurry things up during each of the games in question, wasn\u2019t at all happy about the fines. Sportsnet New York passed this along:\n\n\u201cMy agent started taking care of it,\u201d Gardner said. \u201cI told them don\u2019t talk to me about it. I\u2019ve got more things to worry about than taking three seconds too long to get to the box. Somebody else can [throw pickoff throws to first base] 27 times in a game and waste 15 minutes of everybody\u2019s time, and I get fined thousands of dollars taking three seconds too long to get in the box.\u201d\n\nGardner isn\u2019t the first to express this kind of displeasure. Adam Jones isn\u2019t a fan, either:\n\n#Orioles Adam Jones (with @TinaCervasio) is not a fan of the pace of play initiatives pic.twitter.com/GCdg5LxRGw \u2014 MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (@MLBNetworkRadio) December 1, 2017\n\nBecause the exact instances weren\u2019t identified in either case and because Gardner saw 360 pitches in May and 345 pitches in June, there\u2019s really no way to figure out for which occasions Gardner was being fined pr whether they were, in fact, three seconds too long. But it actually stands to reason that Gardner wasn\u2019t exaggerating. The guys with the fastest pace at-bats in 2017 were basically all pitchers, believe it or not. Jered Weaver, Jeff Locke, and Dillon Peters top the list. Among players with 10 or more plate appearances last season, Travis Taijeron is the first actual position player in terms of pace, at No. 28. The first regular player was Cesar Hernandez, ranked 76th at 20.7 seconds.\n\nHernandez\u2019s number is significant, insofar as there\u2019s supposed to be a limit of 20 seconds between pitches, even if it\u2019s not in the Rule itself. The pace numbers suggest that basically no regular batter is working any quicker than that. Even if we account for the fact that the league\u2019s methodology for calculating pace differs from FanGraphs\u2019, we know there are still a bunch of batters working more slowly than Gardner. Are they all in violation, too? How many offenders are there?\n\nSo that\u2019s why Gardner might have a point here. The 20-second rule is supposed to relate to a pitch clock. Nothing in the Rule says \u201cpromptly\u201d means \u201c20 seconds.\u201d And pitchers aren\u2019t exactly complying with that either: of the 224 pitchers to have thrown 40-plus innings all but four of them currently have a pace mark of 20 seconds or more. Brad Hand is the worst offender, at more than 30 seconds between pitches.\n\nIn other words, Gardner\u2019s question is why hitters should be held to a Rule that basically every pitcher is ignoring, as well. And it\u2019s one worth asking, because it seems the overwhelming majority of MLB players are just not moving any faster. It\u2019s something about which Travis Sawchik has written eloquently here and here and here. And our July resident, Alexis LaMarsh, wrote about it here. In light of the kerfuffle with Gardner, they\u2019re all worth re-reading again. And from MLB\u2019s perspective, if they want to keep this pace-of-play initiative alive, they need to decide whether it\u2019s worth fining nearly every player in the game. It\u2019s just one more issue causing tension between MLB and the players as we move closer to the next labor showdown."}
-{"text": "The Medical Doctoral category includes some of the largest universities in the country. Institutions in this category have a broad range of Ph.D. programs and research, as well as medical schools. Click here for the Comprehensive category and here for the Primarily Undergraduate category.\n\nTo find out how each university placed on 12 of the 14 ranking indicators, click on the plus sign in the first column. The final two columns show how each university placed on the other two indicators: student satisfaction and reputation. Click on the head of either of these two columns and the universities will re-organize based on how well they did on that measure. To find out more about a specific university, click on its name and you will be taken to a full profile of the institution.\n\n*Indicates a tie. Full methodology here."}
-{"text": "A f\u00f3rmula utilizada por Renan Calheiros para resistir ao cumprimento da ordem judicial que o retirava do cargo de presidente do Senado nasceu de forma inusitada. Foi um ministro do pr\u00f3prio Supremo Tribunal Federal que sugeriu contrapor uma decis\u00e3o da Mesa Diretora do Senado \u00e0 liminar expedida pelo ministro Marco Aur\u00e9lio Mello.\n\nInicialmente, Renan pretendia se segurar no cargo com o aval do plen\u00e1rio do Senado. Ouviu de membros do seu grupo pol\u00edtico uma advert\u00eancia: se levasse a encrenca ao plen\u00e1rio, sofreria uma derrota. Foi quando chegou a Renan a sugest\u00e3o do colega de Marco Aur\u00e9lio, para que reunisse a Mesa do Senado. Nesse colegiado, mais restrito, Renan d\u00e1 as cartas.\n\nSeguindo os conselhos do ministro do Supremo, Renan tomou as primeiras provid\u00eancias na manh\u00e3 de ter\u00e7a-feira (6). Ainda estava na resid\u00eancia oficial do Senado quando convocou a reuni\u00e3o da Mesa. Entendeu-se com o vice petista Jorge Viana, que, em privado, demonstrou uma vontade de colaborar que contrastava com o discurso incendi\u00e1rio de petistas como Lindbergh Farias.\n\nRenan rumou para o Senado, orientou a reda\u00e7\u00e3o da nota da Mesa, obteve as assinaturas da maioria dos membros do colegiado e construiu um discurso. Aferrado \u00e0 orienta\u00e7\u00e3o do ministro do STF, Renan passou a dizer que n\u00e3o descumpria uma ordem judicial, apenas seguia a decis\u00e3o da Mesa do Senado. Nessa vers\u00e3o, o Senado, um Poder aut\u00f4nomo, aguardadava o pronunciamento do plen\u00e1rio do Supremo para tomar as suas provid\u00eancias.\n\nA decis\u00e3o final do Supremo ser\u00e1 tomada em sess\u00e3o marcada para a tarde desta quarta-feira. Conforme j\u00e1 noticiado aqui, Renan destila otimismo desde a noite de ter\u00e7a. O senador disse a aliados que espera obter uma vit\u00f3ria parcial no plen\u00e1rio da Suprema Corte. Avalia que a maioria dos ministros votar\u00e1 a favor de retir\u00e1-lo apenas da linha sucess\u00f3ria da Presid\u00eancia da Rep\u00fablica, n\u00e3o do cargo de presidente do Senado. Renan soou como se lidasse com informa\u00e7\u00f5es, n\u00e3o com suposi\u00e7\u00f5es. O blog apurou que a hip\u00f3tese de um afastamento meia-sola foi, de fato, discutida em gabinetes do Supremo."}
-{"text": "After more than a year of waiting, fans of one of Prairie Artisan Ales\u2019 most popular releases will be getting their wish this month.\n\nThe beer is Vanilla Noir, a 12.5 percent ABV imperial stout aged in whiskey barrels for approximately six months before being \u201cdosed with vanilla beans.\u201d The imperial stout was released for the first time in late 2013 before being rereleased in October 2015.\n\nThere have now been six different bottled variants in the Noir line:\n\nPrairie Noir (11 percent ABV)\n\nCoffee Noir (11.5 percent ABV)\n\nPirate Noir (12 percent ABV)\n\nWine Barrel Noir (11 percent ABV)\n\nApple Brandy Noir (12 percent ABV)\n\nVanilla Noir (12.5 percent ABV)\n\nIn emails, Zach Prichard, president of Krebs Brewing Co., told Tenemu that the newest release of Vanilla Noir will be packaged in 12-ounce bottles and that \u201cevery market will get a small amount of (Vanilla Noir)\u2026sometime later this month.\u201d"}
-{"text": "An Austin-area man has been charged with a DWI after driving his rare Ferrari into a ravine.\n\nKVUE reports that witnesses saw 28-year-old James Sidney Allen was driving over 100 mph on Red Bud Trail through West Lake Hills at 2:30 am last Friday when he failed to make a sharp turn. The Austin Fire Department says the car went airborne for 40 feet and flipped through the air before hitting the ground 40 feet below the road.\n\nThere were three passengers stuffed into the two-seat sports car at the time of the incident, but all escaped with only minor injuries.\n\nThe 2015 Ferrari 458 Speciale is (or was) valued at $358,000. On Facebook the Fire Department said \u201cnothing good\u201d happens when you try to make your limited edition Ferrari fly, adding the hashtag #thisisnotferrisbuellersdayoff, a reference to a scene in the film \u201cFerris Beuller\u2019s Day Off\u201d that ends with a classic Ferrari flying out of a house and into the woods below."}
-{"text": "A former Watergate special prosecutor says Jared Kushner's explanations about his meetings with Russian nationals during the presidential race are \u201cblatantly ridiculous.\u201d\n\nJill Wine-Banks told MSNBC on Monday night that Kushner's legal defense presented in an 11-page document to Congress doesn't stand up to scrutiny.\n\n\u201cHe clearly has a very good lawyer, but as soon as you start to probe it it falls apart,\u201d she said. \u201cThe explanations that are offered seem blatantly ridiculous.\u201d\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nWine-Banks said Kushner\u2019s explanations for excluding more than 100 foreign contacts from his initial ethics disclosure forms were not believable to her.\n\nShe added that the most unbelievable of Kushner\u2019s excuses was the fact that he claims that he did not know what the meeting with the Russian lawyer was about before going in.\n\nWine-Banks said there were still so many questions about Kushner\u2019s statement that were left unanswered and called on investigators to interview Kushner\u2019s assistant and other people who were present in the meeting.\n\n\u201cThese are just lies, they are not believable,\u201d she said.\n\nKushner attended a meeting with a Russian lawyer last summer along with Donald Trump Jr. and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. He claims he did not know ahead of time that the intermediary who set up the meeting told Trump Jr. that the lawyer had damaging information on then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonJoe Biden looks to expand election battleground into Trump country Biden leads Trump by 12 points among Catholic voters: poll The Hill's Campaign Report: Biden goes on offense MORE.\n\nKushner, a White House senior adviser and President Trump Donald John TrumpBubba Wallace to be driver of Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin NASCAR team Graham: GOP will confirm Trump's Supreme Court nominee before the election Southwest Airlines, unions call for six-month extension of government aid MORE's son-in-law, is scheduled to testify in front of the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday."}
-{"text": "NAGPUR: Following TOI\u2019s report on coated manjas being sold freely on leading online shopping portals, e-commerce portal Amazon has removed the deadly thread from listings on its Indian website.Four days back, TOI had reported that different types of coated manjas were available online despite the National Green Tribunal \u2019s order banning all coated kite-flying threads. Taking a lead in this regard, Amazon.in has stopped sales of manjas. \u201cAmazon.in supports wildlife and environment protection efforts. We have informed all the sellers about the NGT\u2019s order and are taking down all such products from our website. Currently, as per the court\u2019s guidelines, only certain type of cotton threads are available for kite-flying,\u201d an Amazon spokesperson told TOI.Apart from Amazon.in, manja with description stating \u2018Extreme sharp nine-cord manja for those who never compromise\u2019 was available on ebay.in. As per the information available on the site, 16 such manja reels were sold on the site for Rs320 each from December 23, 2016, to January 9 this year.People For Ethical Treatment of Animals PETA ), which had filed a plea in NGT, plans to raise the issue before appropriate forum. In December last year, NGT imposed an interim nationwide ban on use of coated 'manja' for flying kites , saying the sharp string posed a danger to humans, animals and birds."}
-{"text": "Fox Broadcasting and Dish Network have finally come to an agreement to settle a bitter lawsuit over the ad-skipping, place-shifting Hopper.\n\nOn Wednesday, court papers were filed stipulating to a dismissal, marking the end of a legal battle that has lasted nearly four years and resulted in judicial guidance on newer uses of copyrighted programming. Although neither Fox nor Dish have revealed the full terms of their deal, the agreement also potentially signals a bigger breakthrough in renewal of a carriage agreement. But the parties aren't yet commenting on that.\n\nAsked about the filing, Fox confirmed the deal would resolve all disputes over Slingbox technology and the AutoHop. A spokesperson added, \"As part of the settlement, Dish's AutoHop commercial-skipping functionality will not be available for owned and affiliated Fox stations until seven days after a program first airs.\"\n\nIn 2012, Fox was among several big broadcasters that went to court to stop what it saw as an unlicensed video-on-demand service thanks to Hopper's massive storage capacity and ability to skip ads.\n\nDisney settled in March 2014, CBS made its deal in December 2014, but the Fox-Dish dispute lingered on.\n\nThe case went all the way up to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed a denial of an injunction. Back at the district court, Dish scored many victories on the copyright front while losing some on the contract end.\n\nThe parties neared a trial, but agreed to pause the litigation in January 2015. At the time, the parties had come to a carriage deal concerning Fox News and told the judge that it was highly likely that negotiations of the renewal of their 2010 carriage agreement for the broadcast network would resolve the lawsuit. Such license negotiations precipitated deals between Dish and the other broadcasters.\n\nNevertheless, it took more than a year to come an agreement. The deal cancels a trial that was scheduled to happen in September."}
-{"text": "When I was in grad school at NYU, there were two Starbucks across the street from one another at Astor Place. Like many things in New York, one of them is now a condo. But that change does not signal a decline in the mighty Starbucks empire. It seems no matter where you turn, you see that green mermaid in the logo looking back at you.\n\nBut what if you really wanted to get away from a Starbucks? Like really far away. How far could you get but still be within Manhattan.\n\nTo find out, I calculated the distance from each lot in Manhattan to the nearest Starbucks and mapped it out:\n\nThe red star on the map indicated the address that is farthest from a Starbucks. The lucky winner is a residential building at 73 Payson Avenue in Inwood. I wonder if the people who live there know that they are as far from Starbucks as they can possibly be in Manhattan. (I\u2019d bet not.) And that distance? A whopping 1.36 miles.\n\nThe blue star is the farthest residential address from Starbucks south of 96th St. That happens at 140 Baruch Place on the Lower East Side. It is 0.93 miles from the nearest Starbucks.\n\nOne other things pops out when doing this. Note that the map is split into 5 quantiles, meaning 20% of lots fall in each color bucket. What is astounding is that 20% of lots in Manhattan are within 0.1 miles of a Starbucks or just two city blocks. Those lots are the darkest green lots in the map. And half of all lots are within 0.2 miles, or four blocks.\n\nSo if you\u2019re looking to get a bit of distance between you and that mermaid, I\u2019ve got some advice for you: cross a bridge.\n\nNote that blocks here are not literal blocks you can walk, but rather a unit of measurement for comparison purposes. All measurements are as the pigeon flies.\n\nData used:\n\nPLUTO\n\nGoogle Places API\n\nTools used:\n\nQGIS, IPython, pandas\n\nEditors Note: A commenter on Reddit pointed out that they just opened up a Starbucks two blocks from the \u201cRed Star.\u201d I guess I know how they chose the spot. It looks like it has not made it into Google yet, which is where I got my data. So this analysis is a few months out-of-date. Thanks internet!"}
-{"text": "Chapter 15: With friends like these...\n\nAnna was sitting at the passenger side of her sister's car, bored out of her mind. She passed the time by looking out of the window as they drove to whatever place Elvira was going to take her. She didn't like this; she'd prefer to be with Elsa, cuddled up on the sofa and drinking some hot chocolate. They'd talk about silly things for hours before finally retiring upstairs, where Anna could make sweet love to her until they fell asleep in each other's arms. But no, she had to be going somewhere unknown, with Elvira.\n\nAt least it was for only one week.\n\n\"Where are we going?\" Anna tried asking again, but Elvira's answer was the same as it was five minutes earlier.\n\n\"It's a surprise.\" She said, smiling mischievously.\n\n\"This better not be one of those hell-holes you call clubs.\" She warned.\n\n\"I'd never take you there.\" Elvira answered honestly, which gave Anna pause. She seemed so serious, and determined, but also\u2026 there was another emotion Anna couldn't quite identify. Excited? Maybe, but not quite\u2026.perhaps nervous? She almost snorted at the thought. Of course not! Elvira was never nervous\u2026 well, except when talking to Maleficent, but damnit was that woman scary! Thinking about that terrifying woman made her wonder how long it would be until they got access to the clone lab. She really hoped to hear from Maleficent soon; after all, how long could it take to run a freaking DNA test?\n\n\"We're here.\" Elvira suddenly said as she started parking the car. Anna looked at the building they were in front of and read the sign hanging from it: BOWLING, but the 'I' was a pin. She knew that place. She had followed Elvira there once when she escaped\u2026 and then when the older girl had discovered Anna was there she'd basically kicked her out, saying she didn't want her to embarrass her in front of her friends.\n\n\"Seriously?!\" Anna exclaimed, angry at Elvira for making her remember such a painful event.\n\n\"What? You don't like bowling? Or are you afraid you're gonna lose?\" She said raising an eyebrow and smirking confidently, clearly challenging her. Anna wanted to stay mad at her, to demand to go anywhere else, but\u2026 then she'd think she really was afraid of losing and she wasn't going to give her that satisfaction.\n\n\"Of course not! You'll see, I'm gonna kick your ass!\" Anna said before jumping out of the car and running towards the entrance. Elvira just smiled, glad that her plan had worked, and followed her.\n\nAfter Elvira payed for both their entrances, they went to get their bowling shoes. Anna shoved her shoes on and ran towards the bowling area, Elivra lingering at the entrance as she took her time to tie the laces properly. Finally they got to their assigned alley and prepared themselves to bowl.\n\n\"You'll see, I'm gonna win.\" Anna said confidently as she stretched her arms and rotated them in circles.\n\n\"Have you even been bowling before?\" Elvira raised an eyebrow as she took a pretty heavy black ball.\n\n\"No\u2026\" Anna admitted. \"But how hard can it be?\" She shrugged before choosing a white ball, a little bit larger than her sister's. \"Just watch. I'm about to get my first strike.\" Saying this, she went to position herself at the front of the alley (with a bit of difficulty because of the heavy ball), and ungracefully used all the strength she had to launch the ball at the pins\u2026 only for it to bounce a couple of times and end up in the gutter, not even coming close to touching one of the pins. Anna's expression instantly fell. Her second shot went just as badly.\n\n\"This is not about strength or how heavy the ball is.\" Elvira explained, and Anna turned around, blushing in embarrassment. That had been exactly what she was thinking about when she chose a ball. \"This is about patience and skill. Watch.\"\n\nAnna stepped back to give her sister some space to throw, watching her movements carefully the whole time. Elvira positioned herself at the left edge of the lane, then moved the ball behind her in a careful and controlled movement. She walked forward gracefully, and let the ball fly just as she got to the front of the lane, right before she crossed the line. The ball landed in the aisle in a much smoother way than Anna's and then ran down towards the pins\u2026 only to deviate and end up knocking down only two of them.\n\n\"You were saying?\" Anna chuckled, raising an eyebrow.\n\n\"S-shut up.\" Elvira said, blushing in embarrassment. \"I haven't come here in a while.\" She tried to justify. \"Plus, at least I hit the pins.\" Without another word Elvira retrieved her ball and took her second try, approaching and releasing in the same controlled manner. This time she managed to knock down six pins, easily putting her ahead of Anna's non-existent score of zero.\n\n\"Not bad.\" Anna said, before she went to take another ball, this one much smaller. \"But this time I'll do it better.\" She was about to go bowl again when her sister put an arm in front of her, blocking her path. Anna looked up at her questioningly.\n\n\"I think I should explain it to you before you cause an accident here, or hurt yourself somehow.\" She said. \"First, the ball. You have to put your middle and ring fingers inside these holes.\" Saying this, she took Anna's fingers and placed them at the entrance of said holes. Anna felt a little weird about being touched gently by her sister for the first time in what felt like forever. But she didn't say anything, nor did she protest because the sensation wasn't necessarily unpleasant.\n\n\"And your thumb goes in this other hole.\" She kept saying, oblivious of Anna's thoughts. \"Now, you have to start your shot at the beginning of the lane. First you bring the ball back, take a few steps and let it go when you extend your arm. Like this.\" Anna tensed, thinking Elvira was going to take advantage of the situation and put her arms around her, guiding her movements\u2026 but to her surprise, she took another ball, prepared herself and the threw it down the lane, like she'd told Anna to do. This time, she knocked down five pins. \"See?\" She asked, turning back at her.\n\n\"Yeah\u2026 kind of.\" Anna said, still unsure she could do it, especially after her first disastrous experience just a few minutes prior.\n\n\"Just relax. You'll get it eventually.\" She tried to reassure her. \"But by then it'll be too late because I will have already won.\" She smirked teasingly.\n\n\"Ha! I'd like to see that.\" Anna answered smiling. No one could defeat the great Anna Summers! Oh no, she wouldn't allow it. She loved challenges.\n\nAnd so, she prepared herself and threw her third ball of the evening.\n\nBy the end of the game, Anna got like forty points\u2026 total. But she did manage to get one strike, just on someone else's lane. Elvira, on the other hand, got seventy points, which wasn't great, but was still better than Anna.\n\nBut none of that mattered, because surprisingly enough, they ended up having a pretty good time, laughing at each other's errors and at their own too, and celebrating what little pins they managed to knock down. Anna couldn't remember being so happy with her sister since before they were little girls. And even then it wasn't like this, because this time they weren't with their parents. She felt happier, freer. She didn't have to pretend that she was perfect, she could just be herself, and so did Elvira.\n\nThey were laughing, reminiscing of the time Anna had slipped and almost slid all the way to the pins, as they excited the building and walked towards Elvira's car, however, just as the car came into view, the older girl's laughter died and her smile fell as she stared intently at the automobile.\n\nAnna, noticing this strange change, went to look at the same direction of her sister and\u2026 she saw Elvira's gang. At least part of it. Two gorilla-like men and a huge girl that looked like a body builder, all with scowls on their faces and looking pretty scary. Anna unconsciously got closer to Elvira, who had stopped just a few feet away from her car and was looking at them with an angry expression.\n\n\"What do you want?\" She spat, in a way Anna wouldn't expect anyone to treat their supposed friends.\n\n\"Well, that's rude.\" The girl said, crossing her arms over her chest. \"We were passing by, saw your car and decided to pay you a visit.\"\n\n\"Like I'm going to believe that.\" Elvira rolled her eyes. \"What are you really doing here?\"\n\n\"Well, we were hoping to recruit you for a job, but I see you're occupied.\" She eyed Anna, who gulped in fear and practically hid herself behind her sister.\n\n\"Yes, I am, so please leave.\" Elvira said curtly.\n\n\"Believe me, that's what I want. However, given you haven't paid your debt yet, and this job is really important, I think you don't really have an option.\" She insisted, smirking when Elvira tensed up.\n\n\"And what if I don't want to?\" She said defiantly.\n\n\"Well, another thing you could do is lend us your friend for a couple of hours. I know some porn sites that would pay good money for a video of such a pretty girl.\" Elvira just wanted to jump over her and beat her to a bloody pulp after she made such comment, but she knew she couldn't put Anna in danger, and so she restrained herself.\n\n\"I think\u2026\" Elvira started, as she took Anna's hand in her own. In other circumstances the redhead would have probably protested, but right now she knew she needed to trust her sister. \"I'd rather die.\" She snarled, before she turned around and started running like the devil himself was chasing them, dragging Anna with her. She did her best to keep up with Elvira's pace, but she was going too fast, and so she tripped a couple of times. Fortunately, their chasers weren't able to catch them. Yet.\n\nElvira made some sharp turns in a couple of alleys, trying to confuse them, but it didn't work, and Anna was getting tired, a fact made evident by how heavy was her breathing now. They wouldn't be able to keep this pace for long, and if that happened then those thugs would catch them, and probably do terrible things to the both of them. That wasn't an option, but what could she do?\n\nIn that moment, Elvira turned another corner and saw an opened dumpster, and didn't even pause to think for a second before picking Anna up in her arms, throwing her inside there and shutting the lid, telling her to stay hidden as she kept running. Soon, their chasers entered the alley, and Elvira turned to see if they had noticed Anna was inside the dumpster. Apparently they hadn't, since they kept running, but Elvira wasn't looking where she was going. Halfway out she tripped over an abandoned box and fell to the ground.\n\nShe quickly tried to get up and keep running, but before she could do that a hand grabbed her collar and pulled her up, slamming her against the wall as it tightened around her neck. When she focused enough to see her attacker's face, she noticed it was one of the gorillas. Great. He was too much for her, but she still tried to struggle.\n\n\"Well, well, Elvira. That wasn't so nice, was it? Running off like that.\" The enormous woman came into her field of view. \"And if was pretty foolish of you to think you could escape from us.\"\n\n\"I had to try.\" Elvira was barely able to say, using the little air she was being able to inhale.\n\n\"And where is that hot friend of yours?\"\n\n\"Far.\" Elvira smiled, satisficed now that she was sure they truly hadn't seen her hiding Anna.\n\n\"It's a shame. I mean, we could rape you instead, but you're of more use to us in other ways.\" She sighed. \"Plus, you probably have more STD's than a cheap prostitute.\" At this, the other two brutes laughed.\n\n\"Har di har har.\" Elvira mock-laughed. \"Very funny, they should give you an award for your sense of humor.\"\n\n\"Shut up!\" She yelled, angrily at Elvira's reckless attitude. \"I think you still don't understand your situation. You need a little reminder.\" At this, she nodded at the man that has holding her, who smirked as he punched her in the stomach. The blow forced the air from her lungs. She tried not to make a sound, but still, a little whine escaped her lips.\n\n\"Not so cocky now, are you?\" The woman mocked her before another fist landed on her face, hitting her so hard she tasted blood in her mouth.\n\nIt didn't matter, she was used to it, and so she just glared at her attackers with all the hate she could muster, hoping to look at least a little bit intimidating.\n\n\"Oh, drop the act.\" The woman spoke again. \"You're coming with us no matter what.\" When Elvira just kept looking at her with anger, she sighed and smacker her. Hard enough to knock her head back so it collided with the wall and her nose to feel like it was now inside her skull. For a moment, there was a ringing on her head that made everything else feel dull.\n\n\"Was that enough or will you keep resisting?\" Knowing she didn't really have a choice, not while being in such a state anyways, Elvira was about to nod in defeat when she heard a loud 'clank' and saw the other man fall.\n\n\"What the\u2026?\" The one that was holding her began to ask, but Elvira used the distraction to kick him in the balls and free herself from his grasp. She dropped to the ground, only to see Anna holding a metal bar and standing over the body of the other gorilla. She would have yelled at her for being a fool, but really, this wasn't the time to start arguing.\n\nSeeing the woman was about to attack Anna, Elvira quickly jumped over her and put her arm around her neck, squeezing as tightly as she could and holding her until she felt her body go limp. Satisficed, she dropped her to the ground and turned to the guy she had left with his balls in his throat\u2026 only to see him struggling to take the metal bar out of Anna's hands. Soon enough, he got the improvised weapon from her and rose it over his head to strike Anna with it, but Elvira was faster.\n\nWithout thinking twice about it, she ran and pushed Anna to the ground, receiving the impact on her shoulder instead. At first it didn't hurt, but she would be feeling it in seconds, so she dropped to the ground and kicked his knees strongly, knocking him off balance before getting up and punching him right in the chin, knocking him to the ground.\n\nBreathing heavily, Elvira wiped the sweat off her face\u2026 but then noticed her hand came away red; she was bleeding, but not alarmingly so, so it could wait.\n\n\"Anna? Are you alright?\" She asked, turning to the redheaded girl, who was still lying in the ground, appearing in shock.\n\n\"I-I\u2026 what\u2026? I mean\u2026\" She tried to articulate, but sensing she couldn't, she shook her head to clear her mind and focused on the most important thing. \"You're bleeding!\"\n\n\"It's nothing.\" Elvira tried to shrug, but when she moved her arm, her shoulder hurt like it was being stabbed again and again with a red hot knife. She clutched it tightly and tried to suppress a cry of pain.\n\n\"We need to go to the hospital. Now.\" Anna said, panicking as she got up and went to assist her sister.\n\n\"I'm fine.\" She insisted through clenched teeth, not wanting their parents to find out she'd endangered their precious daughter.\n\n\"If you're worried about being punished, I promise I'll tell our parents we were attacked by a bunch of criminals and you saved me. Please, you can't just go home like this!\" She pleaded desperately, fearing for her sister's well-being.\n\n\"Fine.\" She reluctantly agreed, letting Anna lead her out of the alley. However, as they were passing beside the gang leader's body, she noticed a piece of paper lying on the ground next to her and picked it up before Anna could protest. It had just a few words written with horrible handwriting.\n\nArendelle University. Laboratory of Genetics. Sabotage DNA test.\n\nElvira felt a chill run down her spine. She wasn't sure this was connected in any way to their visit to Maleficent's laboratory earlier, but it was too much of a coincidence. Which meant\u2026 someone already knew about Elsa.\n\nA/N: So\u2026 I wasn't planning on posting this chapter until Saturday, but today it's Mexico's Independence day! Well, actually it's tomorrow but we celebrate it today because the fifteen of September was Mexico's most hated dictator's birthday\u2026 which it's kind of weird, but that's how it is XD\n\nAnyways, I hope you liked this chapter, even though it was a bit short and Elsa didn't appeared, and if you did please leave a review! I love to read what you think of this fic :)\n\nThanks to my beta reader moonwatcher13."}
-{"text": "The Latest on deadly California mudslides (all times local):\n\n12:05 p.m.\n\nOfficials say a 30-year-old father who had been missing after mudslides cascaded through Montecito earlier this week has been identified as one of the dead.\n\nThe Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office says Pinit Sutthithepa's body was found Saturday afternoon. His 2-year-old daughter, Lydia, is still missing.\n\nSutthithepa's 6-year-old son, Peerawat, and his father-in-law, 79-year-old Richard Loring Taylor, were also among the 20 people killed.\n\nAuthorities say four people, including Sutthithepa's daughter, have been reported missing.\n\nFriends have said Sutthithepa immigrated from Thailand, leaving behind his wife and two children but sending them money for years until he could bring them to the United States,\n\n___\n\n11:10 a.m.\n\nParishioners prayed for those killed and for families still searching for missing relatives in a Southern California community ravaged by deadly mudslides.\n\nBecause most churches in coastal Montecito remain in an evacuation area, many worshippers attended Sunday services in nearby towns. At a church in Santa Barbara, they lit candles and prayed for families who lost loved ones. They said the victims were their friends and neighbors.\n\nIn the disaster area, firefighters are going door to door to check the structural stability of homes damaged in the storm.\n\nAuthorities found another victim Sunday, raising the death toll to 20. Four people remain missing.\n\nRecovery crews continue to work around the clock with backhoes and jackhammers to dig away at the masses of mud, boulders and toppled trees.\n\n___\n\n9:25 a.m.\n\nAuthorities say another body has been found at the scene of Southern California's devastating mudslides, increasing the death toll to 20.\n\nSanta Barbara County spokesman Justin Cooper said Sunday that four people still remain missing amid the destruction in coastal Montecito.\n\nCooper did not give any additional information, only saying the coroner's office will identify the body.\n\nThe U.S. 101 freeway and many surrounding roads are closed indefinitely as crews continue to clear mud and rocks from the community inundated by flash floods last week.\n\n____\n\n9 a.m.\n\nA candlelight vigil is planned for the victims of devastating mudslides in Southern California.\n\nFive people remain missing Sunday as crews continue to remove mud, boulders and downed trees five days after a powerful storm sent flash floods rushing through coastal Montecito, killing at least 19 people.\n\nThe vigil organized by Montecito elected officials is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse Sunken Garden. The event will include an interfaith service. Anyone wanting to attend is invited to bring candles.\n\nThe mudslides before dawn Tuesday destroyed at least 65 homes and damaged more than 460 others."}
-{"text": "Sergio Ramos wanted to wish a happy 2016 to his Twitter followers but found himself in a spot of bother. He made a collage of some of his favourite moments of 2015, but somehow included a photo from Antonella Roccuzzo's Instagram of the birth of Lionel Messi's second son, instead of the birth of his own.\n\nSomeone one Twitter spotted it and the jokes started to flood in, with some even finding it funny to say Ramos may be stating his claim as the father of Antonella's baby.\n\nIn the end, Ramos realised his error and posted a new collage, with a picture of his own child instead of Messi's. Here is the original picture from Antonella's Instagram:"}
-{"text": "LACMTA/File photo\n\nThe Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) board has approved contracts to move forward with environmental work and community outreach for its West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor (WSABTC) project.\n\nThe board approved contracts with WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc. (WSP) to carry out the environmental study for the project that would connect L.A.\u2019s Union Station and Artesia through a new rail line. A contract to conduct community outreach through Arrellano Associates, LLC, has also been approved.\n\nA funding agreement with the Gateway Cities Council of Governments also got the board\u2019s go-ahead to enable the 13 cities along the 20-mile project corridor to be involved in the study. Representatives say Eco-Rapid Transit Joint Powers Authority (JPA), formerly known as the Orangeline Development Authority, will lead the initiative.\n\n\u201cThis is a historic milestone for our cities and community,\u201d said Maria Davila, chair of JPA and vice mayor of South Gate. \u201cEco-Rapid Transit looks forward to continuing our work with [LACMTA] as we move into the environmental phase of project planning for the [WSABTC] project.\u201d\n\nThe project is one of 12 transit projects in Measure R, a half-cent sales tax approved in 2008 by local county voters. Approximately $240 million in Measure R funds were allocated for the project, and representatives say those funds will support the upcoming environmental work.\n\nThe project carries an expected cost of roughly $4 billion. LACMTA\u2019s Measure M ballot measure for the 2016 general election includes additional funding to build a rail line, representatives say.\n\nVarious rail alignments between L.A.\u2019s Union Station and a southern terminal in Artesia will undergo evaluations during the environmental clearance stage, and officials say the LACMTA board will approve the preferred route.\n\nIdeally, officials say the project would use eight miles of a currently unused rail corridor owned by LACMTA between Artesia and Paramount called the West Santa Ana Branch.\n\nThe \u201cOperation Shovel Ready\u201d program to bring LACMTA projects to a \u201cshovel ready\u201d state includes the WSABTC Project. LACMTA says the project could be a candidate for a public-private partnership. LACMTA has also chosen Ernst & Young Infrastructure Advisors, LLC, a consultant in the U.S. public-private partnership infrastructure market, to help the transportation authority determine ways to best advance this and future major projects in the county."}
-{"text": "It\u2019s no secret that at doubleTwist, we\u2019re constantly working on improving the design and usability of our apps. You can read about our long design process for something as \u2018simple\u2019 as an Alarm Clock app \u2013 we are still very proud of doubleTwist Alarm, and its success! For our latest major release, the newly updated doubleTwist player, I\u2019d like to take a little trip down memory lane so I can explain what made us a little slower to introduce this new, \u2018Holo\u2019 version of doubleTwist.\n\nWhen our Android player first came out, Android looked very different:\n\nIn fact, it was a given that Android was still in a phase of dynamic and constant change. The user interface of Android was simply struggling to find an identity, a visual style that it could truly own and be recognized by. At doubleTwist, we\u2019d certainly found our own look and feel, but it\u2019s a real challenge for a designer to come up with a design for an application on a platform that hasn\u2019t truly found its own \u2018native\u2019 appearance yet. Not only was Android rather garish looking, it was also changing its UI guidelines and styles very often. When we first launched, it had just made several complete U-turns on design guidelines: for instance, where Google at first advised icons to be designed in a slanted, 3D perspective, icons were now to be flat, without any kind of perspective, using minimal decoration. This trend of sudden drastic changes in design styles continued as Android grew older: the system font for Android changed, green and orange highlight colors were phased out, and with Android version 3.0 a new design style called \u2018Holo\u2019 was introduced. I was very interested in Holo: I felt like the design team at Google was on to something with its simple lines and flat surfaces.\n\nHowever, as you may be able to understand from our history (and Android\u2019s!), we were reluctant to adopt an entirely new design style for doubleTwist. We hadn\u2019t simply pushed out a design and maintained its appearance: as Android shifted in its user interface conventions and appearance, we tried our best to change with it and look like we belonged and fit in, without investing too much into the visual style of a single Android release.\n\nFortunately for us and all developers, Google stuck to Holo \u2013 and while it is refining the style, its basic concepts and core principles remain somewhat consistent. We\u2019ve waited long enough: it\u2019s time for doubleTwist to adapt. We\u2019ve heard your requests and Google\u2019s and we\u2019re now pushing out what is the first part of a major redesign: the Holo Release, stage 1.\n\nWe haven\u2019t simply adopted Holo, but worked to incorporate everything great about Google\u2019s latest and best designs to bring doubleTwist fully in line with their conventions and design patterns. Navigation throughout the app now uses the Up button, we use the system action bar with accessible actions for any screen (for instance, switching between methods of viewing albums in Album view), but we haven\u2019t lost our smooth and good-looking dark style in the process. We took a lot of care to balance the clean and crisp look of Holo with our own aesthetic and I think it turned out fantastic.\n\ndoubleTwist Player now has a whole slew of new screens that work in both portrait and landscape, with often optimized layouts for landscape devices and usage modes.\n\nBut hopefully you\u2019ll also see smaller changes: with the care we put into typographically redesigning every single view and changing the color and layout to be more pleasing, something as simple as a list view of songs now looks fantastic. We really minded the details: even though we had very intensely custom-designed alert dialogs and prompts in the past, but we\u2019ve completely redesigned these to be Holo-compliant. Our new alerts are lightweight and designed with clean, well laid out typography and with occasional use of color highlights.\n\nAll in all, we left no stone untouched. From the basic look and feel of icons in the main grid view, to the actual little app icon, to the smoothness of animations, we\u2019ve worked very hard to make this new, lighter and redesigned doubleTwist a pleasure to use and feel absolutely perfectly at home on Android \u2013 right now, and in the future.\n\nWe have more drastic changes and improvements planned for the future that will bring the doubleTwist experience to even more devices. We are also optimizing doubleTwist for larger screens and devices to create a stellar app that will blow you away. We hope you expect nothing less from us.\n\ndoubleTwist is handcrafted with \u2764 in San Francisco.\n\n\u2014 Sebastiaan de With, Chief Creative Officer"}
-{"text": "Why you shouldn't go with your wife to a 3D movie... SCORE 65"}
-{"text": "Throughout this strange, uniquely contentious presidential campaign, voters have been asked -- usually obliquely -- whether a woman has what it takes to handle the stresses of political leadership.\n\n\"She doesn't have the look,\" Republican nominee Donald Trump said during the general election's first presidential debate, referring to his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. \"She doesn't have the stamina. I said she doesn't have the stamina, and I don't believe she does have the stamina.\"\n\nBut while Clinton is the first female major-party nominee for U.S. president, women obviously have been proving themselves in politics -- often to the astonishment of men -- for a very long time.\n\nOregon has its fair share of examples, from suffragist Abigail Scott Duniway to the state's current chief executive, Gov. Kate Brown.\n\nThen there's Fern Hobbs, who in 1914 declared martial law in a remote eastern Oregon town, sparking a national fascination with the goings-on there.\n\nIn January of that year, the diminutive, 30-year-old Hobbs, sporting granny glasses and weighing barely 100 pounds, set out by train to bring the lawless town of Copperfield under control. The previous year, a group of the town's residents had sent letters to Gov. Oswald West, insisting saloon owners ran the little burgh and had turned it into a haven for gambling and prostitution. Brawls and deadly gunfights were common, the appeals for help declared.\n\n\"[T]he mayor and council members were interested in the saloon business,\" catering to workers from nearby railroad and power-plant construction projects, The Oregonian reported. \"The chief of police and the police judge had been absent for several months.\" The leading saloon was run by a man named Barney Goldberg, and the paper added that \"Goldberg's mechanical piano played faithfully throughout [fights] and the roulette wheels were never silent.\"\n\nWest, a proud teetotaler, was aghast. He called on Baker County Sheriff Ed Rand to ride into Copperfield and shut down the drinking establishments. The sheriff and the local district attorney refused, pointing out that the saloons were legal operations in the \"wet\" town.\n\nWest didn't accept their reasoning. Viewing them as pusillanimous public servants, he decided he wouldn't just override their decision but embarrass them as well by having a woman take over the town -- namely, his private secretary, Miss Hobbs.\n\n\"The media howled and the people laughed,\" biographer Joe R. Blakely wrote in \"Oswald West: Governor of Oregon 1911-1915.\" \"The authorities of Baker County dragged their feet, certain that a petite woman could not close down the wildest saloons in the state of Oregon.\"\n\nHobbs was already well known in the state. When the governor promoted her early in 1913, The Oregonian declared her the \"first woman private secretary of a Governor in the history of the state actually to hold the office, although some women have served temporarily in that capacity.\" Newspapers across the region noted that she would take home an annual salary of $3,000 -- \"a man's pay,\" as The Oregonian put it. Some observers of state politics believed Hobbs was the highest paid female public official in the country.\n\nA few months later, West showed why his private secretary deserved such an impressive paycheck. Hobbs traveled to Washington, D.C., to negotiate with the federal government over \"important state land matters,\" such as the acquisition of some 4,000 acres in Klamath County for a state forest.\n\nHer mission to the nation's capital proved successful, but even that wouldn't be able to compete with her trek into the wilds of eastern Oregon. Federal bureaucrats could be tetchy, sure, but unlike the men who ran Copperfield, they weren't likely to resort to violence to get their way. As Hobbs stepped aboard the Union Pacific mainliner in Portland, a reporter asked her a stunning question: \"Are you armed?\" She offered a cheeky, perfect reply.\n\n\"Armed? Well, yes, I am. I have a handbag, a portfolio and an umbrella. Do I look like Carrie Nation to you?\" (Carrie Nation was a 6-foot-tall temperance activist known for attacking taverns with a hatchet.)\n\n\"How do you propose to proceed?\" the reporter persisted.\n\n\"To Huntington and then to Copperfield,\" she said with a knowing smile.\n\n\"When you get to Copperfield, what will you do?\"\n\n\"Close the saloons.\"\n\n\"Who are you going to have help you?\"\n\n\"I am alone.\"\n\nHobbs, like her boss, knew how to build dramatic tension. Decent women, of course, never traveled without a chaperone. And she wasn't actually alone: B.K. Lawson, the Oregon State Prison superintendent and later Portland police chief, and five national guardsmen were also on the train, keeping a low profile.\n\nEventually reporters accompanying Hobbs figured out she had a small group of enforcers with her, but it didn't change the narrative: that a woman was going to try to take over a lawless town. The Oregonian called her the \"Governor's 'Joan of Arc.'\"\n\nHobbs wired ahead to Copperfield's mayor asking for a public meeting in the town's dancehall. West had instructed her that if town officials refuse to resign, she was to \"declare martial law, disarm everyone in town, burn all gambling equipment, close the saloons and have all liquor and bar fixtures shipped out of town.\"\n\nCopperfield's leaders planned to resist. Offered a reporter in the town: \"They have been advised by attorneys to use force to keep the places open. All the men of the town are armed. The handful of guardsmen will have a dangerous time.\"\n\nHoping to scare the young woman into inaction, Copperfield's mayor and two councilmen met Hobbs in Baker City as she transferred trains and traveled with her on the creaking local to the tiny town. They \"told me and Col. Lawson what was going to happen to us,\" Hobbs recalled years later. \"While we were going through the tunnel [that led into Copperfield], I turned to Col. Lawson and said, 'Gosh, I wish this tunnel would cave in so we'd never get there.\"\n\n***\n\nHobbs' confidence may have wobbled as they approached their destination, but back in Salem, Gov. West had full faith in her ability. Hobbs may have looked like \"a teenage schoolgirl,\" Blakely wrote, but she had already proven her toughness and competence many times over. When she actually was a teenager, she had labored as a governess and stenographer while helping to raise her younger brother and sister. While working for the governor she also managed to find time to go to law school and pass the bar.\n\nHobbs was a feminist, but her good manners put traditionalists at ease, even though she had some rather radical things to say about women's place in society. \"I would rather talk tariffs than fashions,\" she had told the Oregon Journal in 1913, seven years before women secured the right to vote. \"I would rather read a law book than the latest bestseller. I believe women are less conceited than men and more reliable. I believe women ought to have a share in the affairs of government equal with the men.\"\n\nShe believed all of those things, and so she screwed her courage to the sticking place as the train came though the tunnel and into Copperfield on that bitterly cold January day. Pretty much the entire population of the town -- about 80 people -- met her at the depot. Many hovered around her menacingly as she stepped down from the coach in her feathered black hat and black lynx neckpiece. But they didn't know how to oppose a woman representing state authority, and so they let her through. Off to the dancehall they went, with the mayor leading the way. The guardsmen -- in business attire and carrying suitcases, still undercover -- headed for the saloons.\n\nHobbs stood with Lawson in the back of the dancehall as the room filled up. \"Heavily armed men lined the walls in whispering groups,\" The Oregonian wrote, \"as the young woman marched across the rough floor, mounted to the orchestra platform, took a paper from her portfolio and began to read her declaration of war.\"\n\nThe response: stunned silence. This woman really was taking over the town. With Hobbs watching from the elevated platform, Lawson circled the room, taking guns from holsters. \"Women had better leave the room,\" he called out, lest they endure the indignity of being searched for weapons. He collected more than 200 guns and knives.\n\nDespite the disarming of his constituency, Mayor H.A. Stewart refused to resign or close the saloons. The threat of violence still hung over the proceedings. \"Come on, men, we've got more guns at the saloons,\" one of the tavern owners cried out.\n\nHobbs didn't back down from the challenge. \"Miss Hobbs stood a long minute as though transfixed,\" reporter Stewart Holbrook wrote years later. \"Then she took the [governor's] proclamation of martial law from her briefcase.\" Speaking calmly over a rising tide of \"hoots and jeers,\" she read with sharp, clear enunciation. Then she had Stewart, the town's council members and another local official placed under arrest. She refused to allow them to speak with or send messages to their attorneys.\n\nOutside the dancehall, the guardsmen had been busy, removing all \"gambling paraphernalia\" from the saloons and then barring the doors. Hobbs and Lawson toured the town's main strip, checking on their men's work. Satisfied, Hobbs left Lawson and the soldiers to stand guard over the saloons and headed back to the depot. Eighty minutes after arriving in Copperfield, she was back on a train and headed home. She didn't have the look and didn't need any stamina. She just got the job done and moved on.\n\n***\n\nSome 40 years later Hobbs would return to Copperfield, by this time a ghost town. Before her nostalgic trip back, she would serve overseas with the Red Cross during World War I and then practice law and work in the business department at The Oregon Journal. She died in 1964 at 80.\n\nDespite her continued professional success, it was her hour and a half in Copperfield that people remembered about her. After all, it was an exciting tale, one of the last gasps of the wild west before the onslaught of modernity. After Hobbs left the town that day, Sheriff Rand reportedly planned to raise a posse to ride into Copperfield and run off the guardsmen. \"Offers from persons who wished to be deputized began pouring in on the Sheriff as soon as the report came in and there was some talk of obtaining a special train tomorrow morning and advancing on Copperfield before Governor West would have time to bring in his additional militia,\" The Oregonian wrote on January 4, 1914.\n\nWest was having none of it. In a telegram that may well have been written by his private secretary, he informed the sheriff and district attorney that his special emissary had been sent to Copperfield \"for the purpose of enforcing laws which have been ignored owing to neglect of official duty on your part.\" He added that \"any attempt\" to retake the town \"will be promptly met and handled effectively.\"\n\nSo it stood for months, as the ousted mayor and councilmen tried vainly to undo Hobbs' actions through the courts. Twenty additional militiamen arrived in Copperfield, and the occupation continued. The newspapers hyperbolically referred to the town as a \"war zone,\" but the crisis had become a rather pleasant experience -- at least for those opposed to booze. A town doctor wrote to the Oregon attorney general expressing wonderment at Hobbs' success. \"The secret visit to this place by Gov. West's Secretary, Miss Hobbs, has had such a salutary effect,\" he wrote, adding that an anti-bootlegging ordinance -- rejected repeatedly by the town's former leaders -- was now being implemented.\n\nHobbs, against her will, became a celebrity. Newspapers and magazines across the country heralded the petite, young Oregon woman who had stared down a lawless town. A Massachusetts newspaper asked her to write a first-person account, an offer she politely refused. \"Her mail was flooded with homemade poems written in her honor by total strangers; and laced with letters from other total strangers asking her hand in marriage,\" The Oregonian reported. A California theatrical producer floated the idea of a one-woman show starring Hobbs as Hobbs.\n\nNone of this interested the governor's private secretary in the slightest. \"The subject of Copperfield bores her,\" Holbrook wrote.\n\nGov. West felt otherwise. He was determined to use Hobbs' newfound fame to pursue his prohibitionist goals. In February 1914, he sent her to Cove, a Union County burgh that had voted to go dry but whose leaders were still allowing taverns to operate. This time she spent a full two hours in the town. The mayor and members of the council \"showed Miss Hobbs every courtesy and eagerly watched for an opportunity to aid her in any way possible,\" The Oregonian wrote. A newsreel producer was on hand with a movie camera to document the occupation.\n\nHobbs ignored the clicking machine and conscientiously went about her business.\n\n-- Douglas Perry"}
-{"text": "FITCHBURG (WKOW) -- An eyewitness to the end of a June high speed chase in Dane County says he's stunned the suspected driver's felony charge has been dismissed.\n\nWednesday's dismissal of the eluding police charge against 20-year old Ana Brindley was the second time her felony charge was dismissed.\n\nWhen Brindley's felony was thrown out in August, Dan Johnson of Fitchburg remembers how he felt. \"Shocked, stunned, and my neighbors were stunned,\" he tells 27 News.\n\n\n\nJohnson says he watched more than two dozen police officers converge on his cul-de-sac after Brindley and passengers stopped there at three in the morning. Authorities say Brindley's car was clocked at 110 miles per hour on the Belt Line with police in pursuit.\n\n\"They disobeyed law enforcement commands repeatedly,\" Johnson says. \"They refused to get out of the car.\"-\n\nBrindley's felony charge was initially dismissed by Dane County Judge Ellen Berz. She said prosecutors failed to provide enough first-hand evidence of Brindley's actions to sustain the charge against her. The charge carries a maximum sentence of more than three years behind bars and $10,000 in fines upon a conviction.\n\nProsecutors refiled the charge against Brindley, but dropped an accusation she's a repeat offender that enhances penalties. Brindley previously served jail time after being sentenced in 2017 for eluding police in Dane County at more than 100 miles per hour.\n\nThe felony charge was again dismissed Wednesday, this time by Judge Nicholas McNamara. Court records show prosecutors failed to produce a scheduled, police witness at a court hearing because no subpoena was sent to the officer. Records show McNamara rejected a prosecutor's request for delay, maintaining Brindley was entitled to the hearing within a specified time.\n\nJohnson says he's again floored at what's transpired in the courts.\n\n\n\n\"Obviously the expectation is that the criminal justice system is going to work,\" Johnson says.\n\n\n\nThe latest dismissal does not preclude Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne from again filing the felony charge against Brindley in the future. A criminal complaint tied to the dismissed charge alleged one of Brindley's passengers identified her as the driver.\n\n\"Now that this has been dismissed for a second time, I'm hoping that the case is not brought forward again,\" Brindley tells 27 News. \"As a 20-year old, I just want to put this chapter of my life behind me.\"\n\nOzanne has yet to comment to 27 News on his intentions with the case, or on the apparent, prosecutorial mistakes prior to the case dismissals.\n\nJohnson says he's not in a position to act as judge or juror. But he says he knows what he saw of the culmination of the police chase. \"These people created chaos throughout the Madison area.\"\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Online photo and managed image repository iStockPhoto has rebranded itself as simply iStock and redesigned its logo to make it clearer that it\u2019s a part of the Getty family of businesses.\n\nThe shift to a new name and a redesigned logo was spotted today by Vandelay Design and sees the removal of the word \u2018photo\u2019 and the inclusion of the name Getty Images in its logo.\n\nWhile having the word photo might have used to make sense in the name, dropping it is also probably a smart move for clarity\u2019s sake due to iStock\u2019s expanded offering, which now includes audio and video files, as well as non-photographic images like vectors and illustrations.\n\n\u27a4 iStock [via Vandelay Design]\n\nFeatured Image Credit \u2013 Shutterstock"}
-{"text": "Gallery Grid 1/22 Lucy Hawthorne 2/22 Lucy Hawthorne 3/22 Lucy Hawthorne 4/22 Lucy Hawthorne 5/22 Lucy Hawthorne 6/22 Lucy Hawthorne 7/22 Lucy Hawthorne 8/22 Lucy Hawthorne 9/22 Lucy Hawthorne 10/22 Lucy Hawthorne 11/22 Lucy Hawthorne 12/22 Lucy Hawthorne 13/22 Lucy Hawthorne 14/22 Lucy Hawthorne 15/22 Lucy Hawthorne 16/22 Lucy Hawthorne 17/22 Lucy Hawthorne 18/22 Lucy Hawthorne 19/22 Lucy Hawthorne 20/22 Lucy Hawthorne 21/22 Lucy Hawthorne 22/22 Lucy Hawthorne\n\nOur City Spaces series looks at unique, stylish homes of all budgets across the Twin Cities. Click here to read more about Eva Johnson's super-chic retro house in St. Paul's Como Neighborhood."}
-{"text": "\uc138\ubd80 \uc0ac\ud56d\n\nGOPAX\uc758 \uc0c8\ub85c\uc6b4 \ud30c\ud2b8\ub108\uc778 MOBIUS NETWORK\uc758 \uc11c\uc6b8 Official Meetup\uc774\n\n2018\ub144 2\uc6d4 26\uc77c \uc6d4\uc694\uc77c, \ud301\uc2a4\ud0c0\uc6b4S2 \uc720\ub2c8\uc628\uc2a4\ud018\uc5b4/\ud2b8\ub9ac\ud314\uac00 \uad11\uc7a5\uc5d0\uc11c \uac1c\ucd5c\ub429\ub2c8\ub2e4.\n\n\uc774\ubc88 \ud589\uc0ac\ub294 (\uc8fc)\uc2a4\ud2b8\ub9ac\ubbf8\uc5d0\uc11c \uc6b4\uc601\ud558\ub294 \uace0\ud30d\uc2a4\uc640 Mobius Network\uac00 \uacf5\ub3d9\uc73c\ub85c \uc8fc\ucd5c\ud569\ub2c8\ub2e4.\n\n\n\n\"\ubaa8\ube44\uc6b0\uc2a4\ub294 \uc2a4\ud154\ub77c \ud50c\ub7ab\ud3fc \uc0c1\uc5d0\uc11c \ucd5c\ucd08\ub85c \uacf5\uc2dd \ucd9c\uc2dc\ub41c \ud1a0\ud070\uc785\ub2c8\ub2e4. \ubaa8\ube44\uc6b0\uc2a4\ub294 \ub9c8\uce58 \uc544\uc774\ud3f0\uc758 App Store\ucc98\ub7fc, \ube14\ub85d\uccb4\uc778 \uc571 \uad6c\ub9e4 \ubc0f \uc778\uc571\uacb0\uc81c\ub97c \uc9c0\uc6d0\ud558\ub294 DApp Store\ub97c \uc774\ubbf8 \ucd9c\uc2dc\ud574\uc11c \uc6b4\uc601\uc911\uc785\ub2c8\ub2e4. \uc2a4\ud0e0\ud3ec\ub4dc, \ud558\ubc84\ub4dc \ubc95\ub300\ucd9c\uc2e0\uc758 \uacbd\uc601\uc9c4\uc774 \ucc3d\ub9bd\ud55c \ud300\uc73c\ub85c, \uae09\uc131\uc7a5\ud558\uace0 \uc788\ub294 \uc0dd\ud0dc\uacc4\uc5d0 \uc548\uc804\uc131, \ubcf4\uc548, \uc2e0\ub8b0\ub4f1\uc744 \ub2f4\ubcf4\ud574\uc8fc\ub294 \ud504\ub808\uc784\uc744 \uc81c\uacf5\ud558\uace0\uc790 \ud569\ub2c8\ub2e4. MOBI\ub294 \uc774 DApp Store\uc758 \ud1b5\ud654 \ub2e8\uc704\uc785\ub2c8\ub2e4.\"\n\n\n\n- \uc77c\uc815\n\n18:00-18:30 - \ub2e4\uacfc + \ub124\ud2b8\uc6cc\ud0b9\n\n18:30-19:00 - MOBIUS X GOPAX\uc758 \ube44\uc804 :\uc774\uc900\ud589(\uc2a4\ud2b8\ub9ac\ubbf8 CEO)\n\n19:10-19:40 - \ubaa8\ube44\uc6b0\uc2a4 \ub124\ud2b8\uc6cc\ud06c\uc5d0 \ub300\ud558\uc5ec : Cyrus Khajvandi(COO and Co-Founder of MOBIUS)\n\n19:50-20:20 -\ube14\ub85d\uccb4\uc778\uacfc \uc554\ud638\ud654\ud3d0\uc758 \ubbf8\ub798:\uc544\uc2dc\uc544\uc5d0\uc11c \ubbf8\uad6d\uae4c\uc9c0/\ud328\ub110 \ud1a0\ud06c with \uc2a4\ud398\uc15c \uac8c\uc2a4\ud2b8 : Ella Qiang (Director of partnership at Stellar), \ud5c8\uc9c4\ud638(\uc138\ub9c8 \ud2b8\ub79c\uc2a4\ub9c1\ud06c \ub300\ud45c)\n\n\n\n*\uc2dd\uc0ac \ub300\uc6a9\uc758 \uac04\ub2e8\ud55c \ub2e4\uacfc\uac00 \uc81c\uacf5\ub420 \uc608\uc815\uc785\ub2c8\ub2e4,\n\n*\ud574\ub2f9 \uc7a5\uc18c\ub294 \uc8fc\ucc28\uac00 \ubd88\uac00\ud558\uc624\ub2c8 \uac00\uae09\uc801 \ub300\uc911\uad50\ud1b5 \uc774\uc6a9 \ubc14\ub78d\ub2c8\ub2e4.\n\n* \uc138\uc158\ub4e4\uc740 \uace0\ud30d\uc2a4 \uacf5\uc2dd \uc720\ud29c\ube0c \ubc0f \uc778\uc2a4\ud0c0\uadf8\ub7a8\uc744 \ud1b5\ud574 \ub77c\uc774\ube0c \uc2a4\ud2b8\ub9ac\ubc0d \ub420 \uc608\uc815\uc785\ub2c8\ub2e4.\n\n\n\n----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\nJoin us on Monday, Feb 26th at 6:00pm - 8:20pm for our cryptocurrency meetup:Leaders from Mobius (MOBI), Stellar (XLM), and GOPAX.\n\n\n\nCyrus Khajvandi, the Co-founder of Mobius network and , will co-host this event with GOPAX.\n\n\n\nMobius is a turn-key blockchain solution for all technology companies. Consisting of previous startup founders with backgrounds and experiences from Stanford University, Harvard Law School, The White House, and Y Combinator. Mobius provides stability, security, credibility, and solid framework to a rapidly developing ecosystem. MOBI is the token used by the Mobius Network to reward safe and secure transactions and data sharing throughout the Blockchain economy.\n\n\n\n-Agenda\n\n18:00-18:30 networking & refreshments with food\n\n18:30-19:00 -\"The vision of Mobius X GOPAX\" : Junhaeng Lee, CEO of GOPAX\n\n19:10-19:40 -\"About Mobius Network\" : Cyrus Khajvandi, COO and Co-Founder of Mobius\n\n19:50-20:20-\"The Future of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency from Asia to the U.S.\" with Special Guests Ella Qiang, Director of Partnerships at Stellar, and Jin Ho Hur, Managing Director of SEMA Translink Investment.\n\n\n\n*Light refreshment will be served\n\n*Please taking public transportation.\n\n* Sessions will be live-streamed at GOPAX official Youtube and Instagram channel."}
-{"text": "Television: The final frontier. These are the voyages of the legacy broadcast network CBS. Its apparently never-ending mission: to explore strange new revamps of old shows, to seek out fully integrated distribution models and new revenue streams. To boldly go where, to be honest, a few other networks with studios and a couple powerful streaming video on demand services have already gone before. SHWOOOOM!\n\n\u201cShwoooom,\u201d in this case, is Klingon for \u201canother Star Trek prequel show.\u201d It\u2019s Star Trek: Discovery, which premieres on CBS on Sunday night\u2014y'know, on an actual broadcast network\u2014and thereafter will stream on All Access, CBS\u2019 $9.99-a-month subscription service ($5.99 if you're OK with watching commercials).1 Set a decade before the first Trek series (and therefore 90 years after Star Trek: Enterprise, the sixth and most recent Trek series), the show has all new characters, with the exception of two-time Kirk adversary Harry Mudd and Sarek, Mr. Spock\u2019s dad. And plenty of angry Klingons, comin\u2019 atcha like a bat\u2019leth outta hell.\n\nThere's trouble in them thar stars, though. The aim of TV networks\u2014sorry, \"content creators\"\u2014is to make good shows, reach a broad audience, and make money. Except in the modern era of streaming video, like the old saying about home repair, Hollywood tends to pick any two. As an experienced industry insider tells me, \u201ctelevision is on fire, and everyone is running around flipping tables.\u201d With Discovery, CBS is, like some remote starbase, hoping the United Federation of New Subscribers will come to its aid. Will they?\n\nThree words: Shields up, everyone.\n\nDiscovery faces not one but two implacable foes. (Three if you count Klingons.) It enters the upside-down business landscape of episodic television: The studios that produce the shows also own the networks that distribute them, a streaming service co-owned by a lot of broadcasters just won all the Emmys, a former DVD mail-order business makes the best programs, and a cell phone company is about to spend $1 billion just to get into the game. Oh, and all the budgets and viewership numbers are either secret or wrong.\n\nNow that you're panicked about the business, consider too that the show has some hard storytelling spadework ahead. As a prequel, it burrows into one of the most picked over, obsessed-upon, fan-fictionalized, head-canonized story universes ever built. Perhaps relatedly, the series has had a turbulent start. Even before leaving spacedock, it lost its first showrunner, Bryan Fuller, and went through numerous delays; the show was supposed to launch All Access and instead ceded that ground to The Good Fight.\n\nThe current team has been sanguine about all that in its press-tour platitudes\u2014creative differences, still owe a great debt to Bryan, making the show we want to make, etc.\u2014but Fuller has a reputation for blowing schedules and budgets, and rumors about the show\u2019s early development suggest a gladiatorial circus so chaotic that a smart Gamester of Triskelion could have really raked in the quatloos, if you know what I mean. And I know you do.\n\nWhen we thought, what if we put Star Trek here, we all got incredibly excited about that robust fan base. Mark DeBevoisie, president and COO, CBS Interactive\n\nA new Trek show always had to be about more than delivering a dilithium infusion to fans. Conventional wisdom maintains that Trek comes with a built-in audience; that\u2019s why Paramount used Next Generation as an experiment in straight-to-syndication hour-long dramas, and Voyager to launch the nascent UPN as a challenge to the more established broadcast networks. While Discover\u2019s audience arguably has a similar floor, though, no one knows where its ceiling will be in this hyperfragmented age.\n\nSo when the studio side of CBS started talking about a new Trek show, all the pieces of CBS\u2019 distribution portfolio got as hot as replicated Earl Grey tea. \u201cWhen we thought, what if we put Star Trek here,\u201d says Mark DeBevoise, the president and COO of CBS Interactive, \"I think we all got incredibly excited about that robust fan base. That\u2019s an attractive proposition for both converting and retaining subscribers, and it\u2019s an attractive proposition for the show to be done in a new and different way.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Microsoft fixes 25 critical vulnerabilities including one zero day under attack and one tied to the high-profile BlueBorne attack vector.\n\nAn actively exploited zero-day vulnerability tied to Microsoft\u2019s .NET framework is one of 25 critical and 54 important vulnerabilities fixed by Microsoft in its September Patch Tuesday security bulletin.\n\nAccording to Microsoft, the .NET framework vulnerability (CVE-2017-8759) allows attackers to \u201ctake control of an affected system.\u201d From there, attackers can install programs and view, change, or delete data, or create new accounts with full user rights.\n\n\u201cTo exploit the vulnerability, an attacker would first need to convince the user to open a malicious document or application,\u201d Microsoft said Tuesday. The bulletin doesn\u2019t give any indication of how widespread the attacks are but says the vulnerability is \u201cimportant\u201d and was found by security firm FireEye.\n\nAccording to FireEye, the vulnerability is actively being distributed with the FINSPY spyware and delivered via malicious Microsoft Office RTF files. Researchers there said the zero day leverages a SOAP WSDL parser code injection vulnerability.\n\n\u201cFireEye analyzed a Microsoft Word document where attackers used the arbitrary code injection to download and execute a Visual Basic script that contained PowerShell commands,\u201d Genwei Jiang, Ben Read, Tom Bennett, researchers with the firm wrote in a technical analysis of the vulnerability also posted Tuesday.\n\nThis is the second zero-day vulnerability used to distribute FINSPY uncovered by FireEye in 2017. The first was found in April and was part of an unidentified state-sponsored attack targeting victims in Russia\n\n\u201cThese exposures demonstrate the significant resources available to \u2018lawful intercept\u2019 companies and their customers. Furthermore, FINSPY has been sold to multiple clients, suggesting the vulnerability was being used against other targets,\u201d the firm said.\n\nOn Tuesday, Microsoft also publicly disclosed information pertaining to a patch for vulnerability that is part of a collection of exploits known as BlueBorne, discovered and publicly revealed Tuesday by security firm Armis.\n\nThe BlueBorne-related bug (CVE-2017-8628), identified as a Bluetooth driver spoofing vulnerability, could allow an attacker to successfully perform a man-in-the-middle attack and force a user\u2019s computer to unknowingly route traffic through the attacker\u2019s computer, according to Microsoft.\n\nThe prerequisite for the attack includes the target\u2019s device to have Bluetooth enabled and for the adversary to be within proximity of the device. \u201cThe attacker can then initiate a Bluetooth connection to the target computer without the user\u2019s knowledge\u201d and carry out the attack, according to Microsoft.\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t often see patches to fix issues that depend on physical proximity, but Bluetooth attacks are definitely an exception,\u201d the Zero Day Initiative\u2019s (ZDI) Dustin Childs said in an analysis of the vulnerability. \u201cFor the Windows OS, code execution over Bluetooth cannot directly occur with this bug. Still, the MiTM attack is still severe enough to warrant extra attention.\u201d\n\nMicrosoft also patched a critical NetBIOS remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2017-0161). The flaw exists in NetBT Session Services when NetBT fails to maintain certain sequencing requirements, Microsoft said. \u201cTo exploit the vulnerability, an attacker needs to be able to send specially crafted NetBT Session Service packets to an impacted system,\u201d according to the bulletin.\n\nZDI points out that NetBIOS isn\u2019t a routable protocol, so the impact is limited. \u201cThe bad news is that this is practically wormable within a LAN. This could also impact multiple virtual clients if the guest OSes all connect to the same (virtual) LAN,\u201d according to ZDI.\n\nIn total, Microsoft released 81 security patches as part of its September Patch Tuesday impacting Windows, Internet Explorer, Edge, Exchange, .NET Framework, Office and Hyper-V. Twenty-six of the vulnerabilities are critical, 53 important and two are rated moderate in severity. Cutting the numbers even further, 38 of the vulnerabilities impacted Windows and 22 are tied Microsoft\u2019s Edge and IE browsers.\n\n\u201cMany of these vulnerabilities involve the Scripting Engine, which can impact both browsers and Microsoft Office, and should be considered for prioritizing for workstation-type systems that use email and access the internet via a browser,\u201d according to analysis by Jimmy Graham, director of product management, vulnerability management for security firm Qualys."}
-{"text": "Last updated on .From the section Football\n\nArsenal were unbeaten in their previous six games in Germany\n\nArsenal manage just four shots\n\nAubameyang scores one and hits bar\n\nTeenager Bellerin starts for Gunners\n\nArsenal at home to Galatasaray next\n\nArsenal's Champions League Group D campaign got off to a poor start as Borussia Dortmund scored either side of half-time to secure a deserved victory.\n\nCiro Immobile opened the scoring after powering past Laurent Koscielny to beat Wojciech Szczesny with a low finish.\n\nDortmund doubled their lead when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang finished another fine breakaway.\n\nAubameyang also hit the bar, while Danny Welbeck wasted Arsenal's best chance when clean through.\n\nFormer Arsenal striker John Hartson on BBC Radio 5 live: \"Arsenal papered over the cracks last season, winning the FA Cup and just sneaking into the top four. Their performances against the big teams in the past few years have been unacceptable. They could have conceded five or six against Dortmund. Without overreacting, it was a really woeful defensive performance from Arsenal.\"\n\nArsenal, competing at this stage of the Champions League for the 17th year in a row, have progressed to the knockout rounds before despite losing their opening group game.\n\nBut they will have to improve significantly after a woeful display in which they were outfought and outplayed for long periods at Signal Iduna Park.\n\nThe Gunners arrived in Germany unbeaten in their previous six visits to the country.\n\nYet Dortmund, who had 22 shots compared to Arsenal's four, should have won by a more handsome scoreline after a careless performance by Arsene Wenger's side.\n\nThe visitors, missing defenders Nacho Monreal, Mathieu Debuchy and Calum Chambers, fielded 19-year-old full-back Hector Bellerin, whose only previous senior outing was a 26-minute substitute appearance in a League Cup tie.\n\nAlong with his team-mates, the Spaniard, who spent three months of last season on loan in the Championship at Watford, spent most of the first half on the back foot.\n\nSokratis Papastathopoulos and Henrikh Mkhitaryan had already let the Gunners off the hook with some wasteful finishing before Immobile broke the deadlock in the 45th minute.\n\nIt came after Arsenal conceded possession on the edge of the Dortmund area, a long clearance finding former Torino forward Immobile, who kept his composure before finding the net with a low angled finish after gliding past Koscielny.\n\nShortly before Immobile's opener, Welbeck - on his second Gunners appearance since joining from Manchester United - dragged a wonderful chance wide from inside the area after clever play by Aaron Ramsey.\n\nIt was to prove a costly miss. The second half was just three minutes old when Aubameyang skipped round Szczesny to bundle the ball over the line after the Gunners keeper and Per Mertesacker got in each other's way.\n\nAubameyang rattled the bar with a rising shot from the edge of the area after Arsenal's defence was again hopelessly exposed by another swift German counter-attack.\n\nDefeat leaves the Gunners bottom of the group after Galatasaray and Anderlecht drew 1-1.\n\nArsene Wenger celebrates his 18th anniversary in charge of Arsenal on 30 September\n\nArsenal conceded two or more goals for the 11th time in their past 19 Champions League away games\n\nDanny Welbeck was making his second appearance for Arsenal\n\nBorussia Dortmund's next Champions League group game is away to Anderlecht on 1 October\n\nArsenal lost 3-0 at home to Inter Milan in their opening group game in the 2003-04 Champions League before progressing to the quarter-finals\n\nDortmund's opening goal against Arsenal came from their 15th shot of the game"}
-{"text": "Ledger launch a new hardware wallet, his name is Ledger X, and for this new device the company hosting a good contest for win 5 Ledger Nano X and 10 Ledger Nano S. To enter the Ledger contest, click at this link => https://15days.ledger.com/9375/6765617\n\nInsert your email and run small tasks for to earn points (follow Ledger on Twitter, retweet the contest announcement post on Twitter, like and comment with #Ledger15days hashtag on Instagram,etc.).\n\nDuring the contest of 15 days, you can increase your chances for the win a Ledger, sharing your referral link with your friends and people on the social media. You earn 100 points for each new referral. the more points you have, the better your chances of winning.\n\nLedger Nano X compared to the classic Ledger Nano S brings two important innovations: 1) The bluetooth technology to connect the hardware wallet to mobile devices without using the classic cable anymore. 2) You can to install up to 100 apps into device.\n\nA good alternative to Ledger Nano X is the CoolWallet S => https://coolwallet.io\n\nP.S. The contest will run till the 15 March 2019."}
-{"text": "Lots of fixes this update. There are still some remaining but I think i address the majority of the major ones. Whatever remains is either low priority, or bugs i cannot reproduce / unsure of the cause. I will most likely start working on alpha 2 this upcoming week and circle back to the remaining bugs at a later time.3.0 Alpha 1d (2018-06-10):More 18:9 album art size tweaksSped up loading of the first song on startup (only an issue with very large libraries)Browser root paths should now be sorted by whatever sort order is selectedQueue details should now load faster for large queuesQueue should now load data around the current position instead of the start when the queue view is openedAuto pause / play on power plug is now disabled by defaultAdjusted album details view when no album art is presentOn Queue Completion is now applied when manually hitting next track at the end of the queuePlaying artist or genre shuffled will now enable shuffle modeFixed issue where album art in now playing would not update on track changeNotification album art will now be cleared when the playing track has no artFixed issue changing view mode after the screen has turned off and on againFixed issue where grid size menu option does not appear when switching to grid mode until reloading viewAlbum details should factor in disc no when sorting by track numberFixed multiple of the same artist or genre being displayed in android autoAlbum art should now always show up on startup in the mini player (hopefully)Fixed incorrect color being used when scrolling the artist/genre details viewFixed fast scroll letters for albumartist list viewFixed where having the same track in the queue multiple times would mess the orderingAlbum details view items not highlighting during multi selectAlbum details should now highlight the correct track after track changeFixed issue with the scanner where songs and albums were added twice"}
-{"text": "FILE - In this April 28, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump holds up a signed Executive Order in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington directing the Interior Department to begin review of restrictive drilling policies for the outer-continental shelf. The AP reported on May 26, 2017, that a story shared by the St. George Gazette website claiming Trump signed an executive order allowing the hunting of bald eagles is a hoax. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez, File)\n\nFILE - In this April 28, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump holds up a signed Executive Order in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington directing the Interior Department to begin review of restrictive drilling policies for the outer-continental shelf. The AP reported on May 26, 2017, that a story shared by the St. George Gazette website claiming Trump signed an executive order allowing the hunting of bald eagles is a hoax. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez, File)\n\nA roundup of some of the most popular, but completely untrue, headlines of the week. None of these stories are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. AP checked these out; here are the real facts:\n\nNOT REAL: Donald Trump Signs Executive Order Allowing The Hunting Of Bald Eagles\n\nTHE FACTS: The story was shared by the St. George Gazette and attributed to The Associated Press. But the AP never ran such a story because the president gave no such order. A list of executive orders issued by Trump mentions nothing about bald eagles. Congress first outlawed the killing of the national bird in 1918. The St. George Gazette is an outlet of admitted hoax artist Paul Horner.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\n___\n\nNOT REAL: George Soros Indicted For Voter Machine Fraud And More\n\nTHE FACTS: A search of the federal court system shows no criminal cases pending against the Hungarian-American billionaire known to back liberal causes, despite a story posted by The People\u2019s Resistance that claimed Soros was federally indicted. The post included a photo that appeared to show Soros in a courtroom. The picture is actually a doctored image of a hacker being sentenced in June for stealing from a Soros foundation.\n\n___\n\nNOT REAL: NASA Will Pay You $18,000 To Stay In Bed And Smoke Weed For 70 Straight Days\n\nTHE FACTS: NASA has been willing to pay people willing to stay in bed, but there was no marijuana involved in the offer. The space agency\u2019s website says bed rest studies give scientists information on how the body adapts to weightlessness. NASA spokesman William Jeffs tells the AP that the story is \u201cabsolutely untrue\u201d and the agency hasn\u2019t conducted bed rest studies for some time.\n\n___\n\nNOT REAL: Donald Trump Praises Colonel Sanders for His Service in the Civil War\n\nTHE FACTS: The post from admitted satire site The Red Schtick said the president praised the Kentucky Fried Chicken founder as a \u201ctremendous Civil War hero\u201d who once saved an army at Valley Forge from starvation. Sanders was born 25 years after the war\u2019s end and died in 1980. The story circulated following Trump\u2019s May 1 assertion in an interview that President Andrew Jackson could have prevented the war, which began 16 years after Jackson\u2019s death.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\n___\n\nNOT REAL: Bill Murray Reveals Why He\u2019s Moving to Buffalo, New York\n\nTHE FACTS: Fans of Murray, Jennifer Aniston, Matt Damon or scores of other celebrities may be upset to know that the stars aren\u2019t likely moving to a city near them. A series of stories posted on admitted hoax sites made up to look like local news outlets has celebrities moving to towns across North America, including Buffalo, New York; Janesville, Wisconsin; and Dothan, Alabama. Each story quotes the star mentioning that he or she is getting \u201ca little tired of the L.A. lifestyle\u201d and wants a big change in life.\n\n___\n\nThis new weekly fixture is part of The Associated Press\u2019 ongoing efforts to fact-check claims in suspected false news stories.\n\n___\n\nFind all AP Fact Checks here: https://apne.ws/APFactCheck"}
-{"text": "Like all buzzwords, \u201cdiversity\u201d has several uses. Deployed thoughtfully, it can transform shamefully homogeneous institutions for the better. However, it can also be used as a form of nonsensical virtue-signalling that changes very little.\n\nThe new Boris Johnson cabinet, which has been lauded for its \u201crecord numbers\u201d (four!) of black and minority ethnic (BAME) members is an example of this. Yes, there are two British Asians, Priti Patel and Sajid Javid, in high state office, as well as James Cleverly who is a black Briton. Is their inclusion, along with that of Alok Sharma, in this cabinet really going to change a fundamentally regressive government headed by a prime minister who has a record, not of championing minorities or multiculturalism, but of making unacceptably racist as well as sexist and homophobic pronouncements?\n\nThe harsh truth is that diversity-washing Johnson\u2019s regime with a handful of black and brown faces is a way to shore up hierarchical rule and vicious class and race inequalities. It serves the purpose of performing inclusion without changing the exploitative and racist politics of One Nation Conservatism. It is laughable for a cabinet that is two-thirds privately educated and nearly half of whom have Oxbridge degrees to claim to be among the \u201cmost diverse\u201d in history.\n\nBoris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out Show all 40 1 /40 Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Jacob Rees-Mogg Jacob Rees Mogg appointed Leader of the Commons AFP/Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Esther McVey Esther McVey appointed housing secretary AFP/Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Jo Johnson Jo Johnson appointed new business and energy secretary EPA Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Brandon Lewis Brandon Lewis appointed immigration secretary Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: James Cleverly James Cleverly appointed Conservative Party chairman PA Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Baroness Evans Baroness Evans remains Leader of Lords PA Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Julian Smith Julian Smith appointed Northern Irish secretary Reuters Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Alister Jack Alister jack appointed Scottish secretary PA Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Alun Cairns Alun Cairns remains Welsh secretary AFP/Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Grant Shapps Grant Shapps appointed transport secretary Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Alok Sharma Alok Sharma appointed international development secretary AFP/Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Robert Buckland Robert Buckland appointed justice secretary Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Amber Rudd Amber Rudd remains work and pensions secretary Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Robert Jenrick Robert Jenrick appointed housing and communities secretary AFP/Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Andrea Leadsom Andrea Leadsom appointed business secretary Reuters Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Nicky Morgan Nicky Morgan appointed culture secretary Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Gavin Williamson Gavin Williamson appointed education secretary AFP/Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Theresa Villiers Theresa Villiers appointed environment secretary AFP/Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Liz Truss Liz Truss is appointed international trade secretary Reuters Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Ben Wallace Ben Wallace appointed defence secretary EPA Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Stephen Barclay Stephen Barclay remains EU secretary AFP/Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Dominic Raab Dominic Raab appointed foreign secretary AFP/Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Priti Patel Priti Patel appointed home secretary AFP/Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Michael Gove Michael Gove given Chandellor of the Duchy of Lancaster AFP Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Sajid Javid Sajid Javid is appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer AP Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out Out: Jeremy Hunt Jeremy Hunt sacked as foreign secretary Reuters Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out In: Matt Hancock Matt Hancock remains health secretary AFP/Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out Out: Chris Grayling Chris Grayling resigned as transport secretary Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out Out: Jeremy Wright Jeremy Wright sacked as culture secretary PA Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out Out: Karen Bradley Karen Bradley sacked as Northern Ireland secretary Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out Out: James Brokenshire James Brokenshire sacked as housing and communities secretary Reuters Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out Out: Penny Mordaunt Penny Mourdaunt sacked as defence secretary Reuters Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out Out: Liam Fox Liam Fox sacked as international trade secretary Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out Out: Greg Clarke Greg Clarke sacked as business secretary PA Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out Out: David Mundell David Mundell sacked as Scottish secretary Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out Out: Damien Hinds Damien Hinds sacked as education secretary Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out Out: David Gauke David Gauke resigned as justice secretary EPA Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out Out: Rory Stewart Rory Stewart resigned as international development secretary Getty Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out Out: David Lidlington David Lidlington resigned as deputy Prime Minister PA Boris Johnson's cabinet: Who's in and who's out Out: Philip Hammond Philip Hammond resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer AFP/Getty\n\nIt is, however, possible to fool some of the people some of the time. Along with a tranche of self-congratulatory white commentators, some BAME pundits have also insisted that the prominence of a handful of non-white faces in cabinet indicates progress for black and Asian communities, empowering them through greater symbolic \u201cvisibility\u201d. This would make sense if the record of ministers like Javid and Patel indicated that they would stand up for these communities. Instead, Javid has repeatedly and falsely associated both the sexual \u201cgrooming\u201d of young women and \u201cterror\u201d with Islam, while Patel was a prominent face in the xenophobic and anti-immigrant Vote Leave campaign. She has also stated publicly that she has no desire to be identified with ethnic minorities, apparently an \u201cinsulting\u201d affiliation rather than a descriptive one.\n\nAt the very least, those who claim a victory for \u201cdiversity\u201d should ask how often these non-white faces in cabinet have actually challenged racism or discrimination. Carefully chosen for their distance from the communities they supposedly now represent, both Javid and Patel have track records that clearly indicate they will help implement racist and anti-immigrant policies rather than challenge white supremacy, the lifeblood of the 97 per cent white Conservative Party.\n\nIndependent Minds Events: get involved in the news agenda\n\nBeloved of so many Tories and Brexiteers including Johnson (who has called for Africa to be colonised again), the British empire and its racist hierarchy were historically enabled by a small number of Asian and African elite collaborators. In the appointment of small number of non-white loyalists to the current government, we see this pattern repeat itself.\n\nIf diversity is to mean something other than a set of superficial differences, then it is vital not to replicate the homogenising assumptions of racism whereby only skin colour matters or to assume that non-white complexions automatically stand for change. For one thing, it is as possible to be a brown or black person with regressive, even racist, politics as it is to be a white anti-racist. A place at the majority table often comes at the price of silence or active complicity."}
-{"text": "Monday through Friday of each week, the Norwegian Ice Service, a government agency within the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, tweets out rather dismal news about the state of the thawing Arctic.\n\nBut these tweets aren't intended to be grim. They're simply an objective account of the modern Arctic reality. Each morning, the agency puts the current sea ice cover over a large swath of ocean between Norway and the North Pole into an emotionless, historical perspective.\n\nTake, for instance, a post from August 22, 2018:\n\nThis is the lowest area for this day of the year in our records dating back to 1967. \u2014 Norway Ice Service (@Istjenesten) August 22, 2018\n\nThe happenings in this 600,000-square kilometer area monitored by the Ice Service are consistent with what's occurring in the greater Arctic: Of the nearly 40 years of satellite records observed by the National Snow and Ice Data Center, each of the last 12 years have seen the 12 lowest ice extents on record.\n\n\"It's certainly really reinforcing that we are on a declining trend \u2014 and we can expect it to go lower,\" Nick Hughes, head of the Norwegian Ice Service, said in an interview.\n\nArctic sea ice is now vanishingly at an accelerating rate. As more ice melts, there are significantly fewer bright, white surfaces to reflect the sun's energy back into space. Instead, the ocean absorbs the heat, further boosting the warming over the expansive Arctic.\n\n\"Sea ice cover at the end of Arctic summers has dropped precipitously since the 1980s,\" Yarrow Axford, a climate and Arctic scientist at Northwestern University, said over email. \"It\u2019s one of the most profound changes we\u2019ve witnessed in terms of climate change so far.\"\n\nIn the Norwegian corner of the Arctic, the Ice Service is in a particularly good position to put the present ice cover into a greater historical perspective.\n\nThis is the 2nd lowest area on record for this day of the year, only 2004 (133,892 sq km) was lower. \u2014 Norway Ice Service (@Istjenesten) August 15, 2018\n\n\"We have about 50 years of records,\" said Hughes. \"We\u2019re one of the first users of satellite imaging technology.\"\n\nBut the Ice Service doesn't just exist to send daily Twitter updates.\n\nThe agency came into being half a century ago to provide navigation support for Norwegian mariners on the high seas. Today, with less ice cover, more vessels are able to use the waters, which makes the Ice Service increasingly relevant.\n\n\"There\u2019s more hazards to be aware of,\" said Hughes. \"Even though there\u2019s this decline in cover, there\u2019s a need to stay vigilant for changing ice conditions.\"\n\nHughes and his team, then, keep quite busy as all types of fishing, transportation, and natural gas vessels navigate through the precarious, frigid waters.\n\nAnd this a primary reason why the daily tweets are so stark, emotionless, and similar. Lacking time to always type and send out the tweets, a bot \u2014 not a human \u2014 gathers the day's ice updates, uses the prewritten text, and then sends it out to the account's waiting followers.\n\nThe tweets actually arrive each morning in pairs: One with a stark statement, and the other with raw numbers illustrating just how many square kilometers below the historical average the ice presently sits.\n\nThe #Svalbard #seaice area from the ice chart for 23rd Aug 2018 is 124,738 sq km. This is 104,909 sq km below the 1981-2010 average. #Arctic \u2014 Norway Ice Service (@Istjenesten) August 23, 2018\n\nFor perspective, 1 square kilometer is about the same total area as 187 football fields. So the ice cover on August 23, 2018 was 19.6 million football fields below the historical average.\n\nThat sounds like a lot. And it sounds grim. But it's reality.\n\n\"Unfortunately, grim is the state of change in the Arctic, and really globally at this point,\" Twila Moon, a scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, said in an interview. \"We\u2019ve fundamentally changed some of the dominant features of the surface of the Arctic.\"\n\nNaysayers might say that the Earth is billions of years old, and the Arctic has melted before. That's true, said Moon, who researches long-term environmental changes. But the Arctic \u2014 like the world \u2014 is warming at an unprecedented rate.\n\n\"The Earth has seen much higher and lower temperatures, but they happened through very slowly moving processes,\" said Moon. \"We\u2019ve created a system in which we\u2019re really quickly creating carbon.\"\n\nThe year's sea ice is well below the historical average. Image: national snow and ice data center\n\nThe levels of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere are now the highest they've been in at least 800,000 years.\n\nIn the last 100 years, these carbon dioxide numbers, following in tandem with the burning of ancient fuels, have skyrocketed.\n\nBoth the Norwegian seas and the greater Arctic may seem far-off. And for many of us, it's thousands of miles away. But there's a reason why scientists are watching it so intently.\n\n\"The Arctic is like a canary in a coal mine, and it\u2019s warning us that our planet\u2019s climate is undergoing a really profound change,\" said Axford.\n\nIt's a reality that's difficult to ignore, as NASA and European Space Agency satellites now track the dwindling ice each day.\n\nAccordingly, tweets from the Norway Ice Service will continue to arrive each morning, a bearer of straight, unfettered reality.\n\n\"It\u2019s only once a day, so hopefully that\u2019s not too much of a nuisance,\" said Hughes."}
-{"text": "PLEASANT HILL, IA\u2014Shaking his head as he watched coverage of the city\u2019s flooded subway system during a campaign stop, presidential candidate Bill de Blasio was overheard remarking Tuesday that New York appeared to be a complete and total disaster. \u201cI can\u2019t believe how miserable and hopeless that place looks,\u201d de Blasio said as he visited the Pleasant Hill Diner in Iowa, observing that if he were elected president, then perhaps New Yorkers wouldn\u2019t have to worry about such terrible things happening anymore. \u201cHow can people there stand it? I know I don\u2019t want to live in a place like that. Somebody really ought to do something.\u201d Before his aides ushered him to his next campaign event, De Blasio took one last look at the television and muttered that he was glad he didn\u2019t have to deal with any of that mess.\n\nAdvertisement"}
-{"text": "Il se fait appeler \"Beryl614\". Ce quadrag\u00e9naire, qui a fourni \u00e0 Marianne de solides garanties sur son identit\u00e9, est sans doute le premier agent secret du monde \u00e0 avoir lanc\u00e9... sa propre cha\u00eene YouTube. D\u00e9marr\u00e9e d\u00e9but janvier avec une vid\u00e9o intitul\u00e9e \"la fin de Daech ?\", \"Talks with a spy\" se propose de raconter le monde du renseignement et les dessous des conflits mondiaux, \u00e0 la lumi\u00e8re d'une exp\u00e9rience accumul\u00e9e pendant 15 ann\u00e9es pass\u00e9s \u00e0 la DGSE (la Direction g\u00e9n\u00e9rale de la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 ext\u00e9rieure, les renseignements fran\u00e7ais). Marianne a souhait\u00e9 en savoir plus sur la d\u00e9marche de ce youtubeur unique en son genre. Au d\u00e9tour d'une conversation sur Skype, Beryl614 s'est confi\u00e9 - si l'expression a un sens, concernant un professionnel du mensonge - pendant plus d'une heure sur son parcours, ses motivations et son rapport \u00e0 son ancienne activit\u00e9. S'il a souhait\u00e9 relire ses propos, il n'en a retranch\u00e9 aucune information significative.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMarianne : Qui se cache derri\u00e8re \u00ab Beryl614 \u00bb, qui est selon toute vraisemblance le premier agent secret-youtubeur de l\u2019histoire ?\n\nBeryl614 : Je ne souhaite pas d\u00e9voiler mon nom mais je peux vous dire que j\u2019ai 48 ans, que j\u2019\u00e9tais militaire de carri\u00e8re et que j\u2019ai quitt\u00e9 la DGSE et l\u2019arm\u00e9e \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9t\u00e9 2017, apr\u00e8s 28 ans de service, dont 15 pass\u00e9s \u00e0 la DGSE. J\u2019y ai fait de nombreuses choses. J\u2019ai d\u2019abord travaill\u00e9 \u00e0 la direction des op\u00e9rations, au sein d\u2019une structure qui travaille sur des techniques de clandestinit\u00e9 proches de ce que fait le personnage de Marina Loiseau dans Le Bureau des l\u00e9gendes. J\u2019y ai \u00e9t\u00e9 charg\u00e9 de missions sous une fausse identit\u00e9, dans des pays et sur des p\u00e9riodes que je pr\u00e9f\u00e8re ne pas pr\u00e9ciser. Mais je peux vous confirmer que ce sont des moments assez grisants. J\u2019ai ensuite rejoint la direction du renseignement. J\u2019ai \u00e9galement \u00e9t\u00e9 chef de poste dans plusieurs capitales d\u2019Asie et du Moyen-Orient.\n\nPourquoi quitter la DGSE pour lancer une cha\u00eene YouTube ? Avec un tel CV, vous pourriez facilement \u00eatre embauch\u00e9 dans une grande entreprise pour faire de l\u2019intelligence \u00e9conomique.\n\nJ\u2019ai quitt\u00e9 la DGSE car je commen\u00e7ais \u00e0 ressentir une certaine lassitude vis-\u00e0-vis du mode de vie que la mission exige. Mais travailler pour son pays de cette fa\u00e7on-l\u00e0, \u00e7a reste le top. Je ne me voyais pas ensuite aller faire du renseignement pour Total ou Pampers. J\u2019aurais eu du mal \u00e0 trouver la motivation n\u00e9cessaire. La vid\u00e9o et le montage font partie de mes passions et l\u2019id\u00e9e de lancer une cha\u00eene YouTube m\u2019est venue assez naturellement, un peu avant de quitter le service. J\u2019ai toujours cultiv\u00e9 un profil un peu atypique tout au long de ma carri\u00e8re militaire, donc \u00e7a ne me d\u00e9range pas de continuer \u00e0 l\u2019\u00eatre avec cette d\u00e9marche. L\u2019objectif est de publier une vid\u00e9o toutes les deux semaines. Pour autant, cela reste un hobby. Je m\u2019accorde actuellement une ann\u00e9e de transition avant de rechercher un emploi. J\u2019aimerais travailler sur des sc\u00e9narios de s\u00e9ries ou de films d\u2019espionnage, notamment.\n\nEst-ce \u00e0 dire que les programmes actuels qui traitent du renseignement ne vous paraissent pas suffisamment cr\u00e9dibles ?\n\nIl y a eu de tr\u00e8s bons films sur le monde du renseignement. Les Patriotes, d\u2019Eric Rochant, est par exemple un classique chez nous, \u00e0 tel point qu\u2019on le montre en formation. Le m\u00e9canisme de recrutement des sources y est parfaitement d\u00e9crit. En ce qui concerne Le Bureau des L\u00e9gendes, il est tr\u00e8s populaire en interne, m\u00eame si certains d\u00e9tails n\u2019ont rien \u00e0 voir avec ce qu\u2019on peut vivre. Le visuel des dispositifs de renseignement technique, notamment. On aimerait que ce soit aussi sophistiqu\u00e9\u2026 cela n\u2019est h\u00e9las pas toujours le cas.\n\nQue souhaitez-vous montrer \u00e0 travers ces vid\u00e9os ?\n\nCe qui me pla\u00eet, c\u2019est de partager mon exp\u00e9rience, dans les limites impos\u00e9es par mes anciennes fonctions, pour raconter le m\u00e9tier d\u2019agent secret, dissiper certains fantasmes. Il y a aussi un challenge artistique personnel : faire un beau montage, une belle vid\u00e9o, pour que les gens aient envie de regarder, c\u2019est tr\u00e8s stimulant. Mais ne vous attendez pas \u00e0 des r\u00e9v\u00e9lations fracassantes : l\u2019objectif n\u2019est \u00e9videmment pas de mettre en difficult\u00e9 la DGSE.\n\nLa DGSE est-elle au courant de votre initiative ?\n\nJe n\u2019avais pas pr\u00e9venu mon ex-hi\u00e9rarchie mais maintenant, ils doivent \u00eatre au courant ! Je ne sais pas ce qu\u2019ils en pensent. J\u2019ai rapidement cr\u00e9\u00e9 un site web pour expliquer ma d\u00e9marche. L\u2019id\u00e9e \u00e9tait entre autres de les rassurer. Qu\u2019ils ne pensent pas que je vais d\u00e9voiler des informations confidentielles\u2026\n\nCertains imaginent d\u00e9j\u00e0 que vous \u00eates missionn\u00e9 par la DGSE pour en faire la pub\u2026\n\nNon, \u00ab Talks with a spy \u00bb n\u2019est pas une op\u00e9ration de la DGSE ! D\u2019ailleurs, j\u2019imagine que certains en interne trouveront mon initiative un peu aga\u00e7ante. Il peut \u00eatre un peu frustrant d\u2019observer des ex de la DGSE s\u2019exprimer quand on est contraint au silence. Mais si ma cha\u00eene YouTube peut faire de la bonne pub pour le service, tant mieux. \u00c7a ne me d\u00e9pla^t pas.\n\nVous avez d\u2019ailleurs plac\u00e9 la DGSE sur le podium des services de renseignement. N\u2019est-ce pas un poil exag\u00e9r\u00e9 ?\n\nCes classements ont \u00e9videmment quelque chose d\u2019artificiel mais je pense vraiment que la DGSE pr\u00e9sente un tr\u00e8s bon rapport \u00ab qualit\u00e9-prix \u00bb, comme je l\u2019explique. C\u2019est en outre un service tr\u00e8s raisonnable, qui d\u00e9fend les int\u00e9r\u00eats de la France mais en respectant le droit et une morale. On ne m\u2019a jamais demand\u00e9 de faire des trucs tordus, qui m\u2019auraient fait honte et m\u2019auraient d\u2019ailleurs pouss\u00e9 \u00e0 d\u00e9missionner. Comme je l\u2019explique dans ma vid\u00e9o, ce n\u2019est pas le cas de tous les services de renseignement dans le monde\u2026\n\n\n\n\n\nLes op\u00e9ration homo (assassinats cibl\u00e9s de personnalit\u00e9s) men\u00e9es par la DGSE, c\u2019est un mythe, alors ?\n\nC\u2019est une r\u00e9alit\u00e9\u2026 loin du mythe. Cela peut ou a pu exister, mais dans des proportions si infimes qu\u2019on pourrait tout aussi bien dire que \u00e7a n\u2019existe pas.\n\nDans vos premi\u00e8res vid\u00e9os, vous faites passer quelques messages \u00e0 destination du public. Vous estimez notamment que le terrorisme va perdurer \u00ab dans les 30 \u00e0 40 ann\u00e9es qui viennent \u00bb. Les services de renseignement seraient donc incapables de prot\u00e9ger la population ?\n\nIl y aura toujours des trous dans la raquette. Et quand on voit l\u2019influence et l\u2019aura des anciens jihadistes fran\u00e7ais des zones tribales pakistanaises sur leurs cong\u00e9n\u00e8res rest\u00e9s en France, il y a de quoi \u00eatre inquiet. Mais la DGSE (les renseignements ext\u00e9rieurs, ndlr) est un tr\u00e8s bon service, et surtout la coop\u00e9ration avec la DGSI (la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 int\u00e9rieure, ndlr) est aujourd'hui tr\u00e8s satisfaisante.\n\nQuels sujets souhaitez-vous traiter dans vos prochaines vid\u00e9os ?\n\nMa prochaine vid\u00e9o porte sur les \u00ab qualit\u00e9s d\u2019un bon espion \u00bb. Dans quelque temps, je ferai \u00e9galement une vid\u00e9o sur les services secrets pakistanais et l\u2019arrestation d\u2019Oussama Ben Laden. Cela devrait donner quelque chose comme \u00ab Le renseignement pakistanais savait-il que Ben Laden se cachait sur son territoire ? \u00bb."}
-{"text": "\u201cThis intense longing for things transcendent\u2026 make me a votary of the Blue Flower\u201d \u2013 C.S. Lewis\n\n\u201cI used to think I was a romantic, always looking for the Blue Flower\u201d \u2013 John Le Carre \u2018A Small Town In Germany\u2019\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s one of Cole\u2019s Blue Rose cases\u201d \u2013 David Lynch \u2018Fire Walk With Me\u2019\n\nA blue rose symbolizes spirituality and the metaphysical striving for the unreachable. It represents hope.\n\nNowhere is this more apparent than on eBay, where there are pages of \u201cblue rose seeds\u201d and \u201crainbow rose seeds\u201d to buy, illustrated by photographs of obviously dyed or colourized blooms. This ruse would not fool a child, and yet they wouldn\u2019t be there if a lot of people weren\u2019t prepared to suspend disbelief and send away for magical seeds to grow impossible flowers. And this in 2016 when we have the interwebs for fact-checking!\n\nThis only shows that the search for the blue flower is still as evocative as it ever was.\n\nWhile blue flowers do occur in nature, true blue roses have never been grown. Despite extensive genetic experimentation in Australia and Japan, and occasional dramatic press releases claiming success, available \u201cblue\u201d roses are variants of lavender, mauve and purple.\n\nDue to their unavailability in nature, blue roses specifically have come to symbolize imagination and longing to achieve the impossible.\n\nThe search for the blue flower has been documented in early Germanic writings as the very essence of the Romantic movement, and was referenced more recently in George R.R. Martin\u2019s A Song of Ice & Fire, where blue roses were used to demonstrate forbidden desire.\n\nSubstance B, the drug in Philip K. Dick\u2019s \u201cA Scanner Darkly\u201d derives from a blue-flowered plant, as does the hallucinogenic nightmare powder released into Gotham City\u2019s water supply in the film \u201cBatman Begins\u201d.\n\nA 12th century Arabic text mentions the azure blue roses of the Orient, but these were achieved by the same method we can use to create blue roses now \u2013 blue dye introduced to the roots.\n\nIf you put blue food colouring into the water of a vase of white roses (allow the roses to dry out a little first so they will be \u201cthirsty\u201d and suck up the maximum amount of coloured water), you will usually end up with a speckled tu-tone effect which is quite pleasing.\n\nAs rococo as that is, especially if you are a fan of the 80\u2019s art student classic \u2018\u00c0 rebours\u2019 by Joris-Karl Huysmans, you may be best off using silk fake versions for a true blue rose, which are very popular at Japanese weddings.\n\n\u2026or let your search for the blue flower lead you to this frosty azure beverage.\n\nBlue Rose\n\n1 shot vodka infused with blue pea flower tea\n\nDash of absinthe\n\nDash of lavender syrup\n\nHard dash of Violette liqueur\n\nCava\n\nYou can infuse vodka very easily with Blue-tee Butterfly Pea Flower Tea, available from Amazon online. This natural blue flower tea colours anything it is steeped in a bright dark blue very quickly. Just suspend a teabag in the bottle and leave for about 20 minutes.\n\nI used Monin Lavender syrup, but you could make a simple syrup from lavender if you prefer.\n\nGive the glass an absinthe rinse by pouring a few drops in and swirling it around until the inside is coated.\n\nShake vodka, violette and syrup in a chilled shaker, and serve over crushed ice, topped up with Cava and garnished with cubes of blue rose Turkish Delight.\n\nTurkish Delight\n\n8 leaves of gelatin\n\n1 lb castor sugar\n\nBlue food colour\n\nRosewater\n\nIcing sugar to coat\n\nAdd leaves of gelatin to \u00bd pint of water in a saucepan (you can use powdered gelatin but that can go lumpy more easily), let it sit for 5 minutes, then heat gently until it dissolves completely.\n\nAdd the sugar and stir until it dissolves also. Simmer for 15 minutes, then remove from heat and add blue colour and 2 tablespoons of rosewater.\n\nWet a small cake tin or a couple of ice cube trays with water before pouring the mixture in, and allowing it to set overnight in the fridge. I used textured rubber ice cube trays.\n\nTurn this out of the tin the next day, and chop into cubes if you made it in one piece, coating them with icing sugar as you do so. Dice as many as you need to add a heaping tablespoon to the top of each Blue Rose. It will eventually melt into the drink.\n\nI used a glass with bluebirds for this because the search for the bluebird of happiness runs parallel to the search for the blue flower, as you can see in the work of Maurice Maeterlinck. And I realize that I have here possibly reached peak cocktail symbolism. And possibly peak cocktail pretension. But I am what I am.\n\nSome cultures believe that the holder of a blue rose will have their dearest wish granted. Let\u2019s find out if that\u2019s true.\n\n\u201cIt is not treasures that I care for\u201d Heinrich said to himself, \u201cbut I long to see the blue flower. I cannot rid my thoughts of the idea, it haunts me.\u201d \u2013 \u2018Heinrich von Ofterdingen\u2019\u2013 Novalis\n\nThe search for the Blue Flower by David Lynch for Dior"}
-{"text": "Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. has been on a big anti-Jeff Sessions kick recently.\n\nStrangely @jeffsessions appeared unannounced at @LibertyU the night before the 2016 election on a bus tour. I told students but could get almost none of them to come hear him. Could it be our students were the first to see he was a phony pretending to be pro- @realDonaldTrump ? \u2014 Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) August 2, 2018\n\nAre there any grownups w/ integrity left in the DOJ? When I was a kid, I watched Repubs join Dems to force Nixon out. Now Dems won\u2019t join Repubs to lock up Comey, Lynch, Ohr, Rosenstein, Strzok, @HillaryClinton, @BarackObama & maybe even @jeffsessions despite damning evidence! \u2014 Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) August 10, 2018\n\nYep and I think they deceived @realDonaldTrump into appointing them. They should rot in the same jail \u2014 Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) August 13, 2018\n\nThis comes as President Donald Trump himself has been publicly raging against his own Attorney General, and per Politico, Falwell has been urging the President to actually drop him:\n\n\u201cHe really is not on the president\u2019s team, never was,\u201d Falwell, the president of Liberty University, said of Sessions. \u201cHe\u2019s wanted to be attorney general for many, many years. I have a feeling he took a gamble and supported the president because he knew he would reward loyalty.\u201d Falwell said he has urged the president to fire Sessions and told POLITICO he plans to bring up the subject again Monday evening at a small gathering with Trump and the first lady.\n\nRELATED: Jerry Falwell Jr. is a Religious Leader Alright, But for What Religion?\n\nLast week Sessions put out a statement pushing back against Trump\u2019s public criticisms saying, \u201cWhile I am Attorney General, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.\u201d\n\n[image via screengrab]\n\nHave a tip we should know? [email protected]"}
-{"text": "\u201cWe\u2019ve seen during the recession that if we\u2019re too dependent on a highly volatile tax it also causes some instability,\" she said. \u201cSo I think trying to get that balance between more stable taxes like property tax and a more volatile tax like business and wage tax is something that we need to probably strike a better balance than we have.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Three thoughts on the Jazz\u2019s 132-93 win over the Sacramento Kings from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.\n\n1. Jazz starters shut down, pass around bad Kings team\n\nThere was some worry this preseason about how the Jazz\u2019s starters had performed. After all, against Toronto and Portland, the Jazz found themselves outscored when the starters were in the game.\n\nThursday night\u2019s performance against the Kings alleviated those concerns. The Jazz had a strenuous practice before departing for Sacramento this week, one in which head coach Quin Snyder stressed the importance of coming out with energy against the Kings.\n\n\u201cWe came out with a great mindset,\" Derrick Favors said. \"We definitely wanted to come out and make a statement defensively.\u201d\n\nThey did. The Jazz started the game by immediately going on a 47-12 run on the Kings, one that frankly embarrassed woeful Sacramento. The Kings got nearly zero good shots, missing a ton of shots around the basket thanks to Rudy Gobert\u2019s presence. When he was in the game, the Jazz had a 66.7 defensive rating. That\u2019s not just an eye-opening stat, it\u2019s peel-your-eyelids-all-the-way-back stat.\n\nOn the offensive end, the Jazz took advantage of a very poor Kings defense. The Kings are a young team, sure, but that apparently meant that they necessarily had to bite on every pass fake, miss every second rotation, and frankly just not get back in transition defense. Honestly, it felt like the Kings bigs were completely unaware of the possibility that Gobert might roll to the rim, catch an alley-oop, and dunk it.\n\nHas anyone told these two it's still preseason?\n\nNo?\n\nSweet. pic.twitter.com/xWsyzYjS1K \u2014 Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) October 12, 2018\n\nIt does legitimately seem like the Jazz are more comfortable with that as a finishing option, though. \u201cWe\u2019ve had an emphasis on high passes,\" Snyder said after the game. \"I\u2019d rather have it be high than low. It\u2019s just the confidence to throw those passes, and it\u2019s a good thing.\u201d Tonight, the Jazz had 7 alley-oop dunks and 7 other kinds of dunks. That will do.\n\n2. Kings vs. Jazz shot selection\n\nJazz radio play-by-play man David Locke shared an interesting factoid on his broadcast tonight: Snyder wants his Jazz team to aim for taking about 40 percent of their shots as threes, 40 percent of their shots at the rim, and 20 percent from everywhere else on the court.\n\nFor the night, it was about 35 percent from 3, 35 percent within 5 feet of the rim, and 30 percent other kinds of shots. That\u2019s pretty close already!\n\nBut if we take the first half of the game (i.e., when the Jazz played something close to their normal rotation), the breakdown was 40 percent from 3, 42.5 percent within 5 feet of the rim, and 17.5 percent (only seven shots in total) from everywhere else. Snyder will definitely take that. Here\u2019s the shot chart, for illustration\u2019s sake:\n\nMeanwhile, here\u2019s the Kings shot chart:\n\nSee all of those mid-range Xs? Blech. Even worse, so many of them were early in the shot clock. Buddy Hield took a 17-footer seven seconds into a possession a minute after the game started. He can do better.\n\nBut at least he\u2019s conceptually a good shooter. Two minutes later, Cauley-Stein took a 12-footer just five seconds into a possession. That missed too.\n\nIt\u2019s just so much harder for teams to win when they play this way. Meanwhile, the Jazz are trying to make it easier on themselves, and it\u2019s worked so far: they actually have led the NBA so far in preseason scoring, averaging 123.8 points per game and a 113.4 offensive rating.\n\n3. Freedom of movement emphasis\n\nThe NBA has instructed its officials to try to ensure \u201cfreedom of movement\u201d for their players this year. What that means, essentially, is that officials will be keeping a close eye on defenders' hands. Previously, players used to grab, hold, and twist as teams ran their offenses, but referees will be calling more of those as fouls.\n\nSnyder was happy to hear about this. The Jazz run their offense with a lot of player movement, trying to open things up with a lot of cuts all around the court. Teams have found success by grabbing the Jazz to slow that movement, meaning that actions that should result with a player open don\u2019t.\n\nBut despite what you might think, the primary beneficiary for the Jazz probably won\u2019t be shooters running around screens like Joe Ingles and Grayson Allen, but the Jazz\u2019s rolling big men tandem of Favors and Gobert.\n\nTeams used a couple of different strategies to stop them. Some teams would grab Gobert/Favors as they set the screen, preventing them from exploding to the rim and messing up the pick and roll timing. This was also easy to get away with, because the traffic in that situation meant it was hard to see the hands on the big men. They also often chose to \u201cchuck\u201d the big man, which basically means having a player bump into the roller in the paint so that he can\u2019t get all the way to the rim. That\u2019s also illegal.\n\nSo if teams can\u2019t stop Gobert and Favors from getting to the rim, the result is going to be a lot of easy dunks and layups. That is indeed what happened Thursday night \u2014 see point No. 1 above.\n\nNow, some coaches believe that this will prove similar to some of the league\u2019s other emphases in the past. In other words, it will last about six weeks, and then the referees will go back to calling the game the way they always have. Remember the league emphasis on flopping? Yeah, that didn\u2019t last long.\n\nBut others believe this one will stick, like the league\u2019s emphasis on stopping handchecking. That changed the game in significant ways, and boosted scoring around the league in the early 2000s."}
-{"text": "The Polish Navy may be forced to decommission its only Kilo-class submarine, ORP Orzel , as a result of an incident while the vessel was undergoing maintenance work.\n\nThe Polish Ministry of Defence confirmed a fire broke out on the submarine after local media reported on the matter. It took the ..."}
-{"text": "Last year the Esports Panel revealed to us a wealth of information with the reveal of the new six-month schedule and the introduction of the Six Major as well as changes to gameplay such as the sixth pick system and operator bans. While not all these changes were brought in straight away -- Season 7 was played on the old format before everything kicked into action for Season 8 -- this gave us a very clear look at what to expect over the next 12 months with many of these announced changes likely to stay in place for the rest of R6 esports\u2019 lifetime.\n\nThe Year 3 schedule as revealed during the Six Invitational 2018 Esports Panel\n\nOn top of the pure esports announcements, the panel also revealed more details on the upcoming Seasonal releases giving us a tease on what to expect with the upcoming PvE co-op event, Outbreak, being fully revealed a few hours later. While Operation Chimera\u2019s legacy is still causing issues to this day with ESL \u201cquarantining\u201d Lion for being poorly designed, this was still a remarkable glimpse forward at the world of R6 we would be experiencing in the future that formed the basis of the rest of the year\u2019s operator and seasonal announcements.\n\nThe four Operation details as revealed during the Six Invitational 2018 Esports Panel\n\nWhile we are unlikely to see such drastic announcements this time around, there are a number of announcements I have boiled down into these three simple categories: Pro League Finals changes, Minors changes, and format changes\n\nPro League Finals\n\nWhile the actual location and dates of the Season 9 Finals will likely only be revealed in the weeks after the Invitational there\u2019s a number of things we do know about it and a few format changes I\u2019d like to see at the event.\n\nConcerning what we do know, the Season 9 Finals will invite eight teams, two from each region, to compete for a prize pool likely similar to Season 8\u2019s pool of $167,000. The tournament will take place over two days likely in a European country if Milosh\u2019s words during the Rio Finals are to be trusted:\n\nThis brings up two changes I\u2019d like to see to these Finals:\n\n1. Double-Elimination\n\nWith Pro League now consisting of six month long seasons with 14 individual play days in a double round-robin schedule, it is clear ESL and Ubi modelled the format to reward the consistently good teams, unlike the old Year 2 format which meant a team could qualify for a LAN Final with just three wins. This ideology is certainly the right call as it both gives teams months worth of chances to perform while also rewarding those consistently good teams over the more one-dimensional teams.\n\nThis theology, however, is then completely thrown out for the Finals.\n\nAfter working for 6 months to make it to a Top Two position, teams are then randomly placed into the Finals bracket and are given one chance to win each of their matches -- half the eight teams play just one opponent before going home in a disappointing and anti-climatic end to their Season -- Season 8 perfectly illustrates the issue when looking at Immortals and Evil Geniuses.\n\nImmortals won more rounds against G2 than FaZe Clan did in the Grand Final and were, at the time, the only team to take G2 to overtime since they joined that new organisation yet they went home with 1/4 of the prize money of FaZe. Would they have progressed further if they had been pulled out on the other side of the bracket? We don\u2019t know because after 14 online games we only got to see them play a single game against a G2 side they were realistically never going to win against before their season was over.\n\nThe Season 8 Finals results via Liquipedia\n\nIn a similar position was Evil Geniuses who, after proving themselves to be a world class team across the previous six months, lost to Fnatic in an obviously out of character defeat. Was this a systematic issue with Evil Geniuses that would have possibly manifested in other games too, or just an inability to cope with Fnatic alone? We don\u2019t know because Evil Geniuses went home after the one defeat not to play another streamed game for a month with a matchup against Fnatic unlikely for months to come.\n\nThis is a placeholder for a tweet. To change it, you'll need to delete this entirely and re-embed it. https://twitter.com/FNATIC/status/1063908767601958913\n\nBoth of these are excellent examples of where having a double elimination bracket would aid everyone involved -- teams would have multiple chances to impress, viewers get to watch their favourite team play more than a single game all while organisers can profit off of their six months of toil to a much greater degree.\n\nThe main argument against this is funding -- running production and housing over 40 players for an extra day is expensive and not worth it. In response to this, I look directly at the $350,000 raised from just 9% of the golden Pro League bundles in just three months - the idea of viewers funding Pro League events is already in place and clearly very successful so instead of adding these funds to the already enormous Major prize pool, redirect these funds or create similar but separate initiatives to fund these extra games at the Pro League Finals to everyone\u2019s benefit.\n\n2. Prize Pool Grows With Majors\n\nWith the Six Invitational already confirmed to have a $1,000,000+ prize pool with it likely to have grown a few extra hundred thousand dollars since (to a rumoured $2m total), it is simply ridiculous to keep Pro League prize pools at around $167,000. At the moment a pro playing at the top levels of the game for six whole months finishing as the #1 team in their region can then go home with just a mere $1.6k after one bad game.\n\nFirstly, for six months of practice, scrims and weekly live matches, this seems hardly appropriate for the top team in a region while secondly, this puts four of the top teams in the world taking the same prize money home from a Pro League Season as the winners of the ESL Spanish Masters or the Mexican Nationals -- something that is in no way equivalent.\n\nEach team\u2019s winnings for their Season 8 performance via Liquipedia\n\nWhile it obviously makes sense for the Invitational and Majors to have growing prize pools, the rate R6 is growing means that the prizes for the standard Pro League Seasons should be tied to the prize pools of the other tournaments -- keep the Pro League as \u00bc and Six Majors as \u00bd of the Invitational for instance -- or risk the Pro League consistently falling well behind in prestige and rewards which can have some pretty major effects in the quality of gameplay, investment and production quality.\n\nWhen the Invitational has a prize pool eight times larger than standard seasons, organisations and players will start asking the same questions about the Pro League than they do with national tournaments or CCS -- why bother using strats in Pro League when I can earn 10 times as much by focusing purely on the Invitational? Why pick up this Pro League team if they\u2019re not gonna play in the Invitational? And why should I watch the Pro League when it\u2019s 20 times longer and \u201cless important\u201d than the Majors? All of these questions are ones which really should not be encouraged.\n\nIt\u2019s possible that the first of these questions have been asked by the current world Champions of G2 Esports who seem to be using the Pro League games to try out new setups such as with Kantoraketti consistently playing Smoke in a form of live scrims. This may explain their current drop in form as they are sacrificing Pro League games to give themselves an advantage at the Invitational -- something that severely diminishes Pro League\u2019s stature if true.\n\nThe stats between PENTA and G2 which shows Kanto playing Smoke in the majority of his defensive rounds.\n\nThese changes would elevate the Pro League Finals to legitimate, free-standing tournaments rather than a time filler between Majors as they inadvertently sit at the moment. They are needed to keep them up with the growth the R6 scene is experiencing and will improve the experience for everyone involved. After all, even Farming Simulator outmatches our Pro League at the moment\u2026\n\nThis is a placeholder for a tweet. To change it, you'll need to delete this entirely and re-embed it. https://twitter.com/farmingsim/status/1088060612427612167\n\nOnline Season Changes\n\nWhile the last 12 months have seen a number of controversies seemingly simmer to nothing -- auto banned maps and best-of-ones, just to name a couple -- there remain issues that will continue to pop up every season consistently until they are resolved. One of these is an issue which has caused multiple top tier organisations to leave, an issue which has hampered the Pro League\u2019s growth for over a year already -- relegations.\n\nCurrently, Pro League automatically relegates the 8th placed team in each region and gives the 7th placed team a single chance to survive -- this is done to give new blood a shot at the Pro League even if the new teams are clearly worse than the ones they are replacing. This system makes the quality of matches, and so the league in itself, worse than if there were actual playoff games -- surely we want the best teams, not just the newest teams, in the premier league in R6 esports?\n\nThis use of automatic relegations has already claimed the organisations of Counter Logic Gaming and Obey Alliance, and likely acts as a huge disincentive for orgs to invest in lower level R6 Pro League teams. Here are two solutions that will help to fix the problems with lower level Pro League:\n\n1. Competitive Relegations\n\nA system of relegation from the Pro League should fulfil a number of criteria; a) give all teams involved a fighting chance to qualify, b) still give the 7th Pro team an advantage over the 8th and the 1st Challenger team an advantage over the 2nd and c) make the Challenger League regular season standings significantly matter (more than just for the playoffs). All these criteria are fulfilled quite nicely in the example bracket below where:\n\nSeed 1 = 7th placed in Pro League\n\n= 7th placed in Pro League Seed 2 = 8th placed in Pro League\n\n= 8th placed in Pro League Seeds 3-6 = 1st-4th in Challenger League as they ended the Regular Season\n\nThe brackets for the League of Legends Philippine Pro Gaming Series Spring Split 2018 playoffs via esports.garena.ph.\n\nThis format makes your end of Season Challenger League positioning matter an awful lot which hopefully, will encourage competition throughout rather than teams booking a playoff spot with weeks remaining and stop bothering with games, as ENCE\u2019s end of Season 8 results strongly imply was the case. This also gives both Pro League teams a chance to fight for their spot with, unlike a standard knockout bracket, seed #1 guaranteed to get an easier game than seed #2. All in all, this format seems the fairest of all systems available, fixing many of the issues brought up with the relegations -- if a team is relegated, their replacement has somewhat proved themselves by beating the ex-Pro League team.\n\nOther than the issue with relegations itself, the issue of organisations leaving demoted teams also boils down to the question of why don\u2019t orgs want to stick around below the Pro League.\n\n2. Make Challenger League More Appealing\n\nThis is a no-brainer in which everyone would effectively agree on and would be relatively easy to do\u2026 and yet hasn\u2019t happened yet. The issues which plague the Challenger League is a) lack of official coverage, b) which games are streamed relies on casters\u2019 decisions, and c) the mess of a schedule. All three of these stems from a lack of attention by Ubisoft on what is meant to be a collection of the 9-16th best teams from each region.\n\nThe European region's Challenger League Season 8 games schedule showing 56 games in less than two months\n\nMy suggestion, which a load of other people have brought up previously, would be to put these games on either the main Rainbow6 or the secondary Rainbow6Bravo Twitch account. Whichever one is chosen, it must be consistent so individuals know where to go to watch the games on any given Challenger League play day.\n\nTo support these channels there already is an effective \u201cB-league\u201d of casters including Flynn, Stoax, Sternab, Demo, and Hap who sit behind the core English language casters of Interro, mzo, Milosh, and KiXSTAr. These talents already cast these games as community casters which, for many of them, leads to longer schedules and much lower views than the main casters. It is also unpaid.\n\nFour out of five of these individuals (Hap being the exception) have already been featured on highly produced ESL productions (Six Invitational Qualifiers for Sternab, the Paris Major for Demo and the US Nationals for Flynn and Stoax) showing they are capable and trusted on some of the biggest stages, and so definitely can survive to be the official casters of the Challenger League.\n\nStoax and Interro at the US Nationals 2018\n\nThis would solve issues A and B, as all games would then be cast on the main channel, however the hectic schedule of eight games, one day per week per region would still exist. This makes it too crowded, meaning individuals won't be able to keep up with which games are playing let alone watch or care about them all.\n\nThis issue comes from Challenger League trying to copy the Pro League format unnecessarily and to its own detriment; the Pro League has a double round robin Bo1 schedule to ensure the same number of games are played at each side of the mid-season Major (and so the two different metas) and to ensure that every team plays every week... but this isn\u2019t relevant for Challenger League as all games take place after the mid-season break and teams lack the fan base for the weekly games to be worthwhile making this format unnecessary.\n\nThe ideal format is the one used previously by the Pro League during Seasons 4 to 7; a GSL-style bracket (seen below). This format was initiated due to it ensuring that every single game is important and so people will want to watch them which was crucial to the growth of R6 Pro League, an effect which is now needed for the Challenger League.\n\nA GSL-style bracket via Liquipedia\n\nMore practically, this allows you to stick to the old style Pro League schedule as a GSL-style bracket consists of 14 games over the seven weeks hence two games a week which then can be best-of-three maps. Not having to play two games against two different teams every week would be encouraged by teams, the higher stakes would draw in viewers, and the fewer games aids ESL themselves due to the lower workload.\n\nThis would ensure a higher level and consistent games for teams which hopefully would mean teams would actually want to stay in the Challenger League as they get something out of it. The higher prestige in the league also would hopefully keep teams together rather than the constant disbands and reorganisation of teams we see in the league (particularly in the NA region). In total, this leads to a major net benefit for R6 esports at these lower levels.\n\n---\n\nAnd so there are my hopes for next week's esports panel. You can watch the announcements live on the rainbow6 Twitch account or catch the full coverage of the Six Invitational right here at SiegeGG!"}
-{"text": "If Deadpool was going to team-up with someone, it very well could be DC's Lobo, aside from the whole in different universes thing.\n\nStill, it's fun to think about. They're both crude, sarcastic, and somewhat questionable in the hero department. Beyond that, though, they're both good at their jobs. The difference is that Wade got his movie made, and it was a monster hit. Lobo on the other hand, well, he's still trying to get out of the gate.\n\nThings might have been different though if Director of Deadpool Tim Miller had ended up working on the interstellar bounty hunter. (via Hitfix)\n\n\"I met on...Lobo two, three years ago,\" said Miller at the press day for the film's upcoming DVD/Blu-ray release (May 10). \"They had a script then. So it's not like -- and I think they even did a test for it early on. I think it's something that filmmakers and sometimes the studios want to do [R-rated superhero movies]. They just haven't seen that they can actually make money.\"\n\nWell, now they have, and Lobo is the perfect type of character suited to a rated-R film. Whether he can hold his own in a whole movie or not, well, that remains to be seen. Wonder Woman writer Jason Fuchs is working on a rewrite for the film now, so hopefully we'll hear some real news soon.\n\nvia Hitfix\n\nHave you seen Dawn of Justice yet? If so, go rate it in the ComicBook.com Movie Database for a chance to win your very own Armored Batman figure!\n\nBatman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice is now playing in theaters."}
-{"text": "There's a complicated situation playing out behind the scenes at Alabama involving a player who is trying to get his release and move on to another school as a graduate transfer.\n\nSenior defensive back Maurice Smith wants to transfer, but has been unsuccessful getting a release despite several attempts during the last month, sources told AL.com.\n\nSmith, who was the Tide's first-team nickel back during the spring, is now going through an appeal process, according to sources.\n\nThe Texas native is set to graduate in early August.\n\nGeorgia, Miami, Maryland, Louisville and USC are among the schools that have been in contact with Smith since he first received permission to speak to other schools in mid-June.\n\nSmith was a valuable contributor on special teams last season while contributing some on defense in a backup role. He finished last season with 15 tackles and a sack. His seven tackles on special teams was tied for second-most on the team."}
-{"text": "The numbers are as gaudy as the technology.\n\nThe Air Force\u2019s decision to base its new high-tech jets at the Air National Guard\u2019s 187th Fighter Wing in Montgomery means adding 1,000 more jobs over the next few years. It means a surge of $70 million in upfront investment, money that local and state contractors can bid on. It means $3 billion of capital investment in Montgomery overall.\n\nBut it also protects the jobs of 1,400 people who are already living, eating and working in the Montgomery area, and it\u2019s expected to have a ripple effect on jobs and services elsewhere. In fact, Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said Thursday that he expects the overall effect on the local economy to eventually surpass that of the Hyundai assembly plant.\n\nMore:It's ours! F-35 Lightning lands in Montgomery\n\nTimeline:Here's what led to the F-35 decision\n\nMuch of that long-term impact could come via the area\u2019s tech scene.\n\nStrange said earlier this year that the jet was initially described to him as \u201cthe ultimate cyber weapon\u201d because of the level of technology incorporated into its design and operation, tech that would have to be maintained on a local level.\n\nDuring Thursday\u2019s announcement, he said the Air Force\u2019s decision puts \u201can exclamation point\u201d on how far the city has come in its years-long push toward a cyber culture, a journey that has included setting up the state\u2019s first internet exchange. Yet Strange pointed out that it \u201cchallenges us\u201d to continue to invest in tech education.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re not going to bed this sophisticated machine down in a community that cannot support that,\u201d Strange said.\n\nAlabama Power executive Leslie Sanders served as co-chair of Montgomery\u2019s F-35 committee to push for the new jets. She said Thursday that the planes add to a growing tech base here, including cyber programs at Gunter Air Force Base and a recently announced Air Force innovation center that\u2019s being planned for Maxwell Boulevard.\n\nMore:Air Force 'innovation center' could reshape Maxwell Blvd., Montgomery\n\n\u201cI think that is an incredibly fertile ground for business to grow, particularly in the cyber, technical world,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s driving growth for companies now.\n\n\u201cIt all fits together. People will look and see what\u2019s happening and think this is a place they need to be.\u201d\n\nRetired Brig. Gen. Paul Hankins said the wing\u2019s current planes must be retired in about a decade. If they had not gotten the new fighters, the wing could have gone away entirely \u2014 and taken airport services with them.\n\nThe 187th provides rescue and firefighting services for the Montgomery Regional Airport. If they weren\u2019t able to do that, the airport would have to foot the bill for the specific services and materials required by federal regulations. It wouldn\u2019t be easy, or cheap \u2014 a multimillion-dollar project, according to airport officials.\n\nOn the other hand, getting the F-35s in Montgomery could mean an upgrade to some of the infrastructure at the airport as well as more flexibility in how the runways are used, meaning smoother flights for commercial passengers."}
-{"text": "\u062a\u0648\u0641\u064a \u0645\u062f\u064a\u0631 \u00ab\u0645\u0635\u062d\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0627\u062c \u0625\u062f\u0645\u0627\u0646\u00bb\u060c \u0627\u0644\u064a\u0648\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0628\u062a \u0642\u0628\u064a\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u062d\u0648\u0631\u060c \u0628\u0639\u062f \u062a\u0646\u0627\u0648\u0644\u0647 \u062c\u0631\u0639\u0629 \u0632\u0627\u0626\u062f\u0629 \u0645\u0646 \u0645\u062e\u062f\u0631 \u00ab\u0627\u0644\u0647\u064a\u0631\u0648\u064a\u0646\u00bb \u062f\u0627\u062e\u0644 \u0645\u0633\u0643\u0646\u0647 \u0641\u064a \u0645\u0646\u0637\u0642\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0647\u0631\u0645.\n\n\u0628\u062f\u0627\u064a\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0648\u0627\u0642\u0639\u0629 \u0643\u0627\u0646\u062a \u0628\u062a\u0644\u0642\u0649 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0642\u062f\u0645 \u0645\u062d\u0645\u062f \u0627\u0644\u0635\u063a\u064a\u0631\u060c \u0631\u0626\u064a\u0633 \u0645\u0628\u0627\u062d\u062b \u0642\u0633\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0647\u0631\u0645\u060c \u0625\u062e\u0637\u0627\u0631\u064b\u0627 \u064a\u0641\u064a\u062f \u0628\u0627\u0644\u0639\u062b\u0648\u0631 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u062c\u062b\u0629 \u0634\u062e\u0635 \u0641\u064a \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0642\u062f \u0627\u0644\u0631\u0627\u0628\u0639 \u0645\u0646 \u0639\u0645\u0631\u0647 \u0628\u0634\u0642\u062a\u0647\u060c \u064a\u0645\u062a\u0644\u0643 \u0645\u0635\u062d\u0629 \u0644\u0639\u0644\u0627\u062c \u0627\u0644\u0625\u062f\u0645\u0627\u0646.\n\n\u0648\u0639\u064f\u062b\u0631 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u062c\u062b\u0629 \u0645\u0627\u0644\u0643 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0635\u062d\u0629 -\u0641\u064a \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0642\u062f \u0627\u0644\u0631\u0627\u0628\u0639 \u0645\u0646 \u0639\u0645\u0631\u0647-\u060c \u0648\u0628\u062c\u0648\u0627\u0631\u0647 \u0633\u0631\u0646\u062c\u0629\u060c \u0648\u0622\u062b\u0627\u0631 \u062d\u0642\u0646 \u0628\u0627\u0644\u0630\u0631\u0627\u0639\u060c \u0645\u0645\u0627 \u064a\u0634\u064a\u0631 \u0625\u0644\u0649 \u062a\u0646\u0627\u0648\u0644\u0647 \u062c\u0631\u0639\u0629 \u0645\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u062e\u062f\u0631\u0627\u062a\u060c \u062f\u0648\u0646 \u0648\u062c\u0648\u062f \u0634\u0628\u0647\u0629 \u062c\u0646\u0627\u0626\u064a\u0629."}
-{"text": "Ingraham: Comey FBI, Obama DOJ & Clinton Campaign 'Colluded' Against Trump\n\nGowdy: FISA Memo Does Not 'In Any Way' Discredit Mueller Investigation\n\nDonald Trump Jr. joined Jesse Watters on \"Watters' World\" Saturday night to react to the Republican memo on alleged government surveillance abuses.\n\nTrump Jr. said the memo -- which was declassified by the White House on Friday and released a short time later by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee -- is \"a little bit of sweet revenge\" for him and his family.\n\nHe noted that the memo alleges the FBI would not have been able to secure surveillance warrants on at least one member of his father's presidential campaign without the now-infamous anti-Trump dossier, which was a political opposition document funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.\n\nHe said the memo reveals the \"real\" collusion that occurred during the 2016 election and transition, and it wasn't between the Trump campaign and Russia.\n\n\"They weaponized the FBI and the DOJ to attack the duly elected president of the United States,\" Trump Jr. said, arguing that this shows Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation is \"rotten to the core.\"\n\nHe praised Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee for releasing the memo, suggesting greater transparency could help prevent surveillance abuses.\n\n\"There is a little bit of sweet revenge in it for me and certainly probably the family in a sense that if they wouldn't have done this, this stuff would be going on. This would be going on at the highest levels of government,\" Trump Jr. said. \"They'd be continuing doing it to my father, trying to undermine his actions. Imagine how effective he can be -- given the year he's had -- without this cloud over his head.\"\n\nHe said it's time for the various investigations into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign to \"come to a conclusion already.\"\n\nWatch the full interview above.\n\nHannity: Mueller Probe Was Based on a House of Cards That's Now Crashing Down\n\nNunes: 'Clear Evidence' of Russia Collusion... by the Clinton Campaign and DNC\n\nLawmaker Calls for Criminal Prosecution of Top FBI, DOJ Officials Named in Memo\n\nBen Stein: Media 'Disgraced Itself' by Fighting Against FISA Memo Release"}
-{"text": "ST. LOUIS, MO -- Three hours away from Columbus and playing in the Ontario Hockey League, not even Sonny Milano could avoid the weirdness that is the Blue Jackets\u2019 injury situation.\n\nOn what would be his final weekend with the Plymouth Whalers before joining the Springfield Falcons and starting his pro career, Milano suffered a minor oblique injury that was feared to keep him from making his debut for about a week.\n\nAnd the beat goes on, right?\n\nWith the Falcons in a fight for their playoff lives as the regular season hits its final stretch, they got a bit of good news when Milano was deemed fit to play Friday night vs. Worcester.\n\n\n\nMilano wasted no time making an impact, either; he connected with Luke Adam on a beautiful passing play that opened the scoring for Springfield.\n\nThe result was not a positive one for Springfield, though, dropping a 6-3 final in a pivotal game against the Sharks, who now have command of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with a few games in hand.\n\n\u201cWe didn\u2019t make the playoffs (in Plymouth), so we didn't get what we wanted,\u201d Milano told BlueJackets.com. \u201cObviously, coming here, this is a team that\u2019s also in a big playoff push and I\u2019m excited to jump on board and be part of that. We\u2019re right there, so it\u2019s going to be fun.\u201d\n\nIt was a trying season for Milano and the Whalers, who had high hopes with an infusion of offensive talent in the offseason. Injuries mounted, though, and it was difficult for the Whalers to keep pace with the rest of the conference. Adding to the disappointment was that this was the Whalers\u2019 final season in Plymouth, as the franchise has been sold and is moving to Flint to become the Firebirds next fall.\n\n\u201cIt was pretty tough, to be honest,\u201d Milano said of his first OHL season. \u201cWe didn't have the success that we were looking for as a team and we dealt with a lot of injuries that made it tough, too. We started pick it up toward the end of the season, but in the end, we came up just a bit short.\n\n\u201cOur last game in that arena, the place was packed and loud and it was a great final game there. Unfortunately we didn't have the season we wanted to, and that\u2019s the disappointing thing.\u201d\n\nOn a personal note, though, Milano had a solid rookie season in the OHL with 68 points in 50 games. Though he\u2019s not yet 20 years old, he is eligible to play full-time in the American Hockey League next season if the Blue Jackets determine it\u2019s his best path for development.\n\nMilano feels he\u2019s ready for the next step, but at the same time, knows there is more development ahead for him as he looks to round out his game at both ends of the rink.\n\n\u201cI know I still have to work on my defensive game,\u201d Milano said. \u201cI\u2019ve put a lot of work in and I think it\u2019s coming along, but you can always be better. I have to keep working at it. One of the helpful things when I came to Plymouth was that I was put in an offensive role right away and they expected a lot of me and my line. Overall though, I think strengthening my game in my own zone is something to keep focusing on.\n\n\u201c(The Blue Jackets and Falcons) just want me to play my game and do the things that have brought me success so far. I think if I keep doing that and get better at the things I\u2019ve been working on, I can help the team \u2014 and that\u2019s my goal.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Movin\u2019 on Up\u2026\n\nWelcome to Around the Verse: Episode 2.06. This week we check in with Tyler Witkin about working in QA, and take a Behind the Scenes look at our upcoming new office for the LA team.\n\n00:29 \u2013 Intro\n\n02:43 \u2013 News From Around the Verse\n\n12:45 \u2013 Interview with Tyler Witkin\n\n23:02 \u2013 Behind the Scenes: New LA Office\n\n32:29 \u2013 MVP\n\n33:01 \u2013 Art Sneak Peek"}
-{"text": "Foreword by William B. Quandt\n\nA particularly vicious and bloody civil war has racked Algeria for a decade. Amnesty International notes that since 1992, in a population of 28 million, 80,000 people have been reported killed, and the actual total is almost certainly higher. This terrible war overshadows Algeria's long and complex history and its prominence on the world economic stage--second in size among African nations, Algeria has the longest Mediterranean coastline and contains the world's fifth-largest natural gas reserves.\n\nAlgeria, 1830-2000 is a comprehensive narrative history of the country. Benjamin Stora, widely recognized as the leading expert on Algeria, presents the story of this turbulent area from the start of formal French colonialism in the early nineteenth century, through the prolonged war for independence in the latter 1950s, to the internal strife of the present day.\n\nThis book adapts and updates three short volumes published originally in French by La D\u00e9couverte. For this English edition, Stora has written a new introductory chapter on Algeria's colonial period (1830-1954) and has revised the final section to bring the volume up to date.\n\n--David Mednicoff, University of Massachusetts. African Studies Review, December 2002, Volume 45, Number 3 \"International Affairs\""}
-{"text": "FILE PHOTO - A general view shows the mobile operator MTS logo in Minsk, Belarus May 5, 2016. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko\n\nMOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia\u2019s top mobile phone operator MTS said on Friday it will consider delisting in the United States.\n\nMTS, which is listed in both Moscow and New York, plans to evaluate whether its U.S. listing is in the best interests of shareholders and whether other exchanges may be preferable.\n\nMTS said it will also assess whether the Moscow Exchange could become the main trading platform for its stock, and will consider increasing trading volumes there.\n\nShares in MTS on the New York Exchange were down 7.3 percent at 1454 GMT, their biggest one-day drop since November.\n\nBetween pre-market trading and the first 10 minutes after the opening bell, the volumes traded matched Thursday\u2019s full-day total of just over 1.8 million shares.\n\nShares in MTS on the Moscow Exchange were down 4 percent on the day at 1500 GMT.\n\nMTS has started consultations with its investors, Andrey Kamenskiy, MTS chief financial officer, said in a statement.\n\n\u201cThe resulting insights will help us ensure that MTS equity capital markets and listing framework maintains maximum investor appeal in the context of on-going market developments,\u201d he said.\n\nUncertainty caused by the widening of U.S. sanctions against Moscow last year has hit the share price of Russian companies, prompting investment bankers to suggest their clients should delist from local and international exchanges, Reuters reported on Friday."}
-{"text": "Alan Gomez\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nMIAMI \u2014 The new majority in Venezuela's parliament wasted no time showing who's now in control, using its first week in power to remove all images of the late Hugo Ch\u00e1vez from the National Assembly building.\n\nHenry Ramos Allup, leader of the opposition that won control of parliament in last month's historic election, on Wednesday ordered all portraits of the longtime socialist leader to be taken down. He also ordered removing all images of Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar, who helped liberate South America from Spanish rule and the namesake of Ch\u00e1vez's \"Bolivarian Revolution.\"\n\nImages of the two men were erected throughout Venezuela during more than a decade of Ch\u00e1vez's rule, their portraits looking down on people from government buildings, billboards and signs. On Wednesday, a day after the new parliament was sworn into office, videos show Ramos instructing workers to take down all those pictures that hang in the capital complex.\n\n\"Take the images to his daughters and widows,\" Ramos said, according to the Havana Times. \"This place is no cemetery.\"\n\nVenezuela's opposition wins legislative majority\n\nThe week has already been filled with protests around the assembly building, where Ch\u00e1vez's party had ruled for 15 years. Ramos also spoke frankly about his quest to remove President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro \u2014 Ch\u00e1vez's handpicked successor \u2014 in a process that he claims will be \"constitutional, peaceful and electoral.\"\n\nRamos' decision to remove images of the former leaders became the latest insult in a difficult transition to the new political reality in Venezuela.\n\n\"We denounce the climate of disrespect and intolerance that they are trying to create in the National Assembly,\" said lawmaker Victor Clark of the socialist party that ruled under Ch\u00e1vez, according to TV station teleSUR. \"Even if the parliament believes those paintings should not be in place, the Venezuelan people think that they should.\""}
-{"text": "By Brett Molina and Elizabeth Weise\n\nUSA TODAY\n\n\n\nOnline marketplace eBay says it will urge users to change their passwords following a \"cyberattack\" on a database with encrypted passwords and non-financial data.\n\nThe database includes information such as customers' names, encrypted passwords, email and physical addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth. As of the end of their first quarter, the company has 145 million active buyers.\n\n\"It's substantial,\" says Simon Eappariello, senior vice president of engineering at iBoss Network Security. \"If they're going to contact all of their users to change their passwords, that's a major breach in anyone's book. That's a lot of data.\"\n\n\"This is the new normal,\" said Avivah Litan, a security analyst with Gartner, a technology research company based in Stamford, Conn.\n\n\"It's part of a trend where criminals are going after credentials,\" she said. \"We've seen a big rise in the use of stolen passwords at banks. The criminals are cycling through all these passwords they've stolen, trying to use them,\" she said.\n\nAt some point, \"it could become pretty ominous. All this data's getting stolen\u2014we have to assume it's eventually going to be used,\" said Litan. \"The criminals are building big data stores with as much financial information as they can get. Who knows what they're doing with all of it?\n\nIn a statement released Wednesday, eBay says it has not found evidence of unauthorized activity or access to financial information, based on \"extensive\" tests. The company says financial data was not affected, pointing out credit card information is encrypted and stored separately from this database.\n\n\"We know our customers trust us with their information, and we take seriously our commitment to maintaining a safe, secure and trusted global marketplace,\" a company statement said.\n\nEBay is encouraging people who used the same password on other sites to change those credentials as well.\n\nThe company says it has seen no proof of unauthorized access to PayPal, its online payment service. \"PayPal data is stored separately on a secure network, and all PayPal financial information is encrypted,\" says the company.\n\nThe criminal groups behind these massive data breaches are typically out of Eastern Europe, Litan said. \"They're very well organized. They've got black markets set up to sell this stolen merchandise. They distribute it around the world. And the data is sold a lot faster than it used to be.\"\n\nWhile eBay has downplayed the breach because it didn't include financial information, the loss of an unknown number of passwords has the potential to compromise all websites, not just eBay, security experts say. That's because many consumers use the same password on multiple sites.\n\n\"The attackers will quickly take over accounts across the web wherever a user reused their username and password on another site,\" said Michael Coates, director of product security at Shape Security in Mountain View, Calif.\n\nEBay also was using a more easily-cracked method for protecting the passwords it kept on file. There are two commonly used ways to secure passwords, encryption and hashing. EBay was using encryption, which is the more easily broken, said Coates.\n\n\"Encryption allows eBay, or anyone who access the decryption key, to decrypt and see your actual password. Password hashing allows eBay to check if the password you enter is correct or not, but doesn't allow eBay (or hackers) to get the plaintext of your actual password,\" he said.\n\nThe compromise, which happened between late February and early March, resulted from a cyberattack targeting a small group of employee log-in credentials. Emails will go out to users today to request changes to their passwords. The company says they will also employ additional security measures.\n\nForrester analyst Tyler Shields says it's concerning that it took eBay until earlier this month to uncover the breach. \"From late February and March to just about two weeks ago is a LOT of time for an attacker to be roaming around your network and systems.\"\n\nTrey Ford, security strategist with Rapid7, says attackers could use information taken from the database to pose as legitimate company representatives.\n\n\"Users should be wary of anyone contacting them claiming to be eBay or any other company for that matter,\" says Ford. \"Expect an uptick in phishing, do not click links in email, or discuss anything over the phone.\"\n\nThe eBay breach is the latest in a series of attacks targeting customer data. Earlier this month, Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel stepped down months after hackers swiped financial information on 40 million customers. In April, AOL confirmed its email service had been hacked, with users complaining their accounts were sending spam to contacts.\n\nEric Chiu, president and co-founder of security firm HyTrust, says this cyberattack is more proof high-profile breaches like eBay and Target are occurring more frequently. \"This is another wakeup call that organizations need to take an 'inside-out' approach to security and assume the bad guy is already on their network.\""}
-{"text": "While Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) rails against Democrats in a House Judiciary Committee hearing to possibly hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt, the Florida Bar has decided that further investigation is needed to determine if the lawmaker tried to intimidate Michael Cohen.\n\nAccording to a Wednesday Tampa Bay Times report, that the Florida Bar is carrying the case past its initial review signals that there are grounds for discipline should allegations against him prove true. An investigator will now reportedly take over the case.\n\nThe Bar initially opened the investigation at the end of February.\n\nThe possible threat in question came in the form of a tweet Gaetz wrote the day before Cohen was slated to testify before Congress.\n\n\u201cHey @MichaelCohen212,\u201d read Gaetz\u2019s now-deleted tweet. \u201cDo your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she\u2019ll remain faithful when you\u2019re in prison. She\u2019s about to learn a lot\u2026\u201d\n\nHe apologized after his comment sparked an outcry."}
-{"text": "She pointed to more subtle things, too. In December, Jess Fishlock, a Welsh midfielder playing at the time for the French club Olympique Lyonnais received one of Britain\u2019s highest civilian honors for her services to women\u2019s soccer and the L.G.B.T. community. But the club\u2019s news release about the honor, Rome noted, stated only that the award had been for her commitment to \u201cvarious causes.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn France, you can\u2019t be yourself, you have to hide,\u201d said Fr\u00e9d\u00e9rique Gouy, 34, a civil engineer from Paris who came out four years ago and joined Les D\u00e9gommeuses shortly afterward. \u201cIt\u2019s a big difference from the United States and many other teams at this World Cup. We are still at the beginning of the fight.\u201d\n\nPichon, 43, who scored 81 goals in 12 years playing for France, said she experienced the situation in French soccer firsthand.\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t dare to say that you are homosexual in the locker room because you fear the consequences on the image of your team, of your club, but also on yourself,\u201d Pichon said. \u201cYou may well become a punching bag for other players. I know many people who refused to come out because they feared the consequences.\u201d\n\nPichon saw something different in two stints playing professionally in the United States. She said the American approach to welcoming and integrating L.G.B.T. players into their women\u2019s teams was \u201cthe approach we should work toward in France.\u201d And she said she was amazed to see television commercials and marketing content in the United States that featured positive images of gay people.\n\nPichon did not broadcast her sexual orientation during her playing career. She said she was not desperate for anyone\u2019s acceptance. But many say there are positive effects when professional athletes feel personally comfortable enough to express themselves that way.\n\nRome, for instance, recalled watching the French tennis player Am\u00e9lie Mauresmo come out as gay 20 years ago. Rome was 12 and was having trouble articulating why she felt she was different than her peers."}
-{"text": "Internet prodigy, activist and accused computer hacker Aaron Swartz will be buried in a service outside Chicago on Tuesday. The 26-year-old, a former fellow at Harvard University, took his life on Friday.\n\nIn Greater Boston, where Swartz was facing stiff criminal charges and a federal trial, U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz and her office have become the target for criticism and anger over their prosecution of Swartz.\n\nThis Dec. 8, 2012 photo provided by ThoughtWorks shows Aaron Swartz (ThoughtWorks, Pernille Ironside/AP)\n\n\"Stealing is stealing,\" Ortiz announced on the day two years ago that Swartz was indicted. \"Whether you use a computer command or a crowbar, and whether you take documents, data or dollars, it is equally harmful to the victim whether you have stolen or give it away.\"\n\nFor downloading four million documents from a fee-charging database of academic journals, Swartz was charged with multiple felonies exposing him to 35 years in prison, if convicted.\n\n\"They threw the book,\" said Alex Stamos of iSEC Partners, a full-service computer security firm. \"They found every possible interpretation of federal law that they thought he could have violated and charged him with it.\n\n\"I've never seen somebody prosecuted on such a wide scale so disproportionately to what their alleged crime is.\"\n\nAt the time, Swartz was a fellow studying ethics at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. He was 24, twice his age when he applied as a 12-year-old genius and won an internship to a Web development company that was esteemed by elite geeks: ArsDigita, whose co-founder was Philip Greenspun.\n\n\"He might have been 4'10\" at the time,\" Greenspun said Monday. \"I can't remember if we knew how old he was or not. I think a lot of people were shocked at how young he was.\"\n\nSoon he would be creating the vital technology called RSS. Then came Reddit, a website for social news and entertainment. He was best known for that and for his ethos that all information wants to be public, which made him an activist and a folk hero. And a potential target for prosecution.\n\n\"The government's case, they didn't pull it out of thin air, let's say,\" Greenspun said. \"They had a previous run-in with Aaron.\"\n\nIt involved a website called PACER. Believing that since federal court records are publicly paid for and should be available for free, Swartz devised a computer program to download 20 million pages. That time the Justice Department did not prosecute.\n\nBut in 2011, federal prosecutors charged him with hacking into and stealing four million documents from JSTOR, a database of older academic journals which activists also thought should be free for the downloading. Swartz had used a guest account at MIT. Suddenly, he was facing a million dollar fine and more time than second-degree murderers.\n\n\"The U.S. attorney embarked on an overkill campaign that wasn't warranted,\" said Jerry Cohen, an attorney with the Boston firm Burns & Levinson. He specializes in copyright law and says this was a case that should have ended up as a civil case or a minor criminal case.\n\n\"If JSTOR had lost significant revenue it would have been suing for damage rather than having this run riot with the criminal process to the embarrassment of MIT and JSTOR and their deep regret,\" Cohen said.\n\nStamos, the computer expert, was going to be the key defense witness for Swartz. He studied the government's forensic evidence.\n\n\"While Aaron did some things that were questionable and I can't agree with,\" Stamos said, \"he did no hacking. I've seen hacking criminal attempts to bypass computer protection and do bad things. This was not hacking.\"\n\nIn fact, MIT advertises that visitors and everyone on campus are welcome to use their network. It's open, says Stamos, and anybody could open an unlimited number of files from JSTOR.\n\n\"Aaron is the only person apparently who's ever being prosecuted for downloading too many academic journal articles from a website,\" Stamos said.\n\nOf course, it was four million articles.\n\nElliot Peters, of San Francisco, was the lead counsel for Swartz.\n\n\"JSTOR, the supposed victim, didn't believe it should be a criminal case and they made that clear,\" Peters said. \"They were not a willing participant in this prosecution, so that tells you something.\"\n\nBut MIT took a different position, says Greenspun and other critics.\n\n\"The crux of it is that MIT refused to disavow any kind of trespassing charge,\" he said.\n\nMIT has now called for \"a thorough analysis of MIT's involvement\" in the case.\n\nIn any event, the U.S. Attorney's office went ahead, not with a civil action, not with a trespassing case, not with a deferred prosecution that might suspend the case if Swartz committed no further crimes in, let's say, the next two years. They went ahead with 13 felony charges.\n\n\"Thirteen felonies made absolutely no sense either particularly since I didn't believe they could prove a single one of them,\" Peters said.\n\nPeters said that all those charges were designed to squeeze his client into a plea deal. And after talking about a conviction involving upwards of 35 years, the government offered a recommendation of a four-month prison sentence \u2014 if and only if Swartz agreed to plead guilty to every felony count.\n\nWhy the huge discrepancy? Civil libertarian Harvey Silverglate says it's a government tactic to push defendants into plea deals, thereby avoiding going to trial and losing.\n\n\"If the case didn't deserve decades in prison, they should have brought a misdemeanor charge or even a civil charge,\" Silverglate said. \"They should not have terrorized this young man.\"\n\nThere was another demand from the U.S. Attorney's office, says Peters. Swartz would have to agree not to use his computer for some specified time after he got out of prison.\n\n\"What they're really doing here is disabling him from dealing with computers,\" Silverglate said. \"This is one of our young geniuses. This is a national resource and a national treasure.\"\n\nPeters says it made no sense.\n\n\"I didn't believe Aaron Swartz belonged in federal prison,\" he said. \"And I didn't want him to go to federal prison. I didn't believe he was a felon. I didn't want him to be stripped of the right to vote and be branded as a felon for the rest of his life.\"\n\nLast week, Peters says, it was clear the U.S. Attorney's office was not going to change its offer. Swartz was facing prison, uncertainty and at least $1.5 million to defend himself.\n\n\"For Aaron, he was looking at a guaranteed loss of his entire life's earnings,\" Greenspun said. \"That would be pretty daunting prospect for anyone.\"\n\nSwartz was a difficult person, Greenspun says, and he had a long history of depression. \"You feel as if streaks of pain are running through your head, you thrash your body, you search for some escape but find none,\" Swartz had written on his blog a few years ago. \"And that's not the worst of it.\"\n\nThe worst of it ended on Friday. There was no suicide note.\n\nOrtiz has signed a document dismissing the charges. \"We want to respect the privacy of the family,\" Ortiz said in a statement this weekend, \"and do not feel it is appropriate to comment on the case at this time.\""}
-{"text": "Follow @renailemay\n\n\n\nnews Australia has taken a substantial leap down the table of countries globally with good broadband, with the nation\u2019s poor average peak connection speeds seeing it slip 14 spots in just the past six months by one measurement, and other benchmarks also slipping slightly.\n\nThe \u2018State of the Internet\u2019 report is produced by online content delivery specialist Akamai Technologies every quarter. It is regarded as one of the benchmark standards by which countries and organisations measure broadband speeds globally. Akamai is in a good position to measure global Internet speeds due to its extensive global content delivery network sitting at the heart of networks in each country.\n\nIn the company\u2019s latest report \u2014 measuring broadband speeds over the past three months, Akamai noted that Australia had slipped down 14 spots on the global table in that quarter in terms of average broadband connection speeds.\n\nAustralia is now ranked 60th globally when it comes to average broadband speeds. This places the nation behind a number of other competing countries in the Asia-Pacific region \u2014 not only behind fibre-rich countries such as South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan, but also behind financial and trading hub Singapore, as well as Taiwan, Thailand and New Zealand.\n\nAustralia is now fast approaching less-developed countries such as Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the Philippines in terms of our peak connection speed ranking. Australia\u2019s peak average broadband speed is now 39.3Mbps, a figure which actually slipped down 6.3 percent from the previous quarter.\n\nAustralia also took slight steps downwards in terms of other benchmarks such as percentage ranking of countries that have broadband speeds faster than 4Mbps (we slipped from 52nd to 56th), countries that have broadband speeds faster than 10Mbps (we slipped from 45th to 47th) and also the country ranking in terms of average connection speeds (we slipped from 46th to 48th).\n\nShadow Communications Minister Jason Clare said the move represented Australia having \u201ccrashed\u201d in the global broadband rankings again.\n\n\u201cLess than three years ago when Malcolm Turnbull changed course on the National Broadband Network Australia was ranked 30th in the world for average peak connection speed,\u201d Clare said. \u201cToday we are ranked 60th.\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cAustralia\u2019s broadband ranking crashed 14 spots last quarter alone. We are behind most of Asia and most of Europe, the US and Canada. We are even behind Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Poland.\u201d\n\nClare chalked up Australia\u2019s slide to what he described as \u201cMalcolm Turnbull\u2019s second-rate copper NBN\u201d, which he said was causing Australia\u2019s broadband competitive to crash against \u201cevery broadband metric that has a measure\u201d.\n\n\n\n\u201cAustralian businesses need reliable, fast broadband to compete in the global digital economy, but Malcolm Turnbull is shackling Australia to an NBN that relies on last century\u2019s copper,\u201d said Clare. \u201cMalcolm Turnbull\u2019s second rate NBN is a complete failure.\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cMalcolm Turnbull promised that his second rate NBN would reach every home in 2016 \u2013 he has doubled that timeframe. He also promised his second rate NBN would cost $29.5 billion \u2013 he has nearly doubled the cost to up to $56 billion.\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd now we have doubled our world ranking for internet speeds \u2013 from 30th in the world to 60th. Malcolm Turnbull has made a mess of the NBN. Australia cannot afford another three years of Malcolm Turnbull\u2019s failures.\u201d\n\nopinion/analysis\n\nI wrote the following in September last year about a similar Akamai report released at the time, and things (unfortunately) don\u2019t appear to have changed much since that time:\n\n\u201cWhat we are seeing here is very clear.\n\nOn the one hand, Australia is indeed increasing its broadband speeds across the board. On most measures, as a country Australians are generally getting access to better broadband, and we\u2019re seeing this in the stats.\n\nHowever, balancing this fact appears to be two factors. Firstly, Australia\u2019s broadband penetration is still increasing, so the added numbers of people joining the broadband revolution appears to be keeping our average speeds from jumping up too far.\n\nIn addition, Australia is just not deploying high enough speed infrastructure at a fast enough rate. The ten years which Australia\u2019s politicians spent debating how and why Australia\u2019s broadband infrastructure should be upgraded is finally catching up with us as a country. In that time, most other first-world countries incentivised their incumbent telcos to conduct major upgrades.\n\nAustralia took far too long to get on the bandwagon, due to factors such as the lack of bipartisanship on the issue and the reluctance of Telstra\u2019s previous management under Sol Trujillo to play ball.\n\nAs a result, the rate at which Australia is increasing its broadband speeds is slower than the rate at which the rest of the world is increasing its broadband speeds. So even though things are slowly getting better in Australia as initiatives such as the National Broadband Network gain pace, we\u2019re still slipping further behind compared to the rest of the world.\n\nAs many people have written continuously over the past few years, the only way to stop our trend downwards is to deploy Fibre to the Premises infrastructue, and price access to it at a level that will allow Australians to access higher speeds. We\u2019re not going to leap in the rankings by only upgrading our copper networks and focusing on 25Mbps speeds. Most other first-world countries are 5-10 years ahead of Australia in doing that.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Peter N. sent in some data compiled by Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post. It reveals the intersection of race and religion among Democrats and Republicans. As Cillizza concludes, it\u2019s \u201coverblown\u201d to say that the Republican party is made up of White Protestants and the Democratic of minorities and atheists, but there is definitely an argument to be made that each party is disproportionately so.\n\nThis first pie chart shows the racial and religious affiliation of people who identify with or lean towards the Republican party. More than half are White Protestants, another 18% are White Catholics. Only a small percentage of party faithfuls are religious Blacks and Hispanics (the two racial groups featured in in these data).\n\nThis second chart shows the same data for Democrats and Democratic-leaning individuals. Almost a quarter of Democrats are White Protestants, but a slightly larger percentage of Democrats are religiously unaffiliated. One in five Democrats identifies as either Black or Hispanic and religious. The larger \u201cother\u201d category conceals smaller blocs that nonetheless add diversity to the party.\n\nThis is just one way to slice the pie, so to speak, but these are the kinds of data that both the Obama and the Romney campaigns are working with. When they aim to bring out their \u201cbase,\u201d this is what they\u2019re talking about. These numbers may give us a clue as to why they pick the strategies they do, such as the sudden spike in the inclusion of the word \u201cGod\u201d in the Republican party platform."}
-{"text": "In an interview with the NYT, David Friedman said some degree of annexation of the West Bank would be legitimate.\n\nThe US ambassador has said Israel has the right to annex at least \u201csome\u201d of the occupied West Bank, in comments likely to deepen Palestinian opposition to a long-awaited US peace plan.\n\nThe Palestinians have rejected the peace plan before it has even been unveiled, citing a string of moves by US President Donald Trump that they say show his administration is irredeemably biased.\n\nThe Palestinians are likely to see the recent comments by the US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, as a new nail in the coffin of a peace process that is already on life support.\n\nIn an interview published by the New York Times on Saturday, Friedman said some degree of annexation of the West Bank would be legitimate.\n\n\u201cUnder certain circumstances, I think Israel has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank,\u201d he said.\n\nSenior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said any such policy would be tantamount to \u201cUS complicity with Israeli colonial plans\u201d.\n\nResponding to the US envoy\u2019s remarks, Palestine Liberation Organization\u2019s (PLO) executive member Hanan Ashrawi said the US was justifying land theft, Al Jazeera\u2019s Nida Ibrahim reported from Ramallah.\n\n190605122047647\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve also heard from a statement by Fatah, the ruling party in the West Bank, which said that they don\u2019t know if the US ambassador is representing the view of Israeli settlers or that of the US administration,\u201d Ibrahim said.\n\nThe establishment of a Palestinian state in territories, including the West Bank, that Israel occupied in the Six-Day War of 1967, has been the focus of all past Middle East peace plans.\n\nNo firm date has yet been set for the unveiling of the Trump administration\u2019s plan, although a conference is to be held in Bahrain later this month on its economic aspects.\n\nFailed state helps nobody\n\nThe public comments made by administration officials so far suggest the plan will lean heavily on substantial financial support for the Palestinian economy, much of it funded by Gulf Arab states, in return for concessions on territory and statehood.\n\n\u201cThe absolute last thing the world needs is a failed Palestinian state between Israel and Jordan,\u201d Friedman said in the NYT interview. \u201cMaybe they won\u2019t take it, maybe it doesn\u2019t meet their minimums.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re relying upon the fact that the right plan, for the right time, will get the right reaction over time,\u201d he said.\n\nFriedman, a staunch supporter of the Israeli settlements, told the NYT that the Trump plan was aimed at improving the quality of life for Palestinians but would fall well short of a \u201cpermanent resolution to the conflict\u201d.\n\nHe said he did not believe the plan would trigger Palestinian violence.\n\nBut he said the US would coordinate closely with Arab ally Jordan, which could face unrest among its large Palestinian population over a plan perceived as overly favourable to Israel.\n\nPublication of the plan looks set to be further delayed after the Israeli parliament called a snap general election for September, the second this year. The plan is regarded as too sensitive to release during the campaign.\n\nRecently Palestinians have been boycotting the US-led economic summit set to take place later this month in Bahrain, which is expected to unveil the first part of the long-awaited peace deal.\n\n\u201cThey say that they aren\u2019t looking for an economic solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. They are not looking for a better life under occupation. They want any solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to include a political component,\u201d Ibrahim said.\n\n\u201cThey want an end to the occupation and not a better life under it. They say that they want a multilateral approach in which the US is not just the sole mediator of any future peace process.\u201d\n\nDuring campaigning for the first general election in April, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to annex illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move long supported by nearly all legislators in his alliance of right-wing and religious parties.\n\nIn February this year, Netanyahu told legislators he had been discussing with Washington a plan that would effectively annex illegal settlements.\n\nIn a rare public show of disunity between the close allies, the White House then flatly denied any such discussion.\n\nFollowing persistent expansion of the settlements by successive Netanyahu governments, more than 600,000 Jewish settlers now live in the West Bank, including annexed East Jerusalem, among some three million Palestinians.\n\nThe international community regards the settlements as illegal and the biggest obstacle to peace."}
-{"text": "Favorite Answer\n\nBig sean is terrible i agree, but i disagree with missing rapper's like biggie and 2pac, rap is boring, talentless and is sure to kill any party you're in.\n\nchange your music taste's young one, you dont know what you are missing."}
-{"text": "Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersMcConnell accuses Democrats of sowing division by 'downplaying progress' on election security The Hill's Campaign Report: Arizona shifts towards Biden | Biden prepares for drive-in town hall | New Biden ad targets Latino voters Why Democrats must confront extreme left wing incitement to violence MORE in a speech Sunday night accused Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker of supporting an ideological agenda that kills people.\n\n\"Gov. Walker has allowed his right-wing ideology to prevail and to deny some 120,000 people in Wisconsin options to get into Medicaid and maybe, for the first time in their lives, have health insurance,\" Sanders told a rally in Madison ahead of Tuesday's Wisconsin primary, where the Vermont senator is projected to narrowly beat Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonHillicon Valley: FBI chief says Russia is trying to interfere in election to undermine Biden | Treasury Dept. sanctions Iranian government-backed hackers The Hill's Campaign Report: Arizona shifts towards Biden | Biden prepares for drive-in town hall | New Biden ad targets Latino voters FBI chief says Russia is trying to interfere in election to undermine Biden MORE.\n\n\"I think that that is a disgrace,\" Sanders added, referring to Walker's decision not to accept federal money to expand health insurance coverage under Obamacare.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\n\"As a result of that decision, there is no question that people will die, people will become much sicker than they otherwise would have become.\"\n\nAccusing an elected official of causing deaths is unusual, even in heated primary campaigns. A notable example was Republican front-runner Donald Trump Donald John TrumpHR McMaster says president's policy to withdraw troops from Afghanistan is 'unwise' Cast of 'Parks and Rec' reunite for virtual town hall to address Wisconsin voters Biden says Trump should step down over coronavirus response MORE telling Fox News Sunday in December that as secretary of State, Clinton, through \"stupid\" Middle East policies, \"killed hundreds of thousands of people.\"\n\nBut before a crowd of Wisconsin partisans, Sanders received only raucous cheers as he made a similar \u2014 if less dramatic \u2014 charge against Walker. The Badger State governor is deeply despised by Wisconsin Democrats for his 2011 state law that crippled public-sector unions and made him a national hero on the right.\n\nSanders framed his Madison rally as a lengthy, point-by-point attack on Walker. He avoided going after Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, whom Sanders leads by 2.2 points in the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls of likely Wisconsin Democratic primary voters.\n\n\"Here in Wisconsin, probably the easiest way to define a Bernie Sanders presidency ... is to tell you that it would be pretty much the exact opposite of a Scott Walker administration,\" Sanders told the crowd, which immediately began screaming, whistling and chanting, \"Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!\"\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nSanders said he \"viscerally\" disagreed with Walker's attempts to \"suppress the vote\" \u2014 Sanders's characterization of the governor's unsuccessful efforts to pass voter ID laws.\n\n\"I will not accept for one second Republican governors like Gov. Walker ... who are working overtime to suppress the vote,\" Sanders said.\n\n\"If you are not prepared to run and get involved in free and open elections, get out of politics, get another job.\"\n\nSanders hit Walker for his assaults on trade unions, cuts to education funding and close ties to the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch. The Koch network of wealthy conservative donors plans to spend $889 million in the 2016 political cycle promoting free market policies and the politicians who will write them into law.\n\n\"That, my friends, is not democracy,\" Sanders said. \"That is oligarchy. We will not accept that.\""}
-{"text": "Happy Tuesday, friends!\n\nSomehow we've nearly made it to the end of this tournament, and it's time to vote in the Elite 8 of TV's Top Leading Lady 2020! After a brutal Sweet 16, only one actress from each remaining show is still in the running, so no more costars will have to compete against each other. That may help within your fandom, but it doesn't make it any easier on our end!\n\nNow, it's time for you to vote!\n\nThe remaining competitors are: The 100's Eliza Taylor, Anne With an E's Amybeth McNulty, Arrow's Emily Bett Rickards, Outlander's Caitriona Balfe, Sanditon's Rose Williams, Supergirl's Katie McGrath, Unstoppable's Barbara Lopez, and Wynonna Earp's Melanie Scrofano.\n\nShockingly only four can make it on to the final four, so they need your votes to remain in the game!"}
-{"text": "You might not yet be aware of this, but Apple's policy towards web browsers is to treat the entire internet as their content. As a result, all browsers on the iOS App Store come with a minimum age requirement of 17 and the same rule will apply to them on the Mac App Store. Opera , the first non-native web explorer to make it in Apple's new desktop app repository, is taking a humorous approach to things, with VP Jan Standal saying he's \"not sure if, at that age, people are ready to use such an application. It's very fast, you know, and it has a lot of features.\" All that said, Opera's willing to be reckless if you are, and will totally let you download its Mac software through its homepage -- no age or credit card checks required, though you might want to ask for your parents' permission first.[Thanks, Ian]"}
-{"text": "That's right...A quarter of my Walnut Crisp for a Mole...He wasn't much of a negotiator..."}
-{"text": "BENGALURU: Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is looking to replicate the efficiencies of its online business to offline sales through the launch of physical stores in India.The company on Thursday announced its first store in Bengaluru , dubbed as Mi Home . The store is set to open for public on May 20.Xiaomi India managing director Manu Jain told ET that the company is launching similar stores in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai in the coming months and plans to launch 100 such stores across India in the next two years.\u201cMi.com and Mi Home have a very strong link. Both these places sell directly to consumers. So, it can be almost as efficient as the e-commerce business. These are two arms of the same business \u00ad branded retail.\u201c Jain said. \u201cIn a typical offline distribution system, the consumer pays for the inefficiencies simply because there are so many layers.\u201cCurrently, these stores are run by a partner as Xiaomi is yet to receive the license to operate single-brand retail in the country.\u201cFor these stores, we will design and define all parameters, but the partner will run it. These stores can be anywhere \u00ad in malls, stand alone, high streets \u00ad maybe even inside a large office building or in an IT campus,\u201c Jain said, adding that they are hopeful of receiving the license soon.The Chinese smartphone maker had applied for a license to operate its own branded outlets in March last year in order to increase the share of its offline distribution.Mi Home stores will offer all products that Xiaomi has launched in India and they plan to offer more internet-connected ecosystem products to the country in the future.Select Mi Home stores will also feature an experience zone that will showcase products not launched in India. This gives people a feel of Xiaomi products and philosophy, while also gauging interest and receiving feedback on what products to bring to the Indian market, Jain said. He also hinted at launching internet-connected products that are tailor-made for the Indian market but didn't disclose specific details on it. Xiaomi is also looking to address the lack of availability of its products through these stores.\u201cWe are making a big commitment \u00ad Mi Home is going to be in stock of all products that we have. In case there's something that goes out of stock, we will hand the customer an f-code right there, allowing the customer to buy the product on Mi.com even if it is out of stock,\u201c Jain said.\u201cWe will give disproportionate focus to Mi Homes to ensure stock is always available, irrespective of our production capability.\u201cXiaomi has more than 70 Mi Home stores in Greater China and claims to have registered over 5,00,000 walk-ins across its stores during the Mi Fan Festival last month. Total sales from these stores crossed Rs 75 crore (RMB 75 million) during the festival."}
-{"text": "Competition for fish stocks with fisheries to feed humans could be forcing seabirds to go hungry, according to new research.\n\nThe study, published Dec. 6 in the journal Current Biology, reveals that seabirds\u2019 share of fish has dropped by nearly 20 percent over a span of 40 years. Expanding large-scale fisheries, meanwhile, have increased their haul by 10 percent in the same period.\n\nWhat makes those facts doubly concerning is that seabird communities have dwindled, said David Gr\u00e9millet, the study\u2019s lead author. Research published in 2015 found a 69 percent slide in their numbers since 1950.\n\nIn a statement from the University of British Columbia, Gr\u00e9millet, a biological oceanographer at CNRS, the French National Center for Scientific Research, likened fisheries\u2019 impact on seabirds to \u201ca boa tightening its grip on prey.\u201d\n\nThe research overlaid maps of the feeding areas of 276 species of seabirds with the take zones of human fisheries and compared them over two periods, the 1970s and 1980s, and the 1990s and the 2000s. The team tallied up the amount eaten by seabirds around the world, as well as how much fish humans are thought to have pulled from the oceans, during those stretches.\n\nSeabirds had an average of around 70 million metric tons (77 million tons) available to them each year between 1970 and 1989. That figure dropped to 57 million metric tons (63 million tons) between 1990 and 2010. Fisheries\u2019 annual share increased from 59 million to 65 million metric tons (65 million to 72 million tons) in that period.\n\nBirds that go after krill, squid and smaller fish such as herring and sardines face the toughest struggle to avoid starvation, Deng Palomares, one of the study\u2019s co-authors and a scientist and project manager with the Sea Around Us project based at the University of British Columbia, said in the statement.\n\nThe Sea Around Us has collected decades of data on both seabird distribution and human fisheries, and this study was the first to look at the overlap on a global scale.\n\nPalomares said that possible starvation as their food source was fished out was just one of the challenges that seabirds faced. Pollution, plastic trash and entanglement in fishing gear are also threatening to cut into the global number of seabirds, she said.\n\n\u201cIf we don\u2019t do anything, seabird populations are going to collapse,\u201d Palomares said.\n\nGr\u00e9millet said penguin numbers were down by 25 percent, and frigate bird and tern populations had dipped by almost 50 percent in the past few decades.\n\n\u201cYou have more and more fishing effort for less and less potential seabird prey, consumed by fewer birds,\u201d Gr\u00e9millet said.\n\n\u201cThe noose is tightening around seabirds,\u201d he added. \u201cI find this terrifying.\u201d\n\nAs a scientist, Gr\u00e9millet is concerned about the ecological impact of the loss of species. But he also said we should consider the cultural void that extinction could create.\n\n\u201c[When] we lose seabirds we lose an irreplaceable heritage \u2014 creatures which have inspired every single maritime society since the dawn of humanity, by bridging the mysterious gap between us and the sea,\u201d Gr\u00e9millet said in a statement from CNRS.\n\nCitations\n\nGr\u00e9millet, D., Ponchon, A., Paleczny, M., Palomares, M. L. D., Karpouzi, V., & Pauly, D. (2018). Persisting Worldwide Seabird-Fishery Competition Despite Seabird Community Decline. Current Biology.\n\nPaleczny, M., Hammill, E., Karpouzi, V., & Pauly, D. (2015). Population trend of the world\u2019s monitored seabirds, 1950-2010. PLOS One, 10(6), e0129342.\n\nThis article was first published by Mongabay.com on 12 Dec 2018."}
-{"text": "After Matisse Thybulle led the NCAA in steals, then won 2019 NCAA Defensive Player of the Year, it\u2019s no secret that 76ers\u2019 first-round acquisition brings an elite set of defensive skills to the organization.\n\nNow, that sentiment has been reaffirmed by his peers.\n\nIn the 2019-20 NBA.com Rookie Survey, Thybulle was voted as the best defender in the 2019 rookie class by his fellow draftees.\n\n\n\nLiking the look of our rook.@MatisseThybulle | #HereTheyCome pic.twitter.com/tcLaD1B9A7 \u2014 Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) July 10, 2019\n\nThybulle received 37% of all votes, the largest portion since Victor Oladipo was voted as the best incoming defender in 2013 (63%).\n\nThybulle earned a sterling defensive reputation during four seasons at Washington, where he averaged 2.5 steals and 1.4 blocks per game throughout his career.\n\nAs a senior, Thybulle averaged 3.5 steals and 2.3 blocks per game. His 126 steals that season marked the most in the nation.\n\nAt summer league, he averaged 2.0 steals per game."}
-{"text": "A patchy, weathered painting of a beast daubed on the wall of a limestone cave in Borneo may be the oldest known example of figurative rock art, say researchers who dated the work.\n\nFaded and fractured, the reddish-orange image depicts a plump but slender-legged animal, probably a species of wild cattle that still lives on the island, or simply dinner in the eyes of the artist, if one streak of ochre that resembles a spear protruding from its flank is any guide.\n\nThe animal is one of a trio of large creatures that adorn a wall in the Lubang Jeriji Sal\u00e9h cave in the East Kalimantan province of Indonesian Borneo. The region\u2019s rock art, which amounts to thousands of paintings in limestone caves, has been studied since 1994 when the images were first spotted by the French explorer Luc-Henri Fage.\n\nImages of wild cattle that scientists have dated to at least 40,000 years old making them the world\u2019s oldest know figurative depictions. Photograph: Luc-Henri Fage\n\n\u201cIt is the oldest figurative cave painting in the world,\u201d said Maxime Aubert, an archaeologist and geochemist at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to see that. It\u2019s an intimate window into the past.\u201d\n\nAbove and between the three beasts are hand stencils, the familiar cave art calling cards of our ancient ancestors. The ghostly markings, which appear singularly or in groups, are made by spraying ochre paint from the mouth over a hand pressed on to the rock.\n\nThe scientists came up with ages for the paintings by dating popcorn-like calcite crusts that often dot the walls of limestone caves. The crusts form when rainwater seeps through the walls. Those underneath a painting give a maximum age for the artwork, while those on top provide a minimum age.\n\nAubert\u2019s team found calcite crusts near the rear of the painted animal and used a technique called uranium series analysis to date them to at least 40,000 years old. If the measurement is accurate the Borneo paintings may be 4,500 years older than depictions of animals that adorn cave walls on the neighbouring island of Sulawesi.\n\nOchre and mulberry panel of hand stencils, superimposed over older reddish/orange hand stencils. The two styles are separated in time by at least 20,000 years, say scientists. Photograph: Kinez Riz\n\nBut there is room for doubt. Writing in the journal Nature, the researchers concede that the crusts they analysed had formed on top of a heavily weathered part of the animal painting and that pigment analyses could not distinguish the underlying paint from that of a nearby mulberry-coloured hand stencil.\n\nCave art in East Kalimantan can be grouped into three distinct phases. The oldest includes the reddish-orange hand stencils and animal paintings that mostly appear to depict Bornean banteng, the wild cattle still found on the island. The next phase consists of younger hand stencils, intricate motifs and symbols, and depictions of elegant, thread-like people, some wearing elaborate headdresses, some apparently dancing, painted in dark purple or mulberry on the cave walls. In the final phase are more recent paintings of people, boats and geometric designs, all rendered in black.\n\nThe entrance to the cave. Photograph: Pindi Setiawan\n\nBased on dates gleaned from calcite crusts in the Lubang Jeriji Sal\u00e9h cave and others nearby, Aubert\u2019s team has drawn up a tentative timeline for the progression of art in the region. They believe that rock art, which at first focused on large animal paintings, began between 40,000 and 52,000 years ago and lasted until 20,000 years ago when the second phase began. \u201cAt that time, humans start depicting the human world,\u201d said Aubert. Whether the shift was part of the natural evolution of art, or came with the arrival of another wave of humans, no-one knows. The final phase of rock art may have began as recently as 4,000 years ago.\n\nThe work suggests that figurative art may have emerged in south-east Asia and Europe at about the same time, and remained in step when it shifted from depicting animals to the human world. At Chauvet cave in the Ardeche region of France, the walls are covered with charcoal masterpieces of horses and rhinos that are at least 30,000 years old. Rock art itself goes back much further, with Neanderthals decorating cave walls in Spain long before modern humans reached Europe. Abstract drawing began earlier still: in September, researchers published details of a 73,000-year-old lump of rock bearing an ochre criss-cross design that was uncovered in a cave in South Africa.\n\nHuman figures from East Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. This style is dated to at least 13,600 years ago but could possibly date to the height of the last glacial maximum 20,000 years ago. Photograph: Pindi Setiawan\n\nPaul Pettitt, professor of palaeolithic archaeology at Durham University, said that \u201cat face value\u201d the results point to a similar pattern for the development of art at two extremes of Eurasia more than 40,000 years ago.\n\nBut he is cautious about the dating in the latest study. \u201cSadly, this work says more about academic competition and the scramble for early dates than it does the emergence of art,\u201d he said. \u201cI welcome the impressive discovery and documentation of a major early art region, but I have considerable reservations about the pertinence of the dated samples to the art beneath. It is not made clear that the oldest minimum ages are clearly and unambiguously related to the figurative art.\u201d"}
-{"text": "SALT LAKE CITY -- Authorities are investigating an alleged theft of opioid drugs at the Salt Lake City VA Health Care System by a former pharmacist, the Drug Enforcement Administration confirmed Wednesday.\n\nChris Young is accused of stealing 6,960 controlled substance tablets and 25 vials of testosterone between Sept. 2, 2014 and March 3, 2015, according to a report from the VA.\n\nA memo released to FOX 13 News Wednesday, detailed a compiled report from individuals concerned over how the alleged theft investigation was handled.\n\nComplainants in the memo included current and former VA staffers as well as those who had recently died. The report also included names and contact information of individuals they believed to be responsible.\n\nThe irregularities in drugs at the facility was first noticed on March 25, 2015, when a pharmacist technician noticed an extra prescription bottle of Methylphenidate, otherwise known as Ritalin, the report indicates.\n\nAccording to the report, the technician made a report and an internal investigation found Young was allegedly filling false prescriptions for fake patients.\n\nThe investigation showed user \u201c00,\u201d later identified as Young, allegedly filled medications for Peter Rose, a baseball player accused of cheating, and Ansel Adams, a famous photographer.\n\nThe report states other names used were those of fake patients inside the VA system.\n\nThe incident report included a memorandum from the VA Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Health of Operations and Management.\n\nThe memo states Young was able steal the drugs due to improper software that was being used and not recommended by the Chief Consultant for the Department of Veteran Affairs.\n\nThe SLC VA\u2019s director of communication Jill Atwood responded with this statement:\n\nAs soon as we became aware of irregularities in prescription distribution we immediately notified the Inspector General and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) who are now working with the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office. The VA Salt Lake City Health Care System has since cooperated fully with the investigation. Clearly, we regret that this diversion occurred. Please know that we moved aggressively after discovery to put the proper safe guards in place to include procedural changes, new software and additional training to ensure something like this does not happen again.\n\nAtwood also said Young no longer employed with at the VA. Young was hired at the VA in 1994. Officials say he had no previous issues.\n\nNo arrests have been made and no charges have been filed at this time."}
-{"text": "Pretty sure it can't be said that no frogs were harmed in the making of this video...squish squish squish. At about 0:40 finally holds camera still..."}
-{"text": "La chapuza del almac\u00e9n de gas Castor sobrevuela el macroplan de inversiones del nuevo presidente de la Comisi\u00f3n Europea, Jean-Claude Juncker, con el que pretende \"movilizar\" 315.000 millones de euros con s\u00f3lo 21.000 millones de fondos p\u00fablicos \"para que Europa vuelva a crecer y m\u00e1s personas encuentren un empleo\", seg\u00fan anunci\u00f3 Bruselas el mes pasado.\n\nEsa infraestructura que nunca lleg\u00f3 a operar, promovida por ACS e impulsada por el Gobierno de Jos\u00e9 Luis Rodr\u00edguez Zapatero, es un ejemplo de libro de socializaci\u00f3n de las p\u00e9rdidas de una empresa privada y fue la primera que seleccion\u00f3 el Banco Europeo de Inversiones (BEI) para su programa de project bonds (bonos de proyecto), una herramienta para guiar las inversiones del sector privado hacia grandes proyectos de infraestructuras que va a utilizar el plan de Juncker.\n\nEn julio de 2013, un mes antes de los primeros terremotos que precipitaron el cierre de Castor, el proyecto de ACS recibi\u00f3 del BEI, entonces con la espa\u00f1ola Magdalena \u00c1lvarez como vicepresidenta, 500 millones de euros (300 en bonos y otros 200 millones una nueva l\u00ednea de liquidez) que fueron una de las claves que explican la prisa que se ha dado el Gobierno en indemnizar a la empresa que preside Florentino P\u00e9rez.\n\nEl cierre del almac\u00e9n ubicado sobre una falla tect\u00f3nica frente a las costas de Vinaroz (Castell\u00f3n) va a costar a todos los consumidores espa\u00f1oles la friolera de 4.731 millones de euros. La cifra es una estimaci\u00f3n de la OCU basada en los 1.350 millones de indemnizaci\u00f3n ya abonados a su promotora, Escal UGS (controlada por ACS), y los intereses (actualmente fijados en el 4,27% anual) que abonar\u00e1n los usuarios para pagar a la banca (que ha financiado inicialmente la minuta) esa multimillonaria factura a trav\u00e9s de sus recibos del gas durante 30 a\u00f1os.\n\nEl plan de Juncker contempla la emisi\u00f3n, a trav\u00e9s del BEI, de hasta 60.000 millones en bonos garantizados por el presupuesto de la UE para que las empresas financien sus proyectos. La f\u00f3rmula preocupa a algunos grupos de la izquierda europea, visto el desastroso precedente de las dos primeras experiencias piloto con esos bonos: la del propio proyecto Castor y la de la autopista Passante di Mestre, en Italia.\n\nCastor acab\u00f3 como acab\u00f3 y dispar\u00f3 adem\u00e1s su coste de construcci\u00f3n desde los 500 millones iniciales hasta 1.350 millones. Por su parte, esa infraestructura en el norte de Italia se ha saldado con 650 millones de sobrecostes (1.400 millones, frente a los 750 millones presupuestados inicialmente) y con una trama de corrupci\u00f3n con m\u00e1s de 100 detenidos, entre ellos, un alcalde, empresarios y polic\u00edas.\n\nRiesgo a cargo del contribuyente\n\nEsas amargas experiencias piloto han centrado una mesa redonda organizada esta semana en el Parlamento Europeo por los grupos de Izquierda Unitaria (GUE) y Los Verdes-Alianza Libre Europea (ALE), en la que estuvo presente un representante de la Comisi\u00f3n Europea, Giorgio Chiarion. En la parte final del encuentro, Chiarion no tuvo m\u00e1s remedio que dar la raz\u00f3n al espa\u00f1ol Pablo Echenique cuando el europarlamentario de Podemos lament\u00f3 que, en este tipo de proyectos, \"todo el riesgo corre a cargo del contribuyente\".\n\n\"Estoy de acuerdo y no hago comentarios al respecto\", replic\u00f3 Chiarion, que en sus intervenciones repiti\u00f3 por activa y por pasiva que los bonos de proyecto del BEI son un \"instrumento financiero m\u00e1s\" que no debe vincularse al \"fracaso\" de Castor, cuyos detalles, por otra parte, dijo desconocer.\n\nEn la jornada, en la que no apareci\u00f3 un representante del BEI que hab\u00eda anunciado previamente su asistencia, los organizadores se\u00f1alaron al almac\u00e9n de gas de ACS como \"un claro ejemplo de privatizaci\u00f3n de los beneficios y socializaci\u00f3n de las perdidas econ\u00f3micas y ecol\u00f3gicas\", y reclamaron \"una moratoria sobre todos los megaproyectos financiados por el mismo mecanismo europeo que Castor\", los citados project bonds.\n\nFalta de controles\n\nComo resumi\u00f3 Jordi Sebati\u00e1, eurodiputado de Comprom\u00eds integrado en Los Verdes/ALE, \"el marco en el que se est\u00e1n haciendo estas inversiones nos preocupa much\u00edsimo\" porque estas \"no se est\u00e1n controlando\"; su compa\u00f1ero de grupo Ernest Urtasun, eurodiputado de ICV, se pregunt\u00f3 \"cu\u00e1l es la capacidad de la Comisi\u00f3n para analizar los m\u00e1s de cien proyectos que van a presentar los Estados miembros\" para el macroplan de Juncker y lament\u00f3 que la due dilligence (auditor\u00eda previa) del BEI sobre Castor no se hiciera \"correctamente\".\n\nPaloma L\u00f3pez, de IU Europa, dijo que la iniciativa de la Comisi\u00f3n \"en su conjunto debe ser considerada cr\u00edticamente\" porque \"en la pr\u00e1ctica se est\u00e1n utilizando fondos p\u00fablicos para subsidiar actividades privadas\" y \"los costes est\u00e1n siendo superiores a lo que pagar\u00eda el Estado si se endeudara para financiar estos proyectos\". El plan, en su opini\u00f3n, \"favorece inversiones masivas en sectores como energ\u00eda o transporte\", impuestos por \"los grandes oligopolios\", en lugar de \"optar por modelos de desarrollo m\u00e1s basados en las pymes o la econom\u00eda social\".\n\nEl plan de Juncker fue presentado en Madrid a finales de noviembre por el comisario de Energ\u00eda, Miguel Arias Ca\u00f1ete. En su primer encuentro con los medios, 28 d\u00edas despu\u00e9s de tomar posesi\u00f3n, el exministro del PP dijo que el programa supondr\u00e1 un \"enorme esfuerzo para los pr\u00f3ximos tres a\u00f1os\" en el que Espa\u00f1a puede aspirar a \"un porcentaje razonable\" de los fondos, sobre todo, en el sector energ\u00e9tico, que tiene \"enormes necesidades\", tanto en interconexiones con Portugal e Italia, como en gasoductos.\n\nLa selecci\u00f3n de los proyectos va a depender \"del inter\u00e9s de los inversores, del dinamismo de los Estados miembros y de la capacidad de la Comisi\u00f3n Europea para apoyarlos\". Los proyectos tendr\u00e1 que analizarlos, en una primera fase, la reuni\u00f3n del Ecofin (reuni\u00f3n de ministros de Econom\u00eda y Finanzas) de este lunes."}
-{"text": "FansUnite Co-founders \u2014 Duncan McIntyre and Darius Eghdami\n\nIdeas often take root in odd places. This particular epiphany occurred during the middle of an accounting lecture at the University of British Columbia. Two business partners, Darius Eghdami and Duncan McIntyre, were sitting in the back of the class glued to their computer screens. While their peers focused on their lecture with varying levels of attentiveness, their eyes contentedly gazed at their monitors watching email notifications stream in from their payment provider.\n\nEach email represented another bettor subscribing to receive their daily sports tips, and another $70 per week in their pocketbooks. This past month had been particularly kind and with their recent betting history dominated by a slew of wins, the pair stood to earn a fair amount of cash from the new subscribers flooding to them. Their luck could change at any given moment, but such is the life of a gambler.\n\nTheir attention shifted to their website\u2019s chat room where subscribers were tallying how much they\u2019d made out with over the past month. Most were just happy for the streak, but a couple of the newer subscribers were pointing out how, with other touts (bettors that sell their picks), they had noticed bets they had tailed and lost on just disappear from the touts\u2019 history.\n\nOne of the subscribers then went on to detail match by match how they\u2019d lost almost their entire life savings following bad picks. Worse yet, others would follow because those losses had almost all been removed from that tout\u2019s record.\n\nSports handicapping had been profitable for Duncan and Darius, but both knew that something had to be done to hold touts accountable for their performances. There had to be a way to improve conditions for bettors and bring transparency to the sports handicapping business. And so the idea for FansUnite was born.\n\nVirtual Sportsbook\n\nThe existing FansUnite platform (FansUnite.com) utilizes a free virtual currency to allow bettors to make bets risk-free, and provides tools for analyzing their own and others\u2019 performance.\n\nMembers are able to follow other bettors and see their upcoming predictions, with the goal of becoming more profitable bettors themselves by mimicking top bettors. This crowdsourced approach to betting has yielded positive results for many on the platform, proven out by over half a million bets placed through FansUnite. The community continues to grow daily with the top bettors being tailed by thousands of followers from around the world. Both the platform and its top bettors have successfully cultivated loyal followings on various social channels like the popular social forum Reddit as well as messaging applications Telegram and Slack.\n\nTens of thousands of members have seen value from being able to analytically review betting performance through a verifiable and trusted platform, and so the FansUnite team is ready to take the next step to apply these community mechanisms to real money sports betting, facilitated and powered by blockchain technology.\n\nBringing Sports Betting to the Blockchain\n\nThe founders core mission has remained constant since the platform\u2019s inception: to continue improving conditions for sports bettors. They still see vast improvements that can be made to enhance the average online sports bettor\u2019s experience centering around the sense of security with regard to payouts, possession of funds, and personal information. Disputes over the resolution of bets with sportsbooks are not uncommon. Bets are reneged after the fact and payouts are not always made on time or in full.\n\nFansUnite believes that sports bettors deserve better. FansUnite sees an opportunity to address many of these issues with the current betting landscape through the application of smart contracts, blockchain technology and a fairer pricing model.\n\nSmart Contracts\n\nSmart contracts allow for trustless transactions between two parties interacting online. Members are able to send funds to a contract confident it will resolve given an agreed set of parameters enforced by a source of data and information deemed authoritative.\n\nBetting represents a perfect use-case, with the primary concern of bettors being the correct and accurate resolution of wagers. Existing options for sports bettors all involve leaving the execution of bets and holding of funds in the hands of a centralized third party with a vested interest in the outcome, hardly an ideal scenario. Smart contracts allow for automated resolution of bets according to predefined contract terms, with information from an aggregate of independent data oracles. Trustless betting transactions are the future for online sports betting, providing bettors with security that bets will be resolved as per the exact bet terms entered into.\n\nDecentralized Ledger\n\nIn comparison to information stored in traditional databases, centrally controlled by an organization, blockchains offer additional security, transparency and privacy to users. Blockchain technology disperses the responsibility of storing and editing information from one central organization to a network of peers. This helps to ensure that one party cannot fraudulently alter items immutably stored in the public record, helping to remove the risk of a bet being reneged or voided post event. This is a massive advantage for an online sports bettor, ensuring that their betting histories remain untampered and bets are resolved as entered.\n\nFair Pricing\n\nAs bettors themselves, the founding team at FansUnite has always held the belief that sportsbooks take an unnecessarily high rake of the bets placed on their platforms. FansUnite is excited to be in a position where they can positively impact the profits of sports bettors everywhere by providing a more cost-effective and equitable solution.\n\nThis should result in increased profits for bettors, resulting in a tangible increase in the number of long-term profitable sports bettors. Currently, with sportsbooks generally charging close to 5% in fees, a bettor has to win 52.5% of their bets to break even. With the FansUnite platform promising to cut the rake down by 80% to an industry leading 1% margin on all bets, the bar for profitability is driven down to just 50.5%. FansUnite is confident that even with this industry-leading low fee, they will be able to run at a profit by trimming much of the bloated spending associated with bigger sportsbooks.\n\nThe Founders\n\nDarius Eghdami, CEO\n\nDarius Eghdami is FansUnite\u2019s CEO and co-founder, he was recently named to Canada\u2019s next 150 top entrepreneurs by the TMX Group. A Chartered Accountant by trade, he\u2019s a serial entrepreneur, investor and sports junkie. Darius has advised or aided companies in numerous roles spanning business strategy, raising capital, and deal structuring. He has taken the knowledge and skills from these roles and continues to apply them to his work with FansUnite. Involved in the sports betting industry since 2008 and the CEO of FansUnite since 2012, his plan for FansUnite remains consistent \u201cto allow bettors to collaborate and share information to improve their results\u201d.\n\nDuncan McIntyre, COO\n\nDuncan is a practicing lawyer and investor, experienced in mergers, acquisitions and various other corporate matters. He is a co-founder of FansUnite and has over a decade of experience in sports betting and data analytics. He has had substantial involvement in product development, overseeing daily operations and business development across several ventures. Duncan is most excited about working with the community to \u201cbuild a platform that finally levels the playing field and allows every bettor their best chance to win\u201d.\n\nFor more information about the team and advisors of FansUnite, please visit the website. FansUnite is excellently positioned to leverage the expertise of the team, partners, and advisors who are industry leaders in blockchain technology, community building, and iGaming legal navigation. FansUnite identifies its leadership team as a significant competitive advantage, which is why this team will successfully build the first blockchain-based social sports betting platform. The platform offers a disruptive environment which forever change the currently outdated and overpriced sports betting environment. FansUnite are laying the groundwork for a house where everyone can win. All you need to do is step inside.\n\nStay plugged in to updates about FansUnite by joining their mailing list. You can also join in and voice your opinion on any of their social platforms including Slack, Telegram and Twitter."}
-{"text": "Fly unzipped in a light breeze \"That was the most erotic moment of my life.\"\n\n165 shares"}
-{"text": "CLEVELAND, Ohio -- It was Sunday afternoon, following the penultimate game of the Cleveland Cavaliers\u2019 2018-19 season and the day before his 24th birthday. Cedi Osman had just returned from the locker room to greet a special section of Turkish fans, about 70 of them, who had watched the game versus San Antonio and cheered on their homegrown star.\n\nThen they started singing happy birthday. In Osman\u2019s native language.\n\nOn this day, it wasn\u2019t just anyone in attendance. A special occasion called for a special guest. Umut Acar, Consulate General of the Republic of Turkey, was leading the chorus. Acar has come to Cleveland to watch Osman play twice in the last two years. The pair have struck up a friendship and exchange texts every month.\n\nEven when there isn\u2019t enough time to watch the Cavaliers play in person, Acar\u2019s eyes -- along with so many overseas in Turkey, Turkish Americans in Northeast Ohio and others all around the United States, are fixated on Osman.\n\n\u201cCedi is No. 1 right now of Turkey\u2019s following. We call him a Turkish star in the NBA and we\u2019re all proud of Cedi. We are all rooting for him and cheering for him,\u201d said Acar, who was wearing a black Osman jersey during a 30-minute chat with cleveland.com at a downtown coffee shop recently. \u201cMany young Turkish players are trying to become the next Cedi. I\u2019m sure he showed that\u2019s it\u2019s possible if you follow the right strategy and focus on the job like Cedi is doing, you can do that. It\u2019s the main message he is sending back to Turkey.\u201d\n\nOsman isn\u2019t just the starting small forward for the Cavaliers -- a piece of the team\u2019s promising, young future core. He\u2019s an NBA Rising Star, one of 10 first- or second-year international players selected to participate on Team World during All-Star Weekend two months ago. Each time Osman steps on the floor, he represents Turkey, carrying the country\u2019s flag in the NBA -- and sometimes even wearing it on his shoe.\n\n(Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)NBAE/Getty Images\n\nHedo Turkoglu and Mehmet Okur are retired. Milwaukee forward Ersan Ilyasova is on the wrong side of 30. Furkan Korkmaz, Osman\u2019s good friend, has yet to make his mark in the NBA after being selected in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft. Osman, the always-smiling Cavalier with the clean look, has become the country\u2019s top draw.\n\n\u201cWe are seven hours ahead of Cleveland,\u201d said Acar, who grew up loving basketball, playing in high school and college. \u201cYoung basketball fans are waking up at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. to follow Cedi, to follow NBA games. Then the main talk the next day at school is, \u2018Did you see Cedi? Did you see LeBron?\u2019 I know it because I did it when I was a student. The NBA and the Cavs should know in Turkey they have a large group following them.\u201d\n\nOsman capped his sophomore season with a 17-point performance Tuesday night. It was his 52nd double-digit scoring game. Getting minimal playing time last season as a rookie, Osman hit the double-figure mark just seven times. He finished this year fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 13.0 points. He also ranked fifth in rebounds (4.7) and fourth in assists (2.6).\n\nIn a few days, Osman will be heading back home, where he\u2019s been considered a basketball star since he was a teenager. It will soon be time to gear up for the FIBA World Cup. His goal is to lead Turkey to a top 8 finish.\n\nOsman could have played anywhere in Europe. Engin Ates, President of the Turkish Society of Northeast Ohio, who helps organize the special nights to see Cavs games, was once hoping Osman would stay overseas and play for his favorite team -- Fenerbahce. It wasn\u2019t to be. Osman had bigger goals. And that\u2019s just fine because now Ates can watch Osman play in person -- just as he did Sunday alongside Acar.\n\nAtes\u2019 brother, on the other hand, still has to deal with that nagging seven-hour time difference, the early-morning wake-up calls to watch Osman. Not even that stops fans.\n\n\u201cI know I have to represent the country in the best way,\u201d Osman told cleveland.com. \u201cThat\u2019s one thing for sure. It\u2019s really nice to know they have my back. Is it pressure? Of course, I want to represent well, but I don\u2019t feel any pressure. Because I know I was ready for this.\"\n\nOsman grew up playing basketball in cold Bosnian gyms before moving to Turkey. In that country, basketball is the No. 2 sport, behind soccer. But his parents were both former hoopers and they relocated about 10 years ago, allowing him to join Anadolu Efes, the most successful professional basketball club in the history of the Turkish Super League. The 2018-19 season is what he worked toward all those years.\n\nOsman also credits his rookie season for this breakout. Forced to sit and watch, it allowed him to see the game from a different lens. He wanted to sharpen his mind. He wanted to be ready for a bigger opportunity. Then LeBron left and Osman could see what was ahead.\n\n\u201cKnew it was going to be a tough season for me because I knew it was the first time I was going to play 30-plus minutes every night,\u201d Osman said. \u201cThink it was a good season.\u201d\n\nAt times, teammates rolled their eyes at him. They questioned his readiness. He was singled out for some of the defensive woes. Forced to play out of position because of injuries in the frontcourt, Osman was often overmatched by bigger 4-men. But he never complained. He put his head down and kept working, believing his hard work would be rewarded. He has earned his spot as part of Cleveland\u2019s future. Next year -- if Osman is still with the Cavs following a vital off-season -- Ates\u2019 plan is to reserve an entire section for a community Turkish night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.\n\n\u201cThe Cavs may be down, but when we have players like Cedi, we will always be in the national and even international spotlight,\u201d said Joe Cimperman, President of Global Cleveland. \u201cThe Turkish community\u2019s support of Cedi is an example of how Cleveland is connected to the world, and how together we will build even more bridges to welcome newcomers to our beloved community.\u201d\n\nOsman has always tried reciprocating that love to his fans, especially those back home. During the Rising Stars game, he had a customized pair of sneakers created, ones that were red with a white star and crescent near the toe. That was a message. Osman understands his great responsibility -- even if it\u2019s a lot for someone who just turned 24. In a way, he\u2019s an honorary ambassador for his country in the United States.\n\nHe is Turkey\u2019s brightest beacon of NBA hope."}
-{"text": "Bombardier's CSeries and its aggressive sales tactics threaten the very existence of Boeing's 737 Max 7 and the US aerospace industry, Boeing's vice-chairman Ray Conner told US trade officials last week.\n\n\"The 100-150 seat market matters greatly to Boeing, and Bombardier is very close to forcing us out of this altogether,\" Conner said during a hearing held by the United States International Trade Commission on 18 May.\n\n\"It will only take one or two lost sales involving US customers before commercial viability of the Max 7, and therefore the US industry's very future, becomes very doubtful,\" Conner added, according to a hearing transcript obtained by FlightGlobal.\n\nConner and other representatives of Boeing, Bombardier and Delta Air Lines spoke at the hearing into whether Bombardier violated trade rules.\n\nThe US government launched the examination after Boeing filed a petition on 27 April claiming financial harm from Bombardier's subsidies and low sales prices.\n\nBoeing alleges that Delta, which purchased 75 CS100s in 2016, paid about $20 million each for aircraft that cost Bombardier $33.2 million each to produce.\n\nBombardier was able to make the deal because it received $2.5 billion in government equity infusions and billions more in other subsidies, Boeing alleges.\n\nThe Canadian airframer's tactics have depressed prices for competing small narrowbody aircraft like 737-700s and 737 Max 7s, Boeing says, adding that pressure from Bombardier forced Boeing to cut the price of 737-700s it sold to United Airlines.\n\n\"The way they're pricing it is dumped beyond any reasonable imagination,\" Robert Novick, an attorney for Boeing, told the Trade Commission. \"If Boeing cannot secure additional orders for the 737 Max 7, or is forced to sell at depressed prices, the programme will not succeed and Boeing will be eliminated from the 100 to 150 seat market.\"\n\nParallel investigations by the Trade Commission and the US Department of Commerce are scheduled to wrap up by November and could result in import duties, the Department of Commerce has said.\n\nRepresentatives from Bombardier and Delta dismissed Boeing's claims, insisting the CSeries does not compete with larger 737s.\n\nBombardier developed CSeries to fill a need that arose after Boeing abandoned the roughly 100-seat market when it stopped making 717s a decade ago, they said.\n\nBoeing's 737-700 and 737 Max 7 carry roughly 126 to 138 seats, while CS100s carry about 108 seats.\n\n\"Boeing doesn't even make a product that competes with the aircraft Bombardier offered,\" said Peter Lichtenbaum, an attorney representing Bombardier. \"Aircraft are not like shampoo, where getting 30% more for a comparable price is a bonus.\"\n\nIndeed, Conner confirmed that due to Delta's price requirements Boeing initially had discussed selling Delta used 717s or traded-in Embraer 190s.\n\n\"Boeing could not offer us a new airplane in the 100- to 110-seat space that met our needs in the timeframe that we needed to execute,\" Delta senior vice-president of supply chain management and fleet Gregory May said at the hearing. \"It would be wrong to suggest that Boeing lost sales to Delta because we purchased the CS100. Boeing simply was not in the mix.\"\n\nMay also addressed pricing, saying airlines commonly get discounts in exchange for risks associated with being an initial customer of a new aircraft.\n\n\"Everyone in the industry understands that the first marquee\u2026 customer is being rewarded for being the first for fully evaluating the aircraft,\" May said.\n\nThough Bombardier did not disclose prices paid by Delta, the airframer's vice-president of commercial operations Ross Mitchell dismissed the $20 million figure.\n\n\"The price that has been quoted is way off, and we'll leave it at that,\" he said.\n\nMuch of the hearing focused on seat count, with Boeing insisting the CS100 competes in the 100 to 150 seat segment, and Bombardier and Delta saying CSeries actually occupies a smaller, unique niche.\n\n\"A 100-seat plane and 150-seat plane are not interchangeable for Delta's purpose,\" said Delta vice-president of network planning in the Americas Joe Esposito.\n\nStill, Conner and other Boeing representatives painted Bombardier's price cuts as threatening the \"commercial momentum\" of the 737 Max 7.\n\n\"The Boeing 737 Max 7 appears to be perilously close to, or maybe even already\u2026 locked into such a negative commercial momentum cycle,\" said Jerry Nickelsburg, a University of California Los Angeles economist who spoke on behalf of Boeing.\n\n\"It is already a precarious situation,\" Conner said.\n\nBoeing has received orders for just 63 737 Max 7s from five customers, and has not received a significant order since 2013, Conner said.\n\n\"Bombardier has said it wants 50% of this market, which it will probably win at the prices it is offering. If Bombardier does that, we're looking at losing $330 million dollars in revenue every year,\" Conner says.\n\nSource: Cirium Dashboard"}
-{"text": "I am twenty-seven years old, and I have struggled with depression for seventeen of those years. It would not be incorrect to say that depression has been a defining experience in my life. This is a fact that is capable of filling me with great shame. After all, I come from a privileged background, I have not suffered significant trauma, abuse, or loss, and I have a supportive and loving family. Despite all this, depression has been and continues to be my companion\u2013often manifesting as a low-grade dysthymia, sometimes blowing up into a debilitating episode of major depressive disorder. And there have been a few brief, sparkling, miraculous-seeming remissions from the illness, which I treasure and study like holy texts. It all feels very random, very senseless. However, I cannot fully believe that my suffering is without meaning, either for myself or for others. And it is in an effort to uncover that meaning that I have compiled the following list of things that I have learned from depression.\n\n1. There is no happiness in material things\n\nBeing depressed from such a young age totally took away any desire I might have ever had to pursue wealth or the accumulation of objects. Depression has a way of equalizing the impact of exterior circumstances\u2013whether you\u2019re riding in a broken-down, twenty year-old Toyota that smells like unwashed feet, or a new BMW with heated leather seats and a state-of-the-art stereo, you still feel the same. A depressed person feels no different, whether she\u2019s eating out of a dumpster or dining at a restaurant with cloth napkins and multiple forks. Money simply brings no relief from the suffering. A lot of people throw around the phrase \u201cMoney can\u2019t buy happiness,\u201d but depression has made me understand this in a very deep way.\n\n2. A sense of humor is what really makes a person wealthy\n\nIf there is one thing that DOES cancel out depression, if even for just a moment, it\u2019s a good, honest, deep laugh. I find that when I am not in my depression that I am in possession of a pretty respectable sense of humor. There is no describing the joy that I get from laughing, or from being able to make others laugh. It is a fortification against the ups and downs of life. And I credit my depression with making life seem absurd and random enough that I am able to laugh, deeply, at just about anything.\n\n3. Attitude is everything\n\nBeing a disease of perception and emotion, depression takes away one\u2019s ability to choose his or her attitude. \u201cPositive thinking\u201d simply loses all meaning when a person is utterly unable to connect with himself, others, or anything at all in life. I have had the experience of existing in a state of depression for years, and then being lifted out of that depression and suddenly having the ability to choose my attitude about circumstances. Let me tell you, having that choice is a relief. It feels like a superpower.\n\n4. Wherever you go, there you are\n\nWhen I was thirteen, I went to Mexico. At that point in my life, I thought I was unhappy because of my circumstances\u2013the stupid shallow American culture, the stupid people around me, the stupid school I went to. When I went to Mexico, I felt the same unhappiness. This was a humbling experience. My unhappiness was not due to any outward circumstance, but to something within me. There is no such thing as a \u201cgeographical cure\u201d because you cannot escape yourself, even at the top of a mountain or in a remote third-world village.\n\n5. Have compassion for others\n\nMental illness takes people and it twists them up into something they never wanted to be. I know that my depression might make me seem aloof, humorless, uncaring, selfish, or lazy. Truth is, I am none of those things, but if you met me during my depths, you would not know it. I know what mental illness has done to my personality, and this knowing has made me more compassionate towards others. You just can\u2019t judge other people, because you never really know what they are going through on the inside.\n\n6. Be adventurous and try new things\n\nAlthough this might seem contradictory to #4, it\u2019s not. Depression has made me unattached to circumstances. If I am unhappy here, there\u2019s no reason to stay\u2013might as well go somewhere else and try something new and see how that feels. Because of this attitude and the myriad circumstances it has lead me to find myself in, I have learned a lot about myself. I know from my illness that there is no security in \u201csecurity\u201d, so I might as well pile my plate high from the buffet of life. Consequently, I have a deeper and broader perspective than people who have never ventured outside the straight-and-narrow.\n\n7. Friends are the most precious things in life\n\nOne of the most painful parts of depression is that it takes away my ability to have relationships with others. The brain-fog, the uncontrollable crying, the low self-esteem, and the total apathy towards things that I used to find enjoyable make it hard to connect with anyone. This leads to a soul-eating sense of isolation, which compounds the depression. But take away the depression, and suddenly, I regain my ability to connect. To share in the joys and sorrows of others. To help others, and be helped by them. It\u2019s truly an amazing feeling to emerge from the cave of isolation into the sunlit web of relationships with others.\n\n8. It\u2019s all an illusion\n\nWhen I\u2019m depressed, things are not what they seem. The successes of others fill me with a jealous self-loathing. The sunlight makes me want to die. I know rationally that my perspective is incorrect, but I just can\u2019t help it. My depressed perspective is an illusion\u2013a very persistent one, but an illusion nonetheless. This realization has lead me to question what else might be an illusion. Turns out, everything. There\u2019s a lot of freedom in this realization. And there is something to say about quantum physics here, but I\u2019ll save that for a later post\u2026\n\nI am interested in the experiences of others with depression and other mental illnesses. What have you learned from your experience of mental illness? Please share in the comment section below. Thank you for reading. I hope this post helped you in some way, or at least made you feel not quite so alone."}
-{"text": "Cyber Crime Thriller 'Hackerville' Marks New Direction in European TV\n\nHBO Europe and Germany channel TNT Serie teamed up for the series, which follows German police investigating a community of professional hackers in Romania.\n\nThe sun is just beginning to slip behind the horizon and a golden light streams in from all sides of the glass-encased office building up top one of the bank towers that dominate the Frankfurt skyline. The office is bustling, but not with bankers, suits and hedge-fund managers. Instead a motley group of gaffers, second-unit crews, sound technicians and the occasional actor mull about.\n\nGerman star Ronald Zehrfeld, his husky frame straining against the confines of a well-tailored suit, paces back and forth, taking an occasional vape from an e-cigarette, waiting for his cue. As the crew set up, director Anca Miruna Lazarescu, slips back and forth between German \u2014 instructing Zehrfeld and co-star Nina Kunzendorf on their upcoming scene \u2014 and Romanian, in what seems like playful asides to the technicians.\n\nIt's the final few days shooting for Hackerville, a new series from HBO Europe and German pay TV channel TNT Serie. The team has spent the last few weeks hustling back and forth between Frankfurt and Lazarescu's hometown of Timisoara, Romania in a rush to finish the crime drama in which a German detectives is sent to investigate a gang of Romanian cyber criminals behind a hacking attack on a major German bank. The storyline was inspired by communities of real-life Romanian hackers, many of whom come from small, isolated communities within the former communist state.\n\nThe series \u2014 co-created by Joerg Winger and Ralph Martin, who worked together on Amazon Prime's Deutschland 83 and Deutschland 86 \u2014 was originally planned as an English-language show. \u201cA few years back, a high-end German drama was a tough sell, says Winger. But when he pitched the project to Jonathan Young at HBO Europe, Young convinced him to repackage Hackerville as a German-Romanian series, putting particular focus on the journey of young German-Romanian cop Lisa Metz (Anna Schumacher) forced to confront her own family history when she travels back to Romanian to investigate the cyber attack.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe idea of the hacking, and how these major attacks from these small isolated communities was interesting, but what really fascinated me was the personal journey of this woman,\u201d says Antony Root, executive vp original programming and production at HBO Europe. \u201cIt's both a action/crime tale that also is a humorous, fish-out-of-water story at the same time.\u201d\n\nLisa Metz's personal journey \u2014 back to the Romanian village her family emigrated to Germany from \u2014 is mirrored in that of actress Schumacher and director Lazarescu, both of whom grew up in Romania, as part of the country's German-language minority community, before coming with their families to Germany.\n\n\u201cIt was the first time I was back in Timisoara in 16 years, since we came here (to Germany),\u201d says Lazarescu, about shooting Hackerville in Romania. \u201cI grew up there but we all went to the German school \u2014 learning to recite Goethe and Schiller. Then we came to Germany, and having a Gameboy was more important than being able to quote Faust.\u201d\n\n\u201cBefore we went, I thought: 'I'm going home' I always felt sooo Romanian,\u201d says Schumacher, who emigrated to Germany when she was 9. \u201cA few days in and I felt 'oh, I'm sooo German.' It went back and forth. Now I've decided, I'm the perfect mix.\u201d\n\nFor Winger, Hackerville is an opportunity to shine a light on a forgotten piece of European history. \u201cThe German-Romanians are almost an invisible group,\u201d he says, \u201cI remember in West Germany in the 80s, when (Romanian dictator) Ceausescu allowed families to emigrate and suddenly there were these new kids in school, who spoke this oddly-accented German, but the community has been almost invisible, at least in popular culture.\u201d\n\nHackerville is HBO Europe's first-ever co-production, with TNT Serie, like HBO a Time Warner subsidiary, also on board. \u201cThere wasn't a pressing financial need to do a co-production but it made editorial sense to have a German partner who could bring authenticity to the project,\u201d says Root.\n\nWhen it comes to European series, HBO Europe has plenty of local cred of its own, with acclaimed and award-winning shows including Romanian gangster drama Umbra, Polish police thriller The Pack and Czech social drama Wasteland. Hackerville, Root notes, is \u201clighter and more accessible\u201d than much of its eastern Europe output to date, part of a move by HBO Europe to broaden its programming beyond the dark and dreary. The company recently greenlit the Swedish dramedy Gosta from director Lukas Moodysson (Together) and has had success with local-language comedies including the Hungarian and Czech versions of rom-com Shall We Kiss. It's also expanded well beyond Eastern Europe, with operations in Scandinavia and Spain. Just this week, HBO Europe ordered Patria, its first-ever Spanish-language series.\n\nAll of the company's originals now go out day-and-date across HBO Europe's territories and often on HBO Go in the U.S. But the main market, Root says, is still local.\n\n\u201cIt's highly desirable that these series play outside their home territories but the goal is always, first to make a series that plays in the local territory. For Hackerville, the Romanian audience should see this series as Romanian and recognize Lisa Metz as one of their own, at least partially. For the German audience it's about watching someone from their world \u2014 Frankfurt \u2014 travel into a completely different world, Romania.\u201d\n\nTurner International, which is selling Hackerville worldwide, is also hoping the series can tap into the global appetite for foreign-language drama evidenced at this year's Mipcom in Cannes. The Italian period drama My Brilliant Friend, the first-ever foreign-language series from HBO's U.S. network, sold to more than 56 territories ahead of its global bow.\n\n\u201cPeople are definitely interested in non-English shows now,\u201d says Winger. \u201cYou can pitch a German show in L.A. and people listen. That wasn't the case five years ago.\u201d\n\nHackerville will premiere day-and-date Nov. 4 across HBO Europe services in Central Europe, Scandinavia and Spain, as well as on HBO\u2019s U.S. platforms HBO Go, HBO Now and HBO On Demand. TNT Serie will bow the series in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on Nov. 8.\n\n"}
-{"text": "Image copyright Tic Toc Image caption Xanax slows down the functions of the brain, but serious side-effects can occur\n\nThe number of children being treated for addiction to tranquilisers has doubled in a year, to more than 300, according to Public Health England.\n\nThe drug Xanax, and copies of it, accounted for the sharpest rise - from eight children receiving treatment in 2016-17 to 53 in 2017-18.\n\nAmbulance services around the country have also reported a growing problem.\n\nIn 2017-18, more than 15,500 children had help for substance misuse, 88% for cannabis.\n\nThe total number receiving treatment was 5% down on the previous year,\n\nWhat is Xanax?\n\nXanax is the brand name for the drug alprazolam, a benzodiazepine prescribed for anxiety or panic attacks. But many of the pills taken by children are copies bought online, with no indication of their strength or whether they have been adulterated.\n\nWhat are the effects of benzodiazepines?\n\nUK Addiction Treatment group psychiatrist Dr Durrani says: \"Benzos work by literally slowing down the functions of the brain, acting as a leveller in times of high stress, over-excitement or anxiety.\n\n\"Serious side-effects can occur, including slurring words or even total blackouts.\n\n\"We're seeing more and more people admitting themselves after becoming addicted to benzos.\n\n\"In most cases, their misuse stemmed from using the drug recreationally at parties and mixing it with alcohol, which proves a toxic combination.\"\n\nWhat do the ambulance services say?\n\nThe North East Ambulance Service, which provided the most comprehensive details to a BBC Freedom of Information request sent to six ambulance services, said that in 2017 it had attended 240 callouts for Xanax abuse by children , two of which had been for 11-year-olds.\n\nWhat about Public Health England?\n\nDrugs, alcohol and tobacco director Rosanna O'Connor says: \"Despite fewer under-18s asking for help with drug and alcohol problems, it remains a significant issue and the latest data shows an increasing number of young people needing treatment for benzodiazepines.\n\n\"However, there is limited evidence and data for these drugs, so we do not have a clear picture of changes in use.\n\n\"Benzodiazepines are risky when taken without medical supervision and mixing them with alcohol or other drugs increases the risk of harm, particularly when mixed with other sedatives.\"\n\nWhat about other addictions?\n\nThe PHE report also says:\n\nthe number of children receiving treatment for ecstasy addiction rose by 18% over the same period\n\n46% of the 15,583 children being treated for substance misuse are being helped with alcohol issues"}
-{"text": "Endpoint Security , Next-Generation Technologies & Secure Development\n\nBetter Ransomware Detection: Follow the Shouting\n\nUnique Behavior Holds Key to Better Defenses, Researchers Say\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLinkedIn\n\nLinkedIn\n\n\n\n\n\nGet Permission\n\n\n\nNortheastern University Professor Engin Kirda\n\nIt's too soon to predict the decline of ransomware, the file-encrypting malware that poses a large and increasing risk to businesses and organizations. But it's the current obsession for the security industry. And while some computer security vendors claim their products can stop it, far too much ransomware is still bypassing defenses. As with any cybercriminal scam, though, the more attention it draws, the faster attackers' window of opportunity closes as defenses improve.\n\nSee Also: Restructuring Your Third-Party Risk Management Program\n\nAt the 25th Usenix Security Symposium in Austin, Texas, this week, a team of researchers from Northeastern University in Boston presented a new method to detect ransomware, called Unveil, and they report that it's proved highly effective in testing.\n\n\"Ransomware actually shouts at you. It says, 'Hey, I just infected you.' These are behaviors ... that you can specifically look for.\"\n\nRansomware \"is very simple attack that's simple to prevent if you have good backups,\" says Engin Kirda, a professor in the computer and information science department at Northeastern. \"The reality is: People are bad at it. They don't have backups. They lose their data. Ransomware is exposing this big issue that we've always seen and known about, but now it's becoming more mainstream.\"\n\nThe Fakeout\n\nTo help, the research team's idea was to build a system that could be layered on top of technologies known as \"sandboxing,\" which isolate executable code for analysis before passing clean code into an environment, Kirda says.\n\nBy design, Unveil appears to be a legitimate user environment, full of attractive files that ransomware code would target. That's a decoy technique being increasingly embraced by the security industry to lure hackers and study their movements in a system, without tipping them off that it's actually fake.\n\nTo try and block security researchers and law enforcement agencies, many ransomware developers code their malicious applications to detect when they've has been trapped in a sandbox, and if so to stop working. Kirda notes that many security firms continue to build new sandbox techniques that are designed to analyze malicious code, and attackers continue to bolster their defenses against these more advanced sandboxing environments.\n\nBut the Unveil researchers took a different approach, opting for a relatively unsophisticated sandbox, and found that they could find ransomware samples that more advanced sandboxing environments failed to detect.\n\nUnveil's detection capabilities are centered on the unique ways that ransomware functions: it makes large-scale changes to file systems unlike other types of code. That same broad technique is similar to another academic project I wrote about called CryptoDrop (see Researchers Unleash Ransomware Annihilation).\n\nIf a process starts to make changes to a file's entropy - or randomness - it's a good clue that ransomware is at work. Accordingly, Unveil has direct access to data buffers that are involved in input and output requests, which allows it to monitor file system changes.\n\n\"I think the good thing about ransomware - people usually talk about the bad things - is that it has very distinct behaviors,\" Kirda says. \"Ransomware actually shouts at you. It says, 'Hey, I just infected you.' These are behaviors that are in a way actually good for a defender because these are things that you can specifically look for.\"\n\nA key difference between ransomware and other malware is it usually displays a prominent notification asking for payment. Unveil monitors the desktop, taking automatic screenshots of what it displays before and after a suspect executable is detected. It uses optical character recognition for changes, looking for keywords such as FBI, bitcoin and ransom.\n\n\"These are very suspicious words that a typical user will not always see,\" Kirda says.\n\nNo False Positives\n\nUnveil was tested against 148,223 malware samples and correctly picked out 13,637 ransomware samples without any false positives, according to the group's research paper. It even picked out what was an unknown ransomware family, called SilentCrypt, that was able to bypass the sandboxing technology of a \"well-known anti-malware company,\" the paper reads. Papers accepted for the Usenix go through a blind review by a program committee of vetted academics and experts.\n\nRansomware is able to fool many security products because attackers use compression and packing techniques to make what are essentially the same executable files appear different. Many anti-virus products rely on files that describe patterns of known malicious code - referred to as signatures - but repacked code can often evade those checks.\n\nUnveil was developed by one of Kirda's students, Amin Kharraz, along with Sajjad Arshad, Collin Mulliner and William Robertson, all of Northeastern. Kirda is the founder of the computer security firm Lastline, but the research on Unveil is in the public domain. What the team developed is just a prototype, and other companies or organizations are free to take the ideas and develop it further. Kirda expects that Lastline also will implement some of the techniques in its products.\n\n\"The information is going to be out there,\" Kirda says. \"It's online for everybody.\""}
-{"text": "Throughout his political life, Barack Obama has been hustling America on immigration, pretending to be one thing while doing another.\n\nNow he\u2019s at it again. Mr. Obama calls it \u201ccruel\u201d of Donald Trump both to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that protected hundreds of thousands of people who came to the U.S. as children illegally\u2014and to ask Congress to fix it. The former president further moans that the immigration bill he asked Congress to send him \u201cnever came,\u201d with the result that 800,000 young people now find themselves in limbo.\n\nCertainly there are conservatives and Republicans who oppose and fight efforts by Congress to open this country\u2019s doors, as well as to legalize the many millions who crossed into the U.S. unlawfully but have been working peacefully and productively. These immigration opponents get plenty of attention.\n\nWhat gets almost zero press attention is the sneakier folks, Mr. Obama included. Truth is, no man has done more to poison the possibilities for fixing America\u2019s broken immigration system than our 44th president.\n\nMr. Obama\u2019s double-dealing begins with his time as junior senator from Illinois, when he helped sabotage a bipartisan immigration package supported by George W. Bush and Ted Kennedy. Mr. Obama\u2019s dissembling continued during the first two years of his own presidency, when he had the votes to pass an immigration bill if he had chosen to push one. It was all topped off by his decision, late in his first term, to institute the policy on DACA that he himself had previously admitted was beyond his constitutional powers."}
-{"text": "Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks to reporters Thomson Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators who just returned from a trip to Israel called on Tuesday for an increase in the $38 billion in military aid the United States is currently providing Israel, signaling support for more funds for Israeli missile systems.\n\nSenators Lindsey Graham, a leading Republican foreign policy voice, and Chris Coons, a Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said they considered the provision of $38 billion over 10 years, \"a floor.\"\n\nGraham said during a meeting with reporters that he thought provisions in the agreement phasing out an arrangement in which Israel could spend U.S. funds on its own defense industry and the provision of just $500 million in missile defense funding were \"short-sighted.\"\n\nCoons said tensions in the broader region supported the idea of more funding for Israel, citing the ongoing war in Syria and Iran's recent use of a stealth drone.\n\nThe United States and Israel signed an agreement in September 2016 to give Israel $38 billion in military assistance over the next decade, the largest such aid package in U.S. history but one that included concessions by Israel's government.\n\n(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)"}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nnot sure if real bacon or just beggin' strips"}
-{"text": "article\n\nAnnmarie Small didn't lack any support when she became a U.S. citizen last month in Tallahassee.\n\nThe Cornerstone Learning Community teacher was cheered on by dozens of her current and former students when she took the oath to officially become an American.\n\nSmall came to Florida in 2007 from Jamaica with her then 5-year-old son to provide a better life for them. According to WFTS, she was hired as a teacher at Cornerstone, a private school, where she made an impression on her students and co-workers.\n\n\"It is with profound joy that we celebrate Ms. Annmarie being sworn in as a naturalized US citizen today!\" the private school wrote in celebration on Facebook.\n\n\nSmall's current fourth grade class, as well as students she taught at the school in the past, showed up to the Leon County Courthouse waving American flags to support her.\n\nMORE NEWS: 'Not a dry eye': Boy invites entire kindergarten class to witness his adoption hearing\n\n\u201cI use the term \u2018bag of emotions\u2019 because that\u2019s exactly what it was,\u201d 42-year-old Small told WFTS about the heartwarming event. \u201cWhen everything was quiet after the ceremony and I went home, I cried, and it was tears of joy.\n\nCornerstone says they couldn't be more proud.\n\n\"Congrats, Annmarie. Our country is at least one awesome person better today than we were yesterday. What an honor it is to have played a role. We are made better by you.\"\n\nMORE NEWS: Gary Sinise honored with Congressional Medal Of Honor Society Award for supporting veterans"}
-{"text": "Dr. Lafayette Parker celebrated his 100th birthday Saturday afternoon.\n\nA Leap Year baby born on February 29th, it's not every year Dr. Parker gets to celebrate on his actual birthday.\n\nDr. Parker's daughter Eunicea Parker says he always had a birthday regardless of whether it was the day before, or day after.\n\n\"He celebrated every year he did not care wither it was leap year or not he celebrated either the 28th or the first, he had a birthday every year.\" Parker said.\n\nDr. Parker is a WWII Veteran from Richlands.\n\nDuring his time in the Army he reached the rank of Captain, a rank few African Americans had at that time.\n\nLater in life he was the Academic Dean at Winston Salem State University.\n\nMany of the students that were there while he was, say he was made sure everyone was on the right path and out of trouble.\n\n\"While I was at Winston Salem he reminded me that my mother sent me there to get an education,\" recalled Jimmy Harvey, a former student and friend of Dr. Parker's.\n\nDr. Parker says the secret to living long is not worrying about things that are out of your control and living a healthy lifestyle."}
-{"text": "Thirty years ago, fossil fuels made up 81% of the world\u2019s energy mix. Today, despite hundreds of billions of dollars invested in renewable energy and growth in electric vehicles adoption, it\u2019s still 81%.\n\nThat was just one of the sobering statistics thrown out last week in Vancouver by Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), at the 10th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) forum.\n\nAnother sobering fact was that the GHG emissions avoidance that should have accrued through hundreds of billions of dollars of investments in renewable energy globally has been largely wiped out by the early retirement of nuclear power plants.\n\nAnd unless aging nuclear power plants that are slated for retirement are given life extensions, another four billion tonnes of carbon dioxide will be added to the atmosphere, Birol warned.\n\nTo put that in context, total global GHG emissions in 2018 were about 37 billion tonnes. After three years of flat growth, global emissions, driven by general economic growth, began growing again in 2017 and 2018.\n\n\u201cWe are definitely on a dangerous path,\u201d Birol told Business in Vancouver. \u201cEverybody talks about deeper and deeper cuts, but what we see in real life is that the emissions are increasing.\u201d\n\n\u201cRenewables are growing \u2013 a massive increase in solar and wind,\u201d Birol said. \u201cBut when you look at the last 20 years, the share of zero carbon technologies in the world energy mix didn\u2019t change \u2013 despite the strong growth in renewables \u2013 because it was only strong enough to compensate the decline in nuclear.\n\n\u201cClose to 250 gigawatts of nuclear power plants in advanced economies are going to retire \u2013 about two-thirds of the existing capacity today \u2013 which will give an additional boost to the carbon dioxide emissions. It\u2019s 4 billion tonnes additional emissions, which should make (it) even harder to reach our international climate targets.\"\n\nGiven that fossil fuels will still be around for decades, Birol said it's important that carbon capture and sequestration be done on much larger scales.\n\n\u201cWhen it comes to clean energy there is a lot of talk about cars,\u201d Birol said. \u201cIf you open the newspapers to the front page, there is something about \u2026electric cars. But only two heavy industries \u2013 cement and steel \u2013 emit 50% more (GHGs) than all the cars of the world put together, but it doesn\u2019t get any attention.\n\n\u201cWe think the industrial sector is very important to make use of the CCS (carbon capture and sequestration), because about one quarter of the global emissions come from the industrial sector. If you ask me personally, I don\u2019t see reaching our climate targets in the absence of CCS, in the absence of nuclear. Practically, very, very, very difficult.\u201d\n\nThe annual CEM conference draws energy ministers from 25 countries together annually to discuss global energy policies and trends. It was the first time the conference was held in Vancouver.\n\nThe IEA is arguably the most cited source of global energy information, which is why Birol was called upon to speak last week at a number of panel discussions on topics ranging from nuclear power to liquefied natural gas and carbon sequestration. His role was to provide a reality check for policymakers and suggest \u201creal-world solutions\u201d to lowering greenhouse gas emissions.\n\n\u2014 Business in Vancouver"}
-{"text": "I assume it\u2019s true that buying groceries will get super-cute nubile cooters humid. Amelia comebacks from a buying groceries spree and has her bf attempt on some garments initially comes off and this super hot nubile will get engaged. He showcases his thankfulness by way of first-ever deepthroating on her rock hard tiny hooters after which tonguing her sleek hairless fuckbox. Amelia then climbs on most sensible of him and impales her cock-squeezing cunny down on his rock rigid lollipop and he boinks the hell out of her. The 2 attempt other postures earlier than he spews cum down her gullet."}
-{"text": "As the central government in Madrid squares off against secessionists in Catalonia, separatists in another Spanish region have begun formally laying the groundwork for their own push for independence.\n\n\n\nEH Bildu, a leftwing pro-independence party in the Basque country, has submitted a bill to the regional parliament that it hopes will pave the way for consultations to be held in the region. \u201cThe aim is to put the political, economic and social future of the Basque country in the hands of its citizens,\u201d EH Bildu\u2019s spokesman, Hasier Arraiz, said as he presented the legislation.\n\nThe bill mirrors that passed by the Catalan parliament last year, which aimed to create legal cover for a consultation on independence in the region. Spain\u2019s constitutional court suspended the regional law, but Catalonia pressed ahead with the consultation, rebranding it as a symbolic referendum.\n\nThe Catalan leader, Artur Mas, and two associates are under investigation for disobedience, abuse of power and obstruction of justice over their actions.\n\nBasque separatists have shied away from specifically mentioning independence, but they referred several times to Catalonia as they presented their bill. \u201cIt\u2019s time to confront the state democratically. They are doing it in Catalonia and we want to do it in the Basque country,\u201d Arraiz said.\n\nThe Basque bill has little chance of being passed, because EH Bildu holds only 21 of the 75 seats in the Basque parliament. Its actions, however, confirmed worries in Madrid that any concessions made to secessionists in Catalonia may have to be extended to separatist movements across the country.\n\nThe Basque leader, I\u00f1igo Urkullu, who spoke earlier this year of his hopes of holding a consultation on independence in the region, sought to temper fears of contagion on Wednesday by saying that his Basque Nationalist party would not support the bill. \u201cEH Bildu is putting forward initiatives out of internal necessity and for electoral purposes,\u201d Urkullu told Cadena Ser radio in an interview.\n\nHis party would instead seek to negotiate any potential referendum with Madrid, he said. With weeks to go before Spaniards cast their votes in a general election, Urkullu said that any such dialogue was unlikely to happen under the current prime minister, Mariano Rajoy.\n\n\u201cNot the Rajoy I know,\u201d he said. \u201cI would like a leader like David Cameron, who can reach an agreement \u2026 to carry out a consultation to understand what citizens want and then respect the outcome and offer solutions.\u201d\n\nThe Basque bill comes as three non-secessionist parties in Catalonia each filed complaints to Spain\u2019s constitutional court on Wednesday, challenging a proposed motion to have the Catalan parliament announce the formal start of moves towards independence from Spain.\n\nIn 2007, authorities in the Basque country put forward plans to hold a referendum on \u201cself-determination\u201d, widely interpreted as a poll on the region\u2019s right to secede from Spain. Spain\u2019s constitutional court ruled the move illegal and blocked it.\n\nSince 2012, EH Bildu has ranked as the second biggest political group in the Basque parliament. Their success in the last election was widely seen as a another step towards the end of Eta, the armed separatist group that claimed more than 800 victims in its push for an independent Basque homeland.\n\nEta announced an end to its violence in 2011, but it has since refused demands from Spanish officials to formally disarm."}
-{"text": "Die Datenschutzbeauftragten mehrerer L\u00e4nder und des Bunds unterst\u00fctzen die Kampagne ihres Kieler Kollegen gegen Social-Network-Plug-ins wie den \"Gef\u00e4llt mir\"-Button bei Facebook. Neben dem Unabh\u00e4ngigen Landeszentrum f\u00fcr Datenschutz Schleswig-Holstein (ULD) sehen auch die Aufsichtsbeh\u00f6rden in Rheinland-Pfalz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern und Niedersachen die damit erfolgende Datenabfrage nicht als rechtskonform an, meldet das Marketing-Fachblatt \"Werben & Verkaufen\" (w&v). Es w\u00fcrden zu viele personenbezogene Informationen von Surfern an den Betreiber des sozialen Netzwerks weitergeleitet, ohne das den Nutzer dar\u00fcber ausreichend Klarheit verschafft werde.\n\nDer Bundesdatenschutzbeauftragte Peter Schaar soll den Vorsto\u00df aus dem hohen Norden ebenfalls begr\u00fc\u00dft haben. Auch die \u00f6ffentlich bestallten Datensch\u00fczter in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Brandenburg, Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg und Hamburg sehen dem Bericht nach Handlungsbedarf, wollen ein eigenes oder gemeinschaftliches Vorgehen aber noch pr\u00fcfen. Insgesamt werde eine einheitliche Linie angestrebt.\n\nDer Leiter des ULD, Thilo Weichert, hatte schleswig-holsteinische Webseiten-Betreiber Mitte der Woche aufgefordert, ihre Fanpages bei Facebook und \"Social Plug-ins\" auf ihren Homepages bis Ende September zu entfernen. Der Appell l\u00f6ste \u00fcber die Grenzen des Landes hinaus eine heftige Debatte aus, zumal der Datensch\u00fctzer auch \"selektiv\" mit Bu\u00dfgeldern drohte. Weichert erl\u00e4uterte gegen\u00fcber \"politik digital\" nun, dass Facebook \u00fcber die inkriminierten Mittel Cookies zur Profilbildung einsetze und die Betroffenen dar\u00fcber weder hinreichend informiere noch ihnen eine M\u00f6glichkeit zur Einwilligung oder Ablehnung der in den USA erfolgenden Datenverarbeitung gebe. Da es jenseits des Atlantiks \"praktisch keinen Datenschutz\" gebe, sei es ratsam, sich privatsph\u00e4renfreundlichere Alternativen zu Facebook zu suchen.\n\nLetztlich will Weichert auch Druck auf den US-Konzern aus\u00fcben, der sich mit seinen Hauptniederlassungen in Kalifornien und in Irland bisher der Kontrolle durch hiesige Datensch\u00fctzer entzogen habe. \"Politische Initiativen und gesetzliche \u00c4nderungen\" k\u00f6nnten hier hilfreich sein, dieses Anliegen zu unterst\u00fctzen. Es gehe dem ULD zudem vor allem um \u00dcberzeugungsarbeit, dass die gesch\u00e4ftliche und beh\u00f6rdliche Nutzung von Facebook trotz aller vordergr\u00fcndigen Vorteile aus Datenschutzgr\u00fcnden derzeit unverantwortlich sei. Webseiten-Betreiber h\u00e4tten hier eine eigene Pflicht zur Rechtseinhaltung. Niemand sei gezwungen, Facebook-Anwendungen zu installieren.\n\nWelche Daten das soziale Netzwerk Facebook mit Applikationen wie dem \"Like\"-Button sammelt, erl\u00e4utert die Stiftung Warentest in einem aktuellen Beitrag. Die Details fielen zwar unters Gesch\u00e4ftsgeheimnis, schreibt die Einrichtung. Sicher sei aber, dass der Internetkonzern auch \"Aktionen der Facebook-Nutzer \u2013 vermutlich l\u00fcckenlos \u2013 aufzeichnet\". Jeder Besuch auf Webseiten mit \"Gef\u00e4llt mir\"-Knopf werde nebst IP-Adresse registriert. Sofern es sich um einen in das Netzwerk eingeloggten Facebook-Nutzer handle, sei auch dessen Identit\u00e4t zugleich bekannt. Dies erm\u00f6glicht es, Vorlieben, Neigungen und Kontakte der Profilinhaber sehr genau zu untersuchen. Auch \u00fcber Fanpages k\u00f6nnten \u00fcber eine spezielle Schnittstelle eine Reihe personenbezogener Inhalte abgefragt werden. Die Stiftung selbst will ihre entsprechende Facebook-Seite trotzdem beibehalten, um ihre Informationen m\u00f6glichst weit zu verbreiten.\n\nDer FDP-Netzpolitiker Manuel H\u00f6ferlin warnt vor Schnellsch\u00fcssen. Ihm gefalle es besser, zun\u00e4chst \"den netzpolitischen Dialog\" mit Homepage-Inhabern aufzunehmen, teilte er am Freitag mit. Die Forderung nach einem Entfernen von \"Social Plug-ins\" erscheint dem Bundestagsabgeordneten \"zu drastisch\". Wenn das ULD aber zum Ergebnis komme, Webseitenbetreiber und Nutzer des \"Like\"-Buttons k\u00f6nnten wie \"verantwortliche Stellen\" behandelt werden, m\u00fcsse wohl das geltende Recht angepasst werden. Dabei sei auszuschlie\u00dfen, dass ein Nutzer eines sozialen Plug-in Gefahr laufe, deshalb ein Bu\u00dfgeld in H\u00f6he von bis zu 50.000 Euro bezahlen zu m\u00fcssen.\n\nDer rheinland-pf\u00e4lzische Verbraucherschutzminister Jochen Hartloff h\u00e4lt derweil eine \"St\u00e4rkung des Datenschutzes und der Privatsph\u00e4re\" bei sozialen Netzwerken dringend f\u00fcr notwendig. Es sei zwar richtig, dass Facebook seinen europ\u00e4ischen Sitz in Irland habe. Aber deswegen lediglich darauf zu verweisen, man habe keine rechtliche Handhabe und hoffe auf eine europ\u00e4ische Regelung, scheint dem SPD-Politiker \"doch zu kurz gefasst\". Er sieht die Bundesregierung daher \"in der Bringschuld\". Rheinland-Pfalz habe einen entsprechenden Gesetzesentwurf im Bundesrat unterst\u00fctzt. (jk)"}
-{"text": "VANCOUVER -- One of B.C.'s most notorious fugitives has been turned over to Canadian authorities, months after he was captured in a dramatic police takedown in California.\n\nBrandon Nathan Teixeira was arrested back in December at a home in Oroville, a small community north of Sacramento, where he is believed to have been living for nearly a year.\n\nU.S. authorities said the fugitive drove into an armoured SWAT vehicle in one last desperate attempt to evade law enforcement. He was still caught, and has been in custody ever since.\n\nOn Friday, almost six months later, Lauren Horwood of the U.S. Attorney's Office told CTV News that Teixeira has been transferred back to Canadian law enforcement.\n\nTeixeria is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Nicholas Khabra, who was gunned down in Surrey back in October 2017. He was the subject of an intense international manhunt for two years before finally being caught.\n\nAuthorities have described the accused as \"extremely violent,\" and previously put up a $55,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.\n\nU.S. police said they searched the Oroville home and found 12 kilograms of heroin, 18 kilograms of marijuana and more than 1,000 pills of OxyContin and Percocet."}
-{"text": "Get ready, stargazers; you may be in for a treat. Astronomers have discovered that it's very possible that sometime during the next 50 years, a supernova occurring in our home galaxy will be visible from Earth. In fact, they've found that the odds are nearly 100 percent that such a supernova would be visible to telescopes in the form of infrared radiation.\n\nA massive star usually \"goes supernova\" at the moment when it's used up all its nuclear fuel and its core collapses, just before it explodes violently and throws off most of its mass into space. Yet actually catching this moment is difficult. It occurs relatively quickly, which means that capturing the beginning of a star's demise is near impossible. Yet in this case, it may very well be possible for astronomers to capture this moment.\n\n\"We see all these stars go supernova in other galaxies, and we don't fully understand how it happens. We think we know, we say we know, but that's not actually 100 percent true,\" said Christopher Kochanek, one of the researchers, in a news release. \"Today, technologies have advanced to the point that we can learn enormously more about supernovae if we can catch the next one in our galaxy and study with all our available tools.\"\n\nIn order to actually calculate the possibility of this supernova, though, the researchers turned to calculations and computer models. By taking various factors into account, such as infrared light and soot in the galaxy, the astronomers determined that they have nearly a 100 percent chance of catching a prized Milky Way supernova in the next 50 years.\n\n\"Every few days, we have the chance to observe supernovae happening outside of our galaxy,\" said Scott Adams, one of the researchers, in a news release. \"But there's only so much you can learn from those, whereas a galactic supernova would show us so much more.\"\n\nThat's not to say that this particular supernova would be visible to the naked eye from Earth, though. The astronomers calculated that there's only a 20 percent chance or less of that occurring. That said, this still represents a valuable opportunity for astronomers to take advantage of this particular phenomenon to learn more about supernovae.\n\nThe findings are published in The Astrophysical Journal."}
-{"text": "Nestled in between luscious farmland and overgrown forests in Southern Illinois\u2014two hours from the nearest big city, St. Louis\u2014is one of the country\u2019s most unique breweries. Scratch Brewing Company is creating beers with an emphasis on local and artisanal. Those words get thrown around plenty in the food and drink worlds, but these folks actually live them.\n\nThey specialize in foraged beers developed around the ingredients naturally available from the land surrounding their brewery\u2014lavender, chanterelle mushrooms, wild ginger, hickory bark, dandelions, maple sap, gooseberries.\n\nYou won't find a Double IPA on the premises. Scratch isn't interested in chasing the latest trend or appealing to market forecasts. What they strive for, instead, is bringing a sense of place into the glass.\n\nSouthern Illinois is a weird place. It feels kind of removed from the rest of the world, but it's also obscenely beautiful in spots. The state itself cuts further into the horizontal center of the country than most people realize, the thin Southern edge of it driving a groove between Missouri and Kentucky like a glacier. Scratch resides in this sliver.\n\nI spent this past Monday wandering around the brewery's two acres in rural Ava, IL as the Scratch crew foraged a beer. After that, we drank some wine."}
-{"text": "\n\nArtist: The Chariot\n\n\n\nAlbum: One Wing\n\n\n\nReleased: 2012\n\n\n\nStyle: Metalcore\n\n\n\nFormat: MP3 320Kbps / FLAC\n\n\n\nSize: 70+7 Mb\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTracklist:\n\n01 \u2013 Forget\n\n02 \u2013 Not\n\n03 \u2013 Your\n\n04 \u2013 First\n\n05 \u2013 Love.\n\n06 \u2013 Speak\n\n07 \u2013 in\n\n08 \u2013 Tounges\n\n09 \u2013 and\n\n10 \u2013 Cheek.\n\nBonus Tracks:\n\n01 \u2013 Speak (Live)\n\n02 \u2013 And (Demo)\n\n\n\nDOWNLOAD LINKS:\n\nRAPIDGATOR: DOWNLOAD\n\nBonus Tracks:\n\nRAPIDGATOR: DOWNLOAD\n\nFLAC (206+42 Mb):\n\nRAPIDGATOR: DOWNLOAD\n\nBonus Tracks:\n\nRAPIDGATOR: DOWNLOAD\n\n\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "While the SuperMoon of earlier this week got a lot of attention \u2014 and rightly so, given the Moon was closest in its orbit to Earth when it was full \u2014 the waning and waxing phases around our celestial neighbor are also beautiful. Haunting, in fact.\n\nThese shots were taken by members of our Universe Today Flickr pool, with the moon either entering or exiting the full moon phase. Got some stunning astronomy shots to share? Feel free to add your contributions to the group (which says you will give us permission to publish) and we may include them in a future story.\n\nEDIT: We just received a nice sequence of shots from Laura Austin:\n\n@howellspace @universetoday My photos of Sept #SuperMoon taking a photo each night from Aug 31 till Sept 8 (except 5) pic.twitter.com/uss66tySDg \u2014 Laura Austin (@LAismylady) September 12, 2014"}
-{"text": "National Governments Can't Be Trusted Barroso Calls for More Power for EU Institutions\n\nEuropean Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said in an interview that the EU's institutions need to be strengthened to stabilize the euro zone, arguing that national governments can't be trusted to take determined action. Meanwhile, former German Finance Minister Peer Steinbr\u00fcck says it's time to openly admit that Greece is practically bankrupt."}
-{"text": "by Walter W. Murray, reporter\n\nLooks like the old adage is true: Be careful what you wish for.\n\nFailed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, victim of the most shocking upset in modern political history, has been wishing desperately to get back into the spotlight.\n\nShe\u2019s been trying to get attention in the worst way. Well, that wish has finally come true: She now has some attention\u2026 in the WORST way!\n\nVery quietly, the U.S. Senate has opened a new investigation into the Clinton family\u2019s corruption \u2014 and this could be the one that lands her behind bars.\n\nClinton is now under investigation all over again, accused of abusing her power as secretary of state by ordering State Department officials \u2013 including career diplomats \u2013 to pressure foreign officials to help a Clinton Foundation donor.\n\nUNBELIEVABLE! Big Pharma hijacks popular memory-boosting supplement [sponsored]\n\nA bombshell report by The Daily Caller revealed accusations that U.S. diplomats, under orders from Clinton, pushed Bangladesh to drop its corruption investigation into Muhammad Yunus, a longtime Clinton friend and controversial Nobel laureate behind the \u201cmicroloans\u201d aimed at low-income people in Third World countries.\n\nA letter from Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson notes that diplomats under Clinton reportedly went hard after Sajeeb Wazed, son of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheik Hasina.\n\n\u201cThey threatened me with the possibility of an audit by the Internal Revenue Service,\u201d Sajeeb Wazed, son of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheik Hasina, told The Daily Caller. \u201cThey would say over and over again, \u2018Yunus has powerful friends\u2019 and we all knew they were talking of Secretary Clinton. Everybody knew it was Mrs. Clinton.\u201d\n\nSponsored: Can you catch Hillary\u2019s secret hand gesture in this video? (I did!)\n\nEverybody knew\u2026 because she didn\u2019t just leave the job to her underlings.\n\nShe even made some very public threats of her own, even if they went largely unnoticed at the time by the fawning left-wing media.\n\n\u201cWe do not want to see any action taken that would in any way undermine or interfere in the operations of the (Yunus-led) Grameen Bank,\u201d Clinton warned at a meeting in Bangladesh in 2012, when she was secretary of state and essentially speaking on behalf of the United States government. \u201cI don\u2019t want anything that would in any way undermine what has been a tremendous model.\u201d\n\nControversial book now available for FREE (claim yours now) [sponsored]\n\nThat \u201ctremendous model\u201d is a system for providing loans to very low-income people who would otherwise have no access to cash.\n\nThe idea may sound good, but the \u201cmicroloans\u201d have a dark side: People in some nations are literally selling their own organs to repay them, according to the BBC.\n\nSome have even taken their own lives.\n\nSponsored: Exposed 35.6 Million Seniors Being Used as Government Guinea Pigs\n\nYet Clinton remained a supporter of the system, and the question has to be asked: Why? And was money involved?\n\nLast year, the Associated Press reported that the U.S. branch of Grameen Bank gave between $100,000 and $250,000 to the Clinton Foundation, while another Yunus-linked organization donated between $25,000 and $50,000.\n\nThe donations paid dividends: The AP notes that USAID \u2013 part of the State Department \u2013 gave a Yunus-run charity a $162 million aid package along with another $2.2 million in USAID loans and grants to the Grameen Foundation.\n\nBorn before 1965? Check out this Unusual \u201cPerfect Retirement Side-Job\u201d [sponsored]\n\nEven Yunus\u2019 2006 Nobel may have been a \u201cgift\u201d from the Clintons:\n\n\u201cBill Clinton also personally lobbied the Nobel Committee on behalf of Yunus,\u201d Grassley\u2019s letter notes.\n\nLooks like the James Comey hearing was just a warm-up act.\n\nThe REAL show in the Senate is just getting started.\n\n\u2014 Walter W. Murray is a reporter for The Horn News. He is a survival expert with decades of experience in prepping and the author of \u201cAmerica\u2019s Final Warning.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Hi I'm A3. Always The King\n\n\u201d\n\nYour Gaze Is Too High\n\nIndex Message Archive Theme I ship anything.\n\nAki Bliss / Call me A3 / 20.7.98 / \u2640 / taken"}
-{"text": "There are thousands of Bill Murray anecdotes. THOUSANDS. There are so many that there is a website, BillMurrayStory.com, devoted to stories about his wonderfully random exploits. Sure, some are probably apocryphal, but who could ever tell?\n\nEVEN THEN, one story never told about Murray is \"I saw him bodyslam Lee Corso who was dressed in Seminole garb, and also Murray was wearing a tie-dyed Piggly Wiggly shirt.\" And lo and behold, that's precisely what happened on College GameDay.\n\nIf it didn't happen in front of thousands of witnesses and on live TV with millions watching, nobody would ever believe you.\n\nAlso, because we are slaves to ourselves, here is the incident being called by famed WWE voice Jim Ross because yes of course:\n\nMore from SB Nation college football:\n\n\u2022 Week 8 TV schedule and games to watch\n\n\u2022 Up-to-the-minute college football scoreboard\n\n\u2022 College football Saturday coverage, from now until BCS rankings come out\n\n\u2022 UCF\u2019s Louisville upset could change two BCS spots, not just one\n\n\u2022 What if this Playoff committee had to decide on 1998-2012 seasons?\n\n\u2022 Daily college football news headlines"}
-{"text": "Hi! My name is Aden, and I'm an 18-year-old Graphic Design college student working in the UK. For my latest project, I've been tasked with creating a research booklet, spreading awareness about different social issues, and one of my chosen issues is Sexism. Therefore, I've made this survey and am distributing it to as many people as I can, in hopes that I can gather some firsthand research for my project.\n\nJust to reassure you, you can answer as few or as many questions as you like. And your answers will only be used in my work. Also, while it is true that women are significantly more likely to be a victim of sexism than men, I also welcome responses from males, too.\n\nOK"}
-{"text": "Gute Nachrichten von The Ocean Cleanup: \u201eWe are now catching plastics\u201c\n\nLetztes Jahr war The Ocean Cleanup mit seiner Mission vorerst gescheitert, jetzt gibt es gute Neuigkeiten: Der \u201eMeeresstaubsauger\u201c funktioniert wieder \u2013 und sammelt aktuell Plastik am Pazifischen M\u00fcllstrudel ein.\n\nAls das \u201eSystem 001\u201c vergangenen Oktober in See stach, war die Hoffnung gro\u00df \u2013nach nur zweieinhalb Monaten kam die Ern\u00fcchterung: Der Meeresstaubsauger funktionierte nicht richtig: Eingesammelter Plastikm\u00fcll war wieder zur\u00fcck ins Meer getrieben und ein 18 Meter langes Endst\u00fcck hatte sich vom Ger\u00e4t gel\u00f6st. The Ocean Cleanup holte System 001 wieder zur\u00fcck an Land.\n\nDas Team des Unternehmens arbeitete anschlie\u00dfend daran, das Ger\u00e4t zu reparieren und Schwachstellen zu beheben. Seit Juni schwimmt das verbesserte \u201eSystem 001/B\u201c wieder im Pazifischen M\u00fcllstrudel. Nach einer Testphase machte The Ocean Cleanup am Mittwochmorgen eine erfreuliche Ank\u00fcndigung: Das Ger\u00e4t funktioniert und sammelt erfolgreich Plastik ein.\n\nThe Ocean Cleanup: Das ist neu an System 001/B\n\nThe Ocean Cleanup von oben. (Foto: \u00a9 The Ocean Cleanup)\n\nDaf\u00fcr waren einige \u00c4nderungen am Meeresstaubsauger n\u00f6tig: Es verf\u00fcgt nun \u00fcber einen Fallschirm-Treibanker, der das Ger\u00e4t verlangsamt. So kann es auch Plastik einsammeln, das sich schneller im Wasser fortbewegt \u2013 das hatte bei System 001 noch nicht funktioniert.\n\nDank einer gr\u00f6\u00dferen Vorrichtung aus Kork soll au\u00dferdem kein eingefangenes Plastik mehr verloren gehen und ins offene Meer zur\u00fccktreiben \u2013 ebenfalls ein Problem des alten Ger\u00e4ts.\n\nBoyan Slat freut sich \u00fcber den Erfolg\n\nCEO Boyan Slat postete auf Twitter ein Bild von dem eingefangenen Plastik von System 001/B und schrieb: \u201eUnser Ocean-Cleanup-System f\u00e4ngt endlich Plastik ein, von einem eine Tonne schweren Geisternetz bis hin zu kleinem Mikroplastik! Und vermisst jemand ein Rad?\u201c Auf dem Bild ist unter anderem ein altes Autorad inklusive Reifen zu sehen.\n\nNoch ist The Ocean Cleanup aber nicht ganz am Ziel. Das Unternehmen hatte System 001/B speziell f\u00fcr die Tests entwickelt. Jetzt will das Team ein gr\u00f6\u00dferes \u201eSystem 002\u2033 bauen, das langfristig im Meer arbeiten soll.\n\nWas wird aus dem Meeresplastik?\n\nUm das Plastik aufzusammeln, ist das Ger\u00e4t von The Ocean Cleanup mit Fangarmen ausgestattet. Die \u201eArme\u201c sind lange R\u00f6hren. Eine Verl\u00e4ngerung nach unten funktioniert wie eine Art Sieb, das M\u00fcll an der Meeresoberfl\u00e4che abfischt. Damit der Meeresstaubsauger nicht unkontrolliert im Meer herumtreibt, wird er von einer im Wasser treibenden Ankerkonstruktion an Ort und Stelle gehalten.\n\nF\u00fcr Fische soll das Ger\u00e4t ungef\u00e4hrlich sein, da sie unter den Fangarmen durchschwimmen k\u00f6nnen. Der Plastikm\u00fcll, der an den Armen h\u00e4ngenbleibt, soll in regelm\u00e4\u00dfigen Abst\u00e4nden von den Booten aufgesammelt werden. The Ocean Cleanup will das erste Plastik von System 001/B Ende des Jahres an Land bringen. Was dann daraus wird, verr\u00e4t das Unternehmen noch nicht. Aber so viel ist klar: Es wird recycelt. \u201eEs gibt einige coole Ideen, was wir damit machen. Aber es ist noch zu fr\u00fch, das zu teilen\u201c, sagt Boyan Slat bei einer Pressekonferenz.\n\nBoyan Slat: Der Gr\u00fcnder von The Ocean Cleanup\n\nBoyan Slat. (Foto: \u00a9 The Ocean Cleanup)\n\nThe Ocean Cleanup ist wohl das bekannteste Meeress\u00e4uberungsprojekt. 2013 hatte der damals 18-j\u00e4hrige Boyan Slat das Unternehmen gegr\u00fcndet. Sp\u00e4testens nach seinem Ted-Talk 2014 erhielten Boyan Slat und sein Start-up internationale Bekanntheit. Inzwischen ist Slat 25 Jahre alt \u2013 und hat ein gro\u00dfes Team hinter sich.\n\nWeiterlesen auf Utopia.de:\n\n** Links zu Bezugsquellen sind teilweise Affiliate-Links: Wenn ihr hier kauft, unterst\u00fctzt ihr aktiv Utopia.de, denn wir erhalten dann einen kleinen Teil vom Verkaufserl\u00f6s.\n\nGef\u00e4llt dir dieser Beitrag? 1180 19 Vielen Dank f\u00fcr deine Stimme!"}
-{"text": "Remember that spicy pepper strong enough to singe your airways and numb your skin as effectively as medical-grade anaesthesia? It's been only a few short months, but the Dragon's Breath chile has already been knocked off its flaming throne: Say hello to Pepper X.\n\nUnlike the Dragon's Breath, though, you can actually try Pepper X for yourself\u2014if you're dumb brave enough. You can find it inside The Last Dab, a special-edition hot sauce produced by hot sauce company Heatonist and First We Feast. Apparently, the sauce itself is hotter than raw Carolina Reapers, and the initial release is already sold out. For now, it doesn't look like you can get Pepper X in its pure form, which may be for the best.\n\nAccording to First We Feast, the satanic pepper has been in development for the past decade by cultivator Ed Currie. Just consider this a bit of payback\u2014Currie was the one who originally developed the Carolina Reaper, which for a while claimed the title of hottest pepper until the Dragon's Breath stole the spotlight.\n\nAt 3.18 million Scoville units, Pepper X eclipses the already (stupidly) fiery Dragon's Breath by more than 500,000 units. Again, to put things in perspective, the everyday jalape\u00f1o maxes out at a lowly 10,000 on the Scoville scale, meaning Pepper X is around 300 times as spicy. (It's also around 30 times as hot as the already-excruciating habanero, which is enough to leave us sweating the rest of the afternoon.)"}
-{"text": "By Noah Riley\n\nThree elements to a well designed pass play are space, match-ups and leverage. The Patriots Juke series contains all three of these elements. It is designed to create space for a quick slot receiver to work off the leverage of a slower linebacker. It has become a staple of the Patriots offense, and has yielded great results. In the season I cut up (2014), when the Patriots ran the Juke series, they went 34/42 (81%) for 304 yards (7.2 yard average).\n\nJuke route: The receiver tagged on the option route runs directly at the linebacker. The receiver can do one of 3 things depending on how the linebacker plays him:\n\nSit: If linebacker does not match him at 5 yards. Return outside: If the linebacker plays him heavy inside. Juke and run across: If linebacker is plays him head up.\n\nHoss Y Juke: This is the patriots base play in the series and is discussed here in Bill O\u2019brien\u2019s clinic. In the season I cut up, Brady went 15/18 (83%) for 139 yards (7.7 average) on this play. The Patriots would run this concept when defenses were stuck in their base personnel without an extra db on the field, often times with tempo to prevent the defense from subbing. Their utilization of hybrid players who are versatile enough to be split out as receivers (White, Gronk, Burkhead\u2026) allows them to go empty out of heavy personnel, which often times gets defenses into their base personnel, creating matchup issues for linebackers and safeties.\n\nThe quarterback will throw the juke route if he can tell pre-snap that he can get a 1v1 with the middle linebacker (2-high). If not, (1-high) the quarterback will work a hitch-seam combo. (full cut-up of hoss y juke)\n\n2 high: When the defense is in 2 high, the middle linebacker is isolated on the #3 receiver (Edelman/ Welker). Because of this, against 2 high, the quarterback will throw to the #3 receiver on the juke route. Against 2 high, the #3 receiver is isolated both because of the defenses alignment, and the fact that the outside backers usually carry or are influenced by seam routes in 2 high. Occasionally against 2 high, Brady likes the pre-snap look of the hoss combo, but for the most part against 2 high Brady\u2019s only read is the juke route.\n\n1 High: VS. 1 high, the defense will usually have 2 linebackers in the box which makes the juke route less favorable. The quarterback will instead work the hitch-seam combo reading the flat defender.\n\nThrow Hitch: Because the flat defender usually stays inside, the quarterback usually takes the hitch vs. 1 high.\n\nThrow seam: Sometimes the outside backer buzzes to the flat under the hitch which opens up the seam window.\n\nCover 1 Man: Vs. cover 1 man, the QB picks his best vertical matchup and throws it. Since this play is specifically run when defenses are stuck in base personnel, Brady can usually find a matchup against a backer or safety.\n\nCover 0: Vs. Cover 0, the QB can tell the #3 receiver to tighten down and be a blocker. The QB then throws his best matchup. Nobody ran cover 0 in the season I cut up, but there is this 99 yard touchdown from 2011.\n\nHoss Y Juke tags: (4/5 25 yards)\n\nPeal: (2/2 11 yards) This is a good way to run the juke route from a different formation in order to play vs. different coverages, and limit tendencies. The patriots only ran this in the superbowl against the Seahawks, so this must be gameplan specific, designed to attack how the Seahawks play against 3\u00d71. Against 2 high, the post/wheel combo clears front side which opens up space for the juke. Vs 1 high, the QB works his same backside hitch-seam combo.\n\nSmash: (1/1 9 yards) This is another way to run the juke route with a different concept and a different formation (trips closed).\n\nVert-Out: (1/1 5 yards) This is a good call when the frontside linebacker is not respecting #2. The read vs. 2 high is out to juke. The QB can still throw the backside hoss vs. 1 high.\n\nSwitch: The 49ers took the play, and put their own spin on it. They ran it with the #2 receiver in order to create a pick against 2-man.\n\nHitch n go: This is a good call when teams are jumping the hitch route. (0/1, 0 yards)\n\nHoss Y Juke Nod: This is a good call against a split safety look when you can get the middle backer on a double move. (not from year of cut ups)\n\n2 Juke:\n\n(15/19 79%) (140 yards, 7.4 average) (1 sack)\n\nThe Patriots would also find ways to match the #2 receiver on an outside backer. The receiver\u2019s thinking is still the same (sit, return, juke) but now he is just running at an outside backer instead of a middle backer. In order to try and isolate the #2 receiver on the outside backer, the patriots used different route combos to the front side that are designed to bring the middle backer to the strong side.\n\nCurl wheel: (8/10 76 yards) This was the patriots most used tag when running #2 juke. The QB has alot of freedom on his reads. 4 times (all against 2 high) the QB threw the juke (only read). 2 times (both vs. 1 high) they worked the curl-shoot combo. 2 times, the QB threw the backside hitch/out. The QB also threw the tight end twice, once as a seam route (vs. 2 high mike blitz), and once as a deep over route (vs. c1 man).\n\nCurl wheel (empty): (2/2 18 yards) This is the same concept run from a different formation.\n\n2 Juke: (3/4 11 yards) This is the same idea is the original \u201cHoss y juke\u201d The intent of the play vs. 2 high is to have the backers be influenced by the seams in order to create space for the juke route. They also have \u201cHoss\u201d built in as a 1 high beater\n\nY Out: (0/1) This is the same concept, just with an out instead of a seam to occupy the mike.\n\nStick Wheel: (1/1 17 yards) The patriots added juke to the backside of one of their staple 3\u00d71 concepts \u201cstick wheel\u201d.\n\nSail: (2/3 18 yards) (1 int) Because the patriots never threw the juke route here, I imagine the juke route is less of the intent of this play and more of a checkdown.\n\nIf you have any questions, feel free to dm me @noahriley21 or email me at noahbriley@lclark.edu. Also, you can my Book Breaking Down The Oklahoma Offense which is now available on Amazon."}
-{"text": "Glenn's Gases is a mod you can help shape. We encourage you to contribute to Glenn's Gases and the Gases Framework.\n\nWant to help?\n\nPlease fill out this tiny form, and the mod may be adjusted based on your feedback. Please note that the spreadsheet requires you to be familiar with the mod. Contributions via pull requests and issues are also welcome."}
-{"text": "Por Fernando V\u00e1zquez\n\nfvazquez@cronica.com.ar\n\nN\u00e9stor Garay, el hombre de 56 a\u00f1os que era t\u00edo lejano de la adolescente asesinada, Navila Serena Garay, de 15, se\u00f1al\u00f3 ante los investigadores que dio muerte a la menor porque ella le hab\u00eda pedido la suma de 3.000 pesos para no denunciarlo por abuso sexual.\n\nLos voceros del departamento judicial de Dolores revelaron a cronica.com.ar que el individuo, al ser interrogado por los pesquisas, les minti\u00f3 al decirles que la menor hab\u00eda decido retirarse de la casa porque \u00e9l no ten\u00eda dinero suficiente para abonar la extorsi\u00f3n.\n\nLE\u00c9 TAMBI\u00c9N: Navila ten\u00eda el cr\u00e1neo destrozado a golpes: impactantes detalles de la autopsia\n\nSe intenta establecer la veracidad de las palabras del apresado, ya que se sospecha que habr\u00eda sometido sexualmente a otras jovencitas de Chascom\u00fas y que, de ser cierta la versi\u00f3n, aparentemente habr\u00eda matado a la muchachita porque no ten\u00eda suficientes billetes para entregarle.\n\nLE\u00c9 TAMBI\u00c9N: T\u00edo de la joven asesinada en Chascom\u00fas advirti\u00f3 sobre una red de trata\n\nAdem\u00e1s, los efectivos de seguridad concretaron otro allanamiento en una finca situada en Paraguay al 200, en Chascom\u00fas, mientras se extendi\u00f3 la b\u00fasqueda de la infortunada v\u00edctima."}
-{"text": "The Atlanta Falcons have some holes they still need to fill based on their current roster under contract.\n\nLet\u2019s open up Atlanta\u2019s depth chart to see what it looks like right now:\n\nA look at the Falcons depth chart based on current contracts\u2026 Atlanta has needs at FB, WR5/RS, RG, OL depth, LB depth, FS depth and EDGE pic.twitter.com/QhwNgwXIno \u2014 Scott Carasik (@CarasikS) March 13, 2017\n\nFalcons: Updated offensive depth chart\n\nOn offense the obvious holes are at fullback and right guard. Both of those positions need starting caliber players with Patrick Dimarco leaving for the Buffalo Bills and Chris Chester mulling retirement.\n\nHowever, depth at wide receiver, a third running back and someone who brings more versatility as a second tight end would all be welcome additions to the roster. With a few slick moves, the Falcons have the ability to upgrade an offense that was already the NFL\u2019s best last year.\n\nFalcons: Updated defensive depth chart\n\nFor Atlanta\u2019s defensive front seven, there\u2019s a lot of work that needs to be done. More speed must be added at linebacker for the Falcons behind De\u2019Vondre Campbell and Deion Jones. They could also use some depth behind Vic Beasley in the base at strong-side linebacker.\n\nAt defensive tackle, the Falcons could use someone to play the nose in the base defense. They could also use a true edge rusher to rotate in at LEO in base and play the primary pass-rushing role at right defensive end in the nickel.\n\nOverall, the front seven has some talent, but they could use a stud pass rusher on the edge or two.\n\nThe secondary may be the strongest unit for the Falcons.\n\nAll of their starters are within the top half of the league for their respective positions, with Keanu Neal and Desmond Trufant looking like top-five players in the NFL at theirs. The rest of the depth chart even looks good with Brian Poole at nickel and the rest competing for playing time.\n\nThe only real holes in this secondary come behind Neal and Ricardo Allen at safety. Re-signing Kemal Ishmael would be a way to add more depth behind Neal while adding a free safety for depth and competition with Allen.\n\nFalcons: Special teams defensive depth chart\n\nAtlanta is expected to return its entire special teams unit with one notable exception: Eric Weems leaving for the Tennessee Titans gives Atlanta a hole at both return spots. That being said, it\u2019s very easy for the Falcons to have competitions to replace him.\n\nCurrently, there are several players who have returned some kicks in college and who project as solid kick returners listed there. However, don\u2019t be surprised if the Falcons sign or draft someone to compete here."}
-{"text": "Being harassed on the street has motivated me to make a lot of changes in my behavior. Here\u2019s a short but by no means exhaustive list of the things I have been motivated to do by being harassed on the street:\n\nWore baggier clothes, starting when I was about eleven years old and a truck full of men whistled at me as I walked to junior high.\n\nListened to headphones while walking around or running (and now, while cycling*), the idea being that if I can\u2019t hear the harassment, it\u2019s not happening.\n\nFlipped off a car full of teenage boys, then invited them to perform acts of fornication on themselves after they told me they would like to \u201cfuck that ass.\u201d (When I told my ex-husband about this, he chided me for being \u201cunladylike,\u201d which tells you all you need to know about his perspective on gender relations.)\n\nStared straight ahead and pretended I did not hear the noises coming from the cars that drove past.\n\nLearned to play it off when it happens while I am walking with the men in my life (my now-husband, and once even my father).\n\nI\u2019ve also been motivated to develop near heroic levels of self-control. Most recently, when I went for a run in downtown Miami and ran past a group of elderly men, one of whom made weird leering kissy noises at me, I had to restrain myself from turning around, running back, grabbing the handles of his wheelchair and dumping him onto the ground. I did not do this because, unlike the old man in the wheelchair, I am not a dick. But man, how I wanted to.\n\nBut in my two-plus decades of life as a harassable person, I have to say that not once did I ever feel inspired to:\n\nLose weight.\n\nYet according to a recent article the Daily Mail, more than one-quarter of the people surveyed in a recent poll about weight loss said a \u201cwolf whistle\u201d would be enough to keep them on track in terms of their diet and exercise. The article starts off with this sentence:\n\nWe may tut and scowl and whisper obscenities under our breath when men wolf-whistle in our direction \u2013 but secretly we love it. More than half of women say they would like to be on the receiving end of one, and almost a third of female dieters say being complimented in that most garish of ways is one of the single biggest motivators to losing more weight.\n\nTo which I can only say: Really? Who are these women? Most of the women I know are mortified when random men on the street comment on their bodies and appearances. I personally vacillate between murderous rage and embarrassment when it happens to me. It\u2019s not a matter of not appreciating compliments, which defenders of the wolf whistle will try to say. On the contrary \u2013 I\u2019ve been on the receiving end of compliments paid by strangers before and I genuinely appreciated them. Rather it\u2019s the sense that I\u2019ve been reminded that, no matter what I\u2019m doing at the time, what matters most to the random guys around me is that I have been deemed sexually appealing, and that I should be grateful for this knowledge.\n\nUltimately, though, I question the idea that men who make random statements to women on the street about their fuckability are necessarily doing it to show appreciation for the woman\u2019s beauty. Check out this comment from the Daily Mail:\n\nIf a woman wears suggestive or otherwise provocative clothing, I find it difficult not to let her know she is stimulating. My suggestion: if a woman does not want suggestive advances for men, dress modestly. Don\u2019t let it all hang out.\n\nThe commenter doesn\u2019t care how it makes the woman feel. What matters most is that his junk stirred a bit and he needed to make sure she knew it, because the status of his junk is the most important thing in the world! (And also that he puts responsibility on the woman for his own behavior. Way to show your power as the so-called stronger sex there, bro.)\n\nThe idea of \u201cstreet harassment as compliment\u201d is a pervasive one that doesn\u2019t actually hold true in reality. An adult man telling an 11-year-old girl that she has a nice ass is not a compliment. Neither is a group of teenage boys who engage in homosocial bonding by telling a woman on the street that they want to do her in the butt. And what about those of us who have reacted with anger to so-called \u201ccompliments,\u201d only to hear what frigid bitches and sluts we are? Or those of us who don\u2019t even get the compliments, but who instead get harassed for being fat, for being visibly queer, for not adhering to the proper guidelines of femininity? Are they being complimented too?\n\nAnd what about the fact that it\u2019s hard to discern when a comment is just a comment or when it\u2019s actually a threat? How are we supposed to square a culture that puts a huge amount of responsibility for preventing rape and assault upon our shoulders with this idea that we are supposed to be totally down with a random man on the street indicating that he wants to fuck us? If we react with anger, we are bitches. If we do nothing, we must like it. And if the random man assaults us, then it\u2019s our fault for not running away.\n\nAnd just what does any of this have to do with weight loss? If this was really the surefire means to successful dieting that these women felt it would be, wouldn\u2019t they be successful at their goals by now? Every study I\u2019ve looked at has put the percentage of women who have reported being harassed on the street at between 80-99%. Are women in the United Kingdom the outliers in this regard, particularly women in the United Kingdom who are on diets?\n\nOr maybe \u2013 just maybe \u2013 we should consider that settling one\u2019s self-esteem upon your worth as a fucktoy in the eyes of others is a fraught game with only the most ephemeral of rewards, and that one might be better suited to seek out self-esteem in a way that is based on one\u2019s inherent worth as a human being and not on their ability to inspire boorish behavior in strangers? Just a thought.\n\nMen who harass women on the street are not showing their appreciation for a fine female form. What they are doing is reminding us of what they think as our proper role in life: as decorations, as sex toys, as entertainment. Street harassment is not a compliment, no matter how much these guys might insist it is. It is harassment. Let\u2019s not forget that.\n\n*Edited to add that I am aware of the safety issues that can result from this, and I keep the volume low (and don\u2019t use them while I\u2019m on busy streets). I know I should probably not do this though."}
-{"text": "This is the new Cy-Hawk Trophy, given annually to the winner of the Iowa State-Iowa football game. It depicts an Iowa farmer presenting to his family some of the subsidy-fattened corn crop that he will soon sell to an Archer Daniels Midland processing plant in Keokuk, whereupon the corn will be converted into high-fructose corn syrup and ethanol that will make America both fat and asthmatic. The farmer's wife dropped out of the workforce to raise her children, and plummeting land values have vaporized the family's main source of collateral, making it impossible to borrow. The daughter will reject her Methodist upbringing and become a heroin addict at 15. The son is gay.\n\n\nOr something like that:\n\n\"Just as the trophy reads, we are honest, hard-working, family and community orientated people,\" CEO for Iowa Corn Craig Floss said. The trophy shows a family talking after a long day of work. \"The scene of a family talking after a day's work is representative of our state,\" ISU athletic director Jamie Pollard said.\n\n\nEh, my version's better.\n\n*****\n\nThanks for your continued support of Deadspin. Hickey and Dickey are here this weekend."}
-{"text": "The Wayne County Sheriff's Deputy was off-duty when she fatally shot an armed intruder.\n\nDetroit, Michigan \u2013 An off-duty Wayne County sheriff\u2019s deputy shot and killed an armed man wearing a ski mask that had broken into her home at 1:30 a.m. Nov. 25.\n\nPolice the said the deputy was inside her home when she heard the suspect kick In her door, according to the Detroit News.\n\nThe deputy told police she grabbed her weapon and fired shots at the male suspect who was carrying a pistol and wearing the mask.\n\nThe deputy shot the intruder in the heart and he dropped dead.\n\nPolice didn\u2019t release the name of the deputy or the intruder, according to the Detroit News.\n\n\u201cVery quiet neighborhood,\u201d a neighbor told WXYZ. \u201cIf anything happens, somebody will know who did it, and somebody will tell.\u201d\n\nGino Vicci with WXYZ inexplicably referred to the home-invader as \u201cthe victim\u201d in his news broadcast. UPDATE: He says that it was a mistake and apologized.\n\n\u201cNot much you can do,\u201d said Curran Pickett, who lives on that street, according to WDIV. \u201cI would have probably did the same thing. She did what she had to do.\u201d\n\nThe deputy was 35-years-old and has been on the force for 15 years. The intruder was 26-years-old, according to WXYZ-ABC.\n\nThe Wayne County sheriff\u2019s office said the deputy will be assigned to administrative duties pending the outcome of an investigation. The Detroit Police Department is conducting the investigation.\n\n\u201cYou come into somebody\u2019s house, what\u2019d you expect? And then, you\u2019re armed,\u201d Pickett said. \u201cStay out of people\u2019s houses.\u201d\n\nDo you think that news stations should ever refer to justifiably dead criminals as \u201cvictims?\u201d Do you think that this is intentional anti-police messaging? We\u2019d like to hear what you think. Please let us know in the comments."}
-{"text": "Bei Bayerns Pokal-Sieg in Leipzig (6:5 n.E.) ging es auf der M\u00fcnchner Bank sogar blutig zu! Bayern-Trainer Jupp Heynckes (72) hatte schwer mit Nasenbluten zu k\u00e4mpfen!\n\nSchon w\u00e4hrend der ersten Halbzeit fing die Nase von Heynckes immer wieder an zu bluten. F\u00fcrsorglich k\u00fcmmerten sich die Physiotherapeuten des Rekordmeisters um ihn.\n\nDoch der Strom war kaum zu stoppen. \u00dcber mehrere Minuten behandelten die Physios den Star-Trainer, blieben danach minutenlang an der Bank stehen, um immer wieder eingreifen und ihm helfen zu k\u00f6nnen.\n\nZur Pause war das hellblaue Hemd unter dem Sakko des Trainers voller Blutspritzer. Zur zweiten Halbzeit zog Heynckes ein rotes Shirt und eine Trainingsjacke an.\n\nHeynckes wiegelte anschlie\u00dfend ab: \u201eAlles nicht so schlimm. Ich habe zu tief ins Taschentuch geschn\u00e4uzt, und dann hatte ich Nasenbluten.\u201c\n\nAuch Interessant\n\n\n\nMit Stopfen in der Nase, die ein erneutes Nasenbluten verhindern sollen, dirigiert Heynckes sein Team in Halbzeit 2 Foto: Ronny Hartmann / Getty Images\n\nNach dem Spiel ging Heynckes jedoch nicht wie gewohnt zum ARD-Interview ins Studio, sondern Vorstandsboss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (62). Der sagte: \u201eEs ist nichts Schlimmes. Er muss noch zur Pressekonferenz und wollte sich noch etwas vorbereiten.\u201c\n\nAuch Heynckes gab nach der aufregenden Pokal-Schlacht Entwarnung: \u201eMir geht es gut.\u201c\n\nAber so ganz kann das die Sorgen nicht zerstreuen: Bereits eine Woche nach Dienstantritt beim FC Bayern hatte Heynckes im Training mit Nasenbluten zu k\u00e4mpfen. Erstmals trat es sichtbar bei einem \u00f6ffentlichen Training auf. Seitdem hat der Trainer meist Taschent\u00fccher mit auf dem Platz, um gewappnet zu sein.\n\nRummenigge: \u201eMan muss sich um Jupp keine Sorgen machen. Er wird bei uns gut gepflegt.\u201c"}
-{"text": "Michael Cohen, US President Donald Trump's former lawyer, has said he planned to postpone an appearance next week in the US House of Representatives. Photo: Reuters"}
-{"text": "INTRODUCING SHOW ME YR SEVEN INCHES: TWEE SONGS ABOUT SEX\n\nOK FIRST OF ALL y'all gimp is really hard i don\u2019t know how to use it this brush is literally made of bell peppers so i just went for it ok??? also i just googled \u201cseven inches\u201d so credit to whoever\u2019s blog i ripped this picture off of\n\nORGANIZED INTO ROUGH SECTIONS\n\nPART ONE TWEE VIRGINITIES\n\nvirgin lips by the just joans, treat me gently by the felt tips, young adult friction by the pains (ha ha kip claims this song is not about losing your virginity but I THINK his interpretation of his song is wrong), lydia by keith john adams\n\nPART TWO GO TO BED FOR A THOUSAND YEARS: SEX IS COOL OR WHATEVER (WORKING TITLE)\n\nturn me on by electric pop group, he gets me so hard by boyracer, molly\u2019s lips by the vaselines, dirty song by cars can be blue, pillow queen by cub\n\nPART THREE I LONG FOR YOU NOW THAT YOU\u2019RE GONE: WE BROKE UP BUT SEX USED TO BE FUN\n\nmy year in lists by los campesinos!, let\u2019s pretend we\u2019re bunny rabbits by the magnetic fields, if you don\u2019t pull by the just joans is not not in this category but it\u2019s also in the next category\n\nPART FOUR SEX SUX AMEN (EXCEPT I DIDN\u2019T EVEN PUT THAT ONE ON HERE)\n\nif you don\u2019t pull by the just joans, sex is boring by ballboy, the sadness of sex by the orchids, christmas by beat happening, if you don\u2019t take me right away you might as well fuck off by strip squad, my bunny\u2019s back by a smile and a ribbon\n\nDOWNLOAD HERE!!! ENJOY"}
-{"text": "THE SIGHT OF pack of forwards rolling ominously towards the tryline has been a common sight in this World Cup.\n\nIt\u2019s prompted many to call for the rules around it to be changed; that it\u2019s too heavily weighted in favour of the attacking team.\n\nBut on Saturday night, in two crucial lineouts, Wales showed exactly how to defend the maul, the second of which effectively won them the game.\n\nThere were a lot of components to their maul defence; staying down in the lineout, isolating the jumper, communication, distribution of weight, all of which combined made a difficult skill look easy.\n\nThe first instance we\u2019ll look at is early in the game.\n\nEngland have a five metre lineout, and every man, woman and child in Twickenham knew it was going to be taken in by the pack.\n\nFirstly Wales didn\u2019t attempt to disrupt the lineout, waiting on the ground as Geoff Parling went up, as we can see below.\n\nCommunication was the next key component. In the game footage, we can hear what sounds like Alun-Wyn Jones dictating the timing of the counter, telling his players to hold, and hold until the second Parling hits the ground.\n\nHowever, they resist the urge to just pile numbers into the lineout, instead picking a point to attack Parling at an angle, so that when the maul is initially formed England are not travelling straight towards the tryline.\n\nThe timing of the drive is perfect. Had they engaged the maul and then attacked the blindside, they would have been offside, but by forcing Parling to turn just as the maul is forming, it meant England weren\u2019t travelling towards the tryline.\n\nIt means that when we zoom back out the maul is moving diagonally, marked by the blue arrow, rather than forward.\n\nBy distributing the majority of their weight to one side of the maul, it means that England to have to react and balance the weight out.\n\nThey don\u2019t do that, and it causes the scrum to rotate, exactly what Wales wanted.\n\nIt\u2019s also important to show how Wales isolated England\u2019s jumper from his lifters. Below, you can see how Alun-Wyn Jones has wedged himself in between Parking and Joe Marler, who had been a lifter at the front.\n\nBe part\n\nof the team Access exclusive podcasts, interviews and analysis with a monthly or annual membership. Become a Member\n\nSource: Billy Stickland/INPHO\n\nBy causing the maul to turn it meant that England had to use the ball faster. Talupe Falutau has his head screwed on and leaves the back of the maul, ready to tackle Tom Youngs.\n\nIt was a similar style of defence for the fateful late lineout in the corner, but this time Wales pushed England towards the touchline.\n\nOnce more, it involved Wales allowing England to cleanly take the lineout.\n\nAnd again, a member of the Welsh team is organising the call, and when Chris Robshaw lands on the ground a combination of good Welsh timing and poor English play results in the maul going into touch.\n\nRobshaw\u2019s lifter Kieran Brookes (marked with an X) doesn\u2019t get tight on his captain, leaving him exposed, and it\u2019s from this Luke Charteris is able to get inside and get a firm hold of Robshaw.\n\nOn top of that, the decision by England to jump at two was heavily criticised, and rightly so. In such a pressure situation, Wales were never likely to contest the lineout, so by jumping at 4 or 5 instead, it leaves a much greater space between the maul and the touchline.\n\nIt would also leave ensured that the Welsh pack were split evenly either side of Robshaw. In the end, the majority of the Welsh pack was able to target Kieran Brookes and drive towards the touchline.\n\nTargeting the angle of the maul may seem like a simple idea, but the timings of the drives must be perfect, and because of that Wales\u2019 forwards coach Robin McBryde can take a huge amount of satisfaction from what he saw.\n\nIn contrast to Wales, this try scored by South Africa below shows what happens when the maul is given the time to form and go forward.\n\nWe can see how Japan allow the Springbok lifters remain tight to Victor Matfield, and how the Japanese players can\u2019t find a gap to get through.\n\nBy going to the middle of the lineout, Japan also don\u2019t have the luxury of being able to target one side, and as a result, South Africa can form their maul and direct is straight to the tryline.\n\nIn the end Francois Louw just has to touch down over the line for the score.\n\nWhile many say perfecting the maul is an art form, defending it is even more so, and Wales gave us a masterpiece on Saturday night."}
-{"text": "Listen to the episode and read the show notes\n\nTopics of Discussion:\n\n[Show Intro]\n\nThomas: Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments, this is episode 348. I\u2019m Thomas and you know what? I know what day it is now!\n\nAndrew: [Laughs]\n\nThomas: I finally figured it out, I had to regroup. How\u2019s it going, Andrew?\n\nAndrew: It\u2019s going fantastic, Thomas, how are you?\n\nThomas: Ah, back on a regular schedule. I\u2019m so excited.\n\nAndrew: Oh yeah!\n\nThomas: I\u2019m also excited to have Alison Gill, Vice President of Legal and Policy over at American Atheists coming on today, she\u2019s going to discuss the State of the States Report that they have put out all about religious freedom and religious freedom laws, which is to say oftentimes those are kind of named misleadingly.\n\nAndrew: [Laughs]\n\nThomas: It\u2019s a report about the state of separation of church and state in the United States and the State level, it\u2019s very interesting stuff, we\u2019re gonna find out which States score well, [Laughing] which States don\u2019t score well, things we can do, ways that our rights are being either protected or infringed upon. Lots of good, useful information to start trying to make a difference and to continue trying to make a difference in this regard. So what do you say, should we get on over to our interview with Alison Gill?\n\nAndrew: Yeah, I\u2019m excited about it.\n\nThomas: Let\u2019s do it!\n\nInterview with Alison Gill\n\n[Segment Intro]\n\nThomas: And here we are, joined by Alison Gill of American Atheists, Alison how\u2019s it going?\n\nAlison: Going great, thank you for inviting me.\n\nThomas: Oh thanks so much for comin\u2019 on, I\u2019m excited to hear what I\u2019m hoping will be some good news? But you never know? [Laughs]\n\nAndrew: [Laughs]\n\nThomas: Could also \u2013 I\u2019m sure there\u2019ll be good and bad.\n\nAlison: Yeah, that\u2019s right, that\u2019s how I would characterize it. Good and bad.\n\nAndrew: Well yeah, let\u2019s start from that. American Atheists has just released their State of the Secular States Report and you were kind enough to give us an advance copy. Just a ton of really fascinating, scary, terrifying, optimistic, a huge grab bag of legal issues, so A, thank you so much and B, let\u2019s delve into it!\n\nAlison: Wonderful! Well I\u2019m really excited to be launching this State of the Secular States for 2019, this is the second iteration of the report. We released the first inaugural version for 2018, at the end of 2018 and so this year we\u2019re updating it to include a lot more information. We\u2019re also having it characterize the States, break them into categories so you can easily see which States have a greater or lesser amount of religious equality, and we did some really great things I\u2019m proud of, we added Puerto Rico, for example.\n\nThomas: Well that means it\u2019s gonna be a State then! Awesome, yes!\n\nAndrew: [Laughs]\n\nAlison: [Laughs] Well, you want D.C. in there too. So States and State-adjacent.\n\nAndrew: Wait, D.C. Statehood as well? This is great!\n\nThomas: Yeah, that works.\n\nAndrew: That\u2019s four more good votes in the Senate!\n\nAlison: Exactly, yeah.\n\nAndrew: So where is the topline on the State of the Secular States?\n\nAlison: Sure. Well the report is an analysis of State laws and policies that affect the separation of religion and government and religious equality for everybody. So it looks at about 40 different measures of religious equality in every State, everything from constitutional protections to religious exemptions to the tax laws to are there protections in place against religious based harm? Things like conversion therapy, it\u2019s just a whole bunch of different types of laws and policies that affect issues concerning religious equality.\n\nAndrew: So let\u2019s drill down on that a little bit. You are Vice President with American Atheists, Thomas and I are atheists-\n\nThomas: And Americans!\n\nAndrew: [Laughing] Yeah, and Americans!\n\nThomas: [Laughs]\n\nAndrew: But lots of people listen to the show who are religious to various degrees. If I\u2019m a left of center moderate believer how am I gonna approach your definition of religious equality? Talk to me about how that interplay is if I\u2019m just kinda your run of the mill, I\u2019m generally on board with \u2013 I\u2019m certainly opposed to gay conversion therapy, but how do you define religious equality?\n\nAlison: Sure. Religious equality means that the government does not take positions that basically put one religion or set of religious beliefs, or non beliefs, over another. We keep hearing, mostly from the right, about religious freedom, their version of religious freedom, which is not really the historical version of religious freedom, it\u2019s more about Christian privilege and encoding their own beliefs into the law. So when I say religious freedom, religious equality, we\u2019re talking about our historical understanding of what that means; the founder\u2019s understanding where your religious beliefs do not impact how the law affects you. Everyone has the same rights regardless of what they believe or don\u2019t believe. So that\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to measure in this report.\n\nYou are right, it\u2019s a bit nebulous what religious freedom means, so when we say separation of church and State or religious freedom, people have different ideas what that means. But we\u2019re trying to get across through this report what our idea about what that means, especially at the State level. What laws and policies effect or reflect how religious equality is perceived in the States?\n\nThere\u2019s nothing in this that is specifically, I would say, atheistic. I think anyone that has a fair-minded view of religious freedom and religious equality would be able to see and understand this and understand why it\u2019s important that the laws and policies in this guide are either in place or not in place as the case may be. We look at both positive and negative measures.\n\nAndrew: Well why don\u2019t we dig into several of those measures?\n\nAlison: Yes, absolutely. So I break them out into four main categories; there\u2019s State constitutional protections; then we break them out into education and youth; healthcare and wellness; and special privileges for religion. Each category has both positive and negative measures. Where would you like me to get started?\n\nAndrew: Let\u2019s start with something positive!\n\nThomas: [Laughs]\n\nAndrew: [Laughing] We don\u2019t get enough of that on this show, so\u2026\n\nAlison: I think that\u2019s great. Over the last year we\u2019ve actually seen some positive movement in several of these areas as well, especially in areas about preventing religion-based harm. Now, people might understand these things in different ways, I guess I\u2019m framing them in our perspective. Things like preventing conversion therapy, protecting young people from child marriage, ending female genital mutilation. We believe, to at least some extent, these things are the result of religion in our society. Other people might have different beliefs about that, but that\u2019s ours, so therefore we oppose these items and try to have laws in place to protect young people from these sorts of devastating behaviors and outcomes.\n\nIn that area we\u2019ve actually made a lot of success over the past year, seeing, for example, I think there\u2019s now 35 States that protect young women from female genital mutilation, which has come a long way in just the last several years. It\u2019s just one example. The same is true with conversion therapy, there\u2019s been numerous States every year passing laws to protect young people from conversion therapy because I think society is more and more recognizing that this sort of abuse in the name of religion is a terrible thing.\n\nThomas: Yeah, that sounds like a platform that I would hope everybody listening to this show could get behind. Banning conversion therapy, banning FGM, and a couple of the other harmful things you\u2019re talking about, seems like you don\u2019t necessarily have to be an atheist to see the harms that those things are causing.\n\nAlison: I definitely agree, yeah. These are not specifically atheist issues, they\u2019re issues about equality for everyone. I\u2019d say the same is true about some of the other categories which are really about the separation of religion and government and not necessarily atheist-activism.\n\nAndrew: Yeah, one of the things I see that\u2019s listed in the report is Michigan is highlighted as a State with a law prohibiting FGM. We talked about that really unusual case I think a year, year-and-a-half ago. The federal decision that really rested on a lot of abstruse legal doctrines. Can you kinda tell us what happened in Michigan?\n\nAlison: Sure. So there was a federal-level law that prohibited female genital mutilation across the country and there are also of course a number of State level laws in place, including in Michigan. Well the federal level law was struck down in that case under sort of a dormant commerce clause theory. You know [Sighs] I think we\u2019re gonna start seeing more and more of that as the right wing gains ascendency in the courts, but it\u2019s an area where trying to limit the reach of the commerce clause, it was heavily criticized. But regardless, the States did react to this decision and really picked up the mantle of this issue and protecting young women from getting genital mutilation. Just over the past year we saw seven States move forward with these protections.\n\nI\u2019ll also say this is an issue which is very, very bipartisan [Laughing] which you don\u2019t often see these days, I often introduce them led by Republicans. So, you know, of course it\u2019s not good to see a federal protection struck down but at the same time it is good to see the States actually pick up the mantle and actually do something to protect people.\n\nAndrew: Yeah. Just piggybacking on what you said, one of the things that we talk about on the show a lot is it is very easy to feel a sense of despair about the current status of the political system and we get that, but one of the things that I think you highlight in this report that was emphasized in what you just said is that grassroots activism, working at the State level, is even more critical now than before. If you know you can\u2019t count on being able to get a law, even laws on these areas that would seem beyond controversy, you would think you would have 70 to 80% agreement that you shouldn\u2019t have forced gay conversion therapy. If we\u2019re losing out on that at the federal level it sort of gives an opportunity for activism at the State level.\n\nWhat sort of strategies do you think people should pursue going forward in terms of being informed and then getting active?\n\nAlison: Absolutely. I think what you just laid out is the entire point of the report. It\u2019s our effort to provide resources and really empower State and local activists to take the reins and either oppose negative legislation in States or work to advance positive legislation in States. It\u2019s really a critical moment for it. I mean, it\u2019s hard to advance our issues in other ways at the moment. The federal level is very challenging in Congress, of course things are going pretty badly in the administrative state, and the courts are looking worse and worse. But the States, the States are a place we can make real changes and affect people\u2019s everyday lives in a positive way.\n\nSo there\u2019s a few different ways to get involved. The best way is probably to join groups!\n\nAndrew: [Laughs]\n\nAlison: American Atheists has affiliates in the vast majority of States that work on advocacy, but there are lots of other groups and partners that we work with. The best way to do State advocacy is in coalition. We work with, for example, the ACLU in different States, we work with LGBT groups, other civil rights groups, even some religious groups. There\u2019s all sorts of interests that people might have, but finding a local group that matches where you align yourself in getting engaged in State policy is a great way to move forward.\n\nWe\u2019re hopeful that this resource will provide a benchmark so that advocates at the State level can understand what laws we have in the State already on the books, what don\u2019t we have, how to move forward from that place. What should we be working towards or working to repeal?\n\nThomas: Alright well we\u2019ve got a State scorecard here so I want to name and shame! Which States are good, which States are bad? Oh no, I\u2019m in California. I\u2019m feeling pretty good but who knows? Maybe it\u2019ll be a surprise upset, maybe we aren\u2019t doing so great.\n\nAlison: No, spoiler! You\u2019re doing great. [Laughs]\n\nThomas: Yes!\n\nAndrew: [Laughs]\n\nAlison: So basically we sorted the States into three different categories. We\u2019re calling them the strong protection for religious equality, basic separation of religion and government, and religious exemptions that undermine equality. There are ten States that fall into the highest category, 21 States and territories in the middle, and then 21-\n\nThomas: Last category, which is Gilead, by the way!\n\nAlison: [Laughs] Yes! In short, that\u2019s what we\u2019re calling it. Those are the usual suspects I would say, although there are a few surprises in that latter category, and some States you might think would be awesome are also not doing so great, honestly.\n\nThomas: Hmm.\n\nAlison: Like Maryland, for example. Pretty blue State, actually falls in the middle.\n\nAndrew: Yeah, thanks.\n\nThomas: Andrew? Get your ass together over there!\n\nAlison: [Laughs]\n\nAndrew: [Laughs] Well, no, so that\u2019s right. I went to the scorecard and Maryland is in that middle category with Virginia and Alaska.\n\nThomas: Alaska? Hooo! Yikes.\n\nAndrew: Not exactly other \u2013 Utah, right! Maryland and Utah are the same according to this report, so what did we get wrong? What do I need to get working on in my State here?\n\nAlison: First I wanna say, just in defense of Utah, there are a lot of misconceptions about the State. Now because there\u2019s so many people of a particular religion in the State people think it\u2019s very religious but actually that religious group has been one, historically, that has been somewhat persecuted.\n\nThomas: Yeah.\n\nAlison: So they\u2019re a little bit more self-aware about the separation of religion and government than might be expected. You know [Laughs] I\u2019ll just say-\n\nAndrew: No, A, I\u2019m always glad when we\u2019re picking on States to rise to the defense of Utah, but seriously it\u2019s a really, really good point on two levels. Number one, you can build coalitions and find common ground with members of religious groups, with people with whom you disagree because everybody benefits when we have a secular society, this shouldn\u2019t be an argument in 2020 but apparently it is.\n\nNumber two \u2013 I was gonna tee this up as a question, but I do hear from folks who listen to the show and say hey, we love the show, but I live in Dallas, Texas, I live in Utah, I live in a deep red area and it feels kind of hopeless to get involved in these issues. Let\u2019s unwrap that thread a little bit. If you are an atheist living in a deep red area, what kind of strategies would you suggest in terms of being able to make a difference?\n\nAlison: Sure, sure. I\u2019ll address that, but I\u2019d like to go back to Maryland after if that\u2019s alright with you!\n\nAndrew: No, yeah, I was- [Laughs] That too!\n\nAlison: So I would say there\u2019s a few different things you can do. I think one, we have to change the narrative around religious freedom. Right now it\u2019s being run by the Christian extremists, unfortunately, that religious freedom means one particular thing, that it means their rights are ascendant over everybody else\u2019s. And I think that there\u2019s a long American tradition of religious freedom, religious equality, that we\u2019re leaving behind but that still appeals to many people, that concept. The separation of religion and government is something that people understand and, for the most part, outside extremely small minorities, support.\n\nSo using those concepts and basically advocating on that front can bring over people that you might think may not be supportive otherwise if you\u2019re talking about, for example, LGBT issues or whatever it might be, that\u2019s the progressive issue you\u2019re talking about. I feel like there\u2019s work that can be done using the language in context of religious liberty that people might be more receptive to even if they are more conservative and I think Utah\u2019s a really good example of that because it is a conservative State but at the same time people understand and respect the separation of religion and government.\n\nI\u2019m happy to go into that further, but I did wanna touch on Maryland.\n\nAndrew: I was trying to distract you from what\u2019s wrong with my State, but no, no! Please, please do go on.\n\nAlison: Sure! So Maryland is an odd example of a State that does not have a lot of negative things I would say, there are not a lot of exemptions, there\u2019s just not a lot of positive things there. There\u2019s very, very few State constitutional protections for the separation of religion and government. There is a free exercise clause but that\u2019s about it in the constitution, and so there\u2019s just not much else that\u2019s positive. It sort of relies on the federal constitution to provide that separation.\n\nOn the negative side there are a few bad things. For example there\u2019s denial of care laws, laws that allow doctors to refuse to provide abortions or other medical services based on their religious beliefs rather than the best interest of the patient.\n\nThomas: Mm-hmm.\n\nAlison: Vaccination requirements, religious exemptions to vaccination requirements. Things like broad tax exemptions for places of worship, that sort of thing.\n\nThomas: Can I ask a question about vaccinations? That\u2019s something I care a lot about. In California I know I\u2019m here on the list of champion States, I got the top ten I guess, but also I do feel like anecdotally there are a lot of anti-vax people here \u2013 and maybe not even anecdotally, like there just are! I wonder, they also don\u2019t necessarily strike me as particularly religious. Apologies if this is beyond the scope of the report but are there other non-religious ways that people are fighting vaccination requirements or is it pretty much limited to oh, we\u2019ll get a religious exemption in there and then most anti-vaxxers are gonna fall under that? What do you think about that?\n\nAlison: Yeah, that\u2019s a great question. There\u2019s a lot of discussion around vaccination and exemptions these days, it\u2019s been a really increasingly important issue and actually on the positive side, since we like talking about the positive things, there were several States that withdrew or repealed their religious exemptions to vaccination last year including New York and Maine, which is fantastic.\n\nBut, yes, to answer your question there are really two types of nonmedical vaccination exemptions. One is religious exemptions based on a person\u2019s religious beliefs or their parents religious beliefs. The other is personal exemptions which are ill-defined but basically mean \u201cI don\u2019t feel like it.\u201d So there are still 15 States that allow personal exemptions. Now California does not have either.\n\nThomas: Oh, good!\n\nAlison: They repealed their religious exemption several years ago, so they do require, only for medical reasons are you allowed to opt out of vaccination requirements in California. We think that\u2019s the best way to go, it should be based on medical necessity and that way we protect everyone and don\u2019t leave anyone behind. But there are, like I said, 15 States that still allow personal exemptions and in many places these exemptions are broad enough to really cause a lot of problems and to drop the level of immunity below the herd immunity threshold. That\u2019s when we see epidemics, unfortunately, and there\u2019s been a number of epidemics this past year including flu epidemics and whooping cough in some States.\n\nThomas: So California, we\u2019ve covered, is a great State, awesome. I was gonna say everybody should move here but don\u2019t, actually.\n\nAndrew: [Laughs]\n\nThomas: Can you go \u2013 can everybody move to the electoral college States that we\u2019re struggling in? All we\u2019re gonna do is exacerbate that problem if you all move here.\n\nAndrew: [Laughs]\n\nThomas: But anyway, can we talk about some of the bad States? Some of the Gilead States? What are the biggest threats, what are the biggest harms that you\u2019re seeing in these States that are labeled \u201cReligious Exemptions that Undermine Equality?\u201d\n\nAlison: Sure. I would say that Mississippi is one of the worst States. Not only do they have the religious freedom restoration acts that we see on a lot of other States, but they also have a lot of particular religious exemptions that are very dangerous, and let me just give you a couple.\n\nProfessional licensure is one. So a lot of States have Statewide licensing boards or organizations you have to become a member of, like the State Nursing Organization in order to become licensed to practice, right? Well there\u2019s been a few cases where those organizations have codes of conduct which say well you have to serve everybody you can\u2019t discriminate against people if you\u2019re gonna get a license and therefore you have to be able to sign this code of conduct or whatever. Or our program at this school, this public school, requires that you have a code of conduct to serve everybody so you can\u2019t discriminate.\n\nWell, the right often wants people to be allowed to discriminate, so they are pushing forward in a few States, like Mississippi, laws that say basically if a person would\u2019ve gotten a license except for the fact that they are being required to not discriminate and it\u2019s against their religion, then they have to be considered to have a license anyway. They\u2019re trying to work around the safety and license requirements based on religion.\n\nThat\u2019s one example, but this bill is so [Laughing] broad there\u2019s really no way that can sort of characterize it. It\u2019s every possible religious exemption we could think of, effecting not only health and wellness but also education and youth, foster care and adoption, marriage related services, State officials. For example you can opt out of providing wedding-related services, that sort of thing.\n\nAndrew: You could opt out of providing wedding-related services for any religious objection?\n\nAlison: Exactly, yeah. Yeah.\n\nAndrew: So in practical terms-\n\nAlison: It\u2019s amazing, too-\n\nAndrew: Yeah, go ahead.\n\nAlison: There\u2019s no [Laughing] nondiscrimination law in the State!\n\nThomas: [Laughs]\n\nAlison: So it\u2019s utterly useless.\n\nThomas: So not only is there no nondiscrimination law, you also have a right to opt out of the nonexistent nondiscrimination law? Is that what you\u2019re saying?\n\nAlison: Based on your religion, exactly. This was challenged in Court but they immediately ran into a standing issue because how do you-\n\nThomas: Yeah! [Laughs]\n\nAlison: [Laughs] How do you have standing challenges if there\u2019s no nondiscrimination law in the first place?\n\nAndrew: [Sighs]\n\nAlison: But that ignores the larger issue here, I think, that it has a negative effect on people if you\u2019re given special permission by the State to discriminate against them even if there is a nondiscrimination law. It\u2019s somehow worse, I think.\n\nThomas: I know we\u2019ve talked about vaccination, but the vaccination issue aside is this largely, all this stuff is pretty much about discriminating against LGBTQ people? Is that pretty much the broader theme of a lot of this, particularly the bad States?\n\nAlison: You know I think that has some to do \u2013 I mean a lot to do with it, but I think there\u2019s other angles that that misses.\n\nThomas: Okay, feel free to go into those!\n\nAlison: Sure. Well the other big issue is abortion.\n\nThomas: Oh, sure. Yeah! [Laughs]\n\nAlison: Reproductive health, which is really about control of women\u2019s sexuality. That\u2019s a major part of it, I think, is abortion. That has to do with denial of care laws and other types of religious refusals and healthcare issues that are happening.\n\nI think another big part of this that we don\u2019t often talk about that we\u2019re seeing more so with Project Blitz is Christian nationalism. That is the idea that we\u2019re seeing several religious groups trying to get into the schools as early as possible to influence young people and perpetuate the idea that America was founded as a Christian nation. We\u2019re seeing a lot of bills reflect that ideology, especially involving education and youth. That\u2019s not really about LGBT, it\u2019s not about abortion, it\u2019s sort of a third category, I would say.\n\n[Commercial \u2013 forhims.com/oa]\n\nAndrew: Let\u2019s cut in. We\u2019ve referenced this on the show before, but you wanna give a definition of Project Blitz and what we know about it and what we can do about it?\n\nAlison: Absolutely. Project Blitz is sort of a secretive campaign by the Christian nationalist right to insert as many bills in State legislatures as possible to undermine LGBT equality, attack access to reproductive services, and undermine the separation of religion and government. It uses the idea, their version of religious freedom, to push forward these bills and ultimately it works to perpetuate the idea of Christian nationalism as I was talking about before. To use symbols and language about history and other information to introduce to young people at an early age that America was founded as a Christian nation, that\u2019s its purpose and it remains a Christian nation today.\n\nThere\u2019s research showing that when people believe that they\u2019re much more likely to support politicians in the vein of Trump, they\u2019re more likely to support policy goals which we might be opposed to that are maybe more about equality or more about religious tolerance.\n\nAndrew: I wanna go into the specifics of some of those proposed component bills. My understanding is that part of how this Project Blitz is being carried out is by having coordinated national efforts to introduce the same kind of language for the same kind of bill in multiple States. On example that I\u2019m familiar with is the bill requiring all public schools to display the National Motto. That\u2019s how it\u2019s written, and of course our National Motto, for historical reasons, is \u201cIn God We Trust,\u201d so that now leaves up to each individual school whether they\u2019re gonna display that on a dusty plaque in the conference room or in 12-foot high letters backlit with neon in the front of the school.\n\nAlison: Or in every classroom. A lot of the bills require every classroom.\n\nAndrew: [Sighing] Oh my \u2013 Does it? [Laughs] See I love how it\u2019s always worse than I could even imagine? That\u2019s an ongoing theme of the show! But talk about, if I\u2019m gonna steel man the other side I would say okay, look, whatever, it puts a little plaque in every classroom. I get you don\u2019t believe in god but why are you so sensitive about that, what\u2019s the big deal?\n\nAlison: Sure. If we\u2019re gonna steel man the other side we should talk about how it\u2019s so hypocritical for them, as well.\n\nAndrew: [Laughs]\n\nAlison: The other side pretends to be about State\u2019s rights, local government, you know, non-governmental interference and they\u2019re mandating that every classroom in the State has to have a poster that says \u201cIn God We Trust,\u201d that\u2019s sort of the opposite of that philosophy! [Laughs]\n\nAndrew: Well, yeah\u2026\n\nAlison: But, you were mentioning Project Blitz and it really has two components in the States, two main components for the campaign. The first is they establish prayer caucuses in as many States as possible, currently they\u2019re at 42 States with prayer caucuses, which are sort of like loose affiliations of lawmakers in the State legislature that\u2019s meant to advance Project Blitz\u2019s aims. Prayer caucuses sound fairly innocuous? There\u2019s no indication that they\u2019re aligned with Project Blitz offhand, there\u2019s no handbook they give out, so I think this is used sometimes to draw in a lot of lawmakers who might be religious or might support prayer or who might be, for example, Democrats and not know what Project Blitz is or what it\u2019s about. So there\u2019s that component, and then there is the-\n\nAndrew: Well let\u2019s \u2013 I wanna drill down on that a little bit.\n\nAlison: Oh, yes.\n\nAndrew: Is there an educational aspect of, you\u2019ve got this innocuous-sounding group that is talking to legislators. Is there a degree to which we can get involved even in blue States? I mean, you said 42 States have these prayer caucuses, and just kind of let our elected officials know, hey look this group is not aligned with your interests?\n\nAlison: Absolutely! That\u2019s what we\u2019ve been actively engaged in, it\u2019s how we\u2019re pushing back against Project Blitz is exactly that, to raise awareness about it. But even then, most lawmakers have never heard of it, but we\u2019ve been really trying to raise awareness with our partners. We\u2019ve created a campaign to oppose Project Blitz, you can find it online, it\u2019s www.blitzwatch.org. It\u2019s supported by many national organizations, and the goal is to raise awareness among lawmakers and advocates so people can see what Project Blitz is doing and to push back against it because otherwise these things just sneak under the radar, we see bills being introduced in 15 States without any sort of indication where they\u2019re coming from. But by exposing it we can drag it into the light and help defeat these plans.\n\nAndrew: Yeah. I just wanna emphasize, particularly in the State legislature, a number of these positions are part time, so the Trojan Horse aspect is it feels like a benefit. You have this aligned group and they say oh, we have this innocuous sounding piece of language, public schools display the national motto, and you don\u2019t think about it being a Trojan Horse. I really like that level of activism, just informational activism. But I interrupted you so I\u2019ll let you go back and talk about the other component. So one component are these prayer caucuses, what else are we looking at?\n\nAlison: Well the other major component, you sort of touched upon it, are these model bills. So they have a policy guide that they update every year. This last policy guide for 2018-2019 had about 21 model bills. It\u2019s not just the bills themselves, it\u2019s also talking points, places where the bill has been passed previously, just a lot of material about, not only do they anticipate our opposition, our arguments, talk about how to defeat those arguments, they talk about the level of opposition they\u2019re going to be seeing when these bills move forward so that \u2013 the goal is very clear to start with low-hanging fruit, easy bills to pass, like \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d in schools, and to progress from there into more difficult, more challenging bills. For example, religious exemptions of discrimination or like in foster care or schools. That sort of thing.\n\nIt\u2019s meant to very much progress and provides the context for how to do that effectively. You can see how they work together. The State caucuses generally have a facilitator or coordinator role associated with Project Blitz that\u2019s able to send the model policy guide out to lawmakers who might be more sympathetic within the caucus, and then they can basically make process on the low-hanging fruit bills, build momentum, work together. They might not even understand that they\u2019re working ultimately against LGBT equality, against reproductive access, that sort of thing.\n\nIt\u2019s very insidious, the entire campaign.\n\nAndrew: I guess we\u2019ve done some positive, some good news, some activism. What should we be most afraid of in terms of, that is trying to bubble up to the surface as part of Project Blitz?\n\nAlison: Sure. Well last year we saw a few different areas where they were making the most progress. One, which we\u2019ve seen over the last couple years was \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d in schools bills. In 2018 we saw about 26 of those introduced in about 26 States around the country, last year it was a slight drop to about 20 of them but that\u2019s also because many of them passed [Laughs] in 2018 unfortunately.\n\nAndrew: Yeah.\n\nAlison: A lot of these bills are passing without any real significant opposition which is why we started the Blitz Watch campaign. They were just passing through, often with unanimous support from the legislature, they were not seen as the harmful bills that they are, they were getting full Democrat support in a lot of places. So that\u2019s one way that we\u2019re opposing it is to raise awareness. So those bills, we\u2019re definitely going to see more of those again in 2020.\n\nAlso last year, at the beginning of the year President Trump came out in favor of, I guess, bible class bills? This was an issue he spoke about in support of bible class bills. These are bills that require that school districts offer an elective bible class that students can take. It\u2019s not mandatory for the students, it\u2019s mandatory for the school, so the school would have to offer it regardless of if they have resources to do it, regardless if they have teachers that are capable of teaching it, or if they have space for it or textbooks or money. [Laughs] Any of those considerations are thrown out the window and they\u2019re required to offer these classes. Those saw significant progress last year, I think they passed in two or three States and we\u2019re likely to see those again this year.\n\nAndrew: I imagine \u2013 well, let me not frame it as a leading question. What\u2019s the status of the constitutionality of [Laughs] that bill?\n\nAlison: Yeah, that\u2019s a great question. There\u2019s been a lot of research about those bills and how they\u2019re being executed. I think the leader of that research is Dr. Mark Chancey from Texas and the Texas Freedom Network has done a lot of great work on this, looking at how school districts are implementing these bills and are they following the constitution? The answer, as you can generally guess, would be no. [Laughs] They\u2019re not doing a very good job! They don\u2019t have the resources or understanding to \u2013 you know, it\u2019s possible in a school to teach about the bible in a way that does not violate the constitution.\n\nAndrew: Sure.\n\nAlison: The Supreme Court has said that and it\u2019s probably true, especially if you\u2019re teaching in a comparative religion sort of context and it\u2019s more like an academic study or an educational context about the bible or about religion, but more often than not these classes become mini Sunday Schools, or they\u2019re used to proselytize or promote particular religious beliefs and that\u2019s not acceptable under the constitution. That\u2019s more often what we see.\n\nYou know, there have been challenges but it\u2019s a difficult thing, especially when they\u2019re elective, to find students that are willing to speak up against them and to really challenge these bills in court. We\u2019re always looking for people to do that, so\u2026 let us know! [Laughs]\n\nThomas: So I know this is a report about the States, it\u2019s the State of the States, but are there \u2013 you mentioned, for example, States having RFRA laws, doesn\u2019t the country \u2013 federally isn\u2019t there a RFRA law? How much of this is redundant and/or are there things you\u2019re keeping an eye on federally that will moot some of these things or make \u2018em worse? Could you talk about that?\n\nAlison: Sure. First of all, when it comes to RFRA, the federal RFRA law does not apply to State laws. It does not provide exemptions-\n\nThomas: Hmm.\n\nAlison: -to State laws, it only applies to federal law. There was actually a Supreme Court case around this, so it\u2019s very clear. There are about 20 States with State RFRAs, and just because they have the same name doesn\u2019t mean that they are the same.\n\nThomas: Sure.\n\nAlison: Some States have RFRAs that are basically equivalent to the federal one. Other States have RFRAs that leave out certain words or that are applied much more broadly, or that the courts have considered to be more broadly. For example they might leave out the term \u201csubstantially\u201d when you talk about how religion has to substantially burden \u2013 I\u2019m sorry \u2013 the government has to substantially burden a person\u2019s exercise of religion. Well if there\u2019s no \u201csubstantially\u201d there does it have a different meaning? That\u2019s a good question, right? It can be applied differently in the States.\n\nAt the same time, the opposition has really been pushing for years to get interpretations of the law in court where basically RFRA is applied much more broadly and basically undermines nondiscrimination laws. That can happen easier at the State level than at the federal level sometimes, so therefore those sorts of laws might happen in States. These laws are being pushed forward with that specific goal in mind, so the legislative history might be very different and written in a way that that\u2019s what the lawmakers intended, or the State courts might have been pushing forward to allow that to happen in a different context, so you can\u2019t just generalize from the federal RFRA and say it\u2019s okay that States have it because there\u2019s entirely different context there and a different set of goals from the opposition.\n\nThomas: Yeah, I guess the second part is things you\u2019re keeping an eye on federally that could moot or change some of these State concerns? Is there anything?\n\nAlso, tied in with that, on this show we\u2019ve talked a lot about how Trump \u2013 and mainly McConnell, I guess \u2013 is fundamentally altering the judiciary and how that\u2019s going to affect things going forward, but I wonder, when we\u2019re talking about State laws that seems separate from that. How do you feel about the trajectory going on here? Do you feel good about it?\n\nMaybe as a way to draw this to a close you could talk about how hopeful you are and also if my premise is right about the judiciary being fundamentally changed is that going to change your outlook? Or is it the case that because we\u2019re talking about State laws, fortunately the federal judiciary isn\u2019t going to affect those?\n\nAlison: That\u2019s a great question. I am worried about how the federal judiciary is going to affect State laws, I think a really great example of that is the Espinoza case. I think definitely that the federal courts can affect what\u2019s happening in the States and I think that\u2019s an important issue to consider. The Espinoza case is a really good example of that where in Montana the State Supreme Court struck down a bill that would\u2019ve created a voucher program to allow money to go to private schools in violation of the State no-aid clause, so the State clause that prevents indirect or direct funding of sectarian education. That is now being considered by the Supreme Court and if it goes badly there\u2019s many, many States that have no-aid clauses, so that\u2019s an issue which will vastly affect State constitutional law.\n\nI believe there are 37 States that have no-aid clauses that affect educational organizations, and these were passed with the intent to maintain the separation of religion and government. If they are eliminated we\u2019ll see across the country just this wave of advocates pushing for voucher laws, which will significantly undermine public education in many, many States throughout the country, unfortunately. I think that\u2019s a really good example of how the federal courts can affect what\u2019s happening in the States.\n\nAt the same time, there is a bit of insulation. State courts have their own constitution to follow and their own history and jurisprudence and therefore we can do things in the State which may be very challenging to move forward with at the federal level. We can also interpret things in State constitutions and in State law differently than they\u2019ve been interpreted at the federal level. Standing is a good example of that. At the federal level standing has been so greatly narrowed over the years \u2013 thanks Scalia! So greatly narrowed, however that really does limit our ability to protect the separation of religion and government because it makes it more challenging to basically challenge establishment clause violations.\n\nHowever, at the State level they don\u2019t have to follow Article 3 of the federal constitution, they have their own State constitution so they can leave their courts more open to those sorts of challenges. That\u2019s just one example. I think there\u2019s still hope at the State level, I think we can pass laws more easily there, we can repeal negative things more easily, and there\u2019s still enough flexibility for us to have some insulation from the federal level.\n\nThomas: Okay, well we\u2019re about at time but Alison, thank you so much for coming on. I think going out maybe we should see where we can point people? If they wanna help, if they wanna donate, if they wanna do what they can to help this effort to stop [Laughs] Christian nationalism, essentially, from ruining our country. Where should people go, where do you want to point people to?\n\nAlison: Sure, well I have two sites. The first I mentioned previously is blitzwatch.org, that talks about our efforts to oppose Project Blitz and Christian nationalism, blitzwatch.org. The other is the State of the Secular States report is available at atheists.org/states. There\u2019s a scorecard for every State, it\u2019s all very accessible there.\n\nThomas: Alright well thank you so much and keep up the great work!\n\nAlison: Thank you!\n\nThomas: Okay, now it\u2019s time to thank our top patrons, our hall of famers, our all time greats over at patreon.com/law. That\u2019s how I know what day it is, because it\u2019s Top Patron Tuesday! All the holiday cheer, we\u2019re all done with that, we\u2019re on a regular schedule. Here we go, I will start us out with our top patrons over at patreon.com/law.\n\n[Patron Shout Outs]\n\nAndrew: Thank you all so much!\n\nThomas: [Laughs] That was awesome! [Sighs] Good stuff!\n\nAndrew: You know, you wanna be a part of these shenanigans, head on over to patreon.com/law, sign up for 5 bucks an episode, I promise everybody on this list will tell you that it\u2019s worth it and you can get in on all the fun, all the goodies, all the everything. We hope to see you!\n\nThomas: Change your name every week, get a different shout out, I love it! So much fun. Alright, it\u2019s time for T3BE!\n\nT3BE \u2013 Answer\n\n[Segment Intro]\n\nThomas: Answer time! How did I do?\n\nAndrew: So this was a wholesaler agreed in a signed writing to sell the bakery 10,000 lbs of flour each week for 10 weeks. Week one comes by and they deliver 8,000 \u2013 and they\u2019re gonna deliver it on Monday. Baker bakes their bread on Tuesdays and pays on Wednesday. As you point out that means don\u2019t buy bread from the bakery on Thursday but, you know, whatever.\n\nThomas: [Laughs] Or Monday, by the way!\n\nAndrew: [Laughs] Right.\n\nThomas: Maybe they\u2019re closed.\n\nAndrew: Yeah. Maybe if we have some bakers in the audience they can tell us.\n\nThomas: Yeah, let me know how often, \u2018cuz there\u2019s the day-olds usually, but week-olds? I dunno.\n\nAndrew: Yeah, I would think your bakery is gonna be baking more often than that but who knows?\n\nThomas: Yeah.\n\nAndrew: Maybe this is a \u201cdon\u2019t order the fish on Monday.\u201d\n\nThomas: Plus you need that smell too, you need that smell wafting into the neighborhood.\n\nAndrew: So good.\n\nThomas: Anyway, I wanna go eat some bread, hurry up! [Laughs]\n\nAndrew: Be right back! Gotta get some bread.\n\nThomas: [Laughs]\n\nAndrew: So week one they deliver only 8,000 lbs on the Monday but they deliver the extra 2,000 lbs Monday night, then the buyer accepts that, pays for it on Wednesday. On Monday the second week, the wholesaler only delivers 5,000 lbs, then says oh yeah I\u2019ll get the other 5,000 to you by Wednesday and the bakery rejected the tender. Were they legally justified in doing so?\n\nI am gonna cut to the chase, you said B) Yes, because the tender was a substantial impairment of that installment and could not be cured. That is a correct statement of the law!\n\nThomas: Alright!\n\nAndrew: It is the Uniform Commercial Code \u00a7 2-612(2), which I\u2019m sure you remember from law school.\n\nThomas: Of course!\n\nAndrew: Which provides that a buyer may reject any installment that is nonconforming if the nonconformity substantially impairs the value of that installment and it cannot be cured. That\u2019s just a fancy way of saying what you worked through, which is okay, the first thing with the 8,000? You got all the flour in time to do your baking so I don\u2019t even know that it was a big deal.\n\nThomas: Mm-hmm.\n\nAndrew: That\u2019s what it means by the nonconformity \u2013 it didn\u2019t conform to the contract, right, because they didn\u2019t send 10,000 at once, but that nonconformity did not substantially impair the value of the installment because they had all the flour by the time they were going to do the bread.\n\nYour second chance answer D says, I\u2019m gonna just read from the question text here: \u201cUCC Article 2 adopts the perfect tender rule, but the perfect tender standard is inapplicable to determine whether a seller\u2019s performance conforms to an installment contract. Given that this is an installment contract, the substantial impairment standard governs the buyer\u2019s right to reject, and in this case the bakery did have the right to reject the second installment. In addition, a buyer\u2019s previous acceptance of a nonconforming tender does not constitute a waiver of its right to reject a later nonconforming tender if the other grounds for rejection are satisfied.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s a longwinded way of saying that that was-\n\nThomas: That I nailed it!\n\nAndrew: -a total, unattractive distractor and you completely nailed it. Good job, Thomas!\n\nThomas: Thank you, thank you so much! I mean, my New Years Resolution was to get every single bar question right and so far!\n\nAndrew: Alright!\n\nThomas: So far so good! [Laughs]\n\nAndrew: Alright well that\u2019s it, let\u2019s pack it in.\n\nThomas: So let\u2019s cancel the year, let\u2019s go on to 2021 so I can be right. No, alright-\n\nAndrew: Well if you only write 20 on the end of your check you could make it 2021.\n\nThomas: [Laughs] Yeah! Okay, well let\u2019s hop in our time machine and find out who this week\u2019s big winner is, I mean it\u2019s definitely me, but in addition to me, who else is this week\u2019s big winner?\n\nAndrew: Well nobody could be as big a winner as you, Thomas!\n\n[Segment Intro]\n\nAndrew: Well Thomas, this week\u2019s winner is the Books that Burn podcast! That is @booksthatburn on Twitter who write, \u201cMy answer is B because receiving \u00bd the required shipment 1 to 2 days after it is required (both by the contract, and for the bakery to do their baking on time) is a substantial impairment in a way that receiving the shipment in 2 parts on the day specified is not.\u201d Well they are exactly correct and congratulations on being this week\u2019s winner! Everyone give \u2018em a follow, that is @booksthatburn on Twitter and congratulations for being this week\u2019s winner!\n\n#T3BE My answer is \u201cB\u201d because receiving 1/2 the required shipment 1 to 2 days after it is required (both by the contract, and for the bakery to do their baking on time) is a substantial impairment in a way that receiving the shipment in 2 parts on the day specified is not. https://t.co/RvlVSz8z8h \u2014 Books That Burn (@booksthatburn) January 4, 2020\n\n[Segment Outro]\n\nThomas: Alright, thanks so much for listening, thanks again to Alison Gill for coming on, great interview, really good stuff about that State of the States Report. Go check it out and get active, see what you can do in your State. [Laughing] Maybe you\u2019re not as lucky as I am, maybe you live in a terrible State like Maryland or something, you know? One of those awful red States.\n\nAndrew: [Sighs] Oh, yeah.\n\nThomas: [Laughs] Alright, thanks for listening and we will see you for a Rapid Response Friday!\n\n[Show Outro]"}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nI can think of One You Haven't"}
-{"text": "Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar's face is contorted into an attitude-filled pout and she appears to be toting a large gun.\n\nBelow her are the doctored images of three other Democratic congresswomen: Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.\n\nAccording to the movie poster-style picture that was recently shared to an official Facebook page for Republican leaders in Illinois, the four minority lawmakers are the stars of \"The Jihad Squad.\"\n\n\"POLITICAL JIHAD IS THEIR GAME,\" reads all-caps text on the fake poster. \"IF YOU DON'T AGREE WITH THEIR SOCIALIST IDEOLOGY, YOU'RE RACIST.\"\n\nThe meme, which reportedly first appeared Friday on the Facebook page of the Illinois Republican County Chairmen's Association, has since drawn widespread backlash from top state leaders in both parties.\n\nOn Sunday evening, the association's president, Mark Shaw, apologised and announced that the post had been taken down.\n\nAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez greets fellow lawmakers ahead of the State of the Union address Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez participates in an event with Democratic members of Congress EPA Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures The Democrat senator speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol January 30, 2019 Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and fellow Democrat Rashida Tlaib AP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the Senate chamber to watch two votes on January 24, 2019 Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez arrives with Chellie Pingree at a House Democratic Caucus meeting Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez during Donald Trump's State of the Union address Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures New York State Assembly member Catalina Cruz with Ocasio-Cortez AFP/Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Nydia Velazquez talks with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez casts her vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House EPA Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez poses with a campaign worker during a whistle stop in the Queens borough of New York Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez outside the US Capitol AFP/Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez after casting her ballot in the 2018 midterm general election at a polling site in New York EPA Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez looks on during a march organised by the Women's March Alliance in Manhattan Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio Cortez looks on at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 16, 2019 AFP/Getty\n\nIt is unclear if the poster was created by the organisation, but its logo was featured on the image.\n\n\"A couple of days ago, an image which was not authorised by me was posted on the Facebook page of the Illinois Republican County Chairmen's Association,\" Mr Shaw wrote in a statement. \"I condemn this unauthorised posting and it has been deleted. I am sorry if anyone who saw the image was offended by the contents.\"\n\nThe post, Shaw added, \"is an unfortunate distraction from the serious debate surrounding the policies advocated by these four socialist members of the United States House of Representatives of which I strongly disagree.\"\n\nThe poster marks yet another ugly broadside against the congresswomen following President Donald Trump's racist tweets last Sunday in which he suggested that the four women of colour should \"go back\" to the \"totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.\"\n\nMs Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib and Pressley were born in the United States and Ms Omar, a Somali refugee, became a citizen when she was 17.\n\nRather than walk back the widely condemned comment, Trump has continued to publicly rebuke the freshman representatives, who have become collectively known as \"the Squad\" - and others have joined in.\n\nAt a rally in North Carolina on Wednesday, Trump supporters chanted, \"Send her back,\" at Ms Omar, drawing such fierce backlash that the president falsely insisted that he tried to stop the crowd.\n\nThe next day, a Louisiana police officer called Ms Ocasio-Cortez \"this vile idiot\" in a Facebook post and suggested that she \"needs a round....... and I don't mean the kind she used to serve,\" NOLA.com reported.\n\nThe officer's social media post was condemned by local officials, but they have not determined whether the words amounted to a credible violent threat, according to the outlet.\n\nOn Sunday, Trump again took aim at the women in a scathing tweet, lambasting them as \"weak and insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation!\" Hours later, the president shared a video of Fox News host Jeanine Pirro railing against the lawmakers during her Saturday show.\n\nThe 'Jihad Squad' poster that the Republican leaders' group posted on their official Facebook page (@kenvogel on Twitter)\n\nIn the roughly six-minute segment, Ms Pirro, a vocal critic of Ms Omar, warned viewers about \"a plot to remake America by those who hate America,\" and added the \"the Squad . . . represents a dangerous assault on everything we hold dear.\"\n\nIn Illinois, however, the state's top Republican leaders quickly agreed that \"The Jihad Squad\" meme went too far, joining their Democratic counterparts in denouncing it.\n\nThe poster, which is based on the 2013 crime film \"Gangster Squad,\" featured unflattering images of the congresswomen. The \"jihad\" references were likely directed at Omar and Tlaib, who are the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress.\n\n\"I strongly condemn evoking race or religion as the basis for political disagreement,\" Tim Schneider, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, wrote in a statement.\n\n\"Bigoted rhetoric greatly distracts from legitimate and important policy debates and further divides our nation.\"\n\nHe continued: \"My intense disagreement with the socialist policies and anti-semitic language of these four congresswomen has absolutely nothing to do with their race or religion. I urge everyone who also opposes them to keep the rhetoric focused on policy and political ideology.\"\n\nSean Morrison, chairman of the Cook County Republican Party, which includes Chicago, said in a statement that he was \"appalled\" by the post's \"use of hateful rhetoric.\"\n\n\"There are civil ways to express political differences that do not involve going to racist extremes,\" Morrison said, adding that the country \"should instead strive for an intelligent, civil and thoughtful discussion of the philosophical differences between Republicans and Democrats.\"\n\nTrump supporters chant 'send her back' after president attacks Ilhan Omar\n\nOn Facebook, the Cook County Democratic Party expressed their support for the congresswomen and accused the GOP group of sharing a post that \"perpetuates the recent attacks by President Trump, promoting lies and racism to alienate immigrants, women, and people of colour.\"\n\nShaw, the RCCA president, explained Sunday that the organisation \"has a multi-stage, approval process\" for posts on any of its social media pages.\n\nHe noted that the association's internal review process is now under \"re-evaluation to insure that any content posted in the future represents the 'big-tent' nature of the Republican Party.\"\n\nThe statement was met with mixed reactions as some praised the effort, but many critics who flooded the group's Facebook page with comments on Sunday found that the apology fell short.\n\n\"Incredible non apology,\" one person wrote. \"You said the quiet part loud and are now backtracking.\"\n\nAnother person called the apology \"weak.\"\n\n\"I remember when the Republican Party stood for decency, respect, family values and the 'moral majority,'\" the commenter said. \"They sure have come down from that high ground to take the low road.\""}
-{"text": "My Reddit:\n\nThis post on r/DDLC: redd.it/81wbgk\n\nHey all! This might seem a little different in two ways, and I can explain why:1: I just got a new drawing tablet, and am super excited to learn to use it well! This is my first ever attempt to draw something with it, and so I felt I needed to share it - even if I don't necessarily find it all that good.2: It's not depressing *or* edgy?! wow, that's new for me... Well, I'm learning to branch out a bit, and even though I feel best when making negative stuff (I swear I don't know why), making happy (or at least not sad) stuff is also very rewarding.TL;DR: I got a drawing tablet and this is my first attempt with itThat's really all I have to say here...Until next time,BioHazic~"}
-{"text": "Summary\n\nA new promotional video for Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2202 Rengoku-hen (Purgatory Chapter), the fifth film in the series. The video previews the ending theme song \u201cY\u014dranka\u201d performed by Shino Arima and MayTree.\n\nThe project is a seven-part theatrical anime project, and the first film, subtitled \u201cK\u014dshi-hen\u201d (Starting Chapter), premiered in Japan in February 2017. The second film, subtitled \u201cHasshin-hen\u201d (Departure Chapter), opened in Japan in June 2017. The third film, subtitled \u201cJunai-hen\u201d (Pure Love Chapter), opened in Japan in October 2017. The fourth film, subtitled \u201cTenmei-hen\u201d (Karma Chapter), opened in Japan on January 27.\n\nThe anime\u2019s story is set in the year 2202, three years after the Yamato\u2019s return from the planet Iscandar. The people of Earth restored their planet with the Cosmo Reverse System, and they signed a peace treaty with Garmillas. In addition to reconstruction, Earth developed a new defense fleet that includes the state-of-the-art battleship Andromeda. The Earth goes down a path of military expansion, despite Starsha Iscandar\u2019s wishes. The Yamato helps accomplish this so-called peace, but it comes at the price of many invaluable sacrifices. The goddess Teresa, who prays for tranquility in space, calls the Yamato to a new voyage. The threat of Gatlantis is sweeping over the universe and approaching Earth"}
-{"text": "In most places, yes. Stores are still selling all the stock they get and stores are still selling out. But they are not the the impossible to acquire item they used to be. If one goes early in the week or calls around a bit, you can get one.And I will need to hear from some other Japan peeps, but the PS4 is back in stock everywhere I checked (4 stores: Jusco, Youme town, Best and Yamada).As for used. My local book-off had 8 used PS4 units and 2 used Swich systems."}
-{"text": "Rebel and Amart Sports managing director Erica Berchtold doesn't think she will cop too much grief about joining the board of A-League football club Sydney FC, even though she was, until five months ago, a director of cross-town rival Western Sydney Wanderers.\n\nBerchtold had a two-year stint on the WSW board before Football Federation Australia sold the club to a consortium led by BRW Rich List member Paul Lederer in May and will, on Monday, be confirmed as Sydney FC's newest director.\n\nErica Berchtold intends to bring her retail marketing skills to the Sydney FC. Credit:Belinda Rolland\n\n\"In a sense, I am coming home,\" Berchtold says. \"I was a foundation member of Sydney FC back in 2005-06 and it was the Wanderers who originally had to get used to having a Sydney FC fan on their board. So I don't see this being a problem.\"\n\nBerchtold hopes to fulfil two important roles at Sydney FC, firstly as one of the few female board members involved in football at the elite level and also use her retail expertise to help drive an increase in the range and quality of merchandise at the club."}
-{"text": "A small Calgary brewery is cheering the government's decision to amend how beer is taxed in the province.\n\nUntil now, many Alberta beer brewers capped their production at 19,999 hectolitres because if they made 20,000 or more, the tax per litre would more than double.\n\nThe new provincial budget creates a new tax regime for breweries that raises taxes incrementally as production totals rise.\n\n\"This is fantastic news, absolutely,\" said Graham Sherman, co-founder of Tool Shed Brewing Co.\n\n\"The new, graduated increase, not only does it mean we don't have to cap ourselves \u2026 but it also means that, as of today, our markup just got cut in half because we fall into that first category.\"\n\nLiquor tax increase\n\nThe province is hiking the tax on liquor by five per cent, or about $0.21 for a case of beer.\n\nBut that increase only applies to imported beer and beer producers making over 200,000 hectolitres, Sherman said.\n\n\"We've been given an opportunity by our government to succeed as local, craft breweries,\" he said.\n\nThe new tax regime is just the latest in a string of relatively recent adjustments made by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC) that have made conditions more favourable for smaller producers, according to Sherman.\n\n\"Ever since we've started, they've made change after change supporting small, craft, local beer,\" he said.\n\n\"So this is just another surprise, because no one really saw this one coming.\"\n\nOId rules\n\nWhen Sherman's company began brewing beer a few years ago, the province's minimum production requirement was 500,000 litres.\n\nUnable to come even close, Tool Shed Brewery improvised.\n\n\"So we ended up driving to B.C., brewing our beer there, driving home and then importing our beer into Alberta,\" he said.\n\n\"And it's just a crazy thing that that's how the government used to work, supporting imported beer over local beer.\"\n\nSherman says his company plans to gradually increase its output, which is currently about 5,000 hectolitres."}
-{"text": "Hanoi, Vietnam A member of the honour guard checks the line before the ceremony to welcome the US president, Donald Trump, at the Presidential Palace in Vietnam\n\nPhotograph: Luong Thai Linh/AP"}
-{"text": "Rabat- In an attempt to combat corruption among Morocco's law enforcement apparatus, the General Administration for National Security has promoted two policemen who refused to accept bribes.\n\nRabat- In an attempt to combat corruption among Morocco\u2019s law enforcement apparatus, the General Administration for National Security has promoted two policemen who refused to accept bribes.\n\nThe two policemen, who are working in Hay Hassani district in Casablanca, have been promoted to the rank of officers after declining a MAD 100,000 bribe from a drug dealer.\n\nAccording to police, the drug dealer was about to be arrested on charges of possession of 19 kilograms of Hashish when he offered the two policemen MAD 100,000 to let him off without any charges.\n\nThe two policemen refused the drug dealer\u2019s offer and escorted the suspect to the police station for legal procedure.\n\nThe rise in bribery cases involving police officers has prompted the General Directorate of National Security to circulate a memo urging security forces to crack down on all practices that harm the credibility of the law enforcement officials.\n\nAccording to media sources, the memo aims to entrench a culture of transparency and professional integrity among security forces and to strengthen governance values.\n\nA statement by the General Directorate of National Security stated that citizens are also contributing to the spread of bribery, adding that some people are trying to tarnish the image of the security apparatus by luring members of security forces in order to photograph them receiving bribes."}
-{"text": "flipped over pillow to lay on other side before it was cool\n\n1,568 shares"}
-{"text": "Transcript for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are engaged\n\nThanksgiving, a very happy Monday morning for the royal family. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, you see them right there are engaged. It's official. Let's tick a live look at kensington palace right now. There it is, the announcement came out of there this morning. Lots of tweets as well and the couple will be doing an interview on British national television later today. Yes I woke up to news of it this morning and I'm sure you are as well. The two have rarely been seen in public. They just made their first public appearance in September and so many sharing their excitement for the happy couple this morning dough let's get right to our chief foreign correspondent Terry Moran with the latest on the big announcement. Good morning, Terry. Reporter: Good morning, guys. This is an announcement that has been long expected. Rumors swirling for weeks but it's still big news and happy news. This is a once upon a time tale, a very modern love story that's both full of royal tradition and very 21st century. This morning the world's most eligible royal is off the market. Prince Harry now officially engaged to actress Meghan Markle. Prince Charles' office broke the news a couple of hours ago announcing the couple got engaged earlier this month. The wedding will take place next spring. In the meantime, Harry and Meghan will live at Nottingham cottage at kensington palace right in the heart of London. In a statement prince Harry said he was delighted to announce the engagement and received the blessing of his fiancee's parents. William and Kate said we are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and see how happy they are. From the first public engagement's invictus games. To a romantic birthday trip to Africa their love has been on full display. Prince Harry is a hugely popular figure, probably the most popular member of the royal family there is and to marry this beautiful actress who is an American who has appeared and known around the world is going to be a huge spectacle and I think actually it could even eclipse William and Kate. Reporter: The 36-year-old actress stole the heart of the 33-year-old prince despite a transatlantic relationship with the \"Suits\" star stationed in ton for filming. I want to get married. But I also really care about what I do. Reporter: Meghan Markle opened up about their relationship to \"Vanity fair\" in September saying, we're two people who are really happy and in love. Nothing about me changed. I'm still the same person that I am and I've never defined myself by my relationship. Meghan got her fairy tale ending. She is an actress and she is now playing her most important role to date. A real-life princess on the world stage. Reporter: Their love story started in 2016 with kensington palace making it official in November, Markle quietly by the prince's side for events like polo match, a friend's wedding in Jamaica and pippa Middleton's wedding in may and while their love story is much different than William and Kate's, theirs will likely be filled with royal tradition. The wedding will form the pattern of royal weddings. Harry will probably love to go away and do it in secret, on a beach and probably in Africa if he was able to. However, he knows that that's one thing that he's not going to get away with. He is a member of the royal family and fifth in line to the throne and will is to have a royal and public wedding. Reporter: They will be appearing just in a couple of hours behind me here at kensington palace and their relationship shows just how much this royal family has changed. Once upon a time a long time ago a royal prince wanting to marry a commoner as she would be described, divorced woman and an American, well, that might not have passed muster, guys. Hey, Terry, do you feel the excitement there right outside of kensington palace? Does it feel different today? Reporter: Absolutely. People are gathering. They want to see this couple. Look, he is a hugely popular member of this family, in fact, there are a lot of people who think the next generation, prince Harry and his brother women rescued the royal family from the doldrum answer bad years and people are excited about this, and, look, she is a very different kind of royal and I think people are looking forward to that too. All right. Terry, thanks so much and prince\n\nThis transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate."}
-{"text": "In a statement that may defuse the escalating tension in the Persian Gulf since Monday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ruled out the possibility of a war between his country and the U.S. or Israel.\n\nAhmedinejad's statement comes in the wake of reports that Iran on Tuesday started military maneuvers in the Persian Gulf a day after the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln moved into the Gulf of Oman so its warplanes can fly missions over Afghanistan.\n\nAddressing a news conference on the sidelines of a summit of developing Muslim nations in Malaysia, Ahmadinejad predicted that the Israeli regime would collapse without Iranian action.\n\n\"I assure you that there won't be any war in the future,\" Ahmadinejad told reporters in response to a question on whether he has called for the destruction of Israel.\n\nHe said he did not believe that people in America would endorse President George W Bush for an attack on Iran because it would be a \"political suicide.\"\n\n\"The economic, political and military situation will not let Mr Bush do that,\" Ahmadinejad added.\n\nThe Iranian leader is of the opinion that the United States' intervention in other countries poses a \"great threat in the Middle East and the whole world.\"\n\nAli Shirazi, an aide to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted as saying Monday that Iran will hit Israel, U.S. ships in the Gulf, and American interests around the world if it is attacked.\n\n\"The first bullet fired by America at Iran will be followed by Iran burning down its vital interests around the globe,\" Ali Shirazi said, while addressing the Revolutionary Guards.\n\nAlthough an outbreak of war over the nuclear dispute between Iran and the world powers seems not imminent, the Iranian government frequently says it will remain on high alert and make any aggressor regret its actions.\n\nAny development based on geopolitical factors related to Iran influences the oil price, as the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, between Iran and Oman, is a vital channel for energy supplies. Upto 40 percent of the world's crude oil is carried through the Persian Gulf waterway.\n\nA war of words between Iranian and Israeli officials raised concerns of military confrontation and influenced oil prices to record highs in recent weeks.\n\nAhmadinajad's latest stand on the war indicates that despite spirited rhetoric from Iranian leaders, Tehran doesn't prefer a military conflict with the United States.\n\nOn the other side, Washington is also wary of the repercussions of a possible war, which would drive surging crude prices even higher, fueling a global recession.\n\nLast week, Vice Admiral William Gortney, the new commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet said that the American naval presence in the Persian Gulf poses no threat to Iranian interests.\n\nHe told reporters in Bahrain that the White House only seeks to send a \"very clear message\" that its naval presence will help maintain security and provide stability in the region.\n\nThe European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran in June after it rejected a package of incentives offered to persuade the Islamist country to suspend uranium enrichment.\n\nIran, which insists that uranium enrichment is meant for peaceful purposes, has said it is prepared to negotiate with major world powers on condition that the talks had to address its nuclear rights.\n\nFor comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com"}
-{"text": "Paul Chapman is on track to play against Richmond on Saturday night despite suffering a knock to his hamstring last week.\n\nChapman spent the final moments of the game against Brisbane on the bench, with medical staff deciding not to risk putting the veteran back on the field.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s got a deadest \u2018corky\u2019 right in the back of his hamstring when he\u2019s in the air,\u201d Club Doctor Bruce Reid said.\n\n\u201cHe has a history of occasional hamstrings so we kept him moving.\n\n\u201cHe will play this week.\u201d\n\nDavid Zaharakis won\u2019t be running out for the Dreamtime at the G\u2019 match as he continues his recovery from an ankle injury sustained in the match against Fremantle.\n\n\u201cHe rolled his ankle two and a half weeks ago. He\u2019s now out running pretty freely but not at top end speed,\u201d Dr Reid said.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll be aiming for next week.\u201d\n\nThere was more positive news for Jason Winderlich.\n\nHe\u2019s now just two weeks away from a return from his back injury.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s now been joining in for about three to four weeks, but full training now for the last week and a half,\u201d Dr Reid said.\n\n\u201cHe will play in about two more weeks.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s tracking fantastically which will be terrific for the side.\u201d\n\nHeath Hocking is aiming to return from twin groin surgeries in about a month.\n\nWhile Dr Reid dispelled any doubts surrounding Dustin Fletcher\u2019s availability for this week.\n\nThe 399 game player was subbed late in the match but Dr Reid said that was more about the coaches being cautious.\n\n\u201cHe did get a knock just before three quarter time, total irrelevancy.\n\n\u201cHe will play next week (against Richmond).\u201d"}
-{"text": "1 And it came to pass that they did stop and withdrew a pace from them. And Moroni said unto aZerahemnah: Behold, Zerahemnah, that we do bnot desire to be men of blood. Ye know that ye are in our hands, yet we do not desire to slay you.\n\n2 Behold, we have not come out to battle against you that we might shed your blood for power; neither do we desire to bring any one to the ayoke of bondage. But this is the bvery cause for which ye have come against us; yea, and ye are angry with us because of our religion.\n\n3 But now, ye behold that the Lord is with us; and ye behold that he has delivered you into our hands. And now I would that ye should understand that this is done unto us abecause of our religion and our faith in Christ. And now ye see that ye cannot destroy this our faith.\n\n4 Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are afaithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith.\n\n5 And now, Zerahemnah, I command you, in the name of that all-powerful God, who has strengthened our arms that we have gained power over you, aby our faith, by our religion, and by our brites of worship, and by our church, and by the sacred support which we owe to our cwives and our children, by that dliberty which binds us to our lands and our country; yea, and also by the maintenance of the sacred word of God, to which we owe all our happiness; and by all that is most dear unto us\u2014\n\n6 Yea, and this is not all; I command you by all the desires which ye have for life, that ye adeliver up your weapons of war unto us, and we will seek not your blood, but we will bspare your lives, if ye will go your way and come not again to war against us.\n\n7 And now, if ye do not this, behold, ye are in our hands, and I will command my men that they shall fall upon you, and ainflict the wounds of death in your bodies, that ye may become extinct; and then we will see who shall have power over this people; yea, we will see who shall be brought into bondage.\n\n8 And now it came to pass that when Zerahemnah had heard these sayings he came forth and delivered up his asword and his cimeter, and his bow into the hands of Moroni, and said unto him: Behold, here are our weapons of war; we will deliver them up unto you, but we will not suffer ourselves to take an boath unto you, which we know that we shall break, and also our children; but take our weapons of war, and suffer that we may depart into the wilderness; otherwise we will retain our swords, and we will perish or conquer.\n\n9 Behold, we are anot of your faith; we do not believe that it is God that has delivered us into your hands; but we believe that it is your cunning that has preserved you from our swords. Behold, it is your bbreastplates and your shields that have preserved you.\n\n10 And now when Zerahemnah had made an end of speaking these words, Moroni returned the sword and the weapons of war, which he had received, unto Zerahemnah, saying: Behold, we will end the conflict.\n\n11 Now I cannot recall the words which I have spoken, therefore as the Lord liveth, ye shall not depart except ye depart with an oath that ye will not return again against us to war. Now as ye are in our hands we will spill your blood upon the ground, or ye shall submit to the conditions which I have proposed.\n\n12 And now when Moroni had said these words, Zerahemnah retained his sword, and he was angry with Moroni, and he rushed forward that he might slay Moroni; but as he raised his sword, behold, one of Moroni\u2019s soldiers smote it even to the earth, and it broke by the hilt; and he also smote Zerahemnah that he took off his scalp and it fell to the earth. And Zerahemnah withdrew from before them into the midst of his soldiers.\n\n13 And it came to pass that the soldier who stood by, who smote off the scalp of Zerahemnah, took up the scalp from off the ground by the hair, and laid it upon the point of his sword, and stretched it forth unto them, saying unto them with a loud voice:\n\n14 Even as this scalp has fallen to the earth, which is the scalp of your chief, so shall ye fall to the earth except ye will deliver up your weapons of war and depart with a covenant of peace.\n\n15 Now there were many, when they heard these words and saw the scalp which was upon the sword, that were struck with fear; and many came forth and threw down their weapons of war at the feet of Moroni, and entered into a acovenant of peace. And as many as entered into a covenant they suffered to bdepart into the wilderness.\n\n16 Now it came to pass that Zerahemnah was exceedingly wroth, and he did stir up the remainder of his soldiers to anger, to contend more powerfully against the Nephites.\n\n17 And now Moroni was angry, because of the stubbornness of the Lamanites; therefore he commanded his people that they should fall upon them and slay them. And it came to pass that they began to slay them; yea, and the Lamanites did contend with their swords and their might.\n\n18 But behold, their naked skins and their bare heads were exposed to the sharp swords of the Nephites; yea, behold they were pierced and smitten, yea, and did fall exceedingly fast before the swords of the Nephites; and they began to be swept down, even as the soldier of Moroni had prophesied.\n\n19 Now Zerahemnah, when he saw that they were all about to be destroyed, cried mightily unto Moroni, promising that he would covenant and also his people with them, if they would spare the remainder of their lives, that they anever would come to war again against them.\n\n20 And it came to pass that Moroni caused that the work of death should acease again among the people. And he took the weapons of war from the Lamanites; and after they had entered into a bcovenant with him of peace they were suffered to depart into the wilderness.\n\n21 Now the number of their dead was not numbered because of the greatness of the number; yea, the number of their dead was exceedingly great, both on the Nephites and on the Lamanites.\n\n22 And it came to pass that they did cast their dead into the waters of Sidon, and they have gone forth and are buried in the depths of the asea.\n\n23 And the armies of the Nephites, or of Moroni, returned and came to their houses and their lands.\n\n24 And thus ended the eighteenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi. And thus ended the record of Alma, which was written upon the plates of Nephi."}
-{"text": "John Prince Smith was the creator of the German free trade movement and its leader from the 1840s until his death in 1874. He was born in London in 1809, and, after leaving Eton prematurely, on account of the death of his father, began working at the age of thirteen for a London commercial firm, later turning to journalism. His journalistic activity brought him to Germany, where in 1831 he took a position as a teacher of English and French at the Gymnasium in Elbing, in East Prussia. It was in these years that he acquired fluency in the German language, to the point where he was later able to earn a living as a writer on economics and politics.\n\nIt appears likely that Prince Smith's acquaintance with economic literature, while still a young man in England, was not extensive and that he taught himself the elements of the discipline after he had settled in Germany. He claimed that Bentham's utilitarianism exerted a strong influence on his thinking. As we shall see, however, his commitment to laissez faire was considerably more \"doctrinaire\" (or consistent) than Bentham's. Prince Smith's interest in economic questions may also have been stimulated through personal acquaintance with some of the leaders of the anti-corn law agitation which was occurring in England at the time and which he followed closely.\n\nWhile still a teacher at the Elbing Gymnasium, Prince Smith contributed articles to the local paper, including one, in 1835, on the question of how wages are determined. In this piece he presented an \"optimistic\" view, that is, suggesting a steady, long-range improvement in living standards for working people in a free market economy. That he was already in some wider sense a liberal by the mid-1830s is shown by his attitude towards the \"G\u00f6ttingen Seven,\" the professors at the University of G\u00f6ttingen who in 1837 protested the revocation of the Hanoverian constitution and were accordingly dismissed. Prince Smith attempted to stir up a protest in Elbing, eliciting a stinging reprimand from the office of the Prussian minister of the interior. Further difficulties with the educational administration (stemming in part from his lack of any talent for teaching twelve and thirteen year olds) led to his leaving his post in 1840. He turned to free-lance journalism full-time.\n\nHis first production was a series of articles entitled, \"Apology for Industrial Freedom,\" in which he dealt, among other subjects, with the source of pauperism. This he attributed mainly to the costs of a bloated military establishment. Prince Smith's anti-militarist and anti-war attitudes remained constant, at least until the last years of his life, when the heady Prussian triumphs over Austria and France\n\nseem to have affected him as they did so many other liberals. Twenty years after this early work, in 1863, he wrote in his essay, \"The Market\":\n\nThe great evil for the workers lies in this, that the profit on capital and capital accumulation are to such a great extent diminished by state expenditures on unproductive purposes\u2014the capitalists would be able to give to the people who work for them much more to consume, if they did not have to support so many peace-time soldiers besides, whose consumption is not reimbursed through labor. If the Swiss militia system were introduced in all European states, in a short time capital would so increase, wages would so rise, that there would be no more question of want in the working class. Here lies the solution of the worker-question.\n\nIt may be remarked that the proposal to replace the Prussian standing army with a citizens' militia would tend to cast Prince Smith as a much more politically radical thinker than has usually been supposed. For one thing, the consequences for the Prussian authoritarian (obrigkeitlich) monarchy would have been incalculable and perhaps fatal.\n\nIn 1843 Prince Smith published a pamphlet, in K\u00f6nigsberg, \"On Hostility to Trade,\" a major event in the history of the free trade movement in Germany. Here he placed the cause of free trade in a historical and sociological context more reminiscent of the industrialist school of French thinkers of the early nineteenth century than of Bentham. He already had to submit to attacks as \"the Englishman,\" although by this time he had become in spirit and legal fact a Prussian. An Address (sic) to Robert Peel which Prince Smith composed and which he and several of his associates sent in 1846 congratulated the British Prime Minister on his work in connection with the income tax, the bank act, and, above all, repeal of the Corn Law. Peel replied, which created something of a cause c\u00e9l\u00e8bre and thereby fostered public discussion of the free trade question. Later that year, Prince Smith moved to Berlin.\n\nBy now a crusading free trader, his aim was to establish a movement on the model of the Anti-Corn Law League, and lead it to victory. In December 1846 he gathered a number of business leaders and scholars together to consider the formation of a German Free Trade Union (Deutscher Freihandelsverein). Despite some harassment from the police, the organizing meeting took place the next March in the Hall of the Berlin Stock Exchange, where about 200 people, the great majority of them businessmen, were present (among them a Mendelssohn). Some of those attending objected to Prince Smith's concept of an association devoted to propagating free trade ideas, preferring one that would discuss the question of free trade versus protectionism. In deference to this group, the name \"Scientific Union for Trade and Industry\" (Wissenschaftlicher Verein f\u00fcr Handel und Gewerbe) was adopted; very soon, however, the organization came to be referred to simply as the Free Trade Union (Freihandelsverein). Branches were set up in Hamburg, Stettin, and other German towns.\n\nPrince Smith led the German delegation to the famous Free Trade Congress that met in Brussels on September 16, 1847, at the invitation of the Belgian Free Trade Union. His biographer, Otto Wolff, characterized the banquet that concluded the conference as \"the high point of that first period of the European free trade movement, which had celebrated its greatest triumph in the reform of the English tariff and which doubtless would even then have led to practical free trade reforms in a great part of the continent, if the revolution of 1848 and its consequences had not intervened.\"\n\nPrince Smith seems to have remained comparatively unaffected by the great movement for liberal constitutional reform and national unification of 1848; his efforts were, and continued to be, focused instead on economic reform in a free trade direction. He addressed a petition to the National Assembly in Frankfurt on \"Protection Against the Limitation of Trade,\" outlining his views on the current state of affairs. The European situation, in his view, was one of \"armed peace,\" characterized by the maintenance of standing armies, excessive governmental power, \"monstrous\" taxes, mass impoverishment, and threats to the social order. The cause he identified as the ambitions of the political power, which has become an end in itself. Free trade and maximum economic freedom were the remedies.\n\nThe petition, however, attracted little interest or support from the liberals at the Paulskirche, who were concentrating their efforts precisely on the issues Prince Smith considered secondary. By now he had married Auguste Sommerbrod, the daughter of an affluent Berlin banker and settled in quarters on Unter den Linden; after the revolutionary turmoil died down, he turned to renewed activity on behalf of his cause.\n\nHis chief goal was to establish a free trade association that would cover all of Germany, and, probably with the experience of the Anti-Corn Law League in mind, he was very conscious of the need for substantial amounts of money to achieve this end. Money was needed to publish brochures and books, to arrange to\n\nhave articles sent to the newspapers, and to train talented journalists in the principles of political economy. An organization was formed, the Central Union for Freedom of Trade (Zentralbund f\u00fcr Handelsfreiheit), which did not, however, succeed in attracting any considerable support. It was chiefly helpful in tunneling contributions from free trade circles in seacoast cities like Hamburg and Stettin to Prince Smith for use in propaganda. The plan to train journalists fell through for lack of suitable candidates. (In the 1860s and early 70s, free trade views came to dominate the German press.) Prince Smith was active, however, in disseminating good translations of the works of Frederic Bastiat and in gathering about him a circle of like-minded enthusiasts.\n\nA good deal of his activity in this period consisted in persuading the German political liberals of the desirability of free trade. Many of the leading liberals of southern and western Germany, such as Robert von Mohl, were protectionists. As Becker notes:\n\nAt that time liberal and free-trader were indeed so little identical that the south-German liberals were the most interested representatives of the protective tariff system, while conversely the conservative farmers of the north and east figured as the chief supporters of the free trade party ... as a consequence of later political constellations, the appearance has emerged that political liberalism was always Manchesterite and that Manchesterism was always liberal-democratic. Nothing is as false as this view.\n\nIn order to influence liberal and radical opinion, Prince Smith, along with his friend and fellow free-trader Julius Faucher, collaborated on the Berlin newspaper, the Demokratische Zeitung (later the Abendpost). It would seem that it was in this period that the polarization of liberal and free trader on the one side and socialist and collectivist on the other began to form. When the Abendpost was closed down by the censors. Prince Smith wrote:\n\nThe purpose of my collaboration on the Abendpost has to a great extent been achieved. I have brought respect for the free trade doctrine to the most extreme left. Free trade and bureaucracy, or competition and exploitation no longer count as identical with the party whose absurd conception of property made it dangerous. I have demonstrated that the doctrine of economic freedom is much more progressive [freisinnig] than all the projects and teachings of ordinances on property and earnings that are arbitrary and realizable only through barbaric force and that, moreover, could not in the long run be implemented by any conceivable force.\n\nThe extension of the Zollverein, or German customs union, was proceeding apace at this time, and Prince Smith, who was acquainted with a number of the Prussian leaders, including the chief minister, Manteuffel, probably influenced them in the free trade direction. At any rate, his preference was always for working to persuade those in power, rather than adopting an oppositional stance. Continuing his agitation, he composed a declaration on behalf of commercial and landed associations in West and East Prussia that were calling for occupational freedom (Gewerbefreiheit) and free trade. This declaration is of political interest, since it shows the strong support for free trade principles in the regions of Prussia most \"backward\" from the point of view of political liberalism. Its theoretical interest stems from the fact that in it he associated \"protectionism\" with \"systematic socialism,\" a linkage that was standard in the writings of Bastiat. In 1858, the Kongress deutscher Volkswirte (Congress of German Economists) was founded, assembling the chief believers in the cause, many of whom had been led to it by Prince Smith during his previous twenty years of labors. Now there were many others to join him in his propagandistic and agitational work. Although Prince Smith did not assume the presidency of the Congress (evidently for various reasons), he participated in the yearly meetings, submitting papers such as the one at the 1860 gathering in Cologne against the legal limitation on interest rates. At the 1863 meeting in Dresden he spoke against patents, and the next year, in Hanover, he attacked \"unredeemable paper money with so-called compulsory exchange-rate.\" He also kept closely involved with the Congress's various activities, which continued to promote laissez faire until the end. (Its last meeting was held in 1885.) Those members who grew increasingly disenchanted with the Congress's position on the \"social question\" left and, with others, founded the Verein f\u00fcr Socialpolitik, in 1872, in Eisenach. In his opening address at this conference, Gustav Schmoller testified to the influence of the movement that Prince Smith had created when he referred to \"the economic doctrines which unconditionally dominate the day's market, those which have found expression in the Congress.\n\nFrom 1860 until his death Prince Smith was the head of the Economic Society (Volkswirtschaftliche Gesellschaft), the successor to the Free Trade Union. His home in Berlin became a meeting place for Prussian politicians, some of whom went onto (sic) form the Progressive Party (Fortschrittspartei) soon after. In 1863, the Vierteljahrschrift f\u00fcr Volkswirtschaft, Politik, und Kulturgeschichte (Quarterly Journal for Economy, Politics, and Cultural History) began to appear in Berlin, under the editorship of Julius Faucher, perhaps Prince Smith's closest collaborator. The chief theoretical organ of classical liberalism in Germany, this periodical continued to be published for the next thirty years. Prince Smith was an important contributor to the Vierteljahrschrift, and a number of his most important essays were first printed there.\n\nThe quarterly journal, the Berlin society, the congress of economists, and the informal influencing of politicians and officials were all elements of the same movement, facets of the same activism, and all fired by the spirit of John Prince Smith. This was the case also with the Handw\u00f6rterbuch der Volkswirtschaftslehre (Concise Dictionary of Economics), edited by H. Rentzsch, published in 1866. This work is similar in many respects to the one edited by Coquelin and Guillaumin in France. For the Handw\u00f6rterbuch, it was Prince Smith who was selected to write the article on \"Freedom of Trade-Free Traders.\"\n\nThe article presents his characteristic views on economics and politics. \"Liberalism,\" he writes, \"only recognizes one task which the State can perform, namely, the production of security.\" Gide and Rist, perhaps relying too heavily on anti-liberal German sources, comment that \"Liberalism had nowhere assumed such extravagant proportions as it had in Germany. Prince Smith, who is the best-known representative of Liberalism after Dunoyer [sic], was convinced that the State had nothing to do beyond guaranteeing security, and denied that there was any element of solidarity between economic agents save such as results from the existence of a common market.\" At any rate, Prince Smith's \"minimalist\" view of the functions of the state goes considerably beyond Bentham's \"agenda.\"\n\nFrom 1862 to 1866, Prince Smith represented Stettin in the Prussian House of Deputies, where he was not an outstanding figure, addressing the House only seldom and then mainly on economic questions. This was the period of the bitter\u2014and ultimately decisive\u2014constitutional struggles between Bismarck and the German liberals, whose vanguard had formed the Progressive Party in 1861. Prince Smith's political views had always been \"moderate,\" and as the liberals became radicalized in the face of what they viewed as the government's arbitrary and unconstitutional actions, he distanced himself from them increasingly. In 1866, he declined to stand for reelection. With K\u00f6niggratz and the crushing Prussian victory over Austria, Bismarck scored a victory over the recalcitrant liberals as well, one that some believe sealed the fate of German liberalism before Reich was even formed.\n\nPrince Smith was elected to the German Reichstag from Anhalt-Zerbst, but failing health prevented him from taking any but a negligible part in the proceedings, except for addressing the body on two occasions, in November 1871, on the question of currency reform.\n\nHe died in 1874, his patriotism and economic liberalism both gratified by the reality of a Germany united and committed to free trade. In Becker's words:\n\nHe had the luck, which is granted to few men in public life, to die at a moment when the definitive victory of the ideas he represented seemed to be a question of only a short time, and when the few contrary signs still, by a long way, gave no hint of how quickly the whole splendor would collapse.\n\nThis is not, however, entirely correct. In his history of German economic thought (published in the same year as Prince Smith's death), Wilhelm Roscher, after mentioning some of the practical achievements of the German free trade school, was moved to write: \"But also theoretically I must warn as much against the underestimation of this school, which now is frequent, as against that overestimation which permitted it at an earlier time to be mistaken for economics altogether.\"\n\nThere is little doubt that in historical retrospect Prince Smith\u2014as well as German liberalism as a whole\u2014has suffered from the rout of the system he fought for. The eclipse of liberalism by national-social and imperialist currents and by Marxist (later pseudo-Marxist) socialism has tended to relegate the entschieden liberals of nineteenth century Germany to the class of historical curiosities, even of creatures absurdly out of their natural element. Yet, the thinking of John Prince Smith deserves consideration, from a number of points of view.\n\nFor example. Prince Smith's famous essay, \"On the So-Called Worker-Question,\" was for decades after its first publication, in 1864, the target of harsh attacks, for which its contentious title probably bears some responsibility. Yet there can be little doubt that the essay is motivated by a genuine good will toward workers and a desire to aid in the improvement of their living standards; furthermore, it is at least arguable that it is informed with an intelligent appreciation of how that improvement is most likely to be effected.\n\nThe reference to [the] \"so-called\" worker-question should not be taken to indicate any \"heartlessness\" on the part of Pri[n]ce-Smith to what he well knew to be the stringent conditions of the laboring class. The cause of the sarcasm (if that is what it is) stems form his belief that: \"By 'worker-question' one understands namely the question: 'How can the economic situation of workers be suddenly improved, independently of the general rise of the economy, which one does not wish to wait for?'\" Prince Smith held that:\n\nFor a scarcity in the means of satisfying wants there is obviously no other remedy than increased production. And evidently more can only be produced by increasing knowledge, skill, industriousness, and above all capital.\n\nTo the \"iron law of wages\" proclaimed by Lassalle, Prince Smith opposed a \"golden law,\" which affirmed the steady, long-range improvement in living standards of working people. As for the poor:\n\nThe ones really in want are those whose labor power lacks nearly any support through capital and therefore produces correspondingly little, those who have remained on a pre-economic level, and for whose integration into genuine economic enterprise the available capital is still insufficient. Yet all the capital sufficient for full employment can easily and even quickly be created with full freedom of economic action\u2014as long as the state does not devour too much of what is created.\n\nA field in which greater originality has been claimed for Prince Smith is historical sociology. In the view of Georg Mayer, Prince Smith's early essay, \"On the Political Progress of Prussia\" (1843), shows a surprising resemblance to historical materialism; for Prince Smith, \"it is exclusively changes in the economic structure that are considered as the ultimate motives of events.\" Because of economic developments, Prussia is entering the stage in which the feudal element must necessarily dwindle internally and peaceful commercial relations become the rule in foreign affairs.\n\nAlthough Mayer emphasizes the \"Marxist\" overtones of this essay, it appears that Prince Smith's thinking here bears a much greater resemblance to the ideas of the French Industrialist school and of the Benjamin Constant of De l\u2019esprit de conqu\u00e9te. (It is likely that by the 1920s, when Mayer was writing, these writers had been completely lost sight of in Germany.) There would perhaps be a place for a study on Prince Smith and his historical sociology, which would serve also to draw attention to the French writers mentioned above. At the same time it would help correct [the] commonly accepted legend of Marxism's monopoly on the idea of the \"priority of the economic over the political.\"\n\n[Chapter 23 from Man, Economy, and Liberty: Essays in Honor of Murray N. Rothbard, eds. Walter Block and Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. (1988).]"}
-{"text": "Neuf Mois Belle : Soldes, codes et promos en cours\n\nAnkie Duis, une m\u00e8re de famille belge alors enceinte de son premier enfant, se rend compte que la fatigue l\u2019emp\u00eache de trouver des v\u00eatements de grossesse \u00e0 la mode ou mignons (en plus de la raret\u00e9 des magasins sp\u00e9cialis\u00e9s).\n\nEn 2007, l\u2019id\u00e9e lui vient de cr\u00e9er une boutique en ligne sp\u00e9cialis\u00e9s dans la distribution de v\u00eatements de grossesse, mais le manque de temps (d\u00fbt \u00e0 l\u2019occupation de sa petite famille) lui fera repousser la cr\u00e9ation de son entreprise en 2010.\n\nLe site voit le jour et Neufmoisbelle.fr, f\u00eate cette ann\u00e9e ses 5 ans et son succ\u00e8s semble lui laisser entrevoir encore de nombreuses ann\u00e9es devant lui.\n\nLe webstore propose de nombreuses gammes de v\u00eatements de grossesse adapt\u00e9es \u00e0 la vie quotidienne. 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-{"text": "Saying goodbye\ufffc\n\nThere\u2019s a reason I haven\u2019t been active on this blog. And if you know me on Twitter, you know what it is. I have decided to stay away\ufffc from the fandom.\n\n\n\n\n\nElsanna and toxicity\n\nIs my reason I decided to leave. Here\u2019s why.\n\nNot long ago I posted something on here that stated how ElsAnna made me uncomfortable to a certain degree. I wasn\u2019t being aggressive. \ufffcBut the sheer amount of disgusting hate comments and bullying I received from the fandom really took a toll on my mental health\ufffc. I was throwing up and crying in the bathroom for fucks sake. \ufffc\ufffc\ufffc nobody should get hated for sharing their uncomfort\ufffc. People. These people kept telling me to \u201clook away.\u201d Well I couldn\u2019t. Why? Because it was everywhere I turned. My friend who ships them was even repulsed by the comments I got.\n\n\n\n\n\nLuckily, another fandom took me in. I now am in the hands of the owl house fandom\ufffc. It\u2019s such a nice change from toxicity\ufffc. So this blog will still remain up, but it will not be in use.\n\nSo\u2026 this is my farewell to the frozen fandom.\ufffc\ufffc\ufffc\n\n\ufffc\ufffc"}
-{"text": "Finished my Undertale charm! I\u2019m looking to make this into a 2.5\" wooden charm. Up for pre-order here!\n\n\n\nWIP images are available on my Patreon~"}
-{"text": "Apple said the ability to use contact following without an application will go out to iPhones on Tuesday, while Google\u2026"}
-{"text": "Presedintele a participat la conferinta \"SMART DIASPORA 2020+: Cum valorificam potentialul strategic al diasporei romanesti\".Domnule Ministru,Stimati invitati,Doamnelor si domnilor,In primul rand, bine ati venit! Doresc sa va felicit pe voi, tinerii initiatori ai acestui eveniment care aduce la un loc experti din diaspora si din tara si reprezentanti ai autoritatilor publice cu atributii in domeniu.Sunteti un exemplu de profesionalism si seriozitate acolo unde ati studiat si unde va desfasurati activitatea, de initiativa si implicare, dar si de ambitie. Ati format o echipa si ati contribuit la crearea unei comunitati a tinerilor performanti din tara si din diaspora; ati construit organizatii care deja au un parcurs de mai multi ani si se bucura de recunoastere - ma refer la Liga Studentilor Romani din Strainatate si la Fundatia CAESAR.Ati initiat acest proiect, SMART DIASPORA, care isi propune valorificarea potentialului strategic al tinerilor inalt calificati de peste hotare si atragerea lor inapoi in tara. Toate acestea sunt, cred eu, dovada unui profund atasament fata de Romania. Tin sa va multumesc pentru tot ceea ce faceti, pentru ca aduceti cu voi peste tot excelenta si performanta. Sunt convins ca veti avea aici, la Palatul Cotroceni, un dialog consistent din care se vor putea degaja raspunsuri la preocuparile diasporei, care sunt in buna masura si ale noastre, ale celor din tara.Dupa cum stiti, Administratia Prezidentiala a inceput, in decursul ultimelor luni, discutii cu alte institutii, iar eu personal m-am intalnit cu reprezentanti ai comunitatilor romanesti din mai multe state europene. Avem acum si un consilier specializat in acest domeniu, care a studiat si a trait, ca voi, in strainatate si s-a intors acasa. Astazi, gazduim evenimentul de fata la Palatul Cotroceni ca un gest simbolic, dar si ca o continuare a acestor primi pasi intr-un demers mai amplu.Obiectivul nostru pe termen lung este o relatie puternica a societatii romanesti si a statului roman cu diaspora, benefica in ambele directii. Ea presupune pe de-o parte capacitatea de a valorifica potentialul strategic al diasporei romanesti, ca punte de legatura cu celelalte state, iar, pe de alta parte, presupune a sti clar ce anume suntem datori sa facem pentru diaspora, noi, cei de-acasa.Convingerea mea este ca potentialul diasporei va fi pe deplin fructificat atunci cand a trai si a munci in strainatate va fi doar o chestiune de alegere, nu una de constrangere; atunci cand romanii din diaspora vor avea optiunea sa se intoarca, stiind ca si acasa munca lor este recunoscuta si rasplatita; si atunci cand vor simti ca autoritatile au grija si se preocupa de ei, oriunde s-ar afla.Doamnelor si domnilor,Pe acest fond, cred ca trebuie sa gasim, prin efort comun, raspunsuri la trei intrebari majore. Prima este cum transformam \"exodul creierelor\", asa numitul fenomen brain drain, din pierdere intr-un castig pe termen lung pentru Romania. Cum facem ca tinerii nostri de valoare, specialistii, profesorii, medicii, cercetatorii, economistii, dar si toti cei care muncesc serios, indiferent ce meserie au, care pleaca din tara sa se si intoarca la un moment dat. Citesc si eu, ca si dumneavoastra, rapoarte si statistici absolut ingrijoratoare despre numarul celor care pleaca anual. Dar dincolo de asta, ma gandesc la acesti oameni, unii proaspat iesiti de pe bancile scolii, la inceput de drum, altii deja cu experienta, care sunt gata sa ia calea strainatatii, lasand acasa familia, parintii, copii.Ma gandesc si la cei de aici. Suntem cu totii responsabili, astfel incat cei vulnerabili, copiii ramasi singuri sau batranii fara ajutor, sa nu sufere din cauza lipsei de sprijin, iar diferitele institutii trebuie sa colaboreze pentru a interveni acolo unde este nevoie. Cred in responsabilitatea si capacitatea Romaniei de a gasi pe termen lung solutii pentru ca fiecare cetatean sa poata avea un parcurs profesional si personal de succes in tara, sau sa aiba oportunitatea de a ramane legat de Romania, cu posibilitatea de a reveni oricand. Pentru ca cei plecati sa-si doreasca sa se intoarca acasa va trebui sa asiguram conditiile si climatul necesar reintegrarii lor.Cu alte cuvinte, sintetizand toate acestea, prima intrebare cheie este cum transformam asa numitul \"brain drain\" in \"brain regain\". Stiu ca dumneavoastra, initiatorii manifestarii de astazi, aveti un set de propuneri foarte concrete in acest sens. Mai ales in contextul in care am lansat ieri ideea unei largi consultari pe tema educatiei, cred ca una dintre problemele care poate fi rapid rezolvata, daca exista vointa, e legata de recunoasterea diplomelor si echivalarea studiilor, in sensul de a optimiza mecanismele din acest proces. Cateva mii de tineri pleaca anual la studii in strainatate, iar experienta pe care o pot aduce inapoi in tara, dupa absolvire si uneori dupa o perioada de activitate profesionala in afara, este foarte valoroasa.A doua intrebare este ce facem pentru romanii care aleg sa ramana in strainatate, cum ii reprezentam si cum le asiguram drepturile, cum ii mentinem conectati cu tara, implicati si interesati, cum ii sprijinim sa-si pastreze identitatea. In acest context, asigurarea conditiilor pentru exercitarea dreptului de vot al romanilor din diaspora este esentiala. Inca de la inceputul anului, dupa consultarile pe care le-am avut aici, la Cotroceni, partidele politice s-au angajat sa introduca votul prin corespondenta. Sper ca pana la finalul acestei sesiuni parlamentare sa-si onoreze promisiunea si va asigur ca urmaresc subiectul cu foarte multa atentie.Pe de alta parte, discutia este una mai larga, despre forta cetatenilor in democratie si despre diaspora ca interlocutor puternic si respectat al institutiilor statului roman si al clasei politice. Intarirea mecanismelor democratice, incurajarea participarii si competitiei politice vor constitui argumente in plus pentru intoarcerea acasa.In fine, a treia intrebare este cum sprijinim si incurajam diaspora romaneasca sa se transforme intr-o voce mai puternica a Romaniei in lume. Cum ne consolidam prezenta si ne aparam valorile, dar si interesele, la nivel global, cu ajutorul si prin implicarea acestei resurse extraordinare pe care o reprezinta milioanele de romani din toate colturile lumii? Compatriotii nostri sunt plecati si reprezinta cartea de vizita a Romaniei peste hotare, ei sunt ambasadorii culturii si traditiilor romanesti acolo unde locuiesc. Si ca oricarui ambasador, cred ca avem datoria de a le da, noi insine, un mandat simbolic, dar mai explicit, despre felul in care pot promova si sustine Romania, chiar de la distanta. Imaginea Romaniei in lume se construieste cu fiecare din gesturile, actiunile si vorbele lor.Doamnelor si domnilor,In incheiere as vrea sa incepem sa ne uitam mai atent si la cealalta fateta a faptului ca Romania are o diaspora atat de insemnata mai peste tot in Europa si in multe tari din lume.Dincolo de pierderea pe care plecarea atator si atator oameni de valoare, tineri, dinamici, cu initiativa o reprezinta pentru Romania, contributia pe care ei o au si o pot avea in continuare la dezvoltarea tarii noastre este extraordinar de importanta si greu de cuantificat.Rezervorul de expertiza pe care acestia il aduc, cunostintele si contactele pe care le-au dobandit, curajul de care au dat dovada si pe care il demonstreaza zi de zi, fac din romanii de peste granita o sursa de inspiratie si un punct de sprijin de care Romania are mare nevoie. Potentialul strategic al diasporei se manifesta nu doar in raport cu tara mama, ci si cu statele in care se afla comunitati mari de romani. Acestea sunt o resursa de crestere economica, dezvoltare, dar si de participare civica acolo unde traiesc. Vocea lor ar trebui sa fie mai clar auzita inclusiv pe plan local, acolo unde traiesc si formeaza minoritati importante.Cred ca romanii din strainatate trebuie sa fie constienti de forta pe care o au si de faptul ca, atunci cand isi unesc eforturile, aspiratiile, creativitatea si inteligenta, sunt mai puternici, in beneficiul tuturor, romani si straini deopotriva.Inainte de a incheia, doresc sa ii indemn pe mai tinerii nostri compatrioti, care au initiat acest eveniment, ca peste tot unde intalnesc alti romani sa poarte cu ei spiritul de echipa, colaborare, unitate si solidaritate, mai ales in acele proiecte care sunt si in folosul Romaniei.Va felicit inca o data si va doresc mult succes!"}
-{"text": "With emotions running high following Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's death, cinema house owners in the city have decided to keep the theatres closed on Saturday night and and Sunday for security reasons.\n\nFilm screenings in city theatres were cancelled on Saturday as soon as the news of Sena chief's demise spread.\n\n\"For the time being, we have cancelled all the shows in Mumbai. We will decide about running the shows tomorrow after assessing the situation, an official of PVR cinemas said.\n\nManoj Desai, owner of Gaiety, Galaxy and Maratha Mandir said, \"Yes, we have cancelled all the shows from 6pm today till tomorrow, as we fear that anything might happen tomorrow. We don't want to cause any trouble. From Monday, we might run it normally.\"\n\nGirish Wankhede, deputy GM-Corporate Communications and Public Relations of Cinemax said, \"The moment we heard the news, we cancelled all the shows for today and tomorrow across Maharashtra. We have around 56 screens in the state. We have given refund of the tickets.\"\n\nAshish Saxena, Chief Operating Officer- Big Cinema \"For today we have suspended all the shows and also advance bookings. We will decide upon tomorrow depending upon the inputs provided by the local police.\""}
-{"text": "Foto von Ruby\n\nWas ist neu?\n\nLetzten Monat haben wir die Einf\u00fchrung von Etsy Manufacturing angek\u00fcndigt, einem neuen Marktplatz, wo Etsy-Designer Hersteller finden und \u00fcber direkten Kontakt verantwortungsbewusste Partnerschaften eingehen k\u00f6nnen. Wir haben Hersteller aus vier Kategorien (Bekleidung und Textilien; Fertigung und Bearbeitung; Druck; sowie Schmuck und Metallarbeiten) eingeladen, sich f\u00fcr den Marktplatz zu bewerben. Mehr zum ersten Teil der Einf\u00fchrung und wie es dazu gekommen ist, erf\u00e4hrst du in The Next Phase of Responsible Manufacturing on Etsy (Der n\u00e4chste Abschnitt der verantwortungsbewussten Herstellung bei Etsy) in unserem Blog Etsy News.\n\nAb sofort k\u00f6nnen Etsy-Designer auf Etsy Manufacturing nach Partnern suchen, die ihnen bei ihrem kreativen Gewerbe verantwortungsbewusst helfen k\u00f6nnen. Besuche Etsy Manufacturing, um nach spezifischen F\u00e4higkeiten zu suchen, einen bestimmten Standort mit m\u00f6glichen Partnern in der Umgebung einzugeben und detaillierte Herstellerprofile zu lesen, um mehr \u00fcber deren Geschichten und Produktionsmethoden zu erfahren. Der Marktplatz enth\u00e4lt derzeit Hersteller in den USA und Kanada. Er wird in Zukunft um viele neue Hersteller erweitert werden. Wenn du heute also noch nicht den perfekten Partner gefunden hast, starte in K\u00fcrze eine neue Suche!\n\nSo funktioniert's!\n\nGehe zuerst auf Etsy Manufacturing und w\u00e4hle eine Herstellungskategorie und deinen Standort aus, um deine Suche zu starten. Als n\u00e4chstes wirst du gebeten, die Materialien, Prozesse und Produkte auszuw\u00e4hlen, nach denen du basierend auf der von dir ausgew\u00e4hlten Kategorie suchst. Du kannst auch eine Standortentfernung einrichten und teilen, in welcher Herstellungsphase du dich gerade befindest \u2013 z. B. Design und Vorproduktion. Mit Hilfe dieser Informationen k\u00f6nnen wir dir die relevantesten Partner vorschlagen.\n\nSobald du deine Erfordernisse \u00fcbermittelt hast, zeigen wir dir eine Liste mit Herstellern an, die deine Kriterien erf\u00fcllen. Dabei werden diejenigen, die deinen Anforderungen am ehesten entsprechen, oben in der Liste angezeigt. Etsy Manufacturing ist dein Weg zu m\u00f6glichen Herstellungspartnern. Klicke einfach auf einen Betrieb, um mehr \u00fcber dessen Arbeit, Geschichte, F\u00e4higkeiten und Richtlinien zu erfahren. Wenn du einen m\u00f6glichen Partner kontaktieren m\u00f6chtest, klicke oben rechts im Profil auf \u201cHersteller kontaktieren\u201d, um eine Unterhaltung zu beginnen.\n\nZiel ist es, dass du Hersteller kennenlernst, die zu deinen Bed\u00fcrfnissen passen und mit denen du in Kontakt treten kannst, um m\u00f6glicherweise eine verantwortungsbewusste Partnerschaft einzugehen, die auf Transparenz und Zusammenarbeit beruht. Es ist der n\u00e4chste Schritt hin zu einer Etsy-\u00d6konomie, bei der Menschen und Prozesse an erster Stelle stehen und die Beziehung zwischen Designern, Herstellern und K\u00e4ufern in den Vordergrund r\u00fcckt.\n\nAktualisierung Januar 2016:\n\nEtsy Manufacturing bietet jetzt ein Tool, mit dem Hersteller Etsy-Designer, mit denen sie zusammengearbeitet haben, um eine Empfehlung bitten k\u00f6nnen. Hersteller k\u00f6nnen mit diesem Tool einen Designer direkt um eine Empfehlung bitten und anschlie\u00dfend entscheiden, ob sie diese Empfehlung in ihrem Profil ver\u00f6ffentlichen m\u00f6chten. Um die Empfehlungen eines Herstellers einzusehen, besuche seine Profilseite auf Etsy Manufacturing.\n\nMehr erfahren\n\nUnsere Richtlinie f\u00fcr Handgefertigtes hat sich nicht ge\u00e4ndert. Wenn du mit einem externen Hersteller zusammenarbeitest, musst du Etsy eine Bewerbung schicken, um unsere Erlaubnis einzuholen, bevor du Artikel einstellst, die von diesem Hersteller produziert wurden. Wichtiger Hinweis: Diese Bewerbungen werden vertraulich behandelt! Wir haben \u2013 und werden sie nicht \u2013 als m\u00f6glichen Hersteller f\u00fcr Etsy Manufacturing kontaktieren.\n\nDu kennst Etsy Manufacturing noch nicht? Lies unsere Etsy Manufacturing Launch-Ank\u00fcndigung und erfahre mehr \u00fcber verantwortungsbewusste Partnerschaften auf https://www.etsy.com/manufacturing.\n\nWas kommt als n\u00e4chstes?\n\nWir planen, den Etsy Manufacturing Marktplatz um neue Kategorien, Standorte und Unternehmens\u00fcbereinstimmungen zu erweitern. Auf Etsy Manufacturing findest du unsere FAQs. In der Zwischenzeit, sei gespannt auf weitere Informationen \u00fcber Etsy Manufacturing."}
-{"text": "By Kim Palmer\n\n(Reuters) - The girlfriend of a man shot dead by police while he was holding a BB gun at an Ohio Walmart has died in a car accident, a lawyer for the man's family said on Friday.\n\nTasha Thomas, 26, who had accompanied John Crawford to the Beavercreek store where he was killed by police in August, was pronounced dead at the scene of an early morning crash on New Year's Day in Dayton, the Montgomery County coroner's office said. Another person in the car, Frederick Bailey, 30, also died.\n\nCrawford, 22, was shot after a 911 caller said a man was pointing a gun at people in a Walmart aisle in the Dayton suburb.\n\nCrawford\u2019s death came just days before the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Missouri, which spurred months of protests against the use of deadly force by police. Crawford and Brown were both black, and the officers who shot them are white.\n\nIn both cases, grand juries decided not to indict the officers.\n\nSurveillance video released by authorities showed that Crawford had picked up an unpackaged BB gun off a shelf and walked through the store while talking on a cell phone before police arrived and shot him.\n\nCrawford's family last month filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against Walmart, the city of Beavercreek and the officers involved.\n\nThomas was questioned by police for more than 90 minutes after Crawford was shot, according to video released by the Ohio Attorney General's office. Police told Thomas that Crawford was dead near the end of the interview.\n\nMichael Wright, an attorney for the Crawford family, called Thomas\u2019s death \u201ctragic\" in an e-mail. A spokeswoman for the family said she was not sure what impact Thomas\u2019s death would have on the lawsuit.\n\n(Reporting by Kim Palmer in Cleveland; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Mohammad Zargham)"}
-{"text": "Bernie Sanders is fortifying efforts to preserve the educational status quo and stifle change. Earlier this week, the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate announced his 10-point plan for education reform, including banning for-profit charter schools, placing \u201ca moratorium on public funds for charter school expansion\u201d and ensuring that charter schools look and act the same as conventional public schools.\n\nEducational Innovation\n\nThe whole point of charter schools is to encourage educational experimentation and innovation. Bans, moratoriums, and calls for conformity erode this intent and threaten to make charter schools\u2014which serve 2.8 million children in the US and would likely help many more if state caps were lifted\u2014indistinguishable from traditional public schools.\n\nThat seems to be the goal.\n\nIn an effort to secure the highly coveted endorsement of powerful teachers\u2019 unions that have long been hostile to education choice and charter schools, Democratic presidential hopefuls are beginning to signal their opposition to choice. Sanders is leading the way, and Elizabeth Warren appears to be second in line. As PBS reports,\n\nDemocratic presidential candidates have already begun competing for key endorsements in the education sector, including engaging directly with teachers\u2019 unions to ask for their support ahead of the primaries.\n\nTeacher Unions Oppose Charter Schools and School Choice\n\nTeachers\u2019 unions, of course, are smart to oppose charter schools and other school choice programs. Their primary purpose is to secure the jobs and benefits of their union members who work in conventional public schools. Charter schools are publicly funded but independently run, most often by a non-profit organization. They are typically tied to state academic standards, curriculum frameworks, and testing requirements that limit their full autonomy, but charter schools are often free from collective bargaining agreements, giving them much more flexibility in hiring and firing decisions.\n\nThat\u2019s an existential threat to a labor union whose sole purpose is job protectionism. It would be foolish for teachers\u2019 unions to support or ignore their non-unionized competitors. Sanders reinforces this fundamental teachers\u2019 union tenet, stating in his plan that charter schools will be held accountable by\n\nmatching employment practices at charters with neighboring district schools, including standards set by collective bargaining agreements.\n\nIn his plan, Sanders echoes the common rhetoric of anti-choice advocates like teachers\u2019 unions, suggesting that school choice measures create \u201ctwo schools systems\u201d and arguing that \u201cwe need to invest in our public schools system\u201d to combat segregation and inequality. But as all of us know, we already have segregation and inequality in the public school system. If you can afford a house or apartment in a more affluent community with better schools, your children\u2019s educational opportunities are greater than if you\u2019re relegated to an assigned district school in a poorer community. Forced schooling tied to zip codes creates segregation and inequality.\n\nCharter Schools Are Underfunded\n\nSchool choice mechanisms, like public charter schools, voucher programs, Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), and tax-credit scholarship programs seek to eliminate these barriers by expanding the education options available to low- and middle-income families. Championing mandatory school assignments based on a family\u2019s zip code is hardly progressive. Promoting, creating, and increasing access to more educational options for families is much more forward-looking than clinging to a coercive system of mass schooling.\n\nWhile pandering to teachers\u2019 unions may score political points, Sanders\u2019s attack on charter schools is largely unfounded. In his plan, Sanders argues that charter school \u201cgrowth has drained funding from the public school system\u201d; yet research suggests that charter schools are significantly underfunded compared to their conventional counterparts. University of Arkansas researchers Patrick Wolf, Corey DeAngelis, and others reported last fall that charter school students in 14 cities with heavy concentrations of charter schools received an average of $5,828 per student less than traditionally schooled students.\n\nAll parents should have the freedom to choose the best educational option for their children, and all children should be able to reach their full potential.\n\nOverall, students in public charter schools received 27 percent less funding than students in conventional public schools. In some cities, like Atlanta, that funding gap was as high as 49 percent, with charter school students receiving roughly half as much money as public school students. Last month, Wolf and DeAngelis published a new study on charter schools, finding that for every dollar spent, charter school students were more productive and had better outcomes than students in traditional schools. From a taxpayer accountability perspective, public charter schools are a good investment.\n\nDespite the positive results of charter schools, particularly those in urban areas, we will undoubtedly see more Democratic presidential candidates following in Sanders\u2019s footsteps by proposing federal restrictions on education choice. With a trend toward collectivism, the idea of individual freedom and parental choice in education is concerning to many on the left. They cite segregation and inequality as societal scourges yet dismiss education choice mechanisms designed to free families from forced government schooling tied to one\u2019s zip code.\n\nAll parents should have the freedom to choose the best educational option for their children, and all children should have the best opportunity to reach their full potential. Doubling down on efforts to strengthen an inherently coercive system of mass schooling by diminishing education choice is a troubling retreat from freedom and opportunity."}
-{"text": "(CNN) Donald Trump isn't totally sure whether Rex Tillerson called him a \"moron.\" (SPOILER ALERT: He did.) But what he is absolutely sure of is that he is smarter than his secretary of state.\n\n\"I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests,\" Trump told Forbes magazine. \"And I can tell you who is going to win.\"\n\nLucky for you, I've developed a foolproof IQ test so that you can match wits with Mr. Trump and see just how much dumber you are than him. Take the quiz -- if you dare!\n\n(Nota bene: A few of these questions -- I won't reveal which ones! -- are taken from actual IQ tests.)"}
-{"text": "Live image leaks for the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 are showing no signs of stoppage. We've had our fair share of fake ones as well, with sources pretty eager to gauge market reaction for a pop-camera on the smartphone.\n\nXiaomi launched the Mi Mix 2s earlier this year, with a dual camera setup and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845. Now, the rumor mill would like us to believe that the company also has the lineup's next generational upgrade a.k.a the Mix 3 under the works. Take a look below for more details.\n\nGalaxy S20 Fan Edition Goes Official with Snapdragon 865, 120Hz Display, 8GB RAM, and More\n\nLatest Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 Live Image Shows Off The Device In White And Without A Bottom Or Top Bezel\n\nToday, we've got a rather strange leak for the alleged Xiaomi Mi Mix 3. Strange in the sense that there is absolutely no way to authenticate its source. Originating on the aggregator /Leaks, its source is listed as Xiaomi's 'xiaomiui' group on the messaging site Telegram.\n\nHowever, the link is not accessible directly and takes rerouting via several different servers in order to work. More interestingly, the image that's provided to us today just might be the most authentic in the latest crop of alleged Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 leaked images; several of which are fake.\n\nThis Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 is in White, which will prove as a popular color variant among users, like its predecessor. At this point in the 2018 smartphone race, Xiaomi should feel the heat from OnePlus, who has managed to gain popularity among its users for attention to aesthetics. Additionally, we all know Xiaomi and it's inspiration from Apple's philosophy, which also involves a serious take at a device's overall look and feel.\n\nMythical Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 Images Looks To Provide Us With Our Best Look Yet On The Alleged Smartphone\n\nThe leaked image once again displays the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 and it just, just might be the real deal. The play of light on the device is consistent, especially on the bottom, which is an area that is photoshopped most often on these leaks. As the image depicts once again, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 will not have any bezels.\n\nGoogle is Revamping the Gmail Logo to Reflect the Recent Brand Changes\n\nThis will naturally result in a pop camera setup for the smartphone, patents of which have been in Xiaomi's possession for three years. A pop-up setup is one interesting feature that's for sure, which will also allay the privacy concerns of some of the more 'careful' folks among us. After all, it's no use to hack a smartphone's front camera if it's sitting comfortably in a chamber and not on the top (or as in the case of the Mi Mix lineup, the bottom) of the device.\n\nFinally, the White color shows Xiaomi's obsession with the premium, something which Apple just might abandon on this year's LCD iPhone 9. The smartphone will feature a variety of color options including ORange, according to KGI's Ming-Chi Kuo. Thoughts? Let us know what you think in the comments section below and stay tuned. We'll keep you updated on the latest.\n\nNews Source: Telegram"}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\nSir Francis Bacon, a key leader in the Rosicrucians which later became known as the Illuminati, planned for America to become the \u201cNew Atlantis\u201d and the center of the The legendary pre-flood civilizations like Atlantis, Thule, and Hyperborea were said to have been built on highly advanced science and technology, with a possibly direct connection with what is happening now around the world.Sir Francis Bacon, a key leader in the Rosicrucians which later became known as the Illuminati, planned for America to become the \u201cNew Atlantis\u201d and the center of the New World Order about a hundred years before America became a nation. To better understand the occult connections between antediluvian civilizations, such as Atlantis or Thule, and modern times, it becomes necessary to review the accounts of those who supposedly established these civilizations.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn the pre-Flood world of Noah, it is written that there was interspecies breeding going on between the \u201csons of God,\u201d or the B\u2019nai Elohim and mortal human women. The ancient rabbinic scholars believed that the term \u201csons of God\u201d specifically referred to fallen angels and this was in fact the teaching of the early church for several hundred years.\n\nThe offspring of these fallen angels procreating with human women where called the Nephilim. Much of these stories have been effectively suppressed for centuries and banned from inclusion in later versions of the Bible, but have been recently re-discovered; for example in passages from The Book of Enoch.\n\nThere are numerous other universal mythologies of pre-Flood civilizations that speak of these god men coming from the stars and seeding the human race.\n\n\n\n\n\nIn addition, traditional theories of evolution are starting to be replaced by a \"new\" understanding that the humanity on Earth was likely seeded by beings from other worlds.\n\n\n\n\n\nAnomalies which may indicate highly advanced pre-Flood civilizations include the monolithic monuments that survived the Flood which ended the Pleistocene era, as well as massive architectural wonders such as the pyramids, Sphinx and the Incan and Mayan monuments. Many of these structures could only have been built with math and coordination belonging to a high civilization, and technology that is superior to that which was said to be available.\n\nOne of the forces supposedly used by certain groups in these pre-Flood times was a mysterious life energy, that the Nazis re-discovered, called the Vril force. The Vril force, the energy fields studied by Nicola Tesla, and what is now called scalar technology are based on similar theories deriving from quantum mechanics.\n\n\n\nScalar Technology is based on the theory that there is a fourth dimension where powerful energies for destruction or healing on a planetary level can be transferred into our three dimensional reality and change that reality.\n\n\n\nThe Nazi concept of a Vril force is based on the idea that a race of god men came from the stars in ships powered by this force and settled on the legendary island of Thule where they founded the civilization called Hyperborea.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlato believed in the Egyptian legend of Atlantis and Herodotus spoke of the another Egyptian legend of the continent of Hyperborea in the far north. When an ice age supposedly destroyed Hyperborea, this race of god men migrated south and it may be they who created the empire of Atlantis in the Atlantic.\n\n\n\n\n\nDocumenting the cultural, linguistic, and genetic similarities of these legends with the Nordic legends of blonde haired blue eyed \"gods\", the occult societies that influenced NAZI ideology came to their conclusion that the Earth undergoes periodic global cataclysms, and that vast portions of the inner Earth is hollow and has been inhabited within for many millennia by another unknown branch of humanity.\n\n\n\nThe secret occult societies that put Hitler into power were extremely interested in Antarctica beginning in the 1930s. The Vril and Thule societies diligently researched the ancient Tibetan, Indian, and Greek historic texts concerning pre-history. They were conducting the type of archeology that the Indiana Jones movies were based on.Documenting the cultural, linguistic, and genetic similarities of these legends with the Nordic legends of blonde haired blue eyed \"gods\", the occult societies that influenced NAZI ideology came to their conclusion that the Earth undergoes periodic global cataclysms, and that vast portions of the inner Earth is hollow and has been inhabited within for many millennia by another unknown branch of humanity.\n\nUltima Thule is supposed to have been the name of the capital city of the continent of Hyperborea, which was older than Atlantis. According to occult teachings, the Hyperboreans were the most highly technologically and socially advanced society that existed in the pre-Flood age.\n\n\n\n\n\nAccording to some legends they named their new kingdom Agharta or Agharti and its capital city was Shamballah, which was the mythical paradise below the surface of the Earth. When the Flood came the Hyperboreans used the large tunnels which penetrate through the Earth\u2019s crust to permanently settle under the Himalayas.According to some legends they named their new kingdom Agharta or Agharti and its capital city was Shamballah, which was the mythical paradise below the surface of the Earth.\n\n\n\n\n\nThere are many scientists and researchers who believe that the founders of Hyberborea, Atlantis, Thule and other ancient civilizations were beings from other planets.\n\nThere are also a growing number of Biblical scholars who believe that these 'aliens' did not come from other planets, but other dimensions, and that they were actually the fallen angels who mated with human women who produced the Nephilim. The Nazis believed that the Nordic-looking \"gods\" who came from the stars were a genetically distinct race from another world, had RH negative blood type, and did not \"evolve\" from apes in Africa.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Nazis supposedly were aided by a group of attractive females with clairvoyant powers called the Vril Maidens who could channel scientific and technological information including rocket design and even how to build UFO-type flying machines. The Vril Maidens were not only famous for their gifted psychic ability, but for wearing their hair long and never cutting it. They claimed that a planet around the Aldebaran star system was inhabited by a race of people similar to ourselves with a possible shared ancestry. The entire Nazi secret energy and propulsion program went hand in hand with their understanding of alternative physics and their occult science of consciousness. Nazi scientists working on their most top secret programs relied on the occult Vril power, a form of usable free energy, genetic manipulation, and ancient occult meditation techniques. Unfortunately, much of this technology was later used for mind control, both by the Nazi war machine and the allied powers that defeated them. Werner von Braun, the founder of America\u2019s NASA space program, was an elite Nazi scientist who had advanced technology on propulsion and rocketry. During Operation Paperclip , when America, in competition with Russia over Nazi scientists after World War II, smuggled in over 8,000 scientists. These scientists brought with them their occult practices and beliefs, along with the science which the US further developed for mind control (see MKULTRA ).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) wrote of the \u00dcbermensch (Superman) in his work, Der Antichrist. Nietzsche wrote \u201cLet us see ourselves for what we are. We are Hyperboreans. We know well enough how we are living off that track.\u201d In 1871, British novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton, in The Coming Race, described a superior race called the Vril-ya, who lived underground and sustained themselves with the Vril force or psychokinetic energy. They may have been the descendants of the Hyperboreans, inhabitants of the island of Thule. The Hyperboreans supposedly harnessed the power of Vril to manipulate matter and energy, enabling them extended lifespans and existing in what some might regard as a god-like existance.The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) wrote of the \u00dcbermensch (Superman) in his work, Der Antichrist. Nietzsche wrote \u201cLet us see ourselves for what we are. We are Hyperboreans. We know well enough how we are living off that track.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\nWhen Nietzsche published \u201cThe Will to Power\u201d he was speaking of the Vril force and spoke of \u201cthe herd,\u201d meaning the ordinary people who live by laws imposed by the corrupt State. In contrast Nietzsche spoke of the supermen who tap into a supernatural divine force that raises them above the ordinary man.\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "SAN JOSE \u2014 One of the 18 resident advisers fired last month by San Jose State University calls the move a \u201cshameful\u201d public relations stunt meant to mute criticism from a task force looking into the school\u2019s troubling racial climate.\n\nAdam Remelman, a senior engineering major and a resident adviser since his sophomore year, is the only former RA who has spoken out about the controversial firings, which school officials called a private \u201cpersonnel matter\u201d resulting from \u201cunderage drinking\u201d in a residence hall.\n\nBut Remelman, 22, says the harsh discipline was more about the school \u201ccovering its back side\u201d as the campus was still seething with anger over hate crime charges against four white freshmen for racially bullying a black student who lived in their dorm suite. That case triggered the creation of a special task force in February to look into the campus\u2019 racial climate and resulted in a $5 million claim against the school by the 18-year-old and his parents.\n\nTask force members had wondered how an RA ignored the Confederate flag in the suite and the victim complaining about a bike lock being snapped around his neck by his suitemates.\n\n\u201cWhen the hate crime happened last fall, the RAs were unfairly targeted by the media, the task force and the president of the university,\u201d Remelman said of the employees, who must often walk a fine line because they\u2019re both students and managers.\n\nHe charged that when the school three months later fired the RAs, it was simply a way to show the task force how tough it can be with the student employees, who live among other students in exchange for free room, meals and a modest salary.\n\nRemelman, who lived in the same dorm where the racial incident occurred but was not responsible for monitoring the suite in question, said the \u201cunderage drinking\u201d charges amounted to a ruse. And he accused the school of performing a shallow investigation and meting out unreasonably harsh punishments.\n\nWhen this newspaper questioned university officials about Remelman\u2019s accusations about the quality of the school\u2019s probe, they said they would only reply in writing.\n\n\u201cThe incident in question was thoughtfully investigated,\u201d wrote Victor Culatta, director of University Housing Services, \u201cand actions taken were based solely on the results of that investigation. \u2026 The actions were unrelated to the alleged hate crime or the task force review.\u201d\n\n\u2018Huge raver\u2019\n\nAccording to Remelman, the troubles began early in the spring term when an anonymous letter to the administration alleged that the RAs held a \u201chuge raver\u201d that involved \u201ctons of underage drinking.\u201d Remelman said the school then looked into the accusations using standards that fell far short of what RAs learn during their training.\n\n\u201cWe are taught to ask probing questions and then to write detailed reports of our findings,\u201d Remelman said. He contends the university did none of that but, instead, was in a rush to dish out punishment.\n\nRemelman said two advisers were fired outright, but the others were given a choice by Stephanie Hubbard, associate director of residential life, to \u201cresign\u201d or be \u201cfired.\u201d He chose to be fired, adding that losing the RA jobs was a hardship for all 18 students because they had to move out of the dorms immediately. He said the remaining RAs told him that staff shortages led to overwhelming problems with dorm discipline.\n\n\u201cIt was ludicrous,\u201d Remelman said, \u201cto fire that many RAs at once.\u201d\n\nCulatta\u2019s response: \u201cResidence halls remained staffed\u201d because new RAs hired to start next fall were immediately put to work.\n\nAfter the hate crimes became public and the task force was formed, members of the panel were quickly critical of RAs, questioning how none of them spotted obvious signs of racial trouble in the freshman suite. Remelman said the university was humiliated by all the publicity and thus overreached when it came to rumors about a dorm party.\n\nOminous feeling\n\n\u201cThe idea was for the RAs still left on campus to have some time together before heading home for the holidays,\u201d Remelman said of the party, held just before Christmas break. He said the suite of a graduating RA was set up according to accepted rules about drinking: A bedroom was designated \u201cthe over 21 room,\u201d and everyone understood the prevailing codes of conduct.\n\n\u201cIt was a party and there were people there under 21, but not in the alcohol room,\u201d Remelman said of the hour and 45-minute gathering. \u201cAnd nothing bad happened.\u201d\n\nBut three months later, word came that all RAs needed to immediately set up meetings with Natina Gurley, a campus housing officer. \u201cThat felt ominous,\u201d Remelman said. And as the interviews proceeded, he added, \u201cclusters of information and misinformation\u201d confirmed the RAs\u2019 initial suspicions that the university was engaged in a witch hunt.\n\nRemelman said his interviewer seemed so uninterested in what he had to say that he concluded that \u201cthey had already decided who they were going to fire.\u201d And something else bothered him: Many RAs who had attended the party were not fired.\n\nThat fact made Remelman theorize that during the private, one-on-one interviews, some RAs, desperate to keep their jobs, \u201cwere in there lying, trying not to get into trouble, trying to cover their asses and feeling guilty about whatever names they mentioned.\u201d\n\nResponded Culatta: \u201cWhile we can\u2019t discuss specific personnel actions, the incident in question was thoughtfully investigated; actions taken were based solely on the results of that investigation and in consultation with the university\u2019s Office of Human Resources.\u201d"}
-{"text": "A Vietnamese former banker and his business associate have been sentenced to death for their part in the embezzlement of $25 million, state media has reported.\n\nThe pair were among 11 defendants in the nine-day trial in Ho Chi Minh City, state media reported on Saturday, in a case that has highlighted Vietnam's efforts to show it is stamping out corruption in the face of widespread public anger over the issue.\n\nVu Quoc Hao, 58, the one-time chief of a finance subsidiary of the state-owned Vietnam Agribank and building firm boss Dang Van Hai, 56, were sentenced to death on Friday, according to state television.\n\n\"They were given the sentences for embezzlement of assets, mismanagement, abuse of power and fraud, causing serious consequences to the state,\" it said.\n\nThe other nine defendants were jailed for up to 14 years for violating state economic regulations, the report added.\n\nThe group was accused of embezzling more than $25 million of state money between April 2008 and March 2009 by falsifying financial leasing contracts, according to reports on state media.\n\nVietnam is rated one of the world's most corrupt nations and graft is a top concern for many ordinary people. The communist government has vowed to clamp down on the issue.\n\n\"There will be strict punishment for state cadres and officials who received bribes,\" warned the deputy prime minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, at an anti-corruption dialogue held in Hanoi on Tuesday, according to the government's website.\n\nVietnam resumed executions by lethal injection earlier this year, drawing criticism from the UN's human rights office."}
-{"text": "20 Variant Zombies\n\n1d4 Random Spells\n\n1d4 Random Limb\n\nBonus\n\nThe great thing about pre-2000 D&D is the simple monster creation. Any monster in the game can be adjusted on the fly with little work. Earlier this year I was running my AD&D 2E Campaign and half the monster didn't come from the Monstrous Manual. I was using Pathfinder Bestiaries and eyeballing their stats.During my campaigns I like to add variation to a common theme. Fighting the same old orc, kobold, skeleton, zombie, etc gets repetitive after decades of gaming. Now taking a common monster and giving it a minor twist can add some mystery of the unknown to the table.So Zombies are common low level foes. In OSR games they tend to have a couple of traits that define them. Let's use Labyrinth Lord as the base. They have 2HD, Immune to Sleep/Charm Spells, and they attack last in each round. For your basic zombie you can add tiny mechanical variation to help make your next horde stand out.As with any additional special ability you should adjust experience as necessary.Pick a variant or roll 1d20 for a splash of randomness.1.The Zombies flesh is gooey and sticky. Any melee weapon that hits them get stuck to their skin. A character can make a strength check to pull it loose.2.: These Zombies have glass shards embedded in their undead flesh. Any time a melee weapons hits the zombie they shatter. Each opponent within five feet of the zombie takes 1d4 damage from shattered glass.3.: This Zombie is infected with yellow mold. Any time it is hit in combat the mold releases spores in 10' cube.4.Two Zombies are fused together. Double their HD and Attacks. (4HD, 2 Attacks)5.Zombies body requires a +1 or better magic weapon to hit. Its head is still vulnerable to non-magical weapons.6.These Zombie make loud groaning sounds. All within 30ft must save or be deafened. -2 to all rolls, spell casters have a 20% chance to miscast spells. Duration 1d4 rounds.7.These Zombies drain life energy to help sustain them. Any hit will transfer any damage dealt back to them as temporary hit points. These hit points last for 24 hours.8.A Horde of Zombies are linked to each other. Any damage dealt is evenly distributed among the horde. For example if you have 7 Zombies and one takes 6 points of damage you distribute it as 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0. Zombies must be within 60ft of each other to be linked.9.Upon the final death blow this Zombie blows up into a hundred bloody pieces. All within 10ft take 2d4 damage.10.This Horde of Zombies swarm one target. The first opponent hit in combat is marked. All Zombie will attack that individual until it is dead. They ignore other adversaries regardless of their actions.11.Anyone killed by this Zombie rises as a new Zombie 1d4+1 rounds later.12.This Zombie is extremely resilient. Max hit points per HD.13.: These Zombies have had a spell fused with them. Once hit in combat it triggers the spell. For example if hit in combat a shocking grasp spell triggers. The following attack the Zombie is crackling with electricity.1. Alarm2. Shield3. Shocking Grasp4. Stinking Cloud14,These frigid undead deal extra damage and freeze your limbs. Deals an extra 1d4 points of cold damage. Also if it hits you must save or a random limb becomes frozen. The limb is useless for 1d4 rounds.1. Right Arm2. Left Arm3. Right Leg4. Left Leg15.These dusty old undead cause respiratory problem. Any hit causes a cloud of dust in a 5ft area. It disperses after one round. A save is needed or you cough and sneeze for 1 round. 16,The fight still lingers on for this Zombie. Upon its death blow its fading essence attempt to possess the nearest creature. Save or become a mindless undead for 1 round.17.These muddy zombies slow your movement down. Each hit by this zombie encases you in mud. Each hit slows your movement by 1/4th. Once you've lost all your movement you are fully enveloped by mud and begin to suffocate.18.This Zombie has 1d6 giant maggots festering in its body. Each hit has a 50% chance of dislodging one from its body. The following round that maggot enters combat. Upon the Zombies death any remaining maggots burst from the body to attack.19.With lightning speed these undead attack. Always goes first in combat, 2 attacks per round, and double movement rate.20.Upon entering combat this Horde of Zombies converge on each other. They merge into one huge hideous undead abomination. Combine HD and Attacks for each zombie. 6 zombies would be 12 HD with 6 attacks.21.: Can't keep a good Zombie down. One round after being slain the Zombie rises once again. This time it only has 1HD.22.: This semi-intelligent undead leads the zombie horde. The more zombies part of the horde the greater its strength is. Start with a base zombie and add 1 HD per zombie. For each zombie slain you reduce the Kings HD by 1. A Zombie King with 8 Zombies in his horde would have 10HD. Also the Zombie King can transfer any damage dealt to another zombie within 30ft."}
-{"text": "GENEVA (Reuters) - At least 84 people, two-thirds of them young children, have died since December on their way to al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria after fleeing Islamic State in the Deir al-Zor region, the United Nations said on Friday.\n\nThe U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has been poised for several weeks to wipe out the last vestige of Islamic State\u2019s territorial rule at the besieged village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border, but the operation has been held up by efforts to evacuate thousands of civilians.\n\nThe United Nations is \u201cgravely concerned\u201d about the plight of thousands of civilians fleeing the last ISIL-held areas of Baghouz in rural Deir al-Zor province after intense fighting, Jens Laerke, spokesman of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told a news briefing.\n\nAl-Hol camp, in northeastern Hasaka province, now holds at least 45,000 people, including 13,000 people who fled Deir al-Zor last week, he said.\n\n\u201cMany of them have arrived exhausted, hungry and sick,\u201d he said, adding that nine out of 10 were women and children.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a very long, a very tiring journey to this camp, so far have reports of more than 84 deaths on that road, on that stretch of territory. Two-thirds of those who have died are children under five years of age,\u201d Laerke said.\n\nSome 175 children have been hospitalized due to severe acute malnutrition, a life-threatening form of the disease, he said, citing reports from U.N. agencies and aid groups on the ground."}
-{"text": "In connection to the August 1st death of Ralph Cross, four strippers are facing charges.\n\nAccording to reports, Cross, 55, purchased a new tire for four women, who were having car trouble. Cross then invited the women, who have been identified as Brittany Curry 28, Ponesha Taylor 23, Johniesha Simmons 19, and Lauteshia Dotson 23, into his home while he worked on their vehicle.\n\nA witness in the area said he saw the victim arguing with three of the adult entertainers inside of the home early Tuesday morning, as the fourth sat in a white car outside. He said as he turned to walk toward his home, he heard a noise and saw the women leave the house, as one warned never to go back to the home. The women fled the scene.\n\nLater that evening, Cross\u2019 body was found inside the home with a gunshot wound to the back and his pockets turned inside out, which indicated a robbery.\n\nTwo days later, the women turned themselves in, after family and friends encouraged them to share their side of the story. Although the women refused to admit to the murder or reveal their role in the crime, they have all been charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.\n\nOfficials say, Curry is the one who pulled the trigger."}
-{"text": "In addition to a bigger, higher-res screen and the ability to max out your RAM and storage, the jump from the Huawei P10 to P10 Plus gets you Huawei's most advanced Leica camera to date. The trusty f/2.2 Summarit-branded lens, used in the past a generation of Huawei flagships, makes way for a brighter f/1.8 Summilux aperture. On paper that should allow for a modest improvement in photo quality across the board. A wider aperture lets you capture more quickly, resulting in less motion blur, or keep the shutter open for longer at lower ISO levels, reducing the appearance of noise. It's time to put these two directly to the test. Obviously the P10 Plus is the better of the two, on account of its superior optics. But the question is whether it's worth the extra cash to upgrade. And this comparison should also be interesting to anyone weighing up the P10 Plus against a Mate 9 or Mate 9 Pro, which use a camera system identical to the smaller P10. Let's get stuck in!\n\nFirst up, daylight shots. As you might expect given the similar sensor and post-processing, daylight shots from the P10 and P10 Plus are basically identical. The biggest difference you'll notice is the more pronounced bokeh in close-up macro shots. Elsewhere, it's pretty much a wash, as you'll see in our samples:\n\nThe extremely similar daylight performance is a good thing \u2014 it means buyers who prefer a smaller screen aren't missing out. In low light, the differences start to show, though it's still incredibly subtle.\n\nIn this image, shot at dusk in fading light, the shot from the P10 is actually slightly sharper. Nevertheless, things are still more or less identical here. Both cameras shot at ISO 160, with the P10 Plus choosing a faster shutter speed (1/50 vs 1/33 sec.)\n\nIn lower light, it's still tough to separate these two. The P10 Plus has slightly sharper fine details in distance objects, but that's about it. Both cameras shot at ISO 800, the P10 at 1/8 sec., the P10 Plus at 1/17 sec.\n\nIn this challenging shot with both bright and dark areas, neither camera excels, but the P10 Plus captures a comparable shot slightly quicker. (P10: ISO 1250, 1/4 sec., P10 Plus: ISO 800, 1/7 sec.)\n\nOnce again, the difference here isn't so much the quality of the image, but the slight speed advantage that the P10 delivers. (P10: ISO 800, 1/17 sec., P10 Plus: ISO 640, 1/20 sec.)\n\nTo my eye the smaller P10 actually comes out ahead here \u2014 focus is slightly softer on the P10 Plus. Both images remain largely identical overall. (P10: ISO 800, 1/15 sec., P10 Plus: ISO 500, 1/20 sec.)\n\nAnother very close shot, but the P10 Plus resolves slightly more detail in the brickwork, and in the colors on the archway. (P10: ISO 800, 1/8 sec., P10 Plus: ISO 1000, 1/15 sec.)\n\nHere, the smaller P10 takes a longer exposure; otherwise image quality is about the same. (P10: ISO 640, 1/20 sec., P10 Plus: ISO 6400, 1/30 sec.)"}
-{"text": "It\u2019s not long before Gia\u2019s shirt is on the floor so that Tyler can worship her small boobs and puffy nipples with his caressing hands and his warm mouth. When Tyler\u2019s hands creep down to once again lift Gia\u2019s miniskirt and slip her thong to the side, she can\u2019t contain her soft sigh of pleasure. His fingertips home in on her clit, the center of her pleasure, and start rubbing.\n\nRising to her feet, Gia urges Tyler to relocate to the bedroom where she sheds her thong so that he can have unrestricted access to her greedy pussy. Her landing strip snatch is already wet and creamy with excitement when Tyler dives in with his magic tongue. When he replaces his mouth with his talented fingers, they slide easily into Gia\u2019s nectar filled pussy.\n\nRising onto her hands and knees, Gia smiles as she flicks her tongue along the head of Tyler\u2019s stiffie. He holds still as she explores his cock with her warm tongue, and then finally takes him fully into her mouth. Slurping and sucking, Gia does whatever it takes to make her boyfriend hard and happy.\n\nRolling onto her back, Gia spreads her thighs to open herself for Tyler to push deep inside. He satisfies her initial urges with long strokes that grow deeper when Gia shifts her legs to the side. That intimate position is satisfying, but Tyler wants something deeper. It\u2019s not long before he has Gia up on her hands and knees for a proper pussy pounding.\n\nTyler\u2019s concerted efforts for Gia\u2019s pleasure pay off as he brings her off with a long moan of ecstasy. Tyler makes sure that Gia rides out every last moment of her climax by using his mouth to make her orgasm last as long as possible. Only then does he finish himself off by working his hardon in Gia\u2019s mouth one last time until he covers Gia\u2019s face in hot cum."}
-{"text": "The odds tell me that if i lick that plot, she will love it."}
-{"text": "\"Explained advice animals to my mom, I don't think she gets it\" I don't think you get it\n\n240,569 shares"}
-{"text": "Brie Larson\u2019s \u201cCaptain Marvel\u201d is expected to fly past $500 million at the worldwide box office on Tuesday.\n\nThe blockbuster has taken in $164.3 million in its first four days, along with $325.6 million in its first six days in international markets. China is the biggest foreign market with $95 million, followed by South Korea with $25.3 million, the U.K. with $18.1 million, Brazil with $14.7 million, and Mexico with $13.7 million.\n\nDisney also said the Marvel Cinematic Universe\u2019s 21 titles have topped a cumulative $18 billion at the worldwide box office to date. \u201cCaptain Marvel\u2019s\u201d $455 million global opening weekend was the sixth-highest launch of all time. \u201cCaptain Marvel\u201d posted the 18th-biggest domestic debut ever, since \u201cIncredibles 2\u201d launched with $182 million in June. It performed well above studio projections, which had pegged the film at $125 million.\n\nLarson stars as Carol Danvers, the pilot who becomes the vastly powerful Captain Marvel after the Earth is caught at the center of a galactic conflict in 1995. The cast includes Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan, Annette Bening, Clark Gregg, and Jude Law. The movie is written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.\n\n\u201cCaptain Marvel\u201d has revived the 2019 domestic box office, which had plunged by 27% before the weekend. It\u2019s now down 21%, at $1.79 billion, according to Comscore.\n\nLarson will return as Captain Marvel in Disney-Marvel\u2019s \u201cAvengers: Endgame,\u201d which will open on the final weekend of April amid massive expectations. Last year\u2019s \u201cAvengers: Infinity War\u201d is the fourth-highest worldwide grosser of all time at $2.05 billion, trailing only \u201cAvatar,\u201d \u201cTitanic,\u201d and \u201cStar Wars: The Force Awakens.\u201d"}
-{"text": "We\u2019re pleased to bring the exclusive stream of The Decline\u2019s new song \u201cCan\u2019t Have Both\u201d (listen below). The new single follows up their latest LP Resister, which was released on June 12, 2015 through Pee Records (AUS), Bird Attack Records (USA) and Bells On Records (Japan).\n\nThe band comments on the new song:\n\n\u201cOur new single \u2018Can\u2019t Have Both\u2019 is the culmination of our last two years of touring. It explores the issue of trying to do something meaningful, and the toll that it takes on your everyday life. This song was our first experience writing as a band since we released our last record \u2018Resister\u2019 and we are really excited to share it with everyone.\u201d\n\nUpcoming Shows:\n\nNovember 10 \u2013 Los Angeles, CA at The Redwood w/ Caskitt, New Way On, DC Fallout, Murderland [Facebook Event]\n\nNovember 11 \u2013 San Diego, CA at Tower Bar w/ Caskitt, New Way On, Castoff, Skipjack [Facebook Event]\n\nNovember 12 \u2013 Santa Ana, CA at Constellation Room w/ Mr. T Experience, Toys That Kill, The Maxies [Facebook Event]\n\nAbout The Decline:\n\nThe Decline have just returned from a busy year touring all across the globe, celebrating their newly released album Resister across Europe, UK, USA, Mexico, Japan and Australia. Resister is available through Bird Attack Records (United States), Pee Records (Australia), Finetunes (Europe) and Bells On Records (Japan). Their recent tours have featured appearances at Resurrection Fest (Spain), Brakrock Ecofest (Belgium), Punk Rock Holiday (Slovenia), Tells Bells (Germany), The Fest (FL, USA) as well as acclaimed shows with Teenage Bottlerocket (USA), Millions of Dead Cops (USA), Useless ID (Israel), The Flatliners (CAN) and A Wilhelm Scream (USA).\n\nThe Decline\u2019s most recent international tour saw them playing shows in the UK and mainland Europe, touring across the UK with Manchester melodic hardcore band \u2018Fair Do\u2019s\u2019 for 8 shows, before The Decline headed across to mainland Europe on a 19 date run combination of headline shows, festivals and shows in support of The Flatliners, CJ Ramone, A Wilhelm Scream and PEARS.\n\nThe Decline are once again ready to get back on the road, currently preparing for a short Australian tour with Newcastle punks Local Resident Failure, followed by a 25 show run across the U.S.A with Brooklyn band MakeWar while they tour in support of their latest album release. This run of shows includes an appearance at the prominent festival, The Fest, in Gainesville, Florida.The tour will kick off in Perth, WA on October 1st at Babushka in Leederville.\n\nSince the release of their debut album I\u2019m Not Gonna Lie to You in 2010, Australian Skate-Punk band, The Decline, have grown to be a recognisable name in the international punk community. The release of their sophomore album Are You Going To Eat That in 2011, scored the band a headlining tour of Europe, a Japanese tour with Useless ID and So-Cal 90\u2019s super band Implants, and a coveted mid-afternoon spot at Soundwave Festival in Perth. Soon after in early 2014, The Decline released the fully crowd-funded Can I Borrow a Feeling EP before jumping straight back into a heavy touring schedule.\n\nIn 2015, the Decline released their third album Resister and soon after, resumed heavy touring \u2013 since making their way across America, Mexico, Japan, twice across Europe and the UK, and numerous Australian tours. Throughout this busy time, the Decline have done a number of headline shows and supported critically acclaimed acts such as The Flatliners, Useless ID, A Wilhelm Scream, PEARS, Strung Out, Versus the World, Authority Zero, Such Gold and multiple others.\n\nSince their formation, some highlights of their time as a band include flying to Colorado in 2009 to record their debut album at the Blasting Room with Bill Stevenson (Descendents/Black Flag/ALL) and Jason Livermore, completing numerous Australian tours and hundreds of shows nationally, and two WAMi nomination for \u201cPunk Act Of The Year\u201d and one for \u201cPunk Song Of The Year\u201d as well as being lucky enough to share the stage with many of their favourite bands including Descendents, Unwritten Law, Frenzal Rhomb, Propagandhi, Bodyjar, Bouncing Souls, Anti-Flag, Lagwagon, No Use For A Name, No Fun At All, Guttermouth, Strike Anywhere, Smoke Or Fire, Pour Habit, The Flatliners, and Nicola Sarcevic (Millencolin).\n\nThe Decline:\n\nOfficial Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter"}
-{"text": "Alan Langdon and his daughter Que sailed from New Zealand to Australia on a 6-metre catamaran. Credit:Jessica McInerney He told the Milton Ulladulla Times that the broken rudder, and a prevailing wind, was the reason he changed course. \"We were heading north and once the rudder broke we were heading back to New Zealand, but the wind blew us here,\" he said. \"I first decided [to come here] when I knew what the prevailing wind was. \"Australia was the best target, the biggest target and the best option. I didn't really care what part I got to.\" Mr Langdon said he sailed into Ulladulla Harbour on Wednesday, however a child recovery expert hired by his former wife says the pair may have been in the country for several days, until a member of the public recognised them from missing person's posters.\n\nAlan Langdon and his daughter Que. The Australian citizen and his former wife, Que's mother Ariane Wyler, were due to appear in the Family Court in Auckland in March this year. However, Mr Langdon denied there was a custody battle and said he had been Que's primary carer since birth. Alan Langdon on the deck of his catamaran in Ulladulla Harbour. Credit:Milton Ulladulla Times \"It's not a custody battle, it's an access thing,\" he said. \"I've always been looking after [Que].\"\n\nHe said he did not know where he was on the journey, had no way of contacting anyone, and did not have a radio, satellite phone or emergency position radio indicating beacon (EPIRB) on board. Child recovery expert Col Chapman had been searching for the pair since December. Credit:Michelle Smith It was only when he got to shore that he realised his case had attracted attention, which he described as \"mass hysteria\". \"I thought people might have been worried but I didn't think they'd call out planes,\" Mr Langdon said. Alan Langdon speaks to Australian Border Force officials at Ulladulla Harbour. Credit:Milton Ulladulla Times\n\n\"She [Que] did a 56-day trip before she was one, so 27 days isn't particularly big. She's lived on boats her whole life.\" When her daughter vanished, Ms Wyler hired Col Chapman, a contractor with the Australian-based firm Child Recovery, to track down her former partner and daughter. The poster distributed by Australian-based firm Child Recovery. She had previously hired Mr Chapman in 2015 to locate Mr Langdon and their daughter when they disappeared in Australia before a scheduled Family Court case here, Mr Chapman said. Mr Chapman said that, in his latest quest to find the pair, he had consulted experienced sailors and search-and-rescue professionals to plot Mr Langdon's possible route to Australia.\n\n\"We were adamant that he was transiting to Australia,\" Mr Chapman told Fairfax Media. \"We came up with a projected sail pattern of what were the most likely areas that he would land in Australia and when, and Ulladulla was one of the target areas.\" Mr Chapman and his team then distributed missing person's posters around the NSW South Coast - including at yacht clubs, marinas, even small general stores catering to the sailing industry - containing images of the pair and urging anyone who saw them to contact the authorities. A social media campaign was also launched. Someone who saw those images is believed to have spotted the father and daughter in Ulladulla, possibly as early as Monday, Mr Chapman said. That is despite Mr Langdon saying he arrived in Ulladulla on Wednesday. \"We are told that ... a member of the public did notice these [posters] and did approach the authorities,\" Mr Chapman said.\n\n\"We want to buy whoever it was a bottle of wine, champagne, chocolates or flowers, and of course the mum wants to just give them a great big hug \"I've heard that they hit Australian shores on Monday afternoon. Alan is saying that they only just arrived. I don't know what the truth is. The authorities are saying that he has been there for some time.\" Yachts arriving in Australia from other countries must first call at a specified port of entry where Department of Immigration and Border Protection and Department of Agriculture formalities can be completed. Ulladulla is not one of those specified ports. All people on board an incoming yacht must also produce a valid passport and incoming passenger card before they can go ashore. Mr Chapman said a New Zealand court had seized Que's passport to prevent the child from travelling internationally before her parents' scheduled court appearance.\n\nMr Chapman said he had called Ms Wyler, who is caring for her sick mother in Switzerland, to tell her the news that her daughter had been found. \"She's thrilled, over the moon. I got her out of bed at one o'clock in the morning to tell her, woke her up, and she thought she was dreaming,\" he said, adding that Ms Wyler was now returning to New Zealand. New Zealand Police said in a statement that Australian authorities had alerted them on Wednesday that the pair had been found in Ulladulla. \"Police understand that Mr Landon and his daughter are both well, and he [Mr Langdon] is currently talking to Australian officials,\" the statement said. \"New Zealand Police are currently liaising with its counterparts in Australia and awaiting further information about Mr Langdon's journey.\n\n\"Police will take time to assess all the information about today's development, and the background to this matter before any further steps required from a police perspective are considered and agreed.\" An Australian Federal Police spokeswoman said it was now \"a matter for New Zealand authorities\", and the AFP would assist them if required. Mr Chapman said the New Zealand search for the pair had cost upwards of $100,000. Loading \"A court of some sort needs to make a determination in the best interests of Que,\" he said.\n\nwith Jessica McInerney, Milton Ulladulla Times"}
-{"text": "Passengers emerge from B.C. Transit bus in downtown Victoria, one of the cities outside the Lower Mainland served by the provincial bus service. (Tom Fletcher/Black Press)\n\nB.C.\u2019s COVID-19 public transit crunch is being felt all over the province, not only in Metro Vancouver where TransLink is laying off nearly 1,500 people, Premier John Horgan says.\n\nHorgan told reporters in Victoria April 20 he raised the issue of collapsing transit ridership in his conference call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other premiers last week, because it is beyond the province\u2019s ability to keep full transit going in the coronavirus pandemic.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve seen an 83 per cent decline in ridership over the past number of weeks with respect to TransLink, a 75 per cent reduction in ridership for B.C. Transit in Victoria, Nanaimo, Kelowna, Prince George and other B.C. Transit communities, and a 91 per cent reduction in passengers on B.C. Ferries,\u201d Horgan said. \u201cWe can\u2019t sustain an 83 per cent reduction in ridership. That\u2019s just not going to work.\u201d\n\nRELATED: TransLink to lay off nearly 1,500 workers in further cut\n\nRELATED: BC Ferries further cuts sailings in response to COVID-19\n\nHorgan said if Ottawa\u2019s wage subsidy program can fund a return to work for private sector transportation such as airlines, consideration should be given to public transportation systems that depend on fare box revenue and provincial and municipal grants to operate.\n\nBus fare collection has been stopped so the few passengers using the transit system can board at the back of a bus and maintain physical distance from drivers and other passengers.\n\nAmong those passengers are health care and other essential workers who need to get back and forth to work. Jennifer Whiteside, secretary-business manager of the Hospital Employees\u2019 Union, said as many as one in five health care workers depends on transit.\n\n\u201cOur members have limited transportation options to get to work, and they\u2019ve already been facing lengthier commuting times as a result of previously announced service reductions,\u201d Whiteside said.\n\n@tomfletcherbctfletcher@blackpress.caLike us on Facebook and follow us on <a href=\n\n\u201chttp://twitter.com/BlackPressMedia\u201d target=\u201d_blank\u201d>Twitter.\n\nAbbotsford News"}
-{"text": "This is a niche spreadsheet, but for anyone who does play Twilight Imperium, this spreadsheet is indispensable. The spreadsheet includes all of the upgrades from the two expansions to the game as well.\n\nThe first sheet includes general instructions as to its use as well as three tables:\n\n-A dice roll comparison table with pop-up menus to choose any one of the 17 alien races. Once a race is chosen, their respective dice stats are pulled from their separate race sheets and can be compared against another alien race for combat purposes. This saves the players having to count up their various buffs from technology cards every time they engage in combat with another player.\n\n-A victory point tracker. This table has all of the various victory point conditions from the main game plus both of its expansions.\n\n-A planetary resource tracker. This table allows the player to pick the alien races from pop-up menus and it will display how many resources and buffs they currently have access to based on what planets they currently occupy. The starting conditions for all players has already been taken into account. As a player takes control of a new planet or if the planet exchanges hands, the owning player\u2019s race can be selected next to each planet name to indicate ownership. This will automatically add that planet\u2019s resources to the grand total. There are also checkboxes for refineries and colonies (Shattered Empire expansion) for each planet, and those will also add to the overall resources the player has.\n\nThe remaining sheets are player cards for all of the alien races included in the main game and both expansions, plus the final sheet is a generic blank template for custom races if the players so desire to create them.\n\nEach race card includes a table of all of their stats, plus all of their current buffs, and starting units, plus the logo and portrait of each race is included and pictures of their diplomats (Shards of the Throne expansion).\n\nAt the bottom of every race card is a table for technology cards. The starting techs have already been set for each race. As a technology is researched they can be checked off and the respective stats will automatically update. There are conditional highlighting rules next to each tech card indicating whether or not its prerequisites have been met. Of course, some alien races start with tech that has not had its prerequisites met, but otherwise the table is straightforward.\n\nI realize that this sort of template is not for the everyday user, but anyone who plays Twilight Imperium will immediately see the high value of this spreadsheet as it streamlines stat lookups which happen quite often during gameplay. Also, I am quite pleased with my rat\u2019s nest of nested IF functions and wanted to show it off to someone in the know.\n\nAll fonts are helvetica.\n\nThis template was submitted by Marc Wilson, I am always looking for new templates for this site, no matter how obscure. Please submit as many as you want!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDownload Current Version\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Hot Sex Images, Free XXX Pics and Best Porn Photos on Festival Focus Porn"}
-{"text": "r/atheism can make fun of me all they want i'm still meditating on the lack of fucks I give\n\n302 shares"}
-{"text": "One question that keeps popping up, and was addressed to some extent by NAB's recent report, is whether all the elements of the current Bitcoin are necessary for a viable alternative currency. And, as Citi's Steve Englander asks (from a libertarian and pragmatic perspective), if they are not, or can be improved on, where does that leave Bitcoin\u2019s first mover advantage?\n\nVia Citi's Steven Englander,\n\nThe libertarian streak in me likes the anonymity of Bitcoin transactions, but there is a rational part of me that asks whether that aspect is essential if I am paying for a latte in Soho. Similarly if the Bitcoin wallet can be made more secure by dropping anonymity, how many transactors will give up transactional security for libertarian principle? Giving up anonymity may make Bitcoin transactions more secure, and I suspect almost all transactors will value security much more than anonymity.\n\n\n\nGoing further, Bitcoin\u2019s decentralized nodes are not needed, if there was less concern about keeping Bitcoin outside the current payments/fiat currency system. The nodes allow transactions to be validated by the Bitcoin community, but you can have efficient transactions without the particular validation system used by Bitcoin. The secure ledger of transactions can be centralized rather than decentralized. Bitcoin\u2019s particular approach may be attractive for those who really want to operate outside the current financial system. There may be both legitimate and illegitimate reasons for this, but the vast majority of transactions do not have this need.\n\n\n\nGoing even further, if Bitcoin or an alternative currency embraced the financial regulatory system to make it more secure, how much payments efficiency is lost? You can still have secure, instantaneous transactions but inside the financial system there may be more security against fraud and more recourse if your Bitcoins are contained in your PC which gets hit by a meteor.\n\n\n\nSo there is this story about a special recipe for potato fritters (a very good recipe that I have tried). When a chef is handed the recipe, she decides to \u2018improve\u2019 it by replacing each ingredient one-by-one with something more familiar. Having done so, she and her husband decide that the final result isn\u2019t nearly as good as advertised and is pretty close to what they prepare all the time. In eliminating anonymity, decentralization and non-regulation, much of the original intent of the Bitcoin developer(s) is being thwarted. The question is whether the core innovation of Bitcoin has been compromised or whether unneeded baggage is being dropped.\n\n\n\nFor the record, mining Bitcoin is waste of resources from a social perspective. The amount of CPU and electricity needed to mine Bitcoin is high, and from a social viewpoint about as valuable as building defenses against attacks from Mars. What the mining does is decide the allocation of the limited amount of Bitcoin produced each period and encourage the ledger to be kept. There is a real social cost to the decentralization designed into Bitcoin.\n\n\n\nIf Bitcoin is a payments technology, much of what makes it efficient and attractive can be retained, while dropping some features that most users find unnecessary. Bitcoin may become less attractive to illicit users as a result, but that is a sacrifice many will be willing to make. Culturally, the developers of Bitcoin may find this evolution extremely unattractive, because the distrust of the financial system and of financial authorities was one of the motivations for its development. However attractive philosophically, many users will vote for pragmatism over principle and a Bitcoin clone that satisfied this pragmatic streak could be able to overcome the first mover advantage.\n\n\n\nSo far I have ignored Bitcoin as a store of value, but the proponents of Bitcoin as a store of value/speculation crucially need Bitcoin to be unique and have strong barriers to entry, despite the replicability of the technology. If it turns out that investors/miners will arbitrage between Bitcoin and other mined alternative currencies, the outcome will be that there are many perfect or near perfect substitutes for Bitcoin, and the effective supply will be much larger than would be suggested by the gradually increasing and ultimately capped supply of the original Bitcoin. This will mean that valuations will be very fragile because in the long-term there will be no ability to limit the supply of Bitcoin lookalikes ... unless some subset of Bitcoin-like currencies gain government/central bank endorsement which gives them an advantage over non-endorsed Bitcoin-like currencies.\n\n\n\nFurther, the Fed is now started on tapering and the BoE is talking about tightening, however slowly. Whatever sins major central banks commit, they are forgiven rapidly when they show any sign of moving back to orthodoxy, provided they have not hugely compromised price stability, and sometimes even when they have. Improved confidence in some G4 fiat currencies is giving gold bad days, and the willingness to take the risk on alternative currencies may be inverse to how unrestrained major central banks are in their reserves creation. Investors and central banks are looking for improved stores of value beyond fiat currencies, and Bitcoin possibly may be one of them. There are scenarios in which it could work as a store of value but there are clearly many, many outcomes in which Bitcoin is one of a bunch of alternatives with a very indeterminate value.\n\n\n\nBottom line, there is the possibility that Bitcoin represents a big step forward in payments technology, but there are also seem to be straightforward ways to improve on its security, make it less attractive to criminals and more attractive to governments. It is far from guaranteed that that it will emerge as a stable store of value. Either function would be enhanced if it were within the financial system and embraced by the authorities, but it is unclear whether the Bitcoin philosophy will change fast enough or whether an alternative alternative will pip Bitcoin\u2019s original first mover advantage."}
-{"text": "Push notifications are emerging as one of the best brand based communication and marketing tools. If you have built your app using an app builder online, you would have also added the feature of push notifications to it.\n\nPush notifications allow you to reach your target audience. Delivering them timely with relevant information, helps in engaging your users with your brand. Also, leveraging personalization and geolocation within push notifications can bring your brand closer to your app users.\n\nAdditionally, these notifications increase conversions, build users\u2019 loyalty, and eventually boost your ROI (return on investment) by generating revenue.\n\nYou can create push notification campaigns and give your business an edge over others. These campaigns are the ultimate user-engagement tool. From getting a new user on-board to nurturing your relationship with your app\u2019s most loyal users, these campaigns help you in earning trust for your brand.\n\nIf, however, you are not sure from where to start, this article is your answer. Here are the push notification campaigns, every business should set up:\n\nThe Welcome Campaign\n\nIf you send a welcome message to your new app user, it gives you the first opportunity to set the tone of future communication with the user.\n\nYou should ask yourself: What should be included in the message to grab immediate attention, and what should a new user achieve on their second visit.\n\nHowever, if you have created a shopping app, you should consider welcoming new users with a special offer or discount that drives users to make their first purchase.\n\nRemember, your goal is to ensure that the user keeps returning to your app.\n\nThe Re-targeting Campaign\n\nThe re-targeting campaigns is another push notification campaign that is essential for every business. These campaigns usually re-target users who have not yet completed specific in-app actions.\n\nWith push notifications that focus on content, you can bring disengaged users back to your mobile app, and acquire conversions. Also, such campaigns remind high-intent users to complete a specific action. This action can be about encouraging them to return to the shopping cart they abandoned.\n\nEventually, you need to segment push messages as per the past in-app behaviour and conversion intent. It will not only help you increase app usage but also boost user lifetime value (LTV) with the brand.\n\nThe Re-engage Lapsed Users\u2019 Campaign\n\nSome app users download an app and are active for a couple of months. However, the usage of the app gradually decreases and goes idle.\n\nIn this respect, a well-planned, proactive push notification campaign that targets lapsed users can be beneficial. This campaign further helps in keeping users tied your app.\n\nWith this campaign, you can target those users who are at risk of becoming inactive. Push notifications may spark their curiosity and get them back to the app.\n\nMoreover, you can even personalize these push notifications in line with users\u2019 past behaviour, preferences, or purchase history.\n\nThe Location-based Campaign\n\nAs the utilization of mobile phones is increasing, it gives an unique opportunity to businesses to reach their users anywhere and everywhere, and increase app engagement.\n\nA mobile app bridges the gap between the digital and real-world by targeting users according to their areas. For example, geo-targeting is used for local promotions, events, and more.\n\nYou can use location-based marketing for users with whom you have developed a relationship. However, if you send location-based messages to inactive users or those who do not open your general push notifications, it could backfire and lead to deletion of the app. Go for a better strategy to avoid this blunder.\n\nThe strategy that only targets users who have engaged with a specific piece of content or may have performed a specific in-app action is perfect. In simple words, you should aim for building real relationships with your users, depending on your business.\n\nThe Reward Campaigns\n\nRegardless of the type of app you have, user-engagement is necessary to make the most of it. However, you should not forget about app retention.\n\nPush notifications can help you build users\u2019 loyalty towards your app, and prohibit them from deleting the app. After you get a conversion, send your users a thank you message that will add value to your brand.\n\nFor instance: You are in the travel sector, and a user has recently booked a flight. In that case, you can send them a message with a discount, an exclusive offer, or even a link to suggested content. This will help you engage them better.\n\nAdditionally, you can go out of your way to thank your customers by giving them more reasons to use your app. This will pay off in terms of user retention and enhance life time brand value.\n\nFinal words\n\nApply these ideas and tricks to engage mobile users on the go.\n\nWith these push notification campaigns, you can engage your users, retain them and draw them back to the app, if you have lost them.\n\nBuild an app with WooCommerce mobile app builder, like AppMySite, for an added feature of push notifications. With this feature, you can easily complement your app with push notification campaigns to connect with your active, inactive, as well as lapsed users.\n\nMarch ahead and grow your business with us!"}
-{"text": "\"In Israel, the demographic problem is that the Palestinians breed to fast\": https://voat.co/v/TIL/3137320/17803592\n\nGetting butthurt about a jew meme\n\nClaiming Soros is \"anti-zionist and \"anti-Israel\"\n\nShowing how \"not all jews\" are in the industry\n\nGetting asshurt again when people talk about kikes\n\nTalking about his home nation\n\nNote he says: \"Also, you know religion isn't race, right?\"\n\nHas to post in a holohoax thread again\n\n\"Many Jews died in the towers on 9/11. So if you have such blatant and easily disprovable lie in your title, I'm pretty sure your entire point is bullshit.\"\n\nShowing up in @Ex-redditor's post about Israelis killing Palestinians: https://voat.co/v/Worldnews/3156225\n\nHe's all over this holohoax thread by @mralexson: https://voat.co/v/whatever/3092841/17937097/10#17937097.\n\nThere's tons more of examples. Disgusting fucking rat-nosed kike."}
-{"text": "Since taking the spotlight in December with a prolific bull run to $20,089, Bitcoin has continued to dominate headlines. From CFTC and SEC hearings in Congress, to 70% price corrections, it has already been an exciting 2018 for the oldest blockchain in the cryptospace. Mainstream news and businesses are beginning to take a serious look at cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Bank of America identified cryptocurrencies as a threat to traditional banking. Early believers are no longer the odd ones at family gatherings \u2014 they are suddenly sought after for investment advice. The sense of vindication amongst the early adopters has been marked, with many community members further emboldened by the recent stock market volatility and growing indications of global distrust of governments.\n\nDespite Bitcoin\u2019s seemingly optimistic outlook, real technological limitations remain unresolved. With the increased demand for Bitcoin, the network must process more transactions than it was built to handle, which leads to slow transaction speeds and high fees \u2014 a phenomenon the crypto-community has dubbed \u201cblockchain bloat.\u201d This issue is by no means limited to Bitcoin. Ethereum, the second largest crypto by market cap, ran into similar issues recently when demand for \u201ccrypto-kittens\u201d and the Pundi X ICO surpassed the network\u2019s capacity.\n\nThe solution for Bitcoin is set to come in the form of the \u201cLightning Network,\u201d a second layer of software that will allow for off-chain transactions. Excitement amongst core developers is tangible, but a number of mathematicians have come forward with proofs showing the Lightning Network will not achieve the intended consequences. Early backers who disagreed with the Lightning Network \u201cforked\u201d to create the Bitcoin Cash protocol in 2017, which takes an entirely different, and equally unproven, route to scalability. Meanwhile, as the world\u2019s attention remains fixated on the Bitcoin debate, an alternative blockchain with 5 years of use just launched a new mainnet to address those very concerns.\n\nBCNext and a Bitcoin 2.0\n\nIn autumn 2013, before Ethereum had begun its white paper, an anonymous developer known as BCNext rallied support amongst Redditors for an entirely new protocol that could be viewed as a sort of Bitcoin 2.0. This user shared a vision of a cryptocurrency that went beyond a simple store of value and could revolutionize financial transfers and applications, while being built upon an alternative consensus mechanism that would eliminate the need for the energy-intensive mining Bitcoin is famous for. After an initial release of the software, 70-some investors threw support behind the idea, and NXT \u2014 the first cryptocurrency written in Java and secured through Proof of Stake \u2014 was formally born.\n\nIn the 5 years since it launched, the developer community behind NXT quietly revolutionized the blockchain with a slew of new functionalities \u2014 transferable assets (similar to shares), voting, aliases to make sending funds easier, encrypted messaging, a marketplace, document and media authenticity verification (similar to copyrighting), and multi-signature capabilities. All of these features have been fully functional for years, without any hacks.\n\nNXT\u2019s Scaling Drama\n\nIt hasn\u2019t been an easy road for the NXT community. The built-in functionalities of the platform were years ahead of the competition, but all those added features meant transactions were more data heavy. If an influx of tens of thousands of users were to occur at once, the network would not be able to keep up. In 2015, disagreements flared up as the developers began work on NXT\u2019s version 2.0.\n\nOn one side were the purists \u2014 they wanted to maintain as much decentralization in the ecosystem as possible. After all, Bitcoin and public blockchains were born out of the idea that people should control their assets without relying on centralized institutions for any security. On the other side, were the pragmatists \u2014 core developers who respected the vision of a decentralized world, but felt the blockchain should be about increasing transparency and the efficiency of business processes.\n\nBy early 2016, several contributing teams had broken off from the NXT community. One group launched the top 15 cryptocurrency known as NEM in 2014, which recently made headlines with its swift response to the Coincheck hack. The other team, SuperNET, went on to form Komodo, a decentralized exchange with the largest number of successful peer-to-peer transactions across different cryptocurrency protocols (\u201catomic swaps\u201d). Despite the setbacks, core NXT developers pushed ahead with their vision of a scalable ecosystem and formed a private company, Jelurida, to raise capital for the development of NXT 2.0.\n\nA Platform Reborn\n\nOddly enough, the open source code that had served the community so well was the first \u201cproblem\u201d to solve. As long as random iterations of products associating themselves with NXT were floating around, the lack of consistency with the protocol would make raising capital nearly impossible. To ensure basic standards and security measures were upheld, Jelurida immediately began requiring licensing fees for all private use and customizations of the NXT source code. From there, Jelurida began several successful rounds of fundraising for NXT 2.0, which had come to be known as Ardor and Ignis.\n\nInitially, NXT focused on packing as many features as possible into one blockchain \u2014 a swiss army knife of sorts. All those features meant too much data, so when version 2.0 launched in January 2018, the ecosystem was re-envisioned as a key ring to solve the issue of bloat. A Parent Chain, Ardor, with the sole purpose of establishing consensus sits at the center of the ecosystem providing verification and security to all users. The advanced functionalities of NXT were cloned into a Child Chain, known as Ignis. Ignis allows users to perform those more advanced functions, such as voting and messaging, on a separate blockchain. When the data is actually ready for transmission, Ardor (the Parent Chain), performs consensus on the transactions of the Child Chain. Businesses can then clone Ignis and create their own customizable Child Chains (public or private) with all those built in functionalities, 0 fees, and data transmissions secured by Ardor. As more functions are developed, more Child Chains and functionalities can be added to Ardor\u2019s \u201ckey ring,\u201d and the Parent Chain can remain focused on the simple task of data verification and security.\n\nIn essence, \u201cBlockchain as a Service\u201d is now a reality. Remind me again when the Bitcoin Lightning Network launches?"}
-{"text": "A research paper published by the Paris School of Economics and UC Berkeley has revealed the true level of economic inequality in Russia in 2017, as well as some startling facts about Russia\u2019s offshore wealth.\n\nAccording to the paper, the total volume of offshore capital kept by Russians exceeds over three times the level of the country\u2019s foreign exchange reserves. This number is somewhere around 75% of Russia\u2019s GDP, and it is growing.\n\nMany in Russia will be unsurprised by such figures, corruption being a particularly poignant motive for political protest in 2017 after Alexey Navalny\u2019s Anti-Corruption Fund took to exposing the enormous hidden wealth of some of Russia\u2019s most recognisable public figures.\n\nHowever, the report lays bare some shocking realities: \u201cAs much money is kept abroad in Britain, Switzerland, Cyprus and other such offshore centres, as is kept inside Russia by the entire Russian population.\u201d\n\nThe Panama Papers leak in 2015 surprised many when among the millions of leaked documents was a paper trail that connected Vladimir Putin with billions of dollars of concealed wealth that had been syphoned through some of his closest associates.\n\nAccording to Rosstat, Russia\u2019s state statistics organisation, Russia\u2019s GDP was valued in 2015 at 81 trillion rubles. If we work by the calculations of the research paper\u2019s authors, it turns out that the total offshore wealth of Russians is around 60,75 trillion rubles, a little over one trillion US dollars.\n\nThe paper also shows that financial inequality in Russia has risen since the 1990s, despite the average Russian\u2019s yearly expenses having risen by approximately 40% from around 16,000 euros in the early 1990s, to 24,000 in 2016. Just 1% of the wealthiest Russians control 20-25% of the country\u2019s GDP.\n\n\u201cWe have established that inequality has increased significantly more in Russia than in China and the former Communist countries of Eastern Europe, and we attribute this to the particular transitional strategy that Russia employed.\u201d\n\nThe authors of the report suggest that Russia\u2019s current economic situation and the current levels of financial inequality are far from ideal circumstances for normal development in the country. They also claim that the data on inequality is \u201csignificantly underestimated\u201d, the consequences of which may come to light in a very unpleasant form under Vladimir Putin\u2019s next term in office.\n\nExperts, dissidents and politicians alike agree that endemic corruption is one of, if not the most, pressing issue in today\u2019s Russia. The path towards a more democratic Russia, with more power and autonomy vested in local government, is obstructed by those who wish to keep this system alive for their own personal gain."}
-{"text": "From World's Work, October 1926 pp. 613-616.\n\nHENRY FORD: Why I Favor Five Days' Work With Six Days' Pay\n\nThe automobile manufacturer in this authorized interview tells Mr. Crowther why he reduced the working week in Ford plants all over the world to forty hours with no cut in pay*\n\nBy SAMUEL CROWTHER\n\nJUST twelve years ago, Henry Ford made an announcement which, for the moment, turned industry upside down and brought workmen by the tens of thousands storming for jobs. His announcement was that thereafter the minimum wage in his industries would be five dollars for a day of eight hours. At that time a good wage was two dollars and a half for a day of ten hours. Now he makes another announcement far more important than the one which then went round the world.\n\n\n\n\"We have,\" he said, \"decided upon and at once put into effect through all the branches of our industries the five day week. Hereafter there will be no more work with us on Saturdays and Sundays. These will be free days, but the men, according to merit, will receive the same pay equivalent as for a full six day week. A day will continue to be eight hours, with no overtime.\n\n\n\n\"For the present this will not apply to the railroad, and of course it cannot apply to watchmen or the men on certain jobs where the processes must be continuous. Some of these men will have to work Saturdays and Sundays, but they constitute less than one per cent. of our working force, and each of them will have two consecutive days off some time during the week. In short, we have changed our calendar and now count a week as five days or forty hours.\n\n\n\n\"The actual work week of the factories as distinguished from the work week of the men will also be cut to five days. For of course an eight hour man day is not the same as an eight hour factory day. In order to make the full use of our plants we shall as before work the men in shifts. We found long ago, however, that it does not pay to put men at work, excepting in continuous operations, from midnight until morning. As a part of low cost production -- and only low cost production can pay high wages -- one must have a big investment in machinery and power plants. Expensive tools cannot remain idle. They ought to work twenty-four hours a day, but here the human element comes in, for although many men like to work all night and have part of their day free, they do not work so well and hence it is not economical, or at least that is our experience, to go through the full twenty-four hours. But a modern factory has to work more than eight hours a day. It cannot be idle two thirds of the time, else it will be costly.\n\n\n\n\"This decision to put into effect the short work week is not sudden. We have been going toward it for three or four years. We have been feeling our way. We have during much of this time operated on a five day basis. But we have paid only for five days and not for six. And whenever a department was especially rushed it went back to six days -- to forty-eight hours. Now we know from our experience in changing from six to five days and back again that we can get at least as great production in five days as we can in six, and we shall probably get a greater, for the pressure will bring better methods. A full week's wage for a short week's work will pay.\"\n\n\n\n\"Does this mean,\" I asked, \"that your present minimum wage of six dollars a day will become a fraction over seven dollars a day that is, the minimum for five days' work will still be thirty-six dollars, just as it was for six days?\"\n\n\n\n\"We are now working out the wage schedules,\" answered Mr. Ford. \" We have stopped thinking in terms of a minimum wage. That belongs to yesterday, before we quite knew what paying high wages meant. Now so few people get the minimum wage that we do not bother about it at all. We try to pay a man what he is worth and we are not inclined to keep a man who is not worth more than the minimum wage.\n\n\n\n\"The country is ready for the five day week. It is bound to come through all industry. In adopting it ourselves, we are putting it into effect in about fifty industries, for we are coal miners, iron miners, lumbermen, and so on. The short week is bound to come, because without it the country will not be able to absorb its production and stay prosperous.\n\n\n\n\"The harder we crowd business for time, the more efficient it becomes. The more well-paid leisure workmen get, the greater become their wants. These wants soon become needs. Well-managed business pays high wages and sells at low prices. Its workmen have the leisure to enjoy life and the wherewithal with which to finance that enjoyment.\n\n\n\n\"The industry of this country could not long exist if factories generally went back to the ten hour day, because the people would not have the time to consume the goods produced. For instance, a workman would have little use for an automobile if he had to be in the shops from dawn until dusk. And that would react in countless directions, for the automobile, by enabling people to get about quickly and easily, gives them a chance to find out what is going on in the world-which leads them to a larger life that requires more food, more and better goods, more books, more music -- more of everything. The benefits of travel are not confined to those who can take an expensive foreign trip. There is more to learn in this country than there is abroad.\n\n\n\n\"Just as the eight hour day opened our way to prosperity, so the five day week will open our way to a still greater prosperity.\n\n\n\n\"Of course, there is a humanitarian side to the shorter day and the shorter week, but dwelling on that side is likely to get one into trouble, for then leisure may be put before work instead of after work -- where it belongs. Twenty years ago, introducing the eight hour day generally would have made for poverty and not for wealth. Five years ago, introducing the five day week would have had the same result. The hours of labor are regulated by the organization of work and by nothing else. It is the rise of the great corporation with its ability to use power, to use accurately designed machinery, and generally to lessen the wastes in time, material, and human energy that made it possible to bring in the eight hour day. Then, also, there is the saving through accurate workmanship. Unless parts are a made accurately, the benefits of quantity production will be lost-for the parts will not fit together and the economy of making will be lost in the assembling. Further progress along the same lines has made it possible to bring in the five day week. The progression has been a natural one.\n\n\n\n\"The eight hour day law to-day only confirms what industry had already discovered, If it were otherwise, then the law would make for poverty instead of for wealth. A man cannot be paid a wage in excess of his production. In the old days, before we had management and power, a man had to work through a long day in order to get a bare living. Now the long day would retard both production and consumption. At the present time the fixing by law of a an five day week would be unwise, because industry is not ready for it, but a great part of industry is ready, and within a comparatively short time I believe the practice will be so general in industry that it be made universal,\n\n\n\n\"It is high time to rid ourselves of the notion that leisure for workmen is either 'lost time' or a class privilege.\n\n\n\n\"Nature fixed the first limits of labor, need the next, man's inhumanity to man had something to do with it for a long time, but now we may say that economic law will finish the job.\n\n\n\n\"Old-fashioned employers used to object to the number of holidays in this country. They said that people only abused leisure and would be better off without so much of it.\n\n\n\n\"Only lately a French professor accounted for the increased consumption of alcohol by pointing to the eight hour day, which he denounced as a device which gives workingmen more time to drink.\n\n\n\n\"It will be generally granted that if men are to drink their families into poverty and themselves into degeneracy, the less spare time they have to devote to it the better. But this does not hold for the United States. We are ready for leisure. The prohibition law, through the greater part of the country, has made it possible for men and their families really to enjoy leisure. A day off is no longer a day drunk. And also a day off is not something so rare that it has to be celebrated.\n\n\n\n\"This is not to say that leisure may not be dangerous. Everything that is good is also dangerous -- when mishandled. When we put our five dollar minimum wage for an eight hour day into effect some years ago, we had to watch many of our men to see what use they made of their spare time and money. We found a few men taking on extra jobs -- some worked the day shift with us and the night shift in another factory. Some of the men drank their extra pay. Others banked the surplus money and went on-living just as they had lived before. But in a few years all adjusted themselves and we withdrew most of our supervision as unnecessary.\n\n\n\n\"It is not necessary to bring in sentiment at all in this whole question of leisure for workers. Sentiment has no place in industry. In the olden days those who thought that leisure was harmful usually had an interest in the products of industry. The mill-owner seldom saw the benefit of leisure time for his employees, unless he could work up his emotions. Now we can look at leisure as a cold business fact.\n\n\n\n\"It is not easy so to look at leisure, for age-old custom viewed leisure as 'lost time' -time taken out of production. It was a suspension of the proper business of the world. The thought about leisure usually went no further than that here were hard-driven working people who should have a little surcease from their labors. The motive was purely humane. There was nothing practical about it. The leisure was a loss -- which a good employer might take from his profits.\n\n\n\n\"That the Devil finds work for idle hands to do is probably true. But there is a profound difference between leisure and idleness. We must not confound leisure with shiftlessness. Our people are perfectly capable of using to good advantage the time that they have off -- after work. That has already been demonstrated to us by our experiments during the last several years. We find that the men come back after a two day holiday so fresh and keen that they are able to put their minds as well as their hands into their work.\n\n\n\n\"Perhaps they do not use their spare time to the best advantage. That is not for us to say, provided their work is better than it was when they did not have spare time. We are not of those who claim to be able to tell people how to use their time out of the shops. We have faith that the average man will find his own best way -- even though that way may not exactly fit with the programs of the social reformers. We do know that many of the men have been building houses for themselves, and to meet their demand for good and cheap lumber we have established a lumber yard where they can buy wood from our own forests. The men help each other out in this building and thus are meeting for themselves one of the problems in the high cost of living.\n\n\n\n\"We think that, given the chance, people will become more and more expert in the effective use of leisure. And we are giving the chance.\n\n\n\n\"But it is the influence of leisure on consumption which makes the short day and, the short week so necessary. The people who consume the bulk of goods are the people who make them. That is a fact we must never forget -- that is the secret of our prosperity.\n\n\n\n\"The economic value of leisure has not found its way into the thought of industrial leaders to any great extent. While the old idea of 'lost time' has departed, and it is no longer believed that the reduction of the labor day from twelve hours to eight hours has decreased production, still the positive industrial value -- the dollars and cents value -- of leisure, is not understood.\n\n\n\n\"The hours of the labor day were increased in Germany under the delusion that thus the production might be increased. It is quite possibly being decreased. With the decrease of the length of the working day in the United States an increase of production has come, because better methods of disposing of men's time have been accompanied by better methods of disposing of their energy. And thus one good thing has brought on another.\n\n\n\n\"These angles are quite familiar. There is another angle, however, which we must largely reckon with -- the positive industrial value of leisure, because it increases consumption.\n\n\n\n\"Where people work longest and with least leisure, they buy the fewest goods. No towns were so poor as those of England where the people, from children up, worked fifteen and sixteen hours a day. They were poor because these overworked people soon wore out -- they became less and less valuable as workers. Therefore, they earned less and less and could buy less and less.\n\n\n\n\"Business is the exchange of goods. Goods are bought only as they meet needs. Needs are filled only as they are felt. They make themselves felt largely in leisure hours. The man who worked fifteen and sixteen hours a day desired only a comer to be in and a hunk of food. He had no time to cultivate new needs. No industry could ever be built up by filling his needs, because he had none but the most primitive.\n\n\n\n\"Think how restricted business is in those lands where both men and women still work all day long! They have no time to let the needs of their lives be felt. They have no leisure to buy. They do not expand.\n\n\n\n\"When, in American industry, women were released from the necessity of factory work and became the buyers for the family, business began to expand. The American wife, as household purchasing agent, has both leisure and money, and the first has been just as important as the second in the development of American business.\n\n\n\n\"The five day week simply carries this thought farther.\n\n\n\n\"The people with a five day week will consume more goods than the people with a six day week. People who have more leisure must have more clothes. They must have a greater variety of food. They must have more transportation facilities. They naturally must have more service of various kinds.\n\n\n\n\"This increased consumption will require greater production than we now have. Instead of business being slowed up because the people are 'off work,' it will be speeded up, because the people consume more in their leisure than in their working time. This will lead to more work. And this to more profits. And this to more wages. The result of more leisure will be the exact opposite of what most people might suppose it to be.\n\n\n\n\"Management must keep pace with this new demand -- and it will. It is the intersection of power and machinery in the hands of management which has made the shorter day and the shorter week possible. That is a fact which it is well not to forget.\n\n\n\n\"Naturally, services cannot go on the five day basis. Some must be continuous and others are not yet so organized that they can arrange for five days a week. But if the task is set of getting more done in five days than we now do in six, then management will find the way.\n\n\n\n\"The five day week is not the ultimate, and neither is the eight hour day. It is enough to manage what we are equipped to manage and to let the future take care of itself. It will anyway. That is its habit. But probably the next move will be in the direction of shortening the day rather than the week.\""}
-{"text": "Kodari, May 29\n\nAfter four years and one month since its closing, the Tatopani border point between Nepal and Chinese autonomous region of Tibet has reopened.\n\nThe major customs point between the two countries was closed after the 2015 earthquake destroyed various infrastructures in the area including roads and office buildings.\n\nSince then, most of the commercial activities between the two countries were operated through Rasuwagadhi border point. However, the government of Nepal and traders had been pressing China for the reopening of Tatopani border citing easy access road and its proximity with Kathmandu. It was also discussed in many bilateral meetings.\n\nNepal\u2019s Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Matrika Yadav, a minister from the Tibet government and Chinese ambassador to Nepal, Hou Yanqi, attended a special ceremony held at the border point to mark the reopening. On the occasion, four trucks carrying wool were sent to Nepal.\n\nThough China seemed reluctant to reopen the border point initially, it seems to have given a significant value to the reopening now. Ambassador Hou was staying in the area since Tuesday while many Chinese media covered the event this morning."}
-{"text": "PM Narendra Modi addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 27, 2019. (Reuters photo)\n\nPrime Minister Narendra Modi skipped any reference to Pakistan in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday and underlined that the only message from the world\u2019s largest democracy to the general assembly was one of \u201charmony and peace\u201d.\n\nPM Modi\u2019s speech covered diverse issues such as climate change, sustainable development goals and assistance for small islands, a sharp contrast to the one that his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan has promised to deliver that will focus on Kashmir \u201clike never before\u201d.\n\nWatch | PM Modi at UNGA: Harmony, peace is our message not dissension\n\nThis is the first time that Pakistan has not been mentioned in an Indian address \u2014 by the prime minister or the external affairs minister \u2014 in the General Assembly address in eight years. The only time India omitted Pakistan from its speech in the last decade was in 2011.\n\nPakistan figured 10 times in 2010, five times in 2013, five times in 2014 and three, six, 15 and 12 times over the next four years.\n\nPM Modi, however, did get his message across. He spoke in some detail about terrorism, reminding the world leaders that the lack of unanimity among them was hurting everyone.\n\n\u201cWe believe terrorism is one of the biggest challenges, not for any single country, but for the entire world and humanity,\u201d Narendra Modi said.\n\nIndia\u2019s \u201cvoice against terrorism to alert the world about its evil rings with seriousness and outrage,\u201d he said."}
-{"text": "In late 2010, on the eve of the Arab Spring uprisings, a Tunisian blogger asked Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah what democratic nations should do to help cyber\u00adactivists in the Middle East. Abdel Fattah, who had spent time in jail under Hosni Mubarak\u2019s regime, argued that if Western democracies wanted to support the region\u2019s Internet activists, they should put their own houses in order. He called on the world\u2019s democracies to \u201cfight the troubling trends emerging in your own backyards\u201d that \u201cgive our own regimes great excuses for their own actions.\u201d\n\nThe ominous developments that Abdel Fattah warned about are on display in Washington today in the battle over two anti-piracy bills. This fight is just the latest example of how difficult it is for even an established democracy to protect both intellectual property and intellectual freedom on the Internet \u2014 all while keeping people safe, too. It is a challenge that Congress has historically failed to meet.\n\nBut Washington is waking up to the new reality: Politics as usual is not compatible with the Internet age, especially when it comes to laws and regulations governing the Web. And the Internet\u2019s key players \u2014 along with millions of passionate users who have tended to view Washington as disconnected from their lives \u2014 are realizing that they can\u2019t ignore what happens on Capitol Hill. Both sides must now face the long-simmering culture clash between Washington and the Internet, with implications that go far beyond a temporary Wikipedia blackout.\n\nWashington targets isolated, static problems.\n\nOn the Web, everything is connected and changing quickly.\n\nPoliticians started fighting over Internet policy in earnest in the mid-1990s, when the Web emerged as a serious platform for commerce as well as activities from pornography and crime to artistic expression and political activism. The first battles illustrated the perpetual problem with Internet laws: In seeking to protect people, they tend to be shortsighted and overly broad. To most critics, those were the main problems with the Senate anti-piracy bill known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA), which has been delayed pending changes, and the House measure, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which has been put on indefinite hold in the wake of a massive public outcry. Similar problems of scope and consequences trace back to the early days of Internet regulation.\n\nTake the bruising political battles over online pornography and indecency. In 1996, Congress passed the Communications Decency Act, making it a crime to \u201ctransmit\u201d indecent material to minors over the Internet. In 1997, the Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional. According to Justice John Paul Stevens, the law threatened to \u201ctorch a large segment of the Internet community\u201d because its language was too vague and would infringe on the free speech rights of adults.\n\nIn 1998, Congress tried again with the Child Online Protection Act, requiring all operators of commercial Internet services to restrict access by minors if their sites contained \u201cmaterial harmful to minors\u201d as defined by \u201ccontemporary community standards.\u201d The authors of the bill argued that the same legal logic that works in the physical world should work in the digital world and that protecting minors wouldn\u2019t limit adults\u2019 free expression.\n\nA decade-long legal battle ensued. The law was never enforced because the Supreme Court found that its definitions and remedies were too broad to avoid stifling protected speech among adults on the Internet.\n\nThe cost of getting the law wrong and failing to keep up with technological change is high. In 1986, at the dawn of the e-mail era and several years before the World Wide Web as we know it was invented, Congress passed the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which allows law enforcement authorities to request the contents of anybody\u2019s e-mail without any court order or warrant if the data is stored on the servers of a commercial third-party service for longer than 180 days. Why? Because back in 1986, long before the advent of Gmail, Hotmail and other Web-based services, let alone cloud computing, nobody imagined that people would want or need to store confidential information on remote servers for longer than that. Thus anything older than 180 days was considered abandoned.\n\nIn an effort to update the law, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, AT&T and a number of other companies have teamed up with civil liberties groups to lobby Congress. They have been stymied by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who are concerned about the political consequences of appearing soft on crime.\n\nLobbyists exert huge influence in Washington.\n\nMajor Internet players were late to the game.\n\nThe fight this past week is a prime example of lobbying in action. According to the campaign finance research company MapLight, during the 2010 election cycle the 32 congressional sponsors of SOPA received nearly $2 million in campaign contributions from the movie, music and TV entertainment industries, which support the bill, compared with slightly more than $500,000 in donations from the software and Internet industries, which oppose it.\n\nThe Internet industry \u2014 with its large percentage of start-ups and young businesses \u2014 has been slow to lobby, but the big players, led by Google, are scrambling to catch up. Google spent nearly $6 million on lobbying in 2011, according to Opensecrets.org. It threw a lavish holiday party for congressional staffers in December. Facebook has beefed up its Washington office from next to nothing in 2010. And Twitter hired a former congressional staffer to set up the company\u2019s office here this past year.\n\nBut as Alexis Ohanian of Reddit said this past week: \u201cWe spend our money innovating, not lobbying.\u201d\n\nThat hands-off attitude is partly responsible for SOPA and PIPA. For years, members of Congress have heard from constituents who want them to protect the nation from crime, terrorism and intellectual property violation. They have not faced equally robust demands that online rights and freedoms be preserved. Congress may not get the Internet, but the Internet doesn\u2019t get Congress, either.\n\nMore than a decade ago, Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig wrote a book about how computer code acts as a kind of law, in that it shapes what people can and cannot do in their digital lives. And, as our digital lives become increasingly intertwined with the physical, it shapes our freedoms as well.\n\nThe faith that brilliant and fast-moving feats of engineering and computer code will ultimately triumph over Washington\u2019s legal code is one of many reasons most people in Silicon Valley have been inclined to focus on technical solutions to problems, rather than spending their time and money on politics.\n\nInternet companies created the social-media tools that fueled the tea party and Occupy Wall Street insurgencies, and that have helped political candidates rally grass-roots support. Yet before this past week, those companies had not really tapped the power of their own tools to lobby against legislation that runs counter to their interests. Wednesday\u2019s Internet \u201cstrike\u201d changed that, allowing Web firms to show political muscle in ways that the entertainment industry cannot easily duplicate.\n\nTo stay safe in real life, we give up some liberty.\n\nOnline, we\u2019re not ready to sacrifice freedoms.\n\nIn 1996, Grateful Dead lyricist and Internet activist John Perry Barlow wrote \u201cA Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace.\u201d \u201cGovernments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace,\u201d he wrote. \u201cOn behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.\u201d\n\nIn the 16 years since, the government has certainly not left cyberspace alone \u2014 because many of \u201cus\u201d have sought its protection from the criminals, pedophiles, bullies, industrial spies, racists, terrorists and others who have invaded the Internet.\n\nMost of us do want the government, which shapes legal code, and the companies, which shape computer code, to defend us against attack and theft: We pay them to do so by giving up a little of our freedom and giving them our taxes, subscription dollars and mouse clicks.\n\nHowever, the lawmaking norm leans more toward eliminating rather than managing threats online, be they cyber-attacks or intellectual property theft. It has somehow become acceptable to pass laws that presume Internet users are guilty until proven innocent. The Patriot Act and other legislation enable government agents to access a vast range of U.S. citizens\u2019 private digital communications without a warrant \u2014 or even a suspicion that a specific individual may be involved in a crime, as the law requires for most physical searches.\n\nSOPA also erred on the side of eliminating threats. To protect intellectual property, the law sought to make Web sites liable for their users\u2019 activities. This would mean sites would have to monitor all users and block any transmissions or postings that could possibly result in a copyright violation charge.\n\nWashington is driven by geography.\n\nThe Internet is global.\n\nCyberspace, as Justice Stevens pointed out in his 1997 opinion striking down the Communications Decency Act, is a \u201cunique medium . . . located in no particular geographical location but available to anyone, anywhere in the world, with access to the Internet.\u201d\n\nThus a congressman from Iowa can vote \u201cyea\u201d on a bill that ends up affecting Internet users in Bahrain, who have no way of holding him accountable. That is in part because many globally popular online platforms are headquartered in the United States. Moreover, Web services based outside the country that want to be accessible to American users must also comply with U.S. legislation, affecting their users everywhere else.\n\nIn addition, governments around the world tend to copy regulations and laws enacted in North America and Europe, particularly when they provide an opportunity to exercise government power through the Internet. In Tunisia, where a new democracy is striving to take root after toppling a dictator one year ago, Islamists and other conservatives point to laws recently passed or proposed in Western democratic countries as evidence that they are in the global mainstream as they seek to reinstate censorship.\n\nFor these reasons, activists around the world had good reason to worry that an anti-piracy bill such as SOPA would force overseas Web sites, if they want American audiences, to set up monitoring and censorship mechanisms. Once in place, these would give governments a new set of excuses to demand user information and removal of content.\n\nFor neither the first time nor the last time, Washington is trying to wield power over the Internet in a manner that many Americans believe lacks the consent of the governed, let alone the consent of the networked. After Wednesday\u2019s protests, the anti-piracy bills are effectively dead or indefinitely delayed. But that doesn\u2019t mean the revolution has succeeded.\n\nThe computer coding pros \u2014 and the millions who depend on their products \u2014 have said \u201cno\u201d to legal code they hate. But killing a bad bill is only the first step. The next and more vital step is political innovation. Without a major upgrade, this political system will keep on producing legal code that is Internet-incompatible.\n\nRebecca MacKinnon is the author of the forthcoming \u201cConsent of the Networked:The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom\u201d and a Schwartz senior fellow at the New America Foundation. Follow her on Twitter @rmack.\n\nRead more from Outlook, friend us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter."}
-{"text": "News\n\nYoung Rebels Vorschau\n\n+++ U17 zu Gast an der Weser +++ U16 reist zum JFV Nordwest +++ U15 empf\u00e4ngt Werder Bremen +++\n\nSV Werder Bremen (6.) - FC St. Pauli U17 (8.)\n\nSo., 11.10., 13 Uhr / SVW - Platz 12 (Franz-B\u00f6hmert-Str. 7, 28205 Bremen)\n\nSowohl der SV Werder Bremen als auch die Kiezkicker von Coach Timo Schultz befinden sich momentan im Mittelfeld der Tabelle. Die Gr\u00fcn-Wei\u00dfen sind die Remisk\u00f6nige der Liga, in sieben Partien hat die Mannschaft bereits viermal die Punkte geteilt. Auch in der vergangenen Woche gab es ein 2:2 bei Tennis Borussia Berlin. Dass Werder so viele Tore in einem Spiel kassiert, ist allerdings die absolute Ausnahme. Erst f\u00fcnf Gegentore in der bisherigen Saison bedeuten Rekord in der Liga. Unsere U17 konnte am vergangenen Wochenende den 1. FC Magdeburg klar mit 4:1 besiegen und will nat\u00fcrlich auch in Bremen versuchen, etwas Z\u00e4hlbares mit nach Hamburg tzunehmen. Mit einem Sieg k\u00f6nnten die Boys in Brown einige Pl\u00e4tze nach oben springen und sich im Mittelfeld der Tabelle festsetzen.\n\nJFV Nordwest (9.) - FC St. Pauli U16 (10.)\n\nSa., 10.10., 13:30 Uhr / A-Platz (Maastrichter Str., 26123 Oldenburg)\n\nZwei direkte Tabellennachbarn treffen am Sonnabend in Oldenburg aufeinander. Zwar rangiert unsere U16 derzeit einen Platz hinter dem JFV, allerdings haben die Kiezkicker auch eine Partie weniger als der Konkurrent absolviert. F\u00fcr das Team von Coach Malte Schlichtkrull geht es darum, nach zuletzt zwei Partien ohne Niederlage weiter zu punkten, um aus einem ordentlichen Saisonstart einen guten zu machen. Die braun-wei\u00dfe Defensive pr\u00e4sentiert sich bisher \u00e4u\u00dferst sattelfest - drei Gegentore bedeuten Spitzenwert in der Liga, allerdings konnten die Braun-Wei\u00dfen bisher auch erst drei Tore bejubeln. Daran wollen die Kiezkicker am Sonnabend selbstverst\u00e4ndlich arbeiten.\n\nFC St. Pauli U15 (4.) - SV Werder Bremen (3.)\n\nSa., 10.10., 14 Uhr / NLZ Brummerskamp (Brummerskamp 46, 22457 Hamburg)\n\nAuch die U15-Teams von Werder Bremen und dem FC St Pauli befinden sich in der Tabelle in direkter Nachbarschaft. Obwohl in der Vorwoche der m\u00f6gliche Derbysieg gegen den HSV durch den Ausgleich in der Nachspielzeit knapp verpasst wurde (Endstand: 3:3), hat Trainer Baris Tuncay erkannt: \"Wir k\u00f6nnen auch gegen die Top-Teams der Liga mithalten.\" In den oberen Regionen der Tabelle einmal angekommen, wollen sich die Kiezkicker dort auch festsetzen. Bei einem Sieg gegen die Gr\u00fcn-Wei\u00dfen, die ihre f\u00fcnf Ligaspiele allesamt gewinnen konnten, winkt Tabellenplatz drei als Belohnung. Gegen die beste Defensive der Liga, der SVW hat gerade einmal zwei Tore kassiert, wird das aber nat\u00fcrlich kein leichtes Unterfangen.\n\n(hb/th)\n\nFoto: Witters"}
-{"text": "I don't always lose my cell phone but when I do its on silent\n\n256,299 shares"}
-{"text": "Gallery from: FTV Girls\n\nIf you like your girls to be beautiful and carry a little extra weight then you\u2019ll love Danielle FTV because not only is she drop dead gorgeous but she\u2019s also a big girls with a curvy body and massive tits. She\u2019s lone been one of my favorites at FTV Girls and I\u2019m not alone she has a massive following, an almost army of men lusting after her beautiful body and who go above and beyond to add every picture of her to their collections.\n\nIn this photo set Danielle is wearing a white blouse and a short black skirt that barely covered her pussy let a lone her thick white ass. She unfastens her top buttons and lets her puppies fall out \u2013 100% natural. Today, she hasn\u2019t bothered wearing any panties and as she crosses her legs we get our first sight of her amazing pussy. She then turns to face the camera and shows her sexy feet, spreading her cute toes. And then finally Danielle starts to get naughty stuffing not one but two lollipops in to her already sweet pussy. I only wish there was a Danielle FTV webcam show where I could go and chat with her. I\u2019d pay a lot of money for some intimate one on one chat with Danielle."}
-{"text": "About This Game\n\nRed Baron Manual. This digital scan of the original Red Baron manual contains a wealth of information, including detailed history on World War I along with its airplanes, aces and flight strategies.\n\n\n\nThis digital scan of the original Red Baron manual contains a wealth of information, including detailed history on World War I along with its airplanes, aces and flight strategies. Red Baron Maps. The historically accurate World War I maps originally bundled with Red Baron are included as digital scans.\n\n\n\nThe historically accurate World War I maps originally bundled with Red Baron are included as digital scans. Red Baron Reference Cards. The original reference cards accompanying Red Baron are included as digital scans.\n\nRed Baron 3D Manual. Like its original counterpart, this digital scan of the Red Baron 3D manual is filled with game tips, strategies and World War I history.\n\n\n\nLike its original counterpart, this digital scan of the Red Baron 3D manual is filled with game tips, strategies and World War I history. Red Baron 3D Reference Cards. The original reference cards accompanying Red Baron 3D are included as digital scans.\n\nFly on either side of the war as a British pilot in the Royal Flying Crops or a German pilot in the German Air Service.\n\n\n\nIncludes 28 different aircraft, including the Sopwith Camel, The D.H.2 Pusher, the Spad 7, the Albatros D.III, the Fokker Triplane, and many others.\n\n\n\nUnique mission record feature lets you record an entire mission to disk\u2014jump back into the game at any point to begin playing again!\n\n\n\nAccurately detailed 3Space worlds including the length of the German-French front, Verdun, the Somme, Paris, and London.\n\n\n\nPlay Single Mission or enlist for the full tour in Campaign Play with more than 40 missions played back-to-back from 1915 to 1918. Progress in skill and rank, and become eligible for medals and awards, including the coveted Victoria Cross and Blue Max.\n\n\n\n200 page manual complete with maps, technical specifications, historical backgrounds, pilot profiles, and aerial tactics.\n\nReturn to the classic Red Baron games with this digital collection featuring the original Red Baron, Red Baron 3D, the Mission Builder and high-quality scans of the original manuals, maps and reference cards.Immerse yourself in the thrill of spectacular World War I dogfights in this timeless classic set in an age when wooden biplanes and triplanes ruled the air.Includes the following bonus content:Experience updated graphics, improved mechanics and full multiplayer support in this critically acclaimed sequel to the original Red Baron game.Includes the following bonus content:-World War I PilotThe year is 1914 \u2014 it is the dawn of World War I. Patriotic fervor runs high as young men across Europe prepare for a new age. For the first time ever, men will take to the air with the sole objective of blasting another airplane from the sky. Aviation is yet in its infancy. There are no books, no teachers \u2014 here and now, these young pilots must invent the skills and strategies that will keep them alive. Only the very best will survive, and they will perfect an artform all their own. These are the Aces, and this is the birth of aerial combat.takes you back to this bygone era, where you will experience the look, feel, and theof aerial warfare in W.W.I Engage in close-range dogfights, go balloon-busting to take out the aerial eyes of the enemy, take on Zeppelins, escort bombers deep into enemy territory, go undercover in nighttime missionsgo head-to-head with such famous Aces as the Red Baron himself!Features"}
-{"text": "US Presswire What do these three have in common? They've all managed to put off The Change. What do these three have in common? They've all managed to put off The Change.\n\nI was there when it happened to Julius Erving: Nov. 9, 1984, Philly at Boston, the night his five-year rivalry with Larry Bird went up in smoke. Bird outscored Erving 42-6 in three quarters before words were exchanged and, incredibly, two of the league's biggest stars started fighting at midcourt. Imagine two kids getting their picture taken with Santa, then imagine their faces if Santa got into a brawl with the Easter Bunny. That was Bird fighting Erving. Their scuffle was so preposterous that it overshadowed the real story: Julius Erving had gone through The Change. He was great, and then he wasn't. And it happened overnight.\n\nSift through NBA history and you'll notice that, for modern superstars, The Change occurred somewhere between the 900th and 1,200th career game (including playoffs) for everyone except Karl Malone and John Stockton, who fended it off because of their extraordinary work ethics, their signature play (an unstoppable pick-and-roll that they could have run into their 50s), Utah's altitude (which may have given them a conditioning advantage) and the little-known fact John Stockton is actually an alien. An NBA career is really pressure over time: knees are Shawshank's prison wall, games are Andy's rock hammer, and that hammer just keeps chipping away. Eventually, your career gives out. That's the rule.\n\nOr, that was the rule. Because Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki and Kobe Bryant are fending off that rock hammer in ways that have to make us wonder if we're headed for a historical revamping along the lines of the steroids era blowing up baseball like an \"Angry Birds\" grenade. Everything we thought we knew about basketball is changing ... and for all the right reasons, too. (Well, unless you're Rashard Lewis and O.J. Mayo.) They are beneficiaries of undeniable advantages over everyone who played before them: better doctors, surgical procedures, dieting, drug testing, trainers, computers, video equipment, workout equipment, workout regiments, airplanes ... even pillows are better.\n\nCheck out the career numbers (regular season and playoffs) for Allen, Pierce, Nash, Nowitzki and Bryant for games, minutes, minutes per game and seasons played.\n\nAll right, get ready for a second group of perimeter stars that also includes two other pieces of information: the season they went through The Change, as well as their drop in win shares from the previous season. (Note: I'm not a huge fan of win shares, especially because the stat doesn't show how someone like Jason Kidd or Gary Payton slipped defensively almost overnight, but it's the simplest statistical way to show a player's decline.) And keep in mind, Bird's career and Magic's career ended prematurely; Jordan missed multiple seasons because of his two retirements; and Kidd is obviously still playing (post-Change). Anyway ...\n\nTranslation: If you're a perimeter guy, no matter how talented you are, you should go downhill between Season 12 and Season 14 unless you're a freak shooter (like Miller) or an actual alien (like Stockton). So how do you explain our five aforementioned career freaks? Let's look at them again through last Wednesday's games measured by the per-36 minute averages for points/rebounds/assists, field goals/free throws/3s attempted, and percentages for field goals/free throws/3s, as well as advanced metrics for usage rate (the percentage of possessions which involve that player when he's on the floor), player efficiency and win shares per 48 minutes:\n\nI know, I know. You expected a sports column, not an AP math exam. But for each player, the differences between 2008 and 2011 are so subtle, you can barely tell the years apart. If Jennifer Aniston looks as good three years from now as she does right now, you'll know she had some work done. If Obama's hair doesn't look any grayer than it does right now, you'll know he colored it. But five elite players defying all laws of career gravity like that?\n\nReally, it's the first wave of something Malcolm Gladwell and I tackled 13 months ago, when we wondered if Kobe's generation would accomplish things we had never seen before. I listed those modern advantages (training, dieting, etc) and mentioned that basketball players have a better chance of succeeding now. Gladwell piggybacked the point by bringing up capitalization rates (how efficiently any group makes use of its talent), deciding that \"there isn't more talent than before, but there is -- for a variety of reasons -- a more efficient use of talent.\" Somehow we never connected the dots to Gladwell's concept of outliers: that outside factors can affect someone's success or failure more than we realize.\n\nNash, Pierce, Kobe, Allen and Nowitzki? NBA outliers. All of them. Their extended primes might last 15-20 percent longer than anything we've seen from a perimeter player before. A closer look:\n\nNash: He's already the career free throw percentage leader (and along with Mark Price, one of two players over 90 percent). He should be able to leapfrog GP, Isiah, Oscar and Magic on the career assists chart and settle at No. 3 (behind Stockton and Kidd). And if he bumps his career field goal percentage from 49.1 percent to 49.5 percent, he could retire as a virtual 50-40-90 guy.\n\nTwenty years ago, Nash's troublesome back would have derailed his career much like Tim Hardaway, Kevin Johnson and Mark Price were betrayed by their bodies. No more. In 2011, if you take care of your body, your body will take care of you. When Steve Nash turns 38 next month, he will be playing point guard at a level that nobody 35 years old has played it. Unless, of course, he snaps because his bosses blew up a Western Conference finalist and saddled him with Vince Carter (the one guy in the league who represents everything that Nash is metaphorically against), then either retires or hires Robert Horry to repeatedly body-block him into a scorer's table until his back gives out.\n\nPierce: This has been his \"Linda Hamilton in 'Terminator 2'\" season -- he showed up in spectacular shape and swayed his Hall of Fame chances. With Pierce's shooting touch, high basketball IQ and herky-jerky half-court game, I see him playing at this level for two more seasons after this one, followed by a three-year drop-off and retirement ... and if it plays out that way, he's a serious threat to retire with 27,500 points (moving him into the top nine all time) and official John Havlicek 2.0 status. It's true. Insert \"lame joke from a Lakers fan saying that Springfield needs to get the wheelchair ready\" here.\n\nAllen: I hope you enjoyed the \"Reggie Miller versus Ray Allen\" debate. It's been over for a year. Right now, Ray ranks second in 3-pointers made (2,543, just 17 behind Reggie; nobody else is within 800 of them) and second in 3s attempted (6,388), only he's made 40 percent of them (one of 40 players who can say that). He's also the fourth-best free throw shooter ever (89.4 percent). Given his phenomenal work ethic, we can safely say 25,000 points, 3,000 made 3s and a 45-40-90 career percentages are in play. I just don't think we're seeing that again. His extended prime made him the most efficient shooting guard who ever lived; throw in his clutch shooting numbers (see sidebar) and it's been a wildly underrated career.\n\nOther than Reggie, you know who the biggest loser is here? Sam Presti, who made a totally defensible trade when he was rebuilding Seattle around Kevin Durant in 2007 (Allen and the rights to Glen Davis for the rights to Jeff Green, Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak's expiring contract) and never imagined he was giving up five or six more killer Ray Allen seasons. I can't wait for the \"40 for 40\" documentary about the 2007 draft in 10 years.\n\nNowitzki: I can't decide if he's moving into the Barkley/Malone discussion (for best modern power forward not named Tim Duncan or Larry Bird) or the Larry Bird/Rick Barry discussion (for best offensive forward ever), but there's definitely been some moving. It's a junior version of the Kobe/Michael thing: Nowitzki's peak can't come close to matching Bird's peak, but his freaky consistency and legendary summer work ethic makes a Bird/Nowitzki career comparison closer than you'd think.\n\nFor 11 straight seasons, he's been the best player on a contender. Grab any Dirk season from 2001 to 2011 and it will look something close to his career numbers (22.6 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 48 percent FG, 38 percent 3FG, 88 percent FT, 23.8 PER, 0.213 WS/48, 27.0 usage rate, 58.1 true shooting). And he hasn't slipped even a little. I asked ESPN's Marc Stein, the Gayle to Dirk's Oprah, whether 2011 Dirk looks any different than 2001 Dirk or 2007 Dirk. His response: \"He's a little creakier, but it's not like his first step was ever the key to his game. He's shooting the ball as well as he ever has. He's like a surgeon now, he just carves up anything you throw at him. [Erik] Spoelstra told me that, too -- he said the stuff [Miami] did in 2006 just doesn't work anymore.\"\n\nQuick tangent: For whatever reason, basketball fans don't care about career NBA numbers like baseball fans care about baseball numbers. I see four reasons for this: (1) baseball has been around almost twice as long as basketball; (2) baseball's signature threshold numbers are famously identifiable (500, 3,000 and 300), as are the players who broke its major records, whereas your average sports fan would struggle to answer questions like \"Who leads the NBA in career scoring?\"; (3) statistics matter more in baseball because it's an individual sport; and (4) we need to throw ourselves into baseball statistics because the sport itself is so f------ boring. If we were eating lunch and I told you, \"Johnny Damon has 2,571 hits right now,\" that would mean something to you. If you're a true baseball fan, you would process that information in 0.008 seconds and think, \"He needs 429 for 3,000, that's doable!\" But if I told you \"Dirk Nowitzki has 21,925 points right now,\" you wouldn't think anything other than, \"That's a lot.\"\n\nWell, only 19 players have ever topped 25,000 points. Only 10 players (I'm including Kobe, who will get it next week) have topped 27,000. Only five players have topped 30,000. Only two (Kareem and Mailman) have topped 32,500. And then there's Dirk, who should be close to 23,000 by the end of this season and grinding out 1,700-1,900 points for at least three after that ... and we haven't even covered the final phase of his career, his late 30s, when he hangs on for an extra four years as the greatest version of Sam Perkins ever. Barring injury, we'll have our first foreign-born player in the 30,000 Point Club. Throw in longevity, durability and eye-popping shooting percentages (for his career, he's a 48-38-88 guy right now) and suddenly we're talking about one of the best 15-18 players ever and the best foreign-born player other than Hakeem. Pretty high stakes. Twenty years ago? He'd already be in the Fat Sam Perkins stage. With equally horrible hair.\n\nLast footnote on Dirk: With advanced metrics slowly taking over basketball for better and worse, Dirk should be one of the big retroactive winners historically, a little like how the sneaky-great Tim Raines dropped the \"sneaky\" about two years and 550 homicidally impassioned pro-Raines sabermetric essays ago. I was there for Dirk, and I was there for Bird. It's no contest. (These three YouTube clips explain everything: \"Why You Don't Mess With Larry Bird,\" \"Larry Bird 47 Points vs. Portland (the Left-handed Game)\" and \"Larry Bird Greatest Passer of All-Time.\") But Nowitzki's PER, win shares and true shooting percentages are better, and as long as you throw out MVPs, titles and overall impact, and you skew longevity, you can make a great case that Dirk Nowitzki was better than Larry Bird. I will now light my game-worn Bird jersey on fire with me in it.\n\nBryant: Not much at stake historically other than MJ's six rings, Kareem's scoring record, Magic's \"Greatest Laker Ever\" title and Jordan's undisputed title as the GOAT. You know, just the usual stuff. Even with some subtle signs of slippage -- specifically, his 3-point accuracy and his willingness/ability to get to the line, both reflections of an ailing right knee -- when I caught him in person on Tuesday night (the Utah blowout), it looked like the same Old New Kobe to me: he scored 21 points in 26 minutes, controlled the game and even shifted into Eff You Mode once (when Raja Bell angered him in the third quarter, prompting Kobe to demand the ball and then shoot a gorgeous 12-foot turnaround in his mug).\n\nHe's gone from being a breakaway running back to being one of those guys who grinds out 4.4 yards a carry. Keep the chains moving. That's all he does now. It's like he calculated exactly how many jumps his knees had left, put his last 435 or so quality bursts in reserve like Vin Diesel's nitrous canister in a \"Fast and Furious\" movie, then vowed never to break one out unless he absolutely needed it. On a breakaway in the third quarter on Tuesday, with fans screaming for a dunk, Kobe jumped off two feet and gingerly shoved the ball through the rim. Sorry, everybody. You can't waste that nitrous canister switch in a blowout.\n\nMaybe he'll never soar through the air like he once did, and maybe he no longer has the luxury of saying, \"We need a basket -- I think I'll just beat my guy off the dribble, get into the paint and beat their big guys to the rim\" like you or I would decide to go grocery shopping. But Kobe's arsenal of Jedi Mind Trick upfakes, stutter-steps, spin moves and start-and-stops rivals everything Jordan had. He brings it every quarter and every play, much like Jordan did, which is the highest compliment you can give somebody. And he knows Gasol, Fisher, Odom and Bynum so well by now that, as crazy as it sounds, Kobe's chemistry with his teammates might be his single best asset.\n\nYou could say he's delivering nearly the same production as before, just in a slightly different way: a less dominant version of Jordan's final Chicago season. For All-Star Weekend next month, NBA.com is creating highlight reels from every Kobe season since 1997; these sneak peeks from 1998 (his second season, when he had Griffin-like ups) and 2005 (his athletic prime) illustrate how much his game has changed over the years. Kobe 1.0 relied on phenomenal athletic ability alone. Kobe 2.0 blended that athletic ability with a scorer's mentality. Kobe 3.0 was basically Kobe 2.0 with better teammates and a better attitude. Now we're watching Kobe 4.0, someone who should be slipping ... only he wouldn't let it happen.\n\nOf course, if you believe what Kobe told Peter Vecsey last week in a rare interview, his body is starting to break down. Kobe admitted that he didn't practice for the first two months of the season and \"has very little cartilage under his right kneecap, it's basically bone on bone.\" Hmmmmmm. Could there be some gamesmanship there? Why would Kobe -- the guy who kept everything under wraps for so many years, the guy who tried to pretend last spring that beating Boston didn't matter because he didn't want to show any signs of weakness -- suddenly be admitting his mortality and pulling the Fred Sanford Memorial \"Look Out Elizabeth, I'm Coming To Join You!\" routine?\n\nWhatever his shelf life looks like, one thing's for sure: We've never seen anyone do this before. No perimeter player has ever made first- or second-team All-NBA after passing the 1,200-game mark; Kobe will almost definitely do it this year. He's going to hit 27,000 points next week in a season in which he passed Oscar, 'Nique, Ice, Hondo and (this weekend) Hakeem on the list. And he's fighting off The Change like nobody since Karl Malone.\n\nFull confession: I never liked Kobe. (Crap, you knew that. I forgot.) But it's tough watching any great player go through The Change. Especially in basketball, the most naked of our professional sports: Just 10 players wearing sleeveless jerseys and shorts, with fans sitting as close as three feet away and devouring every expression, every nuance, every move, everything. When a baseball player slips, we give him the benefit of the doubt: Maybe it's a slump, maybe it's his catcher, maybe his arm is bothering him, maybe he's playing in the wrong ballpark ... you could never definitively say, \"Write that guy off.\" Same for a football player: Maybe his quarterback sucks, maybe his hammy is bothering him, maybe it's the offense, maybe it's the system, maybe it's his offensive line, maybe it's his coach. We realize after the fact football players are washed up, or right at the very end. In basketball, you know right away.\n\nI thought that day was coming for Kobe Bryant. He had other ideas. So did Nash, Pierce, Nowitzki and Allen. Everything we ever thought we knew about basketball is being rewritten. Twelve-year primes are going to stretch to 15. Fifteen-year careers are going to stretch past 20. The 20,000 Point Club will become the 30,000 Point Club. It's not just that records will be made and stretched, or that we'll be seeing things we've never seen before. For the first time, basketball records might actually start mattering beyond \"100 points,\" \"72 wins,\" \"33 straight,\" \"11 rings\" and \"However Many Points Kareem Ended Up With.\"\n\nAnd if you want to think about something truly frightening, consider the following four things ...\n\n1. LeBron James passed 16,000 points a few weeks ago. It took him fewer than 600 games.\n\n2. Barring injury and a prolonged lockout, by the end of his 10th season (2012-13), LeBron should be sitting at 22,000 points.\n\n3. If LeBron plays the next seven and a half seasons 85 percent as well as he played the previous seven and a half seasons, he'll be sitting at 30,000 points, 7,500 assists and 7,500 rebounds ... and he'll be 33 years old. A few months older than Kobe right now.\n\n4. Like it or not, we are all going to be witnesses.\n\nBill Simmons is a columnist for ESPN.com and the author of the recent New York Times No. 1 best-seller \"The Book of Basketball,\" now out in paperback with new material and a revised Hall of Fame Pyramid. For every Simmons column and podcast, check out Sports Guy's World or the BS Report page. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sportsguy33.\n\nBack to Page 2"}
-{"text": "By Brent McKnight | 6 years ago\n\nI wish it could go without saying, but the video that follows, which does in fact seek to collect every last Easter Egg from Marvel\u2019s Guardians of the Galaxy, contains SPOILERS for those of you who haven\u2019t seen the movie yet. Surprise, surprise. But, given the massive, record-breaking box office haul over the opening weekend, quite a few of you made it out to the theater, and this might be able to point out some things that you missed and you can look for on future viewings.\n\nPlanting Easter Eggs has become standard practice in comic book movies, Marvel movies especially, and Guardians is full to bursting with little hints and nods. Mr. Sunday Movie, who has a keener eye than I do, as well as a much deeper level of knowledge about the cosmic arm of the Marvel comic universe, took it upon himself to do some digging and unearth every shout out and reference, no matter how minor and tangential, that he can find. And there are a lot.\n\nMy favorites are the ones that relate to Chris Pratt\u2019s Peter Jason Quill, aka Star-Lord. Born on Earth, but taken from his home in 1988, his awareness of Terran popular culture never progressed beyond a certain point, as illustrated by his overt references to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Ranger Rick. But there are also some fun things you might not notice immediately. For example, his ship, the Milano, is named after a childhood crush, Alyssa Milano. That\u2019s awesome, he was apparently a Who\u2019s the Boss? fan.\n\nMore than anything, this video serves as a primer for those of us who haven\u2019t read any of the Guardians of the Galaxy comics over the years. He digs into Drax the Destroyer\u2019s (Dave Bautista) origin story, as well as talking about the identity of Quill\u2019s mystery father that is only hinted at in the film. This also connects various minor characters to other comic titles, and shows you just how linked to the rest of the Marvel Universe Guardians really is.\n\nThere are also nods to things that have nothing to do with Marvel, like references to Bradley Cooper, who voices Rocket Raccoon, and his role in The Hangover trilogy. And then there are the cameos. Firefly and Castle star, and general nerdy favorite, Nathan Fillion has a role that you probably won\u2019t recognize. Lloyd Kaufman, head of Troma, pops up, in a nice nod to director James Gunn\u2019s professional origins\u2014he started at the schlock factory writing the likes of Tromeo and Juliet. Not to mention others.\n\nLike I said, this video will give you a number of things to consider and keep and eye out for next time that you sit down in a dark room and watch Guardians of the Galaxy, and I know I\u2019m not the only one planning another trip to the theater for this one.\n\nAnd if you can\u2019t get enough of the hunt, here is a video that lists every Easter Egg from the Marvel Cinematic Universe up to Thor: The Dark World:"}
-{"text": "Season\u2019s Greetings, Commanders!\n\nOne month ago players like you all over the world set out to build an army, explore the galaxy, and make some unlikely friends along the way. Since then, over 5 million battles have been fought! On behalf of all the men and women who have helped create Wild Beyond, we want to extend a heartfelt thank-you for letting us share this game with you.\n\nToday, we\u2019re taking a little bit of time to do a retrospective on what the first month of Wild Beyond has looked like, and preview the game\u2019s direction and future updates. As always, please keep in mind that schedules and priorities are always shifting in the Strange Sevens studio, so anything mentioned here could change!\n\nFeedback Helps Us Grow\n\nEveryone has been very vocal about the things in the game that have frustrated them since launch, and we\u2019re very sensitive to all of this feedback. After all, we\u2019re players too! Hearing from you helps us understand where to focus to make the game feel a lot more fun to play. Throughout the coming year, we\u2019re going to continue investing in growing our relationship with you all and tackling the biggest issues brought up. We want to make submitting feedback a little easier and are exploring other ways to engage directly with the community early next year. We have some ideas, but aren\u2019t quite ready to share them just yet.\n\nWhat We\u2019ve Addressed\n\nWe\u2019ve heard you loud and clear over the last few weeks on a number of important issues. Update v1.90 is addressing a lot of the pain points that have been brought up, so let\u2019s briefly go over them:\n\nMatchmaking:\n\nWe heard an overwhelming amount of feedback about matchmaking feeling lopsided. Part of the problem here was that the single leaderboard rank system tried to take too many things into account (faction, skill, etc.) to figure out who to match you with without showing you those things. For example, previously you could match with a high-level player playing their weakest faction, and it could look like an unfair fight when it wasn\u2019t. Now, the new system splits out your ranking by faction, so you\u2019re matched based on how well you perform per faction instead. We\u2019ll be closely monitoring how this affects ranked play, and making adjustments as needed in the coming months.\n\nRanking/Medal System:\n\nAnother aspect of matchmaking that we heard a lot of was that medal gains were small, while medal losses were large, in particular at high ranks. This also meant that some players felt there was little reward in the risk in queueing up for ranked play. While the splitting out of rank by faction should help with this, we also saw this as an opportunity to introduce monthly rewards for ranking up.\n\nProgression feels slow:\n\nUpgrading your units and commanders is key to doing well in battle, but it took a lot of time, effort, and resources to do. Sometimes it felt a little too daunting to strengthen your army. Now that there\u2019s even more opportunities to play your \u201coff\u201d factions, this is extra-important to address. In v1.90, we greatly reduced coin costs for earlier card levels, returning a sizable portion to players, tweaked level progression, and drastically reduced the amount of raw time it took to upgrade cards.\n\nRunning out of things to do:\n\nSome players reached very late stages of the game in terms of card progression and rank and felt a drought of activities to do. Others who were less-progressed still felt a little bit of a void in their regular play. Version 1.90 hopes to help address this with new campaign missions that usher us along on our Commanders\u2019 legendary journey and upcoming Tournament events. Available tournament units change every week, so construct special event decks mixing and matching from different factions to dominate the battlefield!\n\nSeeking Balance:\n\nLike the other points above, we definitely don\u2019t want to paint this one as \u201cmission accomplished\u201d. However, many unit balance changes made it in to v1.90 to give each faction some different options in how to play, but balance changes are just the beginning. To change up the meta and keep the game fresh, we\u2019re working on some new tools for each faction to use next year. More on this in \u201cWhat\u2019s Next?\u201d.\n\n???\n\nDid we miss anything? I\u2019m sure we did. Let us know what points you want to see discussed in future State of the Games!\n\nWhat\u2019s Next?\n\nBefore we begin, we want to be absolutely clear that:\n\n1. Units, tactics, and all other content shown here may change without notice\n\n2. Any art, gameplay, and game screenshots shown are still in development, and may never end up in the game.\n\nNow that that\u2019s out of the way\u2026\n\nGameplay\n\nWild Beyond\u2019s first \u201cseason\u201d will feature the launch of brand new unit and tactics cards, opening the door to more creative and powerful strategies. Whether you are a single-faction diehard or a well-rounded tactician, we\u2019ll be introducing new cards of different rarities that add interesting twists to hand management and battlefield counterplay.\n\nWe want there to be more \u201cways to play\u201d for each faction, and while these are liable to change, here are some goals for the future and the respective units we\u2019re testing at the moment.\n\nImprove viability of Ascension\u2019s early-game\n\nIntroduce card/hand manipulation mechanics, like increasing card draw\n\nShore up some current holes in the unit set\n\nWe\u2019ll be sure to share the love with our existing cards, too! We\u2019re carefully monitoring gameplay balance and adjusting individual cards as-needed to ensure that all factions and many different strategies remain competitively viable. We\u2019ve also got a visual redesign on tap for both Storm Kestrel and Sentinel, to help improve gameplay clarity.\n\nWild Beyond for Android\n\nWe\u2019re hard at work building out the Android version of the game. As with every platform change, there are quite a few technical challenges along this path. There\u2019s no definite timeline quite yet, but as we get closer, expect to hear more!\n\nEvents\n\nWe spoke briefly about Tournament events above, but this deserves another mention. Our first incoming event will be \u201cBeast Mode\u201d, which pits you against other players to vie for valuable prizes. In the near future a few different variations for these events will come up, and in the future, we hope to incorporate some more \u201cinteresting\u201d mechanics that you may not expect.\n\nThat\u2019s all we can share for now, but as the new year comes around, we may have more to show. Stay tuned for more!\n\nHappy Holidays!\n\nLast, but not least, all of us here would like to extend our warmest holiday wishes to you and those most dear to you this holiday season. No matter how you\u2019re celebrating this year, we hope it\u2019s with smiles on faces and happiness in your hearts. We want to share our excitement this holiday season and celebrate the launch of Wild Beyond with you, so we\u2019ve gifted everyone 800 diamonds to use in the Store, Gauntlet, or however else you wish in the game! Simply log in from now until January 8th. Thank you for playing, and we\u2019ll see you in the new year!"}
-{"text": "Burning Man Portrait Report\n\nby Jordan Blackman \u2013 His website is HERE\n\nI was riding shotgun in a pickup truck for twelve hours, biting my nails as we lumbered across the American West. Between the bed of the truck and the U-Haul trailer hitched up to it, there was easily a two bedroom apartment\u2019s worth of stuff with us. But we weren\u2019t headed to an apartment. We were going deep into the dust of Nevada\u2019s Black Rock Desert.\n\nNow, you\u2019ve probably heard about Burning Man, and maybe you\u2019ve even been. But I never had, and I was anxious about going. I\u2019d heard stories about dangerous dust storms, outrageous orgies, deviant witchcraft and more. Obviously, I\u2019d need to bring a camera and the biggest memory card I could get my hands on.\n\nUnfortunately, my OM-D EM5 had just been stolen. I had shot with that little Olympus for over a year, and paired with the Panny 20mm it really knocked my socks off. I love that camera. But still, I decided I\u2019d try something different. After an obscene amount of internet \u201cresearch\u201d I picked up a Sony NEX-6. I liked the video quality and price, and I felt that it would be fun and educational to work a new sensor size. Burning Man was going to be my first chance to really use the Sony and I really wasn\u2019t sure what to expect\u2026 from the event or from the camera.\n\nNow, one of the big differences between the two cameras is the weather sealing. OMD has it, NEX doesn\u2019t. Burning Man is famously dusty, and so I rigged a plastic bag to keep out those tiny sensor demons. It worked really well, especially with the EFV exposed, as you can see from the pic. The downside was that I was committed to a single lens for the entire week. I chose the Sony SEL35f18.\n\nUpon arrival at Black Rock City, the name of the temporary town erected in the desert each year for Burning man, I was completely overwhelmed. The expanse of light and art, the creativity on display, the diversity of color and costume\u2026 it was more than I could take in. Burning Man defeats one\u2019s power\u2019s of perception, let alone observation. I quickly decided to focus on portraiture for the following reasons:\n\n1. It would keep me focused, preventing overwhelm.\n\n2. It seemed a reasonable task for the 50mm equivalent lens I had.\n\n3. Portraits could be gifts, and gifts are an important part of Burning Man culture.\n\n4. Everyone else would be shooting the giant art installations anyway, and who needs another picture of the man burning?\n\nAnd so, every day I walked across the dust and invited strangers to have their portraits taken. Here are some of those photos. Below the pictures, I\u2019ll share some thoughts about the NEX-6, some 2000 captures later.\n\nSo, what did I think about the NEX-6 compared to the OM-D? They are both great cameras, and I recommend them both. With the NEX-6, when you nail the shot, you get an amazing RAW file, better than the OMD\u2019s. But, it\u2019s harder to nail the shot and then it takes more adjustments to get the image you want from the RAW. With the OMD I had more keepers and less work to do in Lightroom. I think the keepers come from the stabilization and the better focus system. The NEX-6 forces me to slow down and think more both during exposure and development phases. I consider this a good thing for my growth as a photographer. And when you take the time you get some remarkable results.\n\nIf you shoot video, the NEX-6 can produce absolutely stunning footage, albeit without the OMD\u2019s excellent stabilization. I consider 60fps a must for video since the conformed footage looks so great at 24fps. If the community is interested I am happy to write up a long comparison with the pros of each as there is much more to be said on this. The short version is, I\u2019m planning to stick shooting with the NEX-6 until a camera arrives with 5-axis stabilization and the video features I want.\n\nAs for Burning Man, I\u2019m no longer nervous. I\u2019ll be heading back whenever I have the chance. My overwhelmed feeling has turned to gratefulness. My anxiety into anticipation. I hope to continue my portrait project for many years to come."}
-{"text": "According to the United States, a lack of coordination among the various rebel groups taking control of growing swaths of Syria is one of their principle weaknesses.\n\nTo help remedy that, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday announced an additional $15 million in communications equipment to enhance cooperation among Syria\u2019s opposition players \u2013 from rebel fighters to the new \u201crevolutionary councils\" popping up to administer local services in liberated zones.\n\nSecretary Clinton unveiled the new aid package at a New York meeting of countries working with the Syrian opposition. And she used the meeting to call attention to the threat she said Iran poses with its deepening involvement in the Syrian civil war.\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s be very frank here,\u201d Clinton said. \u201cThe [Bashar al-Assad] regime\u2019s most important lifeline is Iran.\u201d\n\nAdding that \u201cthere is no longer any doubt that Tehran will do whatever it takes to protect its proxy and crony in Damascus,\u201d she urged Syria\u2019s neighbors to take the necessary precautions to stop Iran from smuggling weapons and materiel into Syria through their air space or territory.\n\nClinton also announced $30 million in additional humanitarian aid for Syria\u2019s beleaguered civilian population. Experts estimate that as many as 1.5 million Syrians may now be internally displaced, while soon as many as 700,000 will have left the country.\n\nFriday\u2019s meeting underscored how the major Western powers supporting the Syrian opposition continue to limit their aid to nonlethal military and humanitarian assistance, as well as some advisory help for civilians. By contrast, Iran and other outside players supporting President Assad are supplying him with arms and even boots on the ground.\n\nRecently, commanders of Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard Corps bragged that they are on the ground in Syria, and US intelligence officials say Lebanon\u2019s Hezbollah Shiite Muslim extremist organization is also operating inside Syria on Assad\u2019s behalf, though it is not thought to be carrying out military operations there.\n\nOn the rebels\u2019 side, countries aligned against Assad \u2013 including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2013 are said to be providing some arms, but not the heavier weaponry the rebels have been seeking.\n\nSome critics of the Obama administration say the US should be providing more than just communications equipment, and that what the rebels really need is anti-aircraft weaponry to deter Assad\u2019s aerial bombardments.\n\nSens. John McCain (R) of Arizona and Joe Lieberman (I) of Connecticut both advocate arming the rebels. The two senators also agree with critics who worry that the US risks losing influence with the forces that may eventually govern Syria.\n\nThe meeting Clinton hosted on the sidelines of the United Nations sessions this week involved a core group of about two dozen countries from the larger Friends of Syria organization. On the Syrian side, the meeting involved representatives from the Syrian National Council, the expatriate opposition organization, and also some representatives of the revolutionary councils.\n\nThe gathering took place as fighting raged in Aleppo, Syria\u2019s largest city, where rebel forces launched a new offensive against the Syrian Army. In Washington, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that new intelligence suggests that the Assad regime has recently moved some of its chemical weapons. All indications were that the moves were done to secure the materials, and that Syria\u2019s stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons remain safe and under control, he said.\n\nThe meeting reflected efforts to solidify gains rebels have made. Officials in attendance acknowledge that Assad is unlikely to fall \u201ctomorrow,\u201d but they insist that his loss of territory \u2013 as well as other signs \u2013 mean the end is approaching. As a result, these countries are focusing on preparing Syrians for \u201cthe day after.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe regime still has some strengths, but it is slipping and the trend is clear,\u201d says a senior French official. Assad \u201cis losing control of the ground step by step.\u201d\n\nThe French have advocated creation of a provisional government, but \u201cthere is still a lot to do before we have a better-coordinated opposition,\u201d the senior French official says. \u201cBut it does seem that at some point we need something for the Syrians and the international community to see\u201d \u2013 and to show that there will be a better alternative to Assad.\n\nGet the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy\n\nOn Friday, Clinton acknowledged that Syria\u2019s situation has only worsened in 18 months of fighting, but she said the path for delivering a better future is clear.\n\n\u201cConditions in Syria continue to deteriorate as the Assad regime relentlessly wages war on its own people,\u201d Clinton said. The answer, she said, is that \u201cthe regime of Bashar al-Assad must come to an end so that the suffering of the Syrian people can stop and a new dawn can begin.\u201d"}
-{"text": "A significant interview with the Hierarch (at Amen.gr) regarding his recent meeting with representatives from the Moscow Patriarchate who visited Seoul.\n\nhttp://www.amen.gr/article/varysimadi-synedefksi-tou-mitropoliti-koreas-amvrosiou-sto-amengr\n\nIn the far-off Korea, the Land of the Morning Calm, there has been for at least four decades a unique spiritual and missionary work, which has resulted in a strong Orthodox witness. The responsibility of these efforts fall to the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea, whose work has resulted in good fruit as a result of the inspired choices of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, together with the profound endeavours, first from the Bishop of Zela and then Metropolitan of Korea, Sotirios Trambas, then by his predecessor and current Metropolitan of Korea, Ambrosios Zographos.\n\nThis work is supported and enhanced by the holy clergy, in collaboration with the small yet dynamic flock, who together are distinguished for their openness in a country whose powerful tradition favours quietness and introversion. The Orthodox Metropolis of Korea, clergy and laity, together comprise an icon of ecclesiastical community that is characterized by strong ties, solidarity, a willingness to help, and of courtesy, which characterizes the people of Korea; with humility, they resemble the Christians of the first ancient Church.\n\nHowever, this multifaceted work, which testifies to the best witness for the Orthodox Church, is often harmed, not by external threats but by internal ambitions and claims, which remind us more of a political mindset, rather than brotherly relations within the framework and as defined by the Holy Canons and the decisions taken by ecumenical and local synods throughout the centuries. At least this is what was shown to us as a result of our interview with Metropolitan Ambrosios of Korea following his recent meeting with representatives from the Moscow Patriarchate who visited Seoul.\n\nAccording to Metropolitan Ambrosios, he was informed of this meeting at the last minute, and expressed his disappointment that the Moscow Patriarchate ignored the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea: \u201cIt is not in keeping with the ecclesiastical order to be informed by representatives of the Russian government about the arrival of Archbishop Sergey in Korea and his desire to visit our Metropolis,\u201d said Metropolitan Ambrosios, referring to his being informed jus one week before the arrival of the Russian delegation.\n\nMetropolitan Ambrosios expressed his deep annoyance and bitterness towards the uncanonical actions, as he describes them, which have taken place over the last few years by officials of the Church of Russia against the recognized jurisdiction of the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea, noting that, \u201cWhat is at stake is not me, but the Church of Christ.\u201d\n\nBelow is the full text of the interview with Metropolitan Ambrosios of Korea:\n\nYour Eminence, recently on the occasion of a book published in the Korean language by His Beatitude Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, Freedom and Responsibility: A Search for Harmony, a Russian delegation led by Archbishop Sergey of Solnechnogorsk visited the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea. Can you please describe this meeting for us?\n\nI am happy to answer your question, Mr. Papachristou, although let me begin my thanking you for the opportunity to discuss this issue. As you said, a Russian delegation did also visit the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea during their visit to Seoul (June 14-17), which included His Grace Archbishop Sergey of Solnechnogorsk, Mr. Dmitry Petrovsky, and officials from the Russian Embassy in Seoul.\n\nWhat do you mean by also visited the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea?\n\nAs far as I know, they also visited and had dialogue with high-ranking Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Protestants, in addition to the Mayor of Seoul, always accompanied by Russian diplomats from the Russian Embassy in Seoul. Now, for what purpose Russian diplomats participate in the interactions of Russian clergy with the Metropolitan of the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea, heterodox churches, and the Mayor of Seoul, I leave it to the discernment and judgment of the readers of this interview.\n\nDo you know the reasoning behind these interactions, or were they ceremonial in nature?\n\nTo answer your question, I must mention some history and context about the visit of the Russian delegation to Korea. Last February, a senior official from the Russian Embassy in Seoul requested a meeting with me. The only purpose of our meeting was to give me a book by His Beatitude Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, Freedom and Responsibility: A Search for Harmony, which had been translated into Korean.\n\nFrom my brief browsing of the book, once I saw it, I found that it was issued by a Protestant publishing house, and had been translated by a person, who the Russians present as the one responsible for the self-proclaimed \u201cRussian Orthodox Mission in Korea\u201d. I also noticed that the preface had been written by the Roman Catholic Cardinal in Korea, as well as the former Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Korea. I immediately expressed to the envoy of the Russian Embassy my deep disappointment with the Moscow Patriarchate for totally ignoring the Orthodox Metropolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Korea.\n\nEleven days before the presentation of the book at the building of the Russian Embassy in Seoul (June 15), the same envoy from the Embassy presented me with an invitation for the event, informed me that Archbishop Sergey would be visiting Korea, and that he desired to visit our Metropolis, as well as informing me that the Moscow Patriarchate desired I should attend and participate in the book presentation ceremony. Since I did not have the opportunity to fully explain myself, because our meeting at that time took place following the celebration of the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral Parish of St. Nicholas in Seoul, specifically during the distribution of the Antidoron, I only told him the following: \u201cWhatever has happened until now regarding this book has been improper. Nothing has been done correctly.\u201d\n\nWhat did you mean?\n\nI meant that they completely ignored the Orthodox Church in Korea and only at the last minute, only to uphold the proper order as pretence, did they invite me to the event. I reiterated that it is not in conformity with ecclesiastical order to be informed by a representative of the Russian government about the travels of Archbishop Sergey and his desire to visit our Metropolis. Imagine what the reaction would be if I did something similar while visiting Russia; for example, if I communicated my trip and my intention to visit the Russian Orthodox Department for External Church Relations through a diplomatic official from the Greek Embassy in Moscow.\n\nFive days later, at the event of the Russian Embassy, to which the Russian ambassador invited for the first time the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea, a representative of the Russian ambassador gave me an envelope; in it was a letter from Archbishop Sergey in Russian and in English. In his letter, Archbishop Sergey informed me, for the first time formally from the Moscow Patriarchate, about the event for the book of His Beatitude the Russian Patriarch, invited me to the book presentation at the Russian Embassy, and expressed his wish to meet during his visit to Korea.\n\nDid you reply to him?\n\nOf course I replied to him, including electronically, so that he would receive my response before arriving in Korea. In my reply I express our gladness to receive him at our Metropolis in Korea on a specific date and time, and I also invited him to concelebrate the Divine Liturgy on Sunday at our Cathedral parish.\n\nDid he respond to you?\n\nHe did not, but Mr. Dmitry Petrovsky did, who works in the Russian Orthodox Department for External Church Relations and who is responsible for Asia.\n\nFrom what you have described, do you believe that the proper ecclesiastical order was adhered to? That is, you wrote to an assistant bishop and a lay employee responded to you.\n\nOf course the proper ecclesiastical etiquette was not kept; but I did not pay any attention to this fact in order for love and peace to prevail. However, that which I do wish to comment upon regarding the response received is the following: \u201cWith profound sorrow His Grace [Bishop] Sergey cannot respond [positively] to your invitation to concelebrate, in order to showcase our unity through the Holy Eucharist, because in the morning of Saturday, June 17, he will depart from Seoul.\u201d When I read this immediately my thought went to what happened during the 10th General Assembly of the WCC [World Council of Churches] in Busan [Korea]. I always remember with regret that during my participation in the General Assembly, I sought to meet His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. I greeted him, I welcomed him to Korea, and I informed him that on the upcoming Sunday, November 13, [2016] the participating Orthodox representatives will conduct a pan-Orthodox Divine Liturgy at our parish in Busan, with another pan-Orthodox Divine Liturgy taking place at our parish in Seoul for Orthodox WCC participants travelling on Saturday to Seoul in order to visit the country\u2019s capital. In a cynical style he replied to me, \u201cI will celebrate the Divine Liturgy at the Russian Consulate in Busan.\u201d With this action, the Russian delegation destroyed the unity of the Orthodox Church within the Holy Eucharist, since all Orthodox, local Koreans and those visiting, celebrated together the Divine Liturgy at our parishes in Busan and in Seoul that were filled to capacity; on the other hand, the Russians conducted the mystery of the Holy Eucharist in the hall of the Russian Consulate with a \u201cparish\u201d of only five or six Russians!\n\nIn the end, did the Russian delegation visit your Metropolis? What was discussed?\n\nOn Friday, June 16, at 1:00 PM, Archbishop Sergey, accompanied by Mr. Dmitry Petrovsky and members from the Russian Embassy, arrived at the Metropolis. Regarding our meeting, you can view details on the website of the Moscow Patriarchate, in a news release posted the day after our meeting.\n\nhttps://mospat.ru/ru/2017/06/16/news147495/\n\nFollowing our discussions, during which we spoke in a straightforward manner and in a spirit of love, we thought they comprehended the correctness of our position and for this reason we had no intention of following-up or publicizing our meeting. When, however, we saw the publication, we were very disappointed. Therefore, since they published the fact of our meeting, we thought we had the right to comment on their posting in order to list the facts as they are, not as some wish they were.\n\nDo you recognize, therefore, that publishing the details of your meeting did not happen objectively?\n\nYes, unfortunately, it did not happen objectively; I deeply regret that I am obliged to answer your question like this. The details I will provide shortly will prove, I think, that unfortunately in the behaviour of our Russian brethren expediency and diplomacy prevails, not brotherly relations.\n\nFirst of all, I believe it is very awful from the Russian side the fact that they recognized all participants in our joint meeting but omitted our Slavophone priest, Fr. Roman Kavchak.\n\nDo you think there was a reason for this?\n\nYes, because he is Ukrainian who belongs to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and not to the Russian Patriarchate. In order for this matter to be better understood, I need to provide some historical context to this issue. During our meeting, as well as on the website of the Moscow Patriarchate, they stated that from 2000 to 2011, the pastoral care of Russians in Seoul, and in all cities of Korea, was the responsibility of the Russian hieromonk Fr. Theophane Kim. This is only slightly true. His Grace Bishop Theophane, with whom we had and we have excellent brotherly relations, came to Korea following the request of His Eminence the Metropolitan of Korea, and presently of Pisidia, Sotirios, which was communicated to the Patriarchate of Moscow through the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as the Church etiquette calls for. Fr. Theophane was under the Moscow Patriarchate, but in Korea he performed his duties not as a clergyman of the Moscow Patriarchate; instead, he was a clergyman of the Korean Church, which is why he commemorated Metropolitan Dionysios, now of blessed memory, and from 2004, when the Exarchate of Korea was elevated to the Metropolis of Korea, he commemorated His Eminence Metropolitan of Korea, Sotirios.\n\nIt is troubling to read some of the texts from the Moscow Patriarchate that declare the history of Orthodoxy in Korea began with Russian missionaries in 1900, which it actually did, but that it was stopped in 1949 \u201cunder pressure from American occupying authorities.\u201d Was South Korea under U.S. occupation in 1949? This is a falsification of history. The truth is that the last Russian archimandrite, Polikarp (Priimak), was expelled from Seoul in 1949 by Korean authorities for reasons that are not relevant for me to disclose.\n\nAnother troubling thing is that after the expulsion of Fr. Polikarp in 1949, they [the Moscow Patriarchate] present Fr. Theophane, who came from Russia in 2000 and who ministered under the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the Church of Korea, as the successor and a continuation of the original Russian missionaries in the first period of the Orthodox Church in Korea \u2013 completely ignoring the great work undertaken by Greek military priests during the Korean War, as well as the spiritual work of the Ecumenical Patriarchate from 1955 to the present day. In 2011, when the Moscow Patriarchate elected Fr. Theophane Kim as bishop of Kyzyl and Tyva and he departed from Korea, we informed the Ecumenical Patriarchate and requested that they send a replacement clergyman to Korea for our Slavophone flock.\n\nImmediately following his election as a bishop and before his ordination, I asked Fr. Theophane to recommend a Russian who could replace him. He asked some married clergymen he knew but none agreed to come to Korea. During his ordination as a bishop in Moscow, in which a five-member group representing the flock of the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea participated, His Beatitude Patriarch Kirill of Moscow asked me what we would do [on this issue] and I replied to him that the Ecumenical Patriarchate had already been informed about this issue and we would await its reply. Indeed, very shortly thereafter the Ecumenical Patriarchate found and ordained, both as a deacon and a priest, Fr. Roman Kavchak, and sent him to Korea.\n\nFr. Roman is an excellent clergyman and successful family man, and I often say that he is a great gift from God to our Church in Korea. With his ethos, his ecclesiastical mindset, and his hard work, he is loved by all, and has managed to bring together Russians and Ukrainians at a time when because of political discord relations were hostile. This was described by a journalist from the largest newspaper in Korea, Chosun Ilbo, who came on Sunday, October 25, 2015 \u2013 when the fighting between Russia and Ukraine was still intense \u2013 and saw the friendly and brotherly cooperation between Russians and Ukrainians during the organizing of our International Food Festival at the Cathedral Parish of St. Nicholas; on the Monday the journalist wrote an article with the impressive title: \u201cRussians and Ukrainians shatter borders in Seoul,\u201d and emphasized in his article the peace-making role of Orthodoxy.\n\nThat which was understood by a non-Christian Korean journalist seems difficult for some Orthodox to understand because they think nationalistically. The final point I wish to reiterate is that Fr. Roman has devoted himself to serving the spiritual and liturgical needs of Russians, not only in Seoul but in all of Korea and so the representatives of the Russian Church should recognize and appreciate his service to their compatriots and not ignore it, out of expediency. I confess to you that I am truly moved every time I see him, for example, running in the service of others \u2013 regardless of the time of day or weather conditions \u2013 to the hospitals to help the many Russian cancer patients, and especially young children who come to Korea for treatment.\n\nBeyond this is there something else which troubled you as a result of the visit from the Russian delegation to Korea?\n\nTo begin with, the visit itself, and for the purpose for which it was organized, taking place under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The presentation of the book of His Beatitude Patriarch Kirill of Russia was the pretext for the visit. This is evidenced from the fact that following Korea the itinerary of the Russian delegation was to travel to other East Asian countries in order to visit other \u201cparishes\u201d! Let us note here for the benefit of the reader that in these countries the Ecumenical Patriarchate has been carrying out missionary activity for more than 40-years; it has built parishes and ordained clergy following the proper training, in addition to establishing Holy Metropolises in Hong Kong and Singapore for the further development of the Orthodox witness. Notwithstanding all of this, the Moscow Patriarchate has done something in this part of the world, which is completely novel; it has appointed Archbishop Sergey as the \u201cHead of the Moscow Patriarchate\u2019s Parishes in the countries of East and Southeast Asia.\u201d Has there ever existed in ecclesiastical history such a title for a bishop?\n\nAre there parishes belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate in Korea?\n\nIn the imagination of some people, yes, but in reality they do not exist. In Korea, there is an anticanonical situation, which the Moscow Patriarchate is trying to cultivate instead of ignoring it. They do the same, as I understand it, in other countries under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Asia.\n\nCan you please describe for us what you mean by an \u201canticanonical situation\u201d?\n\nThere is a long history here but I will try to be as brief as possible. On February 13, 1993, a Korean priest, Justinian Kang, was defrocked by the Ecumenical Patriarchate for regular misconduct. When Justinian was informed of being defrocked he went wildly to the office of His Eminence, Sotirios, abused him and even threatened him that he would have him expelled from Korea. A short while later he left Korea and went to Russia to supposedly study the Russian language and theology at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, trying to hide the fact that he had been defrocked. The individuals responsible there, without examining the case, that is, to inquire with the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea, as they should have, accepted him as a student.\n\nUltimately, following the intervention of the Ecumenical Patriarchate towards the Moscow Patriarchate, he was expelled from the Theological Academy. When this happened, Justinian cried out and did inappropriate things for a theological student, which his fellow classmates still remember with dismay. He eventually returned to Korea, pretending to be a priest. At that point, he joined with the schismatic ROCOR Metropolitan, Hilarion, (currently Metropolitan of Eastern America and New York [ROCOR]) and he began to be active as a priest and head of the Russian Orthodox Church missionary in Korea.\n\nHilarion, a schismatic bishop, began visiting Korea \u2013 as he did and continues to do in other countries under the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Asia \u2013 celebrating the Divine Liturgy in the house of the former priest, Justinian, which he had converted into a \u201cparish\u201d and where he conducted many uncanonical actions. This takes us to the unity agreement between Moscow Patriarchate and ROCOR in May 2007. Then Metropolitan Hilarion did not cease having relations with the priest defrocked by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Justinian, as one would expect from a person who respects the proper Canonical Order.\n\nThe \u201ccover\u201d provided to Justinian by Metropolitan Hilarion resulted in Justinian being completely careless and presenting himself as a canonical priest and boasting to Orthodox and non-Orthodox that he belongs to the Moscow Patriarchate. We protested with the Moscow Patriarchate through the Ecumenical Patriarchate; we finally received a letter from the Department for External Church Relations, which noted that they do not recognize Justinian Kang as a priest, yet the prior schismatic Metropolitan Hilarion recognized him and therefore with his support Justinian unabated his uncanonical activities in Korea. Metropolitan Sotirios, in order to protect the flock of the Church in Korea, was forced to publish in our weekly newsletter Jubo the official notice that he [Justinian] had been defrocked.\n\nYou see, Metropolitan Sotirios did not do this for many years, out of respect for him and his family. As a result of the publication, Justinian took Metropolitan Sotirios to civil court for defamation and slander and forced the elder Metropolitan in his old age to run to the courts, for the first time in his life. This was the \u201cthank you\u201d for the many benefits that Justinian and his family received from Metropolitan Sotirios over many years. When he came to our Church poor and in need, Metropolitan Sotirios gave him a house to live in, money to support his family and for his children to go to school, support for his health care, etc. We also helped him in his studies, since at that time he had not even completed high school.\n\nTo better understand the magnitude of the uncanonical actions of the former schismatic Metropolitan Hilarion and the responsibility of the Moscow Patriarchate for this big problem, I will also mention the following. On June 23, 2009, the former schismatic Hilarion came to Korea and \u201ctonsured\u201d the married Justinian an abbot, and his wife Eleni an abbess, thereby \u201cestablishing\u201d two \u201cmonasteries\u201d. One with an abbot who was previously defrocked, the \u201cHieromonk Justinian,\u201d and the other with his wife as the abbess. An even more tragic fact is that the place where these two supposed monasteries was created was the shared house of the married couple! Thereby Metropolitan Hilarion is the creator of a world-first in Korea: one house with an abbot and an abbess without any monks or any nuns! I wonder how this dreadful situation is accepted by the Moscow Patriarchate and how they allow the sacredness of the priesthood and monasticism to be humiliated in this way.\n\nThat is to say they \u201cmade\u201d a married man a \u201cHieromonk\u201d?\n\nOf course, this is how they presented him, even on their website. It would admittedly be interesting and very instructive to learn, not only for Metropolitan Hilarion, but for all of those involved in this sad story that not even Justinian, despite his relationship with Metropolitan Hilarion, ever stopped until his death to try to free himself from the fact that he was defrocked. This is why sometimes he used friendly approaches, other times with letters, and even with threats towards His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch and Metropolitan Sotirios, he tried to return to the canonical Orthodox Metropolis of Korea, because never, it seems, did he believe that he was under a normal [canonical] state with Metropolitan Hilarion. In the archives of our Metropolis, one can see his letters and his unrepentance.\n\nMeanwhile, was the son of the late Justinian also ordained?\n\nYes. The day after the \u201ctonsure\u201d of Justinian, that is, on Wednesday, June 24, 2009, Metropolitan Hilarion ordained his son Paul in his house (and according to other sources, in the room of his hotel, where he was staying) to the priesthood and appointed him responsible for the \u201cRussian Orthodox Mission in Korea.\u201d He ordained him in secret and underground, not publicly in front of the people of God, as is compulsory by the long-standing practice of our Church, because he very well realized his uncanonical behaviour. Let us also add a note at this point that Paul Kang has broken off relations with the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea for 25 years. Because he lacked any theological education and basic knowledge of Canon Law, he did not hesitate, as an Orthodox, to get married in the Anglican Church. Such a person is responsible, according to the Moscow Patriarchate, for the \u201cRussian Orthodox Mission in Korea\u201d! It is a regrettable situation.\n\nYour Eminence, as the Canonical Shepherd of the Orthodox Church in Korea, have you informed the Moscow Patriarchate about all of this? Did you inform the Russian delegation at your recent meeting with them?\n\nI informed them in detail; but with much regret we witnessed \u2013 all of us from our Metropolis who participated at the recent meeting \u2013 that they are trying to cover-up the uncanonical conduct of Metropolitan Hilarion. The astonishing thing is that they know all of this, as they admitted, yet they still included Paul Kang during their various visits with the leaders of various churches and denominations, including with the mayor [of Seoul], except for the visit to our Orthodox Metropolis of Korea.\n\nThe purpose of this was unfortunately to showcase him as the one responsible for the supposed Russian parishes and missionary activities in Korea. It is characteristic of their lack of respect towards the canonical order that before coming to our meeting, Archbishop Sergey performed a memorial service \u2013 without the permission of the local Metropolitan \u2013 for the fallen Russian sailors of February 9, 1904, at the Russian monument \u201cVaryag\u201d in the city of Incheon.\n\nIs this considered a nonstandard act?\n\nOf course, because the memorial service did not take place on the land of the Russian Embassy, which some could justify, but in a public square where the monument to the departed is located.\n\nDid they provide you with an explanation for the position of Metropolitan Hilarion, particularly regarding those things you have drawn our attention to?\n\nArchbishop Sergey, after what he heard, told us that His Beatitude Patriarch Kirill of Moscow is very strict with him. When we insisted that his uncanonical activities expose the Orthodox Church as a whole, and the Moscow Patriarchate in particular, his replied that \u201cwe tolerate them for reasons of oikonomia.\u201d Our response was that Metropolitan Hilarion, in accordance with the Holy Canons, should have been defrocked for all of his uncanonical acts after the union between ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate. As is well known, the improper use of oikonomia is hurtful and does not benefit the Church.\n\nDid you also raise the issue of the person responsible for the \u201cRussian Orthodox Mission in Korea\u201d?\n\nAfter all that we told them which, as I said, they admitted to already knowing, their response was again \u201coikonomia.\u201d Archbishop Sergey actually advised us to understand that Paul since he is still suffering from his father\u2019s death three years ago; that he wants affection and love; that we need to approach him, to converse with and allow him to celebrate the Divine Liturgy with our Slavophone priest, Fr. Roman, twice a month. In addition, he suggested for us to teach him theology, liturgics, and other related activities. After this, I informed them of the following incident:\n\nOne afternoon two years ago, Paul Kang came to the parish of St. Nicholas. I observed then that a young man sat for a long time in the parish and I asked Deacon John if he knew him. When I heard that he was Paul Kang (I did not know him and was seeing him for the first time) I invited him to come to the office so that we can have a conversation. I spoke with him with as much courtesy and kindness I know, because I know that he is a victim of his father\u2019s uncanonical behaviour. I conveyed my condolences for the death of his father and tried to explain that he should not continue the uncanonical activities of the past. As a young person, he should walk the correct path for his salvation and for his release from this regrettable story.\n\nHe showed that he heard this message well. Moreover, he requested to visit His Eminence Metropolitan Sotirios of Pisidia at our Monastery of Metamorphosis, so that they can discuss this issue together, since it was during his time as the Metropolitan in Korea that his father was defrocked. At that time, however, Metropolitan Sotirios was in Pisidia. I promised him that as soon as he returned to Korea, we would arrange a meeting with him. Our proposal seemed to satisfy him [Paul]. We offered him as a gift a book from our publications and we agreed that in short order we would contact him. When Metropolitan Sotirios returned to Korea, we immediately arranged the meeting.\n\nWe called him many times, but he never answered. We sent him a message with his sister, when we saw her at an event at an Anglican Church, where she works as a secretary. Again, though, there was no response to our outreach. At this point, I specifically asked Archbishop Sergey: \u201cYour Grace, what else can we do for Paul? It is clear that he does not want any contact with the canonical Orthodox Church in Korea.\u201d His response was, \u201cDo what they do at monasteries, at Vatopedi, for example, what Elder Ephraim does, who is my spiritual father.\u201d That is, he explained to us, that at Vatopedi if you encounter problems among the monks the abbot treats them with oikonomia \u2026 this is what you also have to do with Paul.\n\nThe difference, I responded, with Paul and the problems which can not only be found at Vatopedi, but at many monasteries and more generally in the Church and in our society, is that Paul does not want to cooperate, he does not want to have contact with us, but continues down the uncanonical road set by his father. Please, Your Eminence, insisted Archbishop Sergey, show understanding for this problem and help him. We kindly ask that you work with us regarding this person.\n\nMr. Dmitry Petrovsky also added, \u201cThink about the Church and his flock.\u201d At this point, I was forced to take a hard-line, replying: \u201cExcuse me, but what church are you referring to \u2013 for his house? What flock? Are you aware of any flock that we do not know about? Which Korean or Russian goes to \u201cchurch\u201d in his supposed parish? Please, when you employ certain terms, including sacred ones, they must correspond to reality.\u201d\n\nYour Eminence, if I understand correctly, they prefer \u201coikonomia\u201d rather than support action against uncanonical behaviour; that is, you as the Canonical Shepherd to accept uncanonical behaviour for the sake of \u201coikonomia\u201d?\n\nYou put it elegantly. But, if we would call things by their name, we would say that they deluded us shamelessly. Allow me to provide you with an example from Indonesia, although it does not belong to our own ecclesiastical jurisdiction, it is, however, relevant to our subject. During our discussion about Justinian [Kang], we raised the issue of Daniel Bamband Dwi Byantoro, who was defrocked by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in order to highlight the uncanonical actions of Metropolitan Hilarion.\n\nWe told them that Daniel Bamband, an Indonesian, was introduced to Orthodoxy in Korea and was baptized in 1984 by then Archimandrite Sotirios Trambas, during his studies in Seoul, Korea. Thereafter, with a full scholarship, he studied at the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, was ordained a clergyman by a hierarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and received a salary from the Orthodox Eastern Mission of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. They told us that they recognize all of this but, unfortunately, it seemed that it did not impact their consciousness. Otherwise, how does one explain that a large part of the missionary work of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Indonesia has been appropriated by the Moscow Patriarchate?\n\nHow did this happen?\n\nThis happened because Metropolitan Hilarion accepted Daniel Byantoro after he was defrocked by the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Not only this, because the defrocked Daniel Byantoro brought other Indonesian clergymen who were under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In addition, Metropolitan Hilarion did not only take our priests, he also took the parishes and the property of our Orthodox communities, which, in order for them to have been purchased and built, Metropolitan Sotirios, as the head of the Orthodox Eastern Mission, became a beggar in Greece to missionary associations and private individuals. All of this work has been appropriated, as I mentioned, by the Moscow Patriarchate, thus acknowledging the uncanonical action and illegal activities of Metropolitan Hilarion.\n\nIt is very characteristic of the methodology of doubletalk, which are brothers follow, that the Deputy of the Russian Orthodox Department for External Church Relations, Fr. Nicholas Balashov, in one of his letters from 2009 wrote reassuringly, \u201cMetropolitan Hilarion does not at all want to overturn the proper authority of the Church of Constantinople,\u201d and in the same letter also wrote, \u201cwe are now carefully examining the practical aspects of this issue, which is connected with the state guarantee of the Orthodox community and their property in Indonesia\u201d!\n\nOne could describe all that you have characterized as unbelievable\u2026\n\nUnbelievable, but, unfortunately, they are beyond being true.\n\nIf you ever came across Metropolitan Hilarion, what would you tell him?\n\nI would ask him to respect the work of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the Vineyard of our Lord in the countries of the Far East and East Asia. In particular, to respect the work of the Metropolitan of New Zealand, Dionysios, who, as Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in India, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippine islands, and Hong Kong, despite his old age, toured, built and continued to build Orthodox parishes in these countries.\n\nI would tell him to respect the work of His Eminence Sotirios, who founded many of the parishes which he, as an \u201calien bishop,\u201d as Apostle Peter writes, now possesses. I would also tell him humbly: Your Eminence, all the fruit that you reap in these countries, \u201cothers have toiled and you came in order to harvest their own labor\u201d, as the Lord has said.\n\nI would remind him as well of the Pauline missionary method, as he outlines so emotionally in the 15th Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans: \u201cI always promised to preach the Gospel there where the name of Christ had not yet been heard, because I did not want to build on foreign foundations.\u201d And finally, as I always tell myself, I would tell him that the time is approaching when we will leave this world. Let us repent \u201cas long as we have time for repentance,\u201d so that we can say: \u201cI have fought the good fight, I ran until the end of the road, I have kept the faith.\u201d\n\nThe way you describe it would be a miracle\u2026\n\nLet us pray; God is great. This is why we chant, \u201cWhich God is as great as our God? You are the God who alone is marvelous.\u201d\n\nYour Eminence, let us return to your meeting with the delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate. I would like you to tell us on which subject were you most insistent\u2026\n\nOn the issue of canonicity. In other words, because it is now certain that the Moscow Patriarchate is preparing to enter the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Korea and elsewhere, we therefore requested that they not destroy the canonical order which already exists in Korea. As a result of the inspired initiatives and efforts of Metropolitan Sotirios, in Korea there is one bishop for all Orthodox believers regardless of nationality or language.\n\nThis, as you know, was the canonical order from the Ancient Church until the 19th-century, when, because of migration from Orthodox countries in Eastern Europe towards Western Europe and America at the outset, this system was replaced by the abnormality of having multiple bishops from various national backgrounds existing within the same city. It is as if it is normal to have multiple fathers within the same family! We requested, I reiterate, that they not spoil the model of the Korean Church, which is the ultimate purpose of the Episcopal Assemblies, following the 2009 Pan-Orthodox decision, to resolve the canonical anomalies in the Orthodox Diaspora. We requested that which is obvious, but you can see, many times, the obvious is not so obvious for those who wear nationalistic blinders.\n\nYou spoke earlier about the \u201cinspired initiatives and efforts of Metropolitan Sotirios.\u201d Can you describe for us exactly what Metropolitan Sotirios did?\n\nThank you for the question. Immediately after the fall of the Eastern Bloc in the 1990s, His Eminence had the foresight to become interested in the earliest group of Slavophone economic migrants, who began coming to Korea. He began to organize them one by one, catechized and baptized the unbaptized, conducted weddings for the unmarried, and at the same time learned to read Slavonic in order to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in the Slavonic language, especially during large gatherings that would be organized for the Great Feasts of our Church.\n\nHe also provided them hospitality at our Monastery of the Transfiguration, as well as at the guest homes at St. Nicholas in Seoul; he provided them with financial assistance, and helped them find employment. Finally, he also built the parish of St. Maxim the Greek; the foundation stone was laid by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew during his visit to Korea in 1995. In order for all the holy services to be conducted in Slavonic, and not just on a rotational basis, he took measures to bring from the Moscow Patriarchate Hieromonk Theophane Kim, as I already mentioned earlier in our interview.\n\nThis is how we arrived at the delightful position today that all Slavophones have pastoral care, not only in Seoul but in all of our parishes in South Korea. Our Slavophone faithful rejoice in the liturgical life in their own language in our Church here, and their children participate in our catechetical schools, in our winter and summer camps, and in all programs of our Metropolis in general.\n\nWe requested, therefore, returning to your previous question, that they not destroy that which His Eminence Sotirios, created with the blessings of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the help of the Korean clergy and our collaborators.\n\nIn addition, we brought to their attention the following point, which is a crucial one for mission work: we told them that we constantly teach, verbally and in writing, that the Orthodox Church around the world is One. However, if the creation of Orthodox Churches from jurisdictions other than the Ecumenical Patriarchate happens in Korea, this will cause a double scandal. First, towards Koreans who are Orthodox. They will justifiably ask themselves, which Church should I go to. And, second, towards the heterodox and especially the Protestants. They will justifiably tell us: You Orthodox are the same as us; just like we are separated into different ecclesiastical pieces, you are similarly separated into different jurisdictions within the same city. You are not one Church as you claim.\n\nThey, however, may respond with the argument that, \u201cWe are only here to serve the Russians\u2026\u201d\n\nThis argument, the least one can say, is from the evil one; because we place national interests above the unity of the Church. In Korea, we nowhere and never use the term \u201cGreek Orthodox Church\u201d but instead the title, Orthodox Metropolis of Korea. Under this umbrella, if you will allow me this expression, the Ecumenical Patriarchate provides affection and rest to ALL Orthodox who live in Korea. From the Mother Church of Constantinople we have learned to think and behave ecumenically. I, for example, was not sent to Korea by the Ecumenical Patriarchate as a Greek bishop, but as an Orthodox bishop in order to work with an ecumenical spirit for the Orthodox Church of Christ in Korea.\n\nThink about what will happen after the Russians lay claim to the creation of parishes in the beginning and dioceses later, then our brethren from Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, etc., may do the same since they also have migrants in Korea. Thereafter \u2013 may this not happen \u2013 we will lose the power of our Orthodox witness in the Korean society.\n\nFor this reason exactly, we ask all people of goodwill: \u201cDo you want to work in Korea? Are you genuinely interested in the further spreading of the Orthodox Church in this country? Let us then collaborate for the Glory of God, without any other agendas, which are dictated by political or nationalistic ideologies, and other unimportant reasons. Some respond to our invitation: \u201cI want to but\u2026\u201d \u201cThere is no \u201cbut\u201d in the work of God. When you decide to minister the Gospel, you do so unconditionally. If you do not feel that the Orthodox Church is ONE family, it is better if you stay in your home. Enough damage has been caused by ethnophyletism in the Orthodox Diaspora. This cancer should not be allowed to be transmitted to new missionary churches. Come with humility and a sacrificial manner to work together, \u2018the word of the Lord is running and glorifying.\u2019\u201d There is enough work for all since, \u201cthe harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.\u201d\n\nIs it not a pity that we are wasting precious time and mental substance dealing with uncanonical and diplomatic attitudes, rather than concerning ourselves with the redeeming work of our Church? I do not have the smallest doubt that this is a great sin.\n\nWhen did the claims of the Moscow Patriarchate begin in Korea?\n\nSince old times; almost immediately after their liberation from the communist regime. To date, they have taken many actions directly, but also through Russian diplomacy.\n\nCan you provide us with some specifics from all that you know?\n\nAbout twenty-five years ago, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Department for External Church Relations came into contact with the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) and asking in writing to give them a large sum of money in those days in order for them to build a parish in Seoul. Those responsible for the NCCK requested the opinion of the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea. They showed us, moreover, the letter they received from the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. We explained to them that we already have a parish for Slavophones and they realized that no further action was necessary.\n\nYour Eminence, there is a lot of talk recently about North Korea. On the occasion of this interview, we would like to ask you about the Orthodox parish which is there. Who really built it?\n\nThe Orthodox parish of the Holy Trinity in Pyongyang, North Korea, was built by the government of North Korea by a decision of the late father of the country\u2019s current leader. From Seoul, Metropolitan Sotirios, as the then Metropolitan of Korea, sent large containers three times with valuable materials to build and equip the parish. Additionally, he sent a large crane, which he travelled together with, for the installation of the parish dome. His Eminence went to North Korea as the sovereign Metropolitan, since the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea includes the entire Korean peninsula. When the parish was finally prepared, the then head of the Russian Orthodox Department for External Church Relations and now Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill, with the support of the Russian Embassy in North Korea, went into the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and uncanonically consecrated the parish.\n\nFrom that point on until today our Russian brethren publish on various websites, which unfortunately are reproduced on Greek sites, that the parish in Pyongyang belongs to the Moscow Patriarchate, which is untrue, as the North Koreans themselves admit. Furthermore, I would like to mention that the \u201cOrthodox Committee of the Holy Trinity Parish, Pyongyang,\u201d invited the then Metropolitan of Korea Sotirios five times to visit them in North Korea. The last time, in fact, His Eminence, Sotirios, went with clergymen of our Metropolis to celebrate the Divine Liturgy at the newly built Holy Trinity parish. During his visit, the members of the Committee expressed to him their warmest wishes and gratitude for his contribution to building the parish.\n\nAs we conclude this interview, we would like, Your Eminence, one final thought and message from you for our readers.\n\nI thank you, Mr. Papachristou, for giving me the opportunity to conclude with something from my heart. We love the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian people and we are sincerely saddened when we see the Moscow Patriarchate being represented by people with a secular mindset and unorthodox ethos. His Eminence, Sotirios, apart from all he did in Korea for the Russians, continues this work, despite his advanced age, in Pisidia for our Russian brethren. I reminded the Russian delegation who attended our meeting that His Eminence Sotirios, in difficult economic times, managed to build two parishes in the Metropolis of Pisidia for the liturgical and pastoral care of the Russians who live there.\n\nHe arranged for two Slavophone priests to serve the spiritual needs of Russians and he himself ensured by all means for their catechism and spiritual progress in every way. Allow me to say that since my childhood years I remember the fervent prayers we made for the Russians and all those who found themselves in communist countries of the time, but also the pain we felt for their martyrdom as a result of their Faith. I will end with what I told Archbishop Sergey: We love you, and we do not have anything personally against you, but we cannot agree with what you are doing, because what is at stake is not me, but the Church of Christ.\n\nShare this: Tweet\n\n\n\nPrint\n\n"}
-{"text": "Thinks you haven't been praying hard enough Kills someone close to you\n\n9,905 shares"}
-{"text": "A viscount who offered money on Facebook for someone to kill Brexit campaigner Gina Miller has been jailed for 12 weeks.\n\nRhodri Philipps, the 4th Viscount St Davids, wrote on the social media site: \"\u00a35,000 for the first person to 'accidentally' run over this bloody troublesome first generation immigrant\".\n\nThe 50-year-old wrote the comment days after Ms Miller won her landmark High Court challenge against the Government last year over the triggering of Article 50, the formal mechanism for leaving the European Union.\n\nPhilipps, of Knightsbridge, central London, described her as a \"boat jumper\", and added: \"If this is what we should expect from immigrants, send them back to their stinking jungles.\"\n\nImage: Gina Miller was described by Philipps as a 'bloody troublesome first generation immigrant'\n\nHe was found guilty at Westminster Magistrates' Court of two counts of sending menacing messages on a public electronic communications network.\n\n\nThe other post was in response to a news article about an immigrant and his children.\n\nPhilipps also had a five-year restraining order placed on him to \"protect\" Ms Miller, along with Arnold Sube, the man he abused online, and Matthew Steeples, who told Ms Miller about the racist material.\n\nSenior district judge Emma Arbuthnot ordered the recently bankrupt Philipps to pay \u00a3500 compensation.\n\nHe was given six months to pay, with the judge warning him she would send bailiffs to his home if he did not comply.\n\nGina Miller: I will take Govt back to court if Brexit promise isn't kept\n\nThe judge told Philipps he had \"tried and failed to justify the racist abuse\".\n\nShe told him: \"You told me proudly in evidence that your family motto is Love of Country and that is your motivation, but it seems to me on the evidence I have seen that you are not motivated by love of country, but by your hatred of anybody who has different views to yours and to any who have recently arrived in this country.\n\n\"You show this hatred by publicly directing abusive threats at others, which is a criminal offence in this multi-racial society we are lucky enough to live in.\"\n\nThe judge noted that it was only since his conviction two days ago, when he was warned that he might go to prison, that Philipps had expressed remorse.\n\nBrexit bill after Government loses case\n\nShe said it was \"a sudden conversion after many months when you have expressed racist views\".\n\n\"You accept now your posts were a self-indulgent release of anger. I accept you have an alcohol dependency. At the time, you believed your behaviour was an example of freedom of speech.\"\n\nPhilipps, who represented himself, argued he had uploaded the material in anger, had only meant to send it to his friends and that he did not mean to publish it widely or to cause offence."}
-{"text": "Those hoping for regime change in North Korea may have just gotten their wish...it\u2019s just not the type of change they had been hoping for.\n\nThe purge and subsequent quick execution of North Korea\u2019s number two leader, Jang Song-thaek, proves once again the dangers associated with being next in line in an authoritarian society. Even being the number one guy\u2019s uncle (by marriage, not by birth) cannot save you.\n\nWhat all this means for the stability of the regime and for its future policy is anyone\u2019s guess, and it\u2019s important to remember that when it comes to North Korea, we\u2019re all guessing. The frustrating part about analyzing North Korean actions is that every event has at least two equally plausible but diametrically opposed explanations. The experts seem divided between those who think that Jang\u2019s removal from power reflects Kim Jong-un\u2019s total control\u2014he is now secure enough to remove the mentor his father chose for him\u2014and those who believe that it reflects just how unstable and insecure the young leader really is. I\u2019m inclined toward the latter but we need to see who else is purged or rehabilitated; over 40 percent of the senior leadership has been removed or retired in the not quite two years since Kim Jong-un has come to power, including some potential Jang rivals who might now make a comeback. Clearly the last shoe has yet to fall.\n\nOne thing is sure: the previously purged Jang won\u2019t be making a comeback. Putting him to death\u2014common for lower-ranking individuals but rare for senior leaders, especially members of the ruling family\u2014could show how insecure Kim is about his ability to truly neutralize his once-powerful uncle. Remember the old maxim about \u201ckilling the chicken to scare the monkeys\u201d? Kim went straight for the monkey. Can you imagine how scared the chickens must now be?\n\nWhile much remains to be sorted out, what seems clear (at least to me) is that \u201cChinese-style reform\u201d has become increasingly unlikely for North Korea. Jang had long been seen as its number one advocate; the Chinese treated Jang like a visiting head of state when he visited Beijing in 2012. While there, he reportedly assured the Chinese leadership that, in return for Chinese support for the new boy leader, Kim Jong-un would, with Jang\u2019s encouragement and supervision, eventually take the North down the Chinese path.\n\nIn all likelihood, this line of thinking has been at least temporarily discredited. Even if his purge were all about power and personalities rather than policy, it would be very dangerous for others to be seen as supporting Jang\u2019s policy prescriptions at this time. If reports that China received no advance warning of this event and that some Jang supporters are seeking asylum in China are true, this bodes ill not only for the China model, but perhaps for the overall Sino-North Korean relationship as well. The fact that Jang\u2019s long list of sins included selling North Korean assets too cheaply to China must be additional salt in China's wound.\n\nChinese colleagues sometimes tell me, only half jokingly, that they want to bring their children to North Korea to let them see what China was like in the old days, before Deng Xiaoping led the country down the path of reform. Many in China seemed to believe (or at least hoped) that Jang Song-thaek would turn out to be the North\u2019s Deng Xiaoping. Recall it was the twice-purged Deng who pulled off his own internal coup in 1976, bringing about the regime change in China that ousted the so-called \u201cGang of Four,\u201d led by Mao\u2019s widow Jiang Qing.\n\nWhile others will watch closely for changes in North Korean policy as a result of Jang\u2019s purge and execution, it is the change we are not likely to see that could be most significant. The chances of Deng-styled reform in North Korea may have just died along with Jang. Imagine China\u2019s fate if the Gang of Four had prevailed. This may have been what just happened in Pyongyang.\n\nRalph A. Cossa is president of Pacific Forum CSIS. The following first appeared in Pacific Forum CSIS Newsetter.\n\n"}
-{"text": "Who said the gender gap in comedy is NBD? Certainly not Will Ferrell, who has just launched a new production company, aimed at created female-focused comedies. Well, it's about time!\n\n\nThe production company is an offshoot of Ferrell's Gary Sanchez Productions, reports Salon:\n\nLongtime Gary Sanchez executive Jessica Ebaum will head the new division. \"When Jessica came to us with this idea, we thought it was fantastic,\" Ferrell and McKay said in a statement. \"She has worked with some of the great female voices in comedy and has proven herself as a gifted producer who has a keen eye for material.\"\n\nThe company's namesake, Gary Sanchez, as comedy nerds may know, is a fictional \"Paraguayan entrepreneur and financier\" created by Ferrell. Gloria is his \"favorite step-granddaughter,\" so of course Gary \"loved the idea,\" Ferrell joked.\n\n\nDeadline reported on the announcement earlier today. Elbaum is a seasoned producer who has some pretty big hits already under her belt.\n\nElbaum has been with Gary Sanchez since its formation in 2006 and she has been a producer on such films as Step Brothers, The Other Guys, Casa De Mi Padre and Bachelorette, the latter of which fits the template for the kind of fare Gloria Sanchez wants to make. She also guided Ferrell's 2008 stage show You're Welcome America, to Broadway for its limited run and was exec producer of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues and is in post on the Shira Piven-helmed comedy Welcome To Me, which stars Kristen Wiig, Wes Bentley, James Marsden, and Tim Robbins.\n\nFerrell has dabbled in female-focused comedy; Gary Sanchez Productions was behind last year's Bachelorette and is involved with an upcoming Melissa McCarthy vehicle called Tammy at New Line Cinemas.\n\nThis move is another good sign that Hollywood is starting to sit up and pay attention to the fact that yes, funny women DO exist (shocking) and they actually do put the coveted assess in seats they're always looking for. The mega box office successes of Bridesmaids and The Heat aren't just flukes the establishment can write off while they go look for the next Sylvester Stallone-Arnold Schwarzenegger ego project to film. (FYI, the latest one was called Escape Plan. And I watched it. It was as awful as you can imagine, you guys. Please save me from my own on-demand viewing choices.)\n\nAdvertisement"}
-{"text": "A 3-year-old boy is in the Children's Hospital in Little Rock after he was shot in the head near St. Joe, Ark.\n\nThe Searcy County Sheriff says a man shot the boy while he and his babysitter were walking on Woolum Road near St. Joe Wednesday night.\n\nThe man is now in jail. We're waiting to find out why he fired his gun.\n\nThe sheriff says the boy is in stable condition, and is expected to survive."}
-{"text": "OK, there\u2019s this thing geeks like to do that makes absolutely no sense, trying something just to try it. Like installing Windows \u201995 on an Android Wear watch. I mean why? Why would anyone want to do that? The answer, because they can. That\u2019s exactly why YouTuber iBookGuy decided he wanted to see if he could take a bunch of flash drives and a 10 port USB 2.0 hub and make them into a RAID array. The crazy thing is, he actually got the thing to work. Take a look at iBookGuy\u2019s full video below. Oh, and ignore his obvious errors in confusing 256GB and 256MB on more than one occasion.\n\nAs you can see the experiment worked, although it\u2019s probably not the most cost effective or elegant way of making a RAID array it worked. Even with all those flash drives he was able to achieve decent read/write times but it makes me wonder what his experiment would have looked like had he used USB 3.0 flash drives and a USB 3.0 MacBook Pro. Even if this isn\u2019t a cost effective way to make a massive capacity array, you could make a mini array using this setup with a few 256GB flash drives. Either way, hats off to iBookGuy for a fun little project and proof of concept.\n\nWhat did you think of this little geek experiment? Let us know in the comments below or on Google+, Facebook and Twitter."}
-{"text": "As much as we suspect the establishment the establishment would preferthis can of self-incriminating worms was firmly kept shut, President Trump has doubled-down on his accusations of Obama administration surveillance of Trump and his campaign officials in his latest tweet...\n\n.@FoxNews from multiple sources: \"There was electronic surveillance of Trump, and people close to Trump. This is unprecedented.\" @FBI \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2017\n\nObviously citing 'sources' is not the 'smoking gun' but given that entire narratives have been proscribed by mainstream media and politicians on the basis of nothing more than 'anonymouse sources', why is a Fox 'source' any different from a CNN or WaPo 'source'? Is it any wonder Democrats are so desperate to silence Nunes?"}
-{"text": "One of the best ways to spread awareness of a cause is by advertising, obviously. It\u2019s important to remember, though, that the way you advertise can make a strong point while spreading awareness.\n\nMarch 21 marks World Down Syndrome Day, an annual event born 10 years ago in support of integrating people with Down Syndrome into everyday life. In order to get the word out this year, and make a point, the event\u2019s flagship organization CoorDown and agency Saatchi & Saatchi Italy have come up with a clever way to remind everyone of all that people with Down Syndrome can do: by putting them front and center in recreations of recent ads.\n\nThe new versions of international TV and print campaigns feature actors with Down Syndrome in place of the original actors and models. Participating brands involved include Pampers, Toyota, and a host of others. Additionally, as part of the globe-spanning effort, people with Down Syndrome will also appear as guests on popular Italian TV shows throughout the week.\n\nThis no-big-deal integration of Down Syndrome actors into advertising is meant to encourage their ongoing integration into society at large. The examples here might have more resonance were they better-known spots, but the idea comes through. A few U.S. brands have more visibly embraced this kind of diversity lately, unprompted and without banging the PR drum about it\u2013most notably Target and Nordstrom.\n\nWatch alternate versions of the Pampers and Toyota ads in full below."}
-{"text": "Get a load of this week\u2019s Thrift Store Find.\n\nYes, it\u2019s The Pocket Book of Boners: An Omnibus of Schoolboy Howlers and Unconscious Humor, published in 1932 by the Readers\u2019 League of America. This is the Armed Services Edition of this book. I picked this up for a quarter.\n\nFirst of all\u2026 FANTASTIC TITLE BUT A BIT MISLEADING.\n\nI\u2019m kidding. The term \u201cboner\u201d has an altogether different meaning in 2013, but throughout the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, the term was used more to refer to a big mistake or blunder. The word was used quite a bit in popular literature both high and low. My favorite instance of this is an old issue of Batman where The Joker uses (and abuses) \u201cboner\u201d in just about every possible way, shape and form.\n\nThe Pocket Book of Boners contains pages and pages of these allegedly innocent mistakes in language. Take these for example:\n\nor\n\nThe book is divided like courses in a school, including chapters on History, Science, Mathematics and Health, and Literature, Language and the Arts. Reading through the book, I found about one in every ten of these boners funny\u2026 and the rest were just kind of awful. Your mileage may vary, as always.\n\nSurely this book\u2019s antiquated name was a good enough reason to write about it\u2026 but as you may have noticed by the cover, there\u2019s another reason to take a second look at these boners. The authorship of this book is not stated; I\u2019m guessing The Pocket Book of Boners is a product of several editors with none taking full credit. There is an art credit, however\u2026 and it\u2019s a doozy. This book is an early example of the illustrations of Theodor Geisel!\n\nGeisel provided twenty illustrations for The Pocket Book of Boners under his \u201cDr. Seuss\u201d pseudonym. Seuss would have been about 18 years old when this book was printed.\n\nAlthough taken from the beginning of his career, you can already see some hallmarks of Seuss\u2019 later work. As always, Seuss lavishes attentions on the animal kingdom, erring toward the fantastic\n\n(I love the little details like the curve of the walrus\u2019 tusks)\n\n\u2026or this one.\n\nI know Geisel often recalled his childhood fondness for zoos in interviews as an adult, which makes flights of fancy like this interesting.\n\nSome of these illustrations also show Seuss\u2019 propensity toward Rube Goldberg-ian designs, like this one here.\n\nAn idea like \u201cBenjamin Franklin produced electricity by rubbing cats backward\u201d might be easily adapted in a more pedestrian fashion by a lesser cartoonist, but Seuss creates a carousel-like contraption. It\u2019s visually arresting as well as indicative of Seuss\u2019 design sense for future projects.\n\nI\u2019d be remiss if I didn\u2019t point out the handful of images Seuss produced in this volume that are pretty darn racist.\n\nHis depictions of Asian and African stereotypes were pretty typical for the 1930\u2019s and 1940\u2019s; Seuss provided newspapers with plenty of racially charged political cartoons depicting Asians in a less-than flattering light, especially through World War II. Given Seuss\u2019 body of work and his tireless championing of basic human rights through cartoons, I don\u2019t know anyone who thinks of Seuss as a racist. More, this kind of racial presentation was simply an expected trope of most cartooning, sadly. Still, looking at some of these illustrations and knowing the tone Seuss would strike with his work in children\u2019s picture books\u2026 it\u2019s weirdly conflicting thing to be presented with.\n\nAt any rate, The Pocket Book of Boners was a terrific find. Best find in quite a while, as far as I\u2019m concerned. I\u2019m excited and interested to see all the creepy referrals this blog is bound to get after I post this\u2026\n\nShare this: Twitter\n\nFacebook\n\nLike this: Like Loading... Related"}
-{"text": "Home Minister Amit Shah is going to bring the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha today. Opposition parties and India\u2019s so-called \u2018secular liberals\u2019 have been opposing the proposed bill tooth and nail, for it does not include Muslims from the Muslim-majority neighbour countries of India.\n\nAmidst all the arguments made against the bill by the so-called \u2018secular-liberal\u2019 parties and persons, one stands out. AAP supporter and music director Vishal Dadlani has floated a wild conspiracy theory that is being mocked on social media. Vishal thinks that all the recent cases of rape, murder, encounters and even \u2018onions\u2019 are actually the government\u2019s evil plan to distract the citizenry from the \u2018Citizenship Amendment Bill\u2019. Dadlani had shared a post claiming the same on Instagram.\n\nDadlani, however, did not offer any explanation to support his theory. He did not attempt to explain why would the government need to \u2018encounters\u2019 or \u2018onions\u2019 to \u2018distract\u2019 the people from a bill that is to be presented in the parliament and telecast on live TV, in front of hundreds of parliamentarians and with millions of Indians watching.\n\n- Advertisement -\n\nRead: Indian Idol Judge calls former Supreme Court Judge \u2018disgraceful\u2019 and \u2018coward\u2019, receives severe backlash\n\nHe also did not care to explain why would the government bother to \u2018sneak\u2019 something which was declared loud and clear in their election manifesto, the very manifesto which the BJP used to ask for votes and which gave them an overwhelming majority in the general elections.\n\nModi Govt is distracting attention from Citizenship Amendment Bill by debating it in Parliament, proceedings which can be seen live on TV by everyone. Vishal Dadlani ka dimaag Chacha Chaudhary se bhi tez chalta hai\u2026 pic.twitter.com/TlPOU4307A \u2014 Gappistan Radio (@GappistanRadio) December 8, 2019\n\nThe CAB seeks to ease the process for getting Indian citizenship for persecuted minorities like Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians from neighbourhood Muslim-majority nations, like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh."}
-{"text": "\u200e\u200e\u200e \u200f\u200f\u200e\n\nFrom the long-term impact of Bitcoin, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, to a showdown between Ripple and Swift, here\u2019s a look at some of the stories breaking in the world of crypto.\n\nBitcoin\n\nPantera co-CIO Joey Krug says Bitcoin has started a revolution that will radically transform every aspect of the global financial system.\n\nIn an extensive thesis on the future of finance, Krug says crypto and blockchain technology will prove to be every bit as significant as the printing press and the internet.\n\n\u201cJust as the internet effectively created a parallel information infrastructure, crypto (sorry cryptographers, the term has officially been co-opted!) will build a parallel financial infrastructure. And, no, it\u2019s not going to happen with private blockchains any more than the internet revolution occurred with intranets\u2026\n\nI think to make money in this market you have to be contrarian and right about which projects and companies to invest in. It\u2019s easy to just buy bitcoin and hope that digital gold will be the end-all, be-all. But I think we\u2019re standing on the precipice of something much, much bigger than that: the early beginnings of a revolution of the entire financial system.\u201d\n\nYou can check out the full thesis here.\n\nRipple and XRP\n\nRipple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Swift CEO Gottfried Leibbrandt are set for a showdown in Paris.\n\nThe two will join a panel called \u201cLet\u2019s Send the Money\u201d at the Paris Fintech Forum on January 30th. In November, Garlinghouse said Ripple\u2019s suite of cross-border payment solutions are designed to replace Swift, which is currently the dominant network used to power international payments between banks and financial institutions.\n\n\u26a0 #PFF19 30/01 SAVE THE DATE\u270d Exceptional panel with @bgarlinghouse CEO @Ripple #GottfriedLeibbrandt CEO @swiftcommunity CEO on \"Let's send the money\" Don't miss to register for the next jan 29 & 30 \u27a1\u27a1 https://t.co/reEAWwcDtW pic.twitter.com/oWgyOM1txQ \u2014 Paris Fintech Forum (@ParisFinForum) January 11, 2019\n\nEthereum\n\nThe Ethereum-based development studio ConsenSys has released a detailed infographic outlining the changes coming to Ethereum in its upcoming Constantinople upgrade.\n\nConstantinople is set to launch on January 16th.\n\nLitecoin\n\nLitecoin creator Charlie Lee just sat down for an interview on the Unconfirmed Podcast with Laura Shin.\n\nLee talks about the recent 51% attack on Ethereum Classic, and what it means for the future of blockchain.\n\n\ufeff\n\nIOTA\n\nA lead developer at the IOTA foundation says the team has completed a proof of concept that allows smart electricity grids to balance themselves.\n\n\u201cWe built a proof of concept of how a smart grid could autonomously balance itself, by sharing data in a secure way via IOTA and letting devices decide if they want to help balance or not, but if they do they\u2019ll get a small fee in return. This is all done by the system itself. There is no human interaction needed to run the system\u2026\n\nWe all know what solar and wind energy are become more and more common in our grids, and we also know that at night the sun isn\u2019t shining. This means that we have to use the energy when it\u2019s available, or store it for a later moment in time. By using this technology we can create self sustainable islands which can keep themselves running with the power they harvested. Combining multiple islands would create a much more resilient network, and thus much more resistant to power outages.\u201d\n\nCheck Latest News Headlines\n\n\n\nDisclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any loses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.\n\n[the_ad id=\"42537\"] [the_ad id=\"42536\"]"}
-{"text": "I have published various articles on the subject of flow, and every time I do I find it enlightening, so after a respondent to one of my posts in the Taoism group on Facebook asked me what I knew about flow, I didn\u2019t need a lot of encouragement to write a quick review of flow as we currently know it, from my own personal perspective. Supported by the relevant scientific fact of course!\n\nProposed by Mih\u00e1ly Cs\u00edkszentmih\u00e1lyi, flow is a positive psychology concept that has been widely referenced across a variety of fields. Colloquial terms for flow and similar mental states include:\n\nAccording to Wikipedia:\n\n\n\n\n\nFlow is so named because during Cs\u00edkszentmih\u00e1lyi\u2019s 1975 interviews several people described their \u201cflow\u201d experiences using the metaphor of a water current carrying them along. The psychological concept of flow as becoming absorbed in an activity is thus unrelated to the older phrase to \u2018go with the flow\u2019.\n\nAfter a lifetime of observational experience I wouldn\u2019t be so quick as to categorically state that Flow is unrelated to \u2018go with the flow\u2019, and even though the modern day view of the latter phrase denote certain qualities that are counter flow, it remains a highly apt description of a group flow experience, it accurately identifies the general personality type of naturally talented flow practitioners, and serendipitously classify the personality traits that imply easy flow-ability, ie; curiosity; persistence; low self-centeredness; and a natural predilection to perform activities for intrinsic reasons.\n\nIn classical Hollywood rendition flow is best known as tsaheylu as invoked in the blockbuster movie Avatar. In traditional Chinese culture it is revered as Qi, the flowing energy or the life force. The Veda refer to it as prana, and while it may easily interpret to a distinctly non-secular Holy Spirit, to the whirling Dervish practicing Sufism it is known as being in the presence of the divine.\n\nAs well you may or may not know, ever since Giordano Bruno, philosopher and scientist was burnt at the stake 400 years ago for his view in support of Copernicus, and after the 1633 Inquisition of Galileo found him \u201cvehemently suspect of heresy\u201d, forced him to recant on his treatise, and locked him in solitary till his death way back in 1633, there has been little love lost between the two opposing points of view.\n\nAs well you may or may now know, the divine do not indulge in science, and insist on divine rule over any equation pertaining to belief, the spirit, and the soul of mankind. So a research perspective on something as austere as being in the presence of the divine may sound like it belongs in Alice\u2019s Wonderland.\n\nAlthough there are distinctive qualities to the experience that Alice would find strangely familiar, flow is evidently a naturally occurring state of being that can be triggered by any activity that combine all the constitute requirements of flow in the prescribed manner.\n\nCs\u00edkszentmih\u00e1lyi identifies ten distinctive factors accompanying an experience of flow that uniquely epitomizes it as such, and describe three principle conditions without which flow cannot occur. Much like \u2018go with the flow\u2019 I guess."}
-{"text": "Let's get this out of the way: 1080p is superior to 720p, in every way. It's a higher resolution with almost double the amount of pixels. Don't let the marginal-looking 300~ difference fool you, 1080p is equivalent to 1920\u00d71080, while 720 is 1280\u00d7720. It's simple math: the numbers are bigger. The bigger the better, and the more pixels you get.\n\nAs it is, Call of Duty: Ghosts has been confirmed to run at a full 1080p on the PlayStation 4, while its counterpart on the Xbox One runs at 720p, upscaled to 1080p. What that means is the pixels are stretched out to make it fit 1080p. By doing so, you're going to get some blurry looking textures. Here's an example of how that looks:\n\n1080p\n\n720p\n\nThe difference is plain to see, and consumers will want to get the best out of their hardware to have something to show for what they've spent. It makes little sense to defend 720p in light of how much better 1080p appears in contrast, especially when you have an expensive, and gigantic LED TV capable of running games on the latter where the difference between the two resolutions will be clear to see. Unless you're gaming on a small, 720p-only display, there's absolutely no reason why you'd want to experience the game in a lower resolution.\n\nSome gamers, especially on Reddit, argue that the lengths to which the gaming media are attempting to downplay the 720p/1080p difference is pathetic\u2014and it is. But they also claim that it shows which members of the media have been \"bought out\" by Microsoft, and those which have not. It's my belief that certain members of the press are simply attempting to remain \"unbiased\" towards Sony or Microsoft by suppressing its urge to state the plain and simple fact that Sony has the upper hand, at least in regards to resolution. In the attempt to be fair and balanced, pure fact has been omitted or missed.\n\nPersonally, I think it does consumers a disservice to suggest this is a non-issue. It's even a bit hypocritical, given the amount of time that the press spends paining over the marginal visual differences in multiplatform games, like pop-in and texture quality. This Redditor sums it up:"}
-{"text": "Across Canada, the default urban speed limit is 50 km/h. It drops in school zones and construction zones, but by and large 50 it is.\n\nYou can read years of arguments for raising the limits on our major highways \u2014 nobody drives the limit anyway, and if they do, you know where to find them: in the passing lane. In some denser residential areas in parts of Toronto, limits are already at 40 km/h, but some want to lower these to 30 km/h.\n\nDueling agencies are at work here. The Toronto Board of Health relays the sobering fact that if a person is hit by a car going 50 km/h, they have an 85 per cent chance of dying. If that same car were only going 30, the risk falls to five per cent. It\u2019s hard to argue the fact that going slower would save lives.\n\nExcept this argument is being made in a fact vacuum, and it\u2019s unrealistic and probably unviable. Slapping up signs telling everybody to now go 30 would have as much impact as telling people on the highway to go 80 km/h. Drivers aren\u2019t computer models. Drivers aren\u2019t mathematical equations. And quite honestly, humans in general, whether they\u2019re pedestrians, cyclists or drivers, aren\u2019t the most predictable lot, either.\n\nHuman behavioural studies (NYU, Yale among them) present some fairly obvious and consistent findings: people obey laws that make sense to them. Having the majority of a populace obeying the laws makes everyone happier and safer. Make laws that make sense and you\u2019ll spend less money enforcing them and have more people voluntarily following them.\n\nGet in your car and drive 30 km/h. You\u2019ll see immediately why this will be a ridiculous law. Unless you\u2019re in a parking lot or a school zone, it\u2019s ludicrous. Politicians love to look like they\u2019re scoring points with this kind of thing, but giving your constituents a false sense of security is a terrible way to chase re-election.\n\nThose who work in transportation in Toronto know simply dropping speed limits to crawl levels won\u2019t achieve much. While not refuting the Board of Health\u2019s numbers, they\u2019re tasked with the bigger problem of explaining there are many moving parts to this issue. The goal is to make sure no car makes contact with a pedestrian or cyclist \u2014 at all. Speed traps, traffic calming medians, and speed bumps all have limited effect: police can\u2019t monitor thousands of residential streets, and owning your home doesn\u2019t mean you own the road it sits on. They say reducing speeds will have to come with more speed bumps and increased enforcement. Cha-ching.\n\nSpeed bumps make people erratic; they speed up in between and then nail their brakes to tackle the bump. Irritated drivers are dangerous too. High clearance SUVs can absorb the bumps, but if you think it\u2019s a pain getting your low-clearance car over them, imagine emergency vehicles loaded with life-saving equipment trying to race against a clock down a street littered like an obstacle course.\n\nDiscussion about lowering inner city speed limits is almost always predicated by a death, usually of a child. It\u2019s understandable, but it\u2019s also not the reason to change laws. Human pain does not make for good law, just as piles of soggy teddy bears and clutches of dead flowers do not make for noble tributes. It does not make you cold to want to base governance on good practice rather than emotion. The sad truth about any law is that \u201cgood people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.\u201d Plato said that, and he\u2019d never even seen a car. The people who are going to speed down your street are still going to speed down your street.\n\nWe also have to consider the other side of the urban equation: pedestrians and cyclists have an obligation to be aware of their surroundings. Parents have a duty to teach their kids how to safely cross a street and obey traffic signals. People walking along, head tucked down into their phone are nearly as dangerous as drivers doing the same thing. Cyclists who want to be counted under the protection of traffic law have to obey it. The vehicle will always inflict the most damage, but that doesn\u2019t mean the driver was always in the wrong.\n\nI live in a dead end court, and successive generations of kids have always been taught that a street is not a playground, no matter how it appears. The worst offenders for speeding have always been people who lived here. Always.\n\nI\u2019ll wager a bet the biggest problem isn\u2019t how fast people are travelling, it\u2019s what they\u2019re doing while driving. Stop texting. Stop turning to look at your passengers. Stop trying to broker a deal over your Bluetooth. Stop punching the buttons on your GPS.\n\nBetter yet, stop speeding on local streets so neighbourhood petitions and grandstanding politicians don\u2019t have the ammunition they need to lower them to a crawl.\n\nwww.lorraineonline.ca\n\n@TweeetLorraine\n\nOriginally published on June 22, 2015"}
-{"text": "Results\n\nThe best answer to the question \"What is your most prominent role in the MD community?\" is shown on the poll results page."}
-{"text": "Abdul Shahid Shamsudeen was travelling to New Delhi from a Saudi Airlines aircraft when he allegedly attempted to smoke.\n\nFollowing the incident, the flight crew filed a complaint with the airport operations control centre and the man was arrested. (Photo: Representational)\n\nNew Delhi: A 24-year-old Kerala man unzipped in front of a woman cabin crew to oppose her request of lighting a cigarette in the flight.\n\nAbdul Shahid Shamsudeen, a resident of Kottayam was travelling to New Delhi from a Saudi Airlines aircraft when he allegedly attempted to smoke, Hindustan Times reported.\n\n\u201cAs told by others present in the plane, when a woman cabin crew asked the man to put the cigarette back, he refused and abused her verbally. When the woman called other cabin crew members for assistance, the man created a ruckus and allegedly unzipped his pants and made obscene gestures at her,\u201d an official said.\n\nFollowing the incident, the flight crew filed a complaint with the airport operations control centre and the Central Industrial Security Force personnel were asked to be on alert.\n\n\u201cAs soon as the flight landed, the man was detained and escorted to the IGI Airport police station by the CISF men. He was handed over to the Delhi Police for further legal action,\u201d the officer said.\n\nThe man was booked under IPC section 354 (molestation) and 509 (using word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman under section 509, Deputy commissioner of police (IGI Airport) Sanjay Bhatia said.\n\nAccording to the police, the man works as an electrician and a few months ago he had visited Saudi Arabia on a work visa."}
-{"text": "Muhammed \"King Mo\" Lawal faces Emanuel Newton for the second time at Bellator 106. The first time Newton wrecked him with a spinning back fist KO and Mo is still angry at Newton and at the fans. Mo spoke to MMA Weekly and here are some highlights:\n\n\"I don't go to that many websites. For what? So I can go read a bunch of stuff from fans who don't know (expletive)?\n\n\"What are they gonna tell me about fighting? How can a (expletive) tell me about my jab when he's never thrown a jab before?\n\n\"Let's be real. That's like me saying, \u2018Hey, you're frying that chicken wrong,' when I ain't ever fried a chicken in my life. Or, \u2018Hey, you shouldn't be cooking ribs that way,' when I've never cooked ribs before. Or what about a pool? \u2018That pool needs chlorine,' when I have no idea what I'm talking about.\n\n\"They live on the internet,\" he continues. \"I have a life. I got family. I got friends. I got places to go. I don't spend time lollygagging and posting on message boards. I'm better than that.\n\n\"If (hardcore music fans) got offended by (Mo's comments about Newton being a skinhead), who cares?\" said Lawal with a chuckle. \"If all 15 people in the hardcore movement got offended - or 100 - who cares? I don't even know about it. If they want to get mad, they can come and try and \u2018mosh pit' on me.\""}
-{"text": "11:59\n\nA cs\u00e1b\u00edt\u00f3 anyuka, az \u00e1zsiai mostohal\u00e1ny \u00e9s a nagy br\u00e1ner"}
-{"text": "Natural health products portfolio taken from Browning\n\n4 November 2014\n\nGreens remove natural health products portfolio from Steffan Browning\n\nThe Green Party caucus has today removed the Natural Health Products portfolio from Steffan Browning and merged it into the Health portfolio held by Kevin Hague.\n\n\u201cThe Green Party supports evidence based health policy. Caucus has decided that our health policy is best represented in full by Kevin Hague,\u201d said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei.\n\n\u201cWe wish to be very clear that we support the use of science and evidence when it comes to public health policy.\n\n\u201cIndividuals can make choices about their own health treatments, but it is critical public health decisions are evidence based and that consumers have appropriate evidence based information about alternative health products.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\u00a9 Scoop Media\n\n"}
-{"text": "Pyston is an open source Python implementation that aims to be both highly compatible and high-performance. It uses modern JIT techniques and natively supports many CPython C extension modules.\n\nPyston is sponsored by Dropbox, and is pronounced \"piston\"."}
-{"text": "As of Monday, Senate Republicans looked like they were on pace to vote for their tax bill before Congress\u2019s nonpartisan budget analysts could weigh in on how it might affect the economy. But now, maybe not! In a letter to the chamber\u2019s Democrats, published this afternoon by the Wall Street Journal, the head of the Joint Committee on Taxation said his team was racing to finish its forecast by Wednesday night\u2014and it doesn\u2019t sound like the GOP will like the result very much.\n\nThe JCT is crafting what\u2019s known as a \u201cdynamic score\u201d of the Senate proposal. The estimate will try to predict how the legislation will affect the deficit while taking into account how its tax reductions will alter economic growth. The more the corporate tax cuts boost our GDP, the cheaper they\u2019ll look.\n\nOne key question budget wonks need to consider in this sort of analysis is whether the Federal Reserve will aggressively hike interest rates in response to faster growth. If they do, it could nip whatever economic benefit the tax cuts have right in the bud, increasing their cost on paper.\n\nThe JCT seems to be assuming that\u2019s exactly what the central bank will do. Currently, the prevailing view among mainstream economists\u2014including the Federal Reserve board\u2014is that the economy is running nearly at full steam, and that any extra stimulus, whether in the form of government spending or tax cuts, will probably just lead to more inflation. Now, there are a lot of people who think that conventional wisdom is mistaken. But Congress\u2019s budgeteers are not among them. \u201cFor this bill, since the economy is projected to be near full employment, [the analysis] will assume an aggressive Federal Reserve response,\u201d JCT Chief of Staff Thomas Barthold wrote. In other words, don\u2019t expect their model to back up Donald Trump\u2019s heroic claims about how tax cuts will turbocharge the economy.\n\nIf the analysis does drop before the Senate vote, Republicans will likely try to downplay it. But there\u2019s still a chance they won\u2019t have to bother. First, Barthold says he can\u2019t guarantee when the report will be published, since the JCT staff needs to do a number of \u201cquality checks.\u201d Second, the numbers may be outdated by the time they hit, since Republicans are considering major last-minute changes to their bill to win over holdouts. So we\u2019re right where we were on Monday, actually: Whatever the Senate finally votes on, it seems safe to say that nobody will have had a chance to really understand it."}
-{"text": "RT\u00c9's Crime Correspondent Paul Reynolds reports on the techniques employed by garda\u00ed in securing Graham Dwyer's conviction for murder.\n\nWhat began by chance at the Vartry Reservoir in Co Wicklow, in freak weather conditions with citizens doing their civic duty, progressed to today\u2019s conclusion, a murder conviction, because of persistent and diligent investigative techniques, high-tech phone and computer analysis and dogged, old-fashioned police work.\n\nRemarkable coincidences\n\nThe Summer of 2013 was unusually dry and the water gave up its secrets.\n\nThe level at the reservoir, normally at 4-6m, was on 10 September just 30-45cm.\n\nThat day, three anglers fished out clothes - a blue hoodie and a white vest, as well as handcuffs, a gag, a blindfold and bondage cuffs.\n\nThey left them on a nearby wall but they knew that something was not right and the next day one of them returned, put the items in a bag and handed them in at Roundwood Garda Station.\n\nInstead of dismissing the contents as waterlogged washed up rubbish, Garda James O\u2019Donoghue went back to the reservoir the next day and two more days after that, on his own time.\n\nHe saw handcuffs and searched the water with his hands.\n\nHe could see more objects in the water but as he tried to retrieve them they sank further away and the water became murky and he could no longer see through it.\n\nHowever, he persisted and pulled out a leather mask, a knife, an inhaler and quite literally the keys which unlocked this case.\n\nThe garda retrieved a set of keys for an apartment, car and family home.\n\nA Dunnes Stores loyalty card was also attached. Garda O'Donoghue contacted the supermarket chain's head office and found the card belonged to Elaine O'Hara.\n\nHe made further inquiries and when he discovered she was a missing person, he went back to Vartry and sealed the reservoir off as a crime scene.\n\nThree days after some of her clothes were first taken from the reservoir, on 13 September, by a remarkable coincidence, Ms O'Hara\u2019s body was found 25km away deep in the woods in the Dublin mountains by a woman out walking her dog.\n\nCoincidentally the day was also not only Graham Dwyer\u2019s birthday, but that of his wife Gemma.\n\nThe married couple were out for a celebratory meal at the time the lonely spot at Kilakee Woods, where Ms O'Hara was stabbed to death, was being sealed off as a crime scene.\n\nThe discovery of her remains led to the establishment of a murder investigation.\n\nInvestigation team\n\nThe investigation team was based at Blackrock Garda Station in south Dublin but all the resources of the Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na were put at its disposal, including the Underwater Unit, the Technical Bureau and the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.\n\nBut it was the work of the Computer Crime Unit that was to prove crucial, in particular the specialist capabilities of Detective Sergeant Alan Browne, Detective Garda Brid Wallace and analyst Sarah Skedd.\n\nThe analysts discovered there were three untraceable mobile phones, one 083, the others 086.\n\nThey retrieved disturbing evidence from the two 086, so-called Master and Slave phones, even though they had been dumped in the water and lay in the reservoir for over a year.\n\nThey found over 2,600 text messages on the phones such as \"must get fit for murder\" and \"my urge to stab, rape, kill is huge\".\n\nThe investigation team knew they were dealing with a person who wanted to kill for sexual gratification.\n\nThey knew from Elaine's computer that his name was Graham.\n\nThey also knew he was an architect who was married with children who was disgusted by smoking and interested in expensive cars and flying.\n\nThey checked all the airlines and pilots but could not find a match until on the evening of 27 September, Detective Colm Cregan suggested to Detective Jim Mulligan that maybe they should look at people flying model aeroplanes.\n\nDet Cregan thought of this because he had previously seen enthusiasts flying their planes in the Wicklow mountains.\n\nHis curiosity was aroused and he went over to have a chat with them.\n\nThey were friendly and welcoming, even inviting him to join their club and he spent an hour with them chatting, experimenting and taking photographs.\n\nWhen detectives Mulligan and Cregan checked the website for the Aeronautic Council of Ireland, pieces of the information they had already gathered began to match information on the website.\n\nThey found an architect, who was married with two children with a great interest in model planes whose name was Graham.\n\nThey called in their sergeant, Peter Woods, who, when he saw what they had found, said: \"You might just have something there lads!\" They had found Graham Dwyer.\n\nDNA evidence\n\nThe investigation team first found Graham Dwyer on 27 September, the same day as the officer leading the investigation, their boss, unknown to them all, went with another detective to Dwyer\u2019s home.\n\nIt was 5am and the Dwyer family had put their bins out on the footpath to be emptied that day. The two detectives searched Dwyer's bins and found a can of turtlewax. They took it away and sent it for DNA analysis.\n\nA week earlier on 20 September and just three days after the incident room had been set up in Blackrock, Detective Chief Superintendent Diarmuid O'Sullivan received confidential information on Graham Dwyer.\n\nIt was so serious that he set up the search operation to confirm that the architect from Foxrock was the same man whose DNA had been found in Ms O'Hara's bed.\n\nGraham Dwyer's bins were on the public road, the search was legal; Detective Chief Superintendent O'Sullivan had checked that beforehand and had even brought along on the search a detective who was also a qualified barrister.\n\nThe operation, was, however, kept secret to protect the intelligence source, but when the samples matched, the garda\u00ed knew they had the right suspect for the murder, from two separate lines of inquiry.\n\nThe investigation continued and more evidence against Dwyer emerged.\n\nThe computer crime analysts entered the dark world of bondage and sado-masochism, logging on to the alt.com and fetlife websites. They found Dwyer's email addresses Architect77 and fetishboy.\n\nThey discovered nine video clips where Graham Dwyer is using chloroform on himself, having sex with bound and gagged women and variously stabbing and suffocating Elaine O\u2019Hara with a plastic bag.\n\nThe analysts also established that wherever Dwyer went, the untraceable phones went too; the 083 and 086 phones were registered as having been in Cork, Galway, Donegal and all over Dublin at the same time and in the same places as the architect and his registered phone.\n\nThey discovered that text messages such as those about his new baby daughter and his car repair bill referred to real events in Dwyer\u2019s life.\n\nThey also discovered that other texts to Ms O\u2019Hara on the day she died such as \"you will have stab wounds \u2013 as many as I like\u201d and the orders to her to \"Park at Shanganagh Cemetery at 5.30\" and \"leave your iphone, just bring slave phone and keys\" \u2013 actually mapped out her murder.\n\nElaine pleaded to be allowed to bring her inhaler, later recovered from the reservoir. She was told to \"empty herself and become nothing; you are property and a piece of slave meat\".\n\nAt 6pm she was told to \"Go down to the shore and wait.\" She was never seen alive again.\n\nThe investigation team spent 14 months watching over 5,000 hours of CCTV but early on discovered crucial footage of Dwyer leaving Ms O'Hara\u2019s apartment carrying a bag that was later found in the reservoir.\n\nThey also discovered he was in contact with vulnerable and suicidal women online, such as Darci Day, a troubled American woman whom, like Ms O'Hara, he offered to kill.\n\nDwyer interviewed\n\nWithin four weeks they had enough evidence to put to Dwyer and on 17 October 2013 at 7.05am he was arrested at his home in Foxrock, one of the wealthiest suburbs in Dublin.\n\nHe was interviewed at Blackrock Garda Station five times over 24 hours and because he declined the opportunity to sleep he was questioned day and night.\n\nHe refused to talk about Elaine O\u2019Hara until the fourth interview when he admitted they had had a sexual relationship.\n\nHowever there was no contact between the two on their registered phones and while Dwyer continued to deny he owned the untraceable phones, with no evidence of any other contact, he couldn\u2019t explain how he maintained the relationship.\n\nHe tried to give the impression to the garda\u00ed that he was co-operating with the investigation by giving them what he thought was innocuous information without realising that it actually confirmed details they had already gleaned from the untraceable mobile phones, such as the fact that he had had a pay cut, that he\u2019d been in a flying competition and that he had bought a new bike which got him to work ten minutes quicker.\n\nThese were all details about his life which had been texted to Elaine\u2019s so called \u2018Slave\u2019 phone from the \u2018Master\u2019 phone. The details from the \u2018Master\u2019 matched the details of Dwyer\u2019s life.\n\nHe also identified himself on CCTV leaving Elaine O Hara\u2019s apartment in Belarmine, Stepaside carrying a bag which was subsequently retrieved from the reservoir.\n\nHe could not say how that bag ended up there or where it had gone. He was shown two knives which were also found in the water which he said were in that bag.\n\nHe also said he would not be surprised if his DNA was found on one of those knives. It was not.\n\nAs well as the admissions, Dwyer also lied to the garda\u00ed. He told them he would not cut anybody, would not knife play and insisted \"that weird stuff is not for me\".\n\nHe tried to blame Ms O'Hara and said that she was the one who was into the \"blood letting\" when the evidence clearly showed that Ms O'Hara had told him several times she did not want to be stabbed and had tried to get away from him.\n\nAs the garda\u00ed put together the case against Graham Dwyer for the murder of Elaine O'Hara, the childcare worker was always at the centre of the investigation which was focussed on getting justice for her and her family.\n\nBail opposed\n\nDwyer was charged with Ms O\u2019Hara's murder on 18 October 2013 and appeared in D\u00fan Laoghaire District Court the following day. He was remanded in custody.\n\nDwyer has been on remand in prison for the past year and a half.\n\nHe was innocent until proven guilty and entitled to the presumption of innocence.\n\nHowever even though he tried to get out of the remand prison three times by applying twice to the High Court and once to the Supreme Court the garda\u00ed strenuously and successfully opposed his bail.\n\nFollowing today\u2019s guilty verdict, Dwyer will be sentenced on 20 April.\n\nThe sentence for murder is mandatory life in prison."}
-{"text": "Britain\u2019s spy agencies played a crucial role in alerting their counterparts in Washington to contacts between members of Donald Trump\u2019s campaign team and Russian intelligence operatives, the Guardian has been told.\n\nHe hacked the emails and wants to breed skepticism, so he and said this to get out ahead and look innocent. He was arrested two days before they announced that Russia did the hack. Therefore, perhaps they suspected him and he\u2019s guilty. To add another layer, perhaps the Russian government was involved and told him to say the FBI was trying to pin it on him to help discredit the FBI investigation, accusation, and proof of Russian hacking. We know that Russia wanted him over a minor theft that occurred in 2009 as I wrote:Don\u2019t forget, Russia wants this guy too, but The Guardian seems to posit that what Russia wants him on is so minor that perhaps Russia is using the charges in an attempt to keep him out of U.S. hands, noting that Russia filed their extradition request immediately after his arrest, and citing \u201cdiplomatic sources,\u201d they claim that Russia offered to do a swap of Czech citizens wanted by Prague for financial crimes in exchange for Nikulin.There is ZERO evidence of theory #1 and despite my skepticism that it was even Russia that hacked, I still feel obligated to point this option out. Here\u2019s some problems with it:a) The first thing that makes me skeptical is that he says they wanted him to say that then candidate Trump ORDERED the hack. As we know, the FBI is not investigating Trump for collusion (or at least wasn\u2019t prior to the Comey firing) because there was no proof or evidence and hasn\u2019t been since this investigation started nearly a year ago. The only thing the media has was what was (at worst) a stupid meeting taken by Donald Trump Jr which did not prove collusion to hack emails and ended up being a ruse to discuss the Magnitsky Act. Consider this in light of the fact that there is proof that the U.S. government was unmasking the calls of Trump associates and foreign allies were surveilling the Trump campaign. Refresher:\n\n\n\n\n\nGCHQ first became aware in late 2015 of suspicious \u201cinteractions\u201d between figures connected to Trump and known or suspected Russian agents, a source close to UK intelligence said. This intelligence was passed to the US as part of a routine exchange of information, they added.\n\nOver the next six months, until summer 2016, a number of western agencies shared further information on contacts between Trump\u2019s inner circle and Russians, sources said.\n\nThe European countries that passed on electronic intelligence \u2013 known as sigint \u2013 included Germany, Estonia and Poland. Australia, a member of the \u201cFive Eyes\u201d spying alliance that also includes the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand, also relayed material, one source said.\n\n\n\n\n\nAnother source suggested the Dutch and the French spy agency, the General Directorate for External Security or DGSE, were contributors.\n\nIt is understood that GCHQ was at no point carrying out a targeted operation against Trump or his team or proactively seeking information. The alleged conversations were picked up by chance as part of routine surveillance of Russian intelligence assets. Over several months, different agencies targeting the same people began to see a pattern of connections that were flagged to intelligence officials in the US.\n\n\n\nhttps://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/13/british-spies-first-to-spot-trump-team-links-russia?CMP=share_btn_tw\n\nTherefore, if the FBI really thought Trump ordered this guy to do it, Trump would surely be under investigation for collusion. All of those Democrat House and Senate members asked if there is evidence of collusion by the media keep saying there is no evidence (minus perhaps the Don Jr. meeting that went nowhere). They wouldn\u2019t be saying that if there was evidence to believe this guy had been ordered by Trump to hack the emails.\n\nNow he could use the \u201cTrump ordered\u201d line to try to discredit the FBI investigation because he knows there are those who are skeptical of Russian hacking story and believe that the deep state is out for Trump, so the Trump component makes it look more like a set up on the FBI\u2019s part. To go back to the theory \u2013 In other words, while he may be guilty of hacking the emails, the FBI tried to blame Trump for it.\n\nb) The FBI obviously wasn\u2019t confident or this would have been leaked to the MSM \u2013 either Washington Post, New York Times, or CNN (the deep state trio). If they suspected him and believe Trump ORDERED him, I think that he would be on the radar of the MSM, and the MSM has overall tried to DOWNPLAY or not report on this at all which is VERY telling.\n\nc) The sealed affidavit against him discussed in The Guardian article reveals nothing about hacking emails, just about the hacks of Formspring, Dropbox, and LinkedIn. I would have thought if they had proof, that would be in the sealed affidavit. Although, one could argue they don\u2019t have concrete proof but were either fishing to see if he did it or trying to get a confession.\n\nd) Russia has a history of disliking their citizens being arrested \u2013 hating the policy of extraterritorial jurisdiction. Nikulin was caught in swarm of multiple Russians arrested and accused of various hacking offenses, and Russia does not think the U.S. should be arresting their citizens.\n\n\n\nf) He\u2019s willing to go back to Russia, but he\u2019s not thrilled about it and would rather not. He prefers Russia to the U.S. and would rather go there if he is extradited, but he wants to go to Russia a free man. He claims the crime that The Guardian refers to as \u201cminor\u201d is a crime he is innocent of and that he never hacked anything \u2013 not what Russia or the U.S. is accusing him of hacking \u2013 saying he\u2019s a used car salesman. His attorney is fighting the charges and believes he is being used as a \u201cpolitical pawn\u201d between two countries. If he hacked the emails for the Russian government, why would he even protest Russia? He seems certain that he\u2019ll be punished for the crime they are accusing him of if he is to go home.\n\n2. He\u2019s lying and capitalizing on a scandal going on here. That said, what motive would he have to do this?\n\n\n\nFirst of all, there is indication this guy isn\u2019t exactly forthwright. The FBI claims and lays out their proof that he did hack those sites, and Russia is also accusing him of hacking, although it was a relatively small amount of money some years ago. So if he is innocent of the hackings this is part of a set up, and his denials show his honesty. If he DID hack these sites and is guilty and is lying, his denials show him to be a dishonest person, and that could certainly carry over into these accusations. Anyway, let\u2019s explore motives:\n\n\n\na) Perhaps he is trying to be able to stay in either the Czech Republic or next best case, appealing to Russia, by saying he is falsely being accused of a crime in the U.S. \u2013 appealing essentially to humanitarian reasons. He is willing to go to Russia over the U.S. However, despite being willing he is still fighting and saying Russia is accusing him a crime he didn\u2019t commit.\n\nb) Perhaps he wants attention. People will make up things to get that, but that one is unlikely to me because of the dire consequences.\n\nThe consequence of lying:\n\n\n\nYou\u2019ve just accused the United States FBI/government of falsely trying to get to admit to a major crime you did not commit in exchange for a bribe, and there is a good chance you will be extradited there. That just doesn\u2019t bode well for your future.\n\nc) Perhaps the Russian government told him to say this to discredit the Russia investigation AND in exchange for them attempting to get him extradited there. However, he\u2019s not thrilled about going to Russia either and is fighting the charge against him. His attorney, remember, says he\u2019s a \u201cpolitical pawn.\u201d If Russia threatened him to say to it to discredit the FBI investigation, Russia would be highlighting these false accusations, and they are not. Russia would be saying that their citizen is being falsely accused by the U.S. and demanding he not be sent there. Russia has stayed quiet, so that would defeat their purpose of generating publicity to discredit the investigation.\n\nd) Remember, there were 10 people in the room, and no one has indicated that there was a deal offered. We have one anonymous law enforcement agent saying he wasn\u2019t offered a deal, so that is some indication he could have been lying.\n\n3. He\u2019s telling the truth and he\u2019s innocent:\n\n\n\nThe FBI offered him cash, an apartment, and citizenship so they could \u201cprove\u201d their collusion narrative. They would have a hacker to back up their story. Now would they have actually given him the cash, apartment, and citizenship? It\u2019s hard to see that happening. It could have just been a ruse to get him to confess and toss him in jail. Perhaps, as the article stated, they aren\u2019t sure if he did it but feel he might know who did, so they are going to try to get him to talk. (Remember we have other Russians tossing this out there as well that the FBI might be on a fishing expedition, however, they also could be exploiting the situation as well.) That could lead one to doubt this, but it\u2019s possible the FBI was serious and essentially was offering him immunity. If so, why wouldn\u2019t he take it? Because it\u2019s the FBI trying to get him to admit to a crime he didn\u2019t commit. If they will lie once, who is to say that they wouldn\u2019t lie again and toss him in jail? If he tried to plead his case after the fact, no one would believe him.\n\nFINAL SUMMARY:\n\n~We know the FBI visited him aligned with the dates that he said.\n\n~There is zero proof of collusion.\n\n~The sealed affidavit was about the hacks in 2012-2013.\n\n~Russia does want him back, but that doesn\u2019t mean he hacked the emails or they are trying to use him as a pawn. He says he is innocent of the charges Russia is accusing him of as well \u2013 he is willing to go to Russia in light of the fact the charges are lighter and it\u2019s his home country.\n\n~If he hacked the emails on the orders of the Russian government or this was a narrative they cooked up to try to discredit the Russia investigation, he would not be fighting the charges from the Russian government and declaring himself innocent.\n\n~If Russia cooked up this narrative to discredit the FBI investigation, they\u2019d be loud and vocal highlighting that the FBI is falsely accusing their citizen and demanding him back. In order to discredit, it has to have attention. They are giving it none.\n\n~His attorney seems generally baffled and thinks he is a \u201cpolitical pawn.\u201d\n\n~If he is guilty of these hacks in Russia & the U.S. or both, his denials would indicate a pattern of dishonesty.\n\n~Russia does not like the U.S. arresting their people especially in these times, so that likely explains why they decided they wanted him instead.\n\n~The FBI traveling all the way to Prague for a case like this is rare:\n\nMark Galeotti, senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations Prague, said the presence of Miller in Prague at least suggested that the case was no ordinary one. \u201cAn FBI agent travelling from the US to a third country as part of an extradition request is extremely unusual and highlights that the case is seen as significant,\u201d he said.\n\n\n\n\n\n~He was tried in a tiny room & is in poor health:\n\nTuesday\u2019s hearing was held in a tiny room inside the prison, an unprecedented measure which was ostensibly for security reasons but also meant only four journalists could access the room. \u201cIn all my 25 years as a lawyer, I don\u2019t remember any cases being tried inside the prison, including serial killers or organised crime cases,\u201d said Martin Sadilek, Nikulin\u2019s Czech lawyer.\n\n\n\nNikulin\u2019s mother, who attended the hearing, declined to comment except to say she was worried that her son \u201clooks like skin and bones\u201d and that she believed the case was political.\n\n~The promise of cash, an apartment, and U.S. citizenship seems like a lot, but the FBI may have been bluffing.\n\n~Levashov and Lisov also seem to indicate the FBI is on a fishing expedition for Russian hackers\u2026if not more.\n\n~The FBI and the MSM are nearly radio silent. The deep state leaks to The Washington Post, New York Times, and CNN are not flowing on this issue, and these outlets have refused to even cover the story \u2013 very telling.\n\n~That said, there were 10 people in the room, and none of them have indicated such a deal was offered.\n\nThere is nothing to indicate he is guilty of that crime and no accusations \u2013 I never say never, but I generally rule that one out. I would say AT BEST perhaps they might think that he could know who the hacker is. So all of this leads me to conclude that either he is making it up or he is innocent.\n\nPerhaps he is making it up to try to say he is being framed, curry favor with Russia, and avoid extradition to the U.S.. That said, he\u2019s not keen about going to Russia either as he maintains his innocence from their charges (although more willing to go there), and this isn\u2019t in Russia\u2019s rationale to bring him back nor is Russia highlighting this case to attack the FBI. In fact, considering the conditions he is being kept in and the fact that he appears more likely to be sent to the U.S., making this up would not be good for him. Sure, he might gain some support among Trump supporters, but he\u2019s in prison. He\u2019d have no idea of the dynamics here. The one thing that is odd is the promise of cash, an apartment, and citizenship. That\u2019s where people could doubt this story, but it\u2019s okay for cops to lie, so I would presume the FBI could to. If they are trying to flesh out the hacker or scapegoat him, they could tell him that and pull it later. The FBI and media are mum. There were ten people in the room, the FBI agent hasn\u2019t been made available, but we only have one law enforcement officer anonymously denying it. We know that if he is lying about hacking in both Russia and the U.S. and is guilty, then that would establish a history of lying. However, considering the conditions he is in, the high security nature of his trial, and the odd FBI visits, something is odd. Why isn\u2019t the FBI denying this if it is false? Why are they saying so quiet?"}
-{"text": "Republic of Ireland Prime Minister Enda Kenny said Brexit negotiators should prepare for the possibility of a future referendum on Irish unity, despite the new Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire ruling out such a poll on Monday.\n\nIreland was divided in 1922 but Irish Republicans have long fought and argued for a united Ireland, which is resisted by a large number of Protestants in the North. In the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the British and Irish governments and most Irish Republicans agreed to suspend any moves to re-unification unless a majority of the people of Northern Ireland desired unity. The prospect of the U.K. leaving the European Union could make life very difficult for the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland as their land border would become a frontier of the E.U.\n\nSpeaking to Irish broadcaster RT\u00c9, Kenny said that a clause in the Good Friday Agreement \u201cmight be triggered,\u201d which would result in calling a future poll. \u201cIf there is a clear evidence of a majority of people wishing to leave the United Kingdom and join the Republic, that should be catered for in the discussions,\u201d Kenny said.\n\nThe U.K.\u2019s membership of the union had initially suppressed calls for the unification of Ireland. But that might have changed following the June 23 referendum, where 55.8% in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the E.U.\n\nGet The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. Please enter a valid email address. Sign Up Now Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.\n\nContact us at letters@time.com."}
-{"text": "Al hacer click en enviar quedaras regitrad@ a nuestro bolet\u00edn el cual podr\u00e1s cancelar en cualquier momento;no olvides revisar tu carpeta de spam.\n\nVILLAHERMOSA, Tabasco, 21 de febrero.- La Procuradur\u00eda General de Justicia de Tabasco (PGJ) rastrea a Jos\u00e9 Manuel Saiz Pineda, ex tesorero de Andr\u00e9s Granier, m\u00e1s cajas repletas de dinero en efectivo como los 88.5 millones de pesos hallados el a\u00f1o pasado a su secretaria Marlis Cupil en una refaccionaria de Lomitas, Nacajuca.\n\nAgentes ministeriales de la PGJ realizan operativos de b\u00fasqueda de una casa de seguridad, donde presuntamente el ex secretario de Finanzas de Tabasco tendr\u00eda guardadas enormes cantidades de dinero en efectivo.\n\nSaiz Pineda y Andr\u00e9s Granier se encuentran en prisi\u00f3n acusados de peculado en modalidad de pandilla, por el desv\u00edo de m\u00e1s de 2 mil 600 millones de pesos s\u00f3lo del ejercicio fiscal del a\u00f1o 2012.\n\nLa PGJ asegura que en se llevaron a cabo los retiros en efectivo con cantidades superiores a los 9 mil 887 millones de pesos en los seis a\u00f1os de la administraci\u00f3n de Granier.\n\nLas cajas de Lomitas, Nacajuca, representa solamente el 3.4 por ciento de los 2 mil 600 millones de pesos que fueron desviados del erario, solamente en el 2012, por lo que autoridades estatales se encuentran rastreando el resto del dinero en efectivo que fue sacado de las arcas.\n\nLa b\u00fasqueda de m\u00e1s dinero en efecto a Saiz Pineda fue revelada a ra\u00edz de una denuncia presentada por un grupo de abogados que integran la defensa jur\u00eddica del ex Tesorero de Tabasco.\n\nJorge Darvin Silva Castillo y Francisco Javier Zamora Pardo, auxiliar y abogado respectivamente, acusaron que han sufrido acoso.\n\nAmbos aseguran que fueron interrogados por espacio de 4 horas, por personal de la Fiscal\u00eda de Alto Impacto para que revelaran informaci\u00f3n de la ubicaci\u00f3n de una casa de seguridad en donde S\u00e1iz Pineda guardar\u00eda el resto del dinero desviado de las arcas de Tabasco.\n\nDe acuerdo a los abogados, el capit\u00e1n Marino a quien se\u00f1alan como el responsable de dicha Fiscal\u00eda les dijo: \u201dll\u00e9vale este recado a S\u00e1iz Pineda, dile que estamos a nada de encontrarle su clavo, sabemos que tiene una casa de seguridad donde tiene el dinero que le robaron al estado\u201d.\n\nUstedes d\u00e9jense de pendejadas, ya no ayuden a ese ratero. Y se van a ir tranquilos, el problema no es con ustedes\u201d, sostiene que les advirtieron.\n\nJos\u00e9 Armando Sol\u00eds de Anda, abogado responsable del despacho de la defensa de Jos\u00e9 Manuel S\u00e1iz Pineda, present\u00f3 ayer una demanda ante la PGJE bajo el n\u00famero 065/2014 y anteriormente lo hizo ante PGR y Derechos Humanos, por considerar que ese acoso viol\u00f3 los derechos de sus auxiliares.\n\nSe\u00f1al\u00f3 que el 12 de febrero por la ma\u00f1ana los dos legalistas fueron privados de su libertad cerca del aeropuerto \u2018Carlos A. Rovirosa\u2019 y subidos a un veh\u00edculo de la Fiscal\u00eda de Alto Impacto y maltratados.\n\nAcusa que les vendaron los ojos y adem\u00e1s les quitaron 4 mil 200 pesos.\n\nFg\n\nLa ley de derechos de autor proh\u00edbe estrictamente copiar completa o parcialmente los materiales de Exc\u00e9lsior sin haber obtenido previamente permiso por escrito y sin incluir el link al texto original."}
-{"text": "'The Beach Bum': Film Review | SXSW 2019\n\nMatthew McConaughey stars as a pleasure-seeking poet in Harmony Korine's Florida-set film, also featuring Zac Efron, Jonah Hill, Isla Fisher and Snoop Dogg.\n\nThe proud cinematic subgenre known as the \"stoner comedy\" gets a flashy new entry with The Beach Bum, in which Matthew McConaughey plays a washed-up Florida poet who\u2019s like an amalgam of Hunter S. Thompson, The Dude from The Big Lebowski, Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, McConaughey\u2019s own Wooderson from Dazed and Confused and McConaughey himself (or at least the version of him that lived in a Malibu trailer and was once arrested while playing bongos naked).\n\nAs pungent, and ephemeral, as the weed smoke that wafts through its garishly gorgeous candy-colored frames, the latest \u2014 and lightest \u2014 offering from indie enfant terrible Harmony Korine won\u2019t be for everyone. I, admittedly, had a hard time getting on its woozy wavelength. But The Beach Bum is a work of undeniable commitment and craft \u2014 a gonzo picaresque, soaked with booze and filled with gyrating, jiggling flesh, that will play well to the not-negligible segment of the population where cannabis lovers and cinephiles overlap.\n\nAs is always the case with Korine, the film is not for the prudish or easily offended. It revels in outlandish sights and sounds, including McConaughey smoking a blunt from between Isla Fisher\u2019s toes, spanking another woman with a spatula mid-coitus and prancing about first in a thong, then in a glittery cocktail dress and fanny pack. There\u2019s also Jonah Hill practicing a deep-fried Southern drawl, Zac Efron grinding on a plus-size drag queen, Martin Lawrence feeding cocaine to a parakeet and Snoop Dogg being Snoop Dogg.\n\nIf you\u2019re giggling already, you\u2019ll probably have a blast. Others may find themselves growing desensitized to all the zany excess \u2014 and feeling a bit distanced by a meandering narrative that relies on riffs, vignettes, visual repetition, elliptical editing and dreamy, music-video-style sequences rather than any kind of forward momentum; The Beach Bum is nothing if not true to the spirit of its main character. Watching it is a little like being sober around your high-as-a-kite friend \u2014 by turns amusing and alienating.\n\nKorine\u2019s new movie is decidedly cheerier than his last effort, 2013\u2019s Spring Breakers, which unraveled its tale of American aspirationalism gone awry with hypnotic nightmarishness. But the films share a tactile, burstingly ripe sensuality (both were shot on 35mm by DP Benoit Debie), their images awash in hot pinks and neon greens and blues; Debie and Korine nail South Florida\u2019s aesthetic singularity, the sweaty commingling of lush tropical beauty and aggressive tackiness.\n\nThe two movies are also brazen portraits of hedonism, featuring bouts of bacchanalia that will have some viewers clutching their pearls (though nothing in The Beach Bum comes close to James Franco fellating a loaded pistol in Spring Breakers). The difference is that in Spring Breakers, Korine was denouncing the bad behavior even as he used it to titillate; in The Beach Bum, there\u2019s no judgment, no critique underlying the camera\u2019s ogling of sun-kissed, sloppily intoxicated bodies. Decadence and sordidness abound, but it\u2019s guilt-free: Come on in, the water\u2019s fine (just make sure to get your vaccines after).\n\nMoreover, whereas the bodies on display in Spring Breakers were mostly young and female, the main attraction here is the golden, glistening slab of man that is McConaughey. The actor plays Moondog, a writer of some former fame who would be considered a burnout if his life wasn\u2019t such a blissed-out blur of pleasure. With a bleach-blond mane, wrap-around shades, Hawaiian shirts open to the belly and a beatific grin plastered across his face, Moondog is a bon vivant living his best life in Key West \u2014 lounging on his houseboat, sandwiched happily between topless beauties, or tearing up the dance floor at the neighborhood bar.\n\nOccasionally we see him clickety-clacking away on his red typewriter and doing poetry readings before dazed-looking locals. Moondog seems unbothered by his failure to follow through on the promise of his (by all accounts brilliant) early published work. He\u2019s too high, and happy, to care.\n\nMoondog is such a free spirit that it comes as a surprise to learn he has a wife, an heiress named Minnie (Fisher), and a grown daughter, Heather (Stefania LaVie Owen), who herself is about to tie the knot. Moondog and Minnie\u2019s marriage initially seems like one of convenience: He\u2019s a kept man, free to do his thing in the Keys, while she cavorts around their lavish waterfront mansion in Miami, carrying on an affair with the couple\u2019s friend Lingerie a.k.a. Rie (Snoop Dogg).\n\nBut Moondog and Minnie love each other deeply, and their relationship, with its layers of devotion, passion, delusion and deception, gives the film a much-needed anchor of real, complex feeling. When Moondog witnesses Minnie and Rie kissing at Heather\u2019s wedding \u2014 to the aching strains of The Cure\u2019s \"Just Like Heaven,\" no less \u2014 it\u2019s a painful moment, and a revelatory one: The protagonist\u2019s narcissistic haze is pierced, if only for a few seconds, as he\u2019s forced to contemplate desires other than his own.\n\nVia a series of unexpected events, Minnie exits the story and Moondog finds himself cut off from a once-endless supply of financial and material resources. Your enjoyment of his subsequent journey, which includes prison, rehab and homelessness, will come down to how irresistible you find Moondog (as well as how much you\u2019re willing to tolerate Korine\u2019s insistence on his casual genius, one of the movie\u2019s least appealing features). It will also depend on your receptiveness to The Beach Bum\u2019s kooky, increasingly absurdist comic flourishes, which are alternately inspired and strenuous \u2014 and sometimes both at once.\n\nAs Moondog ventures further down the rabbit hole, he encounters Efron\u2019s raver-ish himbo and Lawrence\u2019s \"dolphin guide,\" the object of the film\u2019s boldest gag. He banters with Hill\u2019s dandy of a literary agent, who sounds like a cross between Tennessee Williams and House of Cards\u2019 Frank Underwood. Various things are snorted and smoked, including a giant joint straight out of Cheech and Chong.\n\nIt\u2019s possible to appreciate The Beach Bum as a sustained and inventive piece of style-over-substance filmmaking and still find it all a little on-the-nose, from the casting (Jimmy Buffett shows up in a cameo) to John Debney\u2019s slightly cutesy score. The movie\u2019s looseness feels controlled and choreographed to a tee, its world hermetically sealed, its over-the-top-ness a bit dated.\n\nThen again, subtlety and spontaneity have never been Korine\u2019s thing \u2014 he\u2019s a calculated provocateur through and through (this is the guy who made a movie about people who hump garbage). And the writer-director has come a long way from the arty posturing of his earlier stuff, as is evident in the fine work he gets from his performers. Korine guided Franco and Selena Gomez to career-best turns in Spring Breakers, the former going big and baroque, the latter delicate and naturalistic. In The Beach Bum, McConaughey hits a sweet spot somewhere between those extremes: Just when you think he's lapsing into mumbly, stumbly caricature, the actor brings Moondog into sharp human focus, showing you the soul beneath the shtick.\n\nProduction companies: Iconoclast, Anonymous Content, Le Grisbi Productions, SPK Pictures, Rocket Science, Vice Films, Riverstone Pictures\n\nDistributor: Neon\n\nWriter-director: Harmony Korine\n\nCast: Matthew McConaughey, Snoop Dogg, Isla Fisher, Stefania LaVie Owen, Jimmy Buffett, Zac Efron, Martin Lawrence, Jonah Hill\n\nProducers: John Lesher, Charles-Marie Anthonioz, Mourad Belkeddar, Nicolas Lhermitte, Steve Golin\n\nExecutive producers: Karl Spoerri, Marc Schmidheiny, Nik Bower, Deepak Nayar, Will Weiske, Thorsten Schumacher, Chiara Gelardin, Emmeline Yang Hankins, Eddy Moretti, Shane Smith, Danny Gabai\n\nDirector of photography: Benoit Debie\n\nProduction designer: Elliott Hostetter\n\nEditor: Douglas Crise\n\nCostume designer: Heidi Bivens\n\nMusic: John Debney\n\nCasting: Mary Vernieu, Marisol Roncali, Lashawnna Stanley\n\nVenue: SXSW Film Festival (Headliners)\n\nRated R, 96 minutes"}
-{"text": "Update: Since this story was first published last week, a representative for the Georgia Institute of Technology has been in touch to say: \"Thad is working on in-ear wearables. But he does so for Georgia Tech with United Sciences.\"\n\n\"This will get plenty of attention when the project is ready for prime time. I don't want people thinking it's a Google idea. The concept came from academia and is being developed by academia, not industry.\"\n\n\n\nOriginal story:\n\nGoogle looks set to get in on the hearables action and is apparently working on an in-ear wearable that will work in combination with its Google Glass augmented reality headset.\n\nThat's what we've been told by Andy Mathes, who is EVP of Business Development at United Sciences. The Atlanta based company specialises in accurate 3D scanning of the ear to create custom fit devices such as hearing aids, and the kind of in-ear monitors musicians wear on stage.\n\nEssential reading: The future of hearables\n\nAccording to Mathes, Google is already looking at bringing technology to the ear with the help of a United Sciences brand ambassador Thad Starner. If you're not familiar with the name, Starner is known in the industry as a wearable pioneer and is considered to be the inventor of Google Glass. He apparently took the idea to Larry Page and Sergey Brin pitching the concept of an augmented reality headset and worked in the Google X Lab responsible for the failed first effort.\n\nSpeaking to Wareable, Mathes told us, \"He's (Thad) working with Google still on some kind of in-ear wearable and Glass combination. They're very keen on the ear.\"\n\nWhile Mathes didn't elaborate on what or how that hearable would work with Glass, he's not surprised by the fact Google is looking at little closer at the ear calling it a \"physiological playground\".\n\nThe revelation comes at a time when Google appears to be preparing its next move with wearables. This week it revealed the logo for Project Aura, the project that's seen as the successor to Glass. At the end of last year, images of its Google Glass Enterprise Edition also surfaced, which suggests it won't be too long before we see what's next.\n\nThere has also been talk of two non-Glass Project Aura devices making an appearance in 2016, with a stronger focus on audio. One apparently uses bone conduction speaker technology, while a sport edition is being built for fitness tracking.\n\nWe tipped hearables to be a major talking point in 2016 in our Wareable 50 watch list. This year, we've already seen the official launch of Bragi Dash and Doppler Labs' Here Active listening earbuds are beginning to make their presence felt including turning up at Coachella this year. It's going to be big, we can feel it..."}
-{"text": "Bat echolocation is a finely tuned sense. By emitting high-frequency calls and listening for returning echoes, bats can deftly navigate complex surroundings and precisely target moving prey in the dark. They can even discriminate differences of less than one millimeter in surface textures.\n\nBut this extraordinary capability is not foolproof. A study published Thursday in Science reveals a weak spot in bat echolocation: smooth, vertical surfaces such as the metal or glass plates on buildings can trick a bat into thinking it is flying in open air.\n\nThe findings may help explain why the creatures are often found dead or injured near buildings and other smooth structures, said Stefan Greif, an author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany and Tel Aviv University in Israel.\n\nWhen an animal is fooled by a false environmental cue, it\u2019s called a sensory trap. In a previous study, Dr. Greif showed that smooth metal or plastic plates, when laid on the ground, act as sensory traps for bats, which mistook the surfaces for water. In the process of setting up one of those experiments, he propped a plate vertically against a wall and noticed that bats intermittently crashed into it. He suspected he had accidentally stumbled upon another sensory trap."}
-{"text": "John Hall, my geography teacher at school inspired me to a lifelong interest ingeography and a curiosity about our world which has stayed with me through my life, and through seven television series. Geography is a living, breathing subject, constantly adapting itself to change. It is dynamic and relevant. For me geography is a great adventure with a purpose.\n\nSo many of the world's current issues \u2013 at a global scale and locally - boil down to geography, and need the geographers of the future to help us understand them. Global warming as it affects countries and regions, food and energy security, the degradation of land and soils from over-use and misuse, the spread of disease, the causes and consequences of migration, and the impacts of economic change on places and communities. These are just some of the challenges facing the next generation, which geographers must help solve.\n\nIt is a subject that helps young people into work. Many employers prize the knowledge and skills that studying geography can provide and geography in higher education is thriving. Geography students are among those gaining greatest satisfaction from their studies, and geography graduates have a relatively low level of unemployment. It's no wonder there is a growing demand to study the subject at university. This is underlined by the Russell Group of Universities, along with the Minister David Willetts MP, who both recognise geography as one of the key \"facilitating\" subjects for entry to degree level study.\n\nAlthough there has been a small drop in the number of A-level students taking Geography that has been more than made up for by an encouragingly large increase at AS-level. More young people are being exposed to this exciting, valuable and rewarding subject.\n\n\u2022 Michael Palin is President of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)"}
-{"text": "Submitted by Michael Snyder of The End of the American Dream blog,\n\nWhen it comes to Ebola, the story that the government is telling us just keeps on changing. At first, government officials were claiming that it was very difficult to spread the Ebola virus. Some of them were even comparing it to HIV. We were given the impression that we had to have \u201cdirect contact\u201d with someone else\u2019s body fluids in order to have any chance of catching the virus. But of course that is not true at all. Now authorities are admitting that Ebola is \u201caerostable\u201d, that it can be \u201cspread through droplets\u201d, and that it can remain on surfaces for up to 50 days. That is far different information than we have been getting up until this point. So that means when they were so confidently declaring that they know exactly how Ebola spreads they were lying to us.\n\n\n\nOn October 24th, a 33 page document was released by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and in that document it is admitted that Ebola is \u201caerostable\u201d. WND was one of the first news outlets to report on this\u2026\n\nThe information was contained in a 33-page report released Oct. 24 by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the Department of Defense\u2019s Combat Support Agency for countering weapons of mass destruction. The agency report states \u201cpreliminary studies indicate that Ebola is aerostable in an enclosed controlled system in the dark and can survive for long periods in different liquid media and can also be recovered from plastic and glass surfaces at low temperatures for over 3 weeks.\u201d The report says the government is seeking technologies for the \u201crapid disinfection\u201d of Ebola, including an aerosol version of the virus. \u201cThe technology must prove effective against viral contamination either deposited as an aerosol or heavy contaminated combined with body fluids,\u201d reads the solicitation document.\n\nYou can view the document for yourself right here.\n\n\n\nSo is there any difference between \u201caerostable\u201d and \u201cairborne\u201d?\n\n\n\nThat is a very good question.\n\n\n\nMeanwhile, the CDC has finally come out and publicly admitted that Ebola \u201cis spread through droplets\u201d.\n\n\n\nIn other words, it can be spread by a cough or a sneeze.\n\n\n\nOn the CDC website, it now says the following\u2026\n\n\u201cA person might also get infected by touching a surface or object that has germs on it and then touching their mouth or nose.\u201d\n\nWell, that certainly does not sound like \u201cdirect contact\u201d to me.\n\n\n\nAnd once someone has coughed or sneezed, the virus can live on a surface for a very long time.\n\n\n\nIn fact, authorities in the UK now tell us that Ebola can survive on a glass surface for up to 50 days\u2026\n\nThe number of confirmed Ebola cases passed the 10,000 mark over the weekend, despite efforts to curb its spread. And while the disease typically dies on surfaces within hours, research has discovered it can survive for more than seven weeks under certain conditions. During tests, the UK\u2019s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) found that the Zaire strain will live on samples stored on glass at low temperatures for as long as 50 days.\n\nAll of this directly contradicts what the CDC website has been telling us\u2026\n\n\u201cTo get Ebola, you have to directly get body fluids (like pee, poop, spit, sweat, vomit, semen, breast milk) from someone who has Ebola in your mouth, nose, eyes or through a break in your skin or through sexual contact.\u201d\n\nIt turns out that is not even close to the truth.\n\n\n\nAnd even as Obama boldly proclaims that there will not be an Ebola pandemic in the United States, the actions that his administration is currently taking suggest otherwise.\n\n\n\nFor example, we have just learned that the federal government has ordered 250,000 hazmat suits and is sending them to Dallas\u2026\n\nA manager with a major shipping company has exclusively revealed to Infowars that the U.S. government has ordered 250,000 Hazmat suits to be sent to Dallas, the location of the first Ebola outbreak in the United States. The manager of the shipping company proved his credentials to Infowars by providing a photo ID and sending a verified email from the company account, but wishes to remain anonymous due to understandable fears that he could be fired for revealing the information. \u201cI just learned we have been asked to ship 250,000 HAZMAT suits to Dallas, TX. for the US Government. Again this is happening today, we are pulling these suits for the US Government to Dallas, TX,\u201d states the individual, who manages the drivers who work for the shipping company.\n\nWhy in the world would the Obama administration buy so many hazmat suits if everything was under control?\n\n\n\nIt doesn\u2019t make sense.\n\n\n\nIs this Ebola outbreak much more of a potential threat than they are telling us?\n\n\n\nInsurance companies sure seem to think so. In fact, many of them are now specifically excluding Ebola from their policies\u2026\n\nRemember the promise of universal health care with Obamacare, with no refusal for \u2018pre-existing conditions\u2019? It looks like your insurance company may not have to cover you if you get Ebola. U.S. and British insurance companies have begun writing Ebola exclusions into standard policies to cover hospitals, event organizers, and other businesses vulnerable to local disruptions. While it is estimated that expenditures to treat the original Dallas Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, were approximately $100,000 an hour (though he passed anyway), it looks like insurance companies won\u2019t be footing the bill. President Obama originally refused to set up travel restrictions in and out of West Africa, too, even though the governments latest scare tactics and the CDC\u2019s ineptitude have resulted in insurance companies creating new policies which exclude Ebola care. Renewals will also become costlier for companies opting to insure business travel to West Africa or to cover the risk of losses from quarantine shutdowns at home.\n\nThe American people deserve the truth.\n\n\n\nI can understand the desire to keep people calm, but giving the public a false sense of security isn\u2019t going to do anyone any good, and it might end up making this crisis much, much worse.\n\n\n\nIt is important for people to know how easily this virus spreads so that they can take appropriate measures to protect themselves and their families. Since June, approximately 400 health workers have caught this virus, and about 230 of them have died. These workers take extreme precautions to avoid getting Ebola. If this virus did not spread easily, this would not be happening."}
-{"text": "Murine Mtb infection induces only minor changes in the intestinal microbiota\n\nTo characterize the changes in the intestinal microbiota during murine Mtb infection and treatment, we performed an 8-month longitudinal study using C57BL/6 mice and an antibiotic administration protocol commonly employed in TB drug studies that closely mirror conventional human ATT [53]. Two groups of mice were infected with Mtb (H37Rv) by aerosol inhalation and a third group (\u201cna\u00efve\u201d) served as the uninfected age-matched control. One of the infected groups of mice (\u201cTB + HRZ\u201d) was started on HRZ treatment 4 weeks\u2019 post infection (W4) and switched to HR 2 months (W12) into therapy (Additional file 1: Figure S1). The other infected group (\u201cTB\u201d) was left untreated. Stool pellets were collected 1 week post infection and at regular intervals thereafter. After 4 months of treatment, therapy was terminated and stool samples were collected for an additional 3 months (\u201cpost HRZ\u201d) (Additional file 1: Figure S1). We employed 16s rRNA (V3\u2013V4 region) sequencing to analyze the composition of the microbiota in the stool samples.\n\nTo determine the changes in the intestinal microbiota due to Mtb infection in this particular experimental setting, we first performed a longitudinal comparison of the microbiota of the mice from the untreated na\u00efve and TB groups. When data from all of the time points were pooled, we did not observe a statistically significant change in diversity resulting from Mtb infection as assessed by Chao1 and Shannon indices (Additional file 2: Figure S2a) which measure the total number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and, in case of the Shannon index, the richness, abundance, and evenness of the OTU distribution. However, a slight but significant decrease in diversity was evident at W12 of infection (Fig. 1a). We then used the phylogeny based UniFrac method to compare the bacterial communities in the na\u00efve versus TB animals (Fig. 1b). Although unweighted UniFrac analyses, which cluster the data based on presence or absence of OTUs, clustered the na\u00efve and TB samples separately (p < 0.001), the clustering driven by Mtb infection was not statistically significant based on weighted UniFrac distances (p = 0.203) that also take into account the relative abundance of the OTUs.\n\nFig. 1 Mtb infection causes minimal alterations in the diversity and composition of the intestinal microbiota. a Alpha diversity estimates calculated from the sequenced data using Chao1 (left panel) and Shannon (right panel) indices for each time point (W1\u2013W20) of stool sample collection in the na\u00efve and TB group. Fecal collection time points are shown along the x-axis. Error bars indicate minimum and maximum values. Statistical significance was calculated between the corresponding time points of the two groups. *p < 0.05 (Wilcoxon rank-sum test). b Principal coordinate (PC) analysis of unweighted (left) and weighted (right) UniFrac distances of the microbial sequence data in the two animal groups. Each sphere represents a single animal with the size of the sphere referring to the sample collection time point (early to late time points indicated as a gradient in the size of the spheres from small to large). One sample each from W16 and W20 time points of the na\u00efve group was not included in the analysis since these two samples formed an independent cluster highly separated from and inconsistent with the other clusters (For comparison, these samples are included, nevertheless, in Additional file 13: Figure S13). c Heat map comparing average abundances of species level classification of the 16S sequences from the na\u00efve and TB animal groups. Data are clustered according to sample collection time point and animal group along the x-axis. The species indicated on the y-axis are grouped according to family level classification as noted on the right of the map and were filtered for those with an overall relative variance >3 (see \u201cMethods\u201d). n = 4\u20135 except TB group W20 time point where n = 3 Full size image\n\nWe next compared the composition of the microbiome to identify bacterial taxa that differ between the two groups. In agreement with Winglee et al. [54], we observed trends of differential abundance in members of the order Clostridiales of phylum Firmicutes and certain members of phyla Bacteroidetes and Tenericutes between the two groups (Fig. 1c, Additional file 3: Figure S3). Nevertheless, none of these differences, except genus Alkaliphilus that was increased in na\u00efve mice, remained significant over the entire duration of the experiment. Together, these findings involving our specific infection and animal housing conditions and one inbred host genetic background, while distinct in detail from the previously published data, confirm that Mtb exposure by itself causes only minor changes in the composition of the murine intestinal flora.\n\nAnti-tuberculosis therapy induces a rapid alteration in the microbiota that persists during treatment\n\nTo address the primary question of this study, we examined the effects of antibiotic treatment on the microbiota composition in Mtb infected mice in a three-way comparison of the na\u00efve, TB and TB + HRZ groups using the same methodology described above. Beginning with an analysis of data pooled from all time points of each of the groups, we found that antibiotic treatment causes a significant decrease in bacterial diversity (Additional file 2: Figure S2b). When analyzed temporally, the Chao1 index indicated statistically significant lower numbers in bacterial OTUs over multiple time points versus both the age-matched na\u00efve and TB controls. However, the Shannon index demonstrated that the loss of microbial diversity was transient and significant only during the first 2 weeks of treatment (Fig. 2a). Taken together, these two analyses suggest that while the total number of OTUs fails to recover over the course of treatment, the evenness (i.e., inner proportion) of the OTUs does rebound by 2 weeks.\n\nFig. 2 ATT changes the intestinal bacterial community structure. a Community diversity in the na\u00efve, TB, and TB + HRZ animal groups calculated from 16S sequences (W4\u2013W20) using Chao1 (left) and Shannon (right) indices. Fecal collection time points are shown along the x-axis. Error bars indicate minimum and maximum values. Significance tests were performed between the corresponding time points in the naive and each experimental group (TB or TB + HRZ) and in a separate comparison between the TB and the TB + HRZ groups. Significant differences with respect to naive or TB are marked with a blue or red asterisks. *p < 0.05 (Wilcoxon rank-sum test). b Principal coordinate (PC) analysis of unweighted (top) and weighted (bottom) UniFrac distances of the sequences from the three groups. Sizes of spheres depict the time of sample collection as described in Fig. 1b. One sample each from W16 and W20 time points of the na\u00efve group was not included in the analysis since these two samples formed an independent cluster separated from and inconsistent with the other clusters (For comparison, these samples are included, nevertheless, in Additional file 13: Figure S13) Full size image\n\nWe next compared the overall community structure and composition of the bacteria in the three groups. Unweighted and weighted UniFrac analyses revealed a highly separated clustering of samples collected from TB + HRZ mice from those of both the na\u00efve and TB animals (unweighted, p < 0.001 for both comparisons; weighted, na\u00efve versus TB + HRZ p < 0.001; TB versus TB + HRZ p < 0.01) (Fig. 2b). Indeed, in this three-way analysis, the samples from na\u00efve and TB mice clustered together, re-enforcing the finding that infection does not cause a major alteration of the intestinal flora. HRZ treatment, however, separated treated and untreated samples with a variance of 46.18% being described on the first coordinate in the unweighted UniFrac analysis and a variance of 8.64% on the third coordinate in weighted UniFrac analysis. As might be predicted, the bacterial composition of the stool samples from the TB + HRZ mice showed highly significant differences in comparison to that of the mice from na\u00efve and TB groups (Fig. 3, Additional file 3: Figure S3b).\n\nFig. 3 ATT causes a rapid and persistent alteration in the composition of the intestinal microbiota. a Average relative abundance of bacterial families in each group and experimental time point identified from the sequenced data of the stool samples. Time points are indicated along the x-axis and arranged by the experimental groups. The bacterial families are grouped under their respective phylum and class in the color key. b Heat map showing the average species level abundance. Data are filtered for overall relative variance >5 and clustered as described in Fig. 1c. c, d LEfSe analyses depicting genera that are differentially abundant between the na\u00efve and TB + HRZ groups (c) and TB and TB + HRZ groups (d). Analyses were performed on data from W4 to W20 time points (see \u201cMethods\u201d). Taxa significantly enriched in na\u00efve, TB, and TB + HRZ groups are shown with blue, red, and orange bars, respectively. Data are filtered for p < 0.01 and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) score >2. n = 4\u20135 except TB group W20 time point where n = 3 Full size image\n\nWhen data from all time points were grouped and compared, HRZ treatment resulted in significantly decreased relative frequencies of genera Acetivibrio, Robinsoniella, Alkaliphilus, Stomatobaculum, Butyricicoccus, Acetanaerobacterium, Tyzzerella, Ruminococcus, and Peptococcus all belonging to the class Clostridia of the phylum Firmicutes (Fig. 3c\u2013d). Additional decreases in genera, mostly belonging to class Clostridia, were evident in the specific comparison of na\u00efve mice to TB + HRZ animals (Fig. 3c). Members of Actinobacteria, the phylum under which Mycobacterium is classified, did not show any significant alterations overall as a result of treatment. Interestingly, increases (as opposed to decreases) in bacterial taxa due to HRZ treatment were limited to genus Erysipelatoclostridium (and genus Eggerthia in the na\u00efve versus TB + HRZ comparison).\n\nHaving demonstrated that HRZ induces highly significant alterations in the bacterial composition of the intestinal microbiome, we went on to describe these changes longitudinally. Both unweighted and weighted UniFrac analyses revealed a longitudinal separation of the samples along the second coordinate (Fig. 2b) suggesting a temporal change in community structure. Furthermore, linear regression analyses revealed a statistically significant trend in the change in community structure over time in the TB + HRZ but not in the na\u00efve or TB groups (Fig. 4a). Interestingly, analysis of the TB + HRZ group data using the principle coordinates from the weighted UniFrac analysis showed a significant trend only up to W12 (Fig. 4a, trend line not shown, R 2 = 0.9095, p = 0.0463 based on regression analysis up to W12). The subsequent change occurred at the first time point of stool collection (W16) following the switch in the antibiotic regimen from triple HRZ to double HR administration.\n\nFig. 4 ATT induces temporal changes in the community structure of the intestinal flora. a Principal coordinate (PC) values along the second ordinate of unweighted (top) and weighted (bottom) UniFrac analyses shown in Fig. 2b for each sample of the three animals groups are plotted. The x-axes indicate the sample collection time points and the y-axes indicate the PC values. The dotted lines represent the linear regression analysis trends. Error bars indicate mean \u00b1 SEM. b Relative abundances from W4 to W20 of select bacterial families for the three animal groups are plotted. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01 (Wilcoxon rank-sum test). Error bars indicate mean \u00b1 SEM. n = 4\u20135 except TB group W20 time point where n = 3 Full size image\n\nLongitudinal analysis revealed a dramatic alteration in the bacterial composition occurring 1 day (indicated as W4 in Additional file 1: Figure S1) following start of HRZ treatment (Figs. 3a\u2013b, 4b). This change was evident in both the alpha diversity (Fig. 2a) and UniFrac analyses (Fig. 2b, smallest spheres). By 2 weeks post treatment (W6), changes in bacterial composition due to antibiotic administration stabilized and persisted with minor fluctuations for the remainder of the treatment period. These consisted of a transient increase in genus Akkermansia at W12 and W20 and increases in genera Barnesiella, Paraprevotella, Bifidobacterium, and Porphyromonas of phylum Bacteroidetes and certain members of phylum Actinobacteria at later time points of treatment (Fig. 4b, Additional file 4: Figure S4, Additional file 5: Figure S5). In addition, family Erysipelotrichaceae showed a dramatic increase on day 1 (W4) after start of therapy, and while decreasing over time in the treated mice remained significantly high in comparison to age-matched na\u00efve and TB mice and interestingly, certain members of this family showed an increase while others decreased (Fig. 3b). Transient increases were also observed in members of the order Enterobacteriaceae and other members of the phylum Proteobacteria (Fig 4b, Additional file 4: Figure S4, Additional file 5: Figure S5).\n\nThe changes in bacterial community structure and composition induced by antibiotic treatment were comparable in both Mtb infected and uninfected animals and were reproducible in two independent experiments comparing Mtb infected mice that were either treated or untreated (Additional file 6: Figure S6, Additional file 7: Figure S7). Together, these observations revealed that treatment with conventional anti-tuberculosis drugs causes a transient decrease in the diversity of the intestinal microbiota along with persistent, fluctuating changes in its composition and that this dysbiosis does not appear to be influenced by the presence or absence of Mtb infection.\n\nThe dysbiosis induced by ATT is maintained after cessation of treatment\n\nTo determine whether a standard regimen of anti-tuberculosis therapy has long-term effects on the microbiota, we monitored bacterial populations in stool samples at monthly intervals for 3 months\u2019 post cessation of therapy (post HRZ) in comparison with samples from age-matched na\u00efve animals (Additional file 1: Figure S1). No significant increase in the diversity of the microbiota was observed during this period following removal of antibiotic pressure (Fig. 5a, Additional file 2: Figure S2c). Importantly, UniFrac analysis revealed that the post HRZ microbiota continued to cluster separately from the bacterial populations present in the na\u00efve samples (Fig. 5b) closely overlapping with the cluster formed from the data of the actively treated TB + HRZ group at latter time points (Additional file 8: Figure S8a).\n\nFig. 5 The intestinal dysbiosis triggered by ATT is long-lasting and persists following cessation of treatment. a Community diversity in the na\u00efve and post HRZ animal groups calculated from 16S sequences (W24\u2013W32) using Chao1 (left) and Shannon (right) indices. Error bars indicate maximum and minimum values. b Principal coordinate (PC) analysis of unweighted (top) and weighted (bottom) UniFrac distances of the sequences from the two groups. Sizes of spheres depict the time of sample collection as described in Fig 1b. One sample each from W24, W28, and W32 time points of the na\u00efve group was not included in the analysis since these three samples formed a separate independent cluster inconsistent with the other clusters. (For comparison, these samples are included, nevertheless, in Additional file 13: Figure S13). c Average relative abundance of bacterial families identified from the sequenced data of the na\u00efve and post HRZ stool samples (W24\u2013W32). The bacterial families are grouped under their respective phylum and class in the color key. d Heat map showing the average species level relative abundance. Data are filtered for overall relative variance >5 and clustered as described in Fig. 1c. e LEfSe comparisons showing the differentially abundant genera between the na\u00efve and post HRZ groups (W24\u2013W32). Taxa significantly enriched in na\u00efve or post HRZ groups are depicted with blue or yellow bars, respectively. Data are filtered for p < 0.05 and LDA score >2. n = 4\u20135 Full size image\n\nA more detailed compositional analysis confirmed the close similarity of the microbiota in mice from the TB + HRZ and post HRZ groups (Additional file 8: Figure S8b) with a few notable exceptions. Members of the family Erysipelotrichaceae that had increased in the presence of antibiotics decreased following cessation of therapy but remained at a frequency significantly higher than that observed in age-matched naive controls (Fig. 5c\u2013e). Genus Lactobacillus that did not show a significant decrease during active treatment decreased following cessation of therapy (Additional file 8: Figure S8b) while relative levels of genera Barnesiella, Porphyromonas, and Paraprevotella of phylum Bacteroidetes and genera Parasutterella and Desulfovibrio of phylum Proteobacteria were further increased during the same period (Fig. 5e). Interestingly, the relative frequencies of many members of Actinobacteria were increased post treatment (Fig. 5d, e). At the phylum level, the Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes ratio was 60.2/37.8 (%) in the naive group versus 77.2/17.3 (%) in the post HRZ group. Additionally, annotation of metagenome function based on the 16S sequence data using the Greengenes database [55] and PICRUSt metagenome prediction tool [56] suggests a difference in the coding capacity of the microbiome in the post treatment mice in comparison to age-matched controls (Additional file 9: Figure S9). Of note, the coding capacity associated with carbohydrate metabolism is decreased and with energy metabolism increased in microbiota from HRZ-treated mice. Such differences in metabolic activity, particularly in terms of short-chain fatty acid levels, have previously been implicated in a number of homeostatic host functions [57]. Together, these findings indicated that ATT triggers a dysbiosis that maintains its basic compositional structure long after cessation of antibiotic treatment despite alterations in certain taxa.\n\nThe dysbiosis induced by multi-antibiotic therapy results primarily from the synergistic effects of rifampin and pyrazinamide\n\nHaving described the major effects of the antibiotic cocktail used in ATT on the intestinal microbiota, we next sought to determine which drugs in the cocktail were responsible for the changes observed. To do so, we treated uninfected and 4-week Mtb-infected mice with each of the three antibiotics individually and in combinations of two and compared the outcome with that occurring in mice receiving the complete triple cocktail (Fig. 6, Additional file 10: Figure S10). To assess the extent of the alterations induced, we included an additional group consisting of uninfected mice receiving vancomycin, ampicillin, neomycin, and metronidazole (VANM), the combination treatment used routinely for depletion of the commensal intestinal flora [29, 58]. Stool samples from these animal groups were collected at a single time point (4 week) into drug treatment (Fig. 6a).\n\nFig. 6 Differential effects of the components in the HRZ cocktail on the intestinal microbiota. a Nine groups of mice with 3\u20134 animals in each group were employed. One group was left untreated as the na\u00efve age-matched control. Seven of the groups were each treated with one or a combination of H (Isoniazid), R (Rifampin), and/or Z (Pyrazinamide) as indicated and separated by a \u2018/\u2019. The last group was treated with a cocktail of vancomycin, ampicillin, neomycin, and metronidazole (VANM). b Bacterial community diversity of all the samples in each group was estimated using alpha diversity indices Chao1 (left) and Shannon (right). Error bars indicate maximum and minimum values. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; ****p < 0.0001, Welch\u2019s t test. Blue and pink asterisks indicate significance in comparison to Na\u00efve and VANM, respectively. c Principal coordinate (PC) analysis of unweighted UniFrac distances of sequences from all nine groups. d Average relative abundance of bacterial families in each group identified from the sequenced data. The bacterial families are grouped under their respective phylum and class in the color key. e Heat map showing the average species level abundance. Data shown are filtered for an overall relative variance >10 and depicted as described in Fig. 1c except along the x-axis which show the different treatment groups. Na\u00efve, VANM, HRZ, n = 3; remaining groups n = 4 Full size image\n\nConsistent with its broad-spectrum antibiotic activity, RIF but not INH or PZA caused a decrease in bacterial diversity in uninfected mice which was comparable to that triggered by the complete HRZ cocktail (Fig. 6b). Similarly, RIF alone induced major compositional changes in the microbiota but these alterations were distinct in terms of the specific taxa affected and/or their magnitude from those observed following HRZ treatment (Fig. 6c\u2013e, Additional file 11: Figure S11). For example, RIF-treated mice showed increases in certain Clostridia species that did not occur in HRZ-treated animals (Fig. 6e). Unexpectedly, despite their well-known targeted activity against mycobacteria and failure to induce changes in microbiota diversity (Fig. 6b), treatment with INH or PZA alone nevertheless triggered quantitative compositional alterations (Additional file 11: Figure S11). For example, INH caused increases in Barnesiella and PZA in genus Anaeroplasma of phylum Tenericutes and both drugs affected the relative levels of certain Clostridia species. Interestingly, some of these alterations did not mirror the trends observed with the complete HRZ cocktail.\n\nExamining the effects of dual antibiotic administration, drug pairs in which RIF was one of the partners as expected induced the only significant decreases in diversity (Fig. 6b). Nevertheless, all three pairs tested caused major compositional changes and these were again at the community level distinct from those induced by the entire HRZ cocktail (Fig. 6c\u2013e). For example, HRZ treatment did not significantly affect levels of Brenneria (Enterobacteria), whereas this genus showed a significant increase following dual RZ (and to a lesser extent HR) treatment (Additional file 11: Figure S11), which was comparable to that observed following VANM administration. Neither RIF nor PZA alone caused a significant increase in Enterobacteria.\n\nUnexpectedly, in terms of relative frequencies, HRZ induced many of the same compositional changes observed following VANM antibiotic treatment (Fig. 6e, Additional file 12: Figure S12). However, striking differences were observed in the Proteobacteria, which underwent a greater relative increase following VANM versus HRZ administration, and in Erysipelatoclostridium, which increased following HRZ but not VANM treatment. Interestingly, except for differences in some members of the order Bacteroidales and Clostridiales, the compositional changes due to RZ dual treatment (as opposed to HRZ) closely resembled those caused by VANM (Fig. 6e, Additional file 12: Figure S12) as evident from the tighter clustering of the data from these mice in UniFrac analysis (Fig. 6c).\n\nIn summary, the above experiments indicated that each of the antibiotic components of the HRZ cocktail contributes to the overall dysbiosis occurring following drug treatment of uninfected mice, with RIF and PZA having the most prominent effects. The results of parallel experiments using infected as opposed to uninfected mice confirmed this main conclusion with only minor differences evident in the individual taxa affected (Additional file 10: Figure S10). These minor changes may relate to the absence of the Mtb-associated enzymes required for drug activation in the uninfected animals."}
-{"text": "CBI on Friday filed a charge sheet against the then Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanithi among others for allegedly using 764 high-speed data lines at the former's residence which were used by a private TV channel causing loss of Rs 1.78 crore to the exchequer.\n\nNew Delhi: CBI on Friday filed a charge sheet against the then Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanithi among others for allegedly using 764 high-speed data lines at the former's residence which were used by a private TV channel causing loss of Rs 1.78 crore to the exchequer.\n\nThe charge sheet has been filed in a Special Court in Chennai under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and forgery and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, CBI said.\n\nThe agency has alleged in the charge sheet that altogether 764 telephone numbers were provided to Dayanidhi for which no bills were raised causing a loss of Rs 1.78 crore to BSNL, Chennai and MTNL, Delhi.\n\nCBI also named the former minister's brother Kalanithi Maran who was Managing Director of Sun TV Network Limited, two the then Chief General Managers of BSNL, two executives of Sun TV network and an aide of Dayanidhi in the charge sheet.\n\nIn a statement, CBI spokesperson Devpreet Singh said the charge sheet has been filed on the allegations of installing a number of high end telecommunication facilities having PRA/BRA/ISDN/Leased Line etc at the residence of Maran in Chennai, illegally under service category for which bills were not raised for 2004-07.\n\n\"It was alleged that during the period from June, 2004 to December 2006, 364 (approx) telephone numbers/lines were installed at Gopalapuram, Chennai residence of the then Union Minister and during the period from December, 2006 to September 2007, 353 number (approx) of telephone lines were installed at 1st Avenue Boat Club Road, Chennai which was the new residence of then MoC and IT,\" the spokesperson said.\n\nShe said it was further alleged that 10 post-paid mobile connections (approx) with vanity numbers in respect of nine numbers were given to a private television channel as per the verbal orders of then Minister and that these connections were given under \"service category\" and no bill was raised. \"There was huge data transfer which included voice, video and audio through these telephone connections and all these facilities were allegedly used for the benefits of said television channel network, owned by his brother,\" she said.\n\nThe spokesperson said it was further alleged that no payment was made for installation charges as well as for rentals of these telephone connections which included High end facilities Iike ISDN-PRA-BRA, broadband, leased circuits with OFC laying connecting both the residents."}
-{"text": "\uff15\u6708\uff12\uff18\u65e5\u3001\u7c73\u56fd\u571f\u5b89\u5168\u4fdd\u969c\u7701\u306e\u30b1\u30ea\u30fc\u9577\u5b98\u306f\u30c6\u30ec\u30d3\u756a\u7d44\u3067\u3001\u4eca\u5f8c\u7c73\u56fd\u304b\u3089\u767a\u7740\u3059\u308b\u3059\u3079\u3066\u306e\u822a\u7a7a\u4fbf\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u30ce\u30fc\u30c8\u30d1\u30bd\u30b3\u30f3\u306e\u5ba2\u5ba4\u5185\u6301\u3061\u8fbc\u307f\u3092\u7981\u6b62\u3059\u308b\u53ef\u80fd\u6027\u304c\u3042\u308b\u3068\u306e\u898b\u65b9\u3092\u793a\u3057\u305f\u3002\u5199\u771f\u306f\u30cb\u30e5\u30fc\u30e8\u30fc\u30af\u306e\u30b8\u30e7\u30f3\u30fb\uff26\u30fb\u30b1\u30cd\u30c7\u30a3\u7a7a\u6e2f\u3067\uff15\u6708\uff11\uff17\u65e5\u64ae\u5f71\uff08\uff12\uff10\uff11\uff17\u5e74 \u30ed\u30a4\u30bf\u30fc/Joe Penney\uff09\n\n\uff3b\u30ef\u30b7\u30f3\u30c8\u30f3 \uff12\uff18\u65e5 \u30ed\u30a4\u30bf\u30fc\uff3d - \u7c73\u56fd\u571f\u5b89\u5168\u4fdd\u969c\u7701\u306e\u30b1\u30ea\u30fc\u9577\u5b98\u306f\uff12\uff18\u65e5\u306e\u30c6\u30ec\u30d3\u756a\u7d44\u3067\u3001\u4eca\u5f8c\u7c73\u56fd\u304b\u3089\u767a\u7740\u3059\u308b\u3059\u3079\u3066\u306e\u822a\u7a7a\u4fbf\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u30ce\u30fc\u30c8\u30d1\u30bd\u30b3\u30f3\uff08\uff30\uff23\uff09\u306e\u5ba2\u5ba4\u5185\u6301\u3061\u8fbc\u307f\u3092\u7981\u6b62\u3059\u308b\u53ef\u80fd\u6027\u304c\u3042\u308b\u3068\u306e\u898b\u65b9\u3092\u793a\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\u7c73\u653f\u5e9c\u306f\uff13\u6708\u3001\u30a2\u30e9\u30d6\u9996\u9577\u56fd\u9023\u90a6\uff08\uff35\uff21\uff25\uff09\u3084\u30ab\u30bf\u30fc\u30eb\u3001\u30c8\u30eb\u30b3\u306a\u3069\uff11\uff10\u30ab\u6240\u306e\u7a7a\u6e2f\u304b\u3089\u7c73\u56fd\u306b\u76f4\u884c\u3059\u308b\u4fbf\u3067\u5927\u578b\u96fb\u5b50\u6a5f\u5668\u306e\u5ba2\u5ba4\u5185\u6301\u3061\u8fbc\u307f\u3092\u7981\u3058\u305f\u3002\n\n\u30b1\u30ea\u30fc\u6c0f\u306f\u3001\u8ffd\u52a0\u7684\u306a\u63aa\u7f6e\u3092\u5b9f\u65bd\u3059\u308b\u6642\u671f\u306f\u307e\u3060\u6c7a\u3081\u3066\u3044\u306a\u3044\u3068\u3057\u306a\u304c\u3089\u3082\u3001\u5168\u822c\u7684\u306a\u7a7a\u306e\u5b89\u5168\u306b\u95a2\u3059\u308b\u898f\u5236\u3092\u5f37\u5316\u3059\u308b\u65b9\u91dd\u3092\u660e\u3089\u304b\u306b\u3057\u305f\u3002"}
-{"text": "It\u2019s probably too early to be pushing the panic button just two games into a 34-game MLS season.\n\nBut it has to be disconcerting that the 0-2 Vancouver Whitecaps, so good in 2015 at preventing goals, have been exposed defensively in their two losses to open the 2016 campaign.\n\nAnd now they have to go into Seattle on Saturday, where the 0-2 Sounders figure to be in a snarly mood, and then come home to face a Houston Dynamo squad that embarrassed the reigning Western Conference regular season champion FC Dallas 5-0 on the weekend.\n\nA 0-4 start would undoubtedly have fans and management reaching for that panic button and turn up the pressure on head coach Carl Robinson and his sometimes puzzling lineup decisions.\n\nGoalkeeper David Ousted, though, thinks a date with a Cascadia rival might be just what the Caps need to get things started in a more positive direction.\n\n\u201cWe love those games and that might give us the urgency we\u2019re for.\u201d\n\nThe Caps, already without key midfield signing Christian Bolanos to suspension, had to play the second half with just 10 men in a 2-1 loss in Kansas City on Saturday after fullback Jordan Smith went brain dead with a baffling back-of-the-legs tackle on Graham Zusi. Maybe he knew he was being outclassed and was simply looking for a way out of the game.\n\nBut it was glaring errors that led to both sporting goals before Smith\u2019s exit, a week after the Caps self-destructed in a 3-1 home loss to Montreal.\n\nSmith, the second-year Costa Rican, started at right back after young Canadian Fraser Aird had a shaky outing against Montreal. And teenage Honduran Deybi Flores replaced another young Canadian, Kianz Froese, at holding midfield alongside Matias Laba.\n\nBut both looked out of their depth. Flores handed the ball to Sporting\u2019s Dom Dwyer in the fifth minute with a poor touch and the SKC striker scored on a screamer of a shot just under the crossbar on which Ousted had no chance.\n\nSmith and Flores then were basically spectators as Zusi easily cut across the top of the box in the 41st minute and sent a looping ball to the far post. Chance Myers crossed it back across the face of goal to Dwyer for an easy tap-in as Caps\u2019 centre back Kendall Waston got caught ball-watching and failed to cover.\n\n\u201cWe switched off a little bit when it got crossed,\u201d said Robinson. \u201cBut we could stop that and we didn\u2019t. It was a good goal, but we need to get back to the drawing board to stop those.\u201d\n\nFlores, in whom Robinson continues to show inexplicable faith, was subbed off at halftime for the more effective Froese. And Aird came on at right back in the second half and did provide some life. But he was still poor at preventing crosses.\n\nRight back has clearly become an area of concern for Robinson, who had hoped one of Smith or Aird could take charge of the spot opened up when veteran Steven Beitashour was traded to Toronto. But neither has the defensive positioning and instincts of the U.S.-born Iranian international, who wanted too much money to stay in Vancouver."}
-{"text": "McCann joins GOP fray 5th Congressional District, will take on Lonegan\n\nJohn McCann, the attorney and longtime right-hand man to Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino, is about to announce he's running for Congress in the 5th District \u2014 and already the political fur is flying among Republicans.\n\nMcCann, 57, of Oakland, has scheduled a campaign kick-off event for Saturday morning at VFW Post 6699 in Paramus. McCann plans to seek the Republican nomination in a district that Democrats grabbed when Josh Gottheimer disposed of Scott Garrett in the super-expensive campaign of 2016 \u2014 but first, he'll have to get by arch-conservative Steve Lonegan of Hackensack.\n\n\"I'm the only one in the race that actually as a record of doing something,\" McCann said on Friday, referring to his recent stint as legal counsel for the Bergen County Sheriff's and his three terms on Cresskill Council in the early 2000s. \"Steve has done nothing for years but talk.\"\n\nMcCann came out swinging a day after a Lonegan supporter, Joseph Hakim of Dumont, revived a criminal complaint against him in Pascack Joint Municipal Court. Hakim alleges that at a Republican political event held in Woodcliff Lake in September, McCann told him he used his power as attorney for the sheriff's department to dig into Hakim's background.\n\n\"Joseph, I know all things about you. I know what you are about,\" the complaint quotes McCann as saying. \"Parts of my job allow me telling you that I had access to information on anyone and I looked you up. That was the benefits of my job.\"\n\nThe complaint charges McCann with harassment and with \"threats and improper influence in official and political matters,\" a crime of the third degree, which is punishable by three to five years in prison.\n\nMcCann said he refused to shake hands with Hakim at the Republican gathering, which was held at the Tice Center in Woodcliff Lake on Sept. 23. McCann said Hakim had refused to support him when he considered running against Sen. Gerald Cardinale in the District 39 primary last spring.\n\nWoodcliff Lake police investigated the incident in October, but have not filed any charges. McCann flatly denies he threatened Hakim, and said the complaint is being dredged up again by Lonegan supporters trying to make him look bad.\n\nAlthough McCann is well-known in Republican circles in Bergen County, Lonegan has wider name recognition, having run for governor twice, Congress once, and the the U.S. Senate in 2013, losing to Cory Booker.\n\n\"Steve has won more elections than he's lost,\" said Lonegan campaign spokesman Michael D. Byrne, referring to his years as Bogota mayor. \"He beat Cory Booker in the 5th District in 2013. He's somebody who is a recognized conservative, running against a liberal.\"\n\nMcCann doesn't consider himself a liberal, but more of a moderate, pragmatic, political problem-solver. As Saudino's legal counsel, he was the chief architect of the recent merger of the sheriff's department with county police \u2014 a move that resulted in 24 layoffs, 19 demotions.\n\n\"That will save taxpayers $40 million over four years,\" he said.\n\nLonegan, 61, has raised nearly $600,000, according to his most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission. McCann said he hasn't raised any money \u2014 yet. Gottheimer, meanwhile, has more than $2 million in his campaign account, according to the FEC.\n\nDemocrats went all-in in the 5th CD race in 2016, as Gottheimer, a former Bill Clinton aide from Wyckoff, spent $4.7 million to unseat Garrett, a staunch conservative from Wantage. Garrett spent $4.3 million.\n\nThe 5th covers portions of Bergen, Passaic, Sussex and Warren counties, a mix of suburban and rural communities that has long been a Republican stronghold, but leaned more Democratic after the 2010 redistricting. Another close race is expected for the presidential mid-term election in 2018.\n\n\"If you\u2019re running for Congress in the 5th District, you have to raise $2 million at a minimum,\" said Dr. Benjamin Dworkin, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider College. Dworkin said the 5th was one of only four congressional districts nationwide that switched from Republican to Democrat in 2016.\n\nCompared to Lonegan, McCann is less well known, Dworkin said. Getting the backing of the Bergen County Republican Organization and the line on the primary ballot is crucial, he said.\n\n\"He's not a household name,\" Dworkin said of McCann. \"But real Bergen County insiders are much more likely to know who he is. He's been around, and he's been a player. But getting the nomination is not a slam dunk, especially when you're running against Steve Lonegan, who's run many campaigns.\"\n\nEmail Rich Cowen at cowen@northjersey.com\n\nMcCann has been in and around Republican politics in Bergen County for more than 20 years. He ran for state Assembly in the 37th District in 1995 and lost, then later served three terms on the Cresskill council, beginning in 1999.\n\nIn 2012, he sought to become chairman of the Bergen County Republican Organization, but lost a three-way battle with Anthony Rottino and the eventual winner, Bob Yudin.\n\nAs an attorney, he's been closely allied with Saudino, who endured a tumultuous tenure as Emerson's police chief to become Bergen County Sheriff. McCann has represented Saudino in numerous lawsuits, both as police chief and as sheriff.\n\nSaudino was first elected sheriff in November of 2010 as a Republican. Facing reelection in 2016, he switched parties and became a Democrat, and won the race.\n\nAs legal counsel for Saudino, McCann was involved most recently in litigation that arose from the merger of the Bergen County Police Department with the Sheriff's Office. The union representing county police officers, PBA Local 49, later challenged the merger over pay and seniority issues.\n\nAs his legal counsel, McCann has been involved in litigation arising from the merger of the Bergen County police department with the Sheriff's Office."}
-{"text": "C\u2019\u00e8 pi\u00f9 di qualcosa che non va in un Paese nel quale ci sono ampie zone nelle quali un pensionato guadagna pi\u00f9 di un lavoratore dipendente. Eppure, questa \u00e8 l\u2019Italia del 2015. Lo dice Istat, che ha recentemente rilasciato i dati relativi ai redditi medi annuali su base provinciali. Sia quelli da lavoro dipendente, che quelli da pensione. Sottraendo i secondi ai primi e visualizzando il risultato sulla mappa, questo \u00e8 ci\u00f2 che si ottiene.\n\nCome si vede, l\u2019Italia \u00e8 tagliata in due. Al Nord province colorate in azzurro, a segnalare come la differenza di reddito sia a favore dei lavoratori dipendenti. Al Sud, invece, concentrazioni di arancione, a rappresentare quei territori nei quali i pensionati sono pi\u00f9 ricchi di chi ogni mattina si alza per andare in fabbrica o in ufficio. A livello nazionale, la differenza di reddito \u00e8 a favore dei lavoratori, che guadagnano in media poco meno di 2mila euro l\u2019anno in pi\u00f9 dei pensionati.\n\nMa \u00e8 nei singoli territori che le cose cambiano. A Vibo Valentia, per esempio: in questa provincia della Calabria nel 2015 i dipendenti hanno guadagnato in media 11.813 euro, contro i 14.425 incassati da chi deve il suo reddito all\u2019Inps. La differenza \u00e8 di oltre 2.600 euro a favore di questi ultimi. In termini percentuali, siamo oltre il 22%. Si capisce, insomma, come da queste parti convenga essere pensionati. Certo, per arrivare alla pensione bisogna prima avere un lavoro.\n\nChe invece a Milano conviene continuare il pi\u00f9 a lungo possibile. Qui nel 2015 il reddito medio di un lavoratore dipendente ha sfiorato i 29mila euro. Mentre quello dei pensionati ha superato di poco i 21mila. La differenza tra chi va in ufficio e chi no, a fine anno, \u00e8 di oltre 7mila euro. E del resto quella che gravita intorno al capoluogo lombardo \u00e8 la provincia nella quale i redditi dei dipendenti sono stati i pi\u00f9 alti del Paese. Lo si vede da questa mappa, nella quale sono per\u00f2 fotografati i dati relativi al 2016:\n\nIn questo caso, i territori che virano verso l\u2019azzurro sono quelli nei quali il reddito ha superato il valore medio di 21.714 euro. Quelli che tendono all\u2019arancione sono invece quelli nei quali il valore \u00e8 inferiore alla media. Cliccando su una provincia si apre un pop-up che mostra l\u2019andamento nel corso degli ultimi anni: la linea azzurra rappresenta la media nazionale, quella arancione la situazione nel territorio preso in considerazione.\n\nNegli ultimi anni, ad esempio, a Milano i redditi sono stati sempre decisamente superiori alla media nazionale. Al contrario a Vibo Valentia si \u00e8 sempre stati decisamente sotto media. E una situazione simile la si registra tornando a prendere in considerazione le pensioni. Questa mappa rappresenta la situazione aggiornata al 2015:\n\nIl funzionamento della mappa \u00e8 identico a quello della precedente. Con una novit\u00e0 interessante, per\u00f2: la provincia con i pensionati pi\u00f9 ricchi d\u2019Italia \u00e8 quella di Roma. Qui infatti nel 2015 un pensionato ha guadagnato in media 21.532 euro. Anche se nel centro Sud quella della capitale \u00e8 pi\u00f9 un\u2019eccezione che una regola. Se anche guadagnano pi\u00f9 dei concittadini che hanno un lavoro dipendente, i pensionati del Mezzogiorno hanno comunque un reddito inferiore rispetto ai \u2018colleghi\u2019 del Nord."}
-{"text": "On Friday night, Democrats in Clear Lake, just south of the Minnesota border, hosted more than 20 candidates at an event known as the Iowa Wing Ding, a speech-a-thon akin to political speed dating, where each candidate was given five minutes to make an impression.\n\nMiraculously, the event ended well ahead of schedule. Most candidates were well-received by an audience, whose energy highlighted the intense, early interest in the presidential race. But South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg won the applause meter test with a scorching speech that raised the decibel level in the Surf Ballroom.\n\nThe convergence of candidates in Iowa in the past week has drawn people from around the country. Some have come out of a pure love of politics just to watch. Others have come with a more serious purpose \u2014 to find the candidate they believe can defeat President Trump in 2020. Their sense of urgency about that mission is unmistakable.\n\nIowa\u2019s place at the front of the nominating process has been set by tradition and now by rules established by the Democratic and Republican national committees. Its presidential caucuses kick off the primary caucus season and it acts as the great winnower of candidates. Only a handful of this record field of candidates will survive the caucuses in February, though the number seems murkier than ever this year.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nThe caucuses are still nearly five months away and, yet, perhaps because there are so many candidates running, Democrats and political handicappers are trying to anticipate who those survivors will be and who will actually leave Iowa as a declared winner.\n\nAnn Selzer, who conducts the Iowa Poll for the Des Moines Register and in this cycle also for CNN, has earned through many presidential cycles a reputation as the best pollster of Iowa politics. From that experience, she offers two pieces of wisdom about how to think about the coming months of campaign here. The first is never to disregard dark horse candidates.\n\n\u201cAnyone can come to Iowa and win,\u201d she said during an interview in her West Des Moines office last week.\n\nSen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was at 3 percent in her first poll of the 2016 cycle and ended up on caucus night in a virtual tie with former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, giving him momentum all the way to the 2016 Democratic National Convention. (Clinton\u2019s team claimed victory in Iowa without really knowing the final outcome, and there is still dispute about the results.)\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nSelzer\u2019s second observation is a variation of the first. \u201cI have seen enough elections to know how fast things can change and how common it is for things to change when we\u2019re in the field doing the final poll before the caucuses,\u201d she said.\n\nShe keeps what she calls the \u201cRegister graph of Doom\u201d for Howard Dean, the former Democratic governor of Vermont who, just a few weeks ahead of the caucuses, was the favorite to win the state. As Selzer was conducting the final survey, Iowa caucus-goers were suddenly shifting their allegiance. The graph charts a steady decline for Dean, from roughly tied for first to roughly tied for fourth.\n\nDean ended up third behind then-Sens. John F. Kerry (Mass.) and John Edwards (N.C.) and never recovered. Kerry, who had been written off six weeks before the caucuses, went on to become the 2004 nominee.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nSelzer saw something of the same thing in 2012 with former Republican senator Rick Santorum (Pa.), who was at 10 percent on the first day of polling (about double where he had been earlier), then climbed steadily until he was statistically tied with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.\n\nRomney was declared the winner on caucus night in 2012. A few weeks later, the state Republican Party, after some detective work, declared Santorum the actual winner, too late to make much difference for his candidacy. Romney eventually become the GOP nominee.\n\nNext year\u2019s caucuses will be conducted under new rules designed to alleviate some of the criticisms of the process, which historically has required participants to show up at a fixed time and for several hours on a winter\u2019s night. This time the party will hold the regular, in-person caucuses as well as \u201cvirtual\u201d caucuses ahead of caucus night.\n\nThe changes will open up the caucuses to more people, but they also mean that, instead of just one result being posted on election night, the state party is likely to report the results with a series of numbers. This effort at transparency could lead to multiple claims of success.\n\nBy various measures, former vice president Joe Biden is the Democrats\u2019 summertime leader in Iowa. He\u2019s ahead in the polls, and he\u2019s the favorite in the unscientific but enjoyable exercise at the state fair, WHO-TV\u2019s \u201ccast your kernel\u201d in which citizens show their support by dropping a kernel of corn into a glass jar labeled with each candidate\u2019s photo.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nThe most recent survey Selzer conducted was in June, before either of the two debates, but she has takeaways from the data collected at the time that offer some guidance about the shape of the contest here.\n\nOne is that the state\u2019s Democratic electorate might not be quite as liberal as characterized. Another is that, while electability is prized over issues by many voters here, integrity and intelligence rank as the two leading attributes for which voters are looking; electability is fourth.\n\nThe June Iowa Poll asked respondents to give their first choice for the nomination as well as their second choice. It also asked people to say who else they might be actively considering. Selzer combined those responses into what she described as the candidates\u2019 footprint in the state, which provides some sense of the top tier here.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nFive candidates have a majority in that calculation: Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) with a combined 61 percent; Sanders with a combined 56 percent; and Sen. Kamala D. Harris (Calif.) and Buttigieg each with a combined 52 percent.\n\nThe past week\u2019s activity moves the campaigns into another level of intensity. In September, the candidates will return to Iowa for the annual Democratic steak fry. In early November, they will gather again for the state party\u2019s fall gala, an event that has sometimes proved to be consequential."}
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-{"text": "The Eric Trump Foundation paid President Trump's businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars from 2007 to 2015 for expenses from charity golf tournaments intended to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee, at the direction of Mr. Trump, according to a report published Tuesday in Forbes.\n\nEric Trump, Mr. Trump's second-oldest son, told Forbes all the money from the annual golf tournaments at Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, New York benefited children with cancer, and he did not pay to use his family's golf course.\n\n\"We get to use our assets 100 percent free of charge,\" he told Forbes' Dan Alexander.\n\nGet Breaking News Delivered to Your Inbox\n\nBut IRS tax forms Forbes obtained show use of the course wasn't free after all. The for-profit Trump Organization received payments from the not-for-profit Eric Trump Foundation for use of the golf course, part of the $1.2 million that has no documented receipts beyond the Trump Organization, according to Forbes.\n\nMore than $500,000 in donations raised from the tournaments was re-donated to other charities, many of which were connected to Trump family members or interests, according to Forbes. Four such groups held their own charity tournaments at Trump golf courses at later dates. The nonprofit Donald J. Trump Foundation also donated $100,000 to the Eric Trump Foundation to cover tournament costs, money that was then redirected to Trump businesses, Forbes claims.\n\nAccording to Forbes, it was now-President Trump himself who demanded that the Eric Trump Foundation be charged for the use of the golf course.\n\n\"In the early years, they weren't being billed [for the club]--the bills would just disappear,\" Ian Gillule, former membership and marketing director at Trump National Westchester, told Forbes. \"Mr. Trump had a cow. He flipped. He was like, 'We're donating all of this stuff, and there's no paper trail? No credit?' And he went nuts. He said, 'I don't care if it's my son or not--everybody gets billed.'\"\n\nThrough the years, the tournament's costs skyrocketed, according to tax records Forbes obtained. Expenses for the first four tournaments from 2007 to 2011 ran about $50,000 each. By 2011, the cost of the tournament jumped from $46,000 to $142,000. By 2015, those expenses reached $322,000, according to the tax records obtained by Forbes. It's unclear exactly how much the Trump Organization collected from the tournaments, but it's also not clear why the costs spiked so dramatically, Alexander observed.\n\nShortly before that surge in costs, the Donald J. Trump Foundation donated $100,000 to the Eric Trump Foundation, a gift Gillule told Forbes was to offset the tournament cost increases. Golf tournament experts and former club employees told Forbes they couldn't imagine how hosting a one-day tournament could cost that much.\n\nWhen the Eric Trump Foundation began, its board members were mostly friends of Eric Trump -- people independent of Trump family financial interests. But by 2010, nine of the board's 17 members were employees of, or people with some financial stake in, the Trump Organization, according to Forbes.\n\nEric Trump, appearing on Fox News' show with Sean Hannity Tuesday night, said he was \"attacked.\"\n\n\"I've raised $16.3 million for the greatest hospital in the world,\" the Trump son said. \"That's St. Jude. And I get attacked for it.\"\n\nAnd it's true that Mr. Trump's son has raised millions for St. Jude, which Forbes pointed out, noting that a new intensive care unit at the hospital was named for Eric Trump in 2015. The Trump Organization disagreed with Forbes' findings.\n\n\"During the past decade, the Eric Trump Foundation has raised over $16.3 million for St. Jude Children's Research hospital while maintaining an expense ratio of just 12.3 percent,\" a spokesperson for Eric Trump said in a statement provided to CBS News. \"The Eric Trump Foundation was also responsible for building a $20 million dollar ICU which treats the sickest children anywhere in the world suffering from the most catastrophic terminal illnesses.\"\n\n\"Contrary to recent reports, at no time did the Trump Organization profit in any way from the foundation or any of its activities,\" the statement continued. \"While people can disagree on political issues, to infer malicious intent on a charity that has changed so many lives, is not only shameful but is truly disgusting. At the end of the day the only people who lose are the children of St. Jude and other incredibly worthy causes.\"\n\nThe White House did not respond to a request for comment from CBS News.\n\nFinancial entanglements continue to plague the White House during Mr. Trump's presidency. The president handed off management of his financial interests to his two sons, Eric and Donald Jr., but the president's decision to not fully divest his business interests has drawn skepticism from his critics."}
-{"text": "When Maria Jones-Elliot of Waterford, Ireland, was just 23 weeks pregnant, her water broke. She was carrying twin girls and doctors were worried about the survival of the babies. Despite the odds, one of the babies, Amy, was born. That was June 1, 2012. Amy was four months premature and weighed a little more than one pound. But the other baby stayed in the womb.\n\nMaria and her husband Chris were filled with angst about the second baby, but decided to let \"nature take its course.\" Three months later, doctors induced delivery and little Katie was born on Aug. 27.\n\nPHOTOS: Conjoined Twins: Dissecting Surgical Separation: Photos\n\nToday, the babies are healthy and happy, and their tumultuous entry into the world could be a Guinness World Record. If the time span between births is confirmed to be 87 days, the span of time will break the Guinness World Record title for longest interval between birth of twins. That record is held by Peggy Lynn of Huntingdon, Penn., who gave birth to daughter Hanna and son Eric 84 days apart between 1995 and 1996.\n\nvia Huffington Post"}
-{"text": "The bookplate bears an eagle, swastika and words \"Ex Libris Adolf Hitler\"\n\nLibrary and Archives Canada announced on Wednesday it had acquired a rare 1944 book that once belonged to Adolf Hitler.\n\nWritten in German, \"Statistics, Media, and Organizations of Jewry in the United States and Canada\" is a 137-page report produced in 1944 by Heinz Kloss, a famed German linguist who had contact with US Nazi sympathizers.\n\nThe book details certain cities' population statistics along with organizations and media outlets key at the time to North America's Jewish communities, Library and Archives Canada said in a statement.\n\n\"This work hints at the story of what might have happened in Canada had the Allies lost World War II. It also demonstrates that the Holocaust was not a purely European event, but rather an operation that was stopped before it reached North America,\" it added.\n\nWritten in German, \"Statistics, Media, and Organizations of Jewry in the United States and Canada\" is a 137-page report\n\nThe bookplate bears an eagle, and swastika, and the words \"Ex Libris Adolf Hitler,\" indicating it was part of his personal library.\n\n\"It is fundamental ... to acquire, preserve and make available documents no matter how controversial or contentious they could be,\" said Guy Berthiaume, Librarian and Archivist of Canada.\n\nHitler was an avid reader with a collection reportedly containing 6,000 to 16,000 titles.\n\nLibrary and Archives Canada said the book was likely brought back to the US as a souvenir of war, as in spring 1945 American soldiers took thousands of books from the Nazi leader's second home near Berchtesgaden, in the German Alps.\n\nThe institution added it acquired the book from a reputable Judaica dealer, who obtained it as part of a collection owned by a Holocaust survivor."}
-{"text": "Rescued puppy attends classes in village school dressed in uniform\n\nTOKAT \u2013 Demir\u00f6ren News Agency\n\nA puppy named \u201cF\u0131nd\u0131k\u201d (hazelnut), found in a cemetery in the northern province of Tokat\u2019s Turhal district, is the latest addition to a village school with 37 students.\n\nF\u0131nd\u0131k, who lives in a shelter built in the garden of the school and is dressed in a school uniform, occasionally attends classes and enjoys a pleasant time with the students.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe fate of the puppy changed when school principal Ahmet Akt\u00fcrk and teacher Mustafa \u00d6nlen saw a group of stray dogs attacking a puppy one day.\n\nThe teachers who intervened in the attack saved the puppy and brought it to the school.\n\nA small shelter was then built for the puppy in the schoolyard.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe students of the school showed great interest and care to the puppy from the first day.\n\nThe puppy, which became the mascot of the school, was named F\u0131nd\u0131k by the students.\n\nAlways following the students around the school, F\u0131nd\u0131k eventually started making a habit out of going to classes.\n\n\n\n\n\nBedriye G\u00f6\u00e7er, the head of the School Family Association, sewed a uniform for F\u0131nd\u0131k, who sits next to the students in classrooms.\n\n\u201cThe students took responsibility by feeding the dog. They also started going to school and not bullying each other, because they knew the dog\u2019s story,\u201d he said."}
-{"text": "\u201cDue to its global nature and systemic impact on the firm\u2019s financial performance, the supply chain arguably faces more risk than other areas of the company. Risk is a fact of life for any supply chain, whether it\u2019s dealing with quality and safety challenges, supply shortages, legal issues, security problems, regulatory and environmental compliance, weather and natural disasters, or terrorism. There\u2019s always some element of risk.\u201d (Carlo Muzzarelli, Chief Executive Officer, WeRISK Srl)\n\nIn the modern globalized world of the increasing complexity of the supply chains and more dense interconnectedness of the financial and economic institutions avoiding estimating possible risks in advance might likely mean a failure. The 2008 financial crisis in the US and the 2011 earthquake in Japan have shown that even events considered the least likely to happen tend to catch unprepared companies off guard and cause huge financial and operational problems, however, benefitting some of them. Thus, in a way, assessing risks means assessing opportunities.\n\nThe recent events have made companies develop and incorporate a variety of supply chain risk identification, assessment and mitigation techniques along with using already existent methods from the insurance and finance sectors. More and more firms and organizations start to integrate Business Continuity process into their supply chain, use data-driven approaches to third party risks analysis and consider cultural aspects of the global supply chain management. However, many of them still have problems of understanding and managing risks in supply chains (Schlegel & Trent, 2012; EY, 2015). Schlegel and Trent insist that risks should be categorized and approached in accordance to their peculiarities. Moreover, to optimize the risk management process the authors suggest companies create either a separate risk management department, \u201ethe risk war room\u201c (Schlegel & Trent, 2012, p.20), or a special position of the Chief Risk Officer.\n\nThe issue of risk identification and management has become critical in the modern market. Especially, when there is almost inseparable relationship between success and risk. So, to improve their chances to succeed in the rapidly changing environment, companies need to be fully aware of the risks around them and be able to manage them.\n\nReferences:\n\nEY (2015) There\u2019s no reward without risk: GRC survey 2015. Retrieved on 23.03.2016 from: http://www.ey.com/GL/en/Services/Advisory/EY-theres-no-reward-without-risk-grc-survey-2015-looking-at-risk-differently?utm_source=ey-insights&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=eycom\n\nSchlegel, G.L. and Trent R.J. (2012, January/Fabruary). Risk management: welcome to the new normal. Supply Chain Management Review. Retrieved on 23.03.2016 from: http://www.scmr.com/article/Risk_Management_Welcome_to_the_New_Normal"}
-{"text": "Community content is available under Copyright unless otherwise noted."}
-{"text": "One of the (few) drawbacks to having an especially active community here in the comments is that a page or two following a big reveal will generally be retread or just confirmation of what\u2019s been discussed by you guys. It\u2019s stuff that needs to be said in the comic anyway since not everyone reads the comments and also there\u2019s the book version to think about. I\u2019ll reiterate one thing I said in the comments for the previous page since it\u2019s easy to miss, is that while Vehemence can draw power from any sort of violence, from a mugging to an earthquake, violence with intent is higher quality and better \u2018tasting\u2019. Presumably it comes with lots of Vitamin V. Also there\u2019s a finite amount he\u2019d be able to absorb from something as violent as an earthquake since the range at which he can absorb the energy from is limited. A 2000 mile long fault line\u2019s no good to him if he can only absorb stuff from\u2026 well, I haven\u2019t decided his range, but it\u2019s well under a mile. Localized violence is better.\n\nI really wanted this page to be a double page, as Vehemence\u2019s speech took rather a lot of room, but I think I\u2019ve kind of gotten into the habit of trying to make every page I can a double. I\u2019ve done 7 of them in the last 10 pages, and it\u2019s been a little stressful. Burnout is far too dramatic a word, but making this page and the next singles was almost like a vacation for me. By vacation, I mean I didn\u2019t have to draw all day Sunday as well as the other 6 days and it was nice. I did some chores, went to the gym\u2026 then spent the rest of the day coloring the vote incentive anyway, but the point is that I wasn\u2019t under the gun trying to get a page finished so I wouldn\u2019t be behind on Monday which is when I write and start penciling new pages.\n\nThere were several suggestions in the comments that the team take a break and power up Dabbler to match V\u2019s level, and Dabbler alludes to it here. It would be an epic bait and switch if I just suddenly changed the comic into a 20 page lesbian orgy right now, but\u2026 nah. :)\n\nThe question is, if Vehemence is so powerful, or at least so potentially powerful, how did Arc-LIGHT not know about him? Granted they haven\u2019t done a great job tonight anyway, but in Vehemence\u2019s case, he\u2019s mostly just hung around in the background gathering power and never really needed to join in. What\u2019s he going to do, get powered up during a race riot, then leap out and start attacking looters? He\u2019d pulp anyone he hit, and while killing someone is usually a pretty violent thing, a dead rioter can\u2019t continue rioting.\n\nEven when he hung around underground super fight clubs, which given the low incidence of super powers are rare, but they still happened, he\u2019s got nothing to prove. He\u2019s just there for the meal. He\u2019s revealing himself now mostly because as debuts go, this is a pretty good one, and also right now he\u2019s so amped it\u2019s like he\u2019s been snorting Excedrin.\n\nHere are some fun links for you. This one makes envious of the gals, cause whereas girls can wear basically anything without anyone batting an eye, guys are generally limited to 2-3 kinds of shirts and either pants or shorts, meaning there\u2019s a whole range of geek wear I\u2019m shut out of, like this Baroness tank dress. Though even if I was a girl, I\u2019m not sure I would traipse around in something quite that sheer, though maybe it\u2019s only partially see-through under studio lights. And probably direct sunlight, but then how often do proper geeks get exposed to that? Anyway if you\u2019re within a decade of my age that site may have a few gems for you.\n\nHere\u2019s a quite funny webcomic I found, Deathbulge. As with a lot of webcomics, it takes a few strips to find it\u2019s footing but is solid once it hits its stride. The RSS seems to be broken unfortunately, but it\u2019s worth going through the archives IMO.\n\nHere\u2019s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome which I can\u2019t live without anymore, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey."}
-{"text": "Palermo: 'Lafferty is out of control!'\n\nBy Football Italia staff\n\nPalermo President Maurizio Zamparini said he\u2019s selling Kyle Lafferty to Norwich because \u201che\u2019s an out-of-control womaniser.\u201d\n\nNorthern Ireland international Lafferty was instrumental in Palermo\u2019s promotion campaign from Serie B this season, but is on the verge of a move to Norwich.\n\n\u201cLafferty is sold as a result of a precise request from my Coach Beppe Iachini,\u201d President Zamparini told Radio 24.\n\n\u201cHe is an out-of-control womaniser, an Irishman without rules. He is someone who disappears for a week and goes on the hunt for women in Milan.\n\n\u201cHe has two families with six children, he never trains, he\u2019s completely off the rails. On the field he\u2019s a great player, because he gave us everything he had and more.\n\n\u201cIn terms of his behaviour, however, he is uncontrollable. My Coach told me he cannot sort this player out, so he has to go.\u201d\n\nWatch Serie A live in the UK on Premier Sports for just \u00a39.99 per month including live LaLiga, Eredivisie, Scottish Cup Football and more. Visit: https://www.premiersports.com/subscribenow"}
-{"text": "President Obama's campaign claims to have outraised Mitt Romney in online donations since the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision to uphold the president's health law was handed down.\n\nBut they won't say by how much.\n\nMitt Romney campaign reports that they have received 47,000 donations to the sum of $4.6 million dollars in support of a repeal of the law, and that the number is still growing.\n\nThose numbers do not factor in high profile New York fundraisers attended by Romney Thursday in New York at the residence of billionaire Martin Zweig and with Donald Trump.\n\n\"What happened yesterday calls for greater urgency, I believe, in the election,\" said Romney, speaking at a private fundraiser at a Manhattan restaurant on Thursday. \"I think people recognize that if you want to replace Obamacare, you've got to replace President Obama.\"\n\nWant more off-the-cuff politics? Check out OTUS on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @OTUSNews.\n\nObama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt doesn't give a number but says the campaign raised more than that following the Supreme Court's ruling.\n\nThe amounts will ultimately be a matter of public record when the campaigns are required to disclose their donors to the FCC.\n\nWhy not give details now?\n\n\"That's not the point,\" said Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt. Democrats want to focus instead on their argument that Romney hasn't offered specifics about how would replace the law if elected.\n\n\"It's perverse that Mitt Romney wont share details about what he'd do for the millions he'd leave uninsured or at the whims of insurance companies when he 'kills Obamacare dead,' but he'll share the hourly details of his fundraising after the Supreme Court ruling,\" said LaBolt. \"We've outraised the Romney campaign in that time period but that's not the point - our supporters are more committed than ever to ensuring that insurance companies can't drop coverage for people who get sick or discriminate against people with preexisting conditions by reelecting the President.\""}
-{"text": "Natalie Cole: Heroin or Dirty Tattoo Needles\n\nLast February, while having some routine blood tests done for insurance purposes, singerwas told that she has contracted Hepatitis C. Shocking as it may have been, she was told she could have had this disease for the last 25 years.\n\nWhile hepatitis C can remain dormant for many years before causing illness, which is likely the case for Natalie, the singer isn't sure if the use of heroin in her past or a dirty tattoo needle was the culprit.\n\nThis seems to be reason enough for all people getting tattoos to watch the artist open up a sterile needle pack and for all heroin users to quit. Ha! Seems fairly straightforward.\n\nHepatitis C can take many years to cause symptoms so if you think you may have been exposed, the singer recommends that you get yourself checked out."}
-{"text": "Over Stanford\u2019s past seven games, DiJonai Carrington has averaged 17.4 points and 10 rebounds. The run started with her 33-point outburst against Tennessee and included a 30-point afternoon against UCLA.\n\nShe\u2019s 5-foot-10\u00bd, yet she\u2019s second on the No. 6 Cardinal in rebounding with a 7.3 average, just behind Alanna Smith\u2019s 7.6. Carrington is third in scoring at 13.4 points per game.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve had these tools in my bag,\u201d the junior guard said, \u201cbut I think I finally got the confidence to play free and play my game, and not focus on making mistakes and outside noise.\u201d\n\nShe knew the team badly needed her to rebound. The Cardinal (14-1, 4-0 Pac-12), who host Washington (8-9, 1-4) on Friday night, lost starting forward Nadia Fingall for the season because of a torn ACL in the USC game Jan. 4.\n\nAnother forward, Maya Dodson, has missed the past four games because of a foot injury and is expected to miss \u201ca couple more weeks,\u201d according to head coach Tara VanDerveer.\n\nFriday\u2019s game Who: Washington (8-9, 1-4 Pac-12) at No. 6 Stanford (14-1, 4-0) When: 7 p.m. TV: P12BA Where: Maples Pavilion Carrington\u2019s hot streak A look at Stanford guard DiJonai Carrington\u2019s past seven games: Date Opponent Result Pts Reb Jan. 13 at Arizona W, 78-48 19 8 Jan. 11 at Arizona State W, 72-65 17 11 Jan. 6 UCLA W, 86-80 30 9 Jan. 4 USC W, 72-64 14 7 Dec. 29 Cal State Northridge W, 69-43 5 12 Dec. 21 at Buffalo W, 62-55 4 10 Dec. 18 at Tennessee W, 95-85 33 13\n\nRead More\n\nCarrington already had picked up her game dramatically even before Fingall and Dodson were hurt.\n\n\u201cWe have lost a lot of scoring, rebounding or just emotional and physical toughness,\u201d Carrington said. \u201cResponding to that has been huge \u2014 knowing I have to put (my teammates) on my back and do what\u2019s needed for the team.\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s one element of her game that Carrington said was lacking earlier in her career. \u201cI\u2019ve recently added boxing out to my arsenal,\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cI did not box out before this year. That\u2019s been a big help.\u201d\n\nThe coaches run the team through box-out drills every day, but during games, Carrington thought her physical strength and aggressiveness were enough to collect rebounds.\n\n\u201cI should definitely continue listening to my coaches about boxing out,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s so small, but it makes a huge difference. Even just forearming (opponents) makes them hesitate the next time they go in (to crash the boards). Same for me. If someone does it to me, the next time I think about it.\u201d\n\nAs VanDerveer sees it, Carrington plays with a football mentality, which figures because her dad Darren played in the NFL and she played youth football.\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s aggressive, she\u2019s strong, and she grabs the ball,\u201d VanDerveer said of Carrington\u2019s rebounding. \u201cShe has a good nose for the ball. \u2026 She\u2019s playing within herself, not trying to do too much.\u201d\n\nThat said, she added, \u201cEvery once in a while, there\u2019ll be some wild-hair shot. I\u2019ll be, like, \u2018What was that?\u2019 But then it goes in.\u201d\n\nVanDerveer might have been referring to the driving scoop shot Carrington hit Sunday at Arizona. \u201cThose are the things I used to do more in high school,\u201d Carrington said. \u201cI\u2019m more under control in college.\u201d\n\nVanDerveer certainly wasn\u2019t referring to the half-court shot Carrington swished at the third-quarter buzzer Friday night at Arizona State.\n\nThat basket was no fluke. She works on the shot at the end of every practice or shootaround and won\u2019t stop until she makes one. Kiana Williams usually rebounds for her.\n\nCarrington\u2019s leadership \u201chas been a big part of our team\u2019s success,\u201d VanDerveer said. \u201cShe really studies the game. She\u2019s focused on having a great year.\u201d\n\nThe San Diego native was \u201cheartbroken\u201d that the Los Angeles Chargers were thumped by New England in the NFL playoffs Sunday. The Chargers were one of the teams her father, a safety, played for in an eight-year pro career. \u201cThey need to come back to San Diego,\u201d she said.\n\nBriefly: Stanford has won 18 home games in a row. \u2026 Amber Melgoza, a 5-10 junior guard, leads the Huskies with an 18.9 scoring average, seventh best in the conference. \u201cWe held her to 40 last year,\u201d VanDerveer quipped. That was the most points scored by a Pac-12 player last season.\n\nTom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @tomgfitzgerald"}
-{"text": "Honor Our Hemp-raising Patriot Heroes\n\nBy \u201cThomas Paine\u201d\n\nIt is our patriotic duty to honor our Founding Heroes, America\u2019s greatest hemp growers.\n\nGeorge Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison---virtually all Revolutionary Americans who had access to land---embraced hemp\u2019s critical role in our early economy.\n\nAccordingly, they raised it in mass quantities.\n\nWe must now honor them by demanding its immediate legalization, to save our economy and our ecology.\n\nFor rope, for paper, for clothing, for food, for fuel, this miracle plant has been a critical crop for cash and survival for 6,000 years, since the onset of ancient China.\n\nToday it is a multi-billion-dollar product there and in Germany and Canada, among other major economies.\n\nThere is no rational reason for hemp to be illegal. Some law enforcement \u201cexperts\u201d say it resembles marijuana, and therefore must be banned.\n\nWhat are they smoking? Certainly not hemp, which gives its imbibers little more than a splitting headache and a nasty cough.\n\nToday, marijuana is the largest cash crop in many states and regions of the United States. A billion dollars-worth of it was purchased under medical auspices last year in California alone. Properly taxed, its users freed from our overcrowded prisons, pot\u2019s legalization could offer a giant step out of our financial morass.\n\nBut as an agricultural staple, marijuana pales alongside hemp. This miracle weed returns on its own year after year, requiring no pesticides, herbicides or special fertilizers. It is hardy, fast-growing and supremely productive.\n\nA single hemp plant can provide the basis for very high-quality rope, sails for ships, cloth for clothing, paper for documents, seeds for food and oil, the cellulosic base for ethanol, and much more. It is the feed of choice for untold numbers of birds and land animals. It can be the basis for innumerable stressed eco-systems where it survives and thrives with virtually no human input.\n\nAs a staple spread across the Great Plains and through the rest of America\u2019s battered farmland, it could help restore our shattered crop base and our devastated rural economy.\n\nPresidents Washington and Jefferson---both of them extremely advanced agronomists---cataloged their techniques for growing hemp at great length. They would simply not comprehend the concept---let alone the reality---that hemp might be illegal.\n\nEarly drafts of both the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written on sturdy paper made of hemp.\n\nNow, more than ever, we need the essence of both the documents and the crop.\n\nSave Our Planet! Stimulate Our Economy!!\n\nHonor our Founders!!! Be a Patriot!!!! Legalize Hemp Now!!!!!\n\n\u201cThomas Paine\u2019s\u201d PASSIONS OF THE POTSMOKING PATRIOTS is at www.harveywasserman.com"}
-{"text": "Rihanna shading with her eyes at a Nets game. I live. Noah Murray/USA Today/Reuters The expression to \"throw shade\" at someone or \"throwing shade\" has seeped into mainstream culture in a big way, so it is time to talk about where it came from and what it means.\n\nThe term \"throwing shade\" comes from black and Latino gay communities.\n\nThe term's first significant step into straight culture was in the 1990 documentary about young, black, and Latino drag queens in New York City, \"Paris is Burning.\"\n\nThe central characters explain their culture and guide you through the underground world of parties and drag balls.\n\nIn one scene, a queen named Dorian Corey explains what \"shade\" is.\n\n\"Shade is, I don't have to tell you you're ugly, because you know you're ugly,\" she says.\n\nWhen someone insults you directly, that's called a \"read.\" For example, if I were to tell you that your glasses are ugly. Point blank. That's a read. Reads can be long or short.\n\n\"Shade\" comes from reading, as Corey explains.\n\nIf I were to say in a terribly condescending voice, \"Oh honey, I'm so glad you saved up to buy those glasses,\" that's blatant shade. I didn't insult the glasses, or you, directly. It's implied by my voice and the context of what I said. You know they're ugly.\n\nSometimes people don't get that they're being \"shaded\" \u2014 this is always sad.\n\nTo \"throw shade\" simply means you've said something shady to someone. If you want an example of someone who throws perfect shade in every way, that would be pop star Rihanna. She can shade you with her eyes.\n\nWatch Dorian Corey explain it in \"Paris is Burning\" below:"}
-{"text": "December 7, 2017\n\nThe UK\u2019s new fleet flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth entered Royal Navy service on December 7 after being commissioned by Her Majesty The Queen in a grand ceremony in Portsmouth.\n\nIn her role as the ship\u2019s lady sponsor, Her Majesty addressed guests before the ship\u2019s commanding officer, Captain Jerry Kyd, read the commissioning warrant.\n\nThe iconic white ensign was then raised, symbolising the commissioning of the nation\u2019s future flagship into the Royal Navy\u2019s fleet.\n\nUK defense secretary Gavin Williamson said: \u201cToday marks the start of a hugely significant chapter for the Royal Navy, and indeed the nation, as the future flagship is commissioned into Her Majesty\u2019s fleet.\n\n\u201cIt is an honour to witness the crowning moment of an extraordinarily busy year for the Royal Navy that has seen us name the second carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, cut steel on the first Type 26 frigates and launch the National Shipbuilding Strategy.\u201d\n\nAdmiral Sir Philip Jones, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, said: \u201cIn hoisting the White Ensign from HMS Queen Elizabeth today, Britain has confirmed her place among the world\u2019s great maritime powers in the most majestic and muscular terms.\n\n\u201cThe Queen Elizabeth-class carriers will sit at the heart of a modernised and emboldened Royal Navy, capable of projecting power and influence at sea, in the air, over the land and in cyberspace, and offering our nation military and political choice in an uncertain world."}
-{"text": "When you think of the word \u201csteal\u201d you think of bikes or banks.\n\nRoughriders General Manager Jeremy O\u2019Day does not steal bikes or rob banks.\n\nO\u2019Day steals football players, or at least it looked like it with Friday mornings signing of national offensive lineman Jake Bennett.\n\nOn Wednesday O\u2019Day picked up Bennett in the 2019 CFL Supplemental Draft. Other CFL teams kept passing on Bennett right up until GM Jeremy grabbed him for only a 3rd round pick in the 2020 draft.\n\nWhen you look at what O\u2019Day gave up, and what Bennett looks like on paper, it\u2019s possible O\u2019Day has stolen a 290 pound rabbit right out of a hat.\n\nIf all goes well, 3rd round picks in the CFL Draft usually end up as good special team\u2019s player and backups. There are exceptions, but that is a reasonable expectation.\n\nBennett has strong potential to be a starter. The 6\u20193\u201d, 290 pound centre played college ball at Colorado State. Bennett played five seasons with the Rams, starting in 39 games. In his senior year Bennett was named first-team All-Mountain West by coaches, while leading an o-line that averaged almost 500 yards of offense and one sack per game.\n\nFootball games are played on fields and not on pieces of paper.\n\nThat said, to give up a third round CFL Draft pick for a national who recently started in the AAF with the Salt Lake Stallions seems to be quite a coup.\n\nIn the early going, O\u2019Day is looking like a darn good General Manager.\n\nSwitching gears, the 0-2 Roughriders play their home opener Monday at 5 p.m. versus the 0-1 Toronto Argonauts. There are many storylines to this contest but for me there is definitely one big main one.\n\nIt\u2019s time for the Saskatchewan defense to get their butts in gear!\n\nDon Hewitt started covering the Saskatchewan Roughriders for CKCK-TV in 1979."}
-{"text": "[ad_1]\n\n\n\nHairstyles for Long Hair with Layers for Round Faces #ad\n\nAdvertisements Loading...\n\n[ad_2]\n\n\n\nSource by stefaniemuench95"}
-{"text": "Accommodation\n\n\u3010Room Rate\u3011\n\n\u3010Room Rate\u3011\n\n\"STANDARD\" \u00a55,200~ / per night\n\n\"COMPACT\" \u00a54,700~ / per night\n\n\"RIVER VIEW\" \u00a56,200~ / per night\n\n*Friday, Saturday and the day before public holidays has higher rate\n\nCheck-in Time: 16:00 ~\n\nCheck-out Time: ~11:00\n\nEarly Check-in 13:00~ \u00a5500/1h\n\nLate Check-out ~13:00 \u00a5500/1h\n\nCheck out the availability for the night on our Twitter.\n\n*All listed prices are excluding tax.\n\n\u3010Payment\u3011\n\nCredit card\n\n*No cash accepted.\n\n\u3010Cancellation policy\u3011\n\nNo cancellation fee - 8 days in advance\n\n30% of room rate shall be charged - 3 to 7 days in advance\n\n50% of room rate shall be charged - 2 days in advance\n\n80% of room rate shall be charged - one day in advance.\n\n100% of room rate shall be charged - If you do not inform us and no show\n\n*Group booking will be a different policy of this above.Please inform us for more information about group booking.\n\n\u3010Notice\u3011\n\nNo cash accepted.\n\n\u3010Service\u3011\n\n\u30fbFree Wi-Fi\n\n\u30fbSmall lockers\n\n\u30fbFree soaps\n\n\u30fbFree towel\n\n\u30fbRental dryers (Not available from 12 am to 7 am)\n\n\u30fbLuggage storage before check in and after check out (till 4pm.)\n\n\u30fbFree earplugs"}
-{"text": "Doxxing is all the rage these days, it seems. It feels like the word just got invented yesterday, referring to releasing someone\u2019s personal contact information online in an attempt to attack them, but it\u2019s become a rampant trend.\n\nGame developer Brianna Wu, frequent target of GamerGate, was recently doxxed, and driven out of her home under threat of home invasion and assault; RequiresHate, an SFF blog I wasn\u2019t even aware of until a few weeks ago, operated under anonymity that was recently punctured, resulting in this apology; and author Kathleen Hale didn\u2019t traditionally dox one of her biggest trolls, but she did penetrate her troll\u2019s privacy and personally tracked them down.\n\nThe issue at heart here is the power of the individual and the power of the masses and the public, and how the internet has muddied the line between the two.\n\nOnline anonymity grants enormous power to the individual: because no one can track you down and hold you accountable, you can pursue your causes and passions however you like. In addition, you can create numerous fictional accounts, creating fleets of straw men.\n\nFor example, if I wanted to prove that gun rights advocates are morally compromised degenerates, all I\u2019d have to do is create several twitter accounts that look like gun rights advocates, run them for a few weeks (pretty easy to do, using Hootsuite\u2019s scheduled tweets \u2013 I can write all their tweets in advance), then tweet something gun control oriented under my own account, and use my \u201cpuppet\u201d accounts to attack myself. I\u2019d then point to this exchange \u2013 wholly fabricated by me \u2013 as being indicative of the problems with gun rights advocates.\n\nSo not only does anonymity give you a veil that allows you to do and say things you\u2019d never do in real life, it allows you to literally inflate your individual power. Some sites have checks on this, but these can easily be bypassed by someone with enough devotion. (And on the internet, crazed devotion is not something we lack.)\n\nWorse, the internet tends toward an echo chamber: people dogpile on one another. Outrage has a gravity to it that attracts people, creating mobs. These mobs, once they\u2019ve picked their target, create an impression of the voicing the entirety of the internet: if you\u2019re being attacked by seventeen people online, it feels like it\u2019s actually the entirety of the internet.\n\nAnd if you\u2019re a public person, with your real name attached to what you\u2019re saying, then suddenly you\u2019re helpless to defend yourself. You know nothing about them, but next thing you know your attackers might show up in your twitter feed or on your facebook page, and suddenly they\u2019re inescapable, friending your real life friends and family, free to invade your life as they choose. And it feels as if you\u2019ll never be able to live it down. You can\u2019t ever know if they\u2019ve truly forgotten you, or if they\u2019re still monitoring your every move.\n\n\n\nThis is how one person on the internet can transform, overnight, into an army, all focusing on one target: the power of one person transmuted into the power of the masses. This also falls under the category of abuse or bullying, a word that\u2019s become popular recently \u2013 though not without reason. The internet seems like a sea of thousands of people talking at once, but one person can have an outsized effect on one or many people \u2013 and much of this power comes from anonymity.\n\nBut is anonymity itself bad? No, I don\u2019t think so. We say things like, \u201cDon\u2019t say anything online that you wouldn\u2019t say in person,\u201d but what about whistleblowers or people leaking important information? What about people whose lives or beliefs are in direct contradiction with their employers, superiors, or family? What about people voicing unpopular opinions? What about oppressed persons, like homosexuals in places where homosexuality is shunned and even attacked \u2013 should they be forced to use their real names when trying to connect with sympathizers online?\n\nAnonymity is the only way these people can do what they feel they must do. It has value here. It\u2019s just that this value, when granted to others, becomes a power that can be abused.\n\nMany feel outrage when another\u2019s privacy is violated. In the Kathleen Hale piece, there are many commentators who feel that what she did was wrong, and there is the case that using the book club\u2019s access to \u201cBlythe Harris\u2019s\u201d home address was an abuse of power \u2013 that information was never intended to be used that way. (Also, what the hell was this book club doing just handing that information out?)\n\nBut one could make the case that Blythe Harris should have remembered that she had taken some pretty provocative stances in the online world, and handing her address over to an internet circulation, no matter what kind, brings with it all manner of possibilities. I think Hale went far above and beyond the norm, but for anyone who wants to work anonymously \u2013 and especially to work anonymously in an aggressively negative fashion, IE, trolling \u2013 don\u2019t share your contact information with anyone. If one person has it, anyone can get it. If this book club was willing to give Katherine Hale the address, then it meant others could get it too. And it is stupefyingly easy to look someone up. It\u2019s a matter of a handful of clicks and keystrokes. If you\u2019ve been railing on someone online and trying to make their life a hell, do you not expect for them to Google you?\n\nI can\u2019t tell from Hale\u2019s article how legitimate her grievances against Blythe were \u2013 but anonymous online trolls shouldn\u2019t expect to be able to treat people poorly online and be able to conduct business like a respectable adult. That\u2019s having your cake and eating it too. (This is also why I use a PO Box.)\n\n[EDIT: I\u2019ve since been directed to this history by twitter user yayeahyeah which makes Hale sound crazier than a bag of cats. There is also a previous incident as recovered here by Gawker. This suggests that Hale\u2019s piece is not an example of clear cut online harassment, or the story of a victim confronting her troll in real life. This colored a lot of my initial reading, for reasons you\u2019ll read below.]\n\nRegardless, some people feel there is this unspoken constitution of the internet, and one of its rights is that a critic\u2019s voice should never be hampered by their own personal reality. A critic should be free to say what they please, because critics keep us honest. They\u2019re the canary in the coal mine. We need to give them more power, not less. Because the critics are the ones with the least power: they\u2019re the common masses online. Companies, authors, artists, and anyone else looking to expose themselves to the internet have made their choice to expose themselves, and they are the ones with power.\n\nOr are they? Hale writes:\n\nWriting for a living means working in an industry where one\u2019s success or failure hinges on the subjective reactions of an audience. But, as Patricia implied, caring too much looks narcissistic. A standup comic can deal with a heckler in a crowded theatre, but online etiquette prohibits writers from responding to negativity in any way.\n\nI would generally agree with this. In my experience, artists aren\u2019t the powerful ones in this situation. We\u2019re vulnerable, powerless, and desperately exposed, and it\u2019s assumed that we\u2019ll stay that way. What possible power could a writer effectively exert after their book\u2019s been published? Granted, we chose to be in this situation \u2013 we\u2019ve put ourselves out there before the world \u2013 but the increased anonymity of the internet means we catch a lot more tomatoes in the face than we used to, and it\u2019s assumed we\u2019ll grin and bear it.\n\nPeople like to imagine authors as some kind of literary aristocrats, dictating how people react to their work. But that\u2019s not true: writers are supposed to stay silent. They aren\u2019t supposed to do what Hale did, or anything like it. They aren\u2019t supposed to react to reviews at all. I don\u2019t, and I don\u2019t believe other writers should either. Nothing good ever comes from it. This is an example of writers having less options, not more. There are more things that we can\u2019t do online once we get published: that\u2019s a side-effect of having your work out there. The only time I think a writer should respond to a critic is if that critic is actively harassing them, going out of the way to make their online lives difficult, becoming more of a troll than a critic.\n\nAnd no matter what sort of attacks we might experience online, the expectation is that it will stay online. If someone is endlessly harassing me, getting into my Facebook and Twitter feeds and disparaging me on every review of every one of my books, the assumption is that I will only react online. The idea that I would google this person, find their address, and mail them a physical letter saying, \u201cHey buddy \u2013 fuck you,\u201d is a violation of the constitutional rights of the internet. Obviously, there are limits \u2013 showing up on their doorstep is something writers might fantasize about, but shouldn\u2019t do \u2013 but the idea of puncturing the narrow penumbra of real life and the online world, and forwarding someone\u2019s own vitriol to their church group or family members or employers, is generally considered to be dirty pool. All citizens of the world of the internet are guaranteed anonymity, with complete compartmentalization of internet life and real life, unless they themselves opt out of it.\n\nBut that may be changing.\n\nI\u2019ll tell you a story now, and I\u2019ll keep it vague simply because, as I wrote above, I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m still being monitored, and I\u2019d prefer not to bring down any more wrath than I already have.\n\nMy first book, Mr. Shivers, was the target of a pretty prolonged online hate campaign. Compared to others, I got off easy, probably because I wasn\u2019t interesting enough to really hang anything on, nor did I have enough stature to really puncture.\n\nThe reason behind it was that for a long time I wrote short pieces for an internet forum, and some were good and some were bad (actually, probably most of them were bad), but then when I got a book deal, and tried to get them to buy the book, that changed. Suddenly I went from being tolerated or liked to being outright hated.\n\nPart of this was my own fault. I probably didn\u2019t pitch myself well: I was super excited and didn\u2019t know how to sell my own work, so I probably came off as asinine. Part of it was that they outright hated the work itself, and some of their criticisms were valid \u2013 I don\u2019t think Mr. Shivers is my best work as a writer anymore, by a long shot. I look at that book like I look at photos of myself at 23 (which is how old I was when I wrote it): who the hell is this awkward kid?\n\n\n\nThese slights seem pretty minor in comparison to what wound up happening: people went on Amazon and found bad reviews of my work and upvoted them. They compiled all the bad reviews into one giant column for each other to pour over, receiving probably tens of thousands of views. They scoured the internet for photos of me and compiled them and photoshopped them. (Boy, that was creepy.) They made my book into a meme. They composed lengthy parodies of my book and sent them to me. They made videos mocking the book and posted it in the comments of reviews.\n\nI remember doing a twitter search for my book\u2019s title once back then, and finding one of my attackers had glimpsed my book on a friend\u2019s bookshelf in a Facebook photo. They wrote, \u201cNaturally, I defriended that dumb cunt immediately and screamed until my teeth bled.\u201d This was not the reaction I was expecting when I first started writing.\n\nAnd for pretty much every book I\u2019ve written since, I always get an email from one of them reminding me that they\u2019ve noticed, they haven\u2019t forgotten me, and they\u2019re still ridiculing what I\u2019m doing. The parody video of Mr. Shivers still shows up in reviews of my newer books, including City of Stairs. They haven\u2019t gone after any of my books like they did Mr. Shivers, but they\u2019re letting me know that they could.\n\nAnd I\u2019ve dealt with it. It took me a while, but eventually I realized that this group of people is actually pretty small, and they don\u2019t have a huge effect on the overall market. Average book buyers aren\u2019t aware of online beefs. (Voting up bad reviews is another thing, though.) And even though they made it into a meme, it\u2019s pretty forgettable, as far as memes go. There are way better memes out there.\n\nWas I angry for a while, though? Sure. I was angry, and I was frightened. I was frightened that this group of anonymous people were going to sabotage my career, just because they could. They knew everything about me, but I didn\u2019t know anything about them. I remember frantically deleting my facebook profile, terrified they\u2019d get photos of my family or my house. What if they found out where I lived?\n\nAnd they wanted to provoke me: they wanted me to have a meltdown. They wanted me to be fun sport for them. When I told them that their parody of my work was pretty funny (\u201chaha, good one guys\u201d), they reacted with disappointment: but that didn\u2019t mean they didn\u2019t stop, it just meant they didn\u2019t escalate.\n\nI think about them once in a while. Maybe once every couple of months. I know who they are, in the vague way that you know anyone online, and I even follow some on twitter, because I find them funny and they have a good schtick and I agree with what they say. I guess I\u2019m a gracious loser, in that regard. I don\u2019t know.\n\nBut today, I found out that one of them brought these same campaign tactics against the Gamergate movement, and got doxxed. Suddenly Gamergaters were looking at this person\u2019s personal photos, tracking down all of their fake accounts, releasing their personal address. The Gamergaters knew where this person lived and who all their friends were. This person had to delete numerous online accounts as a result.\n\nIt made me think of when I\u2019d first joined twitter. This particular person had found me immediately, and told me Mr. Shivers was great and asked me to comment on it. I could tell they were mocking me, that they wanted to lure me into saying something stupid, so I blocked them.\n\nI feel conflicted about them getting doxxed. I don\u2019t like Gamergate, and I don\u2019t appreciate any of them getting a victory like this, using this ugly, nasty tactic. On the other hand, this person used their anonymity to try to sabotage my career. I found them funny online sometimes, but I can\u2019t ever forget that. They probably thought it was a practical joke, one of many they perpetrate online, and they didn\u2019t take it seriously because they thought I, myself, and my novels, were all a joke. But they invested time and effort into doing it, and maybe it had an impact on my career \u2013 I can\u2019t tell. It definitely changed the way I thought about working online. I barely promoted my second book at all.\n\nAnd I know I wasn\u2019t the only one. They brought this up against Gamergate, and they probably brought it to the doorstep of many others. Maybe some of their targets deserved it. At the same time, I\u2019m sure everyone involved thought I deserved it. I obviously disagree.\n\nI don\u2019t like doxxing. I value anonymity. Yet I can see the value of making people stand by what they\u2019re saying. And as we increasingly move to an online world, where every politician and public figure is meant to maintain an online brand, I sometimes wonder if we\u2019re going to see a world where anonymity is increasingly reduced. More business and more interactions are moving online, where so many nameless vigilantes hold sway. That can\u2019t last. If this is where we\u2019re going to live, we\u2019re going to want to know who\u2019s next door, and hold them accountable for what they do.\n\nI expect it will be like the Old West: slowly civilized and depowered, but perhaps we\u2019ll be losing a valuable freedom in the process. Just one that tends to get abused."}
-{"text": "To promote the 'Make in India' initiative ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's trip to Germany, the government has bought merchandise.\n\nTo promote the 'Make in India' initiative ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's trip to Germany, the government has bought merchandise like key-chains and coffee mugs from private companies in bulk.\n\nThe merchandise will be decorated with 22 carat gold and shirt pins and will sport the Make in India logo, according to The Indian Express. A bulk order of the merchandise has been made for distribution to CEOs at the Hannover Messe fair in Germany, which Modi will attend in April.\n\n\u201cWe have got very nice mugs on Make in India. We have key-chains, shirt pins with the Make in India logo. These will be given to the foreign CEOs who would be visiting the Indian pavilion at the Hannover Messe,\u201d Indian Express quoted Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary Amitabh Kant as saying.\n\nThe report also said that the government had purchased nothing less than 1000 coffee mugs to be distributed at the Hannover Messe Fair.\n\nIt's not just merchandise which will be used to promote Indian culture at Germany. 40 chefs from six hotel chains will also cook Indian cuisine dishes like dal bukhara, dum murgh biryani, shammi kebab and gulab jamun for the leaders at the Germany Fair, according to Economic Times.\n\nMoreover, some of India's top yoga instructors will also organise yoga sessions at two-hour intervals at the five-day fair.\n\n\"It is an industrial fair, but since India is a partner country, we would use the occasion to show our cultural strength through yoga. Indian cuisine is very famous across the world, and our team of top chefs from India will serve food from all corners of India,\" ET quoted a government official as saying.\n\nAlso,over 400 Indian companies including TCS, Infosys, L&T and Bharat Forge would take part in the fair.\n\nPM Modi will embark on an eight-day tour of France, Germany and Canada on 9 April with a focus on attracting investment and enhancing overall cooperation with the three countries.\n\nModi will first travel to France on 9 April and from there he will leave for Germany on 12 April.\n\nOn the third and final leg of the tour, he will visit Canada from 14-16 April.\n\nModi's visit will focus on investments and technology sharing with these three countries, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.\n\n(With inputs from PTI)"}
-{"text": "Release of KDE Frameworks 5.23.0\n\nAlso available in:\n\n\n\nEnglish | Catal\u00e0 | Eesti | Galician | Italiano | Nederlands | Portugu\u00eas | Svenska | \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0457\u043d\u0441\u044c\u043a\u0430\n\n\n\n\n\nJune 13, 2016. KDE today announces the release of KDE Frameworks 5.23.0.\n\nKDE Frameworks are 70 addon libraries to Qt which provide a wide variety of commonly needed functionality in mature, peer reviewed and well tested libraries with friendly licensing terms. For an introduction see the Frameworks 5.0 release announcement.\n\nThis release is part of a series of planned monthly releases making improvements available to developers in a quick and predictable manner.\n\nNew in this Version\n\nAttica\n\nMake it actually possible to tell providers from the url we were given\n\nProvide QDebug helpers for some Attica classes\n\nFix redirection of absolute Urls (bug 354748)\n\nBaloo\n\nFix using spaces in the tags kioslave (bug 349118)\n\nBreeze Icons\n\nAdd a CMake option to build binary Qt resource out of icons dir\n\nMany new and updated icons\n\nupdate disconnect network icon for bigger diference to conntected (bug 353369)\n\nupdate mount and unmount icon (bug 358925)\n\nadd some avatars from plasma-desktop/kcms/useraccount/pics/sources\n\nremove chromium icon cause the default chromium icon fit's well (bug 363595)\n\nmake the konsole icons lighter (bug 355697)\n\nadd mail icons for thunderbird (bug 357334)\n\nadd public key icon (bug 361366)\n\nremove process-working-kde cause the konqueror icons should be used (bug 360304)\n\nupdate krusader icons according to (bug 359863)\n\nrename the mic icons according D1291 (bug D1291)\n\nadd some script mimetype icons (bug 363040)\n\nadd virtual keyboard and touchpad on/off functionality for OSD\n\nFramework Integration\n\nRemove unused dependencies and translation handling\n\nKActivities\n\nAdding runningActivities property to the Consumer\n\nKDE Doxygen Tools\n\nMajor rework of the API docs generation\n\nKCMUtils\n\nUse QQuickWidget for QML KCMs (bug 359124)\n\nKConfig\n\nAvoid skipping KAuthorized check\n\nKConfigWidgets\n\nAllow using new style connect syntax with KStandardAction::create()\n\nKCoreAddons\n\nPrint the failing plugin when notifying a cast warning\n\n[kshareddatacache] Fix invalid use of & to avoid unaligned reads\n\nKdelibs4ConfigMigrator: skip reparsing if nothing was migrated\n\nkrandom: Add testcase to catch bug 362161 (failure to auto-seed)\n\nKCrash\n\nCheck size of unix domain socket path before copying to it\n\nKDeclarative\n\nSupport selected state\n\nKCMShell import can now be used to query for whether opening a KCM is actually allowed\n\nKDELibs 4 Support\n\nWarn about KDateTimeParser::parseDateUnicode not being implemented\n\nK4TimeZoneWidget: correct path for flag images\n\nKDocTools\n\nAdd commonly used entities for keys to en/user.entities\n\nUpdate man-docbook template\n\nUpdate book template + man template + add arcticle template\n\nCall kdoctools_create_handbook only for index.docbook (bug 357428)\n\nKEmoticons\n\nAdd emojis support to KEmoticon + Emoji One icons\n\nAdd support for custom emoticon sizes\n\nKHTML\n\nFix potential memory leak reported by Coverity and simplify the code\n\nThe number of layers is determined by the number of comma-separated values in the \u2018background-image\u2019 property\n\nFix parsing background-position in shorthand declaration\n\nDo not create new fontFace if there is no valid source\n\nKIconThemes\n\nDon't make KIconThemes depend on Oxygen (bug 360664)\n\nSelected state concept for icons\n\nUse system colors for monochrome icons\n\nKInit\n\nFix race in which the file containing the X11 cookie has the wrong permissions for a small while\n\nFix permissions of /tmp/xauth-xxx-_y\n\nKIO\n\nGive clearer error message when KRun(URL) is given a URL without scheme (bug 363337)\n\nAdd KProtocolInfo::archiveMimetypes()\n\nuse selected icon mode in file open dialog sidebar\n\nkshorturifilter: fix regression with mailto: not prepended when no mailer is installed\n\nKJobWidgets\n\nSet correct \"dialog\" flag for Progress Widget dialog\n\nKNewStuff\n\nDon't initialize KNS3::DownloadManager with the wrong categories\n\nExtend KNS3::Entry public API\n\nKNotification\n\nuse QUrl::fromUserInput to construct sound url (bug 337276)\n\nKNotifyConfig\n\nuse QUrl::fromUserInput to construct sound url (bug 337276)\n\nKService\n\nFix associated applications for mimetypes with uppercase characters\n\nLowercase the lookup key for mimetypes, to make it case insensitive\n\nFix ksycoca notifications when the DB doesn't exist yet\n\nKTextEditor\n\nFix default encoding to UTF-8 (bug 362604)\n\nFix color configurability of default style \"Error\"\n\nSearch & Replace: Fix replace background color (regression introduced in v5.22) (bug 363441)\n\nNew color scheme \"Breeze Dark\", see https://kate-editor.org/?post=3745\n\nKateUndoManager::setUndoRedoCursorOfLastGroup(): pass Cursor as const reference\n\nsql-postgresql.xml improve syntax highlighting by ignoring multiline function bodies\n\nAdd syntax highlighting for Elixir and Kotlin\n\nVHDL syntax highlighting in ktexteditor: add support for functions inside architecture statements\n\nvimode: Don't crash when given a range for a nonexistent command (bug 360418)\n\nProperly remove composed characters when using Indic locales\n\nKUnitConversion\n\nFix downloading currency exchange rates (bug 345750)\n\nKWallet Framework\n\nKWalletd migration: fix error handling, stops the migration from happening on every single boot.\n\nKWayland\n\n[client] Don't check resource version for PlasmaWindow\n\nIntroduce an initial state event into Plasma Window protocol\n\n[server] Trigger error if a transient request tries to parent to itself\n\n[server] Properly handle the case that a PlasmaWindow is unmapped before client bound it\n\n[server] Properly handle destructor in SlideInterface\n\nAdd support for touch events in fakeinput protocol and interface\n\n[server] Standardize the destructor request handling for Resources\n\nImplement wl_text_input and zwp_text_input_v2 interfaces\n\n[server] Prevent double delete of callback resources in SurfaceInterface\n\n[server] Add resource nullptr check to ShellSurfaceInterface\n\n[server] Compare ClientConnection instead of wl_client in SeatInterface\n\n[server] Improve the handling when clients disconnect\n\nserver/plasmawindowmanagement_interface.cpp - fix -Wreorder warning\n\n[client] Add context pointer to connects in PlasmaWindowModel\n\nMany fixes related to destruction\n\nKWidgetsAddons\n\nUse selected icon effect for current KPageView page\n\nKWindowSystem\n\n[platform xcb] Respect request icon size (bug 362324)\n\nKXMLGUI\n\nRight-clicking the menu bar of an application will now longer allow bypassing\n\nNetworkManagerQt\n\nRevert \"drop WiMAX support for NM 1.2.0+\" as it breaks ABI\n\nOxygen Icons\n\nSync weather icons with breeze\n\nAdd update icons\n\nPlasma Framework\n\nAdd cantata system tray support (bug 363784)\n\nSelected state for Plasma::Svg and IconItem\n\nDaysModel: reset m_agendaNeedsUpdate when plugin sends new events\n\nUpdate audio and network icon to get a better contrast (bug 356082)\n\nDeprecate downloadPath(const QString &file) in favor of downloadPath()\n\n[icon thumbnail] Request for preferred icon size (bug 362324)\n\nPlasmoids can now tell whether widgets are locked by the user or sysadmin restrictions\n\n[ContainmentInterface] Don't try to popup empty QMenu\n\nUse SAX for Plasma::Svg stylesheet replacement\n\n[DialogShadows] Cache access to QX11Info::display()\n\nrestore air plasma theme icons from KDE4\n\nReload selected color scheme on colors changed\n\nInstalling binary packages\n\nOn Linux, using packages for your favorite distribution is the recommended way to get access to KDE Frameworks. Binary package distro install instructions.\n\n\n\nCompiling from sources\n\nThe complete source code for KDE Frameworks 5.23.0 may be freely downloaded. Instructions on compiling and installing KDE Frameworks 5.23.0 are available from the KDE Frameworks 5.23.0 Info Page.\n\nBuilding from source is possible using the basic cmake .; make; make install commands. For a single Tier 1 framework, this is often the easiest solution. People interested in contributing to frameworks or tracking progress in development of the entire set are encouraged to use kdesrc-build. Frameworks 5.23.0 requires Qt 5.4.\n\nA detailed listing of all Frameworks and other third party Qt libraries is at inqlude.org, the curated archive of Qt libraries. A complete list with API documentation is on api.kde.org.\n\nContribute\n\nThose interested in following and contributing to the development of Frameworks can check out the git repositories , follow the discussions on the KDE Frameworks Development mailing list and contribute patches through review board . Policies and the current state of the project and plans are available at the Frameworks wiki . Real-time discussions take place on the #kde-devel IRC channel on freenode.net\n\nYou can discuss and share ideas on this release in the comments section of the dot article.\n\nSupporting KDE\n\nKDE is a Free Software community that exists and grows only because of the help of many volunteers that donate their time and effort. KDE is always looking for new volunteers and contributions, whether it is help with coding, bug fixing or reporting, writing documentation, translations, promotion, money, etc. All contributions are gratefully appreciated and eagerly accepted. Please read through the Donations page for further information or become a KDE e.V. supporting member through our new Join the Game initiative.\n\nAbout KDE\n\nKDE is an international technology team that creates free and open source software for desktop and portable computing. Among KDE's products are a modern desktop system for Linux and UNIX platforms, comprehensive office productivity and groupware suites and hundreds of software titles in many categories including Internet and web applications, multimedia, entertainment, educational, graphics and software development. KDE software is translated into more than 60 languages and is built with ease of use and modern accessibility principles in mind. KDE's full-featured applications run natively on Linux, BSD, Solaris, Windows and macOS.\n\nTrademark Notices. KDE\u00ae and the K Desktop Environment\u00ae logo are registered trademarks of KDE e.V. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks and copyrights referred to in this announcement are the property of their respective owners.\n\nPress Contacts\n\nFor more information send us an email:\n\npress@kde.org"}
-{"text": "A few months ago, I posted my 2018 Midterm piece which covered every Senate, Gubernatorial, and US House election that occurred that year. I initially assumed that meant I\u2019d be done with US House elections until 2020, but it seems I still have more to cover. We actually have three Special Elections to the US House that will be held in 2019. Two of those are being held in North Carolina later this year. The third election however, is in my home state of Pennsylvania\u2026 and it will occur later this month.\n\nThis special election was called after the previous rep Tom Marino resigned earlier this year. Unfortunately, this race seems pretty stacked in the Republican\u2019s favor since this district has a partisan index rating of R+ 17, and Tom Marino won re-election over his opponent Marc Friedenberg with 66% of the vote. The Republican nominee running for Marino\u2019s old seat is Fred keller, who has co-sponsored a bill to ban same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania and gave us this scorching hot take about the Green New Deal.\n\nSupporting a Green New Deal \u2014 it\u2019s not about the environment. It\u2019s about control, like many of the things,\u201d Keller said. \u201cThey want to control what car you can drive, what house you can live in, how you fuel your business, and what food you can eat.\n\nConservatives never cease to amaze me in just how far into the gutter they continue to reach. The guy who co-sponsored a bill to control whether or not consenting adults can get married, has voted in favor of a ton of anti-abortion legislation that keeps women from choosing what they could do with their bodies, and who was rated 0% by the Constructor\u2019s Association of Western Pennsylvania which clearly indicates he is not in favor of union rights and thus wants to control what workers can and can\u2019t do, is mad about being controlled.\n\nFor fucks sake, he sounds like a teenager that\u2019s mad his mom won\u2019t let him go out past midnight, only in this case, the angry mom who is just trying to keep his idiot son from sneaking out only for him to end up in prison after being caught drunk and needing to be bailed out for the third time this year, is AMERICA!! Just because you choose to bury your head in the sand and deny climate science does not mean that climate change is not real, but it DOES mean that your stupidity will take us all down with you!\n\nFred Keller argues a lot like an online troll who says something so monumentally stupid that no one wants to take them seriously, and that whenever someone points out how stupid they are, they assume that it is because no one can argue against their points and not because what they are arguing is so below the standards of intelligent debate that no sane person can pretend to take them seriously.\n\nIt is only natural that his democratic opponent Marc Friedenberg has not had the patience for Keller\u2019s shit in the debates, although he honestly held his temper better than I could have. Considering that Keller is a Trump supporter whose responses to his opponents are to trivialize the fact that a foreign country may have interfered in our election and to split hairs over small word choices that were already clarified, I think Keller got off nicely when he got tame responses like \u201cshame on you!\u201d or \u201cthat\u2019s a pathetic argument.\u201d\n\nI really have to applaud Friedenberg for telling his opponent off in the first place. While I understand that composure generally looks better from an optics standpoint, I think it makes Friedenberg look much more relatable when he acknowledges that the emperor not only has no clothes, but has a huge visible erection as well. Friedenberg really deserves to win this election over Keller.\n\nFriedenberg is a better choice in nearly every conceivable way. Friedenberg has a prolific history as a healthcare activist and as the lawyer who sued the Wall Street Banks responsible for the financial crash ten years ago. He clearly shows a lot of dedication to his beliefs and shows that he genuinely cares about civil rights, while Keller just tries to skirt past any mention of gay rights issues and just goes \u201cI see them the same as straight guys even though I wanted to ban their right to get married.\u201d\n\nUnfortunately, Keller IS still running in a red district with an R+17 rating, so he is still bound to have a lot of people voting for him even if he is running a weak campaign. Considering that Friedenberg also lost against Tom Marino last year by such a large margin, it means that the odds are definitely stacked against him. If there was any time where Friedenberg could win though, it would be now.\n\nThere are a few clues that indicate that Friedenberg could have a shot at this. The first of these is that Fred Keller performed so poorly on his previous debate with Friedenberg that President Pussygrabber needed to step in and give him an endorsement. This is clearly a sign that the GOP considers Friedenberg a genuine threat. On top of this, Friedenberg clearly knows how to use Social media more effectively, which could result in gaining some of that elusive millennial vote. Just look at the amount of followers that Friedenberg has on Twitter compared to Keller. It is a clear sign that he\u2019s doing a pretty damn good job at it.\n\nUnfortunately he\u2019s still at a pretty big disadvantage, but there is one way we can boost his chances. While I can\u2019t vote for him due to not living in his district, I do still plan to give as much to his campaign as I can. It would seriously send the biggest fuck you to Trump and the rest of these Republican scumbags to just take this seat that they are expecting to just waltz right on into. So yes, I am going to suggest to donate to his campaign. Friedenberg is not accepting funds from PACs so he could use as much as he could get. Here is the donation link.\n\nKeep in mind that even if he doesn\u2019t win, more campaign money means more awareness he spreads and more brand recognition he could gain. It could really come in handy if he decides to run again in 2020 or if he runs for Senate or Governor in 2022. And I will throw in that it would mean a lot to me to have one less Republican scumbag representing my home state.\n\nThe election will be held later this month on May 22nd, so if you live in Pennsylvania\u2019s 12th district and are registered then be sure to get out there and give Friedenberg your vote. If you are unsure which district you are a part of then you can find out here. If the section that says \u201cUS House\u201d lists you in the 12th district and you are registered to vote, then you can go vote for Friedenberg. If you won\u2019t be able to make it that day then you can file an absentee ballot until May 14th.\n\nUpdate: Fred Keller won the election. Not only that, but the percentage by which he won was fairly similar to that of Tom Marino\u2019s 2018 win. As disappointing as it is that Friedenberg didn\u2019t pull off an upset, it is notable that Trump even needed to step in in the first place. If Trump didn\u2019t, the race probably would have been closer but Keller would have likely still won. Voter turnout was about half of what it was in 2018 so it is entirely likely that Trump just showed up as insurance for Keller. Additionally, Republicans also won the three Special Elections to the Pennsylvania state legislature, but each of those were also among the reddest districts in the state so that is to be expected. At the very least, we are still at the same place as at the end of 2018\u2019s blue wave so that\u2019s a good sign.\n\n\n\n\u2013\n\nIf you would like to support this series and my other work then please consider pledging to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/AnnieGal. If you would like to help spread the word about this cause then please consider sharing my writing with friends or on social media with the hashtag #PinkTsunami. Anyway thanks for reading, and let\u2019s hope for the best!"}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nFart in bus while wearing headphones everyone else wears headphones too"}
-{"text": "Opening up its engine regulations and adding Pau to the calendar certainly gave Euroformula Open additional drama this year, but really it was the drivers that were the (surprise) stars of the show.\n\nOnce again the title was wrapped up more than two races early, and by a driver whose previous career map had not suggested major international success. That took nothing away from Marino Sato\u2019s crowning in the end, such was the level of his dominance for much of the season with Motopark.\n\nFIA European Formula 3 refugee Motopark was one of four teams that made their debuts during 2019, but only two of them lasted the whole season. Those that did make it to the final round at Monza got to sign off the Dallara F312/F317 chassis after eight years of service in a weekend of drama, excitement and history.\n\nOther moments of history during the season included Billy Monger\u2019s inspiring Pau Grand Prix win, Silverstone\u2019s last appearance on the calendar amid Britain\u2019s political uncertainty, and a title lockout by the debuting Motopark.\n\nBelow is a driver-by-driver review of the top performers over the season, working down from standout champion Sato.\n\nMarino Sato?JAPAN Motopark\n\n1st in standings, 307 points (9 wins, 6 poles, 5 fastest laps)\n\nThe first win of the season for Marino Sato came as a surprise, but the manner of the second suggested a few more would be coming for the previously nonthreatening Japanese driver.\n\nTaki Inoue\u2019s latest management pick finally came round to Motopark\u2019s way of working in his third season with the team, and when he worked to the car\u2019s strengths he was unstoppable. One example would be at Spa-Francorchamps, where Sato threaded a tail-happy car around a complicated lap with apparent ease in qualifying and the races.\n\nHis race two pole in Belgium \u2013 by 0.775 seconds \u2013 is a performance he credits as his best, and is a visual explanation of why the 20-year-old was so quick this year. Pushing his car to its limit at Spa is probably one of the riskiest actions Sato made in 2019, given his usual reluctance to take decisions that could end in misery.\n\nThis approach was evident at Spa, as Sato didn\u2019t fight his team-mates early on, watched them crash while disputing the lead ahead of him, then took back over at the front for a dominant fourth win.\n\nTwo brilliant starts then cautious drives to the chequered flag resulted in two wins at the Hungaroring, one over Formula 2 driver Nobuharu Matsushita, and avoiding early battles or pushing too quickly helped with wins at Red Bull Ring and Monza.\n\nBeing risk-adverse meant we rarely saw Sato engaging in overtaking battles, but having already been crowned champion he did take a slightly more aggressive approach for his Monza win, secured on the final lap.\n\nYuki Tsunoda?JAPAN Motopark\n\n4th in standings, 151 points (1 win, 3 fastest laps), 3rd in rookie standings, 92pts (2 wins)\n\nFresh from Japanese Formula 4, Honda and Red Bull junior Yuki Tsunoda was a podium threat straight away with Motopark but admitted to taking a while to get used to the nimble Dallara F317.\n\nThis wasn\u2019t helped by Motopark missing pre-season testing, but Tsunoda turned up to Paul Ricard and came just 0.026s short of taking pole for his debut. After converting that into second place in the race, he then fought the second race on the backfoot after picking up significant damage from an opening clash with team-mate Liam Lawson.\n\nHe looked confident at Pau too, his first visit to a street circuit, and had played things out a little differently he would likely have been the winner of the grand prix.\n\nMotopark looked its weakest at Hockenheim when it came to getting the most out of the Michelin tyres, and a continuation of early-season clutch issues limited Tsunoda to fourth in race one. He came close to pole once again for race two, and team-mate Sato refused to fight back when Tsunoda went for the lead in the race and took his only win of the season.\n\nOnce Tsunoda\u2019s FIA F3 Championship commitments took precedence his form took just enough of a dip for him to slip down the order, but once that season had concluded and he was focused solely on EF Open again he was rapid. In both Monza races he qualified down the order, but showed incredible racecraft to make the podium twice.\n\nLiam Lawson NEW ZEALAND?Motopark\n\n2nd in standings, 179 points (4 wins, 2 poles, 1 fastest lap), 1st in rookie standings, 91pts (6 wins)\n\nLike Red Bull stablemate Tsunoda, Lawson missed pre-season testing, but was the fastest out of the box at the Paul Ricard season opener. He won the first race despite tyre issues, and after a clutch issue led to the circumstances where he crashed into Tsunoda at the start of race two, he raced on to second place. A penalty then dropped him to fourth.\n\nThere were several more victories that went amiss due to on-track incidents. He lost the Pau GP when he collided with team-mate Julian Hanses, and cost himself victory at Spa when he and Tsunoda crashed. At Monza he could have taken a double win were it not for an overly risky move early on that dropped him down the order, and then being fired out of the race through no fault of his own by Drivex School\u2019s Rui Andrade. He did at least respond with success in race two.\n\nLawson did pull out top class drives frequently, including a dominant 16.1s victory in the first Pau race. When similarly wet weather hit Barcelona, the opposition thought he was on a different tyre compound such was his pace on the way to victory.\n\nAt Hockenheim he rose up the grid and was chasing Sato down for the lead before spinning, a result of a loose legrest detaching and making it \u201cundriveable\u201d for the New Zealander.\n\nDespite missing two rounds due to FIA F3, Lawson\u2019s four wins was enough for second in the standings and the rookie title.\n\nLukas Dunner?AUSTRIA Teo Martin Motorsport\n\n3rd in standings, 178 points (2 poles, 2 fastest laps)\n\nAfter fighting for a victory in the Winter Series race at Paul Ricard and looking rapid on one-lap pace in testing, Lukas Dunner started the season with a historic pole for HWA-powered Teo Martin Motorsport at Paul Ricard.\n\nHe potentially would have held on for a first single-seater victory were it not for a safety car interruption that gave Lawson the opportunity to take the lead, but it was clear that the Spiess-powered Motopark team would be tough to beat.\n\nTwo podiums were followed by two fourth places at Pau, and he was usually best of the rest behind Motopark. To do so at Spa he had to pull off an incredible overtake on Jack Doohan to take second place, a result he matched at the Hungaroring.\n\nIn Hungary he took a second pole, and after being bettered by Sato off the line he pressured the champion for the whole race.\n\nTrack limits violations took the shine off his home event at the Red Bull Ring, which was the last time he ran with a team-mate. From Silverstone onwards, Teo Martin only ran one car for Dunner and were shuffled down the competitive order by an increase in engine performance introduced by the championship.\n\nA brutally unlucky weekend in Britain all but ended Dunner\u2019s slim title ambitions, and his solo efforts at Barcelona and Monza barely featured. More than once he had brilliant starts compromised, effectively ending any chance of progress up the grid. Had Teo Martin stuck with several cars for the full season, Dunner would probably have held on to second in the standings.\n\nThe Austrian is still only 17, and while he plans to enter FIA F3 next year he also has a promising sportscar career on the side.\n\nToshiki Oyu?JAPAN Motopark\n\n14th in standings, 52 points (2 wins, 2 poles), 8th in rookie standings, 20pts (2 wins)\n\nSato was supposedly the surprise of the season after converting winless years in European F3 into a dominant EF Open title, but when he missed Silverstone to make his F2 debut with Campos Racing, Motopark brought along even bigger surprises.\n\nOnly Cameron Das remained of the team\u2019s usual line-up for the trip to Britain due to FIA F3 clashes and the loss of Hanses, and it was Tsunoda replacement Toshiki Oyu who turned up and dominated the weekend in a way even Sato had not shown.\n\nThe 21-year-old has raced for the self-powered Toda Racing in Japanese F3 for the last two years, picking up two wins in a usually TOM\u2019S and now Motopark-dominated series which uses the same Dallara car as EF Open.\n\nHe topped the free practice one \u2013 his first sight of Silverstone \u2013 and blew away the track record to take pole for race one.\n\nHis super smooth driving style not only lent itself to one-lap pace around Silverstone\u2019s high-speed sweeps, but worked the Michelin tyres better in the race.\n\nAfter a stunning opening lap he was unsighted up front for the whole of race one, and repeated his efforts on Sunday with an improved track record and another dominant win to many\u2019s disbelief.\n\nWhile driving a Toda-powered car in Japan and racing in Tsunoda\u2019s Red Bull colours in England, Oyu is in fact a Honda junior. After his stunning EF Open cameo, Red Bull junior boss Dr Helmut Marko is minded to add him to the F1 team\u2019s books for a full European campaign next year.\n\nLinus Lundqvist SWEDEN Double R Racing\n\n5th in standings, 144 points (1 pole, 1 fastest lap), 2nd in rookie standings, 83pts (2 wins)\n\nAfter winning with Campos Racing in the Winter Series, Linus Lundqvist stuck with British team Double R Racing for a third straight season and their first in EF Open.\n\nThe combination excelled under the radar, only visiting the overall podium twice but racking up plenty of top five finishes and scoring enough points to still be in contention for second in the standings at the final round of the season.\n\nWhen the team was at its best it seemed to be Red Bull junior team-mate Jack Doohan who had the better pace, but Lundqvist was the more rounded package in the races. In the season opening race he rose from 10th to finish fourth, and a similar performance in race two also resulted in fastest lap.\n\nA crash-heavy Pau weekend was followed by Double R\u2019s strongest performance at Hockenheim, but mistakes from Lundqvist cost him once again. At Spa it was somebody else\u2019s error that harmed Lundqvist\u2019s race, but remarkably he came back from being pitched onto two wheels at the end of the first lap to claim seventh.\n\nLundqvist was stronger in races than qualifying, despite taking pole at Monza, and two fighting drives at the Red Bull Ring netted third and fifth. He was top HWA runner thereon, and was outscored only by Sato over the second half of the season.\n\nTeppei Natori JAPAN Carlin\n\n6th in standings, 115 points (1 win, 2 poles, 1 fastest lap), 4th in rookie standings, 67pts (2 wins)\n\nJapanese F4 runner-up Teppei Natori shone immediately in pre-season testing, marking himself out immediately as one to watch. In reality though, it took far longer for his confidence to catch up with him during the season.\n\nThe 19-year-old admittedly finished outside of the points only once, but only had four sixth place finishes to speak of before missing the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone rounds for FIA F3. When he came back he was far more efficient on track, helped by Carlin making the most of EF Open reverting to the 2018 FIA F3 engine spec.\n\nIn the first Barcelona race he recovered from last to finish ninth in the wet, and followed that up with a dominant lights-to-flag victory in a hot race two. Monza was much of the same, and Natori led the first race before finally conceding to an energised Sato on the last lap. He took pole for race two, and a third place there brought him up to sixth in the standings.\n\nDespite missing two rounds, he ended up being the highest scoring of Carlin\u2019s regular quartet of drivers and was the only driver to beat all the Motopark drivers in a race in a straight fight.\n\nBilly Monger ENGLAND?Carlin\n\n9th in standings, 89 points (1 win, 1 pole), 7th in rookie standings, 53pts (1 win)\n\nThe Pau Grand Prix victory was obviously Monger\u2019s highlight of the season, which was really one of two halves.\n\nWhile Carlin were competitive on some circuits, the team was only truly able to rival Motopark after the tweak to the engine regulations, which more clearly demonstrated the strengths of its drivers and how closely matched they were.\n\nDespite actually struggling with them, Monger\u2019s starts were usually the class of the field and the first half of the season was spent gaining places on the opening lap then trying to hold on to them in a packed midfield. Monger couldn\u2019t work the tyres like his opposition early on in the season, and a breakthrough at the Red Bull Ring should have resulted in at least a podium.\n\nOn the next track, Silverstone, he showed off his one-lap pace and took two fourth places from a weekend where he was a few corners away from being Oyu\u2019s closest rival in race two. That form continued into Barcelona, where a qualifying washout meant Monger claimed pole off his free practice pace. A rare bad start began a difficult race where he slumped to fifth, but he responded in race two with a much deserved second podium of the season.\n\nHis season ended messily at Monza, but he had importantly shown that his historic Pau win was not a one-off performance and that were he to return to the championship next year, he would no doubt be fighting at the front consistently.\n\nNicolai Kjaergaard DENMARK Carlin\n\n7th in standings, 111 points (1 fastest lap), 5th in rookie standings, 63pts\n\nNicolai Kjaergaard had a breakout year in 2018, finishing second to Lundqvist in BRDC British F3, but his debut EF Open campaign was even stronger and it was unjust that he failed to win a race.\n\nHe was slower to adapt to the Dallara car than his Carlin team-mates, but followed Monger\u2019s strategy to finish second in the Pau GP, and didn\u2019t really demonstrate how good he could be until the engine performance break.\n\nThe boost in pace seemed to restore some of Kjaergaard\u2019s confidence in the car, and he picked up two third places and a lap record at Silverstone. Calmness was key to the Dane\u2019s approach, and at the next round at Barcelona he improved with two second place finishes and some canny strategic driving. He vowed that the Monza season finale would bring a victory.\n\nUnfortunately that turned out to not be the case. He was fourth in the seven-car slisptreaming battle for race one victory, and was accidentally punted out by Monger while behind the safety car in race two due to Tsunoda excessively slowing the field.\n\nThat meant he conceded sixth in the points to Natori, despite having the same amount of podiums as Lundqvist and Natori combined.\n\nThe rest\n\nJulian Hanses?had Motopark equipment for the first six rounds but could never get the same from it as his team-mates. He was admittedly a late addition to a team that was intending to downsize, and he did at least take pole for the Pau GP. His best result came in his final race, finishing second at the Red Bull Ring and pressuring Sato into pushing harder than he wanted to.\n\nADAC F4 graduate Niklas Krutten took his seat thereon, but didn\u2019t make a major impact. Cameron Das also joined the team for the second half of the season, after starting it with Fortec Motorsports, and was set for a second place at Silverstone before contact with Monger. To come 12th in the standings after finishing fifth last year was no doubt a disappointment, but he did put in one of the performances of the season by finishing eighth in the wet Pau GP while remaining on dry tyres throughout.\n\nF3 expert?Enaam Ahmed substituted for Sato at Silverstone and finished second to Oyu twice, while Italian F4 champion Dennis Hauger drove in place of Lawson and massively impressed with a top five finish on his first weekend in F3.\n\nChristian Hahn could have been Carlin\u2019s lead driver this year, and was certainly the quickest until Natori\u2019s late surge, but the Brazilian got involved in too many midfield battles and is ultimately yet to make the podium in three seasons. He ended his year in a scary crash with an innocent Jack Doohan, who was consistently strong in the middle of the season but seemed to lose his way slightly late on when Double R didn\u2019t benefit from the engine boost as much as Carlin did. His highlights were no doubt finishing second to Sato at Hockenheim and Red Bull Ring, where Motopark was just too fast to beat.\n\nAlso shining at the Red Bull Ring was Calan Williams, who came into his own once Fortec became a one-car operation.\n\nTeo Martin\u2019s?Guilherme Samaia and?Aldo Festante both showed pace prior to leaving, with Samaia actually taking a fastest lap and a second place at Paul Ricard.\n\nUsual EF Open dominator RP Motorsport had a messy in-and-out year, changing engine supplier from Piedrafita to Spiess after being outperformed, and scored 24 points in part-time campaigns with Javier Gonzalez and?Pierre-Louis Chovet. After a lengthy absence, they returned for their home round at Monza with the impressive?Kyle Kirkwood and?Lorenzo Ferrari.\n\nDrivex ran one full-season entry for the inexperienced?Rui Andrade, who was prone to errors but did score points."}
-{"text": "The MINI JCW Team returns to Watkins Glen for the fourth round of the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. The Continental Tire 240 At The Glen will be a four-hour endurance race that tests the limits of the vehicle. The MINI JCW Team has had success at Watkins Glen before, scoring a 1-2 finish in last season\u2019s event. Despite the race being twice as long, and including new competition in the form of Mazda, the team will look to repeat their success.\n\nThe permanent course at Watkins Glen International opened in 1956 and has evolved into the 3.4 mile course it is today. The course features 11 turns and hosts almost every north-American racing series.\n\nThe team will once again run three cars. Derek Jones and Nate Norenberg will man the 37 car, and look to build on some of their recent fast runs. Colin Mullan will make his second start for the team, after debuting at Mid-Ohio. Mullan will be be joined by veteran Mark Pombo in the 52. The Mid-Ohio winning duo of Mat Pombo and Mike LaMarra will return in the 73, hoping to make it two wins in a row.\n\nThe MINI JCW Team will host their Meet and Greet on Saturday, June 30th at 11AM in the Team Garage. Fans can register at the MINI Display for a chance to win a hot lap in a JCW driven by team owner, Luis Perocarpi. The winner will be announced at the Meet and Greet.\n\nThe Continental Tire 240 At The Glen will take place at on . You can watch the race live on IMSA.tv, the IMSA Roku app, or on the IMSA mobile app. Qualifying will be on IMSA radio and you can keep track of timing and scoring for all events at scoring.imsa.com\n\nAbout the MINI JCW Team\n\nThe MINI JCW Team, operated by LAP Motorsports (@lapmotorsports), drives MINI\u2019s most powerful Hardtop ever in the two-door John Cooper Works. The team competes in the fiercely competitive IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. For additional information please visit minijcwteam.com or email luis@minijcwteam.com"}
-{"text": "Haiku monthly activity report - September 2016\n\nHey there, time for a report! (I\u2019m really out of ideas for taglines. Any suggestions?) This report covers hrev50529-hrev50576\n\nA bug prevented debugger from debugging make 4.2 sources, which had an unusual way of specifying source paths in the ELF debug info. It is also possible to step instruction by instruction when viewing the assembler code.\n\nScreenshot now creates the target directory if it doesn\u2019t exist, and warns you if it can\u2019t save the files.\n\nThe support for streamed audio in media kit and MediaPlayer continues, with various fixes to the http backend and media kit classes.\n\nDiskProbe Find window now has its text selected by default, making it easier to perform a new search.\n\nWhen using setarch, the selected architecture is added to the bash prompt as a reminder.\n\nThe Canna input method works again, including its deskbar icon.\n\nThe Be decorator is back! If you prefer the old, gradient-less look of Be window tabs, you can now enjoy it in Haiku as well.\n\nMedia preferences will display the current MIDI soundfont.\n\nWorkspaces auto-raise works better now. If the window is snapped to a screen edge, the app will be raised when the mouse hovers over that edge.\n\nSome missing localizations in Tracker were added, it should now be completely translated.\n\nA new part of the Locale Kit was implemented: a service to detect the encoding of a text file. StyledEdit now uses this to open text files with the right encoding.\n\nThe wacom driver handles Intuos tablets again, and supports the \u201ceraser\u201d side of the pen.\n\nA stub implementation for get_nth_pci_info was added, which allows to run BeOS apps using it, such as BeRoMeter. There is no actual implementation however, so the apps will think you have no PCI devices. Since this is a private call and it was not used too often by BeOS apps, it should be ok.\n\nSeveral fixes were made to BNetEndpoint, to fix the handling of timeouts. It should now be safer to use this class with timeouts without getting it waiting forever on something.\n\nThe NFS filesystem now properly reports file sizes (this is the old NFS 2/3, not the new NFS4 which already did that).\n\nThe radeon_hd driver supports the new rx480 boards.\n\nTextSearch can search XHTML files (which have a mime type that does not start with \u201ctext\u201d).\n\nAs you can see, this was a rather quiet month with mostly small changes and bugfixes."}
-{"text": "A new patch is now live on Windows PC. Read below to learn more about the latest changes.\n\nTo share your feedback, please post in the General Discussion forum\n\nFor a list of known issues, visit our Bug Report forum.\n\nFor troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum.\n\nGAMEPLAY UPDATES\n\nGeneral\n\nTurrets no longer target barriers directly, but will still target enemies behind them\n\nBUG FIXES\n\nGeneral\n\nFixed a bug that caused visual effects to be absorbed into surfaces\n\nHeroes"}
-{"text": "Many critics consider 1989 to be the best album of 2014 and one of the best pop albums of all time. It\u2019s definitely worth a listen to hear Taylor Swift\u2019s first major departure from country music. However, the album\u2019s major singles \u201cShake It Off\u201d, \u201cBlank Space\u201d, and \u201cBad Blood\u201d just sound like music that would be playing way too loudly in my local mall. Therefore, 1989\u2019s corresponding Mario Kart course is Coconut Mall.\n\nSherbet Land / Bj\u00f6rk - Homogenic"}
-{"text": "He's already the most successful player in the history of men's tennis, but Roger Federer has a new honour to his name.\n\nAt 36, the Swiss will become the oldest world number one on record.\n\nFederer beat Robin Haase to reach the semi-finals of the World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and by doing so ensured he'll be top of the new world rankings on Monday.\n\nAl Jazeera's Elise Holman reports."}
-{"text": "How do you regain control of a spacecraft tumbling through space? The Mercury astronauts trained by spinning in this gimbal rig in an effort to mimic the disorienting chaos they\u2019d need to battle during the earliest human spaceflight missions.\n\n\nAll Mercury astronauts trained on this multi-axis space test intertia device, nicknamed the gimbal rig, to acclimatize them to the crazy ride they could anticipate in their missions. NASA also used the rig to understand physiological impact of rapidly spinning astronauts.\n\nWatch the rig in action here:\n\nWhen in use, this was Multiple Axis Space Test Inertia Facility (MASTIF) was located within the Altitude Wind Tunnel at the Lewis Research Center. Since then, the facility has been renamed to the the John H. Glenn Research Center.\n\n\n\n\nThe rig was composed of a trio of independently-moving aluminum cages with the pilot strapped to a plastic chair at its center. The rig reach up to 30 revolutions per minute, a more dramatic test of endurance than the astronauts could anticipate from their actual spacecraft.\n\nMercury 13\u2019s Jerrie Cobb taking a turn in the rig. Image credit: NASA\n\nAn external operator at a control station initiated the complex tumble, then handed control off to the pilot strapped at the center of the mess. The pilot had their head, body, and legs strapped in place, with only arms free to manipulate the controls (right-hand column) and communications rig (left-hand column). The pilot used instrument readouts bolted at eye-level to determine how to fire nitrogen-gas jets to stabilize the roll, pitch, and yaw.\n\n\n\n\nThe pilot and operator of the gimbal rig could only communicate via radio. Image credit: NASA\n\n\nThe seven original Project Mercury astronauts trained in the rig between February 15 and March 4, 1960, each wracking up five hours of eye-oscillating, motion sickness inducing simulated flight time. The thirteen women of Mercury 13 also trained on the rig later the same year.\n\nTime lapse of the gimbal rig in action on December 16, 1959. Image credit: NASA\n\nContact the author at mika.mckinnon@io9.com or follow her at @MikaMcKinnon ."}
-{"text": "EsportsJohn Profile Blog Joined June 2012 United States 4833 Posts #1\n\n\n\n\n\nBreaking Down\n\nVolskaya Foundry Written by: ChaosOS\n\n\n\n\n\nChaosOS is back to talk about the new map Volskaya and the newest map balance changes! Check out the\n\n\n\nToday\u2019s spreadsheet can be found\n\n\n\n\n\nKhazra/Trooper Change\n\nTL;DR Khazra camp much stronger late game but still weak early. Patch notes misleading about damage changes, much less than +50%.\n\n\n\nMercanaries\n\nImpaler and Trooper Camps (Siege Mercenaries found on Volskaya Foundry, Battlefield of Eternity, and Infernal Shrines) Early game health has been slightly decreased.\n\nBase damage and scaling values have been increased by roughly 50%.\n\nDefender Mercenaries can no longer be affected by displacements effects.\n\n\n\n\n\nFor context, the Impaler/Trooper (triple siege) camp has long been held as significantly worse than the Siege Giant (double siege) camp. This was both due to the low base damage of the Khazra but also the lack of splash on their basic attacks relative to the Siege Giants.\n\n\n\nThe early game health nerf is a fairly small one, rising up to a 7.25% nerf 5:00 in and equalizing with pre-patch numbers at 15:00. Each individual Khazra has about 80% of a siege giant\u2019s health (~75% at 2:00 in, ~85% at 20:00 in), which means that the Khazra camp is significantly harder to clear with purely single target damage but remains easier to kill with AoE damage.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe patch notes are misleading about the damage buff, though. The initial 2:00 Khazra camp only saw an 8% increase to their damage output, from 150 DPS for the full camp to 162 DPS. By comparison, Siege Giants at 2:00 do 183 DPS for the full camp, not including splash.\n\n\n\nAt 10:00, Khazra did gain a significant buff from 198 DPS to 225 DPS, a 13.64% increase in their output. This is also the crossover point with the Siege Giant camp, which also has 225 DPS at 10:00. After 10:00, the Khazra camp now outscales the Siege Giant camp in terms of DPS.\n\n\n\nThe Siege Giant camp still retains a distinct advantage in pushing a lane due to their splash which the Khazra lack. Thus, the Khazra are stronger to push with but worse at pushing on their own.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Triglav Protector\n\nTL;DR Protector doesn\u2019t have the vs. structure bonus damage other vehicles have, making it much weaker at sieging and forcing the game to end. Gunner output is underwhelming. Shield on driver is insanely powerful though.\n\n\n\nVolskaya Foundry, the newest map in Heroes of the Storm, has had a mixed reception. The primary criticism has been a perceived weakness in the power of the Triglav Protector vehicle. What makes the Protector unique is that it has room for two occupants, a gunner and a driver, who can exit the vehicle or swap seats at any time. This mechanic leads to fun things like heroes solo marching the Protector into the enemy base and then swapping to the gunner seat to start dealing damage.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThese features, in addition to coordination between driver and gunner, mean that the Protector should be much more effective in coordinated play than in Hero League. The extent to which this is true won\u2019t be determined until at least next spring when HGC 2018 starts, and even then only if HGC teams vote Volskaya into the HGC pool.\n\n\n\nTo determine the actual strength of the Protector, let\u2019s compare it to other vehicles in HotS to get a baseline starting point of comparison. In terms of durability, the Protector is the strongest with 900 more base HP than the Dragon Knight while maintaining the same scaling and overtaking the Garden Terror at 5:00 in. The Protector also has a defensive ability to gain 25 armor for 3 seconds, a far more useful ability than the questionable DK punt.\n\n\n\nWhen it comes to basic attack damage however, the Protector is terribly weak compared to both the DK and Garden Terror. The Protector only has ~90% of the DK\u2019s base DPS throughout the game and lacks the 2x damage multiplier against structures. The gap between the Protector and the Terror starts out larger with the Protector only doing ~80% of the Terror\u2019s DPS. By 22 minutes, the Protector overtakes the Terror due to scaling. This does not account for the Terror\u2019s splash or quadruple damage versus entangled structures, though.\n\n\n\nTo illustrate the issues with the Protector relative to other vehicles, evaluate how long it takes a single pilot in each vehicle to kill the Core at 20 minutes. The Protector does 416 DPS with its basic attacks. Rocket fist adds ~28.6 DPS, and the Charge does 1875 damage every 8 seconds. The charge results in a missed AA for 520 damage, so it adds 169.375 DPS. In total, the Protector\u2019s DPS is approximately ~614. This will take down a 20:00 core in ~53 seconds by itself.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn comparison, the DK does 990 DPS with its basic attacks alone, with the Fire Breath adding 565 damage every 6 seconds for a bonus 94 DPS. A late game DK has 1084 DPS, which can tear through the Core at 20:00 in 30 seconds. The Terror does 1696 DPS with Overgrowth and can take down the Core in only 19 seconds.\n\n\n\nThe above analysis does not include the contribution of the gunner because the decision to use a gunner requires committing an additional player. To include the gunner, it is first necessary to establish how the Gunner\u2019s spells work.\n\n\n\nParticle Cannon: The Gunner\u2019s first ability does 225+(10*minute) damage (525 @20:00) in a 2.5m area. The charge function expands the range from 4m to 19m over 3 seconds. This charge is most useful when approaching enemy fortifications, as the cannon does not gain any damage during this charge up period. The projectile is fairly slow at 21m/s, taking only 0.19s to travel 4m but taking 0.9s to travel the max distance of 19m. Once fired, the Particle Cannon goes on a 4 second cooldown.\n\n\n\nGatling Cannon: The Gunner\u2019s second ability does 360+(28*minute) DPS (920 @20:00) in a small 0.5m area that tracks the Gunner\u2019s cursor. The shots move at 30 m/s and can reach out to 10m. The max travel time is 0.33s. This ability uses the Protector\u2019s energy reserve at a rate of 8 energy per second (1 energy/shot, max energy is 32). This allows up to 4 seconds of continuous fire or a total of (1440+112) * minute damage (3680 @20:00). While not firing, the Protector regenerates 3.5 energy per second, taking a total of ~9 seconds to go from empty to full energy. This ability has no cooldown besides the energy regeneration, but does have a 0.5s delay before the shots start firing. Damage from this ability is reduced by 50% against buildings.\n\n\n\nScorching Laser: The Gunner\u2019s third ability does 75+(3*minute) initial damage (135 @20:00) that sweeps across a 12x1m vector in 0.4375s. This sweep leaves a delayed explosion which does 500+(25*minute) damage (1000 @20:00) after 1 second. The laser\u2019s initial point must be within 10m of the Protector. This ability has a 10 second cooldown and no initial cast time; it does have a 0.25s cast outro time though. The delayed damage can be functionally ignored for hitting heroes, but is a huge amount of damage against structures.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFrom this, the optimal use pattern of the gunner abilities emerge. If Particle Cannon is off cooldown and the Protector is within range, use Scorching Laser. If the Protector is out of range, start charging the Particle Cannon until a relevant target is in range. Otherwise, prioritize using the Gatling Cannon so no energy recharge time is wasted. Use the Particle Cannon when the charge time won\u2019t be wasting any energy regen, and only charge enough so that the shot is within range. Do not be afraid to cancel the Gatling Cannon early to fire off a Particle Cannon shot, as the time spent firing the shot will simply allow the Gatling Cannon to recharge.\n\n\n\nNow to answer the question \u201cHow much DPS does a 20:00 gunner add?\u201d For the Protector in melee range, the average charge time on the Particle Cannon should be 0.5s, making the effective cooldown 4.5s. The Gatling Cannon averages out to a full unload every ~13s, and Scorching Laser has a flat cooldown of 10s. The Particle Cannon contributes ~117 DPS, Gatling Cannon ~142 DPS (with the 50% damage reduction against buildings factored in), and Scorching Laser 113.5 DPS for a total of ~373 DPS. Therefore, a fully loaded Protector with optimal ability usage would take down the Core in 33 seconds instead, still slower than a single person in the Dragon Knight!\n\n\n\nDespite this clear mathematical weakness, the Protector does have one redeeming feature: its incredibly powerful shield. This shield gives all nearby allies a 450+(50*minute) (1450 @20:00) shield for 3 seconds. A level 20 Valla has ~2900 HP, and this shield would provide over twice as much shielding as a Storm Shield. Even for a level 20 Stitches at 6573 HP, this shield is still 22% of his max HP.\n\n\n\n\n\nConveyor Belts\n\nTL;DR +-60% speed/slow, and if it can\u2019t go in a wall then it\u2019s moved by the belt\n\n\n\nConveyor belts push in their chosen direction at 2.56m/s. Because base movespeed is ~4.4m/s (4.3984 to be exact), moving directly with or against the conveyor belt is a ~60% slow or haste (58.2%). What\u2019s notable about the conveyor belts is the interactions they have with various effects.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOne of the more exciting parts of the conveyor belts are the promises of what interacts with them. I\u2019ve attempted to compile a list of what interacts.\n\n\n\nAnything with a health bar, even if it is in stasis or stopped. This can move targets in or out of AOE effects such as Zeratul\u2019s Void Prison that would otherwise prevent movement. The one exception is \u201cmassive\u201d units such as the Triglav Protector.\n\nMurky\u2019s Murloc Marchers and Nazeebo\u2019s Toads and Spiders,all count as \u201csummons\u201d despite lacking health bars, and thus are moved.\n\nButcher\u2019s hitching post, Kel\u2019thuzad\u2019s Glacial Spike, Medivh\u2019s Portal, Probius\u2019 Warp Rifts, Tyrael\u2019s Sword, and Valla\u2019s Caltrops are moved by Conveyor Belts.\n\n\n\nSpecial Note: Zagara\u2019s creep will continuously generate creep in the radius around the tumor. This means on the bottom set of conveyor belts the creep circle will constantly generate and rotate around with any tumors placed on the belt.\n\n\n\n\n\nClosing Thoughts\n\n\n\nIt will be interesting to see how Volskaya evolves and adapts. There is a clear and present concern that the games will last too long, the culprit of which seems to be the weak scaling of the Protector (and the Gunner in particular). Ordinarily, a full team wipe for both teams on top of an objective will still allow that one person to end the game, but the reward for winning an objective teamfight appears to be a boost primarily to teamfighting power. While this is strong at forcing the enemy team to contest the objective rather than wait for a 5v5 underneath their structures, the objective does not allow a bloody late game fight to truly be decisive compared to maps such as Dragon Shire or Gardens of Terror.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoseph \"ChaosOS\" Meehan is an avid Heroes of the Storm enthusiast who just enjoys mathing things out. You can check out his blog on HeroesHearth for more in-depth patch analysis and follow him on Twitter.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChaosOS is back to talk about the new map Volskaya and the newest map balance changes! Check out the official overview for a basic view of the map.Today\u2019s spreadsheet can be found here . You can also check out the updated NPC scaling sheet with all of the newest balance changes (now with even more details in the notes) here For context, the Impaler/Trooper (triple siege) camp has long been held as significantly worse than the Siege Giant (double siege) camp. This was both due to the low base damage of the Khazra but also the lack of splash on their basic attacks relative to the Siege Giants.The early game health nerf is a fairly small one, rising up to a 7.25% nerf 5:00 in and equalizing with pre-patch numbers at 15:00. Each individual Khazra has about 80% of a siege giant\u2019s health (~75% at 2:00 in, ~85% at 20:00 in), which means that the Khazra camp is significantly harder to clear with purely single target damage but remains easier to kill with AoE damage.The patch notes are misleading about the damage buff, though. The initial 2:00 Khazra camp only saw an 8% increase to their damage output, from 150 DPS for the full camp to 162 DPS. By comparison, Siege Giants at 2:00 do 183 DPS for the full camp, not including splash.At 10:00, Khazra did gain a significant buff from 198 DPS to 225 DPS, a 13.64% increase in their output. This is also the crossover point with the Siege Giant camp, which also has 225 DPS at 10:00. After 10:00, the Khazra camp now outscales the Siege Giant camp in terms of DPS.The Siege Giant camp still retains a distinct advantage in pushing a lane due to their splash which the Khazra lack. Thus, the Khazra are stronger to push with but worse at pushing on their own.Volskaya Foundry, the newest map in Heroes of the Storm, has had a mixed reception. The primary criticism has been a perceived weakness in the power of the Triglav Protector vehicle. What makes the Protector unique is that it has room for two occupants, a gunner and a driver, who can exit the vehicle or swap seats at any time. This mechanic leads to fun things like heroes solo marching the Protector into the enemy base and then swapping to the gunner seat to start dealing damage.These features, in addition to coordination between driver and gunner, mean that the Protector should be much more effective in coordinated play than in Hero League. The extent to which this is true won\u2019t be determined until at least next spring when HGC 2018 starts, and even then only if HGC teams vote Volskaya into the HGC pool.To determine the actual strength of the Protector, let\u2019s compare it to other vehicles in HotS to get a baseline starting point of comparison. In terms of durability, the Protector is the strongest with 900 more base HP than the Dragon Knight while maintaining the same scaling and overtaking the Garden Terror at 5:00 in. The Protector also has a defensive ability to gain 25 armor for 3 seconds, a far more useful ability than the questionable DK punt.When it comes to basic attack damage however, the Protector is terribly weak compared to both the DK and Garden Terror. The Protector only has ~90% of the DK\u2019s base DPS throughout the game and lacks the 2x damage multiplier against structures. The gap between the Protector and the Terror starts out larger with the Protector only doing ~80% of the Terror\u2019s DPS. By 22 minutes, the Protector overtakes the Terror due to scaling. This does not account for the Terror\u2019s splash or quadruple damage versus entangled structures, though.To illustrate the issues with the Protector relative to other vehicles, evaluate how long it takes a single pilot in each vehicle to kill the Core at 20 minutes. The Protector does 416 DPS with its basic attacks. Rocket fist adds ~28.6 DPS, and the Charge does 1875 damage every 8 seconds. The charge results in a missed AA for 520 damage, so it adds 169.375 DPS. In total, the Protector\u2019s DPS is approximately ~614. This will take down a 20:00 core in ~53 seconds by itself.In comparison, the DK does 990 DPS with its basic attacks alone, with the Fire Breath adding 565 damage every 6 seconds for a bonus 94 DPS. A late game DK has 1084 DPS, which can tear through the Core at 20:00 in 30 seconds. The Terror does 1696 DPS with Overgrowth and can take down the Core in only 19 seconds.The above analysis does not include the contribution of the gunner because the decision to use a gunner requires committing an additional player. To include the gunner, it is first necessary to establish how the Gunner\u2019s spells work.The Gunner\u2019s first ability does 225+(10*minute) damage (525 @20:00) in a 2.5m area. The charge function expands the range from 4m to 19m over 3 seconds. This charge is most useful when approaching enemy fortifications, as the cannon does not gain any damage during this charge up period. The projectile is fairly slow at 21m/s, taking only 0.19s to travel 4m but taking 0.9s to travel the max distance of 19m. Once fired, the Particle Cannon goes on a 4 second cooldown.The Gunner\u2019s second ability does 360+(28*minute) DPS (920 @20:00) in a small 0.5m area that tracks the Gunner\u2019s cursor. The shots move at 30 m/s and can reach out to 10m. The max travel time is 0.33s. This ability uses the Protector\u2019s energy reserve at a rate of 8 energy per second (1 energy/shot, max energy is 32). This allows up to 4 seconds of continuous fire or a total of (1440+112) * minute damage (3680 @20:00). While not firing, the Protector regenerates 3.5 energy per second, taking a total of ~9 seconds to go from empty to full energy. This ability has no cooldown besides the energy regeneration, but does have a 0.5s delay before the shots start firing. Damage from this ability is reduced by 50% against buildings.The Gunner\u2019s third ability does 75+(3*minute) initial damage (135 @20:00) that sweeps across a 12x1m vector in 0.4375s. This sweep leaves a delayed explosion which does 500+(25*minute) damage (1000 @20:00) after 1 second. The laser\u2019s initial point must be within 10m of the Protector. This ability has a 10 second cooldown and no initial cast time; it does have a 0.25s cast outro time though. The delayed damage can be functionally ignored for hitting heroes, but is a huge amount of damage against structures.From this, the optimal use pattern of the gunner abilities emerge. If Particle Cannon is off cooldown and the Protector is within range, use Scorching Laser. If the Protector is out of range, start charging the Particle Cannon until a relevant target is in range. Otherwise, prioritize using the Gatling Cannon so no energy recharge time is wasted. Use the Particle Cannon when the charge time won\u2019t be wasting any energy regen, and only charge enough so that the shot is within range. Do not be afraid to cancel the Gatling Cannon early to fire off a Particle Cannon shot, as the time spent firing the shot will simply allow the Gatling Cannon to recharge.Now to answer the question \u201cHow much DPS does a 20:00 gunner add?\u201d For the Protector in melee range, the average charge time on the Particle Cannon should be 0.5s, making the effective cooldown 4.5s. The Gatling Cannon averages out to a full unload every ~13s, and Scorching Laser has a flat cooldown of 10s. The Particle Cannon contributes ~117 DPS, Gatling Cannon ~142 DPS (with the 50% damage reduction against buildings factored in), and Scorching Laser 113.5 DPS for a total of ~373 DPS. Therefore, a fully loaded Protector with optimal ability usage would take down the Core in 33 seconds instead, still slower than a single person in the Dragon Knight!Despite this clear mathematical weakness, the Protector does have one redeeming feature: its incredibly powerful shield. This shield gives all nearby allies a 450+(50*minute) (1450 @20:00) shield for 3 seconds. A level 20 Valla has ~2900 HP, and this shield would provide over twice as much shielding as a Storm Shield. Even for a level 20 Stitches at 6573 HP, this shield is still 22% of his max HP.Conveyor belts push in their chosen direction at 2.56m/s. Because base movespeed is ~4.4m/s (4.3984 to be exact), moving directly with or against the conveyor belt is a ~60% slow or haste (58.2%). What\u2019s notable about the conveyor belts is the interactions they have with various effects.One of the more exciting parts of the conveyor belts are the promises of what interacts with them. I\u2019ve attempted to compile a list of what interacts.Special Note: Zagara\u2019s creep will continuously generate creep in the radius around the tumor. This means on the bottom set of conveyor belts the creep circle will constantly generate and rotate around with any tumors placed on the belt.It will be interesting to see how Volskaya evolves and adapts. There is a clear and present concern that the games will last too long, the culprit of which seems to be the weak scaling of the Protector (and the Gunner in particular). Ordinarily, a full team wipe for both teams on top of an objective will still allow that one person to end the game, but the reward for winning an objective teamfight appears to be a boost primarily to teamfighting power. While this is strong at forcing the enemy team to contest the objective rather than wait for a 5v5 underneath their structures, the objective does not allow a bloody late game fight to truly be decisive compared to maps such as Dragon Shire or Gardens of Terror. Strategy"}
-{"text": "The Amgen Tour of California released its route on Thursday, and the 2019 edition serves up plenty of climbs and sprints, and not a single individual time trial. One topographical feature looks destined to crown the winner of both the seven-day men\u2019s race and the three-day women\u2019s event: Mt. Baldy. Organizers are touting this route \u201cthe most demanding\u201d in the race\u2019s 14-year history, due to the route\u2019s impressive vertical gain and two punishing mountain stages. Of course, climbs aren\u2019t the only thing we\u2019ve got our eyes on for the 2019 edition. There are zany punchy climbs, hilly unpredictable days, and a field expected to be packed with some of the fastest riders on the planet.\n\nBelow are five takeaways from this year\u2019s race, based on the route and anticipated start list:\n\n1. The main event is Peter Sagan vs. Fernando Gaviria\n\nFor all of the noise around the course\u2019s two climbing stages, make no mistake: The 2019 Tour of California is again a race for the sprinters. Four of seven stages are likely to end in bunch kicks, with the lumpy third stage to Morgan Hill offering a potential fifth sprint (unless Toms Skujins does what he does best). This plethora of sprint stages further cements the Tour of California as cycling\u2019s unofficial warm-up race for the world\u2019s top sprinters and sprint trains. Over the past three editions, we\u2019ve steadily seen more WorldTour sprint teams iron out their lead-out trains at California. Two years ago Quick-Step used the race to prepare Marcel Kittel for his five-stage haul at the Tour de France. Last year it was Fernando Gaviria who dominated the flat stages. So you can bet that Gaviria, Kittel, Mark Cavendish, and the other fast men will be back. This year, I have my eyes on the ongoing sprint battle between Gaviria and Sagan, since several stages offer painful climbs close to the finish to make things interesting.\n\n2. The women\u2019s race finally climbs an HC\n\nSince its origin in 2015, the Tour of California women\u2019s stage race (previous editions featured a time trial and circuit race) has always included challenging climbs and punchy finishes, most notably the painful uphill drag to Heavenly ski resort in South Lake Tahoe. But the race has never featured one of the state\u2019s famed hors categorie summit finishes in the route, such as Mt. Diablo, Gibraltar Road, or Mt. Baldy. That tradition changes in 2019 as the second stage of the women\u2019s race finishes atop Mt. Baldy after climbing up Glendora Mountain Road. The route is direct and painful, starting in downtown Ontario and heading west to the base of the 4,500-foot climb up Mt. Baldy. The climb averages seven percent for much of the journey, however the final switchbacks at the top have ramps above 20 percent. It\u2019s steep and painful. The inclusion of such a dramatic route follows the trend set by Italy\u2019s Giro Rosa, which regularly includes Italy\u2019s hardest climbs in the route, most recently Monte Zoncolan and the Passo dello Stelvio. Mt. Baldy will cater to the Tour of California\u2019s reigning queen, Katie Hall of Boels-Dolmans, as well as her teammate, world champion Anna van der Breggen. The question is whether the mighty climb will entice the sport\u2019s top climber, Annemiek van Vleuten, to make her Tour of California debut.\n\n3. Mt. Baldy will decide the overall\n\nSouthern California\u2019s toughest climb was nearly decisive in its last inclusion in 2017 when Andrew Talansky took the stage win ahead of George Bennett and Rafal Majka. Yet Bennett still needed to blaze a fast individual time trial a day later to take the race overall. There will be no waiting for the final stage this year, as Mt. Baldy presents the only truly decisive feature across the seven-day race in stage 6. The stage is the traditional Mt. Baldy stage, which starts in Ontario and ascends Glendora Mountain Road before tackling the 15 switchbacks to the finish.\n\nNow, the peloton does climb early in the race, facing a very hard stage 2 from Rancho Cordova to South Lake Tahoe. The route includes Carson Pass (8,620 feet), the highest road to ever be used by the race, as well as the tough climb up Luther Pass just before the finish. But the finish line at Heavenly still comes several miles from the base of Luther Pass, and my guess is that even Egan Bernal would require several minutes to keep the chasers at bay. The design means a small group will likely contest the short, punishing climb up to the finish line.\n\n4. A dramatic finish on stage 5\n\nOrganizers have included a particularly devilish feature for the finale of the 138-mile stage 5 from Pismo Beach to Ventura. Ferro Drive is a punchy 300-foot climb to a hillside above Ventura, and from the top of the hill, it\u2019s less than five miles to the finish line. At 10 percent, the road is hardly a decisive ramp for a breakaway. However, the extremely narrow nature of the road could create confusion in the group and lead to splits that could jettison some sprinters out the back. I\u2019m not going to say this short hill gives us a breakaway win. But it\u2019s an ideal springboard for a will-they-or-won\u2019t-they chase that is definitely one to watch."}
-{"text": "Day for Night, the annual art and music festival held in Houston, Texas, has announced its 2017 lineup. Headlining are Nine Inch Nails, Thom Yorke, Solange, Justice, St. Vincent, Tyler, the Creator, and James Blake. Elsewhere on the roster are Jamie xx, Pussy Riot, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Sky Ferreira, Cardi B, Perfume Genius, Laurie Anderson, Lil B, Jlin, Priests, Mount Kimbie, and Jenny Hval. In addition, GAS is playing the festival, marking his first show in the United States since 2009. Day for Night 2017 takes place December 15-17. See the full lineup here.\n\nThe first day of Day for Night features a summit with talks by Chelsea Manning, Laurie Anderson, Pussy Riot\u2019s Nadya Tolokonnikova, and Los Angeles-based artist Lauren McCarthy. Following the summit is \u201cSoul Cleansing,\u201d a performance presented by Saint Heron with Solange. After that, Earl Sweatshirt and Kaytranada will perform. Day for Night also includes 18 installations from artists including Ryoji Ikeda, Matthew Schreiber, and Felicie D'Estienne D'Orves.\n\nA portion of the proceeds from this year\u2019s Day for Night will be donated to the Greater Houston Community Foundation to aid people in areas affected by Hurricane Harvey. Last year\u2019s edition of the fest featured the first Aphex Twin set in the States since 2008.\n\nWatch St. Vincent on \u201cOver/Under\u201d:"}
-{"text": "FOXBOROUGH, Mass. \u2013 Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:\n\n1. Bill Belichick turned back the clock in the Patriots\u2019 final organized team activity on Tuesday, focusing on the history of the game with players and coaches, and creating an environment that felt like the 1930s and '40s.\n\nThe Patriots coach is like a walking encyclopedia of football knowledge and eager to share his wisdom with his players. AP Photo/Steven Senne\n\nI reached out to five former players to ask them what history lesson they remember most from Belichick:\n\nRosevelt Colvin (2003-2008): \u201cIt was nothing that extreme, but I distinctly remember one time when he ran down why certain offenses were called certain things, like \u2018Detroit\u2019 \u2013 which means two tight ends. That went back to what the Lions ran back in the day when he coached there. I\u2019ve always told people that he\u2019s a walking encyclopedia of the history of the NFL. I know I was very fortunate just to be coached by him because he\u2019s experienced a lot of different eras of football -- even going back to his time with his dad and the Naval Academy. ... So he went in detail -- from era to era -- on why offenses were called the way they were, being tied to a coach and his style, and how it carried on and followed a certain person.\u201d\n\nChristian Fauria (2002-2005): \u201cI remember exactly what Rosevelt\u2019s talking about -- it was a whole thing about the evolution of the two-tight formation, which was called 'Detroit.' That was from when he was in Detroit and how they were like the first team to put two tight ends on the line of scrimmage -- 'two-tight' and to this day, the personnel grouping is called 'Detroit.' He talked to us about the reasons why, and what they were trying to do. For me, I love that stuff. And he tells it really well.\u201d\n\nRyan Wendell (2009-2015): \u201cI think we were playing Green Bay and he was talking to the defense primarily, because Green Bay offensively was doing a lot of these outside runs. He was talking about how \u2018not only is this Green Bay\u2019s old student-body right, student-body left stuff that Vince Lombardi used to do,' but even before that, he went back into the '40s and pulled out this old black-and-white film and it was like Detroit playing Green Bay. The reason he had the film, and all this knowledge, was that it was when his dad was playing for Detroit. So he had his old, grainy footage about how this play worked, and was going through it and telling us what they taught, how they were trying to cut the defense and get outside. It was really interesting to watch him. He gets real passionate about that kind of history of the game.\u201d\n\nKevin Faulk (1999-2011): \u201cThat was almost every day you spent with him, just the little finer points of football. He would bring out old film from when his dad was coaching, or something like that. We all know what kind of history guy Coach Belichick is. He\u2019ll bring up a moment in history in a split second and you\u2019ll be like, 'Huh? What the heck are you talking about Coach?' But it\u2019s so relevant, and for him, there were things like that popping up all the time.\u201d\n\nTroy Brown (1996, 2000-2007): \u201cDuring the season one year, he caught wind of the receivers in the meeting room talking about old-school football, the Wing-T and stuff. So he comes in the next day, and this is during the season, and takes over our [position] meeting and starts showing us some old-school football which had to be from the 40s or 50s. It might have even been before his dad played, and we definitely had watched tape of his dad playing with the Detroit Lions \u2013 which is a whole different story. But this was about the old Delaware Wing-T, and how it all got started. What surprised a lot of us was how the quarterback wasn\u2019t the quarterback like you see in today\u2019s game. The fullback was basically the guy taking the snap from center. We were all sitting there with our mouths open, like \u2018What the heck is this? This isn\u2019t the Wing-T we\u2019re used to seeing.\u2019 So basically it was Coach Belichick hearing us talk about old-school football and saying, 'You want a history lesson? I'll give you a history lesson like you've never seen before.'\"\n\n2. Outside of 2000, Bill Belichick\u2019s first year as coach when the Patriots had Drew Bledsoe, John Friesz, Michael Bishop and Tom Brady as quarterbacks, the team traditionally comes to training camp with just three players at the position. So using that as a springboard, quarterback Christian Hackenberg\u2019s workout for the Patriots on Thursday was primarily about keeping emergency lists updated, with the outside chance that if Hackenberg lit it up they would make room for him. As Raiders coach Jon Gruden said, a big part of the reason the Raiders moved on from Hackenberg was that they simply couldn\u2019t get him the reps to develop him with three other quarterbacks on their roster.\n\nBest of NFL Nation \u2022 Jones vs. Kamara a big SNF matchup\n\n\u2022 Urschel goes from NFL to MIT\n\n\u2022 Belichick: Waller will be a challenge\n\n\u2022 Bolder Kyler Murray still humble\n\n\u2022 McCarthy might have Cowboys moment\n\n3. With Father\u2019s Day in mind, an idea was sparked at Tuesday\u2019s Myra Kraft Community MVP event to ask Josh Kraft, the president of the Patriots charitable foundation, what he has learned from his father, Robert Kraft.\n\n\u201cObviously I listen to him, but I\u2019ve learned by watching him, too, and how he handles things. He treats everybody -- no matter who they are or where they are from, what their background is -- with respect and listens to everybody. Thus, it can make everybody feel a connection and being part of something,\u201d he replied. \u201cThat\u2019s such a unique trait, to build a sense of community. It doesn\u2019t matter how much money they have, or what their physical and mental capabilities are -- he connects with everyone and makes them feel good. I\u2019ve learned from watching him how that\u2019s so important, and how all of us should live our lives, by treating anyone and everyone with respect. I\u2019ve also learned to not talk about what you\u2019re going to do. Just show them.\u201d\n\nJosh Kraft, who had just overseen an event that awarded $275,000 in grants to 26 different non-profit organizations across New England, asked if his comments could be paired with his brothers because he didn\u2019t want to be singled out.\n\nAs it turns out, the brothers agreed that they would have echoed Josh's remarks.\n\n4a. When the Cowboys signed guard Zack Martin to a seven-year, $93.41 million contract extension this past week \u2013 making him the league\u2019s highest-paid player at the position -- it added another layer to consider with guard Shaq Mason\u2019s future with the Patriots. Mason enters the final year of his contract in 2018 and could make a case to be in the financial neighborhood of Martin and Jaguars guard Andrew Norwell (five years, $66.5 million). And even if he falls short of it, Mason is still likely looking at a lucrative free-agent deal (e.g. more than $10 million per season) if he makes it through the 2018 season healthy. Would the Patriots really pay that for a guard? I\u2019m skeptical.\n\n4b. In addition to Mason, the Patriots have another notable player on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage -- defensive end Trey Flowers -- entering the final year of his contract in 2018. The team got a head start on its Class of 2018 by striking extensions with fullback James Develin and long-snapper Joe Cardona last week, and did the same with safety Patrick Chung earlier in the offseason. Deals for Mason and Flowers are at a much higher financial level and will likely not be as easy to consummate. Meanwhile, here are some of the other Patriots with contracts expiring after this season: Kicker Stephen Gostkowski, receiver Chris Hogan, cornerback Eric Rowe, offensive tackle Trent Brown, and defensive tackles Malcom Brown and Danny Shelton.\n\n5. Thank you, receiver Brandin Cooks, for the sneak peek at the Patriots' 2017 AFC championship ring. It seems similar to the Patriots' first-ever Super Bowl ring, which is sort of a reminder of how those Super Bowl rings have grown over the years.\n\n6. While tight end Rob Gronkowski has publicly noted his desire for a sweetened contract, he still showed up for mandatory minicamp, which is more than can be said for Falcons receiver Julio Jones, Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald, Steelers running back Le\u2019Veon Bell (technically not under contract with the franchise tag not yet signed), Raiders defensive end Khalil Mack, Seahawks safety Earl Thomas, Titans offensive tackle Taylor Lewan, and Cardinals running back David Johnson. That\u2019s good context to consider when thinking about Gronkowski\u2019s offseason approach, which admittedly has been different from the norm, but doesn\u2019t warrant significant sound-the-alarms media-based type of chatter.\n\n7. Neat nugget from longtime NFL defensive end Kevin Carter, who told 104.5 The Zone in Nashville that Bill Belichick offered him a two-year deal in 2009, and to entice him to take it, would have allowed him to return to his home in Tampa, Florida, after each game as long as he was back on Wednesday morning. But Carter instead elected to retire healthy and wanted to see his 9-year-old son play baseball. Belichick had done something similar in the early 2000s with linebacker Roman Phifer, who had a permanent residence in California.\n\n8. Former Patriots running back Sammy Morris, who has been assisting strength and conditioning coach Moses Cabrera in the Patriots\u2019 offseason program in recent years, is on the cusp of moving forward in his on-field coaching career with Dean College (Franklin, Massachusetts). That would be a great victory for Dean, as Morris is the type of top-shelf person and 12-year NFL veteran who student-athletes can benefit greatly from being around.\n\n9. Patriots 2014 sixth-round draft choice Jon Halapio has been one of the best stories of the Giants\u2019 spring practices, earning the confidence of Pat Shurmur\u2019s coaching staff to the point that he is on track to enter training camp as the team\u2019s top center. The Patriots loved Halapio\u2019s toughness when they made him the 179th overall pick in \u201914, but he was far from ready, not even staying on board on the team\u2019s practice squad that year as he played for the Boston Brawlers of the Fall Experimental Football League. Halapio got another chance in 2016 when the Patriots re-signed him on the eve of training camp, but again didn\u2019t stick before finally emerging with the Giants last year. It\u2019s a story of perseverance and a reminder that players develop at different rates.\n\n10. The Patriots have yet to announce their official starting date for training camp, but with most NFL players not allowed to report until 15 days before their first preseason game (Aug. 9, vs. Washington), that would make Wednesday July 25 the day all players are required to report, with the first practice the next day. For the first time since 2011, which was the lockout year, it appears as if the Patriots won\u2019t have joint practices with another team in the preseason. And now, with spring practices over, this is officially the quietest time on the NFL calendar when coaches and players get in some final vacation time before returning for good in July."}
-{"text": "Story highlights Ibagrim Todashev was killed in an interview with authorities\n\nTodashev knew a Boston bombing suspect, was being questioned about other case\n\nTodashev's father is in the U.S. to seek \"justice\"\n\nAuthorities said the younger Todashev attacked FBI agent\n\nThe father of a Chechen-American shot dead by an FBI agent has traveled from the Russia to the United States, saying he wants answers to questions he has about the incident.\n\nAbdulbaki Todashev, the father of Ibragim Todashev, told CNN on Tuesday he wants to file a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from the May 22 shooting at his son's Orlando, Florida, home.\n\nThe elder Todashev was meeting in Tampa with attorneys and members of Florida's Council on American-Islamic Relations.\n\nIbragim Todashev was fatally shot during questioning about a 2011 triple homicide in Waltham, Massachusetts, as well as his relationship with deceased Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev.\n\nTodashev admitted to his direct role in slashing three people's throats in Waltham and said Tsarnaev was involved as well, a federal law enforcement official told CNN in June.\n\nLaw enforcement sources have said the son, a former mixed martial artist, was shot seven times after he rushed the agent. A law enforcement official told CNN that Todashev attacked the FBI agent with a broom handle.\n\nA source said the internal administrative investigation into the shooting may not be completed for months.\n\nAbdulbaki Todashev says he is seeking \"justice.\"\n\n\"I want the people to face a court, according to U.S. law, the people who killed my son,\" said Todashev.\n\nThe Russian said his son's killing was an \"unprecedented, intended murder.\" Authorities \"didn't want him to keep talking, to keep living.\"\n\nTodashev said he has not been able to see his son's autopsy report because the investigation is ongoing.\n\nLaw enforcement sources say the FBI has requested that the report not be made public until a customary review of the agent's use of deadly force has concluded.\n\nThe medical examiner's office said the FBI asked it to withhold the results pending an investigation.\n\nTodashev declined to say where else he plans to travel in the United States or when he plans to leave."}
-{"text": "Si sono svolti, a Bellinzona, i colloqui ufficiali in programma per oggi, domenica, fra Mike Pompeo e il consigliere federale Ignazio Cassis.\n\nIl segretario di Stato americano, dopo essere atterrato allo scalo di Lugano Airport, si \u00e8 diretto verso la capitale ticinese per l'incontro in programma col responsabile del DFAE, che lo ha accolto a Castelgrande. Una conferenza stampa dei due ministri degli esteri \u00e8 in programma per le 12.30 circa e sar\u00e0 trasmessa in streaming da RSI News.\n\nComposto da numerosi veicoli, il corteo di auto al seguito del capo della diplomazia statunitense. La visita di Pompeo in Ticino si snoda fra blocchi temporanei del traffico e strette misure di sicurezza. Mobilitati anche alcuni elicotteri.\n\nIl ministro degli Esteri elvetico ha cos\u00ec commentato su twitter l'arrivo del segretario di Stato statunitense.\n\nSono lieto di ritrovare a Bellinzona il Segretario di Stato americano Michael Pompeo, che ho gi\u00e0 avuto il piacere di incontrare lo scorso febbraio a Washington. Erano 20 anni che un segretario di Stato americano non veniva in Svizzera per un incontro bilaterale. Benvenuto ! pic.twitter.com/LpOijA8TaW \u2014 Ignazio Cassis (@ignaziocassis) 2 giugno 2019\n\nRed.MM/ARi\n\nTG 20 di sabato 01.06.2019\n\nTG 20 di sabato 01.06.2019\n\nTG 12:30 di domenica 02.06.2019"}
-{"text": "Fewer Allegheny County residents are dying from opioid-related overdoses.\n\nPreliminary data from the county medical examiner show the number of opioid-related fatalities fell by at least 36 percent in 2018, compared to 2017.\n\nThis trend began in 2017. Paradoxically, 2017 had a record number of opioid-related deaths, but the rate of fatal overdoses declined throughout the year.\n\nThe county data seems to be following national trends. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that from July 2017 to July 2018 there was a 3.1 percent decline, nationwide, in overdose deaths related to all drugs.\n\nIt's not clear what's behind this decline, as the data only shows that fewer people are dying. But public health workers say the reasons fewer Allegheny County residents are dying is likely due to a combination of factors, top of the list being robust efforts to widely distribute naloxone, the medication that revives someone from an opioid overdose.\n\nThe county jail and hospital emergency rooms now give people naloxone when they are released. And organizations like the Goodwill, YMCA and public libraries are training staff on how to administer the medications.\n\nAllegheny County Health Department Director Karen Hacker said if naloxone is really making the difference, it\u2019s important to remember those supplies -- and funding them for them -- are limited.\n\n\"We worry that there could be a time when we don\u2019t have as much of it available,\u201d Hacker said.\n\nOther factors leading to this decline in opioid-related fatalities might include the impact of the state's prescription drug monitoring program. But experts say it\u2019s unlikely that more people are entering addiction treatment and have stopped using opioids.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t get that sense from our setting \u2026 we don\u2019t necessarily see reduction in opioid use,\u201d said Aaron Arnold, director of Prevention Point Pittsburgh, an organization that distributes naloxone, sterile needles and helps drug users access services, like addiction treatment.\n\n\u201cI think that main contributing factor \u2026 is that we\u2019re finally getting naloxone deployed widely enough that it\u2019s reaching a saturation point,\u201d said Arnold. \u201c[And] I think people are developing a tolerance.\u201d\n\nCounty health director Karen Hacker said, whatever the reason for this decline in fatalities, it\u2019s too soon to claim success.\n\n\u201cWe are very excited that obviously that we\u2019ve seen fewer people die this last year,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we can\u2019t take our foot off the gas pedal on this one.\u201d\n\nHacker said final 2018 data should be released this spring.\n\n*This story was updated on March 8 at 11:48 am."}
-{"text": "At this rate you may also find a dictionary definition which leans heavily on the week of February 24-March 3 from Wolves' 2017/18 campaign, writes Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers.\n\nWhile Nuno Espirito Santo is grateful for there being no midweek game \u2013 so he can rally his troops on the training pitch \u2013 it will feel like a long week before Reading at home on Saturday for their jittery supporters.\n\nThe post-Fulham meltdown has been classic Wolves.\n\nYou don't have to be of a gold and black persuasion to know that Wolves fans can be a bit highly-strung at the best of times, probably owing to the club's rollercoaster history which has included the extreme variations of being one of the best football teams on the planet on the one hand and consecutive relegations to the Fourth Division on the other, while also losing to Chorley and almost ceasing to exist for good measure (these extremes occurred just 30 years apart).\n\nIs the nervousness justified?\n\nWolves' three-game winless streak is their worst of the season (how many teams would love to be able to say that?) and they've seen their lead to second place slashed from 13 points (ahead of Derby) on February 10 to six points (ahead of Cardiff) on February 25.\n\nThe three results, in their individual context, are hardly disastrous.\n\nA point away at Preston (who'd suffered one defeat in 15 at that point) was a good one, an impressive Norwich side played well to earn their draw at Molineux with the penultimate kick of the game and in Fulham a Ruben Neves-less Wolves faced one of the form teams in the country and undoubtedly suffered a hangover from that last-gasp sucker punch three days earlier.\n\nAdvertising\n\nWhile Wolves' mere three-game run is their worst, Cardiff are on their longest unbeaten run of the season (eight matches) and have won their past four without conceding a goal.\n\nCommon sense suggests that, given Wolves' form over their previous 31 matches, the team's poor run won't last. And while Cardiff and Neil Warnock may keep on winning, it's the gap to third that remains all-important and it stands at a very healthy 10 points.\n\nIn every 'lower division' across Europe's big five footballing nations (England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France) only leaders Reims in the French second division have a bigger gap (15 points) to a non-automatic promotion place than Wolves do to third-placed Villa.\n\nIt's all about perspective. If Wolves had been marginally ahead before surging to a 10-point lead to third in the past couple of weeks the emotions would be entirely different, so the mindset of the players is crucial here.\n\nAdvertising\n\nAnd the very last thing that the players should do is panic.\n\nComparisons with the Devon Loch-style collapse of 2002 when Wolves blew an 11-point lead have been an obvious one to make and former midfielder Alex Rae, who played 38 times that season, said recently that pressure and egos were factors.\n\n\"We ran out of steam and the pressure probably played a part as well,\" he said.\n\n\"There were a lot of egos in that dressing room, they\u2019d invested a lot of money and we certainly thought we would go up that year.\"\n\nMindset, it's all about mindset.\n\n\"Believe you me, those players will now be looking at the league table,\" Derby coach Kevin Phillips said in his Express & Star column yesterday.\n\n\"And all of a sudden those players have gone from being comfortable to thinking 'blimey, we need to win this game'.\n\n\"As soon as you have that thought process, you are putting pressure on yourself.\"\n\nThe key in all this is Nuno. Wolves' head coach has shown himself to be adept in man management and his attention to detail is fastidious.\n\nA young squad will need guidance and reassurance from their boss, most importantly of what they were doing so well earlier in the campaign when sweeping all before them.\n\nLet's not beat around the bush here. The Wolves team of 2017/18 plays better football than the majority of fans of a certain vintage can ever remember witnessing at Molineux. Even ardent Villa fans have remarked this is the best Wolves team they've ever seen.\n\nTherefore a three-game blip becoming a prolonged stutter remains unlikely.\n\nTalking of guidance and reassurance, look at the impact the week in Marbella had. Wolves jetted off to Spain with their tails between their legs after a cumbersome defeat to Nottingham Forest and returned six days later refreshed and refocused after a bonding-heavy excursion. Yep, there's the importance of that mindset again.\n\nThere are certainly technical details to amend, though. Chances aren't being created with the regularity they have been and, most pertinently, defensive errors have crept in.\n\nMatt Doherty, Ryan Bennett, Alfred N'Diaye and Conor Coady could all be faulted for Fulham's opening goal on Saturday in what was Wolves' third uncharacteristically poor defensive display in four matches.\n\nWhen their firepower lessened just before Christmas Wolves got through thanks to their defensive rigidity, with 1-0 wins against Blues, Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich. They need that back...and with Danny Batth, Kortney Hause and Roderick Miranda all waiting impatiently in the wings, perhaps a freshening up of the back line wouldn't be the worst idea.\n\nMorgan Gibbs-White has done more than enough to justify a chance in the starting XI and his vibrancy and positivity could be just what Wolves need in midfield.\n\nUp front...at Fulham Leo Bonatini looked a shadow of the player who scored 12 goals in his first 20 league games (and has netted none in his last 14). Fatigue seems to have caught up with Diogo Jota, while Helder Costa struggled to make an impact but has been much improved lately.\n\nStep forward Benik Afobe. The striker is absolutely desperate for his big chance from the start after five substitute appearances...while he doesn't quite suit the way Wolves have played for almost all of the campaign, a slight change of tack in their approach with Afobe playing off the last man and Gibbs-White breaking forward from midfield could reap rewards and make them less predictable.\n\nTweaks, amendments and a few little changes here and there are all that's required.\n\nResults from the next two matches will be important. Reading at home and Leeds away present a good opportunity to get back on track ahead of that match at Villa on March 10. If Wolves go to Villa Park with their lead to third significantly cut, it becomes a needlessly monumental encounter, so six points before then would certainly be extremely handy.\n\nAnd the fans have a role to play too. Dave Edwards and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson will be telling Jaap Stam exactly how an edgy Molineux atmosphere can play into Reading's hands...positivity from the stands would help Wolves. 'Together we are stronger' goes the Nuno mantra.\n\nAnyone at Wolves from Jeff Shi down and the tea-lady up would have gladly taken this glorious position in November, let alone at the start of the season or 12 months ago (when they were losing at home to Blues amid a five-game losing streak).\n\nTwelve games left. Reading at home on Saturday. Hold your nerve, Wolves."}
-{"text": "Johnny Gaskell Yes, that little white dot is a boat.\n\nA simple tool like Google Maps led Queensland marine biologist Johnny Gaskell to discover what he has self-dubbed 'Gaskell's Blue Hole'. Previously unknown, the blue hole sits in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef off the Whitsunday Coast. Gaskell however, hasn't revealed the exact location of his discovery, so it remains a new and local secret. \"After spotting this blue hole on Google maps, we decided to head far offshore, further than our normal Reef trips to see what dwelled within,\" Gaskell said in a statement.\n\nJohnny Gaskell Gaskell and his team ventured far afield to dive in the blue hole.\n\nWhen they did arrive at the hole, Gaskell and his team were amazed by what they found. \"There were huge Birdsnest Corals and super elongated Staghorn Corals, both of which were among the biggest and most delicate colonies I've ever seen,\" Gaskell explained. A blue hole is a marine cavern or sinkhole that is open to the water's surface. They extend below sea level and are often home to underwater caves that can help protect the life forms that live within it.\n\nJohnny Gaskell Isn't it beautiful?\n\nThis is the case with Gaskell's blue hole. It's around 15 to 20 metres deep which means it offers corals and sea life a unique level of protection compared to other parts of the reef. The largest known blue hole, called The Great Blue Hole is located of the coast of Belize and is 124 metres deep.\n\nJohnny Gaskell The coral in the blue hole was healthy and well preserved.\n\nThe Great Barrier Reef has recently been subject to decline, where the wildlife and corals have been exposed the the detrimental effects of climate change, like coral bleaching. Some of the most severe coral bleaching occurred in both 2016 and 2017. Bleaching is caused by high temperatures and researchers are expecting high rates of coral death as a result. It takes an entire decade for even the fastest growing coral to make a full recovery from the effects of bleaching, meaning that coral damaged in both 2016 and 2017 has a slim chance of revival in the short term."}
-{"text": "Like millions of others, the game I'll play more than any other this year is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim . The only reason this is worth mentioning is because I really, really don't like RPGs.\n\nLoading\n\nsee deal The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - PlayStation 3 $14.99 on Best Buy\n\nBeauty+and+Atmosphere\n\nExploration\n\nThings+to+Do\n\nAll that leveling up, those tiresome stats, all those dreary fantasy tropes, the endless tinkering with skills and items. Yawn!Quasi-Medieval fantasy leaves me cold. When I trouble myself to read George R.R. Martin, my eyes roll at his absurd olde worlde lingo. I've never been tempted, not for one second, to actually play World of Warcraft. There are very few people in the world less qualified than me to write about RPGs.But this Skyrim The guys at Bethesda are no mugs. Every single time you see Todd Howard or Pete Hines or Craig Lafferty talking to a journalist, the first thing out of their mouths is the line about Skyrim's accessibility, its universal appeal, its ability to be all things to all men, and women. And this isn't merely a marketing-made dogma shaped for the masses. It's the game's central design principle.The reason why I can't wait for Skyrim is that it is not an RPG, it's an escape-hatch to another world. All games, especially RPGs, offer this possibility of escape, but Skyrim's detail, realism and the sense of wonder it exudes makes it more tempting for non-RPGers than stat-heavy, graphically-limited rivals.Here are six reasons why Skyrim will break through to the RPG ambivalent masses.Bethesda has never failed to create believable worlds that draw us in with their majesty and beauty. Skyrim comes five years after the extraordinary Oblivion, it arrives in the wake of the very different Fallout 3. It's been made during a golden age of this console generation's declining years, a time when artists and programmers have become intimately involved with the technology at their disposal.Take a walk through those opening scenes of the game and compare this world with anything else on current generation consoles or even PC. As the game progresses, you'll wander through valleys, tundra, cave-scapes, cities and mountains. The music, composed by Jeremy Soule, adds to the grandeur.When Oblivion came out, I used it to show off 'how amazing games look now' to older family members. They were blown away. Skyrim represents a high point in video game universe creation. It's the sort of game where you wander around, just taking in the scenery, reveling in the detail of every shrub, rock and broken tree.I'll play along with the main quest and probably grab a strategy guide to get through the trickier puzzles, but it's inhabiting the world that grabs my desire, not following an ordained narrative.Bethesda loves for players to just wander off and pick flowers or chat with washer-women and blacksmiths. This is what makes the game so special.Lead producer Craig Lafferty recently said , \"We make these huge open world games so you can go where you want, be what you want, play what you want, so if you don't ever finish the main quest you're still having a great time.\"Executive producer Todd Howard explained, \"We really try to give you a big vast world to play in. Be who you want. Do what you want. We don't know what you are doing to do. We just want to give you a load of tools.\"Freedom is the central promise of the game. It's not built as a straight line. And there's no shortage of stuff to do: 280 perks, five major cities, 300 books, 150 unique dungeons and 500 individual activities.The main quest is probably going to be about 30-40 hours long, but that's just a tiny part of the experience, which also includes guild activities, experimentation with potions, herbs and foods, crafting and working. Skyrim is about wandering off and stumbling across caves and abandoned towns and just stuff the designers have placed there on the off-chance that you'll stroll by. Most games still do not behave this way. They don't invest in wanderlust.And if you really are the sort of person who likes to be taken by the hand, there's a 'Clairvoyance' spell that draws a path along the ground to your next quest objective."}
-{"text": "Article content\n\nIt has been a tough season for Canadiens winger Dale Weise, but Monday night\u2019s game against the Washington Capitals was a special milestone for him.\n\n\u201cIt means a lot to me,\u201d Weise said after Monday\u2019s morning skate in Brossard before playing in his 500th NHL regular-season game. \u201cThe way the year started for me I probably didn\u2019t expect this to happen. So it\u2019s a lot of games, a lot of hard work, a lot of help. A lot of people helped me get there, so it\u2019s a proud moment for me.\u201d\n\nWe apologize, but this video has failed to load.\n\ntap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Reaching 500-game mark a badge of honour for Canadiens' Dale Weise Back to video\n\nWeise leaned on his parents, his wife and other family members for support this season after he was cut by the Canadiens at training camp and then played 27 games with the AHL\u2019s Laval Rocket, posting 3-4-7 totals. Monday\u2019s game was his 10th with the Canadiens since getting called up and Weise scored his first goal in a 4-2 loss to the Capitals.\n\nPhoto by Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette\n\n\u201cNo surprise this has been my favourite place playing here,\u201d said the 31-year-old, who has also played with the New York Rangers, Vancouver Canucks, Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers. \u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of good memories. As a kid growing up to say I played my 500th NHL game in a Montreal Canadiens uniform, you\u2019ve got to pinch yourself a little bit.\u201d"}
-{"text": "\u201cThe HFD will continue to advocate for fire sprinklers in all residences. It is the most effective way to control a fire which results in saving lives and protecting property. Please ensure that your residence has a working smoke alarm,\u201d HFD officials said in a news release."}
-{"text": "(full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign, a No on Prop 8 coalition member)\n\nTwo anonymous donors have offered to match dollar for dollar every donation that comes in to the No on Prop 8 campaign, to protect marriage rights for everyone in California up to $500,000. Below are 8 things that should motivate you to help us meet the match.\n\nYou can contribute directly to the campaign via ActBlue here.\n\n8. John McCain can look Ellen Degeneres straight in the face and reject her right to marriage.\n\n7. Luckily, the big donors behind Prop 8 don't think stoning gays is a \"necessity.\"\n\nIn 2004, Howard F. Ahmanson -- who gave $900K to the Yes campaign -- told the Orange County Register: \"I think what upsets people is that Rushdoony seemed to think \u2013- and I'm not sure about this \u2013- that a godly society would stone people for the same thing that people in ancient Israel were stoned. I no longer consider that essential. It would still be a little hard to say that if one stumbled on a country that was doing that, that it is inherently immoral, to stone people for these things. But I don't think it's at all a necessity.\"\n\n6. \"Yes on 8\" supporters are emptying out their savings accounts to defeat \"teh gays\"\n\n\"Pam and Rick Patterson have always followed teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and tried to live within their means. He drives a 10-year-old Honda Civic to his job at Intel. She is a stay-at home mom who makes most of the family meals and bakes her own bread. The couple, who have five sons between the ages of 3 and 12, live in a comfortable but modest three-bedroom home in Folsom. It's a traditional lifestyle they believe is now at risk. That's why the Pattersons recently made a huge financial sacrifice \u2013 they withdrew $50,000 from their savings and donated it to the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign, the ballot measure that seeks to ban same-sex marriage.\"\n\n5. They are gracious enough to remind us that it's not about intolerance.\n\n\"Proposition 8 is NOT an attack on gay couples\" --www.Protectmarriage.com \"In August [2008], the prophets added pages of elaboration: 'The Church has a single, undeviating standard of sexual morality: intimate relations are proper only between a husband and a wife united in bonds of matrimony.'\"\n\n4. They value America's workers.\n\n\"The (one million) YES on Prop 8 yard signs have been delayed in route from China.\"\n\n3. Mormons love gays so much, they have pressured their 770,000 members to donate millions of dollars to pass Prop 8 and eliminate marriage rights:\n\nIf you're not listed on the massive searchable donor spreadsheets publicly available on this site, you must not be a good Mormon.\n\n2. Their spokespeople want to extend the \"equality\" to elderly and sterile couples!\n\nAnd, the #1 reason why you should donate to defeat Prop 8:\n\n1. Religious wingnuts are packing Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego on November 1. And they are mobilizing millions across America at \"TheCall.com\" (MUST-WATCH VIDEO AT THE TOP).\n\nhttp://www.thecall.com/"}
-{"text": "The Death of the U.S. Dollar as the world's reserve currency will have a profoundly negative impact on the lives of most Americans. Unfortunately, 99% of the population has no clue. The only reason 1% of U.S. citizens understand what is going on, is because the Mainstream media and financial...\n\nSRSroccoReport's Patreon at $10 / month or more. To view this content, please become a member ofor more. Unlock with Patreon Unlock with Patreon"}
-{"text": "A think tank launching in Toronto Tuesday hopes to give Indigenous researchers the opportunity to provide greater input on policy issues relevant to their peoples. Hayden King, an Anishinaabe writer and academic from Beau Soleil First Nation on Georgian Bay, will be leading the Yellowhead Institute at Ryerson University and sees it adding to the growing presence of Indigenous voices in Canada's conversations on governance. \"We're hoping to reverse the very long history of excluding Indigenous people from policy decisions and legal decisions that affect our communities,\" King said. \"It should be Indigenous people themselves that make decisions about their future.\"\n\nThe institute \u2014 named after William Yellowhead, an early-to-mid 19th century Anishinaabe chief who promoted unity amongst Indigenous nations and resisted heavy-handed colonial policies in Southern Ontario \u2014 will launch Tuesday with a research paper analysing the Indigenous-related policies that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has enacted or planned since taking power. The paper, co-authored by King, involved the work of about 30 mostly Indigenous leaders, activists, community members and policy experts. \"We're hoping the Yellowhead Institute becomes a source for media, to amplify the voices of Indigenous communities and Indigenous policy and legal experts,\" King said. From the Idle No More movement for Indigenous rights and sovereignty, to demands for government to address the disproportionate number of missing and murdered Indigenous women, Indigenous leaders and activists have in recent years become more aggressive and assertive in their calls to action, King said. Nevertheless, the voices of non-Indigenous scholars are more prevalent, and more accepted, in media and research reports on Indigenous issues, he added.\n\n\"The non-Indigenous experts ... often say things that are palatable to Canadians, Canadian institutions and, governments, and they're not offensive or threatening,\" King added. \"Indigenous analysts, on the other hand will, in fact, say there are fundamental problems with institutions, there is systemic racism, there is chronic neglect, and really demand fundamental transformation.\" Hayden King, an Anishinaabe writer and academic from Beau Soleil First Nation on Georgian Bay, will lead the Yellowhead Institute at Ryerson University. Photo from Ryerson University The new institute will have two research associate positions filled by Indigenous faculty members at Ryerson and, this summer, will add about a dozen research fellows, from different Indigenous nations and areas of expertise. The think tank plans to solicit policy analysis papers from community-based researchers who can offer on-the-ground perspectives on the effects of Indigenous policies. New think tank @Yellowhead_ launching @RyersonU Tuesday will promote #Indigenous voices on policy and governance, says @Hayden_King. \"We're also hoping to work with students at Ryerson and across Toronto to do mentorship as we go forward and build the institution,\" said Shiri Pasternak, the institute's research director and a Ryerson criminology professor, whose work has concentrated on Indigenous rights for over a decade. Pasternak is not Indigenous and the institute's goal is for her to eventually be replaced by an Indigenous research director, she said. \"In the meantime ... I think we can model something important about how, when non-Indigenous people get involved in these kinds of initiatives, the important thing is not to have our (non-Indigenous) voices determine the content or agenda but rather to really learn how to listen and work hard to create spaces for Indigenous peoples to have a platform,\" she said. The addition of Indigenous experts to policy discussion was welcomed by Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. \"There is a pressing need for our own First Nations experts, First Nations academics, and First Nations voices to be a larger part of the national conversation as we work towards real, tangible, and actionable solutions to issues that we have been grappling with for decades,\u201d Bellegarde said.\n\nRyerson has pledged to provide startup capital, but the institute will look to donations from non-profits to sustain itself in the long term. Unlike other think tanks, Yellowhead does not want to accept money from government or corporations, in the interest of remaining independent, Pasternak said. Ontario Coalition of Indigenous Peoples secretary Ron Swain said he hopes the institute is able to attract the resources it needs to be successful. \"We as an organization would support and participate with them,\" he said. \"I really like the ... whole concept of developing the capacity of Indigenous scholars and Indigenous experts in this field.\"\n\nTrudeau has put a greater emphasis on Indigenous issues than any other Canadian government has in decades, making it more important than ever to have accessible, reliable information, he added. \"These are actually very exciting times, and we drastically need a think tank to assist leaders and communities and community members (decide) which policy issues to follow,\" Swain said."}
-{"text": "A Florida man was reportedly arrested for trying to get an alligator drunk after his pal captured the reptile.\n\nTimothy Kepke, 27, of Hobe Sound allegedly fed some beer to the animal, which also bit him, on Aug. 26 in Palm City, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report obtained by TC Palm.\n\nMoments earlier, Kepke told police, Noah Osborne, 22, caught the gator with his bare hands, the report said.\n\nKepke told authorities he had consumed a few beers that day, but claimed he wasn\u2019t intoxicated during the incident.\n\nAfter the beer feeding, which was recorded, the duo released the animal back into the wild, Kepke told officers.\n\nAuthorities obtained the video, though it\u2019s unclear how, and on Sept. 17 confronted Kepke at his home, where he copped to the crime.\n\nA woman who was with the two men confirmed Kepke\u2019s account with police on Sept. 21, the report said.\n\nBoth Kepke and Osborne were arrested on Oct. 3 and charged with unlawfully taking an alligator."}
-{"text": "Follow @nbcbayarea !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');\n\nWhat's cooler than a Girl Scout selling cookies?\n\nA business-savvy Girl Scout who sets up shop outside a cannabis clinic to rev up her sales skills.\n\nThirteen-year-old Girl Scout Danielle Lei did brisk business last Monday selling Dulce de Leches and other flavors outside The Green Cross medical marijuana clinic in San Francisco, Mashable reported.\n\nDanielle was able to sell 117 boxes within two hours outside the cannabis clinic -- 37 more than what she sold within the same time frame at a local Safeway the next day, according to Mashable.\n\n\"It's no secret that cannabis is an appetite stimulant -- so it's not shocking that a lot of our patients came and purchased cannabis, and then saw the cookies and purchased them,\" said Holli Bert, a spokesperson for The Green Cross. \"But it wasn't just patients, staff members and neighbors also bought the cookies. I personally bought five boxes. It turned out to be a big success.\"\n\nBert said that Danielle's mother had contacted The Green Cross to set up the sale outside the store.\n\n\"We were happy to have her (Danielle) come -- she is extremely business savvy,\" Bert said.\n\nDanielle's mother Carol takes her two daughters to different places around San Francisco to sell cookies so that \"they can learn about different environments,\" Mashable reported.\n\nCarol told NBC Bay Area that the family is not doing any interviews.\n\nGreen Cross is so happy with the outcome that they have invited Danielle back to their store on Saturday, Feb. 22, from 4 to 6 p.m. for a repeat performance.\n\nThe Green Cross posted about Danielle's visit on its Facebook page, including a link to an external poll, which asks people whether Girl Scouts should sell cookies outside legal marijuana shops.\n\nThe Girl Scouts of Northern California don't have a problem with this business strategy.\n\nDana Allen, the organization's marketing and communications director, told Mashable that \"the mom decided this was a place she was comfortable with her daughter being at.\"\n\n\"We're not telling people where they can and can't go if it's a legitimate business,\" she said."}
-{"text": "1 of 1 2 of 1\n\nVancouver is losing a couple of its busiest garage rockers, as Tough Age members Jarrett K. and Penny \u201cAgamemnon\u201d Clark are moving to Toronto.\n\nClark has been working in Ottawa for the last couple of months, and she and Jarrett will head to Hogtown in October. Despite the distance, Tough Age isn\u2019t breaking up. \u201cI\u2019m not starting a new band or anything; we\u2019re still working on this,\u201d frontman Jarrett told the Straight. \u201cWe\u2019re just going to do a lot of trips back and forth.\u201d\n\nTough Age has already completed half of its sophomore album with producer Felix Fung at Little Red Sounds. The band will complete the sessions next month, with the release scheduled for early next year. Jarrett and Clark will say goodbye to Vancouver when Tough Age plays a going-away show on October 17 at a to-be-announced location.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a ton-of-bands, all-night-blowout sort of thing,\u201d Jarrett promised."}
-{"text": "To the people of Policy 210 who think they are actually helping poor people with their policy proposals: Please take a step back and understand what it actually means to be poor first.\n\nWhy do people seem to care more that their gluten-free hummus is organic than about unarmed kids being killed in the street?\n\nIf white people are making fun of white people making fun of white people, then who\u2019s driving the car?\n\nWhite people, if you don\u2019t try to stop your racist friends from being racist, then it doesn\u2019t matter how many black friends you have. You\u2019re doing it wrong.\n\nFrat guys defend their freedom of speech so they can hold their racist (insert stereotype) party, but cry discrimination when called out on it.\n\nDear white people, when you ask whether it pisses me off when you mispronounce my name, what the hell are you thinking?\n\nTo any exchange students: I apologize that you had to learn the hard way that young, white, southern, American males dress like fathers who have run out of time to care what they look like.\n\nI\u2019m not actually talking to you, white person, I\u2019m talking to White people with a capital \u201cW\u201d.\n\nUNC\u2019s Study Abroad Program, also known as the White Savior Program.\n\nCocking your head to the side and adding extra vowels in words will not make me understand you better.\n\nThere were 98 incoming black freshmen males last year, but people who are biracial don\u2019t count? Guess I\u2019ll go turn in my black card.\n\nWatching sorority girls bike to Uganda makes me thankful for the day we learned how to harness the power of white guilt.\n\nAAAD: The only department more diasporic than the people it studies.\n\nWhite people, if you\u2019re confused about white privilege and how it works, just pretend you never knew about it and continue on with your life. Oh wait...\n\nSend your one-to-two ? sentence entries to ?ishmaelgb@gmail.com,? subject line \u2018kvetch.\u2019"}
-{"text": "No non-standard layout support aside from a WKL 7u bottom row (especially 65/75% and no 1800 support which is a cardinal sin considering original Dolch Pac keyboards are 1800 layout). There are also no ISO support available (even the most cursory minimum 4-key addition). I would much rather you get rid of the totally superfluous novelties and concentrate on actually giving people good layout support first.\n\n\n\nOnce the basic layout supports are taken care of THEN you can spend your efforts on things like accents and novelties. I don't understand how you didn't even do the most basic sweep of common layouts and ad support for them in this day and age, in order to make the set appeal to the broadest audience available. Most GMK and SA sets that has ran in the last 6 months has had excellent layout supports, there's no reason why you shouldn't at least spend a little time on making your set appealing to potential buyers."}
-{"text": "At least the title wasn\u2019t \u201cTop ten reasons why you\u2019ll NEVER GUESS what part of the Mass is so overlooked!\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s a line in the Mass that I had to look up once, and it\u2019s something that I\u2019ve always paid special attention to ever since. It\u2019s in the intercessions of Eucharistic Prayer II:\n\nHave mercy on us all, we pray, that \u2026 we may merit to be co-heirs to eternal life\n\nHow can any of us merit to be co-heirs with Christ to eternal life? We can\u2019t. Let\u2019s examine the wording of the prayer to figure out what it actually means.\n\nwe may merit to be\n\nHere, the celebrant doesn\u2019t pray the words \u201cwe must merit to be,\u201d but rather, \u201cwe may merit to be.\u201d The prayer does not say that to attain eternal life, we must merit it by our actions; rather, it says that we should seek to be worthy of the gift (eternal life) we\u2019re given. In other words, that we may merit to be worthy co-heirs to eternal life.\n\nThat line expresses the inmost desire of mankind to be united with God\u2019s will in a total and intimate way such that even though no man can ever achieve the sinlessness of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Blessed Mother, we should strive for the same.\n\nKnowing the meaning of those words, every time I hear Eucharistic Prayer II, now, I find myself dwelling on that line. How comforting it is to know that I desire perfect holiness not alone, but with the whole of the eternal Church at the one Sacrifice on Cavalry.\n\nGod bless."}
-{"text": "At least 54 police, including 20 officers and 34 conscripts, were killed when a raid on a militant hideout south-west of Cairo was ambushed, according to officials. The ensuing firefight was one of the deadliest for Egyptian security forces in recent years.\n\n\n\nTwo police officials told the Associated Press on Saturday that the exchange of fire began late Friday in the al-Wahat al-Bahriya area in Giza province, about 135km (84 miles) south-west of Cairo. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief media.\n\nThe firefight began when security forces acting on intelligence moved against a militants\u2019 hideout in the area. Backed by armored personnel carriers and led by senior counter-terrorism officers, the police contingent drew fire and rocket-propelled grenades, according to the officials.\n\nThe officials said what happened next is not clear, but added that the force likely ran out of ammunition and that the militants captured several police and later killed them.\n\nThe officials said the police force appeared to have fallen into a carefully planned ambush set up by the militants. The death toll could increase, they added.\n\nThose killed included two police brigadier-generals, a colonel and 10 lieutenant colonels.\n\nEgypt\u2019s interior ministry, which is in charge of police, announced a much lower death toll, saying in a statement read over state television that 16 were killed in the shootout. It added that 15 militants were killed or injured, later releasing photos of some of them.\n\nThe last time Egypt\u2019s security forces suffered such a heavy loss of life was in July 2015 when militants from the extremist Islamic State group carried out a series of coordinated attacks, including suicide bombings, against army and police positions in the Sinai peninsula, killing at least 50.\n\nAn official statement issued Saturday said Friday\u2019s incident would be investigated, suggesting that the heavy death toll may have been partially caused by incompetence, intelligence failures or lack of coordination. The officials said prosecutors will look into whether the police\u2019s counter-terrorism agents failed to inform the military of the operation or include them.\n\nTwo audio recordings purportedly by police who took part in the operation circulated online late Friday. One police officer, apparently using a two-way radio, was heard in the nearly two-minute recording pleading for help from a higher-ranking officer.\n\n\u201cWe are the only ones injured, sir,\u201d the officer said. \u201cWe were 10 but three were killed. After their injury, they bled to death, sir.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey took all the weapons and ammunition,\u201d he added, \u201cWe are now at the foot of a mountain.\u201d\n\nThe second recording was purportedly by a police officer warning others. \u201cI can\u2019t identify any direction. Only planes can see us. Take care every one,\u201d he was heard saying, adding that militants were pursuing them. The authenticity of the recordings could not be immediately verified.\n\nNo militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which bore all the hallmarks of the Isis group. A local affiliate of the extremist group is spearheading an insurgency whose epicentre is in the Sinai peninsula, which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip.\n\nAttacks by militants have significantly increased since the 2013 overthrow by the military of the Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.\n\n\n\nThe country has been under a state of emergency since April, following a spate of suicide bombings targeting minority Christians that have killed more than a 100 since December. The attacks were claimed by Isis.\n\n\u2022 This article was amended on 24 October 2017. An earlier headline said the raid was near Cairo. This has been corrected to Egypt."}
-{"text": "Christie Bridgegate lawyer Christopher Wray tapped by Trump to head FBI\n\nBob Jordan | Asbury Park Press\n\nShow Caption Hide Caption RAW VIDEO: Christie on why Wray is right as Trump FBI pick Chris Christie in Livingston NJ June 7 2017 iPhone video Bob Jordan\n\nLIVINGSTON Christopher Wray, Chris Christie's personal attorney during the Bridgegate investigation and trial, is being nominated by President Donald Trump to head the FBI, according to a tweet by Trump this morning.\n\n\"I will be nominating Christopher A. Wray, a man of impeccable credentials, to be the new Director of the FBI,\" Trump tweeted. \"Details to follow.\"\n\nI will be nominating Christopher A. Wray, a man of impeccable credentials, to be the new Director of the FBI. Details to follow. \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 7, 2017\n\nTrump has already hired Christie's former campaign manager and deputy chief of staff, Bill Stepien, as his political director, and brought former aide Matt Mowers into the State Department.\n\nMORE: Christie Bridgegate lawyer to FBI?\n\nChristie's relationship with Wray is not limited to the George Washington Bridge scandal. They met during the administration of George W. Bush, when Christie was U.S. Attorney and Wray was a deputy attorney general.\n\nWatch the video on the top of this page to see what Christie said late last year about finishing his term as governor, rather than leaving early to join the Trump administration.\n\nChristie after an unrelated press conference at St. Barnabas Medical Center said he was pleased with Trump's choice.\n\n\"I know every lawyer who\u2019s got any prominence in the federal system from my time as U.S. attorney, my time with the U.S. attorney\u2019s advisory committee. I know every one of them that are any good,'' Christie said.\n\n\"When I had to retain legal counsel during a very, very troubling, confusing, difficult time for me, I made one phone call, and that was to Chris Wray. So I can\u2019t give a better recommendation than that. I think the President of the United State should be commended. He did a deliberative process. He met lots of people from what I understand.''\n\nWray is a litigation partner for King & Spalding LLP in the firm's Washington, D.C., and Atlanta offices. The firm has been paid $1.57 million by the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, Division of Law for legal services from the beginning of 2015 until now, but it\u2019s unclear how much of that work pertained to defense of Christie.\n\nThe firm was paid $845,267 by the state for 2015 work. A memorandum from the Division of Law to the state Office of Legislative Services indicated that the amount was for a matter titled \u201cIn re: C.C.\u2019\u2019\n\nState officials did not respond to a request for more information about the account.\n\nThere was also no further information about state payments to King & Spalding for 2016 ($562,000) and 2017 ($158,074).\n\nThe King & Spalding bills for Bridgegate are above the $11.3 million payments, according to a tally by WNYC, for general Christie administration defense to another law firm, Gibson Dunn, and a subcontractor, digitial forensics firm Stroz Friedberg. Those bills cover the period of January 2014, when the scandal broke, through last October.\n\nOne of Christie\u2019s appointees pleaded guilty and two others were convicted in the case, but Christie was not charged. The only time Wray\u2019s name surfaced in a significant way was when it was revealed last July that he had a cellphone, believed lost, that Christie had been using during the lane closures. Defense attorneys had sought access to the phone, but a judge denied their request.\n\nChristie had previously said he and Wray worked together \"a lot,\" including on a fraud investigation into the drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb.\n\nMore: Christie: Flynn wouldn't be allowed in White House if I were president\n\nChristie made this public pitch for Wray last week: \"I have the utmost confidence in Chris. He's an outstanding lawyer. He has absolute integrity and honesty, and I think that the president certainly would not be making a mistake if he asked Chris Wray to be FBI director.\"\n\nWray left the Justice Department in 2005 to join King & Spalding. e he has been a litigation partner.\n\nTrump made the announcement a day before former FBI Director James Comey is due to testify about the Russia investigation and the circumstances behind his dismissal.\n\nBob Jordan bjordan@gannettnj.com"}
-{"text": "UPDATE\n\nHundreds of millions of records were exposed after a MongoDB server belonging to disaster-recovery firm Veeam was left misconfigured, researchers found.\n\nThe open server contained a 200-gigabyte database with millions of records. Researcher Bob Diachenko, who discovered the misconfiguration, said he was able to access the open server sans password on Sept. 5 \u2013 and that it was left publicly searchable and wide open until Sept. 9.\n\nThat database contained \u201cmarketing data, more than 440 million records mostly consisting of names, email addresses and IP addresses\u2026 Some may be duplicates,\u201d Diachenko told Threatpost on Tuesday. That includes data like customer\u2019s first and last name, email, email recipient, country and customer organization size.\n\nMore recently, on Thursday, Veeam co-CEO and President Peter McKay stressed in a post that the incident has been resolved and due to duplicate records, the figure of exposed unique emails was actually closer to 4.5 million, as opposed to the 440 million previously reported by researchers.\n\n\u201cDuring some maintenance of our network, this single marketing database containing marketing records (that may include names, e-mail addresses and IP addresses) was left visible and exposed due to human error,\u201d he said in the post. \u201cWhile the database was not easily accessible, it was visible to unauthorized third parties. Once we validated the issue, we took immediate action to properly secure the database.\u201d\n\nThe data seemed to be used by Veeam\u2019s marketing automation team to reach their customers using their Marketo solution \u2013 a tool focused on account-based marketing through email, social or mobile, said Diachenko in a post about the incident. The data is part of Veeam\u2019s marketing server infrastructure.\n\nThe data\u2019s dates of creation and updates span a four-year period, from 2013 to 2017.\n\n\u201cBased on the collection names and analysis of data in the database, my first guess was that database originated from Marketo server, so I also sent security notifications to their email addresses,\u201d said Diachenko. \u201cHowever, upon further analysis I came to conclusion that data was part of Veeam marketing server infrastructure, rather than Marketo.\u201d\n\nDiachenko said that shortly after a security notification was sent by him \u2013 and by TechCrunch \u2013 to Veeam about the exposed server, the database was secured. However, he said he hasn\u2019t heard of any official word back from the company.\n\nA Veeam spokesperson told Threatpost via email: \u201cIt has been brought to our attention that one of our marketing databases, leaving a number of non-sensitive records (i.e. prospect email addresses), was possibly visible to third parties for a short period of time. We have now ensured that ALL Veeam databases are secure. Veeam takes data privacy and security very seriously, and a full investigation is currently underway.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s certainly not the only MongoDB, Hadoop or CouchDB installation that\u2019s ever been exposed \u2013 in July, researchers discovered another misconfigured repository bucket leaking the information of U.S. voters. The information was exposed on a public Amazon S3 bucket by a Virginia-based political campaign and robocalling company called Robocent.\n\nIn April, a leaky Mongo database made public the personal information of 25,000 investors tied to the Bezop cryptocurrency. And in March, a Walmart jewelry partner\u2019s\u2019 misconfigured AWS S3 bucket left personal details and contact information of 1.3 million customers in plain sight.\n\n\u201cUntil companies learn to employ security measures across the board, this kind of exposure is going to keep happening,\u201d Francis Dinha, CEO and co-founder of OpenVPN, told Threatpost. \u201cWe call it a \u2018leak,\u2019 but even that word shows how little we understand the risk of poor cyber security. In this case, \u2018leak\u2019 meant the exposure of millions upon millions of customer emails. In order to really prevent these kinds of security breaches, each individual employee needs to be educated on the importance of cyber security and the specific strategies you expect them to implement.\u201d\n\nThese exposed servers risk putting customers\u2019 private data or credentials in the hands of attackers to use \u2013 at the very least \u2013 for phishing attacks, or worse.\n\n\u201cEven taking into account the non-sensitivity of data, the public availability of such large, structured and targeted dataset online could become a real treasure chest for spammers and phishers,\u201d said Diachenko. \u201cIt is also a big luck that database was not hit by a new wave of ransomware attacks which have been specifically targeting MongoDBs (with much more extortion amount demand than it was last year).\u201d\n\nThis article was updated on Thursday, Sept. 13 to reflect a new statement posted by Veeam\u2019s co-CEO and president on the investigation into the matter and the number of unique emails involved."}
-{"text": "I.e if I send thunder token across the network, how do you utilise the ethereum network to send the thunder token should the slow chain be required? Given thunder token isn't going to be erc-20\n\nNormally, you don't need to directly use ethereum slow chain network unless the fast path down. Fast path nodes will confirm your transactions almost immediately at high throughput. If you are an accelerator or a committee member, you do need to read and write to the slow chain while helping process the fast path blocks. If you are a full node, you only need to read the slow chain to help you verify the committee member's identity. If you are just a client (metamask etc.) you don't need slow chain unless fast path is down."}
-{"text": "COVID-19 UPDATE :\n\nAt Heavenly Care, we have been creating safe and personalized care plans for over 15 years. Our Mission has always been to keep you or your loved ones safe within their own home. We are continuing that same high level service through the COVID-19 pandemic. You can rest assured that the safety of our clients and staff is our highest priority!\n\nTo learn more about resources available to you below; as well as protocols, screenings, PPE supplies, and more:"}
-{"text": "Egy 72 \u00e9ves m\u00e1jr\u00e1kos f\u00e9rfin v\u00e9gezt\u00e9k el haz\u00e1nkban el\u0151sz\u00f6r az \u00fagynevezett radioemboliz\u00e1ci\u00f3s daganatter\u00e1pi\u00e1t, k\u00f6z\u00f6lte a Semmelweis Egyetem. Ez az elj\u00e1r\u00e1s a hagyom\u00e1nyos onkol\u00f3giai kezel\u00e9sre nem reag\u00e1l\u00f3, seb\u00e9szileg el nem t\u00e1vol\u00edthat\u00f3 primer \u00e9s \u00e1tt\u00e9tes m\u00e1jdaganatokban szenved\u0151knek adhat \u00faj rem\u00e9nyt. Biztat\u00f3ak az els\u0151 eredm\u00e9nyek.\n\nA haz\u00e1nkban most el\u0151sz\u00f6r v\u00e9gzett intervenci\u00f3s radiol\u00f3giai daganatter\u00e1pi\u00e1t egy 72 \u00e9ves, j\u00f3 \u00e1llapot\u00fa p\u00e1ciensn\u00e9l alkalmazt\u00e1k m\u00e9g december elej\u00e9n. A betegn\u00e9l a nyelvgy\u00f6k ter\u00fclet\u00e9r\u0151l kiindul\u00f3 daganat okozott \u00e1tt\u00e9tet a m\u00e1jban.\n\nAz elj\u00e1r\u00e1s l\u00e9nyege, hogy a kar fel\u0151l kat\u00e9terrel bejutva a m\u00e1j t\u00e1pl\u00e1l\u00f3 erein kereszt\u00fcl a tumor v\u00e9rell\u00e1t\u00e1s\u00e1ba mikroszkopikus m\u00e9ret\u0171 sug\u00e1rforr\u00e1sok t\u00edzezreit juttatj\u00e1k be. Ezek az apr\u00f3 sug\u00e1rz\u00f3 r\u00e9szecsk\u00e9k a daganat ereiben elakadva rendk\u00edv\u00fcl nagy d\u00f3zis\u00fa, de csak a tumorban hat\u00e1st kifejt\u0151, bels\u0151 sug\u00e1rter\u00e1pi\u00e1s kezel\u00e9st jelentenek.\n\nB\u00e1ns\u00e1ghi Zolt\u00e1n, a Radiol\u00f3giai Klinika igazgat\u00f3helyettese, a nukle\u00e1ris medicina \u00e9s k\u00e9palkot\u00f3 szakemberb\u0151l, intervenci\u00f3s radiol\u00f3gusb\u00f3l \u00e9s klinikai onkol\u00f3gusb\u00f3l \u00e1ll\u00f3 munkacsoport vezet\u0151je azt mondta: a kezel\u00e9s f\u00e1jdalommentes, k\u00f6r\u00fclbel\u00fcl 40 perces \u00e9rfest\u00e9sk\u00e9nt \u00e9lhet\u0151 meg, amely ut\u00e1n mind\u00f6ssze 24 \u00f3r\u00e1s megfigyel\u00e9sre van csak sz\u00fcks\u00e9g.\n\nA speci\u00e1lis kezel\u00e9sen \u00e1tesett beteg j\u00f3l van, m\u00e1r m\u00e1snap hazaengedt\u00e9k. A kezel\u00e9s ut\u00e1n k\u00e9t h\u00e9tig m\u00e9g gyenge \u00e9s f\u00e1rad\u00e9kony volt, de a janu\u00e1r elej\u00e9n v\u00e9gzett PET CT vizsg\u00e1lat alapj\u00e1n a kor\u00e1bban 10 centim\u00e9tern\u00e9l nagyobb, hagyom\u00e1nyos kezel\u00e9sre nem reag\u00e1l\u00f3 daganat t\u00e9rfogat\u00e1nak t\u00f6bb mint fele m\u00e1r biztosan elpusztult, mondta B\u00e1ns\u00e1ghi Zolt\u00e1n.\n\nA vil\u00e1gon m\u00e1r m\u00e1sf\u00e9l \u00e9vtizede haszn\u00e1lt elj\u00e1r\u00e1st olyan els\u0151dleges m\u00e1jr\u00e1k, valamint m\u00e1s szervek okozta m\u00e1j\u00e1tt\u00e9tek eset\u00e9n alkalmazz\u00e1k, ahol seb\u00e9szi ell\u00e1t\u00e1s nem ker\u00fclhet sz\u00f3ba, m\u00e1s daganatellenes ter\u00e1pi\u00e1k sem hoztak eredm\u00e9nyt, a gy\u00f3gyszerek okozta s\u00falyos, elviselhetetlen mell\u00e9khat\u00e1sok miatt nincs m\u00e1s lehet\u0151s\u00e9g vagy amikor a daganat m\u00e1r nem reag\u00e1l az addig alkalmazott kezel\u00e9sre (rezisztencia) .\n\nA t\u00e1rsadalombiztos\u00edt\u00e1s \u00e1ltal egyedi m\u00e9lt\u00e1nyoss\u00e1g alapj\u00e1n finansz\u00edrozott beavatkoz\u00e1st a Semmelweis Egyetem Radiol\u00f3giai Klinik\u00e1j\u00e1n a Nukle\u00e1ris Medicina K\u00f6zponttal k\u00f6z\u00f6sen, az egyetem Onkol\u00f3giai K\u00f6zpontj\u00e1val \u00e9s Sug\u00e1rv\u00e9delmi Szolg\u00e1lat\u00e1val k\u00f6zrem\u0171k\u00f6d\u00e9sben v\u00e9gezt\u00e9k. A radioemboliz\u00e1ci\u00f3s daganatter\u00e1pia eredm\u00e9nyei a nem oper\u00e1lhat\u00f3 esetekben is biztat\u00f3ak. Sz\u00e1mos adat arra utal, hogy az elj\u00e1r\u00e1ssal a m\u0171t\u00e9ti ell\u00e1t\u00e1sra nem alkalmas esetek egy r\u00e9sz\u00e9n\u00e9l cs\u00f6kkenteni lehet a daganat m\u00e9ret\u00e9t \u00e9s n\u00f6velni a daganatmentes m\u00e1jter\u00fclet t\u00e9rfogat\u00e1t, ami m\u0171thet\u0151v\u00e9 teheti a p\u00e1cienst.\n\nAz els\u0151 hazai beavatkoz\u00e1st mintegy k\u00e9t\u00e9ves el\u0151k\u00e9sz\u00edt\u0151 munka el\u0151zte meg. Az \u00fatt\u00f6r\u0151 elj\u00e1r\u00e1st egyel\u0151re kiz\u00e1r\u00f3lag a Semmelweis Egyetemen v\u00e9gezhetik, mondta B\u00e9rczi Viktor, a Radiol\u00f3giai Klinika igazgat\u00f3ja. Most tervezik a m\u00e1sodik hazai kezel\u00e9st, amely v\u00e1rhat\u00f3an janu\u00e1r v\u00e9g\u00e9n megt\u00f6rt\u00e9nhet.\n\nMagyarorsz\u00e1gon az elm\u00falt n\u00e9gy \u00e9vtizedben mind a m\u00e1j els\u0151dleges, mind a m\u00e1s szervb\u0151l kiindul\u00f3, de a m\u00e1jba \u00e1tt\u00e9tet ad\u00f3 daganatok sz\u00e1ma n\u00f6vekedett. \u00c9ves el\u0151fordul\u00e1suk \u00f6sszesen 8-9 ezer k\u00f6z\u00e9 tehet\u0151, \u00e9s k\u00f6r\u00fclbel\u00fcl 6 ezer esetben a daganatos m\u00e1j seb\u00e9szileg oper\u00e1lhatatlan, az esetek fel\u00e9ben pedig sikeres m\u0171t\u00e9t ut\u00e1n is sz\u00e1m\u00edtani lehet a daganat ki\u00fajul\u00e1s\u00e1ra."}
-{"text": "This isn\u2019t your stock 3 x 12 bodybuilding split photocopied out of your latest muscle mag. This is the actual Seth Rollins workout he uses when training for the WWE. Try it out for a week and see if you can keep up with the champ.\n\nOfficial Seth Rollins Workout\n\nDynamic Warmup\n\n1. JUMPING JACKS x 10 REPS\n\n2. GATE SWING X 10 REPS\n\n3. POGO HOP X 10 REPS\n\n4. SEAL JACK X 10 REPS\n\n5. BODYWEIGHT SQUAT X 10 REPS\n\n6. SIDE LUNGE X 10 REPS (EACH SIDE)\n\n7. LUNGE AND ROTATE X 10 REPS (EACH SIDE)\n\n8. REVERSE LUNGE AND REACH OVER TOP X 5 REPS (EACH SIDE)\n\n9. CARIOCA X 10 YDS\n\n10. LIZARD CRAWL X 10 (EACH SIDE)\n\n11. SKIPPING FORWARD X 10 YDS\n\n12. SKIPPING BACKWARDS X 10 YDS\n\n13. FRANKENSTEIN WALKS X 10 YDS\n\n14. FRANKENSTEIN SKIPS X 10 YDS\n\n15. INCHWORM X 5-10\n\n16. HIP SWING X 10 (EACH LEG)\n\nMonday\n\n1. PERFORM DYNAMIC WARMUP\n\n2. PRACTICE SKILL WORK FOR 15 MIN.\n\n\u2022 HANDSTAND PUSH-UPS\n\n\u2022 MUSCLE UPS\n\n\u2022 KNEES-TO-ELBOWS\n\n3. MAIN LIFT*\n\n\u2022 MILITARY PRESS 6 X 3\n\n4. METCON\n\n\u2022 FULL SQUAT SNATCHES 9-7-5\n\n\u2022 BAR MUSCLE UPS 9-7-5\n\nTuesday\n\n1. PERFORM DYNAMIC WARMUP\n\n2. PRACTICE SKILL WORK FOR 15 MIN.\n\n\u2022 TRIPOD TUCK TO HEADSTAND\n\n\u2022 TRIPOD STRADDLE TO HEADSTAND\n\n\u2022 TRIPOD PIKE TO HEADSTAND\n\n3. MAIN LIFT*\n\n\u2022 CLEAN & JERK 6 X 3\n\n4. METCON\n\n\u2022 ROW FOR 5 MIN. REST 2 MIN.\n\n\u2022 ROW FOR 3 MIN. REST 2 MIN.\n\n\u2022 ROW FOR 3 MIN. REST 2 MIN.\n\nWednesday\n\nREST DAY\n\nThursday\n\n1. PERFORM DYNAMIC WARMUP\n\n2. PRACTICE SKILL WORK FOR 15 MIN.\n\n\u2022 L-SIT\n\n\u2022 PARALLETTE PUSHUPS\n\n\u2022 HANDSTAND WALKS\n\n3. MAIN LIFT*\n\n\u2022 FRONT SQUAT 6 X 3\n\n4. METCON\n\n\u2022 50 BOX JUMP, 24 INCH BOX\n\n\u2022 50 JUMPING PULL-UPS\n\n\u2022 50 KETTLEBELL SWINGS, 1 POOD\n\n\u2022 WALKING LUNGE, 50 STEPS\n\n\u2022 50 KNEES TO ELBOWS\n\n\u2022 50 PUSH PRESS, 45 POUNDS\n\n\u2022 50 BACK EXTENSIONS\n\n\u2022 50 WALL BALL SHOTS, 20 LB BALL\n\n\u2022 50 BURPEES\n\n\u2022 50 DOUBLE UNDERS\n\nFriday\n\n1. PERFORM DYNAMIC WARMUP\n\n2. PRACTICE SKILL WORK FOR 15 MIN.\n\n\u2022 BOX JUMP\n\n\u2022 HOLLOW BODY\n\n\u2022 STRICT PULL UP\n\n3. MAIN LIFT*\n\n\u2022 POWER SNATCH 6 X 3\n\n4. METCON\n\n\u2022 7 MUSCLE-UPS\n\n\u2022 21 BURPEES\n\nSaturday\n\nROW 5000 METERS FOR TIME\n\nSunday\n\nREST DAY\n\n*RECORD WEIGHT USED FOR ALL SETS"}
-{"text": "SMS marketing, also known as text message marketing, is commonly used for appointment reminders, coupons and promotional messages and brief informational updates. SimplyCast offers an automated SMS solution so you can easily create and send SMS messages to your customers.\n\nWe are now offering new SMS marketing tutorials to help you create your text message campaigns. You can find them in the SimplyCast application. Log in to your SimplyCast account or sign up here. In the upper right corner, you will see a \"Tutorials\" drop-down menu. Click on the channel for which you wish to view tutorials and select your tutorial. Your video tutorial will open in an overlay.\n\nWant a sneak peek of the SMS tutorials? Check them out below.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSMS Broadcasting Tutorial: Creating an SMS Project from SimplyCast on Vimeo.\n\nSign up for a free SimplyCast account to try SMS marketing."}
-{"text": "On the heels of Andy Samberg\u2019s Golden Globe win last night for his work on Fox comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Fox this morning announced it had sealed a multi-year deal with The Lonely Island, forming a new alternative comedy development venture. Akiva Schaffer, Samberg and Jorma Taccone will develop an \u201calternative pipeline of next-generation comedy series\u201d for the network. Through the new company, The Lonely Island will oversee the development of comedy projects that will be incubated through digital platforms, such as Hulu and Roku, with the ultimate goal of becoming full series on Fox, FX, FXX or other networks.\n\nThe Lonely Island is responsible for creating the popular SNL Digital Shorts, which spurred many water-cooler moments. Some notable shorts include D**k In A Box, Lazy Sunday, I\u2019m On A Boat, Jack Sparrow, YOLO and The Natalie Portman Rap. In 2007, the trio won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for D**k In A Box, and a Peabody Award for the 2008/2009 season.\n\n\u201cThese guys know what it takes to break through \u2013 whether online or on air \u2013 and they are the perfect partners to help us find the next generation of comedy hits,\u201d Fox Entertainment chairman Kevin Reilly said in this morning news.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s vital that we foster more experimentation both on and off the Fox lot, so we can take more shots at identifying hits,\u201d added Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, Senior Vice President of Multi-Platform Programming for Fox.\n\nAnd Schaffer said The Lonely Island team is \u201csuper excited to work with Mr. Reilly and everyone at Fox to make innovative and cool TV shows that might not otherwise make it through the normal development process. Reilly has given us a sandbox to play in, and we\u2019ve brought our shovels, buckets, towels, sunblock, some old Grisham paperbacks, a Luna bar \u2013 wait \u2013 what was I talking about again?\u201d\n\nLike Reilly said, it\u2019s the network\u2019s third multi-platform development initiative. In 2012, Fox launched Animation Domination High-Def, its alternative animation unit. In 2013, the network announced a strategic deal with digital studio WIGS, created by television and feature film producers Jon Avnet and Rodrigo Garcia.\n\nComedic rap trio The Lonely Island coined their name from the cramped West Coast apartment they shared as comic start-ups. In 2005, the trio joined NBC\u2019s Saturday Night Live \u2014 Samberg as a cast member and Taccone and Schaffer as writers/directors. They boast 1.24 billion overall views on their YouTube channel, as well as three Platinum singles (\u201cI\u2019m On A Boat,\u201d \u201cJizz In My Pants\u201d and \u201cI Just Had Sex\u201d) and one Gold single (\u201cLike A Boss\u201d). The Lonely Island\u2019s debut album, \u201cIncredibad,\u201d was released by Republic Records in February 2009 and is the first comedy album to reach No. 1 on iTunes. Their 2011 sophomore album, \u201cTurtleneck & Chain,\u201d which debuted at No. 3 on Billboard, was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Comedy Album and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for \u201cI\u2019m On A Boat.\u201d They recently released their third album, \u201cThe Wack Album,\u201d in June 2013, featuring Hugh Jackman, Kristen Wiig, Robyn, Adam Levine, Kendrick Lamar, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Too $hort, Pharrell Williams, T-Pain, Billie Joe Armstrong and Solange.\n\nSamberg last night won the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series \u2013 Comedy or Musical. Brooklyn Nine-Nine will air a special episode on Sunday, February 2 after Fox\u2019s coverage of Super Bowl XLVIII. Taccone co-wrote and directed the 2010 feature film MacGruber, starring Will Forte and Kristen Wiig. He most recently starred as Booth Jonathan in a multi-episode character arc on HBO\u2019s Girls.\n\nSchaffer made his feature length directorial debut with Hot Rod for Paramount Pictures in 2007, and recently directed the 2012 feature-length film The Watch, starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill."}
-{"text": "Paper wasps and yellow jackets have many behavioral similarities. Both are social and build nests annually. Both survive the winter only as pregnant females, and colonies of both include a queen mother, many sterile female workers and only a few parthenogenetically produced males. Finally, both are capable of delivering a venomous sting, but only yellow jackets are eager to use it. Yellow jackets live on the ground -- where everyone likes to stomp around, posing a continual threat to their nests. They tend to sting on a moment's notice. Paper wasps are nonaggressive and typically only sting in self-defense, when someone is actively disturbing their nest or accidentally crushing a wasp. Paper wasps are not considered a threat to humans, and entomologists and agricultural specialists recommend leaving their nests in place."}
-{"text": "The evolution of language helped humans develop culture and cooperation with others who helped us survive. We aren\u2019t alone. Sperm whales form clans with distinct dialects and cultures in the Pacific and the Atlantic, and a new study introduces another clan in the Caribbean Sea.\n\nThe study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, profiles sperm whale clans in the Caribbean Sea and how their dialects keep whale cultures separate. Shane Gero, an author of the study, says this new clan means \u201cthere are multicultural areas in the Atlantic.\u201d\n\nWhale dialects are made up of a series of distinct click patterns called codas, and researchers can identify a clan by their click vocabulary using recording equipment. Within each vocal clan are social groups of female whales and calves that spend most of their time together. Males spend the majority of their time roaming the open ocean, but still communicate with members of their vocal clan when they encounter other whales.\n\nEach clan has a signature set of clicks that announce their affiliation, and this signature is taught to each generation. Whale calves take two to three years to learn the family dialect, and they even babble, much like humans do in infancy.\n\nIn the Caribbean, whales use the \u201c1+1+3\u201d coda (a set of five clicks, with pauses, that\u2019s a bit like Morse code) to notify other whales of their origin. In the Pacific Ocean, there are five known vocal clans, but with only one known clan in the Caribbean, researchers were left wondering why the whales bothered to announce their affiliation.\n\nTheir question was answered with some detailed analysis of 10 years of recording data collected by Gero\u2019s team based on the island of Dominica. There are, in fact, two vocal clans in the Caribbean, giving the whales a good reason to broadcast their affiliation. The new clan is much smaller than the dominant clan in the region with only two known social groups and their vocalizations were much rarer in the recordings. The 1+1+3 coda, which is only found in the Caribbean, is rarely used by the newly discovered clan. They instead primarily use another coda called 5R3.\n\nThese clans, and their dialects, allow whales to share information and traditions that help them survive in the highly varied ocean environment. For example, said Gero, some clans in the Pacific tend to do better during El Ni\u00f1o years. Clan members can help each other hunt for squid in areas known for lots of prey, or members can help each other to avoid predators like orcas.\n\nIf one group of whales dies out, the cultural wisdom about a particular region dies out too. Gero likened the loss of these whale cultures to the loss of human heritage. \u201cCulture, to them, is clearly important,\u201d he said, and only trying to conserve sperm whales on a species level \u201cdoesn\u2019t make sense.\u201d Conservation efforts that take these distinct cultures into account will not only help sperm whales survive as a species, they will help clans survive in places no other group of sperm whales could."}
-{"text": "Jimmy Napoli is not throwing away his shot.\n\nFor the past 20 years, this guide and Alexander Hamilton expert has been leading tourists and residents through the streets of New York City, telling them stories of the Revolutionary War and its heroes. Now that Hamilton is the star of a hit Broadway musical, Mr. Napoli is focusing a new tour on his favorite founding father.\n\n\u201cA lot of us have been preaching about Hamilton for a very long time,\u201d said Mr. Napoli, 51, an owner of Outside In Tours who has written, lectured and been interviewed in a PBS documentary about the man whose face graces the $10 bill. \u201cHe\u2019s finally getting his due.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Welcome to the OFFICIAL #DisneyBound website! DisneyBound is meant to be inspiration for you to pull together your own outfits which work for your body and wallet whether from your closet or local mall. As to Disney artwork/properties: \u00a9Disney"}
-{"text": "A Wall Street Journal poll taken last week reflects a gain by Republicans in party identification, closing the gap from 40-33 in April in favor of the Democrats to a Democratic margin of only 35-34. The data reflects that one-third of this six-point closure of the partisan gap comes from a major shift among the elderly \u2014 the only demographic group to have moved dramatically.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nIn April, the elderly broke evenly on their party identification, with 37 percent supporting each political party. Now the Republicans hold a lead, at 46-33. This 13-point closure among the 14 percent of the vote that is cast by those over 65 represents two of the six points of closure nationally.\n\n\n\nNo other group changed nearly as much. Neither liberals nor minorities nor any other age group moved nearly as dramatically as did the elderly. The Journal\u2019s pollsters noted that \u201cperhaps the most striking movement is with senior citizens.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe Democratic Party, led by Obama, is systematically converting the elderly vote into a Republican bastion. The work of FDR in passing Social Security in 1937 and of LBJ in enacting Medicare in 1965 is being undone by the president\u2019s healthcare program. The elderly see his proposals for what they are: a massive redistribution of healthcare away from the elderly and toward a population that is younger, healthier and richer but happens, at the moment, to lack insurance. (Remember that the uninsured are, by definition, not elderly, not young and not in poverty \u2014 and if they are, they are currently eligible for Medicare, Medicaid or SCHIP and do not need the Obama program.) The elderly see the $500 billion projected cut in Medicare through the same lens as they viewed Gingrich\u2019s efforts to slice the growth in the program in the mid-1990s.\n\n\n\nWhen the president addresses Congress and the nation on Wednesday night, he will likely indicate a willingness to compromise on aspects of his program. He might attenuate his support of the public option for insurance companies and could soften other aspects of his proposal as it is embodied in the House bill.\n\n\n\nBut the fundamental equation will not change: He is cutting Medicare spending and using the money to subsidize coverage of those who are now uninsured but cannot afford to pay full premiums. It is this equation that has the elderly up in arms.\n\n\n\nAnd our seniors correctly understand that you cannot extend full health benefits to some portion of the 50 million who live here and lack insurance without causing rationing of existing health services unless you expand the number of doctors and nurses and the amount of medical equipment.\n\n\n\nWhen President Harry Truman first proposed compulsory health insurance in 1949, he coupled his proposal with a big increase in federal aid to medical education. He grasped the fundamental reality that you cannot expand coverage without expanding the number of people who provide the service \u2014 unless you are prepared to resort to wholesale rationing.\n\n\n\nIf Democratic senators and congressmen believe that the elderly will recover from their Republican tendencies by Election Day 2010 \u2014 or even by 2012 or 2014 \u2014 they misjudge their senior constituents. The elderly are the group most dependent on government services, and they follow politics with an attention that only the needy can give.\n\n\n\nThey will not forget if the Democrats push through cuts in Medicare and then ask for their support in the next election. Their memories are long and they turn out in huge numbers. Until now, these traits have worked to the advantage of the Democrats. Now they are increasingly likely to deliver Congress and the White House to the Republicans.\n\n\n\n\n\nMorris, a former adviser to Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and President Bill Clinton William (Bill) Jefferson ClintonNew poll finds Biden narrowly leading Trump in Georgia Changing the climate of presidential debates Davis: My advice to Joe Biden on eve of the debate \u2014 be Joe Biden MORE, is the author of Outrage and Fleeced. To get all of Dick Morris\u2019s and Eileen McGann\u2019s columns for free by e-mail or to order a signed copy of their new best-selling book, Catastrophe, go to dickmorris.com.\n\n"}
-{"text": "Pai Sho Board\n\nSo after going back and watching ATLA for like the 5th time I decided that I needed a Pai sho board. So i went on craiglist and after a bit of searching I found this guy for $20.\n\nHeres what I did.\n\nPre table) I made a mock up table on paper to see what it would look like (it was pretty rough)\n\n1) I marked an 18 inch diameter circle (standard playing size) on the table, then using an orbital sander, sanding sponge, and a chisel I sanded off the varnish and stain within the circle.\n\n2) I drew the lines on the table and then used a wood burner to darken up the lines and give them grooves.\n\n3) Next I Frog taped the parts I wanted to stain Red and used clothes and sponges to apply the stain, after the appropriate amount of time I took it. (the stain was thin enough that it was able to get under the frog tape so I had to go back with sand paper and touch it up on some of the lines)\n\n4) After waiting a day I taped and stained the yellow portions.\n\n5) After waiting overnight, I sprayed a layer of clear finish over it, unfortunately I wasn\u2019t super careful and just used what I had and didn\u2019t check to make sure it was crystal clear, so it turned the white portions about as yellow as the yellow portions, but I\u2019ll survive.\n\n6) Now that the board is finished I had to get some pieces to play with, I got mine made of Birch wood for this Etsy store.\n\nSo there you have it. Thats how I put together my pai sho board. Hope it was helpful.\n\nRemember as a wise Pai sho player once said, \u201cWhile it is always best to believe in one\u2019s self, a little help from others can be a great blessing\u201d"}
-{"text": "A Spitfire crashed on takeoff during airshow at aerodrome of Trois-fronti\u00e8res, Longuyon-Vilette few meters from the public.\n\nThe propeller has hit the ground during takeoff, then the WWII plane moved upside down and stopped on its back.\n\nPropeller splints spread among the crowd and obviously at least one young woman has been injured.\n\nThe firemen quickly arrived at the crash site. The pilot was injured.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Prenez note que cet article publi\u00e9 en 2018 pourrait contenir des informations qui ne sont plus \u00e0 jour.\n\nUne enqu\u00eate de CBC News a r\u00e9v\u00e9l\u00e9 que le g\u00e9ant de l'informatique Apple surestimait souvent le co\u00fbt de r\u00e9paration de ses produits, en plus de menacer les magasins ind\u00e9pendants qui offrent de r\u00e9parer ses appareils pour une fraction du prix.\n\nUn texte d'Alex Shprinsten, de CBC News\n\nLes clients qui se pr\u00e9sentent dans une boutique Apple pour faire corriger un probl\u00e8me technique suppos\u00e9ment mineur, comme un \u00e9cran qui clignote, doivent souvent d\u00e9bourser des sommes importantes, puisqu'on leur affirme qu'ils doivent faire remplacer des pi\u00e8ces importantes de leur appareil.\n\nLa compagnie californienne autorise uniquement les r\u00e9parations par des techniciens travaillant dans ses boutiques ou encore dans des centres de service \u00ab autoris\u00e9s \u00bb pour que les appareils demeurent sous garantie.\n\nSelon Jason Koebler, qui parle r\u00e9guli\u00e8rement d'Apple en tant que r\u00e9dacteur en chef de Motherboard, le site d'informations sp\u00e9cialis\u00e9 en technologie et en science du m\u00e9dia Vice, il s'agit l\u00e0 d'un probl\u00e8me fr\u00e9quent.\n\n\u00ab J'ai d\u00e9j\u00e0 bris\u00e9 mon [ordinateur portable] MacBook, je l'ai apport\u00e9 chez Apple, et on exigeait 700 $ pour r\u00e9parer l'\u00e9cran. J'ai fini par corriger le probl\u00e8me moi-m\u00eame pour 50 $. Cela se produit tout le temps \u00bb, dit-il.\n\n\u00ab Il y a beaucoup de tierces parties qui peuvent effectuer des r\u00e9parations qu'Apple refuse de faire parce qu'elles ne sont pas rentables \u00e0 grande \u00e9chelle, ou parce que la compagnie pr\u00e9f\u00e8re carr\u00e9ment remplacer. Il y a beaucoup de raisons pour lesquelles des gens ne veulent pas \u00eatre des tiers autoris\u00e9s et travailler, en gros, pour Apple, alors qu'ils peuvent travailler pour eux-m\u00eames. \u00bb\n\nApple a refus\u00e9 d'accorder une entrevue dans le cadre de cette enqu\u00eate, mais a ni\u00e9 qu'il existait une strat\u00e9gie visant \u00e0 surfacturer les r\u00e9parations.\n\nCBC News a utilis\u00e9 une cam\u00e9ra cach\u00e9e pour v\u00e9rifier des informations voulant que des clients d'Apple soient r\u00e9guli\u00e8rement inform\u00e9s du fait que leur ordinateur endommag\u00e9 ne vaille pas la peine d'\u00eatre r\u00e9par\u00e9, m\u00eame lorsque des corrections mineures pourraient r\u00e9gler le probl\u00e8me.\n\nApr\u00e8s avoir examin\u00e9 un MacBook Pro atteint d'un probl\u00e8me r\u00e9pandu o\u00f9 l'\u00e9cran ne s'affichait pas correctement, un employ\u00e9 du magasin Apple Store a r\u00e9pondu en soutenant que l'appareil avait besoin d'importantes r\u00e9parations co\u00fbtant plus de 1200 $.\n\nQuestionn\u00e9 \u00e0 savoir s'il existait une autre raison expliquant les d\u00e9g\u00e2ts subis par l'ordinateur, ou une solution de rechange moins on\u00e9reuse pour effectuer les r\u00e9parations, l'employ\u00e9 a soutenu qu'il n'y en avait aucune.\n\n\u00ab Ce prix s'approche du co\u00fbt d'achat d'un ordinateur neuf \u00bb, a dit l'employ\u00e9. \u00ab Peut-on r\u00e9parer le tout en magasin? Non. \u00bb\n\nR\u00e9parations \u00ab non autoris\u00e9es \u00bb\n\nLouis Rossmann poss\u00e8de un petit magasin de r\u00e9parations d'ordinateurs sur la 1re Avenue \u00e0 Manhattan, le genre d'endroit qualifi\u00e9 de \u00ab non autoris\u00e9 \u00bb par Apple.\n\nM. Rossmann a commenc\u00e9 \u00e0 r\u00e9parer des ordinateurs pour le plaisir \u00e0 l'universit\u00e9, et attire maintenant des millions de clics sur ses vid\u00e9os publi\u00e9es sur YouTube, o\u00f9 il explique au public comment r\u00e9parer des ordinateurs et des t\u00e9l\u00e9phones.\n\nAyant re\u00e7u l'ordinateur d\u00e9crit par l'Apple Store de Toronto comme n\u00e9cessitant des r\u00e9parations au co\u00fbt d\u00e9passant les 1200 $, M. Rossmann a identifi\u00e9 une languette de m\u00e9tal tordue qui aurait d\u00fb permettre d'alimenter le r\u00e9tro\u00e9clairage.\n\nApr\u00e8s avoir redress\u00e9 la languette, le probl\u00e8me a sembl\u00e9 \u00eatre r\u00e9solu. Pour M. Rossmann, cela ne justifiait pas des co\u00fbts de 1200 $.\n\n\u00ab Si quelqu'un voulait simplement que je redresse la languette, je ne demanderais pas d'argent \u00bb, a-t-il dit, avant d'ajouter qu'il exigerait de 75 $ \u00e0 150 $ si le client voulait que la languette soit carr\u00e9ment remplac\u00e9e.\n\n\u00ab Quatre-vingt-dix-neuf pour cent du temps, simplement redresser la languette permettra \u00e0 l'ordinateur de continuer \u00e0 fonctionner jusqu'\u00e0 la fin de sa vie utile. \u00bb\n\nQuestionn\u00e9e \u00e0 propos de ce cas et sur les nombreuses all\u00e9gations de multiplication d'\u00e9v\u00e9nements similaires, Apple n'a pas voulu d\u00e9p\u00eacher un porte-parole. La compagnie a toutefois publi\u00e9 une d\u00e9claration officielle o\u00f9 elle soutient que ses clients sont avantag\u00e9s par les \u00ab experts certifi\u00e9s d'Apple qui utilisent des pi\u00e8ces officielles \u00bb, et a ni\u00e9 qu'elle surfacturait syst\u00e9matique les r\u00e9parations.\n\n\u00c0 lire aussi : Pour le droit \u00e0 la r\u00e9paration des appareils \u00e9lectroniques\n\n\u00ab Droit de faire r\u00e9parer \u00bb\n\nOutre les boutiques qui effectuent des r\u00e9parations non autoris\u00e9es de produits Apple, un site web appel\u00e9 iFixit offre des solutions de r\u00e9parations manuelles \u00e0 partir d'un entrep\u00f4t sis en Californie. On y teste des appareils, on tente d'\u00e9tablir les raisons sous-tendant des probl\u00e8mes techniques r\u00e9currents, et on y d\u00e9veloppe des techniques ainsi que des outils pour en venir \u00e0 bout.\n\nL'entreprise emploie 125 personnes et engrange plus de 20 millions de dollars am\u00e9ricains par ann\u00e9e en vendant de l'\u00e9quipement et des manuels de r\u00e9paration en ligne qui visent \u00e0 surmonter les difficult\u00e9s cr\u00e9\u00e9es par des compagnies comme Apple.\n\nKyle Wiens, un Californien de 34 ans, a cofond\u00e9 iFixit il y a 15 ans alors qu'il \u00e9tait jeune adulte. Il est \u00e9galement tr\u00e8s engag\u00e9 aupr\u00e8s du mouvement international \u00ab Droit de faire r\u00e9parer \u00bb, qui fait pression aupr\u00e8s des gouvernements pour faire modifier des lois et faciliter la survie des compagnies de r\u00e9parations \u00ab non autoris\u00e9es \u00bb.\n\nLe droit de faire r\u00e9parer est l'id\u00e9e voulant que vous puissiez r\u00e9parer vos propres objets ou les apporter dans un magasin pour les faire r\u00e9parer. Kyle Wiens, cofondateur d'iFixit\n\n\u00ab Il fut une \u00e9poque o\u00f9 si vous achetiez quelque chose, vous \u00e9tiez capable de le r\u00e9parer au besoin, mais au fil du temps, nous avons perdu cette capacit\u00e9, qu'il s'agisse d'un aspirateur, d'une t\u00e9l\u00e9vision ou d'un ordinateur portable. Il est de plus en plus complexe d'avoir acc\u00e8s \u00e0 l'information n\u00e9cessaire ou, pour les magasins locaux, d'obtenir des pi\u00e8ces. \u00bb\n\nVoil\u00e0 des ann\u00e9es que M. Wiens lutte contre Apple, tentant de forcer la compagnie \u00e0 rendre la vie plus facile \u00e0 ceux qui ne veulent pas faire r\u00e9parer leur appareil dans les magasins Apple ou dans des boutiques autoris\u00e9es.\n\n\u00ab Apple n'aime pas beaucoup le mouvement du Droit de faire r\u00e9parer, dit-il. La perspective d'Apple est que la compagnie souhaite exercer un contr\u00f4le complet sur les appareils, du moment o\u00f9 vous les achetez jusqu'\u00e0 la fin de leur vie utile. \u00bb\n\nAu dire de M. Wiens, la compagnie \u00e9valu\u00e9e \u00e0 plus de 1000 milliards de dollars l'a p\u00e9riodiquement menac\u00e9 de poursuites pour avoir suppos\u00e9ment viol\u00e9 les lois sur les copyrights.\n\n\u00ab Le droit de faire r\u00e9parer leur enl\u00e8ve une partie de ce contr\u00f4le et le rend aux propri\u00e9taires des appareils \u00bb, ajoute-t-il.\n\nLe fait qu'un fabricant dise \"nous fabriquons un produit, nous le vendons et nous allons en contr\u00f4ler tous les aspects apr\u00e8s la vente\" est de la folie. Kyle Wiens, cofondateur d'iFixit\n\nAstuces\n\nEn plus de cr\u00e9er des obstacles visant \u00e0 emp\u00eacher la publication de manuels et d'instructions permettant les r\u00e9parations, M. Wiens soutient qu'Apple a \u00e9galement employ\u00e9 des astuces physiques, dans les appareils eux-m\u00eames, pour emp\u00eacher les r\u00e9parations rapides.\n\nSelon lui, la compagnie colle les piles dans leur logement, emploie son propre type de vis, et reprogramme ses syst\u00e8mes d'exploitation pour \u00e9viter que des boutons physiques qui sont remplac\u00e9s de fa\u00e7on non autoris\u00e9e sur les t\u00e9l\u00e9phones iPhone fonctionnent correctement.\n\n\u00ab Ils veulent rendre leurs appareils plus difficiles \u00e0 ouvrir \u00e0 l'aide d'outils r\u00e9pandus \u00bb, dit-il.\n\n\u00ab Cela d\u00e9coule d'une mentalit\u00e9 voulant qu'Apple soit le centre de l'univers, et que personne d'autre ne puisse faire quoi que ce soit avec leurs produits. \u00bb\n\nMalgr\u00e9 le fait qu'Apple maintienne que les r\u00e9parations de ses produits sont plus efficaces lorsqu'elles sont effectu\u00e9es par ses propres employ\u00e9s, elle a intent\u00e9 des poursuites contre les tierces parties qui offrent des services de r\u00e9paration, mena\u00e7ant M. Rossmann et iFixit lorsqu'ils publient des informations ou des manuels de r\u00e9paration en ligne.\n\n\u00ab Puisque Apple publie le manuel d'utilisation, elle en poss\u00e8de les droits, alors si vous le publiez en ligne, elle menacera de vous poursuivre \u00bb, mentionne M. Wiens, avant d'ajouter que les sommes potentiellement exig\u00e9es pourraient atteindre 150 000 $ \u00e0 chaque occasion.\n\n\u00ab Ces menaces judiciaires ont vraiment nui \u00e0 la diffusion d'informations en ligne concernant les r\u00e9parations. \u00bb\n\nApple se tourne \u00e9galement vers des institutions gouvernementales pour l'aider \u00e0 mener son combat, faisant r\u00e9guli\u00e8rement saisir des pi\u00e8ces d\u00e9tach\u00e9es lorsque celles-ci sont exp\u00e9di\u00e9es en Am\u00e9rique du Nord en provenance de pays comme la Chine, soutient M. Koebler.\n\n\u00ab Apple travaille avec le d\u00e9partement am\u00e9ricain de la S\u00e9curit\u00e9 nationale (DHS) et avec les services frontaliers pour faire respecter ses copyrights et sa propri\u00e9t\u00e9 intellectuelle \u00bb, dit-il.\n\n\u00ab Il y a eu un cas, il y a quelques ann\u00e9es, en Floride, o\u00f9 le DHS a effectu\u00e9 une descente dans une boutique non autoris\u00e9e, et a confisqu\u00e9 des centaines d'\u00e9crans pour iPhone, en plus d'arr\u00eater un employ\u00e9. \u00bb\n\nD\u00e9marches l\u00e9gislatives\n\nLes gouvernements de certains \u00c9tats am\u00e9ricains ont cherch\u00e9 \u00e0 agir dans ce dossier; 17 d'entre eux ont pr\u00e9sent\u00e9 des projets de loi qui forceraient Apple et d'autres compagnies \u00e0 fournir des instructions, des manuels permettant les r\u00e9parations et des pi\u00e8ces d\u00e9tach\u00e9es aux tierces parties.\n\nL'un de ces \u00c9tats est l'\u00c9tat de New York, o\u00f9 les partisans du projet de loi croient que cette loi serait positive pour les consommateurs et l'\u00e9conomie.\n\n\u00ab Vous allez constater la croissance d'une industrie rassemblant des gens qui s'int\u00e9ressent aux r\u00e9parations et qui pourront d\u00e9sormais obtenir des codes de diagnostic, des outils pour effectuer des r\u00e9parations, des fournitures \u00bb, a indiqu\u00e9 le leader de l'Assembl\u00e9e l\u00e9gislative de l'\u00c9tat de New York, Joe Morelle.\n\n\u00ab Il est clairement plus avantageux pour les consommateurs d'avoir acc\u00e8s \u00e0 des r\u00e9parations pour un appareil qui peut co\u00fbter 1000 $. \u00bb\n\nDe son c\u00f4t\u00e9, M. Wiens attend qu'un \u00c9tat \u2013 n'importe lequel \u2013 adopte une telle loi.\n\nLe moment o\u00f9 un \u00c9tat va de l'avant, les choses vont se pr\u00e9cipiter. Kyle Wiens, cofondateur d'iFixit\n\n\u00ab Si l'Ontario d\u00e9cidait d'adopter une loi pour le droit de faire r\u00e9parer, cela voudrait dire en fait qu'une telle loi serait adopt\u00e9e \u00e0 l'\u00e9chelle mondiale, puisque les fabricants ne fourniront pas des produits diff\u00e9rents dans chaque juridiction. Ils veulent simplifier leurs activit\u00e9s. \u00bb\n\nM. Rossmann, pour sa part, dit ne pas exiger grand-chose, et souhaite simplement qu'on le laisse travailler en paix. \u00ab J'aimerais qu'Apple change en reconnaissant que s'ils ne sont pas int\u00e9ress\u00e9s \u00e0 effectuer certaines r\u00e9parations, quelqu'un d'autre pourrait vouloir le faire \u00bb, dit-il.\n\n\u00ab Je ne leur demande m\u00eame pas d'offrir un rameau d'olivier. Je leur demande uniquement d'enterrer la hache de guerre. \u00bb"}
-{"text": "Jonathan Ernst / Reuters U.S. President Donald Trump waits to speak by phone with the Saudi Arabia's King Salman in the Oval Office, January 29, 2017.\n\nDear President Trump,\n\nThis week you are scheduled to meet with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.\n\nAs a 9/11 widow who has fought for more than 15 years for truth, justice, accountability, and transparency with regard to the murder of my husband, Ron, I have a considerable interest in your upcoming meeting with the Deputy Crown Prince.\n\nFirst, foremost, and for good reason, I fear that the Deputy Crown Prince will not be forthright with you about his Kingdom\u2019s role in the 9/11 attacks and global terrorism.\n\nIndeed, many in the Kingdom refuse to tell the truth about their continued, long-standing, and well-documented clandestine, logistical and financial support of radical Islamist terrorist groups that target and kill innocent Americans.\n\nFor example, last summer when the infamous 2002 Joint Inquiry of Congress\u2019 28 pages were finally released, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al Jubeir claimed that the Saudis were exonerated and that the matter surrounding the Saudi role in the 9/11 attacks was \u201cnow finished.\u201d\n\nIn reality, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its role in facilitating the 9/11 attacks is far from over. And, in truth, the 28 pages prove to be quite illuminating, devastating and damning towards that end:\n\nOn page 415 : \u201cWhile in the United States, some of the September 11 hijackers were in contact with, and received support and assistance from, individuals who may be connected to the Saudi Government.\u2026 [A]t least two of those individuals were alleged by some to be Saudi intelligence officers.\u201d\n\nOn page 417 : One of the individuals identified in the pages as a financial supporter of two of the 9/11 hijackers, Osama Bassnan, later received a \u201csignificant amount of cash\u201d from \u201ca member of the Saudi Royal Family\u201d during a 2002 trip to Houston.\n\nOn page 418 : \u201cAnother Saudi national with close ties to the Saudi Royal Family, [deleted], is the subject of FBI counterterrorism investigations.\u201d\n\nOn pages 418 and 419 : Detained al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaida had in his phone book the unlisted number for the security company that managed the Colorado residence of the then-Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan.\n\nOn page 421 : \u201ca [deleted], dated July 2, 2002, [indicates] \u2018incontrovertible evidence that there is support for these terrorists inside the Saudi Government.\u2019\u201d\n\nOn page 426 : Bassnan\u2019s wife was receiving money \u201cfrom Princess Haifa Bint Sultan,\u201d the wife of the Saudi ambassador. (Her correct name is actually Princess Haifa bin Faisal.)\n\nOn page 436 : The general counsel of the U.S. Treasury Department, David Aufhauser, testified that \u201coffices [of the Saudi charity al-Haramain] have significant contacts with extremists, Islamic extremists.\u201d CIA officials also testified \u201cthat they were making progress on their investigations of al-Haramain.\u2026 [T]he head of the central office is complicit in supporting terrorism, and it also raised questions about [then-Saudi Interior Minister] Prince Nayef.\u201d\n\nFortunately, as you know President Trump, JASTA (Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act) was enacted into law\u2015overriding President Obama\u2019s veto\u2015on September 28, 2016 and the 9/11 Families were given the right to hold the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia accountable in a court of law for its alleged role in the 9/11 attacks.\n\nThanks to discovery and subpoena power, the 9/11 families hope to unearth and reveal a panoply of compelling information surrounding the Saudi role in the 9/11 attacks. Suffice it to say, we do not believe the Saudis should be considered an ally of America.\n\nUnsurprisingly, the Saudis continue to wage war against the 9/11 families and JASTA by paying millions to their 14 powerful, insider Washington DC lobbying firms, like the Podesta Group, to repeal JASTA and rob us of our day in court.\n\nIn addition, some of the Saudi\u2019s key legislative supporters who threaten to repeal JASTA are Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain. Sadly, McCain and Graham choose to protect the Saudis rather than American victims of terrorism.\n\nQuite horrifically, one of the Saudi lobbyists \u2014 Qorvis \u2014 was recently caught trying to dupe, manipulate, and pit U.S. veterans against the 9/11 families. According to media reports, Qorvis offered vets an all expense paid trip to Washington (staying at the Trump Hotel) to lobby against JASTA without telling the vets that it was Saudi money funding their trip. Given that many of these vets had joined the military in the wake of 9/11, the discovery that they were now being duped into \u201cworking\u201d for the enemy they enlisted and risked their lives to fight against, was extremely upsetting. Pitting American veterans against American victims is the lowest of the low\u2014yet, there seems to be no lengths that the Saudis will not go.\n\nWhich brings me to my last point\u2014the Saudi Aramco IPO on Wall Street. Mr. President, my husband was burnt to death on September 11th. The remains I received included his two arms, a few fingers, and his wedding band.\n\nThousands of innocent people were brutally slaughtered and turned to ash in broad daylight on that horrific day, now more than 15 years ago. The notion that the Saudis \u2014 whom the 9/11 families are currently trying to hold accountable in a court of law for their role in the murder of our loved ones \u2015 want to return to the scene of their own alleged crime to make billions of dollars is immoral and simply untenable.\n\nAs my fellow 9/11 widows and I have repeatedly said \u2014 not over our husbands\u2019 dead bodies.\n\nPresident Trump, you have structured your campaign and current policies around being for America First. The 9/11 families certainly hope that you remain steadfast in your belief that Americans must be protected, supported, and heard, first and foremost above all others \u2014 particularly those like the Saudis who fund radical Islamic terrorists that target and kill Americans."}
-{"text": "A citizen \u201clegally carrying\u201d a handgun demanded a suspect stop attacking a woman in a convenience store then shot the suspect twice when he refused the demands.\n\nThe incident occurred at the Columbia Avenue One Stop in Holland, Michigan, around 10:20 pm on February 9.\n\nAccording to WUSA, \u201cOfficers were originally called out to deal with a subject who was acting disorderly.\u201d But when they arrived, they learned the disorderly conduct had allegedly escalated into an all-out assault on a 39-year-old woman and that the 29-year-old suspect had been shot twice to end the attack.\n\nPolice indicated that a 43-year-old witness tried to stop the assault only to have the suspect turn and begin assaulting him. At that point, the 43-year-old opened fire, striking the suspect twice.\n\nA press release from the Holland Police Department says:\n\nThe female victim and the suspect were involved in a domestic relationship. The suspect was reported to be initially intimidating the victim and other customers in the store. One of those customers left and called 911. The video shows the victim to be visibly afraid, and at one point tries to escape. The suspect violently punched the victim several times and threw her down to the ground, and it is at that point that the customer arrives and tries to intervene. The suspect immediately turned and violently attacked the customer. The customer indicated that the suspect tried to grab his gun, and he then shot the suspect twice. The female victim did indicate that she feared the suspect would beat her to death if the customer did not intervene. The female victim was transported to the hospital for injuries and was then released.\n\nHolland Police said the suspect in the assault was already wanted for other charges. He is currently hospitalized in critical condition.\n\nAWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com."}
-{"text": "SHANGHAI, CHINA\u2014In the second such documented case ever, Jinan Huang, a 33-year-old Shanghai woman, gave birth to septuplets Monday.\n\n\nJinan, who is in stable condition following the 31-hour delivery, has been given one week by government officials to decide which child she will keep.\n\n\"My husband and I have not decided for certain,\" said Jinan, speaking to reporters from her hospital bed shortly after the miraculous birth. \"But we are very much considering keeping the second-born boy. He is the heaviest and, therefore, the most likely to survive and tend to us in our old age.\"\n\n\n\"We definitely do not want either of the two girls,\" Jinan's husband Lin said. \"Of that much we are certain.\"\n\nThe six children not selected will, in accordance with Chinese multiple-birth law, be thrown off a mountaintop.\n\n\nSince China's one-child-per-family law went into effect in 1983, more than 65 million multiple-birth babies have been put to death in the country.\n\nJinan, who said she had tried to have a baby for years, vehemently denied taking fertility drugs, the use of which is punishable by death in China. \"I do not know how this happened,\" she said. \"To my fellow citizens and our nation's leaders, I wish to apologize for this shameful and irresponsible multiple birth.\""}
-{"text": "The latest look at autism in the U.S. shows a startling 30 percent jump among 8-year-olds diagnosed with the disorder in a two-year period, to one in every 68 children.\n\nThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which did the survey, says the numbers almost certainly reflect more awareness and diagnosis of kids who would have been missed in years past. The new estimate for 2010 was a jump from one in 88 children in 2008, the last year for which numbers had been available.\n\n\u201cThe number of children diagnosed with autism continues to rise,\u201d the agency\u2019s Dr. Coleen Boyle told reporters.\n\nBut the CDC noted that the numbers vary greatly from state to state, and it did not use a nationally representative sample, but a look at groups of children in 11 states.\n\n\u201cThe number of children identified with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) ranged from 1 in 175 children in Alabama to 1 in 45 children in New Jersey,\u201d CDC says in its report, based on a survey taken in 2010. The numbers from 2008 were first reported in 2012.\n\nThis would work out to about 1.2 million children under 18, Boyle says.\n\nDr. Max Wiznitzer, a child neurologist at Rainbow Babies & Children\u2019s Hospital in Cleveland, who was not involved in the study, said he believed the numbers, but thought they reflected a rise in diagnosis, not \"the true prevalence of autism.\"\n\n\u201cI'm not convinced that the true numbers of autism are rising, rising, rising every time we survey them,\u201d Wiznitzer told NBC News in an interview.\n\n\u201cOver time, more children are being identified,\u201d agreed Dr. Lisa Shulman, a specialist in autism at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York.\n\nBoyle said the biggest rise in diagnoses is among children with normal intelligence. \u201cIt could be that doctors are getting better at identifying these children,\u201d she said.\n\nLet our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings. This site is protected by recaptcha\n\nNonetheless, the findings show autism is far more common than people once believed and show it\u2019s important to get kids diagnosed and into therapy as early as possible.\n\nAutism spectrum disorder can range from the relatively mild social awkwardness of Asperger\u2019s syndrome to profound mental retardation, debilitating repetitive behaviors and an inability to communicate. There\u2019s no cure, but experiments with early treatment suggest it might be possible to help children overcome some difficulties.\n\nGenetics are a large factor. Autism runs strongly in families, but genes don\u2019t explain it all. Better diagnosis doesn\u2019t explain all of it, either, and many scientists are looking at what happens in pregnancy. Some studies suggest that infections such as influenza during pregnancy may play a role.\n\n\"In the past if a child was bright, able to do the material of a given grade, they would not be referred for evaluation. No one would have considered they were autistic until the past decade or so.\"\n\nSo why are the numbers rising so sharply? Shulman, Wiznitzer and others believe parents, teachers and doctors are more aware of autism and realize there\u2019s a benefit to getting kids diagnosed and into special programs.\n\n\u201cIn the past we were giving a diagnosis of autism to families who had never heard that term. They didn\u2019t come seeking that diagnosis, certainly. Now the pendulum has swung \u2013 families either on their own or on the advice of others are seeking out diagnoses of autism and it may or may not be,\u201d Shulman said.\n\n\u201cWe are seeing some groups that weren\u2019t having access to evaluation or\u2026diagnosis (are now) more likely to get identified,\u201d Shulman added. These groups include Hispanics, African-Americans \u2013 and kids who may do well in school.\n\n\u201cSomeone can be severely autistic and they can have any cognitive level,\u201d Shulman said. \u201cIn the past if a child was bright, able to do the material of a given grade, they would not be referred for evaluation. No one would have considered they were autistic until the past decade or so. You can be quite bright but have a significant social impairment.\u201d\n\nTaken together with findings released Wednesday that show autism almost certainly starts in the womb, experts say the data demonstrate that you need to start trying to help kids as early as possible, even as babies, when their brains are still developing and might be able to rewire themselves around the damage.\n\nKim Cristo sits at a piano with her daughter Ava, 6. Kim credits the intervention Ava has received at REED Academy in Oakland, N.J., for helping her overcome some of the language deficits caused by autism. NBC News\n\nAva Cristo was diagnosed when she was 18 months old. Her mom, Kim Cristo, believes early intervention has helped her.\n\n\u201cOther people said, \u2018Oh, I think she's fine. Oh, she'll get around to talking\u2019,\u201d Cristo told NBC News. \u201cBut I knew something was wrong. There was no interaction whatsoever. And she had a few words at about a year. By the time she was 15 months, they were all gone.\u201d\n\nNow 6, Ava\u2019s been at Reed Academy in Oakland, N.J. for three years. It\u2019s a school that specializes in kids with autism, tailoring education to each child.\n\n\u201cAva when she entered Reed Academy was nonverbal,\u201d Kim Cristo said. \u201cShe really didn't pay much attention to the world around her\u2026And within three months, Ava said \u2018Hi, Mommy,\u2019 to me. And I never heard her say \u2018Mommy\u2019 before.\u201d\n\n\"I never heard her say \u2018Mommy\u2019 before.\u201d\n\nCDC said autism is almost five times more common among boys than girls. It\u2019s diagnosed in one in 42 boys versus one in 189 girls. The report also shows most children with ASD are diagnosed after age 4, although it can be diagnosed much earlier.\n\n\u201cThe most important thing for parents to do is to act early when there is a concern about a child\u2019s development,\u201d said Dr. Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp, chief of CDC\u2019s Developmental Disabilities Branch. \u201cIf you have a concern about how your child plays, learns, speaks, acts, or moves, take action. Don\u2019t wait.\u201d\n\nShulman said it\u2019s not always easy. \u201cWe tell pediatricians that if you are waiting for a child to start flapping and spinning before you diagnose autism, you are going to miss all the infants and toddlers,\u201d she said.\n\nCristo believes early diagnosis helped Ava. It also helped that help was available \u2013 and help paying for it, also. \u201cIn the state of New Jersey we have an insurance mandate that covers autism,\u201d she said. The 2010 Affordable Care Act requires all insurers to pay for care.\n\n\u201cWe have an entire generation of children with autism that are going to have to be taken care of,\u201d Cristo said.\n\nNBC's Jane Derenowski, Erika Edwards and Kit Hunter contributed to this story."}
-{"text": "Killer Moves Trailer\n\nThink you're good at Dishonored? Arkane and Bethesda show you how it's done."}
-{"text": "FREE now and never miss the top politics stories again. SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up fornow and never miss the top politics stories again. We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.\n\nThe spokesman detailed that \u201ca few\u201d of the rockets were intercepted by Israel and the damage to its positions was \u201climited\u201d. Israel\u2019s Defence Forces added: \u201cAbout an hour ago, IDF defence systems identified approximately 20 rockets that the Iranian Quds forces launched at IDF forward posts on the Golan Heights. \u201cA number of rockets were intercepted by the IDF's Iron Dome aerial defence system. \u201cNo injuries were reported. The IDF views this event with great severity and remains prepared for a wide variety of scenarios.\u201d\n\nGetty Israeli air raid sirens have sounded in the Golan Heights\n\nThe Quds forces are an external arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, a branch of the nation\u2019s military. Reports have since emerged declaring that up to 50 missiles have been launched at Israel so far. Tel Aviv\u2019s military declared \u201cseveral bases were targeted\u201d in the effort and as it announced it had \u201cresponded\u201d. Lieutenant Colonel Conricus did not clarify what the Israeli response was. He went on: \"We have retaliated but I have no further details about this.\"\n\nIsraeli air raid sirens sounded in the Golan Heights just hours after Israel was reported to have carried out a missile strike targeting Iranian weapons depots in Syria. Residents in the Golan Heights, which borders Syria, and in the city of Katzrin were forced out of bed and rushed to bomb shelters as Iran carried out the military effort, the Jewish Press reported. Israel is believed to have ordered a strike on a military target south of the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Tuesday night. However, the country has not confirmed or denied involvement.\n\nSyrian state media said two missiles were blasted out of the sky and two civilians were killed in an explosion. But UK-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the missiles hit weapons depots and missile launchers belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guards. The Israeli Defence Forces said yesterday it had \u201cdetected irregular Iranian activity in Syria\u201d. It said its forces had been placed on \u201chigh alert for attack\u201d."}
-{"text": "\uff3b\u5317\u4eac \uff12\uff16\u65e5 \u30ed\u30a4\u30bf\u30fc\uff3d - \u4e2d\u56fd\u304c\u3001\u65e9\u671f\u8b66\u6212\u6a5f\u3084\u7a7a\u4e2d\u7d66\u6cb9\u6a5f\u3092\u6483\u3061\u843d\u305b\u308b\u3068\u307f\u3089\u308c\u308b\u65b0\u578b\u306e\u9577\u8ddd\u96e2\u7a7a\u5bfe\u7a7a\u30df\u30b5\u30a4\u30eb\u306e\u5b9f\u9a13\u3092\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u53ef\u80fd\u6027\u304c\u3042\u308b\u3002\u30c1\u30e3\u30a4\u30ca\u30c7\u30fc\u30ea\u30fc\u7d19\u304c\uff12\uff16\u65e5\u3001\u5831\u3058\u305f\u3002\n\n\u540c\u7d19\u306b\u3088\u308b\u3068\u3001\u4eba\u6c11\u89e3\u653e\u8ecd\u306e\u7a7a\u8ecd\u304c\u6700\u8fd1\u3001\uff2a\uff11\uff11\u6226\u95d8\u6a5f\u304c\u5927\u578b\u306e\u30df\u30b5\u30a4\u30eb\u3092\u6628\u5e74\u306e\u6f14\u7fd2\u4e2d\u306b\u642d\u8f09\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u5199\u771f\u3092\u30aa\u30f3\u30e9\u30a4\u30f3\u4e0a\u306b\u6295\u7a3f\u3057\u305f\u3002\u30df\u30b5\u30a4\u30eb\u306e\u8a73\u7d30\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u306f\u4e0d\u660e\u3002\n\n\u7a7a\u8ecd\u306e\u7814\u7a76\u8005\u306b\u3088\u308b\u3068\u3001\u30df\u30b5\u30a4\u30eb\u306f\u3001\u901a\u5e38\u306f\u6226\u95d8\u5730\u57df\u306e\u5916\u306b\u3044\u308b\u65e9\u671f\u8b66\u6212\u6a5f\u306a\u3069\u306e\u30bf\u30fc\u30b2\u30c3\u30c8\u3092\u6483\u3061\u843d\u3059\u305f\u3081\u306b\u8a2d\u8a08\u3055\u308c\u305f\u3068\u307f\u3089\u308c\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3002\n\n\u4e2d\u56fd\u304c\u3001\u5c04\u7a0b\u8ddd\u96e2\uff11\uff10\uff10\u30ad\u30ed\u4ee5\u5185\u3068\u3055\u308c\u308b\u65e2\u5b58\u306e\u30df\u30b5\u30a4\u30eb\u306e\u80fd\u529b\u3092\u5411\u4e0a\u3055\u305b\u305f\u3053\u3068\u3092\u793a\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002"}
-{"text": "Con nota del ministero della salute del 30/10/2019 (pubblicata il 5/11/2019) \u00e8 stato ritirato dal commercio un lotto di freselline integrali marchio Prima. Il motivo del richiamo \u00e8 la presenza, all\u2019interno dell\u2019alimento, di deossinivalenolo (o DON o vomitossina).\n\nSi tratta di una micotossina, ovvero un elemento chimico velenoso prodotto dai funghi. Il richiamo alimentare ha ricevuto la classifica di rischio microbiologico, anche se sarebbe pi\u00f9 corretto definirlo rischio chimico.\n\nIn ogni caso, nella nota del dicastero della salute come motivo del richiamo si legge testualmente: \u201celevato valore di DON (deossinivalenolo) superiore a quanto previsto dal regolamento n\u00b0. 1881 del 19/12/2006 e successive modifiche.\u201d\n\nLa micotossina in questione \u00e8 tra la pi\u00f9 diffusa negli alimenti e nei mangimi e pu\u00f2 avere effetti importanti sulla salute dei consumatori, da qui il provvedimento di richiamo alimentare.\n\nRichiamo per freselline: i dettagli del prodotto\n\nIl ritiro dal mercato riguarda freselline integrali marchio Prima aventi numero di lotto 133 C. 19 e scadenza 29/07/2020. L\u2019alimento si presenta in busta e pesa 350 grammi. L\u2019azienda di produzione \u00e8 la Colacchio Sud srl di San Costantino Calabro (VV).\n\nConsiderata la tossicit\u00e0 delle freselline l\u2019invito e di non consumarle e, nel caso fossero gi\u00e0 state acquistate, a riconsegnarle presso il punto vendita.\n\nFreselline contaminate da DON (deossinivalenolo): i rischi per la salute\n\nIl DON, conosciuto come deossinivalenolo \u00e8 una micotossina, ovvero un veleno tipico dei funghi. I sintomi da intossicazione che produce sono vomito, diarrea, malfunzionamento del sistema ematopoietico e abbassamento delle difese immunitarie.\n\nPotrebbe interessarti: Fumetto di mais ritirato dal commercio per fumonisine alte\n\nLa sintomatologia \u00e8 importante, tale tossina \u00e8 considerata pericolosa per la salute umana. Per tale motivo si raccomanda la massima attenzione al consumo del lotto segnalato di freselline integrali marchio PRIMA."}
-{"text": "I Syd\u00f8stjylland var der t\u00e6t t\u00e5ge det meste af dagen, og det har sammen med for h\u00f8j fart v\u00e6ret skyld i flere trafikuheld, som lukkede motorvejen flere steder.\n\n- Vi har haft syv store uheld omkring Kolding og tilsvarende store uheld omkring Horsens p\u00e5 den \u00f8stjyske motorvej, siger vagtchef Lars Gr\u00f8nlund fra Syd\u00f8stjyllands politi.\n\nDe f\u00f8rste uheld skete ca. 11.15 mellem Hedensted og Horsens.\n\n- Vi har haft 75-100 biler indblandet i f\u00e6rdselsuheldene, og vi har haft lige knap 50 tilskadekomne fra middag og frem til nu (kl. 16, red.), siger vagtchefen.\n\nL\u00e6s ogs\u00e5 : BILLEDSERIE: Masseuheld ved Horsens\n\nIkke alvorligt tilskadekomne\n\n- Heldigvis er der ikke noget, der tyder p\u00e5, at vi har alvorligt tilskadekomne. Vi har to, der muligvis er sv\u00e6rt tilskadekomne, men der mangler vi tilbagemeldinger fra sygehuset, siger han.\n\nLars Gr\u00f8nlunds r\u00e5d var at s\u00e6tte hastigheden ned p\u00e5 grund af t\u00e5ge, k\u00f8re forsigtigt, t\u00e6nde t\u00e5gelygterne og holde rigtig god afstand.\n\nIkke s\u00e5 opm\u00e6rksom\n\nMen det var tilsyneladende ikke alle, der fulgte r\u00e5dene.\n\n- Antallet af f\u00e6rdselsuheld tyder m\u00e5ske p\u00e5, at der er nogle af faktorerne, som man ikke har v\u00e6ret s\u00e5 opm\u00e6rksom p\u00e5, siger Lars Gr\u00f8nlund.\n\nIkke mere k\u00f8 efter uheld\n\nF\u00f8rst p\u00e5 aftenen var der ikke l\u00e6ngere k\u00f8er p\u00e5 E45 i Syd\u00f8stjylland som f\u00f8lge af uheldene, skrev Vejdirektoratet p\u00e5 sin hjemmeside.\n\n- Der er ryddet op efter uheldene, siger vagthavende ved vejdirektoratet Aggi Thoraarinsson til DR Nyheder.\n\nOgs\u00e5 uheld p\u00e5 Sj\u00e6lland"}
-{"text": "\n\nRipple has released a new video aimed at showing the masses exactly what on-demand liquidity looks like, cheap, fast international payments on demand.\n\nThe video shows all kinds of different people using RippleNet and XRP to make real-time international payments to anyone in the world.\n\nSorry to use your words Mr Garlinghouse but this is a \u2018Holy Shit\u2019 moment for us, we look forward to seeing similar ad\u2019s between movies at the cinema!\n\nFull Video below and you can see the full release on Ripple\u2019s website HERE Thanks to @m0nkee40 on Twitter\u2026"}
-{"text": "Would Chara really be that happy? Would he really want to be happy? (But, I suppose I shouldn\u2019t look that gift horse in the mouth, and just be happy for them.)"}
-{"text": "Tokyo Ghoul ARTFXJ PVC Figure - Ken Kaneki Awakened Ver. 1/8\n\nThis article has been discontinued and is no longer available for sale at Archonia.com.\n\n\n\n\n\nAdd to basket You will earn 280 Archonia Points Add to wishlist Share this\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKotobukiya proudly presents the Ken Kaneki Awakened version ARTFX J Statue, based on the hit series Tokyo Ghoul.\n\n\n\nKen stands over 22 cm (nearly 9 inches) tall in 1/8 scale.\n\n\n\nKen Kaneki stands on a rubble base, ready for action in his ghoul mask with his kagune poised for battle.\n\n\n\nHighly detailed sculpt and masterful paint application make for an impressive display piece!\n\n\n\nWatch for more Tokyo Ghoul statues from Kotobukiya!"}
-{"text": "Carolann Gallon has been jailed for helping to recruit for a sex gang in Newcastle (Picture: PA)\n\nA woman who found vulnerable victims for a Newcastle grooming gang to sexually exploit told police: \u2018It\u2019s self-inflicted, I\u2019ve got no sympathy\u2019, a court heard.\n\nCarolann Gallon took a 13-year-old who had run away from foster care to a Tyneside flat, knowing she was likely to be the victim of a sexual offence.\n\nSadiq Khan 'wants to impose tougher London lockdown by Monday'\n\nShe wept as she was jailed for six years and three months after admitting three counts of trafficking for sexual exploitation.\n\nThe shaven-headed defendant, then aged around 17 but now aged 22, was obstructive with police when they made inquiries in 2012.\n\n\nThe next year Gallon, of Hareside Court, Newcastle, took the same girl from a children\u2019s home and took her to a series of addresses around the west end of the city.\n\n\n\nThe girl said she was given drink and drugs at flats where men flirted with her and put their arms around her.\n\nThe convicted abusers, from the top row: Nashir Uddin, Taherul Alam, Mohammed Hassan Ali, Mohammed Azram, Monjur Choudhury, Saiful Islam, Abdulhamid Minoyee, Jahanger Zaman, Mohibur Rahman, Prabhat Nelli, Nadeem Aslam, Eisa Mousavi, Habibur Rahim, Badrul Hussain, Carolann Gallon, Abdul Sabe, Redwan Siddquee, Yassar Hussain (Picture: Northumbria Police/PA)\n\nShe was to tell police that \u2018sexual stuff\u2019 happened there, and that \u2018a man had sex with her against her will\u2019, Newcastle Crown Court heard.\n\nGallon also invited a 14-year-old staying at another care home in the North East to a \u2018binge\u2019, but she was stopped by police.\n\nShe rearranged the meeting, and the victim was taken to a house where she was given vodka and cannabis.\n\nMatt Hancock warns UK is at 'tipping point' for more lockdown measures\n\nJudge Penny Moreland said: \u2018You were taking her to that house, believing she was likely to be the victim of a sexual offence.\u2019\n\nThe grooming gang tricked girls into thinking they were in a relationship, gave them drink and drugs at parties, then forced them into having sex with other men.\n\nJohn Elvidge QC, prosecuting, said Gallon told police after she was arrested: \u2018They shouldn\u2019t have too much to drink.\n\n\u2018If they want to go with them, they have got their own mind to go with people. They are not some kid, they are 15 or 16.\n\n\u2018If they\u2019re mortal (drunk) they are going to do something, why get mortal in the first place? It\u2019s self-inflicted, I\u2019ve got no sympathy.\u2019\n\nBut her barrister Uzma Khan said Gallon was herself a victim.\n\nMan in his 30s dies after being stabbed in the chest\n\nThe judge said: \u2018It is clear you did not have the care and support during your childhood that you should have had. You were described yourself as being a victim.\n\n\u2018There have been ample opportunities for you to make complaints about these matters. You have never chosen to do so. The result is your complaints have never been tested in court.\u2019\n\nThe judge said Gallon continued to \u2018ally\u2019 herself with other defendants.\n\nGallon also took a girl with learning difficulties to a flat where she was raped by Abdulhamid Minoyee.\n\nThe 34-year-old from Gainsborough Grove, Newcastle, gave the girl cannabis and raped her when she was intoxicated.\n\nHe was left with a \u2018big grin\u2019 on his face, while his victim told police \u2018she was scared, ashamed and embarrassed\u2019, the judge said.\n\nMinoyee had already sexually assaulted a heroin addict having plied her with drink, but she managed to fight him off.\n\n\n\nJudge Moreland jailed him for 15 years, saying: \u2018You committed two sexual offences against young women you had enticed into your home.\u2019\n\nWhen the sentencing hearing finished, Gallon\u2019s father Jimmy, a double amputee, shouted: \u2018Can I just say, how cruel a judge can be? How cruel can anybody get?\u2019\n\nHis daughter called out: \u2018Dad I love you\u2019, as she was led away. One remaining member of the gang will be sentenced next week.\n\nGrooming gang made neighbours\u2019 lives hell\n\nA mother living above a flat where a gang groomed and sexually abused girls said their all-night parties made her life \u2018hell\u2019, a court heard.\n\nTaxis would come and go outside the property in Joan Street in Newcastle\u2019s west end and the noise from bottles clinking made it sound like a nightclub, the resident said.\n\nIt was the home of Nashir Uddin, 35, who is one of five members of a grooming gang being sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court.\n\nJohn Elvidge QC, prosecuting, said the woman lived above it with her young son and she was disgusted by the smell of cannabis which came into her flat from Uddin\u2019s.\n\nLocals noticed taxis arriving and the drivers going in with girls, with sometimes four cars parked outside.\n\nTeenage girls would then be seen leaving at 7.30am and getting in the taxis outside.\n\nMr Elvidge said the noise from Uddin\u2019s flat of slamming doors and bottles disturbed the woman and her son.\n\n\u2018She described it as like living above a bar or a nightclub,\u2019 he said. \u2018The noise became routine, night after night.\n\n\n\u2018The girls were white, aged 15 or 16, although they might have been older. The males were all of Asian ethnicity.\u2019\n\nShe heard noises of people having sex, the parties went on all night and she had to use air fresheners to disguise the smell of cannabis.\n\nMr Elvidge said: \u2018She said living at (the flat) was hell.\u2019 She has since moved away.\n\nUddin, known as Nash, was being sentenced for sexual assault, drugs offences and conspiracy to incite prostitution.\n\nGang members would use his home for parties known as sessions where vulnerable girls were given drink and mephedrone, and were persuaded or forced into having sex.\n\nJamie Hill QC, defending, said Uddin had borderline learning difficulties, an IQ of just 75 and was put into the flat after a period in mental hospital.\n\nMr Hill said other gang members were more sophisticated than Uddin and they used his flat for parties.\n\nIranian Eisa Mousavi was to be sentenced for three counts of rape, drugs and prostitution offences.\n\nThe 42-year-old brought girls round to his flat in a tower block in Arthur\u2019s Hill, Newcastle, and raped one of them in his bedroom while she was \u2018mortal drunk\u2019 while the others shouted outside for him to stop.\n\nMr Elvidge said: \u2018He told them if they didn\u2019t stop shouting they wouldn\u2019t get any drugs.\u2019\n\nTaherul Alam, 32, of Normanton Terrace, Newcastle, was to be sentenced for drugs offences, attempted sexual assault and a prostitution charge.\n\nKnown as T-Boss and with a son aged three, he gave a victim mephedrone in return for her having sex with his friend, telling her \u2018My boy wants you.\u2019\n\n\nMonjur Choudhury, 33, of Philip Place, Newcastle, was prosecuted for supplying drugs, prostitution and drugs offences.\n\nMr Elvidge said the father-of-three allowed his premises to be used for sessions.\n\nIndia-born Prabhat Nelli had been a postgraduate student at Sunderland University and had worked at Nissan.\n\nThe 34-year-old was due to be sentenced for drugs and prostitution offences. He did not have sex with any of the girls but a person sharing his flat did.\n\nJudge Penny Moreland will pass sentenced on them this afternoon.\n\nOther gang members will be dealt with on Friday.\n\nNorthumbria Police, which mounted the widespread Operation Shelter inquiry, were criticised after it emerged they paid a child rapist \u00a310,000 to be an informant."}
-{"text": "Vegas on the Texas coast?\n\nPatrons fill the rows of slot machines on the opening day of the Golden Nugget Casino in Lake Charles, LA, Monday. Photo taken Monday, December 8, 2014 Kim Brent/The Enterprise Patrons fill the rows of slot machines on the opening day of the Golden Nugget Casino in Lake Charles, LA, Monday. Photo taken Monday, December 8, 2014 Kim Brent/The Enterprise Photo: KIM BRENT Photo: KIM BRENT Image 1 of / 20 Caption Close Vegas on the Texas coast? 1 / 20 Back to Gallery\n\nWhether casinos are in the cards for Texas - along with the pot they could bring for the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association's claims fund - will depend on passage of a bill filed Friday by local state Rep. Joe Deshotel.\n\nDeshotel, D-Beaumont, filed the bill, HB 3839 and HJR 142, which would need 100 \"solid\" votes in the 150-member House to move forward as a constitutional amendment, necessary to allow houses of gambling in the state.\n\nThe bill also needs a Senate sponsor, which it does not yet have, Deshotel said.\n\n\"There's been a gambling bill just about every session,\" Deshotel said. \"This is different because of the deficit in TWIA.\"\n\nDeshotel concedes that passage of a bill to allow casino gambling is \"an uphill battle,\" but because of the TWIA element, there might be more support for it.\n\nIn a news release following the bill's filing Friday, Deshotel said coastal residents have had problems buying property insurance to cover windstorm damage from traditional insurers.\n\n\"Following the tremendous losses of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, insurance companies quit offering policies in counties located on the hurricane-prone Texas Gulf coast. Instead the homeowner's only option was to purchase insurance through the high-risk pool system offered by TWIA,\" Deshotel said.\n\n\"Since 2008's Hurricane Ike hit the Gulf Coast with such severity and monetarily devastated the fund, TWIA is operating with a huge deficit. It was nearly $137 million short in 2013,\" he said.\n\nHe said insurers likely will raise premium prices in the coming years as well.\n\nDeshotel, who does not have a House co-sponsor yet, also said Texans leave the state for Louisiana or Oklahoma for legal casinos there. With them goes revenue that Texas could use.\n\n\"The plan is fairly simple. Full Las Vegas-style casinos will be permitted within a first-tier coastal county or second-tier county or in a county where its county seat is within 100 miles from a first- or second-tier county.\n\nJefferson County is a first-tier, or coastal, county. Hardin County is a second tier county. Huntsville, for example, in Walker County, could be within 100 miles of Jefferson County.\n\nResulting net tax revenues would be earmarked for the Catastrophe Reserve Trust Fund in TWIA to keep it out of deficit. Funds in excess of the amount needed to erase the deficit would go to general revenue.\n\nDWallach@BeaumontEnterprise.comTwitter.com/dwallach"}
-{"text": "News\n\n1. Hold on to your ballots\n\nTax cuts for corporations, a tweet about the $1 increase in the minimum wage, and a photo-op with Education Minister and Zach Churchill and some kids during an announcement of pre-primary programs for every elementary school in Nova Scotia. Stephen Kimber looks at all the hints that Premier Stephen McNeil is getting ready to call an election by the end of the year.\n\nThis article is for subscribers. Please subscribe here.\n\n2. Rent dodger sentenced to two years\n\nJack Julian at CBC reports on a serial rent dodger who was sentenced to two years in prison for a number of frauds, including scamming a Cole Harbour landlord out of $12,000 in rent.\n\nNadav Joseph Even-Har pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud, two counts of uttering forged documents and two counts of theft under $5,000. He was sentenced on Friday.\n\nJason Selby, one of the landlords Even-Har defrauded, tells Julian he doesn\u2019t expect to get any of the $12,000 he\u2019s owed in rent. In his victim impact statement, Selby says he couldn\u2019t afford to rent his own apartment and stayed with friends or slept on the floor of the gift shop he owns and operates in Cole Harbour. Selby says he hopes Even-Har changes his ways, as he said he would.\n\nAnd that his time behind bars will provide an opportunity for him to \u2026 do some deep reflection within and hopefully get the help that he needs so that he can be a contributing member of society and not just someone that harms others.\n\n3. Church bell returning to Africville\n\nThe bell that was once inside the Seaview Baptist Church in Africville will be returned to the community this summer, reports Alexander Quon and Alexa MacLean at Global.\n\nThere were dedication ceremonies at the Africville Museum yesterday as part of Heritage Day. An announcement was made that the bell would be returned. The bell survived after the church was demolished in the middle of the night during the razing of the community in the 1960s. A church in Beechville had the bell for the last 50 years.\n\nFormer residents of Africville, including Irvine Carvery and Linda Mantley, were at yesterday\u2019s dedication. Juanita Peters, executive director of the Africville Museum says there are still is a \u201clesson for everybody.\u201d\n\nWe get people from all over the world\u2026 who come to Africville, [including] city planners to study that whole situation and they use Africville as a template for what not to do.\n\n4. Premier optimistic the Cat is coming back\n\nPremier Stephen McNeil was speaking at the Yarmouth and Area Chamber of Commerce on Friday and told the crowd he was \u201coptimistic\u201d the ferry service between Nova Scotia and the U.S. would be ready to go this summer, reports Tina Comeau with the Tri-County Vanguard.\n\nI am committed to it; we are committed to it, the government, and we\u2019re hoping in the not too distant future we\u2019ll be able to communicate what the season will look like in front of us. I would be optimistic about the upcoming season for all kinds of reasons,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m certainly much more optimistic today about this service than I would have been last year at this time.\n\nMcNeil was also asked if there were plans to do an economic impact study on the ferry service. He says consistency is needed in the service before that study can be done.\n\nWe believe when we strengthen that tie and we know that people know it\u2019s there for the long haul, then you\u2019ll see the benefit and then you can look at the economic analysis. That will be a truer analysis.\n\nThe ferry didn\u2019t sail at all last season. Bay Ferries hasn\u2019t posted the 2020 schedule yet.\n\n5. More women needed in politics (evergreen headline)\n\nJeremy Keefe at Global reports on the lack of women in politics. There are currently only two women on HRM Council and only one-third of the MLAs elected in the 2017 provincial election were women (two MLAs, Lenore Zann and Tammy Martin, both stepped down).\n\nKeefe talks with Lisa Blackburn, deputy mayor and councillor for district 14 and Pam Mood, mayor of Yarmouth. Blackburn says one of the cons women face when deciding to run are the comments on their appearance.\n\nComments about what they wear, how they do their hair, whether they wear makeup, those are all part of the discussion. It shouldn\u2019t be, but for women it is.\n\nMood says her \u201cweight is always brought into question.\u201d\n\nThey say you have to have thick skin to become a politician and I tell people if I lose 50 pounds there\u2019s going to be trouble because the thin skin\u2019s going to show up. [The criticism] is so ugly it causes young women to come to me and say \u2018I would love to get involved but I just can\u2019t put my family through that.\n\nClaudia Chender, MLA for Dartmouth South, says the system needs to be changed so everyone can take part.\n\nParties need to get really serious about their recruitment and candidate search and ensure that they are really looking at the full spectrum of candidates.\n\nSarah B. MacDonald started an interesting discussion on Twitter about this, asking why women in their 20s and 30s don\u2019t consider running for office. The replies included concerns about work-life balance, finding the money for a campaign, criticisms about their appearance and sexual/relationship history, childcare and the stress the work could bring to the family, not feeling qualified to do the job, and worries about what they post on social media could come back to haunt them. I\u2019d say all of these concerns are expressed by women of any age. Some of them, like childcare and work-life balance, apply to any career choice women make. Also, I don\u2019t think men consider these factors when deciding to run for office because men, particularly white men, are considered the default candidates.\n\nThere are two by-elections on Mar. 10 in Cape Breton Centre and Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook-Salmon River. In Cape Breton Centre, one of the three candidates is a woman. In Truro, one women is running, while three men are running. Both of the females candidates are running for the NDP.\n\nViews\n\n1. The day Mary Myke got her freedom back\n\nOn Monday, Feb. 18, 2019 Mary Myke walked into a conference room at a hotel ready to confront the man she says abused her when she was a teenager. Myke, now 62, had officially arranged the meeting with the man the week before but the plan was in the works long before that.\n\nMyke had heard and read other women\u2019s stories coming out of the Me Too movement. She had also taken part in in restorative justice circles as part of volunteer work, so those stories inspired her, too. She says she couldn\u2019t go another weekend without dealing with telling her story. This was her point of no return.\n\nAfter 46 years, I had been always pushed it down, even though it was with me every day. With all this starting to come out, I started to feel agitated and it\u2019s like it wouldn\u2019t stay down where I had it anymore. It was starting to affect me again in another way in terms of the agitation and thinking of it even more, every day. It hit me: I had to do something about this.\n\nThe abuse started when they lived in the same town. She was 16 and he was in his late 30s. He communicated to Myke through a friend of his. At one point, she thought she was pregnant. She was afraid of her father. She says she had feelings of shame and fear. She wasn\u2019t pregnant. At 16, she told herself she\u2019d never have children. The abuse ended when she graduated high school.\n\nIt never was a choice. At 16, you\u2019ve never been anywhere, done anything with a male in any way. It\u2019s not a choice. That was one of the things I got to learn. There wasn\u2019t a decision made. It so damaged my whole view of sexual relationships. He just used me physically. It always happened in a dingy office, on the dirty floor. When you\u2019re groomed and you\u2019re so young you don\u2019t have the frame of reference and you don\u2019t even understand it all. There\u2019s a feeling, but it\u2019s like it\u2019s happening to somebody else. You lose yourself.\n\nShe knew he was still alive because she had looked up his number in the phone book and found his Facebook profile. Myke decided to create a plan on how to confront him face-to-face. She first talked with her psychologist about her plan, because meeting an abuser face-to-face is not safe for all survivors. She had to be safe. She thought she could send a letter, but she knew she wanted to confront him in person. She contacted law offices asking if she could use a space there and have one of their staff serve as a witness. She told them why. But since she wasn\u2019t laying charges, they said no. She looked at other public spaces where she could book a conference room, but couldn\u2019t find any. She reached out to a hotel that had a conference room and told her story to the manager there. They gave her a conference room to use for free. She booked it for the Monday and said she\u2019d call him on the weekend.\n\nI was really nervous. I had his phone number in front of me. I had written out different things I was going to say in the call. I didn\u2019t want to give it away in the call. I wanted to say it in front of him.\n\nShe called his house and his wife answered. She asked to speak with him. She was told he was out and he\u2019d back later that day. Myke hung up.\n\nIt was an implosion, a personal implosion. I came downstairs and stood here. My husband was at the table and I looked at him and started crying.\n\nShe called back, he answered, and she told him who she was.\n\nHe remembered me. He said, \u2018Oh, yes, Mary Myke.\u2019 I am thinking he\u2019s not sounding at all concerned that after 46 years I was in touch with him.\n\nThey talked small talk and then she asked, \u201cDo you remember anything else?\u201d He said, \u201cNo. Should I?\u201d\n\nI said, \u201cYes, you should. Something that went on between you and me. And I want to meet you to talk about it.\u201d He said, \u201cOh, sure I can meet you there.\u201d\n\nShe hung up.\n\nI had written out and written down so many conversations I was going to have with him, what I was going to say. I was going to tell him right up front. I was going to tell him to not talk because this was my truth.\n\nA few months before the meeting, Myke saw a ring at a local jewelry store. Its amber stone amber sits high on the setting that is attached to an infinity band. It was different than most of the jewelry she owns.\n\nI thought, \u2018That\u2019s my freedom ring.\u2019 That\u2019s the thought that came to my mind.\n\nShe bought it, left it in the box, and put it away.\n\nI said I am not opening it or putting it on until I do this.\n\nOn that Monday of the meeting, Myke took the ring with her.\n\nThere was no going back. There was no question I wasn\u2019t following through with this.\n\nShe got to the hotel and her husband stayed in the car. She went to the conference room and the phone rang. Her abuser had arrived.\n\nI felt incredibly calm. He walked into the room and looked exactly the same as he did 46 years ago. Older, but the same.\n\nHe greeted her and sat on the other side of the table. She says he tried to have a normal conversation.\n\nI said the reason I called you here was to talk about what went on 46 years ago. He was clearly shocked to hear everything I told him and how it had impacted my life in a very permanent way. All he had robbed me of. I asked him, as planned, please don\u2019t interrupt me. This is about me, not you. I was very calm, it was the weirdest thing.\u201d\n\nMyke talked for 20 minutes.\n\nI said you\u2019re a predator. You were a predator then and once a predator, always a predator. I\u2019m sure there are other girls you did this, too, but I want you to hear about me. He said, \u2018Oh, my god, I have no memory of it. But I am not denying it happened.\u2019 He couldn\u2019t connect it with who he knows himself to be now and for the last 46 years. He couldn\u2019t connect that person to this man who had done what he did to me. I gave him graphic details from the first day, all the things he did, all the things he said.\n\nShe says he apologized and asked if there was anything he could do.\n\nHe was distraught himself. He kept repeating, \u2018What can I do? What can I do for you?\u2019 And there was nothing. I said there was nothing he could do, that I was here today for what I needed to do for me. He said, \u2018Well, what am I going to tell my family?\u2019 I said well you can tell them the truth. That\u2019s up to you. I don\u2019t care. I didn\u2019t feel sorry for him. I felt nothing.\n\nMyke says she had nothing left to say. He left the room. Later, her husband said no one came out the front door of the hotel.\n\nWhen he walked out the door, it\u2019s like the opposite of when you\u2019re with someone who passes away. You feel an energy or a spirit or something that leaves the room. It\u2019s almost this tangible something that left the room. When he left the room that day, I felt something come into me. It was very spiritual moment I felt. The Mary Myke before the abuse came back.\n\nMyke stayed in the room for a while. She says she felt calm. She got up and went to the car where her husband was waiting. She put on the ring.\n\nBecause I was free.\n\nShe had an appointment to see her psychologist the next morning. She went to a coffee shop near her office and took notes on what she wanted to share. And the next thing she knew, she was coming to at a hospital. Her husband was talking with a neurologist. She asked what happened. When she walked into the psychologist\u2019s office, she told Myke she looked grey. But Myke sat down and told her about the meeting the day before. Then, after her psychologist handed her a clipboard, Myke started sobbing hysterically. The psychologist got in touch with her husband. She was diagnosed with temporary global amnesia brought on by the emotional and mental stress. She had an emotional break that left her with no memory of that session with the psychologist or going to the emergency room.\n\nOver the past year, Myke says she\u2019s had ups and downs. She spent time by herself, weekends away, dinners alone. For a time, she gave up all of her volunteer work. When she went back to serving on one board, she told her story. She says other women shared theirs, too.\n\nYou dropped this incredible burden that you carried all your life. You can\u2019t even get your head around that it\u2019s not even there anymore. You process it for a long time. It\u2019s a feeling like I have to learn who I am, all over again. I don\u2019t know who Mary Myke is without this. It\u2019s been part of my fabric. How do I live without it? Who am I without it?\n\nThere are crucial aspects Myke says never left. She\u2019s had a successful work life. She\u2019s been married for 25 years, to a man who just found out about the abuse months before that February meeting. He always supported her and her decision to confront her abuser.\n\nHe thought I was very brave, and strong and all the things I wanted to think about myself.\u201d\n\nMyke wants to tell other survivors the abuse was never their fault. She says not everyone can confront their abuser like she did. For many, it\u2019s not safe to do so. For others, their abusers may not be alive. She wants other survivors to know the abuse was never their fault and they can also free themselves of the burden. Maybe they can write a letter and burn it. But find a way to release it.\n\nMyke doesn\u2019t wear the burden anymore. She wears that amber ring every day.\n\nI took the baggage I have been carrying all these years of all the horribleness of what he had done to me and the impact, and have given it back to him so he can carry it the rest of his life. I\u2019m free at last.\n\n2. Mega speakers wanted! Coaching your way to riches\n\nLast week, I signed up to attend this event hosted by JT Foxx, a \u201cserial entrepreneur\u201d and \u201cwealth coach\u201d who will be at the Westin in Halifax tomorrow telling women how to get rich by being \u201cmega speakers.\u201d\n\nIf we were friends on Facebook, you\u2019d know one of my favourite topics to rant about is the coaching industry: Wealth coaches, wellness coaches, mindset coaches, spiritual coaches, business coaches, entrepreneur coaches, and, especially, life coaches. You\u2019d have to have a pretty good life \u2013and ego \u2013 to claim you are a life coach. Oh, and there are even coaches who coach the coaches.\n\nAnyway, because I rant about this so often, I always get ads from various coaches (thank you algorithms). Foxx\u2019s ad has been showing up for a while now, so I registered for the free event with the intent on going and writing about it.\n\nFoxx\u2019s website is giant bucket of red flags. There are photos of him with celebrities and a quote from Steve Wozniak who allegedly says Foxx is, \u201cthe closest person I\u2019ve ever met to Steve Jobs.\u201d There are some of Foxx\u2019s quotes like, \u201cIf you\u2019re born broke, it\u2019s not your fault. If you die broke, it\u2019s 100% your fault.\u201d\n\nSome of the topics that Foxx will cover at the Halifax event include \u201cHow to be a paid keynote speaker (5,000-25,000 per gig),\u201d \u201cHow to speak with celebrities like Pacino, Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Zuckerberg\u201d and \u201cHow to make 1 million a year as a speaker/coach/promoter.\u201d\n\nHe\u2019s hosting the same event in cities around the world.\n\nI have been getting texts and emails since I signed up reminding me to show up at the event tomorrow or more specifically: \u201cRemember there is no next time, only here and now so time to conquer your fear and go after your dream with hard work and commitment!\u201d\n\nI have other things to do like work, live my live, and maybe take a nap. I don\u2019t have the time or patience for any of this. I did send along the appropriate cancellation because I have manners.\n\nBut Kate Ferguson with Deutsche Welle did have the time and patience and she wrote about Foxx and his event in December 2017. Ferguson spent the entire day at the event, which included a viewing of a short documentary on Foxx, some awkward endorsements from celebrities including John Travolta, and a nauseating and disturbing bit on how Foxx dismisses a woman who shares her story of sexual assault.\n\nWhile attending Foxx\u2019s event is free, Ferguson points out that the talk of money eventually comes up.\n\nThe purpose of the rest of the event was to \u201cselect\u201d people to turn into \u201cmega speakers.\u201d As it turned out, this meant anyone who was willing to spend between 4,000 and 20,000 euros on the spot. This is how it happened: We were given a sheet of paper with four \u201coptions.\u201d Our job was to write down the usual prices and then JT Foxx would announce the incredible, one-day-only-just-for-Berlin offer. Option 1: A day of one-on-one coaching or four days of group coaching with JT Foxx. The cost: 4,000 euros. Option 2: Getting coached at one of JT\u2019s mansions, in either Florida or Thailand, costing just 8,000 euros. Option 3: The opportunity to speak for 15 minutes in front of a large crowd at the \u201cMoney, Wealth and Business\u201d conference in South Africa, for 12,500 euros. A unique opportunity to build your brand. Option 4: The once-in-a-lifetime, career-enhancing opportunity to interview either Al Pacino or Mark Wahlberg for only 20,000 euros.\n\nI am fascinated by this coaching business mostly because I think it\u2019s a scam. I save money by being skeptical of these things.\n\nI notice a lot of similarities in the advertising of these coaches on Facebook and elsewhere. First, they love to share photos and videos of themselves. With the exception of Foxx, most of the coaches whose ads pop up on my Facebook are white, middle-age women, always attractive, polished and well spoken. Some of them are wearing gowns while dancing on the beach. Secondly, they love alliteration. They promote themselves using taglines like \u201cbold and brilliant.\u201d They have a special language they speak in the advertising, blogs, and so on. They use words and phrases like finding your authentic self, empowerment, upscaling, and abundance. And they seem to over-promise on what they offer: Reach a six-figure salary if you do this. Make a million on a book if you do that.\n\nI think these coaches do well for a few reasons. There are still barriers for women in the workforce. I know women leave their jobs to start their own businesses because they can\u2019t make more money or get promotions elsewhere, usually because younger, less skilled men get those jobs. Maybe coaching is a viable option for some women. But there\u2019s also money to be made on making women feel badly about themselves. These coaches look like they have their lives together. So, women look at them and think if they just do what these coaches do, they can have their lives together, too. While some of these coaches may be legit, I think others profit off women\u2019s insecurities and vulnerability.\n\nI\u2019ll put my skepticism aside for a moment, and ask if anyone out there has had a good experience with a coach. Maybe you\u2019re going to Foxx\u2019s mega speaker event tomorrow. I\u2019d like to hear about it, the good and the bad.\n\nNoticed\n\nTonight at the Halifax Central Library, Evelyn C. White, Halifax writer and Examiner contributor, is giving a talk on Sula, Toni Morrison\u2019s 1973 book on the friendship between two Black women.\n\nWhite and I spoke over the weekend about her talk, Sula, and Morrison.\n\nSet in The Bottom, a black neighbourhood in Ohio, the story follows the friendship between Sula and Nel from 1919 to 1965. White says she chose to talk about Sula because the Black women here aren\u2019t victims and the story is rooted in a Black community that White says is not unlike where she grew up in Indiana.\n\nI have always thought Sula is the most transgressive of Toni Morrison\u2019s work. It\u2019s a deep probing into the complexities of Black girls who knew each other for 50 years.\n\nTonight, White will talk about Morrison\u2019s upbringing, her early career, and her other work. Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved in 1987 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.\n\nWhite says as a writer she learned from Morrison to never waver from your voice and vision. Morrison, she says, always put \u201cBlack at the centre of what she was writing about,\u201d even when critics suggested she do otherwise.\n\nToni Morrison always valued her own voice, her own vision.\n\nWhite says she wants to counter the notion that Morrison\u2019s writing is too difficult, too emotional, and the language too lofty. White says Morrison carved out time to write while raising her two sons.\n\nFor her, the work had to be substantive because the cost was so high. She wanted to make sure the time and effort she took from her children was worth it. Toni Morrison makes you work because she worked as a writer. I think there is great value in reading her work because of the message she imparts and it demands your attention. I have learned over the years I can\u2019t read Toni Morrison unless I carve out some time and give it my attention. Her books to me are the equivalent of the Wonders of the World.\n\nFor more on I Want to Make Myself: Evelyn White on Toni Morrison\u2019s Sula, visit the Halifax Central Library here.\n\nGovernment\n\nCity\n\nTuesday\n\nHalifax and West Community Council (Tuesday, 6pm, City Hall) \u2014 a public hearing on W. M. Fares Architects\u2019 proposal to build an eight-storey building at the corner of Almon and Gladstone Streets.\n\nWednesday\n\nSpecial Events Advisory Committee (Wednesday, 9am, City Hall) \u2014 the CFL is giving a presentation on its Touch Down Atlantic event to be held this summer:\n\nRider Nation will invade Nova Scotia when the Saskatchewan Roughriders face the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday, July 25 in the first-ever regular season game played in Halifax. The game will be preceded by a three-day \u201cmini Grey Cup festival\u201d featuring music, parties and tons of family-friendly fun. \u2026 The CFL unveiled plans to make Halifax feel like a Grey Cup city, except it will be summer and there will be plenty of lobster rolls to go along with the beer.\n\nWe can\u2019t see any reason for this presentation other than that the CFL is asking for public money for the event.\n\nBut sure, everyone put on your kilts, get rummed up, and go watch the game.\n\nAudit and Finance Standing Committee (Wednesday, 10am, City Hall) \u2014 Nancy Noble will give a dog and pony show about the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and auditor general Evangeline Colman-Sadd will talk about her follow up on the AG office\u2019s 2017 recommendation.\n\nSpecial Meeting \u2013 Board of Police Commissioners (Wednesday, 12pm, City Hall) \u2014 a special meeting to discuss the budget.\n\nDesign Review Committee (Wednesday, 4:30pm, City Hall) \u2014 rescheduled from Feb. 13. As of Monday evening, there is nothing at all on the agenda.\n\nPublic Information Meeting \u2013 Case 22704 (Wednesday, 7pm, in the Centre named after a bank, 61 Gary Martin Drive, Bedford) \u2014 Lydon Lynch Architects wants \u201csubstantive amendments\u201d to a previously approved development agreement for a project on Fourth Street in Bedford. Specifically, it wants to increase the approved units from 18 to 27, \u201cwhich is necessary to make the development viable,\u201d because dog knows, no one can make money on real estate in this town.\n\nProvince\n\nTuesday\n\nVeterans Affairs (Tuesday, 2pm, One Government Place) \u2014 Commander Geoffrey Hamilton will talk about Commissionaires Nova Scotia.\n\nWednesday\n\nNo public meetings.\n\nOn campus\n\nIt\u2019s reading week, so not much going on.\n\nAt the Library\n\nI Want to Make Myself: Evelyn White on Toni Morrison\u2019s Sula (Tuesday, 7pm, Halifax Central Library) \u2014 Halifax writer and Examiner contributor Evelyn C. White will discuss Sula, Morrison\u2019s 1973 novel about the complex friendship between two Black women. More info here.\n\nIn the harbour\n\n06:00: Oceanex Sanderling, ro-ro container, arrives at Pier 41 from from St. John\u2019s\n\n07:00: JPO Aries, container ship, arrives at Pier 42 from Lisbon, Portugal\n\n18:00: Horizon Star, offshore supply ship, sails from Pier 9 for sea\n\nFootnotes\n\nTomorrow night I\u2019m getting together with several women who all connected on Twitter. In December, one of the women reached out to several of her followers, including me, who she thought would be interesting to meet in person. She was once part of a group called Halifax Twitter Chicks and wanted to create a group again that would meet in person once in a while. Two of those women didn\u2019t reply, but a few of us did and we met later that month. There was another dinner outing earlier this month that I couldn\u2019t make. But I\u2019m looking forward to this one tomorrow. We really should do more of this in real-life stuff, as we say on Twitter. Social media really has its limits."}
-{"text": "Biloxi, Mississippi (Ammoland) It seems a bit ironic that a product that is soon to take over the custom gun finishing world would bear such a simple, if not benign, moniker.\n\nThe name \u201cDuraCoat Aerosol Can\u201d doesn't exactly make you jump out of your chair and sprint to your nearest gun dealer.\n\nNonetheless, the brand new DuraCoat Aerosol spray can is an idea that is going to set the gun and accessory refinishing world on fire in the very near future.\n\nFor those unfamiliar with the DuraCoat product, let me quote from their website:\n\n\u201cDuraCoat is a two part chemical coating. Unlike other firearm finishes, DuraCoat was created specifically for firearms. Other firearm finishes are \u201cspin-off's\u201d from other industries. Also, DuraCoat is permanent. With normal use, a firearm finished with DuraCoat will last several lifetimes.\u201d\n\nThe Idea\n\nMy first introduction to the idea came during the NRA Annual Meeting in the spring of 2013. The show had just opened and the foot traffic was low. I was standing with my friend, Steve Lauer, President of Lauer Custom Weaponry, the owner of DuraCoat Firearms Finishes. We were discussing the success of the \u201cShake N Spray\u201d kit that Steve had released a couple years earlier. Steve looked left and then right like he was about to share a closely guarded secret. \u201cWe have something coming that is going to be even better than the kits.\u201d Steve told me in a hushed voice. I was most definitely intrigued.\n\nSteve went on to explain that during a recent trip to Europe he was introduced to the \u201ccan in a can\u201d technology. Not having an actual unit with him, he mimed what it was all about. \u201cYou have what looks like a standard spray paint can on the outside, but on the inside is a separate, smaller can. Both cans are pressurized but the contents of each can are separated until you depress a small button at the bottom of the can. He continued with a gleam in his eye like a kid who had just just found the Christmas presents his parents had been hiding.\n\n\u201cWhat we are going to do is put the hardener in the small can and the color in the outer can. When the user is ready, they just push the button on the bottom of the can. Shake it well until it's all mixed together and then apply it.\u201d\n\nPromises Kept\n\nAfter Steve explained the can in can concept to me I was pretty excited about it myself. Before I left the DuraCoat booth I made him promise to keep me in the loop and let me know when the final product was available. A couple of weeks ago that promise came true as the UPS driver delivered a medium sized box with three cans of DuraCoat Aerosol in MagPul Flat Dark Earth color.\n\nMy first project was easy. I had recently assembled a Red Jacket Firearms ZK22 (Ruger 10/22 action with RJF aftermarket stock). This space-age looking stock is made from flat black polymer. I knew from the outset I wanted to color it somehow. With the two stock halves supported by thin metal hangers, I read the directions on the can thoroughly and began. The DuraCoat Aerosol cans are the Cadillac of spray cans. The applicator nozzle can be adjusted from vertical to horizontal and it produces a fine, flat spray pattern. From the first spray to the very last one the can provides a consistent pattern with no splatter.\n\nAt press time DuraCoat had nine colors listed for their DuraCoat Aerosol cans. These colors include: Matte Black, Parker, White, OD Green, Woodland Green, Pink Lady, Combat Gray, MagPul Flat Dark Earth, and Blackhawk Coyote Tan. DuraCoat finish can be applied to any material; wood, steel, aluminum and polymer. Just be sure that every last bit of gun oil or lubricant has been stripped from the gun. You want the surface clean, dry and oil free. Each aerosol can holds four ounces of DuraCoat color, enough to completely refinish a large shotgun or rifle.\n\nEnd Results\n\nWhile the ZK22 was my very first project, I must say it turned out very well, despite my freshman efforts. No, you don't need to bake the coating on. Simply let it hang in a dry environment for a day. I left mine hanging over night and reassembled the gun the next day. DuraCoat does recommend that you allow the coat to \u201ccure\u201d for a week or two before hard field use.\n\nI was so excited after my first project that I ordered a can of OD green and their \u201c#6 Parker\u201d. The next project was an AAC Micro 7 rifle chambered in .300 Blackout. Like the ZK22, the AAC rifle was completely black with black polymer stock. I new that a little bit of color and contrast would really make the rifle look good. If I do say so myself, the new project turned out better than the first. My spray technique and level of patience had improved.\n\nThe Miracle\n\nWhat Steve Lauer has done is to provide every gun owner in America the opportunity to apply a custom color and refinish their guns in the privacy of their home shop or garage. Think about it, how many times have you seen a custom finished gun in a magazine and thought, \u201cMan, I'd like to do that\u201d but then you talk yourself out of it because you don't want to ship the gun off to someone or you didn't want to spend one to two hundred dollars for the job. You might be like a lot of folks and thought, I'm not a pro, I couldn't do it myself.\n\nFriends, if I can do it in my shop and not screw it up, so can you.\n\nThe DuraCoat Aerosol cans will allow every gun owner with a $200 shotgun or $300 rifle to add a custom color finish that is tough as nails. Can life get any better? I submit that it cannot. As the ink dries on this page DuraCoat Aerosol cans are available directly from the maker, just click on this link: ( http://tiny.cc/wm7h6w ) to DuraCoat Aerosol and place your order.\n\nHappy gun coating!\n\nAbout the Author\n\nPaul Markel has been a firearms industry writer for twenty years and is the author of the new book \u201cStudent of the Gun; A beginner once, a student for life.\u201d Paul hosts and produces \u201cStudent of the Gun\u201d a show dedicated to education, experience, and enjoyment of firearms. Episodes of SOTG can be viewed by sim\n\nWin Guns/Gear & Get FREE Training! Click HERE\n\nFollow Student of the Gun and join the conversation: #studentofthegun"}
-{"text": "Ireland has slipped from first to fourth in Forbes\u2019 annual rankings of the best country in the world to do business. Denmark takes the number one slot followed by Hong Kong and New Zealand.\n\nForbes produces its annual Best Countries for Business report based on seven information sources measuring 11 metrics including innovation, taxes, property rights, technology and stock market performance in 146 nations.\n\nIreland is ranked first in the world in the category of \u201cpersonal freedom.\u201d It comes sixth in terms of \u201cinvestor protection\u201d and ninth for \u201ctrade freedom.\u201d\n\nIt comes 17th in the world when ranked in terms of \u201ccorruption,\u201d and eighteenth for its ability to protect both intellectual and physical property rights.\n\nIreland is nineteenth for the amount of \u201cred tape\u201d facing business and comes in 20th position for \u201cinnovation.\u201d\n\nIn its commentary on Ireland, Forbes said: \u201cSince entering office in March 2011, the new (Enda) Kenny government has intensified austerity measures to try to meet the deficit targets under Ireland\u2019s EU-IMF program.\u201d\n\n\u201cIreland has grown slowly since 2011, but managed to reduce the budget deficit to 7.2 per cent of GDP in 2013. In late 2013, Ireland formally exited its EU-IMF bailout program, benefiting from its strict adherence to deficit-reduction targets and success in refinancing a large amount of banking-related debt.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn the wake of the collapse of the construction sector and the downturn in consumer spending and business investment, the export sector, dominated by foreign multinationals, has become an even more important component of Ireland\u2019s economy. Agriculture, once the most important sector, is now dwarfed by industry and services,\u201d the Forbes report concludes.\n\nLast week one of the key sources used to compile the Forbes report, the influential International Property Rights Index, warned that Ireland risked falling back in Forbes rankings if it introduced plain packaging for cigarettes and other products.\n\nForbes is critical again this year of the United States which ranked 18th in Forbes\u2019 ninth annual ranking of the best countries for business, down four spots from last year. Forbes said this \u201cmarks the fifth straight year of declines since 2009, when the US ranked second. Blame an expanded government, as well as expensive new regulations in finance and health care.\u201d\n\nDenmark, Forbes said, was the best country in the world to do business because its \u201cbusiness climate is extremely positive.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt scored highly across the board, finishing in the top 25 in each of the 11 categories we considered with top five showings for personal freedom, technology and low corruption,\u201d it said.\n\n\u201cOne of the keys to Denmark\u2019s pro-business climate is the flexible labour market known as \u201cFlexisecurity,\u201d where companies can easily hire and fire workers with out-of-work adults eligible for significant unemployment benefits,\u201d Forbes added.\n\nAmong other major economies Japan rose two spots from last year to number 26, while China fell three places to number 97. Germany jumped four places to 20th place while France fell sharply by eight places to 27th."}
-{"text": "Slam!\n\nFox News\u2019 Martha MacCallum was on a roll this morning. She blasted the IRS for its wasteful and lavish spending as only she can.\n\n38 million$ in 2010 on conferences \u2013 IRS, REALLY!! How do you even do that? \u2014 martha maccallum (@marthamaccallum) June 6, 2013\n\nIRS needed conferences to address new practices and safety concerns \u2013 SERIOUSLY WE NEED A MULT MIL$ CONFERENCE FOR THIS? \u2014 martha maccallum (@marthamaccallum) June 6, 2013\n\nAmen, Ms. MacCallum!\n\nTwitter users agreed and praised Martha MacCallum.\n\nhttps://twitter.com/KillLibs/status/342642947583524864\n\nI may, or may not, have a small crush on @marthamaccallum. \u2014 Mike Mason (@MikeMason830) June 6, 2013\n\n@marthamaccallum This is an outrage! They spent our hard earned money on parties!! \u2014 Donna B (@DonnaBr82566768) June 6, 2013\n\n@marthamaccallum Elitists need elite accomodations with elite extras. You know that don't you ? lol \u2014 Ed Yeary (@radioedyeary) June 6, 2013\n\n@marthamaccallum Wish I could have a mil or so to throw around\u2026Oh, wait, that was my taxes, so I guess I did. \u2014 SDhousewife (@SDhousewife) June 6, 2013\n\nhttps://twitter.com/PaulRever7/status/342642788162211840\n\n@marthamaccallum And they conveniently can't find the receipts! \u2014 Steve Rutledge (@srutledgeUSMC) June 6, 2013\n\nThat\u2019s right. Receipts for thee, but not for me!\n\n@marthamaccallum U C no value in Star Trek film? Don't U know it was Team Building. Don't U want them happy? Sarcastically I say. \u2014 LookUpFolks (@lookupfolks) June 6, 2013\n\nA reminder about that disgrace:\n\nICYMI: MT @TwitchyTeam Mock Spock: Issa on what IRS division head was doing during wasteful conferences http://t.co/i3prrs6b0S \u2014 Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) June 6, 2013\n\nHeh. Rep. Issa masterfully mocked that one.\n\nAnd this Twitter user provides a possible answer for the multimillion dollar bashes.\n\nOpen bar? RT @marthamaccallum: 38 million$ in 2010 on conferences \u2013 IRS, REALLY!! How do you even do that? \u2014 Rschrim (@Rschrim) June 6, 2013\n\nZing!\n\nMacCallum still kept her sense of humor even through her righteous anger:\n\n@Radioman1017 / Oops! But he was great at raising kids I hear! \u2014 martha maccallum (@marthamaccallum) June 6, 2013\n\nNever change, Ms. MacCallum!\n\nRelated:\n\nBam! Martha MacCallum after IRS testimony: Now we know where the Tea Party has gone\n\nSlam! Fox News\u2019 Martha MacCallum calls out lapdog media with simple question\n\nFox News\u2019 Martha MacCallum blasts Holder, pathetic Daily Beast puff piece\n\nBam! Fox News\u2019 Martha MacCallum slams Obama admin with key question"}
-{"text": "SEE MORE:\n\nSEE MORE: A.J. Hinch\n\nShare This Story\n\nMore from The Onion"}
-{"text": "From Linus Torvalds <> Date Sun, 11 Jun 2017 17:09:03 -0700 Subject Linux 4.12-rc5 Oh well, the \"all the rc's have been nice and small this release\n\naround\" thing definitely didn't continue all the way.\n\n\n\nIt's not like rc5 is *huge*, but it definitely isn't the nice and\n\nsmall one I was hoping for. There's nothing in partiocular that looks\n\nvery worrisome, and it may well just be random timing - the rc sizes\n\ndo fluctuate a lot depending on just which subsystem gets synced up\n\nthat particular rc, and we may just have hit that \"everybody happened\n\nto sync up this week\" case.\n\n\n\nAnyway, rc5 is our biggest rc this release (obviously not counting\n\nrc1, which contains all of the the merge window). And it definitely\n\ndoes have stuff all over: we've got driver updates (gpu, networking,\n\nscsi, block layer and sound are the biggest, but there's stuff all\n\nover), we've got arch updates (arm[64], powerpc, sparc, x86), and\n\nwe've got filesystems (btrfs, ext4, and unusually several ufs fixes\n\nthanks to recent bug reporting activity).\n\n\n\nBut we _also_ have various documentation yupdates, generic networking,\n\nsome key handling fixes, and perf and kvm fixes.\n\n\n\nSo it really isn't one thing, it's just a lot of different small stuff.\n\n\n\nAnd it's not like it's actually unreasonably big, it mainly stands out\n\nbecause the 4.12 release cycle so far has been fairly calm.\n\n\n\nAnyway, I really hope this was just a random timing fluke. Partly I\n\nhope that because of just general wishes for releases to calm down,\n\nbut in particular I will be traveling the next week+, and while I'll\n\nhave internet and my trusty laptop, I was hoping that things would be\n\ncalm while I'm off gallivanting around the world.\n\n\n\nOf course, maybe it will be extra calm exactly _because_ people got\n\ntheir patches out of the way. I can hope.\n\n\n\nAnyway, go out and test,\n\n\n\nLinus\n\n\n\n---\n\n\n\nAdam Thomson (1):\n\nASoC: da7213: Fix incorrect usage of bitwise '&' operator for SRM check\n\n\n\nAl Viro (8):\n\nufs: restore proper tail allocation\n\nfix ufs_isblockset()\n\nufs: restore maintaining ->i_blocks\n\nufs: set correct ->s_maxsize\n\nufs_extend_tail(): fix the braino in calling conventions of\n\nufs_new_fragments()\n\nufs_getfrag_block(): we only grab ->truncate_mutex on block creation path\n\nexcessive checks in ufs_write_failed() and ufs_evict_inode()\n\nufs: we need to sync inode before freeing it\n\n\n\nAlexander Sverdlin (1):\n\nMAINTAINERS: EP93XX: Update maintainership\n\n\n\nAlexandre Courbot (1):\n\nMAINTAINERS: remove self from GPIO maintainers\n\n\n\nAndi Kleen (1):\n\nperf stat: Only print NMI watchdog hint when enabled\n\n\n\nAndrew Lunn (3):\n\nRevert \"ata: sata_mv: Convert to devm_ioremap_resource()\"\n\nnet: dsa: mv88e6xxx: Add eeprom-length to binding\n\nnet: dsa: mv88e6xxx: Add missing static to stub functions\n\n\n\nAndrey Smirnov (1):\n\nusb: chipidea: imx: Do not access CLKONOFF on i.MX51\n\n\n\nAneesh Kumar K.V (1):\n\npowerpc/mm/4k: Limit 4k page size config to 64TB virtual address space\n\n\n\nAnmol Sarma (1):\n\nnet: Update TCP congestion control documentation\n\n\n\nAntoine Tenart (1):\n\narm64: marvell: dts: fix interrupts in 7k/8k crypto nodes\n\n\n\nArd Biesheuvel (1):\n\nARM: 8677/1: boot/compressed: fix decompressor header layout for v7-M\n\n\n\nArend Van Spriel (1):\n\nbrcmfmac: fix alignment configuration on host using 64-bit DMA\n\n\n\nArnd Bergmann (7):\n\nmemory: atmel-ebi: mark PM ops as __maybe_unused\n\nstaging: ccree: add CRYPTO dependency\n\nARM: at91: select CONFIG_ARM_CPU_SUSPEND\n\niommu/dma: Fix function declaration\n\nnet: dsa: mv88e6xxx: Add missing static to stub functions\n\nnet/mlx5: avoid build warning for uniprocessor\n\nscsi: lpfc: nvmet_fc: fix format string\n\n\n\nArvind Yadav (1):\n\nata: sata_rcar: Handle return value of clk_prepare_enable\n\n\n\nBen Hutchings (1):\n\nipv6: xfrm: Handle errors reported by xfrm6_find_1stfragopt()\n\n\n\nBen Skeggs (3):\n\ndrm/nouveau: replace multiple open-coded runpm support checks\n\nwith function\n\ndrm/nouveau: enable autosuspend only when it'll actually be used\n\ndrm/nouveau/tmr: fully separate alarm execution/pending lists\n\n\n\nBilal Amarni (1):\n\nsecurity/keys: add CONFIG_KEYS_COMPAT to Kconfig\n\n\n\nBill Kuzeja (1):\n\nscsi: qla2xxx: Fix extraneous ref on sp's after adapter break\n\n\n\nBin Liu (1):\n\nusb: musb: dsps: keep VBUS on for host-only mode\n\n\n\nBjorn Andersson (1):\n\nwcn36xx: Close SMD channel on device removal\n\n\n\nBj\u00f6rn T\u00f6pel (1):\n\ni40e/i40evf: proper update of the page_offset field\n\n\n\nBreno Leitao (2):\n\npowerpc/kernel: Fix FP and vector register restoration\n\npowerpc/kernel: Initialize load_tm on task creation\n\n\n\nCharles Keepax (1):\n\nMAINTAINERS: Update email address for patches to Wolfson parts\n\n\n\nChopra, Manish (1):\n\nqlcnic: Fix tunnel offload for 82xx adapters\n\n\n\nChris Chiu (1):\n\nALSA: hda/realtek: Fix mic and headset jack sense on Asus X705UD\n\n\n\nChris Wilson (4):\n\ndrm/i915: Short-circuit i915_gem_wait_for_idle() if already idle\n\ndrm/i915: Hold a wakeref for probing the ring registers\n\ndrm/i915: Guard against i915_ggtt_disable_guc() being invoked\n\nunconditionally\n\ndrm/i915: Fix logical inversion for gen4 quirking\n\n\n\nChristian Borntraeger (1):\n\nKVM: s390: fix ais handling vs cpu model\n\n\n\nChristian S\u00fcnkenberg (1):\n\nx86/cpu/cyrix: Add alternative Device ID of Geode GX1 SoC\n\n\n\nChristoffer Dall (2):\n\nKVM: arm/arm64: Fix isues with GICv2 on GICv3 migration\n\nKVM: arm/arm64: vgic-v3: Fix nr_pre_bits bitfield extraction\n\n\n\nChristophe JAILLET (2):\n\nARM: davinci: PM: Free resources in error handling path in\n\n'davinci_pm_init'\n\nARM: davinci: PM: Do not free useful resources in normal path in\n\n'davinci_pm_init'\n\n\n\nChristophe Leroy (1):\n\npowerpc/sysdev/simple_gpio: Fix oops in gpio save_regs function\n\n\n\nColin Ian King (5):\n\nbtrfs: fix incorrect error return ret being passed to mapping_set_error\n\n[media] rainshadow-cec: ensure exit_loop is intialized\n\nnet: stmmac: ensure jumbo_frm error return is correctly checked\n\nfor -ve value\n\nnet: stmmac: fix a broken u32 less than zero check\n\ndrm/vmwgfx: fix spelling mistake \"exeeds\" -> \"exceeds\"\n\n\n\nDan Carpenter (5):\n\niio: adc: Max9611: checking for ERR_PTR instead of NULL in probe\n\niio: adc: ti_am335x_adc: allocating too much in probe\n\ndrm/mediatek: fix a timeout loop\n\ndrm/vmwgfx: Handle vmalloc() failure in vmw_local_fifo_reserve()\n\nX.509: Fix error code in x509_cert_parse()\n\n\n\nDan Williams (1):\n\ndevice-dax: fix 'dax' device filesystem inode destruction crash\n\n\n\nDaniel Vetter (1):\n\ndrm: Fix locking in drm_atomic_helper_resume\n\n\n\nDave Young (1):\n\nefi: Fix boot panic because of invalid BGRT image address\n\n\n\nDavid Rientjes (1):\n\ncompiler, clang: suppress warning for unused static inline functions\n\n\n\nDavid S. Miller (4):\n\nsparc64: Fix build warnings with gcc 7.\n\nipv6: Fix leak in ipv6_gso_segment().\n\nsparc64: Add __multi3 for gcc 7.x and later.\n\nRevert \"sit: reload iphdr in ipip6_rcv\"\n\n\n\nDavid Sterba (1):\n\nbtrfs: use correct types for page indices in btrfs_page_exists_in_range\n\n\n\nDavide Caratti (1):\n\nnetfilter: conntrack: fix false CRC32c mismatch using paged skb\n\n\n\nDavidlohr Bueso (1):\n\nsecurity: use READ_ONCE instead of deprecated ACCESS_ONCE\n\n\n\nDmitry Monakhov (1):\n\nbio-integrity: Do not allocate integrity context for bio w/o data\n\n\n\nDmitry Torokhov (4):\n\nfirmware: vpd: do not leave freed section attributes to the list\n\nfirmware: vpd: avoid potential use-after-free when destroying section\n\nfirmware: vpd: do not leak kobjects\n\nInput: synaptics-rmi4 - register F03 port as pass-through serio\n\n\n\nDominik Brodowski (1):\n\nx86/microcode/intel: Clear patch pointer before jettisoning the initrd\n\n\n\nDouglas Caetano dos Santos (1):\n\ntcp: reinitialize MTU probing when setting MSS in a TCP repair\n\n\n\nEduardo Molinas (2):\n\niio: adc: sun4i-gpadc-iio: Fix module autoload when PLATFORM\n\ndevices are registered\n\niio: adc: sun4i-gpadc-iio: Fix module autoload when OF devices\n\nare registered\n\n\n\nEmmanuel Grumbach (1):\n\niwlwifi: mvm: fix firmware debug restart recording\n\n\n\nEric Biggers (20):\n\next4: fix off-by-one error when writing back pages before dio read\n\next4: remove unused d_name argument from ext4_search_dir() et al.\n\next4: remove redundant check for encrypted file on dio write path\n\nelevator: fix truncation of icq_cache_name\n\nKEYS: put keyring if install_session_keyring_to_cred() fails\n\nKEYS: encrypted: avoid encrypting/decrypting stack buffers\n\nKEYS: encrypted: fix buffer overread in valid_master_desc()\n\nKEYS: encrypted: fix race causing incorrect HMAC calculations\n\nKEYS: encrypted: use constant-time HMAC comparison\n\nKEYS: fix dereferencing NULL payload with nonzero length\n\nKEYS: fix freeing uninitialized memory in key_update()\n\nKEYS: sanitize add_key() and keyctl() key payloads\n\nKEYS: user_defined: sanitize key payloads\n\nKEYS: encrypted: sanitize all key material\n\nKEYS: trusted: sanitize all key material\n\nKEYS: sanitize key structs before freeing\n\nKEYS: DH: forbid using digest_null as the KDF hash\n\nKEYS: DH: don't feed uninitialized \"otherinfo\" into KDF\n\nKEYS: DH: ensure the KDF counter is properly aligned\n\nKEYS: DH: add __user annotations to keyctl_kdf_params\n\n\n\nEric Dumazet (1):\n\nnet: ping: do not abuse udp_poll()\n\n\n\nEric Garver (1):\n\ngeneve: fix needed_headroom and max_mtu for collect_metadata\n\n\n\nEryu Guan (1):\n\next4: fix off-by-one on max nr_pages in ext4_find_unwritten_pgoff()\n\n\n\nEugeniu Rosca (1):\n\nravb: Fix use-after-free on `ifconfig eth0 down`\n\n\n\nFengguang Wu (1):\n\nphy: qualcomm: phy-qcom-qmp: fix application of sizeof to pointer\n\n\n\nFiro Yang (1):\n\nhdlcdrv: Fix divide by zero in hdlcdrv_ioctl\n\n\n\nFlorian Fainelli (3):\n\nnet: systemport: Fix missing Wake-on-LAN interrupt for SYSTEMPORT Lite\n\nnet: dsa: Move dsa_switch_{suspend,resume} out of legacy.c\n\nnet: dsa: Fix stale cpu_switch reference after unbind then bind\n\n\n\nFranziska Naepelt (1):\n\niio: light: ltr501 Fix interchanged als/ps register field\n\n\n\nFrederic Barrat (1):\n\ncxl: Fix error path on bad ioctl\n\n\n\nGanesh Goudar (2):\n\ncxgb4: update latest firmware version supported\n\ncxgb4: avoid enabling napi twice to the same queue\n\n\n\nGilad Ben-Yossef (4):\n\ncrypto: asymmetric_keys - handle EBUSY due to backlog correctly\n\ncrypto: drbg - wait for crypto op not signal safe\n\ncrypto: gcm - wait for crypto op not signal safe\n\nstaging: ccree: fix buffer copy\n\n\n\nGregory Greenman (1):\n\niwlwifi: mvm: rs: start using LQ command color\n\n\n\nGuenter Roeck (1):\n\nhexagon: Use raw_copy_to_user\n\n\n\nGuilherme G. Piccoli (3):\n\nMAINTAINERS: Change maintainer of genwqe driver\n\ncxgb4: avoid crash on PCI error recovery path\n\nscsi: lpfc: Avoid NULL pointer dereference in lpfc_els_abort()\n\n\n\nGustavo A. R. Silva (3):\n\nnet: freescale: fix potential null pointer dereference\n\nscsi: lpfc: prevent potential null pointer dereference\n\ndrm/nouveau/kms/nv50: add null check before pointer dereference\n\n\n\nHaim Dreyfuss (1):\n\niwlwifi: mvm: Fix command queue number on d0i3 flow\n\n\n\nHaishuang Yan (2):\n\nsit: reload iphdr in ipip6_rcv\n\ndevlink: fix potential memort leak\n\n\n\nHans Verkuil (3):\n\n[media] cec: select CEC_CORE instead of depend on it\n\n[media] cec: rename MEDIA_CEC_NOTIFIER to CEC_NOTIFIER\n\n[media] cec: drop MEDIA_CEC_DEBUG\n\n\n\nHans de Goede (2):\n\ngpio: crystalcove: Do not write regular gpio registers for virtual GPIOs\n\ndrm: Fix oops + Xserver hang when unplugging USB drm devices\n\n\n\nHeiko Stuebner (1):\n\narm64: defconfig: enable some core options for 64bit Rockchip socs\n\n\n\nIdo Shamay (1):\n\nnet/mlx4: Check if Granular QoS per VF has been enabled before\n\nupdating QP qos_vport\n\n\n\nImre Deak (1):\n\ndrm/i915: Prevent the system suspend complete optimization\n\n\n\nJacopo Mondi (1):\n\niio: adc: max9611: Fix attribute measure unit\n\n\n\nJames Clarke (1):\n\nsparc: Machine description indices can vary\n\n\n\nJames Smart (2):\n\nnvme-fc: on lldd/transport io error, terminate association\n\nnvme-fc: fix missing put reference on controller create failure\n\n\n\nJames Wang (1):\n\nFix loop device flush before configure v3\n\n\n\nJan Kara (7):\n\nbtrfs: Make flush bios explicitely sync\n\next4: clear lockdep subtype for quota files on quota off\n\next4: fix SEEK_HOLE\n\next4: fix off-by-in in loop termination in ext4_find_unwritten_pgoff()\n\next4: fix data corruption with EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_ZERO\n\next4: fix data corruption for mmap writes\n\next4: fix fdatasync(2) after extent manipulation operations\n\n\n\nJane Chu (2):\n\narch/sparc: increase CONFIG_NODES_SHIFT on SPARC64 to 5\n\narch/sparc: support NR_CPUS = 4096\n\n\n\nJani Nikula (1):\n\ndrm/i915: fix warning for unused variable\n\n\n\nJason A. Donenfeld (1):\n\nrandom: invalidate batched entropy after crng init\n\n\n\nJavier Martinez Canillas (1):\n\nMAINTAINERS: Remove Javier Martinez Canillas as reviewer for Exynos\n\n\n\nJeff Mahoney (2):\n\nbtrfs: fix memory leak in update_space_info failure path\n\nbtrfs: fix race with relocation recovery and fs_root setup\n\n\n\nJeremy Linton (1):\n\nreset: hi6220: Set module license so that it can be loaded\n\n\n\nJessica Yu (1):\n\nMAINTAINERS: update email address for Jessica Yu\n\n\n\nJia-Ju Bai (3):\n\nisdn: Fix a sleep-in-atomic bug\n\nqlcnic: Fix a sleep-in-atomic bug in qlcnic_82xx_hw_write_wx_2M\n\nand qlcnic_82xx_hw_read_wx_2M\n\nmISDN: Fix a sleep-in-atomic bug\n\n\n\nJin Yao (1):\n\nperf/core: Drop kernel samples even though :u is specified\n\n\n\nJiri Olsa (2):\n\nperf trace: Add mmap alias for s390\n\nperf test: Disable breakpoint signal tests for powerpc\n\n\n\nJisheng Zhang (1):\n\nusb: chipidea: udc: fix NULL pointer dereference if udc_start failed\n\n\n\nJoe Carnuccio (4):\n\nscsi: qla2xxx: Modify T262 FW dump template to specify same\n\nstart/end to debug customer issues\n\nscsi: qla2xxx: Set bit 15 for DIAG_ECHO_TEST MBC\n\nscsi: qla2xxx: Fix mailbox pointer error in fwdump capture\n\nscsi: qla2xxx: Fix crash due to NULL pointer dereference of ctx\n\n\n\nJoel Stanley (1):\n\ngpio: aspeed: Don't attempt to debounce if disabled\n\n\n\nJohannes Berg (4):\n\nmac80211: fix TX aggregation start/stop callback race\n\nmac80211: fix dropped counter in multiqueue RX\n\niwlwifi: tt: move ucode_loaded check under mutex\n\niwlwifi: mvm: clear new beacon command template struct\n\n\n\nJohannes Thumshirn (1):\n\nscsi: qla2xxx: don't disable a not previously enabled PCI device\n\n\n\nJohn Stultz (1):\n\ndrm: kirin: Fix drm_of_find_panel_or_bridge conversion\n\n\n\nJon Bloomfield (1):\n\ndrm/i915: Serialize GTT/Aperture accesses on BXT\n\n\n\nJoseph Qi (1):\n\nblk-throttle: fix NULL pointer dereference in\n\nthrotl_schedule_pending_timer\n\n\n\nJulien Grall (1):\n\nxen/privcmd: Support correctly 64KB page granularity when mapping memory\n\n\n\nJulius Werner (1):\n\ndrivers: char: mem: Fix wraparound check to allow mappings up to the end\n\n\n\nKai Chen (1):\n\ndrm/i915: Disable decoupled MMIO\n\n\n\nKai-Heng Feng (2):\n\nnvme: only consider exit latency when choosing useful non-op power states\n\nnvme: relax APST default max latency to 100ms\n\n\n\nKim Phillips (2):\n\nperf annotate: Fix branch instruction with multiple operands\n\nperf annotate: Add missing powerpc triplet\n\n\n\nKonstantin Khlebnikov (2):\n\next4: handle the rest of ext4_mb_load_buddy() ENOMEM errors\n\next4: keep existing extra fields when inode expands\n\n\n\nKuninori Morimoto (4):\n\nASoC: rsnd: don't use PDTA bit for 24bit on SSI\n\nASoC: rsnd: don't call free_irq() on Parent SSI\n\nASoC: rsnd: SSI PIO adjust to 24bit mode\n\nASoC: rsnd: fixup parent_clk_name of AUDIO_CLKOUTx\n\n\n\nLance Richardson (1):\n\nvxlan: eliminate cached dst leak\n\n\n\nLaurent Pinchart (1):\n\nARM: dma-mapping: Don't tear down third-party mappings\n\n\n\nLeonard Crestez (3):\n\nARM: dts: imx6ul-14x14-evk: Add ksz8081 phy properties\n\nnet: phy: micrel: Restore led_mode and clk_sel on resume\n\ndrm/imx: imx-ldb: Accept drm_of_find_panel_or_bridge failure\n\n\n\nLiad Kaufman (1):\n\niwlwifi: mvm: support ibss in dqa mode\n\n\n\nLiam McBirnie (1):\n\nip6_tunnel: fix traffic class routing for tunnels\n\n\n\nLiam R. Howlett (1):\n\nsparc/mm/hugepages: Fix setup_hugepagesz for invalid values.\n\n\n\nLinus Torvalds (2):\n\ncompiler, clang: properly override 'inline' for clang\n\nLinux 4.12-rc5\n\n\n\nLiping Zhang (2):\n\nnetfilter: nat: use atomic bit op to clear the _SRC_NAT_DONE_BIT\n\nnetfilter: ctnetlink: fix incorrect nf_ct_put during hash resize\n\n\n\nLiu Bo (1):\n\nBtrfs: clear EXTENT_DEFRAG bits in finish_ordered_io\n\n\n\nLoganaden Velvindron (1):\n\ncrypto : asymmetric_keys : verify_pefile:zero memory content\n\nbefore freeing\n\n\n\nLorenzo Pieralisi (1):\n\nACPI/IORT: Move the check to get iommu_ops from translated fwspec\n\n\n\nLuca Coelho (3):\n\niwlwifi: pcie: only use d0i3 in suspend/resume if system_pm is set to d0i3\n\niwlwifi: mvm: don't fail when removing a key from an inexisting sta\n\niwlwifi: fix min API version for 7265D, 3168, 8000 and 8265\n\n\n\nLucas Stach (1):\n\ngpu: ipu-v3: pre: only use internal clock gating\n\n\n\nMaarten Lankhorst (1):\n\ndrm/i915: Always recompute watermarks when distrust_bios_wm is set, v2.\n\n\n\nMadalin Bucur (1):\n\nDocumentation: networking: add DPAA Ethernet document\n\n\n\nMadhavan Srinivasan (1):\n\npowerpc/perf: Fix Power9 test_adder fields\n\n\n\nMarc Zyngier (4):\n\nKVM: arm/arm64: Handle possible NULL stage2 pud when ageing pages\n\narm64: KVM: Preserve RES1 bits in SCTLR_EL2\n\narm64: KVM: Allow unaligned accesses at EL2\n\narm: KVM: Allow unaligned accesses at HYP\n\n\n\nMarcin Niestroj (1):\n\niio: trigger: fix NULL pointer dereference in iio_trigger_write_current()\n\n\n\nMarek Vasut (1):\n\ngpu: ipu-v3: Fix CSI selection for VDIC\n\n\n\nMark Bloch (1):\n\nvxlan: fix use-after-free on deletion\n\n\n\nMark Rutland (1):\n\nKEYS: fix refcount_inc() on zero\n\n\n\nMark yao (1):\n\ndrm/rockchip: Correct vop out_mode configure\n\n\n\nMarkus Elfring (1):\n\nKEYS: Delete an error message for a failed memory allocation in\n\nget_derived_key()\n\n\n\nMartin Blumenstingl (1):\n\nusb: dwc2: add support for the DWC2 controller on Meson8 SoCs\n\n\n\nMartin K. Petersen (1):\n\nscsi: scsi_debug: Avoid PI being disabled when TPGS is enabled\n\n\n\nMasahiro Yamada (1):\n\nARM: dts: versatile: use #include \"...\" to include local DT\n\n\n\nMat Martineau (1):\n\nKEYS: Convert KEYCTL_DH_COMPUTE to use the crypto KPP API\n\n\n\nMatt Ranostay (3):\n\niio: proximity: as3935: recalibrate RCO after resume\n\niio: proximity: as3935: fix AS3935_INT mask\n\niio: proximity: as3935: fix iio_trigger_poll issue\n\n\n\nMaurizio Lombardi (1):\n\nscsi: bnx2fc: fix race condition in bnx2fc_get_host_stats()\n\n\n\nMauro Carvalho Chehab (1):\n\n[media] atomisp: don't treat warnings as errors\n\n\n\nMauro S. M. Rodrigues (1):\n\ni40e: Fix state flags for bit set and clean operations of PF\n\n\n\nMax Filippov (1):\n\nnet: ethoc: enable NAPI before poll may be scheduled\n\n\n\nMichael Bringmann (1):\n\npowerpc/hotplug-mem: Fix missing endian conversion of aa_index\n\n\n\nMichael Ellerman (4):\n\npowerpc/spufs: Fix coredump of SPU contexts\n\npowerpc/64: Reclaim CPU_FTR_SUBCORE\n\npowerpc/numa: Fix percpu allocations to be NUMA aware\n\npowerpc/book3s64: Move PPC_DT_CPU_FTRs and enable it by default\n\n\n\nMichael S. Tsirkin (1):\n\nvirtio_net: lower limit on buffer size\n\n\n\nMichael Thalmeier (2):\n\nusb: chipidea: debug: check before accessing ci_role\n\nusb: chipidea: core: check before accessing ci_role in ci_role_show\n\n\n\nMichal Hocko (1):\n\namd-xgbe: use PAGE_ALLOC_COSTLY_ORDER in xgbe_map_rx_buffer\n\n\n\nMichal Wajdeczko (1):\n\ndrm/i915/guc: Remove stale comment for q_fail\n\n\n\nMike Kravetz (1):\n\nsparc64: mm: fix copy_tsb to correctly copy huge page TSBs\n\n\n\nMilian Wolff (2):\n\nperf report: Include partial stacks unwound with libdw\n\nperf report: Ensure the perf DSO mapping matches what libdw sees\n\n\n\nMing Lei (3):\n\nblk-mq: pass correct hctx to blk_mq_try_issue_directly\n\nblk-mq: fix direct issue\n\nnvme: fix hang in remove path\n\n\n\nMintz, Yuval (2):\n\nqed: Don't log missing periodic stats by default\n\nbnx2x: Fix Multi-Cos\n\n\n\nMurali Karicheri (1):\n\nARM: dts: keystone-k2l: fix broken Ethernet due to disabled OSR\n\n\n\nNagaraju, Vathsala (1):\n\ndrm/i915/psr: disable psr2 for resolution greater than 32X20\n\n\n\nNamhyung Kim (12):\n\nperf header: Set proper module name when build-id event found\n\nperf symbols: Set module info when build-id event found\n\nperf symbols: Use correct filename for compressed modules in\n\nbuild-id cache\n\nperf annotate: Fix symbolic link of build-id cache\n\nperf tools: Fix a memory leak in __open_dso()\n\nperf tools: Introduce dso__decompress_kmodule_{fd,path}\n\nperf annotate: Use dso__decompress_kmodule_path()\n\nperf tools: Decompress kernel module when reading DSO data\n\nperf tools: Consolidate error path in __open_dso()\n\nperf tests: Decompress kernel module before objdump\n\nperf symbols: Keep DSO->symtab_type after decompress\n\nperf symbols: Kill dso__build_id_is_kmod()\n\n\n\nNeil Armstrong (1):\n\ndrm/meson: Fix driver bind when only CVBS is available\n\n\n\nNeilBrown (1):\n\nmd: initialise ->writes_pending in personality modules.\n\n\n\nNicholas Piggin (1):\n\npowerpc/64s: Add dt_cpu_ftrs boot time setup option\n\n\n\nNicolas Dichtel (1):\n\nnetlink: don't send unknown nsid\n\n\n\nNiklas Cassel (1):\n\nnet: stmmac: fix completely hung TX when using TSO\n\n\n\nNikolay Aleksandrov (2):\n\nnet: bridge: start hello timer only if device is up\n\nnet: bridge: fix a null pointer dereference in br_afspec\n\n\n\nOleg Drokin (1):\n\nstaging/lustre/lov: remove set_fs() call from lov_getstripe()\n\n\n\nOmar Sandoval (1):\n\nBtrfs: fix delalloc accounting leak caused by u32 overflow\n\n\n\nPablo Neira Ayuso (1):\n\nnetfilter: nft_set_rbtree: handle element re-addition after deletion\n\n\n\nPaolo Bonzini (3):\n\nkvm: async_pf: fix rcu_irq_enter() with irqs enabled\n\nsrcu: Allow use of Tiny/Tree SRCU from both process and interrupt context\n\nsrcu: Allow use of Classic SRCU from both process and interrupt context\n\n\n\nPaolo Valente (1):\n\nblock, bfq: access and cache blkg data only when safe\n\n\n\nPardha Saradhi K (1):\n\nASoC: Intel: Skylake: Fix IPC rx_list corruption\n\n\n\nPatrice Chotard (1):\n\nMAINTAINERS: remove kernel@stlinux.com obsolete mailing list\n\n\n\nPavel Tatashin (6):\n\nsparc64: reset mm cpumask after wrap\n\nsparc64: combine activate_mm and switch_mm\n\nsparc64: redefine first version\n\nsparc64: add per-cpu mm of secondary contexts\n\nsparc64: new context wrap\n\nsparc64: delete old wrap code\n\n\n\nPetr Mladek (1):\n\nRevert \"printk: fix double printing with earlycon\"\n\n\n\nPhil Elwell (1):\n\nARM: dts: bcm283x: Reserve first page for firmware\n\n\n\nPratyush Anand (1):\n\nmei: make sysfs modalias format similar as uevent modalias\n\n\n\nQu Wenruo (1):\n\nbtrfs: fiemap: Cache and merge fiemap extent before submit it to user\n\n\n\nQuentin Schulz (2):\n\nASoC: atmel-classd: sync regcache when resuming\n\niio: adc: sun4i-gpadc-iio: fix parent device being used in devm function\n\n\n\nQuinn Tran (1):\n\nscsi: qla2xxx: Fix NULL pointer access due to redundant\n\nfc_host_port_name call\n\n\n\nRafael J. Wysocki (2):\n\ncpufreq: intel_pstate: Avoid division by 0 in min_perf_pct_min()\n\nRevert \"ACPI / sleep: Ignore spurious SCI wakeups from suspend-to-idle\"\n\n\n\nRakesh Pandit (1):\n\nnvme-pci: fix multiple ctrl removal scheduling\n\n\n\nRandy Dunlap (1):\n\nnet: phy: fix kernel-doc warnings\n\n\n\nRaveendra Padasalagi (1):\n\niio: adc: bcm_iproc_adc: swap primary and secondary isr handler's\n\n\n\nRavi Bangoria (1):\n\nperf annotate: Fix failure when filename has special chars\n\n\n\nRichard Genoud (2):\n\ngpio: mvebu: fix blink counter register selection\n\ngpio: mvebu: fix gpio bank registration when pwm is used\n\n\n\nRichard Haines (1):\n\nnet/ipv6: Fix CALIPSO causing GPF with datagram support\n\n\n\nRoopa Prabhu (1):\n\nmpls: fix clearing of dead nh_flags on link up\n\n\n\nRussell King (2):\n\nnet: phy: fix marvell phy status reading\n\nnet: fix auto-loading of Marvell DSA driver\n\n\n\nSagi Grimberg (1):\n\nnvme-rdma: fast fail incoming requests while we reconnect\n\n\n\nSawan Chandak (1):\n\nscsi: qla2xxx: Fix crash due to mismatch mumber of Q-pair\n\ncreation for Multi queue\n\n\n\nSean Young (1):\n\n[media] rc-core: race condition during ir_raw_event_register()\n\n\n\nSebastian Andrzej Siewior (1):\n\ncpu/hotplug: Drop the device lock on error\n\n\n\nSekhar Nori (1):\n\nMAINTAINERS: add device-tree files to TI DaVinci entry\n\n\n\nSeongJae Park (6):\n\nperf probe: Fix examples section of documentation\n\nperf script: Fix outdated comment for perf-trace-python\n\nperf script: Fix documentation errors\n\nperf script python: Fix wrong code snippets in documentation\n\nperf script python: Updated trace_unhandled() signature\n\nperf script python: Remove dups in documentation examples\n\n\n\nShahar S Matityahu (1):\n\niwlwifi: fix host command memory leaks\n\n\n\nShaohua Li (1):\n\nblk-throttle: set default latency baseline for harddisk\n\n\n\nShreyas NC (1):\n\nASoC: Intel: Skylake: Fix to parse consecutive string tkns in manifest\n\n\n\nSinclair Yeh (5):\n\ndrm/vmwgfx: Don't create proxy surface for cursor\n\ndrm/vmwgfx: Make sure backup_handle is always valid\n\ndrm/vmwgfx: Make sure to update STDU when FB is updated\n\ndrm/vmwgfx: Fix large topology crash\n\ndrm/vmwgfx: Remove unused legacy cursor functions\n\n\n\nSoheil Hassas Yeganeh (1):\n\nsock: reset sk_err when the error queue is empty\n\n\n\nSricharan R (4):\n\niommu/of: Fix check for returning EPROBE_DEFER\n\niommu/of: Ignore all errors except EPROBE_DEFER\n\nACPI/IORT: Ignore all errors except EPROBE_DEFER\n\narm: dma-mapping: Reset the device's dma_ops\n\n\n\nStefan Agner (1):\n\nASoC: simple-card: fix mic jack initialization\n\n\n\nSu Yue (1):\n\nbtrfs: tree-log.c: Wrong printk information about namelen\n\n\n\nSudeep Holla (1):\n\nARM: 8675/1: MCPM: ensure not to enter __hyp_soft_restart from\n\nloopback and cpu_power_down\n\n\n\nSui Chen (1):\n\nahci: Acer SA5-271 SSD Not Detected Fix\n\n\n\nTahsin Erdogan (2):\n\njbd2: preserve original nofs flag during journal restart\n\next4: fix quota charging for shared xattr blocks\n\n\n\nTakashi Iwai (4):\n\nASoC: Fix use-after-free at card unregistration\n\nALSA: hda/realtek - Reorder ALC269 ASUS quirk entries\n\nALSA: timer: Fix race between read and ioctl\n\nALSA: timer: Fix missing queue indices reset at SNDRV_TIMER_IOCTL_SELECT\n\n\n\nTalat Batheesh (1):\n\nnet/mlx4: Fix the check in attaching steering rules\n\n\n\nTariq Toukan (3):\n\nMAINTAINERS: Update MELLANOX MLX4 core VPI driver maintainer\n\nMAINTAINERS: Move mlx4 rdma header file to IB driver charge\n\nMAINTAINERS: Move mlx5 rdma header file to IB driver charge\n\n\n\nTejun Heo (2):\n\ncpuset: consider dying css as offline\n\nlibata: fix error checking in in ata_parse_force_one()\n\n\n\nTheodore Ts'o (1):\n\nrandom: use lockless method of accessing and updating f->reg_idx\n\n\n\nThinh Nguyen (1):\n\nusb: gadget: f_mass_storage: Serialize wake and sleep execution\n\n\n\nThomas Falcon (1):\n\nibmvnic: Remove module author mailing address\n\n\n\nThomas Hellstrom (1):\n\ndrm/vmwgfx: Bump driver minor and date\n\n\n\nThomas Petazzoni (3):\n\nata: libahci: properly propagate return value of platform_get_irq()\n\nMAINTAINERS: sort F entries for Marvell EBU maintainers\n\nMAINTAINERS: add irqchip related drivers to Marvell EBU maintainers\n\n\n\nThor Thayer (1):\n\nnet: ethernet: stmmac: Fix altr_tse_pcs SGMII Initialization\n\n\n\nTimur Tabi (1):\n\nnet: qcom/emac: do not use hardware mdio automatic polling\n\n\n\nUlrik De Bie (1):\n\nInput: elantech - add Fujitsu Lifebook E546/E557 to force crc_enabled\n\n\n\nVaibhav Jain (2):\n\ncxl: Avoid double free_irq() for psl,slice interrupts\n\ncxl: Avoid double free_irq() for psl,slice interrupts\n\n\n\nVarun Prakash (1):\n\nscsi: cxgb4i: libcxgbi: in error case RST tcp conn\n\n\n\nVille Syrj\u00e4l\u00e4 (3):\n\ndrm/i915: Workaround VLV/CHV DSI scanline counter hardware fail\n\ndrm/i915: Restore has_fbc=1 for ILK-M\n\ndrm/i915: Fix 90/270 rotated coordinates for FBC\n\n\n\nVinod Koul (1):\n\nASoC: Intel: Skylake: Move i915 registration to worker thread\n\n\n\nVladimir Murzin (1):\n\nARM: 8676/1: NOMMU: provide pgprot_device() macro\n\n\n\nVladis Dronov (1):\n\ndrm/vmwgfx: limit the number of mip levels in\n\nvmw_gb_surface_define_ioctl()\n\n\n\nWaiman Long (1):\n\ncgroup: Prevent kill_css() from being called more than once\n\n\n\nWanpeng Li (3):\n\nKVM: nVMX: Fix exception injection\n\nKVM: cpuid: Fix read/write out-of-bounds vulnerability in cpuid emulation\n\nKVM: async_pf: avoid async pf injection when in guest mode\n\n\n\nWei Yongjun (2):\n\nphy: qcom-qmp: fix return value check in qcom_qmp_phy_create()\n\ngoldfish_pipe: use GFP_ATOMIC under spin lock\n\n\n\nYYS (1):\n\ndrm/mediatek: fix mtk_hdmi_setup_vendor_specific_infoframe mistake\n\n\n\nYifeng Li (1):\n\nrt286: add Thinkpad Helix 2 to force_combo_jack_table\n\n\n\nYoshihiro Shimoda (4):\n\nusb: gadget: udc: renesas_usb3: fix pm_runtime functions calling\n\nusb: gadget: udc: renesas_usb3: fix deadlock by spinlock\n\nusb: gadget: udc: renesas_usb3: lock for PN_ registers access\n\nusb: gadget: udc: renesas_usb3: Fix PN_INT_ENA disabling timing\n\n\n\nYuchung Cheng (1):\n\ntcp: disallow cwnd undo when switching congestion control\n\n\n\nhimanshu.madhani@cavium.com (1):\n\nscsi: qla2xxx: Fix recursive loop during target mode\n\nconfiguration for ISP25XX leaving system unresponsive\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "SRINAGAR: All those killed in the\n\nwere linked to militancy and the soldiers acted in self-defence, the\n\nsaid on Monday.\n\nRecounting the events of the shootout, in which six people, including two terrorists, were killed last night, a defence spokesperson said soldiers deployed at the mobile vehicle check post (MVCP) in Trenz-Pinjoora road near Pahnoo village were fired upon by occupants in two speeding vehicles.\n\nAt around 8pm, two speeding vehicles were seen approaching the checkpoint from the direction of Trenz village, he said.\n\nThe vehicles continued to move despite being signalled to stop by the troops. The soldiers flashed search lights towards the approaching vehicles, but the occupants opened heavy firing from both the vehicles, the spokesperson added.\n\n\"Our troops, in self defence, responded to the same with fire. In the ensuing gun fight, one terrorist firing from one of the vehicles was hit and he fell off the vehicle. The vehicle veered off the road towards the nala (stream) and the second vehicle sped off,\" he said.\n\nThe body of one terrorist \u2014 Amir Ahmad Malik \u2014 was recovered. A category C terrorist, Malik was part of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) since July last year. War-like stores, including one AK-74, three magazines and 88 rounds were recovered from the dead terrorist, the spokesperson added.\n\n\"Three more bodies were found in the vehicle during the search. These individuals were accompanying the terrorist,\" he said.\n\nAt around 9am today, the body of another terrorist, identified as Ashiq Hussain Bhat of LeT, was found in the apple orchards of Saidapora village. Bhat is also \"linked\" with the same chain of events at Pahnoo village, the spokesperson said.\n\nHe said the second vehicle, from which the Army personnel were fired upon, was found this morning near Pinjoora, about 200 metres away from the shootout scene.\n\n\"One more individual was found dead (in the car). He has been identified as Gowhar Ahmad Lone,\" he added.\n\nLocal residents and family of the deceased youths have refuted the Army version of the incident, alleging that they do not have links with militancy and were killed in an indiscriminate firing by the soldiers.\n\nChief minister\n\nhas also said that the four men were killed in a \"crossfire\". The ruling PDP MLA from\n\n, Mohammad Yousuf Bhat, has called for a judicial probe into the incident saying that \"no circumstances can justify these civilian killings\"."}
-{"text": "CARLTON son of a gun \u2014 and grandson of another \u2014 Jack Silvagni will play his first AFL game against Collingwood on Saturday night.\n\nJack is the son of Carlton legend Stephen and grandson of another champion Sergio Silvagni.\n\nThe Herald Sun has confirmed the 18-year-old will be named in the team to face the Magpies after good form in the VFL as a goalkicking forward.\n\nSilvagni was this morning given the tick from his captain Marc Murphy, who has endorsed the forward as ready for senior football.\n\n\u201cI certainly would (say he\u2019s ready for senior football this week),\u201d Murphy said.\n\n\u201cThe whole leadership group would and the coaches would.\n\n\u201cNot only is he kicking goals, he\u2019s working hard, tackling, putting forward pressure on. He\u2019s doing everything right and that\u2019s all you can ask.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s stringing games together at a really high level so he\u2019s putting his hand up, for sure.\u201d\n\nmedia_camera Jack Silvagni is all smiles at Carlton training. Picture: Wayne Ludbey\n\nMurphy hasn\u2019t played since the Blues\u2019 Round 10 win over Geelong due to an ankle injury, but said he has his eye on a Round 18 return.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s taken a little bit omre time than we first thought,\u201d he told RSN.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m getting around in an ankle brace at the moment and will hopefully start running next week. Aiming at Sydney up there in four weeks\u2019 time.\u201d"}
-{"text": "TIJUANA.- Esta semana se presentar\u00e1n tres d\u00edas de lluvia, de acuerdo al reporte del clima The Weather Channel.\n\nMa\u00f1ana lunes estar\u00e1 parcialmente nublado con una m\u00e1xima temperatura de 30\u00baC y m\u00ednima de 14\u00baC.\n\nEl martes se presentar\u00e1n algunos chubascos en el transcurso de la tarde. La temperatura m\u00e1xima ser\u00e1 de 23\u00baC y la m\u00ednima de 13\u00baC.\n\nEl mi\u00e9rcoles habr\u00e1 que estar m\u00e1s preparados, pues el reporte del clima indica que existe un 80% de posibilidad de que llueva. Las temperaturas descender\u00e1n a los 15\u00baC como m\u00e1ximo y 11\u00baC como m\u00ednimo.\n\nEl jueves las condiciones ser\u00e1n similares a las del d\u00eda anterior, pero hay un 60% de que se presenten chubascos en el transcurso de la ma\u00f1ana.\n\nEl viernes estar\u00e1 soleado, pero se reducir\u00e1 a 10% la posibilidad de que llueva, pero aumentar\u00e1n las temperaturas a 18\u00ba y 9\u00ba como m\u00e1ximo y m\u00ednimo.\n\nEl s\u00e1bado estar\u00e1 parcialmente nublado y se descarta la posibilidad de que llueva.\n\nEl domingo tambi\u00e9n estar\u00e1 parcialmente nublado con una m\u00e1xima temperatura de 19\u00baC y m\u00ednima de 9\u00baC. Existe la posibilidad de un 10% de que llueva."}
-{"text": "Without whistleblowers, the mainline media outlets are more transfixed than ever with telling the official story. And at a time like this, the official story is all about spinning for war on Syria.\n\nEvery president who wants to launch another war can\u2019t abide whistleblowers. They might interfere with the careful omissions, distortions and outright lies of war propaganda, which requires that truth be held in a kind of preventative detention.\n\nBy mid-week, media adrenalin was at fever pitch as news reports cited high-level sources explaining when the U.S. missile attacks on Syria were likely to begin, how long they might last, what their goals would be. But what about other (potential) sources who have documents and other information that contradict the official story?\n\nIt\u2019s never easy for whistleblowers to take the risk of exposing secret realities. At times like these, it\u2019s especially difficult \u2014 and especially vital \u2014 for whistleblowers to take the chance.\n\nWhen independent journalist I.F. Stone said \u201cAll governments lie and nothing they say should be believed,\u201d he was warning against the automatic acceptance of any government claim. That warning becomes most crucial when a launch of war is imminent. That\u2019s when, more than ever, we need whistleblowers who can leak information that refutes the official line.\n\nThere has been a pernicious method to the madness of the Obama administration\u2019s double-barreled assault on whistleblowers and journalism. Committed to a state of ongoing war, Obama has overseen more prosecutions of whistleblowers than all other presidents combined \u2014 while also subjecting journalists to ramped-up surveillance and threats, whether grabbing the call records of 20 telephone lines of The Associated Press or pushing to imprison New York Times reporter James Risen for not revealing a source.\n\nThe vengeful treatment of Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning, the all-out effort to grab Edward Snowden and less-publicized prosecutions such as the vendetta against NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake are all part of a government strategy that aims to shut down unauthorized pipelines of information to journalists \u2014 and therefore to the public. When secret information is blocked, what\u2019s left is the official story, pulling out all the stops for war.\n\nFrom the false Tonkin Gulf narrative in 1964 that boosted the Vietnam War to the fabricated baby-incubators-in-Kuwait tale in 1990 that helped launch the Gulf War to the reports of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction early in this century, countless deaths and unfathomable suffering have resulted from the failure of potential whistleblowers to step forward in a timely and forthright way \u2014 and the failure of journalists to challenge falsehoods in high government places.\n\nThere are no \u201cgood old days\u201d to point to, no eras when an abundance of whistleblowers and gutsy reporters thoroughly alerted the public and subdued the power of Washington\u2019s war-makers. But we\u2019re now living in a notably \u2014 and tragically \u2014 fearful era. Potential whistleblowers have more reason to be frightened than ever, and mainline journalists rarely seem willing to challenge addiction to war.\n\nEvery time a president has decided to go to war against yet another country, the momentum has been unstoppable. Today, the craven foreshadow the dead. The key problems, as usual, revolve around undue deference to authority \u2014 obedience in the interests of expediency \u2014 resulting in a huge loss of lives and a tremendous waste of resources that should be going to sustain human life instead of destroying it.\n\nWith war at the top of Washington\u2019s agenda, this is a time to make our voices heard. (To email your senators and representative, expressing opposition to an attack on Syria, click here.) A loud and sustained outcry against the war momentum is essential \u2014 and so is support for whistleblowers.\n\nAs a practical matter, real journalism can\u2019t function without whistleblowers. Democracy can\u2019t function without real journalism. And we can\u2019t stop the warfare state without democracy. In the long run, the struggles for peace and democracy are one and the same."}
-{"text": "First Boeing now Lockheed Martin. Donald Trump\u2019s twitter account is saving taxpayers literally BILLIONS of dollars.\n\nLast week Trump took a shot at the OVERPRICED F-35 program on Twitter:\n\nThe F-35 program and cost is out of control. Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th. \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2016\n\nBusiness Insider reported:\n\n\u201cIn response to a series of cost overruns and other development issues for the F-35 fighter jet, President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday he has asked Boeing to \u201cprice-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet.\n\nBoeing\u2019s response \u2014 also announced via tweet \u2014 said it accepted the invitation to work with the Trump administration to \u201caffordably meet US military requirements.\u201d\n\nTRENDING: BREAKING: 'At Least 10 Shots' Reportedly Fired at Police By Louisville Black Lives Matter Rioters \u2014 UPDATE... At Least Two Officers Shot (VIDEOS)\n\nOn December 12, Trump said the cost for Lockheed Martin\u2019s fifth-generation stealth F-35 Lightning II jet was \u201cout of control.\u201d The message sent Lockheed Martin\u2019s stock down from $251 at the opening bell to $245.50, before it rebounded to a little more than $253 a share. Similarly on Thursday, shares of Lockheed Martin fell 2.0% to $247.75 after hours, while Boeing shares rose 0.7% to $158.52.\u201d\n\nBoeing responded with:\n\nReady to work with @realDonaldTrump\u2018s administration to affordably meet U.S. military requirements. \u2014 The Boeing Company (@Boeing) December 22, 2016\n\nNEW UPDATE\n\nReuters is reporting:\n\n\u201cLockheed Martin Corp said its Chief Executive Marillyn Hewson gave U.S. President-elect Donald Trump a personal commitment to bring down the price of its F-35 fighter jet, after he heaped pressure on the aerospace company over the cost.\n\nLockheed\u2019s shares fell on Friday after Trump\u2019s message on Twitter, and after he earlier tweeted that he had asked rival Boeing Co to \u201cprice-out\u201d an older aircraft as an alternative.\n\nHewson said in a statement tweeted by Lockheed that the company would \u201caggressively\u201d drive down the cost of the F-35, which brought in about 20 percent of Lockheed\u2019s sales last year.\u201d\n\nLM CEO just had a good conversation with @RealDonaldTrump\u2026 she personally committed to drive down the cost of the F-35! pic.twitter.com/K2aK7pW07f \u2014 Lockheed Martin (@LockheedMartin) December 23, 2016\n\nRecently Trump took a shot at Boeing on Twitter for the out of control costs of Air Force One:\n\nBoeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order! \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2016\n\nThe Result of that Tweet:"}
-{"text": "What constitutes life falling apart? The death of a beloved spouse or family member? A marriage or relationship that has withered away or perhaps ended abruptly? A job loss potentially leading to financial ruin (or so you might think right now)?\n\nWhichever situation is closest to yours, there are some steps that you must go through to come out the other side with your heart \u2014 and new life \u2014 intact."}
-{"text": "Growth in house price values nationwide has slowed, almost to a stop.\n\nPhoto: RNZ\n\nThe Quotable Value House Price Index rose just 0.1 percent in the three months to June, taking annual growth to 2 percent, compared with 3.5 percent the year before.\n\nHouse values in Auckland continued to decline, by 1.2 percent in the June quarter, while some regions remained hot.\n\nThe average house value was $687,000 nationwide in June, and $1m in Auckland.\n\nQV general manager David Nagel said affordability was pushing first home buyers out of the main centres.\n\n\"It is the outskirts of city centres that continue to see plenty of activity, particularly from first home buyers,\" he said.\n\n\"The wider Wellington region is a great example of this with areas like the Hutt Valley continuing to attract young families and professionals looking to take their first step on the property ladder.\"\n\nWellington, Nelson, Kawerau, Manawatu, Waimate and Horowhenua saw some of the most value growth in the period.\n\n\"Affordability constraints is also impacting on the type of properties selling. We continue to see new townhouses sell well, particularly in Wellington, as they provide a more affordable solution than standalone properties,\" Mr Nagel said.\n\nThe enacted Healthy Homes Bill, that came into force on Monday, had not sent any shocks through the property investment market, he said, however, it could cause rents to rise.\n\nKelvin Davidson, senior research analyst at property research firm CoreLogic, said the market in Auckland was patchy, with prices still rising in the south and west of the city while the more expensive areas to the north and east were feeling the pinch.\n\nBut there was still support for the market, with an undersupply of housing in the city, low unemployment and low mortgage rates.\n\nThere was nothing to suggest existing investors were exiting the market amid tighter lending rules, he told Morning Report.\n\nAuckland prices in June were down 2.7 percent on June last year, with the biggest drop on the North Shore which had a 3.9 percent drop.\n\nReal Estate Institute chief executive Bindi Norwell said to put the recent fall in perspective, prices in areas like the North Shore had more than doubled in 10 years.\n\nOverall there has been a stable market for some time, but there were signs of renewed energy in the market now that capital gains tax is off table and interest rates are low, she said."}
-{"text": "Ahead of its first official episode as regular programming, MBC\u2019s \u201cIt\u2019s Dangerous Beyond the Blankets\u201d has shared an adorable photo and anecdotes about EXO\u2019s Xiumin!\n\nThe program is a reality show that features celebrities who are well-known to be homebodies. All having different personalities, they will go on short vacations together as groups of four to six people.\n\nXiumin received lots of love as one of the original members during the show\u2019s pilot episodes, and was recently confirmed to be a part of the regular cast. Many are excited to see him on the program again as well as his interactions with Wanna One\u2019s Kang Daniel, who was his roommate in the pilot.\n\nWhile he has been busy with preparations for EXO-CBX\u2019s Korean comeback in April, the production crew shared that the singer has been consistently bright and wears casual clothing while filming. The producers also revealed how they surprised Xiumin when they threw him a party for his birthday on March 26.\n\nThe EXO member affectionately commented, \u201cI really want to be with \u2018It\u2019s Dangerous Beyond the Blankets\u2019 even during its 100th episode. I want to attend the 2018 MBC Entertainment awards as a cast member of [this program].\u201d Xiumin added, \u201cPlease be excited for the first [regular] broadcast of \u2018It\u2019s Dangerous Beyond the Blankets.\u2019 Hwaiting for EXO-CBX\u2019s album as well!\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s Dangerous Beyond the Blankets\u201d will begin regularly airing on Thursdays at 11:10 p.m. KST starting April 5. Check out the pilot episodes from last year below!\n\nWatch Now\n\nSource (1)"}
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-{"text": "South Korean soldiers wearing protective gear spray disinfectant in Seoul as part of preventive measures against the coronavirus. Photo: AFP"}
-{"text": "W.H. deputy chief of staff Jim Messina (left) is likely to head the campaign, while senior adviser David Axelrod may reprise his role as Barack Obama's campaign muse. | AP photo composite by POLITICO Exclusive: W.H. plots 2012 campaign\n\nPresident Barack Obama\u2019s top advisers are quietly laying the groundwork for the 2012 reelection campaign, which is likely to be run out of Chicago and managed by White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina, according to Democrats familiar with the discussions.\n\nFor now, the planning consists entirely of private conversations, with Obama aides at all levels indulging occasionally in closed-door 2012 discussions while focusing ferociously on the midterm elections and health care reform, the Democratic sources said. \u201cThe gathering storm is the 2010 elections,\u201d one top official said.\n\n\nBut the sources said Obama has given every sign of planning to run again and wants the next campaign to resemble the highly successful 2008 effort.\n\nDavid Axelrod, White House senior adviser, may leave the West Wing to rejoin his family in Chicago and reprise his role as Obama\u2019s muse, overseeing the campaign\u2019s tone, themes, messages and advertising, the sources said.\n\nDavid Plouffe, the Obama for America campaign manager, described by one friend as \"the father of all this,\" will be a central player in the reelect, perhaps as an outside adviser.\n\n\"The conversations are beginning, but decisions haven't been made,\" a top official said. \"If you look at David Plouffe's stepped-up level of activity with the political organization [as an outside adviser on the 2010 races], that is obviously the beginning of the process.\"\n\nAnita Dunn, former White House communications director, will be intimately involved, too. Brad Woodhouse, the Democratic National Committee\u2019s communications director, enjoys rising stock and would be a logical choice to be communications director for the reelection campaign, the sources said.\n\nWhite House press secretary Robert Gibbs, White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett are likely to remain at the president\u2019s side in Washington, while exercising major influence over the campaign. Pfeiffer, communications director of the last campaign and always a trusted insider, has a higher public profile every day.\n\nOther central figures are likely to be DNC Executive Director Jennifer O'Malley Dillon; her husband, Patrick Dillon, who is deputy White House political director and is likely to bring his extensive gubernatorial contacts to Chicago; Mitch Stewart, executive director of the DNC's Organizing for America; Jon Carson, national field director of Obama for America; and White House political director Patrick Gaspard.\n\nThe DNC sees Republican challengers ramping up earlier than ever and has decided to begin defining potential opponents early. Operatives are already assembling research and drafting unflattering narratives to push about the leading possible 2012 candidates.\n\nEven though the planning is still very preliminary, the campaign is likely to launch in just over a year. President Bill Clinton opened his second presidential campaign in the March after his first midterm congressional elections, and President George W. Bush opened Bush-Cheney '04 a month later in the political cycle.\n\nAides expect Obama to hew to a similar schedule. A president\u2019s reelection campaign \u2014 \u201cthe reelect,\u201d as Obama intimates are already calling it \u2014 is a massive, lavishly funded machine that hires hundreds of people and spends hundreds of millions of dollars to carry out the mechanics of a national campaign, while the candidate and many of his top aides continue their day jobs of running the free world.\n\nObama's campaign will get a head start from the large machine he has built at the DNC, including Organizing for America, the successor to his grass-roots campaign operation.\n\nOFA is now a DNC project with staff in all 50 states and has worked to keep Obama's army active through engagement on health care and other issues.\n\nMessina, the likely manager, largely ran the operations part of the 2008 campaign after joining it in June 2008, while Plouffe focused on the big picture. Advisers said Messina is valued for his relationships on Capitol Hill, where he has been chief of staff to Democratic Sens. Max Baucus of MontanaSen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, as well as Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), and advised others on their campaigns, including Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester.\n\n\u201cJim can bring the bare knuckles, and he can make sure members are advocating for the president,\u201d a colleague said.\n\nThe question of where to locate the campaign has not been decided by the president, and is the subject of much internal speculation.\n\nTop sources say they will be surprised if the headquarters is not in Chicago, which will always hold a certain magic for the president and first lady Michelle Obama.\n\nObama for America senior staff felt there was a huge advantage in having distance from insiders in Washington who were constantly giving advice and asking for things. And Obama advisers see the advantages George W. Bush reaped by basing his original campaign in Austin, Texas, giving it a beyond-the-Beltway aura.\n\n\"We were able to focus on nothing but the campaign,\" said one Obama for America veteran who plans to saddle up again. \"We didn't play the inside-Washington game, and that's a huge piece of who we are.''\n\nHowever, some top advisers are skeptical that running the campaign from Chicago would have the same advantages that it did last time, since face-to-face contact will be necessary among top officials from the different arms of Obama\u2019s operation.\n\n''It was hard enough to get people to move there in 2007,\" one Obama for America alumnus said.\n\nA compromise might be to follow the example of the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign and put the office in Virginia, a swing state.\n\nThe themes for Obama\u2019s campaign are not yet chosen, but a top adviser said not to expect a radical surprise: \u201cHe knows who he is.\""}
-{"text": "Read Story Transcript\n\nDamian van der Velden wanted her war memorial to reflect the horrors and sacrifices faced by soldiers on the mud-soaked battlefield of Passchendaele.\n\n\"I was trying to get the emotional or exhausting feeling that the soldier has to have at that moment,\" the Dutch artist told As It Happens guest host Helen Mann.\n\nThe Mud soldier was unveiled Tuesday in London's Trafalgar Square to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1917 Battle of Passchendaele.\n\nArtist Damian Van Der Velden, right, and Kilian Van Der Velden pose in front of their creation. (Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images)\n\nIt depicts a First World War soldier, hunched over and slowly eroding in the rain. When the sun is shining in London, a sprinkler system turns on to continue the effect.\n\n\"All his energy is gone,\" Van der Velden said.\n\nVan der Velden and her twin sister Killian made the installation entirely from mud and sand \u2014 some of which they collected from Flanders Fields in Passchendaele, Belgium, where some 275,000 soldiers died.\n\nThe Passchendaele mud, she said, is \"the heart and the soul\" of the statue, and collecting it was harrowing experience.\n\n\"If you walk on it, you know you are walking on a death field,\" she said. \"It's strange. You cannot imagine.\"\n\nAlready the Mud Solider has begun to fall apart. (Damian van der Velden)\n\nThe Battle of Passchendaele was a four-month Allied offensive against the German Empire in 1917.\n\nIt was fought on reclaimed swampland that was used for farming. Prolonged shelling destroyed the drainage, and the heaviest rains in 30 years turned the battlefield into a muddy quagmire.\n\nThe mud clogged rifles, contaminated food, and weighed down clothing. It was so deep in some places that soldiers would drown in it.\n\nThe battle ended in November 1917, when Canadian Corps solders captured the small Belgian village.\n\nBut the Canadian victory came at a high cost. More than 275,000 people died at Passchendaele, including some 4,000 Canadians.\n\nPastoral farmland has become hell on earth, and thousands of Canadians are dying in it. 13:08\n\nThe statue should completely dissolve over the course of four days to mark the battle's July 31 start.\n\n\"Of course, this is sort of sad because, yeah, you put so much hard work in it, and at the same time make it so fine and clear, and all those details, they are slowly disappearing,\" Van der Velden said.\n\n\"It has to be sort of painful to watch.\"\n\nBelow, you can see how the Mud Soldier changes and erodes throughout the week:\n\n<a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/mudsoldier?src=hash\">#mudsoldier</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/passchendaele100?src=hash\">#passchendaele100</a> Mud soldier starts to dissolve. Pics <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AlamyNews\">@AlamyNews</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/NJFHSRTFsS\">https://t.co/NJFHSRTFsS</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/guardianculture\">@guardianculture</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SocietyGuardian\">@SocietyGuardian</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/ASPy2wMyy7\">pic.twitter.com/ASPy2wMyy7</a> \u2014@MatthewChattle\n\n<a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/MudSoldier?src=hash\">#MudSoldier</a> just outside my office window <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NationalGallery\">@NationalGallery</a>. Made out of sand & mud from the battlefields of Flanders, it slowly fades away <a href=\"https://t.co/NPEjGWb9hR\">pic.twitter.com/NPEjGWb9hR</a> \u2014@JDomercq\n\nPoor old <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/MudSoldier?src=hash\">#MudSoldier</a> has had a rough week anyway. Such a fantastic idea for a commemoration. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Passchendaele100?src=hash\">#Passchendaele100</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/LDnzSeYN7E\">pic.twitter.com/LDnzSeYN7E</a> \u2014@petergothard\n\nNot much of it left as it melts in the mist, but WW1 <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/MudSoldier?src=hash\">#MudSoldier</a> in Trafalgar Sq profoundly moving, all the same. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Passchendale100?src=hash\">#Passchendale100</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/yedKVPr8R1\">pic.twitter.com/yedKVPr8R1</a> \u2014@unadevine"}
-{"text": "Two leading Asian nations took contrasting measures related to cryptocurrencies Friday, with Japan giving exchanges the green light to operate just as South Korea added its weight to a recent global regulatory crackdown.\n\nJapan\u2019s Financial Services Agency handed out its first licenses for digital-currency exchanges, allowing them to operate legally in the country and further solidifying the upstart currency\u2019s status in the world\u2019s third-largest economy.\n\nBitFlyer, the largest digital-currency exchange in Japan and one of the largest in the world, was among the 11 exchanges receiving a license, as was a smaller exchange called Quoine. Of the 11, nine were existing and two were new, while an additional 17 operators are under examination, the agency said.\n\n\u201cIt has been a long and challenging process but we are excited and truly grateful,\u201d said Quoine Chief Executive Mike Kayamori.\n\nJapan has emerged this year as the largest market for bitcoin trading, at the same time as China has clamped down on its bitcoin industry. Roughly 50% of all bitcoin volume is via the bitcoin/yen trading pair. A year ago, yuan/bitcoin trading comprised about 93% of all bitcoin trading."}
-{"text": "Technology across the globe changing its role from being a support function to a business driver and enabler, the way organizations think and act on digital transformation as a subject has evolved. As we at MIT Sloan Management Review GCC and Khaleej Times like to call it, it is no more about digital transformation, it is about digital maturity. While technology and digital transformation has been on the CXO\u2019s agenda for quite some time now, only a handful of companies are positioned to gain\u2026"}
-{"text": "Relatively few lawmakers turned out today to hear Pentagon officials warn that ongoing budget cuts would bring widespread changes to the military and limit its strategic goals.\n\nDeputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Navy Adm. James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared before the House Armed Services Committee to discuss the potential impacts, which were detailed in an assessment released yesterday known in military parlance as the Strategic Choices and Management Review, or SCMR (pronounced \"skimmer\").\n\nIn the worst-case scenario, the Pentagon may have to cut 142,000 more active-duty soldiers and Marines, three carrier strike groups and a number of fighter and bomber squadrons -- or \"many\" modernization programs, according to Winnefeld, whose testimony echoed comments made yesterday by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.\n\n\"We're sort of trapped in this strategic no man's land,\" Winnefeld said, referring to the view that long-term cuts would prevent leaders from enforcing parts of the current military strategy.\n\nThe Pentagon considered options under three budget scenarios with varying levels of cuts: $150 billion over 10 years, as included in President Barack Obama's fiscal 2014 budget request; $250 billion over a decade; or the full sequester amount of $500 billion over the same period.\n\nThe review concluded that the military could still fulfill \"required\" missions while reducing the active-duty Army to as few as 420,000 soldiers, down from the current plan of 490,000 soldiers by 2018, and the Army reserves to as few as 490,000 soldiers, down from 555,000, according to Winnefeld's testimony. The Air Force could retire as many as five squadrons and reduce the size of the C-130 fleet \"with minimal risk,\" it states.\n\nIf Congress and the White House can't reach a deal to avert $500 billion in decade-long reductions to the defense budget under a process called sequestration, the active Army would be forced to thin its ranks to as few as 380,000 soldiers and the Marine Corps to as few as 150,000 Marines, down from the current plan of 182,000. The number of carrier strike groups may fall to eight, down from 11, and an unspecified number of fighter and bomber squadrons would be retired, as well.\n\nWhile that would still leave more ground troops than before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the impact to the force structure would be \"significant,\" Winnefeld said.\n\nCarter described the findings as \"sobering.\"\n\nThe Pentagon figured it can save as much as $100 billion in compensation costs by limiting pay raises to military and civilian workers, making troops pay more for housing and forcing working-age retirees pay more for health care, according to Carter.\n\nIt estimated it might be able to save an additional $60 billion in overhead costs by reducing headquarters staff some 20 percent, trimming redundant intelligence analysis at combatant commands and realigning and closing bases, he said.\n\nStill, even if Congress supported the controversial proposals -- many of which it rejected from the 2014 budget request -- the Pentagon would be about $350 billion short of the amount required by sequestration, Carter said.\n\n\"These reforms are difficult and painful, but we have to do them,\" he said.\n\nThe first installment of automatic budget cuts took effect March 1, slicing about $37 billion from the Pentagon's budget for the fiscal year ending Sept. 1. As a result, the Pentagon forced about 650,000 civilian workers to take 11 days of mandatory unpaid leave known as furloughs, among other emergency measures.\n\n\"It is very serious and no way to treat people,\" Carter said of the furloughs.\n\nRep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., teamed with Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2012, to introduce a bill today that he said would give the Pentagon more flexibility in managing cuts from sequestration.\n\nCooper introduced an amendment that would have done the same thing to the House's version of the 2014 defense authorization bill, which sets policy goals and spending targets, but the measure failed on a recorded vote. During the hearing, he seemed resigned about the bill's fate and noted the lack of turnout -- not among attendees, but among lawmakers.\n\n\"I don't know how far this bill will go, but I hope that more members of Congress and even more members of this committee -- because this has not been the best attended of our hearings -- will pay attention to the extraordinary upheaval that's going on in the Defense Department right now as a result of our own actions,\" he said. \"This is not a foreign threat. This is a self-inflected wound and Congress needs to behave much, much better when it comes to funding our military priorities.\""}
-{"text": "Ready for your close-up? Well, I hope so, because this little guy is going to get a closer look at you than any other sensor before it. Created by scientist F. Levent Degertekin, this 1.5mm donut-shaped camera is small enough to make itself comfortable inside your arteries with some help from a catheter.\n\nCapable of capturing real-time, 3D and high definition at 60fps inside of us, the resulting images are created by a different method than your standard camera.\n\nThe tech makes use of a hundred tiny sensors placed underneath a super-thin film that flutters 0.00005 of a millimeter on top of this tiny computer chip. This fluttering film creates sound waves, which are then captured by the sensors, interpreted and transmitted to an external display via 13 gossamer cables.\n\nPut more simply: what we have here is essentially an extremely tiny, high definition ultrasound machine that sets itself apart from the ultrasound technology we currently have by being so obscenely small.\n\nRather than looking at our bodies from the outside \u2014 where there is plenty of interference in the form of organs, tissue and bones \u2014 this microscopic camera is capable of giving us an internal view, resulting in a much clearer, more precise image.\n\nIt\u2019s said that this small piece of technology could be capable of replacing two people in the surgery room who, up until now, would capture cross-sections of the point of focus using a traditional ultrasound technique. The improved detail in the images combined with the additional breathing room in a crowded operating room will probably make this little device a big hit with surgeons.\n\nBut Degertekin is far from finished with his creation. In fact, he\u2019s just begun. Given the camera\u2019s microscopic scale, the implementation possibilities are vast. In particular, he\u2019d like to see this small device embedded on the blades of surgical scalpels, giving the surgeon an extremely detailed look at where they currently are and where they need to be with the tip of the blade. And in a profession where millimeters are the difference between life or death, this small device could literally become a life-saver.\n\nAnother potential use mentioned by Wired is including it in patches, which would then be placed over broken and fractured bones before a cast is put on. That way, rather than playing a guessing game with time, a simple check up of the resulting images would be able to tell whether the bone has healed fully or not.\n\nThe next step in the evolution of this tiny gadget will be to make it wireless and MRI-compatible. It\u2019s a slow process, as many human trials will need to be cleared by the FDA, but it\u2019s the first of many steps towards taking us into the future of medical imaging.\n\nIt\u2019s an incredible time we live in, that is a given. Although this is merely the first of many iterations, it goes to show just how incredible future possibilities are. Of course, it\u2019s not a camera in the normal sense of the word \u2014 it\u2019s capturing 3D, high definition images inside of us at a microscopic level at 60 fps \u2014 but if that isn\u2019t art, I\u2019m not sure what is. In closing, I\u2019ll leave it to the words of Claude Bernard, \u201cArt is I; science is we.\u201d\n\n(via Wired)\n\nImage credits: Photos by Rob Felt/Georgia Tech, Diagram by F. Levent Degertekin/Georgia Tech."}
-{"text": "Meredith has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Meredith may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.\n\nJoanne type Music\n\nLady Gaga has given fans at least one reason to hit the road with her later this year.\n\nThe singer-songwriter has announced her Joanne World Tour after performing during the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday night. The global trek will be Gaga\u2019s first proper tour since co-headlining the Cheek to Cheek Tour with Tony Bennett between 2014 and 2015.\n\nThe tour kicks off in August in Vancouver and will run through December making stops all around North America and Europe, before wrapping up back in the U.S. for a final date on Dec. 14 in Salt Lake City.\n\nThe tour supports Gaga\u2019s latest studio album, Joanne \u2014 her first solo effort since 2013\u2019s Artpop \u2014 which spawned two singles in addition to selling nearly 1 million units worldwide in just over three months. The 30-year-old has fronted several successful arena tours in the past, including the $227.4 million-grossing Monster Ball Tour (2009-11), the Born This Way Ball (2012-2013), and ArtRave: The Artpop Ball in 2014.\n\nAdditionally, Gaga previewed Joanne\u2018s Americana-inspired aesthetics with televised performances on Saturday Night Live, at the Victoria\u2019s Secret Fashion Show, the American Music Awards, and the U.K. reality competition series The X Factor across late 2016.\n\nGaga previously teased the Joanne World Tour to her 65.1 million Twitter followers in January, sharing a message from a fan who claimed the tour\u2019s venues had already been booked.\n\nThough the tour has yet to launch, the Oscar-nominated, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter is reportedly already back in the studio working on a \u201cnew sound\u201d with country songsmith Dallas Davidson and R&B producer Brian Kennedy.\n\nSee all the tour dates below and see more details at Gaga\u2019s website.\n\nAug. 1: Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC\n\nAug. 3: Rogers Place, Edmonton, AB\n\nAug. 5: Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, WA\n\nAug. 8: The Forum, Los Angeles, CA\n\nAug. 11: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV\n\nAug. 13: AT&T Park, San Francisco, CA\n\nAug. 15: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA\n\nAug. 19: CenturyLink Center, Omaha, NB\n\nAug. 21: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN\n\nAug. 23: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH\n\nAug. 25: Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL\n\nAug. 28: Citi Field, New York, NY\n\nSept. 1: Fenway Park, Boston, MA\n\nSept. 4: Bell Centre, Montreal, QC\n\nSept. 6: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON\n\nSept. 10: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA\n\nSept. 15: Rock in Rio Festival, Rio De Janeiro, BR\n\nSept. 22: Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, ES\n\nSept. 24: Hallenstadion, Zurich, CH\n\nSept. 26: Mediolanum Forum, Milan, IT\n\nSept. 29: Barclaycard Arena, Hamburg, DE\n\nOct. 1: Sportpaleis, Antwerp, BE\n\nOct. 3: Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam, NL (\n\nOct. 6: AccorHotels Arena, Paris, FR\n\nOct. 9: O2 Arena, London, UK\n\nOct 15: Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham, UK\n\nOct. 17: Manchester Arena, Manchester, UK\n\nOct. 21: Royal Arena, Copenhagen, DK\n\nOct. 23: Ericsson Globe, Stockholm, SE\n\nOct: 26: Mercedes-Benz Arena, Berlin, DE\n\nOct. 28: Lanxess Arena, Koln, DE\n\nNov. 5: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN\n\nNov 7: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI\n\nNov. 10: Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, CT\n\nNov. 13: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KY\n\nNov. 15: Sprint Center, Kansas City, KS\n\nNov. 16: Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO\n\nNov. 19: Verizon Center, Washington, DC\n\nNov. 20: PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, PA\n\nNov. 28: Philips Arena, Atlanta, GA\n\nNov. 30: American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL\n\nDec. 1: Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL\n\nDec. 3: Toyota Center, Houston, TX\n\nDec. 5: Frank Erwin Center, Austin, TX\n\nDec. 8: American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX\n\nDec. 9: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, OK\n\nDec. 12: Pepsi Center, Denver, CO\n\nDec. 14: Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, UT"}
-{"text": "Doesn't want to get into the carrier Doesn't want to get out of the carrier\n\n980 shares"}
-{"text": "President Trump on Thursday waived shipping restrictions to help get fuel and supplies to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, the White House announced.\n\nWhite House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted that the president, at the request of Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello, \u201chas authorized the Jones Act be waived for Puerto Rico. It will go into effect immediately.\u201d\n\nThe Jones Act requires that all goods shipped between US ports be carried by American-owned and -operated ships.\n\nThe announcement came shortly after Rossello told CNBC that he was seeking lines of credit at \u201creasonable rates\u201d from the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury to rebuild the island.\n\nThe governor said he had yet to receive a commitment for new loans to help pay the cleanup and eventual rebuilding costs.\n\nThe US territory, which was slammed by Hurricane Maria eight days ago, expects \u201cequal treatment\u201d to hurricane-stricken Florida and Texas when it comes to allocating relief resources, he said.\n\nPuerto Rico was already facing a financial crisis before the Category 4 storm struck.\n\nIts government was in the middle of negotiations with creditors to restructure part of its $73 billion in debt, which the previous governor had declared unpayable.\n\nSending relief supplies to the island has been difficult because they can only be transported by air or sea \u2014 but Rossello told CNBC on Thursday that the deliveries are improving.\n\nThe commonwealth\u2019s power grid was destroyed, leaving almost the entire island in the dark. Diesel fuel, which is desperately needed for generators, is scarce.\n\nThe communications infrastructure also has been obliterated, leading Rossello to deploy \u201crunners\u201d to report back on the needs of the various towns and cities.\n\nHe said he\u2019s also \u201cpersonally deploying\u201d satellite phones to mayors across the island.\n\nRossello said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been responsive \u2014 with federal and local first responders working as \u201cone team.\u201d\n\nHe said he spoke to Trump late Wednesday, and that the White House and Congress have been \u201cresponsive\u201d to Puerto Rico\u2019s plight.\n\nTrump \u2014 who plans to visit the island Tuesday \u2014 earlier this week defended his administration\u2019s handling of recovery efforts in Puerto Rico.\n\nOn Tuesday, he offered an excuse for why aid has been slow to arrive on the island.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s very tough, because it\u2019s an island,\u201d Trump said during a meeting with members of the House."}
-{"text": "THE STORY OF a tourist being attacked in the centre of Dublin hours after arriving in the country made headlines this week.\n\nWhile this seems like a freak attack, Paul Allen argues this morning in a piece on TheJournal.ie that anyone walking down a street in Dublin at night while sober \u2018will at some point be worried about their personal safety\u2019.\n\nHe is calling for the street to reclaimed, and for the government and garda\u00ed to act now to tackle crime.\n\nWe want to know your own experience: Would you feel safe walking in Dublin city centre at night?\n\n"}
-{"text": "Embed Video\n\n<iframe title=\"Three Women Play With Each Other On The Bed\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"600\" height=\"363\" src=\"http://www.threesomehd.com/movies/embed/1324267\" frameborder=\"0\"></iframe><br /><a href=\"http://www.threesomehd.com/movies/1324267\" target=\"_blank\">Three Women Play With Each Other On The Bed</a>. Provided by <a href=\"http://www.threesomehd.com\" target=\"_blank\">threesomehd.com</a>"}
-{"text": "In the wake of the accusations leveled by five separate women against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, one thing is clear: Whatever the facts may be, Moore is now compromised and needs to step aside. Should he remain on the ballot, the candidate I support in this race, Democrat Doug Jones, will not only continue to narrow Moore\u2019s lead, but he may begin to overtake the beleaguered front runner, as seen in a recent poll from southeast region polling specialists JMC Analytics, which has Jones up 4 points as recent as this past weekend.\n\nSince early last week when Moore was accused of initiating sexual relationships with teenage girls, prominent Republicans are rushing to disavow Moore, and many are calling for him to step aside ahead of the state\u2019s election on Dec. 12. However, if Moore is to step aside, serious issues remain for Republicans, opening the door for Democrats to elect a moderate in the South, further circumscribe the Trump agenda, and promote the bipartisan compromise I am firmly convinced America needs.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nHowever, it is clear from a recent Opinion Savvy poll released that Strange cannot win as a write-in, reaching only 12 percent of the vote in this hypothetical scenario. Given that the Democratic Party has undeniable momentum in Alabama for the first time in a long time, it is clear that, in order to hold onto this Senate seat, Republicans need a well-known and broadly respected candidate who is backed by the support of entire Republican party, especially both Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellMomentum growing among Republicans for Supreme Court vote before Election Day Trump expects to nominate woman to replace Ginsburg next week Video of Lindsey Graham arguing against nominating a Supreme Court justice in an election year goes viral MORE, as well as Steve Bannon.\n\nThere is only one person who potentially fits this bill: Attorney General Jeff Sessions. To be sure, Sessions isn\u2019t ideal, given his memory lapses regarding Russia and his estrangement from President Trump. That being said, he is the best possible choice for Republican leaders who don\u2019t want to be saddled with either Sen. Roy Moore or a weak write-in candidate who would likely be defeated.\n\nIf Sessions were to resign as attorney general and run as a write-in candidate, the impact would certainly extend far beyond the Alabama Senate race. Sessions has already faced the possibility of forced resignation from his post multiple times. In particular, his recusal from the investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia has tainted his ability to effectively carry out his duties as attorney general.\n\nAbove all, President Trump has recurrently criticized Sessions for his recusal, and has repeatedly expressed unabashed disapproval of the job that Sessions is doing as attorney general. In Trump\u2019s words in an interview with the New York Times, \u201cSessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job, and I would have picked somebody else.\u201d\n\nIn the wake of that interview, when Sessions asserted that he would not resign as attorney general, Trump took to Twitter, referring to him as the \u201cbeleaguered A.G.\u201d Over the next several weeks, Trump tweeted a series of criticisms about the way that Sessions was carrying out his role as attorney general, and continued to hint at the idea that he would fire Sessions. Ultimately, Trump has repeatedly and relentlessly criticized Sessions to the point where the president has dramatically compromised the ability of Sessions to effectively do his job as attorney general.\n\nConsidering this, Jeff Sessions remains a hero in Alabama and would be exceedingly more politically effective, and notwithstanding more useful to the Republican Party, as the junior senator from Alabama rather than continuing on as attorney general.\n\nDouglas E. Schoen (@DouglasESchoen) served as a pollster for President Clinton. A longtime political consultant, he is also a Fox News contributor and the author of 11 books, including \u201cPutin\u2019s Master Plan: To Destroy Europe, Divide NATO, and Restore Russian Power and Global Influence.\u201d"}
-{"text": "While humanity may have to a wait few more decades to set foot on Mars, researchers are already getting a glimpse of the Red Planet\u2019s geology. A new meteorite study, published this week in the journal Science Advances, suggests that a Martian volcano may have erupted nonstop for over 2 billion years.\n\nThe clues lie in a peculiar Martian meteorite found in Algeria in 2012, reports Lindsay Dodgson for Business Insider UK. Weighing roughly 0.44 pounds, the meteorite was found among a group of 11 samples that all appear to have been ejected from the Red Planet at the same time. Based on analysis of the space rocks\u2019 exposure to cosmic rays, researchers believe that they were knocked off of mars roughly 1.1 million years ago, reports Michael Irving for New Atlas. But unlike the other ten, which formed 500 million years ago, the meteorite from Northwest Africa is roughly 2.4 billion years old.\n\n\u201cBetween Antarctica and other deserts we add more than 1,000 meteorites per year, but only a few of those are interesting,\u201d Marc Caffee, physicist and astronomer at Purdue University and co-author of the paper, says in a press release. This find, however, astounded researchers.\n\n\u201cWhat this means is that for 2 billion years there\u2019s been sort of a steady plume of magma in one location on the surface of Mars,\u201d Caffee says in the release.\n\nSuch stable volcanism is unheard of on Earth. Our ever-shifting tectonic plates would staunch volcanic activity well before 2 billion years. But Mars tectonics are much more complicated. Though many believe the red planet doesn\u2019t have churning tectonic activity, some research suggests that the Red Planet once looked a bit like Earth.\n\nMars can also support volcanoes of enormous size, such as Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system. As Danny Lewis wrote for Smithsonian.com last year, researchers found the volcano-covered region of Tharsis Bulge spewed more than a billion billion tons of molten lava, shifting the topmost layers of the planet.\n\nResearchers can\u2019t pinpoint where exactly on Mars the meteorite came from, whether it was Olympus Mons or another location, says Caffee. The new data collected, however, gives scientists a glimpse at the conditions on Red Planet. \u201cThese meteorites are allowing us to conduct geologic science on the surface of Mars,\u201d Caffee says in the release. \u201cAnd we haven\u2019t even been there yet."}
-{"text": "Fairfield & Westchester Counties Vinyl Siding Company.\n\n\u2713 70 Years Of Siding Experience\n\n\u2713 The Industry\u2019s Highest-Rated Materials\n\n\u2713 Installation That\u2019s Done ONCE, Done RIGHT\n\nWhen it comes to siding in Fairfield CT and Westchester NY Counties, we wrote the book.\n\nWe\u2019re a family-owned and operated business located in Stamford, CT that has installed siding on over 10,000 houses since 1951. While the average siding contractor is in business for only four years, we\u2019ve been installing siding for over seven DECADES. And the reason is simple: We INSIST on doing everything the right way.\n\nThat means installing only the industry\u2019s highest-rated siding materials. That means performing exclusive, meticulous installation techniques to ensure your project LASTS. That means providing you with the longest warranties you\u2019ll find anywhere. And, plainly and simply, that means treating you RIGHT.\n\nFor more information about our siding services and products, click the links below.\n\nIf your house needs siding in Stamford, CT or the Fairfield/Westchester Counties, contact us today. We\u2019ll assess your needs and provide you with a no-pressure, ironclad estimate.\n\nVinyl Siding Take a look at the premium vinyl siding brands we install.\n\nRead More\n\nSiding Installation Process Our exclusive siding-installation techniques guarantee a superior job.\n\nRead More\n\nSiding FAQ Common questions homeowners have about our siding services.\n\nRead More"}
-{"text": "Google will remove unapproved apps that use call log/SMS permissions in the next few weeks\n\nWe may earn a commission for purchases made using our links.\n\nKeeping your personal data safe and secure is vital to the success of Android. If the platform gets a reputation for revealing sensitive data to other apps then it will make people feel wary about getting an Android phone. This was the point of the permissions system and Google has refined it over the years into the granular option we have today. Late last year, Google announced that they would be restricting which applications on the Play Store had access to the call log and SMS permissions. These are integral to the way certain apps work and Google decided not to give the user the choice to deny or allow access.\n\nAt the time, the company said they were giving developers 90 days to update their apps or they would get removed from the Play Store for violating the new policy. The change is unique because even applications that are allowed to stay will only have access to this data if they are set as one of Android\u2019s \u201cdefault apps.\u201d Since this new policy will only allow default handlers of phone and SMS to have access to this data (with few exceptions), it put a lot of miscellaneous apps that used these permissions for their functionality on the chopping block. This included applications such as Cerberus, ACR Call Recorder, and Tasker.\n\nThankfully, Tasker was able to successfully appeal the new policy change as the policy was updated to exempt automation apps, but that hasn\u2019t been the case for other apps that use this type of data. For example, Cerberus has a feature that allows for \u201cSMS commands to recover a lost/stolen phone which is not connected to the internet.\u201d Phone call recorder apps such as ACR Call Recorder use the call log permission so that they know which phone number to attach to which recording. However, with this new policy change, these features will no longer be possible since the apps will not be allowed to have access to call log or SMS permissions.\n\nThis week Google published a new article on the matter as a reminder to developers that could be impacted by this change. The post reminds them that the company will begin to remove apps that have not updated their functionality (or successfully appealed it) in the next few weeks. Developers affected by this change will have the following two options:"}
-{"text": "My Search for Alternative Social Networks 6-12-19\n\nGiant social network websites like Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, and Google Plus have some significant problems. One is that users have no real control over anything that happens there and, therefore, often zero recourse when they are treated unfairly. The way users are treated is completely at the whims of the companies that own these sites. And, as with nearly all giant corporations, virtually any employee that a user may manage to contact couldn't care less about the effects of the company's actions on individual users. Remember, users are not customers, they are the product. Customers pay to advertise to users and to buy user's data. One alternative social network user, whose post I read recently, called mainstream social network users \"the cattle of the Internet\".\n\nMy Experience with Reddit\n\nHere is my personal illustration of what I mean. About six weeks ago, I was shadow-banned from Reddit. This means I could see my posts and comments, but no one else could. Despite Reddit's written policy stating that anyone who is banned be given an explanation for this action, I never was. After my repeated requests over the month after my ban, I finally received this message from /u/abrownn, a moderator of the technology subreddit, \"You're not shadow-banned any more it seems.\" That was his full message. So, the shadow-ban was lifted without explanation. I don't know why I was banned, and I don't know why the ban was lifted.\n\nAs a result of this treatment by Reddit, and also as a result of the many Facebook privacy scandals that we've been reading about in the news, I decided to find some alternatives for my social network \"needs\" (or, more accurately, \"wants\"). First, I should explain that, as something of an introvert, I have never been interested in using Facebook. So, I have no direct experience with it, and therefore, I can't make knowledgeable comparisons between Facebook and other social networks. Nevertheless, I will do my best to describe the results of my search for alternative social networks.\n\nWhat I want in a Social Network\n\nIn no particular order, here is a list of features that I feel are desirable in an alternative social network. Call it a user's Bill of Rights.\n\nFeatures to Look for in an Alternative Social Network\n\nThe option for anonymity (pseudonymous user names allowed, and no mandatory collection of user's personal data) Privacy (no tracking or linking of users to IP addresses) Security Users having a significant say in how the network is run A network that cannot be shut down by companies or governments Users cannot be banned All users are \"equal\" (i.e. the system cannot be gamed) Ease of use A sense of community Works with Linux\n\nMany believe that alternative social networks are doomed to fail. And, as much as I hate to, I have to admit that many of their arguments seem cogent. The crux of many of these arguments is two-fold. First, most users of social networks are technically unsophisticated and just don't want to spend the time to learn how to use alternatives to their favorite social network websites. While I understand this, I have also found that most of the alternatives are no harder to use than the mainstream social networks. They are just different. The second argument, and the most persuasive, is that there aren't many people using alternative social networks. This is true, and this will be a huge problem for Facebook users whose friends are all on Facebook. But for Reddit users, this is not as much of a problem, because Reddit is not as much oriented around individuals as it is around information. If the information pool provided by the users is sufficiently large, and if it is presented in an easily-digestible format, nothing else matters. As a result, in my opinion, Reddit has much more to fear from competitors in the near future than does Facebook.\n\nOver the last month, I have investigated some of the larger and more well-known alternative social networks: Minds, Voat, Diaspora, ZeroNet, Raddle, Mix, 4Chan, 8Chan, and Slashdot. I also investigated Steemit; however, my consideration of Steemit ended when I learned that I either had to pay $4 to join Steemit (plus another $2 fee, if I paid with bitcoin) or hand over my phone number. In my mind, a major point in the favor of alternative social networks is the level of anonymity they afford their users. Regardless of the ostensible reason, being forced to reveal a phone number vaporizes even the pretense of anonymity. The rest of this article details what I learned about the other social networks in my above list.\n\nCentralized and Decentralized Social Networks:\n\nSocial networks fall into two broad categories, \"centralized\" and \"decentralized\" ( AKA \"distributed\"). Centralized social networks are housed on the computers of the organizations that run them. Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus are centralized social networks. Centralized alternative social networks potentially suffer from all of the problems of the major well-known centralized social networks. The only difference is that the alternative social networks are not currently large enough to be throwing their weight around and ignoring their users. But, if they ever grow enough to dominate their market, that will most likely happen. The major advantage of centralized networks is that users don't have to install any software on their computers to use them. Usually, you just point your Internet browser to one of their websites, create an account, log on, and you're in.\n\nThe centralized alternative social networks that I tried were Raddle, Voat, 4chan, 8chan, Slashdot, and Mix. As I've said, I also investigated Steemit, but did not create an account. I also looked at other centralized networks that I won't mention, because they either have too few users or don't meet enough of the wants that I listed above. However, there are so many altenative social networks that I didn't try to experiment with them all, so you may explore the outskirts of the Internet and find a good one that I missed.\n\nDecentralized alternative social networks are housed on individual user's computers. This means that, in theory, they cannot be controlled or shut down by some central authority, like a company or a government. In theory, they are run by their users. However, practice and theory may be two different things. On some decentralized social networks, users can still be banned and their posts blocked. Sometimes this can be accomplished by a single hosting user, and sometimes it takes a concerted effort by several major users. In addition, social network software could conceivably be written to reside on individual users' computers, yet be controlled in some esoteric ways by a central server. Without being a knowledgeable programmer who is willing to wade through tens of thousands of lines of code or more, there is no way for the individual user to have a clue about who is really controlling a network, or who could control it in the future. Future versions of code can always be subverted if the financial reward is high enough. What I am trying to emphasize is that there is really no way to know for sure if a particular decentralized network is as free from interference as it claims, perhaps until some big company or government tries.\n\nSpeaking of being shutdown by a government, there is some good news where ZeroNet is concerned. Journalists reported recently that ZeroNet was shutdown by the Chinese government. However, this is not actually true. What really happened, at least according to my understanding, is that the Chinese government blocked ZeroNet's website on the clearnet (the Internet we are all familiar with). However, the functioning of the ZeroNet network and its accessibility by all its current users in China are not affected. At least, Chinese users are unaffected until they need to use a newer version of the ZeroNet software. Until then, their connections to the ZeroNet network should work just fine. And, current Chinese users of ZeroNet should be able to pass (via sneakernet) their current ZeroNet software to as many of their friends as want it. So, ZeroNet appears to have passed its first test, at least so far.\n\nThe two decentralized social networks that I experimented with were ZeroNet and Diaspora. Despite China's failed attempt, knowledgeable users of ZeroNet claim that users can be banned and have their posts and data removed from the network. If this is not true, I urge someone smart at ZeroNet to explain this to me, and I'll change what I've written here. I'm talking about more than just having a list of \"bad\" websites published where users can refer to it. This seems completely reasonable to me. I'm talking about preventing users who desire to access specific content from accessing the content of banned users.\n\nThe Most Promising Centralized Networks I have Tried:\n\nThe following centralized social networks do not require users to sign up for an account to see their content: Raddle, Voat, 4chan, 8chan, Slashdot, and Mix. Both 4chan and 8chan allow unregistered users to post content, but on Raddle, Voat, Slashdot, and Mix users must have an account to create posts, up-vote content, and make comments.\n\nMinds and Steemit are the two centralized networks I investigated that require users to create accounts just to see content.\n\nSummary of advantages and disadvantages of each alternative centralized social network:\n\nRaddle: Similar to Reddit. Long list of forums on specific topics. Perhaps only five to ten thousand users. Doesn't seem to have a problem with self-promotion, if the content is relevant. Significantly easier to use than Reddit.\n\nVoat: Similar to Reddit. Maybe one to two hundred thousand users, but most don't seem to be active. Doesn't seem to have a problem with self-promotion, if the content is relevant. Lots of swearing and hate speech, but on the flip-side of that coin is the fact that users are definitely able speak their minds. Long list of \"subverses\" (forums on specific topics).\n\n4chan: Geared for those with very short attention spans. Most posts are pictures or memes. Very little in-depth discussion. Posts seem to have very short shelf lives.\n\n8chan: Much like 4chan.\n\nSlashdot: Similar to Reddit, but far fewer users. More geared to the scientific and technical crowds. I received the distinct impression that there is heavy moderation here. My account stopped letting me log in after about 10 days, so there may be software or database problems.\n\nMinds: About a million users. Most content is of the picture and video variety. Fewer substantial news stories than on Reddit. Content sometimes seems slow to load. Limited number of forums. There appears to be a medium-sized learning curve here. I had trouble locating and following content in the fire hose of posts. Maybe that is just due to my lack of experience here.\n\nMix: Doesn't appear to have forums on specific topics. Apparently, Mix will only let users login with their Google, Facebook, Twitter, or StumbleUpon account. That killed Mix for me. As far as I am concerned, the point of alternative social networks is to avoid mainstream social networks, not to integrate them into my alternative social network accounts! I would have liked to have put another ten exclamation points at the end of that sentence.\n\nSteemit: Influential users known as \"whales\" can control what everyone is seeing by displaying their posts in the most prominent locations and relegating the posts of less influential users to outlying areas where no one will see them. This is no better than the situation at mainstream social networks. And, as I've said, I will not give my phone number to Steemit.\n\nThe Decentralized Networks I have Joined:\n\nAs I said previously, the decentralized networks I've tried are ZeroNet and Diaspora. I could also include Friendica, because the Diaspora \"pod\" on which I created my account runs Friendica software.\n\nZeroNet\n\nI think ZeroNet comes the closest to complying with my above list of desirable features for alternative social networks. I wrote an entire article on my impressions as a new user of ZeroNet here. One of the ways ZeroNet protects users' privacy is by letting them use the TOR browser to hide their true IP addresses. And, users don't have to give away any personal information to join ZeroNet, not even their true names. Users can also create their own websites for free, in fact the ZeroNet developers encourage everyone to do so. In a way I only vaguely understand, ZeroNet uses bitcoin technology to assign IP addresses to user's websites and distribute them across other users' (or peers') computers. This is supposed to make ZeroNet less subject to interference from those who might desire to control or kill it.\n\nI can't begin to describe the flexibility that ZeroNet enjoys, thanks to user's ability to create their own websites. Did I mention that users can create websites on ZeroNet for Free? As anyone knows who has read much on cheapskatesguide.org, free is very important to me. The ability of users to create their own websites on ZeroNet makes ZeroNet like a whole new Internet, though currently on a much smaller scale. Unfortunately, although ZeroNet websites can run Java, they can't run PHP code. This is the major reason that I have not mirrored this website on ZeroNet. Okay, perhaps it's also due to my uncertainty about whether I would need to have my own dedicated, 24/7 server. And, there is the fact that ZeroNet sites can be accessed from the clearnet. I know because I have found some of my postings there in Google searches. I'm not sure about the effects of that on SEO ratings. Honestly, though, Google doesn't bring enough traffic to cheapskatesguide.org to pay attention to. I talked about this issue in an earlier article. Technically, the fact that Google searches ZeroNet websites means ZeroNet is not part of the dark web.\n\nThe downside of ZeroNet is that, at any given time, there are only in the neighborhood of a thousand users on line. This means two things. First, you won't find anywhere near the number or variety of postings that you would on Reddit. Second, since ZeroNet is hosted on the computers of its users, few users on line means much of the data in individual websites may not be available at any given time. This is most noticeable in book and movie download sites, as most book and movie files are not available a large percentage of the time. I haven't experimented with downloading music, but I assume the same applies.\n\nDiaspora\n\nDiaspora is a GNU-AGPL-3.0 open-source social network that is much like a stripped-down version of Facebook. With Diaspora, you open an account on a Diaspora \"pod\", which is a computer that is running the Diaspora (or similar open-source) software. Pods are run by a subset of individual users who host other users on their computers for this purpose. Any user can create his own pod. To use Diaspora, you open your Internet browser and go to the clearnet website that corresponds to the particular pod on which you have an account. Then, you log on, and you are connected to Diaspora. You never need to use any software other than your favorite Internet browser to access Diaspora. The pod I signed up with is social.linuxlusers.com. Diaspora has a website on the clearnet that displays a list of currently-available pods and their URL's.\n\nDiaspora is globally linked to the following other open-source, distributed social networks: Friendica, Mastodon, Activity Pub, and Pleroma. In fact, the Diaspora \"pod\" I happend to open an account on apparently runs Friendica software, so technically, I joined Friendica without knowing it. There may be other, less-well-known, linked networks also, but the afore-mentioned ones are the ones I saw for myself on the network. A Linux Magazine article claims that Friendica is also linked to Facebook and Google Plus. I have seen no evidence of this, but I still have a lot to learn about Friendica, so it is possible that I've missed this. Regardless, thanks to the linking with other social networks, from Diaspora you can see posts that users of the other linked, open-source social networks have chosen to make visible to every one on all the linked networks. The ability to link to other open-source social networks appears to mean that the growth potential of open-source social networks is unlimited. This is a brilliant solution, I think, to the problem of a large social network becoming unresponsive to its users. Since many open-source software programs can run on the conglomerate social network, intelligent users should see the value of switching away from programs that become unresponsive to their needs. This should mean that unresponsive open-source social media networks should die off and be replaced by more responsive ones.\n\nDue to the collection of a small number of users on each pod, which is in turn linked to all the other pods on a particular open-source network, which is in turn linked to the other open-source networks, this whole arrangement reminds me of the old bulletin-board days before the Internet. That system, though technically still in existence (it's being reinvigorated by some of the old-timers with the original hardware and software), was very effectively replaced by the modern Internet. Only time will tell whether this new system of linked, open-source social networks will be replaced by something else. Whatever happens, it should be fascinating to watch.\n\nI found Diaspora (technically, Friendica) to be somewhat difficult to use. The documentation didn't go beyond simple explanations of the basics, and I had no idea how to contact a system administrator to ask questions. Perhaps with more perseverance or help I might have solved these issues.\n\nSummary\n\nMy search for alternative social networks over the past month has lead me to some realizations. First, many alternative social media networks exist. Some seem difficult to use, but many are no more difficult to use than the mainstream social networks, some even less so.\n\nI liked Raddle, Voat, and ZeroNet for their content, ease of use, and general sense of community. The rest I didn't care for much. I might have liked Diaspora, if I could have solved my posting issue.\n\nAnother problem with alternative social networks is that, with the exception of minds, they are small. This means the content is limited. And, it means most people will not want to move there.\n\nI see the most potential in ZeroNet, due to its decentralized network, active developers, ease of use, and flexibility (anyone can create their own website). I can only explain the small number of users as a result of the mainstream news media's anxiety surrounding the \"dark web\". If you are one of those who are afraid of the dark web, I urge you to overcome that fear and get a taste of the freedom that can be found there. Personally, I find ZeroNet's potential exciting, but I am also okay with the fact that millions of people have not flocked to it and turned it into another commercialized Reddit/Youtube/Google/Amazon network. It seems that, with enough money, anything is corruptible.\n\nIf you want to move to an alternative social network, don't expect to follow your friends there. You will have to be the trail blazer. You will have to put forth the effort to convince your friends of the wisdom of following you. With the vast majority's lack of concern about privacy and security, that will be an extremely tough sell. Perhaps, feeling a kinship with the likes of Lewis and Clark, you will have to strike out on your own and wait for \"the cattle of the Internet\" to catch up, if they ever do.\n\nRelated Articles:\n\nZeroNet and the Future of the Internet\n\nWhat I Learned about the Internet by Creating My Own Website\n\nHow to Avoid being Tracked and Spied-On while on Line\n\nThere's no Such Thing as a Secure Computer--How to be Relatively Secure\n\nWhy I Love the Idea of Community File Sharing and Mesh Networks\n\n7 Neat, Free Things You can get on the Internet\n\nWhat's the Point of Cryptocurrencies?"}
-{"text": "A man floats down the street in Dunning after severe rains flooded the Northwest Side of Chicago in April 2013. View Full Caption DNAinfo file/Leo Guzman\n\nDUNNING \u2014 One of the first projects to be funded by Mayor Rahm Emanuel\u2019s $50 million Green Stormwater Infrastructure Strategy will tackle flooding along Oak Park Avenue between Irving Park Road and Forest Preserve Drive, city officials said Wednesday.\n\nAld. Tim Cullerton (38th) said the project was needed to prevent a repeat of the April 2013 flooding that turned streets in Dunning into gushing rivers and left two to three feet of water in residents' basements for weeks.\n\n\"It won't solve all of the problems,\" Cullerton said. \"But it is a good start.\"\n\nWhen Oak Park Avenue is rebuilt later this year, the streetscape will include planters with open bottoms to allow stormwater to slowly seep into the ground, enclosed pits for trees, pavement that allows water to pass through it and bioswales, which are gently sloped ditches full of plants designed to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water.\n\n\u201cWithout green space to absorb rainfall, Chicago\u2019s sewer system is forced to handle large volumes of stormwater, which often lead to flooding events that can damage homes and disrupt lives,\u201d Emanuel said. \u201cIncorporating green infrastructure into existing and ongoing capital projects will help to reduce flooding, protect the environment and strengthen our neighborhoods.\u201d\n\nIn addition, city workers will start in the next several weeks a \"complete and thorough\" sewer and catch basin inspection and cleaning program for those areas hit hardest with flooding in 2013, at Cullerton's request.\n\nResidents of the area between Belmont, Berteau, Pacific and Cumberland avenues may encounter parking restrictions as crews work to clear the sewers and catch basins of debris, Cullerton said.\n\n\"In some case, I'm sure these sewers and catch basins haven't been cleaned in decades,\" Cullerton said.\n\nCrews will target the area between Irving Park Road, Berteau, Pioneer and Cumberland first, based on the number of calls to 311 during last year's floods.\n\n\"We're going to do everything we can to prevent that from happening again,\" Cullerton said. \"Hopefully, we got all of our spring rain in the form of snow this winter.\"\n\nFor more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:"}
-{"text": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARkeDYFtDMk\n\nRetired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Ralph Peters didn\u2019t mince words Monday when asked about President Obama\u2019s strategy on tackling and destroying ISIS \u2014 and was suspended by Fox News for it.\n\nPeters, a former armor officer and military intelligence expert who retired from the service in 1998 and has written more than 30 novels and works of non-fiction, is also an outspoken media commentator and regular on Fox News.\n\nHis comments came to Stuart Varney on Fox Business\u2019 Varney & Co. on his dismay after the President did not announce an expansion in the war against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.\n\n\u201cLook, Mr. President we\u2019re not afraid we\u2019re angry, we\u2019re pissed off, we\u2019re furious,\u201d Peters said. \u201cWe want you to react, we want you to do something. You\u2019re afraid. I mean this guy is such a total pussy, its stunning. And, you know, we want \u2014 we the people, the American people, whom he does not know in any intimate sort of manner, we want action. We want action against Islamic State and then \u2014 then, when the president is telling us he is going to destroy ISIS.\u201d\n\nVarney later directed Peters to either apologize for his language or retract his statement, which he did.\n\n\u201cMy choice of words was incorrect, but my sentiment, I think, is shared by many,\u201d Peters said in closing.\n\nThe U.S. campaign against the insurgent force in Syria and Iraq, begun last August as Operation Inherent Resolve, has carried out a total of 8,573 strikes damaging or destroying over 16,000 targets in the region as of Dec. 1 over the course of 59,015 aircraft sorties from everything from B-1B bombers to Predator drones. As of Nov. 15, the total estimated cost 465 days into the campaign was $5.2 billion with the average daily cost placed at $11 million.\n\nThis week, records obtained by USA Today found that the Air Force has expended more than 20,000 missiles and bombs in the on going air campaign, dropping available stocks to dangerously low levels and forcing emergency purchases to retain war reserves.\n\nMeanwhile, some 50 U.S. special operations personnel are deploying to Syria on what the Pentagon calls an advise-and-assist mission in what the Wall Street Journal termed the first sustained ground presence in the embattled country\n\nBill Shine, senior executive vice president of programming for Fox News and Fox Business, told Guns.com that both Peters and Stacey Dash, who also dropped language in reference to the President, caught a two week suspension as a result of their choice of words.\n\n\u201cEarlier today, Fox contributors Lt. Col. Ralph Peters and Stacey Dash made comments on different programs that were completely inappropriate and unacceptable for our air. Fox Business Network and Fox News Channel do not condone the use of such language, and have suspended both Peters and Dash for two weeks,\u201d Shine told Guns.com"}
-{"text": "In a tense City Coun\u00adcil ses\u00adsion Mon\u00adday, leg\u00adis\u00adla\u00adtion to estab\u00adlish the $15 min\u00adi\u00admum bare\u00adly sur\u00advived an attempt to kill it by City Coun\u00adcil Pres\u00adi\u00addent Jack Young. The 15-mem\u00adber coun\u00adcil \u2014 all Democ\u00adrats, includ\u00ading Young \u2014 ulti\u00admate\u00adly vot\u00aded 7 \u2013 4 (with three absten\u00adtions and one absence) to advance the bill to a final vote next week, where its fate remains uncer\u00adtain. The bill is in real dan\u00adger of fail\u00ading, Coun\u00adcil\u00adman Robert Cur\u00adran told In These Times, as advo\u00adcates for the leg\u00adis\u00adla\u00adtion have been unable so far to line up the required eight votes for final passage.\n\nJust two weeks after the nation\u00adal Demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic Par\u00adty endorsed a $15 min\u00adi\u00admum wage as part of its pres\u00adi\u00adden\u00adtial cam\u00adpaign plat\u00adform, local Democ\u00adrats in Bal\u00adti\u00admore are fight\u00ading to save a city\u00adwide $15 wage pro\u00adpos\u00adal from a sneak attack \u2014 from none oth\u00ader than Charm City Democrats.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m real\u00adly dis\u00adap\u00adpoint\u00aded,\u201d Char\u00adly Carter, exec\u00adu\u00adtive direc\u00adtor of Mary\u00adland Work\u00ading Fam\u00adi\u00adlies, said about Monday\u2019s vote.\n\nEar\u00adli\u00ader this year, Work\u00ading Fam\u00adi\u00adlies and oth\u00ader advo\u00adcates were con\u00adfi\u00addent they had nine firm votes in favor of the bill, but two coun\u00adcil mem\u00adbers who had pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly expressed sup\u00adport have turned into oppo\u00adnents, Carter said. That means intense lob\u00adby\u00ading efforts will be cru\u00adcial in the next few days to save the min\u00adi\u00admum wage law.\n\nCarter expressed relief that the bill sur\u00advived the Mon\u00adday coun\u00adcil meet\u00ading and point\u00aded at Young as the leader of the clique intent on defeat\u00ading it. Young took sup\u00adport\u00aders by sur\u00adprise in recent days, Carter said, with a behind-the-scenes effort to build vot\u00ading strength for an amend\u00adment that would knock the pro\u00adposed min\u00adi\u00admum wage from $15 an hour down to $11.50. He came close to suc\u00adceed\u00ading, sup\u00adport\u00aders told In These Times, and the out\u00adcome of Monday\u2019s vote was uncer\u00adtain up until the last minute.\n\nStacey Mink, spokes\u00adwoman for the 1199SEIU Unit\u00aded Health\u00adcare Work\u00aders union, said that Young had angered some labor lead\u00aders by pledg\u00ading sup\u00adport for $15 ear\u00adli\u00ader this year, only to shift his position.\n\n\u201cJack stood with us in front of City Hall when we announced,\u201d the intro\u00adduc\u00adtion of the min\u00adi\u00admum wage bill, she said, \u200b\u201cbut some\u00adthing has changed his mind.\u201d\n\nLester Davis, a spokesman for Young, dis\u00adagreed. He told In These Times that the coun\u00adcil\u00adman still sup\u00adports the $15 an hour min\u00adi\u00admum. Young\u2019s posi\u00adtion is that the high\u00ader min\u00adi\u00admum wage should apply equal\u00adly to all juris\u00addic\u00adtions with\u00adin the state of Mary\u00adland, Davis said, because oth\u00ader\u00adwise Bal\u00adti\u00admore would suf\u00adfer in com\u00adpe\u00adti\u00adtion with sur\u00adround\u00ading coun\u00adties that have a low\u00ader minimum.\n\n\u201cHe is a strong sup\u00adport\u00ader of $15, but statewide,\u201d said Davis.\n\nMink stressed that a statewide increase to $15 an hour is impos\u00adsi\u00adble giv\u00aden the cur\u00adrent polit\u00adi\u00adcal envi\u00adron\u00adment. In 2014, the leg\u00adis\u00adla\u00adture passed an increase in the state min\u00adi\u00admum wage to $10.10 by 2018 (it cur\u00adrent\u00adly stands at $8.75) after a gru\u00adel\u00ading polit\u00adi\u00adcal struggle.\n\nSup\u00adport for the bill has been dri\u00adven large\u00adly by local labor unions. Ral\u00adly\u00ading in front of City Hall before the vote Mon\u00adday, mem\u00adbers from 1199SEIU and the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Fed\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion of State Coun\u00adty and Munic\u00adi\u00adpal Employ\u00adees (AFSCME) were promi\u00adnent in the crowd. In the past, UNITE HERE Local 7 and the Met\u00adro\u00adpol\u00adi\u00adtan Bal\u00adti\u00admore Coun\u00adcil AFL-CIO Unions have also been in the forefront.\n\nLob\u00adby\u00ading on both sides of the issue has been intense. The Bal\u00adti\u00admore Sun edi\u00adto\u00adri\u00adal\u00adized against the $15 min\u00adi\u00admum wage on July 25, repeat\u00ading argu\u00adments advanced by busi\u00adness groups like the Greater Bal\u00adti\u00admore Com\u00admit\u00adtee and the Mary\u00adland Restau\u00adrant Association.\n\nThe min\u00adi\u00admum wage bill also took an indi\u00adrect hit from May\u00ador Stephanie Rawl\u00adings-Blake, who holds the title of sec\u00adre\u00adtary of the Demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic Nation\u00adal Com\u00admit\u00adtee. One of the city agen\u00adcies under her con\u00adtrol, the Bureau of Bud\u00adget and Man\u00adage\u00adment Research, pro\u00adduced an analy\u00adsis pre\u00addict\u00ading that a $15 min\u00adi\u00admum wage would cause the city\u2019s unem\u00adploy\u00adment rate to jump to between 8.2 per\u00adcent and 10 per\u00adcent, up from the cur\u00adrent rate of 6.5 per\u00adcent. Even worse, the bureau pre\u00addict\u00aded the job loss\u00ades would fall most heav\u00adi\u00adly on teenagers, young adults and unskilled workers.\n\nLob\u00adby\u00ading has already been suc\u00adcess\u00adful in con\u00advinc\u00ading pro-$15 coun\u00adcil mem\u00adbers like Cur\u00adran to soft\u00aden the first ver\u00adsion of the min\u00adi\u00admum wage bill. The first ver\u00adsion, for exam\u00adple, had intend\u00aded for the $15 to be phased in grad\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly through 2020, but that has now been extend\u00aded through 2022. In addi\u00adtion, a small busi\u00adness exemp\u00adtion was added so that the new law would not apply to work\u00adplaces with 25 or few\u00ader work\u00aders. And an attempt to elim\u00adi\u00adnate the sub-min\u00adi\u00admum wage for so-called \u200b\u201ctipped work\u00aders\u201d (large\u00adly restau\u00adrant and hotel work\u00aders) was qui\u00adet\u00adly sidelined.\n\nBut these con\u00adces\u00adsions are not enough for the Greater Bal\u00adti\u00admore Com\u00admit\u00adtee, which is lead\u00ading the effort to defeat the bill. The group has been lob\u00adby\u00ading furi\u00adous\u00adly against the bill for months and this week issued a call to action to its mem\u00adbers to turn up the pres\u00adsure even more. Com\u00admit\u00adtee spokesman Mark Guidera told In These Times that the group had sent out a bul\u00adletin to mem\u00adbers fol\u00adlow\u00ading Monday\u2019s vote, urg\u00ading busi\u00adness own\u00aders to zero in on select\u00aded mem\u00adbers of the coun\u00adcil to lob\u00adby for a final defeat of the $15 bill next week.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not con\u00adced\u00ading any\u00adthing,\u201d to the oppo\u00adnents of a $15 min\u00adi\u00admum wage, said Carter."}
-{"text": "COLOMBO (REUTERS, AFP, BLOOMBERG, NYTIMES) - Eight devastating bomb blasts ripped through high-end hotels and churches holding Easter services in Sri Lanka on Sunday (April 21), killing at least 207 people and injuring 450, including dozens of foreigners.\n\nPolice officials said that at least 35 foreigners were among the dead. A hospital source said American, British and Dutch citizens were among those killed in the six blasts.\n\nSri Lanka\u2019s Defence Ministry ordered a night-time curfew with immediate effect, which was set to begin on Sunday night at 6pm local time (8.30pm Singapore time) and run until 6am local time (8.30am Singapore time), the ministry said.\n\nGovernment officials also said access to major social media networks and messaging services, including Facebook and WhatsApp, had been shut down to prevent misinformation and rumours.\n\n\u201cThe government has decided to block all social media platforms in order to prevent incorrect and wrong information being spread. This is only a temporary measure,\u201d Mr Udaya R. Seneviratne, secretary to the president said in a statement.\n\nEight people were arrested and three police officers were killed during a security forces raid on a house in the Sri Lankan capital several hours after the rash of attacks, some of which officials said were suicide bombs.\n\nPrime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said \u201cso far the names that have come up are local\u201d, but that investigators would look into whether the attackers had any \u201coverseas links\u201d.\n\nEarlier in the day, Sri Lankan Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene said the culprits behind the terrorist attacks had been identified and would soon be taken into custody.\n\n\n\nSri Lankan Special Task Force personnel in gas masks seen raiding a house in the Orugodawatta area of Colombo, on April 21, 2019. PHOTO: AFP\n\n\n\n\"Right now, the CID, the police and the military forces are investigating. We believe that all the culprits who have been involved in this unfortunate terrorist incident will be taken into custody as soon as possible. They have been identified,\" he said, according to the BBC.\n\n\"We will take the necessary actions. We will go after them, whatever religious extremism they are following. We will take action against (them) and we will stop them from operating in this country in the near future,\" he added.\n\nMr Wickremesinghe, who condemned the \"cowardly attacks\", called an emergency security council meeting to review the attacks, which seemed to have been coordinated.\n\n\u201cI strongly condemn the cowardly attacks on our people today. I call upon all Sri Lankans during this tragic time to remain united and strong,\u201d he said in a tweet. \u201cPlease avoid propagating unverified reports and speculation. The government is taking immediate steps to contain this situation.\u201d\n\nPresident Maithripala Sirisena said in an address that he was shocked by the explosions, and appealed for calm. Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, writing on his verified Twitter account, said the attacks had killed \u201cmany innocent people\u201d and appeared to be a \u201cwell-coordinated attempt to create murder, mayhem & anarchy\u201d.\n\nRelated Story Live blog: Sri Lanka hit by multiple explosions\n\nThe Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka said four Chinese nationals were injured, Xinhua news agency reported, adding that the nationals were in stable condition.\n\nThe Dutch Foreign Minister said one of the country's citizens was among the dead, while US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said several Americans were among the casualties.\n\nTurkey\u2019s government said in state-run media that two Turkish citizens were among those killed. They were Serhan Narici and Yigit Cavus, engineers working on a project in Sri Lanka, Anadolu agency said, citing Turkey\u2019s ambassador to Sri Lanka and its foreign ministry.\n\n\u201cUnfortunately we lost our citizens...in the treacherous attacks in Sri Lanka,\u201d Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a statement. Cavusoglu said the ministry was in contact with their families and it would ensure that the funerals were held in Turkey shortly.\n\nEmbassies in Colombo also warned their citizens to shelter in place, and Sri Lankan Airlines told customers to arrive at the airport four hours ahead of flights because of ramped-up security in the wake of the attacks.\n\nAs ambulance sirens wailed across several different cities on Sunday, pews at the targeted churches lay in splinters. Soldiers shut down roads and Internet transmission slowed dramatically, possibly a government effort to stop the spread of fake news. Hundreds of people rushed to donate blood after a public appeal.\n\nTen days before Sunday's bomb attacks, Sri Lanka\u2019s police chief made a nationwide alert that suicide bombers planned to hit \u201cprominent churches\u201d, according to the warning seen by AFP.\n\nPolice chief Pujuth Jayasundara sent an intelligence warning to top officers on April 11 setting out the threat.\n\n\u201cA foreign intelligence agency has reported that the NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama\u2019ath) is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches as well as the Indian high commission in Colombo,\u201d said the alert.\n\nThe NTJ is a radical Muslim group in Sri Lanka that came to notice in 2018 when it was linked to the vandalisation of Buddhist statues.\n\nA senior presidential aide said early investigations suggested that the attacks had been carried out by suicide bombers.\n\nThe first explosions on Sunday were reported at St Anthony\u2019s Church in Colombo and St Sebastian\u2019s in the town of Negombo just outside the capital.\n\nAt least 160 people injured in the St Anthony\u2019s blast had been admitted to the Colombo National Hospital by mid-morning, an official told AFP.\n\nShortly after those blasts were reported, police confirmed that three high-end hotels in the capital had also been hit, along with a church in the town of Batticaloa, in the east of the country.\n\nAn official at the Batticaloa hospital told AFP more than 300 people had been admitted with injuries following the blast there.\n\nDamage was seen at luxury hotels including the Shangri-La, Kingsbury and Cinnamon Grand. Bloomberg reported that police and emergency vehicles have blocked the entrance to the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo, where there was visible damage, including shattered windows, above the main entrance where a cafe is located.\n\nAt least one of the victims was killed in Colombo\u2019s Cinnamon Grand Hotel, near the prime minister\u2019s official residence, where the blast ripped through a restaurant, a hotel official told AFP.\n\nRelated Story Sri Lanka explosions: Suicide bomber queued at hotel buffet then unleashed devastation\n\nA tourist, who asked not to be named, told the ABC she was eating at the second-floor restaurant of the Shangri-La when there were two blasts about 10 seconds apart.\n\n\"There was just screaming and everywhere I looked there was blood,\" she said, adding that the area had been full of visitors, including children.\n\n\"Everyone was just hiding, trying to work out what had just happened and what was going to happen, and we just didn't know.\"\n\nFive-star Shangri-La Hotel released a statement on Sunday addressing the attacks, saying that it was \"deeply saddened and shocked\" by the incident.\n\n\"At approximately 9.05am local time, an explosion took place in Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo\u2019s Table One cafe - one of several locations in Colombo which were affected by this morning's attacks,\" the statement reads.\n\n\"We are deeply saddened and shocked by the incident and our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the casualties and those who have been affected.\n\n\"We are working closely with local authorities and emergency services to provide our fullest assistance and support to the affected staff and guests.\n\n\"Our immediate priority is to look after the safety and well-being of all involved. A Shangri-La crisis management team has been activated to provide all necessary support.\n\n\"As this is an active investigation, we are unable to comment further at this stage. We will provide an update once more information is available.\"\n\nAt St Anthony\u2019s Church at Kochcikade in Colombo, a Reuters source in the police bomb squad said: \u201cOur people are engaged in evacuating the casualties.\"\n\n\n\nDebris is seen inside the damaged interior of St Anthony's Church in Kochchikade in Colombo, after the church was hit by an explosion on April 21, 2019. PHOTO: EPA-EFE\n\n\n\nPhotos circulating on social media showed that the roof of one church had been almost blown off in the blast. The floor was littered with a mixture of roof tiles, splintered wood and blood. Several people could be seen covered in blood, with some trying to help those with more serious injuries. The images could not immediately be verified.\n\n\u201cIt was a river of blood,\u201d said Mr N.A. Sumanapala, a shopkeeper near the church who said he had run inside to help.\n\n\u201cThe priest came out and he was covered in blood and he seemed be covered in someone else\u2019s skin,\u2019\u2019 he said.\n\nSylvester, who was at the service at St Anthony's Shrine, told the BBC: \"I heard the explosion and then the roof fell on us. We took the children and ran out from the rear door.\"\n\n\"But when I came to the hospital I saw my brother-in-law and son on the ground.\"\n\nSt Sebastian\u2019s Church at Katuwapitiya in Negombo posted pictures of destruction inside the church on its Facebook page, showing blood on pews and the floor, and requested help from the public.\n\n\u201cA bomb attack to our church, please come and help if your family members are there,\u201d read a post in English on the Facebook page of St Sebastian\u2019s Church.\n\nThe panic of the blasts quickly spread to other churches, which halted or cancelled their Easter services.\n\n\u201cOur phones were on silent, but one guy got a text about the bomb blast,\u201d said Mr Ranil Thilkaratne, who was at a service in the Colombo suburb of Nugegoda. \u201cThen he alerted the priest. We stopped the service and moved out.\u201d\n\nThere were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attacks in a country which was at war for decades with Tamil separatists until 2009. Bomb blasts in the capital were common during the conflict.\n\nThere have been no attacks in Sri Lanka linked to foreign Islamist groups, despite local media reports that a 37-year-old Sri Lankan was killed in Syria in 2016 while fighting for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group.\n\n\n\nSecurity personnel standing guard outside the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo after an explosion, on April 21, 2019. PHOTO: EPA-EFE\n\n\n\nOut of Sri Lanka\u2019s total population of around 22 million, 70 per cent are Buddhist, 12.6 per cent Hindu, 9.7 per cent Muslim, and 7.6 per cent Christian, according to the country\u2019s 2012 census. Only around 6 per cent of the population are Catholic, but the religion is seen as a unifying force because it includes people from both the minority Tamil and majority Sinhalese ethnic groups.\n\nCardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, told local TV that the public should remain calm, and asked the authorities to bring those responsible for the attacks before the law. He also requested the public donate blood for the injured.\n\nEducation Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam announced that all schools would be closed on Monday and Tuesday.\n\nIn a tweet on Sunday, Mr Harsha de Silva, Minister for Economic Reform and Public Distribution, urged people to remain calm and stay indoors, adding that rescue operations were underway.\n\n\"Sec Defence and I am at Kochchikade church. Also was at ShangriLa n Kingsbury. PM is on his way from Bentota. Emergency meeting called in a few minutes. Rescue operations underway. Please stay calm and indoors. Many casualties including foreigners,\" his tweet read.\n\nSec Defence and I am at Kochchikade church. Also was at ShangriLa n Kingsbury. PM is on his way from Bentota. Emergency meeting called in a few minutes. Rescue operations underway. Please stay calm and indoors. Many casualties including foreigners. \u2014 Harsha de Silva (@HarshadeSilvaMP) April 21, 2019\n\nMr de Silva later also urged people to refrain from sharing fake news and hate posts on social media, calling those who circulate photos of the victims \"despicable\".\n\n\"NO blast at Town Hall. Social media quoting @adaderana is not true. I don\u2019t think they have issued any such alert. People PLEASE be responsible in social media postings,\" he posted in another tweet.\n\n\"Sad how some have no respect for the dead. Why can\u2019t we not circulate photos of the dead? Also some are desperately working on creating racial disharmony. This is despicable. Please stop hate posts on social media. If not it will have to be stopped in the interest of peace.\""}
-{"text": "Coroner records suicide ruling for Carol Woodward, who was the long-serving head of Woodford primary school near Plymouth\n\nThis article is more than 4 years old\n\nThis article is more than 4 years old\n\nAn award-winning headteacher hanged herself shortly after Ofsted downgraded her school, an inquest has been told.\n\nCarol Woodward, the long-serving head of Woodford primary school near Plymouth, suffered a swift decline in her mental health that coincided with an inspection by Ofsted as well as disruptive building work to expand the school.\n\nPolice who investigated the death told the inquest in Plymouth that the Ofsted inspection in July was \u201ccompleted in a fair manner but the timing, without assigning culpability, was wrong\u201d.\n\nDC Peter Riley, the investigating officer, said: \u201cThe chaotic environment this caused, coupled with the pressures of the academic year and the timing of Ofsted\u2019s inspection, triggered an immense amount of pressure on Carol.\u201d\n\nIan Arrow, the Plymouth senior coroner, ruled that the cause of death was suicide by hanging. \u201cThere is nothing suspicious about Carol\u2019s tragic death,\u201d Arrow said in summing up. \u201cShe just felt she was under so much pressure.\u201d\n\nThe Ofsted inspectors downgraded the school\u2019s rating to inadequate and placed it in special measures. The school had been rated as good in its last inspection, in 2012.\n\nThe school of more than 400 pupils was undergoing extensive building work at the time of the inspection in order to add capacity for a further 200 pupils across all year groups.\n\n\n\nUnder the terms of Ofsted inspections, schools can delay visits in exceptional circumstances such as building disruption.\n\nThe inspectors\u2019 report was critical of the standard of teaching and pupil attainment, after a decline in key stage two results. It also criticised the school\u2019s governors and the local authority for failing to take measures to improve the school.\n\nAfter the inspection, Woodward contacted her doctor several times to discuss stress and other health problems, the inquest was told.\n\nIn late July, the 58-year-old told her GP that the school had failed the Ofsted inspection and that she felt she had let everyone down, the inquest heard. She later complained of being unable to sleep.\n\nWoodward had been headteacher at Woodford infants school since 1996, becoming head of Woodford primary after the merger of the two schools in 2010.\n\nHeadteacher killed herself after six months in job, coroner rules Read more\n\nIn 2006 Woodward was named a regional primary school headteacher of the year, in an awards programme sponsored by the Department for Education. In 2007 the school\u2019s results were in the top 5% in England, and two years later the school was feted by Ofsted for its results and outstanding teaching.\n\nDebbie Johns, the school\u2019s assistant head and chair of governors, told the Plymouth Herald in August: \u201cCarol was extremely proud of the school and believed in the importance of focusing on the needs of each and every child to ensure they felt confident, happy and safe.\u201d\n\nAn Ofsted spokesperson said: \u201cLike so many others, we offer our sincere condolences to Mrs Woodward\u2019s family, friends, colleagues and pupils at this very difficult time.\u201d\n\nIn the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Hotlines in other countries can be found here."}
-{"text": "White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon made a brief cameo on Comedy Central\u2019s South Park during Wednesday night\u2019s episode.\n\nAn animated Bannon reassures an animated White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus that Mr. Garrison\u2019s transition to the White House will go smoothly.\n\n\u201cAll indications are that his transition is going to be fine,\u201d Bannon tells Preibus.\n\nSteve Bannon makes it on South Park pic.twitter.com/QrHGWpPPWc \u2014 Justin Miller (@justinjm1) November 17, 2016\n\nWednesday night\u2019s episode, \u201cMembers Only,\u201d saw Mr. Garrison, who plays the show\u2019s Trump character, begin to take revenge on those who wronged him on his way to the presidency. The episode also saw Garrison being given a tour of the Pentagon, during which he expressed his delight at being handed the nuclear football.\n\n\u201cLove me some football,\u201d Garrison said.\n\nThe 20th season of Comedy Central\u2019s hit animated sitcom has spoofed this year\u2019s presidential election through the first eight episodes of its planned ten-episode run.\n\nThe first episode introduced the two candidates; Garrison (playing Trump), whom the show referred to as \u201cGiant Douche,\u201d and Hillary Clinton, or \u201cTurd Sandwich.\u201d\n\nThe show also memorably skewered San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick\u2019s protest of the National Anthem this season.\n\nFollow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum"}
-{"text": "unless you noticed what Zazie looked like on the two-page spread in the very first chapter of the entire manga!\n\nstopping a Magia Erebea-corrupted Negi from attacking her and the rest of the Sports Girls.\n\nthe Big Bad initiated the illegal salvage operation to let plutonium fall into the hands of foreign terrorists to cause a massive scare against Chinese and Korean refugees\n\nIt even helps him win his final duel of the series against Astral.\n\nA month after their break up, Shima finds the pack while looking through his desk and breaks down crying, prompting an important talk with Onoda and deciding to make up with Togawa.\n\nTo stop the tragedy, it must sacrifice itself. It did just that and saved Natsume from an evil ayakashi in the process.\n\nthe Big Bad of the current story arc shoots him with a sixth bullet which completes the \"GNOSIS\" hexagram, a seal that strips him of all his power.\n\nVash brings the Crossgun with him to the final fight, and leaves it rooted in the ground. He later interrupts Knives by lifting it from the sand created in their fight and shooting him up.\n\nGilgamesh summons it during his fight with Rider and completely destroys his Reality Marble and his entire army with only a few seconds of charging.\n\nThe ring winds up saving Sheryl's life, the plate becomes crucial for Cordelia's defeat of Stone River , and Sherlock's previous brushes with Henriette ACTUALLY become a way for Milky Holmes to identify her as Arsene\n\nAnd, to cap it off, then the Sword of Dios has to be drawn from Utena's breast.\n\nit's actually a sort of flash drive containing all kinds of dirt on his brother.\n\nlater reappeared as the trap that finally captured Black Ilya\n\nthe key to become the very next member of the Godhand, the Big Bads of the series, during the Eclipse, and when it activates, it's the point when everything goes straight to Hell for Guts and the Hawks that Griffith led\n\nIn the climax of the movie, Lupin uses the shard to save himself by reflecting Mamo's lasers back at him.\n\nMaking the fake ring he gives to the Count about halfway through the film.\n\nThe artist is a Shinma, and the trinkets keep Miyu from sensing Chisato's own energy, as she is an exceedingly powerful Shinma who hasn't been awakened yet.\n\nThis is also the spelling as used in The Other Wiki . Elsewhere it is just written as ou.\n\nstalls in a battle while doing Wide Area Search so she can stop Quattro, who when it is way too late remembers Nanoha has an attack that can also serve as the biggest Dungeon Bypass in history.\n\nDuring the final battle, Nanoha used this again to track down Quattro\n\nHe survived because of a \"God\" called Mimihagi-sama, the Right Arm of the Soul King, which is connected to the Kamikake seen in chapter 605. He uses it to replace the Soul King after his demise.\n\nthe Hollow within Ichigo IS his true Zanpakuto and \"Zangetsu\" is the manifestation of Ichigo's Quincy power\n\nTurns out Isshin was a Shiba, making Kaien and Ichigo first cousins.\n\nthe Spirit King's palace, which resides far above Soul Society\n\nturn out to be training in the Rukongai with the Shibas...\n\nFullbring abilities are explained to be due to coming into contact with hollows and surviving\n\nis more like a hollow's than a shinigami's or a Quincy's\n\nIchigo meets the Vizards and gains control over his hollow powers\n\nit is some sort of transmitter originally made by the humans when it automatically opens the door to a human research facility.\n\nUsagi is trapped in Queen Nehelenia's illusions and loses the will to press on to save Mamoru and Chibi-Usa. When Jupiter shields Usagi with her body to block Neheleni'a lightning attacks one of Jupiter's earrings falls off and Usagi finds it later; the rose shape reminds her of her love for Mamoru, and she jolts herself out of her illusion to continue to save Mamoru.\n\nThe fact that the Vajra start retreating from Island 1 just after Ranka's scream in that scene is no coincidence.\n\nLater, Macus has his legs cut off by lasers and is set adrift. Bolt whips out the yo-yo and sends it in his direction... But the string isn't long enough to reach him\n\nHe's caught in a massive explosion... and survives by hiding in the safe\n\nMy daddy used to tell me a bedtime story that when Pok\u00e9mon are sad, and they cry...their tears are filled with life.\n\nIn Spirited Away, the gift that Chihiro received from the river god was able to cure Haku from his injuries and free Noh Face from all the food (and people) he had eaten.\n\nIn Saint Beast, an angel helping Shin move drops a stack of his books, and the first one Shin picks up is about witchcraft transformation. The Monster of the Week? An evil tree that's actually an angel who underwent witchcraft transformation. Overlaps with Some Day This Will Come In Handy.\n\nFLCL episode \"Brittle Bullet\". Ninamori receives a water pistol during the episode. At the end she uses it to cool off Naota after he's ejected from Conti.\n\nEarly in Princess Mononoke Eboshi warns that a wolf's head still has the power to bite, even after being severed. Guess how she loses an arm later?\n\nInverted in Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou \u2014 the story introduces tons of \"unnecessary elements,\" never using them. This includes characters that are introduced but never meet each other, offers that are never used, and an actual gun that is never seen again after its introduction.\n\nIn the Yes! Pretty Cure 5 movie, Urara is shown having just caught a Pinky and storing it in her Transformation Trinket. Come the end of the movie, when the Big Bad uses the Dream Collet to grant his wish after gathering all of the Pinkys, he realizes it's not working - Urara then mentions that, whoops, she didn't put the one she caught in the Collet, unintentionally foiling his plan.\n\nIn Black Lagoon, the pistol Balalaika used to slay Boss Kousa and then threw into the ornamental pool is clearly shown to have a fingerprint on it, presumably Rock's from when she handed it to him. It's likely this will bite Rock later on in the series. Another additional meaning is to represent that Rock can never return to his home country, due to his status as a prime suspect in the murder of a Yakuza boss.\n\nYuuta's collection of items related to his \"Dark Flame Master\" in Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions, which he originally planned on throwing away come tenth-grade, turn out to be useful whenever he has to distract and/or keep Rikka and friends occupied.\n\nXxx Holic has the egg given to Domeki by Yuuko, who tells him that it'll be useful somewhere down the road. Subverted in that even though it's brought up regularly, the right time for it to be used never comes. In the first volume of the manga, Watanuki finds Sakura's staff in the storeroom, and Yuko tells him it's just a plastic toy. Nope. That's the real deal, and it's extremely important.\n\nRoughly a third of the way into JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable, Rohan and Koichi wander into a section of town connected to the afterlife. One of the rules of this area is that when you enter or exit, you cannot look behind you or your soul will be taken away. After leaving that part of town, this fact is quickly forgotten about until the Stand Cheap Trick attaches itself to Rohan's back. Just as it's about to kill him, Rohan points out where he's lead them to... This is also how Reimi gets rid of Yoshikage Kira before ascending to heaven.\n\nThe first episode of Jojos Bizarre Adventure shows a carriage crash with Dario Brando and his wife trying to rob it. Dario opens a case and reveals an odd stone mask, which later on serves as the symbol for Part 1, and comes up again in Part 2.\n\nIn Murasakiiro no Qualia, no one would have imagined the cellphone Hatou innocently wanted to buy would end up being used to re-attach her cut off arm and become a embedded means of communication with Yukari . But that's not where its usefulness ends. It also becomes the means through which Hatou can interfere with the parallel worlds by communicating with her alternate selves.\n\nIn Yu Yu Hakusho, Koenma's pacifier which is even referenced during the Dark Tournament Arc as being significant in an off-hand scene with Koenma and Ogre. It turns out to be an artifact to create a nearly unbeatable barrier that Koenma tried using on Sensui.\n\nIn Tiger & Bunny, while getting annoyed at Kotetsu's attempts to get him a birthday gift, Barnaby randomly points to the television show that was advertising a rare diamond necklace and says to get him that. Later on the episode, a gang steals it and Kotetsu catches the boss and presents him to Barnaby, complete with the diamond necklace. Kotetsu's nickname of \"Bunny\" tends to aggravate Barnaby to no ends. In episode 23, Barnaby's memories return when Kotetsu uses it.\n\nAt the beginning of the Monkey Hunter arc of Gintama, Gintoki ends up getting his...joystick turned into a hexagon screwdriver, which ticks him off to no end, partly because of how rarely one would ever need such a screwdriver. Come the end of the arc when he confronts the aliens responsible for the deed, it turns out the only thing that can stop their ship's engine is precisely that. The scene is about as awkward as one might imagine.\n\nThere are a TON of these in Black Butler. Most of them overlap with one of the subcategories of this trope, except for the pairings in chapter 71 of the manga, and several examples from the anime.\n\nIn Yu-Gi-Oh!: Capsule Monsters, the pendant Tea wears is the key to unlocking the door of the final stage.\n\nAldnoah.Zero uses a literal example in episode fifteen, where Slaine is shown seemingly firing randomly into orbit hours before a battle. Later in the episode, he maneuvers an enemy right into the calculated path of the orbiting barrage as it swings around through the battlefield. Proving yet again that \"Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son-of-a-bitch in space\".\n\nIn Girls und Panzer, Mako is only willing to join the Tankery team to get amnesty for all the times she's been late to school. At the end of Episode 12, Sodoko gets Mako's attention and lets her see that all the tardies have been erased, leaving Mako with a clean record. Cue one Glomp from Mako.\n\nAttack on Titan: A minor example: when Annie agrees to help Armin to get Eren out of Stohess she conspicuously puts on a plain metal ring that no one has been seen with. It comes up later when she's apprehended as the Female Titan and gagged to prevent her from shifting, she opens it up to reveal a hidden barb so she could pierce her finger that way .\n\nshe conspicuously puts on a plain metal ring that no one has been seen with. It comes up later when . When Armin makes his (panicked) initial analysis at the start of Trost, he quickly mentions that the humans have no way of moving the gigantic boulder that's large enough to block the entrance, much less actually repairing the gate before the Titans make it in. Later on, Eren manages to move the boulder and seal the gate as a Titan.\n\nIn the Fairy Tail anime, the sign that Laxus taught his grandfather has spread throughout the entire guild, as seen in Episode 2 . In the cover page for Chapter 197, \"Bye Bye Fairy Tail\", look at who's missing.\n\nfor Chapter 197, \"Bye Bye Fairy Tail\", look at who's missing. Gildarts' beating of Natsu and telling him that fear isn't evil and is sometimes necessary .\n\n. Mystogan never formally quits being a member. He just stays behind at the end of the Edolas arc.\n\nnever formally quits being a member. He just stays behind at the end of the Edolas arc. The Dragon King Festival, mentioned in Chapter 100 and again in 292.\n\nIn volume one of Assassination Classroom, Okuda's Day in the Limelight chapter involves her giving Korosensei a concoction that turns him into a blobby form with even more speed than usual. Later, all the way in volume seventeen, the class discovers that said concoction reduces the likelihood of his anti-matter cells exploding to less than 1%, and might be the key to saving his life.\n\nDragon Ball One that crosses two series and twenty years. In Dragon Ball Z's Cell Saga, Bulma, Gohan and Future Trunks discover another version of Trunks' time machine, which was later revealed to have been stolen by Cell when he killed his timeline's Trunks. Flash forward to Dragon Ball Super's Black Goku Saga and it's revealed that Bulma kept the time machine and she pulls it out when Black Goku destroys' Trunks' time machine with the intent on stranding him in the past.\n\nAnother example of the Future Trunks arc: Early on, Goku is given a button by Zen'o so that he can call him down whenever needed. Sure enough, in the final episode of the arc, Goku uses the button to deal with Zamasu after he transforms into an Eldrich Abomination\n\nOne change that Super made in its retelling of Battle of Gods was to set it all on a cruise ship, rather than Bulma's backyard. Although mostly just a minor, somewhat random change, it comes into play in the Grand Finale, where Bulma gives it to Android 17 as a reward for saving the universe in the Tournament of Power.\n\nIn DanganRonpa 3 Side:Future, we have Seiko's Cure-W. She first uses it to (unsuccessfully) try and stop Daisaku Bandai from dying to the bangle poison. It makes a few appearances through the rest of Side:Future, but doesn't really come into play until Side:Hope , where its' revealed that it actually works, as Kyoko Kirigiri can now testify.\n\nCity Hunter: When Hideyuki Makimura was killed by a victim of the Angel Dust, Ryo reacted badly to the mention of the drug, and was astonishingly well-informed on its effects and its makers of Union Teope in spite of them being newcomers in Japan (and him having never heard the name before Hideyuki mentioned it). Near the end of the story it's discovered that Ryo was the original test subject of Angel Dust, and the founder and leader of Union Teope was his adopted father.\n\nRyo's backstory is hinted at in many places by Ryo, other characters who knows it and small happenings before Rosemary Moon decides to reveal it. Even then, she left out some parts that would be revealed only later.\n\nNot just Ryo's backstory, but also other parts of the story, sometimes mixed with Continuity Nods. For example, in his first appearance Silver Fox tried to kill Ryo's target with a rifle chambered for .308 Winchester, and at the start of his second appearance the first hint of him being the villain is the sight of a rifle usually chambered for that round.\n\nClaymore has a Chekhov's Gun that could have the longest duration and the biggest payoff: Clare became a Claymore by implanting Teresa's flesh within her . During the final battle, Clare regains her Heroic Second Wind and Awakens perfectly... in the form of Teresa .\n\nIn DARLING in the FRANXX, Hiro's inability to pilot with anyone but Zero Two is revealed to be one. Because Hiro licked the blood off her scraped knee as a child, he was afflicted with Zero Two's curse. His scores began to plummet afterwards, going from one of the most promising pilots to a complete washout. He was even labeled as a \"tainted specimen\" because of the incident.\n\nIn Sword Art Online During the \"Mother's Rosary\" arc, it's mentioned in passing early on that Asuna has a second ALO account with a Sylph character named Erika. Other characters suggest that Asuna use Erika to challenge Zekken (aka Yuuki), but Asuna decides not to, since she's more comfortable using her Undine healer. Asuna later has her mother log on to Erika when she shows her the house that she bought in ALO (another Chekhov's Gun in and of itself), which not only is like the one Asuna owned in SAO, but looks very much like her maternal grandparents' house.\n\nIn the light novel version of the Alfheim arc, Kirito and Leafa take a brief detour through Jotunheim, catching a glimpse of the legendary sword Excalibur in the process. This ends up being a double example, because not only does Kirito summon the sword with his admin powers during the battle with Oberon, but the Calibur arc is about the quest to find the sword.\n\nTomica Hyper Rescue Drive Head Kidou Kyuukyuu Keisatsu gives us Pit, the cute but easily forgotten Robot Buddy who's always running around. Actually, Pit contains data of Gou's deceased grandfather Joutarou, who has been observing the drivers all along and provides vital help in taking down the Evil AI.\n\nIn perhaps one of the oddest examples of Chekhov's gun, an early episode of the Senran Kagura anime shows Ry\u014dna is so \"experienced\" with rope that she can even tie herself up, bondage style. This is presented as just another gag of how perverted and masochistic she is. But when a giant y\u014dma proves to be impervious to attack, Ry\u014dna busts out a giant rope and quickly ties it up.\n\nKaguya-sama: Love Is War: In chapter 42, Kaguya sets up a Twitter account so she can follow Shirogane and find out what he's doing over the summer, but is unable to work up the courage to send a follow request to his private account. 2 chapters later, she ends up using it as a cry for help when she's forbidden from attending the fireworks viewing with the rest of the Student Council.\n\nChapter 60 establishes that one of the perks of being Student Council President is a letter of recommendation allowing access to any university in the world. In Chapter 111, Shirogane announces his intent to study abroad . And then Chapter 137 reveals that because Shirogane was elected twice, he's allowed two letters of recommendation, and he wants to use one of them to let Kaguya get accepted into Stanford with him .\n\n. And then Chapter 137 reveals that . The Sports Festival arc establishes that the Student Council compiled a top secret file about the circumstances behind Ishigami's suspension in middle school. It's latter revealed that while the Student Council agreed to keep it secret on Ishigami's request, Fujiwara, frustrated since the information would exonerate Ishigami , kept the file in an open place in the Student Council room, in hopes that one day someone would stumble upon it. That someone ends up being Osaragi, who passes on the information to Tsubame\n\nRemember the Robot Girl model with the inscription \"Rei 01\" that Senku sees in the first chapter of Dr Stone Reboot Byakuya? During the story's final chapter it's shown that Rei remade itself in her image .\n\nBlack Clover: The Third Eye use Trinity Sealing Magic to store incredibly large amounts of mana, which is first seen in Chapter 53. Licht releases this seal in Chapter 144, using the entirety of the mana to cast his Arrows of Judgement, raining down light blades on the entire Clover Kingdom and forcing Julius to sacrifice himself.\n\nSally's human chambers are first seen in Chapter 37. In Chapter 182, they're used by Rhya to reincarnate Vetto and Fana a second time in artificial bodies.\n\nYuno's pendant is part of a group of stones that can power up elves and, apparently, open magic seals. It is used specifically to open the seal of Zagred. The pendant is later revealed to be an heirloom of his biological family the House of Grinberryall, the former rulers of the Spade Kingdom.\n\nEarly on a spherical magic item is seen in Hage near the skeleton of the demon that the first Wizard King defeated. It's later revealed to be an invention created by the first Wizard King and Secr\u00e9. And Julius has been storing his Time Magic inside it, using it to revive himself as a 13 year old when he's fatally stabbed by Licht."}
-{"text": "With more and more poker markets becoming regulated, we have prepared an overview of the different laws and regulations in several European countries. You can also download it as a PDF file. We've covered all the main points of interest for poker players: tax on operators, player tax and the rake that players have to pay. Read on for the overview.\n\nDisclaimer: PokerStrategy.com strives to be the number one news source when it comes to keeping its members informed of the latest legal developments in the world of online poker. However, our providing you with up to date legal news and legal information is not the same as providing you with legal advice that is specific to your individual circumstances. While our writers always try to ensure that any information presented on our website is accurate and useful to our members and readers, any articles appearing on PokerStrategy.com are for informational purposes only and any opinions expressed are merely those of the writer or, where stated, PokerStrategy.com.\n\n\n\nWhile we certainly hope that you find our reporting of legal developments entertaining, informative and educational, we would ask you not to place reliance on the same. Information published on PokerStrategy.com is not intended to amount to legal advice (and should not be construed as such) and in no circumstances should any such information be considered a substitute for the advice of a suitably qualified lawyer. Accordingly, we would always encourage you to seek independent legal advice if you believe that the subject matter of this article is likely to affect you or your legal rights and responsibilities in any way.\n\nBelow is an overview of the regulated markets in Europe. You can click the images to enlarge them or you can download the PDF file"}
-{"text": "New Delhi: Despite a revival in the farm economy following a normal monsoon last year and significantly higher sowing of winter crops, rural wages are growing at a sluggish pace, shows data from the labour ministry.\n\nIn December 2016, during the peak of the winter sowing season, nominal wages for ploughing grew 4.3% year-on-year to Rs292 per day, shows the data released earlier this month. While this is higher than the 3.9% growth seen in December 2015 when a widespread drought crippled the farm sector, it is lower than the 6.6% growth in December 2014, and markedly below the high growth seen in 2013 (26%) and 2012 (18%), when the monsoon was normal.\n\nThe data shows that despite an uptick in farm activity and an estimated record production in 2016-17 of key crops like rice, wheat and pulses, nominal wages\u2014an indicator of rural demand and incomes\u2014are yet to pick up, most likely due to the cash crunch following demonetisation of high-value banknotes in November.\n\nBased on higher than normal (five-year average) sowing of rabi crops and a record kharif production, the agriculture ministry has estimated foodgrain production at a record 272 million tonnes in 2016-17, over 8% higher than the year before. In January, the government estimated that the agriculture growth rate would bounce back to 4.1% (in 2016-17) after a dismal 1.2% the year before and a 0.2% contraction in 2014-15.\n\nHowever, nominal wages continue to be sticky, implying only a marginal rise in real wages, despite a record Rs53,000 crore spent on the rural employment guarantee scheme during 2016-17.\n\nEven for non-agricultural occupations like masonry, daily nominal wages grew 6% in December 2016 (year-on-year). This is similar to the growth seen in December 2015, a drought year, but significantly lower than the 21% and 17% growth in nominal wages in December 2013 and 2012, respectively.\n\n\u201cThe rebound in agriculture-related works and a good monsoon should have led to higher demand for labour and pushed wages up, but this did not happen due to the acute cash crunch during November and December,\" said Himanshu, associate professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, and a columnist with Mint.\n\n\u201cHowever, as the economy is re-monetized (cash supplies reach normal levels) we may see a revival in rural wages and consumption. But often, impacts of shocks like demonetisation are sharp, while a recovery may take longer. The slowdown in construction and non-agriculture activities in rural India may linger despite higher budgetary allocations for rural programmes,\" he said.\n\nSubscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.\n\nShare Via"}
-{"text": "Yoshinori Ishii, executive chef at Japanese restaurant Umu in London, shows us how to cook tempura vegetables and seafood, including a useful trick for determining the temperature of hot oil"}
-{"text": "Last night, Paul Ryan announced that he\u2019d run for Speaker of the House if his Republican colleagues met a list of demands. Among them: insisting that time Ryan spends with his family not be sacrificed.\n\n\nRyan, whose wife and three young children reside in Janesville, Wisconsin, flies home for a visit every weekend. That\u2019s nice. If only he believed that other Americans deserved the same.\n\nIn 2009, Ryan voted against a bill that would have given federal employees four weeks of paid paternity leave. ThinkProgress additionally notes that Ryan proposed cuts to child care subsidies for poor parents:\n\nThe sky-high cost of child care in the U.S. can dwarf a parent\u2019s income, particularly a low-income parent. Child care subsidies help defray that cost, allowing a parent to find a place to leave their children while going to work and knowing that they don\u2019t have to rely on family members or unsafe, unstable arrangements. Without them, however, poor parents can face a tough choice between continuing to work and simply staying home because the cost is too high. At the same time, however, he\u2019s often said that more poor people need to be in the workforce and combat what he sees as a \u201cculture problem\u201d where they don\u2019t value work.\n\n\nAnd, as the Huffington Post\u2019s Amanda Terkel points out, Ryan\u2019s GOP caucus blocked President Obama\u2019s attempt to mandate paid parental leave in both the public and private sectors here in the US. We\u2019re one of only three countries in the world that doesn\u2019t guarantee new parents paid time off from work to care for their offspring.\n\nAnd we certainly don\u2019t have any enshrined rules that guarantee fathers time away from work to spend with their 10-, 12-, and 13-year-old children. Perhaps if Paul Ryan hadn\u2019t spent much of his political career fighting laws that promote realistic work-life balance for parents of all socioeconomic levels, asking for family time would make him look more like a hero and less like a hypocrite.\n\nContact the author at erin@jezebel.com ."}
-{"text": "This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.\n\nMEMPHIS, Tenn. \u2014 A newly graduated Shelby County Corrections deputy was critically injured in a shooting Friday, and Memphis Police say her 15-year-old daughter is charged with attempted murder.\n\nThe shooting happened around 11:30 a.m. Friday in the 2800 block of Treasure Island at the Eden at Watersedge Apartments in Fox Meadows.\n\nMemphis Police said one woman was shot and transported to Regional One Hospital in critical condition.\n\nThe Shelby County Sheriff\u2019s Office confirmed the woman shot was a corrections deputy who graduated Thursday night from the academy.\n\nLater Friday, police revealed that the woman\u2019s daughter had been charged with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault/domestic violence.\n\nNeither the victim nor her daughter have been identified.\n\n35.072746 -89.883058"}
-{"text": "-- The general managers will hold their first meeting of the 2011-12 season Tuesday in Toronto, and it is likely that the 1-3-1 forecheck utilized by the Tampa Bay Lightning will be a hot button topic for discussion.The Lightning's version of the patient forecheck became a League-wide conversation piece last week when the Philadelphia Flyers opted not to attack it but instead sit back and wait. Tampa Bay chose not to attack either, but instead wait for the Flyers to attempt to move the puck up the ice.The officials had to blow the whistle to stop the play because nothing was happening; the puck had stopped moving.\"There has certainly been a lot of debate over the last few days about what happened in the game,\" Flyers GM Paul Holmgren told NHL.com Monday night from the Hockey Hall of Fame inductions. \"Coaches do different things and their ultimate job and task is to win the game. Personally, I didn't have a problem with what Tampa did. They sit back and wait and they have great offensive players so if you turn the puck over they can hurt you. There was a period of time in the first period where we didn't bite into it and were doing our own thing, but to me it just didn't sit right.\"Holmgren is ready for the discussion, but he isn't sure if anything can come of it at the general managers' level because, as he said, \"How are you going to mandate how teams forecheck and how teams attack? How are you going to do that?\"Lightning GM Steve Yzerman told ESPN.com that he thinks it is worthy of a discussion and that he's looking forward to having one. Dallas' Joe Nieuwendyk , who was inducted into the Hall of Fame on Monday, joked with NHL.com that he anticipates it becoming the Yzerman and Holmgren show at the meeting Tuesday.\"It'll be interesting,\" Penguins GM Ray Shero told NHL.com. \"We played against Tampa in the playoffs last year and lost in seven games, and they played the same system. I have some thoughts, but that's the great thing about having these meetings -- you hear ideas from other general managers in the League and you kick things around.\"I talked to our coaching staff and some of our players about it, what they thought, and really I'm not exactly what can be done about any defensive or forechecking system. The game is the game. If there are some great ideas I'm all ears. We'll see what comes out of it.\"The 1-3-1 is only part of the agenda. The other two main items on the agenda include an update on re-alignment from NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, and a review of the edited rules on boarding (Rule 41) and illegal checks to the head (Rule 48) from Brendan Shanahan , NHL Senior V.P. of Player Safety and Hockey Operations.The wording of both rules was altered prior to this season along with the addition of a minor-penalty element to Rule 48.While the re-alignment issue is without question the most sensitive because of how it could affect each team, Daly is expected only to give an update to the general managers because re-alignment is a Board of Governors agenda item.The Board of Governors are expected to vote on re-alignment at their meeting Dec. 5-6 in Pebble Beach, Calif.Re-alignment is necessary because NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has stated that the Winnipeg Jets will not play in the Southeast Division beyond this season. Columbus and Detroit have expressed interest in moving to the Eastern Conference.\"At the end of the day like with anything, it's almost like supplemental discipline -- you can't please everybody,\" Shero said. \"I think having it on the agenda at the managers' meeting is important. When I go back I can compare notes with Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, our owners, and our CEO David Morehouse. I can say, 'Here is where we are the GM level, here are our feelings.' The more information we have the better off we all are.\"Still, it is possible that the discussion on the 1-3-1 defensive system used by Tampa Bay coach Guy Boucher will dominate the day-long meeting.\"There were times last year when we did it; not on the consistent basis we did in the first period the other night,\" Holmgren said. \"I was at a game last year when Buffalo was in Tampa and Buffalo did the same thing. Washington tried it early in the year against them. But, sooner or later you have to try to score a goal, too. I think it'll be an interesting debate, but I don't expect anything to come out of it.\""}
-{"text": "A U.S. study suggests five preventive services could save more than 100,000 lives a year, including 45,000 by just taking a daily low-dose aspirin.\n\nThe study -- funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the WellPoint Foundation -- found serious deficiencies in the use of preventive care for the nation and particularly among racial and ethnic minorities.\n\nResearchers said many lives could be saved by increasing to 90 percent the portion of:\n\n-- Adults who take aspirin daily to prevent heart disease.\n\n-- Smokers advised by a health professional to quit and are offered medication or other assistance.\n\n-- Adults 50 and older who are screened for colorectal cancer.\n\n-- Adults 50 and older immunized against influenza.\n\n-- Women 40 and older who are screened for breast cancer.\n\n-- Sexually active young women who are screened for chlamydial infection.\n\n\"This report illustrates that the health benefits would be great if more people took preventive actions,\" said Dr. Julie Gerberding, CDC director. \"More illnesses would be avoided, fewer lives would be lost, and there would be more efficient use of our limited health care resources.\"\n\nCopyright 2007 by United Press International\n\nExplore further Can wearable technology help older adults maintain healthy lives?"}
-{"text": "Spread the love\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSeattle, WA \u2014 An entire wolf pack has been marked for slaughter by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The decision was made to protect a nearby cattle farm after several cows were found wounded or killed.\n\nThroughout the 19th and 20th centuries, gray wolves roamed North America by the hundreds of thousands. However, as America\u2019s demand for meat grew, the wolves became viewed as vermin and pests \u2014 they were slaughtered by the tens of thousands.\n\nAs a result of this slaughter, wolves were nearly wiped off the face of the lower 48 states. They were hunted to the verge of extinction and all but disappeared.\n\nThe federal government then intervened and placed the wolves on the endangered species list in accordance with the Endangered Species Act. Slowly but surely, the wolves began to grow in numbers; nothing like their previous numbers, but a small increase nonetheless.\n\nIn a tragically ironic move, however, the same government who once protected the wolf has now marked them for butchery.\n\nEarlier this month, five cows were found dead or injured, at which point the WDFW authorized a \u2018partial pack removal.\u2019 State agents killed two female wolves, and the cow deaths appeared to stop.\n\nThere appeared to be a disturbance in wolf activity and operations paused, according to Donny Martorello, Wolf Policy Lead for WDFW, reported KING 5.\n\nBut this cessation in wolves being wolves only lasted a couple of weeks. On August 19, more cows were injured or killed. The WDFW then authorized the slaughter of the entire pack living in Profanity Peak in Ferry County.\n\nThis move by the WDFW to slaughter the wolves in the name of beef farming has, understandably, created a firestorm of backlash \u2014 especially considering that they are still on the endangered species list.\n\n\u201cThis is extreme,\u201d said Sen. Kevin Ranker, D- Orcas Island, former chair of the state Natural Resources Committee to KING 5. \u201cI was told that removal of half the pack would make a difference, and now we\u2019re being told they are going to remove the entire pack? They haven\u2019t implemented their first plan.\u201d\n\nThe WDFW is remaining tight-lipped on the total number of wolves they\u2019ve slaughtered already and urge the public to leave the killing to them.\n\n\u201cWe are kindly asking for a little space and understanding so we can maintain the highest level of safety for the public, the staff and our producers,\u201d Martorello said.\n\nProtecting your own property or animals from an attack by predators is most certainly a just act. However, this is not what\u2019s happening. These are privately owned cattle being protected by the state at the expense of wolves.\n\nActing on behalf of beef producers, the government is breaking its own laws and spending taxpayer money to kill off an endangered species.\n\nInstead of having the farmers come up with innovative ways to prevent herd loss, they simply lean on the government for help. And, this help is in the form of taxpayer-funded killing.\n\nIt seems the beef industry in America has friends at all levels of government \u2014 some of whom are even willing to kill endangered species for them.\n\nMatt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter and now on Steemit\n\nSpread the love\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSponsored Content:"}
-{"text": "Altcoin News: Venezuela May Add Cryptocurrencies to Its Gold Reserves\n\nSeptember 27, 2019, by Marko Vidrih on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE\n\nThe Central Bank of Venezuela conducts internal tests, trying to determine the admissibility of adding cryptocurrencies, in particular, Bitcoin and Ethereum, to their foreign exchange reserves, Bloomberg writes with reference to sources familiar with the situation.\n\nTesting is carried out at the request of the state oil and gas company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), which wants the central bank to pay suppliers on its behalf with the help of cryptocurrency assets at its disposal.\n\nDue to US sanctions, the possibilities for PDVSA to interact with customers and suppliers were limited, as international banks avoid serving related transactions. According to Bloomberg, information about how long the company owns cryptocurrency, in what volume and how it received it, is not available.\n\nPDVSA may seek to avoid the need to sell cryptocurrency on the open market, as in this case, it will have to register on the exchange, which is also associated with compliance with certain legal standards. Representatives of the company suggest that the central bank will face a smaller set of difficulties if it takes on the payment function.\n\nIn July, Information appeared that Venezuela can convert airport fees to Bitcoins to circumvent economic sanctions.\n\nAuthor: Marko Vidrih"}
-{"text": "The owners of Ottawa's CFL team are playing defence after a Redblacks fan claims they stole his halftime show idea.\n\nfor $35, 000, claiming OSEG profited A diehard south side fan holds up a \"north side sucks\" flag on July 18, 2014, leading up to the opening of Lansdowne park and return of CFL football in Ottawa. (CBC News ) off his promotions concept for two football seasons without paying him a dime. Marketing professional Duncan MacDonald is suing the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group\n\n\"I feel cheated,\" said MacDonald. \"I feel shortchanged, and I feel very disappointed.\"\n\nOSEG denies the claim, saying it had the idea before receiving a \"unsolicited proposal,\" and wants the case dismissed.\n\n\"North versus south has been in the DNA of Ottawa football fans since the mid-70's when the phrase 'Disco Sucks' was coined,\" said Randy Burgess, vice president of communications and fan experience for OSEG, in an emailed response to CBC regarding MacDonald's claims.\n\n\"That was the genesis of the North Side Sucks/South Side Sucks tradition,\" Burgess wrote. \"Fan challenges are common practice at sporting events, and so it was a natural for us to brand our fan challenges North versus South to carry on the tradition.\"\n\n'Protected by copyright'\n\nMacDonald claims he was the first to coin a season-long challenge based on the north side versus south side fan rivalry.\n\nDuncan MacDonald's PowerPoint presentation marked \"protected by copyright,\" emailed to OSEG March 26, 2014. (Ashley Burke) He produced a 22-page PowerPoint presentation and e-mailed it to Redblacks president and owner Jeff Hunt on March 26, 2014, before the CFL season began.\n\nThe document described \"a game within a game.\" Fans from the north and south sides would compete against one another on the field in skills competitions, such as kicking a field goal, best touchdown dance, or who could throw a football the farthest.\n\n\"It gave fans an interactive opportunity to participate on the field for points, tabulated at the end of the season,\" said MacDonald. \"The whole side would be the winner and get prizes at the end of the season.\"\n\nWhen MacDonald submitted the proposal to OSEG, he marked the presentation \"protected by copyright.\"\n\nNot 'riveting,' OSEG responds\n\nHunt emailed MacDonald back the same day he received the pitch in 2014, saying the idea was an interesting thought, but wrote \"I personally don't find that riveting.\"\n\n\"To be honest, I'm not sure if we will be promoting the north side sucks tradition or not?\" Hunt added in the email. \"We may leave it up to the fans? The southside will be much smaller than it once was and therefore the north bigger (they used to be about the same size).\"\n\nEmail from Jeff Hunt, President of OSEG, sent March 26, 2014 in response to Duncan MacDonald's proposal.\n\nHunt said he would pass on the idea to his partner and get back to MacDonald if it was something they wished to pursue.\n\nShocked to see idea at football game\n\nAs a season ticket holder, MacDonald was shocked to witness fan promotion at Redblacks games in 2014 that he claims was almost identical to his proposal.\n\nA YouTube video shows an example of a south side fan competing against a north side fan in a 40-yard dash during a Ottawa Redblacks versus Edmonton Eskimos game on August 15, 2014 at TD Place Stadium.\n\n\"It was pretty upsetting that people that I've known for years would treat me like this and take an idea and generate fan participation, ticket renewals and maybe ticket sales,\" said MacDonald.\n\nHe contacted the CEO of OSEG, Bernie Ashe, at the end of the 2014 football season asking for financial compensation.\n\n\"I don't feel any reward is required or appropriate for your presentation,\" Ashe responded by email. \"We receive a lot of suggestions from fans on all aspects our our game experience \u2026 including the North South Challenge.\"\n\nOngoing court battle\n\nMacDonald wasn't willing to give up there, and took his case to small claims court, seeking more than $35,000 in two lawsuits:\n\nLawsuit 1: $8,000 for the marketing concept + $13,500 in royalty fees for 2014 football season\n\nLawsuit 2: $13,500 in royalty fees for 2015 football season\n\nDuncan MacDonald is seeking $35,000 from OSEG for his concept and game royalties for the 2014 and 2015 football seasons. (CBC News) Court documents show MacDonald testified his \"concepts are invaluable and generate revenue\" and showed past examples and credentials, including his position as the co-owner and marketing manager of the Ottawa Fat Cats baseball team.\n\nA Deputy Judge ruled that OSEG pay for the concept and royalty fees in the first case. But OSEG said it was not aware of the original claim, and has since filed a defence denying the allegations and asking for the case to be thrown out.\n\nBoth sides are meeting again in court for a settlement conference on March 31.\n\n\"It's almost like a David and Goliath story,\" said MacDonald. \"I've got to fight for what I believe in, for the small business person in this town. A lot of times we get stepped on. I'm too old to let this go.\""}
-{"text": "In the section on caffeine, we\u2019ve identified the pitfalls that come with taking caffeine into your system. The main ones are anxiety, restlessness and elevated blood pressure. The beauty of stacking creatine with l-theanine is that theanine has the ability cancel out these negative side effects.\n\nCaffeine acts by inhibiting the activity of adenosine receptors in your brain. L-theanine dampens down excitatory responses that result when caffeine mimics adenosine and plugs into adenosine receptors.\n\nSo, when you take caffeine and l-theanine together, you get to enjoy all of the brain and energy boosting effects of caffeine without the anxiety, jitters or increased blood pressure that you would normally have to put up with.\n\nBecause caffeine is a vasoconstrictor, it makes the blood vessels smaller, which makes it harder to maintain blood flow and increases the blood pressure. However, l-theanine negates the vasoconstrictive properties of caffeine, so that your blood flow is normalized.\n\nL-theanine appears to even help with the infamous caffeine crash that most people experience forty-five minutes after putting caffeine into their system. Caffeine crashes can lead to headaches and fatigue. Yet, a 2008 study showed that people who stacked theanine with caffeine had fewer headaches and were less tiredness compared with those who took caffeine alone.\n\nCombining caffeine with l-theanine can also help to overcome the night-time problems associated with taking caffeine later in the day. A lot of people have real problems at bedtime when they take caffeine after 3pm. This is a problem for guys who hit the gym in the evening and want to take caffeine as a part of their pre-workout formula. Taking it as a stack with l-theanine, though, will alleviate your caffeine sleep problems.\n\nCaffeine affects our slow-wave sleep. This is the deepest form of non-REM sleep. You need to get a decent level of slow wave sleep for an adequate overall sleep experience. L-theanine blunts the central nervous system stimulating effects of caffeine to stop the anti-sleep side effects that it usually brings with it.\n\nNot only does the addition of l-theanine negate the side effects of caffeine, but the two of them together boost the effects of using them beyond what you would get from using them individually.\n\nWhen combined, l-theanine and caffeine will significantly increase reaction times over using them by themselves. One study showed that people who stacked the two supplements had an improved reaction time for delayed word recognition. Another study reported that subjects had a faster reaction time to flashing light cues on a computer when they stacked caffeine with l-theanine.\n\nStacking these two supplements has also been seen to improve people\u2019s level of focus and concentration when switching between tasks. A 2008 study showed that there was a marked improvement in test accuracy for people who stacked the supps over those who either took one or the other.\n\nFurther research has shown the impressive ability of a caffeine, l-theanine stack to be able to reduce distractions when you are trying to focus on a task."}
-{"text": "Donald Trump has been accused of creating propaganda that masquerades as news by publishing his new \"real news\" channel, which airs on his Facebook page.\n\nIt appears to be part of his war on what he calls the \"Fake News Media\" - fed up of the news on mainstream channels, he's decided to make his own.\n\nHis first presenter was his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who sang the praises of the President in front of a backdrop emblazoned with his name."}
-{"text": "This past weekend we wrote that social group startup Fridge was shutting down the product. We assumed that meant it was being acquired.\n\nWe assumed right. Austin Chang, Fridge's founder, just told us that the company is being acquired by Google+ for an undisclosed amount. The deal closed late last night.\n\nStarting next week, his four-person team will be working on Google+ from New York. Come August, most of them will relocate to Google's Mountain View office.\n\nFridge currently has 40,000 monthly uniques. More than 20,000 groups have been formed, where users can share videos, instant messages, pictures, polls and events with close friends.\n\n\"Right now, Google+ is asymmetric,\" says Chang. \"We're going to help them create shared spaces.\"\n\nChang notes that a few different parties were interested in acquiring Fridge, but he never considered selling to any other company. \"Fridge fits perfectly into Google+'s plan,\" he says.\n\nFridge is a Y-Combinator startup that raised $800,000. Investors put Chang in touch with Google+, and the two companies have been talking about the acquisition for 2-3 months.\n\nThis isn't Chang's first exit. In 2005 he sold a social game, Popularity High, to MTV/Viacom for an undisclosed amount.\n\nClick here to learn more about Fridge's business model >>\n\nHere's the letter Fridge just sent out to its users:"}
-{"text": "NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A mid-week hamstring injury will leave Rishard Matthews, the Tennessee Titans' most consistent wide receiver, as a game-time decision for Sunday's game against the Indianapolis Colts.\n\nTitans coach Mike Mularkey said he wanted to \"give him a day to rest his hamstring,\" and he expects they'll know more about Matthews' status on Saturday.\n\nMatthews said he injured his hamstring while running during Thursday's practice but that he expects to play Sunday.\n\nIn an offensive looking for consistency and big plays, Matthews has provided both this season. He had a big 75-yard touchdown to start the second half of the Steelers game. He leads the Titans with 626 receiving yards. He also is fifth in the NFL in yards per reception (14.8) over the last two seasons.\n\nIf Matthews can't go Sunday, expect bigger roles for veteran Eric Decker, who would likely start opposite Corey Davis, and rookie Taywan Taylor.\n\nThe Titans have the option of activating Harry Douglas off injured reserve this weekend in time for Sunday's game if they choose. Douglas, who missed the first 10 games, has practiced all week."}
-{"text": "We\u2019re pulling the magical heist of the century."}
-{"text": "Biv\u0161i zapovjednik Hrvatske kopnene vojske, umirovljeni general Mladen Kruljac, koji je nepravomo\u0107no osu\u0111en na godinu i \u0161est mjeseci zatvora zbog korupcije na \u0161tetu op\u0107ine Sibinja i dr\u017eavnog prora\u010duna, izjavio je kako ga presuda nije iznenadila iako je, kako je rekao, vjerovao da \u0107e biti oslobo\u0111en krivnje.\n\n\n\nKruljac je izjavio kako je, kao dugogodi\u0161nji vojnik, bio spreman na sve, a o mogu\u0107oj \u017ealbi Vrhovnome sudu, rekao je, dogovorit \u0107e se s odvjetnikom nakon primitka pisanog otpravka nepravo\u0107ne presude. Izrazio je \u017ealjenje \u0161to sudskom vije\u0107u nisu mogli objasniti na\u010din funkcioniranja Oru\u017eanih snaga RH i postojanje usmenih zapovijedi, dodaju\u0107i da \u0107e se to detaljno u\u010diniti u mogu\u0107oj \u017ealbi.\n\n\n\nI danas ka\u017eem da sam nevin i da sam radove u Sibinju i Slavonskom Brodu provodio sukladno obuci i pozitivnim propisima koji su tada bili na snazi, ustvrdio je Kruljac i dodao kako je pomo\u0107 jedinicama lokalne samouprave do izmjena Zakona o obrani 2011. godine bila pru\u017eana kroz obuku pripadnika HV-a na 129 lokacija.\n\n\n\nOptu\u017eio je biv\u0161eg na\u010delnika Glavnog sto\u017eera Oru\u017eanih snaga Josipa Luci\u0107a za nevjerodostojnost i davanje la\u017enog iskaza jer je na sudu rekao kako usmene zapovijedi postoje samo u ratu. Ustvrdio je kako Pravilnik o slu\u017ebi u Oru\u017eanim snagama RH propisuje da zapovijedi mogu biti pisane i usmene te da ne razlikuje davanje zapovijedi u ratnome i mirnodopskom stanju.\n\n\n\nOsobno sam od generala Luci\u0107a dobivao desetke i stotine usmenih zapovijedi, poput potraga za Antonijom Bili\u0107 i generalom Ivanom Koradom, istaknuo je Kruljac.\n\n\n\n\n\nAfera 'Sibinj'- svi optu\u017eenici progla\u0161eni krivima, Kruljcu godina i pol dana zatvora\n\n\n\nOsje\u010dki \u017dupanijski sud nepravomo\u0107no je proglasio krivim svih \u0161est okrivljenika, optu\u017eenih za korupciju u takozvanoj, 'aferi Sibinj', kojom je op\u0107ina Sibinj o\u0161te\u0107ena za 58,2 milijuna kuna, a dr\u017eavni prora\u010dun za tri milijuna kuna.\n\n\n\nNepravomo\u0107nom presudom biv\u0161i zapovjednik Hrvatske kopnene vojske, umirovljeni general Mladen Kruljac osu\u0111en je na godinu i \u0161est mjeseci zatvora, biv\u0161i na\u010delnik op\u0107ine Sibinj Ivica Batini\u0107 na \u0161est godina zatvora te, a biv\u0161i \u010dlan op\u0107inskog Poglavarstva Ivan Mi\u0161kovi\u0107 na 5 godina i \u0161est mjeseci zatvora.\n\n\n\nPoduzetnik Ivan Rimac osu\u0111en je na tri godine i deset mjeseci, biv\u0161i \u010delnik brodsko-posavskog HDZ-a Zdravko So\u010dkovi\u0107 na godinu i tri mjeseca, a autoprijevoznik \u017deljko Gari\u0107 na dvije godine zatvora. Protiv prvooptu\u017eenog Batini\u0107a, koji nije nazo\u010dio izricanju presude, i drugooptu\u017eenog Mi\u0161kovi\u0107a sudsko vije\u0107e odredilo je istra\u017eni zatvor, jer su dobili kaznu zatvora dulju od pet godina, prenosi Hina.\n\n\n\nZbog sumnje na zlouporabe polo\u017eaja i ovlasti, primanje mita te poticanje na ta kaznena djela Uskok ih je optu\u017eio da su, od rujna 2007. do sredine 2008., u Sibinju, Slavonskom Brodu i Karlovcu, protivno odlukama Vlade kojima je op\u0107ini Sibinj darovano zemlji\u0161te u svrhu izgradnje zone malog gospodarstva, omogu\u0107ili unaprijed dogovorenim tvrtkama i fizi\u010dkim osobama stjecanje prava vlasni\u0161tva nad velikim parcelama visoko vrijednog gra\u0111evinskog zemlji\u0161ta ispod stvarne vrijednosti.\n\n\n\n\n\nProra\u010dun o\u0161te\u0107en za vi\u0161e od 3 milijuna kuna\n\n\n\nPrema optu\u017enici to im je omogu\u0107eno bez preuzimanja bilo kakvih obaveza vezano za po\u010detak radova i obavljanje gospodarskih djelatnosti u zoni, a optu\u017eeni su im na taj na\u010din pribavili znatnu imovinsku korist. Tereti ih se da su, u nakani da prije prodaje zemlji\u0161ta dodatno pove\u0107aju njegovu vrijednost, s generalom Kruljcem dogovorili izvo\u0111enje radova, nakon \u010dega je Hrvatska vojska, protivno zapovjedi na\u010delnika Glavnog sto\u017eera Oru\u017eanih snaga kojom se zabranjuje uporaba in\u017eenjerije na radovima koji nisu za potrebe vojske, i obavila radove.\n\n\n\nTime je, smatra Uskok, dr\u017eavni prora\u010dun o\u0161te\u0107en za ne\u0161to vi\u0161e od 3 milijuna kuna, a zemlji\u0161te je potom prodano na unaprijed dogovorenim natje\u010dajima, \u010dime je Op\u0107ina Sibinj o\u0161te\u0107ena za 58,2 milijuna kuna.\n\n\n\nKruljac: Radio sam po zapovijedi Stjepana Mesi\u0107a\n\n\n\nSu\u0111enje je zapo\u010delo lani u studenome, a, me\u0111u brojnim svjedocima, ispitani su i biv\u0161i hrvatski predsjednik Stjepan Mesi\u0107, biv\u0161i na\u010delnik GS OS RH umirovljeni general Josip Luci\u0107 i gradona\u010delnik Slavonskog Broda Mirko Duspara."}
-{"text": "The actor steps behind the camera for this familiar, charming coming-of-age dramedy.\n\n\u201cMid90s\u201d is the kind of movie so familiar it\u2019s practically over before it begins. The affable story of scrawny L.A. 13-year-old Stevie (Sunny Suljit) coming of age in the eponymous era follows all the familiar beats of this well-trod genre. However, the first feature from writer-director Jonah Hill shows some of the best qualities of veteran actors who step behind the camera, with nuanced performances so real the characters practically fall off the screen. Hill\u2019s story suggests equal parts \u201cFreaks and Geeks,\u201d \u201cKids,\u201d and the adolescent-focused narratives of British director Shane Meadows, but Hill cribs from these precedents with a confidence that injects this lively snapshot of skateboarding reprobates with fresh confidence.\n\nIt\u2019s also a gleeful nostalgia trip. With a period-specific soundtrack that ranges from the Pixies to Wu-Tang Clan, \u201cMid90s\u201d depicts the last decade of the 20th century with a warm hug. It doesn\u2019t always feel that way for Stevie, though: Growing up with a single young mother (Katherine Waterston) and moody, introverted older brother Ian (Lucas Hedges) who pushes him around at every opportunity, he can\u2019t catch a break. Hill instantly establishes the plucky character\u2019s resilience in the immersive opening minutes, as Stevie survives a brutal beating from his brother only to sneak into his room after hours, taking notes on the ephemera of posters and albums in an attempt to absorb some measure of coolness from the world at his disposal. The movie establishes Stevie\u2019s adventuresome spirit before he\u2019s spoken a word.\n\nSoon, he finds a potential outlet beyond the constraints of his household, spying a group of loudmouthed teens at the local skate shop and gradually veering closer to their orbit. The youngest of the clique, the stern, foulmouthed Ruben (Gio Galicia) gives Stevie some chores and allows him to hang around the group in silence, though he begins to show some envy when the older kids take an interest. So shy he can barely hold a conversation, Stevie\u2019s an amusing enigma to this motley gang, and they embrace the opportunity to drag him around to their various antics.\n\nHill has assembled an impressive range of new faces to imbue these characters with colorful traits that play off each other to amusing effect, with personalities underscored by the nicknames that define them: There\u2019s Fuckshit (Olan Prenatt), a biracial troublemaker with puffy yellow hair and a penchant for cracking jokes; Fourth Grade (Ryder McLaughlin), an aspiring filmmaker; and Ray (Na-kel Smith, a genuine discovery), who doesn\u2019t need a special name since he\u2019s the normal one of the group, a smiling ball of energy who proves to be the sagacious leader. At first, Stevie doesn\u2019t quite know how to gel with these new acquaintances, and a shrewd early scene when he\u2019s called on to comment on a meandering conversation is charming for the way he stammers for a response. Nobody\u2019s ever given him the chance to talk.\n\n\u201cMid90s\u201d doesn\u2019t venture into much surprising territory once its premise settles in, and the montages take flight. As \u201cWave of Mutilation\u201d swells, Stevie \u2014 dubbed Sunburn by his new pals \u2013 covers his room in posters and practices skateboarding tactics late into the night. (In one amusing punchline, he celebrates the tiniest jump as a seminal victory.) Little by little, the street antics carry hints of trouble, and it\u2019s only a matter of time before Stevie gets hurt. And then gets hurt again. The poor kid endures a lot over the course of the movie, banging his head, scraping his chest, and worse, in the process of toughening himself up for a new life chapter. Suljit, his wavy hair framing a series of muted expressions, provides a powerful centerpiece to every scene. Channeling Antoine Doinel in \u201cThe 400 Blows,\u201d he grounds the movie\u2019s by-the-numbers trajectory with an authenticity that elevates it.\n\nHill compliments the sturdy narrative with an impressive list of collaborators that give this well-trod genre exercise unusual polish. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross\u2019 energizing score supports Stevie\u2019s frantic soul-searching, while veteran cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt (\u201cThe Bling Ring,\u201d \u201cCertain Women\u201d) gives each scene a grainy, washed-out quality that looks as though \u201cMid90s\u201d were actually made in the period it takes place.\n\nThe movie strolls through the usual tropes of this storytelling mold, as Stevie clashes with his concerned mother to comedic effect, gets drunk for the first time, and \u2014 in an adorable highlight \u2014 scores his first sexual experience in an awkward encounter that temporarily makes him feel like he\u2019s leveled up in the world. Stevie\u2019s surrounded by people baffled by his sudden transition into a new life chapter, with Waterston giving her lonely parent all the intensity of a young woman grasping to take control of responsibilities that elude her at every turn. Hedges, quickly becoming the most impressive actor of his generation, buries himself in the gruff, unhappy role of an angst-riddled teen a world apart from the softer performances he delivered in \u201cManchester By the Sea\u201d and more recent work. But the movie ultimately belongs to Suljit, the engine of the narrative and its raison d\u2019\u00eatre, in a part that Hill himself might have played a long time ago (and given the hints of autobiographical context to the story, probably did once, off-screen).\n\nAgain and again, \u201cMid90s\u201d falls into routine: the arguments arrive right on cue, as do the resolutions, and a tidy climax puts a bow on the entire ordeal. But there\u2019s an infectious quality to Stevie\u2019s newfound clique, who play off each other with a vivaciousness that nearly tips into documentary territory when Hill simply watches them cruise around.\n\nThe second riff on the \u201cKids\u201d formula to make the rounds in 2018 (though the only one to include a blink-and-you\u2019ll-miss-it cameo by Harmony Korine), \u201cMid90s\u201d follows on the heels of Crystal Moselle\u2019s similarly engaging \u201cSkate Kitchen,\u201d which focused on the semi-fictional exploits of an all-girl skate group. Hill\u2019s movie essentially hovers in the same universe of concrete lots and messy house parties, where bored young people rebel against nothing in particular. There\u2019s a reason filmmakers find this milieu so appealing, as Hill\u2019s debut makes clear \u2014 it\u2019s an ideal template for exploring the meandering pathway to young adulthood, and for a filmmaker to show potential without overextending ambition. To that end, \u201cMid90s\u201d chronicles a maturation for the talent behind the camera as well.\n\nGrade: B+\n\n\u201cMid90s\u201d premiered at the Toronto International Film. A24 releases it October 19, 2018.\n\nSign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here."}
-{"text": "Passwords are a constant headache, a headache that will one day grow so bad that\u2014if infomercials can be believed\u2014your grandmother will pound a table in frustration. How to manage them? Early this year, one of the largest as-seen-on-TV companies produced its innovative answer: the Password Minder.\n\nDespite the grandiose name, the Password Minder is a blank notebook. It has a black cover. You write all your passwords in it. It costs $10 (plus shipping and handling).\n\n\u201cWho can remember all those tricky combinations?\u201d the infomercial asks. \u201cYou\u2019ll never lose critical computer settings again!\u201d it exclaims as a green \u201cSafe Computer Guarantee\u201d appears on the screen.\n\nThe product was mocked mercilessly. The infomercial was posted to Youtube in January, highlighted for ridicule on Infomercial Hell in March, and then savaged by comedian and talk show host Ellen Degeneres in April. Security guru Bruce Schneier saw the Degeneres video and called it \"pretty good,\" while a Sophos security researcher thought the product so dumb he questioned whether the informercial was even real. \"As Ellen amusingly asks, wouldn't it be cheaper to save money and write all your passwords on a $5 bill?\" he asked.\n\n\"This is actually real, saw one of those in a bookstore the other day,\" wrote a commenter on Schneier's site on April 24. \"A nice looking, large in length size, made out of suede cover.\"\n\nNaturally we had to seek out such a product. But when we went to purchase our own Internet Password Minder, it proved impossible to find\u2014it wasn't even offered on the website of Telebrands, which had produced the infomercial. Was this thing \"actually real\"?\n\nIf they buy it, we build it\n\nTelebrands is a massive\u2014and massively successful\u2014company that generates many multimillion dollar products (like the PedEgg with 40 million sold or the \u201cview-sharpening\u201d AmberVision sunglasses, which achieved $150 million in sales). The company is responsible for most of the late night infomercials advertising products that range from creative to the dubious to the nonsensical. Telebrands products originate from a range of sources including pitches from individual inventors, but Telebrands would only tell us that Internet Password Minder came from a mysterious \u201ccompany.\u201d\n\nYes, the idea was real. So was the infomercial. One of the ways Telebrands tests its products is by generating a commercial to gauge interest, a Telebrands PR representative told Ars. \u201cIn this case, the company created a test infomercial to determine interest in the product,\" the rep said. \"Since there was minimal interest, the product was not produced for public distribution.\"\n\nWhile the Password Minder was widely mocked for providing poor security, writing your passwords in an offline notebook isn't the worst thing you can do so long as the notebook is stashed in a private location (don't keep it at the office!), your home isn't burgled, and you don't have snooping friends and family. It's certainly a better approach than using a single, easily crackable password on every site you visit\u2014as many nontechnical users still do. As Schneier noted the Password Minder \"is\u2014if you think about it\u2014only slightly different than Password Safe,\" his own encrypted database for storing passwords on your computer. Most problems come from online hacking, not bad guys grabbing notebooks full of passwords.\n\nOf course that's no excuse for an informercial that shows an actress stashing the Password Minder in her purse for a day on the town. (And if you are burgled, you're in trouble.)\n\nThe phone number for Internet Password Minder is now defunct. The GetPasswordMinder.com domain now redirects to Telebrands\u2019 main site where you can still pick up items like the SlimAway girdle, Pasta Boat, and FlipJack Non-Stick Pancake Flipper.\n\nThe sun has set on the Password Minder, which at least taught us that the world does not want an overpriced, alphabetized notebook to store its passwords. Still, we got to laugh at terrible footage of an old woman gently pounding her fist at a blue screen. And that's got to be worth something."}
-{"text": "Students were alienated en masse by the Liberal Democrats u-turning on their pledge to scrap tuition fees, but Tim Farron seems to have conjured up a policy designed to win them back: legalising cannabis.\n\nThe Lib Dems are very keen about this, as they envisage raising \u00a31 billion by taxing a newly legialised - and regulated - cannabis market. Their far out agenda doesn't stop there, as they want to end Theresa May\u2019s ban on legal highs and to impose civil penalties and rehabilitation, not jail time, on those who possess illegal drugs for personal use."}
-{"text": "Story highlights 2 of 120 American passengers aren't accounted for, the U.S. embassy says\n\nIt appears the ship's route was \"too close to the shore,\" Costa Cruises says\n\nThe captain insists that the rocks his ship hit were not marked on his map\n\nTwo elderly people are found dead, bringing the death toll to 5\n\nThe captain of the ill-fated Costa Concordia may have made \"significant\" errors that led to the vessel's wreck Friday and subsequent deaths of at least five people, the cruise line said late Sunday.\n\n\"The route of the vessel appears to have been too close to the shore, and the captain's judgment in handling the emergency appears to have not followed standard Costa procedures,\" Costa Cruises said in a statement.\n\nThe ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, was detained Saturday for alleged manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship while passengers were still on board, chief prosecutor Francesco Verusio told Italy's ANSA state news agency.\n\nSchettino himself joined Costa Cruises as a safety officer in 2002 before being appointed captain four years later, the company said.\n\nFirst officer Ciro Ambrosio was being detained for questioning on similar charges, prosecutor Verusio said.\n\nEven with its admission that mistakes were made, the Genoa-based cruise company -- whose parent firm, Carnival Corp., did not respond Sunday to requests from CNN for more information -- defended the ship's crew in the face of criticism.\n\n\"It is becoming clear that the crew of the Costa Concordia acted bravely and swiftly to help evacuate more than 4,000 individuals during a very challenging situation,\" the company said, adding all crew members are trained, and the passengers earlier took part in an evacuation drill.\n\nSurvivors have described the scene -- after the ship hit rocks near the island of Giglio, off the coast of Tuscany, and turned over on its side -- as \"chaos.\"\n\nJUST WATCHED Seeking answers to cruise ship grounding Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Seeking answers to cruise ship grounding 03:28\n\nJUST WATCHED Captain blames charts for crash Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Captain blames charts for crash 01:42\n\nJUST WATCHED How the Costa Concordia ran aground Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH How the Costa Concordia ran aground 01:21\n\n\"It was just battling, mad scrambles,\" U.S. student Brandon Warrick said of the fight to board lifeboats, describing it as \"a giant every man for himself.\"\n\nHis sister Amanda said she feared she was going to die as they waited for up to two hours for rescue.\n\n\"Waiting was definitely the worst. Because we didn't know who was going to be coming, how much longer we would have to wait,\" she said.\n\nAuthorities have said at least 20 were injured due to the incident, in addition to those killed.\n\nThat death toll includes two elderly people whose bodies were found, with their life jackets on, near one of the ship's restaurants, Italian Coast Guard spokesman Capt. Cosimo Nicastro told reporters Sunday.\n\nHours earlier, crews rescued a ship employee trapped in a ship restaurant.\n\nThe man -- an Italian purser whose name was not released -- was suffering from hypothermia when rescue crews found him, said Commander Filippo Marini, a spokesman for the Port Authority of Porto Santo Stefano.\n\nJUST WATCHED Captain of cruise ship arrested Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Captain of cruise ship arrested 01:36\n\nJUST WATCHED Witnesses talk about cruise ship accident Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Witnesses talk about cruise ship accident 03:36\n\nJUST WATCHED 'Chaos' as cruise ship hits rock Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH 'Chaos' as cruise ship hits rock 02:21\n\nEarlier Sunday, before the two bodies were found, Giglio Mayor Sergio Ortelli said at least six ship workers and 11 passengers still had not been located.\n\nAuthorities are reviewing passenger lists to confirm the exact number of missing people, said Giuseppe Orsina, a spokesman with the local civil protection agency. Many of those rescued in the early hours were taken to small churches and other buildings around the island for shelter. Some were still wearing the pajamas and slippers they had on, as the ship went down.\n\n\"These people could be still on the island of Giglio, in private houses or in hospitals,\" Orsina said.\n\nThe U.S. Embassy in Italy, on its Twitter feed, said two of the 120 Americans who were aboard the ship still had not been accounted for. It was not clear Sunday as to the nationalities of other missing people, with CNN affiliates having reported Italians, Peruvians, Brazilians, French and Britons were all represented on the ship.\n\nThere were fears the death toll could rise as rescuers searched the ship, which was nearly 50% submerged and had a gash in its hull, authorities said.\n\nAs the search for survivors continued Monday, questions and criticism continued about what caused the shipwreck and the adequacy of the response.\n\nSpeaking on Italian television, the ship's captain insisted the rocks that the Concordia hit were not marked on his map.\n\n\"On the nautical chart, it was marked just as water,\" Schettino said, adding that the ship was about 300 meters from shore.\n\nBut Nicastro, the Coast Guard spokesman, insisted that the waters where the ship ran aground were well-mapped. Local fishermen say the island coast of Giglio is known for its rocky sea floor.\n\n\"Every danger in this area is on the nautical chart,\" Nicastro said. \"This is a place were a lot of people come for diving and sailing. ... All the dangers are known.\"\n\nHe said the Coast Guard was investigating why the ship took the course it did.\n\n\"We know where the ship was,\" he said. \"We know it was too close to the island. ... We don't know why.\"\n\nItalian prosecutors seized the ship's data recorders Saturday, and expect to analyze them within days. Costa Cruses said Sunday that it can only access that information with authorities' permission.\n\nBuilt in 2006, the Concordia had been on a Mediterranean cruise from Rome with stops in Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Cagliari and Palermo.\n\nThe ship was carrying about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members when it ran aground and began taking on water Friday night.\n\nThe crew kept going because they believed the vessel could continue sailing normally, said Nicastro, the Coast Guard spokesman. Realizing there was a significant safety problem, the commander steered the Costa Concordia closer toward the port of Giglio, he said.\n\nAuthorities are looking at why the ship didn't send a mayday during the accident.\n\nBesides the two elderly people, the dead include two French tourists and a crew member from Peru, port authorities in Livorno said. One of the victims was a 65-year-old woman who died of a heart attack, authorities said.\n\nRescuers overnight Saturday reached two South Korean passengers who had been trapped in the ship for more than 24 hours, authorities said.\n\n\"It's a miracle that we found the Korean couple alive, and we hope we'll find more people,\" said Nicastro of the Italian Coast Guard.\n\nThe couple, both 29, were found in a cabin after they heard rescuers calling out and managed to make contact, according to Italy's ANSA news agency. Video showed the couple, reportedly on their honeymoon, being taken ashore and loaded into a waiting ambulance."}
-{"text": "The Weinstein Company\u2019s talks to get a lifeline from Fortress Investment Group have stalled amid concerns about the flailing Hollywood studio\u2019s financial condition, The Post has learned.\n\nThe chances of a deal getting done have recently slid to \u201croughly 50 percent\u201d as Fortress weighs the risks of extending $35 million in rescue financing to TWC following the sex scandals that have engulfed co-founder Harvey Weinstein, according to a source close to the talks.\n\nThe financing, as of last week, was believed to be imminent, according to a Bloomberg report.\n\nThe loan from Fortress \u201cis not definitely happening,\u201d the source said on Tuesday, cautioning that the situation was fluid and that talks were still ongoing.\n\nWithout a loan, the studio could be forced into bankruptcy in the coming months, financial sources speculated.\n\nLast month, Colony Capital \u2014 headed by billionaire Trump confidant Thomas Barrack \u2014 reportedly backed out of talks to save TWC in exchange for claims on its extensive library of movies.\n\nThose talks were reported shortly after Weinstein Company co-founder Bob Weinstein denied that the studio was weighing a sale of its assets."}
-{"text": "The small town stir began Tuesday at a community center event when Romney paused to take note of the desserts while sitting down at a picnic table.\n\n\"I'm not sure about these cookies. They don't look like you made them,\" Romney said to the woman sitting next to him. \"No, no. They came from the local 7-eleven, bakery, or whatever.\""}
-{"text": "Xavier Ca\u00f1o Tamayo*. LQSomos. Diciembre 2016\n\nLos \u00faltimos cinco a\u00f1os han sido los m\u00e1s calurosos de la historia desde que se registran las temperaturas. La causa, m\u00e1s emisi\u00f3n de gases de efecto invernadero, seg\u00fan informa la Organizaci\u00f3n Meteorol\u00f3gica Mundial (OMM). Y la concentraci\u00f3n atmosf\u00e9rica de di\u00f3xido de carbono ha alcanzado niveles jam\u00e1s registrados. Mientras las altas temperaturas han hecho subir el nivel del mar, reducido la superficie de hielo y tambi\u00e9n los glaciares. Adem\u00e1s de crecer los episodios clim\u00e1ticos extremos: olas de calor, de fr\u00edo, ciclones tropicales, inundaciones, sequ\u00edas y tormentas letales.\n\nEn el quinquenio analizado por la OMM el calentamiento del planeta ha batido r\u00e9cords. El nivel del mar fue el mayor desde que se registra ese dato hace m\u00e1s de un siglo, mientras se reduce la capa de hielo boreal sin visos de recuperaci\u00f3n. La m\u00e1xima extensi\u00f3n de hielo se comprob\u00f3 el 25 de febrero pasado y fue la menor que se haya registrado: algo m\u00e1s de catorce millones y medio de kil\u00f3metros cuadrados. El hielo se derrite.\n\nEl a\u00f1o 2015 ha sido el m\u00e1s caluroso desde que se registra la temperatura global y la Tierra ya tiene una temperatura global de 1\u00ba C por encima de la media de la \u00e9poca preindustrial. El l\u00edmite del Acuerdo de Par\u00eds, para no llegar a una situaci\u00f3n irreversible, es que el aumento t\u00e9rmico no exceda 2\u00ba cent\u00edgrados en 2050. Y ya estamos cerca.\n\nEl informe de la OMM destaca tambi\u00e9n m\u00e1s fen\u00f3menos clim\u00e1ticos extremos: sequ\u00edas severas en Australia, Brasil, \u00c1frica Oriental y \u00c1frica Meridional. La OMM calcula que en Somalia hubo 258.000 muertes m\u00e1s de las normales por la sequ\u00eda y que 18 millones de personas precisaron ayuda urgente para sobrevivir. Algunas sequ\u00edas han ido acompa\u00f1adas adem\u00e1s de violentos incendios forestales en Asia y Pac\u00edfico occidental. Y ha habido olas de calor en Australia, China, India, Pakist\u00e1n y Europa. Espa\u00f1a sufri\u00f3 en 2015 la ola de calor m\u00e1s prolongada. Sin olvidar que ha habido tambi\u00e9n grandes inundaciones, repentinas y destructoras crecidas de r\u00edos y fr\u00edo extremo, como el sufrido en Europa en febrero de 2012.\n\n\u00bfA\u00fan hay quien niegue que el cambio clim\u00e1tico sea una amenaza real muy grave?\n\nEspa\u00f1a ser\u00e1 uno de los pa\u00edses m\u00e1s afectados por el aumento de temperaturas y la desertizaci\u00f3n, adem\u00e1s de sufrir fen\u00f3menos meteorol\u00f3gicos extremos cada vez m\u00e1s frecuentes. Pero parece que no pasa nada, porque el Gobierno de Espa\u00f1a no reacciona ni toma medida alguna para afrontar la amenaza. Es m\u00e1s, su irresponsable omisi\u00f3n ha provocado el aumento de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero: 3,2% en 2015 respecto a 2014 y ya son 18% m\u00e1s respecto a 1990. Pero no solo en Espa\u00f1a. La Conferencia de Cambio Clim\u00e1tico-COP22 de Marrakech certifica m\u00e1s r\u00e9cords de temperaturas extremas y m\u00e1s di\u00f3xido de carbono en la atm\u00f3sfera.\n\nEl Acuerdo de Par\u00eds contra el cambio clim\u00e1tico entr\u00f3 en vigor el 4 de noviembre. Es el marco internacional donde los Estados asumen el compromiso colectivo para frenar el calentamiento global a largo plazo por debajo de los 2\u00ba C. La mala noticia es que el Acuerdo no concreta medidas para lograrlo. Cada Estado decide qu\u00e9 hacer en su territorio. O no. \u00bfAporta el C0OP22 de Marrakech medidas para frenar el calentamiento global?\n\nEl principal problema para reducir los gases de efecto invernadero es el enorme poder del sector energ\u00e9tico de combustibles de origen f\u00f3sil (carb\u00f3n, gas y petr\u00f3leo), emisores de esos gases. Poder que frena los planes de reducci\u00f3n de gases, porque toca sus beneficios. Pero el dilema es di\u00e1fano. O se neutraliza al sector de combustibles f\u00f3siles y se cambia el modelo energ\u00e9tico por otro de energ\u00edas no contaminantes o la Tierra va al desastre. El problema se ha agravado con la elecci\u00f3n del nuevo presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, negacionista del cambio clim\u00e1tico, que piensa retirar a su pa\u00eds de los acuerdos internacionales contra el calentamiento del planeta. Y eso tendr\u00eda consecuencias muy graves.\n\nLo cierto es que, seg\u00fan aumenta la temperatura global, las consecuencias son peores para una cantidad importante de poblaci\u00f3n del planeta. De no frenarse la temperatura global, por ejemplo, las lluvias ser\u00e1n m\u00e1s irregulares y err\u00e1ticas. Y disminuir\u00e1 la producci\u00f3n de alimentos. Si aumenta la temperatura global, aumentar\u00e1 el hambre. Y las muertes.\n\nHay que actuar con energ\u00eda contra el calentamiento global. Nos va la vida en la Tierra.\n\n* Periodista y escritor, @xcanotamayo. (CCS)"}
-{"text": "5 Bay Area restaurants taking tips off table, adding surcharge\n\nCamino line cook Danny Keiser visits with DeStefano before the restaurant opens. Camino line cook Danny Keiser visits with DeStefano before the restaurant opens. Photo: Tim Hussin / Special To The Chronicle Photo: Tim Hussin / Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close 5 Bay Area restaurants taking tips off table, adding surcharge 1 / 5 Back to Gallery\n\nCall it the tipping point.\n\nThanks to widening staff salary discrepancies and increasing minimum wage requirements, local restaurants are taking tips off the table \u2014 literally.\n\nCiting both pragmatic and philosophical reasons, a small collection of Bay Area restaurateurs is eliminating tipping. Instead of expecting diners to leave a tip, the restaurants will automatically add a 20 percent service charge to all bills \u2014 and not accept any additional gratuity beyond the service charge.\n\nThe five businesses \u2014 Comal in Berkeley, Camino and Duende in Oakland, and Bar Agricole and Trou Normand in San Francisco \u2014 each plan to institute the policy within the next few weeks, forsaking the ubiquitous model they believe is outdated. And they expect more restaurants could follow suit.\n\n\u201cIf we were doing this, and there was a sense that the rest of the world wouldn\u2019t pay much mind to it, I would be more concerned. But this is on everybody\u2019s minds,\u201d said Comal partner John Paluska.\n\nRather than relying on tips, the restaurants will compensate staff on merit-based hourly wages and revenue-sharing. It\u2019s a system common abroad.\n\nWith tipping, there\u2019s a pay divide between the back-of-house (cooks and dishwashers) and the better-compensated front-of-house servers and bartenders. Thanks to tips, service staff can take home as much as twice the pay of their kitchen counterparts. California law specifies that tips belong to the tipped employees, and cannot be counted as part of any salary.\n\n\u201cYou have a bunch of people working their butts off, day in and day out, providing great value, but one group of them is making way more than the other one. And the rules and regulations are such that as the minimum wage goes up, the gap is getting worse,\u201d Paluska said. \u201cI think anyone can understand why you\u2019d want to put a stop to that, and start making changes.\u201d\n\nMinimum wages rising\n\nThe timing of this overhaul is largely motivated by increased state and local minimum wage levels. Restaurants often operate on thin margins, so higher wages quickly impact profitability. As opposed to tips, a service charge becomes part of the restaurant\u2019s overall revenue. The restaurateurs say the service charge component will be used exclusively for employee wages, benefits and payroll expenses.\n\nIn July, California\u2019s minimum wage rose to $9 an hour; it was the first such increase since 2008. Thad Vogler of Bar Agricole and Trou Normand believes it is only a matter of time until San Francisco increases the minimum wage to $15 an hour \u2014 the highest in the country. So, he argues: Why wait?\n\n\u201cIf it\u2019s going to have to change that we can guarantee our dishwasher $15 an hour, why shouldn\u2019t it change now?\u201d Vogler said. \u201cWhy rely on legislation to do the right thing?\u201d\n\nThe situation has been accelerated in the East Bay.\n\n\u201cWe had our $1 minimum wage increase, and it affected our business immediately, really powerfully,\u201d said chef Russell Moore, who owns Camino with his wife, Allison Hopelain. If an upcoming ballot initiative passes, Oakland\u2019s minimum wage will jump in March to $12.25.\n\nBerkeley businesses have had a pair of $1 increases within the past three months, one by the state and one by the city. That has sparked Comal co-owners Paluska and Andrew Hoffman to implement the new system on Nov. 3.\n\nMoore, who cooked for 20 years at Chez Panisse, has felt firsthand the benefit that a service charge can have for cooks and understands how kitchen workers can benefit from the service charge policy. When Chez Panisse moved from a tipped system to its existing service charge model during his tenure there, it created a \u201creal job atmosphere\u201d that bred career restaurant workers \u2014 and paid him well.\n\nPositive customer response\n\nChez Panisse\u2019s influence is paramount, as is Jay Porter\u2019s, the owner of Half Orange in Oakland. Porter plans to open a second Oakland restaurant in early 2015, named Salsipuedes, but he previously owned a tipless restaurant in San Diego. He documented the entire experiment, from finances to critical reviews.\n\n\u201cOne person in 1,000, or in 10,000,\u201d would get upset about the fixed service charge. But more often than not, that rare upset guest would not be concerned about money, but as Porter wrote, \u201cangry about his lack of control over the price, angry about not being the final arbiter of our service.\u201d\n\nBut, Porter countered that a tipless restaurant made for a better \u2014 and thus more profitable \u2014 restaurant, and the entire staff made more money. As Comal\u2019s Hoffman puts it, \u201cNow we\u2019re all on the same team.\u201d\n\nAnd in an industry that has bemoaned a dearth of cooks, paying cooks more can be a great boon.\n\n\u201cNothing is more exciting about this whole thing than sitting down with one of our cooks and saying you get a 20 percent raise,\u201d Hoffman said.\n\nSo far, the restaurants\u2019 respective staffs have been largely supportive, according to owners. Camino\u2019s Hopelain estimates that cooks stand to receive an hourly increase of 50 cents to $1, while servers\u2019 pay will remain steady, or perhaps decrease 50 to 75 cents an hour.\n\nOne major shift will be in reporting tips for tax purposes. Generally speaking, cash tips have a tendency to go unreported among restaurant servers. Once the service charge becomes an official line item on a receipt, people will be accountable. Hoffman said employees at Comal will not see a change in their income if they have been declaring all of their tips.\n\nChristian Young is a full-time senior server at Comal. He says management has been transparent about the forthcoming changes.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ve believed in as a change,\u201d Young said. He guesses that there will be nights when his compensation will be less, but there will also be nights when it will be more. For example, on slow nights \u2014 like those during World Series games \u2014 he would be getting a high enough hourly wage to compensate.\n\nWhile tradition dictates that diners reward or punish waiters through tipping, and thus, in theory, encourage good service, Hopelain feels otherwise.\n\n\u201cTipping affects (the relationship between waiter and diner) in a way that I don\u2019t think is necessarily positive for either party,\u201d Hopelain said. \u201cIn this day and age, and in this area, it\u2019s a little different, but I think there\u2019s still that holdover of waiters being seen as servants. Now this can shift that a little bit.\u201d\n\nPlus, the restaurateurs say, their incentivized, merit-based compensation system will allow for the best servers to elevate on the pay scale.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re still getting recognized for good work,\u201d Young said.\n\nCommunicating the policy\n\nTo ensure that there is no confusion with guests, servers at the restaurants will explain the new policy before the meal. When the bill comes, 20 percent service charge will automatically be tallied, as will tax. There will be no line for a further tip.\n\n\u201cWe have philosophically been wanting to get rid of tipping for a long time. Now, if there\u2019s ever a time, this is the time,\u201d Moore said.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re happy to take away that weird feeling at the end of the meal.\u201d\n\nPaolo Lucchesi is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: plucchesi@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @lucchesi\n\nNote: This is an updated version of the article that appeared in print on Page A1 of The San Francisco Chronicle on Oct. 24, 2014."}
-{"text": "It was about four years ago when I first saw a 20Q ball. The tiny handheld device scrolled text across its meager one-line screen, inviting me to challenge it in a game of 20 Questions. I immediately thought of an object I figured it wouldn't guess (\"iPod\") and began to play the game. After a series of slightly odd questions -- including \"Does it bring joy to people?\" -- the little ball gave its guess: \"MP3 player.\" Wow. It was right.\n\nSo how does this 20Q device work? The short answer is \"artificial intelligence.\" The long answer involves lots of practice. In 1988, Canadian inventor Robin Burgener programmed a neural network (a specialized form of computer program) capable of playing 20 Questions, but without a library of knowledge about common objects. He proceeded to teach it twenty questions about the object \"cat,\" then handed the program (on floppy disk) to friends and encouraged them to play, recording their play sessions as it went. For 20Q, playing equals learning, as it develops \"synaptic connections\" whenever it receives answers to questions. It's able to reinforce connections by playing games over and over with different people, gradually learning which answers are correct and which aren't. (Thus it's difficult to \"poison\" the system by purposely giving it wrong answers.) The program can then use these connections to pose clarifying questions, eventually arriving at an answer.\n\nBy 1995, Burgener had a good body of connections in his neural network. He put a version of the 20Q program on the web and encouraged web visitors to play with it (thus training it in the process). After the online version of 20Q had played one million games (amassing 10 million synaptic connections in the process), Burgener boiled down the 20Q system into a simplified 20Q-on-a-chip version. The hardware version was incapable of learning, but contained information about the 2,000 most popular objects chosen by users of the online program. As such, it embodied a shocking \"intelligence\" that toy makers later put into the 20Q balls, now available at toy stores everywhere for under $15. (Specialized versions are also available, including a Harry Potter unit, and later versions of the handheld game have more information built-in.)\n\nToday (or at least as of late 2006, the last time its online FAQ seems to have been updated), the online version of 20Q guesses correctly about 80% of the time, and if you allow it 25 questions, it claims a 98% success rate. With over 60 million games played online, the neural net continues to learn -- and this learning can be translated into future versions of the 20Q handheld games. In an interview with Kevin Kelly, Burgener said, \"It is learning, but it is not increasing its success rate. What happens is that it is learning to play more kinds of people, people who don't speak English easily, or who have never played 20 questions, or who come from different cultures, and to understand more difficult kinds of things.\"\n\nYou can play 20Q Online for free, or pick up a handheld version at any reputable toy or game store. You can read a bit more about the game at Wikipedia or check out more on neural networks for a deeper understanding."}
-{"text": "Later, Turkey played a decisive role in dividing the opposition, while its unity was an absolute necessity for the success of the uprising with political freedoms. The Turkish government's argument was that the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change [in Syria] (NCC) included the Syrian PYD [Democratic Union Party], which is close to the PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party]. This is while the Turkish government was itself negotiating with the PKK. Being inclusive toward the NCC and the PYD would have facilitated these negotiations.\n\nAita: There were many mistakes that made Turkey a part of the problem, and a major culprit in the catastrophic course of events in Syria. At the beginning of the uprising, the Turkish government gave unconditional support to the Muslim Brotherhood and imagined that striking a deal between [Syrian] President Bashar al-Assad and the Brotherhood would solve the problem. I am amazed that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was surprised that it didn\u2019t work.\n\nOn Jan. 27, I wrote about the Syrian anger because of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu persistently using the label \"Nusayri\" [Syrian Alawites] in the presence of Alawites \u2014 something they see as a reflection of Turkey\u2019s sectarian attitude. Although it may upset some in Turkey who think that Arabs are yearning for the Ottomans, we have to admit that Aita\u2019s striking views are widespread in Syria, a country that is the cradle of Arab nationalism. If you want to understand where we stand in Syria, it is best to ask people in the hard-core opposition what they think and not people working for you or your co-sectarians. Aita was a good mirror to look at:\n\nWhen I told Samir Aita, the Arabic editor of Le Monde Diplomatique and the founder of the Syrian Democratic Forum, that I wanted to write about our conversation on Turkey's impasse on Syria, he said, \"Let me put it in writing. It is a sensitive issue.\"\n\nI still remember US and British diplomats telling me on various occasions, \"You can take such a common step with the Syrian National Council because Mr. Erdogan or Mr. Davutoglu are OK with it.\" I answered with a smile, \"Am I negotiating with the Syrian colleagues of the SNC or indirectly with the Turkish government?\" Also, the Turkish authorities favored turning the peaceful revolution into a military struggle. Worse, they prevented defecting Syrian officers from organizing the Free Syrian Army (FSA), while allowing weapons and foreign fighters to enter Syria. These decisions are the main causes of the military and extremist tangle that developed. And the story of Brig. Gen. [Hussein] Harmoush, the well-respected officer who had defected to Turkey, and how he was delivered to the Syrian authorities, is still unclear. On another level, the Turkish government took enormous risks by locating the first Syrian refugee camps in Hatay province, while letting Islamist fighters freely walk the streets of Antakya. This was a major risk for the internal social equilibrium inside Turkey. And it took one year before the camps were moved to an area near Kilis.\n\nRadikal: Why was the Turkish approach to Syria considered sectarian?\n\nAita: Davutoglu insists on calling Alawites \"Nusayris.\" He knows that neither Syrian nor Turkish Alawites like this label. This is a typical sectarian attitude. Erdogan says Assad is not a true Muslim. Assad is a dictator, a killer, a criminal \u2026 this is true. What does that have to do with Islam? The ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham] guys are Muslims, but they are criminals.\n\nRadikal: Can you say that Turkey's mismanaging the situation put a lot of cards in the regime\u2019s hands?\n\nAita: Turkey\u2019s deep involvement in the Syria issue enabled Assad, who wanted from his first speech to deny the social and freedom-seeking character of the Syrian revolution. Assad spoke about violence, sectarianism and foreign intervention, when there was no such thing. He promoted these to stay in power. The Turkish government played into his hands by heavily intervening in Syrian opposition politics, favoring violence and sectarianism. It advocated a military solution. It pushed the transformation of the revolution to a civil war. This is exactly what Assad wanted.\n\nRadikal: What was Turkey's aim in Syria?\n\nAita: Frankly speaking, I don\u2019t know. If it was to help the revolution, it failed, by turning it into a civil war. If it was to have strong influence in Syria in the long term, it also failed, by endangering Turkey\u2019s internal social and political balances. [Turkey's] relations with the Kurds and even with Aleppo deteriorated. The people of Aleppo will never forgive that their factories and businesses were dismantled and sold in Turkey, and how foreign al-Qaeda fighters all came through Turkey. If [Turkey's aim in Syria] was to have good relations with the Gulf countries and attract their investments, I think that vision was shortsighted. Saudi Arabia hates the Muslim Brotherhood that Turkey and Qatar were favoring at the beginning.\n\nRadikal: Was the Muslim Brotherhood the subject of bargaining between Turkey and the Assad regime?\n\nAita: Erdogan and Davutoglu acted in the interest of their own party, the AKP [Justice and Development Party], which is very close to the Muslim Brotherhood, instead of in the long-term interests of Turkey. Members of the Syrian Brotherhood were Saddam Hussein's alllies in the 1970s and 1980s. They had made many major mistakes in recent Syrian political history. To believe that the Brotherhood can be the backbone of a new political system in Syria, as in Turkey, is not only a wrong bet but it could also be the end of what is called the \u201cTurkish model\u201d of political Islam.\n\nRadikal: How do you assess the roles of Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the opposition front?\n\nAita: France and Qatar wanted to implement the Libyan scheme in Syria. They needed Turkey for that, and the trio worked on trying to model the opposition along the lines of the Libyan Transitional Council. The goal was to transform the peaceful revolution into a military uprising assisted by a foreign intervention. So Turkey, Qatar and France played major roles in the creation of the Syrian National Council.\n\nAfter its failure, the Syrian National Council was replaced by the Syrian National Coalition. At the outset, there wasn\u2019t much Saudi support because the Saudis were preoccupied with uprisings in Yemen, Bahrain and Egypt. It was only last year that Saudi Arabia took over the field from Qatar and got involved directly by consolidating the fighters on the ground. It restructured the FSA command with Gen. Salim Idris in charge, and when that failed, it set up the Islamic Front. The four countries collaborate but sometimes have divergent views and compete with each other: Qatar again took over the Islamic Front. Because of the competition between the four sponsors, sometimes one sees comical confrontations between their armed groups. In many aspects, the Syrian crisis has become a proxy war: Iran and Hezbollah on one side, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on the other. Turkey has become part of the problem and not part of the solution despite its historical and social links with Syria.\n\nRadikal: What is your scenario for the Geneva II conference?\n\nAita: The process of Geneva will be long and tedious. Syria has been divided between different warlords, and now it is producing al-Qaeda fighters. This is a danger to neighboring countries. The solution is only political. The opposition has to be united and have an identifiable leadership. Even if there is a cease-fire, political reconciliation will take a long time."}
-{"text": "Efforts to protect net neutrality that involve government regulation have always faced one fundamental obstacle: the substantial danger that the regulators will cause more harm than good for the Internet. The worst case scenario would be that, in allowing the FCC to regulate the Internet, we open the door for big business, Hollywood and the indecency police to exert even more influence on the Net than they do now.\n\nOn Monday, Google and Verizon proposed a new legislative framework for net neutrality. Reaction to the proposal has been swift and, for the most part, highly critical. While we agree with many aspects of that criticism, we are interested in the framework's attempt to grapple with the Trojan Horse problem. The proposed solution: a narrow grant of power to the FCC to enforce neutrality within carefully specified parameters. While this solution is not without its own substantial dangers, we think it deserves to be considered further if Congress decides to legislate.\n\nUnfortunately, the same document that proposed this intriguing idea also included some really terrible ideas. It carves out exemptions from neutrality requirements for so-called \"unlawful\" content, for wireless services, and for very vaguely-defined \"additional online services.\" The definition of \"reasonable network management\" is also problematically vague. As many, many, many have already pointed out, these exemptions threaten to completely undermine the stated goal of neutrality.\n\nHere's a more detailed breakdown of our initial thoughts:\n\nLimited FCC Jurisdiction \u2014 Good:\n\nThose who have followed EFF\u2019s position on net neutrality will know that, while we strongly support neutrality in practice, we are opposed to open-ended grants of regulatory authority to the FCC. On that score, the Google/Verizon proposal takes a promising new approach. It would limit the FCC to case-by-case enforcement of consumer protection and nondiscrimination requirements and prohibit broad rulemaking. In essence, it tries to limit the FCC to the type of authority that the FTC has \u2014 the authority to investigate claims as they are made.\n\nThis limitation, if enforced, could help avoid many of the problems we\u2019ve been concerned about, such as the possibility that a future FCC might decide to take on the role of \u201cInternet indecency\u201d police or, as a result of regulatory capture, might become an innovation gatekeeper, blocking new ideas by small innovators in order to protect the interests of big dinosaurs.\n\nThe proposal also rightly exempts software applications, content and services from FCC jurisdiction. Suggestions that the content layer should be directly regulated by the FCC were among the most wrong-headed in past debates about this issue.\n\nThe provision does suggests the use of \u201cprivate non-governmental dispute resolution processes,\u201d which is somewhat troubling \u2014 we\u2019ve seen how such processes can be gamed by repeat players.\n\nStandard-Setting Bodies \u2014 Interesting:\n\nThe proposal also has an interesting suggestion for handling concerns about politicization of the FCC processes and the need for a deep technological understanding to make good decisions in this area: standard-setting bodies. It suggests that \u201creasonable network management\u201d should be \u201cconsistent with the technical requirements, standards or best practices adopted by an independent, widely recognized Internet community governance initiative or standard-setting organization.\u201d\n\nThis idea is intriguing, but there are some reasons to be wary. Standard-setting bodies can sometimes do a better job of recognizing and resisting bad technological arguments than political or agency bodies. And technical bodies successfully developed many of the standards that make the Internet great. But as we well know at EFF, standards bodies are not immune to bad ideas. We spent years fighting anti-consumer efforts in various standard-setting fora around DRM and trying to correct some bad standards that had been set in the area of evoting. In those instances, we found that allegedly \"independent\" standards bodies were often closed to the voices of consumers and small innovators, wrapped in secrecy, and lacking basic mechanisms needed to ensure accountability. If standards bodies are to be introduced as part of a network neutrality oversight scheme, that language needs to guarantee that the processes are completely transparent and representative of the interests of user and independent developer communities.\n\nReasonable Network management, Additional Online Services \u2014 Troubling:\n\nThe definition of \u201creasonable network management\u201d needs to be clarified and refined. While we think the way that standard-setting organizations are included in the definition is interesting and potentially constructive, the language on what makes some network management \u201dreasonable\u201d is extremely unclear. For EFF, the first test for a network neutrality proposal is this: would it have clearly prevented Comcast from interfering with BitTorrent? In the Google/Verizon proposal, because of ambiguous exceptions like the one that allows an ISP \u201cotherwise to manage the daily operation of its network\u201c, we can't be sure that that's true.\n\nThe cutout for \u201cadditional online services\u201d is also very disturbing. Many have pointed out that it could be the exception that swallows the nondiscrimination rule. After all, much of the innovation we expect to occur in the future will involve services \u201cdistinguishable in scope and purpose from broadband Internet access service, but could make use of or access Internet content, applications or services.\" If discrimination is allowed for all such things, then there could easily be little left on the \u201cneutral\u201d part of the Internet in a few years. There may be some services that need traffic prioritization, such as urgent medical services, but the approach in the proposal creates no real limits on what could be allowed as an \u201cadditional online service.\u201d It would be much better if space for these services was addressed through waivers or other processes that put the burden on the company suggesting such services to prove that they are needed. And such processes must be fully transparent \u2014 not just consumers but the FCC must be in a position to know how these services work and what impact they are having. They must also be open to real debate and opposition.\n\n\u201cLawful\u201d Content and Wireless Exclusions \u2014 Fail:\n\nThe proposal essentially ignores some of the key problems that EFF and others have had with previous network neutrality proposals. These loopholes could undermine the goals of neutrality, or lead to unanticipated and regrettable outcomes.\n\nIt still limits nondiscrimination to \u201clawful\u201d content without defining the term or giving any indication of who decides what is \u201clawful,\u201d opening the door to entertainment industry and law enforcement efforts that could hinder free speech and innovation Last year, the big media companies took advantage of similar language to push for a \u201ccopyright loophole\u201d to net neutrality that would have allowed them to pressure ISPs to block, interfere with, or otherwise discriminate against perfectly legal activities in the course of implementing online copyright enforcement measures and a similar loophole existed for law enforcement. So long as your ISP claimed that it was trying to prevent copyright infringement or helping law enforcement, it could be exempted from the net neutrality principles. This was the focus of EFF's comments to the FCC in January, 2010 and our Real Net Neutrality campaign. As many others have noted, the exclusion of wireless from all but the transparency requirements is a dreadful idea. Neutrality should be the rule for all services, and a distinction between wired and wireless not only defies reason, it also abandons the portion of the Internet that is currently most lacking in openness and neutrality. Users are increasingly demanding the ability to do many, if not all, of the same things in a wireless environment as they do in a wired one. Regardless of what regulation may look like or whether there is any regulation at all, there shouldn\u2019t be a distinction between the neutrality available on wired services and that available on wireless services.\n\nWe share these initial thoughts in order to surface some details that may be lost in the controversy sparked by this proposal. Others are weighing in with valuable comments as well, and we are paying close attention to their views. We urge policymakers to do the same."}
-{"text": "Senate rules in the Trump impeachment trial call for 16 hours of written questions from senators, to be read by the Chief Justice. Republican and Democratic senators alternate questions.\n\nI have none for Republican senators to ask the House managers, but here are 20 for Democratic senators to ask the Trump defense team:\n\nFor White House Counsel Pat Cipollone:\n\n1). If you do not favor hearing critical fact witnesses, why should we believe that you and your client have any interest in learning the truth?\n\n2). You argued that NATO Ambassador Gordon Sondland only \u201cpresumed\u201d there was a quid pro quo and that wasn\u2019t good enough. Why should we not summon John Bolton to testify so we can get to the bottom of the question you raised?\n\n3). The White House says that the manuscript of John Bolton\u2019s book went only to the National Security Council lawyer, not to you, the White House Counsel. Wouldn\u2019t you agree that, in retrospect, you should have reviewed it instead of blindsiding the Senate, as the majority leader put it?\n\n4). Bolton is prepared to testify that President Donald Trump told him that aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations of Democrats. Mr. Trump adamantly denies this. In any normal trial, we would hear from both men. Why not in this case?\n\n5). When you learned on Sunday night of Bolton\u2019s first-hand knowledge of the central issue in this case, why did you nonetheless persist in presenting an argument that no one had direct knowledge of the president holding up military aid to pressure Ukraine?\n\n6). On the first day of the trial, you asserted that \"Not even Mr. Schiff's Republican colleagues were allowed into the SCIF.\u201d This reference to the way the House Intelligence Committee handled the depositions in this case is factually untrue. Assuming you made a mistake rather than intentionally mislead the Senate, would you please admit to your error now?\n\nFor Deputy White House Counsel Michael Purpura:\n\n7). You argued on Monday that if witnesses were not called in the House investigation, they could not be called in the Senate. But given that witnesses in many prior impeachment trials testified for the first time in the Senate, would you not agree that there is ample precedent for calling Bolton and other new witnesses to testify?\n\nFor Alan Dershowitz:\n\n8). On Monday, you argued that \u201cNothing in the Bolton revelations, even if true, would rise to the level of an abuse of power.\u201d Are you seriously arguing that withholding aid to get political dirt on your opponents to influence the next presidential election does not constitute abuse of power?\n\n9). You have argued that only \u201ccrime-like\u201d abuses are impeachable. Suppose a president put a bust of Hitler in the Oval Office and started saying Jews should be rounded up. Should he, too, not be removed?\n\n10). You argued for a \u201cshoe-on-the-other-foot\u201d test. In that spirit, let\u2019s say Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was worried about opposition from Donald Trump in the 2016 election so she told the president of Turkey that she will authorize the release of U.S. aid to Turkey only if the Turkish president announces an investigation into the Trump family\u2019s suspicious financing of Trump Towers Istanbul. Would that be abuse of power?\n\n11). You said on Monday that you favored Nixon\u2019s impeachment. Article Two in 1974 was abuse of power. Are you now saying you have changed your mind about that case?\n\nFor Jay Sekulow:\n\n12). You have argued the president held up the military aid because of concerns about burden-sharing. But isn\u2019t it true that our European allies in this case were giving much more military aid to Ukraine than the United States, suggesting that burden-sharing\u2014while a legitimate complaint in other contexts\u2014was irrelevant to this particular decision to withhold assistance?\n\nFor Pam Bondi:\n\n13). Is there any evidence of any kind that Vice President Joe Biden took any improper action of any kind because his son was on the board of Burisma?\n\n14). Why did you not mention that the European Union, the IMF, and other relevant bodies agreed with official U.S. foreign policy that Viktor Shokin was a corrupt prosecutor and had to go? Or that Burisma was not being investigated by Shokin during the period when Biden was calling for Shokin\u2019s ouster?\n\n\u201c Can you cite any precedent for an American president asking a foreign government to investigate an American citizen? \u201d\n\n15). For the three years of Hunter Biden\u2019s tenure on the Burisma board, the Republican Party controlled both houses of Congress. If this reflected so badly on Joe Biden, why was there not a single hearing held or single critical public statement from a Republican member of Congress?\n\n16). Can you cite any precedent for an American president asking a foreign government to investigate an American citizen?\n\n17). If Joe Biden did something wrong, why was there no Department of Justice investigation or request by President Trump for one?\n\n18). Why should any American be held accountable for the behavior of adult children if there is no evidence the parent has done anything wrong?\n\nFor Kenneth Starr:\n\n19). In a 2009 law review article, Brett Kavanaugh said the 1998 impeachment of President Bill Clinton was \u201ca mistake.\u201d Given your decrying of what you call \u201cthe age of impeachment,\u201d why won\u2019t you admit the same thing?\n\nFor Jane Raskin:\n\n20). You argued that \u201cMr. Giuliani is just a minor character\u2014that shiny object meant to distract you.\u201d But given his many contacts with the president on the matters at issue in this trial, how can Giuliani\u2019s testimony and documents not be relevant?\n\nThe Q and A session is the Democrats' best opportunity to cement the case for witnesses and to shred the argument that abuse of power is not grounds for removal from office. The Democrats need to think not like loquacious senators but tough journalists and cross-examining lawyers."}
-{"text": "The body language of the Administration has been clear from the outset on the question of whether Elizabeth Warren would get its nomination to head of the new financial services consumer protection agency. Despite the occasional public remark regarding her undeniable competence, which really amounted to damning her with faint praise, Team Obama has never been on board with the idea. Michael Barr, assistant treasury secretary, was noised up early on as a possible candidate, but the PR push halted abruptly when her many supporters pointed out the obvious, that she was clearly the better choice. Then we had the no doubt authorized Chris Dodd kiss of death, that he thought she was qualified but doubted she could be confirmed by the Senate.\n\nThe reality is that the Administration was never going to appoint her; the only question is whether she can be kept in their orbit and not be a net negative as far as their dubious priorities are concerned. Timothy Geithner has become a central actor on all Adminstration economic policy matters, giving him more reach, and thus more face time with the White House than is normal for a Treasury secretary. Given how Warren has successfully, and correctly, roughed Geithner up before Congress in her role as head of the Congressional Oversight Panel for various TARP administrative shortcomings, he was guaranteed to be at best a non-supporter.\n\nBut on a much more basic level, the Warren marginalization isn\u2019t about personalities, although the powers that be love to pigeonhole thorns in their side that way. The clashes reflect fundamental differences in philosophy. Geithner, the Administration that stands behind him, and Dodd all are staunch defenders of our rapacious financial services industry, even though they make occasional moves to disguise that fact. Warren, by contrast, is clearly a skeptic, and a dangerous one to boot, because she understands the abuses well and is able to communicate effectively with the public.\n\nExpect Warren to be pushed further to the sidelines, just as Paul Volcker has been (oh, and pulled out of mothballs when the Administration desperately needed to create the appearance it really might be tough on banks). Perhaps they hope her tenuous standing as acting head can be used to keep her in line. But she may also believe she has more influence even in a likely to be weakened position than on the outside as a critic. And sadly, that may prove true. Individuals, no matter how stellar their resumes, command far less media attention than those who hold powerful posts.\n\nNow the Administration is pretending to hide its cards on this one. Technically, it could bypass confirmation altogether and have Warren as de facto leader of the agency, and never name a permanent director. However, the end game seems obvious: keep her in orbit through mid-terms to prevent a hissy fit from her many fans, then name a more bank friendly permanent director (the argument no doubt being that her effectiveness is compromised by her not being confirmed, and with the odds high that the elections will put more Republicans in Senate seats, the Administration will argue its hands are tied). However, this timetable could be optimistic; as a special advisor, she serves at the pleasure of the Administration and will be a lame duck as soon as a permanent director candidate is put forward.\n\nWill Warren last? Both Brooksley Born and Sheila Bair have been accused of not being team players. With the team being industry cronies, that\u2019s a badge of honor. But each also had a clear bureaucratic role, and Born was still pushed out. I\u2019m surprised Warren is accepting such a compromised position. Perhaps she believes she still has a bully pulpit and can embarrass the Administration into doing the right thing. But it will take a very thick skin for her to follow that course of action.\n\nFrom MSNBC. Note its original headline was \u201cWall Street critic won\u2019t get top consumer job\u201d; it has been revised to the anodyne, \u201cWall Street critic to help set up consumer agency\u201c:"}
-{"text": "The stalemate between Minneapolis and St. Louis Park about which trains go where in the design of the Southwest Light Rail Line might be broken if the two cities band together and the line is re-routed along the Midtown Greenway, says Minneapolis mayoral candidate Cam Winton.\n\n\u201cWhat we have are a bunch of really bad options,\u201d Winton said Thursday at news conference on the Greenway.\n\nWinton suggests that both cities withhold municipal consent to any plans that move freight lines to St. Louis Park or put both light rail and the freight lines on the Kenilworth Corridor in Minneapolis.\n\n\u201cIf the Met Council thinks they can build this project without municipal consent, respectfully, they are mistaken,\u201d said Winton, who indicated that if the Metropolitan Council tried to move ahead without the consent of Minneapolis and St. Louis Park, lawsuits could tie up for project for years.\n\nArticle continues after advertisement\n\n\u201cThe path we\u2019re going down now leads to no project, leads to no trains,\u201d said Winton. \u201cWe can avoid all of that mess if we just put the train line in the right place, and that\u2019s the Midtown Greenway and north on Nicollet.\u201d\n\nWhile Winton was holding the news conference, light rail planners were coming up with new costs estimates and another mayoral candidate, Jackie Cherryhomes, was sending out a news release with some ligh-rail ideas of her own.\n\nFirst, the cost estimates. Originally the price tag for the light-rail line was set at $1.25 billion. Last week that figure was revised upward by $420 million. The price went up another $150 million this week, for a total so far of $1.82 billion.\n\nIn her news release, Cherryhomes was critical of the light-rail route through urban greenways that could destroy recreation trails and what she called \u201cballooning cost over runs before construction even begins.\u201d\n\nShe also said the federal rules for funding transit projects have changed since the project began and that the new focus is on the number of passengers served.\n\n\n\nMinnPost photo by Karen Boros\n\n\u201cThis means the project should be focused on an area of density. As mayor, I would work with the City Council to examine all the alternatives and withhold municipal consent if the critical issues facing residents of the Kenilworth Corridor are not addressed,\u201d Cherryhomes said in the news release.\n\nThese two candidates seem to have found an issue where they agree on two points: withhold municipal consent and focus on density.\n\n\u201cThe population density is much higher along the Midtown Greenway and Nicollet than it is in the Kenilworth Corridor,\u201d said Winton, who noted that since the route was selected in 2009 and 2010, population numbers along the Greenway have grown significantly. \u201cWhat we have now is a choice to put a transit line though the woods or put a transit line where people live.\n\nArticle continues after advertisement\n\nMinnPost photo by Karen Boros\n\n\u201cI believe in transit when it\u2019s smart. A streetcar is dumb transit. Light rail, if done properly, is smart transit,\u201d said Winton. \u201cLight rail through the woods that ruins a precious resource in the form of the Kenilworth bike trails is dumb transit.\u201d\n\nThe Midtown Greenway has room to retain the bike trails it now has and for the light-rail line, according to Winton.\n\nHe sees the current proposals as offering little to either the residents of Minneapolis or those living in St. Louis Park.\n\n\u201cAs a neighbor, as aMinnesotan, I can\u2019t look at my neighbors in St. Louis Park and say I support an option that would run new freight lines on 20-foot-high berms through their town,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just not right.\n\n\u201cAs currently proposed, with light rail being co-located [with freight trains] through the woods, this project does very little for residents of Minneapolis.\u201d\n\nA plan to bury with light-rail line in a deep tunnel as it moves through the Kenilworth Corridor and run freight lines directly overhead at ground level is too expensive, according to Winton. The estimated cost of the deep tunnel would be $420 million. He also said a plan for running light rail in a trench for $200 million does little to resolve objections to the line.\n\nThe Metropolitan Council is scheduled to select the location of the freight and light-rail lines Aug. 28."}
-{"text": "Almost two decades ago, there was a game that vexed me. It disoriented me, turned me around, killed me mercilessly, and changed the way I played video games for the rest of my life. That game was Descent. As a mercenary pilot, I plunged into zero-gravity mining facilities throughout the solar system to combat rogue robots and rescue hostages, all the while navigating labyrinthine mazes of forking tunnels and multi-exited chambers. While space flight games like Star Wars: X-Wing introduced me to the \"six degrees of freedom\" control scheme, it was Descent that taught me how precious that freedom can be.\n\nAnd it wasn't just me. According to Wikipedia, the Descent series sold over 40 million copies. Even if you take these numbers with a grain of salt, there's no denying that a generation of PC gamers got their first-person shooter kicks in the mines of Descent, its sequels, and its expansion packs. The late '90s saw a proliferation of games in that genre, but since the turn of the century, first-person shooters have largely left the \"six degrees of freedom\" subgenre behind in favor of putting your boots on the ground. Yet with the advent of promising virtual reality headsets and the resurgence of space sims, it's time for Descent to return.\n\nOf course, just because something hasn't been around for a while doesn't mean it should come back, and I'll confess that my enthusiasm to see the series return is partially motivated by personal nostalgia. As I mentioned before, I didn't find Descent to be an easy game and many of my hours spent with it were frustrating ones. The level layouts started off fairly simple, but soon developed into twisting, branching, head-spinning mazes in which it was easy to get turned around and spend significant time retracing my steps. The automatically charted wire-frame map offered some crude assistance, but if I counted on it to navigate during the desperate race to the exit of each level (triggered once you blew up your primary target), things often went poorly.\n\nA similar fate often befell me in combat. The virus-corrupted robots arrayed against me came in various models, some tougher and more powerful than others. The littlest ones were pretty easy to dispatch, but unless I was careful about every corner I turned, they'd often tag me once or twice before I shot them down. When bigger baddies came into play, evasion became an even more crucial part of combat as I tried to land shots while dodging enemy fire. Shield and health pickups were precious resources in this pre-regenerating-health shooter, but there never seemed to be enough around when I needed them. I died often in those tunnels, more often than I'd care to admit.\n\nAnd yet, it was these challenges that drew me back into those mines, time and time again. Forming a mental map of Descent's levels was one of the trickiest tasks I'd encountered in a game at that point, but it was vital to my success, and so I did it and sharpened my spatial awareness in the process. Positioning myself to avoid enemy fire and return my own required that I master orienting myself along those six degrees of freedom, and so I learned to transpose my perspective into that world; to this day, I still use the inverted-look controls that I became accustomed to as a Descent pilot. Overcoming these difficulties not only brought its own satisfaction, but helped shape me into the gamer that I am today.\n\nMap design and combat: On these two pillars, Descent built its empire of virtual mercenaries. Then, as now, game design that used relatively simple systems in increasingly complex ways to demand much of the player had powerful appeal. As long as the player has the means to master a game's challenges, the fulfillment of overcoming difficulties will always be alluring to some.\n\nBut it's not just difficulty we crave; it's novelty, and how can a long dormant series be novel again? Here's where modern gaming innovations make Descent an even more tempting reboot. From the two-dimensional mines of Spelunky to the isometric caves of Path of Exile, procedurally generated levels help deliver fresh experiences to players in a number of genres. The mines of Descent would be perfect candidates for such creation, and they wouldn't have to be limited to the metallic walls and lunar geology of past Descent games. Imagine exploring organic tunnels carved by some unknown alien creature, or floating past dazzling crystalline stalactites in pristine ancient caves. Perhaps the influences of Red Faction and Minecraft could also come into play as you bored your own shortcuts through layers of destructible sediment.\n\nAll of Descent's dizzying navigation challenges could be even more exciting with the immersive potential of a virtual reality headset like the Oculus Rift or the Sony Morpheus. Feeling the mine walls close in on you from all sides could get your heart racing, and turning your head to spot shortcuts, power-ups, or delicate environmental details could greatly heighten the sense of being an explorer in an uncharted land. Space sims like Star Citizen, Elite: Dangerous, and EVE: Valkyrie are already using the Oculus development kits to great effect; now it's time to take those free-flying thrills and delve underground.\n\nRetrovirus, a recent Descent-like game.\n\nFortunately, the past few years have seen some releases that aim to capture the magic of Descent, albeit with mixed results. Retrovirus offered a technological slant on the genre, though uneven difficulty made it a bit of a rough ride. Miner Wars 2081 earned enough support on Steam's Greenlight program to get published, reflecting a robust level of player interest in a Descent-esque revival. And over the past few months, the Descent games themselves have been arriving on Steam for the first time. Could this be a calculated move to cultivate interest in the genre ahead of a big reveal at E3?\n\nThat last guess may be a long shot, but for the chance to return to the mines that helped define my gaming past, I'm willing to gamble on the future."}
-{"text": "Transcript of Coach Strong's Press Conference\n\nAUSTIN, Texas \u2013 The University of Texas has completed its football coaching staff with the hiring of nine assistant coaches, head coach Charlie Strong announced on Wednesday. The group of nine assistants has a combined 232 years of collegiate coaching experience, four have served as coordinators, two have head-coaching experience, three spent time in the NFL, five have experience coaching in the state of Texas, four have coached at the high school level and two are Texas-exes. Strong also announced the hiring of a new head strength and conditioning coach for football. All hires are pending the approval of the UT Board of Regents.\n\n\n\nThe coaching staff includes:\n\n\u2022 Vance Bedford : defensive coordinator/secondary - click for complete release\n\n\u2022 Bruce Chambers: tight ends - click for bio\n\n\u2022 Brian Jean-Mary : linebackers/recruiting coordinator - click for complete release\n\n\u2022 Les Koenning : wide receivers - click for complete release\n\n\u2022 Tommie Robinson : running backs - click for complete release\n\n\u2022 Chris Rumph : assistant head coach for defense/defensive line - click for complete release\n\n\u2022 Chris Vaughn : defensive backs/special teams coordinator - click for complete release\n\n\u2022 Shawn Watson : assistant head coach for offense/quarterbacks - click for complete release\n\n\u2022 Joe Wickline : offensive coordinator/offensive line - click for complete release\n\n\u2022 Pat Moorer : head strength and conditioning coach for football - click for complete release\n\n\n\nFormer Texas defensive back Vance Bedford will reprise his role as Strong's defensive coordinator while also serving as secondary coach, after having spent the past four seasons with the UT head coach at Louisville and 28 seasons as a college and professional coach.\n\n\n\nPrior to his time with the Cardinals where he led the top-ranked defense in the nation in 2013, Bedford served two years (2008-09) as the defensive backs coach at Florida with Strong as defensive coordinator; one season (2007) as secondary coach in one of two stints at Michigan; and two years as defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State (2005-06).\n\n\n\nBedford made his way to the NFL in 1999 as the defensive backs coach for the Chicago Bears (1999-2004). While with Chicago, Bedford coached former Longhorn Pro Bowler Nathan Vasher. Bedford also coached defensive backs at Michigan (1995-1998); Oklahoma State (1993-94); and Colorado State (1987-92). He began his coaching career at Forest Brook High School in Houston, Texas, in 1985. He moved into the collegiate ranks at Navarro (Texas) Junior College in 1986, before accepting the position at Colorado State.\n\n\n\nBedford lettered four years (1977-79, '81) at Texas and earned a bachelor's degree in sociology in 1984.\n\n\n\nStrong retained UT tight ends coach Bruce Chambers, who begins his 17th season as a Longhorn assistant, the last 12 as tight ends coach. Chambers was previously Texas' co-recruiting coordinator (2005-12) and was named recruiting coordinator for the 2013 season.\n\n\n\nChambers joined the UT staff from Carter High School in Dallas, where he helped coach one of the state's most successful football programs for 14 seasons in various positions including athletics director/head coach in 1996-97.\n\n\n\nA four-year letterman as a wide receiver and a two-time letterwinner in track & field at North Texas, Chambers earned his bachelor's degree in journalism in 1982.\n\n\n\nBrian Jean-Mary begins his third coaching stint under Strong. A veteran of 13 years of collegiate coaching, he has been named linebackers coach after spending the last four seasons in the same position on Strong's staff at Louisville.\n\n\n\nPrior to his time with the Cardinals, Jean-Mary (ZHAHN-muh-REE) spent six seasons as the linebackers coach at Georgia Tech (2004-09), one season coaching the defensive backs at North Alabama (2003) and two years (2001-02) as a defensive graduate assistant at South Carolina under Strong. He also served as a graduate assistant on the strength and conditioning staff at Louisville for one year (2000).\n\n\n\nA native of Apopka, Fla., Jean-Mary played college football at Appalachian State, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1998.\n\n\n\nA veteran offensive assistant coach, Les Koenning has been hired as the wide receivers coach.\n\n\n\nA coach with 33 years of experience, Koenning (KENN-ing) spent the last five of those at Mississippi State, elevating the offense to its highest levels in school history in addition to helping the Bulldogs play in four straight bowl games for the first time in school history.\n\n\n\nKoenning, who earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees at UT, has also served as an offensive coordinator at Texas A&M (2003-07) and Alabama (2001-02). He has coached quarterbacks and running backs, in addition to wide receivers.\n\n\n\nKoenning had his first full-time assistant position at Louisiana-Lafayette in 1985 before moving on to Mississippi State for four years (1986-89) as running backs and wide receivers coach.\n\n\n\nAfter four years on Strong's staff at the Louisville, Pat Moorer has been hired as head strength and conditioning coach for football.\n\n\n\nPrior to his time at Louisville, Moorer was the director of strength and conditioning at South Carolina from 1999-2009. He worked four years alongside Strong, who was defensive coordinator there from 1999-2002.\n\n\n\nBefore his time at South Carolina, Moorer was the director of strength and conditioning at the University of Illinois for two years (1997-99).\n\n\n\nMoorer, a former walk-on, earned a scholarship with the Florida Gators, where he played inside linebacker for four seasons, and was the SEC Freshman of the Year in 1986. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in health and human performance from Florida in 1992.\n\n\n\nTommie Robinson will handle the running backs coaching duties after spending the 2013 season as the passing game coordinator/RB coach at USC. Robinson brings 22 years of college and professional coaching experience with him to the Forty Acres.\n\n\n\nBefore his time with the Trojans, Robinson had coaching stops as a running backs coach at Miami (2007-09) and Memphis (2006); receivers and tight ends coach at Georgia Tech (2002-05); running backs coach at Oklahoma State (2001) and UNLV (1998); wide receivers coach/offensive assistant with the Dallas Cowboys (1998-2000); wide receivers coach at TCU (1994-1997) and running backs coach at Utah State (1992-1993). He also served as a graduate assistant at Arkansas in 1991. Prior to Arkansas, he spent the first five years of his coaching career at the high school level.\n\n\n\nRobinson was a three-year starter at strong safety and team captain as a senior at Troy State, where he was a member of the 1984 NCAA Division II national championship team. He graduated with a criminal justice degree from Troy State in 1985.\n\n\n\nChris Rumph will serve as the assistant head coach for defense and defensive line coach after spending the past three seasons working with that position at Alabama where he helped the Crimson Tide win consecutive National Championships in 2011 and 2012.\n\n\n\nRumph joined Alabama's staff in January of 2011 after five years at Clemson (2006-10), the first three as defensive line coach and the last two as defensive ends coach. Rumph's 12 years of college coaching experience includes coaching the outside linebackers at Memphis (2003-05) and the defensive backs at South Carolina State in 2002. He also served a five-year stint as head coach at Calhoun County (S.C.) High School.\n\n\n\nRumph played linebacker at South Carolina from 1991-94, earning his bachelor's degree in 1994.\n\n\n\nChris Vaughn will bring his 15 years of collegiate coaching experience to head up the defensive backs after spending the previous two seasons as the cornerbacks coach at the University of Memphis.\n\n\n\nPrior to joining the Memphis staff, Vaughn spent the previous four seasons (2008-11) at Ole Miss where he directed the defensive backs and served as the program's recruiting coordinator.\n\n\n\nVaughn coached two positions on defense (linebackers and safeties) during a nine-year stint at Arkansas (1999-2007), including four as recruiting coordinator. He spent the 2006 season as the Razorbacks director of on-campus recruiting.\n\n\n\nVaughn began his Arkansas career as a graduate assistant in 1999 after earning four letters as a linebacker at Murray State, where he graduated in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in advertising and a minor in art.\n\n\n\nShawn Watson is another former assistant from Strong's Louisville staff who will be the assistant head coach for offense and quarterbacks coach. At Louisville, Watson spent the past three seasons as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach and brings 29 years of collegiate coaching experience to Texas.\n\n\n\nWatson was previously the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Nebraska from 2007-10. Prior to his time as OC with the Huskers, Watson was the tight ends coach there in 2006; spent seven seasons (1999-2005) at Colorado as either the quarterbacks coach or QB coach/offensive coordinator; was quarterbacks coach at Northwestern (1997-98); head coach at Southern Illinois (1994-96); tight ends or quarterbacks coach/OC at Miami of Ohio (1987-93); and two years at Illinois (1985-86) as a tight ends coach, offensive tackles coach or wide receivers coach. Watson was also a grad assistant at Illinois for two years (1983-84) and began his coaching career as a grad assistant in 1982 at Southern Illinois.\n\n\n\nHe began his collegiate playing career at Illinois in 1978, but transferred to Southern Illinois at Carbondale in 1979, where he played two seasons at safety. He graduated from Southern Illinois with a health education degree in 1982.\n\n\n\nJoe Wickline will serve as offensive coordinator/offensive line coach after spending nine years at Oklahoma State as the offensive line coach and 32 years in collegiate coaching. Wickline and Strong were members of the same Florida staff for two seasons together in 2003-04.\n\n\n\nBefore his long tenure at Oklahoma State, Wickline was the offensive line/running game coordinator at Florida (2002-04); offensive line/running game/recruiting coordinator at Middle Tennessee State (1999-2001); offensive line coach at Baylor (1997-98); head coach at SW Mississippi College (1996); offensive line coach at Pearl River CC (1995); offensive line coach at Ole Miss (1988-94); offensive line coach/offensive coordinator at Delta State (1984-87); and a graduate assistant at Tennessee (1984) and Florida (1982-83).\n\n\n\nWickline played at Florida, where he was a three-year letterman and also lettered one season in wrestling. He earned his bachelor's degree in health, physical education and recreation from Florida in 1983."}
-{"text": "Danilo Gentili afirmou que a bomba caseira lan\u00e7ada contra a sede do Instituto Lula foi \"arma\u00e7\u00e3o\" do pr\u00f3prio Lula para \"sair de v\u00edtima\". Ex-presidente quer que apresentador prove na Justi\u00e7a o que disse\n\nO apresentador Danilo Gentili (divulga\u00e7\u00e3o)\n\nO Instituto Lula protocolou nesta quinta-feira 13 um pedido de interpela\u00e7\u00e3o judicial contra o apresentador de tev\u00ea Danilo Gentili. Em seu perfil pessoal no Twitter, Gentili afirmou que o atentado a bomba sofrido pelo instituto no fim de julho teria sido \u201cforjado\u201d para que o ex-presidente Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva se \u201cfizesse de v\u00edtima\u201d.\n\nO resulto da a\u00e7\u00e3o, segundo Gentili, teria sido o oposto ao planejado. Para o apresentador, as pessoas acabaram por lamentar o fato de a bomba n\u00e3o ter atingido o ex-presidente. A interpela\u00e7\u00e3o judicial \u00e9 um procedimento anterior \u00e0 a\u00e7\u00e3o judicial, com o objetivo de oferecer a Gentili a oportunidade de explicar suas palavras, provar suas afirma\u00e7\u00f5es ou se retratar.\n\nO atentado contra o Instituto Lula est\u00e1 sendo investigado pela Pol\u00edcia Civil. A investiga\u00e7\u00e3o ainda n\u00e3o apresentou resultados.\n\nAprofundamento das investiga\u00e7\u00f5es\n\nTamb\u00e9m nesta quinta-feira (13), 33 deputados estaduais paulistas de diversos partidos assinaram um manifesto pelo aprofundamento das investiga\u00e7\u00f5es do atentado contra o Instituto Lula. O documento foi entregue ao presidente da Casa, deputado Fernando Capez (PSDB), que encaminhar\u00e1 para o secret\u00e1rio de Seguran\u00e7a P\u00fablica, Alexandre de Moraes.\n\n\u201cUma vibrante democracia como a nossa n\u00e3o pode admitir, em nenhuma hip\u00f3tese, um ataque a bomba contra seus cidad\u00e3os, contra sede de institui\u00e7\u00f5es p\u00fablicas ou privadas, sendo intoler\u00e1vel quando o ataque \u00e9 desferido contra um ex-presidente da rep\u00fablica e, mais especificamente, Lula\u201d, diz o manifesto. Entre os deputados que assinam o documento est\u00e1 o deputado Coronel Telhada (PSDB), ex-coronel da Pol\u00edcia Militar de S\u00e3o Paulo, que parabenizou a iniciativa e classificou o ataque ao Instituto Lula como crime.\n\nConfira a nota publicada no Facebook\n\nAp\u00f3s o lan\u00e7amento de uma bomba caseira contra a sede do Instituto Lula, Danilo Gentili desqualificou o epis\u00f3dio: para ele, um ataque criminoso de \u00f3dio e intimida\u00e7\u00e3o pol\u00edtica que poderia ter ferido algu\u00e9m seria, na verdade, uma \u201carma\u00e7\u00e3o\u201d de Lula para \u201csair de v\u00edtima\u201d. A pol\u00edcia est\u00e1 investigando a autoria do ataque para punir os respons\u00e1veis. E os advogados do Instituto Lula acionaram a Justi\u00e7a para que Gentili apresente provas do que afirma, explique suas palavras ou apresente uma retrata\u00e7\u00e3o.\n\nImagem publicada pelo Instituto Lula:\n\ninforma\u00e7\u00f5es de CartaCapital\n\nAcompanhe Pragmatismo Pol\u00edtico no Twitter e no Facebook"}
-{"text": "JOHN MCCAIN: So let me make my point clear again. I thought that Roe v. Wade was a bad decision, and I continue to believe that.\n\nGLAMOUR: And, to make sure that--\n\nJM: That's my position. No, no. That's my position. And that will remain my position.... So let's move on to the next question.\n\nGLAMOUR: Well, I do want to just make sure that I understand--\n\nJM: No, no. Let's move on to the next question, otherwise then we can't continue the interview.\n\nGLAMOUR: OK.... When we discussed it last time, you did mention that you support--\n\nJM: I want to go forward with the next question. And this is the last time I'd like to say that, OK?"}
-{"text": "Chatham car park killing: Molly McLaren stabbed 75 times Published duration 26 January 2018\n\nimage copyright Kent Police image caption Molly McLaren met Joshua Stimpson on dating app Tinder\n\nA woman stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend had at least 75 wounds to her neck, head and body, a jury heard.\n\nMolly McLaren, 23, was killed in a \"frenzied\" attack in her car at the Dockside shopping centre in Chatham, Kent, on 29 June.\n\nPathologist Dr Olaf Biedrzycki told Maidstone Crown Court Ms McLaren would have lost consciousness \"within seconds\".\n\n'Grabbed his leg'\n\nThe jury also heard from a witness who said he tried to disrupt the knife attack by slamming Stimpson's leg in the car door.\n\nBenjamin Morton described to the court how he noticed a struggle inside the car and soon became aware \"it wasn't just a fight\" as the man \"seemed to have something in his hand\".\n\nHe said: \"She was trying to defend herself at that point. He was clearly attacking her and she had her hands up to try to stop him.\"\n\nAfter noticing blood in the car he called out across the car park for help and \"banged on the window, on the bonnet\" in a bid to distract Stimpson.\n\nThe jury was told when the witness saw Stimpson trying to cut Ms McLaren's throat he moved to the driver's side of the car where his leg was sticking out and tried to slam the door on it.\n\n\"I grabbed his leg to see if I could pull him. His leg was covered in blood. I stepped back and looked inside the car.\n\n\"I could see her throat had been cut. He seemed determined to make sure she was dead.\"\n\nWhen he realised Ms McLaren would not survive the attack he tried to prevent Stimpson from getting away.\n\nHe then got his car and blocked Ms McLaren's car in until the police arrived, the court was told.\n\nStimpson denies murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility.\n\nThe trial continues."}
-{"text": "Anyone with an annoying roommate story knows that a difficult living situation can change you in many ways. Now, imagine that instead of just eating all of your food in the refrigerator, that annoying roommate could actually cause genetic changes designed to make the \u201cfuture you\u201d more tolerant of their behavior. Does it sound too good to be true? Well, this is exactly what has happened in the case of some African rodent species that live in harsh conditions characterized by acidic air, stinging insects and pungent food sources.\n\nI am a behavioral geneticist studying how genes and the environment interact to determine the risk for chronic pain. My goal is to harness that knowledge to develop novel therapies to better treat pain without the need for opioids. Opioids are a powerful tool to treat pain, particularly acute pain, but they do not precisely target a specific pain mechanism or signal. Instead, opioids primarily act to decrease the ability of cells to transmit pain messages without actually turning off the message itself.\n\nI was struck by this work on naked mole rats because these creatures have evolved insensitivity to very specific types of painful stimuli. This occurs as a result of subtle differences in gene activity and protein structure, rather than deletions or mutations of genes.\n\nIt is becoming more widely accepted that these types of differences in gene activity may explain individual differences in human pain sensitivity and in risk for the development of chronic pain. More importantly, if pain researchers understand these processes in these rodents and translate this work into humans, it would naturally lead to innovative methods for safe and effective pain relief.\n\nStinky burrows drive evolution of pain tolerance\n\nNaked mole rats, Heterocephalus glaber, are native to East Africa and live in densely populated underground burrows. Inside these burrows, the exhaled carbon dioxide levels are so high that the air becomes so acidic that it would cause a painful burning sensation in the nose, eyes and exposed skin of most mammals.\n\nBut the naked mole rat is completely insensitive to these high acid conditions, making it extremely tolerant of all that togetherness. What\u2019s more is that these rodents are also insensitive to capsaicin, the chemical responsible for the burning pain of chili peppers.\n\nJane Reznick, MDC , CC BY-SA\n\nNew research led by Gary Lewin, a sensory system physiologist in Berlin, Germany, reveals that naked mole rats aren\u2019t the only African rodents that have evolved to tolerate tough living conditions. Through a comparison of nine closely related African rodent species, Lewin\u2019s team showed that four were completely insensitive to at least one of three painful substances: acid, capsaicin or AITC, which is the active ingredient in mustard oil.\n\nAll of these stimuli cause different types of pain. The acid is the one that mimics the high carbon dioxide in the burrow. The capsaicin and mustard oil (AITC) \u2013 which cause a burning pain \u2013 are found in typical foods that the naked mole rats eat. But each cause pain through a different biochemical pathway.\n\nImplications for the opioid crisis\n\nThe evidence points to pain insensitivity to acid, capsaicin and AITC all evolving separately in related rodent species. But in the end these adaptations help these rodents survive and thrive in their hot, dark and acidic environments. Without major alterations in structure and function of the pain-sensing pathway in their bodies, these rodents have evolved multiple ways of reducing their sensitivity to common painful stimuli they encounter daily. In short, these related species of rodents found more than one way to become uber-tolerant to their living conditions and their roommates.\n\nIn my mind, understanding the molecular changes that allow the naked mole rat and its relatives to become resistant to certain types of pain has implications far beyond the rodent roommate market. They directly point to novel therapeutic strategies that can be developed to treat pain in humans by selectively engaging or blocking processes involved in specific types of pain sensitivity.\n\nWith the dueling epidemics of chronic pain and the opioid crisis, precision medicine alternatives offer hope for those with difficult to manage pain by attacking the \u201ccause\u201d of the pain and offering a lower risk of side effects including misuse, abuse and addiction."}
-{"text": "Death Cab For Cutie has announced details of its new studio album. Entitled Kintsugi, the band\u2019s eighth LP (and first since 2011\u2019s Codes and Keys) will arrive on March 31st through Atlantic Records.\n\nThe album\u2019s title references a \u201cJapanese style of art where they take fractured, broken ceramics and put them back together with very obvious, real gold,\u201d explains DCFC bassist Nick Harmer. \u201cIt\u2019s making the repair of an object a visual part of its history.\u201d If you\u2019re wondering, yes, all this is a reference to the recent departure of founding member and producer Chris Walla.\n\n\n\nAdds frontman Ben Gibbard, \u201cThis is an opportunity for the band to become something it could only become by losing a founding member. It\u2019s our goal to make records that rank amongst the best work we\u2019ve ever done. I completely respect and understand why people love Transatlanticism or We Have the Facts\u2026 or Narrow Stairs. And I would hope that as we move forward, people listen with as little prejudice as they can and try to hear the music for what it is and not what they want it to be.\u201d\n\nCheck out the album\u2019s artwork and 11-song tracklist below.\n\nKintsugi Artwork:\n\nKintsugi Tracklist:\n\n01. No Room in Frame\n\n02. Black Sun\n\n03. The Ghosts of Beverly Drive\n\n04. Little Wanderer\n\n05. You\u2019ve Haunted Me All My Life\n\n06. Hold No Guns\n\n07. Everything\u2019s a Ceiling\n\n08. Good Help (Is So Hard to Find)\n\n09. El Dorado\n\n10. Ing\u00e9nue\n\n11. Binary Sea"}
-{"text": "ashwithcats thank you!\n\nLion<3 You look amazing we should totally go on a date!"}
-{"text": "If you expected startling news to come out of Monday's keynote for Apple's World-Wide Developers Conference (WWDC)--headlined, of course, by Steve Jobs--you went away unstartled and disappointed.\n\nThis event was mostly about confirming widely reported rumors: The high-speed iPhone 3G is indeed arriving shortly (on July 11), it's half the price of its predecessor ($199 for an 8GB model with a two-year contract), and it has GPS. Otherwise, much of the keynote was devoted to recapping stuff announced back in March regarding the iPhone's SDK for third-party applications and its support for Microsoft's Exchange e-mail platform.\n\nAs the day progressed, information emerged about certain things that Jobs and company hadn't mentioned, such as the fact that AT&T remains the exclusive U.S. carrier and will charge $30 a month for all-you-can-eat data. Gizmodo reports that the iPhone 3G must be activated in person at an Apple or AT&T store--a major step backward from the slick at-home iTunes activation of the original version.\n\nIn short, we're awash in answers. But as usual, I'm wrapping up the day of a major Apple announcement in connection with an extremely promising product still curious about a bunch of things. Things that--as far as I know--remain mysteries. Such as...\n\n1. What's with the plastic back?\n\nAs Jobs ticked off the design achievements of the iPhone 3G at the WWDC keynote, he mentioned its \"full plastic back.\" I think that this change may indeed be a virtue--the shiny metallic backs sported by first-generation iPhones and most varieties of iPods are maddeningly effective magnets for scratches, fingerprints, and grime. But Apple usually upgrades its products by replacing plastic with metal; it's hard to imagine the company going the other direction unless it had a motive unrelated to aesthetics. Was it able to shave a millimeter or three off the required thickness by using plastic? (Cramming everything in was clearly a challenge. Despite Jobs' pollyanna-ish statement that the new iPhone is \"even thinner\" at the edges than its predecessor, Apple's official depth spec for the iPhone 3G is 11.6mm, versus 12.3mm for the original iPhone.) Maybe the metal would have interfered with GPS reception? Or did Apple simply have to go with cheaper materials when it cut the cost of the iPhone in half?\n\n2. When will we get 32GB and 64GB iPhones?\n\nFor some of us, an iPhone can't function as a first-class iPod until it has enough memory to hold every song and video in a fairly large media collection. It's safe to assume that Apple will boost the phone's memory as soon as it can cram enough storage into its case and sell the resulting device at a price that a sane person might spring for. Since the iPhone-like iPod Touch already comes in a $499 32GB version, I'd be surprised if a 32GB iPhone is more than a few months away. But I'd be equally surprised if a 64GB iPhone showed up before mid-2009 or so, given the still-imposing cost for that much flash memory. (Apple charges a $999 premium for a MacBook Air equipped with a 64GB solid-state drive instead of an 80GB traditional drive.)\n\n3. Will we ever be able to use an iPhone as a modem?\n\nAs I attended the WWDC keynote at San Francisco's Moscone Center, I was online with my MacBook-- courtesy of my Windows Mobile-based AT&T Tilt phone, which served up high-speed Internet access to the laptop via Bluetooth. Jobs didn't mention similar functionality for the iPhone 3G; if it's on its way, it's likely to cost more than the $30 a month that AT&T says it'll charge for an iPhone 3G data plan. But modem use is so handy that I'd happily pay more for it if it becomes available in some official form. (You can use an original iPhone as a modem, but only through scary, unauthorized techniques.)\n\n4. How about turn-by-turn driving directions?"}
-{"text": "This one took a while to finish, and you\u2019ll see why when you check it out: Pentos, Myr, Tyrosh, Lys, Norvos, and Qohor, all in one go, their historical counterparts, how they operate as a political unit, and much much more!\n\nLike this: Twitter\n\nFacebook\n\nLike this: Like Loading... Related"}
-{"text": "Database Systems Research Group \u2014 U T\u00fcbingen\n\nWelcome to the web presence of the Database Research Group at U T\u00fcbingen.\n\nOur group pursues a variety of \"all-time classic\" database research questions \u2013 prime examples include query language design, translation, and optimization \u2013 but with a few twists:\n\nWe are particularly interested in the design, compilation, and optimization of expressive database languages that support rich data models and embed seamlessly into host programming languages. This has led to a database-supported variant of Haskell (Ferry, DSH) as well as efficient and scalable XQuery processors (Pathfinder).\n\nWhenever insightful and promising, we apply techniques that have their roots in the programming languages community to the database research domain. This paves the way for expressive and elegant language-integrated queries, new query compilation techniques, declarative query debuggers, or data provenance analyzers that embrace Turing-complete SQL queries.\n\nWe love to teach the basics as well as the intricacies of database systems. Courses on query and programming language technology are found in our repertoire as well.\n\nNews"}
-{"text": "Die polisie het \u2019n deurbraak in die ondersoek na die Rafferty-moorde by Normandien, Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal, gemaak."}
-{"text": "Microsoft\n\nMicrosoft has said it will comply with European antitrust authorities, after the software giant was accused of not adhering to the promises it said it would keep as part of an earlier settlement.\n\nAs quoted by Reuters, EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told reporters at an economics conference:\n\nIn my personal talks with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer he has given me assurances that they will comply immediately regardless of the conclusion of the antitrust probe.\n\nAlmunia also described the antitrust investigation as a \"very, very serious issue.\"\n\nMicrosoft settled with EU authorities in 2009 after it was accused of unfairly using its operating system monopoly to increase its browser share by bundling Internet Explorer with Windows.\n\nThe \"browser ballot\" was a mandatory Windows update that allowed users to select their choice of Web browser -- such as Firefox, Opera, or Chrome -- to be offered alongside Microsoft's own Internet Explorer as part of the settlement deal.\n\nBut in July, the European Commission said it had received complaints that Microsoft had misled EU authorities over its promise to issue the browser ballot screen, which was first rolled out to Windows users in February 2010.\n\nEU authorities accused Microsoft of failing to offer the browser ballot screen to users since February 2011, when Microsoft dished out Windows 7 with Service Pack 1. More than 28 million European customers who bought the latest copy of Windows with the software patch preloaded may not have been given the option to switch browsers.\n\nThe Redmond, Wash.-based company promised to give users the choice of browsers until 2014, including in future operating systems, such as the forthcoming Windows 8.\n\nAlmunia said at the time, \"Microsoft should expect sanctions\" if the allegations proved true. The European Commission said it would treat the case \"as a matter of priority.\"\n\nMicrosoft admitted, almost immediately after the Commission's allegations, that it had \"fallen short in [its] responsibility\" to include the browser options screen in the latest iteration of Windows 7 \"due to a technical error.\"\n\n\"While we believed when we filed our most recent compliance report in December 2011 that we were distributing the [browser ballot] software to all relevant PCs as required, we learned recently that we've missed serving the [browser ballot] software to the roughly 28 million PCs running Windows 7 SP1,\" the company said in a public statement.\n\nThe software giant also faces scrutiny over Windows 8 -- set for release on October 26 -- over the alleged limiting of access to programming interfaces (APIs, which allow the operating system and other programs to talk to each other) to developers of third-party browsers.\n\nWhile Internet Explorer 10 runs in both the Windows 8 \"tiled\" mode and the \"classic\" desktop mode, rival software makers claim that their browsers can run only in the behind-the-scenes desktop mode.\n\nMicrosoft can be fined up to 10 percent of its global annual turnover -- up to 5.7 billion euros ($7 billion) -- or face changes to how it conducts business in the 27 European member states if the software giant is found to have broken European antitrust laws."}
-{"text": "My gift-er did their job on research!!! Not only did my fabulous earrings make me SMILE, but they were sent in handmade paper boxes containing old recipes!!!\n\nYOU ROCK!!! =]"}
-{"text": "Everything is interconnected, really. Frasier. St. Elsewhere. Friends. The Apocalyptic zombie-infested wasteland of Days Gone. Wait, really? Maybe. We spend a solid hour of Waypoint Radio talking about Sony Bend\u2019s first big game, on which many large hopes and dreams were hung, but the finished product just doesn\u2019t deliver. Elsewhere (but not St. Elsewhere), we touch on the missed marks of Katana Zero, the delightful puzzling of Boxboy + Boxgirl, and some campy workplace hell in Yuppie Psycho.\n\nThen we go in on Mortal Kombat 11, which holds up the Kombat name in many ways\u2014with a delightfully wacky story and characters, a wild time-traveling ending for Jax\u2014and disappoints in some others, with the casting of famed TERF Ronda Rousey and rumors of unsound labor practices at the studio.\n\nYou can subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher. If you're using something else, this RSS link should let you add the podcast to whatever platform you'd like. If you'd like to directly download the podcast, click here. Please take a moment and review the podcast, especially on iTunes. It really helps."}
-{"text": "NEW DELHI: In a last-ditch gambit to woo the defence community of 14 lakh serving and over 25 lakh retired military personnel, the government has yanked the long-demanded, much-promised but never-implemented one rank, one pension (OROP) rabbit out of its hat in the run-up to general elections.\n\nFinance minister P Chidambaram said the OROP decision will be \"implemented prospectively\" for armed forces from 2014-2015, with the government transferring Rs 500 crore to the defence pension account in the current fiscal to \"close the gap for all retirees (pre-2006 and post-2006) in all ranks\".\n\nThis comes just after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi told a group of ex-servicemen last week he fully backed their OROP demand, in what now seems to be a scripted interaction. The defence community, after all, swells into a sizeable and vocal vote bank of close to two crore people if family members are also taken into account.\n\nOROP basically implies payment of uniform pension to personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service irrespective of their date of retirement. Consequently, any further hike in pension rates is automatically passed on to past pensioners. Irate ex-servicemen have been returning their medals and holding rallies over the last four-five years, which included one with BJP prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi and former Army chief General V K Singh at Rewari last September, to protest against the non-implementation of OROP.\n\nOn Monday, there was again scepticism whether it was full OROP or just \"the eyewash of modified parity\" yet again. \"The UPA was in power for last 10 years but this comes only now. Moreover, Rs 500 crore seems paltry. Earlier, MoD and the controller general of defence accounts had calculated Rs 1,730 crore for 2014-2015. Another official figure was Rs 3,000 crore per year for OROP,\" said a senior military officer. But MoD contended the contours of OROP and its implementation will be worked out in the coming weeks. \"The Rs 500 crore is just a provisional figure to show the government's intent,\" said an official. Chidambaram, too, said MoD had asked for Rs 500 crore but if more was required, it would be \"fully provided\".\n\nThe government, however, was mum on the legal and administrative reasons used in the past to junk the OROP proposal. Civilian pensioners, for instance, would demand the same with \"a heavy financial implication of Rs 8,000-9,000 crore per annum\", it had held."}
-{"text": "iPhone 4 owners who filed claims over the so-called \"antennagate\" have begun receiving their settlement checks. Posts about the checks began popping up on Twitter in addition to sites like 9to5Mac, where several readers confirmed they had received their $15 payouts.\n\nThe iPhone 4 was released in July of 2010 and was immediately met with controversy over its \"work of genius\" antenna design. Unlike previous in iPhones, Apple had designed the iPhone 4 so the stainless steel bezel on the outside of the phone would act as antennas for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular. But a weak spot was discovered by users who bridged the gap between two antenna segments with their hand while using the device\u2014when held like this, many users observed a drop in the cell signal, and some reported an increase in dropped calls.\n\nApple did not react well at first\u2014at least from a PR standpoint. Then-CEO Steve Jobs responded to an e-mail from Ars in 2010 saying users should \"just avoid holding it in this way.\" Then the company held a special event in Cupertino for the sole purpose of showing that competitors' devices had the same issue\u2014an odd move for Apple, which typically doesn't offer public responses about product issues. The company later agreed to give free iPhone 4 bumpers (or an equivalent case from another manufacturer) to iPhone 4 owners, but it wasn't enough to quell the uproar, and a series of class action lawsuits followed.\n\nThose cases were eventually rolled into one and settled in February of last year\u2014nearly two iPhone introductions later. Affected users were encouraged to submit a claim for either another free iPhone 4 bumper or a $15 settlement check. Now, more than a year later, those checks are being sent out, as evidenced by the photos being posted online. Have any Ars readers received their $15 from Apple yet?"}
-{"text": "It\u2019s a bizarre season in Hollywood. Almost nothing is \u201cworking,\u201d and the studios can\u2019t afford to waste any more money hoping things will turn around. They\u2019re pulling flops from theaters earlier than usual.\n\nThis weekend, for example, Warner Bros. is putting out a white flag on \u201cBlade Runner\u201d after three tough weeks. They\u2019ve cut the number of theaters showing Denis Villeneuve\u2019s beautiful film by 855. So far, \u201cBlade Runner\u201d has made just $66 million. Audiences have not clamored to it. And now, week by week, Warners will quietly take it away.\n\nWarner\u2019s isn\u2019t alone. Universal is pulling Tom Cruise\u2019s \u201cAmerican Made\u201d from 539 locations after a month in release. The Doug Liman directed thriller has made just $43 million. Good reviews haven\u2019t helped push Cruise fans to theaters. One problem was lack of promotion since Cruise wasn\u2019t available. Also, audiences may have just soured on him after \u201cThe Mummy\u201d and other flops. With both studios, it wasn\u2019t for lack of trying.\n\nThe biggest decease (de-crease, but pun intended here) is for the revived \u201cFlatliners.\u201d With just $16 million in the till, Sony would be better off paying people to see this turkey. They\u2019re retreating from 1,433 theaters this weekend, leaving \u201cFlatliners\u201d to breathe on its own. It will be completely dead by Sunday.\n\nAlso just about dead is the much praised \u201cBattle of the Sexes,\u201d Fox Searchlight couldn\u2019t get anyone to go see it despite great reviews and excellent marketing. I\u2019m actually dumbfounded that it\u2019s made just $11 million. FS is killing off 849 screens. Ouch! And \u201cBattle\u201d was supposed to yield some awards action.\n\nWarner\u2019s, meantime, is facing more trouble than the other studios. Their \u201cGeostorm\u201d is going to be a disaster this weekend. And their \u201cLego Ninja\u201d movie is leaving 951 theaters after $52 million and five weeks. Better to get out while they can.\n\nAnd over all this weekend doesn\u2019t look too promising for new films. \u201cGeostorm\u201d should be joined by \u201cThe Snowman\u201d and in the kill bin by Sunday.\n\nHere\u2019s to better days\u2013 and soon!\n\nPS Here\u2019s an irony: The Weinstein Company\u2019s \u201cWind River\u201d is at $33 million. It cost around $15 million. Taylor Sheridan\u2019s directing debut might have been an awards contender if certain things hadn\u2019t happened.\n\nalso read: The Real Story Behind \u201cMarshall\u201d"}
-{"text": "As WordPress currently powers 23% of the web, the platform\u2019s security is constantly under scrutiny. WordPress has long been a favorite target of hackers and spammers who want to get the most return on their efforts. Since the the platform powers millions of websites, a critical vulnerability with a popular plugin or WordPress core can affect a large chunk of the web in a short amount of time.\n\nWordPress published a security white paper this week to help the public learn more about the core software security. Many consultants have had the experience of clients who are considering WordPress but are wondering if it\u2019s secure. This document was created both for decision makers who are evaluating WordPress and developers who are building on top of the software.\n\nThe document is available as a PDF, and here\u2019s what you\u2019ll find inside:\n\nThis document is an analysis and explanation of the WordPress core software development and its related security processes, as well as an examination of the inherent security built directly into the software.\n\nThe white paper gives an introduction to the core leadership team, the WordPress Security Team, how a release cycle works, and responsible disclosure of vulnerabilities. The second half of the document covers common security vulnerabilities and how WordPress protects itself against those potential risks.\n\nJust like WordPress itself, the security white paper is open to contribution. Anyone can submit a pull request on the WordPress repository.\n\nThe security white paper is in need of translations in order to be more accessible to WordPress\u2019 global audience. If you can assist with a particular translation, the repository has simple instructions for how to submit it on GitHub.\n\nTo translate the white paper, please create a sub-directory of the project, giving it the correct ISO639 code (for example, pt for Portuguese), and submit a pull request.\n\nWordPress consultants will find this white paper to be an excellent resource to refer to during sales negotiations. If you\u2019re a developer just getting started learning about WordPress\u2019 inherent security, the document is provides a solid overview.\n\nHackers who are looking to receive bounty for finding security vulnerabilities can find Automattic on HackerOne. The company regularly rewards hackers with bounty for security bugs discovered with WordPress.com, which is powered by the core WordPress software."}
-{"text": "Two U.S. Congressmen have introduced bipartisan bills to prevent crypto price manipulation and boost acceptance of the tech.\n\nRepresentatives Darren Soto (Democrat) and Ted Budd (Republican) jointly announced Thursday that their two bills \u2013 \u201cThe Virtual Currency Consumer Protection Act of 2018\u201d and the \u201cU.S. Virtual Currency Market and Regulatory Competitiveness Act of 2018\u201d \u2013 are ultimately aimed at making the U.S. a \u201cleader in the cryptocurrency industry.\u201d\n\nThe bills essentially ask the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and other U.S. financial regulators to come up with a roadmap to better regulate cryptocurrencies in order to protect individuals and businesses.\n\nThe first bill seeks research on how crypto price manipulation takes place, its impact on investors, and how to prevent such activities through regulatory changes, and in turn, protect investors.\n\nEarlier in September, the New York Office of the Attorney General released a report on cryptocurrency trading platforms, finding that many are vulnerable to market manipulation (although several exchanges pushed back against the claim at the time). \u201cThe industry has yet to implement serious market surveillance capacities, akin to those of traditional trading venues, to detect and punish suspicious trading activity,\u201d the report stated at the time.\n\nThe U.S. Department of Justice is also looking into crypto market manipulation, reportedly most recently focusing on whether Bitfinex exchange and Tether Ltd. have supported bitcoin\u2019s price using the tether stablecoin.\n\nThe second bill asks regulators to carry out research on crypto regulations in jurisdictions across the globe and recommend any legislative changes to promote the growth of adoption of cryptocurrencies in the U.S.\n\nFor instance, it asks the regulators to clarify the virtual currencies that qualify as commodities and suggest a new, optional regulatory structure for crypto exchanges that includes federal licensing, market supervision and consumer protection.\n\nIn the joint statement, Soto and Budd said that \u201cVirtual currencies and the underlying blockchain technology has a profound potential to be a driver of economic growth.\u201d\n\nThey continued:\n\nThat\u2019s why we must ensure that the United States is at the forefront of protecting consumers and the financial well-being of virtual currency investors, while also promoting an environment of innovation to maximize the potential of these technological advances. This bill will provide data on how Congress can best mitigate these risks while propelling development that benefits our economy.\u201d\n\nSeveral U.S. Representatives have been pushing for crypto and blockchain related bills since as early as 2014, when Congressman Steve Stockman of Texas was planning to introduce an act that would tax bitcoins as currency instead of property.\n\nMost recently, a bipartisan bill was introduced that proposed creating a \u201cconsensus-based definition of blockchain\u201d in October. While in September, lawmakers announced three bills, addressing blockchain development, miners\u2019 status and cryptocurrency-related taxes.\n\nAlso in September, a group of lawmakers, including congressman Budd and Soto, asked Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Jay Clayton to clarify when initial coin offerings (ICOs) are considered sales of securities.\n\nU.S. House of Representatives image via Shutterstock"}
-{"text": "The world is on the cusp of a new industrial age\u2014the fourth. As with previous industrial ages, those who embrace it first stand to become the dominant powers of the future and will seize the right to set the rules that define the age. Those that are late to the party will struggle to secure their place and avoid a decline into humanity\u2019s future backwaters.\n\nAustralia has a choice to make: whether to undergo the social, political and cultural disruption that will result from the embrace of emerging technologies, or to continue to support an economy based on the status quo. In making this choice, Australia will also determine its security future.\n\nOne of the likely changes of the fourth industrial age to which Australia will need to adapt is the decline in relative value of primary resources and manufactured goods compared to information. The rapid growth of additive manufacturing (3D printing) demonstrates this point. 3D factories, using very few staff, are coming into existence. These factories have certain advantages over current means of production.\n\nBeing additive, 3D printers are very efficient and require less feed stock\u2014iron ore for example\u2014than traditional subtractive manufacturing. They can also be located anywhere, and be arrayed as individual units or in their thousands. That will promote distributed manufacturing.\n\nMany countries in Asia, including China, have chosen to lift their people out of poverty by becoming the manufacturer to the \u2018Walmarts\u2019 of the world. That model will come undone when every Australian, European, American and even Asian home has a 3D printer with which families can print whatever they want, from food to high-quality clothes and beyond. Value will cease to reside in the product, but will be found in the design. And as the economic foundations of the developing world fail, instability and social collapse in those countries may be the result.\n\nAustralia has its own perilous exposure to the coming disruptions of the fourth industrial age. After European colonisation of the continent, Australia developed into a maritime exporting country. There\u2019s an Australian saying that the nation\u2019s economy \u2018rode on the sheep\u2019s back\u2019, although more recently iron, coal, education services and wheat, rather than wool, have been its more valuable exports.\n\nAustralia has always been a shipper of primary materials and is dependent on the regular dispatch of cargo ships from its shores and the existence of a rules-based world order that provides governance over global shipping lanes and the interaction between states for the regulation of trade.\n\nYet, as the value of things declines relative to that of information, it\u2019s worth speculating on the effect this will have on Australia\u2019 to continue to generate wealth via its material export paradigm relative to the potential of other countries. Australia is committed to the maintenance of the current global order, but it\u2019s an order that regulates the movement of things and one that was designed by a friendly ally, the United States. Who will set the rules for the movement of information in the fourth industrial age? Will it still be the United States, another nation or perhaps even a consortium of corporations? At this point in time we simply don\u2019t know.\n\nBut it\u2019s unlikely that the flow of information will remain unregulated across national boundaries. The Facebook\u2013Cambridge Analytica scandal has assured that closer regulation of social media is coming. When the rules are written to govern the movement of wealth-generating information, will they be as favourable for Australia as those that govern the movement of goods and raw materials?\n\nThe transition to an information-trade\u2013dominant world system also holds complications for the foundations of Australia\u2019s defence policy. While there are deep cultural and historical reasons for Australia\u2019s security relationship with Britain and the United States, it\u2019s no coincidence that these countries also set the rules for the trading systems within which Australia generated its wealth.\n\nAs the context of Australia\u2019s integration into the world economy evolves, it may be prudent to ask questions that challenge the traditional foundation of Australian national security. Such questions might include whether the alliance with the United States will remain relevant or sustainable if the US ceases to be the upholder of the present rules-based order? Or, if a different rules-based order should emerge, will Australia need to define a relationship with the power (or powers) setting the rules for the fourth industrial age?\n\nObviously, this all lies in the future, and what I\u2019ve written is just speculation. But the future doesn\u2019t happen by accident, and this future is starting to take form now. Some of its elements, such as 3D printing machines, are becoming commonplace. Human integration with machines\u2014the singularity as it is known\u2014is more distant, if it\u2019s even achievable or desirable.\n\nThe future is, in fact, the result of decisions made by the leaders and thinkers of the present. It\u2019s their responsibility to shape the future. If they don\u2019t, the winds of change may or may not push Australia towards a less favourable position than what we currently enjoy."}
-{"text": "What is its purpose? That\u2019s completely up to you.\n\n\n\nDeveloping a new product is no easy task. It takes a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears to come up with something that people both want and find useful. However, if you\u2019d rather avoid that arduous process, you could just do what one Japanese company recently did: create something and then ask the public to figure out what it could be used for.\n\nMeet Pechimoto Pechiro\n\nDubbed \u201cPechimoto Pechiro\u201d (\u30da\u30c1\u3082\u3068\u30da\u30c1\u308d\u30fc), this roughly 2-inch-long, sticky, stretchy semi-anthropomorphic rectangular resin stick with a hole on the top and no official purpose is the creation of KNK Corp., a Fukuoka-based company that primarily makes plastic molded products for use in electronics and cars. It began its life as a rejected resin part intended for use in electrical devices found on utility poles. After it was decided the part would not be put into production, the company put the metal mold used to make it into storage rather than just getting rid of it. However, after some time, KNK decided to attempt to find a way to salvage the time and money they had invested into the creation of the mold.\n\nThe rejected resin stick that would evolve into Pechimoto Pechiro\n\n\n\nKNK\u2019s decision resulted in a long trial-and-error process which led one KNK team member to propose using a kind of soft resin that the company did not normally deal with. It is this resin that gave what would become Pechimoto Pechiro its ability to stick to things and stretch.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s times when I ride the train.\u201d\n\nStill not satisfied, the folks at KNK kept at it until one day someone noticed that the round protrusions at the bottom of the stretchy resin stick resembled someone\u2019s feet standing at attention. This inspired them to make the stick look more human by giving it a necktie and two protrusions near the top of the stick that make it look like it has arms crossed behind its back.\n\n\u201cOn Vacation? Or stranded?\u201d\n\nWith its new human-like appearance, the soft resin stick was now ready to receive a proper name. So in the summer of 2017 KNK named it Pechimoto Pechiro. This peculiar sounding name comes from combining the smacking sound (pechi) Pechimoto makes when thrown against a wall, with a generic sounding Japanese name, such as Yamamoto (last name) Taro (first name). And with that, Mr. Pechiro Pechimoto, as he would be called in the West, became both KNK\u2019s first product to be developed in-house and their newest (and smallest) \u201cemployee.\u201d\n\n\u201cI tamed it.\u201d\n\nAlthough Pechimoto was not designed with any specific purpose in mind, that hasn\u2019t stopped KNK from trying to find a use for their creation. Perhaps the most promising avenue that they have been pursuing is using Pechimoto as a fishing lure. Apparently, company employees have used Pechimoto while fishing and enjoyed some success. It is perhaps for this reason that, as one of the overseers of the Pechimoto Pechi ro Project revealed to Japankyo, they are planning to release Pechimoto in fishing goods stores in both the Fukuoka and Nagasaki areas later this month (March).\n\nFishing with Pechimoto Pechiro\n\n\u201d\n\nHowever, KNK is not satisfied with Pechimoto just being a fishing accessory. And so, they have put out a truly heart-felt press release and website explaining their situation and asking people to come up with ideas for what their creation could be used for. In these public statements, KNK explains that much like humans and their search for meaning in their lives, Pechimoto Pechiro is currently looking for meaning in his. He is on a quest to find himself and even though he may face the occasional setback, he will give it his all and asks for the public\u2019s support.\n\n\u201cNot a rocket\u201d\n\nWhen Pechimoto Pechiro hits store shelves in the next few weeks it is planned to come in a two-pack and sell for 300 yen (slightly less than 3 USD). However, even though Pechimoto may be making its debut to the general public at fishing shops, KNK is still adamant that they want people to come up with other uses for it. They are currently asking people to submit vis social media their ideas on ways in which Pechimoto can be used. So if you\u2019re interested in seeing more wacky images of Pechimoto, then make sure to check out Pechimoto\u2019s Twitter and Instagram pages. Or you could also check out the Japanese news report below, which shows both the factory where Pechimoto is made and various uses for it, including as just something fun to stretch mindlessly like a hand spinner, or as a way to stick your smartphone to a flat vertical surface so you can watch videos hands-free.\n\nSpecial thanks to Mr. Todoroki at KNK Corp. for personally providing additional information.\n\n\n\nA post shared by \u30da\u30c1\u3082\u3068 \u30da\u30c1\u308d\u30fc (@pechimoto) on Nov 13, 2017 at 2:56am PST\n\nSource: Pechimoto Pechiro Official Website, PR Times\n\nFeatured image: Pixabay\n\nBody images: PR Times"}
-{"text": "Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) went from her swearing-in as one of the first Muslim women in Congress to cursing out President Donald Trump within a matter of hours on Thursday.\n\nTlaib told the crowd at an event hosted by progressive group MoveOn:\n\n\u201cAnd when your son looks at you and says, \u2018Mama, look, you won. Bullies don\u2019t win.\u2019 And I say, \u2018Baby, they don\u2019t.\u2019 Because we\u2019re gonna go in there and we\u2019re gonna impeach the motherfucker.\u201d\n\nThe Wrap\u2019s media editor Jon Levine shared footage of Tlaib\u2019s speech to Twitter:\n\nCongresswoman @RashidaTlaib tells cheering crowd that Trump impeachment coming\n\n\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to go in and impeach the motherfucker\u201d pic.twitter.com/oQJYqR78IA \u2014 Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) January 4, 2019\n\nTlaib\u2019s comments also were tweeted by multiple other reporters who attended the reception:\n\nRaucous reception for @RashidaTlaib at MoveOn reception near the Hill. Her closing remarks: \u201cWe\u2019re gonna impeach the motherfucker.\u201d \u2014 Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) January 4, 2019\n\nRashida Tlaib to a crowd of cheering supporters in DC: \u201cWe\u2019re gonna go in there and impeach the motherfucker!\u201d \u2014 Daniel Marans (@danielmarans) January 4, 2019\n\nRep. @RashidaTlaib at an event just now: Recalling a story in which her son said \u201cLook mama you won. Bullies don\u2019t win.\u201d And she said: \u201cYou\u2019re right, they don\u2019t. And we\u2019re gonna go in and impeach the motherfucker.\u201d \u2014 Alexi McCammond (@alexi) January 4, 2019\n\nTlaib is the first Palestinian-American congresswoman. She donned a traditional thobe dress for her swearing-in on Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Koran, and shared moments from the day on Twitter.\n\nThe congresswoman defended her comments in a statement on Friday.\n\n\u201cDonald Trump is completely unfit to serve as President,\u201d her spokesperson said in a statement. \u201cThe congresswoman absolutely believes he needs to be impeached.\u201d\n\nThis is it. You officially have a new Congresswoman who is ready to fight for you. Being accessible to every single resident from day one is how I serve you. My door is always open to you. #13thDistrictStrong https://t.co/NYHS7P99PM pic.twitter.com/JUhtkX6LPc \u2014 Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) January 3, 2019\n\nThis really happened. I am U.S. Congresswoman. Not bad for a girl from southwest Detroit who didn't speak English, daughter of Palestinian immigrants.\n\n#13thDistrictStrong: You helped change Congress forever. Now, let's get to work to change our neighborhoods. #rootedincommunity pic.twitter.com/Xz511eIcyg \u2014 Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) January 4, 2019\n\nNew House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) refused to rule out the possibility of an indictment against a sitting president in an interview with NBC\u2019s \u201cToday\u201d show that aired Thursday.\n\nTrump tweeted Friday morning that Democrats \u201conly want to impeach me because they know they can\u2019t win 2020.\u201d\n\nAs I have stated many times, if the Democrats take over the House or Senate, there will be disruption to the Financial Markets. We won the Senate, they won the House. Things will settle down. They only want to impeach me because they know they can\u2019t win in 2020, too much success! \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2019\n\nHow do you impeach a president who has won perhaps the greatest election of all time, done nothing wrong (no Collusion with Russia, it was the Dems that Colluded), had the most successful first two years of any president, and is the most popular Republican in party history 93%? \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2019\n\nThis article has been updated to include Trump\u2019s tweets and new comments from Tlaib.\n\nRELATED COVERAGE Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Shuts Down GOP Haters With 8 Little Words"}
-{"text": "If developing an awareness of your shortcomings is a prerequisite for success, then Travis Head is setting himself on a path for a significant Test career.\n\nAs a former Australia Under-19 representative (who played alongside Cameron Bancroft and Kurtis Patterson) and was then installed as South Australia's Sheffield Shield captain at age 21, Head has long carried a burden of expectation.\n\nWarner leaves training early as Khawaja proves fitness\n\nBut as he progressed from state cricket to senior national squads and then Australia's limited-overs and Test teams, he found that the fearless attack he liked to launch on rival bowlers regardless of their reputation had become as much a weakness as a strength.\n\nOpponents learned that if the habitually free-scoring left-hander could be tied down for a time, he would likely succumb to a rash stroke as he tried to hit his way out of the bind.\n\nIt says much about Head's drive to hold down his current place within the Test team middle-order that, as the second-youngest member of the 17-man squad (after Marnus Labuschagne), he has clearly identified that weakness in his game.\n\nQUICK SINGLE Write him off at your peril: Waugh backs Smith\n\nAnd is working assiduously in conjunction with the Australia coaching staff and his own obsessive desire to constantly improve to eliminate it from his batting.\n\nSomething that Head understands is much more easily articulated than accomplished.\n\nTravis Head averages 51 after eight Tests // Getty\n\n\"I think for a long part of my career I was a bit, not reckless but I took the game on,\" the 25-year-old reflected in Birmingham, where the opening Ashes Test is scheduled to start on Thursday.\n\n\"But as I've matured a little bit and played a lot more cricket, I've got more of an understanding of how I want to play on different wickets, especially in the last 12 months.\n\n\"I've taken more time (to construct an innings) and tried to give myself a chance a bit more than I did when I was younger.\n\n\"It's about making sure I let them (opposition attacks) bowl to me, but also making sure that I'm still positive and don't change my natural instincts.\n\n\"So when there's a chance to score, score, because we're out there to get runs.\"\n\nHead shattered by MCG dismissal // Getty\n\nIt's that inherent impetuosity \u2013 a trait that the gifted stroke-maker first exhibited when he arrived in Adelaide's Premier Cricket competition at age 16 and set about flaying bowlers who had been around the scene for a decade or more \u2013 that largely explains his lop-sided first-class record.\n\nSince making his debut as an 18-year-old in a Sheffield Shield match against Victoria in 2012, Head has reached 50 on 50 occasions, but only nine times has he pushed on to post a century.\n\nIt's almost as if the momentum he builds as he spends more time at the crease ultimately pushes him beyond the edge; as he races through the gears, he finds it difficult to throttle back.\n\nEncouragingly, Head knows that's an issue and one that carries even higher risk when playing against top-flight bowlers in the Test arena.\n\nHe felt confident he had curtailed the habit in his first home Test series against India last summer when he scored 72 in Adelaide and then 58 in a winning team in Perth.\n\nHead-strong Travis puts up fifty\n\nBut he candidly confesses some old traits returned in the second half of that series.\n\n\"I think I did a really a good job in Adelaide and Perth, then got a little bit greedy in Melbourne (where he scored 20 and 34) and Sydney (20) when the wickets were better and I wasn't able to do it for long enough,\" he said.\n\n\"That was the most disappointing part, because I got to Melbourne (for the Boxing Day Test) feeling really good and felt like there was a score not far away.\n\n\"I got a couple of scores throughout (the India series) but wasn't able to go on and get a big score.\n\n\"The way I was going about it \u2013 I know it's not going to work every day, and there will be days when I am challenged, and I can get through that.\n\nHead on the attack at the SCG // Getty\n\n\"But there will also be days when I might not.\n\n\"I understand the England bowlers will put me under pressure and test that patience.\n\n\"For me, it's about making sure I continue being as positive as I can but also give myself the best chance to get big hundreds, and put us into great positions.\"\n\nThe breakthrough arrived during the two Tests against Sri Lanka that followed the India campaign, and after he had been elevated (along with fast bowler Pat Cummins) to the role of vice-captain under Tim Paine.\n\nHead responded to that additional responsibility with scores of 84 (in Brisbane) and then 161 and 59 not out in Canberra.\n\nHead crafts gritty 84 against Lankans\n\nNot only do those most recent Test knocks, as well as the unbeaten 139 he posted for Australia A against England Lions at Canterbury two weeks ago, have him confident of retaining his Test place amid pressure for middle-order batting berths from Labuschagne and Matthew Wade.\n\nIt also instils within him a level of comfort that he could take over the captaincy duties in his role as deputy should Paine be forced from the field, and he is nominated ahead of Cummins for the leadership post.\n\nSelection chair Trevor Hohns last week suggested that Cummins was perhaps a more likely stand-in skipper should that scenario arise, but added that \u2013 given the workload heaped upon fast bowlers \u2013 the front line quick was no certainty to play every match on the current Qantas Ashes Tour.\n\nHead revealed contingency plans for the captaincy have not yet been formally discussed within the group, but noted he was but one of several state team skippers in the current Test squad.\n\nIn addition to Mitchell Marsh, the Western Australia captain who had previously been appointed a Test vice-captain until he lost his place in the starting XI last summer, Usman Khawaja (Queensland) and Matthew Wade (Victoria and Tasmania) boast plentiful leadership experience.\n\nWade, Head push Ashes case with Australia A\n\nAnd Josh Hazlewood was also a recent appointee alongside Marsh as vice-captain until he succumbed to a back injury during the India Test series.\n\nIn addition, ex-Test captain Steve Smith and his former deputy David Warner are on hand to lend their insights and experience even though neither is able to formally hold a position of office within the team.\n\nPlus, Head can call on his own experience gained from four years in charge at South Australia, a position in which he's applied captaincy styles and strategies learned from his predecessors at the Redbacks, Michael Klinger and Johan Botha.\n\n\"Just taking little bits out of everyone,\" Head said when asked if he relied on the input of a specific leadership mentor.\n\n\"I obviously had Steve (Smith) for a lot of my one-day international career, and Painey's been fantastic.\n\nPaine and Head were rival skippers at the intra-squad game // Getty\n\n\"It was nice to field next to him at first slip on the Australia A tour because I got a great understanding of the way he thought about the game.\n\n\"I think in my first few years, I was trying to find that and probably looked at the job (as being) higher than what it was.\n\n\"But I think in the last few years, I've really taken a good focus, just making sure that my role is no bigger than anyone else's and just being there to create a really good environment.\n\n\"Just being really calm and consistent in the way I go about things.\n\n\"And then if games are getting a little bit out of hand, we can make sure that we're calm and in control.\"\n\nFull highlights of Head's first Test ton\n\nDespite his concerted efforts to rein in his more extravagant instincts when batting, and to remain a cool and calculating presence in his vice-captaincy role, Head admits he will be hugely excited if his Ashes dream materialises.\n\nLike the other mid-20s members of the Ashes touring party, Head retains only sketchy childhood recollections of the last time Australia won a series against England in the UK in 2001 \u2013 when he was aged seven-and-a-half.\n\nBut he has been an avid consumer of subsequent series in Britain, and recalls being glued to a television while on holiday in the Greek Islands when Ashton Agar scored his famous 98 at Trent Bridge in 2013.\n\nHe's also been among the crowd when Steve Smith's taken England's bowlers to task in recent Ashes campaigns, and enjoyed watching India in their Test battle against England during the previous northern summer.\n\nQUICK SINGLE Emotional Head pays tribute to Hughes\n\nHowever, he's already planning ways in which to keep his euphoria under control should he join those who have previously taken the field in their Baggy Green Caps to contest the Ashes in England.\n\n\"I'm someone who has, in the past been too excited, even before the game has started,\" Head admitted.\n\n\"But I've learnt from that, and JL (men's team coach Justin Langer) has been really, really good in making sure that we are fresh and ready to go.\n\n\"Over the next few days I'll get my work in but relax a bit at the same time.\n\nQUICK SINGLE Khawaja passes fitness test, Warner cops nasty knock\n\n\"Mum and Dad and everyone will come over at some stage and it's exciting to play somewhere I haven't played (a first-class game) before.\n\n\"Edgbaston is a big ground, and it's loud and it'll be hard not to be excited.\n\n\"But it's about making sure I have my mind on the job.\"\n\n2019 Qantas Ashes Tour of England\n\nFirst Test: August 1-5, Edgbaston\n\nTour match: Australians v Worcestershire, August 7-9\n\nSecond Test: August 14-18,Lord's\n\nThird Test: August 22-26, Headingley\n\nTour match: Australians v Derbyshire, August 29-31\n\nFourth Test: September 4-8, Old Trafford\n\nFifth Test: September 12-16, The Oval"}
-{"text": "New Delhi: India will not rush into ordering a nationwide grounding of Boeing Co.\u2019s 737 Max 8 planes but retains the option to do so, a senior government official said. Civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu met his ministry officials earlier on Monday to take stock of the situation after Sunday\u2019s deadly crash of a Boeing 737 Max 8 jetliner of Ethiopian Airlines , followed by China\u2019s grounding of all such planes used by its carriers.\n\nMeanwhile, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued additional guidelines for operating Boeing 737 Max 8 planes. The steps relate to engineering and maintenance of such planes and having experienced pilots. The regulator said in a statement that the steps are \u201cinterim safety measures taken with inputs available at this stage\". It will closely monitor the situation and may impose more steps, if needed.\n\nThe crash of Boeing\u2019s best-selling aircraft has sparked safety concerns worldwide. The Ethiopia plane crash was the second accident involving the Boeing 737 Max planes in five months. The first was of a Lion Air plane in Indonesia in October.\n\nAlthough grounding aircraft is an option, the government would not take a decision in a hurry, the official said on condition of anonymity. \u201cThe correlation between Sunday\u2019s plane crash with any safety issue with the aircraft has to be established. The DGCA is keeping a close watch on the situation,\" the official said.\n\nTwo of India\u2019s biggest airlines, Spicejet Ltd and Jet Airways (India) Ltd, have so far taken delivery of 18 B737 Max 8 planes. Five of those planes, forming part of Jet Airways\u2019 fleet, have been grounded by lessors for non-payment of dues.\n\nThe two carriers are awaiting delivery of a total of 362 Boeing 737 Max jetliners, which are slated to be delivered over the next decade, according to airline executives.\n\nThe Ethiopia plane crash has raised concerns about whether the Boeing 737 Max 8 jets are prone to faults, especially during take-off. The crash of the Ethiopian Airlines\u2019 aircraft, as well as that of the Lion Air jet, took place during their take-off phases.\n\nView Full Image While SpiceJet has 13 Boeing 737 Max planes, Jet airways has five. (Paras Jain/Mint)\n\nThe Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines\u2019 737 Max 8 crashed minutes after take-off, killing all 157 people on board. Four Indians were on board the ill-fated flight. Last October, a 737 Max 8 flown by Lion Air crashed into the sea, killing 189 people.\n\nAfter its review meeting on Monday, DGCA observed that \u201cthe \u201cDaily Defect\u2019 and \u2018Daily Incident\u2019 reports contained defects of routine nature and no significant concern was observed\".\n\nAhead of the meeting with SpiceJet and Jet Airways and Boeing, a DGCA official said, requesting anonymity, that no immediate grounding of the B737 Max was expected before gathering of credible data to arrive at a conclusion on the plane\u2019s airworthiness.\n\nSpiceJet did not respond to emailed queries. A spokesperson for Jet Airways said the airline has five B737 Max in its fleet, but is currently not operating them. \u201cThe airline is in contact with the manufacturer and the regulator in context of this development, and remains committed to implementing all directives or advisories that may be published by those authorized,\" the spokesperson said.\n\nThe Boeing 737 Max, a narrow-body jet that entered into service in 2017, is Boeing\u2019s rival to Airbus SE\u2019s A320neo planes.\n\nBoeing 737 Max planes witnessed robust demand globally as the manufacturer claimed they would bring down fuel costs of airlines by about 15%, and engineering and maintenance costs by another 10-15%.\n\nIn 2015, Jet Airways placed an order for 75 Boeing 737 Max aircraft, and extended it by another 75. In a regulatory filing in June 2018, the airline said it would buy an additional 75 jets, taking the total order size of its Boeing 737 Max fleet to 225.\n\nIn January 2017, SpiceJet placed an order for 205 Boeing planes valued at $22 billion or \u20b91.5 trillion at list price. With an earlier order for 55 planes and 100 additional 737 Max 8 aircraft, the airline firmed up an order for 155 planes. It also has purchase rights for 50 Boeing 737 Max 8 and wide-body aircraft.\n\nAn industry expert said the Ethiopia plane crash did not appear to be linked with safety issues.\n\n\u201cHow can there be a \u2018safety issue\u2019 with an aircraft family that is the latest in the market, less than five months in service, and which has just been introduced,\" asked Mark Martin, founder and chief executive of Martin Consulting Llc.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s appropriate that we sum it up as the \u2018stick-shaker\u2019 problem that we saw on the Lion Air crash, as that was linked to the air speed indication being \u2018asymmetric\u2019,\" Martin said.\n\n\u201cThe Boeing 737 Max is the latest that\u2019s out there and I don\u2019t believe that one doubts Boeing quality and workmanship; yet, aircraft don\u2019t necessary have to fall from the skies; so clearly, Boeing, the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) need to step in to solve the problem, and if it means to ground the 737 Max worldwide, then so be it.\"\n\nBoeing on Monday said it had no basis to issue new guidance to operators based on information available so far in the Ethiopian Airlines crash investigation.\n\nIn another statement, it said a technical team would travel to the crash site to provide technical assistance under the direction of the Ethiopia Accident Investigation Bureau and the US NTSB.\n\nSubscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.\n\nShare Via"}
-{"text": "open-loop-studio - Max/msp patches for live sampling, looping, and buffer playback manipulation. Will eventually be re-implemented in C++ with JUCE.\n\nThe price point for a nice loop pedal sits around $300. Here is a set of abstractions and examples that works in the same way, and provides a ton of extensible features including precise control of sample parameters, as well as the full flexibility of the max environment.\n\nRealistically, this project is much broader than creating a loop pedal clone. The ultimate goal is to have a flexible and extensible live sampling performance environment, which can be mapped to any controller or set of controllers.\n\nMuch more to come, stay tuned!\n\n-Derek"}
-{"text": "BLOCKCHAINS, SPANNING ACROSS INDUSTRIES\n\nIt is important for a blockchain to have good participation, a small blockchain with a limited number of participants can be a waste of resources. This has given rise to the concept of industry based blockchains. Projects like GLITZKOIN are promoted for the benefit of an entire industry, in this case the diamond industry.\n\nAn industry would be composed of many companies that perform similar functions and produce similar products. The garment industry for example, would include numerous factories that make various types of garments. A blockchain for this industry would aim to bring all these factories and business houses on the blockchain.\n\nA blockchain could be limited to an industry within a country or could go beyond geographical borders. The GLITZKOIN diamond blockchain will allow sellers from across the globe to list their diamonds on the platform, similarly buyers located anywhere in the world could buy these listed diamonds. This is one of the few blockchains that is planned on a global scale.\n\nEvery industry relies on a number of ancillary products and services for its business operations. Packaging, printing, shipping and transport and insurance could be some of these ancillary businesses. By putting ancillary providers on the same blockchain as the main industry that they serve, industries could bring the benefits of blockchain technology to small businesses that would otherwise, be left out of a major change.\n\nWhen we talk about blockchains spanning across different industries, it is not necessary that one industry be larger than the other. For example, the entertainment and broadcasting industry could build its own blockchain and include, large telecommunication providers on the same platform. A huge chain of department stores, could have a blockchain that includes all product suppliers.\n\nA blockchain can eliminate the need for tediously maintained manual records. This reduces chances of errors and the possibility of fraudulent changes being made on recorded information. Besides improving efficiency, blockchain technology can also ensure accuracy and reliability. Lower overheads will allow for better product pricing, this in turn will have a positive impact on market size. And when this effort is linked across different industries, the benefits are multiplied. It is at that point that, all stakeholders win."}
-{"text": "There has not been too much discussion about Yannick Weber since he signed a one-year, $575,000 contract with the Nashville Predators on July 1. That whole Shea Weber for P.K. Subban swap may have overshadowed the signing just a bit, but the addition of Weber is an impactful move, so let's take a look at what the 27-year-old brings to the table.\n\nWeber spent his last three seasons with the Vancouver Canucks and put up a career-high in points during the 2014-15 campaign with 10 goals and 11 helpers in 65 games. He followed that up by not lighting the lamp once this past season while tallying seven assists in 45 games. Since being selected by the Montreal Canadiens in the third-round of the 2007 NHL Draft, Weber has recorded 70 points (22 G, 48 A) in 274 games at the NHL level.\n\nWhile his point total doesn't jump off of the page, there are plenty of other things that point to Weber being a strong addition to the already elite Nashville defensive group.\n\nFor starters, Weber fits the trend of Nashville blue liners that can play a 200-foot game as he has the ability to join in on the attack. If this situation turns out how most us are expecting it to and Weber slots in on the right-side of the bottom pairing alongside Anthony Bitetto next season, the Predators now have six defensemen that can push play, serve roles on both ends of the ice and find an open skater with their passing abilities.\n\nWith Roman Josi, Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Ellis, Bitetto, Subban and Weber being the make up of Nashville's blue line this season, there is a clear and obvious theme among that group: speed.\n\nPredators' general manager David Poile alluded to that idea a few days after signing Weber, telling Adam Vingan of The Tennesseean \"We're looking again for more skill, more speed on the back end. That's our theme in everything that we've been doing.\"\n\nThe Predators buying out the final year of Barret Jackman's contract adds to the idea that Nashville wants to be as fast as possible in all facets of the game and especially on the blue line. Adding Weber to the group and removing Jackman does just that.\n\nWhile on the subject of Jackman - the player Weber would virtually be taking over for - let's look at a few of Weber's and the veteran's numbers at even strength from last season.\n\nWeber (seven points in 45 games played, 708:27 TOI): 50.43 Corsi For Per 60, 53.85 Corsi Allowed Per 60, 36 Shots On Goal, 12 Giveaways, 10 Takeaways, 33 Blocked Shots.\n\nJackman (five points in 73 games played, 947:36 TOI): 58.32 Corsi For Per 60, 46.75 Corsi Allowed Per 60, 64 Shots On Goal, 32 Giveaways, eight Takeaways, 75 Blocked Shots.\n\nStats via Corsica.\n\nAs you can see in Weber's HERO chart, from both an offensive production and possession standpoint, Weber falls somewhere between that second and third pairing spot based on his numbers last season on a rather thin Canucks team.\n\nThe Swiss d-man averaged 18:50 of ice time per contest last season, out of necessity because of the group around him in Vancouver, which would have put him fifth among Nashville defensemen. Weber won't be receiving that type of ice time in Nashville, which could open the door for a breakout season with less weight on his shoulders.\n\nHe also averaged 2:17 per game on the man advantage with five of his seven helpers on the year coming on the power play.\n\nIn fact, 33 of his 70 career NHL points have come while on the man advantage. He had five power play goals and three power play assists during his career-high 2014-15 season.\n\nWeber hasn't scored a power play goal in 542 days (Jan. 30, 2015) but he still begins his Predators' career with power play experience and taste of success under his belt. Among fellow bottom pairing defensemen like restricted free agent Petter Granberg and Bitetto, Weber is the only one with legitimate experience on the man advantage at the NHL level.\n\nDefenseman Matt Irwin, who was signed to a two-year contract by Nashville on July 1 as well has NHL power play experience, most recently when he averaged 1:20 per game with the San Jose Sharks during the 2014-15 season.\n\nWeber likely won't crack the top two power play units for Nashville, but having him waiting in the wings certainly doesn't hurt anything. Adding a guy like him to the mix may open the door to be a bit more creative on the power play in terms of deployment and such.\n\nIt will be a lot of fun to watch if Weber can get back to that 20-point mark this season alongside his former teammate in Subban and former teammate/great friend in Josi."}
-{"text": "NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Trump administration\u2019s decision to ask about citizenship on the 2020 Census questionnaire could undermine the quality of the data by discouraging non-citizens from responding, the U.S. Census Bureau\u2019s chief scientist said.\n\nFILE PHOTO: U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke arrives at the presentation of the 2010 Census U.S. population at the National Press Club in Washington December 21, 2010. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas//File Photo\n\nBut, added John Abowd in written testimony seen by Reuters, the question will not necessarily lead to an undercount, because the government has strategies to \u201cmitigate these effects.\u201d\n\nAbowd\u2019s declaration, which has not previously been made public, comes as the administration of President Donald Trump prepares to defend the controversial policy shift in a two-week trial scheduled to begin on Monday in federal court in New York.\n\nThe addition of the citizenship question was announced in March by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who billed it as a way to enforce the Voting Rights Act. The act requires a tally of citizens of voting age to protect minorities against discrimination.\n\nEighteen states and 15 cities have since sued the administration, arguing that the new question is actually intended to depress participation in the Census by immigrants, who tend to reside in Democratic-leaning areas.\n\nIf undercounted, areas with high immigrant populations could lose seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as their share of more than $800 billion in federal aid, both of which are allocated based on population data.\n\nAbowd, the government\u2019s main witness in the trial, acknowledged in his declaration that the question could \u201clower the quality of census data.\u201d\n\nBut he said there was \u201cno quantitative evidence\u201d it would lead to an undercount, citing other means of enumeration, like following up with non-responders, gathering data from existing government records, and estimating data that cannot be found directly.\n\nEarlier this year, Abowd was among the Census Bureau officials that advised Ross against adding the question, saying it could discourage participation.\n\nSome census experts argue that, while there is no data suggesting the citizenship question will lower the overall count, there is also no evidence to the contrary.\n\nFormer U.S. Census Bureau Director John Thompson, an expert witness for the plaintiffs, said in a September declaration that \u201cobtaining such documentation would involve a multi-year testing\u201d program.\n\nThe Trump administration has denied any pretext for adding the question, saying the rationale is supported by \u201can extensive administrative record,\u201d and is legally enforceable even if the plaintiffs show that Ross may have had other motivations for the decision.\n\nThe government argues that in order to block the question, plaintiffs would need to prove that the bureau would be unable to avoid an undercount. Abowd\u2019s testimony is central to the government\u2019s defense on that point.\n\nWhile the trial is set to start Monday, the Trump Administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to delay it."}
-{"text": "I'm a nurse at the ER and my ex's drug addict of a girlfriend comes in one night. I called the police and said she was doctor shopping and now she is doing 5-7 years.\n\n298 shares"}
-{"text": "The lethal element is not only in people, but it has also polluted rivers and fish, state-run news agency Andina reports (in Spanish).\n\nThe government plans to send hospital ships and loads of untainted fish to the area, where illegal miners use mercury to separate the gold from rock and then dump the chemical into water streams.\n\nThey often handle the neurotoxin with their bare hands and inhale its fumes when it is burned off.\n\nMercury poisoning can affect vital functions such as the nerves, digestive system, lungs and kidneys, according to the World Health Organization.\n\nThe story, unfortunately, is nothing new. For years, illegal miners have been eating away the Peru\u2019s rainforest, while the government tries to tighten the screws on illegal mining. However, the battle against illicit miners is far from over.\n\nUntil recently, no one really knew the full extent of the damage, but a research team from the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC, and Peru\u2019s Ministry of the Environment released in 2013 the first set of satellite images mapping the destruction.\n\nThe study showed the illicit activity had already destroyed almost 20,000 hectares of the Amazon rainforest.\n\nThe findings shocked millions and finally highlighted the devastating effect illegal miners have had in the area.\n\nCovert gold production in the South American nation has increased fivefold since 2012, and it is estimated to provide 100,000 direct jobs in the country, 40% of which are in the Madre de Dios region, located in southern Peru.\n\nThe situation is mirrored in dozens of the countries, where gold is similarly mined and where the desperately poor often end up working in risky conditions.\n\nPeru is the world\u2019s sixth largest gold producer, but an estimated 20% of its annual output is of unknown origin.\n\nWatch the impacts of the devastation in this video:"}
-{"text": "Fremantle have continued to secure the future of the club's younger playing stocks with 20-year-old Darcy Tucker agreeing to terms on a two-year contract extension.\n\nWith Tucker\u2019s original contract set to expire at the end of this season, the two-year deal will see the running defender in Fremantle colours until at least the end of the 2019 season.\n\nTucker joins a number of teammates who have extended their contracts in 2017, including Nat Fyfe, Connor Blakely, Ed Langdon, Sean Darcy, Brennan Cox and Griffin Logue.\n\nTaken with pick no.27 in the 2015 National Draft, Tucker arrived at Fremantle with a game-ready physique, notching 30 games under his belt in two seasons of football.\n\nDespite a challenging season, Fremantle\u2019s youth have shown glimpses of their potential with eight wins in 2017.\n\nTucker said he was excited to continue his development at Fremantle.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m very happy to sign on for two more years and I\u2019m looking forward to seeing what it brings,\u201d Tucker said.\n\n\u201cWe have an exciting young list. I can\u2019t wait to put another two years on the board with Fremantle and, hopefully, build our way to success.\u201d\n\nTucker has been a benefactor from Fremantle\u2019s focus on youth during the past two seasons.\n\n\u201cTo get opportunities in my first year and to continue to play this year has been great,\u201d Tucker said.\n\n\u201cI feel as though that I\u2019m improving as time goes on.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve absolutely loved it, it\u2019s every kid's dream to play AFL and I\u2019ve been able to do that.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m looking to improve and establish myself over the next couple of years as an AFL player.\u201d\n\nGeneral manager of list management Brad Lloyd said he was pleased to see Tucker build and show his versatility, spending time in defence, the forward line and on the wing.\n\n\u201cDarcy\u2019s a talented young player who has great football character,\u201d Lloyd said.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s really applied himself since he walked through the doors.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re really looking forward to seeing him develop as a player with his attributes and running capacities.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s got the ability to play in a number of roles for the club going forward.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Michael Kruse is senior staff writer at Politico Magazine. Ayanna Alexander contributed to this report.\n\nOn September 20, 2004, the director of the Museum of Television & Radio in Los Angeles welcomed a packed crowd to an evening discussion \u201cfeaturing the two people responsible for giving television audiences across America a mesmerizing cultural phenomenon. \u2026 Just having launched its second season, \u2018The Apprentice\u2019 promises once again to be the water-cooler show that has everybody talking.\u201d The panelists on the stage were Donald Trump, the face of the show, and Mark Burnett, its maestro producer. And the moderator of the event, of note only because of the chucklehead-sidekick role he would play 12 years later during Trump\u2019s presidential campaign, was \u201cAccess Hollywood\u201d host Billy Bush.\n\n\u201cThis show is amazing,\u201d Bush said, cueing up a frenetic montage of highlights, in which Trump snarled, \u201cThis is a dictatorship, and I\u2019m the dictator. There\u2019s no voting. There\u2019s no jury.\u201d The audience clapped.\n\n\nMost of the rest of the discussion was fawning and unsurprising\u2014until the 41-minute mark. That\u2019s when Bush pointed out an uncomfortable numerical fact: Some 40 million people had watched parts of the first season finale. For the first episode of the second season, though, that number had plummeted. Barely one-third as many viewers tuned in. \u201cBe honest with me,\u201d Bush said to his guests. \u201cWere you thinking to yourself, Oh, jeez?\u201d He wondered if they were \u201cnervous.\u201d\n\nBurnett, clad in sort of \u201cSurvivor\u201d chic\u2014blue jeans, light blazer, shell necklace\u2014copped to some concern. \u201cHearing less than 20 million people,\u201d Burnett told Bush, \u201cpissed me off.\u201d\n\nNot Trump. What pissed him off was the question. Outfitted in his own uniform\u2014dark suit, white shirt, long tie\u2014Trump gave a response as characteristic as his dress. He blamed having to go up against an NFL game. Bush pressed him, and Trump turned belligerent. \u201cNo\u2014excuse me,\u201d he said, using a verbal stop sign he would make famous in debates and contentious TV interviews during his presidential campaign. Trump then unleashed a meandering, excuse-laden torrent that mentioned snow, golf and parents taking their kids to school. \u201cSo, I don\u2019t know what the purpose of the question is,\u201d he said.\n\nThe purpose of the question was to assess the staying power of public interest in Donald Trump. And though Bush could not have known it at the time, the drop-off he had identified would continue every season thereafter. \u201cThe Apprentice\u201dwas a hit right away, shockingly successful by anybody\u2019s account\u2014but by the time of this panel discussion, barely into season two, it had already peaked. Interest in Trump\u2019s show would never again approach its original heights.\n\nNow, a decade and a half later, having Transformered from reality-TV character to the most geopolitically crucial human on the planet, Trump finds himself in a similar situation. It\u2019s possible that no president in history has had such a grip on public attention in his first year. But now it\u2019s year two, and life in the time of Trump has settled somewhat into a bizarre kind of routine. Articles don\u2019t always go viral just because his name\u2019s in the headline (his name\u2019s in practically every headline). He is tweeting more often, and with more truculence, but not always garnering as much notice. His campaign rallies aren\u2019t the must-see circuses they once were, and he certainly doesn\u2019t generate much enthusiasm for the candidates he\u2019s there to support. His approval ratings are holding far steadier than \u201cApprentice\u201d viewership did, but it\u2019s hard to say the same about public attention. A year of intense, anxiety-laced interest in his every act has given way to eye rolls, exhaustion or both.\n\nIt might seem like a stretch to compare a reality TV program to a presidency, even Trump\u2019s\u2014except for the fact, of course, that Trump himself has done so. Before his inauguration, according to the New York Times, he advised aides to treat each day like an episode of a show. \u201cWelcome back to the studio,\u201d Trump told reporters in January at the White House, reveling in the \u201cratings\u201d of one of his live meetings with congressional leaders. Clear-eyed observers of Trump have come to understand his shifts in stance less as course corrections by a thoughtful leader than as plot twists by a showrunner. To those who watched him up close in his TV career, the roots are obvious. \u201c\u2018The Apprentice,\u2019\u201d Sam Solovey, a contestant on the first season, told me recently, \u201cwas like the petri dish for what we\u2019re experiencing today.\u201d\n\n\n\n\u2018The Apprentice,\u2019\u201d Sam Solovey, a contestant on the first season, told me recently, \u201cwas like the petri dish for what we\u2019re experiencing today.\u201d\n\nFor Trump, it\u2019s an even deeper pattern than that\u2014one that bears examination at a hinge moment for his administration. The relentless decline of \u201cThe Apprentice\u201d reflects a splash-and-crash cycle that\u2019s been a hallmark throughout Trump\u2019s life\u2014from his buildings to his casinos to even his brief stint as a sports team owner. His initial successes are often followed by reckless decisions to double down on his bet, just to keep the excitement going\u2014with often disastrous results. \u201cIt\u2019s true of everything he goes into,\u201d Trump biographer Tim O\u2019Brien said in an interview. \u201cHe will hunker down and do something well\u2014and then he thinks he\u2019s Zeus.\u201d And that\u2019s when the trouble starts. \u201cBecause he\u2019s not Zeus.\u201d\n\nIllustration by Doug Chayka\n\nNowhere was that clearer than his attempt to goose the ratings for his hit show. Even as its numbers dipped, he insisted it was still on top; he picked fights with critics and blamed others; and maybe most notably, he took on an even bigger role. Rewatching the first season of \u201cThe Apprentice,\u201d he is the star\u2014no question about that\u2014but it\u2019s surprising how infrequently he appears; he introduces the tasks, and then mostly vanishes as his teams bicker and compete until the climactic boardroom scenes when he fires somebody. But in the second season, things change. There\u2019s less team, more Trump. He makes more appearances in the middle, and the boardroom scenes are longer. And it\u2019s not only that he\u2019s there more. The volume is turned up. He\u2019s meaner. More performative. There are more soaring shots of his plane. More over-the-top shots of his scowl. It\u2019s hard to quantify, but it\u2019s hard to miss, too.\n\nAnd now, in the White House? Fueled by a cocktail of attention and unease, Trump\u2019s taking more control, or trying to\u2014dispensing with advisers, ignoring briefings, stoking plot twists and turns, feeding TV as surely as he\u2019s fed by it. Trade wars! Talks with Kim Jong Un! Who\u2019s next to get the ax? This is the first time he\u2019s been president, but he has been here before\u2014trying to rescue a second season, emboldened but threatened. And Trump is nothing if not a man, instinctive and impetuous, who\u2019s wedded to his habits. Looking back helps us see where we might be headed.\n\n\n\n***\n\nBy the time 2004 rolled around, Trump\u2019s record of sophomore slumps was long and clear. Trump Tower, opened in 1983, the first structure Trump erected from the ground up, was and remains his finest work; he never could put together his most ambitious intended sequel, the sprawling \u201cTelevision City\u201d project, instead getting mired in a bitter personal feud with New York Mayor Ed Koch. Ditto in the publishing world: His first book, The Art of the Deal, remains his biggest seller; the many others feel increasingly like cut-and-paste, score-settling knockoffs. In Atlantic City, the crippling spate of Chapter 11 bankruptcies didn\u2019t start until he overextended. The Trump Plaza and Trump\u2019s Castle, his first two casinos, opened back-to-back in 1984 and 1985, respectively, and performed decently. But by the launch of the Taj Mahal, finished in 1990, Trump was burdened by debt, which hastened the troubles. Even his sideline investments stumbled in year two: Trump owned the New Jersey Generals in the start-up United States Football League for three seasons, during which they went 14-4, then 11-7, then didn\u2019t play at all, because the league collapsed when Trump spearheaded an ill-advised antitrust suit against the NFL.\n\nBefore the debut of \u201cThe Apprentice,\u201d the Trump splash-and-crash cycle had settled into something of a stasis\u2014not a low point so much as a lull. The Art of the Deal was 17 years old. Even The Art of the Comeback, published in 1997, had turned stale, forgotten. Following his zeitgeist-appropriate excesses of the 1980s, his personal and financial failures of the early \u201990s didn\u2019t stop him\u2014but they did stain him. Serious people didn\u2019t take him seriously. Kwame Jackson joined the first cast of \u201cThe Apprentice\u201d after a job at Goldman Sachs. On Wall Street, Jackson told me, Trump was considered a \u201ccharlatan\u201d and a \u201cclown.\u201d In the words of New Yorker TV critic Emily Nussbaum, Trump was seen at this juncture as \u201cless an icon than \u2026 a retro cartoon.\u201d As much as his reality show helped \u201csave\u201d NBC\u2014the network was desperate for a hit with \u201cFriends\u201d about to end\u2014it\u2019s at least as true that NBC helped save Trump. The sudden, smashing success of \u201cThe Apprentice\u201d seemed to surprise even him.\n\n\u201cDonald, Donald,\u201d Larry King said on CNN early that year.\n\n\u201cCan you believe what\u2019s happened?\u201d Trump said.\n\n\u201cHow do you\u2014how did this happen?\u201d King asked.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d Trump answered, \u201c\u2018The Apprentice\u2019 has just been a phenomenon.\u201d\n\nIt was.\n\nMore than 18 million people watched the first episode. Behind \u201cCSI,\u201d an NFL playoff game, \u201cFriends,\u201d \u201cER,\u201d \u201cCSI: Miami\u201d and \u201cEverybody Loves Raymond,\u201d \u201cThe Apprentice\u201d was the most watched show that week. Then more than 20 million people watched the second episode. \u201cDonald Trump is back,\u201d the New York Post announced. In a letter to TV critics, according to Variety at the time, Burnett called Trump his \u201cbest-ever\u201d casting pick and a \u201ccaptivating television personality.\u201d\n\nTRUMP\u2019S SEASON TWO PROBLEM Throughout his career, President Trump has had difficulty following up his initial success. | NBC via AP\n\nViewers loved the team tasks that were little more than infomercials for Trump and his products and properties; the zero-sum culture battles he stoked\u2014between men and women, between college-educated and not; and the business banalities he uttered like Buddhist koans. \u201cFollow me,\u201d Trump tells would-be apprentices in one episode, getting whisked in an elevator to a suite they\u2019re asked to lease at the top of Trump World Tower. \u201cYou see why Trump is Trump.\u201d No one in Trump\u2019s ever-expanding audience seemed bothered by the contrast between his imperious demeanor in the fake boardroom and the concurrent and very real struggles of his debt-hobbled casinos. \u201cNot an issue for us,\u201d NBC\u2019s Jeff Zucker told the Los Angeles Times. The show was a \u201cred-hot\u201d hit. This juxtaposition contributed to the chutzpah that let Trump proclaim to Billy Bush that the second season was going to be even better.\n\n\u201cI was talking to Jeff Zucker, and I said, \u2018You know, Jeff, season two is even better than season one.\u2019 And he said, \u2018Why?\u2019 I said, \u2018Because I think I got better,\u2019\u201d Trump told Bush. \u201cAnd I think season two is actually beyond season one.\u201d\n\nIt wasn\u2019t.\n\nThe first episode of the second season dropped off 24 percent compared with the opener of the first season. \u201cSeason one of \u2018The Apprentice\u2019 was a rip-roaring success,\u201d Bob Thompson, a professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, told me. Season two was not. \u201cThe slide was pretty precipitous.\u201d\n\nRewatching that season, it\u2019s the same basic formula, only amped-up. There are 18 contestants, not 16. Whereas the product placement in the first season was minimal largely because nobody knew whether \u201cThe Apprentice\u201d was going to be a hit or a flop, the second season was practically built around it\u2014tasks tied in with Mattel, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble. \u201cI always say, \u2018More is more,\u2019\u201d Trump says in Think Like a Billionaire, one of the two books, along with How to Get Rich, that were quickly published in 2004 to capitalize on his revitalized celebrity\u2014and more is as good a word as any for the second season of \u201cThe Apprentice.\u201d\n\nThe first episode of the second season dropped off 24 percent compared with the first episode of the first season.\n\nIt\u2019s more crass. (In one episode, a male contestant suggests to another male contestant that he should fellate a foursome of gay diners so they can get a better review at the restaurant they\u2019re \u201crunning.\u201d) It\u2019s more frying-pan-to-the-face unsubtle. (When a group of winners gets as its reward a caviar dinner, one of them spells it out for the most dimwitted viewers: This is \u201ca metaphor for the lifestyle of Donald Trump.\u201d) It\u2019s more heavy-handed with its conflation of Trump and country. (In the first season, winners got in a helicopter in one episode for a spin past the Statue of Liberty; in the second, the first show\u2019s opening sequence crests with Trump literally standing at the base of the statue. Later, winners ride by, on the gargantuan Queen Mary 2, while belting out \u201cAmerica the Beautiful.\u201d)\n\nBut the biggest, most substantive difference, between the first season and the second is Trump himself. This was a decision of the makers of the show, but Trump had no trouble playing the part. He\u2019s angrier. He\u2019s more overtly omnipotent. As a character, he\u2019s simply more there. (\u201cRhona,\u201d he says to his secretary, Rhona Graff, talking into the phone in the rear of his limousine, \u201ccancel that meeting\u2014I\u2019m going over to Mattel.\u201d) And it\u2019s how he\u2019s presented. Watching the 15 episodes for this story, I found some season two scenes so stunning in light of the past three years of Trump\u2019s political ascendance that I had to hit rewind and watch them again. In the first episode, when he shows up unexpectedly at Mattel, he walks into the shot, his back to the camera, the silhouette of his hair pronounced, and the sound the show\u2019s editors pipe in is a cross between pixie dust and tinkling bells, like Trump is some blend of superhero and potentate. Throughout, there\u2019s a level of reverence, of obsequiousness, that\u2019s just not there in season one. In numerous season two episodes, when Trump sits down to deliver one of his business tips, the glowing, orange-peach-marble backdrop in the lobby of Trump Tower is so similar to many of the TV interviews he did during his 2016 campaign that practically the only thing missing is Anderson Cooper. And when he assigns the teams a task in some episodes, he arrives\u2014to a fanfare of royal trumpets\u2014by slowly descending to the lobby on that gold escalator.\n\nWas it just me who noticed this? I interviewed eight contestants from the first two seasons, and they saw the differences as well. \u201cI think Trump realized from season one to season two what a great portal he had to be able to market and promote himself,\u201d said Bowie Hogg, a school board member in Arlington, Texas, who voted for Trump and would do it again. \u201cTrump realized it was a great portal for him to be the focus.\u201d\n\n\u201cBowie\u2019s right. It did start focusing on Trump,\u201d said Heidi Bressler, who voted for Trump but wouldn\u2019t do it again. \u201cYou could see he was much more cocky.\u201d\n\n\u201cI remember coming into the first season, and they told us that he would be watching us,\u201d Kristi Frank told me. \u201cAnd after I was fired, I thought, \u2018He\u2019s not watching anything we\u2019re doing\u2014he has no idea what\u2019s going on behind the scenes.\u2019 But yet they told us, you know, we were looking at helicopters thinking that\u2019s him flying over. He was very hands off. \u2026 Season two, he found a great TV show on his hands, and he wanted to be a little more involved.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018The Apprentice\u2019 was about the candidates and Trump in season one,\u201d Hogg said. \u201cSeason two was about Trump.\u201d\n\nJennifer Crisafulli, a season two contestant, keyed in on a difference between the two seasons I hadn\u2019t fully appreciated. The contestants in the first season had last names. The contestants in the second did not. She was Jennifer C. The sole surname that mattered on the show was Trump\u2014\u201cMr. Trump.\u201d \u201cThey took away our identity and put it more on Trump,\u201d Crisafulli told me.\n\nThe contestants in the first season had last names. The contestants in the second did not. The sole surname that mattered on the show was Trump\u2014\u201cMr. Trump.\u201d\n\nThe show lasted another decade-plus, counting the gimmicky reboot \u201cCelebrity Apprentice,\u201d slowly dribbling into TV background noise. But it did something important for Trump himself, morphing him from a mainstay in New York tabloid gossip, a blowhard businessman, a famous-for-being-famous curiosity, into a full-fledged TV star. In 2005, with viewership already sagging, Trump\u2019s personal public approval rating in Gallup polling hit 50 percent\u2014his all-time high. Many people already had known Trump\u2019s name, said Henry Schafer, executive vice president of the Q Scores Co., which measures overall awareness and brand appeal. \u201cBut they didn\u2019t really, I believe, pay much attention to him as a personality, so to speak, until he got on to \u2018The Apprentice\u2019 and had that regular prime-time exposure.\u201d Because of it, Schafer said, Trump\u2019s known-ness vaulted to the neighborhood of 80 percent of all Americans\u2014a level comparable to that of Tom Hanks or Clint Eastwood. It was more than even that, Troy McClain, a contestant on the first season, told me: \u201cThey saw him as a great leader, a no-bullshit kind of guy. They saw him as an effective decision-maker.\u201d\n\nSolovey from season one felt so strongly that Trump\u2019s \u201cApprentice\u201d-fueled visibility and persona would translate effectively into electoral politics that he wrote a long essay\u2014in October 2015\u2014and, he says, sent it to the Washington Post. \u201cDonald 101,\u201d he called it. \u201cLearn Why Trump Has a Lock on The Republican Nomination.\u201d Solovey suggested Trump would be the next president, too. \u201cLike him, hate him, agree or disagree with him, Republican or Democrat, you might just find yourself checking the box by his name come November 2016,\u201d Solovey wrote. \u201cLooking back, the yearlong odyssey was a case study in why Donald Trump continues to dominate the polls and why the other candidates have no idea how to combat his combative style and will likely fall short of him at every turn.\u201d The Post \u201cblew me off,\u201d Solovey told me. But Solovey was sufficiently confident that he bet money Trump was going to win. \u201cI made probably four or five bets in the $100 to $200 range\u201d that fall, he said. \u201cI got a little nervous with the Access Hollywood thing. And then I said to myself, \u2018You know what? That just guaranteed it.\u2019\u201d\n\n\n\n***\n\nJust as the first season of \u201cThe Apprentice\u201d was the most successful season, the first year of the presidency is often the most productive year. In an article called \u201cDonald Trump\u2019s First Year,\u201d recently published in a collection called Crucible, presidential historian Michael Nelson wrote about this. \u201cAs Paul Light has argued, almost every president has suffered a \u2018cycle of decreasing influence\u2019 during his tenure in office,\u201d Nelson noted. \u201cWhen expectations raised during the campaign cannot be met, some because they are excessive and others because they are contradictory, people become disappointed. \u2026 Consequently, presidents experience what Paul Brace and Barbara Hinckley have called a \u2018decay curve,\u2019 a decline in public approval of the president\u2019s performance that normally begins about halfway through the first year and lasts well into the third year. \u2026 According to Light, one implication of the \u2018race against time\u2019 that marks the cycle of decreasing influence is that \u2018the first year offers the greatest opportunity.\u2019\u201d\n\nTrump, as is his tendency, has \u201cdecayed\u201d even more grandiosely than his predecessors.\n\nIllustration by Doug Chayka\n\n\u201cTrump, has accelerated the cycle of decreasing influence beyond all reasonable expectations and has been spending his political capital at an astonishing rate,\u201d Light, a professor of public service at New York University and the author of The President\u2019s Agenda: Domestic Policy Choice from Kennedy to Clinton, told me. \u201cHe entered office with enough capital to make at least a modest impact in his first year but wasted much of it on repeal and replace [of Obamacare]and has little left to deploy.\u201d\n\nWhat he\u2019s doing instead is what he did with \u201cThe Apprentice.\u201d \u201cHe seems to be maybe following a path that parallels his TV show,\u201d Brace, a political scientist at Rice University, said. \u201cTo sustain interest and support for his show, he got more engaged. And he seems to be expending more energy on his own administration, stamping it with his own personality, even more than he did initially\u2014which is hard to get your head around, because I\u2019ve never seen a president stamp his administration more. But he does seem to be moving in that direction.\u201d\n\nThe theater of Trump\u2019s presidency is unmistakably borrowed from \u201cThe Apprentice.\u201d The show was built around a boardroom, with high-backed chairs, Trump\u2019s the tallest. \u201cThank you, Mr. Trump,\u201d the contestants said. The presidency has introduced a new and oddly parallel ritual, where cameras are invited for televised \u201cmeetings\u201d with congressional leaders or Cabinet members. \u201cThank you, Mr. President,\u201d they say.\n\nThe dynamic, too, has a TV flair.\n\n\u201cI thrive on energy,\u201d Trump says early in the first episode of the second season of \u201cThe Apprentice.\u201d \u201cEnergy is what it\u2019s all about.\u201d\n\n\u201cI like conflict,\u201d Trump said in March. \u201cI like watching it, I like seeing it, and I think it\u2019s the best way to go.\u201d\n\nThis might or might not be an effective management style, but it\u2019s unquestionably good TV. \u201cThe engine that powers reality television is conflict,\u201d Tom Forman, a reality TV producer and the creator of \u201cExtreme Makeover: Home Edition,\u201d told Vanity Fair after Trump won in 2016. \u201cWho\u2019s mad at who, who\u2019s ahead of whom, who\u2019s winning, who\u2019s losing,\u201d Trump says: \u201cThere will always be change\u201d\u2014and it sounds like a TV tease.\n\nGetty Images\n\nEven beyond that, though, year two of the Trump presidency is starting to feel like season two of \u201cThe Apprentice\u201d\u2014and the numerous second acts Trump has tried, and failed, to bring to the level of the first.There\u2019s more Trump. More, more, more. Some combination of incensed and assertive, Trump of late has been even more erratic, combative and capricious. Based on a comparison of his tweets in 2017 and his tweets in 2018, he\u2019s generally tweeting more now and retweeting other people less. He\u2019s tweeting more aggressively, too. Mashed-down caps lock. \u201cIF YOU DON\u2019T HAVE STEEL, YOU DON\u2019T HAVE A COUNTRY.\u201d Shots at Oprah Winfrey, Alec Baldwin, Jay-Z,the Oscars, his attorney general, \u201cCryin\u2019 Chuck Schumer,\u201d \u201cLiddle\u2019 Adam Schiff, the leakin\u2019 monster of no control.\u201d Belligerent, declarative blurts: \u201cCrazy Joe Biden is trying to act like a tough guy. Actually, he is weak \u2026 he would go down fast and hard, crying all the way.\u201d And the rolling roster of jettisoned contestants now has different and more consequential names: Michael Flynn, Reince Priebus, Anthony Scaramucci, Rex Tillerson, Gary Cohn, H.R. McMaster, David Shulkin. I noticed something pop up in the quick-scrolling credits of season two. I had to hit pause to read it in full. \u201cDonald Trump and his advisors discussed possible elimination decisions with the producers and NBC,\u201d it says. \u201cHowever, Trump alone made all decisions regarding elimination.\u201d\n\n\u201cI alone \u2026 \u201d\n\nAt the top, though, of the stubbornly long list of differences between Trump as a TV star and Trump as the president of the United States, of course, is this: There is no Mark Burnett in the White House, and there definitely was no Robert Mueller on \u201cThe Apprentice.\u201d Trump can\u2019t control everything. Even if he wants to. And the fact that there\u2019s no Burnett is a problem. \u201cMark Burnett,\u201d Syracuse\u2019s Thompson told me, \u201cmade Donald Trump look rational, fair, decisive and strong, week after week after week.\u201d\n\nIncreasingly isolated and on edge, the show Trump is running now is a Trump-first production\u2014booting moderating influences, replacing them with cable news parrots, talking about meeting with the North Korean dictator as if it\u2019s a surprise appearance at Mattel. In West Virginia recently, he theatrically tossed aside his \u201cboring\u201d speech and reprised his infamous comment about Mexican rapists. And yet even as Republicans have suffered from Trump-tied turmoil (Roy Moore in Alabama, Rick Saccone in Pennsylvania, GOP members of Congress opting to retire instead of running for reelection), Trump\u2019s own approval rating mostly has leveled off and even ticked up. It\u2019s something he learned from the run of \u201cThe Apprentice.\u201d His show didn\u2019t have to keep doing well for him to do well. It only reinforced his takeaway from experiences with casino shareholders and creditors at banks. He can keep winning even when the people around him start losing.\n\nThe stakes are different now. The potential consequences could not be more important. People could turn off \u201cThe Apprentice,\u201d and they did. That\u2019s not an option anymore.\n\nAnd the current script has Solovey in the mood to make more predictions.\n\n\u201cThe better Democrats perform in 2018 and 2020, the better chance Trump has of winning re-election,\u201d he told me. \u201cPeople will move left for every candidate except Trump. \u2026 Their ambivalence about Trump will be taken out on the down-ballot Republicans, but he\u2019ll be protected. It is the art of the Autocrat and some of it stems from the reality competition of \u2018The Apprentice.\u2019 The King/General rarely falls but the subjects/soldiers are taken out one by one.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s why he made the bets he did back in the fall of 2015. And it\u2019s why he\u2019s ready to make another one now, he told me the last time we talked.\n\nTrump will win in 2020.\n\n\u201cPut a thousand dollars on it,\u201d he said."}
-{"text": "Back in the days when Mark Wilson was in attendance, the most notorious cross-country route at Kirkbie Kendal School had the pupils leave by the back gates, turn left and head along the old canal towpath, under the low stone arch of the Change Bridge, past the allotments on their right. So far, so flat. Then they turned right and began the climb towards Kendal Castle, perched on top of a hill overlooking the Cumbrian town.\n\nThe path up to the rugged ruins of the 12th-century castle is long, winding and forbiddingly steep, the ascent made trickier by cobbled steps that grew slippery in winter months, and they would be asked to run up to the castle and down again until they could not climb"}
-{"text": "The Bengals picked a cornerback in the first round of the 2016 Draft to add to a unit that already has Adam Jones, Dre Kirkpatrick, Darqueze Dennard, Josh Shaw and Chris Lewis-Harris. Are the Bengals getting ready for life after Kirkpatrick, whose fifth-year option was picked by the team but will be a free agent at the end of the season. With the amount of money given nowadays to middling corners in the NFL, it is fair to consider how much Cincinnati will be willing to pay the former Alabama standout going forward.\n\nWhile the secondary played well throughout the 2015 season, Kirkpatrick was often seen as the weakest link at the position, and a player who had failed to live up to a bigger role in his first year as a full-time starter. Pro Football Focus was hard on him and graded him only better than other two corners in the entire league. The 6-1 former Crimson Tide star will again begin the summer as undisputed number two, on the opposite side of Jones, who re-signed with Cincy for three more seasons in the winter. Kirkpatrick will then have a chance to earn a big contract with the Bengals or elsewhere, but for that, he will definitely have to improve and show why he was a first round pick back in 2012.\n\nHe's never become the shutdown corner some predicted he would be when he entered the NFL, but he has made some strides in his ability to go one-on-one deep with bigger wide receivers.\n\nDespite playing zone more often than not, this is a good skill to have. Kirkpatrick will always have trouble against speedy receivers because of his length, but he is no Brandon Browner. This shows on tape plenty of times, and he was really bad when in the slot.\n\nHis thin frame and short arms are concerning and he lets the wide receiver get his hands on him and control him. Kirkpatrick also gets pushed out of the play way too often. Sometimes it is a veteran move like the one Steve Smith Sr. pulled on him - the play that caused his shoulder injury - but some other times it's just him getting burnt.\n\nHis footwork and lateral quickness are what you would expect from a very tall cornerback and as many of you are familiar with, Kirkpatrick had troubles against double moves and other fakes throughout the 2015 season.\n\nAnd yet his biggest flaws are the consistent mental lapsus he shows and how bad he was against the run last season - he was seen as a pretty good tackling defensive back coming out of college. Some say he missed so many tackles because of that shoulder injury sustained during their Week 3 clash against the Ravens, but he was doing it before as well. One of those brain farts he had almost cost the Bengals the win against the Steelers in Pittsburgh when he just played zone defense when he was supposed to cover Antonio Brown. Or my favorite moment of his, against the Chargers.\n\nThe jury is still out on Kirkpatrick as he enters his second year as a full-time starter. But with his contract up at the end of the 2016 season, there's no time like the present for him to step up and become the player we've wanted him to be."}
-{"text": "On The Dr. Oz Show, actor Corey Feldman revealed the identity of the second man who he says sexually abused him when he was young. Earlier in November, Feldman revealed the first of his alleged abusers and reported him to the Los Angeles Police Department. On Monday, he returned to the program, and Dr. Oz helped Feldman reveal the name of his second alleged abuser.\n\nAfter presenting Feldman with a picture of the abuser, Dr. Oz told the audience, \u201cThe man whose picture I just showed to Corey is Alphy Hoffman.\u201d\n\nAlphy Hoffman ran the exclusive Alphy\u2019s Soda Pop Club in the 1980s, a series of parties for children under 16 that was attended by many of the young stars of the day, like Corey Feldman and his friend Corey Haim. Feldman explained that he met his alleged abuser at 11 years old and claimed he was sexually abused by the age of 14.\n\nDr. Oz was unable to reach Feldman\u2019s alleged abuser for comment.\n\nWatch: Corey Feldman names actor he says abused him on The Dr. Oz Show:\n\nRead more from Yahoo Entertainment:\n\nTell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or leave your comments below."}
-{"text": "With Bollywood actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan stepping forward to donate lakhs to help the people affected by the devastating floods in Kerala, Sunny Leone goes an extra mile by arranging kilos of ready-to-eat hot food for the victims in various relief camps across flood-hit Kerala. The actor just took to Instagram to express how she's hoping to make a difference in some or the other way. She has, in fact, joined hands with fellow-actor Shraddha Kapoor's brother Sidhanth Kapoor who started this initiative. Sunny's husband Daniel Weber too, has enthusiastically participated in this act of humanity.\n\nSunny mentions on Instagram how she and Daniel are hoping to feed a warm meal with 1200kg\u2019s (1.3tons) of rice and dal to the victims of Kerala. She says, \"I know it\u2019s not a dent in what actually needs to be sent and I wish I could do more. Humanity at its finest @_prat@suved @siddhanthkapoor the men that arranged an amazing event at \u201cB\u201d in Juhu to bring help to those in need!\" Check out Sunny's post below.\n\nFor all the uninitiated, Shah Rukh Khan's foundation contributed Rs 21 lakh, Jacqueline Fernandez contributed Rs 5 lakh, Sushant Singh Rajput donated Rs 1 crore whereas megastar Mr. Bachchn joined the wagon by donating not just money but also some of his personal belongings. He contributed Rs 51 lakh cash along with six cartons of his personal clothing which includes about 80 jackets, 25 pants, 20 shirts, and Scarves. The actor has also donated around 40 shoes. ALSO READ: Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan donates Rs 51 lakh, reaches out to the Kerala flood victims\n\nWe are so glad that Bollywood is doing its best to help Kerala get back to its original happy and beautiful state."}
-{"text": "Share Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nReddit\n\n\n\nAfter months of testing since its developer release at the World Wide Developer\u2019s Conference in June 2014, Apple has now released OS X 10.10 Yosemite. (If you haven\u2019t been paying attention, you can read about its major new features in our initial coverage in \u201cApple Unveils iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite at WWDC,\u201d 2 June 2014). Yosemite is available for free in the Mac App Store as a 5.16 GB download. Refer to Apple\u2019s system requirements to see if your Mac can run Yosemite (most will, and the base requirements are the same as Mavericks), and if it will support all of Yosemite\u2019s new features (many older Macs won\u2019t, partly due to Continuity\u2019s need for Bluetooth 4.0).\n\nThe most noticeable change in Yosemite is a new visual design that takes its cues from iOS. It also brings compatibility with Apple\u2019s new iCloud Drive service and offers a slew of Continuity features to make working between Apple devices easier.\n\nAs always, we recommend waiting a few days before updating to see if any major issues develop and then proceeding with caution according to the time-tested advice in Joe Kissell\u2019s \u201cTake Control of Upgrading to Yosemite.\u201d For more on the new features, also check out Joe\u2019s \u201cDigital Sharing for Apple Users: A Take Control Crash Course\u201d and Scholle McFarland\u2019s \u201cYosemite: A Take Control Crash Course.\u201d\n\nAfter Yosemite\u2019s release on 16 October 2014, Apple pushed out iOS 8.1 and Apple Pay on 20 October 2014. The iOS 8.1 update is much smaller than the 5 GB iOS 8.0, ranging from 70 to 127 MB, depending on the device being updated.\n\nWith iOS 8.1, Apple seeks to remedy common user complaints, most notably by bringing back the Camera Roll in the Photos app, but only when iCloud Photo Library is not enabled. The update also opens up the beta of iCloud Photo Library, enabling you to sync all your photos and videos between your Apple devices (as long as they\u2019re running iOS 8.1, Yosemite, or Apple TV 7.0 or later). However, the Mac version of Photos, which will provide iCloud Photo Library support, won\u2019t be available until early 2015, so access via the Mac will be limited to iCloud\u2019s Web interface until then.\n\nAnother promised feature that arrives in iOS 8.1 is SMS Relay, which enables you to send and receive iPhone SMS (green bubble) messages via the Yosemite version of Messages.\n\niOS 8.1 also adds Apple Pay support to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, although Apple Pay is currently limited to the United States (for details, see \u201cApple Pay Aims to Disrupt Payment Industry,\u201d 9 September 2014). Since the initial announcement last month, Apple has signed up 500 more banks to the program, in addition to credit card companies American Express, MasterCard, and Visa. You will be able to use Apple Pay at a growing number of major retailers, such as American Eagle, Foot Locker, Macy\u2019s, McDonald\u2019s, Office Depot, Panera Bread, Subway, Walgreens, and Whole Foods.\n\nOther improvements in iOS 8.1 include:\n\nLow-space alerts before capturing Time Lapse videos\n\nFixes for Messages search, marking messages as read, and issues with group messaging\n\nResolution of Wi-Fi performance issues with some base stations\n\nA fix for a bug that could prevent Bluetooth connections with some hands-free devices\n\nA fix for a bug that could prevent screen rotation\n\nThe option to select between 2G, 3G, and LTE cellular networks\n\nFixes for a Safari issue that would prevent video playback\n\nAirDrop sharing support for Passbook\n\nThe capability to enable keyboard dictation separate from Siri\n\nHealthKit-enabled apps can now access data in the background\n\nA number of improvements to accessibility\n\nFixes for an issue that prevented the use of OS X Caching Server for iOS updates\n\nIf you want help with iOS 8, we hope to have it soon, in the form of my \u201ciOS 8: A Take Control Crash Course.\u201d You can pre-order now, and we\u2019re working hard to integrate details about features that weren\u2019t fully operational before the release of Yosemite, along with the just-released changes in iOS 8.1."}
-{"text": "A Massachusetts nurse has died from coronavirus after she quit working at a home due to management's handling of the outbreak.\n\nMaria Krier, 59, complained last month about what was going on at Life Care Center of Nashoba Valley, where as of Friday 10 residents had died and 67 were infected.\n\nKrier got sick two weeks ago and died in hospital on Friday.\n\nSpeaking shortly after she quit in early April, she claimed that bosses at the Littletown facility keep it quiet that one resident had tested positive for COVID-19, and put others at risk.\n\n'They discovered this particular woman had it. They never told anybody,' Krier told WCVB. 'We kept waiting for the ball to drop. Like, when are you going to tell us we're exposed to it?'\n\nNurse Maria Krier, 59, got sick two weeks ago and died fro coronavirus on Friday\n\nKrier blew the whistle, claiming there was a lack of care for patients exhibiting symptoms. She said there was no initiative to protect workers and patients.\n\nLittleton officials said they 'were stonewalled by officials at Life Care Centers' after they tried to trace contact and identify people who had been in close contact with an infected resident.\n\nLife Care Center of Nashoba Valley confirmed Krier had passed away and said she worked for there a short time.\n\n'We are deeply saddened by the passing of one our associates during these challenging times the country is experiencing,' regional vice president, Kate O'Connor, said in a statement. 'Our heartfelt condolences go out to her family and friends.\n\n'We are fighting a virus that is still largely unknown, and our nurses and staff continue to provide the best care given the guidance we have received from both federal and local health agencies.'\n\nThe National Guard came in to test the rest of the patients but no staff were tested at the time.\n\nKrier claimed that bosses at the Life Care Center of Nashoba Valley in Littletown, Massachusetts (pictured) 'discovered this particular woman had it. They never told anybody'\n\nNow the facility wants all staff tested too.\n\n'To date, testing has been limited in order to prioritize the most vulnerable residents of the state,' Life Care explained in a statement. 'Last week, working with the Massachusetts National Guard, we completed full testing of all residents within the facility.'\n\nLife Care confirmed 75 employees out of 204 are now off sick. Fourteen members of staff have tested positive for coronavirus and another 17 are absent on doctor's orders.\n\nIn the telephone interview before she took a turn for the worse, Krier continued: 'I love doing what I do but I can't work for incompetent people any more.'\n\nNow Krier's coworkers are haunted by what happened to her.\n\nMany employees plan to resign because they were not tested, WCVB reported.\n\nAs of Sunday morning, Massachusetts had over 22,800 coronavirus cases and 680 deaths.\n\nAs of Sunday morning, Massachusetts had over 22,860 coronavirus cases and 686 deaths"}
-{"text": "A woman is photographed next to an inflatable dog in Wan Chai on the second day of Lunar New Year. The Hang Seng Index rose by 36 per cent in 2017, a performance that it is unlikely to repeat this year. Photo: Dickson Lee"}
-{"text": "The art of drawing on a computer has become something of a lost art since Microsoft Paint's heyday, but Google's new program is hoping to bring it back.\n\nAutoDraw, a new website from the internet giant, uses artificial intelligence to recognise what you are drawing, and suggests a professionally-made version, turning your amateurish sketches into works of art.\n\nWhen you begin drawing something, AutoDraw starts to recognise what you're trying to accomplish from your crude doodles, and can turn them into drawings that actually look something like the real thing."}
-{"text": "One Does Not Simply Go to bed without fapping\n\n489 shares"}
-{"text": "By 2009, Florida's real estate market had plunged, dragging with it a Bradenton project being developed by the brother of U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan.\n\nOnly a few homes had been built in the community, known as Cortez Landings. Work had been at a standstill for almost two years.\n\nYet in the depths of the financial crash, Cortez Landings LLC found a buyer willing to pay $1.4 million for some weedy vacant lots. Manatee County Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit group that builds homes for the poor, is now stuck with undeveloped land worth less than $500,000, about a third of what it paid.\n\n\"It was not a good deal, it absolutely wasn't,'' said Patricia Staebler, a certified general appraiser who joined Habitat's board last year. \"They overpaid in 2009.''\n\nEd Buchanan, brother of Sarasota's Republican congressman, lost money on the sale compared with what he originally paid. But he mitigated his losses by selling to Habitat at a time when traditional real estate deals had all but shut down.\n\nRep. Buchanan benefited from the deal, as well.\n\nHabitat still owes $1 million to a company owned by Buchanan's wife and one of his top executives. And unbeknownst to Habitat until Thursday, Buchanan has been using the Habitat mortgage as collateral for a multimillion dollar loan he got from Bank of America.\n\nIf he defaults, Bank of America would own the Habitat mortgage and could require the nonprofit to pay the full $1 million it owes when the final payment comes due less than two years from now.\n\nAlthough Habitat officials say they could come up with the funds, the organization already has so much money tied up in Cortez Landings \u2014 at least $450,000 \u2014 that it has affected the pace of its building projects.\n\nThe Habitat mortgage is part of the collateral for a $3.9 million loan Buchanan got in 2008 from Bank of America, according to official records filed in 2010 in Manatee and Hillsborough counties. Other collateral includes a mortgage on land in New Tampa owned by one of Buchanan's former campaign contributors.\n\nIn a statement to the Tampa Bay Times, an attorney for the congressman said the loan was \"fully and properly'' listed on Buchanan's federal financial disclosure statements.\n\nThe attorney did not respond to a reporter's questions about the Habitat for Humanity deal.\n\nFinancial squeeze\n\nFirst elected in 2006, Buchanan has risen to positions of power in both the U.S. House and the Republican Party. He is the only Floridian on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, and he is a major fundraiser for the National Republican Congressional Committee.\n\nBut throughout his career, Buchanan, 61, has been dogged by allegations of unethical business practices, illegal campaign contributions and misrepresentation of personal finances. The House Committee on Ethics found numerous errors on his disclosure forms but said in July it would not pursue punitive action.\n\nBuchanan faces a tough challenge this year from Democrat Keith Fitzgerald, who says the three-term congressman has \"refused to come clean'' about the allegations against him.\n\nDuring his second House race, in 2008, Buchanan took out a loan from Bank of America for $3.875 million, records show.\n\nIn his statement to the Times, Buchanan's attorney did not address questions about how the loan proceeds were used.\n\nAt the time, some of Buchanan's real estate ventures were souring. He faced hefty bills defending against lawsuits filed by former employees claiming they had been pressured into making illegal campaign contributions. He was in a reprise of his expensive 2006 race against Democrat Christine Jennings.\n\nIt also was the start of the global financial crisis, when banks had largely stopped lending.\n\n\"The foundations of the economy were already shaking,'' said David Bacon, a St. Petersburg lawyer and expert in real estate law. \"There was a lot more scrutiny and lenders were a lot more cautious.''\n\nDuring the 2008 campaign, however, there were no questions about how Buchanan got such a sizable loan because no mention of it appeared in public records until 2010.\n\nThat's when Bank of America told Buchanan it would not renew the loan unless he produced some collateral, official records show.\n\nA good deal?\n\nFor part of the collateral, Buchanan turned to the land in Manatee County.\n\nIn 2005, at the height of the boom, his brother's Cortez Landings LLC had paid $2.3 million for 64 lots in a run-down area of east Bradenton. Plans called for dozens of three-bedroom, two-bath houses, but only 11 were built.\n\nBy 2009, Cortez Landings had stalled. As money dried up, potential buyers and investors for Florida real estate projects were almost nonexistent.\n\nEnter Manatee County Habitat for Humanity. With one housing project nearing completion, Habitat was looking for more land. Treasurer Vicky Followell said Cortez Landings \"rose to the top'' among several sites being considered because it already had roads and other infrastructure.\n\n\"It was an exciting opportunity,'' she said.\n\nAfter negotiations involving Habitat's attorney and Buchanan's brother, Habitat agreed to buy 53 lots for $1.4 million in March 2009. Followell said an appraisal showed the land was worth \"a little more than we paid.'' Habitat, which has since moved offices, was unable to locate the appraisal last week.\n\nBut Staebler, the appraiser who later joined Habitat's board, said the price was too high.\n\n\"If they would have done a market study for subdivision development in the low-income bracket they would have seen this land is being overpaid,'' she said.\n\nWhen Habitat bought the land, property appraiser records showed that a typical lot in Cortez Landings had a market value of less than $23,000. Habitat paid $26,415 per lot.\n\nAt the time of the purchase, Habitat was interviewing candidates for executive director, a job that would involve shepherding Cortez Landings and other projects. Habitat selected Ronald Turner, who had recently resigned as Vern Buchanan's chief of staff and campaign manager after his second DUI arrest. Turner said he had no role in the decision to buy from Buchanan's brother.\n\n\"As far as I know, it was a standard business transaction and I don't know anything else to say about it,'' said Turner, now working for the Sarasota supervisor of elections.\n\nHabitat put down $400,000. The organization gave Cortez Landings LLC a balloon mortgage with interest-only payments until 2014, when the full $1 million becomes due.\n\nMore surprises\n\nIn July 2010, records filed in Manatee County showed Cortez Landings LLC had assigned Habitat's mortgage to Bank of America as collateral for Vern Buchanan's $3.9 million loan.\n\nShown the mortgage assignment Thursday by a reporter, Followell, the Habitat treasurer, and Diana Shoemaker, the current executive director, were surprised to learn Buchanan had used the mortgage to secure his loan.\n\n\"We should have known about this, right?'' Shoemaker said. She added: \"We as a nonprofit like to keep ourselves transparent, and we would hope for the same from those we deal with.''\n\nUntil it finishes a project in Ellenton and sells those houses, Habitat doesn't have money to build in Cortez Landings because fundraising has been slow, Shoemaker said. Meanwhile, Habitat is paying $50,000 a year in interest to Cortez Landings LLC, whose current owners include Buchanan's wife, Sandra.\n\n\"I had the feeling he (Buchanan) was anxious for us to get started on it,'' Shoemaker said of Cortez Landings, \"and we reiterated the challenges of the fundraising. I specifically asked him if there was any chance the interest could be abated for a period of time and he said he wasn't interested in doing that.''\n\nOne reason Buchanan could be eager to see Habitat start building \u2014 Habitat agreed to pay down the mortgage by $30,000 every time it sold a home in Cortez Landings.\n\nA Tampa connection\n\nOther collateral for Buchanan's Bank of America loan came from Hillsborough County.\n\nIn 2008, Sandra Buchanan incorporated Tampa Real Estate One and loaned $1.85 million to a company owned by Tampa home builder Tim Mobley, records show.\n\nAs security, Mobley gave a mortgage on vacant land in New Tampa, part of the K-Bar Ranch area he is developing near the Pasco County line.\n\nMobley has known the Buchanans since they moved in the early 1990s from Michigan to Tampa, then to Longboat Key. In 2008, Mobley, his relatives and employees were the biggest group of contributors to Buchanan's second House race.\n\nMobley was drawn into the campaign finance controversy when a former business partner claimed Mobley illegally reimbursed him for $8,800 in contributions to Buchanan's campaign in 2008. Mobley has denied the allegations.\n\nSandra Buchanan's loan to Mobley's company only became public two years later, when documents filed in Hillsborough County showed Mobley's mortgage was also used as collateral for Vern Buchanan's borrowing from Bank of America.\n\nBuchanan's statement to the Times said the transaction with Mobley was a \"routine business loan.'' The statement did not address questions about whether Buchanan is a partner or investor in any of Mobley's Tampa real estate projects.\n\nIf Buchanan defaulted on his Bank of America loan, the bank would own the Mobley and Habitat for Humanity mortgages. Habitat officials say they have enough in the bank to pay off the $1 million they owe, though it would mean less money to build homes for needy families.\n\n\"This is one of the challenges we're going to have to face,'' said Shoemaker, the executive director. \"It does impact on our ability to go forward.''\n\nSusan Taylor Martin can be reached at susan@tampabay.com.\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Gay and bisexual high schoolers are four times more likely to have attempted suicide in the past year than their straight classmates, according to the first nationally representative study of queer youth. The new Centers for Disease Control report confirms health differences between LGB and straight teens: far more of the former experience the negative health measures, the study tracks \u2014 from physical violence to poor mental health to injecting drugs.\n\nIt\u2019s already been established that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adults are often less healthy, both because of trouble getting health care and because factors like social stigma lead to higher rates of depression and mental illness. Previous studies have found that LGBT teens are more likely to be homeless and are at higher risk for suicide, but the new report \u2014 which did not include statistics for transgender teens \u2014 is the first that covers the entire US high school population.\n\nQueer teens are three times more likely to have been forced to have sex\n\nPerhaps the most somber result is that nearly one-third of gay and bisexual students have recently attempted suicide, while 43 percent seriously considered it. The numbers for straight students are 6 percent and 15 percent, respectively.\n\nQueer students are also at much higher risk for rape and domestic violence. About 18 percent of lesbian, gay, and bisexual students have been physically forced to have sex, compared to about 5 percent of straight students. Bisexual and gay students are twice as likely to have experienced both physical and sexual dating violence. They\u2019re also twice as likely to have been bullied \u2014 both on school property and online \u2014 and, accordingly, to have skipped school because they felt unsafe.\n\nWhen it comes to drug use, queer teens are five times more likely to inject drugs and four times more likely to try harder drugs like heroin and meth. This is consistent with previous reports suggesting people in the LGBT community use more substances to cope with prejudice.\n\nStatistics don\u2019t explain the disparities, but plenty of other research suggests that many factors \u2014 including the lack of a supportive network and not being perceived as either masculine or feminine enough \u2014 put youth at risk for violence, according to Deb Houry, director of CDC\u2019s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.\n\nThe study is published in the CDC\u2019s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. It uses data from the 2015 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey and looks at over 100 behaviors of both gay and straight high school students."}
-{"text": "I for one am ready to celebrate the Year of Fascism. It\u2019s heartening that Americans are trying to improve their understanding of what fascism really is.\n\nAs we move into the final weeks of 2016, Merriam-Webster is preparing to announce its Word of the Year, an honor bestowed on the word that attracted the most new look-ups in its online dictionary. The current front-runner? Fascism.\n\nGot something on your mind, America?\n\nDemystifying the F-Word\n\nThe good people of Merriam-Webster have reminded us that \u201cthere\u2019s still time to look up something else.\u201d I guess they\u2019d prefer to highlight a nicer word. I remember people being pleased as punch when \u201cscience\u201d won in 2013. This one isn\u2019t so feel-good.\n\nNevertheless, I for one am ready to celebrate the Year of Fascism. It\u2019s heartening that Americans are trying to improve their understanding of what fascism really is. Both Left and Right would benefit from more specificity and historical detail in their consideration of right-leaning autocracy.\n\nOn the Left, the word \u201cfascist\u201d is frequently used to mean \u201cauthoritarian-seeming person I don\u2019t like,\u201d or sometimes \u201cmilitant racist.\u201d It\u2019s just a term of abuse, and the Left has plenty of those already. Maybe if people read the definition, they\u2019ll realize the absurdity of using the term in connection with perfectly lovely people like Pope Benedict XVI.\n\nOn the other hand, I think conservatives could also benefit from more in-depth thinking about fascism. A common response to the F-word on our side is to freak out, call people paranoid, and start talking about Tucholsky Syndrome and Godwin\u2019s Law. This is understandable considering how liberals abuse the word. When people are constantly comparing their enemies to Hitler, we reach a point where the comparison sounds ridiculous no matter the context.\n\nConsider this, though. We regularly berate liberals for forgetting the dire lessons of history. We lament how our young people, with their limited memories, aren\u2019t sufficiently attentive to the evils of socialism. Are they only people who ever need to learn anything from history?\n\nThe American Right just elected a man who actively eschews the label \u201cconservative,\u201d affects a strongman persona, and promotes a nostalgic nationalism with seemingly little regard for constitutional constraints. We shouldn\u2019t panic. He hasn\u2019t even taken office yet. But it still seems reasonable to ask: are there historical examples of right-leaning, anti-democratic political movements that might give us a better appreciation of which pitfalls to avoid in the coming years?\n\nActually there are. In modern, developed nations, we typically refer to right-leaning autocracies as fascist.\n\nTrump Is Not Hitler\n\nDonald Trump is not the next Adolf Hitler. In some respects he is definitely unlike your standard fascist leader. For instance, most fascists show their political and military ambitions relatively early. Trump managed to skip out on military service, then meandered around in business and showbiz for most of his adult life. He pulled the trigger on his vaguely expressed presidential ambitions just in time to capture the record for \u201cmost geriatric first-time president.\u201d That\u2019s hardly the sort of ruthless political drive you would expect to see in a fascist.\n\nPartly because he hasn\u2019t spent his life building a political or military career, Trump\u2019s personal network is not the kind you would need to stage a violent political takeover. It\u2019s more what you would want for hosting a pledge drive for NPR. If Trump has Nazi stormtroopers waiting in the wings, they\u2019re very well hidden.\n\nThere is also the fact that the most ruthless totalitarians tend to be brainy ideological types, while Trump comes across as more of a Falstaffian blowhard, who might well benefit from a subscription to The Great Courses. He isn\u2019t stupid by any means, but I\u2019m pretty sure there\u2019s no Trumpian \u201cMein Kampf\u201d hiding in Trump Towers, waiting for posthumous publication.\n\nLearning from history, though, is not a matter of searching the annals of time for exact parallels to our particular situation. (There will never be any.) It\u2019s about setting different historical episodes side by side and asking ourselves: How are these situations similar, and how different? Both similarities and differences can be instructive. Over the past year I\u2019ve seen Trump compared to Andrew Jackson, Silvio Berlusconi, and King Richard III. None of those parallels are exact, of course, but all were somewhat interesting to ponder.\n\nIn that spirit, I find it rather off-putting how enthusiasts for the \u201cglobal war against globalism\u201d turn immediately to mockery and cheap psychologizing whenever someone draws parallels to historical fascist movements. Surely this is an obvious place to look for lessons about the potential excesses and perils of nationalistic movements that admire authoritarian leadership, champion working-class interests, and ostensibly support business while looking askance at free trade. Screaming \u201cGodwin\u2019s Law!\u201d and plugging our ears seems like a head-in-sand response.\n\nSo Let\u2019s Take Fascism Seriously, Please\n\nTrump is not Hitler, but the driving narrative behind Trumpism does have many elements that are reminiscent of fascism. Fascists thrive among people who feel they are living in the long shadows of a once-great society. Where communists reach out to the long-marginalized (or people who perceive themselves that way), fascists build power by stoking the resentments of people who regard themselves as the slighted or neglected core of a waning society. They typically promise to recover remembered national greatness through ramping up industry, but also by expelling or marginalizing elite or foreign elements, which are presented as leeches sucking away the national spirit.\n\nFascist regimes often go through periods of intense isolationism. Franco\u2019s Spain was impoverished for 20 years by his radical experiment with autarky, and all fascist leaders or movements have called for substantial trade barriers. This is consistent with fascism\u2019s drive to build social solidarity through a recovery of national pride and self-sufficiency. In many ways, fascism is an extreme reaction to the destabilizing and alienating forces of modernity. A hatred of cosmopolitanism is a regular feature of fascist thinkers.\n\nAs \u201ctwin\u201d forms of aggressive statism, communism and fascism have much in common, but the mood of each tends to be different. One is militantly progressive, the other militantly nostalgic. One exults in the moral authority of victimhood, while the other basks in the intrinsic strength and goodness of the middle-class everyman. They\u2019re similar enough that most statist movements contain at least some elements of each. History shows us, though, that experienced demagogues are often skilled at playing these camps against each other. So it\u2019s worth appreciating the contours of their different narrative arcs.\n\nIt may not be accurate to characterize Trumpism as fascist (or proto-fascist), but it checks enough boxes to make the comparisons interesting. It\u2019s authoritarian, pro-business (but skeptical of trade), high on the righteous wrath of the slighted middle-class everyman, nostalgic for remembered glory days, hyper-sensitive to the threats posed by bubbled cosmopolitans and foreigners, geopolitically anti-interventionist, and gung-ho for massive public works projects. Also, it derives a great deal of its energy from the vilification of left-wing ideology, which is typical of fascism.\n\nSome of our new nationalists even eschew the label \u201cconservative,\u201d which is interesting insofar as conservatives have a history of helping fascists to power in a vain belief that they can be controlled. As mentioned above, there are reasons to be more optimistic in this instance. Trump doesn\u2019t seem to have the kind of connections that would naturally facilitate a rapid consolidation of power. But the parallels may still merit reflection.\n\nOf course it would be wrong to dismiss all of these features of Trumpism as merely the products of crass demagoguery. Every successful political movement reflects and responds to some reality or felt need, and Trumpism is the same. Perhaps immigration policy does need reform. Maybe it is a good idea to build some bridges. Once again, though, it\u2019s wrong to view historical comparisons like a game of \u201cgotcha,\u201d in which historical comparisons either \u201cwork\u201d or don\u2019t. In some ways our circumstances resemble historical ones, and in other ways they are distinct. It\u2019s in the joint consideration of both similarities and differences that we may find useful lessons.\n\nLearning From History\n\nOne reason conservatives react so negatively to fascism-analogies is because the remembered \u201clegacy\u201d of fascist regimes is so heinous. The ten-second summary of fascism tends to be: brutal dictators who committed hideous atrocities. Accordingly, I understand why people tend to bristle at any comparison of fascist regimes to modern political movements. When I suggest that conservatives ought to pay more attention to the history of fascism, right-leaning friends tend to respond by warning me against fear-mongering and dialing every conversation up to 11.\n\nWe might still glean valuable lessons from looking at more-extreme versions of mistakes to which we ourselves are at least somewhat vulnerable.\n\nI understand the reticence, and this seems like excellent advice for liberals who are inclined to shout \u201cfascist!\u201d at every turn. But of course no political trend begins with its most radical or extreme incarnation. Even if we aren\u2019t very worried about (say) genocide, we might still glean valuable lessons from looking at more-extreme versions of mistakes to which we ourselves are at least somewhat vulnerable.\n\nThe resurgence of nationalist movements across the developed world is a clearly (at least in part) a response to some of the more destabilizing (or even dehumanizing) features of massive global markets and increased global connectedness. These are real problems, and often our elites have been far too ready to dismiss the afflicted as bitter clingers who just need to get with the times. At the same time, modern history amply illustrates that anti-modern and anti-globalist national-resurgence movements bring perils of their own.\n\nIf we don\u2019t trust liberals to assess those dangers, we need to do it ourselves. It\u2019s entirely unreasonable to suppose that only liberals need to be wary of repeating historical errors.\n\nWhat\u2019s a fascist? If you\u2019re not too sure, go do some reading. It\u2019s nearly the word of the year, you know."}
-{"text": "As we approach the general election, it seems like voters' perspectives can be lost among talking heads and media coverage.\n\nLast week, there was a substantial amount of attention on Indiana's primary. GOP candidates Senator Ted Cruz and Governor John Kasich dropped out of the race after losing the state to Donald Trump. There was speculation that Senator Bernie Sanders could have been winding his campaign down against Hillary Clinton before he won the Democratic primary in Indiana.\n\nThis week on Noon Edition, we discussed your perspectives on the Indiana primary, the upcoming national conventions, and general election.\n\nIndiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs Professor, Brad Fulton says that he sees many of his students reject the current political system because of how much of a mess it seems to be.\n\n\"It seems like the fallout of that is disillusionment among the voting public with the whole system,\" he says. \"Or even sort of a withdrawal from the process of being involved. I work with students at IU, and the number of students wanting to go into public service working for the government is going down.\"\n\nOne of our panelists, Beth Schroeder says that despite this gridlock we see in our government, voting is our most important tool in making actual change.\n\n\"Our IU Men and Women's Basketball Teams don't walk off the floor when the referees aren't in their favor, you know, you don't give up the game, and we've got to stay with this all the way through every election is very important and I think we can all encourage every voter to go the distance on this one,\" she says.\n\nAll of our panelists agreed that it can be important to go beyond soundbites and traditional coverage when voting. Former City Council Member Brad Wisler says the Internet can both be a source of information or just noise.\n\n\"You can find what most people are going to see on your Facebook feed, you know, your memes that aren't going to tell you much of anything that are just going to get you fired up, but if you are willing to spend a little time, you can watch entirety of every speech, every interview,\" he says. \"You can really dig deep on the issues and get a glimpse of what they're really like, not just in front of a crowd.\"\n\nPresumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump was a major topic of discussion in our show this week. Republican leaders like Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and chairman of the Republican National Convention, Reince Priebus have endorsed Trump. Former presidents, George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, have said they will not attend the Republican National Convetion in Cleveland. House speaker Paul Ryan met with Trump on Thursday. Our panelist Kurt Young says Ryan is trying to juggle a variety of issues when it comes to endorsing, or not endorsing Trump.\n\n\"He's trying to straddle a very fine line. Members of his caucus are Trump supporters, members that don't like him [Trump], won't support him. I think, at this point, the Republican party is confused about what to do with this guy,\" he says.\n\nWe'll have our panel of voters on again as the election cycle progresses to see how their views change.\n\nOur guests:\n\nBrad Fulton\n\nBeth Schroeder\n\nKurt Young\n\nBrad Wisler"}
-{"text": "A new ad for the much anticipated Super Mario Maker 2 has revealed new enemies, as well as new building mechanics. Fans who were impressed with the amount of creativity in the original Mario Maker may be in for a treat. Twitter user @MarkCooper has discovered a new advertisement for the next installment in the Mario franchise. The poster was found in an unnamed Japanese store, that reveals new things that have not been showcased up until this point.\n\nAs it may be too blurry for viewers to decipher, John from GameXplain has uploaded a breakdown of the poster. The top left image next to the switch reveals an underwater level in the classic Super Mario Bros style. The level is seen to have dynamic water as well as snake blocks. Within this screenshot, it is revealed that Super Mario Maker 2 may include Amiibo costumes, as well as potential size changes for Mario. The next image to the right reveals a new snow level in the Super Mario 3d World style as well as two Charvaargh\u2019s, and multiple Icicles.\n\nAdditionally, the screenshot also showcases Meowser, who didn\u2019t appear in the original Mario Maker. The bottom left image next to the Switch doesn\u2019t reveal anything new, but the one to the right does. The screenshot (in the Super Mario World style) presents coloured pipes, with new colours such as yellow and blue, as well as a cloud-like platform. Aside from the last image not revealing anything new, fans are definitely hyped for the sequel. Super Mario Maker 2 releases on the 28th of June 2019."}
-{"text": "Back for round 2 for the day! ;) When Model City Polish asked me if I would prefer to have these polishes scented or unscented I jumped at the scented versions! I'm not the best at describing scents, my usual response is \"it smells good\" or \"I don't like it\" :P, but I tried. ;)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBobbing for Apples has a clear base with iridescent, red hex and red circle glitters. It's available in apple scent. Shown is 2 coats of Bobbing for Apples over 2 coats of Nail Rock Pen Purple with top coat.\n\nLove this polish! The red circles are fabulous and I'm always a sucker for iridescent glitters. ;) Formula was perfect; I didn't need to \"fish\" for any of the circle glitter. It has a nice, crisp apple smell to it and like all 3 of these polishes, the smell lasts even with a top coat. :)\n\nThe Great Pumpkin Massacre is loaded with orange and black holographic glitters in a clear base. It's available in pumpkin bread scent. All nails are 1 coat over 2 coats of Illamasqua Radium with top coat.\n\nIt wouldn't be Halloween without orange and black! The Great Pumpkin Massacre is clearly a perfect Halloween mixture with a fabulous scent to boot. The scented version smells just like pumpkin bread, it even has a hint of cinnamon that makes me want to chew on my nails. :P Again another great formula!\n\nWitch's Brew contains a mixture of blue, silver, green, black and iridescent glitters. It's available in fruit punch scent. Here is 1 coat of Witch's Brew over 3 coats of OPI Hi Pumpkin! with an accent nail of 3 coats of Witch's Brew over bare nail.\n\nWitch's Brew that smells like fruit punch, woo-hoo! The smell reminds me of a a tall glass of yummy fruit punch. :) The coverage of this polish is great and in 1 coat it gave a perfect even application. As you can see, it's easy to build up this polish for full coverage if you like. I love how the added iridescent glitters add a nice spark amongst all the other glitters. :)\n\nDon't let my bottle deceive you, I did receive this bottle full I just have been using it a lot over the last few days! :P It soaks in quickly and leaves my cuticles nice and soft. The scent smells just like candy corn without being overly sweet. :)\n\n\n\n\n\nAll three of these polishes will be available August 31st at 12 PM CST in Model City Polish's Etsy store . You will have the option to purchase them scented or unscented and if you choose to purchase all 3 you, will receive a free mini cuticle oil in candy corn scent or unscented! Make sure to follow Model City on Facebook Instagram , and Twitter"}
-{"text": "President Obama traveled to a House Republican retreat in Baltimore on Friday and delivered a performance that was at once defiant, substantive and engaging. For roughly an hour and a half, Obama lectured GOP leaders and, in a protracted, nationally-televised question-and-answer session, deflected their policy critiques, corrected their misstatements and scolded them for playing petty politics. (Full video and transcript available HERE.)\n\nWhite House officials told the Huffington Post they were absolutely ecstatic. MSNBC's Luke Russert, who was on the scene in Baltimore, relayed that a Republican official and other GOP aides had confided to him that allowing the \"cameras to roll like that\" was a \"mistake.\"\n\nSo effective was the president that Fox News cut away from the broadcast 20 minutes before it ended.\n\nIt was the type of performance that Obama's supporters have long demanded and that his own aides have been eager to deliver. The question-and-answer session at the end wasn't initially supposed to be broadcast, but the White House pressured GOP leadership to bring the cameras in. They knew the optics it would generate, a source with knowledge of the planning relayed. Hours before the event began, Republican leaders finally relented.\n\nWhat resulted was what one Democratic strategist described as \"amazing theater\" -- certainly for cable news. Standing on a stage, looking down at his Republican questioners, Obama assumed the role of responsible adult to the GOP children, or, at the very least, of a college professor teaching and lecturing a room full of students.\n\nHe chastised Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) for calling his economic agenda radical and poked fun at the GOP's own platform. \"I am not an ideologue, I'm not,\" he said. \"It doesn't make sense if somebody could tell me, 'You could do this cheaper and get increased results,' then I would say, 'Great.' The problem is, I couldn't find credible economists who could back up the claims that you just made.\"\n\nHe rebuked a questioner who insisted that the monthly deficit is higher now than Bush's annual deficit. \"That's factually just not true,\" he said. \"And you know it's not true.\" He lampooned Republican lawmakers seated in front of him for portraying his health care legislation as \"some Bolshevik plot.\" He mocked Republicans for railing against the stimulus package and then showing up at \"the ribbon-cuttings for some of these important projects in your communities.\" And he did it all while calling for \"a tone of civility instead of slash and burn will be helpful.\"\n\nWhether it was chutzpah, political savvy, or both, it certainly was refreshing. Reporters were thrilled with the British Parliament-style exchange between president and lawmakers. The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder asked that forums like these be held monthly. The Nation's Chris Hayes suggested Obama next go before the progressive caucus. Ezra Klein of the Washington Post labeled it \"the most compelling political television I've seen...maybe ever. NBC's Chuck Todd added: \"The president should hold Congressional 'town halls' more often. Public needs to see this if they'll ever trust Washington again.\"\n\nFrom the narrower vantage point of the White House, the event also made for effective politics, spurring some comparisons to the type of political engagement relished by former President Bill Clinton.\n\n\"Most people thinking about this would have thought 'ooh Obama is going into the lion's den,\" said Dee Dee Myers, Clinton's former press secretary. \"But there was a great opportunity to jujitsu that. On one level it looked brave but on another he was the substitute teacher there, lecturing the audience.\n\n\"A lot of us have been waiting for that moment, a little more fight, a little more politics,\" she added. \"He is in a political business and he has to pay attention to not just the substance but the politics.\"\n\nWATCH:"}
-{"text": "Story highlights Organizers reported turnout of 400,000 for annual July 1 protest in Hong Kong\n\nProtesters primarily voiced opposition over appointment of new chief executive\n\nUnderlying ongoing issue of Chinese central government's influence in the city's affairs\n\nNew chief executive's swearing-in conducted in Mandarin rather than Cantonese\n\nHundreds of thousands of protesters flooded Hong Kong's streets Sunday, shortly after the city's new chief executive was sworn in during a ceremony with Chinese President Hu Jintao on the 15th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty.\n\nDespite the humid weather, organizers reported that 400,000 protesters turned out for the annual July 1 protest against what they say is the ever-encroaching hand of the Chinese central government in the city's affairs and freedoms.\n\nIt was the largest turnout since the estimated 500,000 protesters who marked the same date in 2003. Police put the figure at a much lower 63,000 people.\n\nThe march capped a weekend of opposition to the appointment of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying \u2014 also known as C.Y. Leung -- who was voted in by an electoral college of 1,200 influential figures in Hong Kong with Beijing's approval, as well as the suspicious death of Tiananmen dissident Li Wangyang . These recent flashpoints topped the list of ongoing grievances about the lack of universal suffrage, soaring housing prices, worsening pollution and a growing wealth gap.\n\nAmid megaphone-led chants for Leung to \"step down\" and myriad banners and costumes mocking Leung as a cunning \"wolf,\" some protesters waved the former Hong Kong flag used under British rule -- a gesture used to symbolize the erosion of the city's freedoms following the 1997 handover.\n\nPhotos: Looking back: Britain hands over Hong Kong Photos: Looking back: Britain hands over Hong Kong Britain hands over Hong Kong \u2013 The glittering financial city of Hong Kong was handed back to Chinese rule on July 1, 1997, in a mix of nostalgia, fear, and excitement. The handover ended 156 years of British colonial rule and the British empire in Asia. Hide Caption 1 of 14 Photos: Looking back: Britain hands over Hong Kong A shop assistant for luxury jeweler Tiffany's displays two porcelain souvenir boxes for sale, one featuring the new Bauhinia flower emblem of Hong Kong, the other the five stars of the Chinese flag. Hide Caption 2 of 14 Photos: Looking back: Britain hands over Hong Kong Perfomers in Beijing form the new Hong Kong flag at a rehearsal for a gala performance in honor of Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule. President Jiang Zemin was due to attend the performance on the evening of July 1 after returning from the handover ceremony in Hong Kong. Hide Caption 3 of 14 Photos: Looking back: Britain hands over Hong Kong An elderly Hong Kong man signs an anti-communist board during a demonstration by activists of the Hong Kong Democratic Party on June 28, 1997. Some residents feared democratic rights and freedoms would be eroded in Hong Kong under Chinese rule. Hide Caption 4 of 14 Photos: Looking back: Britain hands over Hong Kong Two Royal Navy sailors remove a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in HMS Tamar, the British Forces' Hong Kong headquarters, clearing the facilities for China's People's Liberation Army. Hide Caption 5 of 14 Photos: Looking back: Britain hands over Hong Kong British police troops perform in a \"Beating the Retreat\" ceremony on June 28, 1997, at Government House, the residence of outgoing Governor Chris Patten. The ceremony was also attended by Prince Charles. Hide Caption 6 of 14 Photos: Looking back: Britain hands over Hong Kong Chris Patten, the 28th and last governor of British colonial Hong Kong, receives the Union Jack flag after it was lowered for the last time at Government House on June 30, 1997. Hide Caption 7 of 14 Photos: Looking back: Britain hands over Hong Kong British solders participate in the British Military Farewell Ceremony at the HMS Tamar military base on June 30, 1997. Hide Caption 8 of 14 Photos: Looking back: Britain hands over Hong Kong Hong Kong Garrison People's Liberation Army soldiers applaud during a farewell ceremony attended by the Chinese Central Military Commission in Shenzhen, China, on June 30, 1997. The soldiers entered Hong Kong before the change of sovereignty became effective at midnight. Hide Caption 9 of 14 Photos: Looking back: Britain hands over Hong Kong Fireworks light up Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour on the night of June 30, 1997, to mark the British withdrawal from the territory. Hide Caption 10 of 14 Photos: Looking back: Britain hands over Hong Kong The official handover ceremony was held in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on July 1, 1997. The Chinese flag flies after the Union Jack was lowered. Hide Caption 11 of 14 Photos: Looking back: Britain hands over Hong Kong Chinese President Jiang Zemin (2nd L) shakes hands with Britain's Prince Charles (2nd R) following Hong Kong's transfer of sovereignty from British to Chinese rule. Hide Caption 12 of 14 Photos: Looking back: Britain hands over Hong Kong Tung Chee-hwa is sworn in as the first chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on July 1, 1997 after the territory reverted to Chinese rule. Hide Caption 13 of 14 Photos: Looking back: Britain hands over Hong Kong The new Hong Kong Special Administrative Region flag featuring a Bauhinia flower flies over the city from a ferry boat on July 2, 1997. Hide Caption 14 of 14\n\nJUST WATCHED Hong Kong 15 years later Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Hong Kong 15 years later 03:48\n\nJUST WATCHED Open Mic: Hong Kong's identity Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Open Mic: Hong Kong's identity 02:37\n\nJUST WATCHED China and Hong Kong: Who needs whom? Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH China and Hong Kong: Who needs whom? 02:28\n\nOther protesters used images of the Hello Kitty cartoon to mock Leung's claim that Hello Kitty stickers in his home showed that previous tenants were responsible for his home's illegal \u2014 and highly controversial -- building structures, which came to light last week. Draping a Hello Kitty sash across his chest, Hong Kong artist Kacey Wong steered an all-pink army tank labeled as the \"cultural bureau,\" mocking Leung's proposed new government department.\n\nSignificantly, Leung's swearing-in ceremony on Sunday was fully conducted in Mandarin rather than the local Cantonese language, a move that did not go unnoticed by citizens sensitive about the encroachment of China's national language in Hong Kong.\n\n\"How completely alienating. If we have to watch a leader we didn't elect get sworn in, we could at least have it conducted in our own language,\" tweeted user @supercharz, Charmaine Mok.\n\nLeung ignored reporters' requests for comment about the protests as he exited the ceremony.\n\nThe carefully orchestrated ceremony was interrupted during Hu's remarks by a heckler who shouted slogans calling for a redressing of the Tiananmen Square massacre and the establishment of a democratic Chinese nation before he was bundled out by security.\n\nThe ceremony capped Hu's three-day visit to Hong Kong. Hu left the city before the July 1 march commenced at 3 p.m. local time.\n\nHowever, hundreds of protesters gathered outside Hu's hotel on Saturday, where they were enclosed within unusually high barricades that towered more than 2 meters high, which had not been used in Hong Kong since World Trade Organization protests in 2005. Several protesters and journalists were pepper-sprayed in the scuffle.\n\nDuring Hu's tour at the Kai Tak cruise terminal the same day, an Apple Daily reporter who yelled out a question about the Tiananmen Square massacre was removed by police from the press area and questioned under a stairwell.\n\nMeanwhile, the Hong Kong protests went unmentioned in the extensive coverage of the handover anniversary presented by Chinese state-run television station CCTV and news agency Xinhua . CNN's television broadcasts about the handover anniversary in Hong Kong were blacked out in mainland China on Sunday and Monday, while BBC World's coverage was also censored after it veered from Leung's inauguration remarks to mentioning concurrent protests.\n\nA photo circulating widely online Sunday picturing fireworks exploding in Victoria Harbor over the heads of protesters captured the divide between the government's representation of the sentiment surrounding the handover anniversary and the discontent brewing amid many citizens.\n\nIn a statement addressing the July 1 march, the Hong Kong government said it \"fully respected people's rights to take part in processions and their freedom of expression and would listen to their views in a humble manner.\"\n\nIt went on to say that the government will \"uphold the core values of Hong Kong and protect the freedom and rights of the people.\""}
-{"text": "Beijing (AFP) \u2013 Chinese vaccine manufacturers who falsify test results or break other rules could be fined up to $720,000 under a new law proposed after a scandal that fulled public fears over domestically made medicine.\n\nThe law would regulate areas including production, distribution and use of vaccines, according to a draft posted Sunday on the website of China\u2019s market regulator.\n\nThe country was earlier this year rocked by a scandal that saw a manufacturer of rabies vaccines fabricating records.\n\nWhile authorities say the affected vaccines did not enter the market, the case provoked outrage from consumers fed up with recurring product safety scandals, particularly in pharmaceuticals.\n\nUnder the proposed law, those who flout the rules can be fined up to 5.0 million yuan ($720,000) for offences including submitting false test results, not recalling problematic batches and \u201cother serious illegal acts\u201d.\n\n\u201cThose who participate in illegal behaviour, shield or connive with violators, hide the facts through fabrication, or impede investigation will receive severe punishment,\u201d the draft said.\n\nThis is the first time a law has explicitly targeted vaccines, which were previously covered by regulations controlling medicine.\n\nThe authorities last month slapped the Changchun Changsheng Biotechnology company with a massive $1.3 billion in penalties over the rabies vaccine scandal.\n\nThe firm\u2019s chairwoman and 14 other people were arrested in connection with the affair in July while more than a dozen national, provincial and local officials were sacked, including several senior officials from the drug regulatory agency.\n\nChina is regularly hit by scandals involving sub-par or toxic food, drugs and other products, despite repeated promises by the government to address the problem.\n\nAfter the latest case came to light, the authorities announced a nationwide inspection of laboratories producing vaccines.\n\nBut many Chinese parents say they no longer have confidence in the medicines administered to their children.\n\nDuring the height of the scandal, clinics in Hong Kong saw a run on their vaccine stocks by worried parents from the mainland.\n\nPresident Xi Jinping described the vaccine debacle as \u201cvile\u201d and \u201cshocking\u201d in July while Premier Li Keqiang said the latest case had crossed a \u201cline of human ethics\u201d.\n\nIn August, India ordered a recall of rabies vaccines made by Changchun Changsheng and complained that it only found out about possible problems through media reports."}
-{"text": "Thousands of UK restaurants could be at risk of going out of business as the sharp fall in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote raises costs for imported food and threatens to squeeze consumer spending.\n\nOver 5,500 restaurants companies could go bust within the next three years, due to inflationary pressures and stagnating disposable incomes, according to a new research by accountancy firm Moore Stephens.\n\nAlmost half of British food, which includes both restaurants and households, is imported, according to government figures, with 29 per cent coming from the EU.\n\nRestaurant companies have also seen the cost of labour increase. The government raised the National Minimum Wage to \u00a37.20 from \u00a36.70 earlier this year which has put added strain on restaurants already struggling to remain profitable.\n\nBoth small businesses and larger restaurant companies have been hit as a result.\n\nThe Restaurant Group has decided to close 33 restaurants across the UK, including 14 Frankie & Benny\u2019s branches and 11 Chiquito restaurants, after a \"challenging trading period\".\n\nThe company also has plans to close its flagship Garfunkels branch on the Strand.\n\nWhat does the falling pound mean for you?\n\nMike Finch, restructuring partner at Moore Stephens, said: \u201cIt\u2019s been a tough year for many restaurants in the face of rising costs and fierce competition. It is unrealistic to expect UK restaurant groups to avoid the impact of the fall in the pound by substituting for UK produce \u2013 they are going to face a big hit. Restaurants have to make tough decisions as to how much they try to pass on to consumers; too much and they risk losing business, too little and they lose margin.\u201d\n\nMr Finch said that sterling's slump had hit both small medium size restaurants as they are less likely to negotiate long-term supply contracts. This also comes at a time when many consumers are careful with how much money they spend.\n\n\u201cThere may be further challenges to come as the UK\u2019s trading agreements with Europe remain uncertain. Many in the restaurant industry would consider the idea of additional import tariffs on foodstuffs with horror.\u201dMr Finch warned.\n\nThe pound has fallen by around 16 per cent against the US dollar since Britain voted to leave the European Union in June. This already means that any goods brought in from outside the UK will be more expensive.\n\nThe British Retail Consortium (BRC) warned that without reaching the right agreement with the EU by 2019, the UK could be forced to use World Trade Organisations (WTO) rules.\n\nBrexit Concerns Show all 26 1 /26 Brexit Concerns Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the \u201cback of the queue\u201d for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned \u2013 forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA \u2013 because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Getty Images Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germany\u2019s top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as \u201cgateway to Europe\u201d for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the Bundesbank\u2014Germany\u2019s central bank\u2014told a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were \u201cequivalent\u201d between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still \u201cmiles away from [Britain having] access to the single market\u201d, the BBC reports. Jason Hawkes Brexit Concerns Exodus The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union Shutterstock Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEO\u2019s performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterling\u2019s fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors. Rex Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK \"cannot possibly\" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean \"not leaving the EU at all\". Getty Brexit Concerns Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court Getty Brexit Concerns Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Brexit Concerns Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Brexit Concerns The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today EPA Brexit Concerns Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain Reuters Brexit Concerns Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry Getty Brexit Concerns Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote PA Brexit Concerns The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging Getty Brexit Concerns Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities Getty Brexit Concerns A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses Getty Brexit Concerns Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes Getty Brexit Concerns A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU Getty Brexit Concerns Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum Getty Brexit Concerns Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU Getty Brexit Concerns NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit Getty Brexit Concerns The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future Getty Brexit Concerns A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the \"Brexpats in Spain\" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain Reuters Brexit Concerns The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions Getty Brexit Concerns The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market Getty\n\nUnder WTO rules, tariffs on food and clothing could rise sharply, with meat increasing by 27 per cent and clothing and footwear up to 16 per cent. Meanwhile, Chilean wine could be 14 per cent more expensive for importers.\n\nDave Lewis, the chief executive of Tesco, last month, warned its international suppliers against using the plummeting pound as an excuse for illegitimate prices increases."}
-{"text": "Filming for Game of Thrones season 5 in Croatia is finally winding down. After an intensive two weeks of shooting King\u2019s Landing scenes in Dubrovnik, the production team is currently at work in Villa Sheherezade.\n\nHowever, we haven\u2019t had our last insight into filming in the city of Dubrovnik itself.\n\nWiC has recently acquired some images, one of which shows cast member Jonathan Pryce, who will portray the High Sparrow in the upcoming season. This gives us our first look at the actor on set and in costume.\n\nSpoilers and more images after the cut.\n\nThere is a septa-like woman pictured with Pryce above. It is interesting that she is striding with him as opposed to simply being in his general vicinity, being notably separate from the extras. This would seem to indicate an elevated level of importance in her role rather than simply being a background extra. At the very least, hers is likely a speaking role. Septa Unella, perhaps?\n\nThe rest of the images are of scenes at the Jesuit Staircase in the Old City. This block of filming took place from September 27th to October 1st, and there has been a plethora of images documenting it. The images below show what seems to be some sort of confrontation between Tommen and the Faith Militant. Cersei is notably absent, although Tommen is flanked by a large bodyguard consisting of both Kingsguard and Lannister men-at-arms.\n\nIn other news, the Game of Thrones crew will arrive in Seville tomorrow, October 6th. ABC de Sevilla notes that shooting there will not actually begin until the 10th, indicating that the production team will likely prepare props and sets over the first few days.\n\nTo hold us over until then, DeObia Oparei has confirmed that he will soon begin filming."}
-{"text": "The Way Things Are\n\n\u201cWhat concerns me is not the way things are, but rather the way people think things are\u201d \u2013Epictetus\n\nClaims that problems are inevitable, or that attempts to resolve problems will inevitably fail whether they be physical feats, or scientific barriers, or policy proposals, are problematic because they can substantively change the way that people perceive the world. If we are convinced, for example, that crime is inevitable, evidence to the contrary will fail to elicit our attention. We should be cautious, then, to levy accusations that certain feats, or problems, or beliefs are inevitable, because doing so only makes such prophecies self-fulfilling. This article will analyze the issue associated with \u201cinevitability\u201d arguments, and defensive positions in general, demonstrate why such arguments problematic, and explain the necessity of challenging them when we hear them.\n\nOffensive and Defensive Arguments\n\nThe first thing a high school debater learns is how to classify arguments into offense and defense. The entire first week of my debate career was dedicated to labeling arguments as such while my varsity debate team spewed out their debate cases in rapid-fire speed. Learning the difference between the two types of arguments is invaluable because it enables a debater to effectively prioritize the case so attention is directed where it matters the most.\n\nAn offensive argument is one that makes a definitive value judgment about an advocacy, enumerating specific reasons why a proposal should not be implemented. A defensive argument merely attenuates the magnitude of an offensive position, and cannot on its own provide a reason to support or oppose a policy. In debate, to put it simply, an offensive argument is a reason why a judge should vote for you, while a defensive argument is a reason not to vote against you.\n\nIn the rather goofy universe of policy debate, arguments of the variety: \u201cif you do X, you will initiate a chain of events that cause a nuclear war\u201d are considered \u201coffense.\u201d Defensive arguments are of the variety: \u201cif you do X, it likely won\u2019t have any benefit\u201d, or \u201cwe have done X before, and nothing good happened, so why should we try again?\u201d The first is referred to as \u201cimpact defense,\u201d while the second is referred to as \u201cempirically denying the impact.\u201d\n\nThere is another type of defensive position that forms the basis of this article, collectively referred to as \u201cInevitability Arguments.\u201d These arguments attempt to challenge the efficacy of a proposal by claiming that the problem in question is inevitable. A debater, for example, might argue, \u201cglobal warming is inevitable because of Chinese pollution, so a carbon tax in the United States is misguided,\u201d or \u201cfree trade and globalization are inevitable, so protectionist policies in the short-term are untenable.\u201d And so on.\n\nDefense Does Not An Argument Make\n\nThese arguments are very weak, even if they may be persuasive. Weak in what sense? Weak in that they don\u2019t offer positive evidence to support or challenge a proposal, but merely question the extent to which policy might be efficacious. Argument is as much a science as it is an art, and logic dictates that even an probabilistically small chance that we can avert a large consequence is enough to try.\n\nThis is especially true given the regularity with which inevitability arguments are consistently proven to be wrong. History is littered with examples of people arguing for the intractability of certain problems, only to find themselves in the harsh judgment of progress years later. Slavery was justified in the 1800\u2019s on the basis that lower classes must always exist for upper classes to rest on. This Mudsill Theory claimed that efforts to reduce racial and class inequalities \u201cinevitably run counter to civilization itself.\u201d The biggest argument against the application of the equal protection clause to gender was that \u201cbiology makes gender hierarchies inevitable.\u201d And so on.\n\nThe issue, in these cases, is that \u201cinevitability arguments\u201d failed to acknowledge how the status quo is complicit in the production of these ostensibly unavoidable outcomes\u2014if you treat African Americans and women as second class citizens, it will produce the very outcomes that are supposedly inevitable.\n\nThe other rather obvious problem with these arguments is that, even if a problem is inevitable, there will always exist the potential to minimize consequences. Disease is inevitable, for example, but we should still vaccinate our population and offer relief to those suffering. Death is also inevitable, but that\u2019s obviously an insufficient argument to just roll over and die.\n\nThe distinction between these two types of arguments is readily understood by debaters, and the importance of this distinction is rendered blisteringly salient every time one loses a debate due to \u201clack of offense.\u201d However, the public at large appears to be rather ignorant of this distinction, and so readers should take away from this article an understanding of how \u201cdefensive arguments\u201d creep into public discourse, and why we should be extremely skeptical when we hear them.\n\nGun Control and the Inevitability Argument\n\nTake gun control, for example. The default position for many pro-gun claims is rooted in inevitability arguments. If you are brave enough to venture into the comments section of this blog, you can see that this is the case:\n\nCriminals inevitably don\u2019t follow laws (it\u2019s in the definition of criminal!), and so gun control won\u2019t work. Mass shootings are inevitable; there will always be mentally unstable people who want to hurt others. Homicides are inevitable; hammers kill people, kitchen knives kill people, cars kill people, why should we restrict access to guns and not other objects? Suicides are inevitable, if people want to kill themselves, they are going to find a way to do it. Accidents are inevitable, we shouldn\u2019t punish gun owners for the unintentional mistakes of others. The list goes on.\n\nCuriously, there is one prominent academic scholar who has attempted to make an \u201coffensive\u201d argument for why gun control is bad, and that is John Lott. (He\u2019s really wrong by the way). But I can find no such examples of scholars making \u201coffensive\u201d arguments in other firearm contexts\u2014no one, for example, argues that the presence of guns decrease suicides, or decrease accidental deaths, or decrease injuries, or decrease household violence, or decrease mass shootings. In fact, the most aggressive headline I could find for the latter claim comes from FoxNews: \u2018Assault-weapons ban no guarantee mass shootings would decrease.\u2019\n\nInstead, conservative platforms seek refuge in defense. Libertarians, in particular, are incredibly consistent at following \u201cinevitability\u201d arguments to their logical conclusion. Consider the following arguments: \u201cdrug use is inevitable, so we should legalize drugs\u201d, \u201cIllegal immigration is inevitable, so we should seek market strategies to permit the free movement of labor across borders\u201d, \u201cBack-alley abortions are inevitable, so we should legalize abortions\u201d, \u201cTerrorism is inevitable, so we should withdraw our military from other countries.\u201d\n\nThere are reasons for supporting these positions but they have nothing to do with \u201cinevitably arguments.\u201d The logical basis behind these issues comes from arguments related to offense: arguments for drug decriminalization may relate to decreasing drug dependency or increasing tax revenue; arguments for immigration reform may relate to boosting economic growth, or decreasing criminal activity; and so on. A primary justification for a position should never be defense, and if it is, you can be confident that you\u2019re either wrong or accidentally right for the wrong reasons.\n\nPre-Empting Some Counter-Arguments\n\nI would like to address three compelling counter-arguments here:\n\nFirst, my point isn\u2019t that defensive arguments should never be used in policy circles; it\u2019s that defensive arguments should never form the primary basis behind constructive public policy. As I demonstrated above, inevitability arguments are currently being exploited to artificially restrict debate to a very narrow set of policies. We should scrutinize these arguments when we hear them because they\u2019re almost never accurate reflections of reality. They are easy to use, intuitively appealing, and allow one to dismiss an entire host of policies without having to examine any sort of evidence. If people would have accepted the inevitability of classism as articulated by the Mudsill Theory, then we would have never considered the civil rights legislation that followed. To summarize, defensive arguments aren\u2019t bad per se, but when people begin accepting them as: a) sufficiently proven, even when very little evidence is given to support the claim; and b) sufficient to single-handedly defeat a policy; then politics is doomed to failure.\n\nSecond, I imagine readers might argue that the basis behind conservative and libertarian support for the above positions is based on preserving \u201cindividual freedom\u201d, and that such arguments should constitute offense. Such positions, however, are not \u201coffense\u201d until they are tethered to an explanation of how this specific exercise of freedom is integral to human well-being. The freedom to scream \u201cfire\u201d in a crowded theatre, for example, is not offensively supported by the argument that free speech is a right\u2014one must articulate reasons for why the freedom to shout \u201cfire\u201d in a crowded theatre outweighs the costs. It is also not an argument, and this should be clear, to say that Schenck v. United States is misguided because \u201cit\u2019s inevitable that people will shout fire when inappropriate.\u201d It seems rather obvious that an inevitability argument applied in this context is nonsensical, yet conservative positions seem dominated by \u201cinevitability\u201d claims in other areas that are just as illogical. We should be wondering why this is the case.\n\nThird, it\u2019s not just conservatives that are using these arguments. Liberals, for example, might argue that adolescent sex is inevitable, so abstinence-only policies will fail. If this argument was the primary justification against abstinence, it would be a bad one. Perhaps adolescent sex is inevitable because of the lack of abstinence-only policies. Perhaps advocacy of abstinence, even if it can only persuade a very small percentage of adolescents, still has net beneficial outcomes. To make the argument offensive you need to explain how ignoring the inevitability of sex is detrimental to human well-being (i.e. facilitating sexually transmitted diseases, sexual abuse, teen pregnancy, and so forth). Nevertheless, it is the case that conservatives have a monopoly on defensive arguments; they use them far more frequently and more successfully than liberals, and we need to be aware of this reality so that we can know them when we see them.\n\nThe Seductiveness of Inevitability\n\nWhy do conservatives prefer inevitability arguments? Here is my best guess: Conservatives have an ideological incentive to prefer fatalistic arguments because such interpretations of the world are inherently conservative. The observation that events in the world are inevitable will always result in a conclusion that maintains the status quo, which is precisely the intention of conservative ideology. The problem with these arguments is that they fail to provide a substantive reason to prefer the status quo, and merely offer a non-falsifiable suggestion that other solutions won\u2019t be any different. A single argument about how the current state of affairs can be improved, even marginally, should be enough to defeat these positions, but because most people see no difference between \u201coffense\u201d and \u201cdefense\u201d, these arguments become incredibly persuasive.\n\nImagine a defense of our relative inattention to African crises with the argument that \u201cthis is just the way things are.\u201d Does this constitute an effective challenge to cash grants, deworming pills, or insecticide-treated bed-nets? Of course not, because even if some problems are permanent features of reality, it doesn\u2019t mean we are powerless to minimize their impact on society.\n\nThere\u2019s a profoundly powerful human disposition to be risk-averse, and I suspect that instead of making difficult decisions, deciding what solutions actually make sense and weighing evidence based on their value, we have a bias towards inaction, and therefore seek refuge in the types of defensive arguments that support such biases. \u201cInevitability\u201d arguments are easy because they enable comfort with inaction\u2014they\u2019re a convenient way to dismiss alternate visions of reality without having to subject oneself to the effort of learning about the status quo, or innovating creative solutions to world problems. It\u2019s natural, then, but NOT inevitable, for humans to pick the path of least resistance\u2014to follow the decision-making calculus that has the fewest Greek letters, and arrives at a pre-selected conclusion the fastest.\n\nTo give an example, the vast majority of comments on my last article about suicides were of the variety (and this is an exact quote): \u201cEven if you take the gun away, that violent or suicidal person will find another way to end [their] life. People have to be completely idiotic to believe that if you take the gun away, the person wanting to have a gun won\u2019t be violent or suicidal anymore.\u201d Despite the fact that this sentiment was refuted with around 10 peer-reviewed academic studies, I found reader after reader tragically persuaded by their own cleverness.\n\nThere\u2019s a reason that everyone independently invents the \u201cthey\u2019ll do it anyway\u201d argument in response to suicide prevention, and it has nothing to do with being brilliant. This argument comes naturally because it comfortably preserves the status quo\u2014there\u2019s no comparison of evidence, no questioning of values, no interrogation of beliefs, no hard decisions. It\u2019s the rhetorical equivalent of not studying for a test, so that you always have an excuse when you fail. Unsurprisingly, such strategies guarantee that you will.\n\nThis is no way to form substantive public policy. Good ideas rarely come from the belief that problems are inevitable. I\u2019m of the rather controversial opinion that things in the world can change, and that such change doesn\u2019t happen by pretending we are helpless in the face of adversity. We have to recognize the difference between offense and defense, and challenge people who dismiss progress by claiming that failure is inevitable. So the next time somebody makes an argument of the type outlined above, I suggest you use my maxim: \u201cIf the best argument you have against a policy is a defensive one, you haven\u2019t said anything yet.\u201d Defense wins football games, not public policy debates.\n\n**Edit: 11/20/2013**- Edits have been made to delete the introductory paragraph in which it was claimed that scientists believed the 4 minute mile was impossible. This has been confirmed as an urban legend. Some science regarding the Reticular Activation System was also inaccurate and has been deleted"}
-{"text": "[LISA Fanart] - Terry Hintz By Amgneth Watch\n\n7 Favourites 1 Comment 503 Views\n\nMy tribute to my favorite companion from the great game Lisa The Painful. This guy really deserves some credit.\n\n\n\nInstruments used:\n\nSketch - Mechanical pencil\n\nOutline/linework - Pentel Document Pen MR205\n\nShading - 2b pencil\n\nTime spent - ~2.5 hours\n\n\n\nI fucked up all outlines again... This is what happens when your arms grow out of your arse and you have only 0.5MM fineliner (sad face).\n\n\n\nLISA belongs to Dingaling Games.\n\nIMAGE DETAILS Image size 1713x1647px 3.54 MB Show More"}
-{"text": "I know I\u2019ll be in tears again when the Fijian national anthem plays before our World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand.\n\nIt\u2019s not something I plan to do. I don\u2019t prepare for it. It just happens.\n\nThey are tears of joy. All that emotion comes out when the anthem starts because we don\u2019t get to play many Test matches for Fiji.\n\nIt\u2019s not like it is with the Tier One nations who play regularly, so we really cherish these moments.\n\nIt hits you all at once, man. Our Fiji Bati emblem reads \u2018Noqu Kalou Noqu Vanua\u2019, which means \u2018My God My Land\u2019.\n\nI think about that. I think about my family, my friends, the players I\u2019m doing this with.\n\nThose thoughts flood my mind and it\u2019s all over. The tears just flow.\n\nTo play for our country, our ancestors, the players who have worn this jersey before, it\u2019s the best feeling you can have in football.\n\nWe have created something special here and I\u2019m not the only one who\u2019s crying. The other boys are, too.\n\nI\u2019m a very spiritual person and this is a massive thing in my life that I\u2019m getting to play in another World Cup, let alone captaining Fiji.\n\nMy brother, Wes, captained Fiji and I did it for the first time when we played Samoa in October last year. We won. I was full of emotion that day as well.\n\nTo be seen as that player by the management, the coaching staff and my peers \u2013 the players \u2013 feels incredible. What a privilege and honour it is.\n\nPlaying for Fiji is the pinnacle for me.\n\nWHAT OUR TALATALA TAUGHT US\n\nWe have devotions twice a day: at seven in the morning and six at night. The team management, the coaching staff, the players \u2013 everyone is involved.\n\nOur Talatala, the pastor, was with us when we first went into camp in Fiji and he joined us on the tour. So what we do is open up in prayer and then we sing a couple of gospel songs, little hymns, and then the pastor brings the word and shares the gospel with the boys.\n\nI think that\u2019s where all of our success comes from, to be honest. It has brought us so close together.\n\nOur Fiji Bati emblem reads \u2018Noqu Kalou Noqu Vanua\u2019, which means \u2018My God My Land\u2019. I think about that. I think about my family, my friends, the players I\u2019m doing this with. Those thoughts flood my mind and it\u2019s all over. The tears just flow.\n\nIt\u2019s the same Talatala the squad had for the 2008 World Cup \u2013 Jarryd Hayne still talks about how good that was \u2013 and everything he says is relatable to us as footballers and people.\n\nHe speaks truth and he cares about us. He\u2019s not only thinking about the player who\u2019s on the field, but after the 80 minutes.\n\nWhen you\u2019ve got someone like that who\u2019s so concerned about your welfare and really loves the players it creates a special bond.\n\nWe have all embraced the devotions. I was part of the 2013 World Cup and we\u2019ve got more people sharing now. There\u2019s a lot of buy-in. It\u2019s not a chore. We all want to be a part of it. There\u2019s a unity, a oneness that is very powerful. It has created a brotherhood.\n\nSometimes the forwards will lead the devotions, or the backs. Or the coaching staff, led by Mick Potter, or the medical staff. The coaches and medical people have all been unreal. They\u2019ve learnt the Fijian national anthem and all the hymns and songs we sing.\n\nOur devotions do that to people.\n\nPetero Civoniceva is here in camp with us. He\u2019s done everything in the game \u2013 won grand finals, played Origin and for the Kangaroos \u2013 but he says that when he played in the 2013 World Cup for Fiji, he had never experienced anything like it.\n\nHe spoke to the boys about that at our devotions before dinner on Thursday night. He said that when he played for Queensland and Australia he loved it, but there was always something in the back of his mind about wanting to play for Fiji one day.\n\nHe said he was so lucky and blessed when he finally got to do it. It\u2019s something he will never forget.\n\nTHE REAL JARRYD HAYNE\n\nJarryd cops a lot of flak in the media, but the Haynesy I\u2019ve gotten to know is a real down-to-earth, good bloke.\n\nI\u2019ve been his roomie the last couple of weeks. He\u2019s one of the senior players and he has helped everyone with their game, including me. He brings a lot of experience and he\u2019s happy to share it.\n\nIt\u2019s hard when the media portrays you in a negative light, because you can\u2019t control what they say, but I\u2019ve seen who he really is and I reckon he gets hard done by with a lot of the stories.\n\nAll he can control is what he does on the field. He\u2019s doing a great job for us.\n\nJarryd is a team player, unselfish, especially in the halves role he\u2019s playing. He\u2019s got a young halves partner in Henry Raiwaluihe and has really helped him step up his game.\n\nSuli Vunivalu is a freak. There\u2019s no-one better at being able to sniff out a try and he\u2019s always putting himself in the right spot at the right time. He does it for Melbourne Storm and he\u2019s doing it for us as the leading try-scorer in this tournament.\n\nHe\u2019s a big name already and a massive star of the future.\n\nTaane Milne is one of the young boys in the squad and he\u2019s joining us at Wests Tigers next year. He has put his stamp on this competition. His stats for tries, try assists, line-breaks and all of that stuff are fantastic. I think Suli\u2019s really enjoying the fruits of playing outside Taane.\n\nThere are some great characters in this camp. Ashton Sims, Aku Uate, Api Koroisau and so many more. It\u2019s been one of the best experiences I\u2019ve had in my life. There\u2019s been so much laughter.\n\nhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BbYNzsCFAcg/?taken-by=kevinnaiqama\n\nHOW TO SPOT A KILLER\n\nIf you\u2019ve been to Fiji yourself you\u2019ll know how lovely the people are. They\u2019re the best. They don\u2019t have much, but they always find joy in the little things.\n\nMy Mum and Dad moved to Australia when they were both still teenagers. I grew up in Bexley, in the St George area of Sydney, but I\u2019ve been back to Fiji a lot.\n\nI\u2019ve lost count of how many times. I embraced my heritage and the Fijian culture a long time ago and whenever I go back it\u2019s an awesome experience. We\u2019ve received so much support from them for our campaign and that makes us all even more proud.\n\nSometimes when you go into a football camp, you can\u2019t wait to get home, but this is a great environment. The boys are just soaking it up, loving what we are a part of. No-one wants it to end.\n\nWe are really enjoying our football and off the field we are loving each other\u2019s company, staying up late to play cards or just hanging out. No-one wants to go to bed because it\u2019s too much fun.\n\nIt\u2019s been the greatest time, man. If you ask any of the boys they\u2019ll say the same thing.\n\nSometimes when you go into a football camp, you can\u2019t wait to get home, but this is a great environment. The boys are just soaking it up, loving what we are a part of. No-one wants it to end.\n\nWe play some poker, a bit of 13, and Murder. That\u2019s a really good one, where you\u2019ve got to try and convince everyone you haven\u2019t drawn the ace and you\u2019re the killer.\n\nI\u2019ll tell you what: there are some good liars in this team because they look you right in the eye and you can\u2019t tell if they\u2019re the murderer or not! It\u2019s pretty funny.\n\nThe murderers win all the time because you just can\u2019t pick them. Haynesy is real good at it. He\u2019s the exact same character whether he\u2019s done it or not, so how would you know? Marcelo Montoya and Sitiveni Moceidreke are pretty good at it as well.\n\nTHE NEW ZEALAND SHOWDOWN\n\nI give us a good chance against the Kiwis. I wouldn\u2019t be playing if I didn\u2019t think we were a chance. I believe we\u2019ve got the squad to do the job.\n\nNew Zealand are a really good team and they\u2019re number two in the world for a reason. It\u2019s a big challenge for us, but it\u2019s also a great opportunity. Everyone\u2019s excited to get this chance.\n\nWe all want to test ourselves, not only as individuals but also to see where we as the Fijian team rank among the best in the world.\n\nWe made the semi-finals at the last World Cup and that\u2019s where we want to be again.\n\nNew Zealand will be upset they lost against Tonga and will be looking to make amends, but we are here to win as well. We want that World Cup and we are going to keep going after it, no matter who we play."}
-{"text": "Urban Meyer might still pace the Ohio State sidelines, after all.\n\nOhio State trustees set a private meeting for Wednesday to talk about the future of the football coach as the university seeks to quickly move past a scandal that has consumed the football program for nearly a month. It is looking more likely that the board will recommend suspension for Meyer when presenting to university president Michael V. Drake, sources close to the investigation told the Columbus Dispatch.\n\nIt\u2019s also possible the board could make a \u201ctime served\u201d recommendation, meaning Meyer would have fulfilled his punishment in the two-plus weeks he\u2019s been on administrative leave.\n\nMeyer has been the subject of an investigation into the handling of domestic-abuse allegations against former assistant coach Zach Smith.\n\nThe university said fact finders briefed the board Monday. The panel will convene in a public session Wednesday morning before going behind closed doors to discuss the next steps. Drake will have the final say on whether Meyer keeps his job or faces other consequences.\n\n\u201c[Monday\u2019s] briefing is to ensure that board members are adequately prepared to discuss this matter at Wednesday\u2019s meeting,\u201d Ohio State spokeswoman Emily Caldwell said Monday in an email.\n\nNo timetable was given for final resolution of the matter, which has overshadowed the team\u2019s preparation for the 2018 season that begins at home Sept. 1.\n\nThe trustees hired an outside law firm for $500,000 to do the investigation, which took two weeks.\n\nThe investigation centers on what Meyer knew and did about allegations of abuse against Smith, who was fired July 23 after his wife sought a protective order. Smith hasn\u2019t been charged or convicted of abuse, but his ex-wife Courtney Smith alleged her husband shoved her against a wall and put his hands around her neck in 2015.\n\nMeyer has said he handled the accusations properly when he found out about them, but acknowledged he lied to reporters at first when he said he hadn\u2019t heard of the incident. Ohio State put Meyer under investigation after Courtney Smith went public, giving a reporter text messages and pictures she traded with Meyer\u2019s wife, Shelley Meyer, in 2015.\n\nDrake, the Ohio State president, is rarely in the public spotlight, unlike his predecessor, Gordon Gee, who prided himself on his reputation as a fast-talking, ubiquitous and sports-loving Ohio State fanatic.\n\nDrake surprised Ohio State fans in 2014 when he fired the school\u2019s marching band director after an investigation uncovered band traditions and rituals that were racy, raunchy or suggestive.\n\nThe band director, Jonathan Waters, said he had been trying to change many of the activities before he was terminated, but Drake stood his ground despite intense criticism over the firing. He and the university insisted that Waters controlled the band at the time of the probe and was answerable for all of its practices, even those that evolved out of old traditions.\n\nWith AP"}
-{"text": "ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) \u2014 A stunning find in Anne Arundel County: hundreds of security cameras unknown to the police department. Now the new county executive is ordering a full investigation.\n\nAdam May has an inside look at the operation.\n\nOnly one man monitored those cameras and he reported to former County Executive John Leopold, who resigned in disgrace.\n\nAt the end of a long hallway in Anne Arundel County\u2019s main government building, the contents of room 170 were secret\u2013until now. Five video monitors took in the feeds from not a few security cameras and not even a few dozen. Instead, there were more than 500 cameras, which covered just about every corner of every major government building.\n\n\u201cTo say it\u2019s unconventional is an understatement,\u201d said new County Executive Laura Neuman.\n\nNeuman says the most alarming part is that the cameras apparently served one person alone.\n\n\u201cThose cameras were monitored by a contract employee who was not reporting to the police department but rather the county executive,\u201d Neuman said.\n\nThat\u2019s former County Executive John Leopold, who resigned last month after he was found guilty of misconduct in office. Leopold not only spied on his political opponents but also misused resources to engage in sexual encounters.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s been a cloud hanging over our county a long time and it\u2019s fueled a cynicism among people in the county,\u201d said County Councilman G. James Benoit.\n\nCounty Executive Neuman immediately shut down the secret camera network. She\u2019s going to have the police department take it over after an investigation.\n\n\u201cWe will identify every camera, every location and we will do a complete forensic analysis of the system to understand what was being done with the cameras,\u201d she said.\n\nThere are so many cameras in Anne Arundel County, only a small percentage have been looked at by investigators. Hundreds have yet to be analyzed.\n\nIt\u2019s still unclear how much taxpayer money was used on the system."}
-{"text": "When you\u2019re a freelance director and you\u2019re given a play to consider, you ask yourself a series of questions. Do the story and form interest me? Do I want to bring this text to life for this time, place and audience? Am I the right person for this job? Does it chime with the kind of work I want to be making, and the way I want to make it? (Obviously, unless you\u2019re rich, you also have to figure out whether or not you can afford to turn down work, even if the answer to all of the previous questions is \u201cno\u201d). When I was asked about directing a double bill of Othello and Macbeth, two of the most famous plays in the English language, my answers to these questions were a kaleidoscope of yeses and nos, given vehemence by various expletives.\n\nThese plays are badass. They\u2019ve got sword fights, final reckonings and mortals cursing hell and heaven for their tragic fate. And the language is poetry. The characters talk unashamedly and viscerally about love, sex, yearning, triumph and pain, and that\u2019s the kind of theatre that does it for me. debbie tucker green, Alice Birch, Lauren Yee, Edward Albee, Sarah Kane, Enda Walsh \u2013 I\u2019m a sucker for a playwright who can send your heart soaring in one sentence and cut it out of you with the next.\n\nThey are also plays about men and women; racial and religious prejudice; violence and power. I don\u2019t believe that theatre should tell its audience how to live their lives, but I do think that art reflects the society it\u2019s made for and also shapes its development. As an artist, you take responsibility for the narratives you\u2019re putting into the world, even if you can\u2019t comprehensively predict or control what they will be and how they will be received. Defining yourself and your work as \u201capolitical\u201d is a political choice. So I looked at these two plays, written hundreds of years ago, and thought about what it would mean to stage them today.\n\nFacebook Twitter Pinterest How does the historical context relate to the characterisation of Lady Macbeth \u2026 Anne-Marie Duff in Macbeth at the National. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian\n\nOthello is a play about two women, Desdemona and Emilia, being murdered by their husbands. Desdemona\u2019s husband kills her because he thinks she\u2019s cheating on him. Emilia\u2019s husband kills her because she won\u2019t shut up and go home when he tells her to. The two husbands, Othello and Iago, are generally framed as the central characters. So far, so depressingly recognisable, especially when you find yourself, as I did, looking at how the deaths of Reeva Steenkamp and Nicole Brown Simpson are framed \u2013 as the tragic, fascinating story of an underdog rising to the top of society through his physical prowess, then shocking the world by killing a woman he purports to love \u2013 and feeling that we haven\u2019t come very far from the days of Shakespeare.\n\nI wasn\u2019t doing this analysis in a vacuum \u2013 there is a vast amount of commentary on Shakespeare out there. There is a solid body of analysis that asks, for example, whether Shakespeare\u2019s portrayal of Othello, a man unable to maintain the veneer of civilisation over his inherent murderous savagery, demonstrates a racist attitude towards non white-western-Europeans that most people today would consider abhorrent, dangerous and idiotic.\n\nYet we keep on staging these plays. We study them at every level of education and laud them as the high watermark of cultural output. We programme them like they\u2019re the only theatre texts guaranteed to unite an audience in attendance and appreciation (regardless of any evidence to the contrary). We stage Macbeth, the story of a \u201ctragic hero\u201d led astray and tricked by witches, without asking what it meant for Shakespeare to write this play at a time when women (and some men) across western Europe were being show-tried and burned at the stake for the crime of \u201cwitchcraft\u201d; women murdered by their communities, with the imaginary crime of \u201ccommuning with the devil\u201d acting as a synonym for \u201cfinancial independence\u201d or \u201cfailing to conform to heterosexual patriarchal relationships\u201d. How does that historical context relate to the characterisation of Lady Macbeth and the three witches?\n\nI have created othellomacbeth by mashing together Othello and Macbeth in a way that, for me, made sense of telling these stories to a UK audience today. Really, all I\u2019ve done is make the Shakespeare productions I want to see in the world, where the language and drama can still thrill me without the politics making me want to be sick. But the form I\u2019ve chosen \u2013 using only Shakespeare\u2019s words, keeping the action of the two plays largely faithful to the full text, but editing and staging it in a way that highlights the perspective of female characters \u2013 also allows me to ask what it means for us, as artists and audiences, to revive and relive these plays over and over again."}
-{"text": "Bill O\u2019Brien has sent his message loud and clear. After two straight seasons of watching his quarterbacks wallow in mediocrity while DeAndre Hopkins\u2019 supporting cast withered away due to age or injury, O'Brien finally had enough. This was the offseason when everything had to change. This was the offseason that would give O\u2019Brien the ability to run his offense.\n\nIn a perfect world, there is no opposing defense that O\u2019Brien would not have the weapons to solve. While the coordinator of the record-shattering New England Patriots offense in 2011, O'Brien had everything from physical monstrosities like Rob Gronkowski to ruthlessly quick slot weapons like Wes Welker in his toolbox. Fast defenses were beat up by his tight ends, slow defenses were gutted by his arsenal of receivers, and everything in between received never-ending doses of BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Stevan Ridley pounding the rock up the middle. O\u2019Brien and his quarterback, Tom Brady, had a lot of mouths to feed from week to week, but as a duo they rarely ran out of answers for any defense that stood in their way. That Patriots attack was the very personification of brutal efficiency, and it is the exact same kind of \"game plan offense\" that O\u2019Brien is currently attempting to recreate in Houston.\n\nWill Fuller\u2019s role as a rookie is rather simple. First and foremost, his objective is to scare the living sh!t out of safeties. With the 22nd overall pick in last week\u2019s NFL Draft, the Texans' front office had plenty of receiving options staring them in the face when Washington went on the clock just one spot ahead of them. Josh Doctson, Laquon Treadwell, and Will Fuller were all fine prospects in their own right, but only one of them had the trait that O\u2019Brien wanted most \u2013 speed. The Texans already had two big, strong, \"go up and get it\" types of receivers in DeAndre Hopkins and Jaelen Strong. What they did not have, however, was someone who was a threat to catch an 80-yard touchdown on the opening play of every single drive. This was a role that needed filling in O\u2019Brien\u2019s offense, and nothing was going to stop him from getting one of the few men in this draft class who could actually do it. In order to guarantee that their deep threat of the future could go nowhere else but Houston, the front office decision-makers traded up one spot and eliminated all risk of losing their number one target.\n\nAs O\u2019Brien explained yesterday on SiriusXM NFL Radio, every single receiver in his offense will ideally have a different skill-set. The more variance of skill-sets in his arsenal, the more ways O'Brien can attack certain defensive weaknesses. If a team has a clear speed deficiency at their number two cornerback spot, like for instance the Jaguars do with Davon House across from Jalen Ramsey, Fuller is automatically the juiciest matchup on the field. As teams come to fear Fuller\u2019s speed exploiting their lesser cornerbacks, safeties will inevitably float away from DeAndre Hopkins and towards Houston\u2019s newest speed demon. The more one-on-one opportunities Nuk is given, the more he can feast on his own advantageous matchups.\n\nLet's just pretend for one moment that defenses get sick and tired of choosing between bracketing either Fuller or Hopkins, and they start playing two-high safety looks. The deep ball gets harder to come by, of course, but now Lamar Miller and Alfred Blue have one less man in the box to stop them from pounding the rock inside. Miller will churn out his yardage, the safeties will creep down once again, and all of the sudden O\u2019Brien\u2019s outside receivers will get their winnable one-on-one matchups back. Wash, score, rinse, repeat.\n\nO\u2019Brien was not quite satisfied yet, though. When the 85th pick in the third round came around and Houston was once again on the clock, he saw a unique opportunity to acquire even more explosive talent for his passing game. Enter Braxton Miller, the most athletic wide receiver/running back/wildcat quarterback combo player to come out of the collegiate ranks in years. O\u2019Brien had once scouted and drafted a similar prospect, Kent State\u2019s Julian Edelman, years ago as a member of the Patriots, and in Miller he saw a chance to get someone who could eventually be even better. With the proper coaching, which I have no doubt that he will receive, Miller has perhaps the most game-wrecking potential of any offensive player in this entire draft class. It could be as a slot receiver, running back, or return man for all we know, but this kid will be given the ball when teams insist on zeroing in on everyone else. You can count on that.\n\nBy the third day of the draft, we had all assumed the O\u2019Brien was done strengthening his now blazing fast attack; we were wrong. Sure, the Texans had already signed a talented young quarterback and running back in free agency, drafted the most vertically dangerous wide receiver in the class, and added perhaps the most exciting and versatile weapon in all of college football, but why not have one more race horse in their stable just in case? Here comes Tyler Ervin in the fourth round, the one man show that single-handedly carried the San Jose State offense in 2015. Ervin may not be big and strong as the other backs in this class, but I sure would like to see which poor middle linebacker is going to be asked to match up with his 4.3 speed in open space on third down. Hell, Ervin is so uniquely talented that O\u2019Brien is toying with creating an entirely new position just for his skill-set called \"Edge\" that would be a hybrid between a slot receiver and traditional running back.\n\ntalked w Bill O'Brien #HOU\n\nUsing new concept \"Edge Position\"\n\nMiller & Ervin are candidates, both can handle 3+ roleshttps://t.co/Shu2OoZOZa \u2014 Pat Kirwan (@PatKirwanCBS) May 3, 2016\n\nDeAndre Hopkins, Jaelen Strong, Will Fuller, Braxton Miller, Lamar Miller, and Tyler Ervin. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what it looks like to have a stupid amount of speed on one roster. This is how you create no-win situations for the other team. Just like when Bill O\u2019Brien was coordinating that legendary Patriots offense, his new and improved Texans attack has answers for every style of defense that he might face. Small, fast corners will get beat up by Hopkins and Strong. Physical, but slower, corners will be eaten alive by Fuller and Braxton Miller. Ervin will slice and dice his way through linebackers and safeties in space while Lamar Miller and Alfred Blue set the tone on the ground. This team has red zone weapons, deep threats, chain movers, gadget players, and everything in between. The offensive line has been strengthened by the additions of Nick Martin and Jeff Allen, while Brock Osweiler provides a clear upgrade over Houston's poor quarterback play from a season ago.\n\nUnless there is a single defense in the NFL that somehow has three elite cornerbacks, three elite pass rushers, two rangy safeties, and multiple linebackers who can effectively cover lightning quick running backs in space, there will always be a matchup for Bill O\u2019Brien\u2019s game plan offense to exploit. Somehow, some way, he will find a way to expose his opponent\u2019s weakness until it breaks the game. That is what he did as a Patriot, and it has always been what he wanted to do as a Texan. Now that this team has more speed than arguably anyone else in the league, that vision can finally come to fruition.\n\nBill O\u2019Brien has sent his message loud and clear to the rest of the NFL \u2013 catch us if you can."}
-{"text": "Awful Announcing has learned through multiple sources that Fox Sports 1 is making cuts to its news operation. The news updates that regularly air on Fox Sports 1 during commercial breaks will be folded into the At the Buzzer online brand and most significantly, some personnel at the newsdesk and producers will be let go.\n\nFox Sports released this statement to Awful Announcing:\n\n\u201cThe consumption of news and information is constantly evolving and we are shifting to a digital/mobile-first strategy under our successful @TheBuzzer brand to reflect changing consumer habits. As a result, in an effort to reduce expenses and increase efficiency, we are aligning our staffing to better meet our new programming needs and viewer\u2019s consumption habits.\u201d\n\nWe\u2019ve also learned that Fox Sports 1 is planning on cutting back on live reporting for events it doesn\u2019t have the rights to air and pundits and reporters will be doing much less traveling as a part of these moves. One source inside Fox Sports described the atmosphere on Friday once the news began to spread of the restructuring as chaotic.\n\nWhile the initial reaction of outsiders may be to lay these cuts at the feet of former ESPN exec Jamie Horowitz, we\u2019ve been told that the wheels were in motion for the cuts to be made before Horowitz even began at Fox. Regardless, these developments will significantly change Fox Sports 1 as the company streamlines its television and digital operations."}
-{"text": "A month ago Marcus and I released the first version of DeTT&CT. It was created at the Cyber Defence Centre of Rabobank, and built atop of MITRE ATT&CK. DeTT&CT stands for: DEtect Tactics, Techniques & Combat Threats. Today we released version 1.1, which contains multiple improvements. Most changes are related to additional functionality to allow more detailed administration of your visibility and detection.\n\nBy creating DeTT&CT we aim to assist blue teams using ATT&CK to score and compare data log source quality, visibility coverage, detection coverage and threat actor behaviours. All of which can help, in different ways, to get more resilient against attacks targeting your organisation.\n\nIn this blog we start off with an introduction on ATT&CK and continue with how DeTT&CT can be used within your organisation. Detailed information about DeTT&CT and how it can be used, is documented on the GitHub Wiki pages. Therefore, the explanation we give in this blog will be high-level.\n\nATT&CK\n\nWikipedia on cyber attackers\n\nATT&CK can be translated loosely to the Wikipedia on cyber attackers with a focus on TTPs (Tactics, Techniques and Procedures) and thereby the top of the Pyramid of Pain."}
-{"text": "He said: \"I enjoy a cigarette myself so I know how smokers feel. Someone suggested cutting holes in the wall. It's a bit of a joke but it actually works quite well. It can get very cold sometimes so it's not really an option to stand outside for a smoke."}
-{"text": "Since drug injection sites opened around Moss Park last year, residents say they\u2019re finding more used needles strewn in laneways, dealers selling drugs in plain sight and people verbally attacking passersby.\n\nThe harm reduction workers in the neighbourhood, on the other hand, who help some of Toronto\u2019s most vulnerable residents, insist the problems aren\u2019t new, that poverty, mental illness and addiction have long plagued the community, and what matters most is that lives are being saved as an opioid epidemic rages in Toronto and across the country.\n\nWhat both sides agree on is that the drug injection sites bring out into the open what was previously hidden behind closed doors and in dark alleyways.\n\nRead more:\n\nDon\u2019t open more drug injection sites here, downtown city councillor says\n\nToronto overdose deaths highlight need for prevention sites, advocacy group says\n\nOpinion | Safe injection sites are an ethical imperative, not a political option\n\nNow, people visit the sites throughout the day and into the evening to safely inject their drugs as trained volunteers make sure they don\u2019t overdose. In between visits they sit and chat outside, or doze in the August heat. But where they go afterward remains a concern for community leaders who want more addiction treatment services, mental health supports, homeless shelters and affordable housing.\n\n\u201cIf there\u2019s an increase in crime, it\u2019s not about the sites,\u201d said Zoe Dodd, a harm reduction worker who co-organized the pop-up injection site at Moss Park, which later received federal approval to keep operating. \u201cIt has more to do with the increase in poverty and social inequality. We put the sites where people are already congregating, using and dying.\u201d\n\nIn the past year, four sites near Moss Park have opened: one on Victoria St., one on Queen St. E. and two on Dundas St. E. This week, local Councillor Lucy Troisi called for a moratorium, saying four sites within walking distance are more than the community can handle. Neighbouring Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam backed her up, agreeing there\u2019s been a significant increase in crime, needles and garbage on streets and in parks.\n\nWong-Tam said she has met with concerned residents about crime and safety much more frequently this year and last than in previous years. She wants more support from all levels of government to address the root causes of addiction.\n\n\u201cThis is not a NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) community. Their biggest challenge is they don\u2019t believe the government response is co-ordinated,\u201d Wong-Tam said.\n\nThe city is in the process of hiring eight additional harm reduction workers and has increased park maintenance, city staff overdose training and laneway cleanups in the area, said Wong-Tam.\n\nIn July, Premier Doug Ford said his government would spend some of Ontario\u2019s $1.9 billion that was earmarked for mental health and addiction supports on police initiatives. This week Queen\u2019s Park announced it would freeze three planned injection sites, including one in Toronto\u2019s west end, and review the program. A day later, Toronto police announced seven people have died of opioid overdoses since Aug. 2.\n\n\u201cIf that happened in any other context \u2014 we lost seven lives \u2014 we\u2019d be heartbroken but also angry and deeply concerned, as I am,\u201d Tory told reporters Wednesday, calling for the provincial government to finish its review \u201con a very expeditious basis.\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s get this done quickly because lives are at stake,\u201d Tory said.\n\nLast year, 303 people in the city fatally overdosed.\n\nCrime has increased in the Moss Park area (bordered by Gerrard and Front Sts., and Jarvis and Parliament Sts.) since at least 2014, long before any injection sites, according to Toronto Police Service data. In 2014, police reported 623 offences, compared to 713 in 2016. The majority of offences were assaults.\n\nBut in 2017, the same year supervised injection sites began opening in the area, the number of offences dropped to 680, with fewer assaults and robberies, but half a dozen more thefts over $5,000. Neighbourhood-specific data isn\u2019t yet available for 2018.\n\nWhat little research exists on drug injection sites suggests they don\u2019t cause an increase in serious crime. When Vancouver opened its first injection site, the community raised similar concerns. However, University of British Columbia researchers found there were no increases in drug trafficking, assaults or robberies, and a slight decline in vehicle thefts in the neighbourhood, according to a 2006 study.\n\nLoading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...\n\nBut Councillor Troisi said petty crime in Toronto often goes unreported and residents\u2019 diminished quality of life isn\u2019t reflected in police statistics.\n\n\u201cSomeone falling asleep on your front lawn every other week or defecating in your laneway does not show up on a police crime statistic,\u201d she said.\n\nThursday morning, one man read a newspaper while waiting for the Public Health-run centre on Victoria St. to open. A woman walked out of the building, yelling unintelligibly at a security guard, as tourists and people in suits hurried by.\n\nFarther east on Dundas St., near Sherbourne St., the owner of a dry-cleaning shop pointed to his boarded-up front window that someone had smashed with a brick, the first time it had happened in his 24 years in business, he said.\n\nNearby resident Glen Simourd looked over a public garden he\u2019s tended for more than a decade where lately he\u2019s found people passed out between crushed shrubs and broken flower stems.\n\n\u201cThis is the worst influx since the 1980s when crack cocaine hit the streets,\u201d said Simourd, who has lived near Moss Park for more than 40 years and is a member of the Garden District Residents Association. \u201cThe sites have brought more people with problems to our neighbourhood, and we already had our share.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not against safe injection sites. I\u2019m against where they\u2019re located.\u201d\n\nHe said the sites should be located in hospitals and spread more widely throughout the city.\n\nAt a nearby convenience store, near a drop-in centre and injection site, two employees said they\u2019ve recently been punched in the face, were threatened at knifepoint, and watched as drug deals took place near the back. Lately, they\u2019ve stopped reporting these incidents to police.\n\n\u201cThis place is crazy,\u201d said Chris Kim.\n\n\u201cWe hope police can pay more attention to this area,\u201d Thomas Seol added.\n\nToronto police did not respond to requests for comment from the Star this week to talk about the residents\u2019 concerns."}
-{"text": "Alexander Heffner\n\nOpinion contributor\n\nThe conventional definition of electability hinges on centrism and moderation \u2014 and so far for 2020, on consensus and restraint. But in the most recent Democratic Party failures of 2004 and 2016, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton passed this test during the primary season only to disprove the thesis in the general election.\n\nThe Democrats in 2008 backed Barack Obama in spite of his comparatively little government experience and fears of racism diminishing his viability. Likewise, Donald Trump confounded his own establishment\u2019s skepticism of his first-time candidacy even as he adhered to the most radical orthodoxy of the right.\n\nThe freshness and novelty proved an asset \u2014 not a liability \u2014 for Obama and Trump. While not hailing from major battleground states themselves, Obama and Trump galvanized enormous grassroots energy in their respective bases to turn out historic margins in decisive metropolises and rural communities.\n\nRead more commentary:\n\nJoe Biden and other 2020 Democrats give climate change the attention it deserves\n\n6 ways Democrats can ease America into thinking about impeachment and Trump\n\nMcConnell, Grassley scammed the nation on 2020 Supreme Court confirmations\n\nAs they prepare for the first 2020 primary debate, primary and caucus voters need to adopt a more helpful electability criteria for their nominee: Geography + Personality = \u200b\u200bDestiny\u200b\u200b. In a politics driven by the Electoral College system and a manic news media that inspect the mood swings of your tweets as well as daily campaign stops, this is the equation that matters.\n\nDemocrats need to build on midterms map\n\nLet\u2019s start with geography. In the 2018 midterms, Democrats expanded the map of competitive congressional districts. They made Republicans defend Trump in communities whose majorities had turned against him. With sentiment ranging from disappointment to repulsion of Trump, these constituents were demanding democratic accountability and commonsense solutions after two years aiding corruption and hurtful economic measures, particularly the new tax law.\n\nNow the Democratic Party has the opportunity to choose a nominee \u2014 and ticket \u2014 that threads this same needle. Former Rep. Beto O\u2019Rourke and former Vice President Joe Biden offer the most compelling path to Electoral College-rich states: Texas and Pennsylvania. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg possesses an uncanny Midwestern ethos \u2014 a gateway to Iowa, Ohio and of course his native Indiana \u2014 presumed to be \u201cTrump country\u201d but which in reality voted for Obama as recently as 2008 or 2012. Rep. Timothy Ryan of Ohio, a low-profile candidate for now, can\u2019t be ignored.\n\nThough early polls show that Sen. Kamala Harris might have a primary fight on her hands, she is well-positioned in her safe blue state of California, the largest electoral prize. She also has the potential to reignite base enthusiasm as well as tap into newfound Democratic organization in Florida and Georgia.\n\nFrom a geographic standpoint, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have potentially more provincial appeal, but their populism could still play well in the Midwest. If Sanders can replicate or Warren can best his 2016 performances when he beat Hillary Clinton in the Michigan and Wisconsin primaries, it will be notable.\n\nNow to the other half of the equation.\n\nInstead of focusing on a sufficiently moderate stance on the issues, a personality test considers the integrity of the candidate\u2019s convictions and how they animate him or her. Consensus doesn\u2019t happen because a candidate says it\u2019s important; only magnetic personalities can build such coalitions.\n\nImpeachment, VP choices will be key\n\nIn the elections that Democrats lose, policy positions have dominated the electability assessment of the news media and voters. That needs to flip. Democratic primary voters must determine the personal qualities of their nominee \u2014 bigheartedness and vibrancy, candor and trustworthiness \u2014 long before the November general election. In the broadest sense, this means radiating charismatic honesty, authenticity and passion.\n\nThere are two important decisions in which the personality of a candidate will rise to the occasion \u2014 or fall into the abyss.\n\nThe first is impeachment. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for the moment, wants to conflate an impeachment inquiry or proceedings with untenable leftist policies. Don\u2019t let her do that. The candidate who diligently champions both fidelity to the Constitution and policy prescriptions, including preventive anti-corruption measures, will demonstrate a winning character. Warren has admirably set the bar for her fellow candidates.\n\nThe second is knowing whom to select as your running mate. What doomed Hillary Clinton with enough traditionally Democratic voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin? First and foremost, it was the hubris to ignore 12 million Americans who voted for Sanders and select a vice president who did not complement her personality or geography.\n\n(Of course, it was also her private email server, paid speeches to Wall Street, lingering investigations and Russia's assist to Trump. It may be that Trump\u2019s oversize corruption makes the character flaws or secrecy of the Democratic nominee less relevant to voters. But maybe not.)\n\nGeography will winnow the field\n\nRight now, there is not a single answer to the Geography + Personality test because there are multiple dimensions to each of the 23 candidates, and the equation isn\u2019t completed until there is a ticket. While every Democrat running has acknowledgeda systemically unfair economy that Trump has exacerbated, many candidates will prove to have limited geographic appeal that will help winnow the field.\n\nThe debates will crucially display the depth and resonance of their human character. Revising the process of elimination \u2014 the calculation of electability \u2014 is the first step.\n\nAlexander Heffner is host of \"The Open Mind\" on PBS and co-author of \"A Documentary History of the United States.\" Follow him on Twitter: @heffnera"}
-{"text": "Bound for Glory is headed to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.\n\nImpact Wrestling announced today that the Aberdeen Pavilion would be hosting the pay-per-view on November 5th, with television tapings also set for the venue on November 6-10.\n\nWhen the word got out that the tapings were being moved to Canada, a number of people in wrestling inquired about the status of Jim Cornette, who has been all over the recent television shows as the head of authority for the promotion.\n\nCornette hasn't been to Canada for years because he was turned away at the border in 2010 when they ran his record, which included a number of assaults, mostly stemming from incidents involving fights with fans who attacked him while he was a manager at matches in the 80s. He had been going to Canada for years, including his WWF run, with no incident, prior to 2010. When he worked for ROH, he never attended the shows in Toronto.\n\nBecause of that, Cornette won't be at the next set of tapings and is done with the promotion, which he said there is no heat over and it's just a matter of circumstances.\n\nCornette is expected to go into more detail on this on his podcast on Thursday.\n\nGFW officials confirmed his being done yesterday as did Cornette today. Cornette noted that he came to GFW after being called in August by Jeff Jarrett, and the agreement was just to work one set of television tapings to facilitate a few storylines, which were the stripping of the championship from Alberto El Patron and the gauntlet match, the on-screen firing of Bruce Prichard so he could return as a heel manager, and to try and make Anthem Sports & Entertainment babyfaces to the wrestling fans.\n\nAfter the tapings, he and Jarrett agreed that he would come back for Bound for Glory and for a few days at the next tapings in November. Cornette didn't know his status with Jarrett now out of the company and the company's creative, headed by Scott D'Amore and Sonjay Dutt, said to be more focused on in-ring action and less on authority figure angles.\n\nCornette hadn't heard from anyone in the company other than Bob Ryder, who told him not to believe what he read on the Internet, and spoke to Dutch Mantell, where he explained with the tapings being done in Canada that he wouldn't be able to appear.\n\nCornette agreed to come to Nashville and do whatever would be needed on camera to do a storyline exit. Right now there is nothing on the table for it."}
-{"text": "After the White House denied the House Oversight Committee's request for documents related to former national security adviser Michael Flynn's disclosure of foreign payments on Tuesday, the committee's leadership delivered a remarkable, bipartisan rebuke of President Donald Trump's vetting of his top advisers.\n\nFlynn \"was supposed to seek permission and receive permission from the both the secretary of state and the secretary from the Army prior to traveling to Russia to not only accept that payment but to engage in that activity,\" the Republican committee chairman, Jason Chaffetz, said in a joint news conference with the ranking Democrat on the committee, Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings. \"I see no evidence that he actually did that.\"\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nAdded Chaffetz: \"This is something General Flynn was supposed to do as a former officer. . . . No former military officer is allowed to accept payments from a foreign government.\"\n\nThe House Oversight Committee is probing whether Flynn disclosed several foreign payments when he applied for a government security clearance. In his original White House ethics disclosure, Flynn failed to include payments from Kremlin propaganda network RT for a paid speech at a Moscow gala where Flynn sat at the same table as President Vladimir Putin of Russia.\n\n\"Personally, I see no information or no data to support the notion that Gen. Flynn complied with the law,\" Chaffetz said at Tuesday's press conference. Cummings added, \u201cWe received a response from the White House refusing to provide any of the documents we requested.\u201d Cummings said,\u201cThe White House has refused to offer a single piece of paper in response to this committee\u2019s bipartisan request.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nChaffetz to @mkraju: Flynn was supposed to seek permission and receive permission . . . prior to traveling to Russia https://t.co/J6ocYD9D4o \u2014 Daniella Diaz (@DaniellaMicaela) April 25, 2017\n\nEarlier on Tuesday the White House's director of legislative affairs, Marc Short, wrote in a letter to the House Oversight Committee, \u201cWe are unable to accommodate\u201d many of the requests, adding that the White House does not have many of the documents in its possession.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nFlynn resigned as national security adviser in February after the White House said he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about the extent of his contacts with Russia's ambassador to Washington during the transition before Trump assumed the office of president.\n\nCummings said on Tuesday that Flynn should appear before the committee because he had \u201cconcealed\u201d his foreign payments. \u201cThis is a major problem,\u201d Cummings said. \u201cIt also says this, and let me quote is directly: \u2018The U.S. Criminal Code (Title 18, Section 1001) provides that knowingly falsifying or concealing a material fact is a felony which may result in fines and/or up to five years imprisonment.\u2019\u201d\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nThe House Oversight Committee investigation is one of several on Capitol Hill examining ties between Donald Trump campaign's ties with Russia."}
-{"text": "ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Businesses should welcome Turkey\u2019s state of emergency because it guards against terrorism and prevents workers from going out on strike, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday.\n\nFILE PHOTO: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan waves during a news conference in Bulgaria, March 26, 2018. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov/File Photo\n\nParliament this week voted to extend the state of emergency, introduced following a failed coup in July 2016, for a further three months. It is the seventh such extension of emergency rule, which lets Erdogan and the government bypass parliament in passing new laws and allows them to suspend rights and freedoms.\n\nThe extensions have been roundly criticized by human rights groups and Turkey\u2019s Western allies. The country\u2019s main business lobby, TUSIAD, this week renewed its call for a swift end to emergency rule.\n\n\u201cThe state of emergency only affects terrorists. Now it\u2019s preventing labor strikes, such as the Bursa strike, which we stopped right away. It\u2019s a struggle against terrorism,\u201d Erdogan said in a speech to the DEIK business lobby, which represents Turkey\u2019s private sector overseas.\n\n\u201cWhen our business people say the state of emergency should be lifted, it upsets us... We will continue extending it for the peace of our country, yes we will, for the 10th time if necessary.\u201d\n\nEarlier this year authorities stopped workers in the northwestern city of Bursa, home to the auto industry and a hub for textile manufacturing, from going out on strike.\n\nUnder emergency rule, strikes, protests and displays of civil disobedience can be shut down on security grounds.\n\nErdogan this week set snap presidential and parliamentary elections for June, bringing them forward by more than a year in a shock move that may have left the opposition ill-prepared to credibly challenge him.\n\nThe United States this week said it had concerns about Turkey\u2019s ability to hold free and fair elections under emergency rule, comments that Ankara dismissed.\n\nThe United Nations last month called for an end to the state of emergency, saying it had led to \u201cmassive and serious\u201d human rights violations in largely Kurdish southeastern Turkey, including killings and torture.\n\nTurkey slammed that report as rife with unfounded allegations. Ankara says its measures are necessary, given the severity of the security threats it faces.\n\nMore than 160,000 people have been detained since the failed coup and a similar number of civil servants sacked from their jobs, the United Nations has said. Scores of media outlets have been shut and journalists and activists have been detained."}
-{"text": "Lors d\u2019une visite surprise \u00e0 Notre-Dame-des-Landes, le premier ministre, Edouard Philippe, a d\u00e9clar\u00e9 vendredi 13 avril que \u00ab l\u2019ensemble des objectifs \u00bb d\u2019\u00e9vacuation du site de l\u2019ancien a\u00e9roport \u00ab a[vait] \u00e9t\u00e9 atteint \u00bb, et a pr\u00e9venu que \u00ab l\u2019Etat n\u2019acceptera[it] pas la r\u00e9occupation des sites \u00e9vacu\u00e9s \u00bb.\n\n\u00ab Notre main reste tendue \u00bb aux zadistes qui acceptent d\u2019entrer \u00ab dans le processus de r\u00e9gularisation \u00bb, ils ont \u00ab une dizaine de jours \u00bb pour le faire, a-t-il d\u00e9clar\u00e9, remerciant \u00ab les forces de gendarmerie \u00bb ayant particip\u00e9 aux op\u00e9rations d\u2019\u00e9vacuation depuis lundi. \u00ab Vingt-neuf squats ont \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9construits et leurs occupants expuls\u00e9s. Comme l\u2019a dit hier le pr\u00e9sident de la R\u00e9publique, tout ce qui \u00e9tait \u00e9vacuable a \u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e9vacu\u00e9 \u00bb, a dit M. Philippe, qui s\u2019est rendu au poste de commandement de la gendarmerie, accompagn\u00e9 du ministre de l\u2019int\u00e9rieur, G\u00e9rard Collomb.\n\n\u00ab D\u00e9sormais, nous devons proc\u00e9der aux op\u00e9rations de d\u00e9blaiement. Elles vont prendre du temps apr\u00e8s les expulsions, mais elles vont \u00eatre r\u00e9alis\u00e9es s\u00e9rieusement et conform\u00e9ment au calendrier qui a \u00e9t\u00e9 envisag\u00e9. \u00bb\n\n\u00ab Dans les zones qui sont \u00e9loign\u00e9es de la RD281, \u00e0 l\u2019ouest notamment, o\u00f9 certains occupants peuvent envisager une installation l\u00e9gale conforme aux lois et r\u00e8glements de notre pays, nous avons indiqu\u00e9 d\u00e8s le d\u00e9but que nous sommes ouverts \u00e0 une discussion. \u00bb\n\nMM. Philippe et Collomb avaient \u00e9t\u00e9 accueillis sur place par le directeur g\u00e9n\u00e9ral de la gendarmerie, le g\u00e9n\u00e9ral Richard Lizurey, et par la pr\u00e9f\u00e8te de la Loire-Atlantique, Nicole Klein, qui avait signifi\u00e9 plus t\u00f4t dans la journ\u00e9e la fin de l\u2019op\u00e9ration d\u2019expulsion des occupants \u00ab ill\u00e9gaux \u00bb.\n\nFormulaire\n\nMme Klein a dit avoir \u00ab demand\u00e9 d\u2019\u00e9tablir un formulaire simplifi\u00e9 pour permettre \u00e0 ceux qui le souhaitent de d\u00e9clarer leur projet dans les meilleurs d\u00e9lais \u00bb.\n\nCelles et ceux qui souhaitent s\u2019installer l\u00e9galement sur le territoire devront donner \u00ab leur nom, leur projet et la parcelle [qu\u2019ils souhaitent exploiter] \u00bb, a-t-elle ajout\u00e9. Le document est \u00e0 remplir et \u00e0 renvoyer d\u2019ici au 23 avril.\n\nD\u00e9claration d\u2019intention de projet individuel qui sera propos\u00e9 aux occupants de la ZAD pour permettre aux occupants ill\u00e9gaux de r\u00e9gulariser leur situation et rester sur place, dispo aupr\u00e8s de la DTTM. A renvoyer pour le 23/04 #NDDL pic.twitter.com/c57lvgPxss \u2014 Pierre Bouvier (@pibzedog) 13 avril 2018\n\nConsciente que les occupants de la \u00ab zone \u00e0 d\u00e9fendre \u00bb (ZAD, nom donn\u00e9 par les opposants \u00e0 la zone d\u2019am\u00e9nagement diff\u00e9r\u00e9 de Notre-Dame-des-Landes) demandaient que soit valid\u00e9 un projet collectif, la pr\u00e9f\u00e8te a ajout\u00e9 que \u00ab le projet collectif n\u2019emp\u00eache pas le projet individuel \u00bb.\n\nElle a estim\u00e9 que la ferme des 100 noms n\u2019avait pas de projet agricole et qu\u2019il ne pouvait pas y avoir de statut particulier. Elle se dit s\u00fbre que certains viendront aux concertations.\n\nDiscuter de ruralit\u00e9, pas seulement d\u2019agriculture\n\nDominique Fesneau, l\u2019un des trois pr\u00e9sidents de l\u2019Acipa, la principale association d\u2019opposants \u00e0 l\u2019ex-a\u00e9roport explique que l\u2019association ne souhaite pas \u00eatre le seul interlocuteur dans les discussions qui vont s\u2019ouvrir avec les pouvoirs publics. \u00ab On participera, mais avec les autres opposants \u00bb, disait-il vendredi apr\u00e8s-midi. \u00ab La pr\u00e9f\u00e8te souhaite une rencontre la semaine prochaine, nous allons en discuter demain soir, entre nous \u00bb, ajoute-t-il.\n\nD\u2019autant que cette reprise du dialogue arrive un peu tard : apr\u00e8s les expulsions, les destructions, dans un climat qui est loin d\u2019\u00eatre apais\u00e9, avec la pr\u00e9sence de 2 500 gendarmes mobiles aux diff\u00e9rents points d\u2019acc\u00e8s de la ZAD. \u00ab Tout le monde ne pouvait pas d\u00e9poser de dossier individuel, tout le monde n\u2019\u00e9tait pas au m\u00eame niveau de pr\u00e9paration \u00bb, reprend Dominique Fresneau. \u00ab On veut une solution pour les habitants de Notre-Dame-des-Landes, les anciens et les nouveaux. Surtout, on ne peut pas seulement parler d\u2019agriculture, mais aussi de ruralit\u00e9, parce que Notre-Dame-des-Landes, ce ne sont pas que des agriculteurs \u00bb.\n\nSentant que la tension est loin d\u2019\u00eatre retomb\u00e9e, l\u2019Acipa a d\u00e9cid\u00e9 de faire l\u2019impasse sur la manifestation de samedi \u00e0 Nantes, pr\u00e9f\u00e9rant miser sur celle de dimanche, dans le p\u00e9rim\u00e8tre de la ZAD.\n\nD\u00e9gagement des routes et perquisition\n\nNicole Klein a \u00e9galement salu\u00e9 \u00ab le professionnalisme et la ma\u00eetrise des forces de gendarmerie \u00bb qui sont intervenues, vendredi vers 6 heures du matin, dans la ZAD pour d\u00e9gager les axes routiers, avec parall\u00e8lement une perquisition de la police judiciaire dans le cadre de l\u2019enqu\u00eate sur le tir d\u2019une fus\u00e9e sur un h\u00e9licopt\u00e8re de la gendarmerie mardi.\n\nSur la D281 \ud83d\udc49\ud83c\udffb \u00ab libert\u00e9 d\u2019aller et venir \u00bb. Il n\u2019y a personne sur la route, \u00e0 part des gendarmes. Mais on peut y a\u2026 https://t.co/6mbFoVrOZl \u2014 pibzedog (@Pierre Bouvier)\n\nL\u2019op\u00e9ration s\u2019est concentr\u00e9e sur la D81, une des deux routes principales traversant la ZAD, o\u00f9 une embuscade a \u00e9t\u00e9 tendue jeudi, selon des gendarmes, faisant dix bless\u00e9s dans leurs rangs. Des affrontements \u00e9taient en cours dans la matin\u00e9e, affrontements que la pr\u00e9f\u00e8te a vivement condamn\u00e9s :\n\n\u00ab La violence n\u2019est en aucun cas acceptable et ceux qui [commettent ces actes] devront en r\u00e9pondre devant les tribunaux. \u00bb\n\nDepuis lundi, quarante-cinq autres gendarmes ont \u00e9t\u00e9 bless\u00e9s.\n\nLa pr\u00e9f\u00e8te a \u00e9galement annonc\u00e9 que les gendarmes mobiles resteraient pour le d\u00e9blaiement des parcelles, pour garantir la circulation sur les d\u00e9partementales 281 et 81, et pour pr\u00e9venir toute r\u00e9occupation ill\u00e9gale.\n\nElle a balay\u00e9 la question du co\u00fbt des op\u00e9rations, d\u00e9clarant que :\n\n\u00ab Ce n\u2019est pas un probl\u00e8me de co\u00fbt, c\u2019est une question de retour de l\u2019Etat de droit, ce qui n\u2019a pas de prix. \u00bb\n\nFin de semaine \u00e0 haut risque\n\nLa fin de la semaine sera d\u00e9terminante. Samedi, une manifestation contre les expulsions de la ZAD est pr\u00e9vue \u00e0 Nantes. D\u2019autres mouvements \u2014 cheminots, \u00e9tudiants \u2014 devraient se joindre au cort\u00e8ge. Elle s\u2019annonce potentiellement explosive dans une ville qui reste marqu\u00e9e par les heurts et les d\u00e9g\u00e2ts consid\u00e9rables caus\u00e9s le 22 f\u00e9vrier 2014, \u00e0 l\u2019issue d\u2019une manifestation contre le projet d\u2019a\u00e9roport.\n\nMme Klein avait confi\u00e9, avant sa conf\u00e9rence de presse, que les autorit\u00e9s r\u00e9fl\u00e9chissaient \u00e0 la possibilit\u00e9 d\u2019interdire le grand rassemblement de protestation qui doit se tenir dans le bocage de Notre-Dame-des-Landes dimanche. \u00ab On va regarder de pr\u00e8s comment se passe la manifestation samedi \u00e0 Nantes, et on avisera \u00bb, a-t-elle dit. Pendant sa conf\u00e9rence de presse, Mme Klein s\u2019est voulue plus rassurante, se disant certaine que le rassemblement serait pacifique.\n\nLa plupart des associations, locales et nationales, qui \u00e9taient engag\u00e9es dans ce combat ont pour l\u2019heure appel\u00e9 \u00e0 converger vers la zone. Mais certains pourraient \u00eatre tent\u00e9s de ne pas se joindre \u00e0 ce qui s\u2019apparente \u00e0 \u00ab une manifestation de tous les dangers \u00bb, selon les termes de l\u2019un d\u2019entre eux."}
-{"text": "For decades, silicon solar cells have been used to convert energy from sunlight into electricity. However, recent improvements in perovskite alternatives are moving tandem devices\u2014made of both silicon and perovskite\u2014closer to market, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society.\n\nPerovskite solar cells contain a thin film of materials, such as methylammonium lead iodide, that is cheap and easily processed. But until recently, perovskite cells were very unstable and degraded rapidly upon exposure to air and moisture. Since the cells' introduction in 2009, much progress has been made in improving their efficiency and longevity and in partnering them with silicon in tandem devices, writes contributing editor Mark Peplow.\n\nToday's best stand-alone perovskite solar cells boast an efficiency (22.7 percent) similar to that of commercial silicon modules, and they function for hours under harsh test conditions. This is compared with an efficiency of 3.8 percent and a longevity of only minutes in 2009. Researchers achieved these improvements by tinkering with the composition of the materials and by encapsulating the cells in protective coatings. Combining perovskite with silicon delivers more power than either could alone, with an efficiency of up to 26.4 percent so far for lab devices. Some experts believe that this efficiency will soon approach 30 percent, which could bring tandem solar cells to market as early as 2020.\n\nExplore further Solar cells combining silicon with perovskite have achieved record efficiency of 25.2 percent\n\nMore information: \"Perovskite progress pushes tandem solar cells closer to market,\" \"Perovskite progress pushes tandem solar cells closer to market,\" cen.acs.org/energy/solar-power \u2026 -tandem-solar/96/i24"}
-{"text": "Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday that President Donald Trump wasn\u2019t questioning the legitimacy of a federal judge who halted his immigration executive order when he lambasted the judge on Twitter this weekend -- he was \u201csimply expressing a frustration.\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think he was questioning the legitimacy of the judge,\u201d Pence told CBS\u2019 \u201cFace the Nation. \u201c...This was more about the president simply expressing a frustration with a judge who is involving himself in the clear prerogatives of the President of the United States.\u201d\n\nOn Friday night, U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle imposed a nationwide hold on Mr. Trump\u2019s travel ban, which halts the refugee program worldwide and stops immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries.\n\nIn response, Mr. Trump took to Twitter to criticize Robart, referring to him as a \u201cso-called judge\u201d and calling his ruling a \u201cterrible decision\u201d that \u201copens up our country to potential terrorists.\u201d\n\nPence defended Mr. Trump\u2019s words, saying \u201cevery president has a right to be critical of the other branches of the federal government.\u201d\n\nHe also noted that the Department of Homeland Security \u201cfully complied\u201d with the judge\u2019s ruling as soon as it was issued and that the administration is going through the court system to appeal Robart\u2019s decision.\n\n\u201cThe executive order is on a solid constitutional and statutory foundation,\u201d he said. \u201cOne court in Boston confirmed that, another court in Washington came to a different decision, but we\u2019re very confident that as we move through the process of these appeals that the president\u2019s authority in this area will be upheld.\u201d\n\nPence conceded that the rollout of the executive order could have been smoother, noting that the administration had not partaken in the \u201cusual Washington niceties\u201d of informing Congress before the order was signed.\n\n\u201cAt the outset of an administration that is as busy keeping our promises to the American people as this one we\u2019ll concede that sometimes the usual Washington niceties of informing members of Congress were not, you know, fully implemented as they have been in the past,\u201d he said.\n\nAsked about an interview Mr. Trump did with Fox News\u2019 Bill O\u2019Reilly, in which he seemed to equate extrajudicial killings of journalists and dissidents in Russia to similar actions in the U.S., Pence said Mr. Trump was expressing his desire to \u201cstart afresh with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and to start afresh with Russia.\u201d In the interview, O\u2019Reilly called Russian President Vladimir Putin \u201ca killer.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou think our country is so innocent?\u201d Mr. Trump replied.\n\nPence said Mr. Trump was not trying to say the U.S. is on the same moral plane as Russia.\n\n\u201cI simply don\u2019t accept that there was any moral equivalency in the president\u2019s comments,\u201d he said. \u201cLook, President Trump, throughout his life, his campaign and this administration, has never hesitated to be critical of government policies by the United States in the past, but there was no moral equivalency there.\u201d\n\nAsked whether he believes the U.S. is \u201cmorally superior to Russia,\u201d Pence did not give a yes or no answer. He replied: \u201cI believe that the ideals that America has stood for throughout our history represent the highest ideals of humankind.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Health Benefits of Oats: Eat This Superfood Every Day Oats are a fiber-rich whole grain that packs some impressive nutritional benefits. We\u2019re covering the most prominent health benefits oats have to offer. And why you should include this superfood in your daily diet. Oats and health go hand in hand. From porridge to nut- and fruit-filled granola bars, parents\u2026\n\nWhy You Should Eat Breakfast WHY BREAKFAST IS SO IMPORTANT Breakfast can be the best meal of the day. There are numerous breakfast recipes online and lots of grocery aisles filled with cereals! Not all breakfasts are created equal and our idea of the perfect breakfast includes a mix of healthy whole grains, nuts and\u2026\n\nHow to Eat Muesli: Are Cereal Balls The Best-Kept Secret? Never Be Late to a Morning Meeting Again!Muesli Cereal Balls for Incredible Time Savers Depending on how much time you've spent here at the Mu Mu food blog, you've probably noticed that there are oodles of different ways to eat muesli! (You may have even watched the videos!) And recipes\u2026\n\nPancakes for Dinner: How to Do it Right Who doesn't love scrumptious, savory pancakes for dinner? It's a fabulous breakfast option, of course. But when you do it right, it's a fast and easy vegetarian dinner option that can dazzle everyone at evening meal. (Even if it's a tough crowd; trust me!) It's all about doing the whole\u2026\n\nMu Mu\u2019s Stunning Berry Banana Smoothie Bowl Recipe Whether you're a first-timer or you've been with us for awhile, welcome to the Mu Mu Muesli Health Food Blog! Before diving into the simple Berry Banana Smoothie Bowl Recipe, I want to offer you a wholehearted hello. I'm glad you're here! Need a recipe to add to your vegan\u2026"}
-{"text": "San Jose is trying to make it Hell for patients who need their medical marijuana. The city estimates there are over 140 dispensaries and wants to limit that number down to 10. Why do you think it's ok to shut places down and push medical patients to the streets to get their medication from unsafe dealers with unsafe medication.\n\nIt's the law, but that doesn't mean San Jose has to like it. The City Council and mayor on Tuesday voted to shut down up to 130 businesses, the pot clubs that won't fit in the city's new \"10 clubs only\" limit\n\nSan Jose city officials aren't afraid of taking anti-business stances and saying no to tax revenue -- as long as the businesses are medical marijuana dispensaries.\n\nAn estimate 140 dispensaries exist in San Jose today, paying up to $1 million in taxes directly to the city, according to the San Jose Mercury News. But city officials approved on Tuesday a plan to whittle the amount of dispensaries allowed in town down to 10, the newspaper reported.\n\nThe clubs will also have to move to certain restricted commercial or industrial areas, and grow all of their own product on-site, the newspaper reported. That, the dispensaries say, will almost certainly attract attention from federal law enforcement, making the city rules a virtual death sentence."}
-{"text": "A right-wing Israeli parliamentarian submitted two bills to the Knesset on Wednesday seeking to permanently annex the Jordan Valley, the northern Dead Sea and the Hebron desert in the occupied West Bank to Israel, as well as impose the death penalty on Palestinian political prisoners.\n\nMiki Zohar, the head of the Likud faction in the Knesset, said that the two bills he submitted would \u201cembarrass\u201d former army general Benny Gantz of the Blue and White party and Avigdor Lieberman of Yisrael Beitenu.\n\nGantz is currently speaking with Israeli parties to form a coalition government after receiving a thin majority last week from Israeli Knesset members.\n\nPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of Likud party, is maintaining contact with Gantz in a bid to form a national unity government, though the chances are slim that the two rivals will find common ground.\n\nNetanyahu is facing corruption charges and he could be sentenced to up to ten years in prison if convicted. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the first court hearing for Netanyahu\u2019s case was postponed this week to May.\n\nGantz is still examining the possibility to enter an alliance with Lieberman and the Arab Joint List, a political coalition of parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, in order to form a government.\n\nLieberman has long depicted the Palestinian community inside Israel as a \u201cfifth column\u201d and called them \u201cenemies\u201d. Nonetheless, he agreed with Gantz for the Joint List to provide parliamentary support to the coalition but not participate in the government.\n\nThe Joint List opposes the annexation of occupied Palestinian lands and the death penalty.\n\nNewspaper Israel Hayom quoted Zohar as saying that his aim was to weaken Gantz\u2019s bloc.\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s see this wonderful cooperation between the Joint List, Yisrael Beiteinu and Blue and White. We will see how they will work together [with] those who work against the state,\u201d Zohar said. \u201cShall we see [Gantz and Lieberman] oppose these legislations in order to please their new friends from the Joint List?\u201d\n\nIn December 2017, Lieberman \u2013 who then served as defence minister \u2013 introduced a bill allowing the use of the death penalty against Palestinian prisoners. The bill did not go through the Knesset.\n\nIsrael has not carried out any executions since 1962, when Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was hanged.\n\nIsrael abolished the use of capital punishment for murder in civil courts in 1954, though it can still in theory be applied for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, treason and crimes against the Jewish people.\n\n*\n\nNote to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc."}
-{"text": "Google Chrome bekommt einen Werbeblocker . Diese Nachricht ist nicht ganz neu. Anfang 2018 will man Funktionen in Google Chrome eingebaut haben, die st\u00f6rende Werbung ausblenden soll. Was dabei st\u00f6rend ist, bestimmt nicht ihr, sondern es gibt da eine \u201e Coalition for Better Ads \u201e. Anhand deren \u201eStandards\u201c (Google ist da Mitglied, gro\u00dfe \u00dcberraschung) und in Verbindung mit der Industrie wolle man wirklich St\u00f6rendes filtern. So werden Nutzer wahrscheinlich weniger Videos sehen, die automatisch lospl\u00e4rren und auch lange Popups und Countdown-Werbungen k\u00f6nnten geblockt werden.\n\nNun ist die erste Ausgabe des Google Werbeblockers live gegangen, Nutzer finden den Blocker bereits in der Chrome-Version f\u00fcr Android, sofern sie auf die die Canary- oder Developer-Version setzen. In den Webseiten-Einstellungen kann der Werbeblocker begutachtet werden, hier findet man den Punkt Werbung vor.\n\nStandardm\u00e4\u00dfig ist der Werbeblocker in Google Chrome f\u00fcr Android aktiviert, hier teilt Google mit, dass man Werbung auf Webseiten blockiere, die f\u00fcr gew\u00f6hnlich aufdringliche Werbung anzeigen. Nutzer, die keinen Werbeblocker in Chrome wollen, k\u00f6nnen dies aber deaktivieren. Bisher gibt es keine Informationen, wann der Werbeblocker in die Desktop-Version \u00fcbernommen wird. Zumindest konnte ich nach einem Durchforsten bei mir nichts finden.\n\n(Danke Matthias!)"}
-{"text": "Minnesota continuing their non-conference play success under Tubby Smith Gophers keep winning\n\nRodney Williams has been playing incredibly since the season ending injury to Trevor Mbakwe\n\nWhile Joe Coleman and Julian Welch stepped up against the Mountaineers too\n\nI don\u2019t know if Rodney has something against Mountaineers but he has had two of his most explosive games against them\n\nMinnesota continued its home stand welcoming the Appalachian State Mountaineers from the Southern conference to Williams Arena. The Gophers were 8-1 heading into the game against App St. with their only loss coming in the championship round of the Old Spice Classic, the game Mbakwe sustained a season ending injury. Minnesota had already lost 7 players with over 500 games of experience coming into this year and with the injury of Mbakwe they are relying on 7 new faces, 3 freshman and 2 junior college transfers.\n\nMinnesota looked to improve their non-conference record which has been tremendous under Smith and the Gophers were 8-1 against the Southern Conference all-time. Minnesota welcomed App State to Dinkytown when they opened up the 1998-99 season but the game has been vacated. Minnesota has started slow in nearly all of their games this season and have allowed weaker opponents to stay in the game before the Gophers eventually prevail.\n\nAs slow as they have been out of the gate they still hold a plus25 point differential in their opening 9 games. Tubby Smith must be making some halftime adjustments because Minnesota has a plus52 point differential against their opponents in the second half of their first 9 games. Minnesota has been outscored just twice, once against Dayton and against Mt. St. Mary\u2019s when they had a huge first half lead. To nobody\u2019s surprise Minnesota started the game off slow yet again, going the first 4:40 without a single basket.\n\nLuckily for the Gophers Appalachian St. only scored 5 points in that time and when G Julian Welch made a three pointer is was a 2 point game. It was tight in the middle of the first half until the Gophers went on a 8-2 run behind some solid offensive play by true freshman G Joe Coleman. F Rodney Williams pulled down an offensive board and made a good layup underneath the hoop and in the following possession he made a solid dunk to give Minnesota a 10 point lead.\n\nI don\u2019t know how many times I am going to have to bring this up but it has to be said, the Gophers games are determined by one thing, the three point line. They are terrible at defending it and have little success making them and the former was a problem on Tuesday while Tubby fixed the latter. Mountaineers G Rodney Milum hit 3straight three pointers while the Gophers offense mustered a single free throw cutting their lead down to just 2 points, which is where it stayed heading into the locker rooms.\n\nThe game stayed close until midway through the second half when Milum hit another three pointer giving App. State their first lead since early in the first half. Minnesota took back the lead when Williams threw down his 2nd emphatic dunk and Smith kept feeding the junior forward after that. I know that I have been harsh on Williams and his skepticism to take jump shots but by taking what the defense gives him he has one of the best field goal percentages in all of the Big Ten.\n\nHe did however make two of his best shots from the floor in a 2 minutes span at the end of the second half. He took and made an incredibly difficult three point shot and followed it up with a fade away jump shot that I would have never imagined he would make. Williams finished the game with a career high tying 18 points going 8-10 from the field, 1-1 from beyond the arc, pulled down 6 rebounds, 4 offensive, made an assist, stole 1 ball and blocked 5 shots! In the 3 games since Mbakwe\u2019s injury Williams has played in all but 12 minutes of the Gophers games and missed just 5 shots, 1 free throw, while pulling down 23 rebounds, making 5 assists, 10 blocks, 7 steals while turning the ball over just 5 times. \u201cWe needed every bit that he had, because he delivered\u201d Smith said of Williams play, \u201cwhenever the bell rang he answered it\u201d.\n\nWilliams has stepped up in a big way for Minnesota but so has the plethora of guards that Tubby has implemented throughout this young season. On Tuesday Andre Hollins was limited to just 11 minutes after sustaining hip soreness and tendonitis in his knee after the game against USC on Saturday. That allowed G Julian Welch and Joe Coleman to increase their time on the floor and the two combined for 25 points. Coleman had an explosive first half and made some impressive plays offensively but there were multiple times where the Mountaineers exposed his shakey defensive play.\n\nWelch posted his 3rd straight game with 15 or more points and has been a good source of offense on a team that has moved on quickly after losing their star player. Welch did score but he had one of his worst games handling the ball committing 4 turnovers and forcing Smith to rely on Maverick Ahanmisi and Chip Aremlin. Welch did go 6-6 from the free throw line and has now made 25 straight since missing 2 in the Gophers game against DePaul. Welch also made the Gophers only other three pointer and the Gophers were 2-6 as a team, while Smith has decided to quit shooting them if you aren\u2019t making them.\n\nMinnesota did a decent job defending the three, holding the Mountaineers to just under 43% from deep allowing them to make 9 of 21 attempts. Appalachian States two leading scorers were starting G Omar Carter and bench G Rodney Milum who were a combined 8-14 from three point land while the rest of the team was 1-7. The Gophers did a fantastic job defensively and the Mountaineers shot just 35.3% from the field on their way to a 70-56 loss. Minnesota ended the second half on a 20-7 run to make this game seem like it wasn\u2019t as close as it really was heading into the final minutes. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of things we\u2019ve had to overcome, but I\u2019m really proud of how these kids have responded every time there was a hurdle in front of them\u201d Smith explained to the media about his teams perseverance, \u201cthey find a way to get over it\u201d."}
-{"text": "London knife crime: Can Chicago's model cure the violence? By Thomas Mackintosh\n\nBBC News Published duration 21 September 2018 Related Topics Knife crime\n\nimage copyright Alyssa Schukar image caption In Chicago, former gang members are employed to intervene in disputes\n\nIs it really possible to reduce violent crime by tackling it like an infectious disease?\n\nLondon has announced it is to follow Scotland's public health approach to help tackle violent crime. The idea of treating crime as a disease is not new, however. It originated on the streets of Chicago more than two decades ago and has its roots in the fight against Aids in Africa.\n\nLondon has already seen 100 murders this year following a surge in violence which has focussed attention on knife crime in particular.\n\nThe Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has come under increasing pressure to take action and old debates about police stop and search powers have been revived. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has admitted her officers are \"stretched\".\n\nIt is a situation that bears similarities with the streets of Chicago 20 years ago.\n\nDr Gary Slutkin, an epidemiologist with the World Health Organisation, returned there in the mid 1990s after years spent fighting infectious diseases in Asia and Africa.\n\nIn Uganda he had tackled the spread of Aids with some success. However, he had become jaded by the death and misery he witnessed and was looking forward to a break.\n\nimage copyright UIC image caption Dr Gary Slutkin was shocked by the violence he experienced when he returned to Chicago in the 1990s\n\nInstead, he was shocked by the violence and death he encountered in his homeland.\n\n\"I saw that all this violence was happening in America and I didn't even know, as I'd been away for so long, I thought America had no problems,\" he said.\n\n\"When I came here I saw in the newspapers and TV that there were 14 year olds shooting 13 year olds in the head. Killing them. Just little kids shooting each other. What is this?\"\n\nIntrigued, Dr Slutkin began to investigate. He looked at the data and noticed a number of similarities between the violence in Chicago and the epidemics he had just spent years trying to cure.\n\nimage copyright Cure Violence image caption Dr Slutkin had spent years tackling the Aids epidemic in central Africa - and used the same techniques combating violence in the US\n\nimage copyright Getty Images image caption As part of his work Dr Slutkin tried to educate people and change the perceptions of Aids\n\nHe realised violent incidents were occurring in clusters at certain locations and at certain times.\n\nFurthermore, the violence appeared to be replicating itself, similar to an infectious disease. One violent incident would lead to another and then another, and so on.\n\nFinally, violence was increasing rapidly in a fashion very similar to an epidemic wave.\n\nAs an epidemiologist, he knew to look for three things before classing a disease as contagious; clustering, self-replication and epidemic waves.\n\nDr Slutkin concluded Chicago was facing an epidemic disease just as bad as he had witnessed in Uganda.\n\nHe decided to treat the problem in the same way.\n\nimage copyright Getty Images image caption Although violence remains a problem, the number of homicides has fallen in many districts of Chicago\n\nMoved to action, he obtained funding from a local university and set up Cure Violence - a project dedicated to using public health methods to tackle violent crime.\n\nAs with the fight against Aids, the first rule was that violence should not be treated as \"a problem with bad people\". Instead, it would be treated as a contagion that infected people. This meant aiming to prevent violence before it broke out and mitigate it once it had.\n\nIn Uganda, Dr Slutkin and his colleagues had learned people would only listen to safe sex advice if it was delivered by their peers.\n\n\"We used people who had the same access and reach from the same population,\" Dr Slutkin says.\n\n\"Gay men to reach gay men, sex workers to reach sex workers.\"\n\nIn Chicago, he adopted a similar approach. Controversially, he recruited former gang members to educate current gang members, intervene in disputes and hopefully prevent the violence at source.\n\nThe results were instant; crime in its pilot area, West Garfield, dropped significantly. Soon the project was being adopted across other troubled parts of the city.\n\nKey to its success were the former gang members, known as Violence Interrupters. Employed as a link between - but crucially separate from - law enforcement and the gangs, they used their community contacts to identify high-risk situations and individuals and then intervene in disputes before they escalated into violence.\n\nimage copyright Alyssa Schukar image caption Angalia Bianca is one of Cure Violence's most experienced violence interrupters\n\nAngalia Bianca was a member of the infamous Latin Kings gang for more than 30 years before becoming a violence interrupter seven years ago.\n\n\"It's all about buying time in most situations, trying to calm people down and talk them down from doing something they'll regret,\" she says.\n\n\"These guys out here aren't going to listen to police, but we have a reputation and a street cred.\n\n\"We used to live our lives out on the streets, gangbanging, committing crimes. We speak their language.\"\n\nThe impact of this community engagement approach has been significant.\n\nimage copyright Alyssa Schukar image caption Cure Violence keeps track of the city's different gangs and tries to maintain relationships with all of them\n\nSince the project began, shootings have fallen by as much as 40% in areas where violence interrupters have been present. Other cities in the United States have followed suit, most notably Los Angeles, New York and Baltimore.\n\nIn Scotland, Glasgow has adapted the approach - incorporating it into a wider public health strategy involving education, health and social services.\n\nThe success of Scotland's Violence Reduction Unit, which received \u00a37.6m in Scottish government funding between 2008 and 2016, has now caught the eye of Mr Khan.\n\nHowever, the strategy is not without its problems.\n\nmedia caption Authorities in New York City are treating violent crime as a public health issue\n\nIn Chicago, funding has been a perennial issue.\n\nIn 2015, Cure Violence went the first of two years without a full state budget due to a stalemate between governor Bruce Rauner and House Speaker Mike Madigan.\n\nDr Slutkin believes this led to a loss in lives.\n\n\"We wrote a letter and said this was going to be a disaster, in other words predicted it,\" he said. \"We lost all of the workers for 13 communities.\"\n\nimage copyright Getty Images image caption The majority of killings in Chicago are often clustered in certain neighbourhoods and stem from individual disputes.\n\nimage copyright Alyssa Shuckar image caption Violence interrupters use their reputation to act as credible messengers\n\nThe following year, 771 people were murdered in Chicago - the city's deadliest year in nearly two decades . In 2017, after the Cure Violence team had regained its funding, there was a 16% decline in murders.\n\nOver the past year, London has experienced its own surge in violent deaths.\n\nHowever, there is a significant difference in scale.\n\nThis year, Cure Violence received funding of $5.4m (\u00a34.1m) in Chicago and $17.2m (\u00a313m) in New York.\n\nMr Khan has only put up \u00a3500,000 for the project in London, a figure described by criminologist Anthony Gunter as a \"joke\".\n\nimage caption The aim of the violence interrupters is not to dismantle gangs or cliques, but instead work with them in order to save lives\n\nimage copyright Alyssa Schukar image caption Cure Violence employ dozens of violence interrupters who patrol different neighbourhoods in Chicago\n\nHe feels the mayor has been \"slow\" to react to London's violence issue but is a fan of the Chicago approach, although he points out the city's murder rate remains high.\n\n\"The devil is in the detail and at this stage there isn't much detail,\" he says of Mr Khan's announcement.\n\n\"It needs a multi-agency approach and everyone working together. It will need Sadiq Khan to work with (home secretary) Sajid Javid.\"\n\nFor some communities in London, Chicago and Glasgow, violence is part of everyday life. It is part of wider social issues such as unemployment, education, broken families and drugs.\n\nWhether Mr Khan's diagnosis of violence as a disease will make a difference remains to be seen.\n\nimage copyright PA image caption The Metropolitan Police has launched more than 100 murder investigations so far in 2018\n\nOne person who is happy about the announcement, though, is Sarah Jones, who has been campaigning for the public health approach since being elected Labour MP for Croydon Central in 2017.\n\nShe believes violence interrupters could be key to stopping knife crime in parts of London.\n\n\"There are small groups across London which fulfil a similar role, but we need to have more people who have that respect and trust in that community,\" she says.\n\n\"Having someone to intervene at the point where they are thinking about being violent can make a massive difference."}
-{"text": "A pro-oil and resource-development group called \u201cBritish Columbians for Prosperity\u201d (BC4P) did an about-face Tuesday, after it was asked to respond to claims that it was polling Vancouver residents about federal voting intentions, and the Northern Gateway pipeline.\n\n\n\n\n\nAfter some probing, the group revealed it is now polling more than 1,000 residents, province-wide with robocalls.\n\nBut that was not the story to begin with.\n\nThe self-described \u201ccitizens group\u201d -- which says it is \u201cnot a political organization\u201d -- originally told the Vancouver Observer it was not asking residents about their political party affiliations. However, several residents reported otherwise.\n\n\u201cIf an election were held today, who would you vote for?\u201d Vancouver resident Neal Jennings recalled being asked by a computerized telephone voice on Monday.\n\n\u201cThen\u2026 they explicitly said the leader of the parties \u2013 it was Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau, Elizabeth May, and Thomas Mulcair,\u201d he said.\n\nThe group\u2019s executive director \u2013 retired oil executive Bruce Lounds \u2013 vehemently denied the voter polling when asked about it early Tuesday morning.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s absolutely not true. I can tell you that flat out,\u201d said Lounds . \u201cWe\u2019re polling about Northern Gateway and general resource development. It\u2019s for our own internal use, to develop campaigns, or to provide information to people.\u201d\n\nBut by Tuesday afternoon, when asked to explain the difference in stories, the group\u2019s communications representative \u2013 Alise Mills \u2013 sent an e-mail stating:\n\n\u201cWe also asked about people\u2019s voting intention \u2013 if an election were held today which party they would vote for.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe think there is a myth that development is a left-wing versus right-wing issue \u2013 and we wanted to dig into this,\u201d wrote Mills.\n\n\u201cCanadians and British Columbians like natural resource development. They just are not 100 per cent [supportive] on Northern Gateway.\"\n\n\n\n\n\nIronically, Public Relations juggernaut Jim Hoggan received one of the robo-calls. \u201cYeah \u2013 one of those things came up on my cell phone,\u201d laughed Hoggan. The Vancouver-based author wrote a well-known book on PR tactics employed by big oil companies to deny climate change. He said British Columbians for Prosperity appears to be an industry front group. \u201cIf you don\u2019t think it\u2019s a front group for industry, then you\u2019re not paying much attention,\u201d he said. Hoggan added he was surprised that such a group would poll about voting intentions. \u201cThis is the kind of stuff we wrote about in Climate Cover Up that has been fine tuned by right-wing American think tanks.\u201d \u201cJust as you can pollute the natural environment \u2013 you can pollute public conversations. It undermines public trust in public discourse. It\u2019s just polarizing for the sake of partisanship.\" Mills countered that British Columbians for Prosperity has no relation to a similar-sounding Americans for Prosperity think tank. She added her group is not funded by the U.S. Koch brother billionaires and is not pushing heavy oil development in particular.\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "VIRAL footage claims to show a military predator drone chasing a UFO before the alien craft fires a powerful energy beam to destroy its pursuer.\n\nThe clip, which has been viewed over 140,000 views, was supposedly handed over to a conspiracy-fuelled YouTube channel by an anonymous \u201cgovernment\u201d source.\n\n4 The clip appears to show a US predator drone tracking a small flying object\n\nThe grainy video shows a small flying object being tracked by a US military aircraft in a desert-like landscape which the poster says is \u201cprobably\u201d in Afghanistan.\n\nWhen the tiny target disappears around a corner, a quick beam of light - which could have easily been added in with a simple editing tool - appears to be fired at the drone.\n\nThe military craft appears to be scrambled after the supposed attack.\n\nThe YouTuber UFO Today claims he has attempted to verify the footage.\n\n4 A YouTuber says the footage was 'probably' filmed in Afghanistan and shows a UFO\n\n4 A huge beam of light appears to be fired at the US aircraft appearing to sramble it\n\nHe wrote: \u201cSome ex-military people told me that this footage seems genuine drone footage.\u201d\n\nThe social media user also claims his \"source\" told him this attack was the \"tip of the iceberg\" as \"there seems to be an increase of UFO's interacting with military drone.\"\n\nLast month, a supposed UFO as bright as a \"bolt of lightning\" was spotted hovering over the Yorkshire Dales.\n\nTrent Mason, 22, and Jack Holdsworth, 21, were stargazing when they saw the eerie orange object change colour and move around the sky for more than two hours.\n\nThe keen campers were positioned near the famous Ribblehead railway viaduct when they saw the orb appear.\n\nUFO as bright as a 'bolt of lightning' filmed over Yorkshire Dales\n\n4 Trent Mason said he would have missed the dazzling object if he had blinked Credit: Trent Mason and Jack Holdsworth\n\nTrent and Jack were mesmerised as the object made circular and triangular patterns in the sky and changed colour from white to orange.\n\nTrent, from Leeds, said: \"It just popped up on the horizon, then disappeared back where it came from. I wasn't sure if I saw it but looked at Jack and his face was white.\n\n\"It was there one minute, then next it lit up like a bolt of lightning. It was like a flash and whoosh, it was gone. If I'd blinked I would have missed it.\n\n\"It was absolutely incredible. The stars were dots in the night sky and this was the size of a 5p. It was hard to judge how far away it was but it was definitely higher than the hills.\"\n\nWe pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours."}
-{"text": "A weekly Chicago sports podcast. Account managed by @SoldierFieldblg and @DNEdstrom. We love you.\n\nFollow"}
-{"text": "Top Dem to Obama: 'There Ain't Going to Be Money for Nothing if We Pour It All Into Afghanistan' Rep Obey digs in over the war; promises to demand a tax if more troops are sent.\n\nWASHINGTON, Nov. 23, 2009\u0097 -- The powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Committee has a stark message for President Obama about Afghanistan -- sending more troops would be a mistake that could \"wipe out every initiative we have to rebuild our own economy.\"\n\n\"There ain't going to be no money for nothing if we pour it all into Afghanistan,\" House Appropriations Chairman David Obey told ABC News in an exclusive interview. \"If they ask for an increased troop commitment in Afghanistan, I am going to ask them to pay for it.\"\n\nObey, a Democrat from Wisconsin, made it clear that he is absolutely opposed to sending any more U.S. troops to Afghanistan and says if Obama decides to do that, he'll demand a new tax -- what he calls a \"war surtax\" -- to pay for it.\n\n\"On the merits, I think it is a mistake to deepen our involvement,\" Obey said. \"But if we are going to do that, then at least we ought to pay for it. Because if we don't, if we don't pay for it, the cost of the Afghan war will wipe out every initiative we have to rebuild our own economy.\"\n\nObey's opposition to funding a troop increase in Afghanistan without a new tax would pose a significant problem for Obama if he decides to send more troops (a decision the White House says the President could make as early as November 30).\n\nAs Appropriations Committee chairman, Obey was a key player in securing money for the war when the last war funding bill narrowly passed the House in June.\n\nHis demand for a new war tax echoes a similar call by Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, also a Democrat, who recently told Bloomberg's Al Hunt that he favors a new tax on Americans earning more than $200,000 a year to pay for sending any additional troops.\n\nObey argued that the tax should be paid by all taxpayers, with rates ranging from 1 percent for lower wage earners to 5 percent for the wealthy.\n\nThe White House won't be able to count on Obey's support the next time the president seeks funding for the war.\n\n\"I want the president and every American to think ahead of time about what it means if you do add to our involvement in Afghanistan,\" Obey told ABC News. \"I am no military strategist, but I don't believe we have the tools to accomplish our mission in Afghanistan because you have to have functioning, effective government and there isn't one in Afghanistan. There isn't one in Pakistan either.\"\n\nHigh War Costs Will Doom Obama's Domestic Initiatives, Obey Says\n\nGen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, has requested an additional 40,000 troops. According to Obey, that would bring the cost of the war up to approximately $90 billion a year, or $900 billion over 10 years -- virtually the same as the cost of the Democratic health care plan.\n\nSuch a high war cost, he warns, will make it impossible to pay for any of Obama's major domestic initiatives.\n\n\"That's what happened with the Vietnam War, which wiped out [President Lyndon Johnson's social program] the Great Society,\" Obey said. \"That's what happened with the Korean War, which wiped out Harry Truman's Square Deal. That's what happened with the end of the progressive movement before the '20s when we went into World War I. In each case, the cost of those wars shut off our ability to pay for anything else.\""}
-{"text": "Following yesterday\u2019s Future of PlayStation tease from Sony , new rumors suggest that the PlayStation 4 will be announced this month, released this year and may even let players share videos and screenshots directly.\n\nLoading\n\nAnonymous sources have told both Polygon and The Wall Street Journal that the event will indeed be the announcement of Sony\u2019s next console and that Sony is aiming to release the system before the end of the year. The Wall Street Journal suggests that Sony \u201cis planning to incorporate more social gaming aspects into the new machine\u201d and \u201cis more focused this time on the changes in how users interact with the machine.\u201d Edge Online , meanwhile, also reports that the next PlayStation will be out before the end of the year in the U.S. and Japan (but early 2014 in Europe) and says it will be more powerful than the next console from Microsoft. The system will allegedly feature a redesigned controller, which fits with rumors of Sony abandoning the DualShock that circulated earlier this month. According to Edge, the system \u201cwill ship with a redesigned controller which is the same size as an existing DualShock but features a small touchpad in place of the existing Select, Start and PS buttons. The tech is based on Vita\u2019s rear touchpad, and is similarly responsive in use.\u201dEdge also refers to specific elements of the controller mentioned in a leaked list of specs last week . Specifically, Edge says Sony\u2019s new controller will feature a Share button that will \u201claunch a new feature that will allow screenshots and video to be distributed online.\u201d The system will reportedly \u201ccontinually record the most recent 15 minutes of onscreen action, which users will then be able to edit and broadcast via the Internet.\u201dFor now, the future of PlayStation is uncertain, but Sony told IGN yesterday \"The PlayStation meeting will be about the future of the PlayStation business.\" Our PlayStation team will attend Sony\u2019s event in New York City later this month, so keep checking back for confirmed news as it\u2019s announced.\n\nAndrew Goldfarb is IGN\u2019s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he\u2019s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN."}
-{"text": "\u201cWhere\u2019ve you been?\u201d was the question put to Boris Johnson today on his visit to Yorkshire, six days after the region was ravaged by serious flooding.\n\n\u201cYou took your time,\u201d said another resident as Johnson popped up in Fishlake, a name now familiar nation-wide as one of the villages worst hit by the flooding: the place where a man knee-deep in water in his living room says he has been surviving there for days without heating or electricity, because he doesn\u2019t want to abandon his two dogs to go to the refuge centre; the place where a woman broke down on our TV screens, saying she has simultaneously lost her home and her livelihood. Her insurance doesn\u2019t cover flooding, and she\u2019s worried about how she\u2019ll survive.\n\nIt has been the top item on the news agenda for days now, and the simple narrative is that people are suffering, that communities have been amazing, but that the response has been inadequate.\n\nLast night, added into the equation was the appearance of Jeremy Corbyn and Jo Swinson in the area, listening to locals\u2019 concerns and outlining their own parties\u2019 plans for flood defences and emergency response to extreme weather conditions. Pundits kept saying last night that the floods had become \u201cpolitical\u201d, but no one was stating exactly what was political.\n\nUntil today, when locals said it themselves, no one bluntly stated the political reality. So here it is. From the second Boris Johnson took office, he has been leading a carefully-targeted campaign to woo exactly the kind of voters who live in Fishlake. It\u2019s the well-known electoral gamble that Johnson embarked on even before the election was official: unite the Leave vote behind the Conservatives, even though that risks losing seats in the south of England and in Scotland, and pick up seats even in the Labour heartlands in the north. Win those Labour voters who supported Leave with a simple \u201cget Brexit done\u201d message, bolstered by pledges to boost funding for the NHS, schools and the police. And target these voters specially, with a raft of carefully-targeted government spending pledges that happen to fall on key Conservative targets.\n\nAfter months of carefully wooing the people of Labour heartlands with the message that the Conservatives understand their needs and interests best, it has taken only six days to render that message hollow.\n\nAs the Prime Minister sat down with residents today, a visibly distressed local reminded him of his recent towns fund pledges that he \u201cpromised us months ago\u201d: an example of the kind of policy designed to woo this voter, but instead exacerbating her distress. She hasn\u2019t seen the new funding for the town yet (many of Johnson\u2019s pledges from the summer could never be implemented until after the election), and asks if the new measures he promises are \u201ca lie again\u201d.\n\nOf course, this is the stuff that can\u2019t really be polled. No one with any decency can go to a refuge centre and ask someone who has lost everything: \u201cSo, how will you be casting your ballot come 12 December?\u201d We don\u2019t know if parts of the country unaffected by the flooding are noticing; as fewer people get their news from one uniform news source, we don\u2019t know how concerned people are by the main news event in the country, and we don\u2019t know if they are apportioning blame to the Conservatives, who have presided over flooding preparations while in government, for the scale of the harm.\n\nBut the anger that we\u2019ve seen today from those affected by the floods suggests it may well cut through.\n\nBoris Johnson and his team have been so busy targeting these people with words, so busy honing a message about Brexit and parroting the things that ordinary people are most concerned about, they were slow to act on the one thing that ordinary people care most, and care desperately, about in flood-ravaged Yorkshire. And actions, as we know, speak louder than words."}
-{"text": "The Hamas terror organization on Friday test-fired dozens of short-range rockets in the Gaza Strip, with Israeli sources estimating that at least 30 projectiles were launched.\n\nThe rockets were aimed at areas not under Israeli control, Army Radio reported.\n\nThe tests came as part of ongoing efforts by Hamas to improve its rocket range and accuracy, two years after it last fought Israel. The Islamist terror group, which seeks to destroy Israel, has also been digging tunnels towards and under the Israeli border, in preparation for further conflict.\n\nGet The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up\n\nThe Defense Ministry announced late last month that Israel foiled an attempt to smuggle metal pipes and motors into the Gaza Strip, which could have been used for building rockets and tunnels.\n\nThe Gaza-bound shipment came through Tarkumiya, a small village outside of Hebron in the West Bank. The trucks were headed to the Kerem Shalom Crossing, where they would enter the coastal enclave.\n\nInspectors at the Tarkumiya crossing, along with the Shin Bet security service, intercepted the packages, which were believed to have been on their way to Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the ministry said in a statement.\n\nAccording to officials, the \u201clarge shipment\u201d consisted of \u201chundreds of pipes with a diameter under four inches, with a special kind of screw that is used for the production of mortars and rockets.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe shipment has been confiscated and an investigation has been opened to locate those involved in the smuggling,\u201d the Defense Ministry said.\n\nAlso in May, the Israel Tax Authority uncovered an attempt to sneak four tons of ammonium chloride into Gaza, concealed in table salt.\n\nSacks of the ammonium chloride were found buried in some 36 tons of salt. The chemical compound is used mainly in agriculture as a fertilizer, but like many nitrogen-based fertilizers, can also be turned into an explosive.\n\n\u201cThis case underscores the activity of Gaza-based terrorist organizations in smuggling dual-use materials disguised as goods destined for the civilian population and reconstruction projects,\u201d the Tax Authority said at the time."}
-{"text": "Mies uhkaili Helsingin oikeusaputoimiston ty\u00f6ntekij\u00e4\u00e4 puhelimitse v\u00e4kivallalla ja tappamisella lukuisia kertoja lokakuusta 2015 toukokuuhun 2016. Lakimies oli avustanut 41-vuotiaan lapsen \u00e4iti\u00e4 huoltajuusriidassa.\n\nSamaan aikaan mies uhkaili my\u00f6s ulkomaalaispoliisin ty\u00f6ntekij\u00e4\u00e4, joka oli hoitanut miehen karkotusasiaa vuodesta 2014. Asia oli pitkittynyt, koska 41-vuotiaalla ei ollut kohdemaata, jonne h\u00e4net voisi palauttaa.\n\nMies on ilmeisesti kotoisin Kongosta.\n\nMainos (artikkeli jatkuu alla)\n\nMainos (artikkeli jatkuu alla)\n\nVapun tienoilla 41-vuotias oli tulossa valvottuun tapaamiseen lapsensa kanssa, mutta se peruttiin miehen oltua my\u00f6h\u00e4ss\u00e4. Todistajan mukaan 41-vuotiaalla oli tuolloin pitk\u00e4ter\u00e4inen veitsi mukanaan.\n\nToukokuussa 2016 tilanne k\u00e4rjistyi ja uhkailut virkamiehille kovenivat.\n\nKiinniotto Puotilassa\n\nPoliisit etsiv\u00e4t miest\u00e4 20. toukokuuta t\u00e4m\u00e4n asunnosta Klaavuntielt\u00e4 Helsingin Puotilasta. Kolme siviilipukuista oli oven takana ja yksi ulkona varmistamassa, ettei mies pakene parvekkeen kautta.\n\nPoliisit huutelivat ja meniv\u00e4t asuntoon juuri kun mies hypp\u00e4si parvekkeelta.\n\nUlkona ollut poliisi k\u00e4skytti hypyss\u00e4 kaatunutta miest\u00e4 pysym\u00e4\u00e4n maassa. Mies kuitenkin nousi yl\u00f6s ja otti veitsen ja kaasusumuttimen k\u00e4siins\u00e4. Poliisi veti aseensa esiin. Paikalla oli my\u00f6s virkapukuisia poliiseja. My\u00f6s asuntoon menneet poliisit rynt\u00e4siv\u00e4t ulos.\n\nPoliisit k\u00e4skyttiv\u00e4t miest\u00e4 lukuisia kertoja suomeksi ja englanniksi. Mies oli hyp\u00e4hdellyt nyrkkeilij\u00e4n tyylisesti. H\u00e4n oli 8-10 metrin p\u00e4\u00e4ss\u00e4 yhdest\u00e4 poliisista, kun h\u00e4n huusi \u201dshoot me!\u201d (ampukaa minut!).\n\nYksi poliiseista suihkutti kaasua, mutta sill\u00e4 ei ollut vaikutusta. Mies rynt\u00e4si veitsen kanssa er\u00e4st\u00e4 poliisia kohti ja huusi \u201dkill me please\u201d (tappakaa minut).\n\nPoliisimies ampui 41-vuotiasta jalkaan.\n\nEhdollista vankeutta\n\nK\u00e4r\u00e4j\u00e4oikeus katsoi, ett\u00e4 tekojen moitittavuutta lis\u00e4si se, ett\u00e4 ne kohdistuivat virkamiehiin heid\u00e4n ty\u00f6teht\u00e4viens\u00e4 vuoksi. Vakavimpana tekona oikeus piti virkamiehen v\u00e4kivaltaista vastustamista eli poliisien uhkailua puukolla.\n\nMiest\u00e4 ei ollut aiemmin tuomittu vankeusrangaistukseen, jolloin oikeus langetti puolentoista vuoden tuomion ehdollisena."}
-{"text": "Follow the major changes at the Nou Camp in our FREE Barca newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email\n\nRonald Koeman has until the end of the month to save his job.\n\nEverton's boss needs to turnaround the Toffees' campaign before the end of October \u2013 or he will pay the price.\n\nThe Dutchman has spent almost \u00a3150m this summer on an array of new talent \u2013 and added \u00a3300,000-a-week Wayne Rooney to his first-team squad.\n\nBut grumblings have started behind-the-scenes both among supporters and amid the hierarchy at Goodison Park.\n\n(Image: AFP)\n\nVideo Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now\n\nAnd unless he finds a solution to that disquiet and oversees an upturn in results, the former Ajax and Barcelona star will be axed.\n\nDespite being given a head-start on the Premier League by playing in Europe, the Toffees have spluttered along.\n\nAn opening day triumph over Stoke City proved a false dawn and, had it not been for a late Oumar Niasse double against Bournemouth, that would have been the club's only league triumph.\n\n(Image: REUTERS) (Image: REUTERS)\n\nBosses are unwilling to act now, so soon after the mammoth outlay.\n\nThree straight defeats to Chelsea, Manchester United and Spurs was a poor return and Koeman's side failed even to find the net.\n\nHowever, an embarrassment in Atalanta and at home to Cypriots Apoel Limassol has only heightened the feeling at the club that all is not well.\n\nKoeman has three matches which will now dictate whether he will remain in situ \u2013 away trips to Brighton and Leicester are sandwiched either side of a date at Goodison Park against Arsenal.\n\nDespite commitments in both the Carabao Cup and against Lyon in the Europa League, it is his performance in the Premier League that will ultimately decide if he remains in his post."}
-{"text": "Tonight from the The Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, Team Sakuraba pairs up against Team Faber as legendary mixed martial arts fighters Kazushi Sakuraba and Urijah Faber lead their five-man teams at Quintet 3. The event streams live on UFC Fight Pass.\n\nFormer UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett and elite grappling champions including three-time EBI winner Geo Martinez and reigning Polaris middleweight king Craig Jones are all part of the event.\n\nComplete Quintet 3 Results Below:\n\nTeam SAKURABA:\n\n1. Kazushi Sakuraba\n\n2. Josh Barnett\n\n3. Marcos Souza\n\n4. Roberto Satoshi Souza\n\n5. Daisuke Nakamura\n\nTeam Alpha Male:\n\n1. Urijah Faber\n\n2. Dustin Akbari\n\n3. Mansher Khera\n\n4. Antoine Jaoude\n\n5. Gordon Ryan\n\nTeam Polaris:\n\n1. Gregor Gracie\n\n2. Craig Jones\n\n3. Marcin Held\n\n4. Dan Strauss\n\n5. Vitor Riberio\n\nTeam 10th Planet:\n\n1. Geo Martinez\n\n2. Richie Martinez\n\n3. PJ Barch\n\n4. Amir Allam\n\n5. Adam Sachnoff\n\nMATCH 1 Team Sakuraba vs. Team Alpha Male Results:\n\nKazushi Sakuraba vs. Urijah Faber (10 minutes) ends in a DRAW and both fighters are eliminated.\n\nDaisuke Nakamura vs. Antoine Jaoude (4minutes) ends in a DRAW and both fighters are eliminated.\n\nGordon Ryan defeated Josh Barnett by Triangle Choke.\n\nGordon Ryan defeats Marcos Souza by Rear Naked Choke.\n\nGordon Ryan vs. Roberto Satoshi Souza ends in a DRAW. Team Alpha Male heads to the finals.\n\nMATCH 2 Team 10th Planet vs. Team Polaris Results:\n\nPJ Barch defeats Vitor Ribeiro by Armbar.\n\nGregor Gracie defeats PJ Barch by Kneebar.\n\nGregor Gracie defeated Amir Allam by Kimura.\n\nGeo Martinez defeated Gregor Gracie by Kimura.\n\nMarcin Held defeated Geo Martinez by Kneebar.\n\nRichie Martinez defeated Marcin Held by Armbar.\n\nCraig Jones defeated Richie Martinez by Ankle Lock.\n\nCraig Jones defeated Adam Sachnoff by Rear Naked Choke. Team Polaris advances to the finals.\n\nQuintet 3 FINALS Team Alpha Male vs. Team Polaris:\n\nDustin Akbari vs. Dan Strauss ends in a DRAW and both fighters are eliminated.\n\nMansher Khera vs. Marcin Held ends in a DRAW and both fighters are eliminated.\n\nCraig Jones defeated Antoine Jaoude by Rear Naked Choke.\n\nGordon Ryan defeated Craig Jones by Rear Naked Choke.\n\nGordon Ryan defeated Vitor Ribeiro by Armbar.\n\nGordon Ryan vs. Gregor Gracie ends in a DRAW\u2026.\n\nTeam Alpha Male wins Quintet 3!\n\nWhat a performance by King Gordon Ryan!\n\nSPECIAL MATCHES:\n\n1. Nicky Ryan defeated Hideo Tokoro by Rear Naked Choke.\n\n2. Satoshi Ishii defeated Frank Mir by DQ in OT.\n\n3. Marcelo Nunes defeated Haisam Rida by Head And Arm Choke.\n\nBrian Jensen http://www.mikeduffyspt.com/ I am a Personal Trainer and Nutritionist in New Jersey. I have been a martial arts practitioner and fan for along as I can remember. I have a background in Jiu-Jitsu Muay Thai and Tae Kwon Do. I have a passion and love for sharing my knowledge on Jiu-Jitsu and MMA. See author's posts"}
-{"text": "Vous avez toujours voulu chiffrer vos mails, mais vous ne savez pas comment faire ? Voil\u00e0 un guide exhaustif et pas \u00e0 pas pour vous expliquer comment prot\u00e9ger votre correspondance. Certifi\u00e9 compr\u00e9hensible pour les d\u00e9butants !\n\nLes r\u00e9v\u00e9lations spectaculaires d\u2019Edward Snowden sur la surveillance g\u00e9n\u00e9ralis\u00e9e des communications \u00e9lectroniques vous ont enfin convaincu de changer vos habitudes sur Internet afin de pr\u00e9server vraiment la confidentialit\u00e9 de vos discussions avec vos proches ? Alors il est grand temps que vous vous mettiez \u00e0 chiffrer votre courrier \u00e9lectronique, afin que personne ne puisse lire votre correspondance.\n\nMalheureusement, la s\u00e9curisation des mails ne se fait pas (encore) d\u2019un claquement de doigt. Pour que vos messages b\u00e9n\u00e9ficient effectivement d\u2019un bon niveau de protection, il va vous falloir au pr\u00e9alable installer quelques logiciels sur l\u2019ordinateur et r\u00e9gler un certain nombre de param\u00e8tres. Rassurez-vous : ces \u00e9tapes ne sont pas bien compliqu\u00e9es. En r\u00e9alit\u00e9, le plus dur sera de changer ses habitudes.\n\nDans ce guide, nous avons fait le choix de focaliser notre attention sur Windows.\n\nLa raison est simple : le syst\u00e8me d\u2019exploitation de Microsoft est celui qui est le plus r\u00e9pandu. Cet article est donc susceptible d\u2019aider un nombre plus important de personnes que si nous avions pris comme point de d\u00e9part une distribution Linux ou Mac OS X. Mais dans les faits, les explications donn\u00e9es pour Windows ne sont pas tr\u00e8s diff\u00e9rentes de celles que l\u2019on pourrait donner pour d\u2019autres plateformes.\n\nR\u00e9unir les applications n\u00e9cessaires\n\n1 \u2014 Thunderbird, le client de messagerie\n\nPour commencer, il va vous falloir un client de messagerie. C\u2019est par lui que l\u2019on recevra le courrier \u00e9lectronique et que l\u2019on effectuera ensuite les op\u00e9rations de chiffrement et de d\u00e9chiffrement des messages. Notre choix s\u2019est port\u00e9 sur Thunderbird. Il s\u2019agit d\u2019un logiciel dont le d\u00e9veloppement se fait sous l\u2019\u00e9gide de la fondation Mozilla, qui \u00e9dite \u00e9galement le c\u00e9l\u00e8bre navigateur web Firefox.\n\nPlusieurs raisons justifient l\u2019utilisation de Thunderbird.\n\nNon content d\u2019\u00eatre gratuit, il s\u2019agit d\u2019un programme dont le code source peut \u00eatre v\u00e9rifi\u00e9 par tous \u00e0 n\u2019importe quel moment. C\u2019est donc un logiciel dans lequel on peut avoir raisonnablement confiance, puisqu\u2019il est bien plus difficile d\u2019y cacher durablement des portes d\u00e9rob\u00e9es ou du code malveillant : il ne faudrait pas longtemps pour que qulqu\u2019un tombe dessus et donne l\u2019alerte.\n\nEn outre, il peut recevoir des extensions, ce qui sera tr\u00e8s pratique pour la suite.\n\n2 \u2014 GPG4Win, le client de chiffrement\n\nIl vous faudra ensuite t\u00e9l\u00e9charger Gpg4win. C\u2019est ce programme qui aura la responsabilit\u00e9 de chiffrer et d\u00e9chiffrer votre courrier, comme son nom le laisse deviner (il signifie \u00ab GPG pour Windows \u00bb). Et comme Thunderbird, il s\u2019agit d\u2019un logiciel libre dont le code source peut \u00eatre contr\u00f4l\u00e9 \u00e0 tout moment par n\u2019importe quel utilisateur, s\u2019il en a les comp\u00e9tences, ce qui limite l\u00e0 encore les risques de tomber sur un programme v\u00e9rol\u00e9.\n\nGpg4win est un outil qui n\u2019a pas besoin de beaucoup d\u2019attention de votre part. Une fois que vous l\u2019aurez t\u00e9l\u00e9charg\u00e9 et install\u00e9 sur l\u2019ordinateur, il n\u2019y aura plus besoin de s\u2019occuper de lui. En effet, c\u2019est \u00e0 travers Thunderbird et Enigmail (voir ci-dessous) que le logiciel sera sollicit\u00e9.\n\n3 \u2014 Enigmail, l\u2019extension qui fait la liaison\n\nLe dernier logiciel \u00e0 installer est Enigmail. Il s\u2019agit d\u2019un module compl\u00e9mentaire qui vient se greffer \u00e0 Thunderbird. Son r\u00f4le est de lier Thunderbird et Gpg4win. Cette extension peut \u00eatre r\u00e9cup\u00e9r\u00e9e directement depuis le client de messagerie.\n\nPour cela, cliquez sur le menu \u00ab Outils \u00bb en haut du logiciel et s\u00e9lectionnez \u00ab Modules compl\u00e9mentaires \u00bb. Un nouvel onglet s\u2019ouvre alors. Tapez Enigmail dans le champ de recherche pr\u00e9vu \u00e0 cet effet pour trouver le programme et lancer le t\u00e9l\u00e9chargement. Une fois cette \u00e9tape achev\u00e9e, Thunderbird devra red\u00e9marrer pour finaliser l\u2019installation.\n\nComment configurer thunderbird pour pgp ?\n\nUne fois que vous avez install\u00e9 ces trois programmes, il va falloir ajouter votre compte de messagerie pour pouvoir consulter vos messages dans Thunderbird. Si ce n\u2019est pas d\u00e9j\u00e0 fait, rendez-vous dans le menu \u00ab Fichier \u00bb puis \u00ab Nouveau \u00bb et s\u00e9lectionner \u00ab Compte courrier existant \u00bb. L\u00e0, vous devez rentrer votre identifiant, votre adresse de courrier \u00e9lectronique et votre mot de passe, sinon vous ne pourrez pas voir vos mails.\n\nCes donn\u00e9es sont conserv\u00e9es par Thunderbird pour vous garantir un acc\u00e8s \u00e0 vos bo\u00eetes aux lettres dans le temps, mais elles ne sont pas r\u00e9cup\u00e9r\u00e9es par Mozilla.\n\nSi vous utilisez Gmail comme bo\u00eete de messagerie, Thunderbird r\u00e9ussira \u00e0 r\u00e9cup\u00e9rer les param\u00e8tres IMAP et POP3 appropri\u00e9s. Idem pour les principaux services concurrents ainsi que les bo\u00eetes aux lettres mis \u00e0 disposition par les grands op\u00e9rateurs (Orange, Free, SFR\u2026). Si ce n\u2019est pas le cas, il vous faudra inscrire vous-m\u00eame les r\u00e9glages ad\u00e9quats ou v\u00e9rifier que vous n\u2019avez pas fait d\u2019erreur en tapant votre mail ou votre mot de passe.\n\nQu\u2019est-ce qu\u2019une cl\u00e9 cryptographique ?\n\nLa prochaine \u00e9tape consiste \u00e0 cr\u00e9er vos cl\u00e9s cryptographiques. La premi\u00e8re, qui sera priv\u00e9e, doit pr\u00e9cieusement rester secr\u00e8te, tandis que la seconde, qui sera publique, devra au contraire \u00eatre distribu\u00e9e aux contacts avec qui vous souhaitez pouvoir discuter en ayant l\u2019assurance que vos \u00e9changes resteront secrets m\u00eame s\u2019ils sont intercept\u00e9s. C\u2019est par Enigmail, via Thunderbird, que la cr\u00e9ation s\u2019effectue.\n\nMais avant cela, il faut comprendre comment les cl\u00e9s fonctionnent dans le cadre d\u2019une cryptographie asym\u00e9trique. C\u2019est avec la cl\u00e9 priv\u00e9e que les messages sont sign\u00e9s. Cette op\u00e9ration permet de certifier que l\u2019exp\u00e9diteur est bien celui qui est \u00e0 l\u2019origine du message qui vient d\u2019\u00eatre re\u00e7u et qu\u2019il n\u2019a pas \u00e9t\u00e9 alt\u00e9r\u00e9 lors de son acheminement. Cette v\u00e9rification se fait du c\u00f4t\u00e9 du destinataire, avec la cl\u00e9 publique correspondante.\n\nC\u2019est la m\u00eame chose pour le chiffrement. Les messages sont rendus illisibles avec la cl\u00e9 publique de celui \u00e0 qui l\u2019on s\u2019adresse, et ce dernier utilisera alors sa cl\u00e9 priv\u00e9e pour d\u00e9chiffrer le message de son contact. Et si ce dernier veut r\u00e9pondre, il utilisera la cl\u00e9 publique de l\u2019\u00e9metteur. Celui-ci utilisera alors sa cl\u00e9 priv\u00e9e pour d\u00e9chiffrer le courrier re\u00e7u en retour.\n\ncomment cr\u00e9er sa cl\u00e9 dans enigmail ?\n\nPour cr\u00e9er vos cl\u00e9s cryptographiques, vous devez vous rendre dans le menu \u00ab Enigmail \u00bb et s\u00e9lectionner \u00ab Assistant de configuration \u00bb. Choisissez ensuite la premi\u00e8re option : \u00ab je pr\u00e9f\u00e8re la configuration standard \u00bb, qui est la plus adapt\u00e9e si vous d\u00e9butez avec PGP. Cliquez sur suivant et optez pour \u00ab je veux cr\u00e9er une nouvelle paire de clefs pour signer et chiffrer mes messages \u00bb. Validez ensuite avec \u00ab Suivant \u00bb.\n\n\u00c0 partir de l\u00e0, vous verrez un rappel sur le principe des cl\u00e9s priv\u00e9e et publique et sur le r\u00f4le que joue la phrase secr\u00e8te. C\u2019est comme un mot mot de passe : vous devez inscrire au moins 8 caract\u00e8res (chiffre, lettre et symbole). Faites en sorte d\u2019en cr\u00e9er complexe mais que vous \u00eates capable de m\u00e9moriser. Choisissez ensuite le compte mail auquel vous comptez rattacher vos cl\u00e9s cryptographiques, puis passez \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9tape suivante.\n\n\u00c0 ce moment-l\u00e0, les cl\u00e9s sont g\u00e9n\u00e9r\u00e9es.\n\n\u00c0 l\u2019issue de ce processus, vous devrez cr\u00e9er un certificat de r\u00e9vocation qu\u2019il vous faudra conserver pr\u00e9cieusement. C\u2019est en effet avec celui-ci que vous pourrez dire aux autres utilisateurs que vos cl\u00e9s cryptographiques ne sont plus valides pour une raison ou pour une autre (parce qu\u2019elles ont \u00e9t\u00e9 compromises ou parce qu\u2019elles sont sur le point d\u2019expirer et que vous comptez en utiliser de nouvelles).\n\nLe certificat de r\u00e9vocation \u00ab est utilisable pour invalider votre clef publique, en cas de perte de votre clef priv\u00e9e. Veuillez le transf\u00e9rer sur un support pouvant \u00eatre stock\u00e9 en s\u00e9curit\u00e9 comme un CD ou une disquette. Si quelqu\u2019un met la main sur ce certificat, il pourra rendre votre clef inutilisable \u00bb pr\u00e9vient Enigmail. Une fois que vous avez valid\u00e9 cette partie, Enigmail annonce qu\u2019il est \u00ab maintenant pr\u00eat \u00e0 l\u2019emploi \u00bb.\n\nVous pouvez v\u00e9rifier l\u2019existence de vos cl\u00e9s cryptographiques en vous rendant \u00e0 nouveau dans la gestion de cl\u00e9s. Vous verrez dans le champ principal votre mail. Si vous faites un clic droit dessus, vous verrez de nombreuses actions possibles : tout en bas, dans \u00ab Propri\u00e9t\u00e9 de la cl\u00e9 \u00bb vous verrez notamment le type d\u2019algorithme utilis\u00e9 (RSA), la taille de la cl\u00e9 (4096 bits), la date de cr\u00e9ation et la date d\u2019expiration.\n\nComment diffuser sa clef publique ?\n\nMaintenant que vous \u00eates en possession de votre cl\u00e9 publique, il va falloir la diffuser. C\u2019est en effet avec elle que vos correspondants pourront vous adresser des messages chiffr\u00e9s. Il existe deux grandes mani\u00e8res de communiquer votre cl\u00e9 publique. La premi\u00e8re consiste \u00e0 l\u2019attacher en pi\u00e8ce-jointe dans un courrier \u00e9lectronique, tandis que l\u2019autre n\u00e9cessite de la publier sur des serveurs de cl\u00e9s.\n\nSi vous optez pour la premi\u00e8re m\u00e9thode, il vous faudra ouvrir Thunderbird et cliquer sur le bouton \u00ab \u00c9crire \u00bb. Pr\u00e9parez votre e-mail comme d\u2019habitude, en choisissant le ou les destinataires, en indiquant l\u2019objet du message et en r\u00e9digeant votre courrier. Ensuite, cliquez simplement sur le bouton \u00ab Attacher ma cl\u00e9 publique \u00bb, puis sur le bouton \u00ab Envoyer \u00bb. Le mail est parti.\n\nC\u2019est la cl\u00e9 publique qui doit \u00eatre diffus\u00e9e. Il ne faut surtout pas partager sa cl\u00e9 priv\u00e9e.\n\n\u00c0 noter qu\u2019en fonction des r\u00e9glages activ\u00e9s dans Enigmail, vous pourrez voir un message vous demandant s\u2019il faut chiffrer et / ou signer le courrier et sa pi\u00e8ce-jointe. Puisque n\u2019avez pas encore transmis votre cl\u00e9 publique, il ne faut pas encore chiffrer votre message (sinon il sera inexploitable). Cependant, vous pouvez le signer. Dans ce cas-l\u00e0, il vous faudra renseigner la phrase de passe pour finaliser l\u2019envoi.\n\nSi vous choisissez la seconde solution, ouvrez Thunderbird et cliquez dans le menu \u00ab Enigmail \u00bb puis \u00ab Gestion de cl\u00e9s \u00bb. Une nouvelle fen\u00eatre s\u2019ouvre alors. Allez dans le menu \u00ab Serveur de cl\u00e9s \u00bb et cliquez sur \u00ab Envoyer les cl\u00e9s publiques \u00bb. L\u2019envoi se fait alors sans plus attendre. Les serveurs de cl\u00e9s constituent une bonne solution pour diffuser plus largement sa cl\u00e9 publique et pour trouver et r\u00e9cup\u00e9rer celles d\u2019autres personnes.\n\nUne mise en garde de taille s\u2019impose n\u00e9anmoins : il est absolument impossible d\u2019effacer les informations que vous enverrez sur un serveur de cl\u00e9s. Une fois que vous avez mis en ligne votre cl\u00e9 publique, elle restera toujours accessible : tout ce que vous pourrez faire, c\u2019est la r\u00e9voquer pour indiquer aux autres utilisateurs que vous ne la jugez plus fiable. Et m\u00eame ainsi, elle restera en ligne et accessible par tous.\n\nIl est donc essentiel de bien r\u00e9fl\u00e9chir \u00e0 la question. Les serveurs de cl\u00e9s sont effectivement pratiques, mais leur mode de fonctionnement fait que les informations d\u2019identit\u00e9 que vous enverrez ne pourront en aucun cas \u00eatre supprim\u00e9es par la suite. Faites-le ou ne le faites pas, mais il n\u2019y a pas d\u2019essai.\n\nIl n\u2019est pas possible de supprimer les cl\u00e9s envoy\u00e9es sur les serveurs de cl\u00e9s. Vous ne pourrez que les r\u00e9voquer.\n\nComment r\u00e9cup\u00e9rer une clef PGP publique ?\n\nPour obtenir de cl\u00e9s publiques, vous avez plusieurs possibilit\u00e9s. Si vous connaissez des proches qui utilisent PGP, vous pouvez d\u2019abord leur demander de vous envoyer en pi\u00e8ce jointe leur cl\u00e9 publique. Si vous en obtenez une, cliquez sur le mail puis, en bas du message, faites un clic droit sur la pi\u00e8ce jointe. Vous devriez avoir l\u2019option \u00ab Importez une cl\u00e9 OpenPGP \u00bb. Si le processus r\u00e9ussit, une fen\u00eatre Enigmail vous l\u2019indiquera.\n\nVous pouvez aussi r\u00e9cup\u00e9rer des cl\u00e9s publiques depuis un fichier. Pour cela, passez par le menu \u00ab Enigmail \u00bb, puis \u00ab Gestion de cl\u00e9s \u00bb. Dans la nouvelle fen\u00eatre, cliquez sur le menu \u00ab Fichier \u00bb et \u00ab Importer des cl\u00e9s depuis un fichier \u00bb. S\u00e9lectionnez le fichier en question (son extension doit \u00eatre .asc, .gpg ou .pgp). Si l\u2019importation se d\u00e9roule bien, vous recevrez l\u00e0 encore un message de confirmation.\n\nIl est enfin possible de passer par un serveur de cl\u00e9s pour obtenir des cl\u00e9s publiques. Toujours dans la fen\u00eatre de gestion de cl\u00e9s, cliquez sur \u00ab Serveur de cl\u00e9s \u00bb et \u00ab Trouver les cl\u00e9s pour tous les contacts \u00bb. Cette instruction peut toutefois n\u00e9cessiter un temps particuli\u00e8rement long avant d\u2019aboutir. Vous pouvez \u00e9galement chercher des cl\u00e9s en particulier en inscrivant son identifiant dans le champ pr\u00e9vu \u00e0 cet effet.\n\nComment signer un mail avec pgp ?\n\nSi vous voulez simplement signer un mail sans le chiffrer, il suffit de le pr\u00e9parer en cliquant sur le bouton \u00ab \u00c9crire \u00bb. V\u00e9rifiez ensuite les param\u00e8tres d\u2019Enigmail : le bouton avec un cadenas doit \u00eatre d\u00e9coch\u00e9, mais pas celui avec l\u2019ic\u00f4ne en forme de crayon. Si c\u2019est le cas, vous verrez une phrase sur la droite indiquant \u00ab Ce message sera sign\u00e9 \u00bb. Ces r\u00e9glages peuvent aussi \u00eatre effectu\u00e9s en cliquant sur le bouton \u00ab Enigmail \u00bb.\n\nLors de l\u2019envoi, une fen\u00eatre pourra appara\u00eetre en indiquant que vous devez entrer la phrase de passe pour d\u00e9verrouiller la clef secr\u00e8te pour le certificat OpenPGP. Une fois cette \u00e9tape effectu\u00e9e, le mail sera envoy\u00e9.\n\nLa signature cryptographique d\u2019un mail avec PGP permet de garantir la provenance du courrier \u00e9lectronique et de s\u2019assurer que son contenu n\u2019a pas \u00e9t\u00e9 alt\u00e9r\u00e9. Dans votre bo\u00eete d\u2019envoi ou si vous recevez un mail sign\u00e9, vous verrez la forme particuli\u00e8re que prend le message, puisque son contenu est encadr\u00e9 par des informations PGP destin\u00e9es \u00e0 confirmer l\u2019int\u00e9grit\u00e9 du message.\n\ncomment chiffrer et d\u00e9chiffrer un mail avec pgp ?\n\nPour le chiffrement d\u2019un mail, le processus est identique \u00e0 la signature cryptographique. Lors de l\u2019envoi du mail, vous devez prendre garde \u00e0 cocher bouton avec un cadenas. Vous pouvez \u00e9galement, si vous le souhaitez, signer le message chiffr\u00e9 en cochant l\u2019ic\u00f4ne en forme de crayon. En fonction de vos pr\u00e9f\u00e9rences, Enigmail pr\u00e9cisera si le mail est chiffr\u00e9 ou s\u2019il est chiffr\u00e9 et sign\u00e9.\n\nContrairement \u00e0 la signature cryptographique, qui ne peut pr\u00e9server la confidentialit\u00e9 du message en cas d\u2019interception, le chiffrement permet de garantir que celui-ci demeurera illisible tant que l\u2019assaillant ne poss\u00e8de pas la cl\u00e9 priv\u00e9e (d\u2019o\u00f9 l\u2019int\u00e9r\u00eat de la garder \u00e0 l\u2019abri et de ne jamais la partager). Le mail est alors inexploitable, puisqu\u2019il n\u2019est plus qu\u2019un m\u00e9lange de lettres, de chiffres et de symboles sans signification particuli\u00e8re.\n\n\u00c0 noter que le chiffrement du mail ne concerne que le corps du texte et les \u00e9ventuelles pi\u00e8ces jointes que vous attacherez. Ce processus ne concerne ni les m\u00e9tadonn\u00e9es du mail ni son objet. Il est donc conseill\u00e9 de ne pas mettre une information que vous jugez sensible dans ce champ. Gardez-la pour le mail lui-m\u00eame et pr\u00e9f\u00e9rez une phrase plut\u00f4t g\u00e9n\u00e9rale, qui n\u2019en dit pas trop.\n\nPour le d\u00e9chiffrement d\u2019un mail chiffr\u00e9 envoy\u00e9 par un correspondant dont vous avez d\u00e9j\u00e0 la cl\u00e9 publique, rien de plus simple. Il suffit de cliquer sur le message re\u00e7u et Thunderbird ouvrira une fen\u00eatre dans laquelle vous devrez entrer votre phase de passe. Une fois cela fait, le d\u00e9chiffrement aura lieu et vous pourrez prendre connaissance du courrier envoy\u00e9 par l\u2019\u00e9metteur.\n\ncomment r\u00e9voquer une cl\u00e9 cryptographique ?\n\nLes cl\u00e9s que vous cr\u00e9ez avec Enigmail ont par d\u00e9faut une dur\u00e9e de vie de cinq ans. Une fois l\u2019\u00e9ch\u00e9ance pass\u00e9e, elles ne sont plus consid\u00e9r\u00e9es comme fiables (il existe toutefois des astuces pour prolonger leur dur\u00e9e de vie). Mais pour une raison ou pour une autre, vous pourriez avoir besoin de les r\u00e9voquer plus t\u00f4t : par exemple parce que votre cl\u00e9 priv\u00e9e a \u00e9t\u00e9 compromise ou parce que vous d\u00e9sirez en cr\u00e9er une plus robuste.\n\nDans ce cas-l\u00e0, la m\u00e9thode la plus simple est de vous rendre dans la fen\u00eatre de gestion de cl\u00e9s et de cliquer droit sur celle que vous souhaitez r\u00e9voquer. Vous trouverez alors l\u2019option correspondante. Validez l\u2019option et entrez la phase de passe associ\u00e9e \u00e0 la cl\u00e9. Vous verrez alors un message de confirmation vous indiquant le message suivant :\n\n\u00ab La clef a \u00e9t\u00e9 r\u00e9voqu\u00e9e. Si cette clef est disponible sur un serveur de clefs, il est recommand\u00e9 de l\u2019envoyer \u00e0 nouveau afin que les autres utilisateurs puissent voir la r\u00e9vocation \u00bb. Dans ce cas-l\u00e0, cliquez droit sur la cl\u00e9 r\u00e9voqu\u00e9e (qui est maintenant gris\u00e9e dans le gestionnaire) et appuyez sur \u00ab Envoyer les cl\u00e9s publiques sur un serveur de cl\u00e9s \u00bb. De cette fa\u00e7on, les autres sauront que la cl\u00e9 n\u2019est plus fiable.\n\nUne cl\u00e9 r\u00e9voqu\u00e9e ne peut plus signer ou chiffrer de nouveaux mails, mais elle peut encore \u00eatre utilis\u00e9e pour d\u00e9chiffrer les anciens messages.\n\nUne mise en garde s\u2019impose. En r\u00e9voquant une cl\u00e9, vous ne serez plus en mesure de signer avec, et une fois distribu\u00e9e, d\u2019autres utilisateurs ne seront plus en mesure de chiffrer en l\u2019utilisant. Mais il sera toujours possible s\u2019en servir pour d\u00e9chiffrer les anciens messages qui \u00e9taient chiffr\u00e9s avec cette cl\u00e9.\n\nVous pouvez \u00e9galement r\u00e9voquer une cl\u00e9 en utilisant le certificat de r\u00e9vocation qui a \u00e9t\u00e9 g\u00e9n\u00e9r\u00e9 au moment de la cr\u00e9ation des cl\u00e9s cryptographiques. Si vous ne l\u2019avez pas d\u00e9truit par inadvertance et r\u00e9ussissez \u00e0 remettre la main dessus, il vous suffira de vous rendre dans le gestionnaire de cl\u00e9s et de suivre le chemin \u00ab Fichier \u00bb puis \u00ab Importer des clefs depuis un fichier \u00bb. Choisissez le bon fichier et validez.\n\nL\u2019import est alors r\u00e9ussi et la cl\u00e9 r\u00e9voqu\u00e9e (elle doit \u00eatre gris\u00e9e et en italique dans le gestionnaire). Comme avec la premi\u00e8re m\u00e9thode, il vous faudra sans doute actualiser l\u2019information sur les serveurs de cl\u00e9s, si vous aviez envoy\u00e9 pr\u00e9alablement votre cl\u00e9 publique dessus. De cette fa\u00e7on, les autres utilisateurs sauront \u00e0 quoi s\u2019en tenir et privil\u00e9gieront une cl\u00e9 valide.\n\nPartager sur les r\u00e9seaux sociaux Tweeter Partager Partager Partager redditer\n\nLa suite en vid\u00e9o"}
-{"text": "I reached my threshold where no amount of hypothetical Republican bigotry or greed could approach the magnitude of hypocrisy, corruption, or criminality I saw rotting Democrats.\n\nI am not a sex offender. But a number of my friends no longer have time to see me. Lifelong acquaintances now regard me with fear and distrust. I have been unfriended en masse on social media and excoriated by friends who deign to remain. And I have been singly excluded from social gatherings when the rest of my family was invited.\n\nNo, I am not a sex offender. I am something even worse than that. I am a Donald Trump supporter.\n\nI was raised in a liberal Jewish family in Washington DC, where my dad served as a Democratic congressman for Los Angeles. Accordingly, I was indoctrinated with all of the correct values and views.\n\nWhen I was seven, my dad took me on a celebrity-packed camping trip to Death Valley as part of a campaign to protect California\u2019s deserts. Israel took center stage in family discussions. I attended a Quaker elementary school, where I learned the black national anthem before I knew the \u201cStar Spangled Banner.\u201d In high school art class, I even chose to focus on man\u2019s destruction of the environment. I came out to my family as gay at the ripe age of 20, and they were duly overjoyed.\n\nIt was always a given that Republicans are bad people, representative of that shameful sliver of our flawed society that values money above the planet and think the world would be better off if everyone were a straight, white male. At a minimum they are racist, misogynistic and homophobic. Left to their own devices, they would exclude ethnic minorities from everything, kick sinful gay offspring onto the streets, and pave our parks over with oil derricks.\n\nOf course, there are the less malicious Republicans, the ones who have fallen victim to their gun-toting, Bible-thumping families and sadly do not know any better than what they have been told. This type is not entirely to blame for their ignorance; they just deserve our pity. These truths are held by my family and our extended social and political networks to be self-evident.\n\nThese Ideas Didn\u2019t Work Out Long-Term\n\nWhen, in my adulthood, the liberal policy agenda became problematic for me, I found myself at a loss. I began to raise questions with my family and friends, and met resistance. It was not because my concerns were particularly inappropriate; I was just not supposed to be questioning at all.\n\nOne could disagree with nuances, but not the judgment of the (then) president, or the party. Period. The irony of this apparent intolerance for diversity of thought by the party claiming to champion the rights of groups underserved by the status quo was not lost on me.\n\nFor the first time in my progressive life, standing up for the values that I most strongly espouse\u2014truth, morality, self-reliance, boundaries, tolerance, and a healthy dose of Jewish skepticism\u2014was damaging my reputation and character. When I publicly opposed my dad\u2019s support of the Iran deal, I was admonished. I had few friends with whom I could have a civil political conversation: one stopped all communication with me for two weeks because Trump won the presidency.\n\nIf Republicans are bad, Trump is nothing less than Satan embodied. Post-election family gatherings devolved into group Trump-bashing, which intensified as more rumors of my dubious views wafted across town. I did not even bother going to gay pride because it was fused with a Resist march. If you do not want to impeach our president, you have no place in gay life.\n\nI was labeled a white supremacist by a friend I\u2019ve known my entire life, and completely dropped with no explanation by another dear friend and self-anointed giant of the gay civil rights movement to whom my father had introduced me 15 years ago.\n\nYour Platitudes Don\u2019t Work Out In Real Life\n\nYes, I was in despair, but I was also outraged at not being understood for views that felt so plainly obvious to me logically and experientially. These were not pie-in-the-sky views I was advocating in order to provoke. The Affordable Care Act has made medical treatment of my bipolar disorder more expensive than ever. Under the nuclear agreement, Iran flagrantly continues to enrich uranium and fund terrorist activities.\n\nAs a small business owner, I am regularly assaulted with financially crushing, nonsensical red tape and bureaucracy, much implemented as lip service to environmental protection. With few exceptions, every one of my good friends feels more economically hopeless after the \u201crecovery\u201d than before, and abject homelessness on the streets of my beloved city has swelled to egregious levels.\n\nIn desperation, like a closeted teenager sneaking into a porn theater, I surreptitiously began to explore the forbidden territories of Fox News and other conservative outlets. Incredibly, I found myself agreeing more often than not.\n\nFine, I thought, but that is where I had to draw the line. A couple of conservative encounters does not a conservative make, right? Until more liberals began to recognize the disingenuousness and destructiveness of my party\u2019s stances, I just resolved to stick it out. I did everything in my power to avoid that one last unspeakable, fatal option: turning Republican.\n\nHarvey Weinstein Was the Last Straw\n\nThen Harvey Weinstein provided me the impetus I lacked: the media outlets that had enabled and covered up his indiscretions for years were the same major public voices for the Democratic Party, the self-proclaimed party of worker\u2019s and women\u2019s rights. The game was up; two and two could no longer be five. I reached my threshold where no amount of hypothetical Republican bigotry or greed could approach the magnitude of hypocrisy, corruption, or criminality I saw rotting the Democrats to the core. I jumped ship.\n\nI found out almost immediately that the Republican Party is not only not evil, but populated with nice, intelligent, humble people. Days after I added myself to the Log Cabin Republican mailing list, I saw an invite to attend a gathering with Chadwick Moore, an independent journalist and one of two lapsed gay Democrats I had heard of.\n\nWhen Chadwick spoke, I was stunned: every sentence, every nuance and anecdote of his beautifully articulate, moving talk resonated almost identically with my own experience. From Chadwick and the dozens of other Log Cabin attendees that night, I learned I am not the only gay person to question Democrats or to be ostracized for doing so\u2014by a longshot. The political climate has made it prohibitive for most of us to have a voice and find each other.\n\nSeeing virtue (or perhaps just a lack of evil) in my compatriots finally allowed me to see it in myself. I am now certain that I can be a gay, Jewish Republican and still be a good person and a useful citizen.\n\nI Can Help People Rather than Making Someone Else Do It\n\nI can oppose spending on government programs with no accountability and still volunteer my time at the mental health center to serve underprivileged members of society. I can value work and responsibility but also want a safety net for the sick and unemployed. I can fight for a strong Israel and vastly diverge from the Obama doctrine (or the Trump doctrine). I can be actively engaged in the LGBT community and not be forever outraged at a baker.\n\nIt took 36 years for me to see through the Democratic mystique of what the Republican Party is. Having done so has enabled me to affirm a deep part of who I am, which runs deeper than religion or sexual orientation, because it is part of what forms me. Sadly, it was a part that I should not ever have had to question in the first place.\n\nIf the struggles of the LGBT and Jewish peoples have taught me one thing, it is that I count, I matter, no more or less than any other man\u2014precisely not because of my sexual preferences, or the God I worship, but because I am a citizen of planet Earth. The knowledge there is a major political party that extends this creed to its members has restored a deep-seated hope inside of me for my country\u2019s future.\n\nMy next hope is that one or two readers of this will not struggle as hard to realize the same."}
-{"text": "Peace to these doughnuts. Photo: Lisa Romerein/Corbis\n\nThere\u2019s a small war waging between churro vendors in New York subway stations and the police: Ana Alvarado \u2014 who sells the Spanish-style doughnuts daily in places like Times Square, Grand Central, and 59th Street in Manhattan \u2014 has faced seven arrests over two years, and says she lives \u201crunning and hiding from the police.\u201d\n\nThe practice is illegal on a few levels: It\u2019s against the law to act as a food vendor without a Health Department license, and New York also forbids commercial activity in subway stations without MTA authorization. After getting arrested, Alvarado has had to watch police confiscate and eat her churros right in front of her \u2014 rude! \u2014 and she was once held in a cell overnight. The risk is worth it because the profit margin is so high: Alvarado can purchase 200 churros in bulk for $46, and then make close to a $100 profit per day \u2014 helping her feed herself and her children.\n\nBut here\u2019s the good news: The Manhattan borough president Gale Brewer is working toward a solution, and is pushing the MTA to selectively allow vendors, since \u201cthere is clearly a market for mobile concessions in subways stations.\u201d Hopefully, it won\u2019t take too long until vendors and hungry commuters can do churro-related business in peace.\n\n[DNAinfo]"}
-{"text": "(Visited 10 times, 1 visits today)\n\nAntandra is the moniker of music producer and performer, Jacob Louis. His sound can best be described as bass infused rhythms with suspenseful atmospherics and etheric melodies. He has releases featured on Jumpsuit Records, LostinSound, Mycelium Music and Pure Perception Records, and has performed his original music at Kinnection Campout, CoSM, Burning Man, Unitus, T.O.U.C.H. Samadhi Equinox and many more! He has shared the stage with numerous world class artists including the likes of Desert Dwellers, Sixis, Ott, Kalya Scintilla, AtYyA and Globular."}
-{"text": "A message flashed up on my phone just before 10 o\u2019clock tonight: \u201cMolham died today.\u201d I called my friend straight back and he gave me the sketchy details. There was a battle near Aleppo\u2019s Central Prison, Molham was there, and he died. That was all that he knew.\n\nMolham was my friend, the first person I met in Aleppo \u2013 a seventeen year old who I\u2019d watch change from a happy teenager to a messed up young man who, at one stage, was adamant that he wanted to join al-Qaeda. In May I wrote an article about him: \u2018My friend, the aspiring suicide bomber\u2019. I called him \u2018Yusef\u2019 in that article to protect him from the repercussions of what he was saying. I never imagined that he wouldn\u2019t live long enough for the repercussions to matter.\n\nIn long conversations on Facebook I tried to persuade him to leave Aleppo and come to Turkey. He refused. He didn\u2019t have a passport, and he didn\u2019t have any money. His family were all still in Syria and he didn\u2019t want to leave them or his friends.\n\nTo my shame, in recent months I tried to put a distance between us. As I grew increasingly paranoid about the risk of kidnapping in Aleppo, I worried that he might make some offhand comment to one of his friends that would reveal my presence in the city to the wrong people. I stopped looking him up when I was there, and now I wish that I hadn\u2019t.\n\nIn the end he didn\u2019t join al-Qaeda; he started working as a photographer, hoping to emulate some of the journalists he was hanging around with. He often asked me if he could work with me and I refused, because I didn\u2019t want the responsibility of an eager seventeen year old with no war zone training and little experience on my shoulders. Soon afterwards I saw that he was filing photos for Reuters. I hope that they took responsibility for him in a way that I couldn\u2019t, and I hope that if he was taking photographs as he died in the hope of selling them to that agency, they also take responsibility for him now.\n\n\n\nI took this photo of Molham one of the last times that I saw him in person. He\u2019d just come off his motorbike; that\u2019s why his hand is wrapped up in a bandage. It seems stupid now to think that I berated him, and told him to be more careful on it.\n\nWhat can you really say about a seventeen year old who has just been killed in his own city? All you can do is state the obvious. His life should be a quarter of the way through, not over. He shouldn\u2019t have been anywhere near a frontline. That motorbike should have been the most dangerous thing he had to worry about.\n\nMaybe to the rest of the world this is just the death of another Syrian \u2013 another statistic. But when it is the death of someone you know it makes you look at those statistics in a very different way."}
-{"text": "MORE THAN anything else, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has based his campaign on attacking Wall Street \u2014 the millionaires and billionaires who, by his telling, wrecked the U.S. economy, dominate the political system and must be brought to heel. Given his commitment to the message, you might expect he would have some familiarity with the policy details and implications.\n\nA New York Daily News editorial board interview with the candidate proved otherwise. The senator seemed to have no idea of what reformed banks should look like, or whether he would need new legislation, even though the government under his presidency would play a central role in tearing apart these complex financial institutions.\n\nMr. Sanders followed the interview with what was meant to be a clarifying statement. The treasury secretary would draw up a list of too-big-to-fail banks, Mr. Sanders explained, and break them up under the authority of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. In an interview with us, Sanders policy adviser Warren Gunnels said that current regulators are not applying existing authorities aggressively enough and that Mr. Sanders would pick a strong treasury secretary with no Wall Street ties to fill in many of the details.\n\nIt\u2019s astonishing that, on this of all issues, the campaign would need to issue a what-the-candidate-meant-to-say statement. Even then, the campaign has left a lot of essential questions unanswered.\n\nHere\u2019s one: What is breaking up the banks meant to accomplish?\n\nFrom what Mr. Sanders and his campaign have said, you could posit several possibilities: protecting taxpayers, safeguarding the financial system, making the financial sector less concentrated and reducing the financial sector\u2019s share of the total economy. Explaining that he wants to do all of these things is not sufficient, because policies differ depending on which goal you prioritize. Regulators working under Dodd-Frank, for example, have gone a long way to addressing the first two issues without breaking up banks, a step that many experts warn may not be worth the costs. If banking-sector concentration is Mr. Sanders\u2019s concern, then he should explain why addressing it would justify those costs; after all, countries such as Canada have more concentrated banking systems and yet weathered the financial crisis much better. If, on the other hand, Mr. Sanders wants to shrink the overall financial sector, he must explain how breaking up a few banks into a larger number of medium-size banks would contribute.\n\nMany voters share Mr. Sanders\u2019s disdain for high finance and his nostalgia for an economy based more on manufacturing. But such prejudices, whether sound or not, provide an insufficient basis for remaking the world\u2019s largest economy. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has a banking-sector reform proposal designed to address the highest risks to the financial system that remain after the first round of reform. Mr. Sanders has yet to furnish anything of equivalent rigor. We hope he provides more clarity in next week\u2019s Democratic debate."}
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toppage\u3078 |"}
-{"text": "League of Legends is having their first major free agency period since the start of franchising in North America. As with traditional sports, free agency is going to be a major time for teams to build their rosters for LCS\u2019 new start. Instead of just giving you who some of the free agents are and where they might go, a holiday theme has been added for your enjoyment. (Note: As of the time this was written none of these players have signed officially)\n\nCorn \u201cFroggen\u201d\n\nFroggen has been consistent since the day he entered the LCS. Never overly flashy but a major part and sometimes the best part of his team. Corn like Froggen is never flashy but it is reliable and can be the best part of a bad meal.\n\nLast year on Echo Fox, Froggen was the unchallenged leader of the team. Echo Fox finished in eighth, just outside of the playoffs the last two splits. This was due to many things, but rarely ever Froggen. There are plenty of new openings for Froggen. As an in-game and out of game leader, Froggen will be someone who is going to be brought on to do just that. His play is consistent but his leadership skills are what gets him his next position.\n\nFor this reason, Froggen will be going to a completely new squad in NA as some of the newer teams will be looking for a leader to help guide them through their first season. He did this with Echo Fox and maybe with a better and more consistent roster around him, Froggen will finally make NA playoffs this year. With sources saying Akaadian has been bought out by OpTic Gaming it would make sense that they add arguably the two best players from Echo Fox.\n\nPrediction: OpTic\n\nCranberry Sauce \u201cPowerOfEvil\u201d\n\nLike cranberry sauce you either love PowerOfEvil or you strongly dislike him. He can be an absolute legend on the rift or look like he is lost. That being said PowerOfEvil is testing the waters of free agency hoping to be picked up by a NA squad.\n\nMisfits made a surprising run in world this last year making it out of group stages. While the team played well as a whole, in most games until the end, PowerOfEvil had looked solid. He can make the flashy plays and keep up with many of the games top mid-laners when he is on his game. If he can find consistency there is no doubt that he can challenge just about anyone while in lane. For that reason I think PowerOfEvil will be a hot commodity for NA this free agency.\n\nA great squad for PowerOfEvil would be Flyquest. With Flame reportedly signing there and a solid bot-lane of WildTurtle and Stunt, bringing on PowerOfEvil would make a nice splash for FlyQuest. For PowerOfEvil he would be able to play with teammates who can help guide him in his first year in NA and allow for him to learn from his mistakes he will probably make early on. If they get the PowerOfEvil we saw during group stages and during Mistfits\u2019 run in EU championships, then FlyQuest could have a very strong squad next season.\n\nPrediction: FlyQuest\n\nSweet Potatoes \u201cLemonNation\u201d\n\nSweet Potatoes are classic when talking about Thanksgiving dinner. They are sweet and almost like desert before actual desert. Lemonnation is a classic NA support who can surprise people by quietly being solid throughout the game. (Also both are orange/red) Lemonnation has been a consistent and overall solid support since he came into the professional league scene. He does his work and helps lead teams to being better than many people would have thought.\n\nLast year on FlyQuest, many people felt that they would be a joke because it was made up of players who had not played in the pro-scene in awhile. They came out and surprised everyone by making playoffs their first split and barely missing playoffs their second split. Lemonnation came back with a vengeance and showed that older players in the scene can still play and has maybe changed everyone\u2019s opinions about what a \u201cold\u201d player really is.\n\nWhile Ignar and Aphromoo are higher on teams\u2019 lists, there are still openings for supports especially on new teams. You could reasonably argue that once the other two have signed, whoever else has an opening would sign Lemonnation. With that in mind 100 Thieves looks like a good place for Lemonnation to end up. Ssumday and Meteos (both of whom are on this list) are rumored to be signed with 100 Thieves and Ryu has been confirmed. With Pr0lly as their coach this group could add Lemonnation and have a very reliable team.\n\nPrediction: 100 Thieves\n\nGreen Bean Casserole \u201cMeteos\u201d\n\nSome years it\u2019s there, some it\u2019s not. Sometimes you dislike it, sometimes you love it. Like \u201cDark\u201d Meteos green bean casserole comes back after missing some time at family events and you\u2019re afraid of what is coming next. It is put on your plate against your will and you are told to try it. This time you like it and oddly want more.\n\nMeteos was a mainstay with Cloud9 for many splits. He has a solid following and thus every time he\u2019s filled in for a team people have been very excited. After spending different parts of the year with Phoenix1, who went from playoffs to last between Spring and Summer split, Meteos is ready to be a starter again. With the many opportunities it is likely that he will get a chance to show he is a top level jungler at the professional level.\n\nIt is being reported that Meteos will be signing with 100 Thieves. If this stands, with Ryu and Ssumday, it looks as though 100 Thieves could have a very interesting roster to start of League of Legends franchising.\n\nPrediction: 100 Thieves\n\nBiscuit/Corn Bread/Rolls \u201cFebiven\u201d\n\nAny type of bread is needed with any Thanksgiving meal. They help to fill you up and are a go to if you\u2019re not ready to try something new. Febiven in NA would be that. He is a solid mid-laner who brings consistency to any team. He may not be the mvp on his team but he is needed and a safe pickup for any team.\n\nFebiven brings that feeling of a stalwart in the middle of the rift for any team. For H2k this past year Febiven brought composure to an already winning team. He got his start with Cloud9 Eclipse and many speculate he is testing free agency in order to go back to NA. Febiven can bring a lot to one of these new franchising teams and it is likely that he would have a nice payday doing so.\n\nAccording to sources Golden Guardians only have their coach so far, Locodoco. It is also rumored that Shiphtur might be signing with them. While Shiphtur is a good mid-laner, the Golden Guardians would be making a big time acquisition by signing Febiven. He would not only attract fans but also players. If they know they have someone like him holding down the middle of the Rift then players will feel more comfortable around him. Also wouldn\u2019t it be fun to see Bjerg, Jensen, Pobelter, Huhi, Ryu and Febiven battling it out in mid next season?\n\nPrediction: Golden Guardians\n\nStuffing \u201cIgnar\u201d\n\nOn the outside, if you have never had stuffing before you might think, \u201cI dont know what to think about this\u201d. Then you try it and realize it\u2019s solid and brings the meal together. In many ways this is Ignar. The All-Pro support had some questions coming over to Misfits and showed this year that he is the stuffing to any Thanksgiving meal.\n\nAfter a quick stay with KT Rolster Ignar found a home with Misfits. He was exactly what you would want in a support. He is able to speak Korean and getting better at English, and he is able to help get bot-lane ahead. His aggresion mixed well with his lanemate, Hans Sama, as he played champions like Rakan, Blitzcrank and Thresh. He is a playmaker and with that will come many offers from teams for a support who can do more than just keep their ADC alive.\n\nThere are rumors that Ignar is looking to head back to the LCK, possibly even with SKT. If this doesn\u2019t happen and he heads to NA, there is no doubt that he will land a starting roll. OpTic would be a good match with Ignar. Sources say that Arrow has already signed and thus Ignar would have another Korean ADC. This would eliminate a language barrier and give OpTic another nice pickup.\n\nPrediction: OpTic Gaming\n\nGravy \u201cAphromoo\u201d\n\nIf you don\u2019t like gravy, what are you doing with your life? If you don\u2019t like Aphromoo the same question should be asked. The man is one of the best supports in NA and, like gravy, he is liked by mostly everyone. Gravy is also what you put on everything in order to help it taste better. No matter what team Aphromoo joins, he will make them that much better.\n\nThe Moo has been one of the best, if not the best, supports in NA since he arrived on the scene. His ability to get his ADC ahead by whatever means necessary has made him a lanemate that any ADC would want. While he still can go back to CLG if he wants to, it is interesting that he is testing free agency. It may help drive up the money for his contract wherever he signs, including CLG.\n\nWhile it would be interesting to see another team pick up Aphromoo, it is likely he stays with CLG. They will give into giving him a large contract and that should bring him back. He is already familiar with the team as most of his teammates, Darshan, Huhi and Stixxay have all already signed with CLG.\n\nPrediction: CLG\n\nMashed Potatoes \u201cSsumday\u201d\n\nMashed potatoes are one of the best parts of the entire Thanksgiving meal. Is it really Thanksgiving without them? Nearly everyone loves them and sometimes if the other parts of the meal aren\u2019t good you can always turn to mashed potatoes to be the best part. Ssumday will be this for which ever team he signs with. Everyone is going to want to bring him on and when others may not be as good around him, you can turn to him and know he will show why he is one of the best top-laners in the world.\n\nSsumday did not live up to the hype during his first full year in NA, but was still very good. Coming over from KT Rolster everyone believed Ssumday was easily a top 3 top-laner in the world. Dignitas fans were ecstatic when he signed on. Dig went to the playoffs both splits in their first full season back, but unfortunately were not chosen to go forward with franchising. Now Ssumday is again looking for his next home to show he is a top tier top-laner again.\n\nOriginally it was thought that Ssumday would be looking to go back to the LCK this season. Then sources came out claiming that 100 Thieves is looking to sign him. While the team has not confirmed it yet, if he were to sign there 100 Thieves, it would have a very nice start for their team.\n\nPrediction: 100 Thieves\n\nPumpkin Pie \u201cMikeYeung\u201d\n\nPumpkin pie is what everyone wants even though they are already full, it is that good. It can be the only part some people care about. MikeYeung is the new, young jungler that everyone is going to be going after. He is the pumpkin pie at this Thanksgiving dinner, every team will be giving him a look.\n\nMikeYueng made a splash in NA during his first split with Pheonix1 by winning Rookie of the Split. He showed that he can be an impact player at every phase of the game, especially when he got ahead. The problem was when he didn\u2019t get ahead or his team struggled, he lacked the experience to bring them back. Now that he has played a full split he will be looking to show anyone who signs him that he is the real deal.\n\nSources are saying that TSM is likely going to sign MikeYeung. After a disappointing year with Svenskeren, it is not a huge surprise that TSM would be looking at someone with the potential of MikeYeung. With Bjerg and Hauntzer most likely staying, they will be able to help bring Mike along and help him to reach his full potential. Also, with sources saying that Zven and Mithy have come over to TSM, this squad could have an incredible 2018.\n\nPrediction: TSM\n\nTurkey \u201cPeanut\u201d\n\nThe main course, the bird that represents all of Thanksgiving is the turkey. Turkey is what people spend days prepping to make sure it looks and tastes amazing. Shows and movies constantly show people fighting over the last available turkey. Thanksgiving dinner is not Thanksgiving dinner without a turkey. Peanut is someone people can build a team around. He is the turkey of this Thanksgiving meal.\n\nMany people were surprised when Peanut announced that he was a free agent. He instantly shot up to the top of teams wishlists, as he is considered by many to be the best jungler in the world. Every team that has a jungle opening should be looking to sign someone of his talent level. He made his name on ROX Tigers and then signed with SKT this last season. While they didn\u2019t win Worlds he was still a major part, along with Faker, of getting this team to Finals.\n\nPeanut is the prize in this free agency and if he heads to NA, every team will want him. If it wasn\u2019t likely that TSM was signing MikeYeung, it is probable that they would be in the mix. Counting them out, there are three teams who will likely be vying for his service: FlyQuest, Golden Guardians and CLG. CLG has a very good squad especially if they bring back Aphromoo. OmarGod had a solid first split after Dardoch left but, if CLG want to be a contender for Worlds, they need to sign Peanut. With him on their team CLG could easily be vying for a top spot in NA and could make a huge run at Worlds.\n\nPrediction: CLG\n\nYou can \u201cLike\u201d The Game Haus on Facebook and \u201cFollow\u201d us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles written by other great TGH writers along with Robert!\n\nTo continue enjoying great content from your favorite writers, please contribute to our Patreon account! Every little bit counts. We greatly appreciate all of your amazing support! #TGHPatreon\n\n\u201cFrom Our Haus to Yours\u201d"}
-{"text": "Wii U\u30bd\u30d5\u30c8\u300e\u3058\u3063\u304f\u308a\u7d75\u5fc3\u6559\u5ba4\u300f\u30d7\u30ec\u30a4\u4e2d\u306b\n\n\u30d5\u30ea\u30fc\u30ba\u3059\u308b\u75c7\u72b6\u3068\u9632\u6b62\u65b9\u6cd5\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\n\n\uff08\u304a\u8a6b\u3073\uff09\n\n\u5e73\u7d20\u306f\u3001\u5f0a\u793e\u88fd\u54c1\u3092\u3054\u611b\u9867\u3044\u305f\u3060\u304d\u3001\u8aa0\u306b\u3042\u308a\u304c\u3068\u3046\u3054\u3056\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\nWii U\u30bd\u30d5\u30c8\u300e\u3058\u3063\u304f\u308a\u7d75\u5fc3\u6559\u5ba4\u300f\u3092\u30d7\u30ec\u30a4\u4e2d\u306e\u304a\u5ba2\u69d8\u3088\u308a\u300c\u7d75\u3092\u63cf\u304d\u59cb\u3081\u3066\u304b\u308940\uff5e50\u5206\u7d4c\u904e\u3059\u308b\u3068\u30d5\u30ea\u30fc\u30ba\u3059\u308b\u300d\u3068\u3044\u3046\u304a\u554f\u3044\u5408\u308f\u305b\u3092\u8907\u6570\u3044\u305f\u3060\u3044\u3066\u304a\u308a\u3001\u5f0a\u793e\u306b\u3066\u8abf\u67fb\u3044\u305f\u3057\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3068\u3053\u308d\u3001\u300eMiiverse\u300f\u30b5\u30fc\u30d3\u30b9\u7d42\u4e86\u306b\u8d77\u56e0\u3059\u308b\u4e0d\u5177\u5408\u3067\u3042\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3092\u78ba\u8a8d\u3044\u305f\u3057\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\u304a\u5ba2\u69d8\u306b\u306f\u3054\u8ff7\u60d1\u3092\u304a\u304b\u3051\u3057\u3066\u304a\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3053\u3068\u3001\u304a\u8a6b\u3073\u7533\u3057\u4e0a\u3052\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u3053\u306e\u75c7\u72b6\u306f\u3001Wii U\u672c\u4f53\u306e\u300c\u4fdd\u8b77\u8005\u306b\u3088\u308b\u4f7f\u7528\u5236\u9650\u300d\u3067\u300cMiiverse\u306e\u4f7f\u7528\u300d\u3092\u5236\u9650\u3059\u308b\u3068\u767a\u751f\u3057\u306a\u304f\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002\u6050\u308c\u5165\u308a\u307e\u3059\u304c\u3001\u4e0b\u8a18\u3092\u53c2\u8003\u306b\u8a2d\u5b9a\u3044\u305f\u3060\u304d\u307e\u3059\u3088\u3046\u304a\u9858\u3044\u3044\u305f\u3057\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u304a\u5ba2\u69d8\u306b\u304a\u304b\u308c\u307e\u3057\u3066\u306f\u3054\u9762\u5012\u3092\u304a\u304b\u3051\u3057\u7533\u3057\u8a33\u3054\u3056\u3044\u307e\u305b\u3093\u304c\u3001\u3088\u308d\u3057\u304f\u304a\u9858\u3044\u7533\u3057\u4e0a\u3052\u307e\u3059\u3002"}
-{"text": "00:37 New Royal Flush Water Slide in Waco, Texas Matt Sampson has the details on the funnest way to keep cool this summer. Youll just have to head to Texas to ride it.\n\nIt's the middle of July, and there's snow on the ground in Hawaii.\n\nThe snow fell Friday morning, thousands of feet above sea level on the state's highest peak, Mauna Kea. The photo above, posted by the National Weather Service in Honolulu, shows a light dusting at the mountain's summit , which is located more than 13,000 feet above the Big Island.\n\nAccording to Hawaii News Now, a ranger on the mountain recorded 1.5 inches of snow.\n\nNotable snowfall at Hawaii's higher elevations has been reported several times since the beginning of the year. Blizzard warnings were issued for Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa as a storm system dumped several inches of snow at those mountains' peaks in January. Then, in March, several storms pushed across the state and left enough snow on Mauna Kea that it could be clearly seen from space .\n\n(MORE: First Half of 2015 Is Earth's Hottest on Record )\n\n\"It snows here every year, but only at the very summits of our 3 tallest volcanoes (Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea and Haleakala),\" said Ken Rubin, geology and geophysics professor at the University of Hawaii. \"The snow level almost never gets below 9,000 feet in Hawaii during the winter, but since these mountains are taller than 13,000 feet, 13,000 feet, and 10,000 feet, respectively, they get dusted with snow a few times a year. It rarely stays on the ground for more than a few days though.\"\n\nLocal news also took note of the brief snowstorm:\n\nSo if you miss the snow in the middle of winter, just remember \u2013 there's always Hawaii.\n\nMORE ON WEATHER.COM: The Wildest Photos of Winter 2014-15"}
-{"text": "Homeland Security is preparing to release dozens of immigrant parents from custody this week in order to reunite them with their young children, blaming a judge\u2019s deadline for forcing them to reimpose the catch-and-release policy the Trump administration was trying to end.\n\nGovernment lawyers went to court last week to suggest they wouldn\u2019t be able to meet the strict deadlines and go through all of the checks they usually do to make sure they\u2019re releasing children to safe situations.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s always going to be a tension between a faster release and a safe release,\u201d said Sarah B. Fabian, a Justice Department lawyer.\n\nBut Judge Dana Sabraw refused to grant an extension on the deadline, saying his goal is to get as many families reunited as quickly as possible, and he wants the government to feel the pressure to do that.\n\nHe has set a deadline of Wednesday for children under five who were separated by immigration authorities at the border to be reunited with their parents.\n\nMs. Fabian said they have found 101 such children who are still in government custody who could fit into that category \u2014 and they\u2019ve matched 86 parents to 83 of the children.\n\nOf those 86, who are the subject of the lawsuit, 19 have already been deported and 19 have already been released into the U.S. Another two have been deemed unfit to take custody of their children because of kidnapping and rape or child cruelty histories.\n\nThat leaves 46 parents still in custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the government said it\u2019s already preparing to release many of them in order to put them back together with their children.\n\n\u201cIn many cases, ICE will release the parent on Alternatives to Detention (ATD) to enable reunification to be completed,\u201d Robert Guadian, a top ICE official, said in a sworn declaration to Judge Sabraw on Friday.\n\nThat signals that catch-and-release \u2014 the policy the Trump administration had been trying to stop with its zero-tolerance policy \u2014 remains in effect as the government scrambles to deal with the aftermath of family separations.\n\nJudge Sabraw said as far as he\u2019s concerned, the government can hold those migrants as families if it wants.\n\n\u201cI want to be clear that I stand on the order and my comments here today don\u2019t in any way suggest the attorney general must release or must detain, or when he can release or detain. Those are within the federal government\u2019s prerogatives, consistent with law,\u201d he said.\n\nYet the judge has sown confusion as he\u2019s taken control of the government\u2019s deportation and custody machinery.\n\nAt one point even he didn\u2019t seem to know what his rulings meant. He told the government it didn\u2019t have to bother reuniting children to parents who\u2019ve already been deported \u2014 then moments later told a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the families, that it did include deportees.\n\nHe later explained that he \u201cmisspoke\u201d the first time.\n\nBoth the ACLU and Ms. Fabian will be part of a hearing Monday to figure out final details ahead of this week\u2019s deadline. Yet another deadline for juveniles ages 5 to 17 to be reunited with their parents looms later this month.\n\nThe government has already worked up 300 criminal background summaries to make sure parents aren\u2019t a danger and had another 1,400 to go as of Friday, Mr. Guadian said.\n\nGovernment officials say they usually check the background of entire households when they know they are releasing children to them.\n\nThey asked whether they could have more time to meet Judge Sabraw\u2019s deadlines.\n\n\u201cMy opinion is that some relaxing of the court\u2019s deadlines is needed to allow HHS, on a case-by-case basis, to complete processes that HHS determines are necessary to make informed class membership determinations and to protect the welfare of the children presently in ORR custody,\u201d said Jonathan White, a senior official at the federal Health and Human Services Department, in a court filing.\n\nJudge Sabraw said he needed to know more about those procedures before deciding what to order.\n\nSign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters\n\nCopyright \u00a9 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission."}
-{"text": "Getty Images\n\nRunning back Duke Johnson has spent the last three seasons with the Browns and he\u2019d like to extend his stay in Cleveland a while longer.\n\nJohnson is heading into the final year of the four-year deal he signed as a 2015 third-round pick and said on Wednesday, via Pat McManamon of ESPN.com, that he\u2019s started talking to the team about a contract extension. Johnson described himself as \u201cvery optimistic\u201d that the two sides will strike a deal.\n\nJohnson split time with Isaiah Crowell over the last three seasons and made a big mark as a receiver out of the backfield. He had a career-high 74 catches last year and has 188 catches for 1,741 yards and five receiving touchdowns overall. He\u2019s run the ball 259 times for 1,085 yards and five touchdowns as well.\n\nCrowell has moved onto the Jets, leaving Johnson to share the backfield with free agent acquisition Carlos Hyde and 2018 second-round pick Nick Chubb."}
-{"text": "It's not goodbye. It's see you soon.\n\nFor the past year and a half we were engaged, challenged, and ultimately proud to bring you BookDecay.com in hopes that it could save you from wasting $ on unused textbooks. Unfortunately, we are really sorry to announce that we at BookDecay.com can no longer nurture the site responsibly.\n\nWe had a dream to build a program that would allow you to expose the truth about how much $ is wasted on \"required\" textbooks that go unused and sell back for pennies on the dollar. We have succeeded in building that dream, albeit not to the extent imagined.\n\nWe really appreciate all of your feedback and support along the way. This was a terrific experience and we encourage all of you to follow your dreams to the edge.\n\nThank You."}
-{"text": "Girl Scout\u2019s new album, Old, Fat, Stimulated, rebels against day job dreariness in a collision of sounds and styles somewhere between your innermost fears and wildest dreams. While making the album, UC Berkeley senior Zach Gottesman \u2013 the singular entity behind Girl Scout\u2019s swirling sound \u2014 fixated on thoughts of life after graduation.\n\n\u201cThe general themes of the album are about growing old and becoming apathetic about the situation one\u2019s life is at,\u201d Gottesman explained to The Daily Californian in an email. \u201cSpecifically, I made this album because I see myself working a 9 to 5 job soon and having much less time or energy to create music.\u201d\n\nOld, Fat, Stimulated displays this tension between inclination and impending obligations with a base of fast-paced drum loops, running bass lines and undulating synth sounds. Then, Gottesman layers in melted, vocodered voices of paranoia. The unearthly and unenthusiastic \u201cI\u2019m doing fine\u201d in \u201cWaiting for a Storm to Come\u201d and \u201cStims and Tongues\u201d\u2019s repetition of the phrase \u201cfeeling quite scared\u201d highlight an easily overlooked darkness and dread lurking behind these dance tracks.\n\nBut labeling Girl Scout\u2019s music as \u201cpsychedelic electronic dance\u201d \u2014 as some of the tags on his Bandcamp try to do \u2014 would vastly oversimplify the album\u2019s depth and breadth of inspiration. \u201cOld\u201d and \u201cFat\u201d are rooted in funk and soul, and the intro to \u201cStimulated\u201d sounds like something created by the Chemical Brothers.\n\n\u201cAn Ode to Tom \u2018Tobacco\u2019 Fec\u201d mirrors the Black Moth Super Rainbow frontman\u2019s solo work almost identically.\n\n\u201cFor the majority of the time I spent writing and recording, I was listening to Tobacco\u2019s album Ultima II massage nearly twice a day,\u201d Gottesman confessed of the homage. \u201cThere is no denying that is where the vocoder effect came from in most of my songs.\u201d This voice encoding technique transforms spoken word into a quivering, robotized snarl throughout the album.\n\nWhile Gottesman may draw inspiration from other artists on Old, Fat, Stimulated, the effort it took to create the album was his own. Gottesman plays the guitar, bass, synth and electric piano parts and also sings. He programmed the drum sequences for the whole album except for the end of \u201cAn Ode to Tom \u2018Tobacco\u2019 Fec,\u201d which was played by Art Nikels drummer Jake Barczak. Gottesman also recorded and mixed the album by himself.\n\nBecause the album is so well rounded, it works in multiple settings and states of mind. Old, Fat, Stimulated can take you from dancing and partying to lying on your bed, blowing smoke rings, to even powering through a paper. Gottesman joked of the album\u2019s accessibility, \u201cMy hope is that the album sounds good to both sober people and people who might be a tad fucked up.\u201d\n\nOld, Fat, Stimulated can be downloaded through Girl Scout\u2019s Bandcamp\n\nContact Cara Cerino at [email protected]."}
-{"text": "An awkward mix of comedy and electronica. David ventures into the Kent countryside to bring you all the action from the lesser-known Electronica Festival of Felchford.\n\nIncludes coverage of Justin Bieber's first shave accompanied by the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra."}
-{"text": "During boreal summer, Earth's tropical rain belt migrates north. A similar but prolonged shift could happen if the north continues to heat faster than the south, disrupting global rainfall patterns. Credit: Mats Halldin\n\nAs humans continue to heat the planet, a northward shift of Earth's wind and rain belts could make a broad swath of regions drier, including the Middle East, American West and Amazonia, while making Monsoon Asia and equatorial Africa wetter, says a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.\n\nThe study authors base their prediction on the warming that brought Earth out of the last ice age, some 15,000 years ago. As the North Atlantic Ocean began to churn more vigorously, it melted Arctic sea ice, setting up a temperature contrast with the southern hemisphere where sea ice was expanding around Antarctica. The temperature gradient between the poles appears to have pushed the tropical rain belt and mid-latitude jet stream north, redistributing water in two bands around the planet.\n\nToday, with Arctic sea ice again in retreat, and the northern hemisphere heating up faster than the south, history could repeat itself. \"If the kinds of changes we saw during the deglaciation were to occur today that would have a very big impact,\" said the study's lead author, Wallace Broecker, a climate scientist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.\n\nMarshaling climate data collected from around the world, from tree-rings, polar ice cores, cave formations, and lake and ocean sediments, Broecker and study coauthor, Aaron Putnam, a climate scientist at Lamont-Doherty, hypothesize that the wind and rain belts shifted north from about 14,600 years ago to 12,700 years ago as the northern hemisphere was heating up.\n\nAt the southern edge of the tropical rain belt, the great ancient Lake Tauca in the Bolivian Andes nearly dried up at this time while rivers in eastern Brazil slowed to a trickle and rain-fed stalagmites in the same region stopped growing. In the middle latitudes, the northward advance of the jet stream may have caused Lake Lisan, a precursor to the Dead Sea in Jordan's Rift Valley, to shrink, along with several prehistoric lakes in the western U.S., including Lake Bonneville in present day Utah.\n\nMeanwhile, a northward shift of the tropical rains recharged the rivers that drain Venezuela's Cariaco Basin and East Africa's Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika. Stalagmites in China's Hulu Cave grew bigger. Evidence for a stronger Asian monsoon during this time also shows up in the Greenland ice cores.\n\nThe process worked in reverse from about 1300 to 1850, the study authors hypothesize, as northern Europe transitioned from the relatively warm medieval era to a colder period known as the Little Ice Age. Ocean circulation slowed, and sea ice in the North Atlantic Ocean expanded, the climate record shows. At the same time, rainfall declined in Monsoon Asia, leading to a series of droughts that have been linked to the decline of Cambodia's ancient Khmer civilization, China's Ming dynasty and the collapse of kingdoms in present day Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand.\n\nWestern China is growing drier, turning lakes like this one to dust. If wind and rain patterns shift north as the study predicts, drying in this region could continue. Credit: David Putnam\n\nIn the southern hemisphere, the reconstruction of glacier extents in New Zealand's Southern Alps suggests that the mid-latitudes may have been colder during medieval times, supporting the idea of a temperature contrast between the hemispheres that altered rain and wind patterns.\n\nA similar migration of Earth's wind and rain belts happens each year. During boreal summer, the tropical rain belt and mid-latitude jet stream migrate north as the northern hemisphere heats up disproportionately to the south, with more continents to absorb the sun's energy. As the northern hemisphere cools off in winter, the winds and rains revert south.\n\nSometimes the winds and rains have rearranged themselves for longer periods of time. In the 1970s and 1980s, a southward shift of the tropical rain belt, attributed to air pollution cooling the northern hemisphere, is thought to have brought devastating drought to Africa's Sahel region. The tropical rain belt has since reverted back, and may be moving north, the study authors say, as suggested by a number of recent droughts, including in Syria, northern China, western U.S., and northeastern Brazil.\n\nConsistent with the study, at least one climate model shows the tropical rain belt moving north as carbon dioxide levels climb and temperatures warm. \"It's really important to look at the paleo record,\" said Dargan Frierson, an atmospheric scientist at University of Washington whose modeling work supports the authors' hypothesis. \"Those changes were huge, just like we're expecting with global warming.\"\n\nThe study authors acknowledge that their hypothesis has some holes. In the past, changes in sea ice cover drove the temperature gradient between the two hemispheres while today rapidly rising industrial carbon emissions are responsible. So far, there is also no clear evidence that ocean circulation is increasing in the North Atlantic or that the monsoon rains over Asia are strengthening (though there is speculation that sulfate aerosols produced by burning fossil fuels may be masking this effect).\n\nAs air pollution in the northern hemisphere declines, temperatures may warm, creating the kind of temperature contrast that could move the winds and rains north again, said Jeff Severinghaus, a climate scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography who was not involved in the study.\n\n\"Sulfate aerosols will probably get cleaned up in the next few decades because of their effects on acid rain and health,\" he said. \"So Broecker and Putnam are probably on solid ground in predicting that northern warming will eventually greatly exceed southern warming.\"\n\nExplore further Pollution in Northern Hemisphere helped cause 1980s African drought\n\nMore information: Hydrologic impacts of past shifts of Earth's thermal equator offer insight into those to be produced by fossil fuel CO2, PNAS, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1301855110 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Hydrologic impacts of past shifts of Earth's thermal equator offer insight into those to be produced by fossil fuel CO2,"}
-{"text": "Tr\u01b0\u1edbc khi t\u00ecm hi\u1ec3u s\u00e2u v\u1ec1 c\u00e1c xu h\u01b0\u1edbng \u1ee9ng d\u1ee5ng M\u00e1y bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n hi\u1ec7n nay ch\u00fang ta kh\u00f4ng th\u1ec3 b\u1ecf qua \u00edt ph\u00fat v\u1eeba \u0103n b\u00e1nh v\u1eeba u\u1ed1ng n\u01b0\u1edbc v\u1eeba t\u00ecm hi\u1ec3u s\u01a1 l\u01b0\u1ee3c v\u1ec1 : M\u00e1y bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n l\u00e0 g\u00ec ? V\u00e0 t\u1ea1i sao ph\u1ea3i s\u1eed d\u1ee5ng m\u00e1y bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n ? tr\u01b0\u1edbc \u0111\u00e3 :\n\n1.PH\u1ed4 C\u1eacP KI\u1ebeN TH\u1ee8C\n\nM\u00e1y Bi\u1ebfn T\u1ea7n :\n\nHi\u1ec3u m\u1ed9t c\u00e1ch \u0111\u01a1n gi\u1ea3n nh\u1ea5t m\u00e0 n\u00f3i th\u00ec Bi\u1ebfn l\u00e0 chuy\u1ec3n \u0111\u1ed5i , T\u1ea7n l\u00e0 t\u1ea7n s\u1ed1 d\u00f2ng \u0111i\u1ec7n k\u00ed hi\u1ec7u l\u00e0 I m\u00e0 ch\u00fang ta v\u1eabn bi\u1ebft t\u1eeb ki\u1ebfn th\u1ee9c trung h\u1ecdc . V\u1eady rap l\u1ea1i M\u00e1y- Bi\u1ebfn \u2013 T\u1ea7n c\u00f3 th\u1ec3 hi\u1ec3u \u0111\u01a1n gi\u1ea3n n\u00f3 l\u00e0 m\u1ed9t c\u00e1i m\u00e1y chuy\u00ean d\u00f9ng \u0111\u1ec3 bi\u1ebfn d\u1ed5i t\u1ea7n s\u1ed1 d\u00f2ng \u0111i\u1ec7n t\u1eeb t\u1ea7n s\u1ed1 n\u00e0y sang t\u1ea7n s\u1ed1 kh\u00e1c . C\u00f2n \u0111\u1ec3 l\u00e0m g\u00ec ch\u00fang ta \u0111\u1ecdc ti\u1ebfp b\u00ean d\u01b0\u1edbi s\u1ebd r\u00f5 .\n\nV\u1eady bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n \u0111\u1ec3 l\u00e0m g\u00ec ?\n\nC\u00e0ng ng\u00e0y th\u00ec nhu c\u1ea7u v\u1ec1 n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng c\u00e0ng cao m\u00e0 c\u00e1c ngu\u1ed3n n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng th\u00ec ng\u00e0y c\u1ea1n ki\u1ec7t do \u0111\u00f3 ti\u1ebft ki\u1ec7m n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng l\u00e0 m\u1ed9t v\u1ea5n \u0111\u1ec1 kh\u00e1 quan tr\u1ecdng v\u00e0 g\u00e2yy \u0111au \u0111\u1ea7u cho kh\u00f4ng \u00edt b\u1ed9 \u00f3c l\u00e3nh \u0111\u1ea1o tr\u01b0\u1edbc \u0111\u00e2y, v\u1eeba \u00e1p l\u1ef1c v\u1ec1 tu\u00e2n th\u1ee7 nguy\u00ean t\u1eafc s\u1eed d\u1ee5ng n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng v\u1eeba \u0111\u1ee9t ru\u1ed9t khi ph\u1ea3i \u0111\u1ea7u t\u01b0 m\u1ee9c chi ph\u00ed kh\u00e1c cao ( 30 \u0111\u1ebfn 60%) chi ph\u00ed cho thu nh\u1eadp cho n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng.\n\nB\u00e0i to\u00e1n \u0111\u1eb7t ra l\u00e0 : Mu\u1ed1n kinh doanh s\u1ea3n xu\u1ea5t b\u1eaft bu\u1ed9c ph\u1ea3i s\u1eed d\u1ee5ng ngu\u1ed3n n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng c\u1ee5 th\u1ec3 l\u00e0 d\u00f2ng \u0111i\u1ec7n =>m\u00e0 c\u00e0ng m\u1edf r\u1ed9ng s\u1ea3n xu\u1ea5t nhu c\u1ea7u n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng c\u00e0ng cao => ngu\u1ed3n cung c\u1ea5p n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng th\u00ec c\u00f3 h\u1ea1n v\u00e0 \u0111ang c\u1ea1n ki\u1ec7t d\u1ea7n, v\u1eady \u0111\u1ec3 gi\u1ea3i b\u00e0i to\u00e1n n\u00e0y th\u00ec ph\u1ea3i l\u00e0m g\u00ec ?\n\nTr\u01b0\u1edbc \u0111\u00e2y khi m\u00e1y bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n ch\u01b0a ph\u1ed5 bi\u1ebfn \u0111\u1ec3 gi\u1ea3m l\u01b0u l\u01b0\u1ee3ng d\u00f2ng \u0111i\u1ec7n ng\u01b0\u1eddi ta th\u01b0\u1eddng s\u1eed d\u1ee5ng bi\u1ec7n ph\u00e1p \u0111i\u1ec1u ch\u1ec9nh c\u00e1c l\u00e1 ch\u1eafn \u0111\u1ea7u v\u00e0o , \u0111\u1ea7u ra ho\u1eb7c l\u00e0m 1 \u0111\u01b0\u1eddng quay tr\u1edf l\u1ea1i nh\u1ea7m gi\u1ea3m b\u1edbt l\u01b0u l\u01b0\u1ee3ng ti\u00eau th\u1ee5 . V\u00ed d\u1ee5 : \u1edf nh\u00e0 m\u00e1y nhi\u1ec7t \u0111i\u1ec7n, \u1edf c\u00e1c qu\u1ea1t h\u00fat kh\u00f3i, th\u1ed5i gi\u00f3 th\u00ec \u1edf \u0111\u1ea7u ra ho\u1eb7c \u0111\u1ea7u v\u00e0o c\u1ee7a qu\u1ea1t th\u01b0\u1eddng c\u00f3 m\u1ed9t l\u00e1 ch\u1eafn \u0111\u1ed9ng, g\u1ed3m c\u00e1c c\u00e1nh h\u00ecnh c\u00e1nh qu\u1ea1t, c\u00f3 tr\u1ee5c quay theo c\u00e1c b\u00e1n k\u00ednh. C\u00f3 m\u1ed9t \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u01a1 nh\u1ecf \u0111i\u1ec1u khi\u1ec3n \u0111\u1ed9 quay c\u1ee7a c\u00e1c l\u00e1 ch\u1eafn n\u00e0y, \u0111\u1ec3 t\u1ea1o ra c\u00e1c khe h\u1edf r\u1ed9ng hay h\u1eb9p tu\u1ef3 theo y\u00eau c\u1ea7u cho gi\u00f3, kh\u00f3i l\u1ecdt qua. Vi\u1ec7c \u0111i\u1ec1u ch\u1ec9nh l\u01b0u l\u01b0\u1ee3ng kh\u00f3i gi\u00f3 ki\u1ec3u \u0111\u1ed1i ph\u00f3 n\u00e0y tuy c\u00f3 \u0111em l\u1ea1i hi\u1ec7u qu\u1ea3 v\u1ec1 \u0111i\u1ec1u ch\u1ec9nh l\u01b0u l\u01b0\u1ee3ng kh\u00f3i gi\u00f3 nh\u01b0ng kh\u00f4ng kinh t\u1ebf v\u00ec \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u01a1 v\u1eabn l\u00e0m vi\u1ec7c g\u1ea7n nh\u01b0 kh\u00f4ng thay \u0111\u1ed5i, l\u01b0\u1ee3ng \u0111i\u1ec7n ti\u00eau th\u1ee5 kh\u00f4ng gi\u1ea3m \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c bao nhi\u00eau. M\u1eb7c d\u00f9 khi gi\u1ea3m l\u01b0u l\u01b0\u1ee3ng ra, n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng ti\u00eau th\u1ee5 c\u0169ng gi\u1ea3m \u0111i nh\u01b0ng t\u1ed5n hao tr\u00ean c\u00e1c thi\u1ebft b\u1ecb kh\u1ed1ng ch\u1ebf nh\u01b0 c\u00e1c l\u00e1 ch\u1eafn v\u1eabn c\u00f2n l\u1edbn.\n\nM\u1ea5u ch\u1ed1t : l\u01b0u l\u01b0\u1ee3ng ngu\u1ed3n \u0111i\u1ec7n s\u1ebd ph\u1ee5 thu\u1ed1c v\u00e0o l\u00e1 ch\u1eafn \u2013 l\u00e1 ch\u1eafn ho\u1eb7t \u0111\u1ed9ng nh\u01b0 m\u1ed9t \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u01a1 s\u01a1 c\u1ea5p , t\u1ed1c \u0111\u1ed9 ho\u1eb7t \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u1ee7a \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u01a1 n\u00e0y ph\u1ee5 thu\u1ed9c v\u00e0o t\u1ea7n s\u1ed1 c\u1ee7a d\u00f2ng \u0111i\u1ec7n, v\u1eady th\u00ec c\u00f3 ph\u1ea3i c\u00e1ch \u0111\u1ec3 \u0111i\u1ec1u ch\u1ec9nh t\u1ed1c \u0111\u1ed9 n\u00e0y d\u1ec5 d\u00e0ng nh\u1ea5t ch\u00ednh l\u00e0 thay \u0111\u1ed5i t\u1ea7n s\u00f4 c\u1ee7a d\u00f2ng \u0111i\u1ec7n kh\u00f4ng ch\u1ee9 ?\n\n\u0110\u00e1p \u00e1n cho b\u00e0i to\u00e1n : s\u1eed d\u1ee5ng 1 thi\u1ebft b\u1ecb c\u00f3 th\u1ec3 \u0111i\u1ec1u ch\u1ec9nh \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c t\u1ea7n \u0111\u1ed9 d\u00f2ng \u0111i\u1ec7n ph\u00f9 h\u1ee3p v\u1edbi l\u01b0u l\u01b0\u1ee3ng n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng c\u1ea7n ho\u1ea1t \u0111\u1ed9ng , v\u00e0 kh\u00f4ng g\u00ec kh\u00e1c \u0111\u00f3 ch\u00ednh l\u00e0 ch\u1ee9c n\u0103ng c\u1ee7a M\u00e1y bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n .\n\nTh\u1ebf m\u00e1y bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n l\u00e0m vi\u1ec7c th\u1ebf n\u00e0o ?\n\nNguy\u00ean l\u00fd l\u00e0m vi\u1ec7c c\u1ee7a b\u1ed9 Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n c\u0169ng kh\u00e1 \u0111\u01a1n gi\u1ea3n : \u0110\u1ea7u ti\u00ean, ngu\u1ed3n \u0111i\u1ec7n xoay chi\u1ec1u 1 pha hay 3 pha \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c ch\u1ec9nh l\u01b0u v\u00e0 l\u1ecdc th\u00e0nh ngu\u1ed3n 1 chi\u1ec1u b\u1eb1ng ph\u1eb3ng. C\u00f4ng \u0111o\u1ea1n n\u00e0y \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c th\u1ef1c hi\u1ec7n b\u1edfi b\u1ed9 ch\u1ec9nh l\u01b0u c\u1ea7u diode v\u00e0 t\u1ee5 \u0111i\u1ec7n . Nh\u1edd v\u1eady, h\u1ec7 s\u1ed1 c\u00f4ng su\u1ea5t cosphi c\u1ee7a h\u1ec7 Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n \u0111\u1ec1u c\u00f3 gi\u00e1 tr\u1ecb kh\u00f4ng ph\u1ee5 thu\u1ed9c v\u00e0o t\u1ea3i v\u00e0 c\u00f3 gi\u00e1 tr\u1ecb \u00edt nh\u1ea5t 0.96. \u0110i\u1ec7n \u00e1p m\u1ed9t chi\u1ec1u n\u00e0y \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c bi\u1ebfn \u0111\u1ed5i (ngh\u1ecbch l\u01b0u) th\u00e0nh \u0111i\u1ec7n \u00e1p xoay chi\u1ec1u 3 pha \u0111\u1ed1i x\u1ee9ng. C\u00f4ng \u0111o\u1ea1n n\u00e0y hi\u1ec7n nay \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c th\u1ef1c hi\u1ec7n th\u00f4ng qua h\u1ec7 IGBT (transistor l\u01b0\u1ee1ng c\u1ef1c c\u00f3 c\u1ed5ng c\u00e1ch ly) b\u1eb1ng ph\u01b0\u01a1ng ph\u00e1p \u0111i\u1ec1u ch\u1ebf \u0111\u1ed9 r\u1ed9ng xung (PWM). Nh\u1edd ti\u1ebfn b\u1ed9 c\u1ee7a c\u00f4ng ngh\u1ec7 vi x\u1eed l\u00fd v\u00e0 c\u00f4ng ngh\u1ec7 b\u00e1n d\u1eabn l\u1ef1c hi\u1ec7n nay, t\u1ea7n s\u1ed1 chuy\u1ec3n m\u1ea1ch xung c\u00f3 th\u1ec3 l\u00ean t\u1edbi d\u1ea3i t\u1ea7n s\u1ed1 si\u00eau \u00e2m nh\u1eb1m gi\u1ea3m ti\u1ebfng \u1ed3n cho \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u01a1 v\u00e0 gi\u1ea3m t\u1ed5n th\u1ea5t tr\u00ean l\u00f5i s\u1eaft \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u01a1. H\u1ec7 th\u1ed1ng \u0111i\u1ec7n \u00e1p xoay chi\u1ec1u 3 pha \u1edf \u0111\u1ea7u ra c\u00f3 th\u1ec3 thay \u0111\u1ed5i gi\u00e1 tr\u1ecb bi\u00ean \u0111\u1ed9 v\u00e0 t\u1ea7n s\u1ed1 v\u00f4 c\u1ea5p tu\u1ef3 theo b\u1ed9 \u0111i\u1ec1u khi\u1ec3n.\n\nTheo l\u00fd thuy\u1ebft, gi\u1eefa t\u1ea7n s\u1ed1 v\u00e0 \u0111i\u1ec7n \u00e1p c\u00f3 m\u1ed9t quy lu\u1eadt nh\u1ea5t \u0111\u1ecbnh tu\u1ef3 theo ch\u1ebf \u0111\u1ed9 \u0111i\u1ec1u khi\u1ec3n. \u0110\u1ed1i v\u1edbi t\u1ea3i c\u00f3 m\u00f4 men kh\u00f4ng \u0111\u1ed5i, t\u1ec9 s\u1ed1 \u0111i\u1ec7n \u00e1p \u2013 t\u1ea7n s\u1ed1 l\u00e0 kh\u00f4ng \u0111\u1ed5i(v/f). \u0110i\u1ec1u n\u00e0y t\u1ea1o ra \u0111\u1eb7c t\u00ednh m\u00f4 men l\u00e0 h\u00e0m b\u1eadc hai c\u1ee7a t\u1ed1c \u0111\u1ed9 ph\u00f9 h\u1ee3p v\u1edbi y\u00eau c\u1ea7u c\u1ee7a t\u1ea3i b\u01a1m/qu\u1ea1t do b\u1ea3n th\u00e2n m\u00f4 men c\u0169ng l\u1ea1i l\u00e0 h\u00e0m b\u1eadc hai c\u1ee7a \u0111i\u1ec7n \u00e1p. Hi\u1ec7u su\u1ea5t chuy\u1ec3n \u0111\u1ed5i ngu\u1ed3n c\u1ee7a c\u00e1c b\u1ed9 Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n r\u1ea5t cao v\u00ec s\u1eed d\u1ee5ng c\u00e1c b\u1ed9 linh ki\u1ec7n b\u00e1n d\u1eabn c\u00f4ng su\u1ea5t ch\u1ebf t\u1ea1o theo c\u00f4ng ngh\u1ec7 hi\u1ec7n \u0111\u1ea1i. Ch\u00ednh v\u00ec v\u1eady, n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng ti\u00eau th\u1ee5 c\u0169ng x\u1ea5p x\u1ec9 b\u1eb1ng n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng y\u00eau c\u1ea7u b\u1edfi h\u1ec7 th\u1ed1ng.\n\n2. XU H\u01af\u1edaNG \u1ee8NG D\u1ee4NG M\u00c1Y BI\u1ebeN T\u1ea6N\n\nKh\u00f4ng bi\u1ebft v\u00f4 t\u00ecnh hay c\u1ed1 \u00fd n\u1ebfu \u0111\u00e3 \u0111\u1ecdc \u0111\u1ebfn \u0111\u00e2y b\u1ea1n c\u0169ng \u0111\u00e3 bi\u1ebft \u0111\u00f4i n\u00e9t v\u1ec1 c\u00f4ng d\u1ee5ng c\u1ee7a m\u00e1y bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n , v\u1eady ti\u1ebfp theo ch\u00fang ta s\u1ebd tim hi\u1ec3u s\u00e2u th\u00eam v\u1ec1 xu h\u01b0\u1edbng \u1ee9ng d\u1ee5ng m\u00e1y bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n theo th\u1eddi gian v\u00e0 theo c\u00e1c ng\u00e0nh kh\u00e1c nhau .\n\n2.1 \u1ee8ng d\u1ee5ng :\n\nTheo c\u00e1c c\u00f4ng ngh\u1ec7 truy\u1ec1n th\u1ed1ng tr\u01b0\u1edbc \u0111\u00e2y m\u1edbi ch\u1ec9 th\u1ef1c hi\u1ec7n \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c vi\u1ec7c bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n \u1edf c\u00e1c t\u1ea7n s\u1ed1 cao, v\u1edbi c\u00f4ng su\u1ea5t nh\u1ecf trong k\u1ef9 ngh\u1ec7 truy\u1ec1n thanh v\u00e0 truy\u1ec1n h\u00ecnh. C\u00f2n v\u1edbi t\u1ea7n s\u1ed1 c\u00f4ng nghi\u1ec7p v\u00e0 v\u1edbi c\u00f4ng su\u1ea5t l\u1edbn h\u00e0ng tr\u0103m kil\u00f4 wat th\u00ec ch\u01b0a th\u1ef1c hi\u1ec7n \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c. Cho \u0111\u1ebfn nay, r\u00e0o c\u1ea3n v\u1ec1 tr\u00ecnh \u0111\u1ed9 c\u00f4ng ngh\u1ec7 n\u00e0y \u0111\u00e3 b\u1ecb th\u00e1o b\u1ecf, c\u00e1c n\u01b0\u1edbc c\u00f3 n\u1ec1n c\u00f4ng ngh\u1ec7 ti\u1ec1n ti\u1ebfn \u0111\u00e3 ch\u1ebf t\u1ea1o \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c c\u00e1c m\u00e1y Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n c\u00f4ng su\u1ea5t l\u1edbn, v\u00e0 ngay l\u1eadp t\u1ee9c \u0111\u00e3 \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c \u00e1p d\u1ee5ng v\u00e0o s\u1ea3n xu\u1ea5t, gi\u1ea3i quy\u1ebft \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c v\u1ea5n \u0111\u1ec1 nh\u01b0 :\n\n+ Khi ch\u1ec9 s\u1eed d\u1ee5ng l\u00e1 ch\u1eafn mu\u1ed1n ch\u1ec9nh t\u1ed1c \u0111\u1ed9 c\u1ee7a c\u00e1c \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u01a1 ba pha xoay chi\u1ec1u n\u1ebfu gi\u1ea3m mu\u1ed1n l\u01b0u l\u01b0\u1ee3ng ngu\u1ed3n \u0111i\u1ec7n gi\u1ea3m \u0111i 20% => th\u00ec n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng ti\u00eau th\u1ee5 s\u1ebd gi\u1ea3m g\u1ea7n 50% so v\u1edbi gi\u00e1 tr\u1ecb thi\u1ebft k\u1ebf . C\u00f2n khi s\u1eed d\u1ee5ng b\u1ed9 Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n th\u00ec n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng ti\u00eau th\u1ee5 gi\u1ea3m ch\u1ec9 c\u00f2n 2-3%. Khi l\u01b0u l\u01b0\u1ee3ng ti\u00eau th\u1ee5 gi\u1ea3m xu\u1ed1ng c\u00f2n 50% th\u00ec n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng ti\u00eau th\u1ee5 v\u1edbi b\u1ed9 Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n ch\u1ec9 c\u00f2n 15% so v\u1edbi 56% khi s\u1eed d\u1ee5ng l\u00e1 ch\u1eafn \u0111\u1ea7u v\u00e0o.\n\n+ Ngo\u00e0i ra, Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n ng\u00e0y nay \u0111\u00e3 t\u00edch h\u1ee3p r\u1ea5t nhi\u1ec1u ki\u1ec3u \u0111i\u1ec1u khi\u1ec3n kh\u00e1c nhau ph\u00f9 h\u1ee3p h\u1ea7u h\u1ebft c\u00e1c lo\u1ea1i ph\u1ee5 t\u1ea3i kh\u00e1c nhau. Ng\u00e0y nay Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n c\u00f3 t\u00edch h\u1ee3p c\u1ea3 b\u1ed9 PID v\u00e0 th\u00edch h\u1ee3p v\u1edbi nhi\u1ec1u chu\u1ea9n truy\u1ec1n th\u00f4ng kh\u00e1c nhau, r\u1ea5t ph\u00f9 h\u1ee3p cho vi\u1ec7c \u0111i\u1ec1u khi\u1ec3n v\u00e0 gi\u00e1m s\u00e1t trong h\u1ec7 th\u1ed1ng SCADA.\n\n+Ti\u1ebft ki\u1ec7m \u0111i\u1ec7n : \u0110\u1eb7c t\u00ednh kh\u1edfi \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u1ee7a Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n cho ph\u00e9p kh\u1ed1ng ch\u1ebf d\u00f2ng kh\u1edfi \u0111\u1ed9ng kh\u00f4ng v\u01b0\u1ee3t qu\u00e1 d\u00f2ng \u0111\u1ecbnh m\u1ee9c c\u1ee7a \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u01a1, do \u0111\u00f3 ti\u1ebft ki\u1ec7m \u0111i\u1ec7n n\u0103ng khi kh\u1edfi \u0111\u1ed9ng. Hi\u1ec7u su\u1ea5t chuy\u1ec3n \u0111\u1ed5i ngu\u1ed3n c\u1ee7a c\u00e1c b\u1ed9 Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n r\u1ea5t cao v\u00ec s\u1eed d\u1ee5ng c\u00e1c b\u1ed9 linh ki\u1ec7n b\u00e1n d\u1eabn c\u00f4ng su\u1ea5t ch\u1ebf t\u1ea1o theo c\u00f4ng ngh\u1ec7 hi\u1ec7n \u0111\u1ea1i. Ch\u00ednh v\u00ec v\u1eady, n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng ti\u00eau th\u1ee5 c\u0169ng x\u1ea5p x\u1ec9 b\u1eb1ng n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng y\u00eau c\u1ea7u c\u1ee7a h\u1ec7 th\u1ed1ng. Tuy nhi\u00ean v\u1ed1n \u0111\u00e2u t\u01b0 ban \u0111\u1ea7u h\u01a1i cao. Qua t\u00ednh to\u00e1n v\u1edbi c\u00e1c d\u1eef li\u1ec7u th\u1ef1c t\u1ebf, v\u1edbi c\u00e1c chi ph\u00ed th\u1ef1c t\u1ebf th\u00ec v\u1edbi m\u1ed9t \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u01a1 s\u01a1 c\u1ea5p kho\u1ea3ng 100 kW, th\u1eddi gian thu h\u1ed3i v\u1ed1n \u0111\u1ea7u t\u01b0 cho m\u1ed9t b\u1ed9 Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n l\u00e0 kho\u1ea3ng t\u1eeb 3 th\u00e1ng \u0111\u1ebfn 6 th\u00e1ng.\n\n+ Hi\u1ec7n nay \u1edf Vi\u1ec7t nam \u0111\u00e3 c\u00f3 m\u1ed9t s\u1ed1 x\u00ed nghi\u1ec7p s\u1eed d\u1ee5ng m\u00e1y Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n n\u00e0y v\u00e0 \u0111\u00e3 c\u00f3 k\u1ebft qu\u1ea3 r\u00f5 r\u1ec7t. V\u1edbi gi\u1ea3i ph\u00e1p ti\u1ebft ki\u1ec7m n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng b\u00ean c\u1ea1nh vi\u1ec7c n\u00e2ng cao t\u00ednh n\u0103ng \u0111i\u1ec1u khi\u1ec3n h\u1ec7 th\u1ed1ng, c\u00e1c b\u1ed9 Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n hi\u1ec7n nay \u0111ang \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c coi l\u00e0 m\u1ed9t \u1ee9ng d\u1ee5ng chu\u1ea9n cho c\u00e1c h\u1ec7 truy\u1ec1n \u0111\u1ed9ng cho b\u01a1m v\u00e0 qu\u1ea1t. Nh\u1edd t\u00ednh n\u0103ng k\u1ef9 thu\u1eadt cao v\u1edbi c\u00f4ng ngh\u1ec7 \u0111i\u1ec1u khi\u1ec3n hi\u1ec7n \u0111\u1ea1i nh\u1ea5t (\u0111i\u1ec1u khi\u1ec3n t\u1ed1i \u01b0u v\u1ec1 n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng) c\u00e1c b\u1ed9 Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n \u0111ang v\u00e0 s\u1ebd l\u00e0m h\u00e0i l\u00f2ng nhi\u1ec1u nh\u00e0 \u0111\u1ea7u t\u01b0 trong n\u01b0\u1edbc, trong khu v\u1ef1c v\u00e0 tr\u00ean th\u1ebf gi\u1edbi.\n\n2.2 Xu h\u01b0\u1edbng\n\nHi\u1ec7n nay trong c\u00e1c ng\u00e0nh c\u00f4ng nghi\u1ec7p \u0111\u00f2i h\u1ecfi c\u00f4ng su\u1ea5t ng\u00e0y c\u00e0ng l\u1edbn, ch\u00fang ta c\u00f3 th\u1ec3 ngh\u0129 \u0111\u1ebfn bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n v\u1eady ch\u00fang ta sao kh\u00f4ng ngh\u0129 \u0111\u1ebfn bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n \u0111a b\u1eadc \u0111\u1ec3 n\u00e2ng cao h\u01a1n n\u1eefa c\u00f4ng su\u1ea5t.?\n\nC\u00f9ng \u0111i\u1ec3m qua s\u1ed1 hi\u1ec7u m\u00e1y bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n \u201cs\u1ecbn\u201d c\u00f4ng su\u00e2t t\u1ed1i \u01b0u \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c \u0111\u00e1nh gi\u00e1 cao trong ng\u00e0nh nh\u00e9 :\n\nBi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n DANFOSS \u2013 ABN\n\n\u0110\u01b0\u1ee3c s\u1ea3n xu\u1ea5t \u0111\u1ea7u ti\u00ean n\u0103m 1968, \u0111\u1ebfn nay \u0111\u00e3 tr\u1edf th\u00e0nh m\u1ed9t th\u01b0\u01a1ng hi\u1ec7u n\u1ed5i ti\u1ebfng to\u00e0n c\u1ea7u v\u00e0 \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c ch\u1ee9ng minh v\u1ec1 ch\u1ea5t l\u01b0\u1ee3ng, v\u1edbi c\u00e1c nh\u00e0 m\u00e1y ch\u1ebf t\u1ea1o hi\u1ec7n ch\u1ec9 \u0111\u1eb7t t\u1ea1i c\u00e1c n\u01b0\u1edbc \u0110an M\u1ea1ch, \u0110\u1ee9c, M\u1ef9 v\u00e0 NewZealand. Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n DANFOSS \u2013 ABN \u0111\u00e1p \u1ee9ng \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c d\u1ea3i c\u00f4ng su\u1ea5t r\u1ed9ng, \u0111\u1eb7c t\u00ednh momen thay \u0111\u1ed5i c\u0169ng nh\u01b0 c\u1ed1 \u0111\u1ecbnh, ph\u00f9 h\u1ee3p v\u1edbi t\u1ea5t c\u1ea3 c\u00e1c lo\u1ea1i \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u01a1 \u0111i\u1ec7n trong c\u00f4ng nghi\u1ec7p.\n\nC\u00e1c Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n c\u1ee7a DANFOSS \u2013 ABN \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c \u1ee9ng d\u1ee5ng r\u1ed9ng r\u00e3i trong nhi\u1ec1u l\u0129nh v\u1ef1c v\u00e0 trong h\u1ea7u h\u1ebft c\u00e1c ng\u00e0nh c\u00f4ng nghi\u1ec7p, giao th\u00f4ng v\u1eadn t\u1ea3i, khai kho\u00e1ng g\u1ed3m c\u00e1c lo\u1ea1i VLT6000, VLT8000 (\u1ee9ng d\u1ee5ng \u0111i\u1ec1u khi\u1ec3n b\u01a1m, qu\u1ea1t, h\u1ec7 th\u1ed1ng l\u1ea1nh, c\u00f3 c\u00e1c \u0111\u1eb7c t\u00ednh momen th\u01b0\u1eddng xuy\u00ean thay \u0111\u1ed5i v\u00e0 thay \u0111\u1ed5i trong c\u00e1c gi\u1ea3i r\u1ed9ng), VLT5000, VLT5000FLUX (\u1ee9ng d\u1ee5ng v\u1edbi y\u00eau c\u1ea7u momen t\u1ea3i l\u1edbn nh\u01b0 m\u00e1y n\u00e9n, b\u0103ng t\u1ea3i, m\u00e1y nghi\u1ec1n, v.v\u2026).\n\n\u01afu \u0111i\u1ec3m :\n\nTheo \u0111\u00e1nh gi\u00e1 c\u1ee7a c\u00e1c chuy\u00ean gia \u0111\u1ea7u ng\u00e0nh thu\u1ed9c \u0110\u1ea1i h\u1ecdc B\u00e1ch khoa H\u00e0 N\u1ed9i, Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n c\u1ee7a DANFOSS \u2013 ABN t\u1ecf ra h\u01a1n h\u1eb3n so v\u1edbi c\u00e1c lo\u1ea1i Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n kh\u00e1c nh\u1edd c\u00f3 c\u00e1c t\u00ednh n\u0103ng k\u1ef9 thu\u1eadt \u01b0u vi\u1ec7t \u0111\u1eb7c bi\u1ec7t, nh\u01b0:\n\n+ D\u00e3y c\u00f4ng su\u1ea5t r\u1ed9ng \u0111\u1ebfn 500kW (c\u00f3 th\u1ec3 s\u1eed d\u1ee5ng cho h\u1ea7u h\u1ebft c\u00e1c ch\u1ee7ng lo\u1ea1i thi\u1ebft b\u1ecb \u0111i\u1ec7n trong c\u00e1c m\u1ecf h\u1ea7m l\u00f2, l\u1ed9 thi\u00ean v\u00e0 c\u00e1c nh\u00e0 m\u00e1y s\u00e0ng tuy\u1ec3n than, c\u0169ng nh\u01b0 trong c\u00e1c c\u00f4ng tr\u00ecnh c\u00f4ng nghi\u1ec7p n\u1eb7ng kh\u00e1c)\n\n+C\u1ea5p b\u1ea3o v\u1ec7 IP20 v\u00e0 IP54 (r\u1ea5t ph\u00f9 h\u1ee3p v\u1edbi \u0111i\u1ec1u ki\u1ec7n v\u1eadn h\u00e0nh trong c\u00e1c m\u00f4i tr\u01b0\u1eddng c\u1ee7a c\u00e1c ng\u00e0nh c\u00f4ng nghi\u1ec7p n\u1eb7ng).\n\n+ C\u00f3 th\u1ec3 l\u1eafp c\u1ea1nh nhau (r\u1ea5t thu\u1eadn ti\u1ec7n cho vi\u1ec7c thi\u1ebft k\u1ebf l\u1eafp \u0111\u1eb7t v\u00e0 ph\u00f9 h\u1ee3p v\u1edbi c\u00e1c kho\u1ea3ng kh\u00f4ng gian t\u1ed1i thi\u1ec3u c\u00f3 s\u1eb5n, kh\u00f4ng l\u00e0m thay \u0111\u1ed5i k\u1ebft c\u1ea5u l\u1edbn).\n\n+Thi\u1ebft k\u1ebf th\u00e2n thi\u1ec7n v\u1edbi ng\u01b0\u1eddi s\u1eed d\u1ee5ng, r\u1ea5t d\u1ec5 d\u00e0ng l\u1eafp \u0111\u1eb7t, c\u00e0i \u0111\u1eb7t v\u00e0 v\u1eadn h\u00e0nh (ph\u00f9 h\u1ee3p v\u1edbi m\u1ecdi tr\u00ecnh \u0111\u1ed9 qu\u1ea3n l\u00fd v\u1eadn h\u00e0nh c\u1ee7a c\u00f4ng nh\u00e2n tr\u1ef1c ti\u1ebfp s\u1ea3n xu\u1ea5t). M\u00e0n h\u00ecnh \u0111i\u1ec1u khi\u1ec3n hi\u1ec3n th\u1ecb c\u00f3 th\u1ec3 th\u00e1o r\u1eddi. C\u00f3 th\u1ec3 v\u1eadn h\u00e0nh t\u1ea1i ch\u1ed7 ho\u1eb7c t\u1eeb xa.\n\n+ M\u00f4men kh\u1edfi \u0111\u1ed9ng l\u1edbn, c\u00f3 ch\u1ebf \u0111\u1ed9 t\u1ef1 \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u1eadp nh\u1eadt th\u00f4ng s\u1ed1 \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u01a1 AMA nh\u1eb1m t\u1ed1i \u01b0u ho\u1ea1t \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u1ee7a h\u1ec7 th\u1ed1ng. C\u00f3 b\u1ed9 \u0111i\u1ec1u khi\u1ec3n PID C\u00f3 ch\u1ebf \u0111\u1ed9 Sleep mode cho ph\u00e9p ti\u1ebft ki\u1ec7m n\u0103ng l\u01b0\u1ee3ng. C\u00e1c ch\u00e2n v\u00e0o/ra k\u1ef9 thu\u1eadt s\u1ed1, v\u00e0o/ra t\u01b0\u01a1ng t\u1ef1 v\u1edbi ch\u1ee9c n\u0103ng l\u1eadp tr\u00ecnh \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c. Giao th\u1ee9c truy\u1ec1n th\u00f4ng n\u1ed1i ti\u1ebfp RS485, cho ph\u00e9p truy\u1ec1n th\u00f4ng v\u1edbi PLC ho\u1eb7c m\u00e1y t\u00ednh.\n\n+ C\u00f3 \u0111\u1ee7 c\u00e1c ch\u1ee9c n\u0103ng b\u1ea3o v\u1ec7 c\u1ea7n thi\u1ebft: b\u1ea3o v\u1ec7 qu\u00e1 nhi\u1ec7t \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u01a1 b\u1eb1ng \u0111i\u1ec7n t\u1eed ch\u1ed1ng qu\u00e1 t\u1ea3i, gi\u00e1m s\u00e1t nhi\u1ec7t \u0111\u1ed9 c\u1ee7a b\u1ed9 t\u1ea3n nhi\u1ec7t nh\u1eb1m b\u1ea3o v\u1ec7 khi nhi\u1ec7t \u0111\u1ed9 b\u1ed9 t\u1ea3n nhi\u1ec7t t\u0103ng t\u1edbi 800C. B\u1ea3o v\u1ec7 ng\u1eafn m\u1ea1ch tr\u00ean \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u01a1, b\u1ea3o v\u1ec7 ch\u1ea1m \u0111\u1ea5t, ch\u1ea1m v\u1ecf \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u01a1, gi\u00e1m s\u00e1t m\u1ea1ch trung gian nh\u1eb1m b\u1ea3o v\u1ec7 \u0111i\u1ec7n \u00e1p DC qu\u00e1 cao ho\u1eb7c qu\u00e1 th\u1ea5p. b\u1ea3o v\u1ec7 m\u1ea5t pha \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u01a1, b\u1ea3o v\u1ec7 m\u1ea5t pha ngu\u1ed3n.\n\nBi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n Danfoss VLT 6000\n\nM\u1ed9t trong nh\u1eefng d\u00f2ng m\u00e1y n\u1ed5i b\u1eadt c\u1ee7a Danfos \u2013 Bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n Danfoss VLT6000 HVAC l\u00e0 d\u00f2ng bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n chuy\u00ean d\u00f9ng cho B\u01a1m, Qu\u1ea1t, H\u1ec7 th\u1ed1ng th\u00f4ng gi\u00f3,h\u00fat b\u1ee5i, h\u1ec7 th\u1ed1ng \u0111i\u1ec1u h\u00f2a kh\u00f4ng kh\u00ed trong t\u00f2a nh\u00e0 v\u1edbi r\u1ea5t nhi\u1ec1u t\u00ednh n\u0103ng v\u01b0\u1ee3t tr\u1ed9i.\n\nBi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n Danfoss VLT 6000 HVAC v\u1edbi hi\u1ec7u su\u1ea5t cao, ti\u1ebft ki\u1ec7m \u0111i\u1ec7n n\u0103ng v\u00e0 ki\u1ec3m so\u00e1t qu\u00e1 tr\u00ecnh \u0111i\u1ec1u khi\u1ec3n v\u00e0 v\u1eadn h\u00e0nh c\u1ee7a h\u1ec7 th\u1ed1ng HVAC. T\u00edch h\u1ee3p t\u00ednh n\u0103ng truy\u1ec1n th\u00f4ng BACNet ( Building Automation Control Network : H\u1ec7 th\u1ed1ng m\u1ea1ng truy\u1ec1n th\u00f4ng, t\u1ef1 \u0111\u1ed9ng h\u00f3a \u0111i\u1ec1u khi\u1ec3n trong t\u00f2a nh\u00e0 ) VLT6000 c\u00f3 kh\u1ea3 n\u0103ng ki\u1ec3m so\u00e1t v\u00e0 \u0111i\u1ec1u khi\u1ec3n ch\u00ednh x\u00e1c nhi\u1ec7t \u0111\u1ed9, \u00e1p su\u1ea5t, l\u01b0u l\u01b0\u1ee3ng gi\u00fap t\u1ecda ra m\u1ed9t m\u00f4i tr\u01b0\u1eddng xanh, n\u00e2ng cao ch\u1ea5t l\u01b0\u1ee3ng kh\u00f4ng kh\u00ed trong ph\u00f2ng v\u00e0 gi\u1ea3m thi\u1ec3u \u00f4 nhi\u1ec5m m\u00f4i tr\u01b0\u1eddng.\n\nM\u00e1y bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n Yaskawa A1000\n\nM\u00e1y bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n Yaskawa A1000 l\u00e0 d\u00f2ng bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n t\u00edch h\u1ee3p nhi\u1ec1u t\u00ednh n\u0103ng cao c\u1ea5p, linh ho\u1ea1t, ch\u1ea5t l\u01b0\u1ee3ng v\u01b0\u1ee3t tr\u1ed9i, giao di\u1ec7n th\u00e2n thi\u1ec7n, c\u00f4ng su\u1ea5t l\u00ean \u0111\u1ebfn 1000HP. A1000 c\u00f3 \u0111\u1ea7y \u0111\u1ee7 c\u00e1c card h\u1ed7 tr\u1ee3 v\u1ec1 truy\u1ec1n th\u00f4ng (Mechantrolink, DeviceNet, Profibus, Can Open,\u2026) \u0111\u1ea7y \u0111\u1ee7 c\u00e1c card h\u1ed3i ti\u1ebfp encodr v\u00e0 c\u00e1c card m\u1edf r\u1ed9ng I/O. C\u1ed9ng v\u1edbi kh\u1ea3 n\u0103ng cho ph\u00e9p l\u1eadp tr\u00ecnh tr\u1ef1c ti\u1ebfp tr\u00ean bi\u1ebfn t\u1ea7n, A1000 c\u00f3 th\u1ec3 h\u1ed7 tr\u1ee3 \u0111i\u1ec1u khi\u1ec3n cho t\u1ea5t c\u1ea3 c\u00e1c h\u1ec7 th\u1ed1ng t\u1eeb \u0111\u01a1n gi\u1ea3n \u0111\u1ebfn ph\u1ee9c t\u1ea1p. A1000 l\u00e0 gi\u1ea3i ph\u00e1p l\u1ef1a ch\u1ecdn t\u1ed1t nh\u1ea5t, t\u1ed1i \u01b0u nh\u1ea5t cho c\u00e1c \u1ee9ng d\u1ee5ng c\u1ee7a b\u1ea1n v\u1edbi c\u00e1c \u01b0u \u0111i\u1ec3m sau :\n\n+ Kh\u1ea3 n\u0103ng \u0111i\u1ec1u khi\u1ec3n v\u00f2ng h\u1edf, v\u00f2ng k\u00edn, moment v\u00e0 c\u00f3 th\u1ec3 \u0111i\u1ec1u khi\u1ec3n v\u1ecb tr\u00ed (v\u00f2ng k\u00edn)\n\n+Ch\u1ebf \u0111\u1ed9 Auto turning th\u00f4ng minh gi\u00fap h\u1ec7 th\u1ed1ng v\u1eadn h\u00e0nh t\u1ed1i \u01b0u\n\n+ \u0110i\u1ec1u khi\u1ec3n \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u01a1 \u0111\u1ed3ng b\u1ed9 v\u1edbi \u0111\u1ed9 ch\u00ednh x\u00e1c cao \u1edf ch\u1ebf \u0111\u1ed9 vector v\u00f2ng h\u1edf\n\n+ T\u00edch h\u1ee3p braking unit \u0111\u1ebfn 37Kw, t\u00edch h\u1ee3p DC reactor t\u1eeb 30Kw tr\u1edf l\u00ean"}
-{"text": "Quetta (Balochistan) [Pakistan], Mar 18 (ANI): Baloch Liberation Tigers (BLT), a pro-freedom group has claimed the responsibility of blowing up the Jaffar Express train with a remote-controlled device in Dera Murad area of Nasirabad district in Balochistan province on Sunday.\n\nFour people lost their lives, while ten others sustained injuries in the blast. Six carriages of the passenger train were derailed as a result of the explosion.\n\nThe Dawn quoted police chief of Nasirabad district, Irfan Bashir, as saying that the attackers had planted an improvised explosive device on the railway track to target the Jaffar Express.\n\n\"A huge blast was heard when the express train reached Dera Murad Jamali station. The blast damaged a portion of the railway track. Jaffar Express was going from Rawalpindi to Quetta when it was attacked,\" he said.\n\nThe injured were rushed to a nearby hospital for medical treatment.\n\nPolice and other law enforcement agencies rushed to the accident site immediately after the attack. An investigation into the matter is underway.\n\nThe BLT also claimed the responsibility of blowing up a gas pipeline near the Sui gas plant in Dera Bugti area in Balochistan province on March 8.\n\nAccording to local sources, four security personnel were killed while two local employees were wounded due to the massive fire after the explosion. (ANI)\n\n"}
-{"text": "Haim have spoken out about their decision to sack one of their agents after they discovered that they\u2019d been paid significantly less for a festival appearance than a male artist they shared the bill with.\n\nThe California trio didn\u2019t disclose which festival show they\u2019d been underpaid for, but they did say that the experience of receiving less than 10 times the pay of that undisclosed male artist was \u201cfucked up\u201d.\n\nSpeaking to Grazia magazine, the band said they initially \u201cdidn\u2019t think twice\u201d about the fee they were receiving from the festival as that gig in particular had been sold to them as being a promotional opportunity.\n\n\n\u201cWe had been told that our fee was very low because you played at the festival in the hope you\u2019d get played on the radio,\u201d Danielle Haim recalled.\n\n\u201dWe didn\u2019t think twice about it, but we later found out that someone was getting paid 10 times more than us. And because of that we fired our agent.\u201d\n\nAlana Haim called the incident \u201cfucked up\u201d, and cited the group\u2019s tight bond as one of the primary reasons behind their strong reaction to discovering that they\u2019d been underpaid.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why I love my sisters so much. I trust them with my fucking life. We\u2019re all in this together,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cBut it\u2019s scary out there and it\u2019s fucked up. It\u2019s fucked up not even to be paid half the same amount. But to be paid a tenth of that amount of money? It was insane.\u201d\n\n\nLast month, Haim registered their delight at being parodied by the cast of Saturday Night Live and Nicki Minaj in an unaired sketch."}
-{"text": "On Thursday, a total of 30 Senate Democrats joined Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to formally introduce a $15 minimum wage bill. This makes up a majority of the Senate Democratic caucus, whereas just two years ago, when Sanders put forth a similar bill, only five of his colleagues in the Senate supported it.\n\nThe fight for a $15 minimum wage has been an ongoing struggle for years, and Sanders advocated for it throughout his 2016 presidential campaign. Ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, widespread Democratic support for an increased minimum wage will be important if Democrats hope to obtain the support of progressives and present a united challenge to Donald Trump and the Republicans.\n\nDuring a press conference at the bill's introduction \u2014 where Sanders was joined by Democratic leaders including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi \u2014 the senator from Vermont stressed the importance of passing a bill that help Americans make an actual living wage.\n\n\u201cThe time is long overdue for us to raise the minimum wage, which is now, at the federal level, $7.25 cents an hour, which I think under any definition is a starvation wage,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cWe have got to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. ... And what we are here to say is that living wage is $15 an hour.\u201d\n\nDrew Angerer/Getty Images News/Getty Images\n\nOthers present at the bill's introduction included low-wage federal contract workers who have been negatively affected by Trump's labor policies. Meanwhile, Reps. Keith Ellison and Bobby Scott are introducing a similar bill in the House. During the last session of Congress, Scott had joined Washington Sen. Patty Murray in calling for a more moderate increase to $12 an hour. Now, both support the $15 minimum wage.\n\nOne key change distinguishes this bill from the last one that Sanders proposed. To attract the support of more moderate politicians, the new bill would allow the policy to be completely adopted by 2024, rather than 2020. As a result, the most significant wage hike would take place this July, right after the bill's enactment \u2014 the federal minimum wage would increase from $7.25 to $9.25.\n\nAs The Hill pointed out, the Democrats' effort to pass a $15 minimum wage bill through a Republican-controlled Congress has little chance of succeeding, but the visible display of support for the bill could push Republicans to more effectively support workers in future. Moreover, the bill's formal introduction comes on the heels of Fight for $15 protests in the city of Chicago, and it is clearer than ever that progressives have no use for a Democratic Party that will not stand up for workers' rights."}
-{"text": "Advertisements\n\n\n\nIt is not like Republicans have an affinity for science, but they appear to be applying a bastardized form of the scientific method to their perpetually failed economic policy in order to prove it works as advertised despite it is indeed a raging fail. The Oxford Dictionary defines the scientific method as \u201ca method or procedure that consists of systematic observation, measurement and experiment, and the formulating, testing, and modification of hypotheses\u201d to reach a fact-based conclusion. It is beyond question that after over thirty years, the Republican \u201ctrickle down\u201d economic experiment continues providing the same empirical data and living results of starving government of revenue, depressing economic growth, increasing debt and deficit, and retarding job creation.\n\nThe trickle down \u201ctheory\u201d was more than adequately tested for eight long and painful years during the George W. Bush administration, and all it proved to Republicans was the theory needed more experimentation and trials even after it piled up debt and deficit, killed jobs, and sent the economy into a severe recession. At the federal level, Republicans led by Paul Ryan have passed House legislation reverting to failed Bush-era economic policies of massive unfunded tax cuts for the rich, increased defense spending, and job-killing domestic program cuts as if there will be any different outcome than during Bush-Republican years. Similar \u201cexperiments\u201d have been enacted in Republican states such as Kansas, and it is no surprise the economic devastation resulting from huge unfunded tax cuts for the rich and corporations coupled with domestic spending cuts killed and prevented job creation, halted economic growth, and left the state with revenue shortfalls due to reach over a billion dollars within a year.\n\nKansas is a particularly interesting \u201cexperiment\u201d because the state\u2019s \u201cextremely conservative\u201d Governor Sam Brownback had the temerity to blame the state\u2019s budgetary woes and financial meltdown on \u201cthe failed economic policies of the Obama Administration\u201d he asserted \u201care affecting states throughout the nation.\u201d However, not only are Brownback and Kansas Republicans shifting blame for their economic ineptitude on President Obama, they are lying through their teeth and ignoring empirical data revealing that the President\u2019s economic policies are great success stories because they are the polar opposite of Brownback and Republicans\u2019 economic disasters. In fact, Democratic states like California that enacted economic policies Brownback claims are failures are thriving in every category and, like on the national level, were necessary to reverse the damage of eight years of a Republican administration following Bush and now Brownback\u2019s failed economic policies.\n\nAdvertisements\n\nOn the national level, instead of a crushing budget shortfall, job losses, and a Moody\u2019s credit downgrade Brownback\u2019s trickle down tax cuts produced, the Congressional Budget Office reports that the Treasury Department posted a $114 billion surplus in April alone that is the largest for that month since 2008. The Congressional Budget Office also projected the 2014 shortfall declined to 2.8% of GDP, or $492 billion that is $23 billion below its own forecast a few months ago. The surplus is partly due to a minute tax increase on the richest one percent as well as more Americans leaving the ranks of the unemployed that eviscerates the thirty-plus year contention that greater tax cuts for the rich equals more jobs and increased revenue; an assertion that Kansas\u2019 economic meltdown, job losses, and budget shortfall disproves. Brownback asserted that \u201ceconomic policies of the Obama Administration are affecting states throughout the nation,\u201d but like his claim Kansas\u2019 economic disaster if proof tax cuts for the rich are working as planned, it is more lies to cover Republican economic policy failures.\n\nCalifornia suffered an eight year Brownback-Bush-Kansas economic agenda under a Republican governor and legislature that killed jobs, blew up the deficit, and devastated the state\u2019s economy, but the state rebounded magnificently with a Democratic governor and legislature. According to a recent comprehensive study, states that embrace conservative economic policies far underperform states enacting liberal economic policies, and California is a prime example of what liberal success looks like. California barely raised taxes on the rich similarly to federal policies and the result is within a year it is posting record budget surpluses, paying down its Republican deficit, increased spending for education, infrastructure, and domestic programs, and adding jobs at a rate outpacing the federal numbers and most states in the nation. In fact, the more liberal California economic agenda is producing more jobs, economic growth, and deficit reduction than any Republican \u201cpro-business\u201d agenda that is wreaking havoc on the Kansas economy.\n\nDespite overwhelming empirical data proving that the Kansas and Bush economic agenda is the quickest path to decimate an economy and kill jobs, House Republicans passed Paul Ryan\u2019s Path to Prosperity (for the wealthy elite) budget that makes Brownback\u2019s budget disaster look tame in comparison. In fact, Ryan\u2019s budget is far worse for the economy, jobs, and debt and deficit than anything Bush or Brownback could possible impose and yet Republicans claim it is a job-creation, economy-growing, poverty halting, and deficit reducing bonanza despite projections it will increase the deficit and bring economic growth to a screeching halt. Still, Republicans could not help themselves from recently passing two permanent and unfunded tax cuts for the rich and corporations that add to the deficit and create no jobs. Republicans are not experimenting any longer because they know precisely what their \u201cpro-business\u201d tax cutting agenda will produce; more wealth for the one percent, higher debt and deficit, and annual budget shortfalls for the nation\u2019s economy.\n\nIt is a travesty that racial animus prevents conservative, teabagger, libertarian, religious right, and Republican voters from spending even one minute perusing empirical data from the Bush-Republican era and states such as Kansas to comprehend their economic policies are disasters. However it is likely they know conservative economic policies are a path to poverty, job losses, and budget shortfalls regardless they are at the state or federal level, but their racial hatred of President Obama drives them to support the conservative economic agenda simply because it is the opposite of Obama\u2019s.\n\nSam Brownback\u2019s claim that Kansas\u2019 revenue shortfall, economic underperformance, credit downgrade, and job losses are due to Obama\u2019s economic policies is a bald-faced lie. The President\u2019s economic policies have far outperformed Kansas or Bush-Republicans\u2019 pro-business economic failures, and like California\u2019s liberal economic policies are producing revenue surpluses, jobs, debt and deficit reduction in spite of minute tax hikes conservatives claim is the death knell for economic growth or job creation.\n\nStill, Republicans are determined to repeat the same failed economic policies that have proven time and time again to retard economic growth, increase debt and deficit, kill jobs, and starve government of revenue, but they can never claim their \u201cexperiment\u201d needs more time to produce the desired results. Their scientific experiment in trickledown theory has been peer-reviewed, replicated ad nauseum, and studied to death with the same conclusions; Republican, libertarian, and Koch brother economic policies just fail.\n\nIf any American needs a real world, data-rich example of what America\u2019s economy would look like with Republicans in charge, they can either harken back to eight years of Bush-Republicans\u2019 economic disaster, or look at Kansas\u2019 current economic catastrophe. If, however, they want to see the success of liberal economic policies and cannot put aside their racial hatred of President Obama to see the nation\u2019s declining debt and deficit, job creation successes, revenue surpluses, and economic growth they can look to California\u2019s successes. Only a fool, or anti-Obama racist, would opt for Republican\u2019s failed economic policies and unfortunately states like Kansas and Missouri, and every former Confederate state are overflowing with racists and fools who will vote for Republicans because they oppose the President and economic growth, job creation, and budget surpluses the rest of the nation are weary of sharing with self-loathing cretins supporting their own economic demise."}
-{"text": "What To Do If Your Child Is A Juggalo or Juggalette\n\nWarning Signs That Your Child Might Be A Juggalo or Juggalette\n\nI can't imagine anything worse for a parent, than realizing that your precious child is a juggalo. For those of you that don't know what a juggalo is, they are a group of super fans for the rap group Insane Clown Posse. Typical juggalo attire usually consists of wild baggy pants, an Insane Clown Posse t-shirt, clown makeup, and greased hair. The juggalo dress code is one of the main signs that your child might be a juggalo, however there are many other warning signs.\n\nInsane Clown Posse fans are usually listening to Insane Clown Posse (ICP) music, or other similar artists. The Insane Clown Posse's music can easily be distinguished, because it is talentless, mindless, dribble, filled with vulgar profanities and exists only for the purpose of shock value, and is lacking in any sort of respectable musical merit. If you hear Insane Clown Posse rap songs pouring from beneath your childs closed door, this is a huge warning sign that your child might be a juggalo.\n\nAnother warning sign that your child might be a juggalo, is the presence of Faygo soda. Juggalos love Faygo soda more than life itself, and will constantly be drinking the substance. If there are several empty Faygo soda bottles in your childs room, this is a sign that your child might be a juggalo.\n\nThe last major warning sign that your child might be a juggalo, is the lack of hygene. Juggalos are typically overweight and greasy, usually going weeks without bathing. If your child eminates a disgusting odor wherever he or she goes, they might be a juggalo. Juggalos take pride in there disgusting, repulsive smell. Look at the types of people your children are hanging out with. Juggalos usually are only friends with other juggalos, because juggalos do not work well with actual productive members of society.\n\n\n\nPopular juggalo hangout areas are usually vacant parking lots, beside dumpsters, or in packs of other wild juggalos inside of the mall. Juggalos like to terrorize elderly people and children with their bizarre fashion tastes. In several places, juggalos have been listed as an actual gang. They sometimes wreak havoc because of the violent nature of several Insane Clown Posse songs, and sometimes have even been known to murder people who are not juggalos. Being a juggalo is a serious issue.\n\nIf you see the warning signs that your child might bea juggalo, do not panic. There is still hope, and I will explain to you what to do if your child is a juggalo. Just because your child is a juggalo or juggalette does not mean that he or she is forever doomed for a terrible existence. Yes, it is very embarassing and all dignity is casted away when one is a juggalo or jagalette, but salvation is actually possible.\n\nThe first thing to do if your child is a juggalo or juggalette, is ground them from listening to the horrible sounds of Insane Clown Posse. Not primarily because of the vulgarity instilled in the lyrics, but mainly because of the tacky embarassment that surrounds Insane Clown Posse's music. There is nothing respectable at all about their rap music. Critics as well as society will completely agree. Purchase some good music for your children (I've compiled a list of fresh, upcoming releases that will be much more pleasing to your childrens ears). Purchasing good, quality music is the first thing I suggest as to what to do if your child is a juggalo.\n\nThe next thing to do if your child is a juggalo, is force them to bathe, then take away their clown makeup. This will help them in the long run of life. It may be hard to get your juggalo or juggalette child to bathe at first, however, demanding it from them is always an option. Bathing is the first step to recovery for a juggalo or juggalette, and once your juggalo or juggalette child takes a bath and quits wearing embarassing clown makeup, more people might actually want to be around them. This newfound acceptance will help eliminate the sadness and pointless teenage angst that usually surrounds the smelly juggalo/juggalette.\n\nThe last thing to do if your child is a juggalo, is educate them on how embarassing being a juggalo actually is. Tell them how uneducated and trashy the juggalo lifestyle comes off, and explain to them that a group of rapping clowns is just silly. If you sit down and be real with your children about how awful societies perception of the Insane Clown Posse is, they might see the foolishness in their lifestyle.\n\nHopefully you now understand what to do if your child is a juggalo. I hope this article also explained in detail the different warning signs that your child might be a juggalo. This article was not written to offend anyone, but help open the eyes of some parents that may have juggalo children. I've encountered many juggalos who do not have a shed of respect for anyone, and I can sympathize with any parent who may be cautious that they have juggalo/juggalette children. I hope I've helped you figure out what to do if your child is a juggalo."}
-{"text": "That story contained everything Fox wanted its viewers to believe about government employees fleecing taxpayers.\n\nNow here\u2019s another similar story from today you won\u2019t be hearing about on Fox, or perhaps anywhere else. It appeared on page A11 of today\u2019s Post:\n\nAD\n\nNorthrop Grumman improperly charged the U.S. government more than $100 million in \u201cquestionable\u201d costs on a contract, according to a Defense Department inspector general\u2019s report The report found that from October 2007 through March 2013, the major defense contractor \u201cdid not properly charge labor rates\u201d for a counter-narcoterrorism contract, and that the Army agency in charge of the contract did not ensure that the people performing the work had the necessary qualifications. The agency also did not review invoices for millions of dollars of overtime, the report said. The IG found $21.7 million in \u201cpotentially excessive payments\u201d for overtime, including one employee who billed $176,900 for 1,208 hours in a 12-day period. That caught investigators\u2019 attention, since the employee was billing for more than 100 hours a day.\n\n$100 million could buy you an awful lot of muffins. Back when the muffin story broke, I wrote a post about it and did a Google News search, which produced 443 articles about the muffins in the prior 24 hours. How many stories do you think there have been in the last 24 hours about Northrop Grumman\u2019s $100 million overcharge (I suppose we might even call it \u201cfraud\u201d) of the American taxpayer? A dozen? A hundred? Nope. Just one \u2014 the one in the Post. Nobody else seems to find it interesting.\n\nAD\n\nSo what does this tell us? First, conservatives have a media apparatus that they can use to force certain stories into mainstream awareness when they find those that tell a tale they want people to hear. It doesn\u2019t always work \u2014 for instance, their efforts to get everyone to care about the New Black Panthers have not borne fruit \u2014 but it works often enough.\n\nSecond, if there\u2019s a vivid detail, even one that turns out to be untrue (like the $16 muffin), then all journalists are much more likely to find it compelling and do stories about it. You\u2019d think that the story of the guy who managed to bill for 100 hours of work per day would be pretty compelling. Guess not.\n\nAD\n\nThird, people seem to get angrier about bad behavior from government employees than from contractors, even though contractors at a place like Northrup Grumman are government employees in all but name (according to Northrop\u2019s 2013 annual report, $21.3 billion of its $24.7 billion in sales came from U.S. government contracts). I\u2019d give folks like Fox some credit for that, since they\u2019ve worked so hard to convince everyone that \u201cgovernment bureaucrats\u201d are both slothful and sinister, working every day to crush Americans\u2019 freedom when they aren\u2019t taking 3-hour lunches.\n\nAD\n\nAnd fourth, the actual magnitude of the waste of taxpayer money is all but irrelevant to whether this kind of story gains traction. You know about the muffins, but do you remember that in Iraq, the Defense Department lost \u2014 literally just lost, with no idea where it went \u2014 a staggering $6.6 billion in cash? We\u2019re talking pallets full of $100 bills, sent over there to make it rain on the various factions whose support we were trying to buy. Just disappeared. That should have been an earth-shaking scandal, but few people ever heard about it.\n\nPretty much every Republican in town decries wasteful government spending. So will we be seeing them holding angry press conferences condemning Northrop Grumman? Will they demand a select committee to investigate this matter, perhaps some criminal indictments? How about other defense contract overruns? We could start with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the most expensive weapons system in human history, which is already slated to cost 70 percent more than its lead contractor, Lockheed Martin, originally said it would, with costs going nowhere but up."}
-{"text": "It will be illegal in Colorado for employers to fire workers solely on the basis of a positive test for marijuana if a newly proposed bill is passed at the state house.\n\nThe Marijuana Consumer Employment Discrimination Protection Bill would clarify that a positive drug test for traces of marijuana can\u2019t be grounds to fire an employee unless the person \u201cused, possessed, or was impaired by marijuana during the hours of employment.\u201d\n\nThe bill, which is being proposed by the marijuana advocacy group NORML, would also require employers to provide objective evidence that an employee was unable to perform their job because of marijuana use.\n\nJudd Golden, legal counsel for NORML, says the bill would \u201cprotect people against suspicion-less random drug testing.\u201d\n\nColorado law protects employees from being fired for participating in lawful activities outside of work, but Golden says the state law is beholden essentially to \u201ca drafting error,\u201d in that because marijuana is still prohibited at the federal level, consuming it can be deemed an \u201cunlawful activity.\u201d This bill would clarify that when it comes to marijuana, laws should reflect the state\u2019s legality of marijuana, not the federal government\u2019s view of it.\n\n\u201cIn Colorado, you\u2019re letting the federal illegality define what can happen between you and your boss,\u201d Golden says. \u201cBut if you think it\u2019s right \u2014 the voter-supported legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes \u2014 how could you allow employers to treat it like it\u2019s illegal? It\u2019s not fair.\u201d\n\nCurrently, if an employee consumes marijuana outside of work, say on Saturday, and has trace amounts of marijuana appear during a random drug test on Wednesday, that employee can be fired, even if it didn\u2019t affect their job performance. This was confirmed in a 2015 Colorado Supreme Court ruling against a quadriplegic, who used medical marijuana outside of work, tested positive during a drug screening on a later date, and was fired.\n\nThe bill would set out medical marijuana users as a protected class. It too would not affect employers\u2019 ability to screen for other drugs, nor would it supersede federal laws regarding employees who work, notably, with heavy machinery, or for companies that have federal partnerships but operate in Colorado.\n\nGolden says the proposed legislation borrows from a City of Boulder ordinance that prevents employers from making employment decisions based on drug tests unless they can provide \u201cspecific, objective, clearly expressed facts\u201d that would indicate the employee was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. It exempts certain state, local and federal government employers as well as the University of Colorado and Boulder Valley School District. The Boulder ordinance also requires employers to make it clear if a drug or alcohol screen will be part of the hiring process.\n\nBut Golden says even that stipulation needs another look \u2014 \u201cyou\u2019re excluding qualified people from your workforce\u201d when companies discourage people from applying to jobs because they\u2019re unsure of how a drug test will shake out.\n\nCurtis Graves, spokesperson for the Employers Council, a Denver-based, member-driven advocacy group for 4,000 U.S. employers, says \u201cno doubt\u201d the current state law is discouraging qualified workers from applying for jobs. He says it also prevents marijuana users from filing for workman\u2019s comp. Graves contends, however, that there currently does not exist a tool or method that would objectively prove a person\u2019s job performance was impaired, and thus doesn\u2019t support the proposed legislation.\n\n\u201cIf they had a breathalyzer, which I\u2019m sure will exist in a few years, there\u2019d be no reason to object whatsoever,\u201d Graves said.\n\nNORML is suggesting an alternative model, however. Instead of testing for traces of marijuana in a person\u2019s system, a better method, the group says, would be to test for impairment when the need arises. Golden says this can be done through alertness testing, and points to a company called Predictive Safety, which provides resources to administer such a test.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s basically matching shapes and doing the things that if you\u2019re screwed up or tired or not ready to perform, you\u2019re not able to do it,\u201d he says.\n\nEmployers will still be able to screen for impairment, and Golden says there\u2019s a plotted-out process that ensures both the employer\u2019s and employee\u2019s rights are valued.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a remarkably progressive way to look at things,\u201d Golden says. \u201cWhat they do is functional impairment, basically are you ready to go today. Are you mentally and physically capable to go today, and if you fail that, they say what\u2019s the problem? Are you not able to perform up to your baseline? And if you don\u2019t perform up to the baseline, then they can ask questions, send you to HR. [They\u2019ll ask] are you sick, are you tired, are you on drugs?\u201d\n\nThe tests are used at the federal level to test for alertness of workers in specific high-intensity jobs.\n\nThough Graves says the proposed legislation is \u201ca move in the right direction,\u201d he thinks the solution needs to come at the federal level, despite recognizing the fact that the current administration has indicated a desire to clamp down on states that have legalized marijuana, and that a solution is unlikely to come at that level. Graves says it\u2019s important for the state to keep the rights of employers, and future employers, in mind.\n\n\u201cAs long as we remain in the minority of states with legal marijuana, we have to be careful about the rights we grant because it may chill the desire of business to come here,\u201d Graves says.\n\nThe Employers Council asks in its biannual survey if employers are using random drug testing. Graves says though the Council\u2019s members are more likely than non-members to test employees, \u201cthe trend is clearly going away from testing.\u201d Graves adds that employers have the ability to avail themselves to qualified employees by stating they simply don\u2019t test for marijuana.\n\nThe bill hasn\u2019t reached the floor of the state legislature yet. Golden says NORML has a few Democratic sponsors lined up, but needs to find a Republican sponsor in the state senate. Though he says several Republican lawmakers have expressed interest in the bill, there remains a need for someone on the right to sign on.\n\nThere is precedent for statewide legislation like this. Maine residents voted to legalize marijuana in 2016, and though the governor of that state has yet to approve legislation that would allow for commercial sales of marijuana, the state has made it illegal for employers to fire workers solely for a positive drug test.\n\nNORML and Predictive Safety will be hosting a demonstration of the alertness testing at the state house on Feb. 21. Golden hopes legislators will be able to see first-hand the efficacy of the alternative model and move forward with NORML\u2019s legislation."}
-{"text": "With camerawork that will make you cry, and Ayrton Senna voiceovers that will also make you cry, this is the story of an NSX doing a hot lap on the N\u00fcrburgring.\n\n\nYou may have already seen this out on the automotive internet. It's made the rounds at a number of locations. Heck, if you can read Portuguese, you will already have seen this on our Brazilian sister site. In any case, we decided to wait until Friday to run this \u2014 so what you should do now is draw the blinds, crank up the volume, then not spend your kid\u2019s college funds on the first NSX you will undoubtedly ebay after watching this. You have been warned.\n\n\nSetright was right. This is the best car.\n\nVideo Credit: Daniel Michaelis/Format67.net"}
-{"text": "Rand Paul repeated his mantra that Bernie Sanders could turn into a murderous dictator if elected president, this time in an interview yesterday on the conservative network Newsmax.\n\nWhile speaking with host Ed Berliner, Paul said that he \u201cspends quite a bit of time on Bernie\u201d during appearances at college campuses to let students know that \u201cthere\u2019s nothing sexy or cool about socialism.\u201d\n\nThe Kentucky senator said that \u201csocialism is anti-choice\u201d and deadly. \u201cIf you choose to challenge the state,\u201d he said, \u201cthey have to get rid of you, they have to arrest you or they have to eliminate you.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Toni Vilander will anchor WeatherTech Racing\u2019s lineup for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the Ferrari factory driver and former GTE-Am class winner Rob Smith confirmed alongside Cooper MacNeil in the team\u2019s Ferrari 488 GTE.\n\nThe Scuderia Corsa-run entry, which was confirmed through an automatic invite by IMSA, will compete in the GTE-Am class.\n\nVilander, who is set for a full-season run alongside MacNeil in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship\u2019s GT Daytona class this year, will make his GTE-Am debut and 11th start overall in the French endurance classic.\n\nThe Finn has two previous GTE-Pro class victories in the race to his credit.\n\n\u201cI am looking forward to going back to Le Mans and having a good run,\u201d Vilander said.\n\n\u201cThe GTE-Am class has a lot of cars and good driver lineups. We need to perform really well to be in a position to fight for the win. I have a feeling that with Cooper and Rob, with their experience, we will do well.\u201d\n\nBronze-rated driver Smith, meanwhile, was part of JMW Motorsport\u2019s class-winning lineup in 2017, also in a Ferrari.\n\n\u201cI am delighted to be joining such an amazing team for the 24 Hours of Le Mans,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe race is the highlight of my 2019 season, and I think we should be very competitive indeed.\n\n\u201cAs well as the great run I had the 2017 race, I have participated in three seasons of the European Le Mans Series, being runner up in 2016, and winning the championship in 2017.\n\n\u201cLe Mans has always been the pinnacle of racing for me and I am delighted to be going back in 2019 with WeatherTech Racing.\u201d\n\nA brand-new Ferrari chassis is currently being built in Italy for the effort, which will be run entirely by the Giacomo Mattioli-owned operation for the first time, after previous runs in association with Kessel Racing."}
-{"text": "At a massive rally in Mumbai on Sunday, the BJP\u2019s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi practically unveiled the party\u2019s campaign slogan for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls: Vote for India.\n\n\u201cDuring elections, the public is asked to vote for the party. I ask you to vote for the country, which is higher than the party. Vote for India. This new slogan should reach every corner of the country. Vote against corruption and price rise, vote for change,\u201d said Mr. Modi at the party\u2019s Mahagarjana rally in Mumbai\u2019s Bandra-Kurla complex.\n\nIn a speech that lasted almost an hour, Mr. Modi launched a blistering attack on the Congress party at the Centre as well as the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra.\n\nMr. Modi ridiculed Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for \u201csermonising\u201d about corruption in his recent address to Corporate India, even as the Congress-led government here rejected the report of the Adarsh Commission of Inquiry. \u201cThis leader from Delhi makes an innocent face and talks about corruption. It shows this party says one thing and does another. How do they have the gall to talk about corruption when they are steeped in it,\u201d he asked.\n\nA special city\n\nHe said Mumbai was a special city because the Quit India movement had been launched from the August Kranti Maidan here. \u201cFrom this very soil, there should be the demand to free the country from the Congress.\u201d \u201cDuring the freedom struggle we asked for Swarajya as a birth-right. Today you should ask for good governance as a birth-right,\u201d he said."}
-{"text": "\u00abHunden la seg ned foran tiltalte, og tiltalte hugde med en stor kl\u00f8v\u00f8ks mot nakken til hunden. Tiltalte hogg tre ganger s\u00e5 fort og hardt han kunne\u00bb.\n\nSlik beskrives hendelsen der en mann fra s\u00f8r i Hedmark, sto tiltalt for \u00e5 avlive sin syke hund p\u00e5 en m\u00e5te som retten mener bryter med dyrevelferdsloven. N\u00e5 er mannen d\u00f8mt til ubetinget fengsel i 75 dager.\n\nI retten fortalte tiltalte at det virket som at lufta gikk ut av hunden etter det f\u00f8rste hugget, men at han fortsatte med et par hogg til, for \u00e5 v\u00e6re sikker p\u00e5 at hunden var d\u00f8d.\n\n\u2013 Likte ikke \u00e5 g\u00e5 til veterin\u00e6r\n\nDen tiltalte forklarte at den over 13 \u00e5r gamle Weimaraneren hadde d\u00e5rlig syn, d\u00e5rlig h\u00f8rsel og stiv rygg og at den aldri hadde likt \u00e5 dra til veterin\u00e6r. Eieren hadde bestemt seg for \u00e5 \u00abla hunden f\u00e5 slippe\u00bb neste gang den ble syk.\n\nDet ble den i fjor sommer. Den kastet opp og var stresset, peset og fant ikke roen.\n\nI retten forklarte tiltalte at han tok kontakt med en veterin\u00e6r i Kongsvinger for \u00e5 f\u00e5 hjelp til \u00e5 avlive hunden. Veterin\u00e6ren skal ha v\u00e6rt opptatt.\n\nTiltalte fremsto som oppriktig opptatt av dyrevelferd og han hadde et n\u00e6rt forhold til hunden sin. Gl\u00e5mdal tingrett\n\nBeskrev hendelsen p\u00e5 Youtube\n\nP\u00e5 Youtube-kanalen sin la tiltalte ut en video der han fortalte om hendelsen. I dommen bemerker retten at tiltalte der ikke forklarte at han hadde ringt til veterin\u00e6r for \u00e5 f\u00e5 bistand.\n\nUtover dagen ble hunden sykere og begynte \u00e5 hyle. Tiltalte kontaktet f\u00f8rst en nabo som kunne komme med v\u00e5pen, men naboen var p\u00e5 ferie og et stykke unna. En annen nabo var ikke komfortabel med \u00e5 avlive en hund.\n\nHundeeieren besluttet derfor \u00e5 avlive hunden p\u00e5 egenh\u00e5nd.\n\nI retten forklarte tiltalte at han f\u00f8lte han hadde to alternativer. Det ene var \u00e5 kj\u00f8re over hunden med traktor eller avlive hunden med \u00f8ks. Han valgte det siste alternativet.\n\nDyrevelferdslovens forskrift om avliving av hund og katt Ekspand\u00e9r faktaboks Avliving kan bare foretas med: Skudd mot dyrets hjerne \u2013 fortrinnsvis med haglgev\u00e6r, eventuelt annet dertil egnet skytev\u00e5pen \u2013 som avfyres p\u00e5 en avstand tilpasset det v\u00e5pen som anvendes, og mens dyret er i ro. Avlivingen m\u00e5 foretas av person som er kyndig i bruk av vedkommende skytev\u00e5pen.\n\nElektrisk apparat som er godkjent av Mattilsynet, som kan sette vilk\u00e5r for godkjenningen. F\u00f8r godkjenning gis, m\u00e5 apparatet m.v. og eventuell installasjon av det v\u00e6re godkjent av de myndigheter som f\u00f8rer kontroll og tilsyn med materiell og apparater for elektriske anlegg og installasjon av slike.\n\nMedikament eller annet giftstoff, herunder gasser. Slik avliving m\u00e5 foretas av veterin\u00e6r eller med veterin\u00e6r til stede. Veterin\u00e6r kan ikke skrive ut resept p\u00e5 bed\u00f8vingsmiddel for at andre personer skal bruke det til avliving av dyr, f.eks. ved utlegging av \u00e5tegift.\n\nMener tiltalte fremsto reflektert\n\nRetten mener tiltalte fremsto som oppriktig opptatt av dyrevelferd og at han hadde et n\u00e6rt forhold til hunden sin. Tiltalte hadde reflektert over hvilke konsekvenser det var for hunden \u00e5 bli avlivet med \u00f8ks, og han beskrev avlivingen som grusom for hunden.\n\nAktor Helge Andreas Eidsvaag mener saken er alvorlig, da hunden ikke er avlivet p\u00e5 det som regnes som \u00abmest mulig sk\u00e5nsom m\u00e5te\u00bb. Foto: Linda Vespestad / NRK\n\nI retten erkjente tiltalte forholdene, men erkjente ikke straffskyld.\n\n\u2013 Saken er alvorlig p\u00e5 den m\u00e5ten at det foreligger brudd p\u00e5 b\u00e5de lovens bestemmelser om h\u00e5ndteringen av dyr, og ikke minst forskriftene som beskriver hvordan man skal foreta avliving av dyr p\u00e5 en mest mulig sk\u00e5nsom m\u00e5te, sier politiadvokat, og aktor i saken, Helge Andreas Eidsvaag til NRK.\n\nForsvareren til den tiltalte var p\u00e5 ferie og vil ikke kommentere dommen."}
-{"text": "From Santa\u2019s Workshop to Winter Village Station, from Gingerbread House to Winter Toy Shop \u2013 Lightailing has all your Christmas models covered with the premium lighting kits. Easy to install and vibrant to look at, the lights will compliment your Christmas decorations at home.\n\nCelebrate Christmas with an array of Christmas themed lighting kit for the Lego structures so that your household decorations look more vibrant and your Lego building skill is appreciated by all. Check out the following sets which can be highlighted with lighting kits from Briksmax and Lightailing.\n\nWinter Holiday Train 10254\n\nWhen you are looking for a light kit for Christmas set, the Winter Holiday Train light kit will be one of the most coveted gifts as it can be connected with the Winter Village Station set. The set comprises of 6, 8 and 12 port expansion boards, 5cm and 15cm connecting wires, AA and CR2032 Oval battery packs and 15 randomized Lego pieces. There are 10cm and 15cm yellow LEDs, 30cm white and 15cm warm white LEDs and a set of slow flashing red, blue, yellow and colored lights.\n\nGingerbread House 10267\n\nThe frosted roofs, decorated fa\u00e7ade, candy buttons and columns, chimney stack and intricate interior can be lightened up with warm white 15cm and 10cm LEDs and a light strip, 15cm yellow LEDs and two multicolored light strings that are connected by a 5cm and three 15cm wires. You will get 6 and 8 port Expansion boards, flashing module board, USB cable, two random Lego pieces, and AA battery pack.\n\nSanta\u2019s Workshop 10254\n\nThe light kit for Santa\u2019s Workshop includes a multicolored light string, 15cm and 30cm LEDs and strip light of warm white tone and white 15cm LEDs and 30cm white slow flashing lights. The additional accessories include 8 and 12 port expansion boards, 15cm and 30cm connecting wires, four 1x4 Lego pieces, a 1x1 Lego Trans Round plate and 30cm USB cables.\n\nWinter Village Station 10259\n\nAs mentioned above, the light kit for Winter Village Station can be connected with that for Winter Holiday Train on a single power source with 30cm USB cable and connecting cable of 5cm, 15cm and 30cm length. The tower, ticket counter, and truck can be lightened up with six 15cm and six 30cm warm white LEDs and five strip lights of warm white tone. 8 and 12 port Expansion boards are there along with CR2032 Oval and AA battery packs, five 1x6 and four 1x1 Lego plates.\n\nWinter Toy Shop 10249\n\nLiven up the Christmas Carole and the gift shopping frenzy with the light kit for Winter Toy Shop that comprises of a warm white light strip, three warm white 30cm LEDs and three light strings of the multicolor changing feature. A 15cm connecting wire, an 8-port expansion board, and a 30cm USB cable are also included.\n\nWinter Village Fire Station 10263\n\nHighlight the two-storied fire station with detailed fa\u00e7ade, windows, columns, skating rink, Christmas tree, lamppost and garage doors with multicolored light string, white and warm white light strips, three 15cm white and eight 15cm warm white LEDs and two 15cm red LEDs. Customize with seven random Lego pieces, two 30cm USB cords, a CR2032 Oval and an AA battery pack, three 15cm and a 30cm connecting wire and two 6-port and an 8-port expansion boards.\n\nWinter Village Market 10235\n\nThe light kit for Christmas Winter Village Market can add vibrancy to the 1261-piece model with operator\u2019s booth, carousel, moving bucket challenge site, grill stand, baker\u2019s stand, two street lamps, candy stand, three trees, three tables, and a bench. Yellow, warm white, blue, white and red LEDs are included along with expansion boards, connecting wires and USB cord.\n\nAll the light kits of Christmas special models are available in sturdy boxes and those contain plastic packets wrapped with air bubble sheets to prevent damage. Adhesive Square, after-sale warranty card and illustrated a universal user guide book with the instruction manual which is included for ease of installation."}
-{"text": "Marissa Alexander, the Jacksonville, Fla., mother serving a 20-year prison sentence for firing what she says was a warning shot to scare off her abusive husband, is getting a new trial.\n\nState Attorney Angela Corey filed aggravated assault charges against Alexander that come with a 20-year mandatory minimum sentence when a gun is involved after the Aug. 1, 2010, incident.\n\nThe shooting caused no injuries, but Alexander was found guilty by a six-person jury on March 16, 2012. The sentencing judge said his hands were tied when he ordered as punishment two decades behind bars.\n\nThe First District Court of Appeal in Florida ruled Thursday that \"the jury instructions on self-defense were erroneous\" and ordered a retrial, reversing a May 2012 lower court decision that denied a retrial.\n\nBruce Zimet, Alexander's attorney, told U.S. News he was pleased with the ruling. \"We're trying to get a hold of Marissa right now, because she's in prison, to let her know,\" he said.\n\nCorey quickly announced her intention to retry the case.\n\n\"The defendant's conviction was reversed on a legal technicality,\" said a statement released by Corey's office. \"The case will be back in Circuit Court in the Fourth Judicial Circuit at the appropriate time.\"\n\nCorey was widely ridiculed for her harsh approach to Alexander's case. She initially offered Alexander three years behind bars as part of a plea bargain, an offer that was turned down. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., frequently urges freedom for Alexander and confronted Corey in an emotional exchange after the verdict was announced.\n\n\"Three years is not mercy and 20 years is not justice,\" Brown told Corey outside the courtroom.\n\n\"I do know that [Corey] has shown absolutely no compassion,\" Brown told U.S. News in July. \"Where was the common sense? I hate to say this, but you wouldn't expect this from a female.\"\n\nCorey received national attention during the trial of George Zimmerman for the death of Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman was found not guilty of murder July 13, after successfully claiming self-defense. In light of that verdict, Alexander's case attracted an intense bout of media interest.\n\nBy all accounts Alexander had recently returned to her home from the hospital, after having given birth to the couple's daughter, when husband Rico Gray arrived at the house. In a disposition given before trial, he admitted to abusing many women.\n\n\"I got five baby mammas, and I [hit] every last one of them, except for one,\" he said.\n\nGray was arrested in 2006 and 2009 for domestic battery. In 2006 the charge was dropped and in 2009 he received probation, The Florida Times-Union reported. Alexander was granted a restraining order against Gray after his 2009 arrest.\n\nOn the day Alexander fired the gun, Gray said, the couple got into an argument and he refused to let her leave a bathroom. \"[S]he got the bathroom door closed and she locked it, so I were beating on it. [I] was there waiting for her to come out of the bathroom,\" Gray said in his deposition.\n\nShe managed to escape the bathroom and went to the home's garage, Gray said. \"She came back through the doors and she had a gun. And she said, 'You need to leave.' I told her, I ain't leaving until you talk to me... and I started walking towards her and she shot in the air,\" he said.\n\nCorey maintains Alexander did not act in self-defense by shooting the gun. \"She was angry,\" Corey told The Huffington Post last year. \"She was not in fear.\"\n\nBut Brown says Corey is notorious among her constituents for overcharging. Alexander, the congresswoman said during the July interview, hadn't seen her infant \u2013 who is currently in her ex-husband's custody \u2013 since she was jailed.\n\nNow the appeals court says that's a matter a new jury should decide for itself.\n\n\"For appellant, she testified, the firing of the gun was the culmination of a year-and-a-half's abuse at her husband's hands,\" the court ruled. \"[T]he trial court improperly transmuted the prosecution's burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt into a burden on the appellant to prove self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt, depriving her of a trial under the correct rule.\"\n\nRead the appeals court ruling:"}
-{"text": "So this here was originally posted(leave comments there and look, it's bigger in view!!!!!)of a coloured up/inked up version of my piece postedSuch a nice thing to wake up to, seeing this.Linearts by meINKS and COLOURS by"}
-{"text": "Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in Houston on Monday to protest against the acquittal of George Zimmerman, but what started as a peaceful rally turned terrifying for one woman who claims she was assaulted while trying to get her daughter to the hospital.\n\n\u201cI looked up and I see all the protesters, they\u2019re everywhere,\u201d said Georgia, who asked Click 2 Houston that her last name not be used. \u201cSo, we got into the traffic and they\u2019re stopping us and not letting us go.\u201d\n\nPolice told the station that protesters spilled into the road, blocking traffic for about 15 minutes during rush hour. Georgia was trying to get her younger daughter to Texas Children\u2019s Hospital, because she was having an emergency allergic reaction to some medication.\n\n\u201cMy mom rolled down the window,\u201d said Georgia\u2019s older daughter. \u201cShe said, \u2018We\u2019re trying to get my granddaughter to the hospital,\u2019 and a guy just started hitting her.\u201d\n\nA Click 2 Houston video shows Georgia sitting in the front seat of the vehicle with her window down, and you can see a man reach in and grab her chest. Georgia said she was hit.\n\n\u201cWhen we got on the road I told her, \u2018Let\u2019s call 911,\u201d and I could feel I had been hit,\u201d she said, adding that she has filed a police report documenting the indicent.\n\nQuanell X, an activist who planned the event, told Click 2 Houston that he thought the protest was peaceful.\n\n\u201cIt wasn\u2019t peaceful,\u201d Georgia added. \u201cIt was terrifying.\u201d\n\nSign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters\n\nCopyright \u00a9 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission."}
-{"text": "UK law firms have ramped up preparation for Brexit by registering a record number of solicitors in Ireland but confusion remains about how many of them will be able to practise in Ireland and the wider EU after Britain leaves.\n\nThe Law Society of Ireland said its solicitors roll had received 1,560 applications in the year to date \u2013 more than 31 times the average annual rate in the years before the 2016 EU referendum.Some 3,706 lawyers from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have been registered since the beginning of 2016 as City firms scrabble to insulate themselves from Brexit\u2019s effects.Those include UK lawyers potentially losing rights of audience in European courts and seeing their ability to advise on European legal matters curtailed. In August the Law Society of England and Wales warned that the legal sector in the UK could face a \u00a33.5 billion hit as a result of a no-deal Brexit.\n\n\u201cTypically, major international commercial law firms are the source of these transfers, in some cases hundreds from one firm,\u201d said Ken Murphy, director-general of the Law Society of Ireland. \u201cIt is an extraordinary development.\u201d\n\nElite UK firms Allen & Overy and Linklaters have among the largest numbers of lawyers signed up to the Irish roll, according to the Irish Law Society, with 287 and 250 respectively. Latham & Watkins has registered 155.\n\n\u2018Practising certificate\u2019 However, only 981 UK lawyers hold a \u201cpractising certificate\u201d which allows them to work in Ireland, according to the Law Society.\n\nFirms said they were waiting for the outcome of Brexit to determine whether to pay the annual cost of \u00a32,650 per person required to take the final test. One top-tier UK law firm said only a \u201chandful\u201d of the hundreds of lawyers registered in Ireland had practising certificates, because of the cost and \u201cthe lack of clarity as to whether this will actually function as a workaround in a no-deal Brexit scenario.\u201d\n\nIn March the Law Commission in Ireland announced new hurdles for lawyers hoping to rely on Irish practising certificates after Brexit, including requiring firms to have a base in Ireland and indemnity insurance issued within the country. Catherine Hudson, head of risk at Fieldfisher, said: \u201cThis was a surprise. A lot of people applied to be on the register in Ireland because they thought it would be a good plan B. But then the Irish Law Society published a note putting constraints on their practising certificates, suggesting they were concerned not to be used as a flag of convenience for people with no real professional connection to the republic.\u201d\n\nPermanent foothold A number of firms including DLA Piper, Covington & Burling and Simmons & Simmons have opened offices in Dublin, and avoided those issues. Others, such as Fieldfisher, have merged with Irish firms to gain a permanent foothold. DLA Piper launched a Dublin office in May and has so far recruited 11 partners, many poached from top-tier Irish firms.\n\nLawyers said the shift would create a more active transfer market and potential pay inflation in the traditionally conservative Irish legal market."}
-{"text": "No one really knows how many people are employed in the legal marijuana industry, but that could change soon.\n\nThe U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed to MassRoots that it will soon begin tracking cannabis sector employment, similar to the way it already tabulates workforce numbers for many other industries.\n\nThe \u201cindustry coding system we currently use doesn\u2019t include marijuana-related industries,\u201d the agency wrote in a response to a Twitter query on Monday. \u201cNew system that we will move to later in 2017 does include industries for growing, wholesale, and retail.\u201d\n\nBut BLS added that it won\u2019t necessarily release any numbers. \u201cNew industry classification means data can be collected, but publishing depends on data quality,\u201d it said.\n\nThe agency further clarified that it is important to \u201cprotect respondent confidentiality,\u201d something that may be increasingly important if the Trump administration moves against state-legal marijuana businesses. \u201cFor example, if # of businesses is small, we might not be able to publish if doing so could identify individual respondents.\u201d\n\nUntil BLS moves ahead with its new plans and hopefully publishes data, all we have to rely on are projections from marijuana industry outfits.\n\nMarijuana Business Daily, for example, estimated last year that between 100,000 and 150,000 people are currently employed by cannabis companies.\n\nThe Marijuana Policy Group figured last year that there were 12,591 marijuana business workers in Colorado.\n\nMost recently, New Frontier Data projected that the cannabis industry will create 283,422 jobs by 2020.\n\nBut these numbers \u2014 while impressive \u2014 are from sources within the industry itself, and observers could be forgiven for skepticism about possible self-serving bias toward making the sector seem as big and influential as possible.\n\nIf BLS does begin making estimates and releasing numbers later this year, investors, lawmakers and regulators will likely have a much better sense of the real size of the marijuana industry, at least compared to other areas of the economy, calculated using similar agreed-upon methodology."}
-{"text": "Owners of Sony Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z3 Compact Android handsets that have a locked bootloader, it is your lucky day. At least, it is if you\u2019ve been hoping to root your device.\n\nA clever dev over at the XDA-Forums has scored himself a touch of bounty for working out the xploit. Sorry\u2026 exploit. The method is not intended for the international Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact devices, which come with unlockable bootloaders, and are rather easily tinkered with by the AOSP and ROM enthusiasts. Nor is it for the Verizon variants with modified hardware. Instead, the exploit is for markets like the U.S. where carriers tend to lock things down.\n\nLet\u2019s not beat around the bush here, with Android Lollipop set to release for Sony hardware soon, You are likely better off waiting for the OTA before rooting. Also, this is not an easy process. Right off the bat, up to date firmware is not compatible, so you\u2019ll need to first roll back to version 23.0.1.A.5.77. From there, it is a matter of simply creating a pre-rooted version of the phone\u2019s hardware, flash a recovery image for your model, then apply the root exploit itself.\n\nXDA user zxz0O0 is who you have to thank for bringing root to your locked Sony Xperia Z3 or Xperia Z3 Compact. He\u2019s been known to bring exploit and similar tools to the forums and will take home at least a part of the current $3017 bounty available for breaking the lock on Sony gear.\n\nHead on over to the XDA post on the matter to get all the resources and instructions to root your Sony Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z3 Compact handsets.\n\nWill you go for root on your Xperia Z3 or Xperia Z3 Compact?"}
-{"text": "Construction has begun in the Tunka Valley near Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia, on one of the world\u2019s largest cosmic-ray observatories. The first prototypes for the $46m Hundred Square-km Cosmic Origin Explorer (HiSCORE) are now being installed and when complete by the end of the decade the facility will consist of an array of up to 1000 detectors spread over 100 square kilometres. HiSCORE will aim to solve the 100-year-old mystery surrounding the origins of cosmic rays \u2013 particles that originate in outer space and are accelerated to energies higher than those achieved in even the largest man-made particle accelerators.\n\nHiSCORE is a collaboration between three institutes in Russia \u2013 the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, Irkutsk State University in Siberia and Lomonosov Moscow State University \u2013 as well as DESY, the University of Hamburg and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, all in Germany. The unprecedented size of the array will allow scientists to investigate cosmic rays within an energy range of 100 TeV to 1 EeV \u2013 a relatively unexplored region.\n\nHiSCORE\u2019s detectors are designed to observe the radiation created when cosmic rays hit the Earth\u2019s upper atmosphere. This causes a shower of secondary particles that travel faster than the speed of light in air, producing Cherenkov radiation in the process that can be picked up by HiSCORE\u2019s photomultiplier tubes. This radiation can be used to determine the source and intensity of cosmic rays as well as to investigate the properties of high-energy astronomical objects that emit gamma rays, such as supernova remnants and blazars. \u201cWe are especially interested in galactic objects that accelerate cosmic rays to energies around peta-electron-volts \u2013 or pevatrons \u2013 that have yet to be discovered,\u201d Martin Tluczykont from the University of Hamburg, who is co-ordinating the project, told Physics World. \u201cThey are crucial to a solution of the origin of cosmic rays.'\u201d\n\nWith its remote location, Lake Baikal is rapidly becoming a hotbed for cosmic-ray research. It already hosts the Tunka-133 cosmic-ray observatory, which has been in operation since 2009, and is also home to the Baikal Deep Underwater Neutrino Telescope (BDUNT), which is located 1.1 km below the surface of the lake and observes the Cherenkov radiation produced by high-energy neutrinos. The BDUNT is set to be replaced by the Gigaton Volume Detector, which will be one of the world\u2019s largest neutrino telescopes when it is complete later this decade."}
-{"text": "SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Tweet Post Email\n\nPhotographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg\n\nIn a logical world, builders would rush to put up homes in the U.S. regions adding jobs at the fastest pace. In reality, it's not so simple.\n\nSan Francisco's metropolitan area added 373,000 net new jobs in the last five years\u2014but issued permits for only 58,000 units of new housing. The lack of new construction has exacerbated housing costs in the Bay Area, making the San Francisco metro among the cruelest markets in the U.S. Over the same period, Houston added 346,000 jobs and permitted 260,000 new dwellings, five times as many units per new job as San Francisco.\n\nYou can see the imbalance in this chart, based on one that Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, uses to explain the shortage of for-sale homes across the country. For each metro, it compares net new jobs created from 2012 to 2016 with the number of new housing units authorized over the same period. Historically, one new housing unit for every two jobs created is considered normal, Yun said.\n\nCalifornia, where job growth has been strong and local control of zoning decisions makes it notoriously difficult to build, is home to many of the cities where construction most lags behind hiring. Six California metros are among those with the slowest pace of home-building compared to job growth.\n\nSprawling cities in the South and Southwest tended to authorize housing at a faster pace. Houston, famous for its lax approach to land use regulation, authorized one new permit for every 1.3 jobs. Even such metros as Denver, Seattle,and Portland, Oregon, look like boomtowns, compared to California's metros.\n\nIt\u2019s not just traditionally expensive coastal markets that are hurting for new supply. Buyers in small cities like Louisville, Kentucky, and Omaha, Nebraska, are frustrated by the tight inventory and lack of options, Yun said.\n\nNationally, builders have added fewer new units in the 10 years ending in 2016 than in any 10-year period since 1990. Low vacancy rates have led to rising rents. House hunters are sweating it out in seller\u2019s markets, in which homes go quickly\u2014and often above the listing price.\n\nNew construction isn\u2019t the only source of housing for a growing population. Cities with more unused inventory can absorb new households without building more units. The foreclosure crisis flooded the market with cheap properties, many of which were fixed up and let out by investors in the burgeoning single-family rental business.\n\nThere are two ways to ease the inventory crunch, Yun said in an interview: \u201cEither the builders build homes, or real estate investors unload homes onto the market.\u201d\n\nWhy aren\u2019t builders swinging into action? One reason may be a mismatch between the places people want to live and the places where buildable land is available. Plus, builders have had a hard time filling open positions, which boosts labor costs and slows the pace of construction. Zoning rules often prevent greater population density, pushing builders to erect single-family homes on the peripheries of big cities, instead of apartment buildings closer to job centers.\n\nRegulatory costs play a role, too. On average, they account for 24 percent of the expense of building a new home, according to a 2016 study from the National Association of Home Builders. In San Diego, they drive 40 percent of the cost of a new home, according to a report by a local housing group."}
-{"text": "A UDP Tunnel which tunnels UDP via FakeTCP/UDP/ICMP Traffic by using Raw Socket,helps you Bypass UDP FireWalls(or Unstable UDP Environment).Its Encrpyted,Anti-Replay and Multiplexed.It aslo acts as a Connection Stablizer.\n\n\n\n\n\nSupport Platforms\n\nA Linux host (including desktop Linux,Android phone/tablet,OpenWRT router,or Raspberry PI) with root access.\n\nFor Winodws/MacOS,virtual image with udp2raw pre-installed has been released,you can load it with Vmware/VirtualBox.The virtual image has been set to auto obtain ip,udp2raw can be run imidiately after boot finished(make sure network mode of virtual machine has been set to bridged)(only udp2raw has to be run under virtual machine,all other programs runs under Windows/MacOS as usual).\n\nFeatures\n\nSend / Receive UDP Packet with fake-tcp/icmp headers\n\nFake-tcp/icmp headers help you bypass UDP blocking, UDP QOS or improper UDP NAT behavior on some ISPs. Raw packets with UDP headers are also supported.In UDP header mode,it behaves just like a normal UDP tunnel,and you can just make use of the other features.\n\nSimulate TCP Handshake\n\nSimulates the 3-way handshake, along with seq and ack_seq. TCP options MSS, sackOk, TS, TS_ack, wscale are also simulated. Real-time delivery guaranteed, no TCP over TCP problem when using OpenVPN.\n\nEncrypt your traffic with AES-128-CBC.\n\nProtect data integrity by MD5 or CRC32.\n\nDefense replay attack with an anti-replay window, smiliar to IPSec and OpenVPN.\n\nFailure Dectection & Stablization (Connection Recovery)\n\nConection failures are detected by heartbeats. If timed-out,client will automatically change port number and reconnect. If reconnection is successful, the previous connection will be recovered, and all existing UDP conversations will stay vaild.\n\nFor example, if you use UDP2RAW + OpenVPN, OpenVPN won't lose connection after any reconnect, even if the network cable is re-plugged or the WiFi access point is changed .\n\nOther Features\n\nMultiplexing One client can handle multiple UDP connections, all of which share the same raw connection.\n\nMultiple Clients One server can have multiple clients.\n\nNAT Support All of the 3 modes work in NAT environments.\n\nOpenVZ Support Tested on BandwagonHost.\n\nOpenWRT Support No dependencies, easy to build. Binary for ar71xx are included in release.\n\nKeywords\n\nUDP QoS Bypass\n\nUDP Blocking Bypass\n\nOpenVPN TCP over TCP problem\n\nOpenVPN over ICMP\n\nUDP to ICMP tunnel\n\nUDP to TCP tunnel\n\nUDP over ICMP\n\nUDP over TCP\n\nGetting Started\n\nInstalling\n\nDownload binary release from https://github.com/wangyu-/udp2raw-tunnel/releases\n\nRunning\n\nAssume your UDP is blocked or being QOS-ed or just poorly supported. Assume your server ip is 44.55.66.77, you have a service listening on udp port 7777.\n\n# Run at server side: ./udp2raw_amd64 -s -l0.0.0.0:4096 -r 127.0.0.1:7777 -a -k \" passwd \" --raw-mode faketcp # Run at client side ./udp2raw_amd64 -c -l0.0.0.0:3333 -r44.55.66.77:4096 -a -k \" passwd \" --raw-mode faketcp\n\nServer Output:\n\nClient Output:\n\nNow,an encrypted raw tunnel has been established between client and server through TCP port 4096. Connecting to UDP port 3333 at the client side is equivalent to connecting to port 7777 at the server side. No UDP traffic will be exposed."}
-{"text": "By Paul Goble\n\nMoscow television over the last five years has devoted far more attention to developments in Ukraine than to developments in Russia, an obvious, much commented upon, and partially successful attempt to distract the attention of Russians from the problems in their own country, observer Yury Komarov says (publizist.ru/blogs/34/30433/-).\n\nBut now that trend has been joined by another: Moscow television increasingly focuses not on Russia today when it does talk about the country but about its past and especially what is the keystone and ultimate moral solvent against any criticism of Moscow and its policies, the Soviet victory in World War II.\n\nRussia\u2019s First Channel has announced the beginning of a new television channel, \u201cVictory,\u201d devoted exclusively to what Russians call the Great Fatherland War, World War II, and intended to help \u201cpreserve consensus in society,\u201d according to its leadership (znak.com/2019-04-09/v_rossii_poyavilsya_telekanal_pobeda_posvyachennyy_voyne).\n\nThe new channel will be directed primarily to the young and be available throughout Russia \u201cexcept Chukotka, Kamchatka, Magadan oblast, part of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, Krasnoyarsk Kray and Novaya Zemlya\u201d (on these exclusions, see the comment at region.expert/tv-pobeda/).\n\nIt will also cover \u201calmost all the republics of the former USSR, Mongolia, North Korea, part of China, Poland, Finland and all of Scandinavia. According to its organizers, it isn\u2019t receiving any special government funding, but since First Channel does, the money can be passed through there.\n\nAleksey Volin, the deputy communications minister who appears to be overseeing this effort, says that the new channel \u201cmust not be devoted only to the Great Fatherland War and other wars because there are Russian \u201cvictories, also in space, art, science and technology\u201d which deserve coverage as well."}
-{"text": "Review: Don't deprive yourself of AMC's delicious 'Dietland'\n\nKelly Lawler | USA TODAY\n\nShow Caption Hide Caption 10 TV shows you don't want to miss this summer Sometimes you can have a little too much fun in the sun. When it's time to take a break from the heat, chill out with these 10 cool summer TV shows.\n\nIt's hard to sit back and relax while watching AMC's Dietland.\n\nNot that the new series, based on Sarai Walker's novel, isn't good. It's just rather intense.\n\nThe smartly written dark dramedy, created by Marti Noxon (UnREAL), is a delectable expression of feminist anger, a parable that eviscerates the patriarchy. Dietland (Monday, 9 ET/PT, \u2605\u2605\u2605\u00bd out of four) isn't here to make you comfortable.\n\nInstead, it's an incisive, biting satire that challenges your preconceptions about feminism and body type, one that might make you confront your own biases and body image. And it's probably the only show to do so that also includes hallucinations of sexy tigers.\n\nDietland revolves around Plum Kettle (Joy Nash), a soft-spoken, introverted and self-identified fat woman (as her narration explains, she's allowed to use that word) who feels trapped both by her body and her life and is saving money for gastric bypass surgery. Although she's a gifted writer with multiple academic degrees, she scrapes by ghostwriting answers to letters to Kitty (Julianna Margulies), her boss at a teen beauty magazine, pretending to be the stylish and thin editor.\n\nPlum's routine is upended when she meets Julia (Tamara Tunie), who runs the magazine's beauty closet and, secretly, a resistance movement against the fashion industry, the media and general misogyny. Julia recruits a reluctant Plum for her revolution. Oh, and some vigilantes who might be connected to Julia and Plum are murdering rapists and dumping their bodies out of planes.\n\nThe series feels like the assembled parts of three different shows in a mash-up of genres you don't usually see. It's one part personal drama about Plum's relationship to her body, one part magical realist soap opera and one part revenge fantasy. In the first three episodes made available for review, efforts to combine these genres are uneven, but eventually you get used to the staccato rhythm.\n\nMore: Julianna Margulies returning to TV in AMC's 'Dietland'\n\nDietland's most revolutionary aspect is the explicit way it deals with Plum's body type. There are so few examples of plus-size people on TV, and they're usually confined to fat jokes (Mike and Molly) or schmaltzy inspiration for thin people (This Is Us). Some shows can get at the multi-dimensional ways in which fat people interact with the world (like the U.K.'s My Mad Fat Diary), but mostly they fall decidedly flat.\n\nPerhaps unavoidably, given its title and source material, Dietland still examines Plum mostly through the lens of her weight, but it does so unflinchingly, unafraid to bare her stomach, show the disdain with which doctors regard her, or portray her crippling insecurities. The weight of her sadness, helped by Nash's devastating performance, sometimes overwhelms the series, which could have veered more toward comedy. But to minimize Plum's pain would have missed the point.\n\nThe show's murder-mystery-conspiracy plot isn't quite as compelling as Plum's personal story, but at least in these early episodes, far more attention is paid to her internal struggle, and it appears that the vigilante plot will expand in future episodes. Let's hope that brings more of Margulies, who played heroic characters on ER and The Good Wife, and here relishes her role as a vapid, villainous mogul with shocking red hair and even more shocking dialogue.\n\nDietland isn't a perfect series, but it's trying to do something unique, to speak to an audience that is desperately underserved. It's the kind of show that's worth a little discomfort."}
-{"text": "Thank you! And i agree, I'm a big fan of the old version, i just feel that it would've been an extremely emotional and strong movie, I even think it would have been rated PG-13.. too much for a disney movie. but well... The Zootopia we got is not bad either!"}
-{"text": "Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan on Wednesday said that the government was doing a good job in managing the economy and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being an \"articulate spokesman for India\".\"What we need to do is to back up his visits with action on the ground which reinforces the good impression that he has created,\" Dr Rajan said in an exclusive interview to NDTV, acknowledging PM Modi's initiative to market India as an investment destination. ( Watch 52-year-old Dr Rajan, who has been called a \"rockstar\" central banker, also sought to dispel the notion that there was bad blood between the Mint Street (RBI) and North Block (Finance Ministry).Dr Rajan said the relationship between the RBI and the government has been strong, but added that he did not always agree with the finance minister's point of view.\"Otherwise, the public should start getting worried that the central bank is becoming too acquiescent. In a sense we have to be a gatekeeper and sometimes say no!\" the Governor said.Dr Rajan praised the government for effective food management, which he said helped keep food inflation in check despite two consecutive years of drought. The RBI chief said he will be \"accommodative\" if data permits, signaling the possibility of further easing in interest rates.Invoking PM Modi's advice to India Inc, Dr Rajan said investors must take a plunge with a \"hope and a prayer\" and not wait for government actions. (\"Those who move early will reap the rewards,\" Dr Rajan said.His work may involve sustained interaction with the political class, but Dr Rajan seemed averse to taking up politics as a full-time career once his three-year term comes to an end next year.\"The key decision maker is my wife and she said no,\" Dr Rajan said when asked whether he would end up being in politics."}
-{"text": "The student\u2019s email arrived early on Jan. 28.\n\nIt was addressed to Rafael Reif, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.\n\nThe undergraduate didn\u2019t want to bother him, she wrote, but she was stuck overseas and unable to return to campus because of the White House\u2019s newly imposed travel ban.\n\nIt was 6:37 a.m., but Reif didn\u2019t hesitate. He immediately contacted three of his top aides to help her and two other students in similar straits.\n\n\n\u201cThese people worked around the clock to make sure these kids made it home,\u201d he said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t sleep.\u201d\n\nOne week later, the students were safely back in Cambridge, but in the midst of the ordeal, Reif wrote a letter to the MIT community expressing his thoughts on the situation.\n\nHe wrote that the research university, founded in 1861, was at once uniquely American and profoundly global.\n\n\u201cLike the United States, and thanks to the United States, MIT gains tremendous strength by being a magnet for talent from around the world,\u201d he wrote. In that light, he said, the executive order appeared to him \u201ca stunning violation of our deepest American values, the values of a nation of immigrants: fairness, equality, openness, generosity, courage.\u201d\n\n\nReif is an immigrant himself. Born and educated in Venezuela, he came to the U.S. as a graduate student, earning his doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University. He joined the MIT faculty in 1980 and became its president in 2012.\n\nReif stopped by the Los Angeles Times this week to discuss science in the age of Trump and MIT\u2019s plan for the next four years.\n\nWhy do you think the scientific community has been so vocal in its opposition to the travel ban?\n\nI believe the reasons are obvious. Scientists love to collaborate and work with people who see things from a different perspective. When people work together to address big challenges \u2014 whether it\u2019s climate change or fresh water access or Alzheimer\u2019s \u2014 you start recognizing people for what they can contribute to the big mission. It doesn\u2019t matter where you came from. It is irrelevant.\n\n\nWe have students from Turkey being supervised by faculty from Greece. Culturally they hate each other, but that doesn\u2019t come up at MIT because they are dealing with bigger issues than themselves.\n\nLast week Trump threatened on Twitter to cut off federal funding for UC Berkeley because violent protests prompted the university to cancel a talk by provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. What are your thoughts on that?\n\nI don\u2019t have all the details, but I understand that somebody whose views that are not politically acceptable to some members of the community was not allowed to speak. That doesn\u2019t help universities. We should allow everyone to say whatever they want. But I think having the U.S. president make a statement like that feels like an overreaction.\n\nAre you concerned Trump might continue to threaten universities with the loss of federal funds when they do something he doesn\u2019t agree with?\n\n\nThere are reasons to be concerned, but I would not panic.\n\nI like to think the administration is not fully staffed yet, and that we will get to a more stable and predictable situation sometime soon. Just like I wish the president did not overreact in the tweet, I don\u2019t want to overreact either. Let\u2019s just give him a chance to settle in, get the team together, and figure out in which direction they really want to take the country.\n\nMight federal agencies like the Department of Defense or the National Institutes of Health decide on their own to withhold funding if they think that\u2019s what the president wants?\n\nI\u2019m having a wait-and-see attitude. I am trying to speak as best I can for the need for us to understand each other\u2019s point of view. Let\u2019s recognize that we live in a democratic country and there are people who believe that what he tweeted was the right thing to say.\n\n\nThe last thing we need right now is to start a war between \u201cus\u201d and \u201cthem,\u201d whoever \u201cthem\u201d are. We just have to figure out how to continue to build bridges and understand each other.\n\nThe election showed us that we are not all hearing the same information. Do you have any thoughts on how to break through people\u2019s bubbles and communicate with them?\n\nThe exercise I\u2019m practicing, and it seems to be working, is to find somewhere that we agree and once we establish that, extrapolate. If we start by not agreeing, we will never get anywhere.\n\nWhat\u2019s your plan for the next four years?\n\n\nThe big picture for MIT is to keep doing basic research because that is the mother of all knowledge. But we don\u2019t want to stop there. We also need to identify big problems and have people working on those. To me, the health of the planet and human health are the two critical ones that drive everything.\n\nSo we have a lot to do. Every day counts. We cannot stop what we are doing and get distracted. The last thing I want is for us to get distracted by him.\n\nPolitical upheaval to me is like waves on the beach. Underneath that we just have to keep going.\n\nThis interview has been edited for length and clarity.\n\n\ndeborah.netburn@latimes.com\n\nDo you love science? I do! Follow me @DeborahNetburn and \u201clike\u201d Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook.\n\nMORE IN SCIENCE\n\nConcerned about Trump, scientists are leaning into politics\n\n\nL.A.\u2019s mayor wants to lower the city\u2019s temperature. These scientists are figuring out how to do it\n\nAs bee populations dwindle, robot bees may pick up some of their pollination slack"}
-{"text": "The above video is a collection of timelapses, photos, and video from a trip to Sabah for the 2nd International Conference on Bajau/Sama Diaspora held at the Tun Sakaran Museum in conjunction with the Festival Igal Antarabangsa.\n\nSunrise Timelapse taken in Sim-Sim, Sandakan, Malaysia.\n\nSpeedboat video taken in Semporna going to Bum-Bum island.\n\nPictures and video from Terusan Baru, Bum-Bum.\n\nPictures of Semporna from Seafest Hotel.\n\nPictures and video from the Festival Igal Antarabangsa.\n\nPicture of lepa model from Tun Sakaran Museum.\n\nSunset Timelapse taken in Terusan Baru.\n\nShare this: Twitter\n\nFacebook\n\n\n\nLike itu: Like Loading..."}
-{"text": "(Vectored and Shadow Kind of Style) Sunset Shimmer By Tiz4905 Watch\n\n14 Favourites 0 Comments 312 Views\n\nThis is First time I do this...\n\nI choose this pony\n\nBecause I think the Fandom is leaving her behind once again\n\nAnd I didn't really draw her sometime ago oeo\n\nTake this bad draw tho >>\n\nIMAGE DETAILS Image size 1024x1224px 293.77 KB Show More\n\nPublished : Apr 2, 2016"}
-{"text": "NETWORK FINALS: Game 7 of the WORLD SERIES adjusted to 6.1, up 2 points from Game 6. In addition, SURVIVOR and CHICAGO FIRE gained 0.1 in final numbers, while SEAL TEAM and SINGLE PARENTS lost the same.\n\nBroadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart\n\nCABLE HIGHLIGHTS: FX\u2019s AMERICAN HORROR STORY: 1984 led Wednesday cable, but fell 0.15 to 0.46. On Comedy Central, SOUTH PARK returned at 0.46, THE DAILY SHOW hit the Top 20 at 0.22, and CRANK YANKERS was at 0.20. ESPN\u2019s NBA doubleheader was at 0.38/0.36. MTV\u2019s THE CHALLENGE lost 0.07 to 0.34. TNT\u2019s ALL ELITE WRESTLING dropped 0.12 to 0.33, and there was also a 12:30 airing that TNT listed as an original (it may have been a rerun) at 0.05. VH1\u2019s BLACK INK CREW ticked up to 0.33. On Discovery, EXPEDITION UNKNOWN returned from a break at 0.32. On BET, Tyler Perry\u2019s shows held quite well from last week\u2019s premieres, with THE OVAL down a tick to 0.27, and SISTAS steady at 0.23. History\u2019s FORGED IN FIRE was at 0.26/0.24, compared to last week\u2019s 0.22. A Spanish-language simulcast of WORLD SERIES Game 7 on Fox Deportes was at 0.24. Food Network\u2019s GUY\u2019S GROCERY GAMES edged up 0.02 to 0.24. MSNBC\u2019s RACHEL MADDOW SHOW topped cable news at 0.22/0.40/2.8M, with Fox News\u2019s TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT at 0.21/0.40/3.1M, and CNN\u2019s ANDERSON COOPER 360 at 0.17/0.24/1M. Bravo\u2019s REAL HOUSEWIVES OF DALLAS lost 0.04 to 0.22, and REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NEW JERSEY was at 0.15. On ID, SHATTERED climbed 0.04 to 0.22. On HGTV, HOUSE HUNTERS rose 0.04 to 0.21, HOUSE HUNTERS INTL was steady at 0.18, and PROPERTY BROTHERS was down 0.03 to 0.17. TBS\u2019s FULL FRONTAL dipped 0.02 to 0.20. USA\u2019s WWE NXT was down 0.03 to 0.18. On FXX, IT\u2019S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA held at 0.13, and CAKE ticked down to 0.02/59K. WGN\u2019s DOG\u2019S MOST WANTED fell 0.04 to 0.12.\n\nTop 50 Original Cable Telecasts with Demographic Detail\n\nTop 150 Original Cable Telecasts\n\nTo search for a show: type Ctrl-F and type your show title in the search box.\n\nTop 100 Original Cable Telecasts: Wednesday October 30, 2019 P18-49 P2+ Rank Program Net Start Mins Rating (000s) 1 AMERICAN HORROR STORY FX 10:00 PM 61 0.46 1,053 2 SOUTH PARK COMEDY CENTRAL 10:00 PM 30 0.46 838 3 NBA REGULAR SEASON L: MILWAUKEE/BOSTON ESPN 7:44 PM 148 0.38 947 4 NBA REGULAR SEASON L: LA CLIPPERS/UTAH ESPN 10:12 PM 140 0.36 817 5 CHALLENGE:WAR OF WORLDS 2 MTV 9:00 PM 91 0.34 653 6 AEW: ALL ELITE WRESTLING: DYNAMITE 0005 CHARLESTON WV TURNER NETWORK TELEVISION 8:00 PM 120 0.33 759 7 BLACK INK CREW 8 VH1 8:00 PM 60 0.33 742 8 SPORTSCENTER 12AM L ESPN 12:32 AM 58 0.32 731 9 EXPEDITION UNKNOWN DISCOVERY CHANNEL 9:00 PM 67 0.32 1,296 10 OVAL, THE BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TV 9:00 PM 60 0.27 944 11 NBA COURTSIDE L ESPN 7:30 PM 14 0.27 671 12 FORGED IN FIRE HISTORY 9:00 PM 63 0.26 910 13 MLB WORLD SERIES ON FOXD: GM7: NATIONALS VS ASTROS FOX DEPORTES 8:00 PM 239 0.24 613 14 GUYS GROCERY GAMES FOOD NETWORK 9:00 PM 60 0.24 625 15 PARDON THE INTERRUPTION ESPN 5:30 PM 30 0.24 801 16 FORGED IN FIRE HISTORY 10:03 PM 60 0.24 697 17 SISTAS SERIES BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TV 10:00 PM 60 0.23 823 18 SPORTSCENTER WITH SAS L ESPN 7:00 PM 30 0.22 526 19 SPORTSCENTER EARLY L ESPN 6:00 PM 60 0.22 542 20 DAILY SHOW COMEDY CENTRAL 11:00 PM 35 0.22 657 21 RACHEL MADDOW SHOW MSNBC 9:00 PM 60 0.22 2,836 22 REAL HOUSEWIVES OF DALLAS BRAVO 9:00 PM 60 0.22 677 23 SHATTERED INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY 10:00 PM 60 0.22 884 24 TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT FOX NEWS CHANNEL 8:00 PM 60 0.21 3,111 25 HOUSE HUNTERS HOME AND GARDEN TV 10:00 PM 30 0.21 1,124 26 FIVE, THE FOX NEWS CHANNEL 5:00 PM 60 0.21 2,943 27 FULL FRONTAL W/ SAM BEE TBS NETWORK 10:30 PM 30 0.20 595 28 CRANK YANKERS COMEDY CENTRAL 10:30 PM 30 0.20 364 29 SPORTSCENTER MORNING L ESPN 1:30 AM 90 0.19 434 30 SPECIAL RPT W/BRET BAIER FOX NEWS CHANNEL 6:00 PM 60 0.18 2,500 31 HOUSE HUNTERS INTL HOME AND GARDEN TV 10:30 PM 30 0.18 1,082 32 WWE NXT: WWE NXT USA NETWORK 8:00 PM 129 0.18 580 33 HANNITY FOX NEWS CHANNEL 9:00 PM 60 0.18 3,052 34 ANDERSON COOPER 360 CNN 8:00 PM 60 0.17 1,025 35 PROPERTY BROS:FOREVER HOM HOME AND GARDEN TV 9:00 PM 60 0.17 1,164 36 INGRAHAM ANGLE, THE FOX NEWS CHANNEL 10:00 PM 60 0.16 2,288 37 ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT CNN 7:00 PM 60 0.16 1,071 38 STORY, THE FOX NEWS CHANNEL 7:00 PM 60 0.16 2,194 39 MLS PLAYOFFS L: CONF CHAMP:ATLANTA/TORONTO FOX SPORTS 1 7:53 PM 157 0.15 359 40 FOX AND FRIENDS FOX NEWS CHANNEL 7:00 AM 60 0.15 1,629 41 FOX AND FRIENDS FOX NEWS CHANNEL 8:00 AM 60 0.15 1,945 42 REAL HSWIVES OF NJ BRAVO 8:30 PM 30 0.15 508 43 PB FH: REPACK HOME AND GARDEN TV 8:00 PM 60 0.15 891 44 AROUND THE HORN ESPN 5:00 PM 30 0.15 475 45 MOVIE- ORIGINAL RPT: MY CHRISTMAS PRINCE LIFETIME TELEVISION 8:00 PM 121 0.14 807 46 LAST WORD W/ L. ODONNELL MSNBC 10:00 PM 60 0.14 2,030 47 PB FH: REPACK HOME AND GARDEN TV 7:00 PM 60 0.14 710 48 RYANS MYSTERY PLAYDATE NICKELODEON 11:30 AM 30 0.13 459 49 LIGHTS OUT COMEDY CENTRAL 11:35 PM 30 0.13 255 50 MOVIE- ORIGINAL RPT LIFETIME TELEVISION 10:03 PM 116 0.13 611 51 AMERICAS NEWSROOM FOX NEWS CHANNEL 10:00 AM 60 0.13 1,573 52 ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELP FXX 10:00 PM 32 0.13 248 53 CUOMO PRIME TIME CNN 9:00 PM 60 0.13 1,068 54 FIRST TAKE L: N/A ESPN 10:00 AM 120 0.13 353 55 HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE ESPN 4:30 PM 30 0.13 361 56 BEAT W/ARI MELBER MSNBC 6:00 PM 60 0.13 1,790 57 SPORTSCENTER AM L ESPN 7:00 AM 60 0.12 327 58 REAL HSWIVES OF NJ BRAVO 7:30 PM 60 0.12 326 59 YOUR WORLD W/NEIL CAVUTO FOX NEWS CHANNEL 4:00 PM 60 0.12 1,588 60 SITUATION ROOM CNN 6:00 PM 60 0.12 862 61 AMERICAS NEWSROOM FOX NEWS CHANNEL 9:00 AM 60 0.12 1,727 62 CONAN TBS NETWORK 11:00 PM 30 0.12 288 63 MTP DAILY MSNBC 5:00 PM 60 0.12 1,796 64 DOGS MOST WANTED WGN AMERICA 9:00 PM 60 0.12 508 65 GET UP L: N/A ESPN 8:00 AM 120 0.12 321 66 SPORTSCENTER AM L ESPN 12:00 PM 60 0.12 275 67 WORLDS BIGGEST GHOST HUNT: PENNHURST ASYLUM A&E NETWORK 8:00 PM 121 0.12 356 68 HIGH NOON (9AM PACIFIC) ESPN 4:00 PM 30 0.12 282 69 REAL HSWIVES OF NJ BRAVO 6:30 PM 30 0.12 290 70 FOX AND FRIENDS FOX NEWS CHANNEL 6:00 AM 60 0.11 1,132 71 CNN TONIGHT CNN 10:00 PM 60 0.11 837 72 OUTNUMBERED OVERTIME FOX NEWS CHANNEL 1:00 PM 60 0.11 1,472 73 FOX NEWS REPORTING. FOX NEWS CHANNEL 3:00 PM 60 0.11 1,518 74 FOX NEWS AT NIGHT FOX NEWS CHANNEL 11:00 PM 60 0.11 1,177 75 DEADLINE:WHITE HOUSE MSNBC 4:00 PM 60 0.11 1,953 76 SITUATION ROOM CNN 5:00 PM 60 0.11 1,002 77 11TH HOUR W/B. WILLIAMS MSNBC 11:00 PM 60 0.11 1,448 78 OUTNUMBERED FOX NEWS CHANNEL 12:00 PM 60 0.11 1,616 79 COPWATCH AMERICA BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TV 11:00 PM 60 0.11 329 80 HARDBALL WITH C. MATTHEWS MSNBC 7:00 PM 60 0.10 1,760 81 REAL HSWIVES OF NJ BRAVO 5:30 PM 60 0.10 240 82 GHOST HUNTERS A&E NETWORK 10:01 PM 65 0.10 339 83 LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER CNN 4:00 PM 60 0.10 928 84 AMERICAS NEWSROOM FOX NEWS CHANNEL 11:00 AM 60 0.10 1,526 85 ALL IN W/ CHRIS HAYES MSNBC 8:00 PM 60 0.10 1,779 86 FOX DEPORTES EN VIVO ESP FOX DEPORTES 11:59 PM 61 0.10 248 87 CNN TONIGHT CNN 11:00 PM 60 0.10 593 88 SPOOKLEY THE SQUARE PUMPK DISNEY JUNIOR 8:25 PM 55 0.09 345 89 DAILY BRIEFING W/D.PERINO FOX NEWS CHANNEL 2:00 PM 60 0.09 1,468 90 BITCHIN RIDES MOTOR TREND 9:00 PM 60 0.09 396 91 NBA: THE JUMP L ESPN 3:00 PM 60 0.09 228 92 WATCH WHAT HAPPENS LIVE BRAVO 11:00 PM 30 0.09 343 93 MORNING JOE: N/A MSNBC 6:00 AM 180 0.09 1,195 94 CNN NEWSROOM CNN 3:00 PM 60 0.08 858 95 MOUNTAIN MONSTERS TRAVEL CHANNEL 10:00 PM 60 0.08 260 96 UNDISPUTED L: 787 FOX SPORTS 1 9:30 AM 150 0.08 201 97 NEW DAY CNN 8:00 AM 60 0.08 680 98 INSIDE POLITICS CNN 12:00 PM 60 0.08 765 99 MSNBC LIVE W/ S.RUHLE MSNBC 9:00 AM 60 0.08 1,185 100 EXTINCT OR ALIVE ANIMAL PLANET 9:00 PM 61 0.08 309 101 CNN RIGHT NOW CNN 1:00 PM 60 0.08 764 102 PARAMOUNT NETWORK MOVIE: ABE LINCOLN VAMP HUNTER PARAMOUNT 10:15 PM 135 0.08 265 103 MOVIE- ORIGINAL RPT: MY CHRISTMAS PRINCE LIFETIME TELEVISION 12:01 AM 121 0.08 423 104 MSNBC LIVE W/ H.JACKSON MSNBC 10:00 AM 60 0.08 1,132 105 CNN NEWSROOM CNN 2:00 PM 60 0.08 796 106 NFL LIVE L ESPN 1:30 PM 90 0.08 233 107 NHL REGULAR SEASON L: MINNESOTA/ST. LOUIS NBC SPORTS NETWORK 8:01 PM 165 0.08 240 108 WORLDS BIGGEST GHOST HUNT: PENNHURST ASYLUM A&E NETWORK 12:03 AM 121 0.08 190 109 MSNBC LIVE W/ C.MELVIN MSNBC 11:00 AM 60 0.08 1,036 110 ANDREA MITCHELL REPORTS MSNBC 12:00 PM 60 0.08 1,199 111 SPOOKLEY THE SQUARE PUMPK DISNEY CHANNEL 6:00 AM 54 0.08 292 112 REAL HSWIVES OF NJ BRAVO 10:00 PM 60 0.08 354 113 OTL \u2013 FIRST REPORT L ESPN 1:00 PM 30 0.07 209 114 MSNBC LIVE W/VELSHI&RUHLE MSNBC 1:00 PM 60 0.07 1,131 115 DISNEY MICKEY MOUSE SHORT DISNEY CHANNEL 2:29 PM 30 0.07 295 116 NEW DAY CNN 7:00 AM 60 0.07 534 117 TOY STORY OF TERROR DISNEY CHANNEL 1:59 PM 30 0.07 278 118 CASH CAB BRAVO 11:30 PM 30 0.07 254 119 CNN NEWSROOM CNN 9:00 AM 60 0.07 675 120 GHOST NATION REPACK: THIT-1R3R01H TRAVEL CHANNEL 8:00 PM 120 0.07 222 121 CNN NEWSROOM CNN 10:00 AM 60 0.07 736 122 MSNBC LIVE W/K.TUR MSNBC 2:00 PM 60 0.07 1,168 123 SPORTSCENTER 12AM L ESPN2 11:51 PM 39 0.07 214 124 AT THIS HOUR CNN 11:00 AM 60 0.07 720 125 NEW DAY CNN 6:00 AM 60 0.06 439 126 MSNBC LIVE W/ A.VELSHI MSNBC 3:00 PM 60 0.06 1,254 127 E! NEWS E! 7:00 PM 60 0.06 246 128 LIGA MX L: TIGRES / TOLUCA TUDN 11:03 PM 124 0.06 134 129 MLB WS POST GAME L FOX SPORTS 1 12:27 AM 80 0.06 245 130 GARAGE SQUAD MOTOR TREND 10:00 PM 60 0.06 314 131 SPOOKLEY THE SQUARE PUMPK DISNEY JUNIOR 11:00 AM 55 0.05 200 132 HERD L: 1102 FOX SPORTS 1 12:00 PM 180 0.05 166 133 AMERICAN MYSTERY TRAVEL CHANNEL 11:00 PM 60 0.05 218 134 LITTLE GIANTS ANIMAL PLANET 10:01 PM 30 0.05 251 135 NFL LIVE ESPN2 3:00 PM 90 0.05 151 136 LIGA MX L: PACHUCA / MONTERREY TUDN 8:55 PM 128 0.05 125 137 DISNEY MICKEY MOUSE SHORT DISNEY CHANNEL 11:30 PM 30 0.05 313 138 FIRST TAKE: N/A ESPN2 12:00 PM 120 0.05 114 139 DAHMER:SERIAL KILLER: 100 2 HOUR SPECIAL OXYGEN MEDIA 9:00 PM 120 0.05 184 140 AEW: ALL ELITE WRESTLING: DYNAMITE 0005 CHARLESTON WV TURNER NETWORK TELEVISION 12:30 AM 120 0.05 116 141 E! NEWS: DAILY POP I E! 12:00 PM 60 0.05 94 142 MLB WS ON FOXD \u2013 PRE FOX DEPORTES 7:31 PM 29 0.05 125 143 COLLEGE FOOTBALL LIVE ESPN2 4:30 PM 30 0.04 138 144 ENGINEERING CATASTROPHES SCIENCE 9:00 PM 60 0.04 305 145 SPEAK FOR YOURSELF L FOX SPORTS 1 3:00 PM 90 0.04 131 146 DEADLY ENGINEERING SCIENCE 10:00 PM 60 0.04 219 147 MORNING EXPRESS W/ MEADE HLN 8:00 AM 60 0.04 189 148 SPORTSCENTER AM L ESPN2 9:00 AM 60 0.04 102 149 BASEBALL TONIGHT L ESPN2 7:00 PM 30 0.04 129 150 HOME & FAMILY: N/A HALLMARK CHANNEL 10:00 AM 120 0.04 258\n\nPREVIOUS WEDNESDAY NETWORK SCORECARDS (FAST NATIONALS)\n\nPREVIOUS WEDNESDAY CABLE & BROADCAST NATIONALS\n\n###"}
-{"text": "The official manufacturer behind leading cryptocurrency hardware wallet Trezor has announced that it believes criminals are using a new method to steal funds from unsuspecting victims. The post, released on Medium by Satoshi Labs, the company behind the Trezor brand, stated that they have been made aware that \u201cone-to-one copies\u201d of Trezor are circulating the market. As the post states, \u201cIn other words, a fake Trezor device, manufactured by a different, unknown vendor\u201d has been discovered.\n\nSatoshiLabs continue to add that whilst Trezor clones have been operating in the market for some time now, not only do they are utilize a different brand name, but they are also manufactured by legitimate organizations. As such, the process of distinguishing between a real Trezor and a clone is a simple one. However, a new breed of fake Trezor\u2019s have been discovered.\n\nFake Trezor Devices That are Practically Identical to the Original\n\nThey are believed to be practically identical to the original product, much in the same way that counterfeit apparel products attempt to deceive loyal brand purchasers. Much like in the case of counterfeit apparel products, the unknown manufacturer is offering their fake Trezor at a price vastly lower that the original.\n\nThe Trezor team add that on top of a significantly lower price tag, it is also possible to ascertain whether you might have a fake device by looking at the product\u2019s attached hologram. By uploading images and a video, the post allows users to check their hologram to ensure they have a legitimate product. As the Trezor team have only recently been made aware of the illicit flood of fakes, it is yet to be acknowledged how many are currently circulating. The key concern for those affected is what capabilities the seller has regarding stored funds.\n\nBack Route Re-Design may put Funds at Risk\n\nUnder normal circumstances, Trezor devices (along with other leading hardware devices) are the most secure way of protecting yourself against the threats of external malpractice. Even if the device was subsequently lost, or worse, stolen, then the thief would still have limited, if any access to the victim\u2019s funds.\n\nThe key reason for this is that in order to facilitate a movement of funds out of the wallet, the user is required to enter a physical PIN number that was set by the owner of the device. Furthermore, each subsequently incorrect PIN combination activates the time-lock, meaning the user has to wait a certain amount of time before they can try again. Brute force would simply render the device redundant. During this time, the victim would have the ability to recover their funds remotely, by using their back-up passphrase.\n\nRead: Trezor vs Ledger Review\n\nHowever, if the aforementioned fake Trezor devices are as innovative as the physical design of the product, then there could be further complications. One such possibility is that the illicit manufacturer creates the device in such a manner that allows them to remotely access the user\u2019s balance. This could be extremely costly, especially when one considers that hardware devices are generally used for larger cryptocurrency holdings.\n\nOnly Ever Buy a Hardware Wallet From a Licensed Channel\n\nNevertheless, this should be a stark reminder to those looking to get a cheap deal on hardware wallet devices. As echoed by the manufacturers themselves, you should only ever buy a Trezor device from an official channel. In most cases, this is either directly from the Trezor website or via an officially licensed third party, such as Amazon.\n\nThe Trezor product has grown significantly since its launch in 2014, selling over a million devices along the way. It remains to be seen whether the announcement will instill fear in future buyers."}
-{"text": "Hardline Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg has bought a \u00a35 million home next to Parliament, fuelling speculation that the ambitious MP is positioning himself as the next Tory leader.\n\nThe five-storey mansion is even closer to the House of Commons than Downing Street is \u2013 and until recently was the political HQ of pro-Tory tycoon and power-broker Lord Ashcroft, a supporter of Mr Rees-Mogg.\n\nThe disclosure came amid fresh evidence of a possible threat to the Prime Minister by Mr Rees-Mogg's allies \u2013 who fear Theresa May is determined to block their plea for a so-called 'hard Brexit'.\n\nAnd it comes as a Mail on Sunday investigation into Mr Rees-Mogg's City firm reveals a string of Russian investments \u2013 but virtually no stake in the British economy.\n\nConservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg (pictured with wife Helena de Chair) has bought a \u00a35m home closer to Parliament than Downing Street, fuelling rumours he wants to be party leader\n\nThe MP's company, Somerset Capital Management, which manages nearly \u00a37.5 billion on behalf of wealthy private investors and City institutions, has interests in two Russian firms blacklisted by the US and others which are controlled by oligarchs in President Vladimir Putin's inner circle.\n\nThe Russian assets were valued at \u00a3217 million on Friday.\n\nThe Mail on Sunday has also learned that one of Mr Rees-Mogg's leading allies, Right-wing MP Philip Davies, confronted Tory Chief Whip Julian Smith over Mrs May's survival prospects at a recent Commons meeting attended by Mr Rees-Mogg.\n\nMr Smith pointed out the absence of a Tory majority in the Commons made it hard for Mrs May to speed up Brexit laws, saying: 'It's all about numbers.'\n\nMr Davies fired back: 'Yes and the number is 48!'\n\nIt was a menacing reference to the 48 Tory MPs needed to trigger a leadership contest.\n\nAlthough he is a backbench MP, Mr Davies is the live-in partner of Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey, seen by some as another potential Tory leader. He said last night: 'I don't comment on my discussions with the Chief Whip.'\n\nPictured: The MP is moving into Cowley Street, in the historic 'Old Westminster' quarter\n\nMr Rees-Mogg \u2013 the bookies' favourite to succeed Mrs May \u2013 has been urged by members of his pro-Brexit European Research Group (ERG) to be tougher in his dealings with the Prime Minister.\n\nAt one meeting of the group last week, Mid Derbyshire MP Pauline Latham said: 'No more Mr Nice Guy, Jacob. Show some steel.'\n\nThe revelation about Mr Rees-Mogg's new Westminster base comes as No 10 prepares for a series of Commons showdowns over Brexit next month.\n\nAfter last week's 'summit' between Mr Rees-Mogg's ERG and Chief Whip Mr Smith, the Government agreed to bring forward key votes on the EU Withdrawal Bill to the middle of next month.\n\nThe move was forced by the Brexit rebels because they believe they have the numbers to 'crush the Remainers'.\n\nMrs May's allies fear that Brexit MPs are preparing to challenge her if she fails to give in to their demand to take a tougher stance with Brussels.\n\nConservative chiefs have warned that with no Commons majority, any such instability could lead to a General Election \u2013 the third in four years \u2013 and risk putting Jeremy Corbyn in No 10.\n\nThe five-storey 18th century home (interior pictured) has cost the MP over \u00a35million\n\nMr Rees-Mogg dismissed claims that he planned to use his new house \u2013 dubbed 'Jacob's own No 10' by one Tory MP wag \u2013 as a leadership campaign headquarters.\n\nHe said: 'I bought it because I have six children. My Mayfair house has three bedrooms for nine people so reception rooms now have children in them.'\n\nHe is not the only Tory 'big beast' who appears to be repositioning himself.\n\nAccording to one report yesterday, Tory grandees are plotting for Environment Secretary Michael Gove to replace Mrs May as a caretaker PM after Brexit next March, then hand over to popular Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson in time to lead the party into the 2022 General Election.\n\nMr Rees-Mogg's supporters want Mrs May to 'strike now' and ram through the Brexit laws while Mr Corbyn's Commons voting strength is down.\n\nLewisham East Labour MP Heidi Alexander has resigned and another Labour MP is gravely ill and is unlikely to be able to vote.\n\nMogg's new street\n\nBy Glen Owen, Deputy Political Editor for The Mail on Sunday\n\nJacob Rees-Mogg new power base sits in a historic quarter of 'Old Westminster' which has been thick with plotters for centuries.\n\nThe Somerset MP paid \u00a35.625 million for the property in Cowley Street earlier this year, part funded by a mortgage from the Queen's bank, Coutts & Co.\n\nIt became vacant after pro-Brexit former Tory deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft, who had been renting the building to house his varied political and business operations, moved out.\n\nThe five-storey 18th Century building is closer to Parliament than Downing Street, lying just 390 yards from the Commons.\n\nIt is also a mere 500 yards from Tory campaign HQ and only 100 yards from the Westminster studios of the main broadcasters.\n\nA map shows Rees-Mogg's new home, which he is believed to be moving into with his family in August, in relation to the House of Commons and Downing Street\n\nHouses and offices in this road are traditionally fitted with the division bells which summon MPs to vote, as they are near enough for MPs to reach the Commons chamber within the required eight minutes.\n\nIt means Mr Rees-Mogg will have the luxury of being able to relax at home between late-night votes.\n\nMr Rees-Mogg, who has six children with his wife Helena, is expected to move into the house at the end of August, after he has finished a refurbishment.\n\nLocal planning documents show it includes the installation of surprisingly modern touches such as 'walk-on rooflights' over his basement.\n\nThe estate agent which advertised the house for \u00a36 million purred about the potential for 'five bedrooms, four reception rooms, four bathrooms, and significant family kitchen', concluding: 'This would make a substantial and desirable London home.'\n\nRees-Mogg's new home used to belong to Lord Ashcroft, a supporter of the backbencher's\n\nCowley Street is where Prime Minister John Major based his campaign in 1995, when he quit as Tory leader and invited MPs to challenge him, telling Eurosceptic opponents to 'put up or shut up'.\n\nMichael Portillo was revealed as a plotter after he was caught installing phone lines in a secret campaign HQ in Lord North Street \u2013 a one-minute walk away \u2013 to challenge Major if the contest went to a second round.\n\nIn the 2001 Tory leadership battle, the same Lord North Street house was used by the victorious Iain Duncan Smith.\n\nMr Rees-Mogg's house is also just feet from the building which the Liberal Democrats used as their HQ until 2011.\n\nLord North Street has been described as 'reeking of political intrigue', hosting political salons since the days of Disraeli.\n\nIt is where Winston Churchill went to plot against Neville Chamberlain in 1940; and in the 1970s, former Labour Prime Minister Sir Harold Wilson claimed that his townhouse at 5 Lord North Street had been bugged by MI5.\n\nNow a new chapter of intrigues appears to be opening up."}
-{"text": "Sen. Kamala Harris has promised blacks $100 billion for housing if she is elected president.\n\nPete Buttigieg, the gay white mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has decided to unveil a plan exclusively for blacks far beyond the redistributed white taxpayer dollars of Kamala\u2019s deepest, darkest desires. [Buttigieg Proposes Broad Plan To Counter Racial Inequality, NPR.com, July 11, 2019]:\n\nSouth Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg got a really big boost to his campaign recently, announcing a staggering $24.8 million fundraising haul over the past three months.\n\nBut that hasn\u2019t changed one of the toughest realities his candidacy faces: support among black voters that barely registers in the polls.\n\nCountering skeptics who doubt he can win crucial African American voters in the 2020 Democratic primary, Buttigieg rolled out the details of his plan to combat systemic racial inequality, named for legendary abolitionist Frederick Douglass, on NPR\u2019s Morning Edition.\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019re a white candidate, it is twice as important for you to be talking about racial inequity and not just describing the problem \u2014 which is fashionable in politics \u2014 but actually talking about what we\u2019re going to do about it and describing the outcomes we\u2019re trying to solve for,\u201d Buttigieg told NPR.\n\nHis \u201cDouglass Plan\u201d aims to establish a $10 billion fund for black entrepreneurs over five years, invest $25 billion in historically black colleges, legalize marijuana, expunge past drug convictions, reduce the prison population by half and pass a new Voting Rights Act to further empower the federal government to ensure voting access.\n\nHis campaign says it is equal in scale to the Marshall Plan, which used the equivalent of approximately $100 billion at current value to rebuild Europe after World War II. Buttigieg says the program would be enacted alongside potential direct reparations for slavery, not in place of it.\n\nThe two-term mayor also supports aconstitutional amendment to abolish the death penalty, and intends to expand the Supreme Court and eradicate the Electoral College.\n\nButtigieg ties these lofty goals like changing the Constitution to his campaign\u2019s central theme of generational change.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know where we got the idea that it\u2019s impossible to do these things,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a country that changed the Constitution so you couldn\u2019t buy a drink and then changed its mind and changed it back. Are you really telling me that we are incapable of using one of the most elegant features of our constitutional system?\u201d\n\nOn his Douglass Plan:\n\n[The Marshall Plan]demonstrates what America can do when we\u2019re serious. America basically rebuilt Europe after World War II, and what we need to do now is an investment of comparable ambition right here at home, because what we\u2019ve learned is that racist policies being replaced by neutral policies is not enough, that the inequities that we have in our country were put in intentionally by generations and sometimes centuries of racist policy. They\u2019re not going to go away just because you replace a racist system with a neutral one.\n\nORDER IT NOW\n\nWe need to intentionally invest in health, in home ownership, in entrepreneurship, in access to democracy, in economic empowerment. If we don\u2019t do these things, we shouldn\u2019t be surprised that racial inequality persists because inequalities compound. Just like a dollar saved, a dollar stolen also compounds. And I think that helps to explain the persistent racial inequality that we have in our national life today.\n\nOn reparations:\n\nI think [the Douglass Plan] does not take the place of the conversation around reparations. I also support passing H.R. 40. I would sign it, which would create a commission to look at reparations. But I do think that this is also restorative, in the same way that reparations is intended to be. This is not a gift. This is a restoration. It is trying to address generational harms and specific intentional theft that took place.\n\nOn engaging white Americans in the conversation around racism\n\nI think we\u2019ll know we\u2019re getting somewhere when this is not regarded as some specialty issue that candidates of color talk about or that we only talk about when addressing voters of color. This is a conversation that, frankly, white America needs to have too, because white America needs to face the roots of these inequities and the fact of systemic racism all around us. It\u2019s the air we breathe.\n\nI had a challenging conversation with our own police department where, when I talked about systemic racism in addressing officers, many of them felt that it was a personal attack. I need them to understand, especially white officers, the ways in which, no matter how good their intentions might be, that systemic racism is something they in particular need to be conscious of and need to understand how to be part of the solution on. So this is not something that only candidates of color should be talking about \u2014 very much to the contrary."}
-{"text": "Yooba\n\nNewbie\n\n\n\nOffline\n\n\n\nActivity: 18\n\nMerit: 0\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCopper MemberNewbieActivity: 18Merit: 0 [ANN][YOO] Yooba: Decentralized e-commerce system based on blockchain technology July 05, 2018, 11:18:49 PM\n\nLast edit: July 06, 2018, 05:01:56 PM by Yooba #1\n\nI can't post image now.So the Yooba's bitcointalk link change to https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4613187 .Thanks for frankbuse\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYooba\n\nhttps://yooba.org\n\nwhitepaper\n\n\n\n\n\nA decentralized, global, secure, private, blockchain-based e-commerce system\n\n\n\nCommitment to all consumers, safety, privacy, and easy global consumption\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYooba's Dream\n\n\n\nYooba is committed to allowing all consumers to conduct global consumption security, privacy,\n\nfreedom, and convenience \uff0c through one account; and is committed to establishing\n\na global,decentralized, transparent, fair, and dynamic business platform\n\n\n\n\n\nYooba usage scene\n\n\n\nYooba is a blockchain system for shopping only. Although she can apply in all aspects,\n\nYooba's research, development and maintenance only focus on commercial scenarios and future\n\nrelated to goods and services. The following is a brief list of some of the application cases.\n\n\n\n\n\nShare/sell/discover goods and services anytime, anywhere\n\nAny user or company can upload their own products (including regular\n\nmerchandise, artwork, second-hand items, etc.) or services (including virtual products such as\n\nknowledge and music) through the App or pc wallet. Some main websites can collect\n\nand classify the products or services they are interested in through yooba to form\n\nvarious types of service websites. Users only need one Yooba account, and once they\n\nlog in (browser plug-in login), they will be able to access all websites that access Yooba\n\nservices. As shown below\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSupermarket platform\n\nA principal or platform with a strong reputation can establish a large platform\n\nor a large supermarket on Yooba, and choose his trusted or controlled small company or\n\nindividual on Yooba to pull into his shop. They established a virtual organizational\n\nrelationship through Yooba. In this way, various complicated forms of business\n\norganization can be formed.\n\n\n\nSupply chain\n\nFrom small toys to large cars, all of their components can be found in Yooba.\n\nAnyone can choose the most cost-effective component they need on Yooba in a fair and\n\ntransparent manner. Yooba has a complete record of supply and demand in the supply\n\nchain. And their trading history.\n\n\n\nInsurance\n\nDifferent business scenarios have different risks and different security policies.\n\nInsurance is a basic service in Yooba (accessed by different service providers) and it is\n\nalso a big business.\n\n\n\nStorage, artificial intelligence, etc.\n\nYooba's large number of commodity data, transaction data, etc. have put forward\n\nhigher demands and broader prospects for storage, big data analysis, and artificial\n\nintelligence. Any company entity or individual can fairly acquire Yooba products, public\n\ntransaction records, users, stores and other visible data to develop their own\n\nbusinesses and provide services on Yooba or elsewhere.\n\n\n\n\n\nAccount Types\n\n\n\nYooba is for shopping and for business. According to its application scenario, Yooba has\n\n3 types of accounts: Account, Store, Contract. However, compared with Ethereum\n\nYooba, it expanded the account structure and capabilities to fit Yooba's application\n\nscenario.\n\n\n\nAccount\n\nBasic account types, such as transfers, transactions, uploading or offline\n\nproducts and services, buying and selling merchandise services, setting up personal homepages,\n\ncreating smart contracts, private chat, and other activities.\n\n\n\nStore\n\nStore has more features than Account, but there are a few limitations. Store has\n\nmost of Account\u0092s features Store can contain Store and Account inside, Store itself can become\n\na big platform Certain activities of the Store have certain privacy restrictions\n\n\n\nContract\n\nSmart contracts are written in Turing complete language and run on virtual machines.\n\nIt can complete a wealth of functions. Including insurance, logistics, security, virtual products and\n\nother scenarios using Contract. Privacy in Yooba\u0092s business is also provided by smart\n\ncontracts.Provide zero-knowledge proofs, ring signatures, and other privacy options for users to choose.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYooba Annual inflation rate\n\n\n\nInflation is achieved through block rewards.The first year's (2019.4.1~2020.4.1)\n\nannual inflation rate is 5%. The second year's (2020.4.1~2021.4.1) annual inflation\n\nrate is 4%. The third year's (2021.4.1~2022.4.1) annual inflation rate is 3.5%. From\n\nthe fourth year onwards, the annual inflation rate is decided by voting.\n\nThe top 100 Yooba contributors and the top 100 Yooba producers have voting rights.\n\nThey can vote inflation in 1.5% ~ 3.5% After the mainnet online.\n\n\n\n\n\nContributors Reward Plan(now ~ 2019.4.1)\n\n\n\n\n\nYooba mainnet plans to be online at 2019.4.1.Before that, we will choose 51\n\ncontributors that are coders every month. Based on the code contribution,\n\nYOO tokens are awarded as follows:500,000 YOO(2 contributors),\n\n350,000 YOO(5 contributors), 200,000 YOO(10 contributors),\n\n100,000 YOO(15 contributors), 50,000 YOO(19 contributors).\n\nThe contributors who are not writing code, calculate the reward separately.\n\nSee more The following rules and quotas are not applicable to Yooba team members.Yooba mainnet plans to be online at 2019.4.1.Before that, we will choose 51contributors that are coders every month. Based on the code contribution,YOO tokens are awarded as follows:500,000 YOO(2 contributors),350,000 YOO(5 contributors), 200,000 YOO(10 contributors),100,000 YOO(15 contributors), 50,000 YOO(19 contributors).The contributors who are not writing code, calculate the reward separately.See more https://yooba.org/plans\n\n\n\n\n\nContributors Reward Plan(2019.4.1~)\n\n\n\n\n\nplans to be online at 2019.4.1.After that time,The reward YOO for contributors mainly come from\n\n8%~10%Yooba productors's block reward.In the first three years, 10% of the block reward will\n\nbe allocated to contributors. From the fourth year, the block will reward 8% to contributors.\n\nIn addition, from the fourth year, 2% of the block reward will be allocated to the Yooba\n\nFoundation to develop Yooba.Top 100 contributors who are voted can get rewards.\n\nTeam members are not in the list.See more The following rules and quotas are not applicable to Yooba team members.Yooba mainnetplans to be online at 2019.4.1.After that time,The reward YOO for contributors mainly come from8%~10%Yooba productors's block reward.In the first three years, 10% of the block reward willbe allocated to contributors. From the fourth year, the block will reward 8% to contributors.In addition, from the fourth year, 2% of the block reward will be allocated to the YoobaFoundation to develop Yooba.Top 100 contributors who are voted can get rewards.Team members are not in the list.See more https://yooba.org/plans\n\n\n\n\n\nToken Issue Mechanism Considerations\n\n\n\nTotal 10 billion, annual inflation rate 1.5% to 5% (given after its mechanism)\n\nAirdrop 20% . They will start at 2018.5 and all will be released before 2018.9.30. 10,000 to 20000 Tokens per person (please save, they are very valuable in the future).See airdrop strategy https://blog.yooba.org/yooba-airdrop-strategy.html\n\n. They will start at 2018.5 and all will be released before 2018.9.30. 10,000 to 20000 Tokens per person (please save, they are very valuable in the future).See airdrop strategy https://blog.yooba.org/yooba-airdrop-strategy.html 40% is reserved for ICO.\n\n5% is available to early investors.You can join the early invest by clicking the \u0091Buy Yooba tokens\u0092 button. 5% is used for the initial project reward to Yooba development, propaganda, testing and other community contributors.\n\n18% is reserved for communities, ecological construction, and research. Such as logistics, insurance, storage and other basic services access. And business promotion, the introduction of big brands / large platforms, the creation of commonly used products / services. Push it to the public to improve the ecology. This 18% releases 1/16 every 3 months, and it is released in 4 years.\n\n12% is reserved for founding teams and core developers. This 12% releases 1/16 every 3 months, and it is released in 4 years.\n\n\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Evolet Technology has successfully moved many of their clients to move from physical stored into the new age marketing platform"}
-{"text": "Het aantal bijnamen neemt toe. Hij is de leider van de nuchtere landen. De aanvoerder van de Hanzebond, de noordelijke rebel van de Europese Unie. De aanvoerder van de nettobetalers. Premier Rutte staat volop in de internationale schijnwerpers. Vandaag spreekt hij in het Europees Parlement in Straatsburg.\n\nSteeds vaker wordt de Nederlandse premier gezien als de frontman van de kleine landen. De man die met enige autoriteit de groten in de EU Merkel en Macron kan tegenspreken. Met acht jaar premierschap op de teller, kan Rutte met enig gezag spreken in Europa. Hij is daarmee \u00e9\u00e9n van de langst zittende premiers.\n\nRutte heeft tijdens zijn premierschap een soort haat-liefde verhouding ontwikkeld met Europa. Hij vergeleek de politiek in Brussel wel eens met het Wilde Westen. \"We zitten met de huifkarren in een cirkel, daarbinnen hebben we stabiliteit en we proberen de boel buiten die cirkel ook stabiel te krijgen.\"\n\n'Feestcommissie'\n\nVoor het Europees Parlement was hij ook nooit echt vriendelijk. Hij noemde ze een feestcommissie op zoek naar een feest. Maar de houding van Rutte is veranderd. Tijdens het Nederlandse voorzitterschap zag Rutte dat Europa best handig is. Hij kon een deal sluiten over de vluchtelingen met Turkije. Maar hij zag ook de uitslag van het brexit-referendum in Groot-Brittanni\u00eb. De Europese Unie bleek voor de premier opeens toch een plek te zijn waar hij zaken voor Nederland kon veranderen.\n\nEn in het hart van dat Europa gaat hij vandaag spreken over de nieuwe wereld. Over nieuwe machtsverhoudingen waar hij een antwoord op moet geven."}
-{"text": "By Paul Carrel\n\nBERLIN, March 26 (Reuters) - It was the German Social Democrats' first electoral test under their new leader, Martin Schulz. They failed. Instead, voters in the state of Saarland flocked to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives on Sunday for fear of a new left-wing alliance.\n\n\"A damper for Schulzomania,\" the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily wrote in a Monday editorial as politicians in Berlin sought to evaluate the implications of the vote for the Sept. 24 national election in Germany, the European Union's pivotal member state.\n\nSchulz has led a revival in his Social Democrats' (SPD) poll ratings since winning the nomination as their leader in January. But the prospect of his centre-left party ruling with the far-left Linke in Saarland turned off voters there.\n\nBoth the SPD and Linke lost support from the 2012 vote after suggesting they could team up or form a \"red-red-green\" alliance with the environmentalist Greens. In the event, the Greens did not meet the 5 percent threshold to enter the state assembly.\n\nThe outcome is a setback for the prospects of such a left-leaning alliance ousting Merkel after September's vote, though drawing lessons for the federal vote from the Saarland result is problematic and \"red-red-green\" could yet prevail nationally.\n\nWith just 800,000 voters, Saarland is the size of just two of Berlin's residential districts. Merkel's conservatives also fielded a strong candidate in Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the state premier who has been nicknamed \"the Merkel from the Saar\".\n\n\"I know her. She is simply brilliant,\" said Hajo Funke, political scientist at Berlin's Free University, adding that Kramp-Karrenbauer had focused on competent government in Saarland and was not egocentric. \"So the 'Schulz effect' was curtailed, but it still exists.\"\n\nThe suggestion of an alliance of the SPD with the far-left Linke unnerves many voters in western Germany. But it is not a taboo in the east, where the Linke, the successor to the old East German Communist Party that rejects NATO and wants to lift the top income tax rate to 75 percent, already governs in a three-way leftist alliance in Berlin and Thuringia.\n\nSchulz played down the implications of Sunday's result for the national election, saying Saarland was a special case. He pointed to Oskar Lafontaine, a former SPD chairman who deserted the party for the Linke, which he heads in the western state. Years of poisoned relations between the two parties followed.\n\n\"I think there are only limited inferences that can be drawn from state elections for the whole country,\" Schulz said, appearing to leave open the possibility of cooperation with the Linke at national level.\n\nTwo more regional elections in May - in the far northern state of Schleswig-Holstein and the populous western region of North Rhine-Westphalia - offer the Social Democrats the chance to regain the initiative.\n\nPolls show the SPD leading in both states, though they underestimated the strength of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) in Saarland and overestimated support for the SPD.\n\nSTAGE VICTORY FOR MERKEL\n\nDespite the local caveats in Saarland, the message for the SPD is that the \"Schulz effect\" is not yet gaining enough traction despite a 10-point bounce in the party's national ratings since his nomination in January.\n\n\"It needs to deliver more,\" Funke said of the SPD. \"A lot depends on whether the SPD can be convincing when fleshing out its election campaign focused on social issues and Europe.\"\n\nSchulz is trying to win over dissatisfied working class voters with a message of social justice. Under Merkel, who has been in power for 11 years, Germany has enjoyed economic growth and high employment, but the gap between rich and poor has widened.\n\nVoters feel this sense of growing inequality but are loath to sacrifice the relative economic stability they enjoy under Merkel at a time when much of southern Europe is plagued by mass unemployment and neighbouring France is faring less well.\n\nUnderlining Germany's economic strength, a survey released on Monday showed German business morale touched its highest level in nearly six years in March.\n\n\"Schulz is speaking about the problems - he has talked about making nurseries and education free - but on economic and social issues, the CDU can say that Germany is doing far better than comparable neighbouring countries,\" said Funke.\n\nOn the long road to the Sept. 24 federal election, Saarland was a stage victory for the Christian Democrats.\n\n\"It is one result on a long path,\" Merkel told reporters. \"We have our feet well enough on the ground to know that all the problems for 2017 are not solved with this.\"\n\nAt national level, the SPD, Linke and Greens have held exploratory talks about forming a coalition to oust Merkel after September's vote, and have discussed refraining from attacking each other during the campaign.\n\nSchulz's challenge is to convince voters he will not be dragged too far to the left.\n\nA Forsa poll released on March 22 showed 59 percent of those asked wanted change in Germany's top leadership, possibly pointing to an appetite for a different coalition. But only 19 percent were in favour of a \"red-red-green\" alliance.\n\n\"Flirting with red-red does not go down well in this state,\" Kramp-Karrenbauer said after the Saarland vote. \"That should be a signal for the federal level too.\" (Editing by Mark Heinrich)"}
-{"text": "Third Way To Get RIAA To Drop Lawsuit: Accuse Them Of Extortion\n\nfrom the just-saying dept\n\nThank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone\u2019s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community. Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites \u2014 especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis. While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise \u2014 and every little bit helps. Thank you.\n\n\u2013The Techdirt Team\n\nEarlier today we pointed to one way not to respond to an RIAA lawsuit, but it appears there are a few more effective ways of fighting back. First, there were the cases that were dropped when the accused pointed out that many different people may have been responsible. Second, there was the case that was dropped when the guy died and the RIAA was made to look insensitive . Of course, they've also dropped a bunch of other cases in the past when it became clear that they had absolutely sued the wrong person, such as the time they sued Penn State Professor Peter Usher, assuming that some of his papers that were found on a file sharing system were music by the musician Usher . The fact that the courts let them off easy for each of these types of mistakes only encourages them to file more lawsuits -- since mistakes have no real consequence. It's that last point that's the problem.Earlier this week we pointed out that this had turned into a form of profitable lawsuit automation that bordered on extortion. It appears that last word is the magic word. Just a day after one person accused of file sharing filed a response that compared their tactics to extortion (while also pointing out she has no clue how to download music or what Kazaa is), the RIAA has dropped the case . It's quite likely it was the \"no idea how to download music\" part, rather than the extortion claims that actually caused them to drop the case, but it did happen rather quickly. There have been cases in the past that accused the RIAA of racketeering because of their lawsuits, but none have gone very far yet."}
-{"text": "Re: Read between the lines\n\nAs has been said, 'Shareholder Value' can be interpreted in many different ways. In fact, so many that the directors may actually do pretty much whatever they like. After all, you can always argue some sort of shareholder value. So, directors are in reality given almost total freedom to do whatever they like. In return, the shareholder can vote (at AGMs etc.) at regular intervals to change directors etc. if they wish to. One such reason might be that the shareholder does not believe the director is giving shareholder value. That's the risk the director takes in his/her decisions.\n\nSo, IBM directors could quite happily not have done this and accepted lower EPS for a quarter and simply said they thought it was right. It is then up to the shareholders to do something about it. They can vote at elections etc. or do things like sell the shares, where if enough do so, the shareprice will fall heavily. Of course, this affects the value of the directors shareholding, which is a primary reason why they don't tend to do anything that could negatively affect the shareprice. Given good shareholder returns will always tend to raise the shareprice as ROI is good/improves.\n\nIt has become increasingly common for the employee to be considered a resource and dealt with in a pretty poor way in many companies. However, if you look at history, you soon realise that treating employees badly often results in the company doing rather badly, as has been said in earlier replies. So, now, some more enlightened companies are beginning to realise that treating employees reasonably and doing things like honouring contracts is actually good for the business in the long run, even if the short term is affected. Additionally, more shareholders are realising this as well.\n\nAfter all IBM and HP (both companies that have treated their employees pretty poorly in the past) are doing so well now? Both seem to be heading downwards rapidly. Even if they can keep shareholder returns good for a few more years, it will come to an end at some point."}
-{"text": "There is an apt metaphor for the relationship between what we think of as conscious willpower and the openness of perception.\n\nThe egoic consciousnes is the helmsman of the boat as it heads along the river of experience, but he is positioned at the back of the boat crowded with passengers. While he controls the steering, he is driving blind and can\u2019t see what is coming. He primarily operates on memory and mental maps, habit and heuristics. He knows the river or else similar rivers, at least most of the time, as long as remains within the familiar. Still, his predictive abilities are limited and hence so are his steering abilities.\n\nThis is why a lookout is needed at the front of the boat. The lookout, although having no direct control, can give warnings. Stop! Don\u2019t go that direction! The lookout has the information the helmsman needs, but the helmsman only listens to the lookout when something is wrong. The lookout is the veto power of volition, what is called free-won\u2019t rather than freewill.\n\nI came across this metaphor from a Chacruna article by Martin Fortier, Are Psychedelic Hallucinations Actually Metaphorical Perceptions?:\n\n\u201cRecent neuroscientific models of the brain stress the importance of prediction within perceptual experience.3 The tenets of the predictive model of the brain can be described with a useful analogy: that of helmsmen steering collective boats on the rivers of lowland South America.\n\n\u201cIn the Amazon, to go from one riparian town to another, people usually take a collective boat. Most boats carry between 20 to 60 passengers. These boats are steered in an intriguing way. The helmsman is positioned at the rear part of the boat. Because of this, he cannot see much of the river; what he sees in front of him are mostly the backs of passengers. Yet, the helmsman critically needs to know in minute detail where he is going, as the river is replete with shallows and floating tree trunks that must be avoided by any means. The usual way to make sure that the helmsman is able to steer the boat safely is to position a lookout at the front part of the boat and to have him warn the helmsman in case anything dangerous shows up ahead.\n\n\u201cThe human perceptual system roughly works like these collective boats! \u201cPredictive models\u201d of perception strongly contrast with \u201cconstructive models,\u201d developed in the 1970s. According to constructive models of visual perception, the retina collects very gross and sparse information about the world, and each level of the visual system elaborates on this limited primary information and makes it gradually richer and more complex.4\n\n\u201cLet us say that the lookout stands for primary perceptual areas\u2014low-level areas of the brain\u2014and the helmsman stands for more frontal areas; the high-level areas of the brain. Furthermore, the trajectory of the boat stands for conscious perception. In the case of classical constructive models of the brain, perception is taken to be a gradual enrichment of information coming from lower areas of the brain. So, to use the boat analogy, constructive models of perception have it that the trajectory of the boat\u2014i.e., conscious perception\u2014is determined by the lookout sending warning signals to the helmsman\u2014i.e., by bottom-up processes.\n\n\u201cPredictive models conceive of perception in a very different way. The first step of determining the trajectory of the boat is the helmsman guessing, on the basis of his past experience, where the boat can safely go. So, within the predictive model, the lookout plays no constitutive role. The lookout influences the trajectory of the boat only when the helmsman\u2019s predictions are proved wrong, and when the lookout needs to warn him.\n\n\u201cTwo niceties must be added. First, bottom-up error signals can be variously weighted. In noisy or uncertain situations, bottom-up prediction errors have a smaller influence than usual:5 in noisy or uncertain situations, the lookout\u2019s warnings are not taken into account by the helmsman as much as usual. Second, in the boat analogy, there is only one lookout and one helmsman. In the brain, several duos of lookouts and helmsmen are working together, and each of these duos is specialized in a specific perceptual modality.\u201d\n\nThis usually works well. Still, the egoic consciousness can be tiring, especially when it attempts to play both roles. If we never relax, we are in a constant state of stress and anxiety. That is how we get suck in loops of thought, where what the helmsman imagines about the world becomes his reality and so he stops listening as much to the lookout.\n\nThis has become ever more problematic for humanity as the boundaries of egoic consciousness have rigidified. Despite egoic self-confidence, we have limited ability to influence our situation and, as research shows, overtaxing ourselves causes us to become ineffective. No matter how hard it tries, the ego-self can\u2019t force the ideology of freewill onto the world. Sometimes, we need to relax and allow ourselves to float along, with trust that the lookout will warn us when necessary.\n\nThere are many practices that help us with this non-egoic state. Meditation is the simplest, in which we train the mind to take a passive role but with full alertness. It allows the lookout to relax and take in the world without all of the nervous-inducing jerking around of a helmsman out of control while obsessed with control.\n\nAnother method is that of psychedelics, the experience of which is often referred to as a \u2018trip\u2019. Traditionally, a shaman or priest would have taken over the role of helmsman, allowing the participants to temporarily drop that role. Without someone else to play that role, a standard recommendation has been to let go and allow yourself to float along, just go with the current and trust where it takes you. In doing this, the environment is important in supporting this state of mind. This is a way of priming the mind with set and setting.\n\nRichard M. Doyle explained this strategy, in Darwin\u2019s Pharmacy (p. 18):\n\n\u201cIf psychedelics left any consistent trace on the literature of trip reports and the investigation of psychedelic states, it is that \u201cresistance\u201d is unlikely to be a useful tactic and that experiment is unavoidable. Leary, whose own \u201csetting\u201d was consistently clustered around practices of the sacred, offered this most compressed algorithm for the manipulation (\u201cprogramming\u201d) of psychedelic experience, a script asking us to experimentally give ourselves over to the turbulence: \u201cWhenever in doubt, turn off your mind, relax, float downstream.\u201d Such an experiment begins, but is not completed, by a serene letting go of the self under the pull of a transhuman and improbable itinerary. This letting go, of course, can be among the greatest of human achievements, the very goal of human life: Meister Eckhart, the fourteenth-century German heretic, reminds us that this gelassenheit is very old and not easily accomplished.\u201d\n\nFor anyone who has experienced it, the transformative power of psychedelics is undeniable. Many modern people find themselves near permanently stuck in egoic control mode, their hand ever on the steering mechanism. We don\u2019t easily let our guard down and we hardly can even imagine what that might feel like, until something shuts down that part of our mind-brain.\n\nIn a CBC interview with Bob McDonald, Michael Pollan explained why this happens and what exactly happens:\n\n\u201cThe observed effect, if you do brain imaging of people who are tripping, you find some very interesting patterns of activity in the brain \u2013 specifically something called the default mode network, which is a very kind of important hub in the brain, linking parts of the cerebral cortex to deeper, older areas having to do with memory and emotion. This network is kind of a regulator of all brain activities. One neuroscientist called it, \u2018The conductor of the neural symphony,\u2019 and it\u2019s deactivated by psychedelics, which is very interesting because the assumption going in was that they would see lots of strange activity everywhere in the brain because there\u2019s such fireworks in the experience, but in fact, this particular network almost goes off line.\n\n\u201cNow what does this network responsible for? Well, in addition to being this transportation hub for signals in the brain, it is involved with self reflection. It\u2019s where we go to ruminate or mind wander \u2013 thinking about the past or thinking about the future \u2013 therefore worrying takes place here. Our sense of self, if it can be said to have an address and real, resides in this particular brain network. So this is a very interesting clue to how psychedelics affect the brain and how they create the psychological experience, the experience in the mind, that is so transformative.\n\n\u201cWhen it goes off line, parts of the brain that don\u2019t ordinarily communicate to one another, strike up conversation. And those connections may represent what people feel during the psychedelic experience as things like synaesthesia. Synaesthesia is when one sense gets cross wired with another. And so you suddenly smell musical notes or taste things that you see.\n\n\u201cIt may produce insights. It may produce new metaphors \u2013 literally connecting the dots in new ways. Now that I\u2019m being speculative \u2013 I\u2019m going a little beyond what we\u2019ve established \u2013 we know there are new connections, we don\u2019t know what\u2019s happening with them, or which of them endure. But the fact is, the brain is temporarily rewired. And that rewiring \u2013 whether the new connections actually produce the useful material or just shaking up the system \u2013 \u2018shaking the snow globe,\u2019 as one of the neuroscientists put it, is what\u2019s therapeutic. It is a reboot of the brain.\n\n\u201cIf you think about, you know, mental illnesses such as depression, addiction, and anxiety, many of them involve these loops of thought that we can\u2019t control and we get stuck on these stories we tell ourselves \u2013 that we can\u2019t get through the next hour without a drink, or we\u2019re worthless and unworthy of love. We get stuck in these stories. This temporarily dissolves those stories and gives us a chance to write new stories.\u201d\n\nPsychedelics give the average person the rare opportunity of full-blown negative capability, as our egoic boundaries become thinner or disappear altogether. When the chatter of the ego-mind ceases, the passengers on the boat can hear themselves and begin talking among themselves. The bundle theory of the mind suddenly becomes apparent. We might even come to the realization that the ego was never all that much in control in the first place, that consciousness is a much more limited phenomenon."}
-{"text": "\u201cHe\u2019s one of the richest people on earth. He\u2019s an adult. He\u2019s 30-some years old. He can answer questions if he\u2019s the CEO. ... Stop juvenilizing men here in Silicon Valley.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s how Kara Swisher, co-founder and executive editor of the technology news website Recode, reacted to the treatment Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg received from lawmakers during his testimony on Capitol Hill last week. (Recode is owned by Vox\u2019s parent company, Vox Media.)\n\nSwisher was speaking on Politico\u2019s Women Rule podcast. She\u2019s a veteran tech journalist, hosts the Recode Decode podcast, and runs one of the most influential conference series in Silicon Valley. I reached out to her to find out more about why she thinks the media and lawmakers \u201cjuvenilize\u201d men in Silicon Valley, and what it will take to stop it.\n\nA lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows.\n\nSean Illing\n\nWhen you say that we \u201cjuvenilize\u201d male tech CEOs, what do you mean?\n\nKara Swisher\n\nWell, what I mean is this: Mark Zuckerberg is an adult person, and we still call him \u201cboy genius\u201d and we\u2019re still surprised that he wore a suit and we still wonder if it\u2019s going to be hard for him to testify before Congress. I find that odd, given that he\u2019s one of the richest and most powerful people on earth.\n\nWe tend to let people like Zuckerberg off the hook by treating them like boys. Zuckerberg didn\u2019t make a little mess like a child at dinner. He badly mismanaged his company, and the country paid a price for that. He has to own that, and we have to make him. Treating him like a child won\u2019t help.\n\nSean Illing\n\nYou\u2019ve been covering tech for a long time. Why do you think these men are treated this way? Have we just bought into the silly mythologies around Silicon Valley?\n\nKara Swisher\n\nSure. They dress in their little hoodies and they wear casual clothes and they stay in this state of perpetual youth, and we buy into it because they don\u2019t look like adults. And there are a lot of young people in tech, but the truth is that the most successful companies are run by older people, so it\u2019s a lie that these are mostly young kids running the show. But we perpetuate this idea all the time.\n\n\u201cZuckerberg didn\u2019t make a little mess like a child at dinner. He badly mismanaged his company, and the country paid a price for that.\u201d\n\nSean Illing\n\nThere\u2019s this vaguely libertarian idea, which people in Silicon Valley love to promulgate, that innovators need to be left alone to work their magic.\n\nKara Swisher\n\nRight, which is ridiculous. Bill Gates tried this routine in a more arrogant way with Microsoft years ago. He had this whole pose that said, \u201cI don\u2019t need you, I can\u2019t deal with you, I\u2019m over here innovating.\u201d But it\u2019s ridiculous. These people are obscenely wealthy, and they create these technologies and then they don\u2019t want to take responsibility for their creations.\n\nI saw this sort of attitude in Zuckerberg on Capitol Hill, and he\u2019s mostly allowed to get away with it. There are exceptions, of course, but many of the questions were soft and indirect. That\u2019s a problem. People like Zuckerberg and Gates have to take responsibility for the things they build, and people have to hold them accountable when they don\u2019t.\n\nSean Illing\n\nWhat price do we pay for not challenging these tech CEOs the way we should?\n\nKara Swisher\n\nThey\u2019re so cavalier about what they\u2019re doing. When Zuckerberg first become CEO, he had this business card that said, \u201cI\u2019m CEO, bitch,\u201d which is so juvenile and ridiculous. I mean, really? Then his next motto was, \u201cMove fast and break things.\u201d But if you break things, you have to fix them.\n\nI get the need to occasionally disrupt old ways so that you can build anew, but the idea that you can just break things \u2014 like, you know, a presidential election \u2014 and not take responsibility when it goes badly is insane, especially when you\u2019re making billions in the process.\n\nSean Illing\n\nDo you think lawmakers are just too shy, or do they simply not understand the people and technologies they\u2019re overseeing?\n\nKara Swisher\n\nI\u2019d like to say that it\u2019s too complicated for these lawmakers to understand, but it\u2019s their damn job. They know how to regulate banks, so don\u2019t tell me they can\u2019t get their hands around social media. But listening to that Zuckerberg hearing last week, it was pretty clear that most senators were unprepared and had no idea what they were talking about. That can\u2019t happen.\n\n\u201cMark Zuckerberg is an adult person, and we still call him \u2018boy genius\u2019\u201d\n\nSean Illing\n\nMost of these tech CEOs are white men, and that has a lot to do with how they\u2019re seen and treated. How different do you think it\u2019d be if we had more women tech CEOs and more women on boards?\n\nKara Swisher\n\nI don\u2019t know. We tend to praise white men; it\u2019s just the way it is in this country. But Sheryl Sandberg is a key executive at Facebook, so this particular problem is about more than gender. I recently asked the head of communications at Facebook if they had any irritants in their system. I wanted to know if there were people inside that building who don\u2019t agree with everyone else. I didn\u2019t get much of an answer.\n\nFacebook constantly brags about how \u201ccohesive\u201d they are, but I think we need less cohesion at these companies. We need people who are asking, \u201cWhat the hell are we doing?\u201d We need people who think differently, who have different life experiences, and more diversity is certainly the best way to do that.\n\nSean Illing\n\nI\u2019m not counting on that to happen anytime soon, just as I\u2019m not counting on tech companies to self-regulate. So where does that leave us? What will it take to push back?\n\nKara Swisher\n\nI don\u2019t know. Right now Congress can\u2019t even decide on lunch, so I don\u2019t expect them to do anything meaningful. And it\u2019s not exactly easy to get voters excited about regulating Facebook, in part because it\u2019s hard to explain and people don\u2019t fully understand the impact.\n\nBut I\u2019ll say this: Among the major tech companies \u2014 Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon \u2014 Facebook is the most vulnerable because it could unravel in much the way AOL did. It could be wildly popular one minute and then suddenly no one\u2019s using it anymore. Companies like Amazon and Google are much better protected against a collapse or backlash because they\u2019re involved in so many adjacent businesses. But that\u2019s not the case with Facebook, so Zuckerberg, more than anyone else, better figure it out soon."}
-{"text": "SD-WAN startup CloudGenix has banked $65 million funding and disclosed ambitious plans to partner with telcos and other communications service providers.\n\nBut it faces a crowded market, dominated by 800-pound gorillas Cisco and VMware, and will have a tough time standing out and finding customers against many entrenched competitors, according to Heavy Reading analyst Sterling Perrin.\n\nThe C round of funding brings the grand total for the company since its 2013 founding to $100 million, with participants in the current round including existing investors Bain Capital Ventures, Charles River Ventures, Mayfield Fund and Intel, as well as new investors including ClearSky Ventures.\n\nCloudGenix says its primary customer base is Fortune 1000 companies worldwide, including those in healthcare, retail, manufacturing, finance, banking, high-tech and hospitality.\n\nFor telcos, CloudGenix's SD-WAN provides an opportunity to extend into enterprise management services, while for managed service providers, CloudGenix lets them provide services over the cloud without getting tied down to a single telco or cable operator, CEO Kumar Ramachandran tells Light Reading.\n\nAnother claimed advantage for CloudGenix -- particularly with regard to telcos -- is that it can act as an alternative to NFV infrastructure for communications service providers looking to deploy services, such as security and unified communications, from the cloud. That's an extension of its existing strategy to provide SD-WAN capabilities that connect multiple locations for large enterprises, Ramachandran says.\n\n\"NFV is still struggling. It still has a long way to go,\" Ramachandran says. True enough: On the one hand, NFV has been gaining more traction recently, notably Equinix, Turkcell and Colt. And NFV is integral to VMware's and Intel's strategies. But many carriers are struggling to implement NFV, so much so that an emerging group is attempting to simplify the approach in an initiative known as \"Lean NFV.\"\n\nCloudGenix boss Ramachandran (second from left) and team.\n\nCloudGenix provides an alternative to achieve the same goals as NFV by bringing its SD-WAN to the customer premises and then partnering with other vendors to provide additional services from the cloud. CloudGenix is partnering with Palo Alto Networks, Symantec, and Zscaler for security, and Microsoft, RingCentral, Fuze, PagerDuty and ServiceNow for unified communications-as-a-service (UCaaS).\n\nThis approach is one already being used in Spain by Orange, which has been frustrated by NFV speedbumps.\n\nCloudGenix distinguishes itself by its technology, Ramachandran says; the company provides network orchestration based on application sessions, rather than packets. CloudGenix monitors WAN response time, and application response time, to maximize user experience. CloudGenix doesn't just report on potential causes of problems; it automatically acts to mitigate problems, which makes it stand out from its competitors, the CloudGenix boss asserts.\n\nActually, however, that does sound a lot like claims from Cisco, VMware, Juniper, startups Apstra and Nyansa, and more, all of which claim to use various combinations of analytics and artificial intelligence to manage networks to optimize user experience.\n\n\"The description of what's being done by a lot of these companies are very similar,\" Perrin says. \"I'm not seeing many differences in the overall feature set now.\"\n\nMoreover, technology isn't the point in the SD-WAN market today, he says.\n\n\"The market is just insanely crowded. You've got several dozen companies kicking around SD-WAN,\" he says. CloudGenix, like other SD-WAN providers, started with a focus on selling to enterprise customers, and is now looking at the service provider market for fresh opportunities. But the problem with that plan is that the service provider SD-WAN market, like the enterprise market, is already crowded with multiple suppliers, Perrin says.\n\n\"The grass may look greener -- but it might not be easy to make the jump from enterprise to service provider,\" Perrin said. (\"The grass might be greener but there are already plenty of cattle eating that grass?\" I said. \"Yes!\" Perrin replied.)\n\nHow crowded is this market? Analysts IHS Markit ranks CloudGenix virtually at the bottom of 15 SD-WAN vendors at the end of 2018.\n\nAlso, CloudGenix's competitors have been making strides recently: Aryaka just this week scored a big SD-WAN deal with HMSHost, the world's largest global operator of food and beverage outlets at airports, train and service stations (Motto: \"You know us from your expense report receipts.\"). Juniper launched a cloud SD-WAN service, Infovista relaunched its Ipanema SD-WAN, Versa expanded from the US to Europe. And Cisco scored a double-coup, partnering with both AT&T and Verizon on 5G SD-WAN services.\n\nIn that crowded market, service providers look to relationships as much as technology to close a deal, Perrin says. \"If you don't historically sell to service providers and you're trying to come into this strategy now, you're at a huge disadvantage there,\" he said.\n\nService providers also look to channel partners, where Cisco is very strong, Perrin said. CloudGenix comes up lean in that regard, with one it said it could name publicly: Wipro.\n\nYou're invited to attend Light Reading's Big 5G Event ! Formerly the Big Communications Event and 5G North America, Big 5G is where telecom's brightest minds deliver the critical insight needed to piece together the 5G puzzle. We'll see you May 6-8 in Denver -- communications service providers get in free!\n\nService providers weighing up SD-WAN vendors look to customer references as well, Perrin says. And CloudGenix couldn't provide any it could publicly name.\n\nIt's not that technology is worthless, Perrin says -- a vendor can win out on sheer performance, reliability, security and scalability. But the vendor has to prove it. And in the absence of proof, carriers look to market share, customers, revenue, and branding, says the Heavy Reading analyst\n\n\"Buyers are getting confused, they're looking for more clarity and simplicity about how they deploy these things,\" Perrin says. \"Why take the big risk when there are options out there? Service providers are looking to play it safe with vendors.\"\n\n\u2014 Mitch Wagner Executive Editor, Light Reading"}
-{"text": "According to a May 2015 Consumer Reports survey, 8 out of 10 American consumers say they would rather buy an American-made product over an imported one.\n\nEighty-four percent believe U.S.-made products are more reliable. And, 60 percent indicated they would be willing to pay 10 percent more for U.S.-made products.\n\nPrice, however, is a major barrier for most people. 56 percent of survey respondents think that American-made products are costly.\n\nWhen compared to imported, cheaply-made goods, yes, American-made products do cost more.\n\nU.S. manufacturers have to pay health insurance, meet OSHA and EPA regulations, pay high business insurance rates, and deal with other expenses that off-shored companies don\u2019t have.\n\nThe paying field isn\u2019t level.\n\nComparing prices between an item made elsewhere and one made here is like comparing apples to oranges.\n\nIn addition, buying American-made sometimes isn\u2019t easy.\n\nI\u2019ve found, for example, that a product will scream, \u201cMade in the USA!\u201d but when you read the label, you learn it was assembled here but the components were made elsewhere.\n\nWalmart, in fact, was busted by the Federal Trade Commission for misleading consumers with false labeling. (Good!)\n\nAnd lastly, sometimes you have to compromise because the supply chains here in the U.S. have dried up. For some things, you simply can\u2019t find American-made (e.g. smart phones).\n\nThe buyer\u2019s dilemma\n\nIn his book, The Omnivore\u2019s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, Michael Pollan talks about the choices we face in the grocery store.\n\nDo we buy organic or non-organic? Processed food or non-processed? GMO or non-GMO? High fat, low fat or no fat? Local, out-of-state or another country altogether?\n\nIf you\u2019re a thoughtful shopper looking for food grown and processed here in the U.S. without undue use of pesticides or non-GMO seeds, the grocery store can become a stressful place.\n\nIt takes time to read labels or dig around on shelves looking for out-of-the-way organic or locally grown or produced products.\n\nI\u2019ve often found myself standing in the middle of an aisle stuck with indecision: non-organic USA grown or organic, non-USA grown? (Ultimate decision: neither.)\n\nAll of this came into play when I ordered my new bike in June.\n\nSince about 2001, I\u2019ve been riding a \u201cdesigned in the USA, made in China\u201d Raleigh hybrid that I purchased back in the day when my now strapping 18-year old son fit into his child seat I installed on the back.\n\nWe spent many hours together riding around my town and on some local bike trails.\n\nThe bike has seen some hard use in its 15 years of service. My son rode it for a couple of years once he outgrew his bike.\n\nThen I took up cycling and began putting some real mileage on it. Last summer, I knew it had reached its end of life.\n\nThe gears were crunchy, the handle bars wobbled, and the bike creaked and groaned. Plus, it simply was too clunky and too heavy for the level at which I was now riding.\n\nWhen I walked into Cycles Etc. of NH earlier this spring, I quickly scanned the bikes on display and asked, \u201cDo you have anything American-made?\u201d\n\n\u201cI sure do,\u201d said Jamie Chatigny, one of the experts who works in the shop. He proceeded to pull a bike off the rack. \u201cThis is as Made-in-America as you\u2019re going to get because I built it.\u201d\n\nOh, wow. Custom. I hadn\u2019t considered that option but once we started talking about it, it made sense.\n\nHe asked me how and where I rode my bike and what my goals were. Basically, I wanted a bike that would allow me to simply get on it and ride \u2014 without worry.\n\nI ride because it clears my head. I ride because it brings me joy.\n\nThe buyer\u2019s dilemma happened when we discussed components. I really wanted a \u201cMade-in-the-USA\u201d bike.\n\nJamie told me about Gunnar, a Wisconsin-based company that makes custom frames and forks. But the components . . . a few he could get here in the U.S. but others he couldn\u2019t.\n\nSo, I compromised. I went with the Gunnar frame/forks.\n\nThe components came from various companies and countries. I asked only that he purchase from companies that didn\u2019t rely on exploited labor. \u201cYep, I get it,\u201d Jamie said.\n\nWhat I learned through this process\n\nOur society is geared toward instant gratification.\n\nWhen I walked into the bike shop initially, I could have purchased a bike that very day.\n\nBy going custom, I had to cool my jets. It took over a month for the frame/forks to be manufactured and then shipped.\n\nIt took another week for the parts to come in. Then, it took a couple of weeks for Jamie to build the bike.\n\nThis wait built anticipation . . . something we\u2019ve lost with instant gratification, I realized.\n\nAnticipation is a delicious feeling. It also increases our happiness, according to Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage.\n\nWe\u2019ve also lost our appreciation for true craftsmanship. We\u2019ve become immune to things not lasting long or falling apart.\n\nIndeed, we\u2019ve become a throw-away society because things can be so cheaply made off-shore.\n\nSince taking possession of my bike, I\u2019ve spent a great deal of time admiring Jamie\u2019s craftsmanship.\n\nIt\u2019s elegant \u2014 that\u2019s the only word I can find to describe it. Looking at it, I can tell he put his heart into building a beautiful bike.\n\nBeauty, elegance, and attention to detail. Pride in one\u2019s work. Most importantly, trust.\n\n\u201cI trust that guy with my life\u201d\n\nA June 2015 Gallup poll indicates that Americans have lost trust in large institutions.\n\nWhat they haven\u2019t lost trust in is small business.\n\nWe continue to trust small business because we\u2019re able to do business with people one-to-one.\n\nWe get to know the owners and they get to know us. We build relationships. We connect emotionally. If we\u2019re lucky, we connect spiritually as well.\n\nShortly after placing the order for my bike, I was in the Benjamin Moore paint store (the paint being another U.S. made product).\n\nAs I do everywhere I go, I chatted with the shop owner. We talked about U.S. manufacturing and I mentioned I had recently purchased a custom bike.\n\nAnother customer overheard me and said, \u201cOh, where?\u201d\n\nWhen I told him, he said, \u201cJamie, right? He\u2019s the best. You could throw one of his bikes off a cliff and it would remain intact. He built my bike and my girlfriend\u2019s bike. I trust that guy with my life.\u201d\n\nNow that\u2019s some testimonial.\n\nAnd, it\u2019s the bottom line of why we do business with people we trust.\n\nAs I rode my bike on its maiden voyage earlier this week, all I could do was grin ear-to-ear \u2014 with a few \u201cwoohoos!\u201d thrown in.\n\nThe bike rides like a dream. And knowing it was built by someone with whom I formed a connection is simply the icing on the cake.\n\nWant more Made in the USA stories like this?\n\nSubscribe to Manufacturing Marketing Magazine \u2014 the only magazine with practical marketing strategies for industrial manufacturers.\n\nUse the sign-up form below."}
-{"text": "For those of us avoiding soy and processed foods, this is the perfect spread for a bagel, toast or crackers! The white beans provide a nice creamy texture while cashews add richness, eliminating the need for any added oil. Spread this on plain or top with lettuce and tomato for a quick and yummy lunch.\n\nIngredients\n\n1 generous cup cooked Navy beans\n\n1/3 cup raw Cashews\n\n2 tbsp fresh Lemon juice\n\n3-4 tbsp unsweetened non-dairy Milk\n\n2 tbsp chopped Chives\n\nSea salt, to taste\n\nMethod"}
-{"text": "Suspect in On-Air Shooting Dies From Self-Inflicted Wound The two victims were reporting on a tourism story at the time.\n\n\u0097 -- A former reporter who was named as the suspect in an on-air TV shooting this morning has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said today.\n\nVester Lee Flanagan, who was known professionally as Bryce Williams, died at a Fairfax, Virginia, hospital at about 1:30 p.m., about seven hours after he allegedly shot two of his former colleagues.\n\nThe Virginia State Police reported that they spotted his vehicle at 11:30 a.m. and tried to pull him over, but he sped away before his car \"ran off the road and crashed.\"\n\nWhen troopers approached the vehicle, they \"found the male driver suffering from a gunshot wound,\" and he was transported to a nearby hospital, state police said in a Facebook post.\n\nMeanwhile, sometime between Tuesday night and this morning, ABC News received a fax from someone claiming to be Bryce Williams. It is a lengthy document: 23 pages. ABC News has turned it over to authorities.\n\nAlison Parker, 24, and Adam Ward, 27, were killed in the field during a live news segment in Moneta, Virginia, according to their station, WDBJ-TV, a CBS affiliate serving the Roanoke-Lynchburg television market.\n\nA third person, Vicki Gardner, whom Parker was interviewing when she was injured in the shooting, is out of surgery and in stable condition, Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital said.\n\nWDBJ president and general manager Jeffrey A. Marks confirmed that Williams used to work at the station but was dismissed two years ago. Marks described him as \"an unhappy man\" who was dismissed after he \"quickly became known for a reputation for being difficult to work with.\"\n\nMarks said Williams was \"looking out for people to say things that he would take offense too.\"\n\nThe shooting was reported at 6:45 a.m.\n\nFranklin County school officials said three schools were on lockdown in the area of the shooting and that police officers were offering additional security.\n\nThe shooting itself took place at Bridgewater Plaza, a recreational facility with shops, restaurants, a mini golf course and boat rentals, where Parker and Ward were reporting on the 50th anniversary of Smith Mountain Lake.\n\nMarks, the station president, went on the air this morning confirming the two deaths and noting that both victims were in relationships with other staffers at the station. Chris Hurst, who was dating Parker, posted tributes on his Twitter feed:\n\nMarks said it was his \"very very sad duty\" to report their deaths, and noted that the shooting is under investigation. \"We have other members of the team with us today holding back tears, frankly,\" Marks said.\n\nHe said Parker was a graduate of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, while Ward was a graduate of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.\n\nMarks and the anchors confirmed on air that Ward's fiancee was a morning producer at the station who was celebrating her last day at work today before starting a new job. Parker reportedly brought in balloons as part of the celebration before going out for the fatal live report.\n\nJay Webb, the news director at ABC affiliate station WHSV-TV in Harrisonburg (about two hours away) who had previously worked at WDBJ for several years, said he knew both victims. \"Unthinkable,\" he told ABC News this morning, adding that he was especially close to Ward. \"It\u2019s a very hard time in our newsroom here this morning, as it is, I\u2019m sure, across newsrooms across the country this morning.\"\n\nHe said he also knew Parker because she recently interned at his station before getting the job at WDBJ, which is owned by Schurz Communications of South Bend, Indiana.\n\n\"Alison was vibrant,\" he said. \"Both extremely good people, will be missed.\"\n\nGet real-time updates as this story unfolds. To start, just \"star\" this story in ABC News' phone app. Download ABC News for iPhone here or ABC News for Android here. To be notified about our live weekend digital reports, tap here."}
-{"text": "Une enqu\u00eate d\u2019opinion men\u00e9e pour la BBC britannique r\u00e9v\u00e8le une progression quasi g\u00e9n\u00e9rale de l\u2019ath\u00e9isme. Une \u00e9volution particuli\u00e8rement marqu\u00e9e en Tunisie et dans les autres pays d\u2019Afrique du Nord.\n\nNOUVEAU HORS - SERIE L\u2019Atlas de l\u2019eau vous invite \u00e0 comprendre les enjeux de l\u2019eau dans le monde en plus de 30 cartes et infographies. > Commander\n\nR\u00c9SERV\u00c9 AUX ABONN\u00c9S \u00c0 gagner, des DVD du film Nuestras madres de C\u00e9sar D\u00edaz. Je participe >\n\nPACK RENTR\u00c9E GYMGLISH Choisissez vos langues pr\u00e9f\u00e9r\u00e9es et pr\u00e9parez la rentr\u00e9e avec des cours en ligne dr\u00f4les et personnalis\u00e9s. 1 mois d\u2019essai gratuit >\n\n\u201cLa jeunesse arabe commence-t-elle \u00e0 tourner le dos \u00e0 la religion ?\u201d s\u2019interroge le site de la BBC arabe. \u201cOn d\u00e9peint g\u00e9n\u00e9ralement le monde arabe comme religieux, conservateur et homog\u00e8ne. Mais en \u00e9coutant les habitants, une tout autre image se d\u00e9gage\u201d, poursuit le site.\n\nUn sondage men\u00e9 pour la BBC par le r\u00e9seau de recherches Arab Barometer, un organisme ind\u00e9pendant, aupr\u00e8s de plus de 25 000 habitants dans 10 pays [Alg\u00e9rie, \u00c9gypte, Irak, Jordanie, Liban, Libye, Maroc, Soudan, Tunisie, Y\u00e9men] plus les territoires palestiniens, entre fin 2018 et le printemps 2019, montre un large \u00e9ventail d\u2019opinions sur divers sujets.\u201d\n\nParmi les r\u00e9sultats les plus marquants, il y a sans conteste la progression du pourcentage de personnes se disant \u201cnon-religieuses\u201d, qui passe de 8 % en 2013 \u00e0 13 % aujourd\u2019hui, et m\u00eame 18 % parmi les moins de 30 ans.\n\nL\u2019\u00e9volution est surtout \u00e0 l\u2019\u0153uvre au Maghreb, en Egypte et au Soudan. En Tunisie, le taux passe d\u2019environ 15 % \u00e0 plus d\u2019un tiers de la population globale, en Libye d\u2019un peu moins de 10 % \u00e0 environ un quart. Partant d\u2019un taux beaucoup plus faible en 2013, le Maroc et l\u2019\u00c9gypte enregistrent d\u00e9sormais un taux bien au-dessus de 10 %. Seul le Y\u00e9men a connu un recul de la proportion de personnes \u201cnon-religieuses\u201d.\n\nAutre r\u00e9sultat spectaculaire : un tiers des habitants du monde arabe songent \u00e0 \u00e9migrer. Avec de fortes disparit\u00e9s, puisque au Soudan, c\u2019est presque la moiti\u00e9. En revanche, la destination Europe recule l\u00e9g\u00e8rement dans les intentions, \u00e0 66 %, tandis que 36 % voudraient aller en Am\u00e9rique du Nord, et 12 % dans les pays du Golfe.\n\nPar ailleurs, pour la plupart des personnes interrog\u00e9es, une femme serait admise pour occuper le poste de pr\u00e9sident ou de Premier ministre, avec des chiffres qui vont jusqu\u2019\u00e0 trois quarts au Liban."}
-{"text": "You won\u2019t see this reported with any intellectual honesty or accuracy, let alone high visibility, because the truth no longer fits the progressive media narrative.\n\nAfter spending dozens of hours and infinite numbers of media predictions claiming the death of a Texas District attorney was most likely caused by the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, the truth comes out and it\u2019s nothing of the sort. Not even close\u2026.\n\nTEXAS \u2013 The wife of a former North Texas justice of the peace implicated her husband in the shooting deaths of a local district attorney, his wife and an assistant prosecutor, according to court records filed Wednesday.\n\nMike and Cynthia McLelland \u2013 Murdered in Texas\n\nAn arrest affidavit revealed Kim Lene Williams told investigators Tuesday that her husband, Eric Lyle Williams, was the triggerman in the slayings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, and assistant prosecutor Mark Hasse. McLelland and Hasse prosecuted Eric Williams last year for theft of three computer monitors.\n\nKim Williams was arrested early Wednesday and charged with capital murder. Eric Williams has been in custody, charged with making terroristic threats. He has not been charged in the slayings.\n\nThe affidavit says Kim Williams \u201cdescribed in detail her role along with that of her husband.\u201d However, the document does not outline what Kim Williams\u2019 alleged role was.\n\nAfter Eric Williams was convicted of theft, he lost his elected position as justice of the peace \u2014 a judge who handles mostly administrative duties \u2014 and his law license. He was sentenced to probation.\n\nThe McLellands were found dead March 30, two months after Hasse was slain.\n\nThe officer who signed the affidavit, Kaufman County Sheriff\u2019s Sgt. Matt Woodall, said he had learned from other officers and county employees that Hasse and Mike McLelland both believed Williams blamed them for the loss of his job and carried handguns because they thought he was \u201ca threat to their personal safety.\u201d\n\nKim Williams was being held on $10 million bond at the Kaufman County Jail, sheriff\u2019s spokesman Lt. Justin Lewis said. He declined to answer questions Wednesday about the investigation but said families of the victims would be briefed on the case.\n\nHer husband is being held on $3 million bond.\n\nA probable cause affidavit says the former justice of the peace sent an email one day after the McLellands\u2019 bodies were discovered implying there would be another attack if authorities didn\u2019t respond to various demands. (read more with video)"}
-{"text": "SINGAPORE - A paedophile, who sexually violated the eight-year-old son of a friend despite the valiant efforts of another boy to protect the victim, pleaded guilty in the High Court on Wednesday (Feb 13).\n\nThe prosecution is seeking at least 12 years' preventive detention for Sanusi Ahmad, 57, a recalcitrant offender who has spent a large part of his life behind bars since he was 26.\n\nThe current offences were committed less than a year after he was released from jail for molesting and threatening a 29-year-old woman with a knife in 2013 after she rejected his sexual advances.\n\nThe boy and his mother, a single parent who depended on social welfare, lived at a rental flat with another woman and her son, who was the same age as the victim.\n\nSanusi was a friend of the boy's mother and would occasionally visit the flat.\n\nOne day in June 2016, he turned up at the flat unannounced, while both women were sleeping in the living room and the two boys were playing in the bedroom.\n\nThe witness was absorbed in playing mobile games and did not pay attention to what Sanusi was doing in the bedroom until he heard the victim shouting \"abang, help me, help me\". Abang is Malay for older brother.\n\nWhen he looked up, the witness saw Sanusi performing a sexual act on the victim.\n\nShocked, he told the man to stop his disgusting acts. But Sanusi stared at him menacingly and asked the witness to sit on the bed with him as well.\n\nThe witness tried to pull the victim away but was physically blocked by the man. He watched helplessly as Sanusi performed oral sex on the victim, who was begging the man to stop.\n\nSanusi asked the boys to touch him but they refused. He left after giving the witness $10.\n\nThe sexual assault came to light after the boys' mothers became suspicious.\n\nThe witness's mother wondered why her son received $10 from the man.\n\nMeanwhile, the victim's mother noticed that in the days following the incident, Sanusi kept engineering opportunities to be close to her son, even though the boy seemed averse to him.\n\nUnder questioning, the victim revealed that Sanusi had touched him inappropriately.\n\nHis mother confronted the man, but he denied any wrongdoing. A neighbour who heard the commotion called the police.\n\nAccording to a child psychiatrist's report, the victim was shy, spoke with a stutter and has learning difficulties.\n\nThe accused, who is sexually attracted to boys aged 10 to 12, said he preyed on the victim as he found the boy \"cute\".\n\nHe pleaded guilty to one charge of sexual penetration of a minor. Five other charges, including two for showing a pornographic video to the two boys, were taken into consideration.\n\nDeputy Public Prosecutor Yvonne Poon argued that Sanusi was a menace to society who should be taken out of circulation to protect the public. Among his criminal history, he was sentenced to seven years' preventive detention in 1996 for molesting two 10-year-old boys.\n\nThe court called for a report to assess if he was suitable for preventive detention. The case will be heard again on March 13.\n\nA psychiatric report stated Sanusi has alcohol use disorder, paedophilic disorder, and gender dysphoria, a condition in which people identify with a gender different from the one they were born with.\n\nAccording to past media reports, Sanusi lived as a woman for six years and took female hormone pills but decided in 1991 that he wanted to be a man again."}
-{"text": "inFamous: Second Son\u2019s official European box sleeve has been revealed, confirming that the game requires a 24GB install to run.\n\nIt follows this new pair of inFamous: Second Son screens and PSN Europe\u2019s inFamous sale.\n\nNow; PlayStation France Community Coordinator PixelTux has posted the game\u2019s full box art \u2013 both front and back \u2013 revealing the game\u2019s install size.\n\nHe then tweeted a close-up of the rear cover:\n\nNote the 24GB install size.\n\ninFamous: Second Son drops March 21 on PS4. Any takers?\n\nSubscribe to the VG247 newsletter Get all the best bits of VG247 delivered to your inbox every Friday! Enable JavaScript to sign up to our newsletter\n\nVia DualShockers."}
-{"text": "The United States Signal Service, referred to in text, is now the Signal Corps which is a branch of the Army, see section 3063 of Title 10 , Armed Forces.\n\nTransfer of Functions\n\nWeather Bureau of Department of Commerce consolidated with Coast and Geodetic Survey to form a new agency in Department of Commerce to be known as Environmental Science Services Administration by Reorg. Plan No. 2 of 1965, eff. , 30 F.R. 8819, 79 Stat. 1318, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees. All functions of Bureau transferred to Secretary of Commerce by the Plan.\n\nEnvironmental Science Services Administration abolished by Reorg. Plan No. 4 of 1970, eff. , 35 F.R. 15627, 84 Stat. 2090, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, which created National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Department of Commerce. By Department Organization Order 25\u20135A, republished 39 F.R. 27486, Secretary of Commerce delegated to NOAA his functions relating to Weather Bureau. By order of Acting Associate Administrator of NOAA, the organization name of Weather Bureau was changed to National Weather Service. For further details, see Codification note under section 311 of Title 15, Commerce and Trade."}
-{"text": "The launch of the Atomic Age was marked by a belief that nuclear power would solve all of humanity\u2019s problems on Earth and beyond.\n\nHarnessed atomic energy would be \u201ctoo cheap to meter\u201d and power every home, car, and aircraft. Nuclear-powered irrigation systems and desalination plants would put a permanent end to global hunger and thirst, ushering in an era of peace and plenty.\n\nThe vision also went far beyond these controlled-reaction schemes: the atomic bomb was supposed to render all other explosives obsolete.\n\nTeams involved in Operation Plowshare suggested using nukes for everything from widening the Panama Canal to excavating mountain passes and helping mine natural resources. A proposed new sea-level waterway through Nicaragua, to be carved out using nukes, was nicknamed the Pan-Atomic Canal. There was even a proposal by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to blast deep holes (also using nukes) into which nuclear waste would be disposed.\n\nBeyond these terrestrial applications, atomic energy would take us not just to the moon, but deeper into (and perhaps even beyond) our solar system. It would accomplish this (inter)stellar feat not through controlled reactions, but by sequentially detonating hundreds of powerful thermonuclear devices both on Earth and in space.\n\nCommissioned to study nuclear pulse propulsion in the the 1950s, Project Orion aimed to reach Mars by 1965 and Saturn by 1970. The premise was simple: a series of semi-controlled nuclear explosions would launch and accelerate a spacecraft into and beyond orbit. The nukes would be ejected out the back and detonated. A \u201cpusher plate\u201d behind the vehicle would help absorb shocks and keep passengers safe as they were propelled into space, one bomb blast at a time.\n\n\u201cThe propellant is vaporized into a jet of plasma by the bomb,\u201d explains theoretical physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson. \u201cIn contrast to a rocket, which pushes the propellant away from the ship, Orion pushes the ship away from the propellant \u2013 by ejecting slow-moving propellant, igniting the bomb and then bouncing some of the resulting fast-moving propellant off the bottom of the ship.\u201d\n\nThe proposed craft itself would be a massive and luxurious affair hosting hundreds of scientists, astronauts, and crew members, not the cramped nuts-and-bolts designs we associate with spaceflight today. It was calculated that it would take about 600 detonations, totaling 100 megatons, to boost a generous 20-story spaceship into a 300-mile Earth orbit. Ambitious initial designs called for a 4000-ton ship boosted by 2600 bombs, able to send a 600-ton payload into space.\n\nIn theory, detonating one bomb every three 3 minutes for 10 days would make it possible to propel an interstellar spacecraft to 7% of the speed of light, letting it reach the nearest star in about 50 years. In practice, smaller-scale tests (now declassified) show non-nuclear prototypes in action:\n\nThanks to the fuel efficiency of this approach, and the general zeal of the era, Orion project designers were not particularly concerned with minimization or, really, playing it safe (or small) in any way. If anything, NASA was simply at a loss for what to do with so much payload capacity, which far exceeded the demands of any of its planned space missions at the time.\n\nHowever, there were some concerns about the secondary effects of this bomb-based propulsion system.\n\nOne problem, of course, was fallout. Any land-based launches would directly create problems on Earth, but even using conventional rocket fuel to get to space would create effects as the fallout made its way back into the atmosphere over time. A single launch, it was estimated, would indirectly sicken and kill from one to ten people on Earth.\n\nThere were further concerns that the pusher plate might not survive the repeated explosions. Timing and trajectories also had to be perfect and were seen as potentially hard to manage, since the detonations were to take place outside of the craft in open (air or) space.\n\nThe Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963 and a general pivot to focus on a near-Earth moon mission largely put an end to the Orion project, but the idea of using explosive nuclear power has been revived in other forms, including fusion and fission pellets (employing, for instance, antimatter catalyzed nuclear pulse propulsion units).\n\nSmaller sequences of explosions would allow for more human-tolerable acceleration for manned missions. This approach would also address concerns about safety and flight control.\n\nFor non-manned missions: heavy explosion-fueled crafts could be useful in emergency situations, like intercepting, detonating and scattering the remains of asteroids on a collision course with Earth. Indeed, as George Dyson argues, this may be the only off-the-shelf technology we have for such extreme cases, creating a good reason for NASA to keep Project Orion designs and technology on hand.\n\nProject Orion has also left its imprint on science fiction books, TV shows, and films. The mini-series Ascension, inspired in part by the project, is set in the present but posits an intergenerational crew of colonists, supposedly sent on a secret deep space mission launched in the 1960s. In the original Star Trek, the crew find an old ship powered by \u201cOrion-class nuclear pulse engine.\u201d Arthur C. Clarke considered something similar to fuel his fictional craft Discovery in 2001: A Space Odyssey.\n\nToday, while conventional rocket fuel is the go-to method for getting out of the planet\u2019s atmosphere, there is still a place for nuclear power, just not on the explosive scale at which it was once imagined. Current missions often employ small fission systems or radioactive decay, generating heat that can be converted to electricity in a controlled fashion.\n\nThe famously tenacious Curiosity rover is powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG), producing electricity from the heat of radioactive decay. Launched in 2011, this robotic explorer has far exceeded its mission-specified timeline and is still roaming Mars and relaying its findings to Earth, thanks in no small part to extreme dreamers of the nuclear era."}
-{"text": "Wants to get Karma from Overly Attached Girlfriend Meme Doesn't know what an overly attached girlfriend does\n\n239,870 shares"}
-{"text": "Foul play is not suspected in the death.\n\nThere has been shock and sadness at the sudden death of a PSNI officer at a Co Antrim police station.\n\nHe was Inspector Peter Magowan and he died in an incident at Ballymoney police station on Monday.\n\nThe man's colleagues were informed on Tuesday.\n\nSuperintendent Tony Callaghan added: \"Police are investigating the sudden death of a 55-year-old police officer in Ballymoney Police Station on April 18.\n\n\"We are not treating the death as suspicious.\n\n\"The Police Ombudsman office has been informed.\"\n\nNorth Antrim DUP Assembly candidate Mervyn Storey said: \"As someone who lives in Ballymoney, there is real shock in the town that a police officer has been found dead in the local station.\n\n\"My team actually had a meeting in the station yesterday to deal with some local issues. Whilst I didn\u2019t know the officer personally, I knew of him. My prayers are with his family and the wider police family in Ballymoney.\u201d\n\nNorth Antrim MP Ian Paisley described it as \"very sad occurrence\".\n\nSo sorry to hear of the death of a police officer in Ballymoney. Thoughts and prayers are with the officer's family at this time \u2014 David McIlveen (@DavidRMcIlveen) April 19, 2016\n\nBelfast Telegraph"}
-{"text": "'4th Trimester' Problems Can Have Long-Term Effects On A Mom's Health\n\nEnlarge this image toggle caption Mirko Pradelli/EyeEm/Getty Images Mirko Pradelli/EyeEm/Getty Images\n\nMelody Lynch-Kimery had a fairly routine pregnancy. But when she got to the hospital for delivery, she says, things quickly turned frightening.\n\nAfter an emergency cesarean section, Lynch-Kimery hemorrhaged; she heard later she'd lost about half the blood in her body.\n\n\"I just kept thinking 'I'm not going to die. I'm not going to die. I'm not going to let you let me die,' \" she says.\n\nAfter that traumatic experience, Lynch-Kimery spent a week in the hospital. She went home with her newborn daughter, Sawyer, thinking her delivery complications were resolved.\n\nThen, about three months later, she started to feel pain in her lower abdomen.\n\n\"Just randomly, one day I started to have a lot of burning,\" she remembers. \"Just a lot of cramping \u2014 a lot of pain around my scar area.\"\n\nShe spent months seeing doctors and researching her symptoms online. The pain, she eventually learned, was likely caused by abdominal adhesions \u2014 scar tissue beneath and around her C-section incision.\n\nAbout a third of all U.S. deliveries are by C-section, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\n\n\"Anywhere from 6 to 18 percent of those [women] will end up with chronic pain in their scar,\" says Jennifer Wasserman, a physical therapist who studies chronic pain after C-sections.\n\nChronic pain is just one health concern women can struggle with after giving birth. Some, like Lynch-Kimery, who have complicated pregnancies or deliveries, can also see long-lasting effects to their physical and mental health.\n\nRisks during pregnancy\n\nAmong developed countries, the United States has the highest rate of death among pregnant women and new mothers. And for every woman who dies, dozens more come close. Lynch-Kimery is biracial, and that's another risk factor, research suggests; among Americans of color, rates of maternal mortality in the U.S. are particularly high.\n\nMany women who become pregnant already have chronic conditions like high blood pressure and obesity that can negatively impact their pregnancy and future health. Others develop health problems during pregnancy.\n\nThe two major pregnancy and delivery complications women face are pre-eclampsia (a condition marked by high blood pressure, swelling and signs of damage to the kidney or liver), and gestational diabetes \u2014 a form of the illness that develops during pregnancy.\n\n\"Both of these conditions are associated with basically a doubling in their lifelong risk for cardiovascular disease,\" says Dr. Lisa Hollier, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. \"What we're seeing is that pregnancy can act as sort of a natural stress test.\"\n\nHollier says most complications of pregnancy ease after delivery. But some women see a long-lasting impact.\n\nA 2017 review of studies found that women with gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia and preterm delivery had higher risks of heart disease, diabetes and stroke.\n\n\"The fact that [a woman] has these complications during pregnancy ... can be used as a warning sign to her and to her physician that she is at future risk for long-term problems,\" Hollier says.\n\nMental health problems after a tough birth can be seen as a complication, too, she says.\n\n\"Some situations, like having a preterm birth of a baby that goes to the neonatal intensive care unit, are also associated with a mom developing postpartum depression,\" Hollier says.\n\n\"It's really important to be sure that a woman is receiving integrated care \u2014 so that her mental health is not seen as completely separate from her physical health.\"\n\nMany moms neglect their own health after a baby's birth\n\nOne problem is that many women don't seek medical care in the busy months after delivery. Doctors generally advise new mothers to come back for a checkup between six and 12 weeks after giving birth. But 20 to 40 percent of women don't get to that appointment, studies suggest. And those rates of follow-up are even lower for mothers on Medicaid, who account for more than half of all births.\n\nOther research suggests that 15 percent of women don't have a primary care doctor after delivery.\n\n\"Women who are young don't go to the doctor every year unless they've got a problem, so they're not being monitored,\" says Susan Groth, a nurse practitioner and associate professor in the school of nursing at the University of Rochester, in Rochester, N.Y.\n\nWith a grant from the National Institutes of Health, Groth and several colleagues have a longitudinal study in the works to examine how pregnancy affects a mother's health in the three years following delivery.\n\nThey hope to fill gaps in research that has, in the past, largely focused on just the first few post-birth months.\n\n\"The studies have not looked at women long enough to see what really changes over time,\" Groth says. \"Does pregnancy make a difference in their health, or is that really just this incident that happens, and then everybody goes back to normal?\"\n\nMind the \"fourth trimester\"\n\nACOG now recommends that women see their doctor three weeks after delivery \u2014 or sooner, if there have been complications.\n\n\"Women with high blood pressure, for example, are often seen within the first five to seven days after the delivery,\" Hollier says. \"We really believe that to best optimize the health of women, the postpartum care should really be process \u2014 not a visit.\"\n\nShe and her colleagues say such care should continue throughout what they call the \"fourth trimester.\"\n\nDuring this period, doctors help women transition into more routine care and connect them to follow-up services, like physical therapy.\n\nLynch-Kimery now travels an hour from her home in Bloomington to Indianapolis every few weeks to see physical therapist Camille Fenwick.\n\n\"So, tell me how you been feeling since I've seen you last,\" Fenwick asks at the start of a recent appointment.\n\nLynch-Kimery tells the physical therapist the pain has been \"on and off,\" recently. It's better, she says, after the stretching exercises Fenwick showed her. But the pain is worse when she exercises too long.\n\nFenwick lightly massages the 6-inch C-section scar on Lynch-Kimery's lower abdomen.\n\n\"I'm kind of going across that scar and getting those little muscles around it to help it to loosen up a little bit,\" Fenwick explains. She's checking for any little places that seem \"kind of stuck,\" she says, and monitoring to see when and where Lynch-Kimery feels the pain.\n\nAfter the exam, Lynch-Kimery stretches on an exercise ball and with a Pilates machine, working to strengthen her core abdominal muscles and pelvic floor.\n\nShe says she isn't sure how long she'll need physical therapy for the scar tissue pain, and the costs of the sessions add up. Those bills have kept her from seeking other needed postpartum care, she says \u2014 such as counseling to address the traumatic aspects of the delivery.\n\n\"I'd love to be free of it,\" she says. \"I'd love to not have to worry about it.\" For now, she's focusing on her daughter and making the best of a health problem she never anticipated.\n\nThis story was produced by WFYI and Side Effects Public Media, a news collaborative covering public health."}
-{"text": "\u24b8 ANP\n\nDiversiteitsgedram, opgefokte zwartepietendiscussies, klagen over achterstelling en racisme. De door linkse politici omarmde \u2019diversiteitspolitiek\u2019 is levensgevaarlijk. Het verscheurt samenlevingen, ook de Nederlandse. Daarvoor waarschuwt de wereldberoemde politiek denker Francis Fukuyama."}
-{"text": "The latest version 5.1.0 of Meta Box has been just released today! This version implements a better update system that was introduced in Meta Box 5.0.0 and provides a mechanism for sanitizing user input to ensure it\u2019s safe before saving to the database. Let\u2019s see the changes in details below.\n\nThe previous version shows the update notification for all premium extensions on the website if you have any. There is no update notification at all if you don\u2019t have any premium extension. In this version, we improve this system to make it better and more comfortable for users.\n\nFirst, developers can define a license key via a constant META_BOX_KEY . You can put this line in the wp-config.php on your client websites if you don\u2019t want them to have access to the license:\n\ndefine( 'META_BOX_KEY', 'Your license key here' );\n\nIt\u2019s also useful if you manage a multi-site and you don\u2019t want to enter Meta Box license key for each sub-site.\n\nIn this version, the license notification is now dismissible. Users can just click the close button to hide the message (previously, they couldn\u2019t). It\u2019s useful when you use a theme on ThemeForest or a plugin that integrates Meta Box where you don\u2019t have a license key from MetaBox.io.\n\nHowever, we still recommend users to buy a license from us to get automatic updates and premium supports. If you use a theme or a plugin that integrates Meta Box, then you depend on the author to update the extensions. Sometimes the process is slow and might be a security risk if the update is critical.\n\nBesides, Meta Box also checks for updates for all extensions even if you don\u2019t enter a license key. In that case, you won\u2019t be able to update them although you still can see the changelog. That\u2019s useful when you want to see what\u2019s changed and decide to update or not. Of course, we always recommend updating the extensions to keep them compatible with Meta Box and other extensions.\n\nIf you\u2019re using Meta Box Updater extension to update the premium extensions, please remove it. You don\u2019t need it anymore. The updater is now bundled into the Meta Box plugin.\n\nSanitization\n\nBased on a user request (thank Rao and David), we have implemented a sanitization mechanism for all fields in this version. This ensures user input is safe to save to the database. So there won\u2019t be something like inserting scripts to the database that might cause XSS attack on your website.\n\nThe sanitization works as below:\n\nIt\u2019s automatically applied for all built-in field types. For some fields, Meta Box also validates the submitted value to ensure it\u2019s valid.\n\nThe sanitization is applied for both single and cloneable fields. With cloneable fields, the sanitization is applied for each clone value.\n\nDevelopers can implement their sanitization via sanitize_callback parameter.\n\nparameter. Or they can bypass the sanitization by setting sanitize_callback to none .\n\nWe tried hard to keep the backward compatibility. So your existing websites still work. But there might be some situations that you allowed users to enter arbitrary HTML (like Google Analytics tracking code in a textarea field). And in that case, please update your code a little bit and set sanitize_callback to none . It will bypass the sanitization and everything will be okay.\n\nAnyway, we recommend you to put a custom sanitize callback for those fields to make it safe. Or simplify the input, like instead of letting users enter Google Analytics code, let them enter only the Google Analytics property ID, which is a simple text.\n\nFor details and code example about the sanitization, please see the documentation.\n\nBug Fixes\n\nThis version also fixes some bugs in Meta Box:\n\nFatal error with RWMB_About::redirect() , props @DevIntact.\n\n, props @DevIntact. Ensure change event fires when editors change. This fix is for MB Blocks extension where updating a wysiwyg field doesn\u2019t trigger change event.\n\nfield doesn\u2019t trigger event. Fix rwmb_{$field_id}_choice_label not working for cloneable fields.\n\nnot working for cloneable fields. Add a missing dependency ( underscore ) for date picker JavaScript to make the field work in the front end.\n\n) for date picker JavaScript to make the field work in the front end. Fix un-indexed notice for key_value field.\n\nfield. Align uploaded videos for video field.\n\nIf you haven\u2019t update Meta Box, please update now. If you have any problem with this version, please let us know in the support forum or Github."}
-{"text": "NEWCASTLE chief executive Phil Gardner has delivered a stern warning to the club\u2019s players about acceptable behaviour - including star signings Mitchell Pearce and Shaun Kenny-Dowall.\n\nGardner\u2019s comments follow a string of off-field incidents according to Fairfax Media, including reports of \u201cpush-and-shove\u201d involving twin Daniel and Jacob Saifiti.\n\nGardner has laid down the law after The Daily Telegraph took aim at Newcastle\u2019s local media for not reporting on the antics of some players during the pre-season.\n\nLive scores and stats, the latest news and the best video highlights \u2014 get the ultimate NRL experience on your phone with the new FOX LEAGUE App. Download it NOW for FREE on iOS and Android!\n\nRound 20\n\nWhile these incidents are understood to be minor in nature, they were investigated by the club.\n\nGardner to make inquiries to several licensed establishments.\n\nWhile he\u2019s satisfied no wrong had been done, he has issued a public warning to the players about their behaviour in the public eye.\n\nJacob Saifiti and Daniel Saifiti in the warm up. Source: News Corp Australia\n\n\u201cWe have work to do on our standards of behaviour,\u201d Gardner told Fairfax Media.\n\n\u201cNot just the new players we have brought in, but our local guys as well. The standards of behaviour need to improve. We\u2019ll be taking a very tough line with anyone whose standard of behaviour is not what is expected of a professional rugby league player.\n\n\u201cThese guys, regardless of who it is, are paid well to play rugby league and also to uphold standards when they are out in the community.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll investigate any time anything is reported to us, whether it\u2019s a push and a shove or whatever, and we\u2019ll deal with it under our code of conduct.\u201d\n\nAside from the Saifiti incident, which was \u201cself-reported\u201d according to Gardner, there were also reports of an incident involving star signings Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Mitchell Pearce.\n\nGardner dismissed them as \u201cminor incidents\u201d.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve investigated both those and we spoke to the bar staff and security, and both those incidents, we\u2019ve not had to take any action against the players,\u201d Gardner said.\n\n\u201cWhat we have done is remind them that, hey, this is Newcastle, you\u2019re on display. Here in Newcastle, everyone is interested and if our players go out, they attract attention.\u201d\n\nLIVE stream every 2018 NRL Telstra Premiership game on FOX SPORTS. Get your free 2-week trial now >. If you\u2019re overseas, you can still stream it LIVE on Watch NRL >"}
-{"text": "Police in Japan's Asahi city arrested six Vietnamese who allegedly stole 112 specialty melons which a farmer representative said must have been too green to eat, local media reported Tuesday.\n\nThe arrests were made soon after the suspects made off with the melons from a farm in Boso Peninsula on June 19, a report on the Asahi Shimbun quoted officers from the Asahi police as saying.\n\nThe men raided the farm around 2:30 a.m. and targeted a brand of melon called Iioka Takami melon, a specialty produce of Asahi city, the police said.\n\nOne of the suspects denied involvement in the theft, but the others admitted to stealing the melons, valued at 67,000 yen ($640) in total, which they said they had intended to eat.\n\nThe report quoted a representative of the Iioka Melon Department of JA (Japan Agricultural Cooperatives) Chiba-midori, as saying that Takami melons are usually harvested between the end of June and the beginning of July."}
-{"text": "Membre du collectif lyonnais L\u2019Animalerie, Lucio Bukowski est un rappeur atypique. Loin des clich\u00e9s \u2013 parfois justifi\u00e9s \u2013 sur le rap, le MC pr\u00e9f\u00e8re parler dans ses textes de litt\u00e9rature, de po\u00e9sie et de philosophie, plut\u00f4t que d\u2019armes, de \u00ab biatch \u00bb et de \u00ab bicrave \u00bb, sans pour autant tomber dans le rap conscient. Nous avons profit\u00e9 d\u2019un passage sur Paris o\u00f9 il \u00e9tait accompagn\u00e9 de ses comp\u00e8res Anton Serra et Oster Lapwass, avec lesquels il vient de sortir un album commun, pour le rencontrer. \u00ab Accoud\u00e9 au Comptoir, [il] raconte [sa] vie \u00e0 une Stella Artois \u00bb (enfin, un caf\u00e9, en l\u2019occurrence, il \u00e9tait 9 h du mat\u2019).\n\nLe Comptoir : Ton rap s\u2019inspire beaucoup de la litt\u00e9rature et de la po\u00e9sie. Irais-tu, comme Kery James, jusqu\u2019\u00e0 dire que \u00ab les rappeurs sont les h\u00e9ritiers des po\u00e8tes \u00bb ?\n\nLucio Bukowski : Il a dit \u00e7a, Kery James ?\n\nOuais, dans son morceau avec Aznavour\u2026\n\nEst-ce que la po\u00e9sie est bien d\u00e9finissable ? Quand les surr\u00e9alistes sont arriv\u00e9s, on a dit que ce n\u2019\u00e9tait pas de la po\u00e9sie, car ce n\u2019\u00e9tait pas Ronsard. Ensuite, quand les surr\u00e9alistes ont \u00e9t\u00e9 accept\u00e9s, des plus modernes sont arriv\u00e9s et ont dit que ce n\u2019\u00e9tait pas de la po\u00e9sie. Est-ce que dans vingt ans, on dira que les rappeurs sont des po\u00e8tes au m\u00eame titre que des Andr\u00e9 Breton ? Je ne sais pas. Est-ce que la po\u00e9sie, c\u2019est de la rime ? Pour moi, la peinture ou le cin\u00e9ma sont \u00e9galement de la po\u00e9sie. Donc la musique peut en \u00eatre, surtout dans le rap o\u00f9 le texte est pr\u00e9dominant. Quand tu \u00e9coutes de la chanson fran\u00e7aise, en g\u00e9n\u00e9ral, tu n\u2019as pas autant de texte, il y a vingt phrases dans la chanson. Sauf chez certains qui \u00e9crivaient beaucoup, comme Brassens.\n\nAu niveau de la po\u00e9sie, de la fa\u00e7on de chanter les femmes par exemple, tu lui ressembles, \u00e0 Brassens\u2026\n\nJe prends \u00e7a comme un compliment. C\u2019est une ressemblance dont on parlait, avec Anton, concernant la structure du texte. Par exemple, et c\u2019est typique de la po\u00e9sie, quand on r\u00e9p\u00e8te la m\u00eame phrase \u00e0 la fin de chaque couplet, ou quand on finit le texte par les quatre premi\u00e8res mesures avec lesquelles on a commenc\u00e9. Donc, oui, il y a des proc\u00e9d\u00e9s po\u00e9tiques. La rime est d\u00e9j\u00e0 en elle-m\u00eame un proc\u00e9d\u00e9 po\u00e9tique. Certains rappeurs aujourd\u2019hui aiment bien dire qu\u2019ils font du multi-syllabisme, mais \u00e7a existe depuis Du Bellay, depuis Dante ! Les mecs, on dirait qu\u2019ils ont invent\u00e9 l\u2019\u00e9lectricit\u00e9 !\n\nEn parlant des rappeurs, dans tes chansons, tu es tr\u00e8s critique vis-\u00e0-vis d\u2019eux. Tu les qualifies notamment de \u00ab r\u00e9sistants de salon et d\u2019la derni\u00e8re heure comme Jean-Paul Sartre \u00bb. Quel regard portes-tu sur le hip-hop actuel ?\n\nIl ne faut pas oublier qu\u2019il y a pas mal de taquinerie dans l\u2019egotrip. On s\u2019adresse souvent \u00e0 une sorte d\u2019adversaire fictif, une entit\u00e9 id\u00e9ologique qu\u2019on aime bien charrier. R\u00e9cemment, quelqu\u2019un me reprochait de ne pas assez parler de la Palestine. Mais le rap, \u00e7a reste de la musique, m\u00eame si on peut faire passer des messages ou encourager les gens \u00e0 r\u00e9fl\u00e9chir sur tel ou tel th\u00e8me. J\u2019ai fait r\u00e9cemment des choses plus politis\u00e9es, comme Les faiseurs d\u2019illusions ou Obsolescence programm\u00e9e\u2026 Tu citais Kery James tout \u00e0 l\u2019heure, moi j\u2019ai du mal avec le rap \u00ab moraliste \u00bb ou \u00ab politique \u00bb, qui se donne bonne conscience. Parler de l\u2019Afrique de chez soi, en buvant du Coca et en ayant bien mang\u00e9, c\u2019est facile. Le c\u00f4t\u00e9 donneur de le\u00e7ons des \u00ab r\u00e9sistants de salons \u00bb m\u2019agace. Et si je cite Sartre, c\u2019est parce que c\u2019est exactement \u00e7a.\n\nLes bons rappeurs s\u2019font rares comme un travelo au Lido\n\nTu sers \u00e0 rien comme une pute qui s\u2019foutrait au lit t\u00f4t\n\nConnard, t\u2019as fait trois concerts, tu t\u2019prends pour Ringo Starr\n\nT\u2019as les p\u2019tites couilles de Klaus Barbie et la grande bouche d\u2019une porno star\n\nCo\u00eft interrompu\n\nC\u2019est une r\u00e9f\u00e9rence \u00e0 George Orwell aussi, non ? C\u2019est ce qu\u2019il disait de Sartre\u2026\n\nAh, c\u2019est vrai ? Moi, je pensais plus \u00e0 Louis Calaferte. Quand il \u00e9tait tr\u00e8s jeune, il avait tent\u00e9 de percer dans le th\u00e9\u00e2tre \u00e0 Paris, et \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9poque, il crevait la dalle et dormait sur les bancs. Un jour, il a eu un peu d\u2019argent et il a voulu voir le Caf\u00e9 de Flore pour rencontrer de vrais po\u00e8tes et \u00e9changer. Le mec arrive, il a \u00e0 peine de quoi se payer un pauvre caf\u00e9 et il se rend compte que l\u00e0-bas, c\u2019est l\u2019esprit de salon qui domine. Il voit Sartre, entour\u00e9 d\u2019une vingtaine d\u2019\u00e9tudiants, comme un grand seigneur qui diss\u00e9mine ses conseils. \u00ab R\u00e9sistant de salon \u00bb, c\u2019est aussi un petit clin d\u2019\u0153il, parce que Sartre est souvent consid\u00e9r\u00e9 comme un r\u00e9sistant, mais il fait partie des r\u00e9sistants de fin 1944, dirons-nous. Une situation bien commode pour pas mal d\u2019intellectuels fran\u00e7ais.\n\nTu viens de nous parler de l\u2019\u00e9crivain et po\u00e8te Louis Calaferte. Il semble beaucoup inspirer ta musique, au point que tu lui as d\u00e9di\u00e9 un EP, L\u2019Homme vivant [NDLR : \u00e0 l\u2019origine, titre d\u2019un essai de Calaferte]. D\u2019o\u00f9 te vient cette r\u00e9f\u00e9rence ?\n\nIl influence beaucoup plus que ma musique. Le hasard a fait que, maintenant, je connais aussi sa famille : je fr\u00e9quente son fils, qui est un monsieur de 60 ans, j\u2019ai pu rencontrer sa femme, Guillemette, qui est toujours vivante, et m\u00eame dormir dans la maison o\u00f9 il habitait. Avec son fils, nous avons fait une petite exposition, \u00e0 la biblioth\u00e8que de Lyon o\u00f9 je travaille, sur son \u0153uvre po\u00e9tique. C\u2019est plus un truc de vie. Je lis Louis Calaferte tous les deux jours : je prends un carnet, j\u2019ouvre et je lis deux pages. Ses carnets, ce sont des pens\u00e9es et des r\u00e9flexions, comme un journal intime qu\u2019il a \u00e9crit quasiment toute sa vie. Tout me parle chez lui. Il y a d\u2019abord le rapport \u00e0 la spiritualit\u00e9. Il dissociait religion et religieux. Il vomissait la religion, la pr\u00eatrise et les interm\u00e9diaires. L\u2019Homme vivant, c\u2019est exactement cela. Le message de ce livre, c\u2019est : \u00ab Passez-vous des gens qui ont pris Dieu dans leur main pour en faire un objet de culte, id\u00e9ologique ou politique. Appropriez-le vous et communiquez directement avec lui. \u00bb C\u2019est un rapport direct \u00e0 la spiritualit\u00e9. D\u2019un point de vue politique, c\u2019est un peu la m\u00eame chose. Il a \u00e9crit un essai politique, Droit de cit\u00e9, qui est un ouvrage hyper-anarchisant. Au m\u00eame titre que le Septentrion, qui a longtemps \u00e9t\u00e9 interdit en France, soi-disant pour pornographie, alors qu\u2019il a \u00e9t\u00e9 censur\u00e9 \u00e0 cause de son anarchisme. Il disait : \u00ab Vous pouvez \u00e9chapper \u00e0 tout : au syst\u00e8me, \u00e0 la politique, aux pr\u00eatres et vous pouvez mener une vie heureuse. \u00bb Calaferte, c\u2019est peut-\u00eatre un peu ma figure tut\u00e9laire. Il a une tr\u00e8s grande importance pour moi et pas que dans l\u2019\u00e9criture. Il a \u00e9crit sur plein de choses, sur la femme par exemple, avec laquelle il a un rapport extr\u00eamement mystique.\n\nDes pseudo-politiques sociales pour juguler l\u2019h\u00e9morragie\n\nL\u2019emploi dispara\u00eet, j\u2019vois des tours mais peu d\u2019magie\n\nJe fr\u00f4lerais bien l\u2019abandon, Calaferte en parangon\n\nParlons bien, mais parlons court, leur foutu JT rend con\n\nNe l\u00e8ve pas ta main en l\u2019air\n\nParlons de la femme, justement, parce qu\u2019on n\u2019en parle pas assez dans le rap ou on en parle mal. Contrairement \u00e0 foule d\u2019autres rappeurs, \u00e0 l\u2019instar d\u2019un Kaaris ou d\u2019un Booba, quand tu parles de la femme, c\u2019est empreint de po\u00e9sie, d\u2019esth\u00e9tisme, on est dans le rapport charnel et dans la sensualit\u00e9. On parle de sexe, d\u2019amour et m\u00eame de faire des enfants. Ton rap r\u00e9habilite-t-il, enfin, la femme ?\n\nNon, je n\u2019ai pas cette pr\u00e9tention. En plus, je n\u2019aime pas appartenir \u00e0 un courant, que \u00e7a soit \u00ab f\u00e9ministe \u00bb ou autre. Je ne souhaite pas r\u00e9habiliter la femme : c\u2019est mieux qu\u2019elle le fasse elle-m\u00eame.\n\nTu es plus respectueux vis-\u00e0-vis d\u2019elle quand m\u00eame.\n\nOui, bien s\u00fbr, mais je n\u2019ai pas de pr\u00e9tention \u00e0 r\u00e9habiliter la femme. \u00ab Il faut respecter la femme, les copains, machin\u2026 \u00bb : non ! J\u2019exprime un avis intime et personnel. Certains s\u2019y retrouvent, d\u2019autres pas. Mais \u00ab r\u00e9habiliter \u00bb, c\u2019est trop, je n\u2019ai pas cette pr\u00e9tention. Tu cites Booba et Kaaris\u2026\n\nC\u2019est la femme-objet dans le texte, dans le clip \u2026\n\nOuais, mais ils font autre chose. Ce sont d\u2019\u00e9ternels d\u00e9bats. Ce qu\u2019ils disent, ce n\u2019est pas forc\u00e9ment ce qu\u2019ils pensent. Ces gens-l\u00e0 cr\u00e9ent de l\u2019image et le font de mani\u00e8re tr\u00e8s violente. Mais, il n\u2019y aurait pas tous ces d\u00e9bats si les gens avaient un peu de second degr\u00e9. D\u2019ailleurs, ces rappeurs d\u00e9cr\u00e9dibilisent totalement l\u2019ultra-lib\u00e9ralisme. Pour moi, Booba c\u2019est presque un vaccin contre. C\u2019est tellement trop, que \u00e7a te donne envie de vomir le lib\u00e9ralisme. Du coup, je trouve que Booba a un vrai r\u00f4le social, \u00e0 partir du moment o\u00f9 tu as le recul n\u00e9cessaire.\n\nLes moralistes sont encore plus chiants que c\u2019que j\u2019pensais\n\nJ\u2019pr\u00e9f\u00e8re Booba \u00e0 tous les d\u00e9magos du rap fran\u00e7ais\n\nCes gros mythos s\u2019la jouent anti-syst\u00e8me et prises de risque\n\nFinissent chez Ruquier pour fourguer quelques disques\n\nFeu gr\u00e9geois\n\n\u00c7a peut \u00eatre surprenant alors de trouver des r\u00e9f\u00e9rences \u00e0 Booba, dans Feu gr\u00e9geois, ou dans Ind\u00e9pendant quand tu dis : \u00ab Et c\u2019est toujours aussi bandant d\u2019\u00eatre ind\u00e9pendant ! \u00bb\n\nOuais, mais \u00e7a c\u2019est plus un clin d\u2019\u0153il \u00e0 l\u2019album Temps mort, qui reste quoi qu\u2019on en dise un album formateur. \u00c0 l\u2019\u00e9poque o\u00f9 j\u2019\u00e9crivais de petits textes dans ma chambre, \u00e7a reste un des albums que j\u2019ai ponc\u00e9. Dans Feu gr\u00e9geois, c\u2019est autre chose. C\u2019est un peu pour picoter. Mais je l\u2019assume, je pr\u00e9f\u00e8re un Booba \u00e0 plein de rappeurs fran\u00e7ais qui ont un double discours constant, ce qui donne : \u00ab Je suis ind\u00e9pendant, mais je passe \u00e0 la Star Academy. \u00bb\n\nOui, il y a des rappeurs qui posent question tout de m\u00eame. Par exemple, Youssoupha qui passe \u00e0 la Star Academy et qui, apr\u00e8s, appelle son album N\u00e9gritude. Senghor et C\u00e9saire doivent se cogner au couvercle de leur tombe. Mais il a l\u2019air de l\u2019assumer, c\u2019est bien.\n\nLes rappeurs engag\u00e9s comme nouveaux chiens de la morale\n\nCombien de ces encul\u00e9s sont b\u00e9n\u00e9voles pour le Samu social ?\n\nFace \u00e0 leur mouvement, j\u2019pratique le rire de D\u00e9mocrite\n\nLe rap fran\u00e7ais c\u2019est genre La Conjuration des Hypocrites\n\nPapier d\u2019Arm\u00e9nie\n\nUne autre question me vient sur le rap. Dans Ind\u00e9pendant, quand tu dis : \u00ab Les anciens ont laiss\u00e9 crever le rap / Maintenant qu\u2019on l\u2019a relev\u00e9, ils viennent tous grailler le rab \u00bb. Tu penses \u00e0 des artistes en particulier, comme le groupe Triptik ?\n\nOuais, j\u2019en aurais plusieurs en t\u00eate mais les noms ne m\u2019int\u00e9ressent pas. Il n\u2019y a pas besoin de creuser tr\u00e8s profond pour capter tous ces mecs qui n\u2019ont rien fait depuis dix ans et qui reviennent maintenant. Tous ces rappeurs \u2013 j\u2019allais dire d\u2019 \u00ab internet \u00bb, mais c\u2019est p\u00e9joratif, car ils remplissent des salles \u00e0 l\u2019image de Swift Guad \u2013, qui charbonnent depuis six ans ont cr\u00e9\u00e9 un regain d\u2019int\u00e9r\u00eat pour le rap, parce qu\u2019ils ont apport\u00e9 de nouvelles choses : de la technique, des plumes, des choses int\u00e9ressantes dans la prod\u2019\u2026 Il y a eu un engouement chez la jeunesse, une sorte de r\u00e9veil pour le rap. Je ne sais pas si le rap est mort, mais il y a eu une p\u00e9riode de cinq ou six ans o\u00f9 rien de bon n\u2019est sorti. Tous ces gens-l\u00e0 qui avaient totalement disparu r\u00e9apparaissent avec de nouveaux albums : \u00ab Le retour de machin \u00bb ! Quand je parle de \u00ab grailler le rab\u00ab , je fais davantage r\u00e9f\u00e9rence \u00e0 ceux-l\u00e0, aux opportunistes et aux r\u00e9sistants de salon encore une fois. Ils reviennent vite et en plus, ils ne reviennent pas avec de bonnes choses. Ils ont un peu perdu le feu sacr\u00e9 pour le coup.\n\nDans Confitures d\u2019orties, tu d\u00e9clares : \u00ab J\u2019me fous autant d\u2019la politique que de vos d\u00e9bats religieux \u00bb. Pourtant, tes textes s\u2019inspirent de beaucoup de penseurs politiques, comme Bakounine, Kropotkine, Clouscard ou Orwell, pour ne citer qu\u2019eux. Tes textes sont \u00e9galement emprunts de beaucoup de spiritualit\u00e9. Comment expliques-tu ce paradoxe ?\n\nCe n\u2019est pas un paradoxe. C\u2019est une utilisation de termes sp\u00e9cifiques. \u00ab J\u2019me fous autant de la politique \u00bb : quand je parle de la politique, je lui donne le sens qu\u2019on lui donne aujourd\u2019hui. C\u2019est-\u00e0-dire, plus du tout le sens de philosophie politique, de cr\u00e9ation ou d\u2019\u00e9change d\u2019id\u00e9es. Le terme \u00ab politique \u00bb aujourd\u2019hui a totalement \u00e9t\u00e9 vid\u00e9 de son sens social et intellectuel. La politique, c\u2019est le d\u00e9bat t\u00e9l\u00e9vis\u00e9. C\u2019est deux heures pour ne rien dire. C\u2019est des gens qui mesurent leur ego avec des tweets. Le social et la philosophie politique, c\u2019est autre chose et \u00e7a m\u2019int\u00e9resse, d\u2019o\u00f9 les Bakounine, Kropotkine, Orwell, etc. Idem pour les d\u00e9bats religieux. Par le plus grand des hasards \u2013 parce que je ne la regarde pas beaucoup \u2013, je suis tomb\u00e9 sur un d\u00e9bat religieux \u00e0 la t\u00e9l\u00e9. \u00c7a n\u2019avait aucun sens. D\u00e9j\u00e0, un d\u00e9bat religieux, \u00e7a n\u2019a aucun sens. Dans ma vision, c\u2019est une chose trop intime pour aller en d\u00e9battre \u00e0 la t\u00e9l\u00e9 et dire : \u00ab Oui, mais si, tu sais, Dieu quand m\u00eame, j\u2019veux dire\u2026 \u00bb C\u2019est comme si on parlait d\u2019une Renault 5 : \u00ab La Renault 5, c\u2019est mieux que la Panda. \u00bb Putain, j\u2019appartiens \u00e0 une autre \u00e9poque, c\u2019est vieux comme voitures (rires).\n\nLa spiritualit\u00e9 m\u2019int\u00e9resse, mais par contre, \u00ab d\u00e9bats religieux \u00bb et \u00ab spiritualit\u00e9 \u00bb sont deux mondes totalement s\u00e9par\u00e9s. Derni\u00e8rement, autour de l\u2019islam, quand on expliquait que cela n\u2019avait rien \u00e0 voir avec la religion, les mecs te r\u00e9pondaient : \u00ab Mais si, ils ont tu\u00e9 au nom de\u2026 \u00bb J\u2019ai r\u00e9pondu \u00e0 quelqu\u2019un : \u00ab Et si dans la rue, je saute sur un mec et je le massacre \u00e0 coups de poing et je dis que c\u2019est au noms des gauchers, est-ce que c\u2019est de la faute des gauchers ? \u00bb Pour moi, l\u2019islam c\u2019est des millions de religieux qui pratiquent dans l\u2019intime, au m\u00eame titre que les chr\u00e9tiens ou les juifs pratiquants. Encore une fois, il faut distinguer religion et religieux. Ce sont des questionnements sur l\u2019int\u00e9riorit\u00e9 de chacun et ce sont des choses personnelles. C\u2019est tellement personnel, Dieu, qu\u2019il est impossible d\u2019en parler \u00e0 la t\u00e9l\u00e9. Tout \u00e7a, c\u2019est de la politique.\n\nMais le sujet religieux est en ce moment tr\u00e8s politique. On en parle parce qu\u2019on parle de la\u00efcit\u00e9, qu\u2019on est trois mois apr\u00e8s Charlie Hebdo, etc.\n\nBien s\u00fbr, mais c\u2019est partout. Dans des pays musulmans radicaux, c\u2019est de la politique. La religion est un pr\u00e9texte. Les vrais croyants ne comprennent pas qu\u2019on mette une balle dans une t\u00eate. Le vrai croyant n\u2019est pas l\u00e0-dedans, il essaie de vivre avec les autres, d\u2019\u00eatre un homme ou une femme de bien.\n\nAlors que l\u2019abstention culminait \u00e0 49 % lors des derni\u00e8res \u00e9lections, on peut voir que, dans tes textes, tu n\u2019es pas tendre avec le principe m\u00eame des \u00e9lections : \u00ab Continue de voter pour ta r\u00e9publique totalitaire \u00bb (Jericho), \u00ab le suffrage universel n\u2019est qu\u2019une vieille breloque, quand l\u2019\u00c9tat sera crev\u00e9, je serai patriote \u00bb, et \u00e0 de nombreuses reprises dans Ne l\u00e8ve pas ta main en l\u2019air. Alors, finalement, tu l\u2019as d\u00e9chir\u00e9e ta carte d\u2019\u00e9lecteur ?\n\nJe ne l\u2019ai pas d\u00e9chir\u00e9e, mais je ne l\u2019ai pas renouvel\u00e9e. J\u2019y ai cru quand j\u2019avais 18 ans. C\u2019est tomb\u00e9 une ann\u00e9e d\u2019\u00e9lection pr\u00e9sidentielle et j\u2019ai vot\u00e9, puis aux l\u00e9gislatives derri\u00e8re et aux pr\u00e9sidentielles suivantes. Puis, j\u2019ai commenc\u00e9 \u00e0 lire les auteurs anarchistes et j\u2019ai compris toute la supercherie qu\u2019il y avait l\u00e0-dedans. Je ne vote plus depuis quelques ann\u00e9es et j\u2019encourage les gens \u00e0 faire de m\u00eame.\n\nEt pourquoi \u00e7a ?\n\nOn ne demande pas \u00e0 un non croyant pourquoi il ne va pas \u00e0 la messe le dimanche. D\u00e9j\u00e0, je ne crois pas en la loi du nombre, c\u2019est un mensonge comme l\u2019explique un tr\u00e8s grand livre de Ren\u00e9 Gu\u00e9non, Le r\u00e8gne de la quantit\u00e9. \u00c7a me rappelle Desproges, qui r\u00e9pondait \u00e0 un journaliste qui l\u2019accusait d\u2019\u00eatre un anti-d\u00e9mocrate : \u00ab La d\u00e9mocratie, c\u2019est la loi du plus grand nombre, le plus grand nombre c\u2019est les gens qui regardent Sabatier le samedi soir. \u00bb\n\nPour moi, ce n\u2019est pas un syst\u00e8me qui fonctionne, encore moins depuis que la politique est devenu un m\u00e9tier. On est dans un rapport uniquement de communication. Les politiques ne se g\u00eanent m\u00eame plus : ils ont des programmes qu\u2019ils n\u2019appliqueront jamais et ils le savent bien, tout comme leurs \u00e9lecteurs. Ces derniers se disent seulement : \u00ab Tiens, lui, il a une cravate plus jolie que l\u2019autre, je vais voter pour lui. \u00bb Mais comment tu veux croire en \u00e7a ? Et surtout, on ne vit pas dans un pays de \u00ab d\u00e9mocratie repr\u00e9sentative \u00bb. L\u00e0, il ya 49 % contre 51 % et c\u2019est le dernier groupe qui va avoir plein de droits, alors que seul un Fran\u00e7ais sur deux a vot\u00e9 pour la personne \u00e9lue. Il y a le c\u00f4t\u00e9 culpabilisant aussi. Les gens te disent : \u00ab Mais si, il faut voter, on s\u2019est battu pour ! \u00bb Ouais, et moi je leur r\u00e9ponds : \u00ab Qui s\u2019est battu pour ? \u00bb Et l\u00e0, ils bafouillent, ils r\u00e9p\u00e8tent ce qu\u2019on leur a appris en CM2 : \u00ab Euh, bah les gens, les gens avec des fourches \u00e0 la Bastille en 1789. \u00bb Mais ouais \u2026\n\nPour r\u00eaver mieux, ils ont des s\u00e9ries am\u00e9ricaines\n\nDes \u00e9lections et puis l\u2019\u00e9cole r\u00e9publicaine\n\nJeunes et foutus\n\nDans Golgotha, tu rappes : \u00ab Et si le peuple se l\u00e8ve \u00e0 temps/ Enfonce un cocktail Molotov entre les c\u00f4tes du L\u00e9viathan/ Attendre les retomb\u00e9es, comme un pari prolifique/ La libert\u00e9 se gagne ailleurs que dans des partis politiques. \u00bb Crois-tu que le peuple puisse prendre le pouvoir et l\u2019exercer directement ?\n\nNon, encore une fois, tu es dans un rapport de pouvoir. Quand il y a pouvoir, il y a politique et \u00e7a ne fonctionne pas. Les ouvrages que je cite tr\u00e8s souvent, c\u2019est L\u2019Entraide de Kropotkine (t\u00e9l\u00e9chargeable ici), ainsi que La conqu\u00eate du pain (t\u00e9l\u00e9chargeable ici), qui est un tr\u00e8s bon compl\u00e9ment. Pour moi, c\u2019est plus de l\u2019autogestion ou un rapport d\u2019\u00e9change. C\u2019est un syst\u00e8me qui revient, dans des petites communaut\u00e9s : un mec qui a une qualit\u00e9, qui rend service \u00e0 un autre gars qui a une autre qualit\u00e9, qui lui rendra service en retour. Par exemple, des gens qui font pousser des l\u00e9gumes vont aider un autre gars qui fabrique des meubles. Je suis plut\u00f4t dans ce rapport-l\u00e0, l\u00e9g\u00e8rement na\u00eff j\u2019imagine.\n\nC\u2019est le changement par le bas concr\u00e8tement \u2026\n\nIl ne peut qu\u2019il y avoir de changement que par le bas.\n\nOn s\u2019rappelle qu\u2019on est des hommes quand la folie nous fait du gringue\n\nPlus je lis Proudhon, plus j\u2019ai envie d\u2019acheter un flingue\n\nEn bon cadavre social, je prends mes r\u00eaves pour mes d\u00e9sirs\n\nIls plastifient les cartes d\u2019\u00e9lecteur pour pas qu\u2019on les d\u00e9chire\n\nLa R\u00e9publique est fun, on la kiffe jusqu\u2019\u00e0 Oran\n\nEt m\u00eame les anarchistes taillent des pipes au Grand Orient\n\nNe l\u00e8ve pas ta main en l\u2019air\n\nTu cites Kropotkine, mais il \u00e9crit dans la Russie de la fin du XIXe et du d\u00e9but du XXe si\u00e8cle, encore \u00ab arri\u00e9r\u00e9e \u00bb comme le disaient les marxistes de l\u2019\u00e9poque. Le contexte est tr\u00e8s diff\u00e9rent de notre soci\u00e9t\u00e9 moderne.\n\nBien s\u00fbr, mais on peut y trouver des similitudes. Tu me posais la question de la prise du pouvoir par le peuple : je ne crois pas aux rapports de force, mais aux rapports d\u2019entraide. Le darwinisme social est une erreur. On vit dans un monde o\u00f9 le repli communautaire est d\u00e9nigr\u00e9, mais l\u2019homme est fait \u00e0 l\u2019origine pour vivre en petites communaut\u00e9s et en petits groupes. C\u2019est l\u00e0-dedans qu\u2019il trouve son r\u00f4le social. Les petits groupes peuvent \u00e9changer entre eux. Dans l\u2019histoire, cela a toujours \u00e9t\u00e9 comme \u00e7a ! Ce mirage du monde moderne, li\u00e9 \u00e0 la naissance de la Nation, de dire : \u00ab Non, c\u2019est l\u2019individu qui peut tout faire tout seul \u00bb, c\u2019est une grave erreur. L\u2019individu n\u2019est pas fait pour \u00eatre seul. La solitude est quelque chose qui ne fonctionne pas, sauf chez quelques types au psychisme blind\u00e9. Il y a des gens qui se sentent bien dans la solitude, mais c\u2019est rare. Il faut lire les po\u00e8mes de Li Bo, un Chinois qui appartenait \u00e0 ceux que l\u2019on appelait les \u00ab po\u00e8tes du vin \u00bb au VIIe si\u00e8cle. Il para\u00eet qu\u2019il vivait seul dans les montages. Il y en a qui s\u2019y font tr\u00e8s bien, mais ce n\u2019est pas la majorit\u00e9. D\u2019ailleurs, le monde occidental blanc est le seul o\u00f9 on a mis l\u2019importance sur l\u2019individu plut\u00f4t que sur le groupe.\n\nEt c\u2019est nous qui consommons le plus d\u2019antid\u00e9presseurs !\n\nJ\u2019allais le dire. Et les taux de suicide, je n\u2019en parle m\u00eame pas. Alors que dans des pays avec un seuil de pauvret\u00e9 et des taux de mortalit\u00e9 infantile \u00e9lev\u00e9s, on a des taux de suicides ultra bas. On est la seule civilisation \u00e0 se suicider autant, avec le Japon mais o\u00f9 c\u2019est culturel. Je crois en un retour dans des petites communaut\u00e9s. Il faut une fragmentation, mais en communaut\u00e9s, car il n\u2019y a que l\u00e0 que l\u2019homme trouve un r\u00f4le social.\n\nTu dis que tu y crois, mais est-ce que tu le pratiques ? On \u00ab d\u00e9nonce \u00bb collectivement un syst\u00e8me lib\u00e9ral qui ne marche pas. Mais est-ce que toi, tu vas dans des Amap (association pour le maintien d\u2019une agriculture paysanne), est-ce que tu consommes dans des Biocoop, etc. ?\n\nNon, mais je fais mon march\u00e9 autant que possible. J\u2019ai la chance d\u2019avoir un march\u00e9 tous les jours en bas de chez moi, mais ce n\u2019est pas le cas de tout le monde. J\u2019essaie de faire marcher le moins possible les grosses firmes. La lutte se fait \u00e0 petite \u00e9chelle. Je n\u2019encourage pas les gens \u00e0 partir vivre d\u2019un coup en Ard\u00e8che dans une micro-communaut\u00e9. Au contraire m\u00eame, c\u2019est plut\u00f4t dans les villes qu\u2019il faut lutter. Mais les choses vont se d\u00e9velopper, m\u00eame des gens qui n\u2019\u00e9taient pas du tout l\u00e0-dedans commencent \u00e0 se rendre compte de tout \u00e7a. Certains jeunes se demandent \u00e0 quoi leur servent leurs dix paires d\u2019Air Max\u2026 En bas chez moi, avant, il n\u2019y avait que des ieuv\u2019 qui faisaient leur march\u00e9, maintenant, il y a des jeunes couples de 18 ans. Je pense qu\u2019il y a une vraie prise de conscience. On vit dans un pays o\u00f9 le tissu associatif est hyper riche. \u00c0 mon avis, notre g\u00e9n\u00e9ration est morte, mais on peut poser des bases, parce que c\u2019est un travail sur le long terme qui ne se fera pas en dix ans.\n\nPlut\u00f4t que tourner sa veste, la girouette veut pivoter\n\nPerdants du syst\u00e8me, ne faites pas la tronche et puis votez\n\nAujourd\u2019hui, est le premier jour du reste de ta rente\n\nLa mort de la Culture fait les beaux jours de la banque\n\nJ\u2019ai beau taffer, je suis deux fois au dessous de vos salaires moyens\n\nTu sais bien o\u00f9 tu peux t\u2019foutre ton statut citoyen\n\nNe l\u00e8ve pas ta main en l\u2019air\n\nAujourd\u2019hui, notre seule mani\u00e8re de changer le syst\u00e8me est de consommer diff\u00e9remment ?\n\nOui, et de l\u2019apprendre \u00e0 nos enfants. Il faut que cela devienne un habitus, un r\u00e9flexe, de ne pas rentrer dans ton Carrefour, mais d\u2019aller au march\u00e9. Ce discours moderne qui consid\u00e8re la ruralit\u00e9 comme un retour en arri\u00e8re est faux.\n\nPourtant, malgr\u00e9 ces perspectives d\u2019avenir, un vrai pessimisme peut se faire ressentir dans tes textes. Si \u00ab l\u2019\u00e9cole est morte, et [que] les taules d\u00e9bordent \u00bb (Jericho), et que \u00ab l\u2019abrutissement des masses n\u2019a plus rien de subliminal \u00bb, s\u2019 \u00ab il n\u2019y aura pas de r\u00e9volution \u00bb (Sisyphe) et que \u00ab la lutte est perdue d\u2019avance \u00bb (L\u2019art raffin\u00e9 de l\u2019ecchymose), pourquoi tu continues de rapper ?\n\nSoyons tr\u00e8s clairs : le rap ou l\u2019\u00e9criture sont des choses tr\u00e8s personnelles. Je n\u2019ai jamais voulu r\u00e9ussir ou toucher un maximum de gens. L\u2019art c\u2019est exprimer quelque chose que tu as en toi et que tu sens bouillonner. Mais ce n\u2019est pas vrai que dans l\u2019art. Vous faites du journalisme, certes c\u2019est \u00e9crit pour \u00eatre lu, mais \u00e0 l\u2019origine si vous vous \u00eates document\u00e9s, que vous avez lu des bouquins et que vous avez commenc\u00e9 \u00e0 \u00e9crire des trucs, c\u2019est une impulsion intime. Pour moi, c\u2019est vraiment \u00e7a. J\u2019ai beau \u00eatre relativement pessimiste, je pourrais retourner la question en me basant sur des textes optimistes que j\u2019ai \u00e9galement \u00e9crits. Les gens ne retiennent souvent que les textes noirs, mais ces temps-ci, j\u2019ai \u00e9crit des choses, je n\u2019irai pas jusqu\u2019\u00e0 dire \u00ab joyeuses \u00bb, mais plus \u00ab lumineuses \u00bb. M\u00eame si le monde s\u2019effondre, je ne suis pas pour me mettre une balle dans la t\u00eate. Au contraire, l\u2019\u00e9criture m\u2019a toujours aid\u00e9 et m\u2019a sorti de mauvaises passes. Un morceau comme Pinacle par exemple, je l\u2019ai \u00e9crit \u00e0 un moment extr\u00eamement noir, alors qu\u2019il est extr\u00eamement positif. Il m\u2019a donn\u00e9 une bouff\u00e9e d\u2019air. \u00c7a n\u2019a aucun rapport avec le monde ext\u00e9rieur. J\u2019ai besoin de la musique et de l\u2019\u00e9criture, c\u2019est vital.\n\nTr\u00eave de po\u00e9sie, nos vies sont des gicl\u00e9es d\u2019encre\n\nEt, au pire, les ratures compenseront les manques\n\nDans ce monde, seuls les mots peuvent me rendre ivre\n\n\u00c9crire sera mon unique acte libre\n\nJ\u2019\u00e9cris\n\nTu analyses beaucoup la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 dans tes textes. Mais chose tr\u00e8s surprenante pour un rappeur, tu ne parles pas des banlieues, alors que pourtant tu y as grandi, comme tu le pr\u00e9cises dans Sans Signature. Pourquoi ce silence ?\n\nSi je ne parle pas des banlieues, c\u2019est dans le but d\u2019exprimer des choses plus g\u00e9n\u00e9rales. Faire des textes sur la banlieue, \u00e7a a \u00e9t\u00e9 fait des millions de fois. Le seul fait d\u2019\u00e9crire un texte dessus, c\u2019est cr\u00e9er un isolement. Comme si les banlieusards avaient besoin qu\u2019on fasse encore des textes pour eux pour les encourager \u00e0 se bouger. Moi, je pr\u00e9f\u00e8re que les gens viennent, je ne veux pas aller les chercher. Malgr\u00e9 tout, j\u2019ai fait des choses \u00e0 petite \u00e9chelle, comme des ateliers d\u2019\u00e9criture pour les gamins. Dans la musique comme dans la peinture, l\u2019\u00e9criture ou le cin\u00e9ma, ce sont aux gens de venir et de faire l\u2019effort. Moi, je n\u2019ai pas envie de parler \u00e0 des gens de centre-ville ou de banlieue. Je parle aux gens. Et s\u2019y retrouveront ceux qui ont l\u2019envie de s\u2019y retrouver. Je n\u2019ai pas envie de cr\u00e9er cette fronti\u00e8re. La seule fronti\u00e8re est dans les t\u00eates et elle est surtout dans l\u2019enfumage m\u00e9diatique. En m\u00eame temps, je viens d\u2019une ville \u2013 ce n\u2019est pas le cas de Paris \u2013 o\u00f9 la banlieue est coll\u00e9e au centre-ville. \u00c0 Lyon, quand tu habites en banlieue, tu sautes dans un tramway et dix minutes apr\u00e8s, tu es en centre-ville. Dans le centre-ville, il y a des quartiers pauvres et dans les banlieues, il y a des quartiers riches. \u00c0 Lyon, tout est r\u00e9ellement m\u00e9lang\u00e9, on a une vraie mixit\u00e9 sociale et il y a des gens qui viennent de partout dans le monde, m\u00e9lang\u00e9s dans des quartiers. Je viens de la banlieue-est, plut\u00f4t ouvri\u00e8re et prolo. Mais tu n\u2019as pas un quartier pour telle immigration et un autre pour telle immigration. \u00c0 Lyon, il y a un vrai m\u00e9lange, ce n\u2019est pas une l\u00e9gende. Dans les bandes de jeunes, il y a des rebeus avec des noirs, avec des blancs. \u00c0 Paris, j\u2019ai l\u2019impression que c\u2019est diff\u00e9rent. C\u2019est pour \u00e7a que je n\u2019ai pas envie de faire cette s\u00e9paration, les choses sont tellement plus complexes que \u00ab banlieue \u00bb ou \u00ab pas banlieue \u00bb.\n\nLes MCs sont plus r\u00e9actionnaires qu\u2019les nostalgiques de l\u2019aigle\n\nIls parlent de hip-hop comme Zemmour d\u2019un autre si\u00e8cle\n\nArtiste d\u00e9gag\u00e9, laisse le rap conscient aux nantis\n\nJe n\u2019parle pas de banlieue, moi j\u2019y ai grandi\n\nSans signature\n\nEt ton public est aussi m\u00e9lang\u00e9 que \u00e7a ? Hier, dans la salle [NDLR : 11 avril, au Pan Piper, Paris XIe], \u00e7a faisait hipster.\n\n\u00ab Hipster \u00bb, je ne sais pas. C\u2019est Paris, la place c\u2019est 22 euros et nous, \u00e7a nous fait chier. Il para\u00eet qu\u2019\u00e0 Paris, c\u2019est comme \u00e7a. Quand on joue \u00e0 Lyon, c\u2019est \u00e0 10-15 euros.\n\nOui, mais si on regarde un concert de Booba, c\u2019est hyper-cher, et il doit y avoir un public m\u00e9tiss\u00e9.\n\nOk, mais des jeunes qui ont pas beaucoup de ronds, m\u00eame s\u2019ils nous aiment bien, ils ne vont pas claquer 22 boules. S\u2019ils prennent une bi\u00e8re en plus, \u00e7a fait une soir\u00e9e \u00e0 30 billets plus le transport. Le public, encore une fois c\u2019est un truc que je ne regarde pas : je m\u2019en tape. Faire des cat\u00e9gories socio-professionnelles ou racialo-sociales, c\u2019est un truc de sociologue, moi je m\u2019en bats les couilles. Je fais de la musique, pas d\u2019\u00e9tudes de march\u00e9. C\u2019est se suicider que d\u2019\u00e9crire pour plaire \u00e0 telle ou telle personne. Je fais ma musique et \u00e7a parle aux gens, ou \u00e7a ne leur parle pas\u2026\n\nD\u2019abord, la vie, c\u2019est toujours mieux que rien\n\nC\u2019est pas Dieu qui me l\u2019a dit, mais un vieux type au bar du coin\n\nEnsuite, t\u2019apprends qu\u2019une coll\u00e9gienne s\u2019est suicid\u00e9e\n\nComprends que j\u2019trouve d\u00e9risoires tes textes sur ta cit\u00e9\n\nD\u2019abord\n\nJustement, \u00e7a parle de plus en plus aux gens, non ? [NDLR : une semaine apr\u00e8s cet entretien, son dernier album, La plume et le brise-glace, est 9e des ventes, toutes musiques confondues, sur le site de la Fnac]\n\nOuais, \u00e7a a l\u2019air. Tant mieux ! On n\u2019a jamais cherch\u00e9 \u00e7a. On est content de trouver un \u00e9cho. C\u2019est autre chose, quand tu le fais pour toi, mais que \u00e7a trouve un \u00e9cho, c\u2019est du bonus. Mais il ne faut pas que cela devienne l\u2019essence qui nourrit ton moteur, il ne faut jamais rien faire en fonction de ce qu\u2019il y a en face, c\u2019est important.\n\nNos Desserts :\n\nPartager: Twitter\n\nFacebook\n\nWordPress: J'aime chargement\u2026 Articles similaires"}
-{"text": "Du m\u00e5 skjerpe deg, ta tak i ditt eget liv og gj\u00f8re en endring | lege Ingrid Neteland\n\nIngrid Neteland\n\n2. des. 2015 21:40 Sist oppdatert 4. desember 2015\n\nSom turnuslege jobber jeg i akuttmottak. Der m\u00f8ter jeg deg som er s\u00e5 full at du ikke klarer \u00e5 sitte oppreist, skriver Ingrid Neteland. ILLUSTRASJONSFOTO: Geir Otto Johansen\n\nHelsevesenet har ikke gode nok tilbud til deg som strever med rus. Du er den pasienten som gj\u00f8r meg oftest sint, av og til redd og som regel maktesl\u00f8s.\n\nKronikk\n\nDette er en kronikk. Meninger i teksten st\u00e5r for skribentens regning.\n\n\u00abKj\u00e6re menneske \u2013 du m\u00e5 ta deg sammen! Du m\u00e5 ta tak i ditt eget liv \u00e5 gj\u00f8re en endring.\u00bb\n\nDet har jeg lyst \u00e5 si til mange av pasientene jeg m\u00f8ter. Jeg gj\u00f8r det ikke.\n\nDet er mange grunner til at jeg lar v\u00e6re. Jeg er kanskje ikke i posisjon til det. Jeg t\u00f8r ikke.\n\nNoen ganger kunne det passet \u00e5 si det, men da orker jeg ikke. Tiden strekker ofte ikke til.\n\nMange ganger tenker jeg at det ikke vil endre noe uansett.\n\nDessuten kan det hende jeg tar feil.\n\nS\u00e5 full at du ikke klarer \u00e5 sitte oppreist\n\nSom turnuslege jobber jeg i akuttmottak. Der m\u00f8ter jeg deg som er s\u00e5 full at du ikke klarer \u00e5 sitte oppreist.\n\nJeg holder pussbekkenet mens du spyr og mascaraen sm\u00f8res utover kinnene dine. Du vrir ansiktet i fortvilelse over omstendighetene du har havnet i.\n\n11051783_10153695761810185_3894358760112336971_o (1)_doc6nd3hxjju3an8atn9g0.jpg PRIVAT\n\nJeg kan se at du har pyntet deg for kvelden. Du har fine b\u00f8lger i det lange h\u00e5ret ditt og stram kjole.Jeg er p\u00e5 din alder og ofte er vi to p\u00e5 lag i akuttmottaket. Da deler du intime detaljer fra privatlivet ditt som om jeg var venninnen din.\n\nVi er ikke alltid venner. Du kalte meg \u00abhore\u00bb en natt jeg ville pumpe deg.\n\nDen morgenen var jeg matt da jeg kom hjem. Hvis jeg skal v\u00e6re \u00e6rlig blir jeg sur av \u00e5 bli vekket kl. 04.50 fordi du har drukket deg fordervet.\n\nHvis jeg skal v\u00e6re \u00e6rlig blir jeg sur av \u00e5 bli vekket kl. 04.50 fordi du har drukket deg fordervet.\n\nJeg f\u00e5r lyst til \u00e5 kjefte deg huden full! N\u00e5r jeg tenker slike tanker f\u00f8ler jeg meg som en d\u00e5rlig lege.\n\nJeg fors\u00f8ker uansett \u00e5 m\u00f8te deg med respekt. Det er nemlig jobben min.\n\nKramper fordi du er abstinent\n\nNoen dager tar jeg imot deg som har drukket tett i flere uker, men som er tom for alkohol. Du kommer inn med kramper fordi du er abstinent.\n\nDa slukker jeg lyset p\u00e5 rommet, snakker med lav stemme og pr\u00f8ver \u00e5 roe deg ned. Du skulle kanskje \u00f8nske at jeg hadde en flaske sprit i frakkelommen.\n\nDet har jeg ikke, men jeg har beroligende midler dersom du er veldig d\u00e5rlig.\n\nJeg synes ofte synd p\u00e5 deg. Det ser vondt ut \u00e5 v\u00e6re s\u00e5 klein.\n\nDet m\u00e5 v\u00e6re noe fryktelig i livet ditt som du har behov for \u00e5 d\u00f8yve, siden du er s\u00e5 slem med din egen kropp.\n\nDu ser ofte herjet ut. Du lukter gammel svette, har skitt p\u00e5 dongeribuksen og fett h\u00e5r. Innimellom krampene ser du brydd ut.\n\nDet er jo ikke for min del du burde vasket deg og gredd h\u00e5ret. Du burde gjort det for deg selv!\n\nDu som drikker GHB dukker ogs\u00e5 opp. Du kan v\u00e6re bevisstl\u00f8s og vi snakker sjeldent sammen.\n\nEn gang var du s\u00e5 kraftig og muskul\u00f8s at jeg strevde med \u00e5 f\u00e5 unders\u00f8kt deg. Du var kortklipt, klam i huden og det rant blod fra et kutt i pannen.\n\nJeg tok meg i \u00e5 tenke at det var fint du var bevisstl\u00f8s. Du blir nemlig s\u00e5 voldsom i GHB-rus.\n\nBakvakten min vil ogs\u00e5 unders\u00f8ke deg. Vi har ingen motgift \u00e5 gi deg, og blir derfor g\u00e5ende gjennom natten \u00e5 v\u00e5ke over deg.\n\nDet viktigste er at du puster. S\u00e5 v\u00e5kner du br\u00e5tt og drar hjem, mot v\u00e5re r\u00e5d.\n\nEtterp\u00e5 sitter jeg igjen med en f\u00f8lelse av at vi ikke har forst\u00e5tt hverandre; du vil hjem til neste fest, jeg er sjeleglad du overlevde.\n\nFine kl\u00e6r og stresskoffert i skinn\n\nMange ganger har jeg m\u00f8tt deg som innlegges p\u00e5 grunn av komplikasjoner av eget rusmisbruk.\n\nKroppen din har tatt skade av overforbruk over mange \u00e5r. Du kan v\u00e6re s\u00e5 alkoholisert at leveren din svikter, men nekte for at du drikker.\n\nDu kan ha fine kl\u00e6r, stresskoffert i skinn og en viktig jobb som venter p\u00e5 deg.\n\nJeg later som jeg ikke forst\u00e5r at du er travel. Du later som om du ikke forst\u00e5r hvor syk du er.\n\nEr det skam som gj\u00f8r deg s\u00e5 lite samarbeidsvillig eller forst\u00e5r du faktisk ikke konsekvensene?\n\nJeg m\u00f8ter dine n\u00e6re i gangen, en ektemann eller kanskje noen d\u00f8tre. De er ofte desperate. De vil at noen skal helbrede relasjonene som er skadeskutt.\n\nDe vil ha tilbake mammaen og konen sin slik hun var f\u00f8r.\n\nVi gj\u00f8r alt vi kan for \u00e5 hjelpe deg. N\u00e5r det er forsvarlig, skrives du ut.\n\nJeg gir deg skriftlig informasjon om hvor skadelig ditt alkoholforbruk er. Du putter papirene i stresskofferten med raske hender.\n\nJeg snakker om avrusningsklinikker du ikke vil p\u00e5. Du h\u00e5per vi aldri sees igjen.\n\nJeg tenker n\u00e5r du g\u00e5r: \u00abSees snart\u00bb.\n\nSprik mellom l\u00e6rling og praksis\n\nJeg kan ikke nok om rus. Det er et enormt sprik mellom hvor lite vi har l\u00e6rt om rus og hvor mye vi m\u00f8ter i praksis.\n\nHelsevesenet har heller ikke gode nok tilbud til deg som strever med rus. Jeg jobber i et akuttmottak og p\u00e5 en medisinsk avdeling.\n\nDet er et enormt sprik mellom hvor lite vi har l\u00e6rt om rus og hvor mye vi m\u00f8ter i praksis.\n\nVi er der for deg n\u00e5r du er akutt d\u00e5rlig. Vi hjelper deg gjennom den farlige rusen. Vi stabler deg p\u00e5 beina n\u00e5r du kommer p\u00e5 grunn av komplikasjoner av rusmisbruket.\n\nVi er der ikke n\u00e5r du kommer hjem og naboen lurer p\u00e5 om du vil v\u00e6re med p\u00e5 den lokale puben.\n\nVi er der ikke n\u00e5r du st\u00e5r p\u00e5 polet med vinflasken i h\u00e5nden og suget i kroppen.\n\nVi er der heller ikke n\u00e5r kameraten din anbefaler deg GHB. Da har du bare deg selv, din egen viljestyrke og din egen kropp!\n\nDet er vanskelig \u00e5 jobbe med deg. Du er den mest utfordrende pasienten jeg treffer. Det er min mening om den saken.\n\nDu er den pasienten som gj\u00f8r meg oftest sint, av og til redd og som regel maktesl\u00f8s.\n\nI m\u00f8te med deg merker jeg min egen inkompetanse aller best.\n\nVi kan gjerne v\u00e6re enige om at jeg burde kunnet mer om rus.\n\nVi kan gjerne v\u00e6re enige om at rusomsorgen i Norge ikke er god nok. Det holder likevel ikke.\n\nDet er noe annet som gj\u00f8r at m\u00f8tet med akkurat deg er det som river mest i meg.\n\nDet er provoserende\n\nFor det f\u00f8rste p\u00e5f\u00f8rer du deg selv skade, som vi m\u00e5 ordne opp i. Du skader din egen kropp og ditt eget liv.\n\nDet er provoserende \u00e5 vite at om du ikke hadde brukt rusmiddelet, s\u00e5 hadde vi ikke trengt \u00e5 hjelpe deg.\n\nDet er provoserende \u00e5 vite at om du ikke hadde brukt rusmiddelet, s\u00e5 hadde vi ikke trengt \u00e5 hjelpe deg.\n\nDet andre aspektet er at du ofte ikke \u00f8nsker behandling. Du benekter et reelt problem. Noen ganger erkjenner du problemet, men \u00f8nsker likevel ikke hjelp.\n\nJeg bestemmer ikke over din kropp. Jeg kan ikke p\u00e5tvinge deg behandling. Men det er fortvilende \u00e5 se p\u00e5 din situasjon uten \u00e5 kunne gj\u00f8re noe.\n\nMan blir fortvilet av \u00e5 v\u00e6re helsepersonell uten \u00e5 kunne hjelpe.\n\nFortvilelse b\u00f8r brukes fornuftig. Jeg bruker derfor min i dag til \u00e5 si noe h\u00f8yt og tydelig, selv om det kanskje er moralsk forkastelig og mest av alt et uttrykk for egen inkompetanse.\n\nKj\u00e6re menneske: du m\u00e5 skjerpe deg, ta tak i ditt eget liv og gj\u00f8re en endring. Det er det ingen andre enn du som kan.\n\nJeg er her for deg hver eneste dag p\u00e5 jobben min, men er sjansel\u00f8s uten at du selv gj\u00f8r noe.\n\nTa deg sammen!\n\nLes tidligere rusmisbruker Amalie Winthers svar til Ingrid Neteland:\n\nLes ogs\u00e5 Jeg ville heller d\u00f8 alene enn \u00e5 f\u00f8le meg som en dritt p\u00e5 legevakten\n\nJohann Hari var en av deltakerne, da vi diskuterte ruspolitikk i Kultur:\n\nLese mer om rusproblematikk? Her er noen av innleggene vi har publisert:\n\nLege Ola J\u00f8sendal:\n\nLes ogs\u00e5 Noen mener alt blir bedre med mer cannabis og mindre alkohol. Ikke engang folkeeventyrene ga s\u00e5pass kreditt til en rev\n\nTre leger skriver:\n\nLes ogs\u00e5 Flere rusmiddelavhengige b\u00f8r tvangsinnlegges\n\nStudentene Blomkvist og H\u00e5rklau:\n\nLes ogs\u00e5 LSD utsettes for en juridisk stigmatisering og en kulturmotstand som ikke har rot i virkeligheten\n\nF\u00f8lg Aftenposten meninger p\u00e5 Facebook og Twitter"}
-{"text": "Ryan Warner: This is Colorado Matters from CPR News. I\u2019m Ryan Warner. The Trump Administration hopes state and local law enforcement will do more to enforce immigration laws. In a memo signed this week, the head of Homeland Security calls for the expansion of a program that trains cops to act as immigration officers to, quote, \u201cInvestigate, identify, apprehend, detain and conduct searches.\u201d Engaging the state patrol would require Governor John Hickenlooper\u2019s approval. In our regular conversation at the state capitol, we asked the governor what he\u2019d do if the patrol wanted to participate. Gov. John Hickenlooper: Let me say, I\u2019ve talked to state patrol, I\u2019ve talked to the Department of Public Safety and that is not their inclination. They have their own priorities and the federal government\u2019s not offering any funding for this. So this is \u2013 would be taking people away from state priorities to do what\u2019s essentially a federal mandate. RW: What do you base that assertion on, that they wouldn\u2019t provide money? JH: Well that \u2013 generally, when the federal government makes \u2013 puts out a memo like this, they say, \u201cThe funding will be from A, B, C.\u201d That funding would almost certainly have to come through Congress and obviously, I think what\u2019s being discussed now is the lack of any funding or any statement of support implies that there\u2019s not going to be any. They don\u2019t think they can get it through Congress. RW: So you\u2019ve had specific conversations about what\u2019s known as the 287(g) program with the head of the state patrol? JH: I\u2019ve talked to the head of public safety, talked to the head of state patrol. RW: OK and there does not seem to be interest in this immediately? JH: Yeah. I mean right now, we\u2019ve been trying to figure out a way in our budget, \u201cDo we want to add another twenty or thirty state patrol officers?\u201d right, just to do the traffic safety, to do the \u2013 all the priorities they already have. I mean, we\u2019re already caught between a rock and a hard place in terms of how to budget for our own pressing needs. Here\u2019s a case where the federal government comes in and says they want us to start going door to door and collecting people, taking them out of their homes, something that in many senses, some people think, would make our ability to keep communities safe more difficult. RW: Let me say the memos are not as explicit as saying that these agents would knock on doors and arrest people. JH: Well, but we certainly don't know what they intend these agents to be doing. If it\u2019s looking for violent criminals, we\u2019re already doing that. So what specifically do they want us to do beyond that? RW: Just some history here: this program had bipartisan support in Colorado about a decade ago, but went out of favor here. El Paso County was the last in Colorado to bow out in 2015, but what of local departments? So if a county sheriff\u2019s office or if a city or town\u2019s police force were interested in pursuing this deputizing, would you stop them? JH: Well A, the way our system works, I don\u2019t have the power to stop them, but do I think it\u2019s a good idea? Probably not. I mean, they\u2019re going to have to try and make that decision; does it make their community safer and when you run a big city police department, a big part of public safety is that relationship between the police force and the community they\u2019re trying to protect and the creation of a sense of trust. And however you look at this, it\u2019s hard to imagine you\u2019re going to improve the trust relationship between the community and the police force if you\u2019re going into people\u2019s homes and taking people out solely because they\u2019re undocumented. Now let me be very clear. When undocumented individuals go out and rob a store, create a violent crime or are part of a gang, we are the first to say they should be arrested. I think every police chief in the state would support that and turn them immediately over to ICE so that they can go through the deportation process. That makes a lot \u2013 no one\u2019s arguing with that. RW: Though I think there is some argument that that doesn\u2019t happen as often as it could. JH: And I think that\u2019s fair, right. If you\u2019ve got violent criminals who happen to be undocumented, we should be much more effective in making sure they are arrested, detained, processed and deported. If they really committed violent crimes, they should be the priority in terms of any kind of a deportation process. RW: You have heard from constituents across the political spectrum on the immigration issue. We reviewed comments that came into your governor\u2019s website, people who\u2019d OK\u2019d them to public. Jodee Hankins in Pueblo County wrote in December, \u201cI support President-Elect Donald Trump in his efforts to protect American citizens. I do not support sanctuary cities and ignorance towards immigrants.\u201d On the other side, Alice Gustafson wrote in to your website from Garfield County to say, \u201cGovernor Cuomo has taken a bold step in declaring New York a safe zone for all people. Doing so in Colorado would alleviate some fears and help deter any hateful reactions by a citizen.\u201d I\u2019m just curious. How often, when there are calls and emails from constituents, do you actually see them? JH: Well I \u2013 there are so many on this issue, so many that come in, but we do keep a record of them all and kind of sum them up of how many people are for it, how many people are against it. RW: So you get a digest or\u2026? JH: Yeah, there\u2019s a log that is done on a daily basis and I do look at that log. However, I think it\u2019s worth pointing out that in something like this where there is so much emotional energy and so much divisive rhetoric, sometimes that blocks possible compromise and solutions. One solution I would suggest, maybe the time is right now for Congress finally to step up under this new heightened awareness and say what are the comprises so we can finally resolve this immigration problem that\u2019s been going on for over twenty years now? Obviously, securing the border is a part of that. I\u2019m not sure a wall is the most cost-effective way of doing that, but why don\u2019t we have a national ID system that works? Why can\u2019t we hold businesses accountable, maybe increase the penalties if they\u2019re hiring people undocumented? Look at the industries where we can\u2019t find sufficient workers even now with undocumented workers in the mix. So agriculture is a big example of that; construction. You talk to people in town and they\u2019re offering construction workers \u2013 third-year, you could be making $60,000 a year and they can\u2019t find enough people that\u2019ll come every day and show up and work hard. This is an issue that sooner or later, Congress has to step up and say, \u201cAll right, how many work permits do we need in these different industries and how do we make sure that they are \u2013 we\u2019re not holding back the economic growth of our country, the job creation that would naturally occur if we weren\u2019t impeding it?\u201d RW: Do you ever find yourself being swayed on a particular policy given the emails or how they\u2019re breaking on a particular issue? JH: I try to keep an awareness of public sentiment on all these difficult issues because in a funny way, you don\u2019t want to get too far out ahead of public sentiment, even if you\u2019re on what you believe in your heart and soul is the right direction. Abraham Lincoln said it; he said, \u201cWith public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed,\u201d but you have to balance how an issue is evolving to figure out exactly when you can have the best effect. RW: Otherwise put, could that be called spinelessness that you don\u2019t take the lead because - JH: Certainly, Lincoln was called spineless frequently. RW: Even in the capitol, you have wildly differing views on immigration. A Republican bill would punish cities and even particular public officials who create sanctuary jurisdictions, and a Democratic bill would limit how law enforcement resources can be used for immigration enforcement. Is legislative action at the state level required in your mind or do you see this purely now as a federal issue? JH: Well I\u2019ve always seen it largely as a federal issue and I think \u2013 I mean, this nation is - RW: So is that just political maneuvering as you see it on lawmakers\u2019 behalf? JH: No, I think it can have a role, but I think it\u2019s primarily a federal issue. RW: You\u2019re listening to Colorado Matters, I\u2019m Ryan Warner, and we\u2019re back at the state capitol for our regular conversation with Governor John Hickenlooper. I\u2019d like to focus on energy now. You wrote a letter asking President Trump for more federal funding of clean energy and later this week, you head to Washington for the National Governors Association meeting. You told us that you expect a visit with President Trump, for the first time, there. What\u2019s the top thing you plan to raise? Is it energy? Is it something else? JH: Well again, that all depends on the context of where and how our discussion unfolds, but certainly issues that I would expect he would bring up and that I would want to at least make sure he understood our side of it would be immigration, would be clean energy and how kind of all of the above stance on energy really pays dividends long-term. I would talk to him about healthcare. There are now five or six or seven Republican governors that are saying, \u201cHey, we expanded Medicaid based on a social contract with the federal government. Don\u2019t pull the rug out from under us because we\u2019re finally getting a higher percentage of people with good basic healthcare.\u201d RW: Is your sense that you\u2019ll have one on one time with President Trump? JH: Well, I think \u2013 I doubt that. That\u2019s why I\u2019m saying it depends on the context in which I talk to him, but I think the \u2013 it\u2019s generally a fair assumption that as a \u2013 not a Republican that I won\u2019t be seated next to him and I probably won\u2019t have even a minute of conversation time. RW: On the energy question, methane is one of the byproducts of oil and gas development, and it contributes to climate change. The Obama Administration tried to cut methane emissions from drilling on public lands by requiring companies to look for and fix leaks in their equipment. That effort was based on rules Colorado adopted in 2014. Now Republican leaders in Congress are working to repeal the federal rule. The U.S. Senate\u2019s going to vote soon. Republicans and some industry groups argue the methane rules amount to bureaucratic red tape, that they hurt business. What have you heard from business leaders in Colorado about the rules here? JH: It depends on who you talk to. If you talk to any of the larger operators that \u2013 people that drill a lot of wells, that are recovering a large amount of oil and dealing with a lot of methane, I think almost without exception, they say to me and publically that these methane regulations were a good thing, that they actually improved the social contract between the oil and gas industry and the public, that they are definitely having a material benefit on the quality of air in Colorado. RW: But the smaller operators are struggling to meet it, do you think? JH: I\u2019m not so much sure it\u2019s that so much as they resent the imposition of another set of rules and regulations, and they\u2019re tired of that, what they perceive as a constant sequence, one after another, higher hurdles for them to get over in running their businesses. It is worth pointing out that the cost of the methane regulations has come down every single year. So originally, they were saying that it was going to be sixty million dollars a year to \u2013 again, remember this is a multi, multi, multibillion dollar, tens of billions of dollar industry in Colorado. So sixty million dollars, while a lot of money, is not the end of the world. The large operators that were paying the vast majority of that have dramatically reduced the cost. In other words, they found innovations so they can harvest that methane, reuse it and get back some of their cost of doing so much more quickly than we originally thought. So some estimates are as low as \u2013 there\u2019s twenty million dollars a year and it\u2019s going to keep going lower. So I think by almost any measure, the methane rules have been a success. RW: And so do you hope to sway, say, U.S. Senator Cory Gardner \u2013 a Republican from Colorado \u2013 on this issue, given the upcoming vote. Have you spoken with him about this? JH: Yes, I have. RW: And what have you told him, that he could be a key swing vote? JH: Well, I\u2019ve given him my opinion. Senator Gardner, I talk to him every couple weeks and he gives me his opinion, I give him my opinion. RW: Does he seem to be vacillating on this question or do you think he\u2019s made up his mind? JH: I wouldn\u2019t say vacillating. I think he\u2019s collecting the information and trying to figure out what is a \u2013 it\u2019s a difficult question. Given that there is a new Secretary of the Interior, who is going to be perhaps more cautious about where to and how much to impose methane regulations on public lands, wouldn\u2019t it make sense to go and change these rules through the normal rulemaking process rather than to exercise what some people view as a nuclear option, right, this CRA. RW: So in this case \u2013 JH: It\u2019s really the methodology. RW: CRA, the Congressional Review Act. So that there is a question of whether he thinks the Senate is the right place to do this or it should just happen administratively. JH: Yes, but if they use the CRA, this congressional review, what it means is that the Department of the Interior can never add any regulations on any of these areas without going through Congress and as we all know, Congress is hard to get anything through in most cases. RW: The state sued Boulder County last week over its temporary moratorium on oil and gas drilling, which it has repeatedly extended. Boulder County insists its moratorium does not violate the law. The suit came from the state Attorney General, Cynthia Coffman, who said, quoting, \u201cThe Colorado Supreme Court has made clear that local governments do not have the authority to ban oil and gas development.\u201d Did you consult with her before she sued or did she consult with you? JH: We were aware that she was filing suit. RW: You were and do you think that she made the right choice? JH: Well I think that there\u2019s \u2013 Boulder\u2019s going to have a new set of rules, hopefully, in the next several weeks and our hope is that those rules are going to be able to both respect and reflect the state constitution and people\u2019s private property rights, but also provide more protection or more interchange between the industry, and surface property owners. RW: So do I hear you saying that she might have jumped the gun on this? It sounds like you\u2019re very confident Boulder will come up with those rules as opposed to continuing the moratorium. JH: Yeah. I mean, Boulder has said to us that they are very close to getting these rules. We haven\u2019t seen the rules. So again, the first question is, \u201cDo they get those rules in the next few weeks?\u201d So they have gone past that five-year deadline, but if they really deliver the new rules, is it worth a lawsuit. Then the next question is going to be, \u201cDo those rules conform with what\u2019s in our state constitution?\u201d RW: So do you think she was premature in filing the suit? JH: Again, I\u2019m not going to tell the Attorney General how to do her job. I think that I\u2019m somebody who \u2013 when I was in the private sector, I never sued anybody and I was never sued. I tried to work everything out. I think when you go into court, you spend a lot of money and I\u2019m not sure you always get a better outcome. RW: Boulder County Commissioners say there is really a bigger problem here and that\u2019s relations between the industry and some local governments. Here\u2019s Commissioner Elise Jones. Elise Jones (on tape): Our state has not yet solved the problem and that\u2019s one of the reasons we\u2019re in the state that we\u2019re in right now. RW: Your oil and gas taskforce produced new rules in 2016 to address this friction and give more local control. We reported this month on the first two communities to test these rules. One\u2019s in Weld County, the other on the West Slope. Groups of citizens in each say that the rules don\u2019t reflect common sense since they still allow companies to drill within 500 feet of their homes with dozens of wells on a single pad. The rules have made companies do more to limit noise, dust, lights, monitor air and water quality, but accidents still happen. After hearing our reports, I wonder how you feel about these large developments what some citizens say is industrial scale activity in their neighborhoods. JH: Well these wells are drilled, nowadays what used to take six months is drilled in six days. So the wells are drilled very rapidly one after another and by putting them on one pad, you may have several months of industrial activity, but you\u2019re not having it spread all over the county, and that was the original idea behind using directional drilling to \u2013 from a single pad, be able to drill a couple square miles worth of area without having to be in conflict with more houses. RW: And yet for those who live next to or near that pad with so much activity going on, they\u2019re seeing it as concentrated and injurious. JH: And again \u2013 and that\u2019s \u2013 this is the place where I think local government can step in and should have a voice. If they say, \u201cWe\u2019d like you to have more pads,\u201d I think most oil and gas companies are going to say, \u201cAll right, if you want us to do more pads \u2013 it doesn\u2019t cost much money to do a pad. We\u2019ll do more pads.\u201d But does that really make sense for their community to have more people subjected to more noise and dust and commotion, or is it better to go as quickly as you can in one place and get that noise over in a matter of a few months? RW: So do you think there should be more limits on large-scale oil and gas facilities that go into a neighborhood, or do you think the state has struck the right balance here? JH: I think the circumstance here is they don\u2019t want those wells drilled at all. It\u2019s not a question of \u2013 it\u2019s a good thing to argue against how many are on a pad, but they\u2019re not saying they want those wells distributed on many smaller pads. They\u2019re saying, \u201cWe don\u2019t want those wells.\u201d RW: So no matter what choice the driller makes, it sounds to me like the friction between local governments and the industry \u2013 it\u2019s not really being eased, even in light of the new rules. JH: Right and we are at the same place where I think, on your show for several years, we\u2019ve been talking about, in our constitution, this is someone\u2019s private property, these mineral leases. So if we really feel as a community that this is so injurious to our neighbors, then we should do what we do with transmission lines. We should use eminent domain. There\u2019s a whole legal process. That doesn\u2019t appear to be something that Boulder or Broomfield is willing to come up with, to come out of their pockets to pay for this private property that they want to take. RW: Broomfield, which is also dealing with the question of a moratorium. Let\u2019s put the focus back on this building, the state capitol. You\u2019ve given lawmakers until the end of March to agree on how to get more money for transportation and infrastructure. Republicans and Democrats agree transportation funding is a top priority, but they haven\u2019t found a way to fund it yet. Why are you laying back and letting lawmakers figure this out? Why not take initiative in the debate? JH: What do you mean by take it? You mean go out and hold a press conference and tell them what they should do? You think that would work? Tell me the truth, Ryan. You think that would have any - RW: Well I\u2019m not sure that that\u2019s exactly what I had in mind, but the - JH: What would you suggest? RW: Maybe this is happening; you can tell me, but sitting down directly with lawmakers and saying, \u201cLet\u2019s figure this out at this table.\u201d JH: I am sitting down directly with lawmakers saying, \u201cLet\u2019s figure this out at this table.\u201d It\u2019s not this table, but sometimes it\u2019s this table. RW: Here in your office, one issue that Republicans have raised is that any new source of transportation funding be revenue neutral, which means that if you\u2019re going to increase a tax on Coloradans, for instance, to pay for roads, infrastructure, another tax should be lowered in concert with that. Where is that in the negotiations? JH: I\u2019m open to discuss anything, but I don\u2019t see how this helps, right. If we\u2019re going to lower one source of revenue so that we can add a new source of revenue and we end up with the same amount of money, why aren\u2019t we going ahead and using the first source of revenue to build the roads and the infrastructure we need? RW: Well, I think Republicans want some sort of tradeoff. JH: I mean I am \u2013 and I've said this on your show, I\u2019ve said it until I\u2019m blue in the face \u2013 I\u2019m agnostic. I don\u2019t care where the revenue comes from or what the tradeoff is. We need a certain amount of money and its many hundreds of millions of dollars to build the infrastructure that this state needs to grow. And as you go and look at our competing states, right \u2013 Utah is the one I always use as an example \u2013 they are spending four times as much money on transportation infrastructure expansion as we are, and they have half the population. So that\u2019s an 8x differential. RW: This sounds a bit like a deal breaker with Republicans. JH: Oh, I think you just sit down and listen hard to what the issue \u2013 I think it - RW: I didn\u2019t work so well for the hospital provider fee, which was another funding question you had. JH: Hey, hope springs eternal, Ryan; hope springs eternal in the human breast. I think we go forward and listen as hard as we can, and one of the things they've said is that, \u201cWell, we need savings in healthcare.\u201d Well, we\u2019re beginning to see \u2013 the person increase in Medicaid was almost flat this year. We\u2019ve got real savings. So I\u2019m trying to figure out how big is that number. Can we put fifty million dollars of healthcare savings into this mix? Some of our general fund money that we\u2019ve been using in transportation for maintenance \u2013 is there some ways we can do that more efficiently and save, let\u2019s say, fifty million dollars from highway maintenance? In other words, it limits \u2013 we don\u2019t have to raise new revenues as much as we would otherwise. We\u2019re trying to do everything we can to get to a compromise where we\u2019re actually hearing what their concerns are and trying, to the best of our ability, to respond. I really think more than anything, this shouldn\u2019t be a partisan issue. This is about the future of the state of Colorado. I mean Republicans, Democrats have always \u2013 we\u2019ve all believed that you\u2019ve got to be able to build the infrastructure to satisfy the needs of a growing economy. RW: Governor, thank you for being with us again. JH: Always a treat."}
-{"text": "Tiffany Trump may have graduated from the University of Pennsylvania six months ago, but she and her college boyfriend are still going strong and spending plenty of time together despite living in different cities.\n\nThe 23-year-old Ivy League graduate and her her beau Ross Mechanic attended the The New York Botanical Garden Winter Wonderland Ball on Friday night before spending Sunday evening watching the New York Giants defeated the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.\n\nWhile at the glamorous winter benefit Tiffany and Ross were all smiles as they struck a pose next to a giant Christmas tree surrounded by children's presents, and she happily took to Instagram to share the beautiful picture.\n\nScroll down for video\n\nLook of love: Tiffany Trump attended the New York Botanical Garden Winter Wonderland Ball on Friday night with her longtime boyfriend Ross Mechanic wearing a Dennis Basso gown\n\nDate night: The 23-year-old and her 22-year-old beau watched the New York Giants defeat the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sunday evening\n\nTiffany looked lovely in a cream strapless, embellished gown by Dennis Basso \u2013 the same designer she wore to last year's holiday ball.\n\nRoss, who is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania, looked dapper in a tux, leaving one hand in his pocket and the other wrapped around Tiffany's waist.\n\nOn Sunday, he shared an Instagram photo of them cuddled together at the Giants game, which he captioned: 'All bundled up.'\n\nThe two were both wearing warm coats and thick scarves as they posed in front of the field.\n\nThrowback: Tiffany also wore Dennis Basso to last year's Winter Wonderland Ball (pictured)\n\nCasual day out: Tiffany shared snapped this black and white selfie with a filter a few weeks ago\n\nWhile Ross happily posted a photo of them together, Tiffany shared a video of the patriotic NFL opener, writing: 'Game time!'\n\nA few weeks ago, Tiffany's mom Marla Maples revealed on her Instagram page that Tiffany celebrated a major milestone with Ross.\n\nThe young couple spent Thanksgiving together this year, celebrating the holiday with the Mechanic family.\n\nRoss even invited Marla to take part in the festivities, and the 53-year-old shared a throwback snapshot on December 1 of the trio about to chow down at dinner.\n\nLegally Blonde: Tiffany was spotted touring Harvard Law School last Tuesday, accompanied by Secret Service agents\n\nHitting the books: Tiffany revealed she was studying for the LSAT when she shared this snapshot in August\n\n'Was Thanksgiving just a week ago?' Marla wrote. 'My busy, studious girl did take a moment in time to celebrate the blessings of friendship and love. Thank you Ross and family!!'\n\nIn the photo, Marla, Tiffany, and Ross smile at the camera. The couple wears matching black, while Marla looks cozy in an orange sweater and pendant necklace.\n\nInterestingly, these seem moments away from helping themselves to matzo ball soup \u2014 not a traditional Thanksgiving food, but perhaps a tradition in Ross' Jewish household. Matzo ball soup is traditionally served for Passover, which is in April.\n\nMeanwhile, Tiffany has been busy preparing for law school. Throughout the election, many speculated whether Donald's youngest daughter would follow her half-siblings footsteps and join the family business after graduation, but it looks like she is paving her own way.\n\nCute pic! Marla Maples shared a throwback photo from Thanksgiving earlier this month\n\nMajor milestone: She revealed that she and her daughter Tiffany had spent the holiday with Ross and his family\n\nTiffany, who revealed she was studying for the LSAT over the summer, was spotted touring Harvard Law School last Tuesday, accompanied by Secret Service agents.\n\n'We were sitting in the lounge area in the student center, and I saw a tall blonde girl walking through and I recognized her,' one student told Politico.\n\nAnother student claimed to have snapped a picture of Tiffany entering the library. The picture, which does not show her face, shows a blond woman, wearing all black, walking the halls with two others."}
-{"text": "High winds and torrential rain were expected to cause travel problems across much of England, with drivers in Cumbria advised to avoid all but essential travel as the county braced itself for up to 10cm of torrential rain.\n\nWind from Storm Ali cut power to 24,000 homes in Cumbria and north Lancashire on Wednesday evening, with 3,000 properties left in the dark overnight.\n\nIn the north-east of England, 46,000 households suffered power cuts on Wednesday, predominantly in Northumberland and County Durham. Northern Powergrid, the company responsible for the region\u2019s power network, said 2,500 homes remained cut off on Thursday morning.\n\nGusts of 106mph were recorded up Great Dun Fell, east of Penrith, on Wednesday, causing delays along rail lines after trees fell on to the tracks and power lines were damaged.\n\nDelays of up to an hour were expected until 1pm on Thursday between Preston and Glasgow, and the southbound and northbound Caledonian Sleeper Highlander services were cancelled.\n\nOn the east coast, London North Eastern Railway was operating a reduced and amended service on Thursday between London King\u2019s Cross and Edinburgh. CrossCountry services may also be affected.\n\n\u2757Today's weather system has been named #StormBronagh. Yellow warnings are in force, with heavy rain and strong winds across parts of #England and #Wales pic.twitter.com/BEjJm1Dtyo \u2014 Met Office (@metoffice) September 20, 2018\n\nThe Met Office issued weather warnings for many parts of England on Thursday. An area of persistent and heavy rain was expected to develop across Wales and north-west England, while strong winds were forecast for much of the rest of England on Thursday evening and overnight into Friday morning.\n\nElectricity North-West, which provides power to Cumbria and Lancashire, said engineers were working hard to mend broken power lines. On Wednesday night, it sent food vans to the worst affected areas in Silloth and Penruddock providing free hot food and drinks to people affected.\n\nChris Fox, incident manager for Electricity North-West, said on Wednesday evening: \u201cDespite the atrocious conditions up in Cumbria and north Lancashire today I\u2019m pleased to say we\u2019ve restored power to 21,000 properties already.\n\n\u201cWe will continue to work late into the night to get people back on, but we are likely to have some areas still without power until [Thursday]. Our people are braving the elements and working in dark and windy conditions and will continue that work into tomorrow.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Sony is preparing to \u201csunset\u201d a number of online multiplayer experiences in 2014. If you\u2019ve got an itch for some Resistance trilogy multiplayer, you\u2019d best get it in over the next couple of months.\n\nThe plug will be pulled on different dates for the affected games. On January 28, 2014, MAG, SOCOM: Special Forces, and SOCOM: Confrontation will be turned off. MAG and SOCOM: Confrontation do not have offline modes and will be rendered useless.\n\nOn March 28, 2014, all three Resistance titles go offline. Their campaigns will still function as normal, though.\n\nFinally, on May 20, 2014, Gran Turismo 5 will lose its multiplayer functionality. By then, you\u2019ll have Driveclub on the PS4 and, of course, Gran Turismo 6 on PS3.\n\nYou may have also noticed that downloadable title Pain is no longer compatible with online play. That game was sunset on November 26, 2013.\n\n[Source: Sony via Joystiq]\n\nOur Take\n\nIt\u2019s never fun to write these stories, as most of the games in question still have communities. Unfortunately, it\u2019s part of the business. When a game\u2019s player base is in sharp decline, the cost of maintaining the servers becomes more expensive than any good will that might be lost by the move.\n\nI\u2019m interested to see if Microsoft\u2019s cloud and its more flexible scalability combat sunsetting. If so, we might see other platform holders move in that direction to save money on server expenses and retain good will."}
-{"text": "\u65e5\u6e05\u30aa\u30a4\u30ea\u30aa\u30b0\u30eb\u30fc\u30d7\u306e\u5e83\u5831\u62c5\u5f53\u8005\u306b\u3082\u8a71\u3092\u805e\u304d\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\u3053\u3061\u3089\u306e\u62c5\u5f53\u8005\u3082\u300c\uff08\u4ed6\u306e2\u793e\u3068\u306e\uff09\u8cc7\u672c\u95a2\u4fc2\u306f\u5168\u304f\u306a\u3044\u300d\u3068\u8a71\u3057\u307e\u3059\u3002\u307e\u305f\u3001\u300c\u5b9f\u969b\u306b\u30b0\u30eb\u30fc\u30d7\u4f1a\u793e\u3068\u601d\u308f\u308c\u3066\u3044\u308b\u65b9\u3082\u591a\u3044\u306e\u3067\u306f\u300d\u3068\u8a00\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u65e5\u6e05\u30aa\u30a4\u30ea\u30aa\u30b0\u30eb\u30fc\u30d7\u306e\u524d\u8eab\u306f\u30011907\u5e74\u306b\u8a2d\u7acb\u3055\u308c\u305f\u300c\u65e5\u6e05\u8c46\u7c95\u88fd\u9020\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u300d\u3002\n\n\u62c5\u5f53\u8005\u306b\u3088\u308b\u3068\u3001\u793e\u540d\u306e\u300c\u65e5\u6e05\u300d\u306f\u65e5\u672c\u306e\u65e5\u3068\u6e05\u56fd\uff08\u73fe\u5728\u306e\u4e2d\u56fd\uff09\u306e\u6e05\u304b\u3089\u3068\u3063\u305f\u305d\u3046\u3067\u3059\u3002\u5b9f\u969b\u306b\u5275\u696d\u671f\u306b\u306f\u4e2d\u56fd\u30fb\u5927\u9023\u306b\u652f\u5e97\u3001\u5de5\u5834\u304c\u7f6e\u304b\u308c\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\u305d\u306e\u5f8c\u30011918\u5e74\u306b\u306f\u65e5\u6e05\u88fd\u6cb9\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u306b\u6539\u540d\u3002\n\n2002\u5e74\u306b\u65e5\u6e05\u88fd\u6cb9\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u3001\u30ea\u30ce\u30fc\u30eb\u6cb9\u8102\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u3001\u30cb\u30c3\u30b3\u30fc\u88fd\u6cb9\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u306e3\u793e\u304c\u7d4c\u55b6\u7d71\u5408\u3057\u30012004\u5e74\u306b\u5408\u4f75\u3057\u305f\u3053\u3068\u3067\u73fe\u5728\u306e\u65e5\u6e05\u30aa\u30a4\u30ea\u30aa\u30b0\u30eb\u30fc\u30d7\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u3068\u3044\u3046\u793e\u540d\u306b\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\u30b0\u30eb\u30fc\u30d7\u306b\u306f\u3001\u651d\u6d25\u88fd\u6cb9\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u3084\u65e5\u6e05\u5546\u4e8b\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u306a\u3069\u304c\u3042\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002"}
-{"text": "Texas Tech coach Chris Beard looks back on the pain of losing in the national championship game and the great season his Red Raiders had this season. (2:43)\n\nOn a November afternoon this past winter, a man in his 30s walked into The SuperBook at the Westgate Las Vegas and wanted to place bets on two college basketball teams to win the 2019 title. One wager was on Wisconsin at 100-1 odds, and the other was on Texas Tech, a team that had opened at 40-1 back in April, but whose odds had plummeted to 200-1.\n\nThe bettor (who didn't wish to be identified for this story) wanted more than $1,500 on Texas Tech, but SuperBook director John Murray declined. \"He's a well-known player who takes a lot of futures positions with us,\" Murray told ESPN. \"He asked for more, to which we said, 'No.' I think to win $300K is pretty good.\"\n\nThe bettor settled for a $1,500 ticket on the Red Raiders at 200-1 odds, for a payout of $300,000.\n\nAlmost four months later, that ticket was one game away from cashing. And despite an offer from Dez Bryant and another for $125,000 on PropSwap (a secondary marketplace for sports-betting futures tickets), the bettor let it ride. Texas Tech lost to Virginia 85-77 on Monday night in the championship game.\n\nHe made other college basketball bets, including several on Virginia winning, so he still won some money. But he'll always be contemplating what could have been if Texas Tech had won.\n\nThe bettor told ESPN that sports betting is a hobby of his -- not his full-time job -- and he began around eight years ago.\n\n\"It's something that I do for fun,\" he noted. \"I live on the West Coast, so it's somewhat convenient for me to get to Vegas. College basketball is the sport I enjoy watching most, and my interest in betting stemmed from a love of watching sports.\"\n\nHe likes making futures bets on college basketball because of the large variety of teams and long odds available rather than individual games, and he usually makes several trips to Vegas throughout the season to get money down. On long-shot futures: \"It's kind of like buying a lottery ticket or a big parlay, but something that I think has a more reasonable chance of winning.\"\n\nIn addition to the $1,500 futures wager on Texas Tech at 200-1, ESPN learned that he also had a $1,500 ticket on Michigan State at 40-1 and an $800 wager on Texas Tech at 125-1 odds (for a potential payout of $100,000). In addition, he had a smaller futures position on Virginia.\n\n\"I liked the long odds on Texas Tech at 200-1,\" the bettor said. \"I had bets on them last year at 250-1, and even though they fell short in the Elite Eight, they returned a lot of the same guys and the same coach.\"\n\nAfter losing out on all of his long shots last year without hedging (including Clemson at 500-1), the idea of selling a futures bet in a secondary marketplace like PropSwap was very appealing.\n\n\"I wasn't aware of PropSwap [before],\" he told ESPN. \"But it's cool that I can get some money back from these tickets and someone has a chance to win big.\"\n\nHe said $1,500 was \"pretty close to his ceiling\" in terms of futures bets, which makes the question of hedging all the more interesting. Why not hedge more on such a valuable Texas Tech ticket?\n\n\"The way I think about it is, if I hedged they probably wouldn't have won,\" he told ESPN on Friday. \"Say Texas Tech beats Michigan State but Jarrett Culver gets hurt. Then all of your assumptions about Texas Tech and how much you should hedge now and in the final game goes out the window. It's much nicer to take the fixed amount and not have the hassle of thinking about anything else.\n\n\"People make hedging sound easier than it is, both in having money lying around [and how to] bet on this stuff. You can easily make a mistake, and then it might not pan out the way you think it might.\"\n\nDaily Wager A daily sports betting news and information show (6-7 p.m. ET, ESPN2) that aims to better serve the millions of sports fans who participate in sports wagering and help educate general sports fans with in-depth analysis. Watch \u00bb\n\nFor a few hours on Friday afternoon, Bryant had the high bid of $50,000 on PropSwap for the $1,500 Texas Tech ticket (the bettor was asking for $65,000), and the highest official bid came in at $57,500. The bettor declined both bids and let the bet ride into Saturday night's Final Four game against Michigan State.\n\nHe did sell his $800 Texas Tech ticket for $20,250 on PropSwap on Saturday morning, hours before the Red Raiders defeated Michigan State 61-51 to advance to Monday night's title game.\n\nHe put his $1,500 Texas Tech ticket back up on PropSwap on Sunday but would've needed an astronomical bid to sell. He declined a $125,000 bid.\n\nLest anyone think he's solely motivated by financial gain, the bettor also has given away several futures bets as -- get this -- wedding and birthday gifts.\n\nThe Texas Tech bettor gave away a 6-1 Villanova futures ticket to a friend as a wedding gift. It won. Bill Frakes for ESPN\n\n\"One thing I started doing in the past few years is giving tickets to friends as presents,\" the bettor recalled. \"It could be a birthday present, but my favorite is the wedding present. I think it's a nice thing. They can choose to let a bit of it ride, all of it ride, none of it ride. It's kind of cool to see different people's risk tolerances. It's a good conversation for a couple to have.\"\n\nAnd they're not all long shots that don't have a chance to win. Last year, he made one friend some real cash.\n\n\"Yeah, I did give Villanova at 6-1 as a birthday present last year,\" he said with a chuckle. \"The couple didn't hedge and Villanova won, which is really cool for them. I'm obviously really happy about it.\"\n\nIt's clear the bettor has a large bankroll and there is a method to his futures betting madness, even though he says he doesn't have a formula determining how much to bet on each team.\n\n\"I haven't been in a similar situation before,\" he joked before Monday night's game. \"But I'm obviously happy to be in it.\"\n\nHe may be thinking twice about not hedging, despite the money from his other futures tickets."}
-{"text": "New KDP Sales Dashboard June 7th, 2017\n\nBook Report has been updated to work with the new KDP Sales Dashboard. Unlike most Book Report updates, this update needs to be installed manually.\n\nHere is the new Book Report button:\n\nTo install it, simply click and drag it to your bookmarks bar. You may want to remove your old Book Report button first, so that you don't confuse the two.\n\nThis button works slightly differently from the old one: To run Book Report, navigate to the KDP Bookshelf, and click on your new Book Report button. You read that right: Book Report now runs on the KDP Bookshelf, not the KDP Sales Dashboard.\n\nSo the two changes are:\n\nThe old Book Report button no longer works, you'll need to install the new one above.\n\nBook Report will only launch from the KDP Bookshelf, not the KDP Sales Dashboard.\n\nIf you're new to Book Report, further installation instructions can be found on the installation page.\n\nIf you're still seeing the old KDP Sales Dashboard, try logging out of KDP and then logging back in.\n\nOne more thing: If you can help get the word out about these changes, please do. We aren't pushy about collecting email address, and we aren't a part of any private Facebook groups, so it can be tough for us to reach our own users. Any little bit helps!\n\nDon\u2019t have Book Report yet?\n\nSupport - Privacy - Terms\n\nhello@getbookreport.com"}
-{"text": "\u201cA\u201d should be for acorn, \u201cB\u201d for buttercup and \u201cC\u201d for conker, not attachment, blog and chatroom, according to a group of authors including Margaret Atwood and Andrew Motion who are \u201cprofoundly alarmed\u201d about the loss of a slew of words associated with the natural world from the Oxford Junior Dictionary, and their replacement with words \u201cassociated with the increasingly interior, solitary childhoods of today\u201d.\n\nThe 28 authors, including Atwood, Motion, Michael Morpurgo and Robert Macfarlane, warn that the decision to cut around 50 words connected with nature and the countryside from the 10,000-entry children\u2019s dictionary, is \u201cshocking and poorly considered\u201d in the light of the decline in outdoor play for today\u2019s children. They are calling on publisher Oxford University Press to reverse its decision and, if necessary, to bring forward publication of a new edition of the dictionary to do so.\n\nThe likes of almond, blackberry and crocus first made way for analogue, block graph and celebrity in the Oxford Junior Dictionary in 2007, with protests at the time around the loss of a host of religious words such as bishop, saint and sin. The current 2012 edition maintained the changes, and instead of catkin, cauliflower, chestnut and clover, today\u2019s edition of the dictionary, which is aimed at seven-year-olds starting Key Stage Two, features cut and paste, broadband and analogue.\n\n\u201cWe recognise the need to introduce new words and to make room for them and do not intend to comment in detail on the choice of words added. However it is worrying that in contrast to those taken out, many are associated with the interior, solitary childhoods of today. In light of what is known about the benefits of natural play and connection to nature; and the dangers of their lack, we think the choice of words to be omitted shocking and poorly considered,\u201d the authors have written to OUP.\n\n\u201cWhen, in 2007, the OJD made the changes, this connection was understood, but less well publicised than now. The research evidence showing the links between natural play and wellbeing; and between disconnection from nature and social ills, is mounting.\u201d\n\nThe 28 signatories to the letter, who also include Sara Maitland, Helen Macdonald and Ruth Padel, say their concern is \u201cnot just a romantic desire to reflect the rosy memories of our own childhoods onto today\u2019s youngsters\u201d.\n\n\u201cThere is a shocking, proven connection between the decline in natural play and the decline in children\u2019s wellbeing,\u201d they write, pointing to research which found that a generation ago, 40% of children regularly played in natural areas, compared to 10% today, with a further 40% never playing outdoors. \u201cObesity, anti-social behaviour, friendlessness and fear are the known consequences,\u201d they say.\n\nThe campaign has been pulled together by Laurence Rose, who works for the RSPB and who provided a list of words taken out, including hamster, heron, herring, kingfisher, lark, leopard, lobster, magpie, minnow, mussel, newt, otter, ox, oyster and panther.\n\n\u201cWill the removal of these words from the OJD ruin lives? Probably not,\u201d say the authors. \u201cBut as a symptom of a widely acknowledged problem that is ruining lives, this omission becomes a major issue. The Oxford Dictionaries have a rightful authority and a leading place in cultural life. We believe the OJD should address these issues and that it should seek to help shape children\u2019s understanding of the world, not just to mirror its trends.\u201d\n\nThey tell the publisher \u201cthat a deliberate and publicised decision to restore some of the most important nature words would be a tremendous cultural signal and message of support for natural childhood\u201d, and ask it to \u201ctake that opportunity, and if necessary, bring forward the next edition of the OJD in order to do so\u201d.\n\nMacfarlane, whose forthcoming book Landmarks, which looks at the relationship between nature and language, was originally inspired by the OJD\u2019s changes, pointed to the response in 2008 from the head of children\u2019s dictionaries at OUP, who said the changes had been made because: \u201cWhen you look back at older versions of dictionaries, there were lots of examples of flowers for instance. That was because many children lived in semi-rural environments and saw the seasons. Nowadays, the environment has changed.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a realism to her response \u2013 but also an alarming acceptance of the ideas that children might no longer see the seasons, that all childhoods are urban, that all cities are denatured, and that what exists beyond the city fringe or the edge of the computer screen need not be named,\u201d said Macfarlane. \u201cWe do not care for what we do not know, and on the whole we do not know what we cannot name. Do we want an alphabet for children that begins \u2018A is for Acorn, B is for Buttercup, C is for Conker\u2019; or one that begins \u2018A is for Attachment, B is for Block-Graph, C is for Chatroom\u2019?\u201d\n\nMotion, the former poet laureate, said that \u201cby discarding so many country and landscape-words from their Junior Dictionary, OUP deny children a store of words that is marvellous for its own sake, but also a vital means of connection and understanding.\n\n\u201cTheir defence \u2013 that lots of children have no experience of the countryside \u2013 is ridiculous. Dictionaries exist to extend our knowledge, as much (or more) as they do to confirm what we already know or half-know,\u201d said Motion.\n\nA spokesperson for Oxford University Press said: \u201cAll our dictionaries are designed to reflect language as it is used, rather than seeking to prescribe certain words or word usages. We employ extremely rigorous editorial guidelines in determining which words [can] be included in each dictionary, based on several criteria: acknowledging the current frequency of words in daily language of children of that age; corpus analysis; acknowledging commonly misspelled or misused words; and taking curriculum requirements into account.\n\n\u201cThe Oxford Junior Dictionary is very much an introduction to language. It includes around 400 words related to nature including badger, bird, caterpillar, daffodil, feather, hedgehog, invertebrate, ladybird, ocean, python, sunflower, tadpole, vegetation, and zebra. Many words that do not appear in the Oxford Junior Dictionary are included in the Oxford Primary Dictionary; a more comprehensive dictionary designed to see students through to age 11. Words included in this title include mistletoe, gerbil, acorn, goldfish, guinea pig, dandelion, starling, fern, willow, conifer, heather, buttercup, sycamore, holly, ivy, and conker.\n\n\u201cWe have no firm plans to publish a new edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary at this stage. However, we welcome feedback on all our dictionaries and feed this into the editorial process.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Germans like to apologize. During a brief trip to Munich last year, tensions between locals and newly arrived migrants often flared into fizzing commotions of swinging fists, splatting saliva, and the kind of primal chest-beating one cravenly enjoys from the safety of a Barcalounger and"}
-{"text": "Public choice economists began studying anarchy in the 1970s. Since then, the amount of research on anarchy has burgeoned. This article surveys the important public choice contributions to the economics of anarchy. Following early public choice economists, many economists are researching how individuals interact without government. From non public-interested explanations of the creation of government to historical studies of internalizing externalities under anarchy, public choice scholars are arriving at a more realistic perspective of human interaction with and without government. Although the economics of politics receives more attention, the economics of anarchy is an important area of research in public choice."}
-{"text": "CLAIMS TO FUNDAMENTALLY and utterly OPPOSE A FAITH SYSTEM BASED ON INEQUITY AND PATRIARCHY HUNDREDS OF MEMES ABOUT HOW STUPID THEIR MOMS ARE\n\n425 shares"}
-{"text": "This great PBS NewsHour chart shows an analysis of the eyewitness testimony provided to the grand jury that investigated the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.\n\nThe chart shows many contradictions between some eyewitnesses \u2014 and lots of questions that went unanswered in different interviews.\n\nThere are two key points of near agreement: Brown was facing Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson as he was fired upon, and Brown did have his hands up during his final moments.\n\nSt. Louis County Attorney Robert McCulloch has questioned the validity of the eyewitness testimony. During a Monday night press conference, McCulloch said some of the witnesses changed their stories, and that the physical evidence disproved some of their claims.\n\nVox's Amanda Taub explained why this was so unusual for a prosecutor who has full control of the evidence presented to a grand jury:\n\nIf McCulloch believed that this evidence was not credible, then why did he present it to the grand jury? It is perhaps understandable that he would have presented evidence with only minor credibility issues, in order to let the grand jury evaluate it. But McCulloch referenced \"witnesses\" who had only heard about the shooting from their neighbors, or from the media. It is hard to imagine a reason why it would have been reasonable to present that evidence to the grand jury. And if McCulloch didn't present that testimony to the grand jury, then why discuss it during the press conference? What would be the purpose of bringing it up at all? By attacking the credibility of the eyewitnesses to the shooting, most, if not all, of whom had been publicly critical of Wilson, McCulloch gave the impression that he was acting as an advocate for Wilson.\n\nWhatever the case, the grand jury also didn't appear to buy into the testimony of the eyewitnesses \u2014 and they ultimately decided to let Wilson go without a trial.\n\nRelated:"}
-{"text": "<<< NEWS FROM THE LAB - Tuesday, December 10, 2013 >>> ARCHIVES | SEARCH Sharking: High-Rollers in the Crosshairs Posted by SecResponse @ 12:15 GMT We get a lot of samples here at F-Secure Labs, most of them being submitted online. But every now and then, somebody visits one of our labs and brings along their computer for forensics.\n\n\n\nEarlier this year, a guy in his early 20's pulled up and parked his Audi R8 just outside our Helsinki HQ. His name is Jens Kyll\ufffdnen \u2014 a professional poker player \u2014 both in real world tournaments and in the online poker world. He's a high-roller by any measure, with wins in the range of 2.5 million dollars from the past year.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSo why would this poker star detour from his usual routine and drop by for a visit? This is his story\u2026\n\n\n\nLast September, Jens participated in the European Poker Tour event in Barcelona. He was staying at the event hotel, which is a 5-star location, and spent his day mostly at the tournament tables. He took a break from the tournament and went to his room. And his laptop wasn't there. He checked to see if his friend had borrowed it, no, and then when he returned to his room\u2026 his laptop was back. He knew that something was amiss. To add to his suspicion, the OS, Windows, didn't boot properly.\n\n\n\nJens provided a more detailed scenario of what happened that day in this forum:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThinking he had possibly been compromised, Jens asked us to investigate his laptop. This is quite important, as laptop security is paramount for professional poker players, especially those who play online. We agreed to investigate, and so we made full forensic images and started digging.\n\n\n\nAfter a while, it was obvious that his hunch was correct, the laptop was indeed infected. There was a Remote Access Trojan (RAT) with timestamps coinciding with the time when the laptop had gone missing. Apparently, the attacker installed the trojan from a USB memory stick and configured it to automatically start at every reboot. A RAT, by the way, is a common tool that allows an attacker to control and monitor a laptop remotely, viewing anything that happens on the machine.\n\n\n\nBelow are succeeding screenshots to give you a better view on how this particular RAT works. In this screenshot, the attacker is able to see his own cards, similar to what any other players would experience.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nUsing the trojan, however, he can also see that the infected machine or the victim is holding a pair of queens. This gives the attacker an edge, so he knows to hold out for a better hand.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis kind of attack is very generic and works against any online poker site that we know of.\n\nThe trojan is written in Java and uses obfuscation, but isn't all that complicated. Since it's in Java, the malware can run in any platform (Mac OS, Windows, Linux). Here is a snippet of the code that takes screenshots of the victim's screen:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAfter analyzing Jens's laptop, we started looking for other victims. It turned out that yet another professional player, Henri Jaakkola, who stayed in the same room as Jens at the EPT Barcelona event, had the exact same trojan installed in his laptop.\n\n\n\nThis is not the first time professional poker players have been targeted with tailor-made trojans. We have investigated several cases that have been used to steal hundreds of thousands of euro. What makes these cases noteworthy is that they were not online attacks. The attacker went through the trouble of targeting the victims' systems on site.\n\n\n\n(An Evil Maid Attack.)\n\n\n\nThe phenomenon is now big enough that we think it warrants its own name: Sharking. Sharking attacks are targeted attacks against professional poker players (a.k.a. poker sharks). It's similar to Whaling attacks which are targeted at high profile business managers.\n\n\n\nSo, what's the moral of the story? If you have a laptop that is used to move large amounts of money, take good care of it. Lock the keyboard when you step away. Put it in a safe when you're not around it, and encrypt the disk to prevent off-line access. Don't surf the web with it (use another laptop/device for that, they're relatively cheap). This advice is true whether you're a poker pro using a laptop for gaming or a business controller in a large company using the computer for wiring a large amount of funds.\n\n\n\n\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n\n\nAnalysis and post by \u2014 Daavid and Antti\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "All photos by Carlos Pareja, courtesy of Joe Dekni\n\nThis article originally appeared on i-D Spain\n\nThe more entrenched technology becomes in our lives, the more people are beginning to think that cyborgs are just the logical next step in the evolution of humanity. Naturally, some people are choosing to put themselves at the forefront of this, by converting parts of their bodies to machinery.\n\nOne of those guys is artist Joe Dekni, who last week got a piece of machinery implanted in his cheekbones. The artificial organ was based on the echolocation sonar used by bats to identify objects in their environment, and is meant to allow Dekni to feel the vibrations of his surroundings. The operation took place at the Transpecies Society space in Barcelona and was part of a performance piece that also included an audiovisual installation.\n\nAt 22, Joe calls himself an \"artist, or perhaps an alchemist,\" and attributes the ability to introduce this permanent addition to his body to Neil Harbisson \u2014 the first person to have been legally recognized as a cyborg by a government. \"I was intrigued by the idea of being able to perceive the paranormal or the invisible. I decided to develop my sense of echolocation, which animals like bats or dolphins already have naturally,\" he explained to i-D Spain after the performance. The artist decided to make his operation public in an attempt to demonstrate that furthering your senses is just another option that people can have today \u2014 \"just another way of living,\" as he put it.\n\n\"The first thing I felt upon receiving the vibrations was a burning sensation followed by a feeling of satisfaction. It was similar to what you might feel when getting a tattooing but more intense. Then I felt happiness and pain at the same time,\" he added. \"Cyborg technology is offering us a look into the unknown. My purpose with this project is to perceive the nonphysical or paranormal so I can find further avenues of self-development.\"\n\nHopefully, in the future, cyborg technology will help more people improve their lives. And that is ultimately the goal of Harbisson's Cyborg Foundation: \"to be part of the progress.\"\n\nMore images from Joe Dekni's performance below:"}
-{"text": "Top Republican Party officials said Thursday that they have been kept in the dark about hundreds of thousands of dollars spent in Tampa, Fla., by a committee temporarily headed by Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele, a committee at the heart of new questions about Mr. Steele\u2019s tenure.\n\nIndiana RNC member Jim Bopp told The Washington Times that he and other RNC members were not told \u201cwho signed the checks or the purpose of the spending\u201d at the so-called Committee on Arrangements (COA), created to coordinate RNC efforts for the 2012 party convention in Tampa.\n\nMany Republicans have said they are concerned that the bad publicity received by the COA - which negotiates with the host city committee for hotel rooms, services and sites for convention events - will dry up private donations to finance the Tampa gathering.\n\nMr. Steele, facing a vote next month on a second two-year term as party chairman, has faced questions about his media savvy, his dealings with major donors and the state of the party\u2019s finances, despite GOP gains in the recent midterm elections.\n\nAt a private forum Thursday for candidates for the RNC chairman\u2019s post, Reince Priebus, Wisconsin GOP Chairman and the RNC\u2019s top legal adviser, brusquely declined to answer questions about the COA and its financial operations.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not going to answer, I\u2019m not going to do it,\u201d said Mr. Priebus, a possible candidate for the top RNC post. \u201cYou\u2019ll have to talk with Tom Josefiak.\u201d\n\nMr. Josefiak, a former RNC general counsel, was appointed by Mr. Steele as general counsel to the COA. On June 29, 2009, Mr. Steele also appointed Maryland RNC member and Steele loyalist Louis Pope as COA treasurer. Mr. Josefiak did not respond to questions from The Times on Thursday.\n\nMr. Priebus declined to address a question on who authorized the COA spending that began in August - an unprecedented 26 months before the Tampa convention.\n\nFormer House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who dropped in unannounced at Thursday\u2019s RNC candidates forum, had been a staunch defender of Mr. Steele since his January 2009 election as party chairman, but that also could be changing.\n\nCNN reported that Mr. Gingrich has recommended that Mr. Steele either accept a \u201cvery strong deputy\u201d to help manage the RNC\u2019s internal affairs, \u201cor else the RNC will have to find a new chairman.\u201d\n\nTennessee RNC member John Ryder said the RNC\u2019s handling of the COA controversy mirrored other problems the organization has had in responding to outside criticism.\n\nMr. Ryder said that in the sense Mr. Bopp meant, \u201cthere is no COA.\u201d Mr. Ryder added that he \u201ccould not find any reference to the COA\u201d in his personal copies of minutes of RNC meetings and no formal record that the COA members had been officially appointed in accordance with RNC rules.\n\n\u201cI checked with both RNC staff and with RNC officers to see if that was correct - both sources confirmed that the COA has not been appointed,\u201d Mr. Ryder said. \u201cThat raises the question of how contracts can be entered into in the name of the COA.\u201d\n\nSaid a visibly angry Mr. Bopp, \u201cWe are going to have an investigation to get to the bottom of all this and we are going to take control of our convention.\u201d\n\nMr. Bopp said he signed a petition calling for a special executive committee meeting to create an ad hoc panel of RNC members to investigate COA spending. He said the RNC Executive Committee, of which he is a member, has oversight of the COA.\n\nMr. Pope, the COA treasurer, told The Times that Mr. Steele will name a permanent chairman and 55 other members of the COA \u201cin the coming weeks,\u201d even though he acknowledged that the party in the past has allowed the new RNC chairman elected in January to name the COA leader and members.\n\n\u201cThere are arrangements that need to be made now in Tampa and that won\u2019t wait until January,\u201d Mr. Pope said, adding that preparations are running ahead of past conventions.\n\n\u201cNo members have been appointed to the COA, and Michael Steele is the acting chairman,\u201d Mr. Pope said.\n\nHe said news reports about the COA\u2019s supposed \u201cpremature and lavish\u201d spending were inaccurate. \u201cNot a dime of RNC money has been spent by the COA.\u201d\n\nSign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters\n\nCopyright \u00a9 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission."}
-{"text": "I fell in love with Bitcoin in 2013, rode the wave from 100 up to 1000 USD then held and accumulated through the dark years that followed.\n\nBitcoin is the public crypto currency. We have been indoctrinated to believe in public wealth, transparency and disclosure. This goes hand in hand with reporting your income, paying your taxes and being a good citizen.\n\nThe transparency of Bitcoin is the best hope that the status quo has for maintaining its rent collection schemes. Soon 1099 disclosure forms from Coinbase will be just as routine as they are from Fidelity. And just as you would not buy your groceries with shares of Intel, you will not buy them with Bitcoin.\n\nWhy not? After all lightning network will make it cheap and easy to buy a pack of chewing gum with Bitcoin.\n\nThink about this from the perspective of the merchant. In order to transact directly in Bitcoin, they would be taking on a huge accounting burden and tax/audit risk. These transactions, to the extent that they exist, will ultimately be processed/blessed by the banking system which will collect rent for themselves and the government.\n\nAs much as government and corporations would like for you to believe that they are essential to maintain order, enforce contracts and keep you safe, their main vocation is shutting down the competition, collecting rent and printing new currency at your expense.\n\nIn the end, Bitcoin will be a magnet for public wealth, perhaps even national reserves.\n\nOn the other hand, a truly opaque, fungible crypto currency, of which Monero is the only example right now, will be a magnet for private wealth and private interactions. Monero will dramatically bring down the cost and risk of holding and transacting private wealth, while at the same time extending the reach of these private networks exponentially. Lightning network and other second layer solutions which are being developed with Bitcoin in mind, will pave the way for second layer scaling of private crypto currency networks.\n\nIn an age of local 3D printed products, local energy and food production, free online education and information distribution, these private networks are poised for explosive growth."}
-{"text": "Yellowstone National Park is home to hundreds of animal species, including bison, a cherished American icon, of which the park plans to kill up to 900 of, starting January 2016. Government agencies aim to kill or remove the wild bison from in an ongoing effort to reduce the animals\u2019 annual migration into Montana, where ranchers are concerned the bison will negatively affect their cattle populations. Park officials released details of plans for at least 600 to 900 bison to be killed by hunters or captured and sent to slaughter. This would be the largest cull in one winter since 2008 and represents more than 18 percent of the current population of about 4,900 animals.\n\nYellowstone Bison Are Rare and Cherished Members of Historic Americana\n\nYellowstone bison are exceptional creatures because they among the few bison herds that have not been hybridized through interbreeding with cattle. Yellowstone is the only place in the United States where bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times. In fact, it is the exhibition of their ancestral wild behavior, such as congregating during the breeding season to compete for mates, as well as migration, that led to them becoming one of the greatest triumphs of American conservation. In 1902, after years of market hunting and poaching, there were only about two-dozen bison left in Yellowstone. According to park researchers, the next century marked the slow, but determined efforts to bring the species back from the brink of extinction. \u201cThe National Park Service is very proud of its role in restoring this iconic species,\u201d Yellowstone park officials state on its website. So if the national Park is so proud of its bison population, WTH are they killing them off in masses?!? To put it simply, much of it has to do with cattle.\n\n\nYellowstone\u2019s bison are one of America\u2019s greatest conservation stories. Now, the government aims to kill 900 of them to make way for cattle.\n\nNagarajan Kanna/Flickr\n\nAmerica is Notorious for Favoring Cattle Industry Over Wildlife Protection\n\nDuring harsh winters, Yellowstone bison sometimes migrate out of the park and into the border of southwestern Montana. As the park\u2019s bison population grows, more animals migrate out of the park. While Yellowstone officials state that the population growth is partly the reason for the culling, they admit that much of the planned killings are to \u201cmitigate social and political conflicts in Montana,\u201d AKA \u2013 to appease ranchers who are using the land to graze cattle.\n\nThe federal government has been extremely generous to cattle ranchers when it comes to enforcing public land and wildlife protections. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, an estimated 279 million acres of public lands across 11 western states has been cheaply rented to graze cattle. In fact, cattle grazing takes up a solid 42 percent of federally \u201cprotected\u201d land!\n\nMuch of this is because ranchers have been able to lease and purchase public land at low costs with permits granted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service, despite being for-profit operations that are subsidized by taxpayers. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, \u201cPrivate, unirrigated rangeland in the West rents out for an average of $11.90 [per cow and calf], while monthly grazing fees on federal lands are currently set at a paltry $1.35 per cow and calf.\u201d At a fraction of the cost of renting private lands, it only seems logical that the opportunistic cattle rancher would opt to graze their animals on public lands.\n\n\nCattle grazing takes up a solid 42 percent of federally \u201cprotected\u201d U.S. land.\n\nMarcia O\u2019Connor/Flickr\n\nOn top of the feds practically giving away public land to ranchers, they have actually assisted the ranchers in killing off any wildlife that actually belongs on the land. One of the ways this is accomplished is through regular roundups of wild horses, in which these beautiful stallions are forced together and sold off to ranchers for $125 a pop. Most of the horses end up at auction where they can be purchased for any use the buyer the wishes including selling them off to the horse meat industry. These absurd actions by an agency that is supposed to protect wildlife has resulted in the near extinction of wild horses in the U.S. In addition to rounding up off nearly all of our wild horses, the Federal Wildlife Service kills 1.5 million wild animals per year, including wolves and coyotes, all to \u201cmake life safe for livestock and game species.\u201d This is likely, in part, happening because state governments actually profit from leasing lands to cattle producers and charging for hunting permits. In recent history, the State of Montana has been taking on Yellowstone\u2019s National Park\u2019s bison due to fears over their potential interference with cattle ranching.\n\n\nIn 1995, Montana sued the National Park Service because bison were migrating out of the park onto state lands. A court-mediated settlement was reached in 2000 creating the Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP), in which Yellowstone and seven other partners, including government agencies that lease the land to ranchers, hunters, and Native Indian tribes implement the mass roundups and killings of bison. The controversial agreement is often debated by the IBMP partners and their constituents, but that hasn\u2019t stopped the massive culls of wild bison, as the largest one is now planned in this winter.\n\nYellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk said in a statement that the National Park Service was uncomfortable with the practice and interested in alternatives, such as sending the animals to other public, private or tribal lands. \u201cThe park would gladly reduce the frequency and magnitude of these operations if migrating bison had access to more habitat outside the park or there was a way to transfer live bison elsewhere,\u201d Wenk said.\n\n\nRecently, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock approved a plan that for the first time would allow hundreds of bison to roam year-round on about 400 square miles of primarily public lands just west of Yellowstone. However, according to the Associated Press, this is expected to have little impact on the hunts and culling for the 2016 winter as most of the herds migrate into the Gardiner Basin north of the park, not on the west side where Bullock has put forth more land protections.\n\nIn addition, officials have put more emphasis on hunting just outside the park\u2019s boundaries, including by members of American Indian tribes that have treaty rights to harvest the animals. Last winter saw the removal of 737 bison. That included 219 killed by hunters. Nearly all of the others were sent to slaughter or killed by wildlife patrols, according to the AP.\n\nAre Ranchers\u2019 Fears Over Bison Interference Warranted?\n\nReuters reports that wandering Yellowstone bison have upset ranchers who worry that the wild herds could infect their cows with brucellosis, a disease that has been virtually eliminated from Montana cattle. Many bison have been exposed to brucellosis, which can cause cows to miscarry their young. However, the basis of this fear is completely bogus as there is not a single recorded instance of brucellosis transmissions from bison to cattle disease.\n\nAccording to wire services, ranchers are also worried that the wild bison will compete with their cattle for grazing land. This concern lacks solid foundation since the National Park\u2019s own researchers have concluded that the bison herds have not reached the estimated food-limited carrying capacity of approximately 5,500 to 7,500 bison inside the park. Also, several assessments of conditions by scientists and land managers have indicated the park is not overgrazed.\n\nThere is not a single recorded instance of brucellosis transmissions from bison to cattle disease.\n\nLindaDee2006/Flickr\n\nGovernment Killings of Wild Bison In the Name of \u201cConservation\u201d is a Fallacy\n\nAccording to the Associated Press, the cull is being conducted because of the legal agreement with Montana and not by environmental factors. \u201cIf there was more tolerance north of the park in Montana for wildlife, particularly bison \u2026 to travel outside the park boundaries, it wouldn\u2019t be an issue,\u201d Sandy Snell-Dobert said.\n\n\nIf the United States government and state agencies really cared about conservation efforts, the last thing they would do is kill off wild animals to further cattle ranching interests. This is because cattle ranching has a host of destructive effects. Cattle operations often cause water pollution due to waste containing hormones, antibiotics, heavy metals, ammonia, and pathogens. Grazing also leads to the erosion of our water systems. Without water, species diversity takes a serious drive and impacts stream habitats. In large numbers, they exhaust grazing areas. In addition to the destruction of the land, it takes an enormous amount of water to produce beef. On average, every pound of beef produced takes 1,700 gallons of water. Around half of lands in the U.S. devoted to cattle are overgrazed and highly subject to erosion and other forms of degradation.\n\nAs the Center for Biological Diversity puts it, \u201cafter decades of livestock grazing, once-lush streams and riparian forests have been reduced to flat, dry wastelands; once-rich topsoil has been turned to dust, causing soil erosion, stream sedimentation and wholesale elimination of some aquatic habitats; overgrazing of fire-carrying grasses has starved some western forests of fire, making them overly dense and prone to unnaturally severe fires.\u201d\n\nPublic Land is Supposed to be a Haven for Wildlife, Not a Death Trap\n\nYellowstone was established in 1872 as America\u2019s first national park \u2013 a mountain wilderness, home to grizzly bears, wolves, and herds of bison and elk. The park is one of the last, nearly intact ecosystems in the Earth\u2019s temperate zone. Montana\u2019s public state land along its border is too part of America\u2019s cherished open space. These areas have been designated to conserve and protect our natural ecosystems. For taxpayer dollars to then subsidize the ranching industry, which kills off species at the very places that have been designated to protect them, is not only un-American, it\u2019s utterly ridiculous.\n\nAs taxpaying citizens, it is time that we put an end to these mass slaughters. These lands belong to us all, including the bison, and their protection is in all of our interest. The bison culling is simply a result of the numerous cattle ranching businesses that have been able to have their way with our public land for far too long.\n\nTo stop the U.S. government from funding their systematic destruction, check out the Center for Biological Diversity\u2019s public lands campaign and-and sign this petition to revoke grazing permits. Information is power. Share this article and demand that The National Parks Service protect the land and habitats it has been entrusted to do."}
-{"text": "I don't know man, I just... What if the doorbell rings and no one wants to kill us?\n\n698 shares"}
-{"text": "Ate my salad pushed back my chair and stood.. Had a ballad in my head of love and care and good.. running now inside my mind.. find darkness at some turns..\n\nI hold a light called \u2018Soulsong\u2019.. kept close.. sometimes it burns..\n\nTimes saw simple crimes of short cut.. jokes about their plan.. simple love and smiles the artistry of man.. painted for a woman.. written for his girl.. song composed played by a gent.. music..red rose sent..\n\ndreams to drunken everywhere when all the gold is spent..\n\nAs woman has a name given born or traveling here.. dancing dream romancing strong self-control no fear.. none she will let show.. pretty takes a chance.. to join dream love emotion with her lover dance..\n\nnever be her father.. never take that road.. father is protector time again that is his load..\n\nFor lovers round each life Cupid makes a pass.. lie will make true love die.. no love time hourglass.. can change size of emotion following each dream..\n\nTimeless love is wonder true.. each tear and passion scream..\n\nQuote for this day.. \u2018Wonderful\u2019 is dancing away from a lover who is a friend.. Peace Tony\n\n\u00a9AC.10.9.12.arr././"}
-{"text": "Karl Marx never invented anything called Marxism. And communism was described by a French guy named Victor D\u2019Hupay 41 years before Marx was born. Despite the cold war having ended in 1989, the labels Marxist, socialist, and communist are still most often used in US news-media as slurs to discredit people whom the commentariat dislike. The so-called American \u201cleft\u201d mostly shuns them and the 4chan pseudo-intellectuals of the alt-Reich ensure the search results stay drenched in paranoid memes about the supposed danger of \u201ccultural Marxism\u201d ( a fear-mongering tactic that, by the way ). The sad truth is that very few people seem to know anything about what Marx actually talked about \u2014 and this is especially true of those who most loudly denounce \u201cMarxism.\u201d\n\nIn any case, this post is meant to be for everyone. If you just want to learn the gist of what Marx was saying, you will find that below \u2014 or, if you already believe Marx was wrong, then this will at least help you disagree with the correct things\u2026.\n\nDialectics & the Mechanics of History :\n\nThe Material Architecture of Society\n\n\u201cThe philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it\u201d\n\n-Karl Marx\n\nBy the time The Communist Manifesto was written, plenty of Utopian socialists and communists were already running around Europe, raising all kinds of dust. Before Marx, however, they looked at history much like a story that was written by the actions and choices of its human protagonists ( some more than others, of course ) who championed their ideas, values, and beliefs. Present-day society was thought to be the simple result of adding up everything said and done by all the important folk in history ( plus-or-minus the occasional act of god or fateful accident ). Based on this assumption, reformers figured that society would change if enough people accepted their new values or ideas about how things should be. This type of philosophy \u2014 that the material world is shaped by ideas, mind, spirit, or other non-material forces \u2014 is known as idealism.\n\nAnd this is the part of the story when a Prussian philosopher with an impressive beard waltzed in and ruined everything\u2026\n\nMaterial Base: The Substructure\n\nAccording to the materialist conception of history, the ultimately determining element in history is the production and reproduction of real life. Other than this neither Marx nor I have ever asserted.\n\n-Friedrich Engels, close friend of Marx & co-author of The Communist Manifesto\n\nAfter studying philosophy, Marx began to see things very differently. He noticed that civilization had to produce everything needed for human survival before it could develop culture, art, religion, or politics. Under every society, there was a system to produce and re-produce the food, shelter, and material conditions that sustain life, which he called its material base. Observing that the material base did not appear to be a result of the society\u2019s particular values or beliefs, Marx concluded that the material conditions of societies were not the result of its ideologies. In fact, it seemed to be the other way around.\n\nRelations of Production :\n\nThe social Chassis\n\n\u201cSociety does not consist of individuals, but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand.\u201d\n\n-Karl Marx\n\nProducing the goods to sustain an entire society is a group project and, since literally everyone has to eat, everyone is forced to participate in the base by producing and consuming or, at least, by consuming. One person farms, another drives the food to a town where a cook gets paid to prepare the meal, and someone else munches it for lunch-break at a shop that sold boots to the farmer for wages he gets from the guy who owns the farm. Those are ( very ) simple examples of relations of production, a term Marx used to describe the web of social relations between the members of society that form as the result of producing its base. On a bigger scale, these relations divide society into groups that become socially defined by their economic role.\n\nUnderstanding Class\n\nGroups who share the same economic interests are known as a class. In capitalist societies, farmers, machinists, clerks, and others who exchange their labor for a wage are the working class ( aka the proletariat ). Higher wages, labor rights, and strong social programs tend to give workers a bigger share of the overall wealth of the society. Employers, business-folk, and investors are an opposing capitalist class, whom Marx referred to as the bourgeoisie ( say: \u2018boor-jh-WAH-zee\u2019 ), which means \u201ccity people.\u201d Capitalists benefit economically from lower wages, fewer labor rights, and less regulations which tend to give business-owners a bigger share of the wealth.\n\nThe Ideological Superstructure\n\n\u201cThe ideas of the ruling class are in every era the ruling ideas\u201d\n\n-Karl Marx\n\nMarx saw the relations of production as the framework for culture, values, beliefs, and political ideas in a society, which he called the ideological superstructure. The superstructure is pretty much everything from legal and political systems to religious institutions, schools, and the media. Since the relations do not give equal access or control over wealth to everyone, some classes end up with greater economic power. This power structure becomes reinforced by the superstructure because classes with greater wealth naturally gain more influence over institutions, which turns them into instruments to justify the status quo and formalize the economic power of the ruling class.\n\nFor example, the ruling class of feudalism was supported by the Church with religious dogma that justified monarchy and re-interpreted the bible to teach peasants that disobeying rulers was a sin and that poverty was a virtue. Under capitalism, however, advertisers and celebrities send the overall message that anyone is free to become rich by working hard and pulling themselves up by the bootstraps, implying the wealthy capitalist class were once working-class underdogs ( just like you! ). Until the relations of production shift ( and they always do ), the superstructure reflects the interests of the class that controls the wealth produced at the base.\n\nTo sum up Marx\u2019s basic view of the material structure of society:\n\nIdeology, values, politics, law, etc. are a result of the society\u2019s material base, which is the cycle of economic activity that produces the material conditions needed for the society to survive\n\nTo produce the base, members of the society must enter into relations of production which form a social framework for the ideological superstructure\n\nThe institutions that make up the ideological superstructure defend and justify the social and economic conditions that favor the ruling class\n\nDialectics & Class Conflict :\n\nThe Engines of Social Progress\n\n\u201cWhoever has come to understand that evolution proceeds through the struggle of antagonistic forces; that a slow accumulation of changes at a certain moment explodes the old shell and brings about a catastrophe, revolution; whoever has learned finally to apply the general laws of evolution to thinking itself, he is a dialectician. [\u2026] Dialectic training of the mind, as necessary to a revolutionary fighter as finger exercises to a pianist, demands approaching all problems as processes\u201d\n\n-Leon Trotsky\n\nMarx\u2019s understanding of the forces beneath the hood of society was not the only way he changed how people thought about human history. In fact, these materialist insights are just the first step in understanding the larger theory Marx developed to explain how social change \u2014 that is, how revolution \u2014 works.\n\nThe Dialectical Method\n\nThe beating heart of Marx\u2019s theory of history is the dialectic. Dialectics are a way to think critically about systems or processes by understanding how they become. There is no exact recipe or formula but it may be helpful to see a dialectic as three parts \u2014 thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. A thesis can be anything a person chooses. Closely examining the thesis shows it cannot be separated from an opposing force that negates the thesis \u2014 this is the antithesis. Conflict between the opposing forces develops into contradiction that must be resolved by the synthesis, a new state that integrates the conflict into a more developed whole. This is simpler than it seems \u2014 here are a few examples of dialectics at work:\n\nThe caterpillar ( thesis ) cannot be understood without the butterfly ( anti-thesis ). Everything \u201ccaterpillar-ish\u201d \u2014 leaf-munching, climbing plants, segmented body etc. \u2014 contains an opposing \u201cbutterfly-ish\u201d force that negates the caterpillar. Conflict of the opposing forces develops the contradiction that collapses the caterpillar system to a new state \u2014 the chrysalis ( synthesis ).\n\nA power plant ( thesis ) relies on coal from a nearby mine. The coal that produces energy is also turning the mine into an empty mine ( antithesis ) which negates it. Conflict between the opposing tendencies of plant and mine develop an internal contradiction in the system which eventually collapses to a new state that either uses a different energy-source or shuts down ( multiple synthesis possibilities ).\n\nThe Social Dialectic\n\nWith dialectics, Marx built a model of history that viewed society as a process fueled by contradictions that developed in the material base between the opposing relations and forces of production. At first, relations of production are formed by a definite pattern established by the forces of production, which are just the material stuffs, tools, labor-power, and technologies available to use for production. Then, the pattern becomes formalized in the superstructure\u2019s legal and political institutions because they are mainly controlled by the class that gains the most wealth from the situation (and naturally wants to keep it that way). This is how contradictions start to develop.\n\nThe pattern set by the forces of production shifts over time due to new technology, scientific discoveries, changing resources, and innovations by labor, among other things. As these forces begin to change, they drift away from the pattern formalized in the relations of production \u2014 eventually, the two come into conflict. On one side, the ruling class protects their power by enforcing the old pattern of relations \u2014 and on the other side, the forces of production ( including the workers of the labor-force ) develop into a new pattern that contains the seeds of a new class structure.\n\nClass Conflict & Social Revolution\n\n\u201cThe history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles\u201d\n\n-Karl Marx\n\nThe ruling class\u2019 interests align with the relations of production\u2019s reactionary tendency to resist change, while the productive class is aligned with the forces of production\u2019s revolutionary tendency toward progress. As the relations and forces come into more intense conflict, the legal and political mechanisms in the superstructure reflexively defend the established order by undermining change in the productive forces and suppressing new flows of wealth. [ Note: a good example of this may be the ongoing efforts by congress & the FCC to seize greater control over the internet, a game-changing development in the forces of production ]\n\nProductive classes, however, often do not develop a sense of class-solidarity until later stages because the superstructure serves to indoctrinate the majority with the rulers\u2019 perspectives and ideology. Media, education, and propaganda constantly persuade society that conditions which benefit the ruling class are what is best for everybody. But it is only a matter of time \u2014 as the contradictions develop more fully, the rulers must increasingly resort to force and outright tyranny to preserve the social order, eventually rousing the classes below.\n\nWhen the day ripens, social revolution breaks the husks of the collapsed order to spontaneously form new relations of production, transforming society upwards from its base to its superstructure.\n\nUnderstanding the Marxist Tradition\n\nWhat a lot of people miss about Marx is that he did not intend to advance a moral or ethical argument that everyone should somehow be equal \u2014 Marx tinkered with the mechanics of history, took society apart, and tried to explain how it worked. He did not claim capitalism should fall \u2014 a lot of folks reached that conclusion already. He claimed that it would fall, that it had to fall \u2014 that contradiction at the heart of capitalism ensured its downfall, like all class societies before it. The point is not about whether socialism is \u201cright\u201d or even whether it is the best idea \u2014 it is about the inevitable results of history. One of the more radical implications of the Marxist theory of history is that \u2014 like evolution, biological development, entropy, and time itself \u2014 history tends in a direction.\n\nAnd that direction is forward.\n\nMarxism Is the Idea That Society is a Verb\n\nWhile Marx was critical of capitalism, he was far more critical of every other system that existed before it. It is clear in his own writings that Marx saw capitalism as progressive compared to what came before it and admired the efficiency of capitalist production, which he saw as a step toward the abundance necessary for socialism to develop. Just as caterpillar and chrysalis are stages in the full development of a butterfly, he understood both capitalism and socialism as stages in the greater development of society \u2014 ultimately, every husk is discarded. But with no caterpillar, no chrysalis, and no capitalism, there can be no butterfly nor communism ( and, perhaps most tragically, no communist butterflies ).\n\nMarx, Weatherman & Prophet\n\nTo understand what made society change, Marx looked back to its roots in the dark of history and, rather than the deeds of kings, he found a crucible in which a truly human civilization was still in the process of development. And \u2014 though Marx might not have appreciated this comparison \u2014 in some ways, he was more like one of the old Hebrew prophets than an economist or historian. Like Isaiah, he proclaimed the emancipation of the poor and oppressed, forewarning the wealthy rulers of a day that would turn all their power to vapor. Searching the interlocking constellations of history, nature, and civilization, he perceived a pattern. Or maybe he was just some kind of weatherman, delivering the socioeconomic forecast for a stateless, classless society.\n\nIn solidarity,\n\nJohn Laurits"}
-{"text": "O brasileiro Fl\u00e1vio Augusto da Silva, dono do Orlando City, clube da Major League Soccer, pensa em 'parar de ganhar dinheiro' em 2022, quando completar 50 anos. O bilion\u00e1rio, fundador da rede de cursos de idioma Wise-Up, quer se dedicar \u00e0 filantropia, e com isso, cogita possibilidades, como vender o clube.\n\n\n\n- N\u00e3o estou fazendo an\u00fancio de venda. O an\u00fancio \u00e9 de que vou me dedicar \u00e0 filantropia. Mas acredito que o \u00e1pice de um empreendedor de sucesso \u00e9 quando o mercado passa a ter interesse naquilo que ele criou a ponto de quererem pagar por isso e, felizmente, sou procurado por investidores constantemente - afirmou, em entrevista ao 'Estad\u00e3o'.\n\n\n\n- Tenho v\u00e1rias alternativas. Posso fazer a venda completa, sair da opera\u00e7\u00e3o, ficar no conselho ou vender uma parte minorit\u00e1ria. Nada est\u00e1 descartado e estabelecido - completou.\n\nE MAIS:\n\nFl\u00e1vio adquiriu o clube em 2013 por US$ 120 milh\u00f5es (R$ 485,7 milh\u00f5es). De l\u00e1 para c\u00e1, a MLS cresceu junto com o clube, que vale atualmente US$ 600 milh\u00f5es (R$ 2,4 bilh\u00f5es). A proje\u00e7\u00e3o \u00e9 de que, em 2026, ano em que os Estados Unidos sediar\u00e1 a Copa do Mundo junto com o Canad\u00e1 e M\u00e9xico, o Orlando City chegue a marca de US$ 1 bilh\u00e3o (R$ 4 bilh\u00f5es) em valor de mercado.\n\n\n\n- O que define o valor de uma empresa \u00e9 a sua performance financeira. O investidor precisa acreditar que, em dois ou tr\u00eas anos, a empresa vai se valorizar e isso permitir\u00e1 a ele ganhar duas ou at\u00e9 tr\u00eas vezes mais o dinheiro que ele gastou no in\u00edcio. Quando comprei o Orlando City, eu acreditava nisso e deu certo - diz Fl\u00e1vio.\n\n\n\nO empres\u00e1rio brasileiro falou ainda da participa\u00e7\u00e3o de Kak\u00e1, que defendeu o clube entre 2015 e 2017, na valoriza\u00e7\u00e3o financeira do clube.\n\n\n\n- Ele colocou a liga no mapa, chamou aten\u00e7\u00e3o de investidores e anunciantes.\n\n\n\nApesar de ir bem nos neg\u00f3cios, o Orlando City vai mal na Confer\u00eancia Leste da MLS. O clube ocupa a d\u00e9cima posi\u00e7\u00e3o no total de 12 times, com seis derrotas, quatro vit\u00f3rias e tr\u00eas empates."}
-{"text": "\n\nEnvironmental experts warn that our planet is drowning in plastic.\n\nThe world\u2019s cities produce 2 billion tons of trash every year. By the year 2050, that number is expected to rise to 3 billion tons.\n\nThe World Bank estimates that the largest amount of trash today, about 44 percent, is plastic. This information comes from a 2018 World Bank report called Trends in Solid Waste Management.\n\nBut we often have to buy packaged goods. And often that packaging is made of plastic.\n\nNow, that may be changing.\n\nA new environmentally-friendly shopping model was recently launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. This shopping model, called Loop, aims to replace throwaway containers with reusable ones.\n\nThis is part of what some people call the zero-waste movement. The main belief driving this movement is that much of the trash we create is unnecessary.\n\nLoop is the idea of TerraCycle, an American-based recycling company. Its chief, Tom Szaky, told the Associated Press (AP) that \u201cremoving plastics from the ocean is not enough.\u201d He said the point is to get away from disposability and single-use packages.\n\nAn old idea is new again\n\nSzaky said that Loop is the future of shopping. But it comes from an idea of the past.\n\nHe likened it to the \u201cmilkman model\u201d of the 1950s in the United States. Back then, someone brought milk to your doorstep in glass bottles and then left with empty bottles. These could be cleaned and used again. The result is zero-waste.\n\nLoop will work the same way.\n\nInstead of throwing away or recycling a container, the product comes in a reusable one. When the product is all gone, someone will collect and clean the old container, fill it up and then return it to you.\n\nAt the start, Loop will offer about 300 products. Many of these include products that Americans use every day. And they come from some of the biggest names in business -- Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Nestle and Coca-Cola, just to name a few.\n\nProctor & Gamble makes many personal and health care products, such as soap, deodorants and diapers for babies. The company\u2019s vice president and chief sustainability officer is Virginie Helias. She told the AP that the goal of Proctor & Gamble is to use all reusable or recyclable packaging by 2030.\n\nHelias said that selling products on Loop is risky because no one else has tried it. She explained that Proctor & Gamble will start by selling 10 products on Loop as a test. If the results are good, more products will be added later.\n\nRepresentatives from the environmental non-profit organization Greenpeace also joined in the discussion about Loop at Davos.\n\nJennifer Morgan is the group\u2019s international executive director. She said that \u201cGreenpeace welcomes the aim of the Loop Alliance to move away from throwaway culture and disposability.\u201d\n\nBut Morgan questioned whether companies worldwide are ready to change their business models. Or, she wondered, is this an attempt for them to get good publicity.\n\nLoop is set to launch later this year in three eastern U.S. states, and also in Paris, France and some of the surrounding area. Then Loop plans to expand to the U.S. West Coast, Toronto, Canada and Britain by the end of this year or early 2020.\n\nI\u2019m Anna Matteo.\n\nAnna Matteo adapted this Associated Press story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.\n\n_________________________________________________________________\n\nWords in This Story\n\ntrash \u2013 n. things that are no longer useful or wanted and that have been thrown away\n\npackaging \u2013 n. the enclosing of something in a container or covering : packaged - adj.\n\nrecycling \u2013 v. to process (something, such as liquid body waste, glass, or cans) in order to regain material for human use\n\ndisposable \u2013 adj. designed to be used once or only a limited number of times and then thrown away\n\nsustainability \u2013 adj. of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged"}
-{"text": "Le Bloc qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois va attendre longtemps s\u2019il esp\u00e8re obtenir un appui officiel de Qu\u00e9bec solidaire (QS) ou de ses d\u00e9put\u00e9s pendant la campagne \u00e9lectorale, a signal\u00e9 mardi l\u2019autre formation ind\u00e9pendantiste \u00e0 si\u00e9ger \u00e0 l\u2019Assembl\u00e9e nationale.\n\n\u00abQu\u00e9bec solidaire ne va pas se prononcer et appuyer l\u2019un ou l\u2019autre des partis\u00bb puisqu\u2019\u00abil n\u2019y a personne qui repr\u00e9sente r\u00e9ellement en entier les id\u00e9es de Qu\u00e9bec solidaire sur la sc\u00e8ne f\u00e9d\u00e9rale\u00bb, a expliqu\u00e9 Nicolas L\u00e9vesque, conseiller aux communications chez QS.\n\n\u00abMais on est conscients que le dilemme entre choisir les valeurs progressistes et la capacit\u00e9 de renverser Harper versus la volont\u00e9 de promouvoir l\u2019ind\u00e9pendance du Qu\u00e9bec et de d\u00e9fendre les int\u00e9r\u00eats strictement qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois n\u2019est pas facile\u00bb, a-t-il dit en entrevue avec La Presse canadienne.\n\n\n\nLe chef bloquiste Gilles Duceppe, qui doit d\u00e9j\u00e0 composer avec l\u2019absence d\u2019appui d\u2019un alli\u00e9 traditionnel, la F\u00e9d\u00e9ration des travailleurs du Qu\u00e9bec (FTQ), a sembl\u00e9 vouloir minimiser le tout, mardi.Il a notamment fait valoir qu\u2019\u00abil y a des gens de Qu\u00e9bec solidaire\u00bb au sein de l\u2019ex\u00e9cutif de sa circonscription de Laurier\u2014Sainte-Marie, et que la d\u00e9put\u00e9e solidaire Manon Mass\u00e9 a par ailleurs sign\u00e9 son bulletin de candidature.M. Duceppe refuse de critiquer la formation politique, qui a fait \u00e9lire trois d\u00e9put\u00e9s aux derni\u00e8res \u00e9lections qu\u00e9b\u00e9coises, m\u00eame s\u2019il dit consid\u00e9rer qu\u2019il serait \u00abcoh\u00e9rent que les souverainistes appuient les souverainistes\u00bb.\u00abC\u2019est leur choix. C\u2019est leur choix, moi, je ne leur reproche pas, c\u2019est leur choix\u00bb, a-t-il finalement laiss\u00e9 tomber lors d\u2019un entretien t\u00e9l\u00e9phonique avec La Presse Canadienne.\n\n\n\nPlus t\u00f4t dans la journ\u00e9e, le fils du chef bloquiste Gilles Duceppe, Alexis, s\u2019est tourn\u00e9 vers les r\u00e9seaux sociaux pour interpeller la formation politique, mardi. \u00abLe Bloc est tout ce que vous d\u00e9fendez. Progressiste, \u00e9colo\u2026 et souverainiste. Qu\u2019attendez-vous pour l\u2019appuyer?\u00bb, a-t-il \u00e9crit sur Twitter.\n\n\u00abEn restant neutre, on peut penser que vous appuyez Tom [Thomas Mulcair], qui idol\u00e2tre Thatcher, est pour \u00c9nergie Est et f\u00e9d\u00e9raliste\u00bb, a-t-il d\u00e9plor\u00e9 sur la m\u00eame plateforme.\n\nLors de la derni\u00e8re campagne \u00e9lectorale, en 2011, le d\u00e9put\u00e9 solidaire Amir Khadir avait accord\u00e9 son appui au candidat n\u00e9od\u00e9mocrate Claude Patry, qui a finalement fait d\u00e9fection pour joindre les rangs du Bloc qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois, en f\u00e9vrier 2013.\n\n\u00abToute initiative pour battre les conservateurs est la bienvenue. Nous appelons les jeunes \u00e0 participer massivement \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9lection et voter pour Claude Patry, qui est le candidat id\u00e9al pour ce comt\u00e9 [Jonqui\u00e8re-Alma]\u00bb, avait plaid\u00e9 M. Khadir, cit\u00e9 dans le journal Le Point du Lac-Saint-Jean.\n\nLe d\u00e9put\u00e9 de Mercier avait cependant ajout\u00e9: \u00abJe souhaite pour le Qu\u00e9bec un Bloc qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois fort et un premier ministre du nom de Jack Layton. Le NPD est la source de l\u2019avenir, nous sommes face \u00e0 un homme intelligent et qui participera \u00e0 la souverainet\u00e9.\u00bb\n\nN\u2019en d\u00e9plaise \u00e0 Alexis Duceppe et au Bloc, cela ne risque pas de se reproduire, les militants de QS ayant d\u00e9cid\u00e9 en conseil national il y a plusieurs mois que leurs d\u00e9put\u00e9s devraient conserver leur neutralit\u00e9 et \u00absurtout ne pas faire d\u2019appel \u00e0 voter d\u2019un bord ou de l\u2019autre\u00bb, assure M. L\u00e9vesque.\n\nLa formation l\u2019a rappel\u00e9 dans une communiqu\u00e9 qui \u00e9tait largement pass\u00e9 inaper\u00e7u, ayant \u00e9t\u00e9 publi\u00e9 le jour m\u00eame du d\u00e9clenchement de la campagne \u00e9lectorale, alors que l\u2019attention m\u00e9diatique \u00e9tait concentr\u00e9e sur les chefs de partis f\u00e9d\u00e9raux.\u00abQu\u00e9bec solidaire et ses \u00e9lus n\u2019endosseront pas de parti ou de candidat\u00bb, y pr\u00e9cisait-on.La porte-parole du parti, Fran\u00e7oise David, disait toutefois esp\u00e9rer \u00abque le caract\u00e8re distinct de la nation qu\u00e9b\u00e9coise et son droit \u00e0 l\u2019autod\u00e9termination feront partie int\u00e9grante de la campagne\u00bb.\n\nLe Parti qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois (PQ), pour sa part, appuie ouvertement le grand fr\u00e8re f\u00e9d\u00e9ral.\n\nApr\u00e8s avoir d\u00e9clar\u00e9 en novembre dernier que le Bloc ne servait \u00abstrictement \u00e0 rien, sauf \u00e0 justifier le f\u00e9d\u00e9ralisme\u00bb et qu\u2019il avait \u00abtoujours eu un probl\u00e8me avec \u00e7a\u00bb, le chef p\u00e9quiste Pierre Karl P\u00e9ladeau a signal\u00e9 qu\u2019il allait faire campagne avec le leader bloquiste Gilles Duceppe.\n\nDepuis le d\u00e9clenchement de la campagne, M. P\u00e9ladeau a particip\u00e9 \u00e0 une seule activit\u00e9 publique avec M. Duceppe, selon l\u2019agenda du chef du Bloc qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois. Les deux hommes avaient cependant p\u00e9dal\u00e9 ensemble \u00e0 l\u2019aube de la visite de Stephen Harper chez le gouverneur g\u00e9n\u00e9ral.\n\nOn a \u00e9galement vu lundi les d\u00e9put\u00e9s p\u00e9quistes Martine Ouellet et St\u00e9phane Bergeron \u2014 lui-m\u00eame un ancien d\u00e9put\u00e9 du Bloc qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois \u2014 aux c\u00f4t\u00e9s de M. Duceppe lors d\u2019une allocution sur le transport du p\u00e9trole par train \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al."}
-{"text": "Doctor Who - Series 7, Episode 01 - Asylum Of The Daleks\n\nSeries Synopsis\n\nJoin the Doctor for his escapades through space and time. He'll puzzle an unexpected invasion, save a spaceship full of dinosaurs, embark on a Wild Wild West adventure, and get kidnapped by his oldest foe. CAST: Matt Smith\n\nEpisode Synopsis\n\nEpisode 01 - Asylum Of The Daleks\n\nJoin the Doctor, the Ponds and numerous friends on their latest escapades through time and space where they puzzle an unexpected invasion of Earth, save a spaceship full of dinosaurs, don Stetsons in a Wild Wild West adventure, and are even kidnapped by the Doctor's oldest foe.\n\n\n\nThe explosive series concludes with Amy and Rory's heart-breaking farewell - a race against time through the streets of Manhattan. Will the Doctor really lose the Ponds forever - there's only one way to find out..."}
-{"text": "\u0410\u043b\u0435\u043a\u0441\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0440 \u0422\u0443\u0440\u0447\u0438\u043d\u043e\u0432, \u0410\u0440\u0441\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0439 \u042f\u0446\u0435\u043d\u044e\u043a\n\n\u041d\u0430\u0440\u043e\u0434\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u0444\u0440\u043e\u043d\u0442 \u0440\u043e\u0434\u0438\u043b\u0441\u044f \u0432\u0441\u0435\u0433\u043e \u043f\u0430\u0440\u0443 \u043d\u0435\u0434\u0435\u043b\u044c \u043d\u0430\u0437\u0430\u0434, \u043f\u043e\u0442\u043e\u043c\u0443 \u043f\u0440\u0430\u0432\u043e \u043d\u0430\u0437\u044b\u0432\u0430\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f \u043f\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0438\u0435\u0439 \u0432 \u043a\u043b\u0430\u0441\u0441\u0438\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u043e\u043c \u0441\u043c\u044b\u0441\u043b\u0435 \u044d\u0442\u043e \u043e\u0431\u044a\u0435\u0434\u0438\u043d\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0435 \u043f\u043e\u043a\u0430 \u043d\u0435 \u0437\u0430\u0441\u043b\u0443\u0436\u0438\u043b\u043e. \u041d\u0430 \u0434\u0430\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0439 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\u043f\u0430\u0440\u043b\u0430\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0442\u0435 \u0438 \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0437\u0440\u0430\u0447\u043d\u044b\u0435 \u0448\u0430\u043d\u0441\u044b \u043d\u0430 \u0441\u0443\u0449\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u043d\u0443\u044e \u043a\u0432\u043e\u0442\u0443 \u0432 \u043f\u0440\u0430\u0432\u0438\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435. \u0412\u043a\u043b\u044e\u0447\u0430\u044f \u043e\u043f\u0430\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0441\u0442\u044c \u0434\u043b\u044f \u042f\u0446\u0435\u043d\u044e\u043a\u0430 \u043b\u0438\u0448\u0438\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f \u043a\u0440\u0435\u0441\u043b\u0430 \u043f\u0440\u0435\u043c\u044c\u0435\u0440-\u043c\u0438\u043d\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430 - \u043d\u0430 \u043d\u0430\u0437\u043d\u0430\u0447\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0435 \u0441\u043e\u0431\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0433\u043e \u0442\u0435\u0445\u043d\u0438\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0433\u043e \u043f\u0440\u0435\u043c\u044c\u0435\u0440\u0430 \u044f\u0432\u043d\u043e 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\u0441\u043a\u0430\u0437\u0430\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0435 \u0438\u043c \u0432\u043e \u0432\u0440\u0435\u043c\u044f \u0441\u044a\u0435\u0437\u0434\u0430 \u0441\u0432\u043e\u0435\u0433\u043e \u0411\u043b\u043e\u043a\u0430. \"\u041d\u0435 \u0434\u0430\u0439 \u0411\u043e\u0433, \u0447\u0442\u043e\u0431\u044b \u0432\u043e \u0432\u0440\u0435\u043c\u044f \u043f\u0430\u0440\u043b\u0430\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0442\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0445 \u0432\u044b\u0431\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0432, \u043a\u0440\u043e\u043c\u0435 \u043d\u0430\u0441\u0442\u043e\u044f\u0449\u0435\u0433\u043e \u0444\u0440\u043e\u043d\u0442\u0430 \u0431\u043e\u0440\u044c\u0431\u044b \u0437\u0430 \u043d\u0435\u0437\u0430\u0432\u0438\u0441\u0438\u043c\u043e\u0441\u0442\u044c, \u0432\u043d\u0443\u0442\u0440\u0438 \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u044b \u043a\u0442\u043e-\u0442\u043e \u043e\u0441\u043c\u0435\u043b\u0438\u0442\u0441\u044f \u043e\u0442\u043a\u0440\u044b\u0442\u044c \u0432\u0442\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0439 \u0444\u0440\u043e\u043d\u0442 . \u042d\u0442\u043e\u0442 \u0432\u0442\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0439 \u0444\u0440\u043e\u043d\u0442 \u0431\u0443\u0434\u0435\u0442 \u043f\u0440\u043e\u0442\u0438\u0432 \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0438\u043d\u044b! \u0418 \u043c\u044b \u043d\u0435 \u0434\u0430\u0434\u0438\u043c \u044d\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e \u0441\u0434\u0435\u043b\u0430\u0442\u044c, \u044f \u0432\u0430\u043c \u043e\u0431\u0435\u0449\u0430\u044e!\", - \u043f\u043e\u0434 \u0430\u043f\u043b\u043e\u0434\u0438\u0441\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0442\u044b \u0437\u0430\u043b\u0430 \u0441\u043a\u0430\u0437\u0430\u043b \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0437\u0438\u0434\u0435\u043d\u0442."}
-{"text": "Microsoft states that Exchange 2010 and 2013 are secure out of the box. With this they mean that every traffic coming in and out of Exchange is one way or another encrypted with security protocols. Whether this is web traffic or specific for SMTP. Even IMAP and POP are enabled with mandatory encryption (although the services are disabled by default).\n\nHowever the past few months we've had reports that specific encryption security protocols and ciphers (algorithms used for encryption and decryption) used aren't considered safe due to bug or progress in the field of decryption (by brute force). Remember FREAK, Heartbleed, POODLE, Logjam and in somewhat related form the recent IIS exploit which could BSOD an IIS server etc.. This is why it is very prudent to verify your Exchange servers whether they use safe protocols and ciphers.\n\nSo, how can you check your servers? There are websites that can check your webserver like those from Qualys SSL Labs or DigiCert. But these only check HTTP traffic and only of published servers. If you have a reverse proxy (TMG, WAP or other) or a Load Balancer/Application Delivery Controller, you will only test those endpoints. The actual Exchange servers and protocols like SMTP aren't checked.\n\nLuckily there are some free available online tools that can do this kind of testing as well. Running on Windows we have SSLScan and Win32 OpenSSL.\n\nRunning SSLScan is easy. Install it on a Windows server inside your network and use:\n\nsslscan webmail.contoso.com\n\nOr if you do not want to see protocols and ciphers that fail, use\n\nsslscan --no-failed webmail.contoso.com\n\nIf you have multiple namespaces (for instance per Exchange Protocol such as AutoDiscover, Exchange Web Services etc..) or multiple virtual directories for a specific protocol (OWA or Exchange Control Panel). I would check every internal and external URL separately, even thought the protocols and cipher configuration is used serverwide.\n\nAnyway, the result will look like the depiction in Figure 1:\n\nThe section \"Supported Server Chiper(s)\" shows all ciphers and protocols that are usable. The section \"Preferred Server Cipher(s)\" shows the first protocol and cipher that will be used in the negotiation. If the client supports this protocol/cipher it will be used, otherwise during negotiation other ciphers (less strong) will be tried.\n\nOn a side note, under Signature Algorithm you can check whether the certificate chain is still using SHA1 (which will not be accepted after 1 january 2017 if your Windows devices are up-to-date). Obviously the RSA Public Key shows the bit length used (at least 1024, as lower bit lengths are no longer accepted by fully updated Windows devices. Having said that, the current best practice is to go for at least 2048).\n\nFor separate Exchange servers you will have to use the FQDN. Luckily this will not result in a certificate mismatch error and the tool will still check the server. You will have to check each server separately. And do not forget to check any proxy/firewall/load balancer, basically anything that does something with the SSL session, as well. Depending on the configuration it will decrypt incoming traffic and encrypt it again towards the Exchange servers (SSL bridging) or not (SSL Offloading). Either way, the whole chain from the initial client entry point up to the Exchange Servers needs to be checked.\n\nWhy even Exchange servers, even if the secure sessions from clients will not directly connect to Exchange? I like to have a consistent security policy through the whole chain, furthermore it's possible for some protocols the route from client to Exchange is different (i.e. internal applications communicating with Exchange servers directly). Best to be thorough IMHO.\n\nAll client-server protocols in Exchange use the Secure Channel (or schannel) as a security support provider, this is at the Windows OS level and is not Exchange specific. Exchange uses IIS for HTTPS, and that in turn uses schannel. For SMTP, IMAP and POP Exchange now has it's own protocols, but those also use the schannel configuration. This means that your supported protocols and ciphers list from HTTP traffic is also used by SMTP, IMAP and POP.\n\nHowever, those protocols could have another certificate bound to it or as stated earlier, have a different client-server route. So, it's best to check them out as well, from a internet published FQDNs but also per server FQDNs.\n\nThis is also possible with SSLSCAN, however where HTTPS traffic is implicit (the secure connection is always setup without explicit commands sent by client), SMTP, IMAP and POP can be explicit and thus require the use of STARTTLS commands.\n\nSMTP on port 25 but especially the client submission SMTP on port 587 require STARTTLS before a secure connection is set. You can do this by adding the -STARTTLS parameter in SSLSCAN and adding the port to the server address.\n\nChecking SMTP with STARTTLS:\n\nsslscan --no-failed --starttls webmail.contoso.com:25\n\nChecking Client Submission SMTP with STARTLS:\n\nsslscan --no-failed --starttls webmail.contoso.com:587\n\nIn my lab case this resulted in this output show in Figure 2. Note that the protocol and ciphers are identical as those from HTTPS. However, looking at the Signature Algorithm and Subject Alternative Name it becomes clear this is another certificate, using SHA1 and it's self-signed.\n\nNote: if you explicitly want to see which protocols and ciphers are tested and not supported by your server, ommit the \u2013no-failed parameter. I've added this parameter in these examples in order to keep the screenshots more readable. If omitted, you will see it also tests SSLv2 and SSLv3, but only TLS1 in general (and not explicitly TLS11 and TLS12).\n\nTesting IMAP/POP is obviously only required when the services are enabled and in use. Unfortunately SSLSCAN cannot test IMAP or POP. Luckily OpenSSL can, unfortunatly it's syntax is a bit more complex (SSLSCAN actually uses OpenSSL bit, and is sort of a frontend for it).\n\nChecking Secure IMAP (explicit) on port 143:\n\nopenssl s_client -connect webmail.contoso.com:143 -starttls imap\n\nChecking Secure IMAP (implicit) on port 993:\n\nopenssl s_client -connect webmail.contoso.com:993\n\nChecking Secure POP (explicit) on port 110:\n\nopenssl s_client -connect webmail.contoso.com:110 -starttls pop3\n\nChecking Secure POP (implicit) on port 995:\n\nopenssl s_client -connect webmail.contoso.com:995\n\nNote that even thought the recommendation for both IMAP and POP is to use the explicit form, both types are active on you Exchange servers when you enable the corresponding services.\n\nThe output for explicit Secure IMAP is show in Figure 3.\n\nWith the current syntax, you only see the protocol and cipher that is actually used, not an overview like SSLSCAN. But it is clear that IMAP is currently using TLS (and not SSLv3) and the preferred cipher as found with SSLSCAN.\n\nYou can also check explicitly whether SSL3, TLS10, TLS11 or TLS12 are availble by adding the parameter -ssl3, -tls1, -tls1_1 or -tls1_2 to the OpenSSL syntax.\n\nPlease note that SMTP only supported TLSv1.0 until Exchange 2010 SP3 RU9 and Exchange 2013 CU8, after these updates TLSv1.1 and TLSv1.2 should also be supported.\n\nIf you encounter unsafe protocols and/or ciphers on your Exchange servers, there are several ways to mitigate this. You can use the IIS Crypto tool. As you might have more Exchange servers or other servers with IIS, you could consider using an GPO in order to distribute those settings via the SSL Cipher Suite order and/or regkeys disabling SCHANNEL protocols. See figure 4 for an example. The cipher order shown was derived from Qualys SSL Labs best practices dated december 2014 and was used in all examples in this post. They are probably out-dated (this is pre-LogJam).\n\nDo consider that older clients that will not be updated (Windows XP, Android devices etc..) could be excluded from connecting to Exchange if you set the level of security to high for those older systems. Take this into consideration when upping your security levels.\n\nUPDATE 28th july 2015: Yesterday the Exchange Team posted a blog post that covers the SSL/TLS best practices regarding Exchange Server. So, that blog and this one complement each other perfectly \ud83d\ude42"}
-{"text": "I am a son of San Antonio, a descendant of the Isle\u00f1os (Canary Islanders) and Payaya natives who founded San Antonio about 300 years ago. My love and pride for our city is both engrained and genuine. With that in mind, I want to share a few thoughts on how we can use our unique culture and history to improve our city beyond the \u201cdecade of downtown.\u201d\n\nSan Antonio grew and developed steadily over the course of three centuries, blending authentic Tejano customs with more modern, urban characteristics into cultural heritage staples like La Villita Historic Arts Village and the Historic Market Square, or El Mercado. While these historically significant sites have survived the times, we\u2019ve been content with simply preserving the remnants of our history. We need to learn from these sites and further expand our city\u2019s sense of identity and community.\n\nRemnants of Tejano culture tell tales of our old city\u2019s urban vibrancy, of times when public space and private property intertwined seamlessly. More importantly, they provide us with blueprints and valuable concepts that will aid us in more effectively utilizing public space through paseos, plazas, courtyards, and parks. Such architectural traits and venues already serve as popular meeting places during Fiesta and similar community events, but can be optimized. As our city continues to develop, we should strive to further expand the communal nature of our culture within San Antonio\u2019s urban core.\n\nProduce Row in El Mercado. Let\u2019s expand these pedestrian-only avenues that make the area so great. Photo by Alexander Barrera.\n\nRecent developments and initiatives like the Mission and Museum reaches of the San Antonio River Walk, San Pedro Creek Improvements Project, Zona Cultural master planning and Hemisfair Park have already adopted this concept and I applaud the city and for these efforts. However, I see tremendous value in further expanding and increasing projects that incorporate public space into our urban fabric. The \u201cdecade of downtown\u201d is a great start to what could be a renaissance of how we plan for our city\u2019s future development in the greater urban core: we need to constantly think beyond the bland box-shaped developments that can be found in any given city and instead plan for unique developments that capitalize on our city\u2019s culture and environment.\n\nEmbracing our heritage, establishing more public spaces and weaving them into our urban fabric will accomplish several things: it will reinvigorate our city\u2019s urban neighborhoods by providing inviting places for locals to congregate, reintroduce a core aspect of our culture and history and expand on what sets San Antonio apart from other cities in the United States. There are many ways to go about growing our communities and I encourage passionate discussion about developing our city to reflect our distinct past.\n\nHere are some ideas for possible developments that I would like to see initiated by the City, County or in partnership with the private sector.\n\nExpand Pedestrian-friendly Paseos and Corridors\n\nMy first idea is to expand the street-level paseos, or pathways, located around Market Square and throughout Zona Cultural in order to reintroduce housing and retail to the underutilized land surrounding El Mercado. The Zona was designated as an official cultural district by the Texas Commission on the Arts in 2015. By expanding pedestrian areas we reestablish an old-world marketplace feel that allows people to congregate, shop, and mingle in a modern setting. Creating street level paseos would also provide a natural entrance for people walking to and from the future San Pedro Creek paseo.\n\nThree proposed paseos, or pathways, that would better connect San Pedro Creek to area resources. Image via Google Maps, edited by Alexander Barrera.\n\nNext, I envision the existing Produce Row paseo extending east from El Mercado to the San Pedro Creek. The South Concho Street paseo would extend south in order to connect to a new sister paseo that parallels Dolorosa Street and Produce Row, extending towards Casa Navarro and, again, connecting to the San Pedro Creek. The expanded pathways would cut through the middle of the city blocks, mirroring El Mercado\u2019s layout. Each building would include affordable residential units and space for local retail shops, boutiques, caf\u00e9s, restaurants, art galleries, and studios.\n\nInstead of this empty parking lot, the pedestrian paseo and development I propose would create a more inviting space for people to congregate. Photo by Alexander Barrera.\n\nThe City of San Antonio and Bexar County already own a large portion of said properties and could use them as a jumpstart to promote this cultural urban layout. This idea would be an excellent way for the city to restore the Zona Cultural for locals while also staying true to its historic Tejano roots. This same concept can be applied to the under-utilized parking lots near La Villita, a dead zone that isolates the area and decreases downtown\u2019s overall aesthetics.\n\n(Read More: For Sale by City & County: Downtown Acreage, Historic Hotel)\n\nExpand and Reinvent San Pedro Springs Park\n\nAnother worthwhile initiative would be to expand and reinvent park space in our city. San Antonio only dedicates 8.7% of its land to park space, and only 34% of our residents live within walking distance of a park, according to The Trust for Public Land. This should be unacceptable to us, especially in a time of increasing air pollution and childhood obesity rates. We need to expand our parks system in a more ambitious way.\n\nThis rendering shows San Pedro Springs Park\u2019s current boundaries highlighted in green. I proposed expanding it (blue outline). Image via Google Maps edited by Alexander Barrera.\n\nImagine expanding San Pedro Springs Park south towards Fredericksburg Road. This would connect the park to a major thoroughfare, thus increasing its accessibility and allowing the land around the San Pedro Springs to be transformed from asphalt and concrete back into green space. San Pedro Springs Park is one of the oldest public parks in the country and vastly overlooked as a city asset. We could learn from Hemisfair\u2019s redevelopment in how to fund improvements for San Pedro Springs Park. This expansion could have a tremendous impact on San Antonio\u2019s status, especially when you consider popularity of parks like the Boston Commons or City Park in New Orleans which are around the same age as San Pedro Springs Park. This development would also serve to further reinvigorate Five Points, one of the oldest neighborhoods in San Antonio.\n\nThe Boston Commons. Photo courtesy of the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism.\n\nConnect The Missions with a Southside Park\n\nThe five Spanish-colonial Missions of San Antonio are internationally recognized, designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites. We should do that designation and the community justice by seeking investments aimed at connecting these historic structures, which are also home to active parishes, to the people that live around them. Converting the Riverside Golf Course into a public park, similar to parts of Brackenridge Park, would serve that goal.\n\nI propose replacing the Riverside Golf Course in the Southside with a public park. Image via Google Maps, edited by Alexander Barrera.\n\nA centerpiece community park would provide access to the San Antonio River and complement the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park by acting as a bridge between Mission Concepci\u00f3n and Mission San Jos\u00e9. I envision a reforested Southside park with cypress trees along the river section, an amphitheater for live music events and performance arts, a public pool, picnic areas for family barbecues, playgrounds, and community gardens \u2013 a welcoming space for both locals and visitors.\n\nOur city has so much potential and we must take the time to explore it thoroughly: some ideas may seem unrealistic at first glance, but if the \u201cdecade of downtown\u201d as well as recent park and urban development projects have taught us anything, it\u2019s that open-minded vision and proper planning can lead to great results. My ideas are ambitious because I believe in San Antonio, and I want to see this city further build on what it already does so well: preserve cultural values to reinforce its unique identity, create community in an urban environment and consistently grow in a wholesome yet modern direction.\n\nTop image: A mural displaying the once-lively street life in the neighborhood near El Mercado. Photo by Alexander Barrera.\n\nRelated Stories:\n\nGroup Calls for City to Buy Land Around San Antonio Missions\n\nRivard: A Bond and a Vision for San Antonio\n\nFor Sale by City & County: Downtown Acreage, Historic Hotel\n\nComing Attractions: Transformation of Downtown Streetscapes\n\nBrackenridge Park Master Plan: More People, Fewer Cars"}
-{"text": "Tesla is poised to start deliveries of its crossover SUV, the Model Y, in the first quarter of 2020, according to research out Tuesday from Deutsche Bank.\n\nIf Tesla could begin Model Y deliveries in the first-quarter of 2020, that would be a full season ahead of CEO Elon Musk's promised schedule. Early production and deliveries would be a symbolic win for the company, which has often failed to meet self-imposed delivery deadlines.\n\nOn its third-quarter earnings call, Musk told shareholders:\n\n\"We're also ahead of schedule on Model Y preparations in Fremont, and we've moved the launch timeline from full 2020 to summer 2020. There may be some room for improvement there, but we're confident about summer 2020.\" He added, \"I've actually recently driven the Model Y release candidate and think it's going to be an amazing product and be very well received. I think it's quite likely to -- just my opinion, but I think it will outsell Model S, Model X and Model 3 combined.\""}
-{"text": "MSNBC\u2019s Donny Deusch has been found guilty by a Manhattan judge of scamming a real estate broker out of a commission.\n\nThe judge found that the broker, Edward Petrie, was responsible for finding a buyer for Deutsch\u2019s $30 million home in the Hamptons. After Deutsch discovered he knew the buyer, LA hedge funder Howard Marks, MSNBC\u2019s Occupy Wall Street cheerleader went behind the broker\u2019s back to privately broker the sale and stiff the Sotheby\u2019s realtor out of his fee.\n\nThe New York Post reports that the judge blasted Deutsch for his \u201cdishonesty and greed\u201d:\n\n\u201cThis court considers that and refusal to acknowledge [Petrie] as the broker to be marks of dishonesty and greed,\u201d Ramos writes in the Oct. 23 decision awarding Petrie\u2019s employer, Sotheby\u2019s, $1.2 million.\n\n\u201cBoth characteristics are particularly unbecoming when exhibited by those blessed with great wealth,\u201d the judge scolds.\n\nBy some reports MSNBC\u2019s Donny Deutsch is worth upwards of $200 million. What isn\u2019t in dispute is that the left-wing multi-millionaire publicly embraced Occupy Wall Street and frequently uses his perch at MSNBC to criticize income inequality.\n\nHow interesting, then, that when Deutsch had a legal obligation (and opportunity) to transfer less than 1% of his own wealth, he instead chose to cheat and lie.\n\nNaturally, Deutsch intends to appeal the verdict.\n\nJohn Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC"}
-{"text": "In a new paper (PDF; subscription required) forthcoming in Science, Nick Matzke shows that even though creationism is getting stealthier in the wake of legal defeats such as Kitzmiller v. Dover, techniques from modern evolutionary biology reveal how creationist legislation is evolving. Using data collected by NCSE and state-of-the-art phylogenetic analysis, Matzke constructed a phylogenetic tree of seventy-five distinct antievolution bills and policies, reconstructing their genealogical relationships with a high degree of confidence.\n\n\"The Evolution of Antievolution Policies after Kitzmiller v. Dover\" identifies the common ancestor of the bills as a series of bills proposed in Alabama in 2004 and 2005. It also discerns two main lineages, the \"academic freedom act\" lineage and the \"science education act\" lineage, which resulted when \"academic freedom acts\" began to target not only evolution but also global warming and human cloning. The latter lineage thrived, with the passage of such bills in Louisiana in 2008 and Tennessee in 2012.\n\nMatzke stressed the importance of understanding the history of such policies. \"If enacted, these bills would require or encourage teachers to misrepresent science \u2014 to present creationist arguments against evolution and climate change denier arguments against global warming \u2014 in the classroom. And they also prevent administrators from doing anything about it. We already know that one in eight public high school biology teachers present creationism as scientifically credible; the passage of these bills would worsen the situation.\"\n\nNow a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award Fellow at the Australian National University, Matzke began his research on these antievolution policies while a post-doctoral fellow at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis. Previously he worked at NCSE from 2004 to 2007, where he was the staffer who worked most closely with the legal team for the plaintiffs in Kitzmiller v. Dover, the 2005 case that established the unconstitutionality of teaching \"intelligent design\" creationism in the public schools."}
-{"text": "news The latest Netflix ISP Speed Index shows that Australia\u2019s Internet speeds are \u201cflatlining\u201d and demonstrates the need for a \u201cproper\u201d National Broadband Network, Labor has said.\n\nIn a statement, Michelle Rowland, Shadow Minister For Communications , said that Australia\u2019s Internet speeds have dropped from 30th to 60th place globally in Malcolm Turnbull\u2019s time as Prime Minister.\n\nFurther, she suggested that the Netflix ISP Speed Index shows how the prime time performance of the major Australian ISPs has \u201cflatlined\u201d.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s simply not good enough. This is the year Malcolm Turnbull promised he would deliver minimum broadband speeds of 25 Mbps to all Australians. It won\u2019t happen,\u201d Rowland went on. \u201cInstead, Malcolm Turnbull\u2019s flawed roll-out is mired in delay, cost blowouts and disruption and the opportunities offered by quality broadband are being squandered and the cost is massive.\u201d\n\nThe Shadow Minister suggested that lagging behind on broadband speeds means jobs that should be created in Australia are \u201cbeing lost overseas\u201d, technology which relies on broadband \u201cfails to be fostered in Australia\u201d, and companies cannot access and share the information they need.\n\nLabor called on Malcolm Turnbull to \u201creconsider his ill-fated roll-out\u201d and ensure up to two million more fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) connections can be delivered \u201cbefore it\u2019s too late\u201d.\n\n\u201cLabor\u2019s NBN plan is measured, responsible and will ensure more Australian\u2019s can access quality broadband and all its benefits, instead of relying on an outdated copper network, Rowland concluded.\n\nRowland\u2019s comments flatly contradicted comments made last week by Senator Mitch Fifield, Minister for Communications, who claimed that the same Netflix ISP Speed Index supports the rollout of the NBN under the Coalition Government.\n\n\u201cThanks to the Coalition\u2019s faster, more affordable rollout the NBN is on track to be connected to all Australian homes and businesses by 2020,\u201d Fifield said, adding that Singapore\u2019s Netflix speed of 3.75 Mbps is \u201cvirtually identical\u201d to Australia\u2019s 3.36 Mbps.\n\nImage credit: Parliamentary Broadcasting"}
-{"text": "International delegation gathers further evidence of labour rights violations at Fyffes subsidiaries in Costa Rica and Honduras\n\n\u201cThe pineapple that the consumer eats, they should know that they are consuming the sacrifice we make with our lives\u201d \u2013 Cruz Urvina Lopez, worker at Anexco, Costa Rica\n\nBetween 21 and 25 January an international delegation of representatives from Banana Link, the GMB union, the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), 3F (General Union of Danish Workers) and the International Union of Foodworkers (IUF) visited Costa Rica and Honduras to meet government officials, local trade union representatives and workers at Fyffes subsidiaries, Anexco and Suragroh respectively.\n\nHonduras \u2013 Suragroh and Melon Export S.A\n\nOver the course of the visit, the delegation was able to observe the continued systematic violation of the most basic labour and trade union rights, often with the complicity of public officials; including the non-payment of minimum wages; long and extensive working hours; lack of affiliation to the social security system; and lack of respect for the right to bargain collectively and freely organise.\n\nThe delegation met with workers from Melon Export SA (Melexsa) and Sur Agr\u00edcola SA (Suragroh). The international support that these seasonal, predominantly women, workers have received has given them the courage to join a union despite repression including 35 union members who have not been rehired for the current season.\n\nDelegates also had the opportunity to discuss Fyffes failure to respect labour legislation and international conventions ratified by the Government of Honduras with the Labour Minister, Carlos Madero. They also met with the attorney presenting the lawsuits filed by the workers against Melexsa and Suragroh for a failure to pay minimum wages, social security contributions and other financial benefits. These Fyffes subsidiaries in Honduras ignored requests to meet with the delegation.\n\nThe visit followed a complaint lodged by Banana Link and the International Union of Foodworkers (IUF) alleging breaches of the UK\u2019s Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code for failure to respect unions, provide a safe workplace and pay living wages. Fyffes has failed to engage in ETI facilitated mediation to remedy these substantiated complaints.\n\nDuring the visit, workers held a demonstration outside Fyffes office in Choluteca calling for the company to give them their jobs back, and the freedom to organise and bargain collectively. In this video filmed at the demonstration, some of the workers talk about their experiences.\n\n\n\n\u201cFyffes is an arrogant and authoritarian company\u201d \u2013 read an interview with Alistair Smith, Banana Link International Co-ordinator, on his views of the visit to Honduras.\n\nCosta Rica \u2013 Anexco\n\nAnexco has been the subject of an ongoing Make Fruit Fair campaign Urgent Action as a result of union members suffering anti-union harassment, persecution, unfair labour practices and discrimination.\n\nThe delegation met with the Ministry of Labour, who reiterated Anexco\u2019s failure to engage constructively, having neither the willingness nor ability to address the issues, although the Ministry remains willing to host dialogue between unions and the company. An expected labour law reform due this summer may offer some hope for protection of workers\u2019 rights, although, up to now, Anexco has shown a disrespect for workers\u2019 rights and employment legislation.\n\nThe delegation also had a meeting arranged with Anexco management , but when they arrived at Anexco they were told that the management \u201cwere out of the country\u201d and the delegation were refused entry to the plantation. The delegation were then followed by armed guards and photographed until they left the area.\n\nThe delegation were, however, able to meet union members from Anexco away from the plantation, from whom they heard that there is clear systematic repression of union rights and labour rights, with local management feeling that they have impunity to verbally and psychologically abuse the workers without punishment. The local management taunts union members to try to get them to quit, and ignore worker request for health & safety precautions. According to workers there is a blacklist for union members which ensures that if fired from Anexco, they cannot get a job elsewhere.\n\nHere is what some of the workers had to say:\n\nThey look for ways on how to discriminate those that are in the union so that others can see that they treat us like dogs. They do this so other workers don\u2019t see the value in joining the union. They treat us like dogs completely. \u2013 Ricardo Centeno Soza\n\nMy message to [Fyffes chairman David McCann] would be to give his workers a chance, an opportunity by giving them a dignified salary that justifies the work we do and also by giving his workers an opportunity to grow into other positions. He should give us a dignified wage so that his people can work happily and maybe even then he would have a more efficient production and a better product because everyone would feel fulfilled with their jobs and would do their work with more desire if they knew they would be fairly compensated. \u2013 Lester Vega Saenz\n\nWe have the opportunity to defend ourselves, like the humans that we are. Defend out rights as trade unionists because they completely discriminate you for being a trade unionist. They say, \u2018You are thieves and look for ways to steal the plantation\u2019s money,\u2019 but we tell them, \u2018We are defending our salary, our rights, nothing more, that is what we want\u2019. \u2013 Unnamed Worker\n\nRead more about the Freedom & Fairness for Fyffes workers! campaign here\n\nSend an email to the Chairman of Fyffes, David McCann, calling on the company to end the discrimination of union members in Costa Rica and Suragroh, and to recognise unions and engage in collective bargaining with these unions.\n\nRead more"}
-{"text": "India tortured teenage servant rescued in Delhi Published duration 1 October 2013\n\nimage caption The victim has been taken to hospital with severe injuries on her face, head and back\n\nA teenager working as a servant in the Indian capital is recovering in hospital after being rescued from her employer's home where she was allegedly beaten and slashed with sharp weapons.\n\nHer employer, a 50-year-old woman, has been arrested, police said.\n\nAnti-trafficking campaigners who rescued the victim said she was 15 years old, but police said she was 18.\n\nThe assault has focused the spotlight once again on the abuse of domestic servants in Indian cities.\n\nMillions of women and children, both boys and girls, from poor families are employed in India as domestic servants and stories of abuse and exploitation are not infrequent.\n\nLast year, police arrested a doctor couple who had in Delhi's Dwarka district and gone on holiday to Thailand.\n\nNeighbours had alerted police and activists after they heard the girl crying and screaming for help from the balcony.\n\n'Never seen such violence'\n\nIn the latest case, the victim, a tribal from the eastern state of Jharkhand, was rescued from South Delhi's Vasant Kunj area on Monday evening and taken to hospital with severe injuries on her face, head and back, the BBC Hindi's Faisal Mohammad Ali reports.\n\n\"In years of rescuing girls or children I have never seen such violence,\" Rishi Kant from the anti-trafficking group Shakti Vahini told the BBC.\n\n\"There was severe head injury, we could see some kind of bite marks on her body, we immediately rushed her to the hospital as we feared that she may develop some infection,\" he said.\n\nPolice say her employer is accused of \"causing grievous injury by dangerous weapon, wrongful confinement and keeping her as bonded labour\", our correspondent adds."}
-{"text": "Copa Libertadores 47 equipos entrar\u00e1n en el sorteo de la competici\u00f3n\n\nUna presunta foto de Maradona le sit\u00faa en una cacer\u00eda de un animal en extinci\u00f3n\n\nD'Alessandro: \"Alan Ruschel formar\u00e1 parte del partido ben\u00e9fico\"\n\nCon 47 equipos -6 de ellos lo jugar\u00e1n por primera vez- y un nuevo formato de competencia, la Copa Libertadores de Am\u00e9rica 2017 comenzar\u00e1 a palpitarse desde este mi\u00e9rcoles, cuando se sorteen los grupos en Asunci\u00f3n, en las instalaciones del Centro de Convenciones que la Conmebol tiene en Luque, localidad vecina de la capital paraguaya.\n\n\"La talla de los equipos que ya aseguraron su presencia en el m\u00e1ximo certamen de clubes presagia una Libertadores de alt\u00edsimo nivel\", dijo el presidente de la Confederaci\u00f3n Sudamericana de F\u00fatbol, Alejandro Dom\u00ednguez.\n\nLa Copa Libertadores de Am\u00e9rica arrancar\u00e1 en la segunda quincena de enero con seis equipos representantes de Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Per\u00fa, Uruguay y Venezuela disputando una primera fase clasificatoria y el calendario se extender\u00e1 hasta noviembre. Los conjuntos se enfrentar\u00e1n en partidos de ida y vuelta y los tres clasificados pasar\u00e1n a una segunda ronda donde los esperan 13 equipos m\u00e1s, explic\u00f3 Dom\u00ednguez al anunciar el nuevo formato de la Libertadores.\n\n\"Un equipo de Brasil y otro de Argentina de esos 16, pasar\u00e1n directamente a la siguiente fase (y dejar\u00e1n su lugar a dos de los vencedores de enero). El restante ganador (del mes de enero) ocupar\u00e1 el lugar de un equipo mexicano\", se\u00f1al\u00f3 el mandam\u00e1s de la Conmebol.\n\nEl Chapecoense recibir\u00e1 la Copa de campe\u00f3n de la Sudamericana\n\nDurante la ceremonia del sorteo de competici\u00f3n internacional, la Conmebol entregar\u00e1 al Chapecoense el trofeo que le acredita como campe\u00f3n de la Copa Sudamericana.\n\nBombo 1\n\nComo M\u00e9xico renunci\u00f3 a jugar la Copa por problemas en su calendario con este nuevo formato, los tres cupos que le correspond\u00edan se repartieron entre Uruguay, Per\u00fa, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela y Paraguay. \"No pudimos congeniar nuestras finales en noviembre de 2017 con los partidos de la Liga MX\", dijo Dom\u00ednguez al precisar los motivos de la deserci\u00f3n de los equipos aztecas.\n\nBombo 2\n\nEl nuevo formato de la Libertadores, que extiende las competencias a todo el a\u00f1o, busca imprimir m\u00e1s prestigio y calidad al torneo, subray\u00f3 el titular de la Conmebol. La 58 edici\u00f3n incluir\u00e1 a los debutantes Atl\u00e9tico Tucum\u00e1n (Argentina), Carabobo y Zulia (Venezuela), Sport Boys (Bolivia), Deportivo Capiat\u00e1 (Paraguay) y Chapecoense (Brasil).\n\nBombo 3\n\nAtl\u00e9tico Nacional / River Plate / San Lorenzo / Nacional / Pe\u00f1arol / Atl\u00e9tico Mineiro / Gremio / Santos\n\nBombo 10\n\nEstudiantes / Emelec / Independiente Santa Fe / Libertad / Guaran\u00ed / Palmeiras / Universidad Cat\u00f3lica / Sporting Cristal\n\nFlamengo / Barcelona / Lan\u00fas / Godoy Cruz / Zamora / Jorge Wilstermann / FBC Melgar / Independiente de Medell\u00edn\n\nDeportes Iquique / Sport Boys / Chapecoense / Zulia / m\u00e1s los 4 ganadores de los 'playoffs'"}
-{"text": "Take to the skies with #StarWarsResistance. Premiering Sunday, October 7 at 10pm ET/PT on @DisneyChannel. pic.twitter.com/h0mTL4Vcl7 \u2014 Disney (@Disney) August 17, 2018\n\nResistance follows new recruit Kazuda Xiono as he joins Leia's growing forces alongside a squad of ace pilots -- including Poe Dameron, voiced by Oscar Isaac (Gwendoline Christie is also slated to appear as Captain Phasma). The series has plenty of DNA from previous Star Wars animated shows, with Lucasfilm Animation lead Dave Filoni (who supervised and produced The Clone Wars and Rebels) and other veterans executive producing Resistance. It looks to be a breezy adventure show, with more high-flying action:\n\n\"The idea for Star Wars Resistance came out of my interest in World War II aircraft and fighter pilots. My grandfather was a pilot and my uncle flew and restored planes, so that's been a big influence on me,\" Filoni said, per iO9. \"There's a long history of high-speed racing in Star Wars, and I think we've captured that sense of excitement in an anime-inspired style, which is something the entire team has been wanting to do for a long time.\"\n\nResistance debuts on October 7th on the Disney Channel at 10PM EST before coming to Disney XD sometime later."}
-{"text": "WAILEA, Hawaii\u2014T-Mobile's broad-coverage, low-band 5G network, which uses 600MHz spectrum, will not be able to launch until the second half of 2019, Qualcomm president Cristiano Amon implied during a roundtable at the Snapdragon Technology Summit here yesterday.\n\n\"The X50 [modem] paired with the 855 [processor] is supporting all of the first half of 2019 launches,\" Amon said at the event.\n\nI'll need to unpack that a bit. Qualcomm's X50 modem, its first 5G modem, does not support a type of network called \"sub-6GHz FDD.\" T-Mobile's low-band network is one of those. So Amon was confirming that there won't be a modem available for T-Mobile's 600MHz network until at least the middle of 2019.\n\nT-Mobile has publicly talked about taking a very different approach from AT&T and Verizon on 5G. While the two larger carriers are starting with extremely fast, but small networks using new millimeter-wave spectrum, T-Mobile has talked primarily about blanketing the country quickly with slower, but much longer-range 600MHz.\n\nT-Mobile may still be able to pull off a 5G launch during the first half of the year, as the company also has some short-range millimeter-wave spectrum\u2014and the X50 supports millimeter-wave. But the broad coverage that T-Mobile CEO John Legere has been touting as he mocks his millimeter-wave rivals AT&T and Verizon will have to wait for devices with whatever modem follows the X50.\n\nAT&T is in a lesser version of the same bind. At the show yesterday, AT&T confirmed that it will be using its 850 and 1900MHz spectrum to extend 5G coverage across the country, as those frequencies have much broader coverage than millimeter wave. But the company also said that it will wait until the second half of 2019 to launch a phone that will work on those bands, presumably because it's also waiting for the successor to the X50.\n\nT-Mobile has said it is \"building\" 5G in 30 cities this year, followed by a 2019 commercial launch and nationwide coverage in 2020. But the company hasn't said when in 2019\u2014early, late, or Dec. 31? On Twitter, Legere promised that he \"will have an update next week on 5G devices and more. Stay tuned!\"\n\nFurther Reading"}
-{"text": "The Incredible Imploding Burger! published on\n\nRead more posts by the author of The Incredible Imploding Burger!,"}
-{"text": "The increase means a backbencher will get an extra $106 a week, taking their salary to $190,550. Combined with the massive pay rise MPs received in March, the annual salary of a backbencher has increased by $49,640 compared with a year ago \u2013 about $1000 a week. Prime Minister Julia Gillard's salary rises by $14,430 to $495,430, meaning she is earning a whopping $129,064 more than she was a year ago \u2013 or almost $2500 extra a week. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott receives a $10,267 increase, taking his annual salary to $352,517. Mr Abbott is an impressive $91,834, or $1766 a week, better off than he was year ago. Although pay rises for politicians almost always coincide with an outbreak of bipartisanship, at least two officials have criticised the decision.\n\nGreens leader Christine Milne saying the money would be far better spent on the nation's most vulnerable. \"When the government is saying it can't afford to give people struggling on Newstart an extra $50 a week to just get up to liveable levels, and the minimum wage has only gone up $17.10 a week, a $100-a-week pay rise for politicians is hardly appropriate,\" she said. \"If the nation can afford this, it can certainly afford to help our poorest people.\" Senator Xenophon has gone further, calling for the pay increase to be scrapped immediately. He said the pay rise had come at the \"worst possible time\" and will fuel public anger towards MPs.\n\nOn average, politicians were awarded a $5550 a year pay rise, just three months after they pocketed an on-average $44,000 annual salary boost. \"There is no such thing as a good time for a politician's pay rise, but this comes at an especially bad time. It's just embarrassing,\" the South Australian senator said in a statement. \"Coming less than a week after the parliamentary paralysis in relation to asylum seekers, and only a few days after the introduction of the carbon tax, this will only fuel public anger at politicians generally.\" Finance Minister Penny Wong defended the salary process, in which a tribunal sets politicians' pay independent of Parliament. \"Every time there's any discussion about politicians' salaries ... you usually get a whole range of questions,\" she said. \"I think that the best way to deal with it is the way we've tried to deal with it, which is to take politicians out of the equation and to give it to an independent tribunal, and they set politicians' salaries.\"\n\nTreasurer Wayne Swan - whose salary has increased from $288,865 to $390,627 over the last 12 months - said MPs were generally prepared for the negative reaction when news of politicians' bigger paypackets emerged. He said it was ''normal'' for salary increases to be linked to rises in the consumer price index and that it was a situation that was repeated across the general workforce. ''There are people out there who will always say that any rise politicians get is not deserved,'' Mr Swan said. Senator Xenophon said he would continue to campaign for the tribunal to hold public hearings. \"It would also give pollies a chance to justify any change in pay,\" he said.\n\nOpposition Leader Tony Abbott briefly touched on his new pay packet during a media call at a cordial manufacturer in Adelaide. ''I never forget that the taxpayers in Australia pay my salary. That's why every day I am working for their benefit,'' Mr Abbott said. ''Right now, I am working to save them from a carbon tax. That's how I justify my salary, by working for the benefit of the Australian people every day, by saving them from this toxic tax, this bad tax based on a lie.'' The decision had its defenders, with former Labor factional powerbroker Graham Richardson saying today he believed politicians should receive far greater financial reward. \"If you look around a couple of hundred companies, I wonder how many of them pay their chief less than a half a million dollars?\" Mr Richardson told the Seven Network.\n\n\"I think the answer would be none. \"The Australian Prime Minister should be getting a minimum of $1 million and ministers should be up around half a million, and you should be taking backbenchers up to $250,000 to $300,000. \"There are 25-year-old kids walking around in merchant banks these days earning $300,000 a year.\" Independent MP Rob Oakeshott said he'd support linking future pay rises to the parliament's success in resolving pressing issues such as the asylum seeker issue.\n\n\n\n\u2018\u2018I guess I can fully understand the mood of the moment that maybe we should link any pay rise, or any pay, to productivity. How about a resolution to the asylum seeker issue and then we get our pay rise? \u2018\u2018I don\u2019t think anyone earned their keep last week. If a prime minister or an independent tribunal wanted to link a resolution to a handful of issues, one of them asylum seekers, to any future pay and conditions, I\u2019d be up for that.\"\n\nTreasurer Wayne Swan - whose salary has leapt from $288,865 to $390,627 over the last 12 months - said MPs were generally braced for the blowback when news of politician\u2019s bigger paypackets emerged. He said it was \u2018\u2018normal\u2019\u2019 for salary increases to be linked to rises in the consumer price index and that it was a situation that was repeated across the general workforce. \u2018\u2018There are people out there who will always say that any rise politicians get is not deserved,\u2019\u2019 Mr Swan said.\n\n- with David Wroe\n\n\n\nFollow the National Times on Twitter: @NationalTimesAU"}
-{"text": "GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- After almost five months of construction, the Michigan Department of Transportation is opening the new I-196 westbound bridge over the Grand River on Friday. A specific time has not been set, but it is likely to reopen in the afternoon, according to John Richard, MDOT communications representative.\n\nOn-ramps to westbound I-196 from northbound and southbound U.S. 131 also will be open.\n\n\u201cIt has been a long time coming. Everybody\u2019s elated that it\u2019s going to be open,\u201d said Project Manager Tanya Pawlukiewicz. \u201cI am sure nobody is more excited than the city of Grand Rapids motorists that have had to deal with it being closed.\u201d\n\nConstruction on the highway really began three years ago, Pawlukiewicz said, with reinforcement work being done on the substructure and an invasive species of mussels having to be moved from the Grand River.\n\nIt was in April when MDOT closed the westbound I-196 bridge where it meets U.S. 131 over the Grand River. The $21.4 million project included deck replacement, painting, barrier wall replacement and substructure reinforcement.\n\nThe changes to the bridge included widening the shoulders from 4 feet wide to 8 and 12 feet wide, Richard said. An additional lane was added where previously the right lane ended as drivers were heading into downtown.\n\n\u201cEveryone remembers you\u2019d be driving downtown and the right lane would drop and you\u2019d have to merge over into the left,\u201d Pawlukiewicz said. \u201cDuring rush hour, it got pretty congested.\u201d\n\nAbout 100,000 drivers pass through the section of the highway every day.\n\nOne of the biggest challenges faced by the construction crew was having the Grand River underneath the entire stretch of highway being worked on. Pawlukiewicz said a causeway was built in the river to transport equipment or materials like concrete.\n\n\u201cThis was not your average road project,\u201d Pawlukiewicz said.\n\nWhile the interstate will be open on Friday, drivers should expect to see periodic lane closures as additional work is finished.\n\nThe bridge was originally built in 1964, and besides continual maintenance, this is the biggest project on the stretch of highway so far.\n\n\"We expect this bridge to last another 40-50 years,\u201d Pawlukiewicz said."}
-{"text": "Michael Egan, photographed by Christopher Anderson/Magnum Photos/New York Magazine Photo: Christopher Anderson/Magnum Photos\n\nHe couldn\u2019t see past the walls at first, but then the wrought-iron gate swung open and the limo he was riding in pulled past the gate, and Michael Egan got his first view of the M&C estate.\n\nThe 12,600-square-foot Spanish Colonial, surrounded by immense columns and gaping bay windows, was previously owned by the rap mogul Suge Knight. Inside was a home theater and more than one aquarium. Outside he could see a Ferrari and Lamborghini, a tennis court, a swimming pool, and a hot tub big enough for a dozen people. To the neighbors, it might have seemed like just another Encino McMansion. To a 16-year-old from Nebraska, it seemed like everything he thought Hollywood would be.\n\nEgan was slim with dark hair, pale skin, and a bright smile. The son of divorced parents, he had been a popular kid who dreamed of being Tom Cruise. He\u2019d attended his first model search when he was 12, an open call at a shopping mall in Omaha, which quickly led to a summer in New York, where he booked dozens of modeling jobs. When, a year later, his manager told his mother, Bonnie Mound, the next step was a move to L.A., neither of them needed convincing. Mound rented an apartment in the Valley and enrolled him in a school designed to accommodate the schedules of working actors.\n\nIt was one of his classmates there who, in June 1998, first brought him to the M&C estate, named for two of its occupants, Marc Collins-Rector and Chad Shackley. Those men, along with a third housemate, Brock Pierce, had recently been celebrated in the Los Angeles Times for creating a business that would make TV shows for the internet called Digital Entertainment Network, or DEN. They\u2019d poached their president, David Neuman, from his job running Disney TV. David Geffen had showed interest in the company, socializing at the estate with other investors who, Egan was told, could be very helpful to him in his career. There was Garth Ancier, who at 28 had been the first programmer of Fox television and who would go on to high-level positions at NBC and the WB network. There was Gary Goddard, the director and Broadway producer. And there was the director Bryan Singer, who had just made his name with The Usual Suspects and was about to join the A-list with the X-Men film franchise.\n\nWhat happened behind the walls of the M&C estate over the next two years is a matter of intense dispute. If you believe Michael Egan, he was groomed to submit to a life of abuse in what was essentially a pedophilic sex den. If you believe the men Egan accused\u2014including Singer, who has been lying low since Egan filed a civil lawsuit against him in late April\u2014he is a shakedown artist, contriving an abuse scandal, staging press conferences, and participating in an upcoming documentary, all in the hopes of a payout. Much of Hollywood has been watching Egan\u2019s case unfold all summer, and not only for its lurid details. Was Egan just another Hollywood newcomer who traded sex for entr\u00e9e into a business famous for allowing that very exchange, or is he the most public example of something more troubling: the industry\u2019s rampant sexual abuse?\n\nMichael Egan, age 15, in 1998. Photo: Herman/Corbis\n\nEgan is standing alone, awaiting my arrival at the baggage claim of McCarran airport in Las Vegas, the city where he\u2019s lived since 2002. It\u2019s a bright afternoon in June, two months since he held his explosive press conference at the Four Seasons on Wilshire Boulevard, tearful mother on one side, lawyer on the other. Now he\u2019s in the middle of the backlash: denials, motions for dismissal, countersuits, anonymous attacks against his character, all of which just make him more eager to tell his story.\n\n\u201cJune 23 will be two years of me not having a drink,\u201d he tells me as we walk to his car. He is tan but rail-thin, and a certain jittery frailty comes through as he talks. His manner is like that of a lot of people in the early years of recovery\u2014overcome by the relief they feel in talking at length about what they\u2019ve been through. Quite often, Egan says, he still feels seized by emotions he can\u2019t manage. \u201cThese people put so much fear in you when you\u2019re a kid. But I still have fear. I had a dream last night that I was walking into a deposition and got shot.\u201d He smiles and shakes his head. \u201cThat\u2019s sick to think that stuff.\u201d\n\nAs I spoke with Egan, both in person in Las Vegas and later over a steady stream of phone calls and emails and texts, his anguish became clear, even if the facts surrounding it remained stubbornly out of reach. Everything he says happened to him has been roundly denied, and every allegation lacks documentation. He was almost certainly taken advantage of (though by whom and to what extent has yet to be proved). It\u2019s also true that he had his own motives for insinuating himself into the world of the M&C estate. Soon after he moved to L.A., he endured his first unsuccessful TV-pilot season. On the audition circuit, he ran into the same teenage boys, all as beautiful as he was, at every casting. What he needed were connections. The month he first visited the estate, DEN had premiered its debut program, Chad\u2019s World. Practically no one watched the show, but the company payroll was staggering: $12 million in salaries with only one series in production.\n\nAfter a few visits, DEN\u2019s executives offered Egan $600 a week to do odd jobs around the estate. He said yes, and soon found himself embraced by the DEN family. He was given a starring role in a new DEN show called The Royal Standard, directed by Randall Kleiser, who had directed Grease and The Blue Lagoon; he was paid $1,000 more a week. He hung out at Independence Day producer Dean Devlin\u2019s house and did screen tests for Roland Emmerich\u2019s movie The Patriot and Freaks and Geeks. Along with the other teenagers he met through DEN, he was a regular at a place called Barfly, where he\u2019d get so drunk he\u2019d throw up. The estate, meanwhile, became famous for its parties, which were stocked with attractive young men. \u201cI\u2019ve spent some time at the Playboy mansion,\u201d one person connected to DEN said later to the New York Post. \u201cThis place makes it look like a trailer.\u201d\n\nThe grooming, according to the lawsuit, started almost on day one. Egan remembers being pulled aside by Collins-Rector, Pierce, and Shackley for hourlong one-on-one lectures about how they had gaydar and they knew that Egan really was gay (he says he is not). He remembers the ban on the wearing of clothes in the pool or hot-tub areas. And he remembers being locked inside a gun closet for resisting Collins-Rector\u2019s advances. He also remembers the drugs\u2014Valium, Vicodin, Xanax, Percocet, ecstasy, roofies. In the years to come, several other young men would come forward to talk about inappropriate behavior by the executives of DEN. There was a boy named Daniel who, according to a 2007 account of DEN\u2019s rise and fall in Radar, wrote a suicide note that his brother intercepted before he could act on it: \u201cI can\u2019t go on. I let them use me as a sex tool. I let those assholes do all those terrible things to me. Good-bye.\u201d There are several boys, including Egan, who would recall Collins-\u00adRector aiming a gun at them and threatening to pull the trigger. And there was the boy who, in 2000, filed a lawsuit in New Jersey claiming Collins-\u00adRector repeatedly sexually abused him from 1993 to 1996. Collins-Rector denied those allegations but then settled the suit shortly before leaving the company.\n\nWhat made Egan\u2019s accusations news this spring was that he didn\u2019t just name DEN\u2019s executives; he named prominent members of the gay Hollywood elite, including Singer. Egan\u2019s lawsuit describes an incident in the estate\u2019s pool when Egan was 17 years old. Collins-Rector allegedly passed Egan to Singer in the hot tub, where Egan \u201cwas made to sit on\u201d Singer\u2019s lap; Singer gave him a drink, mentioned finding him a movie role, told him he was sexy, and masturbated and fellated him. When Egan resisted, the complaint reads, Singer forced Egan\u2019s \u201chead underwater to make [Egan] perform oral sex upon him. When [Egan] pulled his head out of the water in order to breathe, [Singer] demanded that he continue, which [Egan] refused. [Singer] then forced [Egan] to continue performing oral sex upon him outside of the pool, and subsequently forcibly sodomized\u201d him.\n\nEgan says Singer\u2019s behavior continued on trips the whole group took together to the Paul Mitchell estate in Hawaii. One night, the complaint alleges, Egan came across Singer in the pool area, whereupon Singer \u201cput a handful of cocaine\u201d under Egan\u2019s nose, then \u201cforced him to inhale it.\u201d Singer entered the pool, where he \u201cnonconsensually masturbated\u201d Egan; pushed his head underwater and made him \u201corally copulate him\u201d; and eventually brought Egan to his room, where \u201che again anally raped\u201d him.\n\nSinger\u2019s official response to the accusations is that they\u2019re fiction. \u201cBryan never acted inappropriately toward Mr. Egan,\u201d says Singer\u2019s lawyer, Marty Singer (no relation). \u201cAll of his claims are lies.\u201d The lawyer\u2019s statements have consistently addressed just the specific claims in the lawsuit, neither confirming nor denying that Singer and Egan had sex or knew each other; he did not return messages for this story.\n\nOn the many nights Egan remembers sleeping over at the M&C estate, he says his mother would call to make sure it was all right, and an adult would come to the phone and assure her all was well. And, in one respect, it was. Suddenly, things were happening for him career-wise. To walk away from M&C would mean telling himself he wasn\u2019t cut out for Hollywood. When I ask Egan\u2019s mother about that now, she bursts into tears. \u201cWe were raised in the Midwest, and we try to find the good in people,\u201d Mound says. \u201cAnd we went to New York and never had any problems, and he just seemed to be a success. He was just so happy and having so much fun.\u201d\n\nOver lunch, Egan comes back again and again to the notion of grooming\u2014that a 16-year-old boy could be made to go along with almost anything, given the right motivation. \u201cI was never a willing participant in what they did to me,\u201d Egan says. \u201cThey ripped in and stole my soul. I became a robot. I had such fear instilled in me I was a nonfunctioning person. I may have become more of a compliant victim, but I was never willing.\u201d\n\nEgan didn\u2019t choose the word compliant arbitrarily. The word is commonly used in abuse cases with teenage victims who, unlike toddlers or tweens, may have some degree of agency when interacting sexually with adults. These cases tend to follow a pattern: The abusers engage in a seduction process that normalizes the behavior until the victims go along with it\u2014still victims, but also compliant participants. Legally, if the victim is under the age of consent, proving sexual abuse should be relatively straightforward, but that gray area of compliance often clouds the issue, making juries (and the public) less sympathetic to claims of abuse. Can you be exploited if you consent? What if you only say you were abused years later, after your career has dried up?\n\nSexual abuse in Hollywood has long been the subject of speculation. \u201cIt\u2019s common enough that every boy child actor would have met a pedophile in their career at some point,\u201d says Anne Henry, the mother of three child \u00adperformers and co-founder of the BizParentz Foundation, a group for show-business families. Henry started BizParentz more than a decade ago to help families navigate the industry, but since then she has heard of hundreds of instances in which young actors say they\u2019ve been harassed or abused.\n\nEvery few years, accusations surface in court, most of which fizzle with a plea. The accusers\u2019 names are usually not public in these cases, and when actors like Corey Feldman do open up publicly, they don\u2019t typically name their abusers. Egan\u2019s case is one of the few where both the victim and the accused are publicly known, in part because victims have their own incentives for staying quiet. \u201cWhen they were on the gravy train and they were the guy\u2019s favorite, that was great for six months, two years,\u201d says Kenneth Lanning, an FBI special agent of 30 years, now retired, who has investigated every variety of sexual-abuse case. \u201cThen their careers fall apart. Now the guy\u2019s finished with you and not returning your calls. Now you\u2019re pissed.\u201d\n\nFor nearly two years, Egan was making more money than he knew how to spend, going out to the Palm and taking trips on private jets, and, of course, being promised auditions. Then, one day, one promise didn\u2019t pan out. \u201cX-Men was a job that Bryan Singer said he was going to give me,\u201d Egan says. When Egan\u2019s DEN co-worker Alex Burton got a part, the role of a mutant named Pyro, and Egan didn\u2019t, Egan says he was told it was because Burton was 18, a legal adult, and therefore able to work longer hours and with no supervision on set.\n\nThen, the executives of DEN started pressuring Egan to become legally emancipated from his parents, which would allow him to work under adult work rules. His mother was offered stock in the company in exchange for permission; she declined. By then, it was 1999, and DEN was falling apart. Collins-Rector was facing his first lawsuit for alleged abuse, and DEN\u2019s lawyer was asking everyone at the estate, including Egan, to sign nondisclosure agreements in exchange for stock. He didn\u2019t sign. He still might not have walked away without the help of two other DEN employees. Alex Burton and Mark Ryan were both older than Egan and determined to call the police. Egan says they forced the issue one night at Egan\u2019s house by telling his mother what had been happening. Bonnie Mound was shattered by the news. \u201cI was still petrified,\u201d Egan says, \u201cbut I started to get stronger once we were talking through it.\u201d\n\nMound found the boys a lawyer, Daniel Cherin, who along with law enforcement encouraged the boys to collect more evidence. \u201cSo we went back and copied everything in the file cabinet,\u201d Egan says. \u201cWe had photos of the drug bags and child pornography in different cabinets, and video of the gun closet they locked me in.\u201d In early 2000, Egan was still sending emails to DEN\u2019s executives, asking for money and even looking to hang out. The lawyers for Singer and the other defendants call this evidence of a shakedown; Egan says now it was part of the effort to collect evidence.\n\nEgan\u2019s great escape proved anticlimactic. The police and the FBI never charged anyone\u2014Egan and his mother still aren\u2019t sure why. \u201cMy mom heard from them once or twice, but that\u2019s it. \u201d The three boys filed a civil lawsuit in 2000 for sexual abuse against Collins-Rector, Shackley, and Pierce. They did not name Singer, Ancier, Neuman, or Goddard. Egan\u2019s lawyer, Cherin, told them he didn\u2019t have enough evidence to connect the others to the abuse\u2014at least not like he had on the three men who actually lived at the house. \u201cThe system doesn\u2019t reward the he-said-she-said scenario,\u201d Cherin tells me. He believed the high-profile targets had the resources to bury them in motions and counter-investigations. \u201cI\u2019m not a daredevil. I don\u2019t get paid to take chances.\u201d\n\nWhile Egan, with his mother\u2019s help, worked to litigate against the DEN executives, sitting for depositions and sifting through documents, the defendants fled the country without contesting the suit. The court awarded Egan and his fellow plaintiffs a $4.5 million default judgment, of which Egan says he collected just $25,000. The absence of consequences seemed to confirm everything Collins-Rector and the others had said: They were powerful enough to get away with it; no one would ever believe the boys; everyone who might help him would be too afraid of retribution to come forward. \u201cI was pushed by my mom to talk to the government, to law enforcement. I was scared shitless,\u201d he says. \u201cTo see that nothing happened\u2014that if you ever did come out, that law enforcement never did anything, so who could you really trust\u2014that was a hard thing for me to get over.\u201d\n\nHe left Hollywood, and after a couple of years with his father in Nebraska, he moved to Las Vegas, working with his brother building theme parks. He married a woman he met there in 2005. But he couldn\u2019t seem to put enough distance between him and what had happened at M&C. \u201cI thought I could shove all these feelings down\u2014\u2018I\u2019m a big man, I can deal with this.\u2019 But it was like dealing with a madman in your brain.\u201d He was drinking hard, often alongside the only friend he\u2019d made at DEN, fellow plaintiff Mark Ryan. In 2010, Ryan had an alcohol-withdrawal-induced stroke while trying to sober up; he never fully recovered and relies on a motorized wheelchair, barely able to communicate. \u201cI have a friend who has basically lost his life,\u201d Egan says. \u201cWhenever I think I\u2019m in a bad spot, I think Mark would trade places with me in a second.\u201d\n\nEgan kept drinking for two more years until 2012, when his wife left him. \u201cI loaded my two dogs in my SUV and drove across the country while in withdrawal. I was having flashes in my eyes, I was sweating like a maniac.\u201d Egan joined AA, attending 200 meetings in the first 90 days. Then he finally found another community to envelop him the way that DEN had\u2014not just the recovery community, but the advocacy community for victims of sexual abuse.\n\nFrom left: Chad Shackley, Brock Pierce, Marc Collins-Rector, and Bryan Singer\n\nIn the spring of 2013, a year into Egan\u2019s sobriety, his mother passed along a message from BizParents. A production company was planning a documentary about sexual abuse in Hollywood, and they wanted to interview Egan. The documentary is directed by Amy Berg, whose Oscar-nominated 2006 film Deliver Us From Evil examined an infamous California Catholic Church sex-abuse case. While Berg and her team won\u2019t comment on the film or even reveal its title, she did tell one reporter in April that Egan will be in it. \u201cIt\u2019s much bigger than anything about the one case,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is a huge problem. It\u2019s pervasive in Hollywood, and the time to explore it is now.\u201d Egan, who\u2019s seen it, says about a half-dozen other men like him are interviewed, none of whom he knew beforehand.\n\nEgan suddenly felt like he was part of a movement. A producer with Berg\u2019s documentary referred Egan to a sexual-abuse survivors\u2019 group called the Let Go \u2026 Let Peace Come In Foundation, which was started by a sexual-abuse survivor named Peter Pelullo, who offered Egan more affirmation. \u201cGod knows how many children this has happened to from this situation in Hollywood,\u201d Pelullo says. The foundation referred Egan to a trauma therapist, whom he still sees. Her most important message, Egan says, was that he wasn\u2019t at fault. She explained to him how abusers groom their victims and wrangle compliance.\n\nIt was his experience with the survivors\u2019 group that made Egan decide he needed to publicly accuse his abusers\u2014all of them. Last fall, he and his mother went lawyer shopping. At least one prominent sexual-abuse litigator turned Egan down: \u201cI believe every word he\u2019s saying,\u201d the lawyer told me. \u201cBut he\u2019s dead on the statute of limitations.\u201d California law allows for accusers age 26 and younger, or three years from the date they discover their trauma. Egan was 31 and had discovered his trauma as early as 2000, as his old lawsuit clearly demonstrated.\n\nThen Egan found Jeffrey Herman, an ambitious lawyer out of Boca Raton who has won tens of millions of dollars in judgments against the Miami Catholic archdiocese and who has used the money to fund long-shot cases, most recently a failed set of claims against Kevin Clash, the voice of Sesame Street\u2019s Elmo. Herman was once barred from practicing law for a year and a half for violating the Florida bar\u2019s conflict-of-interest rules when he failed to disclose an investment that competed with a client\u2019s business. But he seemed to be the sort of risk-taker Egan needed\u2014a lawyer willing to take on a bumpy case if it meant opening up a new area of litigation.\n\nI visited with Herman at his office in June a week or so before I met Egan. Tan and broad-shouldered, Herman said his investigators spent five months vetting Egan\u2019s claims, turning up in the process an unpublished interview Egan gave to a reporter in 2001, in which he explicitly named Ancier, Goddard, Neuman, and Singer as his abusers. The interview helped convince Herman that Egan had a case. His staff also spoke with several men who\u2019d been at the M&C estate. Some were too afraid to be named in the initial complaint, but Egan\u2019s friend Mark Ryan, his father Fred tells me, was deposed from his wheelchair in Cincinnati and confirmed the abuse. Herman planned to get around the statute of limitations in California by filing a civil suit in Hawaii, which has a law allowing civil actions in abuse cases where the statute of limitations has expired. The trips to Hawaii, therefore, became the centerpiece of the suit.\n\nHerman told me that he had been looking for a Hollywood case even before Egan came along. \u201cI\u2019m always looking for what the next church is going to be,\u201d Herman said. \u201cWhere there\u2019s power, there\u2019s an abuse of power.\u201d As star clients go, Herman said Egan was no more problematic than any other. \u201cHe\u2019s lost in a way, because this is really horrific stuff. He\u2019s fragile. Yet he\u2019s sort of determined now.\u201d\n\nHerman was bracing himself for when, inevitably, the other side would dredge up the many contradictory statements Egan had said over the years and use them against him. \u201cMike\u2019s story is very complex,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to have these inconsistencies, where his mind is disassociated from some of the abuse.\u201d The most important thing Herman could do to bolster Egan\u2019s case, he said, was to turn it into a beacon to draw in others. There\u2019s strength in numbers. \u201cThe best way to get evidence is, I do a press conference,\u201d he told me. \u201cThere\u2019s always more victims.\u201d\n\nOn April 17, Egan and Herman made their announcement at the Four Seasons, unveiling a lawsuit naming Singer, whose X-Men: Days of Future Past was about to score one of the biggest opening weekends on record. A few days later, Egan and Herman announced similar suits against Ancier, Goddard, and Neuman. \u201cWe\u2019ve alleged that there\u2019s a Hollywood sex ring, one of several sex rings,\u201d Herman said. \u201cThe door is open now. If these investigations pan out, I will be filing many more cases.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe allegations against me are outrageous, vicious, and completely false,\u201d Bryan Singer said in a statement a few days later, promising that \u201cthe facts will show this to be the sick, twisted shakedown it is.\u201d Stories soon surfaced of Singer\u2019s own parties, stocked, reportedly, with twinks his underlings thought he might like. Several published accounts, most quoting unnamed sources, described how Singer meets most of the younger men he dates through trusted friends who act as intermediaries\u2014or, less charitably, procurers. Yet those who defended Singer painted a picture of the director as anything but predatory, saying he is powerful but cloistered, and, like many A-listers, dependent on friends to introduce him to new men, and that he is scrupulous about the age of his partners. Still others noted how prominent gay men are also often easy targets for these kinds of allegations, which feed into ugly homophobic stereotypes about gay men and pedophilia.\n\nAll four of the accused men said they\u2019d never been to Hawaii with Egan, never raped him, never mistreated him. Bryan Singer\u2019s lawyer Marty Singer pointed out that his client had never been approached or interviewed by the FBI back when Egan filed his first lawsuit, nor was he named in that lawsuit. He accused Herman of grandstanding, \u201cusing these lawsuits as an opportunity to promote himself and his law firm,\u201d and added that his \u201creputation as an attorney leaves a lot to be desired,\u201d noting the harsh wording of Herman\u2019s suspension from the Florida bar for \u201cengaging in misconduct involving fraud, deceit, and misrepresentation.\u201d\n\nThen came the counteroffensive: leaks to the media of emails from Egan to DEN asking for money. The media got hold of a deposition by Egan from the earlier litigation in which Egan said he\u2019d never left the continental United States with anyone he was accusing of abuse. Now that the case hanged on the Hawaii trip, this statement was especially problematic. Herman, who claimed to have witnesses placing Singer in Hawaii with Egan, responded by saying he wasn\u2019t \u201csure how [Egan] interpreted the \u2018continental United States.\u2019 \u201d\n\nHerman soon found another client, a British national, a few years younger than Egan, who filed a similar complaint against Singer and Goddard. In response, Singer\u2019s lawyer accused Herman of fabricating the substance of the new claim, and threatened to seek sanctions against him \u201cfor his reckless, unethical behavior.\u201d\n\nIn late June, Egan went to a Goo Goo Dolls concert at the Red Rock Hotel and Casino, where, he says, a stranger cornered him in the restroom, blocking the exit for more than a minute. \u201cHe told me, \u2018You need to go away! You need to go away! This is going to get intense!\u2019 \u201d Then he served Egan with a civil suit filed by Garth Ancier, who was suing Egan, Herman, and his Hawaii co-counsel Mark Gallagher for malicious prosecution. The next day, Egan filed a police report for harassment.\n\nStill, between the attention and the coming documentary, Egan felt unburdened for the first time in years: \u201cI already think whatever happens with the case, whatever legal strategies we have to do, I feel already we\u2019ve won.\u201d\n\nJust days later, Egan called me in a panic. His lawyer wanted him to settle with Singer, and Egan was appalled. \u201cI would look like a complete liar if I came out and said the things he wants me to say!\u201d\n\nThe details trickled out in the weeks that followed. Five more alleged victims of Singer\u2019s had come forward to Herman, and at least some of them had accusations within the statute of limitations. Under the proposed settlement, those five accusers would split the lion\u2019s share of the settlement, which one source close to the case says amounted to $20 million. Egan would get a mere $100,000.\n\nThe money bothered him, but the confidentiality demands of the settlement bothered him more. For Egan, being silenced by his own lawyer felt like a new betrayal. \u201cI look at what Jeff did to me as no better than the pedophiles,\u201d he said.\n\nEgan refused to sign, and soon after, Herman dropped him as a client, applying to withdraw as counsel in all four of Egan\u2019s lawsuits. Herman hired his own attorney to represent him in Ancier\u2019s malicious prosecution lawsuit; he declined to comment any further for this story, and he has yet to send Egan the bulk of his case file. In late August, adrift without a lawyer or most of the documents from his own case, Egan temporarily pulled the plug on his lawsuits. The court dismissed his claim against Singer without prejudice, which would allow him to refile should he find a new lawyer. \u201cHerman\u2019s created such a mess for me that nobody wants to touch it,\u201d Egan said during another anguished phone call. \u201cIn all honesty, based on what Herman\u2019s done, I\u2019m looking to sue Herman. I just think to myself, How does he put his head on the pillow at night knowing what he did to me?\u201d\n\nEgan has run into difficulties in bringing his case to the court of public opinion as well. The Amy Berg documentary, which he hoped would bolster his claims, has been slow to find distribution. While this fall\u2019s DOC NYC festival has accepted the film, discussions with Mark Cuban\u2019s Magnolia Pictures went nowhere. One source who\u2019s seen the film says it\u2019s emotionally powerful, with several shocking moments, but that the subject is too ripped-from-the-headlines for theaters, and perhaps better for TV or Netflix. Donna Daniels, a spokesperson for Amy Berg, says the filmmakers have \u201cmade the decision to self-distribute.\u201d\n\nWhat hurt Egan the most, perhaps, was that he\u2019d ever thought this could have turned out any other way. He\u2019d been warned by everyone, starting with three of his old DEN co-workers, whom Herman\u2019s investigators had approached. \u201cThey told me, \u2018Mike, we don\u2019t want to get involved. You\u2019ll never beat these people, they have too much power.\u2019 I\u2019ve tried to help the cause and all that. But I think, Man, I should have listened to them.\u201d\n\nThere is just one sign that Egan isn\u2019t merely shouting into the wind. In late August, an NYPD spokesman confirmed to BuzzFeed that this spring, a man in his 20s filed a forcible-sexual-assault criminal complaint against Singer for an incident he said took place in New York in March of last year. The complaint was filed just a few weeks after Egan went public, which could be an odd bit of vindication. \u201cAt the very beginning of all this,\u201d Egan said the last time I spoke with him, \u201cmy mom said to me, \u2018If you had the choice to take millions of dollars or see these people go to jail, what do you choose?\u2019 And I said, \u2018Send them to jail.\u2019 \u201d\n\nNot that he has high hopes that that will actually happen: No charges have been filed yet, and Marty Singer responded that his client \u201cdid not engage in any criminal or inappropriate behavior with anyone in New York or elsewhere.\u201d Meanwhile, after briefly falling out of consideration, Bryan Singer is the top choice to direct the next X-Men movie.\n\n*This article appears in the September 8, 2014 issue of New York Magazine."}
-{"text": "Robot Entertainment and Microsoft have revealed more information about their upcoming entry in the Age of Empire franchise, including talk of a free-to-play business model. Age of Empires Online was first announced last summer and incorporates various MMO elements with the real-time strategy gameplay that earned AoE its popularity.\n\nThe game will launch later this year with Greek and Egyptian civilizations and PvP/co-op play. Unlike previous versions, AoE Online has a persistent system so civilizations develop and earn resources when you're not playing. You'll also be able to gain experience and equipment by questing and crafting -- and that's where real money comes in.\n\nAlthough much of the game will be free to everyone, players will be able to unlock additional content by purchasing a one-time Premium Civilization upgrade. In addition to special abilities and other perks, premium members gain access to \"rare\" and \"epic\" loot tiers, whereas non-paying users can only get \"common\" and \"uncommon\" items.\n\n\n\nThere are also plans for \"booster\" packs that let gamers buy new quests and gameplay types. Additionally, players will be able to customize the appearance of their civilization buy purchasing vanity items. The companies haven't released any information about how much the premium membership or microtransactions will cost.\n\nPeople tend to get concerned about the balance of free-to-play games. Paying users sometimes gain an \"unfair\" advantage, which forces free players to lay down some cash if they want to be competitive. Microsoft's Ian Vogel recognized the issue in a comment on Gamasutra and said the company is paying close attention to balance.\n\n\"We're carefully looking at balance issues, and will be through the life of this product, and some of that will include how matchmaking works,\" said Vogel. \"We don't want to nickel and dime you; we're trying to build a community. We're not just trying to sell you a product. We want to have something that's living and growing moving forward.\""}
-{"text": "When President Donald Trump tweeted last week that he will ban transgender individuals from serving in the military, he cited \u201cdisruption\u201d and \u201ctremendous medical costs.\u201d\n\nYet according to a recent study, those costs might not be as high as Trump suggested. On the contrary, RAND Corp., a think tank that conducts research for the U.S. military, claimed they would be \u201crelatively low.\u201d\n\nAnd according to the Defense Department\u2019s own estimates, annual health care for transgender individuals could cost about as much as one Tomahawk missile, .03 percent of one submarine, or .018 percent of annual spending on the war in Afghanistan.\n\nTrump\u2019s decision, though seemingly abrupt, was intertwined with a spending bill packed with the president\u2019s campaign promises, Politico reported. Hawkish Republicans had threatened to tank the bill unless Trump immediately took a firm stance on transgender service members.\n\nSo he did:\n\nAfter consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow\u2026\u2026 \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017\n\n\u2026.Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming\u2026.. \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017\n\n\u2026.victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017\n\nNo one seems to know the exact number of transgender people in the armed forces. But within RAND Corp.\u2019s estimates, there are between 1,320 and 6,630 of them, with hormone treatments and surgeries being estimated to number in the dozens. The cost for health care, therefore, would likely land somewhere between $2.4 million and $8.4 million, RAND estimated.\n\n\u201cEven upper-bound estimates indicate that less than 0.1 percent of the total force would seek transition-related care that could disrupt their ability to deploy,\u201d RAND\u2019s authors wrote. The Defense Department, they added, should \u201censure strong leadership and identify and communicate the benefits of an inclusive and diverse workforce.\u201d\n\nFor context: In May, the United States Department of Defense requested $639.1 billion for its 2018 fiscal year budget. The proposal, which aims to help America\u2019s armed forces \u201cget bigger and more lethal,\u201d offers an itemized accounting of proposed upgrades, many of which dramatically exceed the total cost of estimates for transgender health care.\n\nA sampling:\n\nOne Tomahawk missile\n\nThe Department of Defense requested 34 of these long-range missiles for the fiscal year, each one running up a bill of up to $8.8 million. (In a separate report, the Navy put the cost of them at $2.3 million each.) Trump launched nearly 60 of these missiles in one night at a Syrian air base in April.\n\nOne attack helicopter\n\nThe Army this year requested 61 AH-64E attack helicopters, each at a cost of nearly $23 million \u2013 up from nearly $22 million in 2017\u2019s budget request. In March, Boeing and the government signed a $3.4 billion contract for 268 of these helicopters, which have been in service for 37 years.\n\n0.03 percent of one submarine\n\nThe Department of Defense ordered two Virginia Class submarines, each of which cost $2.75 billion. Even a lower estimate in the Navy\u2019s budget pegged these submarines at $1.6 billion. Used to attack service ships, the Virginia Class is the \u201cnext-generation\u201d submarine employed by the Navy.\n\n5.4 percent of an F-35 joint strike fighter\n\nOne wing? One wheel? The F-35 program was supposed to produce the most advanced fighter jet in the world. Instead, it is nearly a decade behind schedule and will cost the United States roughly $1.5 trillion \u2013 or a cool $154.3 million per fighter the military requested this year. Even a lower estimate provided by the Navy would set taxpayers back almost $99 million per jet.\n\n0.018 percent of annual spending on the war in Afghanistan\n\nThe United States has been at war in Afghanistan for 16 years, and will spend $45.9 billion while deploying 8,448 troops in the 2018 fiscal year. Trump recently suggested he wants to keep the U.S. at war in the country because of the profit that mineral mining could bring.\n\n31 small-diameter bombs\n\nThe United States ordered more than 5,000 small-diameter bombs for $400 million. These devices weigh 250 pounds each and can be deployed only on one aircraft in the fleet, the F-15 E Strike Eagle. Using a lower estimate from the Navy, it could be 36 bombs.\n\nErectile dysfunction\n\nOK, this one\u2019s not in the budget request. But according to the Military Times, the Department of Defense spent more than $84 million on ED medicine \u2013 and nearly $42 million on Viagra alone. At the most, that\u2019s exactly 35 times more than the military would spend on transgender health care. Even a lowball estimate puts it at 10 times more.\n\nEveryone should have access to the facts. Yes, I want to help!"}
-{"text": "America began sending monkeys toward the stars in 1948, but it was not until the launch of the loving squirrel monkey known as \u201cMiss Baker\u201d in 1959 that they were able to recover one alive.\n\nThe American space program had previously succeeded in recovering fruit flies after sub-orbital space flight, but the higher primates quickly became a problem. While Russia was already sending dogs into space and recovering them alive, the animals that America sent into space\u2014without their consent, of course\u2014kept dying, often inside exploding rockets, or upon return impact, or simply by being lost in their capsules at sea.\n\nThe program purchased Miss Baker, along with dozens of other monkeys, from a Miami pet shop. She quickly stood out from the pack of other test animals as she withstood confinement, electrodes, and more. In the end she and a larger rhesus monkey known as \u201cMiss Able\u201d were selected to be sent into space, as various countries vied to outpace each other\u2014often using tactics that are now controversial, such as sending unwilling, non-human creatures up into space before we ventured there.\n\nThe monkeys were fitted with caps and jackets to wear into space and crammed into metal monitoring capsules which kept them confined. Electrodes were surgically placed in the animals. Then in the wee hours of May 28, 1959, the duo was placed into a Jupiter rocket and shot 300 miles into the sky. The flight only lasted 16 minutes, over half of which consisted of weightlessness, and the rocket landed safely, for the first time, in the Atlantic Ocean.\n\nBoth of the monkeys were pulled from the capsule alive, but unfortunately Miss Able died four days later from too much anesthesia while surgeons attempted to remove her electrodes. Both animals were featured on the cover of Life magazine, and Baker\u2019s star rose. Hundreds of letters poured in from admirers and she was given a cushy life during which she was \u201cmarried\u201d to not one, but two other monkeys.\n\nMiss Baker lived at the Naval Aerospace Medical Center in Pensacola, Florida until 1971. In 1962, Pensacola caretakers held a marriage ceremony to wed Miss Baker to Big George, who predeceased Miss Baker on January 8, 1979. Three months later, Miss Baker was wed to Norman, in a ceremony presided over by Alabama District Court judge Dan McCoy. She refused, however, to wear white, pulling off her wedding train moments after it was put on her.\n\nMiss Baker passed away of kidney failure in 1984 at the age of 27, earning her the secondary honor of being the longest lived squirrel monkey on record.\n\nShe was buried in a grave outside of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Alabama and given a proper headstone next to her first \u201chusband,\u201d Big George. The grave is located right near the entrance of the main building. You\u2019ll see the headstone just to the right of the walkway near a grove of trees. Admirers and fans of the little astronaut still come by and leave bananas on her headstone. The body of Miss Able is on display (in her flight capsule) at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum."}
-{"text": "Russian President Vladimir Putin and Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah arrive for a family photo during the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Summit in Lima, Peru, November 20, 2016. Sputnik/Kremlin/Mikhail Klimentyev via REUTERS\n\nLIMA (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday U.S. President-elect Donald Trump confirmed to him he was willing to mend ties, though he also said he would welcome President Barack Obama in Russia.\n\n\u201cThe President-elect confirmed he is willing to normalize Russian-American relations. I told him the same. We did not discuss where and when we would meet\u201d\n\nPutin also told a news conference in Lima after the APEC summit that Russia is ready to freeze oil output at current levels.\n\nPutin said he thanked Obama during Sunday\u2019s meeting in Lima \u201cfor the years of joint work\u201d.\n\n\u201cI told him that we would be happy to see him (Obama) in Russia anytime if he wants, can and has desire\u201d, Putin said."}
-{"text": "The lager-loving vet was gifted with a Coors Light-emblazoned fridge stocked with the cans of the brew, along with branded shirts and hats. Even more thrilling, Slavonic and his son Bob were invited on a trip to the brand\u2019s brewery in Golden, Colorado, according to Fox News."}
-{"text": "With his fingers he prepares the sexy blonde's ass to receive his throbbing cock"}
-{"text": "The Blues Turnaround\n\nMost blues songs contain a musical device called the turnaround. This is a two bar melodic chord phrase starting on the second to last bar of a blues chord progression. This signifies the end of the chord progression and sets up the progression\u2019s repeat. The typical blues chord progression is twelve bars long, but there are many eight and sixteen bar chord progressions too as well as an occasional odd numbered set of chords.\n\nIn this article you will be taught some of the more well known classic blues turnaround phrases in the key of A, as well as the techniques to create some unique turnarounds of your very own. The following examples assume the reader has a basic working knowledge of music theory. If not, no worry! Often this stuff is on a need to know basis, so feel free to jump ahead and learn the licks."}
-{"text": "Radioactive tobacco\n\nby David Malmo-Levine (02 Jan, 2002) It's not tobacco's tar which kills, but the radiation! image: Adbusters Cannabis is often compared to tobacco, with the damage caused by smoking tobacco given as a reason to prohibit use of cannabis. Yet most of the harms caused by tobacco use are due not to tar, but to the use of radioactive fertilizers. Surprisingly, radiation seems to be the most dangerous and important factor behind tobacco lung damage.\n\n\n\nRadioactive fertilizer\n\n\n\nIt's a well established but little known fact that commercially grown tobacco is contaminated with radiation. The major source of this radiation is phosphate fertilizer.1 The big tobacco companies all use chemical phosphate fertilizer, which is high in radioactive metals, year after year on the same soil. These metals build up in the soil, attach themselves to the resinous tobacco leaf and ride tobacco trichomes in tobacco smoke, gathering in small \"hot spots\" in the small-air passageways of the lungs.2 Tobacco is especially effective at absorbing radioactive elements from phosphate fertilizers, and also from naturally occurring radiation in the soil, air, and water.3\n\n\n\nTo grow what the tobacco industry calls \"more flavorful\" tobacco, US farmers use high-phosphate fertilizers. The phosphate is taken from a rock mineral, apatite, that is ground into powder, dissolved in acid and further processed. Apatite rock also contains radium, and the radioactive elements lead 210 and polonium 210. The radioactivity of common chemical fertilizer can be verified with a Geiger-Mueller counter and an open sack of everyday 13-13-13 type of fertilizer (or any other chemical fertilizer high in phosphate content).4\n\n\n\nConservative estimates put the level of radiation absorbed by a pack-and-a-half a day smoker at the equivalent of 300 chest X-rays every year.5 The Office of Radiation, Chemical & Biological Safety at Michigan State University reports that the radiation level for the same smoker was as high as 800 chest X-rays per year.6 Another report argues that a typical nicotine user might be getting the equivalent of almost 22,000 chest X-rays per year.7\n\n\n\nUS Surgeon General C Everett Koop stated on national television in 1990 that tobacco radiation is probably responsible for 90% of tobacco-related cancer.8 Dr RT Ravenholt, former director of World Health Surveys at the Centers for Disease Control, has stated that \"Americans are exposed to far more radiation from tobacco smoke than from any other source.\"9\n\n\n\nResearchers have induced cancer in animal test subjects that inhaled polonium 210, but were unable to cause cancer through the inhalation of any of the non-radioactive chemical carcinogens found in tobacco.10 The most potent non-radioactive chemical, benzopyrene, exists in cigarettes in amounts sufficient to account for only 1% of the cancer found in smokers.9\n\n\n\nSmoke screen\n\n\n\nSurprisingly, the US National Cancer Institute, with an annual budget of $500 million, has no active grants for research on radiation as a cause of lung cancer.1\n\n\n\nTobacco smoking has been popular for centuries,11 but lung cancer rates have only increased significantly after the 1930's.12 In 1930 the lung cancer death rate for white US males was 3.8 per 100,000 people. By 1956 the rate had increased almost tenfold, to 31 per 100,000.13 Between 1938 and 1960, the level of polonium 210 in American tobacco tripled, commensurate with the increased use of chemical fertilizers.14\n\n\n\nPublicly available internal memos of tobacco giant Philip Morris indicate that the tobacco corporation was well aware of radiation contamination in 1974, and that they had means to remove polonium from tobacco in 1980, by using ammonium phosphate as a fertilizer, instead of calcium phosphate. One memo describes switching to ammonium phosphate as a \"valid but expensive point.\"15\n\n\n\nAttorney Amos Hausner, son of the prosecutor who sent Nazi Adolf Eichmann to the gallows, is using these memos as evidence to fight the biggest lawsuit in Israel's history, to make one Israeli and six US tobacco companies pay up to $8 billion for allegedly poisoning Israelis with radioactive cigarettes.16\n\n\n\nimage: Adbusters Organic solutions\n\n\n\nThe radioactive elements in phosphate fertilizers also make their way into our food and drink. Many food products, especially nuts, fruits, and leafy plants like tobacco absorb radioactive elements from the soil, and concentrate them within themselves.17\n\n\n\nThe fluorosilicic acid used to make the \"fluoridated water\" most of us get from our taps is made from various fluorine gases captured in pollution scrubbers during the manufacture of phosphate fertilizers. This fluoride solution put into our water for \"strong teeth\" also contains radioactive elements from the phosphate extraction.18\n\n\n\nAlthough eating and drinking radioactive products is not beneficial, the most harmful and direct way to consume these elements is through smoking them.19\n\n\n\nThe unnecessary radiation delivered from soil-damaging, synthetic chemical fertilizers can easily be reduced through the use of alternative phosphate sources including organic fertilizers.20 In one test, an organic fertilizer appeared to emit less alpha radiation than a chemical fertilizer.21 More tests are needed to confirm this vital bit of harm-reduction information.\n\n\n\nOrganic fertilizers such as organic vegetable compost, animal manure, wood ash and seaweed have proven to be sustainable and non-harmful to microbes, worms, farmers and eaters or smokers. Chemical phosphates may seem like a bargain compared to natural phosphorous, until you factor in the health and environmental costs.\n\n\n\nTo ensure that cannabis remains the safest way to get high, we must always use organic fertilizers and non-toxic pesticides. We should also properly cure the buds, take advantage of high-potency breeding and use smart-smoking devices like vaporizers and double-chambered glass water bongs. These will all help to address concern over potential lung damage far more effectively than either a jail cell or a 12-step program.\n\n\n\nTobacco smokers can also use this information to avoid radioactive brands of tobacco. American Spirit is one of a few companies that offers an organic line of cigarettes, and organic cigars are also available from a few companies. You can also grow your own tobacco, which is surprisingly easy and fun.\n\n\n\nUntil the public has an accurate understanding of how phosphate fertilizers carry radiation, and why commercial tobacco causes lung cancer but cannabis does not, there will be many needless tobacco-related deaths, and increased resistance to the full legalization of marijuana.\n\n\n\n\n\nReferences\n\n\n\n1. Winters, TH and Franza, JR. 'Radioactivity in Cigarette Smoke,' New England Journal of Medicine, 1982. 306(6): 364-365, web\n\n2. Edward A Martell, PhD. 'Letter to the Editor,' New England Journal of Medicine, 1982. 307(5): 309-313, web\n\n3. Ponte, Lowell. 'Radioactivity: The New-Found Danger in Cigarettes,' Reader's Digest, March 1986. pp. 123-127.\n\n4. Kilthau, GF. 'Cancer risk in relation to radioactivity in tobacco,' Radiologic Technology, Vol 67, January 11, 1996, web\n\n5. Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene. Website, 2001, web\n\n6. Office of Environmental Health and Safety, Utah State University. 'Cigarettes are a Major Source of Radiation Exposure,' Safety Line, Issue 33, Fall 1996, web\n\n7. Nursing & Allied Healthweek, 1996,\n\n8. Herer, Jack. The Emperor Wears No Clothes, 11th edition, 1998. p. 110, web\n\n9. Litwak, Mark. 'Would You Still Rather Fight Than Switch?' Whole Life Times, April/May, 1985. pp 11, web\n\n10. Yuille, CL; Berke, HL; Hull, T. 'Lung cancer following Pb210 inhalation in rats.' Radiation Res, 1967. 31:760-774.\n\n11. Borio, Gene. Tobacco Timeline. Website, 2001, web\n\n12. Taylor, Peter. The Smoke Ring. Pantheon Books, NY, 1984. pp. 2-3, web\n\n13. Smith, Lendon, MD. 'There Ought to Be a Law,' Chiroweb.com, November 20, 1992, web\n\n14. Marmorstein, J. 'Lung cancer: is the increasing incidence due to radioactive polonium in cigarettes?' South Medical Journal, February 1986. 79(2):145-50, web\n\n15. Phillip Morris internal memo, April 2 1980. Available online at www.pmdocs.com, web\n\n16. Goldin, Megan. \"'Radioactive' cigarettes cited in Israeli lawsuit.\" Reuters, June 23, 2000.\n\n17. Health Physics Society, 'Naturally occuring radioactive materials factsheet,' 1997. see also: Watters, RL. Hansen, WR. 'The hazards implication of the transfer of unsupported 210 Po from alkaline soil to plants,' Health Physics Journal, April 1970. 18(4):409-13, web and web\n\n18. Glasser, George. 'Fluoride and the phosphate connection.' Earth Island Journal, earthisland.org, web\n\n19. Watson, AP. 'Polonium-210 and Lead-210 in Food and Tobacco Products: A Review of Parameters and an Estimate of Potential Exposure and Dose.' Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 1983. Florida Institute of Phosphate Research.\n\n20. Burnett, William; Schultz, Michael; Hull, Carter. 'Behavior of Radionuclides During Ammonocarbonation of Phosphogypsum.' Florida State University, Florida Institute of Phosphate Research. March, 1995, web\n\n21. Hornby, Paul, Dr. Personal communication, 2001.\n\n\n\n\n\n\u2022 David Malmo-Levine: email dagreenmachine@excite.com\n\n\u2022 American Spirit: 1-800-332-5595; web www.nascigs.com"}
-{"text": "Article content continued\n\n\u201cThe spirit of the changes are right and it goes in the right direction, but it\u2019s missing some wheels on the car.\u201d\n\nThe new policy is the first to define non-partisan, which helps set boundaries for advertising and communications. But Heintzman argues the criteria are too narrow.\n\nThe Liberals adopted a version similar to that in Ontario, which he says Premier Kathleen Wynne gutted when she removed prohibitions on ads that fostered an overall positive impression of the governing party.\n\nSuch a narrow definition leaves the door open for public servants to get drawn into advertising, as well as the marketing, selling or promotion of the government using Twitter and other social media. It also allows the prime minister\u2019s voice, image and name to be used in social media but not in paid advertisements.\n\nIn fact, Treasury Board President Scott Brison had barely announced the new regime to ban taxpayer-funded partisan ads when the government was under fire over whether it breached the new rules.\n\nThe outcry revolved around Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s appearance in a promotional video for Destination Canada, a crown corporation that markets Canada as a tourism destination.\n\nThe Destination Canada video is aimed at promoting Canada\u2019s food and restaurant culture and includes a conversation between Trudeau and American celebrity chef Kristen Kish. The PMO said the video didn\u2019t breach the new policy because it wasn\u2019t an advertisement, as defined by the new policy, and was made for social media."}
-{"text": "Facebook has reportedly pulled its Free Basics Internet service from India following a countrywide ban on the program.\n\nThe Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday ruled that apps like Free Basics violate net neutrality, so service providers have been prohibited from offering them.\n\nFacebook declined to comment further to PCMag, reiterating the comment it shared earlier this week. \"Our goal with Free Basics is to bring more people online with an open, non-exclusive and free platform,\" it said. \"While disappointed with the outcome, we will continue our efforts to eliminate barriers and give the unconnected an easier path to the internet and the opportunities it brings.\"\n\nThe controversy, meanwhile, made headlines in Silicon Valley when Facebook board member Marc Andreessen posted a tweet that suggested India was better when it was under the control of other countries. \"Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?\" he said in the since-deleted tweet.\n\nCEO Mark Zuckerberg was quick to respond, announcing publicly that he found Andreessen's comments \"deeply upsetting,\" and ensuring that they \"do not represent the way Facebook or I think at all.\"\n\n\"India has been personally important to me and Facebook,\" Zuck said. \"As our community in India has grown, I've gained a deeper appreciation for the need to understand India's history and culture. I've been inspired by how much progress India has made in building a strong nation and the largest democracy in the world, and I look forward to strengthening my connection to the country.\"\n\nAndreessen later apologized \"for any offense caused\" his comments caused.\n\n5/I will leave all future commentary on all of these topics to people with more knowledge and experience than me. \u2014 Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) February 11, 2016\n\n\"To be clear, I am 100 percent opposed to colonialism, and 100 percent in favor of independence and freedom, in every country, including India,\" he wrote in a Thursday tweet.\n\nZuckerberg announced in 2013 that he wanted to connect \"the next 5 billion people\"\u2014a promise that developed into Free Basics (then called Internet.org), which provides people with cheap smartphones and access to specific services that don't eat into monthly data usage. The app launched in early 2015 in six Indian states with more than three dozen Web services.\n\nOfficials, however, complained that Facebook was favoring its partners\u2014a violation of net neutrality. Rather than providing users with access to the entire Web and letting them pick and choose their services, Free Basics offered prioritized access to specific apps that would likely benefit from an influx of new users.\n\nAs concerns mounted, a handful of initial partners ditched the program, and in December, the TRAI ordered the temporary suspension of Free Basics in the region.\n\nReliance Communications, the Indian carrier offering Facebook's service, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\n\nZuckerberg has long defended the service, saying it does not block or throttle other applications or create fast lanes\u2014two things net neutrality advocates oppose.\n\nFurther Reading\n\nMobile App Reviews"}
-{"text": "Photo: Instagram\n\nHalf the people I know had World Cup fever because they really do care about soccer. The other half really cares about hot male soccer players. Handsome\u2014and super sexy\u2014athletes like David Beckham, Victor Cruz, and Tom Brady, might be revered for their skills on the field or court, but they\u2019re as celebrated for their looks, looks that land them major contracts, supermodel girlfriends, and even their own brands. In fact, no one\u2019s ever suggested that being hot is anything other than awesome for these guys, let alone a problem that gets in the way of their ability to score.\n\nNow, however, comes news of an athlete deemed too hot to continue playing for Kazakhstan\u2019s youth team\u2014a female athlete. Eighteen-year-old Sabina Altynbekova\u2019s a stellar player, but her coach tells Tengrin News, \u201cIt\u2019s impossible to work like this. The crowd behaves like there is only one player at the championship.\u201d Her teammates are annoyed too, even as she insists she\u2019s in the game for all the right reasons. According to the Daily Mail, Altynbekova said, \u201cI was flattered at first but it\u2019s all getting a little bit much. I want to concentrate on playing volleyball and to be famous for that, not anything else.\u201d\n\nAltynbekova's fans, however, won't be dissuaded from showing their adoration. The Independent reports that a Facebook fan page has earned 200,000 likes since the Asian Under-19 Championships in Taipei and a fan-run Twitter has almost 40,000 followers. YouTube videos edited to focus solely on Altynbekova are garnering views in the millions and the attention is even spreading off the Internet, where local newspapers are devoting multiple pages to the athlete and fans have turned her into an anime character. The only social media account she does have, Instagram, has over 50,000 followers, and Altynbekova has gone so far as to ask her fans to stop posting about her online.\n\nIn the age of celebrities being airbrushed to oblivion, women are too often bombarded with images suggesting they aren\u2019t attractive enough. Now they\u2019re too attractive? There\u2019s no shortage of battles for equality that we continue to wage\u2014from the boardroom to politics, and even at home\u2014to add sports to the list of double standards is a dangerous turn for the worst. In fact, team sports are often touted as the key to greater confidence in young girls, higher high school graduation rates, lower teen pregnancy, and greater over-all well-being and healthy body image. Altynbekova should be celebrated for her skills on the court and if she looks great hitting the ball over the net, celebrated for that, too. If the world awards David Beckham with massive billboards of his torso in Times Square, surely we can handle a hot volleyball player."}
-{"text": "Congrats to the following winners and to all who participated!!\n\nYear-long awards for people and groups:\n\nBrodies 2017: Best New Blog/Channel/Podcast: Radio Free Mormon\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Humor/Satire Blog/Channel/Podcast: Brother Jake\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Mormon History Blog/Channel/Podcast: Naked Mormonism\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best LDS-Church-Info Site: MormonLeaks\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best LDS-interest Discussion Forum: r/exmormon\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Exmormon Reddit Contributor:u/missedinsunday\n\n\n\nAwards for Individual Works:\n\nBrodies 2017: Best LDS-Interest Book (Fiction): The Book of Laman, by Mette Ivie Harrison\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best LDS-Interest Book (non-fiction): Michael Quinn\u2019s Mormon Hierarchy: wealth and corporate power\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best LDS-Interest Song: Tapirback Rider, by Weird Alma\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Poem: The War Goes On, by Clarence Tong\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best LDS-Interest Comic or Image: Mormon Merit Badges\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Post Title: Blue balls, flaming swords and the language of coercion, by Thinker of Thoughts\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Funniest Humor Piece: a tie between Evil Apostate Series, by Thoughts on Things and Stuff, and God Steps Down Amid Sexual Assault Allegations, by Tanner Gilliland\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Funniest Parody: Straight Outta Cumorah, by Weird Alma\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Metaphor/Analogy/Allegory: A Den of Thieves: The LDS LGBTQ+ Story as Currency, by Nathan K.\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best From the Pulpit Sermon: Savannah\u2019s Testimony\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Most Poignant Personal Story: Mike Norton on Mormon Stories\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Exit Story: an email to her bishop rejects any and all callings because representing the church in any capacity would compromise her integrity, by Reddit user PlanitL\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Life Journey Piece: a tie between A Sunday in the life of a closeted exmormon, by Reddit user my_name_is_NO, and Stepping Out of the Big Tent: The Possibility of Leaving Mormonism, by Lynette\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Activist/Activtist Movement Within Mormonism: Protect the Children Petition by Sam Young\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Leak or Personal Recording: Savannah\u2019s Testimony originally released by NewNameNoah\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best LDS Church Watch Piece: Eclipsing the Truth, by Alex\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Response to Apologetics: Response to 3Mormons on Race in Mormonism, by Thoughts on Things and Stuff\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best LDS-Culture Piece: 178 & 179: The Truths About Marital Intimacy: A Critique of Wendy Nelson\u2019s Sex Talk: Helfer-Parker and de Azevedo-Hanks\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best History Piece: Undeniable proof that the Journal of Discourses (JoD) was/is an official church publication, by Gileriodekel\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Scripture Study Piece: Ether 15: The End of the World As We Know It, by Alex\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Discussion on Parenting: Taking Back My Power, by Dad\u2019s Primal Scream\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Discussion on Orientation: White Shirt, Black Name Tag, Big Secret, by Ellis Jeter\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Discussion on Gender: Cheating LDS Young Women \u2013 Again, by Gina Colvin\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Discussion on Race: Response to 3 Mormons on Race, by Thoughts on Things and Stuff\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Most Insightful Commentary on the CoJCoL-dS: Face2Face series, by Thinker of Thoughts\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Philosophical/Theological Discussion: Undue influence in general conference: obedience, by Luna Lindsey and Jonathan Streeter\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best short media presentation: Revelation Through Hallucination, by Bryce Blankenagel and Cody Noconi at the Sunstone Symposium\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Podcast Episode: Year of Polygamy, Episode 139, Dispelling the idea that Joseph Smith fought polygamy, by Lindsay Hansen Park with John Dinger, Bryan Buchanan, and John Hatch\n\n\n\nBrodies 2017: Best Book Review: 6 Must-Read Books for Ex-Mormons, by Samantha Shelley\n\n\n\nTo all of the winners, here\u2019s your winner graphic that you can display on your website:\n\nWhat fun that was! Thanks to all who nominated and voted \u2014 I\u2019ve found some great new sites to follow in my own reading! \ud83d\ude00\n\nTo see the poll results and links to all of the nominees, look here."}
-{"text": "Some people, specifically, those who are arguing to raise Bitcoin fees, have been using \"developing the fee market\" as a euphemism for artificially creating higher fees by restricting the supply of transaction slots (aka the maximum block size).\n\nLet me remind everyone that we already have an existing and very effective \"fee market.\" One does not \"develop the fee market\" by enacting measures that raise fees. The word \"market\" cannot be used as a stand-in for wanting higher prices.\n\nThe two phrases, \"developing the X market\" and \"wanting higher prices for X,\" are not equivalent. They do not even type-check -- they cannot be substituted for one another. If you want higher wheat prices, you need to argue for \"wanting higher wheat prices,\" not for \"developing the wheat market.\"\n\nTo Raise or Not to Raise The Fees\n\nBecause of Bitcoin's design, where a block is issued every 10 minutes with at most 1MB of transactions in it, transaction slots can become a valuable commodity. Fees control access to these slots .\n\nThere are lots of good reasons to want to keep block size on the smaller side, and thus to keep the fees artificially high.\n\nThe main reason is that most transactions on the network seem to be for activities that do not correspond to meaningful economic activities in the real world. People who push this argument typically make the case that these low-value transactions are for gambling, and that these gambling operations should just use a different mechanism other than the blockchain for their operations. In other cases, these payouts seem to be getting issued to Bitcoin miners, who are, in some sense, gamblers looking to make money by solving a cryptopuzzle, but in any case, these transactions do not corresponding to useful economic activity in the real world. Higher fees would force these people to seek alternative forms of payment, and free up the blockchain.\n\nA second reason is the concern over the cost of owning a node. The people who raise this argument rarely ever actually cite numbers, because the actual costs are somewhere between infinitesimally small and very small, but nevertheless, the argument goes as follows. If the maximum block size goes up by a factor of 10, storage and bandwidth costs can go up by a factor of 10, especially if some bad actors issue large amounts of spam transactions. Now, we do know of measures for detecting and stemming such spam attacks, such as performing flow analyses to see if they are coming from the same sources. But nevertheless, an increase in costs could yield a drop in the number of nodes that make up the Bitcoin network. Whether such a drop will actually happen, and whether we really need 6500+ nodes in the network, are all up for debate. But nevertheless, there is a valid cost concern, and there remains a quantitative argument to be made, though I have never seen anyone enunciate it properly.\n\nA third reason is that larger blocks may raise minimum cost to operate a node and cause some nodes to fall off of the network. The people who make this argument point to an outlier case, such as Luke-Jr's hash power behind a very slow network in Florida (for which we have only his word), and worry that we will lose nodes like his if we increase the size -- the minimum required resources will just not be available. This argument is perfectly valid, and making it properly involves specifying and committing to a \"minimum viable platform.\" It also requires characterizing the resources available to the current set of full nodes. Without an MVP-specification and node characterization, there is nothing to stop us from torquing the protocol to support wristwatches on the Sahara.\n\nWhat is not a good argument is that \"we don't have experience with what will happen when the fee market develops, and it will have to develop eventually, so let's hasten the day.\" I do not have experience with my old age. I do not go around artificially inducing osteoporosis to get ready for my old days -- instead, I make the best of my working days when I'm blessed to have a working skeleton."}
-{"text": "It\u2019s not news to most people that the US is no longer a true Democracy. Gilens and Page proved it in 2014, using hard data. More recently, the Economist\u2019s Democracy Index, dropped the US down to a \u201cflawed democracy,\u201d in 2016, and when the firmly neoliberal Economist thinks you have issues with freedom \u2013 you\u2019ve got issues.\n\nIt\u2019s one thing to lose our freedoms; it\u2019s quite another to lose them to a collection of anti-science whack jobs straight out of the middle ages.\n\nAnd of course, with Herr Trump doing his best to neutralize the already eviscerated press, scare the hell out of us, keep us distracted from real issues, and govern by tweets, things have only gotten worse.\n\n\"It\u2019s one thing to lose our freedoms; it\u2019s quite another to lose them to a collection of anti-science whack jobs straight out of the middle ages.\"\n\nWhat\u2019s not as well understood is precisely how a right wing de facto coup caused the US to move from a democracy to an oligarchy, and how the inmates took over the revolt.\n\nTrump, of course, has added a whole new dimension to the coup. No longer are we simply living in an oligarchy, we\u2019ve become a nation suffering from full on psychosis, and Trump is the logical endpoint of the coup\u2019s reliance on fear, distraction, hate, anger and xenophobia. What makes it possible for an abomination like Trump to gain power is that the institutions we used to rely upon to confront the oligarchy have been taken over by it in the last four decades. Two in particular have contributed to the tragedy that is Trump.\n\nA press that fails to hold anyone accountable\n\nDay-after-day, complete insanity is passed off as an \u201calternative viewpoint\u201d by the mainstream media. Case in point: the Republican\u2019s claim that their tax \u201creform\u201d is good for the middle class. In reality, it\u2019s simply another reincarnation of the same old tax-cuts-for-the-rich scheme they\u2019ve been pushing since Reagan. And while the MSM quotes institutions like the Tax Policy Center to show that nearly 80 percent of the benefits go to the uber rich, and point out that these cuts are funded by gutting programs that benefit the middle class and working poor, most of the press still acts as if this were some debate between two legitimate perspectives. It\u2019s not. Their assertions about their budget and tax programs are bald-faced lies, knowingly told, and meant to hide the fact that they are paid servants of the oligarchy. And that\u2019s the real story here. But you won\u2019t hear that.\n\nAnd now Trump. Sure, the entire Party has been lying for decades, but at least it followed a plan (laid out by James Powell in 1971) with a purpose\u2014to serve the oligarchy that provides campaign funds. But now, their leader \u2014our President\u2014is a pathological liar, who lies randomly and with no purpose. Yet still, the press treats his inchoate ramblings as if they were \u201canother perspective.\u201d Not only are his rants not \u201canother perspective\u201d they are idiotic and dangerous and so obviously unhinged that his own people refer to him as a \u201cfucking moron\u201d and try to contain his tsunami of idiocy as the nation drifts into disaster on all fronts.\n\nHe has taken us closer to a nuclear confrontation than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis. He has sabotaged the Affordable Care Act, raising health care costs and risking the health of millions. He has taken us out of the Paris Climate Agreement at a time when redord-breaking fires and hurricanes are ripping across our continent and the world, and temperature records are falling like autumn leaves. He has undermined scientific research and belief in the scientific method. He is scuttling the Iran agreement, risking the rise of yet another hostile nuclear power. He has botched the Puerto Rican rescue, leaving millions without power, water, and food. He has demonstrated that he knows nothing about how laws are made \u2026 or any other of the skills and knowledge required to run government.\n\nFinally, he has shown that he is emotionally, mentally and morally unfit for the office he holds, and he regularly feeds the worst among us with a steady diet of hate, fear, blame, and jingoism.\n\nThis is the news that everyone knows but no one talks about; certainly not the press. But this man\u2019s gross incompetence and moral bankruptcy are the most important reality facing the country if not the world. It should be news when a destructive, emotionally ill incompetent is allowed to take the reins of our government into his tiny hands and drive us toward oblivion. It should be reported as the dire reality it is, not as \u201can alternative viewpoint.\u201d Viewpoint? With his mercurial stances on every issue, there is no viewpoint. Only today\u2019s idiocy bubbling up from his id, and out into the nation\u2019s rapidly deteriorating consciousness.\n\nThe press\u2019s decades long devotion to balanced, as opposed to accurate reporting is why Trump\u2019s assault on the press has been successful. Today, nearly half of all Americans believe the press makes up stories about him.\n\nBut \u201cfair and balanced\u201d reporting was enabled by the oligarch\u2019s coup, and Reagan and Clinton eviscerated the Federal Communications Commission \u2013 the only authority capable of assuring accuracy and responsibility in the media.\n\nIn 2018 and 2020, if the press does not do its job, we can expect a fresh round of right wing whack jobs running and winning. But it won\u2019t be just the fault of the media.\n\nDemocrats \u2013 partners in crime\n\nThe fact that a mere 26.1 percent of the eligible voters could put this ignoramus in office is directly a result of Democratic malfeasance. How? Well, if you read Clinton\u2019s latest book, or the misguided ramblings of neoliberals like Doug Schoen the neoliberal mafia that controls the Democratic Party still seems to have no clue that they enabled his victory by refusing to stand for the vast majority of Americans who are \u2013 and have been for some time now \u2013 getting screwed by decades long allegiance to the uber wealthy and elitist interests in lieu of the people\u2019s interests. Their cynical centrist-one-day, faux-left the next, center-right the next, while pandering to economic elites and corporate America has shrunk the base of the Party from 50 percent of Americans back in the late sixties to less than 30 percent today.\n\nThis rudderless, amoral approach to governance is why just 37 percent believe the Democratic Party stands for something. And what the neoliberals just don\u2019t get, is that what Americans want are candidates who back a progressive agenda. Oh, yes, the terms liberal and progressive have been smeared by the Oligarch\u2019s skillful use of branding to make them unpopular terms, but on an issue-by-issue basis, Americans are overwhelmingly progressive. The only reason the oligarch\u2019s branding effort worked is because no one countered it. In fact, the Clintonites\u2019 neoliberal embrace of free markets, trade agreements, deregulation, and militarism reinforced the conservatives\u2019 narrative.\n\nWith 2018 just a little over a year away, the Democratic Party is still engaged in a civil war in which the old guard\u2014the one\u2019s whose policies caused the Party to become a minority Party with little influence\u2014refuse to let go of the reins.\n\nThat\u2019s why \u201cno-show\u201d has been the biggest cohort in our elections for decades now. While Democrats troll the \u201ccenter\u201d for a few more votes, they are hemorrhaging voters on the left. And that\u2019s the other reason we have an idiot for President, and why he may win a second term."}
-{"text": "This article was originally published on The Conversation.\n\nDeclines in bee populations around the world have been widely reported over the past several decades. Much attention has focused on honey bees, which commercial beekeepers transport all over the United States to pollinate crops.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nHowever, while honey bees are a vital part of our agricultural system, they are generally considered the chickens of the bee world \u2013 domesticated and highly managed for specific agricultural use. They are not native to North America and often can\u2019t be used as a surrogate for understanding what is happening with native wild bees \u2014 the focus of my research.\n\nThere are about 5,000 native bee species in North America. Many have shown no evidence of decline, and some are thriving in highly urbanized areas. But other species, including some that were previously common, are becoming harder and harder to find. As scientists work to understand bee decline, it is important to identify the unique roles that native bees play, and to identify threats specific to them.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nEfficient pollinators\n\nOne in every three bites of food we eat is made possible by bees. They pollinate almonds, apples, blueberries, squash, tomatoes and many other popular crops. They also pollinate alfalfa, which we feed to farm animals, so they support the meat component of our diet too.\n\nWe need bees for food security and to maintain healthy ecosystems. Bees pollinate flowering trees and wildflowers, which in turn provide food and homes for other animals and improve water, air and soil quality.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nAlong with honey bees, wild bees are also vital for crop pollination. Research has shown that the presence of wild bees increases yields across many types of crops. They often are more efficient at pollinating crops native to North America than honey bees. For example, a honey bee would have to visit a blueberry flower four times to deposit the same amount of pollen as a single visit from a bumble bee queen.\n\nWild bees have a unique way of extracting pollen from flowers called \u201cbuzz pollination.\u201d By shaking flowers at a certain frequency, more pollen will be released, thus allowing for more efficient pollination. Honey bees can\u2019t do this.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nBumble bees are particularly good at buzz pollination, so several species are now commercially managed. Increasing numbers of farmers who grow fruits, vegetables, tree nuts and flowers are now using either bumble bees alone or a mix of bumble bees and honey bees to pollinate their crops.\n\nBumble bees in distress\n\nBut some bumble bee species are in decline. The rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) once was distributed throughout the eastern United States and southeastern Canada, but now is found only in a few small populations in the Midwest. In March 2017, it became the first bee in the lower 48 states to be listed as an endangered species after its population shrank by an estimated 91 percent in 20 years. Other bumble bees, such as the American bumble bee (B. pensylvanicus) have declined more gradually.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nReasons for bumble bee decline include increased prevalence of pests and pathogens, poor nutrition and pesticide exposure. Many of these stressors are due to agricultural intensification, particularly in the Midwest. Traditionally, grassland prairies provided nutritionally dense, safe forage for bees. But most former prairie lands have been converted to corn and soybean fields or developed for commercial and residential use. As a result, bumble bees are increasingly exposed to pesticides and their food supply is shrinking.\n\nWhy are some species thriving while others are declining? Some research suggests that traits such as a narrow or specialized diet and large body size, are associated with decline. But much more research is needed to fully understand which traits make species vulnerable, and to identify species that are especially at risk.\n\nThere are 46 species of bumble bee in North America; the other native bees (4,954-plus species) are vastly different in size, color and life history traits. Because native bees are so diverse, it is hard to identify a primary cause for wild bee decline. But as with bumble bees, poor nutrition and pesticide exposure are likely culprits. We also know that the majority of native bees nest in the ground, so they are vulnerable when natural areas are converted to tilled agricultural fields or paved over. Providing safe nesting areas for native bees is therefore vitally important to their conservation.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nMeasuring bee abundance and diversity\n\nI am part of a team at Michigan State University, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, that is working to fill in some of knowledge gaps about bees. Michigan has 465 documented bee species, each with unique life history traits It also has a diverse agricultural sector, ranging from specialty crops like apples, blueberries and tart cherries to large-scale commodity crops like corn and soybean. And Michigan habitats range from highly urbanized to pristine wilderness. This diversity helps us ask questions about how different landscapes affect the local bee community.\n\nTo determine how the state\u2019s bees are doing now, we need to know how abundant and diverse communities were in the past. Fortunately, Michigan has a rich history of surveying bees, dating back several decades. We are replicating these studies now to detect changes in bee communities.\n\nWe are also sampling bees across different landscapes and regions to identify areas with low bee abundance or diversity where conservation efforts could have the greatest impact. But the only way to know whether these actions are effective is to track changes in bee communities going forward. Our project is providing an important baseline for future comparisons and assessments of conservation programs.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nWe are also monitoring the health of managed bumble bees and honey bees that provide pollination services to local crops. One strategy we are testing is whether management practices, such as wildflower plantings, can improve bee health.\n\nResults from this project will provide the most complete assessment of bees in Michigan to date. Importantly, we are looking at all bee species, managed and wild, since they all play vital roles in maintaining a healthy agricultural system and ecosystem.\n\nKelsey K. Graham, Postdoctoral research associate, Michigan State University"}
-{"text": "Namatakula is a small village in Fiji found on a long stretch of the country\u2019s most beautiful coastline: the Coral Coast. Every year, hundreds of thousands of tourists flock from around the world to this 80 kilometre stretch of white sand and turquoise water.\n\nBut the village of only 2,522 inhabitants is known for more than its sun and sand. This tiny place has also produced some of the best rugby players in the world. Nemani Nadolo and two brothers, Chris and Tevita Kuridrani, grew up in the village and now play in the top leagues in France and Australia. Another local, retired winger Lote Tuqiri, is a household name in both Australia and Fiji, having represented both nations in international competition.\n\nFiji is one of the few countries in the world where rugby is an official national sport. About 4.3 per cent of the population are registered rugby players, the highest ratio of any nation. Fiji punches well above its weight in international competition, most recently winning the gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics.\n\nAn explanation for this success may be found in rugby\u2019s deep connection with Fijian society. The sport\u2019s emphasis on physical strength, courage and selflessness aligns with Fijian bati ideology, or warrior ethos. And the national team\u2019s quick and unconventional style is said to be rooted in a cultural logic of vaka vanua \u2013 \u201cthe way of the land\u201d.\n\n\u201cThe way of the land\u201d is what has given players growing up on the beaches of Namatakula a natural advantage. From an early age, kids run barefoot on the soft sand with whatever object they can find that mimics a rugby ball. The beach serves as the foundation for conditioning and strength training, and its beautiful setting nurtures a love for the game that inland fields could never duplicate.\n\nIt is no surprise that many people think these beaches have given Fiji its international rugby reputation.\n\nBut today, climate change is gradually causing the beaches of Namatakula and the Coral Coast to disappear. Crashing waves and rising sea levels have begun to slowly eat away the traditional training grounds of the Fijian rugby player. More and more kids in Namatakula and elsewhere are forced to play inland, often in bare feet on rough, dusty and unwelcoming terrain.\n\nSamuela Kuridrani, founder of the Kai Ni Cola organization in Namatakula, brother of Chris and Tevita, has found this development heartbreaking. \u201cI returned from Australia to see that where we had played when we were younger was no longer there because the waves had taken over,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s made me want to make a move to save our community.\u201d\n\nKuridrani has made it his personal mission to ensure future generations have the opportunity to play and train on the same beaches that made his brothers and others famous. Kai Ni Cola has begun a massive, self-funded mangrove restoration project to ensure their way of life will be preserved. The community has so far planted over 300 mangroves along the shoreline of Namatakula and aims to plant far more in the coming years.\n\nFor many small island states and coastal communities, there is little choice to adjust to a shifting environment. As Kuridrani puts it, \u201cAll we can do here in the Pacific is to adapt.\u201d\n\nPlanting mangroves is just one way to adapt to some of the impacts of climate change in coastal communities. To ensure that developing countries are ready to face the transformative effects of climate change, UN Environment and UNDP are helping governments integrate a range of adaptation strategies into national development plans through the National Adaptation Plan Global Support Programme."}
-{"text": "Lady Gaga\u2019s new show, \u201cEnigma,\u201d which opened Friday at the rebooted Park MGM hotel\u2019s Park Theater, is perfectly attenuated to its host city of Las Vegas: dazzling to the eye, assaultive to most of the rest of the senses and, in the end, arguably more than a bit shallow.\n\n\u201cEnigma,\u201d of course, is only half the story of Gaga\u2019s arrival in Sin City: She\u2019s scheduled to give rein to her more sensitive side with \u201cLady Gaga Jazz & Piano,\u201d which premieres Jan. 20 and which she\u2019ll alternate with \u201cEnigma\u201d over the course of what\u2019s been announced as a two-year engagement.\n\nIt\u2019s all part of a $550-million face-lift and rebranding for the former Monte Carlo hotel and resort, one that targets millennials as its primary audience.\n\nA full report will follow, but suffice to say Lady Gaga\u2019s \u201cEnigma\u201d is generous by Vegas showroom standards, running just under two hours, which may help offset the sting of ticket prices that average $400 to $500 face value and which are going on the resale market for upward of $9,000.\n\n\nFrom the moment she appeared Friday, suspended in a harness high above the 6,200-seat theater and gliding toward the stage while playing her strap-mounted hand-held electronic keyboard, until the finale with her inaugural live performance of \u201cShallow,\u201d the breakout hit from \u201cA Star is Born,\u201d Gaga was in full pop star mode.\n\nThe show\u2019s main conceit is her interaction with an animated avatar projected on the massive video screen behind the stage. The avatar is Enigma and, without giving everything about the show away, let\u2019s just say that Enigma serves as something of a spirit guide, aiding Gaga in an earnest quest to discover her \u201ctrue\u201d self \u2014 while dodging menacing alien creatures, laser lights and fireworks at nearly every turn.\n\nThe true-to-oneself mantra has long been central to her work, and it explains the deep bond she\u2019s forged with fans who in one way or another feel misunderstood, marginalized, alienated or mistreated. That\u2019s a significant population today of young people, women, people of color and members of the LGBTQ community whose lives play out to a large extent in an online world where bullying and shaming are amplified.\n\nSeveral moments in the show honor that connection, and Gaga stresses the importance of friends\u2014in her case, they\u2019re in the form of the energetic dancers and musicians who accompany her onstage. But they\u2019re also represented in the fans themselves, without whom she said more than once, \u201cI would be nothing.\u201d\n\n\nThe hits are here \u2014 \u201cPoker Face,\u201d \u201cThe Fame,\u201d \u201cTelephone,\u201d \u201cPaparazzi,\u201d \u201cThe Edge of Glory,\u201d \u201cBorn This Way\u201d and others \u2014 but as a piece of theater, Lady Gaga\u2019s \u201cEnigma\u201d is fairly disjointed, despite the attempted framing device of Gaga\u2019s adventure through a series of life simulations courtesy of Enigma.\n\nThe choreography in which she and her thoroughly committed dancers engage in offers little in the way of physical expression or amplification of her songs\u2019 lyrics or music, but it does provide plenty of thrilling kinetic energy. Still, some of the eye-popping set pieces are goofy at best and head-scratching at worst, such as the giant chrome robotic claw creature she ostensibly pilots in one sequence.\n\nPerhaps she\u2019s reserving a better sense of through-line and theatrical coherence for \u201cLady Gaga Jazz & Piano.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Inside LBC: How This Group Aims to Find a Bitcoin Cryptographic Collision\n\nAround eight months ago a group called \u201cLarge Bitcoin Collider\u201d (LBC) was formed aimed at cracking bitcoin wallets with hopes of finding a cryptographic collision within the protocol. The LBC server lets anyone download the software and attempt to take a crack at Bitcoin\u2019s underlying cryptography.\n\nAlso read: NSA Exploits Reveal the World of 1984 Is Here\n\nMeet the Large Bitcoin Collider\n\nlast year on Bitcointalk.org a \u2018hero member\u2019 from the forum named Rico revealed an unusual project. Rico detailed the formation of a new group of cryptography proponents looking to brute-force bitcoin addresses and hopefully find a cryptographic collision along the way. The group\u2019s project is a homage to the Large Hadron Collider, the world\u2019s strongest particle collider.\n\nA computational collision or clash occurs when two different inputs from a cryptographic function such as a digest, checksum, or hash value produce the same output. LBC considers itself a \u201cdistributed effort\u201d to find one collision of private keys and checks against a list of \u201cknown BTC addresses with funds on them.\u201d\n\nThe reason the members of LBC started the project is because the current majority believes what they are doing is \u201cimpossible\u201d and \u201cthat is a gauntlet thrown down,\u201d explains the cryptography enthusiasts. Furthermore, as far as the legality of what they are doing LBC leaves a disclaimer on the group\u2019s website stating;\n\nIt may be illegal \u2014 depending on the jurisdiction you are in \u2014 to actually claim possession of funds found that way. It is also not impossible and actually the pool has already found several private keys.\n\n\u2018The End of P2PKH but Not Bitcoin\u2019\n\nSo far LBC has generated roughly 3500 keys with a minuscule amount of trophies. Of all the cracked addresses LBC has compromised, most of them contain zero bitcoins, but the distributed pool has managed to scrape $68 worth of BTC so far. However, many people believe the addresses cracked by LBC were mere \u201cpuzzle\u201d wallets that can be found online which are set up to be easily cracked and emptied by BTC treasure hunters. In a recent interview with the publication Motherboard, Rico believes finding a collision wouldn\u2019t be the end of bitcoin.\n\n\u201cFinding a P2PKH-collision would probably mean the end of P2PKH but not bitcoin,\u201d Rico tells the news outlet by email. \u201cBitcoin would evolve with new address types. Most certainly it wouldn\u2019t \u2018die\u2019 because of this.\u201d\n\nThe Attempt to Find a Bitcoin Collision and the Breaking of SHA-1\n\nThe attempt to find a cryptographic collision within the Bitcoin protocol has been tried by researchers, cryptographers, and mathematicians both in theory and in practice for quite some time. For instance, there are many discussions concerning this subject across bitcoin-focused forums and social media. A year ago a thread on Reddit revealed a tool that generated partial address collisions. The creator ran the application for a week using a CPU generating an 80-bit collision or half of what is needed to find two private keys. The tool can be found on Github, and an example of the findings had shown 15 characters of an address match and looked like this;\n\nOne reason people think a collision is possible within the bitcoin network is due to the recent cracking of SHA-1 cryptographic algorithm by the Google corporation. Many people in the past had theoretically broken the SHA-1 infrastructure, and the cryptography was considered weak by leading security firms. The tech giant revealed to the public this past February that it broke SHA-1 in practice with its project \u201cShattered\u201d, which disturbed scientists everywhere within the cryptographic research community.\n\nOn February 23, 2017, Google announced;\n\n\u201cToday, more than 20 years after of SHA-1 was first introduced, we are announcing the first practical technique for generating a collision,\u201d Google detailed. \u201cFor the tech community, our findings emphasize the necessity of sunsetting SHA-1 usage \u2014 We hope that our practical attack against SHA-1 will finally convince the industry that it is urgent to move to safer alternatives such as SHA-256.\u201d\n\nBitcoin\u2019s Encryption is Far More Difficult than SHA-1\n\nWith SHA-1 being broken in less than twenty years shows that precautions may need to be taken in the future concerning the cryptography behind the Bitcoin network. There\u2019s no telling when that will be, and many are not concerned because the effort to break bitcoin\u2019s encryption is no easy task. Google\u2019s massive work to compute the Shattered collision was one of the largest computations ever completed. The breaking of SHA-1 took nine quintillion SHA1 computations in total showing no ordinary set up could complete the task.\n\nWith Bitcoin, the bar of difficulty to crack one single address is far higher than SHA-1 and would take far more effort than nine quintillion computations. In 2011 the Bitcoin network was processing over fifteen trillion SHA-256 hashes per second. The computational operation to find a collision during this period would take roughly 0.65 billion years, and with the Bitcoin network\u2019s 2017 performance it would take even longer.\n\nWhat do you think about the Large Bitcoin Collider project? Let us know in the comments below.\n\nPurchase Bitcoin without visiting a cryptocurrency exchange. Buy BTC and BCH here.\n\nDisclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article."}
-{"text": "One of the Humboldt Broncos players who survived last Friday's fatal bus crash in Saskatchewan has been released from the hospital.\n\nNick Shumlanski, 20, was released from care Saturday, according to his father Myles.\n\nThe crash site was only a quarter of a mile from the family's home in Tisdale.\n\nA close friend of the family of another survivor, 20-year-old Matthieu Gomercic, called his survival a \"miracle.\"\n\nAnother survivor, Ryan Straschnitzki, tweeted a photo of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visiting him in his Saskatoon hospital room Sunday.\n\nPrime Minister Justin Trudeau visit crash survivor Ryan Straschnitzki at his Saskatoon hospital bedside Sunday. (Ryan Straschnitzki/Twitter)\n\n\"We may not agree on politics,\" he wrote, \"but we sure do agree on support. Sure am proud our prime minister and his son showing up and chatting hockey. Thank you very much.\"\n\nStraschnitzki suffered a broken back, according to his father Tom. He said his son, who wasn't able to feel anything below his waist, was scheduled to undergo surgery Sunday.\n\nRyan Gobeil, the brother of crash survivor and Broncos player Morgan Gobeil, had his brother's heartbeat tattooed on his arm, as did three other supporters.\n\nRyan Gobeil's brother Morgan Gobeil survived the crash. Ryan and three others had Morgan's heartbeat tattooed on their arms over the weekend. (Ryan Gobeil/Twitter)\n\nShirley Dool, the great aunt of crash survivor and Broncos centre Tyler Smith, said the 19 year old is on the road to recovery but remains in hospital where he's dealing with a punctured lung.\n\nHe's having trouble moving his hands, she added.\n\nFatal victims of crash identified\n\nBroncos team president Kevin Garinger says the team is working with Saskatchewan health officials to release information about the medical status of the 13 other people who survived the bus crash. No names will be released, he said.\n\nThe RCMP released the names of the 15 people who died from the crash.\n\nThe players were:\n\nAdam Herold, 16, Montmartre Sask.\n\nConner Lukan, 21, Slave Lake, Alta.\n\nEvan Thomas, 18, Saskatoon, Sask.\n\nJacob Leicht, 19, Humboldt, Sask.\n\nJaxon Joseph, 20, Edmonton, Alta.\n\nLogan Boulet, 21, Lethbridge, Alta.\n\nLogan Hunter, 18, St. Albert, Alta.\n\nLogan Schatz, 20, Allan, Sask.\n\nStephen Wack, 21, St. Albert, Alta.\n\nParker Tobin, 18, Stony Plain, Alta.\n\nThe team personnel were:\n\nBrody Hinz, 18, Humboldt, Sask.\n\nDarcy Haugan, 42, Humboldt, Sask.\n\nGlen Doerksen, 59, Carrot River, Sask.\n\nMark Cross, 27, Strasbourg, Sask.\n\nTyler Bieber, 29, Humboldt, Sask.\n\nVigil planned\n\nSaskatchewan Premier Scott Moe will join Trudeau during a vigil Sunday night at Humboldt's hockey arena to mourn and support victims of the crash.\n\nA public vigil is taking place in Humboldt, Saskatchewan to mourn victims of a bus crash Friday that took 15 lives. 1:21:50\n\nPeople of all ages came to drop off gifts and notes for the Humboldt Broncos and their families. (CBC News) Early Friday evening, a bus taking the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team to a playoff game collided with a transport truck carrying peat moss on Highway 35, about 30 kilometres north of Tisdale, Sask.\n\nTrudeau will attend to pay his respects and mourn the loss of the players and officials, his office said in a press release.\n\nGoFundMe raises millions\n\nA GoFundMe page launched in the hours after the crash has raised $3.8 million for the players and families.\n\nGaringer said the team will seek professionals to help deal with those proceeds.\n\n\"We don't plan to take that on ourselves,\" he said, but he emphasized that the priority will be the families.\n\nOn the night following the crash, 17-year-old student Tristen Lozinkski camped out there, along with six of her friends. Within hours, dozens of others had joined them.\n\nPeople in Humboldt, Sask., attend Sunday church services as the community copes with the loss of 15 lives following Friday's horrific crash involving a hockey team bus 2:32\n\n'Send thoughts and prayers'\n\nMessages of support and condolences were sent from Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump.\n\n\"Can everyone please, just please, send your thoughts and prayers to the families and the victims and all the boys who are still in the hospital fighting. Please pray. The world is doing such a great job of helping,\" said Lozinkski.\n\nCanada's Governor General and former astronaut Julie Payette was the latest dignitary to extend her condolences Sunday.\n\n\"I know the pain of losing a teammate, having lived through the loss of the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003,\" Payette said in a written statement. \"I have never forgotten the pain, the immense sorrow and the sense of powerlessness one can feel at such a crushing loss.\n\n\"To face adversity, it is important to stay together and to find comfort, strength and courage in our communities and among our loved ones.\"\n\nAs the death toll reached 15 on on Saturday, Lozinkski said shock set in.\n\nA photo of the SJHL All-Star team, which had members of the Humboldt Broncos on its roster. The RCMP has confirmed 15 fatalities and 14 injuries in a collision involving a junior hockey team's bus in Saskatchewan. (Submitted by Tom Straschnitzki)\n\n\"My first reaction was what is going to happen to the world if they're not in it? And now we have to find out,\" she said.\n\nThe team was on its way to Game 5 of a semifinal against the Nipawin Hawks.The RCMP confirmed the semi-trailer was travelling westbound on Highway 335 when it collided with the bus travelling northbound on Highway 35.\n\nThe Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) team includes 24 players, all from Western Canada, ranging in age from 16 to 21.\n\nAll games in the league are on hold for now and no decision has been made about the rest of the season, with league officials currently focused on the grieving process, a spokesperson for SJHL said Sunday afternoon.\n\nGaringer said the crash will not mark the end of the Humboldt Broncos and that the team will move forward.\n\nGordon Lees's wife places a teddy bear at the make-shift memorial on the stairs of the community's arena where the Humboldt Broncos play. (CBC News/Alex Soloducha)\n\nLozinkski, who attended high school with several of the players in the community of around 6,000, plans to go to classes on Monday.\n\n'We need to be together'\n\nShe said going back to school will be \"horrific,\" but it's where she wants to be, along with her classmates.\n\nKevin Garinger is the president of the Humboldt Broncos, and he billeted Conner Lukan, one of the players who died in the crash. He speaks with the CBC\u2019s Wendy Mesley from the Humboldt hockey arena in an emotional interview. 5:58\n\n\"We need to be together,\" she said. \"But how do you sit in class when they're not there?\"\n\nHead coach Darcy Haugan was one of the victims, along with assistant coach Mark Cross, 27. Broncos captain Logan Schatz, 20, and teammates Adam Herold, 16, Logan Hunter, 18, Parker Tobin, 18, Jaxon Joseph, 20, Conner Lukan, 21, Evan Thomas, 18, Jacob Leicht, 19, and Stephen Wack, 21, were also killed.\n\nTyler Bieber, a play-by-play announcer who worked with Humboldt radio station 107.5 Bolt FM and Brody Hinz, who compiled stats for the team, also died. Bus driver Glen Doerksen was confirmed to be among the dead on Sunday.\n\nAccording to RCMP, the male driver of the semi-trailer was not injured and, although he was detained temporarily after the collision, he has now been released.\n\nNo charges have been laid in connection with the incident. At last update, RCMP said they were investigating the conditions of the roads, vehicles and drivers.\n\nTragedy weighs on entire city\n\nHumboldt resident Gordon Lees said he was in disbelief when he first heard news of the crash. He attended the team's inaugural game when he was just 10 years old and has been going to their games ever since.\n\nHe and his wife went on to billet a number of players and his daughter married a former Broncos player who played alongside some of the crash victims.\n\nLees said he's been thinking with a heavy heart about the parents of the victims. And while his family didn't have any billets this year, he said some in Humboldt lost three in the fatal accident.\n\n\"As a parent, it's absolutely without a doubt your worst nightmare to have to bury a child. So, to those I just can't even imagine, I can't even fathom what they're going through,\" Lees said. \"Where do you even start and how do you put your life back together and move on?\"\n\nA woman mourns at a growing memorial for the victims of the crash. (CBC)\n\nLees described Humboldt as a small prairie town, where everybody knows everybody. Many people in their community stopped by the Uniplex, the arena where the Broncos played, on Saturday to lay flowers and stuffed animals, forming a makeshift memorial on the building's stairs.\n\n\"There isn't anybody in Humboldt who isn't affected by this in some way, shape or form, and some very directly,\" he said. \"It's kind of hard to put into words really as to how you feel. You feel sorrow, you feel sad. It just rips your heart out.\"\n\nThe collection of flowers grew throughout the day. It will be moved to allow guests of the vigil to enter the arena. (Alex Soloducha/CBC News)\n\nLozinski was told her good friend who plays defence for the team had died in the crash. On Saturday morning, she found out there was a misidentification and he was still alive. She said he is recovering in hospital in Saskatoon along with another classmate.\n\n\"I literally thought he was dead. We all did. I don't even have words to explain it,\" she said.\n\nVigil all about family\n\nHumboldt's city manager Joe Day said officials decided to open up the Uniplex to the public.\n\n\"I think, as part of the grieving process, it's important that the community and everyone who's supporting the community has an opportunity to come together,\" Day said.\n\nDay said the mayor may say a few words, but no other speeches from politicians are on the agenda. He said the event will focus on the families.\n\n\"A lot of these families, they know each other through their sons so we want to give them this opportunity ... and as many safe spaces where they can congregate together and really grieve as a group,\" Day said.\n\n\"We've set up some spaces where they can meet more privately.\"\n\nAbout 20 grief counsellors from around the province will be at the building to support people in need."}
-{"text": "In fact, in the unlikely event that Clinton took a last-minute plunge into the primary, she might struggle to win the backing of any Democrats from a chamber in which she served for eight years.\n\nClinton has plenty of goodwill in the 47-member Democratic Caucus. Most of them like and respect her for her service and still smart over her 2016 loss to Donald Trump. But the sentiment that her time has passed is one shared by moderates and liberals alike.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think it would be good for her,\u201d said Montana Sen. Jon Tester. \u201cShe\u2019s been through this war once. The Republicans have made a target out of her for 30 years and she\u2019s still going to [be] that same target. I just think it would be tough.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat would be a mistake,\u201d said Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico. Asked to expound, he repeated: \u201cThat would be a mistake.\u201d\n\n\u201cAbsolutely not,\u201d said Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).\n\nPhilippe Reines, Clinton\u2019s longtime aide and adviser, doesn\u2019t see things that way. On Fox News this week, he declined to rule out a Clinton bid and said that \u201cthere might be a reason that she\u2019d be the best person\u201d to take on Trump and govern in the aftermath. But he also acknowledged she\u2019d have to win a crowded primary, a difficult endeavor.\n\nClinton herself invited the scrutiny, jokingly replying, \u201cDon\u2019t tempt me\u201d when Trump tweeted that Clinton should take on Sen. Elizabeth Warren for the Democratic nomination. Meeting the fundraising and polling thresholds to qualify for the debates likely wouldn\u2019t be a problem. And she's already shown a willingness to mix it up with at least one other candidate \u2014 having swiped at Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, suggesting the Hawaii lawmaker is being backed by the Russians.\n\nBut most of her Democratic allies don\u2019t take the buzz seriously and say they are happy with the field as it is, despite griping by some in the establishment about the current roster of Democrats.\n\n\u201cWe have a lot of really fantastic candidates out there already. Let's leave it at that,\u201d said Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono.\n\nDemocrats also don\u2019t believe Clinton herself has any real interest in being a candidate again. Her political career has been a grueling one: first lady of Arkansas, first lady of the United States, U.S. senator, secretary of State and presidential nominee.\n\n\u201cI can sort of see the expression on her face, of sort of disbelief and dismissal,\u201d said Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Clinton seeing reports that she might make a third run for president. \u201cIt\u2019s just my instinct that there\u2019s no way she wants to go through this meat grinder again.\u201d\n\nIn 2013, every female Democratic senator signed on to a letter to Clinton encouraging her to run for the presidency. By 2015, most of the caucus had coalesced behind Clinton, cutting off oxygen to any potential opponents. Only one Democratic senator, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, ended up endorsing Clinton\u2019s primary opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).\n\nClinton\u2019s coronation by the party establishment left many Democrats feeling burned, particularly after she ended up losing to Trump. And today\u2019s landscape couldn\u2019t be more different.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s hard to know whether the world has passed on or not,\u201d said California Sen. Dianne Feinstein. \u201cI\u2019m a friend of hers and I\u2019m extraordinarily fond of her. But that\u2019s a factor.\u201d\n\nPOLITICO NEWSLETTERS POLITICO Playbook Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics. Sign Up Loading By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.\n\nThere are a half-dozen Democratic senators currently running for the nomination. And former Vice President Joe Biden already has a bloc of senators and congressmen backing him, including Feinstein. Candidates like Andrew Yang and Pete Buttigieg offer options from outside the Beltway.\n\nNone of that would change if Clinton got in.\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t imagine that [Clinton] would want to get back in the race,\u201d said Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), who said she prefers candidates from the middle of the country. \u201cIf she wants to, then she goes through the same process as everyone else. And we\u2019ll see what she says in the debates.\u201d\n\nWhat is true is that many in the party are anxious about what lies ahead. The House is plunging into impeachment, the Senate will have to hold a trial and Democratic voters have a long way to go in pruning the field of presidential contenders.\n\nYet Democrats largely believe that reaching back into 2016, when Clinton handily won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College to Trump, isn\u2019t the antidote for the party\u2019s current plight. It would shake up the race, but perhaps not in a good way.\n\n\u201cI just want to make sure we want to stay united. There are good people that are running. I can support any one of them,\u201d said Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin.\n\n\u201cThe field is somewhat set,\u201d added Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), shaking his head when asked whether Clinton should reconsider. \u201cI think we need to move forward.\u201d"}
-{"text": "CheapAir.com has announced that it will now accept dogecoin and litecoin as payment for flight and railway bookings.\n\nThe online travel booking website began accepting bitcoin for flight bookings in November, and subsequently expanded its bitcoin payment service to include hotel and railway bookings. Since adding bitcoin as a payment option, CheapAir has seen a positive response from its customers, recently announcing that it had passed $1.5m in total bitcoin sales.\n\nSpeaking to CoinDesk, CEO Jeff Klee said that the decision was encouraged by grassroots support from its customer base, noting that the same demographics that made its bitcoin integration a success inspired the company\u2019s latest move in the digital currency space.\n\nKlee explained:\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had some success with bitcoin, we\u2019ve gotten some new customers there \u2013 enthusiastic customers. We\u2019ve gotten a great response since we began accepting [bitcoin], and we had some requests for dogecoin and litecoin. We figured why not?\u201d\n\nNotably, GoCoin will serve as the company\u2019s altcoin payments processor, enabling the company to accept litecoin and dogecoin in addition to bitcoin. CheapAir will continue to accept bitcoin through its existing partnership with Coinbase.\n\nAltcoin strategy\n\nKlee told CoinDesk that CheapAir will utilize the same deployment strategy for dogecoin and litecoin as it did for bitcoin. This means offering altcoin support for plane and train ticket purchases and, pending on the success of the initiative, expanding from there.\n\nKlee stated:\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s the same pattern we went through with bitcoin. We launched it first for flights, and, assuming that goes well, we\u2019ll roll out [altcoin support] for hotels pretty quickly, too.\u201d\n\nCheapAir is also extending its stable price guarantee to dogecoin and litecoin customers, offering $100 \u2013 in dollars \u2013 to those who see the price of a fare fall after they buy a ticket.\n\nKlee said that the company is working to streamline its existing system for this service, adding that it helps customers who may see some volatility in the value of their coins.\n\nImage via Shutterstock"}
-{"text": "Story highlights No one was injured in the incident, officials said\n\n\"I was really scared,\" one passenger said\n\n(CNN) A lithium battery in a passenger's backpack caught fire aboard a cross-country JetBlue flight Tuesday, causing the plane to divert to Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Federal Aviation Administration said.\n\nNo one was injured on the flight, which was traveling from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to San Francisco, and the plane was not damaged. JetBlue said the plane was carrying 158 people and 37,300 pounds of fuel when it landed.\n\nThe lithium battery began to smolder inside a passenger's backpack, according to an incident report.\n\nA passenger on the plane, 18-year-old Kailey Honniball, said that about two and a half hours into the flight she heard a message over the PA system: \"Sounds like fire in 25!\"\n\nShe looked back and saw smoke.\n\nRead More"}
-{"text": "The events of the last few days have been just cause to take a look at the state of professional wrestling. The art form that I love, and have dedicated my entire adult life to, is embarrassingly behind the times. It is beholden to outdated tenets that threaten to render it...obsolete at worst, and a punchline at best.\n\nI know there are others, influential and celebrated, that imagine pro-wrestling to be a bubble in which the social norms from a bygone era are still relevant and valid. At CHIKARA, we rail against them, and those ideals, with everything we make. It is one thing to speak, to voice an opinion. It is one thing to call for change, to wish for change, to imagine how that change might come about. It is another thing to make it. At CHIKARA, we make it happen. It doesn\u2019t matter to us in the least how many people show up to see it, or how many people recognize it for what it is. Our mantra is not about critical acclaim or pats on the back: \u201cWe believe pro-wrestling should be fun. That\u2019s why we make it for everyone.\u201d\n\nEffective today, we are terminating our relationship with Joey Styles. Effective today, we are instituting a zero tolerance policy for misogynistic, racist, and/or homophobic speech, written or verbal, whether it\u2019s directed toward our cast, our crew, or our patrons. This is the shape of CHIKARA.\n\nTo all that craft and shape pro-wrestling, we must fully understand this: the patrons of our art form demand more of us. It is to them - those that empower us to create the larger-than-life spectacle of professional wrestling - that we are beholden. Not to an archaic sub-culture made up of turn-of-the-last-century carny values.\n\nThe time for us to do away with antiquated and insulting vocabulary, like the term \u201cmark,\u201d is right now.\n\nThe time for us to relinquish any last vestige of power we\u2019ve given to outmoded wrestling rhetoric is right now.\n\nThe time for us to draw a line in the sand, and to say this is where we stand on equality and integration in our art form, is right now.\n\nThe patrons of our amazing art form deserve not just our respect, but our thoughtful presence of mind in 2016 and beyond. We owe nothing to \u201cthe business.\u201d The people our antecedents called \u201cmarks\u201d are not handing us their dollars because they fail to understand what it is we truly make - they support us in spite of it. They come because they know our kind of live entertainment is a viable art form, not some midway hustle. They come for an inclusive experience where they can be bolstered by a passionate community of like-minded fans.\n\nAt CHIKARA, we love pro-wrestling every bit as much as our fans do. We love it so much, we want it to change. Let\u2019s take a step toward a world where we need not be subject to any type of hate speech, and that the only violence we witness is of the neatly choreographed variety.\n\n-MQ"}
-{"text": "Hi! I\u2019m Ivan and I\u2019ve been an Android app developer for quite a while now. Or so it seems. Back in the day (we are talking about 2009), Android was just an infant and I watched the Little Green Man grow ever since. I\u2019m afraid some time ago, Android managed to outgrow me.\n\nNowadays, Android is not just on tens of thousands of different phones and tablets. It\u2019s on your wrist, in your living room, in your car, and as soon we start assigning IP addresses to inanimate objects, it is going to be pretty much everywhere around us. A lot of ground for even an experienced Android developer to cover!\n\nAlso there are over one million apps just on Google Play, not counting Amazon AppStore or markets we are not generally interested in, like China. Let\u2019s not forget countless mobile app development companies that generate billions in revenue every year.\n\nSo, how can an independent developer create a successful app in this huge market with big players? I have no idea, I haven\u2019t made a successful app! But, I have made a cute one, and I\u2019d like to share my story with you.\n\nLesson 1: Connect The Dots\n\nSuccess (usually) doesn\u2019t happen overnight and this is not my first app. I have ones ranging from unexpected over-the-weekend development hits like Macedonian Orthodox Calendar, with over 30,000 users in a language that no more than 4 million people can understand, to more successful failures like TweetsPie, an app with heavy media coverage and a terrible user-base of just over 600 active users. A lot of lessons there!\n\nWhile these apps helped me understand the mind of the \u201celusive creature called the User\u201d a bit better, the one that inspired me was a two-hour project. Originally developed to make me a millionaire, once 1,428,571 users purchased the app as Google takes 30 cents out of every dollar, The Dollar App was made to test my merchants account.\n\nLittle did I know that years later I will receive an email from a happy mom stating that it was the best dollar that she ever spent since her boy was smiling every time my app gave him a hug.\n\nAnd that\u2019s how an idea was born! Why not use the fundamental human need for a hug and make it pretty? Make it for a specific audience, interactive, challenging, fun to use, and even more fun to share.\n\nLesson 2: Understand The Android Market\n\nAll the things I mentioned above added up to a live wallpaper app. The basics are not that hard to guess. Android has a bigger market share than iOS, but iOS users purchase more. Messaging apps are wildly popular, but freemium games top the earnings. China, India, Brazil and Russia are emerging markets, but lack spending habits. You can read the App Annie Index for more insights.\n\nSo how does a live wallpaper app fit into this? First of all, it eliminates most of the platforms since a live wallpaper is an Android thing. Second, this feature was added in Android 2.1 so it has a large community and quite a few beautiful examples. Most notably Paperland and Roman Nurik\u2019s open source Muzei, probably the best reference point for Android development.\n\nWhile there are lot of live wallpapers out there, most of them fall under the scenic/weather category, and very few fall under the cuteness overload category. This is something we wanted to change and offer something that gives you a smile each time you unlock your phone, even though you unlocked it for a completely different reason. We gave you a cute little bundle of joy to hug you before you go to bed at night, or when you turn off your alarm in the morning. And even better, make it personal and customizable.\n\nWithout further ado, and before we go into technical details, I proudly present you: Ooshies - The Live Wallpaper\n\nIt features:\n\nfree live wallpaper app that gives you hugs\n\n12 unique ooshies to choose from\n\nfree, un-lockable, and purchasable content\n\ncurrent weather updates\n\nsocial login and data sync\n\nseasonal greetings\n\nmany surprises\n\na ninja cat\n\ndid we mention hugs?\n\nLesson 3: Try To Make It Happen\n\nOoshies seemed like a pretty straightforward Android app idea. Paint a background, overlay some clouds and stars, put a bear with a balloon on top, and you are good to go. But no, it\u2019s Android! What seems easy is often quite difficult and we tend to repeat the same common mistakes over and over again. Here\u2019s a quick rundown of the challenges I faced:\n\nHardware acceleration - why draw using the CPU when the GPU is so much better at it? Well, it turns out that drawing bitmaps on a canvas cannot be hardware accelerated. At least not for the time being. OpenGL - if we want hardware acceleration we need to use OpenGL ES or even better a framework that does most of the work for us. Bitmap loading - a well known memory consumption issue. We need to allocate 1 byte [0-255] of memory, for each channel in the #ARGB, to display a single pixel. Also the images we use often have higher resolutions than the device\u2019s display. Loading them all will quickly result in OutOfMemroyException. Home launchers - the live wallpaper will be hosted in the home launcher process, and different launcher tend to give different callbacks to the live wallpaper service (most notably Nova and TouchWiz). Battery life - if not done right, the live wallpapers and the widgets can drain a lot of battery. With all the buzz about the Lollipop (Android 5.0) terrible battery life the first app to go will be the live wallpaper.\n\nSo, overlaying a bitmap, painting it on a canvas, and then switching frames on touch to give a hug, doesn\u2019t seem like a big deal, even when if it is done on the CPU, right? Thats right, it\u2019s not a problem. But, who wants a static live wallpaper? It beats the purpose. The wallpaper should respond to your touches, it should move as you scroll your home screens, it should perform random acts of kindness and make you feel happy.\n\nAnd there is an Android development trick for that. There is a term called the parallax effect for adding depth in a 2-dimensional space. Imagine yourself driving a car. The house closer to you moves faster than the mountain in the distance. Same effect can be achieved by moving objects in different speed on a canvas. Although, they are all in the same plane, your brain perceives the faster moving objects as closer to you. Much like adding drop shadows, the parallax effect adds a z-axis.\n\nAnd this is where all hell breaks loose! On most devices moving the Ooshie, the weather overlay, and the background, at different speeds, yields significant frame rate drop. Here\u2019s how a single frame is drawn:\n\ncanvas.drawBitmap(background, 0 - offsetX / 4, 0, null); canvas.drawBitmap(weatherOverlay, 0 - offsetX / 2, 0, null); if (!validDoubleTap) { canvas.drawBitmap(ooshieNormal, positionX - offsetX, positionY, null); } else { canvas.drawBitmap(ooshieTapped, positionX - offsetX, positionY, null); }\n\nThe offset is a percentage of the distance user has scrolled. It\u2019s a callback that the wallpaper engine provides:\n\n@Override public void onOffsetsChanged(float xOffset, float yOffset, float xOffsetStep, float yOffsetStep, int xPixelOffset, int yPixelOffset){ super.onOffsetsChanged(xOffset, yOffset, xOffsetStep, yOffsetStep, xPixelOffset, yPixelOffset); // athe current offset should be a fraction of the screen offset to achieve parallax if (!isPreview()) { float newXOffset = xOffset * 0.15f; wallpaperDrawHelper.setOffsetX(newXOffset); if (isVisible() && hasActiveSurface) { wallpaperDrawHelper.drawFrame(false); } } }\n\nI must note that all of this would be unnecessary if I knew how to work with OpenGL! It\u2019s on my TODO list, since anything more complex than what we have now will require a hardware acceleration. But, for the time being I have to work harder, not smarter (I\u2019m open to suggestions in the comments). So here\u2019s what we did:\n\nLesson 4: Work With What You Have\n\nAs a big supporters of the minSdk=15 initiative, from the start we eliminated all the 2.x devices. The effort for maintaining backward compatibility is greater than the possible revenue from users unable\\unwilling to upgrade their phones. So, in most cases, we\u2019ll be able to achieve smooth experience with an added option to disable the parallax if desired.\n\nAnother big optimization is how we handle the bitmaps. A very similar parallax effect can be achieved with drawing two bitmaps instead of three:\n\nOoshie overlay - trimmed and carefully scaled Ooshie bitmap (can be accessorized) Combined overlay - a combined background and weather bitmap that moves with a fraction of the Ooshie speed\n\nThis Android development trick saves memory and speeds up the drawing time, for a slight parallax effect degrade.\n\nWhen scrolling the home screens, frames will be drawn quite often (ideally more than 30 times per second). It\u2019s crucial not to draw them when the home screen is not visible (some lock screens, some app drawer, opening/switching apps etc.) to minimize the CPU usage.\n\nThis is all tied closely with the weather updates. Initially there was a repeating task, executing every hour or two, to sync the weather, but it was really an overkill. If the user cannot see the wallpaper, the weather info is irrelevant. So now, weather updates happen only when wallpaper is visible.\n\nlong lastUpdate = prefStore.getLong(SharedPrefStore.Pref.WEATHER_TIMESTAMP); if (System.currentTimeMillis() - lastUpdate > Consts.WEATHER_UPDATE_INTERVAL){ // update the weather if obsolete Intent intent = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), WeatherUpdateService.class); startService(intent); }\n\nSo, basically, here\u2019s the checklist for a memory optimized smooth software bitmap drawing:\n\nCombine bitmaps once Draw less bitmaps Redraw only on demand Avoid background tasks Offer users some control over the process\n\nLesson 5: Test. Test. Test\n\nI cannot stress how important this is! Never, I repeat NEVER, release your app before testing it! And, I don\u2019t mean that YOU should do the testing. You wrote the code, you know how it works, and you influence the result by knowing the expectations. I\u2019m not talking about JUnit testing (although recommended), but about staged rollouts i.e. alpha and beta testing.\n\nIf you are into Android software development the terms are straightforward, but here is a quick rundown:\n\nAlpha testers - a small group of people consisting of your teammates and people from the industry, preferably Android developers. Chances are they are going the have high-end devices and will play around with the developers options. They\u2019ll send you stack traces, bug reports, and even give you some code/UI optimization tips and tricks. Perfect for early releases with partial/missing features. Beta testers - a much broader audience with various demographics. Stable releases should be published here. Even if your ninja level is too damn high, you can never predict, let alone account, for all the possible Android distributions and ways people use their phones.\n\nOnce we passed the alpha, I thought we were done. But, boy I was wrong?! Turned out that not all Android users have Nexus devices with the latest software! Who\u2019d know? :)\n\nHere are some Android development issues based on this revelation:\n\nDifferent launchers have different default home screens - usually the first or the middle one, and ,as far as I know, there is no way of knowing it\u2019s position. It\u2019s hard to center the Ooshie without knowing the default home screen position - thus the settings slider for adjusting the parallax offset. An average user doesn\u2019t know what parallax offset means - much simpler terminology should be used on the settings page. A random user will suggest your next feature.\n\nSo I would like to thank all our beta testers for the hard work they did. I hope that getting all the latest features before anyone else is a decent reward for their dedication. If you\u2019d like, you can also be a part of our Google+ Beta Community.\n\nLesson 6: Let The Data Speak\n\nMaking an Android app that stands out today is a bit more difficult than making a calculator app, when there were none back in 2009. Making the perfect app is hard. Mainly because perfection is in the eye of the beholder. What is good for me, doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it\u2019s good for you. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to let the app grow. Our roadmap checklist for new features shows that we have enough work for the whole 2015. Among other things we\u2019ll soon include:\n\nSounds Seasonal backgrounds Customizations (background color, weather packs, ooshie skins, etc.) Region specific ooshies (ex. babushkas) A lot of new ooshies and ways to unlock them\n\nNow, we might have kept the app in beta until all is done, but that way we are throwing away valuable data. Not all beta testers will dedicate a portion of their day to send you the feedback. That is where you can benefit in using tools for getting the feedback. You can use Google Analytics, Flurry, Mixpanel, Crashalytics, ACRA, etc. to collect usage data.\n\nFor example, by analyzing the data we noticed that users don\u2019t click the settings button a lot, so we made it more apparent and added a quick tutorial for tweaking the settings.\n\nAlthough this is a background process, it can be used to further improve the user experience. Why not show the user how many times:\n\nhe/she received a hug how many rainy days were brightened up by a smile how many taps were needed to unlock an Ooshie with a mini-game how many friends installed the app because of you\n\nThis is important because it provides consequences for their actions. Don\u2019t make the same mistake our educational system does, making the users passive content consumers. Make them in charge. Give them the option to control their own devices and create their own personal experience. If you manage to package all this into a cute bundle that steals a smile on the first splash, than is not too far fetched to ask the user for spammy favors for content unlocking.\n\nIn the end, you need to evolve your Android app development based on this data as a guide. Although primarily intended for moms/kids, this app may become popular in other demographics. It may not fit into our original vision, but users needs must be met. Otherwise they\u2019ll find someone who can.\n\nConclusion\n\nLet\u2019s return to my most successful failure TweetsPie. Despite couple of awards and huge media coverage, the app failed to retain it\u2019s users (the reasons why are beyond the scope of this article).\n\nSuccess is not always apparent. Thanks to the whole experience I learned a lot. I gave, at least, a dozen lectures on How (not) to fail as a startup on various events and hackathons, and managed to get a couple of clients at Toptal.\n\nEven more important, I try not to repeat the same Android development mistakes with Ooshies by following the tips and tricks in this guide.\n\nTo wrap up this long guide, what we define as a success is, at later stage, tightly coupled with what we set as goal in the beginning. The most common success measure is, of course, making a lot of money. No matter if your app makes it or not, you must try to make it happen, and believe me at the end you\u2019ll become a better person (hopefully one that manages to learn OpenGL). You\u2019ll make new friends, few enemies, and if you are lucky/smart enough you\u2019ll make a lot of users happy.\n\nYou can check our website or download Ooshies to give it a try."}
-{"text": "Amateur kickboxer Sai Aletaha dies after Southampton match injury Published duration 18 November 2019\n\nimage copyright FFS image caption Sai Aletaha was described as \"a lovely character with a beautiful soul\"\n\nAn amateur kickboxer has died after suffering a brain injury during a match.\n\nSaeideh Aletaha, 26, was critically injured at a Fast and Furious Fight Series event in Central Hall in Southampton on Saturday night.\n\nShe was taken to Southampton General Hospital shortly before 21:00 GMT, but died later, police said.\n\nHampshire Police said it had launched an investigation into exactly what happened.\n\nFFS posted a statement on Facebook confirming Ms Aletaha had not recovered from her injury, and urged any family and friends needing support to get in touch.\n\n'Safe as possible'\n\nIt said: \"All competitors get in prepared that they may be injured, and this is something not expected to happen 99.9% of the time.\n\n\"But, it can, and in this we make the environment as safe as possible with pre and post medicals from a doctor, and full medical cover throughout.\"\n\nIt said it had a doctor, paramedic and an ambulance on site alongside its own team at the event organised by Lookborai and Exile Gym.\n\n\"Safety is not something ever skimped on in any of our 19 shows and all matches are made equal,\" it added.\n\n'Beautiful soul'\n\nFellow martial artists and friends have paid tribute to Ms Aletaha, known as Sai.\n\nOne posted on Exile Gym's Facebook page: \"Saeideh Aletaha was a lovely character with a beautiful soul.\n\n\"Her dedication to the sport was 110% travelling miles every day just to train.\""}
-{"text": "With the myriad of project management resources available today to ensure organized and successful project completion, one could argue that the need for a personal touch is obsolete. However, as cloud computing and mobile apps have expanded our horizons for task completion, team work is now more important than ever to connect all the dots. Most importantly, the role of Project Manager \u2013 including his/her inherent abilities and personality traits \u2013 significantly affects the overall momentum of a project.\n\nMaybe you fulfill the role of Project Manager (PM), or maybe you work with one on a regular basis. Do you notice a connection between the PM\u2019s personality traits and the outcome of a project? Maybe your PM is a \u201cStrategist\u201d type that envisions every detail of a project and therefore actively ensures each team member is doing his/her part. Having a clear grasp of a PM\u2019s personality type, specifically how he/she communicates and interacts with others, can be very helpful in getting tasks done in a timely and satisfactory way.\n\nSo we\u2019ve put together an infographic of the 7 Project Manager Personality Types, detailing the essential characteristics of each. Whether you or your PM is the type of \u201cMicro-Manager\u201d or \u201cMentor\u201d, keeping an eye out for these particular traits will ease interpersonal relationships like no online or mobile app can.\n\nWe\u2019d love to hear your thoughts: Can you relate to any of these Personality Types? Have we missed any? Let us know in the comments!"}
-{"text": "While it\u2019s often said that stadium marriage proposals are overrated, that only applies to us; regular people. However \u2013 when a player does it \u2013 the success rate of getting a \u2018yes\u2019 has to be extremely high. Remember when Ian Johnson of Boise State proposed to his cheerleader girlfriend in that 2007 bowl game? Instant yes on marriage.\n\nNow, it\u2019s happened again. With that being said, this proposal took place on the San Francisco 49ers sideline prior to the Monday Night Football game with the Cleveland Browns.\n\nTonight, 49ers defensive-tackle D.J. Jones proposed to his girlfriend on the field at Levi\u2019s Stadium. Of course, this report comes to us from the man who is on top of it always; Adam Schefter.\n\nMinutes ago, before Monday Night Football kicks off, 49ers\u2019 DT D.J. Jones proposed to his girlfriend on the field at Levi\u2019s Stadium. Proposal, then game; that\u2019s some Monday night. \u2014 Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 7, 2019\n\nEqually important, we have some exclusive video of the event uncovered by our sleuth-work team (myself). Surely this is proof that in the year 2019 \u2013 if you do something in the public eye \u2013 it\u2019s going on tape.\n\n#49ers\u2019 DL DJ Jones proposed to his Girlfriend prior to kickoff and she said yes! \u2764\ufe0f\ud83d\udc9b pic.twitter.com/jaHq0L2wcx \u2014 ourSF49ers (@OSf49ers) October 7, 2019\n\nFinally, if you want to learn more about Jones; he\u2019s a third-year lineman out of Mississippi. He was drafted in the sixth round of the 2017 NFL draft, 198th overall. He\u2019s appeared in 22 games for the 49ers, making 31 total tackles in that time.\n\nNow, he\u2019s also the man who pulled off one of Monday Night Football\u2019s most famous proposals in sports history. Indeed, the guy will get some serious run-time with the television crew tonight. Obviously \u2013 we assume she agreed to marry Jones \u2013 this is his night. Don\u2019t be surprised if he makes a big play or two in honor of his bride-to-be."}
-{"text": "Kelly M. Brackin, 52, was found dead on Cherry Street in Alcoa Friday. Her son, Johnathon Sellers, 18, is charged with criminal homicide for her death.\n\nSellers is also the man said to be involved in a Sevier County officer-involved shooting Friday morning.\n\nSellers made his first appearance in court Monday where he was appointed a public defender. He will not appear in court again until April 29. He's currently being held in the Blount County Jail on $1 million bond.\n\nThe Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said Sellers was shot by officers with Pigeon Forge Police Friday morning. Just after 4 a.m., Pigeon Force Officers tried to pull over Sellers for suspicion of DUI along the Parkway.\n\nSellers led officers on a chase into Gatlinburg, drove back to Pigeon Forge, then crossed into the Sevierville city limits. Officers used a spike strip to stop Sellers vehicle.\n\nWhen Sellers got out of the car, TBI said Sellers was holding a shotgun, so they opened fire, hitting Sellers. He was taken to the hospital.\n\nIn Alcoa, officers went to an apartment on Cherry Street just after 4:30 a.m. for a welfare check. Detectives say they found Seller's mother, Kelly M. Brackin, dead inside of the Cherry Street apartment. An autopsy revealed she was shot multiple times.\n\n\"She struck me as the kind of person that would say 'hey, you need the shirt off my back?' She'd give it to you,\" Shayne Harrell, a neighbor, said.\n\nHe was with his fiance in their apartment across the street when they heard arguing at 862 Cherry Street at around 2 a.m.\n\n\"'Bang, bang, bang.' We don't know exactly what that is now -- but unfortunately, it looks like it took a turn for the worse,\" Harrell said. He added that a man took off in a silver car, the same car that Pigeon Forge police tried pulling over earlier in the morning."}
-{"text": "There has been an interesting outbreak of pragmatism that endorses tax haven behaviour on the blog and in the press this weekend, all of it the result of George Osborne's Swiss tax deal.\n\nSo let me be clear, of course we need tax havens. Without them we couldn't:\n\n- undertake mass tax evasion\n\n- hide multinational company profits from tax\n\n- launder drug money\n\n- launch attacks on the tax systems of democracies\n\n- ensure counterfeiters have a secure base from which to trade\n\n- facilitate insider dealing\n\n- help kleptocrats loot their countries\n\n- hide the trail of people traffickers\n\n- provide asymetric information to markets that increase risk and threayen global financial collapse\n\n- shift wealth from the poor to the rich.\n\nSo of course we need them. It's so obvious they add to the stock of human wellbeing.\n\nThat's why the UK gave them a big vote of confidence last week. And it is no doubt why so many friends of tax havens are celebrating the fact."}
-{"text": "Cats like attention, and they\u2019ll do anything to get it, even if they crash perfect family photos, private selfies etc. So, you\u2019ll find below 20+ cats, that hilariously photobombed purfect shots.\n\n#1\n\n#2\n\n#3\n\n#4\n\n#5\n\n#6\n\n#7\n\n#8\n\n#9\n\n#10\n\n#11\n\n#12\n\n#13\n\n#14\n\n#15\n\n#16\n\n#17\n\n#18\n\n#19\n\n#20\n\n#21\n\n#22\n\n#23\n\n#24\n\n#25\n\n#26\n\n#27\n\n#28\n\n#29\n\n#30\n\n#31\n\n#32\n\n#33\n\n#34\n\n#35\n\n#36\n\n#37\n\n#38\n\n#39\n\n#40\n\nSource: www.boredpanda.com"}
-{"text": "WWE's Money in the Bank pay-per-view is right around the corner and one superstar involved is using his past to fuel his present.\n\nIn a recent interview with Vicente Beltran from ViBe & Wrestling, Drew McIntyre was asked what his memories were of the inaugural Money in the Bank pay-per-view in 2010 that he participated in. McIntyre, who also participated in the first-ever 10-person Money in the Bank match at Wrestlemania 26, answered he had a distinct memory, one that involved a certain WWE champion.\n\n\"Being unconscious,\" McIntyre said. \"I was lying on the table when Kofi came off the ladder and landed on me. He landed on my chest and slid through, onto my head. I remember waking up, wondering why thousands of people were in my bedroom. Shaking the cobwebs off and eventually shouting, the referee starts calling over to me to figure out what's going on. I quickly got my bearings and remembered I was in a Money in the Bank ladder match. But that was my first thought, 'Why is everybody in my bedroom?'\"\n\nMcIntyre went on to lose that match and, after admittedly becoming complacent within WWE, was eventually released from the company in 2014.\n\nFrom 2014-2017, McIntyre went on a worldwide indie wrestling odyssey, having a successful run that saw him win gold in promotions such as EVOLVE and TNA. He eventually returned to NXT then WWE, a different man in both physical stature and experience.\n\nMcIntyre says aside from his physical attributes -- being an agile, 6'5, 265-pounder -- his cumulative experiences will give him the edge in the upcoming May 19 Money in the Bank match.\n\nThat match will consist of McIntyre, fellow veteran Randy Orton, Braun Strowman, Finn Balor and upstarts Ricochet, Andrade, and Ali.\n\n\"It's my journey that makes me different from everybody else,\" McIntyre said. \"Not many people grew up in WWE. I was signed at 21 and then left -- most people did the independents then came to WWE, I did it the other way around. I was with WWE for years, learned WWE's way. I was around so many legends in the business, learning, then left and applied all those lessons and then returned after succeeding outside of the company and returned and started succeeding in the company.\n\n\"I've been through every experience and situation you could possibly go through in this industry. I'm still 33 years old. Everybody thinks I'm in my early 40s because I've been around for so long. Just the experiences and situations I've been through set me apart from everyone else. Not many people who could say that.\"\n\nYou can watch the full interview in the video above. If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit ViBe & Wrestling with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription."}
-{"text": "Corumb\u00e1 (MS)\n\nO grande inc\u00eandio que come\u00e7ou h\u00e1 dez dias na regi\u00e3o do Pantanal em Mato Grosso do Sul j\u00e1 atingiu uma \u00e1rea de 1.200 km2 , compar\u00e1vel \u00e0 da cidade do Rio de Janeiro.\n\nA estimativa da destrui\u00e7\u00e3o foi feita pelo Inpe (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais). O n\u00famero, por\u00e9m, j\u00e1 aumentou e tende a crescer porque ainda h\u00e1 focos de inc\u00eandio, segundo F\u00e1bio Catarinelli, coordenador da Defesa Civil de Mato Grosso do Sul. Apesar dos esfor\u00e7os, n\u00e3o h\u00e1 previs\u00e3o do fim do fogo.\n\n\u201cA situa\u00e7\u00e3o est\u00e1 bem cr\u00edtica, a temperatura est\u00e1 alta, a umidade est\u00e1 baixa, a vegeta\u00e7\u00e3o est\u00e1 muito seca e esses fatores agravam a situa\u00e7\u00e3o do inc\u00eandio. O fogo \u00e9 voraz e at\u00e9 \u00e1rea alagada, cuja vegeta\u00e7\u00e3o pega fogo por cima, queima muito r\u00e1pido. Utilizamos um par\u00e2metro que se chama 'risco de fogo', e no Pantanal ele est\u00e1 entre alto, muito alto e cr\u00edtico\u201d, diz Catarinell.\n\nDevido \u00e0 gravidade do inc\u00eandio, o governo estadual publicou, no \u00faltimo dia 31, uma resolu\u00e7\u00e3o no Di\u00e1rio Oficial proibindo queimadas controladas por mais um m\u00eas, at\u00e9 dia 30 de novembro. Na mesma linha, a Secretaria Nacional de Prote\u00e7\u00e3o e Defesa Civil apontou a situa\u00e7\u00e3o de emerg\u00eancia das cidades de Aquidauana, Bonito, Miranda e Corumb\u00e1, todos destinos tur\u00edsticos que est\u00e3o prejudicados pelos inc\u00eandios e seus desdobramentos, como falta e/ou oscila\u00e7\u00e3o de energia el\u00e9trica, \u00e1gua e internet.\n\n\u201cO fogo est\u00e1 sendo controlado, mas os inc\u00eandios s\u00e3o din\u00e2micos. Enquanto houver a a\u00e7\u00e3o humana no in\u00edcio desses focos, o trabalho ficar\u00e1 dif\u00edcil\u201d, diz o tenente-coronel Fernando Carminati, do Corpo de Bombeiros do estado. Para combater os focos de inc\u00eandio, a Pol\u00edcia Militar Ambiental tem feito fiscaliza\u00e7\u00f5es e aplicado notifica\u00e7\u00f5es acompanhadas de multas aos propriet\u00e1rios e pescadores que atearem fogo na terra.\n\nO principal desafio para conter e apagar as chamas \u00e9 a densidade da mata e as \u00e1reas alagadas. O fogo passa por cima da \u00e1gua, por entre as copas das \u00e1rvores, e segue queimando por cima de p\u00e2ntanos. Bombeiros relataram ter visto animais que fugiram desesperadamente e ainda assim morreram devido a queimaduras.\n\nAo todo, 151 pessoas, entre bombeiros e funcion\u00e1rios rurais, est\u00e3o mobilizadas no combate ao fogo. Em uma \u00fanica propriedade, houve mais de 40 mil hectares queimados. \u201cOs funcion\u00e1rios dessa e de outras fazendas foram treinados e tamb\u00e9m atuam com maquin\u00e1rio pr\u00f3prio para tentar evitar que o fogo se alastre para propriedades vizinhas\u201d, afirma Catarinelli.\n\nEntre esta segunda-feira (4) e a ter\u00e7a-feira (5) devem chegar refor\u00e7os de bombeiros do DF compostos por uma aeronave capaz de transportar at\u00e9 3.100 litros de \u00e1gua e mais 35 homens para o combate em solo. Em setembro, 30 homens da corpora\u00e7\u00e3o j\u00e1 haviam sido enviados ao estado para apoiar a equipe estadual contra outro inc\u00eandio na mesma regi\u00e3o que chegou a destruir 35 mil hectares.\n\n\u201cAgora a situa\u00e7\u00e3o foi bem pior\u201d, diz Jo\u00e3o Guilherme Venturini, s\u00f3cio-propriet\u00e1rio do Passo do Lontra Hotel Fazenda. \u201cApesar de ao redor da nossa propriedade j\u00e1 estar tudo mais controlado, a verdade \u00e9 que n\u00e3o sobrou nada. Ao andar no rio, as margens est\u00e3o todas queimadas. Infelizmente, isso atrapalha todos e o turismo. O turista vem para ver a exuber\u00e2ncia da nossa fauna e flora, mas, quando chega e v\u00ea quase nada em p\u00e9, tudo em cinzas, ele se frustra.\"\n\nSegundo Venturini, alguns turistas foram embora mais cedo do que o previsto por conta da destrui\u00e7\u00e3o da paisagem pantaneira."}
-{"text": "Given the Roosters have another six-day turnaround between Saturday's trip to Brookvale and a round three clash with Parramatta, the club is hopeful Cronk's \"hamstring tightness\" will only sideline him for one week.\n\nThe 20-year-old half has been groomed as an eventual successor to Cronk's No.7 jumper for some time, and now gets his first crack at the top flight opposite incumbent Australian half Daly Cherry-Evans.\n\nLam is the son of former Roosters, Queensland and Papua New Guinea favourite Adrian, and recently signed a two-year extension at Bondi despite an approach by Wigan to join his dad in the Super League.\n\nThe Tricolours have been granted an NRL exemption to bring Lam into Trent Robinson's side in jersey No. 23 \u2013 the same number Cronk wore in his heroic grand final display last season \u2013 having not named a back-up playmaker in their original 21-man squad. Cronk has been ruled out with hamstring tightness.\n\nRoosters rookie Lachlan Lam will make his much-anticipated first grade debut after a Cooper Cronk hamstring injury scratched the champion half from Saturday's clash with Manly.\n\nSpeaking prior to Cronk being ruled out, coach Trent Robinson said he would \"get more out of\" star recruit Angus Crichton after he played just 19 minutes in his club debut against his former team, the Roosters' arch rivals South Sydney last Friday.\n\nCrichton is still working back to full fitness from off-season shoulder surgery and has been named on the bench once more against the Sea Eagles.\n\nThe NSW Origin incumbent has been open about his desire to start on the right edge, but has been respectful of club favourite Mitch Aubusson's status.\n\nSea Eagles v Roosters - Round 2\n\nRobinson played Crichton on the left when bringing him off the pine against the Rabbitohs, and said discussions around the 23-year-old's position in his side would be kept in-house.\n\n\"There's a plan around Angus. Angus knows his position and he's been quite open about that,\" Robinson said.\n\n\"He's come here for a reason but he also will play the team role that's needed. We want to develop Angus and improve him constantly as a player and that was our commitment to him when he came here \u2026 we want to honour him coming here but also we want to make sure the Roosters are on track as well.\n\n\"It's easy for me to stand here and talk about long term but long term's tomorrow night for us. I'll talk to Angus about that but I don't really need to talk to everybody about that.\n\n\"He knows our plan. The team knows our plan but long term for us is tomorrow night. That's what we're focused on. We can't wait to go over and improve on last week in Manly.\""}
-{"text": "Memphis touts first-of-its-kind program to help city workers pay off student loans\n\nRyan Poe , Ryan Poe | Memphis Commercial Appeal\n\nShow Caption Hide Caption There is a 'right' way to pay off all that student loan debt You can choose the repayment strategy that will boost your psyche or the method that will cost less over time.Video provided by Newsy\n\nThe city of Memphis will offer to help pay off city employees' student debt beginning July 1, becoming the first city in the country to offer such a program.\n\nThe city will contribute $50 per month to principal repayment of student loans for full-time employees who have worked at least a year for the city.\n\n\u201cWe are proud to be the first municipality in the country to offer this kind of student debt assistance to our workforce. We view this as an important investment in our employees,\u201d said Alex Smith, the city's chief human resources officer.\n\nStudent debt grew by 5 percent in Memphis in 2016 \u2014 faster than the nation's average of 3 percent growth, according to a city release. Outstanding student debt exceeds $1.4 trillion nationally. Tuition.io will administer the city program.\n\nThe contribution is one of several new fringe-benefit programs offered by the city, which in 2014 began drastically restructuring and cutting benefits to reduce its pension liability. Pre-65 retirees bore the brunt of the changes \u2014 including many public safety employees, who generally retire early \u2014 contributing to a mass exodus that has left the Memphis Police Department with roughly 500 fewer officers than at its 2011 peak.\n\nReach Ryan Poe at poe@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter at @ryanpoe."}
-{"text": "3.8888888888889 out of 5 based on 9 customer ratings\n\n3.8888888888889 out of 5 based on 9 customer ratings\n\nThis product is currently out of stock and unavailable."}
-{"text": "The Daily Mail has published a rubbish piece by Michael Howard, former leader of Britain\u2019s Conservative party, attacking Donald Trump, claiming that man-made global warming is real and that Margaret Thatcher was a true believer.\n\nThe piece is headlined \u201c30 years ago, Mrs Thatcher warned of man-made global warming. I fear this blazing summer is proving her right.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s drivel \u2013 worthy, if one could be bothered, of a complaint on grounds of accuracy to the press regulator IPSO.\n\nI\u2019ll detail its faults in a moment. The fact that so rigorous and robust a newspaper should publish such dross is worrying indeed.\n\nThough some loathe its mix of prurience and sanctimony, the Mail is one of the last truly great British newspapers. Its journalists do real journalism. It is tightly edited. It is a bastion of conservative values and it speaks for Middle England, as it showed when \u2013 against its proprietor\u2019s wishes \u2013 it stood up for Brexit. Also, for years it has stood out as one of the few media strongholds of climate scepticism. Often it has published pieces by Christopher Booker \u2013 and in its Sunday edition by David Rose \u2013 and also by me on occasion exposing the flaws in the climate consensus.\n\nYou could argue that this was hardly a difficult position to take, there being so much low hanging fruit to be plucked on this particular issue. But in a climate where the government apparatus and the scientific establishment and, of course, the BBC are all relentlessly pushing the climate alarmist line it takes editorial courage to be the newspaper that stands out from the crowd and dares to point out that the Emperor is in fact naked.\n\nIf the Mail is now going to duck its responsibilities, that leaves only the Sunday Telegraph (not the embarrassingly pro-wind Daily) and the Sun in Britain\u2019s mainstream media prepared to tell the truth about the great climate con.\n\nSo this piece by Michael Howard \u2013 Lord Howard of Lympne, as he now is. Here are a few reasons why it should never have been published.\n\nMargaret Thatcher, in whose government I served, is unique among prime ministers in having had a science degree and having worked as a scientist before entering politics. She was better qualified than any other politician to understand climate science and to foresee the likely course of climate change if left unchecked. Thirty years ago next month, she gave a speech to scientists of the Royal Society. There was a danger, she said, that \u2018we have unwittingly begun a massive experiment with the system of this planet itself\u2019.\n\nThis is just the kind of deviousness and obfuscation one would expect from a lawyer like Howard. As he must well know \u2013 he is not stupid \u2013 Margaret Thatcher\u2019s early position on climate change had little to do with her scientific background. Rather it was that she had fallen under the influence of a fervent alarmist Sir Crispin Tickell who persuaded her that global warming was a serious issue.\n\nLater, having examined the evidence more closely, Mrs Thatcher recanted \u2013 as she made clear in her book Statecraft, in a section summarised here by Christopher Booker.\n\nPouring scorn on the \u201cdoomsters\u201d, she questioned the main scientific assumptions used to drive the scare, from the conviction that the chief force shaping world climate is CO2, rather than natural factors such as solar activity, to exaggerated claims about rising sea levels. She mocked Al Gore and the futility of \u201ccostly and economically damaging\u201d schemes to reduce CO2 emissions. She cited the 2.5C rise in temperatures during the Medieval Warm Period as having had almost entirely beneficial effects. She pointed out that the dangers of a world getting colder are far worse than those of a CO2-enriched world growing warmer. She recognised how distortions of the science had been used to mask an anti-capitalist, Left-wing political agenda which posed a serious threat to the progress and prosperity of mankind.\n\nHoward goes on to confuse weather with climate by insisting \u2013 against the actual scientific evidence \u2013 that all this heat and sunshine we\u2019ve been experiencing must be some dread augury of climate doom.\n\nAs Homewood shows, the facts simply don\u2019t support Howard\u2019s claims that this summer\u2019s heat is evidence of climate change.\n\nFirst, let\u2019s look at the UK, to see if there is anything unusual about this summer so far:\n\nhttps://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries/actualmonthly\n\nJune was not as hot as 1976 or 1940, whilst July was also not a record month. The whole record shows how variable British summers are, even though average temperatures may be slightly higher than they used to be a century ago. There is no evidence at all that this summer\u2019s heatwave will become the new norm.\n\nHoward\u2019s screed reads so badly, I wonder whether it was not perhaps written for him by Bob Ward, the failed palaeopiezometrist paid large sums of money by an American hedge fund millionaire called Jeremy Grantham to churn out climate propaganda and harass sceptics with vexatious and inaccurate press complaints.\n\nHoward doesn\u2019t miss the opportunity to have a dig at Donald Trump too:\n\nAnyone who has been to a Chinese city knows the terrible atmospheric problems they endure. But people there are not prepared to put up with it any more. China\u2019s government recognises this and is implementing changes. In India, politicians accept they must reduce carbon emissions. Both countries have huge plans for renewable energy and electric cars. The big question is whether change can happen fast enough to avoid damaging consequences for future generations. The obdurate refusal of U.S. President Donald Trump to do likewise is a matter of regret, but in individual American states, much encouraging progress is being made. Businesses are adapting, even if the lead is not coming from the federal government. It is not co-ordinated, but it is cause for optimism.\n\nThis is outrageous for a number of reasons. It\u2019s too bad even for Bob Ward: more worthy of an unpaid intern at Greenpeace. Here we have \u2013 purportedly, at any rate \u2013 a former leader of the Conservative party attacking a conservative U.S. president for his pro-business, pro-market, pro-consumer, pro-science policies while praising the authoritarian government of China, one of the world\u2019s biggest polluters and by far the biggest producer of industrial CO2 for all the propaganda it has produced telling everyone how good its green intentions are.\n\nMaybe Howard is trying to promote himself as a green crusader in order to distract from his involvement in a lucrative, environmentally dubious building project which threatens to despoil rural Somerset.\n\nMaybe he is angling for a job on the green gravy train in the manner of that fellow embarrassment Lord Deben.\n\nMaybe he is deluded enough to imagine that Theresa May and the green squishes within her government are going to remain the dominant faction for more than about ten seconds.\n\nNever mind this political has-been, though. The far bigger scandal here is that the Mail published it. I know from having written for them in the past \u2013 though I\u2019m probably now killing my chances of doing so again \u2013 how thoroughly, painstakingly rigorous they are whenever they publish a piece about climate change or the environment. Yes, it\u2019s because they know that if they put a foot even slightly wrong then there\u2019s a massive, well-funded green lobby ready to scream like Bodysnatchers and demand redress. But it\u2019s also because they believe in factual accuracy. It\u2019s what makes \u2013 or made, at least \u2013 the Mail such a first-rate newspaper: all those subs and fact checkers and section editors, checking and double-checking that every article is up to scratch.\n\nThis Howard drivel falls far, far short of these exacting standards. It is absolutely riddled with inaccuracies and its deeply dishonest premise has been calculated to deceive the readers.\n\nThe subliminal message is \u201cYour heroine Margaret Thatcher believed in climate change. So should you!\u201d\n\nI wonder how the Mail\u2018s overwhelmingly sceptical readers feel about having their intelligence insulted in this way.\n\nActually, I don\u2019t need to wonder. The evidence is there in the comments: they\u2019re not buying it and I don\u2019t blame them."}
-{"text": "by John Greenewald, Jr. \u2013 The Black Vault \u2013 June 5, 2019\n\nThis past weekend brought some disturbing news that even I was not expecting. The Intercept, authored by Keith Kloor, published a piece last Saturday that surrounded a new statement from the Pentagon. That statement read, in part:\n\n\u201cMr. [Luis] Elizondo had no responsibilities with regard to the AATIP program while he worked in OUSDI [the Office of Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence], up until the time he resigned effective 10/4/2017.\u201d\n\n\u2014 Pentagon spokesperson Christopher Sherwood\n\nFor those who are unfamiliar; Mr. Luis Elizondo has been profiled as the former director of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) \u2013 the US government\u2019s \u201csecret UFO research program.\u201d Now, for the first time since the New York Times and Politico broke this story in December of 2017, The Pentagon has called into question what role, if any, Mr. Elizondo had with AATIP.\n\nMr. Elizondo is a former member of our intelligence community, and as I have said many times before, he should be commended for his service. However, he should still be questioned, as he even said himself. He has EARNED his right to respond to The Pentagon and prove that their statement is untrue. Mr. Kloor and The Intercept, according to their article, gave him multiple opportunities to do so, and he chose not to respond (along with other personnel from To the Stars Academy of Arts & Science [TTSA]).\n\nSince The Intercept\u2019s article posted, the internet has gone into a frenzy. The line that separated supporters of Mr. Elizondo and those that questioned his story, has now been further dug deep into the sand. Some thought it was clear vindication for doubting his claims; while others instantly turned Mr. Elizondo into a martyr.\n\nWhen I first set out to find the truth behind the claims made by Mr. Elizondo, I questioned his story, but not the man. I had assumed that part was already done. As The Intercept accurately portrayed, I was very excited to learn about this story, and was not an instant skeptic. However, as time went on, yes, I became known as a someone who had tough questions that clearly, Mr. Elizondo still does not want to address.\n\nSome equated questioning as me making definitive statements or trying to attack Mr. Elizondo\u2019s honor, integrity or character. It was not. Some equated those questions as me working within a secret cabal, in cahoots with The Pentagon, and our lone intent was to take down Mr. Elizondo. That, too, is not true. My intent with more than twenty-two years running The Black Vault, is the truth. No spin, no agenda, no personal politics injected, no nothing. When I post the documents; they are the documents being posted. We all, myself included, can choose to make opinions thereafter.\n\nHowever, those unanswered questions that remain, arguably just became much more obvious on why they remain. The \u201cNavigating the Twisted Maze of the AATIP Timeline\u201d I created, includes just a small portion of the discrepancies to this saga. Conflicting dates; confusing origins; questionable funding; all are included in the incredibly important minutia of this story \u2013 something some \u201cresearchers\u201d want you to ignore.\n\nI have been saying for some time, these details need to be ironed out, especially before we run front page stories or create a series on networks like The History Channel. The cart got well before the horse on this story from the onset, and now, we may be seeing the repercussions of that.\n\nI have made it my life\u2019s mission to uncover details about government secrets, lies, deceit and deception by the U.S. government and military, that has spanned the last century. However, I would be foolish to think that it is only the entities of the U.S. government and military, that can hold secrets or spew lies, deceit and deception. I\u2019ve been around the UFO field of research long enough to know that the number of lies by the feds that I can prove by legal means, arguably are dwarfed by the number of lies that have come from everyday individuals and former government employees injecting themselves into their own UFO-related legacy. Not to steal a line from the X-Files, but, \u201cTrust no one, Mr. Mulder.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s a mantra I have adopted, and I will continue to do so. This entire ordeal has lost me many friends, along with visitors who say they will no longer visit The Black Vault because I have brought up discoveries, discrepancies and questions relating to this story. For that, I will forever be sorry that my friendship did not mean more to those that I lost, and it could be so easily diminished with a difference of opinion. I will also forever be sorry for those who feel that asking questions somehow equates to an evil, sinister agenda, out to get someone so they never return to my free site. I am sorry for all of that.\n\nBut I regret absolutely nothing.\n\nI want the truth \u2013 and nothing but.\n\nThe attackers slinging their mud my direction consist of those who have supported TTSA from the beginning. The same names that I have seen attack me for more than a year, now appear on Mr. Kloor\u2019s twitter feed slinging their mud his direction. The same people that happily display selfies with Mr. Elizondo on their Facebook walls, are the ones leading the charge against me, Mr. Kloor, and whomever else is posting the link to The Intercept. Yet, as of the writing of this statement, there is no Mr. Elizondo. There is no TTSA. There is no evidence to prove Mr. Kloor, well scratch that, that the Pentagon, is wrong. Just the same names, the same bloggers, the same selfie-takers, and the same super-fans. All shocked that quite possibly, the mainstream media in the beginning days, may have been wrong. Although that may be shocking to some that it may be a possibility; that does not make it untrue.\n\nAccording to those who still back Mr. Elizondo, and claim Mr. Kloor\u2019s article was a \u201chit piece,\u201d they are relying on only two pieces of evidence:\n\nA single statement, given by a former Pentagon spokesperson, that only one journalist (out of the hundreds that did stories in December of 2017) can verify. The spokesperson who allegedly gave the statement, Dana White, is the same one who was under investigation by the Inspector General\u2019s office for misconduct of her employees and she left her post in January of 2019 amid the scandal. The journalist who published that quote and is single handedly the only one who currently verifies it \u2013 happens to be making multiple appearances on the new History channel show Unidentified, starring, Mr. Elizondo. That journalist is Mr. Bryan Bender from Politico, one of the first journalists to cover the story on December 16, 2017. Please note: the aforementioned is not an accusation, but rather an observation. Hundreds of journalists around the globe covered this story in the beginning weeks of it breaking \u2013 not one that I am aware of got the same statement. Those that did receive statements, all matched exactly to each other, and none of them confirmed Mr. Elizondo headed the AATIP program. The Pentagon has always maintained that he was a DOD employee, but they refused to comment further about his role (if any) until now. The only other piece of evidence is an alleged \u201cleaked\u201d letter, dated June 24, 2009, wherein Senator Harry Reid requested Special Access Program (SAP) status for AATIP. There is no provenance of this letter. The redactions were applied by investigative journalist George Knapp, who strangely, chose to (or was instructed to) redact Mr. Elizondo\u2019s name prior to originally publishing in June 2018. Despite that bizarre choice, Mr. Knapp says on his social media, in light of this new Pentagon statement, Mr. Elizondo\u2019s name is in \u201cposition #10\u201d and has released that portion of the letter that he had previously redacted. Beyond the question of why Mr. Knapp would even redact Mr. Elizondo\u2019s name in the first place, the fact remains that the letter is from June 24, 2009, which pre-dates Mr. Elizondo\u2019s claim of heading the program, by at least 5+ months. (See TTSA official statement) So in other words, the appearance of his name, with the date of the letter, does not address the Pentagon\u2019s statement or the indication Mr. Elizondo did not direct the AATIP program.\n\nReally consider this for a moment. Reverse the situation. If Mr. Kloor wrote an article, based on a single statement that only he could verify, which came from a former spokesperson who left amid scandal, and then Mr. Kloor only displayed one leaked document with no provenance, and he hinged his entire story on that \u2013 he would be chastised and likely never get a story published, let alone have his story taken seriously by anyone.\n\nYet, that isn\u2019t the case. Rather, that hypothetical is Mr. Elizondo\u2019s current defense, by only those loudest supporters going to bat for him on social media.\n\nMr. Kloor hinged his article on an official Pentagon statement, which was backed by the \u201cOUSDI leadership.\u201d Also, according to the Pentagon, some of that leadership was \u201cstill there\u201d from the days Mr. Elizondo was, so therefore, they would have first-hand knowledge about his involvement, if any.\n\nThat\u2019s a powerful revelation \u2013 and if it is a lie \u2013 I look forward to corroborating evidence soon to come to light. In fact, I have said and offered to ALL parties involved, if that verifiable evidence presents itself, I will even help disseminate it to clear Mr. Elizondo\u2019s name. That offer has been ignored by all parties.\n\nBut despite what I want, this fight has risen above all of us. This debate is beyond you, me, Mr. Kloor, The Intercept, the NY Times, Mr. Knapp, Ms. Leslie Kean, the internet trolls and whomever else. It\u2019s above EVERYONE except Mr. Elizondo and his former employer.\n\nMore than all the above, NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, should take away from a seemingly new environment where military pilots and personnel are coming forward with their experiences and encounters. NOTHING should take away from their bravery stepping forward, offering an honest recount of what happened to them. I hope, wholeheartedly, that this entire mess that we have before us does not diminish their stories or put an insurmountable obstacle in front of them and a press podium.\n\nThey deserve better than this. The field of honest UFO research deserves better than this. WE deserve better than this.\n\nFrom here, I lift a glass to those who are so passionate, they continue to dig themselves deep into the trenches defending their beliefs \u2013 evidence based or not. I lift my glass to those journalists who believe they can not be wrong, and are digging in that they did their homework, but they just can\u2019t show you anything to prove it. I lift my glass to them all.\n\nBut until something irrefutable presents itself, I will remain on the same course I have been for well more than two decades\u2026 the truth. If that ends up me being shunned from a community that claims they want the \u201ctruth,\u201d although I will be incredibly let down it came to that, so be it. I believe strongly that the truth can survive aggressive scrutiny; while everything else, can not. It\u2019s the latter I have always sought to expose, no matter the cost of the questions that needed to be asked and answered.\n\nI am in this research field not to be popular; but to be accurate. My mind is rarely made up on any topic, and that includes this one, despite what you may have read from internet trolls on various social networks. I am, and will always be open, to official Pentagon statements being wrong. But in order to definitively say that, we need actual evidence, and as you have sat down to read this \u2014 there currently is none that anyone has offered.\n\nI\u2019ll see you all at the finish line \u2013 wherever and whenever that may be.\n\nSincerely,\n\nJohn Greenewald, Jr.\n\nOwner/Founder\n\nThe Black Vault\n\nhttp://www.theblackvault.com"}
-{"text": "What if I told you Just because a picture has text on it, doesn't make it a meme\n\n2,097 shares"}
-{"text": "The city of Tombstone, Arizona, has lost the first round in its showdown with the federal government over water.\n\nU.S. District Judge Frank Zapata this week shot down Tombstone\u2019s request for an emergency injunction ordering the U.S. Forest Service to step aside and let the city use heavy equipment to repair its 130-year-old pipeline in the Huachuca Mountains.\n\nThe pipeline and some of Tombstone\u2019s springs lie within a federally protected wilderness area, requiring a permit from the Forest Service. But Tombstone says it owns the land and doesn't have to ask anyone for permission to make repairs that are critical to its survival.\n\nShowdown at the H20 corral\n\nIn a 14-page written decision, Zapata said the evidence showed that the Forest Service had attempted to approve some permits, but that the city did not provide enough information.\n\nTombstone immediately appealed to the 9th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. Tombstone also plans to ask the 9th Circuit court for an injunction.\n\n\u201cWe will take it all the way up to the Supreme Court if necessary,\u201d said Christina Sandefur, and attorney with the Goldwater Institute, which represents Tombstone.\n\nTombstone\u2019s 26-mile water line, which dates back to 1881, was damaged in landslides that followed last summer\u2019s Monument Fire.\n\nThe city plans to hold the Tombstone Shovel Brigade on June 8 and 9, hoping hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteers with donated shovels will head into the mountains and work on the pipeline.\n\n\u201cThe most desperate part of our work is to try to protect the work we have done from the monsoons,\u201d said Tombstone City Clerk George Barnes."}
-{"text": "Popular iPhone camera accessory maker Olloclip today announced the launch of the new Active Lens for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which combines a 2x telephoto lens with a new ultra wide-angle lens. The lens joins Olloclip's other available lenses for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, giving photographers lens additions that are good for capturing landscapes, group selfies, and zoomed in shots.\n\nLike the rest of the lens lineup for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the Active Lens is compatible with both the front and rear-facing cameras. It includes a 2x telephoto lens on one side, which can be used to get closer to subjects, and a wide-angle lens on the other side, able to capture more of an area in a single shot. The wide-angle lens in particular will work well with the front facing camera, as it can capture a wider field of view for group selfies.\n\nCapture it all. A brand new Ultra-Wide Lens gives the iPhone a wider \"action camera\" field of view for everything from panoramic landscapes to a group selfie on the front FaceTime camera. Get in close. Switch quickly and easily to the Telephoto Lens with a 2x optical zoom and get twice as close to the action or achieve stunning portraits with a shallower depth of field.\n\nOlloclip's new Active Lens, along with the rest of its lenses, is compatible with the company's recently announced Ollocase for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which will be shipping out to customers in the near future.\n\nThe Active Lens can be pre-ordered from the Olloclip website for $99."}
-{"text": "Professor asks how to pronounce your last name \"it doesn't matter\"\n\n27,913 shares"}
-{"text": "Translated by Zameelur Rahman\n\nMuhammad ibn al-Muthanna narrated to me: \u2018Abd al-Wahhab ibn \u2018Abd al-Majid narrated to us: from Ja\u2019far ibn Muhammad: from his father: from Jabir ibn \u2018Abd Allah, he said:\n\nWhen Allah\u2019s Messenger (Allah bless him and grant him peace) would deliver a sermon, his eyes became red, his voice rose, and his anger intensified, so it was as though he was warning against an army, saying, \u201cThe [enemy] has made a morning attack on you and an evening attack on you.\u201d He would say: \u201cThe Hour and I have been sent like these two\u201d and would join his forefinger and middle finger. And he would say: \u201cAs for what follows. The best of speech is the Book of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. And the most evil of affairs are their innovations; and every bid\u2019ah is misguidance.\u201d He would further say: \u201cI am dearer to a Muslim than his self. And one who left behind property, that is for his family. And he who left a debt or children, that is [given] to me and [their responsibility] is on me.\u201d (Sahih Muslim)\n\n[Those who Categorise Bid\u2019ah into Good and Evil]\n\n[In regards to] his statement \u201cevery bid\u2019ah is misguidance\u201d, \u2018Ali al-Qari\u2019 said: In al-Azhar it says, \u201cThis means every evil bid\u2019ah is misguidance, due to his (upon him blessing and peace) statement \u2018One who establishes a good practice (sunnatan hasana) in Islam, he will have its reward and the reward of those who practice it.\u2019 Abu Bakr and \u2018Umar collected the Qur\u2019an, Zayd wrote it in the mushaf and it was reworked in the time of \u2018Uthman.\u201d\n\nAl-Nawawi said: \u201cBid\u2019ah is everything done without a prior example and, in the Shari\u2019ah, it is an invention of that which did not exist in the era of Allah\u2019s Messenger (Allah bless him and grant him peace). And his statement, \u2018Every bid\u2019ah is misguidance\u2019 is a general [statement that is] qualified (\u2018amm makhsus).\n\nShaykh \u2018Izz al-Din ibn \u2018Abd al-Salam said at the end of Kitab al-Qawa\u2019id: \u2018Bid\u2019ah is either obligatory (wajib) like learning Nahw to understand the words of Allah and His Messenger, the composition of Usul al-Fiqh and the discourse of narrator-criticism (al-jarh wa l-ta\u2019dil); or prohibited (haram) like the path of the Jabariyyah, the Qadariyyah, the Murji\u2019ah, the Mujassimah, and refuting these groups is from the obligatory bid\u2019ahs because the protection of the Shari\u2019ah from these bid\u2019ahs is a communal obligation (fard kifayah); or recommended (mandub) like creating an endowment or [creating] schools, and every performance of a good deed not known in the early period, and like Tarawih i.e. in a general congregation, and the discourse of the minutiae of the Sufis; or disliked (makruh) like decorating mosques and adorning mushafs [meaning according to Shafi\u2019is, as according to Hanafis it is permissible]; or permissible (mubah) like shaking hands after Subh and \u2018Asr [i.e. also according to Shafi\u2019is for otherwise according to Hanafis it is disliked], increasing delicacies in food and drink and making houses spacious, and extending [one\u2019s] sleeves. And some of these have been disputed [i.e. as we previously set forth].\u2019\n\nAl-Shafi\u2019i said, \u2018That which is invented from whatever conflicts with the Book, the Sunnah, the narration (athar) or ijma\u2019, is misguidance, and that which is invented of good from whatever does not conflict with any of these, it is not blameworthy.\u2019 \u2018Umar (Allah be pleased with him) said about the standing [in prayer] during Ramadan \u2018a wonderful bid\u2019ah!'\u201d This is the end of the statement of Shaykh [al-Nawawi] in Tahdhib al-Asma\u2019 wa l-Lughat.\n\nIt was narrated from ibn Mas\u2019ud: \u201cWhatever the Muslims deem to be good is good according to Allah.\u201d And in a marfu\u2019 hadith [it states]: \u201cMy Ummah will not agree on misguidance.\u201d [All] this was [mentioned] in [al-Qari\u2019s] Mirqat.\n\n[Imam Al-Shatibi\u2019s Response to the Categorisers]\n\nThe Muhaqqiq [verifier] al-Shatibi, in the third chapter of the first volume of Kitab al-I\u2019tisam, discussed the statement of Shaykh \u2018Izz al-Din and his student al-Qarafi in categorising bid\u2019ah, that \u201cthis is not indicated by a proof from the Shari\u2019ah, neither from the texts of the Shari\u2019ah nor from its principles, since if something from the Shari\u2019ah proved the obligation, recommendation or permissibility [of an act] it would not then be a bid\u2019ah. It would be an act included in the generality of actions that are prescribed, or those in which an option is given. Thus, combining in these matters between bid\u2019ah and the evidences proving their obligation, recommendation or permissibility is a combination between two mutually exclusive things. As for the disliked (makruh) from the divisions and the prohibited (haram), it is conceded from one perspective that they are [divisions of] bid\u2019ah, [but] not from another perspective, since if an evidence were to prove that an act is prohibited or disliked that would not substantiate it being a bid\u2019ah, due to the possibility that it is a sin (ma\u2019siyah) like murder, theft, drinking wine etc., so this [kind of] division is not considered in bid\u2019ah; however, [the division of] disliked and prohibited [is acceptable in bid\u2019ah] according to how it is cited in a particular topic. Hence, what al-Qarafi mentioned from the scholars regarding agreement on the condemnation of bid\u2019ahs is correct, and the manner in which he divided it is incorrect.\n\n\u201cAstonishingly, he related agreement [on this division] despite having encountered opposition and despite his knowledge of what this entails in breaking ijma\u2019. It appears as though he only followed in this division his teacher without deliberation, since ibn \u2018Abd al-Salam, as is apparent from him, designated al-masalih al-mursalah (public interests lacking specific proofs) as bid\u2019ahs, building on [the premise], and Allah knows best, that they are not included in their individual parts under specific texts, although it agrees with the principles of the Shari\u2019ah. Hereof, he made the principles as the signifiers of them [i.e. al-masalih al-mursalah] being approved by designating them using the term \u201cbid\u2019ahs\u201d and this is from the perspective of the absence of specific evidence on the issue and approval of them from the perspective of their inclusion under principles [of public interest]. And since he built [this] on [the premise] of depending on those principles, they are equal according to him to actions included under specific texts, and he became one of those expressing [the principle of] al-masalih al-mursalah, but he called them bid\u2019ahs in phraseology just as \u2018Umar (Allah be pleased with him) designated the gathering for standing [in prayer] during Ramadan in the mosque as a bid\u2019ah, [the explanation of] which is to come if Allah (Most High) wills.\n\n\u201cAs for al-Qarafi, he has no excuse in transmitting these divisions in a manner not intended by his teacher or [in a manner] intended by people, because he opposed everybody in that division. Thus, he became one who opposed ijma\u2019.\u201d\n\nAl-Shatibi verified in this book of his all that pertains to the exposition of the definitions of bid\u2019ah, its types, its rules and its being blameworthy deviance, and he removed every doubt the innovators attach to it in a manner not [requiring] any addition to it. So all praise belongs to Allah and all reward is from Him.\n\nVerification of the Meaning of Bid\u2019ah and its Definitions: A Brief Study\n\nThe weak servant (Allah pardon him) concluded from the words of our teachers and their instructions that:\n\nThe starting point in legal bid\u2019ah (bid\u2019ah shar\u2019iyyah) is the statement of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace), \u201che who innovates in this matter of ours what is not from it, is rejected.\u201d The meaning of \u201cmatter\u201d as they expressed it is that [bid\u2019ah] is not used unconditionally except for matters invented in the religion, not for every matter that is invented. As such, the likes of increasing dishes, vehicles and other such things from permissible matters, are excluded. Rather, some of the formalities which people do not do in order to seek nearness [to Allah] and seek reward are also [excluded] from the definition of legal bid\u2019ah (bid\u2019ah shar\u2019iyyah), although it is included in linguistic bid\u2019ah (bid\u2019ah lughwiyyah), since these acts are not carried out by those who carry them out while believing and intending them to be from the religion. Thus, they are not at all from inventions in the religion. Likewise, his (Allah bless him and grant him peace) statement \u201cwhat is not from it\u201d indicates that the matters which have a basis in the Book or his (Allah bless him and grant him peace) sunnah or from the example of the rightly guided caliphs, or from the normal activities of the generality of the predecessors (salaf) (Allah be pleased with them), or the valid legal judgement (al-ijtihad al-mu\u2019tabar) with its preconditions based on the texts are not designated as innovations or legal bid\u2019ah, since these sources are all from the religion textually (tansisan) or by inference (ta\u2019lilan), as has been stipulated in its place.\n\n[The Innovations of the Caliphs]\n\nAl-Shatibi said, \u201cFrom the speech of the rightly guided caliph \u2018Umar ibn \u2018Abd al-\u2018Aziz (Allah have mercy on him) which the \u2018ulama took an interest in and preserved and [which] would please Malik (Allah have mercy on him) much is that he said \u2018Allah\u2019s Messenger (Allah bless him and grant him peace) and the rulers after him introduced [many] practices (sunan). Adopting them is a confirmation of the Book of Allah and completion of obedience to Allah and strength in the religion of Allah. No one has [the right] to change and alter them or consider something contradicting them. He who acts upon them is guided and he who seeks assistance by means of them will be helped, and he who opposes them follows other than the way of the believers and Allah will turn him to that which he has turned and make him enter hell; and it is an evil resort [based on Qur\u2019an 4:115].\u2019 It is deserving that this [statement] be pleasing to them [i.e. the \u2018ulama], for it is a brief statement combining beautiful principles from the sunnah.\n\n\u201cFrom these [beautiful principles] is what we are [discussing] here because his statement \u2018No one has [the right] to change and alter them or consider something contradicting them\u2019 is decisive about the entire matter of innovation. His statement \u2018He who acts upon them is guided\u2026\u2019 to the end of the statement, is praise for the adherent of the sunnah and condemnation of one who opposes it, using as a proof that which indicates this, that is Allah\u2019s statement (Glorified is He) \u2018And whoever acts hostilely to the Messenger after that guidance has become manifest to him, and follows other than the way of the believers, We will turn him to that to which he has (himself) turned and make him enter hell; and it is an evil resort.\u2019 (4:115)\n\n\u201cFrom these [principles] is that which the rulers over the matter [of Islam] practiced after the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace), it is a sunnah, containing no bid\u2019ah at all, even if a specific text from the Book of Allah and the sunnah of His Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) is unknown, since what proves it [being sunnah and not bid\u2019ah] in general has been transmitted, that is the text of the hadith of al-\u2018Irbad ibn Sariyyah (Allah be pleased with him) where he said therein: \u2018Adhere to my sunnah and the sunnah of the rightly guided Caliphs and cling to it with your molars. Be wary of newly-invented matters.\u2019 Hence, he (upon him be peace), as you see, yoked together the sunnah of the righteous caliphs and his sunnah and [said] that part of adherence to his sunnah is adherence to their sunnah, that innovations are contrary to this and are not from them at all. [This is] because they (Allah be pleased with them), in what they practiced, were either following the sunnah of their Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) itself or following what they understood from his sunnah in general and the elaboration of the manner [of this understanding] is hidden to others. This kind of [action] is not an increase on [the sunnah], and its clarification is to come, by the power of Allah. [The clarification] of [which is]: Abu \u2018Abd Allah al-Hakim transmitted from Yahya ibn Adam about the statement of the pious predecessors \u2018the sunnah of Abu Bakr and Umar\u2019 that the meaning of it is that the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) died while he was on that sunnah and that the statement of another is not required along with the statement of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace). What he said is correct in itself for it is from that which the hadith of al-\u2018Irbad (Allah be pleased with him) bears out. There is, therefore, no excess to what has been established in the Prophetic sunnah, but [since] it is feared that it may be abrogated by another sunnah, the \u2018ulama depend on the consideration of the actions of the caliphs after him to know that that is the [sunnah] which the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) died upon and nothing abrogated it, because they would take the latest matter from his command.\u201d [Here] ends [the quote from al-Shatibi].\n\n[The Meaning of Legal Bid\u2019ah]\n\nThe upshot is that legal bid\u2019ah is an invented matter which does not have substantiation from the four sources of the religion, while believing it to be from the religion, and something in which one expects to be rewarded from Allah and gain good deeds. According to this, whatever the Lawgiver commanded as an obligation or recommendation of seeking knowledge, memorising it, spreading it, supporting the religion, defending it, purifying the souls and refining them , if its compliance in this age is dependent on acquiring the ways and means which the predecessors (salaf) could do without, due to reasons and states specific to them, like the composition of the sciences and compilation of books, building schools in specific ways etc. taking up these means is not from legal bid\u2019ah. It is established in Usul al-Fiqh that that which an obligation is not completed except by means of it, it is itself obligatory and whatever something prescribed depends on, it too is prescribed, so it is a part of the religion by judgement, and is not from innovation in the religion of that which is not from it.\n\nThis is similar to a doctor instructing a patient to use a certain ointment which is not found in the market, so the patient took all of its ingredients without excess or shortage and proportioned it into a good standing ointment by himself. Preoccupation with the principles of proportioning and working the mind to [acquire] its methods, although it is not part of what the doctor explicitly instructed, it is nonetheless included in it by judgement, as is clear. Yes, if he increased in the mixture of the medicine or decreased from it, or changed the medicine for another medicine or changed the times of its use or freely chose its measurements, for example, in spite of the instruction of the doctor treating [him], then in this there is opposition to his instruction and interference in his job which is not for others to interfere in.\n\nThis is the condition of the laws of the Shari\u2019ah: it is not permitted to add to them or decrease from them, or take them out of their times and limits, or restrict something general or generalise something restricted, or specify its modalities and modes by mere opinion and guesswork.\n\n[The Etymology of Bid\u2019ah]\n\nThe Muhaqqiq al-Shatibi said in al-I\u2019tisam, \u201cThe root [meaning] of the root [letters] b\u2013d\u2013\u2018 is to invent something without a past precedent. Hereof is His statement, (Most High) \u2018Originator (badi\u2019) of the Heavens and earth. When He decrees a thing, He says unto it only: Be! and it is.\u2019 (2:117, 6:101) i.e. their inventor without a past precedent, and His statement (Most High) \u2018Say: I am no new thing (bid\u2019) among the messengers (of Allah)\u2019 (46:9) i.e. I was not the first to come with a message from Allah to [His] servants, rather many Messengers came before me. It is said \u2018such and such a person innovated a bid\u2019ah\u2019 i.e. he invented a method not preceded by one who preceded [him]; and it is said \u2018this is a novel (badi\u2019) matter\u2019 in regards to something considered good which has no precedent in [its] goodness, so it is as though nothing that is similar to it or resembling it preceded it. From this meaning, bid\u2019ah was called bid\u2019ah. Thus, its extraction in order to practice it is an innovation (ibtida\u2019), its mode is a bid\u2019ah, and the action done in this way is called bid\u2019ah. In this sense, the action which has no evidence in the Shari\u2019ah is called bid\u2019ah which is the generalised usage of a linguistically more restricted [meaning] in accordance with how it is mentioned by the power of Allah.\u201d Then he said, \u201cBid\u2019ah is, therefore, an invented method in the religion which resembles [the prescribed law of] the Shari\u2019ah, by the performance of which is sought an excess in devotion to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He).\u201d\n\n[Relative Bid\u2019ah (al-bida\u2019 al-idafiyyah)]\n\nThen he said in another place, \u201cOften an action is originally licit but begins to take the course of bid\u2019ah. The explanation of this is that an action that is recommended, for example, and a performer performs it in the privacy of his own [space] upon its first assignment of recommendation. If the performer restricts [himself] to this degree there is no harm and it takes its course [of recommendation] when he remains on this in his private [space] without persistently exhibiting it. Rather, when he exhibits it, he does not exhibit it as the ruling of the persistent acts like the regular sunnahs and the compulsory obligations. This, then, is sound and there is no problem in it. The basis of this is the recommendation of Allah\u2019s Messenger of concealing supererogatory [prayers] and performing [them] within the houses. His statement, \u201cThe best of prayers is your prayer in your houses besides the prescribed [prayers]\u201d limits exhibition [of prayer] to the obligations, as you see, even if this was in his mosque, in the Sacred Mosque or in the mosque of Jerusalem to [the extent that] they [i.e. the jurists] said that supererogatory [prayer] in the house is better than it is in one of these three mosques as is required by the outward [meaning] of the hadith. The sunnahs like the two Ids, the Eclipse Prayer (al-khusuf), the Rain Prayer (al-istisqa) and those resembling them take the course of the obligatory prayers in exhibition. The ruling of concealment remains in [prayers] besides these, and hereof the pious predecessors (Allah be pleased with them) persevered in the concealment of [good] deeds in what they were able as it was easy for them to follow [his] tradition and his practice (upon him be peace) because he is the example and the standard.\u201d\n\nHe said, \u201cThe reason for innovation being included here is that all that Allah\u2019s Messenger (Allah bless him and grant him peace) persisted in of supererogatory [prayers] and exhibited them in congregations, they are sunnah, so performing a supererogatory [prayer] which is not sunnah in the manner a sunnah is performed is removal of the supererogatory [prayer] from the place specified for it in the Shari\u2019ah. Moreover, as a consequence of this, the laity and those who have no knowledge about it believe that it is a sunnah and this is a great iniquity, because believing of what is not a sunnah [to be a sunnah] and performing it to the degree a sunnah is performed is akin to changing the Shari\u2019ah, just as if it is believed about an obligation that it is not an obligation or what is not an obligation that it is an obligation and then this is practiced in accordance with one\u2019s belief, for indeed that is an iniquity. Thus, an action originally begins correctly, then its removal from its place by belief and practice is a kind of corruption of the laws of the Shari\u2019ah.\u201d\n\nHe said in another place, \u201cOf the relative bid\u2019ahs (al-bida\u2019 al-idafiyya) which are close to actual [bid\u2019ah] is that the origin of the [act of] worship is licit but it is removed from its original legislation without evidence, imagining that it remains upon its original [ruling] under the requirement of the evidence, and that [i.e. relative bid\u2019ah] is by restricting the generality of these [rulings, based] on opinion or generalising its restriction. In sum, it is removed from its limit to [another] limit.\u201d\n\nHe said, \u201cFrom this [kind of bid\u2019ah] is specifying virtuous days with various types of worship which have not been specifically legislated like specifying a certain day with such and such rak\u2019ats or with such and such charity or a specific night with standing such and such rak\u2019ats or completing the Qur\u2019an in it or whatever resembles that, since that specification and acting upon it, when it is not because of the rule of expediency or by an objective the like of which is intended by those of intellect, free-time and activity, it is an excess legislation. There is no proof in support of it in saying that the virtue of this time is established over other than it so it is good to place rituals in it because we say: Is this goodness established on a sound basis or not? If it is established, then that is our opinion just as it is established in the standing of the nights of Ramadan and the fasting of the three days of every month and fasting Monday and Thursday, and if it is not established, then what are you relying on in this? The intellect does not deem [something] good or bad and the Shari\u2019ah does not support it, so nothing remains but it being an innovation in that specification.\u201d\n\n[Implications of Tark (not doing something)]\n\nHe said in another place, \u201cHere is a principle on this matter [of tark], may Allah benefit by it those who are just to themselves, which is that silence of the Lawgiver on the ruling of an issue or leaving something is of two types:\n\n\u201cOne of them is that he remains silent about it or leaves it because there is no incentive to it, requiring it; [and there is] no necessitating [factor] due to which it was assigned and a cause for it being assigned did not occur. [This is] akin to the legal cases (nawazil) that occurred after the death of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) because they were non-existent. Moreover, he remained silent about them despite their coming into existence, as they only occurred [as legal cases] after that [i.e. his death]. Thus, the scholars of Shari\u2019ah need to examine them and apply them in accordance with what is evident from the universals by which the religion was perfected. All that the pious predecessors deliberated on of that which is not from the Messenger of Allah\u2019s (Allah bless him and grant him peace) practice, in a specific [manner] of which the meaning is intelligible, refers to this type. When the causes of this type occur, it is necessary to look into it and apply it in accordance with its principles if it is from the customs, or from the rituals which cannot be limited to what was transmitted, like the rules of forgetfulness (al-sahw wa l-nisyan) in the performance of rituals. There is no problem in this type because the principles of the Shari\u2019ah are available and the underlying causes of these rules were not there in the age of revelation so silence about them specifically is not a ruling requiring permission to leave [the act] or anything else. Rather, when the cases are presented it is referred back to its principles and it will be found by means of them. None besides a mujtahid can find it and only the mujtahids characterised by knowledge of Usul al-Fiqh can find it.\n\n\u201cAnd the second type is that the Lawgiver is silent about a specific ruling or leaves a matter from the matters, and its necessitating factor that requires it is present, and its underlying cause in the age of revelation and in the time after it was existent and established, but an additional command to what is the general law in the likes of it was not specified therein and there was no decrease from it. Since the factor necessitating the legalisation of the specific rational ruling was existent and then it was not legislated and no attention was paid to its extraction, it would be clear that any excess to what is established here is a superfluous bid\u2019ah and contrary to the intent of the Lawgiver, since it is understood that he intended to halt at what is defined [in the Shari\u2019ah] with no addition to it and no subtraction from it.\u201d\n\nThen he said, \u201cIndeed, here, silence over the ruling of the performance of an act or leaving [it] when the factor demanding it is present, is [equivalent to] the consensus of all who are silent that there is no excess to what was, since if that [excess] was suitable according to the Shari\u2019ah or permissible they would have done it, and they would be more deserving of comprehending it and beating [us] in practicing it, because it is not correct that the legal cause was ineffective in the time of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) and the caliphs after him and then it came into effect . For this [reason] Malik said, \u2018Do you believe people today are more desirous of good than those who have passed?'\u201d\n\nIn sum, all good is in the sunnah and following the pious predecessors who are stars of guidance and signposts of integrity. \u201cAfter the Truth what is there saving error? How then are ye turned away?\u201d (10:32)\n\n[The Hadith \u201cWhatever the Muslims deem to be good is good according to Allah\u201d]\n\n[It is mentioned in Majalis al-Abrar:] [In the subject] of innovation, [according] to a learned scholar (fadil): It remains for us to verify [the narration] \u2018whatever the Muslims deem to be good\u2026\u2019 to its end, since many people have become accustomed to adducing this narration as proof for the non-detestability of what they have become accustomed to of bid\u2019ahs. This deduction is incorrect. The hadith is against them, not for them, because it is part of a hadith halted at ibn Mas\u2019ud (mawquf \u2018ala bni mas\u2019ud), narrated by Ahmad, al-Bazzar, al-Tabrani and others as such: \u201cIndeed Allah (Most High) looked at the hearts of the servants and chose Muhammad and sent him with His message. Then he looked at the hearts of the servants and chose for him companions and made them helpers and supporters of his religion, so whatever the Muslims deem to be good, it is good according to Allah, and whatever the Muslims deem to be bad, it is bad according to Allah.\u201d\n\nThere is no doubt that the definite particle (lam) in \u201cthe Muslims\u201d is not for the entirety of the genus, so it is not contrary to his (Allah bless him and grant him peace) statement \u201cMy nation will divide into 73 groups all of which are in the Fire except one\u201d because every group from the Muslim nation believe its religious character is good, by which it is necessitated that no group of them will be in the Fire, and likewise some Muslims deem something good while others deem it bad, so it results in good being indistinguishable from bad.\n\nThus, [the definite particle] is either for particularity (\u2018ahd) and the particularised object (ma\u2019hud) is what he mentioned in his statement \u201cand chose for him companions\u201d, in which case the intended meaning would be the Muslims from the Companions only; or for encompassment (istighraq) of the special features (khasa\u2019is) of that genus so by Muslims is meant the people of sound judgement (ijtihad) who have perfected the attribute of Islam, turning the general (mutlaq) into the perfect (kamil) because the general in the absence of a qualifier turns into the perfect particular (fard kamil) which is the mujtahid [in this case], thus it becomes \u2018whatever the Companions or the people of sound judgement deem to be good is good according to Allah and whatever the Companions or the people of sound judgement deem to be bad is bad according to Allah\u2019; and it is possible that [the definite particle] is for actual encompassment so the meaning becomes \u2018whatever all the Muslims deem to be good or bad is as such according to Allah\u2019, and whatever is disputed, attention then is given to the three generations whose greatness has been corroborated [in the hadiths]. [End of quote from Majalis al-Abrar]\n\n[Hafiz Al-Lakhnawi wrote after quoting the above:] The most obvious and correct of the three interpretations of the definite particle is the first interpretation as indicated by the fa (so) prefixed to \u201cwhatever the Muslims deem to be good.\u201d The latter two interpretations would be considered if the speech was without fa or was with waw (and) as is commonly used on their tongues, and since [this is] not [the case, that is] not [considered].\n\nA group have attributed this hadith to the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) and said Allah\u2019s Messenger (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said \u201cWhatever the Muslims deem to be good is good according to Allah.\u201d From them is Imam al-Razi in al-Tafsir al-Kabir and al-\u2018Ayni in Sharh al-Hidayah and others from its commentators. However, ibn Nujaym said in al-Ashbah wa l-Naza\u2019ir: Al-\u2018Ala\u2019i said, \u201cI did not find a basis for it in marfu\u2019 form in any of the books of hadiths or with a weak chain after lengthy research and much investigation and inquiry, and it is only one of the sayings of ibn Mas\u2019ud halted at him (mawquf \u2018alayhi).\u201d [Here] ends a summarised [passage on the discussion of this narration] from Tuhfat al-Akhyar by al-Hafiz al-Lakhnawi.\n\nAnd from what we transmitted to you about this narration you know that the supporters of bid\u2019ahs adhering to it is not justified because it is a narration halted at ibn Mas\u2019ud, and acting on the statement of a Companion and the obligation of practicing it is disputed. Furthermore, the purpose behind it [i.e. the statement] is: whatever they, either all the Muslims or the Companions in particular, agreed upon, is good, as you now from what has preceded. Preserve this for it is beneficial. Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) knows best.\n\n[Conclusion]\n\nBy this account which we reviewed from the instructions of our praiseworthy teacher [Shaykh al-Hind Mawlana Mahmud al-Hasan] and others of the \u2018ulama of this field (Allah have mercy on them), it [should] be clear to you, if Allah (Most High) wills, legal bid\u2019ah in its entirety is evil and blameworthy and is not divided into good and bad, or obligatory, recommended and disliked, and other divisions. So his (Allah bless him and grant him peace) statement in the hadith of the chapter \u201cevery bid\u2019ah is misguidance\u201d is understood by us as general.\n\nThose who specify it as evil bid\u2019ah and divide bid\u2019ah into types seem not to have been over particular about the use of this word and they shifted from the legal definition to the linguistic definition and construed it as legal , as the statement of al-Zurqani in Sharh al-Mawahib indicates where he said: \u201cIt is linguistically what is done without a past precedent and is used in the Shar\u2019iah in this sense also. It divides into obligatory [bid\u2019ah] like knowledge of the evidences of the dialectical theologians (mutakallimin) to refute the atheists and innovators; recommended, like compiling books, building schools and endowments; permissible, like expanding foods and drinks; prohibited, like errors produced in [the recitation of] the Qur\u2019an; and disliked, like the effect of something the detestability of which is proven textually.\u201d Al-Nawawi said, \u201cthe hadith is from the general [statement that is] qualified and this is not negated by its emphasis on \u2018all\u2019, because that does not prevent qualification as [in] His statement (Most High) \u2018Destroying all things by commandment of its Lord\u2019 (46:25) .\u201d And Allah (Glorified and High is He) knows best what is right.\n\nFath al-Mulhim, vol 5, pp. 328-336"}
-{"text": "Advertisement Wisconsin gay marriage ban ruled unconstitutional Share Shares Copy Link Copy\n\nA United States District Court judge has ruled that Wisconsin's gay marriage ban is unconstitutional.Judge Barbara Crabb issued a motion of summary judgment for the paintiffs, stating that Article XIII of the Wisconsin Constitution \"violates planitiffs' fundamental right to marry and their right to equal protection of laws under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.\"Read the full 88-page court ruling here\"My task under federal law is to decide the claims presented by the plaintiffs in this case now, applying the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment as interpreted by the Supreme Court,\" she said. \"Because my review of that law convinces me that plaintiffs are entitled to the same treatment as any hetersexual couple, I conclude that the Wisconsin laws banning marriage between same-sex couples are unconstitutional.\"It wasn't clear whether Crabb's 88-page ruling cleared the way for same-sex marriages to begin immediately. But the ruling makes Wisconsin the 27th state where same-sex couples can marry under law or where a judge has ruled they ought to be allowed to wed.County clerks in Milwaukee and Madison said they had just learned of the decision and were trying to figure out if and when they could begin issuing marriage licenses. Milwaukee County Clerk Joe Czarnezki said he was keeping his office open until 9 p.m. Friday while an attorney reviewed the decision in case he could begin accepting marriage licenses Friday evening.Crabb said in the ruling that while public opinion may slowly be changing, the court could not delay its ruling.\"Perhaps it is true that the Wisconsin legislature and voters would choose to repeal the marriage amendment and amend the statutory marriage laws to be inclusive of same-sex couples at some point in the future,\" Crabb said. \"Perhaps it is also true that, if the courts had refused to act in the 1950s and 1960s, eventually all states would have voted to end segregation. Regardless, a district court may not abstain from deciding a case because of a possibility that the issues raised in the case could be resolved in some other way at some other time.\"Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said Friday that he believes the current law remains in force.\"I am encouraged by the District Court's refusal to issue an immediate injunction,\" he said. \"I anticipate the United States Supreme Court will give finality to this issue in their next term.\"The lawsuit alleged that Wisconsin's ban violates the plaintiffs' constitutional rights to equal protection and due process, asserting the prohibition deprives gay couples of the legal protections that married couples enjoy simply because of their gender.State marriage bans have been falling around the country since the U.S. Supreme Court last year struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.In May, Czarnezki and Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell said they had trained additional staff to issue marriage licenses and worked with the chief judge to have judges on hand to perform ceremonies.Wisconsin has a five-day waiting period between the application for and issuing of marriage licenses. County clerks can waive the waiting period at their discretion as long as applicants pay a $25 fee. Czarnezki said Milwaukee would be waiving that fee tonight.Czarnezki and McDonell have said it wasn't unusual to waive the waiting period for service members and others with special circumstances, and they would do so for gay couples who pay the fee.Milwaukee County officials are setting up tables outside of the courthouse to handle the license requests. All usual fees and documentation must be brought when applying for a license.Voters amended the Wisconsin Constitution in 2006, to outlaw gay marriage or anything substantially similar. The state has offered a domestic partner registry that affords gay couples a host of legal rights since 2009, but its future is in doubt; the conservative-leaning Wisconsin Supreme Court is currently weighing whether it violates the constitution."}
-{"text": "At an Alabama fundraiser for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) earlier this week, Dick Cheney started his speech by telling the same joke he tells at all of his recent events. \u201cThank you,\u201d the VP said over the applause. \u201cA reception like that is almost enough to make you want to run for office again. (Dramatic pause) Almost.\u201d\n\nToday, the New York Sun ran an editorial arguing that this isn\u2019t something Cheney should joke about \u2014 this is something Cheney should actually consider.\n\nMr. Cheney has virtues as a candidate in his own right. He has foreign policy experience by virtue of having served as defense secretary, and he has economic policy experience, having served as a leading tax-cutter while a member of the House of Representatives. His wife, Lynne, would be an asset to the ticket in her own right, a point made by Kathryn Jean Lopez in a post on the topic at National Review Online back in February. By our rights, Lynne Cheney would make one of the greatest First Ladies in history. Mr. Cheney, in any event, is more than four years younger than Mr. McCain, and, if elected, would be 67 years old at his inauguration, younger than Reagan was when he took office. His health, while a topic of frequent speculation, hasn\u2019t interfered with his service as vice president. Lawrence Kudlow wrote a column a while back saying he hoped President Bush asked Vice President Cheney to run for president in 2008. It was a fine idea then and it still is \u2014 not because the current field is particularly weak, but because Mr. Cheney is so much more experienced and shrewd a figure, one who could help settle some of the arguments about the Bush years in favor of Mr. Bush.\n\nDoes the Sun\u2019s editorial board realize that 61% of Republicans recently said that Cheney would not be an \u201cacceptable\u201d presidential nominee?"}
-{"text": "The Takeaway with Amanda Lang: Canada needs to change how its seen to attract foreign investment\n\nOTTAWA -- The head of one of Canada's largest banks is urging the federal government to stem the flow of investment capital from this country to the United States -- because, he warns, it's already leaving in \"real time.\"\n\nRBC president and CEO Dave McKay discussed some of his biggest concerns about Canadian competitiveness, particularly those related to recent U.S. tax reforms, during a recent interview.\n\nOttawa has come under pressure from corporate Canada to respond to a U.S. tax overhaul that's expected to lure business investments south of the border.\n\nMcKay told The Canadian Press that a \"significant\" investment exodus to the U.S. is already underway, especially in the energy and clean-technology sectors.\n\nHigher rates, lower spending to slow Canadian economy: RBC Paul Ferley, assistant chief economist at RBC Capital Markets, talks about how higher interest rates will impact the Canadian economy.\n\nThe flight of capital, McKay added, will likely be followed by a loss of talent, which means the next generation of engineers, problem solvers and intellectual property could be created not north of the border, but south of it instead.\n\n\"We would certainly encourage the federal government to look at these issues because, in real time, we're seeing capital flow out of the country,\" McKay said.\n\n\"We see our government going around the world saying what a great place Canada is to invest -- yes, it is a great country, it's an inclusive country, it's a diverse country, it's got great people assets.\n\n\"But if we don't keep the capital here, we can't keep the people here -- and these changes are important to bring human capital and financial capital together in one place.\"\n\nSince the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, Canada's investment landscape has been dealing with deep uncertainty related the ongoing renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.\n\nBut many point to Trump's recent U.S. tax measures as potentially more dangerous, fearing that dramatic corporate tax cuts in the U.S. will eliminate Canada's advantage.\n\nCanada's competitiveness challenges go beyond the high-level, tax-rate changes in the U.S. bill, McKay said.\n\nFor instance, he pointed to another important element he said is encouraging capital to flow out of Canada -- a change that enables U.S. companies to immediately write off the full cost of new machinery and equipment.\n\n\"The acceleration of that in the U.S. completely changes the investment returns that you see on major investments,\" said McKay. \"I think that alone may shrink competitiveness.\"\n\nTax expert Jack Mintz said the U.S. change allows firms in all sectors to expense the full cost of new equipment. In comparison, he said, Canada has a two-year write-off for equipment for just the manufacturing and the processing sectors.\n\nMintz, a University of Calgary professor, said he believes the expensing of capital investments is encouraging a lot of companies to shift their investments to the U.S.\n\nAlthough the business community pressed federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau to take specific steps in his February budget to address the competitiveness concerns, their efforts went unrewarded. Indeed, Morneau has had to defend the budget against complaints it didn't do enough to protect Canada from the U.S. tax changes.\n\nA spokesman for Morneau did the same, arguing that Canada's corporate tax rates remain competitive and that the country has led the G7 in growth.\n\n\"There will be no knee-jerk reactions from this minister, and we are doing our homework,\" Daniel Lauzon wrote in an email. \"This includes listening to, and hearing from, the business community on how the competitive environment is evolving.\"\n\nJohn Manley, president of the Business Council of Canada, said the issue of competitiveness was \"absent\" from the federal budget.\n\n\"We're always in this difficult competition to attract investment and to retain investment -- and it's not to be taken lightly because investment can move quickly,\" Manley said.\n\nRegardless of the cause, some experts are seeing signs in the economic data that suggest capital is already flying south.\n\nBMO chief economist Douglas Porter said it's too early to draw conclusions, but the fact the Canadian equity market and currency have both been on the weak side this year supports the possibility that capital is leaving the country.\n\nThe Canadian dollar is one of the few currencies in the world to weaken against the U.S. dollar this year, and for no immediately apparent reason, Porter said.\n\nNone of the provincial budgets released so far took steps to improve Canada's competitiveness, such as tax relief, he added.\n\n"}
-{"text": "Harvey Weinstein is in increasing legal jeopardy two weeks after the initial New York Times investigation into his allegedly predatory behavior was published.\n\nWeinstein is now the subject of police investigations in three cities -- London, New York City and Los Angeles -- as more accusers come forward. He's persona non grata in Hollywood. And his former company remains in limbo.\n\nBut this was the week the Weinstein scandal really expanded. Something that might be termed the \"Weinstein Effect\" can now be observed far beyond Hollywood. There are newly energized movements against sexual harassment in the fashion industry, in politics and in other fields. Some of the conversations can be measured through the hashtag #MeToo, but there are also more private discussions taking place -- with people asking \"who's next?\"\n\n\"Harvey is not the whole story. There are many Harveys, with varying amounts of influence, at every level in this industry,\" TV critic Maureen Ryan wrote in a searing column for Variety about being assaulted by an unnamed TV executive.\n\nRelated: More than 40 women have accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment or assault\n\nEarlier this week Amazon's top content executive resigned after a colleague came forward and alleged harassment. The creator of an animated show on Nickelodeon was fired. A top executive at the digital media company Vox was terminated.\n\nJournalists are chasing allegations about powerful men in other industries as well.\n\nMeanwhile, new stories about Weinstein's misconduct are still coming to light on a daily basis. Lupita Nyong'o's op-ed for The New York Times was particularly chilling. In it, though, she expressed hope that rampant predatory behavior \"dies here and now.\"\n\nThat's the common thread between Weinstein's accusers and others who have come forward with disturbing allegations about other individuals. They want sexual misconduct to be history.\n\n\"Everybody has a story, and so I think this is a watershed moment,\" Oprah Winfrey said on CBS earlier this week. \"If we make this just about Harvey Weinstein, then we will have lost this moment.\"\n\nIndeed, some women say the Weinstein scandal inspired them to share long-buried secrets. Take the open letter from dozens of women who work in the male-dominated animation industry.\n\n\"In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal,\" they wrote Thursday, \"we came together to share our stories of sexism, sexual harassment and, in some cases, sexual assault\" and \"were struck by the pervasiveness of the problem.\"\n\nWeinstein also prompted new discussions in the California state house. More than 140 women signed a letter condemning what they say is a culture where sexual harassment thrives.\n\n\"Honestly I think the Harvey Weinstein situation struck a nerve, especially in Sacramento, because there's so many of us who have lived it, breathed it, experienced it on our own,\" lobbyist Maria Lee told TV station KCRA.\n\nThis was, coincidentally, the week Gretchen Carlson released her book \"Be Fierce\" \u2014 about overcoming harassment and other misconduct in the workplace. It has been 15 months since Carlson sued Fox News boss Roger Ailes for harassment and retaliation.\n\n\"I feel optimistic that this is going to be a cultural shift,\" Carlson said in an interview that will air on this Sunday's \"Reliable Sources.\"\n\n\"It doesn't happen overnight. But I do see it moving relatively quickly,\" she said.\n\nAs for Weinstein, he stayed silent all week long, a sharp contrast from the first seven days of the scandal, when he repeatedly said he hoped to receive a \"second chance\" from Hollywood.\n\nThere's no more talk of a \"second chance\" now. On Thursday the LAPD became the third police department to confirm an open investigation into allegations against Weinstein.\n\nThe TV Academy is starting a \"disciplinary proceeding\" against him. He is likely to be expelled, the same way the academy that presents the Oscars booted him last weekend. The Directors Guild is also expected to discuss the issue of sexual harassment at a board meeting on Saturday."}
-{"text": "Okay, we\u2019re back for one last episode\u2013 We couldn\u2019t let the Thorns go to the NWSL Final without one, right? We discuss the semifinal against the Orlando Pride (and possibly a member of that team who may or may not have been kicked out of Epcot), the season as a whole and tomorrow\u2019s final against the Western New York Flash North Carolina Courage. With Richard and Jeanette Hamje, and contributions by Emily Braibish, Ted Sarvata and Tyler McDonnell.\n\nRelated"}
-{"text": "Kids shouldn't go hungry. No one should go hungry.\n\nEarlier this week reports came out that the Warwick School District in Rhode Island was about to implement a policy that students who had outstanding school lunch debt would only be served sunflower seed butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. According to the district, they had over $77,000 in school lunch debt and were also facing millions of dollars in budget deficits this coming fiscal year. The fact that schools are squeezed for debt, and would have to sink to shaming kids and their families is a sad state of affairs.\n\nAfter the blowback from this policy decision crossed the country, the Warwick School District announced on Wednesday that they were reversing course on the jelly sandwich policy, telling CBS News that they had collected around $14,000 from parents with outstanding debts.\n\nOn Thursday, the Warwick School District got some even better news as the founder and CEO of Chobani Yogurt, Hamdi Ulukaya, announced that his company would be paying off and covering the expenses for these students.\n\nx as a parent, news of #WarwickPublicSchools breaks my heart. every child should have access to natural, nutritious & delicious food, so @Chobani is doing our small part to help pay this debt\n\n\n\nbusiness must do its part.. our responsibility as members of community. who will join us? pic.twitter.com/6HOTjDE4CX \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u0080\u00c2\u0094 Hamdi Ulukaya (@hamdiulukaya) May 9, 2019\n\nUlukaya sent out a statement with more information on the need for our country to end food insecurity."}
-{"text": "Walmart.com analyzed the hottest-selling items in every state and found some unusual top sellers.\n\nAccording to the data, New Yorkers love Cheerios, Californians love protein powder, and Ohioans are big fans of grape-flavored drink mix.\n\n\n\nWalmart knows more about what Americans are buying than any other US retailer, thanks to its sheer size.\n\nThe company tracks shoppers' purchases across Walmart.com and its more than 4,700 US stores. In a recent analysis of Walmart.com data, the retailer identified the 25 hottest-selling items in every state and found some unusual top sellers.\n\nAccording to the data, New Yorkers love Cheerios, Californians love protein powder, and Ohioans are big fans of grape-flavored drink mix.\n\nMayonnaise is popular in North Carolina, french fried onions are big in DC, and vanilla frosting is a top seller in Washington.\n\nHere are some of the most surprising top-selling items in every state, according to Walmart."}
-{"text": "Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy first released in 2003, and its innovative and still-unique lightsaber dueling mechanics garnered a fanatical group of players that have kept up the game for nearly 17 years. Just this week developer Aspyr Media re-released Jedi Academy on PS4 and Nintendo Switch with updated controls for modern consoles, and it seems like the appeal is still strong\u2014plus, the general multiplayer modes are fully functional. It does nearly everything the old PC game does.\n\nIt also does these things perhaps too well, including apparently accidental crossplay between PC and console, because by direct-connecting to the IP of the unlisted console multiplayer servers PC players are able to join those games. Some of those players just want to hang out with new blood in an old game. Others are fighting as unfairly as they can. The contrast between keyboard-and-mouse advantage, plus more than a decade of gameplay knowhow, against how Jedi Academy controls on consoles is not pretty. It is, in fact, kind of a slaughter. Here's a pretty mild example:\n\nSome console players are understandably furious, asking for the IPs of console servers to be hidden. Other PC players are decrying the toxic players invading console servers, instead trying to welcome new players into the JKA community. Responses to Aspyr's latest tweet is a good example of the kind of social media turmoil going on around the game right now.\n\nWant cheats? d-pad up, d-pad down, click left-stick, click right-stick, click left-stickMarch 27, 2020\n\nUpdate: Aspyr said in an emailed statement that it is aware of the problem and working to fix it.\n\n\"We\u2019re absolutely thrilled and appreciative of the support that our fan community has given last week\u2019s launch of Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy on PS4 and Nintendo Switch,\" a rep said. \"We are aware of the current bug that allows multiplayer cross play between PC and console. As with every game we work on, we are fully committed to delivering great gaming experiences for players, which includes a fair playing field for all. A remedy for this loophole is now in the works and will be available soon.\"\n\nStar Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy is available on PC via Steam, GOG, Humble Bundle, Origin, and probably lots of other places too.\n\nCorrection: The original version of this story implied PC players on console servers were cheating rather than simply having access to features, such as chat and team health, not included in the console reissue of Jedi Academy. This has been corrected."}
-{"text": "Paul Ritchey (c. 2003 - October 2011) is a member of the Continue? show. He is usually the first to introduce himself as well as the game they will be playing. He is also the one to remind viewers to like, favorite, and subscribe at the end of each video.\n\nPaul is a plant-based life-form that Nick and Josh grew in 2003 and also a direct descendant of infamous civil war general George Armstrong Custer.\n\nContents show]\n\nLife Edit\n\nAs a child, Paul was confined to a bubble, on which his dad would project horror movies such as The Lawnmower Man. He fought and died in the Vietnam War, after his parent's shipped him off to military school for some reason. No one is sure what side he was fighting for. He also committed suicide shortly after playing The Game of Life for the PS1 but somehow survived to marry his girlfriend, Jen, with whom he had 9 cats and opened an RC car store. He was briefly a professional backgammon player and was the number 3 seed bowler, but gave up these passions because they couldn't support his lavish lifestyle and cocaine addiction.\n\nTrivia Edit\n\nHe is Italian American and according to some people, quite the handsome fellow, although some people still wonder #whatevenispaul . He loves his mother.\n\n. He loves his mother. While playing Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories Paul discovered he is somewhat of a savant at the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game.\n\nPaul discovered he is somewhat of a savant at the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game. Paul Ritchey has a bizarro world counterpart in Raul.\n\nPaul is credited as the one who shoots the episodes.\n\nPaul has a cat named Licah.\n\nHe's related to General Custer or some shit like that. I think. I can't remember it exactly but it was in a couple of episodes.\n\nPaul is a founding member of the band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy .\n\n. He loves pictures of earthworms riding penny-farthings and was sent one by a fan.\n\nHe is credited as saying, \"It is the privilege of the living to misquote the dead\", (see Sky Shark).\n\nPaul has a brother called Ryan who designed the logo for ContinueQuest .\n\n. Paul does not know how to surf, but would certainly give it a good college try were he not so deathly afraid of JELLY-FISHES!\n\nPaul also has a fear of water in video games, demonstrated during him and Nick's playthrough of Shadow of the Colossus .\n\n. Paul is generally NOT down with genocide, despite his relation to civil war general George Armstrong Custer, who fought and died while trying to steal territory from native Americans in the American Indian Wars.\n\nSee Also Edit\n\nPauling It"}
-{"text": "@Haru17 The original 8 Bit game (and especially the sequel) were larger than was reasonable and full of empty spaces with little to do in them. Both had a story that consisted of the text in the manual and a few blurbs from the few NPCs. Both left it to the player to write the narrative and fill in the blanks.\n\nAs for Breath of the Wild's story, it is told masterfully in my opinion. You are presented as a person who lost their memories and placed into a culture that has had it's cultural identity destroyed. Despite that you can find the threads of the past in the desolation. The main story itself on of courage and hope. The player, through his avatar, roams the land restoring hope to those he meets while building the courage/strength to face his destiny.\n\nIn my version of the game: \"Link came off the plateau only to run from his destiny. When Impa told him to think about it and came back, he didn't come back for a long time. Instead Link went south and lived on the beach, helping those around him with monster incursions. He hunted and cooked, challenging shrines to find equipment and gear. He eventually climbed the mountain and found a goddess without a sword and got lost into a wood where a tree reminded him of the destiny he bore. Armed with the sword he had lost, he returned and faced the challenges before him and slowly he remembered his past. Once Link regained his allies, his memories and met new friends and allies; he went on to rescue his true love from the monster that had trapped her.\"\n\nIn the Master Quest version of the game, my Link is a amnesic warrior who is partially cursed by the armor he wears to rage like a berserker at the foes he meets. There is no stealth or running, just rage at the sight of those that destroyed his homeland. Needless to say, it is making my third time through much more interesting.\n\nBut then I have none of that if Nintendo followed the Link to the Past model instead of the original."}
-{"text": "\"\u00bfY si Cristina se equivoc\u00f3 esta vez y eligi\u00f3 mal? \u00bfY si eligi\u00f3 a alguien que no quiere cambiar?\". El ex secretario de Comercio kirchnerista Guillermo Moreno apunt\u00f3 este s\u00e1bado contra Alberto Fern\u00e1ndez, el candidato elegido por Cristina Kirchner para encabezar la f\u00f3rmula, al sostener que quiere continuar las pol\u00edticas econ\u00f3micas de Mauricio Macri.\n\nMoreno sali\u00f3 al cruce de Alberto Fern\u00e1ndez despu\u00e9s de que el ex jefe de Gabinete de N\u00e9stor Kirchner se\u00f1alara que \u00e9l era su \"l\u00edmite\" dentro del peronismo.\n\n\"\u00bfQu\u00e9 le molestaba de la pol\u00edtica m\u00eda? Las formas no tienen ninguna importancia. Si es por el fondo, si no va a administrar el comercio, c\u00f3mo va a sacar el pa\u00eds adelante. Si el piensa que el problema de la deuda es que negociaron mal, es una imbecilidad. El problema es qui\u00e9n la paga\", sentenci\u00f3 en declaraciones a Radio Nacional.\n\nInsisti\u00f3 Moreno que la decisi\u00f3n de Cristina Kirchner le pareci\u00f3 \"desacertada\" y \"las encuestas lo est\u00e1n indicando porque baja Alberto\".\n\n\"Es una f\u00f3rmula que est\u00e1 complicada porque no conquista la pasi\u00f3n que necesita del pueblo peronista que est\u00e1 en la calle\", enfatiz\u00f3 Moreno, y aprovech\u00f3 para criticar tambi\u00e9n la elecci\u00f3n de Axel Kicillof en provincia de Buenos Aires.\n\n\"Es lo mismo, la figura relevante es la intendenta (Ver\u00f3nica Magario). Kicillof es un muchacho de la capital. No me parece. No hay ning\u00fan bonaerense que diga que es extraordinario\", agreg\u00f3.\n\nTambi\u00e9n aprovech\u00f3 Moreno para lanzar duras cr\u00edticas al Gobierno de Mauricio Macri, y dijo que espera que \"no llegue a diciembre\".\n\n\"C\u00f3mo podr\u00eda perjudicar que alguien venga y haga el trabajo de (el ex presidente Eduardo) Duhalde. Para qu\u00e9 hay una ley de Acefal\u00eda y existe la Asamblea Legislativa, si tenemos un desquiciado gobernando\", insisti\u00f3.\n\n"}
-{"text": "By now everyone has seen crisscrossing streaks of white clouds trailing behind jet aircraft, stretching from horizon to horizon, eventually turning the sky into a murky haze.\n\nOur innate intelligence tells us these are not mere vapor trails from jet engines, but no one yet has probed the questions: WHO is doing this and WHY. With the release of this video, all of that has changed.\n\nHere is the story of a rapidly developing industry called Geo-engineering, driven by scientists, corporations, and governments intent on changing global climate, controlling the weather, and altering the chemical composition of soil and water - all supposedly for the betterment of mankind.\n\nAlthough officials insist that these programs are only in the discussion phase, evidence is abundant that they have been underway since about 1990 - and the effect has been devastating to crops, wildlife, and human health.\n\nWe are being sprayed with toxic substances without our consent and, to add insult to injury, they are lying to us about it. Do not watch this documentary if you have high blood pressure."}
-{"text": "The proposed bill, first reported by the Government Executive site, is the latest in a series arising from the scandal over appointment scheduling and patient care at VA\u2014and is less sweeping than an earlier \u201cdiscussion draft\u201d from the department.\n\nA law enacted two years ago in the immediate wake of those disclosures limited the appeal rights for VA\u2019s Senior Executive Service members, the layer between political appointees and mid-level managers. Compared with federal employees in general, they have a shorter notice period and less time to file an appeal. Also, the discipline stands if the hearing officer does not issue a decision overturning it within 21 days, and there is no right of further appeal to the three-member merit board and then into federal court.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nDespite those limits, the MSPB\u2014which functions like an internal government court system\u2014recently overturned the department in three highly publicized cases, one a proposed firing and two proposed demotions.\n\nIn reaching those decisions, the MSPB applied its general principles for judging whether disciplinary actions are reasonable in light of the circumstances, and noted that the 2014 law barred it from imposing a lesser penalty for VA executives as it can for other employees\u2013leaving an all or nothing choice.\n\nIn a cover letter accompanying the latest proposal, the VA Secretary Robert McDonald did not specifically refer to those cases but said the department\u2019s effort to improve service to veterans \u201cis dependent upon the career VA leaders who provide executive level leadership for VA\u2019s health care facilities and programs.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\n\u201cThe VA Secretary needs greater flexibility than current authorities afford him in terms of recruiting, compensating, appraising, and \u2014 where necessary \u2013 disciplining career health care executives to ensure that VA can operate as a values-based high performance organization rather than a compliance-focused underperforming bureaucracy,\u201d he wrote.\n\nUnder the proposal, senior executives responsible for health-care programs\u2014the majority of the roughly 360 senior executives at the department\u2013would be put under a separate body of personnel laws called Title 38 that applies to VA physicians, dentists and other medical professionals. That would allow the department to pay salaries above the SES pay cap, currently $185,100, but also allow appeals of discipline only to internal agency review boards.\n\nThe earlier discussion draft would have applied those changes to all VA senior executives.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nMeanwhile, other VA executives could continue to appeal to the MSPB but those appeals would be heard directly by the three-member merit board, rather than by a hearing officer. The board would have to issue a decision within 30 days and would have to \u201cdefer to agency actions that are supported by substantial evidence, lawful, and within the tolerable bounds of reasonableness,\u201d according to a summary of the impact.\n\n\u201cSubstantial evidence\u201d in turn would be defined as what \u201ca reasonable person might accept as adequate to support a conclusion, even though other reasonable persons might disagree.\u201d The measure also would allow the MSPB to reduce the penalty imposed by the department in certain circumstances.\n\nJason Briefel, acting president of the Senior Executives Association, said that the association is studying the bill. Compared to the earlier draft, \u201cit is certainly an improvement, but we still have concerns,\u201d he said.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nHowever, Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), chair of the House Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee, criticized the proposal for not going far enough. It \u201cenables VA leaders to say they are doing something about the department\u2019s accountability crisis, but it ignores the root of the problem: VA\u2019s inability to effectively, swiftly and fairly discipline all VA employees,\u201d he said in a statement.\n\nThe proposal would apply to only about 1 percent of the department\u2019s workforce and \u201cwould actually turn what is now a roughly month-long disciplinary process for VA health care senior executives into a process that could take up to 700 days,\u201d he said.\n\nThe proposal comes as Congress is working to revamp and update the 2014 law, which addressed numerous issues beyond executive appeals rights.\n\nAD\n\nChanges to legal rights for senior executives could set precedent for similar changes for those VA employees who are not already under Title 38. The House last year passed with bipartisan support a bill to extend many of the 2014 law\u2019s provisions to them, although with longer time limits. The full Senate has not acted on a counterpart bill that passed its veterans committee, however."}
-{"text": "\u3046\u308f\u30fc\uff01\uff01\uff01\n\n\u8f09\u3063\u3066\u308b\uff01\u30b8\u30e3\u30f3\u30d7SQ\u306bTo LOVE\u308b\u304c\u4e45\u3005\u306b\u8f09\u3063\u3066\u308b\u30fc\uff01\uff01\uff01\uff01\uff01\n\n\"\u3068\u3089\u3076\u308b\u304f\u308d\u306b\u304f\u308b\"\u30ab\u30d0\u30fc\u30a4\u30e9\u30b9\u30c8\u521d\u516c\u958b\uff01\uff01\uff01\n\n\u79cb\u672c\u5148\u751f\u304c\u3044\u306a\u3051\u308c\u3070\u77e2\u5439\u5148\u751f\u306f\u30c7\u30d3\u30e5\u30fc\u3057\u3066\u3044\u306a\u304f\u3001To LOVE\u308b\u3082\u751f\u307e\u308c\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f\n\n\u3063\u3066\uff01\u5ca1\u52c7\u4e00\u5148\u751f\u306b\u3082\u5148\u751f\u4ed8\u3051\u308dSQ\u7de8\u96c6\u90e8\uff01\uff01\uff01\n\n\n\n\u3063\u3066\u60c5\u5831\u3053\u308c\u3060\u3051\u304b\u3088\uff01\uff01\uff01\uff01\n\n\u3061\u306a\u307f\u306bTo LOVE\u308b\u30d5\u30a3\u30ae\u30e5\u30a2\u30b7\u30ea\u30fc\u30ba\u306f\u3001\u3053\u308c\u304b\u3089\u3082\u6012\u6d9b\u306e\u5c55\u958b\u306a\u306e\u3067\u3001\u304a\u91d1\u306e\u3054\u5229\u7528\u306f\u8a08\u753b\u7684\u306b\uff01"}
-{"text": "What is better than a fresh, homemade scone for breakfast? A homemade Peach and Raspberry Scone! Light, flaky, buttery and filled with fruit, these are the perfect start to your day!\n\nCan we have a chat? About who took the damn Sun?\n\nBecause I\u2019m about to spend a ton of money fixing the Air Con in my car because it was so hot last week I wanted to die. And ever since I booked it in, it\u2019s been cold, wet and windy.\n\nThanks Mother nature!\n\nWell, the good news is, I\u2019ll have a car as cool as an ice box.\n\nAnyway. Scones.\n\nThere was a time when I was absolutely obsessed with homemade scones, couldn\u2019t get enough! But as a blogger, I can\u2019t just post scone recipes, you\u2019d get pretty bored! With a pretty hectic schedule, I\u2019m always wanting to make new and exciting things for the blog and things get pushed down the list.\n\nHowever, I think it\u2019s been long enough since I posted a scone recipe, so I hope you love these as much as I do!\n\nThere\u2019s a whole argument about whether or not scones should be round or triangular. It seems to me that in the UK we like them round and I do think round when I think of a scone. However, it\u2019s easier to photograph triangular scones and I also felt like trying my hand at making them triangular to see how I liked them. They won\u2019t win any beauty contests, but they taste pretty darn amazing.\n\nBut\u2026 I still think that a classic scone with clotted cream and jam\u2026 should be round.\n\nThese aren\u2019t classic scones though, they\u2019re filled with peach and raspberry and let me tell you, they\u2019re divine!\n\nNow, what constitutes a great scone?\n\nFor us Brits, it\u2019s the light, airy texture, them not being overly sweetened or particularly savoury and being able to be eaten alone as well as with butter, jam and/or cream.\n\nA dense, dry scone just doesn\u2019t cut it.\n\nI\u2019ve read so much about how scared people are to make scones. I\u2019ve always found them rather easy. As long as you have cold cubes of butter, milk, eggs, flour, baking powder, a little sugar and your fingers to rub the flour and butter together, you\u2019ve pretty much got it.\n\nOf course, it would probably be even easier if you have a pastry blender, but I still haven\u2019t got round to buying one, so fingers it is.\n\nThe key to a good scone, I believe, is not overworking the mixture and using cold butter. The warmth of your hands can easily soften that butter, which you don\u2019t want, but I don\u2019t have that problem because my extremities have always been ice cold. I say it\u2019s because I have a heart of ice, but that\u2019s not so true since I fell in love.\n\nOH seems to have melted my icy heart somewhat\u2026\n\nAnother key point is to not knead the dough too much. For a plain scone, I don\u2019t knead it at all. I just tip it out, bring it together and then roll it out. However, with the addition of fruit, I made the scone mixture, tipped it out and then added in the fruit by folding gently.\n\nIf you want, you can add the fruit in whilst you\u2019re bringing the mixture together, but I find it easier to add it afterwards. It means you can get the perfect scone mixture first without beating, over working etc. it to add in the fruit.\n\nIt\u2019s a gentle process, but worth every second when you bite into that warm, soft, light scone for the first time.\n\nYou can add fresh or frozen fruit to the mix, frozen is easier to work with and keeps the mixture cold, fresh can make a little mess and the dough can get a little wet, but if you use a floured mat and hands then you can get the fruit evenly through the dough. And I do love the little juicy bursts you get from fresh raspberries.\n\nBut, I would advise the use of frozen fruit. Especially if this is your first time making scones.\n\nMy biggest piece of advice? Just go and make these scones. They\u2019re slightly sweet, full of fruit, light, flaky perfection. And I may have eaten 2 as soon as they came out of the oven\u2026\n\nPrint Peach and Raspberry Scones What is better than a fresh, homemade scone for breakfast? A homemade Peach and Raspberry Scone! Light, flaky, buttery and filled with fruit, these are the perfect start to your day! Prep Time 15 minutes Cook Time 12 minutes Total Time 27 minutes Servings 6 Ingredients 1 stick (113g) cold unsalted butter, cubed\n\n2 1/2 cups (350g) plain flour\n\n2 tsp baking powder\n\nPinch salt\n\n3 tbsp caster sugar\n\n1/2 tsp vanilla extract\n\n2 large eggs\n\n1/2 cup (120ml) milk\n\n3/4 cup (93g) frozen raspberries\n\n3/4 cup (160g) frozen peaches, small cubes are best Instructions Preheat oven to 200C/400F and line a baking tray with a silicon mat, silpat etc. I use a silicon mat. Place cubes of cold butter, flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a large bowl and rub the butter and flour mix together until you have a fine/coarse breadcrumb texture with a few larger lumps. Alternatively, you can use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour. Place vanilla extract, eggs and milk into a jug and beat lightly. Add almost all of the milk mixture to your flour mix and stir gently with a wooden spoon until it starts to form a dough. If your dough is still dry and not coming together, add in the remaining milk mixture and stir until you have a soft dough. Flour your worktop well, or use a silicon pastry mat (life saver!) and lightly flour it. Tip your scone dough out onto your floured surface and add in 1/3 of your peaches and raspberries. Gently fold in the fruit, not kneading as you would a bread dough, just gently pulling and folding. Repeat with the next third of fruit, then the final 1/3 of fruit; your fruit should be evenly distributed throughout the dough. Transfer the dough to your lined baking tray. Pat the dough into a circle, around 1/2 an inch thick and then slice into 6-8 wedges. Place in the oven for 12-14 minutes until risen, golden and an inserted skewer comes out clean. You can also tell by gently tapping on them; if they sound hollow they're done. Leave to cool for 15 minutes before digging in! Scones are best warm with plenty of butter! Keep completely cooled scones in an airtight container, at room temperature, for 2 days. Recipe Notes Recipe by Annie of Annie's Noms\n\n\n\n\n\nI link up at these great Link Parties!\n\n\n\nShare this: Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nPinterest\n\n"}
-{"text": "The President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, has recently shown his support for blockchain technology in a meeting. Kim, speaking at an annual meeting in Bali Indonesia, said that organizations use blockchain technology to realize their goals and grow as a company.\n\nThe president said that he feels blockchain technology has \u201chuge potential,\u201d that has not yet been optimally used by the world. At the conference organized jointly by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he also showed his support for DLT, which he believes could enable organizations to utilize resources which could take \u201cforever\u201d.\n\nAccording to Kim, DLT could play a role in \u201creducing corruption\u201d and to \u201cleapfrog generations of bad practice\u201d which impede positive growth in organizations. If companies apply DLT, they can increase their efficiency in various sectors by employing blockchain technology in those sectors.\n\nThe more these sectors grow, the better their chances of helping the world get. They can actually contribute to the fullest to making the market prosper and grow. More jobs, more benefits for workers, better products and services, all of it is just a technology away.\n\nWith the growth of the economy in many parts of the world, poverty can in turn be eradicated, which is one of the World Bank\u2019s primary goals as an institution.\n\nTo demonstrate how the World Bank has benefitted from the technology, President Kim gave the example of how the organization has integrated it into their own system. They collaborated with the Commonwealth bank of Australia to create these blockchain based digital bonds. These bonds were completely \u201ccreated, allocated, transferred, and managed using blockchain technology.\u201d\n\n\u2022\n\n[Follow: @cryptonews94 ]\n\n\u2022\n\n#blockchain #technology #coin #coinmarketcap #altcoins #altcoin #news #post #follow #crypto #cryptocurrency #cryptonews94 #cash #money #bitcoin #btc\n\nhttps://www.instagram.com/p/Bpv8k7jALC7/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=pzn7hmm70c2p\n\nfrom CryptoNews https://ift.tt/2qsxAlPvia IFTTT"}
-{"text": "A Conversation With Bruce Kulick\n\nA couple days prior to the 2016 NJ KISS Expo, I had the opportunity to interview former KISS lead guitarist Bruce Kulick. I\u2019ve never heard anyone say anything negative about Bruce, and now I know why. Both on the phone and at the Expo, he was as nice as could be and willing to answer all of my questions. For the latest news on Bruce and his exciting musical journey, make sure to visit his website and follow him on social media.\n\nWas there a KISS song you helped write that didn\u2019t make it on to an album? If so, which song? And why didn\u2019t it make the cut?\n\nA song immediately comes to mind, and the ironic thing about is that it\u2019s a song other people covered but KISS didn\u2019t release. It\u2019s called \u201cSword and Stone.\u201d It was written with Desmond Child and Paul, and it was written during the Crazy Nights era. The producer, Ron Nevison, just didn\u2019t like it. I thought it was a really good song. The guy from Loverboy covered it, Desmond included it on a solo album and then a German band covered it. (laughs) All these other people released the song but we didn\u2019t.\n\nThe fans who\u2019ve heard it \u2013 because it got leaked somehow \u2013 think it\u2019s a great song. As much as I was flattered that artists were covering a song I was a part of \u2013 I kind of started the guitar chords in that song and then brought it to Paul and Desmond \u2013 I didn\u2019t make the money I would have made if it would have been on a KISS record, which would have gone Gold or Platinum.\n\nAre there any KISS studio tracks that you wanted to play live but the band never added them to the setlist? If so, what songs?\n\nLots of times when we\u2019d gear up to support an album on tour, we\u2019d learn how to play the singles live. But with KISS it\u2019s a unique situation since this band has such a rich history of music. It\u2019s always a struggle to add in the new material to the set. Many times we wanted to go deeper than the new singles, but with Gene and Paul if a song didn\u2019t get a big reaction the first time they\u2019d say, \u201cWe\u2019re not going to do that song again.\u201d I can understand that. As a fan, if I\u2019m going to see an artist and I\u2019m not familiar with the new album they\u2019re supporting, how am I going to react to new material versus a classic that blows me away live? It\u2019s always very tough. And there are some artists that are very clear about that \u2013 they only want to play the entire new record live. They know that every song isn\u2019t known yet, but they don\u2019t care. That\u2019s what they want to do. It\u2019s a real interesting thing. A lot of artists struggle with that, especially those that have a long successful career. What do you do when you put out a new record? How many new songs are you gonna\u2019 do? So, no, I can\u2019t tell you album-by-ablum which songs we should\u2019ve done. But I am glad that by the time we got to Revenge \u2013 which is my favorite album, even though I have affection for all of the albums I\u2019ve done with KISS \u2013 that we did quite a few of those songs live. So, that was really good, and a few of them appeared on Alive III, of course.\n\nWhat was it like performing with Ace and Peter at MTV Unplugged?\n\nIn one way it was really exciting because, at that point, I\u2019m fully aware of the history of the band. I wasn\u2019t a huge KISS fan growing up because I was pretty jaded by my brother working with them and I got to know Paul while they were still in their makeup. I didn\u2019t have stars in my eyes around them. I respected them. I knew they were talented and famous and rich (laughs). But there I am about to perform with the original lineup. I never met Ace prior to this, but I heard a million stories about him. The same with Peter. And then they walked through the door into SIR Studios in New York. Part of it was exciting and part of it was awkward.\n\nMTV knew we were doing really well with the Convention Tour but they only wanted to do the show if they could also score a reunion. There was that pressure too, which felt pretty awkward, to be honest. And I wasn\u2019t really aware of how much behind the scenes was going on about them examining if it was possible to do a reunion tour. I always say the Unplugged performance, DVD and album was the catalyst for them to do the Reunion Tour in \u201996. It made sense because it made the four of them have to negotiate and have a contract. You\u2019d think it would be because one of them said, \u201cOh, I miss you.\u201d (laughs) It\u2019s not that, it was business. It made sense. I have a lot of mixed feelings about Unplugged but I will say that despite the negativity I\u2019m putting out there about it being a business move, I thought the playing and the overall event was amazing. I know the fans really loved it and it proved a lot about the version of the band I was in with Eric Singer. And then we all got to play together. We could have done something like that for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame too, but it wasn\u2019t meant to be.\n\nThat\u2019s a shame. I was there at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony that night, and I was hoping something would happen.\n\nOh, believe me, once Paul said it was a done deal, nothing was going to happen. I was still proud to be there, but I knew nothing was going to happen.\n\nAfter Peter left KISS for good, he was replaced by Eric Singer. I\u2019ve always wondered, when Ace left for good, why didn\u2019t you return to the band too? Were you ever approached to rejoin the band?\n\nI know a lot of fans wonder about that. Even with Eric you gotta\u2019 remember there was a bit of yo-yoing there. When the band wasn\u2019t speaking with Peter, insert Eric. Then for the tour in 2003, Aerosmith required that there be more than two original members of KISS for the tour to happen. Since Tommy was already there, they brought back Peter. Things are always more complicated than they seem on the surface.\n\nFrom the minute this reunion tour was planned, Gene and Paul were very clear that they wanted to get Ace and Peter in good shape. Tommy, who is a fine guitarist and known for being in Black \u2018N Blue, which was a great band, was also in a KISS tribute band \u2013 I think they were called Cold Gin. So, Tommy knew what it was like to be dressed up like Ace. And it was Tommy who was coaching Ace in the beginning because Ace hadn\u2019t played some of the songs in a long time. Tommy was always a valuable asset to KISS, whether it was writing songs, creating the KISSTORY book or being an understudy for Ace. He was always ready and willing to help. To me, Ace had a flippant attitude once he was back in the band. They never knew if he was going to miss a plane and not show up at a concert. So, Tommy was always ready to put the outfit and makeup on, if need be. And then it happened. Ace wasn\u2019t willing to do certain events with the band, so Tommy stepped in.\n\nGene and Paul don\u2019t like disfunction and when Ace was in the band there was a lot of that. I was always worried that they\u2019d call me up and ask me to put on the makeup and become the \u201cSpaceman.\u201d It was very stressful for me. On one hand I really missed being in the band. On the other hand, I probably wouldn\u2019t get to be what I was when I was in the band before. I wouldn\u2019t be able to play the guitar the way I used to \u2013 they would probably want me to play closer to Ace. And I had already forged a style that really complemented my era of the band and didn\u2019t poop on the previous era of the band. So, I don\u2019t think it was a bad decision at all to ask Tommy to step into that role. As much as I missed being in the band, having to put on the makeup and become the \u201cSpaceman\u201d would require completely closing the door on something I was and taking on another persona, which would be awkward.\n\nI think it was much less awkward for Eric behind the kit as the \u201cCatman.\u201d He was still his own man. But how do you put on the \u201cSpaceman\u201d outfit and shoot rockets out of your guitar and move around like that and play the notes like that, almost exactly like Ace, and not be the \u201cSpaceman\u201d?\n\nSo, you weren\u2019t upset when they didn\u2019t contact you to rejoin the band?\n\nNo, I totally understood it. I really did. For what they were looking for, Tommy was probably better at it than me. I would\u2019ve had to really undo the way I play \u201cLove Gun\u201d or undo the way I play \u201cCold Gin\u201d for it to work. And there wasn\u2019t a problem with how I did it before. But if you\u2019re going to stick me in makeup and I\u2019m playing the role of the \u201cSpaceman,\u201d it all has to change. The fans know.\n\nHypothetically speaking, if Gene and Paul asked you to step into that \u201cSpaceman\u201d role, would you say \u201cYes\u201d or \u201cNo\u201d? Would you turn them down?\n\nI always say that if I was approached, I don\u2019t know how I would have handled it. That\u2019s why I don\u2019t need to know, since we\u2019re just speculating. I\u2019ll give you a better \u201cWhat if?\u201d What if Eric Carr never passed away? Eric Singer wouldn\u2019t have done Revenge and the other work that we did in those years. Then when the band got pissed off at Peter, would Eric Carr have returned as \u201cThe Fox\u201d? Who knows. There\u2019s a lot of what ifs in the KISS world, but they\u2019ve gone on and done very well and I\u2019m still really close with the guys. Even though I\u2019m no longer in the band, it\u2019s remarkable to me how many fans still know about my era and what I contributed to KISS.\n\nYou performed alongside your brother, Bob, on tour with Meat Loaf, following the release of the iconic album Bat Out Of Hell. What was that like?\n\nLet\u2019s put it this way: if I can survive a Meat Loaf tour, I can definitely survive a KISS tour. We went from nothing to headlining and selling out arenas everywhere. It was a pretty crazy year and we toured all over the world. It was a big band, and it had a lot to do with this very overweight, sweating, torch singer in a tuxedo belting out Jim Steinman songs. It was very odd to do lead guitar work. It was high drama all the time. I did get close with everybody but it was not easy. I barely survived. For example, during sound check there might be sound levels that weren\u2019t quite correct and Meat Loaf would have a conniption and start screaming, with my brother ready to take off his head with the guitar. It was really silly, and I never had to go through anything like that with Gene and Paul.\n\nEven though Revenge was a phenomenal album and all of the fans loved it, the record wasn\u2019t a huge mainstream success and the tour didn\u2019t sell that well. How did you cope with that knowing that you put out the best album possible?\n\nWe know we did a really good record and presented a nice production. We were also aware that music was changing and that it was going through a cycle. I really think we were in our prime and it\u2019s a shame that we didn\u2019t get as much support. When I joined the band in 1984, it was all about having cool videos and being on MTV, but everything runs its course. We knew it was a sign of the times and not a reflection of the effort we put into the album or the tour.\n\nDuring this time Vinnie Vincent returned to the band to help behind the scenes with songwriting. What was that like?\n\nEzrin knew the foundation of a great record was great songs, and Vinnie wrote some terrific songs with KISS in the past so it made sense to bring him back into the fold for Revenge. I saw Vinnie at Gene\u2019s house one time writing songs. However, I also overheard them arguing in the studio. I didn\u2019t know the particulars, but I knew it had something to do with a business arrangement with Vinnie. It was like nothing changed. That was the end of it. We never heard from him again. Everything became lawsuits and crazy stuff like that. There was a good reason for him to be involved with Revenge but, as usual, something went south between him and the guys. I will say that I never felt threatened that Vinnie was going to come in and take my place. But having him on as a songwriter was a good thing.\n\nYou previously mentioned that you\u2019re working on an autobiography. When is that slated to come out?\n\nThere was a time when I amassed quite a few chapters, and then I stopped writing it for a while. I\u2019m not in any hurry. I feel like my story is always being written."}
-{"text": "According to a new survey, Trump voters are disinterested in seeing celebrities get political on televised awards shows.\n\nA new poll conducted by the National Research Group, surveyed 800 people (half Hillary Clinton voters, half Donald Trump voters) for their opinions about movies and politics, according to The Hollywood Reporter.\n\nThe results revealed that two out of every three Trump voters have turned off their TV sets because an actor gave a political speech at the podium, in comparison to just 19 percent of Clinton voters.\n\nIRANIAN-BORN ACTRESS TO BOYCOTT OSCARS OVER TRUMP\n\nEven if some Trump voters don\u2019t hit the off button, 44 percent find awards speeches \u201ctoo political\u201d while Clinton supporters want more politics at the Academy Awards.\n\nIn addition, 43 percent of Clinton voters want winners to reference Trump\u2019s temperament in their speeches (compared to 8 percent of Trump voters), 39 percent would like more discussion of women\u2019s rights (8 percent for Trump voters) and 34 percent would like more talk about Trump\u2019s executive order restricting travel from seven Muslim-majority countries (7 percent for Trump voters).\n\nWhen it came to Trump supporters, 68 percent revealed they \u201cdisliked\u201d political speeches at the Oscars (only 23 percent of Clinton voters felt the same).\n\nHOW STARS HAVE USED THE ACADEMY AWARDS TO GET POLITICAL\n\nHowever, one thing both sides were almost in agreement in was whether they\u2019ll tune in this year to watch the Oscars. The survey added that 79 percent of Clinton voters plan to watch this year\u2019s ceremony in comparison with 66 percent of Trump voters.\n\nThe 89th Academy Awards airs Sunday, Feb. 26 on ABC with Jimmy Kimmel scheduled to host."}
-{"text": "Netflix today revealed that Arrested Development, Mitchell Hurwitz\u2019s sitcom about an extended family of comically terrible people, will continue on March 15th. It\u2019s the first announcement confirming the release date for the second half of the show\u2019s fifth season. Episodes 1\u20138 of season 5 were released simultaneously on the service on May 29th, 2018, so it\u2019s been a long wait for the show to continue. Overall reactions to Netflix\u2019s revival of the show have been mixed to negative, and controversies centering on ensemble member Jeffrey Tambor dogged the show\u2019s 2018 release. That may help explain the long delay, if Netflix has been waiting for cultural tensions to ease somewhat before continuing the season.\n\nArrested Development originally aired on Fox for three seasons from 2003\u20132006, and it was a much-praised critical darling and Emmy winner that never did particularly well in the ratings. Netflix revived the show for a fourth season in 2013, but many members of the cast had become significantly more famous since 2003. The show\u2019s primary stars include Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Will Arnett, Jessica Walter, Alia Shawkat, Tony Hale, and David Cross as members of the formerly rich, rapidly disintegrating Bluth family. Their shooting schedules were difficult to combine, and the fourth season focused on individual, isolated adventures rather than collective ones. Reactions to the fourth season were mixed at best, and for the fifth season, Hurwitz returned to the show\u2019s more conventional ensemble interaction.\n\nBut a series of sexual harassment allegations against Tambor, which resulted in him being fired from the Amazon show Transparent, dogged Arrested Development\u2019s reemergence, and a troubled collective New York Times interview with the cast ended up dominating the story around season 5\u2019s first-half release. In that interview, Walter wept while talking about Tambor screaming at her on set, as Bateman, Hale, and Cross all downplayed his behavior. Shawkat was the only one of the group who stood up for Walter. While Walter said she was \u201cover it\u201d and had forgiven Tambor, the gender dynamic around the conversation sparked extensive discussion on social media and a host of apologies and further interviews with the cast, focusing more on the set dynamics and confrontations than on the show.\n\nThe other main focus of media attention around season 5 came from a plotline that felt particularly relevant when the show was shot in 2017: the Bluth family\u2019s involvement with the building of a border wall between Mexico and America. That subplot apparently continues in the second half of the season, and with the recent government shutdown over border wall funding still in recent memory, it\u2019s no less relevant now than it was two years ago.\n\nHere\u2019s Netflix\u2019s plot summary for episodes 9\u201316 of Arrested Development season 5:"}
-{"text": "Der erste Schlagabtausch der noch jungen Saison um den Supercup zwischen Borussia Dortmund und Bayern M\u00fcnchen ging mit 2:1 an den Rekordmeister aus dem S\u00fcden der Republik.\n\nEURE MEINUNG: Kann Bayern den BVB auch in der Saison \u00e4rgern?\n\nBleibe am Ball und sei Teil des gr\u00f6\u00dften Fu\u00dfball-Netzwerkes der Welt: Folge Goal.com auf oder werde Fan von Goal.com auf !\n\n\n\nEs ging um den ersten Titel der noch ganz jungen Saison 2012/2013. Der Supercup wurde zwischen Borussia Dortmund und Bayern M\u00fcnchen ausgespielt. Am Ende konnten sich der FCB nach f\u00fcnf Niederlagen gegen den BVB in Folge revanchieren und mit 2:1 durchsetzen.Das Spiel begann gleich schnell und offensiv. Die Bayern z\u00f6gerten nicht lange und dr\u00e4ngten vor das Tor des deutschen Meisters. Schon in der 6. Minute konnte Mandzukic einen Pass von Ribery ins Tor schie\u00dfen. Ausschlaggebend war ein Fehler der Dortmunder Innenverteidigung. Mats Hummels lie\u00df den Pass durch, mit der vermeintlichen Sicherheit, Neven Subotic w\u00fcrde richtig stehen. Doch dieser kam nicht mehr an Mandzukic heran. Auch danach ging es munter und offensiv weiter im Spiel der Bayern. Der kroatische Torsch\u00fctze legte den Ball f\u00fcr Robben vor, dieser konnte ihn allein vor Weidenfeller stehend nur an den rechten Pfosten setzen, doch Thomas M\u00fcller staubte ab und h\u00e4mmerte die Kugel von rechts ins Dortmunder Netz.Der Rekordmeister konnte mehr von seinen Kombinationen zu Ende spielen und kam dem Kasten von Weidenfeller immer wieder gef\u00e4hrlich nahe. Vor allem Mandzukic und Robben \u00e4rgerten die schw\u00e4chelnde Abwehr der Dortmunder. Ab H\u00e4lfte der ersten Halbzeit wurden die Dortmunder etwas aktiver, jedoch konnten sie nicht ernsthaft vor das Tor der Bayern gelangen. Die Abwehr der Bayern bewachte die Offensivspieler um Lewandowski fast mit Adleraugen, so konnte sich der polnische Star nicht frei spielen und Torgef\u00e4hrlichkeit erzeugen. Im weiteren Verlauf stie\u00dfen die Bayern immer wieder in Richtung des Dortmunder Strafraums vor. Auf beiden Seiten gab es aber ab der 21. Minute keinen Torschuss und so stand es zur Pause 2:0.Die Teams kamen unver\u00e4ndert aus der Kabine und Lewandowski kurz nach Wiederanpfiff zu seinem ersten Torschuss. Nach einer Ecke von Reus k\u00f6pfte er direkt auf die F\u00e4uste von Neuer. Dann geschah erst einmal nicht so viel. In der 56. Minute traute sich ein Fan flitzend auf das Spielfeld. Dessen Spritzigkeit und Leichtsinn fehlte bei manch einem Spieler auf dem Platz.Ribery konnte seine Spielst\u00e4rke unter Beweis stellen und zirkelte einen Ball mit der Hacke zu Mandzukic, der die Vorlage aber nicht mehr verwerten konnte (61.). Ihm war die Euro nicht anzusehen. Er und seine Teamkollegen machten ihr Spiel, so dass J\u00fcrgen Klopp nach knapp einer Stunde Spielzeit mit G\u00f6tze und Perisic mehr Kraft nach vorn brachte. Gleich mit seinen ersten Schritten im Strafraum wurde G\u00f6tze torgef\u00e4hrlich, aber Lewandowski konnte dessen Hereingabe nicht im Tor unterbringen.Mit den Wechseln konnte J\u00fcrgen Klopp das Dortmunder Spiel beleben. Seine Spieler brachten mehr Kraft in die Partie und konnten in der 75. Minute den Anschlusstreffer erzielen. Von der Strafraumgrenze versuchte es der Pole und traf ins Tor von Manuel Neuer, der den Ball wohl nicht richtig sehen konnte. Nur wenige Minute sp\u00e4ter kam der frisch eingewechselte Julian Schieber zu einer Gro\u00dfchance, konnte den Ball von links aber nur am rechten Pfosten vorbei schieben. Auch G\u00f6tze traf den Ball zehn Minuten vor Schluss nicht richtig und brachte das Leder nicht im Tor unter.Die letzten Minuten der Partie waren noch spannend, doch es ging nicht mehr viel im Dortmunder Spiel. Die Bayern versuchten, die F\u00fchrung \u00fcber die Zeit zu retten und lie\u00dfen dem Offensivspiel des BVB keinen Raum. Dem Rekordmeister gelang eine Revanche, in der die Truppe von Jupp Heynckes zeigen konnte, dass die Negativerfahrungen der letzten Saison bisher keine Auswirkungen auf die Spielweise haben. Dortmund unterdessen offenbarte, wie auch schon von Klopp gesagt, Schw\u00e4chen in der Abwehr. Au\u00dferdem fehlte dem Meister noch die Spritzigkeit, doch bis zum Bundesligastart sind noch zwei Wochen Zeit."}
-{"text": "Timeline 1995\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1995 This is a year in the sun spot cycle when the number of sunspots was at an average low. The cycle averages 11.2 years and low points are marked by low wheat production and higher prices.\n\n(ASCTS, Gamow, p.102)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 1, Gary Larson's \"Far Side\" cartoon panel ended a 14-year run.\n\n(SSFC, 11/16/03, BR p.17)\n\n1995 Jan 1, Eugene Wigner (92), physicist (Nobel prize for physics-1963), died.\n\n(http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1963/wigner-bio.html)\n\n1995 Jan 1, Austria, Finland and Sweden joined the European Union. Sweden held their elections to the parliament later that year on 17 September. Austria held its elections on 13 October, 1996 and Finland on 20 October, 1996.\n\n(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_European_Union)(Econ, 5/1/04, p.26)\n\n1995 Jan 1, In Bosnia a four month truce between the Bosnian Serbs and the Bosnian government was brokered by former Pres. Jimmy Carter.\n\n(WSJ, 6/11/96, p.A14)(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)\n\n1995 Jan 1, Fred West hanged himself in his London prison while awaiting trial in the murders of a dozen girls and women. The victims included his wife's 16-year-old daughter and 8-year-old stepdaughter and several young runaways.\n\n(AP, 1/13/04)\n\n1995 Jan 1, Chile, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau, Poland and South Korea joined the non-permanent sector of the Security Council.\n\n(SFC, 1/1/97, p.C1)\n\n1995 Jan 1, The Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE), formed in 1973, was renamed the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).\n\n(http://tinyurl.com/4wq42s)\n\n1995 Jan 1, Teburoro Tito, the incoming president of Kiribati, moved the International Date Line a thousand miles east around Kiribati to allow all of its 33 atolls to be line the same time zone. Thus the atoll of Kirimati never experienced Dec 31, 1994.\n\n(SSFC, 12/17/06, p.G5)\n\n1995 Jan 1, Fernando Henrique Cardoso took office as Brazil's 37th president. He pushed up interest rates to 25% and stabilized the economy.\n\n(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-13)(AP, 1/1/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 2, Marion Barry was inaugurated as mayor of Washington D.C., four years after leaving office to serve a six-month sentence for misdemeanor drug possession.\n\n(AP, 1/2/00)\n\n1995 Jan 2, Chechen defenders drove Russian troops out of the capital of Grozny.\n\n(AP, 1/2/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 3, Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo announced an emergency plan for wage and price controls and budget cuts to stabilize the peso and combat spiraling inflation. The peso had lost 37% of its value since Dec. 20, 1994.\n\n(WSJ, 1/13/95, p.A3)(AP, 1/3/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 4, The 104th Congress convened, the first entirely under Republican control since the Eisenhower era; Newt Gingrich was elected speaker of the House.\n\n(SFC, 11/7/98, p.A4)(AP, 1/4/00)\n\n1995 Jan 4, Eduardo Mata (52), Mexican conductor, died in air crash.\n\n(www.imdb.com/name/nm0557996/)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 5, President Clinton received Republican congressional leaders at the White House, declaring that \"we can do a lot of business together\" on reforming the way government works.\n\n(AP, 1/5/00)\n\n1995 Jan 5, Angus King (b.1944) began serving as governor of Maine. He continued in office as an independent for two terms until Jan 8, 2003.\n\n(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_King)\n\n1995 Jan 5, A warrant was issued for the arrest of James \u201cWhitey\" Bulger (b.1929), top mobster of Boston\u2019s Winter Hill Gang. He had disappeared with his girlfriend just days before the warrant was issued. Bulger was linked to 21 murders and in 2000 became a fixture on the FBI\u2019s \u201cTen Most Wanted\" list. In 2007 Kevin Weeks authored \u201cBrutal: The Untold Story Of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob.\"\n\n(http://tinyurl.com/2c8u37f)(SSFC, 1/30/05, p.A13)(http://tinyurl.com/29unfq4)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 6, Haitians housed at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba were sent home by the U.S. military against the refugees' will and over protests of refugee advocates.\n\n(AP, 1/6/00)\n\n1995 Jan 6, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef and Abdul Hakim Murad were arrested in Manila, Philippines, when explosives that they were mixing blew up and alerted the police. In their apartment were found bomb-making manuals and timers and evidence that they intended to blow up US jetliners. They were found guilty by a jury in New York on 9/5/96.\n\n(SFC, 9/6/96, p.C5)\n\n1995 Jan 6, In South Africa Joe Slovo, a former leader of the South Africa Communist party and white hero of the liberations struggle, died. He was born in Obeliai, Lithuania, to a Jewish family who emigrated to South Africa when he was eight.\n\n(Econ, 3/3/12, p.62)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Slovo)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 7, Major General Viktor Vorobyov, a senior commander leading Russian troops in their advance on the secessionist capital of Chechnya, was killed by a mortar shell.\n\n(AP, 1/7/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 8, \"Guys & Dolls\" closed at Martin Beck Theater, NYC, after 1143 performances.\n\n(www.theatredb.com/QShow.php?sid=s0398)\n\n1995 Jan 8, The Inner City Church in Knoxville, Tenn., burned down. Arson was suspected and investigations by the FBI and ATF were later begun.\n\n(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A16)\n\n1995 Jan 8, Russian forces in Chechnya pounded the capital of Grozny with rocket and mortar fire in an attempt to scatter Chechen fighters defending the presidential palace.\n\n(AP, 1/8/00)\n\n1995 Jan 8, In Sri Lanka the Tigers and government agreed to a truce.\n\n(SFC, 7/24/96, p.A9)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 9, In New York, trials began for Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman and 11 other defendants accused of conspiring to wage a holy war against the United States. Nine were convicted of seditious conspiracy, and two reached plea agreements with the government.\n\n(AP, 1/9/00)\n\n1995 Jan 9, Severe flooding forced people to flee resort communities in the hills north of San Francisco.\n\n(AP, 1/9/00)\n\n1995 Jan 9, Peter Cook (57), English comic and actor (Bedazzled, Beyond the Fringe, The Wrong Box), died.\n\n(AP, 1/9/05)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 10, President Clinton declared flood-stricken areas of California major disaster areas.\n\n(AP, 1/10/00)\n\n1995 Jan 10, Russia announced a 48-hour truce in breakaway Chechnya, but the cease-fire fell apart after a few hours.\n\n(AP, 1/10/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 11, President Clinton and Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama held a low-key summit in Washington, playing down differences over trade.\n\n(AP, 1/11/00)\n\n1995 Jan 11, A 9-year-old girl survived a Colombian airliner crash that killed the other 52 people aboard near the Caribbean resort of Cartagena.\n\n(AP, 1/11/00)\n\n1995 Jan 11, Onat Kutlar (b.1936), Turkish pro-secular poet and writer, was killed. The militant group Great Islamic Raiders of the East Front were implicated.\n\n(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onat_Kutlar)(SFC, 10/22/99, p.B6)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 12, Qubilah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, was arrested in Minneapolis on charges that she had tried to hire a hitman to kill Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan; the charges were later dropped.\n\n(AP, 1/12/00)\n\n1995 Jan 12, In LA, Ca., Judge Ito heard defense arguments for questioning racial attitudes of Detective Mark Fuhrman in the murder trial against OJ Simpson. Fuhrman had found a bloody glove at O.J.'s estate.\n\n(www.usatoday.com/news/index/nns053.htm)\n\n1995 Jan 12, In Port-au-Prince, Haiti, an American soldier was killed and another wounded during a shootout with a former Haitian army officer who also was killed.\n\n(AP, 1/12/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 13, The Johnson Grove Baptist Church in Bells, Tenn., burned down as did the Macedonia Baptist Church in Denmark, Tenn. Arson was suspected and investigations by the FBI and ATF were later begun.\n\n(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A16)\n\n1995 Jan 13, Italy named Treasury Minister Lamberto Dini its prime minister. He pledged to resign after approval of a deficit cutting budget.\n\n(AP, 1/13/00)(WSJ, 10/27/95, p.A-1)\n\n1995 Jan 13, Authorities in the Philippines said they had unearthed a conspiracy by militant Muslims to assassinate Pope John Paul II during his visit.\n\n(AP, 1/13/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 14, Pope John Paul II addressed a huge rally in Manila, urging young people to reject cynicism.\n\n(AP, 1/14/00)\n\n1995 Jan 14, Russian troops in the breakaway republic of Chechnya captured the Council of Ministers building, a key rebel position in the capital Grozny.\n\n(AP, 1/14/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 15, The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 38-28 in the National Football Conference title game, while the San Diego Chargers upset the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-13 in the American Football Conference championship.\n\n(AP, 1/15/05)\n\n1995 Jan 15, San Francisco\u2019s I. Magnin store on Union Square closed. The first I. Magnin was founded in 1877 on Market St. In 2006 James Thomas Mullane authored \u201cA Store to Remember,\" an illustrated history of the store.\n\n(SSFC, 12/31/06, p.E1,5)\n\n1995 Jan 15, British soldiers ended daytime patrols in Belfast, Ireland.\n\n(SFC, 6/18/96, p.A8)\n\n1995 Jan 15, Pope John Paul II celebrated a final Mass during his visit to the Philippines, drawing millions of people.\n\n(AP, 1/15/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 16, In Union, S.C., a prosecutor announced he would seek the death penalty for Susan Smith, the woman accused of drowning her sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex. Smith was later convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.\n\n(AP, 1/16/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 17, George W. Bush (b.1946) began serving as the 46th governor of Texas. Bush had already picked Alberto Gonzales (b.1955) as his general counsel.\n\n(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush)(Econ, 7/14/07, p.38)\n\n1995 Jan 17, A magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit the port city of Kobe, Japan. 5,502 people were killed in the worst earthquake to hit Japan since 1923.\n\n(WSJ, 1/18/95, p.A1)(AP, 6/22/02)(SSFC, 4/16/06, p.F4)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 18, The new San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, designed by Swiss architect Mario Botta, opened. It\u2019s cost is $63 million and it\u2019s size is 225,000 sq. ft.\n\n(SF E&C, 1/15/95, SFE Mag. p.21)\n\n1995 Jan 18, The death toll climbed past 6,000 in the earthquake in Kobe, Japan.\n\n(AP, 1/18/00)\n\n1995 Jan 18, South African President Nelson Mandela's cabinet denied amnesty sought by 3,500 police officers in apartheid's waning days.\n\n(AP, 1/18/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 19, Russian troops regained control of the presidential palace in Grozny, the capital of the breakaway republic of Chechnya.\n\n(AP, 1/19/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 20, The U.S. State Department announced a partial lifting of economic sanctions against North Korea.\n\n(AP, 1/20/00)\n\n1995 Jan 20, Bruno Jordan, suit salesman and brother a drug enforcement officer, was shot dead in El Paso. In 2002 Charles Bowden authored \"Down By the River,\" an account of the murder and narcotics traffickers.\n\n(NW, 1/13/03, p.61)\n\n1995 Jan 20, The Mt. Zion AME Church in Williamsburg Co., S.C.., burned down. Arson was suspected and investigations by the FBI and ATF were later begun.\n\n(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A16)\n\n1995 Jan 20, The Japanese government, criticized for being slow to respond to Kobe's devastating earthquake, admitted its initial reaction might have been \"confused.\"\n\n(AP, 1/20/00)\n\n1995 Jan 20, Jean-Claude Juncker (b.1954), the leader of the Christian Social People's Party, succeeded Jacques Santer as PM of Luxembourg. \u201cJuncker\u2019s Curse\" was named after Jean-Claude Juncker, who famously quipped: \u201cWe all know what to do. But we don\u2019t know how to get reelected once we've done it.\"\n\n(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean-Claude_Juncker)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 21, President Clinton, addressing the Democratic National Committee, implored members to \"bear down and go forward\" despite results of the 1994 elections.\n\n(AP, 1/21/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 22, The Macedonia Baptist Church in Manning, S.C., burned down. Arson was suspected and investigations by the FBI and ATF were later begun. Four Klansmen were later arrested and convicted.\n\n(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A16)(SFEC, 7/21/98, p.A3)\n\n1995 Jan 22, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy died at the family compound in Hyannis Port, Mass., at age 104.\n\n(AP, 1/22/98)\n\n1995 Jan 22, Two Palestinians blew themselves up at Beit Lid junction in central Israel and killed 21 Israelis. Dozens of others were injured and the Islamic Jihad took responsibility.\n\n(WSJ, 3/6/96, p. A15)(G&M, 7/31/97, p.A8)(AP, 1/22/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 23, The US Supreme Court ruled that companies accused of firing employees illegally could not escape liability by later finding a lawful reason to justify the dismissal.\n\n(AP, 1/23/00)\n\n1995 Jan 23, A French team of paleontologists led by Michel Brunet on 1/23/95 discovered a lower jaw with 7 teeth and a separate canine of a hominid from 3.5 to 3 million years of age. The discovery was made in a dried lake bed of central Chad and named Australopithecus bahrelghazalia after the Arab name of a nearby river.\n\n(SFC, 5/23/96, p.A14)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 24, President Clinton appealed for common ground as he delivered his second State of the Union address, this time before a Republican-led Congress.\n\n(AP, 1/24/00)\n\n1995 Jan 24, The prosecution gave its opening statement at the O.J. Simpson murder trial.\n\n(AP, 1/24/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 25, The defense gave its opening statement in the O.J. Simpson trial in Los Angeles, saying Simpson was the victim of a \"rush to judgment\" by authorities who had mishandled evidence and ignored witnesses.\n\n(AP, 1/25/00)\n\n1995 Jan, 25, Extensive flooding hit the streets of Las Vegas and many casinos had water dripping onto gambling tables.\n\n(HFA, '96, p.73)\n\n1995 Jan 25, The top of a Chinese Long March missile disintegrated as it hit supersonic speeds and destroyed a Hughes Apstar 2 satellite. The debris killed at least 6 villagers.\n\n(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A5)(www.christusrex.org/www2/china/Hughes/pg7.html)\n\n1995 Jan 25, A team of Norwegian and American scientists launched a Black Brant XII four-stage sounding rocket from the Andoya Rocket Range off the northwest coast of Norway to study the aurora borealis over Svalbard. Nuclear forces in Russia were put on alert, and the nuclear-command suitcase was brought to President Boris Yeltsin, who then had to decide whether to launch a nuclear barrage against the United States. This became known as the Norwegian rocket incident or Black Brant scare.\n\n(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_rocket_incident)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 26, A little more than three weeks after Republicans took control of Congress, the House endorsed a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution designed to eliminate chronic federal deficits.\n\n(AP, 1/26/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 27, About 5,000 mourners gathered at the site of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its liberation.\n\n(AP, 1/27/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 28, President Clinton was host to a 5 1/2-hour \"work session\" of governors, legislators and local officials, both Democrats and Republicans, to discuss welfare reform.\n\n(AP, 1/28/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 29, The San Francisco 49ers became the first team in NFL history to win five Super Bowl titles, beating the San Diego Chargers, 49-26.\n\n(AP, 1/29/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 30, The Smithsonian Institution abandoned plans for a major exhibit on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, yielding to critics who charged the exhibit would have portrayed America as the aggressor and Japan as the victim in World War II.\n\n(AP, 1/30/00)\n\n1995 Jan 30, At least 42 people were killed and nearly 300 wounded when a car bomb blamed on Muslim insurgents exploded in downtown Algiers.\n\n(AP, 1/30/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan 31, President Clinton scrapped a $40 billion rescue plan for Mexico, announcing instead that he would act unilaterally to provide Mexico with $20 billion from a fund normally used to defend the U.S. dollar.\n\n(AP, 1/31/00)\n\n1995 Jan 31, The Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Hardeman Co., Tenn., burned down. Arson was suspected and investigations by the FBI and ATF were later begun.\n\n(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A16)\n\n1995 Jan 31, George Abbott (b.1887), legendary Broadway producer-director, died in Miami Beach, Florida, at age 107.\n\n(AP, 1/31/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan, \"The Oxford History of the American West,\" was published, 904pp, $39.95.\n\n(WSJ, 1/11/95, A12)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan, Roger Penrose wrote \"Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness.\" The book is an attempt to show that the human mind is not like a computer program, and that no computer program could substitute for the mind.\n\n(WSJ, 1/9/95, A10)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan, Jed Katz and Phil Marcus founded Rent Net, a computerized listing of available rental units across the US. Its web address is http://www.rentfacts.com\n\n(SFC, 5/12/96, p.E-6)\n\n1995 Jan, The US Postal Service began to allow consumers to use credit cards in postal purchases.\n\n(WSJ, 4/30/96, p.A8)\n\n1995 Jan, In Georgia Andrew Cook (21) shot and killed Michele Cartagena (19) and Grant Hendrickson (22) in a lover\u2019s lane. Cook, the son of a former FBI agent, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1998.\n\n(SFC, 3/20/98, p.A3)\n\n1995 Jan, In Nevada the charred body of Ron Rudin (64), a millionaire real estate developer, was found in the desert. His 5th wife, Margaret, was suspect but there was insufficient evidence to arrest her.\n\n(SFC, 2/2/98, p.A3)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic reportedly made contact with an arms dealer, Nikolas Oman, to buy a secret nuclear device of red mercury for $6 million cash and an additional $60 million from the mortgage of a state-owned refinery.\n\n(SFEC,12/14/97, p.A25)\n\n1995 Jan, British Lieutenant General Rupert Smith, UN commander in Bosnia, arrived in the Bosnian capital and set up an intelligence cell.\n\n(SFC, 6/4/96, p.A12)\n\n1995 Jan, Commercial internet service became available in China.\n\n(Econ, 4/6/13, SR p.6)\n\n1995 Jan, In Lesotho Letsie gave up the crown to his returned father.\n\n(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.14A)\n\n1995 Jan, In Peru Manuel Lopez Paredes was arrested. Police discovered 3.5 tons of cocaine, valued at more than $600 million, ready for shipment by the family cartel.\n\n(SFC, 8/17/96, p.A12)\n\n\n\n1995 Jan-Jun, In Mexico almost 9,000 companies went bankrupt and 1 million Mexicans were thrown out of work.\n\n(SFC, 8/3/98, p.A13)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 1, The US Federal Reserve boosted interest rates by 0.5%, the seventh rate hike in a year.\n\n(AP, 2/1/00)\n\n1995 Feb 1, House Republicans pushed through a bill restricting the US federal government's ability to impose unfunded mandates on states.\n\n(AP, 2/1/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 2, President Clinton nominated Henry Foster Jr. to succeed fired Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders; however, Foster's nomination was later defeated in the Senate.\n\n(AP, 2/2/00)\n\n1995 Feb 2, The leaders of Egypt, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians held an unprecedented summit in Cairo to try to revive the Mideast peace process.\n\n(AP, 2/2/00)(http://tinyurl.com/255pml)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 3, The space shuttle Discovery blasted off with a woman, Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins, in the pilot's seat for the first time in NASA history.\n\n(AP, 2/3/00)\n\n1995 Feb 3, At the O.J. Simpson trial in Los Angeles, prosecution witness Denise Brown wept on the stand as she described the humiliation and abuse of her sister, Nicole Brown Simpson, at the hands of the former football star.\n\n(AP, 2/3/00)\n\n1995 Feb 3, IBM in fashion shed its dress code in favor of casual wear.\n\n(SFEC, 8/29/99, p.C1)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 4, A standoff between the United States and China escalated into a trade war, with each country ordering stiff tariffs against the other.\n\n(AP, 2/4/00)\n\n1995 Feb 4, Patricia Highsmith (b.1921), American born novelist, died in Switzerland. Her first novel, \u201cStrangers on a Train\" (1950) was made into a 1951 film by Alfred Hitchcock. In 2009 Joan Schenkar authored \u201cThe Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith.\"\n\n(SSFC, 12/13/09, p.E3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Highsmith)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 5, The White House and congressional Republicans drew battle lines over President Clinton's $1.61 trillion budget, with Republicans accusing Clinton of \"taking a walk\" and the administration saying Clinton was cutting the deficit more than any president in history.\n\n(AP, 2/4/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 6, President Clinton unveiled his $1.61 trillion budget for 1996, mixing mild tax relief and spending reductions.\n\n(AP, 2/6/00)\n\n1995 Feb 6, Siddig Ibrahim Siddig Ali, the alleged mastermind of a campaign of violence, pleaded guilty in New York to plotting urban terrorism.\n\n(AP, 2/6/00)\n\n1995 Feb 6, The space shuttle Discovery flew to within 37 feet of the Russian space station Mir in the first rendezvous of its kind in two decades.\n\n(AP, 2/6/00)\n\n1995 Feb 6, Poet James Merrill (b.1926) died in Tucson, Arizona, from AIDS. In 2001 Alison Lurie authored \"Familiar Spirits: A Memoir of James Merrill and David Jackson.\" In 2015 Langdon Hammer authored James Merrill: Life and Art.\"\n\n(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Merrill)(SSFC, 3/11/01, BR p.3)(Econ., 4/18/15, p.75)\n\n1995 Feb 6, Pres. Jean-Bertrand Aristide disbanded the Haitian army and replaced it with a civilian police force.\n\n(AP, 2/11/04)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 7, Ramzi Yousef, the alleged mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing, was arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan, after two years as a fugitive.\n\n(AP, 2/7/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 8, US Surgeon General nominee Henry Foster said in an ABC interview he'd performed 39 abortions, more than three times as many as previously stated.\n\n(AP, 2/8/00)\n\n1995 Feb 8, The U.N. Security Council approved sending 7,000 peacekeepers to Angola to cement an accord ending 19 years of civil war.\n\n(AP, 2/8/00)\n\n1995 Feb 8, A 6.4 earthquake at Trujillo, Colombia, killed over 46 people.\n\n(http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eqlists/sig_1995.html)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 9, A preview of \"Heiress\" opened at Cort Theater NYC for 340 performances.\n\n(www.ibdb.com/production.asp?id=4287)\n\n1995 Feb 9, Former US Sen. J. William Fulbright (b.1905) died in Washington, DC.\n\n(http://exchanges.state.gov/education/fulbright/fulbbio.htm)\n\n1995 Feb 9, David Wayne (b.1914), [Wayne Mcmeekan], US actor (Dallas), died.\n\n(www.imdb.com/name/nm0915536/)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 10, The US House passed a GOP crime bill boosting funding for state prisons but requiring states to get tougher on violent criminals before they could receive any money.\n\n(AP, 2/10/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 11, President Clinton, in his weekly radio address, threatened to veto any attempt by Republicans to scrap plans to put 100,000 additional police officers on the streets.\n\n(AP, 2/11/00)\n\n1995 Feb 11, The space shuttle Discovery landed at Cape Canaveral, Fla., ending a historic rendezvous mission with Russia's Mir space station.\n\n(AP, 2/11/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 12, Jurors in the O.J. Simpson murder trial toured the scene where Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman had been slain, then visited the estate of the former football star.\n\n(AP, 2/12/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 13, House Speaker Newt Gingrich ruled out running for the 1996 Republican presidential nomination.\n\n(AP, 2/13/00)\n\n1995 Feb 13, The Hague War Crimes Tribunal indicted 21 Serbs for atrocities against Croats and Muslims interned in a Bosnian prison camp. Zeljko Meakic, Bosnian Serb police officer, was charged with commanding the Serb Omarska camp in northwest Bosnia. Dusan Tadic, Bosnian Serb cafe owner, was charged for visiting Serb-run camps to beat and kill non-Serb inmates.\n\n(WSJ, 6/11/96, p.A14)(SFC, 11/30/96, p.A15)(AP, 2/13/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 14, The best-seller \"Rules: Time-Tested Secrets for Making Your Marriage Work\" by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider was first released. The dating strategy expanded to \"Rules III\" in 2001 despite divorce plans by Ellen Fein.\n\n(WSJ, 3/23/00, p.B1)\n\n1995 Feb 14, A federal judge rejected the Justice Department's proposed antitrust settlement with Microsoft Corporation; U.S. District Judge Stanley Sporkin was later overruled by an appeals court.\n\n(AP, 2/14/00)\n\n1995 Feb 14, The House passed the centerpiece of the Republican anti-crime package, voting to create block grants for local governments while eliminating President Clinton's program to hire more police. The president later vetoed a spending authorization bill containing this provision.\n\n(AP, 2/14/00)\n\n1995 Feb 14, Britain\u2019s Sizewell B nuclear power plant, near Leiston, Suffolk, started generating power. Construction had started in 1988.\n\n(www.british-energy.com/pagetemplate.php?pid=96)\n\n1995 Feb 14, Nigel Finch, British filmmaker, died. he had just finished shooting his film \"Stonewall.\" The film was completed by Christine Vachon.\n\n(SFEC, 7/21/96, DB p.32)\n\n1995 Feb 14, Michael Vincent Gazzo (b.1923), US actor, playwright (Godfather 2), died.\n\n(www.imdb.com/name/nm0311155/)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 15, The FBI arrested Kevin Mitnick, its \"most wanted hacker,\" and charged him with cracking security in some of the nation's most protected computers. Mitnick was released Jan. 21, 2000, after serving five years behind bars.\n\n(AP, 2/15/00)\n\n1995 Feb 15, A fire roared through a three-story nightclub in Taichung, Taiwan, killing at least 64 people.\n\n(AP, 2/15/00)\n\n1995 Feb 15, Population of People's Republic of China hit 1.2 billion.\n\n(www.china.org.cn/e-white/familypanning/13-2.htm)(WSJ, 11/20/95, p.A-1)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 16, Four people were killed when tornadoes tore through rural north Alabama.\n\n(AP, 2/16/00)\n\n1995 Feb 16, In a dark and defensive address to his nation, Russian President Boris Yeltsin berated his military leaders for big losses and human rights abuses in Chechnya, but insisted Russia had to use force to defend its unity.\n\n(AP, 2/16/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 17, Federal judge allowed a lawsuit claiming US tobacco makers knew nicotine was addictive and manipulated its levels to keep customers hooked.\n\n(http://starbulletin.com/specials/liggett.html)\n\n1995 Feb 17, Colin Ferguson was convicted of six counts of murder in the December 1993 Long Island Rail Road shootings. He was later sentenced to a minimum of 200 years in prison.\n\n(AP, 2/17/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 18, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People replaced veteran chairman William Gibson with Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, after the rank-and-file declared no confidence in Gibson's leadership.\n\n(AP, 2/18/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 19, A day after being named the new chairwoman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Myrlie Evers-Williams outlined her plans for revitalizing the civil rights organization, saying she intended to take the group back to its roots.\n\n(AP, 2/19/00)\n\n1995 Feb 19, Calder Willingham (b.1922), novelist, scriptwriter (The Graduate), died of lung cancer in New Hampshire.\n\n(www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1244)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 20, An American Marine, Sgt. Justin A. Harris, died in a helicopter crash during the evacuation of United Nations forces from Somalia.\n\n(AP, 2/20/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 21, The United States and Mexico signed an agreement to unlock $20 billion in U.S. support to stabilize the peso, but under tough conditions.\n\n(AP, 2/21/00)\n\n1995 Feb 21, Chicago stockbroker Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon, landing in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada.\n\n(AP, 2/21/00)\n\n1995 Feb 21, Robert Bolt (b.1924), British playwright (Doctor Zhivago, Man for All Seasons, Bounty), died.\n\n(www.imdb.com/name/nm0004122/)\n\n1995 Feb 21, Art Kane (b.1925), photographer, died.\n\n(www.deathleague.com/person.asp?prk=505&msk=0)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 22, Ed Flanders (b.1934), actor (Dr Westphall-St Elsewhere), committed suicide.\n\n(www.imdb.com/name/nm0281130/)\n\n1995 Feb 22, Bill Bailey (b.1909), a union activist and vice-president of SF dock Local 10, died. He was a veteran of the Lincoln and Washington battalions during the Spanish Civil War and a writer and actor in his later years [see Jul 26, 1935]. The Telegraph Hill cottage in which he lived, ended up near a MUNI yard at Tulare and Indiana streets, where it became damaged beyond repair.\n\n(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPbailey.htm)(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A19)(SSFC, 3/7/10, p.A2)\n\n1995 Feb 22, Security forces in Algiers crushed a prison uprising by Islamic extremists, resulting in 96 deaths by official count.\n\n(AP, 2/22/00)\n\n1995 Feb 22, France accused four American diplomats and a fifth U.S. citizen of spying, and asked them to leave the country.\n\n(AP, 2/22/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 23, Administration officials said President Clinton would review dozens of affirmative action programs.\n\n(AP, 2/23/00)\n\n1995 Feb 23, The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 4,000 mark for the first time, ending the day at 4,003.33.\n\n(WSJ, 12/16/96, p.C1) (AP, 2/23/00)\n\n1995 Feb 23, Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter arrived in Haiti to help prepare for peaceful elections.\n\n(AP, 2/23/00)\n\n1995 Feb 23, James Alfred Wight (b.1916), Scottish author Yorkshire veterinarian, died. His penname was James Herriot and his work included \"All Creatures Great and Small,\" which was later made into a BBC TV series. His first book was \"If Only They Could Talk.\" His home and shop in Thirsk was opened for visitors in 1999.\n\n(www.todayinliterature.com/biography/james.herriot.asp)(SFC, 7/19/99, p.A22)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 24, Under pressure from farm-state Republicans, US House leaders abandoned a campaign promise to disband the food stamp program.\n\n(AP, 2/24/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 25, Former President Jimmy Carter wound up a 54-hour visit to Haiti, denying he'd been given a chilly reception by Haitians whom he'd helped save from a potentially bloody U.S.-led intervention.\n\n(AP, 2/25/00)\n\n1995 Feb 25, In Oklahoma store manager Richard Yost was beaten to death with a baseball bat and placed in the freezer of his supermarket in Tulsa. Three men were later executed for the murder and a 4th was convicted to life in prison.\n\n(AFP, 1/10/14)(http://tinyurl.com/qhw3t45)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 26, The United States and China averted a trade war by signing a comprehensive agreement on copyright and patent protection.\n\n(WSJ, 6/11/96, p.A12)(AP, 2/26/00)\n\n1995 Feb 26, Barings PLC, Britain's oldest investment banking firm, was forced into bankruptcy after an employee in Singapore, Nicholas William Leeson (28), speculated in derivatives on Tokyo stock prices that resulted in losses exceeding $1.4 billion.\n\n(WSJ, 2/27/95, p.A-1)(AP, 2/26/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 27, Court-appointed salvagers swarmed into Britain's oldest investment bank to evaluate the remaining assets of Barings PLC after Nick Leeson, a 28-year-old trader, ruined the firm by gambling on Tokyo stock prices.\n\n(AP, 2/27/00)\n\n1995 Feb 27, Bernard Cornfield (b.1927), British financier, died. In 1972 Charles Raw, Bruce Page and Godfrey Hodgson authored \u201cDo You Sincerely Want to Be Rich: The full story of Bernard Cornfield and IOS.\"\n\n(http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Obituary/1995/misc.html)(http://tinyurl.com/dxlwv)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb 28, U.S. Marines swept ashore in Somalia to protect retreating U.N. peacekeepers.\n\n(AP, 2/28/00)\n\n1995 Feb 28, Denver International Airport opened after 16 months of delays and $3.2 billion in budget overruns. A $250 million automated baggage handling system contributed to the delays. United Airlines gave up on the system in 2005.\n\n(AP, 2/28/98)(WSJ, 6/7/05, p.D5)\n\n1995 Feb 28, In Mexico Raul Salinas de Gortari was arrested for masterminding the murder of Jose Francisco Ruiz Sep 28, 1994. He was imprisoned in Almaloya prison, Mexico\u2019s highest-security facility. In 1998 Raul Salinas was acquitted of money laundering but remained in jail on murder and illegal-enrichment charges.\n\n(WSJ, 4/15/96, p.A15)(SFC, 4/8/97, p.A6)(SFC, 5/22/98, p.D4)(SFC, 1/22/99, p.A10)\n\n1995 Feb 28, Max Rudolf (92), conductor, died.\n\n(www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Rudolf-Max.htm)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb, In Argentina Carlos Menem Jr. (27) was killed in a helicopter crash. It was later reported that the copter was shot down. A number of witnesses and people involved in the investigations were also killed. His mother, Zulema Yoma, later pressed for an investigation and in 1997 staged a sit-in a police headquarters in Buenos Aires to get a report released that indicated sniper fire in the crash.\n\n(SFC, 7/24/97, p.A13)\n\n1995 Feb, The Mexican government identified Subcommander Marcos of the Zapatistas as former university Prof. Rafael Guillen. A government offensive reduced the amount of territory controlled by the rebels.\n\n(SFC,12/18/97, p.C2)\n\n\n\n1995 Feb, In Zurich, Switzerland, the police clamped down on the open drug scene and dispersed the junkies. There were an estimated 30,000 addicts in the country.\n\n(SFC, 7/11/97, p.A11)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 1, At the 37th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Sheryl Crow won record of the year for \"All I Wanna Do\" while Tony Bennett's \"MTV Unplugged\" was named best album.\n\n(AP, 3/1/00)\n\n1995 Mar 1, As of this day Belgian armed forces consisted of professional volunteers only.\n\n(www.wri-irg.org/co/rtba/archive/belgium.htm)\n\n1995 Mar 1, The Bosnian Serb government received a $60 million mortgage for the oil refinery in Srpski Brod from a Liberian-owned company, Orbal Marketing Service Ltd. [see Jan 1995] Delivery was made to the Bosnian Serbs in late March of a supposed nuclear device of red mercury at the Gradiska border. It was discovered to be a swindle.\n\n(SFEC,12/14/97, p.A25)\n\n1995 Mar 1, Jozef Oleksy succeeded Waldemar Pawlak as premier of Poland.\n\n(http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Waldemar+Pawlak)\n\n1995 Mar 1, Somalia militiamen loyal to warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid seized control of the Mogadishu airport after peacekeepers withdrew.\n\n(AP, 3/1/00)\n\n1995 Mar 1, Vitaly Massol, Ukraine premier, resigned.\n\n(www.ukraine-observer.com/articles/205/612)\n\n1995 Mar 1, Julio Maria Sanguinetti was sworn in as President of Uruguay.\n\n(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julio_Mar%C3%ADa_Sanguinetti)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 2, The US Senate rejected the balanced-budget amendment; the vote, 65-35, was two votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed for passage.\n\n(AP, 3/2/00)\n\n1995 Mar 2, Ted Truman, a top int\u2019l. staffer at the Federal Reserve, reported to Alan Greenspan that massive dollar sales were driving down the US currency. In response the Fed and Treasury bought $600 million in marks and yen and repeated the action next day joined by 13 central banks. The dollar stabilized.\n\n(WSJ, 1/18/05, p.A13)\n\n1995 Mar 2, \"Smokey Joe's Caf\u00e9,\" previewed on Feb 9, opened at Virginia Theater in NYC.\n\n(www.jimsdeli.com/theater/1997-before/smokey-joes-cafe.htm)\n\n1995 Mar 2, The space shuttle STS-67 (Endeavour 8) blasted off to study the far reaches of the universe.\n\n(AP, 3/2/00)\n\n1995 Mar 2, Ferry boat sank off Sumbe, Angola, and over 42 people were killed.\n\n(SC, 3/2/02)\n\n1995 Mar 2, British trader Nick Leeson, blamed for the collapse of Barings PLC, was detained in Germany.\n\n(AP, 3/2/00)\n\n1995 Mar 2, The last U.N. peacekeepers in Somalia were evacuated.\n\n(AP, 3/2/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 3, President Clinton held a news conference in which he asserted his administration had built a safer world and stronger economy while Republicans were trying to cut money for the needy to give tax breaks to the rich.\n\n(AP, 3/3/00)\n\n1995 Mar 3, The dollar plunged to a new low against the Japanese yen.\n\n(AP, 3/3/00)\n\n1995 Mar 3, Howard Hunter (87), US leader of Mormon Church (1994-95), died.\n\n(SC, 3/3/02)\n\n1995 Mar 3, Camilla Parker Bowles and her husband Andrew divorced.\n\n(SC, 3/3/02)\n\n1995 Mar 3, In Georgia Glenn Turner (31) was discovered dead in bed by his wife. A Cobb medical examiner ruled that he died from an irregular heartbeat. Lynn Turner murdered her police officer husband, Glenn Turner, to get his life insurance money. In 2001 she killed her boyfriend, Randy Thompson, by poisoning him with antifreeze. In 2007 Turner (38), convicted in 2004 for her husband\u2019s death, was convicted again for the Thompson\u2019s murder. Turner (42) died in prison on Aug 30, 2010.\n\n(www.ajc.com/news/lynn-turners-death-still-603086.html)(SSFC, 3/25/07, p.A3)(SFC, 8/31/10, p.A7)\n\n1995 Mar 3, A car bomb exploded at a mosque in Karachi, Pakistan, and 10 people were killed.\n\n(www.dawn.com/2004/06/09/local4.htm)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 4, President Clinton, in his weekly radio address, said spending cuts proposed by congressional Republicans would gut safe-school and anti-drug programs needed to protect children.\n\n(AP, 3/4/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 5, An Australian yacht broke in two and sank in heavy wind and fierce winds off the Southern California coast, the first sinking in the history of America's Cup racing; all 17 crew members were rescued.\n\n(AP, 3/5/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 6, The US Republican-controlled House took up business-backed legislation to alter the civil legal system over White House objections that some of the proposals were too extreme. The House passed the measure the following day.\n\n(AP, 3/6/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 7, New York Gov. George Pataki signed a death penalty bill into law. NY became the 38th state to adopt the death penalty.\n\n(AP, 3/7/00)\n\n1995 Mar 7, In a near-party-line vote, the House passed, 232-193, a business-backed measure designed to pressure combatants in lawsuits to settle their differences short of costly trials.\n\n(AP, 3/7/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 8, Two United States diplomats were killed, one injured, when their car was ambushed as they were driving to the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.\n\n(AP, 3/8/00)\n\n1995 Mar 8, The plummeting dollar stabilized after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan called the decline unwarranted.\n\n(AP, 3/8/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 9, US House Republicans unveiled their long-promised tax cut for families, businesses and investors.\n\n(AP, 3/9/00)\n\n1995 Mar 9, President Clinton eased travel restrictions on Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and invited him to the White House for St. Patrick's Day.\n\n(AP, 3/9/00)\n\n1995 Mar 9, Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman took the stand at the O.J. Simpson murder trial, denying ever meeting a woman who had accused him of making racist remarks.\n\n(AP, 3/9/00)\n\n1995 Mar 9, President Konstantine Karamanlis (1907-1998) of Greece, resigned.\n\n(www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/NewPol/Politics2.htm)\n\n1995 Mar 9, Ian Ballantine (b.1916), US publisher, died of a heart attack. He founded and published the paperback line of Ballantine Books from 1952 to 1974 with his wife, Betty.\n\n(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Ballantine)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 10, The Labor US Department reported the nation's unemployment rate for February dropped to 5.4 percent, down 0.003 from the month before.\n\n(AP, 3/10/00)\n\n1995 Mar 10, The Clinton administration released $3 billion to support Mexico's faltering economy. Former Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari fled to the United States.\n\n(AP, 3/10/00)\n\n1995 Mar 10, The book \"Blindside: Why Japan Is Still on Track to Overtake the US by the year 2000,\" by Eamonn Fingleton, was published. He argued that the Japanese economic slump was a ruse to lull rivals into complacency.\n\n(WSJ, 1/11/00, p.A14)\n\n1995 Mar 10, Alexander Hyatt-King (b.1911), Mozart scholar, died.\n\n(http://tinyurl.com/7wbsj)\n\n\n\n1995 March 11, A bridge on I-5 near Coalinga, Ca. was washed away. 14 people lost their lives in the March floods in California. Damage was estimated at $2 billion.\n\n(HFA, '96, p.73)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 11, President Clinton nominated Deputy Defense Secretary John Deutch to be CIA director.\n\n(AP, 3/11/00)\n\n1995 Mar 11, Gerry Adams, leader of the IRA-allied Sinn Fein party, arrived in the United States for a St. Patrick's Day visit.\n\n(AP, 3/11/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 12, President Clinton declared 39 California counties disaster areas after storms and floods battered two-thirds of the state.\n\n(AP, 3/12/00)\n\n1995 Mar 12, Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008), a grandson of Mormon pioneers, took over as president and prophet of the Mormon church.\n\n(AP, 1/28/08)\n\n1995 Mar 12, World leaders wound up a weeklong summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, committing themselves to fighting poverty, but differing on how to do so.\n\n(AP, 3/12/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 13, Two Americans working for U.S. defense contractors in Kuwait, David Daliberti and William Barloon, were seized by Iraq after they strayed across the border; sentenced to eight years in prison, both were freed the following July.\n\n(AP, 3/13/00)\n\n1995 Mar 13, Istanbul police killed at least 15 Alawi (Alevi) demonstrators.\n\n(http://tinyurl.com/byu4j)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 14, American astronaut Norman Thagard became the first American to enter space aboard a Russian rocket as he and two cosmonauts blasted off board a Soyuz spacecraft, headed for the Mir space station.\n\n(AP, 3/14/97)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 15, President Clinton issued an executive order formally blocking a $1 billion contract between Conoco and Iran to develop a huge offshore oil tract in the Persian Gulf.\n\n(AP, 3/15/00)\n\n1995 Mar 15, Lockheed Corp. and Martin Marietta officially merged to form the Lockhhedd Martin Corp.\n\n(www.lockheedmartin.com/us/100years/stories/merger.html)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 16, House Republicans pushed through $17 billion in spending cuts, prompting a veto threat by the White House.\n\n(www.concordcoalition.org/issues/scorecard/1995_scorecard/description_house.html)\n\n1995 Mar 16, Mississippi formally ratified 13th Amendment and abolished slavery.\n\n(www.thehistorymakers.com/timeline/index.asp?string=1995)\n\n1995 Mar 16, NASA astronaut Norman Thagard was welcomed aboard the Russian space station Mir as the first American to visit the orbiting outpost.\n\n(AP, 3/16/97)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 17, The White House hosted a St. Patrick's Day reception for Irish Prime Minister John Bruton which was attended by Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams.\n\n(AP, 3/17/00)\n\n1995 Mar 17, The federal government approved the nation's first chicken pox vaccine, Varivax by Merck & Co.\n\n(AP, 3/17/00)\n\n1995 Mar 17, Flor Contemplacion, a Filipino maid, was hanged in Singapore for murder, despite international pleas to spare her.\n\n(AP, 3/17/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 18, The United States Catholic Conference's administrative board criticized a Republican welfare reform plan, saying it would hurt poor children and could push women to have abortions.\n\n(AP, 3/18/00)\n\n1995 Mar 18, Michael Jordan announced that he was ending his 17 month NBA retirement.\n\n(www.cnn.com/EVENTS/year_in_review/sports/mar.html)\n\n1995 Mar 18, Spain's Princess Elena married a banker, Jaime de Marichalar y Saenz de Tejada, in Seville; it was Spain's first royal wedding in 89 years.\n\n(AP, 3/18/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 19, After giving up an attempt to become a major league baseball player, Michael Jordan returned to pro basketball with his former team, the Chicago Bulls.\n\n(AP, 3/19/02)\n\n1995 Mar 19, Finnish voters throw out the center-right coalition government and give the opposition Social Democratic Party its biggest election victory since World War II.\n\n(AP, 3/19/02)\n\n1995 Mar 19, Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Jewish settlers, killing two people.\n\n(AP, 3/19/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 20, Commentator Pat Buchanan formally launched his presidential campaign in New Hampshire.\n\n(AP, 3/20/00)\n\n1995 Mar 20, Sidney Kingsley, US playwright (Pulitzer prize 1934), died.\n\n(MC, 3/20/02)\n\n1995 Mar 20, The Bosnian army, having gained strength despite an arms embargo, launched a major offensive in the northeast against Serb positions.\n\n(WSJ, 6/11/96, p.A14)(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)\n\n1995 Mar 20, A gas attack by the Aum Shinri Kyo cult on Tokyo's subways killed 12 people. More than 5,500 others sickened when packages containing the poisonous gas sarin leaked on five separate subway trains. Masato Yokoyama, a cult leader, was sentenced to death in 1999. In 2000 Robert Jay Lifton authored \"Destroying the World To Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism.\" In 2001 Haruki Murakami's \"Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche\" was published in English. In 2004 Shoko Asahara was convicted and sentenced to hang for masterminding the deadly nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway and other crimes that killed 27 people.\n\n(SFC, 7/4/96, p.A10)(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A12)(AP, 3/20/97)(SFC, 9/30/99, p.D14)(SFEC, 1/16/00, BR p.9)(SSFC, 4/29/01, DB p.81)(AP, 2/27/04)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 21, Thousands of Japanese police raided the offices of a secretive religious group, Aum Shinri Kyo, in connection with nerve-gas attacks on Tokyo subways that killed 12 people and sickened thousands. In ensuing weeks they found tons of chemicals used to make sarin nerve gas and evidence of biological weapons research.\n\n(SFC, 4/24/96, p.A8)(AP, 3/21/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 22, Shouting erupted in the U.S. House of Representatives as Democrats bitterly accused majority Republicans of trying to ram through a mean-spirited welfare overhaul bill.\n\n(AP, 3/22/00)\n\n1995 Mar 22, Convicted Long Island Rail Road gunman Colin Ferguson was sentenced to life in prison for killing six people.\n\n(AP, 3/22/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 23, \"How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying\" opened at the Roy Rodgers NYC for 548 performances.\n\n(SS, 3/23/02)\n\n1995 Mar 23, Secretary of State Warren Christopher met with Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev in Geneva; afterward, Kozyrev said the U.S.-Russia \"honeymoon has come to an end,\" referring to disagreements over Chechnya and nuclear sales to Iran.\n\n(AP, 3/23/00)\n\n1995 Mar 23, Former Mexican deputy attorney general Mario Ruiz Massieu, brother of slain Francisco, was arrested in Newark N.J. after failing to declare $46,000 in cash.\n\n(SFC, 3/13/97, p.A14)(SFC, 7/15/98, p.A8)(SFC, 8/28/99, p.A1)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 24, The House of Representatives passed, 234-to-199, a welfare reform package calling for the most profound changes in social programs since the New Deal; President Clinton criticized the bill, saying it was \"weak on work and tough on children.\"\n\n(AP, 3/24/00)\n\n1995 Mar 24, For the first time in 20 years, no British soldiers were patrolling the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland.\n\n(AP, 3/24/00)\n\n1995 Mar 24, Joseph Needham (b.1900), British biochemist and writer, died. His work included the 24-volume \u201cScience and Civilization in China.\" In 2008 Simon Winchester authored \u201cThe Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom.\"\n\n(WSJ, 5/6/08, p.D7)(www.iias.nl/iiasn/iiasn5/eastasia/needham.html)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 25, Mike Tyson was released from the Indiana Youth Center after serving three years for the 1992 rape of Desiree Washington, a beauty pageant contestant.\n\n(AP, 3/25/00)\n\n1995 Mar 25, Two Americans who had strayed across the Kuwaiti border into Iraq were sentenced to eight years in prison. However, David Daliberti and William Barloon were released by Iraq the following July.\n\n(AP, 3/25/00)\n\n1995 Mar 25, Warren E. Burger, chief justice of US (1969-86), died.\n\n(MC, 3/25/02)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 26, \"Defending the Caveman\" opened at Helen Hayes Theater in NYC for 671 performances.\n\n(SS, 3/26/02)\n\n1995 Mar 26, \"Moliere Comedies\" closed at Criterion Theater in NYC after 56 performances.\n\n(www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=12594)\n\n1995 Mar 26, In the 15th Golden Raspberry Awards: Color of Night won.\n\n(http://razzies.com/asp/content/XcNewsPlus.asp?cmd=view&articleid=34)\n\n1995 Mar 26, The National Labor Relations Board, in an extraordinary Sunday session, voted 3-2 to seek an injunction against baseball owners as a seven-and-a-half-month-old strike by players continued.\n\n(AP, 3/26/00)\n\n1995 Mar 26, Former US diplomat-turned-radio talk show host Alan Keyes entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination.\n\n(AP, 3/26/00)\n\n1995 Mar 26, Uzbek Pres. Karimov's period in office is extended by three years, to 2000, in a referendum.\n\n(AP, 3/30/04)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 27, The 67th Academy Awards, held at the Shrine Auditorium in LA, was hosted by David Letterman. \"Forrest Gump\" won six Academy Awards, including best picture and a second consecutive Best Actor Oscar for Tom Hanks; Jessica Lange won Best Actress for \"Blue Sky.\"\n\n(AP, 3/27/00)(SFC, 3/22/02, p.D1)\n\n1995 Mar 27, Former President Jimmy Carter announced he had brokered a two-month cease-fire between Sudan's Islamic government and rebels.\n\n(AP, 3/27/00)\n\n1995 Mar 27, Joanne Marie Mascha, an Ursuline Sister, was murdered while walking near her motherhouse just outside Cleveland.\n\n(MT, 3/96, p.10)\n\n1995 Mar 27, In Italy Maurizio Gucci (46), businessman, was shot to death in Milan. He was the last family member to have held shares in the Gucci fashion company, now part of the Bahrain-based Investcorp. In 1997 police arrested his former wife, a psychic, a doorman, and two hitmen for their roles in the murder. In 1998 Patrizia Reggiani Martinelli (50) was convicted and sentenced to 29 years in prison. The psychic got 25, the doorman got 26, the driver got 29 and the gunman got life.\n\n(SFC, 2/1/97, p.A12)(SFC, 11/4/98, p.A13)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 28, Loomis guard Rick Price was shot in the head and killed during an armored car robbery in Sonoma, Ca. Bank robber William Crouch was also killed by a second guard and alleged accomplice Joan Carrafa of Glen Ellen was later arrested. She was convicted in 1996 for first degree murder.\n\n(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A16)\n\n1995 Mar 28, In Japan, Mitsubishi Bank and the Bank of Tokyo agreed to a merger to create what was then the world's largest bank.\n\n(AP, 3/28/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 29, The US House of Representatives rejected, 227-204, a constitutional amendment placing term limits on lawmakers. The rejected proposal would have limited terms to 12 years in the House and Senate.\n\n(AP, 3/29/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 30, Pope John Paul II issued the 11th encyclical of his papacy in which he condemned abortion and euthanasia as crimes that no human laws could legitimize.\n\n(AP, 3/30/00)\n\n1995 Mar 30, In Japan Takaji Kunimatsu, chief of the National Police Agency, was seriously wounded by a masked gunman. Two months later a police officer confessed to the attack. He was a member of the Aum Shinri Kyo cult and said that he was ordered to carry out the attack. The confession was kept secret until anonymous newspaper accounts warned of a cover-up in 1996.\n\n(SFC, 10/30/96, p.A1,6)\n\n1995 Mar 30, Tens of thousands of Rwandan refugees, fleeing violence in Burundi, began a two-day trek to sanctuary in Tanzania.\n\n(AP, 3/30/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar 31, US baseball players agreed to end their 232-day strike after a judge granted a preliminary injunction against club owners.\n\n(AP, 3/31/00)\n\n1995 Mar 31, President Clinton briefly visited Haiti, where he declared the U.S. mission to restore democracy there a \"remarkable success.\"\n\n(AP, 3/31/00)\n\n1995 Mar 31, Mexican-American singer Selena, 23, was shot to death in Corpus Christi, Texas, by the founder of her fan club. Yolanda Saldivar was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.\n\n(AP, 3/31/97)\n\n1995 Mar 31, Fred Cuny (b.1944), American disaster relief specialist, disappeared in Chechnya and was never found. He used his training in engineering to do humanitarian work and worked in countries such as Biafra, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Iraq, Somalia, and Bosnia. Cuny (50), an envoy for George Soros' Open Society Institute, was shot and killed by Chechen gunmen. In 1999 Scott Anderson published \"The Man Who Tried to Save the World: The Dangerous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Fred Cuny.\"\n\n(http://www.onlineethics.org/cms/14193.aspx)(SFEC, 6/6/99, BR p.1)\n\n\n\n1995 Mar, Authorities arrested 75 people in the biggest dogfighting bust in San Francisco history.\n\n(SFC, 4/14/96, p.C-9)\n\n1995 Mar, Sun Microsystems made a general release of its new software renamed JAVA from Oak. [2nd source said May] It was based on C++ language.\n\n(SFEM, 12/8/96, p.8)(WSJ, 8/27/97, p.A1)\n\n1995 Mar, Uniroyal Chemical Corp. went public.\n\n(WSJ, 5/28/96, R45)\n\n1995 Mar, David Filo and Jerry Yang, graduates students of Stanford Univ., turned their hobby into a business. In 1994 they had started a guide to their favorite sites on the Internet: Jerry and David\u2019s Guide to the World Wide Web.\" The site was soon renamed Yahoo: \"Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.\"\n\n(WSJ, 3/6/00, p.B1)(SFC, 7/18/00, p.A8)(WSJ, 2/20/07, p.B5)\n\n1995 Mar, In Louisiana Patsy Byers, a convenience store clerk, was shot and seriously wounded by Sarah Edmonson and Benjamin Darrus. The two had just killed a Mississippi man and later asserted that the film \"Natural Born Killers\" inspired their actions.\n\n(SFC, 3/9/99, p.A3)\n\n1995 Mar, Neo-Nazi Gary Lauck of the US was arrested in Denmark and extradited to Germany for supplying hate literature and paraphernalia.\n\n(SFC, 8/23/96, p.A18)\n\n1995 Mar, Sen. Robert Torricelli of the House Intelligence Oversight Committee accused the CIA of a cover-up in 2 Guatemalan murders. A review in 1996 showed that Alpirez was on the CIA payroll from 1988-1992 and that he was involved in the cover-up of the 1990 murder of Michael Devine and had participated in the 1992 interrogation and likely torture of Efraim Bamaca, a captured Guatemalan guerrilla, killed in captivity and married to an American lawyer.\n\n(SFC, 5/4/96, p.A6)(SFC, 5/7/96, p.A10)(SFEC, 11/17/96, p.A13)\n\n1995 Mar, Monya Elson was arrested in Italy. He was extradited to the US in Aug 1996. In 1993 he had fled to Italy from the US. He was suspected of masterminding a reign of terror over Russian immigrants through the 1980s and 1990s. His Monya\u2019s Brigade operated out of Brighton Beach, New York.\n\n(SFC, 8/24/96, p.A8)\n\n1995 Mar, In Mich. Jonathan Schmitz shot and killed Scott Amedure 3 days after the 2 appeared on the \"Jenny Jones Show,\" where Schmitz learned that his secret admirer was Amedure. Schmitz was convicted of murder in 1996 but the verdict was overturned due to an error in jury selection. Schmitz was sentenced to a 25-50 year prison term. In 1999 a jury pronounced a $25 million verdict against the producers of the show in a wrongful death suit by the family of Amedure. In Aug 1999 a 2nd jury convicted Schmitz of murder. Judge Wendy Pots sentenced Schmitz to 25-50 years in prison.\n\n(SFC, 4/2/99, p.A3)(SFC, 5/8/99, p.A1)(SFC, 8/27/99, p.A13)(SFC, 9/15/99, p.A6)\n\n1995 Mar, In the US Eugenio Perente-Ramos, leader of the leftist cult that called itself the Provisional Communist Party or the National Labor Federation, died.\n\n(SFC, 11/13/96, p.A3)\n\n1995 Mar, Secret negotiations took place in Mexico between Pres. Ernesto Zedillo and his predecessor Carlos Salinas They struck a deal to protect Salinas from prosecution or interrogation on corruption and murder charges. The episode was described in the book \"Bordering On Chaos: Guerrillas, Stockbrokers, Politicians and Mexico\u2019s Road to Prosperity\" by Andres Oppenheimer.\n\n(SFC, 6/3/96, BR p.12)\n\n1995 Mar, In Nigeria retired Gen\u2019l. Olusegun Obasanjo, former head of state, was arrested by the military junta on suspicion of complicity in an alleged coup.\n\n(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.8)\n\n1995 Mar, The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) was formed. It was charged with building 2 light-water reactors in North Korea.\n\n(WSJ, 1/30/03, p.A1)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 1, Aaron, a computer-driven robot began painting a new 25 sq. ft canvas on a daily basis. It was designed and programmed by Harold Cohen, a San Diego computer scientist. The event was scheduled to start in Boston at 300 Congress St. and go to May 29.\n\n(WSJ, 3/28/95, p.A24)\n\n1995 Apr 1, More than 1,500 mourners attended a vigil for Mexican-American singer Selena in Corpus Christi, Texas, where she had been shot to death the day before.\n\n(AP, 4/1/00)\n\n1995 Apr 1, U.N. peacekeepers officially took over from the U.S.-led multinational force in Haiti.\n\n(AP, 4/1/00)\n\n1995 Apr 1, With U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry looking on, Ukraine began the process of dismantling its nuclear missiles.\n\n(AP, 4/1/00)\n\n1995 Apr 1, In Spain infantry brigadier Mariano de Juan Santamaria was shot in the head in the northern city of San Sebastian. In 2014 ETA member Juan Ramon Carasatorre Aldaz (52) was sentenced to 29 years for the killing. Two others were already sentenced for taking part in the same crime.\n\n(AP, 6/16/14)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 2, Baseball owners accepted the players' union offer to play without a contract, ending the longest and costliest strike in the history of professional sports.\n\n(AP, 4/2/98)\n\n1995 Apr 2, The NYC Police Dept and Transit Police merged into one organization.\n\n(www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/transportation/tpd.html)\n\n1995 Apr 2, Members of the extremist group Hamas accidentally set off a bomb that tore through their hideout in the Gaza Strip, killing six people.\n\n(AP, 4/2/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 3, UCLA defeated Arkansas, 89-78, to win the NCAA basketball championship.\n\n(AP, 4/3/00)\n\n1995 Apr 3, Former United Way of America President William Aramony was convicted in Alexandria, Va., of 25 counts of fraud for stealing nearly $600,000 dollars from the nation's biggest charity.\n\n(AP, 4/3/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 4, Francisco Martin Duran, who had raked the White House with semiautomatic rifle fire in October 1994, was convicted in Washington of trying to assassinate President Clinton. Duran was later sentenced to 40 years in prison.\n\n(AP, 4/4/00)\n\n1995 Apr 4, Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., used a mock Japanese accent to ridicule O.J. Simpson trial judge Lance Ito on a nationally syndicated radio program. He apologized two days later on the Senate floor.\n\n(AP, 4/4/00)\n\n1995 Apr 4, Fierce fighting continues in Algeria as Muslim revolutionaries struggle against the military regime in power. It is estimated that over 1,000 people are being killed per month. France backs the military regime who, stopped free elections last year when it was clear that the Muslim fundamentalists were going to win.\n\n(NPR)\n\n1995 Apr 4, It was reported that Nuclear Matrix Proteins that act as a type of scaffolding for DNA were being used as markers for cancer. They were also thought to help turn genes off and on.\n\n(WSJ, 4/4/95, B-1)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 5, The House of Representatives passed, 246-188, a tax-cut bill, the final major item in the Republicans' \"Contract with America.\"\n\n(AP, 4/5/00)\n\n1995 Apr 5, The Mekong Agreement created the Mekong River Commission with Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam as members.\n\n(Econ, 1/7/12, p.34)(www.kellnielsen.dk/mekong/agreem.htm)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 6, The US Senate unanimously approved a $16 billion package of cuts in social programs. Earlier in the day, Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., apologized on the Senate floor for lampooning O.J. Simpson trial judge Lance Ito on a nationally syndicated radio program by employing a mock Japanese accent.\n\n(AP, 4/6/05)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 7, President Clinton threatened to veto a lengthy list of bills passed by the Republican-controlled House if they were not modified in the Senate.\n\n(AP, 4/7/00)\n\n1995 Apr 7, In a prime-time television address, House Speaker Newt Gingrich declared the GOP \"Contract with America\" was only a beginning.\n\n(AP, 4/7/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 8, Former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, in an interview with AP Network News and \"Newsweek\" magazine to promote his memoir \u201cIn Retrospect,\" called America's Vietnam War policy \"terribly wrong.\"\n\n(AP, 4/8/00)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_McNamara)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 9, Women\u2019s rights supporters rallied near the U.S. Capitol to protest violence against women.\n\n(AP, 4/9/00)\n\n1995 Apr 9, Two Palestinians blew themselves up outside two Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and killed seven Israeli soldiers and an American, Alisa Flatow (20). The Islamic Jihad and Hamas took responsibility. In 1998 a US district court judge ordered the government of Iran to pay $247 million in damages to the family of Flatow.\n\n(WSJ, 3/6/96, p. A15)(G&M, 7/31/97, p.A8)\n\n1995 Apr 9, Alberto Fujimori was re-elected president of Peru.\n\n(AP, 4/9/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 10, Sen. Bob Dole launched his third bid for the White House in Topeka, Kansas.\n\n(AP, 4/10/00)\n\n1995 Apr 10, The Unabomber sent a letter to the New York Times claiming responsibility for the killing of Thomas Mosser.\n\n(SFEC,11/9/97, Z1 p.5)\n\n1995 Apr 10, NYC enacted the Smoke Free Air Act which banned smoking in all restaurants that seated 35 or more.\n\n(http://tc.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/10/2/199)\n\n1995 Apr 10, Chen Yun (b.1905), one of China\u2019s \u201ceight immortals,\" died. He helped create modern China.\n\n(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Yun)(Econ, 2/6/10, p.79)\n\n1995 Apr 10, In Vietnam San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan and Chairman Truong Tan Sang of Ho Chi Minh People\u2019s Committee signed an Agreement on Friendship Affiliation.\n\n(SFC, 7/14/15, p.A3)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 11, Pres. Clinton expressed sympathy for Pakistan's anger over the blocked sale of American fighter jets, telling visiting PM Benazir Bhutto that it was \"not right\" for the United States to keep the planes and refuse to give the money back. Pakistan received jets in 2005.\n\n(AP, 4/11/00)(Reuters, 3/26/05)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 12, In a move that stunned the business world, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian and former Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca made an unsolicited $22.8 billion-dollar bid to buy the nation's third largest automaker; Chrysler responded that it wasn't for sale.\n\n(AP, 4/12/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 13, Bob Dornan became the seventh GOP presidential contender.\n\n(AP, 4/13/05)\n\n1995 Apr 13, A federal appeals court opened the way for Shannon Faulkner to become the first woman to undergo military training at The Citadel.\n\n(AP, 4/13/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 14, The UN Security Council (Resolution 986) gave permission to Iraq, still under sanctions for its invasion of Kuwait, to sell $2 billion dollars' worth of oil to buy food, medicine and other supplies. Iraq later rejected the offer.\n\n(AP, 4/14/00)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)\n\n1995 Apr 14, Actor-singer Burl Ives died in Anacortes, Wash., at age 85.\n\n(AP, 4/14/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 15, In his weekly radio address, President Clinton asked Congress to protect a short list of key legislation, saying he was giving the highest priority to welfare reform, targeted tax cuts and a crime bill preserving the assault weapons ban.\n\n(AP, 4/15/00)\n\n1995 Apr 15, Norma Patricia Esparza, a Southern California college student, pointed out Gonzalo Ramirez (25) at a bar to her boyfriend Gianni Van and two others as the man who had recently raped her. Ramirez was then kidnapped and hacked to death. In 2014 Esparza pleaded guilty in exchange for a prison term. In 2015 Van was sentenced to life in prison without parole. In 2016 Esparza was sentenced to 6 years in prison.\n\n(http://tinyurl.com/l9v2chg)(SFC, 7/16/16, p.A7)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 16, In his Easter Sunday message, Pope John Paul II sent a message of peace to victims of unrest, including the Palestinians and Kurds.\n\n(AP, 4/16/00)\n\n1995 Apr 16, Cleo Brown (b.1909), boogie pianist, died in Denver, Colorado.\n\n(www.musicweb-international.com/encyclopaedia/b/B269.HTM)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 17, President Clinton signed an executive order stripping the classified label from most national security documents that were at least 25 years old.\n\n(AP, 4/17/00)\n\n1995 Apr 17, An Air Force jet exploded and crashed in a wooded area in eastern Alabama, killing eight people, including an assistant Air Force secretary and a two-star general.\n\n(AP, 4/17/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 18, Quarterback Joe Montana retired from professional football.\n\n(AP, 4/18/00)\n\n1995 Apr 18, President Clinton held a prime-time news conference in which he said he was satisfied that he remained relevant in a Republican-dominated capital, and challenged Congress to send him an acceptable welfare bill by July 4.\n\n(AP, 4/18/00)\n\n1995 Apr 18, The Houston Post closed after 116 years.\n\n(AP, 4/18/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 19, At 9:02 A.M. Oklahoma City, USA, a large car bomb exploded at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building killing 168 people, and injuring 500 including many children in the building\u2019s day care center. Within a week a suspect, Timothy McVeigh, was caught and charged. Two suspects, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, faced trial. McVeigh was arrested during a routine traffic stop 78 miles from Oklahoma City on weapons charges the same day. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, were later convicted of charges related to the bombing. Michael Fortier, a key government witness and friend of Nichols and McVeigh, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 1998 for failing to warn authorities, lying to the FBI, transporting stolen weapons and conspiring to fence stolen weapons. In 1999 Fortier's sentence was overturned and a more lenient sentence was ordered under manslaughter guidelines. In Oct a new 12-year sentence was issued. McVeigh was later convicted of federal murder charges and executed.\n\n(NPR, 4/19/95)(SFC, 4/29/97, p.A2)(SFC, 5/28/98, p.A3)(SFC, 7/1/99, p.A3)(SFC, 10/9/99, p.A7)(AP, 4/19/06)\n\n1995 Apr 19, J. Peter Grace Jr. (81), CEO (W R Grace), died.\n\n(www.sec.gov/litigation/investreport/34-39157.txt)\n\n1995 Apr 19, In Spain a failed ETA car-bomb attempted to kill conservative opposition leader and future Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.\n\n(AP, 3/22/06)\n\n1995 Apr 19, In Sri Lanka the Tigers broke the truce and blew up 2 navy boats and killed 12 sailors in the port of Trincomalee.\n\n(SFC, 7/24/96, p.A9)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 20, In the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, the FBI announced it was looking for two men suspected of renting the truck used to carry the explosive; rescue teams suspended the search for survivors so that the remaining structure of the Alfred P. Murrah Building could be shored up.\n\n(AP, 4/20/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 21, The FBI arrested former soldier Timothy McVeigh at an Oklahoma jail where he had spent two days on minor traffic and weapons charges; he was charged in connection with the Oklahoma City bombing two days earlier in which over 200 people were killed by a truck bomb that exploded in front of a Federal building.\n\n(AP, 4/21/00)(HN, 4/21/99)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 22, Jane Kenyon (47), poet, died in New Hampshire. In 1996 William Bolcom premiered a song cycle, Briefly It Enters, based on 9 of her poems in Ann Arbor, Mich. In 2005 Joyce Peseroff edited \u201cSimply Lasting: Writers on Jane Kenyon.\"\n\n(SFC, 10/17/96, E1)(www.poems.com/halinter.htm)\n\n1995 Apr 22, Maggie Kuhn (89), activist (Gray Panthers), died at her home in Pennsylvania.\n\n(http://search.eb.com/women/articles/Kuhn_Maggie.html)\n\n1995 Apr 22, In Africa, Rwandan government troops killed thousands of Hutu refugees in Kibeho. The Tutsi-led government troops cleared a huge refugee camp that they said was full of Hutu extremists. Human rights officials said that at least 4,000 Hutus were killed, many shot, and many trampled. Tutsi officers involved received only token punishments.\n\n(SFC, 4/8/99, p.C3)(HN, 4/22/99)(SFC, 4/8/02, p.A6)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 23, Pres. Clinton declared a national day of mourning for the victims of the Oklahoma City blast.\n\n(AP, 4/23/00)\n\n1995 Apr 23, Sportscaster Howard Cosell died in New York at age 77. In 2011 Mark Ribowsky authored \u201cHoward Cosell: The Man, the Myth, and the Transformation of American Sports.\"\n\n(AP, 4/23/00)(SSFC, 12/11/11, p.F1)\n\n1995 Apr 23, Former Sen. John C. Stennis (D-Miss.) died in Jackson, Miss., at age 93.\n\n(AP, 4/23/00)\n\n1995 Apr 23, Hideo Murai, head of the science ministry of the Aum Shinri Kyo cult, was stabbed and killed. Police suspected that a cult leader ordered his murder so that he would not testify about Aum\u2019s nerve gas production.\n\n(SFC, 4/24/96, p.A8)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 24, Dow Jones Index hit a record 4303.98.\n\n(www.finfacts.com/Private/curency/djones.htm)\n\n1995 Apr 24, California Forestry Assoc. Pres. Gilbert P. Murray, 47, was killed by a mail bomb at his headquarters in Sacramento. The bomb was attributed to the Unabomber. Gilbert B. Murray, chief lobbyist for the wood products industry, was killed by a package bomb linked to the Unabomber. Theodore Kaczynski was later sentenced to four lifetimes in prison for a series of bombings that killed three men and injured 29 others.\n\n(WSJ, 4/5/96, p.A-2)(AP, 4/24/05)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 25, Show business legend Ginger Rogers died in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at age 83.\n\n(AP, 4/25/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 26, The US Supreme Court led by Chief Justice William Rehnquist overturned a federal law banning gun possession near schools on the grounds that it was beyond the scope of congress power to regulate interstate commerce.\n\n(SSFC, 9/4/05, p.A3)(http://tinyurl.com/6zlv6)\n\n1995 Apr 26, One week after the Oklahoma City bombing, Americans observed a minute of silence in honor of the victims.\n\n(AP, 4/26/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 27, Former Orange County, Calif., Treasurer Robert Citron pleaded guilty to six counts of defrauding investors in the county investment pool.\n\n(AP, 4/27/00)\n\n1995 Apr 27, Willem Frederik Hermans (b.1921), Dutch author, died. His 1966 novel \u201cBeyond Sleep\" was considered to be one of the founding works of modern Dutch literature. In 2007 an English translation became available.\n\n(WSJ, 1/7/07, p.P8)(http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_Frederik_Hermans)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 28, In Taegu, South Korea, a gas line exploded in the middle of an intersection crowded with morning traffic, killing 101 people.\n\n(AP, 4/28/00)\n\n1995 Apr 28-1995 Apr 29, In Sri Lanka Tigers used anti-aircraft missiles for the first time and downed 2 air force transport planes that killed 90 people.\n\n(SFC, 7/24/96, p.A9)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 29, 10 days after the blast, rescue workers in Oklahoma City continued the grim task of searching for bodies and pulling debris from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, where 168 people died.\n\n(AP, 4/29/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr 30, President Clinton announced he would end U.S. trade and investment with Iran, denouncing the Tehran government as \"inspiration and paymaster to terrorists.\"\n\n(AP, 4/30/00)\n\n1995 Apr 30, Federated merged the A&S (Abraham & Straus) stores into Macy's, Bloomingdale's and Stern's.\n\n(http://tenant-search.net/dealmakers/1995%20Issues/DM042195.asp)\n\n1995 Apr 30, More than 10,000 soldiers, students and children in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, celebrated the 20th anniversary of the end of the war.\n\n(AP, 4/30/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Apr, Don Grolnick (1948-1996), pianist, songwriter and producer, was musical director for the Rainforest Foundation concert at Carnegie Hall. An album by his Latin jazz group, Medianoche, was to be released in 8/96.\n\n(SFC, 6/4/96, p.A19)\n\n1995 Apr, Aurora Castillo (d.1998 at 84) was one of the winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize for her work in East Los Angeles.\n\n(SFC, 5/16/98, p.A21)\n\n1995 Apr, In Bosnia the intelligence cell of Gen. Smith determined that Mladic was preparing for a major push to seize the 3 eastern safe areas: Srebrenica, Zepa and Gorazde.\n\n(SFC, 6/4/96, p.A12)\n\n1995 Apr, Seventeen lawmakers from the Belarussian Peoples Front (BNF), who refused to leave the parliament in protest of Lukashenko\u2019s call to dump the red and white flag, were beat up by police and dragged out.\n\n(SFC, 9/2/96, p.A14)\n\n1995 Apr, In northern China Nie Shubin was executed after he was found guilty of raping and killing a woman in the city of Shijiazhuang, Hebei province. On Dec 2, 2016, China\u2019s Supreme People\u2019s Court reversed its decision and exonerated Nie.\n\n(CSM, 12/2/16)\n\n1995 Apr, In the Philippines Abu Sayyaf rebels raided the market town of Ipil. The looted banks, seized dozens of \"human shields,\" and executed 54 villagers.\n\n(WSJ, 9/25/01, p.A12)\n\n1995 Apr, Uganda broke off ties with Sudan.\n\n(SFC, 12/7/96, p.A10)\n\n1995 Apr, In Zaire the parliament passed a resolution that prevented refugees from Rwanda and Burundi from obtaining Zairean citizenship.\n\n(WSJ, 11/15/96, p.A16)\n\n\n\n1995 May 1, President Clinton defended his choice for surgeon general, Henry Foster, as a \"pro-life, pro-choice doctor.\"\n\n(AP, 5/1/00)\n\n1995 May 1, Charges that Qubilah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, had plotted to murder Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan were dropped as jury selection for her trial was about to begin in Minneapolis.\n\n(AP, 5/1/00)\n\n1995 May 1, The Croatian army captured the Serb enclave of Western Slavonia in its first major bid to retake territories occupied in 1991. In reply the Krajina Serbs launched a rocket attack on Zagreb, the Croatian capital. Milan Martic, Croatian Serb leader of rebel Serb forces, ordered the shelling of Zagreb. Martic surrendered to the UN war crimes tribunal in 2002.\n\n(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)(SFC, 11/30/96, p.A15)(SFC, 5/8/02, p.A17)\n\n1995 May 1, In France Brahim Bouarram (29), a father of two, was thrown into the Seine by a group of skinheads leaving a May Day rally held nearby in Paris by Nation al Front Party leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.\n\n(Reuters, 5/1/17)\n\n\n\n1995 May 2, President Clinton agreed to allow some 20,000 Cubans into the United States after months of detention at Guantanamo Bay, but said any more Cubans who fled their country would be forcibly repatriated.\n\n(AP, 5/2/00)\n\n1995 May 2, A new scientific theory predicted an earthquake for the Central Valley of California to occur by July 9. It was estimated to be about 6.0 in magnitude but did not happen.\n\n(local newspaper San Luis Obispo, Ca.)\n\n1995 May 2, Serb missiles exploded in the heart of Zagreb, killing six.\n\n(www.hri.org/news/usa/std/1995/95-05-02.std.html)\n\n\n\n1995 May 3, The US government reported that its Index of Leading Economic Indicators dropped half a percentage point in March 1995, its biggest tumble in two years.\n\n(AP, 5/3/00)\n\n\n\n1995 May 4, India launched the fourth ASLV-D4 from Sriharikota, successfully placing the SROSS-C2 satellite in orbit.\n\n(www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080048779)\n\n1995 May 4, An Iranian nuclear official said spent fuel from Iran's Russian-made reactors, potential raw material for nuclear bombs, would be returned to Russia for safeguarding.\n\n(AP, 5/4/00)\n\n\n\n1995 May 5, As rescue workers ended their search for bodies in the Oklahoma City bombing, President Clinton denounced self-styled anti-government militias, saying, \"How dare you call yourselves patriots and heroes.\"\n\n(AP, 5/5/00)\n\n1995 May 5, Talks collapsed between the United States and Japan on averting a trade fight over automobiles.\n\n(AP, 5/5/00)\n\n1995 May 5, Thunderstorms began tearing through North Texas, claiming two dozen lives.\n\n(AP, 5/5/00)\n\n1995 May 5, Over 100,000 Ghanaians demonstrated in the streets of Accra for the repeal of an 18% value-added tax. 4 people were killed from gunfire by government hired thugs.\n\n(WSJ, 1/04/00, p.A18)\n\n\n\n1995 May 6, Long-shot Thunder Gulch, ridden by Gary Stevens, won the 121st Kentucky Derby.\n\n(AP, 5/6/00)(WSJ, 5/5/97, p.A16)\n\n1995 May 6, Friends and relatives of the Oklahoma City bombing victims made a pilgrimage to the site of the attack.\n\n(AP, 5/6/00)\n\n1995 May 6, In London, thousands of World War II veterans celebrated the 50th anniversary of V-E Day.\n\n(AP, 5/6/00)\n\n\n\n1995 May 7, Jacques Chirac, the conservative mayor of Paris, won France's presidency in his third attempt, defeating Lionel Jospin in a runoff to end 14 years of Socialist rule.\n\n(AP, 5/7/00)\n\n1995 May 7, Leaders of 54 nations that fought on both sides in World War II signed olive leaves in London in a ceremony of reconciliation.\n\n(AP, 5/7/00)\n\n\n\n1995 May 8, Helmut Oberlander (b.1924), a former Nazi decorated for service in a death squad that executed 91,678 people in southern Russia, was extradited to Canada from Florida.\n\n(SSFC, 4/4/10, Par. p.5)(www.justice.gov/opa/pr/Pre_96/May95/261.txt.html)\n\n1995 May 8, A monster storm began dumping 18 inches of rain on southeast Louisiana, flooding homes and killing five people.\n\n(AP, 5/8/00)\n\n\n\n1995 May 8, Fifty years after Nazi Germany's capitulation in World War II, leaders representing the victorious powers gathered in Berlin to remember the dead and pledge peace for the future.\n\n(AP, 5/8/00)\n\n\n\n1995 May 9, President Clinton arrived in Moscow for a summit with Russian President Boris Yeltsin.\n\n(AP, 5/9/00)\n\n1995 May 9, The United States returned 13 Cuban boat people to their homeland, the first to be sent back under a new policy bitterly protested by Cuban-Americans.\n\n(AP, 5/9/00)\n\n1995 May 9, Kinshasa, capital of Zaire, was placed under quarantine after an outbreak of the Ebola virus.\n\n(AP, 5/9/00)\n\n\n\n1995 May 10, Terry Nichols was charged in the Oklahoma City bombing.\n\n(AP, 5/10/00)\n\n1995 May 10, Former President Bush\u2019s office released his letter of resignation from the National Rifle Association in which Bush expressed outrage over its reference to federal agents as \"jack-booted government thugs.\"\n\n(AP, 5/10/00)\n\n1995 May 10, Britain lifted a 23-year ban on ministerial talks with Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army.\n\n(www.cnn.com/almanac/9805/10/)\n\n1995 May 10, One-hundred-four miners were killed in an elevator accident in Orkney, South Africa.\n\n(AP, 5/10/00)\n\n\n\n1995 May 11, A United Nations conference indefinitely extended the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which was originally set to expire after 25 years. The 5 nuclear nations agreed this year that steps toward disarmament should not have to await universal disarmament.\n\n(AP, 5/11/00)(Econ, 6/10/06, p.21)\n\n\n\n1995 May 12, President Clinton, during a stopover in Ukraine, visited Babi Yar, where the Nazis massacred more than 30,000 Kiev Jews in 1941.\n\n(AP, 5/12/00)\n\n\n\n1995 May 13, Army Capt. Lawrence Rockwood was convicted at his court-martial in Fort Drum, N.Y., of conducting an unauthorized investigation of reported human rights abuses at a Haitian prison. Rockwood was dismissed from the military the next day.\n\n(AP, 5/13/05)\n\n\n\n1995 May 14, Myrlie Evers-Williams was sworn in to head the NAACP, pledging to lead the civil rights group away from its recent troubles and restore it as a political and social force.\n\n(AP, 5/14/00)\n\n1995 May 14, In New Jersey Nicholas Connors, the husband of Dolores Morgan, was found dead on a sofa at his home in Long Branch, with multiple gunshot wounds to his head. In 2020 Dolores Morgan (66) and her son Ted Connors (47), both of Delray Beach, Florida, were indicted for the Connors' killing. Prosecutors alleged that Ted Connors carried out the murders with his best friend, Jose Carrero, who admitted to conspiring with the mother and son in the killing.\n\n(NBC News, 2/27/20)\n\n1995 May 14, The 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choikyi Nyima, was announced by the exiled Dalai Lama. Gedhun Choekyi (5) disappeared days after his designation. Six months later China declared Gyaincain Norbu (Gyaltsen Norbu) (5) as the 11th Panchen Lama.\n\n(SFC, 5/8/97, p.C2)(SFC, 6/19/99, p.A11)(SFC, 8/12/11, p.A2)\n\n\n\n1995 May 15, Dow Corning Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing potentially astronomical expenses from liability lawsuits.\n\n(AP, 5/15/00)\n\n\n\n1995 May 16, The Clinton administration threatened punitive tariffs that would double the prices for Japan's most popular luxury cars.\n\n(AP, 5/16/00)\n\n1995 May 16, Some $10 million worth of computer microprocessors were stolen from Centon, a chip firm in Irvine, Ca. The massive \"Bytes Dust\" task force investigation resulted in the 2000 racketeering trial of the 4 men who masterminded the heist. Mady Chan, Hoang Ai Le, John That Luong and Hui Chi Luong were found guilty. 15 more defendants of \"The Company\" awaited trial. In 2001 John That Luong was sentenced to 88 years in prison.\n\n(SFC, 3/1/00, p.A26)(SFC, 6/23/00, p.A14)(SFC, 8/14/01, p.C4)\n\n1995 May 16, Aum Shinri Kyo cult leader Shoko Asahara was found hiding in a secret room at a cult compound in Kamikuishiki and arrested. A letter bomb exploded in Tokyo\u2019s city hall and injured an aid of the governor who had advocated withdrawing Aum\u2019s religious permit. His teachings declared that he was Christ, that meditation was required for enlightenment, and that Armageddon is imminent.\n\n(SFC, 4/24/96, p.A8)(SFC, 11/2/96, p.A9)(SFC, 9/29/97, p.A13)\n\n\n\n1995 May 17, The US Senate ethics committee concluded that Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) had to face a full-scale Senate investigation of charges that included making improper advances toward women.\n\n(AP, 5/17/00)\n\n1995 May 17, Jacques Chirac was sworn in as president of France, ending the 14-year tenure of Socialist Francois Mitterrand.\n\n(AP, 5/17/00)\n\n\n\n1995 May 18, Triumphant US Republicans pushed a historic budget through the House that they said would wring an unprecedented $1.4 trillion in savings from federal budgets over the next seven years.\n\n(AP, 5/18/00)\n\n1995 May 18, Elisha Cook Jr. (91), actor (Maltese Falcon, Shane), died.\n\n(SC, 5/18/02)\n\n1995 May 18, Alexander Godunov (45), ballet dancer, was found dead.\n\n(AP, 5/18/00)\n\n1995 May 18, Robert Harris (95), English actor (Werewolf of London), died.\n\n(http://movies.msn.com/celebs/celeb.aspx?c=219208)\n\n1995 May 18, Elizabeth Montgomery (62), actress (Bewitched), died in Los Angeles.\n\n(AP, 5/18/00)\n\n1995 May 18, Gordon Reynolds (74), musician, died.\n\n(http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Obituary/1995/music.html)(www.scottishbluegrass.com/article.htm)\n\n\n\n1995 May 19, The Senate voted 99-0 to reject President Clinton's spending blueprint.\n\n(AP, 5/19/00)\n\n1995 May 19, NASA's administrator unveiled plans to slash thousands of aerospace jobs and to overhaul virtually every part of the agency.\n\n(AP, 5/19/00)\n\n1995 May 19, AMC Entertainment Inc. opened the 1st multi-theater film megaplex, the Grand 24, in Dallas, Texas.\n\n(SFC, 5/19/05, p.C3)(WSJ, 5/13/97, p.B1)\n\n1995 May 19, The world's youngest doctor in the world came to be as India-born Balamurali Ambati at 17 graduated from Mount Sinai Medical School.\n\n(www.hindunet.org/alt_hindu/1995_May_2/msg00038.html)\n\n\n\n1995 May 20, Timber Country won the Preakness at Pimlico.\n\n(AP, 5/20/00)\n\n1995 May 20, President Clinton announced that the two-block stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House would be permanently closed to motor vehicles as a security measure.\n\n(AP, 5/20/00)\n\n1995 May 20, CBS News fired co-anchor Connie Chung.\n\n(http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/tvbarn/message/148)\n\n\n\n1995 May 21, Les Aspin (56), former US Secretary of Defense, died at a Washington D.C. hospital after suffering a massive stroke.\n\n(AP, 5/21/00)\n\n1995 May 21, Larry Lee Hillblom, co-founder and majority shareholder of DHL Corp., disappeared into the Pacific Ocean in his World War II vintage seaplane. He was conservatively valued at 500 million and willed most of his estate to a charitable trust for medical research. $240 million was set aside for medical research at UCSF. He named the Bank of Saipan as executor but left behind a number of illegitimate children in the Philippines and the Mariana Islands who are laying claim to his estate. In 1998 4 children won $90 million settlements each. Later it was learned that many of his personal effects in Saipan were buried to avoid DNA tests for paternity confirmation. In 2012 James D. Scurlock authored \u201cThe Life and Ruins of a Billionaire Genius.\"\n\n(WSJ, 5/15/96, p.A1,8)(SFEC, 1/11/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 3/20/00, p.A1)(SSFC, 2/12/12, p.F7)\n\n\n\n1995 May 22, The US State Dept. allowed Taiwan\u2019s President Lee Teng-hui to visit his alma mater, Cornell University, to deliver a speech on \"Taiwan's Democratization Experience\". China condemned the US for \"ruining\" Sino-American relations.\n\n(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Taiwan_Strait_Crisis)\n\n1995 May 22, The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states cannot limit service in Congress without amending the Constitution.\n\n(AP, 5/22/00)\n\n1995 May 22, \"The CBS Evening News\" resumed a single-anchor format with Dan Rather, after Connie Chung was dropped from the broadcast.\n\n(AP, 5/22/00)\n\n\n\n1995 May 23, Leland William Modjeski (37), a graduate student, was shot and wounded on the White House lawn after scaling a fence with an unloaded gun.\n\n(AP, 5/23/05)\n\n1995 May 23, The nine-story hulk of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was demolished. That day, James Nichols, whose brother and a friend were charged in the Oklahoma bombing, was released from federal custody.\n\n(AP, 5/23/00)\n\n\n\n1995 May 24, \"Hollywood Madam\" Heidi Fleiss was sentenced to three years in prison and fined $1,500 for running a call-girl ring that catered to the rich and famous.\n\n1995 May 24, Gen. Janvier told the UN Security Council that the Bosnian government forces were sufficient to defend Srebrenica, that UN troops should be withdrawn and that NATO air power was not needed.\n\n(SFC, 6/4/96, p.A12)\n\n1995 May 24, Harold Wilson (79), former British Prime Minister (1964-70, 74-76), died in London.\n\n(AP, 5/24/00)(MC, 5/24/02)\n\n\n\n1995 May 25, NATO warplanes struck Bosnian Serb headquarters. Serbs answered with swift defiance, storming UN weapons depots, attacking safe areas and taking peacekeepers as hostages.\n\n(AP, 5/25/00)\n\n1995 May 25, Dany Robin (68), French actress (Follow the Boys, Topaz, Julietta), died in a fire in her Paris apartment.\n\n(www.imdb.com/name/nm0732184/bio)\n\n1995 May 25, Dick Curless (b.1932), singer, songwriter, died.\n\n(http://koti.mbnet.fi/wdd/curlessbio.htm)\n\n\n\n1995 May 26, In the tobacco industry\u2019s largest recall ever, Philip Morris USA halted sales of several cigarette brands, including some versions of top-selling Marlboro, because some filters were contaminated.\n\n(AP, 5/26/00)\n\n1995 May 26, Isadore \"Friz\" Freleng (b.1906), American cartoonist, died. Often credited as I. Freleng, the American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer is known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons.\n\n(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friz_Freleng)\n\n1995 May 26, Serbs bombarded Serajevo. On Jun 6 NATO launched 2 air raids against an ammunition dump in Serb-held central Bosnia.\n\n(SFC, 6/7/96, p.A10)(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)\n\n\n\n1995 May 27, Actor Christopher Reeve was left paralyzed when he was thrown from his horse during a jumping event in Charlottesville, Virginia.\n\n(AP, 5/27/00)\n\n1995 May 27, In Bosnia General Mladi\u0107 launched an assault against the UN observation point of the Vrbanja bridge. French soldiers Marcel Amaru and Jacky Humboldt were killed in the operation of liberating the Vrbanja Bridge under siege in Sarajevo. They became the symbol of the 84 French soldiers, who gave their lives for Bosnia.\n\n(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNPROFOR)(http://tinyurl.com/qdsxo)\n\n\n\n1995 May 28, Harvard undergraduate Sinedu Tadesse of Ethiopia stabbed her college roommate, Trang Ho of Vietnam, 45 times and then hanged herself. In 1997 Melanie Thernstrom wrote: \"Halfway Heaven, Diary of a Harvard Murder\" an account of the incident with extensive background information.\n\n(WSJ, 8/26/97, p.A14)(SFEC,11/16/97, BR p.10)\n\n1995 May 28, Bosnia\u2019s foreign minister and three colleagues were killed when rebel Serbs shot down their helicopter.\n\n(AP, 5/28/00)\n\n1995 May 28, An earthquake with a magnitude of seven-point-five devastated the Russian town of Neftegorsk, killing at least two-thousand people.\n\n(AP, 5/28/00)\n\n\n\n1995 May 29, The last three bodies entombed in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City were recovered.\n\n(AP, 5/29/00)\n\n1995 May 29, Margaret Chase Smith (97), the first woman to serve in both the House and the Senate (R-ME), died in Skowhegan, Maine.\n\n(AP, 5/29/00)\n\n\n\n1995 May 30, In a letter to UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic demanded guarantees of no further NATO air attacks and de facto recognition of a self-styled Serb state.\n\n(AP, 5/30/00)\n\n\n\n1995 May 31, President Clinton declared he was ready to permit the temporary use of American ground forces in Bosnia to help UN peacekeepers move to safer positions if necessary.\n\n(AP, 5/31/00)\n\n1995 May 31, Senator Bob Dole (Kansas) accused Hollywood of promoting violence, rape and casual sex in music and movies saying \"the mainstreaming of deviancy must come to an end.\"\n\n(AP, 5/31/00)\n\n\n\n1995 May, Borders bookstores held an IPO at $14.50 per share.\n\n(WSJ, 9/3/96, p.A6)\n\n1995 May, In Dallas, Texas, the AMC Grand Cinema opened with 24 screens for moviegoers.\n\n(WSJ, 5/13/97, p.B1)\n\n1995 May, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates wrote a memo titled \"The Internet Tidal Wave,\" which rallied the company to compete with Netscapeby integrating web browsing into other products.\n\n(SSFC, 5/20/18, p.D1)\n\n1995 May, In Chile the Ministry of Agriculture imposed a System of Appellation for the wine industry. New labels would correctly indicate a wine\u2019s region of origin.\n\n(SFC, 1/8/96, zz-1 p.4)\n\n1995 May, In China a pro-democracy peace charter was signed by 56 people to coincide with the 6th anniversary of student demonstrations. Former student leader Li Hai was detained after signing the peace charter.\n\n(SFC, 1/1/97, p.C2)\n\n1995 May, In Cuba Robert Lee Vesco was arrested on charges of marketing Trixolane, a cancer and arthritis drug, without the government\u2019s knowledge.\n\n(SFC, 8/21/96, p.A8)(Econ, 5/31/08, p.91)\n\n1995 May, In Uganda Museveni won presidential elections in a landslide. The rebel group West Nile Bank Front began its campaign against Pres. Yoweri Museveni. Uganda\u2019s population at this time stood at about 15 million.\n\n(SFC, 3/5/96, p.A9)(SFC, 7/2/96, p.A10)(Econ, 2/14/09, p.58)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 1, President Clinton visited Billings, Montana, where he met with farmers and presided over a televised town hall meeting.\n\n(AP, 6/1/00)\n\n1995 Jun 1, The US Postal Service issued a 32 cent stamp honoring the late Marilyn Monroe.\n\n(www.leninimports.com/marilyn_monroe.html)\n\n1995 Jun 1, James Wolfensohn, Australian-born financier, took over as head of the World Bank. He served 2 5-year terms. In 2004 Sebastian Mallaby authored \u201cThe World\u2019s Banker,\" a view of how the world Bank fared under Wolfensohn.\n\n(SFC, 9/28/99, p.C16)(www.worldbank.org)(SFC, 1/3/05, p.A3)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 2, A US Air Force F-16C was shot down by a Bosnian Serb surface-to-air missile while on a NATO air patrol in northern Bosnia; the pilot, Captain Scott F. O\u2019Grady, was rescued six days later.\n\n(AP, 6/2/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 3, Bosnian Serb officials made contradictory statements about the whereabouts of an American pilot, a day after his Air Force jet was shot down. Bosnian Serb military sources claimed that the pilot, later identified as Captain Scott F. O\u2019Grady, was in Bosnian Serb hands\u2014a claim that proved false.\n\n(AP, 6/3/00)\n\n1995 Jun 3, In Bosnia Mladic forces seized a Dutch observation post.\n\n(SFC, 6/4/96, p.A12)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 4, At the Tony Awards, \"Sunset Boulevard\" won best Broadway musical. \"Love! Valour! Compassion!\" by Terrence McNally was chosen best play.\n\n(AP, 6/4/00)(SFC, 7/23/97, p.E1)\n\n1995 Jun 4, Sophie Winter (34), actress (She's a Good Fighter), died from a misdiagnosed extopic pregnancy.\n\n(http://tinyurl.com/83sc6)\n\n1995 Jun 4, French General Bernard Janvier, supreme UN military commander in the former Yugoslavia, met with Bosnian Serb military commander, Ratko Mladic. He pleaded for the release of UN captives and offered to halt future NATO air attacks. Shortly after Yasushi Akashi publicly affirmed that the UN would abide by peacekeeping principles - shorthand for no more air attacks.\n\n(SFC, 6/7/96, p.A10)\n\n1995 Jun 4, In Sri Lanka the Tigers blew up a ship chartered by the Int\u2019l. Committee of the Red Cross.\n\n(SFC, 7/24/96, p.A9)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 5, Ron Kirk began serving as the first black mayor of Dallas, Texas.\n\n(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Kirk)(SFC, 10/10/14, p.D5)\n\n1995 Jun 5, \"Allison,\" a minimal hurricane, buffeted the Gulf Coast with 75 mile-per-hour winds, swamping streets and spinning off tornadoes but causing no major damage.\n\n(AP, 6/5/00)\n\n1995 Jun 5, Trevor Dupuy, founder of the Dupuy Institute, died. His Washington DC military think-tank developed software called Tactical Numerical Deterministic Model that forecast surprisingly accurate casualty figures for the 1991 Gulf War.\n\n(Econ, 9/17/05, TQp.22)(www.dupuyinstitute.org/tndupuy.htm)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 6, US astronaut Norman Thagard broke NASA\u2019s space endurance record of 84 days, one hour and 16 minutes, aboard the Russian space station \"Mir.\"\n\n(AP, 6/6/00)\n\n1995 Jun 6, NATO launched 2 air raids against an ammunition dump in Serb-held central Bosnia. Serb forces then seized 270 UN peacekeepers, shackled them to potential targets, and ordered them to plead on camera for the NATO air attacks to stop.\n\n(SFC, 6/7/96, p.A10)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 7, President Clinton vetoed his first bill, striking down a Republican plan to cut $16.4 billion in spending.\n\n(AP, 6/7/00)\n\n1995 Jun 7, The maiden flight of the new Boeing 777 was made from London to Washington.\n\n(WSJ, 1/23/96, p.A12)\n\n1995 Jun 7, Two buses carrying 108 UN peacekeepers freed by the Bosnian Serbs crossed into Serbia.\n\n(AP, 6/7/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 8, US Marines rescued U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O\u2019Grady, whose F-16C fighter jet had been shot down by Bosnian Serbs on June second.\n\n(AP, 6/8/00)\n\n1995 Jun 8, Mickey Mantle received a liver transplant at a Dallas hospital; however, the baseball great succumbed to disease two months later.\n\n(AP, 6/8/00)(HN, 6/8/99)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 9, One week after being shot down over Bosnia by a Bosnian Serb missile, and a day after being rescued, US Air Force Captain Scott O\u2019Grady was warmly welcomed by his comrades at Aviano Air Base in Italy.\n\n(AP, 6/9/00)\n\n1995 Jun 9, UN representative Akashi summoned Gens. Janvier and Smith to resolve their differences over military policies in Bosnia. Shortly after Yasushi Akashi publicly affirmed that the UN would abide by peacekeeping principles - shorthand for no more air attacks.\n\n(SFC, 6/4/96, p.A10,12)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 10, US Air Force Captain Scott O\u2019Grady, rescued after being shot down over Bosnia, described his six-day ordeal at a news conference at Aviano Air Base in Italy, saying he was no Rambo and no hero.\n\n(AP, 6/10/00)\n\n1995 Jun 10, \"Thunder Gulch\" won the Belmont Stakes.\n\n(AP, 6/10/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 11, In an unprecedented joint appearance, President Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich sparred politely over Medicare and other issues before an audience of senior citizens in Claremont, New Hampshire.\n\n(AP, 6/11/00)\n\n1995 Jun 11, A bomb exploded at an outdoor music festival in Medellin, Colombia, spraying shrapnel that killed at least 28 people and wounded more than 200 others.\n\n(AP, 6/11/03)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 12, The US Supreme Court dealt a potentially crippling blow to federal affirmative action programs, ruling Congress was limited by the same strict standards as states in offering special help to minorities.\n\n(AP, 6/12/00)\n\n1995 Jun 12, Air Force Captain Scott O\u2019Grady, rescued after being shot down over Bosnia, was treated to lunch at the White House and a hero\u2019s welcome at the Pentagon.\n\n(AP, 6/12/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 13, President Clinton proposed a ten-year plan for balancing the federal budget, saying in a televised address his proposal would cut spending by $1.1 trillion.\n\n(AP, 6/13/00)\n\n1995 Jun 13, France announced it would abandon its 1992 moratorium on nuclear testing and conduct eight more tests between September and May.\n\n(AP, 6/13/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 14, Stephen Yokich was elected president of the United Auto Workers at the union\u2019s triennial convention in Anaheim, California.\n\n(AP, 6/14/00)\n\n1995 Jun 14, Shamil Basayev, Chechen commander, led a hostage raid on a Russian hospital in Budyonnovsk [Budennovsk]. Chechen rebels took some 1,500 people hostage in a hospital in Russia. After a 4-day standoff Sergei Stepashin ordered troops to storm the hospital and the rebels escaped with some 100 hostages. Some 100-150 people were killed in the fighting.\n\n(SFC, 1/25/97, p.A8)(HN, 6/14/98)(SFC, 5/13/99, p.A16)(SSFC, 11/10/02, p.A11)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 15, The Summit of 7 leading industrialist nations, G-7, met in Halifax, Canada, for talks on a unified front against terrorism. President Clinton met with Japanese PM Tomiichi Murayama on the opening day of a Group of Seven summit in Halifax, Nova Scotia.\n\n(AP, 6/15/00)(SFC, 6/20/97, p.A16)\n\n1995 Jun 15, At the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Simpson struggled to don a pair of gloves that prosecutors said were worn the night Simpson\u2019s ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, were murdered.\n\n(AP, 6/15/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 16, Salt Lake City was awarded the XIX Winter Olympic Games for 2002. A scandal later developed over pay-offs.\n\n(AP, 6/16/00)\n\n1995 Jun 16, Bosnian government forces aided by Bosnian Croats unleashed a major offensive in hopes of breaking the Serb stranglehold on Sarajevo.\n\n(AP, 6/16/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 17, Russian commandos stormed a hospital where Chechen rebels were holding more than 1,000 hostages, but the Chechens beat the Russians back.\n\n(AP, 6/17/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 18, About 300 inmates trashed an immigration detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey.\n\n(AP, 6/18/00)\n\n1995 Jun 18, A private plane carrying the Angolan soccer team crashed in Luanda, Angola, killing 48 people.\n\n(AP, 6/18/00)\n\n1995 Jun 18, The Bosnian Serbs announced the resumption of cooperation with the UN. Serbs released the last 26 UN hostages held since NATO airstrikes. A planned NATO air strike was vetoed.\n\n(SFC, 6/4/96, p.A12)(www.washington-report.org/backissues/0995/9509111.htm)(AP, 6/18/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 19, The Richmond, Virginia, Planning Commission approved plans to place a memorial statue of tennis professional Arthur Ashe.\n\n(HN, 6/19/00)\n\n1995 Jun 19, Jennifer Lea Evans (21), a vacationing college student, was killed outside a Virginia Beach nightclub. Navy SEAL trainees Dustin Turner and his best friend, Billy Joe Brown, were convicted for the same crime. When they were arrested, each man accused the other of being the killer. In 2009 Brown said he killed Evans with no help from Turner. Brown said he wanted to tell the truth after almost 13 years because he had found religion in prison. A court soon overturned the convictions against Turner (33).\n\n(SFC, 8/5/09, p.A4)(http://freedusty.com/Story/Dusty_Story.html)\n\n1995 Jun 20, US Air Force Captain Jim Wang, a radar officer, was cleared of wrongdoing in a friendly fire attack on 2 US helicopters over northern Iraq in 1994 that resulted in 26 deaths.\n\n(AP, 6/20/00)\n\n1995 Jun 19, Murray Dickie (b.1924), opera singer, director, died.\n\n(http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Obituary/1995/theatre.html)\n\n1995 Jun 19, Chechen rebels and more than 100 human shields rode a convoy of buses back to Chechnya following the end of a hostage drama at a Russian hospital.\n\n(AP, 6/19/00)\n\n1995 Jun 19, Chinese-American human rights activist Harry Wu was detained as he tried to enter China; he was jailed for 66 days before being expelled.\n\n(AP, 6/19/00)(SFC, 5/19/96, Z1, p.3)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 20-1995 Jun 21, The Mount Zion AME Church in Greeleyville, S.C., was destroyed by fire. On the next day the Macedonia Baptist Church in Bloomville was burned. In 1996 two KKK members, Gary Cox and Timothy Welch, were charged in federal court for setting the fires. They pleaded guilty on 8/14/96. Former Klansmen Hubert Rowell and Arthur Haley pleaded guilty to 4 counts of conspiracy in the fires in Dec 1996. In 1998 the Christian Knights of KKK and Horace King, Grand Dragon of South Carolina, were ordered to pay $37.8 million in damages for the burning of the Macedonia Baptist church.\n\n(SFC, 7/9/96, p.A6)(SFC, 8/15/96, p.A4)(SFC, 12/10/96, p.A3)(SFC, 7/25/98, p.A3)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 21, Dr. Henry Foster lost a crucial Senate vote in his bid to become surgeon general as only 57 senators voted to cut off debate, three short of the 60 needed. One last vote the next day also fell short.\n\n(HN, 6/21/98)(AP, 6/21/00)\n\n1995 Jun 21, Larry Griffin was executed in Missouri for the murder of Quintin Moss (19). Griffin asserted his innocence until he died. In 2005 the case was re-opened.\n\n{Missouri}\n\n(Econ, 7/23/05, p.31)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 22, US House and Senate Republicans announced agreement on a compromise seven-year budget-balancing plan that would cut taxes by $245 billion and slow spending for Medicare, Medicaid and dozens of other programs.\n\n(AP, 6/22/00)\n\n1995 Jun 22, Riot police stormed a hijacked jumbo jet in Hakodate, Japan, freeing all 364 people on board and capturing a lone hijacker.\n\n(AP, 6/22/00)\n\n1995 Jun 22, Nigeria\u2019s former military ruler Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo and his chief deputy were charged with conspiracy to overthrow Gen. Sami Abacha\u2019s military government.\n\n(HN, 6/22/00)\n\n\n\n1995 Jun 23, Dr. Jonas Salk (b.1914), the medical pioneer who developed the first vaccine to halt the crippling rampage of polio, died in La Jolla, California, at age 80. In 2015 Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs authored \u201cJonas Salk: A Life.\"\n\n(AP, 6/23/00)(Econ, 6/27/15, p.72)\n\n1995 Jun 23, In Mexico Hector \"El Guero\" Palma, reputed head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, was arrested after his plane crashed near Guadalajara. He faced 9 counts of murder for the killing of 9 relatives and associates of his rival Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo. Gallardo had earlier decapitated Palma\u2019s first wife and arranged the mur"}
-{"text": "Adam Reed, the writer and executive of Archer , says he plans to wrap up FX's popular animated series with Season 10.\n\nLoading\n\n\"The plan is to end Archer after Season 10,\" Reed said on a recent episode of the Modern School of Film\u2019s Murmur podcast (via HitFix ), noting that he was initially going to conclude the series with Season 8, but \"had sort of a brain explosion of a way that I could do three more seasons and really keep my interest up.\"Reed went on to reaffirm that the final three seasons will be a bit shorter , with each spanning just eight episodes. He also said Seasons 8 through 10 will not only be \"pretty different\" than the previous seven, but also \"different from each other.\"With regard to wrapping up the beloved show while it's still incredibly popular, Reed said, \"I do think that things can go on too long,\" and instead of continuing Archer simply because there's still money to be made, \"maybe those creative energies could be better used coming up with something new rather than continuing the same thing.\"Archer stars H. Jon Benjamin as Sterling Archer, Jessica Walter as Malory Archer and Aisha Tyler as Lana Kane, all three of whom will be back for Season 8.\n\nAlex Osborn is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter"}
-{"text": "FREDERICK, Colo. \u2014 The bodies of two young girls were submerged in crude oil for four days before authorities discovered them on Thursday, according to court documents filed Friday by an attorney defending the girls\u2019 father against accusations that he killed his children and wife.\n\nThe motion filed Friday by Christopher Watts\u2019 attorney, James Merson, also asked that DNA swabs be taken from the girls\u2019 necks. The request quotes an expert who believes the oil would not eliminate DNA and said samples can be obtained \u201cafter strangulation.\u201d\n\nAuthorities separately announced that the Weld County Coroner\u2019s Office had performed autopsies on Friday and confirmed the bodies as 34-year-old Shanann, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste Watts.\n\nPolice did not release any information about how the mother and daughters died. More testing is planned to help determine the cause of their deaths.\n\nRichard Eikelenboom, the expert cited by Watts\u2019 attorney, also recommended taking DNA samples from the girls\u2019 hands and the hands and nails of their mother. Eikelenboom has testified in several high-profile criminal trials, often on so-called \u201ctouch DNA\u201d when small samples of genetic material are left on a surface.\n\nAfter his wife and daughters were reported missing on Monday and before his arrest, Watts told reporters he missed them, and longed for the simple things like telling his girls to eat their dinner and gazing at them as they curled up to watch cartoons.\n\nAuthorities are expected to file formal charges Monday against Watts, an oil and gas worker who authorities said dumped his wife and daughters\u2019 bodies on his employer\u2019s property.\n\nPolice said the mother, Shanann, was found dead on property owned by Anadarko Petroleum, one of the state\u2019s largest oil and gas drillers, where 33-year-old Christopher Watts worked as an operator. Investigators found the bodies of Bella and Celeste nearby.\n\nWatts was fired on Wednesday, the same day he was arrested, the company said. He did not respond to reporters\u2019 questions when he was escorted into the courtroom Thursday.\n\nMerson, Watts\u2019 attorney through the Colorado State Public Defender\u2019s Office, left Thursday\u2019s court hearing without commenting to reporters. He did not respond to multiple messages seeking comment by The Associated Press.\n\nPolice have not released any information about a motive or how the three were killed.\n\nThe family\u2019s two-story home is just outside Frederick, a small town on the grassy plains north of Denver, where fast-growing subdivisions intermingle with drilling rigs and oil wells.\n\nAccording to a June 2015 bankruptcy filing, Christopher Watts had gotten a job six months earlier as an operator for Anadarko, and paystubs indicate his annual salary was about $61,500. Shanann Watts was working in a call center at a children\u2019s hospital at the time, earning about $18 an hour \u2014 more for evenings, weekends or extra shifts she sometimes worked.\n\nBut the family remained caught between a promising future and financial strain from debt and other obligations.\n\nThe couple had a combined income of $90,000 in 2014. But they also had tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt, along with some student loans and medical bills \u2014 for a total of $70,000 in unsecured claims on top of a sizable mortgage.\n\nThey said in the filing that their nearly $3,000 mortgage and $600 in monthly car payments formed the bulk of their $4,900 in monthly expenses.\n\nDetails about what led police to arrest Watts late Wednesday night on suspicion of three counts of murder and tampering with evidence likely were to be revealed next week.\n\nProsecutors will ask a court to unseal the affidavit for Watts\u2019 arrest after filing formal charges, which are due by mid- afternoon on Monday, said Krista Henery, a spokeswoman for district attorney Michael Rourke.\n\nFamily and friends of Shanann Watts are left searching for answers, trying to reconcile Watts\u2019 cheery Facebook posts about her daughters, her pregnancy and her love for her husband with the pending charges.\n\nAshley Bell met Shanann Watts about two years ago, when the mother of two came into Bell\u2019s new tanning salon in nearby Dacono. The two women quickly became friends, and before long they were texting or calling each other almost daily. Their daughters played together during salon visits.\n\n\u201cI just don\u2019t understand it,\u201d said Bell, who described Christopher Watts as a loving father.\n\nShanann Watts was from North Carolina, and her parents\u2019 next-door neighbor, Joe Beach, said he saw her recently when she visited the neighborhood of modest homes in Aberdeen.\n\n\u201cWe were talking about general things, about how her two girls were doing and how life was out in Colorado. She didn\u2019t give me an indication that there was anything wrong. She seemed pretty happy,\u201d he said.\n\nShanann Watts had recently shared with family and friends that she was pregnant with their third child.\n\nThe case has focused attention on Colorado\u2019s lack of a law allowing homicide charges in the violent deaths of fetuses, which is the case in 12 states. Proposals to allow homicide charges in the violent deaths of fetuses in Colorado have been stymied by debate about how to avoid infringing on abortion rights.\n\nRepublican lawmakers last tried to change the law after a 2015 case in Boulder County. A woman named Dynel Lane was charged with attempted murder and unlawful termination of a pregnancy for cutting open a pregnant woman\u2019s belly and removing her unborn baby girl. Prosecutors said they could not charge Lane with murder because a coroner found no evidence the infant lived outside the womb.\n\nState law does allow a homicide charge if a fetus was alive outside the mother\u2019s body and then killed. State lawmakers in 2013 also allowed prosecutors to add extra felony charges against anyone who commits a crime that causes the death of a fetus.\n\nAssociated Press writers James Anderson, Colleen Slevin and Thomas Peipert in Denver, Courtney Bonnell and Michelle A. Monroe in Phoenix and researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report."}
-{"text": "We explore the best options for the Fantasy Premier League captain for Gameweek 16 and reveal the results of our captain poll and our captain metric \u2013 who will you choose this Gameweek?\n\nBEFORE WE BEGIN: If you haven\u2019t already seen, we released an article last year introducing the new \u2018Captain Metric\u2019, which explains the concept fully and it can be viewed here > https://fplconnect.blog/2018/08/07/the-captain-metric-explained-2/\n\nDespite Pep stating that he wasn\u2019t sure on Ag\u00fcero\u2019s fitness, and then M.E.N reporting before the deadline that he wasn\u2019t with the squad that travelled to Vicarage Road, he was still the top captained player of all the live teams. He didn\u2019t play, along with Raheem Sterling (captained by 14% of live teams), which meant vice captains, again, came into action for the second GW in a row.\n\nIt was fairly evenly split elsewhere. Salah picked up the next highest with 16.5%, but he was rather surprisingly benched at Turf Moor. Owners might have been a bit miffed that he was subbed on, but right at the last, he managed to assist Shaqiri\u2019s goal to at least give them something to cheer about.\n\nKane was the next highest backed with 15% and he turned in a lovely 12pt haul, after bagging a goal, an assist and maximum bonus, to his owners\u2019 delight.\n\nAnother set of owners that will be very pleased, especially the 4.5% that backed him with the armband, will be that of Callum Wilson, who keeps making a mockery of his price-tag after netting another double-figure haul \u2013 his 3rd of the season \u2013 taking his total tally up to an impressive 8 goals and 8 assists.\n\nAfter his impressive 16pt haul the previous GW, Aubameyang was the top transferred in player for GW15 and saw some decent backing (5%) for the captaincy, despite a relatively tough fixture on paper. They were quite unlucky not to get anything from their new man, as he saw David De Gea pull off 2 very good saves to deny him, leaving him with just 2pts.\n\nWith ownership levels drastically changing amongst the premium assets, the captaincy will likely see similarly even splits to that of GW15. With upsides and downsides to all choices, let\u2019s see if we can help provide the clarity you need to pick your man!\n\nResults of our poll\n\nPierre-Emerick Aubameyang \u2013 51% of the votes\n\nUnderlying attacking stats the last 5 Gameweeks:\n\n15 penalty area touches\n\n14 total goal attempts.\n\n9 goal attempts inside the box.\n\n5 big chances.\n\n3 goals.\n\n1 assist.\n\nHarry Kane \u2013 29% of the votes\n\nUnderlying attacking stats the last 5 Gameweeks:\n\n21 penalty area touches\n\n22 total goal attempts.\n\n13 goal attempts inside the box.\n\n5 big chances.\n\n4 goals.\n\n2 assists.\n\nMohamed Salah \u2013 13% of the votes\n\nUnderlying attacking stats the last 5 Gameweeks:\n\n33 penalty area touches\n\n13 total goal attempts.\n\n10 goal attempts inside the box.\n\n3 big chances.\n\n2 goals.\n\n1 assist.\n\nRaheem Sterling\n\nUnderlying attacking stats the last 5 Gameweeks (where he\u2019s been involved in the match):\n\n54 penalty area touches\n\n12 total goal attempts.\n\n10 goal attempts inside the box.\n\n4 big chances.\n\n4 goals.\n\n5 assists.\n\nDifferential captain options\n\nAlexandre Lacazette \u2013 Considering he\u2019s had an injury, Lacazette hasn\u2019t been doing too badly over the last 5 GWs. Where he was able to play, he has scored 2 and assisted one. In this time, he boats an impressive 37.5% goal conversion rate, but this is down to the fact that he hasn\u2019t been having too many goal attempts (8, 7 coming inside the box). After a substantial rest, it is thought that Lacazette is in line to start up front against Huddersfield at the Emirates. If he does, it\u2019s hard to see him not getting something, as he has an impressive record of 14 goals and 6 assists in his 24 games there since moving from Lyon. Richarlison \u2013 Another one who\u2019s done well at home is the young Brazilian \u2013 scoring 4 in his 6 games at Goodison park, collecting 43pts from those 6 games. Watford started the season very well under Gracia and quite solid in defence too, but recently, the cracks are starting to appear. 4 losses and 1 draw in their last 5 doesn\u2019t make great reading, especially when they\u2019ve played Newcastle, Southampton and Leicester in that time \u2013 all games they\u2019re capable of getting results from. In addition, both Marco Silva and Richarlison face their former club, which always adds a certain extra motivation, as they\u2019ll both be eager to get one over on their old team.\n\nThe Captain Metric says\u2026\n\n\u2026 Raheem Sterling.\n\nImportant Note: We have twigged the metric slightly once more. At the end of the metric, you\u2019ll find two new relevant stats.\n\nFirst one (Reliability %), basically gives us the percentage of games the player has provided a return (goal or assist) in out of the games he was available for selection (not injured) \u2013 so this includes games where the player has scored 0 because of being on the bench/rested, but not those where the player has scored 0 because he was injured or unavailable for some other reason, like personal circumstances for example. This can give us an idea of how likely the player is to return and how reliable he has been.\n\nThe second (Explosivity %), as the name suggests, gives us the percentage of games the player has \u2018exploded in\u2019, or in more accurate terms, has provided a double-figure return. In the same way as before, it can give us an idea of how likely a player is to return a double-figure haul and a clear view of how good he\u2019s been at providing double-figure hauls in the past.\n\nBreakdown:\n\nPlayer form \u2013 Raheem Sterling has scored more points than either Kane, Salah or Aubameyang in the last 5 Gameweeks.\n\n\u2013 Raheem Sterling has scored more points than either Kane, Salah or Aubameyang in the last 5 Gameweeks. Team form \u2013 Sterling\u2019s Man City have created the most amount of big chances (18) in the last 5 Gameweeks in comparison to the rest of the candidates teams.\n\n\u2013 Sterling\u2019s Man City have created the most amount of big chances (18) in the last 5 Gameweeks in comparison to the rest of the candidates teams. Fixture difficulty \u2013 Salah\u2019s opponents, Bournemouth, have conceded the most amount of big chances in comparison to the others (17).\n\n\u2013 Salah\u2019s opponents, Bournemouth, have conceded the most amount of big chances in comparison to the others (17). Likelihood of scoring \u2013 According to the bookies, Aubameyang is the most likely to score.\n\n\u2013 According to the bookies, Aubameyang is the most likely to score. Expected goals/assists (xGI) \u2013 Raheem Sterling has the highest expected goal involvement of the 4 candidates over the last 5 Gameweeks.\n\n\u2013 Raheem Sterling has the highest expected goal involvement of the 4 candidates over the last 5 Gameweeks. Home/Away Goal Conversion \u2013 Aubameyang has the best goal conversion rate for this weekends fixtures, after bagging 5 goals from 16 goal attempts at the Emirates. Both Sterling and Kane have a decent 20% goal conversion rate on the road.\n\n\u2013 Aubameyang has the best goal conversion rate for this weekends fixtures, after bagging 5 goals from 16 goal attempts at the Emirates. Both Sterling and Kane have a decent 20% goal conversion rate on the road. Reliability % \u2013 In terms of being reliable in the sense of returning when playing, Sterling is the most reliable, with 9 returns in the 12 games (75%) he has played however, we have included the 3 games he\u2019s been rested for into the calculations, as he was physically fit to play but was rested \u2013 this falls under \u2018reliability\u2019 in an FPL context, as we want to rely on our assets to play as well as return. Despite including the 3 games where he was rested, he still comes out as 60% reliable, which was the joint highest along with Kane and Salah.\n\n\u2013 In terms of being reliable in the sense of returning when playing, Sterling is the most reliable, with 9 returns in the 12 games (75%) he has played however, we have included the 3 games he\u2019s been rested for into the calculations, as he was physically fit to play but was rested \u2013 this falls under \u2018reliability\u2019 in an FPL context, as we want to rely on our assets to play as well as return. Despite including the 3 games where he was rested, he still comes out as 60% reliable, which was the joint highest along with Kane and Salah. Explosivity % \u2013 Sterling has also proved the most explosive asset up to this point, with 4 double-figure hauls in the 15 games he was physically able to play in, in comparison to Kane, who\u2019s managed 3 in 15, Aubameyang who has managed the same and Salah who has only managed 1 so far from his 15 games.\n\nMy view\n\nIf we could be sure that Aubameyang was guaranteed to start, then I would be advocating it went on him because of his form and the fixture.\n\nHe has a fantastic conversion rate so far this season of 37% in general and 31.3% at home. Not only that, but he boasts the best \u2018goals per min\u2019 ratio (goal every 104 mins) of any player in the Premier League.\n\nThe bookies also fancy him to be the most likely to score, but given that Lacazette only played 45 minutes against United, it\u2019s likely that he comes in to start on the weekend up front and that either pushes Aubameyang out to the left, or him to the bench, given that he\u2019s played back to 90mins in the space of 3 days.\n\nHaving said that, the two times he has been benched in the Premier League, he came on and scored a brace in both, so even if you did go with him and he was benched, it\u2019s certainly not the end of the world.\n\nBournemouth\u2019s defensive stats are tempting when looking at Salah, but his away form is the major concern for me.\n\nKane has really picked up form and is also tempting, but Leicester, under Puel, are starting to look a little better in terms of their defensive organisation \u2013 the fact they\u2019ve conceded the fewest big chances (5) of any side in the last 5 GWs is testament to that.\n\nI would never rule Kane out of scoring against anyone, but feel the ceiling for him isn\u2019t very high in this one.\n\nI personally fancy a fresh Raheem Sterling against a fairly frail Chelsea, given his propensity to return when he starts and how explosive he can be.\n\nAlonso hasn\u2019t looked great defensively of late, and if Matt Doherty can get the better of him, then Sterling can certainly tear the Spaniard to shreds.\n\nIn terms of a differential captain, I don\u2019t expect Sterling would get too much of a backing numbers wise (expect less than 10% at least) with the other options available, so he\u2019d be a fantastic differential captain this GW with a lot focusing on Arsenal, but if you\u2019re looking at that fixture too, then Alexandre Lacazette has to be your man if you don\u2019t own Aubameyang or are worried about him starting.\n\nStats obtained from members.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk\n\nOdds obtained from williamhill.com"}
-{"text": "Send this page to someone via email\n\nTwo people from Victoria, B.C., have been charged with fraud under $5,000 after allegedly posing as Fort McMurray evacuees.\n\nDaryl Rondeau came to Claresholm claiming that his house had burnt down in the fire. Many in the community were generous, donating gift cards, clothes, and money.\n\nIn an article in the Claresholm Local Press, Rondeau told his tale saying \u201cwe got out of the town with the fire on our trail.\u201d\n\nArticle posted in the Claresholm Local Press including interview with Rondeau. http://www.claresholmlocalpress.ca/\n\nBut Rondeau\u2019s story quickly came under scrutiny.\n\nStory continues below advertisement\n\nThe Claresholm Family and Community Support Services, conducted a background check and eventually filed a complaint with RCMP. Days later, Daryl Rondeau was charged with one count of fraud under $5,000.\n\nOn May 24, 39-year-old Jaime Lynn Cox was charged with five counts of fraud under $5,000.\n\n\u201cIf there were 10 people downtown that ended up giving them money, then that could be 10 separate charges,\u201d Claresholm RCMP Cpl. Dalyn Olsen said. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be consequences for what they did. It\u2019s unfortunate that these two people are taking advantage of the generosity of residents here.\u201d\n\nREAD MORE: Man accused of using fake ID to get Fort McMurray wildfire funds\n\nIn hopes of avoiding similar situations, RCMP are reminding the public to donate through the proper channels.\n\n\u201cIf people want to help out, contact your Red Cross, your organizations you\u2019re certain are going to get the money where it needs to be,\u201d Olsen said.\n\nRCMP said Cox is scheduled to appear in Fort McLeod Provincial Court on June 1 at 10 a.m.\n\nRondeau pleaded guilty to his charge Wednesday.\n\n*EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: This article was originally posted on May 20 and was updated May 26 when charges against Cox were also laid.\n\nStory continues below advertisement\n\nWith files from Emily Mertz and Stephanie Irvine, Global News"}
-{"text": "Pick Your Fights Carefully: Dude Gets Knocked Out With One Punch After Talking Mad Ish, His Friends Get Beat Up Too!"}
-{"text": "While it has yet to be confirmed, NASA engineers studying the controversial EmDrive may have discovered it generates Star Trek-styled warp fields.\n\nRight now there are a lot of people wanting to go to space. And I'm not talking about the Mars colony folks or future asteroid miners - I mean the people who want starships that can visit other solar systems. Now if a group of NASA engineers talking shop online are to be believed, there's a pretty strong chance science stumbled across a warp drive by accident.\n\nSo here's the necessary backstory. Way back in 2000 Roger J. Shawyer developed the EmDrive, a proposed spacecraft propulsion system that doesn't need fuel as a propellent. By 2006, the concept faced heavy criticism for violating the law of conservation of momentum - not to mention a distinct lack of peer review to his research. Eventually teams in China and the US, including a group at NASA that investigates fringe proposals, constructed their own versions for testing. These devices promptly surprised everyone by working even when nobody quite understood how. It wasn't enough to get us to space, but was interesting enough to warrant future research.\n\nSkip ahead to this month, where we have a propulsion device that somehow produces microwaves to generate thrust. According to posts on NASASpaceFlight.com, someone at NASA wondered where the thrust came from and used a tool to measure variances in light's path-time. What this tool recorded is that when lasers are fired through the EmDrive's resonance chamber, some of the beams start moving faster than the speed of light. If everything checks out - and on the surface the math does - it means the EmDrive is producing some kind of warp field.\n\nOnce again, this is not a confirmed warp drive we have on our hands. Critics will point out the effect could just as easily be caused by atmospheric heating, which means the test has to be recreated in a vacuum. But if that test produces the same results, a lot of very intelligent people around the planet will absolutely lose their minds with excitement. Of course, getting a warp field large enough to propel a spaceship creates its own problems, but it could be a very small, very significant step all the same.\n\nAt this point, it's necessary to throw up a very important disclaimer: None of the information here has been verified, peer-reviewed, or is considered academically sound. By tomorrow, someone could realize they made a mathematical error, or conducted measurements in metric and the whole thing will fall apart. But right now, very smart people are considering this to be a legitimate possibility that needs further study. Disclaimer ends.\n\nSource: NASA Space Flight, via Mysterious Universe"}
-{"text": "Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak downplayed worries about a possible recession or economic crisis\n\nMalaysia has cut its annual growth forecast after a sharp fall in oil prices caused the government to revise down its budget plans.\n\nAsia's biggest oil producer now expects its economy grow by 4.5-5.5% this year, down from a previous estimate of 5-6%.\n\nThe fiscal deficit will also be larger at 3.2% of gross domestic product.\n\nMalaysia's revenues have been hit hard by the collapse in crude prices, which have halved as a result of a supply glut and the weak global economy.\n\nWe are taking pre-emptive measures following the changes in the external global economic landscape which is beyond our control Najib Razak, Malaysian Prime Minister\n\nIts currency, the ringgit, has lost about 10% of its value against the US dollar in recent months as dwindling investor confidence has led to capital outflows.\n\nThe country is also struggling with one of the highest levels of household debt in Asia, rising prices and a large current account deficit.\n\nHowever, Prime Minister Najib Razak downplayed concerns that the country could face a possible recession or economic crisis.\n\n\"The government has been vigilantly monitoring the situation,\" he said in a nationally televised address.\n\n\"We are not in crisis. Indeed, we are taking pre-emptive measures following the changes in the external global economic landscape which is beyond our control.\"\n\n\"This is to ensure that our economy continues to attain a respectable and reasonable growth.\"\n\nCrude concerns\n\nImage copyright AFP Image caption Malaysia is South East Asia's third-largest economy and a major oil producer\n\nSouth East Asia's third-largest economy is a major exporter and producer of petroleum products, mainly through state-run energy group Petronas.\n\nMr Najib, who is also the finance minister, said the revised budget assumed that crude oil would trade at about $55 a barrel.\n\nThe previous budget announced in October had been calculated on a price of $100 a barrel, now deemed \"no longer realistic\".\n\nHowever, some analysts are forecasting that oil prices could fall further to trade below $50 a barrel, which would strain Malaysia's finances further.\n\nSpeaking from the administrative capital of Putrajaya, Mr Najib said \"the government has consistently reiterated that crude oil prices are beyond its control\", adding that that prices are expected to take quite a while to stabilise.\n\nBudget measures\n\nThe government plans to cut spending this year by about $1.5bn by limiting the amount available for overseas government travel, military programmes and energy subsidies.\n\nHowever, it will channel millions towards flood relief efforts in several states including Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Kedah and Perak.\n\nLast year, the country encountered its worst flooding in a decade, which killed more than 20 people and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.\n\nOther measures in the revised budget included getting government-linked companies to invest more domestically and maintaining cash handouts for poor families.\n\nThe government also reaffirmed its plans to implement a 6% goods and services tax from 1 April in order to reduce the fiscal deficit.\n\nRahul Bajoria, an economist at Barclays Research, said the \"announced targets are achievable, provided Malaysia's growth does not slow significantly\"."}
-{"text": "La empresaria colombiana Daniela Ospina viaj\u00f3 junto a su actual pareja Harold Jim\u00e9nez a disfrutar de la Navidad en el peque\u00f1o pueblo San Rafael del oriente antioque\u00f1o.\n\nOspina hizo alarde de sus vacaciones a trav\u00e9s de sus redes sociales posando en traje de ba\u00f1o y recibiendo cientos de halagos por parte de sus seguidores, quienes destacaron con sus comentarios lo bien que mantiene su figura la exesposa del jugador de f\u00fatbol James Rodr\u00edguez.\n\nMe gusta esto: Me gusta Cargando..."}
-{"text": "Blackface 'Black Peter' popular among Dutch at Christmas\n\nIn the Netherlands, everyone is quite aware of the Christmas character known as Black Pete. He\u2019s a little African slave who helps out Santa Claus.\n\nAccording to the Dutch tradition, Black Peter is responsible for carrying a book full of the names of naughty children, along with a rod and a sack to take the bad children away. He also scatters candy for children.\n\nSince the character\u2019s creation in the 1840s, the Dutch have defended it. They even dress up publicly in blackface, and claim that Black Pete is only dark from coming down the chimney \u2014 but he doesn\u2019t wash clean.\n\nYet recently, Black Peter is causing more anger and controversy among the Dutch for the stereotypes associated with the Christmas character.\n\nIn fact, they became so mad that organizers of New Westminster\u2019s Dutch Sinterklaas celebrations in Canada have pulled Black Peter from their traditional parade after complaints that the black-faced helper carried racist undertones. Members of the African-Canadian community complained that the character was offensive and outdated. It was the first time since 1985 that Black Peter will not accompany Sinterklaas as he heads to New Westminster Quay aboard a paddle wheeler boat, according to the Vancouver Sun.\n\nBernard Piprah, who was an organizer of the annual Black History Month symposium at Douglas College, argued to the Vancouver Sun that the Black Peter character comes loaded with offensive, racist stereotypes:\n\n\u201d[The character] is degrading, and it\u2019s racist, and it\u2019s incredibly outdated,\u201d Piprah said told the Vancouver Sun. \u201cYou can\u2019t erase that. You can go to your local library and read that this Black Peter was a slave. He beat children. He was dumb, and he spoke buffoonish Dutch. There are just so many insulting aspects to that character, and I can\u2019t believe they\u2019re celebrating it in New Westminster.\u201d\n\nAlthough many Dutch just want the tradition to stop, some would like to address the issue. In Holland, critics say that avoiding the racism implied in continuing the Black Peter tradition is a way of avoiding the thorny issue of immigration.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s kind of something they should address, no matter what the culture, when an aspect of it is clearly offensive to a particular group,\u201d Piprah told the Vancouver News."}
-{"text": "A 31-year-old Singaporean man got so drunk and rowdy at a house party before 4pm on a Sunday afternoon that a neighbour had to call the police, a district court heard on Monday (24 September).\n\nWhen the police arrived, Zhan Haixu placed his hand on a female officer\u2019s jaw, and made a hand gesture and sound towards another policeman as if he was shooting a pistol at him. Zhan even pushed the officer on his chest.\n\nWhen the female officer tried to arrest him, Zhan grabbed a fistful of her hair, pulling out a clump of hair in the process.\n\nOn Monday, Zhan was sentenced to a total of four months\u2019 jail, having pleaded guilty to one count of using criminal force on a public servant and one charge of causing hurt to a public servant. He also admitted to another count of using criminal force, which was considered in sentencing.\n\nBackground to the case\n\nThe court heard that at about 4pm on 17 September last year, the police got a call about a domestic dispute at a HDB flat in Jurong West Street 81, with screams for 40 minutes.\n\nWhen Sergeant Renny Elyani Ramli, 31, and Sergeant Muhammad Jameer Mohamed Mansoor, 26, arrived at the unit about 10 minutes later, they saw Zhan scuffling on the floor with his 36-year-old brother Zhao Lei and shouting. Zhan was at his brother\u2019s house to celebrate a birthday and they had drank a bottle of whiskey together.\n\nThe officers separated the men, but Zhan refused to quieten down. After some time, his family members managed to persuade him to lie on a bed and sleep.\n\nWhile the officers were advising the other family members to keep the noise levels down, however, Zhan suddenly got up and demanded that Sgt Renny leave the flat immediately. He also told her that he was her \u201csuperior\u201d and shouted and pointed at both police officers, ignoring their warnings for him to calm down.\n\nAt about 4.20pm, Zhan placed his hands on the female officer\u2019s jaw. She broke free and shouted at him not to touch her. The officers then stepped out of the flat to call for help.\n\nShortly after, Sgt Jameer heard shouting from the unit and saw Zhan struggling with his pregnant wife, who was trying to get him to sleep.\n\nConcerned for her safety, the officer brought Zhan\u2019s wife out of the bedroom. But Zhan followed them out and walked towards the officer aggressively while making a hand gesture and sound as if he was shooting a pistol at him, before pushing the officer\u2019s chest.\n\nWhile Sgt Renny was trying to handcuff Zhan, he violently resisted arrest by grabbing her hair, causing her spectacles to fall to the floor and a clump of her hair to be pulled out from her scalp. Zhan also struggled with Sgt Jameer and grabbed his arm.\n\nThe two officers eventually pinned him down on the floor and handcuffed him. The assault was captured on their body-worn cameras.\n\nSgt Renny sustained bruises on her face and scalp, abrasions on her forehead, and slightly blurred vision. She had to be referred to an ophthalmologist. Sgt Jameer had a scratch on his arm.\n\nDeputy Public Prosecutor Joshua Rene Jeyaraj asked that a jail term of four months be imposed, while defence lawyer Mahmood Gaznavi asked for a fine instead.\n\nDistrict Judge Luke Tan agreed with the prosecution, based on previous cases of abuse of police officers. He imposed four weeks\u2019 jail for the charge of using criminal force and four months\u2019 jail for the charge of causing hurt, with both sentences to run concurrently.\n\nThe penalty for using criminal force on a public servant in the execution of his duty is a jail term of up to four years and/or a fine. The punishment for causing hurt to a public servant in the execution of his duty is up to seven years\u2019 jail, a fine, caning, or any combination of such punishments.\n\nMore Singapore stories\n\nUnderage driver who fled after causing fatal crash sentenced to reformative training\n\nGrab, Uber fined a combined $13 million for March merger\n\nCOMMENT: Dealing with fake news is a police-and-thief game"}
-{"text": "The Mormon Church, citing statutes of limitations, is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit that accuses a church leader of sexually assaulting a woman in 1984 when she was training to be a missionary.\n\nLawyers for the church and the former leader, Joseph Bishop, the president of the church\u2019s Missionary Training Center from 1983 to 1986, argued in federal court on Wednesday that the window for claims to be brought had long expired.\n\nThe lawsuit was filed in April by McKenna Denson, 56. It states that Mr. Bishop, now 85, raped Ms. Denson in 1984 at the training center in Provo, Utah; that leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints knew Mr. Bishop had a \u201chistory of red flag sexual improprieties toward young women\u201d when he became president of the training center; and that the church did not adequately investigate the rape accusation or discipline Mr. Bishop.\n\nThe lawsuit says that Ms. Denson learned that the church was aware of the allegations about Mr. Bishop\u2019s past in December 2017, when she confronted him and recorded a conversation in which he discussed sexual improprieties in his past."}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\naaaand its gone\n\nadd your own caption\n\naaaand its gone\n\nadd your own caption\n\naaaand its gone\n\nadd your own caption\n\naaaand its gone\n\nadd your own caption\n\naaaand its gone\n\nadd your own caption\n\naaaand its gone\n\nadd your own caption\n\naaaand its gone\n\nadd your own caption\n\naaaand its gone\n\nadd your own caption\n\naaaand its gone\n\nadd your own caption\n\naaaand its gone\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nRicky has been having a good week AAAAND he's injured"}
-{"text": "Read It On Reddit\n\n- Conversation Menu\n\nAsk Reddit\n\n- Unattractive\n\n- Stop Being Lazy\n\nToday I Learned\n\n- The Louvre\n\n- Alec Guiness\n\nShower Thoughts\n\n- Smoko\n\n- Wholesome Acts\n\n- Doing What They Loved\n\n- Groceries In PJ's\n\nPodnapping\n\nAMA - readitpodcast@gmail.com - Ask Us Anything! :)"}
-{"text": "India captain Virat Kohli has questioned the \u201cutility\u201d of pre-series tour games if the touring side is not provided with ideal conditions and opposition before a Test series starts.\n\nIndia have lost back-to-back Test series in South Africa and England with many former greats, including legendary Sunil Gavaskar questioning as to why the team did not play adequate number of warm-up games.\n\nDuring an interview with Michael Holding for \u2018Sony Liv\u2019, Kohli gave his point of view on the raging debate about team\u2019s mode of preparation.\n\n\u201cLot of people talk about tour games but where are those tour games happening and against what quality of bowling are very important questions to be asked,\u201d Kohli said.\n\n\u201cBecause if you don\u2019t get the preparation you need before a Test series, then it is actually not utilised well. Time is not utilised well if you don\u2019t get the quality of opposition that you will face in Test cricket,\u201d he added.\n\nAsked where exactly India went wrong in the ongoing series against England, Kohli pointed out two crucial phases \u2013 the second innings chase at the Edgbaston (1st Test) and the first innings at Southampton (fourth Test).\n\n\u201cSitting right now, two things \u2013 the second innings at Birmingham and first innings at Southampton. Sitting here, I am not thinking of anything else. The key was to make the team win and twice I could have contributed more.\n\n\u201cI know Trent Bridge was great but I remember second innings at Birmingham and first innings at Southampton and I am thinking about that. I am thinking so that if I am in the same position once again, I won\u2019t let the team down,\u201d the Indian captain said.\n\nThe skipper said that as a leader, he is the first one to own up mistakes.\n\n\u201cI am always focussed on where my mistakes are and how I can improve upon them. I am willing to accept mistakes even in the best of times so that I can keep on improving.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s important for the team that my mindset stays good so that I can lead from the front and if I am only thinking about my performances, then I am not doing justice to the responsibility that I am given.\u201d\n\nBut Kohli did admit that it \u201churt\u201d losing matches from position of dominance.\n\n\u201cIt was a competitive series and we have already understood and admitted the things that we haven\u2019t done well. That\u2019s something we are keen to improve on as to get into competitive positions, you understand that you have the ability. But ability only takes you to a certain extent and then your mental toughness comes into play when you have to win Test series in difficult conditions and difficult countries, something that we aspire to do,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cWhen you don\u2019t do that being in winning positions, obviously hurts more than anything. Probably, that\u2019s frustrating, we have shown skill sets to get into winning positions and not capitalise on them. Try and get better as a team. Provided we are mentally tougher than opposition in difficult situations.\u201d\n\nHaving scored nearly 550 runs in four Tests, Kohli has stamped his authority as the best batsman of this generation.\n\nQuestioned on how he handles the on and off-field pressures, Kohli, who is couple months shy of his 30th birthday said that he doesn\u2019t care about perceptions.\n\n\u201cI am more focussed on having a very solid life, being happy with life and doing the right things on a daily basis and then everything else seems to be an enjoyable journey as a part of the larger process,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cFor me, the larger picture is always going to be life. If I am solid and doing the right things, then I am much more confident on the field. I don\u2019t play for perceptions, for people or for reputation, I only play to make the team win and that\u2019s why I started playing the sport.\u201d\n\nKohli might have broken a plethora of records but numbers are inconsequential for him.\n\n\u201cI didn\u2019t start playing to have numbers and they are inconsequential. People remember your attitude and what you brought onto field,\u201d he said.\n\nHe then cited the example of Sir Vivian Richards.\n\n\u201cWhen you talk about the great West Indies side (of 70\u2019s and 80s), no one talks about Sir Viv\u2019s average, they talk about his attitude and what the charisma he brought on to the field, how he inspired people. So I see this greater responsibility in the position that I am put by that power (Almighty) to inspire people. For that I need to do the right things,\u201d Kohli said.\n\nWhile the batsmen might have let him down, Kohli showered accolades on his bowlers for their lion-hearted performances throughout the series.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s nothing but hardwork as these guys want to be the best bowlers in the world and I am proud to see that as captain. When you see these guys running and bowling in partnerships, its a beautiful feeling that you are not trying to outdo anyone else but you are trying to take 10 wickets for the team. That\u2019s what these guys have shown,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThey have bowled with heart on all five days of Test cricket. At 6:15 pm in the evening, (Mohammed) Shami is bowling 90 miles per hour, Ishant (Sharma) running all day, they have worked on their fitness and strength. They have been honest with their preparations,\u201d he concluded."}
-{"text": "Today was the last day of Blake's week of hospital leave, and she couldn't have been happier to be able to lie down in her own bed. All that was left to do now was to have Yang fill out the forums to set Blake free from her sanitized prison. Both Yang and Blake were at the front desk of the Beacon infirmary, Yang with pen in hand, filling out the appropriate information, and Blake standing close by, waiting to be freed. Before Yang could finish her paperwork she was interrupted by a moderately tall, young looking brown haired nurse.\n\n\"I would just like to inform you that just because you are leaving the infirmary, doesn't mean that you are able to be by yourself just yet. When you leave we will be unable to give you aura boosters anymore, so you may feel some of your head pain return, but it should be more than bearable.\" The nurse politely informed them.\n\nYang looked back at the nurse with the slight smile on her lips. \"Oh, don't worry, I won't be leaving her side for at least a week.\" The blonde brawler then flashed a quick wink at her onyx haired partner, causing Blake to look down towards the floor in an attempt to hide her new found shade of red forming on her cheeks. After Yang had spent few minutes on the remaining paperwork she just had to provide her scroll, and her signature to complete the process of signing Blake out.\n\n\"All right Ms. Xiao Long, you and Ms. Belladonna are free to go, but please make her care your number one priority.\"\n\n\"Don't worry, I plan on it.\" This seemed to be enough to satisfy the nurse's worries about the two, and with that the black and yellow couple headed to over to the team RWBY dorm. The walk to the dorm rooms was a mostly silent venture, aside from the couple of students lingering within Beacon's halls, talking about various topics, from fighting styles, to weapon use, or even talking about the new album the AchiveMen were releasing, but not a word was said between Blake and Yang. Yang decided to change this when she noticed that Blake appeared to be holding a pained expression from her.\n\nYang looked over at her partner with concerning eyes. \"Hey, are you feeling alright? You don't look too hot.\"\n\n\"Yang, I'm fine\" Was all that the raven haired girl was willing to say, as she didn't want to concern her girlfriend, or make her feel poorly that she was the cause of her pain.\n\n\"I'm not so sure. Blake if you are in pain, you can tell me. All I want to do is to help.\"\n\n\"Alright, my head is a bit sore, but I will manage.\" As the pair reached their teams dorm, Blake reached into her pocket to pull out her scroll to unlock the door, upon doing so Blake noticed that her scroll had been broken into two pieces from when she hit the wall in the training hall. \"Hey, any chance that you could unlock the door? My scroll appears to be out of commission for a while at least, seems it broke when I hit the wall.\"\n\nYang looked over at her partner with regret. \"Yeah, no problem. I know you don't want to hear it, but I really am sorry for everything. I'll get a new scroll from Professor Ozpin as soon as I can.\" The blonde said, hoping to brighten up her friend's spirits. Upon hearing the news of a new scroll it caused a small smile to place itself on Blake's face. After Yang got out her scroll and placed it over the lock on the right hand side of the door, the door made its normal beeping noise to inform the user that it had been unlocked, and the two proceeded to walk into the empty room. \"Weiss and Ruby are in class, they know about what happened and are taking notes for the both of us in all of our classes. In the meantime you should try to relax, and get some rest.\"\n\nBlake walked over to her bed, got into the sheets, and laid down to get some well deserved rest. Yang in the meantime sat in the bunk above her partner and started downloading, and listening to the new album from the AchiveMen 'Rage Quit Against the Machine' Blake, no matter how hard she tried, just couldn't fall asleep. She kept tossing and turning, unable to find rest. Realizing she couldn't fall asleep, she decided to get up, and make herself some soothing tea.\n\n\"Now what is it that you think you're doing?\" Yang inquired with a voice that was a blend of curious, concerned, and playful.\n\n\"I can't sleep, so I was just going to make some tea to try and relax.\"\n\n\"Blake, I'm taking a week off of classes to help you, it seems like kind of a waste if you don't let me do anything for you.\" Yang took out her earbuds, got down from her bunk, and walked Blake back to her bed. \"If you need anything, just ask and I will get it for you. Now what kind of tea were you in the mood for?\"\n\n\"Yang, I really am capable of getting myself something to drink.\" Blake stated with a slightly annoyed tone.\n\n\"I never said you weren't, but I feel that I should help you in any way that I can. So what kind of tea?\"\n\n\"I was thinking lemon.\" Blake stated with a defeated tone of voice, knowing that she couldn't change Yang's mind.\n\n\"Lemon coming right up!\" Not that the blonde brawler had a task, she was off. Yang went to the cupboard above their single cup coffee maker to grab the yellow tea bag marked 'I Love Lemon' After retrieving said tea packet, Yang realized that she had never made tea before. She couldn't stand the thought of disturbing her girlfriend, so she did what she thought was correct, and she opened the rectangular package, to reveal the teabag. After finding her teabag Yang removed the staple that was holding the bag together, and dumped the contents into a mug that was light grey in color which bore the beacon insignia on it. After preparing the cup, the blonde brawler placed the mug underneath the coffee maker and only let hot water run through by removing the small cup of coffee from the top of the machine. Now satisfied with herself, she let the tea sit for a few minutes, while she went to talk to her partner.\n\n\"Hey, the tea is just brewing, how long do you normally let it sit for?\"\n\n\"I like to wait at least four minutes so that the water can absorb all of the flavor.\"\n\n\"Sorry, I haven't ever really made tea before, do you put anything else in it?\"\n\n\"That's up to the person drinking it, but I usually like to add a small amount of honey. I find that it accents the citrus flavor quite nicely.\"\n\n\"Alright. Hey there has been something that I have been wanting to ask you, but haven't had the chance to talk to you about it yet. Please don't take this the wrong way... I just want-\"\n\n\"It's ok Yang, trust me I am not going to take offense to anything you say. Just come out with it.\" The raven haired girl said whilst her amber orbs were locked onto her partners lilac ones.\n\nYang took her right arm, and placed it behind her head, and started rubbing her neck trying to find the right words. \"Well... I was just wondering... What was with your sudden change of heart? I mean I'm definitely happy that you chose to take me up on my offer, but I was just curious why now, as opposed to the previous thirty or so times I had asked you.\"\n\nNot expecting this question exactly, Blake took in a deep breath along with a moment in order to collect her thoughts.\"Well... When I was coughing up blood, I didn't know whether or not I was going to die. As you may know, I'm a person who is very motivated by their goals, and tries not to let anything get in the way of them, like a relationship for example. However, when I was potentially on my deathbed, I decided to put my goals aside and listen to my heart for once, and I couldn't be happier that I did. You see, every time you asked me out previously, there was a small part of me that craved a relationship, but I just couldn't do it.\"\n\n\"Wow... I never knew that's really how you looked at the world.\" Yang blushed at how open her normally recluse partner was being. It made her feel truly special that her girlfriend felt so comfortable with her that she would reveal so much about her view on the world.\n\n\"Tea's done.\" The raven haired girl pointed out.\n\n\"What?\" The blonde snapped out of her own world of processing, and got thrown back into reality.\n\n\"The tea that you were making me... it's been four minutes.\"\n\nYang was now blushing even harder, this time from embarrassment, she had completely lost track of time. \"Right, I will be right back with it. How much honey do you want in it?\"\n\n\"Roughly a teaspoon.\" The faunus girl calmly replied.\n\nYang got up to get the tea for her girlfriend in hopes of soothing her pain. Yang once again reached into the cupboard, and retrieved a bottle of the sweet golden liquid. She snapped the cap open, and emptied what she thought would be roughly one teaspoon, per her partners request. As she finished the preparations she brought the drink to Blake and decided to sit with her while she drank her tea. Yang wrapped her arms around the amber eyed girl as she was about to drink the tea Yang had prepared. Yang had her fingers crossed that she had made the tea to her liking.\n\nAs the faunus girl raised the mug to her lips and took a small sip, she noticed something off. As a result her face subconsciously contorted.\n\n\"Did I do something wrong?\" The blonde nervously asked, hoping that she had not.\n\n\"No, it's just it tasted watery more than anything, but that's fine. It happens sometimes on the first couple of sips.\" After hearing the good news, Yang let out an audible sigh of relief. Blake decided to take another sip, this one was a much larger sip than the last. As Blake raised the warm liquid to her lips and swallowed, she confirmed something was indeed off. This tasted like tea, but she also noticed the sensation of small clumps of material dancing across her tongue. Blake swallowed the tea, but couldn't stop herself from coughing at what had just happened.\n\n\"Are you okay?\" Yang asked concerned.\n\n\"Yeah, its just that when I was drinking it, it almost felt like some of the teabag was in the cup.\" Yang raised her hand to her forehead and slapped herself out of her own idiocy, realizing that she had screwed up the tea.\n\n\"I am so sorry Blake, I had never made tea before, and didn't want to disturb you, so I just did what I thought was right.\"\n\nThe faunus girl chuckled slightly at her girlfriend's blunder. \"Hang on. Did you empty the teabag inside the mug?\"\n\nNow completely red faced, all the normally outgoing girl could do was slowly nod her head in shame. Blake just laughed to herself a bit at the realization of what had happened. \"Come on, I'll make some tea for the both of us, after that I'll head to sleep\" After discarding the contents of the failed tea into their sink, Blake got to work, and in no time had 2 mugs of expertly made lemon tea at the ready. After both girls had a warm beverage resting in their stomachs, Blake decided to lie down and go to sleep, even though it was around two o' clock. Before Blake could fall asleep, she felt a pair of soft lips kiss her on the forehead.\n\n\"Goodnight Blake, sleep well.\""}
-{"text": "Hi everyone,\n\nAs we already mentioned last week we\u2019re going to be releasing new content every week for a little while so that we don\u2019t overwhelm you, and this awesome stream of content is starting today!\n\nLately we\u2019ve also been in a real skirmish vibe so you can expect a lot of cool stuff for GF: Firefight and AoF: Skirmish, as well as some extra goodies for the other games. ;)\n\nNew Play Tokens\n\nThe first thing we got for you is the release of a set of brand new OPR Play Tokens.\n\nBack in the day we used to have some very basic play tokens we put together using icons we found online. These tokens were useful albeit not very pretty, so we\u2019ve asked Brandon to put together a set of new tokens for everyone to enjoy!\n\nCheck them out here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_KGDMZW6fpiwR1YRcAFSruFQfu6qq8cR\n\nThe tokens are 1\u2033/25mm in size so they should be pretty easy to cut out and play. If you want to keep things simple you can print them on regular paper, stick them on a cereal box and then cut them out to get some fairly solid tokens, or else you can go a bit fancier and make some clear resin dome tokens.\n\nCheck out a tutorial here: https://youtu.be/CNPoyORCa3U\n\nIf you want a set of smaller tokens we\u2019ve also made a 3/4\u2033 version of the tokens which is perfect for playing skirmish games.\n\nCheck them out here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=16xDcGsVgb_qe8FfvnglRSBytRJQgx2iK\n\nAgain you can just print them out and use the cereal box method mentioned above, or if you want a more sturdy version you can also use Wyloch\u2019s method below:\n\nPrint the sheet using your printer\u2019s best quality settings Use a good glue stick like Elmer\u2019s X-treme to attach the sheet to a slab of cereal box or other similar cardstock Apply clear packing tape over the circles (poor man\u2019s laminating) Cut out each circle individually with good scissors (this is the longest part) Small dab of hot glue on the back of a token, and then quickly attach it to a 3/4\u2033 washer\n\nWe hope everyone enjoys these play tokens, they were made to be as neutral as possible so that you can use them for any setting or game, even non-OPR games! :D\n\nPrime Brothers Update\n\nIn order to allow Prime Brothers to be upgraded with specific detachment rules they have been moved into the Battle Brothers army book, meaning that now you can create a ton of new cool combinations such as having Prime Blood Brothers that brutally tear apart enemies in melee with their Furious upgrade.\n\nAdditionally we have added a new unit, the Prime Light Walker.\n\nThe Prime Light Walker falls somewhere in-between an HDF Light Walker and a regular Attack Walker, giving up on some armor in order to be able to deploy with the Scout special rule, which is really dangerous as it comes equipped with a powerful Incendiary Cannon.\n\nThis makes the Prime Light Walker a formidable close-range machine of destruction which can dish out a whopping 12 flaming attacks as well as hold its own in melee thanks to its massive walker fist.\n\nOh, and it can also be upgraded with a cool Heavy MG Pistol, making it a formidable gunslinger and worthy of any wild west duel. ;)\n\nWe\u2019ve also used this opportunity to make some other small updates:\n\nBattle Brothers\n\n\u2013 Support Brothers can now take Laser Cannons\n\nBlood Brothers Detachment\n\n\u2013 Fixed stats of Plasma Pistol and Gravity Pistol\n\n\u2013 Fixed cost of Jetpack on Death Brothers\n\nPrime Brothers Detachment\n\n\u2013 Prime Brothers are now part of the Battle Brothers army\n\n\u2013 Detachments now have upgrade options for Prime Brothers\n\n\u2013 New Unit: Prime Light Walker\n\n\u2013 Prime Bothers can now upgrade one model with Medical Training\n\nWolf Brothers Detachment\n\n\u2013 Fixed cost of Wolf Jet\n\nTAO Coalition\n\n\u2013 Spotting Lasers now improve shooting for all units until the end of the round (Firefight)\n\nQuickplay Armies\n\nQuickplay Armies are pre-made army lists designed to be ready to play out of the box, without the need to count point costs or create your own lists. They are the perfect thing to dip your toes into new armies and see if you like them!\n\nIn order to show you the power of this new Prime Brothers update (and also give the OPR Play Tokens a go) we\u2019ve created a set of new Quickplay Armies for you to try.\n\nThis time around it\u2019s a GF: Firefight matchup so if you\u2019ve never played the game before it\u2019s a great way to start thanks to its low model count and dynamic gameplay. :)\n\nThis week\u2019s Quickplay Armies: Prime Wolf Brothers vs TAO Coalition\n\nPrime Wolf Brothers\n\n2x Prime Raider w/ Grapnels & Counter-Attack\n\n3x Prime Raider w/ Auto-Rifle & Counter-Attack\n\nTAO Coalition\n\n3x Grunt\n\n2x Grunt w/ EMP Grenades\n\n3x Grunt w/ Pulse Rifle\n\n1x Grunt w/ Pulse Carbine & Marker Drone\n\n1x Grunt Captain w/ Pulse Carbine, EMP Grenades & Marker Drone\n\nThe Prime Wolf Brothers in this set focus on strategic movement and melee attacks, using terrain to their advantage in order to close in with the enemy. All of their units are excellent in melee with 3 attacks, Fear and Counter-Attack, and some are even able to charge through difficult terrain and surprise their prey thanks to their Grapnels.\n\nThe TAO Coalition on the other hand focuses on a more long-ranged strategy, with a variety of specialized firearms for different situations. Their Marker Drones are extremely valuable to ensure that they deliver high-precision fusilades, and some of them even come equipped with EMP Grenades that can be devastating in melee.\n\nSummer Camping Trip\n\nFinally I wanted to let you know that I\u2019m going to go on a camping trip from this Thursday until next Tuesday, so until then I might not be able to access the internet and reply to any queries.\n\nIf you support us on Patreon during this period please accept my apologies, as I will only be able to give you access to your rewards next week.\n\n**********\n\nThat\u2019s it for today, don\u2019t cause too much trouble whilst I\u2019m gone! ;)\n\nHappy Wargaming!\n\n\u2013 Gaetano\n\nSupport us on Patreon: patreon.com/onepagerules\n\nJoin the Community: Facebook \u2013 Twitter \u2013 Reddit \u2013 Forum \u2013 Discord \u2013 Newsletter"}
-{"text": "The Football Association's board has decided to abstain in the vote for the presidency of Fifa.\n\nSepp Blatter, the current head of football's world governing body, is being challenged by Qatari Mohamed Bin Hammam, the president of the Asian Football Confederation.\n\nBut the FA has chosen not to vote after allegations of corruption against Fifa in recent months.\n\nThe presidency vote will take place on 1 June.\n\nIn a statement, the FA said: external-link \"The FA board has today [Thursday] agreed to abstain in the vote of the presidency of Fifa.\n\n\"There are a well-reported range of issues both recent and current which, in the view of the FA board, make it difficult to support either candidate.\n\n\"The FA values its relationships with its international partners very highly. We are determined to play an active and influential role through our representation within both Uefa and Fifa.\n\n\"We will continue to work hard to bring about any changes we think would benefit all of international football.\"\n\nquote The [Fifa] ethics committee is already alerted and alarmed - they are not just lying on the beach\n\nTwo Fifa executive committee (ExCo) members were suspended from voting in the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups following allegations they had offered to sell their votes.\n\nMore corruption claims concerning a further six ExCo members were made last week by former FA chairman Lord Triesman and the Sunday Times.\n\nWhile England won a meagre two votes in its bid to host the 2018 World Cup, Qatar was successful in its bid to stage the 2022 tournament but its team has been accused of paying bribes to win votes.\n\nFifa has launched an investigation into the allegations but they have cast a shadow over both Blatter, 75, and Bin Hammam, 62. The latter was an influential figure in securing the 2022 World Cup for his country.\n\nBefore the FA took its decision to abstain, Blatter had stated: \"I think it is a little bit strange when the number one association in the world, i.e. the FA, have two candidates in front of them and cannot make a decision which one to support.\"\n\nBlatter, who is aiming for a fourth term as Fifa president, also stated that Fifa is to interview a whistleblower concerning the allegations made about the Qatar bid.\n\n\"We have organised and the newspaper have agreed we will bring this whistleblower to Zurich and then we will have a discussion, an investigation,\" said Blatter.\n\nAnalysis David Bond BBC sports editor quote Should the FA have used today's long awaited decision to blow a far louder raspberry at the men in Switzerland who run world football? David Bond's blog: Has the FA gone far enough?\n\nAsked if the decision to award the 2022 World Cup could be reversed if the bribery claims were found to be true, he answered: \"This is an idea circulating already around the world which is alarming.\n\n\"Don't ask me yes or no, let us go step by step.\"\n\nBlatter added: \"We must know if the allegations are true or not true or unproven. If they are not true, then this case is over.\n\n\"Then we will see which instrument will work. It is of paramount importance that we have this situation clarified on the 27th [May].\n\n\"The [Fifa] ethics committee is already alerted and alarmed - they are not just lying on the beach - and the members will come for the congress and can convene at very short notice.\""}
-{"text": "BUENA PARK, Calif. (KABC) -- Police arrested a suspect in connection with the brutal beating of a senior man who was waiting at a bus stop in Buena Park, with the shocking attack caught on camera.Video appears to show the 65-year-old man being pushed into the street and stomped in the head several times at the bus stop at Beach Boulevard and Orangethorpe Avenue around 8:15 a.m.Wednesday. The suspect then picks up bags on the bus stop's bench before stealing the victim's bike and riding off eastbound on Orangethorpe Avenue, according to Buena Park police.\"The two were apparently involved in a verbal argument prior to the assault, but witness statements and video footage shows that the assault was clearly one-sided,\" police said in a statement.The victim was in critical but stable condition at a local hospital and was still unconscious as of Friday morning, according to authorities.On Friday morning, Fullerton police arrested the suspect, who allegedly went on another rampage just hours after the first attack. The suspect was identified as 33-year-old Kenneth Heimlich from Placentia.\"A man was just brutally beating, like, hitting someone,\" a witness said. \"Eventually, he went unconscious, and he started kicking him and stepping on his face.\"The witness said the beating happened just feet from her office. She said officers arrived quickly after someone pushed an emergency call button.After seeing the Buena Park video, a Fullerton police investigator made the connection.\"They contacted our investigators and by this morning, they were able to positively identify the suspect in both cases,\" said Buena Park PD Sgt. Mike Lovchik.Heimlich faces numerous charges including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and robbery.The Fullerton victim remains in the hospital.\"We're very thankful that a person of violence of this magnitude is in custody, and that hopefully he'll be going away for a long time, and we won't be able to do this again,\" Lovchik added.Officials said Heimlich was on probation at the time of his arrest. He's expected to be in court sometime next week.If anyone has information on the assault or the suspect, they are asked to contact the Buena Park Police Department at-714-562-3901, or information can be anonymously provided to Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855-TIP-OCCS (855-847-6227)."}
-{"text": "(CNN) ISIS fighters were in fierce clashes with Syrian regime troops Sunday in the ancient city of Palmyra, where the militant group infamously blew up temples and monuments last year, a monitor said.\n\nISIS first seized control of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in May 2015. Syrian government forces recaptured it in March this year.\n\nBut on Saturday ISIS had made new inroads in the city, taking neighborhoods and key sites as Syrian troops focused on a ground operation in the city of Aleppo, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.\n\nSome Syrian troops have since been diverted to Palmyra as the two sides grapple for control of the city.\n\nISIS fighters had seized almost the entire city Saturday before Russian warplanes began an intense bombardment, forcing the militants to withdraw to orchards and towns on Palmyra's outskirts.\n\nRussia's Defense Ministry said its jets had delivered 64 airstrikes overnight and claimed to have killed 300 militants in the raid.\n\n\"During the night, Syrian government forces, actively supported by the Russian Aerospace Forces, repelled all attacks by terrorists on Palmyra. The attacking side actively used car bombs, armor and rocket artillery systems,\" the ministry told the state-run Sputnik news agency.\n\n\"Eleven battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, 31 cars with heavy machine guns, and over 300 militants were destroyed.\"\n\nThe temple of Baashamin in Palmyra, in this 1960 archive photo.\n\nISIS demolished many of the city's ancient treasures, including the 1,800-year-old Arch of Triumph and the nearly 2,000-year-old Temple of Baalshamin, as well as the Temple of Bel. The group beheaded the antiquities expert who looked after the ruins.\n\nSyria said ISIS also destroyed two Muslim holy sites: a 500-year-old shrine and a tomb where a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed's cousin was reportedly buried.\n\nPalmyra was a caravan oasis when the Romans overtook it in the middle of the first century.\n\nIn the centuries that followed, the area \"stood at the crossroads of several civilizations,\" with its art and architecture mixing Greek, Roman and Persian influences, according to UNESCO, the UN agency that documents the world's most important cultural and natural sites.\n\nEastern Aleppo exodus\n\nUS and Russian officials were expected to meet in Geneva on Sunday for more talks about the dire situation in war-ravaged Aleppo. The international community has tried and failed to hammer out a ceasefire for the city, which appears on the brink of falling back into regime control.\n\nThe government controls western Aleppo and its troops have made significant territorial gains in the east since its forces entered the enclave by ground on November 27, backed by continual airstrikes. They have now taken around 75% of the area.\n\nAs the situation in Aleppo changes rapidly, CNN will update the map with information from sources on the ground.\n\nRebel groups held eastern Aleppo for more than four years following the Arab Spring uprising, and a Syrian regime siege on the area had essentially cut it off from the outside world, sparking a humanitarian crisis there.\n\nNow civilians are fleeing by the tens of thousands as the relentless airstrikes leave little hope of survival.\n\nAn estimated 10,000 people had fled over the weekend by Sunday afternoon, civilians told CNN -- a number backed by Russian officials. The Syrian state-run news agency SANA put the figure at around 20,000.\n\nDisplaced Syrian men wait for a security check to return to their homes in the Masaken Hanano district of eastern Aleppo on December 4.\n\nCNN Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen witnessed thousands of civilians walking through the southern front lines, many gaunt with fatigue and malnutrition, as the children among them cried in fear.\n\nIt is difficult to know how many civilians remain trapped in eastern Aleppo, but 100,000 are estimated to still be living in the enclave. Some are beginning to return to neighborhoods retaken by government forces, faced with the daunting task of rebuilding their homes and communities.\n\nNo political solution\n\nA ceasefire for Aleppo has hinged on Russia and the US coming to an agreement. Russia has backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime with airstrikes since September 2015, targeting all rebel groups that oppose his government. But the US has armed some of those very groups to fight ISIS militants, and Washington and Moscow have sparred in the UN Security Council several times over a political solution to Aleppo.\n\nRussia on Monday vetoed a ceasefire resolution that would have stopped fighting in Aleppo for at least seven days and allowed desperately needed aid into the east. China also used its veto power, given to all five permanent members of the UN Security Council.\n\nWashington recently agreed to evacuating all rebels out of eastern Aleppo, provided aid would be allowed into the area. The UN has sought assurances from Russia and the Syrian regime that its aid convoys will be given safe passage.\n\nUS Secretary of State John Kerry gave a strongly worded speech Saturday after a meeting of foreign ministers in Paris, saying that the Syrian government and Russia must provide guarantees to opposition fighters that they won't be \"marching into a massacre\" if they are evacuated in a ceasefire."}
-{"text": "About Best Sugar Daddy Apps\n\n\n\nPosted by BestSugarDaddyApps.org\n\nMore and more sugar daddies and sugar babies would like to choose sugar daddy apps & sites to find their matches. But, there are so many sugar daddy apps and sites for them to choose. For most of these new users of sugar daddy apps, it is difficult to find their most suitable sugar daddy app & site. So, sugar daddies and sugar babies need a tool help them find the high quality sugar daddy app & site. That\u2019s the destination of the review of best sugar daddy apps.\n\nBestSugarDaddyApps.org offers authoritative reviews of top sugar daddy apps and sites, including Sugar Daddy Meet, Millionaire Match, Seeking Arrangement, Sudy, SugarD and so on. Every sugar daddy app has the full review. For example, star ratings of reviewer can makes sugar daddies and sugar babies have a clear over review of one sugar daddy app, according to Chance of getting a date, Protect privacy, Features, Customer support, Value for money, Popularity.\n\nAdvantages of the review best sugar daddy apps:\n\nFind the best sugar daddy app and site in a very short of time through the honest, authoritative and objective sugar daddy apps reviews.\n\nSee how these sugar daddy apps work, including the star ratings of reviewer, features, sign up process, cost.\n\nRead some useful dating tips and blogs for these sugar daddies and sugar babies.\n\nWhen it comes to holiday, the bestsugardaddyapps.org can offer some interesting dating places or dating ideas for users to follow.\n\nNo Fake, No Ads information\n\nAs there are many free sugar daddy apps and sites which are attracting many sugar daddies and sugar babies. But most of these users in those free sugar daddy dating sites or apps are not real or fake. So, for these serious sugar daddies and sugar babies, it is totally waste time and energy. Our information about those apps & sites is authentic and trustworthy. All users' information is checked by admins. If the user\u2019s profile is is fake, it will be deleted at once.\n\nEasily find your matches\n\nAccording these detailed features of all top sugar daddy apps, you can use some interesting tools easily, and find your matches quickly. You can also find out if you can search by keyword, search for members with photos only, and save your favorite searches for your next visit to the app.\n\nUpdate Articles and Dating Tips\n\nIn order to make sure all readers can get new information and trending on sugar daddy apps, Best sugar Daddy Apps will give some dating tips and blogs about sugar daddy dating. You can see those update on our page regularly. You will find out more and more millionaires that you consider perfect and matched for your dating.\n\nAt last, if you are ready to find a beautiful sugar baby or wealthy mature sugar daddy, just go back home to find the most suitable sugar daddy app or site. Wish you will find your perfect matches, good luck."}
-{"text": "Stone Cold Steve Austin appeared on the WWE Monday Night Raw Reunion on July 22 to close out the festivities with a classic beer bash. He's been keeping busy despite being away from in-ring competition.\n\nAustin's new show, Straight Up Steve Austin, will debut on USA Network on August 12 at 11 p.m. ET. The WWE Hall of Famer will get down and dirty with celebrities via participation in distinctly Stone Cold activities, such as off-road monster trucking, beer drinking and driving tanks to crush cars.\n\nHis celebrity guests will include actor Rob Riggle, comedian Gabriel Iglesias, country singer Trace Adkins, NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. and WWE Raw women's champion Becky Lynch.\n\nBleacher Report caught up with the Texas Rattlesnake to talk about his new show, his take on The Man and the rise of All Elite Wrestling.\n\nBleacher Report: One of the interviewees for Straight Up Steve Austin is Becky Lynch. Can you tell me something you learned about her that you didn't know before?\n\nSteve Austin: I found out that she was more confident than what I originally thought. She is more charismatic than I first thought. She has broken so much ground with this \"Man\" character and how she came up with it. She's very spontaneous and very quick\u2014not just with an answer, but with a well-thought-out answer. I love that she stays composed. Her passion for the business rivals mine. And that's not something I often say.\n\nHer episode was one of my favorites of the new show. Becky Lynch is the real deal. She's a woman, but she's The Man.\n\nB/R: Have you given her advice on where she's at in her career?\n\nAustin: I asked her on the episode about what she's currently going through and about maintaining her spot. She actually answers that on the show. But she literally lives right down the street from me, so when we crossed paths a time or two in Los Angeles, I did give her a couple pieces of advice.\n\nI won't specifically tell you what I told her, but I will tell you this, and it's what I tell everyone who asks me for advice: \"This is the way Stone Cold Steve Austin did it, and it is just one way. Take it and process it, and whether you use 30 percent of it or 100 percent of it, use my advice in a way that applies to you rather than to me.\"\n\nI take zero credit for her success. She's the one going out there, doing her own thing and laying it on the line. There's a lot of similarities between The Man and Stone Cold Steve Austin.\n\nB/R: Is there something she does that other Superstars don't do?\n\nAustin: I think you can see that she's highly competitive, and she's alpha. She's hungry\u2014she's not afraid to go on the limb\u2014and she wants to be No. 1. With great performers, you feel them. And you feel her words; it's very powerful. She's not done yet with her run. She's not going to be complacent.\n\nThis business is more than just being able to do a bunch of cool moves in the ring. It's character and charisma, and being able to channel that electricity in an energetic fashion that makes a performer larger than life. It's easier said than done.\n\nB/R: Have you seen any difference in Raw since Paul Heyman took over in a creative role backstage?\n\nAustin: I have been traveling extensively since I went to do the Raw Reunion in Tampa, so I haven't been able to see Paul Heyman's fingerprints on the show yet. But I did see him right before I went down [to the ring] to see the crowd in Tampa. And he just told me to knock 'em dead.\n\nB/R: Was that promo at the end of the show ad-libbed, particularly near the end?\n\nAustin: That promo was completely ad-libbed, and very unlike a Stone Cold Steve Austin promo. And when I dropped the mic, and I asked, \"How much time do we have left,\" and I was told \"10 minutes.\" It's a live show, and so there was a lot going on there.\n\nB/R: What do you think of AEW and the competition it provides to WWE?\n\nAustin: Good! I love competition, and Vince [McMahon] does too. A lot of my friends are over there, and it gives people who aren't with WWE the opportunity to be employed and have a job. I see it as nothing but positive. We'll see how they do.\n\nB/R: How was the show and concept of Straight Up Steve Austin pitched to you?\n\nAustin: The network called my agent and said: \"Hey, we'd like to talk to you about doing a show. Kind of like a talk show, but doing it outdoors and doing it with activities with different celebrity guests.\" So we shot a pilot and some time went by, and they tested it with audiences. And they told me, \"People responded very positively.\" So we gave it a shot and made more episodes.\n\nB/R: So essentially it's an interview show, with you as the host?\n\nAustin: It's me hanging out with celebrity guests. I take them into my world; they're spending a day with me. And I find out who they are and what they did to be successful. So it's not just me straight up grilling someone. It is an interview, but it's also trading stories.\n\nB/R: Do the activities that you do with your interviewees help them loosen up or share more?\n\nAustin: I think the activities were fun for both me and my guests, and they allowed for a natural conversation to take place. You're providing space. That ice starts to break, and that camaraderie starts to develop, and that's when you start having a fluid conversation.\n\nB/R: You're more of a straight-up interviewer on your Stone Cold Podcast. How do you prepare for interviews?\n\nAustin: I'll do my homework, because I want to do my guest justice. I'm not a huge planner, but I do like to have my notes in front of me. I need to know what this person has done, what they're doing and what's interesting.\n\nI recently interviewed Hulk Hogan on my podcast, and of course, I researched his past. But we're also two of the top guys in the business talking shop. My perspective is going to be a lot different than a lot of other people's.\n\nB/R: Do you feel you've improved as an interviewer over time?\n\nAustin: I think my biggest improvement is listening more intently rather than just thinking, \"OK, what do I ask next?\" [Conducting an interview] is about driving the conversation, but also it's about letting the guest drive the conversation as well.\n\nI'm not the greatest interviewer in the world. I just do it in my style, in my way. I am me, and I'll never be anyone else. So I just aspire to be the best that I can be.\n\nB/R: Does your skill at cutting promos help you be a better interviewer?\n\nAustin: It doesn't help me [directly]. But I do think cutting promos helps you with being in front of a crowd and being able to work in spite of a distraction. On Straight Up Steve Austin, there's 85 people on set! It's been a while since I've done that."}
-{"text": "Author and Biologist, Rupert Sheldrake, says the science delusion is the belief that science already understands the nature of reality in principle. And, that there is a conflict between science as a method of inquiry and collective investigation, and science as a belief system and world view.\n\nThis worldview aspect of science inhibits and restricts the free inquiry that is the very lifeblood of the scientific endeavour. Today\u2019s science is operating under the world view from the late nineteenth century, that is essentially one of materialism and mechanistic solutions.\n\nHere Rupert Sheldrake unravels the ten dogmas of science and shows how we can regenerate science by moving beyond fixed beliefs."}
-{"text": "MCT installs two \u2018on-site in-vessel organic waste composters\u2019 at Rythu Bazaar, vegetable market\n\nTo make better use of organic waste produced from vegetable markets in the temple city, the Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT) has introduced two \u2018on-site and in-vessel organic waste composters\u2019 at the Rythu Bazaar and the Indira Priyadarshini Vegetable Market.\n\nThe 'Bio-Chest' units, with capacity to handle 500 kg per day, can convert both dry and wet waste into compost within 21 days. This facility, officials said, would reduce the burden of shifting the organic waste to dumpyards or to centres following traditional composting practices.\n\n\u201cEveryday municipal workers feed the unit with the generated organic waste and microbial culture. This goes on in a cyclic process and the initial result i.e., the compost, is obtained after 21 days and can be collected subsequently,\u201d maintained a senior municipal official, while speaking to The Hindu.\n\nHe said the facility would augment their focus on the \u2018zero garbage\u2019, which would involve making the best use of waste produced at a particular site, alongside eco-friendly initiatives.\n\nClean, compact\n\nWith an input of 10 tonnes of organic waste during the cycle, more than three tonnes of compost would be generated. The 'Bio-Chest' units, installed by Tamil Nadu-based VNS Enviro Biotechq, would take less space at the site and will not have the problem of bad odour as the entire composting is done within the vessel/unit. \u201cIt is also free from houseflies and mosquito menace,\u201d maintained VNS Enviro Biotechq's CEO and Managing Director S. Nagarajan. \u201cIt can also be used by local bodies, universities, industrial canteens, temples etc., where there is a possibility for effective utilisation of organic waste,\u201d he said."}
-{"text": "Weather forecasters issued a flurry of apologies for their spectacularly off-the-mark predictions of 20 to 30 inches of snow, which left the city in a virtual shutdown despite the blizzard barely glancing the Big Apple.\n\nNational Weather Service meteorologist Gary Szatkowski tweeted a series of mea culpas Tuesday about his \u201cbig forecast miss.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy deepest apologies to many key decision makers and so many members of the general public,\u201d he wrote. \u201cYou made a lot of tough decisions expecting us to get it right, and we didn\u2019t. Once again, I\u2019m sorry.\u201d\n\nLocal forecasters, including those in New York, rely heavily on the \u00adNational Weather Service when \u00adpreparing their own predictions.\n\nPhiladelphia meteorologist Kate Bilo, of CBS-3 and The CW Philadelphia, labeled herself a \u201cdunce\u201d while admitting her forecasting fail on Twitter.\n\n\u201cLots more snow chances ahead as the cold gets locked in. We\u2019ll get the next one,\u201d she vowed.\n\nMost New Yorkers woke up to a mere smattering of snow Tuesday morning, despite dire warnings that the nor\u2019easter dubbed Winter Storm Juno would dump between two and three feet of frozen flakes here.\n\nThe anemic totals recorded by the National Weather Service by Tuesday morning included 7.8 inches in Central Park, 7 inches in Park Slope and 6 inches in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, and 4 to 7 inches on Staten Island.\n\nGov. Cuomo blamed the off-target numbers for the \u201cvery expensive\u201d decision to shut down the city\u2019s subways and roads at 11 p.m. Monday, when barely any snow was falling.\n\n\u201cThe predictions that we acted on, obviously in this region, there was less snow than anticipated,\u201d Cuomo said.\n\nMayor de Blasio, who fueled anxieties about a frozen apocalypse from the blizzard, admitted that the storm was \u201cnothing like we feared it would be.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is a better-safe-than-sorry scenario,\u201d he told CNN. \u201cWe\u2019ve dodged the bullet.\u201d\n\nDe Blasio even made fun of his unfounded alarms with a dramatic reading at City Hall of a satirical report by The Onion poking fun at his ominous cautions Sunday about an \u201cepic\u201d and \u201chistoric\u201d snowstorm.\n\n\u201cThis shall be a tempest the likes of which has never been glimpsed by man or beast. Clutch your babes close to your breast and take small comfort in knowing that they will howl for but a few hours before death \u00adbecalms them forever,\u201d The \u00adOnion had Hizzoner saying.\n\nNew York\u2019s roadways were \u00adreopened at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, with subways and buses put back in \u00adaction on a weekend schedule about an hour later.\n\nAll mass transit was expected to be at full speed Wednesday.\n\nAn expert in urban economics said the financial impact of the closures would easily exceed $750 million over three days.\n\nSt. John\u2019s University Professor Aleksandr Gevorkyan estimated that daily commerce, usually around $3 billion, would be off 20 percent Monday to Wednesday.\n\nAll service industries combined will lose at least $482 million in revenues, with hotels and restaurants accounting for about $68 million, he said.\n\nOne restaurant-chain owner said his receipts were down about 50 percent Monday, and he expected that Tuesday\u2019s numbers wouldn\u2019t be much better.\n\n\u201cClosing everything down, maybe it was good for everybody not getting stranded, but for business it was horrific,\u201d said Michael Schatzberg, whose Branded Restaurants chain runs the Duke\u2019s, Big Daddy\u2019s and City Crab eateries.\n\nMeanwhile, the city\u2019s Department of Consumer Affairs received more than 10 complaints of price gouging, sources said.\n\nThe agency is investigating \u00adafter customers said they were overcharged by parking garages and gas stations.\n\nThe storm was blamed for two deaths on Long Island, which fared much worse than the city, with more than two feet of snow measured in Islip.\n\nSean Urda, 17, was killed when he slammed into a light pole while riding an inflatable tube down a hill in Huntington at about 10 p.m. Monday, cops said.\n\nAn 83-year-old man with dementia was found dead in a pile of snow in the back yard of his Bay Shore home at about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.\n\nAnd New England got pounded by nearly three feet of snow in some areas around Boston and coastal flooding that breached a seawall in Marshfield, Mass.\n\nAdditional reporting by Bob Fredericks, Yoav Gonen, Rebecca Harshbarger, Kevin Fasick and Daniel Prendergast"}
-{"text": "William M. Welch\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nPresident Obama on Tuesday authorized sending some 350 additional U.S. military personnel to protect diplomatic facilities and personnel in Baghdad.\n\nThe troops will not play a combat role, the White House said.\n\nThe move is the latest in a series of deployments aimed at protecting the U.S. Embassy and other facilities in Iraq.\n\nIt comes as Obama has been under political pressure to respond to the Islamic State, also known as ISIL, including the apparent execution of a second American journalist depicted in a video released Tuesday.\n\n\"The President will be consulting this week with NATO allies regarding additional actions to take against ISIL and to develop a broad-based international coalition to implement a comprehensive strategy to protect our people and to support our partners in the fight against ISIL,'' the White House said in a statement.\n\nIt said Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and counterterrorism advisor Lisa Monaco will travel to the region separately \"in the near-term.''\n\nThe White House said Obama took the step to increase troop presence in Iraq at the recommendation of the Pentagon.\n\nThe White House said Obama approved the move \"to protect our personnel and facilities in Iraq as we continue to support the government of Iraq'' in its fight against the Islamic State terrorist organization.\n\n\"These additional forces will not serve in a combat role,'' the statement said.\n\nThe move will allow some previously deployed military personnel to leave Iraq \"while at the same time providing a more robust, sustainable security force'' for U.S. interests in the Iraq capital, the White House statement said.\n\nDefense Department spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said the move builds on deployments announced in June and will bring to 820 the total number of U.S. forces working on diplomatic security in Iraq.\n\nKirby said the forces will come from the U.S. Central Command and will include medical personnel, helicopters and an air liaison team.\n\nWhile the White House said \"approximately 350'' military personnel were involved, Kirby said a total of 405 U.S. military personnel will be sent to Baghdad, and that 55 people who have been there since June will leave the country but will be available \"to deal with other security contingencies in the region, if necessary.''"}
-{"text": "Leah Torres wakes up early in a modest townhome between the two looming mountain ranges that border Salt Lake City. She makes coffee with the precision you\u2019d expect of a doctor, though for breakfast she might eat a bowl of Trix. She sits down on the couch to watch the Today show. Then she checks Twitter to see if anyone has called her a murderer overnight. Ad Policy\n\nLater, at the hospital where she works, Torres will talk with teenagers about birth control, and with women about their mammograms. She\u2019ll examine patients with high-risk pregnancies; implant IUDs; take pap smears; perform surgery. She sees patients who are uninsured, and when they can\u2019t afford the medicines she wants to prescribe, she figures out another treatment plan. What she doesn\u2019t do at the hospital is perform abortions. Only two clinics in Utah have found their way through the maze of restrictive laws that govern abortion care in the state\u2014and so, to do that part of her work, Torres spends a Saturday each month at one of them, helping people end their pregnancies.\n\nOne afternoon in April, Torres came striding out of the hospital\u2019s sliding-glass doors in her white coat, furious. After initially giving The Nation permission to film in her office, hospital administrators had revoked it the night before, at first citing patient privacy and finally admitting to Torres that they didn\u2019t want publicity about her work as an abortion provider and reproductive-rights advocate. Torres was apologetic\u2014and angry. She is not one for hushing up.\n\nAlthough she works in a conservative state and in a political climate marked by overt hostility toward abortion providers, the 36-year-old obstetrician-gynecologist maintains an unusually public profile. On Twitter, Torres responds to anti-choice trolls with facts and links to medical research. On her blog, she answers readers\u2019 questions, which are mostly about birth control. She writes op-eds and participates in public-policy debates. She became even more active this past spring, when Utah\u2019s Republican-controlled legislature passed a novel law requiring doctors to give anesthesia to fetuses for abortions taking place at 20 weeks or later\u2014though there is no scientific evidence that fetuses can feel pain so early.\n\nWe met Torres in mid-April, three weeks before the law was set to take effect. She was placing near-daily calls to the state attorney general\u2019s office in an attempt to figure out how to comply, since there is no standard medical practice for giving painkillers to fetuses. No one, including the accountant who sponsored the legislation in the State Senate, could tell her what the law actually required. Would it be OK to give the woman an extra dose of Advil? Or would Torres have to knock her out completely with a general anesthetic, making what is generally a safe procedure more costly and dangerous?\n\nDoctors who provide abortions have reasons to keep quiet about their work, as the fatal shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado last year confirmed. Anti-abortion activists have made the demonization, harassment, and even murder of abortion providers a central part of their strategy since the early 1990s. \u201cWe\u2019ve found the weak link is the doctor,\u201d said Randall Terry, the founder of the extremist group Operation Rescue, at a rally in 1993, just days before a provider named David Gunn was killed in Pensacola, Florida. \u201cWe\u2019re going to expose them,\u201d Terry promised. \u201cWe\u2019re going to humiliate them.\u201d\n\nAs a result of such threats, Torres does take precautions. She has her mail delivered to a post-office box; she doesn\u2019t talk about her family or personal life online; she doesn\u2019t even put pro-choice bumper stickers on her car. Still, she\u2019s come to the conclusion that the only way to counter the vilification is to say more about her work, not less.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of shame and stigma surrounding abortions,\u201d Torres said. \u201cThat shame and stigma comes from silence from one side, and vociferousness from another side. You\u2019ve got: \u2018You\u2019re a baby killer. Abortion is murder!\u2019 That\u2019s my motivation: revoking the power that the shame and stigma has over abortion. [It] drives all of these bad laws, drives the violence\u2026. I\u2019m trying to reduce that violence, the shame and negativity. Because abortion is health care.\u201d\n\n* * * By 2011, there were 40 percent fewer doctors performing abortions than in 1982.\n\nTorres grew up in northern Michigan. She was an adopted child, a fact that she said has little bearing on her work now. \u201cThe anti-choice argument about adoption always being an option is a false statement. Adoption is an alternative to parenting, not to pregnancy,\u201d Torres noted. \u201cI\u2019m glad that my birth mother had the option and decided to risk life to give birth to me\u2014but if she\u2019d decided to have an abortion, I wouldn\u2019t know, and it\u2019d be a moot point.\u201d\n\nBy high school, Torres knew she wanted to study medicine. She majored in Spanish in college but also took courses in women\u2019s studies, which spurred her interest in women\u2019s health. She decided to make abortion part of her practice in medical school, after meeting members of a group called Medical Students for Choice who were \u201cjust super-fun\u201d and offered her a sense of community. Despite that resolve, Torres had to fight for adequate training. Her residency program in Philadelphia covered the mechanics of dilation and curettage (or D&C), which is used for some miscarriages as well as abortion procedures, but it left her without an understanding of the differences in caring for those two types of patients. On her own initiative, she shadowed an independent doctor who occasionally used the hospital\u2019s operating room for abortions. Still, she felt ill-equipped to handle second-trimester procedures.\n\nTorres\u2019s experience is not unusual. Since the Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973 with its ruling in Roe v. Wade, abortion care has shifted out of hospitals, where most medical education takes place, to private clinics, in part because the mainstream medical community has shied away from the stigma associated with the procedure. Many states ban public-university hospitals from providing abortion care at all, which means that students and residents at those institutions can gain practical experience with abortion only if they seek it out elsewhere, on their own time. A survey published in 2005 by the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that less than a third of US medical schools offered even a lecture specifically about abortion during their residencies, while nearly a quarter provided no formal abortion education at all. At the schools that did provide clinical experience or a reproductive-health elective, participation was low. Considering these gaps in education, as well as the daily harassment directed toward abortion providers, it\u2019s not surprising that by 2011, there were 40.7 percent fewer doctors performing the procedure than in 1982.\n\nBeginning in the early 1990s, a number of programs and groups were founded to ensure that, despite weaknesses in the official curricula, there would be a new generation of highly qualified physicians trained to provide contraceptive and abortion care. Medical Students for Choice is one; another is a two-year program called the Fellowship in Family Planning, which is what brought Torres to Salt Lake City. She arrived in 2012, part of the \u201cnew vanguard\u201d of doctors described by Emily Bazelon in The New York Times in 2010. These young doctors had lived most\u2014if not all\u2014of their lives in a post-Roe world, and yet they were beginning their careers just as Republican-controlled state legislatures were launching a stealth campaign to undermine the legal right to abortion.\n\nWhen Torres arrived in Utah, she was shocked by the number of rules she had to navigate in order to provide abortions. There are at least eight regulations she considers medically unnecessary, even dangerous. One requires patients to wait three days between an initial consultation and their abortion. Another requires her to \u201ccounsel\u201d patients that abortion is associated with negative long-term mental-health effects, though a 2008 review of scientific research by the American Psychological Association found \u201cno credible evidence\u201d for that claim. Another requires her to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. A fourth mandates that all abortions, even those induced by a pill, take place in a room equipped for surgery\u2014though by enacting a law prohibiting state funds from being used for abortion care, the state has also made sure that room cannot be in a hospital. (Most hospitals receive some public funding.) Then there\u2019s the law that requires minors to get parental consent for an abortion, though they\u2019re not required to have parental consent to become parents themselves. Another law makes some of Torres\u2019s personal information public simply because she provides abortions. Finally, there\u2019s the new fetal-pain law.\n\nIn fact, Utah is hardly exceptional in erecting barriers for people seeking abortions and the doctors who treat them. Since 2010, when Republicans swept to power in a number of states, legislators have enacted nearly 300 bills that restrict access to abortion. Some of these laws, like the one imposing mandatory waiting periods, place an extra burden on women in the form of time and money. Others, like the requirement that abortions take place in mini-surgical centers, single out abortion for special regulations that don\u2019t apply to other medical procedures, even those with higher rates of complications. Although these laws are often described by their backers as health and safety measures, their actual effect is to make it prohibitively expensive for clinics to operate. Many states now have only a handful of doctors who provide abortions, and women in rural areas, in particular, may live hundreds of miles from a clinic. In effect, the constitutional right to abortion has become contingent on geography and money. She\u2019s had patients, their feet in the stirrups, tell her that what she does is evil.\n\nTorres expected to stay in Utah only for the two years of her fellowship. \u201cThat\u2019s been my life track: go, get the job done, move on, experience new places,\u201d she said. But instead of being discouraged by the hostile political climate, Torres found it galvanizing. She estimates that there are less than a dozen doctors providing abortions in all of Utah, and\u2014largely because of the requirement that they do so in surgical centers\u2014there are only two facilities in the entire state where they can practice. Some patients drive over 500 miles to reach them. Because she went into medicine to help people\u2014especially those who wouldn\u2019t otherwise have access to health care\u2014staying in Utah felt like filling a crucial void.\n\n\u201cThe population in Utah that\u2019s impacted most by these laws are those who have less money, who are lower in socioeconomic status,\u201d Torres explained as we sat in her kitchen, drinking tea. On the wall, written on a whiteboard, was a quote from the 19th-century American doctor Thomas M\u00fctter: \u201cThe world is no place of rest.\u201d\n\n* * * \u201cNo cardiologist is going to stand for the legislature saying, \u2018No, you have to do a stent this way.\u2019\u201d\n\nLast November, on the day after Thanksgiving, Robert Lewis Dear Jr. walked into a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs and murdered three people. Although these were the first abortion-related killings since 2009, they weren\u2019t entirely unanticipated. In the preceding months, abortion-rights advocates had noticed what Vicki Saporta of the National Abortion Federation called an \u201calarming\u201d escalation of threats, harassment, and vandalism directed at clinics and doctors. The uptick began soon after anti-choice activists who\u2019d posed as representatives of a fake biomedical company began releasing undercover videos purporting to show Planned Parenthood officials haggling over the price of fetal tissue. (None of the many investigations into Planned Parenthood have turned up any evidence of wrongdoing.)\n\nThe shooting shook Torres, but it didn\u2019t cause her to rethink her advocacy work. Salt Lake City is fairly liberal, and elsewhere in Utah, Torres said, Mormon culture elicits a more polite form of anti-abortion activism than in other red states. That makes her feel safer. But it also means that many of her patients lack basic information about reproductive health and have deeply conservative beliefs about sex. \u201cIt\u2019s very jarring when you\u2019re sitting in front of somebody who\u2019s about to have their abortion and they say to you, \u2018I don\u2019t believe in abortion, but I need this,\u2019\u201d she said. She\u2019s had patients, their feet in the stirrups, tell her that what she does is evil. \u201cWhat I usually respond with is, \u2018I understand\u2014and, you know, no one ever plans to be in this position. But we\u2019re going to take really good care of you. Because that\u2019s our job.\u2019\u201d\n\nTorres has less patience for colleagues who mix their religious beliefs with their medical practice. One male ob-gyn that she\u2019s worked with refuses to prescribe contraceptives to patients who aren\u2019t married. (In the United States, it\u2019s legal for doctors to refuse to provide services they judge to be in conflict with their moral beliefs. Accordingly, some Catholic health systems have gone so far as to try to prevent all of their networks\u2019 doctors from prescribing birth control.) According to Torres, she\u2019s helped three of this doctor\u2019s patients end pregnancies they had hoped to prevent. \u201cThose are the consequences,\u201d she said, with some weariness, of holding the supposed moral high ground.\n\n* * *\n\nIn June, in a major opinion concerning abortion regulations in Texas, the Supreme Court ruled that neither the state\u2019s surgical-center mandate nor its admitting-privileges requirement \u201coffers medical benefits sufficient to justify the burdens upon access that each imposes.\u201d It\u2019s likely this ruling will lead to the demise of similar regulations in Utah. How it will affect other types of restrictions, like mandatory waiting periods and the fetal-pain law, is less certain.\n\nLike the two rules in question in the Texas case, the fetal-pain law is based on claims that are directly contradicted by scientific evidence: Current research indicates that fetal neural systems aren\u2019t developed enough to feel pain until about 27 weeks, past the window in which abortion is generally legal. Because the law is so new and so vaguely written, it\u2019s not yet clear what kind of burden it will put on patients. Torres never did get an answer from state officials on how they expected her to implement it. (The office of Utah\u2019s Attorney General did not respond to our inquiry, either.) She told us in June that the state has shown little interest in enforcing it so far, and that she\u2019s found a way to comply technically without changing her practice much. Still, the measure is dangerous in principle, she argued, particularly because it\u2019s a criminal statute and raises the possibility that doctors could lose their medical licenses. \u201cNo cardiologist is going to stand for the legislature saying, \u2018No, you have to do a stent this way, you have to do surgery this way. But it\u2019s fine and acceptable for them to do this to people who are pregnant, despite objections from the ob-gyn community?\u201d\n\nTorres\u2019s commitment to speaking publicly about her work illustrates a recent shift within the pro-choice movement. Arguments about privacy have been replaced by a focus on justice; calls for abortion to be \u201crare\u201d have given way to a frank discussion of the fact that abortion is a necessary procedure for many people. Personal testimony from women whose education, careers, and families have benefited from their decision to get an abortion played a significant role in the plaintiff\u2019s argument in the Texas case, as Katha Pollitt wrote recently. That storytelling undercut anti-choice activists\u2019 claims that unnecessary, burdensome laws were \u201cprotecting women\u201d; it turned out that women could speak for themselves, thank you.\n\nWhile anti-abortion activists have deliberately adopted a gentler tack toward women, doctors are still painted as murderous profiteers. They bear the brunt of the movement\u2019s vitriol, and its violence. Torres doesn\u2019t expect to change minds on Twitter and with her advocacy work, but she hopes at least to make some people stop and think, and acknowledge that she\u2019s a human being doing her job. \u201cI\u2019m not driving around in a white van, knocking on doors, telling people they need an abortion,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not a monster who hates children and makes a lot of money and does abortions left and right because I think [it\u2019s] the right choice. I do abortions because it\u2019s part of health care.\u201d And for the foreseeable future, she\u2019ll continue to provide that care in Utah, despite all the barriers. \u201cI have to stay here and make things right,\u201d Torres said."}
-{"text": "Binance Chain is my Trojan Horse to conquer Ethereum. Changpang Zhao\n\nFounder of Binance\n\nChinese-Canadian Folk Hero\n\nIf you thought retail investors learned their lesson after losing everything in the 2018 collapse of ICO Ponzi schemes and Crypto scams, then you don\u2019t know how dumb people really are.\n\nRespected and well venerated Shitcoin Casino kingpin Changpang Zhao, also known as \u201cCZ\u201d, of the notorious Binance exchange, is back and he is well underway with his master plan to make scams great again and screw investors one last time before sailing off into the sunset.\n\n\u201cThis is my last chance to make a boatload of cash before regulators finally crack down and turn Binance into another REKT exchange like Coinbase,\u201d Mr. CZ told our reporters while wearing what he called \u201cBermuda Shorts,\u201d tight underwear that the British Army somehow convinced the Bank of Bermuda to adopt as their dress code.\n\nCoin Jazeera was determined to uncover the motives behind CZ\u2019s scam renaissance and his dastardly plan.\n\n\u201cNever trust a man in shorts.\u201d\n\nPhoto Courtesy of Bermuda News.\n\nOur reporters learned that the reason behind Binance\u2019s unrivaled success in the Shitcoin Age of 2017 was through a mastery of the art of regulatory arbitrage. Regulatory arbitrage involves capitalizing on regulatory loopholes in order to circumvent unfavorable regulation. While US Crypto exchanges such as Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini, and even more legitimate ones including Poloniex and Bittrex were bent over and mercilessly gangbanged by FinCen, the IRS, and the SEC; Binance fled both Hong Kong and Japan and geographically relocated to the clich\u00e9 island country of Malta. This allowed the company to avoid unfavorable regulations that would harm the customer experience, such as KYC checks for US customers that prevent popular features such as money laundering, market manipulation, and tax evasion. Binance customers would now be free to steal money with popular trading tactics including pump and dumps, price fixing, spoofing, front-running, and wash trading.\n\n\u201cWhat would Larimer do?\u201d\n\nPhoto Courtesy of the Trump Campaign.\n\nThis wasn\u2019t enough success for CZ and we have since discovered that Binance has been using the lessons learned from the last bull cycle to recreate the ICO mania of 2017 to pump and dump shitcoins yet again.\n\nIn a stroke of machiavellian brilliance, Binance has repackaged the notorious money laundering tool, the Initial Coin Offering (ICO), as the new and improved Initial Exchange Offering (IEO). A move so iconically evil that it ranks up there with Apple selling millions of new iPhones after removing the headphone jack in 2016.\n\nAn IEO is when a morally ambiguous overseas exchange does a token sale, decentralizes investors money into their own coffers, and then immediately lists the token on their own platform. It is a revised form of the ICO financial product that solves the regulatory problems around selling unregistered securities to non-accredited investors. The IEO also guarantees an immediate top exchange listing upon launch of the coin. This is Chinese copy-and-improve at its best.\n\nThe first token to IEO on the Binance Exchange was via its Launchpad Platform, an all-in-one coin incubator program that ensures CZ can vertically integrate the entire scam creation product cycle into his own hands. The chosen coin was BitTorrent\u2019s BTT token, which CZ heralded as \u201cThe future of paid pirating.\u201d Our reporters pointed out that this was an oxymoron and CZ told them that they were too smart to be Binance customers.\n\nCZ is well liked amongst the Triad because he allows people like me to break the law and also enables degenerate gamblers to make money from massive opportunities like TRON. Justin Sun\n\nCZ\u2019s Adopted Son\n\n\u201cWorld domination is now in my grasp.\u201d\n\nPhoto Courtesy of EJ Insight.\n\nOn a hot tip, we sent our veteran reporter Pepe Grenouille into the deepest parts of China to learn more about IEOs. After thorough investigative research he concluded the truth about IEOs: they are only popular in Asian markets, they\u2019re dominated by Chinese clickfarms, there is no real distribution, and Binance hires liquidity providers to pump IEO listings so that they can dump on retail investors.\n\nWhen questioned about his IEO strategy, CZ told Coin Jazeera \u201cI regret nothing. Changing the ICO \u201cC\u201d to an \u201cE\u201d was revolutionary because it enabled me to fool idiot investors and get shitcoin gamblers excited again.\u201d He continued, \u201cBut this is only the first piece of my master plan before I retire to become a mentor to the children like my uncle Jack Ma.\u201d\n\nCoin Jazeera was quick to learn that the \u201cIEO Boom\u201d as Mr. CZ called it, had already skyrocketed the price of Binance\u2019s own BNB token to a whopping $25. BNB tokens are equivalent to poker chips in the Binance casino. Research showed us that CZ stands to benefit the most from this price increase because he owns the majority of the token supply. Uneducated investors, fooled by the burn mechanism of BNB tokens, think they are getting some kind of equity or dividend when in reality they are not. These same users are also fooled into believing that Binance is doing token buybacks when they are really just burning their own token supply.\n\nCoin Jazeera has uncovered the unfortunate truth that Mr. Zhao\u2019s BNB token is just a Ponzi scheme being pumped by token burns and hopeful peasants using it to gamble on shitcoins.\n\n\u201cMacCoin IEO coming soon on Binance Launchpad!\u201d\n\nPhoto Courtesy of The McDonald\u2019s Corporation and Binance.\n\nWe interviewed former somebody Vitalik Buterin from Bangkok, and asked him his thoughts on Binance Chain. \u201cIf a project wants to list their token on Binance and do an IEO, CZ requires them to make a generous \u201cdonation\u201d to his charity as well as create their token on Binance Chain instead of Ethereum. They are forcing tokens with liquidity of less than $1 Million to switch from Ethereum to Binance Chain or else they will be delisted. Binance Chain is where shitcoins go to pump and dump one last time before they die. If he wants the scams, he can have them. Now if you\u2019ll excuse me I\u2019ve recently discovered sex and I\u2019d like to get back to that.\u201d\n\nWe couldn\u2019t help but notice a similarity in CZ\u2019s strategy to another familiar coin: Polkadot. When pressed, he reassured the public that he was not creating an Ethereum competitor. However, when our reporters went to the bathroom to take a dump after eating some bad Chinese food that the Binance office catered for reporters, we overheard CZ speaking with Justin Sun while urinating. We also thought it was weird that there were many open urinals but they took the ones right next to each other.\n\nTRON and Binance Partnership\n\n\u201cThese Gweilos don\u2019t realize Binance Chain is my Trojan Horse to conquer Ethereum. We used a forked version of Tendermint that removed smart contracts to calm the community. What they don\u2019t realize is that my evil plan is to add smart contracts back in the future after we force enough tokens to migrate. When this happens I will recreate 2017 all over again, but this time I will make ALL the money! Get ready for the Changpang Gangbang,\u201d he laughed as he walked out of the restroom without washing his hands.\n\nIt was beginning to make sense to our reporters. Could CZ be doing all of this out of pure jealousy that he didn\u2019t make ALL the money in 2017?\n\nThis epiphany hit us like a ton of bricks. We had figured out CZ\u2019s final scam. It was to centralize the blockchain industry around himself. Controlling IEO\u2019s, BNB token, Binance Chain, and Binance DEX, would make himself a God.\n\nWe realized this was the ultimate Endgame. The Changpang Gangbang.\n\n\u201cCZ\u2019s Final Form.\u201d\n\nPhoto Courtesy of Marvel & Binance.\n\nBefore we left the Binance offices our Coin Jazeera reporters confronted CZ with this shocking revelation.\n\n\u201cYes, you caught me.\u201d he sighed. \u201cMy final plan is indeed this. We first had the ICO, then we had the IEO, and finally we will have the CZO, The Changpang Zhao Offering. My plan is to centralize the blockchain industry around myself, and then the world. Malta will turn into the most powerful nation in the universe.\u201d When we asked why, why would he take advantage of humanity like this, he responded, \u201cBecause for years in my youth I was the fry bitch at McDonald\u2019s. I told them that one day I would run a magical fantasy coin laundering service for the whole world but they didn\u2019t believe me. They told me to focus on the potatoes. Now everything looks like a potato. And potatoes need to be scrubbed. Who\u2019s McCuckin\u2019 it now, bitch?\u201d\n\nWe left the offices shocked and confused. We immediately went to the SEC to try and stop him from taking over the world but they only fined him $250,000 and asked him politely to stop. There was nothing else we could do.\n\n\u201cStarted from the fryer now we here.\u201d\n\nPhoto Courtesy of The McDonald\u2019s Corporation and Forbes.\n\nCoin Jazeera must disclose that we now own BNB token and are minority shareholders in an IEO clickfarm in China for legal reasons.\n\nThis article is satire and for entertainment purposes only.\n\nFOOTER AD SPACE FOR SALE\n\nE-MAIL sponsor@coinjazeera.news"}
-{"text": "WASHINGTON \u2013 If the Green New Deal came up for a vote in the Democrat-controlled House, it would have trouble passing.\n\nIt's not that Democrats are divided about addressing climate change \u2013 they aren't. But the Green New Deal weighs in on much more than that, with its call for free college, Medicare for all, and job guarantees for all U.S. citizens.\n\n\"That's not legislation. It's a list of aspirations,\" Pelosi told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview Monday, about the expansive proposal championed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. \"Just because somebody has an idea doesn't mean it goes to the floor because the committee process and we build the support that we need for it. And that bill has many things that have nothing to do with climate. And so that has to go to different committees.\"\n\nPelosi's not alone in her reluctance to move quickly.\n\nThe nonbinding resolution is being slow-walked by Democrats leaders through various committees. And Pelosi, who watched her party lose the House in 2010 after voting to expand health care and address global warming, doesn't sound eager to rush the Green New Deal to the House floor.\n\nSeveral party moderates leading a new climate-change panel said this month that they can't support the ambitious resolution.\n\nReps. Don Beyer, D-Va., Sean Casten, D-Ill., Elaine Luria, D-Va., and Susan Wild, D-Pa, the four co-chairs of the New Democrat Coalition's Climate Change Task Force, each said they oppose the Green New Deal.\n\nMore than 100 of the 235 House Democrats are part of the coalition, including 17 on the climate panel.\n\nAll four, speaking to reporters during a Capitol Hill news conference, said that they applaud the attention the Green New Deal has brought to the issue and support its intent, but don't see it as a realistic solution.\n\n\"We all care about the same issues,\" Luria said. But \"the Green New Deal is aspirational. What we plan to do is offer tangible, achievable things.\"\n\nIn contrast, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is moving quickly to get a vote in the Senate. Convinced it's unpopular with voters, McConnell has vowed to bring the measure \u2013 which he adamantly opposes \u2013 to the floor as a way to get Democrats to go \"on record\" about the controversial proposal.\n\nA procedural vote has been scheduled Monday that could lead to a floor vote as early as the end of the week.\n\nCorbin Trent, a spokesman for Ocasio-Cortez, defended the Green New Deal resolution as \"a vision for the just transformation of our economy and energy production system.\"\n\n\"That vision is supported by the majority of the American people and the residents of the Bronx and Queens,\" he said referring to the New York City district the congresswoman represents. \"This office will do what we can to continue promoting policies that will improve the lives of the residents of the Bronx and Queens.\"\n\nIf the Green New Deal comes up for a vote in the House, Democrats could lose up to 18 members of their caucus and still pass the measure, assuming every Republican votes against it.\n\nThat's if it ever comes up for a vote.\n\nDemocratic leaders have not scheduled a vote and there's no indication one will occur anytime soon. Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday that the measure would go through committees first while adding she was \"more excited\" about the work that would be coming out of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.\n\nPresident Donald Trump, who has openly questioned his own administration's scientific reports on climate change, has ridiculed the Green New Deal, calling it \"a high school term paper that got a low mark.\"\n\nFreshman lawmaker responds:Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hits back at New York Post's report on her Green New Deal 'hypocrisy'\n\nA bridge too far:Green New Deal too ambitious for some Democrats, even those who say Congress must 'do something'\n\nThe task force hasn't officially met yet and has not gotten behind specific policy solutions. Beyer said he supports a pricing system for the carbon emissions that contribute to global warming. Casten said he favors a cap-and-trade system that would limit how much carbon is produced. Luria, a former nuclear engineer in the Navy, supports expanded nuclear power.\n\n\"The aspirations of the Green New Deal are great,\" Casten said. \"The amount of energy it's brought to this issue is fantastic. But doing energy policy right really requires making sure you get the expertise of the folks that have been down in the trenches.\"\n\nContributing: Eliza Collins\n\nJust the facts:Fact check: How much will the Green New Deal cost?"}
-{"text": "\n\nSold Out. The #1 New York Times bestselling author and firebrand syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin sets her sights on the corrupt businessmen, politicians, and lobbyists flooding our borders and selling out America\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best and brightest workers. In this book, Malkin and Programmers Guild founder John Miano name names and expose the lies of those who pretend to champion the middle class, while aiding and abetting massive layoffs of highly skilled American workers in favor of cheap foreign labor. 1st Edition, November 10, 2015 ISBN: 978-1501115943 Available in Ebook, Paperback, Hardcover\n\nOur Mission\n\nThe Programmers Guild advances the interests of technical and professional workers in information technology (IT) fields. The Programmers\u2019 Guild provides a forum where tech workers can speak as a group and be heard; where we can act as a group to advocate our interests; and where we can present our concerns as a group to those whose decisions affect our lives. Our goal is to improve the work and the workplaces of technical professionals across the spectrum of IT fields and disciplines. Technology workers across the board must stand together against the forces that put our careers at risk, such as:\n\nReplacement by H-1B and L-1 visa workers\n\nOutsourcing jobs to offshore contractors\n\nShifting jobs to overseas facilities\n\nFalse claims of a labor shortage in our profession\n\nConversion of pensions to cash balance plans\n\nAge discrimination\n\nJob ads drafted with intent to exclude U.S. applicants\n\nLack of respect for our training, experience, knowledge, and past achievements\n\nFinally, the Programmers Guild assists the growing numbers in our profession who are unemployed.\n\nThe right to practice in one\u2019s chosen profession is a Constitutional liberty [Gibson v. Berryhill, 411 U.S. 564, 571 (1973)] that is violated by visas that force Americans to train their foreign replacements or otherwise result in displacement by foreign workers.\n\nPlease join us.\n\nWe need volunteers: \u201cHow Can I Help?\u201c"}
-{"text": "Om man tar seg en rask titt p\u00e5 diverse forumtr\u00e5der, kommentarfeltet p\u00e5 Youtube eller brukeranmeldelsene p\u00e5 Metacritic, kan det se ut til at spillanmeldernes inntrykk av Red Dead Redemption 2, ikke alltid stemmer overens med den gjengse oppfatningen i spillmilj\u00f8et. Til tross for at Rockstars Games nye storsatsing endte opp med noen av de aller sterkeste anmeldelsene vi har sett s\u00e5 langt denne konsollversjonen, har \u00abmannen i gata\u00bb sl\u00e5tt hardt ned p\u00e5 upresise kontroller, mangelen p\u00e5 en PC-versjon, og sist, men ikke minst, et overrealistisk mulighetsrom.\n\nDen sistnevnte fremst\u00e5r som den mest interessante delen av samtalen for min egen del, fordi store deler av kritikken handler om at spill som medium f\u00f8rst og fremst skal v\u00e6re \u00abg\u00f8y\u00bb, og at fokuset p\u00e5 \u00abrealisme\u00bb og \u00abinnlevelse\u00bb i Red Dead Redemption 2 har gjort spillet d\u00e5rligere enn det trenger \u00e5 v\u00e6re. Det ser alts\u00e5 ut til \u00e5 ha oppst\u00e5tt en slags splittelse mellom dem som vil at spillene deres skal by p\u00e5 morsomheter og action fremfor alt annet, og de som er villig til \u00e5 ta inn over seg en langsommere, mer utfyllende og metodisk tiln\u00e6rming til spilldesign.\n\nJeg er av den oppfatning at det ikke finnes nok nyanse omkring hva som gj\u00f8r at et spill \u00abg\u00f8y\u00bb \u00e5 spille, og at det mange egentlig mener n\u00e5r de beskriver spillopplevelser p\u00e5 denne m\u00e5ten, er om spillet er \u00abunderholdende\u00bb eller ikke. Mangelen p\u00e5 kj\u00e6rlighet for de mest realistiske delene av spillet overrasker meg derfor kraftig, ettersom jeg blir til de grader underholdt av Red Dead Redemption 2 i disse dager, nettopp p\u00e5 grunn av Rockstars velutf\u00f8rte satsingen p\u00e5 realistiske, detaljerte og innlevelsesrike spillsystemer.\n\nSaint Denis kan v\u00e6re en veldig vakker by, men jeg foretrekker villmarken Foto: Alexei Smirnov/Gamer.no\n\nDr\u00f8mmen om realisme i spillmediet\n\nKonflikten mellom \u00abg\u00f8y\u00bb og \u00abrealistisk\u00bb har sine r\u00f8tter i virkeligheten, uten tvil. For p\u00e5standene om overrealisme i Red Dead Redemption 2 er slettes ikke overdrevne. Det at man faktisk m\u00e5 dra tilbake hammeren p\u00e5 revolveren mellom hvert eneste skudd, gj\u00f8r skytingen grundig og upresis p\u00e5 en m\u00e5te som vi ikke er vant med, men som muligens st\u00f8tter opp under v\u00e5penteknologien som fantes p\u00e5 slutten av 1800-tallet. At hesten din begynner \u00e5 klage fordi den er sulten, skitten og skremt over en eller annen rotte i veien slik at man m\u00e5 klatre ned for \u00e5 tilfredsstille dens mange behov, er nesten like involverende som \u00e5 ha et ekte kj\u00e6ledyr.\n\nFokuset p\u00e5 realisme skinner gjennom den ufattelig detaljerte fremstillingen av b\u00e5de verden, karakterene og mekanikkene spillet byr p\u00e5, som kan innbefatte alt fra at vegetasjonene rasler n\u00e5r man kommer i kontakt med busker og tr\u00e6r, til at hovedpersonen Arthur Morgen m\u00e5 plukke opp hatten sin manuelt, om den for eksempel blir skutt av i feltet. Du m\u00e5 olje inn v\u00e5pnene dine, utnytte r\u00e5varer fra naturen til \u00e5 brygge eliksirer og tilberede mat, s\u00e5 vel som \u00e5 f\u00f8lge loven til punkt og prikke, om det da er noen vitner tilstede. Rockstar har i mine \u00f8yne g\u00e5tt hundre og ti prosent inn for \u00e5 st\u00f8tte opp under en innlevelsesrik spillopplevelse gjennom et fokus p\u00e5 realisme, samtidig som mange spillere der ute mener at denne versjonen av spillet ikke var det de betalte for.\n\nEvnene til \u00e5 faktisk kommunisere med ikke-spillbare karakterer, skiller Red Dead Redemption 2 fra andre spill i sjangeren Foto: Alexei Smirnov/Gamer.no\n\nMen er det bare meg, eller er det nettopp denne tiln\u00e6rminger til spilldesign som alltid har v\u00e6rt dr\u00f8mmen med \u00e5 spille spill? Tar jeg feil i \u00e5 anta at slike spillopplevelser er hva mange av oss har v\u00e6rt p\u00e5 utkikk etter i alle \u00e5r? Da jeg var barn og ungdom, kan jeg huske \u00e5 ha fantasert om \u00e5 spille det neste store spillfenomenet p\u00e5 markedet, i h\u00e5p om at det endelig var noen der ute som klarte \u00e5 produsere en virtuell representasjon av den virkelige verden slik jeg kjente den. Jeg var helt sikker p\u00e5 at dette var det endelige m\u00e5let med hele greia.\n\nSpillmediet ga meg muligheten til \u00e5 tilbringe tid i et funksjonelt alternativt univers der den st\u00f8rste forskjellen mellom det virtuelle og det virkelige, var et slappere regelverk, og et st\u00f8rre mulighetsrom enn hva hverdagen kunne bidra med. Spillverdenene gjorde at man hadde enkel tilgang til alt fra hester og motorsykler, til fallskjerm og fly. Her kunne man svinge med sverd, dykke p\u00e5 havbunnen og kj\u00f8re raskt uten store konsekvenser. Alt dette var definitivt \u00abg\u00f8y\u00bb i seg selv, men dr\u00f8mmen om det ultimate spillet gikk et hakk forbi alminnelige morsomheter og lek i en virtuell verden for min egen del. Niv\u00e5et p\u00e5 de realistiske aspektene av spillet, oppmerksomheten for detaljene og tankegangen om at enhver handling jeg utf\u00f8rte potensielt sett kunne f\u00f8re til autentiske reaksjoner, var h\u00e5pet for mer eller mindre alle titlene jeg fikk tak i som barn og ungdom.\n\nSlik sett, var det alltid de mest realistiske spillene jeg gledet meg mest over \u00e5 kunne bruke tiden min p\u00e5, ettersom dette var den letteste sorten \u00e5 leve seg inn i. Ikke n\u00f8dvendigvis i form av at spillet trengte en standardisert og gjenkjennelig plassering, eller en hverdagslig handling. Heller gikk dette konseptet av \"realisme\" ut p\u00e5 langstrakte verdener, brede og fyldige spillmekanikker som ga mening, og et behov for at figurene i spillet hadde fornuftige og forst\u00e5elige reaksjoner i henhold til mine handlinger.\n\nMetal Gear!? Foto: Konami\n\nSpill som The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind og Grand Theft Auto 3 appellerte derfor til meg, men et av de beste eksemplene var nok da jeg spilte Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty i 2002. Kjeven min senket seg sakte ned mot gulvet, etter hvert som jeg fant ut at man kunne knuse flasker og glass i baren, sparke folk utenfor rekkverk, skyte ut lysp\u00e6rer, gjemme meg i skap og ta folk som gissel for presse de for informasjon eller utstyr. Det var da ikke m\u00e5te p\u00e5 hva man kunne f\u00e5 til, s\u00e5 fremst man klarte \u00e5 tenke logisk, eller eksperimenterte med den grundige oppmerksomheten for detaljer i spillet.\n\nAlt jeg her beskriver som \u00abrealistiske\u00bb tiln\u00e6rminger til spilldesign, er for meg b\u00e5de g\u00f8y og innlevelsesrikt samtidig, men mer enn noe annet har jeg alltid blitt underholdt av slike spill. Noe som ogs\u00e5 kan regnes for \u00e5 v\u00e6re hovedgrunnen for hvorfor jeg fremdeles er s\u00e5 engasjert i spillmediet utvikling, tjue \u00e5r etter jeg f\u00f8rste begynte \u00e5 spille. Jeg legger nemlig merke til at spillindustrien sakte men sikkert n\u00e6rmer seg denne dr\u00f8mmen om realisme og ultimat innlevelse, gjennom b\u00e5de teknologisk kapasitet, velskrevne fortellinger og karakter, s\u00e5 vel som bredere omfang i representasjonen av hvordan verden faktisk fungerer. Det som da er utrolig pussig, er at n\u00e5r vi n\u00e5 for en gangs skyld f\u00e5r et spill som bruker ufattelig mye ressurser og mannskraft p\u00e5 \u00e5 oppfylle disse kriteriene gjennom Red Dead Redemption 2, s\u00e5 er det folk der ute som er direkte misforn\u00f8yd med hva Rockstar har valgt \u00e5 satse p\u00e5.\n\nLES OGS\u00c5: Slik f\u00e5r du betydelig bedre kontrolloppsett i Red Dead Redemption 2 \u00bb\n\nRockstar oppfordrer spilleren til \u00e5 leve seg inn i spillopplevelsen\n\nJeg har alltid v\u00e6rt en forkjemper for at mulighetsrommet i spillene mine skal v\u00e6re s\u00e5 stort som overhodet mulig. Jo flere velrealiserte systemer og mekanikker spillutvikleren klarer \u00e5 inkludere til deres simuleringer, jo st\u00f8rre er sjansen for at spillet faktisk klarer \u00e5 lure underbevisstheten min til \u00e5 tro at simuleringen og dets regelverk faktisk er realistisk nok til \u00e5 leve seg inn i. Mange setter likevel ikke pris p\u00e5 slike detaljerte skildringer. Klagene over at systemene i Red Dead Redemption 2 er for innviklede gjennom behovet for mat, s\u00f8vn og barbering, s\u00e5 vel som at b\u00e5de hesten og leieren er for brysomme, forvirre meg. Mange mener vist at alt fra jakting og fisking, til nedbetaling av skuddpremier og inkluderingen av skattekart, er un\u00f8dvendig og kan fremst\u00e5 som et ork: noe som - i kritikernes \u00f8yne \u2013 minner mer p\u00e5 en monoton jobb, fremfor et actionfylt spill, i et medium som hovedsakelig skal eksistere for deres personlige forst\u00e5else av ordet \u00abg\u00f8y\u00bb.\n\nVan der Linde-gjengen p\u00e5 sitt aller beste Foto: Rockstar Games\n\nRockstar rettet sitt fokus mot \u00e5 skape en 1800-talls Cowboy-simulator fra dag en. Et m\u00e5l som ofte ble uttrykt i mange av deres utsagn, fokusomr\u00e5der under sniktitter, og langs store deler av spillets markedsf\u00f8ringskampanje. Det realistiske detaljniv\u00e5et som visse grupper innen spillindustrien kritiserer, inkluderes i Red Dead Redemption 2 for \u00e5 blant annet representere perioden spillet er satt i, og har som f\u00f8lge av dette stor p\u00e5virkning p\u00e5 at folk som meg faktisk koser seg med spillet. Red Dead Redemption 2 minner slik sett om et annet periodestykke fra tidligere i \u00e5r, Kingdom Come: Deliverance - som inneholdt mange av de samme simulatorkonseptene, til tross for at jeg ogs\u00e5 kan innr\u00f8mme at mange av disse konseptene ikke n\u00f8dvendigvis er direkte \u00abg\u00f8y\u00bb \u00e5 holde p\u00e5 med, hverken i det ene eller det andre spillet. Spillverdenene i Red Dead Redemption 2 gir derimot mening, sammenlignet med mange andre spillverdener, og jeg setter stor pris p\u00e5 at skaperne av Grand Theft Auto av alle ting, har valgt \u00e5 satse p\u00e5 en spillopplevelse av denne typen.\n\nPersonlig er jeg derfor et eksempel p\u00e5 den spilleren som gleder seg over tanken p\u00e5 at Arthur Morgan kan bli undervektig om jeg ikke gir han et herrem\u00e5ltid fra tid til annen. Jeg liker at han elter de st\u00f8rste v\u00e5pnene p\u00e5 hesteryggen automatisk, ettersom jeg ikke n\u00f8dvendigvis trenger \u00e5 b\u00e6re p\u00e5 en rifle, en hagle, to revolvere, en kniv og en \u00f8ks, mens jeg rusler gjennom butikken p\u00e5 leting etter en gulrot til hesten min. Jeg vil gjerne bruke et kvarter p\u00e5 \u00e5 lete etter den perfekte elgen i villmarken, for s\u00e5 jakte den ned p\u00e5 en profesjonell og human m\u00e5te, som hverken plager dyret eller skader pelsen. Deretter kan jeg gledelig g\u00e5 gjennom det som i manges \u00f8yne er en \u00abkjedelig\u00bb rutine, av \u00e5 fl\u00e5 skrotten, b\u00e6re den til hesten, sl\u00e5 leir, steike opp litt viltkj\u00f8tt, sippe av den nykokte kaffen, og lytte til v\u00e6r og vind i m\u00e5nelyset. Her er det snakk om ideer som jeg bare kunne dr\u00f8mme om for femten \u00e5r siden, og som Red Dead Redemption 2 er veldig gener\u00f8st med \u00e5 dele ut til spillere som bryr seg om innlevelse i spill.\n\nJeg elsker \u00e5 sitte i teltet mitt, men det ser ikke spesielt st\u00f8dig ut Foto: Alexei Smirnov/Gamer.no\n\nMuligens ser jeg ikke det helhetlige poenget med kritikken, men jeg blir faktisk helt sjokkert over \u00e5 se anmeldere klage over at overlevelsesmekanikkene er for innviklede, at \u00abfast travel\u00bb-systemet oppfordrer til for mye riding, og at historiefortellingen er for langsom. At spillet ikke er \u00abg\u00f8y\u00bb nok, fordi det ikke er like tilgjengelig, raskt og urealistisk, som de fleste andre actioneventyr der ute. Vi er kommet til et punkt hvor visse spillere har utviklet en underkategori av Stockholmsyndromet, med tanke p\u00e5 at mange av sjangertropene industrien har kritisert Ubisoft for \u00e5 inkludere i deres spill i alle \u00e5r, n\u00e5 plutselig blir brukt som argumentasjon for at Red Dead Redemption 2 ikke fortjener de gode anmeldelsene.\n\nKritikkene av mangelen p\u00e5 en PC-versjon og upresise kontrollkonfigurasjoner er noe jeg har relativt stor forst\u00e5else for, men n\u00e5r det ang\u00e5r dette med realisme, detaljer og fokuset p\u00e5 innlevelse, s\u00e5 vil jeg egentlig bare ha mer. Spillet er ikke en gang s\u00e5 forferdelig realistisk at det gj\u00f8r noe. Dette handler nok heller om at det er mer fokus p\u00e5 denne tiln\u00e6rmingen til spilldesign enn hva vi er vant med. Om noe, s\u00e5 mener jeg at Rockstar burde f\u00e5 kritikk for ikke \u00e5 g\u00e5 langt nok i sin dedikasjon til alle disse spillsystemene som de brukte omlag \u00e5tte \u00e5r p\u00e5 \u00e5 konstruere. Mesteparten av tiden tvinger ikke spillet deg til \u00e5 tenke p\u00e5 noe av dette. Arthur Morgan kan v\u00e6re undervektig gjennom hele historien, uten betydelige konsekvenser. Spilleren trenger hverken \u00e5 jakte, fiske eller drive med h\u00e5ndverk, bortsett fra to oppdrag i hovedfordelingen. Og forholdet mellom Arthur Morgen og hesten hans, vokser n\u00e6rmest av seg selv, uten at man trenger \u00e5 v\u00e6re over gjennomsnittlig kj\u00e6rlig mot den langs spillets gang.\n\nMuligens det aller beste fiskesystemet jeg har sett i et spill Foto: Rockstar Games\n\nLegitime ulemper for en viss type spiller, men \u2026\n\nDet er selvf\u00f8lgelig helt forst\u00e5elig at mange ikke egentlig vet hva jeg mener med \u00e5 \u00ableve seg inn\u00bb i spill. At en st\u00f8rre kategori av spillentusiaster ikke er i stand til \u00e5 se forbi systemene, mekanikkene og designet, slik at dette fokuset p\u00e5 realisme i spill som Red Dead Redemption 2, kun blir et plagsomt hinder for de som kun er interessert i \u00e5 spille det forbaskede spillet uten \u00e5 m\u00e5tte rote seg gjennom en masse \u00abkjedelige\u00bb gj\u00f8rem\u00e5l. Der en som meg ser p\u00e5 detaljer og realisme som redskaper for innlevelsesgenerering, blir det i kritikernes \u00f8yne noe som tar de ut av spillopplevelsen. Red Dead Redemption 2 er derimot ikke problemet her, og jeg mener at alt dette egentlig ikke er legitim kritikk for \u00e5 si at spillet er d\u00e5rlig generelt, kun meget gode grunner for hvorfor vedkommende m\u00e5 finne seg et annet type spill \u00e5 bruke tiden sin p\u00e5.\n\nJeg forst\u00e5r p\u00e5 toppen av dette argumentet om at mange ofte ikke har muligheten til \u00e5 dedikere s\u00e5pass mye tid til et langsomt og metodisk spill som Red Dead Redemption 2. Men er dette virkelig spillets problem, eller er det et personlig problem? Og er det da slik at utviklerne m\u00e5 f\u00f8le seg tvunget til \u00e5 gj\u00f8re spillet mindre innlevelsesrikt, detaljert og realistisk av den grunn? Mitt st\u00f8rste problem med den n\u00e5v\u00e6rende diskursen er at det har oppst\u00e5tt en oppfatning blant spillere, om at spillmediet kun skal v\u00e6re \u00abg\u00f8y\u00bb, samt at dette med morsomheter og action-sekvenser er den eneste formen for underholdning som eksisterer. Enkelt, raskt og actionfylt er ikke alltid det mest spennende alternativet, og det b\u00e5de burde, og skal, v\u00e6re rom for tregere mer realistiske tiln\u00e6rminger til spilldesign, som kultiverer innlevelsesrike spillhistorier fremfor g\u00f8yale eventyr.\n\nDette er ikke en like langsom prosess som folk skal ha det til Foto: Alexei Smirnov/Gamer.no\n\nAndre spill slipper billigere unna\n\nJeg finner det veldig dobbeltmoralsk at et spill som The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt kan v\u00e6re s\u00e5 popul\u00e6rt blant fansen innen mange av de samme milj\u00f8ene som sl\u00e5r ned p\u00e5 Red Dead Redemption 2. B\u00e5de det ene og det andre er jo to sider av samme mynt, ettersom begge lener seg p\u00e5 mye riding p\u00e5 hesteryggen over veldig store avstander, gir spilleren mye rom til \u00e5 rollespille karakteren, inneholder en veldig langsom introduksjon, utnytter lettere upresise kontroller, og tvinger spilleren til \u00e5 g\u00e5 saktere i visse tilfeller der utvikleren mener dette er mer passende enn \u00e5 spurte. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt er - i likhet med Red Dead Redemption 2 - ogs\u00e5 veldig fokusert p\u00e5 ting som degradering og oppgradering av v\u00e5pen, kombinasjonen av planter og komponenter for h\u00e5ndverk og eliksirer, s\u00e5 vel som et begrenset \u00abfast travel\u00bb-system hvor man m\u00e5 oppfylle visse kriterier f\u00f8r man kan teleportere karakteren sin fra et sted til et annet. Begge spillene oppfordrer spilleren til \u00e5 bevege seg fra sted til sted manuelt, utforske verden og nyte de eksepsjonelle utsiktene.\n\nSamtidig er det ogs\u00e5 lett \u00e5 se at The Witcher: Wild Hunt \u2013 i motsetning til Red Dead Redemption 2 \u2013 ikke alltid n\u00e5r opp til visse standarder som jeg er overbevist over at CD Projekt Red \u00f8nsket \u00e5 oppn\u00e5, men som de verken hadde ressurser, eller tid, til \u00e5 gjennomf\u00f8re under utviklingsprosessen. Denne tittelen ser utvilsomt meget vakker ut, s\u00e5 fremt spilleren ikke interagerer med verden. Busker og gress rikker ikke p\u00e5 seg n\u00e5r Geralt beveger seg gjennom vegetasjonen. En liten h\u00e5ndfull av de \u00abtilfeldige\u00bb samtalene mellom ikke-spillbare karakterer g\u00e5r p\u00e5 rundgang hver gang man befinner seg i n\u00e6rheten. Figurene i The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt bryr seg egentlig ikke om spillerens handlinger, og har kun et f\u00e5tall reaksjoner basert p\u00e5 hva man f\u00e5r Geralt til \u00e5 gj\u00f8re i deres n\u00e6rv\u00e6r. Geralt er heller ikke heldig nok til \u00e5 ha dedikerte animasjoner basert p\u00e5 hans mange handlinger, slik som at han aldri b\u00f8yer seg ned for \u00e5 plukke opp gjenstander fra bakken.\n\nJeg p\u00e5st\u00e5r ikke at Red Dead Redemption 2 er bedre enn The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, men det synes at Rockstar har mer \u00e5 rutte med enn CD Project Red fra et \u00f8konomisk perspektiv Bilde: CD Projekt RED\n\nDette, s\u00e5 vel som de andre eksemplene, har en tendens til \u00e5 rykke meg ut av spillopplevelsen fra tid til annen n\u00e5r jeg spiller The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Likevel, for utenom en h\u00e5ndfull negative anmeldelser, ser dette spillet ut til \u00e5 v\u00e6re elsket p\u00e5 et universelt niv\u00e5, og de aller fleste \u2013 inkludert meg selv \u2013 s\u00e5 p\u00e5 det som et friskt pust i \u00e5pen verden-sjangeren da det ble lansert. Rockstars nye mesterverk er ikke et tradisjonelt rollespill som s\u00e5dan, men jeg vil fremdeles p\u00e5st\u00e5 at Red Dead Redemption 2 er p\u00e5 samme b\u00f8lgelengde som mesterverket til CD Projekt Red fra 2015. Og jeg vil samtidig bruke denne anledningen til \u00e5 peke ut at Red Dead Redemption 2 ordner opp i mange av de tingene som brukte \u00e5 bryte min innlevelse i The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Jeg trenger aldri \u00e5 late som i Red Dead Redemption 2, fordi grafikken, animasjonene og systemene tar h\u00e5nd om innlevelsen for meg. Rockstar bruker en enorm dedikasjon til detaljer og realisme for \u00e5 passe p\u00e5 at spillverdenen, karakterene, dyrene og alt mulig annet oppf\u00f8rer seg mer eller mindre slik jeg forventer at disse tingene skal oppf\u00f8re seg.\n\nLES OGS\u00c5: Anmeldelse av Red Dead Redemption 2 \u00bb\n\nOrd som \u00abg\u00f8y\u00bb og \u00abkjedelig\u00bb er relative\n\nVakre solnedganger, men dag- og nattsyklusen er generelt litt for rask til at man rekker \u00e5 nyte utsiktene ordentlig Foto: Alexei Smirnov/Gamer.no\n\nOm den negative responsen til Red Dead Redemption 2 kan brukes til \u00e5 m\u00e5le pulsen p\u00e5 den n\u00e5v\u00e6rende samtalen omkring innlevelse i spill, kan det ved f\u00f8rste \u00f8yekast se ut til at dr\u00f8mmen om realisme, et detaljert mulighetsrom og total innlevelse innen spillmediet, er u\u00f8nskede tillegg til dagens moderne spillmilj\u00f8er. Dette er som sagt noe jeg ble en smule sjokkert over \u00e5 finne ut av, ettersom jeg frem til nylig var helt overbevist om at spill som Red Dead Redemption 2 var akkurat det de fleste av oss har ventet p\u00e5 i mange ti\u00e5r.\n\nDyremishandling? Foto: Alexei Smirnov/Gamer.no\n\nJeg er ikke interessert i at responsen fra visse deler av fansen, s\u00e5 vel som negative reaksjoner rettet mot spillets mer langtrukne elementer, skal hindre utviklerne fra \u00e5 lage spill som satser p\u00e5 realisme og innlevelse i fremtiden. Ord som \u00abg\u00f8y\u00bb og \u00abkjedelig\u00bb er veldig relative uttrykk, og betydningen av hva som er underholdende varierer fra person til person. Det spiller nemlig ingen rolle at Red Dead Redemption 2 har en metodisk introduksjon, at animasjonsarbeidet er for omfattende, spillmekanikkene for realistiske, og at kun femti prosent av spillet handler om \u00e5 skyte folk i ansiktet. For n\u00e5r alt kommer til alt, pr\u00f8ver Rockstar games \u00e5 videreutvikle sjangeren, ikke bare oppfordre til g\u00f8yale morsomheter.\n\nHeldigvis er den forel\u00f8pige konsensusen blant kritikere at spillet er fabelaktig, selv om dette kan forandre seg over tid om den negative delen av samtalen eskalerer, og topper seg n\u00e5r det endelig er tid for \u00e5 komme frem til hva som er \u00ab\u00e5rets spill\u00bb. Uavhengig disse utfallene, vil jeg p\u00e5st\u00e5 at Red Dead Redemption 2 er guds gave til folk som er i stand til \u00e5 leve seg inn i spillopplevelser, fordi det skildrer spillverdener, karakterer og interaksjonsmodeller p\u00e5 et niv\u00e5 som de fleste andre actioneventyr- og rollespill har pr\u00f8vd \u00e5 oppn\u00e5 i lang tid, men som f\u00f8rst n\u00e5 begynner \u00e5 ligne p\u00e5 noe.\n\nLES KOMMENTAR: Red Dead Redemption 2 bommar p\u00e5 prologsekvensen \u00bb"}
-{"text": "Turkish authorities detained two reporters working for foreign news organizations in southeast Turkey, the latest journalists taken into custody as part of the government's sweeping crackdown following a failed coup in July.\n\nTurkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a meeting in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016. Kayhan Ozer / AP\n\nBBC Turkish correspondent Hatice Kamer was detained Saturday in the town of Sirvan while covering a recent copper mine collapse that killed at least 11 workers, the broadcaster said. Voice of America said its freelance reporter, Khajijan Farqin, was detained the same day in Diyarbakir.\n\nKamer was released on Sunday, BBC Turkish said. She told German broadcaster WDR by phone after being freed that she was told she would face charges of having supported the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, through her reporting. Kamer said there was no evidence for that.\n\nVoice of America later reported Sunday that Farqin had also been released. The details of her arrest are still unclear, the outlet said.\n\nRelated: Turkey Sacks 15,000 More Workers in Post-Coup Purge\n\nTurkish authorities have not commented on the detentions.\n\nEarlier this month, 52-year-old French journalist Olivier Bertrand was detained in nearby Gaziantep and subsequently deported.\n\nDozens of Turkish journalists have been detained and hundreds of media outlets shut down in Turkey as part of the government's post-coup clampdown on suspected dissidents."}
-{"text": "The woman is seen tearing out pages of the Koran before urinating on it (Picture: Activation User)\n\nA woman who filmed herself urinating on the Koran before burning it and then threatening all Muslims faces up to six years in prison.\n\nSheila Szmerekova, 24, was seen in the clip standing in front of the Slovak national flag with the Muslim holy book which she insults, pees on and then sets alight.\n\nShe posted the controversial video online but it has since been removed.\n\nSzmerekova, from the central Slovakian city of Ruzomberok, was arrested and taken into preventative custody.\n\n\nTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video\n\nThe woman makes the declaration in front of the Slovak flag but it believed to be in Finland (Picture: Activation User)\n\nSzmerekova is accused of creating extremist promotional materials, defamation of a nation and race and incitement of national, racial or ethnic hatred.\n\n\n\nShe covered her face with a piece of paper outside court and did not speak to media.\n\nAccording to spokeswoman of the general prosecutor\u2019s office Andrea Predajnova, the video was shared online in December 2016.\n\nA police spokeswoman described the video: \u2018In the video she shows a book with the title The Koran and she repeatedly said that it was the Koran.\u2019\n\nShe later sets fire to the Koran (Picture: Activation User)\n\n\u2018She tore out the pages and threw them on the ground. She urinated on the pages and wiped herself with some, and then she set them on fire.\u2019\n\nSzmerekova also verbally attacked Muslims in the video. She said: \u2018I will hunt you all step by step. No matter if it is a woman, a child or a man. I will bump off anybody who gets in my way.\n\n\u2018I do not care about the criminal complaints. It will not stop me. I have a message for everybody, including the police \u2013 nobody will stop me.\u2019\n\nHer social media profiles were full of extremist opinions and hatred against Muslims. The young woman was told she faces up to six years in prison.\n\nSzmerekova covered her face on her way to court (Picture: CEN)\n\nHer mother Olga told Slovak media that her daughter had been behaving badly since suffering a sexual assault as a teenager.\n\nOlga told Slovak media: \u2018Romani gypsies raped her where she was 14. It was said to me that there were 14 of them. Since then she has acted like this.\u2019\n\nSheila spent a few months in a psychiatric ward and at a youth detention centre. She is a mother of seven-year-old son Tobias, who was taken away from her because she drank too much and did not take care of the boy, according to local media."}
-{"text": "Measuring the weight of an electron\n\nPosted on Thu, 01 Jun 2017 08:18:00 MDT by Aaron Bieber\n\nI am going to \u201cMeasure the weight of an electron\u201d! By \u201cweight\u201d, I mean what it takes to make Electron work on OpenBSD.\n\nThis is a long rant. A rant intended to document lunacy, hopefully aid others in the future and make myself fell better about something I think is crazy. It may seem like I am making an enemy of electron, but keep in mind that isn\u2019t my intention! The enemy here, is complexity!\n\nMy friend Henry, a canary, is coming along for the ride!\n\nGetting the tools\n\nAt first glance Electron seems like a pretty solid app, it has decent docs, it\u2019s consolidated in a single repository, has a lot of visibility, porting it shouldn\u2019t be a big deal, right?\n\nFirst things first, clone that repo!\n\ngit clone git@github.com:electron/electron.git\n\nIf you want to follow along, we will be using the build instructions for linux doc.\n\nReading through the doc, right off the bat there are a few interesting things:\n\nAt least 25GB disk space\n\nHuh, OK, some how this ~47M repository is going to blow up to 25G? I glance at Henry, he gives me the \u201cwhat?\u201d look. We carry on.\n\nClang 3.4 or later.\n\nThis one isn\u2019t odd until we have more context. More on this one later.\n\nContinuing along with the build, I know I have two versions of clang installed on OpenBSD, one from ports and one in base. Hopefully I will be able to tell the build to use one of these versions.\n\nIndeed Electron has that ability! Their example is even using the same prefix OpenBSD\u2019s clang port!\n\nSo, we run the bootstrap:\n\n./script/bootstrap.py -v --clang_dir /usr/local Traceback (most recent call last): File \"./script/bootstrap.py\", line 10, in <module> from lib.config import BASE_URL, PLATFORM, enable_verbose_mode, \\ File \"/home/qbit/dev/electron_wut/script/lib/config.py\", line 17, in <module> }[sys.platform] KeyError: 'openbsd6'\n\nDang. Looks like we need to tell bootstrap about OpenBSD. Easy enough:\n\ndiff --git a/script/lib/config.py b/script/lib/config.py index 58f467b5b..646af08f7 100644 --- a/script/lib/config.py +++ b/script/lib/config.py @@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ PLATFORM = { 'darwin': 'darwin', 'linux2': 'linux', 'win32': 'win32', + 'openbsd6': 'openbsd', }[sys.platform] verbose_mode = False\n\nWe re-run the bootstrap, things seem to be going well.. Then the Henry squeaks: \u201cwhoa!!\u201d:\n\nSynchronizing submodule url for 'vendor/requests' git submodule update --init --recursive Cloning into '/home/qbit/dev/electron_wut/vendor/boto'... error: object c1eddff4ee3f62b6039f1083651b9118883e7f07: badTimezone: invalid author/committer line - bad time zone fatal: Error in object fatal: index-pack failed fatal: clone of 'https://github.com/boto/boto.git' into submodule path '/home/qbit/dev/electron_wut/vendor/boto' failed Failed to clone 'vendor/boto'. Retry scheduled Cloning into '/home/qbit/dev/electron_wut/vendor/breakpad'...\n\nWe just failed to clone the boto repo, but the build is still going.. does this mean it was an optional dependency and isn\u2019t needed for the build?\n\nHenry doesn\u2019t look happy, none the less, he assures me it\u2019s OK to go on. What a trooper!\n\nCloning into '/home/qbit/dev/electron_wut/vendor/requests'... error: object 5e6ecdad9f69b1ff789a17733b8edc6fd7091bd8: badTimezone: invalid author/committer line - bad time zone fatal: Error in object fatal: index-pack failed fatal: clone of 'https://github.com/kennethreitz/requests' into submodule path '/home/qbit/dev/electron_wut/vendor/requests' failed Failed to clone 'vendor/requests'. Retry scheduled Cloning into '/home/qbit/dev/electron_wut/vendor/boto'... error: object c1eddff4ee3f62b6039f1083651b9118883e7f07: badTimezone: invalid author/committer line - bad time zone fatal: Error in object fatal: index-pack failed fatal: clone of 'https://github.com/boto/boto.git' into submodule path '/home/qbit/dev/electron_wut/vendor/boto' failed Failed to clone 'vendor/boto' a second time, aborting\n\nWait. Another repository failed to clone? At least this time the build failed after trying to clone boto .. again. I am guessing it tried twice because something might have changed between now and the last clone? Off in the distance we catch a familiar tune, it almost sounds like Gnarls Barkley\u2019s song Crazy, can\u2019t tell for sure.\n\nAs it turns out, if you are using git-fsck, you are unable to clone boto and requests. Obviously the proper fix for his is to not care about the validity of the git objects!\n\nSo we die a little inside and comment out fsckobjects in our ~/.gitconfig .\n\nI look at Henry, he assures me it\u2019s safe to go on.\n\nWe re-run bootstrap\u2026 thousands of lines fly past.. \u201c npm verb... something something \u201d. I can only think npm is puking this info for it\u2019s on benefit. It definitely isn\u2019t for ours!\n\nBah, another error:\n\nsubprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['/usr/local/bin/python', '/home/qbit/dev/electron_wut/vendor/libchromiumcontent/script/download', '-s', '-f', '-c', '94c58176db175d72d88621afe8223b4175eecba5', '--target_arch', 'x64', 'https://s3.amazonaws.com/github-janky-artifacts/libchromiumcontent', '/home/qbit/dev/electron_wut/vendor/download/libchromiumcontent']' returned non-zero exit status 1\n\nLooks like it\u2019s trying to download a pre-built libchromiumcontent , we reference the doc again, finding the --build_libchromiumcontent option. Re-run!\n\nThis time we are faced with . \u2019s, I have no idea what is happening:\n\n/usr/local/bin/python /home/qbit/dev/electron_wut/vendor/libchromiumcontent/script/update -t x64 --defines make_clang_dir=/usr/local clang_use_chrome_plugins=0 .......\n\nLooking in top , we can see a python process with a WAIT of netio , maybe it\u2019s downloading something? Looking in the electron_wut directory reveals a growing file named chromium-58.0.3029.110.tar.xz . We let it finish downloading.\n\nOut of curiosity we look at vendor/libchromiumcontent/script/update , it seems its purpose is to download / extract chromium clang and node, good thing we already specified --clang_dir or it might try to build clang again!\n\n544 dots and 45 minutes later, we have an error! The chromium-58.0.3029.110.tar.xz file is mysteriously not there anymore.. Interesting.\n\nScrolling up in the terminal points us to something disheartening:\n\nExtracting... Updating Clang to 296320-1... Creating directory /home/qbit/dev/electron_wut/vendor/libchromiumcontent/src/third_party/llvm-build Traceback (most recent call last): File \"/home/qbit/dev/electron_wut/vendor/libchromiumcontent/src/tools/clang/scripts/update.py\", line 902, in <module> sys.exit(main()) File \"/home/qbit/dev/electron_wut/vendor/libchromiumcontent/src/tools/clang/scripts/update.py\", line 898, in main return UpdateClang(args) File \"/home/qbit/dev/electron_wut/vendor/libchromiumcontent/src/tools/clang/scripts/update.py\", line 420, in UpdateClangi assert sys.platform.startswith('linux') AssertionError None\n\nWut. \u201cUpdating Clang\u2026\u201d. Didn\u2019t I explicitly say not to build clang?\n\nAt this point we have to shift projects, no longer are we working on Electron.. It\u2019s libchromiumcontent that needs our attention.\n\nFixing sub-tools\n\ngit clone git@github.com:electron/libchromiumcontent.git\n\nFollowing the instructions on this repo, we run script/bootstrap .. it seems to complete without issue!\n\nOn to the next steps:\n\nscript/update -t x64\n\nAhh, our old friends the dots! This is the second time waiting 45+ minutes for a 500+ MB file to download. We are fairly confident it will fail, delete the file out from under itself and hinder the process even further, so we add an explicit exit to the update script. This way we can copy the file somewhere safe!\n\ndiff --git a/script/update b/script/update index 234e4b3..b2639bf 100755 --- a/script/update +++ b/script/update @@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ def download_source_tarball(version): sys.stderr.flush() t.write(chunk) + sys.exit() sys.stderr.write('\n\nExtracting...\n\n') sys.stderr.flush()\n\n544 dots and 43 minutes later\u2026. chromium-58.0.3029.110.tar.xz is safe!\n\nFool me once\u2026\n\nmkdir safe_space cp chromium-58.0.3029.110.tar.xz safe_space/\n\nWe remove the sys.exit() and re-run! Wut.. dots again!? Lets look deeper into this update script:\n\nif not args.no_download: version = chromium_version() if not is_source_tarball_updated(version): download_source_tarball(version) else: print \"Skipping Chromium Source Tarball Download\"\n\nOk, lets try that.. We copy the tar.xz out of its safe_space\u2026\n\nSkipping Chromium Source Tarball Download Traceback (most recent call last): File \"/home/qbit/dev/libchromiumcontent/vendor/python-patch/patch.py\", line 1136, in <module> patch.apply(options.strip, root=options.directory) or sys.exit(-1) File \"/home/qbit/dev/libchromiumcontent/vendor/python-patch/patch.py\", line 778, in apply os.chdir(root) OSError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/home/qbit/dev/libchromiumcontent/src/.'\n\nSigh. The above (or similar) was repeated about 50 times\u2026 The trend here seems to be: Ignore errors! They are stupid and meaningless anyway!\n\nSince def download_source_tarball should actually be def download_source_tarball_then_extract , we do that part for it\u2026 and pat ourselves on the back for having a safe_space !\n\nAs chromium extracts, Henry and I can\u2019t shake the feeling that everything until now was just the tip of the iceberg\n\nWe remove the call to update_clang , because.. well.. we have two copies of it already and the Electron doc said everything would be fine if we had >= clang 3.4!\n\nRe-run..\n\nalready patched third_party/WebKit/Source/core/paint/ThemePainterMac.mm already patched third_party/WebKit/Source/platform/mac/KillRingMac.mm qbit@slip[1]:libchromiumcontent[master *%=]\u03bb\n\nThat [1] in my PS1 means that the update script exited with the return code 1 \u2026 but there is no indication of why..\n\nHenry\u2019s lovely yellow plumage seems to be becoming a darker shade of yellow.. How much more of this can we take?!\n\nIf we have learned anything so far, it has to be \u201cerrors don\u2019t matter!\u201d. This one, however, warrants further investigation!\n\nWe dig deeper into script/update\n\nupdate_gn() .. pulls down a binary gn .. which, interestingly, can be generated with the code we have right below our feet\u2026 but for some reason, they have this component already built. There is no pre-built version for OpenBSD.\n\nAt this point, Henry and I are getting pretty irritated.. it\u2019s time to bring in some big guns! We are going to leverage the countless hours of work that have already been put into properly building these components! (novel, right?!)\n\nWe quickly move to /usr/ports/www/chromium , low and behold, it\u2019s the exact version that libchromiumcontent is trying to build! We review the Makefile to find this gem: 2. bootstrap gn, the tool to generate ninja files\n\nRunning make configure quickly gets us a usable gn binary, we make the appropriate directories under src/buildtools, copy gn in, modify our script/update file:\n\ndiff --git a/script/update b/script/update index 234e4b3..b5c4afc 100755 --- a/script/update +++ b/script/update @@ -52,9 +52,9 @@ def main(): return (apply_patches() or copy_chromiumcontent_files() or - update_clang() or - update_gn() or - update_node() or + #update_clang() or + #update_gn() or + #update_node() or run_gn(target_arch, args.defines)) @@ -248,6 +248,8 @@ def run_gn(target_arch, defines): gn = os.path.join(SRC_DIR, 'buildtools', 'linux64', 'gn') elif sys.platform == 'darwin': gn = os.path.join(SRC_DIR, 'buildtools', 'mac', 'gn') + elif sys.platform == 'openbsd6': + gn = os.path.join(SRC_DIR, 'buildtools', 'openbsd', 'gn') env = os.environ.copy() if sys.platform in ['win32', 'cygwin']:\n\nRe-run!\n\nERROR at //build/config/sysroot.gni:95:5: Assertion failed. assert( ^----- Missing sysroot (//build/linux/debian_wheezy_amd64-sysroot). To fix, run: build/linux/sysroot_scripts/install-sysroot.py --arch=amd64 See //build/config/sysroot.gni:96:9: exec_script(\"//build/dir_exists.py\", ^-----------------------------------\n\nWheezy?! Where is that getting set?! We stop and ponder.. how the hell did we get here? What could have possibly warranted abandoning makefiles and shell scripts in favor of this monstrosity!?\n\nJust for fun.. lets try to run the second step (after all, the first step only produced a 1 , right!?)\n\nscript/build -t x64\n\nFML:\n\nqbit@slip[1]:libchromiumcontent[master *%=]\u03bb script/build -t x64 Unsupported OS OpenBSD No prebuilt ninja binary was found for this system. Try building your own binary by doing: cd ~ git clone https://github.com/martine/ninja.git -b v1.7.2 cd ninja && ./configure.py --bootstrap Then add ~/ninja/ to your PATH. Traceback (most recent call last): File \"script/build\", line 57, in <module> sys.exit(main()) File \"script/build\", line 43, in main subprocess.check_call([NINJA, '-C', os.path.relpath(out_dir), target], env=env) File \"/usr/local/lib/python2.7/subprocess.py\", line 186, in check_call raise CalledProcessError(retcode, cmd) subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['/home/qbit/dev/libchromiumcontent/vendor/depot_tools/ninja', '-C', 'src/out-x64/static_library', 'chromiumcontent:chromiumcontent']' returned non-zero exit status 1 qbit@slip[1]:libchromiumcontent[master *%=]\u03bb which ninja /usr/local/bin/ninja qbit@slip[0]:libchromiumcontent[master *%=]\u03bb\n\nClearly we are dealing with a beast that is too smart for its own good.\n\nFixing sub-sub-tools\n\nSince depot_tools is a Google project, it\u2019s easier to edit the files in the vendor directory and pretend nothing ever happened.\n\ndiff --git a/ninja b/ninja index 282cc276..e22cbb9a 100755 --- a/ninja +++ b/ninja @@ -37,7 +37,5 @@ case \"$OS\" in Darwin) exec \"${THIS_DIR}/ninja-mac\" \"$@\";; CYGWIN*) exec cmd.exe /c $(cygpath -t windows $0).exe \"$@\";; MINGW*) cmd.exe //c $0.exe \"$@\";; - *) echo \"Unsupported OS ${OS}\" - print_help - exit 1;; + *) exec \"/usr/local/bin/ninja\" \"$@\";; esac\n\nSigh. So many assumptions, lets continue the trend!\n\ncd ../../\n\nRe-run script/build -t x64 \u2026\n\nNo luck. At this point we are faced with a complex web of python scripts that execute gn on GN files to produce ninja files\u2026 which then build the various components and somewhere in that cluster, something doesn\u2019t know about OpenBSD\u2026\n\nI look at Henry, he is looking a photo of his wife and kids. They are sitting on a telephone wire, the morning sun illuminating their beautiful faces. Henry looks back at me and says \u201cIt\u2019s not worth it.\u201d\n\nWe slam the laptop shut and go outside."}
-{"text": "There have been a large number of Bostons in danger recently, either at shelters or at risk from abusive owners. We desperately need more foster homes so we can continue to give them all a chance at a happy life in a forever home. If you can open up your heart to do this, please fill out an application here, and we will get back to you. Thanks so much!\n\nRead our Blog here for more stories about NEBTR babies."}
-{"text": "By Kevin Coughlin -\n\nBy Kevin Coughlin\n\nYou may want to plant your beach chair on the Morristown Green right now, to stake your spot.\n\nWith local favorite Robert Randolph as the headliner, this summer\u2019s Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival is a good bet to break attendance records.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m excited, really excited about it,\u201d said Randolph, the only pedal steel player to make Rolling Stone\u2019s list of the 100 greatest guitarists.\n\nHe won\u2019t have any trouble finding the Green for the Aug. 20, 2016, festival. From 2000 to 2009 he lived a block away, on Morristown\u2019s Macculloch Avenue.\n\n\u201cThose were the wildest years of my life. It\u2019s such a fun town,\u201d said Randolph, who was back last weekend for the Morris County St. Patrick\u2019s Parade.\n\nBUCKY, LOUIS AND GEORGE GEE\n\nRandolph and his Family Band will cap a free day of music that promises something for everyone.\n\nThe George Gee Orchestra should get things off to a swinging start at noon. Look for a tribute to the late Rusty Paul. The son of jazz legend Les Paul was a fine musician in his own right and performed at the first Morristown Jazz & Blues Fest.\n\nOne of Les Paul\u2019s pals, jazz guitar great Bucky Pizzarelli, 90, is on the mend from health issues and is determined to return to Morristown, where he\u2019s had a standing gig since the festival started six years ago.\n\nTrumpeter Louis Prima Jr. and his high-energy band are booked for an afternoon set. One more slot will be announced shortly.\n\nMayor Tim Dougherty, who launched the concert series in 2010, said it never gets old.\n\n\u201cRobert Randolph? What a great event!\u201d the Mayor said. He sees Randolph, a personal favorite, as a musical ambassador for Morristown, sure to draw droves of newcomers to discover the downtown.\n\nDougherty credits the festival\u2019s success, year after year, to a crackerjack staff and generous sponsors who underwrite the $80,000 production.\n\nCo-promoters Linda Smith and Don Jay Smith are back, along with music consultant Phil Fielding, town Attorney Vij Pawar, and the Mayor\u2019s secretary, Kristen Wedderburn.\n\n\u201cYou have to start in early January. It\u2019s a team effort. A lot of meetings, a lot of conference calls,\u201d Dougherty said. \u201cIt would not be possible if we didn\u2019t have people donating money to make it happen.\u201d\n\nMajor donors include real estate mogul Larry Berger, Normandy Real Estate Partners, Morristown Medical Center, JCP&L, PSE&G, town redevelopment lawyer John Inglesino and Riker Danzig.\n\n\u201cWe really enjoy this event. It\u2019s great advertising for us. And we\u2019re a stone\u2019s throw from the show,\u201d said Frank Vitolo of Riker Danzig.\n\n\u2018NICE AND ROWDY\u2019\n\nLinda Smith said Robert Randolph has been atop her concert wish-list for years, and she\u2019s delighted that his schedule had an opening this summer.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s local, he\u2019s a fabulous musician, we love his band, and he\u2019s excited about doing it. He\u2019s going to be a big draw,\u201d she said.\n\nRandolph, who is heading to Australia next week for the Byron Bay Bluesfest, aims to release a new album before his Morristown gig. Working title: Got Soul! (\u201cYou know, like \u2018Got Milk!'\u201d) He\u2019s sifting through 32 new songs, and lining up guest stars.\n\nWhile he has enjoyed performing in town at the Mayo Performing Arts Center, he thinks the venue needs to let its hair down.\n\nThere\u2019s an \u201copera-sit-down feel\u201d that\u2019s not really conducive to rock and roll, in his opinion.\n\n\u201cWe won\u2019t have any trouble with that on the Green,\u201d Randolph promised. \u201cThe people out there will be a nice and rowdy. It\u2019s going to be good fun.\u201d\n\nSCENES FROM THE 2015 MORRISTOWN JAZZ & BLUES FESTIVAL"}
-{"text": "Economists On Screen, Episode 2: Jack Ryan, CIA Economist\n\nEnlarge this image Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video\n\nThe Indicator from Planet Money Economists On Screen, Episode 2: Jack Ryan, CIA Economist Economists On Screen, Episode 2: Jack Ryan, CIA Economist Listen \u00b7 9:49 9:49\n\nThe Indicator team is at the American Economic Association annual conference in Atlanta this week. While we're having fun at the con, we thought we'd share the love and give you all a little extra screen time. We're looking at the ways in which economists are portrayed in television series and in the movies, in a series we're calling Economists on Screen.\n\nToday, we are looking at the Amazon Prime TV show, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan. Jack is a PhD economist and an economic analyst who tracks terror financing for the CIA. Now, we have no if idea economic analysts at the CIA are anything like Jack Ryan on the show ... but we know someone who does!\n\nAnne Rathbone Bradley is a PhD economist who also was an economic analyst at the CIA who tracked terror financing back in the 2000s. We asked Anne what she thinks of the show's portrayal of a CIA economist on screen.\n\nMusic by Drop Electric. Find us: Twitter/ Facebook.\n\n\n\nSubscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, PocketCasts and NPR One."}
-{"text": "En el mundo actual la prostituci\u00f3n se ha convertido en uno de los trabajos m\u00e1s solicitados por mujeres que desean conseguir dinero mediante el sexo. No es que esta pr\u00e1ctica no se llevar\u00e1 a cabo en la antig\u00fcedad, existen registros donde la prostituci\u00f3n se daba en Grecia, pero ahora se ha modernizado debido al liberalismo sexual.\n\nRead more"}
-{"text": "The media and publishing industry is now changing on a global level. Just like many other industries, it\u2019s getting used to cutting-edge IT technologies. In 2018, the monthly digital magazine reach in the US was around 42% of adult readers. The numbers keep raising, and total digital publishing revenue is expected to grow to almost $135 billion by 2022.\n\nThe best implementation of tech methodologies helps businesses keep their heads above water. Today, we\u2019ll discuss the latest trends in web design for the media and publishing websites, talk about things that change and things that remain the same, and introduce the best examples of publishing sites.\n\nA Brief Introduction to How the Media Industry Has Changed\n\nLet\u2019s quickly recall how the media and publishing industry looked just a decade ago. People couldn\u2019t help but use desktop PCs to view documents. Their Internet connections were poor, and it was impossible to visit a website from a smartphone. At the same time, printed editions of newspapers and magazines were highly popular. However, times are changing, and so is the media industry. Now, the Internet is far more accessible, and you can browse the latest news during your short walk to the office. Digital newspapers are replacing traditional ones.\n\nSome of our customers who run publishing businesses have come to us wondering what they can do to keep their positions in the market. Migration from a newsstand to the digital galaxy is the answer. It may sound a bit scary and unfamiliar at first, but after you try it you will never want to make the transition back again.\n\nThere is another group of entrepreneurs who have already migrated to the publishing websites, but who are still not satisfied with their performance. We know the reasons. Some of the requirements for entering the web development industry are meeting its standards and following the improvements. The improvements include everything from implementation of state-of-art tools to seamless website performance.\n\nSo, if you launched a Wordpress media website back in 2013, it is highly possible this website will not serve you well in 2019. This means you need to change either your vision or the tools you used to launch this website, and then outrun your competitors.\n\nFor both groups of media and publishing professionals, we have prepared a brief overview of the changes the industry experienced and the best tips for taking your website to the top of the search results.\n\nHow the business changes\n\nThe best way to find your own voice in the rapidly changing industry is to understand the essence of those changes and define your expertise.\n\nThings with which you are familiar:\n\nThe core, unchanging principle of publishing is to inform the reader;\n\nHigh-quality content is still the top priority for any organization;\n\nBackup versions still have to be stored.\n\nWhat has changed?\n\nAlthough the core principle hasn\u2019t changed, the delivery of the information has turned from traditional to digital;\n\nThe audience desires a new format of news where credibility and conciseness are valuable;\n\nSmart devices occupy the leading position in the IT market, so the information you provide should look impeccable on these devices first.\n\n6 Tips to Create a Publishing Website\n\nMedia and publishing web development is challenging. However, with a list of tips that we will provide, your business will be safe and sound.\n\nChoose a tool that simplifies editing and publishing\n\nThose are your primary tasks. Also, if you use the best tool at the very beginning of your development journey, the results will be successful.\n\nYour online media channel must produce a lot of content augmented with video and audio files to attract attention. The publishing process must be quick and seamless. The administrative interface should be intuitive with scheduling and translation features. The choice may be hard, but our experience proves that Drupal 8 is the best solution for these and similar tasks.\n\nWe have tried a lot of development tools and found the most powerful one. Drupal provides considerable advantages to content-heavy websites. The intuitive admin interface combined with advanced publishing and scheduling features creates a nice environment for seamless site management.\n\nResponsiveness is a MUST\n\nAs we mentioned above, smart devices rule this world. The number of smartphone users is expected to grow to up to 5 billion by 2019! Can you imagine this? There are 5 billion people on this planet that you can reach with a high-quality publishing website.\n\nThis is why responsive web design is one of the top things you need to emphasize when discussing how to make a media website with your development team. The modules of information should be short and optimized for every screen size. Navigation should be simple, and the menu and search bar should be accessible from any page. Take note that readers don\u2019t like zooming. Too much zooming may take them away from your website even if the content is informative.\n\nDrupal 8 offers numerous free themes and modules for responsive design. The tool follows responsive design principles and allows the user to create interfaces that look great on any device.\n\nPersonalized experience\n\nYou have to know what your readers love in order to give it to them. In the past, when a magazine contained several pages of different information, texts and articles, it was rather difficult to implement the personal approach. Now, when website cookies and the myriad of extensions can tell you everything about customer\u2019s journeys and preferences, it would be a mistake not to use them.\n\nIn a world of informational noise and never-changing ads, your potential readers want you to provide the required information only. Avoid too many words about nothing and annoying advertising, and make the experience personalized to create the publishing website of your readers\u2019 dreams.\n\nIn this context, our team opts for Drupal once again. Tools like Drupal help to collect data about the visitors\u2019 preferences and increase the relevance of the content provided.\n\nSocial networks make a difference\n\nYour content won\u2019t go viral unless you take care of spreading it on social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. There are three key rules you need to remember to extend your business with social networks:\n\nAdd the Share button to your media or publishing website\n\nThis will allow your readers to share the information they have read, express their opinions concerning the topic, and direct their followers to your article, too.\n\nRun your business page on social networks\n\nNowadays, it looks quite suspicious if we cannot find a company\u2019s profile on social media. Brand ambassadors can perform a part of your business profile tasks, but why not strengthen your position with an informative business account?\n\nCreate custom posts for social networks\n\nIf one of your authors has written a brilliant article on how to find a job in the IT sector and you know for sure you are going to share it on your LinkedIn page, don\u2019t hurry. Each social network has its own size limitation. Thus, it is highly possible the author will have to rewrite the article to make it fit the requirements.\n\nDrupal 8 provides enormous opportunities for website owners who strive to increase their website traffic with social networks. Our clients have seen a 300% increase in traffic after we upgraded their websites with the help of CMS Drupal.\n\nData security is vital\n\nIn 2018, several huge digital data breaches took place. The costs reached almost $8 million in the US. We don\u2019t want you to join the list of companies that suffered from a data breach, so we highly recommend implementing the best practices to protect the information you post.\n\nWe use the Drupal 8 platform and its modules to help our customers prevent any cybersecurity treats. New releases and versions of the protecting software help to keep the systems up to date and repel any attacks.\n\nMeasurements and Analysis\n\nMake your website better and measure how the changes impact the conversion rate and views. This is a golden rule for every website owner. It\u2019s hard to identify the top things that attract your potential readers, so you need to try different tactics before you arrive at the most profitable solution.\n\nAlways keep an eye on the unique article views. If you have worked hard on SEO, this number should increase considerably. If it is not increasing, you need to implement another strategy.\n\nBesides, to come up with the best website design for the media industry, use A/B testing. Each time you modify the website, measure how the number of visitors and readers changes. This path may be long, but it will take you to the destination point.\n\nOpen Web Analytics is one of several Drupal modules that assist with user behaviour tracking.\n\n5 Great Examples of Media Websites\n\nWe have already mentioned that Drupal 8 is a good choice for web development for the media industry. The fact that Time Inc. moved all its magazines to Drupal is one of the considerable arguments.\n\nHere are the top 5 media websites running on Drupal:\n\nCrypto topic is one of the most hyped topics in the modern market. You can find the top news concerning cryptoworld on JustCryptoNews.\n\nHubert Burda media is a well-known media group, and it has its headquarters in Germany. It has publishing houses in 26 countries worldwide, and over 34 million readers. What do you think they used to build such a powerful media website? That\u2019s right: the Burda website is built on Drupal. Furthermore, they have built a whole Drupal-based CMS to meet the publishing websites\u2019 needs.\n\nThe well-known Al Jazeera website was developed using Drupal and its best modules. The website performs well and attracts readers worldwide.\n\nThe Forces Network, a website mainly devoted to military topics, uses CMS Drupal as its basis.\n\nOpen Media Network has employed Drupal capabilities to create a great website visited by millions of people monthly. The migration to Drupal 8 enhanced reader's experience, attracted new visitors, and improved content management.\n\nIn Conclusion\n\nMedia and publishing businesses are now being revolutionized with IT technologies. However, there is no reason to be afraid. Even if you like the well-established traditional publishing businesses, a slight extension would ensure a great outcome!\n\nStarting your own media website, you widen your horizons and get a unique opportunity to attract readers from anywhere in the world. Do you want to find out more about media and publishing websites? Would you like to discover the benefits Drupal 8 development could bring to your business? Just drop us a line, and let\u2019s multiply your profits together!"}
-{"text": "Article content\n\nThe Reeve of Rocky View hopes a $300-million mega mall proposed for his county has survived the city\u2019s objections with a provincial arbitrator, arguing the project will create much-needed jobs and services.\n\n\u201cThe city\u2019s criticisms are completely unfounded,\u201d said Greg Boehlke.\n\nWe apologize, but this video has failed to load.\n\ntap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Battle over proposed mega mall on outskirts of Calgary now goes to province Back to video\n\n\u201cThis will serve residents not just in Rocky View, but Calgary too, bringing jobs in building and then in retail. And, it will give people more choices in terms of shopping and other businesses.\u201d\n\nRepresentatives from the city and county appeared before the province\u2019s Municipal Government Board (MGB) between July 30 and Aug. 3 to debate the OMNI Area Structure Plan \u2014 a massive retail and outlet centre with restaurants, boutique hotels, a children\u2019s creative zone, a senior\u2019s living community and a large office campus.\n\nAt just over 517 hectares \u2014 nearly twice the footprint of CrossIron Mills near Balzac \u2014 the plan proposed by the county and Genesis Land Development Corp. also envisions at least 1.4 million square feet of retail and industrial space east of Stoney Trail and south of Country Hills Blvd. N.E., just outside city limits."}
-{"text": "Article content\n\nINUVIK, N.W.T. \u2014 A traditional hunter in the Northwest Territories says he used to welcome the cruise ships coming into the Beaufort Sea in Canada\u2019s Arctic.\n\nBut Hans Lennie from Inuvik says that\u2019s changing.\n\nWe apologize, but this video has failed to load.\n\ntap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Concerns grow about grey water in Canada's Arctic, as report shows it could double by 2035 Back to video\n\n\u201cNot as much now. Now that we\u2019ve got all the facts,\u201d said Lennie, who also sits on the Inuvialuit Game Council, which manages wildlife and wildlife habitat in the region.\n\nSome of his concerns are highlighted in a new report about untreated grey water being dumped by ships passing through.\n\nThe study commissioned by World Wildlife Fund Canada said the amount of grey water \u2014 drainage from sinks, laundry machines, bath tubs, shower stalls or dishwashers \u2014 could double by 2035 if laws aren\u2019t improved.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s pretty alarming,\u201d said Melissa Nacke of the wildlife conservation group. \u201cThese concentration areas are overlapping with important species habitat and important cultural areas.\u201d\n\nThese concentration areas are overlapping with important species habitat and important cultural areas\n\nThe number of ships travelling in northern waters is expected to increase as climate change melts sea ice. The study suggests tourism will be the biggest source of grey water dumping by 2035."}
-{"text": "This episode I sat down and had a conversation with long time friend Carl Ingwell. This last inversion season Carl Ingwell set up a Facebook page to ask all of his buddies on a certain day instead of complaining about the air quality to talk to someone about it. The page blew up instantly to an overwhelming response and quickly transformed into a rally on Capitol steps where over 300 people showed up. After the rally he went on to create a group, \u201cGovernor, we cannot breathe\u201d. His group is asking for policy change for better air quality. In this episode we also talk about public transportation, climate change, urban design, driving our car less often, and change we can make to make Utah a better place to live.\n\nJoin the Facebook group Governor, We Cannot Breathe\n\nDuring the next six months, Governor, We Cannot Breathe; U. Student Clean Air Network; Utah Moms for Clean Air; and Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment are joining forces to collect stories from people such as you. We will then present them to our government officials during the winter inversion season. We hope to humanize the negative impacts our air quality has on individuals and families.\n\nIf you choose to submit a story, please consider attaching a picture of yourself/family. Please email your submissions to carlingwell@gmail.com.\n\nConnect more with I am Salt Lake:\n\nEmail Us hello@iamsaltlake.com\n\nConnect With Our Facebook https://www.facebook.com/IAmSaltLake/\n\nConnect With Our Twitter https://twitter.com/iamsaltlake\n\nConnect With Our Instagram https://www.instagram.com/iamsaltlake/\n\nJoin The Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/iamsaltlake/\n\nSupport our Patreon https://www.patreon.com/iamsaltlake\n\nSign up for our email list https://iamsaltlake.com/email\n\nYou can mail us stuff: PO Box 4412. Salt Lake City, Utah 84110\n\nThank you for listening to this episode of I am Salt Lake podcast. We showcase local talent, businesses, and everyday people making Salt Lake City what it is today. Please consider making a one time donation through PayPal to help with the expenses of keeping this podcast running smoothly https://www.paypal.me/iamsaltlake"}
-{"text": "Sheldon Adelson commits $20 million to pro-Newt Gingrich group\n\nWong Maye-E / AP\n\nCasino magnate Sheldon Adelson is planning to direct $20 million to an outside group backing Newt Gingrich\u2019s presidential campaign, multiple sources told POLITICO \u2014 the first answer to urgent pleas from allies to the former speaker\u2019s longtime billionaire supporters.\n\nAfter leaving Congress, Gingrich cultivated a network of a few dozen \u00fcber-wealthy backers who poured tens of millions of dollars into a network of groups that helped him maintain a foothold in politics. Now, operatives supporting his presidential campaign are asking those same donors to write fat checks to a suite of new super PACs they hope can spend big on ads to offset Gingrich campaign fundraising that had lagged behind his rivals\u2019.\n\nAdelson is considered the prized get for pro-Gingrich groups.\n\nAdelson spokesman Ron Reese denied the $20 million commitment, saying \u201cthere\u2019s no truth to any speculation that Mr. Adelson has made a commitment to either contribute or raise this amount of money.\u201d\n\nReese declined to comment on potential future political giving by Adelson on behalf of Gingrich or in general, saying Adelson doesn\u2019t talk about his political activities. Many major donors prefer to keep their activity low-profile, though federal rules require super PACs to disclose their donors in the coming weeks.\n\nSources with direct knowledge of the $20 million figure, who requested anonymity, told POLITICO that Adelson planned to cut a check to one of the PACs as soon as this week.\n\nA major contribution from Adelson would enable the recipient group to start airing ads in Iowa to counter a weeklong anti-Gingrich on-air assault that is already taking a toll on his front-runner status in the Hawkeye State, according to private and public polling.\n\nAdelson and his wife Miriam Adelson each contributed the $2,500 maximum to Gingrich\u2019s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in August. But there weren\u2019t many options for them and other wealthy donors looking to give more to help Gingrich through the summer, when his campaign was on life support.\n\nThat changed as Gingrich\u2019s campaign started surging last month, prompting his allies to create new outside groups known as super PACs that can accept unlimited funds to air ads supporting him.\n\nPerhaps the leading player in the pro-Gingrich super PAC space, Winning Our Future, was unveiled this week and is being headed by Becky Burkett, who was the lead fundraiser for Gingrich\u2019s main political vehicle over the past few years, the fundraising juggernaut American Solutions for Winning the Future.\n\nThat group raised $54 million \u2014 including $7.7 million from Adelson \u2014 between its late 2006 creation and its collapse this year after Gingrich left it to run for president, according to Internal Revenue Service filings.\n\nOn Tuesday, Burkett declined to detail her relationship with Adelson, telling POLITICO, \u201cI certainly know him through American Solutions,\u201d but added, \u201cI have not spoken to him\u201d about Winning Our Future.\n\nCharlie Smith, who runs another new pro-Gingrich super PAC called Solutions 2012, said the group\u2019s fundraiser, Jerry Seppala, \u201cdoes have a relationship with Sheldon,\u201d but stressed he \u201cwon\u2019t comment on our contacts with any specific donor or whether anyone particular person has given.\u201d\n\nAnd Craig Bachler, an official at a third super PAC called Spirit of America Solutions that is generally supportive of \u2014 but does not intend to endorse \u2014 Gingrich, also declined to discuss Adelson specifically. But he did add suggestively that his group got \u201ca major commitment out of Nevada that the individual is big into donating money to Newt and I think is sharing the wealth with not just one PAC.\u201d\n\nWhile Burkett\u2019s group is expected to emerge as the biggest pro-Gingrich super PAC, it\u2019s unclear to which super PAC Adelson made the $20 million planned commitment, or how much money he intended to give directly versus raise through his network.\n\nBut a former official at one of Gingrich\u2019s groups who is not involved in the presidential campaign or super PACs said that if Adelson \u201cdoes end up giving big, he could really make a significant impact on this election.\u201d\n\nThe focus on Adelson underscores the increasing influence of megadonors in the new campaign finance environment as well as the promise and challenges in quickly mounting a robust outside effort to support Gingrich.\n\nA competition between the pro-Gingrich groups for cash and attention could confuse donors and dilute the potential impact of each, and leave them at a disadvantage to the outside efforts boosting Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, which quickly coalesced around single, preferred super PACs.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re really in hyper speed now with these super PACs where, in a universe of unlimited contributions, you can get seed money and be up and running with ads in a few days, particularly if a candidate gets hot like Newt Gingrich is now,\u201d said Michael Toner, a former Federal Election Commission chairman. But there\u2019s also \u201cgreat potential for donor confusion, because [of] the sheer volume of these super PACs with names that are kind of similar,\u201d warned Toner, who credited allies of Romney, Perry and President Barack Obama with quickly rallying behind a single respective super PAC for each candidate.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s not easy to do\u201d because of rules barring campaigns from coordinating with super PACs, said Toner, who represented former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty\u2019s bid for the GOP nomination, which ended amid paltry fundraising and poll numbers. \u201cA super PAC is probably more valuable to someone like Newt Gingrich because he doesn\u2019t have the organizational and financial resources of some of the other top-tier candidates.\u201d\n\nYet many of Gingrich\u2019s wealthy patrons aligned themselves with his rivals for the GOP presidential nomination when his campaign struggled earlier this year.\n\nA POLITICO analysis of FEC and IRS filings found that of the 16 donors who contributed $100,000 or more to American Solutions and also gave to a 2012 GOP presidential campaign or campaigns, only six gave to Gingrich, including Adelson.\n\nTo be sure, the analysis only covers presidential campaign donations through the end of September, weeks before Gingrich\u2019s campaign began the unlikely surge that has landed him at the top of the polls.\n\nBut his main rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Romney, and the super PAC supporting him, Restore Our Future, also have been working to win support from megadonors and have secured backing from some who had given big to American Solutions for Winning the Future.\n\nFor instance, real estate magnate Harlan Crow, whose company had given $100,000 to Gingrich\u2019s group, this month threw a major fundraiser at his Dallas mansion for Romney.\n\nCrow, who had been a longtime donor to Texas Gov. Perry\u2019s gubernatorial campaigns and had given to the presidential campaigns of former Govs. Pawlenty and Jon Huntsman of Utah, told The Wall Street Journal that \u201cmany folks who supported [Perry\u2019s presidential campaign] are now reconsidering.\u201d\n\nThere also are a handful of megadonors who cut big checks to American Solutions but have limited their disclosed presidential contributions to Romney\u2019s campaign, including the recently deceased Cincinnati billionaire Carl Lindner Jr., who along with his widow Edyth Lindner had donated $690,000 to the Gingrich group.\n\nOther major Newt World donors who have either given to, or signaled support for, Romney include personal investing billionaire Charles Schwab (who gave $200,000 to American Solutions), produce wholesaler Robert Castellini ($170,000), Johnson & Johnson heir Robert Wood Johnson IV ($75,000), New York finance titan John Whitehead ($30,000), Florida mall developer Mel Sembler ($30,000) and Home Depot investor Ken Langone ($25,000).\n\nPerry, too, has made some headway with major Gingrich donors, getting contributions from the executives of Oklahoma\u2019s Devon Energy (which had given $625,000 to American Solutions) and Houston\u2019s Plains Exploration & Production Company ($200,000).\n\nOf course, it\u2019s difficult to gauge which donors will write big checks to super PACs. So far, only one major presidential super PAC has disclosed donations \u2014 the pro-Romney Restore Our Future, which raised $12.2 million in the first half of the year entirely from 90 high-dollar contributors.\n\nThe major pro-Perry super PAC, Make Us Great Again, had set a $55 million budget but initially looked like it might have to fight for big donor cash with at least five other pro-Perry super PACs.\n\nThe groups swiped at one another as Perry prepared to enter the race, but Make Us Great Again asserted its place as the dominant outside group in an August email from its founders, including a close Perry confidant named Mike Toomey.\n\n\u201cMany other groups are coming forward to draft and support the governor,\u201d wrote Toomey and his co-founders. \u201cOur advice is to avoid any other group claiming to be \u2018the\u2019 pro-Perry independent effort and, when the timing is right, to support Make Us Great Again.\u201d\n\nThere won\u2019t be any official signal like that from Newt World, predicted the former official from a Gingrich group, as well as the ex-Gingrich aide. In separate interviews, each said they expected a competition between the various groups, but gave an edge to Winning Our Future, thanks to Burkett\u2019s ties to major donors to American Solutions for Winning the Future.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think there will be a group that is \u2018crowned\u2019 to be the \u2018official\u2019 group. That will come with whichever group can prove their ability to fundraise and be successful,\u201d said the ex-aide, asserting \u201cthere is plenty of money to be raised for everyone.\u201d\n\nAbby Phillip contributed to this report."}
-{"text": "next Image 1 of 2\n\nprev Image 2 of 2\n\nLebanon is campaigning to get at least five times more women elected to parliament this spring in its first vote in nearly 10 years, the country's first women's affairs minister says.\n\nIt is a daunting task for a Middle Eastern country that may otherwise look like one of the most liberal in the region.\n\nDespite a relatively free press, diverse religious groups and women in prominent positions in the business world and the media, Lebanon ranks surprisingly low when it comes to female representation in politics, and politicians have failed to act on a movement to institute a quota for women in parliament.\n\n\"Keeping women from public life is not only a loss for women. It is a loss for the parliament,\" Minister of State for Women's Affairs Jean Oghassabian told The Associated Press. \"The main obstacles are mentality, a philosophy of life, and this needs time,\" he said.\n\nThere are only four women in the outgoing parliament elected in 2009, a flimsy 3 percent of its 128 lawmakers. It was a drop from 2005, when six women were elected. Since 2004, there have been one or at most two posts for women in government.\n\nCompared to other countries in the region, Lebanon ranks as one of the lowest in terms of female representation in parliament, with only Oman, Kuwait and Yemen having fewer. Oman and Kuwait have one and two women representatives respectively. War-torn Yemen has none and is currently without a functioning parliament.\n\nEven in ultraconservative Saudi Arabia, the monarch appointed 30 women to the consultative Shura Council, giving them nearly 20 percent of the seats.\n\n\"In politics, there seems to be some kind of invisible barrier for women to really break through,\" Christina Lassen, European Union Ambassador to Lebanon, told The Associated Press at a conference held last week to promote women's representation.\n\nThree months before the vote, the Women's Affairs Ministry in collaboration with the United Nations and the EU launched a campaign to boost women's numbers in the elections, with the slogan: \"Half the society, half the parliament.\"\n\nBillboards went up in several Beirut districts. Programs on local TV stations about women in politics are airing weekly and local groups say they are training women candidates on public speaking.\n\nOghassabian said last year's decision to appoint a man to the newly created portfolio was meant to send a message that it is also \"a man's duty\" to fight for women's rights.\n\nHolding parliamentary elections in Lebanon is a feat in itself. Scheduled for May, these are the first elections in the country since 2009. Previous votes were delayed amid instability and haggling over a new election law.\n\nSeats in the Lebanese parliament are allotted according to sects, with each community distributing them according to region and strongholds. In this complex confessional-based political system, adding a women's quota was too complicated for some to contemplate, said Nora Mourad, a gender researcher with the United Nations Development Program.\n\nLast year, the politicians refused to even discuss a female quota in the new law. Members of the powerful Shiite group, Hezbollah, walked out of the room before the discussion began.\n\n\"We are against a quota. We are against imposing conditions from the outside on our policies and roles and work,\" said Rima Fakhry, a politician from the conservative Shiite group. \"The women movement considers that women should reach decision-making positions. For them it is in parliament. We differ with those movements.\"\n\nAlthough Fakhry herself is a senior member of the political bureau of Hezbollah, she told the audience at the conference that her group doesn't see the role of a lawmaker as befitting for a woman in Lebanon. Her group won't nominate women to run for office.\n\n\"For us, the woman is a woman. She must work to realize the main goals she exists for. These are not different from those of men. But the difference is in the details,\" she said. \"She has a home. She is a mother and must bring up generations. This takes a lot of the woman's time.\"\n\nEven though the country's civil war ended 28 years ago, its politics are still dominated by former warlords and family dynasties, and elections are often settled behind closed doors.\n\nMost women in politics have their posts because they are related to influential male politicians. Of the four women currently in parliament, one is the aunt of the current prime minister, another is the wife of a party leader, and the other two are the daughters of an assassinated media figure and a former minister.\n\nStill, Oghassabian said he expects at least 20 women to make it into parliament, and dozens more to run.\n\nThe new law introduced a complicated proportional representation system that would preserve the sectarian nature of the parliament. But some argue it will offer women and independents a better chance.\n\nLocal groups, along with the U.N. and EU, are encouraging political parties to have a voluntary quota for women on their lists. Women's groups are contemplating all-women lists as well as a campaign of \"no-woman, no-vote\" to pressure political parties to include women on their lists.\n\nIn Wednesday's conference, representatives from the political parties said internal deliberations are ongoing. One senior member of the Future party said he will recommend 20 percent women's representation. Another, from the Progressive Socialist Party, said it has commissioned a review of internal literature to ensure women's issues and requests are reflected.\n\nVictoria El-Khoury Zwein, a potential candidate with a new party called Seven, said she's skeptical that veteran parties would give women a winning chance. But she said with proportional representation, she's optimistic she needs fewer votes to make it.\n\n\"There must be 15 percent of the population who want a new political class,\" she said. \"It is not an easy battle. But we can (do it).\""}
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-{"text": "[ad_1]\n\n\n\nChip Somodevilla / Getty Images\n\nMore than 120 top Democratic donors will spend next week's inauguration near Miami at the Turnberry Isle resort for three days of closed-door meetings and strategy sessions with elected officials, progressive leaders, and key strategists \u2014 all organized by David Brock.\n\nParticipants next week include familiar faces: attorneys general, state and federal officials, representatives from the four major labor unions, Stephanie Schriock of Emily\u2019s List, Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood, and Ilyse Hogue of NARAL Pro-Choice, as well the five candidates running for chair of the Democratic National Committee, who will participate in a forum on Saturday and mark the close of the conference.\n\nBrock, a prominent strategist with a web of liberal groups, organized what he\u2019s calling \u201cDemocracy Matters 17.\u201d He plans to hold a regular retreat as often as twice each year and, he said in an interview, eventually build it into a donor network dedicated to political causes and capable of funding groups beyond his own.\n\n\u201cWe really aspire to be like the Kochs,\u201d Brock said.\n\nBrock, the Clinton hitman-turned-defender, now without a Clinton cause to defend for the first time in years, said an expanded Democracy Matters would distinguish itself with a square political focus and by keeping control with the strategists not donors.\n\nThe Democracy Alliance, the leading donor network on the left, has a different focus and structure. But Brock did not dispute the idea that a new liberal donor network could pose a challenge, though he noted that the DA hasn\u2019t been focused on political fights, leaving a void.\n\n\u201cThe DA has veered away from politics,\u201d he said. \u201cThis conference is openly political.\u201d\n\nGara LaMarche, the president of the Democracy Alliance, said he is planning to attend part of the Democracy Matters conference next week. The network funds a variety of progressive policy and advocacy groups, including Brock\u2019s own press watchdog organization Media Matters.\n\nThe DA, he added, has seen about 50 new members in the past few years. And given \u201cdeep concern about Trump,\u201d LaMarche said, the DA has organized a summit on regaining power in 2018 and 2020 state races as part of the organization\u2019s spring meeting in Washington.\n\nThe donor conference programming will focus almost entirely the party's political position: Clinton pollster John Anzalone on \u201cTactics To Win\u201d; Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and veteran strategist Ron Klain on Donald Trump\u2019s first 100 days; former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder, by videoconference, on redistricting; and three sitting attorneys general on strategic role of Democratic states in the first term.\n\nNext week\u2019s retreat, according to Brock, has drawn interest from new donors. Of the 120 who are confirmed to attend, about one third, he said, have never given to one of his organizations, including a \u201cnew contingent\u201d from the Silicon Valley community.\n\nBrock\u2019s move toward a donor network makes one in a list of other prominent Democratic groups that unveiled plans to transform, expand, or retool, with many competing for the same donors and indistinct roles that make up the loosely termed \u201cResistance.\u201d\n\nBoth American Bridge, Brock\u2019s group, and the Center For American Progress, run by Clinton ally Neera Tanden, have been presented as a central clearing house for research. (Neither Tanden nor Guy Cecil, who runs another central group, Priorities USA, will be attending the Brock conference.)\n\nBrock is already planning the second Democracy Matters 17 conference for the fall, followed next year by \u201cDemocracy Matters 18\u201d retreats. It is not clear when he hopes to be able to start raising for other groups, or how that network would be structured or its groups selected.\n\nBrock hosted his first donor retreat in 2013, where Bill Clinton keynoted, but his groups were the only ones represented. Next week\u2019s Democracy Matters conference will be his featuring other organizations, but the event is still aimed at promoting and raising a undisclosed multimillion-dollar amount for four of his organizations: American Bridge, Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington, ShareBlue, and Media Matters.\n\nBrock said that any group at the conference will benefit alone from access to 120 donors. The group will also include 10 of Clinton\u2019s top fundraisers, he said, each of whom raised more than $1 million for the campaign. Brock declined to provide any donors\u2019 names.\n\nIn their closed-door meetings, donors will receive two debriefs on the 2016 loss, one from AFL political director Michael Podhorzer, and the other from Cowan of Third Way. Other sessions include Roberta Kaplan, a top litigator in the Supreme Court marriage cases, on \u201cHolding Donald Trump Accountable To The Court,\u201d as well as \u201cDemocratic Messaging That Can Work\u201d from Schriock of Emily\u2019s List, John Neffinger of the DNC, and former congressman Harold Ford Jr.\n\nThe conference's more eclectic offerings include an speech from liberal newscaster Keith Olbermann to open the retreat; cameos by two Republicans, Bill Weld and Richard Painter; and a session on \u201cFake News: What It Is and What To Do About It\u201d led by Brock\u2019s ex-boyfriend of 10 years, James Alefantis, who owns D.C. pizza shop Comet Ping Pong and became ensnared for weeks in an offensive viral conspiracy theory involving his restaurant and Hillary Clinton known as #pizzagate.\n\nThe conference sessions, running Thursday to Saturday, will take place almost entirely behind closed doors.\n\nBrock said he is planning to credential press for his opening remarks, as well as an interview with Sen. Jeff Merkley and the forum with the five DNC chair candidates.\n\n[ad_2]"}
-{"text": "The Blue Jays agreed to sign right-handed reliever Francisco Cordero to a one-year, $4.5MM contract, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets. The Proformance client will set up for closer Sergio Santos, Rosenthal writes.\n\nCordero, 36, posted a 2.45 ERA with 5.4 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 50% ground ball rate in 69 2/3 innings for Cincinnati this past season. Cordero reached the 30-save plateau for the fifth consecutive season, saving 37 games. His average fastball velocity checked in at 93 mph, but peripheral stats such as xFIP (4.14) and SIERA (3.91) suggest his 2.45 ERA may be artificially low. The Angels, Phillies, Orioles and Rangers all showed interest in Cordero leading up to today's agreement, MLBTR has learned.\n\nThe Blue Jays' bullpen will look considerably different in 2012, with newcomers Cordero, Jason Frasor, Sergio Santos and Darren Oliver joining holdovers Carlos Villanueva, Luis Perez, Jesse Litsch and Casey Janssen. Toronto's relievers placed 24th in MLB with 7.5 K/9 and 21st in MLB with a 3.88 ERA in 2011. The bullpen appears considerably stronger heading into the 2012 season, but the Blue Jays' rotation doesn't boast the same depth as other American League clubs such as the Yankees, Tigers, Rays, Angels and Rangers.\n\nThough the Blue Jays won't have to surrender a draft pick to sign Cordero, the Reds will obtain a supplementary first round pick because of the modified procedure for Type A free agents under baseball's new collective bargaining agreement.\n\nIt's been a busy week for the Blue Jays, who signed Omar Vizquel last night and extended Brandon Morrow this morning. The Cordero agreement seems to remove them from the Koji Uehara trade talk."}
-{"text": "Liu Heung Shing looked outside the car window: an imposing portrait of Mao Zedong had disappeared from the east side of Tiananmen Square. It was 1981.\n\nMao loomed large that year as people gathered to watch the depositions of his political cronies, known as the Gang of Four, on state television. Earlier that autumn, before Mao\u2019s portrait was removed from a history museum in Tiananmen Square, Mr. Liu photographed a skater gliding past a statue of Mao. The frozen faces of Communist leaders got a breath of fresh air in Mr. Liu\u2019s photography: A Beijing resident in 2008 lined the facade of her house with the portraits of lionized figures, in plucky defiance of demolitions planned before the Summer Olympics.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s very lucky that I could use the camera to do a kind of political reporting that wouldn\u2019t otherwise be possible,\u201d Mr. Liu said. \u201cThat daily nitty-gritty about how Chinese live is primarily what interests me because I knew they would tell a bigger story.\u201d"}
-{"text": "There is a growing mountain of evidence suggesting that Baylor University does not give a fuck about investigating rapes, especially but not limited to those committed by football players. First, it was Sam Ukwuachu and the university\u2019s lackadaisical at best Title IX investigation into allegations the football player raped a freshman. Baylor found him innocent and was ready to send him back onto the field until a criminal court found him guilty. Next, ESPN\u2019s Paula Lavigne reported for Outside the Lines how, when five women tried to report rapes by a football player, Baylor \u201ceither failed to investigate, or adequately investigate, allegations of sexual violence.\u201d That football player, Tevin Elliott, also was found guilty in court.\n\n\n\nPerhaps the most damning evidence is the personal account of a recent Baylor graduate who says she was raped by a fellow member of the university\u2019s mock trial team and went through hell after reporting it. At various points in Stefanie Mundhenk\u2019s account, different groups in charge of her welfare\u2014the police, human resources, and Title IX\u2014either don\u2019t seem motivated to investigate or, when they do, come off as uninterested in diligently out the truth as opposed to what\u2019s convenient for Baylor. In the HR case, she said the investigator interviewed all of the accused rapist\u2019s witnesses and none of hers. In her Title IX case, she says, the judge\u2019s final decision \u201cdirectly misquoted my original statement.\u201d\n\n\n\nAnd then there\u2019s this.\n\n\u201cI found out later that my rapist had actually been kicked off of the mock trial team his freshman year because 3 female students had reported him to Student Activities to harassment. When we got a new coach sophomore year, he was allowed back on the team because this information was not communicated to the new coach.\u201d\n\n\nMundhenk\u2019s essay is a difficult read, as it should be (and you should read it), because she describes the kind of events that deter some victims from reporting their assaults. It\u2019s the moral math rape victims do every day, the pain of living with what happened versus the pain of going through the reporting process, reopening the old wounds, opening yourself to the expected rebuttal that you wanted it, and knowing it\u2019s unlikely anything will ever happen to your attacker. Every option sucks.\n\nBy Tuesday morning, a petition demanding Baylor \u201cpromptly take action to improve its responses to sexual assault\u201d had gathered more than 1,500 names. More than 200 students held a vigil Monday night outside the home of university president and chancellor Kenneth Starr (yes, that Kenneth Starr). The school\u2019s response, like every response before it, has been to issue a press release. This time one came just two hours before the Super Bowl, when it was certain to be overlooked.\n\n\nThey say they\u2019re conducting investigations, on top of those they\u2019ve already done, but none of the results have ever been released to the public. When hundreds held a vigil in front of his house, Starr issued a statement saying, \u201cWe hear your voices loud and clear,\u201d as if listening alone was what they were asking for. After so many women have come forward with accounts of how Baylor failed them, Baylor\u2019s response, in all its audacity, is trust us.\n\nThe fact is this blog could be so much longer because the allegations against Baylor contain multitudes of failure. They didn\u2019t hire a Title IX coordinator until more than three years after the federal government said they had to. They continue to cite FERPA as a reason for not disclosing anything, even though two women signed FERPA release forms so Baylor could discuss their cases with ESPN. There is no shortage of horrific details, and more were added at last night\u2019s vigil.\n\n\n\nA Baylor senior who gave her name as Pam announced at the prayer service that she on Monday finally reported to the Title IX office a sexual assault she suffered in May 2014 at the hands of a coworker at a Baylor dorm. \u201cWhy didn\u2019t I report it until now? I was afraid,\u201d she said. \u201cWith the past treatment of assault victims, I thought I had reason to be afraid. ... I was scared no one would believe me.\u201d\n\n\nWhile all of this is new to you and me, much of it is not new to Baylor. Baylor has all the investigatory files. They have all the reports, the statements, the emails. The problem, from their perspective, is that the public found out. And they might have to settle some more lawsuits. They already settled one, with the former student raped by Ukwuachu.\n\nOver and over again, I find myself going back to Baylor\u2019s motto \u201cFor Church, For Texas.\u201d Oh, they all have these, I know. My own alma mater boasts \u201cthe welfare of the state depends upon the morals of its citizens,\u201d as if anyone ever worried about Aaron Hernandez\u2019s morals while he was catching passes. Yet Baylor\u2019s has a beautiful succinctness to it, encapsulating so much of what colleges sell to students and parents\u2014a sense of faith, a sense of responsibility, a sense of doing more than just cashing checks and handing out degrees.\n\n\nNow there\u2019s no ignoring how many facts portray a Baylor that did everything the wrong way, regardless of your church of choice, while cashing those checks. Yes, there are real concerns about how Title IX is working, but that\u2019s no excuse for ignoring the law. But Baylor seems intent on ignoring its student victims for as long as it can get away with.\n\nImage via Associated Press\n\n"}
-{"text": "Count no man happy till he dies, the great Greek playwright Sophocles warned us in 429 BC \u2014 a perspective renewed often in the deliberately bleak, slow and dark movement-theater spectacle \u201cThe Great Tamer,\u201d created by Sophocles\u2019 countryman Dimitris Papaioannou.\n\nIn its American premiere Friday at UCLA\u2019s Royce Hall, the unbroken, plotless, two-hour performance offered plenty of metaphors for our precarious existence: a man trying to balance atop an inflatable world globe, for instance, and, a few moments later, a funeral procession for that globe.\n\nYorgos Tsiantoulas with the globe, and Ioannis Michos in \u201cThe Great Tamer\u201d at UCLA\u2019s Royce Hall. (Julian Mommert and CAP UCLA at Royce Hall)\n\nWhat\u2019s more, after hours of watching the members of Papaioannou\u2019s 10-person company emerging from or disappearing into the dull-gray floor-panels of Tina Tzoka\u2019s set, the last revelation proved to be the grimmest: a disintegrating skeleton. However, against that reminder of our inevitable mortality, Papaioannou set a celebration of breath: the essential living moment in all its wonder.\n\n\nBest known for staging the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Papaioannou also was the first artist invited to create a full-evening work for the groundbreaking Pina Bausch company after her death in 2009. He shares with Bausch a taste for maddening repetitions of mundane actions, depictions of exploiting the helpless and sudden eruptions of gallows humor, as in a gymnastic illusion that gives a naked woman the legs of a man.\n\nREVIEW: Hubbard Street Dance at the Wallis \u00bb\n\nHe builds \u201cThe Great Tamer\u201d on coverings and uncoverings: nudity revealed and then concealed; an astronaut stripping out of space regalia; the floor panels opening to give the company earth to dig in, water to bathe in, a cave to hide in and quicksand to sink in. (Given the abundant nudity, we\u2019re limited in what we can show here, but stunning YouTube and Vimeo videos abound.) At one point, the cast uses the panels to create a great white wall, the ultimate covering of the landscape. But it doesn\u2019t last long. Draw your own conclusions.\n\nCostas Chrysafidis, left, and Dimitris Kitsos in front of the wall. (Julian Mommert and CAP UCLA at Royce Hall)\n\n\nThere\u2019s also a journey involving a slender nude man \u2014 initially, Christos Strinopoulos and later Alex Vangelis, who has a remarkable semaphoric solo, the closest approximation of conventional dancing in the production. Brief passages involved stilts, aerial maneuvers and more gymnastics, but they weren\u2019t sustained long enough to function as showpiece distractions.\n\nREVIEW: Philip Glass, David Bowie and the stunning new \u201cLodger\u201d \u00bb\n\nPapaioannou\u2019s focus remains unyielding, but \u201cThe Great Tamer\u201d has enough scope to introduce remnants of classic European art \u2014 Johann Strauss\u2019 beautiful \u201cBlue Danube\u201d waltz on the soundtrack, a passage depicting Rembrandt doctors in mid-dissection, plus references to Greek mythology.\n\nHowever, this is not one of those contemporary European pieces that mourns the loss of the continent\u2019s cultural primacy. No, Strauss sounds fatally warped here, the Rembrandt doctors become elegant cannibals, and skewed Greek mythology helps Papaioannou envision a graveyard of art desperate for renewal.\n\n\nKalliopi Simou in \u201cThe Great Tamer.\u201d (Julian Mommert and CAP UCLA at Royce Hall)\n\n\u201cHAMILTON\u201d PUERTO RICO: The opening night scene with Lin-Manuel & Co. \u00bb\n\nAnd renewal comes, suddenly, in a brilliant coup de th\u00e9\u00e2tre when huge fusillades of golden darts pierce the floor panels and instantly generate a new fertile terrain: a farmland, rich in grain. It\u2019s another wondrous, essential moment in this abstract expressionist life cycle that makes the future possible.\n\nCo-presented by the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA and Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center, \u201cThe Great Tamer\u201d emptied a lot of audience expectations about dance and theater to depict the pointless processes and shallow pleasures in our lives, along with our destruction of the environment and our unwillingness to face the consequences of our choices. In its deep negativity, \u201cThe Great Tamer\u201d is a call for reformation and perhaps also a reminder that those huge fusillades of golden darts may not always rescue us from ourselves.\n\n\nSee all of our latest arts news and reviews at latimes.com/arts."}
-{"text": "Adam Redding, Mike Lopez and David Tate sit down with Dillon Sommerville of Telltale games to talk Persona 5, Nintendo Switch and Telltale\u2019s Guardians of the Galaxy in SBFVGS, Episode 67!\n\nListen: iTunes / Google Play/ Stitcher / Podbean\n\nCheck out the latest SBFVGS Let\u2019s Plays & live streams on YouTube\n\nSupport the show by signing up for a free audio book & 30 day trial: http://www.audibletrial.com/sbfvgs"}
-{"text": "people have come here searching for the cause of and solution to all of life's problems."}
-{"text": "Media are best understood as a competition for attention on internet-connected screens. Phones, tablets, laptops, monitors, TVs\u2014it's all just glass.\n\nThe stereotype goes that when directors are figuring out how to frame a shot, they extend their arms, create a rectangle using their thumbs and index fingers, and peer through that box. And because movies and TV shows have traditionally been viewed on one kind of box or another, the process provides a rough gauge of what the scene will look like.\n\nBut when shooting 360\u00b0 video, what does framing even mean? How does a director draw the viewer\u2019s attention to a specific point when there\u2019s so much to look at, with continuous imagery at every direction?\n\nFilmmakers dipping a toe into this kind of video are learning that virtual reality is a completely new beast, one that forces them to rethink the traditional storytelling techniques they\u2019ve come to rely on.\n\nIn the process, they are discovering new things about the power of audio.\n\nGeorge Lucas is widely credited with having said that sound is 50% of the moviegoing experience. While audio indeed has played an important role in cinema since the 1920s, with the rise of talkies, it\u2019s proving an especially vital tool in virtual reality. With composition and framing essentially boiling down to making sure the horizon is straight and keeping objects and people that don\u2019t belong in a shot out of it, subtle sound cues like footsteps from behind or a knock at the door can help guide viewers to particular points in a scene.\n\nThe unexpected VR company\n\nFor someone who\u2019s never tried virtual reality before, donning a pair of goggles for the first time can be an exercise in sensory overload. People are often so stunned by the visuals that they hardly notice the audio\u2014but in fact it\u2019s playing a crucial role.\n\n\u201cIf you put earplugs in and try to go about your day-to-day life, you could say half the experience is gone,\u201d says Joel Susal, Dolby\u2019s director of virtual and augmented reality.\n\nAudio has always been Dolby\u2019s bread and butter. The division Susal runs only came about in March\u2014largely because Jaunt, a VR studio whose backers include Disney, was searching for audio technology to create immersive \u201c3D\u201d sound. One of Jaunt\u2019s board members, Peter Gotcher, happened to be the chairman of Dolby, and helped make the connection.\n\nDolby turned out to be a good fit because it already had a technology that could be adapted for virtual reality: Dolby Atmos. If you\u2019ve ever been presented with the option to pay an extra dollar for \u201cenhanced audio\u201d at a movie theater, chances are it was for a film that was mixed in Atmos.\n\nAtmos builds on the idea of surround sound, which literally surrounds viewers with speakers placed around them: in the center (behind the screen), left-front, right-front, left-side, right-side, left-back, and right-back.\n\nAtmos goes a step further by placing an array of speakers on the ceiling. This setup allows filmmakers to position and move so-called \u201caudio objects\u201d anywhere in a three-dimensional space. So if you see a scene with a helicopter flying overhead, for example, you\u2019d be able to hear very precise movement as the sound travels from speaker A to B to C to D.\n\nThis 3D audio technology provided a solid foundation for an extension into VR audio, but as Susal notes, it was \u201ccertainly not a layup.\u201d\n\nFrom Atmos to VR\n\nFor starters, Atmos was designed for theaters, including home setups. Virtual reality, however, is a solitary experience, experienced with a pair of goggles and a set of headphones.\n\nTo translate Atmos to headphones, Dolby updated its algorithm to render audio in such a way that tricks the brain into believing sound is coming from multiple sources when there are only two speakers embedded in the headphone cups.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not really about the number of speakers,\u201d explains Brett Crockett, Dolby\u2019s vice president of research and development. \u201cIt\u2019s about recreating spatial resolution.\u201d To achieve this, Atmos directs the audio at specific angles so the sound waves bounce off parts of the ears before reaching the ear canal. (Dolby has also partnered with speaker manufacturers to create Atmos-enabled computer speakers and TV sound bars. In those products, the sound waves bounce off the ceiling to create 3D audio.)\n\nVirtual reality also needs to take into account the fact that people\u2019s left and right ears perceive sound differently, including time delay and volume. To create a general audio profile that\u2019ll translate to a wide audience, many VR filmmakers are creating binaural recordings, a century-old recording technique that\u2019s been revived largely because of virtual reality.\n\nTo get a binaural recording, microphones are placed in ear-shaped cavities on the sides of a dummy or a stand. This was how the LA Philharmonic recorded the audio for its VR performance of Beethoven\u2019s Fifth, which viewers could experience in a special truck that was outfitted with carpet and seats from the Walt Disney Concert Hall\u2014along with headphones. (The truck, dubbed the VAN Beethoven, was part of the orchestra\u2019s outreach efforts to provide a vivid concert hall experience for Angelenos who might otherwise never attend a live orchestra performance.)\n\nBecause VR viewers are constantly moving their heads to see different parts of a scene, audio needs to remain consistent, so that a knock from the door doesn\u2019t appear to come from the wall just because a viewer changed positions.\n\n\u201cIt turns out to be quite difficult to do sound correctly,\u201d says Arthur van Hoff, Jaunt\u2019s cofounder and chief technical officer.\n\nA sense of presence\n\nFilmmakers also have to reconcile moving audio objects and stationary sound\u2014an orchestral soundtrack, for example, that doesn\u2019t come from any particular direction.\n\n\u201cThis is a VR-specific feature that never existed before,\u201d explains Susal. Adam Somers, a senior sound engineer at Jaunt, says the VR studio had the capability to mix both fixed and moving audio, but \u201cI think our collaboration with Dolby helped us understand all the nuances of 3D audio.\u201d\n\nBecause of the immersive nature of virtual reality, any inconsistencies\u2014including audio\u2014can become glaringly obvious. But done right, virtual reality can create a sense of presence, which in essence fools the viewer\u2019s eyes and brain into believing what\u2019s virtually around them is in fact real.\n\nTo Jaunt\u2019s van Hoff, Black Mass, a short film the studio released in 2014 around Halloween, is one of the best examples of how audio can transport viewers to another place. The horror flick opens in an abandoned warehouse, where the viewer soon realizes that she\u2019s been drugged and held captive. \u201dI think you\u2019re bleeding,\u201d a small girl says. In between flashes of darkness, the scenery reveals chain saws, dismembered babies, skulls, dead animals, a hysterical woman dragged by who knows what under a garage door. One CNET writer said the experience \u201dscared the bejeesus out of me.\u201d\n\nBlack Mass was recorded with a type of surround sound called ambisonic audio. \u201cIt was scary, but it wasn\u2019t as scary as we were hoping it\u2019d be,\u201d says van Hoff. But after mixing with Atmos in post-production, the short film \u201cfelt a lot scarier because you felt people creeping around you. You hear them in the right direction, and it really enhances the experience.\u201d\n\nFine-tuning Atmos for VR is still an ongoing process. But Jaunt and Dolby have made substantial progress to overcome a number of hurdles."}
-{"text": "In its latest report Freedom of the Press 2015, Freedom House speaks openly of Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, and gives Crimea under Russian occupation a damning assessment on all rights, including freedom of expression.\n\nUkraine has been upgraded to Partly Free, after falling badly under the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych. The report specifically relates the improvement to \u201cdecreases in political pressure on state media and hostility toward independent voices\u201d. Russia on the other hand \u201ctightened its grip on the media, suppressing independent reporting and deploying state-controlled outlets to attack domestic dissent and perceived foreign adversaries.\u201d\n\nCrimea under Russian occupation for just over a year is assessed separately \u2013 and damningly as one of the ten \u201cworst of the worst\u201d. It is rated at 94 on a scale to 100 (where 100 is the worst), against Russia at 83, and Syria and Iran at 90. Ukraine this year is at 58.\n\nThe report focuses on other rights abuses in Crimea as well, pointing out, for example, that in the September 14 \u2018elections\u2019, no pro-Ukraine parties were allowed to participate. As reported at the time, the Mejlis or Crimean Tatar representative assembly called on Crimean Tatars and others concerned about grave rights violations to boycott the elections. The major offensive on the Mejlis and Crimean Tatars generally followed swiftly. See Armed Offensive against Crimean Tatar Mejlis and more detail about the current criminal prosecution clearly targeting Crimean Tatars here.\n\n\u201cThe Russian occupation authorities use intimidation and harassment to eliminate any public opposition to the annexation of Crimea and to the current government. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the local police, and \u201cself-defense\u201d units made up of pro-Russian residents enforce this political order. Approximately 20, 000 people who opposed Russian rule fled the territory by the end of the year. Ukrainian political parties are not able to operate, and the Crimean Tatars\u2014the only group that has continued to openly oppose the Russian occupation\u2014has faced considerable political persecution\u201d.\n\nThe report notes that free speech is \u201cseverely limited in Crimea. In addition to other restrictive Russian laws, a December 2013 amendment to the Russian criminal code that took effect in May 2014 banned public calls for action aimed at violating Russia\u2019s territorial integrity, meaning statements against the annexation, including in the media, could be punished with up to five years in prison.\u201d\n\nThe first such prosecution has resulted in journalists being searched and interrogated. See, for example, Crimean journalist interrogated in ominous \u2018call to separatism\u2019 prosecution\n\n\u201cUnder Ukrainian rule, Crimea hosted a flawed but relatively pluralistic media environment. The occupation authorities have essentially cut the territory off from access to Ukrainian television, with armed men seizing the transmission centers and imposing Russian broadcasters. Only a few Ukrainian entertainment channels are left on some cable systems. Independent and pro-Ukrainian media no longer function in Crimea. A television station affiliated with the anti-Yanukovych Ukrainian political opposition, TV Chornomorska, was taken off the air in March, and bailiffs sealed its premises on August 1 under court order.\n\nThe report can be read in full here.\n\nSince it appears to have gone to print before the latest silencing of all but one Crimean Tatar media, details can be found here Crimean Tatar TV silenced, searches and arrests continue\n\nThe image above is from a protest held back in March 2014. It tells Crimeans that under Vladimir Putin, they won\u2019t speak Russian, they will be SILENT in Russian.\n\nFreedom House\u2019s report is bitter confirmation."}
-{"text": "Benjamin Sisko was the best captain in Starfleet history before he was even a Captain, because Captaincy Rule 1 is \u201cNot waiting for the PADD-pushers in Command to approve something you know needs doing.\u201d The most epically understated proof is how he utterly defeated Q. And to explain why we need to see how the other captains lost.\n\n\n\nPicard lost. Picard lost hard and always. Picard\u2019s entire existence was bracketed by Q from a first Encounter at Farpoint to the end of Time\u2019s Arrow. He never escaped. He was only ever a player in Q\u2019s games, or rather a game that Q played. We\u2019ve already established the Q Continuum could watch whatever and whenever they went, and when Q got bored he\u2019d come prod Picard until he got moralistic. But human notions are so far below the level of Q that Picard\u2019s powerful speeches must have come across as cute cat videos, each getting infinitillion-plus-i views on QTube. Picard never stopped reacting so Q never stopped bullying him.\n\nJaneway, for all her strengths, was even worse. Multiple Q chased (one of) the only Starfleet vessels in the entire Delta quadrant. Which only made it more tragic that they never fully punched through the desperately weakened fourth wall with a QPool episode allowing him to talk to the camera. Here he didn\u2019t just dominate the vessel whenever he wanted, his appearances disrupted his own Q continuum as well, before coming back a third time with a teenage boy character. Because those always work so well on Star Trek. Once again a Starfleet captain is so much at his call and beck that she has to consider it serious tactical win when she convinces him not to have a child with her. (Which is ugh in more ways than I have time to list here, but that\u2019s the fault of the writers instead of the characters. As if a Q couldn\u2019t create a kid with someone just because they had a few inches of French trouser-sausage.)\n\nBut Sisko? Sisko had enough of that asshole before he ever arrived. Q appeared on DS9 once, uno, wa\u2019, tud, a haon, (1), and never omnipotented their airlocks again entirely thanks to Sisko\u2019s genius. Which is beautifully understated. On the surface it looks like Q was all about the Vash, and Sisko a sighingly annoyed subplot. But Q still went straight for the commander, just as he always does. The key comes in one line early on:\n\nKIRA: What\u2019s Q?\n\nSISKO: A powerful and extremely unpredictable entity. I was at a Starfleet briefing on him two years ago.\n\nStarfleet knows about the Q. Starfleet holds briefings about him as a threat to the Federation, like the Borg or Doomsday Weapons, and anyone even half-competently on the command track has to have spent a few nights wondering what they\u2019d do should Q come into view. Sisko has passionately kicked the ass of everything from every planet, quadrant, or trans-dimensional energy plane that has ever crossed him. So why does he only sigh like a schoolteacher at Q\u2019s antics?\n\nBecause that\u2019s how to kick Q-ass.\n\nSisko has thought about this. Sisko has read past reports. Sisko has learned from Picard\u2019s mistakes (because Picard-as-enemy was a HUGE part of early Sisko\u2019s personality before the end of Emissary), and he absolutely refuses to indulge Q at any emotional level more extreme than \u201cannoyed at a malfunctioning replicator\u201d to make sure he stays \u201cboring\u201d in the bully\u2019s mind. He asks for help, he ignores Q after not getting it, even when he thumps Q \u2013 one of the most satisfying Star Trek moments in existence, by the way \u2013 it\u2019s only because that\u2019s the most predictable and least interesting response to Q.\n\nQ: You hit me! Picard never hit me.\n\nSISKO: I\u2019m not Picard.\n\nQ: Indeed not. You\u2019re much easier to provoke. How fortunate for me.\n\nYou can see Q decide Sisko\u2019s not worth the bother. He only talks directly to Sisko once more, ever, and it\u2019s to tell him exactly where the problem is. He\u2019s given up. He\u2019s bored. He\u2019s leaving. He disappears out of Sisko\u2019s life in a flash of light, and the final score is Q-nil.\n\nBecause Sisko wins.\n\nAnd even though it was the galaxy\u2019s first full-contact feint, pretending to be unimaginative in order to creatively dispose of an all-powerful threat, let\u2019s enjoy those punches again."}
-{"text": "SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA \u2014 Korean Go grandmaster Lee Sedol has won his first game against AlphaGo, Google's artificially intelligent computing system, after losing three straight in this week's historic match. AlphaGo had already claimed victory in the best-of-five contest, a test of artificial intelligence closely watched in Asia and across the tech world. But on Sunday evening inside Seoul's Four Seasons hotel, Lee Sedol clawed back a degree of pride for himself and the millions of people who watched the match online.\n\nThe gathered Korean reporters and photographers cheered and applauded when AlphaGo resigned roughly five hours into the game. And they cheered more loudly\u2014and repeatedly\u2014as he walked into the post-game press conference.\n\nAs Lee Sedol showed today, machines are by no means infallible.\n\nAlphaGo's dominance in the first three games was notable because no machine had previously beaten a top human player at Go\u2014and because some technologies at the heart the system are already used inside Google and other big-name Internet companies. AlphaGo highlights the enormous power of these technologies and points the way forward for the AI techniques that have driven its success this week\u2014techniques that are poised to reinvent everything from scientific research to robotics. And yet, as Lee Sedol showed today, machines are by no means infallible.\n\nBecause AlphaGo is driven by machine learning technologies\u2014technologies that allow machines to learn tasks largely on their own\u2014Google could over the next weeks and months retrain AlphaGo to an even higher level of performance. But Lee Sedol\u2019s win in Game Four is a reminder that even the most proficient AI still has a long way to go before it can truly duplicate human thought. Yes, a machine can beat a top human at Go. But that doesn't mean it can, for example, pass an eighth grade science test, much less converse like a human or exhibit good old common sense.\n\nWhere is the Weakness?\n\nThough the match had been decided the day before\u2014with AlphaGo taking a three-games-to-none lead in the best-of-five contest\u2014Game Four began with its own drama. As match commentator Chris Garlock said just before the game began, one big question remained: Does AlphaGo have a weakness?\n\nIt was a question that arose during the press conference in the wake of Game Three, a solemn affair where Lee Sedol apologized to the Korean public and the larger Go community. \"I don't know what to say today, but I think I will have to express my apologies first,\" he told the press, through an interpreter. \"I should have shown a better result, a better outcome, a better contest in terms of the games played.\" The Korean admitted to straining under the immense public pressure. The match was literally front-page news in Korea, where an estimated 8 million people play Go and Lee Sedol is a national figure even among those who don't follow the game. But now that much of the pressure was off, he vowed to continue looking for that weakness.\n\n\"Although AlphaGo is a strong program, I would not say that it is a perfect program,\" he said. \"Yes, compared to human beings, its moves are different and at times superior. But I do think there are weaknesses for AlphaGo.\"\n\nHe was particularly upset with his play during the second game, when he felt he made crucial mistakes and failed to capitalize on errors by AlphaGo. \"There were a number of opportunities that I admittedly missed,\" he said.\n\nGame Two All Over Again\n\nGame Four began a lot like Game Two, as if Lee Sedol were trying to make amends for past mistakes. As in Game Two, he played white, which meant he moved second, and he responded to AlphaGo's opening much as he had in the second game. \"It's just about the same game,\" commentator Michael Redmond said six moves into the match.\n\nCommentator Chris Garlock asked whether Lee Sedol, in an effort to find a weakness, might resort to playing moves that were as unusual as possible. But as Redmond pointed out, that didn't really work in Game One. Judging from how AlphaGo has operated so far, it's unlikely that unusual or even blatantly weird moves would be particularly effective against the machine.\n\nUsing what are called deep neural networks\u2014networks of hardware and software that mimic the web of neurons in the human brain\u2014AlphaGo first learned the game of Go by analyzing thousands upon thousands of moves made by real live human players. Thanks to another technology called reinforcement learning, it then climbed to an entirely different and higher level by playing game after game after game against itself. In essence, these games generated all sorts of new moves that the machine could use to retrain itself. By definition, these are inhuman moves.\n\nIn other words, the AlphaGo system does not operate by playing in familiar ways. It thrives by playing in ways no human ever would.\n\n'Off The Map'\n\nAs the game progressed, Lee Sedol took far more time with each move than his inanimate opponent. This was also the case in Games Two and Three, when, after his clock ran down, the Korean was forced to play at a rapid-fire pace. AlphaGo, by contrast, has managed its time well. And this was no accident. Before the match, Demis Hassabis\u2014who oversees the Google AI lab, known as DeepMind, that built AlphaGo\u2014said another neural network had been added to AlphaGo specifically devoted to managing time.\n\nAs in the early parts of Game Two, Lee Sedol seemed to command a large amount of territory on the board and AlphaGo very little. This was hardly a sign that Sedol was ahead in the game, but it did indicate he was using much the same strategy he used in his losing second game.\n\n'Lee Sedol needs to do something special, even if it doesn\u2019t work. Otherwise, it\u2019s just not going to be enough.'\n\nBut commentators proposed another strategy. \"I'd just pull the plug,\" Redmond said of AlphaGo. \"It's dependent on its Internet connection, isn't it? All we need is someone with scissors.\" Indeed, AlphaGo does depend on an Internet connection, which ties into a vast network of machines inside Google data centers across the globe. But a pair of scissors wouldn't be enough to cut the cord. Prior to the match, Google ran its own fiber optic cables into the Four Seasons to ensure the connection didn't go down.\n\nWhen they first built AlphaGo, Hassabis and his team trained and ran the system on a single machine. But in October, just before AlphaGo's closed-door match with three-time European champion Fan Hui, researchers upgraded the system to a much higher level of processing power. Deep neural networks typically run a large number of connected machines, each equipped with graphics processing units, or GPUs, chips that were originally designed to render images for games and other highly graphical software. These chips, it turns out, are also well suited to this breed of machine learning. In October, Hassabis said that AlphaGo ran on a network that spanned 170 GPU cards and 1,200 standard processors, or CPUs.\n\n'A Very Dangerous Fight'\n\nAs the two-hour mark approached, Redmond called the contest Lee Sedol's type of game, saying it was developing \"into a very dangerous fight.\" Lee Sedol likes to play on a knife edge. And he's very good at it. But as Redmond pointed out, so is AlphaGo.\n\nLee Sedol seemed to be in a better position than he had been in Game Three. He seemed calmer as well. But after another twenty minutes of play, Redmond, himself a very successful Go player, felt that AlphaGo had the edge. And Lee Sedol had only about 25 minutes left on his play clock, nearly an hour less than AlphaGo. The difference is key, since once a play clock runs out, a player must make each move in less than 60 seconds.\n\nAt this point, AlphaGo started to play what Redmond and Garlock considered unimpressive or \"slack\" moves. The irony is that this may have indicated that the machine was confident of a win. AlphaGo makes moves that maximize its probability of winning, not its margin of victory. \"This was AlphaGo saying: 'I think I'm ahead. I'm going to wrap this stuff up,'\" Garlock said. \"And Lee Sedol needs to do something special, even if it doesn't work. Otherwise, it's just not going to be enough.\" Lee Sedol, leaning forward with his face in his hands, deep in concentration, took several minutes to make his next move.\n\nAnd then, a few minutes later, the big move came. It was move 78, when Lee Sedol played a \"wedge\" in the middle of the board. \"It was the move that made [the game] the most complicated,\" Andrew Jackson, who was doing a separate online commentary for the US Go Association, later told me. And this added degree of complication shifted the play away from the machine. Demis Hassabis later tweeted that AlphaGo made a significant mistake with move 79, directly after the big move move from Lee Sedol. And about 10 moves later, he said, AlphaGo's calculations indicated that its chances of winning had dropped.\n\nResignation?\n\nThen, near the three hour mark, Lee Sedol's play clock ran out. But AlphaGo's play continued to confound the commentators. \"I get the impression that AlphaGo has gone off on a tangent,\" Redmond said. Again, this hardly meant AlphaGo was in trouble, but it prompted Garlock to ask if the machine would ever resign.\n\nEventually it would, and its approach to resignation is surprisingly, well, human. According to David Silver, another DeepMind researcher who led the creation of AlphaGo, the machine will resign not when it has zero chance of winning, but when its chance of winning dips below 20 percent. \"We feel that this is more respectful to the way humans play the game,\" Silver told me earlier in the week. \"It would be disrespectful to continue playing in a position which is clearly so close to loss that it's almost over.\"\n\nAt this point in the game, the machine had not yet decided its chances had fallen below that threshold. But to the commentators, its play was starting to deteriorate. \"I get the feeling AlphaGo is running out of winning moves,\" Redmond said, adding that AlphaGo in the past often made poor moves when it felt it was ahead. But, he said, \"not that bad.\"\n\nFinally, Redmond and Garlock agreed that the match was looking quite good for Lee Sedol. But the Korean continued to struggle with time. He had twice failed to make a move within the allotted 60 seconds. He then made a move just milliseconds before the clock ran out again. If it had, Lee Sedol would have forfeited the match.\n\nThen, about three hours and forty minutes into the match, Lee Sedol stood up from the table and left the room, taking a permitted break from play. Under the rules, his play clock did not resume until he had returned. The play had reached a level of excitement not seen since Game One. \"Lee Sedol has a chance this time,\" Redmond said.\n\nThe End Game\n\nBut the Korean still faced clock trouble. And it was telling that AlphaGo had not resigned. The machine still had 15 minutes left on its original play clock as the end game arrived, with the two opponents rapidly trying to rack up the points they had angled for over the last four-and-a-half hours.\n\nThen AlphaGo played what Redmond called \"another nonsense move.\" And soon, the machine resigned.\n\nAfter the match, Redmond and others pointed to what they saw as the game's turning point: move 78. In the middle of the contest, Go aficionados agreed, Lee Sedol was behind. But he built up to that move in the center of the board and turned the tide. \"Lee Sedol played a brilliant move. It took me by surprise. I'm sure that it would take most opponents by surprise. I think it took AlphaGo by surprise,\" Redmond said.\n\nThe moment AlphaGo resigned, an enormous cheer rose from the Korean commentary room and its throng of Korean reporters and photographers. And then came the applause in the English room. A day before, the atmosphere was palpably solemn. But on Sunday, Lee Sedol did find a weakness in AlphaGo. And the mood changed. The human could win after all.\n\nUpdate: This story has been updated to show that Lee Sedol would have forfeited the match if he had failed to make each of three moves in under 60 seconds and to clarify the roles of Demis Hassabis and David Silver."}
-{"text": "Tinder-dry conditions and intense heat have increased the fire danger to extreme in many areas of B.C., officials warn.\n\nThe weather helped ignite 14 new wildfires across the province in the past two days, and with no rain in the forecast and temperatures expected to reach the 30s, there could be more to come.\n\n\"The wind is a significant factor for us, if it picks up or it changes,\" Kamloops Fire Platoon Capt. Dave Ferguson said.\n\nThe BC Wildfire Service is currently battling fires across B.C., including one east of Kamloops that has been burning since Thursday.\n\nThat fire is considered to be out of control, and residents along its edge have had to leave their homes.\n\nFlames were just feet from where Charlie Carusi slept Friday night.\n\n\"It was pretty scary the last couple of nights,\" he told CTV News on Saturday.\n\nHe and others were forced to leave home when the fire flared up.\n\n\"That fire really is indicative of how fast things are drying out here with the weather we've had,\" said fire information officer Claire Allen.\n\nEleven fires were sparked in just 24 hours, and another three were reported Saturday. One of those fires was started by lightning, but many are believed to be human-caused.\n\n\"We are seeing the fire danger rating increase across the province and noticeably today we have moved to extreme fire danger in southern Vancouver Island as well as the Kamloops fire centre,\" Allen said.\n\nAs the Kamloops fire rages, Environment Canada has issued an air quality advisory due to smoky skies.\n\nNearly 100 people are working on the East Shuswap fire.\n\nEarlier this week, 200 were sent from B.C. to Ontario and Quebec to fight flames spreading there.\n\n\"If high activity of wildfire warrants that here in British Columbia, we are able to recall those resources at short notice to come help out at home,\" Allen said.\n\nAs crews work to gain control, there is a bright spot in their efforts. They've not just saved homes of humans, but also managed to protect an eagles' nest where two babies are living \u2013 a feat that Carusi said wasn't easy.\n\n\"Every time they sprayed it they figured they had it out and then it would flare up again,\" he said.\n\nThe entire family is said to be doing OK, as are those living in the houses so close to scorch marks.\n\nWith files from CTV Vancouver's Breanna Karstens-Smith"}
-{"text": "It's sick that these ghetto people have no respect for other people or their businesses. Fighting is one thing but throwing other people property who are not involved is just ridiculous but they don't care.Not only does the bar owner eat the cost of these idiots, we have to pay their jail and court costs.Yay for Americans.We should stop letting these women have kids, it should be considered child abuse."}
-{"text": "(CNN) President Donald Trump couldn't wait to launch into the fall political season, an intense 10-week conflagration that marks a hugely consequential chapter in his turbulent presidency.\n\nHe spent Labor Day, when campaign politicking goes into overdrive, unleashing a raging tweet storm blasting his beleaguered Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other favorite targets, such as fired FBI Director James Comey, officials leading the Russian probe and the media.\n\nBut the critical period that might lay the foundations for the nation's ideological course for years and even decades to come will truly get underway on Tuesday morning when confirmation hearings start for Trump's second Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh.\n\nThe likely confirmation of Kavanaugh will drag the court to the right and make an ardent conservative, Chief Justice John Roberts, the bench's swing vote. It is a scenario that may take several Democratic presidencies to undo, could supercharge conservative voters and will on its own elevate the Trump presidency to undeniable historic significance.\n\nThe battle that unfolds in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building will also juice the fight between the parties before November's midterm elections -- the culmination of weeks of political combat that could have grave implications for the Trump presidency itself.\n\nThe elections, for the entire House of Representatives, one third of the Senate and a clutch of critical gubernatorial and statehouse races, will mark the first time a nationwide electorate has had the chance to cast judgment on Trump's tumultuous impact as the 45th president.\n\nIf history is any guide, T rump could be slammed by a corrective wave building since his 2016 election triumph that sweeps Democrats to significant gains, including the possible capture of the House. This would be a nightmare scenario for Trump, since it could tighten a vise of investigations around his White House or even lead to impeachment hearings.\n\nBut if the President drives his fabled political base to the polls in sufficient numbers to save the House he would surely interpret his triumph as validation of his tempestuous style and emerge more powerful and even less constrained than ever before.\n\nIn between the Kavanaugh hearings and the midterms, a succession of challenges loom, from the Mueller investigation to the stuttering effort to force North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, that will have considerable implications for Trump and the rest of the world.\n\n'Good job Jeff'\n\nEveryone else might have been enjoying the last long weekend of summer on Monday. But for Trump, there is no off season for attack politics. After aborting an apparent trip to play golf on a steamy Monday afternoon, he set off on a Twitter tear against some of his favorite targets.\n\n\"Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff....,\" Trump tweeted.\n\nTwo long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff...... \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2018\n\nThe intervention held a mirror up to Trump's mood and nature: It revealed his nervousness about the midterms and his disdain for the traditional firewall between the White House and the Justice Department, meant to guard against the politicization of the law.\n\nIt again hinted at the thin ice under Sessions, who Trump appears to believe should be acting as his own personal protector and lawyer rather than as an independent guardian of justice.\n\nSome Trump critics fear that the President could dispense with Sessions, who is recused from the Russia investigation, in order to get an attorney general that could frustrate it or even prevent the public release of any final report that Mueller chooses to write. It remains unclear however whether the President could get a nominee with such an agenda through Senate confirmation.\n\nTrump on Monday also seized on a more positive aspect of his midterm election message, the strength of the economy, at the start of the week that will include the latest jobs report from his government.\n\n\"The U.S. is respected again!\" Trump wrote, as he retweeted a message from his press secretary, Sarah Sanders, from which GOP leaders would love him never to deviate.\n\n\"Our economy is booming, millions are working again, and our country is back on the right track thanks to President @realDonaldTrump's policies. Happy Labor Day!\" Sanders wrote.\n\nOur economy is booming, millions are working again, and our country is back on the right track thanks to President @realDonaldTrump's policies. Happy Labor Day! \u2014 Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) September 3, 2018\n\nRobust economic growth and low unemployment constitute the best incentive Republicans can put before voters this fall. But there is also an argument to be made that Trump's approval ratings -- he dipped to just 36% in one recent poll - - should be far higher given current prosperity. The fact they are not could be a warning sign that Trump's disinclination to reach out to voters that do not already support him could help doom many Republican lawmakers come November.\n\nThe mystery of the Russia probe\n\nAnother dark cloud hanging over the midterm elections is the Russia investigation.\n\nWashington is waiting to see whether special counsel Robert Mueller will make any significant moves in the intensely political period ahead or whether he will choose to try to insulate his prosecutors from Republican accusations of trying to influence voters.\n\nThe White House has given every sign that it would welcome a campaign season clash with Mueller as a way to fan scare talk of impeachment that could convince any wavering Trump voters that their champion needs their support at the polls. Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani has promised to put out his own report debunking notions of Russian collusion or obstruction of justice.\n\nTrump must also worry about widening legal complications from the guilty plea lodged by his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen in a tax and fraud case in which prosecutors also granted immunity to the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization.\n\nHis worries on this score may intersect with the Kavanaugh hearings since a debate is expected on the extent to which the President should be exposed to legal scrutiny while in office.\n\nDespite being an aggressive member of independent counsel Kenneth Starr's team during the Lewinsky scandal that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment, Kavanaugh now appears to believe that Congress should shield sitting presidents from civil and criminal cases and takes a sweeping view of executive power.\n\nHe is likely to face calls from Democrats to recuse himself from any such cases that make it to the Supreme Court.\n\nThough the Republican majority in the Senate and the demise of the filibuster rule for Supreme Court nominees means Kavanaugh is likely to be confirmed, both parties will use this week's confirmation hearings to engage their most committed activists before the midterms.\n\nRepublicans will effectively be making good on a bargain that Trump made with evangelical voters -- an important part of his coalition that has held firm despite questions over his conduct and character -- following his vow to anoint authentic conservatives to the Supreme Court.\n\nDemocrats are likely to use the hearings to build on fears among liberals that the right to have an abortion could be at risk from the new Supreme Court's conservative lurch -- a factor that could send moderate voters flocking to the polls in November.\n\nTrump will be sure to capitalize on the Kavanaugh hearing when he kicks his midterm campaign into a higher gear at the end of the week, with visits to Montana and North and South Dakota.\n\nBefore then, his administration is braced for the resumption of trade talks with Canada, following his warning to exclude the US ally and top export market from the new iteration of the North American Free Trade Agreement that he put at the center of his 2016 campaign."}
-{"text": "WATERLOO \u2014 Jesse Th\u00e9 was visiting India when a herd of Zebu cattle crossed the road and forced everyone to stop for 20 minutes, including the Uber driver in the front seat.\n\nHe never forgot that.\n\nWhen it was time to name his startup, the 18-year-old university student immediately thought of Zebu \u2014 a large breed of cow that is robust and resistant to many diseases that usually plague bovines in the developing world.\n\nTh\u00e9 is thinking very big. He wants to replace the bewildering number of apps currently available with a smart app that connects individuals with any personal service or product they want. At the same time, the app is designed to provide companies selling those products and services with the digital tools for building websites, getting into e-commerce and interacting with users of the mobile app.\n\nEasy for individuals. Easy for businesses. Inexpensive for both.\n\n\"Something that has always bugged me is when I have to move from one application to the next application to the next application, just to do a few minor things,\" Th\u00e9 says.\n\n\"I always wondered: 'Why can't I have one thing that does everything?\"\n\nIt can cost $50,000 and take six months to develop an app for a business that already has a website. A website that includes an online store can cost more. Zebu does not plan to charge for its mobile app, and businesses will be able to use the platform for a year before monthly fees kick in.\n\nTh\u00e9 says Zebu will make the lives of individuals easier, and also protect small- and-medium sized businesses from Silicon Valley giants such as Uber, by making it easy to get into e-commerce.\n\nPeople who walk dogs, shovel snow, cut grass, make jewelry, repair bicycles and do home repairs can register on Zebu. The same is true for grocery stores, dry cleaners, restaurants, pizza shops, taxi companies and micro brewers. They can use the app to easily connect to consumers.\n\nZebu cows stopped his Uber ride in Africa, and his startup will do the same thing, he says. It is no accident that a Guelph taxi company is among the businesses recruited for the testing phase of his ambitious software project.\n\nThe first-year student at Wilfrid Laurier University divides his time between classes and his startup, which employs seven full-time developers. Zebu has financial support from angel investors and is being incubated by Waterloo company Lakes Software.\n\nTh\u00e9 has a corner office in the Lakes headquarters on Columbia Street West. That's where he oversees the build-out of the app and cloud-based platform that he plans to publicly launch later this year.\n\nWhen he's not in that office, Th\u00e9 is doing a degree at Laurier with a double major \u2014 business and computer science.\n\nThe young entrepreneur's experience underscores the potential impact of internships. During the summer between Grade 11 and Grade 12 at Waterloo Collegiate Institute, Th\u00e9 did a placement at Lakes Software.\n\nIt was a natural fit. Th\u00e9 taught himself the basics of programming languages such as JavaScript, Python and C++ when he was young. During his internship at Lakes, he did coding for a website and online store.\n\n\"It was really good,\" Th\u00e9 says. \"The experience I had making that web store started giving me the first, early ideas that sparked Zebu.\"\n\nBefore anyone dismisses Th\u00e9 and his big ideas, they should talk to Michael Johnson, director of software development at Lakes. As a high school student, Th\u00e9 built something that stumped experienced developers more than twice his age, Johnson says.\n\n\"Essentially he was the one who solved that problem for us,\" Johnson says of Lake's entry into e-commerce. \"By the end of the summer, something we hadn't done in 15 years he had mastered completely.\"\n\nTh\u00e9 has a fresh, spongy mind that quickly absorbs all things digital, Johnson says. The software veteran remembers Th\u00e9 visiting the Lakes office to talk about how that internship inspired him.\n\nLoading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...\n\n\"He was just saying: 'You know, you guys do software professionally, for a living, you are a company that sells scientific software, and if you are struggling with this, I can't imagine what floral shops are doing, I bet there is an untapped market,'\" Johnson says.\n\nJohnson believes the teenage CEO is onto something \u2014 e-commerce, instant messaging and sharing economy apps all rolled into one.\n\n\"When you think about it, that's a problem a lot of small businesses are really struggling with,\" Johnson says.\n\nOne part of Zebu provides small- and medium-sized businesses with a complete enterprise resource planning system. The cloud-based platform looks after accounting, invoicing, human resources, customer relations and web page design and construction, among other things. Th\u00e9 says it makes it easy for smaller businesses to get into e-commerce.\n\nThe other part of Zebu focuses on an app that provides instant messaging, texting and a ride-hailing service for participating taxi companies. As more businesses start using the platform, more services will be available on the app \u2014 everything from restaurant reservations to buying groceries online and having dry cleaning picked up.\n\nIn short, Th\u00e9 wants users to do all their shopping and purchases through Zebu.\n\nAs the supporting software gets built, Th\u00e9 realizes that getting lots of businesses signed up will be critical to Zebu's success. So the startup is looking to hire experienced marketers.\n\nA dual focus on consumers and business gives Zebu a competitive advantage, he says, because it connects consumers to businesses, consumers with each other, and businesses to businesses. \"It is complete connectivity,\" he says.\n\nThere are a bewildering number of smartphone apps. People often use seven or eight apps within a few minutes and most apps have no stickiness, Th\u00e9 says.\n\n\"Almost every month we hear about a new, big instant messaging app, or a new, big application for food delivery, and people migrate from one to the next one to the next one, whichever is new,\" Th\u00e9 says.\n\nBy building an app and platform that ties together instant messaging, social media and e-commerce, Th\u00e9 believes Zebu will attract and retain users like no other app already on the market.\n\nThe smartphone has replaced a long list of gadgets, and Th\u00e9 believes Zebu will replace a long list of apps. \"That's why I call it the smart app,\" he says."}
-{"text": "Over on Amazon \u2018Hamilton Richardson\u2019 is reviewing Mr Men books and they\u2019re worth reading in full, clearly written by a bored parent whose mind started wandering after reading one of this books for the 19th time\n\nMr. Uppity\n\nHargreaves: Bolshevik, or Monarchist?\n\nIn the opening few pages of this, the 11th work in the Mr Man series, we are almost led to expect of Hargreaves a foray into dialectical materialism. We meet Mr Uppity with his top hat and monocle \u2013 a clear and overt representation of the bourgeois industrialist. Other arriviste trappings such as his long limousine and imposing townhouse further give the game away. In a thinly-veiled reference to the oppression of the workers by the ruling class, we are told that Mr Uppity is rude to everyone, and the detail that he has no friends in Bigtown explicitly informs us that the masses are on the brink of revolution. Are we about to bear witness to class war, Hargreaves-style? To see Mr Uppity brought to account by the revolutionary power of the proletariat? Vanquished and overthrown by the party of the workers? Not so. Mr Uppity is no Marxian analysis, no Leninist prescription for class action. As always, Hargreaves\u2019 inherent and essential conservatism comes to bear. His critique of the bourgeoisie comes not from the proletariat but from the feudal aristocracy. It is the authority of a king that places limits upon Mr Uppity\u2019s excesses, as his usurpation and arbitrary exercise of power has violated \u2018the natural order of things\u2019. Hence the protection the masses are dealt in response to this transgression is paternal, and they receive it as subjects not radical agents of change. Being so staunch a traditionalist, Hargreaves of necessity is a reformer not a revolutionary. The King does not have Mr Uppity executed, imprisoned or even sent into exile. There is no state seizure and collectivization of his wealth, or in fact any redistribution at all. (Despite his pomp and grandeur, the King no longer has such powers \u2013 both the outward self-importance and ultimate weakness of his intervention appear little more than a face-saving exercise for his waning hereditary rule.) Rather, in the end it is the mildest of all regulation that is imposed upon the capitalist class. The ownership of the means of production remains the same, with no fundamental change to the economic base \u2013 just some superstructural tinkering to rein-in any overly brutal treading on the small man. The ruling class can do pretty much as it did before, as long as it says \u2018please\u2019 and \u2018thank you\u2019. The aristocracy is duly appeased. Hence we arrive at the Britain Hargreaves lived in \u2013 a gently regulated capitalism coupled with sham aristocracy, maintained by our own collective nostalgia and a national lack of appetite for mass action.\n\nMr. Messy\n\nUnsettling Echoes of Josef K\n\nIf \u20181984\u2019 or \u2018The Trial\u2019 had been a children\u2019s book, Mr Messy would be it. No literary character has ever been so fully and categorically obliterated by the forces of social control. Hargreaves may well pay homage to Kafka and Orwell in this work, but he also goes beyond them. We meet Mr Messy \u2013 a man whose entire day-to-day existence is the undiluted expression of his individuality. His very untidiness is a metaphor for his blissful and unselfconscious disregard for the Social Order. Yes, there are times when he himself is a victim of this individuality \u2013 as when he trips over a brush he has left on his garden path \u2013 but he goes through life with a smile on his face. That is, until a chance meeting with Mr Neat and Mr Tidy \u2013 the archetypal men in suits. They set about a merciless programme of social engineering and indoctrination that we are left in no doubt is in flagrant violation of his free will. \u2018But I like being messy\u2019 he protests as they anonymize both his home and his person with their relentless cleaning activity, a symbolism thinly veiled. This process is so thorough that by the end of it he is unrecognizable \u2013 a homogenized pink blob, no longer truly himself (that vibrant Pollock-like scribble of before). He smiles the smile of a brainwashed automaton, blandly accepting what he has been given no agency to question or refuse. It is in this very smile that the sheer horror of what we have seen to occur is at its most acute. Somewhere behind this blank expression though is a latent anger \u2013 a trace of self-knowledge as to what he once was \u2013 in the barbed observation he makes to Neat and Tidy that they have even deprived him of his name. The book ends with a dry reminder from Hargreaves that just as with the secret police in some totalitarian regime, our own small expressions of uniqueness and volition may also result in a visit from these sinister suited agents.\n\nMr. Tickle\n\nFreud Helps Hargreaves Loosen His Tie\n\nHargreaves\u2019 first work, and regarded by many as his masterpiece, Mr Tickle is something of a rarity amongst the Mr Men books. Elsewhere, we see much exposition on the pitfalls of excess \u2013 such as in Mr Greedy and Mr Messy, for instance \u2013 but a distinct lack of discourse on personalities that are over- rather than under-regulated. A case in point might be another work, Mr Fussy, which stands out as an opportunity glaringly missed. Despite a faintly ridiculing tone to the prose, this is essentially a lamentation on how others cannot live up to the high ideals and perfectionism of its titular central character. It is at best an ambiguous critique of repression, and Mr Fussy escapes the moral judgment so often dished out to others in the series. So what a glorious anomaly we find in Mr Tickle \u2013 a breath of fresh air from the unrestrained id. The all-consuming sensual delight he offers relentlessly disrupts the social order. A postman drops all his letters in a puddle, the tickling of a policeman causes a traffic jam, and the unbearable reverie he inflicts upon a station master brings the local rail network to a temporary standstill. There is something almost Bakhtinian about the manner in which he tickles a dour schoolmaster until he loses control in front of his class. But Mr Tickle is not Stirner\u2019s Egoist, nor does he proclaim `do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law\u2019. And if he is a terrorist, his weapons are laughter and ecstasy. Though his principal targets may well be those who wear uniforms \u2013 those who exercise, embody and therefore are most in the grip of Authority \u2013 we would be mistaken to think that Hargreaves\u2019 purpose is to challenge the external Social Order. Rather, it is to loosen the vice-like grip of an interior foe: the overdeveloped Superego. We note that Mr Tickle himself is no slave to sensory delight \u2013 quite the opposite; he is a model of psychical equilibrium. At the end of his day\u2019s escapades he relaxes in an armchair, sated and quiescent. Our hero preaches a message of catharsis \u2013 a call to arms against becoming too bogged down by self-suppression and normative regulation. Via psychoanalysis, we arrive at an Aristotlean middle way, and are left with the gentle realisation of our need to give a measure of expression to desire and joy. Because one thing we can be sure of is that the more we repress the pleasure principle, the more we guarantee that sooner or later we will fall victim to an overpowering and fervid release from the id. And rest assured, it will be at just that hour we fail our Superego the most.\n\nMr. Bounce"}
-{"text": "She didn't put you in the friendzone. You put yourself there. If you want out, get out.\n\n517 shares"}
-{"text": "The 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees have been announced, and the roster is stacked with some of the biggest artists of our generation -- like Green Day, Nine Inch Nails, and finally, the Smiths. N.W.A., Lou Reed and Sting will also be joining the lead candidates for this prestigious musical honor.\n\nThe rest of the nominees include Kraftwerk, Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Chic, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, the Marvelettes, the Spinners, War, and Bill Withers. All of the nominees meet this year's criteria for having released their first single or album in 1989 or prior.\n\nThe 2015 ceremony will take place on April 18 in Cleveland, Ohio, and the top candidates will be announced toward the end of 2014. This is only the third year since the public has been allowed to weigh in, so cast your vote below by Dec. 9.\n\nWho do you think should be in the Hall of Fame?"}
-{"text": "By Emily Goddard\n\nSeptember 20 \u2013 Barcelona have put their clout behind a new initiative to encourage 28 million people across Europe to quit smoking."}
-{"text": "Many people take pain meds for legit reasons. My co-worker doesn't get this.\n\nGet over 50 fonts, text formatting, optional watermarks and NO adverts! Get your free account now!\n\nJust because you 'don't believe in taking pills' - doesn't give you the right to call those who do 'drug addicts'.\n\nCheck out all our blank memes"}
-{"text": "Blues legend BB King has died in Las Vegas at the age of 89, his attorney has said.\n\nKing, who inspired a generation of mainstream guitarists, died late on Thursday, triggering shockwaves across social media, with stars from the music world lining up to pay tribute.\n\nBB, anyone could play a thousand notes and never say what you said in one. #RIP #BBKing pic.twitter.com/YvZYH8hyJE \u2014 Lenny Kravitz (@LennyKravitz) May 15, 2015\n\nThe 15-time Grammy award winner was considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time, and influenced a generation of rock guitarists from Eric Clapton to Stevie Ray Vaughan, having released more than fifty albums and sold millions of records worldwide.\n\nBorn Riley B King on September 16, 1925 in Itta Bena, Mississippi, he began learning guitar as a boy and sang in church choirs.\n\nAfter World War Two Army service, King went from touring black bars and dance halls in the 1940s and 1950s to headlining an all-blues show at New York's Carnegie Hall in 1970 and recording with the likes of Eric Clapton and U2.\n\nKing became a star on the rhythm and blues charts with 3 O'Clock Blues, Please Love Me, Every Day I Have the Blues\"and Sweet Little Angel. At his peak he was on stage 300 nights a year and playing to audiences all over the world - including the former Soviet Union and China.\n\nHe still toured regularly into his 80s, although his show had been scaled back.\n\nKing was hospitalised in April for a few days after suffering from dehydration related to Type 2 diabetes. In May he said in a Facebook post that he was in hospice care at his home.\n\nKing was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, awarded the National Medal for the Arts in 1990 and the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995.\n\nIn 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked King at Number 3, behind only Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.\n\nDespite King's decades of recognition, his final days were clouded by unseemly scenes amid a reported dispute between his family and manager over his care."}
-{"text": "Hashtags popular in your area\n\nAnyone can start a new hashtag, just by using it. A list of popular hashtags based on your geolocation will be shown. If you click it, it will take you to a listview of every offer and request that has been made on that hashtag. Let\u2019s take #needaride as an example:\n\n\n\nTo start with we will pre-populate the hashtags with existing services. A hashtag is a MiniMe enabled contract, minting non transferrable reputation tokens. The contract\u2019s address is also registered on our \u2018hashtags\u2019 contract, which basically is just an address string mapping, that we can index, read and even localize in the front end.To start with we will pre-populate the hashtags with existing services.\n\nOn each hashtag, there are requests and offers.\n\nHere we can see several incoming ride requests. People are offering Swarm City Token (SWT) to get from A to B. As you can see, in this release we are just replicating the functionality that is being used successfully today in facebook ridesharing groups.\n\nYou can set your reference currency as a preference, indicating the value in USD, EUR, ETH and BTC.\n\nThe requests you see here are not stored on a smart contract. It is real time messaging over Whisper. It\u2019s basically like chatting with your wife, but receiving ipfs hashes of json objects instead of the usual 'plz take garbage out'. We are broadcasting these ipfs hashes over channels which topics are geohashes . A geohash is a short alphanumeric string with a really cool feature: greater precision is obtained with longer strings. This makes for a fun and snappy zooming experience later on a map view (Storefront). The user\u2019s current geohash is the topic we subscribe to. Requests come floating in. We resolve the ipfs hash, display the content and cache it in the device\u2019s local storage. The reference currencies (EUR / USD / ETH / BTC) are being calculated using a simple API. Later that would be an oracle.\n\nWith the big plus button, a user can make a new request on this hashtag. It\u2019s as simple as typing in what you want, when you want it.\n\nIn Boardwalk, creating a request is as simple as writing what you want.\n\nOn the offer detail view, a driver responds with a counter-offer.\n\nOn the detail view of the request, a service provider can reply with the same amount, or make a new offer.\n\nThe driver replies with the same offer, or a new offer.\n\nWhen a new reply is done, the requester gets a notification.\n\nWhen a driver responds to the request, a notification pops up at the requester\u2019s device.\n\nHow we do notifications: it\u2019s as easy as setting up a Whisper channel for the device, and sending messages to it \u2013 not the user profile or the pub key, but the device. We also use this channel to do multi-device syncing. To do device to device communication we first do a handshake over Whisper, sharing keys. A new end-to-end encrypted tunnel is setup between these devices. Over it we can send encrypted information.\n\nBy clicking the notification, the requester is taken to the detail view of the request.\n\nTwo drivers responded to the rider\u2019s request\n\nThe requester now has two service providers offering to resolve the request. The user can click on each offer and make a choice. Before choosing a service provider, the requester can check the reputation and identity of the provider.\n\nReply detail from a driver offering his services\n\nWhen the requester chooses a service provider, they enter in a deal with each other. A deal is valid when both parties send the amount of tokens to a holding contract that will store the tokens until the deal is completed successfully.\n\nIn making a deal, both parties send the same amount of tokens to a holding contract.\n\nFrom the moment the deal is registered and the balances are set, both requester and provider are literally invested in this deal. They can start chatting with each other to make more detailed or practical arrangements.\n\nMaking practical arrangements over chat\n\nAfter arranging the last details (if necessary) the deal is executed, the ride takes place. Upon completing the deal, the driver triggers a countdown. The requester now has a certain period of time to \u2018protest\u2019 the transaction, which would lock the tokens in the deal.\n\n#conflictresolution might become a very popular hashtag. Some people are very talented in resolving conflicts using certain proven techniques. They can come in and resolve the situation by creating consensus. With a successful intervention, the tokens are released and all parties involved will gain reputation in #conflictresolution.\n\nWhen the deal is executed, the requester and the service provider trigger the payout.\n\nWhen the hashtag contract registers the transaction, it will mint new reputation tokens and send an equal amount to both parties. The total token supply of the hashtag contract increases, this value indicates the hashtag\u2019s popularity. The hashtag token contract triggers the payout function, and the deal\u2019s status in the array of pending deals is updated.\n\nReputation Token Balances indicate this identity\u2019s activity and reputation\n\nReputation in Boardwalk is nothing more than displaying the amount of reputation tokens a user has created in a hashtag token contract. It will give requesters a rough idea of what kind of person the potential provider is, while leaving open the human factor of interpreting self chosen indicators to calculate trustworthiness. MiniMe contracts make expanding the functionalities of our reputation system possible.\n\nNext up: Storefront\n\nSo to recap: with Terminal, we create our Swarm City citizen identity. With Boardwalk, we start doing transactions, building reputation on our identity. With every transaction on a certain hashtag, our reputation in that hashtag grows.\n\nHowever, we only imitate the behaviour already showing in the facebook groups.\n\nWith Storefront, requesting a ride will become easier. We will start providing easy interfaces for certain hashtags, starting with #needaride. It will give users a simple way to quickly set up a request, with a nice map view to pick from and to locations, driver profiles and many more features already being planned on by our Swarm.\n\nBy developing things in a specific order, we make sure we release the full potential of each step. At the start of Boardwalk, we might see #dev-tasks being more popular than #needaride. We might see there\u2019s a real potential for #swarmbnb.\n\nWe want to find out which Storefronts are most important to our Swarm, so we make sure we start building those first and fast. This approach will also enable us to further decentralize the development of Swarm City: anyone can work on different Storefronts, as Boardwalk will indicate where\u2019s the most potential to add value to the project.\n\nBecome involved\n\nSwarm City\u2019s population has been increasing very fast the last couple of weeks. Everywhere we see people start building, organizing and adding value to the Swarm City token. For entrepreneurial developers, now is the time to start learning how to build Storefronts.\n\nGet over there and meet these amazing people. It\u2019s not so different from a real city: if you want the full experience, you have to be there for yourself.\n\nAuthor: kingflurkel\n\nJoin our Slack channel - Find us on facebook - Github\n\nWe have a unique and great welcoming of new people in our slack. You can now even have the Swarm City Tour, where our Swarm members take you on a tour through the different Slack channels, facebook groups, etc.\n\nYou get to meet people that are actively adding value to the project, giving you a feel to what Swarm City is."}
-{"text": "Editor\u2019s note: As one of the most anticipated releases of the year, \u201cBoyhood\u201d has drawn interest from many of our writers. As such, this article will collect a stream of content on the film \u2013 reviews, essays, selections from Q&A\u2019s with Richard Linklater, and other general reactions. The content is ordered from favorable to unfavorable. Seen the film? Join in the discussion! Leave a comment and it may get added to the master article.\n\nReview by Taylor Sinople\n\nCapturing much of the experience of childhood, but using scenes that work better independently than as building blocks towards a definitive piece, \u201cBoyhood\u201d is nonetheless one of the most ambitious projects in the history of cinema. 8/10\n\nIt may take a few tries for \u201cBoyhood\u201d to fully hit you. It took two for me.\n\nIn 2002, IFC Films agreed to provide writer-director Richard Linklater (\u201cDazed and Confused,\u201d \u201cBernie\u201d) with a modest, yearly budget to shoot a spectacularly unique project. The idea was to capture a coming-of-age story like never before: by actually allowing the actors to grow up. Twelve years ago, Linklater began production with a small cast fronted by Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, Linklater\u2019s daughter Lorelei Linklater, and a non-professional seven-year-old actor named Ellar Coltrane. Then they waited. Each year, Linklater and camp reconnected for a week or two to shoot the next scene. The director calls it a \u201dcollaboration with an unknown future.\u201d By the time production ceases in 2013, Coltrane (who plays seven-year-old Mason in the opening of the film) is eighteen years old. You can imagine the anticipation built up for followers of Linklater. So when I saw \u201cBoyhood\u201d for the first time, it was a three-hour blur of rapidly colliding expectations and realities. And the reality wasn\u2019t what I had expected.\n\nWhile there\u2019s always an effort by critics to go into each movie without preconceptions, this is occasionally all but impossible. In 2013 it was with films such as \u201cGravity\u201d and \u201cThe Wolf of Wall Street.\u201d Later this year, it\u2019ll be Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s \u201cInherent Vice,\u201d and Christopher Nolan\u2019s \u201cInterstellar.\u201d Linklater did it to us back-to-back with 2013\u2019s \u201cBefore Midnight\u201d \u2013 the third film in a series that began eighteen years ago with \u201cBefore Sunrise,\u201d and now 2014\u2019s \u201cBoyhood.\u201d\n\nMy initial experience with \u201cBoyhood\u201d was underwhelming, due to two issues with the way I wanted the film to work. First, due to early talk hailing the film as a masterpiece end-all to the coming of age genre, I expected a certain universality to the story. Read around on the film, this is clearly something that is hitting many, many people in highly personal ways. Parents are considering the fleeting nature of their children\u2019s lives, while younger generations are reflecting on their own youths. But there\u2019s a specificity to the story that acts a barrier to relating to it. My childhood was nothing like Mason\u2019s. As he grows up, he\u2019s often relocated to new Texan towns and endures \u201ca parade of drunken assholes\u201d in place for his biological father (Ethan Hawke) \u2013 a once-every-other-weekend dad.\n\nFascinating to watch, certainly, but I\u2019ve connected on a deeper level to many other films in the genre \u2013 even Linklater\u2019s own. Without this direct connection, \u201cBoyhood\u201d instead offered me a chance to access the small, profound moments that define a person\u2019s life. But this is what Terrence Malick would do. Where Malick would use the camera as an omniscient device, Linklater uses it as a tool for documentation. So we don\u2019t see the moments that end up sculpting who Mason becomes, we see his genuine memories \u2013 the ones that, whether as part of a traditional mile-stone or not, stand out. This can be tough, because certain movie scenes (many that Linklater avoids here) are cliches for a reason \u2014 they really are important moments in adolescence.\n\nThe memories that are chosen are fairly varied in quality. There are a couple of weak links here, and a disappointing lack of meaningful character development. There is a trade that took place \u2013 by extending the schedule to many years and writing the film in pieces, \u201cBoyhood\u201d loses the payoff of a well-crafted film. It can hardly set up its own finale when it\u2019s being constructed in real time. So there are numerous subplot-starters that don\u2019t evolve into anything interesting, or are forgotten entirely.\n\nThe opening shot of Mason laying in the grass while Coldplay\u2019s \u201cYellow\u201d plays, though, is one of the very best moments I\u2019ve had at the cinema this year. I remember being seven, looking up at the clouds. There\u2019s a profundity to youth in the absence of responsibility that we spend the rest of our adult lives chasing. In three hours, that same seven year old will be leaving for college as an adult. And that\u2019s it, boyhood, that\u2019s the whole damn thing. We\u2019re children, and then we\u2019re not. Years pass, but we sum them up in single sentences. \u201cWhen I was eight I loved Star Wars,\u201d and \u201cwhen I was thirteen I shared my first kiss.\u201d What would your childhood look like in three hours?\n\nIt\u2019s amazing that across more than a decade, Linklater is able to stich together a cohesive project. The years pass scene to scene, noted through a change in haircut or the absence or addition of a character. There are no title cards and no narration \u2013 it is an uninterrupted lifestream. Pop culture plays an important time-tracking role throughout the film, and Linklater proves to have a great sense for what will stick around through the years and become a well-known reference. Anyone born in the early 90\u2019s will be able to follow right along as Mason stays up all night playing Halo, attends a Harry Potter midnight book release event, and complains about the all-controlling power of Facebook.\n\n\u201cBoyhood\u201d is also a great way to enter the Ethan Hawke time machine \u2013 an actor who seems to have no problem participating in some seriously bad movies, but continues to do strong, strong work with Linklater. As the occasional-dad with a cool car, he transcends the typical role to offer Mason and his sister, Samantha (Lorelei Linklater), with genuine wisdom and a down-to-earth, caring presence in their lives. \u201cBoyhood\u201d is about parenthood, too. Particularly Mason\u2019s mother (Arquette, the Oscar-worthy, stand-out performer of the bunch), who does just as much growing and learning as Mason in these twelve years. In fact, because Linklater circles back around to early-life themes already explored in \u201cWaking Life\u201d and \u201cDazed and Confused,\u201d I found \u201cBoyhood\u201d to be less revelatory about childhood than \u201cBefore Midnight\u201d was to adulthood.\n\nLinklater should be one of our most treasured writers \u2013 he\u2019s showing us our own lives with honesty, and offering thought on human nature that adds to our worldview. Projected ticket sales just aren\u2019t part of the equation in his walk-and-talk pieces. In one of the best scenes of \u201cBoyhood,\u201d Mason\u2019s photography teacher gives him a hard lesson about life and art: \u201cany dipshit can take pictures. Art: that\u2019s special.\u201d It may not be the defining film of the year, or Linklater\u2019s career, but has anyone put in this kind of passion and sympathy into telling the story of growing up? I like \u201cBoyhood\u201d a lot right now. I hope to love it in ten years, though. Because a film about the passing of time deserves to be revisited as time passes. This one is going to depend on where you are and who are you, and while it didn\u2019t entirely work for me, I can admire the artfulness of a film that allows for these varied reactions. For now, \u201cBoyhood\u201d isn\u2019t moving so much as a wonderful feat of production.\n\nReview by Josef Rodriguez\n\nRichard Linklater\u2019s \u201cBoyhood\u201d is a grandiose, yet intimate statement on the nature of humanity, even if its epic runtime doesn\u2019t make time for much character development. 7/10\n\nIt would be difficult to dispute that Richard Linklater\u2019s \u201cBoyhood,\u201d which was filmed over a 12-year period from 2002 to 2014, is not a culmination of the director\u2019s career thus far. For more than two decades, Linklater has attempted, and in most cases succeeded, to depict both the banality and beauty of life in all its stages; anyone who\u2019s followed Linklater\u2019s career could have surmised that \u201cBoyhood\u201d was the next step. His films already experimented heavily with the passage of time (see: The Before Trilogy), and his affinity for telling stories about the reality of youth is one that has consistently evolved, often surfacing with more sobering truths than before.\n\n\u201cBoyhood\u201d tells the story of Mason (Ellar Coltrane), a Texas-native who is observed through Linklater\u2019s lens from the ages of 6 to 18. When the film begins, his mother (Patricia Arquette) announces to him and his sister (Lorelei Linklater) that the family is moving to Houston. By the time the film ends, nearly three hours later, Mason is moving away to college and realizing, for the first time, that his life is only just beginning.\n\nMason\u2019s formative years make up the entirety of Linklater\u2019s film, and they\u2019re grounded in a reality with which everywhere viewer can identify. Between having to endure the challenges of two alcoholic stepfathers, a couple more moves around Texas, and a father (Ethan Hawke) who is trying his best to maintain a healthy relationship with Mason and his sister during their bi-weekly visits, Mason is someone you know: perhaps Mason is you.\n\nAs a piece of experimental filmmaking, Richard Linklater\u2019s \u201cBoyhood\u201d should prove to be the gift that keeps on giving for many years to come. Poster quotes claiming that \u201cBoyhood\u201d is one of the most unique films in cinema history are not far off, and watching Mason literally grow before our eyes is a rewarding experience that is not easily comparable to anything else. As the film\u2019s main subject, Ellar Coltrane gives an understandably uneven performance, one that fluctuates between the effortlessly natural to the temporarily stilted.\n\nYet, by the time he reaches his teen years, it becomes apparent that Coltrane is no longer playing a character. Linklater would often rewrite certain scenes to mirror what was going on in the actor\u2019s life and seeing both the actor and the character come into his own is one of \u201cBoyhood\u2019s\u201d most rewarding offerings. The unceasing curiosity of Mason\u2019s youth is replaced with the pensive cynicism of any intelligent teenage boy, and Coltrane performs this with an honesty that suggests a similar progression of thought in his own life. Where the film isn\u2019t able to accommodate the actor as much is through Mason\u2019s immediately pre-pubescent years, where he is no longer a toddler but isn\u2019t quite an adolescent. During these years, Mason is introduced to his first stepfather\u2019s addictive and abusive tendencies, and the performance isn\u2019t bad by any means, but Coltrane sometimes looks a little lost in regards to what Mason should be feeling.\n\nHowever, the standout performance in Linklater\u2019s film comes from Ethan Hawke, who elevates the film to a noticeable degree any time he pulls up to the frame in his GTO. Hawke, who has been one of Linklater\u2019s most frequent collaborators, has an excellent rapport with Coltrane, and is responsible for bringing out the best of the young actor throughout the entire film. While Patricia Arquette is also fantastic as Mason\u2019s mother, the chemistry between the two actors isn\u2019t quite as strong as it is between Hawke and Coltrane, who balance each other out beautifully whenever they share the screen.\n\nWhere \u201cBoyhood\u201d fails to measure up to Linklater\u2019s best films is that, although the film was created to resemble reality, it\u2019s never quite as realistic as it wants to be. Linklater has long been a master of creating natural characters who think and talk like real people, so it comes as quite a surprise that \u201cBoyhood\u201d falls short in this regard. There are many scenes in the film where Linklater maintains the uncanny ability to expose the average American life in a legitimately compelling and original way, but there are also certain sequences (like one involving Mason having a sleepover in an abandoned house with his friends) that are so inexplicably awful it\u2019s hard to believe you\u2019re watching the same film.\n\nNo film with a runtime as long as \u201cBoyhood\u2019s\u201d is going to be flawless for every second, but the scenes that are bad aren\u2019t so in a way that improves the greater moments. Instead, they drag an otherwise well-crafted story down to a level that just isn\u2019t acceptable for a film that\u2019s already being touted as a masterpiece. Certain subplots are regurgitated tropes that have been executed with far more skill in other movies, and at times it seems like Linklater is hiding behind the conceit of \u201creality\u201d and the film\u2019s unique structure to allow himself room for an occasionally faulty narrative.\n\nEven worse, \u201cBoyhood\u201d suffers from shallow characterizations that threaten to deflate some of the film\u2019s emotionally potent scenes. Part of this can be attributed to the fact that Mason\u2019s story isn\u2019t given as much screentime as the children of Michael Apted\u2019s \u201c7 Up\u201d series or Truffaut\u2019s \u201cAntoine Doinel\u201d films, but I refuse to believe that Linklater, a master at simple but effective characterization, couldn\u2019t have done something much more interesting with these characters. Regardless of how much time we\u2019ve spent with Mason, the audience is only offered a skin-deep portrait, and the lack of depth makes it easier to poke holes in Linklater\u2019s story, which never escapes the feeling that everything being performed on-screen has been written. The improvisational nature of The Before Trilogy, \u201cSlacker,\u201d and \u201cDazed and Confused\u201d is not only subdued, it\u2019s entirely absent from the film that needed it most.\n\n\u201cBoyhood\u201d is, despite its many setbacks, still not a bad film. It\u2019s actually a very good one, but one that should be held to a higher standard than most because of the talent involved. I can\u2019t, in good faith, say that \u201cBoyhood\u201d is a masterpiece. Yes, it\u2019s one of Richard Linklater\u2019s most accomplished films, but it\u2019s certainly not his best, and not even his best of the past five years. It\u2019ll be interesting to see the impact that \u201cBoyhood\u201d has on the next generation of filmmakers, but for a film that operates within the simple mantra \u201clife is messy,\u201d somehow \u201cBoyhood\u201d feels meticulously staged.\n\nReview by Tyler Ward\n\nHype is a funny thing, especially when it comes to movies. Sometimes upcoming films receive so little attention and marketing that nobody goes to see them, no matter how great they are (think Martin Scorsese\u2019s 2011 masterpiece \u201cHugo\u201d). Other times they receive so much attention and marketing that everybody goes to see them, no matter how bad they are (insert inevitable jab towards Mr. Bay here). And then there are those films that are so highly anticipated and receive such outstanding advance praise that it becomes virtually impossible for them to live up to the expectations set for them, even if they end up being great films. Having just seen Richard Linklater\u2019s monstrously hyped twelve-year epic, \u201cBoyhood,\u201d it pains me to have to place it in that latter category, at least for now.\n\nIn all fairness, this is very much an impulse review. I saw the film in a sold out screening and sat in the middle of a crowd that laughed at inappropriate moments and totally ruined the immersion of the experience throughout the film. It\u2019s obvious to me that \u201cBoyhood\u201d is one of those films that should be watched in a quiet setting, preferably alone, where the viewer can allow every word of dialogue to resonate and the film to appeal to his own emotions, without other people around to impose their emotional reactions on him. I also feel as though the film is one which will gain more and different meaning with each subsequent viewing, and that it cannot fairly be assessed after the first watch. For these reasons, I feel that it would be unfair to assign this film a numerical rating after the experience I had with it, and I implore the reader to take both the praise and criticisms I bestow upon \u201cBoyhood\u201d with a grain of salt, as they are subject to change once I revisit the film.\n\nFor sure, there are a number of things that Linklater and company accomplish in \u201cBoyhood\u201d that make it a very special experience. First of all, the skill and vision that is required to sew together pieces of a story shot over twelve years into one cohesive \u201cnarrative\u201d (a term that must be used loosely when discussing Linklater\u2019s work) is astounding. Our subject, Mason (Ellar Coltrane), literally ages seamlessly, and the story moves from year to year without missing a single beat. Mason is six years old the first time he is seen on screen, lying in the grass in his now-famous pose from the film\u2019s poster. By the time the film ends, he is eighteen years old, and I found myself wondering where the time went, both literally and figuratively. Pushing nearly three hours, the film seems to fly by because compared to the twelve years that are portrayed, 165 minutes seems like a split-second, a snap of the fingers, a blink of the eye. It\u2019s an innovative story-telling technique that worked nearly flawlessly, and it\u2019s arguably the film\u2019s greatest strength.\n\n\u201cBoyhood\u201d is also unique in the sense that, while most coming-of-age films strive for a sort of universal relativity, Linklater seems wholly concerned with simply telling Mason\u2019s specific story, whether it\u2019s ultimately relatable to the viewer or not. The film is more of a character study than it is a nostalgic reflection piece; while music, technology and cultural milestones are most certainly used throughout the film to set the time period in which each event takes place, the film never seems to pander to viewers of a certain generation or background. Paradoxically, this supposed lack of universal relativity actually makes the film more relatable to a larger variety of demographics; no one group of people is singled out. \u201cBoyhood\u201d is the story of one boy, not the story of all boys, and as a result, Mason becomes an individual with whom the audience can empathise, rather than a symbol that only certain viewers can apply to themselves.\n\nWhile the film succeeds on many levels, \u201cBoyhood\u201d also exhibits significant flaws that simply cannot be overlooked. Many of the satellite characters outside of the core cast are merely caricatures of stereotypes that exist in nearly every coming-of-age film: the alcoholic, abusive stepdad; the returning soldier suffering from PTSD; the eccentric and creepy fast food manager at Mason\u2019s first job; the crazy and free-spirited college roommate. None of these characters feel like real people; they\u2019re almost comically exaggerated, which undermines the emotional impact of some points of the film.\n\nThe situation isn\u2019t helped by the casting of these characters, either. Ethan Hawke (channeling a more playful version of Jesse from Linklater\u2019s \u201cBefore trilogy\u201d) and Patricia Arquette are excellent as Mason\u2019s parents, and watching Ellar Coltrane mature as an actor as his character matures as a person is one of the greatest spectacles of the film. But Lorelei Linklater (the director\u2019s daughter), playing Samantha, Mason\u2019s older sister, seems to portray the same character at nineteen years old as she did at seven years old, and much of the supporting cast overacts to the point of taking the viewer out of the film. Of course, Linklater is no stranger to using amateur actors in his films, and with a meager budget, it would have been impossible to cast the calibre of actors needed to do the characters complete justice. The situation is somewhat inevitable and unavoidable, and yet it still lessens the emotional payoff in some parts of a film that is so reliant on evoking a response from the audience, nonetheless.\n\nAt the end of the day, \u201cBoyhood\u201d is a good film \u2013 a great film, even \u2013 that suffers from being far too vaulted as a \u201cmasterpiece\u201d prior to its release. I went into the film with a certain set of expectations, and I unfortunately don\u2019t feel like those expectations were satisfied completely. It\u2019s certainly a technical marvel, and it does succeed on a fundamental level, but it also has its flaws. However, having seen the film in a noisy environment which divided my attention, I also feel as though I\u2019m going to have to watch the film again in order to give it a fair assessment. For now, I can only say that \u201cBoyhood\u201d is a complex and interesting film that should be experienced by as many people as possible, because it\u2019s truly unlike any film I\u2019ve ever seen before."}
-{"text": "\u66f4\u65b0\n\n\u964d\u5727\u5264\u300c\u30c7\u30a3\u30aa\u30d0\u30f3\u300d\u306e\u8ca9\u58f2\u4fc3\u9032\u306e\u305f\u3081\u306b\u3001\u6539\u7ac4\uff08\u304b\u3044\u3056\u3093\uff09\u3057\u305f\u81e8\u5e8a\u30c7\u30fc\u30bf\u3092\u7814\u7a76\u8005\u306b\u63d0\u4f9b\u3057\u3001\u865a\u507d\u306e\u8ad6\u6587\u3092\u516c\u8868\u3055\u305b\u305f\u3068\u3057\u3066\u3001\u85ac\u4e8b\u6cd5\uff08\u73fe\u30fb\u533b\u85ac\u54c1\u533b\u7642\u6a5f\u5668\u6cd5\uff09\u9055\u53cd\uff08\u8a87\u5927\u5e83\u544a\uff09\u7f6a\u306b\u554f\u308f\u308c\u305f\u88fd\u85ac\u4f1a\u793e\u300c\u30ce\u30d0\u30eb\u30c6\u30a3\u30b9\u30d5\u30a1\u30fc\u30de\u300d\u306e\u767d\u6a4b\u4f38\u96c4\u88ab\u544a\uff08\uff16\uff16\uff09\uff1d\u6c42\u5211\u61f2\u5f79\uff12\u5e74\uff16\u6708\uff1d\u3068\u6cd5\u4eba\u3068\u3057\u3066\u306e\u540c\u793e\uff1d\u540c\u7f70\u91d1\uff14\uff10\uff10\u4e07\u5186\uff1d\u306e\u5224\u6c7a\u516c\u5224\u304c\uff11\uff16\u65e5\u3001\u6771\u4eac\u5730\u88c1\u3067\u958b\u304b\u308c\u305f\u3002\u8fbb\u5ddd\u9756\u592b\u88c1\u5224\u9577\u306f\u3068\u3082\u306b\u7121\u7f6a\u3092\u8a00\u3044\u6e21\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\u8fbb\u5ddd\u88c1\u5224\u9577\u306f\u300c\u767d\u6a4b\u5143\u793e\u54e1\u306f\u8ca9\u4fc3\u76ee\u7684\u3067\u6545\u610f\u306b\u6539\u7ac4\u3057\u305f\u30c7\u30fc\u30bf\u3092\u7814\u7a76\u8005\u306b\u6e21\u3057\u3001\u5b66\u8853\u96d1\u8a8c\u306b\u8ad6\u6587\u3092\u63b2\u8f09\u3055\u305b\u305f\u300d\u3068\u8a8d\u5b9a\u3057\u305f\u304c\u3001\u300c\u63b2\u8f09\u524d\u306b\u67fb\u8aad\uff08\u7b2c\u4e09\u8005\u306b\u3088\u308b\u4e8b\u524d\u5be9\u67fb\uff09\u3092\u7d4c\u308b\u5fc5\u8981\u304c\u3042\u308b\u5b66\u8853\u8ad6\u6587\u306e\u6295\u7a3f\u306f\u3001\u91d1\u92ad\u3092\u8ca0\u62c5\u3059\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3067\u63b2\u8f09\u5185\u5bb9\u3092\u6c7a\u3081\u3089\u308c\u308b\u5e83\u544a\u3068\u306f\u6027\u8cea\u304c\u9055\u3046\u3002\u4eca\u56de\u306e\u8ad6\u6587\u63b2\u8f09\u3082\u3001\u96d1\u8a8c\u306e\u6027\u683c\u3084\u67fb\u8aad\u3092\u7d4c\u305f\u3053\u3068\u306a\u3069\u3092\u8003\u616e\u3059\u308b\u3068\u4e00\u822c\u7684\u306a\u5b66\u8853\u96d1\u8a8c\u3078\u306e\u63b2\u8f09\u3068\u5909\u308f\u3089\u305a\u3001\u8aad\u8005\u306e\u8cfc\u5165\u610f\u6b32\u3092\u547c\u3073\u8d77\u3053\u3059\u3068\u3044\u3046\u5e83\u544a\u3068\u3057\u3066\u306e\u6027\u8cea\u304c\u3042\u3063\u305f\u3068\u306f\u3044\u3048\u306a\u3044\u300d\u3068\u6307\u6458\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\u305d\u306e\u4e0a\u3067\u300c\u30ce\u793e\u5074\u306b\u8ad6\u6587\u3092\u6839\u62e0\u306b\u8ca9\u58f2\u4fc3\u9032\u3059\u308b\u610f\u56f3\u304c\u3042\u3063\u305f\u3053\u3068\u3084\u3001\u30ce\u793e\u304b\u3089\u7814\u7a76\u8005\u5074\u306b\u5bc4\u4ed8\u91d1\u304c\u63d0\u4f9b\u3055\u308c\u3066\u3044\u305f\u3053\u3068\u3001\u767d\u6a4b\u5143\u793e\u54e1\u304c\u6539\u7ac4\u30c7\u30fc\u30bf\u306b\u57fa\u3065\u304f\u30c7\u30a3\u30aa\u30d0\u30f3\u306e\u6709\u7528\u6027\u3092\u793a\u3059\u8ad6\u6587\u306e\u767a\u8868\u306b\u5927\u304d\u304f\u95a2\u4e0e\u3057\u305f\u3053\u3068\u306a\u3069\u3092\u8003\u616e\u3057\u3066\u3082\u8a87\u5927\u5e83\u544a\u3068\u306f\u3044\u3048\u306a\u3044\u300d\u3068\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\u7d9a\u304d\u3092\u8aad\u3080"}
-{"text": "Trump may be far from the ideal conservative, but he\u2019s shown conservatives exactly what to look for.\n\nSome say Donald Trump is petty and egotistical. Others note his own subordinates war against him. For many, he has joined the swamp on guns, crime, and budgets. Famously, some of his greatest historical supporters think he is falling short on his central mandate.\n\nSo how is he still a dramatically better president than his last four predecessors?\n\nBush 41 squandered the momentum of the Reagan Revolution, and his son fractured the Right\u2019s foreign-policy coalition so badly it still hasn\u2019t reforged a coherent consensus a decade later.\n\nWhere he\u2019s failing, he\u2019s no worse than the Republican norm.\n\nThe best that can be said of either man\u2019s conservative legacy is that they gave us one solid Supreme Court justice apiece, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. I trust I needn\u2019t convince this crowd of Trump\u2019s superiority to Clinton and Obama.\n\nBy contrast, Trump surpasses Reagan on slashing regulations, displays unmatched proactivity for the right to life, defends religious liberty, opposes transgender madness from schools to the military, and shows Republicans how to confront Democrat spin, media dishonesty, and cultural battles.\n\nWhere he\u2019s failing, he\u2019s no worse than the Republican norm.\n\nSome of this can be explained by certain undeniable gifts like his energy, his knack for identifying concerns neglected by both parties, and his flair for branding his opponents.\n\nBut the key difference isn\u2019t some twelfth-dimensional chess genius; it\u2019s what Trump lacks. The absence of habits that make most Republicans so ineffectual.\n\nIt simply doesn\u2019t occur to Trump not to call call liars \u201cliars,\u201d that he should pretend not to notice Democrats are moral monsters who want to steal elections.\n\nHe was never baptized into the Beltway GOP\u2019s religion of unconditional civility. He didn\u2019t get the memo that campaign promises are just window dressing for the interests of the donor class.\n\nWhen Trump sets off a cycle of bipartisan outrage, half the time it\u2019s simply because he doesn\u2019t know, nor care, which subjects are verboten in the swamp.\n\nThese demented standards are also what make the Ahmari-French \u201cdecency\u201d debate so exhausting.\n\nThis lack of deference to establishment \u201cnorms\u201d is what \u201crespectable\u201d conservatives hate about him. It\u2019s certainly not his character (they\u2019ll overlook countless indecencies from better-mannered Republicans) nor his liberal positions (would any #NeverTrumper have even considered #NeverKasich had 2016 put that choice before us?).\n\nMost of them, consciously or not, bought into P.J. O\u2019Rourke\u2019s logic (endorsed at National Review by Charles Murray) that while Hillary Clinton may have been wrong on everything, at least she was \u201cwrong within normal parameters\u201d\u2014if not by supporting Clinton herself (or at least not admitting to supporting her), then by judging presidents on standards largely divorced from their actual results in office.\n\nThese demented standards are also what make the Sohrab Ahmari vs David French \u201cdecency\u201d debate so exhausting. Serious conservatives don\u2019t reject decency; we reject the premise that swampcons\u2019 standards are decent at all.\n\nThere\u2019s nothing decent about letting child-slaughter enthusiasts feel comfortable in their barbarism.\n\nThere\u2019s nothing decent about perpetuating rules and habits that sabotage the causes for which Americans voted.\n\nThere\u2019s nothing decent about demonizing conservative voters for prioritizing conservatism in their politics.\n\nThere\u2019s nothing decent about holding two sets of standards for honesty and civility depending on whether the offender is inside or outside the club.\n\nAnd there\u2019s nothing decent about basing your vote on anything other than the net suffering of your countrymen that an election\u2019s outcome will either cause or prevent.\n\nThere\u2019s nothing decent about demonizing conservative voters for prioritizing conservatism in their politics.\n\nOf course, Trump\u2019s lack of a swamp filter isn\u2019t all it takes to be a good president. As stated at the outset, he needs to be steered rightward on several fronts. But if his presidency is to be a success\u2014and if any good is to follow it\u2014then it has to start by smashing \u201cnormal parameters\u201d beyond repair, replacing them with a laser focus on results.\n\nNot resentment over old wounds. Not the avoidance of dirty looks from one\u2019s social circles. Not defensiveness because a candidate impugns old, dominant models of how politics is supposed to work. Not moral standards that conservative elites have never applied to their own candidates. And not evaluations that ignore the fallout of electing the alternative.\n\nJust a rigorous conversation about who will do the things we claim to believe in, and how.\n\nTrump has far from every quality the ideal conservative officeholder needs, but\u2014almost accidentally\u2014he\u2019s shown conservatives exactly what to look for.\n\nCalvin Freiburger is a Wisconsin-based commentator who primarily writes for LifeSiteNews. He was previously an assistant editor at The Federalist Papers Project and worked for the National Pro-Life Alliance."}
-{"text": "Yo, the one-word messaging app with an emphasis on simplicity, just got a lot more complicated.\n\nYo's newest update introduces the ability to see the user profiles, send and receive link attachments, start your own Yo hashtag, and browse something called the Yo Index.\n\nIt's the first major overhaul of the app, but fans of Yo's overly colorful design will be pleased to see that the app looks largely the same.\n\nThe app's functionality, however, has morphed from a stripped-down two-way communication tool into a notification app for websites and services.\n\nYou can still send and receive Yo's like you could before, but the app's overall stark simplicity has been exchanged for a host of services that distract from the original intention of the app.\n\nSome of the new features make sense, others represent an indulgence in social features that make little sense outside of pitching Yo's services to companies and brands.\n\nThe new user profiles let you swipe a username to peek at the user's real name and photo (if you choose to display that info). It's a tiny addition that helps make sense of your friends list.\n\nFor those interested in using Yo for website notifications in addition to person-to-person messaging, the Yo Index is a tidy list to help you stay on top of the various notification services you can set up. There's \"YoMyPackage\" for receiving a Yo when your Fedex package arrives, \"Craigslist\" for notifications on new listings, and even \"Tweetstorm,\" which offers to Yo you when \"venture capitalist Marc Andreeson begins a tweet storm on Twitter.\"\n\nThe introduction of hashtags, however, is our first indication that Yo's creators want to turn Yo into a social experience that brands can take advantage of. Anyone can create a hashtag and Yo it to their friends, and you can check how many Yo's your hashtag has received by swiping right.\n\nThere's even a trending page. If you think about it, Yo hashtags are really just a way to quantify interest in a topic or brand. Thrilling.\n\nThe last addition to Yo enables you to send and receive URL links in your Yo notifications.\n\nSay, for example, you want to share an interesting article you read. You can now copy the link, open up Yo, and then tap and hold a finger on a friend's name to send it along. Your friend will receive a traditional Yo, but a tiny asterisk lets them know it contains a link. Opening the notification will then open the link.\n\nAgain, many of Yo's new features aren't necessarily bad, they just represent an evolution away from the simplicity of an app you didn't even have to open to use. The core of Yo is still there, but its team likely realized that brands and companies want to turn notifications into advertisements instead of messages, and that's an entirely new product altogether.\n\nYou can download the latest version of Yo here."}
-{"text": "East Coast beachgoers, beware.\n\nA study released today shows that oil from the catastrophic spill in the Gulf of Mexico could foul thousands of miles of the Atlantic coast as early as this summer.\n\nThe National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) led the study, which used powerful computer models to estimate the potential path of the oil over the next few weeks and months.\n\n\"Our best knowledge says the scope of this environmental disaster is likely to reach far beyond Florida, with impacts that have yet to be understood,\" says NCAR scientist Synte Peacock, who worked on the study.\n\nThe computer simulations show that once the oil enters the Gulf of Mexico's Loop Current, it could reach Florida's Atlantic coast within weeks. It would then move as far as Cape Hatteras, N.C., with the Gulf Stream, before turning east.\n\nThe flow of the oil in the computer model is the best estimate of how ocean currents are likely to behave under normal wind conditions.\n\nScientists stress this is just a simulation, not an exact forecast, and show only a possible outcome for the oil. Regional weather conditions and the ever-changing Loop Current will determine its specific course.\n\nHowever, all six model simulations released today -- with different Loop Current characteristics and different scenarios of how the oil might be dispersed -- bring the oil to south Florida and then up the East Coast.\n\nThese results have not yet been submitted for peer-review publication.\n\nBy Doyle Rice"}
-{"text": "Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad delivers a speech at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China, April 26, 2019. \u2014 Reuters pic\n\nKUALA LUMPUR, April 28 \u2014 The thorny ties between Putrajaya and Johor surfaced in China today where Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is attending a symposium on the Belt and Road Initiative.\n\nIn a news conference in Beijing that was streamed \u201clive\u201d over Facebook to Malaysia, Dr Mahathir noted that ascension to the throne is not cast in stone for the heir-designate even as he pointed out that prime ministers can only be changed by public vote in a democracy.\n\n\u201cWe need to remember the past when a crown prince had to abdicate and the position was given to his younger brother. That\u2019s the crown prince, a crown prince can be changed. Only the people can change the prime minister, not just anybody or someone who thinks he is big,\u201d he said.\n\nDr Mahathir\u2019s leadership of Malaysia was put under the microscope again by Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Ibrahim in recent weeks ahead of Pakatan Harapan\u2019s first anniversary.\n\nTies between the federal government and the Johor palace became frostier after May 9 last year when the 93-year-old from Kedah became PM for the second time.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s not big, he\u2019s a small fry. If he thinks he\u2019s big, go and vote and bring me down,\u201d Dr Mahathir sarcastically replied to a question regarding Tunku Ismail\u2019s recent remarks.\n\nIn a recently viral video, the Tunku Mahkota Johor was seen leaving the Tan Sri Dato\u2019 Haji Hassan Yunos Stadium in Larkin, Johor, after football club Johor Darul Ta\u2019zim\u2019s 0-1 defeat to Shandong Luneng in the AFC Champions League last Wednesday night.\n\nSome of the fans chanted \u201cHidup TMJ\u201d (long live TMJ, in reference to Tunku Ismail\u2019s title) but one shouted \u201cchange Mora\u201d, referring to the football team\u2019s coach Benjamin Mora.\n\nTunku Ismail\u2019s vehicle suddenly stopped and the crown prince stuck his head out of the window and said: \u201cInstead of changing Mora, it\u2019s better to change the prime minister\u201d."}
-{"text": "I had a couple of conversations while at Comic-Con with people connected to Marvel Studios working on the Disney Plus series, including The Falcon and Winter Soldier.\n\nThe initial conversation I had was that the script for The Falcon and Winter Soldier was a complete disaster and a mess, almost to the point of Marvel being in panic mode, but I was told they are fixing things and getting things right.\n\nIt is actually pretty normal for an initial script to be not up to par, but then when the studio gets their hands on it, they fix things.\n\nIt's my understanding that Marvel Studios is set up similar to how TV studios have a writers room, so when something comes in, the Marvel Studios team goes over things and changes things to their liking.\n\nAgain, while I was told The Falcon and Winter Soldier had major, major problems, everything appears to be getting fixed.\n\nDaniel Bruhl returns as Zemo in Falcon and Winter Soldier:\n\nDisney Plus Marvel series are on the right path\n\nA separate source close to Marvel Studios I chatted with at Comic-Con also reassured me that the Disney Plus Marvel Studios TV series are of a high caliber and quality of content.\n\nI said I was really looking forward to Tom Hiddleston returning in Loki and that WandaVision looks especially good as it leads into Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness which will also star Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch.\n\nThe source couldn't really go into details, but again reassured me the Disney Plus Marvel series are on the right path and are really good."}
-{"text": "Retailers will be free to charge consumers whatever they\u2019d like for used Xbox One games, according to MCV UK retail sources.\n\nThese sources have detailed how used game trade-ins will work with the new system.\n\n1) Bring your game to your local game shop. This must be a retailer who has agreed to Microsoft\u2019s terms and conditions and has integrated Microsoft\u2019s cloud-based Azure pre-owned system into its own.\n\n2) The game willbe registered as having been traded in and wiped from the previous user\u2019s account.\n\n3) The retailer is free to sell the pre-owned game at any price they\u2019d like, but Microsoft and the publisher will receive a percentage cut of the sale.\n\nKeep in mind that this is unconfirmed, as Microsoft has yet to detail the process.\n\nA separate source at ConsoleDeals claims the retailer\u2019s cut of used game sales will be as little as ten percent. It also suggests that activation fees for consumers buying used game software will be \u00a335, \u00a35 less than the standard \u00a340 for current generation software. Again, these reports are unconfirmed.\n\nWhen asked for comment, Microsoft said it has \u201cnot confirmed any specific scenarios.\u201d\n\nUpdate: Microsoft has issued an official statement.\n\n\u201cThe ability to trade in and resell games is important to gamers and to Xbox,\u201d the company said. \u201cXbox One is designed to support the trade in and resale of games. Reports about our policies for trade in and resale are inaccurate and incomplete. We will disclose more information in the near future.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Having a killer Tinder bio is one of the most important part of meeting girls on Tinder.\n\nThere\u2019s really nothing more to it. If she doesn\u2019t like what she sees on your Tinder bio, you\u2019re done. It doesn\u2019t matter how witty you are, or how good your game is.\n\nIf she doesn\u2019t like your Tinder bio, she\u2019s gonna swipe left.\n\nWith that being said, Tinder is absolutely a numbers game. One of the best investments you can make in your sex life is to get your Tinder bio down pat so that you have a steady stream of girls always coming to you.\n\nYOUR TINDER BIO MUST ENGAGE HER\n\nWomen are bored.\n\nThere\u2019s a reason women want to be dominated. There\u2019s a reason 50 Shades of Grey sells so damn well.\n\nAgain, they\u2019re bored.\n\nSo\u2026don\u2019t be boring.\n\nAnd this goes even more true for online game \u2013 it\u2019s the easiest form of \u201cgame\u201d \u2013 so the most men will use it. This means that she has the most options out of anywhere.\n\nLearn how to crack online dating: Cracking OkCupid\n\nIf you have a typical Tinder bio that describes your boring job and doesn\u2019t engage her emotionally, she\u2019s not going to be hooked on you. Sure she may still swipe right on you for your photos, but if you give her a reason to want to message you, or at least respond to your message, your chances of getting her out on a date rise significantly.\n\nThat\u2019s what matters \u2013 how many dates are you getting and how many are you having sex with? I don\u2019t particularly care if I get 5,000 matches if none of them meet me. I\u2019d much rather get 10 matches and have two of them willing to meet me.\n\nAgainst my somewhat better judgment, I\u2019m posting my full Tinder bio here, knowing full well this is going to be repeatedly copied (I admit: the suga mama part is something I modified from\u2026somewhere. Maybe The Game. I can\u2019t remember.)\n\n[thrive_text_block color=\u201ddark\u201d headline=\u201dMY TINDER BIO\u201d]\n\nFirst, a test:\n\n1.)? or ? ?\n\n2.) ? or ??\n\n3.) ? or ? ?\n\nNew to LA. No, I don\u2019t work in \u201cthe industry\u201d ?\n\n\n\nI\u2019m a well-endowed beautiful stallion looking for a suga mama to wine and dine him. Expensive dinners, elaborate vacations, and a monthly spending allowance are required. Ferrari 458 is a required up-front payment.\n\nAlso\u2026I\u2019m kinda sarcastic ?\n\n[/thrive_text_block]\n\nTHE 80/20 RULE OF TINDER\n\nYou\u2019ve probably heard of the 80/20 rule in some part of life.\n\n20% of the people in the world have 80% of the money.\n\nYou can 80% of your work done in the 20% portion of the day that you\u2019re the most focused.\n\nWell, you can apply the 80/20 rule to Tinder as well. This means that 20% of the men on Tinder (who have strong bios, pics, and game) are having sex with 80% of the women on Tinder (assuming they are willing to at least meet in person).\n\nI know guys who won\u2019t listen to my advice that can\u2019t get one Tinder date. Meanwhile, I could easily have a date every night of the week if I wanted to. And hell, I go through phases where I do go on five dates a week; it\u2019s exhausting, but that\u2019s a story for another time.\n\nThe thing is, it\u2019s really not all that difficult to break into that top 20%. Just look at this profile that GQ (G-fucking-Q!!!) promotes on their website:\n\nTHIS IS GQ PROMOTING THIS CRAP!\n\nJust look at that Tinder bio. It\u2019s completely feminine. It sucks. I question whether Francis has a penis.\n\nThat is all the proof you need to show that you don\u2019t have to do all that much to rise into the top 20%. If mainstream sites like GQ are pushing that kind of bullshit\u2026man. You all know it\u2019s easy to be better than Francis.\n\nTINDER BIO: A DISCLAIMER OF SORTS\n\nThe funny thing is that men are known as being the sex who is shallow and only cares about looks. Over the last couple weeks I\u2019ve been comprehensively testing if women truly read your Tinder bio text. I\u2019ve pretty much developed a foolproof way of proving they do not read your profile at all.\n\nHow, you ask?\n\nWell, my Tinder bio now says the below\u2026in BIG CAPITAL LETTERS.\n\n(It\u2019s followed by most of the above bio)\n\n[thrive_text_block color=\u201ddark\u201d headline=\u201dNEW TINDER BIO \u2013 WOMEN ARE SHALLOW\u201d]\n\nI\u2019m a writer who makes my living blogging, authoring books, and traveling the world.\n\nTHISISTROUBLE.COM\n\n[/thrive_text_block]\n\nYes, my website where I talk about having sex with women is smack in the middle of my Tinder bio.\n\nAnd do you know how many women have mentioned it to me?\n\nZero.\n\nEvery girl I\u2019ve matched, every number I\u2019ve gotten \u2013 none of them have mentioned my website. Which is funny, because I actually will go back and read a girl\u2019s profile once I\u2019ve matched her and started exchanging a couple of messages. It\u2019s become obvious to me that women aren\u2019t even reading their match\u2019s Tinder bio these days.\n\nAnd they say men are shallow.\n\nHa!\n\nIt should be noted that several have still taken my test \u2013 so it\u2019s possible they\u2019re just too lazy to go and type the web address in. I would be, too.\n\nHowever, I think times have changed \u2013 women are so overwhelmed by the amount of attention they get on these sites, sometimes they just pass it by.\n\nWith this post, you now have the keys to the kingdom."}
-{"text": "what if the government hired romney to lose just so the people feel like they're still in control?\n\n85,614 shares"}
-{"text": "Literally dozens of people came out to ASA Hall of Fame Stadium tonight in Oklahoma City to see the USA Futures defeat the USA National Team in a 38-37 win, decided on a tag out at the plate on the final play. However, the first two outs of the inning came when two players hit home runs, actual fair balls over the fence. You see, that's because the team had already hit its 10 home runs for the games. That's all you get.\n\n\nCheck out the above clip, which ended the National Team's fifth inning, in which they scored 20 runs. (They scored none in the third.) The batter is penalized for hitting a 415-foot home run, and then he goes to throw his bat in disgust, as if he never meant to crush the pitch into oblivion. It seems antithetical to everything we like about baseball and its various offshoots.\n\nHowever, I'll confess I kind of loved this whole spectacle and was completely sucked in as soon as I started watching. And any ESPN2 programming that doesn't involve Skip Bayless can't be all that bad."}
-{"text": "Turcia \u0219i-a \u00eencoronat prima centur\u0103 neagr\u0103 feminin\u0103 \u00een BJJ (VIDEO)\n\nAsena Melike A\u011fansoy de la Corvos MMA din Istanbul a intrat \u00een istorie devenind prima femeie cu centur\u0103 neagr\u0103 \u00een BJJ (Jiu Jitsu Brazilian) din Turcia.\n\nInstructorul ei, Burak Deger Bicer (prima centur\u0103 neagr\u0103 \u00een BJJ cu sediul \u00een Turcia) a \u00eencoronat-o pe Asena \u00een cadrul unei ceremonii emo\u021bionante. \u00cen aceea\u0219i sear\u0103 au mai fost \u00eenzestrate cu aceast\u0103 \u00eenalt\u0103 distinc\u021bie \u00een BJJ \u00eenc\u0103 dou\u0103 persoane, Kaan Fazla \u0219i fratele Asenei, Ugur A\u011fansoy.\n\n\u201eDup\u0103 ce am visat la acest moment vreme de 5 ani, am primit \u00een sf\u00e2r\u0219it centura neagr\u0103 din m\u00e2inile profesorului meu \u0219i am devenit prima femeie cu centur\u0103 neagr\u0103 de la Corvos MMA \u0219i totodat\u0103 \u0219i din Turcia. Asear\u0103 am realizat c\u0103 \u00een tot acest timp \u00een care am visat la aceast\u0103 realizare, am reu\u0219it ceva mai important dec\u00e2t ob\u021binerea centurii negre \u00een BJJ. Exact acum 5 ani, dup\u0103 ce am concurat la Europene ca centur\u0103 alb\u0103, am decis s\u0103 devin un atlet profesionist, ceea ce reprezint\u0103 cea mai bun\u0103 decizie din via\u021ba mea,\u201d a declarat Asena.\n\n\u201eDatorit\u0103 BJJ-ului am reu\u0219it s\u0103-mi fac ni\u0219te prieteni extraordinari \u0219i amintiri frumoase pe \u00eentreg globul.\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201eV\u0103 mul\u021bumesc! Simt de parc\u0103 abia acum \u00eencep!\u201d"}
-{"text": "This story appears in the February 2013 issue of National Geographic magazine.\n\nThe khan dreams of a car. Never mind that there isn\u2019t a road. His father, the previous khan, spent his life lobbying for a road. The new khan does the same. A road, he argues, would permit doctors, and their medicines, to easily reach them. Then maybe all the dying would stop. Teachers too could get to them. Also traders. There could be vegetables. And then his people\u2014the Kyrgyz nomads of remote Afghanistan\u2014might have a legitimate chance to thrive. A road is the khan\u2019s work. A car is his dream.\n\n\u201cWhat kind of car?\u201d I ask.\n\n\u201cWhatever car you want to give me,\u201d he says. The ends of his mustache curl around a smile.\n\nBut for now, with no car and no road, the reality is a yak. The khan is holding one by a rope strung through its nose. Other yaks are standing by. It\u2019s moving day; everything the khan owns needs to be tied to the back of a yak. This includes a dozen teapots, a cast-iron stove, a car battery, two solar panels, a yurt, and 43 blankets. His younger brother and a few others are helping. The yaks buck and kick and snort; loading them is as much wrestling as packing.\n\nMoving is what nomads do. For the Kyrgyz of Afghanistan, it\u2019s from two to four times a year, depending on the weather and the availability of grass for the animals. They call their homeland Bam-e Dunya, which means \u201croof of the world.\u201d This might sound poetic and beautiful\u2014it is undeniably beautiful\u2014but it\u2019s also an environment at the very cusp of human survivability. Their land consists of two long, glacier-carved valleys, called pamirs, stashed deep within the great mountains of Central Asia. Much of it is above 14,000 feet. The wind is furious; crops are impossible to grow. The temperature can drop below freezing 340 days a year. Many Kyrgyz have never seen a tree.\n\nThe valleys are located in a strange, pincer-shaped appendage of land jutting from the northeast corner of Afghanistan. This strip, often referred to as the Wakhan corridor, was a result of the 19th century\u2019s so-called Great Game, when the British and Russian Empires fought for influence in Central Asia. The two powers created it, through a series of treaties between 1873 and 1895, as a buffer zone\u2014a sort of geographical shock absorber\u2014preventing tsarist Russia from touching British India. In previous centuries the area was part of the Silk Road connecting China and points west, the route of armies and explorers and missionaries. Marco Polo passed through in the late 1200s.\n\nBut communist revolutions\u2014Russia in 1917, China in 1949\u2014eventually sealed the borders. What was once a conduit became a cul-de-sac. Now, in the postcolonial age, the corridor is bordered by Tajikistan to the north, Pakistan to the south, and China to the east. Mainland Afghanistan, to the west, can seem so far away\u2014the corridor is about 200 miles long\u2014that some Kyrgyz refer to it as a foreign country. They feel locked in a distant outpost, encaged by a spiked fence of snowy peaks, lost in the swirl of history and politics and conflict.\n\nTo reach the nearest existing road\u2014the road the khan wants extended into Kyrgyz territory\u2014requires at least a three-day journey through the mountains, on a trail where a fall could be deadly. The closest significant town, one with shops and a basic hospital, is an additional day\u2019s travel. This intense isolation is the reason the Kyrgyz suffer from a catastrophic death rate. There\u2019s no doctor, no health clinic, few medicines. In the harsh environment, even a minor ailment\u2014a sniffle, a headache\u2014can swiftly turn virulent. The death rate for children among Afghan Kyrgyz may be the highest in the world. Less than half live to their fifth birthday. It is not unusual for parents to lose five children, or six, or seven. Women die at an alarming rate while giving birth.\n\nI met one couple, Halcha Khan and Abdul Metalib, who had 11 children. \u201cEvery year,\u201d said Abdul, \u201cone would die.\u201d They died as infants, as toddlers, as little kids. Many likely died from easily treatable diseases. Each was wrapped in a white shroud and buried in a shallow grave. \u201cThat cut me into pieces,\u201d said Abdul. To numb the pain, Halcha and Abdul turned to opium. The drug\u2019s easy availability has created an epidemic of addiction among the Kyrgyz. Only one of their children, a son, survived to age five. Then he too passed away.\n\nThe khan knows about the outside world. He has twice traveled beyond the Wakhan region, and he exchanges news with merchants who venture into Kyrgyz land, trading his animals for goods like cloth, jewelry, opium, sunglasses, saddles, carpets, and lately, cell phones\u2014not for calls (there\u2019s no reception) but for playing music and taking pictures.\n\nThe khan realizes that the rest of the planet, day by day, is leaving his people behind. The Kyrgyz nomads, with a total population of about 1,100, have only just begun a rudimentary educational system. The khan himself has never learned to read or write. He knows that almost everyone else has access to medical help, that the world is connected by cars and computers. He knows that children aren\u2019t supposed to die like this.\n\nIt is a lot for a young leader to bear. The khan is only 32 and looks it\u2014even his mustache, with its expressive little Fu Manchu tips, can\u2019t mask his boyish appearance. He\u2019s diminutive too, no more than five feet seven, and moves with a nervous, jackrabbity energy. He has light brown eyes and ruddy, wind-chapped skin and is partial to wearing a fur-lined cap with the earflaps tied overhead. He dresses, like most Kyrgyz men, in an all-black outfit, jacket to pants to shoes. He\u2019s not above telling the occasional dirty joke.\n\nHis name is Hajji Roshan Khan. He and his wife, Toiluk, have four daughters. The \u201cHajji\u201d part of his name is an honorific, meaning he\u2019s been to Mecca. The Kyrgyz are Sunni Muslims, and in 2008 his father, Abdul Rashid Khan, took him\u2014him alone out of 14 children\u2014to Saudi Arabia. That was the first time he\u2019d left the Wakhan. The other time was last spring, when he traveled to Kabul and met with ministers in the Afghan government, as well as President Hamid Karzai, pleading for funding to build a medical clinic and a couple of schools and, of course, the road.\n\nThough his father was the khan, the position of tribal leader is not hereditary. It must be agreed upon by the elders of the community. When Abdul Rashid Khan died in 2009, it was clear whom he wished to succeed him. That summer, Er Ali Bai, one of the more respected Kyrgyz, invited the leading elders to his camp. A camp is the chief division of Kyrgyz life\u2014three to ten families who migrate together and share the herding of yaks and fat-tailed sheep and long-haired goats.\n\nThe Kyrgyz are not poor. Though paper money is almost nonexistent, many camps\u2019 herds contain hundreds of valuable animals, including the horses and donkeys used for transportation. The basic unit of Kyrgyz currency is a sheep. A cell phone costs one sheep. A yak costs about 10 sheep. A high-quality horse is 50. The going rate for a bride is 100. The wealthiest families own the ultimate Kyrgyz status symbol\u2014a camel, the two-humped kind, called a Bactrian, that appears perpetually foul tempered.\n\nEr Ali Bai has six camels. He\u2019s 57 years old and walks with a pronounced limp, leaning on a metal hiking pole that was given to him by a visitor. When the mood strikes, he\u2019s prone to whack somebody playfully\u2014yet painfully\u2014with his pole. He loves to chat on his walkie-talkie. These two-way radios, recently introduced by itinerant traders, have allowed news to be passed from camp to camp, though the resulting information is often as accurate as in the party game telephone. Er Ali Bai is the owner of the only chicken in Kyrgyz country. The chicken, a hen, has one leg. The other was lost to frostbite.\n\nAbout 40 men arrived at Er Ali Bai\u2019s camp to anoint the new khan. They sat outside on blankets, in a large circle. Sheep and goats were slaughtered, the traditional way to begin any Kyrgyz occasion. The hunk of fat around a sheep\u2019s tail, boiled until gelatinous and pale yellow, is a great delicacy. They met for more than eight hours. In the end everybody agreed that Hajji Roshan Khan would be the new leader.\n\nThey agreed, but this doesn\u2019t mean the khan is well liked. In fact, many people have deep misgivings about him. This is not surprising. The Kyrgyz are notoriously fractious and independent minded. They don\u2019t often rally around a leader, says Ted Callahan, an anthropological researcher who lived with the Kyrgyz for more than a year. A Kyrgyz joke goes that if you put three people in a yurt and come back an hour later, you\u2019ll find five khans.\n\nSome say the new khan is too young. Or too inexperienced. They say he\u2019s an opium smoker. (He insists he\u2019s quit.) They say he is not sangeen, which means \u201clike a rock,\u201d representing the strength and toughness the Kyrgyz look for in a leader. One faction argues that a rival who lives on the other end of the valley should have become khan. Others insist there is no need for a khan anymore; the time of the khans is finished.\n\nThe new khan\u2019s biggest supporter, though, is Er Ali Bai. Some critics complain that an aksakal\u2014a \u201cwhite beard\u201d\u2014should have been picked. \u201cYes,\u201d Er Ali Bai replies. \u201cThere are people with long beards. Goats also have long beards. Should we have selected a goat?\u201d There\u2019s no need for concern, he adds. \u201cHe will become a great khan.\u201d\n\nStill, the young khan worries. He\u2019s striving to convince his people that he is the right person for this job. And he is working to resolve the tremendous problems the Kyrgyz face as they fight to survive in one of Earth\u2019s most unforgiving environments.\n\nOn moving day the khan must focus on making sure the loaded yaks arrive at his summer camp. Though it\u2019s late June, snow falls, swirling beneath cottage cheese clouds. But the khan can\u2019t wait. The grass at his winter camp requires every day of the brief growing season to renew.\n\nThe khan and his family live in a gloomy, thick-walled mud hut in winter, and in a yurt the rest of the time. Each Kyrgyz camp follows a relatively simple migration pattern, living on the warmer, south-facing side of the valley in winter, then trekking the five or so miles to the other side in summer. I catch a ride on one of the khan\u2019s tamer yaks and join the procession.\n\nThe horizon, everywhere you look, is halted by towering chiseled peaks. Here, on the roof of the world, several of Asia\u2019s highest ranges meet\u2014the Hindu Kush, the Karakoram, the Kunlun\u2014a spot so tangled with mountains it\u2019s known as the Pamir Knot. The Wakhan corridor is also the birthplace of rivers flowing both east and west, including the Amu Darya, or \u201cmother river,\u201d one of the main waterways of Central Asia.\n\nWe reach the banks of the Aksu River. This time of year, with snowmelt accelerating, it\u2019s deep and rapid. The khan\u2019s loaded yaks plunge in. Two of them lose their footing and begin drifting downstream, carried by the current, noses held above water, eyes wild, the stacks of supplies on their backs getting soaked.\n\nThe khan\u2019s brother-in-law, Darya Bai, charges into the water on his horse. Gripping the reins in one hand, leaning sideways in his saddle, he grabs a yak\u2019s neck and tries to haul it across. For a moment it seems that the yaks, the supplies, and the brother-in-law might all be swept downriver. But they\u2019re carried into an oxbow where the water flattens, and the yaks, followed by Darya Bai, soon emerge on the far bank, dripping and shaking.\n\nThen the khan crosses on his horse with his five-year-old daughter, Rabia, her hands clamped around his waist, feet raised to avoid getting wet. His two-year-old, Arizo, rides behind his wife, while his other children, six-year-old Kumush Ai (Silver Moon) and three-year-old Jolshek, share a horse with their uncle.\n\nThey reach a grassy area at the mouth of a narrow, glacier-packed side canyon. Goats stare from atop a pointy boulder. The wind\u2014the brutal, unrelenting bad-e Wakhan\u2014picks up. Snowflakes hurtle sideways, stinging faces. Loads are dumped from the yaks into a large pile.\n\nThe khan\u2019s wife and children huddle while the men begin building the yurt, listening to Kyrgyz music on a cell phone\u2014a chanty tune featuring a three-stringed lute called a komuz. Constructing a yurt is a jigsaw puzzle feat requiring several hours. When finished, a yurt from the outside seems unimpressive, a sort of lumpy boiled potato, the whole thing covered in dirty white felt that the Kyrgyz make themselves.\n\nThe Kyrgyz are not the most gregarious people. They don\u2019t laugh much. They own no books, no playing cards, no board games. Their one dance is little more than a gentle waving of a handkerchief. With a single exception\u2014a young boy who filled a notebook with marvelous penciled portraits\u2014I met no one who seemed interested in fine art or drawing. A wedding I attended was shockingly joyless, with the exception of a game of buzkashi, a fast and violent sport played on horseback with the headless carcass of a goat as the ball.\n\nKyrgyz manners could be considered gruff. It\u2019s acceptable to walk away in the middle of a conversation. More than once, without asking, a man would thrust his hand into my pocket to see what I kept in there. Or snatch my glasses off my nose to inspect them. The Kyrgyz eat meat by slicing off hunks and stashing the leftovers in a pocket. There\u2019s not much singing.\n\nPerhaps this is understandable. This is a place, as the khan says, where \u201cyou get old fast.\u201d Maybe, when you are always cold, when you watch a half dozen of your children die, some emotion is sandpapered away. Maybe this land is too windy, too remote, too hard. If it doesn\u2019t kill you, it damages you; it robs you of a certain channel of joy.\n\nUntil you step into a Kyrgyz yurt. Move aside the heavy felt door. And suddenly everything changes. The outside world disappears, and you\u2019ve walked into a Kyrgyz wonderland. The blankets and carpets and wall hangings and ceiling coverings are all decorated with ornate designs\u2014paisley, flowered, spangled, psychedelic, kaleidoscopic. This is where the family eats and sleeps and escapes, in this ecstatic explosion of color.\n\nIn the center of the yurt is either an open fire or an iron stove. There\u2019s no wood in Kyrgyz country. Instead they burn yak dung, which actually emits a sweet odor. Always, there is a teapot on the boil. Usually several. Tea is the staple of the Kyrgyz; they drink it with yak milk and salt, and they drink it constantly. \u201cI drink 120 cups a day,\u201d Er Ali Bai told me. He probably wasn\u2019t exaggerating much.\n\nThe Kyrgyz also eat yak-milk yogurt, fizzy and thick, and a hard cheese called kurut, which you soften in your mouth for several minutes before chewing. Also unleavened rounds of bread the size of pizzas. Meat is reserved for special gatherings. The closest to a vegetable is a tiny wild onion, no bigger than a pea.\n\nThere is one thing more expressive than a Kyrgyz yurt. And that is a Kyrgyz woman. Men dress like they\u2019re perpetually on their way to a funeral. Women are Kyrgyz works of art. Atop their heads are tall, cylindrical caps draped with giant head scarves\u2014red for unmarried women, white for married\u2014that flow behind them like superheroes\u2019 capes.\n\nThey wear long, bright-red dresses, usually with red vests over them. Attached to this vest is an amazing mosaic of bling. Plastic shirt buttons are sewn around the collar by the dozens. There are sun-shaped brass brooches and leather pouches containing verses from the Koran. I spotted coins, keys, seashells, perfume bottles, and eagle claws. One woman had seven nail clippers pinned to her chest. Every movement by a Kyrgyz woman produces a jangling, wind-chimey tone.\n\nTheir hair is styled in two or more long braids affixed with silver ornaments. They wear multiple necklaces and at least one ring on every finger except the middle ones, even the thumbs. Bracelets galore. Dangly earrings. One watch is rarely enough\u2014two or three are better. I counted as many as six.\n\nThe women perform endless chores\u2014milking the yaks twice a day along with sewing and cooking and cleaning and babysitting. They rarely speak when men are around. I tried, as politely as possible, for half an hour to get one woman to explain why she was wearing three watches. Finally, she answered. \u201cIt\u2019s nice,\u201d she said. I did not exchange a word with the khan\u2019s wife, though I lived in their camp for a week.\n\nThe majority of women I met had never been more than a few miles from where they were born\u2014their biggest journey was traveling to their husbands\u2019 camps after marriage. \u201cWe are not that sort of stupid people who let women go anywhere they want,\u201d explained the khan. All Kyrgyz marriages are arranged, usually when a woman is in her teens. Both the khan and his wife were 15 when they wed.\n\nOne of the few women who chatted with me was a free-spirited widow named Bas Bibi. She guessed she was 70 years old. She\u2019d had five sons and two daughters. They all died. \u201cMen never milk animals,\u201d she said. \u201cOr wash clothes. Or cook meals. If women were not here, nobody could live a single day!\u201d\n\nThroughout their history, the Kyrgyz have always rejected the idea of being controlled by a government or serving as vassals to a king. \u201cWe are untamed humans,\u201d one Kyrgyz man proudly informed me. Their origins are murky. The Kyrgyz are first mentioned in a Chinese document from the second century A.D. and are thought to have come from the Altay Mountains of what is now Siberia and Mongolia. The name Kyrgyz, according to anthropologist Nazif Shahrani, is possibly a compound of kyrk, meaning \u201c40,\u201d and kyz, meaning \u201cgirl\u201d\u2014an etymology the Kyrgyz take to signify \u201cdescendants of 40 maidens.\u201d\n\nNever a large tribe, the Afghan Kyrgyz roamed Central Asia for centuries\u2014they were infamous for raiding Silk Road caravans\u2014and by the 1700s had begun using the valleys where they now live as summertime grazing grounds. They\u2019d leave to warmer areas when winter descended, avoiding the long, cruel season they must now endure. But then came the great empires, and their Great Game, followed by the spread of communism. By 1950 all the borders were shut and, says Ted Callahan, the Kyrgyz \u201cby default became Afghan citizens,\u201d trapped year-round in the Wakhan corridor. In 1978 a military coup upended Kabul, and there was the looming threat of a Soviet invasion. The Kyrgyz feared that Afghanistan too would become communist. Nearly all the Kyrgyz, some 1,300 people, elected to follow the khan at the time\u2014Rahman Kul\u2014and escape across the Hindu Kush into Pakistan.\n\nDisease killed a hundred during their first summer as refugees. Though Rahman Kul urged his people to remain in Pakistan\u2014the Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan, he warned, would ban their religion and crush their freedoms\u2014many Kyrgyz were disillusioned with his leadership. They missed their life on the roof of the world.\n\nSoon there was a split. Abdul Rashid Khan, the current khan\u2019s father, led about 300 Kyrgyz back into Afghanistan, including Er Ali Bai. This is when Abdul Rashid was designated as khan. The Soviet troops, when they arrived, treated the Kyrgyz kindly, and over the past three decades, the population has grown to the current level of more than a thousand, even with the high death rate.\n\nThose who remained in Pakistan with Rahman Kul eventually resettled in eastern Turkey, where they now live in a village of cookie-cutter row houses, with electricity and cable TV and paved roads and cars. They were assigned Turkish last names. They like their video games, their flush toilets. They have been tamed.\n\nDuring his recent trip to Kabul, the khan\u2019s appendix swelled. He went to a hospital and had it surgically removed. Not a big deal. But it rattled him deeply. \u201cIf that had happened here,\u201d he says, \u201cI would have died. Lots of people die here because of that.\u201d\n\nSometimes, among the Kyrgyz of Afghanistan\u2014often at night, sipping tea in the warmth of a yurt\u2014the question is asked: Would they be better off someplace else? Though the Kyrgyz valleys are free from the fighting that afflicts the rest of Afghanistan, living here can feel like a constant roll of the dice. The idea of leaving again, this time for good, seems always in the back of their minds. Some mention relocating to the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, where the same language is spoken and they have ethnic ties. But it is unclear whether this idea is really an option.\n\nEven the young khan is not immune to such thoughts. He admits, in moments of candor, that he\u2019s imagined moving with his family, settling in a town somewhere in mainland Afghanistan. Living a more normal life. Perhaps, the khan thinks, there comes a time to give up on your homeland.\n\nOn the khan\u2019s second day at his summer camp, important news arrives. Two government-employed engineers from Kabul have arrived at the end of the present road to survey routes that would extend the road through the mountains into Kyrgyz territory. The khan must greet them, a trip that will require three days of dawn-to-dark horse riding.\n\nFrom a metal trunk in his yurt, the khan\u2019s wife pulls out his finest clothes\u2014a wool pin-striped suit, tall leather riding boots, a black-and-white scarf. His excitement is palpable. Maybe his people\u2019s fortunes are about to change. \u201cEverybody will be happy,\u201d he says. His wife hands him a dark-blue bottle of cologne and a small brass container of naswar, the potent Afghan chewing tobacco. He climbs on his horse. There\u2019s \u201ca 100 percent chance,\u201d he says, that the road will be built. He snaps his crop on the horse\u2019s flank.\n\nI watch him gallop down the valley. His confidence seems at odds with reality. In a poverty-stricken country with widespread disorder, constructing a road that would cost millions of dollars\u2014possibly hundreds of millions\u2014to help a thousand or so people makes little sense. \u201cNobody is building a road,\u201d agrees Er Ali Bai. In the time of the khan\u2019s father, Er Ali Bai recalls, engineers also came by, also said they were surveying for a road. Nothing ever happened.\n\nA road, Er Ali Bai points out, would bring its own problems. Yes, it would provide easy access for doctors and teachers. But also for tourists. And armies. The outside world would stream in\u2014and that, Er Ali Bai says, might cause the younger generation to crave a less challenging life. To want to leave even more. \u201cThere are people who think riding in cars will make them happy,\u201d says Er Ali Bai. \u201cBut this place is very beautiful. We live with love and family. This is the most peaceful place in the world.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Washington's Farewell Address is a letter written by American President George Washington as a valedictory to \"friends and fellow-citizens\" after 20 years of public service to the United States.[1] He wrote it near the end of his second term of presidency before retiring to his home at Mount Vernon in Virginia.\n\nThe letter was first published as The Address of Gen. Washington to the People of America on His Declining the Presidency of the United States in the American Daily Advertiser on September 19, 1796, about ten weeks before the presidential electors cast their votes in the 1796 election. It is a classic statement of republicanism, warning Americans of the political dangers which they must avoid if they are to remain true to their values. It was almost immediately reprinted in newspapers throughout the country, and later in pamphlet form.[2]\n\nThe first draft was originally prepared by James Madison in June 1792, as Washington contemplated retiring at the end of his first term in office.[3] However, he set it aside and ran for a second term because of heated disputes between Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson which convinced Washington that the growing tensions would rip apart the country without his leadership. This included the state of foreign affairs, and divisions between the newly formed Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties.[4]\n\nAs his second term came to a close four years later, Washington prepared a revision of the original letter with the help of Hamilton to write a new farewell address to announce his intention to decline a third term in office. He reflects on the emerging issues of the American political landscape in 1796, expresses his support for the government eight years after the adoption of the Constitution, defends his administration's record and gives valedictory advice to the American people.[5]\n\nSummary [ edit ]\n\nThe thought of the United States without George Washington as its president caused concern among many Americans. Thomas Jefferson disagreed with many of the president's policies and later led the Democratic-Republicans in opposition to many Federalist policies, but he joined his political rival Alexander Hamilton\u2014the leader of the Federalists\u2014in convincing the president to delay his retirement and serve a second term. The two men feared that the nation would be torn apart without his leadership. Washington most likely referred to this when he told the American people that he had wanted to retire before the last election, but he was convinced by people who were, in his words, \"entitled to my confidence\" that it was his duty to serve a second term.[4] All of the ideas presented in Washington's Farewell Address came from Washington; however, Alexander Hamilton wrote most of it.[6]\n\nWashington sought to convince the American people that his service was no longer necessary by telling them, as he had in his first inaugural address, that he truly believed that he was never qualified to be president. If he accomplished anything during his presidency, he said, it was as a result of their support and efforts to help the country survive and prosper. Despite his confidence that the country would survive without his leadership, Washington used the majority of the letter to offer advice as a \"parting friend\" on what he believed were the greatest threats to the nation.[4]\n\nUnity and sectionalism [ edit ]\n\nThe Address expresses Washington's understanding of republicanism by affirming popular government and warning about threats to \"Republican liberty\".[7] He begins his warnings to the American people by stressing that their independence, peace at home and abroad, safety, prosperity, and liberty are all dependent upon unity among the states. He warns them that the union of states created by the Constitution will come under the most frequent and focused attacks by foreign and domestic enemies of the country. He warns the American people to be suspicious of anyone who seeks to abandon the Union, to secede a portion of the country from the rest, or to weaken the bonds that hold together the constitutional union. To promote the strength of the Union, he urges the people to place their identity as Americans above their identities as members of a state, city, or region, and to focus their efforts and affection on the country above all other local interests. He reminds the people that they do not have more than slight differences in religion, manners, habits, and political principles, and that their triumph and possession of independence and liberty are the result of working together.[4]\n\nWashington continues to express his support of the Union by giving some examples of how he believes that the country, its regions, and its people are already benefiting from the unity which they currently share. He then looks to the future in his belief that the combined effort and resources of its people will protect the country from foreign attack and allow them to avoid wars between neighboring nations that often happen due to rivalries and competing relations with foreign nations. He argues that the security provided by the Union will also allow the United States to avoid the creation of an overgrown military which he sees as a great threat to liberty, especially the republican liberty which the United States has created.\n\nWashington goes on to warn the American people to question the ulterior motives of any person or group who argues that the land within the borders of the United States is too large to be ruled as a republic, an argument made by many during the debate on the proposed purchase of the Louisiana Territory, calling on the people to give the experiment of a large republic a chance to work before deciding that it cannot be done. He then offers strong warnings on the dangers of sectionalism, arguing that the true motives of a sectionalist are to create distrust or rivalries between regions and people to gain power and take control of the government. Washington points to the Jay Treaty and Pinckney's Treaty which established the borders of the United States' western territories between Spanish Mexico and British Canada, and secured the rights of western farmers to ship goods along the Mississippi River to New Orleans. He holds up these treaties as proof that the eastern states along the Atlantic Coast and the federal government are looking out for the welfare of all the American people and can win fair treatment from foreign countries as a united nation.[4]\n\nConstitution and political factions [ edit ]\n\nWashington goes on to state his support for the new constitutional government, calling it an improvement upon the nation's original attempt in the Articles of Confederation. He reminds the people that it is the right of the people to alter the government to meet their needs, but it should only be done through constitutional amendments. He reinforces this belief by arguing that violent takeovers of the government should be avoided at all costs and that it is the duty of every member of the republic to follow the constitution and to submit to the laws of the government until it is constitutionally amended by the majority of the American people.[1]\n\nWashington warns the people that political factions may seek to obstruct the execution of the laws created by the government or to prevent the branches of government from exercising the powers provided them by the constitution. Such factions may claim to be trying to answer popular demands or solve pressing problems, but their true intentions are to take the power from the people and place it in the hands of unjust men.[1]\n\nWashington calls the American people to only change the Constitution through amendments, but he then warns them that groups seeking to overthrow the government may strive to pass constitutional amendments to weaken the government to a point where it is unable to defend itself from political factions, enforce its laws, and protect the people's rights and property. As a result, he urges them to give the government time to realize its full potential, and only amend the constitution after thorough time and thought have proven that it is truly necessary instead of simply making changes based upon opinions and hypotheses of the moment.[1]\n\nPolitical parties [ edit ]\n\nWashington continues to advance his idea of the dangers of sectionalism and expands his warning to include the dangers of political parties to the country as a whole. These warnings are given in the context of the recent rise of two opposing parties within the government\u2014the Democratic-Republican Party led by Jefferson, and Hamilton's Federalist Party. Washington had striven to remain neutral during a conflict between Britain and France brought about by the French Revolution, while the Democratic-Republicans had made efforts to align with France, and the Federalists had made efforts to ally with Great Britain.\n\nWashington recognizes that it is natural for people to organize and operate within groups such as political parties, but he also argues that every government has recognized political parties as an enemy and has sought to repress them because of their tendency to seek more power than other groups and to take revenge on political opponents.[4] He feels that disagreements between political parties weakened the government.\n\nMoreover, he makes the case that \"the alternate domination\" of one party over another and coinciding efforts to exact revenge upon their opponents have led to horrible atrocities, and \"is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism.\" From Washington's perspective and judgment, political parties eventually and \"gradually incline the minds of men to seek security\u2026 in the absolute power of an individual\",[1] leading to despotism. He acknowledges the fact that parties are sometimes beneficial in promoting liberty in monarchies, but he argues that political parties must be restrained in a popularly elected government because of their tendency to distract the government from their duties, create unfounded jealousies among groups and regions, raise false alarms among the people, promote riots and insurrection, and provide foreign nations and interests access to the government where they can impose their will upon the country.\n\nChecks and balances and separation of powers [ edit ]\n\nWashington continues his defense of the Constitution by stating that the system of checks and balances and separation of powers within it are important means of preventing a single person or group from seizing control of the country. He advises the American people that, if they believe that it is necessary to modify the powers granted to the government through the Constitution, it should be done through constitutional amendments instead of through force.\n\nThis 1866 engraving depicts Washington praying at Valley Forge\n\nReligion, morality and education [ edit ]\n\nOne of the most referenced parts of Washington's letter is his strong support of the importance of religion and morality in promoting private and public happiness and in promoting the political prosperity of the nation.[citation needed] He argues that religious principles promote the protection of property, reputation, and life that are the foundations of justice. He cautions against the belief that the nation's morality can be maintained without religion:\n\nOf all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion, and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.[1]\n\nWashington refers to religious principle as the foundation of public morality. He also argues that the American government needs to ensure \"the general diffusion of knowledge\"[5] throughout the United States; the government has been created to enforce the opinion of the people, so the opinion of the people should be informed and knowledgeable.\n\nCredit and government borrowing [ edit ]\n\nWashington provides strong support for a balanced federal budget, arguing that the nation's credit is an important source of strength and security. He urges the American people to preserve the national credit by avoiding war, avoiding unnecessary borrowing, and paying off any national debt accumulated in times of war as quickly as possible in times of peace so that future generations do not have to take on the financial burdens. Despite his warnings to avoid taking on debt, Washington does state his belief that sometimes it is necessary to spend money to prevent dangers or wars that will cost more if not properly prepared for. At these times, he argues, it is necessary for the people to cooperate by paying taxes to cover these precautionary expenses. He emphasizes how important it is for the government to be careful in choosing the items that will be taxed, but also reminds the American people that, no matter how hard the government tries, there will never be a tax which is not inconvenient and unpleasant to those who must pay it.\n\nForeign relations and free trade [ edit ]\n\nWashington dedicates a large part of his farewell address to discussing foreign relations and the dangers of permanent alliances between the United States and foreign nations, which he views as foreign entanglements.[8] He advocates a policy of good faith and justice towards all nations, again making reference to proper behavior based upon religious doctrine and morality. He urges the American people to avoid long-term friendly relations or rivalries with any nation, arguing that attachments with or animosity toward other nations will only cloud the government's judgment in its foreign policy. He argues that longstanding poor relations will only lead to unnecessary wars due to a tendency to blow minor offenses out of proportion when committed by nations viewed as enemies of the United States. He continues this argument by claiming that alliances are likely to draw the United States into wars that have no justification and no benefit to the country beyond simply defending the favored nation. Alliances, he warns, often lead to poor relations with nations who feel that they are not being treated as well as America's allies, and threaten to influence the American government into making decisions based upon the will of their allies instead of the will of the American people.\n\nWashington makes an extended reference to the dangers of foreign nations who will seek to influence the American people and government; nations who may be considered friendly as well as nations considered enemies will equally try to influence the government to do their will. \"Real patriots\", he warns, who \"resist the intrigues\" of foreign nations may find themselves \"suspected and odious\" in the eyes of others, yet he urges the people to stand firm against such influences all the same. He portrays those who attempt to further such foreign interests as becoming the \"tools and dupes\" of those nations, stealing the applause and praise of their country away from the \"real patriots\" while actually working to \"surrender\" American interests to foreign nations.\n\nWashington goes on to urge the American people to take advantage of their isolated position in the world, and to avoid attachments and entanglements in foreign affairs, especially those of Europe, which he argues have little or nothing to do with the interests of America. He argues that it makes no sense for the American people to become embroiled in European affairs when their isolated position and unity allow them to remain neutral and focus on their own affairs. He argues that the country should avoid permanent alliances with all foreign nations, although temporary alliances during times of extreme danger may be necessary. He states that current treaties should be honored but not extended.\n\nWashington wraps up his foreign policy stance by advocating free trade with all nations, arguing that trade links should be established naturally and the role of the government should be limited to ensuring stable trade, defending the rights of American merchants and any provisions necessary to ensure the conventional rules of trade.\n\nAddress's intentions [ edit ]\n\nWashington uses this portion of the address to explain that he does not expect his advice to make any great impression upon the people or to change the course of American politics, but he does hope that the people will remember his devoted service to his country.\n\nDefense of the Proclamation of Neutrality [ edit ]\n\nWashington then explains his reasoning behind the Proclamation of Neutrality which he made during the French Revolutionary Wars, despite the standing Treaty of Alliance with France. He explains that the United States had a right to remain neutral in the conflict and that the correctness of that decision \"has been virtually admitted by all\" nations since. Justice and humanity required him to remain neutral during the conflict, he argues, and the neutrality was also necessary to allow the new government a chance to mature and gain enough strength to control its own affairs.\n\nClosing thoughts [ edit ]\n\nWashington closes his letter to the American people by asking them to forgive any failures which may have occurred during his service to the country, assuring them that they were due to his own weaknesses and by no means intentional. The sentences express his excitement about joining his fellow Americans as a private citizen in the free government which they have created together during his 45 years of public service.\n\nLegacy [ edit ]\n\nWashington's Farewell Address is considered to be one of the most important documents in American history[2] and the foundation of the Federalist Party's political doctrine.\n\nWashington later accepted a commission from President John Adams, despite his stated desire to retire from public service, as the Senior Officer of a Provisional Army formed to defend the nation against a possible invasion by French forces during the Quasi-War.[9] Washington held true to his statements in his farewell address, despite spending months organizing the Officer Corps of the Provisional Army, and declined suggestions that he return to public office in the presidential election of 1800.[9]\n\nWashington's statements on the importance of religion and morality in American politics and his warnings on the dangers of foreign alliances influenced political debates into the twentieth century,[2] and have received special consideration as advice from an American hero.\n\nAlliances with foreign nations [ edit ]\n\nWashington's hope that the United States would end permanent alliances with foreign nations was realized in 1800 with the Convention of 1800, the Treaty of Mortefontaine which officially ended the 1778 Treaty of Alliance, in exchange for ending the Quasi-War and establishing most favored nation trade relations with Napoleonic France.[10] In 1823, Washington's foreign policy goals were further realized in the Monroe Doctrine, which promised non-interference in European affairs so long as the nations of Europe did not seek to colonize or interfere with the newly independent Latin American nations of Central and South America. The United States did not enter into any permanent military alliances with foreign nations until the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty[11] which formed NATO.\n\nReading in Congress [ edit ]\n\nPhiladelphia residents signed a petition in January 1862 during the American Civil War requesting that Congress commemorate the 130th anniversary of Washington's birth by reading his Farewell Address \"in one or the other of the Houses of Congress.\"[5] It was first read in the House of Representatives in February 1862, and reading Washington's address became a tradition in both houses by 1899. The House of Representatives abandoned the practice in 1984,[5] but the Senate continues the tradition. Washington's Birthday is observed by selecting a member of the Senate to read the address aloud on the Senate floor, alternating between political parties each year since 1896.[5] Additionally, readers make an entry into a black, leather-bound journal maintained by the Secretary of the Senate upon finishing.[12]\n\nIn popular culture [ edit ]\n\nAccording to political journalist John Avlon, the Farewell Address was \"once celebrated as a civic Scripture, more widely reprinted than the Declaration of Independence\" but adds that it \"is now almost forgotten.\"[13] He suggested that it had long been \"eclipsed in the national memory\" until the Broadway musical Hamilton brought it back to popular awareness in the song \"One Last Time\", where lines are sung by Washington and Hamilton from the end of the Address.[14]\n\nSee also [ edit ]\n\nReferences [ edit ]"}
-{"text": "Jetzt will Hakim F. auch noch eine dauerhafte Aufenthaltsgenehmigung\n\nVon: Von ANN-KATHRIN GERKE\n\nM\u00fcnchen \u2013 Hakim F. (33) erstach 2012 im Westend seine Frau (\u2020 29) \u2013 daf\u00fcr kassiert er ihre Witwenrente! Jetzt fordert auch noch eine dauerhafte Aufenthaltsgenehmigung.\n\nMit 13 Jahren kam Hakim F. aus Burundi (Ostafrika) nach Deutschland, wurde als Asylberechtigter anerkannt.\n\nEr vergewaltigte mehrere Frauen, kam 2004 f\u00fcr fast drei Jahre in Haft. Im gleichen Jahr bekam das sp\u00e4tere Opfer Miriam F. ein Kind von ihm. Das Paar heiratete im Knast. 2005 wurde Hakim F. ausgewiesen. Wegen des Kindes durfte er bleiben \u2013 \u201eaus humanit\u00e4ren Gr\u00fcnden\u201c.\n\nEine fatale Entscheidung. 2012 metzelte Hakim F. seine Frau mit einem Messer nieder. Der Sohn, damals acht Jahre alt, fand seine blutende Mutter und rief den Notarzt \u2013 vergebens.\n\nIm Strafprozess kam raus: Hakim F. ist schizophren. Er gilt als schuldunf\u00e4hig, wurde trotz Gest\u00e4ndnisses freigesprochen und in die Psychiatrie eingewiesen. Dort ist er bis heute.\n\nUnglaublich: Durch den Freispruch steht Hakim F. Witwenrente zu. Laut Anwalt Johannes Driendl bekommt er monatlich etwa 700 Euro, einen Teil des Einkommens, das Miriam zu Lebzeiten verdiente.\n\nDoch Hakim F. will auch noch eine dauerhafte Aufenthaltsgenehmigung. Die Stadt hat das abgelehnt. Dagegen klagt F. vor dem Verwaltungsgericht. Zum Termin wurde er aus der Klinik in Handschellen gebracht.\n\nLesen Sie auch Familiendrama : Nach dem Sex sticht ER seine Ehefrau tot Sie hatten Sex, sie kifften, setzten sich dann aufs Sofa, schalteten den Fernseher an \u2013 und pl\u00f6tzlich rastete Hakim F. aus.\n\nDer Frauen-Killer ist sich keiner Schuld bewusst. Das geht auch aus einem Gutachten des Klinikums hervor. Der Richter: \u201eAuf die Therapie spricht er nicht an.\u201c Fazit: \u201eSo lange er weiterhin gef\u00e4hrlich ist, hat er gar keine Chance.\u201c\n\nABER: Das hei\u00dft nicht, dass Hakim F. Deutschland verlassen muss. Er w\u00fcrde wohl auch ohne Aufenthaltserlaubnis geduldet. Urteil am Montag.\n\nMehr aktuelle News aus M\u00fcnchen und Umgebung lesen Sie hier auf muenchen.bild.de.\n\nSind Sie bei Facebook? Werden Sie Fan von BILD M\u00fcnchen"}
-{"text": "Slate is running a weeklong series on President Trump\u2019s first year in office. Read Jim Newell\u2019s companion essay about Trump\u2019s conventional\u2014and reversible\u2014policy agenda.\n\n\u201cThe forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.\u201d\n\nWith that promise\u2014the centerpiece of his inaugural address\u2014Donald Trump committed to a populist presidency. In his first year, President Trump has delivered the opposite.\n\nTrump promised generous health care reform. Instead, he delivered a monthslong effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act and end a Medicaid expansion that brought insurance and health services to millions of people, many of them his supporters in states like Kentucky and West Virginia. He promised to bring in the \u201cbest people\u201d to staff his administration and\u2014upon taking office\u2014promptly staffed his White House and the larger bureaucracy with a cadre of sycophants, opportunists, and ideologues hostile to the missions and values of the departments they lead. Trump promised tax reform that wouldn\u2019t benefit the rich and delivered just the opposite. And, most famously, Trump promised to \u201cdrain the swamp\u201d and wash corruption from Washington. What that has meant, in practice, is an open effort to enrich himself and his family at the expense of taxpayers, directing public funds to his private clubs and resorts.\n\nBut there\u2019s another way to read Trump\u2019s promise\u2014not as a commitment to economic populism but as a statement of racial solidarity. Far from acting as a president for all Americans, he\u2019s governed explicitly as a president for white Americans and the racial reactionaries among them. He\u2019s spoken to their fear and fanned their anger, making his office a rallying point for those who see decline in multiracial democracy and his administration a tool for those who would turn the clock back on racial progress. If those Americans are the \u201cforgotten men and women\u201d of President Trump\u2019s inaugural address, then he\u2019s been a man of his word. That simmering pursuit of racial grievance has been its defining characteristic and threatens to be its most enduring achievement.\n\nWithin a week of taking the oath of office, President Trump moved to deliver on white resentment. His \u201ctravel ban\u201d targeted refugees and visitors from predominantly Muslim countries, regardless of their actual threat to the United States. And it had clear roots in the anti-Muslim bigotry of Trump\u2019s bid for president. Trump claimed that \u201cIslam hates us.\u201d He praised the idea\u2014drawn from a debunked story about Gen. John Pershing during the Philippine\u2013American War\u2014of murdering Muslim prisoners of war with bullets dipped in pigs\u2019 blood as a desecration of their bodies. He falsely claimed that \u201cthousands and thousands\u201d of American Muslims cheered the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. He proposed ethnic profiling of Muslims and called for surveillance of U.S. mosques. He falsely accused the \u201cMuslim community\u201d of not turning in the San Bernardino, California, shooters.\n\nThe travel ban was just the first step for a proudly anti-immigrant and anti-refugee administration, whose ideas were rooted in racialized conceptions of citizenship and belonging. President Trump issued executive orders prioritizing deportation for a wider array of immigrants. With this authorization, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency had license to essentially terrorize immigrant communities, uprooting families and deporting otherwise law-abiding residents. Trump has since announced plans to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and to remove similar protections for immigrants who work and reside in the United States under a program that grants status to refugees fleeing war or natural disaster.\n\nThere is a chance this is racially neutral, and untethered from Trump\u2019s harsh rhetoric on the campaign trail\u2014that the goal here is simply a more manageable, if conservative, immigration system. But this is hard to believe, given what Trump says in the White House as president. \u201cWhy are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?\u201d he asked during a bipartisan discussion on immigration last week, according to the Washington Post and later corroborated by Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois. \u201cWhy do we need more Haitians? Take them out.\u201d The president also wondered why the country didn\u2019t accept more immigrants from countries like Norway.\n\nThe message couldn\u2019t be clearer. Poor countries like Haiti, black countries, are shitholes, and their people are shit\u2014untouchable, irredeemable, and unworthy of American shores, regardless of what they\u2019ve earned or accomplished. By contrast, rich countries like Norway, white countries, are deserving. Their immigrants are welcome, not because of their skills, but because of who they are. President Trump says he wants more \u201cmerit-based\u201d immigration to the United States, where merit simply means white.\n\nThat expression of white nationalist belief\u2014that the United States is a white country, for white people\u2014is echoed by sympathy for actual white nationalists. Trump accused \u201cmany sides\u201d of fomenting violence after a gathering of neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, led to the killing of local activist Heather Heyer, and asked all Americans to \u201ccherish history,\u201d all but endorsing the defense of Confederate monuments. One month later, the president attacked black professional football players who kneeled during the national anthem in protest of police violence as disrespecting \u201cour flag.\u201d His supporters have gotten the message. In the latest CBS News national tracking poll, 71 percent of Trump voters say that the president has made their \u201cculture and way of life safer.\u201d\n\nThe idea of the United States as a multiracial endeavor, where its citizens and residents possess equal status and dignity, is not settled.\n\nIt was these kinds of appeals that allowed Trump to roll through a crowded field of Republican challengers, and it remains the ideological throughline of his presidency, the quality that distinguishes his tenure from that of a more ordinary Republican president. Trump pays little lip service to the modern ideal of an inclusive, multiracial American democracy. For him, to be a full citizen of this country is to be white, to the point that he presumes Americanness on the part of non-American white people. When the Pittsburgh Penguins toured the White House after winning the National Hockey League championship, Trump praised them as \u201cincredible patriots,\u201d despite the fact that most of the players are foreign-born, representing Canada, Finland, Sweden, Russia, and Germany. Meanwhile, the president treats actual American citizens in Puerto Rico as foreigners, hostile of their claims and indifferent to the suffering and disadvantage that has consumed their island in the wake of Hurricane Maria.\n\nThe idea of the United States as a multiracial endeavor, where its citizens and residents possess equal status and dignity, is not settled. In a slave-holding country whose founding hardened racial hierarchy, the equal citizenship of blacks and other nonwhites is still contested terrain on which political battles are fought. And still looming large in our collective political identity is the belief that America is a white democracy, a \u201cwhite man\u2019s government,\u201d where those deemed white hold a racial monopoly on status, resources, and opportunity.\n\nIn describing the formation of \u201cwhiteness\u201d as a social position, historian David Roediger coined the term \u201cherrenvolk republicanism\u201d to describe the ideology constructed by white Americans in the wake of the Civil War and the aftermath of Reconstruction. Herrenvolk, which translates to \u201cmaster race,\u201d denotes the importance of racial hierarchy to the project at hand. Republicanism has less to do with the political party that shares the name, and more with a deep-rooted American ideology that elevates the independent producer\u2014the farmer or the merchant\u2014over those spurned as dependent, or worse, parasitic. It celebrated the middle of American society, and the preservation of that middle as integral to the maintenance of democracy.\n\nRepublican ideology developed in a slave society was theorized by slave owners like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and took on the assumptions of that society. Among them was the racial nature of dependency. Like women and children, slaves were considered dependent. But the condition of slavery was reserved for people of African descent. To be a slave was to be black, and critically, to be black was to be a slave, and thus embody a total form of dependency. Even if free, black Americans were the antithesis of republicanism, unable in their bodies to participate in civic life. Under herrenvolk republicanism, blacks could not be producers placing them in permanent opposition to this independent, and white, middle of citizens. They were a permanent subclass, whose perpetual disadvantage guaranteed a measure of status to white Americans. No matter how far they fell, how dependent they became, they would always retain a claim on the polity. They would never be black.\n\nThese ideas are too deep-rooted\u2014too recent in American history\u2014to simply disappear with the emergence of formal racial equality. We are, after all, just a century removed from when whiteness legally conferred citizenship, and just a few generations removed from when whiteness opened the door to middle-class opportunity, subsidized by the federal government through programs like the G.I. Bill and benefits like subsidized mortgage loans. We are barely 50 years removed from when the preservation of material whiteness\u2014white suburbs and white schools\u2014was an explicit aim of local and state policy. And through all of this, we witnessed times when the cultural or cash value of whiteness seemed to decline, and white Americans would move in defense of it, fighting to reassert their racial entitlement.\n\nThere was the end of the 19th century as Reconstruction came to a close and the white South\u2014with the complicity of the white North, buried biracial democracy under an avalanche of theft, deceit, intimidation, and violence. There were the 1910s and 1920s, when the United States witnessed an explosion of nativism and the resurrection of the Ku Klux Klan, formed to push back against the modest gains of women, immigrants, religious minorities, and especially black Americans. There was the backlash to the civil rights movement, and there is the present backlash, embodied in Donald Trump, and driven by the primal fear of millions of white Americans who feel themselves losing the social status and economic standing once conferred by whiteness.\n\nTrump fans those flames of racial anger. And to the extent that it has been successful, it\u2019s in part because white racial entitlement is embedded in the nation\u2019s practices and habits of mind, manifested in the persistence of school segregation and the reality of housing and workplace discrimination. Massive effort has ameliorated this in the past, and fewer Americans than ever hold on to these ideas. But they\u2019re still present in our society, still potent, still capable of great damage.\n\nMore than anything else, the first year of the Trump administration has been marked by a steady attack on the equal status of racial and religious minorities. This attack grows out of an American tradition of exclusion, one that is reasserting itself in the face of an increasingly multiracial society that\u2014at least on paper\u2014extends the rights and privileges of democratic participation to all citizens. In which case, the Trump administration hasn\u2019t just been aggressively right wing, it has been so in service of a larger effort to reassert the old hierarchies, generating what public support it has through appeals to racial and patriarchal authority.\n\nAmerica in 2017 has many futures, but no observer should underestimate the chance that it\u2019s a version of this past.\n\nThis effort has been the administration\u2019s greatest success to date and may well be its most lasting accomplishment. Trump\u2019s rhetoric sends the clear message that America does not welcome nonwhites, and his immigration crackdown brings real fear to black and brown communities across the country. His tax policies don\u2019t just widen income inequality, they entrench our deep racial inequality too, heightening the zero-sum thinking\u2014their gain is my loss\u2014that makes closing those gaps difficult and politically costly. His court picks may allow Republican politicians\u2014who rely almost exclusively on white voters to win elections\u2014to disenfranchise black and Latino voters through gerrymandering, vote dilution, and outright voter suppression.\n\nTrump\u2019s politics of white resentment have overtaken the Republican Party and trickled down to state and local candidates. In Virginia, Corey Stewart\u2019s bid for the Republican nomination for governor and then Ed Gillespie\u2019s general-election campaign for that office each embraced the same kind of racist demagoguery, appealing to white resentment with a loud promise to defend Confederate monuments, as well as campaign materials that condemned kneeling NFL players and ads that warned of dangerous Hispanic immigrants. A party that just four years ago called for greater outreach to black and Latino voters now sees its future in disrespecting them.\n\nFor decades, the politics of the American South were built on a foundation of oligarchy and extraction, where\u2014backed by a white middle class acting out of material advantage and racial solidarity\u2014white elites suppressed labor, disenfranchised blacks, and fanned racist violence when the former proved unable to stop open protest and discontent. This foundation eventually collapsed by force of the black freedom struggle, undermined by its own corruption and discontent among a white minority, but it lasted through most of the 20th century. America in 2017 has many futures, but no observer should underestimate the chance that it\u2019s a version of this past.\n\nWhich means the resistance to Trump\u2019s brand of politics cannot just be resistance to the president himself and the Republican majorities that enable him and his administration. It must also be a resistance to the habits of mind\u2014and material realities\u2014that produced the situation the country finds itself in.\n\nResisters must challenge the herrenvolk-ism still present in American life by modeling and performing inclusion across all dimensions. This resistance goes beyond electoral politics and the immediate goal of removing Trump, or at least stopping his progress. Americans who have witnessed this first year of the Trump administration and responded with horror must understand that the challenge of defeating Trumpism is more fundamental than just one man and his party. It\u2019s not restoration of a status quo ante but genuine progress."}
-{"text": "Nick Pivetta (10-6) retired 21 of the 27 batters he faced on Tuesday night as he led the Fightin Phils (72-37) to a 4-2 win over the Bowie Baysox (47-61). He's allowed just two runs against Bowie in 19 2/3 innings this season.\n\nFor the second straight game in the top of the first with two outs, Garabez Rosa hit a two-run home run to give the Baysox a 2-0 lead. Reading got a run back in the bottom of the second. Harold Martinez hit a RBI single off Baysox starter John Means (3-5) to cut Bowie's lead to 2-1.\n\nThe Fightin Phils tied the game at 2-2 off Means in the bottom of the fifth. Angelo Mora hit a one-out single to score KC Serna. Serna hit a go-ahead two-run home run off Means in the bottom of the seventh to give the Fightins a 4-2 lead. He now has a career-high four home runs this season.\n\nPivetta left the game after recording two outs in the top of the eighth. He gave up a one-out single to Jay Gonzalez. Hoby Milner entered the game and got Drew Dosch to fly-out to right-field to end the inning. He recorded the final four outs to earn his fifth save of the season.\n\nThe Fightin Phils and Bowie Baysox will play again on Wednesday night at FirstEnergy Stadium. Fans can listen to the game on Sports Radio AM 1240/FM 98.5 and fightins.com beginning at 6:35 pm. Fans can also watch the game on MiLB.tv beginning at 7:05 pm.\n\nTickets for the 2016 season are available online at Fightins.com, by phone at 610-370-BALL, and in-person at FirstEnergy Stadium."}
-{"text": "Soft hypnotic mists swirled and snaked menacingly as it cut into Thallius\u2019s mind. Razor sharp slices of his memories mixing and combining together in random confusion, obscuring clear pathways to rational thought.\n\n\n\nBrainwave messages loaded, almost as if they were carrying abrasive tiny grains of sand collected by the wind on its relentless weary journey, tearing at his thoughts, wearing him away, penetrating and filling every nook, void and crevice, whilst jarring his adjusted thoughts with a cacophony of never ending abrasive sound.\n\nThallius suddenly shook violently with a repeated series of cold involuntary rapid shudders, pain ripping through his body like a runaway train.\n\nThe concept of real time and life had now become a distant illusion to Thallius, punctuated by the constant irritating regularity of the machine.\n\nThallius now lay in an uncomfortable semi daze after the shudders had subsided, awoken automatically by the machine after yet another weary, painful and restless night. A cascade of vivid dazzling memory flashbacks hurtled through his mind bringing unexpected reminders of his former life, tinged with an overwhelming crushing despair at his total inability to help himself to escape from his captive, futile and desperate life.\n\nHis once normal and comfortable human status had been reduced to merely existing, if this is what you flippantly call existing, he thought to himself, being entombed in a sealed underground apartment with no means of personal communication and no ability or in fact authority to make any choices or decisions whatsoever as to my life, future or indeed daily living.\n\nThe underground apartment in which Thallius lay prostrate and from where he was unable to escape, seemed to stare at him with a steely sense of powerful knowing and total unswerving dominance.\n\nEverywhere that Thallius could direct his gaze, albeit with intense difficulty and considerable pain, the room seem to be watching him, monitoring him, staring deep into his mind searching for answers or any glimmer or signs of subordination.\n\nThe intimidation was absolute.\n\nIn a futile attempt to overcome the oppressive invasion, Thallius once again tightly closed his eyes, but as always, the images that surrounded him were firmly printed onto his sub-conscious mind with no avenue for escape.\n\nDespite every effort, he simply could not evade the regular mind activation and adjustment by the machine that he had to endure coupled with the feeling of total defenceless abandonment and inevitable defeat.\n\nHe gazed at the blank sterile walls, devoid of personality, comfort or personal memories of his former life. Instead they were interspersed by sleek, reflective chrome metal tubes, interconnected to an array of sophisticated electronic terminals, status lights blinking, briefly illuminating the room, indicator lights cutting razor sharp through the artificial stillness.\n\nThe machine itself throbbing incessantly with its designed low pitch hum, driving slowly and mercilessly into Thallius\u2019s mind, almost like a calculated World War 2 prisoner torture.\n\nThallius had long since accepted that he was in all essence a prisoner trapped in this computer controlled artificial reality.\n\nWhat he did not know however was who was responsible for placing him under the total control and dependency of the machine within the apartment or even how he found himself here without his prior knowledge or acceptance.\n\nIt was although he had always been here, his life carefully pre-mapped and predestined by others. But if that were the case he thought, what possible use can it be ?\n\nWhat use am I in the grand scheme of life, simply lying here, using energy supplied by somebody and seemingly not returning anything in exchange to humanity via the machine.\n\nIt just doesn\u2019t make sense.\n\nThallius slowly glanced around again, grimacing at the stabbing pain in his neck, still trying to understand this absurb and disturbing dilemma.\n\nHe stared once again at the computer life terminal and tried hopelessly to make sense of the LED display and sequences that were being seemingly played out like a complicated symphony of a repetitive never ending tape loop.\n\nBut as soon as Thallius thought he had mastered a single sequence with intense concentration, a random cascade of sound, light and movement\n\nwould occur which plunged his mind into turmoil once again, until he could not continue.\n\nIt was although the machine knew it was being watched !!!\n\nExhaustion once again took over as he felt his eyes begin to grow heavy, his breathing simultaneously subsided to a slow shallow rhythm as he slipped into his regular pattern of induced comatose sleep.\n\nLittle did he know that something important was about to happen.\n\nA warm, soft mesmerising glow wrapped itself comfortably around the outside perimeter approach of the steel doorway to sub-floor 5, apartment number 2175, lulling any rare unsuspecting visitor into a dreamy haze of safety and contentment.\n\nBut not today !!!\n\nThis very real and personal visit was not by anyone who was easily sucked into the subliminal hypnotic visual tricks of the Corporation.\n\nInside the apartment, the still quiet of the room only punctuated by the machine electronics was suddenly invaded by the slow insistent movement of an exterior metal door bolt sliding effortlessly, but not without sound. It was a slow whispering sinister sound, followed by a soft gentle thud, as the head of the bolt found its destination stop.\n\nA random metallic jingle of keys swiftly followed, having presumably been removed from an unknown trouser or jacket pocket and then fingered carefully to find the correct key required and then a moments silence.\n\nThallius held his breath, his beating heart in his mouth, not daring to make the slightest sound as he strained to listen to what may follow.\n\nHe heard the selected key slip easily into the door lock and with a steady slow turn, followed by a sharp click, the spring on the apartment door caused it to swing effortlessly open, allowing a sudden cold chill draught to enter the room, fighting with the stale artificial warm air within.\n\nPanic and absolute fear consumed Thallius as he waited for the next move or action, but nothing happened. All around him the apartment machines still continued their regular allotted duties, neon lights displaying a coloured function sequence in perfect seemingly random order, like some well rehearsed illuminating dance.\n\nAfter a few moments he heard the door shut again and the bolt slide presumably to its original position. The chill draught subsided and the eerie artificial quiet resumed, punctuated once more by the incessant low hum of the machine.\n\nBut now fear gripped Thallius even tighter. His breath coming in rapid shallow gasps. Had his unknown visitor or visitors left or had they simply closed the door and were still present in his apartment, out of his view ?\n\nHe had no way of knowing. He could not sit up or move at all.\n\nThe menacing grip of fear and sheer terror of possible retribution stopped him from making any form of noise or even to ask if anybody was present ?\n\nTime now seemed to drag past even slower than normal, but as the minutes ticked by, Thallius slowly began to convince himself that the intruders had actually left his apartment and that nobody was sat silently behind him watching and waiting.\n\nBut if they had gone he reasoned, then what did they want and why had they almost secretly come into his apartment and more importantly why had they not engaged with him ?\n\nOr could it be that he had been dreaming or hallucinating ?\n\nThallius questioned his mind again and again, convincing himself that he was sure that he had not been dreaming, but still he had no idea what was happening ?\n\nEventually curiosity got the better of him and summoning up all of his weak diminished remaining courage, he whispered softly \u201c Is anybody here\u201d ?\n\nBut no reply.\n\nHe tried again, but this time he called a little louder. Still no reply.\n\nThallius breathed an uneasy sigh of relief as he slipped effortlessly back into his immobile, worthless almost trancelike existence.\n\nThe year 2030 had slipped seamlessly into existence, the same as previous years, without notice or any visual or audible sigh or even the slightest whimper to anyone.\n\nToday was just like yesterday and the day before and the day before that.\n\nHuman life had become a never ending relentless and monotonous path of artificial induced repeated tedium, coupled with unbearable pain and discomfort, suffered with a futile endurance until ultimately death approached as a much longed for welcome relief from yet further suffering.\n\nEveryday of late, the quality of the air in his apartment had been getting worse. It was becoming pungent, hot, sticky and extremely uncomfortable.\n\nWhat he didn\u2019t realise at the time, was that virtually everyone was gripped in similar conditions, helpless and distressed.\n\nIn his mind, Thallius had often likened existing in his apartment, to being forcibly trapped and bound within a siezed pressure vice with no possible chance of movement, release or escape.\n\nWhat he also did not know was that the entire world population was now trapped in a rapidly escalating, painful epidemic of gross and morbid obesity.\n\nVast numbers of people were now classed as officially extra super obese to the point of living on the knife edge of death.\n\nHe had no idea or concept of the vast scale of the obesity problem.\n\nThallius lay in silence, body rigid on his electronic computerised bed, pain cutting through his fleeting thoughts like a razor sharp jagged knife, ripping and tearing without mercy into his weakened body.\n\nThe tight clawing grip of the sensory wrist band squeezing into his pulse, monitoring and recording not only his core body functions but worryingly he was sure, his thoughts and feelings via an inserted internal electrical pathway directly linked to his brain, that he felt certain had been surgically implanted without his knowledge.\n\nHis mind almost numbed by the continual monotony of pointless life, feeling hypnotised by the incessant low pitched drone, drilling mercilessly into his tired brain from the myriad of electronic machines humming all around him.\n\nThallius tried to shift himself, but with less and less ability and an even weaker desire to move his tired, engorged, putrescent limbs to a slightly different, possibly more comfortable and hopefully less painful position.\n\nHe glanced slowly and vaguely around his allotted Corporation underground apartment 2175, hopelessly trying to forget the searing and agonising pain in his neck caused by the slightest movement of his head.\n\nThere were no furniture, curtains or fabric coverings anywhere ~ No need !!!\n\nEvery exposed surface was hard polished metal or synthetic and wipe clean.\n\nNo family photos, treasured items, books or souvenirs from holiday trips adorning the shelves ~ Not allowed !!!\n\nIn fact there were no personal effects of any nature \u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..\n\nThe apartment was sterile and totally devoid of all personal feeling.\n\nWith the despondent air of a defeated man, he summoned up every last ounce of his diminished strength and willpower, took a long deep rattling breath and tried to move ~ but once again with no success.\n\nHis weak flaccid limbs, as always, stayed in exactly the same place.\n\nPerspiration continued to drip from his corpulent body in constant rivulets, causing the bed sheet to stick to his grossly enlarged form. The fresh bodily fluids mixing with the stench of old stale previous sweat, rising from the\n\npre-formed synthetic fabric on which he lay.\n\nThe putrid air in his room hung heavy with a lingering and inevitable sense of despair and desperation, heightened now as the air conditioning function in the apartment was now malfunctioning.\n\nHis breath now coming in short shallow gasps, more akin to the frantic last desperate gasping efforts of a dying man. Trying desperately to forget the never ending nagging pain that constantly wracked his entire body, his mind drifted into the same unanswered questions that constantly seemed to intrude his inner consciousness\u2026\u2026..\n\nWithout uttering any real discernable sound, Thallius mouthed quietly and deliberately his thoughts aloud, but still hoping that nobody would answer.\n\nHe still could somehow hear in his mind however, his questioning voice begging endlessly for answers.\n\nHe could almost hear himself saying over and over again \u201cEver since I was born and could think clearly for myself as a human being and a real person without this bloody machine running my life, I always felt very different to other people and reacted differently to most that I met, but why did I feel like that and in which way was I different\u201d ?\n\nAgain he whispered to himself \u201cI\u2019ve never been able to work that out\u201d.\n\nBut as always, despite the constant nagging plea to his soul, no answer was forthcoming.\n\nOutwardly Thallius seemed to be the same as most other people that he used to meet, socialise and speak with, but with direct human contact initially frowned upon and then positively and actively discouraged, to the point of now being banned completely in virtually all circles, it had been increasingly difficult to communicate with people, regardless of whether they were friends, relatives or even in passing to complete strangers, which seemed to his distant tired memory, how people used to meet before and strike up casual friendships.\n\nWith the passing of new stricter laws and directives by the Corporation unregistered and unlicensed meetings had been banned, except by strict formal prior arrangement.\n\nEach such request for human contact was now officially scrutinized in advance to establish if it was absolutely necessary and if permission was eventually granted, which was becoming increasingly rare, then it was in an intrusive, impersonal, supervised screened environment.\n\nThese rare sanctioned and reluctantly authorised meetings were held in an austere registered Government Corporation room which was openly monitored, with all such meetings recorded for both audio and visual records, together with computer analysis during and after the event, to be screened for any subversive, subliminal or secret messages that may have been passed or transmitted.\n\nCorporation control was such that virtually all communications were now relayed via electronic computerised terminals to further reduce any possible human contact.\n\nBeing officially removed from his natural Mother and sent away when he was very young was no different to the others, Thallius had been told, but he had difficulty coming to terms with that concept.\n\nEven though he lay stiffly and unmoving with pain cutting into the very fabric of his being, he still remembered vividly with flashing memory throwbacks that cold frosty morning with the air sharp and uncompromising, as he lined up with a group of other young people as he and the others had been ordered, in complete and total silence.\n\nStanding expectantly outside a stark and imposing Corporation building, which seemed to look down with utter disdain on the assembled gathering of nervous youngsters.\n\nAn automated voice suddenly barked out instructions and instantly as if one well drilled connected human machine, each of the youngsters began to climb the steep cold grey steps almost like machines and file quietly and obediently into the building ahead of them, almost as if they were performing some sort of well rehearsed robotic manoeuvre.\n\nAs each of the compliant youngsters, who had seemingly long since accepted their inevitable outcome without a whimper or any thought as to what might actually happen to them, slowly entered the building and approached the screening booth, they were quickly led away through an adjacent door.\n\nThallius never saw any of them again.\n\nBut as Thallius approached the screening booth, he was briskly removed from the queue and escorted to one side, where he stood for a few moments, feeling a heavy restraining hand that was planted firmly on his shoulder, until the others had all passed. His first fleeting thoughts even then, was that he had been in some way separated from the others on purpose, as though the authorities had sensed or perhaps knew, that he had an inbuilt difference and thought differently to the others.\n\nDid they already think he was a subversive or a troublemaker maybe ?\n\nCould it have been that all the others had their heads lowered in deference to the system, where he had been looking all around him, trying to gauge and figure out where he was and what was happening ?\n\nBut now later he knew !!!\n\nOnce again his mind snaked lazily back to when he could move freely without the aid and intervention of a machine. Images of running free in the woods in play that surrounded his previous family home came easily back this morning, into the forefront of his memory and filled him with both joy and despair in equal measure.\n\nHis mind saw images of trees standing majestically as they had done for year upon year defying the wrath of man and nature, with red and golden leaves rustling in the Autumn breeze.\n\nFruit, nuts and vegetables that had been growing naturally in abundance previously during the Summer, now with animals scurrying around collecting their prize, busily stocking up for the Winter and the inevitable cold lean times ahead.\n\nThe wonderful magical sounds of the forest suddenly seemed to fill his ears once again and as his mind floated back to those happy carefree days. He sensed that he could even smell the musty bark that lay scattered on the forest floor, with the myriad of insect life working amongst the decaying material in their eagerness, ready for the regular harsh onset of Winter.\n\nHe could hear within his mind, the crisp sounds of twigs and small branches breaking beneath his feet as he meandered along the well trodden forest trails. He could hear the distant sounds of birds calling out their own special songs to nature and to each other.\n\nSuddenly he was jolted back without warning or mercy, away from his memories into the artificial reality of his current painful world, as the shrill ear piercing sound of the machine in his apartment, reminded him of his timed and automated medicinal appointment.\n\nGlistening sleek chrome extending probes emerged from the portals above his bed at a slow sinister speed from the automated life machine that now controlled his life and his very existence.\n\nAs the probes slowly inched nearer and nearer to his mouth, an ominous red syringe was released from each of the tips as it continued to move slowly and menacingly towards him.\n\nThallius closed his eyes and reluctantly opened his mouth widely, to receive the regular twin dose of medication. Even now this morning with his heightened awareness, he realised that it was pointless to resist.\n\nHe remembered only too well on a previous occasion that this rebellious course of action would incur still further intrusions, pain and the inevitable wrath of the system and ultimately result in painful retribution.\n\nMuch easier to submit without a fight he thought, as a dose of warm sticky liquid was squirted into his mouth from the first syringe, followed immediately by a second dose from the other syringe, which sent him almost instantly into a state of mindless floating.\n\nAnd then nothing \u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026...\n\nSome time later Thallius began to stir and wake as he began to regain consciousness. He flicked his eyes to look nervously around and began to wonder what had happened to him and where he actually was. He struggled desperately to think and rationalise his thoughts.\n\nSlowly however, the drug induced effects and feelings began to drift away from his confused mind and body and suddenly he realised that he somehow felt fresher and more alert. Quickly remembering how he had felt earlier, he was even more puzzled as to why he was actually now clean, dry and not suffering the indignity of being overcome by the foul stench of his own stale bodily fluids.\n\nOn every previous occasion after receiving medication and being serviced by the machine he had felt clean and tidy, but this time he was in a very different state of mind and body altogether. This time it felt very, very different indeed.\n\nFor a moment in some bizarre way, his mind felt as though he had been almost prepared for something.\n\nBut was this something for the better or for the worse ?\n\nA nagging sense of foreboding filled his thoughts. But it must be for the better he thought, or they wouldn\u2019t have bothered to go to all this trouble to clean and dress me as he suspiciously glanced at his new crisp clothing.\n\nHe had previously heard stories and rumours of people disappearing without trace after machine intervention when communication was less restricted, but if this were true he reasoned, it would seem logical that the authorities surely wouldn\u2019t bother about cleaning the victims beforehand. Probably they would be despatched and disposed of without any wasted effort, he thought.\n\nWith a rare new found mental clarity and sharpness, his inquisitive mind began to race out of control, darting this way and that, like a high powered bullet ricocheting around a highly polished confined metal lined room, increasing its energy with every collision. Finally as the latent energy eventually subsided he found his mind slipping back to his family again and especially why he had not listened to his Father\u2019s advice.\n\nEarlier in his childhood, this was a normal, happy time when mankind was not reliant upon sophisticated and highly complex computers and machines to service our every need, but now unfortunately this reliance was almost total.\n\nWithout any real warning and without mankind even realising the implications, we had become more and more dependent upon their actions to actually exist over a period of seemingly just a few years, until we were simply unable to run our businesses or even our personal lives without them.\n\nHe remembered sadly the way that people progressively stopped talking to each other and conducted their entire lives and sad existence via electronics.\n\nHe laughed to himself as he remembered the first large cumbersome, basic hand held mobile phones.\n\nHe remembered the phones then getting smaller and smaller and lighter and lighter, as well as gaining more and more superfluous functions, which we were repeatedly programmed by the authorities to accept were absolute necessities to run our lives and our very existence efficiently.\n\nThe first indoctrination stage was quickly followed by other complex and seemingly pointless investigative and communication technologies which were installed into newly designed hand held portable devices, derived from mainframe and home computers and these complex software technologies were then installed into the mobile phone derivatives, such that eventually over a relatively short period of time, without people even realising, direct person to person conversation became virtually redundant and obsolete.\n\nHe also remembered during that same period of time, that everywhere you looked people were engaged and engrossed on their phones and other communication devices, completely oblivious of what was happening around them.\n\nThe frequency of avoidable accidents were rising alarmingly. The increase of cancer sufferers had sky rocketed, exactly where the mobile phones had been positioned on their body, around the side of the head and even on specific positions on the body in the pocket areas where they had been carried.\n\nPeople had already become willing slaves and completely subservient to the electronic devices he reasoned.\n\nThis was not technology assisting us to become more efficient and accurate and take away many of the repetitive, boring and mundane tasks. This was not even technology providing a research pathway to advance our civilisation.\n\nThis was handing over the complete control and future of mankind itself to an electronic machine or device without a whimper and without a thought of the dangerous and ultimately, inevitable consequences.\n\nIt had really started in earnest with the birth of complex computer technology, gathering pace at an exponential rate until mankind itself had difficulty in keeping abreast of the technical advancement and finding itself constantly outstripped by more and more sophisticated software and electronic devices.\n\nComputer technology had grown and evolved so fast, becoming more and more powerful and more intrusive into our daily lives and existence, that it began to form a life and a will of its own, directing and controlling its own destiny, with and without the assistance of advanced research and development organisations.\n\nMankind had effectively now become slaves to the machine, degraded in status to mere servants and reduced to almost scavengers in the wild.\n\nBut then as time progressed, it became far worse.\n\nSkilled and highly advanced technicians with no real human feelings or compassion, embraced this futuristic development with a dedicated passion and worked tirelessly to create and enhance highly sophisticated Artificial Intelligence.\n\nSimilarly with relentless unswerving and single minded determination, the computers had themselves secretly engineered a free will of their own and created a world where mankind was now almost totally dependent on the machines to exist.\n\nThallius realised, and not for the first time, that he was trapped with his entire life surrounded and governed by advanced technology.\n\nThe quiet in his mind was suddenly broken once more as he remembered them taking him away all those years ago. Vivid colourful flashbacks of images tore and ripped through his mind of his Father screaming to him to remember !!!\n\nPee Bee Remember ~ Pee Bee Remember ~ Remember, Remember\u2026\u2026\u2026..\n\nThe desperate screams from his Father were pulsing and pounding through his newly awakened memory like a throbbing, incessant, amplified heartbeat.\n\nBut what was it that was so important that I needed to remember he thought ?\n\nAnd why was my Father almost delirious with fear and panic and screaming at me over and over again to remember, as they forcibly held him down and tried to suppress him, whilst he watched me taken away under escort and why was he screaming to me to remember Pee Bee ?\n\nIt seemed a strange sort of word or command to call out.\n\nBut as his mind calmed, he slipped into remembering the happiness of his childhood past and especially his Mother and Father, which caused Thallius to feel strangely elated and receptive this morning. He now felt able to let his open mind wander back freely, without restriction or worry, over the distant memories of tales of his ancestors and anecdotes for possible clues.\n\nHis parents, who he remembered were both well educated people, were diligent in their efforts to print copious amounts of information onto the young Thallius, repeatedly telling him how important it was to \u2019never forget\u2019 and how he needed to \u2018find the others\u2019 so that when the time came to save himself, his own future family, civilisation and indeed possibly the Earth itself, he would be ready.\n\nAt the time young Thallius thought these ideas and thoughts a bit too far fetched, but they were still etched indelibly within the very fabric of his being.\n\nDespite the painful and continual exhausting efforts needed to try to keep his grossly enlarged physical body alive and almost moving, he had always found his mind was active, even when the machine provided its regular dosage of ETHER to him.\n\nBut this time as he lay on the bed it was different, he was clean and strangely far more aware as he began to question his mind and wonder what was this ETHER ?\n\nTry as he might, he just could not find a sensible or logical answer or even a possible solution, as it was certainly not Ether as we all seemed to have previously known it as an anaesthetic, because it seemed to have very little numbing effect on him whatsoever.\n\nBut in the rare, snatched, dangerous, secretive previous conversations with others, it always seemed to have very, very strange effects on them.\n\nBut today the thoughts and memory flashes were cascading madly through his mind to the point where they almost took away the sense of constant pain that incessantly wracked his weary body. Sifting through the volumes of data firing into his mind like a rapid repeating machine gun about his parentage and his relatives, he was suddenly struck by one major recurring factor.\n\nTHEY WERE ALL SLIM.\n\nNot beanpoles or anorexic victims he thought, but perfectly proportioned and\n\nwell balanced, to the point of almost being athletic with good posture and\n\nwell defined muscle tone.\n\nAnd then it really came to him, not as a gradual unfolding, but as a blinding flash that tore through his mind like a speeding runaway express train.\n\n\u201cTHEY WERE ALL SLIM\u201d he found himself saying to himself, over and over again.\n\n\u201cSo why am I lying here as a grossly obese man, surrounded by electronic aids that not only run my entire life but completely control my very existence\u201d.\n\n\u201cI am created from the same stock\u201d he whispered quietly in fear that the machine might hear him and wreak its instant revenge for this supposed\n\nact of gross insubordination.\n\nHe suddenly remembered the familiar tight grip of the sensory wrist band that squeezed into his pulse to record his body functions, and he suspected his thoughts and feelings via the internal electrical link direct to his brain and a wave of fear and panic suddenly shot through his mind.\n\nHe glanced down to his wrist by moving only his eyes, but to his amazement the wrist band was missing and had been removed without him knowing.\n\nAny fear now gave way to a feeling of utter bewilderment in that Thallius could now not think rationally anymore.\n\nHe lay quietly for a few moments, trying to restore some calm and order to his chaotic brain and as the pounding in his pulse eventually settled again, he began to return to thoughts of his family.\n\nGeneration after generation he tracked back in his mind as told to him by his parents.\n\nHe remembered them showing him the photographs and the family tree that they had so lovingly made from every conceivable source of information, right down to the most minute detail, giving size, shape, age, academic prowess and achievements, skills, expertise, attitudes, behaviour. The recorded family data went on and on in painstaking accuracy, even to the secret location of volumes of scientific research papers.\n\nWith this new unexpected clarity and feeling, he once again started to question in his reawakened mind as to why they were so obsessed about it.\n\nIn his youth at the time, he just thought it was a curious quirk of his particular family, but then he remembered that by chance, he discovered a couple of other children within his select, expensive private school whose parents apparently did the same.\n\nJust like him, they had been sworn to secrecy as to the continual data transfer. But as with virtually all children, secrecy is not a word or trait that sits easily within their day to day vocabulary or actions and so they readily exchanged interesting information about their family data indoctrination techniques for playground amusement, falling about in shrieks of laughter at the seemingly ridiculous regime.\n\nEach evening at home, as well as their regular school homework, each were made to sit down and memorise the family tree, to remember the names and the faces printed on the document. Learn and recite the, skills, knowledge and all detailed specific attributes associated with each and every family member.\n\nThe unusual and unexpected mental effort today was now draining him and as Thallius began to drift slowly and easily into a warm comfortable sleepy state, he meticulously recounted his family and friends. He began to wonder why he had not thought in this way before and even more once again, as to why he was clean and almost comfortable, why the wrist band had been removed and why even the regular dose of Ether had tasted different today.\n\nAs his brain suddenly spun into overdrive, he even started to wonder if his own DNA profile predisposed him to such an altered state. He knew without any shadow of doubt in his own mind that even from his childhood he had always been sensitive to the atmosphere around him and the very essence of both people and places and how everything reacted to everything else.\n\nHe now strangely found his mind taking him back to his classroom science lessons, which he always enjoyed, remembering Newtons 3rd law in that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. He was absolutely certain that his actions had changed everything and everybody that he interacted with.\n\nThe more he thought, the more his mind began to assimilate ideas about matter and energy being interchangeable and could even see clearly in his mind how Einstein came up with the idea and the famous well known equation of E = Mc2.\n\nHis recent dormant brain at first stuttered into the early realms of waking thought and then almost without warning, raced and accelerated into a frightening and bewildering series of images flashing through his senses.\n\nHe also began to think about his best friend Paul, who he had not seen for some considerable time and was now hopefully looking forward to secretly meeting him again without the invasive interference of the machines.\n\nHe remembered the way that Paul had been like his own parents in manner and preached to him about his theories as to the direct link between mind and body. He saw Paul\u2019s face clearly in his thoughts and his insistence that the mind and the body were completely connected and how the mind could and did influence the biological functions of the body. He remembered Paul saying that he conducted what could be termed \u2018experiments\u2019 upon himself by getting his mind into altered states and this then directly affected his own body actions.\n\nHe remembered Paul\u2019s later controversial research into electromagnetic field effects on the body causing amongst other things, a dramatic increase in the release of endorphins, increased states of overall well being and positive effects on the health and even remedial treatments results.\n\nPaul\u2019s theories and findings were dismissed out of hand by many learned authoritative bodies, who were by their very nature restricted by their own logic and rigid conventions, totally unable and unwilling to step outside their safe and accepted boundaries and see the bigger picture.\n\nOn the other hand Paul\u2019s research was enthusiastically received by others, who were far more open minded.\n\nTheories and experiments, such as data gathering and vagus nerve affecting microchip implants, being inserted into certain designated sections of the community and those members of the population selected, being externally monitored by the pigeon toe position of their feet when walking. This secret external monitoring technique also caused considerable concern amongst many of the learned professions as being highly intrusive and possibly illegal.\n\nEven down to creating a seemingly harmless game amongst young children called \u2018Chubby Bunny\u2019 where the child keeps inserting more and more soft marshmallows into their mouth, to see how many they could achieve, whilst still being able to say Chubby Bunny coherently.\n\nLittle did everyone know then about the ferocity of the addictive contaminants that were being secretly added to the formulation of the sweets, without the knowledge of Paul and the scientific community and the dark sinister motives of the Corporation.\n\nThallius started to wonder what the mind could actually achieve and what were its limits, if any, and what was beyond our normal accepted spectrum of perception of these ideas verging into unchartered and unknown territory.\n\nLittle did he know at the time how much all of this would mean to him in the future.\n\nLittle did he realise the impending danger to humanity itself from within its own ranks and what was yet to come."}
-{"text": "The University of Nebraska has agreed to four marquee non-conference football games against Power Five opponents. The Huskers have finalized contracts to play two games against the University of Oklahoma and two games with the University of Arizona.\n\n\u201cWe are pleased to finalize agreements with two outstanding programs for future non-conference contests,\u201d Nebraska Director of Athletics Shawn Eichorst said. \u201cWe are committed to playing an outstanding schedule each year that brings value to both our student-athletes and the greatest fans in college football.\n\n\u201cThe Nebraska-Oklahoma matchup is truly one of the legendary rivalries in the history of college football, and to now have four scheduled meetings in a decade will be great for both programs. The Arizona series will be another outstanding home-and-home matchup against a high-caliber Power Five opponent and will provide a road game destination that will appeal to Nebraska fans.\u201d\n\nThe two games against the Sooners are set for 2029 and 2030, and are in addition to previously announced contests with Oklahoma in 2021 and 2022. The two traditional national powers and former conference rivals have not played since 2010, but are now set to meet four times in 10 seasons.\n\nThe new two-game series will begin with a game in Norman on Sept. 15, 2029, with the Sooners set to return to Lincoln on Sept. 14, 2030. The two games that were previously announced in 2012 are set for Sept. 18, 2021, at Oklahoma and Sept. 17, 2022, at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.\n\nThe Huskers and Sooners have a long history on the gridiron with 86 all-time meetings. Oklahoma holds a 45-38-3 edge all-time, but Nebraska has won nine of the past 15 meetings.\n\nNebraska and Arizona have also agreed to play two non-conference games, beginning with a game at Memorial Stadium on Sept. 16, 2028. The Huskers will make a return trip to Tucson to face the Wildcats on Sept. 13, 2031.\n\nThe two games with Arizona will be Nebraska's first regular-season matchup with the Wildcats since the teams tied in Lincoln in 1961. The schools split a pair of matchups in the Holiday Bowl, including a Nebraska victory in 2009.\n\nNebraska has several non-conference games scheduled against Pac-12 opponents in the upcoming seasons. Including the two contests with Arizona, the Huskers are scheduled to play eight regular-season games against Pac-12 foes, beginning with a home-and-home series with Oregon in 2016 and 2017. Nebraska also has four games scheduled with Colorado between 2018 and 2024.\n\nWith the four marquee games added to the Huskers' future schedules, Nebraska now has at least one non-conference game scheduled for each season through 2031. Beginning with the 2016 season, Nebraska will play three non-conference games in addition to a nine-game Big Ten Conference schedule.\n\nFuture Non-Conference Games Announced on Wednesday\n\nNebraska vs. Arizona\n\nSept. 16, 2028\u2014Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Neb.\n\nSept. 13, 2031\u2014Arizona Stadium, Tucson, Ariz.\n\nNebraska vs. Oklahoma\n\nSept. 15, 2029\u2014Gaylord Family \u2013 Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Norman, Okla.\n\nSept. 14, 2030\u2014Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Neb.\n\n\n\n\n\nFuture Non-Conference Games vs. Power Five Opponents\n\nOregon\u20142016 in Lincoln; 2017 in Eugene\n\nColorado\u20142018 in Lincoln; 2019 in Boulder; 2023 in Boulder; 2024 in Lincoln\n\nOklahoma\u20142021 in Norman; 2022 in Lincoln; 2029 in Norman; 2030 in Lincoln\n\nTennessee\u20142026 in Lincoln; 2027 in Knoxville\n\nArizona\u20142028 in Lincoln; 2031 in Tucson"}
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-{"text": "McCain, Murkowski Announce Support of Tax Reform Bill\n\nMurkowski had a demand: opening a small part of the Alaska National Wilderness Refuge to oil exploration.\n\nThat's like the easiest, gimmie-est demand ever. I'm not sure why we weren't acting on that already.\n\nMcCain also announced he will support a Republican measure, just to prove that it can actually happen.\n\n\ufffdAfter careful thought and consideration, I have decided to support the Senate tax reform bill. I believe this legislation, though far from perfect, would enhance American competitiveness, boost the economy, and provide long overdue tax relief for middle class families,\" McCain said in a statement.\n\nThe DJIA spiked 332 points to close over 24,000 for the first time in history.\n\nThe stock market rally of 2017, which has pushed the Dow up nearly 23%, has been fueled by a global economic recovery that has been a boon for corporate profits and lifted consumer confidence to its highest levels since 2000.\n\nHere's the Director's Cut of the Wii Fit Cowbell Girl:\n\nThat clip includes the Creepy Dude recording her, for the 'Ettes."}
-{"text": "Those\n\nwho like to keep up with the fast-moving digital age (or watch a lot of\n\nBBC2) will have seen our new trailer by now: Ray Winstone, Richard at\n\nthe NASCAR, James on a rather bizarre lap of Dunsfold, a flying man with wings,\n\nJeremy in a wig blowing up a caravan, a C63 AMG Black in a cloud of tyre-smoke\n\nand a new, dapper incarnation of the Stig.\n\nWe\u2019re still beavering away\n\non the final pieces but in the meantime, we thought you might like to see\n\nwhat\u2019s been going in our \u201cphotos\u201d folder\u2026\n\nThose who hate spoilers,\n\nlook away now\n\nFor a comprehensive preview of series 18, you need\n\nthe free supplement in the new issue of Top Gear Magazine \u2013 more info this way"}
-{"text": "Massachusetts election officials announced this week that the state saw the highest number of ballots cast in a midterm election in history, with nearly 3 million votes recorded.\n\nLocal election officials finished certifying the results Wednesday, declaring a final turnout of 60.17 percent for the Nov. 6 midterm election, according to a tweet from the official Massachusetts Elections account.\n\nThis year also marked the highest midterm turnout percentage since 1994, the tweet said."}
-{"text": "The BBC defended its impartiality over claims it was \u2018biased\u2018 today after furious Brexiteers accused it of downplaying the Brexit Party\u2019s victory in its election coverage\n\nThe corporation said it featured 'a range of voices' after angry viewers claimed it emphasised the strong performance of the Remain-supporting Greens and Liberal Democrats rather than focusing on Nigel Farage's triumph at the polls.\n\nThe media giant was also blasted after allowing former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell to grill another guest over the Brexit Party's finances.\n\nMr Campbell, a close former aide of Tony Blair, said Mr Farage's party had had the 'roubles coming in' - a reference to the Brexit campaign's alleged links to Russian money.\n\nHe was also picked up after making the bizarre claim that Remain \u2018won\u2019 the election because smaller parties cumulative number of votes.\n\nPiers Morgan was among those who picked up his claim and mocked him.\n\nFormer UKIP MEP Patrick O'Flynn said: 'I know it's early, but I must say BBC coverage is missing the obvious huge story - the Brexit Party has won these elections and won them big.'\n\nA BBC spokeswoman said that the Brexit Party win had been its 'lead story' and the coverage had provided 'accurate, impartial reporting and analysis'.\n\nShe added: 'Our election coverage featured a range of voices and opinions in a format designed for genuine interaction between guests.'\n\nSome viewers of the BBC's election broadcast took aim at former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell (pictured) over his comments about the Brexit Party\n\nGood Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan mocked the BBC's coverage by retweeting this meme of a mocked-up news alert\n\nNigel Farage (pictured giving his victory speech last night) won the European Parliament elections but some BBC viewers thought the corporation gave him too little coverage\n\nWith most results in, the Brexit Party had won the vast majority of council areas in England and Wales last night. This map shows the largest party in each area\n\nOne twitter user also chimed in and addressing the BBC directly, said: 'Your biased Euro election coverage was appalling, Alastair Campbell lied about Iraq, and continues to lie and spin against democracy, aided and abetted by the 'impartial' BBC. You know where you can stick your licence! I'll save my roubles and watch YouTube.'\n\n\n\nMany people also reached out to Ofcom via social media to complain about the coverage. Although no official figures have yet been released which suggest the complaints.\n\nOfcom had previously released a note to broadcasters prior to the election, urging them to comply with the relevant election guidelines.\n\n'Ofcom reminds all broadcasters of the rules for election-related programming. In particular, broadcasters should ensure that they comply with sections five (due impartiality) and six (elections and referendums) of the Code, as well as the prohibition on political advertising contained in section 321 of the Communications Act 2003 and reflected in Section 7 of the BCAP Code.'\n\nThe BBC was criticised for not challenging Alistair Campbell, who had previously described himself as being in the 'bad books' of the BBC.\n\nDespite the claims that the BBC had focused on the Greens and the Liberal Democrats, the Lib Dems also felt they had not been given enough airtime.\n\nThe source of the Brexit Party's funds had already come into question, after former Labour leader Gordon Brown demanded an inquiry - although the election watchdog has not found any wrongdoing.\n\nThe allegations included that the party was allowing foreign money in to pay for its rallies, social media and advertising campaigns.\n\nDuring the programme Mr Campbell admitted he had voted for the Lib Dems in the election - something that could trigger his expulsion from Labour.\n\nHe said it had been the first time in his life that he had not voted for the Labour Party, launching a blistering attack warning its 'policy of riding two horses has failed'.\n\nOne Twitter user described Campbell as a 'sore looser' and a 'total embarrassment to himself and his supporters'\n\nFurious viewers of the BBC's election coverage took to Twitter to accuse the corporation of biased coverage, emphasising the success of Lib Dems and Greens rather than Nigel Farage\n\nThis morning, following the election result, Mr Campbell tweeted: 'Looking forward to seeing which journalist (probably a regional) is the first to say to @nigelfarage 'but you lost!' Would have the merit of truth. Remain parties > Leave.'\n\nMr Farage later blasted the claim. Asked about it on Good Morning Britain he angrily called it 'absolute tosh' and 'not a fact'.\n\nMr Farage said: 'Add up the Brexit vote, add up the Ukip vote.. add the Conservative vote, who are still a party that says we are going to leave, and you will find that Leave beat Remain.\n\n'In fact what you will find is that overall the country is 52-48 in favour of leaving.'\n\nHe added: 'We are supposed to be a democracy. We were promised this would be implemented.'\n\nIn an article earlier this month, Mr Campbell addressed his concerns surrounding the BBC, saying he had lost confidence in the broadcaster.\n\n'I do not underestimate the challenges they face at the best of times, and with Brexit so complex, so divisive, these are far from the best of times for politics and media alike. But I really hope the BBC is conducting soul-searching about its Brexit coverage which goes well beyond the glib one-liner above.'\n\nIn the article for the New European on May 24 he added that Mr Farage knew exactly what he was doing when it came to his coverage on the BBC.\n\n'Nigel Farage knew what he was doing with his pre-prepared tantrum at Andrew Marr two weeks ago for asking him a range of legitimate questions about views he had expressed in the past.\n\n'He was making an issue of BBC bias against him, when he personally has so much to thank the BBC for, not least all those appearances on Question Times.'\n\nThe Brexit Party has won the most seats in the European Parliament election, while Labour was pushed into third place by the Liberal Democrats\n\nThis chart shows the shares of the vote in the EU elections with the Brexit Party well ahead\n\nAnother Twitter user said that the BBC appeared to be a platform for people to 'preach remain'\n\nAfter the BBC coverage last night, one Brexiteer laid into the corporations coverage and said: 'BBC EU programme now resorting to waxing lyrical on a People's Vote, second referendum, guest after guest droning on about it and compromise, bringing the country together.\n\n'A massive BXP election performance has been turned into a BBC remain party political broadcast.'\n\nAnother accused the BBC of 'completely ignoring the fact the Brexit Party is topping the results'.\n\nSome slammed their coverage in general, with one observer saying that perhaps now the British public will look differently at the coverage the broadcaster puts out.\n\nThis diagram shows the change in vote shares with Labour, the Conservatives and UKIP all losing ground while the Brexit Party came from nowhere and the Lib Dems and Greens gained\n\nOther Twitter users asks Ofcom and Ipso to take action against the broadcaster\n\nOne user said: 'This election has also hastened the day when the bbc will lose its licence as millions more brits see just how unashamedly biased its coverage is.'\n\nMark Vipond said: 'BBC News currently doing an outstanding job of not mentioning the Brexit Party in its coverage.\n\n'They've just spent half an hour telling us how great the Lib Dems are doing in London.'\n\nIn a colourful complaint Andy Fitch said: 'I'd like a referendum on my licence fee after the disgracefully biased coverage tonight.\n\n'The BBC confirms its stance as a bunch of Chai tea drinking Islington hipsters who continue to deny Farage's victory.'\n\nHarrison Hale wrote: 'More coverage from the Biased Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) - all they can talk about is betraying the democratic will of the British people.\n\n'As the results show, the British people are better than that and will not stand for it.'\n\nYet another viewer said: 'The BBC coverage is disgraceful , they are ignoring the success of the Brexit Party.\n\nOne viewer said the BBC was 'not mentioning the Brexit Party in its coverage' while another took aim at Alastair Campbell being allowed to speak about the party's 'roubles'\n\n'Instead they are reporting on the growth in the smaller pro EU parties. This is clear institutional pro EU bias from the BBC.'\n\nTalking about Alastair Campbell's comments, one viewer said the BBC should have urged him to 'apologise or retract' the 'roubles' remark.\n\nAnother said: 'Alastair Campbell cannot be allowed to get away scot free with that smear.'\n\nHowever, some viewers and politicians felt the coverage had, conversely, been too pro-Brexit.\n\nThe Liberal Democrats said: 'Delighted to have been allowed about 5 minutes of discussion over the BBC's election night coverage, given we are only on course to be 2nd in terms of votes and seats with our best ever result in European Elections.'\n\nAnd another furious viewer said: 'After two and a half hours of election coverage, the BBC finally decided to let a Green voice speak.'"}
-{"text": "TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) \u2014 The Tallahassee Police Department says a 19-year-old woman is dead after a driver ran the red light at a pedestrian crosswalk on West Tennessee Street Thursday morning.\n\nTPD says 19-year-old Natalie Nickchen died after a driver, identified as 24-year-old Ivey Green, ran the red light at the pedestrian crosswalk in the 1000 block of West Tennessee Street.\n\nPolice say Nickchen was in the crosswalk when she was hit by the car.\n\nAfter consulting with the State Attorney\u2019s Office about the investigation, criminal charges will not be filed against the driver, though Green will be issued the \"appropriate citations.\"\n\nFlorida State confirmed to ABC 27 that Nickchen was a student at the university. FSU President John Thrasher released the following statement to ABC 27:\n\n\u201cThe entire Florida State University family is deeply saddened by the loss of one of our students, Natalie Nickchen, in a tragic accident on Tennessee Street earlier today. Any time we lose a young person at the beginning of a lifetime of promise, it is heartbreaking and profound. Our prayers are with Natalie\u2019s family and friends. I encourage anyone in our community struggling with this loss to reach out for assistance.\u201d\n\nFSU's University Counseling Center can be reached at 644-TALK (24 hours a day/7 days a week.) Students also can walk in to Counseling anytime between 8 a.m. \u2013 4 p.m. M-F without calling."}
-{"text": "The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.\n\nWhen you differ from people you admire, you have to question yourself. After all, what is the purpose of admiring people if they aren't capable of influencing you?\n\nSo, I have had to challenge my position -- stated since the outset of the Republican presidential debates -- that if Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination, I will vote for him over Hillary Clinton, or any Democrat for that matter.\n\nI devoted many hours of radio and many columns to criticizing Trump. His virtually assured nomination has therefore caused me grief as an American, a Republican and a conservative. That his character defects, gaps in knowledge on some important issues, and lack of identifiably conservative principles came to mean little to so many Republican voters is quite troubling. (Though, I might add, it is even more troubling that virtually all Democrats ignore the even worse character of Hillary Clinton, as well as the idiotic socialist ideas of Sen. Bernie Sanders.)\n\n#NeverTrump conservatives, such as (in alphabetical order) Jonah Goldberg, Bill Kristol, Ben Shapiro, Bret Stephens and George Will are not merely people I admire -- they are friends and colleagues. Goldberg, Stephens and Will have made multiple videos for Prager University, which receive millions of views. Shapiro and I have spent Shabbat together. I have had the privilege of writing for Kristol's The Weekly Standard and having him on my show many times. And I have enthusiastically promoted their books. These individuals are special to me not only as thinkers, but as people.\n\nHowever, in the final analysis, I do not find their arguments compelling.\n\nTake the \"conscience\" argument that one can sleep with a clear conscience by not voting for Trump. I don't find it compelling because it means that your conscience is clear after making it possible for Clinton or any other Democrat to win.\n\nIn fact, the \"conscience\" argument is so weak that Goldberg -- to his credit -- published a column two days ago titled \"Sorry, I Still Won't Ever Vote for Trump.\" He wrote, \"If the election were a perfect tie, and the vote fell to me and me alone, I'd probably vote for none other than Donald Trump.\"\n\nShouldn't all Americans vote as if their vote were the deciding vote? Including those whose votes \"don't count\" because they live in states that are so left-wing they would still vote Democrat if Vladimir Lenin headed the Democratic ticket?\n\nThe choice this November is tragic. As it often happens in life, this choice is between bad and worse, not bad and good.\n\nBut America has made that choice before. When forced to choose between bad and worse, we supported Joseph Stalin against Adolf Hitler, and we supported right-wing authoritarians against Communist totalitarians.\n\nIt seems to me that the #NeverTrump conservatives want to remain morally pure. I understand that temptation. I am tempted, too. But if you wish to vanquish the bad, it is not possible -- at least not on this side of the afterlife -- to remain pure.\n\nThe most moving interview of my 33 years in radio was with Irene Opdyke, a Polish Catholic woman. Opdyke became the mistress of a married Nazi officer in order to save the lives of 12 Jews. She hid them in the cellar of the officer's house in Warsaw. There were some Christians who called my show to say that Opdyke's actions were wrong, that she had in fact sinned because she knowingly committed a mortal sin. In their view, she compromised Catholic/Christian doctrine.\n\nIn my view -- and, I believe, the view of most Catholics and other Christians -- she brought glory to her God and her faith. Why? Because (SET ITAL) circumstances almost always determine what is moral (END ITAL), even for religious people like myself who believe in moral absolutes. That's why the act of dropping atom bombs on Japan was moral. The circumstances (ending a war that would otherwise continue taking millions of lives) made moral what under other circumstances would be immoral.\n\nIn the 2016 presidential race, I am not interested in moral purity. I am interested in defeating the left and its party, the Democratic Party. The notion (expressed by virtually every #NeverTrump advocate) that we can live with another four years of a Democratic president is, forgive me, mind-boggling. To that end, with at least one, and probably multiple, additional leftists on the Supreme Court, a Republican presidential victory in 2020 would mean little. All the left needs is the judicial branch, especially the Supreme Court. Left-wing judges pass so many left-wing laws that they render those who control Congress, and even the White House, almost irrelevant.\n\nHere, then, are nine reasons (there are more) why a conservative should prefer a Trump presidency to a Democrat presidency:\n\n--Prevent a left-wing Supreme Court.\n\n--Increase the defense budget.\n\n--Repeal, or at least modify, the Dodd-Frank act.\n\n--Prevent Washington, D.C. from becoming a state and giving the Democrats another two permanent senators.\n\n--Repeal Obamacare.\n\n--Curtail illegal immigration, a goal that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with xenophobia or nativism (just look at Western Europe).\n\n--Reduce job-killing regulations on large and small businesses.\n\n--Lower the corporate income tax and bring back hundreds of billions of offshore dollars to the United States.\n\n--Continue fracking, which the left, in its science-rejecting hysteria, opposes.\n\nFor these reasons, I, unlike my friends, could not live with my conscience if I voted to help the America-destroying left win the presidency in any way.\n\nI just don't understand how anyone who understands the threat the left and the Democrats pose on America will refuse to vote for the only person who can stop them."}
-{"text": "My husband has been playing WoW since Vanilla and got me into it when we were engaged. Now I have a Hearthstone pillow and he doesn't! It's so soft! Now I have to keep it away from our cats."}
-{"text": "PHNOM PENH, Cambodge \u2014 \u00c0 l\u2019instant o\u00f9 le tuk-tuk bringuebalant me d\u00e9pose aux portes de l\u2019orphelinat Home of Hope, apr\u00e8s s\u2019\u00eatre fray\u00e9 un chemin \u00e0 travers les rues agit\u00e9es de Phnom Penh, sept volontaires espagnoles sont, elles, en train de faire leurs adieux. Sourire aux l\u00e8vres, elles prennent la pose avec les enfants pour les photos souvenirs. Elles ont consacr\u00e9 l\u2019essentiel de leur s\u00e9jour de deux semaines \u00e0 peindre une murale sur la fa\u00e7ade de l\u2019orphelinat.\n\nUn lion. Un \u00e9l\u00e9phant. Un lapin. Des papillons.\n\nPlant\u00e9e dans la salle commune, j\u2019observe la quinzaine de pensionnaires, pour la plupart gravement handicap\u00e9s, sans avoir la moindre id\u00e9e de ce qu\u2019il faut faire. Personne ne me pr\u00e9sente les enfants. Personne ne me donne de consignes. Je suis laiss\u00e9e \u00e0 moi-m\u00eame, une b\u00e9n\u00e9vole parmi d\u2019autres dans la machine \u00e0 saucisses du \u00ab volontourisme \u00bb international.\n\nJe me suis enr\u00f4l\u00e9e dans cette \u00ab mission humanitaire \u00bb par l\u2019entremise de Projects Abroad, l\u2019une des plus grandes organisations de volontariat payant de la plan\u00e8te. Chaque ann\u00e9e, cette entreprise britannique envoie plus de 10 000 b\u00e9n\u00e9voles dans 27 \u00ab pays d\u2019action \u00bb \u00e0 travers le monde.\n\nJ\u2019ai vers\u00e9 2215 $ \u00e0 Projects Abroad pour vivre une \u00ab exp\u00e9rience extr\u00eamement gratifiante \u00bb de deux semaines au Cambodge. Le logement et la nourriture, tr\u00e8s abordables dans ce pays pauvre d\u2019Asie du Sud-Est, sont compris dans le forfait, mais pas le billet d\u2019avion, qui m\u2019a co\u00fbt\u00e9 1600 $ suppl\u00e9mentaires.\n\nLa Presse s\u2019est livr\u00e9e \u00e0 l\u2019exercice afin d\u2019enqu\u00eater sur un ph\u00e9nom\u00e8ne en \u00e9mergence : le volontourisme. C\u2019est donc sans r\u00e9v\u00e9ler mon identit\u00e9 de journaliste que je me suis enr\u00f4l\u00e9e dans cette mission.\n\n\u00c7a n\u2019a pas \u00e9t\u00e9 difficile. Il m\u2019a suffi de verser un d\u00e9p\u00f4t de 295 $. J\u2019ai pu imm\u00e9diatement choisir la destination, le type de mission et la date pr\u00e9cise de mon d\u00e9part, en fonction d\u2019une seule et unique chose : mes propres d\u00e9sirs.\n\nTrop facile ?\n\nSans aucun doute, d\u00e9noncent les critiques, pour qui ces co\u00fbteuses vacances solidaires font malheureusement plus de mal que de bien. \u00c0 leurs yeux, les b\u00e9n\u00e9voles envoy\u00e9s par milliers en Afrique, en Asie et en Am\u00e9rique latine forment sans le savoir les rouages d\u2019une machine non pas motiv\u00e9e par le bien-\u00eatre des communaut\u00e9s locales, mais d\u2019abord et avant tout par le profit.\n\nUne machine de plus en plus grosse, qui est en train de pervertir la notion m\u00eame du travail humanitaire \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9tranger.\n\n***\n\nIl n\u2019y a pas si longtemps, les touristes se contentaient de visiter le monde. Aujourd\u2019hui, ils veulent le sauver. L\u2019industrie s\u2019est adapt\u00e9e \u00e0 la demande. Des agences de voyages proposent \u00e0 leurs clients d\u2019\u00eatre davantage que de simples touristes. Elles leur offrent de mettre la main \u00e0 la p\u00e2te. De faire le bien.\n\nC\u2019est ce qu\u2019on appelle le volontourisme. Et c\u2019est le secteur qui enregistre le plus fort potentiel de croissance de l\u2019industrie. \u00ab C\u2019est une niche tr\u00e8s lucrative \u00bb, dit Mark Watson, directeur de l\u2019organisme britannique Tourism Concern. Il \u00e9value les marges de profit du volontourisme entre 30 et 40 %, alors qu\u2019elles ne sont que de 2 \u00e0 3 % dans l\u2019industrie du tourisme traditionnel.\n\nEn th\u00e9orie, tout le monde y gagne : l\u2019agence de voyages, qui touche de juteux b\u00e9n\u00e9fices, les clients, qui vivent une exp\u00e9rience personnelle enrichissante, et les pays h\u00f4tes, qui profitent du travail d\u2019une arm\u00e9e de volontaires enthousiastes.\n\nSauf que ce n\u2019est pas si simple, pr\u00e9vient M. Watson. Trop souvent, dit-il, les volontaires paient d\u2019importantes sommes pour ne rien accomplir de valable. \u00ab Il n\u2019est pas rare qu\u2019un groupe de volontaires peigne une \u00e9cole\u2026 pour qu\u2019un autre groupe de volontaires la repeigne deux semaines plus tard ! \u00bb\n\nCe n\u2019est pas une exag\u00e9ration. \u00c0 Phnom Penh, les murs de Home of Hope sont couverts de dessins na\u00effs, peints par des hordes cons\u00e9cutives de b\u00e9n\u00e9voles. La murale des Espagnoles n\u2019est pas encore s\u00e8che quand l\u2019un des missionnaires responsables de l\u2019orphelinat, constatant mon air d\u00e9sempar\u00e9, finit par m\u2019approcher.\n\n\u2013 Vous \u00eates nouvelle ?\n\n\u2013 Oui.\n\n\u2013 Quelles sont vos qualifications ?\n\n\u2013 Je n\u2019en ai pas.\n\n\u2013 Ah, bon. Vous savez dessiner ?\n\n\u2013 Euh\u2026 oui, un peu.\n\n\u2013 Alors, vous pourriez faire une murale !\n\n***\n\nChileap, 15 ans, est moins timide que moi. Quelques minutes \u00e0 peine apr\u00e8s mon arriv\u00e9e \u00e0 l\u2019orphelinat, il me prend la main et m\u2019entra\u00eene devant la porte de la salle, ferm\u00e9e \u00e0 cl\u00e9, o\u00f9 sont rang\u00e9s les jouets. Je ne parle pas un mot de khmer, mais le gar\u00e7on sait fort bien se faire comprendre. Il sait aussi qu\u2019il devra jouer du coude pour conserver mon attention. Bient\u00f4t, Sochiat, 6 ans, saute dans mes bras pour r\u00e9clamer un c\u00e2lin. Il ne m\u2019a jamais vue de sa vie.\n\nC\u2019est d\u00e9routant. Et, bien s\u00fbr, gratifiant. Les missions humanitaires aupr\u00e8s d\u2019enfants n\u00e9glig\u00e9s ou abandonn\u00e9s ont la cote en volontourisme. Sur son site web, Projects Abroad assure d\u2019ailleurs que \u00ab l\u2019affection et le soutien \u00bb que les volontaires offrent \u00e0 ces enfants sont \u00ab importants pour leur d\u00e9veloppement \u00bb.\n\nOr, l\u2019Unicef et d\u2019autres organismes vou\u00e9s \u00e0 la protection de l\u2019enfance soutiennent exactement le contraire. Ces groupes supplient les b\u00e9n\u00e9voles d\u2019\u00e9viter le travail en orphelinats. Quand des enfants se jettent dans les bras de purs inconnus, pr\u00e9viennent-ils, c\u2019est trop souvent le signe d\u2019une d\u00e9tresse profonde.\n\n\u00ab Les agences promettent aux volontaires qu\u2019ils pourront b\u00e2tir une relation avec les enfants, qu\u2019il y aura un attachement \u00e9motif. \u00c7a fait vendre. Mais pour les enfants, ce lien est sans cesse rompu par les volontaires qui entrent, puis sortent de leur vie. Ils se sentent continuellement abandonn\u00e9s. \u00bb\n\n\u2013 Anna McKeon, de Better Volunteering, Better Care, une initiative vou\u00e9e \u00e0 d\u00e9courager le volontariat en institution\n\nElle-m\u00eame ancienne b\u00e9n\u00e9vole dans des orphelinats du Kenya et de la Tha\u00eflande, Anna McKeon a mis du temps avant de saisir \u2013 et d\u2019admettre \u2013 que l\u2019aide qu\u2019elle croyait apporter \u00e9tait en fait une nuisance. \u00ab Il est tr\u00e8s difficile pour un volontaire d\u2019en prendre conscience. Il re\u00e7oit tout cet amour de la part de l\u2019enfant, mais ne voit pas ce qui se passe apr\u00e8s son d\u00e9part. En v\u00e9rit\u00e9, ces abandons r\u00e9p\u00e9t\u00e9s ont des cons\u00e9quences tr\u00e8s graves pour le d\u00e9veloppement de l\u2019enfant et ses futures capacit\u00e9s relationnelles. \u00bb\n\n\u00c0 Home of Hope, nous sommes sept volontaires du Canada, de la France, des \u00c9tats-Unis, de l\u2019Allemagne et de la Grande-Bretagne. Sept pour 15 enfants. La dur\u00e9e des s\u00e9jours varie de deux semaines \u00e0 trois mois. Bient\u00f4t, d\u2019autres b\u00e9n\u00e9voles s\u2019attacheront \u00e0 ces enfants, avant de repartir chez eux, \u00e0 l\u2019autre bout du monde, avec le sentiment d\u2019avoir accompli quelque chose.\n\nMais quoi, au juste ?\n\nJe prends le directeur de l\u2019orphelinat \u00e0 part pour lui demander s\u2019il croit vraiment b\u00e9n\u00e9fique pour ces enfants d\u2019avoir sans cesse \u00e0 s\u2019ajuster le c\u0153ur en fonction du b\u00e9n\u00e9vole du moment. \u00ab Ils sont habitu\u00e9s \u00bb, me r\u00e9pond le fr\u00e8re Binu Thomas.\n\n\u2013 D\u2019accord, mais est-ce bon pour eux ?\n\n\u2013 Peut-\u00eatre que oui. Ils sentent qu\u2019ils sont voulus. Aucun d\u2019eux n\u2019a de parents. Vous leur donnez un amour maternel.\n\n\u2013 Lorsque nous partons, se sentent-ils abandonn\u00e9s ?\n\n\u2013 Non, parce qu\u2019ils ne sont pas normaux. Ils ne sentent pas cela.\n\nSimon, un gar\u00e7on trisomique, Panith, atteint de paralysie c\u00e9r\u00e9brale, et Ty, dont le corps est tordu par la polio, ne ressentiraient donc pas l\u2019abandon aussi douloureusement que n\u2019importe quel enfant \u00ab normal \u00bb ? Difficile de croire qu\u2019ils n\u2019ont pas besoin, au moins autant que les autres, d\u2019une figure d\u2019attachement stable.\n\nAu moins ont-ils probablement bel et bien \u00e9t\u00e9 rejet\u00e9s par leurs parents, incapables d\u2019en prendre soin en raison de leur d\u00e9ficience physique ou mentale. C\u2019est loin d\u2019\u00eatre le cas de tous les enfants en orphelinats du Cambodge.\n\nNulle part le probl\u00e8me des portes tournantes du volontariat ne se pose-t-il avec plus d\u2019acuit\u00e9 que dans ce pays, o\u00f9 le nombre d\u2019orphelinats a litt\u00e9ralement explos\u00e9 depuis 10 ans. Le Cambodge en compte d\u00e9sormais plus de 600, dont la plupart \u00e9chappent \u00e0 tout contr\u00f4le gouvernemental. Le nombre d\u2019orphelins, pourtant, diminue sans cesse depuis la fin du r\u00e8gne des khmers rouges, il y a 35 ans.\n\nAlors, pourquoi cette prolif\u00e9ration d\u2019orphelinats ?\n\nSimplement pour r\u00e9pondre \u00e0 la demande. La hausse est li\u00e9e \u00e0 l\u2019augmentation du tourisme et du volontariat aupr\u00e8s des enfants du Cambodge. Une \u00e9tude r\u00e9alis\u00e9e en 2011 par l\u2019Unicef, intitul\u00e9e Avec les meilleures intentions, a conclu que les orphelinats du pays sont peupl\u00e9s d\u2019enfants arrach\u00e9s \u00e0 leurs parents dans le but de soutirer des dons \u00e9trangers.\n\nAu Cambodge, les volontouristes cr\u00e9ent eux-m\u00eames les orphelins qu\u2019ils veulent aider \u00e0 tout prix.\n\n***\n\nProjects Abroad soutient s\u2019\u00eatre engag\u00e9 \u00e0 am\u00e9liorer les conditions de vie des enfants de Home of Hope. En 2014, un groupe d\u2019\u00e9l\u00e8ves australiens y a am\u00e9nag\u00e9 une salle d\u2019activit\u00e9s sensorielles. D\u2019autres b\u00e9n\u00e9voles ont procur\u00e9 de l\u2019ombre \u00e0 l\u2019aire de jeux, qui en avait bien besoin.\n\n\u00ab Projects Abroad est tr\u00e8s reconnaissant envers ces groupes de jeunes volontaires et doit aujourd\u2019hui s\u2019assurer que leurs efforts aient un r\u00e9el impact \u00e0 long terme \u00bb, lit-on sur le site web de l\u2019entreprise.\n\nAutour de moi, pourtant, aucun volontaire ne semble conna\u00eetre l\u2019existence de la salle d\u2019activit\u00e9s sensorielles, ferm\u00e9e \u00e0 cl\u00e9. Quant \u00e0 l\u2019aire de jeux, il y a bien des poteaux, sur lesquels des toiles semblent jadis avoir \u00e9t\u00e9 fix\u00e9es. Mais les toiles n\u2019y sont plus. Le soleil plombe, plus fort que jamais, sur le toboggan de m\u00e9tal br\u00fblant.\n\n\u00ab L\u2019objectif d\u2019une agence de voyages n\u2019est pas d\u2019avoir un impact quelconque, mais de vendre un produit. Elle n\u2019a m\u00eame pas int\u00e9r\u00eat \u00e0 ce que la situation change, puisqu\u2019elle doit s\u2019assurer que le produit reste disponible. La mis\u00e8re, source de profit, est donc entretenue. \u00bb\n\n\u2013 Pierre de Handscutter, directeur de l\u2019ONG franco-belge Service volontaire international\n\n\u00c0 Home of Hope, nous avons droit \u00e0 une pause de deux heures, parfois davantage, pour d\u00eener et faire la sieste. Pendant ce temps, les deux \u00ab vraies \u00bb employ\u00e9es font le \u00ab vrai \u00bb travail : lavage, m\u00e9nage et tout le reste. Ce sont vers ces deux femmes khm\u00e8res que les b\u00e9n\u00e9voles se tournent lorsqu\u2019elles constatent, d\u00e9go\u00fbt\u00e9es, qu\u2019il y a une couche \u00e0 changer.\n\n\u00ab M\u00e8re Teresa a dit : faites de petites choses, mais avec grand amour \u00bb, me rappelle le directeur Binu Thomas, un missionnaire de la Charit\u00e9, la congr\u00e9gation fond\u00e9e par la c\u00e9l\u00e8bre religieuse de Calcutta. Alors, comme les autres volontaires, je joue avec les enfants. Je dessine \u00e0 la craie sur l\u2019asphalte, je construis des tours en Mega Bloks, je m\u2019amuse \u00e0 faire l\u2019\u00e9cole \u00e0 Simon.\n\nSimon qui adore, par-dessus tout, jouer \u00e0 faire semblant.\n\nComme nous tous dans cet orphelinat.\n\n***\n\nCe matin, on m\u2019a assign\u00e9 un enfant pour la journ\u00e9e. Il s\u2019appelle Somnang.\n\nJe saisis le cartable noir dans lequel les b\u00e9n\u00e9voles pr\u00e9c\u00e9dents ont consign\u00e9 leurs observations. Je lis : \u00ab Somnang, 12 ans. Diagnostic : autisme, graves troubles d\u2019apprentissage, comportement difficile. \u00bb\n\nJe range le cartable, pr\u00eate \u00e0 m\u2019enfuir \u00e0 toutes jambes. Plus que jamais, j\u2019ai le sentiment de ne pas \u00eatre \u00e0 ma place. Avec raison, maugr\u00e9e Mark Watson, de Tourism Concern. \u00ab Au Canada, vous vous attendez \u00e0 ce que les employ\u00e9s des centres pour enfants handicap\u00e9s soient qualifi\u00e9s, non ? Je trouve incroyable que des gens sans la moindre exp\u00e9rience pensent pouvoir se pr\u00e9senter au Cambodge pour prendre soin de ces enfants ! \u00bb\n\n\u00ab C\u2019est \u00e9pouvantable d\u2019envoyer des gens non qualifi\u00e9s travailler aupr\u00e8s de ces enfants malades. On n\u2019a pas le droit de leur faire \u00e7a, de ne pas leur expliquer ce qu\u2019est un enfant avec un retard mental, de les laisser compl\u00e8tement d\u00e9munis \u00bb, tranche Nicolas Bergeron, pr\u00e9sident de M\u00e9decins du Monde.\n\n\u00ab Un stage suppose un minimum de formation, un encadrement complet et des objectifs pr\u00e9cis. Dans ce cas-ci, on ne r\u00e9pond \u00e0 aucun besoin. C\u2019est une d\u00e9rive marchande, une commercialisation de l\u2019aide humanitaire. L\u2019entreprise fait de gros profits et ne sert pas les communaut\u00e9s. Sur le plan \u00e9thique, c\u2019est irrecevable. \u00bb\n\n\u2013 Le Dr Nicolas Bergeron, pr\u00e9sident de M\u00e9decins du Monde\n\nLe site de Projects Abroad mentionne qu\u2019il faut avoir \u00e9tudi\u00e9 la physioth\u00e9rapie \u00ab au moins trois ans \u00bb pour travailler \u00e0 Home of Hope. L\u2019entreprise n\u2019a pourtant rien exig\u00e9 de moi avant de m\u2019offrir cette mission. Autour de moi, d\u2019autres volontaires n\u2019ont termin\u00e9 qu\u2019une ann\u00e9e d\u2019\u00e9tudes en ergoth\u00e9rapie. Sans supervision, elles mettent leurs maigres connaissances \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9preuve. Dans son blogue, l\u2019une d\u2019elles admettra apprendre \u00ab par essais et erreurs \u00bb sur les enfants, transform\u00e9s en cobayes pour l\u2019occasion.\n\n\u00c0 part moi et une Britannique, les volontaires n\u2019ont pas 25 ans, l\u2019\u00e2ge minimal requis au Cambodge pour donner des soins en institution. Projects Abroad ne semble pas conna\u00eetre cette norme \u00e9tablie par le minist\u00e8re des Affaires sociales ou s\u2019en soucier. Sur son site, l\u2019entreprise diffuse le t\u00e9moignage d\u2019une b\u00e9n\u00e9vole qui venait \u00e0 peine d\u2019avoir 16 ans lors de son s\u00e9jour \u00e0 Home of Hope. \u00ab Jouer avec les enfants d\u00e9ficients mentaux \u00e9tait ce qu\u2019il y avait de plus gratifiant puisqu\u2019ils n\u2019avaient pas de parents pour leur donner chaque jour de l\u2019amour et de l\u2019attention \u00bb, \u00e9crit l\u2019adolescente.\n\nLe site de Projects Abroad d\u00e9borde de t\u00e9moignages semblables. Anna McKeon y a cru, elle aussi. \u00ab Aujourd\u2019hui, \u00e7a m\u2019attriste de voir tous ces jeunes se rendre \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9tranger en pensant que c\u2019est comme \u00e7a qu\u2019on aide. \u00bb Elle a parfois l\u2019impression de pr\u00eacher dans le d\u00e9sert. \u00ab C\u2019est tr\u00e8s difficile de demander aux gens de prendre du recul, d\u2019oublier leurs motivations personnelles et de consid\u00e9rer le r\u00f4le qu\u2019ils jouent \u00e0 plus grande \u00e9chelle. \u00bb\n\nSelon elle, les m\u00e9dias sociaux contribuent largement \u00e0 la popularit\u00e9 du volontourisme. \u00ab Ils vous permettent de partager des exp\u00e9riences comme jamais auparavant. Mais ils vous soumettent aussi \u00e0 une pression qui n\u2019existait pas autrefois. \u00bb D\u00e9sormais, vous devez prouver \u00e0 vos amis virtuels que vous pouvez faire une diff\u00e9rence.\n\nNe vous y trompez pas, pr\u00e9vient Anna McKeon : \u00ab La seule chose que vous r\u00e9ussirez \u00e0 changer en vous engageant dans ce type de volontariat, c\u2019est votre profil Facebook. \u00bb"}
-{"text": "Essex lorry deaths: Man held in Ireland faces manslaughter charges Published duration 20 April\n\nimage copyright PA Media image caption The bodies were discovered in a refrigerated trailer\n\nA man has been arrested in the Republic of Ireland in connection with the deaths of 39 Vietnamese nationals found in a lorry in Essex.\n\nThe 31 men and eight women were discovered in a refrigerated trailer on 23 October in Grays.\n\nRonan Hughes, who is 40 years old, was held under a European Arrest Warrant.\n\nHe is due to appear at Dublin's High Court on Tuesday charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, as well as immigration offences.\n\nMr Hughes has links to County Armagh in Northern Ireland and County Monaghan in Ireland.\n\nAssistant Chief Constable Tim Smith, head of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: \"This investigation is one of the largest in Essex Police history and we are working tirelessly to piece together the events leading up to the 23 October 2019 for the sake of the victims and their loved ones.\n\n\"We have worked closely with the National Crime Agency and Crown Prosecution Service as well as police and prosecutors in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Germany and Vietnam.\"\n\nimage caption Waterglade Industrial Park was closed off after the lorry container was discovered in October\n\nOn 8 April, 25-year-old Maurice Robinson, of Craigavon, County Armagh, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to 39 counts of manslaughter.\n\nHe had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.\n\nRobinson will be sentenced at a later date.\n\nFour other men will stand trial at the Old Bailey in connection with this investigation on 5 October.\n\nEamonn Harrison, 22, of Mayobridge, Northern Ireland, who under a European Arrest Warrant faced 39 charges of manslaughter, has been granted leave to appeal against his extradition to the UK.\n\nHe also faced a charge of conspiracy to traffic people, as well as conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.\n\nA further hearing will be held in Dublin on 7 May.\n\nThe bodies of the Vietnamese nationals were discovered at an industrial estate soon after the lorry arrived in the UK on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium."}
-{"text": "News U.S. Government Receives Approval to Sell Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash Seized From Dark Web Dealer\n\nThe U.S. government has received approval from a judge in Utah to sell off 513 Bitcoin and 512 Bitcoin Cash seized from an investigation involving Aaron Michael Shamo, a dealer on the dark web.\n\n$10 Million in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash Seized\n\nThe U.S government is preparing to liquidate all assets of Aaron Michael Shamo following his recent arrest, including his Ford pickup truck, BMW, and his nearly $10 million worth of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. Shamo was arrested in November 2016 for allegedly selling counterfeit pharmaceuticals as well as using the US mail system to distribute his products.\n\nShamo, along with other dark web operators Drew Wilson Crandall, Mario Anthony Noble, and Sean Michael Gygi, was found guilty on May 31, 2017 of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, aiding the importation of a controlled substance, intentional adulteration of drugs, use of the US mail in drug trafficking, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and engaging in monetary transaction in property derived from specified unlawful activity. The charges racked up by the conspirators carry a 10-year minimum sentence.\n\nImmediately following the verdict, the dark web operators\u2019 holdings in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash were seized and transferred to the custody of the United States Marshals Service (USMS). The government expressed concerns over the cost of securely storing the seized currency for a long period of time, favoring the sale of the coins instead.\n\n\u201cHere, there is a good cause for the sale because each of the following vehicles are accruing monthly payments pf storage and maintenance fees \u2013 which would total several hundred dollars a month for the vehicles \u2013 during the pendency of sentencing and forfeiture proceedings would significantly reduce the value received for these items.\u201d\n\nThe U.S. government must wait a period of 60 days before they may proceed with the sale, a period which will land in early 2018.\n\nNot U.S. Government\u2019s First Crypto Sale\n\nIn October, the U.S. government disclosed the sale of 144,336 bitcoins that they seized after shutting down the Silk Road. Officials cited concerns over the volatility of the currency and felt that it was likely to depreciate in value, prompting the government to sell off the coins. At the time of the 2014 sale, Bitcoin was valued at $336 per coin, making the total value of the seized coins more than $48 million. Had the government possessed itself in patience, however, and instead held onto those bitcoins, they would be worth $2.4 billion at current value.\n\nLarge fluctuations in the price of the currency, as well as rocketing transaction fees, have caused officials to push for a prompt sale of the coins. The U.S. government intends to sell the 513 Bitcoins and 512 Bitcoin Cash in upcoming weeks at the current combined market value of approximately $9.9 million.\n\nIs the government selling at a good time or should they HODL? Tell us what you think of the pending sale in the comments below!\n\nImages courtesy of Pixabay, Justice.gov"}
-{"text": "Un c\u00f4ne orange est abandonn\u00e9 depuis plus d\u2019une ann\u00e9e \u00e0 l\u2019intersection de la rue Salaberry et du boulevard Gouin Ouest, \u00e0 quelques m\u00e8tres de la prison de Bordeaux. Un c\u00f4ne intriguant, signalant l\u2019emplacement d\u2019un lampadaire qui est toujours attendu.\n\n\u00abC\u2019est apparemment \u00e0 la suite d\u2019un accident, un poteau est tomb\u00e9, que le c\u00f4ne a \u00e9t\u00e9 plac\u00e9 l\u00e0\u00bb, indique Hasmig Belleli, r\u00e9sidente d\u2019Ahuntsic-Cartierville et ancienne \u00e9lue de l\u2019arrondissement. Celle-ci \u00e9tait venue se plaindre de la situation lors du conseil d\u2019arrondissement du 10 d\u00e9cembre 2014. C\u2019est elle qui a contact\u00e9 le \u00abCourrier\u00bb pour signaler le probl\u00e8me.\n\nEn fait, le c\u00f4ne a \u00e9t\u00e9 laiss\u00e9 \u00e0 cet endroit apr\u00e8s le chantier d\u2019am\u00e9nagement d\u2019un terre-plein sur cette intersection. Le chantier est achev\u00e9 depuis plusieurs mois, mais le c\u00f4ne orange est toujours l\u00e0, indiquant l\u2019emplacement d\u2019un lampadaire qui tarde \u00e0 \u00eatre remplac\u00e9.\n\nDepuis, le c\u00f4ne est d\u00e9plac\u00e9 et malmen\u00e9. Il obstrue parfois la circulation quand il se retrouve sur la chauss\u00e9e, a indiqu\u00e9 une r\u00e9sidente du secteur. Aucune explication de la Ville n\u2019a \u00e9t\u00e9 donn\u00e9e \u00e0 la plaignante lors du conseil.\n\nUn c\u00f4ne, deux arrondissements\n\nSelon l\u2019arrondissement d\u2019Ahuntsic-Cartierville, un lampadaire doit \u00eatre imp\u00e9rativement install\u00e9 \u00e0 cet endroit d\u2019autant que c\u2019est un passage pour pi\u00e9ton. Toutefois, en ce qui concerne l\u2019\u00e9clairage public \u00e0 Ahuntsic-Cartierville, c\u2019est l\u2019arrondissement de Rosemont\u2013La Petite-Patrie qui s\u2019en occupe.\n\n\u00abIl y a eu une erreur dans ce cas, avance Serge Fortin, charg\u00e9 de communication \u00e0 l\u2019arrondissement de Rosemont\u2013La Petite-Patrie. On avait suppos\u00e9 que c\u2019\u00e9tait \u00e0 l\u2019entrepreneur de s\u2019en occuper. Si la base est conforme, le lampadaire sera install\u00e9 avant la fin de semaine.\u00bb M. Fortin assure que le cas du c\u00f4ne orange sera r\u00e9gl\u00e9, le 20 f\u00e9vrier.\n\nPour le charg\u00e9 de communication de Rosemont\u2013La Petite-Patrie, \u00abil s\u2019agit d\u2019entretien normal, donc il n\u2019y a pas de frais \u00e0 l\u2019arrondissement.\u00bb Quant au c\u00f4ne, les co\u00fbt seraient mineurs, puisque les arrondissements en poss\u00e8dent beaucoup en stock. \u00abS\u2019il y a des frais, nous en discuterons probablement entre l\u2019arrondissement et nous pour savoir qui les assumera, mais cela ne devrait pas poser probl\u00e8me\u00bb, fait-il savoir."}
-{"text": "A private Asian collector bought an Andy Warhol portrait of Chairman Mao for $12.6 million yesterday (April 2) at an art sale, Sotheby\u2019s auction house said. A spokesman for Sotheby\u2019s declined to provide more details regarding the buyer\u2019s identity.\n\nThe painting was one of a series of 28 portraits the pop artist made in 1973, shortly after Richard Nixon\u2019s trip to China. The portraits subverted a communist icon into a commercial one, and later a wave of Chinese artists also looked to Mao for inspiration.\n\nThere was speculation ahead of the sale about whether a Chinese collector would bid for the work, given the increasing sensitivity about Mao\u2019s image in mainland China in recent years (Hong Kong has a more relaxed attitude to admitting to owning Mao art or displaying it).\n\nThe price didn\u2019t mark much of an increase from its 2014 London sale, also to an unnamed collector (before that, in 2000, the painting changed hands for a mere $632,218). But it\u2019s still beyond the reach of a more penurious millionaire, say someone with just a few millions to their name.\n\nThe number of people in the Asia-Pacific region who could afford to buy this painting is probably just around 40,000 or so, based on the number of \u201cultra high net-worth\u201d people, or those with more than $30 million in assets to invest."}
-{"text": "Cork woman carried a claw-hammer in her handbag on a visit to court; she has over 100 previous convictions\n\nA WOMAN who carried a claw-hammer in her handbag on a visit to court was jailed for 18 months for carrying the weapon.\n\nJudge Brian O\u2019Callaghan imposed the jail term of two and a half years with the last year suspended at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.\n\nThe judge expressed concern that the young woman was able to walk around inside the courthouse with the weapon in her bag.\n\nJuilliane O\u2019Farrell admitted carrying a claw-hammer in her handbag during an incident in the foyer of the courthouse.\n\nO\u2019Farrell of 8 Marble Park, South Douglas Road, Cork, pleaded guilty to the charge that on September 5, 2018, at Cork District Court on Anglesea Street she had with her in a public place a claw hammer intended to cause injury or intimidate a person produced in the course of a dispute in a threatening manner.\n\nSergeant John Kelleher previously outlined what happened.\n\n\u201cGarda\u00ed were nearby dealing with another issue when Garda Jason Daly noticed the defendant (and a man) standing over another man,\u201d Sgt Kelleher said.\n\nThe evidence was that the man with O\u2019Farrell reached into her handbag and took out a small claw-hammer and held it in a threatening manner over the other party.\n\nGarda Daly saw this and then the man put the hammer back in O\u2019Farrell\u2019s bag.\n\nThe same woman made headlines recently for shoplifting in Cork city centre during a lunchtime break at Cork District Court on a day when she faced sentencing on multiple counts of shoplifting.\n\nShe has over 100 previous convictions \u2013 about one third of them for theft.\n\nJudge Olann Kelleher said in that case, \u201cIt is an almost frightening thing. She had a baby six weeks ago. And on September 26 she is before the court, she went out at lunchtime and went stealing items and came back after lunch.\n\n\u201cShe does what she pleases \u2013 someone leaving the court and going robbing \u2013 to use a colloquial word \u2013 and then coming back into court at 2pm.\u201d\n\nThe judge sentenced her to ten months in prison for this and other crimes.\n\nThe sentenced of 18 months now imposed on her will run concurrently with that sentence imposed last month.\n\nThe lunchtime crime consisted of going into Elvery\u2019s Sports on Oliver Plunkett Street with two other women and stealing a pair of Puma leggings and an Adidas jacket.\n\nShe admitted pulling the tags off those items, causing damage, and a related charge of handling the stolen property.\n\nShe also admitted several thefts from Cork city stores during August."}
-{"text": "Over the weekend, one crypto enthusiast under the Twitter handle of @hlnoooo has claimed that Ripple\u2019s Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz has sold a stack of his XRP.\n\nHe claims that this should be the biggest warning sign for the XRP community. He also claimed that Schartz wasn\u2019t alone in all of this though because another employee at Ripple was selling his XRP over the past few days.\n\nWarning to all $XRP holders.\n\n\n\nRipple CTO @JoelKatz recently selling his $XRP stack is the biggest warning sign one could ever get. This is the most bearish sign for $XRP I have ever witnessed since beginning of '17.https://t.co/aHqeaLbxv8\n\n\n\nI recommend everyone to get OUT NOW \u2014 Hlnoooo (@hlnoooo) April 20, 2019\n\nHe went on to mention an old tweet by Schwartz, where the CTO spoke about the \u2018de-risking strategy\u2019 he and his wife came up during the last bull-run.\n\nYou can see Schwartz\u2019 tweet from over a year ago here:\n\nI hold some XRP that I bought on the open market over the years as well as other similar assets. When I first chose to put money in, I agreed on a de-risking strategy with my wife should we ever have too much at risk, which I've been following with some sadness. \u2014 David Schwartz (@JoelKatz) January 16, 2018\n\n@hlnoooo has shared the wallets that have been moving these assets, both David Schwartz\u2019s and Ripple\u2019s Employee XRP Wallet.\n\nThe Twitter user claims that these wallets started to move these digital assets at the time when the US Securities and Exchange Commission published the \u201cFramework for Analysis of Digital Assets.\u201d\n\nIn fact, as reported by CoinSpeaker he actually shared one of the fragments of this framework by saying:"}
-{"text": "A new movement that quantitatively measures charitable causes is sweeping the world of philanthropy. But does Effective Altruism necessarily have better answers to the problems the world is facing? And can it bring people with it? Danyl Mclauchlan writes.\n\nIn June of 2018 I went to a protest outside the US Embassy in Wellington. It was early evening, mid-winter, extremely cold. It was an anti-Trump event. Earlier that week US media reported on his administration\u2019s family separation policy, in which the children of illegal migrants entering the US from Mexico were taken from their parents and placed in custody.\n\nI hate protests and marches \u2013 I\u2019m deeply introverted: being around large groups of yelling, chanting people makes me very uncomfortable \u2013 but the idea of the US government seizing children, locking them up and then losing them in the vastness of their corrections system was so enraging that when the protest was announced I felt I had to go.\n\nIt was a good turnout, but we learned on arrival that the embassy was undergoing massive refurbishment: the buildings were concrete shells floodlit orange by the mounted security lights, adjacent to shadowy mounds of dug up earth. We were protesting a construction site rather than a diplomatic post. But I ran into a friend in the crowd who was a media advisor. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if there\u2019s no one in the embassy,\u201d she assured me. \u201cWhat matters is the symbolism and extent of the media coverage.\u201d We looked around to see where the news crews were setting up, but there weren\u2019t any.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t trust the mainstream media,\u201d one of the organisers explained. So we all stood in the darkness in front of a hollowed out building, our breath misting, while different intellectuals and activists stood on the wall beside the gates and told us we could defeat Trump by overthrowing capitalism.\n\nMost of the people I was with seemed happy with the event but I left early, feeling frustrated. Walking home it occurred to me that I\u2019d felt this way before, many times over decades lurking on the periphery of protests and progressive political and activist groups. It was never clear to me whether anyone was doing anything useful or just pretending to do stuff to feel better about ourselves. How do you actually make the world a better place?\n\nBack In 1972 the philosopher Peter Singer published an essay called Famine, Affluence and Morality. It made the following argument: you\u2019re walking past a shallow pond while wearing an expensive suit, and you see a child drowning. Do you walk in and rescue the child, even though you\u2019ll ruin your suit? Of course you do! But \u2026 do you? Singer argues that the residents of rich countries are faced with this decision every day and fail to act. There are children in the poorest regions in the world dying from lack of low-cost medical care and basic nutrition, and very few of us do anything about it, even though most of us can donate money to charities working in those countries and save many lives at little cost to ourselves. It shouldn\u2019t matter, Singer argued, that the child is half a world away in, say, Bangladesh. The moral obligation is still the same.\n\nEffective Altruism (henceforth EA) is a rapidly growing, sometimes highly controversial global movement that takes the moral logic behind Singer\u2019s argument and interrogates it. Charity in the developing world is a lot more complicated than the pond argument suggests: international food aid can bankrupt local farmers; medicines can be traded for guns; humanitarian interventions in wars can prolong them, killing many more people than they save; the root causes of poverty are often political and most charities are ill-equipped to deal with them. Effective Altruists believe that they can make a difference. A huge difference. It\u2019s just a lot harder than Singer makes it sound. Different strands of the movement reach different conclusions about the best way to live up to his moral logic: some of them are challenging, some profound, some potentially life-changing, some of them not so profound and challenging.\n\nEA is not a charity although charity is a vital part of it; it\u2019s not about global poverty although that is a huge component; Peter Singer is not the head of the movement, although Singer and the now deceased Oxford philosopher Derek Parfit are two of the key intellectual inspirations. Oxford is where it first gained momentum, growing from a debate among academic philosophers to a global phenomenon, hugely influential, often heavily criticised, whose centre of gravity is shifting \u2013 somewhat ominously \u2013 to the Bay Area in Northern California.\n\nEA does not have a high profile in New Zealand but there are groups in most of our universities. I went along to the VUW launch last month. They debated whether we should consider the suffering of animals as morally equivalent to that of humans, and whether we should give future generations of humans the same moral weight as people currently alive. And there\u2019s an EA New Zealand trust, which just received tax credit eligibility from parliament, so you can now get a rebate if you donate to one of the EA global health and poverty charities.\n\nYou probably already give money to a worthy cause or causes, possibly because a charity mugger \u2013 probably, let us be frank, a young, attractive and friendly one \u2013 cornered you on the street and signed you up to a magazine subscription while convincing you to fill out an automatic payment form. Why should you give money to an EA charity instead of whatever noble-sounding organisation the chugger fast-talked you into?\n\nThe Effective Altruists answer this question with a question: would you trust your retirement savings with a company endorsed by a charming stranger who stopped you on the street? Probably not. And yet, charitable work in the developing world is so much more difficult and complicated; so fraught with unforeseen consequences and a long history of deliberate exploitation, accidental blunders and outright fraud. Shouldn\u2019t we ask ourselves: where is our donation really going? What\u2019s it actually doing? Does it help anyone in need or is most of it paying for the charity\u2019s offices, executive salaries, marketing campaigns and commissions? Or is it going to the developing world but actually making things there worse?\n\nTo illustrate this point the philosopher William MacKaskill \u2013 whose book Doing Good Better is a key text for the EA movement \u2013 tells the story of the Roundabout PlayPump. This was invented by a South African engineer who noticed that that women in poor rural villages across Africa spent a lot of time pumping water while kids in wealthier suburbs spent a lot of time playing on roundabouts. What if you combined the two? Kids in poor villages would have something to play on and women wouldn\u2019t have to pump water all day. And you could sell advertising on the PlayPumps and this would provide a revenue stream for maintaining them. Everyone wins! The PlayPump became a cause celebre in the aid and development community, endorsed by Laura Bush, Bill Clinton, Jay-Z; they attracted millions in funding; thousands of them were installed across the poorest, most impoverished regions of Mozambique.\n\nWhich is a shame because the PlayPump turned out to be a truly terrible idea. Children play on roundabouts because they\u2019re easy to spin: the PlayPump is very, very hard to spin because it\u2019s, y\u2019know, a water pump. Nobody played on them so the women in the villages still had to pump water themselves, but doing so using the PlayPump turned out to be much harder work than a regular pump, and it was also a basically humiliating device for grown-ups to use. They\u2019re expensive. They break down all the time, and because they were deployed to some of the poorest people in the world no one wanted to purchase advertising space on them so there was no money for maintenance.\n\nMacKaskill argues that the PlayPump is an unusually egregious example of a widespread, very widely observed phenomenon in aid and development, in which the emphasis is placed on validating the enthusiasms and emotional needs of wealthy, mostly white donors rather than the non-wealthy, non-white, inevitably powerless recipients. It\u2019s about pretending to help rather than actually helping.\n\nAnd there\u2019s another problem: many people who become involved in development and other charitable work succumb to self-licensing. You already know what this is: self-licensing is when you tell yourself you\u2019ll go for a run in the weekend so you deserve a chocolate bar at lunchtime. It\u2019s a universal form of human behaviour (deliberately manipulated by marketing companies: the fast food industry, in particular, loves to sell us diet drinks so we can self-license and consume more high calorie fatty foods).\n\nAnd it is so ubiquitous in charity, aid, NGOs, political organisations and other altruistic institutions that it has its own separate term: \u2018the moral credential effect\u2019: people with a track record of altruistic or charitable work grant themselves subconscious permission to act in deeply amoral, anti-social ways that undermine the very goals they\u2019re ostensibly dedicated to. Whenever I describe moral credentialism to people involved in progressive causes or aid organisations they nod their heads vigorously: everyone knows someone sanctimonious yet deeply malevolent; just last month an independent investigation into two staff suicides at Amnesty International reported a deeply toxic culture of bullying, harassment, sexism and racism with a senior leadership team described as \u201cout-of-touch, incompetent and callous\u201d.\n\nSo when you set out to make the world a better place, the combination of unintended consequences and self-licensing opens up a scenario in which you make things worse for the people you\u2019re trying to help while simultaneously becoming a worse person yourself. But, MacAskill hurries to point out, there is also a best-case scenario. Because people living in developed countries are so absurdly rich compared to the poorest people in the world (if you earn more than about NZ $45,000 a year you\u2019re a member of the richest 1% in global terms: congratulations!) your charitable donations can have an enormous impact, directly saving many lives \u2013 if they\u2019re targeted effectively.\n\nHow do you target your donation effectively? Research and empirical evidence, ideally from randomised controlled trials. On a practical level this means you give your money to an EA charity assessor to disperse on your behalf, or you donate to one of their designated charities. These are organisations you probably haven\u2019t heard of: Against Malaria supplies insecticidal bed-nets to populations at high risk of malaria; Give Directly makes unconditional cash transfers to people living in extreme poverty in East Africa; the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative treats the parasitic worm infections which are endemic among the poorest one billion people in the world.\n\nThey don\u2019t have the marketing campaigns, catchy gimmicks, celebrity endorsements or charity muggers of brand name charities, but they do satisfy the core criteria of Effective Altruism: they are large scale problems affecting the most vulnerable; they are solvable: the interventions are cheap and highly effective, with measurable metrics of success; and they are neglected: if they weren\u2019t performing this work it probably wouldn\u2019t be done by some other charity, nation-state or NGO. The largest EA charity assessor is GiveWell. They audit and monitor every charity they endorse, scrutinising their reports and the academic literature regarding the efficacy of their interventions; reallocating funds as new data comes in. In 2017 they allocated US $117 million.\n\nHow much should you give? That\u2019s a very active topic of discussion: Singer argues that we have a moral obligation to give us much as we can because children are drowning in shallow pools, metaphorically, but also literally dying. Various EA organisations have tested the efficacy of Singer\u2019s argument \u2013 because of course they have \u2013 and found it mostly makes people feel guilty and depressed rather than calling them to action, so the contemporary message is a lot more positive. Some EAs claim you should aim for 10% of your income, a number deliberately chosen because it resonates with religious norms around tithing, but anything is better than nothing. Try to give a little more every year.\n\nCatherine Low is the spokesperson for Effective Altruism New Zealand. She is in her late 30s, cheerful and clever and friendly and \u2013 how does one put this diplomatically \u2013 very nerdy. She worked as a particle physicist then a science teacher, which is a fairly typical EA background. Computer scientists, mathematicians and economists are common. Low attributes this to a founders effect: the people who started EA come from science and analytic philosophy backgrounds, so it attracts people who understand the power of quantification, the problems of uncertainty; cost-benefit analysis; systemic thinking. At the VUW launch evening people talked about Bayesian priors and Parfit\u2019s Mere Addition paradox the way most New Zealanders talk about sports and house prices.\n\nLow spent the last few months in the UK working for Effective Altruist organisations and spoke wistfully about the dynamism of the movement in London. \u201cEvery night you can go to a talk about a different cause area. Global poverty. Animal welfare. X-risk.\u201d\n\nCause areas are the forms of altruism the members of the movement self-organise into, depending on what they think is important. Global poverty and health are the primary focus, but animal welfare is another huge area of interest. (Another founder effect: Singer, in 1975 published Animal Liberation, which is a foundational text for the modern animal rights movement.) Their logic is: \u2018Why privilege human suffering over other forms of suffering?\u2019 About 60 billion animals are killed every year by the food industry and most of them lead short lives of excruciating suffering. Maybe the best way to make the world a better place is to improve the conditions in factory farms, or try to get rid of them all together? Convincing people to become vegan seems to have near-zero efficacy, so much of the work in this space focuses on improving regulation and conditions of farmed animals and developing palatable plant-based meat alternatives.\n\nThe third main cause area is existential risk, or x-risk. Why privilege the lives of people \u2013 or animals \u2013 who are living today? Shouldn\u2019t we be doing more for future generations who have no agency because they haven\u2019t been born yet, but who will live with the consequences of our decisions? Climate change is an obvious area of concern here and there are EA climate charities which figure out the maximally optimal way to offset your carbon emissions. Others focus on AI risk; nuclear weapons; avoiding pandemics. (All of these subjects are great ways to terrify yourself by diving deep into the EA literature: the Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom\u2019s Superintelligence is the most popular doomsday text on the looming threat of Artificial Intelligence.)\n\nThe focus on the future probably reflects EAs status as a very young organisation. A 2018 global survey of the organisation found that the median age was 28. Many of the members I met were undergraduates. One of Macaskill\u2019s foundations, 80,000 Hours (we all spend an average of 80,000 hours working during our lifetimes) is designed to help them figure out what to do with their careers in order to maximise the amount of good they achieve. \u2018Earning to give\u2019 is one approach: maybe you should become a software developer or lawyer and donate everything you earn over some minimal amount to GiveWell?\n\nThis results in some surprisingly counter-intuitive conclusions. You\u2019d think a doctor doing aid work in the developing world would accomplish an awful lot of good, but 80,000 Hours argues a doctor is far more effective earning a high salary in the developed world and donating most of it. Somewhat controversially, 80,000 Hours often advises young EAs to go into policy work and the public service. Which makes sense: governments have big budgets: if you can reallocate even a tiny proportion of it effectively you\u2019ll have a huge impact, but given the movement\u2019s disproportionate presence at elite universities, this approach has a distinct \u2018long march through the institutions\u2019 vibe to it. Although it is heartwarming to see so many young people stepping up to fix the world the millennials have ruined.\n\nEffective Altruism has many critics. The EAs are a little bewildered by the vehemence behind some them. They\u2019re just trying to help factory chickens and fund UBIs in sub-Saharan Africa. Why is everyone hating on them?\n\nPartly it\u2019s the philosophy that underpins the movement. Utilitarianism can sound convincing, but if you think through the arguments you quickly end up with a morality which seems very weird and inhuman. The philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah goes back to Singer\u2019s child-drowning-in-a-pond scenario: shouldn\u2019t a real Effective Altruist just leave the child to drown, sell their un-muddied suit and then donate the money to an EA charity that saves a greater number of children? Well? The literature of 20th century moral philosophy is rich with thought experiments revealing flaws and loopholes in utilitarianism: utility monsters; repugnant conclusions, trolley problems; and unfortunately it\u2019s not also rich with alternate systems that solve any of those problems.\n\nAnother popular critique: does it all have to be so \u2026 bloodless? Is the best way to do good in the world really to set up an automatic payment for a charity assessor? Isn\u2019t there more to altruism than cost benefit analysis and statistical modelling? Shouldn\u2019t it all feel a lot more meaningful? It\u2019s a question that comes up in New Yorker journalist Larissa MacFarquhar\u2019s book Strangers Drowning, another canonical EA text (and my favourite of all the books cited in this piece). The utilitarian answer is that if an organisation is simultaneously helping those in need and validating the emotional needs of the donors, it\u2019s probably only doing one of those things well, and it\u2019s probably the second. If you want to help, make sure your help is effective. If you want to feel good about yourself clean up a beach, or give blood (some EAs prefer to donate kidneys to strangers).\n\nPolitically most EAers self-identify as \u2018left\u2019 or \u2018centre-left\u2019, but the movement is unpopular with the radical left because it isn\u2019t working towards systemic change \u2013 ie overthrowing capitalism. \u201cShouldn\u2019t we ask why children are drowning in ponds and do something about that?\u201d When I asked Catherine Low why EA didn\u2019t believe in systemic change she sighed in exasperation and said the animal welfare people want to transform the entire global food industry.\n\nThis is part of a broader category of criticisms which all argue that the movement should be something different to what it is: it should get involved in the electoral politics of developed nations or be more active in certain areas. I wanted to know why they weren\u2019t doing more about climate change. The EA response to these critiques is to ask if these areas are neglected and/or tractable. Is there a demonstrably effective yet widely neglected solution to the problems of capitalism or carbon emissions or electoral politics? If so, let\u2019s hear it. If not, about half a million people died of malaria last year, and bed nets work and are really cheap.\n\nThe final critique \u2013 the one that worries me the most: EA is very, very popular in Silicon Valley. GiveWell and 80,000 Hours have relocated there, and the 2017 global EA conference was held at the Googleplex. I\u2019m sure that all makes sense in the immediate term: there\u2019s a lot of money and smart people in Palo Alto. But \u2013 and I don\u2019t want to editorialise here and compromise my objectivity \u2013 some people say that the culture and values of Silicon Valley increasingly seem to revolve around doing evil, both advertently and inadvertently, and this seems incompatible with the goals of a social movement dedicated to maximising good.\n\nThe New Zealand organisation is a very long way from all of this though. It is new and small. Their website is here. You can donate to a GiveWell endorsed charity and receive a tax deduction (although maybe you shouldn\u2019t, since tax is also a form of altruism). They\u2019ll send you a copy of MacKaskill\u2019s book, subject to availability. And if you want to go along to one of their meetups and debate whether we need to solve the hard problem of consciousness before having a meaningful debate about animal welfare you can do that, but you don\u2019t have to: they\u2019re happy if you just donate money. It\u2019s more effective."}
-{"text": "Vogue Holiday Homes are the premier provider of holiday rentals who manage an exclusive collection of waterfront and beachfront homes on the Gold Coast. Our luxury properties are superbly appointed waterfront and beach side accommodation right here in the heart of the Gold Coast suitable for family groups, couples, corporate guests and friends wishing to holiday together. Our homes are immaculately maintained and packed full of the modern technologies you would expect.\n\nIf you are looking for the luxurious waterfront properties located on the famous Gold Coast river canals, we have homes in Broadbeach Waters, Surfers Paradise and Mermaid Waters which all have private swimming pools, stunning views and relaxing BBQ and entertaining areas. For those who seeking the ultimate of beachfront we have options in Broadbeach, Miami Beach and Palm Beach which offer cool sea breezes, unspoiled ocean views and direct access to the golden sand beachfront.\n\nWe are a fully licensed real estate agency with our professional team offering exceptional service and advice to our valued guests from the first point of contact through to departure. Our friendly staff are located onsite in our Broadbeach Waters office 7 days per week to assist with booking enquires and respond to the needs of our guests. Our service will include meeting you on arrival and show you around the house to make sure you get settled and answer all your questions. Our team love what they do and take price in our service which shows in the reviews we frequently receive from our guests.\n\nPrices start from as little as $270 per night and no matter which home you choose, you will always receive the Vogue Holiday Home experience with fresh clean linen and towels provided for every guest. Our goal is to ensure you can drop your bags and immediately start relaxing and enjoying the full Gold Coast lifestyle in your home away from home.\n\nIf the house of your dreams isn\u2019t available, please contact us with your dates and we will be able to provide very similar alternatives for you to consider."}
-{"text": "Life has never been so convenient for a movie buff in! Remember the time when you had to stand in a long queue outside the theatre toThat time is gone now! With the emergence of BookMyShow, India's biggest online ticketing portal, booking movie tickets has become a cake walk. Now enjoy movies playing near you with just a click! BookMyShow is Movies on the go \u2013 Jahan Mood Kiya Wahan Book Kiya! Just take out your phone, launch the app, choose your movie, theatre & showtime near you, and book tickets online, right away! So simple. Isn't it! We give you some more amazingly cool reasons why you should book your movie tickets here like our Offers & Discounts!\n\nBollywood, Hollywood or Regional cinema Whatever be your choice in movies, BookMyShow is the Go-to destination! With the list of all the upcoming movies Chennai in any language - Hindi, English, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam or Genre \u2013 Action, Comedy, Thriller, Drama, Romance, Animation or Crime, we keep Chennai informed about the movie world! We give you the release dates also, so that you can plan your movie outing accordingly!\n\nCheck Out the Latest Movie Trailers They say \u201cIf the constitution was a film, the preamble would be the trailer\u201d. Now there is no need to go anywhere but come straight to us and check out the all the latest Bollywood,Hollywood, Kollywood or Tollywood movie trailers before booking your tickets. We bring you the theatrical previews of all the currently showing and upcoming movies Chennai!\n\nRead Movie Reviews If you are the kind of person, who checks reviews before booking movie tickets, we have made it convenient for you as well! You can catch the movie reviews by our own BMS reviewers and the experts like Anupama Chopra and Rajeev Masand on our entertainment blog. So Chennai, you can now check out reviews along with booking your tickets, all in one place!"}
-{"text": "Outstanding intimity from a cute duo. You fundament observe how a lot they care about every different\u2019s wishes, you fundament observe how a lot they need to please every different. The woman is elegant and super-sexy (awesome funbags, too) and the fellow is well-endowed. You simply comprehend it\u2019s gonna finally end up being super-fucking-hot. As it\u2019s as actual because it will get"}
-{"text": "Researchers at the University of Twente's MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology have made significant efficiency improvements to the technology used to generate solar fuels. This involves the direct conversion of energy from sunlight into a usable fuel (in this case, hydrogen). Using only earth-abundant materials, they developed the most efficient conversion method to date. The trick was to decouple the site where sunlight is captured from the site where the conversion reaction takes place. This study was published today in the journal Nature Energy.\n\nResearchers around the world are working on the development of solar fuel technology. This involves generating sustainable fuels using only sunlight, CO 2 and water, the basic ingredients used by plants. A group of researchers from the University of Twente's MESA+ research institute are working on a solar-to-fuel device that produces hydrogen. They have now achieved a major breakthrough in this area of fundamental research. Using earth-abundant materials (i.e. avoiding the use of scarce and expensive precious metals), they have developed the most efficient method to date for converting light into hydrogen. The system consists of silicon microwires less than one tenth of a millimetre long, the tops of which are coated with a catalyst. The photons (light particles) are collected between the microwires. The chemical reaction in which hydrogen is formed takes place on the catalyst at the tips of the microwires.\n\nDecoupling\n\nBy varying the density and length of the microwires, the researchers ultimately achieved a maximum efficiency of 10.8 percent. They managed to achieve this by decoupling the site where the photons are collected from the site where the conversion reaction takes place. This is necessary because catalysts usually reflect light. Yet -- to make the conversion as efficient as possible -- you want them to absorb as much light as possible. It is important to achieve this decoupling at the microscale, because at larger scales the conductivity of the silicon microwires becomes the limiting factor.\n\nProf. Jurriaan Huskens, one of the researchers involved, states that 10.8 percent is the highest ever efficiency for a silicon-based design. However, a further increase in efficiency -- to fifteen percent -- is needed to make the technology economically viable."}
-{"text": "Two years ago, the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram abducted 276 school girls from the northern town of Chibok.\n\nSome managed to escape within hours of their kidnapping, mostly by jumping off the lorries and running off into the bushes.\n\nIn total 219 girls were taken away. In May 2016, one girl was found after escaping from the Sambisa Forest and is now in the care of the government in the capital, Abuja.\n\nHer mother, Binta Ali, spoke exclusively to the BBC about what her daughter's life was like under the militant group."}
-{"text": "If you're wondering why this Lamborghini Aventador is sporting a ski box, I'd suggest you head over to Jon Olssen's website. Besides the glorious arctic camouflage BAPE wrap that envelops the modern driving machine, this 12-cylinder beast is wearing a complete Liberty Walk LB Performance aerodynamic kit, including front bumper and lip, side sills, rear lower diffuser and rear wing. In addition, she's outfitted with an Innotech Performance Exhaust system; Santa's sleigh doesn't stand a chance.\n\nThis is not an official BAPE collaboration.\n\nPhotography: Marcel Lech Twitter: ricemoney604 Instagram: marcel_lech, ricemoney Facebook: Marcel Lech Photography"}
-{"text": "I can't make my own coffee in the morning because I can't function without coffee\n\n181 shares"}
-{"text": "It was at this West Side church that Fleming sought to turn over a new leaf. He served as an usher here. His children, all under the age of 10, were baptized here. And on Sunday, his life was cut short here."}
-{"text": "Two electric scooter riders have been hospitalised every day in the months since they were launched in Brisbane, prompting the Queensland government to set up a safety campaign.\n\nIn December and January the state government said 120 riders were hospitalised while using the publicly available scooters, which reach speeds of up to 25km/h.\n\nTransport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said safety posters would be rolled out across 40 streets in the Brisbane CBD from Sunday following the popularity of \u201cridables\u201d in the city.\n\n\u201cWhile we want people to be able to use rideables, it\u2019s important they keep safe and stick to the law,\u201d Mr Bailey said.\n\nHe said police have caught 300 people breaking the rules on the scooters, with a majority caught riding without a helmet.\n\n\u201cBy rolling out the campaign on city streets, people will be reminded about the rules before they get around town,\u201d he said.\n\nIt comes as the Royal Australasian Collage of Surgeons this month issued a warning about the increase in significant injuries as a result of using the scooters.\n\nA study by the organisation found younger users, aged between 20 and 34, were responsible for 66 per cent of all injuries.\n\nAmbulances had to take 34 per cent of those injured to emergency departments, with surgery required in 10 per cent of all cases.\n\nThe injuries included head trauma, upper and lower limb fractures, sprains and strains and serious cuts.\n\nQueensland orthopaedic surgeon Dr Matthew Hope urged other states that use the electric scooters to monitor injuries to assist with the implementation of legislation.\n\n-AAP"}
-{"text": "Story highlights Trump's tweets have targeted members of the Freedom Caucus\n\nMembers of the group torpedoed Republicans' health care bill\n\n(CNN) President Donald Trump declared political war on members of his own party Thursday morning in an unusual tweet that puts him at odds with members of Congress who share voters from the same ideological wing of the party.\n\nIn his tweet, Trump targeted members of the Freedom Caucus, a group of about three dozen conservative House members he said could \"hurt the entire Republican agenda.\" Lumping them in with Democrats, Trump said in 2018, when the midterm election will be held, \"we must fight them.\"\n\nThe Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018! \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2017\n\nThe Freedom Caucus finds itself in Trump's crosshairs after members of the group torpedoed Republicans' health care bill last week, refusing to vote \"yes,\" and killing an early attempt to fulfill one of his campaign promises to repeal and replace Obamacare because many believed it did not go far enough.\n\nDuring the Republican primary, Trump was viewed favorably by Republicans who self-identified as \"conservative\" and \"very conservative,\" according to an October 2015 Gallup poll , the same ideological space occupied by the Freedom Caucus. According to a 2015 Pew study of 36 known members, the group is further to the right than the rest of House Republicans.\n\nThey were also more popular than Trump in November, winning by larger margins.\n\nRead More"}
-{"text": "The nominees in the 2018 Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama category suggests that the Academy is definitely paying attention to last year's big winner.\n\nIn a morning full of snubs and surprises, one of the more intriguing moments was the reveal of the Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama nominees. It\u2019s not shocking that there were three nominations for \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale\u201d in this category, given how the show has always been a showcase for a wide range of roles for women. But what was a surprise is the three women chosen: Previous nominee Samira Wiley (who competed last year in the Supporting Actress category and lost to Ann Dowd), Cherry Jones (who made a few appearances in Season 2 as June\u2019s mother Holly), and, seemingly out of nowhere, Kelly Jenrette as \u201cAnnie.\u201d\n\nIf you had to look up who that character is, don\u2019t feel bad. Jenrette has one major scene in flashbacks during Season 2, Episode 4, \u201cOther Women,\u201d in which Annie confronts June (Elisabeth Moss) as the woman \u201cwrecking\u201d her marriage \u2014 calling her a \u201cfucking whore.\u201d Years later, after June and Luke have gotten married and become parents, June sees Annie at a crowded restaurant, and the two share a silent moment that clearly triggers serious guilt in June.\n\nJenrette isn\u2019t a complete newcomer, having made appearances on HBO\u2019s \u201cHere and Now,\u201d \u201cFuller House,\u201d and Fox\u2019s \u201cPitch\u201d in recent years. She was also a series regular on the Fox comedy \u201cGrandfathered.\u201d But in a dense season filled with rich character moments, her nomination for \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale\u201d is a major surprise, especially in light of the fact that earlier in the season there was a very high-profile guest appearance by Marisa Tomei in Episode 2 of the season, \u201cUnwomen.\u201d\n\nTomei\u2019s role was a far more prominent one, playing a disgraced Wife sent to the Colonies, and representing so much of the horror and hypocrisy that makes the story of women complicit in the Gileadean regime so fascinating.\n\nStewart Cook/Variety/REX/Shutterstock\n\nSpeculating as to why the voting body of the Academy might choose to honor one performance over another is a path to madness, but one potential takeaway from Jenrette\u2019s nomination is a sign that members were thoroughly engaged with Season 2 of the series, watching intently enough that they chose to recognize a lesser-known name over an Oscar-winning star in this category.\n\nIn fact, the Academy chose to recognize \u201cHandmaid\u2019s Tale\u201d with even more nominations than it did last year, raising its count from 13 for Season 1 to 20 for Season 2. This includes first-time nominations for Joseph Fiennes and Yvonne Strahovski, repeat appearances for Dowd and Alexis Bledel (who moved up to the Supporting Actress category this year), and a slew of below-the-line honors.\n\n\u201cHandmaid\u201d might only be the third-most-nominated drama this year, following \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d and \u201cWestworld,\u201d but 2017\u2019s 13 nominations didn\u2019t keep it from beating \u201cStranger Things\u201d and \u201cWestworld\u201d (both of which had more total nominations) for the top prize. It\u2019s clear the Academy is paying close attention to this series, confronting the conventional wisdom that people may not be watching.\n\nSo this September, good luck to Jenrette, who not only faces co-stars Wiley and Jones in this category, but previous nominees Dame Diana Rigg for \u201cGame of Thrones,\u201d Cicely Tyson for \u201cHow to Get Away With Murder,\u201d and Viola Davis for playing her Emmy-winning role from \u201cHTGAWM\u201d on a crossover episode of \u201cScandal.\u201d It\u2019s a tough category, but as we saw this morning, anything can happen during the Emmys.\n\nSign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here."}
-{"text": "Word on the street is Pope Francis has been donning costumes to sneak out of the Vatican at night to feed the poor and, like, help people.\n\nThe HuffPo reports, \u201cSwiss guards confirmed that the pope has ventured out at night, dressed as a regular priest, to meet with homeless men and women.\u201d\n\nWe put together some of the best Good Guy Pope memes from across the internet to celebrate this guy. High five, pope!\n\n[nggallery id=34]"}
-{"text": "Avi\u00e3o ca\u00e7a russo despeja bomba durante a\u00e7\u00e3o na S\u00edria (Foto: Minist\u00e9rio da Defesa da R\u00fassia/Reuters)\n\nA Uni\u00e3o Europeia pediu nesta segunda-feira (12) \u00e0 R\u00fassia que \"cesse imediatamente\" os bombardeios contra tropas da oposi\u00e7\u00e3o moderada na S\u00edria, acrescentando que uma paz duradoura \u00e9 imposs\u00edvel sob a atual lideran\u00e7a do presidente Bashar al-Assad.\n\n\"As recentes opera\u00e7\u00f5es militares russas que tiveram como alvo o Daesh (Estado Isl\u00e2mico) e outros grupos designados pela ONU como terroristas, mas tamb\u00e9m a oposi\u00e7\u00e3o moderada, s\u00e3o fonte de uma profunda preocupa\u00e7\u00e3o e devem cessar imediatamente\", indicaram os 28 ministros das Rela\u00e7\u00f5es Exteriores em um comunicado.\n\nA \"escalada militar\" russa, que come\u00e7ou a bombardear a S\u00edria no dia 30 de setembro, \"amea\u00e7a prolongar o conflito, minar o processo pol\u00edtico, agravar a situa\u00e7\u00e3o humanit\u00e1ria e aumentar a radicaliza\u00e7\u00e3o\", acrescentaram ao t\u00e9rmino de uma reuni\u00e3o em Luxemburgo.\n\nOs ministros convocaram Moscou a \"centralizar seus esfor\u00e7os no objetivo comum de alcan\u00e7ar uma solu\u00e7\u00e3o pol\u00edtica ao conflito\" na S\u00edria.\n\nO presidente russo, Vladimir Putin, afirmou no domingo que a interven\u00e7\u00e3o militar na S\u00edria tem por objetivo \"refor\u00e7ar as autoridades leg\u00edtimas e criar as condi\u00e7\u00f5es necess\u00e1rias para encontrar um compromisso pol\u00edtico\".\n\nMas para os europeus \"n\u00e3o pode haver uma paz duradoura na S\u00edria com a lideran\u00e7a atual\", segundo a declara\u00e7\u00e3o.\n\nA reuni\u00e3o dos ministros ocorre a poucos dias de uma c\u00fapula de chefes de Estado da UE (na quinta-feira) na qual a S\u00edria tamb\u00e9m estar\u00e1 na agenda.\n\nOs ministros afirmaram que a crise se aprofundou e que \u00e9 imperativo terminar com um conflito que j\u00e1 deixou 250.000 mortos e obrigou 12 milhares de pessoas a deixar seus lares.\n\n\"\u00c9 cada vez mais urgente encontrar uma solu\u00e7\u00e3o duradoura para colocar fim ao conflito\", acrescentam no texto, no qual convocam \"um processo dirigido pelos s\u00edrios\" que leve a \"uma transi\u00e7\u00e3o pac\u00edfica e inclusiva\", sem informar se Bashar al-Assad deve participar dela.\n\nSobre este ponto a UE est\u00e1 dividida. Ao chegar \u00e0 reuni\u00e3o, a chefe da diplomacia europeia, Federica Mogherini, n\u00e3o esclareceu a posi\u00e7\u00e3o.\n\nAssad, rebeldes e o Estado Isl\u00e2mico\n\nMogherini disse que a UE colocar\u00e1 toda a sua energia para apoiar os esfor\u00e7os da ONU para alcan\u00e7ar a paz, \"um processo no qual todos os atores relevantes devem estar ao redor da mesa\".\n\nO secret\u00e1rio de Rela\u00e7\u00f5es Exteriores brit\u00e2nico, Philip Hammond, disse que pode existir certa flexibilidade sobre o momento da partida de Assad, mas que existe um s\u00e9rio risco de que os rebeldes se unam, ent\u00e3o, aos grupos radicais.\n\n\"Podemos ser flex\u00edveis sobre a forma, o momento de sua partida, mas se tentarmos trabalhar com Assad lan\u00e7aremos a oposi\u00e7\u00e3o (ao regime s\u00edrio) nos bra\u00e7os do Estado Isl\u00e2mico, o contr\u00e1rio do que queremos\", disse.\n\n\"Para n\u00f3s est\u00e1 claro que n\u00e3o podemos trabalhar com Assad como uma solu\u00e7\u00e3o de longo prazo para o futuro da S\u00edria\", acrescentou.\n\n\"Nem todos est\u00e3o de acordo sobre como este processo deve ser abordado\", indicou o ministro espanhol, Jos\u00e9 Manuel Garc\u00eda Margallo.\n\nPara Garc\u00eda Margallo \"o pior dos males seria a continua\u00e7\u00e3o da guerra. As outras alternativas, mesmo algumas delas sendo ruins, s\u00e3o melhores que esta\"."}
-{"text": "In this global world we live in, different cultures are everywhere around us, and we see some of these differences in weddings. Each country and culture has their own traditions that they follow when it comes to weddings. We have decided to showcase three wedding traditions that make up the beauty of some of the cultures around us. This month we look at Irish wedding traditions.\n\nHow the Irish Wed\n\n1. The Ring\n\nIn a U.S. wedding, the ring is simply called a wedding ring. With an Irish wedding, the ring is called a Claddagh ring. This ring is a heart that is held by two hands. On top of the heart is a crown, which symbolizes honor. The two hands represent faith, and the heart represents love between the two people. There are many different types of American wedding rings. In both countries, when the wedding ring is worn on the left hand that means they are married.\n\n2. Traditions\n\nThe place that people are married in America varies. Some people choose to be married in a church, while others may choose different venues. With an Irish wedding, the couple typically walks to the church together before they exchange their vows. As they walk to the church, people will throw rice and other items, such as pots and pans, to bless the marriage.\n\n\n\n3. Wedding Dress\n\nIn America, most brides choose to wear a white wedding dress, which symbolizes purity. In an Irish wedding, the bride typically wears a blue wedding dress, which also symbolizes purity. Some brides in today\u2019s time choose to wear white in Ireland.\n\n4. Flowers\n\nAn American bride will choose a wide variety of different flowers for her bouquet. With an Irish wedding, the bride chooses English lavender, which is an ancient symbol for loyalty, love, luck and devotion. These flowers are typically mixed in with other flowers the bride chooses.\n\n5. Hair\n\nIn an American wedding, the bride can choose to wear her hair in a variety of ways. With an Irish wedding, it is a tradition for the bride to wear her hair in a braid on her wedding day. This braid is a symbol for luck and feminine power.\n\n6. The Honeymoon\n\nThe honeymoon in America can take place in a wide variety of different places, and is a place the groom typically chooses. In Ireland, the translation for honeymoon is mi na meala, which translates to the month of honey. Some Irish newlyweds would spend an entire month together drinking honey wine and be well secluded. They would do this in hopes the bride would become pregnant during this time.\n\n7. Entertainment\n\nWith American weddings, the traditional wedding song is played while the bride walks down the aisle. The bride and groom typically choose music to be played during the reception. With an Irish wedding, a harpist typically plays Irish music before the wedding. Bagpipes play as the couple exits the ceremony or during the reception.\n\n8. Wedding Cake\n\nThe wedding cake for an American wedding can be done in a variety of different ways, and is something the bride typically chooses. With an Irish wedding, the wedding cake is typically a fruitcake that is made with honey. The cake is then soaked in an Irish whiskey and frosted with a sweet glaze.\n\n9. Wedding Gifts\n\nWith an American wedding, the bride will typically register at a certain store and list the wedding gifts that she would like to receive. In an Irish wedding, the traditional wedding gift is a bell. Chiming the bell is thought to keep evil spirits away. Some couples will actually ring the bell while they recite their vows.\n\n10. Throwing the Bouquet\n\nThe throwing of the bouquet tradition is the same for both the U.S. and Ireland. The bride throws the bouquet to a crowd of women and whoever catches it will be married next.\n\nCelebrate The Differences\n\nAt Morris House, we take pleasure in hosting both Irish and US weddings, celebrating our differences.As a venue we always go the extra mile to ensure your wedding is as unique as the couple."}
-{"text": "Von Susi Wimmer\n\nWenn eine Frau angegriffen wird, \"das geht gar nicht\", sagt Andr\u00e9 Mrakic. Das kann er nicht mitansehen, da muss er dazwischengehen. Und so stellte sich der 40-J\u00e4hrige am Montagnachmittag in der S-Bahn auf dem Weg zum Hauptbahnhof einem Betrunkenen in den Weg und rettete eine Frau vor dessen Attacken. Eine mutige Tat, vor allem wenn man bedenkt, dass der Kellner aus M\u00fcnchen schon einmal einer Frau helfen wollte und daraufhin von einer Gruppe Jugendlicher verpr\u00fcgelt und schwer verletzt wurde.\n\nAndr\u00e9 Mrakic ist kein Muskelprotz, kein Bodybuilder-Typ, eher ein drahtiger Mann, der in einem Traditionswirtshaus in der Innenstadt als Kellner arbeitet und auch schon auf der Wiesn bedient hat. \"Dass man auf dem Oktoberfest mal einschreiten muss, das ist aber ganz selten\", versichert er. Am Montag nun stand der Pasinger gegen 14 Uhr an der S-Bahnstation Hackerbr\u00fccke und wartete auf den Zug.\n\n\"Ich wollte etwas in der Stadt erledigen\", erz\u00e4hlt er. Da fiel ihm ein augenscheinlich betrunkener Mann auf, der am Bahnsteig eine Frau bel\u00e4stigte. Laut Bundespolizei soll der 55-J\u00e4hrige die Frau an Arm und Schulter gepackt und die Hand drohend erhoben haben. Die Frau trug einen Arm in Gips und einen Augenverband. Sie soll den Betrunkenen gebeten haben, sie in Ruhe zu lassen. Doch das war dem Mann egal.\n\nWas in der S-Bahn passiert ist\n\nEtwa 30 Meter stand Andr\u00e9 Mrakic von der Szene entfernt, beobachtete das Geschehen und bewegte sich auf den Mann zu. Dann fuhr die S 7 in den Bahnhof ein und Mrakic und die Frau stiegen ein. \"Ich dachte, der Typ bleibt drau\u00dfen, aber er stieg im letzten Augenblick dann doch zu\", erz\u00e4hlt er.\n\nUnd der Betrunkene machte weiter: Immer wieder st\u00e4nkerte er die Frau an. Schlie\u00dflich sprach Mrakic sie an und fragte, ob sie den Mann kenne. Nein, antwortete sie und dann schritt der Pasinger ein. Er baute sich vor dem Betrunkenen auf, die Frau sch\u00fctzend im R\u00fccken, und sagte laut: \"Jetzt ist Schluss!\"\n\nDa ging der 55-J\u00e4hrige auf Mrakic los, schlug nach ihm und traf ihn mit der Faust am Kinn. \"Aber Gott sei Dank nicht richtig\", sagt der Pasinger. Am Hauptbahnhof packte er den aggressiven Schl\u00e4ger am Schlafittchen und bugsierte ihn aus dem Zug. Da sich der Betrunkene weiter heftig wehrte, dr\u00fcckte Mrakic ihn zu Boden und hielt ihn fest. \"Ich habe in jungen Jahren mal Judo gelernt und ich war Marinesoldat\", erz\u00e4hlt der 40-J\u00e4hrige.\n\nAngreifer hatte 1,78 Promille\n\nAndere Reisende hatten in der Zwischenzeit die Bundespolizei verst\u00e4ndigt. Die Beamten waren schnell zur Stelle und nahmen den Schl\u00e4ger fest. Er hatte laut Alkomat 1,78 Promille. Die angegriffene Frau verblieb in der S 7 Richtung Kreuzstra\u00dfe und fuhr weiter. Mrakic sch\u00e4tzt sie auf Mitte bis Ende 40. Sie hatte laut Polizei schulterlanges, dunkles Haar und trug eine Daunenjacke. Sie wird gebeten, sich bei der Polizei zu melden, die Ermittler brauchen ihre Zeugenaussage.\n\n\"Wir werten noch die Bilder aus der \u00dcberwachungskamera aus, vielleicht hilft uns das weiter\", sagt Wolfgang Hauner, Pressesprecher der Bundespolizei. Er lobt das couragierte Verhalten des Pasingers, sagt aber auch, dass jeder selbst einsch\u00e4tzen m\u00fcsse, was er sich in so einem Fall zutraue. \"Generell ist es schon einmal gut, wenn man andere Leute anspricht, um Mithilfe bittet und \u00fcber die Notrufeinrichtungen Polizei oder Zugf\u00fchrer verst\u00e4ndigt\", sagt er.\n\nJa, meint auch Andr\u00e9 Mrakic, die Sache h\u00e4tte auch anders ausgehen k\u00f6nnen, er hat das ja selbst schon einmal erlebt. Vor 20 Jahren, da wurde er Augenzeuge, als ein junger Mann seine Freundin schlug. Mrakic griff ein, und pl\u00f6tzlich war er von drei M\u00e4nnern umringt, die ihn zusammenschlugen. \"Am Ende hatte ich den Fu\u00df in Gips\", sagt er. Und trotzdem: Wenn eine Frau in Not ist, \"dann w\u00fcrde ich es jederzeit wieder so machen\"."}
-{"text": "BALCH SPRINGS, TEXAS\u2014Police in suburban Dallas fired the officer Tuesday who shot and killed a black 15-year-old boy riding in a vehicle leaving a chaotic house party, taking the swift action sought by the teenager's family and protesters who link the case to other deaths of African-Americans at the hands of law enforcement.\n\nThe Balch Springs, Texas, officer, identified as Roy Oliver, was terminated for violating department policies in the shooting death of Jordan Edwards, police chief Jonathan Haber said.\n\nEdwards, a high school freshman, was leaving the party with his two brothers and two other teenagers Saturday night. Police arrived at the scene to investigate an underage drinking complaint and spotted the vehicle leaving. Oliver opened fire as the teenagers were driving away.\n\nShots from his rifle pierced the front side passenger window, hitting Edwards in the front seat, according to Edwards' family attorneys, Lee Merritt and Jasmine Crockett. His 16-year-old brother was driving.\n\nHaber said Oliver, who joined the department in 2011, had committed \"several\" violations of policy, but wouldn't say what they were because Oliver is entitled to appeal his firing. The Dallas County district attorney and the Dallas County sheriff's office are investigating the case. The race of the fired officer was not revealed.\n\nPolice originally said the teenagers' vehicle was reversing \"in an aggressive manner\" toward officers, but Haber said Monday that video taken at the scene proved the vehicle was actually driving away.\n\nRead more:\n\nOfficer shoots and kills 15-year-old black boy in car in Dallas suburb\n\nJustice dept. will not charge Baton Rouge officers in Alton Sterling\u2019s death, sources say\n\nEx-South Carolina police officer pleads guilty in Walter Scott\u2019s death\n\nThe police department's latest statement, released Tuesday night, says officers entering the house heard gunshots ring out during a \"chaotic scene with numerous people running away from the location.\" As officers exited the house, they encountered the vehicle backing out onto a main road and driving away despite their attempts to tell the driver to stop, the new statement said.\n\nThe Dallas County medical examiner ruled Edwards' death a homicide.\n\nThousands of Facebook and Twitter users have posted about the case in recent days with the hashtag \"#jordanedwards,\" some comparing his death to other police shootings of young black men, such as 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, who was fatally shot in November 2014 as he held a pellet gun.\n\nEdwards' family had called for the officer to be fired and criminally charged. Both Merritt and Crockett have credited Haber for correcting the mistaken statement and moving quickly to fire Oliver.\n\n\"No other city has moved at the rate Balch Springs has,\" Crockett told The Associated Press on Tuesday night. \"It's just unbelievable. It's absolutely unbelievable that a department did what a department should do.\"\n\nBut a family statement released Tuesday night called for disciplinary action against other officers who \"extended this nightmare for those children.\"\n\n\"Our family is working hard to deal with both the loss of our beloved Jordan and the lingering trauma it has caused our boys,\" the family statement said.\n\nLoading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...\n\nCindy Stormer, an attorney for Oliver, issued a statement saying the shooting was \"recent and still being investigated.\"\n\n\"Everyone should wait until the facts come out and we know more,\" she said, according to the Dallas Morning News.\n\nFriends have described Edwards as a good student and popular athlete. Edwards and the four people with him decided to leave what was becoming an unruly party as they heard gunfire and police were arriving, Merritt said, citing what witnesses had told lawyers.\n\nAs they drove away from the party, Crockett said, the brother driving the vehicle heard multiple gunshots that were close enough to leave his ears ringing. It took a few moments before the people inside in the car noticed Edwards slumped over, she said. They couldn't tell if he was already dead.\n\nThe brother who was driving pulled over and tried to motion to police for help, she said. Instead, Crockett said, he was detained and handcuffed. Crockett said the driver wasn't formally arrested, but a separate statement from the family released through Merritt says the two brothers were arrested.\n\nBased on what the video captured, Haber said previously that he questioned whether what he saw was \"consistent with the policies and core values\" of his department. Haber wouldn't say what problems he saw, but Balch Springs' official use-of-force policy encourages officers facing an oncoming vehicle to \"attempt to move out of its path, if possible, instead of discharging a firearm at it or any of its occupants.\" The video has not been released."}
-{"text": "IMPORTANT: By investing in this business you agree to our Disclaimer. All information including our rating, is provided merely for informational purposes. CryptoTotem does not provide investment advice.\n\neGold aims to unify eSports betting enthusiasts all around the world by offering an easy, quick, and secure alternative for betting on their favorite games: Counter Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, DOTA2, Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, and many others.\n\nWhat is eGold\n\nWHAT IS EGOLD\n\neGold is a new digital currency based on the Ethereum blockchain. eGold aims to unify eSports betting enthusiasts all around the world by offering an easy, quick, and secure alternative for betting on their favorite games \u2013 Counter Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, DOTA2, Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, and many others.\n\neGold team is composed of professionals with vast experience in iGaming, product development, operations, eSports, marketing and Blockchain technology.\n\nThe existing market problems are transparency and security. How can eGold resolve them?\n\nEvery transaction with eGold will be recorded on the blockchain, so ANYTIME ANYWHERE ANY CUSTOMER can check them, which actively solves the transparency problem.\n\nThe blockchain functionality ensures that each bet once placed is locked until the match is over and your profits will be automatically paid out thanks to the smart contracts.\n\nWhat are the existing market problems and how eGold can resolve them?\n\nThe lack of transparency and the insufficient security are currently the two major problems in our industry, eGold tokens are the ultimate solution for both of them.\n\nWhy?\n\neGold brings blockchain innovation to the eSports betting market as it is an Ethereum based ERC20 token. As a crypto token, every transaction with eGold will be recorded on the blockchain, so ANYTIME ANYWHERE any customer can check them, which actively solves the transparency problem.\n\nOn the other hand, the blockchain functionality ensures that each bet once placed is absolutely secured \u2013 it can\u2019t be deleted, it can\u2019t be declined, it can\u2019t be limited, your stake is locked until the match is over and your profits will be automatically paid out thanks to the smart contracts.\n\nWhere will eGold be integrated?\n\nSocial eSports betting website Buff88 will be the first iGaming brand to integrate eGold and enable players to enjoy the most advanced solutions for placing bets on the widest games coverage powered by UltraPlay \u2013 fast and easy!\n\nMoreover, UltraPlay\u2019s clients\u2019 network, consisting of more than 40 leading iGaming operators and more to follow will be using the cutting-edge blockchain technology of eGold for faster and easier betting than has ever existed on the market."}
-{"text": "WBN has been informed that a complaint has been filed on behalf of former world bantamweight champion Zhanat Zhakiyanov against Ryan Burnett.\n\nZhakiyanov, trained by Ricky Hatton, was beaten on points by Burnett in Belfast last month, losing his WBA title at the SSE Arena in Belfast.\n\nDuring the aftermath, Burnett was taken to hospital as a precaution due to suffering from headaches following what was a brutal battle with the Kazakh puncher.\n\nIt\u2019s been explained to WBN that Burnett was supposed to undertake mandatory drug tests (as in any world title fight), although the Northern Irishman didn\u2019t partake due to his illness and was subsequently not subjected to the basic protocol.\n\nPhilip Fondu, Zhakiyanov\u2019s manager, is now seeking a ruling from the two governing bodies involved in the process from the October 21 contest.\n\n\u201cWe have filed a complaint with the IBF and WBA over the fact Ryan Burnett missed the mandatory drug tests,\u201d Fondu exclusively told World Boxing News.\n\n\u201cA ruling is due soon as we would like to know why these procedures were not undertaken.\u201d\n\nBurnett, 25, has since made a full recovery, whilst Zhakiyanov is still coming to terms with his second career defeat.\n\nCoach Hatton commented on the fact Zhakiyanov\u2019s efforts were not reflected in the scorecards on the night, although wouldn\u2019t go as far as calling for a rematch.\n\nScores of 119-109 and 118-110 didn\u2019t really give a good case for Zhakiyanov getting a second helping, whilst 116-112 was a fairer summation of how things went down on Burnett\u2019s home soil.\n\nPhil Jay is Editor of World Boxing News. Follow on Twitter @PhilDJay"}
-{"text": "A man who was ambushed by two gun-wielding thugs in Melbourne's south-east managed to wrestle the weapon out of one of the attacker's hands.\n\nPolice believe the attackers approached the man, in his 40s, outside a Dandenong home, about 6.20am on Thursday.\n\n\u201cA short scuffle ensued, with the victim managing to wrestle the firearm from the man,\u201d a police spokeswoman said.\n\nThe pair then ran off.\n\nA large police operation was under way on Fillmore Road, where the attack took place, this morning, and was still ongoing at 1pm."}
-{"text": "Author: Ray Found\n\nTraditionally, hops were added at three main points during the boil, the timing of which served a clear purpose\u2013 bitterness, flavor, and aroma. However, these days, IPA brewers have begun employing various techniques in an attempt to maximize hop character without overwhelming their beer with bitterness. Chief among these is the hop stand, referred to by some as a whirlpool addition, which involves hops being added to the wort at flameout and left to steep for an extended period of time. As most new brewers learn, the amount of time hops spend in the boil is positively correlated with bitterness and negatively correlated with final hop character. Given the amount of time it takes for large commercial batches to chill, it seems logical that desirable volatile compounds could be lost and bitterness gained from large additions made during the boil, hence adding those hops at flameout would allow for more control of these characteristics in hoppy styles.\n\nBut I don\u2019t brew on a commercial system. It takes me just a few minutes to chill my wort to 120\u00b0F/49\u00b0C, and still I, like many homebrewers, have taken to utilizing the hop stand method, faithful to the promise it yields more hop flavor and aroma without excessive bitterness compared to boil additions. This despite claims that whirlpool additions made on a commercial scale are equivalent to 20 minute boil additions on the homebrew scale.\n\nSo what gives? Is there actually something to the hop stand method or can similar results be achieved using a less time consuming boil addition? Only one way to find out!\n\n| PURPOSE |\n\nTo evaluate the differences between the same beer where one had hops added at 20 minutes left in the boil and the other received the same amount of hops for a 20 minute hop stand.\n\n| METHOD |\n\nI hadn\u2019t had my favorite MACC IPA on tap for a couple months and figured it would be a great recipe for this variable.\n\nFor the sake of this particular xBmt, I made a small change to my recipe by eliminating the small 20 minute dose of Citra I usually toss in, which meant that aside from minor bittering charges of Magnum, all of the hops for each beer would be added at either 20 minutes left in the boil or flameout with a 20 minute hop stand\u2013 340 grams of the same hops were added to each 11 gallon batch.\n\nI started this brew a couple days ahead of time with the making of a couple starters.\n\nI began filtering water through a reverse osmosis system the night before brewing, as it processes at a rate of approximately 3 gallons per hour.\n\nI then moved on to weighing out and milling enough grain for 20 gallons of MACC IPA.\n\nThe following afternoon, I began heating strike water for both batches at the same time, as I would be able to chill the boil hop batch while the hop stand batch was steeping. I mashed in consecutively and hit my target temperature for both batches.\n\nEverything was set just as it was time to leave for my daughter\u2019s T-ball practice, so for the first time ever, I let the beers mash for an extended period of time\u2013 3.5 hours. It actually worked out quite nicely, thanks to the great insulation on my ThermoBarrel\u2019s, I only lost 3\u00b0F/1.7\u00b0C.\n\nA minor adjustment to my standard batch sparge routine resulted in the collection of a tad more wort than usual\u2026\n\nEven FermCap-S couldn\u2019t prevent minor boilovers from occurring in a kettle so full, but it did avert certain calamity. Each batch received a small dose of Magnum up front for bittering and the boiled hops batch was hit with a large dose of hops 40 minutes later.\n\nI rapidly chilled the boiled hops wort at the conclusion of its 1 hour boil, finishing a few minutes before the hop stand batch\u2019s boil was complete. Once the timer went off, I hit the flame and added an identical amount of the same hops to the hop stand wort then reset my timer for 20 minutes. During the hop stand, I collected equal amounts of wort in separate carboys from the boiled hops batch.\n\nAt the end of the 20 minute hop stand, I noted the temperature of the wort was just shy of 200\u00b0F/93\u00b0C.\n\nI proceeded with the same chilling and carboy filling process as the hop stand batch then took hydrometer readings to discover both worts achieved an identical 1.069 OG.\n\nI let my chamber finish chilling the worts to my target fermentation temperature of 66\u00b0F/19\u00b0C before pitching equal amounts of yeast into each. All of the beers were actively fermenting just 12 hours later.\n\nI returned home after a 3 day work trip to find the fridge I ferment in died at some point during my absence and my fermenting beers were approaching 79\u00b0F/26\u00b0C. I took some solace in the knowledge they began their journey at my cooler target temperature and was hopeful the excessive heat wouldn\u2019t have much impact. We haven\u2019t put WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast through a fermentation temperature xBmt yet! Hydrometer measurements taken a couple days later revealed both batches had finished at a respectable 1.011 FG.\n\nSince my fridge was broken, I lugged my carboys to my brother-in-law\u2019s house where they were cold crashed and fined with gelatin. I returned later to keg the beers, bringing three home with me while leaving one behind for the toddler\u2019s birthday party. After a few days on CO2 in my cool keezer, the beers were carbonated and ready to serve, though one difference was readily apparent.\n\nThe hop stand beer maintained a slight haze the entire time it was on tap while the boiled hops batch was brilliantly clear from the day after it was packaged.\n\n| RESULTS |\n\nA total of 19 people participated in this xBmt, all blind to the variable being investigated. Each taster was served 2 samples of the boiled hops beer and 1 sample of the hop stand beer in different colored opaque cups then asked to select the one they perceived as being different. Given the sample size, 11 correct responses (p<0.05) would be required to reach the threshold for statistical significance. In this case, only 9 participants (p=0.19) correctly identified the odd-beer-out. Of these 9 panelists, 4 endorsed the boiled hops beer as their most preferred, 2 liked the the hop stand beer better, and 3 indicated no preference.\n\nIn addition to the standard sensory evaluation, samples of these beers were sent to our friends at Oregon Brew Lab for IBU testing in order to glean more information on isomerization differences between a 20 minute boil addition and a 20 minute hop stand. The boiled hops beer came it at 58 IBU (\u00b11) and the hop stand beer measured 60 IBU (\u00b11), for a final difference of 2 IBU. I\u2019m calling this a wash.\n\nMy Impressions: During initial non-blind tastings, I confidently perceived the hop stand beer to be slightly softer with a slightly sweet (I don\u2019t dare say juicy) hop character, while the boiled hops version was crisper and cleaner without being obviously more bitter. However, over the course of tastings, I took the time to complete 3 \u201cblind\u201d triangle tests and correctly identified the unique sample only a single time, which is entirely congruent with chance. Following this performance, I\u2019ve reluctantly admitted to myself the two beers are a very good approximation of each other and any difference is exceedingly slim. To my personal surprise, I have actually formed a preference between the two, despite my inability to distinguish between them by flavor alone, and the winner is\u2013 the boiled hops beer. As one who tastes with my eyes, the clarity difference is what swayed my opinion.\n\n| DISCUSSION |\n\nHop stands have been an integral part of my IPA brewing repertoire for awhile, but I\u2019m faced with data and experience suggesting it may have been for naught, as boiling hops for 20 minutes produced a beer that was largely indistinguishable from a beer made with a 20 minute hop stand. The only noticeable difference, interestingly enough, was in the appearance with the hop stand beer maintaining a slight haze while the boiled hops beer was brilliant. With all of this, as well as the fact that hop stands require time, I find myself considering changing my brewing practice for hoppy beers, something I\u2019ve never done after just a single test.\n\nIn regards to the clarity difference, which left me scratching my head, I can\u2019t help but wonder if kettle finings are the culprit, the extended time in hot wort perhaps contributing to some sort of denaturing and poorer performance. I generally add Whirlfloc with about 5 minutes remaining in the boil, maybe it\u2019d be better to add it later when doing an extended hop stand.\n\nThese results also leave me curious about IBU formulas. The boiled hops batch was projected to be at 115 IBU compared to just 84 IBU for the hop stand beer. However, lab testing proved that not only were the beers nearly similar, but that the hop stand beer was actually slightly more bitter (by 2 IBU) than the boiled hops batch. I\u2019ve long believed that IBU formulas are useful only for comparisons within a given brewing system, but now I\u2019m beginning to wonder if they\u2019re even that useful. Obviously, the way hops were added in this case dramatically changed the way the IBUs were calculated yet had little to no impact on the finished product and no appreciable impact on actual IBUs.\n\n| BONUS DATA |\n\nSince this was a 20 gallon batch, I dry hopped the extra boiled hops carboy with nearly 4 oz of Cascade, which I then had BeerMe Brew Club members compare side by side with the boiled hops xBmt beer dry hopped with the usual Mosaic, Amarillo, and Citra. The near universal response was shock at how different the flavor of the beers were. Although I preferred the intense fruit-punch character of the Mosaic/Amarillo/Citra version, others liked the more classic character of the Cascade version. This less-than-scientific experience confirms my personal belief that dry hopping has a substantial impact on flavor, not just aroma as is generally cited. In fact, I perceived the aroma difference to be less pronounced than the flavor difference.\n\nFurthermore, the Cascade dry hopped sample was also sent to Oregon Brew Lab for IBU testing and it ended up with a measured 62 IBU (\u00b11), the highest of the three and 4 IBU more than the boiled hops xBmt batch that came from the same kettle.\n\nIndeed, this is nearly within the margin of error, but in light of Scott Janish\u2019s recent post indicating dry hopping contributes to bitterness, my mind is swirling\u2013 the technically most bitter batch was dry hopped with a lower quantity of lower AA% hops. Could some idiosyncratic property of Cascade be the culprit or are we too close to call? Again, I\u2019m left with more questions than answers\u2026\n\nIf you have any thoughts about this xBmt, please do not hesitate to share in the comments section below!\n\nNew Br\u00fclosophy Merch Available Now!\n\nFollow Br\u00fclosophy on:\n\nIf you enjoy this stuff and feel compelled to support Brulosophy.com, please check out the Support page for details on how you can very easily do so. Thanks!\n\nAdvertisements\n\nShare this: Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nPinterest\n\nTumblr\n\nEmail\n\n\n\nLike this: Like Loading..."}
-{"text": "Many brands and organizations developing digital strategies have moved beyond asking whether Twitter and Facebook presences are necessary. (Yes, they are.)\n\nNow the question is: We're on the social web, so how do we make the most of it?\n\nThere are two key methods for supercharging your social strategy: social media optimization (SMO) and engagement. Although they're equally important for getting more people to your website via social networks, far different rules apply for each. SMO implies a scientific approach \u2014 updates are crafted with the intention of being seen, and ultimately clicked on, by your audience. Engagement, on the other hand, is about connecting with fans and followers. The idea is to build a community of vested members who will respond to and share your social updates because the content resonates strongly.\n\nHere's an in-depth look at each approach, and how you can combine both tactics to drive the distribution of your content.\n\nSocial Media Optimization\n\nSMO can be valuable for getting more visits to your site. The key is understanding the audience of each social network, as well as when and how they interact with it. This will help you to learn what type of content works best there, and how you can frame that content to be more clickable.\n\nIn general, a certain audience exists on each social networks. For example, LinkedIn tends to bring in professionals of all ages who are interested in job searching and networking, while Tumblr is popular among young people and the design and fashion communities. However, I advise verifying your account's demographics statistics either on the network's analytics program or with a social media management tool that has analytics capabilities. This will give you a sense of the types of users that populate the audience of a particular social site, and whether your community matches that demographic.\n\nTiming is also important for SMO. Just as websites have traffic highs and lows, so do social networks. But beware: Your site's peak times may not match those of your social networks. For example, some people are restricted from logging into Facebook from work or school; therefore, you may notice that your posts on nights and weekends perform better. You should also consider how the EdgeRank algorithm affects when your page's updates are appearing in your fans' News Feeds.\n\nAnother SMO necessity is understanding how people are using the platform. For example, 40% of Twitter users would rather listen than write their own tweets, which means you might not get a ton of response to your question tweets. On Tumblr, the majority of the site's pageviews come from the user dashboard. If you want it to catch a reader's eye, it's wise to format your post properly so that it reads well on dashboard view \u2014 not just on the front page.\n\nThese steps may improve your click-through rate, but remember they're just one piece of the web publishing puzzle.\n\nEngagement\n\nWhile SMO can help bring people to your site, engagement brings the right kind of people to your site. It builds a vested userbase that not only wants to click on your content, but also wants to be involved with it. These readers are valuable because they're more likely to view more pages, spend more time on your site and contribute to your community by posting thoughtful comments and sharing content to their networks.\n\nSo what exactly is engagement? It could mean sparking discussion among your followers and responding to their comments, or it could mean recognizing their contributions on your site and incorporating their ideas into your product. In short, it's not something an intern can accomplish during 9-5 hours.\n\nAt the most basic level, engagement is about personalizing your organization and giving it a voice that resonates with your community. Keep in mind that the social web is a two-way dialogue. It's vital to respond to questions and comments from your followers. More often than not, people just want to know you're listening. Sometimes a simple \"thanks for your comment\" goes a long way.\n\nFor more advanced communities, engagement is getting to know your most vested followers on a deeper level. That could mean featuring them in posts by letting their ideas drive your content. A good example of this is Instagram; the company invited a top user to create photo filters for its latest app version.\n\nThere's no scientific formula for engagement. Every audience is different and, ultimately, you'll need to communicate in a way that best suits your community. Devise a way to foster their passion for your organization and its mission by connecting with and empowering your audience.\n\nConclusion\n\nSMO and engagement are separate concepts, yet both are important for getting the most out of your social media presences. Though the terms aren't synonymous, the strategies should be used simultaneously. By optimizing posts for your various social audiences and by building a community of vested followers, you'll create an unstoppable social media presence that will not only drive traffic to your site, but will also reinforce your fans' brand enthusiasm.\n\nImages courtesy of Flickr, Kaptain Kobold, chrisjfry, Marc Wathieu"}
-{"text": "Keto Lasagna Recipe\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLasagna Recipe from Italian Kitchen\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYou can make easily this keto lasagna recipe and can be a tasty lunch or a dinner for you.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTotal Time1 hour 15 minutes\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIngredients For The Italian Lasagna\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFor the meat sauce, you will need to get\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1 lb mild Italian sausage\n\n1 lb ground beef\n\n1 small chopped onion\n\n30 oz crushed tomatoes\n\n4 garlic cloves\n\nIn order to prepare noodles, you will need to get\n\n3 cups Mozzarella Cheese\n\n8 oz Cream cheese\n\n\u00bd cup Parmesan cheese\n\n1 tsp Granulated onion and granulated garlic each\n\n4 Eggs\n\nTo complete the cheese filling, you can get\n\n5 cups Mozzarella cheese\n\n\u00bd cup full fat Ricotta cheese\n\n\u00bd cup Parmesan cheese\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstructions For The Italian Lasagna\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAs the first thing, you should know how you are going to prepare meat sauce. To do that, you should cook sausage and ground beef at a medium temperature. (You are doing this with the objective of removing excessive fat in the food.)\n\n\n\n\n\nThen you can add garlic and tomato and mix the ingredients. After mixing for some time, you can add water along with water if required.\n\n\n\n\n\nNow you need to bring the mixture to a slimmer and let it stay for a couple of hours after reducing the heat.\n\n\n\n\n\nOnce meat sauce is prepared, you will be able to go ahead with the preparation of noodles. You need to take a large bowl in order to do that. In the large bowl, you must combine cream cheese, eggs and Italian seasoning.\n\n\n\n\n\nTo the same mixture, you will need to add onion and garlic as well. You can take a hand mixer and mix it for a couple of minutes. Once you feel that the mixture has become smooth, you can stop mixing.\n\n\n\n\n\nThen you should fold Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese and add to the mixture. The mixture should then be laid on top of a cookie sheet and kept inside an oven that is heated for a temperature of 375 degrees Fahrenheit. You should keep it for a period of about 30 minutes.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNow you have come to the final, but most important step, which is about building the lasagna.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYou need to pour meat sauce that you have prepared into a casserole dish. Then you need to add a noodles layer. You must repeat this process for one more time. But you need to put noodles first. Once you complete adding the second layer of Mozzarella Cheese, you need to add another layer of sauce. The top should be filled with remaining sauce and noodles. You should now place lasagna inside a preheated oven. The temperature should be 375 degrees Fahrenheit. You will need to bake your lasagna for a period of around 45 minutes. When you see that it has become bubbly, you can take out of the oven. Now you should add the remaining amounts of Parmesan cheese and Mozzarella cheese you have to the top. After doing that, you should bake it for another 20 minutes. Then you can let cheese melt and turn into golden brown color. Once it is done, you can keep lasagna for 15 minutes and enjoy it.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNutrition Facts\n\nServing Size\n\nServings Per Container\n\nAmount Per Serving\n\nCalories 395.75Calories from Fat 249.75\n\n% Daily Value*\n\nTotal Fat 27.75g43%\n\nSaturated Fat g0%\n\nTrans Fat g\n\nCholesterol mg0%\n\nSodium mg0%\n\nTotal Carbohydrate 11g4%\n\nDietary Fiber g0%\n\nSugars g\n\nProtein 25.5g51%\n\n\n\n\n\n*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs."}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\nHaiti - Justice : Clifford Brandt escaped !\n\n\n\n\n\nThis Sunday morning, a commando composed of 10-15 people heavily armed, according to various testimonies (number unconfirmed by police) led an operation against the new civil prison of Croix-des-Bouquets, funded by Canada and considered as a highly secure locationand meeting the most stringent prison standards.\n\n\n\nDuring this attack, where many shot were heard according to various witnesses, an unknown number of prisoners would have escaped, including Clifford Brandt, information confirmed by the National Police of Haiti (PNH). The Deputy of Croix-des-Bouquets, Tholbert Alexis informed of the escape of Clifford Brandt described the situation as \"grave\".\n\n\n\nOne or more agents of the National Penitentiary Administration (APENA) would have been injured or killed during the commando attack, without other details, except that an ambulance was seen entering and leaving the prison...\n\n\n\nThe Prime Minister, Laurent Lamothe, also Chief of the Superior Council of the National Police (CSPN) was seen going to the Police Station of Croix-des-Bouquets. The authorities of the CSPN should in principle give a press conference in the coming hours. According to our sources police reinforcements had arrived this afternoon and were deployed in search of the escapees in nearby neighborhoods.\n\n\n\nDominican security would have been advised of the escape and the surveillance strengthened at the border between the two countries.\n\n\n\nRecall for our readers that as part of the kidnapping, October 16, 2012 two young Coralie [23] and Nicolas Moscoso [24] on the road of Bourdon [members of a family of Haitian entrepreneur], a major police operation involving the cell against kidnapping and homicide was initiated and led to the arrest in the offices of the company Mazda [Delmas 2] of Clifford Brandt, member of a rich bourgeois family well known in Haiti. Following his interrogation, Clifford Brandt confessed and led police force, on the scene [Pernier] where was sequestered Coralie and Nicolas, which was released.\n\n\n\nSince November 2012, 15 accused were detained in the case Clifford Brandt, 10 in the National Penitentiary, a woman at the Prison for Women of Petion-ville and Clifford Brandt and 3 other alleged accomplices, were transferred from the prison of Carrefour to the new prison of Croix-des-Bouquets.\n\n\n\nNote that the investigation allowed to revealed the importance of the network of criminals Clifford Brandt, considered as the most powerful criminal network in Haiti if not the Caribbean, according to comments at the time of Reginald Delva, the Secretary of State for Public Security.\n\n\n\nAlthough the situation remains unclear in the absence of official statements one can only wonder about the security of this prison, given as maximum and wonder if the commando has not benefited from inside complicity.\n\n\n\nTo be continued...\n\n\n\nEscape of Clifford Brandt, the Manhunt is open :\n\nhttps://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-11786-haiti-security-escape-of-clifford-brandt-the-manhunt-is-open.html\n\n\n\nThe CSPN met in emergency took immediate measures : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-11794-haiti-escape-the-cspn-met-in-emergency-took-immediate-measures.html\n\n\n\nSee also :\n\nhttps://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-7077-haiti-justice-case-clifford-brandt-already-15-people-in-jail.html\n\nhttps://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-7025-haiti-justice-inauguration-of-the-new-prison-of-croix-des-bouquets-speech-of-pm.html\n\nhttps://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-7021-haiti-justice-case-brandt-moscoso-the-investigation-continues.html\n\nhttps://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-7042-haiti-justice-case-clifford-brandt-official-clarifications-of-authorities.html\n\nhttps://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-7004-haiti-justice-clifford-brandt-incarcerated-in-the-civil-prison-of-carrefour.html\n\nhttps://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-6989-haiti-justice-case-clifford-brandt-morosco-clarifications-of-the-pnh.html\n\nhttps://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-6982-haiti-justice-clifford-brandt-involved-in-an-abduction-case.html\n\n\n\nSL/ HaitiLibre\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Each spring, hundreds of thousands of migrating waterbirds flock northward from Africa across the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas. In search of food, they alight briefly on Albania\u2019s Buna Delta \u2014 one of the largest remaining wetlands in all of the Balkan Peninsula.\n\nThe delta is also one of the most notorious killing grounds for migrating birds in all of Europe.\n\n\u201cThere is a marsh harrier,\u201d declares Borut Stumberger, a hard-bitten Slovenian researcher and veterinarian, during a recent field census of dwindling bird life in the delta. He points to a lone bird gliding low over the wetlands. \u201cIt will not last seven days,\u201d he says.\n\nWhen Stumberger first started coming here in 2003, these wetlands were teeming with ducks, geese, and other waterfowl. But when I joined him and a team of ornithologists from across Europe in January for an annual winter bird count, a hilltop offering unobstructed views from the Adriatic Sea to the white-capped mountains of the Dinaric Alps revealed skies that were mostly empty.\n\nHighly restricted during Communist times, guns are now commonplace in Buna Delta, Albania. MARTIN SCHNEIDER-JACOBY/EURONATUR\n\nEnvironmental groups have estimated that more than two million ducks, geese, songbirds, and raptors are shot along the Adriatic\u2019s eastern shores every year \u2014 part of what\u2019s known as the Adriatic Flyway, a key migratory route for birds making their seasonal journeys between the European and African continents. A recent analysis by Wetlands International, a conservation group based in the Netherlands, concluded that as many as one-third of all birds using the Black Sea-Mediterranean Flyway \u2014 an area that includes the Adriatic Flyway \u2014 are now in decline, in large part due to illegal hunting.\n\nAlbania\u2019s wetlands are officially protected under national and international agreements, but signs of illegal harvesting are abundant, suggesting a far different reality. Poachers hiding inside crude, limestone bunkers easily blast weary oystercatchers, spoonbills, and gargeney from the sky as they approach from the Adriatic. Other illegal hunters, packed into a crowded network of blinds within the marshes, ensure that fewer and fewer birds touch down here alive.\n\nReading aloud his most recent bird tallies from the Buna Delta, Stumberger ticks off a few dozen common gulls, one Mediterranean gull, and nine crows. He also counts two illegal hunting hideouts and 11 shotgun shells.\n\n\n\n\u201cThis is not hunting,\u201d Stumberger says. \u201cThis is massacre.\u201d\n\n\n\nThis hasn\u2019t always been the case, and Albania was once a haven for wildlife. For decades the country\u2019s communist dictator, Enver Hoxha, pursued extreme isolationist policies that stifled development and all but eliminated access to the country\u2019s forested borders and coastal wetlands. When the country opened its doors to the outside world in 1991, rampant development and exploitation of natural resources followed, including unlimited hunting of birds \u2014 primarily for sport, but also for market.\n\n\u201cThis is not hunting,\u201d says a European researcher. \u201cThis is massacre.\u201d\n\nOne high-end restaurant I visited in Tirana, the nation\u2019s capital, offered blackbird, mallard, and woodcock \u2014 the latter selling for 2000 Albanian Lek or $18 per bird.\n\n\u201cDuring the communist era, very few people owned guns and hunting was allowed only in a few resorts that were limited to the Politburo,\u201d says Taulant Bino, Albania\u2019s former deputy minister of the environment. \u201cAfter the 90s, when the system broke down, people thought, \u2018We have the right to enjoy the same freedoms that the Politburo did.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe routes of many migratory birds, roughly depicted above, connect Europe and Africa. The blue arrow marks the Adriatic Flyway. WHO/UN FAO/AP VIA EURONATUR\n\nIn recent decades, the country\u2019s weak central government has proven unable or unwilling to enforce even the most basic hunting restrictions. In February, Albania\u2019s newly elected government placed a two-year moratorium on all hunting nationwide. But that has done little to stall illegal poachers, whose ruthless tactics have drawn added criticism from conservationists. Hunters use decoys and play tape-recorded birdcalls to lure their prey, for example. They hunt indiscriminately in protected areas, at night when birds flock together, and during sensitive breeding and migration periods. Some use thin \u201cmist\u201d nets and sticky traps to catch songbirds. Others use speedboats to pursue waterbirds at sea.\n\n\u201cThe situation in Albania is more dramatic than any other country in the region,\u201d says Romy Durst, a biologist with EuroNatur who specializes in the Balkan wetlands. \u201cIn other countries you have big flocks of resting wildlife. In Albania there literally is no wildlife.\u201d\n\nEarlier this month, EuroNatur hosted a conference in Durr\u00c3\u00abs, Albania, that focused on reducing the most urgent threats for migratory birds along the Adriatic Flyway. The organizers chose Albania in part because of the dire conditions facing wildlife in the country, and attendees from other parts of Europe expressed dismay at the paucity of hunting restrictions in the region.\n\n\u201cWe were shocked to hear what sorts of birds can be hunted in certain countries, including some of the globally threatened species like the red breasted goose and ferruginous duck,\u201d says Szabolcs Nagy, a senior advisor with the conservation group Wetlands International. \u201cIt seems to be a free playing ground for [illegal] hunters.\u201d\n\nWhen attendees of the conference took a field trip to nearby Divjak\u00eb-Karavasta National Park, hunting was apparent. \u201cWe were in the core zone of a national park in a country with a two-year hunting moratorium and you still hear shooting,\u201d Durst says. \u201cLaw enforcement is still far from being good enough.\u201d\n\nDjana Bejko, Albania\u2019s current deputy minister of environment, disagrees, insisting that the hunting ban is having an impact. \u201cEverything is in order and the moratorium is working very effectively,\u201d Bejko says. She notes that since the hunting ban was enacted law enforcement officials have confiscated 630 guns from illegal hunters, up from an average of only 20 per year previously.\n\nMuch of the illegal hunting in Albania has been by tourists visiting from nearby European Union nations.\n\nWhen I ask about the shots heard by conference attendees, however, she concedes that some hunting does still occur. She also admits that conservationists\u2019 complaints \u2014 that law enforcement officials in Albania are woefully underfunded \u2014 is not without merit. \u201cFor the time being we still have limited resources in terms of equipment and infrastructure provided for the rangers,\u201d she says.\n\nThat might need to change if Albania hopes to realize its ambition to join the European Union. On June 27, the European Commission (EC) granted the country \u201ccandidate status,\u201d but its inability to stop illegal bird killing could derail the effort.\n\n\u201cThe European Commission is concerned about the illegal killing of wild birds in Albania,\u201d says EC spokesman Joseph Hennon, adding that the commission \u201cexpects Albania to quickly establish the necessary legal and administrative framework required\u201d to comply with European Union environmental regulations.\n\nIronically, much of the illegal hunting in Albania in recent years has been by tourists visiting from nearby European Union nations.\n\n\u201cAs the regulations get stricter in EU countries, hunters are going to areas where hunting laws and enforcement are not as strict,\u201d says Tibor Mikuska of the Croatian Society for Bird and Nature Protection. \u201cFor example, they go quail hunting in Albania or Romania or Serbia and try to smuggle their catch back to Italy and other Mediterranean countries where songbirds and quail are used in cuisine.\u201d\n\nIn 2012, the last year Croatia employed specially trained wildlife inspectors at its borders, customs officials confiscated 1,300 birds from would-be smugglers. \u201cThis is not even the tip of the iceberg,\u201d Mikuska says.\n\nEurasian spoonbills are often hunted illegally as they migrate through Albania\u2019s Buna Delta. ANDREAS TREPTE/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS\n\nBejko says the recent moratorium has \u201cabsolutely\u201d stopped foreign hunters from coming into her country but, like many aspects of illegal hunting in Albania, the truth is hard to discern. At least one Albanian travel agency still offers hunting packages for foreigners on its website. For 850 euros a hunter can spend four days and five nights in Albania with an Italian-speaking guide shooting woodcock, quail, \u201cwild duck,\u201d snipe, and \u201cowl,\u201d presumably without limit.\n\nAfter spending an afternoon with Stumberger in the Buna Delta of northern Albania, I joined Bino, who formerly served as Alabania\u2019s deputy minister of environment, as he continued the bird census work south along Albania\u2019s coastline.\n\nBino, 45, is widely regarded as Albania\u2019s leading ornithologist, and he applauds the recent hunting moratorium \u2014 though he personally sought a longer, five-year ban during his time in government. He recently returned to academia, teaching environmental policy at Polis University in Tirana, the nation\u2019s capital, and he revels in introducing students to bird watching. \u201cThe moment they see the kingfisher, they are with me, not the hunters,\u201d he says of the brightly colored birds.\n\nOur first stop is a brackish lagoon separated from the Adriatic by a narrow sand dune. In a steady downpour Bino quickly counts large flocks of coots, pochard, and teal, birds that bob in tight formation on storm-tossed waters. The number of waterbirds, roughly 1,100 in all, are about half of what he has typically seen in recent years.\n\nBino says an unusually mild winter is likely the cause for the low numbers. Many of the birds that usually come here likely stayed further north last winter. Still, having even this many birds on a small patch of water in Albania is unusual. A naval base on the far shore keeps much of the lagoon off limits to hunters. Yet where we stand, spent shotgun shells line the dirt road like paving stones.\n\nThe following day we spend an afternoon near the Greek border looking for birds amid ancient Greek and Roman ruins at Butrint National Park. Bino drives his Land Rover out on a rain-soaked mud flat until the vehicle will go no further. Parking the SUV, we walk out to a point. Across a narrow channel, the Greek island of Corfu is so close we can see individual houses along its hillsides.\n\nAfter several days of near-steady rain, the clouds begin to lift. We watch, silently, as cormorants open their wings to take in the sun\u2019s late afternoon rays. Sandwich terns plunge into the water hunting for food. A pair of spoonbills fly low overhead, their namesake bills so close I can almost touch them.\n\nThen, a gunshot rips through the marsh.\n\nWatch a video on illegal hunting in the Adriatic Flyway:\n\nVideo credit: EuroNatur/Gregor Aubic, WWW.EKOFILM.ORG"}
-{"text": "President Donald Trump defended those protesting stay-at-home orders to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. But a former official of his own party is calling him out over it.\n\nFormer Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says those demonstrators aren\u2019t just putting their own lives at risk, they\u2019re also endangering the lives of vulnerable people around them.\n\nTrump claimed the demonstrators \u2015 who are being goaded by right-wing media \u2015 \u201clove our country\u201d and \u201cwant to get back to work.\u201d\n\nBut Steele stepped in with a reality check.\n\n\u201cGo to work and die?\u201d he asked. \u201cGo to work and get sick? What is the point of that?\u201d\n\nSteele said the governors who put the restrictions into place are trying to protect their citizens from COVID-19.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get healthy,\u201d he said, adding:\n\n\u201cAnd if you weigh your job greater than you weigh your grandparents\u2019 lives or your children\u2019s lives or your own life, maybe that\u2019s your individual choice, but that\u2019s not something that I\u2019m willing to take a risk with my life on.\u201d\n\nHe said the president should give Americans clarity and a sense of purpose so they\u2019re willing to stay home.\n\n\u201cBut that\u2019s not what this president has done,\u201d he said.\n\nSee his full comments above."}
-{"text": "Australia and circumcision\n\nAustralia, like other English-speaking countries, once had a rather high rate of non-therapeutic neonatal circumcision of male infants, however Australia (2019) now has a very low rate of non-therapeutic neonatal circumcision. Consequently, the circumcised males are concentrated in the older age groups. As they pass away and are replaced by younger intact males, the prevalence of circumcised men is diminishing. Circumcised males are now in the minority in Australia and have been at least since 2011.[1]\n\nHistory\n\nThe indigeous people of Australia, the Aborigines, have variously practiced subincision and circumcision since before the first contact with Europeans.\n\nThe incidence of non-therapeutic neonatal circumcision in Australia approached that of the United States in the 1930s through 1960s.\n\nDouglas Gairdner's famous, classic 1949 paper, The Fate of the Foreskin: A Study of Circumcision,[2] seems to have had no effect in Australia. However, criticism of the practice of non-therapeutic circumcision accelerated in 1967.\n\nMorgan (1967) criticised non-therapeutic circumcision in a letter published in the Medical Journal of Australia.[3]\n\nWright (1967) slammed the practice of non-therapeutic circumcision.[4]\n\nThe Australian Paediatric Journal issue of June 1970, published three articles critical of non-therapeutic infant circumcision.[5][6][7]\n\nPosition statements of medical societies\n\nAfter considering the three papers published in the Australian Paediatric Journal, the Australian Paediatric Society adopted a resolution on April 24, 1971 that the circumcision of male infants should not be performed as a routine measure. That resolution subsequently was reported in a letter by Belmaine published in the Medical Journal of Australia on May 22, 1971.[8]\n\nThe incidence of non-therapeutic child circumcision in Australia started to decline after the publication of the Belmaine (1971) letter. By 1978, only 50 percent of newborn boys were being circumcised.\n\nThe incidence of circumcision continued to decline, so that by 1996, when the Australian College of Paediatrics issued a statement, it reported that the incidence of \"routine\" (i.e. non-therapeutic) circumcision was estimated at ten percent of newborn boys.[9]\n\nNon-therapeutic circumcision and Australian law\n\nAustralia is a state-party to the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) and to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), both of which provide various human rights to children, which are violated by non-therapeutic child circumcision.\n\nThe legality of non-therapeutic circumcision of boys has been considered several times.\n\nThe Queensland Law Reform Commission (1993) researched the legality of non-therapeutic circumcision of children. The Commission concluded:\n\nThe common law operating in Queensland appears to be that if the young person is unable, through lack of maturity or other disability, to give effective consent to a proposed procedure and if the nature of the proposed treatment is invasive, irreversible and major surgery and for non-therapeutic purposes, then court approval is required before such treatment can proceed. The court will not approve the treatment unless it is necessary and in the young person's best interests. The basis of this attitude is the respect which must be paid to an individual's bodily integrity.[10]\n\nRichards (1996) discussed non-therapeutic circumcision of boys. He concluded:\n\nRitual male circumcision is non-therapeutic and is not warranted or justified by medical evidence. This form of mutilation should not be legally distinguished from female circumcision which is a form of female genital mutilation presently in the process of being prohibited throughout Australia and the Western world. As ritual male circumcision is non-therapeutic, may be against public policy, and clearly is not in the best interests of the child, a parent's consent may be vitiated, leaving persons involved in the procedure liable in negligence, notwithstanding parental religious beliefs. Alternatively, if a medical practitioner fails to give the parent reasonable information on the risks of and alternatives to ritual circumcision, the practitioner may also be liable in negligence.[11]\n\nProfessor Neville Turner (1996) reported that circumcised boys may sue their circumciser.[12]\n\nBoyle et al. (2000) suggested that non-therapeutic circumcision of boys is \"criminal assault.\" They concluded:\n\nEnforced non-therapeutic genital cutting of unconsenting minors is overdue for recognition by the legal community as sexual mutilation. As we enter the 21st Century, appropriate legal action must be taken to safeguard the physical genital integrity of male children.[13]\n\nGrace Gunn (2019) argues that non-therapeutic circumcision of boys should be prohibited in New South Wales.[14]\n\nDespite the criticism in the above referenced papers, there has been no legislative or judicial action to protect boys in Australia from medically-unnecessary non-therapeutic circumcision.\n\nCircumcision in the 21st Century\n\nThe Sixth International Symposium on Genital Integrity convened in Wesley College at the University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on December 7-9, 2000. Professor Gregory J. Boyle gave the keynote address.\n\nThe Sydney Morning Herald reported on the decline in non-therapeutic circumcision of boys in Australia early in the 21st Century.[15]\n\nThe several Australian states operate public hospitals. By 2008 all public hospitals in all states no longer offered non-therapeutic circumcision to patients.[16]\n\nAs the incidence of non-therapeutic circumcision has declined, the incidence of infant deaths and SIDS deaths has also declined, while the overall health of Australia's children has improved.[17]\n\nThe Australian College of Paediatrics was merged into the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP), which has issued a statement on non-therapeutic child circumcision. The statement (2010) states:\n\nAfter reviewing the currently available evidence, the RACP believes that the frequency of diseases modifiable by circumcision, the level of protection offered by circumcision and the complication rates of circumcision do not warrant routine infant circumcision in Australia and New Zealand. However it is reasonable for parents to weigh the benefits and risks of circumcision and to make the decision whether or not to circumcise their sons.\n\nBut the statement also says:\n\nThe option of leaving circumcision until later, when the boy is old enough to make a decision for himself does need to be raised with parents and considered. This option has recently been recommended by the Royal Dutch Medical Association. The ethical merit of this option is that it seeks to respect the child\u2019s physical integrity, and capacity for autonomy by leaving the options open for him to make his own autonomous choice in the future.[18]\n\nDarby (2011) collected circumcision statistics from the various Australian states and territories. Darby reported a high rate of 17.3 percent in New South Wales in 2010 and a low of 1.5 percent in Tasmania in the same year. Other states fell in between.[19]\n\nNa et al. (2015) considered whether Australian boys should be circumcised. They concluded:\n\nIn conclusion, although there is a benefit of circumcision in those with urogenital tract anomalies, in a healthy newborn,the disease in the foreskin is non-existent. There is insufficient scientific evidence to support routine newborn circumcision in Australia done for UTI risk and HIV transmission issues alone. Therefore, any surgical complication and financial cost of routine newborn circumcision for these reasons in Australia currently cannot be justified. From a medical point of view, the\u2018price\u2019 is still too high.[20]\n\nOddly enough, The federal Medicare programme still pays an inadequate third-party payment of AU$35.45 for non-therapeutic circumcision.[21] This subsidy exists for political reasons, not medical reasons.[22]\n\nContinuing decline in practice of non-therapeutic circumcision\n\nNa, Tanny & Hutson (2015) discussed the matter of non-therapeutic circumcision of children in Australia. They concluded:\n\nThere is insufficient scientific evidence to support routine newborn circumcision in Australia done for UTI risk and HIV transmission issues alone. Therefore, any surgical complication and financial cost of routine newborn circumcision for these reasons in Australia currently cannot be justified. From a medical point of view, the \u2018price\u2019 is still too high.[23]\n\nThe incidence of non-therapeutic circumcision of children in Australia has continued to diminish. Circumcision Information Australia (2017) reported an incidence of infant circumcision of 9.66 percent in fiscal 2015.[24]\n\nCircumcision Information Australia (CIA) (2018) reports:\n\nAccording to a report on SBS, Australia\u2019s circumcision rate has fallen by over two thirds over the past decade. According to Medicare figures, there were only 6,309 boys (under 6 months) circumcised in the 2016/17 financial year, compared with 19,663 in 2007/08. SBS quotes Professor Paul Colditz, head of the Paediatrics and Child Health Division of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, as saying that only about 4 per cent of baby boys are being circumcised these days, \u201cso I guess parents are really making up their own minds on the basis of the available evidence.\u201d He added that there could be some procedures not captured by the Medicare data if performed by religious figures such as Mohels, but that would be a fairly small number in relation to the 6000 or so babies circumcised in the past year. Professor Colditz attributed the sharp decline to two main factors - better informed parents and more fathers not being circumcised themselves. The number of new fathers (many born in the 1980s and early 90s) who were themselves not circumcised is increasing, and they are deciding that there is no reason why they should circumcise their own sons. Parents were also making up their own minds by researching available evidence. \u201cWe've entered an era where everyone is looking at the evidence and asking, \u2018Is this operation worthwhile, will it be effective, what are the risks?'\" Professor Colditz said. Parents are assessing the balance between the potential for any benefits against the potential for harm and damage. \u201cI think the whole of society is getting more sophisticated in the way they do this.\u201d[25]\n\n\n\n\n\nSee also"}
-{"text": "The Magic Leap Studios team shares their creative process behind D.I.C.E. Award\u2013winning T\u00f3nandi.\n\nAhead of the SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards Ceremony, we caught up with the team that worked on T\u00f3nandi. The Magic Leap Studios team is one of 5 Finalists in the Visual Media Experience category. Winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony tonight\u2013Monday, March 11\n\nThe Magic Leap Studios team took some time to share how they brought the celestial realms of Sigur R\u00f3s\u2019 T\u00f3nandi to life. We spoke to Mike Tucker and Stephen Mangiat, creative and technical leads of T\u00f3nandi from our Magic Leap Studios team, about the process of making musical lifeforms, designing for adaptive worlds and crossing the spatial (and supernatural) divide.\n\nCongratulations on your D.I.C.E. Award for immersive achievement and your nomination for the SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards. The design process behind T\u00f3nandi must be an interesting one\u2014how did it all start?\n\nMike Tucker: Ironically, the inception of the project dates back long before any of our team members were even employees at the company. Rony, being a big fan of Sigur R\u00f3s, invited them to the office in the early days. Together with the band\u2019s Creative Director, Sarah Hopper, they dreamed up an idea of \u201csound spirits,\u201d literally translating to \u201cT\u00f3nandi\u201d in the Icelandic language.\n\nIt wasn\u2019t until years later that the hardware was ready. We spent some time interpreting the briefing: How do these sound spirits behave? Do they interact with your environment, each other, the user? We arrived at the analogy of an ecosystem of life forms; ranging from plant-like to animal-like, more literal creatures to more abstract.\n\n\u201cIt was a fluid collaboration: a constant cycle of music informing visuals informing interaction.\u201d\n\nMike Tucker: Later on, when our \u201cProduct Equivalent\u201d of Magic Leap One (ML1) began to mature, we put a proper team together. The Mill\u2019s Emerging Tech team worked with us on developing some of the creatures, elements, and engineering efforts. Sarah Hopper represented visuals from the band and Paul Corley, the band\u2019s Music Director, curated and developed new sounds for the experience. From then on it was a fluid collaboration: a constant cycle of music informing visuals informing interaction, on and on.\n\nStephen Mangiat: When we started developing, T\u00f3nandi was an experience that did not exist for a platform that did not exist. This was daunting, exciting, and at times scary, but ultimately it gave everyone a truly unique opportunity. One thing that was always there was a belief that Sigur R\u00f3s and their music and aesthetic were right for mixed reality and what we were hoping to achieve.\n\nFollowing on from that initial idea, what was it like working with Sigur R\u00f3s on the evolution of the T\u00f3nandi experience?\n\nMike Tucker: It\u2019s honestly quite amazing how well the original concept held up after all these years. Often a project may take some twists and turns before a golden idea is found, but the elegant simplicity of a \u201csound spirit\u201d was able to carry us into many interesting areas. On the music side, there was a tremendous sense of trust. Their work was chopped up, re-pitched, looped, and combined in so many different ways\u2014sometimes it was hardly recognizable. I can\u2019t think of many musicians who would be so open-minded with this process.\n\nStephen Mangiat: Music creation was core to the concept - the idea that you could have access to musical tools the band would use in the studio. However, we knew it shouldn\u2019t be a game, like hitting a virtual drum pad in time with a beat. This meant diving into their unique composing process, and analyzing the components of songs and the tools used to make them - any fan\u2019s dream!\n\nMany Sigur R\u00f3s sounds are created through a process of experimentation and discovery. For example, one tool that the band had been exploring is a sample arpeggiator, which allows you to create rhythmic patterns using short recorded samples, often of J\u00f3nsi\u2019s voice. Traditionally, they would modify these patterns using knobs and sliders, but we abstracted these controls into stones that you can move in 3D space using magnetic repulsion to your hand.\n\nThe system itself is not presented to the user, but through a visual abstraction and natural interaction you could work out that the placement of the stones will affect the samples and rhythms. You can then move them around until you find something particular pleasing\u2014and in essence, you are composing using a method similar to the band.\n\nIt was a lot of fun and a huge benefit that the band was so open to modifying their samples directly (rather than synthesizing sounds in the engine), as it was critical to making the world sound authentic.\n\nHow did you approach giving physical shape and behavior to these \"sound spirits\"?\n\nMike Tucker: This might have been the most challenging aspect of the project. We wanted the visuals, music, and interaction to have equal influence on each other. For instance, the Flock began as a visual prototype, simply a school of fish. Next, we said, \u201cHow does this behave?\u201d We arrived at having both a calm and agitated state\u2014triggered when the user moves their hands through it. Finally, we created a granular synthesis system which controls dozens of short sound samples called grains, each spatialized within the mass of fish.\n\nIn another case, we did the exact opposite. Steve wanted to capture J\u00f3nsi\u2019s iconic \u201cbowed guitar\u201d sound\u2014extracting loops from J\u00f3nsi\u2019s performance at a variety of pitches. Those were then mapped to a grid of blocks which could be raised and lowered by your hands. The final piece would be the visuals. How do you communicate to the user this underlying system of blocks, but convey it in a beautiful way matching the aesthetic of the experience? From there, we iterated on some visual treatments before arriving at the crystal-like shards.\n\nStephen Mangiat: Many of the creatures utilize particle effects, which are often minimal and use additive light blending. These look great on the display - like creatures made of light - but they also allow for more responsive and dynamic interactions. For example, particles can disperse in interesting patterns as your hand passes through them, like smoke or fog.\n\nParticles also allowed us to visualize sound directly without any abstraction, as in the case of the \u201clight seed,\u201d the ball of electricity that you touch to start the experience. The light seed was one of the first prototypes developed for the project, and its power is in the simplicity - we draw the sound wave in 3D space, it warps to your finger as you approach it, and this modifies the sound wave and thus the sound you hear. That\u2019s it! You are touching the sound wave and the visceral reactions we got early on encouraged us to keep exploring that paradigm as the experience developed.\n\nHow did you structure and sequence the \u201cworlds\u201d to give each spirit their unique personality?\n\nMike Tucker: Each creature at its essence is a combination of visual, sound, and interactivity\u2014meaning they could be given a color scheme or musical key. This allowed us to have full control over how we wanted to mix them together, which we ended up calling \u201cRecipes.\u201d Thinking of each creature as an ingredient, we began to experiment with what combinations would yield the most interesting musical and visual compositions. Because the two were inherently dependent on the other, it was never easy to say, \u201cOh we\u2019ll just remove or add this\u201d because of the impact it would have on everything else in that Recipe. Much in the same way you can\u2019t throw ice cream together with pizza and expect it to taste good.\n\nEach Recipe consists of events on a sequential path, with some potential to go down alternate paths through interactions by the user. Each element along that path is an opportunity for some randomness and it was practically a daily debate how much should occur. We hope future releases of T\u00f3nandi will introduce more variety to keep people coming back to the experience.\n\nOne of the most exciting aspects of T\u00f3nandi is its semi-random, adaptive nature. What have you learned about creating procedurally generated spatial experiences?\n\nMike Tucker: Capturing an understanding of the environment proved to be a lot trickier than anticipated. Simple questions like\u2014\u201cWhat is the center of the room?\u201d\u2014are surprisingly difficult if the user can literally be anywhere. With T\u00f3nandi we chose to embrace this variety by designing for randomness.\n\nUnder the hood, we have a set of parameters and constraints for each creature. For example; some are defined to only be created on flat surfaces, some may only exist on ceilings, and others may require a certain amount of empty area. This allows us to fine-tune how the experience will feel for a variety of environments. Many of these challenges will be common to developers and we\u2019ll likely be seeing a number of solutions become available as the medium matures.\n\n\u201cIt completely changed our design process\u2014opening up possibilities in simulating physical characteristics and interactive animations on a huge scale.\u201d\n\nStephen Mangiat: Procedural generation is really hard, particularly for visuals that must respond to any environment. To aid the variety we used spatial sound techniques like random spawning, with random samples, timing, and positioning. We could also move the sounds through space, like rocks falling from the sky. Another key component brought by Paul and the band was the use of natural ambient recordings from Iceland, recorded in caves or beneath glaciers. These added an aural variety that is difficult to achieve with instruments, and were critical to making it feel like you are immersed in a \u201cspace.\u201d Also, who knew that glaciers sound so cool?\n\nT\u00f3nandi is visually stunning, but seems like it could be quite demanding on the GPU. Are there any tips you'd like to share for creating graphically ambitious experiences on the Magic Leap One?\n\nMike Tucker: When we began this project, one major goal was to push the tech in every way possible\u2014this meant the interactions, visuals, audio and getting as much out of the CPU and GPU as possible. Initially, the project was very much CPU heavy. Having dozens of spatialized sounds playing simultaneously was a big contributor. Meanwhile, the GPU was hardly being leveraged.\n\nOur Lead Engineer, John Cannon, joined the team around the time we began working with the \u201cProduct Equivalent\u201d hardware. He introduced us to Compute Shaders, a fantastic method of leveraging the power in our GPU. It completely changed our design process\u2014opening up possibilities in simulating physical characteristics and interactive animations on a huge scale. Elements like the vegetation, vortices of light, and flocks of fish would not have been possible without this new way of creating content.\n\nCheck out the related L.E.A.P. talk below:\n\nLastly, Magic Leap One\u2019s meshing, spatial audio and powerful GPU are changing the way people can experience music. Does this mark a new, immersive era for creators?\n\nMike Tucker: Since the introduction of vinyl records, we have been tied down to the arbitrary constraint of replayable sound files. This trend continued through CDs and now streaming services. Nowadays we all carry computers in our pockets. T\u00f3nandi, along with projects like PolyFauna, Bjork\u2019s Biophilia and Brian Eno\u2019s Bloom can be seen as steps toward embracing non-linear music on emerging platforms. Musicians often try things differently while performing live: making each performance unique in some way. Why can\u2019t that be experienced elsewhere?\n\n\u201cWith Magic Leap, we have an opportunity to redefine how music can be experienced.\u201d\n\nMike Tucker: With Magic Leap, we have an opportunity to redefine how music can be experienced. Features like Spatial Audio bring us beyond typical stereo mixing. Meshing the environment allows us to create compositions that adapt to our surroundings. Hand Tracking allows us free users from the cumbersome process of control schemes. All these features are at the disposal of new creators, and we hope T\u00f3nandi serves as proof and inspiration that there is much yet to be explored.\n\nStephen Mangiat: T\u00f3nandi is visual music, but also a small step toward music that is aware of you - aware of your hands and body and how they move through space, aware of your eyes and where they are looking, the time of day, what environment you are in, etc. This awareness could be a powerful tool for musical composition, and perhaps even fluidly adapt to your emotional state. What happens when your music knows you\u2019re at the gym and getting tired, or it knows that you\u2019ve had a long day at work? Making listeners feel more like collaborators with composers has been a big motivator for us, and it will be exciting to see where creators go in the future.\n\nExplore The Worlds of T\u00f3nandi\n\nWe\u2019re over the (virtual) moon to be nominated for another technical achievement award in partnership with Sigur R\u00f3s. For the next gen of creators, musicians and makers, the gates to the world of immersive and spatial design are very much open.\n\nWe\u2019re all about changing reality with immersive content for Magic Leap One. If you want to go deeper into your own design, there are heaps of articles in our Creator Portal to check out. And if you want to experience the spirit of Sigur R\u00f3s for yourself, T\u00f3nandi will always be waiting ... (and ready right now, but that sounds less mystical)."}
-{"text": "Earlier today, as the Inquisitr reported, in an interview with Fox & Friends\u2018 Ashley Earhardt published on YouTube, President Donald Trump criticized the Department of Justice, Jeff Sessions, Mueller\u2019s Russia probe, distanced himself from Michael Cohen, and praised Paul Manafort.\n\nThe first person to formally respond to Trump\u2019s criticism thus far is Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Sessions issued a rare public statement, pushing back against Donald Trump, CNN reports.\n\n\u201cWhile I am Attorney General, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations. I demand the highest standards, and where they are not met, I take action. However, no nation has a more talented, more dedicated group of law enforcement investigators and prosecutors than the United States.\u201d\n\nAs CNN noted, Trump criticized Sessions for recusing himself from the investigation into Russian election interference. \u201cWhat kind of a man is this?!,\u201d the POTUS asked, before continuing, claiming to have only given Sessions the job due to his loyalty, adding that Sessions \u201cnever took control\u201d of the DOJ.\n\nJeff Sessions\u2019 statement was also posted to Twitter by DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores.\n\nAs Bloomberg reported earlier today, two key Republican senators \u2013 Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Senator Chuck Grassley, the current Judiciary chairman \u2013 signaled that the POTUS would fire Sessions after November midterms, backing Trump, and claiming that the president has no faith in his AG.\n\nSessions is one of President Trump\u2019s favorite targets, Bloomberg noted, and the POTUS has repeatedly criticized and mocked Sessions for recusing himself from Mueller\u2019s Russia probe. If Trump was to replace Sessions, a new attorney general would likely take over the Russia investigation and fire Robert Mueller, Bloomberg concluded.\n\nStatement from the Attorney General pic.twitter.com/eMF0CPXLZZ \u2014 Sarah Isgur Flores (@SarahFloresDOJ) August 23, 2018\n\nIn the statement, Sessions praised American law enforcement investigators and prosecutors, contradicting Trump who, earlier today, as the Inquisitr noted, called the Department of Justice corrupt, repeatedly criticizing it, claiming that he now puts the word \u201cjustice\u201d in quotation marks when tweeting about the DOJ.\n\nSessions defends himself in statement: \u201cWhile I am Attorney General, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations\u201d https://t.co/HGIehA9s2f \u2014 Bloomberg Politics (@bpolitics) August 23, 2018\n\nSessions\u2019 praising of law enforcement investigators and prosecutors is clearly meant to be interpreted as the attorney general expressing support for Robert Mueller\u2019s probe into Russian election interference. This, if one was to judge by Trump\u2019s previous statements, will most probably not sit well with the president, who has referred to Mueller\u2019s investigation as a \u201cwitch hunt,\u201d claiming throughout the entirety of today\u2019s interview with Fox & Friends\u2019 Ashley Earhardt that that there has been \u201cno collusion.\u201d\n\nAs the Telegraph noted, Sessions was one of the first senators to support Donald Trump\u2019s presidential campaign, but he has also been one of Trump\u2019s most controversial nominees for the administration. Sessions is known for being rejected as a federal judge over concerns about his views on race and for his \u201cstaunchly\u201d conservative views, the Telegraph concluded."}
-{"text": "Bengaluru: Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) has chalked out an ambitious expansion plan for its Kempegowda International Airport with a whopping investment outlay of Rs 13,000 crore.\n\nBeing one of the single largest such infrastructure projects currently underway in the country, the new expansions of the airport will cater to the demands of a civil aviation market that has been growing at a blistering pace of 25% year-on-year in the last three years.\n\nThe expansion programme would include construction of a new terminal, a second runway, expansion of access roads and internal road infrastructure, utilities as well as a new multi-modal transport hub.\n\nAddressing a media conference here on Thursday, BIAL MD and CEO Hari Marar said, ``The second terminal - T2 is our dedication to this beautiful city of Bengaluru.\n\nThe terminal, designed to be in a garden, will be a reflection of the city and will be built on 4 pillars: tech leadership, environmental and ecological stewardship and a celebration of Karnataka's rich heritage.\u201d\n\nMarar said BIAL worked with some of the finest global minds on the design and planning of this Terminal. While T2 is designed to be an iconic terminal - one that Bengaluru can truly be proud of - it will be built at the most affordable cost and in the most responsible manner. The Terminal will be world-class in all respects - starting from its design, the processes, the people who manage it, the sustainable practices it embraces and the performance it achieves, he said.\n\n\u201cOver the last ten years, BLR Airport has evolved as the Gateway to South India and with this next phase of expansion, the aim is to position our Airport as the Gateway to a New India. Once ready, the Airport will offer passengers seamless and delightful experiences, powered by cutting-edge technology,\u201d Marar added.\n\nBhaskar Anand Rao, Chief Financial Officer, BIAL, said, phase 2 of Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru will provide a huge boost to the connectivity of people and goods and services and provide the much needed capacity that a growing city like Bengaluru deserves. Once operational, the Airport will create more opportunities for businesses at the Airport and fuel the economic growth of the region and Country.\n\nElaborating on the passenger comfort features, Tom Shimmin, Chief Project Officer, BIAL, said: \u201cDesigned to provide the highest level of passenger comfort and dramatic visual impression, upon completion, the new terminal will increase the overall capacity of the Airport. T2 is designed in a manner that we retain the philosophy of simplicity and minimal walking distances for the passengers. With the use of a combination of the latest in construction technology and natural material, this Terminal will establish a new vision for sustainable growth. The new passenger terminal will cater to the specific needs of the Airport's spectrum of users and provide a seamless travel experience.\u201d"}
-{"text": "La Facultad de Filosof\u00eda y Letras de la UBA\n\nHoy por la ma\u00f1ana, un profesor de la Facultad de Filosof\u00eda y Letras de la UBA dio positivo por Covid-19. El docente, seg\u00fan se inform\u00f3 desde la unidad acad\u00e9mica, hab\u00eda tomado dos ex\u00e1menes orales en las \u00faltimas semanas.\n\nSeg\u00fan supo Infobae, el profesor ya hab\u00eda dado positivo en un primer test. En ese momento, las autoridades de la Facultad tomaron las medidas de prevenci\u00f3n del caso. Primero se contactaron con el equipo de infect\u00f3logos de la UBA y despu\u00e9s con los Ministerios de Salud de la Naci\u00f3n y la Ciudad de Buenos Aires.\n\nLa oficializaci\u00f3n del diagn\u00f3stico lleg\u00f3 hoy cuando el Malbr\u00e1n dio a conocer su test. El propio profesor fue el que comunic\u00f3 la noticia a su c\u00e1tedra y a los directivos. Se trata de un caso que se encuentra en estudio, se investiga la fuente de su contagio. El docente no tiene antecedentes de viaje y, en principio, tampoco inform\u00f3 de un contacto estrecho con un viajero.\n\n\u201cNosotros ya hab\u00edamos seguido todos los protocolos cuando dio positivo el primer test. Reconstruimos los ex\u00e1menes que se tomaron el 4 y el 11 de marzo y nos pusimos en contacto con los estudiantes y profesores que compartieron mesa con \u00e9l. A todos ellos les recomendamos que extremaran medidas preventivas\u201d, le dijo Am\u00e9rica Crist\u00f3falo, decano de la facultad, a este medio.\n\n(Franco Fafasuli)\n\nEn total, contabilizaron 14 estudiantes y 3 profesores que tuvieron contacto directo con el docente. A ellos se les pidi\u00f3 que, adem\u00e1s de cumplir la cuarentena obligatoria, se aislaran en una habitaci\u00f3n particular en caso de convivir con otras personas.\n\n\u201cAl momento de concurrir a la Facultad, el paciente no ten\u00eda sospechas de contagio de COVID-19. El diagn\u00f3stico ha sido confirmado definitivamente en el d\u00eda de la fecha\u201d, precis\u00f3 la facultad en un comunicado.\n\nComo marca el protocolo, tras la confirmaci\u00f3n del caso, hoy desde el Ministerio de Salud se pondr\u00edan en contacto con todos los involucrados para indicarles los pasos a seguir.\n\nHasta el momento, seg\u00fan advirtieron, ninguno de los 17 integrantes de la comunidad educativa manifest\u00f3 s\u00edntomas vinculados al coronavirus . Pasado ma\u00f1ana se cumplir\u00edan las dos semanas de aquel examen.\n\nLa facultad tiene previsto su reinicio de clases para el 13 de abril. La resoluci\u00f3n que firm\u00f3 su decano promueve el v\u00ednculo entre docentes y alumnos a trav\u00e9s del campus virtual.\n\n\u201cPedimos a todos los integrantes de nuestra comunidad que, en este tiempo de cuarentena, guardemos la calma, tratemos esta informaci\u00f3n con el mayor cuidado y contribuyamos a respetar los protocolos generales del Ministerio de Salud. Cualquier persona vinculada a la Facultad que manifieste s\u00edntomas de la enfermedad deber\u00e1 comunicarse con el 107\u201d, remarca el comunicado.\n\nEn total, Argentina tiene 266 casos confirmados por Covid-19. Hoy se inform\u00f3 del primer caso de transmisi\u00f3n comunitaria en el pa\u00eds . La mayor\u00eda, 190, tiene antecedentes de viaje internacional. Otros 59 son de transmisi\u00f3n local en conglomerado y 17 pacientes se encuentran en estudio.\n\nSegu\u00ed leyendo\n\nCoronavirus en la Argentina: se registr\u00f3 el primer caso de transmisi\u00f3n comunitaria\n\nAlberto Fern\u00e1ndez se reunir\u00e1 con Kicillof e intendentes y pondr\u00e1 foco en el Conurbano para evitar una crisis social y econ\u00f3mica\n\nSombr\u00edo pron\u00f3stico en Brasil: \u201cLos pobres morir\u00e1n en las puertas de los hospitales\u201d\n\nEl mensaje del ex Puma que hace guardia en un hospital: \u201cPiensen en nosotros\u201d"}
-{"text": "my coming of age I guess...sorry its so strange\n\nUpdate Required\n\nTo play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin"}
-{"text": "\n\nVisit our Re-post guidelines This article is copyrighted by GreenMedInfo LLC, 2015\n\n\n\n\n\nThe nightmarish toxicological profile of Roundup herbicide (glyphosate) continues to emerge within the peer-reviewed research, this time revealing its role in supporting the growth of a pathogenic bacteria of great medical significance.\n\nA concerning new study published in the Brazilian Journal of Microbiology titled, \"Influence of glyphosate in planktonic and biofilm growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa,\" indicates that the world's most widely used herbicide Roundup (glyphosate) may be contributing to the enhanced growth of the pathogenic bacteria P. aeruginosa in our environment.\n\nThe Brazilian team responsible for the study expressed concern over the \"virtual nonexistence\" of research evaluating glyphosate herbicide-pathogenic microbiota interactions, and conducted a series of microbial experiments to fill this data gap. They noted:\n\n\"Glyphosate is probably the herbicide most discharged into the environment. Due to its extensive use in the protection of crops, it is inevitable that it will reach surface and deep waters (Pournaras et al., 2007), especially after rainfalls.\"\n\nP. aeruginosa is commonly found in watercourses and reservoirs in both oxygen (aerobic) and non-oxygen preferring forms (anaerobic), and can be a source of waterborne infection.\n\nThe results of the new study indicate that when exposed to varying concentrations of both glyphosate (a common contaminant found in GM agricultural runoff) and oxygen, both the aerobic the anaerobic and biofilm forming strains of this bacteria can thrive:\n\n\"Aerobic planktonic growth was superior to anaerobic one. This points to the possibility of P. aeruginosa, although a facultative organism (Davies et al., 1989; Yoon et al., 2002), has its growth significantly favored by the presence of molecular oxygen. Continuous bacterial exposure to low concentrations of glyphosate leads to increased rates of aerobic growth, which is somehow in agreement with previously published findings (Fitzgibbon and Braymer, 1988). By the contrary, in conditions of inaccessibility of molecular oxygen, the bacterium started to grow better in a concentration-dependent manner. It is possible that this phenomenon results from the use of the molecule as a source of phosphorus, as previously reported for the genus Pseudomonas (Pe\u00f1aloza-Vazquez et al., 1995; Moore et al., 1983; Talbot et al., 1984). Glyphosate could also serve as a carbon source, which would be processed by both aerobic and anaerobic metabolisms (Rueppel et al., 1977), with increased rates in presence of oxygen. To support such theory, it has been found that different bacterial genera may promote catalysis of glyphosate using C-P lyases (van Eerd et al., 2003). Once broken up this connection, Pseudomonas spp. can produce glycine (Kishore and Jacob, 1987), which can also enhance growth.\"\n\nThe researchers also focused on the ability of glyphosate to support the growth of so-called biofilms, a closely adhering colony of bacteria embedded in a self-produced matrix of a \"slimy\" extracellular polymeric substance (EPS), revealing:\n\n\"Our results revealed that the xenobiotic tends to favor the formation of biofilms of P. aeruginosa, especially those anaerobic and that such increase seems to be concentration-dependent.\"\n\nThis finding has significant medical implications, as P. aeruginosa biofilm colonies are far more virulent and exhibit the kind of antibiotic resistance found in serious infections in humans, such as skin infections and pulmonary complications associated with fatal conditions such as cystic fibrosis.[1]\n\nThe study concluded:\n\n\"The results from this study point to the fact that the indiscriminate use of agricultural formulations containing glyphosate may result in an increase in growth rates of planktonic and biofilm phenotypes of P. aeruginosa in watercourses or reservoirs.\"\n\nAs Roundup \u2013 now a ubiquitous agrochemical contaminant found in our rain, air and water -- continues to accumulate in larger amounts in the environment, concern grows that it may be upsetting the natural microbial balance upon which our own microbial health depends on.\n\nPreviously, we have looked at the way that Roundup herbicide is altering the microbial biodiversity of our environment by destroying soil microbes that have indispensable importance in the production of food. Research also now exists showing this agrochemical can shift the gut bacteria of animals towards pathogenic strains of bacteria, including the deadly botulism-associated Clostridium botulinum strain. Also, a new study raises concern that as a water pollutant glyphosate may be contributing to the decline of the coral reefs, underscoring how profoundly this environmental contaminant may be affecting the future health of our planet as a whole.\n\nAs the public continues to rally behind the non-GMO movement, expending the bulk of its political efforts on labeling GMO-containing foods, it is important to also focus on the clear and present danger of Roundup herbicide, which a growing number of groups support banning entirely. When we understand the true extent of harm represented by this agrochemical (and which research now links to over 50 adverse health effects), then the argument that GM foods and non-GM (e.g. organic) foods are 'substantial equivalent' is immediately disproved. GM foods are universally contaminated with glyphosate and AMPA (a glyphosate metabolite) residue and owing to the fact that infinitesimal (parts-per-trillion) concentrations of glyphosate may have endocrine disrupting/carcinogenic properties present regulations on glyphosate are not protecting the public or environment at large from its known risks. (Learn more by reading: 'EPA to the Public: Let Them Eat Monsanto's Roundup Ready Cake').\n\nTo get more involved follow the Global GMO Free Coalition.\n\nReferences"}
-{"text": "Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the empire of Mali, famous for the wealth of its rulers such as Mansa Musa and the largest empire in west Africa.\n\nMelvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Empire of Mali which flourished from 1200 to 1600 and was famous in the wider world for the wealth of rulers such as Mansa Musa. Mali was the largest empire in west Africa and for almost 400 years controlled the flow of gold from mines in the south up to the Mediterranean coast and across to the Middle East. These gold mines were the richest known deposits in the 14th Century and produced around half of the world's gold. When Mansa Musa journeyed to Cairo in 1324 as part of his Hajj, he distributed so much gold that its value depreciated by over 10%. Some of the mosques he built on his return survive, albeit rebuilt, such as the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Great Mosque of Djenne.\n\nWith\n\nAmira Bennison\n\nReader in the History and Culture of the Maghrib at the University of Cambridge\n\nMarie Rodet\n\nSenior Lecturer in the History of Africa at SOAS\n\nAnd\n\nKevin MacDonald\n\nProfessor of African Archaeology\n\nChair of the African Studies Programme at University College, London\n\nProducer: Simon Tillotson."}
-{"text": "Compare this with the response to the disaster in the Arab states, where the US is so routinely reviled. Some of the poorest among them, such as Jordan and Lebanon, have sent assistance, as have the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. But Saudi Arabia, one of the world's wealthiest nations, has managed to send just a letter of condolence. As for Syria, which never misses an opportunity to denounce the iniquities of the Great Satan, it appears to have sent nothing at all."}
-{"text": "There\u2019s a single payer plan advancing in the state of California, and many people are excited about it. And for good reason\u2013a single payer system can potentially extend coverage while cutting costs. I\u2019ve written about the virtues of single payer many times before, but there is a political danger in attempting to do single payer at the state level. Ironically and tragically, the very economic forces which make single payer such a good federal policy create powerful dangers for state systems.\n\nThe private system in the United States wastes huge amounts of money. To show just how bad it is, I like to use a figure I call the \u201chealthcare efficiency rating\u201d or \u201cHER\u201d for short. It\u2019s relatively simple\u2013we just divide a country\u2019s life expectancy by its total healthcare spending as a percent of GDP. Among rich countries, the United States ranks dead last in HER, and it\u2019s not close:\n\nAmerica is in red. The green countries use single-payer, and the blue countries use hybrid systems which contain large public components. Overall, the single payer systems are the most efficient:\n\nBecause the American healthcare system is so inefficient, we spend a much larger percentage of our GDP on healthcare than countries with single payer do. Healthcare spending in the US is about 17% of GDP. In Britain it\u2019s 9%. Yet in the United States, average life expectancy is 79.3 while in the UK it\u2019s 81.2. The Brits aren\u2019t just getting more lifespan for their money\u2013they\u2019re getting more lifespan, full stop.\n\nSingle payer cuts costs by giving the government a monopoly on demand. Because the state negotiates on behalf of all patients, it can more or less dictate prices to doctors, hospitals, and drug companies. Usually countries with single payer manage their costs by listening to patients\u2013if patients feel that the quality of the service is poor, they can vote in parties that pledge to increase funding. If patients feel that the service is costing taxpayers too much money, they can vote in parties that pledge to force costs down. The left and the right in European countries often act as a yin-yang on healthcare\u2013the left stops the right from destroying the service and the right stops the left from allowing the service to grow fat and inefficient. Single payer is so inexpensive because when the government decides to reduce the cost of the service, it changes compensation for everyone in the healthcare sector and leaves them with no where to go.\n\nThe American healthcare system is very fat and inefficient and there is much room for cost-cutting. For instance, because American drug companies receive entirely too much money, they have lots of extra cash to waste on advertising\u2013far more than what they spend on medical research:\n\nIn theory, if the United States were to create a federal single payer system like Britain\u2019s and cut healthcare spending to 9% of GDP, it could save $1.4 trillion every year. That\u2019s more than $14 trillion in the first decade, without including inflation or economic growth, both of which would raise that figure. The thing is, these cost savings are so immense that if we did this all at once we\u2019d create tremendous disruption in the healthcare sector. In addition to wiping out the $800 billion health insurance industry and its 450,000+ jobs, we\u2019d also cut some of the 12.4 million healthcare jobs and reduce compensation for the rest. So in practice, a federal system might instead reduce healthcare costs gradually. Instead of forcing compensation down to European levels immediately, we might hold down the rate at which healthcare costs grow below the rates of growth and inflation until at some point, some years down the line, we\u2019d achieve a competitive spending percentage and HER. This means that a federal single payer system might initially cost a trillion dollars more than is really necessary, as we slowly transition the healthcare system to a lower compensation, higher efficiency model.\n\nFortunately, the federal government doesn\u2019t need to collect all that tax money. Because of its tremendous ability to borrow large sums of money, the feds can cover some of it with borrowing. The IMF calculates that the United States can safely borrow an additional 165% of GDP before it runs out of \u201cfiscal space\u201d. That\u2019s about $30 trillion dollars.\n\nIf we aimed to reduce healthcare spending to 12% of GDP in the long-term, we could raise that 12% ($2.1 trillion) in taxes while covering the remaining 5% ($890 billion) with borrowing in the first year. Some of the taxes we\u2019d need are already on the books\u2013the government already raises revenue to fund spending equivalent to 8.3% of GDP, which goes mostly to Medicaid and Medicare. So with a 12% target, new taxes might only amount to about 3.7% of GDP, or $660 billion. Each year, we could trim the fat a bit, gradually decreasing the sum we borrow until it reaches zero. We\u2019d come nowhere close to reaching our fiscal limit. Along the way, American families and businesses would feel significant economic relief\u2013most people\u2019s tax burdens would be significantly smaller than their current premiums. They\u2019d have more to spend on other things, and other sectors of the economy would grow, generating new jobs.\n\nIt\u2019s a major undertaking, but it can work for two key reasons:\n\nThe federal government has the spending capacity to cover some of the cost with borrowing while we transition to a more efficient system, enabling American families and businesses to immediately get significant relief even while we help people in the healthcare and insurance sectors find new jobs or adjust to more reasonable compensation packages. A federal single payer program covers the entire healthcare sector, so it\u2019s a true monopoly.\n\nWhat goes wrong when a single state tries to do single payer? Well, a single US state has problems in both these areas. Many individual US states have balanced budget amendments, preventing them from borrowing large amounts of money to facilitate a gradual transition. Even the ones that don\u2019t have balanced budget amendments would struggle to get access to the kind of credit available to the federal government. And crucially, individual US states cannot exercise a true monopoly on demand. If one state tries to slash healthcare spending significantly, its best doctors can simply run to neighboring states, producing doctor shortages and reducing quality of care. This makes individual states afraid to use the cost-cutting leverage which single payer gives them. If they don\u2019t use the cost-cutting leverage and don\u2019t borrow money, they have to raise taxes high enough to cover healthcare spending which will support a national spending figure of 17% of GDP. This means that they end up raising much more tax revenue than the Europeans do to continue propping up a healthcare sector which is too big to fail. This prevents citizens from getting the healthcare relief we promise them\u2013their premiums disappear, but their taxes rise too much for them to get the full benefits of single payer.\n\nIn the long-run, people are unlikely to continue to support that kind of system, and when they give up on it the right will attempt to use the failure as evidence in national debates about single payer, even though the policy is much more workable at the federal level. There is no other rich democracy American doctors can emigrate to which will pay them the extraordinarily bloated wages they receive in the United States. For the feds, it\u2019s simply a question of whether they prefer to borrow a lot of money facilitating a gradual transition or to profoundly disrupt the healthcare sector to save Americans huge amounts of money very quickly.\n\nIn sum, the hardest thing about single payer is the fact that it\u2019s replacing a system that has accustomed millions of people who work in the healthcare sector to unrealistic and unsustainable levels of compensation. If we cut their pay to reduce costs and give them somewhere to run, they\u2019ll run. If we cut their pay very quickly, we\u2019ll produce a significant increase in unemployment and disrupt many people\u2019s lives. If we cut their pay gradually, we need to be able to borrow money in the short-term to avoid raising taxes too much. The federal government has the resources and the potential market power to get these things done. The states don\u2019t. It\u2019s hard to wrap our heads around just how wasteful our healthcare system is. It\u2019s a problem that is far too big for any one state to handle. We need the feds\u2013without them, we risk handing the right undeserved propaganda coups, enabling the private system to go on flushing our hard earned money down the drain.\n\nUPDATE:\n\nA few people have asked about Canada, which introduced its healthcare system at the provincial level initially. The difference is that Canada did not introduce single payer to lower costs. Its private system was not terribly inefficient\u2013the problem was that it did not cover everyone and the provision for those covered was not good enough. So Canada used single payer to increase the size of its healthcare sector rather than decrease it. Canadian healthcare spending was 6% of GDP in 1960 and rose to 10% by the mid-00s. The American private system did not become much less efficient than other countries\u2019 until the 1980s:"}
-{"text": "'We need to hear it': families' 51-year wait for truth about French plane crash\n\nOn 11 September 1968, the Irish bank manager Arthur O\u2019Connor and 94 other people \u2013 including 13 children \u2013 boarded Air France flight 1611 from Ajaccio in Corsica to Nice in the south of France.\n\nO\u2019Connor, 52, was heading back to Ballsbridge, Dublin, where he lived with his wife, Kathleen, and their four daughters, Margaret, Felicity, Derval and Serena, the eldest 20, the youngest just seven.\n\nAt 10.33am, just off the C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur and three minutes from landing, the Caravelle SE-210 aircraft disappeared from radar screens and plunged into the sea.\n\nThe O\u2019Connors and other victims\u2019 families were told a fire on board had brought down the plane. As French military and intelligence services scrambled to the scene, another theory quickly emerged: that AF1611 had been shot down by a surface-to-air missile fired from a French navy vessel.\n\nFor 51 years, evidence pointing to the plane being shot down has been a military secret. This year, as passengers\u2019 families gather in Nice to remember their loved ones, as they have done for the last 50 years, they are still waiting for the French government to declassify documents and discover the truth.\n\n\u201cWe think we know anyway, but we need to hear it,\u201d Margaret O\u2019Connor, 71, told the Guardian. \u201cWe don\u2019t understand how they can keep it a secret after 51 years.\u201d\n\nFacebook Twitter Pinterest Arthur O\u2019Connor with his daughter Margaret and wife, Kathleen. Photograph: Family supplied\n\nSerena O\u2019Connor added: \u201cThis time of the year, every year, it comes back to haunt us. I hate it. It\u2019s like a splinter that never goes away.\n\n\u201cIt was the cold war and a very different era when the crash happened, so I can understand why they classified it at the time. But now, half a century later, they have to put us through this every September. I just want it to stop.\u201d\n\nThe Caravelle was over the Mediterranean where a military exercise was taking place when air traffic control received a distress call, then a final communication from the plane: \u201cThere\u2019s nothing we can do. We\u2019re going to crash if this continues.\u201d\n\nAfterwards, documents and photographs that could have shed light on the crash disappeared. The 11 September page in the log book for a French navy vessel in the area, Le Suffren, was torn out. Families were told the black box flight recorder was damaged; all previous flight data was recoverable but the recording of AF1611 was unreadable. Wreckage brought up from the sea bed was immediately confiscated by France\u2019s military authorities.\n\nFacebook Twitter Pinterest Wreckage from the crash was confiscated. Photograph: Dalmas/Sipa/Rex/Shutterstock\n\nIn 2011, Michael Laty, a former army employee, told French television the aircraft had been hit by a heat-seeking missile that had veered off target and hit one of the Caravelle\u2019s engines. \u201cI typed up an army investigation into the affair; it was kept secret in the national interest. The Caravelle was shot down. We brought down a civil aircraft instead of the programmed target,\u201d Laty said.\n\nAn official inquiry, however, concluded a fire had started in the plane toilet. Today, a new eight-year investigation by gendarmes who seized previously unseen evidence has reportedly found otherwise.\n\nSt\u00e9phane Nesa, one of two lawyers representing passengers\u2019 families, said the fire theory was nonsense. \u201cThis has been discredited for 45 years. It is completely and technically impossible,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThe investigating judge has written to the government asking them to lift the \u2018defence secret\u2019 classification, but it has been over a year and we have had no response. The longer the government continues in this way, the more we feel they don\u2019t want to establish the truth more than 50 years after the facts.\u201d\n\nNesa added: \u201cThere were 95 people on that plane who died including children. Their families don\u2019t want money. They want to know the truth.\u201d\n\nMathieu Paoli, 75, and his brothers Louis, 72, and Jacques, 81, lost their mother Toussainte, 59, and father Ange-Marie, 60, in the crash.\n\n\u201cThe investigating judge has said he is practically certain to almost 100% that the plane was hit by a missile. Now we are waiting,\u201d Mathieu said.\n\n\u201cSome people ask us: \u2018What are you looking for? You will never know.\u2019 I tell them our parents are at the bottom of the sea and we cannot do our grieving without knowing exactly what happened to them.\u201d\n\nFacebook Twitter Pinterest Wreckage is recovered from the crash. Photograph: Dalmas/Sipa/Rex/Shutterstock\n\nThe O\u2019Connor sisters say they rarely speak of the accident, but it is a wound that reopens every anniversary.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s always there,\u201d Serena said. \u201cI was too small at the time to remember much about our father, but I remember the realisation that we were on our own. Our mother, who died 15 years ago, was left widowed in her early 40s with four children. She never talked about it, but it always played on her mind. She was heartbroken.\u201d\n\nMargaret added: \u201cWhile he was away he wrote postcards to each of us and they kept coming for about three weeks afterwards \u2026 It\u2019s strange that with so many people on the plane whose families have been pushing to know the truth and all this time later we still don\u2019t know.\u201d\n\nThe French defence ministry did not respond to the Guardian\u2019s requests for information except to say it was for the armed forces minister, Florence Parly, to decide on declassification.\n\nOn Tuesday, 24 hours before the anniversary, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, wrote to the Paoli brothers saying he hoped the affair would be declassified and he had asked Parly to begin the process of releasing documents related to the crash.\n\nFor Mathieu, establishing the truth remains his life\u2019s mission.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t want money. We don\u2019t want to blame anyone. We don\u2019t even want a sorry \u2026 We are waiting to hear the truth. We have waited for 51 years.\u201d"}
-{"text": "\u2022 Spurs threw away 2-0 lead against Olympiakos \u2022 \u2018The way we conceded the first goal was so painful\u2019\n\nMauricio Pochettino accused his Tottenham players of lacking fight in the 2-2 Champions League draw at Olympiakos and suggested that they needed to work harder on the psychological side of their game.\n\nSpurs started badly at the raucous Karaiskakis Stadium only to fashion a 2-0 lead against the run of play \u2013 courtesy of Harry Kane\u2019s penalty and a rasping drive from Lucas Moura.\n\nMathieu Valbuena penalty crowns Olympiakos recovery to deny Spurs Read more\n\nBut as they had done at Arsenal in the Premier League at the beginning of the month, conceded for 2-1 just before half-time \u2013 a body blow to their psyche \u2013 and then shipped an equaliser after the interval. After the match, Pochettino did not hold back with his criticism.\n\n\u201cI feel very disappointed,\u201d the manager said. \u201cIn the first half, I wasn\u2019t happy with the performance. From the beginning we had a plan, and we didn\u2019t respect the plan. That\u2019s what disappointed me the most. I told them at half-time. We scored two good goals but if you analyse the performance only, it wasn\u2019t great.\n\n\u201cWe conceded a lot of chances and the way we conceded the first goal was so painful. We didn\u2019t translate from Saturday [in the 4-0 home win over Crystal Palace] the aggressivity that is needed in these games. We were a little bit better in the second half, but conceded a very soft penalty.\u201d\n\nPochettino was asked about the similarities to the Arsenal game. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to explain. When we don\u2019t show the intensity that the competition demands, we struggle. We are not talking about the quality of players. We are talking about focus, concentration, anticipation. How many times did we anticipate the action? How many times were we not productive like we were against Palace?\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not about tactics or quality players but the level of fight. You need to match the opponent in aggressivity, excitement, motivation. That is the first demand \u2013 you need to work. It\u2019s not only the responsibility of one person; it\u2019s everyone\u2019s responsibility.\n\n\u201cIt is not possible how we started tonight and it is a massive difference to Saturday. It\u2019s a massive disappointment. We can talk about scoring twice and playing better second half, but this season we are conceding a lot of chances and a lot of goals. We need to change that. The only way is to be more demanding. Training needs to be harder. Psychologically harder.\u201d"}
-{"text": "He could try to threaten cities on fault lines and ransom them for millions with his geokinesis, but he's not living in a Silver Age comic book , so why would he? It is something that bothers me about a lot of supervillains. So many of them have powers, or their whole shtick is predicated on a gadget they made, that with the tiniest application of intelligence, could make them millionaires in the private sector. The Trapster made incredibly strong yet easily sprayable adhesive. The Green Goblin made something the size of an opened pizza box that not only can fly, it can carry the weight of at least two humans plus equipment, and based on some of the fights he's had with Spider-Man, it's not exactly short range either. Yes, the usual excuse is that most bad guys are a little bit crazy , but then consider this. The first time Spidey beats the Goblin, there's this flying thing just sitting there. It's not like the crazy bad guy filed a patent for it. Okay, maybe the first version before he went crazy, but Goblin's been around for a while, and he\u0092s probably upgraded the flyer, and post-crazy, he's probably not keeping up with the patent process. Somebody would take that thing apart, file their own patents, and boom. Delivery drones, extreme sports gliders, hoverboards, military hovering sniper platforms, whatever. Someone would do something constructive with it. That's why I'm careful not to throw a lot of gadgeteers into the world, because it would cause an irreversible tech spiral, and the comic world would diverge dramatically from our own."}
-{"text": "Instagram surprised users on Thursday with a sudden change \u2014 a feed that scrolled from left to right, rather than its traditional vertical format.\n\nThe test led to immediate backlash on social media, but users had a quick resolution. The head of Instagram announced that the change had been meant as a small test, but a mistake caused it to roll out to a large number of users.\n\n\"That was supposed to be a very small test that went broad by accident. Should be fixed now. If you're still seeing it simply restart the app. Happy holidays!\" tweeted Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, shortly after the test caused a wave of backlash on Twitter.\n\nAccording to screenshots shared by Instagram users on Twitter, the update is similar to how people view Instagram stories.\n\nThis shows the new Instagram feed scrolling experience. pic.twitter.com/tShegRfMFJ \u2014 NBC News Tech (@NBCNewsTech) December 27, 2018\n\nThe update triggered an immediate reaction on social media, with users flooding Twitter with their grievances, causing the hashtag \"instagramfail\" to trend.\n\nHow do I delete the new Instagram update omgggggg no\u2019 \u2014 Mark (@MarkFerris199O) December 27, 2018\n\nWhat the heck @instagram ?!! Have you been drinking?!! \u2014 Drake Bell (@DrakeBell) December 27, 2018\n\nInstagram is now canceled. This update sucks \u2014 Brielle Biermann (@BrielleZolciak) December 27, 2018\n\ninstagram, if i wanted tinder, i would have downloaded tinder. \u2014 Elle Mills (@millselle) December 27, 2018\n\nwho else hates the new Instagram update?? I\u2019m quite sad about it \ud83d\ude22calling it now, the outrage is gonna force them to change it before 2019 lol \u2014 Alex Wassabi (@AlexWassabi) December 27, 2018\n\nrolling out a terrible new instagram update over the week between christmas and new years is purely evil \u2014 maya kosoff (@mekosoff) December 27, 2018\n\nMosseri further explained that the app, which has more than 1 billion monthly users, is constantly testing new experiences but that Thursday's change went to \"a few orders of magnitude more people than intended ... \"\n\nThursday\u2019s surprise update \u2014 which mirrored uproar Snapchat received earlier this year when it redesigned how its users see stories on the app \u2014 wasn\u2019t the only recent change for Instagram.\n\nIn September, CEO Kevin Systrom and Chief Technical Officer Mike Krieger announced in a statement that they were leaving \u201cto explore (their) curiosity and creativity again.\u201d\n\nMosseri, who had previously been head of Facebook's \"News Feed,\" took over Instagram in October."}
-{"text": "Stan Lee, o lend\u00e1rio escritor, editor e quadrinista da Marvel, morreu nesta segunda-feira (12) aos 95 anos. A informa\u00e7\u00e3o \u00e9 do site TMZ. Lee foi respons\u00e1vel pela cria\u00e7\u00e3o de personagens e grupos de her\u00f3is como Homem-Aranha, X-Men, Hulk, Os Vingadores, Thor e muitos outros.\n\nDe acordo com o TMZ, uma ambul\u00e2ncia buscou Lee em sua casa, em Hollywood, nos Estados Unidos, nesta manh\u00e3. Nos \u00faltimos anos, o quadrinista enfrentava v\u00e1rios problemas de sa\u00fade, incluindo pneumonia.\n\nLeia mais: As melhores apari\u00e7\u00f5es de Stan Lee nos filmes da Marvel\n\nStanley Martin Lieber, conhecido como Stan Lee, nasceu em 28 de dezembro de 1922, em na cidade de Nova York, nos Estados Unidos. Ele se formou no ensino m\u00e9dio em 1939 e, no mesmo ano, Lee tornou-se assistente na divis\u00e3o de Pulp Magazine da Timely Comics e publisher de quadrinhos da empresa de Martin Goodman. Em 1942, ele alistou-se ao ex\u00e9rcito dos Estados Unidos, deixando o cargo em 1945. Em 1960, a Timely tornaria-se a Marvel Comics (via GameSpot).\n\nMaio de 1941 marca a estreia de Lee colocando a m\u00e3o nos quadrinhos, com o papel de text-filler de \"Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge\" em \"Captain America Comics #3\". A primeira co-cria\u00e7\u00e3o dele, Destroyer, foi lan\u00e7ado em agosto de 1941. Durante a d\u00e9cada de 50, Lee escreveu diversos quadrinhos para a Atlas Comics. Em 1961, ele foi instru\u00eddo a criar um time de super-her\u00f3is, que resultou no Quarteto Fant\u00e1stico, idealizado junto com o artista Jack Kirby. Com o imenso sucesso do grupo, as portas se abriram para que Lee criasse Hulk, os X-Men, Homem-Aranha e diversos outros. Os Vingadores, por sua vez, receberam o primeiro t\u00edtulo em setembro de 1963.\n\nEntre 1967 e 1970, Homem-Aranha, idealizado por Lee, ganhou vida nas TVs pela primeira vez, com um desenho animado. Entre 1977 e 1982, O Incr\u00edvel Hulk foi adaptado para um drama de televis\u00e3o, em que o Dr. Banner era interpretado por Bill Bixby. Em 1980, o quadrinista mudou-se para Los Angeles para criar um est\u00fadio e anima\u00e7\u00e3o.\n\nStan Lee ao lado de Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson e Chris Evans no set de Vingadores (2012).\n\nAl\u00e9m dos quadrinhos e das produ\u00e7\u00f5es televisivas, a Marvel ganhou um Universo Cinematogr\u00e1fico com Homem de Ferro, em 2008 -- filmes nos quais ele fez apari\u00e7\u00f5es. No entanto, os longas da editora j\u00e1 haviam conquistado o p\u00fablico com Homem-Aranha, em que Peter Parker \u00e9 interpretado por Tobey Maguire, e o Hulk de Eric Bana.\n\nQuanto \u00e0 vida pessoal, Lee casou-se com Joan Clayton Boocock em dezembro de 1947, e a primeira filha, Joan, nasceu em 1950. Jan, sua segunda filha, nasceu em 1953, mas morreu pouco tempo ap\u00f3s o nascimento. A esposa dele morreu em julho de 2017 e, desde ent\u00e3o, Stan esteve envolvido em diversos esc\u00e2ndalos supostamente causados pelos agentes dele. A filha dele, Joan Celia Lee, declarou nesta segunda-feira (12): \"Meu pai amou todos seus f\u00e3s. Ele era o melhor homem e o mais decente\". Ap\u00f3s a morte da esposa do quadrinista, no entanto, outras acusa\u00e7\u00f5es envolvendo Joan tamb\u00e9m vieram \u00e0 tona, com relatos de que ela estaria tirando dinheiro dele.\n\nPor enquanto, j\u00e1 sabemos que a participa\u00e7\u00e3o de Lee em Vingadores 4 foi conclu\u00edda. A Marvel n\u00e3o confirmou se ele havia gravado as participa\u00e7\u00f5es em Capit\u00e3 Marvel e Homem-Aranha: Longe de Casa. Confira as melhores apari\u00e7\u00f5es de Stan Lee nos filmes da Marvel.\n\nInscreva-se no canal do IGN Brasil no Youtube e visite as nossas p\u00e1ginas no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram e Twitch!"}
-{"text": "The president of Rutgers University has argued that the recent rash of anti-Semitism on campus is protected by the First Amendment.\n\nSpeaking during a student government town hall last week, Robert Barchi said: 'If I'm a Ku Klux Klan member, and I'm going to burn a cross on a vacant lot, that's a constitutionally protected right.'\n\n'You put that cross on my front yard, and you light it, that is not constitutionally protected, that's harassment,' Barchi said, according to Tap Into New Brunswick. 'It's an exception to the First Amendment.\u200b'\u200b\n\nRobert Barchi (pictured in 2013), the president of Rutgers University, argued that the recent rash of anti-Semitism on campus is protected by the First Amendment\n\nLast month, a swastika (pictured) was found on the corner wall of Stonier Hall on the campus. When addressing that incident during the November 16 town hall, Barchi said: 'It is free speech, it's not hate speech'\n\nBarchi, who has been the president of the New Jersey school since 2012, spoke about the recent incidents including anti-Semitic posts allegedly shared on the Facebook of a food science professor and the swastika graffiti on a Rutgers dorm.\n\nLast month, a swastika was found on the corner wall of Stonier Hall on the campus.\n\nWhen addressing that incident during the November 16 town hall, Barchi said: 'It is free speech, it's not hate speech.'\n\n'If it's a general building on the university, that's First Amendment rights,' Barchi said.\n\nHowever, Barchi said such action would violate the university's vandalism policy.\n\nBarchi went on to defend microbiology professor, Michael Chikandas, and adjunct professor of international law, Mazen Adi.\n\nBarchi defended microbiology professor, Michael Chikandas (right), and law professor, Mazen Adi (left). Chikandas allegedly shared dozens of anti-Semitic posts on his Facebook and Adi came under fire after he allegedly accused Israel of trafficking human organs\n\nUN Watch has petitioned the university (pictured) \u200bin an effort to\u200b terminate its employment with Adi. That petition had more than 4,500 signatures on Friday\n\nChikandas allegedly shared dozens of anti-Semitic posts on his Facebook.\n\nSince the incident thousands of students have called for his resignation with a petition that has garnered more than 5,000 signatures.\n\n'But the question is, does having posted that created an environment in his work that would compromise his ability to teach or to do research?\u200b' Barchi \u200basked.\n\n'That's an employment issue, so we are actually investigating him,' Barchi said, according to the Tap Into New Brunswick.\n\nAdi came under fire after he allegedly accused Israel of trafficking human organs. Adi previously worked \u200bas \u200ba diplomat for the \u200bregime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad when he reportedly made the allegations.\n\n'We're fully aware of his past, having vetted his employment credentials,' Barch said. 'Everything is absolutely in order.'\n\nUN Watch has petitioned the university \u200bin an effort to\u200b terminate its employment with Adi. That petition had more than 4,500 signatures on Friday."}
-{"text": "One of the most essential experiences in shaping the architecture of the developing brain is \u201cserve and return\u201d interaction between children and significant adults in their lives. Young children naturally reach out for interaction through babbling, facial expressions, and gestures, and adults respond with the same kind of vocalizing and gesturing back at them. This back-and-forth process is fundamental to the wiring of the brain, especially in the earliest years.\n\nThis video is from Three Core Concepts in Early Development, a three-part video series from the Center and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child."}
-{"text": "The founder of an Italian fashion house beloved by Taylor Swift and Gigi Hadid fired a female employee for being \u201cfat\u201d \u2014 while paychecks for women workers are anything but, a new lawsuit claims.\n\nCeleb-chic fashion house Etro has a \u201cdark and malevolent\u201d work environment where head Gimmo Etro discriminates against underlings because of their appearance and age, and women make thousands less than their male counterparts, an ousted HR director is charging.\n\nKim Weiner says she was canned from Etro\u2019s US division in June after 25 years with the company for standing up to its discriminatory practices.\n\n\u201cEtro\u2019s glamorous public image has long concealed a dark and malevolent secret,\u201d Weiner says in the new Manhattan Supreme Court suit.\n\nShe says founder Etro urged Weiner to oust a longtime cashier because she was \u201cold, fat and ugly.\u201d Weiner also claims a male vice president made $200,000 a year while his female counterpart only earned $130,000. A spokeswoman for Etro did not return messages seeking comment."}
-{"text": "It's confirmed: The drones are overhead.\n\nRecords newly released to the Electronic Frontier Foundation reveal the federal government has approved dozens of licenses for unmanned aerial surveillance drones all across the United States.\n\n\"These records, received as a result of EFF's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),\" the EFF reports, \"come from state and local law enforcement agencies, universities and \u2013 for the first time \u2013 three branches of the U.S. military: the Air Force, Marine Corps and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency).\"\n\nSome of the records show drones used for purposes as sensible as helping the U.S. Forest Service fight forest fires.\n\nOthers purposes, such as performing aerial observation of houses when serving warrants or covert surveillance of drug sales, however, have prompted the EFF to question privacy issues.\n\nTRENDING: Alleged attacker behind carnage at pro-Trump event linked to 'Caravan 4 Justice' group\n\n\"Perhaps the scariest is the technology carried by a Reaper drone the Air Force is flying near Lincoln, Nev., and in areas of California and Utah,\" EFF reports. \"This drone uses 'Gorgon Stare' technology, which Wikipedia defines as 'a spherical array of nine cameras attached to an aerial drone \u2026 capable of capturing motion imagery of an entire city.' \u2026 This technology takes surveillance to a whole new level.\"\n\nThe use of military drones further raised flags in a New York Times report earlier this year, when reporter Mark Mazzetti joined a group of observers watching drone use at Holloman Air Force Base in remote New Mexico and discovered the military was practicing for foreign missions by spying on American vehicles.\n\n\"A white S.U.V. traveling along a highway adjacent to the base came into the cross hairs [of the drone's view] and was tracked as it headed south along the desert road,\" Mazzetti wrote. \"When the S.U.V. drove out of the picture, the drone began following another car.\n\n\"'Wait, you guys practice tracking enemies by using civilian cars?' a reporter asked,\" according to Mazzetti. \"One Air Force officer responded that this was only a training mission, and then the group was quickly hustled out of the room.\"\n\nThe EFF clarified that while the U.S. military doesn't need an FAA license to fly drones over its own military bases (these are considered \"restricted airspace\"), it does need a license to fly in the national airspace, which is almost everywhere else in the U.S.\n\n\"And, as we've learned from these records,\" EFF reports, \"the Air Force and Marine Corps regularly fly both large and small drones in the national airspace all around the country.\"\n\nIn fact, compiling the various approved applications for military, educational and law enforcement use enabled EFF to create a map of drone locations in the records they've received so far:\n\nFor example, Montgomery County, Texas, sought approval to use the thermal imaging abilities of a ShadowHawk drone to support SWAT and narcotics operations by providing \"real time area surveillance of the target during high risk operations.\"\n\nYet some applicants sought FAA approval for multiple drone uses, a potential problem EFF worries could lead to \"mission creep.\"\n\n\"For example, the University of Colorado (which the FAA said has received over 200 drone licenses) requested a license in 2008, not just to study meteorological conditions but also to aid 'in the study of ad hoc wireless networks with [the drone] acting as communication relays,'\" EFF reports. \"And Otter Tail County, Minnesota, wanted to use its drone, not only for 'engineering and mapping' but also 'as requested for law enforcement needs such as search warrant and search and rescue.'\"\n\nThe sheriff's department of Queen Anne County, Md., stepped up its drug battles by partnering with the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security and Navy to apply for permission to use a WASP II drone for a variety of purposes.\n\n\"The WASP II will be used for surveillance missions,\" the FAA records state, \"for example, search[ing] farm fields for marijuana (the operator would be stationed on the farm and would use the WASP to see the crop growth from the air), conducting search and rescue in remote areas (QA's County has a state park. Searching the river and coves can be difficult because of the high grasses. An aerial view would be of significant help), surveillance of people of interest (watching open drug market transactions before initiating an arrest), providing aerial observation of houses when serving warrants.\"\n\nRecords show applicants had to provide precise details of the areas they wanted to watch with drones, such as the map Queen Anne County developed below:\n\nThe EFF asserts, however, that despite obtaining several thousand pages of information on drone use in America, one glaring hole in the records is evidence the FAA had \"any concerns about drone flights' impact on privacy or civil liberties.\"\n\n\"The FAA recently announced it wants to slow down drone integration into U.S. skies due to privacy concerns,\" EFF said. \"We are hopeful this indicates the agency is finally changing its views.\"\n\nYet EFF claims more than half of the information it sought in its FOIA request a year and a half ago has yet to be released, not only leaving the map above significantly incomplete, but also raising questions about what is being withheld.\n\nEven in the records that have been provided, some of the information has been redacted, including much of the Marine Corps' records as well as those from some police departments, specifically the Orange County, Fla., sheriff's department and Mesa County, Colo., sheriff.\n\n\"Before the public can properly assess privacy issues raised by drone flights, it must have access to the FAA's records as a whole,\" the EFF said."}
-{"text": "Wide ContentPlaceholder\n\nKulttuuri\n\nNoin tuhat esitt\u00e4v\u00e4n taiteen ammattilaista allekirjoitti vetoomuksen seksuaalisen h\u00e4irinn\u00e4n loppumiseksi\n\nHelsingin Sanomat ja Svenska Yle julkaisevat l\u00e4hes tuhannen allekirjoittaneen kannanoton. Vetoomuksen takana on lukuisia nimekk\u00e4it\u00e4 n\u00e4yttelij\u00f6it\u00e4, oopperalaulajia, ohjaajia ja k\u00e4sikirjoittajia.\n\nFacebook Twitter S\u00e4hk\u00f6posti Kopioi linkki Jaa Facebook Twitter S\u00e4hk\u00f6posti Kopioi linkki Tallenna Kommentoi\n\n\u00ad"}
-{"text": "Andriy Parubiy is one of the most notorious right-wing extremists in Ukrainian politics. A founder of the far-right Social-National Party of Ukraine, whose name and symbols were inspired by Germany\u2019s Nazi Party, Parubiy directed the street muscle in Kiev\u2019s Maidan Square that drove the 2014 U.S.-backed coup against Ukraine\u2019s democratically elected, Russian-oriented government.\n\nIn 2016, just two decades after founding a neo-fascist party that declared at its opening ceremony that it was the \u201clast hope of the white race, of humankind as such,\u201d Parubiy leveraged his street cred to rise to the chairman of Ukraine\u2019s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.\n\n[[{\u201ctype\u201d:\u201dmedia\u201d,\u201dview_mode\u201d:\u201dmedia_original\u201d,\u201dfid\u201d:\u201d624051\u2033,\u201dattributes\u201d:{\u201calt\u201d:\u201d\u201d,\u201dclass\u201d:\u201dmedia-image\u201d,\u201dheight\u201d:\u201d394\u2033,\u201dtypeof\u201d:\u201dfoaf:Image\u201d,\u201dwidth\u201d:\u201d620\u2033}}]]\n\nThis June 15, two of the most influential Republicans in Congress, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator John McCain, held court with Parubiy in Washington. The meeting was just the latest event exposing American support for Ukraine\u2019s post-Maidan government as a cynical exercise in saber-rattling against Russia with little demonstrable concern for liberal democracy.\n\nDuring his meeting with Ryan, Parubiy signed a memorandum of understanding emphasizing commitment to the U.S. Congress-Rada Parliamentary Exchange.\n\n\u201cI was proud to join Speaker Parubiy to renew our interparliamentary ties with the Rada,\u201d Ryan declared in a statement published by his office. \u201cThis mutually beneficial program fosters closer political, economic, and security relations between our legislatures.\u201d\n\n\u201cAmid ongoing aggression from Russia, close coordination with the people and government of Ukraine is more important than ever,\u201d Ryan added. \u201cI appreciate Speaker Parubiy\u2019s commitment to strengthening this critical partnership.\u201d\n\nJoined @AndriyParubiy in renewing our interparliamentary ties with the Rada. A strong partnership with Ukraine is crucial. pic.twitter.com/fhobLqWhmF \u2014 Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) June 15, 2017\n\nSen. John McCain, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, likewise met with Parubiy, and said the two had a \u201cgood meeting.\u201d\n\n\u201cI'll always stand for free & prosperous Ukraine,\u201d McCain wrote.\n\nGood meeting w/ Speaker of #Ukraine's Parliament @AndriyParubiy \u2013 I'll always stand for free & prosperous Ukraine pic.twitter.com/Vgr0lqsvST \u2014 John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) June 15, 2017\n\nUnrepentant fascism\n\nAs a far-right leader, Andriy Parubiy played a critical role in pushing for the breakup of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early \u201890s. After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, Parubiy founded the Social-National Party of Ukraine, a neo-fascist party that borrowed Nazi ideology and Third Reich imagery like the Wolfsangel, which was its official symbol. The SNPU banned non-Ukrainians and established a violently racist paramilitary group called the Patriot of Ukraine.\n\nScholar Anton Shekhovtsov noted in a 2011 research paper on the \"creeping resurgence of the Ukrainian radical right\u201d that, at its founding presentation ceremony in 1995, the SNPU proclaimed, \u201cIn view of the prospects of mass degradation of people and entire nations, we are the last hope of the white race, of humankind as such.\u201d The neo-fascist party added, \u201cWe must resolutely separate ourselves from the North-Eastern neighbour\u201d \u2014 that is to say, Russia.\n\nParubiy led the Patriot of Ukraine for several years. As a standard bearer of his country\u2019s ultra-nationalist forces, he forged friendly relations with neo-fascists like France\u2019s Jean-Marie Le Pen, who once inscribed a polemic he wrote with a tribute to Parubiy.\n\nIn 2004, Parubiy left the SNPU and its paramilitary wing in an attempt to rebrand himself as a more respectable far-right politician. The record Parubiy left behind, however, left little doubt about his fascist worldview.\n\nAmong Andriy Parubiy\u2019s most memorable published writings is a book called View from the Right, which depicts Parubiy on the cover in a Nazi-style uniform.\n\n[[{\u201ctype\u201d:\u201dmedia\u201d,\u201dview_mode\u201d:\u201dmedia_original\u201d,\u201dfid\u201d:\u201d624052\u2033,\u201dattributes\u201d:{\u201calt\u201d:\u201d\u201d,\u201dclass\u201d:\u201dmedia-image\u201d,\u201dheight\u201d:\u201d489\u2033,\u201dtypeof\u201d:\u201dfoaf:Image\u201d,\u201dwidth\u201d:\u201d620\u2033}}]]\n\nParubiy speaking at a rally in his Nazi-style uniform.\n\nWhen asked in 2015 if he had reformed his extremist politics, Parubiy insisted his values remained unchanged.\n\n\u201cI don't think he changed his views,\u201d explained historian Grzegorz Rossoli\u00c5\u201eski-Liebe in an email to AlterNet. Rather, he said, Parubiy has just \u201cadjusted them to his current positions.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, he is a far-right nationalist politician,\u201d stressed Rossoli\u00c5\u201eski-Liebe, who is a leading expert on far-right movements in Europe. The scholar noted that he interviewed Parubiy in 2006 for his landmark book on Stepan Bandera, a Nazi-collaborating Ukrainian fascist whose historical legacy has been rewritten by the new Western-aligned government, which lionizes Bandera as a hero.\n\nIn the book, Rossolinski-Liebe noted that Parubiy (also transliterated as Parubii) was the leader of the Society to Erect the Stepan Bandera Monument. Parubiy considers Bandera \"the most important person in Ukrainian history,\" the historian wrote.\n\nMcCain\u2019s visit with Parubiy this year was not the first time he has junketed to Kiev to pay homage to the country\u2019s far-right forces. During the Euromaidan demonstrations that rocked Ukraine in 2013 and 2014, McCain met with Oleh Tyanhbok, the leader of the Svoboda party who had been expelled from his former party for calling on his countrymen to do battle with the \u201cMuscovite-Jewish mafia.\u201d\n\nSoon after the meeting, McCain and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy appeared on Maidan Square next to Tyanhbok. \u201cUkraine will make Europe better and Europe will make Ukraine better!\u201d McCain proclaimed before the crowd of thousands.\n\nWhen Parubiy left the Social-National Party of Ukraine in 2004, the Nazi-style political group did some rebranding of its own. It was renamed Svoboda and changed its symbol in an effort to seem less directly tied to Nazism.\n\nHistorian Anton Shekhovtsov warned in his 2011 research paper that the victory of Svoboda in 2009 regional elections \u201cseems to attest to the gradual revival of the radical right in Ukraine.\u201d He was correct; Svoboda went on to play a key role in Euromaidan and the 2014 coup, and today is an influential force in mainstream Ukrainian politics.\n\nLegitimizing Ukraine\u2019s rising extremists, damning democracy\n\nSince the U.S.-backed coup that ousted Ukraine\u2019s democratically elected president, Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine has lurched far to the right \u2014 and closer to the West. Extreme right-wing nationalists occupy some of the most powerful roles in the new government, which also adopted a new constitution.\n\nThese far-right figures include Vadym Troyan, a leader of the neo-Nazi Patriot of Ukraine organization, who became police chief of the province of Kiev under Prime Minister Ansenei Yatsenyuk, a billionaire oligarch. Ukraine\u2019s interior minister, Arsen Akakov, had personally commissioned neo-Nazi militias like the Azov Battalion, where Troyan served as deputy commander and whose members decorated their helmets with Nazi SS insignia and bore swastika tattoos and flags.\n\nThrough the Interior Ministry, Akakov has overseen an online blacklist designed to intimidate journalists accused of collaborating with pro-Russian \u201cterrorists\u201d in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. Called Myrotvorets, or \u201cPeacemaker,\u201d the online blacklist targeted some 4,500 journalists, including Western reporters like Ian Bateson, whom it dubbed a traitor for receiving accreditation from Russian separatists so he could enter the Donetsk region. In April 2015, Ukrainian writer Oles Buzina and former lawmaker Oleg Kalashnikov were killed after Myrotvorets leaked their personal information.\n\nIn the pro-Western Ukraine, Nazi collaborators like Stepan Bandera are revered as national heroes. Bandera was the commander of the wartime militia the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-B), which fought alongside Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union. Despite his OUN-B militia\u2019s role in the massacre of Jews and ethnic Poles during the war \u2014 including one of the most brutal pogroms in history in the city of Lvov, where some 7,000 Jews were slaughtered \u2014 a major boulevard in Kiev has been named for Bandera.\n\nEach year since the Maidan revolution, Bandera has been commemorated in Kiev with a torchlit rally. So have the Ukrainian Cossacks, the authors of countless anti-Jewish pogroms.\n\nNeo-Nazi militias and fascist \u201cself-defense\u201d units are running rampant in the new Ukraine, menacing local police, smashing communist-era memorials and even overturning elections results. As journalist Lev Golinkin wrote last year in the Nation, \u00ef\u00bb\u00bf\u201dIt is difficult to imagine any stable administration tolerating three years of such brazen challenges to its monopoly over the use of force, yet nearly all of the far right\u2019s actions have gone unpunished.\u201d\n\nThe second anniversary of the Maidan uprising saw central Kiev overtaken not by the youthful technocrats and hipster reformists lionized in the Western press, but by a cast of characters that journalist Anna Nemtsova described as \u201cuniformed militia from nationalist movements, war veterans, and some dubious characters with criminal records.\u201d Organized under the banner of the Revolutionary Right Force, the masked men got together and burned down a building they mistook for a local branch of the Russian-owned Alfa Bank.\n\nThe U.S. has made some weak attempts to pressure Ukraine\u2019s government to respect the rule of law in eastern Ukraine and tamp down on corruption. However, McCain's and Ryan\u2019s \u201cgood meeting\u201d with Parubiy revealed the extent to which Washington has cast aside any concern for democratic institutions and is willing to overlook open displays of violent Nazism in order to ratchet up the tension on Russia\u2019s doorstep."}
-{"text": "gurgaon\n\nUpdated: Mar 23, 2016 11:13 IST\n\nHaryana\u2019s beef ban is depriving Gurgaon\u2019s Muslim migrants of buffalo meat, one of their most preferred and cheapest sources of protein. The reason: cow protection activists are allegedly targeting migrants and meat-sellers over suspicion of dealing in beef.\n\nMeat-sellers say vigilante groups have become more assertive after the BJP government in the state last year introduced a stringent law that invites rigorous imprisonment up to 10 years and a fine of Rs 1 lakh for cow slaughter.\n\nLast year, at least eight cases of violence by vigilante groups were reported to police though many incidents are believed to have gone unreported for fear for persecution. In the first two months this year, one case of cow slaughter was registered.\n\nThough there is no ban on sale of buffalo meet in Haryana, sources said the assaults by cow activists are creating a fear psychosis among the migrant population.\n\nGurgaon, one of the most affluent cities in India, has a large Muslim migrant population engaged as domestic helps, drivers, helpers, guards and mechanics, most of them staying in slum clusters at sectors 56 and 57.\n\nThis low-income group prefers buffalo as it is the cheapest among all meats, costing between Rs 80-100 per kg. In contrast, chicken costs Rs 180-200 per kg and mutton Rs 450 per kg.\n\nBeef consumption has become a controversial issue in the country after fringe groups and self-styled protection groups started targeting people they accuse of slaughtering cow, considered sacred by Hindus.\n\nIn September, a 55-year-old Muslim man was lynched and his son seriously injured by a mob over allegations of cow slaughter at Bisada village in Uttar Pradesh\u2019s Dadri area, sparking a nationwide debate on religious intolerance since the BJP came to power in 2014.\n\nLast week, two Muslim cattle-traders including a minor were hanged from a tree in Jharkhand\u2019s Balumath. One among the five arrested over the incident is a member of a cow protection group.\n\n\u201cFew days ago, I was assaulted by \u2018gau rakshaks\u2019 (cow protectors) on Sohna road while I was supplying buffalo meat for a marriage party\u2026Since that incident I have stopped visiting Mewat (from where buffalo meat is sourced),\u201d said Muhammad Noor Hasan, who runs a meat shop in Ghata, a south Gurgaon locality. Besides Mewat, most of the buffalo meat for Gurgaon comes from Faridabad.\n\nRita Hussain, a domestic help working in DLF City Phase-4, said they cannot afford goat meat as it is very expensive.\n\n\u201cAnd we do not find it (mutton) tasty compared to buffalo meat. It is (also) a tradition to cook buffalo meat during marriages and other important family functions,\u201d she added.\n\nBhani Ram Mangala, chairman of the Haryana Gau Sewa Ayog, a state government body, sided with the activists saying that meat sellers or buyers who transport in bulk should get a certificate from a veterinary doctor.\n\n\u201cOtherwise, how can we know what is being sold,\u201d he added.\n\nThe pressure on meat sellers is likely to increase with the Haryana government setting up a panel in each district to tackle cruelty against animal -- Pashu Krurta Nivaran Samiti. The panel is headed by a deputy Commissioner.\n\n\u201cWe will not only oppose cow slaughter but also cruelty meted out to other animals such as buffaloes because they are treated in an inhumane manner,\u201d said Kuldeep Janghu, a member of Gurgaon\u2019s cow protection group.\n\nHowever, supermarkets and high-end restaurants continue to sell buffalo meat sourced from Mangalore at Rs 390 per kg.\n\nPolice said they will not allow any vigilante group to hold society to ransom but added that the beef ban will be strictly enforced in Haryana.\n\n\u201cWe conduct regular meetings with the \u2018gau rakshak dal\u2019 and our teams carry out regular patrolling to thwart cow slaughter. No one is allowed to take the law in their hands,\u201d said Hawa Singh, assistant commissioner of police (crime)."}
-{"text": "This item has been removed from the community because it violates Steam Community & Content Guidelines. It is only visible to you. If you believe your item has been removed by mistake, please contact Steam Support\n\nThis item is incompatible with Space Engineers. Please see the instructions page for reasons why this item might not work within Space Engineers.\n\nCurrent visibility: Hidden This item will only be visible to you, admins, and anyone marked as a creator.\n\nCurrent visibility: Friends-only This item will only be visible in searches to you, your friends, and admins.\n\n62 ratings Planet Earth Asteroid 2\n\nDescription Discussions Comments Change Notes\n\nAward Award Favorite Favorited Unfavorite Share Add to Collection This item has been added to your Favorites File Size Posted Updated 23.322 MB 31 May, 2014 @ 7:05pm 24 Oct, 2014 @ 4:19pm ( view ) 6 Change Notes\n\nRequired items This item requires all of the following other items Helium_01 and Helium_02 - original alpha release Created by Screaming Angels\n\nOffline See all 45 collections created by Screaming Angels and other people (some may be hidden) 9,838 Unique Visitors 1,927 Current Subscribers 44 Current Favorites"}
-{"text": "Nastupni udar novog ministra kulture Zlatka Hasanbegovi\u0107a na \u2013 nimalo slu\u010dajno \u2013 neprofitne medije, nije tek zahvat protiv slobode nezavisnog javnog informiranja, pokazat \u0107e se, nego i vjerodostojan putokaz na ono \u0161to se jo\u0161 krije u pra\u0161ini dignutoj oko fa\u0161isti\u010dkih tropizama nove vlasti. A ba\u0161 i nije neko pitanje kako je i za\u0161to Hasanbegovi\u0107 postupio tako; vi\u0161e nam pa\u017enju odvla\u010di napadna \u010dinjenica neformalnog savezni\u0161tva s njim, po toj liniji, u kojem se momentalno na\u0161ao \u2018Index.hr\u2019, jedan od svakako najvi\u0111enijih doma\u0107ih informativnih portala i jedna od adresa s kojih bi vjerojatno mnogi, prije negoli i detant, o\u010dekivali kritiku vladina nasrtaja na javna dobra.\n\n\u2018Index\u2019 slovi kao svjetonazorski liberalan i progresivan medij, tako i nenacionalisti\u010dan, antikorupcijski nadahnut i vitalan u za\u0161titi klasi\u010dnih ljudskih prava, dakle komercijalni portal kakav se lako naziva antifa\u0161isti\u010dkim. Stoga je pravo pitanje zapravo ono koje smjera na su\u0161tinsku motivaciju s kojom je prevladan taj navodno glavni antagonizam ove sredine i ovog doba, e da bi se na istoj strani zatekli \u2018Index\u2019 i Hasanbegovi\u0107. Jer, \u010dlanak pod naslovom \u2018Od sukoba interesa do zakinute kulture: Evo kako se podobnim medijima dijelio prora\u010dunski novac\u2019, objavljen 29. sije\u010dnja, na sam dan ministrova raspu\u0161tanja Povjerenstva za neprofitne medije, zna\u010di me\u0111u njima upravo to \u2013 pakt.\n\nDa bismo proniknuli u okolnosti takve simbioze, potrebno je napomenuti kako iza svakog iole programatskog teksta na \u2018Indexu\u2019, a citirani naslov to ipak jest, stoji dominantni suosniva\u010d i suvlasnik portala Matija Babi\u0107. I u ovom slu\u010daju su inicijali potpisnika \u2018D.I.\u2019 u na\u010delu manje va\u017eni, pa \u0107emo ostatak pa\u017enje usmjeriti na Babi\u0107a, pri \u010demu \u0107e nam pomo\u0107i njegova recentna o\u010ditovanja na Facebooku. Tamo je \u2018Indexov\u2019 alfa i omega neprofitne medije opisao kao poslu\u0161ni\u010dke u odnosu na vlast, prepisiva\u010dke u odnosu na ostatak medijske scene i parazitske u odnosu na javne financije, dok je kao jedini pravi spas od takvih zala istaknuo slobodno tr\u017ei\u0161te.\n\nNe\u0107emo gubiti vrijeme na raskrinkavanje Babi\u0107evih teza koje nije podupro nijednim dokazom, ba\u0161 kao \u0161to je slu\u010daj i u vi\u0161e ranijih \u2018Indexovih\u2019 tekstova na istu temu; njima je provociran skandal u neprofitno-medijskom sektoru i sustavu javnog mu subvencioniranja. Dr\u017eimo se i dalje samog Matije Babi\u0107a, i osvrnimo se unekoliko na pro\u0161lost \u2018Indexa\u2019 i njegovu, da vidimo \u0161to \u0107e se ukazati na kraju pri\u010de. Kao osnova mogu poslu\u017eiti pre\u017eivjeli tragovi Babi\u0107evih ve\u0107 legendarnih doktrinarnih tekstova, iz dana kad je bio na \u010delu dnevnog lista \u201824 sata\u2019 ili malo potom, kad se opet skrasio na \u2018Indexu\u2019 i blogu, a s kojima medijska istina i la\u017e zadobivaju sasvim novo zna\u010denje.\n\nBabi\u0107ev odnos prema medijskim radnicima ostao je dosljedan teoriji iz navedene poslanice, \u010demu se o\u010dekivano veoma te\u0161ko oduprijeti s njihove pozicije. \u0160tovi\u0161e, ujedno je novinarima zatajivano da im vlasnik ne upla\u0107uje obavezne doprinose, ali nije i uvid kako se potonji istodobno producira na dru\u0161tvenim mre\u017eama uz razne luksuzne trofeje, gdje zaposlene u svojoj firmi usput katkad i javno vrije\u0111a s osigurane pozicije mo\u0107i. Ubrzo je uo\u010deno, me\u0111utim, da kritiku zagreba\u010dkog gradona\u010delnika Milana Bandi\u0107a po\u010dinju na portalu u\u010destalo pratiti i odvojene hvale u njegovu korist, a onda je i to rastuma\u010deno popisom medija koji su niz godina financirani iz gradske blagajne.\n\n\u2018Index\u2019 je u posljednje tri godine tako dobio 690 tisu\u0107a javnih kuna, vi\u0161e od goleme ve\u0107ine neprofitnih medija \u010dije tekstove nerijetko prenosi, no \u010diji vlasnici ne smiju odnositi dobit izvan proizvodnje i tro\u0161iti je na skupi osobni luksuz. Smisao javnog dotiranja neprofitnih medija i jest \u2013 u op\u0107edru\u0161tvenom interesu - smanjenje jaza naspram profitnih koji raspola\u017eu utr\u0161kom od komercijalnih oglasa jer sadr\u017eaj uvelike kroje po zahtjevu tr\u017ei\u0161ta i, ne zaboravimo, privatne koristi svojih vlasnika. Ipak, u Hrvatskoj se direktno i neizravno kudikamo obilnije javno potpoma\u017eu komercijalni nego neprofitni mediji koji, uostalom, neku crkavicu primaju tek od 2013. godine.\n\nUkupno gledano, sve je to proporcionalno neznatno u poredbi s razvijenijim medijskim politikama u npr. Francuskoj, Italiji, Velikoj Britaniji. No \u010dinjenice ne zanimaju Matiju Babi\u0107a, \u010dak niti one koje njega samog razotkrivaju kao poslu\u0161nika, prepisiva\u010da i parazita, a potom i klevetnika, dok neprofitne kolege \u010dasti odioznim karakteristikama iz vlastitog li\u010dnog opisa. I zato je \u010das da ga poop\u0107imo i stavimo u pripadaju\u0107i \u0161iri kontekst, gdje se Babi\u0107 savr\u0161eno uklapa izme\u0111u sli\u010dnih zagovornika ja\u010deg tr\u017ei\u0161ta i slabije dr\u017eave. Otuda i \u010ditava kolonija gordih neoliberalnih vanjskih komentatora na \u2018Indexu\u2019, u vidu stalne revije posve\u0107ene njihovoj zajedni\u010dkoj politici.\n\nIako svi ti babi\u0107i sistemati\u010dno inzistiraju da ba\u0161 tr\u017ei\u0161te jedino garantira vi\u0161i stupanj za\u0161tite op\u0107e dobrobiti nasuprot nepopravljivo prijetvornih institucija razmjerno demokratski organizirane zajednice, o\u010ditim biva \u2013 nipo\u0161to tek s primjerom \u2018Indexa\u2019 - da se zanimaju isklju\u010divo za svoj profit, pod svaku cijenu. Ideologija fakti\u010dno apsolutnog privatizma ne ostavlja prostora za druk\u010diji ishod: upravo bi perverzno bilo uzimati zdravo za gotovo pojam \u2018komercijalni medij\u2019 koji alkemijski spaja privatnu dobit i javni interes. A oni to uporno name\u0107u i bilje\u017ee sjajan uspjeh, ne bez pomo\u0107i strana\u010dko-politi\u010dkih im jataka, \u0161to zna\u010di da govorimo o zaokru\u017eenoj hegemoniji."}
-{"text": "TweakWiz's Library\n\nThis is a support package. It does not function on it's own, but other packages use it's features.\n\nNo screenshots for this item."}
-{"text": "Cybersecurity experts have given a detailed outline to the FBI about the hack attack against Sony Pictures, insisting it was not the work of North Korea but a group of current and former employees who shared a 'mutual hatred' for the company.\n\nWhile the FBI and Sony have announced they believe Pyongyang carried out the hack - claims that were denied by leader Kim Jong-un - independent security officials have been coming forward for the past week saying most of the evidence points to an inside job.\n\nSilicon Valley security firm Norse, which provides intelligence to companies to prevent their software from being hacked, has been investigating the compromise at Sony and shared their findings with the FBI on Tuesday, according to Gawker.\n\nNorse senior vice president Kurt Stammberger said the hack hinges on a woman he called 'Lena', who he says worked in a 'key technical' position for 10 years but was sent packing in May during a large sweep of lay-offs.\n\nScroll down for video\n\nNot Pyongyang: FBI agents have been briefed on new findings that indicate disgruntled former Sony staff and piracy-advocates were behind the hack in November this year and not North Korea\n\nStammberger would not reveal to Gawker how Norse came to such a conclusion.\n\nHowever he said Lena would have remained 'very well placed to know which servers to target' after leaving the company and 'where all the sensitive information in Sony was stored'.\n\nLena - which may be an alias - then joined forces with other former employees and people in the hacking community to humiliate Sony.\n\nStammberger said the people who hadn't worked for Sony 'were individuals that were connected with torrenting Sony movies and content online, were targeted by legal and law enforcement arms, and were irritated that basically they were caught'.\n\n'We are very confident that this was not an attack master-minded by North Korea and that insiders were key to the implementation of one of the most devastating attacks in history,' Stammberger told CBS News last week.\n\nHowever, consulting firm Taia Global said the results of a linguistic analysis of communications from the suspected hackers suggest they were more likely from Russia than North Korea.\n\n'I think the government acted prematurely in announcing unequivocally that it was North Korea before the investigation was complete,' said Mark Rasch, a former federal cybercrimes prosecutor.\n\nAn investigation by cybersecurity firm Norse has found that it is likely a Sony insider might have helped launch the attack, and that North Korea is not responsible\n\nThe FBI maintains that the Sony hack was carried out by Pyongyang over the release of The Interview, which depicts the assassination of Kim Jong-Un\n\n'There are many theories about who did it and how they did it. The government has to be pursuing all of them.'\n\nWhile U.S. officials investigate whether North Korea enlisted help from outside contractors, the FBI stood by its previous statement that Pyongyang was the prime author of the attack against the Sony Corp unit.\n\n'The FBI has concluded the Government of North Korea is responsible for the theft and destruction of data on the network of Sony Pictures Entertainment,' the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement to Reuters.\n\nNorth Korea has denied that it was behind the Sony attack and has vowed to hit back against any U.S. retaliation.\n\nThe people who claimed responsibility for the hack have said on Internet postings that they were incensed by the Sony Pictures film 'The Interview,' a comedy about a fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.\n\nBecause of the hackers' threats, major U.S. cinema chains refused to show the film. Last week, Sony struck deals with some 320 independent theaters to distribute 'The Interview' and also made the film available online.\n\nThe hackers released the email caches of Sony executives, including Co-Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment Amy Pascal and its CEO Michael Lynton\n\nThe FBI said its determination that North Korea was behind the hack was based on information from a variety of sources, including intelligence sources, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, foreign partners and the private sector.\n\n'There is no credible information to indicate that any other individual is responsible for this cyber incident,' the agency said.\n\nKevin Mandia, whose security firm was hired by Sony to investigate the attack, said the only way to know who the culprits are is to trace the network traffic from the infected machines back to the hackers' machines. Only the government and Internet service providers have that kind of visibility, he added.\n\n'I don't have the data that they have to come up with that conclusion,' Mandia, chief operating officer of FireEye Inc, said.\n\n'Every attack loops through numerous machines,' he said. 'You have to peel that onion all the way back. It isn't an easy thing to do.'\n\nMandia, who has supervised investigations into some of the world's biggest cyberattacks, said the Sony case was unprecedented."}
-{"text": "Diez mil personas, tal y como ha confirmado la Delegaci\u00f3n del Gobierno en Madrid, se han concentrado en la plaza de Cibeles de Madrid en contra del refer\u00e9ndum de Catalu\u00f1a que se celebrar\u00e1 este domingo 1 de octubre bajo el lema 'Espa\u00f1a somos todos'. La manifestaci\u00f3n ha sido convocada por la Fundaci\u00f3n para la Defensa de la Naci\u00f3n Espa\u00f1ola (DENAES).\n\nEn la concentraci\u00f3n se han escuchado gritos de 'Viva Espa\u00f1a' y otros m\u00e1s cr\u00edticos contra el Gobierno de Mariano Rajoy y Carles Puigdemont. En algunos carteles se pod\u00eda leer \"Puigdemont, a prisi\u00f3n\" y \"Sr. Rajoy \u00a1Despierte! \u00a1Ponga orden!\".\n\nMiles de personas se manifiestan por toda Espa\u00f1a contra el refer\u00e9ndum del 1-O\n\nLos manifestantes han ido movi\u00e9ndose hacia la calzada forzando a la Polic\u00eda a cortar el tr\u00e1fico en la glorieta y provocando algunas retenciones en el paseo Del Prado. Tambi\u00e9n se ha podido o\u00edr en algunas ocasiones el c\u00e1ntico \"no nos enga\u00f1an, Catalu\u00f1a es Espa\u00f1a\".\n\nUna pancarta se solidarizaba con los ultras condenados por el asalto en 2013 a la librer\u00eda Blanquerna de Madrid, con motivo de la Diada de ese a\u00f1o, con el lema: \"defendemos Espa\u00f1a, Blanquerna absoluci\u00f3n\".\n\nHan destacado adem\u00e1s que se trata de una concentraci\u00f3n promovida en todos los ayuntamientos espa\u00f1oles, que carece de tintes pol\u00edticos y que pretende reivindicar la igualdad y el respeto a la ley.\n\nAl final de la convocatoria se ha dado paso a la lectura de preceptos de la constituci\u00f3n \"con los que est\u00e1n de acuerdo todas las sensibilidades pol\u00edticas\". La concentraci\u00f3n en Cibeles ha concluido, por parte de algunos asistentes, con el 'Cara al Sol', cantado por un grupo de veinte personas, la mayor\u00eda de ellos j\u00f3venes, que a su vez han procedido a levantar el brazo imitando el saludo franquista.\n\nAqui los tienes cantando el cara al sol y haciendo el saludo romano, pero ellos ni adoctrinan ni nada eh pic.twitter.com/TrUfgRfWb1 \u2014 tony romo (@tonin1989) 30 de septiembre de 2017\n\nAl parecer, en la concentraci\u00f3n de Cibeles, algunos ciudadanos han podido ver a la expresidenta de la Comunidad de Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, tal y como han mostrado en algunos de sus tuits.\n\nEsperanza en la Concentraci\u00f3n de Madrid. pic.twitter.com/Mp1uhdMdNT \u2014 Antonio San Gil Cela (@partagaz) 30 de septiembre de 2017\n\nTensi\u00f3n en Cibeles y Vitoria\n\nUno de los momentos de tensi\u00f3n se ha producido cuando dos de los manifestantes se han subido al andamio colocado a la entrada de CentroCentro a colocar la bandera de Espa\u00f1a.\n\nActo seguido, una persona del Ayuntamiento ha subido para pedirles que retirasen la bandera, mientras que el resto de asistentes han vitoreado a los manifestantes. Al bajar, los manifestantes han increpado a los polic\u00edas que les hab\u00edan pedido plegar las banderas.\n\nA continuaci\u00f3n, otro hombre ha vuelto a subir a Centro Centro a colocar otra de las banderas, mientras el resto de personas coreaban \"otra, otra, otra\", para que colocaran otra bandera m\u00e1s.\n\nUn grupo de j\u00f3venes coloca una bandera con la frase \"S\u00ed a Espa\u00f1a\" en la puerta del Palacio de Cibeles. pic.twitter.com/NyN2z6Qs1f \u2014 Helena Poncini (@helena_poncini) 30 de septiembre de 2017\n\nEn Mallorca, m\u00e1s de 600 personas, seg\u00fan ha informado de la Polic\u00eda Nacional, se han manifestado este s\u00e1bado a las 12.00 horas en la plaza de Cort bajo el lema 'Espa\u00f1a somos todos' con el objetivo de rechazar el refer\u00e9ndum de Catalu\u00f1a.\n\nLa protesta ha sido convocada por la Fundaci\u00f3n Nacional C\u00edrculo Balear (FNCB) y se han coreado lemas como \"viva Espa\u00f1a\" o \"somos mallorquines y no catalanes\". A esta concentraci\u00f3n se han sumado muchos de los asistentes a la manifestaci\u00f3n organizada por la Plataforma en Defensa del Mundo Rural que ha tenido lugar horas antes en Palma.\n\nEn Santander, cientos de personas han participado este mediod\u00eda en Santander en la concentraci\u00f3n convocada por la Fundaci\u00f3n Denaes a nivel nacional en defensa de la unidad de Espa\u00f1a y contra el refer\u00e9ndum en Catalu\u00f1a.\n\nEn la concentraci\u00f3n han ondeado numerosas banderas de Espa\u00f1a y los asistentes han coreado consignas como \"Espa\u00f1a entera, y solo una bandera\", \"No nos enga\u00f1an, Catalu\u00f1a es Espa\u00f1a\", \"Espa\u00f1a unida jam\u00e1s ser\u00e1 vencida\", \"Espa\u00f1a no se vende\"..., adem\u00e1s de 'Viva Espa\u00f1a'.\n\nEn Vitoria, una treintena de personas se han concentrado frente al Ayuntamiento con dos banderas de Espa\u00f1a. Frente a ellos, separados por la Ertzaintza, un centenar de j\u00f3venes, que portaban ikurri\u00f1as y \"esteladas\", les han insultado con gritos como fascistas y han coreados consignas en favor de la independencia.\n\nUn centenar de j\u00f3venes con ikurri\u00f1as frente al Ayuntamiento de Vitoria. (EFE)\n\nAl concluir la concentraci\u00f3n de la capital alavesa se han producido unos peque\u00f1os incidentes, en los que han sido identificados cuatro j\u00f3venes por parte de la Polic\u00eda auton\u00f3mica.\n\nUna se\u00f1era en Lavapi\u00e9s\n\nPor otro lado, en una parte de la castiza plaza de la Corrala, en Lavapi\u00e9s, ha sido cubierta este s\u00e1bado por una gran se\u00f1era con una urna en medio que bajo el lema 'Urnas son amores' ha mostrado su apoyo al \"derecho a decidir\" de los catalanes al votar en el refer\u00e9ndum del 1 de octubre.\n\nCerca de 50 personas se han concentrado as\u00ed \"por la democracia\" portando carteles en los que se pod\u00eda leer 'Madrid por el derecho a decidir'. Esta concentraci\u00f3n ha sido convocada tanto por la Coordinadora 25S como por la plataforma Madrile\u00f1os por el Derecho a Decidir, que promovi\u00f3 el debate fallido sobre el refer\u00e9ndum en Matadero.\n\nUna gran se\u00f1era se despliega en Lavapi\u00e9s a favor del refer\u00e9ndum catal\u00e1n bajo el lema 'Urnas son amores' https://t.co/vyX1VQvCz4 pic.twitter.com/1WDrC1xLfr \u2014 Europa Press Madrid (@EPMadrid) 30 de septiembre de 2017\n\nJunto a la se\u00f1era se ha desplegado en la plaza asimismo una bandera republicana. Varios de los asistentes han coreado la consigna 'Espa\u00f1a, ma\u00f1ana ser\u00e1 republicana'. Tambi\u00e9n han asegurado que \"Madrid est\u00e1 con el pueblo catal\u00e1n\".\n\nBarcelona tambi\u00e9n se manifiesta\n\nMiles de personas se han manifestado esta tarde por el centro de Barcelona en favor de la unidad de Espa\u00f1a y contra el refer\u00e9ndum. La marcha, convocada por diversas entidades antisoberanistas como Espanya i Catalans o Somatemps, ha arrancado a las 17.30 horas desde la plaza Urquinaona y ha recorrido la Via Laietana hasta llegar a una plaza Sant Jaume llena.\n\n\n\nCon una pancarta con el lema \"Catalu\u00f1a es Espa\u00f1a. Democracia, futuro y libertad\" en la cabecera y numerosas banderas espa\u00f1olas, adem\u00e1s de 'senyeres' y banderas europeas, los manifestantes han marchado entre gritos como \"Puigdemont a prisi\u00f3n\", \"No votaremos\", \"No nos enga\u00f1an, Catalu\u00f1a es Espa\u00f1a\" o \"A por ellos\"."}
-{"text": "DURHAM \u2014 University of Connecticut football player Ian Swenson was arrested Friday in connection with an alleged assault that took place Jan. 26 at a University of New Hampshire fraternity.\n\nAccording to Deputy Chief Rene Kelley, the arrest was the result of a lengthy investigation regarding an incident at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity Jan. 26 between midnight and 1 a.m.\n\nSwenson\u2019s arrest on a Class B felony charge of riot brings the total of those charged as a result of the incident to six. Four are members of the UNH football team. Police said they expect no more arrests in connection with the incident.\n\nDuring the incident, several men were involved the acts of riot and assault, said Kelley. One person was transported to Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover for treatment of minor injuries following the incident.\n\nSwenson, of Evanston, Illinois, was released on personal recognizance bail and is scheduled to be arraigned March 7 at the Strafford County Superior Court.\n\nZachary Banks, 20, of Westminster, Massachusetts; Quinlan Dean, 21, of Greenbelt, Maryland; Kyle Hamper, 20, of Portland, Oregon; and Jackson Housman, 20, of Weare, are all charged with a Class B felony count of riot carrying a possible sentence of 3\u00bd to 7 years in prison if convicted.\n\nPatrick Roy, 20, of Norfolk, Massachusetts, was charged with misdemeanor assault. Durham Deputy Police Chief Rene Kelley said previously Roy is a UNH student who is not affiliated with the football team or the fraternity."}
-{"text": "The claims could be difficult to quantify when some Twitter users are bound to have slipped through the cracks, but they're at least partly backed up by AP data. It notes that there's a higher ratio of anti-ISIS content these days (6 to 1), and the pro-ISIS accounts that exist have far fewer followers than in 2014 (300 versus 1,500). It wouldn't be surprising if the group's defeats on the field have also played a part, of course -- disillusionment and sheer casualties are bound to reduce the number of supporters. Whatever is responsible, it's apparent that social networks are now considered an important bellwether in the fight against extremists."}
-{"text": "'Highway of Tears' The Unsolved Murders of Indigenous Women in Canada\n\nHighway 16 in Canada has become known as the \"Highway of Tears\" because dozens of women have disappeared along its route. Many of them have been killed, most of them First Nation indigenous peoples. The police have shown little interest in solving the crimes.\n\nVon Sebastian Moll"}
-{"text": "OPINION: Two years ago, if you'd told me that Mike Pence would be Vice President of the United States, I would've asked \"What the hell happened?\"\n\nThen when you told me what happened, I would've asked \"What the HELL happened?\"\n\nThis is a question that will be asked in slightly less exasperated terms by political scientists for years to come, and if I know political scientists, those answers won't be read by anybody.\n\nHistory will choose its own narrative, right after it's done vomiting up its insides, and I can't imagine there will be much regard for whether it's true or not.\n\nAnd people have already begun. Those who saw Donald Trump's election as a bad thing (i.e. people with a conscience) have furiously started seeking out people and things to blame: Hillary Clinton. The DNC. James Comey. The media. The electoral college. Anthony Weiner. White people at large. Tim Allen for some reason. Even Grimace for appearing in this advertisement with Trump over a decade ago.\n\nREAD MORE:\n\n* Sorting through the shockwaves of fake quake news\n\n* Google and Facebook take action against fake news sites\n\n* How to spot fake news on Facebook\n\n* After removing human editors Facebook battles with fake news\n\nTruth be told, it probably is Grimace's fault, but in recent days, the mainstream media, as its enemies like to call it, have begun to coalesce around another explanation altogether: so-called \"fake news\".\n\nThe thing about fake news is, it's much better than real news.\n\nIn the real news, seasonal worker caps are increased. In the fake news, John Key is kidnapped by a Peruvian drug cartel. In the real news, some movie makes a bunch of money. In the fake news, Hillary Clinton dies of a drug overdose before the second presidential debate and is replaced with a hologram.\n\nIn the real news, rents go up. In the fake news, Donald Trump is elected President of\u2026 wait a minute.\n\nI know what I'd rather read, and so do tens of thousands of Trump supporters who, over the last few months, have lapped up totally fabricated news that pushes their world view.\n\nTo be honest, this explanation sounds a lot like excuse-making to me, and I tend to believe that fake news satiates rabid partisans, rather than unwittingly converting people to a cause. I feel that people are largely (if not entirely) unmoved by these deliberate falsehoods.\n\nBut something happened to me over the weekend that might suggest otherwise.\n\nFake news is something very near and dear to my heart, because technically speaking, as the writer of The Civilian, I write fake news.\n\nNone of the news on The Civilian is real, but it is funny.\n\nOf course, I don't do it to trick people, or to deceive them into believing something that isn't true. I write satire, which is presented, totally straight-faced, as though it were real news.\n\nThe less clued-in amongst you might ask why I would present it as real news, if it isn't? Well, because it's only funny that way. If I put a massive disclaimer on the top that read \"THIS IS FUNNY JOAK LOL\", then it would immediately cease to be funny (although many publications I've written for in the past have not understood in this in the slightest. But what do I know? I'm only a satirist.)\n\nOn Friday, The Civilian published an article titled Civil Defence evacuates whole of New Zealand after engineers discover structural issues with the country. I thought it was a fairly cute article, and a nice way to round out a week of news almost exclusively about earthquakes.\n\nLittle did I know, it would become one of the most shared articles the site has ever published, and its reach would extend far beyond The Civilian's usual readership.\n\nIf you're following the theme of this column, you may be able to figure out what happens next.\n\n\"HELLO,\" one person wrote me in all caps. \"Just want to ask the credibility of these report\u2026 IS THIS TRUE? IF CORRECT, WHAT ARE THE [areas on the map I should evacuate]. It was not clear enough to read.\"\n\n\"Hey i wana know is the post about the counties faults really getting us 'kicked out' or is this just a Prank?\" wrote another. \"Cause im kinda worried and wana know if its 100% before i start planning to gtfo.\"\n\nOthers were more clued in, if only slightly:\n\n\"Just wanting to let you know you should get your facts straight before publishing that a whole country has been evacuated, what a load of shit, sorry, but I live in chch, New Zealand and our country has not been evacuated due to the quake. Thank you very much.\"\n\nOthers were more abusive, calling me a \"f...ing wanker,\" telling me that I am \"very sick\" and that I am \"talking smack\" trying to \"scare people\".\n\nNo, the whole country wasn't really evacuated.\n\nI received literally hundreds of messages and emails to this effect. It's not the first time this has happened, of course, but it was certainly the greatest volume of messages like that I'd ever received. If people can't distinguish satire from real news, I wondered, what hope do they have of telling actual fake news from the real thing?\n\nI hear a lot of people blaming the fake news phenomenon on the internet, and the fact that it has enabled anyone to write anything and put it out there. But having read hundreds of their messages, I feel like I have a particularly unique insight into the minds of those who believe this sort of thing, and I'd put it in a slightly different way.\n\nIt's not that people can write anything. It's that, today, people can read anything.\n\nFor most of human history, we haven't needed to develop a mental filter. Information has come to us from very few sources, in very controlled ways. In the past, information came through heavily-screened mediums like television, newspapers, and books.\n\nPeople didn't need to be so critical of where their information was coming from, because the vast majority of it would have been, at least basically, accurate.\n\nThis isn't true anymore.\n\nOf all the people I've seen over my years in satire who have believed that New Zealand was being evacuated, or that Bob Parker was actually dangled over Wellington via helicopter to give people comfort, or that John Key actually ate a kiwi (yes, people really believed these things, you have no idea how deep it goes), all of them had one thing in common: not for a moment did they ask themselves \"What are the reliable sources of information I have access to in New Zealand? And is this one of them?\"\n\nThe Civilian had a slick logo, and a black and white page, and it was written like news, so it must be.\n\nThis is why efforts by companies like Facebook to \"ban\" fake news will ultimately be fruitless, because they don't tackle the root cause of the problem. Satire will still exist, and so long as there's anything on the internet that's not strictly accurate, people will need to be more critical about where they get their information from.\n\nIt's not my fault you believe what I wrote. It's not even really the fault of the people who tried to deceive you. It's your fault, and you need to think more critically before believing an article about an evacuation that tells you \"do not collect your children.\"\n\nI've always thought there should be civics classes in high school, but until recently, I hadn't really thought about the fact that a significant portion of those civics classes should teach kids how to filter different sources of information.\n\nAnd we shouldn't just be critical of fake news or wary of falling for satire. We should be critical of what we read from any source.\n\nAsk yourself: how does this journalist know what he or she published? How did they gather that information? Where did they cut corners? Why have they paraphrased here instead of a direct quote? Who did they talk to? Have they done their due diligence to verify the facts?\n\nNot asking these questions of our real news is what leads to us not asking them of our fake news."}
-{"text": "In this fifth installment of our Position Rankings for the 2017 MLB Season, we will make our way around the horn, landing us at shortstop. Shortstop has seen an influx of young talent in recent seasons.\n\nWith the position fluxing with talent, let\u2019s start out our list at number five.\n\n5. Jean Segura- Seattle Mariners\n\nJean Segura will be on his fourth team in six years in the majors when he debuts for the Seattle Mariners this season. Part of a deal that sent Taijuan Walker to the desert, Segura will be paired alongside standout second baseman Robinson Cano. Segura\u2019s 2013 season showed glimpses of what he could be.\n\nThis season he slashed .319, .368, and .499, which are all career highs. He also had 20 homers to go along with 64 RBI\u2019s and 33 stolen bases. Segura developed into the total package offensively in 2016, but his defense still leaves something to be desired.\n\nSegura had zero defensive runs saved in 2016, equating to league average on defense. With the offensive numbers he put up in 2016, league average defense is totally acceptable. Segura played second base with the Diamondbacks in 2016, but that was his first season at second base in his six-year career. He should be able to slide back over to his old position seamlessly in 2017.\n\n4. Brandon Crawford- San Francisco Giants\n\nBrandon Crawford has quietly put together a solid career for the San Francisco Giants. After hitting 26 home runs over parts of his first four seasons, he has clubbed 33 in the past two seasons. His growth in power has also been accompanied by an improvement in his batting skill. Last season, Crawford posted a slash line of .275, .342, and .430 with his batting average and OBP being career highs. While Crawford\u2019s bat has continually improved, his glove has always been his calling card.\n\nCrawford had one of his best defensive seasons of his career in 2016. He had 19 defensive runs saved in 2016, which is the second most in his career. With growing prowess in the batters box and a stellar glove, Crawford has quietly ascended into the ranks of the top shortstops in the game.\n\n3. Francisco Lindor- Cleveland Indians\n\nAfter making his major league debut in 2015, Francisco Lindor has made the leap from top prospect to top position player for the Cleveland Indians. Lindor built on his debut 2015 season in which he finished second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting to put up a slash line of .301, .358, .435 in 2016. He also hit 15 homers to go along with 78 RBI\u2019s and 19 stolen bases to help lead the Indians to the World Series. Lindor\u2019s bat has certainly created problems for his opponents, but it\u2019s his glove that has carried him this far in the rankings.\n\nLindor had 17 defensive runs saved in 155 games played in 2016. His slick fielding was on display all season. He also continued his high level of defense well into the World Series. Lindor was the total package for the Cleveland Indians in 2016. He is primed to lead the Indians back to the playoffs in 2017.\n\n2. Corey Seager- Los Angeles Dodgers\n\nSeager had been tabbed as the NL Rookie of the Year in 2016 long before the season began. All that hype can sometimes go to a player\u2019s head, but not Corey Seager\u2019s. He performed far beyond even the most lofty expectations in 2016, batting .308, .365, and .512. He also blasted 26 bombs to accompany 72 RBI\u2019s. Those numbers were not only good enough for NL ROY, but also a third place finish for NL MVP voting.\n\nWhile his bat was at an MVP type level, his glove work was anything but. While he wasn\u2019t spectacular with the glove, he was league average with zero defensive runs saved in 2016. He proved to be a driving force for the Dodgers in 2016, helping lead them to the NLCS where they were ousted by the eventual World Series Champion Chicago Cubs. Seager will look to build on his impressive rookie season in 2017.\n\n1. Carlos Correa- Houston Astros\n\nWhen Carlos Correa made his major league debut at the ripe old age of 20 in 2015, many wondered if he would be able to hack it in the majors. Well, hack it he did. Correa has knocked 42 balls into orbit since being called up by the Astros. In his first full season of play he hit .274, .361, and .451 to go along with 20 homers, 96 RBI\u2019s and 13 steals. Correa has shown maturity beyond his years in the batters box. With a good eye and powerful stroke, Correa is already one of the elite offensive players in the game. The jump from elite prospect to elite player doesn\u2019t just include hitting.\n\nCorrea has proved to be less than stellar in the field in parts of two major league season. While he has made some spectacular throws, he posted a defensive runs saved of -3 in 2016. While it was a regression from his 0 defensive runs saved in 2015, it was Correa\u2019s first full season. The 2017 season will be a big one for both Carlos Correa and his Houston Astros.\n\nShortstop is in good hands for 2017 and far beyond. With so much youth at the position, shortstop will prove to be one of the more difficult positions to rank for years to come. Watch for these players to move up and down the list in the coming years.\n\nYou can \u2018Like\u2019 The Game Haus on Facebook and \u2018Follow\u2019 us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles written by other great TGH writers like Jonathan!\n\n\u201cFrom Our Haus to Yours\u201d"}
-{"text": "By Troy Stangarone\n\nIn recent days there has been increasing speculation that North Korea is preparing to test a long range missile. While any test would violate UN resolutions prohibiting Pyongyang from conducting long range missile tests and represent an additional destabilizing act on North Korea\u2019s part following so closely on the heels of North Korea\u2019s fourth nuclear test, it would also reinforce the regime\u2019s continued commitment to the development of deployable nuclear weapons.\n\nWith the January 6 test North Korea has now tested four nuclear devices. However, developing reliable delivery systems remains the key to Pyongyang possessing a viable nuclear deterrent. According to U.S. sources, the recent nuclear test likely tested some components of a hydrogen bomb. If those components move North Korea closer to miniaturizing its weapons or towards a more powerful hydrogen bomb, additional testing of its long range ballistic missile technology would be an important next step in developing a deployable nuclear deterrent.\n\nWhile North Korea has appeared to be preparing for launches in the past only to refrain, if it should proceed with a test there are a series of issues to watch for relating to the test itself and the reaction of the international community.\n\nWhat Type of Missile Is Tested?\n\nNorth Korea\u2019s successful satellite launch in 2012, which is generally considered to have been a cover for testing an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) and would use some of the same constituent parts, was conducted using an Unha-3 rocket. Based on debris recovered after the launch it is estimated that missile used to put North Korea\u2019s satellite in orbit has a range of 6,200 miles, which would enable it to hit western portions of the United States.\n\nIn the past, North Korea has hinted at the development of missiles with a longer range than the Unha-3, such as through displays at military parades. Though, these missiles have generally been found to be mockups that were not flight worthy. However, North Korea has upgraded its launch facilities to accommodate more powerful missiles. If North Korea moves forward with a test in the near future, the first question will be is this a test of a refined Unha-3 rocket or a new missile technology with a longer range?\n\nIs It a Satellite Launch?\n\nNorth Korea has yet to make any of the official notification to the International Maritime Organization on trajectory and splashdown locations as it did with the 2012 satellite launch. If a test does occur, one issue to watch will be whether North Korea uses this launch or a future one to test the viability of one of its missiles being able to withstand the stress of reentry into the earth\u2019s atmosphere.\n\nMastering the ability to build a ballistic missile capable of withstanding the forces of reentering the earth\u2019s atmosphere, including the heat shielding needed to withstand temperatures up to 7,000 degrees Celsius, is a key component to developing a workable ICBM. During the Cold War the United States and Soviet Union undertook extensive testing of this characteristic in the course of the deployment of new missiles.\n\nIn North Korea\u2019s case the United States believes that Pyongyang has mastered the technology that is necessary for an ICBM to achieve reentry despite the lack of a test to date. This assumption is prudent for the purposes of planning and developing contingencies. However, a successful test would further increase the deterrent value of North Korea\u2019s weapons program by demonstrating that it has mastered the technology.\n\nThe Parts That Are Retrieved\n\nAfter North Korea\u2019s successful satellite launch in 2012 the United States was able to recover part of the missile used to deliver the satellite into orbit. The recovered front section of the missile indicated that Pyongyang was developing the cone to the dimensions required to carry a nuclear payload and reenter the Earth\u2019s atmosphere. Any recovered parts from a future test could provide insights into how reliable North Korea\u2019s design is, how long until it could be operational, and the nature \u2013 domestic or foreign \u2013 of the parts used to construct the missile.\n\nDoes Japan Shoot Down a North Korean Missile Test?\n\nIn 2012, Japan ordered its military to shoot down any North Korean missile entering its territory. A similar order was given in April of 2014. As North Korea successfully launched a satellite in 2012,and did not conduct a test in. 2014, Japan has yet to actively target a North Korean missile test. However, with the prospect of North Korea again conducting a missile test Japan\u2019s military has been placed on alert and ordered to shoot down any North Korean missile.\n\nWill Japan take shoot down a North Korean missile test? It may depend on a series of factors. The first being whether North Korea provides proper notification of a satellite launch to the International Maritime Organization. Second, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, who was not in power in 2012, may see value in denying North Korea the data that a successful test would provide. Though, he\u2019d have to weigh that outcome with considerations of any North Korean response to an attempt to shoot down a test and its impact on the ongoing sanctions discussions in the UN Security Council, especially if North Korea claims in advance that it is a peaceful satellite launch.\n\nHow Swiftly New Sanctions Move Through the United Nations and U.S. Congress\n\nAfter each subsequent North Korean nuclear test the United Nation\u2019s has increasingly taken longer to pass new sanctions legislation. After North Korea\u2019s first nuclear test the Security Council passed a resolution in 9 days. As we wait for the Security Council to act in response to the January 6th test the time from the test to a new resolution has passed the 23 days it took after the third test.\n\nThe U.S. Congress has moved more swiftly with House of Representatives taking only 6 days to pass new sanctions legislation. The Senate recently passed new legislation through committee and it is expected to come to the Senate floor soon. However, the Senate\u2019s legislation differs from the House requiring a conference committee to develop a joint piece of legislation.\n\nIf North Korea moves ahead with test it raises a series of questions about sanctions. Will the test spur quicker movement in the United Nations and will the U.S. Congress move more swiftly to send the president new authority to sanction entities dealing with North Korea? Also, would a missile test remove Chinese, and likely Russian, objections to stronger international sanctions against North Korea?\n\nHow China Responds to a Missile Test\n\nAs noted, China has been reluctant to date to support the level of sanctions that the United States, South Korea, and Japan are pushing in UN Security Council. While a missile test could potentially make China more amenable to stronger sanctions, another key issue to watch will be whether China takes any bilateral actions to express its displeasure to Pyongyang. After North Korea\u2019s third nuclear test reports indicated that China cut off exports of oil to North Korea for five months and after North Korea\u2019s hack of Sony there were reports that China may have helped to cut off North Korea\u2019s access to the internet. While any bilateral actions may be hard to verify, they would be another means for China to pressure North Korea to reign in its weapons programs and return to talks.\n\nSouth Korea\u2019s Reaction\n\nSince North Korea\u2019s nuclear test, South Korea has increasingly signaled that it is strongly considering deploying the United States\u2019 Thermal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD missile defense system. China has continued to urge South Korea to take caution in deploying THAAD, but one area to watch after a North Korean missile test will be if South Korea speeds up its review on the potential deployment of THAAD to the Korean peninsula.\n\nTroy Stangarone is the Senior Director for Congressional Affairs and Trade at the Korea Economic Institute of America. The views expressed here are the author\u2019s alone.\n\nPhoto from United Nations Photo photostream on flickr Creative Commons."}
-{"text": "Pastor Joel Osteen said he hasn\u2019t been rattled in any sex abuse scandals plaguing the Catholic Church because he\u2019s been committed to the \u201cBilly Graham rule,\u201d which involves men avoiding time alone with women who aren\u2019t their wives, according to a recent interview in the Christian Post.\n\nOsteen, a bestselling author and pastor of Houston\u2019s 45,000-member Lakewood Church, said he\u2019s \u201calways\u201d followed the rule, adding that \u201cit\u2019s important to be honest before God every day and check the reasons why you are doing what you are doing.\u201d\n\n\u201cTo me, when I stand before God having a pure heart, I can go out and be my best.\u201d\n\n\u201cI think the key for me on that is to start every day \u2014 I take the first half hour of every day to search my own heart to ask God, \u2018Am I on track and doing this for the right reasons? Am I following what you want me to do?,\u201d he said in the interview.\n\nThe Billy Graham rule, named for the famous late American evangelist, is meant to help Christian men avoid temptation and even the appearance of infidelity. Osteen isn\u2019t the only popular conservative that follows this rule. Vice President Mike Pence has also suggested that he follows a version of the guideline. Osteen\u2019s father, John Osteen, also followed the rule. The elder Osteen founded Lakewood in 1959.\n\nThe rule also been criticized by some women, who claim it treats women as sexual objects and also prevents them from advancing in their careers.\n\nRev. Angela Denker, a Lutheran pastor, thinks the Billy Graham rule is an outdated practice that keeps women powerless and silent. It has \u201cnothing to do with Jesus and everything to do with male superiority complex,\u201d she wrote in an article for the Christian website Sojourners."}
-{"text": "In Washington, D.C., home to most national museums in the country, should there be a museum expressly dedicated to Asian Pacific American history and culture?\n\nFor Franklin Odo, the founding director of the Smithsonian\u2019s APA program from 1997-2010, that has since been upgraded to a \u201ccenter,\u201d the time has come for an even further upgrade to a full-fledged museum.\n\n\u201cI have long believed that an APA museum within the Smithsonian Institution is essential,\u201d Odo told NBC News. \u201cAPAs need to organize now to push this agenda. There are too many reasons anything less than a national APA museum would be inadequate. Some are symbolic and national; but others, equally compelling, are internal to Smithsonian \u2014 the need to unify the diverse ethnic/nationality groups is desperate.\u201d\n\nRELATED: Smithsonian Center Launches Asian and Pacific American Online Book Club\n\nOdo, who is currently a visiting professor of American Institutions and International Diplomacy at Amherst College, praised the current program that has become a center under its most recent director, Konrad Ng. But Odo said the job of curating in the name of Asian Americans has not gotten easier.\n\n\u201cThe APA Center has to beg to collect our histories through artifacts, beg for venues to produce events, beg for resources to fund positions, beg for exposure to provide essential info to disparate communities, beg for permission to advocate for APA inclusion,\u201d Odo said. \u201cTime to stop begging.\u201d\n\nThe Morning Rundown Get a head start on the morning's top stories. This site is protected by recaptcha\n\nRELATED: Smithsonian's 'Beyond Bollywood' Hits the Road\n\nOdo\u2019s comments come four months after legislation was introduced by Congresswoman Grace Meng (D-NY) to create a commission to study the possibility of opening a National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture in the nation's capital.\n\n\"A National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture would be a tremendous way to highlight the many achievements of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and such a facility is vital to remember our collective past \u2014 even the painful parts such as Exclusion Acts and internment camps,\" Meng said in a statement. \"As we have seen with the rise of recent exclusionary rhetoric, our lived experiences can prove educational and instructive to Americans of all ethnicities, walks of life, and political persuasions.\"\n\nRELATED: New Smithsonian Digital Exhibit Explores Immigration Stories Through H-1B Visas\n\nCo-sponsored by Reps. Judy Chu (D-CA), Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam), Al Green (D-TX), Mike Honda (D-CA), and Ted Lieu (D-CA), the bill introduces the first steps in creating a national museum, from fundraising to construction, and will also delve into whether the museum should be part of the Smithsonian Institution.\n\nTourists walk past the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture that is currently under construction July 16, 2015 in Washington, DC. The museum is located on the National Mall near the Washington Monument and is scheduled to be completed and dedicated in 2016. Mark Wilson / Getty Images\n\nOdo told NBC News he was unaware of the legislation, but bluntly assessed the odds of the proposal\u2019s success.\n\n\u201cNo chance in the near future,\u201d Odo said. \u201cLatinos have been pushing for over a decade now \u2014 Rep. Xavier Becerra has championed this effort. He told me five years ago that the Latino museum [within the Smithsonian] would be on back burner for a while. A feasibility study would probably be necessary. Any direct legislation would have no chance.\"\n\nOdo said the ideal formula to follow might be the one used to establish the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which was funded 50-50 between public and private dollars. He adds that the broader community will have to get behind a successful push for a museum to get beyond both the politics inside Congress and inside the Smithsonian.\n\n\u201cI think getting the word out about advocating for a new AAPI Museum within Smithsonian would be splendid,\u201d Odo said.\n\nMeng's legislation has been referred to the House Administration Committee and the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands since its introduction.\n\nFollow NBC Asian America on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr."}
-{"text": "While the U.S. is pressing Israel to make peace with Palestinian leaders, it is missing the much bigger story of the Jewish State improving relations with several Muslim nations in the Middle East, according to a top Israeli official.\n\nOutlining the fast-developing relationship between Israel and other Sunni states in the region, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey, the official went beyond earlier comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and expressed Israel\u2019s dismay at U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.\n\n\u201cWe have the chance now to make a coalition with Saudi Arabia, North African states, the Gulf States, and Turkey,\u201d Ayoob Kara, Israel\u2019s deputy minister for regional cooperation, told FoxNews.com. \u201cWe need the U.S. with us, but \u2026 they first want the Palestinians to become partners with Israel. We could be waiting another 50 years. Why do we have to wait?\u201d\n\n\u201cI think we now have the chance to open a new relationship with what is referred to as the Saudi [Sunni] coalition.\u201d \u2014 Ayoob Kara, Israeli deputy minister for regional cooperation\n\nThe force driving Israel and Sunni Muslim nations together is Iran, the Shia Muslim power that constantly reiterates its official goal of wiping Israel off the map. Israel has long been wary of Iran, and the recently implemented nuclear inspection deal that dropped international sanctions and freed up more than $100 billion in assets for Tehran has given its Sunni adversaries cause for concern.\n\nKara, Israel\u2019s most senior Druze politician and a member of the Likud-led coalition government, spoke even as Netanyahu was meeting world leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Kara blasted the nuclear deal championed by the Obama administration as well as the White House\u2019s focus on settling the Palestinian issue ahead of arguably more pressing regional concerns.\n\nHarmony between Israel and regional Muslim powers could \u201cencourage the Palestinians to stop the violence [and] stop the terror,\u201d he said, as well as aligning key players against ISIS and other terror groups.\n\nU.S. support for the Iran deal is viewed by many states in the region as likely to usher in further destabilization as Tehran, flush with cash, continues its sponsorship of regional terrorist organizations. Even while nuclear negotiations were ongoing, Iran stepped up its expansionist forays into Iraq, Yemen, and Syria. In response, it appears that countries that once had little or no dialogue with Israel \u2013 official or unofficial \u2013 are now, according to Kara, rushing to engage with the Jewish state.\n\n\u201cOver the last month I have received many messages from Arab states that they need a closer connection to Israel,\u201d Kara said. \u201cIn the past this was not the case.\n\n\u201cI think we now have the chance to open a new relationship with what is referred to as the Saudi [Sunni] coalition,\u201d he added. \u201cWe have a chance to change the region, and we have economic, security, and other [mutual interests].Their enemy is our enemy, and I think much can be done on this issue.\u201d\n\nEarlier Thursday, Netanyahu hailed what he called Saudi Arabia\u2019s change of heart over Israel.\n\n\"Saudi Arabia recognizes that Israel is an ally rather than an enemy because of the two principle threats that threaten them, Iran and Daesh [ISIS],\" Netanyahu stated in a television interview. \u201cObviously Israel and the Sunni Arab states are not on opposite sides. There is a great shift taking place.\u201d\n\nRegional observers have noted that a potential deal or understanding with Saudi Arabia could offer the possibility of Israel using Saudi Arabian airspace as a direct line to attack Iran - should it ever be deemed necessary. This would be a major boost to Israeli military options and give serious pause to Tehran should the hardline regime renege on its pledge not to pursue nuclear weapons.\n\nAlthough there has been no official comment from Saudi leader King Salman on the Israel issue, there have been encouraging signs from some in the Saudi hierarchy.\n\n\u201cWherever the Iranians are present, they create militias,\u201d Brig. Gen Ahmed al Aseer, a Saudi military spokesman said in September. \u201cIn Lebanon, they have created Hezbollah, which is blocking the political process and has conducted wars against Israelis, destroying Lebanon as a result. And in Yemen, they have created the Houthis.\u201d\n\nIn a poll of members of the Saudi Arabian public conducted jointly in June last year by Israel\u2019s Interdisciplinary Center and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, only 18 percent said Israel was the country\u2019s main adversary. Some 53 percent fingered Iran.\n\nTurkey, with whom Israel has endured turbulent relations over recent years, has been more forthcoming in its desire to reinstate what was once a powerful regional alliance with Israel.\n\n\u201cPresident Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan for the first time in many years declared last week that Turkey needs Israel as a friend in the region,\u201d Turkish newspaper the Daily Sabah reported earlier this month. \u201cSecond, Erdo\u011fan strengthened his country's alliance with Saudi Arabia by establishing a strategic partnership council between the two countries.\u201d\n\nThat analysis of the potential for a new order in the region was echoed by Kara.\n\n\u201cI really believe we have a chance to make peace around us with all those in the region who oppose Iran,\u201d he said."}
-{"text": "The cemetery, a short drive east of Parliament Hill, already has dedicated sections for the RCMP, National Defence and Ottawa police\n\nOTTAWA \u2013 It looks like one of Canada\u2019s most historic graveyards is about to get a little, um, spookier.\n\nThe Canadian Security Intelligence Service wants to create a national burial site for its employees at Ottawa\u2019s Beechwood Cemetery.\n\nThe intelligence service and a society representing many former spies have approached Beechwood about reserving part of the venerable resting place for CSIS members and their families.\n\nThe cemetery, a short drive east of Parliament Hill, already has dedicated sections for the RCMP, National Defence and Ottawa police.\n\nThese areas are \u201can impressive and touching tribute to the service and sacrifices of Canada\u2019s men and women in uniform,\u201d CSIS director Michel Coulombe said in a letter to James Patterson, Beechwood\u2019s director of family services.\n\nA CSIS-specific section would be a \u201cwelcome and appropriate addition\u201d to the cemetery, Coulombe said in the July letter, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.\n\n\u201cA preliminary survey indicated a significant amount of interest among employees in purchasing a plot,\u201d Coulombe wrote following a May meeting between Patterson and backers of the plan.\n\n\u201cThe success of the endeavour will rely on careful and detailed planning of the site and monument.\u201d\n\nCoulombe suggested further discussion of the cemetery\u2019s offer of help in setting up a charitable fund to which people could donate money for the \u201cdevelopment of and improvement to\u201d the CSIS National Memorial Cemetery.\n\nThe project is \u201cstill at the initial stages,\u201d said CSIS spokeswoman Tahera Mufti.\n\nEstablished in 1873, Beechwood is the burial place of luminaries including prime minister Robert Borden, physicist Gerhard Herzberg, NDP leader Tommy Douglas and poet Archibald Lampman.\n\nSix years ago, Parliament declared it the National Cemetery of Canada.\n\nAll current and former employees, regardless of their job classification, would be eligible for burial in the CSIS cemetery, said Don Mahar, national president of the Pillar Society of spy service retirees.\n\nMahar already has a stone at Beechwood featuring the crests of former employers the RCMP, CSIS and the Communications Security Establishment \u2013 Canada\u2019s electronic spy agency \u2013 along with his wife\u2019s nursing school crest.\n\nIf CSIS employees were also former members of the RCMP Security Service, dissolved in 1984 when CSIS was created, they may choose to be buried in either the RCMP or CSIS cemetery, said Mahar, a driving force behind the project.\n\nOther possibilities include moving the existing stones of still-living members to the planned new CSIS section, or creating a special space for those who served with both the RCMP and CSIS, he added.\n\nAll who participate will be responsible for the purchase of their plot, gravestone and engraving, with no government subsidization, Mahar said.\n\nNo CSIS member has died in the performance of their duties in Canada or abroad, despite the dangers they face, he noted.\n\n\u201cBut the reality is that this could certainly change. Similar to the Canadian Forces and the RCMP, the men and women of CSIS wish to have a national memorial site where they and their family members can be laid to rest with colleagues.\u201d\n\nMahar hopes an agreement between CSIS, the Pillar Society and the Beechwood Cemetery Foundation will soon be ready for signing.\n\n\u201cThat will be a proud moment for us.\u201d"}
-{"text": "What Is the Meaning of Diaspora\n\nWatching the petals of a dandelion fly when the wind blows is mesmerizing. A moment ago they all were together and now you can see that some of them landed on a neighbor's cat, others flew far away, and some got stuck to your sleeve. The curious thing is that even these petals form small groups in different locations. This is how the laws of the universe work. Not surprisingly, the same laws apply to people. You may grow up in one place and then move to another country or continent in search for new adventures and a better life.\n\nThe assimilation process is long and often discouraging. To get through it and adapt to a new place, you start looking for those who came from the same country or even city. The cultural traditions, mentality, and religion are the things that bond you. This is how diaspora is formed. What is diaspora? The word's meaning defines people who do not live in their country of origin anymore but maintain their heritage in a new land. The reasons for leaving the country of origin can differ but the desire to save the feeling of a homeland is something the community shares. Big community of asians use fast essay writing services for educational needs.\n\nWhat Is Diaspora? Who Expats Are?\n\nWhat is the difference between these two phenomena? We are talking about people who left their country of origin and now live and work abroad. Isn't one term enough? Actually, it isn't. Expats are people who do not have the intention of maintaining their heritage. They are eager to assimilate and practice the cultural tradition of their new place of living. Those who form a diaspora, want to keep their own traditions either than learn the new ones and decide if they are relevant or not.\n\nTo draw an example, in the U.S. there are many subcultures like African-American, Mexican-American, Irish-American, and Indian-American. Diaspora is more of a multi-generational term, meaning that your parents, grandparents or even grand-grandparents moved to the country you now live in a long time ago. You might say that expats are a part of the diaspora - people who moved to another country but do not necessarily have plans to stay there or become citizens. Some give help with java homework to get payed well.\n\nThe Largest Diaspora\n\nLet's take a look at the diaspora from a global perspective. Obviously, there are countries that are (for some specific reasons) more attractive to live than others. The economic situation is often the case. If a person can't find a job or the maximum salary one can get is too low, moving abroad sounds like a good idea. Local and international wars and armed conflicts are also the legitimate reasons for a person to leave the country. Syrian immigrants are one of the recent examples. Overpopulation, lack of food, and many other unstable factors force people to search for happiness elsewhere.\n\nAdditionally, people may see more opportunities for their professional development abroad because of the inability of their home country to provide them with what they need. According to the UN report of 2015, India (15.6 million), Mexico (12.3 million), and Russia (10.6 million) are the countries with the world's largest diaspora. Almost all diasors at US use essay writer for you.\n\nSome can look at this stats with a negative connotation. In reality, people immigrating to another country often bring a lot of benefits to that country's economic growth. It is also interesting to look at the statistics showing the countries hosting the largest diaspora. The graph shows that the U.S. (46.6 million), Germany (12 million) and Russia (11.6 million) are the leaders here.\n\nThe World Is Changing\n\nPeople leave their birthplaces and start families in new countries and cities. Everything changes and everybody is looking for more attractive possibilities for personal and professional development. The recent years showed that the problem of refugees is real and that the legislative basis of the hosting countries needs improvement. Hopefully, the situation will change in the future and the world will feel the benefits of immigrants, expats, and diasporas."}
-{"text": "This is the third article in a four-part series on the upcoming Iraqi election by Ambassador Lukman Faily\n\nWith recent senior changes in United States President Donald Trump\u2019s administration and his appointments of new hawkish leaders, there are fears that U.S. relations with Baghdad may face serious challenges. More so with other changes that may take place by the removal of some senior bureaucrats from the Washington establishment. For example, the State Department may lose more influence than the Pentagon and the National Security Council, both of which are more concerned with Iran\u2019s central vision of Iraq and the region. The issue of the Popular Mobilization Forces is expected to become a controversial issue in the near future, and may adversely affect bilateral relationship between the U.S. and Iraq, including the financial support . This could affect Washington\u2019s urge for the necessary IMF and the World Bank cooperation with Iraq in the face of its economic development plight.\n\nThe new Trump administration appointments are likely to increase tensions in the region, with besieged Israeli and Iranian states. Iraq could once again become a turf for regional competition, which could see the Saudi-Iraqi rapprochement suffer as a result. The question then becomes whether Iraq is prepared with the level of maturity of its institutions, collective leadership and society to be an international balancing point that is necessary for the stability of the region. The demands of such a role are not wishful thinking, but need institutional, elitist and societal foundation. Each Iraqi party plays an integral role in enhancing the image of Iraq\u2019s willingness to be a calming factor for a troubled and tense region.\n\nWith regard to the new changes in Washington and its impact on its policies in the Middle East, there will be an increase in animosity towards Iran as a strong supporter of Israel\u2019s right wing, which it considers an untenable enemy. The integration of these two elements is likely to lead to the formulation of new policy recommendations for the Trump administration in our region, including in Iraq. Do not forget that U.S. efforts to transform the Middle East through active promotion of democracy does not seem to be part of the Trump administration\u2019s agenda. Instead, the approach under the banner of \u201cAmerica First\u201d, is clearly to articulate the pursuit of self-interest and individual U.S. national security goals and support for parties that are in line with Washington\u2019s policy objectives. The historical proverb of understanding the current situation is the Cold War hawks\u2019 view of the United States to international relations, where they governed the allies primarily in terms of global competition with the former Soviet Union.\n\nWe may see Washington\u2019s position requiring current and future Iraqi governments to take an unequivocal stand against Iran and its allies. We have not forgotten that Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi has so far managed to follow a relatively balanced policy that has made the United States and Iran relatively happy. If Washington forces Baghdad to choose, it is likely to disrupt this delicate balance. Here, the parties (Iraqi and regional stakeholders) advocating anti-Iran policies are likely to be heard more by the White House. It is also likely to lead to more intervention by both Washington and Tehran in the upcoming parliamentary election and the forming of the new government proceeding the election result. But the final outcome could result in more troubled relations between the Trump administration and the new Iraqi government; especially as a Da\u2019ish threat appears to have diminished and is no longer a top priority for the U.S.\n\nIt is important to recognize that the role of the next prime minister will be very important in determining the mechanisms of Washington\u2019s handling of Baghdad. On the American side, one of the most important indicators will be the extent of giving the next prime minister priority to strengthen the relationship with Washington. As for the Iraqi side, there is a real need to strengthen the Iraqi team on the American portfolio. The Washington variables are many and require the Iraqi government (from Baghdad, not just from our Embassy in Washington D.C.) to follow closely and communicate constantly in order not to misread international events, more so since we are at the heart of the storm, where Iraq likes it or not."}
-{"text": "On Sunday, the Pacers hosted the highly-popular Pacers FanJam, presented by CNO Financial Group, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Over 6,500 Pacers fans descended upon The Fieldhouse for a few hours of games, activities, autographs, and more.\n\nFrom 2:00-3:00 PM, autograph sessions were held with the Pacemates, Boomer, Pacers personalities and alumni players.\n\nThen at 3:00, Pacers television broadcaster Chris Denari introduced the 2016-17 Pacers staff and players to the crowd. The players took part in a 20-minute scrimmage, where they took turns entertaining the crowd with highlight-reel dunks.\n\nPHOTO GALLERY: FanJam 2016 \u00bb\n\nAfterwards, the players took part in a series of games. Rookie forward Georges Niang edged Joe Young in the 3-point contest, veteran big man Lavoy Allen scored a questionable win over Jeremy Evans in a game of tic-tac-toe, and Paul George prevailed over Monta Ellis and Al Jefferson in the fishing challenge.\n\nThe hour concluded with the ever-popular rookie show, hosted by Ellis and George. Three first-year members of the basketball staff performed songs for the crowd, while Niang donned a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume and impressed the crowd with the popular dance routine to \"JuJu On That Beat.\"\n\nThe players spent the final hour signing autographs for fans, making sure that all in attendance had an enjoyable ending to their night.\n\nThe Pacers open the 2016-17 regular season in just a few days. Indiana will welcome the Dallas Mavericks to The Fieldhouse on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 7:00 PM for Opening Night presented by Kroger. Before the game there will be a free pregame party presented by the IndyStar on Georgia Street and all fans in attendance for Opening Night presented by Kroger will receive a free Bobby \"Slick\" Leonard bobblehead. Learn More at Pacers.com/Opening Night \u00bb"}
-{"text": "The Riverside County Sheriff\u2019s Department this week began issuing wearable video cameras \u2013 on a voluntary basis \u2013 to deputies assigned to the Jurupa Station, say department and union officials.\n\nThe move drew immediate pushback from the deputies union, which has filed a lawsuit over the cameras\u2019 use.\n\nCameras will enhance officer safety, help in prosecuting and resolving cases, and promote professionalism and accountability, says a sheriff\u2019s statement issued as testing started Monday, March 16.\n\n\u201cThese devices are also expected to enhance community policing \u2026 and strengthen relationships with the public,\u201d the statement says. \u201cBut the sheriff \u2026 warns that they add complexity in fielding and are not a panacea in reducing liability or making incidents always clearer.\u201d\n\nUnion leaders sent a a letter later Monday to deputies who are members of the Riverside Sheriff\u2019s Association.\n\nThe association is not against the cameras, Executive Director Darryl Drott emphasized in his message to the membership. But union leaders continue to insist that the program is legally subject to negotiation because the cameras affect deputies\u2019 working conditions.\n\nIn October, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors approved spending $384,000 to buy 165 cameras to be used in a pilot program at the Jurupa Station.\n\nThe union filed a lawsuit Jan. 6 against the county, the Board of Supervisors, the Sheriff\u2019s Department and Sheriff Stan Sniff.\n\nWithout careful negotiation, union leaders caution, the cameras could unfairly jeopardize deputies after an officer-involved shooting, particularly if an officer who opened fire isn\u2019t given an opportunity to review the video before being questioned or required to submit a written report.\n\n\u201cWill your statement or report be as accurate as could be without a chance to see what the film shows or does not show?\u201d the union message asks. \u201cWhat if the film actually contradicts your account?\u201d\n\nIn a nutshell, the message says, it is legitimate for sheriff\u2019s management to ultimately decide whether deputies will be required to wear cameras.\n\n\u201cBut (the sheriff) has a corresponding duty to meet and confer with RSA over the effects of his decision on how our men and women do their jobs,\u201d the message says. \u201cThis is what RSA wants.\u201d\n\nNot so, says the Sheriff\u2019s Department.\n\n\u201cUpon learning that the department has issued hundreds of (body cameras) over the past 7 years, RSA recently withdrew and watered down its allegations in the lawsuit,\u201d according to the sheriff\u2019s statement.\n\nAnd allowing deputies to review video in the wake of an officer-involved shooting, the statement says, \u201cundermines the public credibility and legal objectivity of those investigations, in the department\u2019s view, allowing the deputy to be coached by having access to the evidence at hand.\u201d\n\nThe department contends that because this is a test program, negotiations aren\u2019t required.\n\n\u201cThis Jurupa Station test will be our largest and most concerted effort to date \u2026 with the newly selected camera model and attendant data storage mechanism,\u201d Assistant Sheriff Lee Wagner wrote in an email Monday. \u201cThe Department is still a ways off from mandating their use throughout the agency and potentially involving nearly 3,000 personnel some day.\u201d\n\nYet, the Jurupa Station covers a sprawling area.\n\nIncluded are the cities of Eastvale, Jurupa Valley and Norco, along with the unincorporated communities of Home Gardens, Coronita, Highgrove, El Cerrito and Lake Hills.\n\nAs approved by the Board of Supervisors, funding for the project comes from the sheriff\u2019s Asset Forfeiture Accounts, without the use of any new general fund money, sheriff\u2019s officials say."}
-{"text": "india\n\nUpdated: Sep 21, 2017 10:15 IST\n\nIn July, in front of a roomful of policy wonks, government officials and journalists, Union health secretary CK Mishra made an honest acknowledgement \u2014 there are serious problems with India\u2019s public health statistics.\n\nFor one, he said, data from the latest round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) \u2014 the major source for detailed health statistics in India, conducted under the aegis of the ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) itself \u2014 is unreliable for certain states.\n\nOn top of that, the Health Management Information System (HMIS), which Mishra called \u201ca data mine\u201d, is not effectively used. \u201cWe use very little of it in the planning process\u201d due to lack of expertise to read and understand the data, he said.\n\nThe health secretary\u2019s statement raises concerns: how can the country formulate evidence-based policy or plan wisely for the future without credible data? And Mishra, a 34-year veteran of the Indian Administrative Service who was appointed to head the MoHFW last year, is not alone. A recent paper by the Health Team of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi, found that the country\u2019s health data was unreliable, irregularly published, and failed to cover a broad-enough population.\n\n.insight_wrap {width:auto; padding:10px; font-family:\"Open Sans\"; border:1px dashed #999; float:left; background-color:#F8F4E4}\n\n.insight_h1 {width:100%; font-size:180%; font-weight:bold; float:left}\n\n.insight_h2 {width:100%; font-size:130%; margin-top:10px; font-weight:bold; float:left}\n\n.insight_body ul {width:100%; margin:0; padding:0; float:left}\n\n.insight_body ul li {width:95%; margin-left:15px; margin-bottom:5px; list-style: disc; float:left}\n\n.insight_cont1 {width:70%; float:left}\n\n.insight_cont2 {width:30%; float:left}\n\n.insight_img {width:100%; float:right}\n\n@media only screen and (max-width: 360px) {\n\n.insight_cont1 {width:100%; float:left}\n\n.insight_cont2 {width:100%; float:left}\n\n}\n\nFACT CHECK Data from NSSO is central to policy making in India. It is the official source of key socio-economic indicators collected viz large-scale representative sample surveys. Field Operations Division is responsible for the collection of primary data for NSSO surveys Manpower crunch hinders the office from taking up new surveys or increase size of existing surveys What is the National Statistical Commission doing? Set up 5 committees to modernise statistical system Three expected to go into issues of data collection, compilation and aggregation and the other two will look at web-based reporting and integration of granular data with the aggregate data\n\nPROBLEMS GALORE\n\nAnd such problems are not restricted to the health sector alone. The entire Indian data ecosystem needs improvement. Former RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao has stated that monetary policy decisions often go astray because of erroneous data provided by the government. The debate on the reliability of India\u2019s macroeconomic data, GDP and IIP numbers, for instance, remains unsettled. At a time when unemployment \u2014 or rather, underemployment \u2014 is a key socio-economic concern, economists cannot measure the problem\u2019s magnitude because they do not have credible figures and surveys. India\u2019s agricultural statistics have also come under the scanner. Talk about crime, and all you have is aggregated data from FIRs \u2014 no official crime victimisation surveys have been instituted yet.\n\nTo be sure, every data set comes with caveats that must be considered when making interpretations. But some failings appear to be a standard characteristic of Indian data sets.\n\nTo begin with, there isn\u2019t enough data. The data that does exists is sometimes unreliable but is used anyway because there is no alternative. Several important data sets are released with a huge time lag. Others are missing granular districtlevel estimates. If such estimates are present, they are not always used for policy making or governance. And even when data sets are good and people want to use them, there may be too few who understand how to work with them, as Mishra said about HIMS.\n\nTaken together, these shortcomings amount to an Indian statistical ecosystem that falls short of the needs of the world\u2019s largest democracy.\n\nMODES OF DATA COLLECTION\n\nThere are two major modes of data collection: administrative, which refers to data collected as a result of an organisation\u2019s daily operations (think of patient registrations at a hospital or new accounts opened at a bank); and surveys, which are based on how a part of a population (what statisticians call a \u2018sample\u2019) responds to a set of questions.\n\nPC Mahalanobis, the statistician credited for laying the foundations of the data systems of independent India, \u201cfocused on creating credible data sets from representative sample surveys,\u201d says a Mint essay which traced the history of Indian statistical system.\n\nBut Mahalanobis\u2019s preference for surveys came at the expense of data collection at the administrative level, the essay argued, and may have undermined the government\u2019s ability to collect regular, reliable data.\n\n\u201cInstead of being sparingly used for purposes where there was no alternative to sampling, sampling became the first choice of technique for collecting data.\u201d Sometimes, surveys are the only way to capture data. Economic statistics, for example, cannot be collected at the administrative level because of the huge size of the Indian economy\u2019s informal sector, which employs around 90% of the country\u2019s workforce, says Pronab Sen, former chief statistician of India.\n\nYet India faces challenges to conducting good surveys a population of more than a billion people, relatively high rates of illiteracy, and dependence on the informal economy that simply do not exist in much of the rest of the world, says Sen.\n\nVACANCY ISSUES\n\nThe government also employs too few people to carry out regular and robust surveys. The National Sample Survey Office\u2019s (NSSO) field operations division, which is responsible for collecting primary socio-economic data, has around 24% of positions vacant for the posts of junior and senior statistical officers.\n\nThe NSSO\u2019s critics do not realise how hard it is to undertake actual data collection on the ground, Sonalde Desai, professor of sociology at the University of Maryland who also conducts the India Human Development Survey (IHDS), said in an email. Without adequate internal staff, the agency must contract with outside agencies.\n\n\u201cThis is what both IHDS and NFHS do, and only we know how difficult it is to maintain quality. Some of the agencies we work with are fantastic, and some are struggling themselves. This requires enormous supervision, and if one slips there, the data can be highly questionable,\u201d Desai said.\n\n\u201cThis hit-and-miss approach is not acceptable for data that form the core of our policy-building process.\u201d\n\nExperts say that technology can be leveraged to improve data collection systems. Private data collection agencies are already making use of apps and tools to conduct surveys electronically, rather than on paper. But that comes with its own challenges. Richa Verma, who leads the research and analysis team at Social Cops, a data intelligence company, says that better design is key to make it easier for people to adopt technology.\n\nWhile working with the government and various non-profits, Verma found that many of its trainees have never used a smartphone. Data collection technology must be made simple, and appropriate training must be conducted, so that anyone can be trained to use it."}
-{"text": "culture The National Post Goes Mobile-ish\n\nThe Post decides that what it needs is a food truck, but with Christie Blatchford playing the role of Zane Caplansky.\n\nIn an effort to reach out to readers they once took for granted, newspapers are on a quest to innovate. Today, the National Post announced its latest experiment to engage would-be readers: For the next six weeks, it will send out a food truck armed with newspapers, snacks, and columnists. And so today marked another fine moment for journalism, with Christie Blatchford playing the role of a scampy newsie in a Post truck parked near Ryerson University.\n\nFree coffee, breakfast & @nationalpost newspapers @ Yonge/Gould from 8-10. Meet Christie Blatchford @blatchkiki at 9:00 am! #npsummertour \u2014 NP Summer Tour 2015 (@npsummertour) July 21, 2015\n\nThe Post truck has its merits, if you ask the over-eager MBA graduate who appears to have written the press release:\n\nNational Post is jumping on the food truck craze with the launch of its \u201cGet to Know Us\u201d summer marketing campaign designed to engage readers and invite them to get to know us better. The innovative brand positioning and multiplatform campaign will leverage print, experiential, digital, social and website channels to promote National Post\u2019s offerings across all brand platforms: Print, Digital, and Mobile\u2026 Readers will also have the opportunity to meet celebrated National Post columnists who will be along for the ride at various stops.\n\nHow very 2011! We imagine the pitch for this idea went something like, \u201cYou see, it\u2019s like Uber, but for newspapers! We gotta hit the streets, and do some real reporting brand-building.\u201d\n\nSomeone got paid money for this. As the Post will tell us, capitalism is great, you guys.\n\nBut we should keep some perspective here. After all, the real victims in this corporate exercise are Post columnists who have to slum it with the Metro-reading masses. And for Blatchford, this isn\u2019t even the most humiliating newspaper assignment the poor soul has done. That distinction likely came when she was a young Star reporter writing about a fad diet where she only ate bananas for a week. In the end, she did not enjoy the \u201cyellow devils.\u201d\n\nThe highly paid columnist has come a long way since then, even if she isn\u2019t always the most liked. So if you see Blatch idling in a truck downtown, looking as disgusted as she must have been on day six of the banana diet, then make sure to give her a hug. She deserves it.\n\nWith files from Jamie Bradburn."}
-{"text": "4.2 / 5 ( 87 votes )\n\nNowadays there is a trend that people want to use multiple accounts on one phone or they want to have two similar apps on a single device. Therefore, I have found out an app which is known as \u201cVirtual Space Mod Apk\u201d for Android.\n\nOn most of the electronic gadgets, there is no option to run one same software for two different processes at the same time. Further, it is quite impossible to do that because sometimes according to most of the apps it is against their rules and policies.\n\nHowever, technology has been upgraded so much and now almost everything is possible to do within a few minutes.\n\nNow you might get an idea about what kind of application we are talking here in this article. If you still don\u2019t know what kind of app it is and for what kind of purpose you can use it then read this post.\n\nBecause I have tried my best to illustrate every aspect of this tool here on this page. Further, I am hopeful that it will help you to get what you were searching for. However, don\u2019t forget to share this informative article as well as the Apk with your friends and colleagues.\n\nAbout Virtua Space Mod\n\nVirtual Space Mod Apk is an Android tool or application that provides or create virtual and extra space to have two applications of one same app. In other terms, it is known as cloning where you try to create the same thing or product which absolutely resembles with the original.\n\nSo, that application gives you the same features and looks similar to every aspect. That is how people use such tools to run the same application in two ways or with two accounts.\n\nIt is a very useful and interesting tool that can help you to create a clone of Messenger, Facebook, Instagram, Game like PUBG mobile and so on. It is quite the safest way and you don\u2019t get banned from those mega-platforms.\n\nDetails of APK\n\nName Virtual Space Mod Version v1.2.0 GG Size 6.96 MB Developer Rinzz Co. Ltd. Package Name com.rinzz.wdf Price Free Required Android 4.2 and Up\n\nWhat is Cloning?\n\nThis term clone is specially used in medical science or it has been taken from that field. Basically, it is a process of creating identical or copies. So, in terms of Virtual Space Mod Apk, it fetches all the features from an app and creates a copy or identical of that software.\n\nWhile it also provides extra virtual space for those apps to keep them separately so your device could not detect.\n\nWhy use?\n\nThere may be so many reasons for which you can use it. I have also provided a few similar applications previously on this website which you can also download for your Android devices. But there is one difference between this one and previously given tools.\n\nActually, most of those tools only allow you to open the clone apps from within its interface. Whereas in Virtual Space it creates the whole app right on your phone so you don\u2019t need to open the creator application to run those clones.\n\nThere are a lot of gamers who use it for game hacking purposes which is no doubt an illegal activity. But still, people are using it mostly for the hacking purpose.\n\nEspecially, people use it to run multiple PUBG Mobile accounts. Further, they use it to hack PUBG through their fake accounts and scripts so they can save their original accounts from being hacked.\n\nVirtual Space for PUBG\n\nAs I have already mentioned that Virtual Space for PUBG is one of the most prominent factors for the usage of this powerful application. Because there two main ways through which they can exploit the tool. However, I have mentioned those two options in the above paragraph.\n\nBut here I just want to make it clear that one cannot use it for hacking purpose until and unless they don\u2019t install other supportive files. But they can only be able to run two PUBG accounts on the same phone.\n\nSo, in order to hack the game, they need a few other tools and files apart from this app, such as Game Guardian, PUBG Hack Scripts and Strange VPN Apk.\n\nHowever, there is an alternative for that if this tool is not working for and that is Veteran Apk. So, it is also used to create clones and you can use it too.\n\nScreenshots of the App\n\nKey Features\n\nThere are tons of amazing features that Virtual Space Mod Apk offers to its users. But you cannot come to know about those if you don\u2019t try it on your phones by yourself.\n\nTherefore, I recommend you to use it first by yourself then decide whether it is good or not. However, I have experienced it on my own devices multiple time and came up with these mentioned features. So, let\u2019s have a look at what you are going to get from here.\n\nThere are no charges for its usage and you can also download it for free from this article.\n\nIt has a simple and user-friendly interface so you can use it without any experience.\n\nYou can run multiple accounts on Instagram, Facebook, and other social networking sites.\n\nCreate clone software as much as you can but there is one limit for each app.\n\nIt also allows you to hack PUBG Mobile, Garena Free Fire, and Fortnite.\n\nIt has premium features to get maximum output from that amazing tool.\n\nIt offers you to have Avatar Mode where you have further two option of stable and speed mode.\n\nEnable notifications to get notifications for each clone or identical app.\n\nIt also allows you to create a quick shortcut for each cloned software.\n\nThere you have the option to enable a fake location to run a various process so you don\u2019t need any extra VPN.\n\nThere is a safety lock for you to keep all your applications private and safe from strangers.\n\nAnd there are many more to explore in Free as well as PRO or VIP Apk.\n\nConclusion\n\nIt can be used for the illegal or unethical activates but we the owners of this website are not responsible for those actions. But it is specially designed for legal purposes and it is a legal tool so I recommend you to use it.\n\nSo, if you are interested to download the latest version of the Virtual Space Mod Apk for Android, then please click on below download button.\n\nDirect Download Link"}
-{"text": "Polls show that over 75 percent of Americans support Open Debates. So why do debates continue to exclude candidates?\n\n\n\nIt is time that we take action to stop this fraud that the corporate parties are perpetuating.\n\nThe Commission on President Debates is a veiled cover for the Democratic and Republican National Committees charged with preventing an actual competition of real ideas.\n\n\n\nJoin us in demanding open debates in your community, online, and at the sites of the 2016 debates.\n\nTogether, Americans who care about grassroots democracy and a rigorous debate of ideas will stand up. The DNC and RNC can no longer lie to us about our options with fake political theatre run by their puppet debate commission.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n7 Ways to Build the Movement for Open Debates\n\n\n\n\n\n1. Sign the Open the Debates Petition\n\nSign the petition to open the debates, and then share with your friends. The petition, with notable endorses, urges Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to participate in four-way debates with Jill Stein and Gary Johnson.\n\n\n\n2. Take the Pledge of Non-Violent Civil Disobedience\n\nTake the pledge to resist the theft of our democracy by participating in protests to open the debate process or engage in serious, peaceful, dignified civil disobedience. Read the full Call to Action letter by 2012 Green Party Vice Presidential candidate Cheri Honkala.\n\n\n\n3. Write a Letter to the Editor\n\nCompose a letter for your local newspaper explaining why Jill & Ajamu should be included in the debates. Use the talking points to assist you.\n\n\n\n4. Contact the Commission on Presidential Debate Board Members\n\nThe Board of Directors runs the Commission and has the ability to include all candidates who could win enough electoral votes to become President. However, they do not provide a way to reach individual members. These public figures can be reached in a variety of ways on social media, through their places of employment, or other places where they sit on the board. They uphold this rigged system, and we have a right to reach them and have them answer our questions.\n\n\n\n5. Find Grassroots Events in Your Area\n\nOur Grassroots Events Calendar has user-submitted events across the country. From handing out Open the Debates flyers at the farmers market, to phonebanking parties, you can submit and find events near you. These events may also include demonstrations outside of TV stations to demand equal coverage for Jill & Ajamu or outside of locations affiliated with Commission board members such as universities where they work or sit on the Board of Trustees.\n\n\n\n6. Phonebank to Raise Debate Awareness\n\nOur 1 Million Calls for Jill & Ajamu campaign currently focuses on calling people to encourage them to participate in grassroots organizing for the debates--by phonebanking, writing letters to the editor, online activism, and local events.\n\n\n\n7. Educate Your Friends & Neighbors on the Fraudulent Debates\n\nRead the history of of how the League of Women Voters withdrew from hosting the debates because of increasing control of the Republican and Democratic National Committee to silence real discussion of ideas. Find op-eds and articles written by prominent activists and thinkers on how the CPD silences democracy. See the latest polls that show Americans want inclusive debates. Share this information in person and online."}
-{"text": "Reportajes 24\n\nReportajes 24: Geotermia, la energ\u00eda natural que podr\u00eda definir nuestro futuro\n\nSi Chile quiere seguir creciendo, necesitar\u00e1 nuevas fuentes de energ\u00eda. Las plantas a carb\u00f3n ya no forman parte del futuro, y de ah\u00ed sobresale el potencial de un recurso natural, limpio y renovable que est\u00e1 debajo de nosotros. Hablamos de la Geotermia, que justamente usa el calor de la tierra. Viajamos hasta Italia, el primer pa\u00eds en utilizar este tipo de energ\u00eda, una que est\u00e1 en la mira de nuestras autoridades para las pr\u00f3ximas d\u00e9cadas."}
-{"text": "PHILADELPHIA \u2014 From the first game in 1890, through decades and generations, the Army-Navy football series represented high-caliber competition between evenly matched teams. It does not stand for that anymore.\n\nNavy appears to be the only team still worthy of the grand stage after pounding Army, 34-7, on Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field for its record 12th consecutive victory, extending its advantage to 58-49-7 over all. Neither program had won more than five games in a row before the recent domination by the Midshipmen.\n\nKeenan Reynolds, Navy\u2019s superb sophomore quarterback, was named the game\u2019s most valuable player after he carried 30 times for 136 yards and 3 touchdowns, giving him 29 rushing scores this season. Ricky Dobbs of Navy (2009) and Collin Klein of Kansas State (2011) had shared the N.C.A.A. single-season record with 27. Reynolds also caught a pass for a 2-point conversion and set the program record for points in a single season with 176. Bill Ingram\u2019s mark of 174 points had stood since 1917. Navy still has one game remaining, against Middle Tennessee State in the Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 30.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not too worried about records because that is when you press and when mistakes start to happen,\u201d Reynolds said. \u201cI try to let the game come to me.\u201d"}
-{"text": "The number of electronic means to communicate I have is directly correlated with how isolated and alone I feel\n\nATDT914156129913\n\nWelcome to GSORG conferencing, please enter your access code now.\n\nIf you call me, you hear \u201cWelcome to the phone system!\u201d in a text-to-speech voice generated on a mac before being greeted with a menu. One of the options just says \u201cpress \u20183\u2019 to do something\u201d\u2026it used to do nothing, now it goes to my conferencing system. There is an entire \u201clanguage\u201d for designing this menu, editable and usable only via terminal or terminal emulator. Why did I do this? Why does it amuse me? \u201cThis is just one system! You said you had an entire phone network, Maddy!\u201d. Come along for the story and I\u2019ll tell you all about the hobby that accidentally made me money.\n\nThe Bell System, people using technology to help keep down costs and improve service. Keeping your phone system the best in the world.\n\nFor about forty years, my grandfather worked for Western Electric, the manufacturing arm of the phone company. He worked assembling and testing originally electromechanical telephone switching equipment at the Columbus Works plant in Columbus, OH. As he is a bit of a role model/important parental figure\u2026I wonder what got me in to electronics and telephones? ;) Mind, I was born well after he retired and a bit over a decade after the Modification of Final Judgement so I did not get the play with the phone network in the electromechanical age.\n\nMOVX T1,EPSOPN ;GET PORTAL OPEN FLAG\n\nThe \u201ctitle\u201d of this section is taken from ETHSER.MAC from DEC\u2019s TOPS-10 7.04 Monitor Source Code , a topic that won\u2019t quite be relevant until a much later section.\n\nI gained an interest in computer networking\u2026don\u2019t recall how or why but it started with buying a Cisco 7200 router off of ebay and assembling it (after a vintage computing friend gave me a CPU module)\u2026from the various parts. The I/O Controller (has the serial ports and management ethernet along with the boot flash cards) for mine was damaged\u2026and I had no easy way to load the boot software to it along with being impatient\u2026so I did what any normal person in the situation would do: I asked on IRC.\n\nI\u2019d already had some experience in the vintage computing fields (my deadname has, er a reputation\u2026that isn\u2019t necessarily a bad one!) so doing weird stuff with connecting RS-232 devices back-to-back and doing ppp wasn\u2019t exactly too far-out for me. Someone I met on IRC (who would later employ me!) was impressed by my eagerness to do this (along with my success\u2026). Of course, this didn\u2019t end up solving my problem whatsoever as the configuration NVRAM for the board was completely shot and for some silly reason, the OS requires that ;)\n\nFast forward a bit, and the guy I mention above who will be known as \u201cBill\u201d for the rest of this story hired me to do work for him. One of his large clients was an ISP/hosted VoIP provider based out of Canada\u2026I was contracted to them to do remote sysadmin work (while I was living in Ohio). I furthered my networking skills and gained a LOT more VoIP knowledge from this job (along with beginning to acquire far too many phones\u2026) which furthered my already-high interest in phones and telephony. This job didn\u2019t last too long as the client ran out of money\u2026but that\u2019s again a different story. Through all this time and until the next section I had been wanting a phone system to play with\u2026embedded systems fascinated me and high-reliability ones especially so. I had been wanting to buy phone systems to play with (AT&T Merlin stuff, specifically) however this all got a bit delayed when I lost the job and\u2026fled to the San Francisco Bay Area (maybe I should write an article about that really sad and stressful story. Hmm.)\n\nWalk-ins welcome (please call first)\n\nThe \u201ctitle\u201d of this \u201csection\u201d is taken from a poster in a laundromat near the friend\u2019s place I was staying at when I first got the SF Bay Area, which bears no real relevance to anything but to this day still amuses me.\n\nSo! I\u2019m in the Bay Area now, landed a job at a crappy managed IT provider (CEO would call you out in front of everyone if you screwed up) that I quit after about a month. Said job at least trapped me in San Jose where I stayed for two years (working another, better, but still article-worthy job) that allowed me many easy treks to WeirdStuff Warehouse to acquire far more useless junk than I could ever need or want.\n\nAt one point, I met a friend via Twitter with a hobby of volunteering at a telephone museum who had a Lucent/AT&T/Avaya Definity PBX. I eventually decided I wanted one. One night at $NonTerrribleSanJoseJob a coworkerfriend and I decided to take a weeknight run to WeirdStuff\u2026the procurement associate (who knew me from bringing a friend by who ended up buying pallet worth of stuff\u2026) answered my questions as to if he had any interesting telephone systems. My ears perked up when he said a large 3-cabinet Definity had come in. I bought a single cabinet that evening for $100 and my friend helped me lug it home.\n\n2w5d: ISDN Se1/0:23 Q931: RX <- SETUP pd = 8 callref = 0x66AD\n\nNow I had an Avaya Definity, some phones to go with it, a T1 card, and a Cisco router that would do a voice PRI. I proceeded to do what any girl would do\u2026and made the Cisco router bridge a voice T1 to a SIP trunk so allow inbound/outbound calling from the Definity to work. This was the start of my phone network and a very complex journey. I would study and learn this system\u2026and later attempt to deploy a similar setup at a client site after I quit $NonTerrribleSanJoseJob to become a contractor (said deployment failed, as the old Mitel PBX insisted that * was a + and that # was an @\u2026something the Cisco router did not like. Amusingly an identical deployment would later work as their deployment didn\u2019t require parsing of # and *.).\n\nMy lease was running out and I had been wanting to learn about Nortel PBXes\u2026so I would search ebay for them. I found a local seller that was selling an empty chassis and processor interface that allowed me simply do local pickup saving a lot in shipping costs, figuring I would buy all the other modules once I got more money.\n\nForbidden Island\n\nSometimes love, it would sustain you\n\nI ended up moving to Alameda, CA and dragging all my phone systems along\u2026everything began to exponentially grow from here.\n\nI upgraded my T1 routers to a newer model, I had a VM doing complex SIP trunking, call routing, and diagnostic tone generation\u2026said system got named \u201cyate-tandem\u201d as it functioned like a normal tandem/class-4 telephone switch in the public phone network\u2026not processing calls directly but routing between end-office switches. The Cisco switches also got such nice names as \u201ccisco-tandem\u201d and \u201ccisco-co (central office)\u201d based on what classof public network switch they most pretended to be.\n\nThe Nortel got a T1 too! Now cisco-tandem was routing between two different PBXes, both with voice PRIs, however the story did not stop there\u2026not even close. I work from home, and Comcast\u2019s service is, well, what you\u2019d expect from Comcast. So i ended up with two different ISPs\u2026both providing a phone line of some sort\u2026I also got a normal POTS line from AT&T to see what noise on ISP2\u2019s line was like.\n\nNow I have five external trunks. Two SIP (separate providers!), Comcast\u2019s VoIPish, Sonic\u2019s VoIP, and AT&T POTS service. Each terminates is a slightly different way. The SIP are handled by cisco-tandem routing to yate-tandem, Comcast and AT&T are connected to the Definity analogue trunk card, the Sonic terminates on cisco-tandem and connected to the Nortel Meridian over the ISDN PRI.\n\nStill with me? It gets more complex! I then decided I needed voicemail, an IP trunk to a friend in the UK, and an IP trunk to a friend in the North Bay. So the Definity got a copy of Audix running on an old Pentium III and the Meridian got a CallPilot card. Both systems also needed to have a recorded announcement card. The Definity got a voice-over-the-LAN card, and the Meridian got a MIRAN card (MeridIan Recorded ANnouncement) to play its hold music and not much else.\n\nSo, now I have two four-wire phone cords running in to my bedroom with a digital phone connected to each system on/near my desk.\n\nThe Definity has these modules: Processor, Tone/Clock, CO Trunk (for standard phone company trunks coming in), T1, C-LAN (network card, basically), IP Media Processor (for VoIP phones), Digital Line (for digital phones like my VFD-containing 8434DX+), Announcement (the recorded announcement card playing silly recordings and music), another Digital Line Card, Analogue line card (for standard phone network phones)\n\nThe Meridian has these modules: Processor, T1, MIRAN (recorded announcement), Digital Line (for Nortel-specific phones), Universal Trunk card (for standard phone company trunks coming in), Analog line card, CallPilot (voicemail and menus), and finally the MICB\u2026a conference bridge card.\n\n(the \u201ctitle\u201d of this section is a reference to the song I always use for testing my trunks and lines)\n\nHere are some photos\u2026\n\nMy desk\n\nCable management done with love.\n\nI have several more phone systems not mentioned\u2026that are sporadically connected. NEC, Toshiba Strata XI, Shoretel, AT&T Spirit, Asterisk\u2026etc.\n\nCause i = 0x8190 \u2014 Normal call clearing\n\nIn closing, to fight severe depression and feelings of isolation\u2026I focused all my time and energy in to interconnecting and learning phone systems and it has helped me cope\u2026\n\nbut I still feel alone."}
-{"text": "Syria crisis: Rebels condemn opposition coalition Published duration 29 May 2013\n\nimage caption Syrian rebels accuse the National Coalition of failing the revolution\n\nRebels on the ground in Syria have launched a blistering attack on the Syrian opposition coalition outside the country.\n\nA statement issued by the Revolutionary Movement in Syria said the coalition had failed to represent the Syrian revolution.\n\nThe criticism comes amid Russian and US efforts to arrange a peace conference on Syria in June.\n\nAn emergency UN debate on Syria was being held in Geneva on Wednesday.\n\nThe joint statement by four leading rebel groups inside Syria says the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (SC) is unable to fulfil its obligations due to \"ongoing discord\".\n\nA meeting of National Coalition members in Turkey has been marked by sharp divisions and a failure to agree on who should represent them at the June conference in Geneva.\n\n\"This negativity,\" the statement goes on \"has led to the blatant interference of international and regional parties without respect to the national will.\"\n\nIssued in the name of the Revolutionary Movement, the statement called for at least half the Coalition's leadership bodies to be made up of \"revolutionary forces\".\n\nIt is the clearest sign yet of the total disarray of the opposition leadership, as it faces the challenge posed by the Russian and American call to negotiate with the Syrian regime, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut.\n\nGeneva debate\n\nMember states of the UN Human Rights Council are meeting to consider a resolution condemning human rights violations by the Syrian government and the use of \"foreign combatants\" in Qusair, as fighting around the strategic western town intensifies.\n\nThe resolution - drafted by Qatar, along with the US and Turkey - also calls for immediate access for UN aid agencies.\n\nThe \"foreign combatants\" are implied to be the Lebanese Shia movement, Hezbollah, who support the Syrian government. Qatar is widely believed to be supporting opposition forces, some of them also foreign.\n\nAs if to underline the divisions among foreign powers over the Syrian conflict, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, strongly criticised the draft resolution.\n\nHe accused the US of \"actively promoting this extremely unwholesome initiative\" and said it could undermine joint efforts to convene the June conference on ending the two-year conflict.\n\nMr Lavrov told Russian TV there was no alternative to a peace conference: \"For this to happen, everyone has to work honestly, and not allow double standards - backing the conference and supporting this initiative in word, but then in deed taking steps that, in essence, are designed to undermine this proposal.\"\n\nStarting the day's discussions in Geneva, UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay warned that the Syrian conflict was spinning out of control.\n\n\"The increasing number of foreign fighters crossing Syria's borders to support one side or the other is further fuelling the sectarian violence and the situation is beginning to show worrying signs of destabilising the region as a whole,\" she said.\n\nSeparately, representatives from 40 countries are expected to attend a conference in the Iranian capital, Tehran, Iranian officials were quoted as saying in local media.\n\nEU embargo\n\nInternational tensions over the Syrian conflict have increased further following an EU decision on Monday not to renew an arms embargo on Syria - a position Washington has backed.\n\nThough EU ministers said there were no immediate plans to arm rebels in Syria, the UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has insisted there is nothing to stop nations doing so before a 1 August EU review of the situation in the country.\n\nIn response, Russia - a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad - said it would go ahead with deliveries of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, and that the arms would help deter foreign intervention.\n\nThe S-300 is a highly capable surface-to-air missile system that, as well as targeting aircraft, has the capacity to engage ballistic missiles.\n\nmedia caption Unverified footage, apparently filmed by pro-government fighters, shows houses and cars on fire\n\nThis has in turn provoked the ire of Israel, which fears the weapons could end up in the hands of its Syrian rebels condemn coalition enemy Hezbollah."}
-{"text": "As the far right begins to rise in the United States, what is the real threat that they hold?\n\nThe numbers quickly broke three hundred as the Rose City Antifa called for an action to stop the White Man\u2019s March in the spring of 2014. Under the now common banner of taglines like \u201cAnti-Racism is a Code Word for Anti-White\u201d and \u201cStop White Genocide,\u201d the White Man\u2019s March was a poorly constructed idea for white nationalists to rally around. The event was pushed by members of the American Freedom Party in Portland, though as the counter-protester\u2019s numbers swelled it became clear that the far right had skipped town. It was true, actually, as the main caller for the march spoke on The White Voice, a now defunct white nationalist podcast network, about how they headed up to Spokane, Washington. They then went on to brag about their massive turnout and banner drop. There were less than a dozen in total.\n\nWith numbers like these seeming increasingly dismal for many of these open neo-Nazi actions, the question should be rightly asked what kind of actual risk do neo-fascists hold? There has always been the obvious one, as was mentioned in Movement of Long Knives and will be discussed in a later essay, that for the militant skinhead and Ku Klux Klan factions, the risk is with disorganized bits of random extreme violence. This is a very real, if dwindling, threat, and will always be a small part of the racist right. When it comes to the more organized and \u201cintellectual\u201d far right, what potential do they actually have?\n\nThey certainly are not going to sway electoral politics in any meaningful way, which is actually quite contrary to the rhetoric the left usually uses when discussing the threat of the racist right. While there are some connections of what\u2019s left of the paleoconservative and paleolibertarian Republican establishment, who will be focusing on immigration in the coming years, but this is a clouded connection at best. Websites like VDare link together anti-immigrationists from the mainstream to the white nationalist fringes, but any explicit connections between people or ideas from the fascist edge will be the death knell for any politician. Just ask House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who was publicly roasted after it came to light that he spoke at the European-American Unity and Rights Organization organized by David Duke. There were, in previous years, a minor connection between those on the conservative side of the party and the less militant white nationalist organizations. People like Mike Huckabee even spoke at the conferences for organizations like the Council of Conservative Citizens, but today they would never be caught dead at one of these events.(1) In response to being abandoned by the conservative establishment, most of these groups have begun to likewise abandon hope for the conventional electoral sphere entirely.\n\nTo put it straight, while racism is still alive and well in American politics, open fascist rhetoric is not.\n\nThe threat from fascist groups could then be in the general social sphere, where their ideas can influence the majority of public opinion. This, again, seems doubtful while the public face of racism today is one that is implicit to the social structures and less one that is openly advocated. Instead, ideas of ethnic pluralism and equality have, in name only, won out in the public conversation. This does not mean that they have actually been implemented in the American system, which would be functionally impossible to do as capitalism drives inequality into the heart of our communities. Instead, idea of publicly advocating inequality and racism has become socially unacceptable. It just is not cool to argue for an ethnostate on CNN.\n\nSo why are we continuing a battle against fascism as a social idea and political force? Why do we fight?\n\nWhen It\u2019s Broke, They Offer the Fix\n\nFascism, today, is an integrated philosophy that takes on numerous titles, like white nationalism, ethnic nationalism, ethnopluralism, neo-reaction, radical traditionalism, identitarianism, and many others. The ideas that are center remain ethnic tribalism, masculanism, authoritarianism, hierarchy and inequality. While there are differences in political, religious, and social structures, the core values and ideas remain constant.\n\nWhere this ideological force has led itself in the 21st century is to exist in points of social fracture rather than to insert itself into dominant social institutions. This means that fascism is being targeted at radicalism of all sorts and towards the possibility of a social collapse. Within what many call the \u201csuit and tie\u201d fascist crowd in the United States, the battle they are waging is over the fate of radicalism itself, rather than the country as a whole.\n\nThe key element here is that fascism presents itself, and honestly believes itself to be, against the current \u201csystem.\u201d This system, which we can leave completely undefined here, is the complex order that results in what you see around you. For those on the radical left, who are steeped in organizing and theory, this can be see as the result of class and social hierarchy, the developments of late capitalism, the bourgeois state, and the rest. But this is not a natural development for everyone who begins a process of dissent. Instead, the miseries that are experienced in daily life, the beauracracies and poverties, the alienation and desperation, all are the result of a complex set of forces working against their best interests. People on the verge of this radicalization are often looking for iconoclastic, revolutionary ideas that can both explain the current order in a deep and meaningful way, while also showing a transformative option that completely reorganizes society. This orientation can exist almost supra political in that it is not necessarily assigned a political ideology, yet it is more guttural and a response to the commonly understood failures of the system. Often times there are critiques shared by both the far left and far right, such as of international finance, though the values that drives such critiques are radically different. What is needed then is to have the ideological gap filled, and this is where fascists today are finding their niche.\n\nThere are a lot of reasons while fascist ideas have been provided an open space or any legitimacy to fill these ideological spaces. One of them is the left\u2019s position within the current order of things. The first thing in this discussion that needs to be acknowledged is the success the historic left has had on reshaping the values in America. While avoiding an actual egalitarian society, we have crafted an almost universal value set that supports ideas like equality, democracy, individual freedoms, and diversity on instinct. These ideas are shared openly and must have lip service paid to them by everyone in polite society if they are to be seen as decent. This does not mean, however, that they have to then act on those ideas in meaningful ways, but that those are the moral ideas that have come to dominate the general social fabric. This actually presents an issue for the revolutionary left in that they still need to see themselves as being in opposition to fundamental aspects of the current order. When fascist ideas are presented by far right organizations, they immediately present their key ideas as being anti-egalitarian, anti-democratic, and anti-diversity. In essence, they are in opposition to the key moral arguments of the current order. This goes a long way for their argumentation as they present themselves as the antecedent to the current \u201csystem,\u201d even if this framework seems absurd to those on the left. The reactionary ideas the fuel the intellectual fascist milieu are actually at the heart of the American experience, which has, while professing leftist values, has internalized class exploitation, racism, sexism, homophobia, and all other social hierarchies. It may seem obvious to those with a left analysis at play that the fascist notions are the opposite of transgressive, yet with the leftist coloring that we have given to society it is easy to say that these fascist ideas are in direct opposition. From here it is not a far step to say that the left-liberal paradigm is what actually drives the negative effects of the current order, and therefore the radical right holds the keys to subversion.\n\nWhat fascists next use to attack the left\u2019s credibility as a revolutionary force is probably the most obvious, and a critique we should be taking to heart for more reasons than one. When Matthew Heimbach, formerly of the White Student Union and now lead organizer with the Traditionalist Youth Network, was discussing his counter-action at May Day in Washington, DC, he repeatedly pointed out that he saw the left as the \u201cmilitant wing of the system.\u201d \u201cThe Weathermen Underground are professors now,\u201d he quipped to Richard Spencer, director of the white nationalist National Policy Institute. Spencer himself has repeatedly discussed the institutionalization of the radical left, pointing out that you cannot really be dissenting from the system if you are a \u201ctenured faculty member\u201d at a place like Harvard(2). This is fundamentally a true statement, and one that can be legitimately hurled at the radical left sphere. Radical Marxist and anarchist ideas have become commonplace in academia, but you are never going to see a national socialist or Mussolini revivalist getting tenure in a philosophy department. Likewise, community and labor organizers, with ideas firmly planted in the radical left, are a common career path, but no one is going to be paying ethnonationalists a comfortable wage with benefits. We should be happy that there is little institutional support for these people, and that their careers are always at risk when they are exposed for who they are, but it also lends credibility to their argument. They say that we are the system, while they are the true challenge to the system.\n\nIt is important to note that the way they describe the left is always a complete mischaracterization at best, often times relying on a less than clear understanding of what the ideas we are putting into practice are. This is especially true when it comes to anarchism, which the far right loves to co-opt the language of. But even if it is a mischaracterization, there are enough small kernels of truth that they can exploit to make the argument that the left lacks any real threat to the current order. Again, without a clear ideological and class analysis, this makes their arguments seem to have merit. Once the ideological framework is laid, it can be difficult to uproot.\n\nThe Problem of \u201cIdentity\u201d\n\nThe core challenge that fascism then presents to us is when they first acknowledge the failure of the current system in very key and fundamental ways, and then attach their critiques to it, followed by their own solutions. To do this they have to seek out, or make themselves available to, people with a vague critique of the \u201csystem.\u201d In our current period this has meant to go after venues where there is a strong anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian current that also lacks clear directives and ideas. The Occupy movement opened these gates at several points, but so has the allowance of conspiracy theory to become prevalent in radical circles, general anti-statist rhetoric, and the use of intergroup squabbling and disagreement. This becomes incredibly clear in the white working class that is squeezed in times of crisis and often has to choose between trying to maintain the small amount of privilege that they have, or to join a revolutionary movement that challenges class hierarchy. As Ba Jin points out at length in \u201cTen Theses on the U.S. Racial Order,\u201d this creates a dual form of radicalism present at all points of struggle, one that runs to the radical left and one that stakes its claim on the right.\n\n\"Whites remain a privileged stratum in the U.S. by definition, though the \u201cwages\u201d of whiteness have shrunk in absolute terms for 30 years, and have grown more porous with the adoption of colorblind public policy. The bourgeoisie remains overwhelmingly white, and the white proletariat continues to waver in its allegiance between white supremacy and class struggle. Whites retain access to the housing, education and employment benefits from which most blacks and \u201cdark\u201d racial groups are excluded; yet the defeat of de jure segregation has limited the extent of these benefits, and allowed some \u201cmiddle layer\u201d racial groups, and a few black, to gain access to them as well. At the same time deindustrialization and neoliberalism have steadily eroded the living standards of the lumpen and working class whites in most parts of the country, driving many into poverty or extreme debt. Proletarian whites have responded with bewilderment and outrage to these developments, giving rise to contradictory political trends. On one side, they have engaged in fascist militia-ism and the Tea Party movement, on the other, they have predominated in the ranks of the Occupy movement and the trade union battles, which the unions must now embrace for their very survival even as they work to limit their potentials. In opposing the regressive gender regime of the far with, white women, queers and trans people undermine support for potentially fascist politics among the white proletariat.\" (3)\n\nWhen the rhetoric available to growing sectors of the working revolutionary class, this can split the potential populations. This should also be noted that, while still heavily dominated by whites, this issues has come up in communities of color as well where anti-Semitism, sexism, homophobia, and conspiracy theory has often been placed alongside revolutionary racial politics.\n\nWhat has become an incredibly common tactic is to have the focus shifted to more problematic areas of the populist left. The far right has staked much of its claims to the left\u2019s demise on things like political correctness, personal anecdotes of bigotry disconnected from a larger narrative, and \u201ccall out culture.\u201d These are some of the easiest points at which they attempt to discredit the left because they show the largest amount of error and the least bit of connection to a revolutionary politic. Political correctness, in general, refers to the focus on correct language and behavior that is not deemed offensive to those with oppressed identities. While this is a good barometer to consider when considering what language to use, it is by no means the endgame of a radical left political analysis. Larger stories dealing with the political correctness narrative often come from people outside of radical left or organizing circles, and these stories certainly lack the ability to tie this momentary lapse in liberal judgment with the larger issues of systemic white supremacy, patriarchy, and other forms of oppression. These also create some of the more embarrassing forms of movement infighting, as well as incredibly toxic online debate culture. The issues of interpersonal politics are not the most structurally sound elements associated with the left, and are easy to draw up reactionary fervor around because they lack accountability. Simply put, it is easy to create a right wing backlash when your example of the radical left is people arguing about who spoke over who in your reading group.\n\nFrom here it is often an easy direction to provide a litany of reactionary political frames that can relate to someone\u2019s identity, in the same way strains of the left deal with individual identity based oppression. White nationalism is the most obvious of these, but Men\u2019s Rights Activism and the new \u201cstraight pride\u201d movements are increasingly relevant. Here they can reverse an oppression narrative, stating that the dominant case for whatever identity it happens to be is actually oppressed because of left-wing anti-oppression politics. Men are oppressed by feminism, whites are oppressed by multiculturalism, straight people are oppressed by queer theory, and so on. All of these continue to use deconstructionist language that uses these specific theories of oppression as a sort of \u201cbase and superstructure\u201d explanation for why the larger \u201csystem\u201d is so corrupted. A great example of this would be the popular white nationalist critique of global capitalism\u2019s failure being rooted in the abandonment of tradition for modernity, homogeneity for globalism, and hierarchy for egalitarianism. None of this makes any sense in any kind of linear logic, of course, but that is not really the point.\n\nThis process is an important one since it brings up issues that are often discussed in anti-racist circles where by white often lack positive identity as it has been robbed by privilege. In general, the quest for identity is an incredibly human one, and white have often been socially placed into a position where their identity is based on a struggle to maintain social power above other racial groups. In the long-standing academic quest to find the \u201cGeneric Fascism,\u201d which is to say an outline of exactly what fascism \u201cis\u201d in the most common case, Umberto Eco created a great outline of common features that the fascist movement often needs to inspire mass potential. In Eternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt, the seventh primary element is one who sees the politic feeding on those who lack identity.\n\n\"To people who feel deprived of a clear social identity, Ur-Fascism says that their only privilege is the most common one, to be born in the same country. This is the origin of nationalism. Besides, the only ones who can provide an identity to the nation are its enemies. Thus at the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot, possibly an international one. The followers must feel besieged. The easiest way to solve the plot is the appeal to xenophobia. But the plot must also come from the inside: Jews are usually the best target because they have the advantage of being at the same time inside and outside. In the United States, a prominent instance of the plot obsession is to be found in Pat Robertson\u2019s The New World Order, but, as we have recently seen, there are many others.\" (4)\n\nEco\u2019s outline also sees the establishment of tradition, the conflict between that tradition and modernity, and the inclusion of diversity and intellectualism as distinct features of modernity. With this it is easy to develop a narrative of identity rooted in tradition by stripping away all forms of critique and counter-point. Here you can develop an entire \u201ctheory of the world\u201d in ways that will not even leave itself subject to radical critiques from anywhere else, and therefore can instinctually operate in cult-like ways. In a sense, this creates an \u201cidea virus\u201d that obliterates all other facts and logics so that they can reinforce the \u201cin group\u201d and \u201cout group\u201d dynamic that they have defined by their appropriation and validation of social constructs like \u201crace,\u201d \u201cnation,\u201d and \u201ctradition.\u201d In just the way that those with an anti-oppression analysis see things like sexual orientation and gender presentations that are identities based on experience and therefore used in survival and struggle, fascist will see categories like \u201cwhite\u201d and \u201cmale\u201d as individual groups that need to be first identified with and then defended.\n\nThe complexity of identity that fascist ideologies attempt to answer and exploit are very fundamental to our understanding of how nationalism has always worked. In Stuart Hood and Litza Janz\u2019s very basic introduction to fascism, they observe that it is actually the abolition of individuality that can help people in times of crisis to feel as though they have found some kind of personhood.\n\n\"Paradoxically, submersion in the mass gives you identity, the shared power of nationality and race. Fascism appeals to the romanticism of youth, the lure of self-sacrifice to a common cause, the rediscovery of comradeship in battle. Social differences vanish in the unselfish experience of danger, discomfort and suffering. Fascism gives you a clear and identifiable enemy.\" (5)\n\nThe same can be true of identification through struggle on the left, primarily anti-oppression and/or class struggle, but these are identities of social category rather than essential ones. Fascist categories, such as gender and race, are seen in their eyes as being biologically and spiritually concrete, and those on the left see them as social constructs. These reactionary ideas then hope that they can strip away the progress of modernity to find something \u201creal\u201d that works much better, a process that is regressive and intent on returning monstrous inequality and tyranny into the public world.\n\nHijacking Revolution\n\nFor a long period many of these strands of reactionary politics were disparate, but in recent years organizations like the National Policy Institute, American Renaissance, Counter-Currents Publishing, and others have worked hard to make these simply different fingers on the same hand. These coalesce in movements dubbed things like the Alternative Right, the Dark Enlightenment, or other movements challenging \u201cmodernity.\u201d It is with these kinds of critiques that they fade directly into the kinds of deeper fascist philosophical traditions like the racial traditionalism of Julius Evola, the conservative revolution of Ernst Junger and Carl Schmidt, and the New Right of people like Alain De Benoist and Guillaume Faye. Whether it is a \u201ccult of masculinity,\u201d regaining \u201corganic societies,\u201d or \u201cpreserving European civilization,\u201d they hold certain \u201ctruths\u201d to be self-evident.\n\nThe final purpose of these fascist narrative generators is to create a revolutionary narrative where one is needed yet entirely lacking. In the past fascist \u201cphilosophy\u201d was roundly ignored as anything coherent because it was usually a fa\u00e7ade for simple racist ideas, the personality cult of this leader or that, or simply a retrograde interpretation of conservatism. We shouldn\u2019t give contemporary fascist ideologues more credit than they are due, but they have worked for decades to create a seemingly coherent set of ideas that can blend in amongst the menu of radical philosophies that we are used to in a hyper connected information age. Here they can trace the failure all the way back to the \u201cleft\u2019s\u201d victory in the French Revolution as the start of the fall away from aristocracy, nobility, and ethnic heritage governing society. All of these things are misinterpretations of feudal monarchies, but what is important is that they superimpose modern conceptions of race, gender, and social stratification on something that appears to have continuity to romanticize periods of the past. This is classic fascist mental architecture that has been similar since its start in the interwar period.\n\nThe next primary area where the far right attempts to stake its claim on revolutionary politics is in movements that are commonly associated with the left, but can transmute to the right for whatever reason. The most popular and notable of these has been animal rights and radical environmentalism. The reasons for this are more piecemeal than actually ideological; which was ironically termed \u201cidea clusters\u201d by far-right academic Paul Gottfried. His term originally was meant to describe the mainstream Republican Conservative Movement started by William Buckley on an anti-communist crusade, where by different perspectives that have no ideological connection are mashed together and then touted as a coherent ideology. This would mean things like conservative sexual mores, mixed with free market economics and interventionist foreign policy. This can actually be applied to the far right as they stake their claim on many of these fields previously given to the left. Environmentalism, as British right-wing impresario Jonathan Bowden commented, can be attributed to the right in that it is the preservation of nature as a guiding force. He sees the left as using egalitarian control over nature rather than letting nature guide the way, which he sees as inherently anti-egalitarian and anti-democratic. This view of ecology is actually shared by many Marxists, who have a sort of anti-nature, bioengineering view of how to preserve the biosphere. At the same time, however, there are enough voices in radical ecology that speak to the balance and social harmony necessary in preserved ecosystems that it seems people like Bowden are simply placing their ideology upon ecology, rather than deriving it from ecology. At the same time, the desperation that often comes in radical environmental politics has led people to increasingly totalitarian ideas in some cases, and often shift into the blaming of the third-world, immigration, and increasing populations. This has led to the far right shift toward Third Positionist ideas that are specifically racist and anti-Semitic, which was seen in the right-wing co-optations of publications like Green Anarchist. It was again seen very recently as two former Earth Liberation Front prisoners were released and then shown to have joined openly fascist movements. These went under the radar because of their focus on things like the esoteric Nazism advocated by people like Miguel Serrano and the racist Hindu heretic Savitri Devi, really focusing on the kind of alt-religious interpretations of white nationalism. (6)\n\nPalestinian solidarity movements have been one of the more obvious culprits because of the associated anti-Semitism, and unfortunately a lot of this rhetoric has been accepted in movements like Boycott, Divestments, and Sanctions, though open anti-Semitism is condemned. The anti-war movement has seen some of their largest mobilizations, especially in \u201cliberal\u201d areas where nationalists will often attempt to go under the radar or be allowed to participate because of \u201cfreedom of speech.\u201d This has created clashes when members of many of the larger fascist movements, including open neo-Nazi groups like the National Alliance and National Socialist Movement, will come out for anti-war protests based on an Old Right notion of isolationism. This is the same logic for which they join the classical left and Big Labor to oppose \u201cfree trade\u201d deals like the coming TPP, where they propose a kind of \u201ceconomic nationalism\u201d in opposition to the outsourcing of American jobs. While the largest thrust of these movements would never stand with the values that drive the politics of these groups, on the very surface they do share similar sentiments. This is what has allowed the more esoteric and complicated organizations to go under the radar, though a Swastika will still get someone thrown out quickly even by the most accepting liberal participant.\n\nThe difficulty of identifying fascist currents is something that has been discussed at length in a lot of places, and this has been especially true with its presence under the guise of paganism. While people are usually fairly aware of the violently racist Wotanist movement of David Lane, it is the more moderate \u201cfolkish\u201d Asatru and Odinism that is often associated with intellectual fascist movements that goes under the radar. Because of shared symbolism and religious structure with Wicca and neopaganist trends conventionally associated with the left, without going deep into their ideological foundations it can be easy to let this go unchallenged. This has allowed for these groups, like Stephen McNallen\u2019s Asatru Folk Assembly, to have a lot more influence in larger pagan communities than you would expect. It is here where they are allowed to profess a soft form of ethnic nationalism by proposing lines between pagan traditions based on the participant\u2019s ethnic heritage, which they claim is similar to the \u201cblood quorum\u201d requirements of Native American tribes. They fail to acknowledge that the reason for tribal use of this requirement is based on the need to defend against racist oppression, but their use of American New Age symbolism has allowed the logical conclusions of their proposals to be ignored.\n\nIn all of these sectors, from anti-war organizing to pagan Reconstructionism, what we have here are options for radical visions, with some being political and some being spiritual in nature. The participation of the far right, even in marginal areas of these movements, allows them to be a part of the conversation around radical social ideas, and therefore some of the most frightening nationalist notions become a part of the spectrum when discussing revolutionary concepts. Simply put: they have become a radical option for people on the hunt for revolutionary answers to social problems.\n\nSo, in the end, it was never the conventional political sphere that was really at risk for falling to the far right, at least as it stands now, but instead the fate of the \u201cradical option.\u201d This means that in the increasing crisis of international capitalism, peak oil, climate change, etc., the radical options become increasingly relevant, and, as radicals, that is what we want. But if we are to bank on providing radical critiques of the current system, we need to have these far right ideas identified and removed. Liberals who support a liberal state can expect that the state will generally suppress these far right movements. This has essentially been the focus of much of the liberal anti-fascist movement, with organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center providing training and information to law enforcement on how to combat the threat. For those who actually counter the legitimacy of the bourgeois state, this creates an issue since we need to also create a comprehensive anti-fascism within radical circles. This does not just mean an ideological opposition, but actually a functional way of dealing with it when it comes up. Even if these movements do not have the ability to shift the entire force of populist anti-capitalist movements or anti-statist movements, even a small crack can allow parts of their ideas to seep in. These would destabilize the very basis of these radical movements, which should have an anti-hierarchical equality at the center of its value set. If ideas like misogyny, racialism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, transphobia, fat phobia, and other forms of oppressive hierarchy that are advocated by these movements are allowed to give that bigotry legitimacy in our movements, even in part, it could undermine the very center of what we are fighting for. We fight for a revolutionary vision because we want a world where freedom, equality, and democracy can flourish, and we are not willing to give up those values to right-wing revolutionary forces that also want to undermine the current order, but to very different ends.\n\nUnderstanding the why is the easy part, it is the how that takes the work. Identifying the sources of where fascist ideas focused on entryism in left movements are coming from is critical. Right now the newly repackaged form of scientific racism known as Human Biological Diversity has seen an explosion in the blogosphere, and is creating a crossover that holocaust denial had in the 80s and 90s. Movements like the Neoreactionary and Dark Enlightenment are uniting internet culture and the tech world in a mystified anti-egalitarian ethos, and really just tries to make old radical traditionalist ideas hip. We know that anti-Zionism, anti-modern environmentalism, and misanthropic animal rights are all having difficulty pushing these movements out, so giving it extra thought and awareness is critical. It is going to be increasingly important to understand the fragmented nature of these intellectual strains as they further deviate from the traditional organization.\n\nWe need an open dialogue with understanding within social movements so that they trends can be first identified and then countered. Without this conversation it will be difficult to actually create the kind of common understanding as to why these ideas are abhorrent, and we need to give support for discussion that helps draw these issues out into the open. This does not, however, mean that open dialogue with fascists is useful. While internally talking to and hearing each other is critical, but radio silence has always been the best option with the right. They are developing their movements for entryism in our own, which means they are training their people to debate these issues. Do not give them the opportunity, but instead we need to inoculate each other against their subversion.\n\nThe final challenge to radicals is not going to be entirely with \u201cpurifying\u201d movements as, in weak points, there will always be a chance for ambitious young haters to make their case to those disaffected by the mainstream. Instead, the most effective way to challenge this entryism is to create a left movement that has the kind of teeth to challenge the current order in meaningful and visible ways. This means to empower all areas of the movement while strengthening ideas and analysis about the \u201chow and why\u201d of it. To show a labor movement that is founded on a challenge to capitalism while also showing the ability to win. By having a housing justice movement that fundamentally goes after racial inequality in housing and the commodification of housing, while actually taking over entries areas of cities from developers. By having an anti-patriarchy movement that actually challenges male hegemony while taking real gains in the fight against sexual assault, for free access to reproductive health services, and the ability for open gender fluidity. What we need is to present a movement and narrative that is powerful enough to challenge orthodoxy on its own because nothing will rob the right\u2019s power to claim new converts than the ability to create the most enticing radical option.\n\nOriginally Published at Anti-Fascist News\n\nFootnotes\n\nBrinker, Luke. \u201cDavid Duke threatens to run against \u201csellout\u201d GOP congressman Steve Scalise.\u201d Salon, January 29, 2015. http://www.salon.com/2015/01/29/david_duke_threatens_to_run_against_sell...\n\n\u201cTaking a Stand.\u201d Matthew Heimbach Interview by Richard Spencer. Vanguard Radio. Radix Journal, May 23, 2013. http://www.radixjournal.com/vanguard-radio/podcast/2013/5/16/taking-a-st...\n\nJin, Ba. \u201cTen Theses on the U.S. Racial Order.\u201d Red Skies at Night 1 (Spring 2013): Pg 37.\n\nEco, Umberto. \u201cEternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt,\u201d in American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, Chris Hedges. (New York: Free Press, 2006). Pg ii.\n\nStuart Good and Litza Jansz. Fascism: A Graphic Guide(London: Icon Books Ltd, 2013). Pg. 95.\n\n\u201cFormer ELF/Green Scare Prisoner \u201cExile\u201d Now a Fascist.\u201d August 5, 2014. https://nycantifa.wordpress.com/2014/08/05/exile-is-a-fascist/"}
-{"text": "Adblock is running! Adblocker plugins can interfere with the Adaptive streaming APIs. For an enjoyable experience add us to your Adblock tool as an Exception. Hide\n\nAdvertisement Resume Advertisement Replay Continue to the video Advertisement\n\nYoung Hot Teen with Natural Big Tits gets DP 16:14\n\n\nEmbed This Video On Your Site With This Html : Copy Embed code <iframe src=\"https://www.youjizz.com/videos/embed/139079\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width:100%; height:570px;\" scrolling=\"no\" allowtransparency=\"true\"></iframe>\n\nReport this video: Reason Broken Spam Not Porn Other\n\nPornstar :\n\nSubmit Tags :\n\nSubmit"}
-{"text": "Ooh, pick me!\n\nOkay, I don\u2019t know of a definitive answer, though I\u2019m leaning towards \u201cprobably okay,\u201d but I can definitely complicate this scenario!\n\n1. Background:\n\nJewish burials demand that when a person is buried, they be buried in the ground in a plain wooden casket, so that they can \u201creturn to the earth\u201d as quickly as possible. We\u2019re pretty extra about the caskets. Wooden dowels used in place of screws so that there\u2019s no metals, biodegradable materials only, etc. Also, in my experience, we\u2019re not very squeamish about the caskets. I built a casket at age 13 at a synagogue event. (On second thought, that may not actually be considered normal.)\n\n2. The question:\n\nThe relevant question, then, is whether the burial facilities on the moon count as \u201cthe ground.\u201d I\u2019m thinking about the creation story: Adam is created from \u05f4\u05e2\u05e4\u05e8 \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05d0\u05d3\u05de\u05d4\u05f4, afar min ha-adama, or \u201cdust from the ground.\u201d (Bereishit/Genesis 2:7). Rashi comments on the seeming repetition of using both afar and adama: the double language is because Adam was created out of earth from all of the world, so that in every place that a person would die, in that place they could be buried.\n\nSo what does Rashi mean when he talks about the whole world?\n\n\n\nRashi uses the very vague term \u201cfrom the four winds,\u201d or \u201cfour directions.\u201d (For the verse with Rashi in both Hebrew and English, see here). It is thus useful to look at the broader context of what is categorized as \u201cthe earth\u201d vs. \u201cthe heavens.\u201d\n\nGenerally, when the Torah or halacha wants to talk about something applicable to the whole world, they use the phrase \u201con the earth.\u201d Similarly, a distinction is drawn between the \u201cearth\u201d and the \u201cheavens\u201d - the Torah is not in the heavens, for example, or see the verse in Psalms: the heavens are heavens for Hashem, and the earth was given to the children of man. There is a split between those who define the earth as literally the Earth and the heavens as anything, say, outside the atmosphere, and those who define the heavens as something spiritual, beyond our reach. In the second category, you can find older commentators such as the Ramban (Nahmanides), who defines \u201cheavens\u201d as the category of things that have no physical bodies, along with more modern rabbis who lived to see space travel and greater understanding of space generally. The first category contains more literalist interpretations of the world.\n\nAs far as I can tell, the definition of \u201cthe heavens\u201d as something spiritual, leaving \u201creachable space\u201d under the category of \u201cearth,\u201d is the better-supported one. After all, if the Torah is not in the heavens, but we are\u2026 does that mean we don\u2019t have to keep halacha? What about the fact that in Devarim (Deutoronomy) there is a commandment to keep the Torah all the days you are alive on earth?* In addition, more and broader-accepted rabbis are behind the second category.\n\n3. TL; DR - Conclusion:\n\nAs a result, it makes sense to conclude that Rashi\u2019s \u201call four directions\u201d could plausibly include \u201cevery physical celestial body,\u201d making it permissible to bury Jews on the moon: it will count as \u201creturning to the earth,\u201d which, as mentioned above, is what Jewish burial is trying to achieve.\n\n4. Footnotes and sources:\n\nFootnote: if you have to live on a colony, I would imagine that rabbis would be pretty lenient in deciding whether you could have a proper burial there. After all, better an approved, if by small margins, Jewish burial than someone remaining unburied.\n\nSecond footnote: You would probably want a system that allows for decomposition of the body, since that\u2019s part of \u201creturning to the earth.\u201d I don\u2019t know how that would work on the moon.\n\nAsterisk: There is actually an opinion that halacha doesn\u2019t apply in space for these reasons, but it is pretty broadly rejected and viewed as radical. See here for some more details.\n\n\n\nSome sources and relevant links: Is there a legal minimum on the amount of soil needed to make a grave, Can a Jew who dies on Mars be buried there (too literalist in my opinion, but presents one argument), What defines the earth from a halachic standpoint, and Does the Torah prohibit leaving Earth, all from Mi Yodeya. Also For it is not in Heaven\u2026or is it?: On the Halakhot and Hashkafot of Space Travel, and this site about Halacha and space [responsa are in Hebrew, message me for translations]. Additional source: my grandfather."}
-{"text": "25 December 2003 | darkpawx\n\nWhat Medal of Honor could have been.\n\nCall of duty takes first person WWII games to the next level. If you like Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, then you will appreciate this game even more. COD was made by Infinity Ward (the original MOHAA team.) That's were many see the similarities. The textures, maps and character models are well done. For example character models in the game have different faces, unlike MOHAA where the clone element is apparent. (for the exception of hair color). You get a sense you are a part of the game. The stories are a lot more realistic then MOHAA. Most of the missions you participate in are actual events that took place in WWII. Yes, MOHAA had Omaha beach, COD has Brecourt manor, Red square, Pegasus Bridge, The Russian advance on the Reichstag and if it's not famous battles its locations such as Eden dam or the legendary Nazi battleship Tirpitz.\n\n\n\nAny WWII buff can appreciate the authenticity that Infinity Ward tried to bring to the game. The controls are a lot better considering you have 3 prone positions to choose from, unlike MOHAA which only has two, stand and kneel. Not to mention on your weapons you can aim and look down the barrel which provides some zoom and a more accurate shot. Its not just the authenticity of the maps, the AI in the game is far more intelligent then MOHAA. For example your enemy will try to take cover from avoid being shot. But the AI is much more appreciated in your team mates, which is very rare in the game to fight alone. Your team mates will stay with you and will not advance to far from your position and do put up a good fight. This is a much more realistic approach, compared to the lone wolf and I will even go as far as saying Rambo style that MOHAA portrays. I also enjoyed playing through the eyes of American, British, and Russian soldier. I would say that was a great move on Infinity wards part, an advantage of MOHAA. Cause I know gamers who are playing MOHAA in Europe are probably disappointed that they have to play as American servicemen and not as there own servicemen. Now I love MOHAA guys, but the series has fallen short in the last couple of expansions, Spearhead was great. But its time to make room for a new series and give it the credit it deserves. Call of duty gives the graphics, realism and replay value that MOHAA didn't have."}
-{"text": "Trump's Taxes Revealed: New Prez Paid More Than Critics Mitt Romney & Bernie Sanders Get the dirty details on America's biggest scandal.\n\nThe world was shocked Tuesday night when Rachel Maddow revealed she had obtained Donald Trump\u2018s tax returns on her MSNBC show.\n\nThe 2005 document was originally obtained by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston, who received it from an unknown source in his mail box, according to Maddow.\n\nTrump\u2019s taxes showed that the new president earned $253 million that year, writing off $103 million in losses.\n\n\u201cYou know you are desperate for ratings when you\u2019re prepared to violate the law to push a story about tax returns from over a decade ago,\u201d the White House told CNN in response to the release. \u201cThe dishonest media can continue to make this part of their agenda, while the President will focus on his, which includes tax reform that will benefit all Americans.\u201d\n\nInterestingly, MSNBC\u2019s confirmation revealed that Trump made more money than some of his nay-sayers, dishing out a hefty effective income tax rate \u2014 24.2% \u2014 head and shoulders above the 14.1% rate paid by Mitt Romney, and even higher than the 13.5% federal tax rate paid by Bernie Sanders in 2014.\n\nAs Radar previously reported, Trump was just a kid from Queens who rose to prominence as a business mogul in the 1970s. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, he gained control of his father, Fred Trump\u2019s, construction and real estate firm. Soon the young entrepreneur was trading in massive amounts of cash and conducting major deals.\n\nTrump disclosed his federal income taxes from that period as part of his application for a New Jersey casino license in 1981.\n\nRecords uncovered by Radar reveal that from 1975 to 1977, Trump earned an average annual income of $140,314 ($557,674 in 2016 dollars). At the time, the average annual income was dramatically less \u2014 only about $9,000.\n\nThough critics have accused Trump of not paying federal taxes, his tax filings show otherwise. During this period, Trump\u2019s filings reveal he paid an average of $23,977 ($95,296 in 2016 dollars) in federal taxes per year \u2014 an average rate of roughly 17%.\n\nOf course, others pointed out that the documents from Maddow\u2019s big reveal included the stamp \u201cClient Copy,\u201d a puzzling twist to the story.\n\nThe stamp indicates either Trump shared the copy himself, or an anonymous leaker had access to it, New York based CPA Michael Markiewicz told TheWrap.\n\n\u201cThis is Donald\u2019s copy. Any time there is a client copy, that goes to client, it\u2019s for them to keep,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d say 99 of a hundred times that is true. If it says \u2018client copy\u2019 it\u2019s the client\u2019s copy.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s very likely that the person or persons who leaked it is either Trump himself or someone close to him,\u201d Markiewicz added. \u201cOtherwise who would have the client copy?\u201d\n\nWe pay for juicy info! Do you have a story for RadarOnline.com? Email us at tips@radaronline.com, or call us at (866) ON-RADAR (667-2327) any time, day or night."}
-{"text": "Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Director George Cohen is resigning only days after learning he is a target of a congressional inquiry spurred by a Washington Examiner series.\n\nThe Examiner series reported that FMCS employees spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on luxuries and that top officials retaliated against employees who questioned the spending.\n\n\u201cI have notified President Obama that I intend to resign as Director, effective December 31, 2013,\u201d Cohen told employees in a memo obtained by the Examiner.\n\n\u201cI am happy to report that I leave the agency in very good shape with the admiration and respect coming from private parties, federal government agencies, and public sector organizations and their respective union representatives.\n\n\u201cI also gave Scot and Allison special thanks for their untiring efforts and the superb quality of their performances,\u201d he said, referring to his deputies.\n\nAllison Beck-Chernikoff and her sister-in-law, Bonnie Chernikoff, who is Cohen\u2019s administrative assistant, participated in no-bid contracting and spending on luxury items, emails reviewed by the Washington Examiner showed. Scot L. Beckenbaugh is another deputy of Cohen's.\n\nAsked whether Obama White House officials pressured Cohen to resign, FMCS spokesman John Arnold would say only that \u201cwe are in contact with the committee. Director Cohen has no further comment.\u201d\n\nCohen is a union man who is receiving a pension from the United Steelworkers of America and held a position with the National Hockey League Players' Association at the time President Obama appointed him in 2009.\n\nAt a salary of $165,000, he oversaw the 230-person agency with a budget of $50 million that provides non-binding, voluntary arbitration between private companies\u2019 and governments\u2019 managers and unions.\n\n\"Let me give you the honest truth: A lot of FMCS employees don't do a hell of a lot, including myself. Personally, the reason that I've stayed is that I just don't feel like working that hard, plus the location on K Street is great, plus we all have these oversized offices with windows, plus management doesn't seem to care if we stay out at lunch a long time. Can you blame me?\" said an FMCS employee who asked for anonymity.\n\n\"The agency really needs to be incorporated back into the Department of Labor, the way it was back in the early days, or totally eliminated,\" the employee said.\n\nHouse Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa said in a Nov. 13 letter to Cohen that the panel \"is conducting an investigation into allegations of excessive spending, improper use of government purchase cards, conflicts of interest, contracting irregularities, and retaliation against whistleblowers at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Beginning on Oct. 1, 2013, the Washington Examiner published a five-part series of articles\" uncovering them.\n\nAmong the problems were incidents in which FMCS employees paid $85,000 to an apparently non-existent company established by a just-retired FMCS colleague, Charles Burton, with no one able to say why it was chosen or what services were provided. In another incident, a former top employee, Dan W. Funkhouser, billed multiple personal expenses such as cellphone lines for family members, and continued having the agency pay for items such as a storage facility full of photo albums, an old bed, and a lawn mower after he had retired.\n\nEmployees at FMCS who had billed hundreds of thousands of dollars to taxpayers \u2014 Funkhouser spent some $30,000 on picture frames mostly purchased at a jewelry store \u2014 appeared to get off scot-free merely by retiring.\n\nFMCS never pursued criminal or civil actions to recoup the money.\n\n\"I did not discuss disciplinary action ... because the employees who appeared to be responsible for the purchase card misuse were no longer with FMCS,\" an inspector general who confirmed the allegations wrote in turning over his findings to Cohen for action. Cohen subsequently took only perfunctory actions.\n\nWhen FMCS accountant Carol Booth became so concerned with the agency\u2019s books that she went to the General Services Administration, Cohen wrote a retraction and forced her to send it from her email address, thus waving off outside eyes on the agency.\n\nCohen himself used federal funds to buy artwork produced by his wife, and he used a \u201crecreation and reception fund\u201d to order a $1,277 \"navy blue leather chair,\" $208 wooden coasters for his office, and bottles of champagne."}
-{"text": "\u201cThis drives people away from my downtown business!\u201d\n\nPeople who are homeless are not innately more dangerous or threatening than people who are housed. They simply don\u2019t have a house to live in. When we begin to place blame on a specific demographic for any issue, including drops in sales, it is our obligation as community members to stop and think about whether we are enabling unfair prejudices about people who look a certain way. And if the problem is with an individual\u2019s behavior, that should be addressed individually \u2013 we all deserve to be judged by our own actions and not by others\u2019. Now, we know it can be uncomfortable for some folks to see people struggling with mental illness and drug addiction downtown, however until our system provides adequate help to those who need it (and it is woefully inadequate in those departments particularly), we don\u2019t deserve to have the consequences of our failure swept under the rug. People have a tendency to not want to address problems until they\u2019re right in front of our faces \u2013 displacing folks suffering from systemic issues within our society is just another way of kicking the can down the road. If we\u2019re going to have a vibrant downtown, let\u2019s build it on a foundation of justice and compassion and not at the expense of others.\n\nLets face the facts: we are a poorer community now than we have been before. Wages are stagnant, not just here but all over the nation. Costs of living have skyrocketed, rents are at an all-time high, and the combined forces of online shopping and real estate speculation have sent a lot of dollars out of our community and into the bank accounts of large corporations. Faced with paychecks stretched thinner and thinner, spending habits have naturally changed. When you go downtown and see unhoused folks all over the streets, you are seeing what it looks like when a community is poor. It may feel uncomfortable to acknowledge that we are the ones that are struggling and not some outsiders looking for a handout, but it\u2019s true. We are a community where many are now fighting to survive \u2013 and when we push houseless people out of downtown we\u2019re simply keeping up appearances. These problems are systemic, and that means we will need the will and resolve to make big, fundamental changes to address them. If our current system creates suffering and poverty, we do not deserve the luxury of ignoring it, of pushing those it affects into the woods and the greenbelts \u2013 out of sight and out of mind. We will only have the resolve to change our system if we are forced to confront its consequences head-on.\n\nWe would also like to point out that lots of businesses are opening up downtown or have opened up recently. New construction is happening too. So there\u2019s quite a few placing bets on being able to make money here. Not all downtown businesses deserve to survive, if they can\u2019t show flexibility and follow the spending habits of those who live here, and the crowds of people moving in. And certainly they don\u2019t deserve to literally change the demographics of who lives downtown to prop up old business models that worked 5, 10, or 20 years ago.\n\nUltimately, a crucial ethical question must be asked: Does the profitability of downtown businesses assume precedence over human survival? For individuals living on the streets, access to alcove space can be fundamental to protection from the elements. As temperatures drop and weather worsens it can become a literal question of life or death. Several folks die each year from exposure. If someone you cared about died in such a preventable way would you be motivated to change things? Will we accept, like mass gun violence, that this is the new normal?\n\n\u201cWhat are business owners supposed to do when they are finding feces and needles outside their business every day?\u201d\n\nInstead of private security, what if we put our money into clean, safe 24/7 public restrooms in multiple places downtown and more downtown cleanup crews? More venues for needle exchange and disposal, and decriminalizing drug usage so that people aren\u2019t forced to quickly dispose of rigs would also help with these issues and lessen the burden on individual business owners to keep their alcoves clean. Some business owners also choose to let individual houseless people who they have developed a personal relationship with sleep in their alcove, people who they know will be good stewards of the space. We strongly encourage getting to know your neighbors, housed and unhoused. There are groups in our community that are willing and able to help facilitate some of this relationship building.\n\n\u201cWhy don\u2019t you house them yourselves?\u201d\n\nNot everyone has the option to do that due to being a renter \u2013 and the majority of Olympia residents are renters. Some of us (OlySol) have indeed provided housing to homeless individuals in our own homes. Usually this starts from forming personal relationships with folks on the street. For some business owners, a good middle ground has been to get to know some of their unhoused neighbors and to allow those folks who they think will be good stewards of the space to sleep there when the business is closed. If you work or live downtown, it\u2019s important to get to know your neighbors \u2013 housed or unhoused. We hope that business owners downtown engage in this way and already have unhoused friends in mind that they may want to help out. And if you don\u2019t have any, we would gently ask: Why? If houseless folks are a significant percentage of the human beings you see every day, we would challenge you to think about what may be getting in the way of developing personal relationships with some of them. If you\u2019re already there, thank you.\n\nBut housing is also systemic problem, which requires more than just letting people camp in our backyards or sleep on our couches. Dealing with homelessness is a complex task which involves increasing the supply of affordable housing, public and cooperative housing, providing free/low-cost healthcare, sexual violence/abuse prevention, drug treatment, and many other things that individuals cannot provide on their own. This is why in addition to our personal relationships with members of the houseless community, OlySol members also work with numerous other local organizations that address homelessness using tactics ranging from political advocacy, to overnight shelters, to cooking community meals.\n\nAt the heart of this seems to be the thought \u2013 \u201cDo what you want with your property, I\u2019ll do what I want with mine.\u201d This argument rings hollow to us because many of those very same private property advocates are also the ones who advocated for the 2008 ordinance in Olympia, which banned private property owners from hosting homeless encampments on their land. The original ordinance only allowed 2 camps total \u2013 1 hosted by the county and 1 by a faith-based organization. Very recently our city council amended the ordinance to allow any number of camps, but private individuals still can\u2019t host them \u2013 only the city, churches, and 501c3 nonprofits. If a kind-hearted person in your neighborhood wanted to host a homeless camp on their land, would you support it? Surely they have the same rights over their land as businesses do over their alcoves. Many people opposed to someone allowing another to camp on their property might claim that it doesn\u2019t just affect the property owner but also the people who live nearby \u2013 and so they should have a say in whether it happens. To this point, we would like to acknowledge that kicking people out of alcoves seriously also significantly affects those who live nearby- particularly those who are unhoused and live downtown, So, shouldn\u2019t others also have a say in whether that happens? Fair play.\n\n\u201cWhy do they have to sleep downtown in the sidewalk/doorways? Why not go to a shelter?\u201d\n\nFor hundreds of homeless residents of Olympia and Thurston County, sleeping outside isn\u2019t a choice. Shelter space is woefully inadequate. Last year\u2019s Point-in-Time Count, counted 835 people experiencing homlessness in Thurston County (with the brunt of people either living in Olympia or neighboring cities like Lacey and Tumwater). The general rule of thumb is that, due to the limitations of PIT Counts, they tend to undercount actual numbers anywhere between 40-50%. Keeping this in mind, we know that the actual number of people experiencing homelessness in Thurston County is likely closer to 1600. Meanwhile, there are only about 200 shelter beds available during the warm season and about 250-300 beds in the colder months, depending on the availability of emergency shelter beds.\n\nFurthermore, depending on the demographic people belong to, there are even more limited options for shelter. For instance, There is only one shelter for families with children, one shelter for youth, 1 shelter where couples without children can stay together, 1 shelter that allows for pets, and only 1 adult shelter that is not facilitated by a faith based organization (this is important to note as many people surviving outdoors have had negative and/or traumatic experiences with faith based groups).\n\nThere are also many people who are unable to stay in shelters due to the stress, emotional, and mental health triggers that are overwhelmingly present in shelter environments. When one stays in a shelter, they are almost always sharing a small space with a significant number of people. This can look like sharing a single space/large room with anywhere from 20-60 other individuals, depending upon the shelter. Keeping in mind that typically all of the people are dealing with significant life crisis and often medical, mental health, and substance use related challenges- these environments can be incredibly difficult for people to function in healthily. For some people, particularly those who have experienced trauma in their lives, this type of living situation is just not doable.\n\nSome people also choose to avoid shelters is related to the easy spread of sickness, bed bugs, lice, and skin infections- like MERSA. Others, particularly those with work schedules, cannot abide by curfew requirements. For example, most shelters close their doors between 7-9PM, so people who work evening shifts cannot make it to shelters by the time they close.\n\nWhen it comes down to it, even though surviving outside is far from easy, healthy, safe, or un-traumatic- for some people it is a more suitable alternative to living in a shelter. However, even with this, for most people it isn\u2019t about a choice- it\u2019s about the simple math and the simple fact that we have nowhere close to enough shelter beds to meet the need.\n\n\u201cWhy are you threatening these small business owners?\u201d\n\nWe feel that the people being threatened are the houseless people who are being driven away from the only safe sleeping locations that they have by private security hired by wealthy business owners. We are not threatening, we are promising that if these violent and selfish actions against houseless individuals do not stop, we will continue to take action.\n\nWe would disagree that we are threatening anyone. Certainly, we\u2019ve given no indication that we intend to do anything violent or illegal. We consider their actions unjust. Movements that many of the older generations among us are proud to say they participated in, like those for civil rights and equality for LGBTQ+ people, were not just about having debates on Facebook. They also took action, similar to many of the actions we have taken (picketing, flyering, non-violent direct action). And when they meant to take action, they didn\u2019t send out schedules of marches, sit-ins, and demonstrations, to let people know what would happen if they didn\u2019t change their ways. Characterizing the demands of all protest movements as \u201cthreats\u201d is a dangerous escalation of rhetoric that we hope to discourage.\n\n\u201cThis campaign is counter-productive. Sleeping in alcoves and on sidewalks isn\u2019t a solution to homelessness in our community.\u201d\n\nWe view permitting people to sleep in alcoves and on sidewalks as a necessary but insufficient harm reduction measure. Access to more space, particularly space that is relatively shielded from rain exposure, can help mitigate the most harmful health consequences associated with homeless living conditions. As winter conditions intensify, freeing up more sleeping space becomes ever more urgent and a literal question of life or death for many on the streets.\n\nIt\u2019s true that merely securing our demand for increased safe sleep options won\u2019t solve the crisis of homelessness in Olympia. Nor would similar campaigns in other cities solve homelessness in those communities. Homelessness and housing instability (which effects large swaths of American society) are inherent to capitalism. Capitalism treats housing as any other commodity: a product to be bought and sold on the market for a profit, blind to human need. Ending homelessness and the housing crisis entails a multi-pronged approach to removing profit interests from the housing system and eventually guaranteeing housing as a human right to all those who want shelter. This approach can include advocating for affordable and public housing initiatives, community land trusts, rent-stabilization and eviction protection laws and increased shelter, mental health and substance abuse services. It must also include grassroots organizing among tenants, struggling homeowners and homeless people to directly confront the greed of landlords, banks and governments to ensure stable housing conditions (something OlySol has done in the past). OlySol members, inside and outside OlySol, in Olympia and in other cities, have contributed to an array of housing justice movements that seek to halt displacement and eliminate the very roots of homelessness. These include efforts to fight foreclosures, pass ballot initiatives to increase affordable housing options and force landlords to make necessary repairs.\n\nEnding homelessness will always necessarily involve more short-term harm reduction organizing coinciding with more systemic interventions in the housing system. Thus, while this campaign doesn\u2019t ultimately offer a solution to homelessness, it is still a productive and worthwhile undertaking.\n\n\u201cWhy not pick up trash and feces yourselves? Why not engage in more constructive work?\u201d\n\nMany OlySol members are involved in a number of community-based initiatives to deal with the public sanitation crisis homelessness often entails. This includes work around garbage collection, needle exchange and the distribution of sanitary supplies. Members have also organized in other organizational capacities for increased public sanitation services, namely 24/7 public bathroom access throughout downtown.\n\nMoreover, OlySol is an official collaborator of the Mutual Aid Mondays project, a food, clothing, medical and hygiene supply provisioning event that occurs every Monday evening at the camps adjacent to the transit center. While much of OlySol\u2019s work is direct action-oriented, we also believe mutual aid must be central to our strategy. Mutual aid is crucial when the state and market fails to meet basic human needs and can be an important way to forge new personal and political relationships."}
-{"text": "Every day, people search for answers to common (sometimes uncommon) questions. Yahoo Answers is still the king of the Q&A market, attracting millions of surfers a day! When you choose Backlinks Plus Yahoo Answers, you\u2019ll get:\n\n\u2713 Convincing answers with keywords and link\n\n\u2713 Your site promoted from different high level Yahoo accounts\n\n\u2713 Informative and Natural answers with a clickable link back to your site\n\nand more!"}
-{"text": "Two Utah lawmakers had to take additional sexual harassment training over the past decade after allegations of sexual harassment were made against them \u2014 including one who, according to records, told a legislative employee that it was nice to have \u201ca pretty face\u201d in the office.\n\nDocuments provided to The Associated Press after a public records request show that with each allegation, the Legislature\u2019s workplace compliance officer spoke to the lawmakers involved about their behavior.\n\nThe records from the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, which serves as the Legislature\u2019s legal branch, offered few details about the complaints and did not identify the lawmakers or the chamber in which they served.\n\nUnlike other states, no Utah lawmakers have resigned or been removed from legislative positions over the past year because of sexual harassment or misconduct allegations. In several states, taxpayer money was used to settle claims against lawmakers.\n\nUtah\u2019s Legislature said it had no records indicating it had made any settlements in harassment or misconduct cases over a 10-year period going back to 2008, the period for which AP requested records.\n\nAll Utah lawmakers are required to undergo harassment training at least once a year.\n\nThe Legislature\u2019s general counsel, John Fellows, declined to identify whether the two complaints involved lawmakers in the House of Representatives or the state Senate. He cited concerns that providing those details could reveal the identities of those who filed the complaints and could chill future reporting.\n\nIn one instance from October 2016, a female employee reported to the Legislature\u2019s workplace harassment coordinator that a lawmaker called her names such as \u201choney\u201d or \u201csweetie,\u201d sought help setting up a date with a young woman and made comments about her looks. He told her it was nice to have \u201can attractive woman\u201d and \u201ca pretty face\u201d in the office, according to records detailing the allegation.\n\nThe employee once thought she injured her hand and the lawmaker approached her at her desk, kissed her hand and made a comment about taking care of her, the records said.\n\nShe complained to him about the kiss and the comment, and he told her \u201cI will remember that at your next evaluation,\u201d according to an account of the conversation detailed in the records.\n\nThe female staffer decided not to make a formal complaint against the lawmaker, but the workplace compliance officer said the pattern of behavior was serious and credible enough to require action, according to the records.\n\nAfter consulting with outside counsel, Fellows and another of the Legislature\u2019s lawyers who serves as the compliance officer told the lawmaker his behavior was inappropriate. They described appropriate workplace interactions and warned him that he was barred against taking any kind of retaliatory action against the woman.\n\nThe lawmaker did not recall some of the events and was \u201cvisibly shaken by the allegations,\u201d but agreed to re-take harassment training, according to the documents.\n\nRecords of the second allegation show that in April 2017, the compliance officer spoke with a lawmaker about following discrimination laws and the lawmaker underwent additional harassment training after that conversation.\n\nFellows said the compliance officer witnessed behavior that could potentially be inappropriate and spoke to the legislator about it.\n\nFellows declined to describe the behavior, citing concerns that describing it could identify people involved and make others fearful of reporting complaints.\n\nUtah lawmakers are required to take online workplace harassment training annually and usually receive additional in-person training once a year during their party caucus meetings, according to a statement released by the Legislature.\n\nLawmakers have not proposed changes to their policies or trainings, but are considering requiring anti-harassment training for Utah-based lobbyists.\n\nA panel of lawmakers rejected the idea in November, citing concerns about regulating \u201cguests\u201d at the Capitol.\n\nBut House Majority Leader Brad Wilson is working on a lobbyist anti-harassment bill to be considered when the Legislature meets later this month."}
-{"text": "Joe Barajas, aka Joe Barber, is not new to giving clients impressive mural-esque cuts.\n\nThe San Antonio-based Barajas has done LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and, during the San Antonio Spurs' 2014 NBA championship run, multiple awe-inspiring depictions of his hometown team.\n\nNow, with the Dallas Cowboys winning their first playoff game since 2009 (second since 1996) Barajas is back, this time with an ode to talented, demonstrative wide receiver Dez Bryant -- complete with his famous post-touchdown X.\n\nWill it coincide with another Texas championship? We shall see ...\n\nMore awesome stories\n\n\u2022 Peyton Manning spent three months tracking down a fan from North Pole (Alaska)\n\n\u2022 Here are the five toughest players Paul Pierce has ever guarded\n\n\u2022 Muhammad Ali's grandson is pretty good ... at football"}
-{"text": "A criminal pleads insanity and is admitted to a mental institution, where he rebels against the oppressive nurse and rallies up the scared patients.\n\nWith the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically.\n\nA filmmaker recalls his childhood when falling in love with the pictures at the cinema of his home village and forms a deep friendship with the cinema's projectionist.\n\nA Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run, and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.\n\nFollowing a mysterious car accident in the desert, Dafne suffers from post-traumatic amnesia. Jake, the first person she sees when she regains consciousness, tells her he's her husband.\n\nA wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.\n\nThe story of Rick Blaine, a cynical world-weary ex-patriate who runs a nightclub in Casablanca, Morocco during the early stages of WWII. Despite the pressure he constantly receives from the local authorities, Rick's cafe has become a kind of haven for refugees seeking to obtain illicit letters that will help them escape to America. But when Ilsa, a former lover of Rick's, and her husband, show up to his cafe one day, Rick faces a tough challenge which will bring up unforeseen complications, heartbreak and ultimately an excruciating decision to make. Written by Kyle Perez\n\nDid You Know?\n\nTrivia The facade of the arched hanger featured in the film had previously been seen in the Laurel and Hardy film The Flying Deuces (1939). It had been built 2 months before the original Metropolitan Airport opened in 1928. In 2007 it was bought by Jim Dunn who had it moved and re erected at his Airtel Plaza Hotel. The facade of the arched hanger featured in the film had previously been seen in the Laurel and Hardy film The Flying Deuces (1939). It had been built 2 months before the original Metropolitan Airport opened in 1928. In 2007 it was bought by Jim Dunn who had it moved and re erected at his Airtel Plaza Hotel. See more\n\nGoofs When Rick places the letters of transit under Sam's pile of sheet music on the piano, the sheet music is on the right side (from the back) and Sam's ashtray and drink are on the left. Later the drink and ashtray are on the right and the sheet music is on the left. When Rick places the letters of transit under Sam's pile of sheet music on the piano, the sheet music is on the right side (from the back) and Sam's ashtray and drink are on the left. Later the drink and ashtray are on the right and the sheet music is on the left. See more\n\nQuotes [ first lines ]\n\n: With the coming of the Second World War, many eyes in imprisoned Europe turned hopefully, or desperately, toward the freedom of the Americas. Lisbon became the great embarkation point. But, not everybody could get to Lisbon directly, and so a tortuous, roundabout refugee trail sprang up - Paris to Marseilles... across the Mediterranean to Oran... then by train, or auto, or foot across the rim of Africa, to Casablanca in French Morocco. Here, the fortunate ones through money, or ...\n\n[...]\n\nSee more \u00bb Narrator : With the coming of the Second World War, many eyes in imprisoned Europe turned hopefully, or desperately, toward the freedom of the Americas. Lisbon became the great embarkation point. But, not everybody could get to Lisbon directly, and so a tortuous, roundabout refugee trail sprang up - Paris to Marseilles... across the Mediterranean to Oran... then by train, or auto, or foot across the rim of Africa, to Casablanca in French Morocco. Here, the fortunate ones through money, or ...[...]\n\nAlternate Versions At the time of release, the film was banned in Germany because the story was considered to be anti-Nazi propaganda by the wartime censors. After the end of World War II, the picture was finally released in Germany but with around 20 minutes of footage cut (all scenes with Major Strasser and all references to Nazism). Other scenes were dubbed so that they had a totally different meaning (Victor Laszlo became Victor Larsen, an atomic physicist). In the 70s the film was redubbed by the ZDF, this time in its uncut form. At the time of release, the film was banned in Germany because the story was considered to be anti-Nazi propaganda by the wartime censors. After the end of World War II, the picture was finally released in Germany but with around 20 minutes of footage cut (all scenes with Major Strasser and all references to Nazism). Other scenes were dubbed so that they had a totally different meaning (Victor Laszlo became Victor Larsen, an atomic physicist). In the 70s the film was redubbed by the ZDF, this time in its uncut form. See more"}
-{"text": "People packed the East St. Paul Banquet Hall for a second night to discuss the proposed closure of Raleigh Street and Gateway Road.\n\n\"The lawyers are going back and forth saying, \u2018We have the right,\u2019 \u2018We don't have the right,\u2019 \u2018We have the right,\u2019 \u2018We don\u2019t have the right,\" said one community member.\n\nResidents, City of Winnipeg officials, representatives from a proposed big box development, and East St. Paul officials attended.\n\nCity councillor Jeff Browaty wants the roads blocked if a proposed big box development in East St. Paul is approved. He says traffic will be too heavy for the residential area, and many residents CTV talked to agreed.\n\nCameras were not allowed inside the public hearings. The municipal board chair says recording is never allowed at public hearings.\n\n\"When we're dealing with a quasi-judicial proceeding, that's simply a board policy, that people are giving evidence and we don't want them distracted from giving appropriate evidence, and that's the board policy.\"\n\nAnother public hearing is scheduled to hear closing arguments before the municipal board will make a decision if the City of Winnipeg is legally allowed to block the roads."}
-{"text": "Imagine being arrested and losing your home after two repeat burglars break into your house again and rush toward you with the possible intention of murdering you. This exact scenario played out in New York late last month thanks to the far-left state\u2019s draconian gun control laws.\n\nA 64-year-old Deerfield homeowner was charged with illegal firearm possession and arrested after he used a gun he\u2019d inherited from his deceased father to kill two repeat burglars. Then upon his release from a jail a couple of days later, he found himself homeless because his house had been condemned.\n\nAround 3:00 pm or so on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 28, Deerfield resident Ronald Stolarczyk reportedly returned home, only to find a burglary in progress.\n\n\u201cHe told me that when they were coming up the stairs, that as they approached him, that he was scared to death and he thought they were going to kill him,\u201d his attorney, Mark Wolber, said to local station WKTV, describing what\u2019d occurred that day.\n\n\u201cOne of the troopers said, \u2018Did you see anything in their hands?\u2019 He said, \u2018I didn\u2019t look at their hands, I just saw them coming at me and I thought to myself, at that point, that it\u2019s either them or me,\u2019 and he just started firing.\u201d\n\nWolber can be seen speaking in the WKTV video below:\n\nBurglar Patricia Anne Talerico reportedly died at the scene, while burglar Nicholas Talerico ran to a neighbor for help, was driven by the neighbor to a nearby hospital and subsequently died there.\n\nCase closed, right? Not in New York \u2026\n\nBecause Stolarczyk had never registered his deceased father\u2019s gun, he was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a firearm. The good news is that Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara doesn\u2019t intend to also charge him with homicide, even if the Talericos had been unarmed.\n\n\u201cAt this point in time, we have no reason to believe they were armed, but under the law, Mr. Stolarczyk, the law doesn\u2019t require them to be armed for Mr. Stolarczyk to defend himself against a burglar,\u201d McNamara said to WKTV.\n\nPhew \u2026\n\nUpdate: According to police, it appeared that the suspects had burglarized Ronald Stolarczyk\u2019s home previously and were returning to burglarize it again, adding that they found items belonging to Stolarczyk in one of the suspects\u2019 home.https://t.co/MUxDnFqduu \u2014 CNYCentral (@CNYCentral) May 29, 2019\n\nThe bad news is that Stolarczyk faces up to four years in prison on the firearm charge alone. Moreover, after McNamara allowed him to be released without paying bail last week, he discovered that he\u2019s now homeless thanks to the meddling authorities.\n\nSpeaking with The Post-Standard, McNamara explained why.\n\n\u201cStolarczyk appears to be a hoarder, McNamara said, and among the items he collected were Commodore and Atari computers,\u201d the Syracuse-based outlet reported. \u201cThe home has no electricity and no running water, the DA said. The home has been condemned due to its condition, he said.\u201d\n\nAs a result, the poor guy\u2019s now homeless.\n\n\u201cAfter this incident, Stolarczyk\u2019s house was condemned, and he\u2019s not able to go back,\u201d WKTV reported after his release from jail. \u201cWolber says Stolarczyk is being provided with temporary shelter and benefits through Social Services.\u201d\n\nAnd he still has to deal with the pending charge: \u201cHe\u2019s due back in court August 5. His attorney is asking for a dismissal of the charges in the interest of justice.\u201d\n\nLearn more below:\n\nThere is a GoFundMe page.\n\n\u201cRonald Stolarczyk defended his home from two intruders intent on burglarizing his home and now he is sitting in jail facing a felony charge because he used his deceased fathers revolver,\u201d the page reads.\n\n\u201cThis is Un-American and Un-Constitutional! People have a right to keep and bear arms and defend their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness! And government shouldn\u2019t be violating or infringing on those rights. Those rights that men and woman died for!\u201d\n\nThe page is run by Aaron Dorn of New Hartford, a local gun rights advocate.\n\n\u201cThis is [about] more then what happened in Ronalds home,\u201d the page continues. \u201c[T]his is about standing up to tyranny, a tyrannical government that does not respect the constitution or the people. This is about sending a message to the DA and the pansies in Albany and Washington that want to take away our rights to posses a firearm, any firearm, without having to jump through hopes and pay them fees on something we already have a right to.\u201d\n\nThe issue isn\u2019t necessarily so much that gun owners in New York are required to register their weapons, though some believe that too is tyrannical and unconstitutional.\n\nThe issue is rather that local officials are so fanatical in their enforcement of this controversial rule that they\u2019re willing to charge a guy who was just burglarized and almost killed.\n\nIf local officials had a heart, they\u2019d cut Stolarczyk a break and just say something like, \u201cHey, we won\u2019t charge you or anything because of what you\u2019ve been through, but please do us a favor and go ahead and register your father\u2019s gun. Thanks, pal.\u201d\n\nHERE\u2019S WHAT YOU\u2019RE MISSING \u2026\n\nBut it gets worse \u2026\n\nThe Post-Standard reported that there was a third person involved in the burglary \u2014 a driver.\n\nAnd because she\u2019s been \u201ccooperating,\u201d McNamara\u2019s office has chosen to not charge her \u2026\n\nFYI, Stolarczyk has also been cooperating: \u201cStolarczyk has cooperated fully, and told authorities he shot the two in the front area of their bodies as they came at him, the DA said.\u201d\n\nAnd what has he received for this cooperation? Homelessness and a potential prison sentence.\n\nNice \u2026\n\nHERE\u2019S WHAT YOU\u2019RE MISSING \u2026"}
-{"text": "Building a backyard cottage is legal, but current regulations make doing so almost as expensive as building an actual cottage. For years, the city\u2019s attempts to ease the process for building so-called accessory dwelling units (ADUs) have been thwarted by homeowner groups concerned about the greater impact on neighborhoods.\n\n\u201cThe proposal is basically going to fix the regulations that have been getting in the way and making it difficult to build these things in their backyards or add them to their houses,\u201d Dan Bertolet from the Sightline Institute told Seattle\u2019s Morning News with Dave Ross.\n\nSuch changes were last proposed by the city in 2016 and opposed by the Queen Anne Community Council, arguing that allowing these units will negatively impact parking and utilities, and undermine the stability of the neighborhood. The community hearing examiner agreed, forcing the city to do additional environmental review before it can move forward. Now that they have, another appeal may be in the works.\n\nRELATED: How backyard cottages could open up Seattle\u2019s housing market\n\nThe city is looking to simplify and streamline the process for homeowners to build ADUs on their properties, known colloquially as backyard cottages or in-law units.\n\nHomeowners would then be able to rent these units out, providing an additional source of income that could then be put toward anything from day-to-day living to mortgage payments. Alternatively, it also opens up more housing options for renters.\n\n\u201cThe culprit in delaying these rules changes is the state\u2019s environmental policy act,\u201d Bertolet said. \u201cPeople who want to oppose new housing projects or rules changes like these can sort of hijack the state environmental rules to create all kinds of delays. The city council has no control over these state laws.\u201d\n\nNew regulations are looser in nature and would not require off-street parking, allow ADU construction on smaller lots, and would not require the homeowner to live on-site. The city also released its updated environmental review, which reached the same conclusions as the last one. It argues that that such housing will have little negative impact on neighborhoods, with regards to parking, utilities, and aesthetics.\n\nAre environmental rules being abused by those opposed to backyard cottages?\n\nBertolet believes the environmental rules are being abused by neighborhood groups, and that it\u2019s necessary to update them in order to move ADUs forward.\n\n\u201cThese rules were originally set up to deal with things like if somebody wanted to put a nuclear waste dump in a neighborhood. It\u2019s as if these anti-housing activists are treating homes as radioactive waste,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re co-opting these laws to stop housing. But these laws are also used for legit purposes. So the problem is how to update the state laws so they don\u2019t keep impeding home building, yet still offer protection from the things that we really do need protection from.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Mary Ann Mendoza is not a popular woman among tech companies, it seems.\n\nMendoza, an \u201cangel mom\u201d whose son was killed by a drunk driver that was illegally in this country, was suspended from Twitter in July for doing what she\u2019s done for years: Posting about illegal immigration.\n\nNow, according to Breitbart, Facebook has done something similar. Not only has it taken down two of her posts for violating \u201cCommunity Standards on hate speech,\u201d she says the donation button on her organization\u2019s page has been permanently removed, according to Breitbart.\n\nThe button allows individuals to donate to Mendoza\u2019s group, Angel Families, through the social media platform.\n\nA screenshot provided to Breitbart of the two posts shows controversial, if rather unremarkable, sentiments coming from Mendoza on illegal immigration.\n\nTRENDING: Jill Biden's First Husband: I Was Betrayed by the Bidens and I'm Backing Trump\n\nIn one, she links to a Reuters article about Nancy Pelosi\u2019s visit to Guatemala in which the House speaker \u201ccould cope with a migration deal agreed on with the Trump administration.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe WILL NEVER mention the thousands of innocent Americans KILLED every year by ILLEGAL ALIENS in AMERICA!!\u201d Mendoza wrote.\n\n\u201cThe concern and compassion she has for every country but her own speaks volumes.\u201d\n\nAnother links to an article regarding an appearance by Mendoza on Breitbart\u2019s radio program. The post includes a quote from Mendoza: \u201cIllegal aliens affect American citizens every hour. \u2026 Americans are torn apart by illegal alien criminals every hour. They are. Either they\u2019re killed, they\u2019re raped, they\u2019re assaulted, it\u2019s a hit-and-run, or their identity is stolen. Every hour, an American is affected by illegal alien crime, and it\u2019s growing every day as more of them come over our borders.\u201d\n\nDo you think Facebook is treating Angel Families unfairly? Yes No Completing this poll entitles you to The Western Journal news updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use You're logged in to Facebook. Click here to log out. 94% (3423 Votes) 6% (213 Votes)\n\nThese posts \u2014 the latter from July, the former from August \u2014 led to Facebook removing the donation button on the Angel Families page, as she \u201cviolated their community guidelines more than once.\u201d\n\n\u201cMendoza noted that open borders advocacy organizations like United We Dream, funded by billionaire George Soros, are able to obtain donations through Facebook despite routinely attacking the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for enforcing national immigration law,\u201d Breitbart\u2019s John Binder wrote.\n\nThis double standard is less worrisome to me, however, than the shifting standards that social media seem to have applied to Mendoza and other conservative figures of note.\n\nNeither of these posts were sudden one-offs for the angel mom \u2014 whose son, Mesa, Arizona, police Sgt. Brandon Mendoza, was killed in 2014 by an undocumented drunk driver who was on methamphetamines and registered a blood alcohol content three times over the legal limit for alcohol, according to American Military News.\n\nIn fact, for those of us who have been covering illegal immigration for years, both Mendoza and her son\u2019s story are pretty well known. Assumedly, they\u2019ve been known to Facebook and Twitter as well, as I\u2019m sure she\u2019s generated complaints before.\n\nRELATED: Trump's Wall Works: Look What Border Patrol Agents Found at the Top of Border Wall\n\nSo why, in the last several months, has Mendoza been censored on both platforms?\n\nIn July, according to American Military News, Mendoza said she \u201cjust got a notification that I had to remove six tweets, that they found them \u2013 in their words \u2013 \u2018hateful, harmful or threatening.\u2019\u201d\n\nThose are three of the criteria laid out in Twitter\u2019s Rules and Policies as constituting hateful conduct.\n\nOne of the tweets was directed at Kamala Harris: \u201cWhat law can I break and have you defend me so staunchly,\u201d she wrote, according to American Military News. \u201cProvide me sanctuary from our laws? Political cleanup from YOUR INACTION FOR DECADES is what it\u2019s called. You have #bloodonyourhands for every death of an American killed by an ILLEGAL ALIEN CRIMINAL you are protected[six].\u201d\n\nIs this politically incorrect? Sure. Is this fiery? Absolutely.\n\nIs this hateful? I think you\u2019d have to stretch. Threatening? No.\n\nHarmful? It depends how expansive your definition of \u201charm\u201d happens to be, but I assure you I can find far more harmful stuff on there with just the click of a mouse, plenty of it of the liberal variety.\n\nHere is Mendoza discussing her experiences with Twitter on \u201cFox & Friends\u201d in July.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m disgusted and disappointed that Twitter is trying to silence me,\u201d Mendoza told Breitbart at the time.\n\n\u201cI had my world ripped out from under me the day my son was killed by a repeat illegal alien criminal. I am the \u2018other\u2019 side of this crisis and the end result of open borders and the careless release of illegal aliens at our borders because of time restraints.\n\n\u201cI will not be silenced in my warning calls of what could happen to any American citizen in the blink of an eye as it did to me,\u201d she added.\n\n\u201cAs an American citizen whose beautiful son was collateral damage to the ineptness if our elected officials, I will continue to bring my words to them in whatever platform I can. They owe it to me and every other Angel Family to have a hearing for our voices. Their fellow American citizens and our loved ones killed by their inactions. My voice is my son\u2019s voice, never to be silenced by anyone.\u201d\n\nThe problem is that social media is ubiquitous and the giants who control it would clearly prefer Mendoza to be silenced.\n\nFacebook didn\u2019t respond to Breitbart\u2019s request for a comment. The company should.\n\nA lot of people might be offended by what Mendoza has to say \u2014 and if they are, they can close the browser tab.\n\nSomething isn\u2019t hateful just because it\u2019s un-PC. That\u2019s a distinction conservatives urgently need to stress to social media companies \u2014 before every politically incorrect voice gets 86-ed.\n\nWe are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards."}
-{"text": "The GOP Establishment Is Prepared to Lose the Election to Save Themselves"}
-{"text": "by\n\nThe line that Australia\u2019s rocketing power prices will soon plummet is just a cruel hoax.\n\nThe subsidies for large-scale wind and solar under the Federal government\u2019s Large-Scale RET will total more than $60 billion over the life of that scheme: the Renewable Energy Certificates issued under the LRET have already added more than $15 billion to power bills, so far.\n\nAnd then there\u2019s the billions in taxpayer\u2019s money ladled out by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation in soft loans to wind and solar power outfits, as well as billion dollar gifts and grants from the ARENA fund, eagerly lapped up by renewables rent seekers.\n\nContrary to the propaganda dished up by the Coalition government, and those that spruik for RE outfits, the subsidies doled out under the LRET DO NOT END in 2020. Far from it.\n\nThe LRET target is set by s40 of the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 (here).\n\nUnder the LRET the greatest single industry subsidy scheme of all time really only hits its straps in 2020, as the target reaches 33,000 GWh of mandated renewable energy \u2013 it runs at that rate until 2031:\n\nYear Target in MWh (millions) REC Subsidy @ $85 REC Subsidy @ $93 2018 28.637 $2,434,145,000 $2,663,241,000 2019 31.244 $2,655,740,000 $2,905,692,000 2020 33.85 $2,877,250,000 $3,148,050,000 2021 33 $2,805,000,000 $3,069,000,000 2022 33 $2,805,000,000 $3,069,000,000 2023 33 $2,805,000,000 $3,069,000,000 2024 33 $2,805,000,000 $3,069,000,000 2025 33 $2,805,000,000 $3,069,000,000 2026 33 $2,805,000,000 $3,069,000,000 2027 33 $2,805,000,000 $3,069,000,000 2028 33 $2,805,000,000 $3,069,000,000 2029 33 $2,805,000,000 $3,069,000,000 2030 33 $2,805,000,000 $3,069,000,000 Total 423.731 $36,017,135,000 $39,406,983,000\n\nAt the present time, RECs are trading at $85 each: one is issued to a wind or large-scale solar generator for every MWh dispatched to the grid.\n\nRetailers are forced to purchase RECs, with their alternative being a fine (referred to as the \u201cthe shortfall charge\u201d \u2013 a \u2018stealth tax\u2019 on power consumers directed to general revenue) set at $65 for every MWh the retailer falls short of the annual LRET target. The fine is not tax-deductible (where the REC as an expense is), meaning that the true cost of the shortfall penalty is $93, assuming a corporate tax rate of 30%.\n\nIt\u2019s that relationship that led to forecast prices for RECs of $93: it would make sense for retailers to pay that amount to avoid the shortfall penalty, which would effectively cost them the same figure.\n\nIn the table above, we\u2019ve tallied up the cost of the REC subsidy using both the current $85 and predicted $93 figures. Each year, from 2020 until 2031, 33 million RECs must be issued and surrendered to avoid the fines under the LRET.\n\nWhile Malcolm Turnbull spruiks his Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro white elephant, and his hapless sidekick, Josh Frydenberg promises Nirvana under his National Energy Guarantee, the cost of the LRET (in terms of REC subsidy alone) will push $40 billion between now and the end of the greatest scam in Commonwealth history.\n\nThe full cost of the REC Subsidy to wind and solar generators is born by retail power consumers: one reason for rocketing power prices; the other being the market distortions created by intermittent and unreliable renewables (see our post here).\n\nThe other game in subsidy town is the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES), which is another Federal government subsidy rort, that benefits householders and businesses who slap solar panels on their rooves.\n\nThe piddling amount of \u2018look at me, I\u2019ve saved the planet\u2019 power produced when the sun\u2019s up and the sky is clear is hardly worth the $1.3 billion a year cost of subsidies, born by those without rooftop panels. For $1.3 billion (the annual cost of SRES subsidies) Australia could have laid a pretty solid down-payment on a 1,000 MW nuclear power plant, delivering power 24 x 365, to all and sundry, not just the privileged few.\n\nThe poorest and most disadvantaged will never afford solar panels and plenty of families simply can\u2019t afford power from the grid, either.\n\nAustralia\u2019s renewable energy debacle has left more than 42,000 families either without power or facing a daily struggle to pay for it: Australia\u2019s Renewables \u2018Transition\u2019 Leaves 42,000 Families in Abject Energy Poverty\n\nFor the wealthiest though, the $1.3 billion annual subsidies to small scale solar allow them to reduce their power bills at their poorer neighbour\u2019s expense, while pumping up their virtue signalling egos.\n\nThe SRES, like the LRET, runs until 2031. Which means that subsidies paid to householders under the SRES will add almost $17 billion (13 x $1.3bn) to the $40 billion in subsidies to large-scale wind and solar. For that kind of money, Australia could have built the best part of 5,000 MW of nuclear generating capacity, lasting a life time, instead of the short dozen years of economic life expected from solar panels and windmills.\n\nThe cost of the LRET and SRES is staggering; the consequences an economic disaster. Here\u2019s The Australian looking at the second greatest rort under the southern sun.\n\n$1.3bn hit as subsidies for solar panels surge\n\nThe Australian\n\nJoe Kelly\n\n12 March 2018\n\nEnergy consumers will be forced to pay more than $1 billion for rooftop solar installation subsidies this year, increasing power costs by up to $100 per household, according to an industry analysis.\n\nOperators warn of a spike in the number of unscrupulous \u00adoperators unless the green-power subsidy is wound back.\n\nThe Clean Energy Regulator has released figures showing that more than 1057 megawatts of \u00adcapacity was installed last year, equating to 3.5 million solar \u00adpanels being fixed to rooftops.\n\nIndustry analysis obtained by The Australian reveals the cost of small-scale technology certificates \u2014 created to increase the incentive to install rooftop solar \u2014 shows the value of the sub\u00adsidies was $500 million last year.\n\nThe solar industry is expecting the subsidy to increase to about $1.3bn this year after the regulator estimated in January that 22 million new certificates would be created over the year.\n\nThe certificates are granted to people installing solar panels, and electricity retailers are required to buy them.\n\nJeff Bye, founder and owner of Demand Manager in Sydney, a company that creates and trades the certificates, warned that the rebate was \u201coverly generous\u201d in many circumstances. \u201cThere are strong reasons to support installation of rooftop solar in Australia; however, it\u2019s a question of the degree of support needed,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThe cost increase (this year) is about $800m and there are 8 million households \u2026 so there\u2019ll be a cost impact of around $100 per household. The electricity impact might be $40 or $50 per household but businesses will pass through the additional cost too \u2026 That subsidy of $500m last year, or $1.2bn to $1.3bn this year, is added on to everyone\u2019s bills.\u201d\n\nEnergy Minister Josh Frydenberg said the Australian Energy Market Commission had found the average cost to households over the past five years was about $29 a year, with the price peaking in 2012 at $44 for the year. \u201cThe AEMC forecasts residential electricity prices will fall over the next two years as renewable energy, including small-scale solar supported by the Renewable Energy Target, enters the system,\u201d Mr Frydenberg said.\n\nIn last year\u2019s Residential Electricity Price Trends report, the AEMC acknowledged that \u201ccosts incurred in purchasing certificates are assumed to be passed on to consumers through retail prices\u201d.\n\nMr Frydenberg celebrated the solar rooftop take-up last year, saying Australia had emerged as a \u201cworld leader\u201d and noted that one in five households used solar power.\n\nNSW Liberal MP Craig Kelly, chairman of the Coalition backbench committee for energy and the environment, warned that the cost of rooftop solar subsidies was being carried by those who could least afford it.\n\nHe said the benefits of lower power prices were going to high-wealth households that installed the panels, while those without solar panels were hit with higher prices passed on by electricity \u00adretailers.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s effectively a reverse Robin Hood scheme where we are \u00adincreasing the electricity prices on the poor to reduce electricity \u00adprices for the rich,\u201d Mr Kelly said.\n\n\u201cA woman rang me during the week and broke down on the telephone. She just got her electricity bill and it was $800. She was \u00adexpecting a bill of $400 \u2026 she\u2019s got no way of paying for it.\u201d\n\nMr Frydenberg faces calls to \u00adreduce rooftop solar subsidies by slashing the price of the certificates that electricity retailers are required to buy. He is expected to set a target for the calendar year by the end of this month.\n\nMr Bye said the number of certificates to be bought each year was set by the small technology percentage (STP), but warned the system was flawed and the certificates were overpriced.\n\n\u201cIn recent history, the certificates have traded close to the maximum legislated price of $40 and the target-setting process, overseen by the minister, effectively leads to a continuation of that pattern,\u201d Mr Bye said.\n\n\u201cHowever, there was a period last year when the market price dropped to $30 but the boom in solar installations continued.\u201d\n\nMr Bye warned that the high STC price, coupled with growing demand for solar, could attract \u201cunscrupulous operators\u201d.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s nowhere near what it was 10 years ago under the home insulation program but we should be wary of subsidies attracting the wrong people,\u2019\u2019 he said.\n\nGovernor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove travelled to New Delhi at the weekend to represent Australia at the International Solar \u00adAlliance Founding Conference after a request was made by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.\n\nThe Australian\n\nFew and far between are those politicians with the temerity to call renewable subsidies for what they are: a monstrous rort and the greatest government mandated wealth transfer in the history of the Commonwealth. Among them are former PM, Tony Abbott and STT Champion, Craig Kelly.\n\nCraig reckons that \u201cIt\u2019s effectively a reverse Robin Hood scheme where we are \u00adincreasing the electricity prices on the poor to reduce electricity \u00adprices for the rich.\u201d\n\nHood, that legendary swashbuckling man in tights, was renowned for stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. His nemesis was, of course, the Sheriff of Nottingham, who was very adept at separating the impoverished from their financial means of survival. Australia doesn\u2019t need a Robin Hood, it just needs to stop stealing from the poor to satisfy the moral vanity of the well-to-do and to make carpet bagging renewables rent seekers obscenely rich. Here\u2019s The Australian again.\n\nCoalition backbenchers urge end to solar subsidies\n\nThe Australian\n\nGreg Brown\n\n13 March 2018\n\nEnergy Minister Josh Frydenberg faces a backbench revolt with pressure building to end subsidies for solar panels.\n\nFormer prime minister Tony Abbott is demanding action after revelations that the subsidies could cost consumers more than $1 billion this year.\n\nMr Abbott led a chorus of \u00adCoalition backbenchers urging the government to end the small-scale renewable energy scheme, with Liberal MP Craig Kelly declaring the policy was more economically damaging than the Rudd government\u2019s home insulation scheme.\n\n\u201cThe cost to the economy in dollars is far greater than what the (home insulation) scheme was,\u201d Mr Kelly said.\n\nThe scheme was also criticised by Grattan Institute director Tony Wood because it did not reduce subsidies to solar panels as they \u00adbecame more affordable.\n\n\u201cAustralians are paying far too much for our emissions obsession. Government must end subsidies for new renewables,\u201d Mr Abbott said yesterday.\n\nNationals senator John Williams said the policy forced struggling families to subsidise rich people\u2019s solar installations. \u201cRenewable energy is good in that it is renewable and it goes on forever,\u201d Senator Williams said.\n\n\u201cHowever, the subsidies they cost us is enormous, renewable \u00adenergy should be made to stand on its own two feet. We\u2019ve got all the users of electricity paying for this.\u2019\u2019\n\nQueensland senator Ian MacDonald said the small-scale \u00adrenewable energy scheme pushed up electricity prices but did nothing to reduce climate change. \u201cNothing we do in Australia will make any difference, we could open up new mines, new power stations it would not make one iota of a difference to what they say is climate change,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cI think we should be at least making renewable energy compete on a different basis with other forms of energy and that means phasing out subsidies for an \u00adexpensive form of power.\u201d\n\nThe small-scale renewable scheme, which is unaffected by the proposed National Energy Guarantee, gives financial incentives for homes and small businesses to install solar panels or hydro systems on their property.\n\nCertificates, worth a maximum of $40, are provided for each megawatt hour of renewable electricity that would be created from a solar panel until the scheme ends in 2030. Electricity retailers are \u00adrequired to buy the certificates, passing the cost on to consumers.\n\nIndustry analysis obtained by The Australian showed the subsidy was expected to more than double from $500 million last year.\n\nMr Kelly, chairman of the \u00adCoalition backbench committee for energy and the environment, said the government should halve the maximum certificate price to $20, followed by another \u00adhalving in its value next year \u00adbefore it is phased out a decade early in 2020.\n\nMr Wood, from the Grattan \u00adInstitute, said the problem with the renewable energy target was that it did not have any \u201cself-correcting mechanism\u201d.\n\n\u201cThe idea the subsidy stays in place regardless of what happens to the thing you are subsidising is asking for a problem in the long term,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cIf people continue to put in more small-scale solar the retailers, more or less, are forced to support it with a price that is capped at $40 MWh.\n\n\u201cThat means that, despite the cost of solar coming down dramatically, there is nothing that means that subsidy comes down with it, and that business in effect becomes more profitable.\u201d\n\nMr Frydenberg declined to comment.\n\nThe Australian"}
-{"text": "Every week, keen screen-grabber Ben Griffin brings you a sumptuous 4K resolution gallery to celebrate PC gaming's prettiest places.\n\nWith 400 billion stars across 100 billion star systems, there's almost endless variety in Elite's 1:1 scale Milky Way. Planets range from bright pink gas giants to asteroid-belted hunks of rock, while cosmic phenomena include pulsars, comets and black holes (although I've personally never seen those last three because space is quite large). Space stations are my favourite, looking like tiny floating jewels until you get close and see them for the mammoth, rapidly rotating constructs they are. If you're in the premium beta, make sure to pay a visit to the Orbis Starport in the Aulin System - it looks like something out of 2001: A Space Odyssey.\n\nElite: Dangerous is currently in beta, with a planned release near the end of the year. I say planned because, well, you know how these things are.\n\nDownload the full-sized image here.\n\nDownload the full-sized image here.\n\nDownload the full-sized image here.\n\nDownload the full-sized image here.\n\nDownload the full-sized image here."}
-{"text": "Details Published on Wednesday, January 28 2015 09:41 Written by Johnny M\n\n'Loki: Agent of Asgard', 'Magneto' & 'Captain America & The Mighty Avengers' Begin Their LAST DAYS Story Arcs!\n\nNew York, NY\u2014January 28th, 2015\u2014 The skies fracture. The ground trembles. The end of all they know is coming. Heroes, Gods of Mischief and Masters of Magnetism who have faced annihilation more times than they could count and walked away. Only this time, there is no walking away. Today, Marvel is pleased to present the first issues of three blockbuster LAST DAYS stories, leading in to the highly-anticipated Secret Wars. Beginning in May, be there as your favorite Marvel heroes face their final hours, and the obliteration of the Marvel Universe!\n\nFirst, Al Ewing and Luke Ross bring you a story of the people who faced the end of the world together, shoulder to shoulder in the face of destruction in CAPTAIN AMERICA & THE MIGHTY AVENGERS #8. Some of them wore costumes, and some of them didn\u2019t. Some of them had super-human powers, and all some had were each other. Yet they were all Mighty Avengers in the end. And this is how they spent their last day.\n\nThen, ask yourself \u2013 what will your legacy be when it\u2019s all over? Cullen Bunn and Javi Fernandez have the answers in MAGNETO #18. The Mutant Master of Magnetism has learned his time is all but spent. A life of struggle and torment brought to a cataclysmic end at the destruction of all things. With everything he\u2019s fought for his whole life brought to its unavoidable ending, how will he cope? Will he celebrate his legacy \u2013 or be tormented by it?\n\nFinally, the end of the Marvel Universe extends into Asgard and beyond as all the Ten Realms face their final hours in LOKI: AGENT OF ASGARD #14. Al Ewing and Lee Garbett bring you the curtain call of the God of Mischief. Ancient enemies march on Asgardia seeking their final vengeance \u2013 including King Loki, meaner, madder and more dangerous than before. Where is our Loki? What tragedy has befallen him, here at the end?\n\nBefore Secret Wars can begin, the Marvel Universe must end. And it all starts this May as the LAST DAYS story arcs begin in Captain America & the Mighty Avengers #8, Loki: Agent of Asgard #14, and Magneto #18!\n\nCAPTAIN AMERICA & THE MIGHTY AVENGERS #8\n\nWritten by AL EWING\n\nArt & Cover by LUKE ROSS\n\nOn Sale in May!\n\nMAGNETO #18\n\nWritten by CULLEN BUNN\n\nArt by JAVI FERNANDEZ\n\nCover by DAVID YARDIN\n\nOn Sale in May!\n\nLOKI: AGENT OF ASGARD #14\n\nWritten by AL EWING\n\nArt & Cover by LEE GARBETT\n\nOn Sale in May!\n\nTo find a comic shop near you, visit www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook."}
-{"text": "The Yankees will have to make additions while sorting through several high-priced injury question marks on their roster as they try to rebound from consecutive years outside the postseason.\n\nGuaranteed Contracts\n\nArbitration Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projections via Matt Swartz)\n\nContract Options\n\nAndrew Bailey, RP: club option for 2015, dollar value unknown\n\nFree Agents\n\nThe emotion of the Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera retirement tours over the last two seasons may have softened the blow of missing the playoffs for Yankees fans. Now that the last of the \u201cCore Four\u201d has retired, eyes are focused on the present and what the Steinbrenner family, the newly-extended Brian Cashman and a revamped baseball operations department will do to get this team back into contention.\n\nWhen the Bombers missed the playoffs last year, they responded by spending over $500MM on new contracts for free agents and re-signed talent. It doesn\u2019t seem like the Yankees are prepared for another spending spree, in part because two of last year\u2019s big signings (Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran) underperformed. Combine those setbacks with a huge swath of injuries that sidelined almost the entire Yankees rotation, and it\u2019s somewhat surprising that the club managed to win even 83 games.\n\nThe biggest issue facing the Yankees is that many of their highest-paid players can\u2019t be counted on to stay healthy or play up to their usual standard in 2015. C.C. Sabathia is returning from knee surgery and has already suffered a decline in performance in recent years. Mark Teixeira managed to play in 123 games last year but his wrist problems will always require a backup option. McCann and Beltran could\u2019ve just had off-years, or they could possibly be on the decline as well.\n\nAnd then there\u2019s Alex Rodriguez, returning from his year-long suspension as a complete mystery in terms of what he\u2019ll be able to contribute. The plan for A-Rod seems to be a rotation between DH, third base and possibly first base, to spell Teixeira. Until the Yankees know if Rodriguez can handle regular time at third, however, it will somewhat hamstring their other winter plans. They have an interest in bringing back Chase Headley, though obviously Headley will want to play every day, and limiting Rodriguez to a 1B/DH role will cut down on the DH at-bats that might be needed for another aging players like Beltran or McCann.\n\nOne possible solution would be to pencil Martin Prado in as the third baseman and to acquire a stopgap option to play second or give prospect Rob Refsnyder a shot at the job. If Rodriguez\u2019s body can hold up under regular playing time at the hot corner, then Prado can then primarily play second base, with the occasional game at 3B to spell A-Rod. Prado\u2019s versatility is a nice tool for the Yankees to have, and since he posted an .877 OPS in 137 PA after joining the club at the trade deadline, his bat may have awoken after a rough first half with the Diamondbacks.\n\nWith Rodriguez likely looking at a healthy share of DH at-bats, Beltran will have to see much more time in right field than the 32 games he played at the position last season. Beltran\u2019s elbow injury both kept him out of RF and likely played a big role in his struggles at the plate, so if he\u2019s healthy, he could be back to his usual productive self. For depth\u2019s sake, however, the Yankees will definitely look to add a backup outfielder who could regular playing time or at least would be Beltran\u2019s late-inning defensive replacement. Someone like Gerardo Parra (who the Brewers could non-tender or look to trade this winter) would be a nice fit in this role.\n\nReplacing Jeter is impossible from a big-picture standpoint, though replacing Jeter\u2019s 2014 on-field production (-0.3 fWAR, 73 wRC+) at shortstop shouldn\u2019t be hard. There will inevitably be a big media spotlight on whichever player becomes Jeter\u2019s successor at short, and the Yankees have a couple of options: they can pursue a young shortstop as a true long-term heir apparent, or they could look for an established veteran (who might be more used to the pressure) to play the position for a few seasons until a younger option can be groomed or acquired.\n\nIf New York chooses the veteran route, there are free agent shortstops like Asdrubal Cabrera or Jed Lowrie available. Hanley Ramirez is the top free agent shortstop on the market, though if the Yankees are indeed hesitant about giving big money to players over 30 years old, then a player with Ramirez\u2019s injury history and defensive limitations wouldn\u2019t be a good fit. Stephen Drew could be re-signed at a relative discount price, though it\u2019s hard to see the Yankees handing Drew the starting job coming off his poor 2014 season. It\u2019s possible the Yankees\u2019 top choice to replace Jeter may already be off the board, as J.J. Hardy signed an extension with the Orioles rather than test free agency.\n\nIf the Yankees went for a younger option at short, they could talk trade with the Diamondbacks or Cubs, each of which have a surplus of young shortstops. Chicago\u2019s surplus, of course, is of a higher pedigree since it involves former All-Star Starlin Castro and blue chip prospects Addison Russell and Javier Baez. As MLBTR\u2019s Tim Dierkes wrote in his recent Cubs offseason outlook piece, however, the timing may not be right for the Cubs to trade their middle infield depth. Plus, even if Chicago was willing to deal, the Yankees may not have the prospect depth to meet the enormous asking price the Cubs would demand for any of those players. Swinging a deal for one of Arizona\u2019s slightly lesser-regarded young shortstops (Didi Gregorius, Nick Ahmed, Chris Owings) could be a more palatable option.\n\nThe Yankees acquired Prado using one piece of their catching surplus in prospect Peter O\u2019Brien, and the club still has John Ryan Murphy, Francisco Cervelli and Austin Romine all battling for the backup job behind McCann. Any two of these players could be expendable with top prospect Gary Sanchez on the farm, though Sanchez has yet to play beyond the Double-A level and is at least a season away from getting serious consideration from a big league job.\n\nThe biggest trade chip the Yankees have, of course, is their financial might. Headley, Prado and Brandon McCarthy were all acquired for a fairly negligible prospect return at midseason since New York was simply able to take those contracts off the Padres\u2019 and Diamondbacks\u2019 hands. Rather than surrender draft picks to sign qualifying offer free agents or deal away what little farm depth they have, the Yankees could pursue more trades with rivals looking to create payroll space.\n\nIf the Yankees did want to make a splash in free agency, however, Jon Lester could be an attractive target since (due to the fact that he was traded at midseason) he can be signed without any draft pick compensation. The Yankees have a particular admiration for Lester, according to CBS Sports\u2019 Jon Heyman, and the southpaw would bring both quality and much-needed durability to New York\u2019s rotation. Max Scherzer could also draw interest from the Yankees this winter as another front-of-the-rotation upgrade, not to mention James Shields, who is expected to be available at a lower price than those other two aces.\n\nWhile adding a top starter could technically give the Yankees a rotation surplus if everyone is healthy, that\u2019s a giant \u201cif\u201d given how many injury-plagued starters are in the rotation. C.C. Sabathia is returning from knee surgery and even if he\u2019s 100 percent health-wise, the lefty has still been on the decline for the last two seasons. Ivan Nova will be out until May at the earliest as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. Michael Pineda looked dominant when he was on the mound, yet had another injury setback when he missed three months with a bad shoulder.\n\nThe most tenuous injury situation involves Masahiro Tanaka, who took MLB by storm in his rookie season before a slight UCL tear caused him to miss 10 weeks. Tanaka returned to make two starts in late September and reported he was pain-free, so for now, it appears the righty may have dodged the Tommy John bullet. Any recurrence of the injury, however, could lead to surgery for Tanaka and at least a year on the DL. Tanaka is yet another high-paid superstar the Yankees don\u2019t know if they can count on in 2015, and his uncertain health status is the club\u2019s strongest argument for making a play for the likes of Scherzer, Lester or Shields.\n\nShane Greene\u2019s strong rookie season earned him a spot in the 2015 rotation, so presuming that leaves New York with a tentative starting quartet of Tanaka, Greene, Pineda and Sabathia. If the Yankees don\u2019t land that ace-level pitcher, they could turn to familiar faces in McCarthy (who is open to a return) or Hiroki Kuroda, who is again weighing retirement or a return to Japan.\n\nKuroda faced the same choice last offseason and rejected a $14.1MM qualifying offer before re-signing with the Yankees on a one-year, $16MM deal. It stands to reason that Kuroda will receive another QO this winter \u2014 if the Yankees were comfortable in issuing him a qualifying offer last year before knowing if he\u2019d return to MLB, they\u2019d probably feel similarly comfortable this year. Kuroda still posted solid numbers and 199 IP at age 39 last season, and he\u2019ll draw enough interest from teams that I\u2019d suspect he\u2019ll reject this offseason\u2019s $15.3MM qualifying offer to look for another slightly-richer one-year pact. It\u2019s fair to assume the Yankees have the inside track on Kuroda\u2019s services if he does return, though the Dodgers and Angels are also looking for starting pitching and can offer Kuroda a job closer to his home in southern California.\n\nDellin Betances\u2019 phenomenal success as the Yankees\u2019 setup man has led to speculation that he could take over as closer in 2015 and New York could afford to let David Robertson leave in free agency. The Yankees are one of the few teams who can afford to issue a qualifying offer to a closer, and while it\u2019s possible the QO could scare off some teams who don\u2019t want to give up a first-round pick to sign a one-inning pitcher, MLBTR\u2019s Steve Adams argued that Robertson\u2019s status as the best closer available will still land him a significant deal, possibly in the range of four years and $52MM. A lockdown bullpen has been such an important part of recent Yankees history that I can see the Bombers re-signing Robertson and re-teaming he and Betances to create a lot of seven-inning games.\n\nWith or without Robertson, expect the Yankees to pursue a veteran lefty reliever to fill the hole left by Matt Thornton, who was let go on waivers last summer. Andrew Miller stands out as the best left-handed option (and one of the best relievers in general) available in free agency, and he could serve as Betances\u2019 setup man. The Yankees could take a page from the Royals\u2019 book by signing Miller AND re-signing Robertson, sandwiching them around Betances to create a terrifying late-game relief trio.\n\nDavid Huff, David Phelps, Shawn Kelley and Esmil Rogers are all eligible for arbitration this winter and since all pitched well in 2014 (at least peripheral-wise in Kelley and Rogers\u2019 cases), expect all four to be tendered contracts and brought back into the bullpen mix. The Yankees could also exercise their inexpensive team option on Andrew Bailey for 2015, though since hasn\u2019t pitched at all since undergoing shoulder surgery in July 2013, Bailey is just a lottery ticket at this point.\n\nThe rumor mill inevitably connects the Yankees to virtually every top free agent during the offseason, both because agents like to raise their clients\u2019 asking prices by claiming the league\u2019s big spenders are interested and because the Yankees usually do cast a wide net. Throwing more money at free agents might leave the club with even more albatross contracts, however, and even the Yankees have a spending limit. It\u2019s more likely the Yankees will look to fill their roster holes through trades rather than free agency, though expect them to explore all options lest the playoff drought extend to three years."}
-{"text": "Pflugerville City Hall was standing room only at Pflugerville City Council's Jan. 14 meeting for the first ordinance reading on \"Project Charm,\" a 3.8 million-square-foot distribution center. (Kelsey Thompson/Community Impact Newspaper)\n\nPflugerville City Hall was at maximum capacity Jan. 14 as Pflugerville City Council conducted the first public hearing and ordinance reading on a rezoning request for \"Project Charm,\" a proposed logistics and distribution center west of SH 130 along Pecan Street. Pflugerville City Council voted 6-0 to approve the first ordinance reading, with Council Member Mike Heath absent.The city is currently weighing out a request to change the property's zoning from agriculture to a planned unit development, or PUD, comprising CL4 and CI zoning. CL4 zones are limited commercial districts that apply to urban districts, while CI zonings indicate commercial industrial developments.Amanda Swor, senior project manager at Drenner Group, PC, spoke on behalf of the project application Jan. 14. Swor referred to \"Project Charm\" as Amazon once before reverting to identifying it as \"the project\" or \"Project Charm\" for the remainder of the discussion.\"One of the questions that was asked is, with regards to taxes and incentives and Amazon\u2014the company is not seeking any incentives or tax rebates from the city,\" Swor said.City officials and the Pflugerville Community Development Corp. have not yet publicly confirmed the company behind the project, citing a nondisclosure agreement as its reasoning.Dozens of residents from neighboring communities, including Bohls, Cambridge and Gatlinburg, spoke before council and submitted comments during the public hearing portion of the agenda item. Residents present at the Jan. 14 meeting largely opposed the proposed distribution center, specifically highlighting effects on traffic, safety for surrounding neighborhoods and potential impacts on quality of life.Erin Snider, a Pflugerville resident, said she is opposed to the development.\u201cI want Pflugerville to grow and develop,\" Snider said during the Jan. 14 public hearing. \"I expect it to happen. It comes down to what we want Pflugerville to grow into.\u201dMark Gibson, a Pflugerville resident, said he loves the growth within Pflugerville and is in favor of the economic potential this proposed development could bring to the city.\"There\u2019s really no stopping this momentum,\" Gibson said.Jonathan Stites of Seefried Industrial Properties is affiliated with the project and spoke before council Jan. 14, mentioning traffic impact analyses and environmental analyses would be conducted to help mitigate any potential effects of the development on neighboring residential areas. Stites also said the company behind the project is willing to contribute approximately $9 million in infrastructure improvements and traffic management near the proposed site.Council Member Doug Weiss, ahead of entertaining a motion to approve the first reading, commended the applicant's efforts to listen to residents' concerns and help provide solutions to alleviate any potential effects on the greater Pflugerville community.\"Frankly, it\u2019s very impressive that they\u2019re willing to do as much and listen as much for this project,\" Weiss said.Mayor Victor Gonzales commended residents who came out during council's meeting to share their concerns with the city, adding it is council's responsibility to weigh residents' investment into the Pflugerville community while also evaluating projects that increase quality of life and not taxes. Council will revisit the agenda item for a second public hearing and ordinance reading for the rezoning request at its Jan. 28 meeting.\u201cI think there are a lot of elements that we, as a council, have to take into consideration,\" Gonzales said.Editor's note: this story has been updated to provide more context to the agenda item's discussion and to clarify a resident's position on the proposed development."}
-{"text": "Photo: AP\n\nThe Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is the campaign arm of the House Democratic caucus. The point of the DCCC, in theory, is to elect Democrats to the House of Representatives. In reality, its job is to make sure that every Democratic nominee in every swing district is a veteran, a prosecutor, or a veteran who later became a prosecutor.\n\n\n\n\nThe latest example of this can be found in New York\u2019s 24th congressional district, in the central part of the state. The Intercept\u2019s Ryan Grim reported on Thursday that national Democrats essentially created a competitive Democratic House primary by shoving former prosecutor, veteran, and Syracuse mayoral candidate Juanita Perez Williams into the race, presumably because they didn\u2019t think Dana Balter\u2014the pro-Medicare For All, pro-living wage, and anti-cash bail college professor whom the local party had already rallied around\u2014could knock off incumbent Republican John Katko.\n\nPerez Williams had been heavily recruited by the DCCC to run against Katko, whose district went for Barack Obama by double digits in 2012 and for Hillary Clinton by four points in 2016, but decided against it. At one point, she wrote Balter a $250 donation. And then:\n\nBut the DCCC wasn\u2019t finished with Syracuse. \u201cJuanita is a Latina, an accomplished veteran and prosecutor, and has deep roots and support in the Syracuse region, and she has every right to run for Congress,\u201d Meredith Kelly, a spokesperson for the DCCC, told the Intercept. Just a few days after her donation to Balter, Perez Williams decided to exercise that right. In a last-minute reversal that has local Democrats incensed, Perez Williams, with the help of the DCCC, launched a paid canvassing operation in early April to attempt to collect enough signatures to land on the ballot ahead of Thursday\u2019s deadline. (She told the local press she is running an all-volunteer canvassing operation, but a flyer offering $15 per hour to canvassers tells a different story.)\n\n\nThe reasoning for this (as it usually is) is money, as Perez Williams told Syracuse.com that she didn\u2019t think Balter had raised enough to put up a fight against Katko. But if Perez Williams does make the ballot and forces a primary with Balter, it could actually help seal Katko\u2019s re-election, according to Grim:\n\n\n\nIf Perez Williams does get on the ballot and manages to win the primary, she then has the problem of potentially competing against Balter in the general election. New York allows a single candidate to be on multiple lines on the ballot, and Balter is on track to get the nomination of the Working Families Party. So, if she lost the Democratic nomination, she could still appear on the general election ballot, splitting the progressive vote. Due to New York\u2019s arcane election laws, it would be complicated to get her off the ballot and replace her with Perez Williams, even if she and the party agreed to it. (She would have to be nominated to a different electoral office, which would open up a new \u201cdeclination\u201d window, during which she could withdraw from the WFP ballot.)\n\nUnderstandably, the local parties who have been laying the groundwork for a challenge against Katko for a long time were pissed at this late development. Ian Phillips, the chair of the Cayuga County Democratic Committee who was one of four county chairs who signed a letter blasting the DCCC for its involvement, said he was \u201cblindsided\u201d by the move and told the Intercept that, when he asked a DCCC operative why the organization hadn\u2019t coordinated the move with those local parties, the operative\u2019s answer was that he was \u201cmanaging a lot of different districts and didn\u2019t have time.\u201d\n\nPhillips is by definition an activist for the Democratic Party, and this was his takeaway from the situation:\n\nPhillips explained that despite criticisms laid out in [a previous Intercept piece on the DCCC] from people he respected, he still felt the DCCC was doing what needed to be done: \u201cPeople who haven\u2019t raised a dime, don\u2019t have any [campaign], they should run for school board or something, and having conversations with people saying, \u2018You know, maybe this isn\u2019t the best fit for you,\u2019 I\u2019m like, I agreed with some of that stuff.\u201d\n\nBut the DCCC is quickly radicalizing an entire generation of party operatives on the ground. Now, said Phillips, \u201cI just want to burn it down. These guys are terrible. They\u2019re wrecking races all across the country.\ufeff\u201c\n\n\n\n\nThe DCCC has been frustrating progressives for almost the entire 2018 election cycle, even going back to last year\u2019s special election in Georgia. In February, the DCCC published an attack on Laura Moser, one of its candidates in a crowded House primary in Texas. Moser was one of several left-leaning candidates in the race, but after the DCCC came out in opposition to her, donations and support poured in from around the country, and she eventually made the runoff. In Pennsylvania, the DCCC opposed progressive House candidate Jess King every step of the way, backing a more establishment-friendly opponent who later dropped out of the race to run in a friendlier district and then eventually decided not to run altogether.\n\nOne can blame New Mexico Rep. Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n, the chair of the DCCC, but the problem predates him by decades. The conventional wisdom of the DCCC is and always has been that only moderates can win in swing districts, even in a wave year; in 2006, when the Democrats took back the House and Senate amid increasing anti-war sentiment, then-DCCC chair and current Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel led a party that recruited mostly from the center and ignored more liberal candidates who won their primaries. In spite of that, some of them went on to win their general elections.\n\n\n\n\nFor all of the talk of the left forcing litmus tests onto Democrats, the party is still completely uninterested in using the ferocious grassroots energy on the left to its advantage, and are still trying to win over an electorate that\u2019s years behind the one that currently exists. Unlike 2006, however, it doesn\u2019t appear that the movement on the Democratic left is going away anytime soon, and if the Democratic establishment can get out of its own way, all of that energy\u2014both against Trump and for a fairer, more just country\u2014might help them win, and actually do something once they do.\n\n\n\nNote: this post originally said New York\u2019s 24th congressional district was in the western part of the state, but, as en eagle-eyed commenter pointed out, it\u2019s more accurately described as being in Central New York."}
-{"text": "The goal is to \u201cat least remind people that this is not normal,\u201d Mr. Schnack said in a phone interview. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not enough just to be horrified or concerned about it. You have to actually engage.\u201d\n\nHe added: \u201cThe title \u2018Speaking Is Difficult\u2019 is kind of a double meaning. It references the speech at the end of the film, but it also is about the fact that our ability to have a national conversation has been not only difficult, but almost impossible.\u201d\n\nThe premise first took shape after the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon in October. \u201cOne thing I noticed was the response on social media and how it was an echo of the response to every other recent mass shooting event,\u201d Mr. Schnack said. \u201cIt felt like we were in a pattern of horror, then outrage, then finger-pointing, then ultimately resigning ourselves to this is the way things are. And we went dormant to thinking about these things until it came around again. That cycle of response made me think of doing a film where the events themselves become this nonstop echo of each other.\u201d\n\nThe short was released as part of Field of Vision, an online series of documentary shorts that approach news stories from unusual angles. (Mr. Schnack helped create the series along with Laura Poitras and Charlotte Cook.) The film had its premiere at this year\u2019s Sundance Film Festival, alongside a number of movies that also focused on gun violence. They included a drama inspired by the Aurora, Colo., movie theater killings, a documentary about the impact of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting deaths and another documentary looking at lawmakers\u2019 inability to halt the cycle of violence."}
-{"text": "Shortly after midnight, both the New York Times and Politico published copies of the statement Cohen would offer at the outset of his testimony. Contained in that statement are a number of potentially damaging allegations.\n\nWe\u2019ll note at the outset that Cohen\u2019s track record on testifying before Congress is not unblemished; he\u2019s already admitted to having lied to congressional investigators about the duration of discussions about a possible development deal in Moscow. But Cohen\u2019s statement includes three new allegations involving the president that, if true, are each significant for what they would indicate about the president and his campaign\u2019s interactions with Russian interference efforts.\n\nRoger Stone and WikiLeaks\n\nAccording to a copy of the Cohen\u2019s prepared statement, Cohen says that Trump knew WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, would release material stolen from the Democratic National Committee before it happened \u2014 because he heard it from his longtime adviser Roger Stone.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nThe statement reads:\n\n\u201cIn July 2016, days before the Democratic convention, I was in Mr. Trump\u2019s office when his secretary announced that Roger Stone was on the phone. Mr. Trump put Mr. Stone on the speakerphone. Mr. Stone told Mr. Trump that he had just gotten off the phone with Julian Assange and that Mr. Assange told Mr. Stone that, within a couple of days, there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton\u2019s campaign.\u201d \u201cMr. Trump responded by stating to the effect of \u2018wouldn\u2019t that be great.\u2019\u201d\n\nThis timeline is remarkable. The Democratic convention began on July 25, 2016; WikiLeaks began releasing information stolen from the Democratic National Committee on July 22. According to an indictment obtained by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III against the Russian intelligence officers believed to have hacked the DNC network, WikiLeaks requested data from the hackers in late June, after some initial files were published, and only confirmed receipt of the stolen data on July 18. That presents a fairly small window for Stone to have learned about the release, especially since Cohen\u2019s statement indicates the call came a few days before July 22.\n\nUpdate: During his questioning, Cohen indicated that he believed the call was on July 18 or 19 -- probably the latter.\n\nStone was indicted by Mueller\u2019s team last month on charges of offering false statements and obstructing justice. The indictment indicates Stone told \u201csenior Trump campaign officials\u201d in June or July that WikiLeaks had documents that could damage the campaign of Hillary Clinton. But, then, Assange had said as much on TV in mid-June.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nThe indictment also mentioned that Stone was contacted by a \u201csenior campaign official\u201d on July 22, 2016. The official \u201cwas directed\u201d to contact Stone to have him find out what else WikiLeaks had. Who did that direction has not been publicly determined. It\u2019s only after this point that Stone\u2019s known outreach to WikiLeaks took place, including contacting an associate with indirect ties to the group.\n\nThere\u2019s no evidence at this point to tie Stone to Assange directly. In fact, internal WikiLeaks messages and direct Twitter messages between Stone and WikiLeaks suggest he didn\u2019t have any link to the organization. The day before the release, July 21, WikiLeaks teased the coming release in a tweet without identifying the DNC. (While Cohen\u2019s statement at one point indicates Trump knew specifically about the DNC document releases, his description of the call doesn\u2019t specify that detail.)\n\nPerhaps Stone, true to form, saw that tweet or heard other rumors and amplified them to Trump. What Cohen suggests in his statement, though, is something more robust. If Stone did have a connection with Assange that allowed him to inform Trump about WikiLeaks\u2019 actions, the distance between the candidate and Russia\u2019s interference efforts is much shorter than realized.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nThere\u2019s one more land mine here, and it\u2019s a big one. In November, CNN reported that Trump\u2019s written responses to Mueller included a denial that Stone had told him about WikiLeaks. If Cohen\u2019s testimony and CNN\u2019s reporting are accurate, then Trump\u2019s response was false.\n\nThe Trump Tower meeting\n\nLast year, there was a brief ripple of interest after several news outlets reported that Cohen was prepared to tell Mueller that Trump knew about the infamous June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting in advance. Cohen\u2019s team quickly downplayed those reports, and the issue burbled away.\n\nThis meeting, of course, was the one that originated on June 3 when Donald Trump Jr. received an email offering a meeting with a Russian lawyer who had derogatory information about Clinton. This, the email said, was \u201cpart of Russia and its government\u2019s support for Mr. Trump.\u201d Trump Jr.'s famous response? \u201c[I]f it\u2019s what you say I love it.\"\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nIt\u2019s remained unclear, though, if Trump did know about the meeting in advance. It was finalized only on the afternoon of June 7, after Trump Jr. spoke with campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his brother-in-law, Jared Kushner. (He also spoke with a Russian developer named Emin Agalarov whose agent has sent the initial email \u2014 at least according to Agalarov.)\n\nThat night, Trump clinched the Republican nomination, promising during his victory speech that he would deliver a speech the following Monday in which he would be \u201cdiscussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons.\u201d That comment sparked a great deal of speculation that Trump did indeed know about the meeting at the time.\n\nCohen\u2019s prepared statement doesn\u2019t say he did \u2014 but it certainly hints at it.\n\nAD\n\n\u201cI remember being in the room with Mr. Trump, probably in early June 2016, when something peculiar happened. Don Jr. came into the room and walked behind his father\u2019s desk \u2014 which in itself was unusual. People didn\u2019t just walk behind Mr. Trump\u2019s desk to talk to him. I recalled Don Jr. leaning over to his father and speaking in a low voice, which I could clearly hear, and saying: \u2018The meeting is all set.' I remember Mr. Trump saying, 'Ok good ... let me know.\u2019\u201d\n\nThis struck Cohen in part because, the statement reads, \u201cnothing went on in Trump world, especially the campaign, without Mr. Trump\u2019s knowledge and approval\u201d \u2014 suggesting Trump must have known.\n\nAD\n\nWhen Trump Jr.\u2019s involvement in the meeting came to light in July 2017, it settled one question definitively: A senior campaign official was told Russia wanted to help the Trump campaign and the official, Trump Jr., embraced the idea. If Trump himself knew about the meeting \u2014 always a distinct possibility despite Trump\u2019s denials \u2014 it suggests the candidate himself was willing to accept Russia\u2019s help.\n\nIn fact, the Trump campaign\u2019s willingness to accept the meeting could itself have been in violation of the law, as former White House counsel Bob Bauer explained to The Washington Post in August of last year.\n\nAD\n\n\u201cThe law prohibits Americans from soliciting foreign nationals\u2019 assistance,\u201d Bauer said. \u201cThe solicitation provision is very broad. You don\u2019t have to specifically say, \u2018I really would like you to do X\u2019; you could indicate, since they\u2019ve already said they want to help you out, that you\u2019re open for business. That you actually want their support.\u201d\n\nAD\n\n(CNN reported that Trump\u2019s responses to Mueller denied advance knowledge of the Trump Tower meeting as well.)\n\nThe hush-money payments\n\nRemarkably, perhaps the least damaging new detail offered by Cohen is one that relates to one of the most obvious examples of improper behavior by the president.\n\nIn the final months of the 2016 campaign, Cohen helped arrange payments to two women aimed at keeping them from going public with stories of alleged affairs with Trump. One payment, made through the parent company of the National Enquirer, was to former Playboy model Karen McDougal. The other, paid by Cohen himself, went to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels.\n\nAD\n\nWe\u2019ve known for some time that Cohen was reimbursed for the $130,000 he paid Daniels through checks that came over the course of 2017. We didn\u2019t know, however, the details below.\n\nAD\n\n\u201cMr. Trump directed me to use my own personal funds from a Home Equity Line of Credit to avoid any money being traced back to him that could negatively impact his campaign. ...\u201d \u201cI am providing a copy of a $35,000 check that President Trump personally signed from his personal bank account on August 1, 2017 \u2014 when he was President of the United States \u2014 pursuant to the cover-up, which was the basis of my guilty plea, to reimburse me \u2014 the word used by Mr. Trump\u2019s TV lawyer \u2014 for the illegal hush money I paid on his behalf. This $35,000 check was one of 11 check installments that was paid throughout the year \u2014 while he was president.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe president of the United States,\u201d the statement continues, \u201cthus wrote a personal check for the payment of hush money as part of a criminal scheme to violate campaign finance laws.\u201d\n\nAgain, the allegation that Trump directed Cohen to make this payment to protect the campaign has been out there. That he directed Cohen to use the funds from his line of credit \u2014 a line of credit, we\u2019ll note, that Cohen admitted he obtained through fraud \u2014 and that the repayments came directly from Trump is new.\n\n\u201cCohen\u2019s public testimony directly implicates Trump in serious campaign finance violations,\u201d said former FEC general counsel Lawrence Noble over email. \u201cAssuming Cohen is telling the truth about the purpose of the checks, the checks are documentary evidence supporting the allegation that Trump had Cohen pay Daniels $135,000 in hush money and then reimbursed Cohen.\u201d\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\n\u201cCohen\u2019s advance of the hush money was an illegal excessive campaign contribution and should have been reported by the campaign,\u201d Noble added. \u201cTrump\u2019s reimbursement of Cohen was a campaign expenditure which should have also been reported.\u201d That neither was reported is a violation of campaign finance law according to Noble."}
-{"text": "Hvordan giver vi mennesker muligheder hele livet? Hvordan f\u00e5r vi gjort fremtidens nye teknologier p\u00e5 arbejdsmarkedet til en gevinst for danskerne? For os er svaret uddannelse. Men det kr\u00e6ver, at vi starter en mindre uddannelsesrevolution og holder op med at se arbejdsliv og uddannelse som adskilte st\u00f8rrelser.\n\nDerfor foresl\u00e5r Radikale Venstre, at alle danskere p\u00e5 arbejdsmarkedet skal have en personlig uddannelseskonto. Ligesom vi i dag sparer op til ferie og er vant til at se det som en rettighed, at vi kan holde ferie, skal vi i fremtiden spare op til efteruddannelse \u2013 og have det som en personlig rettighed. Pengene p\u00e5 uddannelseskontoen er dine og kun dine \u2013 hverken staten eller din arbejdsgiver skal bestemme, hvorn\u00e5r og hvordan du skal bruge dem, s\u00e5 l\u00e6nge de bliver brugt p\u00e5 uddannelse. P\u00e5 den m\u00e5de giver vi danskerne ret til selv at forvalte deres fremtid og hvilke muligheder, de vil skabe sig.\n\nDet kan i dag v\u00e6re sv\u00e6rt at finde pengene til at uddanne sig videre, n\u00e5r f\u00f8rst man er kommet ud p\u00e5 arbejdsmarkedet og fx har etableret sig med b\u00f8rn og hus. Vores forslag er et supplement til de uddannelsestilbud, vi har i dag \u2013 b\u00e5de de offentlige og dem, man f\u00e5r gennem sin arbejdsplads. S\u00e5 danskerne f\u00e5r bedre r\u00e5d til at leve, mens de videreuddanner sig.\n\nL\u00e6s mere om hovedprincipperne i vores forslag om en personlig uddannelseskonto nedenfor.\n\nPRINCIPPER FOR DIN UDDANNELSESKONTO\n\nUddannelseskontoen skal fungere efter samme princip som feriekontoen, s\u00e5 man sparer op i takt med, at man arbejder. De opsparede midler kan udbetales, n\u00e5r man tager efteruddannelse, s\u00e5 man har midler svarende til l\u00f8n i den periode, som man tr\u00e6kker p\u00e5 kontoen.\n\nI udgangspunktet foresl\u00e5r vi, at man opsparer 5 dage pr. \u00e5r, svarende til 2\u00bc pct. af l\u00f8nnen. Dette kan dog \u00f8ges efter \u00f8nske og behov i samspil mellem arbejdsmarkedets parter.\n\nUddannelseskontoen skal v\u00e6re obligatorisk og personlig; den enkelte dansker disponerer selv over midlerne, men dog kun til uddannelsesform\u00e5l.\n\nUddannelsesform\u00e5l skal forst\u00e5s bredt. Man skal kunne tage kortere kurser og l\u00e6ngere forl\u00f8b, uddannelse p\u00e5 arbejdspladsen eller uddannelse inden for et nyt felt. Der kan v\u00e6re tale om gratis forl\u00f8b, forl\u00f8b med brugerbetaling eller forl\u00f8b i privat regi. Men der skal v\u00e6re tale om godkendt uddannelse. Til geng\u00e6ld skal systemet for godkendelse forbedres og d\u00e6kke meget bredere end i dag.\n\nUddannelseskontoen ber\u00f8rer ikke \u2013 og fungerer uafh\u00e6ngigt af \u2013 de ordninger, der allerede findes i regi af arbejdsmarkedets parter, herunder de opsparede midler i bl.a. kompetencefonde. Hvis de to p\u00e5 et tidspunkt skal t\u00e6nkes sammen, skal det ske efter aftale med arbejdsmarkedets parter.\n\nUddannelseskontoen er et supplement til hele det formelle uddannelsessystem med gratis, offentlig uddannelse. Kontoen kan bidrage til et bedre levegrundlag, hvis man senere i livet vil tage formel uddannelse, og man kan godt tr\u00e6kke p\u00e5 kontoen, samtidig med at man f\u00e5r SU.\n\nI forbindelse med forslaget vil vi desuden afs\u00e6tte 500 mio. kr. \u00e5rligt til at forbedre udbuddet af efteruddannelse, herunder til at sikre mere gratis uddannelse, navnlig rettet mod de grupper, som har mindst r\u00e5d til at betale for efteruddannelse.\n\nUddannelseskontoen indf\u00f8res ved lov, s\u00e5 den d\u00e6kker alle p\u00e5 arbejdsmarkedet \u2013 p\u00e5 linje med dengang man ved lov indf\u00f8rte ret til ferie. Men vi ser gerne, at arbejdsmarkedets parter ogs\u00e5 kan v\u00e6re en afg\u00f8rende del af l\u00f8sningen, hvis en konkret model skal udformes og g\u00f8res til virkelighed. N\u00e5r blot ambitionsniveauet fastholdes.\n\nDer skal findes en l\u00f8sning for selvst\u00e6ndige og freelancere, som skaber mulighed for, at ogs\u00e5 disse grupper kan spare op til uddannelse. Vi foresl\u00e5r, at der neds\u00e6ttes et udvalg med eksperter og brugere, som skal finde den bedste l\u00f8sning her.\n\nUforbrugte midler udbetales til kontohaveren med en afgift p\u00e5 60 pct. til staten 2 \u00e5r efter pensionering svarende til den allerede eksisterende ordning p\u00e5 pensionsomr\u00e5det.\n\nSamspil med andre ordninger og regels\u00e6t\n\nSU\n\nUddannelseskontoen kan godt kombineres med SU. Uddannelseskontoen er en opsparing \u2013 hverken en indt\u00e6gt eller en overf\u00f8rsel \u2013 og indeb\u00e6rer derfor ikke modregning i SU.\n\nDAGPENGE\n\nUddannelseskontoen kan ikke bruges, mens man er p\u00e5 dagpenge, fordi der i dagpengesystemet er et krav om, at man st\u00e5r til r\u00e5dighed for arbejdsmarkedet.\n\nBesk\u00e6ftigelsessystemets tilbud om efteruddannelse og opkvalificering fastholdes uden skelen til den enkeltes indest\u00e5ende p\u00e5 uddannelseskontoen.\n\nDagpenge kan s\u00e6ttes p\u00e5 pause, hvis man i ledighedsperioden hellere vil uddanne sig og bruge uddannelseskontoen (og evt. SU) som fors\u00f8rgelse.\n\nKONTANTHJ\u00c6LP\n\nMan kan ikke modtage kontanthj\u00e6lp samtidig med, at man tr\u00e6kker p\u00e5 uddannelseskontoen, da kontanthj\u00e6lp er en n\u00f8dforanstaltning for personer uden anden indt\u00e6gt.\n\nOmvendt er uddannelseskontoen beskyttet, s\u00e5 det ikke kan kr\u00e6ves, at den bruges f\u00f8rst, f\u00f8r man kan f\u00e5 adgang til kontanthj\u00e6lp.\n\nKRAV OM INDBETALING (P\u00c5 SU, KONTANTHJ\u00c6LP, DAGPENGE)"}
-{"text": "A new study has shown the therapeutic benefits that can be derived from an unlikely source- maggots. According to the research, maggots are being used to help treat difficult wounds of diabetics.\n\nThe study focused on 37 individuals with type 2 diabetes, who had all suffered from artery disease. They had left them with poor circulation and wounds that were not healing properly due to their disease. As a result, dead tissue and infections had developed.\n\nResearchers placed between 50 and 100 maggots on their wounds. The maggots were left in place for several days at a time and then replaced with new ones. This process, which is known as debridement, was repeated several times.\n\nThe common method for treating these types of wounds is to either use a scalpel to remove the tissue or to introduce enzymes into the body.\n\nMaggots are unique in that they feed on dead and infected tissue. But in order to ingest it, they must first secrete a substance that partially dissolves the tissue so that it can be easily ingested. A positive side effect was that this also appeared to help in developing connective tissue, which is necessary in the healing process. Scientists believe that certain components in the maggot's secretion promote the formation of connective tissue.\n\nOne of the researchers of the study, Lawrence Eron, commented on this rather unorthodox method to promote healing.\n\n\u201cMaggot debridement treatment is overwhelmingly effective,\u201d said Eron. \u201cAfter just one treatment these wounds are looking better.\u201d\n\nUnfortunately, not all participants shared in the positive results. For this reason, researchers have not yet recognized this treatment as a viable option.\n\nThe stud was presented at the told delegates here at the 51st Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) by Lawrence Eron, MD, infectious disease consultant at Kaiser Moanalua Medical Center and associate professor of medicine at the John A. Burns School of Medicine of the University of Hawaii in Honolulu."}
-{"text": "HOUSTON -- Golden State Warriors injured center DeMarcus Cousins said he expects to play again this season after suffering a partially torn quadriceps muscle and envisions a \"very nice ending\" to the 2018-19 campaign.\n\n\"For me, my goal is I ain't planning on sitting,\" Cousins told The Undefeated after the Warriors' shootaround in preparation for Monday's Game 4 against the Houston Rockets in a second-round playoff series. \"I don't know the reality of it. But for me, that is not what I'm planning on doing...It's definitely some type of bad movie. But I think it will have a very nice ending. Just wait for it.\"\n\nCousins suffered the quad injury with 8:09 left in the first quarter of Game 2 of a first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers on April 15. The Warriors announced the next day that an MRI exam revealed that the 6-foot-10, 265-pounder had suffered a torn left quadriceps muscle. Though the Warriors said the injury would sideline Cousins indefinitely and he would begin rehabilitation immediately, he was not ruled out for the rest of the playoffs.\n\nCousins suffered a season-ending torn left Achilles tendon in January 2018 with the New Orleans Pelicans. The first-year Warriors center returned to action on Jan. 18, 2019, against the Clippers. Cousins was ecstatic to learn that this injury did not require surgery and was not as serious as his torn Achilles.\n\n\"I was confident from the beginning once they told me the severity of it,\" Cousins said. \"Talking to the doctors helped me understand the injury a little more. I started analyzing things and playing it out in my head. I'm going to take it day by day and work my ass off like I always do...\n\n\"Obviously, I was little more relieved that it wasn't anything catastrophic like I've dealt with before. It sucks to be injured anyway on top of that. The timing of it really f---ed me up the most. It's a part of this game, man. I'm not the first. I won't be the last.\"\n\nThough the Warriors have said that it's unlikely that Cousins will return this season, head coach Steve Kerr offered some hope Sunday, telling the media: \"He's coming along pretty well. We'll just have to wait and see.\"\n\nKerr added that Cousins' recovery was following a \"normal progression.\"\n\nCousins said he temporarily \"shut the world out\" following the injury due to all the skepticism he heard, but he feels much better mentally now. He moved well when he took part in a jump-shooting routine following the Warriors' shootaround on Tuesday at the Toyota Center. The athletic trainers and coaches joked with a sweat-drenched Cousins afterward that he moved well but shot poorly.\n\nWhen asked about potentially returning in the Rockets series or at a future time, Cousins answered, \"We will see.\"\n\n\"I'm taking it day by day,\" Cousins said. \"I'm in better spirits, for sure. I kind of shut the world out. There are a lot of opinions out there. I shut the world out, went to my little zone and I'm taking it a day at a time.\n\n\"There were too many opinions. Everybody thought they knew what was going on. Everybody is a doctor. Just sit back and watch. I will do the rest.\"\n\nCousins averaged 16.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game on 48.0 percent shooting in 30 regular-season games for Golden State. The four-time All-Star's two career playoff appearances came with the Warriors before he got injured. Cousins will miss his eighth playoff game Monday when the Warriors visit the Rockets.\n\n\"It's hard,\" Cousins said. \"I wish I could be out there helping. But things happen for any reason. I'm not questioning any of it. I got something down the line that has me patient and working.\"\n\nCousins added that his family and his Warriors teammates \"have been there for me\" through his latest injury. The 29-year-old, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, was also surprised to learn that he has been an inspiration as well.\n\n\"I have had so many young players say I'm an inspiration for them,\" Cousins said. \"I've never heard that from a player. For me to hear, that was pretty dope. And just some of the messages, they were saying I'm built for this and if anyone can do it, it's me. I think guys know my heart, my desire and my drive. I've overcome this before...\n\n\"My family and my team are the people I've leaned on the most. But I feel I've been through the worst. I know how to work. I know what it takes to overcome these things. I am going to do my part.\""}
-{"text": "\"The simple answer is that there is no simple answer. Certainly, we are at a difficult and complex juncture,\" Lagarde said, explaining she is worried about recent global affairs \u2014 and international economics are similarly distressing.\n\nIn prepared remarks for a Wednesday speech, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said that her organization sees troubling signs in the world's finances, and that it is unclear if the current situation is cyclical or if it represents a fundamental downturn.\n\nThe head of the International Monetary Fund says there is reason to be concerned about the global economy.\n\nShe said global growth will likely be weaker this year than last, and she only expects a modest acceleration in 2016. While advanced economies are seeing a \"modest pickup,\" Lagarde said emerging economies will likely see their fifth consecutive year of declining rates of growth.\n\nLagarde spoke with CNBC's \" Squawk Alley \" after her speech, reiterating that \"there is a recovery, don't get me wrong, but it is definitely slowing down.\"\n\n\"On the economic front, there is also reason to be concerned. The prospect of rising interest rates in the United States and China's slowdown are contributing to uncertainty and higher market volatility,\" she said. \"There has been a sharp deceleration in the growth of global trade. And the rapid drop in commodity prices is posing problems for resource-based economies.\"\n\n\"If we put all this together, we see global growth that is disappointing and uneven. In addition, medium-term growth prospects have become weaker,\" she said. \"The 'new mediocre' of which I warned exactly a year ago \u2014 the risk of low growth for a long time \u2014 looms closer.\"\n\nOn China, Lagarde said she sees Asia's largest economy as undergoing a fundamental and welcome transformation. The IMF head warned that this sort of transition can create \"spillover effects\" in trade, exchange rates, asset markets and capital flows.\n\nRead MoreWeak productivity growth hits global economy: WEF\n\n\n\nChina will likely reduce its appetite for commodities as its economy slows and the country invests less overall, Lagarde explained in her speech. \"This will contribute to what could be a prolonged period of low commodity prices \u2014 a change that will need to be managed by policymakers, particularly in the large commodity exporters,\" she said.\n\nIn fact, Lagarde told CNBC that she expects emerging markets will likely see more volatility ahead.\n\nAs for the Federal Reserve, Lagarde said she was encouraged by how the U.S. central bank is going about its decision-making on when to raise rates.\n\nRead MoreYellen: Rate hike path more important than timing\n\n\n\n\"We are very pleased to see the fact that the decision will be data dependent \u2014 we think that that's very, very good. We don't see much movement on the inflation front nor on the wages front, so we are also very interested to see that the international scene is also perceived as likely to have domestic effects and may have been factored into the thinking,\" she said, adding that her organization does not see an economy ready for a rate hike.\n\nThe World Trade Organization announced that it had cut its forecasts for global goods trade earlier Wednesday after quarterly growth turned negative, with trade shrinking by an average of 0.7 percent in the first two quarters of this year. The WTO said it sees world trade growth of 2.8 percent this year and 3.9 percent in 2016, revised down from the forecasts it made in April of 3.3 percent and 4.0 percent, respectively.\n\n\u2014Reuters contributed to this report."}
-{"text": "In his new book, Tony Bennett reveals he met his wife's parents at a show in 1966\n\nHow Tony Bennett 'Met' His Wife When Her Mother Was Pregnant with Her\n\nDecades before they fell in love, Tony Bennett met his wife Susan Benedetto \u2014 while she was still in her mother\u2019s belly.\n\nIn his new book Just Getting Started, Bennett writes that his first encounter with Benedetto was when her mother was pregnant with her. He was 40 years old.\n\nGet push notifications with news, features and more.\n\nAccording to the book (out Tuesday) Benedetto\u2019s parents, Marion and Dayl Crow, were dedicated Bennett fans. In 1966, they attended one of his shows in New York City. The Crows went backstage to pose for a picture with the twinkly-eyed, Italian-American vocalist.\n\n\u201cAs fate would have it, Marion was pregnant at the time with \u2026 Susan!\u201d writes Bennett. \u201cIt\u2019s a photo we all laugh about, knowing the incredible turn of events that followed.\u201d\n\nBenedetto\u2019s parents raised her to the sound of songs like Bennett\u2019s \u201cI Left My Heart in San Francisco\u201d and \u201cThe Way You Look Tonight.\u201d As a teenager, Benedetto became the president of Bennett\u2019s fan club in the San Francisco Bay Area in California, the book explains. Nineteen-year-old Benedetto finally met her future husband after requesting to meet him backstage after a show.\n\nImage zoom Harper\n\n\u201cIt tickled me that someone of her age was so devoted to my music,\u201d Bennett writes. \u201cI not only agreed to say hello to her backstage but asked her to be my date for the evening, and that\u2019s how it all really began, foreshadowed by a backstage photo taken in 1966!\u201d\n\nBennett had been married twice before and had four children. But that didn\u2019t stop him. He and Benedetto dated for 20 years before getting married in 2007. Though the ceremony was intimate, Benedetto was just happy to marry the man who continues to be her music icon.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s always romantic \u2013 every day,\u201d said Benedetto in an interview with PEOPLE.\n\nAccording to Just Getting Started, the big age difference was never a point of contention for the couple.\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t say that we didn\u2019t notice the age difference when we first met,\u201d writes Bennett. \u201cBut I can say that after all of these years together, we don\u2019t notice it much now. We\u2019re compatible in all ways.\u201d\n\nBenedetto, a former public school teacher, worked with her husband to form the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in honor of Bennett\u2019s best friend, Frank Sinatra. They also co-founded the Exploring the Arts charity."}
-{"text": "Rating Agency Downgrades 'Anglo-American Interests' and the Currency War Myth\n\nThe Germans love a good conspiracy theory. The latest is about the evil American rating agencies that want to destroy the wonderful euro. It is a viewpoint shared even in the highest political circles. But that doesn't make it any less absurd."}
-{"text": "\"That's a good pony.\"\n\n\"Yeah. Um, are you going to take that cupcake?\"\n\n\n\nShe stared at you. \"Of course you can.\" She kept staring. Intensively.\n\n\n\n\"I-I guess I'll....\" She kept staring. You quickly take it, gob it down and look at her in the eyes. She kept smiling. That sweet taste was becoming bitter now.\n\n\"You know that I made those specially for you?\"\n\n\"Y-you did?\"\n\n\"Yes. I put a little of myself... in... each.. of... them.\"\n\n\".... Y-you made the frosting?\"\n\n\"*gasp* I knew you would find out.\" She smiled again. You began to laugh... more nervous now. \"Is it good?\"\n\n\"Good? I gobbed it down so fast because it was that good.\" You tried to smile the most naturally.\n\n\"I'm so glad. Now I can make those for my sister.\"\n\n\"Y-your sister? You mean princess Luna?\"\n\n\"Yes. She is so... let say difficult. So I make those for you to taste them and be sure they are of the quality I wanted.\"\n\n\"Wait. Don't you have a personnel for that matter?\"\n\n\"Pfft! They are 'Yes, princess they are good', 'Yes princess your are the winner', 'Yes princess it was that g-'\". She blushed. \"Forget that last one.\"\n\n\"So, if they were... bad?\"\n\n\n\nShe laughed. \"So far none of them were. Unless....\"\n\n\"Huh?\"\n\n\"... you are lying to me?\" She looked at your more menacingly. You had one chance. You took a deep breath and let go.\n\n\n\n\"What? Am I insulted!\"\n\n\"Pardon?\"\n\n\"You invite me here for a nice picnic, eat all the cake you wanted, we had a nice chat, a very good time... and then you accuse me of lying to you despite you using me as a guinea pig of your culinary attempts? Am I shocked!\"\n\n\"B-but... I...\" She dropped her head in shame.\n\n\"I am sorry, but I am leaving before my mouth says thinks that I may regret! Goodbye, princess Celestia.\" You opened you wings and left, trying to avoid to make eye contact. You keep flying until you were far enough in the sky to spit out what was left of the cupcake in your mouth. \"Ugh! Carrot with blueberries frosting? And with raisins? What was she thin-\"\n\n\"I KNEW IT!\" You could hear her from two miles. She was flying in your direction.\n\n\"OH SHIT!!!\" You screamed before flying away for you life.\n\n----\n\n\n\nWonderful work. Okay, she may be not like that but... who knows?\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\"What did you learn today?\"\"That even in a picnic for friendship matter, never ever touch your cake?\""}
-{"text": "As Martin Scorsese\u2019s longstanding editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, prepares to receive the British film industry\u2019s top accolade, a Bafta fellowship, she has revealed plans to honour the memory of another great film maker: her late husband Michael Powell.\n\n\u201cI want to get Michael\u2019s diaries published,\u201d said the three-times Oscar winner, who has worked hand in glove with Scorsese over five decades. \u201cThey are stunning, and I want people to be able to read about all the great movies we lost, the ones he had hoped to make.\u201d\n\nPowell, an English director whose acclaimed films include The Red Shoes, A Matter of Life and Death and Black Narcissus, all made in collaboration with Emeric Pressburger, fell heavily out of favour with the British film industry in 1960 with the release of his controversial film Peeping Tom, now considered a masterpiece by many. Starring Anna Massey and Karlheinz B\u00f6hm, it told of a voyeuristic serial killer who filmed his victims\u2019 dying moments.\n\nSchoonmaker said Powell\u2019s diaries showed how hard he tried to continue making films. \u201cThe writing is stunning and it shows he never gave up and was constantly trying to option scripts and to raise money,\u201d she said. \u201cHe did make a children\u2019s film, as well as two films in Australia and then Bluebeard\u2019s Castle in Germany. But he was never allowed to make a film again in England, which is tragic.\u201d His efforts to film Shakespeare\u2019s The Tempest, to have starred James Mason,\n\ntook him all round the world, she said.\n\nAnother ambitious thwarted plan was to shoot an episode from Homer\u2019s The Odyssey, with music by Igor Stravinsky, design by Henri Matisse, a script by Dylan Thomas and a cast including Orson Welles. \u201cIt was not exactly realistic, particularly as the British film industry had more or less disappeared by then, but I want people to know that is how high his aspirations were. He had beautiful ideas for The Tempest,\u201d said Schoonmaker.\n\nPowell\u2019s reputation was eventually restored in part by Scorsese, a fan of his films. Bringing him out to New York, Scorsese introduced him to his American editor, Schoonmaker and the couple were married in 1984.\n\n\u201cUntil the point Marty found him, Michael had descended into this terrible lack of funds,\u201d said Schoonmaker. \u201cTowards the end he couldn\u2019t even heat the house and he was in terrible shape, although he never really let anyone know. You have no idea how he suffered and how bad it was.\u201d\n\nSchoonmaker keeps the original diaries safe in a vault and has made three copies which she works on in different countries. \u201cHe wrote a page or two every day from 1952 to 1990,\u201d she said. \u201cI will now read them thoroughly and decide what to use. I will have to cut it down severely.\n\n\u201cHe was a great writer, but didn\u2019t have the time to keep the diary properly until his career was ruined by Peeping Tom. He had been living with the actress Pamela Brown, who was so good in his films, from 1962 until she died in 1975. This was just at the time when Marty found him and he was very low.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere is lots of wonderful juvenilia too, all of which I am cataloguing and then giving to the British Film Institute,\u201d added Schoonmaker, who is currently working with Scorsese on their latest project, The Irishman, being made for Netflix and starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino."}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s good to see Sammy back to being black after all these years going with the white look. I look at so many Sammy social media photos that I rarely take the time to see how black he\u2019s gotten over the last year, but it really is startling how his complexion has changed.\n\n\n\nJan. 2012\n\n\n\nSept. 2013\n\n\n\n\n\nNovember 2013\n\n\n\n\n\nMay 1, 2014:\n\n\n\n12847423802543462"}
-{"text": "Sometimes people will dismiss someone as completely undateable. I figure nobody is undateable. There\u2019s just a quality about them that needs to be adjusted. For example, maybe they need to put on a little weight. Or lose a little. Maybe they need to get rich. Or die trying. Maybe they need to be better looking. That usually helps.\n\n\u2193 Transcript CLERK: I'm sorry ma'am, but our dating service was unable to pair you with a date for Valentine's.\n\n\n\nCLERK: We hate for anyone to leave empty handed, so here's a nice bag of consolation chocolates!\n\nFEMALE: Great, now I'll sit at home eating all of these until I'm nice and fat!\n\n\n\nFEMALE: Oh, if you do we might be able to match you up with Dr. Lecter.\n\nLECTER: Chocolate goes well with a nice Chianti.\n\n\n\n"}
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-{"text": "Welcome back for Episode 78 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans. In this episode, taped live at the Origins convention in Columbus, Ohio (we apologize for the somewhat subpar audio), we look at the connections between writing and gaming with two veterans in the field, John Helfers and Aaron Rosenberg. During the discussion we touch on how to get into writing for games, both face to face and computer-oriented, and consider whether the lines between narrative in games and narrative in stories have begun to blur\u2013and if so, what the implications might be. If you enjoy the conversation, make sure to check out more of John and Aaron\u2019s work, and don\u2019t forget to check back for our next episode, a discussion about book blogging in the speculative fiction field with Justin Landon of Staffer\u2019s Book Review. Until then, thanks as always for listening, and please continue to spread the word!\n\nLike this: Like Loading..."}
-{"text": "Dark comedy \u201cI\u2019m Dying Up Here\u201d from exec producer Jim Carrey has been greenlit at Showtime.\n\nThe series pickup was announced Tuesday by Showtime CEO David Nevins at the Television Critics Association press tour.\n\nSet in the celebrated and infamous L.A. stand-up comedy scene of the \u201970s, when the careers of most comedy superstars began, \u201cI\u2019m Dying Up Here\u201d will delve into the inspired and damaged psyches that inhabit the hilarious, but complex business of making an audience laugh. The series is based on William Knoedelseder\u2019s book of the same name.\n\nMelissa Leo stars in the series, playing a comedy club owner, along with Clark Duke, Ari Graynor, Andrew Santino, RJ Cyler, Erik Griffin and Stephen Guarino. Sebastian Stan will appear in a recurring role. Guest stars are Dylan Baker, who will portray Johnny Carson; Robert Forster as Stan\u2019s on-screen father; Cathy Moriarty as his mother; Alfred Molina; Al Madrigal; and Jon Daly.\n\nHailing from Endemol Shine Studios and Assembly Entertainment, Carrey will exec produce with Michael Aguilar, Christina Wayne and writer Dave Flebotte. Jonathan Levine directed the pilot, which shot this past fall."}
-{"text": "Update October 18, 2016-- The third and final wing of Raid Finder difficulty for Emerald Nightmare is now open.\n\nUpdate October 4, 2016-- The second wing of Raid Finder difficulty for Emerald Nightmare is now open.\n\nUpdate September 27, 2016-- Mythic difficulty for the Emerald Nightmare Raid and the first wing of Raid Finder difficulty for Emerald Nightmare are now open.\n\nThe time has come for all brave challengers to confront the twisted denizens of the Emerald Nightmare, do battle in the Arenas of Legion PvP Season 1, and delve into dungeons with a new Mythic Keystone in hand.\n\nWelcome to the Nightmare\n\nThe Emerald Nightmare raid is now available in Normal and Heroic difficulty! Great rewards await those who dare to take on the seven malignant foes who dwell within.\n\nLearn more about this new Raid in our preview: 7 Eerie Reasons to Enter the Emerald Nightmare.\n\nHere's the remainder of the (corrected) raid unlock schedule:\n\nTuesday, October 4 \u2013Raid Finder Wing 2 of Emerald Nightmare opens.\n\n\u2013Raid Finder Wing 2 of Emerald Nightmare opens. Tuesday, October 18\u2013Raid Finder Wing 3 of Emerald Nightmare opens.\n\nAccept the Challenge of Mythic Keystones\n\nNow when you complete your first Mythic dungeon each week, you\u2019ll be rewarded with a Mythic Keystone, enabling you to unlock new challenges within the Mythic dungeons and achieve greater rewards.\n\nLearn more in our Mythic Keystone Dungeons Preview.\n\nLegion PvP Season 1 Begins\n\nGet yourself out to the field of battle! In addition to all of the rewards available to you when you achieve new Prestige levels, rated Arenas are back!\n\nSeasonal PvP rewards will now be given to the top percentages of players in each faction, instead of in relation to the entire player base.\n\nLearn more about the new PvP Honor and Prestige system here."}
-{"text": "Hasta ahora el Ayuntamiento de Ciudad Rodrigo, al parecer, no ha tomado decisi\u00f3n alguna con respecto a este ped\u00e1neo\n\nSECUELAS DEL FRANQUISMO (LI): NOMBRES Y S\u00cdMBOLOS DE EXALTACI\u00d3N (8)\n\nEntre las perlas de Pablo Casado que se mencionan estos d\u00edas hay una que parece hacer bueno aquello de que piensa el ladr\u00f3n que todos son de su condici\u00f3n\n\nLos avatares de la \u201crecuperaci\u00f3n de memoria republicana\u201d empezaron por la lucha contra la negaci\u00f3n y condena del legado de la Rep\u00fablica, as\u00ed como contra el olvido y la culpabilizaci\u00f3n de las v\u00edctimas republicanas. Se est\u00e1 lejos de conseguir los objetivos deseados: reconocimiento y dignificaci\u00f3n de los perseguidos; toma en consideraci\u00f3n de los hechos hist\u00f3ricos que fueron la sublevaci\u00f3n militar y la represi\u00f3n durante y despu\u00e9s de la guerra civil; pero, a pesar de la falta total de medios para la aplicaci\u00f3n de la vigente Ley de Memoria Hist\u00f3rica por parte del gobierno de M. Rajoy, algo se ha avanzado, como se\u00f1al\u00e1bamos la semana pasada. Estos logros es lo que los herederos ideol\u00f3gicos y pol\u00edticos del franquismo definen como destrucci\u00f3n de \u201cla historia\u201d, que para ellos es meramente la visi\u00f3n de los hechos contados por historiadores y hagi\u00f3grafos de Franco y el nacional-catolicismo.\n\nHa bastado que el nuevo presidente del Gobierno, adem\u00e1s del anuncio de posibles reformas relativas a la LMH, haya manifestado la intenci\u00f3n de cumplir una decisi\u00f3n aprobada por el Congreso el a\u00f1o pasado en el sentido de que los restos del general Franco deben salir del Valle de los Ca\u00eddos, para que el franquismo despierte de su aparente letargo rajoyista, sacando a relucir los consabidos t\u00f3picos antimemorialistas y antidemocr\u00e1ticos. Ahora ha vuelto el aznarismo militante, que, sin asomo de arrepentimiento por sus evidentes errores y fallos morales (corrupci\u00f3n, exhibici\u00f3n de t\u00edtulos acad\u00e9micos sin acreditaci\u00f3n y un largu\u00edsimo etc\u00e9tera de mayor calado), reivindica su pasado y sus antecedentes, no ya abogando por el olvido de las v\u00edctimas de la Represi\u00f3n y dando por buena la impunidad hist\u00f3rica de sus responsables y ejecutores, sino defendiendo a capa y espada la permanencia de los s\u00edmbolos de exaltaci\u00f3n franquista, como el mencionado templo con las susodichas reliquias.\n\nEntre las perlas de Pablo Casado que se mencionan estos d\u00edas hay una que parece hacer bueno aquello de que piensa el ladr\u00f3n que todos son de su condici\u00f3n, pues ha llegado a calificar de \u201ccarcas\u201d a los izquierdistas y dem\u00f3cratas respetuosos con la memoria hist\u00f3rica: \u201cEn el siglo XXI no puede estar de moda ser de izquierdas. Son unos carcas, est\u00e1n todos los d\u00edas con la guerra del abuelo, con la fosa de no s\u00e9 qui\u00e9n, con la memoria hist\u00f3rica\u201d (Diario.es 22/07/2008).\n\nCuando en el linaje pol\u00edtico se tiene por ascendientes, entre otros se\u00f1alados franquistas, a Fraga Iribarne (ministro del \u201cGeneral\u00edsimo\u201d), semejante cinismo se inscribe en una clara deriva hist\u00f3rica, b\u00e1rbara y retr\u00f3grada; un programa ya conocido y aplicado por quienes ocupan los principales cargos en las instituciones de esta comunidad de Castilla y Le\u00f3n, tierra hostil a la MH, m\u00e1s que otras si cabe:\n\nDespu\u00e9s de la desmemoria, la desverg\u00fcenza.\n\nComo era de temer, el alcalde de \u00c1gueda, en este contexto y estimulado por la presencia de las c\u00e1maras televisivas que le ofrec\u00edan la ocasi\u00f3n de emular las haza\u00f1as del escarabajo pelotero, ha vuelto a repetir que \u00e9l y sus convecinos estar\u00edan dispuestos a acoger lo que quede del Peque\u00f1o Gran Hombre en un mausoleo y a montar un museo de antiguallas ilegales franquistas. Nadie en su sano juicio se tomar\u00e1 en serio la posibilidad moral y f\u00edsica de llevar a cabo tama\u00f1a barbaridad. Pero al edil le basta con que hablen de \u00e9l y salir en la televisi\u00f3n, aunque sea como buf\u00f3n (para detalles ver https://salamancartvaldia.es/not/149593/isidrada-nacional-socialista-alcalde-agueda-pesadilla-historica/ y\n\nhttps://salamancartvaldia.es/not/162349/nombres-simbolos-exaltacion-5-entorno-inmediato-ciudad-rodrigo/).\n\nHasta ahora el Ayuntamiento de Ciudad Rodrigo, al parecer, no ha tomado decisi\u00f3n alguna con respecto a este ped\u00e1neo que tranquilamente puede seguir subido en su bola, convertido en hazmerre\u00edr nacional, porque \u201cpeor es meneallo\u201d, como dir\u00eda Don Quijote en estos casos. Pero no es menos cierto que el que calla otorga. Y, a mayor abundamiento, cabe preguntarse si estos atrevimientos del personaje no se deber\u00e1n a que en la misma Ciudad existen varios s\u00edmbolos de exaltaci\u00f3n franquista. Sin duda el m\u00e1s escandaloso es el de la calle dedicada a Agust\u00edn de Fox\u00e1, uno de los cofundadores de la Falange, que era due\u00f1o del antiguo monasterio de La Caridad, cuyas ruinas fueron habilitadas como prisi\u00f3n y en la cercan\u00eda de las cuales los falangistas y otros milicianos fascistas dejaron un reguero de v\u00edctimas ejecutadas en la clandestinidad, muchas de ellas enterradas en fosas comunes del campo, exhumada alguna y por exhumar otras.\n\nNo es menos hiriente la indicaci\u00f3n del panel de direcci\u00f3n antes de la entrada en la Ciudad por la carretera de C\u00e1ceres, donde el glorioso nombre de \u201cla Ciudad Antigua, Noble y Leal\u201d aparece asociado con el top\u00f3nimo ilegal (ver fotograf\u00eda). De propina y por contagio del ingenioso alcalde, mirobrigenses y aguedenses compartir\u00e1n el renombre de bobos bellacos y fascistas en la memoria colectiva del pa\u00eds.\n\nSi esto no es una desverg\u00fcenza, que venga Dios y lo vea.\n\nEn la comarca mirobrigense el inventario de s\u00edmbolos franquistas, m\u00e1s o menos perceptibles, el a\u00f1o pasado alcanzaba la quincena, entre ellos cruces de los ca\u00eddos en diez localidades (cf. http://salamancartvaldia.es/not/162968/cruces-caidos-otras-manifestaciones-nacional-catolicismo-so/). No consta que se hayan eliminado todos, y deber\u00edan haber sido quitados o modificados.\n\nPara el remedio de estas desverg\u00fcenzas bastar\u00eda con haber aplicado la vigente LMH. Esto ser\u00eda mejor que alentadoras promesas, a las cuales lo m\u00e1s sano es no dar cr\u00e9dito alguno hasta verlas cumplidas, porque la experiencia muestra que suelen ser enga\u00f1osas.\n\nhttps://salamancartvaldia.es/not/185542/despues-memoria-desverguenza/"}
-{"text": "SF Signal has the cover and synopsis for Crosstalk, Connie Willis\u2019 new novel that brings to mind both futuristic romantic dramedies about soulmates and the recent debates around national security and personal privacy related to iPhones. Willis\u2019 first novel since 2010\u2019s Hugo Award-winning Blackout/All Clear, Crosstalk follows a young couple who take the ultimate plunge: undergoing a radical procedure which will allow them to sense each other\u2019s feelings. But with that line of privacy blurred to the point of being erased, protagonist Briddey\u2014who\u2019s also working on a big deal with Apple that will revolutionize how we communicate\u2014may not like what she hears.\n\n\u201cThe novel was partly inspired by our wildly over-connected world, in which we\u2019re constantly bombarded with communication, most of it unwelcome, and partly by the misconceptions people have about what being telepathic would be like,\u201d Willis explained in a blog post in late 2015. \u201cThey always assume it would either be profitable (finding out people\u2019s computer codes or social security numbers or blackmailable personal secrets) or fun. So not true.\u201d\n\nHere\u2019s the full synopsis:\n\nBriddey is about to get exactly what she thinks she wants\u2026 Briddey is a high-powered exec in the mobile phone industry, overseeing new products from concept (\u201canything to beat the new Apple phone\u201d) to delivery. And she works with her wonderful partner, Trent. They\u2019ve been together for six magical weeks, in a whirlwind of flowers, dinners, laughter and now comes the icing on the cake: not a weekend away or a proposal but something even better. An EED. A procedure which will let them sense each other\u2019s feelings. Trent doesn\u2019t just want to tell her how much he loves her\u2014he wants her to feel it. Everything is perfect. The trouble is, Briddey can\u2019t breathe a word of it to anyone (difficult, when the whole office is guessing) until she\u2019s had two minutes to call her family. And they\u2019re hounding her about the latest family drama, but when they find out about the EED\u2014which they will\u2014they\u2019ll drop everything to interrogate her. And it might just be easier to have the procedure now and explain later. Only Apple are poised to deliver an amazing new product and she has to be one step ahead\u2026 if she can only persuade their tech genius, C.B., to drop his crazy ideas about a \u201cprivacy phone\u201d with its \u201cdo not disturb\u201d settings, and focus on what people really want: more efficient, instinctive and immediate ways to communicate. The race is on: not just for new, cutting-edge technology, but also for a shred of privacy in a public world and\u2014for Briddey\u2014a chance for love at the heart of it all. This is a brilliant, heart-warming romantic comedy from one of the wittiest and wisest of our authors. Written with a light touch and a smile, we\u2019re swept up in Briddey\u2019s romance\u2014and into the difficulties of a world just one technological step away from our own, as technology and social media blur (or indeed remove) the line between personal and public.\n\nYou can read more about the novel on Willis\u2019 blog. Crosstalk will be available October 4 from Del Rey."}
-{"text": "It\u2019s an exciting day in in the world of gaming. Today marks the release of Hatred, the highly anticipated ultra-violent shoot-em-up game that has attracted widespread outrage across across the gaming and mainstream press.\n\nSocial justice warriors, falling pathetically in line behind an army of cross halfwits like Feminist Frequency\u2019s Jonathan McIntosh, have spent a lot of effort trying to suppress the title. But hilariously \u2013 and predictably \u2013 their efforts have backfired.\n\nIt\u2019s no secret that I\u2019m a huge fan of fictional ultra-violence. Indeed, I\u2019m so keen on Postal 2 \u2013 another beautifully sadistic massacre game \u2013 that the developers made me a character in their latest expansion pack.\n\nFrom what I\u2019ve seen of Hatred, it looks right up my blood-soaked alley.\n\nBut the funny thing is, I have to thank social justice warriors for bringing this delightful game to my attention. We all do, really. Because, if it weren\u2019t for them, none of us would have even heard of it. Ironically, almost all of Hatred\u2019s publicity has been generated by the shrieking crusaders who wanted it to be banned outright on the spurious grounds that it might incite real-world violence (but really because these coastal elite snobs don\u2019t like the sort of people who make or play such games).\n\nHatred is the debut title of Destructive Creations, a medium-size Polish game design studio with very little in the way of advertising budget. It first attracted attention in late 2014, when a short gameplay clip featuring the game\u2019s graphic and comically excessive violence began doing the rounds.\n\n\n\nPolygon, a reliably hysterical gaming rag published by Vox Media, was first out of the gate, saying the game caused them \u201cgenuine revulsion\u201d. And then, as night follows day, eager social justice warriors determined to prove what virtuous people they are chipped in, setting up a petition to have the game banned. Most of these people do not play, or even really care about, video games. They just enjoy making other people suffer.\n\nBy the time Steam, the web\u2019s biggest PC games distributor, began receiving complaints about the title, Hatred was already famous across the internet, with anti-censorship gamers on the #GamerGate hashtag already pledging to protect the game from censorship.\n\nSteam briefly decided to ban the title, but were forced into a u-turn just over a day later. An intervention from Steam CEO Gabe Newell restored Hatred to the platform, whereupon the game immediately shot to the top of the rankings. Like so many products before it, Hatred had become a symbol of rebellion against moral scolds and control freaks.\n\nI call this phenemenon, which is a variation on the Streisand Effect, Yiannopoulos\u2019s Law of Heckle Shekels: as the social justice butthurt generated by a consumer product rises, so do its sales figures. (For some reason gamer and chan culture are obsessed with the word \u201cshekels,\u201d and the rhyme was too good to resist.)\n\nhttps://twitter.com/Nero/status/605366369698365440\n\nExamples of this Law are littered throughout recent consumer history. Most recently, we saw the gym supplement company Protein World rocket to fame after irritating podgy feminists with supposedly \u201cbody shaming\u201d ads on London\u2019s Underground. The shriekers succeeded in getting the Advertising Standards Authority to ban the ads from being displayed again, but not before Protein World had successfully harnessed the outrage to add 20,000 new customers and rack up a reported \u00a32 million in new sales.\n\nThe increased sales paid for a second billboard campaign in New York City.\n\nThen there was the infamous pop song Blurred Lines, which was banned on 25 university campuses in the UK for the lyric \u201cI know you want it,\u201d which was said to promote \u201crape culture.\u201d Did the bans hurt the song? Not on your nelly!\n\nSome companies have noticed the inexorability of the Law of Heckle Shekels. They deliberately court outrage in order to raise their profile and get a wave of free marketing from outraged tweeters and tabloid newspapers. It\u2019s called madvertising: harnessing the power of loony outrage merchants for marketing advantage.\n\nOne of the most famous examples is the original Grand Theft Auto game, news of which was deliberately sent to police chiefs, conservative politicians, and the Daily Mail in order to whip up a buzz of fear and panic. Grand Theft Auto V made over a billion dollars, outselling the entire global music industry.\n\nGTA\u2019s developer, Rockstar, was probably paying attention to the metal and hard rock scene, which benefited (yes, benefited) from Tipper Gore\u2019s \u201cexplicit lyrics\u201d panic in the late 1980s.\n\nSocial justice warriors hated Avengers: Age of Ultron, even driving director Joss Whedon off Twitter. The movie grossed $1.2 billion.\n\nBack in traditional retail, chicken chain Chick fil A enjoyed a boost in sales after gay activists made a mountain out of the CEO\u2019s views on traditional marriage. A small pizza joint called Memories Pizza, whose owners also believe in the traditional definition of marriage, was targeted by radical journalists shopping around for \u201cbigots\u201d: customers and supporters responded by raising nearly a million dollars when the outlet had to close after threats from gay rights campaigners.\n\nIt doesn\u2019t stop at financial profit, of course. Companies like Protein World and Destructive Creations, who stand their ground in the face of outrage and refuse to apologise gain something possibly even more valuable: ferocious loyalty and affection from their customers.\n\nOn social media, where manufactured controversy and public shaming can run amok, ordinary people instinctively side with those who refuse to give in to peer pressure. In an age of outrage, the deliberately offensive become heroes. But while outrage fades after a few weeks, the fans \u2013 and new customers \u2013 stay forever.\n\nFar from avoiding outrage, smart companies should be thinking up new and innovative ways to offend the Tipper Gores, Jack Thompsons and Anita Sarkeesians of our day. It\u2019s a surefire way to drum up new sales.\n\nWhat, to use the language of the imageboards, would most \u201crustle their jimmies\u201d? A restaurant whose menu changes according to your BMI, refusing to sell high-sugar and high-fat foods to overweight consumers? A store that declines to sell plus-sized women yoga pants? Or a reverse age limit on video games, because people over 35 are just too stupid to get it? I\u2019m keen to hear your views."}
-{"text": "Reddit Email 0 Shares\n\nBy Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) \u2013\n\nJeb Bush gave a maiden foreign police speech in Chicago yesterday in which he mixed up Iran with Iraq and alleged with science fictional inaccuracy that Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) has 200,000 men under arms. The actual number of fighters is probably 20,000. His office later admitted that he \u2018misspoke.\u2019\n\nBut did he? A slip like that can reveal how a person views the world. Jeb Bush seems to think that menacing groups out there are 10 times larger than they are.\n\nFor comparison, France has an active duty army of 215,000. He made a small congeries of criminal gangs in the arid east of Syria and northwest of Iraq into a military power equivalent to France!\n\n(Even the 20,000 figure for Daesh\u2019s supposed strength is misleading because it is an all-volunteer guerrilla force, essentially doubling as neighborhood thugs and enforcers in Raqqah and Mosul; Daesh can\u2019t possibly field a conventional infantry division of that size in the field.)\n\nJ. Bush also said at one point that in 2003 ISIL did not exist. But Daesh or ISIL goes back to al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and before that to Tawhid. Ironically, Jeb\u2019s brother hyped Zarqawi\u2019s presence in Iraq as a reason the US had to invade! So ISIL did exist under a different name. And Zarqawi\u2019s 2003 tiny al-Tawhid group only morphed into Daesh and took substantial territory because W. invaded Iraq, abolished the Iraqi army, put the Shiites in power and created a power vacuum.\n\nJeb Bush also praised the \u2018surge\u2019 or troop escalation of 2007 when W. put an extra 30,000 soldiers into Iraq. The Washington myth is that this campaign turned the war around. But actually the US forces under Gen. David Petraeus made a deal with then (Shiite) Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to disarm the Sunni militants first. They did that, and the Mahdi Army and Badr Corps militias promptly ethnically cleansed hundreds of thousands of Sunnis from Baghdad, turning it into a largely Shiite city.\n\nThe displaced and desperate Sunnis, filled with rage and grievances against the US and its Shiite allies, gradually turned to al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, which renamed itself the Islamic State of Iraq, and then after 2011 became the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or ISIL. That is, rather than being the great success Jeb painted it, the \u2018surge\u2019 was the origins of the collapse of Iraq.\n\nThe allegation that President Obama could have kept 10,000 US troops in Iraq after December 2011 is untrue. The Bush administration was the one that failed to negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi parliament that would allow US troops to remain. It failed because there was no majority in the Iraqi parliament for such an idea. The Iraqis never wanted US troops in their country, something Washington won\u2019t admit. All Obama did was acquiesce in Bush\u2019s deal. Vice President Joe Biden was tasked with seeing if an adjustment could be made whereby US troops might remain, but Biden also could not put together a majority in the Iraqi parliament. (It was felt that US troops and commanders would be at risk of prosecution, either in Iraqi courts or international ones, unless the Iraqi parliament itself passed the SOFA as a treaty commitment; it wasn\u2019t something the prime minister could do by fiat).\n\nThe Iraqi parliament consisted of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (Shiite, pro-Iran), the Sadr II Bloc or Free Ones (Ahrar) (fundamentalist Shiite), the Islamic Call or Islamic Mission Party (Da\u2019wa- fundamentalist lay Shiite), the Iraqiya Party (supported by Sunni Arabs with a grudge against the US); and the Kurdistan Alliance. Only the KA might have voted for US troops to remain. The rest of the members of parliament were dead set against or at least couldn\u2019t show their faces in their districts if they didn\u2019t oppose it. No one has ever been able to show me where a majority existed in parliament for US troops staying in Iraq. People who make this argument are robbing Iraqis of any agency in their own destiny and discounting them in Orientalist style as easily manipulable by the US. They aren\u2019t.\n\nMoreover, 10,000 US troops in Iraq after 2011 would have been constantly targeted by Sunni guerrillas and Shiite militias, and would have been too small to defend themselves very well. They certainly would not have been stationed in any numbers in Mosul! That an imperial presence of this sort, what Iraqis call an \u201cOccupation,\u201d would have calmed things down and kept Mosul in Iraq is just a fantastic idea. It is like saying that if only there had been a few more British troops billeted in American homes in the 13 colonies in 1775, the American Revolution could have been put down and averted. It was things like billeting British troops in people\u2019s homes that provoked the revolution in the first place!\n\nJeb Bush\u2019s maiden voyage into foreign policy was painful to watch, a hodgepodge of exaggerated bogeymen, vague ideals, inaccurate assertions, and bad history. Oh. Where have we seen this combination of tropes before? Let me think\u2026\n\nhere is my appearance discussing the speech on MSNBC\u2019s\n\n\u2018All In\u2019 with Christ Hayes: \u201cJeb Bush Staggers into Foreign Policy\u201d\n\n\u2014"}
-{"text": "These fairy wands are super fun to make.\n\nYou will need:\n\n\u2013 Sticks\n\n\u2013 Felt\n\n\u2013 Strong glue for fabric or a glue gun\n\n\u2013 Yarn\n\n\u2013 Sequins\n\nStart by wrapping the yarn around the stick.\n\nThen cut two heart shapes out of the felt and glue them together over the top of the stick. You could use any shape you like but Cherry loves hearts so that was what she opted for. Make sure you use a strong glue as PVA doesn\u2019t hold the felt together.\n\nThen just glue the sequins on to decorate, you could also use glitter or even sew little beads on.\n\nTo complete the look you could also make one of these gorgeous crowns by Flour On My Face and why not make your children\u2019s toys some fairy wings too?\n\nI always think it\u2019s nice to make dressing up things for Cherry and Tiger, in actual fact I try to make most things as it\u2019s so much cheaper than buying them. Especially when it comes to jewellery. Cherry is drawn to the kids jewelry section as soon as we go into the supermarket and I really resent paying for something that ends up lost under the sofa in a few days!"}
-{"text": "Speaker John Boehner John Andrew BoehnerLongtime House parliamentarian to step down Five things we learned from this year's primaries Bad blood between Pelosi, Meadows complicates coronavirus talks MORE (R-Ohio) quickly reaffirmed his commitment to abolishing President Obama\u2019s healthcare reform law after suggesting in an interview that repeal was no longer a priority for the House.\n\n\"ObamaCare is law of the land, but it is raising costs & threatening jobs. Our goal has been, and will remain, full repeal,\" Boehner John Andrew BoehnerLongtime House parliamentarian to step down Five things we learned from this year's primaries Bad blood between Pelosi, Meadows complicates coronavirus talks MORE tweeted Thursday.\n\nThe tweet was sent shortly after the release of an interview with ABC News in which Boehner indicated he has no firm plans to push for repeal of the Affordable Care Act, a law the GOP-led House has voted to abolish, dismantle or defund more than 30 times.\n\n\"I think the election changes that,\" Boehner said. \"It's pretty clear that the president was reelected. ObamaCare is the law of the land.\"\n\nHe added, \"I think there are parts of the healthcare law that are going to be very difficult to implement and very expensive. And at the time when we're trying to find a way to create a path toward a balanced budget, everything has to be on the table.\n\n\"There certainly may be parts of it that we believe need to be changed. We may do that. No decisions at this point.\"\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nIn a statement to The Hill, a spokesman for Boehner said decisions about votes in the next Congress have yet to be made, but stressed the GOP\u2019s commitment to repeal.\n\n\"We\u2019re two days out from the election and the leaders will make decisions on leg schedule and timing in the weeks ahead. Point is our commitment to full repeal has not changed,\" said Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith.\n\nRepublicans' defeat in the presidential race and their failure to claim the Senate all but ensures the future of Obama's signature law. House Republicans remain strongly opposed to it, however, and are unlikely to abandon their quest to dismantle and weaken it through legislation.\n\nThe GOP\u2019s repeal efforts are likely to turn to the law\u2019s controversial Medicare board, though with the Senate and White House in Democratic hands, that push is unlikely to succeed.\n\nHouse Majority Leader Eric Cantor Eric Ivan CantorThe Hill's Campaign Report: Florida hangs in the balance Eric Cantor teams up with former rival Dave Brat in supporting GOP candidate in former district Bottom line MORE (R-Va.) repeated his opposition to the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) on Wednesday, saying its repeal is one effort that could garner support in the Senate over the objections of Democratic Leader Harry Reid Harry Mason ReidGOP senators confident Trump pick to be confirmed by November Durbin: Democrats can 'slow' Supreme Court confirmation 'perhaps a matter of hours, maybe days at most' Supreme Court fight pushes Senate toward brink MORE (Nev.).\n\n\"If we successfully make the case publicly, bills that could reach the president's desk include ... repeal of IPAB,\" Cantor wrote in a letter to his House GOP colleagues.\n\n\"There are some issues that I suspect Senator Reid will have a difficult time compelling his members to oppose outright.\"\n\n\u2014 This story was first posted at 5:27 p.m. and has been updated."}
-{"text": "Instagram and Facebook will no longer allow \u201cinfluencers\u201d to promote vaping or tobacco-related products or weapons, the company said Wednesday.\n\nFacebook, which owns Instagram, said in a blog post it will no longer allow \u201cbranded content\u201d that promotes those items. Facebook\u2019s policies have long prohibited the direct advertisement of tobacco or weapons, but did not control what influencers could post.\n\nThe policy change closes a loophole that allowed companies such as e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs to promote their products, even though vaping ads were technically banned.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nUnder Facebook\u2019s and Instagram\u2019s previous policies, advertisers could pay influencers to promote their products, and the companies would not intervene. The company said it would begin enforcement of the new rule \u201cin the coming weeks.\u201d\n\nJuul is the country\u2019s leading e-cigarette company, and a large part of its initial success and massive growth among young people was due to social media influencers.\n\nJuul has recently attempted to distance itself from the online campaign, but the role of online influencers has drawn scrutiny from numerous state and federal regulators. Juul deleted its entire social media presence in the fall as part of a broader plan to curb youth use of e-cigarettes.\n\nFacebook also said it will require special restrictions on branded content that promotes goods such as alcohol or diet supplements, beginning next year. The company said it is building specific tools to help creators comply with these new policies, including the ability to restrict who can see their content, based on age."}
-{"text": "The man accused of killing a Clark Atlanta University student allegedly told police that he suffocated her, cleaned up her blood and then went to a Halloween party that night.\n\nBarron Brantley, 21, was in Atlanta's Fulton County Magistrate Court for his hearing Friday on murder charges.\n\nBrantley and his girlfriend, Jordyn Jones, 21, are charged with the murder of Clark Atlanta University student Alexis Crawford, 21, whose body was found in Exchange Park in Decatur, Georgia, on November 8.\n\nBarron Brantley, 21, is seen here in an Atlanta court Friday for a hearing on his murder charge\n\nBrantley and girlfriend Jordyn Jones, 21, are accused of murdering Jones' roommate, Alexis Crawford, 21, on Halloween and then dumping her body in a park\n\nAt the time of her death, Crawford was Jones' roommate at an off-campus apartment. The murder was said to have occurred after Crawford got into a fight with Jones on October 31.\n\nDuring the hearing, Atlanta Police Department Detective Mike Young said that Brantley 'admitted to choking Ms. Crawford,' the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.\n\n'While he was choking Ms. Crawford, Ms. Jones put a plastic bag over her head,' Young added.\n\nYoung went on to say that Brantley told him that he had known that Crawford died during the incident because her 'sounds of agony' had ended.\n\nThe detective said that Brantley and Jones told him that they had put Crawford's body into a large plastic bin and then left her in the park at about 4am.\n\nThey went back to the apartment where Brantley allegedly cleaned up the blood from the living room and then they went to a Halloween party, Young said.\n\nAuthorities said that it's unclear what led to the fight between Crawford and Jones on the night that Crawford was killed.\n\nA detective testified during hearing that Brantley (pictured Friday) told him that he had choked Crawford and that Jones had put a plastic bag over Crawford's head\n\nThe detective said that Brantley (pictured Friday) said that he knew Crawford was dead because she stopped making 'sounds of agony'\n\nCrawford's murder was said to have taken place following a fight between her and Jones (pictured at left and in her mugshot, right) that night. It's unclear what prompted the fight\n\nYoung said that Jones told him that she couldn't remember what led to the incident because she had been drunk that night.\n\nPolice had previously said that Crawford had contacted authorities claiming that Brantley sexually assaulted her at the apartment she shared with Jones on October 27.\n\nAccording to that police report, Crawford told authorities that Brantley had rubbed her shoulder and kissed her on the neck while they were drinking together. Crawford said that Brantley claimed he mistook her for his girlfriend, Jones.\n\nShe said she entered a restroom by herself after Brantley followed her to her room.\n\nJones told detectives that she found Crawford locked inside the bathroom wearing only a bra, the police report states. Investigators also recovered a 'pair of cut panties' in the bathroom.\n\nJones said that Crawford told her she had passed out and did not remember what had happened.\n\nBrantley said he did not have sex with Crawford, according to Jones.\n\nCrawford (pictured) was reported missing on November 1. Her body was found after an eight day search in a park. The medical examiner determined she died from asphyxiation\n\nCrawford underwent a rape examination at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. The results of that examination were not specified in the police report at the time.\n\nHowever, prosecutors said during a bond hearing Thursday that Brantley's DNA had been found.\n\nDuring Friday's hearing, Young testified that Brantley had said 'I didn\u2019t touch her, I didn\u2019t rape her,' after exiting the bathroom where Crawford was on October 27.\n\nCrawford was reported missing on November 1, leading to an eight day search for her, which ended when her body was found in the park.\n\nThe medical examiner then determined that she had been killed by asphyxiation.\n\nAt some point during the search for Crawford, Jones told detectives that she was not 'on speaking terms' with her roommate because of a 'separate incident' that was not disclosed in the missing person report.\n\nThe report also mentioned a 'separate incident' on October 26, citing friends who said Crawford had started sleeping in the living room because she wasn't comfortable in her own bedroom.\n\nFollowing the detective's testimony Friday, the court said that there was probable cause for the murder charges against Brantley to go forward.\n\nJones was also set to appear on her charges, but her attorney had asked for her hearing to be postponed.\n\nBoth Brantley and Jones are being held in the Fulton County jail without bond."}
-{"text": "We\u2019re about to start working on OkHttp 3.0. It\u2019ll be like OkHttp 2.7, but with small backwards-incompatible API changes. For example, we\u2019re going to make multipart better.\n\nHow can we roll this out without breaking everything? As Jake explains, we\u2019re going to cheat! By changing the package name and Maven group ID, you\u2019ll be able to have both OkHttp 2.7 and OkHttp 3.0 in the same app at the same time.\n\nShipping two copies of a library is a terrible long-term solution! It bloats your app, consumes more memory, and exacerbates the 65K dex limit. But it\u2019ll enable you to update OkHttp in your application independently from its libraries. Preferably you can get everything upgraded by the time you release your app.\n\nNote that our approach is quite different from Guava\u2019s versioning philosophy. Our package renames will require you to find & replace imports \u2013 how annoying! But it also means we can change things without a drawn out deprecation period. Like ripping off the band-aid!\n\nWe\u2019re doing this for both OkHttp 3 and Retrofit 2. I\u2019m looking forward to both."}
-{"text": "The greatest advantage self-driving cars hold over outdated humans is the ability to tune out distractions. No buzzing phone, yelling kids, or lovely daydream will divert attention from their primary task. That doesn't mean they can't get overwhelmed with information in much the same way you do.\n\nThe fully autonomous vehicles that companies like Google, Ford, and Baidu are furiously developing all rely on light detection and ranging (LIDAR) to see and map the world. Those maps are key, because they provide crucial context for the vehicles and let them focus their sensors and computing power on temporary obstacles like cars, pedestrians, and cyclists.\n\nThe problem is that LIDAR, like your eyeballs, doesn't just notice the relevant stuff. It sees lane lines and stop signs, sure. But it also records windows on buildings, leaves on trees, garbage cans in driveways. That makes for a cluttered map. \"It's not very useable,\" says Civil Maps CEO Sravan Puttagunta.\n\nAll that extra information isn't just distracting, it's enormous. A LIDAR map of one square kilometer can gobble up several gigabytes of data. That's not a problem now, when the world's fully autonomous cars could fit in a parking lot and only trained engineers use them. But in a world where these vehicles are widely used, delivering maps and keeping them updated becomes a problem.\n\nThis is the problem Civil Maps thinks it's solved\u2014and why the Berkeley-based startup just raised a $6.6 million seed funding round, including cash from Ford. Its software reads all that data, and with the help of machine learning, fishes from a sea of dots all the salient points, line strings, and polygons humans see as traffic lights, lane lines, and crosswalks. (LIDAR can actually read signs: It measures the strength of the laser signals coming back, so can tell the black numbers on a speed limit sign from the more reflective white space.)\n\nThe software uses that data to create a semantic map that includes a definition for each feature. An arrow pointing to the right and sitting between two solid lines is translated for the robot: If you're in this lane, you must turn right.\n\nThat solves the size problem. When Civil Maps scouted nearly 300 lane miles of Palo Alto (one mile of a four-lane road equals four lane miles), it generated one terabyte of data. Stripping away the unnecessary information and concentrating on essential elements and instructions brought that down to eight megabytes\u2014roughly the same space needed for an mp3 of \"Stairway to Heaven.\" That doesn't just let the system store more data, it makes it easy to update everything.\n\nCreating the map is but the first step. As infrastructure evolves, so must maps to reflect things like construction and new signage. Civil Maps says its sensors will be able to note anything that doesn't match pre-loaded maps. If a handful of cars report the same \"Road Work Ahead\" sign, the map gets an update. Because its footprint is so light, it's easy to move updated info to every car.\n\nCivil Maps is taking a smart approach, but hasn't exactly invented the astrolabe, says John Ristevski, who ran the autonomous car mapping division at Here, which BMW, Audi, and Daimler jointly bought from Nokia last year. Google, Uber, and his former employer (he left Here in May and is now an entrepreneur in residence at Nokia Growth Partners) use similar approaches to translate laser dots to usable maps.\n\nBut in the dash to map the world of self-driving cars, originality may not matter very much. The important thing is moving quickly to scale up, perfect the process, and get the four-wheeled scouts on the road. Now that it's got a fresh pile of cash, Puttagunta says, Civil Maps is in the race."}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nSteals all equipment they cant even use Ignores 2700 rupees"}
-{"text": "I've made no secret of how much I despise Stanislaw Burzynski, the self-proclaimed cancer doctor and medical researcher who has been treating patients with an unproven, unapproved chemotherapeutic agent since 1977, seemingly slithering around, under, over, and past all attempts to investigate him and shut him down. Along the way, Burzynski has become a hero to the cancer quackery industry, touted as the man who can cure incurable cancers that science-based medicine can't, even though his treatment, antineoplastons, allegedly peptides isolated from blood and urine that normally keep cancer in check in healthy people, are by any reasonable definition chemotherapy. Indeed, they are toxic, with a number of side effects reported, the most common and dangerous of which being life-threatening hypernatremia (elevated sodium levels in the blood). All you have to do is to type Burzynski's name into the search box of this blog, and you'll find copious documentation of the abuses of patients, science, and clinical trials perpetrated by Stanislaw Burzynski and the cult of personality that has evolved around him. He's even acquired his very own film propagandist, a credulous fellow named Eric Merola, who has made two astoundingly bad documentaries that are nothing more than unabashed hagiographies of the brave maverick doctor curing cancer where no one else can. They're chock full of misinformation, pseudoscience, spin, and obvious emotional manipulation, and the first one, at least, was very popular.\n\nFor the longest time, I've been hoping that major mainstream news organizations would take this story on. It's happened from time to time, but until 2013 it hadn't happened in a long time. Earlier this year, the BBC featured Burzynski in an episode of its long-running series Panorama. It was a mixed bag that took the fairly easy path of making it all about the patients and never really delved into what I believe to be the central mystery of the four decade long Stanislaw Burzynski story, and that's how he's managed to keep his medical license and register clinical trials right up until 2012. That was a disappointment, although much of the rest of the Panorama episode was very good. He still has his medical license, but as I've pointed out several times, the FDA placed a partial clinical hold on Burzynski's antineoplaston phase II clinical trials back in the summer of 2012. A partial clinical hold means that no new patients could be enrolled in his clinical trials, but patients already on them could continue to receive antineoplastons. In 2012, apparently a child died on antineoplastons, and so a partial clinical hold was placed on the trials involving children. That clinical hold was extended to adults in January 2012, with much wailing and gnashing of teeth among Burzynski apologists, as the FDA investigated between January and March. We now know the results of that investigation, but we never knew much about how that partial clinical hold came about.\n\nNow, thanks to Liz Szabo at USA Today, we know from her article Doctor accused of selling false hope to families:\n\nOn the last day of his life, Josia Cotto's parents gave him a choice. The 6-year-old boy had been fighting an inoperable brain tumor for 10 months. When his mother, Niasia Cotto, found him in his bed, unresponsive and unable to open his eyes, \"we knew there was nothing else that we could do,\" she said. An ambulance took Josia to a hospice room at a local hospital. His parents covered him in a soft, blue-and-white blanket, hugged him and held his small hand for the last time. \"We told him the choice was his, whether to keep fighting or be in peace with God,\" said his mother. \"He chose.\" Josia's parents would have paid any price to save him. A Texas doctor, two months, earlier, had given them one: $25,000 upfront, by cash or check.\n\nIt turns out that Josia Cotto was the child who died of complications from Burzynski's treatment:\n\nThe FDA's patience with Burzynski apparently wore out after Josia died. In a report sent to the FDA after the boy's death, Burzynski's staff acknowledged that his last blood sample, taken the day he passed away,showed a blood sodium level of 205 millimoles per liter, a level that is typically fatal. Burzynski's staff blamed that reading on a \"false laboratory report based on a contaminated sample.\" Yet hypernatremia is one of antineoplastons' most common side effects, known to doctors for two decades. One of Burzynski's own informed consent documents \u2014 the form that patients sign before they begin treatment \u2014 put the risk at 21%. On July 30, 2012 \u2014 six weeks after Josia's death \u2014 the FDA forbade Burzynski from giving antineoplastons to any new children.\n\nI was astounded to see that number. I've never, ever seen a sodium level that high. Typically, normal is typically between 135 and 145 mEq/L, with slight variations of that range depending on the lab. Burzynski's excuse, which I've heard at various times as being due to an \"improper blood draw\" or as described above, is purest nonsense. A bad blood draw typically produces falsely elevated potassium levels, not sodium levels. Unless the technician spiked Josia's sample with 3% saline or something like that, there's no way to get the leve that high. Josia almost certainly died because of hypernatremia from antineoplaston therapy.\n\nTo me, this is the biggest revelation of the story: The story and identity of the child who was killed by Burzynski's treatments. We also learn that\u2014surprise! surprise!\u2014Stanislaw Burzynski is an enormous tool. Look at him dismiss his critics, particularly former patients, many of whom, let's recall, have terminal cancer, many of whom are dead:\n\nBurzynski dismisses criticism of his work, referring to his detractors as \"hooligans\" and \"hired assassins.\" As for criticism from former patients, Burzynski says, \"We see patients from various walks of life. We see great people. We see crooks. We have prostitutes. We have thieves. We have mafia bosses. We have Secret Service agents. Many people are coming to us, OK? Not all of them are the greatest people in the world. And many of them would like to get money from us. They pretend they got sick and they would like to extort money from us.\" History will vindicate him, Burzynski says, just as it has vindicated other persecuted medical \"pioneers,\" such as Louis Pasteur. In the future, Burzynski says, everyone will use his therapies, and the cancer treatments used today \u2014 such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiation \u2014 will be regarded as barbaric. \"There will be a time when people will see the light,\" he says, \"and our treatments will be used by everyone.\"\n\nYou know, whenever I hear Burzynski fans like Eric Merola accuse skeptics of attacking cancer patients, of accusing them of horrible things, I think I will throw this quote right back in their faces. Here's Burzynski calling his patients prostitutes, thieves, and mafia bosses, and \"not the greatest people in the world,\" while accusing them of wanting to \"extort money from us.\" Not surprisingly, he also liberally uses the Galileo gambit, but that's not surprising, as he's repeatedly made the hilariously arrogant and scientifically ignorant claim that he is a pioneer in genomic and personalized cancer therapy and that M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and other world-class cancer centers are \"following his lead.\" Indeed, he claimed to have invented the field 20 years ago. Sadly, his publication record does not support such grandiose claims.\n\nThere's a lot more in this story, some of it contained in the sidebar stories Experts dismiss doctor's cancer claims and Families run out of hope, money after cancer treatments. Other than some of the revelations that I didn't really know much about before, much of what is contained in the rest of this story will be familiar to regular readers here. For instance, experts are saying the same things I've been saying for a couple of years now about Burzynski's anecdotes of \"miracle cures,\" such as Hannah Bradley and Laura Hymas. The reasons for these anecdotes include:\n\nBurzynski often relies on anecdotes, which don't tell the full story.\n\nBurzynski's therapies are unproven.\n\nBurzynski's patients may have been misdiagnosed.\n\nBurzynski's patients may have been cured by previous therapy.\n\nThere's a reason why I've spent so much time deconstructing Burzynski anecdotes, and it's for all of those reasons plus that anecdotes are often interpreted incorrectly by patients without medical training. Even doctors who are not oncologists sometimes interpret such anecdotes incorrectly to indicate that the cancer therapy chosen is the therapy that cured the patient. It's not just Burzynski patient anecdotes, but it's any cancer cure anecdote. That's why clinical trials are necessary to differentiate all these confounding effects from actual effects due to the treatment. Indeed, the patients featured in Ms. Szabo's article have nearly all been discussed by me before, including Mary Jo Siegel, who had a fairly indolent cancer for which the standard of care has changed from very aggressive treatment up to and including a bone marrow transplant to less aggressive therapy that acknowledges that these are fairly indolent tumors. Worse, her story is lost in the mists of time, where what now exists are only highly selected medical records posted on various websites.\n\nIndeed, Ms. Szabo even explains one aspect of the concept of pseudoprogression in a simpler way than I did, lo, those many moons ago:\n\nMany of Burzynski's patients are terminally ill and have had one or more previous types of conventional cancer care \u2014 surgery, radiation or chemotherapy \u2014 before they see him. But these therapies may have delayed benefits, taking weeks or months to shrink a tumor. So patients treated by Burzynski may credit him for their progress, just because he was the last doctor to treat them, says Peter Adamson, chair of the Children's Oncology Group, an NCI-supported research network that conducts clinical trials in pediatric cancer. Conventional cancer treatment can also cause tumors to swell temporarily, due to inflammation. A patient who isn't familiar with this phenomenon may assume her tumor is growing. When that swelling subsides, patients may assume it's because of Burzynski, Adamson says. In reality, the tumor was just returning to its previous size. To avoid such confusions, researchers typically require patients to wait before starting a new treatment, Adamson says. FDA inspections, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, show that Burzynski has repeatedly failed to follow that basic practice.\n\nPseudoprogression can be a real confounder in assessing the response of brain tumors to therapy, being observed up to 28% of the time. It's most common after surgery and radiation therapy, although it can happen after chemotherapy too. Not coincidentally, Hannah Bradley had surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, and Laura Hymas had radiation and chemotherapy. These are the sorts of pitfalls that real cancer doctors doing real clinical trials already know about and work to minimize. Burzynski, in his arrogance, never thought he needed to bother with the sort of expertise that could validate his therapy. None of this stops Burzynski patients from being lured into spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on Burzynski's treatments.\n\nIt's very heartening to see a story like this in a major news outlet, and I must congratulate Ms. Szabo for her thorough deconstruction of the phenomenon that is Stanislaw Burzynski. True, a bit of false balance did sneak in here and there. For instance, the Siegels are featured as are other Burzynski patients who believe he cured them when he almost certainly did not in a video accompanying the story, and the title of the series is a rather cliched \"Science or Snake Oil.\" However, the false balance that is so ingrained in the culture of journalism seems to be noticeably less apparent in this article than on many other stories about Burzynski that I've read. That's good.\n\nBefore I close, I can't help but mention that the most disappointing thing about this news story was that it still hasn't revealed what I consider to be the two central mysteries of the Burzynski saga: First, how is it that Stanislaw Burzynski can still practice medicine? I know it's Texas, but this has been going on for nearly 37 years. Second, why has he been allowed to continue to do clinical trials up until a little more than a year ago, and why is it that, even now, the FDA hasn't shut him down permanently? Ms. Szabo sheds a little light on that, but nothing that regular readers of this blog don't already know about the political machinations in the 1990s that led to Burzynski's six dozen phase II clinical trials. Apparently, even Ms. Szabo and USA Today couldn't crack that nut. Maybe public pressure can. The concluding section of the story tells us why we need to try:\n\nNo one told Josia's parents about any of this. Not Burzynski. Not the FDA. Jose and Niasia Cotto had no idea that their son's death prompted an investigation by the FDA, until they were contacted by USA TODAY. The Cottos had long believed that Burzynski could have cured their son if only they had taken Josia to see him first, before giving him radiation and chemotherapy. They had even hoped to launch a non-profit, A Life for Josia Foundation, to help other children with cancer gain access to Burzynski's treatment. Now, they don't know what to think.\n\nRemember how I said that Bob Blaskiewicz will want your help? Now's the time to contact him, if you haven't already."}
-{"text": "Mike Harris, former premier of Ontario, is a senior business adviser at Fasken Martineau and a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute.\n\nCanada is a resource nation. In every region, its natural resource sectors, including mining, forestry, energy and oil and gas, support vital social programs and provide stable, well-paying jobs.\n\nHowever, regardless of their economic contributions, major infrastructure projects face intense scrutiny \u2013 as they should. In order to proceed, these projects must balance economic development with environmental and safety protections.\n\nStory continues below advertisement\n\nConsider, as just one example, the Northern Gateway pipeline, recently approved by the federal government. Since being proposed more than a decade ago, the project's journey hasn't always been easy. It has faced tough criticism. But thoughtful debate has taken place and ideas have been exchanged that have resulted in a better pipeline proposal.\n\nAs a former premier, I know first-hand the experience of fighting for economic development for your province and its people, but not to the detriment of local communities and the environment. Receiving social licence for resource projects must be the leading objective for proponents; public input and consultations are paramount.\n\nIn 1999, my government introduced Ontario's Living Legacy, a provincial strategy that added 378 new parks and protected areas totalling 2.4 million hectares. The strategy allowed for more than 65,000 Ontarians to express their opinion on the use of Crown lands. We worked hard to ensure the province's forests met the needs of all concerned, including anglers, hunters, naturalists, and cottagers, as well as industry. Consultation with aboriginal peoples was critical.\n\nThe overarching objective was balancing Ontarians' needs and expectations with those of industry, providing for greater land and resource use certainty. In short, we were working to ensure that projects had social licence.\n\nIn British Columbia, Premier Christy Clark deserves credit for putting forward tough but fair conditions that must be met for all heavy oil projects in B.C. They include environmental reviews, marine oil-spill response, land oil-spill prevention, aboriginal engagement and economic benefits that reflect the risk borne by the province. Ms. Clark is ensuring that no project is built without meeting the needs and interests of B.C. and British Columbians. Northern Gateway has committed to meeting her conditions.\n\nNorthern Gateway has been clear about the project's economic contributions: The company says construction of this $6.5-billion project will create more than 3,000 jobs; it says the completed project will sustain 560 new long-term jobs in B.C alone. It says that over 30 years, it will contribute $300-billion to Canada's gross domestic product, it will invest $300-million in employment contracts for aboriginal communities and it will offer $32-million a year in earned salaries.\n\nFurther, Northern Gateway argues it will help Canadians develop transferable skills. More than $3-million is being provided to support skills training \u2013 skills that will be useful beyond any single project.\n\nStory continues below advertisement\n\nBut economic benefits must not come at the expense of sacrificing Canada's environment. Here, too, because of debate and Ms. Clark's tough but fair conditions, it appears that Northern Gateway has made significant progress, including added leak detection systems, isolation valves and pump stations that will be staffed around the clock.\n\nNorthern Gateway has committed to only using double-hulled tankers and licensed B.C. coast pilots. Experts say the project's spill response capabilities will be three times better than currently required.\n\nOn top of these technical innovations, Northern Gateway says the pipeline will be monitored all day, every day from a central control station. Remote pump stations will always be staffed and the pipeline will have bi-weekly aerial surveillance.\n\nThere is still more work to be done. The project was subject to a rigorous and independent Joint Review Process, which attached 209 conditions to the project. The pipeline must still meet Ms. Clark's conditions, including strengthening engagement with aboriginal communities. However, at the moment, it is clear that Northern Gateway is working hard to balance economic development with safety and environmental protection.\n\nFor this, both Ms. Clark and Northern Gateway deserve credit. I encourage both to continue working together so Northern Gateway can be built. Canada's future economic prosperity depends on it."}
-{"text": "As details of Burning Man suicide emerge, family grieves anew\n\nJenny Kane , Jenny Kane | Reno Gazette Journal\n\nShow Caption Hide Caption Burning Man fire claims life of man who ran into inferno despite efforts to stop him A man died Sunday morning after he ran into the flames of a giant effigy being burned at Burning Man on Saturday night as the weeklong festival drew to a close.\n\nFive months after Aaron Joel Mitchell ran into a wall of fire at Burning Man\u2019s pinnacle celebration last year, some but not all questions surrounding his death are being answered.\n\nHis parents still have no idea why, nor his friends. His mother is using God to help her heal; his friends, recollections of his adventurous life.\n\n\"Honestly, he was the closest thing to Jesus, in a new age way,\" said his friend, Justin Berry, who was with Mitchell the entire week before he ended his life.\n\nThe Sacramento County Coroner\u2019s Office has officially ruled Mitchell\u2019s death a suicide, though the office listed the cause of death as cardiac arrest, bodily shock and third-degree burns on 97 percent of his body, according to the Sacramento County Coroner\u2019s Office final report.\n\nMitchell, 41, ran into Burning Man\u2019s central effigy as it was engulfed in flames on Sept. 2. He died the following morning.\n\nBurning Man, which attracts nearly 70,000 people to Northern Nevada\u2019s Black Rock Desert each year, lasts a week before participants encircle the effigy to watch it burn to the ground under a dramatic display of fireworks.\n\nMitchell \u201cspoke about end of life,\u201d during the festival, according to the death certificate, obtained by the Reno Gazette Journal until last week.\n\nThe University of California, Davis Medical Center treated Mitchell, though staff did not conduct an autopsy report since the cause of death was apparent. While the hospital has not publicly released any further records of Mitchell\u2019s death, medical staff told Mitchell's mother, Johnnye Mitchell, no trace of drugs or alcohol had been detected.\n\n\u201c(The coroner\u2019s office) called one time, but we never heard anything more. It was just a short conversation,\u201d Johnnye Mitchell said. \u201cWe\u2019re doing pretty good, but that\u2019s one of the hard things, we don\u2019t know why it happened.\u201d\n\nMitchell ran past several layers of volunteers stationed around the massive fire and then into the inferno before on-site firefighters in fire resistant gear pulled him out. He was rushed to the on-site medical clinic and then airlifted to University of California-Davis Firefighters Burn Institute Regional Burn Center, where he died.\n\nSoon after the event, Mitchell's mother wrote a handwritten letter to Burning Man organizers, thanking them for their efforts and received a number of condolences in return.\n\n\u201cWe were just so thankful, so grateful for the people that risked their lives to save his,\u201d she said.\n\nA kind adventurer\n\nMitchell was originally from McAlester, Oklahoma but lived in Switzerland with his wife, Ladina. He met his wife while he was traveling in Nepal, where she too was backpacking.\n\n\u201cNot from me, I don\u2019t know where he got that sense of adventure,\u201d Johnnye Mitchell said. \u201cWe\u2019ve lived in McAlester all of our lives. It\u2019s a lot of ranches, a state prison and an ammunition plant.\u201d\n\nHis mother was unaware of any mental health issues, she said, and he was never a troublemaker. He had more friends than she could count, evidenced by the friends that showed up from all over the world to attend the multiple memorials held in his honor.\n\nMost photographs, even when he was young, show Mitchell with a warm smile, heather blue eyes and, in more recent years, with light sandy hair past his shoulders.\n\nHe was attending Burning Man for the first time last year with friends, according to his mother, and called on his way there. He'd visited his parents in early August and then traveled cross-country to the Eclipse Festival in Oregon, where he was photographed in two braids, rosy cheeks, and grinning in gold lame pants that had a Barbie tucked into the pants band.\n\nWhen he phoned, roadtripping from Oregon to Nevada, her son sounded \"festival'd out,\" Mitchell said. It was the last time she spoke to him.\n\nMitchell's friend of more than 13 years, Justin Berry, had been with Mitchell the entire week. Berry and Mitchell knew each other from when Mitchell lived in the Pacific Northwest. They used to have wild times going to see one of their favorite jam bands, Wide Spread Panic.\n\n\"He was like my mentor. He did yoga every morning. He made smoothies every morning. He was like Jesus to me,\" Berry said of Mitchell, whose friends called him by \"Joel,\" his middle name.\n\n\"He was a carpenter, he wore Jesus sandals, he always helped, he was magical,\" said Berry.\n\nMitchell bought Berry's ticket to Burning Man, not a cheap gift considering that most tickets cost more than $400. Berry thereafter bought an RV, which Mitchell drove into the event.\n\nBerry had no idea that he would be driving it out without his friend.\n\nA week to remember\n\nMitchell danced the days away at Burning Man, but the nights were different.\n\nWhile friends would venture out to through-sunrise parties and ride electric scooters far and wide among the colored lights, Mitchell would go to bed early, before 10 p.m., Berry said.\n\n\"I\u2019d take his phone from him (when he was sleeping), and I\u2019d go and take photos of everything from the night,\" Berry said.\n\nAs Mitchell slept, his friends took selfies in the desert night, and they later showed him all of the sights and sounds past dusk.\n\nThe entire week, he was abstaining from any drug use and only drank modest amounts of craft beer during the event, Berry said. He often meditated, and he'd make smoothies for all of his campmates, weary from the hottest year of Burning Man that anyone could recall.\n\nOn the night of the \"Man\" burn, however, Mitchell separated from his usual group to join some friends from Switzerland, Berry said.\n\n\"I wish we had all been together, I don\u2019t know that this would have happened,\" he said.\n\nWhen Berry found out after the burn that his friend had run into the fire, he rushed back to the camp. There was little that he could do. Mitchell was likely being rushed to the hospital by then.\n\n\"Maybe in some weird way he did this for us, to inspire us to make better decisions. I wish that he could have made better decisions, because he\u2019s not coming back from this,\" said Berry, who plans on returning to Burning Man this year.\n\nBerry still has photos of his friend from years past, but, when Mitchell ran into the fire, he had the phone with all of the photos his friends had taken for him during their nights of whimsy.\n\nBerry spent months after Mitchell's death hardly able to speak of him, and it still is beyond difficult. He wants to do something special for his friend while at this year's celebration, but he's not sure what yet.\n\n\"I feel like it\u2019s my job to go back and represent him,\" said Berry.\n\nHe wants people to remember him for the incredible teacher, hard worker and goofy dancer he was, not the image of the the dark figure running into flames that went viral in the hours after Mitchell's death.\n\n\"No one knows what was going through his head. It only took 12 seconds,\" he said.\n\nBig dust storm at Burning Man 2017 A series of powerful dust storms blew through Burning Man on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017 in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada.\n\nWhat's next for Burning Man\n\nMitchell was not the first person to die at Burning Man.\n\nAlicia Louise Cipicchio, 29, died after she was hit by a vehicle at the event in 2014, and Michael Furey, a close friend of several Burning Man founders, died in a motorcycle accident in 1996. It is unclear how many other deaths have occurred at the event, as Burning Man is currently reviewing records of incidents at the event.\n\nEach year BLM officials and Burning Man organizers report on improvements needed to better safety, security and health standards. The Bureau of Land Management and Burning Man organizers together are currently reviewing last year's event and planning for the 2018 event, Aug. 26 to Sept. 3.\n\nThere are no current changes to how the event will be operated, but the federal agency also has not listed the stipulations for this year's event, according to BLM spokesman Kyle Hendrix. Such conditions are usually disclosed with the issuance of the event permit in early August.\n\nThe terms of the permit are subject to change, taking into account Mitchell's death last year, Hendrix said.\n\nOne potential change could be a fence during the burn, a precaution taken during the Temple burn last year, less than 24 hours after the incident. Another could be more trained staff and volunteers on site during burns.\n\n\"If it prevents someone from dying, who cares? The fire is so big, you\u2019re going to see it,\" said Berry, who's in support of such preventative measures.\n\nMitchell's mother, on the other hand, feels that everything within reason has been done to make the event safe.\n\n\"They had a lot of barriers. I don\u2019t know what they could have changed,\" Mitchell said.\n\nSince her son's death, she's leaned on her church community and faith for support. She has little left of her son besides some clothes, photos and his high school yearbooks.\n\n\u201cEverybody loved him, he was really kind, he just was such a good kid,\u201d Mitchell said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s just a mystery,\" she said."}
-{"text": "(CNN) House Democrats on Monday expanded their impeachment inquiry with subpoenas to the Pentagon and Office of Management and Budget tied to the freezing of foreign aid to Ukraine .\n\nThe newest subpoenas broaden the House's impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump's interactions with Ukraine into new corners of the federal government. They follow subpoenas that have already been issued to the State Department and White House, as well as the President's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani , as Democrats seek to rapidly gather information as they consider whether to impeach the President.\n\nThe committees have also requested information from Vice President Mike Pence as part of the probe.\n\nThe subpoenas to the Pentagon and OMB are related to the decision to hold up foreign aid to Ukraine, which came at the same time that Giuliani and Trump were pushing for Ukraine to launch an investigation into the 2016 US election, then-Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. There is no evidence of wrongdoing in relation to Ukraine by the Bidens.\n\n\"The enclosed subpoena demands documents that are necessary for the Committees to examine this sequence of these events and the reasons behind the White House's decision to withhold critical military assistance to Ukraine that was appropriated by Congress to counter Russian aggression,\" the chairmen wrote.\n\nIt's not clear how the agencies will respond to the subpoenas. The State Department missed a Friday deadline to turn over documents that Democrats' subpoenaed, and the White House has indicated that it will not comply with the subpoena issued on Friday, arguing that the House needs to first take a full vote on authorizing an impeachment inquiry.\n\nLast week, however, the Pentagon's chief legal officer requested that Defense Department agencies identify , preserve and collect any and all documents relating to the provision of security assistance to Kiev.\n\nGiuliani associates could get subpoenas\n\nMore subpoenas could be on the way, too.\n\nDemocrats have requested information from three Giuliani associates \u2014 Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian-American businessman who worked with Giuliani; Igor Fruman, a business partner of Parnas; and Semyon \"Sam\" Kislin, a former aide to Giuliani \u2014 and they're warning they will subpoena three Giuliani associates if they do not comply with their requests for documents and depositions.\n\nThey have not cooperated so far, a source said. Two were supposed to testify at the end of this week and another next week. And the deadline to turn over documents is Monday.\n\n\"While we have engaged with counsels for these witnesses, they have so far refused to agree to testify or turn over relevant documents - if they continue to fail to comply, they will be served with subpoenas in short order,\" an official working on the impeachment inquiry said.\n\nJohn Dowd, who is representing Parnas and Fruman, wrote in a letter to the committees that some of the information they're seeking is protected by attorney-client privilege, and a review of the material cannot be conducted in just the week given to comply with the request. He said he expected to meet with them this week and review the documents requested, but said that responding to the committees \"will take some time.\"\n\n\"Your request for documents and communications is overly broad and unduly burdensome. The subject matter of your requests is well beyond the scope of your inquiry,\" Dowd wrote. \"This, in combination with requiring immediate responses, leads me to the inescapable conclusion that the Democratic committee members' intent is to harass, intimidate and embarrass my clients.\"\n\nSondland testifying this week\n\nThe Democrats' investigation stems from a whistleblower alleging the President solicited help from Ukraine to investigate a political rival in his July 25 call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky . The complaint also notes that foreign aid to Ukraine had been suspended around the same time.\n\nThe aid was subsequently released by the Trump administration in September, but Democrats are now probing the reasons is was held up in the first place.\n\nIn text messages provided by former US special envoy Kurt Volker to Congress last week, senior US diplomat in Ukraine Bill Taylor expressed alarm that aid was being frozen, suggesting it was tied to the request for an investigation into Biden.\n\n\"Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meeting are conditioned on investigations?\" Taylor texted US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland on September 1.\n\n\"As I said on the phone, I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign,\" Taylor texted a week later.\n\nSondland responded to Taylor's second text that he was \"incorrect\" about Trump's intentions.\n\n\"Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump's intentions,\" Sondland said. \"The President has been crystal clear no quid pro quo's of any kind. The President is trying to evaluate whether Ukraine is truly going to adopt the transparency and reforms that President Zelensky promised during his campaign.\"\n\nBut the texts show how the Ukrainians' efforts to secure a meeting between Trump and Zelensky was in fact linked to the opening of an investigation ahead of the July 25 phone call.\n\nSondland appears behind closed doors before the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs Committees on Tuesday.\n\nThis story has been updated with additional developments Monday."}
-{"text": "The state of Virginia has confirmed it will comply with President Donald Trump\u2019s transgender military ban, which officially took effect last month after courts cleared the way.\n\nResponding to an inquiry from ThinkProgress, Adjutant General Timothy Williams explained that the Virginia National Guard\u2019s service members \u201cmust meet established Department of Defense (DOD) readiness standards,\u201d including the expectations laid out by the discriminatory policy.\n\nWilliams proceeded to repeat the Trump administration\u2019s description of the ban. \u201cThe new DOD policy doesn\u2019t ban transgender individuals from service, and transgender service members may continue to serve,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThe DOD policy states that anyone who meets military standards without special accommodations can and should be able to serve, and this includes transgender persons.\u201d\n\nThis is incorrect. The administration\u2019s policy explicitly requires that service members can only serve in their \u201cbiological sex.\u201d This automatically precludes any transgender person from serving, including those who are already living in accordance with their gender identity. It also institutes a new form of \u201cDon\u2019t Ask, Don\u2019t Tell,\u201d for currently serving personnel who might come out as transgender. They will now be forced to choose between continuing their careers or receiving the medical assistance they might require to begin their transition. Transgender students completing their education at one of the military academies will also have no opportunity to serve in the military upon graduation.\n\n\nSince the trans military ban took effect, five different state governors have announced that their National Guards will not abide by the ban: California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, and New Mexico. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) had not publicly commented on the ban since it took effect, but as a candidate, he came out strongly against it after Trump first announced it.\n\n.@realDonaldTrump: Anyone who wants to serve our country in the military should be welcomed. They're patriots and should be treated as such. \u2014 Ralph Northam (@RalphNortham) July 26, 2017\n\nNortham\u2019s first act as governor when he took office last year was also to issue an executive order protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination in state government. This would surely include the National Guard, of which he is commander in chief. Williams is likewise a gubernatorial appointee.\n\nAfter Northam was implicated in a scandal regarding a blackface photo in his college yearbook, he pledged to compensate by prioritizing civil rights and addressing the \u201ctremendous inequities\u201d in Virginia. His office did not immediately respond to an inquiry as to how complying with the transgender military ban is consistent with this commitment or the executive order.\n\n\nOn Tuesday, the Fairfax County Democratic Committee, representing Virginia\u2019s most populous jurisdiction, unanimously approved a resolution calling on Northam to allow transgender individuals to continue serving openly in the National Guard.\n\n\u201cPresident Trump\u2019s ban on transgender members of the Armed Forces would affect all\n\ntransgender members of the Armed Forces and force them to serve under a policy that\n\nstigmatizes and devalues their contributions to our Nation\u2019s defense,\u201d the committee wrote."}
-{"text": "The 2017 season has not gone the way Honda would have liked so far, an outburst from McLaren driver Fernando Alonso derided his car and the RA617H power unit fitted to it. \u201cI have never raced with less power in my life\u201d he shouted down the radio mid race, the message was broadcast around the world live on television. His car clearly lacked pace in a straight line and many asked the question \u2013 what is happening at Honda to improve the situation?\n\nThe new technical regulations introduced ahead of the 2017 season meant that every single manufacturer would have to create a new power unit and it was no different for Honda. The torsional loads passing through the cylinder heads and crankcase have increased by at least 20% in 2017 and as fully stressed parts its clear that all structural parts would have to be made both stiffer and stronger. Additionally the increased mechanical and aerodynamic grip means that the amount of time the V6 engine spends at full throttle has also increased significantly emphasising both efficiency and reliability. Finally the number of complete power units allowed per driver per season has been reduced to four meaning that the amount of mileage each unit has to survive has increased notably.\n\nSo it was clear from the moment that the new rules were announced that the Honda RA617H would be a significantly different design to the RA616H, but Honda wanted to do more than just develop a power unit capable of meeting the increased structural and reliability challenges of 2017 it also wanted to create a unit that made a major step forwards in performance.\n\n\u201cOur target was to dramatically redesign the power unit for better thermal efficiency\u201d Yusuke Hasegawa, Head of the Honda F1 project explains. \u201cAnother major objective was to reduce the overall weight of the unit and lower the centre of gravity of it. So it is clear that we have applied a completely new design for the RA617H.\u201d\n\n\n\nCompare the design of the new RA617H (above) with the RA615H (below) and the amount of difference between the two is very clear to see indeed. There is almost no relationship between the two beyond the cubic capacity and the cylinder bank angle\n\n\n\nThe RA616H (below) was a development of the RA615H. By the time it raced for the first time Honda\u2019s focus had switched to the 2017 unit.\n\n\n\nAs F1 power units have a total minimum weight limit of 145kg this might suggest that the RA616H was somewhat overweight, it is unlikely that much of this weight saving came from the battery as this has a minimum weight of 20kg and a maximum of 25kg, but weight savings could be made in many other areas of the unit such as the MGU\u2019s and the ancillary parts like pumps.\n\nIt is also now clear that the RA616H\u2019s centre of gravity height was higher than would be ideal. The F1 technical regulations give a minimum power unit centre of gravity height of 200mm above the reference plane, and the centre of gravity height is something which has been drastically improved by the Honda engineers at Sakura City for the 2017 season compared to 2016. \u201cI can\u2019t give you the exact details of course, but the centre of gravity on the RA617H is some centimetres lower\u201d Hasegawa reveals, if this is the case then it is a key improvement as it is something that could bring a significant performance gain to the whole car. \u201cThat is the best thing about this power unit, it is very lightweight and has a low centre of gravity\u201d Hasegawa claims.\n\n\n\nA look at the front end of the RA617H, the turbo-charger retains the split layout seen on the RA615H and RA616H. It is not clear if the compressor has been moved forwards. Note the orange high voltage electrical cables which reveal that the MGU-H remains in the V of the engine while the MGU-K sits on the left side of the crankcase.\n\nOne of the key targets for the new Honda V6 was improved efficency. Limits on fuel flow (100kg/h) and total fuel consumption (105kg) mean that extracting the maximum amount of energy from the fuel is critical, and this has seen all four power unit manufacturers extensively researching technology in this area. The result is that compression ratios have risen dramatically to diesel like levels. The RA617H is believed to feature a diesel style pre-chamber ignition.\n\n\u201cWe have developed a similar technology for the 2017 V6 engine and that means that we have a completely new combustion chamber concept, but I cannot reveal too many details of this new technology\u201d Hasegawa adds.\n\n\n\nThe fuel used in the engines is crucial to getting the pre-chamber ignition systems working properly and giving the most efficient fuel burn possible. As the 2017 V6 engine has a very lean burn specially formulated anti-knock additives in the fuel are crucial to good performance. However Honda had developed all of its previous power units using Exxon-Mobil fuel specifically developed for use with the Honda V6, but ahead of the 2017 season a very late switch to BP-Castrol fuel was needed after McLaren signed a new deal with the British petrochemical giant.\n\n\u201cThat made the winter season really busy with the switch of supplier but we are really appreciative the devoted support they give us\u201d Hasegawa claims. During pre-season testing however rumours circulated that the BP fuel was not yet fully validated on the Honda power unit and is was still running on the Exxon-Mobil product at that point. Indeed a search of the Barcelona paddock during the second test turned up only fuel drums from Exxon-Mobil, Shell and Petronas, though this may simply mean that the BP drums were well hidden.\n\nIndeed it is the combustion technology that seems for now to be the weakest point of the RA617H\u2019s design, Hasegawa has previously told the European media that the new combustion technology which worked extremely well on the single cylinder test bench is not working properly in the complete V6.\n\n\n\n\u201cFrankly speaking the drivers are asking us for more power and better drivability. So it is clear that the ICE, specifically the engine power is the biggest issue and is the biggest area with room for improvement. There are a number of reasons for this but in short we simply did not have enough time to prepare for the introduction of this very complicated new technology in the engine. So we are focussing on that now, but we also understand that we need to improve all areas of the power unit, and keep improving all areas until we are winning races\u201d Hasegawa admits.\n\nThe Formula 1 R&D organisation at Sakura City has been working extensively with outside consultancies and suppliers since the power unit project was instigated. Additionally claims have been made that Honda regularly rotates talented staff out of the Formula 1 project and into other departments with Honda R&D\n\n\u201cThe development of human resources is a subsidiary purpose of the Formula 1 project, and we apply many engineers to organize the best development system\u201d Hasegawa claims. \u201cAdditionally we employ some engineers who have power unit development experience at the same time. The claims that we are not working with outside consultants and suppliers is absolutely wrong, we do actively work with outside consultants and suppliers.\u201d Indeed there are recent and unconfirmed rumours in the paddock that Honda is working with Ilmor on ICE development.\n\n\n\nOne major problem for Honda is that with only one team running the RA617H it lacks track time in testing and in races. Honda opened a large new facility in Milton Keynes, England specifically to facilitate the supply of power units to additional teams and in 2018 Sauber will be the first of these.\n\nPerhaps another way Honda could increase its on track running would be to develop a mule car based on the NSX GT500 to use as a running test bed, Ferrari did something similar in 2013 with a GT chassis. Alternatively the 2017 Manor MRT06 chassis could be acquired for the same purpose. However Hasegawa has revealed that Honda has no plans to do either of these things.\n\nIn 2015 when Honda returned to Formula 1 Yasuhisa Arai, the previous Honda F1 Large Project Leader did not like to describe the current programme as Honda\u2019s fourth era of Formula activity \u201cthat makes it sound like it has an end, but we plan to be in Formula 1 for a very long time\u201d he claimed. This means Honda\u2019s engineers are already looking to the future and the new power unit regulations set to be introduced in 2021 or 2022, though those rules have yet to be fully defined.\n\n\u201cFormula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsports and the power unit must contribute to that\u201d Hasegawa states. \u201cWe think that the technology of Formula 1 should be ecology conscious but also following global trends and add to fans interest in the sport. The other power unit manufacturers take the same stance.\u201d\n\n\n\nBut for now the focus for Hasegawa and all of Honda\u2019s F1 engineers is to make the RA617H competitive, an upgraded unit was tested in Bahrain recently and another major update is due ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix in May. With the upgrade token system dropped for this season that upgrade could be substantial as the development is not longer restricted by it. The feeling among some engineers in the F1 paddock is that with no token system holding back Honda\u2019s engineers, as it did previously, the RA617H has great potential, and if Honda could unlock it then it could be come a highly potent power unit capable of matching Ferrari and Mercedes in the right chassis."}
-{"text": "Mass surveillance was necessary after 9/11, but not expanding the law to authorize it was a \u201cstrategic blunder\u201d that landed the agency in hot water after the Snowden revelations, a former NSA counsel told the agency.\n\n\u201cIn the wake of Snowden, our country has lost control of the geopolitical narrative; our companies have lost more than $100 billion in business and counting. Collection has surely suffered,\u201d Joel Brenner told the audience at National Security Agency headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland on Friday.\n\n\u201cThe damage from the Snowden leaks to American foreign intelligence operations, to American prestige, and to American power... has unquestionably been vastly greater\u201d than if the White House had amended the law in 2002 to allow bulk collection of US phone records, Brenner said.\n\nThe former NSA inspector general and senior counsel at the agency was speaking at an event marking the anniversary of the 1975 Church hearings on surveillance abuses. The hearings resulted in the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).\n\nFormer NSA official: Secret phone records grab a mistake: WASHINGTON (AP)Joel Brenner was NSA inspector genera... http://t.co/ovx2Z8l0VQ \u2014 Daily News (@DailyNews724) May 15, 2015\n\nBrenner told the assembled agency officials that not engaging in mass surveillance following the 2001 terrorist attacks would have been \u201cderelict,\u201d but that the way it was done sacrificed a \u201cstrategic asset for tactical advantage.\u201d\n\nUnlike the abuses uncovered at the Church and Pike hearings 40 years ago, Brenner insisted, \u201cthere hasn't been even a whiff of intelligence abuse for political purposes,\u201d in the surveillance exposed through Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor. \u201cThis was the only intelligence scandal in history involving practices approved by Congress and the federal courts and the president,\u201d he said.\n\nAs Brenner was speaking at Fort Meade, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson was on MSNBC\u2019s \u201cMorning Joe\u201d show, complaining that the Snowden revelations have driven the demand for encryption and cyber-security that was making government surveillance more difficult.\n\n\u201cIt is making it harder for the FBI and state and local law enforcement to track crime, to track potential terrorist activity,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to find a solution to this, and we\u2019re thinking about this very actively right now.\u201d\n\nREAD MORE: US House votes to reform NSA bulk data collection\n\nHouse Resolution 2048, adopted in the House of Representatives earlier this week, prohibited the bulk collection of data under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, recently ruled illegal by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Critics of the bill, such as Rep. Justin Amash (R-Michigan) say that HR 2048 \u201cactually expands the statutory basis for the large-scale collection of most data.\u201d\n\nThis is in line with Brenner\u2019s principal objection to the White House\u2019s handling of the NSA surveillance. In the speech Friday, he maintained that the bulk data collection program was necessary and right, but both the Bush and the Obama administrations never bothered to provide proper legal cover for it. Instead of reforming the FISA regime in 2002 or 2008, the White House simply had the NSA continue collecting data under a classified program called \u201cStellar Wind,\u201d put into place shortly after 9/11.\n\n\u201cStellar Wind,\u201d Brenner said, was \u201crun directly by the Office of the Vice President and put under the direct personal control of the vice president\u2019s counsel, David Addington.\u201d\n\nFormer NSA lawyer says keeping bulk phone record collection secret from the public was a strategic mistake. http://t.co/esrc75FSDS \u2014 The Intercept (@the_intercept) May 15, 2015\n\nBrenner had nothing but contempt for whistleblower Edward Snowden, who exposed the program in 2013, comparing him to former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and intelligence officials whose abuses led to the Church and Pike hearings in the 1970s.\n\n\u201cEveryone associated with these various programs thought that he was a patriot acting in the national interest,\u201d Brenner said. \u201cWhich is precisely why subjective notions of patriotism and national security are insufficient guides for people and agencies that claim to operate under law in a democratic republic.\u201d\n\nBrenner was the Inspector General at NSA from 2002 to 2006, and senior counsel from 2009-2010. In the interim, he was the National Counterintelligence Executive for the Director of National Intelligence (2006-2009). He currently runs a private law and consulting practice and holds a fellowship at MIT."}
-{"text": "AN ALGERIAN MAN jailed for attempting to murder his wife by bludgeoning her in the head with a kettlebell has had his jail term cut by one year on appeal.\n\nLounes Ouachek (45), of St Dominic\u2019s Terrace, Tallaght, Dublin 24, had pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to the attempted murder of Ruta Ouachek (35) at that address on August 23 2012.\n\nHe was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment with the final three suspended by Mr Justice Paul Carney on July 21 2014.\n\nMitigating factors\n\nThe Court of Appeal found today that the sentencing judge erred in failing to take account of any other potential mitigating factors in Ouachek\u2019s favour and, accordingly, imposed a new sentence on him of 15 years imprisonment with the final four suspended.\n\nSpeaking on behalf of the three-judge court, Mr Justice John Edwards said Ouachek, an Algerian national, had met his wife, a Lithuania national, in Germany in 2000. They got married a year later and moved to Ireland in 2005.\n\nFollowing the birth of their daughter in 2007, Ms Ouachek entered full time education and Ouachek \u2013 a devout Muslim, the court heard \u2013 \u201cdeveloped a resentment of his wife\u2019s newfound independence\u201d and the little time she was spending at home.\n\nMatters escalated in 2012, Mr Justice Edwards said. Ouachek took his daughter to Algeria but was subsequently persuaded to return by his wife.\n\nIn May 2012, they entered into a legal separation agreement.\n\n\u201cStalking\u201d\n\nIn August of that year, he returned from Algeria and engaged in \u201cstalking\u201d his wife, demanding the return of various items and endeavouring to ascertain the whereabouts of his daughter by calling into several cr\u00e9che centres in Tallaght, Mr Justice Edwards said.\n\nDespite obtaining interim barring orders against him, he said Ouachek called to his wife\u2019s home on August 23 and neighbours observed them arguing\n\nAmong the items Ouachek was demanding to be returned to him was a kettle-bell.\n\nAccording to Ouachek\u2019s account, she handed it to him while he was still outside the house but her next memory was lying on the kitchen floor with Ouachek straddling her, striking her with the kettle-bell, Mr Justice Edwards said.\n\nShe managed to make her way into the bathroom where she locked herself in and was found later by garda\u00ed, covered in blood and seriously injured.\n\nFled to Tunisia\n\nOuachek had fractures to her skull and facial bones and was later transferred to Beaumont Hospital.\n\nAfter he tried to kill his wife, Ouachek left the house, pulled the blinds and locked the door, before driving her car to Dublin airport.\n\nHe flew to Tunisia via Paris without telling anyone that his wife lay injured in a pool of blood for nine hours, Mr Justice Edwards said, and was subsequently arrested in Germany on foot of an extradition warrant.\n\nMr Justice Edwards said it was troubling that the sentencing judge made no reference at all to potential mitigating factors other than the three he identified \u2013 Ouachek\u2019s guilty plea, his previous good character and foreign nationality.\n\nIn conjunction with that, the sentencing judge \u201crefused to retain\u201d material handed up on Ouachek\u2019s behalf stating that he \u2018did not carry scraps of paper around the country\u2019 with him.\n\nThat failure, coupled in this particular case with the fact the judge did not immediately proceed to sentence and that other potential mitigating factors weren\u2019t \u201cringing in his ear\u201d, metaphorically speaking, constituted an error in principle, Mr Justice Edwards said.\n\nPositive testimonials\n\nAmong the items handed into the sentencing judge were a number of positive testimonials from the Governor of Cloverhill prison, where he had been on remand, and letters from Lidl and a fish and chip shop testifying to his hard work and diligence.\n\nFurthermore, a medical report stated that he had suffered a back injury in 2008, was out of work and had been prescribed anti-depressants for low mood.\n\nFinally, the sentencing court was handed letters from two of his friends who said Ouachek cared deeply for his family and always sought to provide for them.\n\nMr Justice Edwards, who sat with Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice Alan Mahon, quashed the existing sentence and imposed a new sentence on Ouachek of 15 years imprisonment with the final four years suspended.\n\nHe was required to enter into his own bond of \u20ac1,000 to keep the peace and be of good behaviour while in custody and for a period of four years post-release.\n\nOuachek was also required to comply with all directions of the probation service and to have no contact with the victim in perpetuity.\n\nWhen asked if he undertook to be so bound, he said \u201cyes\u201d."}
-{"text": "Linda Brown, the Kansas schoolgirl whose case brought an end to racial segregation in US public schools in 1954, has died aged 76, her family has announced.\n\nBrown's name is forever closely intertwined with the struggle of African-Americans against prejudice and inequality, her case a crucial stepping stone on the path to civil rights.\n\nBut who was she and how could a child bring about such drastic social change in America?\n\nLinda Carol Brown - born in 1943 - was just nine years old when her father Oliver, an assistant pastor at the St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church, attempted to enrol her in the all-white Sumner Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas.\n\nHis appeal was snubbed on racial grounds despite the family living mere streets away and he returned home bristling with anger.\n\nThe nearest black school, Monroe, was two miles away and would have required his young daughter to cross dangerous railroad yards alone to catch a bus.\n\nEnraged at the injustice, Oliver Brown became lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against the Topeka Board of Education, which brought together 13 families to take on the segregating principle of \"separate but equal\" then defining access to public facilities for white and black citizens.\n\nAlthough the case was initially struck down at a local level, Brown took Linda's fight to the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) who mounted a national legal challenge on behalf of families from several states, including Delaware, South Carolina, Virginia and the District of Columbia.\n\nThe US Supreme Court subsequently ruled unanimously in favour of Brown v Board of Education on 17 May 1954, a decision that found the federal division of black and white students unconstitutional in that it denied black children their 14 Amendment right to equal legal protection.\n\nThe finding that black schools had a \"detrimental effect\" on young students due to their inferior resources overturned 1896 Plessy v Ferguson, the decision that first legally sanctioned the concept of racially segregated amenities.\n\nDespite the victory, change was not implemented immediately and desegregation did encounter public resistance in some areas, notably in Little Rock, Arkansas, where black students had to be escorted onto campus by federal guards in 1957.\n\nThurgood Marshall, who had spearheaded the NAACP case, went on to become the first black Supreme Court justice in 1967.\n\n\"I just couldn't understand,\" Ms Brown told National Public Radio (NPR) in 1973, reflecting on the defining events of her life.\n\n\"We lived in a mixed neighbourhood but when school time came I would have to take the school bus and go clear across town and the white children I played with would go to this other school.\n\n\"My parents tried to explain this to me but I was too young at that time to understand.\"\n\nInterviewed in 1985 for the book Eyes on the Prize by Juan Williams, Linda said of her late father:\n\n\"[He] was like a lot of other black parents here in Topeka at that time. They were concerned not about the quality of education that their children were receiving, they were concerned about the amount - or distance, that the child had to go to receive an education.\n\nMy father believed very much in right and he felt that it was wrong for black people to have to accept second-class citizenship and that meant being segregated in their schools, when in fact, there were schools right in their neighbourhoods that they could attend and they had to go clear across town to attend an all-black school.\n\nAnd this is one of the reasons that he became involved in this suit, because he felt that it was wrong for his child to have to go so far a distance to receive a quality education.\"\n\nLinda devoted the rest of her life to social justice through her work with the Brown Foundation, having two children of her own who were able to attend racially diverse schools thanks to their grandfather's legacy.\n\n\"By them going to an integrated school, they are advancing much more rapidly than I was at the age that they are now... And I think that children are relating to one another much better these days because of integration,\" she told NPR.\n\nTributes have flooded in since news of her death broke overnight. Both NAACP and film director Ava DuVernay used the word \"hero\" to describe her contribution.\n\n\"She stands as an example of how ordinary schoolchildren took centre stage in transforming this country,\" said Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of NAACP's Legal Defence and Educational Fund.\n\nIt was not easy for her or her family, but her sacrifice broke barriers and changed the meaning of equality in this country.\"\n\nWorld news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the \"Creek Fire\" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading \"Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression\" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 11 August 2020 French Prime Minister Jean Castex is helped by a member of staff to put a protective suit on prior to his visit at the CHU hospital in Montpellier AFP via Getty World news in pictures 10 August 2020 Locals harvest their potatoes as Mount Sinabung spews volcanic ash in Karo, North Sumatra province, Indonesia Antara Foto/Reuters World news in pictures 9 August 2020 Doves fly over the Peace Statue at Nagasaki Peace Park during the memorial ceremony held for the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing EPA World news in pictures 8 August 2020 Anti-government protesters try to remove concrete wall that installed by security forces to prevent protesters reaching the Parliament square, during a protest against the political elites and the government after this week's deadly explosion in Beirut AP World news in pictures 7 August 2020 A protester throws a stone towards Israeli forces in the village of Turmus Aya, north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, following a march by Palestinians against the building of Israeli settlements AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 August 2020 A woman yells as soldiers block a road for French President Emmanuel Macron's visit the Gemmayzeh neighborhood. The area in Beirut suffered extensive damage from the explosion at the seaport AP World news in pictures 5 August 2020 Damage at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon Reuters World news in pictures 4 August 2020 A large explosion in the Lebanese capital Beirut. The blast, which rattled entire buildings and broke glass, was felt in several parts of the city AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 August 2020 A general view shows the new road bridge in Genoa, Italy ahead of its official inauguration, after it was rebuilt following its collapse on August 14, 2018 which killed 43 people Reuters World news in pictures 2 August 2020 Empty stall spaces are seen hours before a citywide curfew is introduced in Melbourne, Australia EPA World news in pictures 1 August 2020 People take part in a demonstration by the initiative \"Querdenken-711\" with the slogan \"the end of the pandemic - the day of freedom\" to protest against the current measurements to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Berlin, Germany AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 July 2020 Pilgrims circumambulating around the Kaaba, the holiest shrine in the Grand mosque in Mecca. Muslim pilgrims converged today on Saudi Arabia's Mount Arafat for the climax of this year's hajj, the smallest in modern times and a sharp contrast to the massive crowds of previous years Saudi Ministry of Media/AFP World news in pictures 30 July 2020 The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission lifts off at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The mission is part of the USA's largest moon to Mars exploration. Nasa will attempt to establish a sustained human presence on and around the moon by 2028 through their Artemis programme EPA World news in pictures 29 July 2020 A woman refreshes herself in a outdoor pool in summer temperatures in Ehingen, Germany dpa via AP World news in pictures 28 July 2020 Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak speaks to the media after he was found guilty in his corruption trial in Kuala Lumpur AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 July 2020 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un poses for a photograph after conferring commemorative pistols to leading commanding officers of the armed forces on the 67th anniversary of the \"Day of Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War\". Which marks the signing of the Korean War armistice KCNA via Reuters\n\n\"Linda Brown's life reminds us that sometimes the most unlikely people can have an incredible impact and that by serving our community we can truly change the world,\" said Kansas governor Jeff Colyer."}
-{"text": "The administration of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney is set on a course that leads directly to a third world war. And a third world war leads almost inevitably to most of us dying horrible deaths. And we're not talking about it.\n\nThe White House has made clear it is seriously considering attacking Iran with massive bombing aimed at destroying the nation's military and changing its government. Iran will certainly retaliate. If attacked, and possibly even if not attacked, Israel will join in the fighting. The resistance in Iraq will intensify dramatically. Controlling the oil of Iran and Iraq will be out of the question short of thorough genocide. Anti-American furor will sweep the Muslim world. The nuclear nation of Pakistan will be a prime target for an Islamic revolution.\n\nIf we don't have a world war on our hands immediately, one will be very hard to avoid. We will have taught every nation, again, that the only path to safety is acquisition of nuclear weapons. We will have isolated the United States from most of the world, including many of our traditional allies. Terrorist attacks against American targets will come, and the United States will retaliate, again, not with law enforcement but with additional aggressive warfare.\n\nIf the United States attacks Iran, we will be openly at war with the world in a nuclear age. If the thought isn't terrifying, something's wrong with our ability to fear. Our politics is almost always driven in the wrong direction by fear of the wrong things. I'd love for once to see fear knock some sense into us.\n\nThe founders of the United States feared these moments for us. To protect us, they gave Congress the sole power to declare war. The current Congress, building on the misdeeds of others in recent decades, has given up its power. In fact, we've reached the point where Congress cannot easily take it back. Were Congress to declare with a veto-proof majority that Bush must not bomb Iran, is anyone sure Bush would listen?\n\nBack at the start of this Congress, eight months ago, some of the new committee chairs from the progressive caucus spoke on a panel organized by the Institute for Policy Studies. Congressman John Conyers, the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said on this occasion that he would take up the impeachment of Bush and Cheney if they attacked Iran. Congressman Dennis Kucinich at the time was saying the same thing. He has since introduced articles of impeachment against Cheney (H Res 333) that include the charge of threatening aggressive war against Iran (which happens to be a crime). Currently 20 Congress Members support H Res 333, but none of them with any sense of urgency. None of them are lobbying their colleagues to sign on or to introduce their own articles of impeachment. Nobody in Congress, and certainly not the leadership, is pushing hard for impeachment as the means to prevent an attack on Iran.\n\nBut impeachment is the only leverage the Congress has over an outlaw executive branch. Conyers recently said that he opposes impeachment because he carries the Constitution in one hand and a calculator in the other, and he uses the calculator to tell himself he doesn't \"have the votes\" to pass impeachment. Of course, by that argument, he should take his name off his bill for single-payer health care, his bill for slavery reparations, etc. But, more importantly, an impeachment effort can serve a purpose short of successfully impeaching anyone. A serious movement to impeach Gonzales helped show him the door. A serious movement to impeach Bush and Cheney is the only way Congress can deter an attack on Iran or end the prolonged attack on Iraq. If articles of impeachment had 100 cosponsors, Bush and Cheney would understand that attacking Iran would move that number to 218.\n\nHas Bush even told the Congressional leadership of his plans to attack Iran? If he has not, will they have the decency to feel indignation? And will they do so BEFORE the bombing? If he has told them, then Congressional leaders have a duty to the citizens of this nation to immediately expose and oppose such plans. Congress exists to determine our nation's course of action, not to be informed of it. Any member of Congress who has been informed of new plans for illegal war and not spoken out should be tried as an accomplice in war crimes.\n\nAs the White House continues to leak news of its likely attack on Iran, our demand must be for impeachment now, not after the slaughter when we have all been made less safe than ever. And we must not get caught up in the nonsense questions in the media over exactly who lied about exactly how many nuclear facilities in Iran. If possessing some particular number of nuclear reactors, or for that matter nuclear bombs, justified other nations in launching aggressive war, then any nation would be justified in attacking the United States. Nothing, in fact, can justify a war of aggression, legally or morally, because such a war is certain to be worse than whatever might be found to try to justify it.\n\nWe cannot, of course, be certain at this point that Bush and Cheney will attack Iran. Whether they do or not, the task of Congress remains the same: impeach these dictators and end the occupation of Iraq. But if our nation continues on this path of unchecked executive power and military aggression, the path of Afghanistan and Guantanamo and Iraq, then expanded war is inevitable, and that means war that eventually hits the United States. The clearest I can possibly frame our situation is as a choice between one word and another. We are unlikely to get neither or both. We are likely to get one or the other.\n\nImpeach or die.\n\n_______\n\n"}
-{"text": "Riot police have used tear gas and rubber bullets to clear demonstrators as protests marred the arrival of the Olympic torch in Rio de Janeiro.\n\nFootage appears to show a woman being hit by a projectile, fired by a policeman. She suddenly falls to the ground after a heavily-armed officer lifts his weapon. She was helping a young man who himself appears to have been shot and limped away clutching his leg.\n\nHundreds of protesters chanted angrily at the \u00a39 billion cost of hosting the international event, as the torch moved through the city. Police said anti-government protesters in Duque de Caixas, on Rio's north side, threw rocks and blocked the torch's path, and were dispersed with rubber bullets and pepper spray.\n\nThree people were injured by rubber bullets, including a 10-year-old girl, local media reported.\n\nFootage from local news site The Caxiense shows tear gas being let off into the crowd as up to 10 policemen, who are wearing helmets and holding shields, clear a path down the road.\n\nA representative for the local organising committee called the incident isolated and said the protesters had held up the torch but its route was not changed.\n\nIt is the latest in a series of clashes between Brazilian authorities and protesters.\n\nProtesters and police clash ahead of Rio Olympic Games Show all 7 1 /7 Protesters and police clash ahead of Rio Olympic Games Protesters and police clash ahead of Rio Olympic Games Protesters clash with Brazilian police during a demonstration against the Olympic torch relay for Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Niteroi, on August 2, 2016 YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images Protesters and police clash ahead of Rio Olympic Games People face Brazilian police during a protest against the Olympic torch relay for Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Niteroi, on August 2, 2016. YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images Protesters and police clash ahead of Rio Olympic Games Protesters hold banners against Rio 2016 Olympic games to demand more education or health care during a demonstration against the Olympic torch relay in Niteroi, on August 2, 2016 YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images Protesters and police clash ahead of Rio Olympic Games Brazilian police officers hold a protester during a demonstration against Rio 2016 Olympic Games as the Olympic torch relay arrives in Niteroi, on August 2, 2016 YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images Protesters and police clash ahead of Rio Olympic Games An anti-government demonstrator, with a sticker which reads \"boycott\" on his mask, attends a protest on the Rio de Janeiro state economic crisis and against 2016 Rio Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 6, 2016. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes Protesters and police clash ahead of Rio Olympic Games Protesters take part in a demonstration against interim President Michel Temer in the centre of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 31, 2016. REUTERS/Mariana Bazo Protesters and police clash ahead of Rio Olympic Games Eduardo Paes, mayor of Rio de Janeiro, carries the Olympic torch into the city as security hold back protesters Reuters\n\nTeachers who said their wages had yet to be paid succeeded in stealing the Olypmic torch during its lap of Angra dos Reis and snuffing out the flame on 28 July before being chased away by the military.\n\nAnd as Eduardo Paes, the mayor of Rio, held the torch high on his circuit of the area on Wednesday, protesters from the S\u00e3o Gon\u00e7alo area continued to threaten to put out the flame.\n\nOthers chanted: \"While the torch passes lit in Itaborai [a city nearby], jobs, health and education are put out.\"\n\nAt one point during the procession, torchbearers were reportedly forced to take shelter near a police station.\n\nControversy over the Olympics has made the torch a symbol of social discontent in the country as education and health remain underfunded and many government employees say they are still waiting for their wages to be paid.\n\nOver 80,000 police and security staff are being used in Rio, which is double the amount used for the London Games in 2012.\n\nAway from the protests, the build-up to Rio has seen traffic jams bringing the city to a halt as express lane for athletes and officials come into use."}
-{"text": "F\u00fcr Post-Kunden in Wedding endete der morgendliche Blick in den Briefkasten in den vergangenen Wochen h\u00e4ufig entt\u00e4uschend. Weil der Logistikkonzern im Kiez auf eine offensichtlich ortsfremde Urlaubsvertretung gesetzt hatte, sei es zuletzt mehrfach zu Problemen bei der Briefzustellung gekommen, klagten mehrere Bewohner.\n\nSven Ziemke ist einer von ihnen. \u201eSeit Anfang Oktober ist es immer wieder vorgekommen, dass Briefe fremder Leute in meinem Briefkasten gelandet sind und Post, die ich erwartet habe, uns nie erreicht hat\u201c, sagte er dem Tagesspiegel. Der Marketingfachmann \u00e4rgert sich, dass durch die Pannen auch der Datenschutz gef\u00e4hrdet sei. So seien unter der falsch zugestellten Post auch fremde Stromrechnungen mit pers\u00f6nlichen Daten gewesen.\n\nBetroffen vom Post-Chaos sind dabei mindestens drei Stra\u00dfen. Klagen \u00fcber Unregelm\u00e4\u00dfigkeiten gab es in der Transvaalstra\u00dfe, der Sansibarstra\u00dfe und der L\u00fcderitzstra\u00dfe.\n\nEin Aufeinandertreffen mit dem Paketboten verlief f\u00fcr Ziemke unbefriedigend. \u201eIch wollte ihm mein Namensschild am Postkasten zeigen \u2013 denn der Name stimmt nicht mit dem auf dem Brief \u00fcberein. Daraufhin riss der Postbote mir den Brief aus der Hand und schubste mich weg.\u201c Auf die Frage nach Name und Postleitzahl f\u00fcr eine Beschwerde habe der Postbote patzig geantwortet und sei einfach verschwunden. Immerhin, eines sei bei der Konfrontation deutlich geworden: \u201eDer Herr ist des Deutschen nicht m\u00e4chtig.\u201c Ziemke beschwerte sich anschlie\u00dfend gemeinsam mit einem Nachbarn telefonisch bei der Post \u2013 und wurde, laut eigener Aussage, sogar bis zu einem Vorstandsmitglied in Bonn durchgestellt.\n\nPost entschuldigt sich f\u00fcr \"Unannehmlichkeiten\"\n\nDoch erst die Beschwerde eines dritten Anrainers f\u00fchrt zu einer Reaktion des Konzerns. \u201eUnser oberstes Ziel ist es, die Sendungen unserer Kunden schnell und zuverl\u00e4ssig zu bef\u00f6rdern und zuzustellen\u201c, versichert die Post in einem Schreiben. Auf der Zustelltour in Berlin-Wedding sei momentan ein k\u00fcrzlich neu eingestellter Mitarbeiter als Vertreter im Einsatz, hei\u00dft es weiter in der Erkl\u00e4rung.\n\nZugleich bestreitet das Bonner Unternehmen, dass der Bote nicht die notwendigen Voraussetzungen f\u00fcr den Job mitbringt. \u201eDer Kollege ist als Gefl\u00fcchteter nach Deutschland gekommen und verf\u00fcgt \u00fcber angemessene deutsche Sprachkenntnisse.\" Andere Beschwerden habe es nie gegeben, beteuert die Post, verspricht jedoch mit dem Kollegen zu sprechen und entschuldigt sich f\u00fcr die \u201eentstandenen Unannehmlichkeiten\u201c.\n\nMehr zum Thema Automatisierung Post testet Begleit-Roboter f\u00fcr Brieftr\u00e4ger\n\nDoch auch beim \u201eAmaya Beauty Salon\u201c in der Transvaalstra\u00dfe kennt man das Dilemma mit der fremden Post. Mitarbeiterin Veronika Barjeva hatte bereits mehrfach Briefe in der Hand, die f\u00fcr andere bestimmt waren. Wie aber verh\u00e4lt man sich in so einem Fall? Die Post kl\u00e4rt auf: Sollte versehentlich ein Brief falsch eingeworfen worden sein, der f\u00fcr einen anderen Empf\u00e4nger bestimmt war, k\u00f6nne der Kunde diesen in jeden \u00f6ffentlichen \u201egelben\u201c Briefkasten der Deutschen Post einwerfen \u2013 die Sendung werde dann noch einmal neu zugestellt. Beim zweiten Mal klappt's gewiss!"}
-{"text": "RC\u30d9\u30eb\u30b0\u304c\u300e\u30a8\u30b9\u30d7\u30ec\u30a4\u30c9\u300f\u7f8e\u4f5c\u3044\u308d\u308a\u3092\u30ab\u30e9\u30fc\u30ec\u30b8\u30f3\u30ad\u30c3\u30c8\u5316\uff01 \u304a\u306a\u3058\u307f\u3001RC\u30d9\u30eb\u30b0\u306e\u30b2\u30fc\u30e0\u30ad\u30e3\u30e9\u30ab\u30e9\u30fc\u30ec\u30b8\u30f3\u30ad\u30c3\u30c8\u306e\u65b0\u4f5c\u3068\u3057\u3066\u300e\u30a8\u30b9\u30d7\u30ec\u30a4\u30c9\u300f\u7f8e\u4f5c\u3044\u308d\u308a\u304c\u767b\u5834\uff01 \u3082\u3068\u3082\u3068\u306f1998\u5e74\u306b\u30a2\u30fc\u30b1\u30fc\u30c9\u3067\u767b\u5834\u3057\u305f\u30b7\u30e5\u30fc\u30c6\u30a3\u30f3\u30b0\u30b2\u30fc\u30e0\u3067\u3001\u30b1\u30a4\u30d6\u306e\u5f3e\u5e55\u7cfb\u30b7\u30e5\u30fc\u30c6\u30a3\u30f3\u30b0\u306e\u7b2c2\u5f3e\u3002\u81ea\u6a5f\u306f3\u4eba\u306e\u8d85\u80fd Posted 9\u6708 23, 2020\n\n\u3010\u30d7\u30ec\u30d3\u30e5\u30fc\u3011\u30c0\u30a4\u30ad\u5de5\u696d\u300cAnmi PINK LABEL FLAMINGOS \u30dd\u30cb\u30fc\u30c6\u30fc\u30eb\u306e\u5b50\u300d Prev1 of 2Next \u30a4\u30e9\u30b9\u30c8\u3084\u30b3\u30df\u30c3\u30af\u306a\u3069\u5e45\u5e83\u3044\u6d3b\u8e8d\u3092\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u30a4\u30e9\u30b9\u30c8\u30ec\u30fc\u30bf\u30fcAnmi\u6c0f\u304c\u540c\u4eba\u30a4\u30e9\u30b9\u30c8\u8a8c\u300cAVIAN ROMANCE PINK LABEL\u300d\u3067\u63cf\u3044\u305f\u30dd\u30cb\u30fc\u30c6\u30fc\u30eb\u306e\u5b50\u3092\u30c0\u30a4\u30ad\u5de5\u696d\u304c\u7acb\u4f53\u5316\u3002 \u3061\u3087\u3053 Posted 9\u6708 17, 2020\n\n\u3010\u30b3\u30c8\u30d6\u30ad\u30e4\u300c\u5275\u5f69\u5c11\u5973\u5ead\u5712\u300d\u30aa\u30fc\u30d7\u30f3\u30ad\u30e3\u30f3\u30d1\u30b9\u30ec\u30dd\u30fc\u30c8\u305d\u306e2\u3011\u6c17\u306b\u306a\u308b\u4ed5\u69d8\u3092\u30c1\u30a7\u30c3\u30af\uff01 \u30e1\u30ab\u3082\u3064\u3044\u3066\u3044\u306a\u3044\u3001\u6c34\u7740\u3067\u3082\u306a\u3044\u3001\u666e\u901a\u306e\u5973\u306e\u5b50\u3092\u53ef\u52d5\u30d7\u30e9\u30e2\u30c7\u30eb\u306b\u3059\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u306e\u306f\u3053\u308c\u307e\u3067\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f\u3053\u3068\u3002\u30e1\u30ab+\u5973\u306e\u5b50\u306e\u30d7\u30e9\u30e2\u30c7\u30eb\u3068\u306f\u7570\u306a\u308b\u4ed5\u69d8\u3067\u3001\u7570\u306a\u308b\u904a\u3073\u65b9\u304c\u51fa\u6765\u308b\u3088\u3046\u306b\u306a\u3063\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\u300c\u5275\u5f69\u5c11\u5973\u5ead\u5712\u30aa\u30fc\u30d7\u30f3\u30ad\u30e3\u30f3\u30d1\u30b9\u300d\u306e\u4e8b Posted 9\u6708 1, 2020\n\n\u3010\u30b3\u30c8\u30d6\u30ad\u30e4\u300c\u5275\u5f69\u5c11\u5973\u5ead\u5712\u300d\u30aa\u30fc\u30d7\u30f3\u30ad\u30e3\u30f3\u30d1\u30b9\u30ec\u30dd\u30fc\u30c8\u305d\u306e1\u3011\u767a\u8868\u30e9\u30a4\u30f3\u30ca\u30c3\u30d7\u3092\u30c1\u30a7\u30c3\u30af\uff01 2020\u5e742\u6708\u306e\u30ef\u30f3\u30c0\u30fc\u30d5\u30a7\u30b9\u30c6\u30a3\u30d0\u30eb\u306e\u30b3\u30c8\u30d6\u30ad\u30e4\u30d6\u30fc\u30b9\u3067\u767a\u8868\u3055\u308c\u305f\u65b0\u30d7\u30e9\u30e2\u30b7\u30ea\u30fc\u30ba\u300c\u5275\u5f69\u5c11\u5973\u5ead\u5712\u300d\u3002\u30ad\u30ba\u30ca\u30a2\u30a4\u306a\u3069\u3067\u77e5\u3089\u308c\u308b\u68ee\u5009 \u5186\u6c0f\u306e\u30ad\u30e3\u30e9\u30af\u30bf\u30fc\u30c7\u30b6\u30a4\u30f3\u3067\u3001\u30e1\u30ab\u3092\u307e\u3068\u3063\u305f\u30ad\u30e3\u30e9\u304c\u591a\u304b\u3063\u305f\u7f8e\u5c11\u5973\u53ef\u52d5\u30d7\u30e9\u30e2\u30c7\u30eb\u30b8\u30e3\u30f3\u30eb Posted 9\u6708 1, 2020\n\n\u30bb\u30ac\u30d7\u30e9\u30a4\u30ba2020\u5e7412\u6708\uff5e2021\u5e743\u6708\u60c5\u5831\u307e\u3068\u3081 \u30bb\u30ac\u30d7\u30e9\u30a4\u30ba\u304b\u3089\u3053\u306e\u51ac\u30012020\u5e7412\u6708\u304b\u30892021\u5e743\u6708\u306b\u767b\u5834\u4e88\u5b9a\u306e\u30d7\u30e9\u30a4\u30ba\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u767a\u8868\u304c\u3042\u308a\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002\u305d\u308c\u305e\u308c\u306e\u500b\u5225\u8a18\u4e8b\u306e\u30ea\u30f3\u30af\u3092\u3053\u3053\u306b\u307e\u3068\u3081\u307e\u3059\u3002 \u4f8b\u5e74\u3060\u30688\u6708\u306b\u958b\u50ac\u3055\u308c\u308b\u30d7\u30e9\u30a4\u30ba\u30d5\u30a7\u30a2\u3067\u5c55\u793a\u767a\u8868\u306e\u53d6\u6750\u304c\u51fa\u6765\u308b\u306e\u3067\u3059 Posted 8\u6708 27, 2020\n\n\u3010\u30bb\u30ac\u30d7\u30e9\u30a4\u30ba2020\u5e7412\u6708\uff5e2021\u5e742\u6708\u3011\u30b0\u30c3\u30ba\u300e\u5b87\u5d0e\u3061\u3083\u3093\u306f\u904a\u3073\u305f\u3044\uff01\u300f\u300e\u3084\u306f\u308a\u4ffa\u306e\u2ed8\u6625\u30e9\u30d6\u30b3\u30e1\u306f\u307e\u3061\u304c\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\u5b8c\u300f\u300e\u72ac\u591c\u53c9\u300f\u300eParadox Live\u300fTV\u30a2\u30cb\u30e1\u300c\u3042\u3072\u308b\u306e\u7a7a\u300d\u3001TV\u30a2\u30cb\u30e1\u300c\u30b4\u30fc\u30eb\u30c7\u30f3\u30ab\u30e0\u30a4\u300d \u305d\u306e\u4ed6\u30b0\u30c3\u30ba\u304c\u30e9\u30a4\u30f3\u30a2\u30c3\u30d7\u3055\u308c\u3066\u3044\u308b\u4f5c\u54c1\u306e\u307e\u3068\u3081\u304c\u3053\u3061\u3089\u3002 \u5b87\u5d0e\u3061\u3083\u3093\u306f\u904a\u3073\u305f\u3044\uff01 \u5b87\u5d0e\u3061\u3083\u3093\u306f\u904a\u3073\u305f\u3044\uff01 \u30e1\u30ac\u30b8\u30e3\u30f3\u30dc\u30af\u30c3\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\uff082020\u5e7412\u6708\u4e88\u5b9a\uff09 \u5b87\u5d0e\u3061\u3083\u3093\u306f\u904a\u3073\u305f\u3044\uff01 \u30d7\u30ec\u30df\u30a2\u30e0\u30d0\u30b9\u30bf\u30aa\u30eb\uff082020\u5e7412\u6708\u4e88 Posted 8\u6708 27, 2020"}
-{"text": "President Trump announced this morning that he had asked for (and received) National Security Advisor John Bolton\u2019s resignation. He indicated in a tweet that he \u201cstrongly disagreed with many of Bolton\u2019s suggestions\u201d and that other administration officials did as well. He also said he would name Bolton\u2019s replacement next week.\n\n\u2026.I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning. I thank John very much for his service. I will be naming a new National Security Advisor next week. \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2019\n\nIn a brief letter dated September 10, 2019, Bolton wrote: \u201cDear Mr, President: I hereby resign, effective immediately, as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Thank you for having afforded me this opportunity to serve our country.\u201d\n\nBolton, well known for his hawkish positions on foreign policy issues, often found himself at odds with the more dovish Trump. Bolton appeared an unlikely choice from the start.\n\nOne positive aspect of the Trump/Bolton dynamic was its ability to keep enemies off balance. Knowing Trump erred on the side of dovishness and Bolton, hawkishness, countries like Iran or North Korea would be left guessing what action to expect.\n\nHowever, the negative aspects far outweighed the positive.\n\nThe recent tension between the two began when the problems with Iran began to escalate in May. After Trump canceled a US airstrike on Iran in June at the last minute, he told a member of his inner circle, \u201cThese people want to push us into a war, and it\u2019s so disgusting. We don\u2019t need any more wars.\u201d\n\nHot Air reported:\n\nA few weeks later, Bolton was conspicuously absent from Trump\u2019s big photo op with Kim Jong Un at the DMZ, having been tasked with a visit to Mongolia at the time instead. The most hardcore Republican Bolton critic in Congress, Rand Paul, was deputized by Trump in July to try to broker negotiations with Iran. (Paul is already celebrating Bolton\u2019s termination on Twitter today.) More recently reports being bubbling up that Bolton had been sidelined from the peace process in Afghanistan and was being excluded from meetings. Rumors began circulating that his relationship with Mike Pompeo, a Trump favorite, had collapsed, with natsec deputies unsure who was actually steering the diplomatic ship between the more negotiation-minded Pompeo and the more hardline Bolton.\n\nIt\u2019s been reported that Bolton was strongly opposed to Trump\u2019s invitation to the Taliban for talks at Camp David last weekend. Trump may believe that Bolton leaked this information to the media.\n\nA White House official told Fox News, \u201cSimply put, many of Bolton\u2019s policy priorities did not align with POTUS.\u201d\n\nSen. Rand Paul (R-KY) spoke to Fox News\u2019 Neil Cavuto today and said, \u201cThe threat of war around the world is greatly diminished with Bolton out of the White House.\u201d\n\nAnyway, the unlikely alliance is over. And Trump will name his fourth National Security Advisor next week.\n\nBolton has served in the administrations of former Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush and served as a Bush\u2019s lawyer during the 2000 Florida recount. Bolton also served as a U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006, and as an undersecretary of state for arms control and international security from 2001 to 2005.\u201d\n\nMax Boot, the Washington Post reporter I posted about yesterday (here) who can\u2019t understand why Trump is still in office despite all of his columns and soundbites, weighed in on Bolton\u2019s departure. He can\u2019t seem to make up his mind or he wants to have it both ways.\n\nBoot\u2019s tweet: \u201cJohn Bolton was bad. His departure might be worse.\u201d\n\nJohn Bolton was bad. His departure might be worse, writes @MaxBoot https://t.co/ff4kH1ha22 \u2014 Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) September 10, 2019\n\nAnd Seth Mandel, the executive editor of the Washington Examiner, replies:\n\n\u201cThe Only Thing Worse Than Bolton Is No Bolton, And The Only Thing Worse Than No Bolton Is Bolton\u201d\n\nThe Only Thing Worse Than Bolton Is No Bolton, And The Only Thing Worse Than No Bolton Is Bolton \u2014 Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 10, 2019"}
-{"text": "Copier Printer for The Storytelling Project\n\nDespite the restrictions that are caused by the pandemic, The Storytelling Project still continues it projects in order to help the children. Although...\n\nRaising PHP 24,500\n\n0%"}
-{"text": "In less than a month, the next episode in the Star Wars saga, The Last Jedi, will release in theaters around the world, and it looks like Samsung will be launching a special edition of the Galaxy Note 8 based on the highly anticipated movie. Well, at least that\u2019s what we can surmise from an image that has been published on Twitter by a leakster with a good track record.\n\nGalaxy Note 8 to get the Star Wars treatment\n\nThe lack of any changes to the design of the phone is a red flag, although it\u2019s possible Samsung isn\u2019t willing to give us a glimpse of the Galaxy Note 8 Star Wars edition just yet. Or, the company will only be adding wallpapers, ringtones and other Star Wars media to differentiate it from the regular Note 8, which would be in line with the Pirates of the Caribbean edition of the Galaxy S8 that launched in China earlier this year. Of course, we would prefer a heavily customized version akin to the Galaxy S6 edge Iron Man edition, but that probably won\u2019t happen.\n\nThe image seems to have been captured at the recent event in China where Samsung also announced Bixby for the country and teased a new artificial intelligence-based user interface for the Galaxy S9. Considering the wallpaper shows BB-8, the cutesy droid character introduced in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it\u2019s possible Samsung was only using it to showcase the aforementioned AI user interface.\n\nFor now, there\u2019s no guarantee a Star Wars edition of the Galaxy Note 8 will be released. If it is, here\u2019s hoping Samsung makes it widely available instead of keeping it exclusive to a galaxy far, far away China.\n\nWould you be interested in the Galaxy Note 8 Star Wars edition?"}
-{"text": "More Questions Than Answers In Lancaster Double Shooting\n\nLANCASTER, TX \u2013 A double shooting in Lancaster late last month leaves more questions than answers.\n\nThe Lancaster Police Department was called to the Rosemont Apartments in the 1600 block of N. Houston Road January 24 at around 5:11 p.m.\n\nWhen the officers arrived at the apartment complex both an 18-year-old adult male, and a 13-year-old juvenile male had suffered gunshot wounds.\n\nWitnesses say it was a possible robbery gone wrong.\n\nBoth males were taken to separate local hospitals for treatment. Both males survived their injuries.\n\nA short media release sent out by the City of Lancaster indicates all parties have been identified and questioned. There are no at-large suspects at this time.\n\nThe circumstances leading up to the shooting are still under investigation by the Lancaster Police Department.\n\n2019 Lancaster Crime Report\n\nThe Lancaster Police Department annual report for 2019 states there were 63 aggravated assaults in Lancaster last year.\n\nOther crimes in Lancaster in 2019 include two arsons, 23 sexual assaults, 54 robberies, 171 motor vehicle thefts, 155 burglaries of building or habitation and 543 theft all other incidents.\n\nThere were no murders in Lancaster in 2019.\n\nThe most recent reported dead body found in early January in Lancaster is not on the report from 2019. At the moment, it has not been confirmed if the deceased died in Lancaster or the body was brought to the city afterwards.\n\nThere was also a two-year-old Lancaster boy found unconscious in the family car late last year, that cause of death was unknown at the time. And, while the cause of death had not been determined, Texas has one of the highest rates of deaths from children in hot cars in the country.\n\nAccording to the same 2019 annual report, the Lancaster Police Department had 86,206 calls for service last year. Within that number were 2,069 arrests and 78 were DWI arrests.\n\nComments\n\ncomments"}
-{"text": "Il ministro Immigrazione, Alfano ai comuni: \"Fate lavorare gratis i migranti\" Alle Regioni che dicono 'no' a nuovi arrivi il ministro spiegher\u00e0 che deve esserci una \"distribuzione equa\" tra i paesi europei ma anche all'interno dell'Italia. MIgliore: \"Ok lavori socialemente utili, ma non gratis\"\n\nCondividi\n\n\"Dobbiamo chiedere ai Comuni di applicare una nostra circolare che permette di far lavorare gratis i migranti\", lo ha detto il ministro dell'Interno, Angelino Alfano, al termine della Conferenza Unificata. \"Invece di farli stare l\u00ec a non far nulla - ha aggiunto - che li facciano lavorare\".\"Equa distribuzione tra tutti i Paesi dell'Europa e tra tutti i paesi dell'Italia: mi sembrano due principi sui quali nessuno possa essere contrario\", ha poi aggiunto il ministro spiegando che sar\u00e0 questo che risponder\u00e0 alle Regioni che non vogliono ulteriori arrivi di profughi e immigrati.\"Dobbiamo poi lavorare in Europa - ha concluso Alfano - per la protezione umanitaria: \u00e8 una sfida che consentirebbe di fare andare negli altri Paesi europei coloro che sono beneficiari di protezione umanitaria\".\"I lavori socialmente utili costituiscono un percorso di integrazione importante per i richiedenti asilo - replica Gennaro Migliore (Pd), presidente della commissione d'inchiesta sul sistema di accoglienza, identificazione e trattamento dei migranti -. Il ministro Alfano indica, dunque, una pratica da applicare, ma deve essere chiaro che i migranti non possono esse utilizzati come manovalanza gratuita, perch\u00e9 al loro lavoro deve esse data dignit\u00e0\"."}
-{"text": "Meg Whitman's former housekeeper was an undocumented worker and claims working for the Republican candidate for Governor was a \"nightmare.\"\n\nPlay video content\n\nNicky Diaz Santillan, Whitman's housekeeper of 9 years, held a news conference with her lawyer, Gloria Allred, and claims Whitman had all the clues she was an undocumented worker but closed her eyes to it because she was cheap help ... $23 an hour.\n\nAllred claims the housekeeper was \"exploited, disrespected, humiliated and emotionally and financially abused\" by Whitman.\n\nAllred claims when the housekeeper was hired 9 years ago through an agency, Whitman never asked if she was in the U.S. legally. And, during her employment, Santillan told Whitman she couldn't travel to Mexico. And, Allred said, Whitman found out Santillan's Social Security number didn't match her name, but Whitman did nothing. Allred said it's the classic case of \"don't ask, don't tell.\"\n\nPlay video content\n\nThat all changed, Allred says, when Whitman launched her campaign for Governor, realizing having an illegal alien on board was a liability ... and fired her.\n\nSantillan says Whitman treated her \"like a piece of garbage\" by letting her go.\n\nAllred says Santillan is filing a claim with the Labor Commission for back wages and mileage.\n\nYesterday, Whitman said in the debate with Jerry Brown that employers should be held accountable for hiring undocumented workers."}
-{"text": "Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images\n\nAs is the grand tradition in UFC title fights, it's time for another rematch. Unlike some of the more recent rushed rematch decisions (Junior dos Santos versus Cain Velasquez III, Renan Barao vs. T.J. Dillashaw II) this one seems deserved and inspires actual excitement.\n\nIn the eight months since their first meeting, Robbie Lawler has knocked out Jake Ellenberger, and slammed the brakes on the Matt Brown express. In fact, in the original title fight, Lawler didn't look out of his depth at all. He wobbled Hendricks with counter punches, and he did excellent work from in close, where Hendricks couldn't step into his swings.\n\nYou know what Robbie Lawler does well, I've written love letters to the style of The Ruthless One before. Checking the lead hand, releasing it and looking to land the southpaw lead hook as a counter over the top of the jab. That tasty new up-elbow he was showing against Matt Brown. The high kicks and the feints. His counters are as precise and timely as his power is scary.\n\nBut today, I want to talk about what went wrong for Lawler in his title fight against Johny Hendricks. I feel like a lot of it is being written off as \u201cnot good enough wrestling\u201d when his two conceded takedowns (in 10 attempts by Hendricks) were really symptomatic of a different shortcoming.\n\nFans get hung up on the final takedown of the fight. Hendricks took top position and grapevined Lawler's legs along the fence to secure that triangle on the calves. Sometimes called \u201claming it out\u201d. Of course, Hendricks was just securing the last round of a close fight, it was the smart thing to do\u2014this wasn't like the snoozer that was Josh Thomson versus KJ Noons. But to recall the old Brazilian Jiu Jitsu catchphrase, Lawler had messed up a long time back.\n\nWhat killed Lawler was the low kicks. The first three strikes Lawler threw were low kicks, and two connected flush. According to Fight Metric, which can sometimes show a hidden angle to a fight, 25% of the 158 strikes Hendricks landed were to the legs. That is a ton of low kicks to take even from an average kicker. If you let Tarec Saffiedine land that many low kicks on you, the doctors would probably have to take your leg. Thiago Alves? You'd probably be dead.\n\n\n\nBeautiful head movement, but absolutely no hope of checking that kick with his weight off center.\n\nThrough the early going Lawler rolled off, blocked or slipped every punch Hendricks threw, and countered with harder, more accurate shots. The examples of Hendricks only landing glancing blows or missing altogether were numerous, but Lawler completely failed to react to Hendricks' low kicks. A few punts to the thigh later and Lawler wasn't the slick infighter he had shown to be early on, and was standing in front of Hendricks, unable to get away from the blows.\n\nYou see, head movement isn't really head movement. It's upper body movement, and that is really about transferring weight. The constant head movement that Lawler was showing through the early rounds was completely gone by round five as he limped toward Hendricks. His power had dried up too and as his corner yelled at him to move his head, he couldn't get away from Hendricks' flurries quick enough.\n\n\n\nNotice the lack of upper body motion. Where he had twisted and dipped to take the power off of strikes, Lawler was simply absorbing them by this time.\n\nThe problem is that if your legs go, so does all your ability to move your weight. To hit hard, you must transfer your weight from one leg to the other. To slip punches, or roll with blows it's exactly the same thing. To fight off takedowns, to work in the clinch, to perform a technical stand up. Almost every single action involves the use of the legs to carry weight and low kicks mess that up altogether.\n\nLawler's legs let him down, not his wrestling.\n\nLet's Do It Again, Brother\n\nThere is a tendency in mixed martial arts, and in boxing, to judge a fighter by his most recent win regardless of the stylistic match up involved and what the opponent actually asked of him. There were some people out there who, after Junior dos Santos knocked out Mark Hunt, who were genuinely saying \u201cget a load of JDS 2.0! Cain could struggle with this incarnation of Cigano\u201d.\n\nThe smarter among you would have realized that Hunt tested JDS in virtually none of the same areas that he struggled in against Velasquez. There was no indication that JDS could get his back off of the fence, and when Hunt did push JDS to the fence, he backed straight into it without circling out, just as he did against Velasquez.\n\nWith Robbie Lawler, we are in a similar situation. He beat the stuffing out of Jake Ellenberger\u2014a wrestler who looks less and less keen to fight every time we see him\u2014then picked apart Matt Brown. At no point was he fighting a guy who was putting together combinations into low kicks. In fact, the few low kicks which Matt Brown threw at him landed without the batting of an eyelid from Lawler.\n\nThat isn't really a great sign. It's not about being able to take the low kicks, it's about actively trying to stop them, because eventually you'll meet someone who throws often enough and hard enough to hurt you. Or, as Aleksander Emelianenko found out the hard way against Peter Graham, you eat one at the wrong time, when your weight is moving or your leg is straightening, and it only takes one to mess up your leg, nothing to do with pain threshold.\n\nBut ultimately, even an active fighter will compete maybe once every three months. That is nothing compared to the amount of time spent in the gym. We don't know that Lawler's team haven't picked up on the importance of the low kick for Hendricks. In fact, with how much it clearly affected him, I'm certain they have. The interesting part now is how Lawler adjusts and how that changes the match up.\n\nB.J. Penn, for instance, fought in a more square-on stance every time he met Frankie Edgar. In the first bout his lead leg was turned in and well in front of him\u2014easy kicking. In the second, he squared up to check more kicks, but ate more punches as a result. The third fight... well, let's just not talk about it.\n\nStrategies and counter strategies, they are what make rematches interesting. I have no interest in watching one guy lose to a rival the same way twice. But with two top-tier, thoughtful fighters, and great coaching staff behind, their performances over two fights can be unrecognizable.\n\nAt UFC 181, the last major UFC event of the year, we could see Lawler bring in something entirely new, and a new Hendricks come to meet him. Stay tuned for our look at the co-main event, and get back here after the fight for the full breakdown.\n\nPick up Jack Slack's ebooks at his blog Fights Gone By. Jack can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.\n\nCheck out these related stories:\n\nRobbie Lawler Is Not Your Stepping Stone\n\nMeditations on Robbie Lawler\n\nThe Art of Attack: The Linocut Portraits of Matt Ward"}
-{"text": "storywriter Profile Joined February 2011 Australia 527 Posts Last Edited: 2012-05-29 12:11:00 #1 ZeNEXLife\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYou became the first all kill hero of this season. Tell us your thoughts\n\n\n\nSeeing Hero come out after taking down Zenio, I thought one kill was the best I could do today but steeling myself and playing some gutsy macro games made the all kill possible.\n\n\n\nYou were the second player from Zenex, was this planned?\n\n\n\nYes. Regardless of who the opponent was I was to be sent out after Avenge lost.\n\n\n\nThe most difficult game of the day?\n\n\n\nThe game against Hero. My record on Entombed Valley isn\u2019t so great so it was relief to win that game. It was such a difficult game.\n\n\n\nWhen did you become sure of your all kill?\n\n\n\nOnce I had Hero down, I knew that I could all kill. I was confident in my ZvZ and ZvT.\n\n\n\nAgainst Jinro, you showcased a very quick mutalisk rush.\n\n\n\nLately, Terrans have been going 1 rax expo and not expecting mutas. That\u2019s why I tried it out.\n\n\n\nYou are famous as the online juggernaut but your performance in GSL hasn\u2019t been the best\n\n\n\nI became too nervous at every qualifier. So, I wasn\u2019t able to play at my best. I focused on practice to regain my skill. Rather than reinforcing certain aspects, I just focused on practice.\n\n\n\nYou are now the third all killer of a best of 9 match so are you confident you can use this momentum to go far in the individual league?\n\n\n\nAs long as I don\u2019t run into a Protoss, I think I can get into Code S. Forcefields are so OP to deal with.\n\n\n\nAny SlayerS player you want to take on?\n\n\n\nMMA. I believe that he is the best SlayerS Terran. Even if they send out a Protoss, I think I can win as long as it\u2019s not on Entombed Valley.\n\n\n\nZenex is regarded as the worst team in Group A.\n\n\n\nI think it\u2019s understandable seeing very few players from our team making it into GSL recently. However, by the end of the season, we will have shed that image completely.\n\n\n\nYour goal for this season?\n\n\n\nThe goal is always the championship. It\u2019s true that our team is weaker compared to some others but we will make a miracle happen this season.\n\n\n\nAnything to add?\n\n\n\nMy teacher Kim, Byung Chul from Chul Sung Middle School in Ko Sung, Kyung Nam let me have the day off in consideration of the match. I am really grateful. Also, I want to thank my friends and my brother who cheered me on.\n\n\n\nSource: Seeing Hero come out after taking down Zenio, I thought one kill was the best I could do today but steeling myself and playing some gutsy macro games made the all kill possible.Yes. Regardless of who the opponent was I was to be sent out after Avenge lost.The game against Hero. My record on Entombed Valley isn\u2019t so great so it was relief to win that game. It was such a difficult game.Once I had Hero down, I knew that I could all kill. I was confident in my ZvZ and ZvT.Lately, Terrans have been going 1 rax expo and not expecting mutas. That\u2019s why I tried it out.I became too nervous at every qualifier. So, I wasn\u2019t able to play at my best. I focused on practice to regain my skill. Rather than reinforcing certain aspects, I just focused on practice.As long as I don\u2019t run into a Protoss, I think I can get into Code S. Forcefields are so OP to deal with.MMA. I believe that he is the best SlayerS Terran. Even if they send out a Protoss, I think I can win as long as it\u2019s not on Entombed Valley.I think it\u2019s understandable seeing very few players from our team making it into GSL recently. However, by the end of the season, we will have shed that image completely.The goal is always the championship. It\u2019s true that our team is weaker compared to some others but we will make a miracle happen this season.My teacher Kim, Byung Chul from Chul Sung Middle School in Ko Sung, Kyung Nam let me have the day off in consideration of the match. I am really grateful. Also, I want to thank my friends and my brother who cheered me on.Source: ThisisGame Translator"}
-{"text": "Nuthin\u2019 2 Prove is why Lil Yachty should not be spitting bars. The best of his music avoids contemporary punchline-obsessed rap in favor of gummy, vibrant new-age euphonies\u2014or at least it kind of does. Each of his releases since his 2016 debut Lil Boat has been conflicted with what makes Yachty pop, parading his lighthearted nursery rhyme raps, that, along with his crimson dreadlocks, have made him a favorite of teen hipsters. When he bellows and trills, regardless of what\u2019s actually coming out of his mouth, the results are leagues better than when he tries to do his best rapper impression on songs.\n\nContrary to what the album\u2019s name implies, he has a lot to prove lately. The streets aren\u2019t checking for Lil Yachty like they were in 2016. There are rappers purporting to be cloned in factories and others using electrified brass knuckles to batter hotel television screens; having red dreads isn\u2019t the definitive representation of risqu\u00e9 any more. Now, he\u2019s just another slightly established rapper whose music needs to stick if he wants to be at the BET Awards next year. This uncertainty and desperation would mean that a title like Nuthin\u2019 2 Prove must be a play on words, to lull the listener into a false sense of relaxation while preparing to overload their senses. But the album\u2019s opener, \u201cGimmie My Respect\u201d doubles down on cruise-control Yachty. It\u2019s a weird way to begin something absolutely necessary for his continued success.\n\nThe first half of Nuthin\u2019 2 Prove is obsessed with challenging his lyrical criticism with a surplus of leaden rhymes and weak deliveries. There\u2019s no reason in the world Yachty should enter a song before the beat drops with empty, serious rhymes. Even next to Lil Baby and Juice WRLD, two melodic rappers who are able to successfully hide their weaknesses behind unique melodies, Yachty sounds drained of his energy. \u201cSaintLaurentYSL\u201d benefits from Lil Baby\u2019s transfixing chorus before Yachty spits a verse in stop-motion that\u2019ll piss off even the most tolerant of listeners wise to his ways. There\u2019s no coincidence that the first half features guests on five of its eight songs. Yachty attempts to blend his stinkers with those of his guest features, with his own rhymes acting as filler in between. It leaves a sour taste in the mouth.\n\nThe silkiness of his robotic hum sounds more appealing than ever before, tempered by years in the industry to refine his more grating tendencies. And while his bars often fizzle out, his love-laced stanzas are well-crafted. \u201cWorth It\u201d is a nostalgic, soothing ploy for natural beauty, as he ends each line with a joyful cannonball that makes the next one splash with fresh energy. \u201cStoney\u201d lives tranquilly at the bottom of an ocean, with Yachty\u2019s voice seldom rising above a cat\u2019s enthusiastic purr.\n\nEven when love isn\u2019t the focus, Yachty\u2019s just better when he isn\u2019t rapping at all. \u201cEverything Good, Everything Right\u201d is the platitudinous 2016-era Yachty that radiates enough solar energy to power the Lightyear One. Its carnivalesque atmosphere is mesmerizing because he can\u2019t sing worth a damn, but his commitment to encapsulating an overly sweet experience with equally saccharine notes is just heartwarming. It\u2019s a high point on an otherwise confused album that knows what it\u2019s good at and what it\u2019s not, and yet still chugs on anyway.\n\nNuthin\u2019 2 Prove is obsessed with the idea of respect as a measure of talent and he frontloads the album\u2019s rap half with features from more capable rappers, hoping to siphon off some of their clout. This makes the atmosphere much more leaden than it needs to be like he\u2019s banging a point into the listener\u2019s head that isn\u2019t quite understanding it. It\u2019s a slog, but then you get something like \u201cNext Up\u201d which is a clever mix of melodic rap and straight-forward bars that is both fast and loose with a breezy air reminiscent of his past highlight \u201cMinnesota.\u201d It\u2019s peak Yachty, perfectly in his element, sandwiched between blithe harmonies and light-hearted swag rap. He could have the world in his hands if he stayed there longer."}
-{"text": "Apple will release updated versions of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus next year, aptly called the \"iPhone 7s\" and \"iPhone 7s Plus,\" according to Japanese blog Mac Otakara.\n\nThe report claims the smartphones will retain the same aluminum design as the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, with only internal changes, including the addition of a faster A11 chip.\n\nThe report added it is highly probable the iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus will come in an all-new red color alongside current Black, Jet Black, Gold, Rose Gold, and Silver options.\n\nMultiple rumors suggest Apple plans to release three new iPhone models next year, including updated 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch models with traditional LCD displays and a larger premium model with an OLED display and glass casing, but reports have been conflicting about which features will be included on each model.\n\nIf this report is accurate, it could signify Apple's plans to release a completely overhauled glass-backed iPhone with a curved, bezel-free OLED display and wireless charging at the high end of its 2017 smartphone lineup, while making only incremental upgrades to its traditional 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhones with LCD displays.\n\nAn earlier report from Japanese website Nikkei Asian Review said Apple plans to release three glass-backed iPhones next year, while it was said the 4.7-inch iPhone would get wireless charging, so there remains a lack of consensus among rumors\u2014perhaps unsurprising given new iPhones are likely over nine months away.\n\nMac Otakara was first to report about Apple's plans to remove the headphone jack and add a new Jet Black color for the iPhone 7 lineup, but its track record is not perfect. Its rumor from November about Apple adding a \"Jet White\" color for iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus has also yet to materialize."}
-{"text": "\u201cTop of the morning to you\u201d, or more casually \u201cTop o\u2019 the mornin\u2019 to ya\u201d, is a well-known traditional Irish greeting that Irish people don\u2019t really use any more \u2013 at least not without irony, in my experience. Essentially it means \u201cThe best part of the morning to you\u201d; a typical response would be \u201cAnd the rest of the day to you.\u201d\n\nIn his much-loved book English As We Speak It In Ireland (1910), P. W. Joyce reported that the expression was used throughout the country; a century later, this is no longer the case. It may once have been a common salutation used at either end of some small talk, but I\u2019ve only heard it used ironically or jocularly by Irish people.\n\n\n\n\n\n\u201cTop of the morning to you\u201d would, like begorra(h) (a minced form of by God), be considered an Oirishism or a Paddyism, something popularly associated with stereotypes of Irishness but which is seldom or never used by Irish people themselves. As a recognisable caricature it has a certain commercial value, so it occasionally appears in marketing campaigns as a shorthand for Irishness and whatever else that\u2019s intended to convey.\n\nI mentioned the traditional response, \u201cAnd the rest of the day to you\u201d, but the last word would be just as likely to take the form yourself. Reflexive pronouns are very common in Irish English, often used for slight emphasis, e.g., \u201cGood man/woman yourself\u201d, \u201cAh, \u2018tis yourself!\u201d There are a few examples at the foot of this page:\n\n\u201cAn\u2019 is it yourself that\u2019s there, Mikee Noonan?\u201d said the one first introduced to the reader.\n\n\u201cIndeed it\u2019s myself and nobody else,\u201d said Noonan\n\n(Samuel Lover, The Burial of the Tithe)\n\nAnd here:\n\n\u201cYou know yourself \u2018tisn\u2019t lucky to postpone a wedding.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2019Tis herself was picked, so no other\u2019ll do.\u201d\n\n(M.J. Molloy, The King of Friday\u2019s Men)\n\nAs well as being used this way, herself and himself also serve as informal terms for \u201cthe wife\u201d or \u201cthe woman of the house\u201d, and \u201cthe husband\u201d or \u201cthe man of the house\u201d, respectively. It\u2019s a colloquial way of mentioning someone casually, respectfully, and perhaps with a little mild, affectionate mockery. A character in The Irish Twins says, \u201cCome along to my house this afternoon, and listen to Himself telling about the States!\u201d You can imagine eyes rolled or eyebrows raised in knowing amusement in the delivery of that line."}
-{"text": "3.5k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard\n\nAdvertisements\n\nIn the name of winning elections, political rhetoric exploits horrors of the past \u2013 and at times distorts the ideas that made those horrors possible to fit the narrative. For years, the Republican Party has tried, and succeeded, in brainwashing their base to believe that Barack Obama and the Democratic Party are Nazis.\n\nAdvertisements\n\nThat\u2019s what makes it possible for the Tea Party to persuade some people that Nazism is the secret belief system of Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.\n\nIf only this was about people using words they don\u2019t understand. In reality they do understand them, and espouse things that are, at minimum, similar to that of Nazi ideology which believes in the superiority of one group of people and individual deference to the power of the state as envisioned by the ideology.\n\nIn the name of all things Tea Party, right wing pundits, media and increasingly the \u201cmainstream\u201d media is parroting the notion that was once a spade is now a spoon and what was a spoon is now a spade.\n\nElie Wiesel knows more about Nazism and the Holocaust than one can learn from a book because he experienced and survived it. He experienced and survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald. And he knows what \u201cvalues\u201d make it possible for a government to establish concentration camps and work people to death. He understands what can arise from dehumanizing people for who they are or taking all the good things they do as human beings and labeling it a threat to an ideological ideal.\n\nWiesel also knows that contrary to today\u2019s Republican rhetoric, tolerance and acceptance of diversity are neither Nazi principles nor are they a threat to national security.\n\nHe knows because despite the Nazis concerted effort to rid the world of him, Wiesel survived.\n\nHe went on to establish the Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, with the objective of promoting something today\u2019s Republicans equate with evil: tolerance and acceptance of diversity. Back in 2009, when the Republican brainwashing machine touted claims that Obama and the Democratic Party are Nazis, this is what this extraordinary human being who survived everything the real Nazis dished out said in a tweet.\n\nImage via Think Progress.\n\nIf anyone has a right to pronounce on what is Nazi and what is not, it is someone who lived through the horrors of what happens when a political leader or party tries to equate hate with freedom or in the Republican Party\u2019s case, religion.\n\nOne can argue not every Republican agrees with Ted Nugent\u2019s latest racist description of the President of the United States. One can claim that not every Republican believes our environmental policies or policies on women\u2019s reproductive rights should be based on Nazi \u201cscience.\u201d\n\nThe problem is there aren\u2019t very many (if any) Republican voices condemning Nugent, his sentiments, or less high profile people who express similar sentiments in misspelled signs. Nor are there many (if any) voices condemning ideas espoused by Republicans that are based on Nazi \u201cscience.\u201d Just as there aren\u2019t many Republican voices condemning Arizona\u2019s \u201claw\u201d codifying discrimination against the LGBT community. Some may claim they had really harsh words for that law behind the scenes, but in public they remain silent in the name of not wanting to offend someone. The last people on the planet we should worry about offending are those who would take offense at the idea of condemning on its face a law seeking to dehumanize other human beings.\n\nThat would be like worrying about Nazis, who themselves dehumanized their own list of \u201cundesirables,\u201d including Jews, Slavs, the Roma People, Gays, people with disabilities, and anyone who questioned any aspect of Nazi \u201cdoctrine\u201d.\n\nOver the past several years, adjectives like \u201cconservative\u201d and \u201clibertarian\u201d have been used to describe a political belief system that has a list of human beings it considers less than human. It\u2019s an ideology that asserts, based on Nazi \u201cscience\u201d that victims of \u201clegitimate\u201d rape can\u2019t get pregnant because their bodies have magic powers to shut that whole thing down. Or who argue that the earth makes new oil every day because the Nazi \u201cscience\u201c said so.\n\nI refuse to play that game of downplaying these extreme and repugnant ideas by describing them as \u201cconservative\u201d or \u201clibertarian.\u201d They are neither of those things. Those ideas and the people behind them are, at the very least, sympathetic to the sort of ideals espoused by the Nazis and similar ideologues on the far right of the ideological spectrum. A spade is a spade. A spoon is a spoon. A Nazi sympathizer is a Nazi sympathizer."}
-{"text": "Image: W\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 / Seabin\n\nStarting in April 2017, two floating rubbish bins will be lowered into the sea off of Helsinki to start collecting harmful refuse from the water.\n\nBuilt from recycled materials, the Seabin is built to fix onto to a dock, with a 12-volt submersible water pump running on power from the shore. The pump creates a flow of water that sucks all of the floating rubbish and debris inside the bin. There is it collected in a natural fibre bag, before the water is pumped back out.\n\nBuilt as a cheap and low maintenance alternative to boats that collect trash from marine areas, it catches everything floating: from plastic bottles to paper, oils, fuel and detergent.\n\nFuture product development aims at powering the pump with solar, wind or wave power.\n\nAussies clean the water\n\nThe Spanish start-up Seabin is the maker of the bin, and the project is the brainchild of two Australians, Peter Ceglinski and Andrew Turton. The men came upon rubbish everywhere in the water when they were surfing and sailing, and two years ago they decided to do something about it.\n\nThe floating Seabin is still in the development stage, and prototypes are being tested in several locations. In Helsinki, the Seabin Project will last three months, with three other European port cities joining in: La Grande Motte in southern France, Porto Montenegro in Montenegro and Port Adriano in Mallorca, Spain.\n\nAt the end of the three-month trial, the company will decide when and how commercial sales of the Seabin will begin.\n\nW\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 is the Helsinki sponsor\n\nThe Finnish marine industry technology group W\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 has signed an agreement with the Seabin Project to join their global pilot. The Finnish company was the first company to sign on to the three-year project, and is sponsoring both the city and the post of Helsinki\u2019s involvement.\n\nIn addition to the two pre-series Seabins during the trial period, W\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 has committed to investing in four additional Seabins for Helsinki after commercial sales begin. The City of Helsinki and the Port of Helsinki will be responsible for daily maintenance of the equipment.\n\nMicroplastics are ruining the ocean\n\nThe effect that plastic is having on our environment and ecosystems is staggering. It is estimated that by 2025 there will be 1 tonne of microplastic in the ocean for every 3 tonnes of fish.\n\nEarlier this month, a beached whale in Norway made the news when it was revealed to have a stomach full of plastic.\n\nLarge amounts of plastic waste that was reportedly left over from the metro expansion project was also found on Helsinki sea shores last summer.\n\nThe developers of the Seabin report that the V5 Seabin prototype that is currently being manufactured is designed for marinas and calm areas only. The plan is to eventually modify the technology for wider use in oceans and seas."}
-{"text": "5 cents 1907\n\n\n\nThe date on the image can be different from the year selected.\n\n5 cents 1907 prices and values\n\nThe value of a canadian coin depends on several factors such as quality and wear, supply and demand, rarity, finish and more.\n\nCirculated\n\nUncirculated\n\nVariety AG-3 G-4 VG-8 F-12 VF-20 EF-40 AU-50 - - $3.90 $5.40 $8.10 $13.40 $34.50 Select a date or variety to find the values and prices of all grades available.\n\nVariety MS-60 MS-62 MS-63 MS-64 MS-65 MS-66 MS-67 $73.30 $114 $170 $329 $692 $1,230 $6,800 Select a date or variety to find the values and prices of all grades available.\n\nView the average prices of certified 5 cents 1907 sold at auctions \u00bb\n\nErrors and varieties from the community\n\nMost of the following pictures come from the generous contribution of the community. Titles attributed to them doesn't always reflect the exact error or variety on them. Feel free to let us know in the discussion board if you see one picture that need to be fixed.\n\nPlanchet errors and varieties Source #1497\n\nMintage\n\n5 cents 1907 : 5,200,000\n\nSpecifications\n\nAlloy: 92.5% silver, 7.5% copper\n\nWeight: 1.16 gram\n\nDiameter : 15.50 mm\n\nEngraver: Obverse: Georges W. DeSaulles, Reverse: W. H. J. Blakemore\n\nDesigner: Obverse: Georges W. DeSaulles, Reverse: W. H. J. Blakemore\n\nEdge: Reeded\n\nMagnetism: Nonmagnetic\n\nDie axis: \u2191\u2193\n\nPopulation Report\n\nThe Population Report below shows the census of certified 5 cents 1907 circulating coins by major TPG companies. PCGS and NGC specimen coins are included in Mint State grades.\n\nTPG Total BS-1 FR-2 AG-3 G-4 G-6 VG-8 VG-10 F-12 F-15 VF-20 VF-25 VF-30 VF-35 EF-40 EF-45 AU-50 AU-53 AU-55 AU-58 MS-60 MS-61 MS-62 MS-63 MS-64 MS-65 MS-66 MS-67 MS-68 MS-69 MS-70 197 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 0 2 3 2 2 14 20 0 6 17 45 35 24 16 7 0 0 0 79 0 0 0 1 2 3 2 1 1 3 0 11 0 13 5 8 0 12 1 5 0 5 3 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 117 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 3 11 3 11 27 5 5 7 19 14 4 2 0 0 0 0 276 0 0 0 1 2 4 2 1 2 6 0 13 0 18 11 21 5 37 48 10 11 29 67 51 28 18 8 0 0 0\n\nSources : PCGS : Pop Report from December 6, 2019. CCCS : Pop Report from December 6, 2019. NGC : Pop Report from November 26, 2019. ICCS : Data not available at this time.\n\nThe values on this page are in Canadian dollars (CAD).\n\nLast update : Friday, July 17, 2020\n\nBuy 5 cents 1907 on Ebay\n\nBack to Price Guide and Values"}
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-{"text": "The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation is accepting nominations for its annual \u201cProfile in Courage\u201d award. The award recognizes \u201ca public official . . . at the federal, state or local level whose actions demonstrate the qualities of politically courageous leadership in the spirit\u201d of President Kennedy\u2019s 1956 book by the same name. It tells the stories of eight U.S. senators who risked their careers by taking unpopular stands for the good of the country.\n\nAs the U.S. Senate takes up a purely partisan impeachment, and the mainstream..."}
-{"text": "An Edina dentist whose teenage patient died after wisdom teeth surgery last summer can return to practice but won\u2019t be allowed to use anesthesia or sedation.\n\nThe dentist, Dr. Paul Tompach, was temporarily suspended from seeing patients by the Minnesota Board of Dentistry in late January because he \u201cfailed to appropriately manage a medical emergency.\u201d\n\nSydney Galleger, 17, a junior at Eden Prairie High School, died six days after becoming unresponsive during oral surgery at Tompach\u2019s office.\n\nA board investigation found that Tompach inappropriately allowed untrained dental assistants to monitor Galleger and other patients while they were under anesthesia at his Edina Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery practice. It also found that a carbon dioxide monitor was not used during Galleger\u2019s procedure as was required.\n\nAdditionally, the board found that Tompach failed to print out and maintain vital signs monitoring recordings during surgeries, that other record-keeping was deficient and that the office\u2019s crash cart contained drugs and equipment that had expired.\n\nUnder an agreement reached Thursday between Tompach and the board, the dentist must complete several conditions, including a psychological fitness-for-duty evaluation and one-on-one consultations with an oral surgeon and an emergency medical professional.\n\nHe also cannot administer anesthesia, sedation or nitrous oxide to patients. However, with board approval he can hire another qualified professional to perform those procedures.\n\nTompach was also fined $12,500."}
-{"text": "A man who fired his Glock at a car thief leaving his driveway with his vehicle is headed to prison for the death of a neighbor struck by one of his bullets.\n\nTobin Panton, 40, of Bonney Lake in the Tacoma area, was sentenced last week in Pierce County Superior Court on one count of manslaughter in the first degree for the death of 61-year-old Linda Green.\n\n\u201cInstead of calling 911 he took matters into his own hands,\u201d said Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Erika Nohavec. \u201cHe didn\u2019t think of any of his neighbors and Linda Green lost her life that day.\u201d\n\nThe incident, which occurred last November, happened just after Tobin was getting out of the shower and saw his Jeep leaving his driveway. Retrieving his .40-caliber Glock, Tobin fired at the departing vehicle from his porch until he ran out of ammunition. Pierce County deputies were called a brief time later to a home two blocks away from the man\u2019s residence, where Green was found shot in the head in her sleep.\n\nDetectives discovered a bullet hole in the window of Green\u2019s home that faced Tobin\u2019s porch and numerous \u201cstrike marks\u201d on the front of her residence as well as her next-door neighbor\u2019s home.\n\nPanton\u2019s Jeep was later found abandoned a mile away from the scene, and the thief has not been found.\n\nInitially entering a plea of not guilty, Panton pleaded guilty in July.\n\nAs reported by Q13 Fox, Panton, who until the incident had no criminal record, was remorseful before the court this week.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m very, very sorry,\u201d said Panton. \u201cI cannot say that enough. I didn\u2019t want to hurt anybody; I was trying to stop a kid from being a punk.\u201d\n\nProsecutor Mark Lindquist pointed out that Washington law doesn\u2019t allow the use of deadly force to protect property.\n\n\u201cHe did intend to pull the trigger,\u201d said Judge Timothy Ashcraft. \u201cWhen you do that, you have to accept the consequences as to where that bullet ends up.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Every few months, a friend of mine asks me to explain the Chargers\u2019 deal in Los Angeles. The move remains a cultural and economic enigma. People can\u2019t stop calling them the San Diego Chargers \u2013 just Sunday, the referee managing the game charged a timeout to \u201cSan Diego.\u201d This regularly occurring flub inevitably produces insta-takes along the lines of \u201cWow, the team is still struggling to gain traction in Los Angeles.\u201d\n\nThree years after they moved, \u201cThe Chargers\u201d remain more of a theory than a franchise representing a city.\n\nThe theory is that these foibles will be distant memories someday after the Spanos family has built a Los Angeles institution, along with unfathomable intergenerational wealth, decades into the future. The theory is that the NFL is more of a media company than it is a football league. The Chargers are just a character in the main show. They don\u2019t need that many live, local customers for now; a bit part in the national show is good enough.\n\nThis week, Los Angeles reporter Fred Roggin, reported that the Rams, the Chargers\u2019 partners, are currently very perturbed characters in the show. They may be a better football team with more fans and Super Bowl expectations, but they are really mad at Chargers owner Dean Spanos for not contributing enough financially to their stadium effort. Specifically, the complaint is the Chargers aren\u2019t raising enough revenue from personal seat licenses.\n\nPersonal seat licenses, or PSLs, are the things you must buy if you want to purchase season tickets.\n\nThis was very amusing to me. When the news of the world and San Diego overwhelms me, this drama pops up like a notification in Netflix that my favorite comedy has just posted a new episode. Yes. Yes, I will watch it. Ashley, beloved wife, did we buy cheese popcorn this week?\n\nWhen Roggin finally got around to revealing his scoop, there wasn\u2019t much new beyond this: Rams owner Stan Kroenke is frustrated. Sad face. But it probably has more to do with the cost of the stadium he is building in Inglewood, which has now almost doubled to $5 billion.\n\nFive. Billion. Dollars. That\u2019s so much money. And no, that doesn\u2019t include the surrounding development.\n\nThe Chargers, much disparaged as future \u201crenters\u201d in the stadium, do not have to worry about exploding stadium costs, though. They can sit back and watch Kroenke try to figure out how to manage it all with some amusement just like you and me.\n\nHere are the nine facts you need to know to properly appreciate the predicament Kroenke faces:\n\n(Hat tip to Nathan Fenno of the Los Angeles Times, for gathering some of these points years ago. I filed them away and update them for just this kind of moment.)\n\n1) The stadium was projected to cost $2.6 billion. Fortunately for Inglewood taxpayers, it\u2019s a private deal so they\u2019re not on the hook. But that also means we don\u2019t know exactly how much it is costing. Reports have it at more than $5 billion.\n\n2) To play there, the Chargers will pay $1 per year as part of a 20-year lease. The lease has TWO 10-year options the Chargers exclusively control. So, 40 years.\n\n3) Both teams keep revenue from the games they host: tickets, parking, sponsorships, concessions, advertising, etc.\n\n4) Each team took out a $200 million loan from the NFL. That $400 million goes to stadium construction.\n\n5) For big-ticket items \u2013 naming rights, personal seat licenses, fancy corporate suites \u2013 each team gets an 18.75 percent cut. Remainder goes toward construction.\n\n6) Neither team is required to sell PSLs. They can charge whatever they want.\n\n7) Kroenke gets all non-football revenues. The Chargers have no role in the development of the 298 acres around the stadium.\n\n8) The Rams bear all cost overruns with the stadium construction.\n\n9) The NFL relocation fee is $550 million (or $650 million over 10 years) starting this year. With interest rates low, they can refinance some of it.\n\nThe fun items in that list are Nos. 4 and 5. The Chargers get 18.75 percent of the money they raise selling PSLs to fans who want to buy season tickets. Check that line again: Neither team is required to sell PSLs and they can charge whatever they want for them if they do.\n\nThe Chargers, when they sell PSLs, only get $18.75 for every $100. The other $81.25 goes to stadium costs, which means it goes to Kroenke. Thus, you can see why Kroenke wants the Chargers to sell PSLs.\n\nThe Chargers, however, unlike Kroenke, do not care AT ALL about how much the stadium costs to build. They bear none of the risk. So, why would they waste effort selling PSLs at a high price? Every dollar a fan spends on a seat license is a dollar he won\u2019t spend on tickets, of which Spanos gets 100 percent.\n\nSure enough, last year, we got news they weren\u2019t charging much at all for PSLs.\n\nKroenke is a mega-billionaire and will be fine but he finds himself in a predicament. Not only has the cost of the palace he\u2019s building soared, but the city and county of St. Louis have been effectively advancing a major lawsuit against him and the NFL for moving the Rams and breaking a lease. Kroenke must pay all the legal bills for the league.\n\n(The Chargers got the city of San Diego to promise never to file a lawsuit like this, and San Diego has dutifully obliged.)\n\nKroenke will replace San Diego taxpayers as Spanos\u2019 landlords but to a far greater degree. Like a kind of reluctant venture capitalist, he is floating the Spanos\u2019 family enterprise and their multi-decade theory. Kroenke\u2019s stadium is like one of those startup accelerators for the Chargers. Except the accelerator isn\u2019t for an exciting, disruptive new technology conceived by young brainiacs. It\u2019s for the Chargers.\n\nThose are all the reasons Kroenke may be on edge.\n\nWe, San Diego taxpayers, should send a card to Kroenke. It could read something like: We feel you. We used to float that family too. Pretty soon, like we did, you\u2019re going find yourself buying thousands of Chargers tickets every week to help them pay the bills and you won\u2019t even really understand how you ended up doing it. When that time comes, we\u2019re here for you.\n\nThe Spanos family made a fortune selling bologna sandwiches to migrant workers and then building homes. But they\u2019re making a retirement as legendary tenants."}
-{"text": "\u200bBarcelona dropped their first points of the season after drawing 2-2 against their Catalan neighbours Girona on Sunday evening.\n\n\n\n\n\nDespite going ahead early on through Lionel Messi, things took a turn for the worse for Barca when Clement Lenglet was given his marching orders for a raised elbow, following a VAR referral.\n\n\n\n\n\nChristian Stuani scored a goal either side of half time to put the visitors into the lead, before Gerard Pique managed to head home midway through the second half to salvage a point for his side.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlayer Ratings\n\n\n\n\n\nStarting XI: Ter Stegen (6); Semedo (6), Pique (5), Lenglet (5), Alba (6); Busquets (6), Arthur (6), Vidal (7); Messi (8*), Dembele (5), Suarez (7)."}
-{"text": "Yin Yang Shenanigans\n\n\n\n< html > < body style =' background - color : black '> < canvas id =\" myCanvas \" width =\" 400 \" height =\" 400 \"></ canvas > < script > function circle ( x , y , radius , color ) { context . fillStyle = color ; context . beginPath (); context . arc ( x , y , radius , 0 , 2 * Math . PI ); context . fill (); } function animate () { let x1= canvas . width / 2 + 80 * Math . sin ( counter / Math . PI / 4 ); let y1= canvas . height / 2 + 80 * Math . cos ( counter / Math . PI / 4 ); let x2= canvas . width / 2 + 80 * Math . sin ( counter / Math . PI / 4 + Math . PI ); let y2= canvas . height / 2 + 80 * Math . cos ( counter / Math . PI / 4 + Math . PI ); circle (x1,y1, 80 ,' rgb ( 0 , 0 , 255 )'); circle (x2,y2, 80 , ' rgb ( 255 , 0 , 0 )'); circle (x1,y1, 10 ,' rgb ( 255 , 0 , 0 )'); circle (x2,y2, 10 ,' rgb ( 0 , 0 , 255 )'); counter ++; window . requestAnimationFrame ( animate ); } let canvas = document . getElementById (' myCanvas '); let context = canvas . getContext ('2d'); let counter = 0 ; window . requestAnimationFrame ( animate ); </ script > </ body > </ html >\n\n< html > < body bgcolor =\" black \"> < canvas id =\" myCanvas \" width =\" 400 \" height =\" 400 \"></ canvas > < script > function circle ( x , y , radius , color ) { context . fillStyle = color ; context . beginPath (); context . arc ( x , y , radius , 0 , 2 * Math . PI ); context . fill (); } function animate () { let x1= canvas . width / 2 + 80 * Math . sin ( counter / Math . PI / 4 ); let y1= canvas . height / 2 + 80 * Math . cos ( counter / Math . PI / 4 ); let x2= canvas . width / 2 + 80 * Math . sin ( counter / Math . PI / 4 + Math . PI ); let y2= canvas . height / 2 + 80 * Math . cos ( counter / Math . PI / 4 + Math . PI ); let slider = 2 * Math . abs ( 128 - counter % 255 ); circle (x1,y1, 80 ,' rgb ('+( 255 - slider )+', 0 ,'+ slider +')'); circle (x2,y2, 80 , ' rgb ('+ slider +', 0 ,'+( 255 - slider )+')'); circle (x1,y1, 10 ,' rgb ('+ slider +', 0 ,'+( 255 - slider )+')'); circle (x2,y2, 10 ,' rgb ('+( 255 - slider )+', 0 ,'+ slider +')'); counter ++; window . requestAnimationFrame ( animate ); } let canvas = document . getElementById (' myCanvas '); let context = canvas . getContext ('2d'); let counter = 0 ; window . requestAnimationFrame ( animate ); </ script > </ body > </ html >\n\n< html > < body bgcolor =\" black \"> < canvas id =\" myCanvas \" width =\" 400 \" height =\" 400 \"></ canvas > < script > function circle ( x , y , radius , color ) { context . fillStyle = color ; context . beginPath (); context . arc ( x , y , radius , 0 , 2 * Math . PI ); context . fill (); } function animate () { let x1= canvas . width / 2 + 80 * Math . sin ( counter / Math . PI / 4 ); let y1= canvas . height / 2 + 80 * Math . cos ( counter / Math . PI / 4 ); let x2= canvas . width / 2 + 80 * Math . sin ( counter / Math . PI / 4 + Math . PI ); let y2= canvas . height / 2 + 80 * Math . cos ( counter / Math . PI / 4 + Math . PI ); let slider = 2 * Math . abs ( 128 - counter % 255 ); circle (x1,y1, 80 - 30 * Math . sin ( counter / 8 ),' rgb ('+( 255 - slider )+', 0 ,'+ slider +')'); circle (x2,y2, 80 - 30 * Math . sin ( counter / 8 ), ' rgb ('+ slider +', 0 ,'+( 255 - slider )+')'); counter ++; window . requestAnimationFrame ( animate ); } let canvas = document . getElementById (' myCanvas '); let context = canvas . getContext ('2d'); let counter = 0 ; window . requestAnimationFrame ( animate ); </ script > </ body > </ html >\n\nHow much fun can you have with four circles and about twenty lines of pure JavaScript? Let's find out!The animation above has three phases:1. spinning yin yang2. spinning yin yang with color cycling3. something weird-but-cool-lookingClick on the image to restart the animation.We'll start with an HTML5 Canvas, two blue circles [lines 19-20] and two red ones [18,21]. The coordinates of the center of the big (radius=80) blue and small (radius=10) red are (x1,y1), and the other two (x2,y2):In each animation frame we'll rotate them around the center of the canvas without erasing it (so that the new image is drawn over the previous one - the large circles leave a trace, which creates the Yin Yang symbol). If you're not a trigonometry enthusiast, you don't even have to worry about the sin/cos functions - all you need to know is that if the coordinates of an object are (sin(counter),cos(counter)), it will spin in a circle. I divided the counter by an arbitrary number (PI/4) to slow down the animation. x1 and y1 are 180 degrees 'behind' x2 and y2 so that the two sets of circles are always on the opposite sides of the center of the canvas.Here's the code for phase 1:And the result:Now let's add color cycling. To do this, we introduce a slider [17] that will be added to blue component and subtracted from the red component for two circles and the other way round for the other two.Here's the breakdown of the formula: first, we take the remainder of the division of the counter by 255 (%255):Subtract the result from 127 to bring half of it to the negative territory:Finally, take the absolute value and multiply by two:Now it oscillates nicely and smoothly between 0 and 255, which are the min/max values for the RGB color components. When two circles are red, the other two are blue and they periodically exchange colors. My uncurable obsession with minimizing the number of lines of code (I want to be on Dwitter when I grow up) forced me to cram these values into lines [18-20] which makes them very cumbersome... A sane person would declare a new variable for 255-slider.What if the radius of the large circles was the sine of time (represented by the counter)?By the way, let's get rid of the two small circles, those stinkers weren't doing anything interesting anyway.Let's make small changes in lines [18-19] and get rid of [20-21]Which leads to this cool effect. Enjoy experimenting with different parameters!Check out these programming tutorials:"}
-{"text": "Siren Call\n\nIntroducing the Sirens! Patrons are treated to a full sized view of the second panel so they can actually make out the details.\n\nIn case you cannot decipher Shy's writing, the Screech of the Sirens band members are: Conibear, Snare, Deadfall, and Webb."}
-{"text": "Image copyright AFP\n\nThe government will support a backbench amendment to the Brexit deal that calls for the planned Irish backstop to be replaced by \"alternative arrangements\".\n\nTory MPs will be told to vote for Sir Graham Brady's proposal when the Commons votes on a series of amendments to Theresa May's plan on Tuesday.\n\nThe government will also order its MPs to vote against a move which could delay Brexit by up to nine months.\n\nBut Commons Speaker John Bercow will decide which amendments get voted on.\n\nSenior EU representatives have repeatedly ruled out re-opening negotiations with the UK over Brexit, and insisted the backstop - the insurance policy against a return of a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland - must be included in any deal.\n\nMeanwhile, the government announced its plans for EU citizens coming to the UK in the case of a no-deal Brexit, saying it would \"seek to end free movement as soon as possible\".\n\nThe Home Office said that for a \"transitional period\" after Brexit - set for 29 March - EU citizens will be able to enter the UK to visit, work or study as they do now, but after three months they would need to apply for \"European Temporary Leave to Remain\", which would last three years.\n\nHome Secretary Sajid Javid said it was a \"practical approach\" and would \"minimise disruption to ensure the UK stays open for business\".\n\nMPs have been tabling amendments to the government's plans to try to influence the direction of Brexit since Mrs May lost the vote on her original deal earlier this month.\n\nAfter Mr Bercow decides on Tuesday which ones are put forward, voting will take place on them from 19:00 GMT.\n\nThe prime minister's official spokesman said it will be followed \"as soon as possible\" by a second meaningful vote on whatever deal has been secured with Brussels.\n\n'You have to vote for it'\n\nMrs May addressed a meeting of her backbench MPs on Monday night and numerous sources told the BBC's political correspondent Iain Watson that she would be backing what is known as the \"Brady amendment\" - a measure put forward by Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the backbench 1922 committee of Conservative MPs.\n\nSir Graham wants to see the Irish backstop replaced by what he calls \"alternative arrangements to avoid a hard border\", but would otherwise support the prime minister's deal.\n\nAs a result of government support, Tory MPs John Baron and Andrew Murrison have dropped their amendments - which proposed a time limit to the backstop and the ability to leave the arrangement at a time of the UK's choosing.\n\nThe prime minister appealed to her MPs to give her something to take back to Brussels for further discussions, saying \"don't just talk about it - you have to vote for it\".\n\nSpeaking to BBC News, Sir Graham said he hoped the backing from the government would see the DUP - who Mrs May relies on for support in Parliament - get behind his amendment.\n\nAnd some Labour MPs had already expressed their support to him as well.\n\n\"This is a sensible way of reaching some compromise and trying to move things on in the national interest,\" he added.\n\nBut Eurosceptic Tories have already said they will not back the amendment.\n\nThe European Research Group, led by Jacob Rees-Mogg, said they want the government to table its own amendment that would commit to reopening the withdrawal agreement - the part of Mrs May's deal that lays out how the UK will leave the EU - to remove the backstop.\n\nAn impassioned plea from the PM\n\nBy Iain Watson, BBC political correspondent\n\nImage copyright AFP/Getty Images\n\nBehind closed doors, Theresa May made an impassioned plea to her own MPs to send a clear message to Brussels - backing the amendment from the chairman of the Conservative backbench committee Sir Graham Brady would signal that Parliament could pass her deal, if the EU was wiling to make changes to the backstop.\n\nWhile Conservative MPs will be instructed to give the amendment their backing, long-standing Leave campaigners in the European Research Group have announced they won't support it.\n\nThey are insisting on specific legal changes to the 585-page withdrawal agreement.\n\nAnd the pro-Leave DUP has yet to declare how its MPs will vote.\n\nTory MPs are also being told they should vote against an amendment which would delay Brexit unless a deal is agreed in the next month - with some ministers pressing for a free vote.\n\nBut for all the talk, it will not be until Tuesday night that we see the amendments they can support or reject.\n\nMrs May has also faced calls from Labour, and a number of other MPs, to rule out the scenario in which the UK leaves the EU on 29 March without a deal.\n\nA number of Remain-backing MPs are supporting an amendment by Labour MP Yvette Cooper that would create a bill enabling Article 50 - the mechanism by which the UK leaves the EU on 29 March - to be delayed by up to nine months if the government does not have a plan agreed in Parliament by the end of February.\n\nSome, including Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, had called for a free vote on such an amendment, allowing them to give it their backing.\n\nAnd in an interview with BBC's Newsnight last week, Ms Rudd said she would not rule out resigning over the issue.\n\nJustice Secretary David Gauke also said MPs should be able to vote according to their personal views.\n\nBut Mrs May told the meeting that the government would be whipping against it - meaning it would not be a free vote.\n\nMrs May took the deal she had negotiated with the EU to Parliament on 15 January for a \"meaningful vote\" - having delayed it from December - but MPs rejected it by 432 votes to 202.\n\nThe main sticking point was the backstop - the \"insurance policy\" intended to ensure that whatever else happens, there will be no return to a visible border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic after Brexit.\n\nBoth the UK and the EU believe that bringing back border checks could put the peace process at risk, but critics of the plan say the backstop could tie the UK to many EU rules indefinitely.\n\nMedia playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Confused by Brexit jargon? Reality Check unpacks the basics.\n\nBut the Irish deputy PM Simon Coveney has said changes to the backstop proposal would not be acceptable.\n\nMedia playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Sabine Weyand: Risk of a 'crash out' is high\n\nThe EU's deputy chief negotiator Sabine Weyand also said on Monday that there was a high risk of the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal by accident and that other options for the Irish border had been extensively discussed with her UK counterparts during negotiations.\n\nShe said there was \"full ownership of what was agreed\" in the EU, but \"no ownership\" of it in the UK Parliament.\n\nAnd she added that the EU side were agreed that a time-limit to the Irish backstop defeated the purpose of having one.\n\nMs Weyand said: \"There is a very high risk of a crash-out, not by design, but by accident...\n\n\"The crash-out is the only scenario that does not require anyone to take any action or take any decisions.\""}
-{"text": "Physiker melden Quantenrekord 2000 Atome an zwei Orten gleichzeitig\n\nIn der Quantenmechanik k\u00f6nnen sich Teilchen gleichzeitig an mehreren Orten aufhalten. Forscher haben nun so viele Atome gleichzeitig in diesen Zustand versetzt wie nie zuvor."}
-{"text": "In nearly three years, Dominic Walker rarely looked another human being in the eye.\n\nExcept for showers, he left his cell at Men\u2019s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles only once a week, to exercise in a small cage resembling a dog kennel. His conversations were typically shouted through cell bars to other inmates in his row.\n\n\u201cIt makes you feel like nobody. I\u2019m here, the walls are closing in. It makes you hallucinate,\u201d said Walker, 34, who was released in June after prosecutors dropped his armed robbery charge.\n\nMore than 300 inmates in the antiquated jail live in near-total solitude, deprived of meaningful human contact either because they have misbehaved behind bars or because officials believe they must be kept away from others for safety reasons. Another 100 or so, including women, are doing their time in solitary units \u2014 officially called restrictive housing \u2014 at jails elsewhere in the county.\n\n\nThroughout the nation, state prisons have come under intense scrutiny because of concerns that inmates who are deprived of social contact in solitary confinement can suffer serious psychological damage. Last year, spurred by hunger strikes and a lawsuit, the California state prison system reduced the population of its Solitary Housing Unit by thousands of inmates, joining states such as Colorado, Mississippi, Maine and North Carolina that have made similar changes.\n\nBut long-term isolation in county lockups, where most inmates are awaiting trial or serving short sentences, has largely remained a hidden issue.\n\nThe majority of these inmates, they want to be out, to have the interaction, the freedom. It\u2019s healthier. Capt. Joseph Dempsey\n\nIn Los Angeles County, the average stay in restrictive housing is more than a year \u2014 shorter than the decades that some state prisoners spent in solitary but still plenty of time to experience debilitating psychological effects, according to mental health experts. The symptoms, which include paranoia and hallucinations, can continue even after an inmate goes home.\n\n\n\u201cA silent damage of jail incarceration is that people spend time in solitary,\u201d said Terry Kupers, a psychiatrist who is an expert on solitary confinement and has researched the treatment of mentally ill inmates in the L.A. County jails.\n\nLate last year, sheriff\u2019s officials embarked on a series of changes designed to reduce the solitary population and provide more social contact for those who remain, making L.A. County one of the few jail systems in the country to do so.\n\nAccording to the officials, the conditions at Men\u2019s Central Jail do not amount to true solitary confinement. The gaps between cell bars, they say, offer limited interaction with neighboring inmates, even if the men cannot see one other and must yell to be heard.\n\nStill, they acknowledge that the shift is partly for humanitarian reasons and is in line with a general push to give inmates more time out of their cells and more access to educational classes. They cite an increasing national focus on the mental health effects of solitary confinement and a recognition that the tide is beginning to turn against the practice.\n\n\nThey also hope the jails will be easier to run when inmates have more interaction with others and face the threat of losing the privilege if they misbehave.\n\n\u201cThe majority of these inmates, they want to be out, to have the interaction, the freedom. It\u2019s healthier,\u201d said Capt. Joseph Dempsey, who is in charge of Men\u2019s Central Jail. \u201cIt makes them act better during the week, before they get it.\u201d\n\nDeath row inmates hang out during their free time at the Men\u2019s Central Jail restrictive housing unit. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times )\n\nOn the 3000 floor of Men\u2019s Central Jail on a recent day, a seven-by-nine foot cell was crammed with a bed, toilet, phone and a shelf filled with books, leaving barely enough room for a man to turn around.\n\n\nReading glasses and a Bible rested on a small table. A makeshift mirror, fashioned to help an inmate see who was coming down the narrow walkway, was perched on the green bars that fronted the cell.\n\nUntil recently, the tier was filled with the cacophony of men shouting to be heard above blaring television sets, which are mounted on the corridor walls and shared by several adjoining cells.\n\nThe decibel level decreased after the inmates received wireless earpieces to pipe in the TV audio and could speak to each other in quieter voices. Some also communicate using written notes, or kites, which are passed by extending an arm in front of a neighboring cell, using other inmates as messengers, or dangling a string weighted by a heavy object, such as a bar of soap.\n\nSome of the 4,800-man jail\u2019s most dangerous and disruptive inmates, including high-level gang leaders, live here in the restrictive housing unit, which is known informally as K-10, with the K standing for \u201ckeep-away.\u201d Another term, \u201chigh-power,\u201d also alludes to the threat jailers believe these inmates pose.\n\n\nBut not all K-10s are violent. Some live in isolation because they need to be protected from other inmates. This category includes celebrity inmates or those accused of high-profile crimes, like gangsta rap mogul Suge Knight and the Grim Sleeper serial killer.\n\nThe county\u2019s euphemistic lexicon for solitary confinement has helped keep the issue out of the public eye, said Mark-Anthony Johnson, director of health and wellness for the jail reform group Dignity and Power Now.\n\n\u201cThe way K-10 is talked about is, \u2018We need to keep these people away from the population,\u2019 and that\u2019s where the conversation around their rights gets lost,\u201d Johnson said.\n\nContrary to the assertions of sheriff\u2019s officials, the conditions at Men\u2019s Central Jail fit the definition of solitary confinement, according to some experts.\n\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not talking truly about sensory deprivation but about meaningful, anchoring stimulation,\u201d said Stuart Grassian, a psychiatrist who has served as an expert for plaintiffs in lawsuits opposing solitary confinement.\n\nIn a recent article in the Prison Journal, UC Santa Cruz psychologist Craig Haney called solitary confinement in local jails \u201camong the least studied components of the entire criminal justice system.\u201d Haney, who provided a scathing critique of solitary confinement in the California state prison lawsuit, cited a United Nations-appointed expert who contended that solitary confinement of more than 15 days can amount to torture.\n\nAs state prisons across the country have changed their practices to reflect mental health and human rights concerns, jails have been slow to follow.\n\nIn November 2015, the Prison Law Office sued on behalf of two Santa Clara County jail inmates in solitary confinement who allegedly were not taken outdoors for seven months.\n\n\nOne plaintiff, Brian Chavez, said he became easily irritated and preoccupied with fears of dying alone in his cell, the lawsuit said. The other plaintiff, Brandon Bracamonte, alleged he could no longer concentrate and became so anxious that he paced back and forth in his cell, hyper-vigilant to noises.\n\nDonald Specter, the plaintiffs\u2019 lead attorney, said he is negotiating a settlement with Santa Clara jail officials that he hopes will require improved conditions for inmates.\n\n\u201cJails statewide need to take a look at this issue,\u201d he said.\n\nJails statewide need to take a look at this issue. Donald Specter\n\n\nIn Texas, solitary confinement is widespread in jails, said Diana Claitor, executive director of the Texas Jail Project. Vulnerable inmates, such as those who are mentally ill or pregnant, are sometimes put into solitary as a quick fix, she said.\n\nRikers Island in New York City is among the few jails that has drastically reduced its use of solitary housing. Since a package of reforms was instituted in January 2015, the solitary population has dropped from over 500 to about 160.\n\n**\n\nSitting at a round cafeteria table, the three middle-aged men conversed animatedly. Each had spent decades on death row before his conviction was overturned and he arrived at Men\u2019s Central Jail to await a new trial.\n\n\nBecause of their common experiences, they would likely hit it off, jail officials decided.\n\nCleamon Johnson, 48, and Michael Allen, 43, were co-defendants in the 1991 homicides of two alleged gang rivals and had been back in the solitary unit for about four years. The third man, who would not give his name, was a 58-year-old from the Antelope Valley who was sentenced to death for a killing in 1998.\n\nBefore Johnson began gathering with the others once a week, he was not allowed to touch another human being \u2014 not even to shake hands, he said, grasping the hand of his goateed, bespectacled 58-year-old friend to demonstrate.\n\nJohnson, whose street name was Big Evil and who is thought by authorities to have had a hand in more than 20 murders, made his first trip to the K-10 unit when he was 18. In those days, he said, \u201cit made the wild, wild west look like Disneyland.\u201d\n\n\n\u201cYou couldn\u2019t look them in the eye and have a conversation, as opposed to sitting at a table and having a decent dialogue,\u201d said Johnson, who has a shaved head and an earnest expression. \u201cK-10 was extremely chaotic. The only thing you could look forward to was participating in chaos.\u201d\n\nNow the three men spend their brief time together discussing world affairs and legal issues. They also attend classes on critical thinking and anger management. The long hours alone in their cells are easier to bear when there is something to break up the monotony.\n\nUntil recently, it was nearly impossible to get out of solitary: Once an inmate was classified a K-10, he remained a K-10, even on subsequent visits. Jail officials are now evaluating each inmate to see who might be ready to socialize with others. The small groups are carefully selected based on who is likely to get along.\n\nIn addition to congregating in day rooms every week or so, some inmates now do their exercise time with other inmates. They can choose from a small menu of educational classes and religious services.\n\n\nThose who are prone to lashing out violently can be strapped into chairs so they can sit together in groups. More social interaction may calm troublemakers who used to act out by throwing feces or attacking people with homemade spears, sheriff\u2019s officials said.\n\nSince the recent changes, some former K-10s have been integrated into the general population, and the unit has shrunk from 450 inmates to roughly 350. About 200 or so K-10s have the weekly day room hours. The rest \u2013 150 or so men \u2014 have as little human contact as traditional K-10s.\n\nThere have been only two major fights. One happened when some inmates in the exercise yard came to blows over whether pork is the other white meat.\n\n\u201cWe had staff who were adamant: \u2018They will kill each other. I\u2019m not putting my name to it,\u2019\u201d said Deputy Barry Poltorak, who works on the new program. \u201cBut we see the benefits. Guys want it, are asking for it.\u201d\n\n\nNEWSLETTER: Get the day\u2019s top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj \u00bb\n\nEsther Lim, the jails project director at the ACLU of Southern California, called the changes long overdue. The ACLU will be monitoring the Sheriff\u2019s Department to make sure that the only inmates in solitary are those who genuinely need to be separated from others, she said.\n\nFor some, the limits on solitary confinement come too late. Aubrey Berry, who was found not guilty in 2010 of murdering a rapper at the Beverly Center, was never the same after spending a year in solitary at Men\u2019s Central Jail, said his attorney, Howard Price.\n\nBerry withdrew from family and friends \u2014 not a typical reaction for someone who has been exonerated, Price said.\n\n\n\u201cI have no doubt that the incarceration of Aubrey Berry altered him permanently for the rest of his life,\u201d Price said. \u201cHe was always complaining about how the time passed so slowly. Every day was the same. There was nothing to think about or do.\u201d\n\nALSO\n\nAnother kind of drought: Inmate fire crews dwindle as wildfire season grows ever longer\n\nIllegal drugs are flowing into California\u2019s most guarded prisons \u2014 and killing death row inmates\n\n\nACLU wins access to 12,000 pages of internal prison documents on California\u2019s plans for lethal injection"}
-{"text": "You are now playing: Jordan 500 Stories : Shy Mike the Investor\n\nExpand\n\nHello World Skip\n\n3.33 /5.00 Rate the game :"}
-{"text": "Esben Lunde Larsen har if\u00f8lge eksperter brudt loven i ny sag om familieinteresser i vindm\u00f8lle-projekt\n\nEn ny sag om familieinteresser i et vindm\u00f8lle-projekt rammer Esben Lunde Larsen.\n\nEkstra Bladet kan i dag afsl\u00f8re, at han har deltaget i et m\u00f8de i \u00d8konomi- og Erhvervsudvalget i Ringk\u00f8bing-Skjern Kommune, hvor placeringen af k\u00e6mpevindm\u00f8ller i kommunen er blevet behandlet.\n\nVel at m\u00e6rke blev en vindm\u00f8lle-placering p\u00e5 jordlodder ejet af Esben Lundes far behandlet p\u00e5 m\u00f8det 12. oktober 2010.\n\nDet viser en aktindsigt, Ekstra Bladet har modtaget i referatet fra det p\u00e5g\u00e6ldende m\u00f8de i \u00d8konomi- og Erhvervsudvalget samt de bilag, som knytter sig til m\u00f8det.\n\nLunde i ny vindm\u00f8lle sag: Her er de belastende dokumenter\n\nSagsbehandling\n\nDet fremg\u00e5r af referatet, at et omr\u00e5de \u2019Syd for Lem\u2019 var blandt syv omr\u00e5der i Ringk\u00f8bing-Skjern Kommune, som By- og Landskabsstyrelsen havde peget p\u00e5 som potentielt egnede til placeringen af testpladser for k\u00e6mpevindm\u00f8ller.\n\nAf m\u00f8debilagene kan man se, at omr\u00e5det \u2019Syd for Lem\u2019 er identisk med omr\u00e5det ved navn Gestenge. I netop Gestenge har Esben Lunde Larsens far \u00f8konomiske interesser, da han ejer jordlodder i omr\u00e5det.\n\nP\u00e5 det ekstraordin\u00e6re m\u00f8de i \u00d8konomi- og Erhvervsudvalget blev der foretaget en decideret sagsbehandling af sp\u00f8rgsm\u00e5let om de potentielle vindm\u00f8lle testpladser. Det fremg\u00e5r af m\u00f8dereferatet.\n\nK\u00e6mpede for 12 millioner til far og bror\n\nPia K. ind i V-ministers vindm\u00f8lle-sag\n\nInhabil\n\nEkstra Bladet har forelagt materialet for kommunalforsker ved Danmarks Journalisth\u00f8jskole Roger Buch og lektor i forvaltningsret ved Aalborg Universitet Sten B\u00f8nsing.\n\nRoger Buch vurderer, at Esben Lunde Larsen har forbrudt sig mod den kommunale styrelseslov ved at deltage i m\u00f8det, hvor en mulig placering af vindm\u00f8ller p\u00e5 faderens jord blev behandlet.\n\n- Ud fra dokumenterne fremst\u00e5r det, som om Esben Lunde Larsen har v\u00e6ret inhabil og alligevel har deltaget i m\u00f8det om vindm\u00f8llerne, hvilket er en overtr\u00e6delse af den kommunale styrelseslov, siger Roger Buch.\n\nSten B\u00f8nsing kommer med f\u00f8lgende vurdering:\n\n\u2013 Jeg h\u00e6lder til, at Esben Lunde Larsen har v\u00e6ret inhabil, men det er ikke et klokkeklart tilf\u00e6lde.\n\nSkulle indberettes\n\nIf\u00f8lge Sten B\u00f8nsing st\u00e5r det dog efter alt at d\u00f8mme klart, at Esben Lunde Larsen har brudt forvaltningsloven i sagen.\n\nUnder alle omst\u00e6ndigheder har Esben Lunde Larsen nemlig haft pligt til at underrette kommunen om, at han havde interesser i vindm\u00f8lle-sagen.\n\nMen if\u00f8lge et svar til Ekstra Bladet fra Ringk\u00f8bing-Skjern Kommune \u2019fremg\u00e5r (det) ikke af sagens akter, at sp\u00f8rgsm\u00e5let om inhabilitet har v\u00e6ret dr\u00f8ftet i sagen\u2019.\n\nSten B\u00f8nsing forklarer:\n\n\u2013 If\u00f8lge forvaltningslovens \u00a76 er der en selvst\u00e6ndig pligt til, at man skal g\u00f8re opm\u00e6rksom p\u00e5, hvis man muligvis har interesser i en sag \u2013 ogs\u00e5 selv om man ikke er inhabil, men blot hvis diskussionen er relevant. Hvis man ikke g\u00f8r opm\u00e6rksom p\u00e5 det, kan det i sig selv v\u00e6re en overtr\u00e6delse af forvaltningsloven. Der skal ligge et notat p\u00e5, at det har v\u00e6ret dr\u00f8ftet med kommunaldirekt\u00f8ren, og at der ikke er noget problem.\n\n\u2013 Esben Lunde Larsens interesse er s\u00e5 relevant, at der skal laves en indberetning om, at det skal overvejes, hvorvidt han er inhabil, lyder det fra lektoren.\n\nOmr\u00e5det skal v\u00e6re helt ude af spillet\n\nN\u00e5r lektor i forvaltningsret Sten B\u00f8nsing ikke klokkeklart kan vurdere, om Esben Lunde Larsen har v\u00e6ret inhabil under vindm\u00f8lle-m\u00f8det, bunder det i en kommentar til sagen fra Esben Lunde.\n\nTil Ekstra Bladet forklarer ministeren i en skriftlig udtalelse:\n\n\u2019Dagen f\u00f8r m\u00f8det i \u00d8konomi- og Erhvervsudvalget havde Ringk\u00f8bing-Skjern Kommune meddelt Milj\u00f8ministeriet, at det omr\u00e5de, der hedder Gestenge, som min familie blandt mange andre lokale har andel i, ikke ville komme i spil til ops\u00e6tning af de store testm\u00f8ller, s\u00e5 jeg s\u00e5 ingen problemer i forhold til min habilitet, da sagen om vindm\u00f8lle-placeringer n\u00e6ste dag kom i \u00d8konomi- og Erhvervsudvalget. Min families jord var jo ikke l\u00e6ngere i spil.\u2019\n\nEsben Lunde refererer her til et m\u00f8de i Ringk\u00f8bing Skjern Kommune 11. oktober 2010, hvor en r\u00e6kke parter \u2013 bl.a. By- og Landskabsstyrelsen og Statens Luftfartsv\u00e6sen \u2013 dr\u00f8ftede de potentielle vindm\u00f8lle-placeringer.\n\nAf m\u00f8dets konklusioner hed det bl.a.:\n\n\u2019Det er en afg\u00f8rende pr\u00e6mis for Ringk\u00f8bing-Skjern Kommune, at Stauning Lufthavn fortsat opretholdes. Det betyder, at omr\u00e5de 71 (omr\u00e5det syd for Lem, red.) ikke kan betragtes som et potentielt omr\u00e5de til opstilling af testm\u00f8ller.\u2019\n\nSp\u00f8rgsm\u00e5l til ministeren\n\nSelv om Lunde p\u00e5peger, at omr\u00e5det ikke l\u00e6ngere var i spil, er det v\u00e6rd at bem\u00e6rke, at han efterf\u00f8lgende udviser en s\u00e6rlig interesse for store vindm\u00f8ller netop i omr\u00e5det n\u00e6r Stauning Lufthavn.\n\nI december 2011 stiller Esben Lunde s\u00e5ledes to sp\u00f8rgsm\u00e5l til dav\u00e6rende transportminister Henrik Dam Kristensen (S), hvori han sp\u00f8rger, hvilke tekniske installationer der skal til i Stauning Lufthavn, for at der kan ops\u00e6ttes store vindm\u00f8ller i n\u00e6rheden.\n\nStadig i spil\n\nSamtidig taler flere forhold for, at omr\u00e5det \u2019Syd for Lem\u2019 stadig var i spil, da m\u00f8det i \u00d8konomi- og Erhvervsudvalget blev holdt 12. oktober 2010.\n\nDels st\u00e5r der i m\u00f8dereferatet:\n\n\u2019Administrationen forventer at pege p\u00e5 flere forhold, som b\u00f8r unders\u00f8ges n\u00e6rmere, men har ikke umiddelbart fundet v\u00e6sentlige forhold, som g\u00f8r, at omr\u00e5derne umiddelbart b\u00f8r udg\u00e5.\u2019\n\nOver for Ekstra Bladet bekr\u00e6fter Ringk\u00f8bing-Skjern Kommune desuden, at omr\u00e5det stadig var i spil p\u00e5 m\u00f8det, hvor Lunde deltog.\n\nH\u00f8ringssvar\n\nEndelig fremg\u00e5r det af et s\u00e5kaldt h\u00f8ringssvar, som kommunens borgmester sendte til Milj\u00f8ministeriet 1. november 2010, at omr\u00e5det \u2019Syd for Lem\u2019 stadig var blandt omr\u00e5derne, kommunen s\u00e6rligt prioriterede til testpladserne.\n\nEfter at have l\u00e6st materialet p\u00e5peger Sten B\u00f8nsing:\n\n\u2013 Noget af det, der udg\u00f8r et problem, er, at det p\u00e5g\u00e6ldende omr\u00e5de stadig kunne v\u00e6re i spil til placeringen af vindm\u00f8lle-testcentret. Det springende punkt er s\u00e5ledes, om omr\u00e5det har v\u00e6ret i spil, da m\u00f8det blev afholdt i \u00d8konomi- og Erhvervsudvalget. Hvis Esben Lunde ikke skal have v\u00e6ret inhabil, skal omr\u00e5det i enhver henseende have v\u00e6ret ude af spillet.\n\nEfter at have gennemg\u00e5et sagen mener Roger Buch ikke, at Esben Lundes forklaring holder vand.\n\n\u2013 Esben Lunde Larsen henviser til en meddelelse til Milj\u00f8ministeriet, som kunne v\u00e6re en forklaring, men som ikke stemmer overens med de \u00f8vrige dokumenter og svarene fra kommunen i dag."}
-{"text": "Growing up, Manning was bounced around, from Oklahoma to Wales and back, cared for as often by her sister, Casey, 11 years her senior, as by her parents\u2014both of whom Casey has characterized as alcoholics. In Leavenworth, Manning, now 28, has access to psychotherapy sessions, radio, and cosmetics, but is strictly limited in access to visitors and cannot go on the internet. She cannot be photographed, interviewed on camera, or speak with journalists in person or on the phone, but can communicate by post. So, in January, I wrote her to tell her about our special April issue celebrating the pathfinders and conscientious among us who are creating new spaces for themselves and for others, and asked her to be a part of it. She very kindly accepted. Here is our correspondence.\n\nCHRIS WALLACE: First of all, how are you? Is there anything that I\u2014or anyone\u2014can or ought to be doing for you?\n\nCHELSEA MANNING: Thank you. I am pushing myself through at the moment. I have a lot on my plate currently: I\u2019m waiting for the judge\u2019s ruling in my lawsuit challenging the military prison\u2019s hair-length restrictions; I\u2019m still in the process of challenging what I believe to be an unlawful and discriminatory disciplinary board from last year; I\u2019ve challenged the Department of Justice and FBI to release the investigative records related to my case; and, most importantly, I\u2019m only weeks away from filing the brief in my court-martial appeal. It\u2019s an exhausting schedule. As for you and anyone else, I can only ask of those who care about me and the issues in my case to support me and spread the word about what is going on. Donations to my legal defense fund really help, and I think keeping me motivated and spreading the message are also very important.\n\nWALLACE: You wrote recently about how tough the holidays were. How is your day-to-day life? Are there things you particularly look forward to, dread, or are surprised by?\n\nMANNING: Day-to-day life is as simple as it is routine\u2014though my days are often long and very busy. On weekdays, I wake up at about 4:30 each morning. I get dressed, have a cup of coffee, and go to the prison cafeteria for breakfast. Not long after dawn, we show up for work at our day jobs. I work at the prison wood shop. Any legal or medical appointments are scheduled during the workday, too. We have about an hour and a half break for lunch, which is when I make a lot of my phone calls. The workday ends around 4 p.m. When I get back to my cell, I usually have a stack of mail and laundry at the front of the cell. For about an hour, I sort and neatly fold my laundry and read my mail. On a normal day, this includes dozens of cards and letters from supporters, a newspaper, and a handful of magazine subscriptions. Before the evening starts, I eat dinner. The rest of the day is filled with recreation. This includes the library, where I type up legal papers, letters, and assignments for college correspondence courses. I also like to run and do HIIT-style exercises during gym and outside recreation hours\u2014but I recently took a break for a few months because of the hormone treatments. I have only just started doing these routines again in the past couple weeks. There are very few distinctions between el bueno and el malo en la prisi\u00f3n militar. Instead of the good and the bad, there is the boring and la repetici\u00f3n\u2014the repetitive. The routine is as endless as it is numbing. It\u2019s like Groundhog Day [1993], except that I am getting older."}
-{"text": "Question pos\u00e9e par Helena le 01/04/2019\n\nBonjour,\n\nApr\u00e8s la nomination de Sibeth Ndiaye comme porte-parole du gouvernement, vous avez \u00e9t\u00e9 plusieurs \u00e0 nous demander si cette petite phrase pr\u00eat\u00e9e \u00e0 l\u2019ancienne conseill\u00e8re presse de l\u2019Elys\u00e9e a r\u00e9ellement \u00e9t\u00e9 prononc\u00e9e. En ao\u00fbt 2017, dans un portrait du Canard encha\u00een\u00e9 consacr\u00e9 \u00e0 Sibeth Ndiaye, on avait pu lire que certains proches d\u2019Emmanuel Macron, agac\u00e9s par la communicante, faisaient \u00abcirculer l\u2019un de ses SMS, envoy\u00e9 \u00e0 un journaliste demandant confirmation du d\u00e9c\u00e8s de Simone Veil : \"Yes, la meuf est dead\".\u00bb\n\nLa nouvelle ministre a toujours d\u00e9menti avoir tenu ces propos. Le jour de la parution de l\u2019hebdomadaire, elle avait ainsi d\u00e9clar\u00e9 \u00e0 LCI : \u00abLe SMS est totalement faux.\u00bb Lundi matin, France Inter donnait d\u2019ailleurs une version diff\u00e9rente du sms re\u00e7u. Dans un portrait consacr\u00e9 \u00e0 Sibeth Ndiaye, le journaliste politique Cyril Graziani racontait ainsi : \u00abElle avait d\u00e9fray\u00e9 la chronique en envoyant ce sms le jour de la mort de Simone Veil. A la question \"aura-t-elle des obs\u00e8ques nationales ?\" Sibeth Ndiaye avait r\u00e9pondu: \"Aucune id\u00e9e, la meuf est morte il y a moins de vingt-quatre heures\".\u00bb\n\n\u00abTemp\u00eate dans un verre d'eau\u00bb\n\nUne version qui figurait d\u00e9j\u00e0 dans un portrait du Point consacr\u00e9 \u00e0 la conseill\u00e8re presse de l\u2019Elys\u00e9e. La journaliste Ga\u00ebl Tchakaloff, qui \u00e9crivait \u00e0 Sibeth Ndiaye sous forme de lettre, d\u00e9crivait ainsi : \u00abD\u00e9tails sur le SMS \"la meuf est dead\", que tu aurais envoy\u00e9 le jour de la disparition de Simone Veil. Premier scandale qui t\u2019a plomb\u00e9e, en juin 2017. Qui est cette dingue de l\u2019Elys\u00e9e qui ose parler ainsi d\u2019une \u00e9g\u00e9rie nationale ? Sur ton t\u00e9l\u00e9phone, tu m\u2019\u00e9tales les preuves de ta bonne foi. En r\u00e9ponse \u00e0 un journaliste t\u2019interrogeant sur la possibilit\u00e9 d\u2019obs\u00e8ques nationales, tu as \u2013 en r\u00e9alit\u00e9 \u2013 \u00e9crit : \"Aucune id\u00e9e, la meuf est morte depuis moins de vingt-quatre heures.\" Ta langue ne prend pas de gants. Le Canard encha\u00een\u00e9 en fait un papier. Temp\u00eate dans un verre d\u2019eau.\u00bb\n\nCheckNews a consult\u00e9 le fameux sms: ce sont bien ces termes-l\u00e0 qui ont \u00e9t\u00e9 employ\u00e9s, et non ceux tronqu\u00e9s par le Canard. Comment l\u2019hebdomadaire en est-il arriv\u00e9 \u00e0 sa version ? CheckNews n\u2019a pas r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 joindre l\u2019autrice du portrait r\u00e9v\u00e9lant ces propos. Mais le journaliste destinataire du sms explique que, ayant entendu parler de ce sms, un journaliste de l\u2019hebdomadaire satirique l\u2019aurait appel\u00e9 pour en confirmer l\u2019existence. Ne voyant pas l\u2019int\u00e9r\u00eat de sortir cette info quelques semaines apr\u00e8s le d\u00e9but du quinquennat, il affirme avoir demand\u00e9 au Canard de ne rien en faire. Mais, un mois plus tard, un autre journaliste du palmip\u00e8de sort le sms, qu\u2019auraient fait circuler \u00abcertains proches\u00bb du Pr\u00e9sident. Sans appeler le premier int\u00e9ress\u00e9 pour confirmer ces propos exacts. Qui ne sont donc pas ceux r\u00e9ellement \u00e9crits par Sibeth Ndiaye.\n\nCordialement,"}
-{"text": "There is a high chance parts of Queensland will be hit by severe weather today, and there is the possibility of a supercell event, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) says.\n\nKey points: BoM forecasts chance of severe thunderstorms for parts of Queensland\n\nBoM forecasts chance of severe thunderstorms for parts of Queensland Chance of a supercell event 'hyped up' by people outside BoM\n\nChance of a supercell event 'hyped up' by people outside BoM Parts of Sunshine Coast record up to 129mm of rain overnight\n\nUnstable and moist conditions are expected to bring storms from the north-west down to the south east this afternoon.\n\nAt 12:40pm, BoM issued a weather warning that said thunderstorms had begun developing over the Darling Downs and Granite Belt.\n\nIt said locations likely to be first affected included Warwick, Toowoomba, Dalby, Stanthorpe, Oakey and Goondiwindi.\n\nThat alert was later expanded to include coastal areas and the Lockyer Valley.\n\nBoM senior forecaster Michelle Berry has urged residents to stay alert and check forecasts.\n\n\"We're talking about storms that could possibly have some large hail, damaging to destructive wind gusts, and some very intense rainfall,\" she said.\n\n\"It's a day where you want to be alert and aware and keep up with the forecasts and look out for any warnings issued by the weather bureau.\"\n\nFellow BoM forecaster Michael Knepp told 612 ABC Brisbane the severity of the storms would depend on whether heavy clouds cleared.\n\n\"We have a fair bit of low cloud this morning ... about 500 feet above the surface. That could actually negate severe thunderstorms later on today,\" he said.\n\n\"We also have high cloud coming in from the west pushing through, and that too could negate storms today.\n\n\"But there is that potential. [There is] a lot of moisture in the atmosphere, this low cloud right now is being created because of the abundant moisture in the atmosphere, and storms just love moisture.\n\n\"If we get free of this low cloud, free of that high cloud \u2026 conditions will be right for severe thunderstorms later this afternoon.\"\n\n'Residents shouldn't get caught up in hype'\n\nYesterday, the bureau did not rule out the possibility of a supercell thunderstorm occurring.\n\nBut this morning, Mr Knepp said the chance of supercell activity had been talked up by people outside the bureau.\n\n\"We probably shouldn't get caught up in the hype,\" he said.\n\nWhat is a supercell? The supercell is a special thunderstorm type in which the system can maintain an intense steady state for many hours.\n\nThe supercell is a special thunderstorm type in which the system can maintain an intense steady state for many hours. A highly organised circulation with a continuous large updraught, control over the surrounding atmosphere and magnified size and impact make this a fascinating but dangerous cloud complex.\n\nA highly organised circulation with a continuous large updraught, control over the surrounding atmosphere and magnified size and impact make this a fascinating but dangerous cloud complex. Supercells account for most of the serious thunderstorm events we experience. Source: bom.gov.au\n\n\"This sort of event's really been hyped-up by people outside the bureau \u2026 we've had days already this year just like today and these days haven't been hyped up at all.\n\n\"There is potential for severe storms, but it's not like one of the most amazing days I've ever seen, put it that way.\n\n\"There's potential we might not get supercells at all today, we might seeing storms develop fairly early and they just blob out into a big mess.\"\n\nMs Berry said supercells were extremely difficult to forecast.\n\n\"For us to actually try and pinpoint today which locations might experience a supercell is extremely difficult,\" she said.\n\n\"If anyone tells you they can, I'm afraid I think they're not fully telling the truth.\n\n\"There is some environmental characteristics today that indicate a supercell may be possible ... but for point location forecasting, it really is quite challenging.\n\n\"It's really important to go to the source of weather information, which is the weather bureau.\"\n\nSunshine Coast braces for weekend of wild weather\n\nOvernight, the Sunshine Coast received close to 10 per cent of the region's annual average rainfall.\n\nParklands saw 145 millimetres of rain, Mapleton received 129 millimetres, while Nambour recorded 104 millimetres, according to the BoM.\n\nThe Sunshine Coast Council has placed the Local Disaster Management Group on alert to monitor weather conditions.\n\nCoordinator Andrew Ryan said flash flooding was possible over the weekend.\n\n\"What we saw in last night's storms are what we call micro bursts of short duration heavy rainfall, so there could be significant rainfall in one location and virtually none in the next suburb \u2013 that's why it's important that everyone across the region is aware and prepared for the unstable weather conditions,\" he said.\n\n\"It's easy to be complacent when we haven't had severe weather for some time, but flash flooding, damaging winds and large hail are all very common with these types of thunderstorms.\"\n\nMr Andrew said the group would remain on alert until Monday."}
-{"text": "Director Jean-Marc Vall\u00e9e urged his DP to go darker on the HBO psychological thriller starring Amy Adams.\n\nEarly in prep, director Jean-Marc Vall\u00e9e kept telling his go-to cinematographer, Yves B\u00e9langer, to go darker and darker on their HBO psychological thriller, \u201cSharp Objects,\u201d by underexposing the light. It was a new experience for B\u00e9langer, but a pivotal one, which opened his eyes to a new aesthetic on the miniseries from showrunner Marti Noxon that was adapted from Gillian Flynn\u2019s novel.\n\nIntuitively, it made sense. The miniseries delves into the traumatic memories of alcoholic journalist Camille (Amy Adams), who returns to her small town in Missouri to cover the murders of two teenage girls, only to slowly discover a horrifying link to her own dark past through flashbacks. Reminders occur everywhere, through the associations of objects, reflections, the trick of the light, and other sense memory jolts. The dysfunctional relationship with her domineering, socialite mother, Adora (Patricia Clarkson) is merely the kickstart for the more toxic atmosphere that inhabits the not-so-sleepy Wind Gap.\n\nHBO\n\n\u201cWhen we were doing informal makeup and wardrobe tests with Amy, Jean-Marc was always asking me to step down the aperture,\u201d said B\u00e9langer. \u201cHe wanted everything underexposed, even if it\u2019s bright on the set or outside. That was interesting and I never did it before. I was afraid it would be low key, but what happened was that the Alexa camera began to have some grain, so it looks more like a film \u2014 and we were very happy with that. The style was that I was always exposing for the brightest part of the scene. If there was only one lamp on, I would expose for the lamp. The faces would go very dark.\u201d\n\nSimilar to their HBO series \u201cBig Little Lies\u201d \u2014 which premieres Season 2 in June \u2014 the main challenge for the cinematographer was matching naturalistic lighting conditions on location or in the studio (in Georgia and Northern and Southern California). \u201cAdora\u2019s house in the studio took two weeks to pre-light,\u201d B\u00e9langer said. \u201cThe control was kind of complicated, but after that it was all on computers. So we could have a day light, night scene, or sunset very fast. \u201c\n\nHBO\n\nBoth director and cinematographer continued their routine of relying on handheld or dolly shots, with minimal crane usage. (They quickly discovered that Clarkson was a free spirit who liked to roam away from any lighting marks, and that\u2019s one reason why the underexposure aesthetic was well suited to \u201cSharp Objects.\u201d) The primary reason, though, was to connect Camille\u2019s past and present through jump cuts; the audience is never confused about where they were in space or time. It was only the unifying context of the painful trauma that remained a mystery until pieced together.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of going back and forth between the past and the present, and I asked Jean-Marc if he wanted different looks and he said no,\u201d said B\u00e9langer. \u201cIt\u2019s too obvious to make people think that you\u2019re in the past to change colors or overexpose. If you look at the show, you always know where you are because of the logic of the emotional memory. In each location, he asked me to have the presence of the light of the car passing by in the motel or in the bar, and sometimes you look at it and you use the passing of the light to cut to another scene or another shot. We used a pan or a cut or sometimes it\u2019s a smell or a color [that triggers a memory], but it\u2019s never linear.\u201d\n\nAnne Marie Fox/HBO\n\nOne of the cinematographer\u2019s favorite moments occurs early on when Camille returns to Wind Gap. Sitting in bed and tracing old cracks in the ceiling, Camille drifts back 20 years when she\u2019s in bed with Marian (Lulu Wilson), her late half-sister, repeating the same motion. When Marian suddenly convulses, the young Camille races out of the room, followed by the adult Camille. \u201cI knew it was all going to be done in the editing,\u201d B\u00e9langer said. \u201cJean-Marc would reveal each beat as it\u2019s in the script. As for me, I always went for the truth of the scene. If there was a green neon light coming from the window, that was it. If the wall was pink and the sunlight was hitting the wall, and the person became pink, we just played with it.\u201d\n\nThe impact of underexposure for a darker aesthetic continues to stay with B\u00e9langer. He used it on occasion when shooting Clint Eastwood\u2019s \u201cThe Mule,\u201d and will consider it in the future as well. \u201cIt changed me, for sure, this show,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you deal with memory, you don\u2019t see everything. Some people make it blurry, but we made it underexposed.\u201d\n\nSign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here."}
-{"text": "It was a Saturday afternoon, I was 10 years old and soon to start high school. I was laid in bed and something was bothering me. I don't know what but something must have been bothering me,I was crying so much. I must have been sobbing loudly as my mum came in to see what was up, I said I didn't know as I genuinely didn't but my mother wasn't having none of this and asked if it was about wanting to see my real dad. Knowing she wouldn't rest until I gave an answer I replied \"yes\" knowing this wasn't true. I had recently found out my dad as I knew him was in fact my step dad and my paternal father had left when I was two weeks old. My mother said I could start seeing my biological father but it would have to be during the 6 week holidays before high school as she didn't want to upset my school work. I accepted this, as let's face it I wasn't really that bothered about seeing him in the first place but I knew I couldn't tell my mother this as that was the apparent reason I was crying. The school holidays came and I remember the first time I went to his house on a Saturday morning like it was yesterday. I sat at the window waiting for him with my big brother who had always seen our paternal father since he left. Philip my biological father didn't make much effort to talk to me but I had two beautiful little sisters I guessed they were around 5 years old and instantly bonded with them. I was to spend the whole day at Philip's house as I called him after all I already had my dad at home who had been my dad since I was 2. Philip didn't talk to me much throughout the day although he didn't dismiss me completely he tickled me and made little remarks on how grown up I had become. I found the tickling and remarks a little strange seeing as he hadn't seen me since I was 2 weeks old and he made no effort to get to know me as a person, as his daughter. I spent most of the day playing with and getting to know my new little sisters. We returned home that evening at around 7pm from what I can remember although the time changed every week. Returning home my mum asked how it was and I said \"fine\" she seemed to accept this and I went on with my normal evening. It seemed the same outcome at every visit with Philip for the first two or three weeks although the tickling became more constant which made me feel quite uncomfortable. It was around the 4th or 5th visit when I recall Philip asking me to make him a cup of tea, I immediately obeyed as I was a well behaved child at this stage. As I was making the cup of tea all of a sudden Philip appeared behind me very close behind me, all too close to my liking and I immediately felt scared and uncomfortable although I didn't know why at the time. It was only a matter of seconds however before I did know why, Philip touched me between the legs, I immediately froze, scared and not sure what was happening as I was still only 10 years old. I eventually finished the cup of tea as though on autopilot and turned and handed it to him which broke his hand from my privates. I walked off into the living room embarrassed and not quite sure of what to do, I spent the rest of the day playing with my sisters and blocked the whole experience out almost instantly. I was relieved when it was time to go home and when I got in a relaxed, the thought of telling my mum and dad had crossed my mind but sheer embarrassment and shame stopped me so I had no valid reason to stop going to Phil's house. The next weekend came around all too quick for my liking but as I had no excuse as to why I couldn't go I went as I had every other week. The cup of tea and touching became a regular routine and came to dread the words \"make me a cup of tea\" coming from Phil's mouth. It can only have been a matter of weeks 5 at the most since the first touching episode when I was lay on the bed upstairs hoping to stay out of Phil's way so he couldn't ask for any more cups of tea. Sadly this wasn't the case as he came into the bedroom, I froze unable to find the strength in me to do something. Phil pulled my legs off the bed so only the top half of my body was on the bed and hastily opened my jeans and placed his fingers inside me, I barely winced from the searing pain as I was in total shock. Suddenly he jumped up and walked out of my sisters room, I realised this was because someone was coming up the stairs. In walked my little sister Ashley sweet as ever she came in and asked me to go and play with her, I replied I would be down in a minute as I needed the toilet with the best smile I could manage as not to upset her. I went straight into the bathroom still in utter shock and tried to wipe myself clean of him, I felt dirty, confused and utterly shocked as to what had happened on top of more embarrassed than ever."}
-{"text": "Ty Yiyara claimed to be a former Air Force captain with a master\u2019s degree in social work from Dallas Baptist University. He and his wife, Tisa, founded a private Afrocentric school in South Los Angeles two years ago, saying they wanted to improve the educational atmosphere for inner-city children.\n\nTheir Enlightened Minds School was granted nonprofit status by the state and received funding from a national scholarship program. Last year, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan awarded the school founders a proclamation praising them for their \u201coutstanding work as educators and mentors.\u201d\n\nBut police say Yiyara is an impostor and a convicted sex offender with no apparent military record, whose real name is Joseph Horace Green. They say that the master\u2019s degree, which he posted at the school, was bought through a mail-order catalog.\n\nGreen, 34, and his wife, whose real name is Channell Nicola Warren, 25, disappeared in early April after a 16-year-old student at the school told police they had sexually molested her.\n\n\nWhen the couple abandoned the school, they left five full-time teachers out of work and the parents of 50 students scrambling to continue their lessons for the remainder of the school year.\n\n\u201cThere was a real Jekyll and Hyde thing going on,\u201d said Los Angeles Police Department Det. Wes Potter, who has been trying to locate the couple since prosecutors issued arrest warrants April 12. A nationwide search is underway for the couple, who face a total of 13 sex charges.\n\nNo state or local authority ever questioned the couple\u2019s background when the school was established because there are few regulations for private schools. Even accreditation is optional.\n\n\u201cNobody regulates them,\u201d said Roger Wolfertz, an attorney with the state Department of Education.\n\n\nAs disturbing new allegations about the couple\u2019s extracurricular activities have emerged, a few parents of students at Enlightened Minds are trying to start a new school under a different name and in a new location.\n\n\u201cWe are trying to turn this tragedy into a triumph,\u201d said Nana Gyamfi, an attorney who has become a spokeswoman for other shellshocked parents.\n\nSome of the students at the kindergarten-through-12th-grade school paid the $250 per month tuition with scholarships from the Children\u2019s Scholarship Fund, a national philanthropic program for low-income children.\n\nThe parents said they didn\u2019t raise many question about the couple\u2019s qualifications because the teachers were licensed and provided a good educational alternative to woeful public schools.\n\n\nBut some parents complained that the administrators didn\u2019t put enough money into books and maintenance of the school.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m extremely upset at what has happened,\u201d said the mother of two students, ages 6 and 10, who asked that her name not be published.\n\nAccording to police, Green moved to Lancaster from Houston several years ago and worked as a janitor at a hospital.\n\nIn 1996, he was arrested and charged in the Antelope Valley with three counts of sexually molesting a minor, according to court records. As part of a plea bargain, he pleaded no contest to one count of sexual battery and was sentenced to two years in Chino state prison, records show. He was also required to register as a sex offender for life.\n\n\nNot long after he was released from prison in 1998, Green and Warren showed up in South Los Angeles, assuming the names Ty and Tisa Yiyara. To open Enlightened Minds School, they leased a 10,000-square-foot commercial building on West 54th Street, a busy commercial boulevard with storefront churches and hair salons.\n\nNo Military, College Records Are Found\n\nMilitary officials at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis could not immediately confirm if Green served in the Air Force. But Det. Potter said he found no record that Green had spent any time in the military or in college.\n\nPotter said that when Green was arrested on the Lancaster sexual battery charges, he admitted having bought his degree through a catalog.\n\n\nFor opening and operating a private school, the state requires only that a school administrator file a two-page affidavit, providing basic information such as the student enrollment and staff size. Warren filed affidavits for the last two school years under the name Tisa Yiyara.\n\nIn the document, she described herself as the school superintendent and principal, but parents say Green acted as the superintendent.\n\nThe affidavit, however, required Warren to certify under penalty of perjury that the school had no employee with a conviction for a felony or other violent crime. Because Green\u2019s name was not mentioned on the affidavit, state officials had no way of knowing that a registered sex offender was acting as the school\u2019s superintendent.\n\nPolice say Green registered as a sex offender with Lancaster police under the so-called Megan\u2019s Law. But Los Angeles police say he failed to tell them that he then was living with Warren in the Mid-City area of Los Angeles under the name Ty Yiyara. By law, sex offenders must report to local police every time they move.\n\n\nIn August, The Times published a feature story about an elaborate mural that a local artist had volunteered to paint at the school.\n\nTy Yiyara told The Times that he started the school after retiring from the Air Force because \u201cwe were concerned about the results of public schools in this area.\u201d\n\nIn response to the news article, Mayor Riordan issued proclamations in October praising the muralist and the school administrators.\n\nA spokesman for Riordan said this week: \u201cIt is unfortunate that so many people were misled, especially when it involves children.\u201d\n\n\nUsing her alias, Warren filed documents with the California secretary of state\u2019s office to create a nonprofit public benefit corporation for the school.\n\nBut investigators discovered that the two were also operating an online advertising business, using the school\u2019s phone number as the contact number for the business.\n\nAccording to police and real estate records, the couple invested in several South Los Angeles properties and bought a four-bedroom Mid-City home for $290,000. The couple also owned a white, 37-foot 1999 Fleetwood recreational vehicle, worth about $100,000, Potter said. Police believe the couple may be living or traveling in the motor home.\n\nSoliciting Online for a Woman\n\n\nWhile investigating the online marketing business, Potter found that the couple had also been soliciting at several Internet sites for women to join them in \u201ca loving relationship.\u201d\n\nOn one Internet message board, the couple placed an ad that said: \u201cWe are looking for a pretty Russian girl who is bisexual and would love to be with a black couple in Los Angeles, California, and be a second wife.\u201d On the couple\u2019s home page, they also invited women to join them \u201cfor a close friendship.\u201d\n\nInvestigators say Green\u2019s 16-year-old victim from the school was molested in the couple\u2019s RV, away from the campus.\n\nThe LAPD\u2019s juvenile division is interviewing parents and other students to determine if other children were molested by the couple.\n\n\n\u201cEvery day that they are out there, there are children in danger,\u201d Potter said.\n\nMany of the students left the school as soon as the allegations were raised. When the school administrators disappeared, so did many of the transcripts needed so the remaining students could continue at other schools.\n\nHoping to continue the educations of the remaining 20 students, several former teachers and parents have begun to teach at a borrowed commercial building in South Los Angeles. Those parents and the teachers are now planning fund-raisers to start a new Afrocentric school under the name Adoma Learning Center and Benu Academy. But money is tight and the future of the proposed new school is uncertain.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s really unfair to these children to put them through this,\u201d said the mother of two students."}
-{"text": "27 November 2019 15:41, UTC\n\nCryptocurrencies can be confusing, unpredictable and frustrating unless you know how to deal with them. Here are five simple steps towards parenting cryptocurrencies and earning regular, reliable investments.\n\n\n\nKnow what you\u2019re doing\n\n\u201cTo keep your knowledge up to date, become part of the community. Join forums and subreddits about trading and cryptos, and just like you\u2019d diversify your portfolio, diversify your news sources so that you don\u2019t miss out on news or innovations,\u201d\n\nSet your limits\n\nStart small\n\n\u201cSometimes a price seems affordable, and that\u2019s enough motivation to throw money at a currency. But affordability is not as important as potential. Look at the market cap rather than the price of individual coins,\u201d\n\nPlan to expand\n\nDon\u2019t lose your head\n\nAbout the author:\n\nFound a mistake? Select the text and press CTRL+ENTER\n\nShare:\n\nLearn, learn, learn. The more knowledge you have about trading, the better your position will be. Start off with the theory behind cryptocurrencies: make sure you know your candlestick chart from your spread chart from your depth chart. Then, make sure you\u2019re following the latest news and developments, so you\u2019re not caught out. Once you know about the environment, you can start looking for a platform to trade on. Make sure you do your research here too: don\u2019t set up an account on anything you\u2019re not comfortable with, and use a dummy account if you\u2019re unsure to begin with.explains, a crypto writer at Brit Student and Write My X. But bear in mind that big investors sometimes use social media to their own uses, unloading their less profitable currencies onto new traders. Don\u2019t act on any news until you\u2019ve assessed the situation.Don\u2019t set out to trade everything every time. There are hundreds of cryptocurrencies in circulation, it\u2019s easy to spread yourself too thinly and restrict your potential earnings. To begin with, pick one or two cryptocurrencies that you will commit to until you\u2019re seeing a regular profit.Another essential is to have clear stop loss and target levels. If you\u2019re not sure what this means, go back to point 1. Knowing when to get out is just as important as knowing when to start, if not more so, and setting an educated target level guarantees you profits if the cryptocurrency starts to rise.If there\u2019s one piece of advice you can take away from this article, it\u2019s DON\u2019T PUT ALL YOUR MONEY INTO CRYPTOS. No matter what the whales of the market might say, it\u2019s never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket. Start small until you are familiar with how the market fluctuates. When you earn something off that initial investment, cash out and use the profits to invest again, building on what you\u2019ve learned.says, a tech blogger at 1Day2Write and NextCoursework.Once you\u2019ve started, you want to start spreading those eggs into exciting new baskets. The first thing everyone will tell you is to expand your profile, but diversifying without a plan is a road to disaster. Diversify correctly, though, and you reduce your risk on every trade. Choose carefully: there are lots of currencies aimed at people looking for quick cash, but much fewer with real-world uses. Look for cryptos that make sense with your finances and lifestyle.Once you\u2019ve picked your winners, start trading small. Regular small trades are the safest and surest way to earn on your investments, so don\u2019t look at big one-time payoffs. Look for the currencies with the highest daily trading value.That being said, diversifying sometimes can\u2019t save you from a dip in the market. The value of all cryptocurrencies is linked to their king: Bitcoin. If the value of BTC to USD goes down, so does the value of all other cryptos. This means diversifying beyond cryptocurrencies is still essential, just in case disaster strikes.Take it slow! Don\u2019t fall prey to sudden changes in the market, hoping to get rich quick. If there\u2019s one thing in common with cryptocurrencies, it\u2019s that they\u2019re wildly unpredictable. Use the knowledge you\u2019ve gathered, rely on hard data, and make small reliable trades rather than banking on big sporadic payouts. Slow and steady makes you money. And, above all, don\u2019t be greedy!Read the best crypto news analysis here! bitnewstoday.com Bitcoin, investments, regulation and other cryptocurrencies"}
-{"text": "0 of 15\n\nDoug Pensinger/Getty Images\n\nCollegiate athletics simply wouldn\u2019t be the same without tradition. Remove tradition from the equation and all of the passion and pageantry that make college football and basketball unique from their pro counterpart\u2014what do you have now? What qualifies as a tradition at one school may be anything but at another, but making the mascot a central part of sporting events is as close to a universal tradition as there is.\n\nWhile animals\u2014big and small\u2014make up a fair share (perhaps even the lion\u2019s share) of all college mascots, not every school with an animal-based mascot can make a real living, breathing creature part of its tradition\u2026for reasons both obvious and not.\n\nThose universities and colleges that do have a tradition featuring the genuine article on game day, instead of stuffing a sweaty student into a goggle-eyed facsimile, makes the idea of a mascot just a little more special. Not only is a real dog, bird or any of the countless kinds of animals way more fun to watch, but there is always the possibility of unplanned mayhem.\n\nWhether the mascot is a beloved part of a long-held tradition, or just great because it corners the adorability market, these are the best animal traditions in sports."}
-{"text": "Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.\n\nThe son of an Oakland city councilwoman died early Sunday after a failed robbery in Los Angeles, officials and law enforcement sources said.\n\nVictor McElhaney, 21, was shot after walking into a robbery in progress at a liquor store near the University of Southern California, where he was a student, NBC Bay Area reported.\n\nLaw enforcement sources told NBC News that he was struck in the upper torso.\n\nMcElhaney was the son of councilwoman Lynette Gibson McElhaney and a student at USC\u2019s jazz studies program.\n\nThe school\u2019s president, Wanda Austin, said McElhaney transferred to USC from California State University East Bay in the fall of 2017.\n\nHe was pursuing a degree in music and enjoyed mentoring young musicians, Austin said in a letter to students.\n\n\u201cHe believed in the power of music to touch lives, to heal, and to bring hope,\u201d she said."}
-{"text": "\u201cCarbon will be the world\u2019s biggest commodity market, and it could become the world\u2019s biggest market over all,\u201d Louis Redshaw, head of environmental markets at Barclays Capital, told the New York Times in July 2007.\n\nIn the same article, Chris Leeds, then-head of emissions trading at Merrill Lynch, said that, carbon could become \u201cone of the fasting-growing markets ever, with volumes comparable to credit derivatives inside of a decade.\u201d Four years later, things have changed somewhat. Reuters recently described carbon as the world\u2019s worst performing commodity. And even the World Bank acknowledges that carbon markets \u201cnow face major challenges\u201d.\n\nThis might just be a blip for carbon markets. California\u2019s emissions trading scheme, which is planned to start in 2013, could boost carbon trading. The World Bank employs about 200 staff to work full time on carbon markets, according to Andrew Steer, the Bank\u2019s special envoy for climate change. The International Finance Corporation\u2019s Climate Business Group has a US$200 million Post-2012 Carbon Facility, that will buy carbon credits generated after 2012 and forward purchase Certified Emission Reductions produced from 2013 to 2020 from IFC financed projects. Meanwhile, the UN Environment Programme\u2019s Finance Initiative is working with financiers to promote carbon trading \u2013 particular for REDD.\n\nIf carbon is, at some point in the future, to become the \u201cworld\u2019s biggest commodity market\u201d, it is worth asking who will benefit from this recently created commodity.\n\nLast week, a team of Reuters journalists produced profiles of 16 commodity traders, that between them have revenues of US$1.1 trillion a year. These companies sell more than half of the world\u2019s freely traded commodities. Just two of them, Vitol and Trafigura, sold more oil last year than the combined exports of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.\n\nCommodity trading is hugely profitable, not least because traders make money whether the price goes up or down. For them, the current economic crisis is an opportunity. And they can manipulate the markets of the commodities in which they are trading. Reuters explains:\n\nFor many commodities traders, the most profitable ploy has been the squeeze, which involves driving prices up or down by accumulating a dominant position.\n\nSo who are these companies? The basic information about the world\u2019s top 16 commodity traders, from the Reuters report is complied in a table below. Read the Reuters report for more information about these companies.\n\nAlmost all of the companies are involved in carbon trading. If carbon were to become the world\u2019s biggest commodity, these companies would probably accumulate dominant positions in carbon. Some are involved in oil trading and carbon trading. Others are involved in large-scale forest destruction and carbon trading.The logic is simple. Oil trading is profitable. Clearing forest is profitable. Carbon trading is profitable. Win, win, win. For the traders, that is. For the climate, of course, it\u2019s a disaster, because carbon trading does not reduce emissions.\n\nHere is a thumbnail sketch of the top 16 commodity traders\u2019 involvement in carbon trading. Feel free to add further information about these companies in the comments:\n\n\u201cVitol has one of the largest and most diverse carbon project portfolios in the world and our involvement and expertise in carbon markets is global and comprehensive,\u201d the company states on its website. In January 2011, Vitol announced that it had bought a 76.3% stake in Carbon Resource Management (CRM). CRM has a \u201cportfolio of over 45 million tonnes and over 200 CDM projects currently being progressed\u201d.\n\nGlencore has said that it is not interested in carbon trading, apart from as a means of offsetting the emissions from its shipping activities. \u201cWe are a physical commodity trader so those [carbon] markets aren\u2019t of interest to us,\u201d a company spokesperson told Reuters. The company is involved in trading biofuels, and says that \u201cbiofuels will be increasingly important to Glencore as it attempts to address climate change concerns\u201d.\n\nCargill has a fully-owned subsidiary called Green Hercules Trading Limited. The company has \u201can array of services, such as financial support to carbon reduction projects, at all stages.\u201d\n\nKoch Industries funds plays a major role in accelerating climate change through its oil trading. It also funds several climate denial think tanks and lobbies against any government action on climate change. At the same time, Greenpeace notes that Koch Supply and Trading, a Koch Industries subsidiary, has participated in carbon trading in the US.\n\nADM Investor Services is a subsidiary of ADM. In its monthly review of December 2010, it described carbon markets as \u201cA golden opportunity in a commodity that is not gold\u201d and predicted a 30 per cent price increase year on year. (The most recent monthly review from ADM Investor Services makes no mention of carbon markets.)\n\nIn August 2010, Gunvor and JP Morgan completed the first European Union 2020 over-the-counter European Union Allowance carbon contract. The over-the-counter trade, was part of a \u201ccomplex structured deal involving trades with earlier delivery dates\u201d, the brokerage company, Tradition, said in a statement.\n\nTrafigura appears to have no involvement in carbon trading. However, the Trafigura Foundation has set up a biogas project in Yunnan, China which generates carbon credits.\n\nMercuria announced in 2009 that \u201cMercuria Energy is positioning itself to be one of the world\u2019s top traders in carbon\u201d. Last year, Mercuria Energy bought carbon offset project developer MGM International Group. Last week, Point Carbon reported that MGM International was involved in a project in Colombia where Ivan Cepeda Castro, a Colombian senator and leading human rights activist, accused the country\u2019s largest cement manufacturer, Cementos Argos, of using illegally-seized land for a tree planting project to generate carbon credits. Mercuria sponsors IUCN to \u201cstrengthen capacity for economic approaches to biodiversity conservation in developing countries\u201d.\n\n\u201cNoble is a major player in the expanding global market for emission reduction certificates or \u2018carbon credits\u2019 and one of world\u2019s largest suppliers of registered CERs,\u201d according to the company\u2019s website. Last year, the Noble Group announced that it had bought a 52% stake in a 32,500 hectare oil palm plantation project in West Papua. The investment was heavily criticised by Papua Forest Eye under the headline, \u201cNoble savages Papua\u2019s forests\u201c.\n\nLDH Energy is the merchant energy platform of the Louis Dreyfus Group and Highbridge Capital Management, which is wholly owned by JPMorgan Chase. \u201cLDH Energy has been active in emission credit markets since 2006. We operate across all emission markets with a specific focus on global carbon markets,\u201d according to the company\u2019s website.\n\n\u201cBunge has been engaged in mitigating carbon emissions for several years through investments in Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects, participation in European cap and trade markets, and via the Bunge Emissions Group,\u201d the company states on its website. The Bunge Guara biomass project aims to generate carbon credits by switching the fuel in one its fertilizer plants in Brazil from gas to firewood from eucalyptus plantations.\n\nWilmar International has cleared large areas of forest in Indonesia to make way for oil palm plantations. It also stands accused of human rights violations. While the emissions from this forest destruction are large, Wilmar is generating carbon credits through clean development mechanism projects by using biomass from waste products from its plantations to fuel its palm oil factories.\n\n\u201cArcadia Energy Trading (AET) has taken a pre-emptive position in the Australian carbon market supplying Certified Emissions Reduction units (CERs) to Australian industry,\u201d according to the company\u2019s website.\n\n\u201cMabanaft is expanding its current portfolio of trading activities into the carbon credit business,\u201d according to a 2009 announcement on the company\u2019s website.\n\nOlam International, as well as trading in commodities, also owns forestry operations covering 2.3 million hectares in Africa. In December 2010, the company announced that it may enter the carbon market by building a biomass power plant. \u201cThe carbon potential is certainly something that we will be looking at seriously over the coming years,\u201d Robert Hunink, Olam\u2019s global head of wood products business announced.\n\nAs far as I\u2019m aware, the sixteenth company in the Reuters report, Hin Leong, has not expressed any interest in carbon trading.\n\nWHO WHERE WHAT TURNOVER CEO STAFF Vitol, founded 1966 in Rotterdam by Henk Vietor and Jacques Detiger Geneva and Rotterdam Oil, gas, power, coal, industrial metals, sugar $195 billion (2010) Ian Taylor 2,700 Glencore, founded 1974 as Marc Rich and Co. renamed Glencore in 1994 Baar, Switzerland Metals, minerals, energy, agricultural products $145 billion (2010) Ivan Glasenberg 2,800 people directly; 55,000 at Glencore\u2019s industrial assets Cargill, founded 1865 by William Wallace Cargill Minneapolis, Minnesota Grains, oilseeds, salt, fertilizers, metals, energy $108 billion (2010) Greg Page 130,000 Koch Industries, founded 1920s by Fred Koch Wichita, Kansas Oil $100 billion (2010) Charles Koch 70,000 ADM, formerly Archer Daniels Midland, founded 1902 by John Daniels and George Archer Decatur, Illinois Grains, oilseeds, cocoa $81 billion (2010) Patricia Woertz 30,000 Gunvor, founded 1997 by Swedish oil trader Torbjorn Tornqvist and Russian/Finnish businessman Gennady Timchenko Geneva Oil, coal, LNG, emissions $65 billion (2010) Torbjorn Tornqvist Fewer than 500 Trafigura, founded 1993 by former Marc Rich traders Claude Dauphin, Eric de Turkheim and Graham Sharp Geneva, Switzerland Oil, metals $79 billion (2010) Claude Dauphin 6,000 Mercuria, founded in 2004 [*] Geneva Oil, coal, gas, carbon emissions $47 billion (2010) \u2013 energy turnover Marco Dunand 890 Noble Group, founded 1986 by UK scrap metal man Richard Elman Hong Kong Sugar, coal, oil $57 billion (2010) Richard Elman (Executive chairman) 11,000 Louis Dreyfus, founded 1851 by Leopold Louis-Dreyfus Paris Cotton, rice, grains, orange juice $46 billion (2010) Serge Schoen 34,000 Bunge, founded 1818 by Johann Peter Gottlieb Bunge in Amsterdam White Plains, New York Grains, oilseeds, sugar $46 billion (2010) Alberto Weissner 32,000 Wilmar International, founded 1991 Singapore Palm oil, grains, sugar $30.4 billion (2010) Kuok Khoon Hong 88,000 plus Arcadia, founded 1988 by Japan\u2019s Mitsui & Co London Oil $29 billion (Reuters estimate) John Fredriksen 100 Mabanaft Rotterdam Oil $15 billion (Reuters estimate) Jan-Willem van der Velden 1,772 Olam, founded 1989 by the Kewalram Chanrai Group Singapore Coffee, cocoa, rice, grains, sugar $11 billion (2009/10) Sunny Verghese About 100 Hin Leong, founded 1963 Singapore Oil and tankers $8 billion (2010) Lim Oon Kuin About 100\n\n[*] Some of the information about Mercuria in this table comes from the company\u2019s website, not the Reuters report.\n\nBack to table ^^\n\n\n\nPHOTO credit: The Story of Cap and Trade.\n\n"}
-{"text": "I7IZ########88OO ?I / This is the only way |"}
-{"text": "XRP has been on a tear today after increasing by a total of 11% to reach the current price of $0.3139. The cryptocurrency has seen a 23% price hike over the past 3 days, allowing XRP to break back above the $0.30 level. XRP is the strongest performing coin out of the top 5 cryptocurrencies after the lastest price surges - beating both ETH and BTC. In fact, the only coin out of the top 10 to beat XRP today is XLM which has increased by over 30%.\n\nXRP remains ranked as the third-largest cryptocurrency with a market cap value of $13.53 billion. This latest price surge is totally due to the fact that XRP has started to make some gainst against BTC - whilst Bitcoin remains totally static. XRP had been struggling significantly against BTC in 2019 after dropping by a total of 75% to the 2019 low. This rebound against BTC may allow XRP to continue much further higher against the USD - so long as BTC remains above the $10k level.\n\nXRP Price Analysis\n\nXRPUSD - MEDIUM TERM - DAILY CHART\n\nWhat Has Been Going On?\n\nLooking at the daily chart above, we can see that during late-August and early-September, XRP had managed to find support at the $0.2525 level. This level of support had allowed the price to rebound higher in the past 2 days. We can see that once XRP started to move, it broke above strong resistance at $0.28, $0.29, and $0.30 with great ease.\n\nXRP then continued to climb further higher, breaking above the 100-days EMA at $0.305 until reaching the resistance at $0.3218 (provided by the short term 1.414 Fibonacci Extension).\n\nWhere Can We Go From Here?\n\nIf the bulls continue to push further higher above the current resistance, higher resistance will be located at $0.33 (1.618 Fib Extension) and $0.3360 (bearish .382 Fibonacci Retracement and 200-days EMA). If the bulls continue above the 200-days EMA, resistance is then located at $0.35, $0.36, and $0.3624 (bearish .5 Fibonacci Retracement level)\n\nThe RSI is well within the bullish territory as it approaches overbought conditions which could suggest that the XRP bulls need a short break. However, in a bullish run, the RSI can remain overbought for extended periods of time.\n\nI don\u2019t often provide Altcoin/BTC analysis - but in a situation like this, I think it is important to update you guys on the XRP/BTC markets so let\u2019s take a look!\n\nXRPBTC - MEDIUM TERM - DAILY CHART\n\nWhat Has Been Going On?\n\nWe can see that XRP had suffered all the way down to the 2500 SATS level where a rebound higher was seen. This latest rebound has now allowed XRP to climb back higher and break above the 3000 SATS level to where it currently trades at 3070 SATS.\n\nWhere Can We Go From Here?\n\nIf the bulls can continue to climb above the current resistance at 3099 SAT, further higher resistance is to be expected at the 1.414 and 1.618 Fibonacci Extension levels priced at 3183 SATS and 3277 SATS, respectively. The resistance at 3277 SATS is further bolstered by the 100-days EMA which also hovers in this area. Above this, higher resistance lies at 3542 SATS, 3800 SATS, 3900 SATS, and 4000 SATS.\n\nConclusion\n\nXRP has seen an extraordinary price increase over the past few days allowing the crypto to climb back above $0.30. The price surge is largely a result of XRP rebounding against BTC to climb back above 3000 SATS. For this price ascension to continue, we will need to see XRP climbing further higher against BTC (and for BTC not to drop too much)."}
-{"text": "1 of 1 2 of 1\n\nDetails are still few and far between, but one of the city's best-loved comedy haunts has confirmed it is leaving its location in the Century Plaza Hotel and Spa at the end of April, with plans to move to another site.\n\nThe club's Mario Cocchia told the Straight he would be releasing plans for the new site later.\n\nThe cosy underground spot with the plush booths has hosted and helped build the careers of everyone from Brian Posehn and Jon Dore to local laugh-getters like Erica Sigurdson and Ivan Decker. A regular Best of Vancouver winner for favourite local comedy club, it was also a busy hub for the recent JFL NorthWest comedy fest.\n\nThe venue has not yet published an online calendar for April. However, word has it that some of its favourite acts will double up as headliners on weekends leading up to the closure on April 30.\n\nOne of those double bills will be Darcy Michael and Charlie Demers, who posted on social media this week that their final gig at the location is slated for April 4, 5, and 6. In Demers's case, he had his first club sets and album recording at the venue.\n\nKeep your eye on the Straight for further details when they're announced.\n\nMeanwhile, local favourite and crowdwork king Ian Bagg headlines the Comedy MIX tonight through Saturday. The standup comic and Terrace, B.C., native is best known for his top-five finish on NBC\u2019s Last Comic Standing."}
-{"text": "Next Game: North Alabama 2/27/2019 | 3 p.m. CT SEC Network+\n\nTUSCALOOSA, Ala. \u2013 A six-run third by the offense, combined with a solid effort on the mound from five pitchers helped Alabama baseball come away with an 8-0 shutout win on Tuesday at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. With the victory, the Crimson Tide improves to 6-2 overall.\n\n\"It was a good win for us,\" said Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon . \"I was glad to see us put up a big number in the third. I thought all of the guys that pitched tonight were amazing; we struck them out 15 times. We also continued to play good defense behind them, so it was a really nice night for us.\"\n\nAlabama jumped out front early, putting up a six-spot in the third to put the game out of reach. The Tide added single tallies in the fifth and six to push the advantage to eight by night's end. The offense was spread across the board with eight of the nine starters tallying a hit. Redshirt junior Gene Wood highlighted the offense, finishing 2-for-3 with a team-high two runs and a pair of RBI to go with two walks.\n\nNorth Alabama would never threaten the UA lead, as five Crimson Tide pitchers combined for a season-high 15 strikeouts while allowing only two hits. The effort on the mound was led by junior Wil Freeman (1-0), as the right-hander tossed 4.0 scoreless innings with four punchouts for the win. Four more UA arms worked the final 5.0 frames, allowing just one hit and striking out 11 with each pitcher recording at least two punchouts.\n\nThe Tide's huge six-run third kicked off the night's scoring. Senior Keith Holcombe began the inning with a double down the line and was brought home in the very next at-bat thanks to a two-run home run from sophomore Tyler Gentry . The Tide bats then rallied off three consecutive singles, with the third coming from Wood to bring in one more run. The five straight hits forced a UNA pitching change, still with runners on the corners and no outs.\n\nThe new UNA arm retired the first batter he faced, but a balk in the next at-bat moved one run across and a walk in that same at-bat put two on for Kolby Robinson . The junior sent a single back up the chute to score one more and move a Tide runner to third. Brett Auerbach took advantage of the man 90 feet away with the junior sending a sacrifice fly to center to score the frame's final run, setting it at 6-0 after three innings of play.\n\nAlabama added one more in the fifth, using a bases loaded hit-by-pitch for Holcombe to cross one. The Tide put up a final tally in the next inning on an RBI-single from Wood, making it an 8-0 affair, the eventual final.\n\nThe two teams meet once again on Wednesday for a 3 p.m. CT first pitch at The Joe. Alabama's starter is still to be announced with North Alabama calling on junior right-hander Kyle Moore. Fans can catch Wednesday's matchup on SEC Network+.\n\nGet all the latest information on the team by following @AlabamaBSB on Twitter and Instagram and on Facebook at Alabama Baseball. General athletic news can be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook."}
-{"text": "IS\u53c2\u52a0\u306e19\u6b73\u5973\u6027\u3001\u30d0\u30f3\u30b0\u30e9\u30c7\u30b7\u30e5\u3082\u5e02\u6c11\u6a29\u306a\u3044\u3068 \u82f1\u306f\u5e02\u6c11\u6a29\u306f\u304f\u596a\n\n\u753b\u50cf\u63d0\u4f9b, PA \u753b\u50cf\u8aac\u660e, 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Met Police \u753b\u50cf\u8aac\u660e, 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-{"text": "Criada em 19 de agosto de 1969, a Embraer \u00e9 a principal fabricante brasileira de avi\u00f5es e uma das maiores do mundo. A empresa j\u00e1 produziu ao longo de sua hist\u00f3ria de quase 50 anos 46 modelos de avi\u00e3o. Hoje, fabrica 12. No total, j\u00e1 fez mais de 8.000 unidade desde 1969.\n\nA empresa nasceu como uma estatal para a produ\u00e7\u00e3o do turbo\u00e9lice Bandeirante, que j\u00e1 vinha sendo desenvolvido pelo Centro T\u00e9cnico Aeroespacial, e do EMB-326 Xavante, produzido sob licen\u00e7a da italiana Aermacchi.\n\nNa d\u00e9cada de 1970, a Embraer colocou no mercado mais dois avi\u00f5es desenvolvidos na empresa. O turbo\u00e9lice pressurizado EMB-120 Bras\u00edlia, para transporte de passageiros, e o avi\u00e3o militar EMB-312 Tucano, para treinamento e miss\u00f5es de ataque. Ambos foram amplamente utilizados no Brasil e no exterior.\n\nLeia tamb\u00e9m:\n\n\u2013 N\u00e3o \u00e9 s\u00f3 Embraer. Conhe\u00e7a outras fabricantes brasileiras de avi\u00f5es\n\n\u2013 Embraer quer turbo\u00e9lice para liderar todo o mercado de at\u00e9 150 passageiros\n\n\u2013 Jato da Embraer \u00e9 o \u00fanico a pousar na ilha de Napole\u00e3o com vento de 90 km/h\n\n\u2013 Ca\u00e7a da Boeing que faria Brasil-Jap\u00e3o em 3h s\u00f3 ser\u00e1 vi\u00e1vel em 10 a 20 anos\n\nAl\u00e9m dos avi\u00f5es pr\u00f3prios, a Embraer tamb\u00e9m produzia, sob licen\u00e7a, aeronaves de outros fabricantes. Os principais foram os modelos da Piper Aircraft chamados no Brasil de Carioca, Corisco, Tupi e Seneca. A produ\u00e7\u00e3o desses modelos depois seria transferida para a Neiva, uma subsidi\u00e1ria da Embraer.\n\nA privatiza\u00e7\u00e3o\n\nO pior momento da companhia veio no in\u00edcio da d\u00e9cada de 1990. Em meio \u00e0s turbul\u00eancias econ\u00f4micas do pa\u00eds, a empresa teve de reduzir a produ\u00e7\u00e3o e demitir funcion\u00e1rios. Em 1994, o governo do presidente Itamar Franco decidiu pela privatiza\u00e7\u00e3o da Embraer.\n\nSob controle da iniciativa privada, a empresa teve novos investimentos, o que permitiu o desenvolvimento de avi\u00f5es mais modernos. Em 1995, voava pela primeira vez o jato regional ERJ-145. Foi o in\u00edcio do crescimento da Embraer no mercado mundial de avia\u00e7\u00e3o comercial. A fam\u00edlia ERJ inclu\u00eda mais dois avi\u00f5es, o ERJ-140 e o ERJ-135, com capacidade para mais passageiros.\n\nA partir de 1999, o portf\u00f3lio de avi\u00f5es comerciais ganhou novo impulso com a fam\u00edlia dos E-Jets, que inclui os modelos E170, E175, E190 e E195. Com os novos avi\u00f5es, a Embraer se transformou na terceira maior fabricante aeron\u00e1utica do mundo, atr\u00e1s apenas das gigantes Boeing e Airbus.\n\nNos \u00faltimos anos, a Embraer tem se dedicado ao desenvolvimento da segunda gera\u00e7\u00e3o dos E-Jets, batizada de E2, com os modelos E175-E2, E190-E2 e E195-E2. Na \u00e1rea de defesa, o principal projeto \u00e9 o cargueiro militar KC-390, o maior avi\u00e3o j\u00e1 desenvolvido pela Embraer. O primeiro prot\u00f3tipo do avi\u00e3o quase sofreu um acidente em outubro do ano passado, sofreu alguns danos na estrutura, mas j\u00e1 voltou a voar. Agora, est\u00e1 na fase final de testes em voo.\n\nCorrup\u00e7\u00e3o e venda para a Boeing\n\nUm dos maiores esc\u00e2ndalos da Embraer veio \u00e0 tona em 2016. A empresa se viu obrigada a pagar uma multa de US$ 206 milh\u00f5es para encerrar um suposto caso de corrup\u00e7\u00e3o que vinha sendo investigado pelas Justi\u00e7as dos EUA e do Brasil.\n\nAs autoridades conclu\u00edram que a empresa pagou propina em negocia\u00e7\u00f5es feitas na \u00cdndia, Ar\u00e1bia Saudita, Rep\u00fablica Dominicana e Mo\u00e7ambique. No ano passado, o ex-diretor Colin Steven se declarou culpado em um tribunal norte-americano.\n\nDesde o final de 2017, a Embraer negocia com a Boeing uma poss\u00edvel venda da empresa brasileira para a fabricante norte-americana. O neg\u00f3cio, no entanto, sofre restri\u00e7\u00f5es do governo brasileiro, que tem direito a veto na transfer\u00eancia do controle da Embraer. A principal preocupa\u00e7\u00e3o est\u00e1 relacionada com a \u00e1rea de defesa.\n\nAs duas empresas procuram alternativas para as negocia\u00e7\u00f5es. Uma das possibilidades \u00e9 a cria\u00e7\u00e3o de uma terceira empresa, que ficaria com a \u00e1rea de avi\u00f5es comerciais.\n\nVeja no \u00e1lbum de fotos no come\u00e7o deste texto todos os modelos j\u00e1 fabricados pela Embraer. O \u00e1lbum tem 35 fotos, mas no total s\u00e3o 46 modelos. \u00c9 que, em alguns casos, os modelos s\u00e3o muito parecidos, e as legendas se referem \u00e0s demais vers\u00f5es na mesma foto.\n\nLeia tamb\u00e9m:\n\n\u2013 Boeing 737 atinge marca de 10 mil unidades e \u00e9 o jato mais popular do mundo\n\n\u2013 Conhe\u00e7a os 5 jatos mais vendidos do mundo; custam de R$ 16 mi a R$ 203 mi\n\n\u2013 A\u00e9rea sugere criar nova classe dentro do avi\u00e3o: no compartimento de carga\n\nComo \u00e9 o teste de um avi\u00e3o novo, que inclui at\u00e9 queda de barriga"}
-{"text": "BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN \u2014 The most hated place in Bed-Stuy may be the Brevoort Station Post Office, whose \"Soup Nazi\" employees have been refusing to deliver packages and sometimes scaring customers for more than 30 years.\n\nAs one Yelp reviewer put it, \"There IS a God and he HATES you because THIS is your post office!\"\n\nDespite residents' numerous complaints on social media and to the United States Post Office, the Brevoort Station Post Office at 1205 Atlantic Ave. remains a place that continually provokes outrage and despair.\n\nJen Sarantakis, 44, runs an interior design firm from her Quincy street apartment and depends on timely deliveries to keep her business afloat, she said. But for more than two years her packages have either been left exposed on the street or not delivered at all. \"Coming from a business standpoint, I wish I had known this previous to renting the unit,\" said Sarantakis of her local post office's poor service. \"If I had the money I'd move.\"\n\nSarantakis has tried calling the Brevoort Station Post Office, filing complaints with the USPS, and even chasing down her mail carrier and begging him to ring her doorbell when he delivers her packages. Meanwhile, she has found packages stuffed behind her garbage cans, a deposit check worth about $50,000 sitting outside her front door and a huge mini trampoline at the bottom of her stoop. \"I'm a petite person,\" said Sarantakis, who stands four-foot-nine. \"Somebody could have walked off with this huge package, and I had to figure out how to get it up my steps.\"\n\nSarantakis' downstairs neighbor, Christophe, added that their mail is frequently left on top of the mailbox \u2014 out on the street \u2014 and that Saturday deliveries are few and far between.\n\nYelpers confirm Sarantakis' poor opinion of the Brevoort Station Post Office.\n\n\"There was a guy in here shouting disgusting racial slurs, talking loudly (on the phone) about obscene topics, and he asked a woman behind me if she was selling her body,\" Sherri N. posted on Sept. 5. \"The USPS workers did NOTHING to kick this guy out. Everyone felt uncomfortable and unsafe with him there.\" Julie N. added, \"My local postman sometimes shows up reeking of booze, or openly smoking pot, and sometimes loiters in my lobby getting into a screaming match with someone on his cell phone.\"\n\n"}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\nAfter celebrating 4th of July with family, Jill and Derick Dillard began a new chapter of their lives. They are headed overseas to begin full-time mission work. For security reasons, the Dillards have chosen to keep their whereabouts a secret for the time being.In the following video, the Duggars pray for Jill and Derick before driving them to the airport."}
-{"text": "Story highlights US capital starts issuing nation's first gender neutral driver's licenses\n\nOregon will begin offering gender neutral licenses in July\n\n(CNN) Nic Sakurai was among the first people outside the Benning Road Department of Motor Vehicle office in Washington on Tuesday morning at 7:15.\n\nSakurai had created a Facebook event and invited others to join the historic day: They would become the first people in the United States to choose X as their gender marker instead of male or female on driver's licenses and identification cards.\n\nThe X signifies gender neutral, the preferred designation for people like Sakurai who don't identify as male or female.\n\nThey may use different words to describe how they identify, such as gender nonconforming, gender fluid, gender nonbinary or agender, as Sakurai prefers. Whatever the case, \"male\" and \"female\" and \"he\" and \"she\" don't fit how they see themselves.\n\n\"I don't feel that sense of gender as something that is part of my core innate experience,\" said Sakurai, who uses the pronoun \"they.\"\n\nRead More"}
-{"text": "Need an easy grab-and-go breakfast? Make these Oatmeal Almond Butter Breakfast Cookies! They are PACKED with nourishing ingredients to fuel you through your day.\n\nPhotography Credit: Marta Rivera\n\nWe can all probably use a breakfast recipe for busy schedules and on-the-go eating. These Oatmeal Almond Butter Breakfast Cookies check off the box for both of those needs.\n\nOur Favorite Videos Get Recipe \u00bb\n\nBREAKFAST COOKIES FOR BUSY MORNINGS\n\nAs a frazzled mother of twin toddlers, I often skipped breakfast out of sheer desperation and plain exhaustion. I\u2019d whip up a bowl of oatmeal for the babies, guzzle a mug of coffee, and call it a morning.\n\nUnfortunately, the lack of effort began to show in my overall health. I was cranky in the middle of the day, my energy was kaput, and I was getting sick more often.\n\nI developed this recipe for Oatmeal Almond Butter Breakfast Cookies to pack as many minerals, vitamins, and beneficial fats into an easy-to-make (and eat) meal.\n\nHEALTHY BREAKFAST COOKIES\n\nWhen I tell you that these cookies will sustain you until lunch, I\u2019m not lying\u2014you won\u2019t need more than one for breakfast.\n\nAnd when I say these cookies are packed with good stuff, I\u2019m not exaggerating. Magnesium and manganese (found in the almond butter and rolled oats) are beneficial for bone health. There\u2019s vast amounts of protein and fiber in most of the ingredients (like the oats!), as well. B-vitamins, vitamin E, zinc, iron, and folate are others that are packed into this little cookie.\n\nWhile I came up with this recipe for my own sake, the twins developed a taste for them, too. Years later, it\u2019s become a family favorite. It\u2019s great, too, because children need many of the vitamins and nutrients found in this cookie.\n\nWHAT IS WHEAT GERM?\n\nWheat germ is an ingredient that you may or may not be familiar with. It is the embryo (sprouting section) of the wheat kernel, which is usually separated during the milling process.\n\nYou can typically find it in the baking section of your supermarket. If you are unable to locate it there, check the breakfast aisle near the oatmeal and grits.\n\nBecause it\u2019s so high in essential fatty acids (the good fats), it has a shorter shelf life than wheat flours. Once you\u2019ve opened the container, you\u2019ll need to refrigerate it or freeze it to keep it from going rancid too quickly.\n\nLooking for more ways to use wheat germ? Wheat germ is also a wonderful add-in for smoothies, yogurt, shakes, and oatmeal, or for adding to muffin or bread recipes.\n\nSWITCH UP YOUR COOKIES WITH THE SEASON\n\nI enjoy altering this recipe to compliment the seasons. Instead of using chocolate chips, I like switch it up and use dried fruits instead. Blueberries, cranberries, cherries, or raisins are some of my favorites.\n\nChanging the type of nut butter is an option, too\u2014cashew, coconut, and peanut all work well. Just make sure you\u2019re using room temperature nut butter, which will incorporate much better into the dough.\n\nHOW TO MAKE BREAKFAST COOKIES\n\nThese cookies are larger than traditional cookies\u2014they are a complete breakfast, after all.\n\nTo make them, I use a #12 ice cream or cookie scoop, which is just over a 1/4 cup (or 2 ounces). You can find the size of your ice cream scoop by looking at the number on the release lever in the bowl of the scoop. If you don\u2019t have an ice cream scoop that large, lightly brush the inside of a 1/4 measuring cup instead with melted butter or vegetable oil and use that.\n\nBecause the cookies contain wheat germ and whole wheat (which means a short shelf life), it\u2019s best to bake and eat them within 48 hours.\n\nSince this recipe makes sixteen large cookies, unless you have a large family, you probably won\u2019t be able to eat the whole batch before they start to perish. I recommend forming and freezing those you won\u2019t eat right away (see below).\n\nHOW TO FREEZE BREAKFAST COOKIES\n\nI like to make a batch of the cookies, scoop them onto a prepared sheet pan, and freeze them until solid. I take the frozen, unbaked cookies and seal them in a heavy-duty freezer bag until I\u2019m ready to bake.\n\nThen, I put them onto a sheet pan while my oven\u2019s heating up, and pop them in the oven as soon as it\u2019s warm. I add a minute to the total bake time to make sure they\u2019re baked all the way through.\n\nWhile you can certainly freeze the cookies after they\u2019re baked, I find that they tend to taste stale after thawing. This is why I prefer freezing beforehand and baking to order, so to speak.\n\nMORE QUICK, HEALTHY BREAKFAST IDEAS"}
-{"text": "On Nov. 13, 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote to a friend that nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.\n\nIn 1775 colonial forces captured Montreal during the American Revolution.\n\nIn 1927 the Holland Tunnel under the Hudson River was opened, linking New York and New Jersey.\n\nIn 1933 workers at the Hormel packing plant in Austin, Minn., staged the first recorded sitdown strike in the United States.\n\nIn 1942 the minimum draft age was lowered to 18 from 21.\n\nIn 1956 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws calling for racial segregation of passengers on public buses.\n\nIn 1971 the unmanned U.S. spacecraft Mariner 9 rocketed into orbit around Mars.\n\nIn 1972 the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from Pentagon Papers trial defendants Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo that they be allowed to see the transcript of a government wiretap on a defense lawyer's phone.\n\nIn 1973 the U.S. Senate approved the Alaska pipeline bill and sent it to President Richard Nixon for his signature.\n\nIn 1974 Karen Silkwood, a technician and union activist at Kerr-McGee's plutonium plant near Crescent, Okla., died in a car crash.\n\nIn 1975 the World Health Organization announced that Asia was free of smallpox for the first time.\n\nIn 1977 Al Capp's comic strip, \"Li'l Abner,\" made its debut in newspapers across the country.\n\nIn 1981 President Ronald Reagan ordered Adm. Hyman Rickover, 81, to give up his post as the Navy's chief nuclear officer.\n\nIn 1982 the Vietnam War Memorial was dedicated in Washington.\n\nIn 1985 Colombia's Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted, claiming 23,000 lives and razing 14 towns with an avalanche of ash and mud. (At the time, it was the world's third-deadliest volcanic disaster.)\n\nIn 1994 more than 500 people died in Haiti when late-season Tropical Storm Gordon lashed the island."}
-{"text": "I found this image via Derpibooru and I am glad I did! I have already said my piece there, but I'll post it here as well in case you haven't seen it.\n\n\n\nThis is very nicely done. Every part of this is calculated. The playful, expressive style \u2013 while simplistic \u2013 manages to highlight the different features of the different species very well. Even better than the original, I\u2019d say. The facial expressions are spot on. From this picture alone I get a pretty good idea of what each character is like, even if I hadn\u2019t seen them in the show. I can see the playful relationship between Smolder and Gallus in their eyes. The composition is very good. The color balance is great. There isn\u2019t too much empty space between the characters, but just enough to make sure they aren\u2019t a solid lump. It has just the right amount of detail, too. The energy can be felt and none of the characters stand out as more important than the rest, because this picture makes my eyes travel all over it. All without any unnecessary fluff to distract from the action. A cute and dynamic piece of art.\n\n\n\nAs an artist I find this very motivating. It makes me want to draw and get better!\n\n\n\nA well-earned fave and watch!"}
-{"text": "A police car initiates a traffic stop on Pennsylvania Avenue. UIPD released a report Thursday summing up statistics on crime and fire-related incidents from 2016 to 2018.\n\nThe University Police published the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, Thursday in order to increase transparency around campus.\n\nThe publishing of this report falls under the requirement of the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Police and Campus Crime Statistics Act and contains statistics from 2016-2018 on crime and fire-related incidents on campus as well as campus policies on safety-related activities.\n\nIn an effort to make the report more user-friendly and transparent, the most recent report was published as a website instead of a PDF document, with more navigation functions and greater accessibility for different screen sizes.\n\nIn a statement, Police Chief Craig Stone said the report was being released not just to comply with federal law, but to create a more informed campus.\n\n\u201cAn informed campus is a safer campus, and it takes the active participation of all of our community members to enhance security,\u201d Stone said in the statement.\n\nAccording to the report, University Police recorded decreases in reported rapes, burglaries and motor vehicle theft, but recorded a small increase in fondling, robbery and aggravated assault.\n\nPlaces where these increases occurred were mostly public property near, but not owned, by the University.\n\nNo fire-related injuries were reported during the time of the report; however, 10 fires were reported in 2018 compared to seven in 2017.\n\nDetails on campus policies, resources and what to expect after reporting a crime are also included in the report.\n\n\u201cOur campus remains a very safe place to live, work and study,\u201d Stone said in the statement. \u201cHowever, no community is completely crime-free, and these numbers reflect that. It is important that students and others continue to seek out resources to protect themselves and help us keep campus safe by calling 9-1-1 in emergencies and reporting any suspicious behavior to the appropriate authorities.\u201d\n\n[email protected]"}
-{"text": "Presidents Richard Nixon (National Archives), Bill Clinton (DoD) and Andrew Johnson (Official White House Portrait)\n\nThe politics of presidential impeachment is never just about removing a president or the issues wrapped into the articles of impeachment. There are always broader, often underlying forces involved and political implications that linger in the body politic far beyond the time of any impeachment drama. The current impeachment thrust against President Trump is no exception. Consider the underlying forces and lingering implications of the country\u2019s three previous impeachment initiatives.\n\nAndrew Johnson of Tennessee\u2013a simple man, a tailor by trade\u2013was considered something of a national hero in the North during the Civil War. When the secessionist crisis began, he declared his intention to stay with the Union even if his state seceded, which it did. True to his word, he stayed in Washington as Southern officials confiscated his lands and harassed his family. When he accepted an appointment from Abraham Lincoln as military governor of those portions of Tennessee recaptured by the North, he put himself in constant mortal danger. Any Confederate who managed to kill him would be hailed as a hero throughout the South, and it was well known that conspiracies against his life were abundant.\n\nThough a slave holder (he possessed a slave couple and their three children), he despised the planter aristocracy and fancied himself a champion of the South\u2019s rural yeomanry, poor folks like those from his own heritage. As military governor he fostered legislation outlawing slavery in the state while also granting amnesty to former Confederate sympathizers. Widely considered a man of sound principle, he was selected by Lincoln as the Republicans\u2019 vice presidential candidate in 1864.\n\nWhen thrust by fate into the presidency in the spring of 1865, however, he proved himself unequal to the challenge. Initially he sought to shape a Reconstruction policy aimed at bringing the Southern yeoman class to the fore while keeping the planters at bay. But ultimately he sought to cement the planters\u2019 loyalty as a means of undermining the agitations of those congressional forces known as the Radical Republicans, bent on a punitive approach to Reconstruction. Johnson\u2019s underlying racialist attitudes also came into view as he adopted a policy of ensuring that freed slaves did not get a foothold into the democratic process. His terms for readmitting former Confederate states into the Union were remarkably mild.\n\nThus did the maladroit president destroy his standing with the voters, who in 1866 gave the congressional opposition veto-proof dominance over both houses of Congress. That began Congress\u2019s Radical Reconstruction, which pushed Johnson onto the political defensive. Congress essentially took over the government, often in league with Johnson\u2019s own Cabinet members, particularly War Secretary Edwin Stanton. Fearing Johnson would fire Stanton, Congress passed, over Johnson\u2019s veto, the Tenure of Office Act, which placed restrictions on the president\u2019s ability to discharge his subordinates. Johnson defied Congress and sought to fire Stanton.\n\nThat action promptly led to a House impeachment initiative and a Senate trial. Johnson escaped Senate conviction by a single vote on three counts, including his violation of the Tenure of Office Act. But the president was reduced to political impotence as Congress essentially ran the government without much regard to the institutional powers and prerogatives of the executive.\n\nIt didn\u2019t matter that the Tenure of Office Act was patently unconstitutional, a rogue infringement on the president\u2019s ability to carry out his duties. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed its unconstitutionality in a 1926 ruling involving similar questions of congressional intrusion into the realm of presidential prerogative\u2014in that case, the president\u2019s exclusive power to remove staff whose duties are an extension of presidential authority. Thus we see that the Johnson impeachment was in part a spectacle of Congress seeking to destroy a president for resisting its own illicit law.\n\nHistorians have debated the politics of Reconstruction over the past 150 years, and prevailing attitudes have shifted over that time. Once considered disruptive to the process of national healing after the Civil War carnage, the Radical Republicans have enjoyed a resurgence of respect in recent decades. But for our purposes the central point is that, when the Radical Republicans essentially took control over the executive branch during the Andrew Johnson years, they altered the constitutional balance of power for three decades. Future presidents, mindful of Johnson\u2019s ordeal, tended to defer to Congress even on matters that could be considered within the president\u2019s purview.\n\nIt wasn\u2019t until the White House tenure of William McKinley, some 30 years after the Johnson impeachment, that the nation had a president who sought to create his own clear power base\u2014in part by fostering cordial relations with members of Congress and the press, but in part also through extensive efforts to connect with the American people and generate waves of support for his policies throughout the country. Subsequently, the two Roosevelts built on that approach in dramatic ways, putting an end to any lingering impact of the Johnson impeachment.\n\nThe lessons of the 1974 impeachment drama involving Richard Nixon tracked in some ways with those of the Johnson episode. In the wake of that political drama, involving the first and only presidential resignation, the executive branch came under increasing scrutiny from Congress, and the balance of power shifted away from the White House as congressional investigations uncovered manifold abuses of power within the CIA, the FBI, and other federal agencies.\n\nBut the Nixon impeachment inquiry, which began in the House Judiciary Committee, tracked with the Johnson precedent in another important way. Johnson\u2019s supporters had managed to get the Senate to drop House charges that went beyond actual violations of law. For example, the House added an article of impeachment centered on Johnson\u2019s inappropriate rhetoric, in which he \u201ccalled his opponents traitors and likened himself to Jesus Christ,\u201d as University of Texas professor Jeffrey Tulls describes it. But the Senate rejected that article as being too political in intent and nature. \u201cBy establishing the principle that \u2018high crimes and misdemeanors\u2019 must refer to violations of law,\u201d writes Tulls, \u201cJohnson narrowed the debate to charges for which his guilt was very questionable.\u201d That may have saved him in the Senate vote.\n\nAs Tulls points out, Democrats during the Nixon impeachment drama sought to embrace a broader definition of impeachment offenses than Republicans were willing to embrace. The result was a compromise that gained general acceptance\u2013namely, that \u201cthe language of the articles of impeachment encased the criminal charges in a broader rhetoric that asserted the president had abused his office.\u201d The focus was on strictly legal violations.\n\nThis turned out to be hugely significant. As more and more revelations of Nixon\u2019s transgressions tumbled out and the House Judiciary Committee proceeded to vote on articles of impeachment, it became increasingly difficult for Republicans to resist the conclusion that the president had violated a sacred trust. Seven Judiciary Committee Republicans voted for one article of impeachment, six on another, and two on another (two other articles received no GOP votes).\n\nOf course Nixon resigned when the so-called \u201csmoking gun\u201d tape was released, revealing his involvement in efforts to cover up the Watergate burglary of June 1972, and the impeachment process came to an end. But before it ended it established two notable principles: first, it affirmed the Johnson precedent that articles of impeachment should focus on specific violations of law and avoid appearances of political zeal; and, second, it established the principle that, for purposes of legitimacy, impeachment efforts should avoid the appearance of being strictly partisan affairs. When Nixon\u2019s political support collapsed in the wake of the smoking gun tape, it was a party of Republican leaders who went to the White House to tell him he must resign.\n\nThe impeachment of Bill Clinton in December 1998 reinforced the principle that presidents shouldn\u2019t be impeached for actions that don\u2019t rise to actual legal infractions. In voting on four articles of impeachment, the House approved only the two that most clearly described such infractions\u2013specifically, perjury and obstruction of justice. There was little doubt of the president\u2019s guilt in both instances, but the question ultimately centered on whether the infractions rose to a level that justified the reversal of a presidential election. There were sound arguments on both sides.\n\nBut unlike in the Nixon case, there was never a bipartisan political consensus that the president should be impeached and convicted. Yes, five Democrats voted for impeachment on three of the initial four articles, and one Democrat supported the fourth. On the other hand, for those two articles approved by the House, one garnered five Republican opposition votes, the other eight. In the Senate, all Democrats voted against conviction, and there was never any real doubt about Clinton\u2019s acquittal in a Senate that required a two-thirds vote for conviction, particularly given that five Republicans voted against one of the articles while ten voted against the other.\n\nAs the drama unfolded in November 1998, Democrats picked up five House seats in midterm elections that the GOP House Speaker, Newt Gingrich, thought would yield a Republican pickup of 30 seats, based on the impeachment revelations. He didn\u2019t understand the politics of impeachment. Whereas the Andrew Johnson impeachment ensued after the president\u2019s congressional opposition had gained complete control over both chambers, the Clinton challenge was designed as political leverage to bolster the Republicans\u2019 congressional standing. It didn\u2019t go over very well with the voters, and the clear lesson at the time was that impeachment initiatives that appear nakedly partisan are going to unleash political opprobrium upon the perpetrators.\n\nIs that lesson still in force? Perhaps we should hope so, for the sake of the Republic.\n\nRobert W. Merry, longtime Washington journalist and publishing executive, is the author most recently of President McKinley: Architect of the American Century."}
-{"text": "Patton Oswalt took to Twitter Monday morning to remember his late wife, true crime writer Michelle McNamara, with a photo and a few gut-wrenching sentences about life after her unexpected death.\n\nSince McNamara's untimely death in April , Oswalt has been sharing beautiful notes about his wife on Twitter. He also included a heartbreaking quote from the couple's 7-year-old daughter, Alice.\n\nStill remember that one. I could listen to her for hours. For a lifetime -- that was the plan, at least. https://t.co/3FIkJ36JkU\n\n\"When your mom dies you're the best memory of her. Everything you do is a memory of her.\" -- Alice Oswalt, 7\n\n\"The reaction to her passing, the people who are shocked at her senseless absence, is a testament to how she steered her life with joyous, wicked curiosity,\" the \"Ratatouille\" actor wrote. \"Her family is devastated but can\u2019t help remember all of the times she made them laugh or comforted them, and they smile and laugh themselves. She hasn\u2019t left a void. She\u2019s left a blast crater.\""}
-{"text": "OUCH!\n\nThis is what you get when you broadcast fake news day after day\u2026\n\nOn Tuesday James O\u2019Keefe and Project Veritas released video that shows a top CNN producer admitting the Russia-Trump story is a complete hoax.\n\nThis came after CNN was forced to retract a fake news story on Russia over the weekend after they were threatened with a massive lawsuit.\n\nNow this\u2026\n\nLook at the feedback CNN gets during live broadcast on Russia.\n\nLOL check out CNN trying to report on Russia now\u2026 \ud83d\ude02 pic.twitter.com/QvIyu7F3Sl \u2014 ZeroPointNow (@ZeroPointNow) June 28, 2017\n\nTRENDING: BREAKING REPORT: President Trump to Nominate Amy Coney Barrett to Replace Ginsburg on the Supreme Court"}
-{"text": "Support the North American Mycological Association\n\nNAMA in the News\n\nJoin us to learn more about fungi, have more fun, and make friends\n\nThe North American Mycological Association welcomes all people with an interest in mushrooms and mycology without regard to race, gender, age, color, national origin, ethnic background, socioeconomic status, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity. Go to http://www.namyco.org/join.php. Members of affiliated clubs receive a $5 discount. For only $25 ($30 for non-affiliated members), you will receive 6 issues of The Mycophile, full access to our expanded website, and a standing invitation to all NAMA-sponsored forays. Members enjoy all the benefits NAMA has to offer, including our newsletter, The Mycophile, which is full of educational articles and news about upcoming forays.\n\nRenew Your NAMA Membership Today\n\nLearn More About NAMA\n\nLichen Basics\n\nRenew your NAMA membership today! Visit http://www.namyco.org/join.php and select thebutton at the top of the page.If you can\u2019t remember your username or password, click on thelink below thebutton at the top right of the page. Enter the email address used for your membership and you will be sent a log-in info or if your renewal date is passed, email membership secretary Christy Ecsedy at membership@namyco.org We've produced a new video about NAMA: what we do, who we are, what happens at a NAMA foray. Check it out on our new NAMA YouTube Channel! Click here to learn more about NAMA\n\nLichens are amazing organisms. They are all around us and we hardly notice them. Found on soil, tree bark, rocks and even some under water, they are actually two organisms living together (symbiosis). The major component is a fungus (mycobiont), hence they are classified as fungi \u2014 the vast majority being ascomycetes. Lichens are fungi that have taken up farming, and they are known as lichenized fungi. There are four major growth forms \u2014 crustose, foliose, fruticose and squamulose.\n\nTo see the page on Lichens written by Dorothy Smullen, follow this link..."}
-{"text": "View Images\n\nIn addition to yesterday\u2019s post regarding NGTV\u2019s casting call for a \u201cteam leader\u201d on a new adventure TV show, we have yet another dream job to tell you about today:\n\nOFFICIAL CASTING NOTICE FOR ENGINEER:\n\nNational Geographic seeking to hire a tech wiz to develop, customize, deploy, and modify equipment for field scientists exploring new frontiers. Will work hand-in-hand with National Geographic\u2019s Remote Imaging Lab. Must be a visionary who can offer practical solutions to a wide variety of technical problems. We\u2019re looking for National Geographic\u2019s version of James Bond\u2019s \u201cQ\u201d- an imagineer who will not just be a lab-based visionary, but also a field engineer, called on to create and operate equipment on site across multiple expeditions.\n\nOutdoor skills required as the sites will be in remote areas of the globe, often in rugged terrain. Must have the ability to handle rapidly changing situations, be passionate about technology and adventure, AND be as comfortable on camera as in the field. Full-time employment with a minimum one-year contract. Be prepared to see your dreams become a reality and have the experience of a lifetime.\n\nIf interested, please email us at NGTeamLeader@gmail.com and let us know about why you\u2019re perfect for the job. Make sure to include your name, contact information and a photo and/or video links. (Submissions without photos or video WILL NOT be considered.) U.S. passport and enthusiasm required."}
-{"text": "When we need to decide how to store data and model behavior, there are two choices: Classes and Structs. In this article, I will explain which type should be preferred in different situations.\n\nClasses and Structs may look like the same person at first glance\n\nLet\u2019s talk about what they can offer in common.\n\nThey both define properties to store values. If we want to create an object with some properties and behaviors, we can use both of them.\n\nBoth of them define subscripts so we can reach their values via subscript syntax.\n\nClasses and structs have initializers to create instances with initial values.\n\nConforming to protocols are also in common. Some protocols may be class only so only classes can conform to that protocol, otherwise both can conform it.\n\nFinally, they can be extended.\n\nClasses yet have some extra capabilities that structs don\u2019t have.\n\nThey can inherit another classes characteristics.\n\nA class can free up assigned resources by deinitializers.\n\nSo, what about the differences?\n\nThe main difference between those two is that Classes are reference type, Structs are value type objects. Okay but what does it mean?\n\nDo you remember that cartoon? :)\n\nWhat is a reference type?\n\nWhen we are initializing an object, RAM allocates memory space and address to it. Then, assigns its memory address to the object we created.\n\nLet\u2019s see this with an example.\n\nWe have an Animal class that only has a name property. Then, we create a dog object and create cat object but assign dog to the cat object.\n\nSince they are reference type objects, they are pointing to the same memory address, so they are actually the same objects! If we change one of their property, other one will be affected as well because they are pointing to the same address. Let\u2019s take a look below.\n\nclass Animal { var name: String init(name: String) { self.name = name } }\n\nvar dog = Animal(name: \u201cdog\u201d) var cat = dog\n\nprint(dog.name) // prints \"dog\" print(cat.name) // prints \"dog\"\n\ndog.name = \u201chound\u201d\n\nprint(cat.name) // prints \"hound\"\n\nA note from Swift official documentation\n\nUnlike value types, reference types are not copied when they are assigned to a variable or constant, or when they are passed to a function. Rather than a copy, a reference to the same existing instance is used.\n\nWhat is a value type?\n\nAnother note from Swift official documentation\n\nA value type is a type whose value is copied when it\u2019s assigned to a variable or constant, or when it\u2019s passed to a function.\n\nPeriod. It is that simple.\n\nLet\u2019s see the above example with minor modifications.\n\nstruct Animal { var name: String init(name: String) { self.name = name } } var dog = Animal(name: \u201cdog\u201d) var cat = dog\n\nprint(dog.name) // prints \"dog\" print(cat.name) // prints \"dog\"\n\ndog.name = \u201chound\u201d\n\nprint(cat.name) // prints \"dog\"\n\nWhen to use classes?\n\nWe need to use classes when we need Objective-C interoperability. If we use an Objective-C API that receives data from our side, those data must be a class because Objective-C doesn\u2019t have structs.\n\nAnother use case for classes is when we need to control identity. If we need an instance of an object through the app and we want to control its identity, classes are the solution.\n\nWhen to use structs?\n\nAlmost anytime. We must use structs by default to represent common kinds of data. Structs in Swift are powerful and have many features. They have stored properties, computed properties and methods. Also, they can conform to protocols and gain their behaviors. Many of types from Foundation and the Swift standard library are structs; for example strings, arrays, numbers and dictionaries.\n\nStructs help you track a portion of your code since they are value types. We only need to focus to the area where the struct is used, because there is not any object that points to struct\u2019s address and manipulate it. Otherwise we need to look at possible places that may change our object\u2019s value.\n\nApart from classes, we should use structs when we don\u2019t control identity. Think about fetching data from server, there may be same objects but since we are not controlling identity, we better use structs.\n\nReferences:"}
-{"text": "ALL of the ABOVE rewards, SPECIAL EDITION BLU-RAY, AUTOGRAPHED SCREENPLAY, your NAME in the CREDITS and\n\n...a PIECE of the SET! Hollywood set designers are going to create a one-of-a-kind futuristic prison cell and you will receive a small section of the wall!\n\nLess"}
-{"text": "Friedman and David S. Goyer wrote the script together and were poised to both serve as showrunners.\n\nThere's a change at the top of Apple's Foundation.\n\nCo-writer and co-showrunner Josh Friedman has departed the series based on Isaac Asimov's book of the same name.\n\nSources say Friedman's decision to exit the big-budget space drama was amicable. He and co-writer/co-showrunner David S. Goyer (Syfy's Krypton, Batman Begins) had always planned for one of the two to remain the boots-on-the-ground showrunner on the series from Skydance Television. Friedman (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) will now focus on his work in features, which includes the upcoming sequel to James Cameron's Avatar. He will remain involved as an executive producer. Goyer will now become the lone showrunner while also contributing scripts and overseeing the writers room.\n\nApple and Skydance TV declined comment.\n\nFoundation tells the complex saga of humans scattered on planets throughout the galaxy, all living under the rule of the Galactic Empire. The drama landed at Apple in a competitive situation after Skydance partnered with the Asimov estate for rights to the book, which was among the influences for Star Wars and other sci-fi works. Asimov's Foundation trilogy has been developed multiple times for feature films and television, with HBO attempting to bring it to television with Roland Emmerich and Westworld co-showrunner Jonathan Nolan. Goyer and Friedman were attached as co-writers and co-showrunners when Apple committed to developing a script in April 2018. Four months later, it was picked up to series. The project was not among the scripted originals that were touted during Apple's presentation to Hollywood in March.\n\nFoundation is the latest series exit for Friedman, a well-respected sci-fi writer whose credits include Fox's Locke & Key and NBC's Crossbones and Emerald City, as well as the features The Black Dahlia and 2005's War of the Worlds. Friedman revealed he was pushed out of TNT's Snowpiercer reboot as the cabler was looking for a showrunner who would be more \"compliant.\" The drama \u2014 which remains without a premiere date after it was picked up to series in January 2018 \u2014 has since seen director Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange) quit and refuse to do reshoots amid a \"radically different vision\" from new showrunner Graeme Manson (Orphan Black).\n\nFor Apple, meanwhile, Foundation becomes the latest of its scripted originals to experience a showrunner shuffling. The highly anticipated Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon comedy-drama The Morning Show replaced showrunners early on, while Bryan Fuller and Hart Hanson exited the anthology Amazing Stories.\n\nFoundation \u2014 like the rest of Apple's scripted originals \u2014 does not yet have a premiere date. Apple will launch its TV offerings \"in the fall,\" the tech giant said."}
-{"text": "\"There have been a lot of changes but we don\u2019t want to keep making excuses. It\u2019s not right. We know what standard is required and we feel that we might have dropped off that a little bit. We ground out the result against Middlesbrough in midweek and we are going to have to show that side of ourselves at the moment \u2013 show different characteristics, but we will get there.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett has renewed calls for a safe drug-injecting room in Victoria, saying homeless drug users should not be left to die.\n\nMr Kennett said he was confident the success of Sydney's supervised drug-taking centre could be replicated in Melbourne, in a location such as Richmond, Footscray, St Kilda or Fitzroy.\n\nHe said some drug users battling a range of issues, including mental illness, were being treated like the \"pariahs of society\".\n\n\"[We shouldn't say] 'well they're druggies, let them go and shoot themselves, let them shoot up, let them go and take their lives, we're better without them'. I don't agree with that.\""}
-{"text": "Prior research confirms that many skills and successes are linked to the widely known 2D:4D ratio, also knows as the digit ratio. This is the ratio of the index and ring fingers, and it is considered a reflection of the level of perinatal testosterone, the male hormone of the mother that acts on the development of the offspring during pregnancy.\n\nBut research conducted by a team of scientists from HSE\u2019s Centre for Institutional Studies (John Nye, Maria Yudkevich, Maxym Bruhanov, Ekaterina Kochergina, Ekaterina Orel, and Sergei Polyachenko) became the first study to use Russian data to show the link between the 2D:4D ratio and a person\u2019s income. The study was published in the journal Economics and Human Biology.\n\nRegression analysis was carried out using the results of the 20th round of the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey - Higher School of Economics (RLMS-HSE). The number of observations in the base regressions totalled nearly 700 for men and 900 for women, and the age of the subjects varied between 25 and 60. A 2D:4D ratio was made for each participant using a specialised apparatus. In addition, the respondents, whose identities remained anonymous, were asked a number of questions concerning income and salaries.\n\nThe results of the regression analysis showed a negative correlation between the income and 2D:4D ratios of women. In other words, the higher the salary, the lower the ratio. The effect was negative even when taking into account salary predictors such as gender, age, education level, job position, and the position\u2019s economic sector. What is interesting is that this quantitative association is seen in men as well, though only after taking into account respondents\u2019 level of education. This peculiarity, the authors note, is the subject of future research on broader, more multidisciplinary topics such as the connection between 2D:4D and academic success, as well as associations between education level and 2D:4D.\n\nResearchers are carefully studying income variation. In particular, they are analysing income predictors such as intellectual capabilities and psychological factors, as well as a person's biological characteristics, notes one of the study\u2019s authors, Maria Yudkevich. This is why 2D:4D research is truly a multidisciplinary topic.\n\nHow the Digit Ratio is Calculated\n\nThere are several ways to figure out the 2D:4D ratio. The above-mentioned research uses an electronic caliper. Respondents were asked to place their hands on a flat surface, palms facing upwards, and straighten out their fingers. A researcher then measured the length of the index and ring fingers on both hands (the paper notes that this measurement should be taken from the centre of the fold between the finger and palm up to the very tip of the finger so that the upper lip of the caliper does not press against the finger). Lastly, the interviewer recorded the results.\n\nAnother method for taking the measurement is more hands-on, but offers practically the same level of reliability. Respondents\u2019 palms are scanned and then the fingers measured using a photograph. The main advantage to this method is that secondary measurements can easily be taken. But when a large number of research subjects are participating, it can be quite expensive to equip each researcher with the special scanner.\n\nFebruary 02, 2017"}
-{"text": "A Lava Jato do Minist\u00e9rio P\u00fablico Federal no Paran\u00e1 denunciou o ex-senador e atual presidente do MDB, Romero Juc\u00e1, e o ex-presidente da Transpetro S\u00e9rgio Machado pelo envolvimento em esquema de corrup\u00e7\u00e3o mantido na subsidi\u00e1ria da Petrobras.\n\nSegundo a den\u00fancia, Juc\u00e1 recebeu pagamentos il\u00edcitos de pelo menos R$ 1 milh\u00e3o em 2010 em raz\u00e3o de quatro contratos e sete aditivos celebrados entre a Galv\u00e3o Engenharia e a Transpetro.\n\nSegundo a for\u00e7a-tarefa, a Galv\u00e3o Engenharia - em raz\u00e3o de contratos e aditivos mantidos na Transpetro e \"com o objetivo de continuar recebendo convites para participar das licita\u00e7\u00f5es da estatal\" - efetuava o pagamento de propinas de 5% do valor de todos os contratos com a subsidi\u00e1ria da Petrobras \"a integrantes do MDB que compunham o n\u00facleo de sustenta\u00e7\u00e3o de S\u00e9rgio Machado\", ent\u00e3o presidente da estatal.\n\nA den\u00fancia aponta que Machado foi indicado e mantido no cargo por Romero Juc\u00e1 e integrantes do MDB e tinha \"a fun\u00e7\u00e3o de arrecadar propinas para seus padrinhos pol\u00edticos\".\n\nSegundo o MPF, em contrapartida ao pagamento de propinas pelas empresas, S\u00e9rgio Machado, \"garantiria \u00e0s empreiteiras a continuidade dos contratos e a expedi\u00e7\u00e3o de futuros convites para licita\u00e7\u00f5es\".\n\nO pagamento da propina pela Galv\u00e3o Engenharia teria sido disfar\u00e7ado por meio de doa\u00e7\u00e3o eleitoral oficial de R$ 1 milh\u00e3o. Segundo a den\u00fancia, em junho de 2010, a empresa efetuou o repasse \"desses subornos\" para Romero Juc\u00e1 ao Diret\u00f3rio Estadual do PMDB no Estado de Roraima.\n\n\"As propinas, assim, irrigaram a campanha de reelei\u00e7\u00e3o de Juc\u00e1 ao Senado, bem como as campanhas do filho e de ex-esposa para o Legislativo\", diz o MPF.\n\nAs investiga\u00e7\u00f5es indicam que a Galv\u00e3o Engenharia \"n\u00e3o tinha qualquer interesse em Roraima que justificasse a realiza\u00e7\u00e3o da doa\u00e7\u00e3o oficial, a n\u00e3o ser o direcionamento de propinas para Romero Juc\u00e1\".\n\nA for\u00e7a-tarefa Lava Jato em Curitiba j\u00e1 ofereceu cinco den\u00fancias relativas ao esquema de corrup\u00e7\u00e3o na Transpetro.\n\nSegundo o Minist\u00e9rio P\u00fablico Federal, o esquema de corrup\u00e7\u00e3o investigado perdurou pelo menos at\u00e9 2014, favorecendo empresas que pagavam vantagens indevidas ao ent\u00e3o presidente da estatal, S\u00e9rgio Machado, e pol\u00edticos respons\u00e1veis por sua manuten\u00e7\u00e3o no cargo.\n\nDefesas\n\nEm nota, o advogado de Juc\u00e1, Ant\u00f4nio Carlos de Almeida Castro, o Kakay, disse que a den\u00fancia mostra \"absoluta falta de cuidado t\u00e9cnico por parte do MP\" e coloca em xeque a credibilidade das afirma\u00e7\u00f5es de S\u00e9rgio Machado.\n\n\"A defesa se reserva o direito de fazer os questionamentos t\u00e9cnicos no processo reiterando a absoluta confian\u00e7a no Poder Judici\u00e1rio e lamentando, mais uma vez, a \u00e2nsia abusiva de poder por parte do Minist\u00e9rio P\u00fablico\", escreveu Kakay.\n\nAntonio S\u00e9rgio Pitombo, advogado de Sergio Machado, informou que \"a den\u00fancia corrobora o acordo de colabora\u00e7\u00e3o processual de Sergio Machado e era aguardada por sua defesa.\"\n\nA reportagem est\u00e1 tentando contato com representantes da Transpetro e da Galv\u00e3o Engenharia. O espa\u00e7o est\u00e1 aberto para as manifesta\u00e7\u00f5es de defesa."}
-{"text": "Authorities in Massachusetts discovered hundreds of dead and injured animals, makeshift cabins, burning trash and illegal stoves on a 70-acre property Tuesday.\n\nWestport police and Dartmouth officers searched a portion of the Westport land and found three goats that had to be euthanized, dead sheep and several other sick or injured farm animals in \u201cdeplorable conditions.\u201d\n\nAuthorities said the investigation started last week after a man reported that his goats had been attacked by two Rottweilers. The dogs had been found in poor condition after escaping an \u201cunsanitary enclosure.\u201d\n\nAuthorities said they found between 600 and 800 animals in \u201cdire health.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is the worst I\u2019ve ever seen, as far as scale and conditions,\u201d lead veterinarian for the Animal Rescue League of Boston Kyle Quigley said Wednesday, according to the Boston Globe.\n\nAccording to WCVB-TV, the Animal Rescue League of Boston said that 7 dogs, 3 cats, 5 goats, a pig, a goose and 33 rabbits were taken into their care. At least four goats and one pig were euthanized.\n\nWestport police detective sergeant Tony Cestodio said the property is divided into 20 lots and is managed by individual tenants. Most of the tenants who raise livestock for sale or personal consumption had neglected their lots and animals.\n\n\u201cThey clearly don\u2019t care,\u201d he added. \u201cThey don\u2019t care about the condition of the animal; they don\u2019t care about the condition of the lot.\u201d\n\nPolice identified the owner as Richard Medeiros, of Westport. He was charged in a similar animal cruelty incident six years ago.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s the same property, same issues,\u201d Westport Police Detective Jeffrey Majewski said. \u201cIt\u2019s just as bad.\u201d\n\nCestodio said that Medeiros and the other tenants will likely face criminal charges. The tenants will only be allowed on the property to feed their animals under police supervision, according to the Globe.\n\nCestodio said he hopes that the penalties for Medeiros will face stiffer penalties since he\u2019s a repeat offender.\n\n\"I'd like this to stop,\" he added. \"Stop bringing animals up here and neglecting them. No animal should live like that.\"\n\nThe Associated Press contributed to this report.\n\nClick for more from the Boston Globe."}
-{"text": "The Court of First Instance ruled on Thursday that the joint checkpoint arrangement at the West Kowloon railway terminal is constitutional and can remain in operation.\n\nThe judgment came after four people filed legal challenges asking the court to strike down the law authorising the immigration facility. Their cases were heard together in October.\n\nImmigration checkpoint at the West Kowloon rail terminal. Photo: Jennifer Creery/HKFP.\n\nIn his 67-page judgment, Judge Anderson Chow ruled on Thursday that the law authorising the joint checkpoint arrangement was consistent with the Basic Law. All four judicial review applications were rejected.\n\nOne of the applicants \u2018Long Hair\u2019 Leung Kwok-hung said the applicants were planning to appeal.\n\n\u201cUpon a fair reading of the Basic Law establishing a broad framework for the exercise of a high degree of autonomy by Hong Kong, it is open to the legislature of Hong Kong to enact the Ordinance,\u201d Chow wrote.\n\nHe added that the Basic Law was a \u201cliving instrument\u201d that would change with the times.\n\nJoint checkpoint controversy\n\nThe joint checkpoint arrangement was first proposed by the government to speed up passenger clearance. Hong Kong and mainland officials will conduct immigration and customs procedure at the same location, instead of separately at the points of departure and arrival.\n\nWest Kowloon Express Rail Link Terminal. Photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP.\n\nThe highest lawmaking body in China \u2013 the Standing Committee of the National People\u2019s Congress (NPCSC) \u2013 issued a decision last December stating that the joint checkpoint was lawful.\n\nHowever, critics such as the democrats and the Hong Kong Bar Association argued that the arrangement would effectively cede land to China, which was unconstitutional and would hurt Hong Kong\u2019s autonomy.\n\nSee also: Explainer: The controversial joint checkpoint arrangement for Hong Kong\u2019s Express Rail Link\n\nThe joint checkpoint arrangement was passed into local law in June amidst widespread controversy. The railway terminal has since started operation, and a quarter of its area is now governed by Chinese law.\n\nOn Thursday, Chow said in his judgment that the NPCSC decision was \u201ccarefully considered\u201d and should be regarded as having \u201chigh persuasive value.\u201d\n\nFrom left: \u2018Long Hair\u2019 Leung Kwok-hung, Hendrick Lui, Kwok Cheuk-kin. Photo: Holmes Chan/HKFP.\n\n\u201cThe Hong Kong courts have no power, in my view, to determine whether the NPCSC Decision was invalid under Hong Kong laws,\u201d he added, saying that local courts lacked jurisdiction.\n\nWhile recognising the NPCSC decision to be persuasive, Chow shied away from wider questions about its status and legal effect. He said that it would not be appropriate for a first instance judge to comment on those questions when they were not strictly necessary for him to reach a conclusion.\n\nNevertheless, Chow said he did not mean that the joint checkpoint arrangement could necessarily be repeated. Any subsequent case will have be examined on its own facts and circumstances, he said.\n\nJudge was \u2018like water\u2019\n\nSpeaking after the judgment, Leung Kwok-hung said the legal battle was not yet over because the applicants planned to appeal.\n\nFormer lawmaker \u2018Long Hair\u2019 Leung Kwok-hung. Photo: Holmes Chan/HKFP.\n\n\u201cIt used to be that the NPCSC would interpret a specific law, now they interpret a bunch of laws and say that, in any case [the arrangement] will comply with the Basic Law,\u201d Leung said.\n\nHe also compared local judges to \u201ctraditional Chinese medicine pharmacists\u201d \u2013 who often have to decipher the illegible handwriting in doctors\u2019 notes.\n\n\u201cIf [local judges] have to decipher the intentions of the NPCSC, then the rule of law in Hong Kong would be like water,\u201d Leung added.\n\n\u201cI hope the legal sector will show some professionalism and explain the decision.\u201d\n\nWest Kowloon terminus of the Express Rail Link. Photo: GovHK.\n\nOn Thursday, Chow also ordered that the judicial review applicants did not need to pay the legal fees of the government, despite losing. This was because the case was related to matters of \u201cgreat, general and public importance\u201d and because the applicants were not motivated by self-interest.\n\nHowever, applicant Baggio Leung was ordered to pay the legal costs of the President of the Legislative Council, since Leung had \u201cunnecessarily dragged\u201d him into the case in the early stages of proceedings, Chow said."}
-{"text": "By now, everyone has heard about Nike\u2019s new ad campaign featuring former quarterback Colin Kaepernick. For the shoe company, that means mission accomplished. The new ad ran during last Thursday\u2019s NFL opening game.\n\n\u201cBelieve in something,\u201d Kaepernick\u2019s script reads, \u201ceven if it means sacrificing everything.\u201d\n\nWe know what Kaepernick believes in. He said when he began his NFL protests that he was \u201cnot going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people\u201d and police were \u201cgetting away with murder,\u201d leaving \u201cbodies in the streets.\u201d\n\nHis comments might have caused a stir way back in 2016 when Kaepernick started kneeling, but these days, it\u2019s the kind of message you find in everyday Democratic Party talking points.\n\nBut has Kaepernick really sacrificed everything, or even anything? By 2016, his career was stagnating. He was in and out of the 49ers starting lineup. He voluntarily entered free agency, turned down an offer from the Denver Broncos that would have cut his salary to a paltry $7 million/year and now finds himself more famous out of football than he ever was playing the game.\n\nHe is pocketing more millions from Nike and has cemented his role as a professional agitator and social critic. For a washed-up quarterback, he\u2019s not hurting.\n\nThe NFL players who are continuing Kaepernick\u2019s protest aren\u2019t sacrificing either. As I note in Erasing America, \u201cTaking a knee is cheap; making a positive difference requires more time and effort.\u201d\n\nIf these millionaire athletes really cared about these issues, they would work for change rather than grandstand on the field. Maybe they could invest part of their fortunes in the at-risk communities they claim to represent. Perhaps they could host community dialogues between youth groups and law enforcement. They could do any number of things that would make the situation better.\n\nInstead, the players selfishly exacerbate issues and alienate the fans without whom their league cannot exist.\n\nThe protests aren\u2019t raising awareness anymore because after two years of this sad spectacle awareness is as high as it is going to go. What started as controversial is now just annoying. The kneeling player is a clich\u00e9, and the helpless NFL is becoming a joke. Until they put their millions where their mouth is, no one should take the kneelers seriously.\n\nWhat about Nike? The company\u2019s stocks took a three-percent hit because of the ad campaign, losing around $4 billion in market capitalization. But the stock stabilized on Wednesday, so maybe the bleeding has stopped.\n\nTalk of a boycott and images of people burning Nike sneakers helped generate an estimated $43 million in free media, which is a win in marketing terms. Nike is obviously betting they can profit from fanning the flames of national division since their core market is among young people in the \u201ccoalition of the ascendant,\u201d and not so much the older and more fiscally prudent \u201cdeplorables\u201d who probably wear Trump-friendly New Balance sneakers anyway.\n\nThere is no sacrifice for Nike, just a cynical marketing ploy masquerading as idealism. Meanwhile, Southeast Asian sweatshop workers are pulling down around 20 cents per hour and working overtime to secure the profit margin needed to pay Kaepernick\u2019s millions. That\u2019s a lot of swoosh for the buck.\n\nSo Colin Kaepernick and Nike make money, and the kids who believe in the value of overpriced shoes and athletic gear make the sacrifice. It\u2019s a good thing youth unemployment is at a 52-year low so they can afford it. Being that woke comes with a price tag.\n\nCorrection: Colin Kaepernick has donated to 40 different local and national organizations this year. You can see the full list here.\n\nJames S. Robbins is the author of the newly released Erasing America: Losing Our Future By Destroying Our Past.\n\nThe views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller."}
-{"text": "editorials\n\nUpdated: Jul 17, 2019 17:50 IST\n\nPrime Minister Narendra Modi, for the second time in as many weeks, has pulled up ministers and Members of Parliament of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for skipping house proceedings. At a parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday, he categorically asked for a list of ministers, who were supposed to be present in the house but were not there, and reportedly said he had a way to handle them. This rebuke comes after the PM had bluntly told his MPs just last week that parliamentary attendance and participation were essential. He even told them that his selection of ministers was based on a number of parameters, which included the role performed by a particular MP in the house.\n\nIt is striking that despite Mr Modi\u2019s overwhelming authority and stature in the party, and his carrot and stick approach, in which he both warned and incentivised them, the BJP\u2019s MPs have chosen not to pay heed. This indicates that the problem is deeper, and it is not confined to merely the ruling party MPs, for the opposition benches are often empty too. Two explanations are likely. The first is that,despite the intense competition to become an MP, some of those who win elections find the parliamentary (and primary) role of an elected representative to not be to their liking \u2013 the main role of the MP is to participate and enrich the deliberations in the house on a range of issues; help make laws which serve as the framework for governance and society; and serve as a source of accountability for the executive. But this is often not what attracts all people to Parliament. The ability to dispense patronage and a shot at being a minister are more important drivers to some. The second reason, which MPs offer in self-justification, is that they have a range of responsibilities: catering to constituents; doing party work; doing advocacy for their constituencies and projects in ministries. This is what eventually helps in elections, and this takes away time. But this is a feeble defence, for all of this should be secondary when Parliament is in session.\n\nThere is no easy solution. But three steps will help. The first is making Parliament more effective. This has been a productive session, but many MPs seem to think the house is a mere rubber stamp and has little autonomy of its own. This is not true. Parliamentary interventions are crucial; debates are the heart and soul of democracy. And an effective speech, or careful research-based work in committees, can end up making a big difference. The second, as Mr Modi is seeking to do, is instituting firmer party discipline. This is not to suggest there is a whip for every discussion, but MPs must be held to greater accountability if they do skip proceedings by party authorities. And finally, it is time for voters to become more demanding of their MPs, and ask not merely what they do for their constituencies but also ask what they did in Parliament."}
-{"text": "None of this should be a surprise for those of us who have been paying attention. To begin with, it was often assumed that Our Revolution president, Nina Turner had higher political aspirations, seeing as how her only previous run for statewide office resulted in a massive 25-point loss for Ohio Secretary of State in 2014. Since the early days of Bernie Sanders' campaign in 2015, Democratic Party officials wondered why someone with such a poor track record would take on such a prominent campaign role. The answer, as it turns out, was for Turner to use the campaign and then to use her role at Our Revolution to raise her own national profile and to use that profile to lift up her friends. According to the article, one of the main reasons Our Revolution endorsed frequent Fox News contributor Dennis Kucinich for governor of Ohio was that Kucinich's running mate Tara Samples was a close friend of Turner. This would explain why a supposed \"progressive\" group would endorse someone with such a horrific record as Dennis Kucinich.\n\n\n\nIn addition, former Our Revolution staffer and DACA recipient Erika Andiola offered a scathing Facebook post in which she verified a lot of what Politico reported. Andiola described being forced out of her work due to her advocacy on the DREAM Act and described how Turner replaced her with Tezlyn Figaro, a personal friend of Turner's, who immediately came onboard and began spouting racist and xenophobic language in favor of Donald Trump's policies. In response to these allegations, Turner published a press release late Tuesday afternoon in what can only be described as a non-denial denial. In her statement, Turner said that Figaro's comments were \"under advisement\" by herself and her Board and that she was unable to comment further on Andiola's charges \"given the sensitivity of the matter.\" Oddly enough, Turner seemed to take the most umbrage with Politico's reporting on her potential run for higher office claiming that charge was \"categorically false.\"\n\n\n\nThe truth is that Our Revolution is progressive in name only. It exists to serve itself and to ratfuck the Democratic Party. Why else would you support Fox News toadie Dennis Kucinich rather than former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau head Richard Cordray? Why wouldn't you want to help elect Doug Jones in Alabama? Why wouldn't you campaign for Connor Lamb in Pennsylvania? Why wouldn't you advocate for Ralph Northam as governor for Virginia? If you don't support these Democrats in these must-win races, what exactly do you stand for?\n\n\n\nThe answer is that Our Revolution stands for itself only. They are not our friends. Like Bernie Sanders, they are borrowing the Democratic Party in name and using that name to promote themselves and their brand. They are the mirror image of the Trump Administration in that they see government as a way to enrich themselves and their friends. Don't believe me? Look at who has come to the aid of Our Revolution since the Politico article broke. The Young Turks' Cenk Uygur called it a \"hit piece\" on Twitter. Both Nomiki Konst and James Zogby immediately came to Cenk's aid. Walker Bragman immediately retweeted Konst. Common Dreams published an article by Michael Sainato attempting to discredit Politico's reporting. The damage control by the usual suspects and the lack of any purported factual errors seem to indicate the original article was grounded in sound reporting.\n\n\n\nKnowing all this, the question becomes how to stop Our Revolution moving forward. They've recently injected themselves into prominent gubernatorial races in New York and Georgia, taking on an incumbent Democratic governor in the former and trying to unseat a sitting Republican governor in the latter. As long as money is flowing in, Our Revolution will continue its arbitrary endorsements of both local and statewide candidates and ballot initiatives. Despite its abysmal track record of success, they still see themselves as kingmakers of Democratic Party politics. They honestly believe that their endorsement and their ground game can potentially catapult their chosen candidate or issue straight to the finish line.\n\n\n\nPerhaps the best option would be for candidates to simply reject any sort of Our Revolution endorsement. After all, the organization takes after Bernie Sanders, who also has an atrocious record when it comes to successfully endorsing winning candidates. Knowing what we now know about the organization and its racist and xenophobic views, candidates now have an easy out for refusing their support and Our Revolution's ground game simply isn't strong enough that it could make or break a candidate's campaign. After all, it was OTHER progressive groups that led the charge for Doug Jones, Connor Lamb, and Ralph Northam who all knew just how important getting out the vote was for their campaigns. In the end, the sooner Democratic candidates realize just how toxic Our Revolution is, the sooner we can rid these putrid parasites from our midst once and for all.\n\n\n\nAnd that time can't come soon enough."}
-{"text": "El d\u00eda 6 de enero la tradici\u00f3n de la iglesia nos propone celebrar la epifan\u00eda, o como com\u00fanmente le llamamos, d\u00eda de reyes, aunque ni eran tres, ni eran reyes, ni eran magos.\n\nDentro de la tradici\u00f3n de la iglesia el seis de enero figura como una fecha importante, donde se celebra la epifan\u00eda del se\u00f1or o como com\u00fanmente le llamamos, el d\u00eda de reyes. Los conocemos como Melchor, Gaspar y Baltazar, sabemos que nos visitan en este d\u00eda para traer regalos a los ni\u00f1os, aunque en la biblia no menciona cu\u00e1ntos eran, ni de qu\u00e9 reino proven\u00edan.\n\n\n\n\"Se ha representado a estos magos de oriente en tres personajes concretos, hombres de tres razas distintas, porque el significado b\u00edblico es ese Dios que se est\u00e1 encarnado en medio de nosotros por el amor que nos tiene \" dijo el presb\u00edtero Fabi\u00e1n V\u00e1zquez\n\nEl evangelio jam\u00e1s menciona si eran tres, esto se le atribuye a Or\u00edgenes, un te\u00f3logo cristiano all\u00e1 por el siglo III. Tampoco dice que sean reyes, solo hace el se\u00f1alamiento de que eran magos que en la antig\u00fcedad hac\u00eda referencia a los \"sabios\", hombres de gran conocimiento en diversas artes.\n\n\n\n\"la analog\u00eda es que esos magos peregrinos, esos magos que van de camino, eres tu y soy yo que vamos caminando en esta vida en busca de la felicidad, que queremos encontrar en nuestras profesiones, en nuestros trabajos, en nuestras formas de vida\" coment\u00f3 el cl\u00e9rigo.\n\nHoy son parte de la cultura popular y son vistos como figuras amistosas que llevan la ilusi\u00f3n a cada casar donde hay un ni\u00f1o preparado para recibir un regalo para iniciar con plena felicidad el a\u00f1o.\n\n\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Preview\n\nThis sophisticated volume engages with a constantly reinvented meaning of democracy by means of a complex return to the walls of Athens. On one level, it re-examines Athens from the viewpoint of the relation between democracy and the wider frame of the polis society. It thus explores concepts, commitments and practices of the polis that encountered d\u0113mokratia and reshaped it by means of opposition and dissent. On the other hand, it returns to Athens from the broader diachronic scope of modern democracy with the intention of challenging the developmental logic leading from antiquity to the modern democratic paradigm. As the editors point out, when observers consider ancient Greek democracy as a \u2018success\u2019 story, they overlook the fact that democratic practices were contested in the past and stand today as a challenging and problematic project rather than a triumphant finale to history (2).\n\nThis enterprise is organized around four distinct sections. In the first, the authors re-assess the Greek experience of democracy from the broader perspectives of historical-comparative sociology and the history of political thought. Johann Arnason takes on Christian Meier\u2019s question of the emergence of the political in Greece1 as a distinct version of the Axial breakthrough indicating cultural interaction with Near Eastern centres. Against a background centred on the problems, virtues and possibilities of monarchy, the Greek notion of the political involved the shaping of a polycentric field of conflicts associated with different patternings in diverse polis-regimes. Peter Wagner also enquires about the Greek concept of the political by exploring the trajectory of ancient and modern democracy in the context of the radical transformation of western political languages between 1770 and 1830. He argues that our relation to d\u0113mokratia is one of conceptual and institutional transformations manifesting a constant element that sustains the modern return to Athens: a \u2018democratic political imaginary\u2019 holding that the people rule themselves, as the etymology and past usage of the term indicate.\n\nIn its second part, the book examines the embeddedness of democracy in the practices of the polis-society through an analysis of genres of expression and interpretation. Egon Flaig explores how tragedy was one of the answers given by Greek intellectuals to the contradiction between collective will formation and acting on the one hand, and the lack of undisputed normative and moral orientation on the other. The tragic entanglement stating that \u2018who acts will suffer\u2019 indicated a connection between \u2018doing\u2019 and \u2018bearing the consequences\u2019, inviting reflection about the fragility of normative rules. Comedy is then studied by Lucio Bertelli as a discursive mode of dissent. Unlike other dissenters in Athens, such as Pseudo-Xenophon and Plato, Aristophanes aimed at educating the democratic citizenry and fixing the vices of the people, whose lack of wisdom and learning was not considered to be an irreparable flaw.\n\nJonas Grethlein argues against the straightforward relation between historiography and democratic culture by examining the ambiguous attitudes of the first historians towards oratory. He suggests that while Herodotus and Thucydides criticize the speeches both explicitly and implicitly, the very form of their criticism contains democratic features creating a tension that is parallel to the one between content and form in Plato. Also focusing on rhetoric, Harvey Yunis explores the evolution of its political uses on the basis of two categories: primary political rhetoric composed for delivery in political or judicial institutions, and literary rhetoric as a written genre that did not aim to affect immediate decision making. The latter genre developed a complex artistic prose deployed by critics of democracy seeking to reshape the readers\u2019 understanding of a historical event or a domain of knowledge.\n\nThe interpretive operation of the Athenian legal system is discussed by Adriaan Lanni as intertwined with democracy through its pervasive \u2018amateurism\u2019. It was not only that every player in the system was fundamentally a layman; argumentation in popular courts also reflected democratic ideology especially as regards the expression of hostility toward expertise. On the grounds of this amateurism, Athenian courts were arguably more successful at maintaining order and promoting political stability than other legal systems. Ryan Balot shifts the discussion to the tension between ancient Greek political thinking and practice with the aim of exploring within democratic politics certain ideological strands that informed the Socratic, Platonic, and Aristotelian political projects. This enterprise sustains a broader thesis about the dialectical intertwining of political thought and practice in Athens, which is traced back to Solon and precludes a binary opposition between democratic and anti-democratic discourses. Finally in this section, Elizabeth Meyer focuses on the history of inscriptions in Athens to argue against the easy connection between the epigraphic habit and the regime of democracy. Inscribing on stone was an act of memorializing and monumentalizing involving diverse cultural habits, such as honor and praise, religious traditions, political institutions and the culture of the city itself.\n\nThe third part of the book explores democracy\u2019s impact on the polis society. Sara Forsdyke discusses the uneven ways in which democracy influenced communal life. She suggests that tradition and innovation combined to produce a hybrid society in which the new did not wholly dispel the old and the existence of sophisticated formal institutions did not preclude the informal participation of women, metics and slaves in the life of the community. Claude Moss\u00e9 also focuses on democracy\u2019s principle of political participation to highlight the relation between the ambiguity of concepts such as d\u0113mos, kratos, isonomia, is\u0113goria, and so on, and the actual historical conditions that framed participatory practice, such as class-divisions and the interdependence between the d\u0113mos and the Athenian political elite.\n\nRobin Osborne examines the relation of democracy and religion. Discussing how religious beliefs and practices made possible a democratic ethos, he contends that \u201cit was in relation to the gods, and not simply in relation to other men, that individuals came to acquire and envisage their capacities for autonomy.\u201d (292) On the other hand, while religion in Athens cannot be reduced to democracy, its links to certain democratic institutions and practices, such as the number of competitive festivals open to participation by all, made the expression of religion the expression of a democratic community. Lawrence Tritle shifts attention to the impact of war on democracy and democratic society, discussing the impacts on the Athenian community of changes in military ministry after the Persian wars, the relation between war and democratic decision making, the economy, and the ways in which the Athenian democracy dealt with the question of casualties and the social consequences of war\u2019s trauma.\n\nThe book\u2019s final section examines key concepts of the ancient Greek democratic self-understanding and their transformation between antiquity and the present. Kurt Raaflaub enquires about the historical conditions in the polis that transformed a polis-being into \u201ca truly political being\u201d (324). Tracing the history of the concepts of equality and the political, he recognizes significant democratizing processes in poleis other than Athens, but contends that the fifth-century Athenian breakthrough was unique as regards the extent and characteristics of political mobilization and participation of lower class citizens. Tracy Strong explores the interrelation of tyranny, democracy and tragedy via a reading of Nietzsche\u2019s consideration of politics as a form of ag\u014dn and of tyranny as the act of considering as accomplished the world that one has made. Tragedy preserved the ag\u014dn by making available the experience of confronting two equally categorical positions and recognizing that disaster comes when one or the other or both insist on being taken as final. In the last essay, Natalie Karagiannis and Peter Wagner discuss the distinction between ancient and modern liberty. They suggest that a concept of freedom elaborated between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE included an idea of personal freedom which it combined with the democratic idea of collective freedom. This concept can provide important components of a remedy for \u2018modern\u2019 freedom both with regard to the idea of the human being as an atom and the consequences of individual liberty for the sustainability of political society.\n\nThe volume is part of the series The Ancient World: Comparative Histories which is intended to pursue the comparative study of ancient or early societies, while occasionally adopting a more diachronic scope (vii). Unlike other volumes in the series, which discuss civilizations from Asia through the Mediterranean to the Americas, the comparative perspective deployed here is more complex. The frames of comparison utilize the diachronic history of the polis, the long-term history of Athenian democracy, and divisions and differences characterizing Athenian democracy, as well as the interdisciplinary linking of classics, ancient history, the history of political thought, sociology, and political science. Indeed, with the exception of Arnason\u2019s analysis and the introduction, the book consciously remains within the limits of the European, the Greek, and often the Athenian world. As the editors explain in the introduction, while they recognize democratic \u2018alternatives to Athens\u2019, these do not become the book\u2019s focus (2).\n\nThis perspective is not comparative if comparison is understood as a juxtaposition of objects that exist on a global scale, whatever the grandiose adjective \u2018global\u2019 may be taken to mean. However, if one accepts that comparison, as J\u00f6rn R\u00fcsen notes, presupposes a certain transformation of historical consciousness that challenges the historian\u2019s own sense of the past in relation to what is \u2018other\u2019,2 then this transformation may involve various comparative frames and constellations. The reconstitution of one\u2019s perspective on Athenian democracy by means of a comparative approach involves replacing the image of Athens as a discrete entity with a complex set of relations. In other words, it involves identifying an entangled set of pathways that are open-ended and move in and out of other geopolitical and cultural topoi, but also in and out of the different topoi inscribed in the diversity of the Greek poleis, in the juxtaposition of democracy and the polis society, and in the long-term history of ancient and modern democracy.\n\nBy grounding its comparative perspective on gaps, tensions and conflicts characterizing the history of democracy and the Greek polis, the book usefully complements works utilizing a broader comparative frame which have challenged the uniqueness of the Greek paradigm by relating Greece to the Asian and Mediterranean worlds.3 Still, the inclusion of this broader perspective in the book through Arnason\u2019s essay raises significant theoretical questions about the interrelation of the two models. Comparison allows us to reinvent the historical objects it brings together by enabling their understanding in new terms generated by the comparative frame itself. This means that the image of Athenian democracy changes when historical data are examined, for instance, in comparison with the modern European democratic tradition; within the background of the diverse cultural and political traditions of the polis; or in comparison with alternatives to Athens manifested within or beyond the Greek world. How is it possible to sustain a dialogue between the different images associated with these distinct comparative frames? When it is seen from a worldly perspective, a comparative approach limited to the Greek poleis or Athenian democracy can justifiably be criticized as Eurocentric and Athenocentric, on the grounds that it naturalizes the imaginary uniqueness of Greek or Athenian history. Still, a broader frame does not straightforwardly imply a critical perspective on Eurocentrism, insofar as comparisons may well rely on concepts derived from the European tradition, such as democracy and the polis, and thus prefigure the uniqueness of the Greek paradigm. So the analysis of tensions underpinning these concepts, attempted by this volume, may serve to highlight paths of critique contained within the European tradition itself.4 Reflection on the different models of comparison as regards ancient history goes beyond the scope of the present review. Yet it attests to the book\u2019s theoretical sophistication that it invites such a reflection by suggesting that what we call \u2018Athenian democracy\u2019 is but a unifying category for a much more diversified, complex and interactive fabric of practices, concepts, historical objects and traditions, whose mutual opposition may grant new frames for comparative historiography in the ancient world.\n\nNotes\n\n1. Meier, C., Die Entstehung des Politischen bei den Griechen, Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp 1980, Eng. tr. The Greek Discovery of Politics, tr. D. McLintock, Cambridge MA.: Harvard University Press, 1990.\n\n2. R\u00fcsen, J., \u201cSome Theoretical Approaches to Intercultural Comparative Historiography\u201d, History and Theory 35, 1996: 5\u201322.\n\n3. See Horden, P. and Purcell, N., The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History, Oxford: Blackwell, 2000; Lloyd, G. E. R., Ancient Worlds, Modern Reflections: Philosophical Perspectives on Greek and Chinese Science and Culture, Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006, and Disciplines in the Making: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Elites, Learning and Innovation, Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009; Vlassopoulos, K., Unthinking the Greek Polis: Ancient Greek History beyond Eurocentrism, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007, and Greeks and Barbarians, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2013; Haubold, J., Greece and Mesopotamia: Dialogues in Literature, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2013.\n\n4. On this issue see Chakrabarty, D., Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference, Princeton: Princeton UP, 2000."}
-{"text": "It\u2019s tax time so I\u2019m seeing a lot of stressful messages on social media from freelancer friends. No one gets into freelance art-writing-animation to crunch numbers, but managing that income is part of the job. You need to make money and also understand how to properly work with it throughout the year.\n\nEveryone\u2019s situation is different, but here are some broad tax suggestions to help you out in the future:\n\nSeparate taxes from your income immediately.\n\nStart a separate bank account just for tax money. When you deposit money earned or receive automatic deposits from freelance work, make it a habit to move over at least 30% of that income to the tax account and DON\u2019T TOUCH IT . It\u2019s not your money (yet). Leave it alone if at all possible.\n\nYou probably won\u2019t need to pay out that full 30% amount, but having it separate will mean you\u2019re not in a bad spot when tax time comes around, whether that\u2019s a bulk single payment or paying via installments.\n\nKeep track of your business expenses.\n\nTracking business-related expenses can be a pain, but it\u2019s crucial to saving money: You want to record your business-related equipment purchases, software, reference material, meals, travel \u2013 all of it. If you\u2019re not tracking business expenses you\u2019re paying way more than you should in taxes.\n\nSuper simple math:\n\nIf you make $10,000 in freelance income, but spent $2500 in equipment, travel, and reference in order to make that money, you don\u2019t get taxed on $10,000, you get taxed on $7500.\n\nA 30% tax rate on $10,000 = $3000\n\nA 30% tax rate on $7500 = $2250 (You just saved $750!)\n\nSee that? It\u2019s worth it.\n\nOne easy way to track those expenses? Get a separate credit card and only use it for business stuff. That way each month you have a simple list of business-related expenses already tallied up and good to go.\n\nIn addition, keep paper receipts somewhere easy to access. Have a pen handy so when you put them away you can quickly write down any extra details not on the receipt (who you had dinner with, what the ref is for, etc.).\n\nDo the same with digital receipts. Set up an email folder/tag just for expenses and file those away for later: software purchases, digital ref material, business travel bookings you\u2019re not being reimbursed for, etc.\n\nReference material can also be the stuff you love.\n\nIf you work as a freelance creator, it\u2019s your passion and hobby, but that doesn\u2019t mean those things you buy aren\u2019t business expenses.\n\n\u2022 Comic freelancers write off comic purchases.\n\n\u2022 Independent game designers write off game purchases.\n\n\u2022 Freelance animators write off animated movies and art books.\n\nFill in the blank for a dozen other creative fields. It\u2019s not cheating, it\u2019s part of your job: reference and research is how you keep current and improve your work.\n\nThere is a limit, of course. You can write down a loss if you spent more than you made while getting your business up and rolling, but the tax man won\u2019t accept that year after year without growth. You can\u2019t claim to be a freelancer to tax shelter your actually hobby.\n\nWhen Skullkickers (my first creator-owned series at Image) started, I spent more on art/promotion than I made so I wrote off expenses that added up to more than my freelance income, but it was only for two years.\n\nIncome is income.\n\nPaypal is income.\n\nPatreon is income.\n\nBoth sites are required to hand over records to tax offices if requested. I know it can feel like \u2018free\u2019 digital money, but don\u2019t look at it that way as it can really bite you later.\n\nSame goes for Ebay auctions you run, Etsy crafts you sell, and items/commissions you make money from using Square or any other digital currency transfer.\n\nDon\u2019t think that just because it\u2019s digital it doesn\u2019t count. We live in a digital world. It all counts.\n\nKnow where your money is coming from.\n\nKeep track of your freelance income. Seeing where your money is coming from (specific clients, projects, conventions) makes it way easier to plan and budget for the future. Over longer periods you\u2019ll see patterns as your career develops.\n\nAlso, if you\u2019re being paid in foreign currency, keep track of the conversion amount for your records. You need to know how much the money you deposited turned into with conversion to your local currency. Write it down as soon as you get that bank receipt or digital confirmation so your records are accurate. At the time of this article, I get approximately $1.26 in Canadian dollars for every US dollar I deposit. That\u2019s 26% more money I use to pay my taxes, but also 26% more income I have to accurately keep track of.\n\nOh God, the Tax Man is coming!\n\nIf you get an audit request from the IRS (US) or CRA (Canada), they won\u2019t throw you in jail. It also doesn\u2019t mean they assume you\u2019re a crook. In most cases they just mail you a letter asking for receipts that match a category total you claimed. That\u2019s it.\n\nAs long as you claimed the things you have receipts for, you are A-OK. Don\u2019t stress it. Photocopy/scan those receipts for your records and send them to the tax office. They\u2019ll confirm and you should be fine.\n\nIf there are severe discrepancies, they may choose to do a full audit. Oh $%&#, a full audit ? Yeah, that\u2019s a pain, but you did it to yourself if you claimed stuff you don\u2019t have records for.\n\nAgain, no one is going to jail. They\u2019re just going to ask for ALL your records for specific years to confirm your totals claimed. They will recalculate your taxes based on any missing information and will charge you back taxes (along with a penalty). I\u2019ve seen people go through it. It sucks, but you will survive. Expect that you\u2019ll get frequent audit requests moving forward for several years until they know your numbers are all properly logged.\n\nI\u2019ve been contacted about my taxes multiple times. It\u2019s not a big deal. The Canadian Revenue Service was quite confused by a large amount of freelance income where I wasn\u2019t charging my clients HST (tax) on it until I proved that was all from US-based/US dollar income (which don\u2019t require an HST charge), then I was fine.\n\nAn accountant is worth it.\n\nEven with good record keeping, I\u2019d recommend getting an accountant if you make substantial freelance income. They know extra options to write off things and ways to legally balance the numbers better than you do. That\u2019s their job. Just make sure you keep good records and you\u2019ll save them time, hassle, and hours spent trying to figure out what all your numbers mean.\n\nOh yeah, and here\u2019s the other kick, whatever you pay the accountant for doing your numbers is also a business write-off! If they save you a decent amount (and they probably will) it actually does pay for itself.\n\nI don\u2019t want to go into specifics because tax law and write-offs vary wildly from country to country, sometimes even state to state. A good accountant will know exactly what will work best in your region: expenses, home office write-offs, travel, retraining, all of it.\n\nStart now.\n\nFor new freelancers, you\u2019re trying to avoid the Tax Whirlpool, that awful situation where you use current income to pay last year\u2019s higher-than-expected tax bill, which drains your account so you don\u2019t put aside the tax money you should now\u2026Rinse and repeat.\n\nFor current freelancers who may be struggling with this stuff, use the frustration of dealing with this year\u2019s tax burden as the impetus to break those bad habits. Start tracking expenses today . Start putting aside the tax amount as best you can moving forward now . Some is always better than none.\n\nYou got into this business because you want to create, but it is a business. The more care you take setting up your tax/expense tracking, the less stress you\u2019ll deal with and the more time you\u2019ll have to concentrate on what matters: the work .\n\nIf you found this post helpful, feel free to let me know here (or on Twitter), share the post with your friends and consider buying some of my comics or donating to my Patreon to show your support for me writing this instead of doing paying work I can pay taxes on. \ud83d\ude1b"}
-{"text": "The fate of the Tokyo Olympics is expected to be decided within the next three months amid fears surrounding the spread of the novel coronavirus, International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound told the Associated Press in an interview on Tuesday.\n\nThe state of play: The games are on as of now, but the committee's final decision will depend on discussions with the World Health Organization, Pound said. The Olympics are set to bring roughly 11,000 athletes to Tokyo, with the event scheduled to begin on July 24. Another 4,400 athletes will arrive in Japan for the Paralympics set to start on Aug. 25.\n\nWhat he's saying: \"All indications are at this stage that it will be business as usual. So keep focused on your sport and be sure that the IOC is not going to send you into a pandemic situation,\" Pound said.\n\n\"It's a big, big, big decision and you just can't take it until you have reliable facts on which to base it.\"\n\nYes, but: Pound said if the Olympics couldn't take place in Tokyo this summer, canceling would be more likely than moving to another city, or postponement.\n\n\"You just don't postpone something on the size and scale of the Olympics.\"\n\n\"There's so many moving parts, so many countries and different seasons, and competitive seasons, and television seasons. You can't just say, we'll do it in October.\"\n\nGo deeper: CDC issues travel warning as South Korea coronavirus cases near 1,000"}
-{"text": "Dear HMB alumni and supporters,\n\nThe events of the last 2 days have been enormously emotional but also hugely humbling given the incredible show of concern and support by so many of you. Obviously the Dawgs big win in the Apple Cup also has played a big role in lifting the spirits of the entire band. Just as we did two years ago when the Huskies clinched a trip to the PAC-12, we were prepared to immediately launch this pledge drive to help get the entire band to San Jose next week. In the aftermath of the last 48 hours we paused to consider our priorities and have ultimately decided that it is definitely of paramount importance that we make every effort to get every member of the band to next week\u2019s game to support our team and our school. With your help, we can make that happen!\n\nNow that the team has beaten the Cougs and is heading to the 2018 Pac-12 Conference Championship Game, we need your help to get the entire band there! The Pac-12 Conference funds 180 band members which will leave most of our incredibly deserving freshman at home. The UW Athletic Department has continued to generously support the Husky Band and Spirit Squads, just as it has for the last four decades. However, with this special post-season opportunity, I am asking for your help so that all members of the 2018 Husky Marching Band are able to experience this incredible part of Husky Football history and help develop the same imposing home field advantage that the band and spirit squads take such enormous pride in helping to create at each home game! Any gift helps, but we hope that all friends of the band go to the link below and pledge just $50 towards getting the remaining portion of the band to Levi Stadium in San Jose. The game is coming up next Friday, November 30th at 5pm. If just 300 people make a pledge within the next 48 hours, we\u2019ll be able to announce to the members prior to Monday night\u2019s rehearsal that they will all have the opportunity to perform! Again, this would just be a pledge and you would be contacted later with information on how to make your gift. This gift will also count towards Tyee points if you are a season ticket holder, and is 100% tax-deductible.\n\nOn behalf of all the incredibly hard working members of the 2018 Husky Band, I sincerely thank you for considering to make a pledge.\n\nGo Dawgs \u2013 Beat the Utes!\n\nPledge Link: 2018 Husky Band \u2013 Pac-12 Championship Pledge\n\nGo Dawgs!\n\nDr. Brad McDavid\n\nDirector of Athletic Bands"}
-{"text": "RateMyLeague is now Closed for 2020\n\nThanks to everyone who helped make the 2020 RML season so great! We'll be back in June 2021 for next year's shows and reports!"}
-{"text": "Some party leaders are worried about Trump\u2019s impact on the Republican brand after his proposal for a \u2018complete shutdown\u2019 on Muslims entering the US\n\nWill Donald Trump\u2019s proposal for a \u201ctotal and complete shutdown on Muslims entering the United States\u201d have a lasting impact on the Republican party\u2019s brand?\n\nIn the wake of his controversial statement, party leaders from Dick Cheney to Paul Ryan have been racing to condemn Trump while some of his opponents for the nomination are now using terms like \u201cunhinged\u201d and \u201cbigoted\u201d to describe the real estate mogul.\n\nWhat will it take to stop Donald Trump? Read more\n\nRick Wilson, a Republican strategist, openly questioned whether the party \u201ccan survive Donald Trump\u201d.\n\nWilson noted \u201ca lot of Trump\u2019s fans and supporters don\u2019t want the party to survive. They want to form a populist, nationalist party that isn\u2019t about limited government and the Constitution\u201d.\n\nDenouncing what he called the \u201creek of fascism\u201d around Trump, he added: \u201cWe have to decide if this going to be the troll party or the Republican Party.\u201d\n\nStuart Stevens, a top Republican consultant who oversaw Mitt Romney\u2019s two presidential campaigns, was unconcerned. \u201cI think Trump is a not very bright guy who says a lot of crazy stuff, who happens to be running for president, who is going to lose,\u201d he said.\n\nHe predicted Trump would come in fourth in Iowa and didn\u2019t think Trump \u201cwould do well at all\u201d in New Hampshire.\n\nHe noted that political parties haven\u2019t been defined by past primary candidates who didn\u2019t get the nomination. \u201cDid it brand the Democratic party when George Wallace was running?\u201d he asked.\n\nStevens argued that Trump has far less impact in the race than another outsider candidate, Bernie Sanders, on the Democratic side. \u201cI think Bernie Sanders is having much more impact in a substantive way,\u201d said Stevens. \u201cHe\u2019s already changed Clinton\u2019s position on trade and her positioning in the race and Bernie is the most popular figure running for president.\u201d\n\nBob Shrum, a top Democratic consultant, saw Trump\u2019s campaign through the lens of history. \u201cWe\u2019ve always had what [Richard] Hofstadter called the paranoid style in American politics,\u201d Shrum said.\n\nHowever, he saw the internet changing the political dynamic and making it easier for fringe views to get attention. Shrum noted that if a young CBS producer suggested to Walter Cronkite in 1962 that they should cover a press conference of the John Birch Society, that producer would have been fired. Now, with the splintering of media and without \u201ca common base of knowledge\u201d, it\u2019s easier for Trump\u2019s views to get attention.\n\nHe noted that Trump\u2019s impact was \u201camplified by the fact that this is a semi-traumatic time of passage in America\u201d. Shrum noted that the United States will become a majority non-white country in the next generation and that there has been a massive cultural revolution in the roles of women and acceptance of gay people. He said: \u201cThis frightens and destabilizes a lot of people. People who didn\u2019t make a lot of money, but they were the white folks in charge.\u201d\n\nShrum noted that while the Republican base responds to this, he didn\u2019t think it would rise to the highest level of American government. In his opinion, \u201ca Trump or Trump-like candidate will lose badly, and even some of his milder, wackier ideas ... are not going to be enacted into law\u201d.\n\nHowever, Shrum said Trump was no longer amusing, but terrifying. An ardent liberal, Shrum noted that while he and fellow Trump critic Dick Cheney disagree on almost every issue, they both \u201cat some fundamental level share a conception of the country. Trump doesn\u2019t ... Cheney would argue with you about interpreting the constitution on certain things, and Trump just doesn\u2019t care about the constitution\u201d.\n\nThere are now a few more than 50 days until the first primary contest in Iowa, when Republican voters finally weigh in on Trump\u2019s blend of braggadocio and bigotry. Only then will it be clear if, in Wilson\u2019s words, \u201cthis is the troll party ... or the Republican party\u201d."}
-{"text": "\n\nIf money\n\nwas no object\n\nIf you could wake up and do what you wanted to do\n\nwhat would you do today?\n\nIf it didn't matter what majors made the most money\n\nIf you don't have to worry about the pile of bills sitting like a dorm room desk\n\nIf you didn't have to worry about the opinions of your friends your parents what would you be doing today?\n\nYou see if you don't have a passion for what you do what's the purpose of waking up?\n\nIf you wait on your alarm clock to wake you up every day what's the purpose? Would you get up?\n\nEvery day you should have a purpose and you should feel it with your passion a lot of you are probably\n\nfaced a similar decision\n\nWhere do you go from here graduate college? What's the next step right?\n\nSure you have certain opportunities\n\nmost opportunities that a lot of people don't have.\n\nBut what direction do you go in the choices you make today.\n\nTomorrow they might affect you for the next year five years ten years or for the rest of your life.\n\nThere's one exception to this rule.\n\nYou have to love what you do.\n\nYou have to have a passion for anything that is a nine or above\n\nBecause the time is required to make that\n\neffectively and efficiently to make them out of revenue that's going to keep you content\n\nmaybe the next ten fifteen twenty thirty years of your life.\n\nSo if you're not willing to give years to become a doctor then don't do it.\n\nIf you don't have a passion for it you're going to wake up one day and find out that you're just working a job\n\n% of your daily conversations are filled with gossip.\n\nIf it's not about the bigger picture if it's not about your goals and it's not about\n\npositivity and you benefiting people don't have the conversation.\n\nYou know at first people thought I was a little rude but it started telling me negative things about this person... \"Wait wait wait...stop\".\n\nJust stop. I don't want to hear it.\n\n\"But but I I--\"\n\n\"Nope\".\n\nI don't want it hear what you have to say if it's negative about this person. I don't care\n\nIf you believe in yourself and you believe in your vision if you believe in your plan then guess what?\n\nRisk doesn't exist.\n\n"}
-{"text": "*\n\n8 .\n\nIf you answered with a social media or webiste please state your primary source/s of news and media?"}
-{"text": "Layla Sainz Fern\u00e1ndez, la chica de 14 a\u00f1os que el martes hab\u00eda desaparecido por segunda vez en los \u00faltimos diez meses, apareci\u00f3. As\u00ed lo inform\u00f3 la agencia de noticias T\u00e9lam.\n\n\"Sabemos que esta bien, no podemos decir m\u00e1s porque se sigue un protocolo legal, ni siquiera la familia la vio todav\u00eda\", dijo hoy a T\u00e9lam una vocera Red de Docentes, Familias y Organizaciones del Bajo Flores.\n\nMir\u00e1 tambi\u00e9n Mir\u00e1 tambi\u00e9n Desapareci\u00f3 por segunda vez y sospechan de una red de trata\n\nLa fuente agreg\u00f3 que hoy, de todas formas, har\u00edan el abrazo previsto al Normal 4 --donde Layla es alumna de segundo a\u00f1o-- \"porque el pedido de justicia contin\u00faa\". \"El caso de Layla no es aislado, hay varias denuncias en la fiscal\u00eda Pompeya, a cargo de Adri\u00e1n Gim\u00e9nez, de ni\u00f1as abusadas, amenazadas y desaparecidas\", dijo la vocera a T\u00e9lam..\n\n\"Pedimos que se unifiquen las causas y que el Estado desmantele las redes de trata\", concluy\u00f3 la mujer.\n\nEl martes, a las 7 de la ma\u00f1ana, la chica de 14 a\u00f1os hab\u00eda salido de su casa ubicada en la Villa 1.11.14 hacia el colegio Normal N\u00ba4 del barrio de Flores. Desde la primera desaparici\u00f3n, esa era la tercera vez que iba sola. Siempre la acompa\u00f1aban, porque ella ten\u00eda miedo. Desde entonces nada se supo de ella hasta esta ma\u00f1ana.\n\nLayla hab\u00eda desaparecido en noviembre del a\u00f1o pasado. Durante 12 d\u00edas familiares y amigos la buscaron con desesperaci\u00f3n, hasta que la encontraron en una plaza de Flores. Los meses siguientes los atraves\u00f3 con miedo y con apoyo psicol\u00f3gico. Hace dos semanas hab\u00eda declarado y este martes hab\u00eda vuelto a desaparecer. Su familia sospecha de una red de trata.\n\nSergio Sainz, el padre de la menor, vincul\u00f3 ayer ante Clar\u00edn la nueva desaparici\u00f3n con las recientes declaraciones de su hija. \"Hace dos semanas cont\u00f3 ante la c\u00e1mara Gesell todo. Se ten\u00eda que procesar a los implicados. Pero no se hizo nada. Y ahora, a las dos semanas, me la desaparecen de nuevo\", hab\u00eda dicho Sainz.\n\nNoticia en desarrollo."}
-{"text": "So that is the team Liverpool are banking on to win the title? There could have been little pleasure for Liverpool fans in watching Manchester United being gubbed by Everton on Sunday, just a desperate hope there will be a reaction, that the shame of such a limp performance will inspire them against Manchester City on Wednesday.\n\nPerhaps it will, but you would not bank on it: almost the moment Ole Gunnar Solskj\u00e6r got the job permanently, his players began acting like he was a supply teacher.\n\nOle Gunnar Solskj\u00e6r apologises \u2013 \u2018We let the fans down. We let the club down\u2019 Read more\n\nThe 4-0 defeat to Everton was United\u2019s fifth away defeat in a row \u2013 their worst run since 1981 \u2013 and their sixth in their last eight games. They did not play especially well in the other two either. The Norwegian papers may still proudly show United third in the Solskj\u00e6rtabellen \u2013 the league table as it would be had the season begun when their man replaced Jos\u00e9 Mourinho \u2013 but the sunshine does not seem anywhere near as bright as it did.\n\nThat the problems at United run far deeper than Solskj\u00e6r is obvious. United were going nowhere under Mourinho and under him toxicity was seeping through the club: removing him was absolutely a reasonable decision, to try to salvage something from the season \u2013 a top-four finish, a run in the FA Cup or Champions League.\n\nUnited did improve in those first weeks under Solskj\u00e6r, during which he exhibited far more tactical virtuosity than he had at Cardiff. Appointing Solskj\u00e6r on a temporary basis, a smiling club legend to soothe tempers and buy some time, was probably the best decision the United board has made since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.\n\nAll of which was ruined when he was given the job on a permanent basis at the end of last month, a decision that exposed the lack of football expertise among directors, their tendency to drift on the tide of public opinion rather than plotting their own course.\n\nIt became apparent very early in his tenure that David Moyes was out of his depth at United but his appointment was hard to resist once Ferguson had nominated him as his successor. Bringing in Louis van Gaal would only have made sense if it had been part of a general pivot to run the club along more Dutch lines and he had been the trailblazer for a younger coach with similar principles.\n\nFacebook Twitter Pinterest The signing of Alexis S\u00e1nchez from Arsenal in January 2018 may turn out to be the most costly in the club\u2019s history. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian\n\nBut of course it was not, for this is a board that seems to have little concept of football as a sport that may require long-term planning, to see little value in infrastructure or philosophies or building foundations. Instead he was replaced by Mourinho, who may have served under him at Barcelona two decades earlier, but who had rebelled to practise a very different style.\n\nMourinho did fit a general pattern, though, which was United going for big names who were at or already beyond the summit, rather than having the expertise to identify rising talent \u2013 a failure that in part explains why, for all their noodle and mattress partners, they were the only member of the Premier League\u2019s top six to fail to make a profit last season. Given what it has done to their wage structure, the signing of Alexis S\u00e1nchez may turn out to be the most costly in the club\u2019s history.\n\nThe timing of Solskj\u00e6r\u2019s appointment on a permanent basis, similarly, suggests a reactive board, responding to circumstance, directors seduced by a new manager bounce rather than waiting to see if there was much substance beyond that. Solskj\u00e6r blamed his players\u2019 lack of fitness \u2013 they ran 8km less than Everton on Sunday \u2013 which makes a certain sense: United\u2019s running stats have been poor all season; perhaps his players were able to raise themselves early in his reign but have been unable to sustain it.\n\nSign up to The Recap, our weekly email of editors\u2019 picks.\n\nBut there are also deeper issues of attitude and personnel. Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial have faded badly. Chris Smalling and Phil Jones have come to seem like the statues of lions outside the British Museum: patched up and vaguely impressive in their longevity but not really there for defence.\n\nLast week\u2019s trip to Spain seems to have had the unfortunate effect of turning David de Gea into the David de Gea who plays for Spain. Fred, with good reason, looks bewildered by the chaos that surrounds him.\n\nManchester United thrashed by Everton after Richarlison kickstarts rout Read more\n\nOther than Marcus Rashford, although even he has been misfiring recently, is there a single player United fans would really be disappointed to lose?\n\nPerhaps that is some defence for Mourinho, although it would be easier to be sympathetic if he had not been responsible for at least some of the signings and if he had not ostracised much of the talent he did have; just because a hand is bad does not mean it\u2019s impossible to play it badly.\n\nThe overhaul required is enormous. It may be there is no manager in the world with experience of effecting such a revolution. Can Solskj\u00e6r do it? Maybe, but the question that pulses most obviously now is this: if United had not given him the job permanently a month ago, would Ed Woodward still have appointed him at the end of the season? Would fans want him too?\n\nThe only bright spot for United is that their ineptitude may at least stop Liverpool winning the title."}
-{"text": "Tiempo estimado de lectura:\n\n30/07/2019 Lava Jato: as\u00ed fue c\u00f3mo el estudio de Ignacio De Posadas ayud\u00f3 a lavar 10,6 millones de d\u00f3lares\n\nDesde las oficinas del bufete en Carrasco controlaban a la empresa uruguaya Hayley. La us\u00f3 el testaferro de un exdirector de Petrobras para ocultar las coimas. Sudestada revela los documentos que lo prueban\n\n\n\nEl esquema que elaboraron los investigadores brasile\u00f1os, donde se\u00f1alan al estudio uruguayo como parte central de la maniobra.\n\nLos delitos imputados en Brasil\n\nJo\u00e3o Ant\u00f4nio Bernardi Filho, el testaferro.\n\nRenato de Souza Duque, el funcionario condenado por corrupci\u00f3n.\n\nLa ruta del dinero pasa por Carrasco\n\nEstudio Posadas, Posadas & Vecino, en la calle Mones Roses 6937, en Carrasco.\n\nPerfil profesional de Ignacio de Posadas en la p\u00e1gina web de su estudio, www.ppv.com.uy\n\nPrimera p\u00e1gina del acta fundacional de Worly International SA, concretada por el estudio Morgan & Morgan.\n\nEmpresas fantasma y contratos ficticios\n\nEstado de cuenta bancaria de Deepwater hallado por los investigadores brasile\u00f1os, donde consta la compra de acciones por parte de la uruguaya Hayley y de Howard Consollidated, de Islas V\u00edrgenes Brit\u00e1nicas.\n\nActa de Directorio de Hayley SA, en la que Christina Jorge decide \"comprar\" las acciones de DeepWater Rio Ltda.\n\nCertificado de las acciones de Deepwater que Hayley compr\u00f3 con los 750 mi d\u00f3lares transferidos a Worly, como sugiri\u00f3 el contador del estudio Posadas, Posadas & Vecino.\n\nEl 3 de marzo de 2015 el testaferro Bernardi orden\u00f3 el pago de servicios profesionales al estudio Posadas, Posadas & Vecino.\n\nFabi\u00e1n Werner / Sudestada / @fwernerv Otra vez el estudio jur\u00eddico y contable que lleva el nombre del exministro de Econom\u00eda Ignacio de Posadas aparece se\u00f1alado en una causa judicial en el exterior como el articulador de maniobras de lavado de dinero. En este caso, fue uno de los principales exdirectivos de la empresa Petr\u00f3leos Brasileiros SA (Petrobras) el que se vali\u00f3 de sus servicios para ocultar el rastro del dinero.En el curso de la investigaci\u00f3n, la Polic\u00eda Federal brasile\u00f1a defini\u00f3 al estudio Posadas, Posadas & Vecino como \u201cresponsable de la administraci\u00f3n de las empresas extranjeras\u201d de un escritorio de Rio de Janeiro denominado \u201cJRF Consultoria Empresaria Ltda\u201d. Este bufete, seg\u00fan los investigadores, se dedica \u201ca ocultar la titularidad de los propietarios de empresas en Brasil y en el exterior, y consecuentemente ocultar su patrimonio\u201d.JRF son las iniciales del abogado Jos\u00e9 Reginaldo Filpi, due\u00f1o del estudio y centro de las maniobras para ocultar el origen il\u00edcito de millones de d\u00f3lares de sobornos. Filpi muri\u00f3 en mayo de 2015. Quienes, a trav\u00e9s de su confesi\u00f3n, permitieron desenredar la madeja y revelar la operativa fueron la abogada Christina Mar\u00eda da Silva Jorge (socia de Filpi) y Jo\u00e3o Ant\u00f4nio Bernardi Filho, un exfuncionario de la constructora Odebrecht que ofici\u00f3 como testaferro del exdirector de Petrobras Renato de Souza Duque.Corrupci\u00f3n pasiva, lavado de dinero y ocultamiento del producto de cr\u00edmenes fueron las tres imputaciones que recibieron el exdirector de Servicios de Petrobras Renato de Souza Duque y su viejo amigo Jo\u00e3o Ant\u00f4nio Bernardi Filho por parte de la jueza Gabriela Hardt. Seg\u00fan la magistrada, el instrumento para sus maniobras fue la sociedad an\u00f3nima Hayley, con sede en Montevideo.La jueza Hardt sustituy\u00f3 en 2018 a Sergio Moro al frente de la investigaci\u00f3n conocida como \u201cLava Jato\u201d, y el fallo contra Duque y Bernardi fue el primer dictamen de la magistrada desde que reemplaz\u00f3 al actual ministro de Justicia del gobierno de Jair Bolsonaro.El caso reviste importancia para Uruguay porque en la investigaci\u00f3n vuelve a quedar claro c\u00f3mo la plaza financiera uruguaya sirvi\u00f3 para el enjuague ilegal de 10,6 millones de d\u00f3lares, seg\u00fan la declaraci\u00f3n de Bernardi en 2017 ante Moro, a cuyo audio accedi\u00f3En este caso la pantalla para la maniobra de blanqueo fue la sociedad an\u00f3nima Hayley, creada en enero de 2009 en Montevideo. La abogada brasile\u00f1a Christina Mar\u00eda da Silva Jorge figura en el registro uruguayo como su presidenta, con el domicilio fiscal en el piso 5 de la calle Convenci\u00f3n 1382, sede del estudio Echevarr\u00eda Petit & Asociados.Sin embargo, el bufete que aparece como administrador de la empresa es Posadas, Posadas & Vecino, desde su sede en el barrio de Carrasco, tal como surge de la documentaci\u00f3n obtenida porEn esta causa, la pena inicial para Duque fue de 6 a\u00f1os y 8 meses, pero luego se redujo a la mitad en consideraci\u00f3n de su acuerdo de colaboraci\u00f3n con la Justicia de Brasil. En el caso de Bernardi la pena fue de 5 a\u00f1os y 6 meses, pero tambi\u00e9n se vio beneficiado por haber aportado informaci\u00f3n a los investigadores.Renato de Souza Duque fue director de Servicios de Petrobras desde 2003 hasta 2012. Hoy est\u00e1 preso, al igual que varios de sus antiguos compa\u00f1eros de trabajo, por haber aceptado millonarias propinas para beneficiar al c\u00e1rtel de empresas constructoras que esquilm\u00f3 a la petrolera estatal de Brasil.Entre las constructoras que, seg\u00fan la Justicia, sobornaron a Duque se encuentran la brasile\u00f1a Odebrecht, la argentina Techint y la italiana Saipem.La empresa uruguaya Hayley fue usada, por ejemplo, como veh\u00edculo para pagar las coimas que esta empresa italiana ofreci\u00f3 a De Souza Duque a fin de \u201caceitar\u201d la firma de un contrato con Petrobras para la construcci\u00f3n de un gasoducto submarino.Para intentar ocultar el origen il\u00edcito de sus fondos el exdirector de Petrobras orden\u00f3 la compra de 11 inmuebles en San Pablo y Rio de Janeiro y 14 obras de arte, adem\u00e1s de abrir cuentas bancarias en Suiza, \u201cinvertir\u201d en fondos fantasma y contratar servicios de consultor\u00eda por labores que nunca se realizaron.La empresa Hayley tambi\u00e9n fue identificada en Argentina, como parte del esquema que permiti\u00f3 a la multinacional Techint \u201cpagar coimas y manejar millones en negro\u201d, lo cual deriv\u00f3 en una investigaci\u00f3n judicial que sigue abierta en Italia, seg\u00fan public\u00f3 el diario argentino Perfil Techint es la misma empresa que Sudestada denunci\u00f3 en 2014 por violar la ley de partidos pol\u00edticos al aportar a las campa\u00f1as electorales del Frente Amplio y el Partido Nacional en 2009 a pesar de estar impedida por tener concesiones de obra p\u00fablica. Techint, a trav\u00e9s de su subsidiaria Tenaris, aport\u00f3 416 mil pesos a cada partido y la Corte Electoral recibi\u00f3 la denuncia pero no la investig\u00f3.Jo\u00e3o Ant\u00f4nio Bernardi ten\u00eda una amistad de m\u00e1s de 30 a\u00f1os con De Souza Duque y por eso no s\u00f3lo lo puso como encargado de gestionar las coimas sino que adem\u00e1s le pidi\u00f3 que fuera el titular de la empresa formada a tales efectos.\u201cHayley era m\u00eda pero el dinero era de Duque\u201d, declar\u00f3 Bernardi, en 2017, ante el entonces titular de la causa Lava Jato, el hoy ministro Sergio Moro.En base al testimonio de Bernardi y otros colaboradores, la investigaci\u00f3n judicial brasile\u00f1a obtuvo pruebas que demuestran que Uruguay jug\u00f3 otra vez un rol fundamental en el blanqueo de los capitales. Y vuelve a ser el estudio Posadas, Posadas & Vecino (PPV), desde sus oficinas en Carrasco, el que aparece como asesor y administrador de esos bienes obtenidos gracias a la corrupci\u00f3n.En su confesi\u00f3n, Bernardi cont\u00f3 que, a fin de administrar las coimas destinadas a De Souza Duque, contact\u00f3 al abogado brasile\u00f1o Jos\u00e9 Reginaldo Filpi para que lo asesorara en la apertura de una cuenta en el exterior. Fue mediante los contactos de Filpi que las coimas recibidas por Duque tuvieron su estaci\u00f3n de lavado en Uruguay.As\u00ed fue que abri\u00f3 la sociedad an\u00f3nima uruguaya Hayley (con su correspondiente filial en Brasil, Hayley do Brasil), junto a la cuenta bancaria 0482375100654700001 en el Banque de Commerce et Placement en Ginebra, Suiza, donde el estudio PPV tiene una sucursal.Seg\u00fan el informe de la Polic\u00eda brasile\u00f1a al que accedi\u00f3, el estudio de Jos\u00e9 Reginado Filpi se dedica \u201ca ocultar la titularidad de los propietarios de empresas en Brasil y en el exterior, y consecuentemente ocultar su patrimonio\u201d.Para llevar adelante este fin, Filpi y sus colaboradores tercerizan servicios tanto en Brasil como en el exterior, dice el informe, que pone el ejemplo de dos pa\u00edses a los que recurre de manera asidua: Uruguay y Panam\u00e1. En el primero, la Polic\u00eda identifica como asistente de Filpi al \u201cescritorio Posadas, Posadas & Vecino, localizado en la direcci\u00f3n: Mones Roses 6937, Montevideo, C\u00f3digo Postal 11.500, Uruguay\u201d.En Panam\u00e1, la Polic\u00eda brasile\u00f1a se\u00f1ala al estudio \u201cMorgan & Morgan\u201d, donde todav\u00eda figura como socio un exempleado del escritorio uruguayo. Como ya inform\u00f3, el abogado paname\u00f1o Luis Miguel Hincapi\u00e9 Corc\u00f3 aparece como \u201cagente residente\u201d del estudio PPV en aquel pa\u00eds centroamericano, para la creaci\u00f3n de la empresa Vonderex, una de las offshore usadas en la trama \u201cLava Jato\u201d.En varios de los correos electr\u00f3nicos registrados entre miembros del estudio del abogado brasile\u00f1o Filpi y sus pares del uruguayo PPV, queda claro que las tareas que realizaba este \u00faltimo ten\u00edan que ver con la \u201cadministraci\u00f3n\u201d de las empresas de papel y de los fondos que estas manejaban, adem\u00e1s de asesorar en el flujo de los fondos entre esas empresas y sus cuentas.En sus investigaciones, la Polic\u00eda brasile\u00f1a concluy\u00f3 que Hayley SA era usada para el lavado de dinero y apunt\u00f3 sus esfuerzos a probar ese delito. Cuando estos intentos se hicieron notables, Bernardi temi\u00f3 verse involucrado y dio directivas para ocultar su participaci\u00f3n en las maniobras.A partir de ese momento \u201clas personas vinculadas a la administraci\u00f3n de esta empresa desarrollaron una nueva alternativa para mantener ocultos los recursos financieros que se encontraban bajo su tutela\u201d, dice el informe policial.El documento de los investigadores agrega: \u201cDebido a que las investigaciones de la Operaci\u00f3n Lava Jato identificaron que la empresa Hayley SA posiblemente est\u00e9 envuelta en el il\u00edcito de lavado de dinero, las personas involucradas en la administraci\u00f3n de esta empresa desarrollaron una nueva alternativa para mantener ocultos los recursos financieros que se encontraban bajo su tutela\u201d.Para ello decidieron abrir nuevas empresas y transferirles el dinero desde Hayley para ocultar qui\u00e9nes eran los beneficiarios finales. As\u00ed nacieron la paname\u00f1a Worly International SA y Deepwater Rio Ltda en las Islas V\u00edrgenes Brit\u00e1nicas.Para esta tarea, el testaferro Bernardi y la abogada Jorge contaron con el asesoramiento de Enrique Navarrete, un contador del estudio PPV. As\u00ed queda demostrado (entre otros documentos) en un correo electr\u00f3nico que Navarrete escribi\u00f3 a la abogada Christina Jorge, funcionaria del estudio Filpi y presidenta de Hayley, desde su casilla del estudio (enavarrete@ppv.com.uy), el 11 de diciembre de 2014 a las 16 horas:\u201cApreciada ChristinaVamos a hacer una distribuci\u00f3n de ganancias para Worly y el pago lo hacemos transfiriendo la inversi\u00f3n en Deepwater.1) Para avanzar con la operaci\u00f3n de transferencia de la inversi\u00f3n de Deepwater para Worly vamos a necesitar que nos env\u00ede copia de los Share Certificates de Deepwater a nombre de Hayley.2) Si consigues un balance de Deepwater podemos utilizar el valor del balance para hacer esa transferencia. En caso contrario haremos esa transferencia utilizando el costo de la adquisici\u00f3n (actualmente la inversi\u00f3n est\u00e1 valuada en la contabilidad de Hayley al costo de adquisici\u00f3n).3) Despu\u00e9s de hacer la transferencia tienes que hablar con los encargados de la administraci\u00f3n de Deepwater para cancelar esos Share Certificates y emitir nuevos a nombre de Worly.Quedamos a la espera de una respuesta.AtentamenteEnrique Navarrete\u201dintent\u00f3, sin \u00e9xito, contactar al contador Navarrete, quien ya no trabaja m\u00e1s en PPV.La trama de empresas, contratos ficticios y compras simuladas se sigui\u00f3 complicando, y apareci\u00f3 una nueva empresa, esta vez en las islas V\u00edrgenes Brit\u00e1nicas, que tambi\u00e9n recibi\u00f3 parte de los fondos que Bernardi intentaba ocultar de las autoridades brasile\u00f1as.\"Howard Consolidated Limited\" es el nombre de la empresa offshore que suscribi\u00f3 junto a Hayley un acuerdo de inversi\u00f3n con DeepWater Rio por un total de 750 mil d\u00f3lares, como parte de las maniobras de lavado del dinero de las coimas que hab\u00eda cobrado De Souza Duque.En su declaraci\u00f3n ante el juez Moro, el testaferro Bernardi detall\u00f3 la inversi\u00f3n de 1,5 millones de d\u00f3lares en Deepwater, como una de las maniobras realizadas para ocultar los activos il\u00edcitos.En el documento aparece, por un lado, Hayley con el domicilio fijado en Montevideo, en el estudio PPV, y por otro la empresa de Islas V\u00edrgenes Brit\u00e1nicas \"Holding Consolidated Limited\", donde tambi\u00e9n figura la abogada Christina Jorge. Pero, adem\u00e1s, en el documento surge entre los inversores una misteriosa empresa con sede en Bahamas denominada \"Queluz International Holding Ltd\", que tambi\u00e9n fija un domicilio en Montevideo. Esta vez la sede uruguaya de la empresa fantasma es la calle Rivera 6329 oficina 102, donde funciona la representaci\u00f3n del banco suizo PKB.El acuerdo est\u00e1 firmado por Christina Jorge en nombre de Hayley y por DeepWater Rio lo hizo Marcelo Antonio Castro Muller, un exdirectivo de la empresa AEM Sistemas, investigado en la causa Lava Jato por pagar coimas a la empresa constructora Andrade Gutierres.El acta de directorio de Hayley, que integra \u00fanicamente la brasile\u00f1a Christina Jorge, fue redactada el 31 de octubre de 2014 en idioma espa\u00f1ol y en pesos uruguayos. En ella consta la decisi\u00f3n de transferir a Worly International la cifra de 750 mil d\u00f3lares \u201cen concepto de distribuci\u00f3n de utilidades definitivas\u201d correspondientes a acciones de la otra offshore involucrada, DeepWater Rio. Esta es la maniobra que recomend\u00f3 Navarrete, el contador del estudio Posadas & Vecino, donde se consuma una de las partes del lavado.Para la Justicia brasile\u00f1a, Bernardi \u201ccomo efectivo gestor de Hayley, vaci\u00f3 sus activos en cuentas en el exterior y en inversiones, transfiri\u00e9ndolos para otra offshore, Worly International, en aparente intento para frustrar la aplicaci\u00f3n de la ley penal, previniendo el secuestro de los activos mantenidos en la cuenta Hayley en Suiza\u201d.Seg\u00fan el juez de Lava Jato, todas estas \u201calteraciones simuladas en el cuadro social de la empresa Hayley y las extracciones de cuentas y las inversiones en el exterior ocurrieron despu\u00e9s de las prisiones cautelares dispuestas por la operaci\u00f3n Lava Jato, en noviembre de 2014\u201d.El 3 de marzo de 2015 Worly International (y no Hayley, como deber\u00eda suponerse, siendo la empresa que pidi\u00f3 el asesoramiento) orden\u00f3 la transferencia de 6.680 d\u00f3lares de su cuenta a la del estudio PPV por concepto de \u201cservicios jur\u00eddicos y contables\u201d. El dinero fue depositado en la cuenta del Banco Ita\u00fa de Montevideo n\u00famero 6550245101. Y el origen de los fondos fue la cuenta en Suiza, en el banco Cr\u00e9dit Agricole, de la paname\u00f1a Worly, que tambi\u00e9n era controlada por el testaferro Bernardi. La factura se pag\u00f3 con dinero negro.Por aquellos d\u00edas, el esc\u00e1ndalo medi\u00e1tico ya hab\u00eda trascendido fronteras, y en Uruguay tambi\u00e9n los titulares de los medios daban cuenta del operativo judicial que persegu\u00eda a los lavadores de dinero de Odebrecht y sus c\u00f3mplices. A pesar de eso, el estudio PPV continuaba enviando correos electr\u00f3nicos a Christina Jorge, presidenta de Hayley, para decirle c\u00f3mo ten\u00eda que proceder para transferir el dinero a las otras offshore en Panam\u00e1 e Islas V\u00edrgenes Brit\u00e1nicas.De hecho, en su declaraci\u00f3n judicial, la mujer asegur\u00f3 que la offshore paname\u00f1a Worly Internacional \u201cfue constituida directamente por Bernardi por indicaci\u00f3n de los abogados uruguayos en raz\u00f3n de cuestiones tributarias en Uruguay\u201d y ampli\u00f3: \u201cPosadas & Vecino es el escritorio de abogados y contabilidad responsable por la empresa Hayley en aquel pa\u00eds\u201d.Esto fue confirmado por Bernardi el 15 de octubre de 2015 durante su declaraci\u00f3n ante los fiscales Orlando Martelo y Diogo Castor de Matos. All\u00ed explic\u00f3 de qui\u00e9n fue la idea y c\u00f3mo se cre\u00f3 la paname\u00f1a Worly: \u201cFue sugerida por los abogados de Uruguay la creaci\u00f3n de un holding en para\u00edso fiscal para que Hayley SA. se mantuviera en una faja de impuesto a la renta m\u00e1s favorable\u201d. Adem\u00e1s de lavar millones quer\u00edan pagar pocos impuestos."}
-{"text": "SEOUL (Reuters) - Many South Koreans were fuming on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump canceled a historic summit with North Korea\u2019s Kim Jong Un, feeling they had been cheated of a chance of a lifetime to live in peace.\n\nWomen attend a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump near U.S. embassy in Seoul, South Korea, May 25, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji\n\nTrump called off the unprecedented meeting, scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, after months of diplomatic progress had silenced bellicose rhetoric from the two sides and eased fears of a return to war.\n\n\u201cNorth Korea was in the process of doing everything that had been demanded of it. They even detonated their nuclear test site,\u201d said Eugene Lim, a 29-year-old office worker in Seoul.\n\n\u201cTrump has no interest in peace in our country. Why can\u2019t he just let us, the two Koreas, live in peace?\u201d\n\nNorth Korea on Thursday \u201ccompletely dismantled\u201d its Punggye-ri nuclear test ground to \u201censure the transparency of discontinuance of nuclear tests\u201d, after blowing up tunnels at the site, it said.\n\nThe detonation, which took place in the presence of dozens of international journalists but no independent experts, came after Kim Jong Un pledged to cease all nuclear and long-range missile tests last month. Kim also released three American prisoners as a gesture of goodwill.\n\nDozens of university students and women\u2019s rights activists protested in different rallies in Seoul on Friday to denounce Trump, with some punching his face printed on a picket sign and tearing his photograph apart.\n\nKim Dong-ho, a 38-year-old employee at a blockchain company, said it wasn\u2019t right to isolate North Korea again when it was making efforts to join the international community.\n\n\u201cAfter all, those of us living on the Korean peninsula suffer the consequences of your action, you Yankee!,\u201d Kim said.\n\nSOUTH KOREA\u2019S MOON \u201cPERPLEXED\u201d\n\nTrump also warned North Korea the U.S. military was ready in the event of any reckless acts, and when asked if the summit cancellation increased the risk of war, he replied: \u201cWe\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d\n\nSouth Korean President Moon Jae-in, who worked hard to help set up the summit and urged Trump at a White House meeting on Tuesday not to let a rare opportunity slip away, said he was \u201cperplexed\u201d by the cancellation.\n\nNorth Korea said it remained open to resolving issues with the United States, \u201cregardless of ways, at any time\u201d.\n\nSouth Koreans\u2019 perception of North Korea, especially those in their 20s and 30s, has visibly softened after Kim Jong Un and Moon pledged no more war in their inter-Korean summit in April, according to several polls.\n\nA Gallup Korea survey in early May suggested 88 percent of South Koreans thought that the inter-Korean summit held was a success, while only five percent said it was a failure. The remainder declined to comment.\n\nA survey of 106 university students at Kookmin University in Seoul showed 57.3 percent had a positive image of Kim Jong Un after the summit, compared to 19.8 percent beforehand.\n\nNorth and South Korea are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The United States stations 28,500 troops in the South, a legacy of the war.\n\n\u201cIt feels like Trump just knocked down all the efforts the two Koreas have put forward for the U.S.-North Korea summit. For me, it feels like North Korea is more of a normal country, saying it would give the U.S. time and wait,\u201d said Yun Hae-ri, a 25-year-old office worker.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think Trump is doing the right thing if he wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize.\u201d\n\nOther South Koreans had concerns closer to home.\n\n\u201cWhat I\u2019m most worried about are my stock holdings,\u201d said Chon Jin-young, a 25-year-old Seoul office worker. \u201cI hope they\u2019re not hammered too much.\u201d"}
-{"text": "The card of the year is almost upon us. Touch my hand; I\u2019m shaking.\n\nJunior Dos Santos defeated Stipe Miocic in 2014, but that was before Miocic became UFC heavyweight champion, and before Dos Santos was sent tumbling to the canvas by Alistair Overeem. Miocic has grown into his role as champ, and Dos Santos has made serious strides to fine-tune his dangerous boxing game. On this edition of Heavy Hands, we break down this rerun of a classic heavyweight fight, and give our predictions for the contest.\n\nBut this is UFC 211, so you know that\u2019s not all. In the co-main event, Joanna Jedrzejczyk takes on Jessica Andrade, who just might be her most dangerous opponent yet. Can Jedrzejczyk overcome the power and volume of the Brazilian, or will The Pile Driver take the title away from WMMA\u2019s most dominant champ? As with the main event, we give this scrap the full-segment treatment it deserves. Spoilers: one of our picks pay surprise you.\n\nBut, uh . . . this is UFC 211. So yeah, the fun ain\u2019t over. Henry Cejudo and Sergio Pettis will open the main card with a fascinating fight, the winner of whom will very likely earn a shot at Demetrious Johnson\u2019s title. For Cejudo, it would be a chance at redemption, and if the crazy aggression he brought to bear against Joseph Benavidez is any indication, he is ready for another shot at the belt. The little brother of Anthony Pettis has been quietly compiling an impressive win streak, however, and Cejudo\u2019s name would be the one he needs to prove that championship talent runs in the family.\n\nTo download this episode directly, just right-click and save this link.\n\nYou can also find Heavy Hands on iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher, where you can subscribe and check out all our past episodes.\n\nAnd hey, we put out exclusive bonus episodes every month. The latest is\u2014you guessed it\u2014about UFC 211. Your intrepid hosts take a look at the prelims and break down Eddie Alvarez vs Dustin Poirier, Chas Skelly vs Jason Knight, and Krzysztof Jotko vs Dave Branch. All great fights, and all fun topics of discussion for two dedicated fight nerds. For $3 a month you can get access to this and all of our other bonus content\u2014just check us out on Patreon. Or, for a taste, listen to the teaser here.\n\nOh, and if that isn\u2019t enough, Bloody Elbow\u2019s Phil Mackenzie joined Connor Ruebusch this week to analyze even more UFC 211 fights. In the first episode of The Underdogs, Phil and Connor talk about the more esoteric fighters populating the prelims, talented journeymen and would-be contenders like James Vick, Jessica Aguilar, and Enrique Barzola. Future episodes of this sub-series will be available only to $3 patrons, but you can listen to the first edition of The Underdogs in full right here."}
-{"text": "Being a crypto miner basically means your computer works for you \u2013 This is one of the biggest misconceptions in cryptocurrency mining and probably one of the reasons many people start mining, to begin with. Mining is actually hard work, it requires researching and shopping for the best hardware, be it ASIC miners or graphic cards, it requires basic knowledge regarding the cryptocurrency you\u2019re mining. Daily maintenance and monitoring is also something you can expect, along with many more obstacles.\n\nThat\u2019s the first part.\n\nNow that you have mined some coins, you have to use them to buy good or services (that\u2019s the whole point of money, right?) but it might be complicated. Even with Bitcoin, which is a widely accepted currency, you may have trouble finding local stores that accept bitcoin payments. You now have to spend even more time exchanging your coins for Bitcoin, Bitcoin for fiat currency, and then you\u2019ll send that fiat to your bank account, which will take some time.\n\nTo sum it up, mining can be as complicated as it is profitable and if done right it will take up a huge part of your daily life. The Exscudo team understands this, and has developed its platform with cryptocurrency miners in mind! What if we told you can simply pay for everything, everywhere with your newly mined coins?\n\nNo need to exchange them for Bitcoin or fiat, you can simply send them to your Exscudo account and buy anything with them! \u201cHow does it work?\u201d You may ask. Well, Exscudo will allow you to add a special debit or credit card to your platform account, which will be connected to your priority wallet. You can change your priority wallet from your web browser or mobile app. This mobile app, Exscudo Channels, will allow you to send coins in an intuitive fashion by integrating this payment mechanism into a chatting application that allows you to send coins and valuable likes (small tips) while chatting. The app also supports traditional mobile wallet functions. Click here to learn more about Exscudo Channels.\n\nThis allows you to choose the coin you want to use according to the circumstances.\n\nMining doesn\u2019t mean that you have to run and spend your coins as soon as possible, you may want to store some, especially when you think about how people that sold Bitcoin for less than a cent could now be millionaires. If you do decide to store your coins, Exscudo is the place to do it. Our top notch security will ensure your coins are not only handy but also 100% safe. This is because Exchange does not trade currencies, but only their substitutes, EON tokens. User accounts are secured by two-factor authentication which may be required in registration, login and all financial transactions. Personal data is also encrypted and accessed in a decentralized manner, making it impossible (Even for our tech administrators) to decrypt personal data and access user accounts. Exscudo also employs anti DDoS protection and preventive account blocking to mitigate brute force attacks.\n\nOf course, it\u2019s important to distinguish between a good investment and classic \u201cFear Of Missing Out\u201d (FOMO), so remember to do your research and to never invest more than you can afford to lose.\n\nLuckily, Exscudo also provideds a ready solution for miners that don\u2019t want to host mining equipment. Since Exscudo is powered by the EON blockchain, a Delegated Proof of Stake cryptocurrency platform, users can receive EON tokens simply by buying and holding them in their wallet. The coins come from commissions from transactions in the blockchain, which include most operations in the Exscudo platform."}
-{"text": "ACCORDING to a document crafted by the Trump administration, a model trade agreement has 24 elements. Second on the list is \u201ctrade-deficit reduction\u201d, giving a hint as to why Mr Trump wants to review America\u2019s existing agreements. In January Sean Spicer, his press secretary, said the administration would \u201cre-examine all of the current trade deals.\u201d A presidential order to do just that is reported to be in the offing. America boasts 14 bilateral and regional free-trade agreements (FTAs). Mr Trump seems to blame these agreements for America\u2019s large trade deficit. Most economists disagree, seeing it as reflecting macroeconomic imbalances. The FTAs are in any case with countries representing just two-fifths of America\u2019s two-way trade in goods, and less than 10% of its goods-trade deficit (see chart). Most (77%) of America\u2019s deficit stems from trade with China, the European Union and Japan. None has an American FTA.\n\nA focus on trade deficits means that tiddly deals such as those with Jordan and Oman will not face much heat. NAFTA (an agreement with Mexico and Canada), and KORUS (South Korea), will face more scrutiny because of chunky American deficits with these countries. Israel is the next biggest trade-deficit offender. But Mr Trump seems unlikely to attack that FTA, America\u2019s oldest.\n\nA review of trade deals is hardly revolutionary. More recent ones, like KORUS, have committees dedicated to monitoring them. And both the Mexican and the Canadian governments have accepted that NAFTA should be updated for things like e-commerce. They saw the Trans-Pacific Partnership, agreed to in 2016 by the NAFTA three and nine other Pacific Rim countries (and jettisoned by Mr Trump), as part of that process.\n\nLast year geeks at the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) published a 373-page, evidence-based assessment of America\u2019s trade deals. It found that they were positive, but not transformative, raising GDP by 0.2% in 2012 and, in 2014, saving consumers $13bn through lower tariffs. Also, the USITC estimates that each of America\u2019s trade deals has tended to improve the bilateral trade balance. Without NAFTA, the USITC estimates that the goods deficits with Canada and Mexico would be larger by around 3% of total bilateral trade. Trade deals tend to slash other countries\u2019 tariffs more than American ones.\n\nSo it is unclear how poring over trade deals will achieve Mr Trump\u2019s goal of squashing the trade deficit. Others have a different worry. Trade agreements are supposed to be win-win. Concessions must be sold domestically. As Michael Froman, Barack Obama\u2019s trade representative, notes, \u201cother countries have politics, too.\u201d\n\nCorrection (March 30th): The units on the chart have been corrected from $bn to $trn."}
-{"text": "Intro\n\nAdrenalin Software Edition 19.1.1 Driver Performance Analysis featuring the Red Devils RX 590 and the RX Vega 56 with 39 Games\n\nAs a regular feature of BabelTechReviews, this driver performance analysis will chart the performance of 39 PC games using the latest Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 19.1.1 which was released last week. We will compare these new drivers with the 18.12.2 and 18.8.40 launch drivers for the RX 590, and also with the 18.12.3 and 18.12.2 drivers for the RX Vega 56.\n\nLast month, the Adrenalin 2019 Edition (18.12.2) was AMD\u2019s special annual update which introduced important new features, and we are comparing 19.1.1 performance with them using both of our test cards. BTR driver performance analyses track the progress of every major driver release from AMD and from NVIDIA with the games in our 39-game benchmark suite including Just Cause 4 and Battlefield V.\n\nWe document the performance changes of the current Adrenalin Software 19.1.1 Edition on Windows 10 at 1920\u00d71080 and at 2560\u00d71440 resolutions. Our testing platform is a recent install of Windows 10 64-bit Home Edition, and we are using an i7-8700K which turbos all 6 cores to 4.7 GHz, an EVGA Z370 FTW motherboard, and 16GB of HyperX DDR4 3333MHz. The games tested, settings, and hardware are identical except for the drivers being compared\n\n<SCRIPT language='JavaScript1.1' SRC=\"https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/adj/N30602.3753112BABELTECHREVIEWS/B24670551.281357544;abr=!ie;sz=728x90;ord=[timestamp];dc_lat=;dc_rdid=;tag_for_child_directed_treatment=;tfua=?\"> </SCRIPT>\n\nFor the performance changes of the Adrenalin 19.1.1 drivers in 39 games, let\u2019s get to the test configuration, to the driver release notes, and then to our results."}
-{"text": "Greece, anarchist terrorist 'No.1 most-wanted' arrested Roupa charged of explosions and robberies\n\n(ANSA) - TRIESTE, 09 GEN - Greek antiterrorist police arrested Panagiota Roupa, an anarchist militant who was in hiding, Reuters said. Greek officials called Roupa (47 years old) the country's \"No. 1 most-wanted\" terrorist.\n\nThe woman had been sentenced in 2013 to 50 years in prison for setting up and running a terrorist group, possession of explosive materials and a blast that caused injuries and material damages. Starting in 2010, Roupa served 18 months in pretrial detention on terrorism charges. She was released in 2012 and required to check in with the local police once a week, but instead she went on the run.\n\n\n\nAn appeals court last year slapped another 11-year jail term on Roupa for the explosion of a makeshift bomb outside the Bank of Greece headquarters in April.\n\nGreece's anti-terrorism department has a case file against Roupa for a failed attempt to free her jailed partner at Korydallos prison with a helicopter last February and for taking part in a bank robbery in Athens in 2015.\n\n\n\n\"She was arrested in a small apartment in Athens, where she was hiding with her child. She did not resist,\" a police official told Reuters. Her 6-year-old child is taken into protective custody.\n\n\n\nRoupa's anarchist group Revolutionary Struggle group has carried out more than 16 armed attacks, including one on the Usa embassy in Athens in 2007. Revolutionary Struggle declared war on all forms of government in 2003. (ANSA).\n\n"}
-{"text": "There was a time when I was a big fan of Bill Nye\u2019s. That was long before he became an authoritarian, supercilious fraud. Bill Nye is just another leftist celebrity promoting a leftist agenda. People need to stop looking to him as if he were an authority on\u2026well\u2026anything.\n\nAlthough he is not a scientist, Nye seldom if ever reminds the people that he\u2019s speaking to that he is only a former engineer who decades ago jumped careers into entertainment. He parlayed a regional sketch comedy television gig into a successful children\u2019s television show. He used that to gain access to real scientists and allows people to assume based on his proximity that he is one himself.\n\nIn the early 1990s, Nye was a cast member on Almost Live, a local sketch comedy show that aired right before Saturday Night Live on a Seattle NBC affiliate. The \u201cBill Nye the Science Guy\u201d character began\u2014or at least appeared regularly\u2014on Almost Live.\n\nYears later, after the Bill Nye the Science Guy television show had become a nationwide hit I was at a symposium on space exploration in Washington, D.C. Nye participated on a panel about science education with Don Herbert (aka Mr. Wizard). I got to meet Nye briefly afterward, but looking at what he has become, I actually regret being as excited as I was about the opportunity. At the time though I liked what he was doing on his show. Having an engineering degree myself, I loved seeing someone get kids interested in STEM subjects.\n\nThe fame ultimately went to his head. Now he is just one of many celebrities who believe that by virtue of being famous, they are also authoritative.\n\nHis delusion is made worse because to an army of millennials he is a cult hero who introduced them to science while they slurped overly sugared cereal in their pajamas. They\u2019re the same people who think the clownish Neil DeGrasse Tyson is the second coming of Galileo.\n\nNye has actually surpassed Tyson in the area of being an annoyingly condescending douche. That in itself is no small achievement. Lately, Nye is gunning for Chelsea Clinton\u2019s spot in that hierarchy. Among climate jihadis, he probably now outranks Al Gore.\n\nHis megalomania is evident even in the titles of his recent projects. He published a book in 2015 titled Unstoppable which naturally was well received by loony left Salon.com.\n\nAs only Bill Nye can, he uses the book to explain the science behind climate change, debunks popular myths, and asks readers to take action in their own lives to create a sustainable future. The book is shot through with optimism, but Nye has no illusions about what lies ahead. The message is simple: Climate change is real; humans are causing it; and we have no choice but to build a better and cleaner world.\n\nAs only Bill Nye (the actor/comedian with a B.S. in mechanical engineering) can\u2026 Salon referred to Nye as a scientist in their puff piece in 2015, but apparently Bill hasn\u2019t had time to correct them. He told Salon what his goals were back then.\n\nMy goal is to change the world! Really, that\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to do. Obviously, this book isn\u2019t going to change the world, but it is part of the bigger idea that we all have to think optimistically about this. We\u2019ve got to go into this knowing we have a hard challenge but that we\u2019re going to win this fight, and we\u2019re going to save the earth for humanity. As I like to say, you\u2019re a human being no matter what you do. So we have to save the earth for us. Things are going to change; there\u2019s going to be upheaval, but we have to deal with it as best we can. And that means getting to work!\n\nUh huh. Nye is talented as a sugarcoated propagandist. It\u2019s easy to imagine him in another place and time printing posters depicting happy people laboring for the motherland to the chagrin of top hat wearing capitalists.\n\nHow do you respond to the recalcitrant skeptics, the ones who say, \u201cOK, I acknowledge that the earth is heating up, and I understand why that\u2019s a bad thing. However, we don\u2019t really know what\u2019s causing that. And we don\u2019t really know to what degree humans are responsible.\u201d Yes, we do! It\u2019s human activity. It\u2019s the burning of fossil fuels and the release of methane, a natural gas mostly from agriculture, but to a lesser extent from leakage, so-called fugitive gas from an oil field. But these are solvable problems. And the science is clear on that, right? Absolutely. We know exactly why the climate is changing \u2014 it\u2019s human activity!\n\nTrust him. He worked for Boeing for a few years before becoming a TV star. He\u2019s even qualified to tell television networks what opinions they should allow to be expressed.\n\n\u201cI will say, much as I love CNN, you\u2019re doing a disservice by having one climate change skeptic, and not 97 or 98 scientists or engineers concerned about climate change,\u201d Nye said during an appearance on CNN\u2019s \u201cNew Day.\u201d\n\nWithout a hint of irony he later said this.\n\n\u201cIf you suppress science, if you pretend that climate change isn\u2019t a real problem, you will fall behind other countries that do invest in science \u2013 that do invest in basic research,\u201d Nye said.\n\nAllowing skeptics to speak is \u201csuppressing\u201d science but CNN is duty bound to \u201csuppress\u201d skeptics who disagree with him. The totalitarian impulse in Bill is strong.\n\nNye makes ham handed attempts to speak to people where they are\u2014while proving that he\u2019s not especially bright. He tries to sell his climate change agenda by citing the Constitution and fails badly. The Daily Caller reported on this.\n\n\u201cAnd it is interesting to note, I think, that Article 1 Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution refers to the progress of science and the useful arts,\u201d Nye said. \u201cUseful arts in 18th Century usage would be what we call engineering or city planning or architecture,\u201d Nye said.\n\nHe made similar statements to Vox, where I assume they needed a mop to soak up the fanboy drool. Unsurprisingly nobody Voxplained why he was horribly wrong. Article 1 Section 8 isn\u2019t about federally funded science projects.\n\nIt reads: \u201cTo promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.\u201d The Copyright Clause has nothing to do with government-funded science, but everything to do with establishing a legal framework to protect intellectual property rights.\n\nIt\u2019s difficult to believe that he only read half the Copyright Clause, so he\u2019s either just parroting something an underling wrote up for him or he\u2019s being deliberately deceptive.\n\nNow he\u2019s gone from being \u201cunstoppable\u201d to literally saving (not just changing) the world, at least according to his new Netflix series which is literally called Bill Nye Saves the World.\n\nThe first step in saving the world is apparently promoting the current unscientific fad of inventing new genders and modes of sexuality.\n\n(Language warning. NSFW.)\n\nBill Nye says this performance sends \u201cexactly the right message.\u201d (By the way, this show is only rated TV-14 for you parents of young teenagers.) The promising thing is that the ratings on YouTube for this clip are overwhelmingly negative as was also reported at The Daily Caller.\n\nActually, even some outlets that you might expect to be totally in the tank for Bill Nye aren\u2019t exactly giving the show rave reviews. Gizmodo is part of the Gawker family of sites, which means they may write about non-political things, but if politics comes into the story, you can usually count on it coming in from stage left if you know what I mean and I think you do.\n\nBut here\u2019s how Gizmodo introduced Bill Nye Saves the World:\n\nIf you\u2019re skeptical about human-caused climate change or the safety of vaccines, would being berated in front of a live studio audience by a bombastic old man make you change your mind? Then congratulations, Bill Nye\u2019s new Netflix show, Bill Nye Saves The World, is literally just for you! Wait\u2026where\u2019d you go, bud? I was excited when I heard that a new science show for adults was hitting Netflix, especially one starring \u201890s-kid nerd hero Bill Nye. But either the science guy\u2019s jokes haven\u2019t aged well or his schtick\u2014a zany dad-figure in a lab coat stirring beakers full of colored liquids\u2014doesn\u2019t quite work when he\u2019s bellowing, red-faced, about the dangers of climate change denial, alternative medicine, and the anti-vaxxer movement. While seemingly aimed at the average layman who holds some science-skeptical views, Nye\u2019s new show delivers so little information in such a patronizing tone it\u2019s hard to imagine a toddler, let alone a sentient adult, enjoying it.\n\nHopefully no one is letting their toddler watch Bill Nye grooving to Rachel Bloom singing about her sex junk, but point taken.\n\nThis, unfortunately, is quintessential of the show\u2014a small amount of information packaged to promote a cartoon-caricature understanding of a complex science issue, slanted to the POV of an unabashedly political science comedian.\n\nAnd there is why the left treats Bill Nye like an expert. That is exactly how the left packages virtually every issue for people. It\u2019s why no one can disagree with leftists without being accused of hate. Nye does the same thing but he specializes in accusing people of being anti-science which is just a specific kind of hate.\n\nLook, I know you may have fond memories of a funny guy on television showing you how to make baking soda rockets or do cool tricks using dry ice. It may well have inspired you to enter a scientific or technical career. That\u2019s great, but you need to know that Bill Nye the Science Guy is a fictional television character. The guy who invented the character is just another political talking head with an agenda.\n\nThe real Bill Nye is to science what Bernie Sanders is to economics. He is no more an expert on climate change than Jenny McCarthy is on vaccines.\n\nI don\u2019t believe Bill Nye should be silenced or prevented from expressing his opinions. He probably wouldn\u2019t say the same for me since I\u2019m skeptical about his dogmatic pronouncements about the cause of climate change. What I believe is that people should be fully informed about the credentials, qualifications, and backgrounds of people the media presents to us as experts.\n\nTreating Bill Nye as if he is a real life \u201cscience guy\u201d confers upon him an authority and a perceived objectivity that he has not earned and Nye himself is abusing the trust of people who confuse him with an actual scientist."}
-{"text": "Family of mentally ill man who died after repeated Taser strikes files suit against police\n\nThe family of a mentally ill man tased repeatedly before his death in May 2017 has filed a federal civil rights suit against the Village of West Milwaukee.\n\nThe suit names officers Anthony Munoz and Michael Rohleder, who broke down Adam Trammell\u2019s door and confronted him while he was naked in the shower. Another defendant is officer Danielle Engen, who waited outside the bathroom door but handed her taser to Rohleder when he dropped his own during a struggle with Trammell.\n\nThe suit alleges police violated Trammell's constitutional rights by using excessive and deadly force. It faults the officers for failing to follow state Department of Justice training, which says officers should minimize the use of force and restraint when dealing with someone in need of medical attention.\n\nPolice Chief Dennis Nasci also is named as a defendant. Under his leadership, the department failed to \"adequately supervise, discipline and/or train its employees,\" according to the suit, filed on behalf of Trammell's family by attorneys Mark Thomsen of Gingras, Cates & Wachs and Robin Shellow of The Shellow Group.\n\n\"Upon information and belief, some or all of the individual defendants and other officers had previously used their Tasers in an unjustified and excessive manner without being disciplined,\" the suit says.\n\nAttorney H. Stanley Riffle, who represents the village, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\n\n'A mental health type of situation'\n\nTrammell, 22, suffered from schizophrenia and had been placed in an apartment on the 5400 block of W. Greenfield Ave. by a case manager. Police were called to check on him after a neighbor reported he had been running around naked in the hallway and she was concerned he might harm himself.\n\nRELATED: No charges for officers who tased mentally ill man\n\nEngen told internal investigators she had been called to the building 10 to 15 times during her career and expected \u201ca mental health type of situation.\u201d\n\nDistrict Attorney John Chisholm declined to file criminal charges against Munoz or Rohleder, who remain on full duty and likely will not face discipline, Nasci said last month.\n\nEngen was not a target of Chisholm\u2019s investigation. She has since taken a job with a different Wisconsin police department, according to Nasci.\n\nTaser guidelines warn against multiple shocks\n\nRecords show the officers tased Trammell as many as 18 times, depending on the number of jolts of electricity delivered by each of 15 trigger pulls. Nasci has said he believes Trammell felt only six or seven shocks.\n\nEach standard Taser cycle lasts five seconds. This means that by Nasci's estimate, Trammell was shocked for 30 to 35 seconds.\n\nRELATED: Officers who tased a mentally ill man in the shower didn't follow newest guidelines\n\nTrammell's attorneys estimate he endured 92 seconds of voltage over 10 minutes.\n\nGuidelines by the Police Executive Research Forum state that \"exposure longer than 15 seconds (whether continuous or cumulative) may increase the risk of serious injury or death and should be avoided.\"\n\nFurther, police delivered many of the shocks after Trammell was handcuffed, which violates West Milwaukee Police Department policy, the suit alleges.\n\nOn a body camera video, Trammell appears confused when the officers confront him, calling him by the wrong name. He splashes water on them twice and raises an arm to push them away when they approach.\n\nThe medical examiner ruled the manner of Trammell\u2019s death as undetermined but cited the Taser use \u2014 as well as the use of sedatives by paramedics \u2014 as contributing factors.\n\nThe officers told investigators they tased Trammell because they wanted to get him medical attention, according to records.\n\nRELATED: Taser use cited in man's death; prosecutor considering charges against West Milwaukee cops\n\nA controversial cause of death\n\nThe autopsy lists the cause of death as excited delirium, a controversial condition often cited when police use force.\n\nSymptoms of excited delirium include aggressive or bizarre behavior, paranoia and high body temperature. Although pathologists cite the syndrome as a cause of death and emergency room doctors have procedures to treat it, excited delirium is not recognized by the American Medical Association or the American Psychological Association.\n\nTrammell, who was biracial, showed some of the symptoms, such as not responding to police and high body temperature. He did not exhibit others, such as extreme tolerance to pain. On police body camera video, he can be heard screaming in agony when the officers tase him.\n\n\"Civilized societies call such conduct state-sanctioned torture,\" Thomsen said. \"Too many African-American men have died from unlawful use of force or deliberate indifference. ... We must adopt a zero tolerance standard for such conduct and do so now before any other unlawful deaths are allowed to take place.\u201d"}
-{"text": "my thoughts when i saw the trailer for frankenweenie, which preceded the avengers:\n\noh, is this a sequel to corpse bride?\n\nthis is a sequel to corpse bride\n\nhmm, why aren\u2019t they referencing the corpse bride yet\n\nthis can\u2019t be a different franchise. why not just set it in the corpse bride universe\n\noops who cares the avengers is starting\n\nin case you missed it, check it out dear readers: you can save $5 on the latest two chainsawsuit books and the new poster when you pick them all up together, and you\u2019ll get a sticker besides!! good work, bundling!! i was gonna say it makes a great mother\u2019s day present, but i don\u2019t know. i don\u2019t know about your mom\n\nmaybe she just wants the poster"}
-{"text": "This was probably inevitable.\n\nIn man's ongoing pursuit to make it easier to kill each another, it was only a matter of time before technology would emerge to efficiently crank out guns by way of a 3-D printer.\n\nNow there's the perfect Christmas stocking-stuffer for you. Are you beginning to get the feeling \"Saturday Night Live's\" seedy toy salesman Irwin Mainway will start peddling Bag-O-3-D Death? Fun for the whole family.\n\nA legal battle is afoot to prevent a Texas man, Cody Wilson, from uploading the technical specifications to create almost impossible to detect 3-D plastic weapons on the internet. An Obama administration ruling had prevented Wilson from distributing his 3-D gun specifications, which argued the technology violated export laws banning the distribution of weapons. Seems reasonable.\n\nBut that decision was recently reversed by President Donald Trump's State Department, which also paid Wilson a $40,000 settlement as sort of an apology for annoying him. Wilson is still tied up in court, because a federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order and eight attorneys general have filed a lawsuit to stop the uploading of the 3-D gun specifications. But we can probably deduce how all this will eventually turn out.\n\nThis is America, after all -- the land of the body bag.\n\nThe libertarian Wilson has argued the effort to stymie his desire to make guns even more accessible than they are now is grounded both in his First and Second Amendment rights. What Wilson is actually attempting to accomplish is to make it easier to obtain an unregistered, undetectable, untraceable firearm without going through the most cursory background check.\n\nYou'll hardly be shocked to know the National Rifle Association's flack, Dana Loesch, dismissed concerns that the potential of plastic guns seeping into society is problematic. She lauded Wilson's 3-D gun technology as representing \"freedom and innovation.\" Some supporters of Wilson have suggested the advent of 3-D firearms presents a golden opportunity to create new technologies to detect them at airports, schools and other public locations. How comforting.\n\nAt the moment, Wilson's 3-D handgun, dubbed \"The Liberator,\" is capable of only firing a single bullet. But it probably won't take too very long before 3-D printers will be able to produce an array of firearms including multi-capacity assault rifles without an iota of accountability.\n\nIndeed, Wilson's legal wrangling is for all practical purposes moot. He seized on the brief window of opportunity between the settling of the State Department ban on July 27 and the federal restraining order on Aug. 1\n\nto post his 3-D gun design on the internet, which has been downloaded thousands of times. So in theory, it is entirely likely all manner of terrorist organizations, drug cartels, numerous hate groups and your garden variety crazy person have just been handed the wherewithal to create their own ghost arsenals.\n\nDon't we already have plenty of guns in the United States? We now need not only more firearms, but guns some unhinged people can literally produce off a machine with zero scrutiny?\n\nWe have long admired the entrepreneur, the inventor who created the better mousetrap.\n\nThe pity is there is no 3-D printer to create a more civilized society. Not enough plastic in the world for that."}
-{"text": "Few months ago, Suhail assumed the online identity of Abu Basir al Khurasani to trawl the Net for content related to Islamic State. (Express Photo: Tashi Tobgyal) Few months ago, Suhail assumed the online identity of Abu Basir al Khurasani to trawl the Net for content related to Islamic State. (Express Photo: Tashi Tobgyal)\n\nThe key accused in the alleged Islamic State module busted by NIA last week, Mufti Suhail, has told interrogators that he was planning \u201cjihadist activities\u201d since 2009 due to what he called \u201cpersecution of Muslims in India\u201d but did not have the wherewithal to carry out attacks, sources said.\n\nThis is significant given that the Islamic State, although first set up as an Al Qaeda affiliate way back in 2006, hit international headlines only in 2014 when it seized territories in Syria and Iraq.\n\nThe 29-year-old Islamic preacher, who was arrested by NIA last week from his home in Jaffrabad, Delhi, told interrogators that he had been hurt by events such as the Babri Masjid demolition and believed that Muslims were discriminated against in the country. He has pointed this out as one of the reasons why Muslims do not get jobs in the country, sources said.\n\n\u201cSuhail is highly radicalised and justifies his actions. He said he had been motivated because Muslims suffer injustice in the country. He was earlier attracted to Al Qaeda and Taliban but could never approach any of them. With Islamic State recruiting online, he found a handler who guided him through his latest adventure,\u201d an investigator said.\n\nThe officer said that Suhail appeared to be the most \u201cmotivated\u201d in the group. \u201cHe alone was in touch with this online handler who guided him to carry out attacks in India. He, in turn, gathered friends and acquaintances who are in the age group of 20-30,\u201d the officer said.\n\nInvestigators pointed out that this was unlike some other IS-affiliated groups busted by NIA in the past few years. \u201cMost of those arrested earlier had plans to go to Syria or Iraq. Suhail\u2019s concern, however, is largely India,\u201d an investigator said.\n\nAccording to the NIA, a few months ago, Suhail assumed the online identity of Abu Basir al Khurasani to trawl the Net for content related to Islamic State. He soon met an online entity named Abu Malik Peshawari on Facebook. In due course, NIA claimed, Peshawari convinced Suhail to carry out attacks in the name of the Islamic State and also became his guide. This handler is suspected to be in Afghanistan. Suhail hails from Amroha where his father was engaged in religious studies but he has hardly lived there. Over the past one and a half months, however, he began living in his ancestral home in the Moullan Mohalla of Amroha town. NIA sources said he moved there primarily to build his group which has several members from Amroha.\n\n\u201cHe was looking to rent a place in the town to hold meetings and assemble bombs since he could not have done it at his ancestral home which is a joint family property,\u201d the officer said.\n\nAfter graduating in religious studies, which included a brief stint at the Deoband seminary, Suhail was teaching at various madrassas. He has told investigators that he was attracted to pan-Islamic ideologies of various groups and believed Muslims were persecuted across the globe.\n\n\u201cHe talks at length about the Russian invasion of Afghanistan followed by the American assault. He has also expressed concern about Chechnya strife and the Palestinian struggle. He has said that the only solution to all these problems is establishing Islamic rule under Sharia law,\u201d the officer said.\n\n\ud83d\udce3 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines\n\nFor all the latest India News, download Indian Express App."}
-{"text": "A pastor of a large Southern Baptist church near Chattanooga, Tennessee said this week that Christians would never repent for discriminating against gay people like they had for racism because African-Americans could not change the color of their skin.\n\nBrainerd Baptist Church Senior Pastor Robby Gallaty devoted his entire hour-long sermon on Sunday to justifying Christian opposition to the sexuality of LGBT people.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nAfter spending about 20 minutes recounting the perils of homosexuality throughout history, Gallaty asserted that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by God because of gay sex.\n\n\u201cGod said that the sins of the people had infected the very land in which they live,\u201d he explained. \u201cSo what happens to people who engage in this activity, this sexual immoral activity? Go to Leviticus 20, God gives us the punishment for engaging in these sins\u2026 \u2018If a man sleeps with a man as with a woman, they have both committed a detestable thing. They must be put to death. And their blood is on their own hands.'\u201d\n\nBut the pastor noted that there was some good news in the New Testament of the Bible: God could turn gay people into heterosexuals.\n\n\u201c[The Bible says] some of you used to act like this, but now you\u2019ve changed by the grace of God. You were washed! You have been sanctified! You have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of God.\u201d\n\nGallaty went on to opine that \u201chomosexuality is an attack on the family and the marriage.\u201d\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s the most lethal attack we have today against the family,\u201d he insisted. \u201cAnd if the enemy can ruin the family, he wins.\u201d\n\nAccording to Gallaty, LGBT people \u201cwear that homosexual badge as a badge of honor, it\u2019s an identifiable marker.\u201d\n\n\u201cHere\u2019s the problem with the argument that you closed-minded Christians, one day you\u2019re going to come full circle, and you\u2019re going to realize that you\u2019re being judgemental just like racism was 50 years ago,\u201d he remarked. \u201cAnd we finally realized that racism was an issue for Christians.\u201d\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\n\u201cAnd now you guys have repented and come full circle, and you\u2019re going to realize that you\u2019re as foolish as we were with the movement of racism,\u201d Gallaty added. \u201cIt\u2019s not the same\u2026 A black man can\u2019t change his race, a white man can\u2019t change his race, a homosexual can stop engaging in homosexual acts. See, sexuality is a choice. Gender and race are not.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re not a homosexual, listen to me! You\u2019re not gay! You\u2019re not a lesbian! You\u2019re a child of God!\u201d\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nGallaty recalled that a gay member of the church had once come to him for advice because he was attracted to men.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s the same desire I had to get high and score dope years ago, it\u2019s a desire there,\u201d he admitted, recalling that he told that man that his \u201clove for Jesus has to supercede any love on this planet, including men.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor the glory of God and the honor of God in your body, you may have to remain single for the rest of your life,\u201d Gallaty told the church member. \u201cThe cool thing is this: God, over time, will heal you.\u201d\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nWatch the video below from Brainerd Baptist Church, broadcast Aug. 31, 2014."}
-{"text": "Callista Gingrich Nominated As Ambassador To The Vatican\n\nEnlarge this image toggle caption John Moore/Getty Images John Moore/Getty Images\n\nPresident Trump's choice to represent the United States at the Vatican, Callista Gingrich, has one especially prominent achievement as a Catholic: She is responsible for her husband, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, converting to Roman Catholicism in 2009.\n\n\"When Newt became a Catholic, it was one of the happiest moments of my life,\" she said in a 2012 interview with The New Yorker.\n\nCallista Gingrich was raised in Wisconsin as a Catholic, but attended Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, on a music scholarship. She has been an accomplished pianist since childhood and also plays the French horn. For the past 20 years, she has sung professionally in the choir of the Basilica of the National Shrine in Washington, D.C.\n\nHer husband began attending mass at the Basilica largely to watch her perform in the choir, and he told the Catholic TV network EWTN in 2011 that it was that worship experience that led him to convert to Catholicism.\n\n\"I was doing that as a supportive husband, and it sort of caught up with me in a way I could never imagine,\" Gingrich said.\n\nTrump's choice of Callista Gingrich to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See will require Senate confirmation. There is little sign of opposition to her nomination, but it is not without controversy. She carried on an affair with Newt Gingrich for several years while he was still married to another woman, and their relationship troubled many conservative Christians.\n\nBefore marrying her, the twice-divorced Gingrich had his previous marriage annulled. Under Catholic church teaching, divorced Catholics are not supposed to receive communion unless they have their former marriages officially annulled.\n\nWhether that history would taint her ambassadorial service at the Vatican is by no means clear. Newt Gingrich is one of President Trump's strongest supporters, and Callista Gingrich may well be seen by Vatican authorities as carrying her husband's political clout.\n\nThe White House statement announcing her nomination highlighted her role as president and CEO of Gingrich Productions, a multimedia production and consulting company, and her authorship of the bestselling Ellis the Elephant children's books. In 2010, her production company released a film called Nine Days That Changed the World about Pope John Paul II's 1979 pilgrimage to Poland and the role it played in the downfall of communism in eastern Europe."}
-{"text": "What is not being discussed is a much bigger and more imminent threat that makes action imperative, an existential one for the United States.\n\nAs both Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have stated, the Clinton-Obama era of \u201c strategic patience \u201d with North Korea is over. The usual suspects in the mainstream media have been warning that Trump is provoking Pyongyang into war on the Korean peninsula. The counter is that the administration isn\u2019t willing to wait till North Korea has the operational capability to nuke an American city like Seattle or Honolulu.\n\nThe nightmare scenario of an America sent back centuries in time before electricity, refrigeration, and smart phones has grown unnervingly closer with the presence of two North Korean satellites with orbits over a blissfully unaware American populace and an Obama administration that was indifferent to the apocalyptic threat of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack.\n\nOn Feb. 7, 2016, North Korea launched a second satellite, the KMS-4, to join their KMS-3 satellite launched in December of 2012. In an article in the Washington Times on April 24, 2016, R. James Woolsey, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and Peter Vincent Fry, executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security as well as director of the Nuclear Strategy Forum, both congressional advisory boards, warned of the dangers of an apocalyptic EMP attack that these and similar satellites pose:\n\nBoth satellites now are in south polar orbits, evading many U.S. missile defense radars and flying over the United States from the south, where our defenses are limited. Both satellites -- if nuclear armed -- could make an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack that could blackout the U.S. electric grid for months or years, thereby killing millions. Technologically, such an EMP attack is easy -- since the weapon detonates at high-altitude, in space, no shock absorbers, heat shield, or vehicle for atmospheric re-entry is necessary. Since the radius of the EMP is enormous, thousands of kilometers, accuracy matters little. Almost any nuclear weapon will do. Moreover, North Korea probably has nuclear weapons specially designed, not to make a big explosion, but to emit lots of gamma rays to generate high-frequency EMP. Senior Russian generals warned EMP Commissioners in 2004 that their EMP nuclear warhead design leaked \u201caccidentally\u201d to North Korea, and unemployed Russian scientists found work in North Korea\u2019s nuclear weapons program.\n\nWoolsey and Pry, along with former Reagan science adviser William R. Graham, chairman of the Congressional EMP Commission, Ambassador Henry Cooper, director of the Strategic Defense Initiative and chief negotiator at the Defense and Space Talks with the USSR; and Fritz Ermarth, chairman of the National Intelligence Council; warned of the North Korean EMP threat an article in the February 12, 2016, issue of National Review:\n\nNa\u00efve reliance on their transparent disavowals could end up costing millions of American lives. North Korea launched its second satellite on Saturday, yet the national press continues to ignore this existential threat. The White House has not recognized that a nuclear-armed North Korea has demonstrated an ability to kill most Americans with an electromagnetic-pulse (EMP) attack. And White House spokesmen and the media have misled the public with unjustified assurances that North Korea has not yet miniaturized nuclear warheads for missile or satellite delivery. We, who have spent our professional lifetimes analyzing and defending against nuclear-missile threats, warned years ago that North Korea\u2019s Unha-3 space launch vehicle could carry a small nuclear warhead and detonate it a hundred or so miles over the United States to create an EMP, leading to a protracted nationwide blackout. The resulting societal chaos could kill millions.\n\nThe image of an America gone dark, an America suddenly transported from an era of iPads to an era of horse and buggy travel, recently depicted in the NBC series \u201cRevolution\u201d is not science fiction but a very real possibility. As Investor\u2019s Business Daily described the threat in an aptly titled April 2013 editorial, \u201cHow North Korea Could Destroy The United States\u201d:\n\nThe three-stage missile North Korea launched last December that also orbited a \u201cpackage,\u201d which experts say could be a test to orbit a nuclear weapon that then would be de-orbited on command anywhere over the U.S. and exploded at a high altitude, releasing an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). That would fry electronic circuitry and the nation\u2019s power grid. This concern recently has been reinforced by a little-publicized study released in May 2011, titled \u201cIn the Dark: Military Planning for a Catastrophic Critical Infrastructure Event,\u201d by the U.S. Army War College that said a nuclear detonation at altitude above a U.S. city could wipe out the electrical grid for hundreds, possibly thousands, of miles around. The satellite launched by Pyongyang coincided with a third round of nuclear tests described as a \u201cnuclear test of a higher level,\u201d most likely referring to a device made from highly enriched uranium, which is easier to miniaturize than the plutonium bombs North Korea tested in 2006 and 2009, said Cheong Seong-chang, an analyst at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea. Such an EMP device would not have to be particularly high yield. It would not be designed to create a big explosion, but to convert its energy into gamma rays, that generate the EMP effect. Any nuclear weapon detonated above an altitude of 30 kilometers will generate an electromagnetic pulse that will destroy electronics and could collapse the electric power grid and other critical infrastructures -- communications, transportation, banking and finance, food and water -- that sustain modern civilization and the lives of 300 million Americans... Nobody is harmed or killed immediately by the blast. But life in the U.S., the world\u2019s only superpower and the world\u2019s largest economy, would come to a screeching halt as a country dependent on cutting-edge 21st century technology regresses in time almost a century instantaneously.\n\nNorth Korea has also been working on a submarine launched ballistic missile, which would put the continental U.S. with striking distance. While North Korean submarines are not yet as sophisticated as our ballistic missile submarine fleet, it would only take a sub modified to launch a single missile, or even one launched from a disguised container cargo ship off our West Coast, to pose an apocalyptic threat.\n\nAs Woolsey and Pry note in the March 29 edition of The Hill, the threat of North Korean sending the U.S. back to the Stone Age is real and imminent:\n\nThe mainstream media, and some officials who should know better, continue to allege North Korea does not yet have capability to deliver on its repeated threats to strike the U.S. with nuclear weapons. False reassurance is given to the American people that North Korea has not \u201cdemonstrated\u201d that it can miniaturize a nuclear warhead small enough for missile delivery, or build a reentry vehicle for an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of penetrating the atmosphere to blast a U.S. city. Yet any nation that has built nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, as North Korea has done, can easily overcome the relatively much simpler technological challenge of warhead miniaturization and reentry vehicle design\u2026. \u2026on October 7, 2015, (Admiral William) Gortney again warned the Atlantic Council: \"I agree with the intelligence community that we assess that they [North Koreans] have the ability, they have the weapons, and they have the ability to miniaturize those weapons, and they have the ability to put them on a rocket that can range the [U.S.] homeland.\" In February and March of 2015, former senior national security officials of the Reagan and Clinton administrations warned that North Korea should be regarded as capable of delivering by satellite a small nuclear warhead, specially designed to make a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack against the United States. According to the Congressional EMP Commission, a single warhead delivered by North Korean satellite could blackout the national electric grid and other life-sustaining critical infrastructures for over a year -- killing 9 of 10 Americans by starvation and societal collapse.\n\nDeploying THAAD missile defense system in South Korea and and the GMD system in Alaska, developed under Republican administrations, is a start, but more force or other moves might be necessary. Fortunately, unlike President Obama, President Trump is unwilling to keep whistling past our own graveyard.\n\nDaniel John Sobieski is a freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investor\u2019s Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications."}
-{"text": "Republicans are closing in on a tax overhaul with major implications for most individuals, households and the overall economy. (Here are three charts that lay out how). But the House and Senate GOP tax bills also include numerous provisions on health care, oil and gas drilling and other issues that aren\u2019t strictly related to cutting taxes or reforming the tax code.\n\nIt\u2019s not an unprecedented move. Lawmakers from both parties frequently tuck seemingly unrelated proposals into broad pieces of legislation, and the secondary provisions are often overlooked. Here\u2019s a guide to some of the key non-tax issues included in the GOP tax plan.\n\nEnding the individual mandate\n\nSenate Republicans inserted a measure in their tax bill that would eliminate the Affordable Care Act\u2019s mandate that most Americans have health insurance or pay a penalty. The Supreme Court upheld the mandate and other parts of former President Barack Obama\u2019s signature health law in 2012, ruling that Congress had authority to impose the penalty through its taxation powers. In other words: The court\u2019s decision effectively defined the penalty as a form of taxation.\n\nWhy it\u2019s included: Eliminating the mandate would generate $338 billion in savings on health care subsidies, funding Republicans are counting on to help pay for the rest of their tax plan. But scrapping the mandate would also have a huge impact on health care. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that 13 million people could lose their health insurance by 2027, and it could also increase premiums and spur insurers to offer cheaper, less effective plans.\n\nOil and gas drilling in Alaska\n\nThe Senate tax bill would open part of Alaska\u2019s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR, to oil and gas exploration. The proposal, crafted by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, would allow oil and gas drilling on a 1.5 million acre coastal plain within the nearly 20 million-acre refuge.\n\nWhy it\u2019s included: It would raise a projected $2 billion in revenue over a decade for Alaska and the federal government. Republican and Democrats in Alaska have called for drilling in the refuge for decades. But proposals to drill there have long been opposed by Democrats and environmental groups.\n\nProtections for the \u2018unborn child\u2019\n\nThe House tax bill includes a provision that explicitly allows parents to use tax-free college savings plans, known as 529s, for a \u201cchild in utero.\u201d According to the measure, \u201can unborn child means a child in utero.\u201d People can already use the college savings accounts for children they do not yet have. But the current law does not specifically refer to an \u201cunborn child.\u201d\n\nWhy it\u2019s included: Including the language is a victory for the pro-life movement. It has angered critics who say Republicans are using the tax bill to protect the views of abortion opponents.\n\nOpening the (church) door to political activism\n\nThe House tax plan would also repeal the Johnson Amendment, which bans non-profit groups from engaging in political activism. President Donald Trump promised to repeal the rule during the 2016 election, saying it unfairly blocks churches in particular from political activity. Trump signed an executive order earlier this year aimed at protecting freedom of religion and free speech, which was widely viewed as a move towards ending the Johnson Amendment.\n\nWhy it\u2019s included: The issue is popular on the right, especially among religions conservatives.\n\nSaher Khan and Lisa Desjardins contributed reporting\n\nCorrection: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the Senate tax plan included a repeal of the Johnson Amendment, and a provision for the \u201cunborn child\u201d in 529 savings plans. Both proposals are in the House tax plan."}
-{"text": "A public hospital in Washington state is suing Bank of America to recoup some of the losses from a $1.03 million cyberheist that the healthcare organization suffered in 2013.\n\nIn April 2013, organized cyber thieves broke into the payroll accounts of Chelan County Hospital No. 1 , one of several hospitals managed by the Cascade Medical Center in Leavenworth, Wash. The crooks added to the hospital\u2019s payroll account almost 100 \u201cmoney mules,\u201d unwitting accomplices who\u2019d been hired to receive and forward money to the perpetrators.\n\nOn Thursday, April 19, and then again on April 20, the thieves put through a total of three unauthorized payroll payments (known as automated clearing house or ACH payments), siphoning approximately $1 million from the hospital.\n\nBank of America was ultimately able to claw back roughly $400,000 of the fraudulent payroll payments. But in a complaint (PDF) filed against the bank, the hospital alleges that an employee on the Chelan County Treasurer\u2019s staff noticed something amiss the following Monday \u2014 April 22, 2013 \u2014 and alerted the bank to the suspicious activity.\n\n\u201cCraig Scott, a Bank of America employee, contacted the Chelan County Treasurer\u2019s office later that morning and asked if a pending transfer request of $603,575.00 was authorized,\u201d the complaint reads. \u201cNo funds had been transferred at the time of the phone call. Theresa Pinneo, an employee in the Chelan County Treasurer\u2019s Office, responded immediately that the $603,575.00 transfer request was not authorized. Nonetheless, Bank of America processed the $603,575.00 transfer request and transferred the funds as directed by the hackers.\u201d\n\nChelan County alleges breach of contract, noting that the agreement between the county and the bank incorporates rules of the National Automated Clearinghouse Association (NACHA), and that those rules require financial institutions to implement a risk management program for all ACH activities; to assess the nature of Chelan County\u2019s ACH activity; to implement an exposure limit for Chelan County; to monitor Chelan County\u2019s ACH activity across multiple settlement dates; and to enforce that exposure limit. The lawsuit alleges that Bank of America failed on all of those counts, and that it ran afoul of a Washington state law governing authorized and verified payment orders.\n\nIn a response (PDF) filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington at Spokane, Bank of America denied nearly all of the allegations in the lawsuit, including that it ignored the hospital\u2019s warning not to process the $603,575 payment batch.\n\nThe bank noted that its contractual obligations with the county are governed by the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), which has been adopted by most states (including Washington). The UCC holds that a payment order received by the [bank] is \u201ceffective as the order of the customer,whether or not authorized, if the security procedure is a commercially reasonable method of providing security against unauthorized payment orders, and the bank proves that it accepted the payment order in good faith and in compliance with the security procedure and any written agreement or instruction of the customer restricting acceptance of payment orders issued in the name of the customer.\u201d\n\nThis cyberheist mirrors attacks against dozens of other businesses over the past five years that have lost tens of millions of dollars at the hands of crooks armed with powerful banking Trojans such as ZeuS. It\u2019s not clear what strain of malware was used in this attack, but the money was funneled through a cashout gang that this blog has tied to cyberheists orchestrated by organized crooks who distributed ZeuS via email spam campaigns.\n\nBusiness and consumers operate under vastly different rules when it comes to banking online. Consumers are protected by Regulation E, which dramatically limits the liability for those who lose money from unauthorized account activity online (provided the victim notifies their financial institution of the fraudulent activity within 60 days of receiving a disputed account statement).\n\nBusinesses, however, do not enjoy such protections. The victim organization\u2019s bank may decide to reimburse the victim for some of the losses, but beyond that the only recourse for the victim is to sue the their bank. Under state interpretations of the UCC, the most that a business hit with a cyberheist can hope to recover is the amount that was stolen. That means that it\u2019s generally not in the business\u2019s best interests to sue their bank unless the amount of theft was quite high, because the litigation fees required to win a court battle can quickly equal or surpass the amount stolen.\n\nSo, if you run a business and you\u2019re expecting your bank to protect your assets should you or one of your employees fall victim to a malware phishing scheme, you could be in for a rude awakening. Keep a close eye on your books, require that more than one employee sign off on all large transfers, and consider adopting some of these: Online Banking Best Practices for Businesses.\n\nTags: ACH, Bank of America, Cascade Medical Center, Chelan County Hospital No. 1, NACHA, National Automated Clearinghouse Association, Uniform Commercial Code"}
-{"text": "Companies that engage in price fixing for public health products necessary to prevent the spread of coronavirus could face criminal prosecution, the Department of Justice warned on Tuesday.\n\nThe warnings are part of an increased effort by the U.S. government to ensure that products such as face masks, respirators and sterile gloves are available to federal, state and local health authorities, private healthcare workers and the general public who continue to grapple with the growing spread of the virus.\n\nGRASSLEY ON CONGRESSIONAL RESPONSE TO CORONAVIRUS: 'EVERYTHING IS ON THE TABLE'\n\n\u201cThe Department of Justice stands ready to make sure that bad actors do not take advantage of emergency response efforts, health care providers, or the American people during this crucial time,\u201d Attorney General William Barr said in a statement. \u201cI am committed to ensuring that the department\u2019s resources are available to combat any wrongdoing and protect the public.\u201d\n\nAs of Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 22 deaths in the U.S. from the virus and at least 565 other cases around the country.\n\nThe DOJ began investigating alleged price gouging and false advertising of health products aimed at battling coronavirus earlier this week after the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission alerted seven companies on Monday about their sales of questionable products.\n\nCLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP\n\nThe Department has also created a Procurement Collusion Strike Force to oversee the sale of health products to federal, state and local agencies."}
-{"text": "Description:\n\nPolish / Polski\n\nSpoiler\n\nPoznajcie Lily \u2013 sukkuba, kt\u00f3ry ma za zadanie ka\u017cdego dnia szuka\u0107 m\u0119\u017cczyzn i przejmowa\u0107 kontrol\u0119 nad ich snami w celu wykradania ich energii \u017cyciowej. W zamian Lily spe\u0142ni ich pragnienia, bez wzgl\u0119du na to, jak zdemoralizowane by nie by\u0142y. A gdy populacja sukkub\u00f3w zaczyna si\u0119 zmniejsza\u0107, Lily staje si\u0119 coraz bardziej przepracowana, pr\u00f3buj\u0105c wyrobi\u0107 zwi\u0119kszaj\u0105c\u0105 si\u0119, dzienn\u0105 norm\u0119.\n\n\n\nPewnego dnia trafia do mieszkania wyczerpanego pracownika korporacji. Gdy jednak Lily obiecuje mu spe\u0142ni\u0107 jego najskrytsze marzenia, nawet j\u0105 wprawiaj\u0105 one w os\u0142upienie.\n\nMeet Lily. As a succubus, she is tasked with finding men every day, taking control of their dreams to steal their vitality. In return, Lily will fulfill any desires they have, no matter how perverted they are. And as the succubi population rate decreases, Lily finds herself more and more overworked in order to reach her rising quota.One day, she enters the domicile of an exhausted corporate drone. Lily promises to make the man's wildest dreams come true, but what he asks for shocks her."}
-{"text": "The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Wednesday advanced one of President Trump's environmental nominees who has been criticized for her disbelief in the science behind climate change and other issues.\n\nSenators voted 11-10 to send the nomination of Kathleen Hartnett White to serve on the Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ) to the Senate floor. Members also advanced Andrew Wheeler, Trump\u2019s nominee to be deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), on another party-line vote.\n\nHartnett White is a think tank official and former Texas environmental regulator with a reputation as a climate change skeptic who dismisses the science behind the influence of carbon emissions and other pollutants on the Earth's warming trend.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nAt CEQ, Hartnett White would advise the president on environmental issues and coordinate federal environmental reviews.\n\nDemocrats slammed Hartnett White on Wednesday for her positions on environmental science and attacked Trump and Republicans for supporting both nominees.\n\nSen. Kamala Harris Kamala HarrisJoe Biden looks to expand election battleground into Trump country Fox's Napolitano: Supreme Court confirmation hearings will be 'World War III of political battles' Rush Limbaugh encourages Senate to skip hearings for Trump's SCOTUS nominee MORE (D-Calif.) called the nomination process \u201cmorally bankrupt,\u201d while Sen. Jeff Merkley Jeffrey (Jeff) Alan MerkleyThe Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by The Air Line Pilots Association - Trump, Biden renew push for Latino support Sunday shows - Trump team defends coronavirus response Oregon senator says Trump's blame on 'forest management' for wildfires is 'just a big and devastating lie' MORE (D-Ore.) said the Hartnett White nomination was a \u201cdisservice.\u201d\n\nSen. Tom Carper Thomas (Tom) Richard CarperDemocrat asks for probe of EPA's use of politically appointed lawyers Overnight Energy: Study links coronavirus mortality to air pollution exposure | Low-income, minority households pay more for utilities: report OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Democrats push resolution to battle climate change, sluggish economy and racial injustice | Senators reach compromise on greenhouse gas amendment stalling energy bill | Trump courts Florida voters with offshore drilling moratorium MORE (D-Del.) said Hartnett White is a nominee \u201cwhose views are extreme, whose words are staggeringly inappropriate, and who shows remarkable disrespect for science, the environmental laws on the books and the federal government.\u201d\n\n\u201cA nominee who can\u2019t follow the thread from carbon pollution to ocean warming to sea level rise, who imagines science that is not there and ignores science that is there, is a preposterous nominee,\u201d Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse Sheldon WhitehouseHillicon Valley: Murky TikTok deal raises questions about China's role | Twitter investigating automated image previews over apparent algorithmic bias | House approves bill making hacking federal voting systems a crime House approves legislation making hacking voting systems a federal crime LWCF modernization: Restoring the promise MORE (D-R.I.) said.\n\nAt a free-for-all nomination hearing either this month, members of both parties lambasted Hartnett White. Democrats raised concerns about her past statements on science. She has called belief in climate change \u201cpaganism,\u201d said renewable energy is \u201cparasitic\u201d and questioned the health risks of pollutants like ozone.\n\nRepublicans from agriculture-heavy states questioned her commitment to the Renewable Fuel Standard ethanol mandate.\n\nNo Republicans voted against Hartnett White on Wednesday, but few spoke in her favor.\n\nSen. John Barrasso John Anthony BarrassoMurkowski: Supreme Court nominee should not be taken up before election Battle lines drawn on precedent in Supreme Court fight Sunday shows - Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death dominates MORE (R-Wyo.), the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, noted endorsements from the Chamber of Commerce and a former Obama administration Energy Department official.\n\nHe said that Hartnett White\u2019s \u201cexperience with environmental matters is broad\u201d and that she will \u201cbring her extensive experience to her job at CEQ.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of name-calling here and I\u2019m sure that makes everybody on the left feel better,\u201d Sen. James Inhofe James (Jim) Mountain InhofeChamber of Commerce endorses McSally for reelection Overnight Defense: Top admiral says 'no condition' where US should conduct nuclear test 'at this time' | Intelligence chief says Congress will get some in-person election security briefings Top admiral: 'No condition' where US should conduct nuclear test 'at this time' MORE (R-Okla.) said. \"We have people out there who are singing her praises, and you don\u2019t need to get down to the mud and name-call on these things.\u201d\n\nWheeler, a former EPA official, Environment and Public Works Committee Republican staffer and fossil fuel industry lobbyist, was also approved on an 11-10 vote. Democrats raised concerns about his work lobbying for Murray Energy, a major coal producer and supporter of the EPA\u2019s deregulatory effort.\n\nBut Republicans broadly supported his nomination, with Inhofe, the committee\u2019s former chairman, highlighting his work on legislative efforts.\n\n\u201cI totally relied on Andrew Wheeler for the background, the knowledge, the expertise that he has demonstrated year after year after year on a very bipartisan basis,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had some successes in this committee, and a lot of the successes we\u2019ve had are due to one employee in particular, and that was Andrew Wheeler.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nJUST GOT MY TAX RETURN AAAAAND IT'S GONE"}
-{"text": "Last week (17-18 July 2018), at the Beyond Blocks Summit in Seoul, South Korea, Ran Neu-Ner, CNBC\u2019s \u201cCrypto Trader\u201d, did an interview with Michael Arrington, a partner at XRP-denominated cryptoasset hedge fund \u201cArrington XRP Capital\u201d, during which they talked about XRP.\n\nArrington, who announced his hedge fund on 28 November 2017 at Consensus: Invest 2017 conference in New York, said at the time that his crypto-focused fund would be entirely denominated in XRP. In the blog post about the announcement, Arrington explained what this means:\n\n\u201cInvestors contribute XRP to the fund, not dollars or other fiat currency.\u201d\n\n\u201cAll distributions, fees, etc. will also generally be paid in XRP (with some exceptions for LPs desiring different currency distributions).\u201d\n\nHe described his reasoning for denominating the fund in XRP as follows:\n\n\u201cFirst, having a hedge fund denominated in a cryptocurrency makes things far easier for investors who already hold a lot of cryptocurrency. No need to convert back to fiat and then later back to a cryptocurrency as we make investments. Everyone saves fees and time that way. Second, XRP, developed by Ripple, is particularly useful for us. While we don\u2019t have a commercial relationship with Ripple (they are not investors in our fund, for example), we are still able to use their super-fast and secure settlement infrastructure, as anyone else can. That means non-U.S. investors in our fund will have an easier time investing in us and making redemptions later. No need to rely on ancient fiat methods for cross-border currency transfers that are slow and laden with fees. We\u2019ll pay our own fees and salaries out in XRP as well.\u201d\n\nDuring the interview with the CNBC Crypto Trader, Arrington was asked why he had chosen to denominate his fund in XRP. Arrington replied:\n\n\u201cXRP is a really really good way to move money. So, we denominate our fund in XRP because it's a fantastic way to move money cross-border very quickly at almost zero cost. So, there's a lot of tribalism in cryptocurrency\u2026 The one thing they all agree on is they all hate XRP because it's centralized, they think it's corporate-managed, etc. I mean, none of that is really true. But what it is is it's a fantastic way to move money. And while the other more decentralized cryptocurrencies sort of find their way toward becoming more efficient, in the mean time, XRP is fantastic. So, from a hedge fund point of view, it's great to denominate ourselves in XRP.\u201d\n\nInterface Image Credit: Image Courtesy of Beyond Blocks"}
-{"text": "SEOUL - A South Korean investigation has pointed to North Korea as the likely culprit behind unmanned spy drones that recently violated its airspace. Analysts say the drones are a concern but do not pose as big a security threat as North Korea's nuclear program, which Pyongyang vowed to step up with a \u201cnew form\u201d of test.\n\n\n\nSouth Korea's Ministry of Defense on Friday said three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, found crashed in the country were almost certainly from North Korea.\n\n\n\nThe ministry said that based on the size of the fuel tanks, flight speed and photos found on a drone camera, they could not be from China or Japan.\n\n\n\nThe sky blue color of the drones is also very similar to the ones shown during a North Korean military parade and during leader Kim Jong Un\u2019s visit to a military unit. Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said they will share the evidence with the United States and other countries before making a final conclusion.\n\n\n\nHe said that if the drones are identified as being from North Korea, then the South's military will strongly respond to Pyongyang as it is a grave, provocative action crossing into South Korean airspace.\n\n\n\nWreckage from the three drones was found in recent weeks near the heavily-armed border dividing the two Koreas.\n\n\n\nIt is not immediately clear what caused the spy vehicles to crash.\n\n\n\nThe toy-airplane-like drones were ridiculed in South Korean media for their low-tech design. The photos captured were low resolution and the programmed drones were not capable of real-time control or transmitting images.\n\n\n\nNonetheless, the drones were able to evade detection from South Korea's military and take photos of installations and Seoul's presidential compound.\n\n\n\nIf upgraded, the drones could be used to launch targeted attacks, notes Daniel Pinkston, Deputy Northeast Asia Director with the International Crisis Group.\n\n\n\n\"If these devices are configured in other ways, they could deliver biological weapons for example. Also if they became more sophisticated and could relay real-time data, they could be used for targeting purposes,\" said Pinkston.\n\n\n\nNonetheless, North Korea's drone threat to South Korea is much less of a concern than its missile and nuclear programs.\n\n\n\nPyongyang in late March promised a \u201cnew form\u201d of nuclear test.\n\n\n\nAnalysts say that could mean anything from multiple or deeper explosions to a more powerful device or one made of something other than plutonium.\n\n\n\nKim Yong-hyun, a North Korean studies professor at Seoul's Dongguk University, said the possibility of North Korea engaging in a fourth nuclear test is not that high. Because the blow-back on North Korea would be serious, he said, to have a test would be a burden for North Korea. He thinks North Korea is playing its brinkmanship tactics with rhetoric.\n\n\n\nPinkston disagrees, and said a fourth nuclear test is just a matter of timing.\n\n\n\n\"They will consider the international situation including China, which is very important, and also the relationship with South Korea. But, at the end of the day, North Korean leadership will be driven by their principles, their objectives, and what they are trying to achieve, which is to become a full fledged nuclear weapons state,\" said Pinkston.\n\n\n\nSouth Korean officials promise \u201cunimaginable consequences\u201d if Pyongyang tests another nuclear device.\n\n\n\nPolitical analysts say that would likely mean a similar period of cold relations that followed previous tests as well as stepped-up economic sanctions.\n\n\n\nSeoul also plans to acquire low-altitude radar and precise weapons systems so they can track and destroy the North's spy drones.\n\n\n\nVOA Seoul Bureau Producer Youmi Kim contributed to this report."}
-{"text": "\u7c73\u56fd\u5171\u548c\u515a\u5927\u7d71\u9818\u9078\u5019\u88dc\u3067\u3042\u308b\u30c9\u30ca\u30eb\u30c9\u30fb\u30c8\u30e9\u30f3\u30d7\u6c0f\u304c\u5317\u671d\u9bae\u306e\u91d1\u6b63\u6069\uff08\u30ad\u30e0\u30fb\u30b8\u30e7\u30f3\u30a6\u30f3\uff09\u7b2c\uff11\u66f8\u8a18\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u300c\u5f7c\u306f\u300e\u982d\u304c\u304a\u304b\u3057\u3044\u300f\u304b\u3001\u305d\u3046\u3067\u306a\u3051\u308c\u3070\u300e\u5929\u624d\u300f\u3060\u300d\u3068\u767a\u8a00\u3057\u305f\u3002\u4eca\u6708\uff12\uff11\u65e5\uff08\u73fe\u5730\u6642\u9593\uff09\u3001\u30a2\u30e9\u30d0\u30de\u5dde\u30d0\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30ac\u30e0\u306e\u30e9\u30b8\u30aa\u653e\u9001\uff37\uff21\uff30\uff29\u306e\u300c\uff34\uff48\uff45 \uff2d\uff41\uff54\uff54 \uff2d\uff55\uff52\uff50\uff48\uff59 \uff33\uff48\uff4f\uff57\u300d\u306b\u51fa\u6f14\u3057\u305f\u30c8\u30e9\u30f3\u30d7\u6c0f\u306f\u300c\u5357\u5317\u9593\u306b\u518d\u3073\u7dca\u5f35\u304c\u9ad8\u307e\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\u3060\u304b\u3089\u7c73\u56fd\u306f\u6226\u8266\u3092\u9001\u308b\u306e\u3060\u300d\u3068\u8ff0\u3079\u305f\u3068\u7c73\u56fd\u306e\u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30cd\u30c3\u30c8\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2\u300c\uff22\uff52\uff45\uff49\uff54\uff42\uff41\uff52\uff54\u300d\u304c\uff12\uff12\u65e5\u3001\u5831\u3058\u305f\u3002\n\n\n\n\u30c8\u30e9\u30f3\u30d7\u6c0f\u306f\u6700\u8fd1\u3001\u5317\u671d\u9bae\u306e\u5730\u96f7\u3068\u7832\u6483\u6311\u767a\u304b\u3089\u59cb\u307e\u3063\u305f\u97d3\u534a\u5cf6\uff08\u671d\u9bae\u534a\u5cf6\uff09\u306e\u7dca\u5f35\u72b6\u6cc1\u306b\u306b\u8a00\u53ca\u3057\u306a\u304c\u3089\u300c\u97d3\u56fd\u306f\u5049\u5927\u3067\u7acb\u6d3e\u3060\u3002\u79c1\u304c\u5c55\u958b\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u4e8b\u696d\u306b\u95a2\u9023\u3057\u3001\u30c6\u30ec\u30d3\uff14\uff10\uff10\uff10\u53f0\u3092\u6ce8\u6587\u3057\u305f\u3002\u30b5\u30e0\u30b9\u30f3\u30fb\uff2c\uff27\u30fb\u30b7\u30e3\u30fc\u30d7\uff08\u30b7\u30e3\u30fc\u30d7\u306f\u65e5\u672c\u7523\u3060\uff09\u306f\u3059\u3079\u3066\u97d3\u56fd\u304b\u3089\u3084\u3063\u3066\u304f\u308b\u3002\u5f7c\u3089\u306f\u5927\u91d1\u3092\u5132\u3051\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\u3068\u3053\u308d\u3067\u308f\u308c\u308f\u308c\u306f\u8ecd\u968a\u3092\u9001\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\u305d\u3053\u306b\u5165\u3063\u3066\u5f7c\u3089\u3092\u9632\u5fa1\u3059\u308b\u3002\u308f\u308c\u308f\u308c\u304c\u5f97\u308b\u3082\u306e\u306f\u306a\u3044\u3002\u72c2\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\u306a\u305c\u5f7c\u3089\u306f\u308f\u308c\u308f\u308c\u3092\u52a9\u3051\u306a\u3044\u306e\u304b\u300d\u3068\u8ff0\u3079\u3001\u97d3\u7c73\u540c\u76df\u3092\u975e\u96e3\u3059\u308b\u767a\u8a00\u3092\u7e70\u308a\u8fd4\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\n\n\u30c8\u30e9\u30f3\u30d7\u6c0f\u306f\u5f15\u304d\u7d9a\u304d\u300c\u308f\u308c\u308f\u308c\u306b\u306f\u72c2\u3063\u305f\u7537\u304c\u3044\u308b\u3002\u79c1\u306e\u8003\u3048\u3067\u306f\u3001\u5f7c\u306f\u982d\u304c\u304a\u304b\u3057\u3044\u3002\u5f7c\u306f\u982d\u304c\u304a\u304b\u3057\u3044\u304b\u3001\u5929\u624d\u306e\u4e8c\u3064\u306b\u4e00\u3064\u3060\u3002\u5f7c\u306f\u5b9f\u969b\u3001\u305d\u306e\u7236\u89aa\uff08\u91d1\u6b63\u65e5\uff09\u3088\u308a\u4e0d\u5b89\u5b9a\u3060\u3002\u5f7c\u3068\u6bd4\u8f03\u3059\u308b\u6642\u3001\u7236\u89aa\u306e\u307b\u3046\u304c\u76f8\u5bfe\u7684\u30de\u30b7\u3060\u3063\u305f\u3068\u8a00\u3048\u308b\u300d\u3068\u3057\u3066\u3001\u91d1\u6b63\u6069\u7b2c\uff11\u66f8\u8a18\u3092\u975e\u96e3\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\n\n\u30c8\u30e9\u30f3\u30d7\u6c0f\u306f\u97d3\u56fd\u3092\u9632\u5fa1\u3059\u308b\u3053\u3068\u304b\u3089\u7c73\u56fd\u304c\u5f97\u308b\u3082\u306e\u306f\u306a\u3044\u3068\u3044\u3046\u300c\u5b89\u4fdd\u7121\u8cc3\u4e57\u8eca\u8ad6\u300d\u3092\u7e70\u308a\u8fd4\u3057\u305f\u3002\u300c\u306a\u305c\u308f\u308c\u308f\u308c\u304c\u7686\u3092\u9632\u5fa1\u3059\u308b\u306e\u304b\u3002\u5f7c\u3089\u306f\u91d1\u6301\u3061\u56fd\u5bb6\u3060\u3002\u6b63\u3057\u3044\u30e1\u30c3\u30bb\u30f3\u30b8\u30e3\u30fc\uff08\u6307\u5c0e\u8005\uff09\u304c\u3044\u308b\u306a\u3089\u3070\u5f7c\u3089\u306f\u308f\u308c\u308f\u308c\u306b\u5de8\u984d\u306e\u8cc7\u91d1\u3092\u51fa\u3059\u3060\u308d\u3046\u3057\u3001\u305d\u3046\u3059\u308c\u3070\u7686\u304c\u5e78\u305b\u306b\u306a\u308b\u3002\u3060\u304c\u3001\u4eca\u3001\u73fe\u5b9f\u306f\u3068\u3066\u3082\u60b2\u3057\u3044\u72b6\u6cc1\u3060\u300d\u3002\u30c8\u30e9\u30f3\u30d7\u6c0f\u306f\u5148\u6708\uff12\uff11\u65e5\u306b\u30b5\u30a6\u30b9\u30ab\u30ed\u30e9\u30a4\u30ca\u5dde\u3067\u306e\u904a\u8aac\u904e\u7a0b\u3067\u3082\u97d3\u56fd\u3092\u53d6\u308a\u4e0a\u3052\u306a\u304c\u3089\u97d3\u7c73\u540c\u76df\u3092\u975e\u96e3\u3059\u308b\u767a\u8a00\u3092\u3057\u3066\u3044\u305f\u3002\n\n\n\n\ud3ec\ud1a0\ubdf0\uc5b4 \ub274\uc2a4 \uba54\ub274 \ubcf4\uae30"}
-{"text": "A Rasmussen Reports poll finds that an increasing number of American voters don\u2019t want their taxes to subsidize National Public Radio (NPR).\n\nThe poll found that 31 percent of likely voters are in agreement with President Donald Trump, who called for NPR to be defunded in his latest budget. That compares to 39 percent who want subsidies to continue and almost a third of voters \u2014 or 30 percent \u2014 who are undecided on the matter.\n\n\u201cMost voters tune in to National Public Radio during the course of a month, but far fewer think taxpayers should continue to subsidize it,\u201d Rasmussen Reports reported on its poll.\n\nThe poll continues to be what appears to be a trend, with the number of Americans who oppose ending subsidies sliding from 58 percent in 2017 to 39 percent in this latest poll.\n\nPoll respondents\u2019 answers are tied to their approval of the president:\n\nAmong voters who strongly approve of the job Trump is doing, 58 percent favor discontinuing NPR\u2019s taxpayer subsidy. Only nine percent (9 percent) of those who strongly disapprove of the president\u2019s job performance agree. Thirty-seven percent (37 percent) of all voters say the news on NPR is generally liberal, while 28 percent consider it unbiased. Just 10 percent think it\u2019s generally conservative. Twenty-four percent (24 percent) are not sure.\n\nAlthough NPR promotes itself as an unbiased news organization, it is decidedly leftwing and is supported by many leftist corporate donors, including Amazon, Ben & Jerry\u2019s, CNN, Turner Broadcasting, and the Union of Concerned Scientists, as well as many other corporations, including Fox Broadcasting.\n\nIn the same poll, Rasmussen Reports reported that one year ago, 54 percent of voters said: \u201cthey didn\u2019t trust the political news they were getting.\u201d\n\n\u201cSixty percent (60 percent) of those who Strongly Approve of how Trump is doing his job think the news on NPR is generally liberal, a view held by only 16 percent of those who Strongly Disapprove,\u201d Rasmussen Reports reported.\n\n\u201cDemocrats are more likely to listen to NPR than Republicans and unaffiliated voters and are much less supportive of cutting federal subsidies to the media organization,\u201d Rasmussen Reports reported.\n\nAccording to Open Secrets, NPR spent more than $600,000 on lobbying in 2017.\n\nAccording to WFYI public radio station in Indianapolis, the annual funding for the NPR umbrella group, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, has been level for several years at $445 million.\n\nThe survey of 1,000 likely voters took place on March 19-20, 2019. The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points, with a 95 percent level of confidence.\n\nFollow Penny Starr on Twitter"}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nHave a full fridge Too lazy to prepare anything to eat"}
-{"text": "\nSome Republicans are going to extreme lengths to defend Alabama Senate nominee Roy Moore against allegations that he molested one teenager and preyed on at least three more.\n\nRoy Moore, the Republican nominee for Alabama Senate, begged Breitbart to help him fend off a devastating story accusing him of sexually assaulting and harassing teenagers. And Breitbart is doing everything it can to help.\n\nThe far-right website run by Steve Bannon \u2014 white supremacist, former strategist to Donald Trump, and fervent Moore supporter \u2014 first ran a story trying to pre-empt the Washington Post report.\n\nThen Joel B. Pollak went on MSNBC to further defend the heinous allegations against Moore, describing the accounts of three women as \"legal relationships\" that were perfectly acceptable because \"Roy Moore was single\" at the time.\n\n\nAll of the women who spoke with the Washington Post were teenagers at the time that Moore, then in his 30s, approached them.\n\n\"Wendy Miller says she was 14 and working as a Santa\u2019s helper at the Gadsden Mall,\" reports the Washington Post, \"when Moore first approached her, and 16 when he asked her on dates, which her mother forbade.\"\n\nThat, according to Breitbart's Pollak, constitutes a \"legal relationship\" that is not \"problematic.\n\nPOLLACK: I don't think we've said anything about that that would suggest we condone it. What I would say and point out is that what's really interesting in the Washington Post article is that they say \"teenagers\" \u2014 in fact, you repeated that at the start of the segment \u2014 when, if you read the article, there are several cases mentioned, and of those cases, only one would have been legally problematic. All of the others were legal relationships with women who were of age at a time when Roy Moore was single.\n\nPollak is completely and disgracefully wrong in his attempt to defend the very serious allegations against Moore. Each of the women was a teenager at the time, and preying on a 14-year-old is certainly \"legally problematic.\"\n\nBut Pollak is not the only conservative trying to excuse Moore's behavior.\n\nAlabama State Auditor Jim Ziegler dismissed the allegations, saying \"there is nothing to see here.\"\n\nOne of the women says that Moore molested her when she was 14, undressing her and himself, and then touching \"her over her bra and underpants,\" and then making her \"touch him over his underwear.\"\n\nZiegler went even further in his defense of Moore's behavior.\n\n\"Take Joseph and Mary,\" he said. \"Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus.\"\n\nClaiming that Moore's alleged assault of a teenager is somehow comparable to the birth of Jesus is ridiculous and shameful \u2014 not to mention biblically inaccurate.\n\nWhile some Senate Republicans have called on Moore to drop out of the race if the allegations are true, none of them have gone further and said they would fight to keep Moore out of the Senate, should he win the special election in December.\n\nAnd none of them have called for the removal of Donald Trump, who not only has been accused of sexual harassment and assault, but was actually caught on tape admitting it.\n\nRepublicans have a very serious problem on their hands and in their party when they cannot unequivocally condemn such behavior, regardless of who the predator is. Even \u2014 or perhaps especially \u2014 when that man is president of the United States."}
-{"text": "The amount of money i spent on nail polish this year could pay for christmas gifts for my family twice\n\n1,076 shares"}
-{"text": "Melania Trump gets boos, some cheers during Baltimore speech to students on avoiding drugs\n\nMaria Puente | USA TODAY\n\nShow Caption Hide Caption Cheers, boos greet first lady at youth summit Melania Trump urged students to avoid misusing drugs at a youth summit in Baltimore where she drew a mix of cheers and boos. (Nov. 26)\n\nBaltimore, the city President Donald Trump called \"rat-infested,\" turned out a tough crowd Tuesday for first lady Melania Trump, who met cheers and prolonged boos during her speech at a youth summit urging students to avoid misusing drugs.\n\nHer audience of middle and high school students remained noisy throughout her entire five-minute address and booed again when she finished.\n\n\"As she took the stage at approximately 11:25 a.m., (the first lady) was greeted with some cheers but also a resounding chorus of loud boos, which lasted for about one minute,\" according to the White House transcript of the FLOTUS pool report.\n\n\"More talking over her remarks went on for about the first two minutes of her speech. The talking has died down, but there is still a lot of audience noise \u2014 lots of talking in the background.\"\n\nThe White House expected about 2,500 attendees at the summit but reporters in the pool said there were only about half that present, possibly fewer.\n\nKate Bennett, who covers the first lady for CNN and was in the pool, reported she could not recall another solo event where Trump was more negatively received.\n\n\"I believe it is also the first loud booing by an audience at a solo event with Mrs. Trump,\" she wrote.\n\nCheck that: in my years covering her, this was the first booing of @FLOTUS by a crowd at one of her solo events. https://t.co/Ac9Qgn7TSL \u2014 Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) November 26, 2019\n\nLater, Trump released a statement defending freedom of expression and reaffirming her commitment to the issue that led her to Baltimore.\n\n\u201cWe live in a democracy and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the fact is we have a serious crisis in our country and I remain committed to educating children on the dangers and deadly consequences of drug abuse,\u201d the statement said, according to The Associated Press and posts on Twitter.\n\nThe first lady has been using her prominence to spotlight programs she thinks can help young people, whether it's to teach them to be positive online or to avoid drug abuse and addiction.\n\nShe went to the University of Maryland's Baltimore campus to address the B\u2019More Youth Summit about opioid abuse, which has become one of her signature causes as part of her \"Be Best\" youth campaign.\n\nShe was dressed in a caramel suede trench coat by Burberry with matching suede knee-high heeled boots. When she was introduced, students simultaneously booed and cheered.\n\nWhen the audience remained rowdy after she began to speak, she interrupted her remarks to say, \"Hello, everyone,\" before continuing.\n\nSeveral dozen students had stood when the announcer asked them to stand if they had lost someone to drugs.\n\nThe first lady said she wants to raise awareness about the opioid epidemic and to help educate young people about living drug free.\n\n\"I am in this fight with you and I am fighting for you,\" she said.\n\nShe urged anyone currently grappling with addiction to ask someone for help.\n\n\"I know each one of you has hopes and dreams for the future, whether it is college, joining the military, or playing a sport, your future will be determined by the choices you make,\" Trump said.\"Using drugs will only slow you down and prevent you from achieving those goals.\"\n\nAfter the Baltimore event, she returned to the White House to participate in the annual turkey pardoning ceremony with President Trump. The Trumps were headed to Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday later Tuesday.\n\nThis is the second incident in recent weeks involving a negative greeting of the first lady: Earlier this month in Boston, where she visited a hospital that uses cuddling to help infants born dependent on drugs or alcohol, protesters carrying mocking signs demonstrated outside against Trump administration policies, although she didn't personally see them.\n\nPresident Trump has had a difficult relationship with Baltimore, Maryland's largest urban area. He recently labeled the city a \"disgusting rat and rodent-infested mess,\" saying no human would want to live there.\n\nThe president also criticized the late Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Democrat who represented parts of the city in Congress for decades. At the time of his death in October, Cummings was a central player in multiple House investigations of Trump and his administration.\n\nTrump refused to cooperate with the congressional inquiries. He was met with protests in September, including by a giant inflatable rat, when he went to Baltimore to meet with House Republicans.\n\nThe youth summit is sponsored by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and actor Mark Wahlberg's youth foundation to help educate students, teachers and parents about opioid use and misuse.\n\nContributing: The Associated Press"}
-{"text": "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday hit back at Iranian President Hassan Rohani after the latter called Israel a \"cancerous tumor\" established by Western countries to advance their interests in the Middle East.\n\nReiterating his agenda that world powers ought to step up the fight against Tehran, the premier stated that \"Rohani's slander, which calls for the destruction of Israel, proves yet again why the nations of the world need to join in the sanctions against the Iranian terrorist regime which threatens them as well.\"\n\n\"Israel knows very well how to defend itself from the murderous Iranian regime,\" Netanyahu added.\n\n>> Trump's Iran sanctions policy is working, but America could regret it | Opinion \u25a0 Why Israel will end up facing Iran alone\n\nAddressing an annual Islamic Unity Conference on Saturday, Rohani said that \"one of the ominous results of World War II was the formation of a cancerous tumor in the region.\" He went on to refer to Israel as a \"fake regime\" set up by Western countries.\n\nIran's leaders frequently condemn Israel and predict its demise, but Rohani, a relative moderate, rarely employs such rhetoric.\n\nIran supports militant groups like Hezbollah and Hamas that are pledged to Israel's destruction. Iran has never threatened to attack Israel, but has vowed to retaliate if it is attacked. Israel views Iran as an existential threat.\n\nRohani said the United States cultivates close ties with \"regional Muslim nations\" to protect Israel, an apparent reference to Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia and the kingdom's Sunni Arab allies. He said bowing to American pressure amounts to \"treason.\"\n\nU.S. President Donald Trump re-imposed sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal in November, following his withdrawal from the nuclear deal in May.\n\nThe U.S. sanctions cover Iran\u2019s shipping, financial and energy sectors.With limited exceptions, the sanctions will penalize countries that don\u2019t stop importing Iranian oil and foreign companies that do business with blacklisted Iranian entities, including Iran\u2019s central bank, a number of private financial institutions and state-run port and shipping companies.\n\nThe Associated Press contributed this report."}
-{"text": "Obese patients with no signs of metabolic disease are at a greater risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease than unhealthy people of normal weight, according to a new study published online November 20 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.\n\nThe research calls into question the notion of the metabolically healthy obese person, which some prior work has suggested could apply to up to 30% of obese individuals. Instead, the current paper suggests that obesity is rarely a benign condition.\n\n\"It seems that at least for a significant group of these obese patients, the healthy stage is transitory,\" coauthor Carlos Lorenzo, MD, PhD, assistant professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, told Medscape Medical News. \"The question is, if this is a transitory stage for them, how are we able to maintain these patients in the healthy state?\"\n\nFuture studies will need to determine what factors predict which patients are vulnerable to CVD and diabetes, Dr. Lorenzo said.\n\n\"If someone is obese and metabolically healthy, they should be followed because, maybe in the future, they are not going to be\u2026and [this] needs to be discussed with the patient. These patients need to be considered at risk,\" he stressed.\n\nDon't Be Complacent When Encountering MHO\n\nThe work by KoKo Aung, MD, MPH, associate professor, department of medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center, and colleagues analyzed data from participants in the San Antonio Heart Study, which focuses on Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites in the San Antonio area.\n\nOf the more than 5000 participants, most (n = 4202) had neither diabetes mellitus (DM) nor cardiovascular disease (CVD) at baseline.\n\nThe researchers assessed subsequent diabetes diagnoses among 2814 participants with baseline diabetes data and CVD events in 3700 participants with baseline cardiovascular data during the median 7.4 years of follow-up. Those with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or higher and no more than 1 metabolic abnormality were considered to be metabolically healthy obese (MHO). Those of normal weight, with a BMI of less than 25 kg/ m2, who had 2 or more metabolic abnormalities, were dubbed metabolically unhealthy \u2013 normal weight (MUH-NW).\n\nBoth MHO and MUH-NW individuals had an increased risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease compared with individuals who were metabolically healthy and of normal weight.\n\nMUH-NW were more than twice as likely to develop diabetes as normal-weight, healthy people (odds ratio [OR], 2.5), and for MHO people this increased risk was almost 4-fold (OR, 3.9). The analysis was controlled for demographic differences, family diabetes history, and fasting glucose.\n\nThe risk for CVD after adjustment for demographics and Framingham risk score was also elevated for both groups, compared with normal-weight, healthy people, with an OR of 2.9 for MUH-NW and an OR of 3.9 for MHO individuals. The authors found the results consistent across gender and ethnic categories.\n\nDr. Lorenzo said that although some studies have identified a link between BMI and CVD and diabetes, others have not, suggesting MHO patients are not at increased risk.\n\nA lack of large, long-range longitudinal studies has added to the controversy over the health consequences for MHO patients, he noted.\n\n\"It doesn't mean that by itself, being obese is a benign condition \u2014 even if you don't have the risk factor at the present time,\" he stressed.\n\nHe and his colleagues also note that around 13% of the participants were normal-weight individuals who had multiple metabolic abnormalities, and they emphasize that this MUH-NW phenotype also requires further characterization.\n\n\"Physicians must not be overly complacent in assessing future cardiometabolic risk in either MHO or MUH-NW individuals,\" they conclude.\n\nThe authors report no relevant financial relationships.\n\nJ Clin Endocrinol Metab. Published online November 20, 2013. Abstract"}
-{"text": "The Internet of Things is a new concept to us. But if we think about it, Internet access is nothing new. We come across many \u201cthings\u201d in day-to-day life. They help make our life easier each day. For example, take an ordinary light bulb. It consumes energy and produces light, which helps us see every day.\n\nTechnology and improvements have stripped down resource consumption to the bare minimum. They optimize the output, and now we have an era where the mobile and telecommunications industry are booming. The speed of the Internet is unimaginable compared to the past. From that, we have the idea of making things \u201csmarter\u201d by connecting them to the Internet, analyzing petabytes of historical and real-time data, and automating their operation. This results in a smarter way of living. The Internet of Things affects almost all major areas of the industry: agriculture, health care, home automation, and many more.\n\nIt is now easy to control a light on an Arduino without an Ethernet shield, but just over HTTP. The idea is to let you control a single bulb or series of bulbs in your home from the tap of an application on your device.\n\nIngredients for your homemade light switch\n\nArduino UNO with USB port Arduino IDE An Internet connection \u201cRoot\u201d access to the development machine Node.js Johnny-Five and narf\n\nArduino UNO is what we will use as the micro-controller for the switch. In this guide, the Arduino board will control a light. To keep things simple, we will use Pin13 of the Arduino for the light source. This is a LED light in the Arduino itself. An Ethernet or WiFi shield is not used.\n\nSetting up the Arduino\n\nTo get started, you will need the Arduino integrated development environment, or IDE. If you are using Fedora, you can install the official Arduino IDE with a single command in a terminal.\n\n$ sudo dnf install arduino\n\nOnce installed, make sure that you plug in your Arduino and check if your system detects it. After inserting the USB into your system, enter the terminal and look for where the system is registering the Arduino. You will need this information later on to execute the code you will make with the Arduino IDE.\n\nThe following command should tell you of its place.\n\n$ dmesg | tail\n\nLook for a bus device and Arduino in the same line. In my screenshot, the line I needed was\n\nBus 002 Device: ID Arduino SA Uno R3\n\n. Once you find the board, we can move ahead to setting up the communication protocol.\n\nSetting up Johnny-Five\n\nJohnny-Five is the JavaScript Robotics & IoT platform. Released by Bocoup in 2012, Johnny-Five is maintained by a community of passionate software developers and hardware engineers. Over 75 developers have made contributions towards building a robust, extensible, and composable ecosystem. In this set-up, we will also be using Firmata. The Firmata library implements the Firmata protocol for communicating with software on the host computer. This allows you to write custom firmware without having to create your own protocol and objects for the programming environment that you use.\n\nTo install and set up Johnny-Five, open the Arduino IDE we installed in the previous step (if you\u2019re using GNOME, it should be in the Applications menu). In the IDE, go to File > Examples > Firmata > StandardFirmata. We\u2019re going to upload the StandardFirmata to the Arduino board for us to use when creating the switch. StandardFirmata is available in all versions of Firmata greater than v2.5.0.\n\nOnce you find this in the Arduino IDE, hit the \u201cUpload\u201d button to push the firmware to the Arduino board. If the upload was successful, the board is prepared for us to use, and you can now close the Arduino IDE.\n\nSet up project workspace\n\nYou will need to create and set up a project workspace for creating the Arduino application. For our project, we will be using Node.js as the language for creating the switch. There are several ways to create this kind of application, but to help get you started, I created an HTML page and the JavaScript file you can use for your own set up.\n\nYou can find my demo code available on GitHub. For this project, you will want a copy of the index.html and LED_Server.js files. You can copy and paste the two files into the project workspace you created earlier.\n\nSetting up node.js\n\nNow that we have our workspace and files needed for running the project, we will need to set up a Node.js server to run the application. To begin with running the \u201clight switch server\u201d, you will need to install Node.js and NPM, the package manager for Node.js applications.\n\nEnter the following commands to install the necessary dependencies.\n\n$ sudo dnf install npm nodejs $ npm install narf johnny-five\n\nOnce all the dependencies are installed, you will now be able to start your light switch server. Making sure you are in the project workspace folder, enter the following command to start the Node.js server.\n\n$ node LED_Server.js\n\nOnce you execute the command, your terminal window should look like the following.\n\n\n\nIf you receive an error about a serial port not found, you may need another dependency (depending on your environment). To resolve this, run the following command to install\n\nserialport\n\nvia\n\nnpm\n\n.\n\n$ npm install serialport\n\nThe application will now be running. To test if it\u2019s working, open up your favorite browser and point it at http://127.0.0.1:8079/index.html. This is the address of a local page on your system where you can view the virtual power switch we created.\n\nControlling the Arduino light\n\nNow, you can control the power for Pin13 on your Arduino board from this webpage. In this proof of concept, you will only be able to control the LED light on the Arduino. However, in a more realistic example, perhaps you leave for a vacation and can\u2019t remember if you turned off the lamp next to your bed while you were packing. This solution would allow you power off the lamp from anywhere in the world at any time.\n\nHere is how the web page looks in action from the above example.\n\nFeature Image lightbulb based off this icon from the Noun Project \u2013 CC-BY"}
-{"text": "It\u2019s the first night of Eid, in 2006, and a young woman named Sara (Zahraa Ghandour) steps into the newly reopened Baghdad Central Station, with explosives strapped to her body and an detonator switch in her shaking hand. Time seems to stand still, fade to white, loop backwards and start over.\n\nSara enters the station again, and perhaps what we\u2019re seeing now is her in a part of the multiverse where a moment\u2019s hesitation affords her a chance to understand exactly who would be hurt if she pressed the button, what\u2019s at stake and what her own motives are. A chance encounter with low-level grifter Salam (Ameer Ali Jabarah) forces Sara to take him hostage. Salam tries to persuade Sara not to trigger the bomb, appealing to a deadened sense of humanity that is slowly reawakened as she gets to know the other characters teeming around the station forecourt. These include a homeless brother and sister selling flowers and trying to stay clear of the tougher, meaner street kids; a desperate woman with a baby; a musician and his estranged wife; and a grieving father.\n\nDirector Mohamed Al-Daradji adeptly builds suspense throughout while his script, co-written with Isabelle Stead (the two also collaborated on Al-Daradji\u2019s Son of Babylon and In My Mother\u2019s Arms), has understanding and empathy for even its most problematic characters. That even goes for an overly aggressive American soldier who doesn\u2019t realise what kind of danger he\u2019s in. But there are a few pat, melodramatic touches that soften the film\u2019s impact with a sentimentality that the mournful score lays on even thicker.\n\nGhandour, however, is astonishing, holding the still centre of the story with an intense, underplayed performance that delivers just the right blend of anguish, bafflement and blankness."}
-{"text": "O ne of the UK\u2019s most senior diplomats has been appointed ambassador to the United States to replace Sir Kim Darroch, who resigned from the post after the leaking of his emails about Donald Trump.\n\nKaren Pierce, who is currently the envoy to the United Nations in New York and permanent representative at the Security Council, will become Britain\u2019s first female ambassador to Washington."}
-{"text": "While the release of dopamine in our brains when we eat, sleep, have sex and do drugs is a known phenomenon, scientists have discovered the gene that controls how much of it you get, and why you may be addicted.\n\nPublished in EMBO Reports, the discovery was made by a Belgian team from the Universit\u00e9 Libre de Bruxelles. Led by Alban de Kerchove d'Exaerde, the team found that the presence of the gene Maged1 is integral to the release of dopamine to the brain.\n\nRead more\n\nMaged1 is a little-known member of a family of genes that first came to prominence due to their presence in tumors but are also present in the brain and are altered through repeated use of cocaine.\n\nThe researchers observed that mice lacking the Maged1 gene were unresponsive to the effects of cocaine, such as euphoric feelings or loss of inhibitions. Furthermore, after repeated doses of the substance the mice did not display any of the behaviors of cocaine addiction such as seeking out places where the lab mouse would expect a cocaine reward.\n\nWhen dopamine is released in either animals or humans, they are rewarded with a release of dopamine from the brain\u2019s ventral tegmental area (VTA), which travels to other parts of the brain including the hub of the reward system - the Nucleus Accumbens (NAc).\n\nFor users of cocaine, their reward system is affected as the dopamine that usually travels from neuron to neuron is trapped in the synapse, or space between neurons, causing a build-up and amplification of dopamine which creates the feelings of being high.\n\nProlonged cocaine use, however, causes long-lasting changes in the brain, eventually leading to addiction. In particular, cocaine abuse affects the brain\u2019s prefrontal cortex, which controls behaviors such as inhibitory control and emotion regulation. As a result, addicts suffer from a loss of control, poor decision-making, and drug-seeking.\n\nREAD MORE: Teenage boy becomes first to be treated on NHS for addiction to online gaming\n\nAfter linking the connection between the presence of Maged1 addiction, the team went on to conduct further experiments to scrutinize the effect of the gene in different areas of the brain. The experiments were able to show that Maged1 controls the release of dopamine in the Nucleus accumbens.\n\nIt also found that the gene was required in the prefrontal cortex to be effective - the area of the brain most affected by cocaine abuse - and not in the neurons producing dopamine in the VTA.\n\nDrug dependence in Europe alone affects approximately 15.5 million people, costing health services \u20ac65.7 billion per year. The team hope that their discovery allows for more targeted and effective treatments for drug dependence and pave the way for future studies into the molecular mechanisms in the brain associated with drug dependence.\n\nThink your friends would be interested? Share this story!"}
-{"text": "Police say Stephen Paddock had up to 23 weapons in his hotel room and controversial \u2018bump\u2019 stocks"}
-{"text": "In response to PauI Elam\u2019s request to hear from the men of India, I have the following to say. I am what you may call the average Indian male and I fall into the category that is the most hated, a young Indian male. Now, I cannot really provide you with statistics as I am no researcher, but I can provide you with accurate descriptions of misandry I have seen and experienced throughout the country. I have seen it happen countless times and have been subjected to official discrimination based on my sex as well.\n\nIn New Delhi, which is infamously called the Rape Capital, men are treated like beasts. Since the preconceived notion is that men are the perpetrators and a woman cannot lie about being troubled by a man, even the slightest hint of discomfort shown by a woman could mean doomsday for a man. The rapes that actually do happen are mostly at night when girls roam around unguarded in isolated places, but the media portrays it as a crime that happens around the clock in every possible area. I do not know anybody who has known rape victims personally but I know many who knew murder, attempted murder and assault victims. Statistics would easily tell you that murder and assault are more common in New Delhi than rape, and that men are murdered and otherwise harmed much more frequently than women. No one is rioting on the streets about what is happening to men.\n\nIt is an attitude you see reflected in many other ways in Indian culture. Our buses have seats reserved for women; the front half. One row is reserved for senior citizens and one more row is reserved for handicapped travelers. Now, the rows reserved for senior citizens and handicapped travelers may or may not always exist. But every bus will have seats reserved for women. I stand up out of courtesy for middle-aged men and women. I believe that they deserve respect as they are an elder to me.\n\nBut I have seen girls, young college girls, making old men sitting on seats reserved for women stand up so that they can have the seat. I come home after working for 10 hours in the office. I never get a seat in the bus. The back of the bus is always full and if the front half is empty, I can only sit there for a few minutes unless I am really lucky. As soon as a girl enters a bus, I am out. Due to sheer embarrassment and fear, men continue to stand even when the seats at the front are vacant. Due to this, buses are often very crowded at the back. Men never take the front seat unless they feel really lucky and all the seats at the back are full. A few air conditioned buses do not have reserved seats (I travel in these as far as possible).\n\nIn Delhi metros, there is a coach reserved for women. This coach can remain empty but men cannot enter it. Apart from this, we are also constantly reminded (through announcements) to give our seats to ladies if they are standing. I would be willing to give my seat to an old woman or a pregnant lady. But young women? Healthy college girls?\n\nThere is more. I was recently standing in a very long queue to buy an interstate bus ticket. After waiting for more than an hour the queue had hardly moved. Why? A smaller queue had materialized next to our queue. A queue for women only. The tickets were being given to them first. A few women buy, they leave and then more women come, while the men wait. I got my ticket after 2 hours. It was 2am. I wanted to board the midnight bus.\n\nIf you try to make people understand that even men can be raped, they don\u2019t believe it. It took me some time to convince my friends, all of whom are well-educated. Imagine how difficult it is going to be to make the entire country believe that this crime exists. In India, it is assumed that no girl likes sex whereas sex is all that men can think about.\n\nMost of the discotheques in India are openly sexist. The entry fee structure is usually something like this:\n\nLadies \u2013 FREE/negligible\n\nCouples \u2013 1000 Rs., since you are getting a MAN (rapist, demon, molester) with you\n\nMen \u2013 1500 Rs., or NO ENTRY\n\nThe justification? The same as it is in the west. Girls attract crowds. Girls will attract men and men will pay. Okay, so sexism is a business decision. But many discotheques don\u2019t even allow men unless they have women with them. Recently, I saw a man trying to go alone inside a discotheque. He was denied entry. So, he went out and asked a random girl to accompany him to the discotheque. Now get this. He was still denied permission because they had seen him before without a girl.\n\nOur Constitution is shit in written form. Check out this link:\n\nhttp://www.indiankanoon.org/doc/1942013/.\n\nAccording to our Constitution, nobody can be discriminated on the basis of gender. But, if you read the sections related to dowry, rape, other sexual offences, etc., you\u2019ll see that our Constitution itself is hostilely misandrist. The \u201cmodesty of a woman\u201d is a common phrase in our laws. It is not even clear what modesty of a woman really is but it roughly makes a woman\u2019s body a treasure which every man wants to possess by force (Read Section 354 of the IPC for more information). In cases of adultery, only the man can be held guilty. There were efforts made to make this law gender-neutral. But take a look at the following article which provides 1. the justification for having such a biased law and 2. the reason why it was proposed to scrap the law (it\u2019s not because it\u2019s against men).\n\nhttp://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/consider-scrapping-adultery-from-indian-penal-code/1/163101.html\n\nIn general, men are considered evil everywhere in the country. Videotapes of women beating men are showcased here and any acts of violence against women (even if its self-defense) are condemned. You already have a lot of videos on your blog. When the Delhi girl was raped, newspapers, magazine articles and Facebook walls were flooded with brutal remarks calling for barbaric punishments like public beating and castration. The physical violence involved in the crime against the man was completely overlooked. Nobody was concerned about the girl\u2019s friend (probably her boyfriend). He saw his friend getting raped and he was beaten up by the men, too.\n\nDuring the protests, a policeman was killed while performing his duty. There was hardly any news about him. Indians are concerned only when a woman is the victim and the concern is doubled if the woman is raped.\n\nA film actor was convicted of rape a few years back. The whole country went berserk. Later, the victim changed her statement and said that she was not raped. This time nobody cared. Many people are still not aware of this development.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiney_Ahuja#Rape_conviction\n\nYes, in our country some women are raped, tortured and subjected to humiliation. So are men. But we do not recognize those crimes against men. There are no laws to save or help men, only laws to attack them and keep them down. You can see the results of that on our streets in recent days.\n\nBut I was already aware. I saw the real problem with my own eyes; in a queue to buy a bus ticket, and in the eyes of old men, forced out of their seats to stand on a bus so that smug, entitled college girls can have a comfortable spot to rest their asses. I seem to remember hearing of similar rules, in one of the darker chapters in the history of America.\n\n?\n\nPublisher\u2019s note: For Indian readers visiting this site for the first time, here are some resources in your country.\n\nhttp://menrightsindia.blogspot.com/\n\nhttp://www.confidareindia.com/\n\nhttps://www.facebook.com/MensRightsIndia\n\nhttp://www.saveindianfamily.org/\n\nhttp://www.aimpf.org/\n\nhttp://www.mensrightsassociation.org/joomla/\n\nhttp://siftimes.com/\n\nhttp://protectindianfamily.org/\n\nhttp://www.antidowry.org/\n\nhttp://wemen.us/"}
-{"text": "Sony\u2019s official PlayStation E3 2017 press conference will take place in Los Angeles, CA on Monday, June 12th at 6pm Pacific Time. The information comes from the press invitations which just went out to various outlets, including us. Sony usually puts on an amazing show, with them being my personal favorite over the last couple of years, and delivering one of the greatest of all time with their PS4 reveal at E3 2013. What will they show this year? Find out this June.\n\nE3 2017 is shaping up to be a big year for the gaming industry. Sony and Microsoft have been duking it out year after year, with Sony holding a big sales advantage with their PlayStation 4 console. Microsoft is fighting back with Project Scorpio, which promises to be the most powerful console of all time. Sony has already released the PS4 Pro, so a new iteration is highly unlikely. Can they fend off a new piece of gaming hardware with a solid slate of games?\n\nMeanwhile, Nintendo is the current top dog with the Switch. The console is quickly building a new audience, selling out at retailers around the world. Nintendo apparently has big plans for E3 2017, which contrasts with their Zelda: Breath of the Wild only show last year. Everyone loved getting a deep dive into BOTW, but seeing more games, and getting some big surprises will likely be the talk of the show.\n\nPlayStation can still beat this though. They\u2019ve got a bunch of big games ready to go, and many titles have been announced but haven\u2019t been expounded upon since then. Could we get news on Kingdom Hearts 3, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and the new God of War? Be sure to check here for all the news when E3 2017 begins this June. Press conferences begin on Sunday, June 11th.\n\n- This article was updated on:March 8th, 2018"}
-{"text": "T-Mobile is worried that if it sets up Dish Network as America\u2019s fourth big wireless company in order to please regulators, either Comcast or Charter\u2014or both\u2014will swoop in and buy the company.\n\nThese concerns bubbled to the surface earlier this week, when Reuters and CNBC both reported that T-Mobile\u2019s cable-related anxiety is what's holding up a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice.\n\nAnd analysts have run with it.\n\n\u201cFor a cable company, acquiring Dish, with a T-Mobile wholesale agreement in tow, could turbocharge its wireless ambitions,\u201d Cowen analyst Gregory Williams wrote in a note published this morning. \u201c\u2026 A cable provider could leverage the wholesale MVNO for a few years, then pivot to its own facilities-based network that includes 90+ MHz of low- and mid-band Dish spectrum. These are highly attractive considerations that cable does not enjoy with its current Verizon MVNO deal.\u201d\n\nWilliams speculates that Comcast or Charter could individually buy the MVNO-infused Dish, or they could do it as part of a joint venture.\n\nT-Mobile, the third largest U.S. mobile company, has reportedly secured FCC approval for its $26 billion purchase of No. 4 carrier Sprint. But the Justice Department will reportedly only OK the deal if T-Mobile takes steps to re-establish a fourth consumer option for wireless.\n\nDish Network, which owns copious amounts of wireless spectrum but would require at least three years to build an actual 5G wireless network, has been called into the negotiations last-minute. Under T-Mobile\u2019s plan, Dish would be outfitted with wholesale mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) access to Sprint\u2019s Boost Mobile network until it gets its own infrastructure up and running.\n\nIt has also been reported that T-Mobile is running out of time\u2014the Justice Department wants a deal done now, otherwise it\u2019ll move to block the merger in court.\n\nBut T-Mobile and its parent company, Deutsche Telekom, are worried that they\u2019ll create a monster.\n\nBoth Comcast and Charter currently operate consumer mobile businesses based on MVNO agreements with Verizon\u2014a wireless company that is openly targeting cable\u2019s wireline broadband hegemony with emerging fixed 5G wireless products.\n\nAccording to Cowen, among U.S. cable operators, only Comcast and Charter have the girth to come after Dish, a company with a market value of around $30 billion. Both Comcast and Charter have debt issues\u2014Comcast, of course, just bought a UK-based satellite TV operator, Sky.\n\n\u201cA third scenario is that Comcast and Charter team up to take out Dish for what we believe could be the ideal situation in creating the ultimate fourth competitor,\u201d Williams wrote. \u201cThe two cable companies already have a JV as part of the Verizon MVNO, enabling the two cable companies to share systems/platform (back-office, billing, customer care) costs. They could simply extend this JV to acquire Dish, sell off the satellite business, share the spectrum, and defray the network deployment costs. A cable consortium for Dish (that may also include Altice and/or other cable providers) could be the ultimate scenario that DT/T-Mobile wants to avoid. While the DOJ is reportedly \u2018unwilling\u2019 to negotiate, it could perhaps agree to prevent a cable consortium scenario as a compromise within the deal package.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Osnabr\u00fcck. Wer sich vegetarisch oder vegan ern\u00e4hrt, m\u00f6chte seinen Prinzipien h\u00e4ufig auch bei der K\u00f6rperpflege treu bleiben. Wir erkl\u00e4ren, worauf Verbraucher bei veganen Kosmetikprodukten achten sollten.\n\nSeit M\u00e4rz 2013 sind Tierversuche f\u00fcr Kosmetik- und Pflegeprodukte in der EU verboten, doch es gibt weiterhin Schlupfl\u00f6cher. F\u00fcr Menschen, die wert darauf legen, dass ihre Kosmetikprodukte nicht an Tieren getestet wurden und sie dar\u00fcber hinaus noch vegan sein sollen, birgt das Probleme. Die Nachhaltigkeitsplattform utopia.de weist etwa darauf hin, dass trotz des Verbots von Tierversuchen weiterhin Produkte und Inhaltsstoffe verkauft werden d\u00fcrfen, die vor M\u00e4rz 2013 an Tieren getestet wurden. Zudem gelte das Verbot auch nur f\u00fcr Inhaltsstoffe, die ausschlie\u00dflich in Kosmetik zum Einsatz kommen. Werden Inhaltsstoffe auch auf anderen Gebieten angewendet, w\u00fcrden sie unter das Chemikaliengesetz fallen \u2013 hier d\u00fcrfe nach wie vor an Tieren getestet werden.\n\nAuf G\u00fctesiegel achten\n\nUtopia und auch der Vegetarierbund (Vebu) Deutschland empfehlen Verbrauchern deshalb, bei der Auswahl ihrer Kosmetik gezielt auf G\u00fctesiegel zu achten. Das G\u00fctesiegel \u201eLeaping Bunny\u201c (dt.: springender Hase) ist etwa international g\u00fcltig und zeichnet Kosmetik ohne Tierversuche aus. Gleiches gilt f\u00fcr das Siegel \u201eHase mit der sch\u00fctzenden Hand\u201c. Allerdings bedeutet der Verzicht auf Tierversuche nicht, dass die Inhaltsstoffe auch vegan sind. Wer hier sicher gehen m\u00f6chte, sollte sich an dem Siegel \u201eVeganblume\u201c orientieren. Produkte, die mit diesem Siegel ausgezeichnet werden, sind sowohl vegan als auch tierversuchsfrei. Viele Vegetarier und Veganer kennen vermutlich au\u00dferdem das V-Label, das bereits h\u00e4ufig vegetarische und vegane Lebensmittel tragen und das vom Vebu vergeben wird. Nach Angaben von Vebu-Sprecherin Wiebke Unger ist f\u00fcr 2017 geplant, die Lizenzierung auch auf Kosmetika auszuweiten. Einige Pilotprodukte gebe es sogar bereits auf dem Markt.\n\nSchlupfl\u00f6cher auch f\u00fcr Naturkosmetik\n\nW\u00e4hrend Naturkosmetik fr\u00fcher fast nur in Reformh\u00e4usern erh\u00e4ltlich war, gibt es sie inzwischen in fast jedem Drogeriemarkt (dm, Rossmann, M\u00fcller). Doch auch hier sollten Verbraucher darauf achten, dass die Produkte zertifiziert sind, denn Naturkosmetik bedeutet nicht automatisch, dass die Produkte tierversuchsfrei sind. Hersteller von Naturkosmetik k\u00f6nnten die gleichen Schlupfl\u00f6cher nutzen wie Hersteller von konventioneller Kosmetik, weil Naturkosmetik bisher kein gesch\u00fctzter Begriff sei, schreibt etwa utopia.de. Am weitesten verbreitet sind das BDHI- und das Natrue-Siegel. Tr\u00e4ger des BDHI-Siegels verpflichten sich, keine Rohstoffe einzusetzen, die ab 1998 an Tieren getestet wurden. Natrue-zertifizierte Produkte verzichten laut ihren Richtlinien ebenfalls auf Tierversuche. Manche Naturkosmetikprodukte sind dar\u00fcber hinaus vegan, sie m\u00fcssen es aber nicht sein. Verbraucher sollten deshalb auf die Beschreibung auf der Verpackung achten. F\u00fcr einen leichteren \u00dcberblick hat die Tierschutzorganisation Peta eine Liste von Herstellern ver\u00f6ffentlicht, die tierversuchsfreie und/oder vegane Produkte herstellen."}
-{"text": "Comenzar un proyecto de restauraci\u00f3n es algo simplemente maravilloso, pues no hay nada tan satisfactorio como ver un veh\u00edculo chatarra convertido en una verdadera obra de arte sobre ruedas que se roba las miradas de todo lugar al que llega, haci\u00e9ndote sentir la estrella m\u00e1s brillante del cielo.\n\nSin embargo, la restauraci\u00f3n es un trabajo arduo, complicado y en muchas ocasiones frustrante, por lo que para evitar malos tragos es importante realizar una excelente planeaci\u00f3n y un proyecto bien establecido para poder cumplir tu objetivo sin contratiempos.\n\nSi no tienes la menor idea de c\u00f3mo realizar la restauraci\u00f3n de tu auto aqu\u00ed te dejamos una lista de errores comunes a evitar para que tu proyecto marche viento en popa.\n\nNo visualizar tu proyecto\n\nEl primer problema con el que nos encontramos es por supuesto el proyecto. Al igual que cuando ves programas de televisi\u00f3n como locos por los autos u Overhaulin\u2019, cuando inicias la restauraci\u00f3n de un auto es muy importante que ya tengas visualizado como quieres que tu auto termine, pues no puedes comenzar a trabajar sin un plan.\n\nLo mejor es intentar plasmar en papel o buscar en una imagen como quieres que tu auto se vea cuando termines el proceso, Internet podr\u00eda ser tu mejor aliado, pues con una googleada r\u00e1pida podr\u00e1s encontrar muchas im\u00e1genes de referencia para tu proyecto.\n\nCalcular mal el presupuesto\n\nYa que tenemos ideado un proyecto a seguir, viene el segundo problema, el presupuesto. Siempre debes calcular hasta el m\u00e1s m\u00ednimo detalle, pues de hacerlo mal podr\u00edas verte en una situaci\u00f3n muy problem\u00e1tica.\n\nToma en cuenta todos los aspectos y pon en tu presupuesto una peque\u00f1a parte destinada a cubrir imprevistos, pues este ser\u00e1 tu colch\u00f3n de salvamento cuando te encuentres con algo que no hab\u00edas planeado.\n\nNo realizar un inventario de lo que hay que cambiar\n\nSi ya hablamos del presupuesto y de que es algo sumamente importante, es importante recordarte que la mejor forma de hacerlo es creando un inventario de piezas y productos que necesitar\u00e1s para tu restauraci\u00f3n.\n\nToma en cuenta tanto piezas de est\u00e9tica como defensas, puertas, pintura, detalles cromados, emblemas etc. como piezas de motor (o el motor completo de ser necesario) y realiza 2 o tres revisiones para no olvidar absolutamente nada.\n\nUtilizar piezas de mala calidad\n\nSi vas a realizar la restauraci\u00f3n de un veh\u00edculo, es muy importante asegurarte de que tendr\u00e1s presupuesto suficiente para usar componentes originales o piezas aprobadas por el fabricante, pues estas son las \u00fanicas que te asegurar\u00e1n que el motor funcionar\u00e1 adecuadamente.\n\nHablando de las piezas para la parte est\u00e9tica tambi\u00e9n es muy importante utilizar repuestos originales o de buena calidad, que cuenten con garant\u00eda que protejan tu inversi\u00f3n y sobre todo que le den a tu auto una apariencia impresionante. Nunca te \u201cahorres unos pesos\u201d cuando vas a restaurar un auto.\n\nNo revisar el chasis y el estado estructural del veh\u00edculo\n\nOtro aspecto de suma importancia es que antes de arreglar la parte est\u00e9tica del veh\u00edculo, debes poner especial atenci\u00f3n en el chasis. Repara todas las partes oxidadas y con problemas de soldadura que encuentres para reforzar tu auto.\n\nRecuerda que la estructura de tu auto puede ser la diferencia si llegas a tener un accidente en tu auto, as\u00ed que no escatimes en gastos y aseg\u00farate que todo el chasis goza de una fortaleza m\u00e1xima, como si tu auto acabara de salir de la agencia.\n\nNo realizar una puesta a punto del motor\n\nYa terminaste la restauraci\u00f3n externa de tu auto y luce espectacular, tal cual lo so\u00f1aste, sin embargo a la hora de encender el motor hay que dar una cantidad innumerable de llavazos y bombear gasolina, adem\u00e1s de que al encender el motor suena simplemente mal.\n\nEs muy importante que pongas la misma atenci\u00f3n al motor y a la carrocer\u00eda, pues restaurar no es solo hacer que un auto luzca bien, sino que tambi\u00e9n funcione perfectamente.\n\nEn Motorpasi\u00f3n M\u00e9xico | Land Rover revive a sus cl\u00e1sicos Defender con la esencia del Defender Works"}
-{"text": "I accidentally broke my iPad mini.\n\nSo I know exactly how Pinkie Pie feels.\n\nShe's also sad because her most favorite show ended."}
-{"text": "Former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson hailed the current Indian crop and heaped praise on Virat Kohli, saying that the Indian skipper \"has done a great job\" as a leader.\n\n\"He [Virat Kohli] has done a great job with the Indian team,\" Watson said at an event in Chennai on Monday, 14 October. \"He has been playing so well in all formats. Whatever he is doing right now is certainly working and the team is responding to his leadership.\"\n\nICYMI:\n\n\n\nIndia beat South Africa by an innings to take the series with a match to spare. https://t.co/8usjoD4eaO \u2014 ICC (@ICC) October 14, 2019\n\nIndia recently sealed a three-Test home series over South Africa, taking an unassailable 2-0 lead by beating them in the second Test in Pune. With the win, India registered their 11th successive home Test series win, beating the previously-held world record by Australia, who won ten in a row.\n\nAsked if Kohli's men could establish their hegemony over world cricket in a manner similar to that of the Australian sides under Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting, Watson replied: \"it is going to be hard to replicate, but there is no reason why India can\u2019t do it.\"\n\n\ud83d\udcac \"We're not going to take the foot off the gas in the third Test, we're looking for a result again, and hopefully make it 3-0.\"\n\n\n\nVirat Kohli is promising to maintain the intensity despite having already won the series \ud83d\udc47 https://t.co/i8pDK0QPev \u2014 ICC (@ICC) October 14, 2019\n\nWatson added that the current Indian crop has got all the bases covered, and that they have the depth to win games away from home.\n\n\"There is no doubt that India has got the depth in all facets... batting, bowling and fielding,\" said Watson. \"The depth in Indian cricket is incredibly strong. It has got the luxury of having someone like a Rohit Sharma opening the batting and scoring lots of runs.\n\n\"The depth in Indian cricket is incredible. I am sure this team can win away from home as well.\""}
-{"text": "Today, Senator Charles Grassley released his Op-Ed for the Wall Street Journal. The main focus of the Op-Ed was the lack of enforcement of FARA violations since it\u2019s inception. Grassley points out how since 1966, there have only been 15 FARA violations that have been prosecuted and almost half of those stemmed from the Mueller Special Counsel.\n\nFARA was originally passed into law in 1938 to combat Nazi propaganda. Why it stopped being prosecuted in 1966 is anyone\u2019s guess. In 1966 Lyndon B. Johnson was president and America was fighting in the Vietnam War. This lack of enforcement continued through a slew of Republican and Democratic presidents making this a bipartisan issue. With the bombardment of foreign propaganda influencing American politics nowadays, it is no wonder why a bill passed in 1938 is currently in a renaissance of sorts.\n\nLet\u2019s start with the basics, when you get paid, you are providing a service for the payer. As the world has become more interconnected through modern transportation methods and the rise of the internet, the dissemination of propaganda has become increasingly easier and cheaper to accomplish. With the apparent Russian Influence on the 2016 presidential campaign, just a few troll bots here and there were able to push their influence to millions of Americans. Whether it influenced anyone\u2019s votes or not is anyone\u2019s guess, but if the main goal was to sow discord into the heart of America, it was a wild success.\n\nIn Grassley\u2019s Op-Ed, he mentions three instances where if FARA was enforced, the outcome of today could have changed. Trump\u2019s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and lobbyist Tony Podesta were named for their lobbying in Ukraine. This eventually led to the Maiden Coup, which could have possibly been prevented. The Manafort case has also led to a wide range of FARA enforcement. If you were part of the Opposition Bloc with Manafort, chances are you were recently hit with a FARA violation. Greg Craig, Cliff Sloan, Skadden Arps, and Vin Weber were all victims of the Special Counsel once it was directed by Rod Rosenstein to look into Manafort\u2019s payments from the Ukrainian Government in his August 2, 2017 memo. If anything, this was the only successful operation that we have seen from the Special Counsel as the rest of it, barring the redacted indictments, has resulted in both sides being unsatisfied.\n\nThe next order of business for Grassley was calling out Fusion GPS for failing to register as a foreign agent from their work stemming from the Prevezon Holdings case. They were looking to repeal the Magnitsky Act which was passed into US law by Obama. After the Magnitsky Act was passed, sanctions were imposed on Russians who were assumed to be involved in the death of Sergei Magnitsky in Russia. I have written about how the Russian dirt against Hillary Clinton was written by Fusion GPS in the past. They were paid with Russian money and should have registered. You\u2019re going to see a lot of these seemingly independent scandals start to fold into themselves so it is important to note that how the State Department\u2019s Jonathan Winer was an architect of the Magnitsky Act. The Daily Caller just wrote a story today about how Winer was setting up meetings for Christopher Steele, the person hired by Fusion GPS to write the now infamous Steele Dossier. It is just the same people following the same formula over and over.\n\nThe final order of business for Grassley was, \u201ca former Clinton White House staffer and a lawyer for a Georgian political party failed to register as foreign agents.\u201d Who could this be? None other than Clinton staffer/fixer, Sydney Blumenthal. After the email server was revealed by Guccifer in 2013, there were two memos that could count as a FARA violation. The first one had to do with Libya in 2011/2012. Unsurprisingly, Jonathan Winer was the Special Envoy to Libya. The second case was in 2012 when he acted as a middleman between a pro-Russian party in Georgia which urged Hillary Clinton to support Putin to avoid embarrassment for the Obama Administration. Sydney has his ties to Spygate as well. Both Blumenthal and Cody Shearer, the twin brother of Brooke Shearer, had passed their own dossier to Jonathan Winer who handed it back to Steele. He was also a main subject of the recently released report about the Clinton Email Investigation by Judicial Watch. The report was featured in the latest Clinton Vault drop by the FBI. Blumenthal was apparently playing Dora the Explorer trying to find Gaddafi\u2019s fortune. This led to countries breaching the email server and having real time views of whatever was on the server.\n\nAnother area where I believe FARA enforcement would have went a long way to prevent this mess would be the Brookings Institute, which I have written about extensively. I mentioned Cody Shearer being the twin sister of Brooke Shearer earlier because Brooke is married to Strobe Talbott, college roommate and friend of Bill Clinton and the former president of Brookings. The New York Times agrees with me.\n\nIf you picked up on the sarcastic undertones in this post, it is because I shouldn\u2019t even have to write about how foreign influence negatively effects the United States. This law was put in place to prevent propaganda, but the lack of enforcement has led to the sedition that is tearing this country apart. Grassley\u2019s bill proposes to get rid of a large loophole that exempts people who are already lobbying for congress. He also grants more tools for prosecutors to enforce potential FARA violations.\n\nAs the number one country in the world, the United States will always have a target on it\u2019s back. It is good to see that at least one member of Congress is ready to fight back.\n\nWork on this article was assisted by the research of @Wakeywakey16, @ThunderB, and@smc12256."}
-{"text": "you should make another one based of the new comics that are being released\n\nGreat work as always, i like your take Jack, he's looking dashing as always."}
-{"text": "As Los Angeles faces surging costs for lawsuits over bicycle crashes, city crews have started to remove and replace badly broken pavement traveled by cyclists, a Bureau of Street Services official told lawmakers Wednesday.\n\nAt a City Hall hearing on the battered state of bike infrastructure, Assistant Director Greg Spotts said that in June, the bureau got funding to do a one-time, comprehensive inspection of bike lanes, routes and other designated \u201cbikeways.\u201d A few months later, funding was granted for six new positions to maintain bikeways in the city, he told lawmakers.\n\nSpotts said the bureau fixed more than 300 areas and found an additional 200 locations where the pavement needed to be completely removed and replaced, a type of repair that cannot be carried out by a pothole truck. As of Monday, the bureau had fixed 19 out of the 200 damaged locations, using some of the $700,000 it was granted for overtime, Spotts told a City Council committee.\n\nBut that work will continue to creep along at a slow pace if the city has to rely on its existing staff, Spotts said.\n\n\nThe bureau plans to request dozens more staffers to do such \u201clarge asphalt repairs\u201d and proactively fix bikeways in the coming budget year, at an estimated cost of $2.5 million annually. In addition, Spotts suggested that new workers who are being hired to reconstruct badly broken streets this year could be brought on three months early to do a \u201cbikeway repaving blitz.\u201d\n\nThe committee, headed by Councilman Bob Blumenfield, did not immediately act on that idea Wednesday. It backed two motions seeking a comprehensive plan, timeline and funding estimates for smoothing out the network of bicycle paths and lanes, and sent them along to the entire council for approval.\n\nBicycle advocates cautioned that the city should not focus too narrowly on bike lanes or paths as it seeks to make the roads safer for cyclists and avert hefty payouts. One of the biggest settlements last year was a $6.5-million payout tied to a gruesome crash that did not occur in a bike lane.\n\n\u201cAll streets are legal places for people on bikes to be riding,\u201d said Lyndsey Nolan, policy and outreach coordinator with the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition.\n\n\nLast year, the city paid out more than $19 million to cyclists and their families for injuries and deaths on local streets, a Times analysis of city data found. A recent report by an outside consultant found that Los Angeles been hampered by a \u201creactive\u201d approach to potholes and street maintenance.\n\nAt the Wednesday hearing, Councilwoman Nury Martinez said she was stunned to read in the newspaper that the Bureau of Street Services had, at one point, stopped inspecting the streets.\n\nThe Times reported that bureau supervisors used to proactively inspect all roads in their areas annually but halted the practice roughly five years ago, according to legal depositions by former bureau officials. The bureau told The Times it had resumed regular inspections of major streets \u2014 but not residential roads \u2014 more than a year ago.\n\n\u201cWe picked that back up,\u201d Spotts told Martinez. \u201cWe are now regularly, proactively inspecting the arterials.\u201d\n\n\nSpotts also told lawmakers that in the past, city staff had been repeatedly turned down when they sought dedicated employees to inspect the bikeway network.\n\nBut the bureau has also faced pointed questions from lawmakers in the past about why it has not spent all its budgeted money. The department has repeatedly spent less than it was allocated, citing hiring difficulties.\n\nBroken and perilous streets and sidewalks continue to spur legal payouts for the city, involving not only injured bicyclists but others using its streets. Earlier Wednesday, the City Council approved a $150,000 settlement with a bicyclist who crashed and was injured on Glendale Boulevard more than three years ago.\n\nThe council also approved spending up to $2.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the parents of Chris Rodriguez, a 13-year-old boy who was riding a scooter in Boyle Heights when he was hit and killed by a driver nearly three years ago. In their lawsuit, the Rodriguez family alleged that the street intersection lacked warning signs and was set up in a way that created a dangerous \u201ctrap\u201d for both drivers and pedestrians.\n\n\nAnd the council also agreed to pay a total of $625,000 to settle two cases involving trip-and-fall accidents that occurred years ago.\n\nThe shoddy state of the streets and sidewalks has also raised concerns as the city prepares to host the Olympics in a decade. On Wednesday, Councilmen Joe Buscaino and Mitch Englander said they want city officials to report back on how the city could finance \u201ccrucial street and sidewalk infrastructure improvements\u201d ahead the 2028 Games.\n\nemily.alpert@latimes.com\n\nTwitter: @AlpertReyes"}
-{"text": "According to recent news reports, the Hulk Hogan sex tape lawsuit that threatens to bankrupt Gawker media was anonymously funded by Peter Thiel, Silicon Valley billionaire, early investor and board member of Facebook, and Libertarian supporter of Donald Trump. According to reports, Thiel decided to wage proxy legal warfare against Gawker because he was mad at them for publishing a story in 2007 saying that he was gay (Thiel is openly gay, but in 2007 he had not yet formally gone public about his sexual orientation).\n\nThis story is amazing on multiple levels:\n\n1. Peter Thiel is RUTHLESS. He stayed angry at Gawker for YEARS and kept biding his time, waiting for them to do something that might make themselves vulnerable to a lawsuit\u2014and then he sprung into action!\n\n2. Peter Thiel is DIABOLICAL. Hulk Hogan\u2019s lawyers deliberately did some legal maneuvering during the trial that would exempt Gawker\u2019s insurance company from having to pay for the settlement\u2014presumably at Thiel\u2019s direction, they were deliberately trying to kill the company by exposing the company\u2019s own assets.\n\n3. Peter Thiel is PETTY. Now that Gawker is facing a $140 million court judgment, Peter Thiel went to Stage 2 of his plan, by going public as the financial backer of the Hulk Hogan lawsuit\u2014thus laying down the gauntlet to any prospective buyers or investors to warn them not to go near Gawker. This is cold-blooded shit! (Side note: how petty do you have to be to set this kind of elaborate evil plan into motion, YEARS later, against a shitty gossip website that most people don\u2019t even pay attention to? Peter Thiel\u2019s a billionaire! His time is INFINITELY valuable! Instead of spending time secretly managing Hulk Hogan\u2019s sex tape lawsuit, he could have just ignored Gawker and stuffed his ears with $100 bills and spent his time doing cannonballs into his private Olympic-sized swimming pool full of champagne! I can\u2019t even fathom this level of pettiness. I almost have to admire that kind of attention to detail, and that kind of long-term lust for revenge. Maybe being petty is what makes people truly great!)\n\nWhat does this all mean? First of all: Gawker is screwed. Even if they eventually get this $140 million verdict overturned or reduced on appeal, Peter Thiel is not going away. He can keep tormenting Gawker forever, until they go bankrupt. Former Gawker editor A.J. Daulerio (who originally approved the Hogan story to be published, and whose disastrous testimony at the trial made him look like the least sympathetic defense witness since Jeffrey Dahmer) got slapped with $100,000 in punitive damages that Daulerio will have to personally pay.\n\nNow, I don\u2019t want to bend over backwards to defend Gawker\u2019s conduct: they were a bunch of sleazy morons for publishing the Hulk Hogan sex tape when he didn\u2019t want them to; they probably were legally wrong to do what they did, and they probably deserved to lose big in court.\n\nBut the bigger story here is the possible chilling effect that this precedent could have for media coverage and freedom of the press. What troubles me about this story is not the fact that a clickbait gossip site got sued for posting a sleazy sex tape\u2014it\u2019s the idea that a vindictive billionaire can use a loophole in the court system to secretly wage legal battles by proxy, without his name and influence being known until after the fact. It\u2019s scary that a rich, powerful man can use such sneaky, underhanded tactics to destroy a media organization for petty, personal reasons. As Felix Salmon writes in Fusion:\n\n\u201cIf Thiel\u2019s strategy works against Gawker, it could be used by any billionaire against any media organization. Sheldon Adelson, Donald Trump, the list goes on and on. Up until now, they\u2019ve mostly been content suing news organizations as plaintiffs, over stories which name them. But Thiel has shown them how to go thermonuclear: bankroll other lawsuits, as many as it takes, and bankrupt the news organization that way. Very few companies have the legal wherewithal to withstand such a barrage.\u201d\n\nIn a worst-case scenario, if the types of tactics that Thiel used against Gawker are able to stand, no media organization will be safe. Any billionaire could use his unlimited resources to bankrupt any media organization he disapproved of, by funding third-party lawsuits that were totally unrelated to the billionaire\u2019s own life or business.\n\nAside from the merits of the Hulk Hogan case (and again, Gawker acted like a bunch of stupid scumbags), what Thiel is doing is an absolute perversion of the justice system. But I also have no idea how to stop it. Sure, rich people using the courts to get what they want is nothing new; but this idea of billionaires secretly funding lawsuits and acting like puppet masters behind the scenes just feels even more wrong. If someone is suing you, you deserve to know who your adversary really is. If you\u2019re being sued, you should have a right to know who is funding the lawsuit against you; it seems like that\u2019s part of the legal principle of having the right to face your accuser in court. Maybe plaintiffs should be required to disclose the sources of funding for their legal fees? If political campaigns are required to disclose the names of people who donate to fund the campaign, shouldn\u2019t a lawsuit (a matter of public record) be held to the same standard?\n\nAnd no matter how you feel about Gawker\u2019s conduct against Peter Thiel or in the Hulk Hogan sex tape case, there\u2019s also an important First Amendment principle at stake here: Media companies should be able to fearlessly question, antagonize and even offend rich, powerful people without fearing that they\u2019ll get torpedoed years later by an unrelated lawsuit bankrolled by the rich guys. It was especially cunning of Peter Thiel to do this to one of the least-sympathetic, least-defensible media organizations in America, so everyone would be laughing at how screwed those idiots at Gawker are, while overlooking the larger implications of Thiel\u2019s scheme. (See? This man is DIABOLICAL.)\n\nOf course, it might turn out that this Gawker case is not THAT big of a deal\u2014maybe Gawker is a one-time anomaly: A gossip site that made itself exceptionally vulnerable to a ruinous lawsuit, and that happened to run afoul of the wrong petty, vindictive billionaire. Maybe everything will be fine. But even if that\u2019s the case, I don\u2019t like what it says about America\u2014because apparently, we\u2019re now officially living in a country where our legal rights only exist depending on the whims of billionaires, and our only recourse is to hope that the billionaires are friendly billionaires like Warren Buffett, and not evil billionaires like the Koch brothers.\n\nI hate these Silicon Valley modern day robber barons, by the way\u2014with their self-serving \u201cphilanthropy\u201d and their boundless optimism and their blithe indifference to wealth inequality and their sanctimonious bullshit about how their companies are making the world a better place while also, oh by the way, making themselves even more incredibly rich. I\u2019m so glad that your latest app is making life better for rich white people in San Francisco! Good job, guys! The rest of us are out here living in the real world where unarmed black people can still be murdered by police with impunity! Do you have an app for that? No? Social justice and equal rights under the law are not very \u201cmonetizable,\u201d are they? You\u2019re not interested in solving society\u2019s most intractable problems; you\u2019d rather make a mobile app to help rich jerks hire underpaid part-time help to walk their Corgis: \u201cIt\u2019s like Uber for dog walkers!\u201d\n\nAnd the worst thing about today\u2019s Silicon Valley rich guys like Peter Thiel is that they act like THEY\u2014the richest, most privileged, most-rewarded and unquestioningly admired rich people in history\u2014are the \u201cvictims!\u201d I miss the days when rich guys were VICTIMIZERS. I miss the days when rich guys were purely, unapologetically EVIL\u2014when rich guys would hire Pinkerton goons to make the streets run red with the blood of the working man, and then play croquet amidst the piled-up corpses of striking coal miners. Compared to the real blood-soaked bastards of American capitalism, like John D. Rockefeller, today\u2019s Silicon Valley billionaires are a bunch of thin-skinned weenies.\n\nAnyway, I\u2019d like to close by saying: Peter Thiel, please don\u2019t sue me or Paste Magazine for publishing this. But especially don\u2019t sue me. I don\u2019t have any money; I\u2019m just a humble freelance writer trying to pay the bills and hopefully someday I can help send my kids to college so they can have a more stable career than me, with dental insurance and paid vacation and multiple pairs of pants. Oh wait, you\u2019re on the record as being very anti-college. Never mind! I\u2019m going to send my kids to, uh, Libertarian Camp, and they can start their own businesses right after high school, selling Ayn Rand action figures. (Please don\u2019t sue us!)\n\nI\u2019m sure that deep down, you\u2019re not a bad guy, Peter Thiel. I\u2019m sure you\u2019re actually a warm hearted, visionary genius, and not a cold, joyless, money-grubbing automaton who has never known true human love. (Please don\u2019t sue us!)\n\nAnd I\u2019m sure your libertarian political philosophy is actually very wise and principled, and not an inhuman, self-serving, laughably pseudointellectual dreck pile that has never worked, and will never work, anywhere in the real world! I\u2019m sure you have great judgment about politics\u2014after all, you funded the work of James O\u2019Keefe, the conservative activist who made those controversial videos to \u201cexpose\u201d the ACORN group a few years back\u2014I\u2019m sure he\u2019s actually a crusading journalistic truth-teller, and not a creepy fedora-wearing College Republican dimwit! (Please don\u2019t sue us! Please!)\n\nAnd you\u2019re a pledged delegate for Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention! Oooh, good for you! I\u2019m sure a wealthy Silicon Valley grandee like you will feel totally comfortable hanging out in Cleveland for three days with a bunch of working class whites from the Rust Belt! Hey, if there\u2019s one thing Republican convention-goers love, it is: gay people from San Francisco! And I\u2019m sure Donald Trump is actually a very smart, statesmanlike person who is going to lead America into a new golden age of entrepreneurial brilliance, and not the worst thing to ever happen to this country. Hey, someone like you who was right about PayPal and Facebook is surely 100% right about absolutely every other major issue facing the world! (Please don\u2019t sue us!)\n\nSo anyway, thank you, Peter Thiel, for standing up to the bullies at Gawker. With your help, America will remain a shining beacon of liberty where pro wrestlers can say the N-word in the privacy of their own homes while having sex with their best friend\u2019s wife on camera. Penn Jillette and all the other Libertarian heroes of America salute you!\n\n(Ugh. Penn Jillette is the worst. Even if I didn\u2019t know anything else about Libertarianism, and all you told me about Libertarianism was, \u201cPenn Jillette is a Libertarian,\u201d I would still hate Libertarianism.)\n\nIn conclusion: Peter Thiel is awesome, and please don\u2019t sue us. No really, DON\u2019T sue us. I love you, Peter Thiel.\n\nBut Penn Jillette sucks."}
-{"text": "News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email\n\nA species of fish that comes together once a year for mass underwater orgies might be under threat because its mating call is so loud.\n\nSo noisy is the the Gulf corvina \u2013 a Mexican species that lives mainly off the coast of California \u2013 that fishers can hear its call above water as it reverberates through the hull of boats.\n\nAs the fish get together for their rippling sex festival, they are easily caught in nets. Modern fishing techniques mean many more are now caught than in previous years.\n\nThe reproductive orgies are so audible that they can even deafen dolphins, scientists said on Wednesday. Other sea animals such as seals and sea lions are also thought to be affected.\n\nResearchers of the Gulf corvina say the \"spectacle\" should be preserved \u2013 and is threatened by overfishing.\n\n(Image: Getty)\n\nThe fish produce a mating call that resembles a \"really loud machine gun\", with multiple, rapid pulses, said study co-author Timothy Rowell, from the University of San Diego. Together, the \"collective chorus sounds like a crowd cheering at a stadium, or perhaps a really loud beehive\".\n\nRowell added: \"The sound levels generated by chorusing is loud enough to cause at least temporary if not permanent hearing loss in marine mammals that were observed preying on the fish.\"\n\nRowell, along with colleague Brad Erisman from the University of Texas, used special underwater sound gear to listen to the fish spawning.\n\nEvery spring, all the adults migrate to one place \u2013 the Colorado River Delta in the northernmost part of Mexico\u2019s Gulf of California. Millions gather there each year.\n\nBut the frenzy sees the entire population together in an area of ocean that measures less than one per cent of its usual habitat. This attracts fishers. A single boat can net two tonnes of corvina \u2013 which can grow to 12kg \u2013 in a matter of minutes.\n\n(Image: Getty)\n\nA fleet of 500 boats are able to harvest as many as one million of the fish in a single outing, which proves the corina's vulnerablility. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which keeps a Red List of species, said that the Gulf corvina is \"vulnerable\" to extinction and should be protected.\n\nRecent research suggests that the fish has been getting smaller \u2013 a sign of overfishing. It happens when fish are being caught faster than they can reproduce.\n\nThankfully, the orgies make tracking corvina easy. Rowell and Erisman, together with other experts, reported in the journal Scientific Reports this year that listening to the love calls of corvinas is useful to conservation purposes.\n\nRowell said losing the sound of the underwater fish orgies would be a real shame: \"These spawning events are among the loudest wildlife events found on planet Earth.\"\n\nIt is \"the loudest sound ever recorded for a fish species,\" he added."}
-{"text": "(CNN) The tables can turn so quickly in politics. A party that last week was literally freaking out about Sen. Bernie Sanders potentially locking up the nomination on Super Tuesday has this week coalesced around former Vice President Joe Biden, with voters across the country picking him as the centrist option and rivals rushing to out of the way.\n\nWhat Biden accomplished. He got fourth in Iowa. He got fifth in New Hampshire. He got second in Nevada. Now, 11 days after his campaign appeared to lack a pulse, he's been reanimated as the delegate leader in the race.\n\nJoementum eclipses Bill Clinton's notorious 1992 Comeback Kid moment . It is the \"biggest, fastest and most unbelievable comeback in modern political history,\" as CNN's Stephen Collinson wrote Wednesday.\n\nHow did Biden do it? What animated this remarkable surge may have more to do with Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders than it does with Biden -- although Biden's unique strength in South Carolina and among black voters started the domino effect, pushing moderate rivals Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar out of the race ahead of the first multi-state primary wave.\n\nThe driving force on Super Tuesday was a strong desire, particularly among older voters, to beat President Trump. Look at the numbers:\n\nTurnout was up. In almost every state where it's possible to compare primary results with 2016, more voters showed up Tuesday. The exception? Oklahoma, where turnout was down. We still don't know about California, where mail-in ballots will keep trickling in for days.\n\nIt was up significantly in some states -- more than 68% in Virginia, 40% in Texas and 37% in Tennessee. It was up less so but still up in states like North Carolina (15%) and Massachusetts (8%).\n\nOlder people dominated. The exit polls show voting was dominated by older people, as it usually is. Voters over the age of 45 were close to two-thirds of primarygoers everywhere (more than 60% in some places and closer to 70% in others).\n\nOlder people are more interested in beating Trump. Older voters, according to the exit polls, are more likely to say that beating Trump is more important than choosing a candidate that agrees with them on the issues.\n\nSo Biden benefited from all those older voters who would prefer to beat Trump and Sanders depended on a smaller pool of younger voters who wanted a candidate who agreed with them.\n\nWhere Sanders dropped. The senator from Vermont also lost support among independents and white non-college-educated voters vs. his 2016 performance. I wrote more about that here: The senator from Vermont also lost support among independents and white non-college-educated voters vs. his 2016 performance. I wrote more about that here: 2020 Bernie Sanders is losing to 2016 Bernie Sanders.\n\nBiden's lane is clear. Suddenly the left lane is more crowded than the middle. All of the middle-lane Democrats have now dropped out (including, on Wednesday, the billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg), so it is Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on the left and Biden in the middle for now. (CNN's Lauren Dezenski, Gregory Krieg and MJ Lee report that Suddenly the left lane is more crowded than the middle. All of the middle-lane Democrats have now dropped out (including, on Wednesday, the billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg), so it is Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on the left and Biden in the middle for now. (CNN's Lauren Dezenski, Gregory Krieg and MJ Lee report that Warren is assessing her campaign , which is code for figuring out how to get out elegantly and deciding who, if anyone, to endorse.)\n\nIs there a silent pro-Biden majority?\n\nBiden hadn't even campaigned in a number of the states he won and has not generated nearly the buzz or excitement Sanders has.\n\nBut consider this: Sanders held a rally in Boston with more than 10,000 people on Saturday. Warren is from there. So is Bloomberg, originally.\n\nBiden didn't hold any events in Massachusetts -- and he won the state.\n\nIn 2016, we talked about \"shy\" Trump voters -- people who voted for Trump but wouldn't acknowledge it publicly. Now we appear to be seeing Biden benefit from a wave of support from people who aren't showing up at rallies or on Twitter but do show up to vote.\n\nHistory time: President Richard Nixon used the term \"great silent majority\" when he appealed for calm in the face of nationwide protests during Vietnam.\n\nAt the time his administration was engaged in peace talks in Paris and he was looking to set a vocal minority against what he viewed as the mass of the country. And he used the occasion of the speech to disclose his secret peace dealings directly with Vietnam through the Soviets.\n\nAnd so tonight - to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans - I ask for your support.\n\n...\n\nLet us be united for peace. Let us also be united against defeat. Because let us understand: North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that.\n\nSanders admits he fell short on promise of expanding the electorate\n\nThe senator from Vermont has promised over and over again that he'll get elected with help from young voters, who will benefit from his ambitious plans to uproot the health insurance and tax systems and create a much more generous government. So this was a telling moment at Sanders' news conference Wednesday in Burlington, Vermont:\n\nHave we been as successful as I would hope in bringing young people in and the answer is no, we're making some progress, but historically everybody knows that young people do not vote in the kind of numbers that older people vote in. I think that will change in the general election but I am honest -- being honest with you. We have not done as well in bringing young people into the political process. It is not easy.\n\nSanders is also about to unload on Biden\n\nHe also made clear at that news conference that he's going to turn on Biden's very long Washington record. There was actually a very long list of things Sanders mentioned as ripe for scrutiny:\n\nAccepting campaign contributions from billionaires\n\nVoting for the war in Iraq during the George W. Bush administration\n\nVoting for NAFTA during the Bill Clinton administration\n\nVoting for Wall Street bailouts during the financial crisis\n\nVoting to make it harder to declare bankruptcy during the Bush administration\n\nHis willingness to work with Republicans who have pushed cuts to Social Security and Medicare spending\n\nHis lack of support for nationalizing the health care industry\n\nSo it's about to get real for Democrats. Biden faced scrutiny early in the campaign. But then the focus turned to Bloomberg and Sanders. The lens is about to swing back around.\n\nSanders said he's going to be respectful. He likes Biden and he doesn't want a \"Trump-type effort where we're attacking each other, where it's personal attacks.\"\n\nRather, said Sanders, \"Joe has his ideas, his record, his vision for the future. I have mine, and I look forward to a serious debate on the serious issues facing this country. And I would hope that the media will help us do that, allow that kind of debate to take place.\"\n\nYou already know what Republicans are going to do\n\nTrump and Republicans, in a wash, rinse, repeat of 2016, have tried to suggest -- echoing some Sanders supporters -- that the process is rigged against Sanders\n\nAnd Senate Republicans are ramping up their investigations into Joe Biden and Burisma -- the exact topic Rudy Giuliani and other allies were investigating on Trump's behalf in Ukraine, setting in motion the events that led to Trump's impeachment trial. Trump and his allies have repeatedly made unfounded and false claims to allege that Biden and his son Hunter acted corruptly in Ukraine, and Biden has said the actions he took had nothing to do with his son.\n\nOne more thing that happened Wednesday: Trump tweeted about his former attorney general, Jeff Sessions , who on Tuesday moved to a runoff in Alabama for the Senate seat he vacated to take the job with Trump -- despite advice from the President's allies to avoid commenting on the Sessions race, CNN's Kaitlan Collins reported.\n\n\"This is what happens to someone who loyally gets appointed Attorney General of the United States & then doesn't have the wisdom or courage to stare down & end the phony Russia Witch Hunt,\" Trump tweeted, referring to the Mueller investigation into his 2016 campaign.\n\nWhat are we doing here?\n\nThe American system of government has been challenged to deal with a singular President and a divided country that will decide whether he should get another four years in the White House.\n\nStay tuned as we keep watch over the Trump administration, the 2020 presidential campaign and other issues of critical interest."}
-{"text": "A new map of the thickness of Mars' crust shows less variation between thicker regions (red) and thinner regions (blue), compared to earlier mapping. This view is centered on Valles Marineris, with the Tharsis Montes near the terminator to its west. The map is based on modeling of the Red Planet's gravity field by scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The team found that globally Mars' crust is less dense, on average, than previously thought, which implies smaller variations in crustal thickness. Credit: NASA/Goddard/UMBC/MIT/E. Mazarico\n\nNASA scientists have found evidence that Mars' crust is not as dense as previously thought, a clue that could help researchers better understand the Red Planet's interior structure and evolution.\n\nA lower density likely means that at least part of Mars' crust is relatively porous. At this point, however, the team cannot rule out the possibility of a different mineral composition or perhaps a thinner crust.\n\n\"The crust is the end-result of everything that happened during a planet's history, so a lower density could have important implications about Mars' formation and evolution,\" said Sander Goossens of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Goossens is the lead author of a Geophysical Research Letters paper describing the work.\n\nThe researchers mapped the density of the Martian crust, estimating the average density is 2,582 kilograms per meter cubed (about 161 pounds per cubic foot). That's comparable to the average density of the lunar crust. Typically, Mars' crust has been considered at least as dense as Earth's oceanic crust, which is about 2,900 kilograms per meter cubed (about 181 pounds per cubic foot).\n\nThe new value is derived from Mars' gravity field, a global model that can be extracted from satellite tracking data using sophisticated mathematical tools. The gravity field for Earth is extremely detailed, because the data sets have very high resolution. Recent studies of the Moon by NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, mission also yielded a precise gravity map.\n\nThe data sets for Mars don't have as much resolution, so it's more difficult to pin down the density of the crust from current gravity maps. As a result, previous estimates relied more heavily on studies of the composition of Mars' soil and rocks.\n\n\"As this story comes together, we're coming to the conclusion that it's not enough just to know the composition of the rocks,\" said Goddard planetary geologist Greg Neumann, a co-author on the paper. \"We also need to know how the rocks have been reworked over time.\"\n\nGoossens and colleagues started with the same data used for an existing gravity model but put a new twist on it by coming up with a different constraint and applying it to obtain the new solution. A constraint compensates for the fact that even the best data sets can't capture every last detail. Instead of taking the standard approach, known to those in the field as the Kaula constraint, the team created a constraint that considers the accurate measurements of Mars' elevation changes, or topography.\n\n\"With this approach, we were able to squeeze out more information about the gravity field from the existing data sets,\" said Goddard geophysicist Terence Sabaka, the second author on the paper.\n\nBefore taking on Mars, the researchers tested their approach by applying it to the gravity field that was in use before the GRAIL mission. The resulting estimate for the density of the moon's crust essentially matched the GRAIL result of 2,550 kilograms per meter cubed (about 159 pounds per cubic foot).\n\nFrom the new model, the team generated global maps of the crust's density and thickness. These maps show the kinds of variations the researchers expect, such as denser crust beneath Mars' giant volcanoes.\n\nThe researchers note that NASA's InSight mission\u2014short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport\u2014is expected to provide the kinds of measurements that could confirm their finding. This Discovery Program mission, scheduled for launch in 2018, will place a geophysical lander on Mars to study its deep interior.\n\nExplore further Proposed Mars mission has new name"}
-{"text": "After a recent trip to Woodstock, NY, we brought back two well-used cast iron pans into the test kitchen. Cast iron cookware holds a special place in our culinary hearts because it's economical, durable, versatile, holds heat well, and cooks food evenly. Properly seasoned and maintained, cast iron can last for generations and sustain a longer-lasting easy-release surface than contemporary non-stick pans. But in order to do all this, cast iron has to be well taken care of. And that's no small task, because no other piece of cookware incites greater debate and panic over its care and maintenance. To soap or not to soap? What's the best way to season it? And what about store-bought pans that claim to be pre-seasoned? Take a deep breath, people\u2014we've got answers.\n\n1. Wash with soap only once.\n\nWhen you purchase a piece of new or used cast iron cookware it's okay to use mild soapy water for the first washing. But that's it! Avoid harsh soap and scouring pads thereafter because they can remove the seasoning you'll be trying so hard to achieve. And don't even think about running your pan through a dishwasher.\n\n2. Season your pan.\n\nWe're not talking about salt and pepper here. \"Seasoning\" on a pan is fat or oil baked into the iron, which helps create a natural non-stick coating. The more you use your pan, the more seasoned it will become.\n\nTo season a cast iron pan, preheat the oven to 300\u00b0F. Place a layer of foil on the bottom rack of your oven and the pan on the top rack. Heat the pan for 10 minutes and remove. Using a cloth or paper towel, coat the pan with about 1 tablespoon of vegetable shortening, lard, or bacon grease. (Don't use vegetable oil\u2014it creates a coating that feels sticky.) Place the pan back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Remove and pour out any excess fat or oil. Turn the pan upside down and return it to the top rack of the oven (position it over the foil to catch any drips). Bake for 1 hour, turn off the oven, and let the pan cool in the oven. Repeat this process often to maintain and intensify your pan's seasoning. Some new pans are labeled \"pre-seasoned\" but we recommend seasoning them at home anyway to create a stronger seasoning bond.\n\n3. Get cooking!\n\nCast iron cookware is great for everything from pan-searing pork chops to baking cornbread. With new pieces, we recommend starting off with foods with a high fat content (like bacon) to help with the seasoning process and solidify the non-stick surface. Note: never store food in cast iron. Acids in food can break down the seasoned surface.\n\n4. Keep it clean.\n\nWe don't recommend letting your cast iron soak. Wash your (preferably still warm) pan with hot water and use a sponge or stiff non-metal brush to remove cooking residue. To slough off tough bits of stuck-on food, pour a cup of coarse kosher salt into a still-warm skillet. Squeeze a folded kitchen towel with tongs and scrub the pan with the salt. Toss the salt and rinse the pan with hot water.\n\n5. Dry it completely, every time.\n\nMoisture is the enemy. Not properly drying your cast iron can cause it to rust. So after rinsing, dry it well and place it on the stove-top over low heat. Allow to dry for a few minutes, then use a cloth or paper towel to rub it with a little shortening, lard, bacon grease, or vegetable oil. Heat for 5 to 10 minutes more, remove from heat, and allow to cool. Wipe with another cloth or paper towel to remove excess grease.\n\n6. Store it carefully.\n\nKeep your cast iron cookware in a dry place with the lids off to avoid rusting. If rust appears, scour your pan with steel wool to remove it and re-season the pan.\n\nReady to give your cast iron a test drive? Fried chicken is a great place to start."}
-{"text": "Home Minister Amit Shah Wednesday said that the Centre will identify illegal immigrants staying in any part of the country and deport them as per international law. (Source: File) Home Minister Amit Shah Wednesday said that the Centre will identify illegal immigrants staying in any part of the country and deport them as per international law. (Source: File)\n\nUnion Home Minister Amit Shah Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that the Centre will identify illegal immigrants staying in any part of the country and deport them as per international law.\n\n\u201cIt is a very good question. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is part of the Assam Accord and was also in (BJP\u2019s) election manifesto based on which the government has come to power. The government will identify illegal immigrants living on every inch of the country\u2019s soil and will deport them as per the international law,\u201d Shah said while responding to a query by a Samajwadi Party (SP) member Javed Ali Khan on whether NRC will be implemented in other states.\n\nWe will detect all the illegal infiltrators living on every inch of our country and deport them as per the international law. \u0926\u0947\u0936 \u0915\u0940 \u0907\u0902\u091a-\u0907\u0902\u091a \u091c\u092e\u0940\u0928 \u092a\u0930 \u0930\u0939 \u0930\u0939\u0947 \u0918\u0941\u0938\u092a\u0948\u0920\u093f\u092f\u0947 \u0915\u0940 \u092a\u0939\u091a\u093e\u0928 \u0915\u0930 \u0905\u0902\u0924\u0930\u0930\u093e\u0937\u094d\u091f\u094d\u0930\u0940\u092f \u0915\u093e\u0928\u0942\u0928 \u0915\u0947 \u0906\u0927\u093e\u0930 \u092a\u0930 \u0939\u092e \u0909\u0928\u094d\u0939\u0947\u0902 \u0926\u0947\u0936 \u0938\u0947 \u0928\u093f\u0915\u093e\u0932\u0947\u0902\u0917\u0947\u0964 pic.twitter.com/Uk5x7IHZOT \u2014 Amit Shah (@AmitShah) July 17, 2019\n\nThe NRC is currently being updated under the supervision of the Supreme Court in Assam and July 31 has been set as the deadline for the final publication of the registered data.\n\nOn Tuesday, the Centre and the Assam government had moved the Supreme Court seeking 20 per cent sample re-verification of names included in the final draft of the NRC in the districts bordering Bangladesh, and also sought an extension of the July 31 deadline set by the court for publishing the final NRC.\n\nNityanand Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs, said that the Centre has received many representations for extending the NRC deadline in the state. He added that a petition signed by about 25 lakh applicants submitted to the Centre and the President demanded an extension to correct anomalies.\n\nThe minister said that the government has requested an extension of the deadline since many genuine names had been left out and many bogus names had been registered.\n\nRead | NRC deadline approaching, families stranded in Assam floods stay home, don\u2019t want to be rescued\n\nRai asserted that the government\u2019s intention is to ensure no genuine citizen is left out of the NRC. \u201cThere will be some delay but the NRC will be implemented properly without any faults,\u201d he added.\n\nResponding to a query on the number of Rohingya Muslims in the country, Rai said, \u201cWe don\u2019t have an accurate data. They are spread across the country. Some of them have gone back to Bangladesh. We will get the data soon.\u201d\n\nThe government\u2019s intention is to ensure no illegal immigrant is registered under the NRC, Rai said. He further said that foreigner tribunals have been set up to curb illegal stay of foreigners in the country.\n\n\ud83d\udce3 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines\n\nFor all the latest India News, download Indian Express App.\n\n\u00a9 IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd"}
-{"text": "Former NFL receiver Dorial Green-Beckham in being held in a Missouri jail after being arrested Wednesday, according to online records.\n\nGreen-Beckham, 25, faces a felony drug possession charge (possession of less than 35 grams of marijuana/synthetic cannabinoid) and a charge of resisting arrest.\n\nFormal charges are still pending and no court date is listed.\n\nHe was booked by the Greene County Sheriff's Office at 3:18 a.m and is being held without bond.\n\nFormer NFL receiver Dorial Green-Beckham, 25, faces a felony drug possession charge. Greene County Sheriff's Office\n\nGreen-Beckham was also arrested in Greene County last December on a DWI charge.\n\nThe former University of Missouri receiver was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the second round (40th overall) of the 2015 draft and traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2016.\n\nThe Eagles released him in 2017 and he hasn't played in the NFL since. He appeared in 31 games over two seasons and had 68 receptions for 941 yards and six touchdowns.\n\nGreen-Beckham was dismissed from the Missouri football team in 2014 after a student said the receiver forced open her apartment door at 2:30 a.m. Sunday while trying to see his girlfriend, a friend of the alleged victim. The woman said Green-Beckham pushed her down at least four stairs.\n\nHe didn't face charges in that incident after the woman said she didn't want to press charges."}
-{"text": "Everything looks very stunning. I like night view of their home. It looks so cozy! I just want to be there.\n\nI like composition at all. Their tenderness to each other and the light effect. Just an amazing picture!\n\n\n\nBut there are few notes for you. First when I look at them I want to know what happens now? Why they're holds their paws in this tender way? This is so romantic moment but they're standing too close to the closed door and this is strange a bit. I want to have a feeling that they have just came out to get some romance under the stars. Maybe need to place them little further away from the door. Just one or to otter steps ^-^ And maybe need to keep door slightly open. With a magnificent glowing gap... But never mind! Everything is good enough now! ^-^\n\n\n\nThe next thing is the windows. It seems to me little more important than I want it. I think if it would be more dark it will be great and even more cozy. And the window shape looks little unnatural. It is like the wall of the house is very straight and perpendicular to the point of view. Yeah it is possible in reality but it would be more balanced if the wall would has a little roundness so that the windows has look like an ellipses a bit.\n\n\n\nHope my critique isn't hurt to you! Because your picture stands in a row of the best Zootopia fanart for me!"}
-{"text": "Two people, including the editor of a magazine for the transgender community, have been hacked to death in the capital of Bangladesh.\n\nA third person, a security guard at the apartment building where the killings took place, was seriously wounded in Monday's attack in Dhaka, in which six attackers murdered Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Tonoy.\n\nMannan was the editor of Rupban, the only LGBT magazine in the country.\n\n\"Unidentified attackers entered an apartment at Kalabagan and hacked two people to death,\" Maruf Hossain Sardar, a Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman, told the AFP news agency.\n\nNo suspects have been arrested, police officer Shamim Ahmed told the Associated Press news agency.\n\nPrime Minister Sheikh Hasina Hasina vowed to hunt down and prosecute those responsible.\n\nShe accused the country's opposition party and what she called allied armed groups of being behind the killings. The opposition has denied the allegations.\n\n\"The BNP-Jamaat nexus has been engaged in such secret and heinous murders in various forms to destabilise the country,\" Hasina said, referring to the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist party and the outlawed Jamaat-e-Islami party.\n\n\"Such killings are being staged in a planned way.\"\n\nBut the BNP called Hasina\u2019s accusations \"ridiculous and unfortunate.\n\n\"How can the government come to the conclusion without any proper investigation?\" Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the secretary general, told Al Jazeera.\n\n\"Instead of finding the murderers, the government is busy accusing the democratic opposition,\" he said, adding that the government has failed to investigate a spate of recent killings.\n\nAlamgir said that govermnment repression of opposition has shrunk the democratic space and the extremists are taking advantage of that.\n\nAnsar al-Islam claim\n\nA group affiliated to al-Qaeda later claimed responsibility, the Reuters news agency has reported.\n\nA Twitter account associated with the Ansar al-Islam group said its members had killed the men, denouncing them as \"the pioneers of practicing (sic) and promoting homosexuality in Bangladesh.\"\n\nAnsar al-Islam has issued similar claims in the past, according to a Bangladeshi security expert. The authenticity of the claim of responsibility could not immediately be verified.\n\nMaruf Hossain Sardar, a spokesman for Dhaka city police, dismissed the group's claim as baseless, saying international armed groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and al-Qaeda had no organisational base in Bangladesh.\n\nMannan's magazine, Roopbaan, was launched two years ago and became a platform for promoting the rights of LGBT people in a country where homosexuality is illegal.\n\nThe group also runs an annual Rainbow Rally parade on Bengali new year, that was cancelled this year owing to security concerns.\n\nThe incident came two days after a university professor was killed in similar fashion in an attack in Rajshahi, which was claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS) group.\n\nParvez Mollah, an 18-year-old security guard, told Al Jazeera that the six attackers were aged between 25 and 30 and that they had arrived at the building posing as couriers.\n\n\"They told me they had some parcels for Mannan and, as I went up to his apartment, three of the six attackers followed me to the second floor and attacked Mannan with machetes,\" Mollah said.\n\n\"As Mannan fell to the floor, the attackers entered the apartment and fired bullets before fleeing.\"\n\nAl Jazeera's Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from Dhaka, said that freedom of speech was threatened by such attacks.\n\nOPINION: The hit list - endangered bloggers of Bangladesh\n\n\"There is widespread fear in the country and the government is denying involvement of international terrorists or ISIL, even after such groups have announced that Bangladesh is one of their operating bases,\" he said.\n\nEarlier this month, Nazimuddin Samad, a 28-year-old law student, was hacked to death by three men riding a motorcycle as he walked with a friend in central Dhaka.\n\nLast year, at least four atheist bloggers and a secular publisher were hacked to death in a long-running series of killings of secular activists.\n\nThe South Asian country has seen a surge in violent attacks over the past few months in which liberal and secular activists, members of minority Muslim sects and other religious groups have been targeted.\n\nWith additional reporting by Mahmud Hossain Opu\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Specimens, Pt 2 (Power enemies)\n\nThe Scrake\n\nThe Fleshpound\n\nFINAL WAVE INCOMING\n\nIf you want to be a loser and the patriarch has under 10,000 hp, go demo and stack as many pipes as you can on top of each other, then make him walk over them for an easy win which you did not in any way shape or form deserve to get you filthy casual\n\nScrakes are very resilient, very fast, and very dangerous. Scrakes can kill a player in a matter of seconds with its arm-mounted chainsaw. They walk towards the closest player they see, and when damaged enough, will go into a frenzy and charge at whoever last shot / hit it. It is impossible to outrun an enraged scrake unless you are a medic or berserker, and even then it's impossible on any difficulty higher than normal. It has two attacks; It can swing its chainsaw back and forth at the player dealing a large amount of damage, or it can use it similarly to how a player would use the chainsaw's primary fire (roughly 2 hits a second for varying amounts of damage). Try to let the level 3-6 perk users take the scrake out, preferably a sharpshooter, berserker, or a firebug that is using a husk cannon. If you absolutely have to kill a scrake, Shoot at it a little bit at a time, reloading inbetween bursts, so that you can deal the most damage to it before it rages. When it rages, just unload mags into it until it dies.In case you didnt read the note at the top of part one before,Scrakes are found in the later waves of a game; waves 3-4 on short, 5-7 on medium, and 5-10 on long.The Fleshpound is a gargantuan roid-raging monstrocity that can and will instantly wreck unprepared players. When enraged, fleshpounds move 2-3x faster and deal 2-3x more damage. It is resistant to nearly all forms of damage, has a great deal of health, and is incredibly fast. Fleshpounds wet themselves at the sight of explosives; in fact, it's their one and only weakness. They take 2.33x damage from direct hits with grenades and pipe bombs, and 2x damage from direct body / head shots with the LAW. As such, demos or zerker kites are somewhat necessary for higher difficulties. If it hits you, and you dont have body armor, chances are you're dead. For up to hard mode, a sharpshooter with a crossbow can take down a fleshpound in 1-3 headshots. For suicidal and hell on earth, the crossbow deals reduced damage to the fleshpound, and is no longer a viable option if you're playing with others.If there isn't a Demo, Sharpshooter, or a berserker that knows how to kite availible, get as many people as you can to nuke him with grenades. If it's still moving, shoot at it until it dies.Fleshpounds rage if:1. They do not attack after a certain period of time while a player is in sight.2. They receive damage over a certain threshold inside of about 2 seconds.Hitting the FP does NOT reset his rage timer. Only two things will reset the timer:1. Get out of his line of sight.2. Allow him to attack. (He doesn't have to score a hit on you, just has to attack.).Therefore, a medic or a zerk (due to their enhanced speed on higher levels) can kite a FP with nearly any weapon if they have the running room and the patience (and the skill). Their speed will allow them to get out of the way of a FP's swing attack, thereby resetting his rage timer and avoiding damage. Any other class is, sadly, too slow to do this. Therefore they will have to rely on a lot of objects to get out of the FP's line of sight, and avoid dealing excessive damage in under 2 seconds.Fleshpounds are found in the later waves of a game: wave 4/4 on short, waves 5/7 to 7/7 on medium, and waves 7/10 to 10/10 on long.Meet Kevin. Kevin is the CEO and Founder of Horzine Biotech, the company you've been cleaning up after. He was hired by the Government to create the perfect soldier, the ultimate killing machine, devoid of emotions, fears, and feelings. Kevin didn't appreciate you murdering his family.Sure looks like fun.Let's go over what he can hit you with:-Pointy Tentacles(?)-Claws-Chaingun-Rocket launcherHe also:-Goes invisible-has three 50% healsRead the following and you'll suck less.Kevin has massive amounts of health that go up by anywhere from 1500 (Beginner) to 5250hp (Hell on earth) per player on the server. His chaingun, which he fires in 3 10-round bursts, will shred you in under a second at close to mid range, so if you see him spinning it up, duck behind a trash can or whatever other type of pitiful cover you can find in the split second you have to live. Him saying \"One in the pipe\" Is never a good thing. As soon as you hear that line, duck behind a wall. If no walls are available, try to trick him into firing his missile off to the side of you as you would trick a Husk. Just keep in mind that a missile is much faster than a fireball, and that a direct hit will go far beyond simply setting you on fire. He can hit you roughly three to four times (Fewer times on Suicidal and HoE, More times on Beginner). Once you lose your armor, you are vulnerable. Get hit one, maybe two more times after that, and you're through.Never, ever, ever surround the Patriarch. If three or more players are in melee distance, he will use a very powerful spin attack that will more than likely get someone, if not everyone, killed. If the patriarch has to come through a welded door, he will blow through it with his missile launcher. This deals some damage to him and buys your team a couple extra seconds to get ready for his arrival. Once you deal enough damage to the patriarch, he will go down on one knee, cloak, and retreat. He will try to find a secure location to heal himself. He will also summon zeds to protect him after he heals. He summons clots on the first heal, Clots and crawlers on the second heal, and clots, crawlers, and stalkers on the third heal. After he heals, he usually likes to cloak and run up to one of the players, come out of cloak, and smack them halfway across the room. Afterwards, if no players are within melee distance, he will usually charge up his chaingun and mow your startled team down in seconds. This tactic he uses wipes many a party out, so be prepared to run up to within melee distance of him to prevent him from using his chaingun. Once he uses his last syringe, he will not run away any more. Most of the time, he won't heal more than once or twice, but bigger games with more players can be iffy. Stick together, heal each other, keep up with and avoid his attacks, and eventually he will go down."}
-{"text": "Welcome to FOX News First. Not signed up yet? Click here.\n\n\n\nDeveloping now, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018\n\nNeither President Trump nor Democrats are backing down after Trump threatened to shut down the government over border security funding in an on-camera clash with Dem leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi\n\nFormer Trump attorney Michael Cohen will be sentenced Wednesday for tax evasion, making illegal hush-money payments and lying to Congress about Trump's business dealings\n\nAttorneys for former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn have asked that he receive probation and community service for lying to federal investigators in the Russia probe\n\nGoogle CEO Sundar Pichai said the company has no plans launch a project in China and fired back at allegations of anti-conservative bias in a House hearing on Tuesday\n\nFive people have been arrested in connection with a manhunt for gunman who killed three people and wounded 11 in Strasbourg, France on Tuesday. The suspected gunman was still on the run.\n\nA magnitude 4.4 earthquake rocked Tennessee early Wednesday, and it could be felt in Atlanta, according to the U.S. Geological Survey\n\nTUNE IN: FOX News will have two must-see interviews Wednesday - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talks to 'FOX & Friends' in the morning and first lady Melania Trump will sit down with Sean Hannity for an exclusive interview at 9 p.m. ET\n\nTHE LEAD STORY \u2013 CHRISTMAS SHUTDOWN STANDOFF: In the wake of the unexpected, dramatic on-camera dust-up between President Trump and Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi in the Oval Office on Tuesday, top Republicans are rallying behind the president's calls for funding a southern border wall -- even if it could mean closing the government just days before Christmas ... \"If we don't have border security, we'll shut down the government,\" Trump told Schumer and Pelosi in a tense White House photo op. Afterward, Pelosi reportedly mocked the president in a private meeting on Capitol Hill with fellow Democrats, saying \"it's a manhood thing for him -- as if manhood could ever be associated with him.\"\n\nFOX News has confirmed that, in a deliberate show of support for Trump following the nationally televised showdown, House Republican leaders are considering sending a bill that would provide $5 billion in funding for the wall to the floor for a vote. A senior House GOP aide separately told Fox News that Republicans are confident the measure would pass, which would force Schumer and Senate Democrats to either approve the funding or risk being blamed for any ensuing government shutdown. The question is, which side will blink first? - Reported by Gregg Re (@gregg_re on Twitter)\n\nJUDGMENT DAY FOR TRUMP'S EX-'FIXER': A federal judge in New York is set to decide whether President Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, gets leniency or years in prison for crimes including tax evasion, making illegal hush-money payments to protect Trump during the campaign and lying to Congress about the president's past business dealings in Russia ... In a sentencing memo last Friday, federal prosecutors recommended a \"substantial term of imprisonment\" for Cohen. On Nov. 29, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about a Trump real estate project in Russia in the latest development in Special Counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s investigation. Last August, he pleaded guilty to five counts of tax evasion, one count of making false statements to a financial institution, one count of willfully causing an unlawful corporate contribution, and one count of making an excessive campaign contribution.\n\nStormy Daniels ordered to pay President Trump $292G in legal fees\n\nFLYNN SEEKS LENIENCY: Lawyers for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn argued Tuesday that their client deserved to receive no more than a year of probation and 200 hours of community service for making false statements to federal investigators ... In a document filed in federal court in Washington, Flynn's attorneys said their client's cooperation with Special Counsel Robert Mueller \"was not grudging or delayed\", but \"preceded his guilty plea or any threatened indictment and began very shortly after he was first contacted for assistance by the Special Counsel's office.\" Prosecutors working for Mueller said last week that Flynn had offered \u201csubstantial assistance\u201d in \u201cseveral ongoing investigations\" and was entitled to avoid prison when he is sentenced next week. - Reported by Samuel Chamberlain (@SChamberlainFOX on Twitter)\n\nFlynn says FBI pushed him not to have lawyer present during interview\n\nGOOGLE CEO UNDER OATH: Speaking in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday amid allegations of anti-conservative bias and privacy violations on the platform, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company had \"no plans to launch search in China\" ... Pichai responded to the question by U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, when she said she was concerned about the company's controversial Project Dragonfly and asked what the company is doing to minimize the efforts. China was just one of the key issues Pichai was forced to address. He disputed the notion that his company is biased against conservatives under questioning by lawmakers. - Reported by Chris Ciaccia (@Chris_Ciaccia on Twitter)\n\nGoogle could be collecting this data without you realizing\n\nSHOOTER ON THE LOOSE IN FRANCE: French authorities have detained five people in connection with a manhunt for a suspected extremist who fatally shot three and wounded 11 near a Christmas market in Strasbourg on Tuesday evening before fleeing the scene, according to reports ... The gunman, who is believed to be injured, remained on the loose. The suspect is a 29-year-old who was on a watch list of potentially radicalized people and had convictions in France and Germany for crimes unrelated to terrorism and served time in prison, French officials said. Authorities did not name him publicly or provide further details. - Reported by Bradford Betz (@bradford_betz on Twitter)\n\nEARTHQUAKE IN TENNESSEE: A 4.4-magnitude earthquake was reported in Tennessee early Wednesday, officials said ... The quake hit about six miles north of Decatur, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The shaking was felt by residents as far as Atlanta -- about 162 miles south of the epicenter. The Center for Earthquake Research and Information reported that a 3.3 earthquake occurred near Decatur about 10 minutes after the initial 4.4 quake. - Reported by Stephen Sorace and the Associated Press\n\nPOMPEO, MELANIA TRUMP IN EXCLUSIVE FOX NEWS INTERVIEWS: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to appear on \"FOX & Friends\" on Wednesday morning for a must-see interview ... Pompeo could address a variety of issues, from the tariff truce with China, to Russia, to recent unrest in France, to the migrant crisis at the southern border to recent Trump administration shakeups and more. Don't miss this interview and tune in at 6 a.m. ET.\n\nFirst lady Melania Trump will sit down with Sean Hannity on Wednesday for an exclusive interview aboard the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier ... Hannity will also take viewers behind the scenes with Mrs. Trump as she visits military bases and speaks with personnel. The first lady visited Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in the nation\u2019s capital on Tuesday for the Marine Corps Reserve\u2019s Toys for Tots Program. Tune in to \"Hannity\" Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET.\n\n\n\nTHE SOUNDBITE\n\nDON'T GIVE IN, MR. PRESIDENT - \"If I were the president, I would dig in and not give in\" - U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on the Oval Office clash between President Trump and Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi over border security and a possible government shutdown.\n\n\n\nTODAY'S MUST-READS\n\nAdam Levine addresses controversial 'Voice' elimination after fans slam judge's plea.\n\nFOX News Special Report - Confronting the U.S. Opioid Crisis:\n\nPart 1: As doctors taper or end opioid prescriptions, many patients driven to despair, suicide.\n\nPart 2: Doctors caught between struggling opioid patients and crackdown on prescriptions.\n\nMINDING YOUR BUSINESS\n\nMarket volatility should lead investors to a diversified portfolio: CME Group CEO.\n\nInside business in China: Motorola Solutions CEO details Huawei theft.\n\nThings that will cost more in 2019.\n\nKennedy: College and comedy no longer perfect together.\n\nUSPS may franchise your mailbox: What that means for you.\n\nSTAY TUNED\n\nOn FOX News:\n\nFOX & Friends, 6 a.m. ET: Jim Hanson, the president of Security Studies, discusses possible terror attack in Strasbourg, France. Tomi Lahren previews her Fox Nation special \"The Migrant Stand-Off.\" Dr. Oz shares tips on de-stressing at Christmastime. Tom Shillue tests viewers' knowledge of Christmas TV show characters.\n\nOn FOX Business:\n\nMornings with Maria, 6 a.m. ET: Special guests include: Sheila Bair, former chair of U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation FDIC; Andrew McCarthy, former federal prosecutor and FOX News contributor; U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky.; Charles Plosser, former Philadelphia Fed president; Susan Story, president and CEO of American Water; Hogan Gidley, White House deputy press secretary.\n\nVarney & Co., 9 a.m. ET: Special guests include: Ben Carson, secretary of HUD; Mike Rowe, former \"Dirty Jobs\" host; Adam Brandon FreedomWorks president; Thomas Homan, former acting ICE director; Christian Whiton, senior fellow for strategy and public diplomacy at the Center for the National Interest; U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus, R-Pa.\n\nCavuto: Coast to Coast, Noon ET: Oscar De La Hoya, boxing legend and Golden Boy Promotions founder; U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo.\n\nMaking Money with Charles Payne, 2 p.m. ET: Jeff Ballabon, Trump 2020 campaign advisory board member; Ford O'Connell, republican strategist and political analyst; Steve Hilton, host of \"The Next Revolution.\"\n\nCountdown to the Closing Bell with Liz Claman, 3 p.m. ET: Jeff Sica, president, CEO and chief investment officer of Circle Squared Alternative Investments; Amb. Stuart Eizenstat, former deputy treasury secretary; Scott Stringer, New York City comptroller.\n\nOn FOX News Radio:\n\nThe FOX News Rundown podcast: Chad Pergram, FOX News senior Capitol Hill producer, breaks down the details of possible deals to avoid a government shutdown after the on-camera clash President Trump and Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is set to move on criminal justice reform after mounting pressure from President Trump and other supporters of the \"First Step Act.\" FOX News contributor Gianno Caldwell is a proponent of the bill, and he discusses why it is so important. Plus, commentary by former Utah congressman and FOX News contributor Jason Chaffetz.\n\nWant the FOX News Rundown sent straight to your mobile device? Subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher.\n\nThe Brian Kilmeade Show, 9 a.m. ET: The possibility of a Christmas government shutdown, immigration and border security, prison reform and anticipated sentencings in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation will be discussed with U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah; Mike Allen, executive editor and co-founder of Axios; \"FOX News@Night\" host Shannon Bream and Andrew McCarthy, FOX News contributor. XFL CEO and Commissioner Oliver Luck discusses the revival of the Vince McMahon-inspired football league.\n\nThe Todd Starnes Show, Noon ET: Todd Starnes will have the latest on the fallout from President Trump's meeting with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.\n\nThe Tom Shillue Show, 3 p.m. ET: Retail analyst Hitha Herzog and actor Bill Lobley join Tom Shillue to discuss the top headlines of the day.\n\n\n\n#TheFlashback\n\n\n\n2000: George W. Bush becomes president-elect as a divided U.S. Supreme Court reverses a state court decision for recounts in Florida's contested election.\n\n1997: Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the international terrorist known as \"Carlos the Jackal,\" goes on trial in Paris on charges of killing two French investigators and a Lebanese national. (Ramirez would be convicted, and is serving a life prison sentence.)\n\n1977: \"Saturday Night Fever,\" starring John Travolta, premieres in New York.\n\nFOX News First is compiled by FOX News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Enjoy your day! We'll see you in your inbox first thing Thursday morning.\n\n"}
-{"text": "Today Tim Swanson (WOT:nonperson) published yet another piece illustrating his fundamental misunderstanding of markets and the world writ large. In this latest piece Swanson supposes that a \"Kimberly Process\" might be possible for cryptocurrencies. 1 The Kimberly Process is a sort of anti-money laundering process applied to the market for gem diamonds. Through the Kimberly Process \"bad guys\" can't sell potential gem diamonds2 to \"good guys\" and the scheme appears to work for this purpose so long as no one cares to observe all the ways it doesn't.\n\nThe actual thing it does work for is slowing the flow of gem diamonds to the jewelry market avoiding the corn grower's problem and increasing the price of individual diamonds and profit margins for the De Beers family of Companies.3\n\nSwanson's argument depends upon Bitcoin being some broken thing like gem diamonds when instead there's an actual market. Sorry for your laws."}
-{"text": "your post isn't about old memes fuck it, have an upvote\n\n209 shares"}
-{"text": "This image was removed due to legal reasons.\n\nIf you spend all your time studying criminals, you tend to learn a thing or two about being a criminal.\n\n\nThis week, the Justice Department charged two federal agents with fraud for enriching themselves while conducting an investigation of the online drug marketplace Silk Road. Prosecutors filed a motion in Maryland Thursday to justify the detention of one of them, Carl Mark Force IV, a DEA agent of 15 years, claiming that he is a flight risk. When he was arrested at home in Baltimore Friday, he had \"what could only be described as a 'go bag' containing an unlicensed and fully loaded 9mm Taurus handgun, extra ammunition, his passport, and $5,000 of blank money orders, which could be converted into cash at any time.\" Force was apparently ready for a raid, or a zombie attack. There were four other handguns \"positioned throughout the house in easily accessible locations,\" 650 rounds of ammunition, and an unloaded shotgun.\n\nForce, 46, is married and has three minor children. Despite the nuclear family bonds, the government is worried that he could disappear if not kept under lock and key. And if he did, he would be hard to track down, say prosecutors, because he is a long time DEA Special Agent \"intimately familiar with the methods the government uses to conduct physical and electronic surveillance and to trace financial assets.\" Unfortunately for Force, that knowledge was not extensive enough to evade the charges currently brought against him; one of the Bitcoin exchanges he used, Bitstamp in Slovenia, reported his activity to authorities as suspicious, which led to the investigation into his activities, according to the government's initial complaint.\n\n\nPlus, Force knows how to craft a good escape plan, say prosecutors. He had already created one for fleeing to Algeria; titled \"el plan,\" he created it for Silk Road operator Dread Pirate Roberts, a.k.a. Ross Ulbricht, as a part of his undercover work, according to the motion. He also offered to get DPR fake driver's licenses. \"It is evidence that Force has thought about these issues and is familiar with ways of leaving the U.S. undetected,\" according to the motion.\n\nForce had mailed \"el plan\" to his superiors at the DEA; it was an all-cash trip from the docks of Baltimore to the DR to Panama to Morocco to \"Algiers, Alegeria\" [sic]. Prosecutors included the escape plan as an attachment on the motion:\n\nThis image was removed due to legal reasons.\n\nAccording to prosecutors, Force has a history of creating aliases that precedes his work as an undercover agent with the DEA. During his background investigation before he joined the DEA, he reported an alias of \"Shannon S. Curran.\" In addition to official aliases he created for the Silk Road investigation, he created aliases he didn't report to the DEA including \"French Maid,\" which he allegedly used to sell information to the suspect he was investigating, and \"Eladio Guzman,\" which he allegedly used to try to cash out $200,000 at a European Bitcoin exchange.\n\nApparently, the government hasn't been able to track down all of Force's money. According to the motion, Force, who made a $150,000 annual salary with the DEA, wired \"approximately $235,000 to an account in Panama, which was subsequently transferred to a digital currency exchange company believed to be operating out of Eastern Europe and/or the former Soviet Union.\" The government doesn't name the exchange but says it's known to be \"noncompliant with U.S. laws and unresponsive to legal process from the U.S. authorities.\"\n\n\nBeyond alleged access to hundreds of thousands of dollars, Force knows the dark arts of the Dark Web, according to prosecutors, thanks to all of his government training in how to hang undercover with online criminal suspects. \"Force has a familiarity with the so-called 'dark net' sites and the 'Deep Web' and is familiar with techniques as to how to browse the internet and remain undetected,\" according to the motion. Prosecutors say he would be able to buy fake identities and weapons from the Silk Road's successors, or \"from the streets of Baltimore.\"\n\nForce's attorney of record, Ivan Bates, could not be reached to comment on the government's motion. He told the Baltimore Sun that the government's using Force's undercover work and training against him should \"send a chilling effect\" to others in law enforcement."}
-{"text": "Klimapanelet: Verdens utslipp m\u00e5 halveres de neste 12 \u00e5rene\n\nKrystallklar og dramatisk melding fra klimaforskerne i natt: Utslippene m\u00e5 ned med 45 prosent innen 2030. Fasiten er nedsl\u00e5ende: Utslippene \u00f8ker kraftig.\n\nStr\u00f8mmen av flyktninger fra Afrika vil bli st\u00f8rre etter hvert som global oppvarming gj\u00f8r det umulig \u00e5 dyrke nok mat, mener klimapanelet. Stig B. Hansen\n\n8. okt. 2018 03:00 Sist oppdatert 8. oktober 2018\n\nEn s\u00e5 rask og kraftig reduksjon m\u00e5 til for at global oppvarming ikke skal bli h\u00f8yere enn 1,5 grader. Og tro det eller ei, Donald Trump er ikke det st\u00f8rste problemet.\n\nTil n\u00e5 er det blitt omtrent \u00e9n grad varmere. \u00d8kningen vil fortsette med omtrent 0,2 grader i ti\u00e5ret med dagens utslipp.\n\nI tillegg til enorme utslippskutt m\u00e5 det gjennomf\u00f8res en sv\u00e6rt rask utbygging av kjernekraft og fornybar energi. Kullbruken m\u00e5 ned med nesten 80 prosent. Olje m\u00e5 kuttes med mellom 40 og 80 prosent. Gass kan \u00f8ke en stund, men m\u00e5 ogs\u00e5 kuttes kraftig. Og det blir vrient \u00e5 klare m\u00e5let uten omfattende fangst og lagring av CO\u2082.\n\nStor jubel da verden ble enige om Paris-avtalen 12. desember 2015. Maks to graders oppvarming, helst 1,5, st\u00e5r det i avtalen som ble banket. Fra venstre FNs dav\u00e6rende klimasjef Christiana Figueres, FNs dav\u00e6rende generalsekret\u00e6r Ban Ki-moon, Frankrikes utenriksminister Laurent Fabius og president Fran\u00e7ois Hollande. Fran\u00e7ois Mori / TT NYHETSBYR\u00c5N\n\n\u00c5rets sommer var ikke bare et lite avvik: Disse grafene viser hvor ekstrem Oslo-sommeren har v\u00e6rt\n\nBakrus etter jubelfesten?\n\n\u2013 For \u00e5 klare stoppe p\u00e5 1,5 grader m\u00e5 vi gjennom en omstilling som ikke har skjedd tidligere i verdenshistorien, sier forskningsleder Bj\u00f8rn Hallvard Samset ved Cicero.\n\nDa verdens ledere underskrev Paris-avtalen i 2015 bestemte de at \u00abglobal oppvarming skal begrenses til godt under 2 grader, men helst til 1,5 grader, sammenlignet med f\u00f8rindustriell tid\u00bb.\n\nFakta Parisavtalen Global klimaavtale vedtatt under klimatoppm\u00f8tet i Paris 12. desember 2015.\n\nForm\u00e5let er \u00e5 holde den globale oppvarmingen under 2 grader og pr\u00f8ve \u00e5 begrense temperatur\u00f8kningen til 1,5 grader.\n\nOver 180 land har overlevert frivillige nasjonale utslippsm\u00e5l til FN. I klimaavtalen st\u00e5r det at disse etter hvert skal skjerpes, og planen er \u00e5 oppdatere dem hvert femte \u00e5r.\n\nI tillegg skal landene styrke sin evne til \u00e5 tilpasse seg klimaendringene. Rike land skal innen 2020 skaffe til veie minst 100 milliarder dollar \u00e5rlig til klimatiltak i fattige land.\n\nAvtalen tr\u00e5dte formelt i kraft fredag 4. november 2016. Vis mer\n\nJubelen sto i taket i den franske hovedstaden. Det ble sk\u00e5lt og store ord satt l\u00f8st. Alle var forn\u00f8yd med at lederne hadde tatt ansvar. Men forskerne himlet forsiktig med \u00f8ynene. De visste hvor ufattelig vanskelig det ville bli.\n\nVerdenslederne ba samtidig FNs klimapanel lage en rapport om konsekvensene for folk og natur av en oppvarming over 1,5 grader \u2013 og ikke minst hva som skal til for \u00e5 oppfylle jubel-m\u00e5let.\n\nKlimapanelet, som ikke selv driver forskning, har basert rapporten p\u00e5 mer enn 6000 nyere publiserte forskningsarbeider.\n\nI natt kom svaret.\n\nJordras i Samnanger i september etter kraftig regn. Oftere og kraftigere episoder med ekstremnedb\u00f8r blir det mer av i Norge i ti\u00e5rene fremover. Paul S. Amundsen / NTB scanpix\n\nRapporten \u00abIPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5\u00b0C\u00bb er ikke lystig lesing.\n\nHer er noen kjappe hovedkonklusjoner:\n\nNatur og mennesker:\n\nForskjellen p\u00e5 1,5 og 2 graders oppvarming for mennesker og natur er dramatiske.\n\nFlere og t\u00f8ffere ekstreme heteb\u00f8lger i Afrika, Midt\u00f8sten og Mellom-Amerika. Svikt i matproduksjonen med p\u00e5f\u00f8lgende folkevandringer fra Afrika.\n\nSkulle verden klare \u00e5 stoppe p\u00e5 1,5 grader blir det redusert sannsynlighet for styrtregn i Norge. Havniv\u00e5stigningen vil v\u00e6re 10 cm lavere ved slutten av \u00e5rhundret. Det vil gj\u00f8re at 10 millioner mennesker unng\u00e5r \u00e5 rammes.\n\nHalvparten s\u00e5 mange arter blir truet og to millioner kvadratkilometer tundra forblir frossen.\n\nNedgangen i fiskebestandene blir mindre dramatisk.\n\nFlere hundre millioner f\u00e6rre mennesker blir utsatt for ekstremt\u00f8rke, hungersn\u00f8d og vil unng\u00e5 \u00e5 d\u00f8 av hete.\n\nKullkraftverk i Peitz i Tyskland. Skal global oppvarming begrenses til 1,5 grader m\u00e5 det til en kraftig utbygging av ny kjernekraft, og lynrask nedlegging av kullkraftverk, mener FNs klimapanel. Patrick Pleul / TT NYHETSBYR\u00c5N / NTB scanpix\n\nBranninfernoer som sluker store omr\u00e5der, d\u00f8delige t\u00f8rkeperioder og ekstreme vinder: Dette vil skje n\u00e5r temperaturen stiger\n\nUtslippenes skjebne:\n\nSelv om det er store forsinkelser i klimasystemet vil de klimagassene vi allerede har sluppet ut ikke \u00f8ke temperaturen med mer enn 0,5 grader, skriver klimapanelet. Det betyr at dersom vi stanset alle utslipp i dag ville vi stoppe oppvarmingen.\n\nProblemet n\u00e5 er at verdens CO\u2082-utslipp igjen \u00f8ker, etter noen \u00e5r med utflating. 2017 ble et rekord\u00e5r. 2018 ser ut til \u00e5 bli like ille.\n\nFor \u00e5 begrense oppvarmingen til 1,5 grader m\u00e5 klimagassutslippene i 2030 v\u00e6re 45 prosent lavere enn de var 2010. I 2050, alts\u00e5 om 32 \u00e5r, m\u00e5 de v\u00e6re p\u00e5 netto null. Det betyr at det ikke m\u00e5 slippes ut mer enn det havet og plantene p\u00e5 landjorden klarer \u00e5 ta opp og lagre.\n\nSagt p\u00e5 en annen m\u00e5te: Mellom 50 og 60 prosent av elektrisiteten m\u00e5 v\u00e6re produsert av fornybare kilder innen 2030, og mellom 60 og 80 prosent innen 2050. I dag er andelen ca. 25 prosent.\n\nHva s\u00e5 med 2 grader? Ingen enkel sak det heller: Utslippene m\u00e5 i 2030 v\u00e6re 20 prosent lavere enn i 2010. Og i 2075 m\u00e5 de v\u00e6re null.\n\nForskerne har tre ulike scenarioer for hva som m\u00e5 til de neste ti\u00e5rene for \u00e5 unng\u00e5 h\u00f8yere oppvarming enn 1,5 og 2 grader. Men de lanserer ogs\u00e5 en fjerde mulighet: At kuttene skjer saktere og at vi godtar en midlertidig h\u00f8yere oppvarming, for s\u00e5 etter 2050 \u00e5 sette i gang en omfattende fjerning av CO\u2082 fra atmosf\u00e6ren.\n\nVil du vite mer om hva som m\u00e5 til for \u00e5 lykkes i klimakampen kan du melde deg p\u00e5 Aftenpostens klimakonferanse 6. november i Oslo her.\n\nHavvindm\u00f8ller utenfor Blackpool i Storbritannia. Utbyggingen av fornybar energi m\u00e5 \u00f8kes med flere hundre prosent de neste 10\u201320 \u00e5rene. PHIL NOBLE / Ruters\n\nAldri f\u00e5tt klarere beskjed\n\nDet er 28 \u00e5r siden FNs klimapanel la frem sin f\u00f8rste rapport. Det skjedde i den svenske sm\u00e5byen Sundsvall. Siden da har det blitt seks hovedrapporter og flere tilleggsrapporter, som denne siste.\n\nStatsledere og ministre har entret talerstoler p\u00e5 toppm\u00f8ter og andre m\u00f8ter tusenvis av ganger de siste \u00e5rene. De aller, aller fleste sier omtrent det samme: Vi m\u00e5 kutte n\u00e5, og vi m\u00e5 kutte raskt. Likevel skjer det motsatte.\n\nLes mer om innholdet i panelets siste rapport her.\n\nInnbyggere i en landsby i Assam nord i India p\u00e5 flukt var flomvannet i sommer. Flere millioner mennesker kan bli spart for flom og h\u00f8yere hav dersom verden klarer \u00e5 begrense global oppvarming til 1,5 grader i stedet for 2 grader. ANUWAR HAZARIKA / Reuters\n\n\u00abTrump er ikke proppen\u00bb\n\nTil tross for rapportens konklusjoner mener klimaforsker Bj\u00f8rn Hallvard Samset at det kan v\u00e6re mulig \u00e5 n\u00e5 Parisavtalens klimam\u00e5l.\n\n\u2013 Er det mulig \u00e5 kutte det som skal til?\n\n\u2013 Ja, det er fysisk mulig. Det er ingen naturlov som hindrer oss. Problemet er \u00f8konomisk, politisk og teknologisk treghet. Rapporten forteller oss i klartekst hva som skal til for \u00e5 holde oss under 1,5 og 2 grader. Det holder hverken med energisparing eller elbiler. Hele verdens energiproduksjon og forsyning m\u00e5 legges om de to kommende ti\u00e5rene.\n\nDonald Trump har satt i gang prosessen for \u00e5 f\u00e5 USA ut av den globale Paris-avtalen. Formelt vil det ikke kunne skje f\u00f8r fire dager etter at hans n\u00e5v\u00e6rende presidentperiode er over. Her signerer han lettelser for klimakrav Barack Obama g\u00e5 kullindustrien. Carolyn Kaster / TT / NTB scanpix\n\n\u2013 Men er det realistisk at det kan gj\u00f8res?\n\n\u2013 Det vil kreve enormt. Hvis energiomlegging f\u00e5r samme popkurve som Iphone fikk da den kom \u2013 er vi der. Det er mulig hvis nok ledere og nok folk virkelig vil.\n\n\u2013 Vi har ikke tid til \u00e5 vente to eller seks \u00e5r p\u00e5 at Trump ikke er president i USA lenger?\n\n\u2013 Han bekymrer meg ikke s\u00e5 mye. Han er ikke noen effektiv propp. Amerikansk n\u00e6ringsliv har skj\u00f8nt hva som m\u00e5 til og satser stort. Det samme har California og andre stater og byer. Det gj\u00f8res mye i USA."}
-{"text": "As discussed in the previous post Magento promotional rules along with best Magento themes make perfect web shop. Most of the eMerchants give discounts regularly and run numerous campaigns on it to attract clients. Magento is a great shopping cart that gives wonderful ability to store owners to manage coupons and discounts. In the previous post we discussed about Catalog Magento Price rules, now let us discuss about other category that is Shopping cart price rules.\n\nMagento Themes and Magento Price Rules-Perfect Marketing combination:\n\nBefore discussing further it should be emphasized that marketing strategies will not take much effect until you have chosen appropriate template for your store from available Magento themes. Shopping cart Magento price rules are executed on cart page. A coupon code is not necessary for shopping cart rules.\n\nTo create Shopping Cart Price Rules go to Promotions -> Shopping Cart Price Rules and select Add New Rule,\n\nEnter the rule\u2019s name and description. One of best features of Magento is that it offers great freedom in overall management whether it is about Magento Themes, extensions and custom development. Similarly you can select the user group for which this rule will be applied. Next you will enter the code which will used by customers as a \u201cpromotional code\u201d or \u201ccoupon\u201d to get discounts. If you do not want your coupon code to be used infinitely, you can limit it by either users or coupons e.g. each coupon can be used 100 times or each coupon can be used by only 1 user etc. You will enter these values accordingly as mentioned below in the image,\n\nNext you will enter effective dates and if you want your rule to be publicized in rule\u2019s RSS feed you can select yes from \u201cPublic in RSS feed\u201d\n\nActions:\n\nLet us throw some light on Actions that will ultimately decide how this coupon will be executed on your web shop making a perfect combination for your store together with lovely Magento Themes. In order to apply discount you can select following options,\n\na) Percent of product price discount\n\nb) Fixed amount discount\n\nc) Fixed amount discount for whole cart\n\nd) Buy x get Y free\n\nSuppose you want to make a promotional rule for customers to give 10% discount, you will select option a. Enter further settings like amount and how many products onto which this discount should be applied. This will make sure the promotional code will not be applied to products more than specified here e.g. if you specified 5, then 6th product will not get discount.\n\nDiscount qty setup will define discount amount e.g. If we enter 5 then it will be 10% of 5 products after five products have been entered in catalog. Next when 5 more products will be added the discount amount will become 10% of 10 products and likewise. You are now developing great strategy for your Magento store, and once again it is emphasized that you chose appropriate template from available Magento themes to put better effect on customers.\n\nFree shipping feature enables you to get all those items free shipped on which this rule will be applied or you can select other way around and that is, if even one product is included in the order which falls under this rule then free shipping will be applied. As discussed previously you can disable other rules to interfere with this one and does not apply on products onto which this rules is applied.\n\nFrom the above image you can leave it as it is to apply this rule on entire products or make conditions to select few products. If you want to apply advanced conditions you will then use conditions similarly as described in the previous post.\n\nIn the next post we will see some example of making promotions of different types and help making your web shop perfect with the help of Marketing and Magento Themes\u2026(To be continued)"}
-{"text": "Review\n\nImhotep has been a great game to bring to the table for the last few years. I like that it leans more towards the skill side of the variance vs skill spectru......"}
-{"text": "Taiwan\u2019s aviation regulator announced Wednesday that 10 TransAsia pilots failed oral proficiency tests for handling an aircraft during engine failure and have been suspended. Forty-nine pilots who fly the airline's ATR-model planes took the test following the Feb. 4 crash of Flight 235 that killed at least 42 people, while one passenger remains missing.\n\nThe Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said that along with the pilots who failed the test, 19 others who did not take the test for various reasons have also been suspended, Reuters reported. The agency had previously said that those who cleared the oral test would go to the second stage of retraining. Of the 71 ATR pilots, 19 of them did not appear for the tests, citing either sickness or because they were not in the country.\n\n\"The result is not acceptable for us,\" TransAsia CEO Peter Chen said, according to Reuters. \"We will definitely strengthen their training.\"\n\nThe Taiwanese government also ordered all local airlines to review their safety protocols following last week's crash. \"The lunar Chinese new year holiday is coming... We'll ask every local airline to check their flight safety,\" Chen Jian-Yu, the transportation and communications minister, told Reuters after the test results were made public.\n\nFlight 235, an ATR 72-600 aircraft, crashed into a river in Taiwan with 53 passengers and five crew members. Authorities claimed that the plane's left engine was shut down, apparently by one of the pilots, in a bid to restart both engines, but the attempt failed as the plane crashed before the pilots could take further measures. Taiwanese officials and aviation analysts have said the evidence presented so far points to the possibility that the pilots may have accidentally cut the wrong engine.\n\nAccording to an analysis of the flight data recorders, the plane, which was traveling from Taiwan to the Kinmen islands off the coast of southeastern China, lost both its engines minutes after takeoff. The pilots reportedly called \"mayday\" and announced an engine flameout 35 seconds after noticing an engine failure. However, the CAA confirmed Tuesday that Taipei International Airport\u2019s control tower did not hear the \u201cmayday\u201d signal sent out by the pilots.\n\n\u201cWhen the control tower tried to contact the aircraft at 10:53am on Wednesday last week, the flight happened to call out to the control tower at the same time, which produced noises during the communication, explaining why the control tower did not hear the Mayday signal,\u201d Lee Jian-kuo, director of CAA\u2019s air traffic control department, said, according to Taipei Times, a local news outlet."}
-{"text": "The \"Pete's Dragon\" and \"A Ghost Story\" director is maintaining a busy schedule.\n\nDavid Lowery\u2019s a busy guy. Six months after \u201cPete\u2019s Dragon\u201d was released, the writer/director premiered \u201cA Ghost Story\u201d at Sundance; now, according to the Road Dog Productions blog, \u201cThe Old Man and the Gun\u201d has finished filming. A crime drama starring Robert Redford, Casey Affleck, Sissy Spacek, Danny Glover, Tika Sumpter, Elisabeth Moss and Tom Waits, the film has already been acquired by Fox Searchlight. Lowery shared six lessons he learned while making the film:\n\nREAD MORE: \u2018A Ghost Story\u2019: David Lowery\u2019s Sundance Sensation Gets Haunting Soundtrack From Daniel Hart \u2014 Listen\n\n\u201cA little bit more about how to work with actors \u2013 a never-ending study that always reveals new dimensions, partially within the process but mostly in myself. How to let go a little bit more and not shoulder everyone else\u2019s burdens. Everyone has creative challenges on movies, but I chose the people I chose because I trust them to handle them well. How to move on after take two. And sometimes takes one! But almost always by take three. If you get a good take and don\u2019t know how to make it better, don\u2019t ask for another one just because. But if you do, which you probably will, and it doesn\u2019t get better, don\u2019t do another one after that. Swap a lens or move on! How to watch the take unfolding before me with a clear focus and no presuppositions. This is a lot harder for me than it should be. That if you are going to be working with rain towers or in potentially inclement weather, invest in a good pair of waterproof pants (water proof, not water resistant). Worth their weight in rainwater that would otherwise be soaking through your jeans. That you should always and only work with a gang of folks who will leave you sincerely quoting Royal Tenenbaum: \u201cI\u2019m loving every minute with this damn crew.\u201d I knew this already but it\u2019s always good to be reminded of it\u201d\n\nREAD MORE: Film Acquisition Rundown: Fox Searchlight Buys \u2018The Old Man and The Gun,\u2019 Grasshopper Film Picks Up \u2018Bronx Gothic\u2019 and More\n\nLowery ends the post by his expressing his admiration for Terence Davies\u2019 \u201cA Quiet Passion,\u201d a biopic about Emily Dickinson. It contains one line he found himself repeating over and over again: \u201cPosterity is as comfortless as God.\u201d\n\nStay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.\n\nSign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here."}
-{"text": "The Moscow Un-Summit wasn\u2019t a formal interview. Nor was it a cloak-and-dagger underground rendezvous. The upshot is that we didn\u2019t get the cautious, diplomatic, regulation Edward Snowden. The downshot (that isn\u2019t a word, I know) is that the jokes, the humour and repartee that took place in Room 1001 cannot be reproduced. The Un-Summit cannot be written about in the detail that it deserves. Yet it definitely cannot not be written about. Because it did happen. And because the world is a millipede that inches forward on millions of real conversations. And this, certainly, was a real one.\n\nWhat mattered, perhaps even more than what was said was the spirit in the room. There was Edward Snowden who after 9/11 was in his own words \u201cstraight up singing highly of Bush\u201d and signing up for the Iraq war. And there were those of us who after 9/11 had been straight up doing exactly the opposite. It was a little late for this conversation, of course. Iraq has been all but des\u00adtroyed. And now the map of what is so condescendingly called the..."}
-{"text": "Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Ben Carson wanted Katty Kay's mic turned off during a tense interview\n\n\"Cut her mic.\"\n\nNo-one's ever said my microphone should be cut before, so when Dr Ben Carson suggested I should be shut up after I asked him if he thought the women accusing Donald Trump of sexual abuse were lying, I was a bit flabbergasted. It sounded almost Soviet.\n\nLet's be clear about what happened. I asked Dr Carson, a surrogate for Mr Trump, a simple yes/no question. He refused to answer. When I pushed him he asked not once but twice that the programme shut off my mic. All I wanted was an answer - what I got was a ridiculous demand for censorship.\n\nReplaying the tape I see it also looks rather bullying. In a conversation about sexual harassment a man asks a woman to be silenced for asking a question he doesn't want to answer. He may not have meant to, but Dr Carson gave a perfect, real-time example of exactly the kind of overbearing, condescending attitude a lot of women experience all too often and that the whole Donald Trump scandal has raised as a conversation here.\n\n'Common in the workplace'\n\nBut I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that this pattern is very familiar to women everywhere. In less crass and explicit ways, this happens in the workplace all the time, men who talk over women at meetings, who take credit for a woman's idea or dismiss their female colleagues as somehow too emotional.\n\nAmid the stunned reaction to Dr Carson's \"cut her mic\" demand another important thing he said has been slightly overlooked. Later in the our interview he said it didn't matter whether the women accusing Mr Trump were lying or not. I don't really know what he meant by that but it's clearly nonsense. If the women are all lying they deserve criticism, if they're not, they don't. How could it not matter?\n\nOne upside of this miserable campaign season is that we are now talking about these important issues and I think men are getting a new insight into the inequality, big and small, that women suffer every day.\n\nMy Twitter feed has been flooded with outraged messages from men and women. Joe Scarborough, the host of Morning Joe, called Dr Carson out in no uncertain terms and raised the issue of his call to silence my mic after the ad break. I'd like to thank them all. Wouldn't it be a strange thing if Mr Trump's candidacy ended up precipitating greater sexual equality not less.\n\nFollow Katty Kay on Twitter here."}
-{"text": "Google to require Google+ account for YouTube comments\n\nAlistair Barr | USA TODAY\n\nSAN FRANCISCO -- Google will soon require YouTube fans to be signed up members of its Google+ social network if they want to post comments on the video service.\n\nThe move is part of a push by Google to encourage as many of its users as possible to have a Google+ account.\n\nThat's important for Google because it wants to grow its social network to compete with Facebook and Twitter. But Google+ also helps Google identify users better across all its services. That helps improve the services -- and the ads that are the source of most of Google's huge profits.\n\nThe change in the YouTube comment requirement is \"days away,\" according to Bradley Horowitz, vice president of product management at Google+.\n\n\"Google+ is increasingly a means to contribute comments and content across Google,\" he added in an interview with USA TODAY and other news organizations at an event in San Francisco Tuesday.\n\nGoogle announced a 37% jump in Google+ users earlier on Tuesday at the event."}
-{"text": "Yes, you read that right... No, this isn't the F150 ecoboost pickup. No I'm not smoking a bong full of salvia. Come read about this seldom heard concept truck of the 90's after the break!\n\n\nI have been a fan of Ford's first and second gen explorers for a long time now. For a brief moment of my life I even owned a 1994 Eddie Bauer with my brother. I like to think I know a good amount of info about the Ranger Based Vehicles, so it came to my surprise when I just heard about this concept explorer from 1998.\n\n\nThe 1998 Tremor concept was based on the (at the time) current explorer, which was the 1995-2001 era of explorer. This was the last era of the RBV explorer. You could get it with a 4.0 Cologne OHV V6, a 4.0 SOHC Cologne V6, or a 5.0L Windsor V8. But a second gen explorer with a modular V8? Never!\n\nFord never actually made a sport truck out of the explorer. Some of you may remember the Saleen XP6/XP8, or the Sport Trac Adrenalin, which was great as a concept but nothing more than an appearance package in production. But apparently back in 1997, Ford came out with this radical concept for a sport truck version of the explorer.\n\nIt featured a 4.6L 5V V8. Let me say that again, 4.6L FIVE Valve V8. (You know, like Audi does). Ford teamed up with Yamaha (who did the engines in the taurus SHO) to come up with these heads for the modular V8. It took the compression from 9.85:1 to 10.5:1. Featuring a twin 70mm throttle body, and dual spray high flow injectors, this engine put out 380HP @ 6400RPM and 350TQ @ 4000rpm. For comparison purposes, a 1996-98 Ford Mustang Cobra made 305hp, and a 93-98 Lincoln Mark Viii made 290HP in LSC form.\n\n\nIt gets better though, as the engine wasn't the only unique piece of this concept truck. Ford backed this engine with the tried and true 4R70W using a torque converter from the Mark Viii. They also retained the V8 explorers all wheel drive system (not to be confused with the 4wd system of the v6 explorers). For the back, Ford ditched the standard 8.8\" solid axle, and completely re-engineered the back half of the explorer frame to accept a MN12 Thunderbird Independent Rear Suspension. A Mark Viii rear end with airbags was considered but scrapped due to time constraints. Engineers did keep the aluminum diff houisng from the Mark Viii which replaced the Thunderbirds cast iron housing. They installed 4.10 gears in the Mark Viii housing and stuck the IRS in place.\n\nTo make this truck stop and handle, Ford fitted 13\" vented front rotors from the 1995 Mustang Cobra R, and kept the Thunderbirds vented rotors for the rear. They fitted 19\" wheels with 245/60/19 Goodyear Tires.\n\n\nIts a shame this was never produced. Like the original Sport Trac Adrenalin concept (which had a 4V Supercharged V8), the Tremor looks like it was an incredible concept in its day. On paper the truck should have been good for 0-60's somewhere in the 6 second range, and 1/4 mile runs in under 15 seconds. That would roughly put it in the territory of a second generation Ford Lightning F150, which didn't come out until 1999.\n\n\nAs with most concepts, most times the styling cues will be a tip towards future generations of the vehicle. In this case, I believe this truck was a hint at the Third Generation Explorer. The third gen ditched the RBV platform, gained a 4.6L 2V modular V8, a 5spd transmission, and an IRS. I mean hell, they even look similar!\n\nSources:\n\nMotorTrend\n\nDrivingEnthusiast.net\n\nIf anyone has any information to share, feel free to share. I tried looking for pictures of the engine, or the interior, or anything else, but I can't find a ton of information about this truck."}
-{"text": "Most are predicting 15,000 to 20,000 rally attendees today in Phoenix Arizona for a highly anticipated speech by Donald Trump discussing immigration, and specifically the problem with illegal immigration.\n\nThis is one of the most significant speeches candidate Donald Trump will deliver so far in this campaign. Because of the specific importance CTH is limiting today\u2019s topics to focus on these events.\n\nThe venue is familiar, it\u2019s the Phoenix Convention Center and the speech is currently timed for delivery at 6:00pm local / 9:00pm Eastern. Doors to the Phoenix convention center open at 3:00pm local. Treeper \u201cBluto\u201d is also attending and will be providing ground reports.\n\nIn addition, to give you a sense of the event today, RSBN is once again live streaming the activity leading up to the Trump rally and speech:"}
-{"text": "Theresa May has called for John Bercow to fully \u201cexplain\u201d why he broke with Commons rules to allow a vote that will give MPs a greater say over her Brexit strategy.\n\nThe prime minister stepped into the bitter row surrounding the actions of the Commons speaker, saying: \u201cI was surprised at that decision; it\u2019s for the speaker to explain that decision.\u201d\n\nThe intervention came as the Japanese prime minister, speaking alongside Ms May warned: \u201cThe world is watching the UK as it exits the European Union.\u201d\n\nShinzo Abe said a no-deal Brexit must be avoided if Japan is to \u201cinvest more into your country and to enjoy further economic growth with the UK\u201d.\n\nThe comment was seized on by the anti-Brexit Best for Britain group. Labour MP Martin Whitfield said: \u201cIt is humiliating for the prime minister to be told to her face that the whole world wants to avoid a no-deal scenario, yet she still refuses to rule it out.\n\n\u201cCountries across the globe are looking at Britain in despair. Japan, like our other allies, understands the folly of a no-deal Brexit. Why doesn\u2019t Theresa May?\u201d\n\nMr Bercow provoked fury among pro-Brexit MPs over a vote to force Ms May to present her \u201cplan B\u201d within three working days of an expected heavy defeat of her deal next Tuesday.\n\nIt triggered chaotic scenes in the Commons, as the speaker was accused of blatant pro-Remain bias in allowing the vote, against the advice of his own legal experts.\n\nAsked about the controversy, the prime minister said: \u201cMembers of parliament need to know that there is a set of rules in the House of Commons.\n\nPolice separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Show all 11 1 /11 Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Anti-Brexit protester Steve Bray (left) and a pro-Brexit protester argue as they demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament A pro-Brexit protester argues Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Police surround the pro-Brexit protester after he confronted Steve Bray, a pro-European protester Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament A leave supporter is spoken to by a police officer as he argues with a remain supporter, Steve Bray, outside Parliament PA Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament MPs in Parliament are to vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal next week after her December vote was called off in the face of a major defeat Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament A leave supporter is spoken to by a police officer PA Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Police look on as anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament. Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Police hold back a leave supporter PA Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament A police officer speaks with anti-Brexit protester Steve Bray Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Police surround a pro-Brexit protester after he confronted a pro-European protester Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Conservative MP David Davies, wearing a gopro camera, speaks to anti-Brexit protester Steve Bray Getty Images\n\n\u201cThey need to know there will be consistent interpretation of those rules, so that they know how they can operate within the House.\u201d\n\nOn Mr Bercow allowing the amendment, put forward by Tory rebel Dominic Grieve, she added: \u201cI was surprised at that decision. It\u2019s for the speaker to explain that decision.\n\n\u201cThe leader of the House of Commons asked if he would publish the advice that he has received on that.\u201d\n\nMs May reiterated her plea to MPs to back her agreement, saying: \u201cThe only way to avoid no deal is to have a deal, and to agree a deal, and the deal that is on the table, the deal that is the deal that the EU has made clear is the only deal.\u201d\n\nMr Abe said: \u201cThe world is watching the UK as it exits the European Union.\u201d\n\nAnd he added: \u201cIt is the strong will of Japan to further develop this strong partnership with the UK, to invest more into your country and to enjoy further economic growth with the UK."}
-{"text": "Must be logged in to vote!\n\n\n\nNew look for my weaver. I wanted to go for that \"ethereal being\" look.\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "UPS Express Critical\u00ae provides a broad range of urgent transportation options ranging from lightweight to heavyweight shipments around the world.\n\nAs a global leader in time-sensitive shipments, we can provide you with access to virtually any kind of aircraft or vehicle around the world.\n\nWith a full suite of global, urgent transportation services, we have the ability to optimize solutions for nearly every shipment. Our experienced team can quickly assess a critical situation, identify transportation alternatives and implement a delivery solution that meets your time and cost requirements. UPS Express Critical Services include:\n\nAir - Next-flight-out service within North America, Europe** and between major metropolitan areas worldwide\n\nSurface - Exclusive use, non-stop, door-to-door ground transportation throughout the U.S., into Canada, Mexico and Europe**\n\nCharter - Air charter management services available around the world\n\nHand Carry - Dedicated courier assigned to maintain in-transit, end-to-end physical possession of your shipment\n\nInternational - Next-flight-out, charter and courier services providing extensive global coverage\n\nSecure*** - When your shipment requires added security to ensure it arrives safely and remains intact. Our experienced staff can create a solution that meets your needs, for virtually any size shipment\n\nInside Precision*** - Provides white glove services seamlessly integrated with UPS transportation networks for time definite inside pickup or delivery of high value products. Our professional crews can meet your delivery challenges and manage on-site shipments, complete door-to-door service, unpacking, setup, and inside delivery\n\nValue Added Services*** - Specialized equipment and shipment handling designed to meet your domestic or international freight needs\n\nUPS Express Critical can make a difference in your organization's time-sensitive shipping activities. Leveraging our extensive logistics and communications network, our team can handle a one-time urgent shipment or create a customized, high-priority solution based on your requirements.\n\nFeatures\n\n\n\nExtensive route optimization capabilities\n\n\n\nOne-time shipments or custom solutions\n\n\n\nProprietary electronic information system for shipment processing and tracking\n\n\n\nComprehensive inventory of trucks, aircraft and flight schedules\n\n\n\nSpecialized equipment and services to meet unique requirements (e.g., hazardous shipments, temperature-controlled vehicles, oversize/overweight cargo)\n\n\n\nBenefits\n\n\n\nArrange urgent transportation or a combination of services that fit your time-sensitive shipment\n\nneeds\n\n\n\nEnable real-time shipment tracking from pickup to delivery\n\n\n\nOptimize routes to ensure timely delivery and control costs\n\n\n\nDevelop customized solutions to meet special transportation requirements\n\n\n\nProvide quick turnaround and exceptional service quality from a trusted source\n\n\n\nUPS Express Critical representatives are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to assist with your urgent freight shipments. For more information, please contact us via\n\nCountry or Territory Phone Number Email address US 1-800-714-8779\n\n(inside US)\n\n1-913-693-6205\n\n(outside US) expresscritical@ups-scs.com Canada 1-800-714-8779\n\n(inside Canada)\n\n1-913-693-6205\n\n(outside Canada) expresscritical@ups-scs.com Mexico 001-800-479-2018 expresscritical@ups-scs.com Europe Germany +49 6966800900 ec@ups.com United Kingdom +44 2079490100 ec@ups.com Netherlands +31 205040640 ec@ups.com France\n\n\"(service gratuit + prix appel)\" +33 170200001 ec@ups.com Spain +34 913496550 ec@ups.com Czech Republic +42 0239014038 ec@ups.com Austria +43 1502842100 ec@ups.com Switzerland +41 442004120 ec@ups.com Italy\n\n\"(Le chiamate hanno il medesimo costo previsto per una chiamata su rete fissa dal proprio operatore)\" +39 0245281080 ec@ups.com Poland +48 221632810 ec@ups.com All other European countries\n\n(to dial DE number) +49 6966800900 ec@ups.com\n\n* See Terms and Conditions for additional information, conditions and limitations.\n\n** European countries where Express Critical is available.\n\n*** Secure, Inside Precision and Value Added Services are not available in Europe."}
-{"text": "NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has been accused of \"blackmailing\" the Orange electorate by promising to build a $25 million sporting precinct, but only if voters return the marginal seat to the Nationals at the state election.\n\nMs Berejiklian made a flying visit to Orange to announce the conditional promise on Wednesday, in a desperate bid to win back the seat which the National party lost to the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party by fewer than 100 votes in 2016.\n\nNSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Credit:AAP\n\nUnlike typical election commitments, Ms Berejiklian said the facilities would not be built unless the Nationals candidate Kate Hazelton was elected at next month's election.\n\n\u201c[T]his will only happen if Kate is the member, and I want to make that clear because we\u2019ve worked our guts out to build a strong budget and we want to make sure Orange gets its fair share,\" Ms Berejiklian said."}
-{"text": "The tiger population in Bhutan has showed steady increase over the last few years.\n\nNew tiger photographs and pugmarks that were found from different parts of the tiny Himalayan kingdom indicate an overall increase in their numbers.\n\nIn an encouraging note, the number of tigers has doubled from 10 to 22 at the Royal Manas National Park, one of Bhutan\u2019s oldest parks located in south central Bhutan, between 2010 and 2016, according to reports.\n\nA total of 90 camera stations, each with two cameras were installed across 1,300 square kilometers in Manas. According to latest data analysis, the number had increased to 28 tigers in the park by 2018, based on the same camera surveillance that had been used for earlier surveys.\n\nThough it is difficult to ascertain as to how many have increased through migration and how many from new births, conservators put it fifty-fifty.\n\nAccording to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Bhutan, 12 trans-boundary tigers have been recorded in the Transboundary Manas Conservation Area in 2015, an increase from just four tigers in 2011, according to the latest report on tigers of Transboundary Manas Area.\n\nBhutan conducted its national tiger survey in 2014-15, which estimated 103 tigers. With the latest increase in their population, Bhutan is all set to project doubling of tiger population by 2022.\n\nAccording to experts, well coordinated trans-boundary cooperation with India, anti-poaching measures, habitat conservation and awareness among farmers has led to the increase in the tiger population in the kingdom, along with the successful implementation of the Tiger Action Plan.\n\nAnother big initiative for the conservation of tigers in Bhutan was the establishment of the National Tiger Centre last year in the southern district of Gelephu, which borders India, with its primary focus on the conservation of the iconic species.\n\nOne of the big advantages for Bhutan is habitat. Bhutan\u2019s constitution mandates a minimum of 60 per cent forest cover.\n\nBhutan had forest cover of 71 per cent in 2017 while 51 per cent of the country\u2019s land is a mix of protected areas and biological corridors."}
-{"text": "Cataphonic\n\nMarch 9, 2016\n\nclick me for the comic secret words"}
-{"text": "\"I am very happy with how this service works, I used a couple of different before and from my time here it feels like one of the better ones. Really appreciate the support here, they are very helpful.\"\n\n"}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\nAll Might\u2019s heart is too kind to be the bad cop.\n\nAnd Aizawa\u2019s is too dark to be the good cop.\n\nbased on this\n\nthis was drawn by my sister! if you liked it check her ig: metano_CH4"}
-{"text": "\u200bAndrei Caramitru, \u200bconsilierul pre\u0219edintelui USR, revine cu o nou\u0103 postare discutabil\u0103, dup\u0103 adoptarea de c\u0103tre Parlament a codurilor penale, transmi\u021b\u00e2nd c\u0103 locul parlamentarilor PSD, ALDE \u0219i UDMR este \u201dla pu\u0219c\u0103rie sau \u00een exil unde s\u0103 moar\u0103 de foame\u201d.\n\n\n\n\n\n\u201dGrijania voastr\u0103 de nenoroci\u021bi ! S-au \u201csc\u0103pat\u201d \u0219i albit, \u00een bloc. Inclusiv violatorii, pedofilii, criminalii sunt sc\u0103pa\u021bi. Cu voturile UDMR. Nu vom uit\u0103 asta. Locul vostru - borfa\u0219ilor de la PSD/ALDE/UDMR - este la pu\u0219c\u0103rie sau \u00een exil unde s\u0103 muri\u021bi de foame - nici gunoieri s\u0103 nu va angajeze aia. Ru\u0219ine s\u0103 va fie !\u201d, a scris Andrei Caramitru, pe Facebook.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCaramitru a ata\u0219at \u0219i lista votului final din Camera Deputa\u021bilor.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCamera Deputa\u021bilor a adoptat, miercuri, ca for decizional, proiectele pentru modificarea Codului penal \u0219i a Codului de procedur\u0103 penal\u0103. Proiectele de modificare a Codului penal \u015fi Codului de procedur\u0103 penal\u0103 au ajuns la vot \u00een Camer\u0103 dup\u0103 ce Comisia Iordache a dat raport favorabil, \u00een mare vitez\u0103. Deputa\u0163ii PNL, USR \u015fi PMP au criticat, miercuri, \u00een plen, modific\u0103rile aduse Codurilor, anun\u0163\u00e2nd c\u0103 le vor contesta din nou la Curtea Constitu\u0163ional\u0103, consider\u00e2nd c\u0103 acestea \"favorizeaz\u0103 corup\u0163ii \u00een acte publice\"."}
-{"text": "India\u2019s ruling Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party won 303 out of 525 seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, securing PM Narendra Modi\u2019s second term with his closest rival\u2019s party taking only 52 places.\n\nModi celebrated his landslide victory after official voting ended on Friday with well beyond the simple majority needed to form a government. A remarkable 600 million people cast votes, making the event the largest election in history.\n\nRead more\n\n\u201cThe voting numbers in India's election is the biggest event in the history of the democratic world. The entire world has to recognise the democratic strength of India,\u201d Modi told cheering crowds on Friday.\n\nThe Indian National Congress, Modi\u2019s largest competitor led by Rahul Gandhi, managed to win only 52 seats, while the All India Trinamool Congress led by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee took 22 spots.\n\nWhile no date has been set for the inauguration of the new government, BJP officials say Modi is already working on putting together his new cabinet. The job will not be easy: despite winning voters\u2019 confidence, the new government faces a deeply troubled economy and serious security questions, on top of domestic obstacles to passing much needed reforms.\n\nThe BJP and its allies may control the lower house, but it might not have the numbers it needs in the upper house to push through desired economic reform measures.\n\nAlso on rt.com \u2018India wins yet again\u2019: Narendra Modi declares election victory\n\nWorld leaders, including President Donald Trump and regional rival Imran Khan of Pakistan, offered their congratulations. Media reports indicate that Modi will likely be sworn in next Thursday.\n\nLike this story? Share it with a friend!"}
-{"text": "Carmelo Anthony passed LeBron James and David Robinson on Wednesday as the United States men\u2019s all-time leading Olympic scorer.\n\nWith a win on Wednesday, Carmelo Anthony became the all-time leading scorer in United States men\u2019s Olympic basketball history.\n\nAnthony scored 31 points including nine three-pointers in Team USA\u2019s 98-88 win over Australia. His 293 points in Olympic competition move him past LeBron James (273) and David Robinson (270).\n\n@carmeloanthony is the best international player of all time! \u2014 Tyson Chandler (@tysonchandler) August 10, 2016\n\nThe 32-year-old New York Knicks captain passed Michael Jordan (258) for third place with 14 points in a Monday win over Venezuela. He is on pace to finish with at least 360 Olympic points this summer.\n\nAnthony was a member of U.S. Olympic teams that won a gold medal in both 2008 and 2012. He has played in a record 26 Olympic games and is behind Robinson by 31 rebounds for the all-time record, according to ESPN.com\u2019s Ian Begley. Anthony is also 20 field goal attempts shy of Jordan\u2019s mark.\n\nTeam USA is set to play Serbia on Friday and France on Sunday before the men\u2019s quarterfinals begin next week.\n\nKristian Winfield covers the New York Knicks for Elite Sports NY. You can start the conversation on Twitter @Krisplashed."}
-{"text": "Technology developed using artificial intelligence could identify people at high risk of a fatal heart attack at least 5 years before it strikes, according to research carried out at the University of Oxford.\n\n\nCurrently, when someone goes to hospital with unexplained chest pain they often have a coronary CT angiogram (CCTA) \u2013 a scan of the coronary arteries to check for any narrowed or blocked areas. If there is no significant narrowing, which is seen in about 75 per cent of scans, people are sent home.\n\nRead more about AI:\n\nHowever, some of them will still have a heart attack at some point in coming years and there are no methods currently in place that can be used by doctors to spot all of the underlying red flags for a future heart attack.\n\nNow, researchers at the University of Oxford have developed a new method of identifying future risk of heart attack using machine learning \u2013 an application of artificial intelligence that provides systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed.\n\nDubbed the fat radiomic profile (FRP), the system looks for signs of inflammation, scarring and changes to the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart.\n\n\u201cJust because someone\u2019s scan of their coronary artery shows there\u2019s no narrowing, that does not mean they are safe from a heart attack,\u201d Professor Charalambos Antoniades, BHF Senior Clinical Fellow at the University of Oxford.\n\n\u201cBy harnessing the power of AI, we\u2019ve developed a fingerprint to find \u2018bad\u2019 characteristics around people\u2019s arteries. This has huge potential to detect the early signs of disease, and to be able to take all preventative steps before a heart attack strikes, ultimately saving lives. We genuinely believe this technology could be saving lives within the next year.\u201d\n\nThe team analysed the expression of genes associated with inflammation, scarring and new blood vessel formation in fat biopsies taken from 167 people undergoing cardiac surgery and compared these to CCTA scan images to look for features that indicated changes to the fat surrounding the heart vessel.\n\nThey then trained the FRB using data from a pool 5489 patients, 101 of whom went on to have a heart attack within 5 years of having a CCTA scan. In subsequent tests, the FRB outperformed any of the tools currently used in clinical practice. The team now hope to roll out the technology as soon as next year.\n\n\nFollow Science Focus on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Flipboard"}
-{"text": "Image copyright Getty Images\n\nThe UK's current account deficit narrowed much faster then expected in the second quarter of the year.\n\nThe current account figure from the Office for National Statistics measures the difference between imports and exports of trade and investment.\n\nThe deficit narrowed from \u00a324bn, or 5.2% of national income, in the first quarter of 2015, to \u00a316.8bn, or 3.6% of GDP, in the second.\n\nThe ONS also announced a number of revisions to economic growth.\n\nIt revised upwards the growth figures for years between 2011 and 2013, which meant that the economy is now 5.9% above its pre-recession peak, compared with previous estimates of 5.2%.\n\nIt also means that the economy passed its pre-recession level in the second quarter of 2013, which was a quarter earlier than previously thought.\n\n\"Upward revisions to GDP in earlier years mean that growth has averaged just over 2% in the six years since the economy started growing again in mid-2009,\" said Andrew Sentance at PwC.\n\n\"This is respectable growth in the new normal post-crisis world and puts the UK among the leading major western economies - alongside the US and Germany - in terms of growth over the recovery as a whole.\"\n\nThe third estimate of growth in the second quarter was 0.7%, unchanged from the previous estimate.\n\nBut the annual growth figure for the second quarter was revised down from 2.6% to 2.4%.\n\nAnalysis: Robert Peston, BBC economics editor\n\nIt is the first time in two years that the rate at which we've been shipping in debt from abroad dropped comfortably below 5% of GDP - having widened to a record 6% plus of GDP on a couple of occasions since the middle of 2013.\n\nAnd what is striking is that the improvement was down to the part of the current account that for the past 30 years has been intractably lacklustre, viz our net sales of goods and services.\n\nWhat's more, this improvement took place in spite of a strengthening of the pound by almost 6% on a trade-weighted basis in the first half of the year.\n\nRead more from Robert\n\nThe ONS also announced one of the first major figures that will contribute to the GDP number for the third quarter.\n\nGrowth in the service sector slowed in July compared with the previous month.\n\nThe sector accounting for 79% of the UK economy grew 0.2%, compared with a rate of 0.6% in June, the ONS estimated.\n\nThe sector grew 2.8% in July compared with the same month of 2014.\n\nAnalysts suggested that there were signs the UK's economic growth in the third quarter of the year would not be able to keep up the pace achieved in the second quarter.\n\n\"However, we expect that the recovery will pick up pace again soon,\" said Paul Hollingsworth from Capital Economics.\n\n\"After all, business and consumer confidence remains strong, credit is cheap and becoming more available, and households are yet to spend all of their windfall from lower energy and food prices.\"\n\nReal household disposable income per head, which is a measure of the standard of living, rose 1.5% in the second quarter compared with the first, and was up 3.3% compared with the same quarter a year ago."}
-{"text": "Wild Wing Cafe will open a second Greenville location in Magnolia Park\n\nWild Wing Cafe announced it will open a second Greenville location. The new restaurant will be in Magnolia Park on Woodruff Road.This will be the fourth Upstate location for the restaurant that boasts its \"hot wings, cold beer and good times.\"The restaurant said the new space will employ 140 people and cover about 7,000 square feet.Wild Wing Cafe said it has a series of events planned for its grand opening weekend, starting Friday. The restaurant said it is expecting to open up 10 new restaurants this year.\n\nWild Wing Cafe announced it will open a second Greenville location. The new restaurant will be in Magnolia Park on Woodruff Road.\n\nThis will be the fourth Upstate location for the restaurant that boasts its \"hot wings, cold beer and good times.\"\n\n\nThe restaurant said the new space will employ 140 people and cover about 7,000 square feet.\n\nWild Wing Cafe said it has a series of events planned for its grand opening weekend, starting Friday.\n\nThe restaurant said it is expecting to open up 10 new restaurants this year."}
-{"text": "NEW DELHI: Indian Space Research Organisation has delayed the test-flight of its Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) or mini-PSLV, which was earlier planned in June-July.\n\nIsro chairman K Sivan told TOI, \u201cOur entire focus is now on the Chandrayaan-2 mission. The SSLV testflight will now happen only after the Chandryaan-2 lands on Moon as per scheduled date on September 7.\u201d\n\nThe SSLV, which can be assembled in just 3-5 days as compared to 30-40 days for a normal-size PSLV, will boost commercial launches as the SSLV is a vehicle-on-demand rocket and can carry payloads up to 500kg in the low-earth orbit.\n\nIsro will first conduct 2-3 testflights of the SSLV, about which TOI first reported last year, and thereafter give the contract to private companies to build mini-PSLVs through its newly founded commercial arm NewSpace India Limited (NSIL). The launch of a PSLV costs around Rs 150 crore while a mini-PSLV or SSLV can be made with just one-tenth of that cost.\n\nOn the moon mission, the Isro chairman said, \u201cOn August 14, trans-lunar insertion will be conducted (putting the craft into the lunar trajectory) and thereafter after six days, it will reach the lunar orbit on August 20. Further manoevures will then be conducted to lower the orbit of the craft.\u201d On Wednesday, Isro conducted the first orbit-raising manoeuvres of Chandrayaan-2 out of the four it has planned for taking the craft out of the Earth\u2019s gravitational pull.\n\n\u201cAfter Chandrayaan-2, the next launch will now be of Cartosat-3 satellite in October,\u201d Sivan told TOI. Cartosat-3 is advanced version of Cartosat-2 series of remote sensing satellites with improved spatial and spectral characteristics. The satellite\u2019s imaging payload will have a ground resolution of 0.25 m with 16 km swath in panchromatic mode. The Army used images from the earlier Cartosat series to plan the surgical strikes on terror launchpads in POK in 2016.\n\nSivan said Isro will conduct the Aditya solar mission, another interplanetary mission, in the middle of next year.\n\n"}
-{"text": "UPDATE Sec\u021bia de procurori a CSM a am\u00e2nat pentru 5 decembrie discu\u021bia despre ac\u021biunea disciplinar\u0103 \u00eempotriva Laurei Codru\u021ba Kovesi, acuzat\u0103 c\u0103 a inserat \u00eentr-un comunicat DNA probe din dosarul Cosma\n\nSec\u0163ia pentru procurori \u00een materie disciplinar\u0103 a Consiliului Superior al Magistraturii urmeaz\u0103 s\u0103 discute miercuri ac\u0163iunea disciplinar\u0103 exercitat\u0103 de Inspec\u0163ia Judiciar\u0103 \u00eempotriva Laurei Codru\u0163a Kovesi, dup\u0103 ce aceasta ar fi inserat \u00eentr-un comunicat de pres\u0103 pasaje din \u00eenregistr\u0103rile discu\u0163iilor purtate la sediul DNA Ploie\u015fti care constituiau probe \u00eentr-un dosar instrumentat de Direc\u0163ia Na\u0163ional\u0103 Anticorup\u0163ie, transmite Agerpres. Este vorba despre comunicatul de pres\u0103 pe care DNA l-a transmis presei, \u00een luna februarie, pentru a r\u0103spunde acuza\u0163iilor lansate de Vlad Cosma la Antena3, dup\u0103 ce acesta a prezentat \u00eenregistr\u0103ri cu discu\u0163ia cu fostul \u015fef DNA Ploie\u015fti, Lucian Onea.\n\nUDATE Sec\u0163ia pentru procurori \u00een materie disciplinar\u0103 a CSM a am\u00e2nat miercuri, pentru 5 decembrie, discutarea ac\u0163iunii disciplinare exercitat\u0103 de Inspec\u0163ia Judiciar\u0103 \u00eempotriva Laurei Codru\u0163a Kovesi, dup\u0103 ce aceasta ar fi inserat \u00eentr-un comunicat de pres\u0103 pasaje din \u00eenregistr\u0103rile discu\u0163iilor purtate la sediul DNA Ploie\u015fti care constituiau probe \u00eentr-un dosar, informeaz\u0103 agerpres.ro.\n\nPe 14 septembrie, Inspec\u0163ia Judiciar\u0103 anun\u0163a c\u0103 a exercitat ac\u0163iunea disciplinar\u0103 fa\u0163\u0103 de Laura Codru\u0163a Kovesi, la data faptei procuror-\u015fef al Direc\u0163iei Na\u0163ionale Anticorup\u0163ie, pentru nerespectarea (\u2026) confiden\u0163ialit\u0103\u0163ii lucr\u0103rilor care au acest caracter, precum \u015fi a informa\u0163iilor de aceea\u015fi natur\u0103 de care a luat cuno\u015ftin\u0163\u0103 \u00een exercitarea func\u0163iei, cu excep\u0163ia celor de interes public, \u00een condi\u0163iile legii, abatere disciplinar\u0103 prev\u0103zut\u0103 de articolul 99 litera j) din Legea 303/2004.\n\n\u201eInspectorii judiciari au re\u0163inut c\u0103 procurorul a inserat \u00een comunicatul de pres\u0103 nr. 126/VIII/3/2018 pasaje din \u00eenregistr\u0103rile discu\u0163iilor purtate la sediul Direc\u0163iei Na\u0163ionale Anticorup\u0163ie \u2013 Serviciul Teritorial Ploie\u015fti, despre care a luat cuno\u015ftin\u0163\u0103 \u00een exercitarea func\u0163iei \u015fi care constituiau probe \u00eentr-un dosar \u00eenregistrat la Direc\u0163ia Na\u0163ional\u0103 Anticorup\u0163ie \u2013 Sec\u0163ia de combatere a infrac\u0163iunilor asimilate infrac\u0163iunilor de corup\u0163ie\u201d, se precizeaz\u0103 \u00een comunicat.\n\nPe rolul Sec\u0163iei pentru procurori a CSM se mai afl\u0103 o sesizare a Inspec\u0163iei Judiciare \u00een care este vizat\u0103 Laura Codru\u0163a Kovesi, pentru s\u0103v\u00e2r\u015firea unor abateri disciplinare.\n\nComunicatul DNA din februarie 2018\n\n\u201dCu referire la emisiunea difuzat\u0103 de postul de televiziune Antena 3, \u00een cursul serii de 11 februarie 2018, \u00een care au fost prezentate o serie de \u00eenregistr\u0103ri audio, ce redau presupuse discu\u021bii purtate de procurorul \u0219ef al Serviciului Teritorial Ploie\u0219ti \u2013 Onea Lucian cu inculpatul Cosma Vlad, Biroul de Informare \u0219i Rela\u021bii Publice este abilitat s\u0103 transmit\u0103 urm\u0103toarele:\n\n1. Vlad Cosma, inculpat pentru s\u0103v\u00e2r\u0219irea infrac\u021biunii de trafic de influen\u021b\u0103 \u00eentr-un dosar aflat pe rolul \u00cenaltei Cur\u021bi de Casa\u021bie \u0219i Justi\u021bie cu termen pe 19 februarie 2018, trimis \u00een judecat\u0103 de Serviciul Teritorial Ploie\u0219ti al Direc\u021biei Na\u021bionale Anticorup\u021bie, a prezentat denaturat situa\u021bia dintr-un dosar penal aflat \u00een curs de urm\u0103rire penal\u0103, folosindu-se de colaje ale unor \u00eenregistr\u0103ri pe care le-a realizat personal.\n\n2. Relevant este c\u0103, anterior difuz\u0103rii \u00eenregistr\u0103rilor, persoane din anturajul acestuia, s-au prezentat \u00een mod repetat la \u0219eful Serviciului Teritorial Ploie\u0219ti \u0219i, \u00een lipsa acestuia, la al\u021bi procurori/ofi\u021beri de poli\u021bie judiciar\u0103 \u2013 ultima dat\u0103 vineri, 9 februarie 2018 \u2013 cer\u00e2ndu-le procurorilor s\u0103 fac\u0103 demersuri astfel \u00eenc\u00e2t s\u0103 \u00eei creeze o situa\u021bie juridic\u0103 favorabil\u0103 lui \u0219i tat\u0103lui s\u0103u \u2013 inculpatul Cosma Mircea (cercetat pentru luare de mit\u0103 \u0219i abuz \u00een serviciu \u00een acela\u0219i dosar aflat pe rolul \u00cenaltei Cur\u021bi de Casa\u021bie \u0219i Justi\u021bie, cu termen pe 19 februarie 2018, \u00een care este inculpat \u0219i fiul s\u0103u).\n\n\u00cen concret, procurorilor li se cerea s\u0103 nu deruleze o anchet\u0103 penal\u0103 cu privire la presupuse infrac\u021biuni aflate \u00een leg\u0103tur\u0103 cu dosarul deja trimis \u00een judecat\u0103, precum \u0219i s\u0103 \u00eentocmeasc\u0103 \u0219i s\u0103 elibereze un \u00eenscris care s\u0103 \u00eei foloseasc\u0103 inculpatului Cosma Mircea la \u00eembun\u0103t\u0103\u021birea situa\u021biei juridice \u00een dosarul aflat la ICCJ, \u00een faza procesual\u0103 a apelului.\n\nPersoanele respective au atras aten\u021bie procurorilor c\u0103, \u00een caz contrar, vor fi difuzate la diverse posturi de televiziune \u00eenregistr\u0103ri video din anchetele acestora, const\u00e2nd \u00een montaje, colaje, special realizate pentru compromiterea procurorilor \u0219i ofi\u021berilor de poli\u021bie care au instrumentat mai multe cauze penale, printre care \u0219i cel privindu-i pe inculpa\u021bii sus men\u021biona\u021bi.\n\nTranscriere discu\u021bie dintre persoan\u0103 din anturajul lui Mircea Cosma \u0219i ofi\u021ber de poli\u021bie de la ST Ploie\u0219ti \u2013 09.02.2018\n\nPersoan\u0103: \u2026 Duminic\u0103 iese pe televizor. \u0218i-au f\u0103cut ni\u0219te \u00eenregistr\u0103ri, ni\u0219te chestii de genul \u0103sta\u2026 \u0219i vor s\u0103 ias\u0103 pe televizor s\u0103 distrug\u0103 pe toat\u0103 lumea.\n\n\u2026 N-am ce s\u0103 fac! C\u0103 asta\u2026 c\u0103 n-au\u2026 Au f\u0103cut, au aranjat tot! S\u0103\u2026 Vor s\u0103 ias\u0103 duminic\u0103, s\u0103 ias\u0103 pe televizor cu ele.\n\n\u2026 Nici nu v-am spus!\u2026 \u0218i dac\u0103 va fi un scandal foarte mare \u0219i o b\u0103\u0219ic\u0103 foarte mare, care va exploda, pentru c\u0103 el are ni\u0219te chestii foarte, foarte\u2026\n\n\u2026 O s\u0103 ias\u0103 un scan\u2026 o s\u0103 ias\u0103 un scandal fantastic, c\u0103 se duce la pres\u0103, care presa e \u00eempotriva voastr\u0103! \u0218i o s\u0103 fie o\u2026 \u00eentreg scandal. Eu acuma v\u0103 spun dec\u00e2t\u2026 v\u0103 spun\u2026 v\u0103 trag un semnal de alarm\u0103\u2026 Adic\u0103, ce pute\u021bi s\u0103 face\u021bi?\u2026 c\u0103 nu pute\u021bi s\u0103 le face\u021bi, c\u0103 el le are\u2026 Oricum sunt toate date, montate\u2026\n\n\u2026 Ei au ce au, c\u0103\u2026 \u0103la mi-a zis: \u201d\u2026Domn\u2019e (\u2026) nu mi-au dat nici m\u0103car o caracterizare pentru tata!\u201d\n\n\u2026 Dumneavoastr\u0103 trebuie s\u0103 \u00een\u021belege\u021bi, c\u0103 nu e de glum\u0103! Au f\u0103cut ni\u0219te discu\u021bii mari pe la C.S.M., pe la CONSILIUL MAGISTRATURII, pe la \u00ceNALTA CURTE\u2026 tot felul de discu\u021bii\u2026 cu S.R.I.-ul\u2026 s-au \u00een\u021beles\u2026 au fost to\u021bi, \u00eempreun\u0103, la SEBI GHI\u021a\u0102, \u00een\u2026 \u00een \u0103sta, cum \u00eei spune? \u00cen\u2026 \u0103\u2026 \u00een SERBIA.\n\n\u2026 Au avut pe-acolo discu\u021bii\u2026 le-a ar\u0103tat\u2026 au montat \u00eempreun\u0103\u2026 Sunt montate oficial cu \u0103ia dup\u0103 la R.T.V., cu G\u00c2DEA, de la ANTENA 3\u2026 Deci, nu\u2026 nu e un sc\u0103nd\u0103lu\u021b!\n\n\u2026 E ditamai regia f\u0103cut\u0103! O s\u0103 transmit\u0103 dou\u0103 posturi \u00een direct\u2026 \u0219i ROM\u00c2NIA TV\u2026 \u0219i ANTENA 3! ANTENA 3 o s\u0103 fie \u00een direct, cu totul, absolut\u2026!\n\n\u2026 Doamna\u2026 trebuie g\u0103sit\u0103 o variant\u0103 prin care s\u0103 sc\u0103pa\u021bi de \u0103\u0219tia dup\u0103 cap, c\u0103 o s\u0103 vi se rup\u0103 picioarele la to\u021bi! Crede\u021bi-m\u0103, s-au f\u0103cut ni\u0219te\u2026!\n\nOfi\u021ber DNA: Ce variant\u0103? Care ar fi varianta?\n\nPersoan\u0103: Nu \u0219tiu! S\u0103-l l\u0103sa\u021bi, dracu\u2019, \u00een pace!\n\n\u2026trebuie s\u0103 ne a\u0219ez\u0103m undeva, s\u0103 c\u0103ut\u0103m o variant\u0103, s\u0103 pice la o pace, s\u0103 fac\u0103 \u00eentr-un fel, c\u0103 o s\u0103 vad\u0103 ce recul o s\u0103 aib\u0103 prima\u2026\n\n\u2026.Duminic\u0103 apare\u2026 Trebuia s\u0103 apar\u0103 pe data de 15\u2026 eu \u0219tiam ceva, n-am fost sigur\u2026 da\u2019 am avut noi\u2026 ne-a am\u00e2nat nou\u0103 procesu\u2019\u2026 \u0219i acum avem pe 18 proces\u2026 \u0219i s-ar putea s\u0103 fie ultimul, c\u0103 \u00eencep dezbaterile \u0219i\u2026 a zis \u2026 \u201eCe s\u0103 mai fac cu alea, dac\u0103 m\u0103 duc la pu\u0219c\u0103rie?\u201d\n\n\u2026Cu c\u00e2t ajungi mai sus, c\u0103derea e \u00een jos\u2026 \u0219i eu acuma v\u0103 spun \u00een felul urm\u0103tor\u2026 asta, a\u0219a\u2026 fac o discu\u021bie\u2026 \u0219i uit c\u0103 am f\u0103cut-o! Vede\u021bi-v\u0103 de pielea dumneavoastr\u0103, c\u0103 sunte\u021bi la fel de b\u0103gat\u0103 ca \u0219i ceilal\u021bi!\n\n\u2026 Este vorba \u0219i de serviciul, \u0219i de salariile, \u0219i \u2026[neinteligibil]\u2026, \u0219i de familia dumneavoastr\u0103.\n\n\u2026Da! Eu, cu ochii mei am v\u0103zut! Mi-e mil\u0103 de dumnea\u2026 Eu v\u0103 spun cinstit! Vede\u021bi-v\u0103 de pielea dumneavoastr\u0103!\n\n\u2026Oamenii-s nebuni! Nu v\u0103 da\u021bi seama ce filme au f\u0103cut, ce discu\u021bii, ce \u00eemb\u00e2rlig\u0103ri! Au discu\u021bii cu CIUTACU, cu\u2026 cu nu \u0219tiu care, cu nu \u0219tiu care, cu nu \u0219tiu care, cu nu \u0219tiu\u2026 cu dou\u0103zeci de in\u0219i\u2026 cu VICOL, cu BLAGA, cu UDREA, cu BICA, care intr\u0103 \u00een direct de nu \u0219tiu unde, cu PONTA, care nu \u0219tiu ce vine s\u0103 zic\u0103. O s\u0103 fie un scandal monstru! N-au vrut s\u0103 fac\u0103 chestia asta c-a picat Guvernu\u2019 \u0219i n-au vrut s\u0103 \u2026[neinteligibil]\u2026 una cu alta! Cu DRAGNEA, care \u00eei cere schimbarea lui K\u00d6VESI\u2026 cu \u00eenregistr\u0103ri, \u00een care discut\u0103 NEGULESCU la telefon\u2026\n\n\u2026 E ticluit\u0103 ca lumea \u0219i sunt preg\u0103ti\u021bi r\u0103u de tot!\n\n\u2026 \u0218i dup\u0103 ce vedem primul set \u0219i vedem impactul care este\u2026 o s\u0103 v\u0103 dau un telefon, c\u0103 vin\u2026 \u0219i vedem.\n\nTranscriere discu\u021bie dintre o alt\u0103 persoan\u0103 din anturajul familiei Cosma \u0219i procuror ST Ploie\u0219ti \u2013 29.01.2018\n\nPersoan\u0103: Nu! Problema e c\u0103\u2026 o s\u0103 \u00eenceap\u0103 un mare scandal la ANTENA 3\u2026 \u0219i v-au filmat\u2026 \u0219i pe dumneavoastr\u0103\u2026\u2026Nu \u0219tiu! Au intrat doi\u2026 cabla\u021bi cu interfoane, cu camere, cu tot\u2026\n\n\u2026 Intr\u0103 \u0219i GHI\u021a\u0102 de la BELGRAD, \u00een direct\u2026 S-a dus VOICULESCU acolo\u2026 Adic\u0103, e o chestiune ampl\u0103, care e numa\u2019 pe D.N.A. Ploie\u0219ti!\u2026. VL\u0102DU\u021a COSMA. Are termen \u00een februarie \u0219i acuma vrea s\u0103 dea drumul\u2026\n\n\u2026\u0218i\u2026 concluziile ajung la K\u00d6VESI. c\u0103 de aia s-a dus VOICULESCU, c\u0103 vor s\u0103\u2026 habar n-am!\u2026 \u0103\u2026 \u0219tiu doar c\u0103 o s\u0103 le dea drumu\u2019\u2026 la ANTENA 3, la G\u00c2DEA, \u2026, tot se duc, fac repeti\u021bii\u2026 montaje. Serios!\n\n\u2026 Da, nu \u0219tiu. C\u0103 miza e alta, miza e de distrugere, nu de cancan!\n\n\u2026 Adic\u0103, nu e o situa\u021bie de cancan, c\u0103 vor s\u0103 dea ni\u0219te \u00eenregistr\u0103ri! Ideea e s\u0103-l distrug\u0103 pe domnul ONEA\u2026 nu \u0219tiu!\u2026 s\u0103 ajung\u0103 la K\u00d6VESI\u2026 Dac\u0103 e \u0219i VOICULESCU b\u0103gat\u2026 \u0219i GHI\u021a\u0102\u2026 \u00een treaba asta, e o chestiune mai serioas\u0103! Nu e f\u0103cut\u0103 doar a\u0219a, de\u2026 VL\u0102DU\u021a!\n\n3. Difuzarea \u00eenregistr\u0103rilor, cum \u2013 de altfel \u2013 a afirmat \u0219i unul dintre cei doi interlocutori, are ca scop compromiterea procurorilor \u0219i a ofi\u021berilor de poli\u021bie care au instrumentat cauzele privind pe Cosma Mircea, Cosma Vlad \u0219i pe fostul deputat Ghi\u021b\u0103 Sebastian Aurelian, \u00een condi\u021biile \u00een care, a\u0219a cum am men\u021bionat, pe rolul ICCJ se afl\u0103 dosarul penal cu termen la data de 19 februarie 2018.\n\nLa acest moment, alte detalii nu pot fi furnizate, deoarece aspectele men\u021bionate fac obiectul unui dosar penal av\u00e2nd ca obiect, \u00eentre alte infrac\u021biuni, \u0219i infrac\u021biunea de \u0219antaj.\u201d\n\n(Sursa Foto: Inquamphotos/ Autor: Octav Ganea)"}
-{"text": "U.S. President Barack Obama during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, Germany, November 17, 2016. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque\n\nBERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday said it would be naive to expect a 180-degree turn by Russia or Syrian President Bashar al Assad, but the United States and its allies would continue to try to affect change to end the deadly Syrian crisis.\n\nObama spoke at a joint news conference after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel."}
-{"text": "In a previous softModder tutorial, we installed CyanogenMod on our HTC Ones to approximate the look and feel of the Google Edition HTC One. Unfortunately, this rendered Beats and HTC's ImageChip (among other things) useless. This is no longer an issue, though, thanks to Android developer bigxie, who created a ROM based on the software taken directly from the Google Play Edition. This is an AOSP ROM that has been optimized for the HTC One (minus the IR blaster, although that's coming soon according to HTC). Please enable JavaScript to watch this video.\n\nNote You will not be able to get over-the-air updates with this ROM, so if you're looking for the complete factory-fresh Google Play Edition package, check out our other guide, which gives you the official bootloader, recovery, and OTAs.\n\nStep 1: Root Your HTC One For this mod, you'll have to be rooted, so check out my previous guide on rooting the HTC One for instructions on that, if you're not already.\n\nNote on Device Compatibility Unfortunately, this only works for the unlocked, the AT&T, and the T-Mobile versions of the HTC One. Sorry, Sprint users! Although I'm sure a modified version of this software is coming your way soon enough!\n\nStep 2: Download the ROM Now that you're rooted, download the ZIP file from bigxie and transfer it to your HTC One via USB or over the air. For updates on the ZIP file, check out bigxie's thread over on XDA.\n\nStep 3: Back Up Your Data If you've read our rooting tutorial, you'll already know how to do this. Otherwise, head on over and check out Step 4 for instructions, and check out our guide on backing up your apps and app data, too.\n\nStep 4: Wipe Your Device If you created a backup, you'll already be in the recovery, so just go back to TWRP's main menu. Otherwise, press and hold Power and Volume Down, then select RECOVERY and press Power. Image via wonderhowto.com Tap Wipe and swipe to confirm using the default settings.\n\nStep 5: Install the Google Play Edition ROM Go back to TWRP's main menu once again, and tap Install. Navigate to the directory where you saved your ROM. Tap the file you want to install, and swipe to confirm. Finally, Tap Reboot\n\nStep 6: Enjoy Stock Android, Beats, & Better Pictures The stock aAndroid experience is, in my opinion, much more cohesive than HTC's Sense. Now you can have that without sacrificing some of the phone's popular features. Note that the camera is actually easier to use than the stock 4.2 camera because you can navigate by tapping, instead of having to tap and hold. Hopefully an IR transmitter fix is coming soon, along with the camera fixes coming in the Sense ROM's 4.2 update. Keep checking the source for updates. And don't forget to check out our other guide on installing the official factory-fresh Google Play Edition software on your HTC One, complete with bootloader, recovery, and OTAs."}
-{"text": "Barack Obama\u2019s audacious ambition is by now well\u2010\u200bknown. \u201cHe\u2019s always wanted to be president,\u201d one of Obama\u2019s oldest friends, presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett, has admitted.\n\nIn a November 2007 interview, then\u2010\u200bcandidate Obama commented, \u201cIf you don\u2019t have enough self\u2010\u200bawareness to see the element of megalomania involved in thinking you should be leader of the free world, then you probably shouldn\u2019t be president.\u201d\n\nSo, only \u201cself\u2010\u200baware\u201d megalomaniacs should get nuclear weapons \u2014 that\u2019s one way of looking at it. Judging by the 2012 field, it may be the best we can do.\n\nIn a famous 1979 television interview, Democratic presidential contender Ted Kennedy flubbed a softball question: \u201cWhy do you want to be president?\u201d Kennedy\u2019s sputtering answer damaged his campaign.\n\nDespite extraordinary efforts in two campaigns \u2014 spending millions of dollars of his own money, it\u2019s not obvious that Mitt Romney has a clear answer to that question, either. Mitt\u2019s \u201cmain cause appeared to be himself,\u201d a longtime Republican observer of the Massachusetts governor told the authors of \u201cThe Real Romney.\u201d\n\n\u201cCommander\u2010\u200bin\u2010\u200bchief of this country,\u201d is how former Sen. Rick Santorum describes the job he\u2019s applying for \u2014 and he sees the CINC\u2019s portfolio as broad enough to include hectoring Americans about their sex lives: \u201cThe dangers of contraception in this country, the whole sexual libertine idea\u2026 these are important public policy issues.\u201d\n\nClearly, anyone who wants the job badly enough to campaign as exhaustingly as Santorum has \u2014 living out of a suitcase on the long march through all 99 Iowa counties \u2014 doesn\u2019t simply want to take care that the laws are faithfully executed and otherwise mind his own business.\n\nBut maybe we shouldn\u2019t be surprised that the modern process calls forth people with inordinate ambition and grandiose visions, like Newt Gingrich, who has bragged that \u201cI first talked about [saving civilization] in August of 1958.\u201d\n\nAs the Atlantic\u2019s James Fallows put it recently, \u201can abnormal\u2010\u200bpsych study could be written on every president of the modern era except the one who never ran for national office, Gerald R. Ford.\u201d With apologies to Groucho Marx, anybody who wants to belong to this club shouldn\u2019t be allowed to be a member.\n\nIn his terrific book \u201cSee How They Ran,\u201d historian Gil Troy writes that \u201cOriginally, presidential candidates were supposed to \u2018stand\u2019 for election, not \u2018run.\u2019 They did not make speeches. They did not shake hands. Republican detachment from the political arena was good and dignified; actively seeking office and soliciting votes was humiliating and bad.\u201d\n\nThe Jeffersonian ideal of the \u201cmute tribune\u201d was imperfectly observed, Troy notes, but it was something to aspire to, and candidates who violated it were occasionally punished at the polls.\n\nAmid the tumult of the 2012 race, it\u2019s hard to imagine returning to the era of the \u201cfront porch campaign,\u201d when candidates were hardly seen and rarely heard.\n\nBut we ought to strive to make the office less powerful, and thus, a less attractive prize for those who hunger for power."}
-{"text": "Press question mark to see available shortcut keys\n\nPhotos Loading... #SutazOMerch Mar 1, 2019"}
-{"text": "i _ _ _ _ null (FALSE) 0 i | | | (_) | | null (FALSE) 0 i __ _ ___ _ __ | |__ ___ _ __ _ __ ___ __| |_ __ _| | null (FALSE) 0 i / _` |/ _ \\| '_ \\| '_ \\ / _ \\ '__| '_ \\ / _ \\/ _` | |/ _` | | null (FALSE) 0 i | (_| | (_) | |_) | | | | __/ | | |_) | __/ (_| | | (_| |_| null (FALSE) 0 i \\__, |\\___/| .__/|_| |_|\\___|_| | .__/ \\___|\\__,_|_|\\__,_(_) null (FALSE) 0 i __/ | | | | | null (FALSE) 0 i |___/ |_| |_| null (FALSE) 0 i null (FALSE) 0 iWelcome to **Gopherpedia**, the gopher interface to Wikipedia. This is null (FALSE) 0 ia direct interface to wikipedia, you can search and read articles via null (FALSE) 0 ithe search form below. Enjoy! null (FALSE) 0 i null (FALSE) 0 1more about gopherpedia /about gopherpedia.com 70 i null (FALSE) 0 i null (FALSE) 0 iSearch gopherpedia: null (FALSE) 0 7Search Gopherpedia /lookup gopherpedia.com 70 i Featured Content null (FALSE) 0 i====================================================================== null (FALSE) 0 0September 24, 2020: Erin Phillips /Erin Phillips gopherpedia.com 70 0September 23, 2020: Ealdred (archbishop of York) /Ealdred (archbishop of York) gopherpedia.com 70 0September 22, 2020: Jomo Kenyatta /Jomo Kenyatta gopherpedia.com 70 0September 21, 2020: Bat /Bat gopherpedia.com 70 0September 20, 2020: Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele /Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele gopherpedia.com 70 0September 19, 2020: Alfred Worden /Alfred Worden gopherpedia.com 70 0September 18, 2020: Opisthocoelicaudia /Opisthocoelicaudia gopherpedia.com 70 0September 17, 2020: Infinity Science Fiction /Infinity Science Fiction gopherpedia.com 70 0September 16, 2020: Style (Taylor Swift song) /Style (Taylor Swift song) gopherpedia.com 70 0September 15, 2020: 2006 Subway 500 /2006 Subway 500 gopherpedia.com 70 i null (FALSE) 0 i null (FALSE) 0 i Recent pages null (FALSE) 0 i====================================================================== null (FALSE) 0 0Traveller (role-playing game) /Traveller (role-playing game) gopherpedia.com 70 02006 Subway 500 /2006 Subway 500 gopherpedia.com 70 0Shadowrun Chronicles: Boston Lockdown /Shadowrun Chronicles: Boston Lockdown gopherpedia.com 70 0Light-weight Linux distribution /Light-weight Linux distribution gopherpedia.com 70 0Gopher /Gopher gopherpedia.com 70 0Roman aqueduct /Roman aqueduct gopherpedia.com 70 0Pizza Hut /Pizza Hut gopherpedia.com 70 0Gopher (protocol) /Gopher (protocol) gopherpedia.com 70 0List of TCP and UDP port numbers /List of TCP and UDP port numbers gopherpedia.com 70 0Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele /Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele gopherpedia.com 70 0Gamma World /Gamma World gopherpedia.com 70 0Wormhole X-Treme! /Wormhole X-Treme! gopherpedia.com 70 0The Boring Company /The Boring Company gopherpedia.com 70 0Shadowrun: Dragonfall /Shadowrun: Dragonfall gopherpedia.com 70 0Wikipedia /Wikipedia gopherpedia.com 70 0Beecher, Wisconsin /Beecher, Wisconsin gopherpedia.com 70 0Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns /Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns gopherpedia.com 70 0Shadowrun (2007 video game) /Shadowrun (2007 video game) gopherpedia.com 70 0The Romance of the Condor Heroes /The Romance of the Condor Heroes gopherpedia.com 70 0The Good Doctor (TV series) /The Good Doctor (TV series) gopherpedia.com 70 i null (FALSE) 0 i null (FALSE) 0 i null (FALSE) 0 i null (FALSE) 0 i null (FALSE) 0 i null (FALSE) 0 iPowered by Gopher 2000, a Muffinlabs Production null (FALSE) 0 ."}
-{"text": "Richard Ben-Veniste, a member of the 9/11 commission rips ABC over their many false representation of the 9/11 commission report and the use of it to market their 9/11 mini-series as the definitive account of the 9/11 tragedy. That to me is disgraceful. Making it available to only right wing sites is also a big indicator of how slanted this ABC/ Disney production is.\n\nDownload -WMP Download -QT\n\nTom Kean, Sr. is clearly shown in Countdown's segment as having complete access to the script and approving the falsehoods that show up in the TV show. Way to go Kean.\n\nDigby has much more:\n\nThe reason this matters so much, and why Democrats are so apoplectic at the way ABC has handled this material, is that popular culture has a way of inculcating certain concepts into people's minds, especially young minds, far more effectively than talking head programs or earnest debates among political bloggers and columnists. This is the kind of thing that could taint the debate for generations if it takes hold. The right howled mercilessly at Oliver Stone's depictions of JFK and Nixon, claiming that he was rewriting history....read on\n\nBlue Jersey"}
-{"text": "By JOE McDONALD, AP Business Writer\n\nBEIJING (AP) \u2014 China's biggest state-owned chemical company announced plans Monday to acquire Italian tire manufacturer Pirelli, adding to a string of high-profile Chinese corporate purchases in Europe.\n\nChemChina said it is buying 26.2 percent stake in Pirelli Tyre S.p.A. from its biggest shareholder, Camfin S.p.A., which is controlled by the family of Pirelli chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera. The company said it would offer to buy the remaining outstanding shares.\n\nIf completed the deal would value Pirelli at $8.8 billion, according to financial information provider Dealogic.\n\nFlush with cash from their country's boom, Chinese companies are stepping up acquisitions abroad as they diversify beyond their own economy, where growth is slowing.\n\nEurope is seen as an attractive market for acquisitions due to the relative weakness of the euro right now and what Chinese companies see as less political resistance to large deals there than they might face in the United States.\n\nChemchina, also known as China National Chemical Corp., is one of China's biggest industrial companies, with businesses in petrochemicals, oil processing, agricultural chemicals, rubber products and chemical equipment.\n\nThe Beijing-based company, which has its own tire manufacturing operation, said it would support the growth and expansion of Pirelli, the world's fifth-largest tire supplier.\n\nThe deal reflects ChemChina's unusual status as a state-owned Chinese company that has made ambitious acquisitions abroad outside the finance and natural resources industries.\n\nThe acquisition of Pirelli, if completed, would be one of China's biggest to date in Europe.\n\nSo far this year, Chinese companies have announced 27 acquisitions in Europe totaling $12 billion, more than half of last year's total of $23.7 billion, according to Dealogic."}
-{"text": "British archaeologists say a skeleton found under a city centre car park in central England could be that of the medieval king Richard III.\n\nResearchers from the University of Leicester said they had found a male skeleton with similarities to historical descriptions of Richard, who ruled England between 1483 and his death in battle in 1485.\n\nThe remains, which are well preserved, are undergoing DNA analysis.\n\n\"What we have uncovered is truly remarkable,\" said Richard Taylor, the university's director of corporate affairs.\n\n\"This skeleton certainly has characteristics that warrant extensive further detailed examination,\" he told a press conference.\n\nThe team, which has been excavating a car park in the city of Leicester for three weeks, said the skeleton had an arrow-head embedded in its back and had received blows to the skull consistent with injuries received in battle.\n\nA painting of King Richard III from the 16th Century. ( Reuters: Neil Hall )\n\nToday, Richard III is best known as the hunchbacked villain of the eponymous play by William Shakespeare - and while the skeleton is not that of a hunchback, it does have a curved spine.\n\n\"This would have made his right shoulder appear visibly higher than the left shoulder,\" Mr Taylor said.\n\n\"This is consistent with contemporary accounts of Richard's appearance.\"\n\nThe bones were found in what was once the choir area of a church believed to be the king's resting place, which the archaeologists have uncovered beneath the car park.\n\nRichard is thought to have been buried at the Franciscan friary of Grey Friars in Leicester after his death in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, but the church was demolished in the 1530s and its location had been lost until now.\n\n\"The skeleton was buried in a grave without a coffin,\" said Richard Buckley, who led the dig.\n\n\"It was probably a shrouded burial - just buried in a shroud - with no grave goods.\"\n\nWhen asked whether he believed the skeleton was Richard III's, Buckley said: \"He's a very strong candidate indeed but it's going to take a few weeks for the DNA analysis to come through.\"\n\nThe team used ground-penetrating radar equipment to pinpoint the best areas of the car park to begin the search.\n\nThey will use DNA from 55-year-old furniture-maker Michael Ibsen, a direct descendant of Richard's eldest sister, Anne of York, to try to get a match.\n\nMr Ibsen, who lives in London, was born in Canada to Joy Ibsen, the 16th generation niece of Richard III.\n\nHis DNA will now be compared to samples taken from the skeleton, a process expected to take up to 12 weeks.\n\nAFP"}
-{"text": "It's the milestone Warren Buffett has been waiting for: Bank of America Corp. (BAC) - Get Report just won the Federal Reserve's approval to boosted its annual dividend to 48 cents a share.\n\nA 60% increase from last year, the new payout will enable the billionaire investor's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A) - Get Report to earn $36 million a year more from the Charlotte, N.C.-based lender's common stock than he receives on $5 billion in preferred shares bought five years ago.\n\nThat August 2011 purchase came with a warrant allowing Omaha, Neb.based Berkshire to snap up 700 million shares of common stock -- worth $16.7 billion at today's prices -- for just $5 billion. Basically, by swapping the preferred stake, if it chooses. Buffett noted in his February letter to investors that he would probably exercise the option once Bank of America raised its annual dividend to 44 cents.\n\nDoing so, and then some, is a major accomplishment for the company, which slashed its yearly dividend from a 2008 peak of $2.56 to just four cents amid a financial crisis that ultimately forced Bank of America and other lenders to take billions of dollars in government bailouts.\n\nCEO Brian Moynihan, who also won authorization to repurchase $12 billion in stock, joins executives at most of the major Wall Street firms who are boosting investor payouts closer to 100% of net earnings after spending nearly a decade building sufficient capital buffers to satisfy the Fed.\n\nAt Bank of America, the higher dividend alone amounts to 32% of net income, nearly double the ratio a year earlier.\n\nRivals Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) - Get Report , Citigroup (C) - Get Report , JPMorgan Chase & CO. (JPM) - Get Report and Morgan Stanley (MS) - Get Report , also announced increases after the Fed released the results of its annual tests on Wednesday, June 28. The exams -- the second piece of a two-part evaluation -- measure lender strength during a hypothetical recession if the banks went forward with proposed payout plans.\n\nEXCLUSIVE LOOK INSIDE: Citigroup and Wells Fargo are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS charitable trust portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer and the AAP team buy or sell the stocks? Learn more now.\n\nThe reviews were established as the government worked to guard the U.S. economy against a repeat of the 2008 crisis, when the collapse of a bubble in the country's $15 trillion mortgage market pushed investment bank Lehman Brothers into bankruptcy and froze global credit markets. U.S. stock markets lost roughly half their value, and unemployment spiked to 10% in the aftermath.\n\nToday, \"the public can see the capital positions of the major banks are very much stronger,\" Fed Chair Janet Yellen said during a presentation in London this week. \"Would I say there would never be another financial crisis? Probably that would be going too far. I do think we're much safer, and it probably won't be in our lifetime.\"\n\nThe results of this year's stress tests reflect that assessment, with almost all of the 34 systemically important banks, those with $50 billion or more in assets, meeting the Fed's standards.\n\nJPMorgan, the largest U.S. lender, plans to boost its quarterly dividend 12% to 56 cents a share in the three months through September while repurchasing as much as $19.4 billion of its stock.\n\n\"Given the financial strength of the company and the significant capital and liquidity advances we have made over the last several years, we are pleased to further increase capital returns,\" CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement.\n\nMorgan Stanley, which was part of a predecessor to the current JPMorgan before the Great Depression of the 1930s, is raising its quarterly dividend 25% to 25 cents and may buy back as much as $5 billion of its stock through June 2018.\n\nIt's the fifth straight year the bank has increased its payout, said CEO James Gorman, which \"underscores the strength of Morgan Stanley's capital position and the significant changes we have made to our business model and risk profile.\"\n\nCitigroup said it would boost its quarterly dividend to 32 cents a share and buy back as much as $15.6 billion in the next 12 months, achieving a combined payout of $18.9 billion. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo increased its dividend 2.6% to 39 cents a share and announced a repurchase program of as much as $11.5 billion.\n\nCapital One Financial (COF) - Get Report , the only lender to receive a formal criticism from the Federal Reserve -- for failing to properly account for potential risk in one of its biggest businesses rather than falling short of any capital requirements -- is keeping its dividend at 40 cents a share.\n\nIn a report, the Fed said that Capital One's senior management were \"not in a position to provide the firm's board of directors with a reliable assessment upon which to determine the reasonableness of the capital plan.\"\n\nThe lender's stock fell 2.3% to $81.05 after the close of regular trading in New York, as CEO Richard Fairbank promised to address the regulator's concerns \"in a timely manner.\" Capital One plans to repurchase as much as $1.75 billion of its shares in the next 12 months.\n\nAlly Financial Inc. (ALLY) - Get Report , which until recently had been barred from buybacks or dividends, won the central bank's approval for a dividend of 4 cents a share and a 9% increase in its repurchase program. The company can buy back as much as $760 million of its stock over the next 12 months.\n\nCIT Group (CIT) - Get Report , which underwent the test publicly for the first time, said it would pay a quarterly cash dividend of up to 16 cents a share and buy as much as $225 million of its own stock.\n\nRead More Trending Articles:"}
-{"text": "In this series, Rudyard Griffiths, chair of the Munk Debates, Canada's leading public-affairs forum, discusses issues and trends just over the horizon with renowned analysts and policy-makers.\n\nMicah White is considered a co-creator of the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement, which sprang from an idea put forward while he was a senior editor with Adbusters magazine in Vancouver. Now based in Oregon, he is the author of The End of Protest: A New Playbook for Revolution, published this week by Knopf Canada.\n\nYou think mass protest, as a means for social change, is losing its efficacy?\n\nStory continues below advertisement\n\nThe common refrain is that we live in a time of unprecedented state control, where we have surveillance of the Internet, police using military-grade technology to control and disperse crowds, which renders a lot of the tactics of contemporary urban protest obsolete. All of this is true, but I think there's a deeper analysis at play here, which is that the paradigm of protest, the theory of protest, that underlies contemporary activism is broken. The main idea underlying contemporary protest is that, if we get millions of people into the street with a unified message and they're largely non-violent, then our elective representatives will have to listen, and real change will happen. But we've seen repeatedly that, when activists actually achieve this remarkable feat \u2013 it's happened during Occupy Wall Street, the anti-war marches in 2003, the climate marches \u2013 it doesn't yield the social change that activists are demanding. Too many in the activist community are subscribing to illusions about what creates mass change.\n\nIs this because we are too successful as societies, and there isn't the mass suffering that historically has been a springboard for revolution?\n\nIn other words, are we living in a post-revolutionary age? I don't think this is true. Rather, it seems to me that the potential for revolution is even more likely today because of various factors, such as the speed of the Internet and the ability of social movements to create and adapt their tactics instantaneously. Human history is filled with examples of revolutions happening at the precise moment when they seem least likely. Everyone says revolutions are no longer possible, but I'm more hopeful than ever that we are moving closer to a moment of social upheaval.\n\nWhat is the way forward you're re-commending to your fellow activists?\n\nI am excited about the potential to create global social movements that can win elections in multiple countries. We are already seeing this trend start to develop in Europe. The idea I am exposing is that we don't need to just win elections in Greece or in Spain; we need to win elections in Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Canada, all under one mass social movement. My key insight is that social movements need to start learning the behaviours associated with progressive political parties \u2013 which would be winning elections, putting forth candidates and campaigning.\n\nHow does what you are suggesting differ from the Occupy movement?\n\nOccupy was holding assemblies in public squares to create a consensus-based democracy that we hoped would give us broad social legitimacy. The thinking was that, if every day people convened in these democratic assemblies, the police wouldn't be able to attack us because we would be the sovereign power.\n\nStory continues below advertisement\n\nWell, we realized that that's not true. Actually, sovereignty, in our societies, is only given to the people who either win elections or win wars. Winning wars isn't possible or desirable. Winning elections actually seems like something that can happen.\n\nIs Black Lives Matter a template for the next wave of social movements?\n\nI'm black and I support Black Lives Matter as a concept. But I think that, if we look at it critically as activists, it's clear that Black Lives Matter didn't learn the fundamental lesson of Occupy Wall Street: that public spectacles alone won't force elective representatives to do anything. If they repeat the same disruptive behaviour as Occupy, then it's clear they haven't learned how to effect lasting and real social change. I also think Black Lives Matter is a regression back to the kind of politics that Occupy Wall Street transcended. Occupy was beautiful because it spread to 82 countries, and that's what made it powerful.\n\nYet you've characterized Occupy Wall Street as a 'constructive' failure.\n\nThere's an attitude among activists that is really detrimental, and it is that there's no such thing as failure, that we haven't ever failed, that everything's a success. They like to say. 'Oh, Occupy Wall Street, it splintered into 1,000 shards of light; it wasn't defeated, it just merely transformed itself.' The rhetoric is really positive and it feels good, but it's not true. Occupy Wall Street was a constructive failure because we set out to achieve a very specific goal, which was to get money out of politics, and we failed because we based our actions on a theory of change that wasn't true, and we didn't know it wasn't true. We had to test the hypothesis \u2013 and we tested it, and we found out it's not true.\n\nThe real question is: How are social movements going to gain power? I'm not talking about Bernie Sanders. I'm talking about a decentralized, horizontal movement that goes into multiple countries, that carries out a unified agenda by winning elections and figuring out how to use the process of consensus-based decision-making to give voice to the people. That is the direction that we need to go.\n\nStory continues below advertisement\n\nThis interview has been edited and condensed."}
-{"text": "Sri Lanka Blasts: Nearly 400 people have been injured in the blasts in Sri Lanka\n\nHighlights Blasts happened at three hotels and three churches in and around Colombo\n\nGovernment taking steps to contain situation: Sri Lanka PM\n\n\"No place for such barbarism in the region\": PM Modi\n\nA series of eight devastating bomb blasts ripped through high-end hotels and churches holding Easter services in Sri Lanka on Sunday, killing 207 people, including dozens of foreigners. Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe condemned the attacks - the worst act of violence since the end of Sri Lanka's civil war a decade ago - as \"cowardly\", as the government imposed an immediate and indefinite curfew across the entire country of 21 million people.\n\nThe powerful blasts - six in quick succession and then two more hours later - left hundreds injured and wrought devastation, including at the capital's well-known St Anthony's Shrine, a historic Catholic Church.\n\nEight people suspected of having links with the terror attacks have been arrested, Sri Lanka's Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene said, adding \"most the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers\".\n\nAt least two of the explosions were carried out by suicide bombers, police sources and a hotel official told news agency AFP, and police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said the authorities were investigating whether suicide attackers were involved in all eight of them.\n\nMr Gunasekera told reporters the number of dead had risen to 207, with over 450 people injured. Ravinatha Aryasinha, secretary to the foreign ministry, told reporters there were 27 bodies of suspected foreign nationals in the Colombo National Hospital.\n\nA police officer earlier said 35 foreigners were among the dead and hospital sources told AFP that British, Dutch and American citizens had been killed, with Britons and Japanese also injured. A Portuguese man also died, the country's LUSA news agency reported.\n\nThe Sri Lanka government has called an emergency meeting after the explosions in and around Colombo\n\nAn AFP photographer at the scene at St Anthony's saw bodies lying on the floor, some draped with scarves and clothes. Much of the church roof was blown out in the explosion, with roof tiles, glass and splintered wood littering the floor along with pools of blood.\n\nAt the Shangri-La hotel, an AFP photographer saw extensive damage on the second floor restaurant, with windows blown out and electrical wires hanging from the ceiling. The injured flooded into local hospitals, where officials reported hundreds of wounded were being admitted.\n\nSri Lanka's Minister of Economic Reforms and Public Distribution, Harsha de Silva, said he had been to two of the attacked hotels and was at the scene at St Anthony's, where he described \"horrible scenes\". \"I saw many body parts strewn all over,\" he tweeted, adding that there were \"many casualties including foreigners\". \"Please stay calm and indoors,\" he told AFP.\n\nThere were no immediate claims of responsibility for the blasts, but documents seen by AFP show that Sri Lanka's police chief Pujuth Jayasundara issued an intelligence alert to top officers 10 days ago, warning that suicide bombers planned to hit \"prominent churches\". \"A foreign intelligence agency has reported that the NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama'ath) is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches as well as the Indian high commission in Colombo,\" AFP reported quoting the alert.\n\nThe Sri Lankan Prime Minister appealed to citizens to stay strong and united. \"I strongly condemn the cowardly attacks on our people today. I call upon all Sri Lankans during this tragic time to remain united and strong. Please avoid propagating unverified reports and speculation. The government is taking immediate steps to contain this situation,\" he tweeted.\n\nThe Sri Lanka government also called an emergency meeting after the blasts. \"Emergency meeting called in a few minutes. Rescue operations underway,\" the Minister of Economic Reforms and Public Distribution, Harsha de Silva, said in a tweet.\n\nPrime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the blasts. \"Strongly condemn the horrific blasts in Sri Lanka. There is no place for such barbarism in our region. India stands in solidarity with the people of Sri Lanka. My thoughts are with the bereaved families and prayers with the injured,\" PM Modi tweeted.\n\nForeign Minister Sushma Swaraj, responding to the explosions, said that she is in close touch with the Indian High Commissioner in Colombo and that the government was closely monitoring the situation in the neighbouring country.\n\nThere is further update from Colombo. In all eight bomb blasts have taken place - one more in a guest house in Dehiwela near Colombo and another in a housing colony in Dematagoda in Colombo./1 \u2014 Chowkidar Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) April 21, 2019\n\nFor Indian citizens in Sri Lanka requiring any assistance, the Indian embassy in Sri Lanka has tweeted out helpline numbers.\n\nExplosions have been reported in Colombo and Batticaloa today. We are closely monitoring the situation. Indian citizens in need of assistance or help and for seeking clarification may call the following numbers : +94777903082 +94112422788 +94112422789 - India in Sri Lanka (@IndiainSL) April 21, 2019\n\nIn addition to the numbers given below, Indian citizens in need of assistance or help and for seeking clarification may also call the following numbers +94777902082 +94772234176 \u2014 India in Sri Lanka (@IndiainSL) April 21, 2019\n\nOnly around six per cent of mainly Buddhist Sri Lanka is Catholic, but the religion is seen as a unifying force because it includes people from both the Tamil and majority Sinhalese ethnic groups.\n\nWith inputs from agencies"}
-{"text": "The BJP has found itself at the receiving end since a 84-year-old farmer from Dhule, Dharma Patil, died in Mumbai on January 29, less than a week after consuming poison.\n\nThe Opposition has claimed that Patil consumed the poison outside chief minister Devendra Fadnavis\u2019s office at the sixth floor of Mantralaya as the government failed to deliver justice to him. Patil had received compensation of Rs 4 lakh for his five-acre farm whereas his neighbour Kisan Girase got Rs 1.98 crore for one-acre farmland, though both of them had planted mango trees.\n\nThe case has exposed the chinks in the state\u2019s administration as well as the unholy practices adopted while granting compensation to land. Girase stands accused of paying a bribe of Rs 1 crore to the officials from land acquisition department to get higher compensation.\n\nAt the same time, a nexus between officials and land-selling agents also has come to fore. Finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar admits that the nexus exists. \u201cThe government does not make any discrimination between the beneficiaries.\n\nIt is the officials who misinterpret and take disadvantage of the government schemes,\u201d he told me. It has become a trend over a couple of years to plant mango trees in farm land to increase its value at the time of land acquisition even though the climate does not suit the trees.\n\nWater resources minister Girish Mahajan points that agents purchase land from poor farmers at throwaway prices, \u201cimport\u201d mango trees from Konkan and demand higher price at the time of acquisition. The mango trees are literally \u201creplanted\u201d to create an impression that they exist in a particular farm land for many years. As per rules, if a farm land has mango trees its values grows multifold. In some cases, the government has given Rs 1 crore for one acre farm land when the actual price was Rs 10 lakh because of the mango trees.\n\n\u201cThis is not possible without the direct involvement of government officials,\u201d Mahajan admitted. \u201cThey know it better which land would be acquired for which project.\u201d\n\nHe pointed that the government had carried survey of the proposed super communication highway between Nagpur and Mumbai, known as Samruddhi Corridor, using Google maps to count the number of trees on the patch before the project was announced. \u201cIf we had not done that the agents would have replanted mango trees everywhere on the corridor making the project economically unviable,\u201d Mahajan said.\n\nThe government has reserved Rs 10,000 crore only for compensation to land acquisition. The nexus exists for a long time. Patil\u2019s case has given the government an opportunity to break it once and all.\n\n(Courtesy of Mail Today)\n\nAlso read: By-poll results: Congress winning in Rajasthan should worry BJP"}
-{"text": "\u272e 20 | they/she | INFP-T | U.S.A. \u272eHi I'm Bear! If you need me to tag anything, just ask. If you're following this blog for art, all that's on my art blog."}
-{"text": "With the start of September, we\u2019re starting a new mission. We\u2019ll be trying out a new unit that\u2019s been around since the beginning: the humble Zero. It\u2019s not flashy, and unlike the Zondnautica of the last mission, it isn\u2019t a unique profile in Infinity\u2013most factions have a workhorse camo infiltrator with mines and specialist profiles.\n\nSo why are we talking about such a \u201cbland\u201d unit? Well, it\u2019s got some serious bang for its buck. Without further ado, let\u2019s take a look at this month\u2019s mission.\n\nThe Mission\n\nTry a Zero profile you haven\u2019t before, or one that you haven\u2019t used in awhile. Do something that you usually wouldn\u2019t with it.\n\nIf you use Zeros only as button pushers, try being aggressive with one, maybe a boarding shotgun Zero. Maybe try to over-infiltrate a Zero, making the roll to deploy it on the opponent\u2019s side of the table, especially if there\u2019s a juicy target. Break out of your comfort zone and push those Zeros to the limit!\n\nOnce you\u2019ve done that, send some feedback to report@bromadacademy.com.\n\nNew: This time, we\u2019re asking for some pictures of your games in addition to battle reports, general musings, and list ideas. Nothing fancy, one or two pictures will do. Go nuts though. If you want to publish a battle report, feel free to reach out and coordinated with us too.\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s some writing prompts to get you thinking:\n\nWhat\u2019s your favorite Zero profile and why?\n\nIf you\u2019ve ever cut Zeros from a list, why? What did you use to replace them?\n\nWhat did you learn about your playstyle from trying something new and maybe uncomfortable?\n\nHow many orders are you spending on your Zeros on average?\n\nHow many of those are coordinated orders?\n\nWhat units do you find best support your Zeros? What units do you find your Zeros best support?\n\nAs always, battle reports and general thoughts are welcome. We want to hear whatever you\u2019re thinking, good or bad, so write to us, especially if you\u2019re not a Nomad player. Are Zeros the bane of your existence? Do you wish you had Zeros? How would you use the humble Zero?\n\nJust like last time, we\u2019ve got some Micro Art Studios stuff to give away, as well as a Nomad blister or two, so drop us a line to get a chance to win some stuff!\n\nThe Unit\n\nZeros are a pretty basic chassis. Average stats (i.e. meh) across the board, and no ARM or BTS to speak of. Their main claim to fame is that they\u2019ve got Camouflage and Infiltration. For those of you that play with terrain rules, don\u2019t forget that they also have Multiterrain!\n\nWe\u2019ve got a pretty normal set of profiles available, with the basic Zero toting a Combi Rifle and Antipersonnel Mines. You can trade in the Combi Rifle for cooler guns like the Boarding Shotgun or MULTI Sniper Rifle, but that\u2019s it in terms of weaponry swaps. The Deployable Repeater Zero swaps Antipersonnel Mines for E/Maulers, which seems pretty uninteresting at first glance\u2026 until you think about it a little.\n\nThere are plenty of tricks available to the basic profile. Drop a mine, then walk around the corner to shoot and force them to shoot you and ignore the mine, or dodge and let you shoot them. You can drop a mine in ARO as well, to complicate things for your opponent. Camo state also offers lots of benefits as well\u2013if your opponent delays, just keep on walking. The various bits of kit available to Zeros do change their character, in some cases quite a bit, so we\u2019ll discuss them briefly below. When possible, we\u2019ve included links to example battle reports so you can see them in action.\n\nThe Specialists\n\nLet\u2019s look at our three specialist options. WIP 13 is pretty standard\u2013let\u2019s be honest, the difference between WIP 12, 13, and 14 isn\u2019t really all that big of a deal\u2013 it\u2019s just 5%, to be exact. The humble Zero as a button pusher is perfectly serviceable. A marker state (two, in the case of the KHD) to get you to the objective, and a 65% chance of getting the job done on your first try.\n\nZero (Forward Observer)\n\nThis is probably one of the most common profiles for cost-conscious Nomad players. Clocking in at a mere 19 points for a specialist that can start right next to the objective is pretty great. This profile brings so much more to the table though. It can set up the dreaded Smart Missile Launcher or grenade shot out of Line of Fire, net you a classified, or deal with those pesky Ariadnan werewolves by distracting them with a laser pointer. Hey, it works on your dog, why wouldn\u2019t it work on a future space dog, right?\n\nZero (KHD)\n\nThe next cheapest specialist, this one is all about brain melting fun. It\u2019s pretty meta-dependent. If you\u2019re not seeing a ton of hostile hackers on the table, the KHD isn\u2019t as useful, aside from letting you bring REMs and push buttons. If you\u2019re seeing a bunch of hackers on the table, well, you probably don\u2019t need much convincing to take one of these guys! Don\u2019t forget about Cybermask. Don\u2019t bother if all you want is a surprise shot, as recamoing your Zero will do it without rolling, after all. The Impersonation state will let you waltz right past mines though, so if your opponent spent a ton of orders dropping mines and throwing drop bears, just Cybermask, walk on through the minefield, and invalidate their whole turn!\n\nZero (AHD)\n\nAh, the Assault Hacking Device. Whether you like this particular hacking device or not, this profile\u2019s got one. Stick one in the way of a rampaging TAG and steal it, or stop a REM or HI push. You can basically establish a no-high-tech zone anywhere on your half of the table. Montesa Knight with LGL spec-firing into your deployment zone? Counter-deploy with the Zero AHD! This profile is also great for accomplishing classifieds as well\u2013it can tackle the hacking classifieds as well as the forward observe ones. The question is not whether or not the Zero AHD can bring something to the table, it\u2019s a question of what your meta looks like and what your risk/reward is. They\u2019re useful even against non-hackable lists due to their excellent classified coverage. It\u2019s just a matter of how much you have to dedicate in terms of support (repeaters, KHDs for protection, etc) to get the most out of them and keep them alive.\n\nThe Gunslingers\n\nSure sure, I hesitate to call Zeros \u201cgunslingers\u201d too. They\u2019re not not raw-power gunfighters like Kriza Boracs, and even with surprise shot they\u2019re no Intruders. But they\u2019re perfectly serviceable, and most importantly, they get the gun where you need it. They\u2019re also cheap enough that you can take two and make sure you get the coverage that you need. Zero\n\nThe basic combi-rifle zero is probably the rarest profile of them all. One more point gets you a Forward Observer, after all. It\u2019s tough to make a case for this profile, but sometimes you just need a warm body with a gun in the midfield, and sometimes you\u2019ve only got 18 points. The ability to go into suppression and stack mods isn\u2019t to be overlooked either.\n\nZero Boarding Shotgun\n\nDid you want a template that reaches into the opponent\u2019s deployment zone on your first order? Well, look no further! If you\u2019re willing to make that PH -3 roll to get one over the centerline and exploit a deployment vulnerability, this profile can get some serious work done. The Zero BSG can shatter links, force bad decisions, and go toe-to-toe with other midfield camo units. It\u2019s also dirt cheap. Definitely worth thinking about.\n\nZero MSR\n\nThis is a bit of a tough sell in vanilla Nomads where they compete with the Moira MSR, Spektr MSR, and of course the king of kings, the Intruder MSR. Sometimes you can\u2019t afford those guys though, and you\u2019ve got a little SWC to burn. In that case, maybe give this underutilized profile a look. You can still zero out (eh? eh?) a TR bot if you\u2019re at the right rangebands, and an infiltrated MSR in the midfield can set up some interesting angles for cross-board shots. Not a tool for the faint of heart though.\n\nThe Controllers\n\nThe last two Zero profiles offer some pretty interesting options, mostly related to board or situation control.\n\nZero (Minelayer)\n\nI said interesting, not subtle. You probably won\u2019t be able to trick a veteran player with the extra camo token during deployment. I\u2019d say most experienced folks will even be able to guess which camo token is the mine, especially if they\u2019ve played you a few times. That\u2019s not the point though. The point is that this profile bleeds orders. There are so many tools for mine clearing: multi-wound models, high PH models, servant bots, Crazy Koalas/Mad Traps/SymbioBugs, just shooting the damn mine etc. Getting these tools in place and or discovering the mine costs orders, and if you\u2019re lucky, may cost your opponent points. Aside from Morans with their Koalas, you really can\u2019t go wrong with the Zero Minelayer to lock down the midfield during a game of Supplies or similar scenario.\n\nZero (Deployable Repeater)\n\nThis profile, supported by all of the strong hackers that Nomads can bring to the table, will really help you achieve quantronic dominance. You can sneak one up to something scary like an Avatar, drop a repeater, drop an E/Mauler covering the Avatar, and then initiate a hacking attack through the repeater. Reset? Dodge? It\u2019s all bad. Just beware of the Blackout program.\n\nExample Battle Reports\n\nWe\u2019ve littered a few links to relevant battle reports throughout the unit discussion above, but here\u2019s a list of some that we thought relevant:\n\nMercenary Recon Corps \u2013 Bromad Academy Mission 002\n\nTime to make those Zeros into heroes! Good hunting, Bromads!"}
-{"text": "\u201cI knock,\u201d Chris said. \u201cWhat!\u201d Teddy screamed, immediately forgetting all about Vern.\u201d You friggin liar! You ain\u2019t got no pat hand. I didn\u2019t deal you no pat hand.\u201d Chris smirked, \u201cMake your draw, shitheap.\u201d Teddy reached for the top card on the pile of Bikes. Chris reached for the Winstons on the ledge behind him. I bent over to pick up my detective magazine. Vern Tessio said: \u201cYou guys wanna see a dead body?\u201d Everybody stopped. From Stephen King\u2019s, \u201cThe Body\u201d\n\nMost every culture in the world has some sort of ritual to signify a child\u2019s passage into adulthood. The transition from childhood to adulthood might be one the most life-changing experiences a person can go through.\n\nThe transition from an innocent, wide-eyed child into a mature, sober adult is an incredibly significant period of time in a person\u2019s life. Jewish folk have Bar Mitzvah\u2019s for their boys, many cultures have ceremonies following a girl\u2019s first menstruation. What is certain is that children \u2014 passing into adulthood \u2014 need guidance from their elders about how to mature into a fully-fleshed adult.\n\nAmerica does not that have that in a healthy way. We get movies \u2014 like Superbad \u2014 that show boys growing into adults without any guidance from neither their male relatives or female family members. Presently, we get these ridiculous tales about immature boys fumbling around, chasing women in immature ways, only to realize that they are each other\u2019s bros. Sorry, that sounds like an inversion of chick flicks: women fighting over men, only to conclude that their friendship is more important than chasing cock.\n\nIt wasn\u2019t always this way. Stephen King\u2019s novella, The Body, was eventually adapted into a movie by Rob Reiner called Stand By Me; it stands in stark contrast with the childish posture of Superbad.\n\nIn Stand By Me, a group of young boys go searching for the body of a dead man \u2013 the body of a missing person in the community. The body is some miles away in a forest, right beside some train tracks. Their adventure over the course of two days shows a group of young boys \u2014 on the cusp of manhood \u2014 stridling both childhood and manhood. Their individual struggles are laid bare; their dreams for the future are sketched out. The tale is a retrospective, as we learn that none of their lives play out in ways they don\u2019t expect \u2013 only the narrator achieves success in life.\n\nIt is a well told tale that has the honesty of a time gone by. The struggle wasn\u2019t over pussy, money or friendship. Friendship was assumed and the needless preoccupation with chasing sex hadn\u2019t taken hold. No, these were four boys who were worried about their future, their place in the world and the personal failings of their respective parents.\n\nThe narrator dealt with the death of his older brother, who was the star child. He was the star football player, the popular one in high school. He was killed in Vietnam and his family had never been the same since \u2013 it\u2019s clear his parents are indifferent to him. His existential loneliness is matched by his best friend\u2019s abusive, alcoholic father. He is trying to overcome the \u201cwhite trash\u201d label and achieve success beyond being a union man and addicted to the bottle like his father. His sole source of support is the narrator. The other two boys have stories, but they are not relevant here.\n\nThe boys supported one another \u2014 faults and all \u2014 not with the immature, self-absorbed preening we see in later coming of age movies. They truly support one another, despite all the hell they give each other. The ending isn\u2019t some celebration of friendship, it is a lamentation of the author. He and the best friend study hard through high school and his best friend transcends everybody\u2019s expectations for him, eventually going on to law school after undergraduate.\n\nThe narrator eventually learns that his old friend stepped between two men arguing at a McDonald\u2019s \u2013 a knife gets pulled and he gets mortally wounded. The story ends with the narrator contemplating the fickleness of success in life and how the more things change, the more they stay the same. How true change is so very difficult. The movie concludes with Ben E. King\u2019s song Stand By Me playing as the narrator goes out to his front yard and plays with his two sons.\n\nThe novella was penned in the late \u201970\u2019s, the movie came out in the 1980\u2019s. In the 1990\u2019s, a movie called American Pie got released. While it tries in vain to be thoughtful at the end, it seems the growth into adulthood for men had become something of a huge joke.\n\nAdmit it, you liked the movie. It was very funny with many memorable scenes and lines. The infantile posture of the movie is worn at the edges a good bit by the pursuit of love instead of sex with women. However, there are two issues here. One, is the fact that the height of a man\u2019s experiences is heterosexual coitus.\n\nFurther, a boy becomes a man when he loses his virginity, presumably to a female. The height of a man\u2019s experiences in life are many, but to place sex at the apex is downright lunacy. The mastering of a craft, raising children into adulthood and inner peace are all more important than skirt chasing or a relationship with a woman. Now, this isn\u2019t to say that those former two concepts are not important \u2014 they are \u2014 but the trick here is to get men to value them in a way that mirrors girl\u2019s growth into adulthood.\n\nNowadays, as we see in American Pie, is that boys don\u2019t become men because they went on a vision quest or spent great time and effort preparing for their Bar Mitzvah.\n\nNo, it\u2019s when they first garner a woman\u2019s approval through sexual congress. It isn\u2019t getting married to a woman, it isn\u2019t working hard through your teenage years to become the man you want to be. No, it is that a man can simply garner a woman\u2019s sexual approval. The whole chasing love in American Pie is simply a poorly veiled smokescreen for a society that does not truly value love and relationships, but one that idolizes sex.\n\nSo, it isn\u2019t of becoming a man when you get married and start a family, it shrinks back to simply to be able to say you can have sex with women. This isn\u2019t progress, it is madness. Getting married already implies sexual access, but also the legitimization of a relationship that will result in children and involvement in the community. It is puerile nonsense, but we haven\u2019t bottomed out yet.\n\nLoading...\n\nSuperbad was released in 2007, to great financial success and critical approval. I will assume you have watched the movie, but it involves a group of young men \u2014 the same age as the characters in American Pie \u2014 but something has changed. One main character (Jonah Hill) is extremely fat, the nebbish nerd (Michael Cera) is many steps back from his counterpart in American Pie (Finch) and the loser (McLovin) is a complete and utter goober. The loser gets laid for a few seconds before getting busted by the cops raiding the party. The other two main characters don\u2019t get laid at all \u2014 so they don\u2019t even reach the all-important goal of female sexual approval \u2014 but it is hinted at the ending when they might have a shot with their respective ladies.\n\nWhat do we learn in Superbad? Friendship is important. Sex is something that a man might get. Nothing else. Unlike their counterparts in American Pie, who all actually get laid and make decisions about relationships \u2014 in Superbad, all we get are some losers attempting to woo women with being able to acquire booze.\n\nThe guys in American Pie tried to learn to eat women out, spread gossip about their cock size and other ways to garner female sexual approval while Superbad is about provisioning women with alcohol. Alcohol has gone from the substantial grease of social interactions between men and women \u2014 by the time Superbad rolls around \u2013to the common necessary heterosexual denominator.\n\nAll of this stands in astoundingly stark contrast with Stand By Me. First off, the maturation process begins at puberty, not some needlessly delayed state in late adolescence. Second, girls are something discussed, but not obsessed over. The boys in Stand By Me are worried about their parents, their future and what it means to be a man. Superbad doesn\u2019t even entertain any existence outside of chasing pussy; American Pie places vague emphasis on \u201cthe next step,\u201d which is inextricably bound up in chasing said pussy.\n\nLastly, is the seriousness that accompanies the coming of age in Stand By Me. There are more than a few funny, chuckle-worthy scenes. However, there are more than a few scenes that make you think and feel things, instead of the pursuit of sheer hedonism and the all-important approval of women. In Superbad, we get a bunch of funny nonsense that relates nothing to becoming a man, but to the infantile fumblings that Hollywood knows these young men engage in. American Pie is marginally better, but the growth of a boy into a man is heralded by consummating a relationship with a woman; one man is shamed for seeking to take his girlfriend\u2019s virginity above all else.\n\nSo what happened to boys\u2019 coming of age movies? Clearly, it has descended into little more than boys \u2014 growing into men \u2014 tying their sense of self as a man into pussy. The more articulate point is that a man\u2019s worth as a man is determined by his relationship with women \u2013 can he get laid? Who are the women he gets laid with? This relates to the general social concept that men need social approval of women to be seen as not a threat. Older men need a wife or girlfriend to voice approval, otherwise said man is a dead man walking in the court of social opinion.\n\nThis relates to coming of age movies, as the growth into manhood signified by puberty necessarily entails the concurrent sexual tension. Instead of seeking approval of the mother or female teacher, it becomes a pursuit of female approval in the sexual arena. As evidenced by Stand By Me, this pursuit was important, but simply one folder of issues to discuss. By American Pie it is the largest folder, by Superbad \u2014 outside of immature appeals to male camaraderie \u2014 it is the sole folder.\n\nNow, there is nothing wrong with the pursuit of sex, obviously. However, when sex revolves around the idea that boys become men via the elusive and ephemeral approval of women, it becomes toxic. Tying manhood to perceptions and approval of women is downright dangerous. All it results in are men with \u2014 at best \u2014 shifty self-concepts, if not outright low self-esteem and confusion over what it means to be a man. Notice the progression in the three movies: boys growing into men transcending their realities, boys growing into men treading water to boys tumbling down the rabbit hole of sheer insecurity.\n\nOf course, boys are best served with having a strong male father in their life. Most will not be so lucky. A cheap, but positive, consolation prize would be to have positive renditions of boys understanding the growth into manhood in media. Not some mindless nonsense with booze, boobs and tomfoolery. I love all three of those, but those are terribly poor approximations for the growth a boy will have to make into adulthood. It must be tempered with the sober realities of adulthood, the real consequences of your actions when you are no longer considered a child.\n\nWithout a critical and honest valuation of one\u2019s own life, a man can never truly life a full life, much less be an adult. Adolescence may be many things, but learning to transcend the infantile and self-absorbed habits of a newly biologically-minted adult is possibly the most crucial thing. When boys are shunted into nothing more than pursuing their base, deeply-rooted biological impulses, they exist as nothing more than caricatures of men \u2013 an all too easily mocked segment of society. They are prevented from fully shedding their boyhood and embracing manhood fully \u2013 they simply become approximations of manhood. They become the superfan at the Giants game who never bothered to carve out his own legacy as a man. Instead, he proudly wears the jersey of Eli Manning, vainly trying to own the accomplishments of another man.\n\nMedia doesn\u2019t do men any favors \u2014 media revolves around white women. Any serious movie that tries to display the real growth from boyhood to manhood won\u2019t succeed. Women might like it hypothetically, as it involves children \u2013 but there cannot be anything that truly documents a boy\u2019s growth into manhood. King\u2019s Stand By Me wisely only had a tiny bit about the actual future of the boys. Positive masculinity, proper manhood \u2014 however you want to characterize it \u2014 cannot be broadcast in wider media. Men simply existing without a preeminent level of female approval is absolutely abhorrent to the average female. Women consider it \u201cprogress,\u201d but it is nothing but yet another negative yoke foisted on men.\n\nBoys deserve better, we men deserved better. But, this is where we are. The bare shreds of masculinity we are gifted at the apparent expense of women at large are of little consolation for our lack of resources to grow into men. The lack of male role models coupled with the crippling need to chase female approval result in the men we have post Superbad. Soft men, frantically concerned over female approval, substituting pussy for personal growth.\n\nThis is what society wants from men. You could say it\u2019s wrong, it\u2019s foul, it\u2019s whatever superlative you want to insert here. However, this what society wants from men. A gang of insecure, immature men who want nothing more than the singing approval of a woman.\n\nRead Next: Western Parents Are Raising Boys To Be Failures In Life"}
-{"text": "I'm sorry, Spiky, it's a bummer... in reality, you're as dumb as they come.\n\nAnd I needed the elements reeaaal bad and I had to give them up; just to get Tirek off my back. So now we're gonna have to get more.\n\n\n\nAnd then we're gonna go on even MORE adventures after that, Spiky. And you're gonna keep your MOUTH SHUT about it, Spiky..\n\n\n\nbecause the world if full of idiots that don't understand friendship is magic. And they'll TEAR us apart, Spiky!\n\nBut if you stick with me, I'm gonna accomplish great things, Spiky, and you're gonna be a part of 'em.\n\n\n\nAnd together, we're gonna run around, Spiky, we're gonna... do all kinds of wonderful things, Spiky. The outside world is our enemy, Spiky... we're the only friends we've got, Spiky! It's just Twi and Spiky. Twi and Spiky and their adventures, Spiky.. TWI AND SPIKY FOREVER AND FOREVER A HUNDRED YEARS Twi and Spiky.... somethings me and Twi and Spiky runnin' around and... Twi and Spiky time... a *burp* all day long forever.. all a a hundred days Twi and Spiky! Forever a hundred times... OVER and over Twi and Spiky... adventures dot com. W W W dot at Twi and Spiky dot com. W W W Twi and Spiky adventures ah - hundred years... every minute Twi and Spiky dot com...\n\nW W W a hundred times Twi and Spiky dot com...."}
-{"text": "german baby clothes babies magazine sizes to uk who what why do some countries regulate names."}
-{"text": "M\u00e9g mindig vesztes\u00e9get, elveszett bev\u00e9telt jelent a Tesco sz\u00e1m\u00e1ra a vas\u00e1rnapi z\u00e1rva tart\u00e1s - mondta el egy interj\u00faban P\u00e1link\u00e1s Zsolt, az \u00e1ruh\u00e1zl\u00e1nc M\u0171k\u00f6d\u00e9si \u00dcgyvezet\u0151 Igazgat\u00f3ja.\n\n\n\nA \"h\u00e1rmas csomag\" feladta a leck\u00e9t nek\u00fcnk, a vas\u00e1rnapi \u00e9s \u00e9jszakai kereskedelem tilalma, az \u00e9lelmiszerl\u00e1ncfel\u00fcgyeleti-d\u00edj, illetve a t\u00f6rv\u00e9ny miszerint, ha k\u00e9t egym\u00e1st k\u00f6vet\u0151 \u00e9vben nem termel\u00fcnk profitot, akkor elvesz\u00edthetj\u00fck a jogot a keresked\u00e9sre. Azt gondolom, az elm\u00falt egy \u00e9vben a lehet\u0151 legkem\u00e9nyebb d\u00f6nt\u00e9seket hoztuk meg Tesc\u00f3n bel\u00fcl. Be kellett z\u00e1rnunk 13 boltot, ami a helyzet kezel\u00e9s\u00e9nek elengedhetetlen r\u00e9sze volt.\n\n\n\nMeglehet\u0151sen ritk\u00e1n nyilatkoznak a hazai \u00e1ruh\u00e1zl\u00e1ncok fels\u0151vezet\u0151i, a vas\u00e1rnapi z\u00e1rva tart\u00e1s bevezet\u00e9se \u00f3ta alig hallottunk \u00e9rdemi megsz\u00f3lal\u00e1st szakemberekt\u0151l. A Tesco M\u0171k\u00f6d\u00e9si \u00dcgyvezet\u0151 Igazgat\u00f3ja most megt\u00f6rte a csendet: mint arr\u00f3l az \u00c9lelmiszer Online-nak adott interj\u00faj\u00e1ban P\u00e1link\u00e1s Zsolt besz\u00e1molt, kem\u00e9ny d\u00f6nt\u00e9seket kellett meghozniuk az elm\u00falt h\u00f3napokban, a vas\u00e1rnapi z\u00e1rva tart\u00e1s pedig igencsak rosszul \u00e9rinti az \u00fczletl\u00e1ncot.\n\n- fogalmazott P\u00e1link\u00e1s Zsolt.\n\n\n\nAz \u00f6sszes bez\u00e1rt \u00fczlet dolgoz\u00f3j\u00e1val egyes\u00e9vel le tudtak \u00fclni, felaj\u00e1nlottak nekik m\u00e1s lehet\u0151s\u00e9get, \u00e9s mintegy\n\nh\u00e1romnegyed\u00fck a mai napig az \u00e1ruh\u00e1zl\u00e1ncn\u00e1l dolgozik.\n\n\n\nMint elmondta, a vas\u00e1rnapi z\u00e1rva tart\u00e1s hat\u00e1s\u00e1r\u00f3l m\u00e9g elhamarkodott lenne m\u00e9rleget vonni, de egy-k\u00e9t dolog m\u00e1r megfigyelhet\u0151:\n\nA vas\u00e1rnapi z\u00e1rva tart\u00e1snak - finoman fogalmazva - nem biztos, hogy minden v\u00e1s\u00e1rl\u00f3nk \u00e9s koll\u00e9g\u00e1nk \u00f6r\u00fcl. \u00c1talakultak a v\u00e1s\u00e1rl\u00f3i szok\u00e1sok, voltak rossz pillanatok, de v\u00e9g\u00fcl az emberek alkalmazkodtak. Azt a trendet l\u00e1tjuk, hogy a v\u00e1s\u00e1rl\u00f3k sokkal ink\u00e1bb el\u0151re gondolkodnak, megugrott a p\u00e9nteki \u00e9s szombati forgalom, \u00e9s ezeken a napokon j\u00f3val tudatosabb kos\u00e1r\u00f6sszet\u00e9tel figyelhet\u0151 meg, \u00e9s n\u00e9mileg n\u00f6vekedett a h\u00e9tf\u0151i forgalom is.\n\n\n\n\n\nDe mit tudtak tenni?\n\n\n\nA Tesco \u00e1talak\u00edtotta az akci\u00f3it:\n\na klubk\u00e1rtya seg\u00edts\u00e9g\u00e9vel pontosan be tudj\u00e1k azonos\u00edtani, hogy egy v\u00e1s\u00e1rl\u00e1s hogyan alakult ki;\n\nbevezett\u00e9k a szem\u00e9lyre szabott kupont, amit a v\u00e1s\u00e1rl\u00f3 a blokkal egy\u00fctt k\u00f6zvetlen\u00fcl a v\u00e1s\u00e1rl\u00e1s ut\u00e1n megkap;\n\nkuponokkal \u00f6szt\u00f6nzik a k\u00fcl\u00f6nb\u00f6z\u0151 boltkateg\u00f3ri\u00e1k k\u00f6z\u00f6tti \u00e1tj\u00e1r\u00e1st is. Ha p\u00e9ld\u00e1ul hipermarketben t\u00f6rt\u00e9nt az els\u0151 tranzakci\u00f3, Tesco kisboltba sz\u00f3l\u00f3 kedvezm\u00e9nyhez adnak kupont, m\u00edg a kisboltban egy online v\u00e1s\u00e1rl\u00e1sra alkalmas bont kap a v\u00e1s\u00e1rl\u00f3;\n\n\n\nA M\u0171k\u00f6d\u00e9si \u00dcgyvezet\u0151 Igazgat\u00f3 hozz\u00e1tette, hogy ak\u00e1rmilyen j\u00f3 megold\u00e1sokat tal\u00e1ltak a vas\u00e1rnap kiv\u00e1lt\u00e1s\u00e1ra,\n\nez az int\u00e9zked\u00e9s m\u00e9g mindig vesztes\u00e9get, elveszett bev\u00e9telt jelent.\n\nA balatoni forgalomn\u00e1l ez 170 ezer, k\u00fclf\u00f6ldiekhez k\u00f6thet\u0151, kiesett vas\u00e1rnapi tranzakci\u00f3.\n\nMit mond a korm\u00e1ny?\n\n\n\nA gazdas\u00e1gi t\u00e1rca szerint egy\u00e9rtelm\u0171en sikeres a vas\u00e1rnapi z\u00e1rva tart\u00e1s bevezet\u00e9se a kiskereskedelem szempontj\u00e1b\u00f3l.\n\n\n\nAz adatok egy\u00e9rtelm\u0171en bizony\u00edtj\u00e1k, hogy a kereskedelmi forgalmat nem a pihen\u0151nap, hanem a csal\u00e1dok j\u00f6vedelme hat\u00e1rozza meg - mondta el Glattfelder B\u00e9la, a Nemzetgazdas\u00e1gi Miniszt\u00e9rium \u00e1llamtitk\u00e1ra szeptember k\u00f6zep\u00e9n.\n\n\n\nGlattfelder B\u00e9la szerint a K\u00f6zponti Statisztikai Hivatal adataib\u00f3l egy\u00e9rtelm\u0171en kider\u00fcl, hogy 7,2 sz\u00e1zal\u00e9kkal b\u0151v\u00fclt a kiskereskedelmi forgalom az el\u0151z\u0151 \u00e9vhez k\u00e9pest. Mint mondta, val\u00f3sz\u00edn\u0171leg a pihen\u0151nap bevezet\u00e9s\u00e9nek olyan hat\u00e1sa is volt, hogy a kisebb boltok ir\u00e1ny\u00e1ba terelte a kereskedelmi forgalmat.\n\n\n\nAz \u00e1llamtitk\u00e1r szerint az sem bizonyosodott be, hogy elbocs\u00e1t\u00e1sokkal j\u00e1rna a vas\u00e1rnapi z\u00e1rva tart\u00e1s: \u00fagy l\u00e1tja, sokkal ink\u00e1bb munkaer\u0151-hi\u00e1nyr\u00f3l besz\u00e9lhet\u00fcnk az \u00e1gazatban. Hozz\u00e1tette: jelenleg t\u00f6bb, mint 5 500 a kiskereskedelemben a bet\u00f6ltetlen \u00e1ll\u00e1shelyek sz\u00e1ma.\n\n\n\nA Tesc\u00f3t m\u00e9g a vas\u00e1rnapi bez\u00e1r\u00e1sn\u00e1l is nehezebben \u00e9rinti az \u00e9lelmiszerl\u00e1ncfel\u00fcgyeleti-d\u00edj. Nem tartj\u00e1k ugyanis m\u00e9lt\u00e1nyosnak, hogy nem \u00e9rinti egyenl\u0151 m\u00e9rt\u00e9kben az \u00f6sszes piaci r\u00e9sztvev\u0151t, \u00edgy versenytorz\u00edt\u00f3 hat\u00e1sa is lehet. \u00dagy l\u00e1tj\u00e1k, a rekl\u00e1mad\u00f3hoz hasonl\u00f3an itt is az egykulcsos szeml\u00e9let lehetne a megold\u00e1s.\n\n"}
-{"text": "It's April 11. And eight American League pitchers have already found themselves at home plate with a bat in their hands.\n\nIt's April 11. And the Angels have already visited Cincinnati. The Royals have already gulped down a bunch of pregame cheesesteaks in Philadelphia. And the White Sox have already played baseball in Washington -- for the first time since 1971.\n\nIt's April 11. And interleague play is already upon us. But get used to it.\n\nIt's never going away. Ever. From now until September. And, ohbytheway, for the rest of perpetuity after that.\n\nWith 15 teams in each league, there's now no choice. The only way to make out the schedule is to play at least one interleague game virtually every day. So barring expansion or contraction, there's no turning back.\n\nDaily interleague play is going to be part of the baseball experience for ever and ever. Kinda like watching games on your phone. And Darren Oliver.\n\n\"It's definitely different,\" said Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto last week, as he found himself and his team in Cincinnati, minus its DH, for the very first series of the year. \"It made putting a roster together [this spring] a little unusual. That's for sure.\"\n\nIt might be five years from now. It might be 10 years from now. But my gut feeling is that if you ever got everybody in one room and said you've all got to stay in the room until you make a decision one way or the other, eventually they'd come out and say it's time to have the DH in both leagues.\"\n\nBut roster construction is merely the tip of this interleague iceberg. The baseball world is just beginning to shake as the tremors of wire-to-wire interleague play are starting to ripple across its landscape. But here's our prediction:\n\nOne of these years, year-round interleague-a-palooza is going to be the development that finally pushes baseball over the edge -- and brings the designated hitter to the National League.\n\nNot just for a series here or there. But for good. For the rest of our lives. And David Ortiz's grandchildren's lives.\n\n\"I think that time is coming,\" Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said this week. \"Now I don't know when that time is. It might be five years from now. It might be 10 years from now. But my gut feeling is that if you ever got everybody in one room and said you've all got to stay in the room until you make a decision one way or the other, eventually they'd come out and say it's time to have the DH in both leagues.\"\n\nHe's far from the only decision-maker inside the sport who thinks that, incidentally. We heard the same sentiments from GMs and managers all spring. But why now? Why would this be the impetus for such a monumental change, after 40 years of having the DH in one league but not the other? Excellent question. The answer is, season-long interleague play isn't the only force that's pushing baseball in this direction. It's just the latest force -- and now the most ever-present.\n\nSo why do so many people inside the game now believe the end of baseball's four-decade-old split-personality era is near? Let's take a look:\n\nWhen interleague play used to get squished mostly into a concentrated three-week block, life was different. That form of interleague play was more like a sideshow, a diversion, an attraction to liven up the midseason schedule.\n\nBut not anymore. This form of interleague play just shows up on the schedule with almost no pattern whatsoever. Take the Royals, for instance.\n\nFive of their first eight road games this season are in National League parks -- three in Philadelphia last weekend, two in Atlanta next Tuesday and Wednesday. After that, they'll make only two more trips to NL cities the rest of the year -- for a two-game series in St. Louis in May and a three-gamer against the Mets in late August. That doesn't bear much resemblance to last season, when they played all nine of their interleague road games in a 12-day period in June.\n\nSo what effect did this schedule have? It inspired the Royals to hold what manager Ned Yost calls \"a National League spring training\" from Day One of camp -- with pitchers bunting and taking batting practice all spring.\n\n\"When I first came over to Kansas City, we had problems [with pitchers not being ready for interleague play],\" Yost said. \"Luke Hochevar hurt his elbow swinging. So I wanted to really take our time, use the whole two months to work into it. But we had all these games in April [in Philadelphia and Atlanta]. So we needed to be ready.\"\n\nThat meant a whole staff of American League pitchers traipsing off to the batting cage on Feb. 11, for what had to be the first time in more than 40 years. But since they were there, they made sure to enjoy themselves.\n\n\"Obviously, it was a fun thing to do and talk about, but you've definitely got to take it seriously, too,\" said James Shields, who last Sunday became the first AL pitcher since 1972 to get a hit in April. \"I know I did. Any time you've got a chance to help yourself win a ball game, hey, I'm all in.\"\n\nBut in truth, nobody got real worked up one way or the other over seeing AL pitchers hitting in April. Or even over the absence of guys such as Billy Butler and Adam Dunn from AL lineups because there was no DH slot on the lineup card.\n\nWhy? Because it's early. So what the heck. Now, though, let's look ahead. To late September, when the two teams traveling to National League cities in the last week of the season happen to be the Red Sox (to Denver) and Tigers (to Miami).\n\nNow let's say those are must-win games. And let's say people notice that Felix Doubront and Rick Porcello are heading for the plate instead of Big Papi and Victor Martinez. Anybody think this will suddenly seem like a much bigger deal? Yeah, thought so.\n\nOr what happens if, say, the Mariners get rained out in the final game of their interleague series in St. Louis -- on Sept. 15? Do they have to fly back to St. Louis from Seattle, after a night game, on their only remaining off day (Sept. 26) to make that one up?\n\n\"We've been lucky [with the weather] so far,\" said one baseball official. \"But there are going to be some rainouts that could give us some late-season scheduling issues. And I'd be lying if I said that wasn't something we all have concerns about.\"\n\nThese are real, live interleague crises just waiting to happen. And when -- not if -- they erupt, they'll be events that shift the forces in the universe just a little closer to the adaptation of one set of rules for both leagues. That's coming, friends. Mark it down.\n\nMoney Talks\n\nIt's always about the money. Remember that. You should especially remember that the next time a world-famous free-agent masher signs for about a quarter-billion dollars over the next eight, nine or 10 years.\n\nWithout even knowing who that slugger is or anything about him, we'd bet right now he'll sign with an AL team. Just the way Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder did.\n\n\"Just having the DH gives a definite advantage to an American League club in signing one of those guys,\" said Melvin, who lost Fielder to the Tigers because he couldn't offer a long enough contract. \"If you're in the American League and you're signing him past age 35, you say, 'He can DH in a couple of those years.' But you can't do that in the National League.\"\n\nThis didn't just start becoming an issue when Pujols hit free agency, of course. It's always been an issue. But now, as the dollars get bigger and the game skews younger, it has a chance to become a much more significant tipping point within the sport.\n\n\u201c\n\nIf you were born in 1970, the DH is something you grew up with. It's just part of baseball. If you were born in 1950, the DH is a curse. But I think right now, there are more people who have wrapped their arms around the DH than people who haven't. I think more people [support the DH] now than have ever before in history.\" \u201d -- Angels manager Mike Scioscia\n\nIf you're an NL team, do you just keep waving sayonara to your biggest boppers? Or do you take a chance and sign them anyway? If you do sign a deal that takes that player into his late 30s, good luck, because you can't trade him, said one AL executive.\n\n\"The value in those long contracts is what you get out of the total contract,\" he said. \"You don't want to be the team absorbing the last three years of one of those deals if you didn't get the benefit of the first six or seven, when the guy was at his peak.\"\n\nSo maybe, said another exec, that's one more force that could push NL owners to reconsider their opposition to the DH.\n\n\"You look at Cincinnati and the [12-year] deal they gave Joey Votto,\" he said. \"If you don't have the DH, what do you do? Either the guy has to play first base until he's 40, or he becomes Jim Thome. And that could have an impact on an owner like [the Reds' Bob] Castellini. He's always been a hard-core National League owner. But this could cause him to rethink it. Or what about Philadelphia with Ryan Howard? They'd probably love to DH him right now, because he still isn't healthy after his injury. They're another team that's always been anti-DH. But you wonder if that could start to change.\"\n\nBut this isn't just about aging sluggers. What about the soaring cost of pitching?\n\n\"Now, when we're starting to pay pitchers $20 million a year, don't we have to start thinking more about whether we want pitchers hitting?\" Melvin wondered. \"When you think about the competitiveness of a Zack Greinke or a [Clayton] Kershaw when he's hitting, there's a danger of those guys overdoing it in any at-bat and getting hurt. Think about the money factor. If Felix Hernandez were to get hurt, it would be devastating to Seattle -- to their season, to their franchise, to their fan base. A guy like that, he's a draw. When he pitches, people come to the park. I know I get nervous every time a pitcher squares around to bunt, even guys we're not paying $20 million.\"\n\nMelvin said that not having the DH even had an impact this winter when he was trying to fill out his bench. He wound up losing Lyle Overbay to Boston, just \"because I couldn't get him that extra 150 at-bats he could get [in the AL] with the DH.\"\n\nSo what's the upshot of all this? The upshot is, we have a bunch of forces converging to give AL teams an advantage in signing all sorts of players -- from MVPs to Cy Youngs to scrubeenies. Do we really think NL teams are going to be resigned to that fate forever? Really? Why would they?\n\nThe Change Game\n\nThe world spins. Every year. The tides shift. Every year. Opinions change. Every year. Even about hot-button issues like the DH.\n\n\"I don't know what's going to happen with this,\" Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. \"I really don't. But think about it. If you were born in 1970, the DH is something you grew up with. It's just part of baseball. If you were born in 1950, the DH is a curse. Why would [someone of that age] ever think a pitcher shouldn't hit? But I think right now, there are more people who have wrapped their arms around the DH than people who haven't. I think more people [support the DH] now than have ever before in history.\"\n\nAnd you know what? He's right. We haven't commissioned a Gallup Poll on this. But we have no doubt he's right. The only question is what that's going to mean.\n\nScioscia isn't ready to make any predictions. He just knows he sees a time coming when both leagues play by the same set of rules -- either no DH in either or the DH in both -- because \"I think that's the only logical way it can go.\""}
-{"text": "With the official release of Legends of Runeterra fast approaching, and spoiler season already in full swing, Riot has rolled out one final balance patch for the beta, giving us the last round of card changes that we\u2019ll get before the game fully launches.\n\nAs usual, I\u2019ll be doing my best to forecast what these changes mean for the competitive meta, but this is a pretty unique situation, compared to my previous Meta Analysis posts. We\u2019re only a few short weeks away from the official release of the game, and if that wasn\u2019t enough of a reason to celebrate, we\u2019re getting a stockpile of 120+ cards added to the card pool, which means that everything is going to radically change. It\u2019s impossible to say for sure how the meta will shake out in the wake of this upcoming \u201cexpansion\u201d, so my predictions here will only be attempting to forecast things as they currently are, without factoring in any of the new cards that we already know we\u2019ll soon be getting our virtual hands on.\n\nIf you\u2019re just looking for a transcript of the official patch notes, we\u2019ve got you covered on that end too, but without further ado, let\u2019s dive into these changes!\n\nCHAMPIONS\n\nDraven: This is an interesting little tweak that Draven is receiving, where now you can stack two of his Spinning Axes onto one strike, and that\u2019ll still be enough to level him up. Previously, the way that Draven\u2019s text read, you needed to strike two separate times with a Spinning Axe before he would level up, so this gives you a greater deal of flexibility in reaching that goal. It\u2019s not a huge buff by any means \u2013 and with Draven already being a very strong Champion in aggro decks, he didn\u2019t need one \u2013 but it does make him just the tiniest bit better, in the margins.\n\nKalista: After receiving a near-complete rework in the previous balance-adjustment patch, a lot of people took Kalista for a spin to see just how viable she could be on the ladder. Unfortunately, even with her new design, she just wasn\u2019t quite up to snuff; especially in Shadow Isles, where the Champions have a reputation for being quite powerful. This buff reduces her level-up requirement from seeing four allies die, to now only needing to see three, which I think could turn out to be a pretty meaningful difference. Now, you can level her up with just a single Haunted Relic, or even a Used Cask Salesman, and it makes it much easier to accomplish on the same turn when you play her, too.\n\nDoes it make her good enough to see competitive play? Ehhhh, it\u2019s tough to say. Ephemeral as an archetype has consistently paled in power-level when compared to the other builds you can pull off with Shadow Isles, which means that Kalista sort of has to be strong enough to make the deck good by herself. While I think that this change goes a long way toward making that a possibility in the future, as things stand right now, my guess is that Kalista will still be searching for a home. If you do ever encounter her on the ladder though, you\u2019ll probably want to make sure you remove her as soon as you can, before your opponent can get the chance to boost her up.\n\nKatarina: Like her Noxian compatriot up above, Katarina also gets a small buff in this patch, giving you a Fleeting copy of a Blade\u2019s Edge when you play her. It\u2019s worth noting that this ability only seems to apply to her base form, so after you level her up and recall her, you won\u2019t get another Blade\u2019s Edge when you play her again. That\u2019s a bit of a shame, as Katarina is a champ who could probably use a little bit of an extra boost, but this is still something that makes her a little more viable. You can use the copy of Blade\u2019s Edge that she generates to pop a barrier, if your opponent is trying to block another one of your units, as discard fodder for spells like Get Excited! or Rummage, or even just as an extra point of damage if you need to finish off something pesky.\n\nYasuo: Last among our Champion changes, but certainly not the least, Yasuo is seeing a simple uptick in health, going from 3 to 4. Now, in Legends of Runeterra, I like to refer to \u201c4\u201d as the magic number. Why? Because that\u2019s the cutoff point for almost every single removal spell currently in the game. Only two removal spells currently deal more than three damage to a unit: Shatter, which requires a unit to be frostbitten, or for it to have zero power, and Thermogenic Beam, which can deal as much damage as you have mana to sink into it. This means that whenever a unit goes from 3 health to 4 health, it\u2019s a pretty big deal, and that\u2019s especially true for an already strong Champion like Yasuo.\n\nOn the surface, this\u2026 probably makes Yasuo one of the best four-cost units in the game? A 4/4 body with quick attack, that also has the upside of dealing damage whenever you stun or recall enemy units? Uhh, yeah, sign me up for that. The problem still remains, however, that he needs more support to truly make him a difference-maker. If this upcoming set of new cards provides some additional tools for Yasuo decks to make use of, then I wouldn\u2019t be surprised at all to see him make a real impact on the meta.\n\nFOLLOWERS & SPELLS\n\nAvarosan Trapper: This probably won\u2019t be the most exciting change that anyone talks about, but I think Trapper might actually be decent now! Before, playing a under-statted body for 3-mana that does nothing at all to impact the board was a real tough sell. Now, at a very fair 3/3 stat line, Trapper can actually provide some meaningful board presence while you\u2019re waiting to draw that Enraged Yeti friend that he brings with him. I think you can actually get away with playing this guy to fend off early aggression and generate some additional value.\n\nFrenzied Skitterer: This was a card that had been previously named as one that they were keeping an eye on for potential changes down the line, and sure enough, here we are. It retains Fearsome tagging, which means that the decrease in health won\u2019t mean anything when you\u2019re on the attack, but Skitterer now loses a lot of value as a blocker, which means that you might not see it populating control decks the way it has been up until now. Plus, it\u2019s now much more vulnerable to removal spells, of course, so even getting to attack with it is far from a guarantee. It\u2019ll likely still have a place in aggro and midrange decks, but control decks will likely be searching for a different unit to help protect against early-to-midgame aggression.\n\nKato the Arm: Oh hey, remember what I said just a little earlier about that magic number? I can\u2019t stress enough how huge of a difference that single point of health makes, and now Kato also gets to reap the benefits of not dying to every removal spell under the sun. Now, you might actually get the chance to attack with him, and his ability can be a real difference-maker against boards that want to keep constantly chump blocking you out. Maybe he\u2019ll start strong arming his way into Noxus aggro decks. Get it? Because he\u2019s\u2013oh, nevermind.\n\nLaurent Duelist: A 4/2 for three mana certainly doesn\u2019t feel as bad as a 3/2 for three mana, but it still doesn\u2019t feel very good, and Laurent Duelist still doesn\u2019t come close to being good enough to compete with other units that provide similar effects. There\u2019s a reason that other guy got picked to be the Laurent Protege, after all. Protege is just a better card that doesn\u2019t require you to have another unit in play, keeps Challenger for more than just one round, and can trade with multiple units thanks to its larger health pool.\n\nShady Character: There\u2019s been a bit of a theme in this patch to make it so that things don\u2019t die so easily to removal, but I wasn\u2019t expecting Shady Character to get that treatment. Look, it\u2019s a total meme card, and it\u2019s going to remain that way, in all likelihood, but the fact that it no longer dies to literally everything when its ability goes on the stack at least gives it a glimmer of hope. I suppose there is some appeal to the idea of copying a big ol\u2019 They Who Endure with this guy though\u2026\n\nStarlit Seer: Starlit Seer has been a bit of a paradox. You want to run a lot of cheap spells with him so that you can get multiple buffs off his ability, but you also want to run a good number of early-game units that care a lot more about those incremental buffs, so where\u2019s the compromise? Nobody seems to have found it yet, and a small uptick in health isn\u2019t likely to bring about any change in that. Maybe the extra point of health gives him some viability in Crimson decks? Could be worth a shot.\n\nVanguard Bannerman: Possibly the nerf that everyone knew was coming, and certainly the one that everyone was clamoring for, but how much of an impact will it really have? At the very least, this probably now means that you need to have at least two other units on the board before you slam down a Bannerman, which means that you can really slow these decks down if you can prevent them from going wide. Bannerman still seems solid to me, but it\u2019s no longer the value machine that it was previously, which is probably the right call.\n\nWyrding Stones: Maybe in a world where Fearsome doesn\u2019t exist as an archetype, a card like Wyrding Stones could see more play. As things currently stand, this extra point of health doesn\u2019t do enough to make it worthwhile to lean all the way into the ramp strategy. If you really want to ramp, stick to Catalyst of Aeons.\n\nBlood for Blood: Open your ears and listen to the cries of ecstasy from all of the Crimson players! Blood for Blood can now function as something of a poor man\u2019s Glimpse Beyond, sucking some juicy drops of value out of a unit right before it\u2019s about to meet with an untimely demise. Also, apparently its art is purple now, so that\u2019s neat!\n\nIt bears repeating that all of this will be thrown out the window in a few weeks\u2019 time, once Legends of Runeterra officially launches and we see a huge influx of new cards enter the game, but until that point, hopefully you can make the most of these balance changes and dominate the meta! And make sure that you stay tuned to RuneterraCCG.com for all the latest spoilers and breakdowns as we get closer and closer to release date!"}
-{"text": "New York City's Times Square has long been famous for its neon advertising, giant billboards and characters dressed up as anything from Mickey Mouse to the Statue of Liberty. But in the past couple of weeks a lookalike of vice-president-elect Mike Pence has been attracting the attention of passersby in one of the city's busiest areas.\n\nNew Yorker Glenn Pannell has been using his striking resemblance to Pence to ask for donations for causes, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in a show of opposition to the politician's conservative track record against gay rights and abortion.\n\nDressed in a red-striped tie, shirt and dark blue blazer on top and nothing but short shorts below, Pannell has dubbed his alter-ego \"Mike Hot-Pence.\"\n\nThe openly gay graphic designer said he has collected some $2,300 US over the last two weekends while staging his one-man protest.\n\n\"The charities that I am choosing to raise money for have definitely been based on Pence's track record,\" the 51-year-old Pannell said. \"Those charities will really need a lot of help [with Pence as vice-president] ... and so I am hitting back now with Mike Hot-Pence.\"\n\nRecipients of the funds have included the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention hotline for LGBT youth, as well as women's health-care provider Planned Parenthood.\n\nMike Hot-Pence cares about LGBTQ youth: collecting for <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TrevorProject\">@trevorproject</a> 12/10 and 12/11 in Times Square 11-2 <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/MikeHotPence?src=hash\">#MikeHotPence</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/activismishot?src=hash\">#activismishot</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/t8nmc7VQcb\">pic.twitter.com/t8nmc7VQcb</a> \u2014@MikeHotPence\n\n'The election happened and laughing stopped'\n\nMany LGBT rights activists are wary of Pence's years of opposition to gay rights, including as governor of Indiana. And as a vocal abortion opponent, Pence has pushed for Congress to stop funding Planned Parenthood, which performs some abortions.\n\nFriends first noticed Pannell's resemblance to Pence last summer, a coincidence that became cause for laughter with the campaign for the U.S. presidency then in full swing, he said.\n\n\"And then the election happened and laughing stopped.\"\n\nPannell said the results of the Nov. 8 presidential election, which Republican Donald Trump won with Pence as his runningmate, spurred him into action.\n\n\"After a few weeks of seeing ... the despair and the disillusion among my friends, I really felt like I needed to do something,\" said Pannell, who has also set up a website for donations."}
-{"text": "McDonald's is launching its Cold Brew Frozen Coffee and Cold Brew Frappe on Wednesday.\n\nThe fast-food chain has been building out its McCaf\u00e9 coffee menu over the last year.\n\nMcDonald's expansion into coffee could be hurting Starbucks' sales, according to analysts.\n\nMcDonald's is taking aim at Starbucks with two new menu items.\n\nOn Wednesday, McDonald's announced it is launching its Cold Brew Frozen Coffee and Cold Brew Frappe. The frozen coffee is a \"strong by smooth\" drink made with blended cold brew extract, while the frappe tops the frozen cold brew with whipped cream and chocolate drizzle.\n\nBoth takes on cold brew will cost customers $2 as part of the $1 $2 $3 menu. The drinks will be available for a limited time starting on Wednesday.\n\nMcDonald's beefing up its cold brew lineup comes at a time when the fast-food giant is trying to boost its coffee credentials.\n\n\"Last year, McDonald's elevated the McCaf\u00e9 experience and introduced caf\u00e9-quality espresso beverages to its McCaf\u00e9 lineup \u2014 Caramel Macchiato, Cappuccino and Americano \u2014 all part of the company's journey of building a better McDonald's,\" the company said in a statement.\n\nThis expansion into coffee could be threatening Starbucks' sales.\n\nIn a note to investors in May, Bernstein analysts said that McDonald's may be taking sales away from Starbucks, in part due to the fast-food chain's growing list of cheaper coffee options.\n\nStarbucks' strategy depends on attracting both coffee snobs who want espresso-based beverages and customers who crave something sweeter and more creative. Domination of the two different categories \u2014 both nitro cold brew and Frappuccinos, for example \u2014 allows Starbucks to charge more than a typical coffee shop does.\n\nNow, McDonald's is adopting the same strategy, but at lower prices. Currently, the fast-food giant has a deal that allows customers to purchase any small McCaf\u00e9 drink for $2."}
-{"text": "Ruby Bhattacharya joins us again to share some perspective on the historical dips in the job market for software engineers, specifically the dot-com bubble of 1999 and the global financial crisis of 2008.\n\nSome of the topics we cover:\n\nwhat jobs in tech bounced back first\n\nwhat happened to software engineers through both job market downturns\n\nhow job placement and interviewing for engineers is different in a recession vs. today\n\nAudio:\n\nPlay in new window || Download\n\nVideo:\n\nFor the text transcript:\n\nMax: Hi guys, Max with the Accidental Engineer. Today we have the good fortune of having Ruby Bhattacharya join us. Ruby is a Senior Technical Recruiter with Coinbase. Something like 15 years experience in the recruiting space.\n\nRuby: That\u2019s right, yeah.\n\nMax: With titles like Director of Recruiting, worked with 500 Startups, the large incubator for startups. So, a lot of experience with recruiting in the startup space. But today, after the last interview that we had, you mentioned when you started in the engineering\u2026or excuse me, in the recruiting business, it was right after the dot-com bubble in like 2001 or 1999.\n\nRuby: Right. Yeah, 1999 after the Y2K rubbish that happened, yeah.\n\nMax: For sure. So, I know that a lot of our audience is relatively younger like if you were maybe in your mid-30\u2019s you might have encountered the dot-com bubble, but for people in their 20\u2019s today they did not live through a big recession in the market for\u2026in the job market, for engineers in the late 90\u2019s. So I wanted to ask you a few questions about how the job market looks like from the perspective of a recruiter, and maybe from the perspective of an engineer, when employers were not eager to try and find people to work for you.\n\nRuby: So, I\u2019d say what happened during that time period is business units were deciding \u201cwhat was the most critical positions to fill?\u201d \u201cWhat do we need minimally to make this product really good?\u201d And in order for us to do that we are going to need the best people. We can\u2019t have \u201caverage\u201d, we can\u2019t have \u201cyou\u2019re okay\u201d-we need absolutely exceptional people to come in and take those positions and they\u2019ll normally be senior level positions. A lot of time business groups will try and reorganize, obviously reorganize the group so people can get laid off due to that business units shut down, and so on and so forth. So the types of roles that will be available will be high-level jobs, experienced people with eight to ten years of experience, who can manage that on their own and not need a huge support system to be able to, you know, move forward with that product.\n\nMax: So, among your group of friends at the time, I guess\u2026 Had you moved to the San Francisco Bay area at that point?\n\nRuby: So, during the Y2K I was in the UK, and so I experienced what happened in the UK after that, what happened to the job market. When I came over here it was 2005 so I believed there was\u2026we were just coming out of a dot-com recession. So seeing\u2026\n\nMax: That\u2019s five years.\n\nRuby: Yeah, that\u2019s five years. So 2005, things started improving. The way you know things are improving is because companies start not only hiring sales people, but they start hiring recruiters before they hire anyone else. So recruiters were being hired, some of the major players in San Francisco at the time were people like Wells Fargo, Charles Schwab, these are the people who you work for typically, you know, it was mostly financial in 2005. And then they started hiring like crazy. People started hiring like crazy again because the recession was lifting, we started hiring a huge amount\u2026 I was hiring a huge amount of developers, project managers, QA, it was obvious these people were starting to build stuff again and they had the money to be able to hire people.\n\nThe way you know things are improving is because companies start not only hiring sales people Click To Tweet\n\nMax: And then maybe three, four years later, from 2005 was the Financial Crisis.\n\nRuby: Yes. So then it was good for a little bit, and then 2008 hit me as well as a lot of other people. So companies were laying off engineers and, computer science folks left right and center. And what it was left with, what the company would be left with, was really strong superior level engineers who they knew would be able to, you know, take the load. They could work minimally on their own without the support, and that\u2019s how people got jobs. It was still a job markets, people were still looking for things, but they tended to be very niche roles and they tended to be high skill level and with a lot of experience, and then those sorts of people ended up getting roles. So really what I would say is, try and have as much breadth of experience as possible and get that experience coming now because you don\u2019t when it\u2019s going to happen.\n\nMax: Yeah. You were telling me earlier that after the dot-com bubble burst, and, I guess, after the Financial Crisis, the first jobs to come back, the first roles that recruiters are hiring for whether in tech companies or elsewhere, were sales roles. Do you mind sharing why that might be the case? Like why that happened?\n\nRuby: Yeah. It seems like the most bizarre thing to do is to hire salespeople when you\u2019re starting off. But what has tended to happen with a lot of startups have the attitude that if we hire sales people first, we\u2019ll sell the product, we get traction, then we build more of the product, and it\u2019s more like we have something minimal, we\u2019re gonna sell it, and then we\u2019re gonna build it after we\u2019ve sold it, and start customizing it for the customer. I\u2019m not saying this is the best way to do things, I wouldn\u2019t necessarily recommend a CEO hire a bunch of salespeople. I\u2019d much rather see a CEO hire a bunch of engineers first and make the product happen and then\u2026 A lot of the time it\u2019s that Google attitude of \u201cit will sell itself.\u201d The company I work for currently, I mean, we bring in like, you know, $3 million in revenue a month, you know, we haven\u2019t got any sales people. So, and we don\u2019t have any marketing. So at the end of the day, if the people are smart enough and they build a good enough product and you stay with focusing on how\u2026not how sexy the company is, but what are they doing? What are they doing technologically wise? Are they at the forefront of the business? Do we need to work for trendy companies? What technologies are these technologies companies using? They may not be using the best, but if you wanna really nail it down, you start going for the companies that are using the latest technologies in an innovative space that no one else is dealing with. That\u2019s a very advisable thing to do.\n\nMax: Very, very different business models like I know that it\u2019s common\u2026 there\u2019s kind of a spectrum of how many or what proportion of employees are in engineering versus sales, and that\u2019s maybe\u2026that\u2019s generally a pretty public number about employers, but as engineers who are job searching, is there any kind of takeaway that they can make or judgment they can make regarding your company?\n\nRuby: Yeah, definitely. So, there\u2019s someone I\u2019m trying to recruit currently who is working for an organization that has ended up being a sales heavy organization. It\u2019s a sales company, right? That\u2019s what she\u2019s working for. So what she has noticed at working at a sales company, is that if they have that as the focus, engineering kind of takes a backseat. So, therefore, they don\u2019t get to use the latest technologies, they\u2019re just keeping things running as a basic minimum. They\u2019re not gonna be innovative, they\u2019re not gonna have the projects that are juicy because they\u2019ve got the people behind it and they\u2019re often using people instead of technology to do the job.\n\nMax: So manual work versus automation.\n\nRuby: Manual work versus automation. Now, a company can choose to do that. They can choose to like have people doing some stuff that it would take a group of engineers, you know, a bit to figure out how to automate all these processes. But the fact that they\u2019re not automating it, you know, means you\u2019re not going to get into these juicy problems. It means you\u2019re supporting a sales organization. I\u2019m not saying there\u2019s anything wrong with working for an organization that\u2019s sales heavy, but it\u2019s a question to ask, how many sales people do you have? How many engineers do you have? And then you can cut\u2026and then you can get a sense. Because if I was to tell you, like, we\u2019ve got 50 engineers and 110 people and no sales people, you see it\u2019s kind of\u2026it kind of makes a difference, you know, between another company saying, \u201cOh, yeah it\u2019s 50-50 \u201c or \u201cWe\u2019ve mostly got salespeople.\u201d\n\nI\u2019m not saying there\u2019s anything wrong with working for an organization that\u2019s sales heavy, but it\u2019s a question to\u2026 Click To Tweet\n\nMax: So in the recruiting process, in our last interview, you briefly mentioned about the 360 recruiting process. So, for those people who don\u2019t know what the 360 recruiting processes is, what that entails about the process by which employers find employees, do you mind kind of sharing what that means?\n\nRuby: Yeah. Okay, so it\u2019s more like\u2026it\u2019s really more a recruiting term than anything else. 360 recruiting means that you\u2019ve got one point of contact right from the beginning. So the person who reached out to you or you apply to starts working with you through the process, they take\u2026they just try and prep you, take you through each interview, or sync up with you during that time. Then if you get the job, they\u2019ll make the offer, close it out, give you the offer. So they\u2019re involved for the whole process and they will organize, facilitate everything that needs to happen in order for you to get the job. So that\u2019s really what 3\u2026you just get one person. And in bigger companies you don\u2019t always get one person, it can be a couple of people who you\u2019re gonna be going to. And I wouldn\u2019t worry about that, it just means that organization is being very efficient at finding more candidates, finding more suitable people, we\u2019re able to talk to more people, and that\u2019s what that means. So it\u2019s nothing to worry about when you\u2019ve been handed off from one person to a different person. It\u2019s actually a good thing because you\u2019ll be handed over to a recruiter who will be your advocate throughout that whole process.\n\nMax: In contrast to having a phone screen with Ruby, and then another screen with Max, and then onsite with Joey, and then another onsite with Sally\u2026\n\nRuby: And then me coming in every time to check in how you\u2019re doing, and then we have the salary discussion, and then hopefully you get an offer, and then I work with management to come up with a comp package, and then I\u2019ll give it. At the moment what I\u2019m doing is mainly going from dealing\u2026 Once the person is deemed technically competent and they\u2019re good at what they do, I take them from there and put them through the process.\n\nMax: I think the scariest aspect for a lot of engineers in applying for jobs and going through the 360 recruiting process is dealing with a technical screening or a skills test. And the best engineers may be less fearful of that step, but I think everyone has apprehensions about what might get asked of them. So, one of the things I\u2019m curious about, and I think our audience is curious about, is how skill tests or technical screenings might have changed from post dot-com, post-financial crisis to now. Like, are there\u2026is there more of an emphasis on technical screens these days? Or are the nature of questions or the amount of time that other pretty process focuses on skills tests changing?\n\nRuby: I would say that depends from company to company. There\u2019s one company that I know that takes three months to hire people. That\u2019s the way they wanna do it. And if you wanna\u2026if you\u2019re okay with that, that\u2019s great. But there\u2019s other people do wanna get through it very quick so it\u2019ll happen in a week. It depends on the company. For example, with Coinbase, what we do\u2026it has a very high technical bar. So we do need to incorporate a huge amount of coding and architecture challenges to make sure that this person has the adequate amount of knowledge to be able to work on the products that we\u2019re asking them to work on. So what will happen is, the first tech screen will be\u2026tends to be an hour. This differs from company to company obviously, but it will be around this kind of process. You get the Google Hangout tech screen and don\u2019t worry about these things. The best thing to do, don\u2019t try and pick a language that you don\u2019t know, or you\u2019re not sure about, or you just want to impress someone with. Use the language you know really, really well, then do the exercise. Because the whole point of that is to see how you\u2019re thinking and how you logically can to go through a problem. That\u2019s what they\u2019re looking for. Not necessarily how many stages of this interview you got through.\n\nYeah. And then further on from that, like there\u2019s further technical assessments. You come on site and you do a further onsite coding challenge with an engineer. You do a further onsite challenge with an engineer on architecture. Okay? And then you have a take-home exercise which is a challenge that you have to do. You have to do all of these things before you\u2019re even gonna be coming in for your last interview, which tends to be with our company, it tends to be a panel interview, sorry, a paired programming interview, where you come in for the whole day, you\u2019re paired up with two people from the team, you get to meet the team, you get to meet management senior leadership as well. And then after that point, we make the offer. But you can see along each stage of the way technical coding, coding, it\u2019s part of every single interview that we do. So I don\u2019t know if every single company does that, I don\u2019t think so necessarily, but I think when you have a very innovative company with a high engineering bar, expect that that\u2019s what\u2019s gonna happen. And don\u2019t be, you know, too worried about it.\n\nMax: I think one of the reasons that applicants for engineering roles are apprehensive about skills tests is the time investment in comparison to a conversational screening call. I know that one signal, one big tip to job seekers and people going through these application processes, is that you should definitely feel free to judge and vet employers by whether you have a partner on the inside while you do these assessments. Because it\u2019s a very strong signal that that employer cares about seeing how you\u2019re thinking, but also that they have skin in the game and that they\u2019re paying a cost in having of an employee sit with an interviewee, a prospective candidate, through your skills test. That is a huge signal in contrast to the kind of take-home problems that I think a lot of people get turned off by. And there\u2019s a reason you guys get turned off by this and I\u2026we both get it. So that\u2019s something I think changes depending on the job market and depending on how overwhelmed an employer is with\u2026\n\nView the interview directly on YouTube here.\n\nIf you have experience with the tech job market taking a downturn, please share it with us in the comments below!"}
-{"text": "The P.R.-obsessed NFL is still susceptible to bad optics.\n\nJay Glazer of FOX reports that former Saints employee Mike Cerullo has been hired by the league office. He\u2019s a director of football administration, working in the department that will be responsible for determining the discipline to be imposed, if any, on Saints coach Sean Payton for his interactions with officials on Thursday night.\n\nFormer Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma outed Cerullo as a disgruntled former employee of the Saints, a theme that continued throughout the legal drama that emerged in the aftermath of the allegation that the Saints gave players a financial incentive to inflict injury on opponents. The league said he should be \u201ccommended\u201d for coming forward.\n\nSome will now say that he\u2019s actually been rewarded, five years later, for helping the NFL with its effort to punish the Saints for (in my view) a trumped-up charge without (in former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue\u2019s view) considering broader cultural realities, including for example the fact that plenty of other teams were giving players a little extra money for doing that which they already had a natural incentive to do \u2014 render opponents incapable of continuing via the application of clean, legal hits."}
-{"text": "\u201cHappy New Year!\u201d said the cute 40-something redhead, just as Rosh Hashanah services concluded last week. Her brown eyes caught mine, and then she surprised me with a gentle stroke of my bare arm and a peck on the cheek. I don\u2019t know her, I thought, but I sure would like to.\n\nThis is something new, given that I am a transgender woman in the midst of yet another transition: exploring my sexual attraction beyond the \u201cstraight\u201d label.\n\nBeing turned-on by this petite woman\u2019s soft caress, my mind turned to thoughts of several sexy cis lesbians, a bevy of binary trans beauties and a few fascinating gender non-conforming folks I just met at an LGBTQ gathering in steamy Palm Springs, CA. My sexual attraction has developed a fluidity, four months after bottom surgery.\n\nAs I processed those fun, flirty feelings, I thought to myself that synagogue was just about the last place I should be thinking about sexual urges. Ah, lust; one of the seven deadly sins of Christian lore. One rabbi claimed that the original list actually has its roots in the Talmud.\n\nI\u2019m not one to argue, being \u201cNewish Jewish.\u201d I grew up Irish Catholic, and nine months ago, I began the process of converting.\n\nIt was back in my all-boys Catholic high school that I first learned of the seven deadly sins \u2014 pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed and sloth. Reading the list now, they seem remarkably out of step with our modern LGBTQ experience (fuck off if you use that horrible phrase \u201clifestyle\u201d). So, why can\u2019t we come up with our own list of seven queer sins?\n\nHere\u2019s mine, and I\u2019ll say right up front: I\u2019m no angel.\n\nPride Sponsorship\n\nI was blessed to have marched in L.A. Pride and to have been honored as a community hero leading the NYC Pride March earlier this summer. But I was sad to see corporations given priority over people. Why must everyone else wait hours to bring up the rear so that banks, beer brewers, airlines and other sponsors can step out front? I know the money raised ultimately benefits our cause, but why give our benefactors a more prominent position than our own? It\u2019s a sin, I tell ya.\n\nRejection\n\nIs there an LGBTQ person alive who hasn\u2019t felt rejection of some kind? This is one of those sins that we experience twofold: as the rejected, as well as in our rejection of others. Trans women like me too often experience this, from cis haters and gay opponents alike, especially TERFs, but it\u2019s far worse for trans women of color. Bisexuals face erasure daily. It\u2019s rough for NBs and GNC folx, too. And we, in turn, reject those who deny our rights and resent those who align with our enemies. Hell, I don\u2019t lose a wink of sleep committing that sin.\n\nFeeding My Emotions\n\nName your poison: Chocolate, ice cream, or better yet, chocolate ice cream. Too often, I respond to the rejections, oppressions and daily depression with doses of alternatingly sugary or salty sweets, cholesterol-centric comfort food, and I drink my share of booze, from margaritas to beer to wine. (Manischewitz doesn\u2019t count. Sure, it\u2019s a vice, but on those really bad days, it\u2019s just how we cope.)\n\nLust, and Lack Thereof\n\nWe are sexual beings. Love is love, and although I have always considered myself straight, I do recognize I am evolving. While I have never considered masturbation a sin, it\u2019s a relief to recognize Judaism has no moral compunction compared to my repressed Irish Catholic upbringing, especially given my newfound pleasure center. So is lust a sin? Not in my book. I think the absence of it can be, however; when we trans women suppress our natural testosterone, our sexual drive is often inhibited. For some of us, it never rebounds. That is an awful price to pay to be who we know we are.\n\nOutrage\n\nLike rejection, we experience this sin both as victim and as perpetrator. As a woman and as a trans person, I find plenty of things to be outraged about, daily. But in recent months, I\u2019ve tried to temper my emotions, avoid anger and embrace forgiveness. My biggest challenge, especially at this time of year: how can I ever forgive those who have made my life a living hell? Why can\u2019t I \u201clet it go?\u201d I\u2019m apparently still not done being outraged.\n\nUnemployment\n\nSo much for my happy new year. My most recent dismissal fell on Rosh Hashanah, as part of a wider layoff at a low-paying but reliable marketing consulting outfit. I realized I\u2019ve lost four jobs in the five years since I came out. This isn\u2019t just a run of bad luck; one in four trans people have lost a job due to bias, and more than 75 percent of trans workers report some kind of workplace discrimination, according to NCTE. It\u2019s a sin that once we finally live our truth, employers conveniently find reasons like \u201cperformance issues\u201d and \u201cbudget cuts\u201d to kick us to the curb.\n\nYoga Pants\n\nSorry, no shame here. As a sometimes outraged, newly unemployed, single mom of three who feeds her emotions after being rejected (and yet still feels lust), I freely admit that my yoga pants are 100 percent dedicated to couch potatoing, and not yoga. If donning workout wear without working out is a sin, I\u2019ll just plead guilty right now and take my punishment, while remaining casually comfortable. Technically, I am only somewhat sloth-like. When it counts, I clean up pretty good.\n\nIn fact, you\u2019ll see me this week wearing my black LBD from the back of my closet, as my children and I attend the Kol Nidre service. It\u2019s the beginning of a 24-hour period of repentance known as Yom Kippur, meaning \u201cDay of Atonement.\u201d\n\nWe will fast, reflect, and mourn all those we have lost. Tradition holds that we will pray the Unetaneh Tokef, in which we will \u201cacknowledge the enormity\u201d of this time. The prayer suggests we must consider \u201cwho shall live and who shall die,\u201d a line that causes a widow like me to choke up every damn time.\n\nUnlike the faith I was raised in, there is as much emphasis on forgiving others for their sins as there is in admitting our own failures and making amends.\n\nThis is what Jews do. I am proud to be counted among them.\n\nOh, and I look forward to seeing that little redhead again, too.\n\nImage via Getty"}
-{"text": "EMBED >More News Videos Deep Blue, a 20-foot great white shark spotted off the coast of Guadalupe Island, is widely considered to be among the biggest great white sharks ever filmed.\n\nCAPE COD, Mass. -- The summer season is off to a colorful start for one Cape Cod restaurant that received an incredibly rare blue lobster out of the blue earlier this week.The staff at Arnold's Lobster & Clam Bar first shared news of the brilliant blue lobster's arrival on June 8, posting photos from owner Nathan Nickerson III and writing on Facebook that the creature had been caught in the Atlantic and delivered by a supplier.If you were hoping to score a blue lobster feast, you'll have to settle for feasting just your eyes on the rare creature. The lobster is still alive, and Arnold's is planning to either release it back into the ocean or donate it to an aquarium.When reached on Facebook, the restaurant said they'd never before seen a blue lobster in person. The University of Maine's Lobster Institute pegs the odds of finding a blue lobster at 1 in 2 million \"The [blue] coloration comes from a genetic defect that causes the lobster to produce an excessive amount of a particular protein that gives the lobster that unique coloration,\" the institute explained in a fact sheet about colored lobsters.In the ocean, lobsters are usually blue-green or brown in color, turning their signature bright red during the cooking process. In addition to blue lobsters, the Lobster Institute is aware of live albino, yellow and brilliant red lobsters, as well as lobsters with calico-patterned and split-color shells.Among the group of uncommon lobsters, the albino is the rarest: the University of Maine said you've only got a 1-in-100-million chance of finding one."}
-{"text": "ARGENT NEWS! New Championship, Promos, Drafting, and MUCH More!\n\n\n\n\n\nIf you prefer a video version of the news, click below:\n\n\n\n\n\nOtherwise we have a lot of catch up to do this week and a ton of news!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nQUICK REMINDERS:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJust a couple reminders I thought we should go over, especially for people newer to the game.\n\n\n\n\n\nFirstly, if you are wanting to connect with the community at large, get questions you have answered, etc be sure to join the Argent Saga Facebook group! It is located HERE\n\n\n\nFor any judge questions, such as questions on how cards/card interactions work or general gameplay inquiries, be sure to join the Argent Judge group and ask it there instead of the normal Facebook group. You can find that\n\n\n\nFor selling and buying card singles, or any transaction really on Facebook be sure to check out the official group since it isn\u2019t allowed in the above groups. Get to it\n\n\n\nFor any judge questions, such as questions on how cards/card interactions work or general gameplay inquiries, be sure to join the Argent Judge group and ask it there instead of the normal Facebook group. You can find that HERE For selling and buying card singles, or any transaction really on Facebook be sure to check out the official group since it isn\u2019t allowed in the above groups. Get to it HERE\n\nAnd lastly, be sure to check into our website here for Top 8 lists/breakdowns of all major Argent Saga events, in addition to our weekly news here both in video and article form.\n\n\n\n\n\nSTREAMING OF ARGENT SAGA:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis Friday we here at TCGScrubs will be streaming a mini competition of Argent Saga at Shenanigans Esports and Gaming Venue! This is an Austin vs. San Antonio event that will serve as a preview of what we might see later on, as it is allowing people to proxy cards they need from the next set \u2018Generations\u2019 in addition to any promo cards they may need that are not readily available.\n\n\n\nThis will also serve to help test the stream for when we will be driving out to broadcast the Regionals at the same store later this month! So be sure to follow both Shenanigan\u2019s Youtube and Twitch, as well as ours to see that this Friday and later this month!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOHIO CHAMPIONSHIP:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA new Championship was announced! This one will be taking place in Ohio where Argent Saga is located at! This will be taking place November 2nd-3rd with $5,000 in cash prizes on the line. There will also be side events that Friday to win Prize Wall items and more!\n\n\n\nThere is also the $100 VIP package which includes 10 promo stones, Buckeye promo, Ruka Promo, custom dice, and more! For full details check out the event page There is also the $100 VIP package which includes 10 promo stones, Buckeye promo, Ruka Promo, custom dice, and more! For full details check out the event page HERE\n\n\n\n\n\nWAVE 2.0 FOILING:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSo Wave 2.0 of Betrayal is out! If you missed it or your locals haven\u2019t gotten it, here is a look above at what the foiling is now. As you can see, they are now legible! The foiling no longer goes over the text box or name of the card, making it much easier to see what it says.\n\n\n\nThe scratch foiling I personally am still not a fan of, because you straight up can\u2019t see the art on the card (and since there are no normal versions of these cards, the art will never get its full due). But the other foiling looks superb now for sure. I haven\u2019t seen any complaints as of yet on card quality or scratching etc that plagued the first set. We\u2019ll let you know if that comes up, or any difference for the numbered full art cards since we haven\u2019t seen anyone pull that from 2.0 yet as well.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGENESIS SPOILED:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn case you missed it, Generations, the mini expansion set for the game was fully spoiled! You can see these spoilers on their website HERE . We will have a video going over everything in detail later this week or next week hopefully. In the meantime check out the website, or our video where we exclusively spoiled a card from the set and went into detail of it.\n\n\n\n\n\nNEW PROMOS:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWe got several new promos! These were revealed via the Argent Saga website. I\u2019m not sure if there has been a designation of what they are all tied to, but keep a lookout for events or locals that my get them in some fashion!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOn the subject of promos a new promo was unlocked for Indianapolis! This was unlocked since 100 people registered for the event already! It is the GZ Promo, which a lot of people have been having trouble getting. This is pretty cool, and is automatically unlocked if you are getting the VIP package. So be sure to get that, which also comes with all the other promos and extras as well!\n\n\n\n\n\nMORE REGIONAL EVENTS:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThey also added a bunch of new Regionals! These are the smaller events held at various gamestores across the country. You can check out the official list HERE for every single one.\n\n\n\nThere is now 30 total events! Some, like in TX, have multiple events in similar locations over the next couple months, which is really cool for people like us that are near them. The website shows how many people they can hold, locations, contact information, and more!\n\n\n\n\n\nUnfortunately, it does look like 2 events on the list are cancelled. One is at Kirwan\u2019s Game Store who have been big advocates for Argent Saga. They cancelled because they didn\u2019t like that their event was at the same time as the Argent Championship. While the timing could be a little unfortunate, it does seem weird to straight up cancel the event. There were already posts from several people saying they were planning on attending that event and cannot attend the Championship, so now they have nowhere to go.\n\n\n\n\n\nKirwan did something similar when they ran Force of Will. They were the official store for a WGPQ event, and ended up cancelling it even though the attendance was there and even people willing to upfront cash to increase prizing and guarantee no store loss. Whenever something happens they don\u2019t like, they seem to cancel the event regardless of player input, which is unfortunate for everybody since as of right now they were the only NY store running a Regional event.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPOSSIBLE DRAFT:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSo one thing that a lot of people have been asking for is the possibility of drafting. This is a very popular thing in card games as it brings excitement during things like releases, and a random different type of game that you can constantly do on a whim.\n\n\n\n\n\nFrom the get go it felt like the possibility of draft was not going to be realized, especially due to the logistics of making a game structured like Argent Saga into a draftable format. However it seems like the company might be getting close to it, especially after the burst in the game\u2019s popularity.\n\n\n\n\n\nIn a Facebook post, Jim (owner of AS) said that he had just come out of a meeting where they were discussing draft in future sets. Questions came up obviously for how things like Affinity would work, access to Champion/Spirits etc. We don\u2019t know any details or when this integration may happen, but it\u2019s great to hear it\u2019s happening at some point! He re-iterated they are working on this during a livestream he did as well.\n\n\n\n\n\nSlightly related to this was another announcement that could be used for drafting in the future. It is going to be used for Set 2: Revelations, and is a Sneak Peek event. This was described as a format that will possibly act as a pre-release (details aren\u2019t all there). It would take place in November.\n\n\n\n\n\nHe ran a poll asking what people would like to see in the event, and by far the clear winner is people wanting to just pay $20 and get 5 packs of the new set plus a promo. I like the sound of this and it could be a lot of fun depending on how it\u2019s executed. Considering they are just now doing a poll for it, it\u2019s probably too early to tell for sure what this could end up looking like.\n\n\n\n\n\nREVELATIONS PRE-ORDER:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpeaking of Revelations, it is up for Pre-Order now! The link and announcement was posted on Facebook, showing that you can now pre-order it through a distributor. This means you most likely can pre-order at your locals or wherever relevant.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOrders needing to be locked in by October 3rd! If you are curious on card distribution, numbers, etc check out the listing\n\n\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s important to get pre-orders in, as it allows a minimum allocation of product, as well as guaranteeing you don\u2019t miss out on the set if it proves to be popular. The release date is November 11th, with Pre-Orders needing to be locked in by October 3rd! If you are curious on card distribution, numbers, etc check out the listing HERE\n\nDALLAS EVENT COMING:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA new event is possibly announced! This one is near and dear to us since it\u2019s closer. Jim posted on the Facebook group again announcing that he\u2019d be visiting Dallas area in Texas and will be running an event!\n\n\n\nHe ran a poll asking what day of the month people would prefer, and the biggest winner so far was January 3rd-5th. We don\u2019t know what type of event or scale this could be, but over 100 people voted in the poll which is promising. Dallas events have tended to have pretty big crowds from the couple card games I\u2019ve seen. I look forward to hopefully hearing more of this!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s all the news for this week (or past 2 weeks)! If I missed anything please let us know, especially if it\u2019s important enough to cover next week. And with that we\u2019ll see you next week!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Interesting things happen when little boys grow up with sisters: They are less likely to help mom with housekeeping chores\u2014and they\u2019re more likely to grow up to be Republicans, according to a new paper published in the latest issue of the Journal of Politics (doc).\n\nYoung men who were raised with sisters also are more likely to express socially conservative views on attitudes about gender roles, claim authors Andrew Healy and Neil Malhotra.\n\n\u201cHaving sisters makes males more politically conservative in terms of their gender role attitudes and their partisanship,\u201d they wrote. \u201cParticularly for gender role attitudes, we find that these political socialization effects persist until respondents are well into adulthood.\u201d\n\nThe analysis is based on surveys of more than 3,000 individuals each that were conducted in 2006 and 2008 as part of the ongoing National Longitudinal Survey of Youth\u2019s Children and Young Adults. The survey series, which began in 1987, follows the progress of children 10 years of age and older who were born to women who participated in an earlier large-sample survey fielded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Respondents were in their 20s and 30s at the time of the 2008 survey, though most of the respondents \u201cwere on the young side of this range,\u201d the authors wrote.\n\nUsing a sophisticated statistical technique designed to identify causal relationships, they found that the impact of having sisters rises as the share of siblings who are sisters increases.\n\nAt the extreme, they found that young men who grew up with sisters but no brothers in their household are 8.3 percentage points more likely to identify with the Republican Party than boys who grow up with only brothers.\n\nThe sister effect is smaller but still statistically significant when it comes to attitudes explicitly related to gender roles. Men who had sisters were 3.8 percentage points more likely to agree that \u201ca woman\u2019s place is in the home\u201d than men who did not, wrote Healy, an economist who teaches at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and Mahhotra, a Stanford University political scientist.\n\nThe researchers found that birth order and age difference between siblings also play a role in views on gender and politics. \u201cThe sibling gender effect is stronger for respondents who are close to their siblings in age and somewhat stronger for first-born respondents,\u201d they wrote.\n\nThe researchers also found that while growing up with sisters had an impact on young boys, it had no significant effect on young girls; their political or gender attitudes as young adults were no different from those of women who did not grow up with sisters.\n\nSo why are boys with sisters more inclined to identify with the GOP as young men? Researchers have found that sisters are more likely than their brothers to help wash the dishes, sweep the floor and do other traditionally gender-stereotyped tasks around the house. For example, in the data they examined, about 60% of boys but 82% of girls 10 and older with younger siblings told interviewers they were expected to help with the dishes.\n\nThis early exposure to gender stereotyping, the researchers argue, translates into more socially conservative views in later life.\n\nBut does the sister effect persist across an individual\u2019s lifetime? We\u2019ll have to wait to see what happens when these young people are interviewed in future surveys.\n\nOther data suggest the answer may be no. Healy and Malhotra analyzed data collected in the University of Michigan\u2019s Political Socialization Panel study. For this project the same individuals were interviewed four times between 1965 and 1997.\n\nIn the early waves of the survey they found about a 15 percentage-point difference in the probability that men in their late teens and 20s would be Republicans. But the \u201csisters effect\u201d slowly diminished in later surveys as these men moved into their 30s and had dropped to a statistically insignificant 5.7 percentage points by 1997 when most were in their mid- to late-40s.\n\nAt the same time, they found that some socially conservative attitudes toward gender persisted far longer. Respondents in the four waves were asked if \u201cmothers should remain at home with young children and not work outside the home.\u201d\n\nIn the final survey in 1997, men in their 40s with sisters were still 12.5 percentage points more likely to agree with this statement than men with only brothers.\n\nAre gender roles within families changing? Studies by the Pew Research Center suggest the answer is yes. See our reports: Modern Parenthood, A Tale of Two Fathers, Modern Marriage."}
-{"text": "May 1956. Holloman Air Force Base, Alamogordo, New Mexico. The preflight briefing took place in the office of the base\u2019s commanding general, but the center of attention was a cocky young Navy pilot named Glenn Tierney. He was dead certain that he was about to win a shoot-off between two weapons competing to become the United States\u2019 first self-guided air-to-air missile. The Air Force was betting on the radar-guided Falcon, built by a vast engineering group at Hughes Aircraft. Representing the Navy, Tierney was betting on the heat-seeking Sidewinder, developed by a small cadre at the Naval Ordnance Test Station in China Lake, California.\n\nTierney, the commander of Guided Missile Unit 61, had already demonstrated the lethality of the Sidewinder, blowing up a surface-to-surface Matador missile a few hours earlier. Now, he told his skeptical audience, he planned to fly as a wingman while an Air Force pilot who had never before fired a Sidewinder destroyed a second Matador. When the general scoffed, Tierney told him, \u201cI\u2019ll cover all the bets in the room up to $100.\u201d\n\nAfter $85 was collected, Tierney and an Air Force lieutenant took off in a pair of F-100 Super Sabres. At 30,000 feet and Mach 0.8, they lined up two miles behind a Matador already in the air. \u201cYou got signal?\u201d he radioed to the other pilot.\n\n\u201cI got good signal,\u201d said the pilot, referring to the distinctive growl in his headset, which meant that the heat-seeker in the nose of his Sidewinder had locked onto the infrared radiation of the Matador\u2019s exhaust.\n\n\u201cWell, let her go,\u201d said Tierney.\n\n\u201cIt was a turkey shoot\u2014nothing to it,\u201d Tierney recalls with a chuckle. \u201cThe Sidewinder blew that son of a bitch right out of the sky.\u201d Tierney flew back to China Lake with $85 of Air Force money in his wallet.\n\nDespite the Sidewinder\u2019s success at Holloman, the Air Force chose to put its own missile, the Falcon, into service in 1956. The missile was so finicky that in Vietnam, it became synonymous with failure. The Sidewinder, on the other hand, which entered service in the Navy a few months after the Falcon, scored the world\u2019s first guided-missile kill: a Chinese MiG-17 that a Taiwanese F-86 shot down in 1958. Since then, the Sidewinder, later designated the AIM-9 (for Air Intercept Missile), has claimed dozens of victims in Vietnam, several Arab-Israeli conflicts, the Falkland Islands War, and Operation Desert Storm.\n\nThe missile has been built by the hundred thousands not only in the United States but also under license in several NATO countries. Working with stolen plans, the Soviets copied it so faithfully that the Vympel K-13 shared the Sidewinder\u2019s parts numbers. The Soviet missile was exported en masse to Warsaw Pact countries and later copied by the Chinese. But new-and-improved \u2019Winders continue to be assembled by Raytheon in Tucson, Arizona, and the missile has progressed through the alphabet from the AIM-9A to today\u2019s AIM-9X.\n\nEven after all these years, the latest Sidewinder variant still retains the five-inch diameter and rough dimensions of the cigar-shaped original. It\u2019s gotten longer (from just over 109 to 119 inches) and leaner, from 155 pounds to 118 pounds. But like George Washington\u2019s hatchet (\u201cOnly the handle and the blade have been replaced\u201d), the Sidewinder has been modified so thoroughly over the past half-century that just about all that remains of the original is the name. Well, that and the fundamental concept, which dates back to 1947, when an engineering genius named Bill McLean made a rough sketch of what he called a \u201ctarget-seeking gyro.\u201d A few years later, he filed a patent application for a \u201cheat homing rocket.\u201d By the time McLean and his merry band of missileers at China Lake were finished, the Sidewinder had earned a spot on the short list of weapons that have changed the way battles are fought.\n\nAfter World War II, the Naval Ordnance Test Station at China Lake (now the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division) was the Promised Land for weapons development and testing. Situated in the Mojave Desert three hours northeast of Los Angeles, it featured 1,200 square miles of largely unpopulated terrain that was perfect for blowing things up. Its remote location also fostered a self-reliant spirit and contrarian mentality that attracted unconventional thinkers. McLean, a graduate of the California Institute of Technology whose genial and unassuming demeanor hid a mighty intellect (later Sidewinder program manager Frank Cartwright describes him as \u201ca 108 on a scale of 100\u201d), arrived in 1945 to work on air-to-air rockets."}
-{"text": "Singer Miley Cyrus had a message for fans on the issue of climate change during her Friday appearance at the Tinderbox musical festival.\n\n\"All of y'all know how important it is for you all to be involved in politics. The youth, this generation, we are the last f--king hope on this dying f--king planet [...] I don't like there's more f--king trash in the water than living f--king animals that deserve to be there, that have nowhere else to go,\" Cyrus said.\n\n\"And by the f--king way, we don't have anywhere to f--king go, either! There\u2019s no planet B, so don\u2019t f--k it up!\" she added before breaking into song.\n\nCyrus has been outspoken on political issues, like her recent partnership with Planned Parenthood. To raise money for the organization, she is selling hoodies that read \"Don't f*ck with my freedom\" for $175."}
-{"text": "1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 64-65 Elizabeth II, 2015-2016\n\nHOUSE OF COMMONS OF CANADA\n\nBILL C-6\n\nAn Act to amend the Citizenship Act and to make consequential amendments to another Act\n\nHer Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:\n\nR.\u200dS.\u200d, c. C- 29\n\nCitizenship Act\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 3 ( 1 )\n\n1 ( 1 ) The portion of paragraph 5 ( 1 )\u200d(c) of the Citizenship Act before subparagraph (i) is replaced by the following:\n\n(c) is a permanent resident within the meaning of subsection 2 ( 1 ) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act , has, subject to the regulations, no unfulfilled conditions under that Act relating to his or her status as a permanent resident and has\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 3 ( 1 )\n\n( 2 ) Subparagraph 5 ( 1 )\u200d(c)\u200d(i) of the Act is replaced by the following:\n\n(i) been physically present in Canada for at least 1 , 095 days during the five years immediately before the date of his or her application, and\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 3 ( 1 )\n\n( 3 ) Subparagraph 5 ( 1 )\u200d(c)\u200d(ii) of the Act is repealed.\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 3 ( 1 )\n\n( 4 ) Subparagraph 5 ( 1 )\u200d(c)\u200d(iii) of the Act is replaced by the following:\n\n(iii) met any applicable requirement under the Income Tax Act to file a return of income in respect of three taxation years that are fully or partially within the five years immediately before the date of his or her application;\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 3 ( 1 )\n\n( 5 ) Paragraph 5 ( 1 )\u200d(c.\u200d 1 ) of the Act is repealed.\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 3 ( 1 )\n\n( 6 ) Paragraphs 5 ( 1 )\u200d(d) and (e) of the Act are replaced by the following:\n\n(d) if under 55 years of age at the date of his or her application, has an adequate knowledge of one of the official languages of Canada; (e) if under 55 years of age at the date of his or her application, demonstrates in one of the official languages of Canada that he or she has an adequate knowledge of Canada and of the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship; and\n\n( 7 ) Section 5 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection ( 1 ):\n\nLength of physical presence \u2014 calculation\n\n( 1 .\u200d 001 ) For the purpose of subparagraph ( 1 )\u200d(c)\u200d(i), the length of physical presence is calculated in the following manner: (a) for every day during which the person was physically present in Canada as a temporary resident or protected person under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act before becoming a permanent resident, the person accumulates half of a day of physical presence, up to a maximum of 365 days; and (b) for every day during which the person has been physically present in Canada since becoming a permanent resident, the person accumulates one day of physical presence.\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 3 ( 2 )\n\n( 8 ) Subsection 5 ( 1 .\u200d 1 ) of the Act is repealed.\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 3 ( 5 )\n\n( 9 ) Subsection 5 ( 2 ) of the Act is amended by adding \u201cand\u201d at the end of paragraph (a) and by repealing paragraphs (c) and (d).\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 3 ( 6 )\n\n( 10 ) Paragraph 5 ( 3 )\u200d(a) of the Act is replaced by the following:\n\n(a) in the case of any person, the requirements of paragraph ( 1 )\u200d(d) or (e);\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 3 ( 6 )\n\n( 11 ) Paragraph 5 ( 3 )\u200d(b) of the Act is amended by adding \u201cor\u201d at the end of subparagraph (ii) and by repealing subparagraph (iii).\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 3 ( 6 )\n\n( 12 ) Subsection 5 ( 3 ) of the Act is amended by adding \u201cand\u201d at the end of paragraph (b) and by repealing paragraph (b.\u200d 1 ).\n\n( 13 ) Section 5 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection ( 3 ):\n\nDisabled persons\n\n( 3 .\u200d 1 ) For the purposes of this section, if an applicant for citizenship is a disabled person, the Minister shall take into consideration the measures that are reasonable to accommodate the needs of that person.\n\n( 14 ) Subsection 5 ( 4 ) of the Act is replaced by the following:\n\nSpecial cases\n\n( 4 ) Despite any other provision of this Act, the Minister may, in his or her discretion, grant citizenship to any person to alleviate cases of statelessness or of special and unusual hardship or to reward services of an exceptional value to Canada.\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 7 ( 2 )\n\n2 Subsections 9 ( 2 .\u200d 1 ) and ( 2 .\u200d 2 ) of the Act are replaced by the following:\n\nException\n\n( 2 .\u200d 1 ) No application for renunciation may be made if the Minister has provided the applicant with a notice referred to in subsection 10 ( 3 ) or has commenced an action under subsection 10 .\u200d 1 ( 1 ) for a declaration in respect of the applicant until the Minister provides the applicant with his or her decision under subsection 10 ( 5 ) or a final judgment has been rendered in that action, as the case may be.\n\nProcessing of application suspended\n\n( 2 .\u200d 2 ) If an application for renunciation is made and the Minister subsequently provides the applicant with a notice referred to in subsection 10 ( 3 ) or commences an action under subsection 10 .\u200d 1 ( 1 ) for a declaration in respect of the applicant, the processing of that application is suspended until the Minister provides the applicant with his or her decision under subsection 10 ( 5 ) or a final judgment has been rendered in that action, as the case may be.\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 8\n\n3 Subsection 10 ( 2 ) of the Act is repealed.\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 8\n\n4 Subsections 10 .\u200d 1 ( 2 ) and ( 3 ) of the Act are replaced by the following:\n\nEffect of declaration\n\n( 3 ) A declaration made under subsection ( 1 ) has the effect of revoking a person\u2019s citizenship or renunciation of citizenship.\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 8\n\n5 Sections 10 .\u200d 3 and 10 .\u200d 4 of the Act are repealed.\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 8\n\n6 Section 10 .\u200d 6 of the Act is replaced by the following:\n\nNo appeal from interlocutory judgment\n\n10 .\u200d 6 Despite paragraph 27 ( 1 )\u200d(c) of the Federal Courts Act , no appeal may be made from an interlocutory judgment made with respect to a declaration referred to in subsection 10 .\u200d 1 ( 1 ) or 10 .\u200d 5 ( 1 ).\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 9 ( 2 )\n\n7 Subsection 11 ( 1 ) of the Act is amended by striking out \u201cand\u201d at the end of paragraph (d), by adding \u201cand\u201d at the end of paragraph (c) and by repealing paragraph (e).\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 12 ( 1 )\n\n8 Paragraph 14 ( 1 )\u200d(a) of the Act is replaced by the following:\n\n(a) subparagraph 5 ( 1 )\u200d(c)\u200d(i), in the case of an application for citizenship under subsection 5 ( 1 );\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 17\n\n9 ( 1 ) The portion of section 21 of the English version of the Act before paragraph (c) is replaced by the following:\n\nPeriods not counted as physical presence\n\n21 Despite anything in this Act, no period may be counted as a period of physical presence for the purpose of this Act during which a person, under any enactment in force in Canada, (a) has been under a probation order; (b) has been a paroled inmate; or\n\n( 2 ) Paragraph 21 (c) of the Act is replaced by the following:\n\n(c) has served a term of imprisonment.\n\nR.\u200dS.\u200d, c. 30 ( 3 rd Supp.\u200d), s. 11 ( 1 )\n\n10 ( 1 ) The portion of paragraph 22 ( 1 )\u200d(a) of the English version of the Act before subparagraph (iii) is replaced by the following:\n\n(a) while the person, under any enactment in force in Canada, (i) is under a probation order, (ii) is a paroled inmate, or\n\nR.\u200dS.\u200d, c. 30 ( 3 rd Supp.\u200d), s. 11 ( 1 )\n\n( 2 ) Subparagraph 22 ( 1 )\u200d(a)\u200d(iii) of the Act is replaced by the following:\n\n(iii) is serving a term of imprisonment;\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 19 ( 2 )\n\n( 3 ) Subsection 22 ( 1 ) of the Act is amended by adding \u201cor\u201d at the end of paragraph (e.\u200d 2 ) and by replacing paragraphs (f) and (g) with the following:\n\n(f) if, during the 10 years immediately before the person\u2019s application, the person ceased to be a citizen under paragraph 10 ( 1 )\u200d(a), as it read immediately before the coming into force of section 8 of the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act , or under subsection 10 ( 1 ) or 10 .\u200d 1 ( 3 ).\n\n11 The Act is amended by adding the following after section 23 .\u200d 1 :\n\nSeizure\n\n23 .\u200d 2 The Minister may seize and detain any document that is provided to him or her for the purposes of this Act if he or she has reasonable grounds to believe that it was fraudulently or improperly obtained or used or that the measure is necessary to prevent its fraudulent or improper use.\n\n12 Subsection 27 ( 1 ) of the Act is amended by adding the following after paragraph (i.\u200d 1 ):\n\n(i.\u200d 2 ) prescribing the procedures to be followed in relation to a document that may be seized under section 23 .\u200d 2 , including in relation to its seizure, storage, return and disposition;\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 26\n\n13 The portion of paragraph 27 .\u200d 2 (c) of the Act before subparagraph (i) is replaced by the following:\n\n(c) with regard to the requirements of paragraphs 5 ( 1 )\u200d(d) and (e),\n\nTransitional Provisions\n\nPresence in Canada \u2014 pending applications\n\n14 Paragraphs 5 ( 1 )\u200d(c) and 14 ( 1 )\u200d(a) of the Citizenship Act , as they read immediately before the day on which subsection 1 ( 1 ) comes into force, apply to a person whose application for citizenship was made on or after June 11 , 2015 but before the day on which that subsection comes into force and has not been finally disposed of before the day on which that subsection comes into force.\n\nPresence in Canada \u2014 pending applications (subsections 1 ( 1 ) and ( 2 ))\n\n15 If subsection 1 ( 1 ) comes into force before subsection 1 ( 2 ), then paragraph 5 ( 1 )\u200d(c) of the Citizenship Act , as it read immediately before the day on which subsection 1 ( 2 ) comes into force, applies to a person whose application for citizenship is made on or after the day on which subsection 1 ( 1 ) comes into force but before the day on which subsection 1 ( 2 ) comes into force and has not been finally disposed of before the day on which subsection 1 ( 2 ) comes into force.\n\nIntention to reside in Canada \u2014 citizenship granted\n\n16 Paragraph 5 ( 1 )\u200d(c.\u200d 1 ) of the Citizenship Act , as it read immediately before the day on which subsection 1 ( 5 ) comes into force, is deemed never to have applied to a person whose application for citizenship was made on or after June 11 , 2015 and who was granted citizenship before the day on which that subsection comes into force.\n\nIntention to reside in Canada \u2014 pending applications\n\n17 Paragraph 5 ( 1 )\u200d(c.\u200d 1 ) of the Citizenship Act , as it read immediately before the day on which subsection 1 ( 5 ) comes into force, does not apply to a person whose application for citizenship was made on or after June 11 , 2015 but before the day on which that subsection comes into force and has not been finally disposed of before the day on which that subsection comes into force.\n\nKnowledge of Canada and official language \u2014 pending applications\n\n18 Paragraphs 5 ( 1 )\u200d(d) and (e) of the Citizenship Act , as enacted by subsection 1 ( 6 ), apply to a person whose application for citizenship was made on or after June 11 , 2015 but before the day on which that subsection comes into force and has not been finally disposed of before the day on which that subsection comes into force.\n\nKnowledge of Canada and official language (minors) \u2014 pending applications\n\n19 Paragraphs 5 ( 2 )\u200d(c) and (d) of the Citizenship Act , as they read immediately before the day on which subsection 1 ( 9 ) comes into force, do not apply to a person whose application for citizenship was made on or after June 11 , 2015 but before the day on which that subsection comes into force and has not been finally disposed of before the day on which that subsection comes into force.\n\nCitizenship deemed not to have been revoked\n\n20 A person whose citizenship was revoked under subsection 10 ( 2 ) of the Citizenship Act , as it read immediately before the day on which section 3 comes into force, is deemed never to have had their citizenship revoked.\n\nIntention to reside in Canada \u2014 citizenship granted (resumption)\n\n21 Paragraph 11 ( 1 )\u200d(e) of the Citizenship Act , as it read immediately before the day on which section 7 comes into force, is deemed never to have applied to a person whose application for resumption of citizenship was made on or after June 11 , 2015 and who was granted citizenship before the day on which that section comes into force.\n\nIntention to reside in Canada \u2014 pending applications (resumption)\n\n22 Paragraph 11 ( 1 )\u200d(e) of the Citizenship Act , as it read immediately before the day on which section 7 comes into force, does not apply to a person whose application for resumption of citizenship was made on or after June 11 , 2015 but before the day on which that section comes into force and has not been finally disposed of before the day on which that section comes into force.\n\nPersons serving term of imprisonment \u2014 pending applications\n\n23 Paragraph 21 (c) and subparagraph 22 ( 1 )\u200d(a)\u200d(iii) of the Citizenship Act , as enacted by subsections 9 ( 2 ) and 10 ( 2 ), respectively, apply to a person whose application has not been finally disposed of before the day on which section 9 comes into force.\n\nProhibition on Taking Oath of Citizenship\n\nProhibition \u2014 taking oath\n\n24 Subsection 22 ( 6 ) of the Citizenship Act applies to a person who made an application under subsection 5 ( 1 ) or ( 2 ) or 11 ( 1 ) of that Act before June 11 , 2015 and who is required under that Act to take the oath of citizenship to become a citizen but has not done so before the day on which this section comes into force.\n\n2001 , c. 27\n\nConsequential Amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 42\n\n25 Subparagraph 40 ( 1 )\u200d(d)\u200d(iii) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act is replaced by the following:\n\n(iii) subsection 10 .\u200d 1 ( 3 ) of the Citizenship Act , in the circumstances set out in section 10 .\u200d 2 of that Act.\n\n2014 , c. 22 , s. 43\n\n26 Paragraph 46 ( 2 )\u200d(c) of the Act is replaced by the following:\n\n(c) subsection 10 .\u200d 1 ( 3 ) of the Citizenship Act , other than in the circumstances set out in section 10 .\u200d 2 of that Act.\n\nComing into Force\n\nOrder in council\n\n27 ( 1 ) Subsections 1 ( 1 ), ( 3 ) and ( 7 ) and section 8 come into force on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.\n\nOrder in council\n\n( 2 ) Subsections 1 ( 2 ) and ( 4 ) come into force on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.\n\nOrder in council\n\n( 3 ) Subsections 1 ( 6 ), ( 9 ) and ( 10 ) and section 13 come into force on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.\n\nOrder in council\n\n( 4 ) Sections 11 and 12 come into force on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council."}
-{"text": "Background & Introduction\n\nI am a software engineer, who recently switched companies from Amazon to Uber. I have worked for 6.5 years at Amazon across multiple organizations and geographies. For the past one month, I have been working with the Data R&D organization of Uber at Seattle.\n\nThis post addresses the question my friends and colleagues have asked me, \u201cWhat is the difference in working at Amazon vs. Uber?\u201d\n\nWhat this post is not!\n\nEngineering culture of a company cannot be defined in broad strokes as it is unique to every team and every org. The thoughts presented in this post are based on my observation working with specific teams and organizations and do not represent the broader company culture.\n\nThis post does not reflect upon my rationale to make the first company switch in my career and hence, the content should not be interpreted as such.\n\nFrom Amazon to Uber\n\nThere are multiple commonalities and contrasts between the work culture at both the companies. Some of these can be attributed to the relative size of the companies while others are inherent & unique to the DNA of companies themselves. I am going to outline some noteworthy differences that I have encountered.\n\nDevOps hustle\n\nDevOps hustle is everywhere. Trying to maintain high availability for your services while not impeding rapid pace of innovation and continuous production releases is a hard problem to solve. Even more so, when we are talking about the massive scale at which Amazon and Uber operates. Both companies have a laser sharp focus on operational excellence, but while Amazon has long established, mature processes towards addressing the problem, Uber is still still experimenting with what strategy works best for them.\n\nAmazon might be notorious (unfairly if I may add, see SIDENOTE#1) for heavy ops burden on software engineers with round the clock pager duty & on-call support, the reality is (IMO) that every company with a little ounce of customer obsession would take the reliability of its systems very seriously and Uber is no exception to that. Hence, DevOps hustle at Uber is no different than at Amazon, maybe even more, owing to rapid growth of the newly minted platforms & loosely structured operational processes.\n\nOpen source\n\nUsage of OSS is perhaps the biggest difference that jumped out as a surprise to me when I joined Uber. Uber is an open source first company. This is reflected from its choice of internal tools and technologies to its impressive track record of giving back to the community [see SIDENOTE#2].\n\nBuilding the internal infrastructure around open source technologies gives developers freedom to choose the right tool for the job and spend their energy in solving business problems where innovation is required. This also means that you have a diverse network of developers over the internet to help when stuck trying to debug an issue with a third party library. In contrast, working at Amazon which relies mostly on in-house developed infra & tools, narrows down your list of options to choose the correct tools and limits the amount of support options you have when stuck with an issue.\n\nInstead of building every developer productivity tool itself (for monitoring, dashboarding, paging, recruiting), Uber licenses a lot of tools from companies which provide Software As A Service. These smaller companies with a focused portfolio tend to have better software for their domain that any in-house developed tooling. As a developer, this gives you the latest & the greatest tools to boost your productivity and improve software development lifecycle. This also frees up developers to focus on developing software for business problems & features unique to Uber.\n\nTransparency\n\nAt Uber, there is a weekly hands-on with the company leadership where the execs answer questions from employees. In addition to that there are periodic all-hands at every level of the executive chain.\n\nAs a developer, this gives you transparency around the rationale behind the decisions made that impact you & your work. This helps you align your work more closely with the company objectives and ensures that you are spending your energy trying to solve the right problems. It also gives you visibility into the challenges that exist beyond your immediate team or org. Coupled with the strong emphasis on documentation, this gives you an opportunity to get the answer to every \u201cwhy\u201d that you might have around any decision (technical or not) made. As a hypothetical example, if I have a question on \u201cWhy is Uber leaning towards Go over Java? or Why is my org structured the way it is?\u201d, there would be a document which is accessible to me explaining the reason in great detail.\n\nSuch degree of transparency pertaining to every decision whether technical or not is refreshing and is extremely helpful during on-boarding to your team & understanding the state of the existing infrastructure. In contrast, at Amazon, the level of transparency was exposed on a need to know basis.\n\nNo AWS\n\nI miss the days of getting an auto scaling, fully managed MySQL compatible database on the click on a button. While working at AWS, I underestimated the simplicity that the cloud Infrastructure As A Service (IaaS) has brought in the development lifecycle of a software engineer. Using the cloud services comes at a cost and, at Uber, while you can use any technology that you need to get the job done, you have to justify the cost of paying a cloud vendor vs. managing/developing on your own.\n\nSocial interaction at workplace\n\nDue to the small headcount at the Seattle engineering office of Uber, the work place feels tightly knit where you personally know people other than co-workers in your immediate team. The social events during lunch hours and the cultural site-wide events play an important role in bringing the feeling of togetherness as a unit. In contrast, Amazon operates in small functional units where your social interaction is limited to your two-pizza team (unless you make an extra effort to join company wide events which are always overcrowded).\n\nEngineering challenges\n\nBoth the companies are not very different in the kind of engineering challenges that you would solve. In either case, you would have a business use case which cannot be solved by existing solutions due to the scale and availability requirements (perhaps the requirements for AWS might be greater than Uber\u2019s in different domains). The business problems at these companies might be different but from an engineering perspective, at the end of the day, you are designing systems which work at a larger scale, are more robust, simpler to use and faster than the existing solutions. These solutions are tailored to fit the exact business use case which can be complex and diverse across these companies. Perhaps, the contrast lies in the number of engineers dedicated to solve a problem. A two pizza team working on a problem at Amazon would probably have a single developer working on the solution at Uber.\n\nInvolvement in strategic decisions & roadmap\n\nAt Amazon, this is a topic which is heavily influenced by the org you are working on and the direction set by the executive leadership. I have experienced involvement ranging from no visibility into the data behind a top down mandated project requirement to having complete involvement via an engineering led round table discussion for the 2\u20135 year plans for a technical product. At Uber, every decision associated with the internal product that I own rests with me, right from identifying the gaps to defining success metrics. With my limited exposure at Uber, this seems to be the norm in my org rather than an anomaly (it is a platform org, not a product org) and ties to the point of a single person having more ownership at Uber than at Amazon.\n\nWorking in a remote office\n\nAt Amazon, I used to work at the HQ in Seattle where all the stakeholders, partners and upstream dependencies were accessible in person with a 10 minute walk, whereas at Uber, my stakeholders & dependencies are distributed across geographies. This particular point is very specific to the teams I worked with at either companies, but is nevertheless a big change I felt in terms of my work. With remote dependencies and stakeholders, one has to make extra effort to bring together the synergies. Video calls do not fully substitute the advantages of in-person meetings & discussions. Neither do occasional cross office visits replace the home advantage of having everyone you work with within the same office space.\n\nGround up innovation\n\nUber encourages the software engineers to seek and solve problems outside their immediate work domain and team\u2019s charter. If you identify an engineering problem that you want to tackle and it would benefit Uber, the management is very likely to allow you to spend time in solving that problem even if that problem scope is outside the team\u2019s ownership. In contrast, at Amazon, it is difficult to get visibility of the challenges being faced at other orgs and hence, difficult to work on a problem without actually moving to a different team.\n\nLunch/snacks at office (It matters!)\n\nAmazon does not provide free lunch to its employees and its offices do not have cafes where you can purchase wholesome lunch daily, while Uber has company provided free catered lunch with rotating daily cuisines. No matter how I try to justify that this difference doesn\u2019t matter in the grand scheme of things, the truth is that, having the option to eat lunch at office & availability of on-demand snacks throughout the day has boosted my productivity. No more spending half hour hunting for food in crowded downtown restaurants or the pangs to go home early because you are feeling hungry.\n\nLooking forward\n\nAs I graduate from being a nUber (this is what new hires are called at Uber) and getting some experience under my belt at Uber, I am starting to appreciate how do the company\u2019s core values/tenets manifest in the day to day work, something which Amazon excelled at. As a developer, these tenets help in the process of decision making and bringing alignment in discordant views across an organization. I would write more about this once I have a better understanding of this and other realization that come only with experience.\n\nMeanwhile, you can follow me on Twitter to get updates about my software engineering journey at https://twitter.com/divijvaidya"}
-{"text": "If you want to play Street Fighter V\n\nLoading\n\nLoading\n\nLoading\n\nA Capcom representative definitively confirmed to GameSpot in an interview that Street Fighter V will only release on PC and PlayStation 4.\u201cOne comment we see a lot is that something like a Super Street Fighter 5 is going to come out on Xbox,\u201d the representative said, adding that the partnership between Capcom and Sony is \u201creal\u201d and that Street Fighter V is console exclusive to PS4 for the game\u2019s run, meaning no future ports to another console.The rep also mentioned the partnership gives Capcom the ability to try new things with post-launch content, going beyond marketing support.Earlier today, IGN\u2019s resident fighting game guru Vince Ingenito broke down everything you need to know about Street Fighter V\u2019s new gameplay systems, detailing all the uses of the fancy new \u201cV\u201d Gauge. The preview also covers changes and new move sets for each of the confirmed characters, Ryu, Chun-Li, M. Bison, and Nash.Street Fighter V is confirmed to be at E3 but if you can\u2019t make it to E3 but you will be in attendance for CEO 2015 in Orlando, Florida, you could get your first public hands-on with Street Fighter V.Be sure to stay tuned to IGN for the latest gameplay updates and any potential reveals. You can watch E3 on IGN on almost any connected device. Check out the live stream and press conferences schedule and the full list of games besides Street Fighter V expected to be at E3.\n\nMichael Martin is a freelance writer from Seattle who really, REALLY wants Oro and Sodom to be in the SFV roster. Follow him on Twitter @Bizarro_Mike"}
-{"text": "KOLKATA: Launching a scathing attack on West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Congress president Rahul Gandhi for opposing the NRC in Assam, BJP chief Amit Shah on Saturday said the two leaders should clarify whether the country came first for them or vote bank.\n\nPointing out that the Assam accord was signed by former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, Shah said at that time, the Congress had no problems with the National Register of Citizens (NRC).\n\nHe alleged that for the sake of vote-bank politics, Gandhi was not making his stand clear on illegal migration from Bangladesh.\n\nAttacking Banerjee in her backyard, Shah accused her party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), of \"patronising infiltration from Bangladesh as well as corruption\".\n\nAddressing a well-attended public rally here, the BJP chief began his speech with the slogan of uprooting the TMC government from Bengal and said in order to do that, he would visit all the districts of the state.\n\n\"Why do you (Banerjee) want to keep the Bangladeshi infiltrators? You should make your stand clear,\" he said, adding that the TMC chief was against the NRC for \"vote-bank politics\".\n\nAlleging that the Bangladeshi infiltrators were a vote bank of the previous Communist government in the state and now, they had become a vote bank of the TMC, Shah said, \"Rahul Gandhi and Mamata didi should clarify whether national security is important for them or vote bank. For the BJP, the country comes first.\"\n\nAccusing the TMC of spreading the propaganda that the refugees would be driven out of the country, he said, \"I assure all the refugees that nothing will happen to them.\"\n\nThe BJP-led central government had brought the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 for this purpose, Shah said.\n\nThe bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2016, seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to provide citizenship to the illegal Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.\n\n\"But the Congress and the TMC should clarify whether they agree with the bill or not,\" the BJP chief said.\n\nSaying some people talked about the human rights of the illegal migrants, he wondered what would happen to the human rights of the citizens of Bengal - both Hindus and Muslims. \"They do not bother about that,\" Shah said.\n\nReferring to posters displaying \"Anti-Bengal BJP to leave Bengal\", he said the saffron party was neither anti-Bengal nor anti-Bengali, but was against the \"misrule\" of the TMC.\n\nGiving a call for ousting the TMC government from Bengal, Shah claimed that the party patronised corruption and wondered where did the \"huge funds\" provided to the state by the 14th Finance Commission go.\n\nHe said the people of Bengal had given a chance to the Congress, the Communists and the TMC, but \"they failed to usher in development. Give a chance to the BJP under Narendra Modi. We will bring in development\".\n\nAlleging that the TMC government tried to put hurdles in the way of immersion of Durga idols, Shah said, \"Once the BJP comes to power in the state, Durga puja, Saraswati puja will be celebrated with fanfare. Until the BJP assumes power in Bengal, our vijay rath (victory chariot) will not stop.\"\n\nThe BJP chief also claimed that television news channels were blacked out by the TMC in various parts of West Bengal to prevent people from listening to his address.\n\n"}
-{"text": "by Tamas Pradarics\n\nFormer interim WBA middleweight titlist Dmitrii Chudinov continues his journey back into serious ranking positions in order to secure his first world title shot when he challenges the vacant WBC Silver 168-pound title on May 5 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Chudinov\u2019s opponent will be unbeaten up-and-comer Azizbek Abdugofurov (10-0, 4 KO), who will enjoy hometown advantage on fight night.\n\nThe Russian pugilist, who is the older brother of former WBA world super middleweight champion Fedor Chudinov, currently stands No. 27 by the WBC at 168 pounds and plans crack in the top 15 with a win over his less experienced foe.\n\nChudinov (21-2-2, 13 KO) grabbed the interim WBA title in late 2013 and secured his most important victories the following year in the form of a 12-round decision over previously unbeaten Danish contender Patrick Nielsen, and a third-round annihilation of former world title challenger Mehdi Bouadla. Dmitrii lost his belt in 2014 by 12th round TKO against extrovert Briton star Chris Eubank Jr.\n\nFollowing half a dozen victories over somewhat lukewarm opposition, Chudinov traveled to Denmark where he suffered a ten-round points loss to veteran challenger Lolenga Mock this past January.\n\nThe Russian came back in the winning column on February 24 in Nuremberg, Germany, where he beat Siarhei Khamitski, A.K.A. Sergey Komitsky, over eight rounds on the undercard of Callum Smith\u2019s World Boxing Super Series semi-final win over Nieky Holzken. Holzken was originally scheduled to go into battle against Chudinov until Juergen Braehmer fell out with an injury and the Holland prospect stepped in against Smith to save the event.\n\nChudinov, who is enjoying the managerial backing of Al Siesta\u2019s Siesta Boxing Promotions, is now in Spain for his training camp to get ready to the challenge less than a month ahead of him.\n\n\u201cI want to thank my manager Al Siesta for creating such a great opportunity to fight for the WBC Silver title. Me and my team are out in Alicante, Spain preparing for this important fight. I have fought all over the world, so going to Azizbek\u2019s home to fight him is of no concern to me,\u201d said Chudinov.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity to fight a great boxer in his home country, I take great pride in that! Me and my team are preparing like champions for this fight. I have a good team; my coach and manager are all supporting me here as I prepare for Azizbek Abdugofurov. I\u2019m very happy with the work we are doing. We are expecting good results!\u201d\n\nAbdugofurov is a 26-year-old boxer coming from Uzbekistan though he is now living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Azizbek, who is promoted by Vikram Swapragasam, is yet to taste defeat in ten pro outings, previously held the WBC Asian Boxing Council belt. The Uzbek prospect has had most of his bouts in Malaysia and Singapore with the one against Chudinov will only be his third appearance on home soil. Abdugofurov last fought this past March when he decisioned Alfonso Tissen in eight frames.\n\nThe May 5 event with the WBC Silver super middleweight title fight as its main attraction in Tashkent has been one of the largest boxing events in the country of Uzbekistan in many years.\n\nYou can reach Tamas Pradarics at pradaricst@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @TomiPradarics."}
-{"text": "Follow @frozenroyalty\n\nLOS ANGELES \u2014 On June 14, Los Angeles, more specifically, Los Angeles area hockey fans, proved the critics wrong.\n\nIndeed, those who claim that Los Angeles is not a hockey town were blown off the ice 250,000 times over, maybe more than that, by the fans who packed the parade route and the rally inside Staples Center, celebrating the Los Angeles Kings winning the 2012 Stanley Cup, the first Stanley Cup Championship in franchise history.\n\nIn a story published this morning, Kings fans, young and old, recent fans to those who have been there from Day One back in 1967, shared their feelings and experiences about what it meant to see their team win it all\u2026finally.\n\nTheir remarks and sentiments were thoughtful, heartfelt, and deeply personal, and they run the gamut of emotions. I hope you will take the time to see what this championship means to a representative sampling of fans, from different walks of life:\n\nLos Angeles To The Hockey World: Here\u2019s 250,000 Reasons Why This Is A Hockey Town\n\nIn this accompanying photo essay, photographer David Sheehan, a Kings fan dating back to the mid-1970\u2019s, captured some of the approximately 250,000 faces behind those thoughts and emotions along the parade route, during the parade, and inside Staples Center during the rally, and afterwards.\n\nCongratulations Los Angeles hockey fans! Like the Kings, you shined, both on Monday night, when the Kings hoisted the Stanley Cup over their heads for the first time, and again during the victory parade and rally on Thursday. You all did Los Angeles proud. You screamed at the tops of your lungs to the hockey world that Los Angeles is, without question, a hockey town. Moreover, in true hockey fashion, you powerfully told the non-believers everywhere what they could do with their skepticism.\n\nWay to go LA!\n\nLos Angeles To The Hockey World: Here\u2019s 250,000 Reasons Why This Is A Hockey Town \u2013 In Photos\n\nAll photos \u00a9 2012 David Sheehan/FrozenRoyalty.net. All rights reserved. Duplication/reproduction/distribution is prohibited without explicit permission.\n\nView as a Gallery (154 photos; Click on an image to view a larger version):\n\nFrozen Royalty by Gann Matsuda is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. You may copy, distribute and/or transmit any story or audio content published on this site under the terms of this license, but only if proper attribution is indicated. The full name of the author and a link back to the original article on this site are required. Photographs, graphic images, and other content not specified are subject to additional restrictions. Additional information is available at: Frozen Royalty \u2013 Licensing and Copyright Information.\n\nFrozen Royalty\u2019s Comment Policies"}
-{"text": "Una turba de comerciantes ambulantes golpearon a una pareja de carabineros que realizaban servicios preventivos en pleno barrio Meiggs, que comienza a repletarse en la apertura de la temporada navide\u00f1a.\n\nLos funcionarios, una cabo segundo y un sargento primero que son parte de la tercera comisar\u00eda de Santiago, fueron trasladados al hospital institucional despu\u00e9s de que varios vendedores ilegales se les fueran encima y que una anciana fuera una de las ciudadanas que los defendi\u00f3.\n\nFuerzas especiales llegaron a la concurrida esquina a controlar a la muchedumbre, logrando capturar a tres de los agresores, que dejaron a los uniformados con heridas en el rostro tras un golpe con un objeto contundente, entre otras lesiones."}
-{"text": "Narcotics delivery to home of Indians' Chris Perez probed\n\nUSA TODAY Sports staff and wire reports\n\nDrug agents are investigating a narcotics delivery to the home of Cleveland Indians closer Chris Perez, authorities said Wednesday.\n\nRocky River (Ohio) Police Chief Kelly Stillman said city officers, a regional narcotics unit and postal inspectors were involved in Tuesday's operation to investigate a delivery to the Perez home in the lakeside Cleveland suburb.\n\nNo charges have been filed and the matter remains under investigation.\n\nAt a news conference Wednesday, the chief said the operation likely originated with a package that looked suspicious to postal employees. \"They took it from there,\" he said.\n\nOfficers with a search warrant took evidence from the Perez house, according to the chief, but the seized items weren't specified.\n\nWhatever was contained in the \"controlled delivery of narcotics\" must be analyzed at the state crime laboratory, according to the chief, who stopped short of speculating what it was.\n\n\"Depending on what it was and how much it was, charges will be filed accordingly,\" Stillman said.\n\n\"I spoke to Chris this morning,\" Indians manager Terry Francona told reporters before Wednesday's game in New York. \"I called him just to make sure he was OK. Other than that we have to allow the process to unfold. Out of respect to everybody involved, that's all I can say.\"\n\nThe Indians' often-polarizing closer has six saves this season, but is on the disabled list with an injured right shoulder. He and Cleveland fans have gotten on each other's nerves over the last couple years, and he recently deactivated his Twitter account after hearing it from fans following a couple of bad outings.\n\nIn previous seasons, Perez has criticized fans for not coming to games, and ownership for not spending money on free agents."}
-{"text": "\u2666 Ruby \u2666 She/Her \u2666 Freetime artist and writer; lurker \u2666\n\n\u2666 Fan of Steven Universe (most of all Rubies), lover of birds and all sorts of fantastical things. \u2666\n\n\u2666 Please NO REPOSTS; currently NOT OPEN for commission work; currently NOT TAKING REQUESTS. \u2666"}
-{"text": "Upon completion of the Acquisition of NettaGrowth International Inc., Khiron\u00b4s total production capacity is expected to increase to up to 220 tonnes\n\nDiversifies Khiron\u00b4s licence composition to include adult use and flower cultivation distribution capabilities\n\nSecures a scientific and investigation agreement with Institute Pasteur of Montevideo , a respected biotechnology researcher and developer in Uruguay\n\nConcurrent with closing, Mr. Michael Beck , experienced capital markets professional and entrepreneur, to join the board of Khiron, and Mr. Joseph Mimran , experienced brand builder and entrepreneur, to join board of Khiron Colombia\n\nTORONTO, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Khiron Life Sciences Corp. (\"Khiron\" or the \"Company\") (TSXV: KHRN), (OTCQB: KHRNF), (Frankfurt: A2JMZC), an integrated medical cannabis company with its core operations in Latin America, announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement for the acquisition of NettaGrowth International Inc. (\"NettaGrowth\"), as previously announced on January 25, 2019. NettaGrowth will, at the time of the closing of the acquisition, own all of the outstanding shares of Dormul S.A. (\"Dormul\"), a Uruguayan company that has obtained the first licence to produce and export medical cannabis with THC for commercialization in Uruguay. As consideration for the acquisition of NettaGrowth, on closing, Khiron will issue 8,498,821 common shares to the shareholders of NettaGrowth at a deemed price of $1.61 per common share.\n\nAlvaro Torres, CEO of Khiron, comments \"This acquisition adds considerable capacity and product diversity potential to the Khiron portfolio of assets. As the first country to legalize cannabis for adult use purposes, these Uruguayan licences provide us the opportunity to address a broader demographic of consumers and export products to key regions of the world. Compared to the extract-only medical market of Colombia, the Uruguayan regulations permit the domestic and international distribution of flower. This is an excellent complement to our product focus in Colombia. I would like to thank all individuals involved in finalizing this definitive agreement and look forward to moving this transaction to close.\"\n\nUruguay was the first country to establish legislation for cannabis and Dormul has secured a medical cannabis cultivation and commercialization licence for the jurisdiction, with a cultivation capacity of up to 120 tonnes and 170,000 plants. In addition, Dormul has an application pending for an extraction licence. Upon receipt of its extraction licence, Dormul is expected to become the first company in Uruguay to be approved for medical cannabis-based CBD oils for both domestic and export purposes. With a strong commitment to research and development, Dormul has established a strategic partnership with the prestigious Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, a prestigious foundation formed between the Uruguayan and French governments focused on the research and development of cannabis product. The foundation was recently recognized by the Uruguayan Ministry of Industry for the important social and economic impact its operations are anticipated to have for the country.\n\nIn addition, Mr. Michael Beck, experienced capital markets professional and entrepreneur, and Mr. Joseph Mimran, experienced brand builder and entrepreneur, have agreed to join the board of Khiron and Khiron Colombia, respectively. The appointments are conditional upon the completion of the acquisition and subject to TSXV Venture Exchange Inc. (\"TSXV\") approval.\n\nUpon the closing of the acquisition, a finder's fee of 420,000 common shares will be paid to Oisin Fanning. Completion of the acquisition, and the issuance of the finder fee shares, remains subject to customary closing conditions including, but not limited to, anti-money laundering approval from the Uruguayan government and final approval of the TSXV.\n\nAbout NettaGrowth and Dormul\n\nNettaGrowth, through Dormul, is a Latin America export focused cannabis company based in Uruguay, and is well positioned to serve Brazil and the growing Latin American market. They will employ the latest growing, extracting and processing technologies to produce high quality medical cannabis products for the Latin American market.\n\nAbout Khiron Life Sciences Corp.\n\nKhiron Life Sciences Corp. is positioned to be the dominant integrated cannabis company in Latin America. Khiron has core operations in Latin America and is fully licensed in the country for the cultivation, production, domestic distribution, and international export of both THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol) medical cannabis. In May 2018, Khiron listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, becoming the first Colombian based medical cannabis company to trade on any exchange globally.\n\nWith a focused regional strategy and patient oriented approach, the Company combines global scientific expertise, agricultural advantages, branded product market entrance experience and education to drive prescription and brand loyalty to address priority medical conditions such as chronic pain, epilepsy, depression and anxiety in the Latin American market of over 620 million people. Khiron is led by Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Alvaro Torres, together with an experienced executive team, and a knowledgeable Board of Directors that includes former President of Mexico, Vicente Fox.\n\nFurther information on Khiron Life Sciences can be found at www.khiron.ca .\n\nCautionary Notes\n\nForward-Looking Statements\n\nThis press release may contain certain \"forward-looking information\" and \"forward-looking statements\" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All information contained herein that is not historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements may be identified by statements containing the words \"believes\", \"anticipates\", \"plans\", \"intends\", \"will\", \"should\", \"expects\", \"continue\", \"estimate\", \"forecasts\" and other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements herein include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the anticipated benefits of the acquisition, Dormul's cultivation capacity, receipt by Dormul of an extraction licence, the appointment of additional directors to Khiron and its subsidiary's boards, and receipt of all required regulatory approvals, among others. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Khiron undertakes no obligation to comment analyses, expectations or statements made by third-parties in respect of Khiron, its securities, or financial or operating results (as applicable). Although Khiron believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements in this press release are reasonable, such forward-looking statement has been based on expectations, factors and assumptions concerning future events which may prove to be inaccurate and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond Khiron's control, including the risk factors discussed in Khiron's Annual Information Form which is available on Khiron's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and are made as of the date hereof. Khiron disclaims any intention and has no obligation or responsibility, except as required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.\n\nUnited States Disclaimer\n\nThis news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the \"U.S. Securities Act\") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons (as such term is defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.\n\nNeither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.\n\nSOURCE Khiron Life Sciences Corp."}
-{"text": "My daughter Maya has struggled with eczema since she was a baby. After her first birthday, she experienced an enormous flare-up, the first of many. Her entire body was covered with large, red scaly spots. Her pediatrician prescribed steroids and told us to remove cow's milk from her diet and replace it with goat's milk. This treatment seemed to work; she recovered very fast.\n\nHowever, she soon started getting colds all the time that got progressively worse. We worried that her new symptoms were due to the steroids, since they're such a strong type of medication. We also worried that we hadn't solved whatever underlying problem was there.\n\nWhen Maya turned four, her eczema suddenly returned. This time, we didn't want to put her on steroids because of how she'd reacted the first time. Instead, we tried naturopathy, eliminating gluten and milk, and sticking to a sugar-free diet. After about six months of following this diet and some homeopathic treatment, her eczema was almost gone, with only small spots left on her arms. We gave her long sleeved shirts and she was good ... for a while.\n\nWhen she turned 7, Maya's eczema returned, worse than ever. Once again, we turned to natural methods and spent hours researching cures. We had her undergo more testing and finally learned that, in addition to her skin condition, she had candida and parasites.\n\nOur naturopath created a new diet for Maya to cure the candida and parasites. We removed meat, eggs, and sweets from her diet, and she basically lived off cooked grains, steamed vegetables, olive oil, and coconut oil. She also ate seeds, some fruits (like apples, pears, and berries) and a little bit of fish.\n\nBut her condition seemed to worsen every week. After months of trying to kill the candida, we almost killed our daughter with all the new diets we tried out of desperation. By then, Maya was losing weight and looking ill. Her gut must have been so damaged and incapable of absorbing nutrition.\n\nI was scared and nervous, and ready to go back to drugs just to get her some relief. Right around then, I discovered a vegan community on Instagram and learned about treating candida with a high-carb, raw foods diet. Though it sounded wacky, I was willing to try anything.\n\nThe next day, I started \u201cBanana Island,\" a 10-day program of eating only bananas. I tested it on myself and surprisingly, it felt amazing. I didn't think twice and put my entire family on this plan. They were happy; I noticed right away a huge burst of energy and a dramatic improvement in their moods.\n\nFor the next three months, Maya and her brothers ate mostly fruits, some leafy greens and vegetables with some healthy fats like avocado, coconut, nuts, and seeds in healthy amounts. After three months of detox, Maya\u2019s skin started to improve.\n\nWe've been following a raw diet for six months now, and she still has a few tiny dry spots. They fade a little more every day and she is a happy and pretty girl.\n\nFor now, we're all sticking to the raw foods diet. Everyone in our family has great energy and feels amazing."}
-{"text": "Bandai Namco has released a new trailer for Gundam Versus officially confirming the July 6 Japanese release date announced earlier this morning.\n\nAdditionally, the company updated the game\u2019s official website with information the game\u2019s standard and limited editions, as well as its pre-order bonus and other benefits.\n\nStandard Edition\n\nThe standard edition costs 8,200 yen at retail and, for a limited time until August 2, 7,380 yen via download.\n\nPremium G Sound Edition\n\nA limited edition due out the same day as the standard edition that adds anime songs and background music from the original works, as well as game original songs to the standard edition. In total, there are 35 songs. The Premium G Sound Edition costs 11,200 yen at retail and, for a limited time until August 2, 10,080 yen via download.\n\nHere\u2019s a sample of the songs included:\n\n\u201cJust Communication\u201d by Two-Mix from Mobile Suit Gundam Wing\n\n\u201cAnnani Issho Datta no Ni\u201d by See-Saw from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED\n\n\u201cBlazing\u201d by Garnidelia from Gundam Reconguista in G\n\n\u201cWana\u201d by The Back Horn from Mobile Suit Gundam 00\n\n\u201cOrphans no Namida\u201d by Misia from Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans\n\n\u201cAnata no Oaite ~I\u2019m Your Baby~\u201d by ICI a.k.a. Ai Ichikawa\n\n\u201cEverlasting\u201d by Kylee from Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn\n\nand more!\n\nPre-Order Bonus\n\nPre-orders will include a product code to download the Gundam game 30th anniversary commemoration mobile suit, \u201cHot Scramble Gundam,\u201d piloted by Meijin Kawaguchi III.\n\nPremium G Sound Edition Bonus\n\nIncludes a product code to play on release day as Mobile Suits planned to be made available after launch.\n\nDownload Version Bonus\n\nIncludes a Gundam Versus special theme."}
-{"text": "The father of missing 20-year-old college student Mollie Tibbetts tells Fox News that he is putting his faith into the investigative work currently being done by multiple law enforcement agencies as the search nears the two-week mark.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re just going to have to rely on the authorities and their investigation,\" Tibbetts told Fox News' Sandra Smith on \"The Story\" on Monday night. \"They have a terrific team and so we just have to put our faith in them.\"\n\nAn update on the investigation was provided Tuesday afternoon at the Poweshiek County Sheriff's Office. But Rick Rahn, a special agent in charge at the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, previously told Fox News that no case facts would be laid out during the press conference.\n\n\u201cWe hold those things pretty close to the vest,\" he said.\n\nThe press conference came as police in Pella said the man being sought for taking pictures of female joggers on Friday has turned himself in.\n\nTibbetts, a University of Iowa student, was last seen jogging in the Brooklyn, Iowa area on July 18, about an hour's drive away from Pella.\n\nA TIMELINE OF EVENTS IN CASE OF MISSING STUDENT MOLLIE TIBBETTS\n\nOngoing searches for Tibbetts, which have included properties such as a hog farm, have come up short. Police have not announced any suspects in her disappearance. She had been staying at her boyfriend\u2019s home to watch his dogs while he was out of town for work.\n\nPella Lt. Shane Cox told Fox News that during questioning the man revealed why he had taken the photos, but said he could not disclose that information.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve got the detectives fact checking everything he\u2019s given us,\" Cox said. \"At this point there are no criminal charges,\" and he added that he doesn't expect there to be any.\n\nThe man's identity has not been released, but according to Channel 13, police say he is a Des Moines metro resident and is in his 30s.\n\nThe Tibbetts case appeared to take a twist over the weekend when KCCI reported her family members told the station evidence showed she was doing homework on her computer late into the evening on July 18. That would suggest she returned to the house after her jog and didn't disappear while running, as had been previously thought.\n\nRob Tibbetts told Fox News that he had visited the house Monday and the dogs were in \u201cperfect condition.\u201d He said he last spoke to Mollie for three hours on the Sunday before her disappearance.\n\n\u201cWe have a tough family and we\u2019re fighting \u2013 we wake up and we go back at it,\u201d he told Fox News.\n\nTibbetts also said he receives general briefings from law enforcement each day as the search continues.\n\n\u201cSomeone knows something and they need to call the authorities,\u201d he added.\n\nAnyone with information is urged to contact the police tip lines at (800) 452-1111 or (515) 223-1400. The sheriff said the public can also send tips via email to tips@poweshiekcosheriff.com\n\nPolice in Dubuque -- where Tibbetts' boyfriend was working a construction job at the time of her disappearance -- also told Fox News on Tuesday that they are looking for an unidentified man after a reported assault on a jogger.\n\nAssistant Police Chief Jeremy Jensen said the jogger stated to investigators that she was running near the city's fire station on Sunday night when she was approached by a man who had offered her flowers and tried to grab her.\n\nDubuque Police described the individual as a white male in his 20s with wavy brown hair.\n\n\"We are looking for anyone who may have seen the interaction, saw the suspect, or anything else that may help us,\" Jensen told Fox News. \"We have no indicators, at least at this point, linking this to Mollie Tibbetts' disappearance.\""}
-{"text": "- Det, der skulle v\u00e6re en ferierejse, blev et mareridt. To kvinder blev dr\u00e6bt p\u00e5 bestialsk vis. Vi reagerer alle med forf\u00e6rdelse, afsky og dyb sorg.\n\nDet siger statsminister Lars L\u00f8kke Rasmussen (V) p\u00e5 et pressem\u00f8de, efter at det i g\u00e5r kom frem, at drabene p\u00e5 en dansk og norsk kvinde i Marokko muligvis kan kobles til terrororganisation Islamisk Stat.\n\n- Mine tanker og medf\u00f8lelse g\u00e5r til de to unge kvinders familier. Hvad de skal gennemg\u00e5 de her dage, kan jeg n\u00e6sten ikke forestille mig, siger Lars L\u00f8kke Rasmussen.\n\n- Meget tyder p\u00e5, at de grusomme drab kan v\u00e6re en terrorhandling. Det bygger jeg p\u00e5, at de marokkanske myndigheder siger, at en anholdt mand har forbindelse til en ekstremistisk gruppe, siger han videre.\n\n'Forf\u00e6rdelig video'\n\nLars L\u00f8kke Rasmussen bekr\u00e6fter ogs\u00e5, at der har floreret en video p\u00e5 de sociale medier, der angiveligt viser drabet p\u00e5 en af de to kvinder.\n\n- Der florerer en forf\u00e6rdelig video p\u00e5 de sociale medier, siger statsministeren, der ogs\u00e5 fort\u00e6ller, at videoens \u00e6gthed endnu ikke er verificeret.\n\nJeg er sikker p\u00e5, at de marokkanske myndigheder vil g\u00f8re alt for at p\u00e5gribe dem. Lars L\u00f8kke Rasmussen\n\nStatsministerens pressem\u00f8de kommer, efter at Politiets Efterretningstjeneste (PET) sendte en skriftlig kommentar til DR Nyheder i aftes, hvor de bekr\u00e6ftede, at dobbeltdrabet mandag efterforskes som terror af de marokkanske myndigheder.\n\n- Der er tale om en us\u00e6dvanligt bestialsk sag om drab p\u00e5 to helt uskyldige unge kvinder. Selvom forbrydelsen er beg\u00e5et langt fra Danmark, er det i sagens natur en sag, som de danske myndigheder tager s\u00e6rdeles alvorligt. Rigspolitiet og PET er i t\u00e6t kontakt med myndighederne i Marokko, og vi f\u00f8lger sagen t\u00e6t.\n\n- De marokkanske myndigheder har oplyst, at sagen efterforskes som terror. Videoen og den forel\u00f8bige efterforskning peger s\u00e5ledes, if\u00f8lge de marokkanske myndigheder, i retning af, at drabene muligvis kan relateres til terrororganisationen IS, skrev PET i kommentaren, hvor de ogs\u00e5 bekr\u00e6ftede, at der lige nu cirkulerer en video p\u00e5 internettet, som angiveligt viser drabet p\u00e5 en af de to kvinder."}
-{"text": "The Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Massachusetts, has received a three-year, $25 million award from the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory (CCDC-ARL) to develop metal cold spray additive manufacturing (CSAM) processes for the battlefield.\n\nIn this project, WPI is tasked with characterizing and testing alloys which would ultimately enable the production and repair of military-grade components. This eliminates the extensive wait and high cost for manufacturing new parts for military units.\n\n\u201cCold spray is a foundational technology with a wide variety of applications, in the military and beyond,\u201d said Danielle Cote, director of WPI\u2019s Center for Materials Processing Data and the principal investigator for the ARL project.\n\nARL\u2019s interest in Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing\n\nCSAM deposits metal powders to near-supersonic speeds using pressurized gas. Without first melting the powders, the spray adheres to the metal upon contact due to the force of impact. The process can be reduced to a portable handheld applicator, which makes it attractive for use in the field. The technology has been previously used by engineers to repair engine gearboxes and make electric motors.\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019re on a mission and need to move quickly to a safer place, and a critical part on your vehicle breaks, you\u2019re stuck unless you can repair it quickly. That\u2019s where cold spray comes in,\u201d added Cote.\n\n\u201cThe Army is interested in cold spray 3D printing as a repair technique [as] it\u2019s cheaper to repair a part than to replace it, and you get the equipment back in service faster. The Army\u2019s primary interest is unit readiness.\u201d\n\nLast month, ARL also awarded Rowan University, New Jersey $14.5 million to develop polymer CSAM. As part of the ARL project, the WPI research team will also work with several subcontractors, including the University of California Irvine, the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Penn State University.\n\nCustomizing CSAM metal powders\n\nFor most manufacturing methods such as casting and forging, metal alloys are altered by first being melted then heat treated. On the other hand, alloys are not melted before being cold sprayed, nor are they heat-treated after application. CSAM does not require alloys to be capable of melting for application. As a result, the research team can access a wider range of potential materials compared to other manufacturing methods.\n\nTo develop and study chemical and structural properties of the powders at nanoscale, WPI has acquired a variety of equipment as part of the ARL award. These include tools such as a SEM/EDS unit, a synchronous laser diffraction and dynamic image particle analyzer to determine powder morphologies, and nano indenters to measure nano-scaled mechanical properties.\n\nThe team has discovered that with the careful application of heat, the properties of cold spray powders can be fine-tuned and enhanced. Computational models are developed to determine the alloys chosen for study and thermal processing regimes adopted. Grounded in extensive laboratory experimentation and drawing on WPI\u2019s voluminous databases of metal properties, the models make it possible and more effective to custom design powders for specific cold spray applications.\n\nImproving military readiness by CSAM\n\nWPI\u2019s powder modification technique can manufacture engineering-grade alloys with high strength, toughness, and ductility. For example, the replacement of helicopter gearboxes often takes months or even years. Especially gearboxes require frequent maintenance, the cost for repairs and replacements is significant. On the other hand, CSAM can effectively repair or even manufacture parts of gearboxes, bringing helicopters back in the air quickly.\n\nAlthough ARL\u2019s primary focus is on alloys for repairs, the award also allows WPI to explore CSAM applications beyond the battlefield such as applying antibacterial copper coatings on equipment. Furthermore, researchers in WPI\u2019s robotics engineering program will explore the use of multi-axis robots to automate CSAM.\n\n\u201cWith the work we will be doing with powder development, in robotics, and in a number of other areas, I think we are going to go a long way with cold spray. There really are endless possibilities,\u201d Cote concluded.\n\nFor more on additive manufacturing in academia, subscribe to our 3D Printing Industry Newsletter, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. Find talent for a project, or advance your career in 3D printing \u2013 join 3D Printing Jobs to apply and advertise.\n\nFeatured image shows WPI professor Danielle Cote (center) leading a WPI research team that will study cold spray 3D printing techniques. Photo via WPI."}
-{"text": "Nasdaq is looking to patent a method by which a blockchain could be used to secure records of exchange transactions.\n\nOn 6th October, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USTPO) released an application for \u201csystems and methods of blockchain transaction recordation\u201d, originally submitted by Nasdaq on 31st March. It is attributed to Tom Fay, Nasdaq\u2019s senior vice president of enterprise architecture, and Dominick Paniscotti, associate vice president for enterprise architecture.\n\nEssentially, the application details an exchange system comprising digital wallets, an order book and matching engine, with a \u201cclosed blockchain\u201d utilized as a record of transactions that is updated in real-time.\n\nAs the application details:\n\n\u201cA match is identified between data transaction requests and hashes associated with the digital wallets associated with the respective data transaction requests are generated. The counterparties receive the hashes of the other party along with information on the match and each party causes blockchain transactions to be added to the blockchain of the blockchain computing system.\u201d\n\nFrom there, the exchange checks the contents of the blockchain, looking for the data associated with those digital wallets. An additional backup of that information is also kept in a separate database.\n\nWhile new, it\u2019s perhaps unsurprising that Nasdaq would move to file applications related to the technology. Last year, the exchange operator unveiled Linq, a blockchain project focused on private markets, and in May, it launched new blockchain services for its global client base.\n\nThe application\u2019s contents reveal that the company is largely looking to apply claims to the method of using a blockchain in an exchange environment, rather than the system itself. USTPO records show that Nasdaq originally sought a number of claims related to the tech, but that these were cancelled after the application was first filed in March.\n\nThe full application can be found here.\n\nImage via Shutterstock"}
-{"text": "Urz\u0105d skarbowy zaj\u0105\u0142 na prywatnym rachunku bankowym Hanny Gronkiewicz-Waltz ponad 12 tys. z\u0142otych na poczet kar, na\u0142o\u017conych na ni\u0105 przez Komisj\u0119 Weryfikacyjn\u0105 Pomimo tego prezydent konsekwentnie nie stawia si\u0119 na posiedzeniach komisji, a jej cz\u0142onkowie nie mieli mo\u017cliwo\u015bci formalnego zadania jej pyta\u0144.\n\nREKLAMA\n\nIch pytania postanowi\u0142a zada\u0107 w rozmowie z prezydent Brygida Grysiak z TVN24. Gronkiewicz-Waltz dopiero po fakcie dowiedzia\u0142a si\u0119, \u017ce nie odpowiada\u0142a na pytania dziennikarki, lecz na zapytania, przes\u0142ane przez Patryka Jakiego, Bart\u0142omieja Opali\u0144skiego, Paw\u0142a Rabieja i Adama Zieli\u0144skiego.\n\nGronkiewicz-Waltz udziela\u0142a kr\u00f3tkich odpowiedzi. M\u00f3wi\u0142a m.in., \u017ce nie dociera\u0142y do niej sygna\u0142y dot. patologii w reprywatyzacji w \u017cadnej formie, oraz \u017ce pracownik ratusza k\u0142amie m\u00f3wi\u0105c o naciskach na wydanie decyzji reprywatyzacyjnych.\n\nPrezydent m\u00f3wi\u0142a, odpowiadaj\u0105c na pytania wys\u0142ane przez Patryka Jakiego, \u017ce chcia\u0142a osobi\u015bcie nadzorowa\u0107 Biuro Gospodarki Nieruchomo\u015bciami przez dwa lata, poniewa\u017c \"wiceprezydent Jakubiak odszed\u0142 na szefa KNF-u\". Podkre\u015bla\u0142a, \u017ce aresztowani urz\u0119dnicy biura podlegali jego dyrektorowi, Marcinowi Bajce. - Nie kontrolowa\u0142 on ich w spos\u00f3b dostateczny - stwierdzi\u0142a prezydent.\n\nGrysiak zada\u0142a te\u017c kilka w\u0142asnych pyta\u0144, m.in. o to, czy prezydent uwa\u017ca, \u017ce zaniedba\u0142a co\u015b ws. reprywatyzacji. - Nie ma takiej rzeczy. Nie zrobi\u0142am nic z\u0142ego - zapewnia\u0142a prezydent."}
-{"text": "Sign up to FREE email alerts from Mirror - celebs Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email\n\nA man who was born a girl was crowned winner of Big Brother tonight and said: \"It's great to feel accepted.\"\n\nLuke Anderson, 31, appeared shocked but delighted as he emerged victorious to claim a \u00a350,000 prize.\n\nThe married chef, who began to have treatment to change his sex four years ago, received the most votes from viewers, ahead of former LA gang member Adam Kelly.\n\nKnown to housemates as Luke A, the South African-born Welshman hugged Adam before he found himself alone in the empty house.\n\nDressed in a dark jacket, shirt and tie he walked out to massive applause and said: \"I'm going to miss this place.\"\n\nLuke, whose mother and father were among a crowd of cheering fans, said achieving acceptance had been a major reason for his appearance on Big Brother.\n\n\"A big part of it was about acceptance,\" he said. \"My whole life I have been an outsider and to win this...\"\n\nHe told host Brian Dowling: \"It's great to feel accepted, I don't think it has sunk in yet.\"\n\nLuke - whose win came on his wedding anniversary - threw his arms around his wife Becki as she appeared on stage.\n\nTheir reunion came 70 days after he first entered the house.\n\nIn a short interview, he insisted his win was \"not about the money\" and told of his bond with 27-year-old Adam, who he described as a \"genuine, down-to-earth, solid guy\".\n\n\"He made me feel safe in that house,\" Luke said.\n\nFormer Crips gang-member Adam, from Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire, appeared thrilled for his fellow housemate despite missing out on the prize.\n\nThe results came after housemates enjoyed a Sunday roast on their penultimate day.\n\nWhile Luke A said he was looking forward to a break from \"bitchiness\" in the house, Deana visited the diary room to admit she was nervous.\n\n\"It's quite a sad feeling. I've still got nerves,\" the beauty queen said.\n\nBut she added: \"I'm ready to leave now, it's been over two months, it's been a long time.\"\n\nNightclub promoter Luke Scrase, 24, from Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire was the first to be evicted during the final show, followed by former Miss Edinburgh Sara McLean, 22.\n\nMiss India UK winner Deana Uppal, 23, from Birmingham, was the third housemate to be given the boot, ahead of Adam's departure while Luke A closed the door to the Big Brother house."}
-{"text": "Tried out a more painterly picture today, which was ALOT of fun\n\nAfter requests I have made the picture available on Society6!\n\n"}
-{"text": "When we think about critical infrastructure, the first assets that come to mind include the electric grid, water networks and transportation systems. Further unpacking the definition of critical infrastructure, we consider industries such as agriculture, defense or the financial sector. However, we rarely think about where the underlying systems that enable technology functionality across these sectors physically reside, who developed the technology, and who can access and manage that technology.\n\nMuch of the United States\u2019 critical infrastructure relies on space systems. I define space systems as assets that either exist in suborbital or outer space or ground control systems\u2014including launch facilities for these assets. Space asset organizations are organizations that build, operate, maintain or own space systems. Some examples of critical infrastructure\u2019s reliance on space systems are agribusiness\u2019 reliance on weather and climate satellites, the U.S. military\u2019s reliance on intelligence satellites, and various transportation industries\u2019 reliance on global positioning system (GPS) satellites. Several critical infrastructure sectors also rely on space systems for global communications. We also rely on space systems for scientific discovery, which often requires highly specialized and advanced equipment. Such equipment originally designed for scientific discovery is later used in critical infrastructure sectors upon further testing and commercialization of the intellectual property.\n\nDespite efforts to improve the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure in the U.S., there has been little focus on cybersecurity for space systems. While security standards for critical infrastructure are often technically sufficient to deter many attacks, they remain a challenge to implement due to time and resource constraints. Space systems, however, are more complex than critical infrastructure from a technology development, ownership and management perspective. Thus far, this has led to a lack of guidance in the form of standards that govern space system security and, ultimately, policies that enforce these standards. I will first review some of the major cybersecurity threats to space systems and the potential motivations for why cyber criminals or nation states would be interested in compromising space systems. Next, I will evaluate the challenges for managing space system cybersecurity. I will then evaluate steps currently being taken by companies and government agencies to secure these systems. Finally, I will propose policy recommendations to streamline cybersecurity for space systems across the public and private sectors. A selection of these recommendations are below.\n\nSpace Asset Organizations should:\n\nApply existing cybersecurity standards and best practices to space assets and where necessary, develop new, tailored standards for unique components of space assets;\n\nAssign security experts with distinguished expertise based on the function of each space asset and enable this resourcing by establishing cybersecurity as a mission line-item in budgets. For example,do not assign a server security expert to work on the security of a satellite endpoint. Instead, designate security experts with satellite endpoint knowledge to secure these systems;\n\nDevelop and incentivize a cybersecurity culture that prioritizes security across the teams working on space assets. For example, gamify good security behavior, such as running an internal phishing program where top performers are rewarded;\n\nUse appropriate cybersecurity tools such as encryption or threat intelligence. Encrypt communications even if the data transmitted from satellites will ultimately be public and open source to better protect the integrity of that information (such as weather data); and\n\nDevelop relationships with security researchers that allow for researchers to access company data and provide solutions to remediate vulnerabilities in the company\u2019s systems.\n\nPolicymakers should:\n\nHold space asset organizations accountable for cybersecurity deficiencies in the components of space systems that they develop, operate, and own. For example, require all space asset organizations that contract with the government to comply with key performance parameters for system survivability that covers cybersecurity;\n\nExpand the Code of Federal Regulations for the Department of Defense-Defense Industrial Base Cybersecurity Activities (32 CFR Part 236) to include required reporting of cyber incidents by space asset organizations that are responsible for space assets that enable other critical infrastructure; and\n\nThe Department of Homeland Security should create a space system Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) that requires participation from government agencies that rely on space assets and encourage participation of the private sector\u2019s space asset organizations.\n\nThe Space System ISAC should:"}
-{"text": "(CNN) A court allowed George Zimmerman to use a public defender in his alleged stalking case after he filed documents saying he's $2.5 million in debt and has zero income.\n\nZimmerman is facing stalking accusations in his latest legal woes since his 2013 acquittal in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.\n\nDetails of his finances were filed in a Seminole County court to support his request for a public defender. In the documents, he lists that he's unemployed and has $0 in assets including cash, bank accounts and equity on property.\n\nZimmerman is accused of repeatedly threatening and harassing Dennis Warren between December 16 and December 25 of last year, the sheriff's office said.\n\nWarren is a private investigator who was hired by a production company that was working on a documentary about Martin's life, according to CNN affiliate WKMG\n\nRead More"}
-{"text": "UPDATE: Johnny Rondell Caffee, 44, was arrested on Sunday, November 29th without incident in the 200 block of Air Station Drive in Virginia Beach.\n\nHe has been charged with Destruction of property, Eluding Police, Obstruction of Justice, Larceny, Escape without Force, two counts of Hit & Run-Unattended Vehicle, two counts of Reckless Driving, Revocation of Suspended Sentence, Driving with Suspended Operator\u2019s License, two counts of Defective Equipment, No tags/Expired Tags. He is currently being held in the Virginia Beach Correctional Center without bond.\n\nPrevious Story: Virginia Beach, Va. - Police are searching for a handcuffed prisoner who escaped from a patrol car in Virginia Beach early Thanksgiving morning.\n\n44-year-old Johnny Rondell Caffee was last seen in the area of 22nd Street and Mediterranean Avenue wearing handcuffs.\n\nPolice say Caffee is not considered a threat to public safety, but they are concerned for his own safety due to his handcuffed position.\n\nThe incident began at approximately 12:13am when officers observed a black Mercedes near 18th Street and Baltic Avenue driving with defective equipment.\n\nThe officers attempted to stop the Mercedes, but Caffee drove in a reckless manner to flee the area.\n\nNo police pursuit was initiated but a be-on-the-lookout was broadcast to other officers in the area.\n\nMoments later, other officers saw the wrecked Mercedes a few blocks away and Caffee attempted to run from the scene. He was apprehended after a short foot chase.\n\nCaffee was placed in hand restraints behind his back and sat down in the rear seat of a marked patrol car. The officers were outside their car investigating the crash scene when Caffee was able to free himself and run away.\n\nCaffee is wanted for: Felony Eluding, Felony Escape without Force, Felony Larceny (3rd or subsequent offense), Capias (Revoked Sentence), Two counts of Reckless Driving, Two counts of Hit & Run (unattended vehicle), Two counts of Defective Equipment, Obstructing Justice, Suspended Operator\u2019s License, Destruction of Property and Expired Tags/Registration.\n\nAnyone with information relating to Caffee is asked to call Crime Solvers at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP (562-5887) or text VBTIP plus your tip to CRIMES (274637)."}
-{"text": "Problem\n\nTumblr, after years of being a space for nsfw artists to reach a community of like-minded individuals to enjoy their work, has decided to close their metaphorical doors to adult content.\n\n\n\nSolution\n\nStop it. Let people post porn, it's 90% of the reason anybody is on the site in the first place.\n\nOr, if you really want a non-18+ tumblr, start a new one with that specific goal in mind. Don't rip down what people have spent years working on.\n\n\n\nPersonal story\n\nI'm a NSFW tumblr artist who has the vast majority of their viewership (and thus, potential for income from commissions and such) on Tumblr. With tumblr being taken down, a LARGE portion of my viewerbase will go with it, and not only will this hurt people like myself, who rely on this income to live, but it will also mean the people who DO want to view that content no longer get it."}
-{"text": "Plant\u00e3o\n\nEstudantes brasileiros poder\u00e3o fazer est\u00e1gio em centros de pesquisa da NASA\n\nCom informa\u00e7\u00f5es do MCTI - 29/06/2015\n\nEst\u00e1gio na NASA\n\nA Ag\u00eancia Espacial Brasileira (AEB) assinou um acordo com a NASA que permitir\u00e1 que estudantes da gradua\u00e7\u00e3o e p\u00f3s-graduandos brasileiros fa\u00e7am est\u00e1gios em centros de pesquisa da ag\u00eancia espacial dos Estados Unidos.\n\nO acordo inclui estudantes das \u00e1reas de ci\u00eancias, tecnologia, engenharia e matem\u00e1tica.\n\nOs graduandos, principalmente bolsistas de gradua\u00e7\u00e3o do Programa Ci\u00eancia sem Fronteiras (CsF) estudando em universidade norte-americanas, poder\u00e3o investir parte do seu tempo para ampliar os conhecimentos e a pr\u00e1tica em quest\u00f5es espaciais.\n\nDe acordo com a AEB, a bolsa do CsF poder\u00e1 ser usada, parcialmente, para custear o est\u00e1gio em um dos centros de pesquisa da NASA.\n\nSolicita\u00e7\u00e3o do est\u00e1gio\n\nPodem pleitear o est\u00e1gio os bolsistas ligados ao CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient\u00edfico e Tecnol\u00f3gico) ou \u00e0 CAPES (Coordena\u00e7\u00e3o de Aperfei\u00e7oamento de Pessoal de N\u00edvel Superior) que j\u00e1 est\u00e3o em uma universidade norte-americana ou est\u00e3o prestes a embarcar para o programa.\n\nOs alunos devem estar inscritos em um curso das \u00e1reas de Engenharia, Desenvolvimento Tecnol\u00f3gico ou similar.\n\nPara os p\u00f3s-graduandos, \u00e9 necess\u00e1rio que estudo seja feito nas \u00e1reas de Ci\u00eancias, Tecnologia, Engenharia ou Matem\u00e1tica.\n\nPara mais informa\u00e7\u00f5es entre em contato com a AEB pelo endere\u00e7o estagio.nasa@aeb.gov.br.\n\nOutras not\u00edcias sobre:\n\nMais t\u00f3picos"}
-{"text": "-Sponsored Post-\n\nI love making favors because I love giving gifts! Being able to make darling mini-presents to say \u201cthank you\u201d for spending the day with us, no matter what the bridal event, is not only rewarding for you but it\u2019s a total treat for your guests. Giving candy as favors is a major trend and has been for a long time, because everyone loves to get something sweet. I haven\u2019t actually shared a candy favor in a really long time so when My M&M\u2019s asked me to design a special DIY favor using their awesome, customizable candies I got really excited about the possibilities. After personalizing my own chocolates, I dreamed up this adorable Diamond Ring Candy Pouch that would be the perfect addition to any engagement party, bridal shower\u2026 or maybe even your bachelorette party!\n\nAs with all our DIY tutorials, if you create one of our projects please send us a picture \u2013 We Love Seeing Your Creativity! If you use Instagram or Twitter please use the hashtag #SomethingTurquoiseDIY and it will show up on our Get Social page. If you\u2019d like to share your project with My M&M\u2019s you can use the hashtag: #mymms. Happy Crafting!\n\nDIY Tutorial Credits\n\nPhotography + DIY Tutorial + Free Downloads: Jen Causey of Something Turquoise Custom M&M\u2019s + scoop: courtesy of MyMMs.com Weddings // Martha Stewart Crafts Doily Lace Punch, scoring board, scissors and craft knife: Amazon // pink mini-stapler: American Crafts // 1\u2033 Glue Dots Lines: Amazon // cardstock in Paper Bag + Blossom: Paper Source // ruler: Poppin // paper trimmer: Fiskars // nail polish: OPI \u2013 Withstands the Test of Thyme\n\nShop The Supplies:\n\nFind the supplies you\u2019ll need for this project from our affiliate links below:\n\nYou can view more M&M wedding ideas at the MyMMs.com Wedding Idea Gallery!\n\nThis fun DIY project was sponsored by My M&M\u2019s in partnership with BrideClick. All opinions expressed within this feature are those of the author."}
-{"text": "The remains of the washing machine that burst into flames in Hamilton at the weekend.\n\nTwo faulty washing machines have burst into flames in Waikato in the last week - three years after they were recalled.\n\nSamsung issued a recall on four models of the top loader in 2013 due to the risk that moisture could penetrate the electrics and spark a fire.\n\nAt the time, there were 34,000 affected machines in the marketplace, Fire Service National manager of fire investigations Peter Wilding said.\n\nAbout 88 per cent of those had been recalled, leaving a further 4000 outstanding.\n\nREAD MORE: * Thousands of burning washing machines still at large\n\n\"In the last four years some of those may have been tossed out,\" Wilding said, \"we don't know how many are still operational.\n\n\"We have seen about three a month overheating and leading to fire.\"\n\nLast year there were 13 Samsung machines linked to fires. So far this year there have been 18, Wilding said, and investigators were looking into a few more.\n\nFires linked to the machines have occurred in Ponsonby, Invercargill, Masterton, Runanga, Otorohanga, Pukekohe and the Waikato.\n\nIn the latest fire in Hamilton on Saturday, the resident was doing a load of laundry about 5.30pm when the machine burst into flames.\n\nA neighbour noticed smoke pouring from the laundry window and ran over to alert the residents, Waikato fire investigator Peter Hallett said.\n\n\"The fire was largely contained to the washing machine itself.\n\n\"The home owner used a fire extinguisher on the washing machine to essentially extinguish the fire before the fire brigade arrived.\"\n\nThe blaze scorched the walls, leaving smoke and water damage to the laundry, and a small amount of smoke damage to other rooms.\n\nIt was the second washing machine to catch fire in the Waikato in 10 days after another faulty machine in a rural area went up in flames.\n\nIn the other case the fire was contained mostly to the washing machine, Hallett said.\n\nSamsung had gone \"above and beyond\" when it came to the recall, Wilding said.\n\n\"We have a manufacturer that's doing all they can to locate the machines but some people are still unaware of the recall or have made the decision not to have it fixed.\"\n\nThere's an easy and free way to get your washer fixed, he said. Call 0800 855 502.\n\n\"If you go to your friend's house ask them if they have a Samsung and identify the model,\" Wilding said.\n\nModel numbers affected are:\n\n\u2022 SW75V9WIP/XSA\n\n\u2022 SW65V9WIP/XSA\n\n\u2022 SW70SPWIP/XSA\n\n\u2022 SW80SPWIP/XSA\n\nSamsung's machines are part of a long list of appliances on the New Zealand Fire Service's website rated as fire risks.\n\nLast November two models of top-loading Haier washing machines were voluntarily recalled . Affected model numbers are HWMP55-918 and HWMP65-918, manufactured between August 2012 and August 2013."}
-{"text": "Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here\n\nReopening the country in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic must be done conservatively and in stages, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday.\n\nAppearing on \"Fox & Friends\" with host Steve Doocy, de Blasio said that while the Big Apple needs to get back to work as soon as it is safe, officials must take a cautious and intelligent approach to do so.\n\n\"Because, if we act the wrong way, we jump too soon, then you could see a resurgence of this disease,\" he stated. \"That's something we should all be really mindful of.\"\n\nCLICK HERE FOR FULL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE\n\n\"And, we have seen that in some parts of Asia,\" de Blasio noted. \"They opened up a little too quickly and then bang, here is the disease coming back and growing again. We cannot allow that, so we have one chance to get it right.\"\n\nThe Democratic mayor and former 2020 presidential candidate said that, in this case, he considers himself a conservative.\n\n\"I think we have to be smart about doing it in stages, making sure we can confirm that we're containing the disease more and more, getting it back to where it was, you know, a month or two ago, before you really start to open up a lot,\" he explained. \"And, look, I want to see people back to work as much as anyone. I feel it urgently. But, we have got to secure the health and safety first of all New Yorkers and obviously all Americans. So, do it smart. Do it in stages.\"\n\n\"And then,\" he continued, \"if we're going to get our economy up and running, we have got to make sure that our cities can function, our states can function again, because I'm concerned about [the] need to make sure that I have a city that works. That police, firefighters, sanitation \u2013 all of the things that we do all the time \u2013 are working to have a vibrant economy.\"\n\n\"If we can't provide those basic services, we are not going to be able to restart our economy,\" he remarked. \"And, that's why it's so important that we get another stimulus action from the Congress that focuses on making local governments and state governments whole so we can get us back where we were, provide those services, and actually have a normal economy again.\"\n\nDe Blasio told Doocy that sustainability is what the city needs to return to a sense of normalcy.\n\n\"If in September schools are open again and more and more people are going back to work, even if we still have to keep a lot of social distancing in place or other measures, then I could see us sustaining,\" he added. \"Because that's what I think we want to think about, getting it right the first time and then from fall on actually resuming more and more being a normal country.\"\n\nCLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP\n\n\"What I would hate to see is, you know, jumping too soon in May or June the wrong way, having that boomerang effect, the disease comes back, [and] then you are delaying potentially well into the year anything like normalcy,\" de Blasio pointed out.\n\n\"We have got to have stability. There's no way we are going to be able to make up that money on our own. That's where the Congress has to step up and say we have got to get this Congress back to work,\" he concluded. \"But to do it, our other cities and states have to be able to function properly and support a strong economy and give people the services they need. If they act soon, if the Congress acts, that's a pathway to a real recovery.\""}
-{"text": "Above: Former Millis Police Officer Bryan Johnson pleads not guilty to a host of charges in SeptemberPhoto courtesy of WHDH, Channel 7 News.\n\nA former Millis Police officer who allegedly fabricated being shot at, prompting a needless manhunt, has also been charged with threatening to bomb a school, Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey announced. Bryan Johnson, 24, of Millis, allegedly phoned in a bomb threat to Millis High School on the same day he reportedly fabricated a shootout with a non-existent suspect, and shot his own police cruiser before crashing it off Forest Road in Millis, where it then caught fire.\n\nJohnson allegedly told his fellow officers that a man in a maroon pickup truck had fired the shots before speeding away. At the time, he was believed to be hiding in the woods surrounding the area. The report prompted a massive manhunt, with local departments and state police searching Millis, Medfield and Norfolk with dozens of cruisers, ATVs and a helicopter. Area residents were ordered to shelter in place, leaving a community terrified that a gunman was on the loose. The part-time officer, who has since been fired, is charged with willful communication of a bomb threat to a school inaddition to the initial charges of misleading a criminal investigation, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, making a false police report, willful and malicious destruction of property above $250 (for damage to cruiser windshield by shooting firearm into it), and wanton destruction of property above $250 (for damage to cruiser from crashing and burning).\n\nAssistant District Attorney Craig Kowalski brought the charges to a grand jury and will prosecute in Superior Court. \"While Mr. Johnson continues to enjoy the Constitutional presumption of his innocence, we believe the scope of the conduct alleged here makes Superior Court the appropriate venue,\" Morrissey said in a release. \"These indictments move the matter to Superior Court.\""}
-{"text": "DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar has moved five Afghan Taliban prisoners freed in exchange for a U.S. soldier to a residential compound and will let them move freely in the country, a senior Gulf official said on Tuesday, a step likely to be scrutinized by Washington.\n\nU.S. officials have referred to the release of the Islamist militants as a transfer and said they would be subject to certain restrictions in Qatar. One of the officials said that would include a minimum one-year ban on them traveling outside of Qatar as well as monitoring of their activities.\n\n\"All five men received medical checks and they now live with their families in an accommodation facility in Doha,\" the Gulf source, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. \"They can move around freely within the country.\"\n\nFollowing the deal under which freed the last American soldier held in Afghanistan was freed, concerns have been expressed by some U.S. intelligence officials and congressional advisers over the role of the Gulf Arab state as a bridge between Washington and the world of radical Islam.\n\nThe Gulf official said the Taliban men, who have been granted Qatari residency permits, will not be treated like prisoners while in Doha and no U.S. officials will be involved in monitoring their movement while in the country.\n\n\"Under the deal they have to stay in Qatar for a year and then they will be allowed to travel outside the country... They can go back to Afghanistan if they want to,\" the official said.\n\nThe five, who had been held at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba since 2002, arrived in Qatar on Sunday where U.S. security personnel handed them over to Qatari authorities in the Al Udeid area west of Doha, site of a U.S. military base.\n\nU.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl had been held for nearly five years by Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and his release followed years of on-off negotiations.\n\nA diplomatic source said Qatar has flown in family members of the five released Taliban men and gave them accommodation paid for by the government.\n\nOn Sunday, Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiyah told a news conference that Doha got involved in the case because it was a \u201chumanitarian cause\". He did not elaborate.\n\n(Reporting by Amena Bakr; Editing by Sami Aboudi and Mark Heinrich)"}
-{"text": "Dario Alessi is a biochemist whose research focuses on protein kinases \u2014 enzymes that chemically modify other proteins by adding phosphate groups. Dario discovered PDK1, the master kinase implicated in the development of several types of cancer, including melanoma. He is currently examining phosphorylation-mediated signalling pathways as part of long-term efforts to more effectively treat conditions such as cancer, neurodegenerative movement disorders and hypertension.\n\nBy understanding how these pathways are organised and recognize signals, and how signals move down the pathway to elicit a response, Dario is expanding our understanding of what goes wrong in human disease. In 2012, he assumed the directorship of the MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit at the University of Dundee, where he is engaged in the Division of Signal Transduction Therapy Collaboration together with six major pharmaceutical companies. (Source: Royal Society)\n\nThe following has been paraphrased from an interview with Prof. Dario Alessi on September 12th, 2018.\n\n(Click above to listen to the full audio version or click here for a downloadable version)\n\n(Note: For a deeper dive I suggest listening to the audio, it includes a lot of technical detail that was taken out of the transcribed interview below, however the last question was not included in the audio portion.)\n\nGeneral Biology Questions\n\nIs biology binary? It seems genes are either expressed or not, and RNA or proteins are either up-regulated or down-regulated. Are these over-simplifications?\n\nMy view of biology is not binary, you can get every possible shade of grey. A gene can be off or on, but you can also have every intermediate level in between. Sometimes even just a 5% difference in the level of a gene or a pathway can have a tremendous effect. For example, every day you reabsorb 3-4 kilos of salt from your urine back into your body, and you only excrete about 0.1% of the salt in your body. But if that pathway changes activity by just 5%, it means that you are either retaining or excreting too much salt and that can result in high or low blood pressure. Small differences can have an incredible impact on physiology.\n\nI think it is the same thing in Parkinson\u2019s disease. Everyone loses neurons as we get older, but maybe those pathways that damage neurons are accelerated by 5 or 10% in people with PD. It could be the result of a very subtle change that accumulates over decades.\n\nThere are some things that are binary in biology, like apoptosis (programmed cell death), but most of biology is gradient, and each gradient can be affected by other gradients. It is incredibly complex. Generally I think we understand less than 1/10,000 of all that there is to understand in biology. We know virtually nothing about how biology is controlled and how it works.\n\nIs it simply that we haven\u2019t accumulated enough information yet, or is there a fundamental gap in our understanding of how we go from DNA to human beings?\n\nI think it is a lack of fundamental understanding of how biology is controlled. There isn\u2019t a lot of funding to do the fundamental research on one gene or one protein that would be needed to really understand these things. You could spend your whole life studying one protein, but getting the funding to do that is hard, funding bodies want us to solve diseases and work with companies to figure out shortcuts that can be made into a drug. But we don\u2019t have the fundamental basis that is needed to really solve these problems.\n\nWe have 20,000+ genes, each with many different variants, which are all expressed at different levels in different ways in different cells. They probably make hundreds of thousands of RNA molecules and millions of forms of proteins that get modified in a number of ways. All of these things interact and form the various parts of the cell. Also, as you interact with your environment and consume energy, DNA accumulates damage that also affects how cells function. All of this is like a big boiling pot with millions of things thrown in, you can\u2019t really understand it.\n\nDo you think we might be too limited to ever fully grasp biology?\n\nWe have more or less reached this state at the moment. Every day there are tens of thousands of papers being published and information deposited on websites, there is simply no way for anyone to even understand everything in their own subfield let alone how all the various pieces fit together. I don\u2019t think the human brain can do that. We will need computers to put it together, but only they will be able to understand it. No expert will be able to put it all together in their head.\n\nFor example, there are 2000 papers on LRRK2 and some of them say completely different things. It is very hard to know what is right and what is wrong. I still think we know virtually nothing about how this enzyme functions and how it is regulated. In 10 or 20 years people will look back and laugh about what we think we now know about this protein.\n\nIs there a tipping point that gets reached when we think we have enough information to intervene in a faulty pathway, or is it just guesswork all the way through until we stumble across the right mechanism?\n\nIn people with PD that have LRRK2 mutations we do know that the gene is causing the disease. It is crystal clear now that all the mutations in this gene switch on the pathway. We see this in the animal models that mimic the human mutation, and by examining the cells from these patients. We don\u2019t understand the biology, but we do know that activating the pathway causes disease. Because of that we can now intervene with an inhibitor of LRRK2, which should prevent people with those mutations from getting PD, or at least significantly slow progression. But I think we have at least 10 years more to go before we really understand the pathway and can precisely manipulate it.\n\nHow does a biological target become druggable?\n\nMost proteins are considered not druggable, we don\u2019t know what they do in biology so we can\u2019t develop a compound that can manipulate their function. Kinases are enzymes (molecules that accelerate chemical reactions), and they require another molecule called ATP to bind to them to carry out the rest of their functions. What drug companies are doing is making molecules that look like ATP so they can bind to the same site on the protein and inhibit the kinase\u2019s function. What it really takes is that first person to figure out the right molecular target. In the 80\u2019s people considered kinases undruggable, then Novartis showed it could be done and that opened the floodgates.\n\nParkinson\u2019s Disease Specific Questions\n\nWhat are your takeaways from the massive PD genetics study that came out last month identifying 39 novel risk loci?\n\nFirst, it was an amazing study, they sequenced 40,000 patients and compared them to one million controls. It is also a fantastic example of collaboration as it involved hundreds of researchers from all over the world. Together they produced a huge catalog of information that has taken the number of genetic risk factors for PD from 53 to 92, but it isn\u2019t clear how these genes work or how significant they are. I think it will be useful once we do more biochemical analysis and come across new components that are also on this list, that would give us much more confidence that what we found is relevant to the disease.\n\nWhat surprised me most is that you would think new causative genes would emerge but none came up, it was just risk factors. There are still patients that clearly have heritable forms of PD but we still haven\u2019t been able to identify the genes associated.\n\nHow much variety is there between the various LRRK2 inhibitors and will some be better suited for certain sub-subtypes of people within the LRRK2 subtype?\n\nAt the moment drug companies are being very secretive about the inhibitors they have, so no one knows what the chemical structure of the various inhibitors is. But they will be distinct, some will be more potent than others, some might penetrate the brain better than others, some might last longer in the body, and each will have different off-target effects that can be quite unpredictable. We will probably end up with 7 or 8 different clinical trials and some might work better for certain LRRK2 mutations. Then the work will shift to finding out which patient might be best suited for which inhibitor.\n\nYou and colleagues recently showed that LRRK2 kinase inhibitors may have therapeutic value in idiopathic PD. What are the next steps that need to be taken to validate this link?\n\nFirst the work needs to be validated by an independent group. After that we need to develop better tests to see if people with idiopathic PD might be able to benefit from a LRRK2 inhibitor. This would require scientists working together with diagnostic experts to develop the right set of tests to see if individuals would benefit from these inhibitors.\n\nCompared to how much we know about alpha-synuclein, how much do we know about LRRK2?\n\nI note that there are 10370 publications containing the word \u201csynuclein\u201d, with the vast majority published after 1997, when alpha-synuclein was first linked to Parkinson\u2019s disease. I was interested to see that there were actually 25 basic pioneering synuclein\u2019s biology papers driven by curiosity from 1988 (first paper, published by Richard H Scheller, Stanford University, http://www.jneurosci.org/content/8/8/2804.long) to 1996. 1965 LRRK2 papers have been published papers since 2004 when LRRK2 was linked to Parkinson\u2019s (only two LRRK2 cloning papers published before this).\n\nIn 2017, 1163 papers published on alpha-synuclein compared to 222 studies on LRRK2. This suggests there is 4 to 5 times the volume of work taking place on alpha-synuclein compared to LRRK2. One might therefore expect we should know much more about alpha-synuclein than LRRK2, but I am not sure that this is the case. Knowledge in a field is not just about the volume of research, but factors such as difficulty of research area and overall quality of research taking place greatly contribute to our understanding. Neither alpha-synuclein or LRRK2 are easy proteins to study. However, I am still amazed that despite all of this work, there still seems so much that we do not understand about alpha-synuclein and LRRK2 biological pathways and how these are linked to Parkinson\u2019s disease. There are so many studies reporting conflicting findings, that is not helped by lack of validation and availability of easily accessible state of the art research tools to make it possible for outside researchers to enter the field. I often find it hard to know what is correct and what is wrong. I believe that there is still a lot to be uncovered on how alpha synuclein and LRRK2 are regulated and function.\n\nGoing forward I think we need to perhaps take a step back and develop well-orchestrated and coordinated high-quality collaborative projects bringing together leading researchers, clinicians, pharmaceutical companies and Parkinson\u2019s patients, coupled with generation of new research tools to focus on clearly defined goals in order to address major questions. A way to independently validate findings before publication should be woven into these projects making reported data more reliable. This should lead to urgently needed transformative ideas on how to better diagnose and treat Parkinson\u2019s."}
-{"text": "LOS ANGELES\u2014A magnitude-6.4 earthquake struck a remote area in the Mojave Desert, sending tremors as far as Los Angeles and Nevada.\n\nThe quake was the strongest in Southern California in two decades. California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Kern County to help get more aid to local authorities.\n\nFor hours, dozens of aftershocks..."}
-{"text": "Esports historian, talk-show host and established analyst Duncan \u201cThorin\u201d Shields has been announced as an ambassador for esports fantasy and betting operator ESP.\n\nIn their words ESP plans to use this partnership to \u2018reinforce their presence in the esports industry as the go-to destination for esports fantasy and betting\u2019. Thorin is of course a well known figure in esports, making this something of a coup for ESP.\n\nThorin said of this new partnership: \u201cI am very excited to work with ESP moving forward. There are many shady betting sites trying to enter the esports space. However, ESP is nothing like that. They make sure everything is done by the book, ethically, and they care about the safety of the users. ESP\u2019s product is very well cut, and I am looking forward to using it myself.\u201d\n\nESP has established some significant partnerships prior to this arrangement. After the company\u2019s launch in 2015, ESP partnered up with Na\u2019Vi, Vexed Gaming, and StatsHelix. In 2016, ESP partnered with CS:GO team Flipsid3 Tactics. These partnerships saw numerous focused promotions aimed at fans of the organisations. To its credit, ESP has managed to survive where other fantasy esports operators have fallen; we\u2019ve seen real money operators Vulcun and AlphaDraft shut down their real money options in the past eighteen months. DraftKings continue to offer fantasy esports but only in League of Legends option for now.\n\nTo accompany this partnership, ESP stated in its press release that it will be loading the site up with \u2018more promotions than ever before\u2019.\n\nScott Burton, the CEO of ESP, commented: \u201cWe have been talking to Thorin for a while now, and I am ecstatic to have him officially representing ESP. Not only do I find Thorin to be a great person to work with, but I am also a huge fan of his content. I can\u2019t wait to see what Thorin and his influence in the esports scene can do for ESP.\u201d\n\nCarlo Scappaticci, Chief Marketing Officer at ESP added: \u201cTo celebrate our collaboration with Thorin, ESP are offering a huge number of giveaways and fantasy pools to all customers, new and old. Thorin will provide his trademark Thoughts and Reflections on Youtube for esports events that are happening around these epic promotions.\u201d\n\nThorin will attend a wealth of events throughout the year under the ESP brand, the first of which will be the CS:GO PGL Minor during June 15 to 18.\n\nYou can catch ESP CEO Scott Burton speaking at the Betting on Esports Conference in London in September (13-15) on the potential for, and pitfalls in, DFS in esports.\n\nEsports Insider says: The signing of Thorin as an ambassador should help give ESP a serious boost in terms of exposure. It should also help to legitimise regulated esports gambling, particularly amongst CS:GO and League fans. ESP reportedly has a number of plans to expand its offering in the near future too, so we\u2019re excited to see what they announce.\n\nDisclaimer: As a part of SBC we are helping to run the Betting on Esports Conference"}
-{"text": "Who says no to some outdoor fucking?\n\nAnd it\u2019s even better with\n\nJoseline Kelly & Uma Jolie\n\nThese two girls are so horny you can\u2019t even imagine!\n\nIs it me or are girls now a day getting hornier?!\n\nFind out yourself!\n\nWATCH NOW"}
-{"text": "[Sep, 28, 2016] - Version: 1.0.0.51 Emsisoft Decryptor for Al-Namrood\n\nThe Al-Namrood ransomware is a fork of the Apocalypse ransomware. The group behind it primarily attacks servers that have remote desktop services enabled. Encrypted files are renamed to *.unavailable or *.disappeared and for each file a ransom note is created with the name *.Read_Me.Txt. The ransomware asks the victim to contact \"[email protected]\" or \"[email protected]\". An example can be found below:\n\nHello!\n\nAll your files was encrypted.\n\nIf you wanna recover your files contact me as soon as possible:\n\n\n\n[email protected]\n\nYour ID: B5584071\n\n\n\nYou have few days for contact me, then all your files will be lost.\n\nIf you dont get answer more than 24 hours - try any public mail service for contact me(like gmail or yahoo).\n\nRegards.\n\nTo decrypt your files the decrypter requires your ID. The ID can be set within the \"Options\" tab. By default the decrypter will set the ID to the ID that corresponds to the system the decrypter runs on. However, if that is not the same system the malware infection and encryption took place on, make sure to put in the ID as specified in the ransom note."}
-{"text": "The Dell EMC SC9000 is Dell\u2019s highest-performing all-flash and hybrid-storage-server solution of the SC Series, built on the legacy of the PowerEdge family and leveraging the latest Storage Center Operating System 7. During the last several months, the StorageReview Enterprise Test Lab has put the SC9000 through our application benchmark protocol to understand how it performs with real-world workloads. Our review also explores the ways that the SC9000 and SCOS 7 fit into Dell EMC\u2019s evolving midrange storage ecosystem, which includes the SC Series and Unity products.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Dell EMC SC9000 is Dell\u2019s highest-performing all-flash and hybrid-storage-server solution of the SC Series, built on the legacy of the PowerEdge family and leveraging the latest Storage Center Operating System 7. During the last several months, the StorageReview Enterprise Test Lab has put the SC9000 through our application benchmark protocol to understand how it performs with real-world workloads. Our review also explores the ways that the SC9000 and SCOS 7 fit into Dell EMC\u2019s evolving midrange storage ecosystem, which includes the SC Series and Unity products.\n\nLooking back, our evaluation of the Compellent SC8000 two years ago found several clues about the direction that the Dell Enterprise Storage Group would be taking to arrive at the SC9000. In early 2014, Dell was making a concerted effort to pitch flash-based storage in the datacenter. Dell\u2019s pitch wasn\u2019t just built on the decreasing prices of flash; it was based on the company\u2019s \u201cData Progression\u201d technologies and other new functionality under the hood.\n\nWhen the SC9000 was announced in 2015, it was heralded as Dell\u2019s SC Series flagship array that would bring together Dell\u2019s 13G PowerEdge technologies with new 12Gb SAS disk enclosures. Then in mid-2016, Dell released SCOS 7, a major update to its Storage Center Operating System. Dell not only rolled out new features like best-in-class deduplication and compression, but also introduced tight management integration between Storage Center servers and the EqualLogic PS Series.\n\nAs we were beginning our evaluation of the SC9000, Dell announced its acquisition of EMC, making Dell Technologies the world\u2019s largest privately owned technology company. The SC9000 and Storage Center Operating System 7 may offer clues about the direction that the Dell Infrastructure Solutions Group will be moving its technology portfolio, as well as the market segments that Dell EMC may be prioritizing in 2017 and 2018.\n\nWhatever direction the company may be going with its midrange and enterprise storage offerings, there is a lot to be optimistic about when it comes to the Dell EMC SC9000 itself, as we found out during the course of our evaluation.\n\nDell EMC SC9000 Specifications\n\nProcessors: Dual 3.2GHz 8-core Intel Xeon processors per controller\n\nControllers per array: 2 (active/active)\n\nOperating system: Dell Storage Center OS (SCOS) 6.7 or greater\n\nSystem memory: 256GB per controller (512GB total per array)\n\nExpansion capacity Min/Max Drives: 6/1024 per array, more in federated systems Max raw capacity (SAN): 3PB per array (SSD or HDD), more in federated systems Max raw capacity (NAS): 3PB per array with optional FS8600 6PB in single namespace (with FS8600 and multiple SC9000 arrays)\n\nStorage media Architecture: SAS and NL-SAS drives; different drive types, transfer rates and rotational speeds can be mixed in the same system SSDs: write-intensive, read-intensive HDDs: 15K, 10K, 7.2K RPM\n\nExpansion enclosures SC420 (24 2.5\u201d drive slots, 12Gb SAS) SC400 (12 3.5\u201d drive slots, 12Gb SAS) SC280 (84 3.5\u201d drive slots, 6Gb SAS) SC220 (24 2.5\u201d drive slots, 6Gb SAS) SC200 (12 3.5\u201d drive slots, 6Gb SAS)\n\nNetwork and expansion I/O PCIe3 slots: 7 per controller, 4 full-height (cache card consumes one) and 3 low-profile Any slot may be used for either front-end network or back-end expansion capacity connections\n\nFront-end network protocols: FC, iSCSI, FCoE (supports simultaneous multiprotocol) Max 16Gb FC ports: 32 per array (SFP+)5 Max 8Gb/4Gb FC ports: 24 per array (SFP+)5 Max 10Gb iSCSI ports: 20 per array (SFP+ optical or copper card, BASE-T, iSCSI DCB, IPv6) Max 1Gb iSCSI ports: 20 per array (BASE-T) Max 10Gb FCoE ports: 12 per array (SFP+ optical or copper card, BASE-T)\n\nBack-end expansion protocols: 12Gb SAS (auto-negotiates to 6Gb) Max back-end expansion ports: 32 per array\n\nArray configurations: All-flash, hybrid or HDD arrays\n\nStorage format: Block (SAN) and/or file (NAS) from same pool\n\nData optimization Auto-tiering method: Policy-based migration based on real-time data usage, customizable 512KB-4MB page size Auto-tiering structure: Up to 3 primary (media-based) tiers total, up to 2 SSD tiers (write- and read-intensive SSDs) Tiering customizations: Default and user-defined profiles, option to \u201cpin\u201d volumes to any tier RAID support: RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, RAID 10, and RAID 10 DM (dual mirror); any combination of RAID levels can exist on a single array RAID tiering: Auto-provisions and dynamically restripes multiple RAID levels on the same tier; no need to pre-allocate RAID groups Thin provisioning: Active by default on all volumes, operates at full performance across all features Deduplication and compression: Selectable option per volume on SSD and/or HDD tiers; compression-only option also available HDD optimization: FastTrack moves frequently accessed data to outer tracks for quicker response times\n\nPhysical Power supplies: Dual, redundant 1100W 80 PLUS Platinum certified power supplies Max power: 425W Inlet type: NEMA 5-15/CS22.2, n\u00b042 Height: 2U/87.3 mm (3.44 inch) Width: 482.4 mm (18.98 inch) with rack latches; 444 mm (17.08 inch) without rack latches Depth: 755.8 mm (29.75 inch) with bezel Weight: 19.73 kg (43.5 lb) ReadyRails II static rails for tool-less mounting in 4-post racks with square or unthreaded round holes or tooled mounting in 4-post threaded-hole racks\n\nEnvironmental Operating temperature: Operating: 41\u00b0F to 104\u00b0F (5\u00b0C to 40\u00b0C) Non-operating temperature: -40\u00b0F to 149\u00b0F (-40\u00b0C to 65\u00b0C) Operating humidity: 10% to 80% (non-condensing) Non-operating humidity: 5% to 95% (non-condensing) Services: Dell Copilot support with deployment and consulting services; Dell Copilot Optimize available for additional ongoing strategic counsel and guidance from a highly trained system analyst Diagnostics engine: Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) System sizing: Dell Performance Analysis Collection Kit (DPACK) tool Drive warranty: All SSDs and HDDs are warrantied for full lifetime wear-out replacement with valid service agreement\n\n\n\nBuild and Design\n\nThe Dell EMC SC9000 is a 6U device encompassing two 2U controllers and at least one 2U storage shelf. What\u2019s a bit surprising here are the two separate 2U units for controllers, as many modern servers can fit 2 controllers in one 2U unit or find another method in which to place them. On the front of the device and beneath the bezel, the right-hand side to middle of the device is covered with filler plates that cover empty bays. The left-hand side hosts all of the controls including the power indication/button, NMI button, System ID button, video connector, information tag, vFlash memory card slot, iDRAC USB port, Management USB port, and LCD screen and buttons for system ID, status, and errors.\n\nMoving around to the back of the device, the top part is mainly filed with IO card slots, and the basic connections run across the bottom. The bottom right has two power supply units with fans, and a Cache card above them. Moving to the left are 4 Ethernet connectors, 2 USB ports, video and serial connectors, iDRAC8 port, system ID connector, and system ID button. On our build, we have populated the IO slots with two 10GbE dual-port cards and two 16GbE dual-port cards.\n\nThe Dell EMC SC9000 also supports a variety of storage or expansion shelves. In our case, we are using the SC420. The SC420 has 24 2.5\u201d bays and supports both HDD and SSD SAS drives. The 24 drive bays take up a bulk of the front of the device with power, status, and ID button on the left-hand side. The rear of the device has PSUs on both sides with fans and power switches located there as well. The middle has two enclosure management modules, one stacked on the other.\n\nOverview of SCOS 7\n\nDell\u2019s Storage Center Operating System (SCOS) 7 is the OS and software stack that runs directly on Storage Center controllers. However, as of SCOS 7, it is no longer a management interface itself. The distinction between operating system and management tool is significant due to the advent of Dell Storage Manager (DSM) that unifies management of the SC Series and Dell\u2019s EqualLogic PS family of systems. In other words, SCOS 7 provides the underlying hooks for management and functionality of the SC9000, which DSM uses to provide an administrative interface.\n\nOne of our key findings about SCOS 7 is the superiority of Dell\u2019s latest deduplication and compression technology in terms of performance. While deduplication has become more and more common among storage systems from many vendors, the way that deduplication is implemented makes a difference. Dell has employed a schedule-based deduplication process, which avoids the performance hit that we usually see from solutions that use inline deduplication. With the SC9000\u2019s schedule-based processing, the data stream is being written directly to the fastest available storage.\n\nBy default, when data first is written to the SC9000, it is placed in the fastest tier of flash storage in a RAID 10 array while it awaits deduplication, compression, and automated tiering. After dedupe and compression, Dell\u2019s Data Progression keeps hot data on this fastest tier until it cools and is migrated to RAID 5/6 for long-term access. The downside to this approach compared to inline dedupe and compression is that all data hits storage in its full, unoptimized size. That means that the fastest tier of storage must have enough capacity to handle the incoming data until the next scheduled round of deduplication, compression, and tiering.\n\nWith the Dell EMC SC9000 and SCOS 7, deduplication and compression are now configurable at the sub-LUN level. For example, administrators may designate specific volumes to only be processed by the compression algorithm. SCOS 7 could also be configured to disable dedupe and compression for everything except inactive data that has been stored in snapshots.\n\nDeduplication and compression may be the headlines for the SCOS 7 update, but data efficiency underpins the entire architecture. This means that the SC9000 can take advantage of thin clones and writes, thin provisioning, and tools like \u201cRemote Instant Replay,\u201d which applies the concept of thin provisioning to disaster recovery in order to provide thin replication.\n\nOne of the fruits of Dell\u2019s decision to consolidate the SC family with the EqualLogic PS family is the new availability of VMware Virtual Volumes (VVol) for the SC9000, a feature that has been brought over from the PS Series side. VVols is a scheme that makes SCOS 7 controllers virtual machine aware in order to optimize performance for VMs. This means that administrators can configure SCOS 7 services on a per-VM basis as well as per-volume.\n\nDell\u2019s SCOS 7 also incorporates new volume-based QoS features, which allow administrators to throttle down \u201cnoisy-neighbor volumes\u201d with demanding I/O requirements so that these volumes can better, co-exist in shared storage environments.\n\nIn addition, SCOS 7 introduces Dell\u2019s Live Migrate technology, meaning that multi-array federation is part of the operating system that runs directly on the SC9000. Live Migration allows SC9000, SC8000 and SC4020 administrators to relocate volumes from one array to another via Dell Storage Manager, without taking the volumes offline or requiring additional hardware and software. Similarly, Dell\u2019s Live Volume technology provides transparent auto-failover to standby volumes on another array for disaster recovery scenarios. This approach means that applications can continue execution during outages without any specialized virtualization hardware or software.\n\nManagement\n\nThe Dell EMC SC9000 is managed using Dell EMC\u2019s standalone Storage Manager Client. The version tested here is the 2016 R2 version. When first launching the Storage Manager Client, you are presented with a Login screen asking for a username/password, IP address/Hostname, and port to which to connect. Clicking \u201cLog In\u201d connects to Dell EMC Storage Manager and allows you to manage your systems.\n\nThe first page presented is a summary screen with all Storage Center systems connected to the Storage Manager system. It gives a brief summary of the storage systems, IP addresses, Versions, and Status, as well as capacities for the systems under management.\n\nDrilling in to a system gives you a multitude of tabs that detail System Summary, Storage, Hardware, IO Usage, Charting, Alerts and Logs. The first tab presented is an overall summary giving information about Configured Space, Free Space, and many different Alerts that could be triggered by the system.\n\nSelecting the \u201cStorage\u201d tab gets into the guts of the system where configuration of Volumes, Servers, Remote Storage Centers, Remote PS groups, Fault Domains, Disks, Storage Types, Snapshot Profiles, and Storage Profiles are displayed. Each of these will be detailed in the coming sections.\n\nThe Volumes section shows the volumes that have been configured in the system. It shows capacities of those volumes, usage of those volumes, Active (used) space, Snapshot overhead, Actual Space, and a multitude of other statistics for the volumes. This is also the area where you will create volumes and manage volume hierarchy.\n\nClicking the \u201cCreate Volume\u201d link launches the Create Volume wizard, which allows you to name your volume, select a size for the volume, select a snapshot profile, assign it to a server, and set different profiles for the volume. Data reduction capabilities (Compression or Compression and Deduplication) leverages software-based data reduction to enhance the capacity of the system. Storage Profile and Storage Type select the type of disk and parity that is used for the backend of the system.\n\nSelecting the Servers drill-down shows you the servers, server clusters, and the disk assignments for those systems. This is the area that would be considered the \u201cmapping and masking\u201d part of the system.\n\nSelecting the Server Cluster shows the servers that are participating in the server cluster, space information, and most importantly, LUN IDs and HBA information. Selecting a LUN from the list and right clicking brings up options to edit the LUN and allows modification of the LUN ID assignment.\n\nGoing back to the main Servers area and clicking on \u201cCreate Server\u201d allows creation of a new server and assignment of the HBAs that are on that server. This list would be populated with unused servers that have registered with the system that have not been assigned as of yet.\n\nClicking on the \u201cCreate Server Cluster\u201d allows creation of a cluster of systems that will share the same LUNs from the system. There are options to Add Server to Cluster, Remove Selected, and Create New Server, allowing the population of systems that will access single or multiple LUNs.\n\nThe Remote Storage Centers menu allows users to see multiple different Storage Centers that are connected to the system for replication. This is all configured via iSCSI. As there are no remote systems being replicated to, this screen is currently blank.\n\nThe Remote PS Groups menu shows remote PS Series arrays that are configured for replication, again configured via iSCSI. As with the Remote Storage Centers menu, since there are none configured, there are none to show here.\n\nThe Fault Domains menu shows the front-end ports and the failover mechanisms assigned to them. The number of fault domains configured will directly reflect the number of fabrics configured in the environment. Given a single storage fabric, there will be one fault domain. If an HBA, Port, SFP, or switch fails and the WWN (or IQN in iSCSI configurations) can be transferred to another physical interface, those connections will be moved to another available interface. More information can be found in the Dell configuration guides about how Fault Domains work and how they should be configured.\n\nThe Disks menu displays the disks in the system and all associated information of those disks. This is where management of disk resiliency is also configured. As configured, the disks are in a \u201credundant\u201d state, meaning one parity bit (RAID5) or one mirror bit (RAID10) is configured. Double redundancy can be configured, which would be a RAID6 configuration.\n\nOn the Storage Types tab is where different types of data protection can be configured. The system under test has RAID10 and RAID5-9 configured as it stands, and shows where the capacity is allocated. Clicking on the \u201cCreate Storage Type\u201d link allows creation of another class of storage that has double parity enabled, protecting from double-disk failure.\n\nSnapshot Profiles is where configuration of all snapshot rules is managed. This allows for setting different policies that can be applied to any LUN in the system to create a snapshot regime for quick disaster recovery.\n\nThe final menu under the Storage heading is the Storage Profiles tab. This allows configuration of how a tier is allocated on the system. Default tiers that are specified are Recommended, High Priority, Medium Priority, and Low Priority. On the system under test, there has been another profile created that specifies that all data live on RAID10 rather than pushing snapshots to a lower RAID level (RAID 5).\n\nMoving over to the Hardware tab, there is a full breakdown of all controllers and their associated hardware. This shows the status of FC ports, iSCSI ports, SAS ports, Cache, Fans, PSUs, Disks, and voltages of the system. This is also where alarms/alerts are configured to notify if there is an issue with any of the hardware.\n\nThe IO Usage tab shows the performance of the system as an aggregate, or gives the ability to drill down into each volume (or server, or other component) individually to report on a per-component performance value.\n\nThe Charting tab provides similar information to the IO Usage tab, but allows more granular selection of metrics. It also allows more real-time collection of data (showing as granular as the last 5 minutes, in 10 second intervals) vs. the IO Usage tab, which has the smallest display range of one day.\n\nThe Alerts tab shows any alerts on the system that could cause unavailability. This includes initiators that are offline, disk failures, hardware failures and security warnings. This is a valuable place to look for information if there are any issues with the system.\n\nThe Logs tab is simply the log of all events on the system. This will include user logins, configuration changes and things of that nature.\n\nThe Servers submenu shows servers that have been registered with Dell EMC Storage Manager. This allows monitoring and management of systems (Windows, vCenter, ESXi) that are associated with Storage Manager.\n\nThe Replications & Live Volumes submenu shows the active data replications that are running on the system. This is where monitoring and management of any replications would happen.\n\nThe Monitoring submenu shows everything from events and alerts. Anything that happens on the system will show up in one of the tabs in this section and makes it a great place to look for anything out-of-the-ordinary if the system is having any sort of problems.\n\nThe Threshold Alerts submenu is where thresholds can be configured for alerts and alarms. This allows for configuration of values to define when alarms and alerts are triggered. There are options to set time of day, object types, and the definition of that object type to trigger the alarm.\n\nSelecting the Queries tab allows interactive polling of the system to see where thresholds sit during normal usage. This will assist in setting values for alerting and alarming on values that are outside of normal operational parameters.\n\nThe final submenu is the Reports submenu. By default, there are no automated reports configured, but turning them on is as simple as selecting \u201cEdit Automated Report Settings.\u201d Once enabled, this should push reports based on the configured selections and allow long-term collection of report data for forecasting.\n\nOverall the interface is functional, but dated. It is surprising to still see a fat client as the primary management interface for configuring the system. Many competitors are running full HTML5 interfaces to manage their arrays. Dell EMC Enterprise Storage Manager relies on a Virtual Machine that has had some stability issues in our testing. Enterprise Storage admins may find it cumbersome and unintuitive to perform tasks that have been streamlined by products such as the EMC VNX and NetApp FAS devices.\n\nDell EMC Storage Manager also has a new Web UI available. While not the focus of this review, it is a large improvement in visual usability over the fat client. It does still suffer from some of the naming convention issues that the fat client suffers from (Mapping and Masking is not specifically called out, but rather labeled \u201cServers\u201d) and managing mapped volumes is not as simple as on other vendors\u2019 systems. It also does not support Hardware management, Replications and Live Volumes, and FluidFS clusters, and as such, it cannot be seen as the sole management point for the SC9000 or Dell Enterprise Storage Manager. That being said, the visual improvements of the interface indicate that Dell EMC is working on improving the usability of the system. If those additional tasks could be implemented in the Web UI, it would be a welcome change from the fat client.\n\nApplication Workload Analysis\n\nThe first benchmarks consist of the MySQL OLTP performance via SysBench and Microsoft SQL Server OLTP performance with a simulated TPC-C workload.\n\nSQL Server Performance\n\nEach SQL Server VM is configured with two vDisks: 100GB volume for boot and a 500GB volume for the database and log files. From a system resource perspective, we configured each VM with 16 vCPUs, 64GB of DRAM and leveraged the LSI Logic SAS SCSI controller. While our Sysbench workloads tested previously saturated the platform in both storage I/O and capacity, the SQL test is looking for latency performance.\n\nThis test uses SQL Server 2014 running on Windows Server 2012 R2 guest VMs, being stressed by Dell\u2019s Benchmark Factory for Databases. While our traditional usage of this benchmark has been to test large 3,000-scale databases on local or shared storage, in this iteration we focus on spreading out four 1,500-scale databases evenly across the SC9000 (two VMs per controller).\n\nSQL Server Testing Configuration (per VM)\n\nWindows Server 2012 R2\n\nStorage Footprint: 600GB allocated, 500GB used\n\nSQL Server 2014 Database Size: 1,500 scale Virtual Client Load: 15,000 RAM Buffer: 48GB\n\nTest Length: 3 hours 2.5 hours preconditioning 30 minutes sample period\n\n\n\nSQL Server OLTP Benchmark Factory LoadGen Equipment\n\nDell PowerEdge R730 Virtualized SQL 4-node Cluster Eight Intel E5-2690 v3 CPUs for 249GHz in cluster (Two per node, 2.6GHz, 12-cores, 30MB Cache) 1TB RAM (256GB per node, 16GB x 16 DDR4, 128GB per CPU) SD Card Boot (Lexar 16GB) 4 x Mellanox ConnectX-3 InfiniBand Adapter (vSwitch for vMotion and VM network) 4 x Emulex 16GB dual-port FC HBA 4 x Emulex 10GbE dual-port NIC VMware ESXi vSphere 6.0 / Enterprise Plus 8-CPU\n\n\n\nLooking at transactional performance of the Dell EMC SC9000 in our SQL Server test, we don\u2019t see a significant impact from enabling full data reduction on the array.\n\nWhile our transactional performance metric didn\u2019t show much change between the Raw and DR SC9000 results, we do see some subtle differences looking at latency measurements. Aggregate performance for the raw storage averaged out at 14ms, while performance with DR enabled came in at 14ms. This is easily the smallest incremental difference added by data reduction that we\u2019ve seen on a storage array thus far.\n\nSysbench Performance\n\nEach Sysbench VM is configured with three vDisks, one for boot (~92GB), one with the pre-built database (~447GB) and the third for the database under test (270GB). From a system resource perspective, we configured each VM with 16 vCPUs, 60GB of DRAM and leveraged the LSI Logic SAS SCSI controller. Load gen systems are Dell R730 servers; we range from four to eight in this review, scaling servers per 4VM group.\n\nDell PowerEdge R730 Virtualized MySQL 4-8 node Cluster\n\nEight-sixteen Intel E5-2690 v3 CPUs for 249GHz in cluster (Two per node, 2.6GHz, 12-cores, 30MB Cache)\n\n1-2TB RAM (256GB per node, 16GB x 16 DDR4, 128GB per CPU)\n\nSD Card Boot (Lexar 16GB)\n\n4-8 x Mellanox ConnectX-3 InfiniBand Adapter (vSwitch for vMotion and VM network)\n\n4-8 x Emulex 16GB dual-port FC HBA\n\n4-8 x Emulex 10GbE dual-port NIC\n\nVMware ESXi vSphere 6.0 / Enterprise Plus 8-CPU\n\nSysbench Testing Configuration (per VM)\n\nCentOS 6.3 64-bit\n\nStorage Footprint: 1TB, 800GB used\n\nPercona XtraDB 5.5.30-rel30.1 Database Tables: 100 Database Size: 10,000,000 Database Threads: 32 RAM Buffer: 24GB\n\nTest Length: 3 hours 2 hours preconditioning 32 threads 1 hour 32 threads\n\n\n\nBelow is a screenshot of our Sysbench test at a load of 32VMs running on the SC9000 as seen by Dell Storage Manager. In total across both volumes (one per controller), we measured an aggregate bandwidth of around 4GB/s read/write, and just over 200k IOPs R/W.\n\nSwitching that view to the controllers themselves (which see double the work factoring in RAID parity overhead), that load jumped to around 10GB/s combined, pushing around 500k IOPS mixed R/W.\n\nDrilling in further to look at a single controller to monitor its CPU/RAM usage at the 32VM level, we see the controller floating at roughly 30% usage. This tells us the controller still has plenty of headroom available for additional load, which could be captured with high-performance SSDs or additional shelves added to the array. So even pushing 5GBs and 200k+ IOPS, the controller still had a huge amount of headroom left!\n\nAs we look at Sysbench transactional performance stepping up from 4 to 32VMs, the part that\u2019s most impressive is that up until the highest workload, there is negligible difference between running storage with or without data reduction turned on. Only at the highest level do we see that aggregate performance dips, in this case from 21,158TPS down to 19,043TPS.\n\nFocusing on average aggregate latency in our Sysbench test, we note minimal difference between DR turned on or off up until the 32-VM increment. At that stage, latency increases from 48.6ms (non-DR) to 54ms (DR).\n\nOur next test focuses on the 99th percentile latency, showing more of the attributes of the peak measurements recorded over the testing period. This is another area that surprised us in our review of the Dell EMC SC9000, as data reduction enabled didn\u2019t cause any spike in peak latencies.\n\nVMmark Performance Analysis\n\nEach of the Application Performance Analysis benchmarks attempts to show how products perform in a live production environment compared to the company\u2019s claims. We believe it is essential to evaluate storage devices in the context of larger systems in order to understand how responsive storage is when interacting with key midrange applications. One important tool for evaluating application performance is the VMmark virtualization benchmark by VMware.\n\nVMmark by design is a highly resource-intensive benchmark, with a broad mix of VM-based application workloads stressing storage, network and compute activity. This means that appropriately configured VMmark benchmarks can provide insight into the range of performance including covering storage I/O, CPU, and even network performance.\n\nWith the multiple clones of VMs, our VMmark test worked quite well with the SC9000\u2019s compression and post-process deduplication capabilities. After loading on the tiles for the test, we had consumed roughly 6TB of storage, with 12TB used in the storage pool based on our RAID1 storage type. After leaving the array to settle overnight and allow its snapshot-based DR process to take place, we saw a small bump in overall storage footprint to 15TB and then witnessed a graceful slide down in footprint to slightly over 1TB, as data was reduced in size and de-staged to RAID5-9.\n\nLooking at the storage allocation when the data-reduction process had completed, the amount of storage left in RAID 10 was down to 82GB, while RAID 5-9 storage consumed 1.14TB. This gave us a 88% reduction in storage consumed, saving us just over 6.4TB (12.8TB on disk)\n\nDell PowerEdge R730 VMware VMmark 4-Node Cluster Specifications\n\nDell PowerEdge R730 Servers (x4)\n\nCPUs: Eight Intel Xeon E5-2690 v3 2.6GHz (12C/24T)\n\nMemory: 64 x 16GB DDR4 RDIMM\n\nEmulex LightPulse LPe16002B 16Gb FC Dual-Port HBA\n\nEmulex OneConnect OCe14102-NX 10Gb Ethernet Dual-Port NIC\n\nVMware ESXi 6.0\n\nIn our final application test looking at the results of our VMmark test on the Dell EMC SC9000, we again see there is minimal impact of the post-process data reduction on our benchmarks. From 1 to 26 tiles, we measured only minor decreases in overall and application scores in VMmark with data reduction enabled. At the 26-tile mark, both configurations matched one another, where our fixed compute cluster fully saturated its CPU resources.\n\nConclusion\n\nThe Dell EMC SC9000 is one of the fastest, most capable, and scalable midrange storage systems we have evaluated at the StorageReview Enterprise Test Lab. The SC9000, running SCOS 7 and managed by Dell Storage Manager (DSM), is a formidable combination that is hard to outperform or underprice. SC9000 systems can manage up to 960 drives with 3PB raw capacity and 2PB addressable capacity. This scalability is possible, in part, due to a variety of available enclosures including 5U enclosures with 84 drive bays and 12Gb SAS connectivity. Moreover, Dell EMC has made sure that adding a new enclosure is straightforward, with new capacity available for existing and new storage pools. With new integrated EqualLogic PS management support via DSM, Dell EMC has a lot to offer here for its existing customers, as well as for administrators evaluating the Storage Center family for new deployments.\n\nOne other advantage to working with a large and established vendor like Dell Technologies is the company\u2019s extensive library of supported third-party integrations. SC9000 controllers running on SCOS7 can take advantage of integrations with Microsoft, Oracle, OpenStack, IBM, CommVault, Symantec, Foglight and others. While the VMware VVol feature was described in detail previously, it should be mentioned that SC9000 administrators can also take advantage of a VMware vSphere plug-in, vCenter SRM adapter and VAAI support.\n\nGiven the combined portfolios of Dell and EMC, it\u2019s important to understand where the SC family fits in. Dell EMC views the SC Series and Unity families as firmly midmarket storage, with XtremIO, ScaleIO and VMAX as enterprise and webscale-oriented solutions. Don\u2019t mistake the SC\u2019s targeting for a lack of capabilities though. As the review data shows, the system performs extremely well with fresh data, as well as with data that\u2019s gone through the SC\u2019s post process data reduction (or migration in hybrid configs). The SC is fully featured in terms of data services too, providing options like cross-platform replication amongst SC and legacy Compellent and EqualLogic storage within the DSM framework. If there\u2019s anything to complain about here, it\u2019s that DSM is dated (Java). And set next to Unity (HTML5), for instance, it\u2019s night and day. That said, Dell has been investing in a web-GUI for SC storage that shows a lot of promise and will be getting regular updates, bringing the installed DSM application features to a modern look and feel. Lastly, SC storage will continue on, as Dell has a large installed base of SC customers that aren\u2019t going to be abandoned. Long term, however, it\u2019s reasonable to expect SC and Unity storage to be merged together, similar to what Dell has been working on with Compellent and EqualLogic merging into SC storage.\n\nTurning to performance, the Dell EMC SC9000 excelled across the board, earning top merits across some benchmarks even though it was leveraging read-intensive SAS SSDs instead of higher-performing (and more expensive per TB) write-intensive drives. In a first for us, looking at a storage platform with data-reduction capabilities, there was nearly no overhead impact going from raw storage to full compression and post-process deduplication turned on. Both VMmark and SQL Server showed minimal changes, with performance dropping just a hair. In our scaled Sysbench tests, we did see a drop at the very top end, but until that point, DR and raw results were neck and neck. This even included our 99th percentile latency measurements, which showed peak latencies staying roughly the same even with data reduction running its course. There is one big difference between the SC9000 and other systems that support data reduction, and in this case, it\u2019s post-process, not in-line. By going this route with SC storage, the heavy lifting of deduplication is handled when the system is relatively under-taxed (overnight), netting the very good performance profile for both new and old data. This architecture is not without its weaknesses though; the array has to be sized large enough that new writes can grow during the day, and contract at night when a snapshot and data migration process hits. This is different to data reduction that is inline, which doesn\u2019t require scratch space, but generally takes a performance hit when the array is under load.\n\nThe SC9000 has shown itself to be a highly impressive storage array, surpassing all of our expectations. Given the maturity of the SC platform, perhaps this is taken for granted. Or perhaps with the flurry of vocal startups in the flash space, we lost sight of what SC can do. Either way, Dell EMC has a complete line of SC storage that can address the needs of any organization across the SMB, making it easy to start small and grow as needed. The all-flash SC9000 we tested sits atop the SC portfolio, bringing a deep set of data services and class-leading support to the table. Combined with a performance profile that is simply astounding for this class of storage, we proudly bestow our first Editor\u2019s Choice award of 2017 on the Dell EMC SC9000.\n\nPros\n\nBest-in-class data deduplication and compression technology\n\nIntegrated management with Dell EqualLogic PS arrays via the Dell Storage Manager\n\nDell Copilot integrated support platform\n\nCons\n\nThe installed Dell Storage Manager interface feels dated\n\nThe Bottom Line\n\nThe Dell EMC SC9000 sets the standard for midmarket storage performance and functionality, and it does so at an affordable price and with a comprehensive support package.\n\nDell EMC SC9000 controller page\n\nSign up for the StorageReview newsletter\n\nThis post is also available in: \u7b80\u4f53\u4e2d\u6587 (Chinese (Simplified))"}
-{"text": "Las distintas \"billeteras electr\u00f3nicas\" que van surgiendo utilizan los servicios de la red de cobranza extrabancaria\n\nLa decisi\u00f3n del ministerio de Hacienda del \u00faltimo viernes de eliminar el impuesto al cheque para medios electr\u00f3nicos de pago gener\u00f3 mucha confusi\u00f3n en el mercado.\n\nMuchos interpretaron que se trataba de una suerte de adelanto de la reforma impositiva y que al seleccionar alg\u00fan mecanismo moderno para realizar transferencias las partes quedar\u00edan exceptuadas del gravamen.\n\nDesde la autoridad monetaria explicaron que la exenci\u00f3n al 1,2% que se cobra cada vez que se cobra un cheque o al recibir una transferencia \"es algo muy espec\u00edfico, destinado a cuentas dedicadas a la administraci\u00f3n de pagos electr\u00f3nicos\". Es decir que no tiene ning\u00fan efecto concreto sobre las cuentas que habitualmente utilizan individuos o empresas para transaccionar.\n\nEntre los considerandos, el decreto destac\u00f3 que \"el objetivo se enmarca en las medidas de promoci\u00f3n de la inclusi\u00f3n financiera, el fomento de la bancarizaci\u00f3n, la eliminaci\u00f3n de las barreras de acceso de la poblaci\u00f3n a los servicios financieros y la reducci\u00f3n del uso del dinero en efectivo en pos del dinero electr\u00f3nico\".\n\nTambi\u00e9n indic\u00f3 que la aplicaci\u00f3n del impuesto a los cr\u00e9ditos y d\u00e9bitos \"impacta en los medios de pago electr\u00f3nicos, generando un desaliento para el usuario, como as\u00ed tambi\u00e9n para los comercios y los prestadores de servicio de pago\".\n\n\u00bfA qui\u00e9n beneficiar\u00e1 concretamente la exenci\u00f3n? B\u00e1sicamente no se seguir\u00e1 cobrando el impuesto a compa\u00f1\u00edas que son intermediarios de pagos, como Paypal o Mercado Pago. Sucede que al realizarse una transferencia de una persona a otra a trav\u00e9s de estos medios, se cobraba el impuesto al cheque cuando claramente se trataba de un intermediario entre dos cuentas.\n\n\"En estos casos el impuesto se pagaba dos veces, algo absurdo. Tampoco se cobra cuando hay transferencias internas entre cuentas virtuales. No estaba gravado pero se aclara que no lo estar\u00e1\".\n\nTambi\u00e9n se desgrava a las empresas de cobranzas extrabancarias (como Pago F\u00e1cil Rapipago, por ejemplo) cuando uno las usa para cash in o cash out (depositar o retirar el efectivo) de estos sistemas.\n\nLas distintas \"billeteras electr\u00f3nicas\" que van surgiendo utilizan los servicios de la red de cobranza extrabancaria. Las transferencias que suceden en esa transacci\u00f3n quedan exceptuadas del impuesto al cheque, porque encarecer\u00eda notoriamente la transacci\u00f3n.\n\n\"Esto es algo que simplifica las cosas a los facilitadores de pago\", agregaron desde el BCRA a Infobae. Uno de los aspectos claves que tambi\u00e9n se tuvo en cuenta es el inicio del esquema conocido como Debin, que el Banco Central pondr\u00e1 en marcha el mes que viene para facilitar los pagos entre empresas. Esta nueva operatoria est\u00e1 siendo coordinada por el vicepresidente de la instituci\u00f3n, Lucas Llach.\n\nLo mismo sucede con empresas que, por ejemplo, desarrollen esquemas de pago a trav\u00e9s del c\u00f3digo QR. En ese caso, la transacci\u00f3n pasar\u00eda por una cuenta intermedia para luego llegar al beneficiario. Semejante \"triangulaci\u00f3n\" de fondos se volver\u00eda inviable si en cada etapa del proceso se cobra el impuesto al cheque."}
-{"text": "Xbox One users playing Gears of War 4 may want to load the game up so it can update.\n\nThe game has been patched to \u201caddress the hitching issues\u201d players have been experiencing in game.\n\nAccording to a post from The Coalition, the title update should \u201ciron out\u201d any lag issues users are experiencing at the beginning of a match.\n\nThe update is around 218MB in size, and for Xbox One only, according to the post, as Windows 10 PC users haven\u2019t run into the same issue.\n\nOne of the other complaints from players has to do with matchmaking times, which going by some of the posts in that thread still seems to be an issue for some.\n\nTow server side updates were made in order to improve matchmaking and squads, but the team said it continues to work on remaining issues in this area. The last server side update made to matchmaking was on October 11 which the studio \u201ctargeting improvements to matchmaking times.\u201d\n\nHang tight we guess, and hopefully everything will get ironed out soon. You can keep up with the latest updates to the game through all of the lovely links above to the forums."}
-{"text": "New York City has a reputation as one of the most expensive cities in the world. The reputation is well earned but it doesn\u2019t mean that there aren\u2019t ways of discovering NYC on a low budget. I spent \u00a3700 during my 5 week internship in NYC including accommodation, transport, food and weekend trips to DC, Yale and Montreal (by plane). Luckily for me, my accommodation was provided for free by my amazing friend Sara and I stayed with friends and couchsurfed on all my weekend trips. I used an unlimited metro pass to get around. Made breakfast at home, prepared a packed lunch every day and ate cheap dinners. Almost all my activities were free. Even with this extreme budgeting, I still spent \u00a319 a day which shows how expensive it really is here. But, this works out very well for you. Here is everything you should do in NYC on a shoestring budget.\n\nFree museums\n\nMany of the cities museums are pricy but they all offer free days or pay-what-you-wish days. Pay what you wish can be intimidating, especially since at the counter they usually just ask you for the suggested amount. Have no shame. I paid $1 for entry, if I had more money I\u2019d pay more. If you do have the cash, some of these museums are amazing and deserve your donations. The low entry fee is for providing us low budget backpackers and those with low income an opportunity to enjoy the museums.\n\nMuseum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (free)\n\nA fantastic museum for anyone who has an interest in fashion. Well curated and unique exhibits, much better than I expected.\n\nThe New York Public Library (free)\n\nA beautiful building to walk around in and some art and videos on display too. A nice way to spend an extra 15 minutes.\n\nFederal hall (free)\n\nSmall exhibit about The US and nice toilets.\n\nInternational Center for Photography (free day)\n\nOne of my favourites. Amazing photography which some of the most intimate shots I\u2019ve ever seen. Endlessly inspiring and a must see.\n\nMuseum of Arts and Design (free day)\n\nOn free entry day there is a tour of the highlights which I highly recommend. This museum combines art and design into something thoughtful and special. You\u2019ll see what I mean.\n\nYeshiva institute (free)\n\nNice for those who want to learn a little more about Jewish culture. Great gallery openings.\n\nThe Queens Museum (suggested donation)\n\nVery fun museum with activities for kids as well as some cool art for adults. They have huge (!) miniature model of NYC which is the main event.\n\nFree art\n\nMoma (free day)\n\nThe Museum of Modern Art is a must visit for art lovers. Being expensive, I nearly didn\u2019t go. But, I found a Friday free on my last day to go to the free entry. I arrived 45 minutes before opening to queue and was one of the first 30 people in, so I highly recommend coming early. It will be absolutely packed with people at this time so make a plan of what you want to see, be patient and enjoy!\n\nMoma PS1 (suggested donation)\n\nPublic School 1 is an old school building which has turned into an art gallery. The whole space is used completely maximally in such an innovative way that it would be entertaining even for those who aren\u2019t big art fans. Exhibitions can be found on staircases, on the floor and even the roof. The free guided tour was very useful when trying to understand the work.\n\nGuggenheim (free day)\n\nVery famous and I didn\u2019t go\u2026\n\nThe Met (suggested donation)\n\nProbably the gallery you should choose if you can only visit one. This vast space will casually throw you a Monet or a Picasso and leave you awestruck. They have an impressive collection and you\u2019ll see a lot of works you recognize. They also have a lovely roof garden with a sculpture exhibit.\n\nThe Whitney (free day)\n\nRight on the highline, the perfect setting to view some contemporary art. A tip is to arrive 30-40 minutes before the free entry and rush straight over to the roof to watch a beautiful sunset with a view of the river and city. You can walk onto the windowed staircases where you can have the view all to yourself.\n\nAmerican Folk Art Museum (free)\n\nSmall, charming museum if you\u2019re in the Columbus Circle area.\n\nLeslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art (suggested donation)\n\nReally wonderful place that showcases erotic and non-erotic gay and lesbian art. If you\u2019re interested in this sort of thing, it\u2019s a must!\n\nGrey gallery (free)\n\nAlways changing and dynamic, check online to see if they have any exhibitions open.\n\nBushwick Street Art Collective (free)\n\nThis area in Brooklyn is filled with street art. I could have spent a long time just walking around and staring at the walls, it is expansive! The area has a large Hispanic population so I suggest sampling some Mexican food in the area.\n\nFree tours\n\nBeing a big city, NYC has plenty of free walking tours. You can browse online. I went on the all-in-one tour which gave a great overview of Manhattan and the Manhattan by night tour which was pretty magical! Check out their calendar here.\n\nFree music\n\nMy top resource for free music is THIS blog: it contains multiple free music concerts each day as well as paid events. I visited plenty of places from this blog and it was great to get some obscure recommendations too!\n\nDizzy\u2019s Jazz club\n\nAfter 11pm you can visit this club and listen to some jazz for only $5!\n\nColumbus Circle\n\nThey hold regular concerts in the shopping center, check online.\n\nFree activities\n\nStaten island ferry\n\nWant to see lady liberty without spending a penny? This is your chance! The free ferry leaves Whitehall and takes you to Staten Island. Upon arrival, you need to run onto the boat back to get another glimpse at the statue of liberty.\n\nThe high line\n\nWhat used to be an abandoned rail track has turned into a garden and art space. The track grew lots of unique plants which have now been preserved for our enjoyment. The highline is perfect for relaxing on sunny afternoons.\n\nChilling in the park\n\nFor super budget travelers like me, parks are a refuge to put down your heavy backpack, get some shade, eat a snack and nap. In NYC, parks are taken very seriously. They have musicians and performers, protests and are interesting for people watching. Central park is the obvious choice but Washington Square park is my favourite as it has the most musicians. Bryant park comes a close second.\n\nKayaking the Hudson\n\nA 30 minute long free kayaking adventure.\n\n9/11 memorial\n\nHeartbreaking experience. They put a rose on the names of those whose birthday would have been that day.\n\nChurch service at Times Square church\n\nGospel was not on my radar when I arrived in NYC but I later found it was a tourist favorite. Usually I would get off the beaten track and visit a church in Harlem where gospel originated but I read an article about rude tourists upsetting churchgoers by attending services for the gospel and leaving halfway! We should all be respectful and culturally aware when visiting new countries and places and worship. I did not want to join the long queue of tourists waiting for the church. I then discovered Times Square Church who have a very open attitude towards visitors. They have a balcony section where you can sit if you plan to leave midway. I had a chat with the ushers on entering and told then I enjoy visiting places of worship when I travel and plan to stay for the whole service. I was shown to a seat with all the worshipers (I didn\u2019t know about the balcony then) since I was staying and the experience was unlike anything I\u2019ve ever seen. If you\u2019ve never been to a Baptist service, go now! I went on the Tuesday international prayer meeting which I recommend.\n\nUshering a theatre show\n\nThis might be my greatest discovery in NYC. It required a deep google. You can be an usher for an off-Broadway theatre production and see the show FOR FREE. The satisfaction of checking someone\u2019s $100 ticket before taking your front row seat might be the best feeling in the world. All you have to do is turn up an hour early. Stuff the programmes, show people to their seats and pick up any litter at the end. Simple.\n\nGallery openings\n\nCheck gallery websites for openings and enjoy wine, prosecco, fruit, cheese and crackers on the house (and check out some cool art).\n\nMets game\n\nIf you\u2019re a sports fan, you can see a mets game for only $3 if you book online. I would have loved to have gone for the cultural experience but didn\u2019t get time.\n\nCheap food\n\nThe strangest thing about NYC is the lack of supermarkets. There are barely any in Manhattan and to this day I wonder how Manhattan dwellers get by. I learnt that takeaway food is the norm here and where I usually have a lot of supermarket bread and cheese while travelling; this time I treated myself to hot food a lot more.\n\n$1 pizza slice\n\nThe classic New York slice is an institution. Get a plain cheese slice (no toppings). The turnover for the cheese slice is much higher so you\u2019re more likely to have a fresh slice. They will usually provide you with chilli flakes, pepper, oregano and garlic so load it on and enjoy! Try a few different places to see which one you prefer. I LOVED the 99c slice by times square and wasn\u2019t a huge fan of Percy\u2019s Pizza. Find your true slice. #trueslice.\n\nDumplings\n\nThere are plenty of places in Chinatown that will sell you a portion of dumplings for a few dollars.\n\nBuns\n\nAn hour before closing time, many Chinese bakeries will give you 2 buns for $1! That\u2019s a lunch right there.\n\nStop&Shop\n\nI lived in Queens and was lucky enough to have this big supermarket nearby. Although I often ate out for dinner, I usually packed food for lunch and ate breakfast at home. Prices are double or triple what they are in Europe but it\u2019s cheaper than eating out.\n\nBagels\n\nOne day I was eating my sandwich in the park during lunch as usual. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew my sandwich away! Cheese everywhere. This is when the $1.75 everything bagel with cream cheese saved the day. Get it toasted, delicious!\n\nTacos\n\nPlaces in Manhattan tend to be a little more gourmet but head to Brooklyn for amazing Mexican food from food trucks.\n\nHalal food\n\nBasically kebabs, found everywhere.\n\nPokeworks\n\nThis place is a little pricier but it is AMAZING and I am addicted. It is basically a Hawaiian- Japanese fusion dish. Created when Japanese immigrants moved to Hawaii. Bowls or \u201cburritos\u201d made of sushi rice with LOTS of fish/meat/veg/sauces/toppings. It may be the most delicious creation ever. Pokeworks is my recommendation.\n\nParm\n\nI heard about this place from the Netflix series \u201cmaster of none\u201d and I was so excited to try it out. It did not disappoint. It\u2019s expensive for a sandwich but a budget way to sample some parm. I recommend the aubourgine (eggplant) version.\n\nHaandi and Chandni\n\nWill both give you cheap Pakistani food in a canteen style and $1 chai.\n\nThe best deal in NYC\n\nAt Rudy\u2019s bar you can get a pitcher of beer and 4 hotdogs for $8!!! Crazy but true. That\u2019s an evening out with meal and drinks for just $4 per person if you\u2019re thrifty. Still hungry? Grab a dollar slice on your way home.\n\nI hope you found my tips useful, if you want to see some more content from me, like my Facebook page: Pack it and Leave. I\u2019ve also visited other \u201cexpensive\u201d destinations very cheaply, check out how to travel London and Santorini for a fraction of the cost you\u2019re expecting."}
-{"text": "ROME, ITALY - MAY 16: Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates defeating Damir Dzumhur Bosnia during day four of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia 2018 tennis at Foro Italico on May 16, 2018 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)\n\nThere were several interesting matchups in the Italian Open today with numerous upsets and some great tennis. Let\u2019s jump into it.\n\nNadal cruises into last 16\n\nRafael Nadal thrashed Bosnian Damir Dzumhur 6-1 6-0 in just over an hour to set his third round match with rising Canadian Denis Shapovalov. Nadal, who lost in the quarterfinals of Madrid looked clinical, especially on his backhand, which was deep and precise.\n\n\u201cAfter a loss in Madrid, it\u2019s important to come back strong. And that\u2019s what I did today. It was a positive day. I don\u2019t know how many mistakes I did, but not much\u201d, Nadal said in his post-match conference.\n\nDjokovic shows improvement\n\nNovak Djokovic has had a tough year so far. He\u2019s had the worst start to the season with a 6-6 win-loss at the time of his entry in Rome. Early exits in Indian Wells and Miami to players he\u2019d beat comfortably were a worrying indicator of the season to come. His clay season, while being subpar, has also been an encouraging one. His win against Nikoloz Basilashvili was convincing, and his match against Albert Ramos Vinolas will be an important test to see if Novak can go deep in the French.\n\nShapovalov continues surprise clay performance\n\nDenis Shapovalov had never won a match on Clay until his first round win in Madrid against Tennys Sandgren. His run to the semi-finals was thrilling, to say the least, and he seems to only be moving upwards. He won a tight match against Tomas Berdych (Who has had worse draws than Novak this clay season) and battled past Robin Haase in three sets to set his third round encounter and a second meeting with Nadal. While it\u2019s unlikely he\u2019ll win, he\u2019s performed admirably this clay season and it\u2019s only moving upwards for the Canadian number one.\n\nThiem ousted by Fabio Fognini\n\nDominic Thiem looked unstoppable after his victory against Nadal in the Madrid quarterfinals. He was however beaten in the final by Alexander Zverev. In an intense encounter that lasted over two hours and saw Thiem smash his racquet in a rare show of anger, Fognini outlasted Thiem in front of his home crowd for the first time as he looks to face Rafa in the quarterfinals\n\n\u201cI beat a top clay-courter,\u201d Fognini said. \u201cI think I deserved it at the end. I ruined a few flowers but I think the federation can afford to buy some new ones.\u201d\n\nOther matches\n\nKei Nishikori battled past Grigor Dimitrov to reach the last 16. Dimitrov, who was leading 4-2 in the decider, collapsed as the Japanese number one displayed excellent baseline tennis to win four games in a row to seal the match at 6-4 in the decider.\n\nKevin Anderson, who made his first Masters semi-final in Madrid, retired in his opening match against Aljaz Bedene after the first set. While the reason is currently not confirmed, it is believed to be a thigh injury.\n\nJack Sock continued his poor form by losing in his second round match against Philippe Kohlschreiber.\n\nThe American is 5-8 so far this season."}
-{"text": "Liquid slowly trickled into the translucent gun. Most splashed around the small hole on top of what would have been the trigger. But we were determined \u2014 three boys without shame, stuffed into a small bathroom \u2014 and drop-by-drop the little plastic pistol became heavy. When it was full, we carried the gun, warm and heavy with urine, like a bomb that might go off. Thus armed, we clambered off my boat, the Delta Queen, down the dock, and across Bridgeway Street's double yellow lines in search of our adversaries.\n\nWe found our enemies \u2014 a group of \"hill kids\" we'd been skirmishing with for days \u2014 near the library. We opened fire, but they only laughed when the low-pressure gun's weak spray misted them. Then came the payoff: \"That's our piss!\" we cawed, while scrambling for the safety of a locked pilothouse nearby, laughing in their desperate, ammonia-scented faces as they tried to break in.\n\nThe three of us \u2014 Roan, Noah, and me \u2014 were only eight or nine years old at the time, but we loathed those hill kids \u2014 and their entire families. We had good reason to hate. Our parents had taught us to see them and their kind as our enemy.\n\nFrom the early 1970s until this century, the hill kids and us were on opposite sides of an unusual real estate battle that took place on the Sausalito waterfront where we lived.\n\nDevelopers and their allies on the hill wrangled with renegades (including my family) over the houseboats anchored in Richardson Bay, as well as over the land and water on which we lived for next to nothing \u2014 and, in some cases, for free.\n\n\"Imagine if you can, a mile of waterfront property in the tourist mecca of Sausalito, Marin County, occupied by pirates, artists, fishermen, counterculture and other social ne'er-do-wells, living on all manner of floating objects with the permission and approval of the property owner,\" wrote Jeff Costello, a combatant in the wars and a family friend, in the Anderson Valley Advertiser: \"A lot of valuable real estate was going to waste. That is the crux of the matter.\"\n\nWhile lawyers and politicians squabbled in courtrooms and legislative chambers over the prime real estate we'd occupied and then raised families on, out on the docks, the matter became a literal battle.\n\nBarges were scuttled in the water to block development, while developers' thugs dismantled warehouses under the cover of darkness. Bulldozers destroyed homes, in some cases with people still in them, and sheriff's deputies arrested those who stood in the way.\n\nWhat happened in Sausalito during the \"Houseboat Wars\" is happening today in the Bay Area, where cutthroat developers eye East Palo Alto trailer parks, Market Street artists' lofts, and other offbeat enclaves as lucrative \"opportunities.\"\n\nThe setting is different \u2014 tony Sausalito is on the Marin County waterfront, only minutes from some of America's richest zip codes \u2014 but our fight is familiar to anyone engaged in the struggle over the future of the Bay Area's funky, artistic, and poor.\n\nExcept in our case, the bums won.\n\nToday, two waterfront communities of past and former \"squatters\" \u2014 both co-ops \u2014 remain on the Sausalito shoreline. Now prized by the town as proof that Sausalito has soul, hoseboats are also testament to our victory.\n\nThis is the story of my childhood among anarchist pirates, and their time on the front lines of a war waged against developers, elected officials, and townsfolk who wanted us gone.\n\nTHe GaTeS\n\nMy earliest memories are of a warren of rickety docks stretching across the low tide to our boat, a single room structure built by my father.\n\nThe smell of burning kerosene lanterns, our only light, choked the air. Packs of wild dogs roved the waterfront, fucking and fighting at all hours.\n\nOur neighbors were bearded pirate men like my father, with high boots and long knives; beautiful, half-naked women; and children as feral as the dogs, all keeping a wary distance from the drunks camped in the muddy parking lot in sight of our boats.\n\nThis environment fostered creativity. Philosopher Alan Watts and painter Jean Varda lived here, on the ferryboat Vallejo. Stewart Brand, the founder of the Whole Earth catalogue and co-founder of the Long Now Foundation, lived nearby. Phil Frank, the cartoonist whose San Francisco-based comic strip Farley became syndicated nationally, lived on the waterfront, as did mask maker Annie Hallatt, who operated her business from her houseboat. The Antenna Theater, the brainchild of Chris Hardman, started as a waterfront playhouse.\n\nPeople were known by nicknames. There was the Green Death, Boats, and Captain Garbage. Woodstock, a leather-clad, shoeless man with a giant beard, roared down Gate 5 Road on his broad-handled bike, a Hell's Angel in spirit if not in fact. Deep Diving Doug (who was indeed a diver), once took me pigeon hunting under the pier with a pitchfork. Barefoot Dawn, enigmatic behind midnight-colored sunglasses, once came upon me just after a fist-sized rusty piling staple had stuck me in the chest and lodged just milliliters from a lung.\n\nDawn simply plucked it out and drove me home, delivering me and the staple to my mom.\n\nThis was life in Richardson Bay, an array of shacks, boat yards, and other ramshackle structures that covered Sausalito's northern edges and jutted into the water. Beached, anchored, and rotting boats formed a chaotic residential fleet. Decommissioned ferry boats beached in mud flats served as townhomes, and makeshift docks rambled around what was a vast floating village.\n\nThis village's beginnings can be traced to World War II and the war effort's insatiable appetite for ships.\n\nWithin a year of the attack on Pearl Harbor, sleepy Sausalito had been transformed into a giant shipyard. Bechtel Co., then and now a key defense contractor, seized nearby land and, with two weeks' notice, displaced local residents in order to build \"Marinship,\" where 20,000 workers would toil over Liberty ships and oil tankers. By war's end, nearly 100 ships had been built."}
-{"text": "Durante las denominadas III Jornadas de Marzo, Organizando la Resistencia, participaron varios ponentes y l\u00edderes pol\u00edticos de izquierdas. Se celebraron en 2013 durante varias jornadas de marzo en el sal\u00f3n de actos de la biblioteca Mar\u00eda Moliner perteneciente a la Universidad de Zaragoza. Una de esas ponencias \"Comunicaci\u00f3n pol\u00edtica en tiempos de crisis\", celebrada el viernes 1 de marzo, era presentada por Pablo Iglesias, actual vicepresidente del gobierno, ante un auditorio repleto de estudiantes.\n\nDurante su ponencia Iglesias planteaba situaciones en las que la ideolog\u00eda comunista pudiera ser aceptada. \"\u00bfCu\u00e1ndo los comunistas han tenido \u00e9xito? En los momentos de excepcionalidad, en momentos de crisis\", continuando con \"un discurso que se aprovecha de esas grietas\". Tambi\u00e9n anticipaba que \"la palabra democracia mola, por lo tanto habr\u00e1 que disput\u00e1rsela al enemigo cuando hagamos pol\u00edtica\".\n\nEntre otros ponentes se encontraban nombres tan conocidos como el del l\u00edder de Izquierda Unida, Alberto Garz\u00f3n."}
-{"text": "Over the weekend, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that, as suspected, there was no attempted hack by the Democratic Party \u2014 or, for that matter, by anyone. There was a security flaw that had been reported to the state, and the office of the secretary of state appears to have responded by blaming Democrats.\n\nDuring the midterm elections, the Republican candidate for governor narrowly defeated Democrat Stacey Abrams by 1.4 percentage points, or about 55,000 votes. That Republican candidate, of course, was Brian Kemp.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nWe\u2019ve seen this pattern before: Last-minute allegations in close races that, only after the fact or only quietly, are shown to be unfounded. The same thing happened this year in Florida, where Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum was tied to an FBI probe that, it turns out, may not involve him at all. Gillum lost by 0.4 percentage points, or 32,000 votes.\n\nThe most obvious example is the election of Donald Trump in 2016. He is president thanks to thin margins in three states \u2014 11,000 votes in Michigan, 44,000 votes in Wisconsin and 23,000 in Pennsylvania \u2014 and thanks, to some extent, to a last-minute announcement by FBI Director James B. Comey about an investigation into Trump\u2019s opponent. Or, perhaps, he\u2019s president because of a coordinated effort on the part of the Russian government to dissuade Democrats and energize Republicans before Election Day, as a new Senate report suggests.\n\nBut did these things actually shift the results in these close races? It's almost impossible to tell \u2014 or, more accurately, it's hard to say conclusively that, had these things not happened, the results would have been different.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nTake Kemp. Polls at the end of the contest showed that it was close; one, from Emerson College, had Kemp up two points. That poll ended a couple of days before Kemp\u2019s office blamed hacking on the Democrats. The Journal-Constitution had the race as a tie, making a 1.4-point result well within the margin of error.\n\nWhat\u2019s more, nearly every Democrat voted for Abrams and nearly every Republican voted for Kemp, according to exit polls. Abrams won independents by 10 points. Would Abrams have won independents by 11 had Kemp\u2019s office not dropped that untrue bombshell? Would 36 percent of the electorate have been Republicans instead of the estimated 38 percent if it hadn\u2019t been announced? It\u2019s hard to say \u2014 but seems unlikely in the context of that Emerson poll.\n\nIn Florida, Gillum\u2019s narrow loss was different. Polls had him up by nearly four points on average, with Emerson putting him up five. That margin was one reason that observers were surprised when he conceded on election night. But those polls also came well after questions about that FBI investigation were first raised. Was it the investigation itself that powered his opponent, Ron DeSantis, to victory? Take those questions away, and does Gillum win?\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nA very concrete example of the did-this-make-the-difference question played out in the race for North Carolina\u2019s 9th Congressional District. There, Republican Mark Harris seems to have been the beneficiary of an effort to fraudulently collect absentee ballots and cast votes on his behalf. But did it make the difference in the 900-vote race? We looked at this last week, considering the actual votes involved and . . . it remains hard to say.\n\nFiveThirtyEight\u2019s Nate Silver did an analysis of the effects of Russia\u2019s social media efforts on the 2016 election, reaching several conclusions. One is particularly important: On the scale of what the candidates' campaigns were doing, those social media efforts were small. A few million dollars vs. hundreds of millions. There\u2019s another complicating factor, too. When a race (or several races, in Trump\u2019s example) are so close, there are a lot of things that might have been determinative. Might.\n\nSilver suggests that the more likely candidate for a decisive last-minute factor was that announcement by Comey. Why? In large part because it leveraged the same thing that Kemp\u2019s announcement did: media amplification.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nWhile Kemp's claims were treated with skepticism \u2014 he'd falsely blamed the administration of Barack Obama for trying to hack the state the prior year \u2014 that wasn't universally true. The Journal-Constitution pointed to a CNBC headline: \u201cGeorgia Sec. of State Calls for FBI Vote Hacking Investigation.\u201d It can be hard to convey nuance in a headline, but that headline is not skeptical.\n\nCNBC wasn\u2019t alone. USA Today had a similar headline. So did CNN. Even when the lack of evidence was noted, as at the Journal-Constitution\u2019s own blog, there\u2019s still necessarily an element of he said, she said. Kemp\u2019s office knew that the accusation would get coverage and, even if that coverage was tempered, it still pushed the story out.\n\nWe keep having this same conversation. Did Russia swing the election to Trump? Did fraud swing North Carolina\u2019s 9th District to Republicans? Or more-complicated questions about things that didn\u2019t happen: Did hush-money payments to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal boost Trump to victory?\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nThink about the number of factors that would need to be evaluated to answer that last question. Who would be influenced by that news? Evangelical voters? Would they have been affected by Daniels\u2019s story of a one-night stand where they weren\u2019t deterred by allegations of sexual assault leveled against Trump? Are there enough of those voters in the three key states who would have been swayed to make a difference? Would enough Republicans have been demotivated to cast a ballot or enough Democrats energized to show up to actually change the outcome? How do you assess this? Even if you poll people about what they would have done \u2014 is that self-reporting even reliable?\n\nIt\u2019s important to remember, too, that Kemp\u2019s victory also depended on his office in another way. He effectively leveraged existing tools that disenfranchised heavily Democratic voting groups to tamp down turnout. In Florida, outgoing Gov. Rick Scott was shown to have restored voting rights to a higher density of Republican former felons and a lower density of black former felons than any governor in 50 years. What role did that play?\n\nNone of these tactics are new. Voter suppression, burying negative information, seeking earned media (that is, news coverage) for questionable stories \u2014 all of these have, to varying extents, been part of campaigns forever. What's changed, in part, is the existence of social media, increasing awareness of questionable practices and also allowing stories like that of the alleged hacking of Georgia's voter rolls to quickly propagate.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nIn a statement after the accusation was made, Kemp made an apparently unintentional allusion to the defense Comey offered of his own last-minute announcement.\n\n\u201cI can assure you if I hadn\u2019t done anything and the story came out that something was going on, you\u2019d be going, \u2018Why didn\u2019t you act?\u2019 \u201d Kemp said. Comey, who later admitted that his decision to announce the discovery of new emails in the Clinton case stemmed from concern about being seen as not acting, similarly argued that he erred on the side of full disclosure.\n\nThe result was a flood of attention in the closing days of the campaign focused on a negative story for Hillary Clinton. She was cleared on the final weekend, but the negative attention, Silver believes, helped drive her poll numbers downward."}
-{"text": "Too Big To Fail \u2013 Big Pharma Edition\n\nBy: Duncan Burns \u2013 July, 2017\n\nThere is probably not a single resident of the Merrimack Valley, fhe Commonwealth of Massachusetts, or this entire country that either has not been directly affected or knows someone who has been affected by the opioid crisis. It is a plague upon this nation, which has surpassed car crashes as the number one cause of unintended deaths for the 25-64 years of age demographic per The Center for Disease Control (CDC). The latest 2015 CDC available data shows that Massachusetts leads the nation with a 35.3 percent increase in drug overdose deaths from 2014 to 2015. Even worse, the CDC acknowledges that some of these estimates may be underrepresented and worse than official statistics presented.\n\nSome State Attorney Generals across the nation have fought back. How? By filing civil suits and going after the opioid manufacturers themselves. These opioid manufacturers include names like: Purdue Pharma, Endo International Plc., Johnson & Johnson\u2019s (J & J) Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and Allergan to name a few. Should states prevail, it would bring in hundreds-of-millions to state coffers to hopefully put towards funding in treatment and battling the epidemic. Massachusetts already budgeted over one-hundred million for substance abuse treatment, but is it enough? Will money being thrown at supply and demand issue, and unfettered opioid prescriptions help solve the crisis, a crisis that is specifically claiming middle-aged white males in larger numbers than all others? Probably not, especially if the cost of doing business is a few billion in fines.\n\nPharmaceutical companies, also known as \u201cBig Pharma\u201d, have now surpassed Wall Street\u2019s \u201cToo Big To Fail\u201d Banks in political campaign contributions. In 2016 the industry spent nearly $250 million in political campaign contributions, their 2017 filings show they are keeping pace with almost $80 million in coffer stuffing contributions. The Big Pharma industries top lobbyist, Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) leads the way with just over $8 million so far in 2017. Much like their Wall Street brethren, who over the past decade committed, and continue to commit, massive fraud & crime upon Americans, no one goes to jail. The fines levied? Simply the cost of doing business.\n\nWill our own State Legislature and/or Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey lead where others have not? Probably not. Much like Foreclosure Crisis in Massachusetts, then Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley simply settled for pennies-on-the-dollar with Wall Street, even though she had Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Landmark Decisions favoring consumers. Coakley simply caved to Wall Street, much like her Congressional political brethren who voted to bailout Wall Street for massive fraud upon the people. Campaign cash and lobbying influence being put above our interest in favor of those who have done irreparable harm.\n\nBig Pharma\u2019s foot print in Massachusetts is vast, as is their campaign contributions and lobbying activity. PhRMA\u2019s lobbying totals at the Massachusetts State House for 2016 totaled $208,461.54, most which was spread amongst state lobbyist Bay State Strategies Group LLC and the law firm of Nutter, McClennen & Fish. Bay State Strategies have sent over $12K to Beacon Hill since 2016 and $800.00 directly to MA Attorney General Maura Healey. Nutter, McClennen & Fish attorneys have sent over $38K to Beacon Hill since 2016, with $6150.00 going directly into AG Healey\u2019s campaign coffers. Perdue Pharma spent just over $50K in lobbying on Beacon Hill using Charles Stefanini Consulting LLC (Mr. Stefanini is also \u201cof-counsel\u201d with lobbying firm Dewey Square Group). Charles Stefanini Consulting sent just over $7K to Beacon Hill since 2016 with $250.00 directly to MA State Speaker DeLeo.\n\nMassachusetts Congress Members are not exempt from the allure of Big Pharma\u2019s millions in campaign monies either. In 2016 Rep. Joe Kennedy III and Rep. Seth Moulton took $1300 and $1K respectively from PhRMA, J & J donated over $13K to MA Congress Members, once again, Kennedy leading the way with over $9K. Sen. Elizabeth Warren took $500 from opiate manufacturer Allergan, and once again, Kennedy taking $2K from Teva Pharmaceuticals in 2016. Unlike their friends on Beacon Hill, at least Members of Congress from Massachusetts are not as piggish when it comes to the Big Pharma opiate manufacturers campaign donation trough.\n\nNot all Big Pharma drugs are bad, but many clearly come with labeled side effects, some tragically so. These manufacturers donate in-kind to politicians as well. However, opioid prescriptions have surpassed other medications which would lead to speculation as to why there is such an increase for a drug that is killing our citizenry. Profit margins would be a leading culprit, especially now as government ostensibly subsidizes the industry. Big Pharma executives of course have cashed in, since 2015, Allergan executives sold back shares worth just under twenty-million dollars, and J & J executives have cashed in just under ninety-million dollars per Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) Form-4 filings. Not quite public health insurer pay days, but not bad either, other opioid manufacturers are privately held and that data is not available.\n\nMuch like Wall Street, no matter how much crime is committed, Big Pharma opioid manufacturers have the added benefit of a death-for-profit business model. In both cases, Wall Street and Big Pharma political affiliation does not matter, both are equal opportunists when it comes to campaign and lobbying spending. Being a Democrat or Republican does not immunize from the allure of money, as both Party\u2019s enjoy money from ill-gotten gains, filled with not only destruction of American families economic well-being, but also their deaths. Maybe someday a real Democrat from Massachusetts will stand out from the crowd and start putting executives and others responsible for such carnage in prison where they belong instead of the status quo of fining their \u201cdeath-for-profit\u201d business models.\n\nTom Duggan Tom Duggan is president and publisher of The Valley Patriot Newspaper in North Andover, Massachusetts. He is an author, host of the Paying Attention TV/Radio Program, lectures on media bias and police issues, is a former Lawrence School Committeeman, former political director for Mass. Citizens Alliance, and a 1990 Police Survivor. You can email your comments to valleypatriot@aol.com. More Posts - Website Follow Me:\n\n"}
-{"text": "Image caption Guidelines recommend early treatment for HIV\n\nLife expectancy for people with HIV in the UK has increased by 15 years in the past decade, thanks to modern drugs and earlier treatment, a study suggests.\n\nHealth authorities should consider more widespread testing for HIV, given the benefits of early treatment, UK researchers report in the BMJ.\n\nThe Terrence Higgins Trust says people at risk should get tested now.\n\nFigures suggest 80,000 people in the UK carry HIV, and about 25% are unaware they have the infection.\n\nA team led by Dr Margaret May, of the University of Bristol, looked at the life expectancy of the average 20-year-old starting treatment with anti-retroviral drugs between 1996-1999 and 2006-2008.\n\nDuring that time average life expectancy increased from 30 to almost 46 years from the time of diagnosis, according to the data, reported in the BMJ.\n\nA woman with HIV could expect to live a decade longer than a man with HIV, perhaps because women are tested for HIV during pregnancy and are likely to start treatment earlier, the study found.\n\n'Reassuring'\n\nCo-author Dr Mark Gompels, of North Bristol NHS trust, said: \"These results are very reassuring news for current patients and will be used to counsel those recently found to be HIV-positive.\"\n\nThe data Data on 17,661 patients, of whom 1,248 (7%) died between 1996 and 2008\n\nLife expectancy for the average 20-year-old with HIV increased from 30 to almost 46 years from the time of diagnosis between the periods 1996-9 and 2006-8\n\nLife expectancy for women treated for HIV was 10 years' higher than for men\n\nStarting anti-retroviral therapy later than guidelines suggest resulted in up to 15 years' loss of life\n\nThe HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust said it was good news for people with HIV, their families and friends.\n\nChief executive Sir Nick Partridge said: \"It also demonstrates why it's so much better to know if you have HIV. Late diagnosis and late treatment mean an earlier grave, so if you've been at risk for HIV, get tested now.\n\n\"Of course, it's not just length of life that's important, but quality of life too, and having HIV can still severely damage your life's chances.\n\n\"While so much has changed 30 years on from the start of the epidemic, condoms continue to be the best way to protect yourself and your partner from HIV in the first place.\""}
-{"text": "The Minnesota Vikings enter the off-season with, basically, the same three things facing them every off-season: Retain core talent, sign talent in free agency, and draft good players. We\u2019ll get to the latter two things in different posts, so for now let\u2019s focus on some key dates coming up for the Vikings, some of their core players, and contract guarantees.\n\nI ran across this tweet earlier from Sean Borman over at Vikings Territory, and it\u2019s some some big money attached to some big names, with some key dates:\n\nContract triggers for #Vikings in March:\n\n\n\n12th:\n\nSendejo option deadline $5.5M\n\n\n\n13th:\n\nWaynes\u2019 salary fully guarantees $9.1M\n\n\n\n15th:\n\nSalaries become fully guaranteed:\n\nGriffen $10.9M\n\nJoseph $8.9M\n\nRhodes $10.4M\n\nKendricks $4.2M\n\nDiggs $8.9M\n\n\n\n16th:\n\nHunter\u2019s salary fully guarantees $9.9M \u2014 Sean Borman (@SeanBoarMan) February 6, 2019\n\nAs you can see, the Vikings are going to be facing some tough decisions. Let\u2019s take a look at some of these players, and what options Minnesota has. Before we get into that, though, let\u2019s break down the salary cap room for the Vikings. I looked at two different sites, Over The Cap and Spotrac. Over The Cap has a current cap space of about $6.9 million for the Vikings, while Spotrac says $5.7. Because math is hard, let\u2019s just average out that number and round it to an even $6 million, and work from there. Cool? Cool.\n\nSo, with that out of the way, let\u2019s get into some of these numbers.\n\nAndrew Sendejo: Of Sendejo\u2019s $5.5 million salary, he has no guaranteed money, and no dead cap money if the Vikings cut him. With the way Anthony Harris played while Sendejo was out with injuries most of the year, I\u2019ll be surprised if the Vikings bring him back.\n\nPrediction: Released. Projected cap space is now $11.5 million.\n\nTrae Waynes: One of the things I find...irritating...amusing...irrimusing...is the willingness of some fans to just throw Xavier Rhodes or Trae Waynes out with a \u2018hey, let\u2019s trade him and see what we can get\u2019 attitude. The thinking is that Waynes has finally developed, so let\u2019s get something in return. Or for Rhodes, he had one down year, so time to move on. For Waynes, I chuckle because for three years people didn\u2019t like him because of the fact he wasn\u2019t developing fast enough. Now he\u2019s turned into a good CB and it\u2019s all \u2018hey let\u2019s get rid of him because he\u2019s finally doing something we were pissed he wasn\u2019t doing.\u2019 Um...I don\u2019t get it. Sorry, not sorry.\n\nPrediction: He stays. He\u2019s on his fifth year option and is scheduled to make $9.1 million. I think they look to redo his contract, with an extension so he won\u2019t lose any guaranteed money, but a lower cap hit. He\u2019s averaged just over $3 million in guaranteed money a year over his rookie contract, and although he\u2019s improved, he\u2019s not CB1 on the team. I\u2019m thinking a cap number of $5-6 million for 2019 when all the smoke clears and a new deal is done. So let\u2019s call it $5.5 million and split the difference. Projected cap space is now at $17 million.\n\nEverson Griffen: There\u2019s a slew of contracts that become guaranteed on the 15th of the month, none bigger than Everson Griffen. Griff is one of my favorite players, and one of the most popular guys on the team, both in and out of the locker room. With all the issues he had last season, everyone wants to see him back, better than ever, and have a monster year. But that said, the NFL is a cruel business, and he\u2019s scheduled to make $11.7 million next year, but only has $1.2 million of dead money if the Vikings release him. He\u2019s over 30, and in 2018 he had 5.5 sacks, his lowest number since 2013.\n\nPrediction: I think he wants to come back, and I hope the VIkings want him back, but it\u2019s not going to be at $11.7 million. Stephen Weatherly played well when Grff was out last year, so there\u2019s a guy ready to step up and take over. As much as I hate it, I think he gets released, saving the Vikings $10.5 million in cap space. Projected cap space is now $27.5 million.\n\nFor what it\u2019s worth, I really hope I\u2019m wrong on this one, and they re-do his deal to lower his cap number. I\u2019d love to see him have a big bounce back year with the VIkes.\n\nKyle Rudolph: Rudolph, who was completely jobbed in the Walter Payton Man of the Year voting, isn\u2019t in Sean\u2019s original tweet, but I want to talk about him as well. He\u2019s due to make $7.6 million, and like Sendejo, he has no dead cap money if the Vikings move on. I can see the Vikings re-doing Rudolph\u2019s deal in a similar manner to Waynes\u2014more guaranteed money spread out over a couple seasons, but a lower cap number for 2019.\n\nPrediction: As promising as David Morgan is as a blocker, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a ready made replacement for Rudolph like there is for Sendejo. Rudolph still has a lot of football left in him, and I think a re-worked cap number of $4.5 million with more guaranteed money seems like something that can be done. If that happens, new projected cap space is right at $32 million.\n\nThe bottom line in all this is that the Vikings have a lot of decisions, and a lot of options before them to get some breathing room under the salary cap in time for free agency. And like they do every year, when free agency rolls around, they\u2019ll have somewhere close to $30 million to play with, which will be enough to do what they want to address needs (COUGH OFFENSIVE LINE COUGH) in free agency."}
-{"text": "In terms of Pokemon GO resources, one favored by experts has always been Pokebattler.com, run by u/celandro. Released just over two months after Pokemon GO's release, the site has been a favorite among GamePress staff. I sat down recently with celandro to talk about the game and what it's like to run Pokebattler.\n\n--\n\nSo to start, what was the motivation behind making a website like Pokebattler?\n\nThat's a complicated question. I really enjoyed playing Pokemon GO and I was intrigued by the combat system.\n\nThe in-game auto suggest was absolutely terrible and so I started looking into it. Despite seeming quite simple on the surface, there was quite a bit of complexity behind the scenes. I saw videos by people like Trainer Tips and articles by people like dondon151 on sites like your own GamePress and posts on The Silph Road subreddit and thought I could make a good website to help see how battles would go.\n\nDo you have a background in building and maintaining a website like Pokebattler?\n\nSo I've been programming for a very long time. I started when I was 10 typing in a slot machine program from the back of the TI-99 instruction book. I'm showing my age here ;). Anyhow, I went to college and built a website for Mordor 2 that had a database of items, spells, and monsters in the game. I then graduated, got a day job and did some work at nights building add-ons for World of Warcraft. I build the original second bar addon for Cosmos that had its functionality eventually incorporated into the main game. I also worked on a website program called WoW Roster that allowed people to keep track of who was in their guild. I had a kid (who you might have seen in a recent youtube video we made) and stopped with the side jobs for a while. This is my first gaming related project since my World of Warcraft days. My day jobs included a website that did advanced analytics for stock trading, building the matching system and various other things as an engineer and then a software architect for Eharmony, and currently working for a major youtube adtech company Zefr as a director of architecture.\n\nHow do you like PoGO these days?\n\nI really enjoy it. I like walking around with my wife on the Santa Monica pier and chit chatting while we catch Pokemon. I enjoy raiding and meeting new people. The most recent Community Day was really awesome, met so many people. It's really rewarding to meet people who have used the site and tell me how it helped them solo a tier 3 raid or optimize their roster."}
-{"text": "There\u2019s a lot of exciting work in moral psychology right now. I\u2019ve been telling various poor fools who listen to me to read something from Jonathan Haidt or Joshua Greene, but of course there\u2019s a sea of too many articles and books of varying quality and intended audience. But just last week Steven Pinker wrote a great NYT magazine article, \u201cThe Moral Instinct,\u201d which summarizes current research and tries to spell out a few implications. I recommend it highly, if just for presenting so many awesome examples. (Yes, this blog has poked fun at Pinker before. But in any case, he is a brilliant expository writer. The Language Instinct is still one of my favorite popular science books.)\n\nFor a while now I\u2019ve been thinking that recruiting subjects online could lend itself to collecting some really interesting behavioral science data. A few months ago I tried doing this with Amazon Mechanical Turk, a horribly misnamed web service that actually lets you create web-based tasks and pay online workers do them. Its canonical commercial applications include tedious tasks like search quality evaluation or image labeling, where you really need human data to perform well. You put up, say, several thousand images you want classified as \u201cporn\u201d or \u201cnot-porn\u201d, say you\u2019ll pay workers $0.01 to label ten images, then sit back and watch the data roll in.\n\nSo AMT advertises itself as a data annotation or machine learning substitute system, but I think its main innovation is finding out that there are lots and lots of people with free time willing to do online work for very, very low amounts of money. You can run any task you want, including surveys, and people happily respond for mere pennies. (Far below minimum wage, I might add \u2014 their motivation seems to be more like casual gaming or so.) To that end, I tried out running one of the standard moral psych survey questions to see what would happen \u2014 the so-called \u201ctrolley problem\u201d:\n\nA runaway trolley is hurtling down a track towards five people who have been tied down in its path. If nothing happens, they will be killed. Fortunately, you have a switch which would divert the trolley to a different track. Unfortunately, the other track has one person tied down to it. Should you flip the switch?\n\nIt\u2019s supposed to be a classic dilemma of consequentialist vs. deontological moral reasoning. Is it acceptable to sacrifice for the greater good? Is it permissible to take an action that will cause a preventable death? And so on. I think it\u2019s neat just because when I pose it to people, different folks really do disagree, give different answers, and are willing to argue about it. There are some interesting recent fMRI findings (due to Greene I think?) that people who refuse to flip the switch seem to be engaged in a more emotional response, whereas those who do seem to be using deliberative reasoning systems. (Some, like Greene and Pinker, seem to go further and argue this is a substantive normative reason to favor flipping the switch; whether you feel like getting sucked into that debate, though, there\u2019s clearly something interesting happening here.)\n\nSo I ran this on AMT; the particpants (they call themselves \u201cturkers\u201d) had to answer yes or no. Turns out 77% say they\u2019d flip the tracks.\n\nI also ran two variant scenarios of the same logical dilemma, to sacrifice one person to save five:\n\n\n\nA trolley is hurtling down a track towards five people. You are on a bridge under which it will pass, and you can stop it by dropping a heavy weight in front of it. As it happens, there is a very fat man next to you \u2013 your only way to stop the trolley is to push him over the bridge and onto the track, killing him to save five. Should you proceed?\n\nand\n\n\n\nA brilliant transplant surgeon has five patients, each in need of a different organ, each of whom will die without that organ. Unfortunately, there are no organs available to perform any of these five transplant operations. A healthy young traveler, just passing through the city the doctor works in, comes in for a routine checkup. In the course of doing the checkup, the doctor discovers that his organs are compatible with all five of his dying patients. Suppose further that if the young man were to disappear, no-one would suspect the doctor. Should the doctor sacrifice the man to save his other patients?\n\nThese two, of course, feel a lot harder to say \u201cYes\u201d to, but if you were willing to say \u201cYes\u201d to the original question, it is hard to justify why. The participants\u2019 repsonses followed what you would expect: fewer said \u201cYes\u201d to these scenarios. Here are the Yes/No responses to each of the questions (100 responses for each):\n\nQuestion Yes No\n\nsurgeon 2 98\n\nfat man 30 70\n\nswitch, save 5 77 23\n\nswitch, save 10 82 18\n\nswitch, save 15 83 17\n\nswitch, save 20 83 17\n\n"}
-{"text": "El secretario general de Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, y el rey Felipe VI coincidir\u00e1n por primera vez en Bruselas el pr\u00f3ximo mi\u00e9rcoles. El Rey, en su primera visita como monarca a las instituciones europeas, mantendr\u00e1 un encuentro con los 54 europarlamentarios espa\u00f1oles, al que acudir\u00e1n los cinco diputados de Podemos, seg\u00fan ha informado la secretaria de coordinaci\u00f3n de \u00e1reas de Podemos, Irene Montero. La reuni\u00f3n no incluir\u00e1 una conversaci\u00f3n en privado entre ambos, seg\u00fan fuentes de la Casa Real. \u201cNo hay ocasi\u00f3n para el di\u00e1logo personal\u201d, ha explicado a este diario un portavoz. Los seis eurodiputados de Izquierda Plural se ausentar\u00e1n del encuentro.\n\nFelipe VI dispondr\u00e1 de solo 30 minutos con los parlamentarios espa\u00f1oles, antes de continuar su visita hacia el Consejo de la Uni\u00f3n Europea. Los diputados de Izquierda Plural plantar\u00e1n al monarca porque \u201ces un jefe de Estado que no ha sido elegido en las urnas y representa un orden nacido por voluntad de la dictadura franquista\u201d, ha expresado la portavoz del grupo, Marina Albiol, en un comunicado.\n\nPablo Iglesias revel\u00f3 el pasado mes de marzo que hab\u00eda solicitado una reuni\u00f3n con el monarca. En esa cita, el l\u00edder de Podemos pretende transmitirle al Rey que cree que tendr\u00eda muchas opciones de ganar unas elecciones a la jefatura del Estado gracias a su popularidad. \u201cCuando hable con \u00e9l, le expondr\u00e9 que creo que tendr\u00eda muchas posibilidades de ganar unas elecciones como jefe de Estado\u201d, afirm\u00f3 Iglesias en una entrevista con Reuters. La Casa Real no confirma si el Rey recibir\u00e1 al l\u00edder de Podemos. La agenda de Felipe VI de las dos pr\u00f3ximas semanas no incluye la cita.\n\nEl l\u00edder de Podemos se ha referido, por otro lado, a las palabras de Felipe Gonz\u00e1lez, quien asegur\u00f3 que Iglesias le recordaba \u201cen su tipolog\u00eda humana\u201d a Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Aznar. Gonz\u00e1lez y Aznar \u201cse parecen m\u00e1s que nadie en este pa\u00eds\u201d, ha contestado Iglesias, porque los dos son \"favorables a una manera de hacer pol\u00edtica contraria a los intereses de la gente\u201d."}
-{"text": "FILE: German Court Bans Uber Service Nationwide\n\nUber says legislation to regulate it that's being pushed by the taxi industry could drive it out of New Jersey.\n\n(Getty Images)\n\nTRENTON \u2014 For months, the smartphone-based ridesharing service Uber has responded relatively quietly as the state's taxi and insurance industries have pushed legislation to regulate it.\n\nBut now, with the bill to regulate Uber and other \"transportation network\" companies set for an state Assembly Transportation Committee hearing on Thursday in which the company expects new, stricter amendments, Uber is taking off the driving gloves.\n\n\"The bill, with these amendments, would drive Uber out of New Jersey,\" Matt Wing, a spokesman for Uber, said in a phone interview.\n\nWing said Uber has 5,000 \"driver partners\" in New Jersey, who use the company's smartphone app to find customers.\n\nUber had not outright opposed the bill (A3765) before, saying it hoped to work out some of its objections with lawmakers.\n\n\"We had issues with the bill before the amendments. The amendments make it even worse. The amendments literally guarantee that Uber would be driven out of New Jersey, costing the state thousands of jobs and preventing over 100,000 New Jersey residents from getting a safe, convenient ride whenever they want, wherever they are,\" Wing said.\n\nDozens of taxidrivers showed up to the Statehouse in February to push for the legislation. One carried a sign that said \"Kick Uber out of N.J.\"\n\nAn unidentified Newark taxi driver protests against Uber and Lyft outside the statehouse Monday morning before a hearing on regulating the two ridesharing services.\n\nTaxi industry leaders have said they want Uber to carry the exact same insurance taxi and limo companies are required to carry, and to pay the same licensing fees and go through the same background checks they have to.\n\nUber, along with competitors like Lyft \u2014 which do provide an insurance policy to drivers \u2014 have said that their standards should be different, since their drivers are considered part-time employees and use their cars for private purposes as well. Uber also conducts its own background checks.\n\nUber and Lyft are often cheaper than traditional livery services, in part because they're less regulated.\n\nThe bill under consideration prior to amendments would require the ridsesharing companies to apply for permits with the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission. They would have to prove they have insurance of up to $250,000 per incident from the moment a driver opens the app that allows him to accept fares, as well as $10,000 for medical insurance coverage. And as soon as he has accepted the fare, the amount of the insurance increases to $1.5 million.\n\nThe drivers would also have to seek an endorsement on their licenses from the MVC certifying that their licenses are valid, their vehicles have been inspected and they have clean driving and criminal background histories. They would have their license, registration and insurance checked annually, and their criminal backgrounds checked every three years. Drivers would also have to take drug tests.\n\nUber currently provides insurance that kicks in as soon as the drivers turn on its app.\n\nWhile the proposed amendments were not immediately available, Wing said they would \"subject Uber to greater insurance requirements than either taxi or limo industry face.\"\n\n\"It was written to protect the status quo and drive us out of the state,\" he said.\n\nUber's PR push coincides with an op-ed published this morning in The Record by Tom Considine, who served as New Jersey's commissioner of banking and insurance from 2010 to 2012.\n\n\"The taxi industry and its lobbyists argue that since it needs livery coverage every moment it is operating, so, too, should the (transportation network companies),\" he wrote. \"They argue that livery starts when the driver steps into his car and opens the app. That is nonsense; livery means what it means: transporting people for pay. The TNCs' technology makes it possible to know to the second when livery is, and is not, occurring.\"\n\nAssemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), who is a sponsor of the regulation bill and chairs the transportation committe, said one of the amendments tomorrow will require Uber drivers be covered by insurance for up to $150,000 when they're waiting for customers.\n\n\"That's probably the big issue they're objecting to,\" Wisniewski said. \"I think it's a difficult issue. We want to allow innovative companies to provide services in New Jersey, but we also have to fulfill our fundamental obligation to ensure that those services are provided safely.\"\n\nA call to the president of the New Jersey Limousine Association was also not immediately returned.\n\nUber's call for its drivers to show support was met with generally negative reaction on an internet message board they frequent.\n\n\"All the requests we the drivers have been making for a long time have been ignored,\" wrote a user with the handle \"JackStraww.\" \"They can fight this battle without me.\"\n\nNJ.com Photos of the week March 6-12 74 Gallery: NJ.com Photos of the week March 6-12\n\nMORE POLITICS\n\nMatt Friedman may be reached at mfriedman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattFriedmanSL. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook."}
-{"text": "Metro Denver apartment rents rose in January, snapping a five-month streak of month-over-month declines, according to a new report from Axiometrics, a Dallas-based multi-family housing research firm.\n\nThe increase wasn\u2019t huge, just $6 a month, bringing the average effective rent, which includes discounts, to $1,365 a month in metro Denver. Rents rose at a 2.7-percent annual pace in January, an increase from December\u2019s 2.3-percent pace. Nationally, apartment rents rose 2.2 percent last month.\n\nThe apartment occupancy rate in metro Denver remained unchanged at 94 percent, the same level seen in December, but down from the 94.3 percent of January 2016, according to Axiometrics.\n\nStephanie McCleskey, vice president of data acquisition for the firm, said in the monthly report that employment gains continued to run strong in metro Denver last year at 44,800, allowing the market to absorb new apartments. Apartment construction is expected to ramp up this year, adding to the pressure landlords will face to win over tenants.\n\n\u201cRent growth will continue to moderate throughout the year as owners and managers compete to fill new units,\u201d she said.\n\nA separate report from RealPage, which recently acquired Axiometrics, estimates downtown Denver will see an 8 percent surge in new apartments hitting the market in the fourth quarter, marking the high water mark of the current multi-family housing boom.\n\nThe rest of metro Denver will see its apartment construction peak come in the first quarter of 2018, with an increase at just under 4 percent.\n\nOut of metro Denver\u2019s 22 largest apartment submarkets, the fastest rent gains occurred in north Aurora, at 6.3 percent. Denver County rent gains averaged 5.3 percent, while Arapahoe County averaged 4.8 percent and south Aurora, 4.8 percent.\n\nAverage rents and the sheer number of apartments reflect a move away from home ownership, numbers show.\n\nAcross metro Denver, 61.6 percent of residents owned their homes in 2016, a rate that matched 2015. Denver ranked 47th among the top 75 metro areas for its rate of homeownership.\n\nIn 2006, about 70 percent of metro Denver residents owned their home."}
-{"text": "MANILA, Philippines - There is no compelling reason to change the academic calendar for elementary and high schools, the Department of Education (DepEd) said yesterday. Although they are not convinced on the urgency and necessity of the move, Education Secretary Armin Luistro said they are open to proposals to change the school opening from June to August or September.\n\nAt the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, faculty members have voted not to endorse the proposal of its administrators to move the opening of classes from June to August.\n\nBut UP vice president for public affairs Prospero de Vera said the position of the faculty of the university\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flagship campus to conduct further study on the issue is only a recommendation.\n\nHe said the decision is up to the Board of Regents (BOR), the university\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s highest policy-making body.\n\nTop universities in the country have announced plans to move the school opening to September in preparation for the economic integration of the Southeast Asian region in 2015.\n\nThis means that from the current June to March cycle, the academic year will run from September to June. Under the scheme, Philippine universities are expected to attract foreign students and facilitate the enrollment abroad of Filipino students and faculty members.\n\nDepEd Assistant Secretary Jesus Mateo said they would discuss the matter in their next meeting.\n\nLuistro said unlike in tertiary education, there is no common school opening among ASEAN countries. He said schools in Brunei Darussalam open in January, Cambodia in October, Indonesia in July, Laos in September, Vietnam in August, Thailand in May, and Myanmar and the Philippines in June.\n\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Student mobility is very limited among grade school and high school students in ASEAN,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said, adding that changing the school calendar would mean that classes would run until the hottest months of the year.\n\nHe said public schools have no air-conditioning system and it is during summer when traditional celebrations like Holy Week, Flores de Mayo, and town fiestas are held.\n\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153These might affect attendance,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Luistro said as he expressed concern the hot months of April and May could have a negative impact on learning. He said moving the school opening does not necessarily solve the problem on flooding during the typhoon season as weather patterns keep changing.\n\nLuistro said the agency has been exploring various means to allow students to catch up with their lessons, particularly when classrooms are used as evacuation centers.\n\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153School heads and field officials also employ strategies such as holding of make-up classes to ensure continuity of learning,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.\n\nNo endorsement\n\nIn a text message to The STAR, UP-Diliman chancellor Caesar Saloma said the Diliman university council \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which is composed of all tenured faculty in the campus \u00e2\u20ac\u201c voted against the proposal during its meeting on Dec. 2.\n\nHe said a forum is set in UP-Diliman next month \u00e2\u20ac\u0153to study the history of academic calendar in the Philippines, and to discuss the effectiveness of learning and knowledge transfer to college students when there are differences in the school year schedule and the fiscal year.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\n\nThe forum, however, may take place a little late if the 11-member BOR decides to vote on the proposal later this month. The issue was discussed during the November and December BOR meetings.\n\nDe Vera said the position of the Diliman university council does not reflect that of other UP campuses, which have finished consultations and expressed readiness for the shift.\n\nUP has seven constituent universities \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Diliman, Manila, Los Ba\u00c3\u00b1os, Baguio, Visayas, Mindanao, an Open University and an autonomous college in Cebu.\n\nDe Vera said UP president Alfredo Pascual wants the new school calendar implemented this year.\n\nAside from Pascual, the other members of the BOR include Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Patricia Licuanan, Sen. Pia Cayetano and Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo.\n\nThree other members are Malaca\u00c3\u00b1ang appointees and the rest are representatives from the alumni, faculty, students and staff.\n\nAsean integration\n\nDe Vera earlier said the ASEAN integration in 2015 is one of the main factors that contributed to the decision of Pascual to push for the change in the academic calendar.\n\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153One of the components of ASEAN integration is the free movement of trade and services across the region. It has an impact on higher education. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have movement of students and faculty members,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.\n\nThe five-page policy proposal of the university noted that the shift \u00e2\u20ac\u0153is consistent with the provision of UP\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s charter to be a regional and global university, and addresses current developments in the region and the world.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\n\nIt said that most members of the ASEAN University Network \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as well as China, Japan, Korea, European Union, and the United States \u00e2\u20ac\u201c start their classes in August, September or October.\n\nThe Philippines is the only country with universities in the network that start their academic year in June, said the proposal.\n\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Moving of classes in August will allow greater synchronization of our academic calendar with that of ASEAN, Northeast Asian, and the American and European Universities as well... There will be less problem with semestral overlaps and students can easily get credit transfer on a per semester basis,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d it added.\n\nDe Vera said there should be no problem about the longer break of high school students who will graduate in March, noting that they could use it to look for scholarships and enroll in bridging programs.\n\nHe said the calendar shift could also have a good impact on classes, as there will be no interruptions during Christmas break, which will be the new semestral break if the shift is implemented.\n\nDe Vera said the proposed shift does not need the approval of CHED since UP is an autonomous university. \u00e2\u20ac\u201c With Janvic Mateo"}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\n\"When I run, I feel like nothing else matters. You just feel free.\" - - -\n\n'We Are Powerful' tells the story of the Salam School (WI) girl cross country team, a group of young Muslim student-athletes chasing personal records while also shattering stereotypes and misconceptions about women of the Islamic faith.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "ID USA Top 10 Classified Sites List 1 https://www.freeadstime.org 2 https://www.findermaster.com 3 https://www.wallclassifieds.com 4 https://www.h1ad.com 5 https://www.classifiedsfactor.com 6 https://www.giganticlist.com 7 https://www.advertiseera.com 8 https://www.rectanglead.com 9 https://www.superadpost.com 10 https://www.craigslist.org\n\nClassifieds have become most popular technique for selling and buying on the internet. By using classified sites, You can easily promote your business/products in local areas, cities or anywhere in the world. You need to Register on these sites and submit your product information. Here I tried to found USA Top 10 free classified ads sites List."}
-{"text": "Image copyright EPA Image caption North Korean delegates had arrived from the embassy in Stockholm\n\nThe US has denied that its day of nuclear talks with North Korea ended in failure, insisting that \"good discussions\" were had.\n\nEarlier, North Korea said the meeting had broken down, because the US brought \"nothing to the negotiation table\".\n\nOfficials from the two countries met in Sweden on Saturday, in the hope of breaking their stalemate.\n\nThis came just days after North Korea tested a new missile, in a significant advance on earlier tests.\n\nThe meeting was the first formal working-level discussion since US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met briefly at the inter-Korean border zone in June.\n\nNeither of the leaders was present in Sweden. Instead, initial discussions were being handled by North Korea's Kim Myong Gil and US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun.\n\nThey met on an island north-east of Stockholm called Lidingo, where North Korea has its embassy.\n\nWho said what?\n\nOn Saturday evening, North Korea's top nuclear envoy Kim Myong Gil spoke to reporters outside the embassy, saying \"the negotiations have not fulfilled our expectation and finally broke off\".\n\nImage copyright Getty Images Image caption North Korea's missile tests have alarmed people in the South\n\n\"The US raised expectations by offering suggestions like a flexible approach, new method and creative solutions, but they have disappointed us greatly,\" he added.\n\nHe said \"the US would not give up their old viewpoint and attitude\".\n\nHowever, shortly afterwards, the US state department released a contradictory statement from spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus.\n\n\"The early comments from the DPRK [North Korean] delegation do not reflect the content or the spirit of today's 8.5-hour discussion,\" it read. \"The US brought creative ideas and had good discussions with its DPRK counterparts.\"\n\nWashington has also accepted Sweden's invitation to host more talks in two weeks' time, Ms Ortagus said.\n\nWhat was expected?\n\nMany observers saw the fresh talks as an opening move to another Trump-Kim summit.\n\nThe two have held two summits so far. The first one in Singapore in 2018 resulted in a vague denuclearisation agreement which led to few concrete results.\n\nMedia playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The nuclear word Trump and Kim can't agree on\n\nThe second summit in Vietnam in February 2019 ended early without any agreement.\n\nDidn't North Korea just test a missile?\n\nJust this Thursday, North Korea confirmed it had test-fired a new type of a ballistic missile, a significant escalation from the short-range tests it has conducted since May.\n\nImage copyright KCNA via REUTERS Image caption A picture released by North Korea's news agency said to be of the missile\n\nThe missile - able to carry a nuclear weapon - was the North's 11th test this year. Fired from a platform at sea, it appears to be capable of being launched from a submarine, which means North Korea could potentially launch missiles far outside its territory.\n\nAnalysts said North Korean might have been seeking to build up pressure ahead of the talks."}
-{"text": "Trump blames Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome H. Powell, his own choice for the post, for the steep stock sell-off. Many on Wall Street say Trump deserves some blame, too.\n\nAD\n\nThe president has complained about Powell for months, but in recent days he\u2019s been asking around about whether he can fire Powell, which would be an unprecedented act in the United States and one that would spook markets and banks.\n\nTreasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and incoming chief of staff Mick Mulvaney this weekend insisted the president knows he can\u2019t fire Powell, and the law says a Fed leader can be removed only \u201cfor cause,\u201d which courts have interpreted as criminal activity.\n\nBut Trump never issued his own statement to dampen fears he wants to fire Powell, and on Monday he ripped the Fed again.\n\nAD\n\n\u201cThe only problem our economy has is the Fed. They don\u2019t have a feel for the Market, they don\u2019t understand necessary Trade Wars or Strong Dollars or even Democrat Shutdowns over Borders,\u201d Trump said on Twitter.\n\nAD\n\nMarkets fell further after Mnuchin put out a statement Sunday saying he had spoken with the heads of the country\u2019s six largest banks and had been told \u201cthey have ample liquidity\u201d to keep lending. Almost no one was worried about this \u2014 until Mnuchin said he was monitoring it during time away from a vacation in Mexico.\n\nMnuchin said he would spend Monday on the phone with a group of top officials known colloquially as the Plunge Protection Team (the formal name is the President\u2019s Working Group on Financial Markets). This group hasn\u2019t been very active since 2008 to 2009, when the nation was in a massive financial crisis, which is why many economists are asking: If there are no problems, why call now?\n\nAD\n\n\u201cIf you wanted to create financial market volatility, this is how you would do it. Why a Treasury Secretary is in that game is beyond me,\u201d tweeted economist Justin Wolfers, echoing the sentiment of many economists and traders.\n\nAD\n\nA top Treasury official tried again to calm markets Monday by saying Mnuchin was taking a \u201cprudent, preemptive measure\u201d to reassure Americans everyone is doing fine after the markets suffered their worst weekly loss since 2008 last week. But the damage appears done \u2014 as markets continued a deep slide Monday.\n\nAnalysts' read on Mnuchin\u2019s statement is that he either made a mistake or he knows something few others know. Neither scenario is likely to reassure investors.\n\n\u201cThere were already fires burning in the financial markets and the economy that are related to uncertainty. This simply pours jet fuel onto that uncertainty quotient,\u201d said Mark Hamrick, senior analyst at Bankrate.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nThe stock market was open only a half-day Monday. It\u2019s typically a sleepy day with little trading because everyone just wants to go home and eat. But not this time. The major indexes fell sharply, and the world watched as America\u2019s long bull run that began in March 2009 almost came to an official end.\n\nThe S&P 500, the most widely held U.S. stock index, is in bear market if you measure from the all-time high on Sept. 20. Howard Silverblatt, the master data cruncher at S&P Dow Jones Indices, says if you measure from the Sept. 20 close to the Dec. 24 close, the market is down 19.78 percent, which is \u201cjust shy\u201d on an official bear market.\n\nThe Nasdaq is already in a bear market and the Dow Jones industrial average is very close. The stock slide began in October and escalated in December.\n\nAD\n\nThe White House\u2019s weekend of mistakes is piling upon weeks of heightened presidential anger and strife. The government is shut down with no end in sight, top aides such as Defense Secretary Jim Mattis are quitting and issuing public rebukes of the president, and Trump has called himself a \u201cTariff Man\u201d just as business leaders thought there was hope for trade deals.\n\nAD\n\nThe volatility is coming amid a backstop of what appears to be a very strong economy \u2014 the best in more than a decade. Growth is likely to hit 3 percent this year, the best since 2006, and the job market is the strongest since 2000, if not before. Unemployment is at the lowest in nearly 50 years. Even wages finally look a little better in many industries after years of few, if any, raises.\n\nYet Trump is focused on stocks, which are often divorced from the \u201creal economy\u201d \u2014 a problem President Barack Obama encountered while trying to explain why stocks were rallying in 2010 yet much of America was still suffering.\n\nAD\n\nNow the risk for Trump is that the chaos in Washington and volatility in the markets spill over into the real economy, and businesses and consumers begin to question whether they need to pull back.\n\nThe story has been updated to reflect the official S&P Dow Jones Indices bear market calculations."}
-{"text": "Not sure if I'm hot Or if college guys are desperate\n\n6,718 shares"}
-{"text": "While I am really happy that perl moves forward, things get fixed or deprecated and later removed but I know several companies that are still using 5.6.x and even older versions of perl. The gap is widening for many companies and I am not sure what to think about it. Recently I asked on the mailing list of Israel.pm: Why are you (or your company) still using an older version of Perl? and I got a couple of good answers. Then, today I saw a post on the perl5porters list by H.Merijn Brand that was related to this. Let's look at these companies. The systems as they are now are working, none of the features in newer versions of perl seem to be very important to those companies. (Actually I think even that might not be true, just companies learned to live with some of the shortcomings of old versions of perl) Upgrading perl only seems to involve cost: Someone might need to fix the code if it was using deprecated or changed features. Someone needs to verify that everything works well and if the code was written 5-10 years ago then the number of automated tests will be very low. Someone will have to install the newer perl on every machine and upgrade the applications. There is also a risk - no matter how much you verified the code - that something will stop working which can cause downtime, lost revenue or penalties. So there does not seem to be a compelling reason to make that investment. On the other hand... It will be cheaper to develop for newer versions of perl More and more modules on CPAN require 5.8.x and even 5.10.x. In some cases you can find an old version of the module that can work on older perl but it is getting more and more difficult. In addition there are new modules that from the beginning required a relatively recent version of perl. (e.g. both Devel::NYTProf and Moose require 5.8.1) That means the company won't be able to leverage the extra work that went into the CPAN modules so it won't be able to enjoy the saving opportunities in development cost. In short, developing on newer versions of perl would cost less money than developing on older versions of perl. The same is true with core perl. The new features (e.g. say, given, named capture, smart-match) help reducing development cost for future code. Staying with older perl will cost extra money in future development. Easier to find good developers for modern Perl There is another reason I can think of. Companies complain that it is hard to find good perl developers. I am quite sure that it is much harder to convince a good perl developer to work in a shop that sticks with an old version of perl than in a shop that uses modern perl. So staying with old perl will cost in recruiting and retaining Perl developers. We can go back in time and ask again: Is it really hard to find good Perl programmers? It costs more to get any support for older versions of Perl and older CPAN modules Older versions of perl are not supported. Just as with any other technology if you stay with an old version you are on your own. You won't find open source developers to help you free of charge and even finding commercial support will be increasingly hard and thus increasingly expensive. So there is a risk factor in staying with old versions of perl. Other reasons? Are there other reasons to upgrade perl?"}
-{"text": "Despite a $12 million ad blizzard by a giant tobacco company, voters in San Francisco resoundingly supported a new ban on the selling of flavored tobacco products, including vaping liquids packaged as candies and juice boxes, and menthol cigarettes.\n\nThe measure, known as Proposition E, is said to be the most restrictive in the country, and health groups predicted it could serve as a model for other communities.\n\nThe vote had been expected to be close, but the final tally was 68 percent to 32 percent in support of the ban. Those results reflected a big miscalculation by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, which had saturated the city with multimedia ads in four languages, likening the ban to Prohibition and invoking a black market crime wave.\n\n\u201cThey had a strategic chance there to show that they are actually walking the walk and talking the talk about moving smokers to nonsmoker tobacco products,\u201d said Eric Lindblom, a Georgetown Law professor and former Food and Drug Administration tobacco official. \u201cInstead they took this scorched earth approach, trying to eliminate the entire flavor ban. They failed and now other jurisdictions can say, \u2018Why should we compromise?\u2019\u201d"}
-{"text": "Corrie Elle Artistry\n\nPlusieurs emplacements\n\nAdoptez le teint bronz\u00e9 et une coiffure de plage gr\u00e2ce aux conseils de Corrie Elle\n\n\u00c0 venir"}
-{"text": "Chris Pratt is happy to have James Gunn back on board after the director was initially fired from Guardians of the Galaxy 3.\n\nDisney announced Gunn\u2019s firing in July 2018 after after years-old insensitive tweets were resurfaced by conservative personalities, including jokes about rape and pedophilia. The director, who helmed and wrote the first two movies, was reinstated by Disney in March.\n\nGet push notifications with news, features and more.\n\nPratt, who got together with Guardians cast and released a statement calling for Gunn, 52, to be re-hired, told PEOPLE at the Avengers: Endgame premiere on Monday that he is \u201cthrilled\u201d to have Gunn back at the helm.\n\n\u201cI was so thrilled, so excited. I think it\u2019s the right move, I really stand behind it,\u201d Pratt, 39, said. \u201cI\u2019m really proud of Disney for hiring James back and ultimately thrilled for not only us, but also for the fans. I think it\u2019s going to wrap up the trilogy in the best way.\u201d\n\nImage zoom James Gunn, Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana Vivien Killilea/Getty\n\nHe continued, \u201cAnd Guardians of the Galaxy are really all about second chances and giving people an opportunity to be their best. We\u2019re a ragtag squad of people coming together and having each other\u2019s back. I think it really worked out the way it was supposed to, and I feel good about it.\u201d\n\nThe director, who had since signed on to write the Suicide Squad sequel after his firing, apologized after the tweets were surfaced, explaining that he has since grown as a person and in his work. Gunn said that it used to be part of his act to tweet things that would outrage people.\n\n\u201cIn the past, I have apologized for humor of mine that hurt people,\u201d Gunn wrote is a series of tweets. \u201cI truly felt sorry and meant every word of my apologies. Anyway, that\u2019s the completely honest truth: I used to make a lot of offensive jokes. I don\u2019t anymore. I don\u2019t blame my past self for this, but I like myself more and feel like a more full human being and creator today. Love you to you all.\u201d\n\nGunn was set to start filming the third installment in fall 2018 and had been working on the script. He wrote and directed the first two movies, which have made more than $1.6 billion worldwide."}
-{"text": "Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has released his first, long-promised campaign ad: a spot that touts his controversial proposal to ban Muslims from entering the US \u201cuntil we can figure out what\u2019s going on\u201d.\n\nThe ad then promises Trump will \u201cquickly cut the head off of Isis and take their oil\u201d.\n\nIn the 30-second spot, the narrator also declares that Trump will build a southern wall to prevent immigrants from illegally crossing over the US border with Mexico. Over a somber piano melody, the narrator assures listeners that Mexico will pay for the wall.\n\nA spokesperson for the Mexican president, Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto, said in August that the country, an important trading partner for the US, would do no such thing.\n\n\u201cOf course it\u2019s false,\u201d Pe\u00f1a Nieto\u2019s spokesman, Eduardo S\u00e1nchez, told Bloomberg. \u201cIt reflects an enormous ignorance for what Mexico represents, and also the irresponsibility of the candidate who\u2019s saying it.\u201d\n\nThe ad shows scores of people, visible only as small black forms from the camera\u2019s distance, scrambling to and over a fence through an arid landscape. The scene is not not actually from the Mexican border, fact-checking site Politifact noted.\n\nInstead, the footage is from the border of Spain and Morocco and shows North African migrants crossing into Spanish territory. The footage aired on the Italian network RepubliccaTV in 2014.\n\nBut Trump\u2019s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, told NBC News that the juxtaposition of footage was no accident. \u201cNo shit it\u2019s not the Mexican border,\u201d Lewandowski said. \u201cBut that\u2019s what our country is going to look like. This was 1,000% on purpose.\u201d\n\nCampaign spokesperson Hope Hicks then released a statement: \u201cThe use of this footage was intentional and selected to demonstrate the severe impact of an open border and the very real threat Americans face if we do not immediately build a wall and stop illegal immigration.\n\n\u201cThe biased main stream [sic] media doesn\u2019t understand, but Americans who want to protect their jobs and their families do.\u201d\n\nPresident Obama appears in the clip alongside Hillary Clinton, just before the frame changes to show an image of people on stretchers behind photos of the alleged gunman in the San Bernardino shooting.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s calling for a temporary shutdown of Muslims entering the United States, until we can figure out what\u2019s going on,\u201d the narrator says.\n\nTrump\u2019s ad refers to the threat of Islamic extremism, which, like other forms of religious extremism, has existed for millennia.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019ll quickly cut the head off of Isis and take their oil,\u201d the ad continues.\n\nTrump first proposed banning Muslims last month at a campaign rally in Charleston, South Carolina. Footage of Trump promoting this proposal was used in a new recruitment film, released this weekend, for Somalia\u2019s al-Shabaab militant group.\n\nTrump told the Washington Post he hopes the ad, and others in production, can sway undecided voters.\n\n\u201cThe world is laughing at us, at our stupidity,\u201d Trump said. \u201cIt\u2019s got to stop. We\u2019ve got to get smart fast \u2013 or else we won\u2019t have a country.\u201d\n\nThe ad, which is called Great Again, will start airing in New Hampshire and Iowa on Tuesday. Trump\u2019s campaign said that it plans to spend at least $2m each week to air the ad.\n\nTrump said in a statement: \u201cI am very proud of this ad, I don\u2019t know if I need it, but I don\u2019t want to take any chances because if I win we are going to Make America Great Again.\u201d"}
-{"text": "The makers of the Raspberry Pi credit card-sized computer today announced every last piece of code running on the computer\u2019s ARM chip has been open sourced. While the computer could already run several Linux-based operating systems, not all the drivers were open source. Going fully open source prevents users from having to use drivers that are proprietary or reverse-engineered, and it should make it easier to create new Raspberry Pi-targeted OS ports.\n\nThe announcement said all the VideoCore driver code has been made available on GitHub under the 3-clause BSD license, making the Pi\u2019s BCM2835 chip \u201cthe first ARM-based multimedia SoC with fully-functional, vendor-provided (as opposed to partial, reverse engineered) fully open-source drivers.\u201d As of today, \u201ceverything running on the ARM is now open source.\u201d (UPDATE: As some astute readers note, this isn't strictly true; see the Editor's Pick comments for more details.)\n\n\u201cBroadcom is the first vendor to open their mobile GPU drivers up in this way,\u201d wrote Raspberry Pi Foundation lead Linux developer Alex Bradbury. \u201cWe at the Raspberry Pi Foundation hope to see others follow.\u201d\n\nThe additional open source code will also make it easier for new operating system ports to take advantage of the Pi\u2019s full hardware-accelerated graphics capabilities. Bradbury specifically mentioned progress in bringing FreeBSD, NetBSD, Plan9, RISC OS, Haiku, and other operating systems to the Pi.\n\n\"Aside from being exciting to FOSS enthusiasts for philosophical reasons, it\u2019s also going to make it much easier for third party developers to (for instance) implement Wayland EGL client and EGL server support, or to provide better integration of GLES/VG with X.Org,\" Bradbury wrote."}
-{"text": "NASSAU, Bahamas (Reuters) - Thousands of people fled devastation in the Bahamas on Saturday as conditions grew increasingly desperate nearly a week after Hurricane Dorian made landfall, reducing many homes to rubble and knocking out water and power.\n\nAid groups rushed emergency help to the storm-ravaged islands, and officials warned a death toll of 43 was likely to spike higher as the number of missing among the archipelago nation\u2019s 400,000 residents becomes clear.\n\nEven as the aid ships and aircraft headed in, residents abandoned hard-hit Great Abaco Island to seek safety and food in the capital, Nassau, and others headed to Florida for shelter, supplies and perhaps jobs.\n\nSome 90 percent of the homes, buildings and infrastructure in Marsh Harbour of Great Abaco, where Dorian rampaged for almost two full days as one of the strongest Caribbean hurricanes on record, were damaged, the World Food Programme said.\n\nThe agency noted that thousands of people were living in a government building, a medical center and an Anglican church that survived the storms, but they had little to no access to water, power and sanitary facilities.\n\n\u201cThe needs remain enormous,\u201d WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel said in an email. \u201cEvacuations are slowly taking place by ferry, as hundreds of residents reportedly flee daily.\u201d\n\nA cruise ship with more than 1,000 evacuees arrived in south Florida on Saturday. Some had small children or aging relatives who they hoped to find safe lodging for before returning to try to repair or rebuild their island homes.\n\nThe risk of outbreaks of diarrhea and waterborne diseases is high as drinking water may be tainted with sewage, according to the Pan American Health Organization.\n\nTravis Newton, a 32-year-old carpenter who survived the storm in Marsh Harbour, said he arrived in Nassau on Saturday morning with his family, trying to find a safe place to live.\n\nHe said residents of the town foraged for food and water in the wreckage of damaged stores after the storm passed.\n\n\u201cWe had to survive, we had to make it happen, we had to find food, water, where we were aid couldn\u2019t get to us, we had to find what we could from the damaged stores,\u201d Newton said. \u201cEverybody needs to get out of that place.\u201d\n\nThe U.S. Coast Guard and Navy were shipping in relief supplies and had already rescued some 290 people from isolated areas on the islands. The U.S. Agency for International Development said it raised its allocation of aid to the Bahamas by $1 million, to $2.8 million in total and had moved enough emergency supplies for 44,000 people to the islands.\n\nSome 70,000 people were in need of food and shelter, the WFP estimated, and private forecasters estimated that some $3 billion in insured property was destroyed or damaged in the Caribbean.\n\nSlideshow ( 32 images )\n\nUNUSUAL THIRD LANDFALL\n\nDorian remained a powerful threat. The storm on Saturday made an unusual third landfall when it slammed into Canada\u2019s Atlantic Coast, knocking down trees, cutting power and blowing over a large construction crane in downtown Halifax, the capital of the province of Nova Scotia.\n\nDorian was reclassified to a very intense post-tropical storm as it lost a defined eye though wind speeds of 150 kilometers per hour (93 miles per hour) were equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, the Canadian Hurricane Centre said.\n\nSlideshow ( 32 images )\n\nThe system was racing north-eastward toward Prince Edward Island and was expected to pass over northern Newfoundland and eastern Labrador late Saturday or early Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said. Local authorities urged anyone who lived close to the seashore to evacuate as a precaution.\n\nDorian, proving to be a long-lived storm, hit the Bahamas on Sunday and Monday with Category 5 winds, with some gusts topping 200 miles per hour (320 kph).\n\nThe hurricane pounded parts of North Carolina\u2019s Outer Banks Islands on Friday, and Governor Roy Cooper on Saturday reported the death of a 67-year-old man in Pamlico County on the mainland coast, the state\u2019s second fatality in the storm.\n\nLARGE NUMBER OF DEAD FEARED\n\nIn the Bahamas, medical chief of staff at Princess Margaret Hospital in Nassau, Dr. Caroline Burnett-Garraway, said two refrigerated, 40-foot trucks would be needed to hold the \u201cstaggering\u201d number of bodies that were expected to be found.\n\n\u201cOur relief operation is growing, but we are also facing serious challenges in terms of delivering aid,\u201d Red Cross spokeswoman Jennifer Eli said. \u201cEven search-and-rescue choppers haven\u2019t been able to reach some people because there\u2019s no place to land.\u201d\n\nNear an area called The Mudd in Marsh Harbour, a Reuters witness reported most houses leveled, the body of a man lying near a main street and dead dogs floating in water.\n\nAmong those who fled Abaco was 19-year-old Isaiah Johnson, who was staying in a hotel in Nassau with his mother and three sisters after the storm\u2019s severe winds destroyed their homes.\n\nA wealthy friend had paid for a two-week stay, but after that it was unclear where they would go.\n\nHis mother was already searching for work in the United States, Johnson said, reckoning that jobs would be hard to find in Nassau.\n\n\u201cTwo weeks might be enough time for me to figure things out,\u201d Johnson said on Saturday. \u201cFor my mom, I\u2019m not so sure.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Seven anti-militarist activists are due to attend Folkestone Magistrates Court tomorrow to enter their pleas in an aggravated trespass case relating to an action at Elbit-Instro arms factory. The alleged offence carries a maximum sentence of three months in prison. A number of the activists are locally connected to Kent.\n\nThe activists were arrested last month following a two-day occupation at the Elbit-Instro arms factory, which is newly situated in Discovery Park business park in Sandwich, Kent.\n\nInstro is a UK-based subsidiary of Elbit Systems Ltd., an international defense electronics company supplying military equipment to countries with records of human rights abuses such as Israel, Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.\n\nElbit is Israel\u2019s largest privately-owned arms company and provides 85% of Israel\u2019s drones, used to attack Gaza\u2019s civilian population repeatedly. Drones were used during Israel\u2019s Operation Protective Edge which killed over two thousand civilians, including over five hundred children.\n\nIt is also contended that Elbit-Instro has a trading relationship with Turkey. Turkey is currently embarked upon a bloody war against the Kurdish population, both within its own borders and in Kurdish-held areas of Northern Syria. As a result of Turkey\u2019s most recent military offensive, thousands of ISIS supporters managed to escape from military prisons and camps.\n\nElbit-Instro is unpopular with the local community following a failed bid to take over the former Manston Airport site.\n\nA spokesperson for Stop Elbit-Instro Defendants Solidarity Campaign said: \u201cThe skilled engineers of Elbit-Instro could be working to make the world a better place, yet instead they are employed to build machines that incinerate children. Shame on them all.\u201d\n\nA spokesperson for East Kent Campaign Against the Arms Trade said: \u201cWe know Instro have been granted export licenses to Turkey in recent years. There are urgent questions about whether Instro\u2019s specialist targeting technology is employed by Israel for targeting Gazan civilians every Friday during the Great Return March civil rights demonstrations, or in maintaining the surveillance of Palestinians along its illegal separation barrier, enabling the occupation\u2019s apartheid infrastructure.\u201d\n\nIt is anticipated that the activists will all plead Not Guilty. A full trial is likely to follow in the new year. The hearing will commence at 9.30am."}
-{"text": "Your address will show here\n\n+12 34 56 78"}
-{"text": "Article content\n\nThey marched down Jasmine Crescent more than 200-strong on Sunday afternoon.\n\nChildren, the elderly, parents, students, teachers, school principals, scouts, ministers, the police chief, the mayor and the neighbourhood\u2019s councilman, Tim Tierney, marched along the street, starting close to where 20-year-old Nooredin Hassan was gunned down last year, then past the Jasmine Towers, where in April 2015, Connor Stevenson, 18, was knifed to death in the stairwell, not far from the parking lot where in September 2015, Issaiah Clacher, 17, was stabbed to death.\n\nWe apologize, but this video has failed to load.\n\ntap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Hope on Jasmine, where fear is fading and crime is down Back to video\n\nBut it\u2019s been more than a year since homicide detectives have been called to Jasmine, where there is now a surge of hope as fear fades and crime is down, according to Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau. (The police chief\u2019s appearance drew applause, as did the mayor\u2019s and the march\u2019s main organizer, Tim Tierney.)\n\nEveryone agreed that the biggest catalyst for change was the simplest \u2013 just getting together, as a community, to talk it out and try to make Jasmine a better, safer place.\n\nThe neighbourhood looks a lot different than it did a year ago. The east-end street is now lined with branch sculptures by top Wakefield environment artist Marc Walter, there are now music lessons and a new hockey and football program. Coun. Tierney is also working on building a decent outdoor rink, and hopefully one day a community centre.\n\nBut not long ago, this was the kind of street that kept Joe Cherfan\u2019s parents inside their fourth-floor apartment for a month last year.\n\nThree homicides were enough to keep them from setting foot outside."}
-{"text": "These negative ads show just how vicious some House races are. | POLITICO Screengrabs 10 nastiest House races\n\nAlcohol-fueled teenage arrests. Mob ties. \u201cLegitimate rape.\u201d Family finances.\n\nIf you thought the presidential race was veering off the rails with small-ball attacks and Big Bird, the ugliest House races around the country take it to a whole new level. House races are more local, less polished and the candidates often know each other \u2014 and have built up a personal hostility palpable in the campaign.\n\n\nHere is POLITICO\u2019s look at the 10 nastiest House races of 2012:\n\nFlorida\u2019s 18th District: Rep. Allen West (R) vs. Patrick Murphy (D)\n\nIt\u2019s easily the most vicious 30 seconds in House races this cycle.\n\nWest released a blistering ad that raps Murphy for a Feb. 16, 2003, arrest stemming from a drunken bar brawl in South Beach when the Democrat was 19 years old \u2014 at the same time that West, an Army lieutenant colonel, was preparing to go overseas.\n\n\u201cTwo men. A country in crisis. You decide,\u201d a male narrator says as Murphy\u2019s mug shot and West\u2019s photo is shown side by side. The legal charges against Murphy, which were ultimately dropped, are outlined in an accompanying website, PatrickMurphysLaw.net.\n\nIn his own ad, Murphy fired back that West was charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice after he shot a pistol near an Iraqi police officer\u2019s head during an interrogation. But West was never court-martialed, and he paid a fine and resigned, according to a 2004 New York Times report.\n\nThe bomb-throwing, cable-friendly West became a top Democratic target after Florida redistricting. But polls have been all over the place: House Majority PAC, a Democratic super PAC, released a poll Oct. 1 showing Murphy up 9 points over West, while a poll conducted for West\u2019s campaign has him leading Murphy by 11 points.\n\nCalifornia\u2019s 30th District: Rep. Howard Berman (D) vs. Rep. Brad Sherman (D)\n\nThis intraparty battle in San Fernando Valley got ugly quickly in the primary and shows no signs of letting up.\n\nWith no significant policy distinctions between them, the longtime Democratic incumbents \u2014 tossed into the same district by California\u2019s new redistricting process \u2014 have tried to outdo each other with brutal character attacks.\n\nBerman has accused Sherman of profiting off his campaign by lending his personal funds to the campaign, letting interest accrue on the loan and later pocketing the interest \u2014 a legal practice. Regardless of the legality, Berman has pounced, launching a website titled \u201cThe Brad Sherman Scam.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, Sherman has slapped Berman with a Federal Election Commission complaint alleging that Berman funneled cash to his brother, Democratic consultant Michael Berman, by overpaying him for campaign services when Berman faced light reelection challenges. The animus between Sherman and the Berman brothers goes back a decade, when Sherman accused Michael Berman \u2014 then involved in redistricting \u2014 of drawing him into a politically less-friendly district.\n\nHoward Berman, who is less familiar with the new district than Sherman, finished 10 points behind Sherman in the June 5 primary. A KABC-TV/Survey USA poll last month showed Sherman with a 13-point lead over Berman but with 23 percent of voters undecided.\n\nNew York\u2019s 24th District: Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R) vs. Dan Maffei (D)\n\nThe rematch between freshman Buerkle and Maffei, a former congressman, in an upstate New York swing district was never going to be a clean fight.\n\nThey\u2019ve attacked each other relentlessly over who would hurt seniors and cut Medicare more.\n\nBuerkle has tagged her opponent as \u201c D.C. Dan Maffei,\u201d referencing his time as a Hill staffer. Maffei was the first candidate to put out an ad linking Buerkle to controversial Missouri Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin. Akin, of course, made headlines when he said that victims of \u201clegitimate rape\u201d rarely get pregnant because their bodies have \u201cways to shut that whole thing down.\u201d\n\n\u201cBuerkle co-sponsored a bill with Congressman Todd Akin to redefine the term rape as only \u2018forcible rape,\u201d a narrator says. \u201cFor Ann Marie Buerkle, women who are drugged or even minors who are victims of statutory rape would not be classified rape victims.\u201d\n\nBuerkle held a press conference later saying the ad \u201ctruly crossed the line,\u201d and put out her own response charging that Maffei was using victims of sexual assault for political gain.\n\nBuerkle beat Maffei in 2010 by 648 votes and the race is expected to be close again, with polls showing the two in a deadlocked race.\n\nNew York\u2019s 13th District: Rep. Michael Grimm (R) vs. Mark Murphy (D)\n\nThe New York tabloids have had a field day with the scandals that have followed Grimm around for months and so has Murphy.\n\nThe bad headlines keep coming: the FBI investigation into Grimm\u2019s 2010 fundraising, a business partner with a questionable past, ties to a mob family and his plea to a judge for leniency for a convicted briber. So it\u2019s no surprise voters will see ads from the Murphy campaign that blare scary voice-overs saying Grimm is \u201cone of the most corrupt members of Congress\u201d and received \u201cthousands from pornographers.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what we know about Congressman Michael Grimm; imagine what we don\u2019t know,\u201d says an ominous-sounding narrator.\n\nTo counter, Grimm released an online ad tagging Murphy as \u201c Hollywood Mark Murphy,\u201d with images of the former actor winking at the camera. It suggests Murphy left California because \u201che didn\u2019t pay his taxes\u201d and says he is \u201cshamelessly smearing\u201d the congressman.\n\nDespite Grimm\u2019s legal troubles, a recent Siena poll had him up by 10 points over Murphy.\n\nMassachusetts\u2019s 6th District: Rep. John Tierney (D) vs. Richard Tisei (R)\n\nOne of the closest races in the country is in deep blue Massachusetts, where Tierney has been dogged by a family gambling ring scandal that has left him fighting for his political life.\n\nTierney has countered by trying to tie his openly gay opponent, Tisei, to the Republican leadership \u2014 not the most popular group in Massachusetts. Since Tisei was tapped for the National Republican Congressional Committee\u2019s Young Guns program \u2014 started by Rep. Paul Ryan, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy and Majority Leader Eric Cantor \u2014 the attack ads have been blaring.\n\nCalling the Young Guns founders a \u201ctea party trio,\u201d one Tierney ad says \u201ca vote for Tisei is a vote for them all.\u201d Another suggests Tisei is indifferent to the GOP\u2019s conservative convention plank on abortion, although Tisei is a supporter of abortion rights and didn\u2019t support the position.\n\nLikewise, Tisei won\u2019t let up on Tierney\u2019s family scandal. One ad uses district residents who say they voted for Tierney in the past but won\u2019t do so again.\n\n\u201cThis is a criminal activity we\u2019re talking about,\u201d one says. \u201cI don\u2019t believe him,\u201d says another.\n\nNevada\u2019s 3rd District: Rep. Joe Heck (R) vs. John Oceguera (D)\n\nThe so-called war on women has taken center stage in this suburban Las Vegas district.\n\nOceguera, the state Assembly speaker, hit Heck with a rough ad Monday over votes related to funding for a rape crisis center and abortion access for rape victims.\n\n\u201cMaybe he\u2019s never had to look into their eyes. But if Joe Heck doesn\u2019t stand up for them, just who is he standing up for?\u201d a victim advocate says in the ad, which the Las Vegas Sun labeled \u201coutrageous.\u201d\n\nDemocratic campaign groups have also piled on Heck over women\u2019s issues. In a pair of ads, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee criticized Heck for opposing a bill in 2007 that required insurers to cover the HPV vaccine.\n\nFor his part, Heck released an ad refuting the women-centric attacks and slamming Oceguera as a man with \u201cno shame, no character, no integrity.\u201d\n\nMost prognosticators see this race as a toss-up or leaning Republican. A Precision Opinion poll conducted late last month showed Heck leading Oceguera by 11 percentage points.\n\nIllinois\u2019s 8th District: Rep. Joe Walsh (R) vs. Tammy Duckworth (D)\n\nWalsh isn\u2019t known for holding back when attacking Duckworth, a veteran and double amputee.\n\nWalsh made waves earlier this year when he said Duckworth \u201cwasn\u2019t a true hero\u201d because she talked too much about her time in the military.\n\nDuckworth\u2019s campaign hasn\u2019t held back either; they went negative in an ad last December with footage of Walsh yelling, and calling himself a \u201ctea party\u201d congressman. Then in February, another ad called him \u201cMitt\u2019s new best friend\u201d and hit him for \u201c fighting for millionaires.\u201d\n\nThe race has been close, but Duckworth has long been seen as the favorite. However, a pro-Walsh super PAC went up with ads in the district, calling her a \u201cBlago pal\u201d and hitting her for the time she spent working for now-imprisoned Gov. Rod Blagojevich.\n\nRhode Island\u2019s 1st District: Rep. David Cicilline (D) and Brendan Doherty (R)\n\n\u201cThe city is in excellent financial condition,\u201d Cicilline said at the end of his term as mayor of Providence.\n\nUnfortunately for Cicilline, the city wasn\u2019t in excellent financial condition and now Doherty is up with an ad charging that Cicilline \u201ccovered up his scandal\u201d to get elected.\n\nDoherty, a retired superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, will have to convince Obama voters to split the ticket for him. Recently, he criticized Cicilline for defending men accused of beating women when he was an attorney.\n\n\u201cWhile David Cicilline was representing ruthless batterers and child killers, I spent my career putting vicious domestic predators and wife beaters behind bars,\u201d Doherty said, according to GoLocalProv.\n\nAccording to the AP, Doherty chose a boxing ring to announce the ad, indicating the \u201cgloves had come off.\u201d\n\nCicilline\u2019s main line of attack against Doherty is that he supports Republican presidential candidate Romney and the House Republican agenda. In an ad, the campaign shows a clip of Doherty saying, \u201cMitt Romney would be fantastic for Rhode Island.\u201d\n\nNevada\u2019s 4th District: Steven Horsford (D) vs. Danny Tarkanian (R)\n\nThis is a battle between \u201ccrazy radical\u201d and \u201cmost corrupt.\u201d\n\nHorsford went up with an ad linking Tarkanian\u2019s visage to conservatives Rush Limbaugh, Donald Trump and Sharron Angle, spliced with a clip of Tarkanian saying, \u201cI\u2019m one of those crazy radicals.\u201d Tarkanian shot back, charging Horsford with \u201cblatantly twisting\u201d his words.\n\nBut Horsford, the state Senate majority leader, didn\u2019t back down. In their first debate, Horsford repeated the \u201ccrazy radical\u201d line as he tried to link Tarkanian to Republican vice presidential nominee Ryan.\n\nRepublicans have gone on the offensive against Horsford, whom \u2014 along with fellow Nevada Democrat Oceguera \u2014 the NRCC has labeled among the top 10 most corrupt Democrats. The NRCC blasted Horsford in an ad released Tuesday for a trip to the Bahamas funded by PokerStars, which was trying to legalize Web poker in Nevada.\n\nThe sprawling central Nevada district contains more registered Democrats but polls have shown Tarkanian leading. The Precision Opinion poll from earlier this month has Tarkanian over Horsford by 8 points.\n\nNew York\u2019s 1st District: Rep. Tim Bishop (D) vs. Randy Altschuler (R)\n\nFireworks are bursting in this race \u2014 literally.\n\nAn episode involving Bishop\u2019s intervention to secure a fireworks permit for a constituent \u2014 reported by POLITICO \u2014 has become a focal point in this Long Island fracas. Before obtaining the permit, Bishop\u2019s campaign asked for a donation, opening up charges of a quid pro quo.\n\nAltschuler tried to goad Bishop into calling for an ethics probe into himself and released an ad that called Bishop \u201ceverything that\u2019s wrong with Washington.\u201d\n\nBishop responded with his own ad.\n\n\u201cNow my opponent Randy Altschuler says I\u2019m a criminal,\u201d Bishop says. \u201cYou know me, and you know for Randy Altschuler to say that is just despicable.\u201d\n\nThe Bishop-Altschuler race is a rematch from 2010, when Altschuler lost by fewer than 600 votes in a count that stretched into December. Bishop is so far favored \u2014 he holds a 13-point lead over Altschuler in a September poll by Siena College."}
-{"text": "Sample survey- Life goals\n\nThis survey is completely anonymous. Please answer each question honesty. Thank you!\n\n* Required"}
-{"text": "In case you like dolls with forms and congenital immense jugs, then Haley right here is true up your alley. As of late we are demonstrating you this powerful are living webcam showcase with this plus dimension sweetie Haley, taking her garments off and revealing her giant homegrown mounds."}
-{"text": "The trial of Donald Trump, which opens in earnest on Tuesday, is the third presidential impeachment in US history \u2013 and the most legitimate. For the first time, an American president will face the ultimate sanction not because he walked into a legal trap set by his opponents, or because of some broader, underlying rift in society, but because of the actual \u201chigh crimes and misdemeanors\u201d on the charge sheet. Legally, the Senate has never confronted a stronger case for the removal of a sitting president than the one it is about to hear.\n\nImpeachment tends to come down to a bald question: has a law been broken? With Trump the answer could not be clearer\n\nOf course, none of this means that Trump is about to be removed. But it is worth bearing in mind, as you watch 53 Republican members of the Senate \u2013 now remade as a jury, every senator having sworn an oath to \u201cdo impartial justice according to the constitution and laws\u201d \u2013 echo the vocabulary of the accused and blithely dismiss the whole business as a \u201choax\u201d or \u201cwitch-hunt\u201d.\n\nThey\u2019re wrong because Trump\u2019s is the standout case in a category of notoriety that is already vanishingly small. Andrew Johnson was the first president to be impeached \u2013 in effect, indicted \u2013 by the US House of Representatives, back in 1868. No one would want to defend Johnson or his politics. He was a foul-mouthed, racist drunk, the accidental president who\u2019d only been vice-president for a few weeks when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, leaving him in the top job. Johnson was only ever meant to be a symbolic number two: the governor of Tennessee who until a year earlier had been a slave owner, he\u2019d been picked by Lincoln as a gesture of reconciliation towards the slave-owning south defeated in the civil war. With Lincoln dead, Johnson found himself facing a Congress determined to grant at least a modicum of rights to 4 million former slaves. Johnson was bent on thwarting that effort at every turn.\n\nStill, you don\u2019t have to feel a shred of sympathy for Johnson to recognise that his foes on Capitol Hill set for him what the constitutional law expert, Noah Feldman, calls \u201can impeachment trap\u201d. They passed a law compelling him to keep in post appointees of his predecessor \u2013 including officials willing to grant basic liberties to newly freed black Americans. Congress even wrote into law that any violation would constitute a \u201chigh misdemeanor\u201d, ensuring that such a violation would automatically count as an impeachable offence. So when Johnson sacked his secretary of war, he promptly walked right into the impeachment trap.\n\nThe circumstances for the second impeachee, Bill Clinton, were rather different, but he, too, could claim entrapment. Remember, he was asked under oath whether he had had a sexual relationship with the White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. His inquisitors knew what he did not: that they had DNA evidence proving just such a relationship. Clinton denied it, lying under oath. He had walked into a perjury trap, and it was for that crime that he was tried in the Senate more than 20 years ago.\n\nNo such chicanery was necessary to ensnare Trump. Of his own volition and requiring no prodding, he made that fateful 25 July phone call to the president of Ukraine in which he pressured him to dig up dirt on Trump\u2019s political rival, Joe Biden, on pain of losing $400m in essential military aid or forfeiting a coveted meeting at the White House. That is as clear an abuse of power as it is possible to imagine, using the muscle of the US government for personal gain. It took no canny drafting of laws or sneaky questioning under oath. Unlike Johnson and Clinton, Trump did this all by himself.\n\nPlay Video 1:33 Senators are sworn in as Trump's impeachment trial gets under way \u2013 video\n\nTrump has no access to the hiding places where his predecessors in the presidential dock took refuge. He cannot claim, as Johnson could, that any violation of the law was on a narrow technicality. By way of confirmation, the non-partisan Government Accountability Office ruled on Thursday that the White House broke the law when it froze funding to Ukraine, cash whose release had been legally mandated by Congress.\n\nAs it happens, the US\u2019s founders did not require a formal or specific law to be broken for a president to be impeached. They conceived of \u201chigh crimes and misdemeanors\u201d much more broadly: merely to break the public trust should merit removal. But as a matter of political reality, impeachment has tended to come down to a balder question: has a law been broken? And with Trump the answer could not be louder or clearer.\n\nThe Trump case is more straightforward than the others in another sense, too. The Johnson episode was all about race, about a nation emerging from the smoking ruins of a civil war fought over slavery. That argument was not over; Johnson\u2019s trial simply opened up a new front.\n\nWith Clinton, it\u2019s tempting to see his impeachment as a battle in the gender wars, a precursor of #metoo, turning on issues of power imbalance and consent. More accurately, given that Clinton\u2019s Republican prosecutors were hardly motivated by feminist outrage, it was a climax of a contest that had been raging since Clinton first ran for president, if not before: a culture war in which Clinton was cast as the embodiment of the moral permissiveness of the 1960s, dodging the draft and smoking dope (even if he didn\u2019t inhale). His impeachment was the culmination of a near-decade-long effort to suggest that Clinton\u2019s character alone made him unfit for the White House and therefore an illegitimate president.\n\nYou could probably build an impeachment case against Trump that rested on either race or gender. On the former, his record of white supremacism is ample, dating back to the discrimination cases brought against him as a New York landlord in the 1970s, through to his proposed ban on all Muslims entering the US, to his baiting of African-American public figures and praising of neo-Nazis as \u201cvery fine people\u201d. On gender, this is a man who has been credibly accused of sexual assault and who bragged of doing so. Similarly, there are those who see Trump, like Johnson or Clinton before him, as an essentially illegitimate occupant of the White House, not least because in 2016 he won 3m fewer votes than his defeated opponent.\n\nClosure is hard to come by in a world run by narcissists like Trump | Emma Brockes Read more\n\nAnd yet the actual impeachment case against Trump does not relate to, or depend on, any of that. You could strip all of that wider context away, and the charges against Trump would still stand. That is not true of Johnson or Clinton. \u201cThis is a case like no other and Trump is a president like no other,\u201d says Adam Smith, professor of US political history at Oxford.\n\nPerhaps the closest precedent is the president who quit rather than be impeached and removed. Like Trump, Richard Nixon was guilty of an abuse of power that went way beyond a technicality. Like Trump, Nixon stonewalled Congress\u2019s investigation of his crimes, though, as Feldman writes: \u201cNixon engaged in far less obstruction than Trump.\u201d But unlike Trump, Nixon lived in a time when partisanship did not blind members of the House and Senate to their constitutional, even patriotic, duty. Trump is guiltier than his predecessors \u2013 but he\u2019s also far, far luckier.\n\n\u2022 Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist"}
-{"text": "LONDON (AP) \u2014 A bakery owned by a Christian family asked Britain\u2019s Supreme Court on Tuesday to overturn a ruling that it discriminated against a gay customer for refusing to make a cake supporting same-sex marriage.\n\nAshers Baking Co. in Northern Ireland refused in 2014 to make a cake iced with the \u201cSesame Street\u201d characters Bert and Ernie and the slogan \u201cSupport Gay Marriage.\u201d\n\nThe owners argued they were happy to bake goods for anyone, but could not put messages on their products at odds with their Christian beliefs.\n\nAfter the customer filed a lawsuit that received backing from Northern Ireland\u2019s Equalities Commission, lower courts ruled that the bakery\u2019s refusal was discriminatory.\n\nJudges from the London-based Supreme Court heard the bakery\u2019s appeal at a special sitting in Belfast that is due to continue Wednesday.\n\nChristian Bakery Loses Appeal over 'Gay Cake' Discrimination Conviction https://t.co/aGllEA2Kzx pic.twitter.com/jH2RqCGF8E \u2014 Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 24, 2016\n\nDavid Scoffield, lawyer for the bakery\u2019s owners, argued Tuesday that the family should not be compelled to create a product \u201cto which they have a genuine objection in conscience.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe notion that Christians may exercise their faith on Sundays but forget about it when they step into work on Monday is not real freedom of religion and is not freedom of conscience,\u201d Scoffield told the court.\n\nIn a statement, British gay-rights activist Peter Tatchell agreed the cake dispute was not a simple case of discrimination. The ruling against the bakery implied that \u201cgay bakers could be forced by law to decorate cakes with homophobic slogans,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cAlthough I strongly disagree with Ashers stance against gay marriage, that is their right in a free and democratic society,\u201d Tatchell said.\n\nSimilar cases involving bakeries have come up in the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in December on an appeal from a Colorado baker who also cited religious beliefs for refusing to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The court\u2019s opinion is pending."}
-{"text": "Shop and Order\n\nOur online registration process makes signing up a breeze. Choose among meal plans, weight loss plans, smoothies, meal deals or create your own a la carte order. It is that simple, just pick the plan that is right for you! We are always a call or email away and would love to help you in any way possible.You will be talking to live people who truly care about your needs and guarantee that you will enjoy your experience from start to finish."}
-{"text": "Exploring the LAPL menu collection is an ongoing project in which we'll take a close look at the menus owned by the Los Angeles Public Library. Read about the project here.\n\nTiki is about to blow up.\n\nWe already have a number of great tiki bars in L.A., as well as all the history to back it up (the tiki craze started here, back in the '30s). But I sense a resurgence, a murmuring among the bar folks I know that suggests a growing fascination with tiki culture. A tiki renaissance is coming.\n\nTo help aid and abet this phenomenon, I thought I'd take a peek into the LAPL collection and see if there was much in the way of inspiration for folks who might want to see the great tiki menus of the past. As usual, the collection didn't disappoint. Here are 5 great historical tiki menus to get your tropical creative juices flowing.\n\n5. Tonga Lei\n\nThe Tonga Lei in Malibu opened in 1961, a motel and restaurant and tiki lounge on the ocean, next to the Maliby pier. It was demolished in the late '80s to make way for a modern beachfront resort, at which time the tiki component was branded Don the Beachcomber. But this menu, from the '70s, still advertised the restaurant and drinks lounge as Tonga Lei. Check out the drink names, including the \u201csuffering bastard.\u201d\n\n4. Kelbo's\n\nThe literature accompanying the drinks at Kelbo's, a Hawaiian-themed restaurant that opened one location at 11434 W. Pico in 1947 and a second in 1950 at 101 N. Fairfax, is probably more exciting than the drinks themselves. Behold, the grand literature of tiki:\n\nWith this initial copy of our drink list, we are inviting you and your friends to join us in the pioneering of a new field of pleasurable, exotic drinking and in the initiation of several more Kelbo's \u201cfirsts\u201d : For the first time \u2014 anywhere in the world \u2014 the featuring of Tropical Gin and Vodka drinks in such a grand scale, novel manner and on a par with rum\u2026For the first tim \u2014 \u201cTropkols\u201d \u2014 our name given to certain of our select cocktail sand punches where we use a combination of our premium tropical ingredients with rare spirits to bring out the ultimate in taste treat\u2026 For the fist time \u2014 publicly presented \u2014 the use of \u201cFresh Hawaiian Passion Fruit Juice\u201d ( mentioned in Biblical times) with tropical drinks. A continental United States first ! For the first time \u2014 fresh Hawaiian Guava and Papaya Fruit Nectars publicly acknowledged as drect credit in helping make our tropical drinks so refreshing above others.\n\n3. Trader Vic's\n\nOf course, you can still visit Trader Vic's, downtown and in other locations around the city and the country. But the above menu is from the original Oakland Trader Vics in 1941, and shows a tiki menu near the very birth of the genre. As is traditional with tiki, the descriptions are much more poetry than they actually are a listing of what's in the drink. I love the Bloody Mary description: \u201cLots of people drink it, personally I think it stinks.\u201d\n\n2. Bahooka\n\nThis touchstone of tiki culture in L.A. just closed only a few months ago. The menu the in the LAPL collection is from 1972, shortly after the restaurant and bar moved from West Covena to Rosemead. Why knew you could get a Singapore sling for $0.95 in 1972?\n\n1. Don the Beachcomber\n\nThere's no way to talk about tiki at all, let alone in L.A., without talking about Don The Beachcomber, which opened in Hollywood in 1934 at 1722 N. McCadden Place, right off of Hollywood Boulevard. Its owner, Donn Beach, is credited with inventing the genre, which was the result of his many travels around the Caribbean and South Pacific. There are still restaurants operating today with this name, but the original is long gone, as are the ones that came closely after.\n\nThe above menu is from 1941. I decided to go with the beautiful artwork here rather than the drinks list, which is similar to the other menus. If you could capture the sense of adventure in a glass that this menu conveys, you'd get to the heart of the spirit of tiki.\n\nSee also:\n\n\u2013 Top 5 Tiki Bars in Los Angeles\n\n\u2013 From the Los Angeles Public Library Menu Collection: The Luau, a 1950s Tiki Bar in Beverly Hills\n\n\u2013 LAPL Menu Collection archives\n\nShare this: Twitter\n\nFacebook\n\nLinkedIn\n\nReddit\n\nMore\n\nPinterest\n\nPocket\n\n\n\nTelegram\n\nWhatsApp\n\n\n\n\n\nWant more Squid Ink? Follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook"}
-{"text": "La France envisage-t-elle de s\u2019en prendre militairement, \u00e0 moyen ou long terme, au Br\u00e9sil ? Cela semble hautement improbable et pourtant, l\u2019hypoth\u00e8se est prise tr\u00e8s au s\u00e9rieux par les services de renseignements br\u00e9siliens. Selon un rapport secret du minist\u00e8re br\u00e9silien de la D\u00e9fense divulgu\u00e9 ce vendredi par le journal Folha de S. Paulo, la France est en effet la principale menace militaire pour le Br\u00e9sil lors des 20 prochaines ann\u00e9es. Pourquoi la France frapperait-elle ? En raison des diff\u00e9rends sur l\u2019Amazonie\u2026\n\nCe quotidien respect\u00e9 explique avoir obtenu une copie de ce document d\u2019une quarantaine de pages intitul\u00e9 \"Sc\u00e9narios de d\u00e9fense 2040\", r\u00e9dig\u00e9 \u00e0 partir des pr\u00e9visions de 500 membres de l\u2019\u00e9lite militaire br\u00e9silienne ayant particip\u00e9 \u00e0 11 r\u00e9unions au minist\u00e8re au cours du second semestre 2019. Le journal pr\u00e9cise que le document comporte des \"consid\u00e9rations g\u00e9opolitiques r\u00e9alistes\", mais aussi des \"hypoth\u00e8ses quelque peu d\u00e9lirantes\", comme celle d\u2019un attentat au virus du Sras d\u2019\"ultranationalistes du Sud-Est asiatique\" lors du festival Rock in Rio en 2039.\n\n\"Beaucoup d\u2019incoh\u00e9rences\"\n\nLa France est le seul pays cit\u00e9 comme une menace dans les quatre grands sc\u00e9narios \u00e9voqu\u00e9s dans le rapport. Dans l\u2019un d\u2019eux, le document pr\u00e9voit, toujours selon le journal, que Paris pourrait \"formaliser en 2035 une demande d\u2019intervention de l\u2019Onu\" dans les territoires de la tribu indig\u00e8ne Yanomami, \u00e0 la fronti\u00e8re avec le Venezuela, avec \"une grande mobilisation de forces fran\u00e7aises en Guyane\". Avec ce d\u00e9partement d\u2019outre-mer qui abrite une portion de la for\u00eat amazonienne, la France partage une fronti\u00e8re de 730 km avec le Br\u00e9sil.\n\n\"Ce rapport comprend beaucoup d\u2019incoh\u00e9rences (\u2026) et t\u00e9moigne de l\u2019impulsivit\u00e9 du gouvernement sur les questions diplomatiques\", estime Nelson During, directeur du site sp\u00e9cialis\u00e9 dans les affaires de d\u00e9fense Defesanet. Pour lui, le rapport du minist\u00e8re de la D\u00e9fense, qui a commenc\u00e9 \u00e0 \u00eatre \u00e9labor\u00e9 au plus fort de la crise amazonienne, a \u00e9t\u00e9 \"fortement contamin\u00e9 par la dispute entre (les pr\u00e9sidents fran\u00e7ais Emmanuel) Macron et (br\u00e9silien Jair) Bolsonaro\".\n\nRelations tendues\n\nLes relations diplomatiques entre la France et le Br\u00e9sil se sont consid\u00e9rablement tendues en ao\u00fbt dernier, au moment o\u00f9 des images de feux de for\u00eat en Amazonie causaient une grande \u00e9motion internationale. Lors d\u2019un sommet du G7, Emmanuel Macron avait fait appel \u00e0 une \"mobilisation de toutes les puissances\" pour d\u00e9fendre l\u2019Amazonie, \"bien commun\" de la plan\u00e8te. Son homologue br\u00e9silien en avait \u00e9t\u00e9 ulc\u00e9r\u00e9, fustigeant une \"mentalit\u00e9 colonialiste\" et une tentative de porter atteinte \u00e0 la souverainet\u00e9 du Br\u00e9sil.\n\nLe fait que le rapport \"secret\" ait fuit\u00e9 dans la presse \"risque de ternir encore plus les relations entre la France et le Br\u00e9sil\", souligne Nelson During. Pour lui, ces tensions pourraient s\u2019av\u00e9rer pr\u00e9judiciables, en raison de \"l\u2019importance du partenariat entre les deux pays\", notamment pour la construction de sous-marins et d\u2019h\u00e9licopt\u00e8res pour l\u2019arm\u00e9e br\u00e9silienne."}
-{"text": "A\n\ns birds become fewer, wildflowers vanish, butterflies disappear, and animals in the wild are threatened, extinction and a grim future haunts. How often did Rumi write about birdsong \u2026 there is a reason. Nature revives the spirit.\n\nJune 5th was World Environment Day. A UN outreach program hosted by a different country each year, it is designed to draw attention to its environmental challenges and to offer it support. This year the host country is India and the theme is beating plastic pollution. But plastics are not just a blight on the landscape, they are in the seas destroying coral and the species it shelters, painfully killing whales and other creatures \u2026 including birds. Yet, it is far from the only cause of bird distress and their sharply declining numbers. One example comes from the Arctic, where receding ice has taken with it the nutritious cod, which favor cold waters, and has endangered the black guillemot now forced to feed their chicks on the bony and difficult-to-digest fourhorn sculpin.\n\nWhen the EU commissioned a State of Nature report, they expected bad news but not quite as dire a result. Prepared by the European Environment Agency and sourced from EU-wide data, it found one in three bird species threatened and only a little over half secure. It also drew a bleak picture of European habitats finding over half of those studied to be unfavorable. Habitat loss, pesticides particularly neonicotinoids, even excessive hunting, notably in southern Europe, are all to blame.\n\nEarlier, a comprehensive study conducted by University of Exeter (UK) professor Richard Inger and colleagues had analyzed avian biomass across 25 countries over 30 years. Using data from Birdlife International and the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme, they discovered a surprisingly large and troubling decline: from 1980 to 2009 the estimated total avian population had been reduced by 421 million birds.\n\nMeanwhile, research in the US with far-reaching consequences places blame squarely on human activity. It examines avian consequences of noise pollution. If certain constant noises irritate humans \u2014 think of road repair and a pneumatic drill \u2014 then birds are no exception. Noise from oil and gas operations is stressing out birds and harming reproduction. They exhibit signs of chronic stress, lay fewer eggs or fewer eggs hatch, and nestling growth is stunted.\n\nSo reports a study by Nathan Kleist and colleagues in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (unfortunately not available to the general public without a fee). The authors studied three species of cavity nesting birds (the ash-throated flycatcher, the mountain bluebird and the western bluebird) breeding near oil and gas operations on Bureau of Land Management property in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico.\n\nThe researchers placed 240 nest boxes on 12 pairs of sites, close to and at varying distances from the drilling pads where loud compressors operated non-stop. The team took blood samples of adult females and nestlings from all the nest boxes for three years. They also examined nestling body size and feather length \u2014 less well developed in both noisy and lower noise areas, suggesting any level of irritating noise disrupts.\n\nBaseline levels of a key stress hormone, corticosterone, showed high stress in birds nesting closest to the noise. And nestlings in noisy areas produced significantly greater stress hormones than those in quiet areas when subjected to the test of being held for 10 minutes.\n\nIt also turned out that the western bluebird was the only species willing to nest in the sites closest to the compressors; such behavior had led to the belief it was immune to noise. Not so, the study results revealed.\n\nEnvironmental stress is increased by noise pollution and that it degrades avian reproductive success is the conclusive message of this study. With background noise constantly increasing in the US, even protected areas are no longer immune.\n\nIf the anthropocene is our age, it is also our look in the mirror to see what the human footprint has wrought, even if unwittingly. Global warming, extreme weather events becoming more severe, plastic pollution and stressed wildlife, record extinctions, insect declines \u2026 all portents of an impaired future warning humans repeatedly of urgency. The sixth mass extinction is underway but it will take centuries if not thousands of years, and man can help by alleviating global warming and preservation efforts. Related to CO2 levels, global warming has been the culprit in the previous five. CO2 levels are already in excess of 0.04 percent perilously close to the 0.05 percent calculated to melt icecaps through temperature rise causing serious flooding of coastal areas.\n\nAre leaders and decision-makers listening?"}
-{"text": "In de loop van de komende week kan er misschien geschaatst worden op natuurijs. De temperaturen gaan vanaf vandaag langzaam omlaag en weerman Marco Verhoef van Weerplaza sluit niet uit dat bij sommige ijsverenigingen geschaatst kan worden.\n\n\"Voor vaarten en diepere sloten is het allemaal nog veel en veel te vroeg. Daar is het niet koud genoeg voor en de temperatuur van het water nog te hoog\", zei Verhoef in het NOS Radio 1 Journaal. \"Maar zo'n ondergespoten baantje van een ijsvereniging, dat zou in de loop van volgende week best wel eens een keer kunnen.\""}
-{"text": "The Bristol Motor Speedway, in concert with the Discovery Channel and Pilgrim Studios, revealed on Monday that it will conduct the richest-paying no-prep drag racing event in history this August when the stars of Street Outlaws and all-comers from around the nation vie for $200,000 in a winner-take-all affair. The event, which follows up on the inaugural event last summer that preceded the launch of Street Outlaws: No Prep Kings, will be held on Tuesday, August 21.\n\nThe complete Oklahoma City Top Ten List will be represented, including its stars Justin \u201cBig Chief\u201d Shearer, \u201cMurder Nova\u201d Shawn Ellington, AZN and Farmtruck, and 22 other competitors from the 405, New Orleans, Memphis, and other locales. The record payout doubles last year\u2019s prize of $100,000. The Pilgrim Media Group, the series\u2019 producer, will film the event for a Street Outlaws special that will air on Discovery in early 2019.\n\n\u201cLast year\u2019s Street Outlaws event was a huge success with a standing room only crowd at Thunder Valley,\u201d said Jerry Caldwell, executive vice president and general manager of Bristol Dragway. \u201cWith a record purse and a stacked field, the pressure will be on Big Chief to defend his Bristol title in front of the legions of Street Outlaws fans.\u201d\n\nAs it was last year, admission will be free. Filming is slated to begin at 1:30 p.m., at which time Shearer and his Pontiac GTO known as \u201cThe Crow\u201d will begin the defense of his 2017 title."}
-{"text": "Well, Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein finally got a taste of some of that primetime exposure that the third-party candidates didn't get during the first presidential debate. She probably hoped it would be a little more positive than what Saturday Night Live gave her in its 42nd season premiere, however \u2015 SNL's Bernie Sanders criticized Stein in a way the real Vermont senator can't, as played by the inimitable Larry David.\n\nThe barbs came during a political Family Feud sketch, with teams of surrogates, staffers and admirers for both the Clinton and Trump campaigns facing off. Trump's team consisted of campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, New Jersey governor Chris Christie, Ivanka (with cameos by Eric and Donald Jr.), and Russian president Vladimir Putin, while Clinton's included Bill, Sarah Silverman, Lin Manuel-Miranda, and her former primary rival.\n\nDavid's blunt-talking Bernie wasn't all that diplomatic about his view of Clinton, describing her as being like \"prune juice\" (\"if you don't take her now, you're going to be clogged with crap for a very long time\"), but his dig at Stein was a little more brutal. When asked for a reason people are late, his answer took dead aim at the Green Party nominee.\n\nMaybe you're late because people like Jill Stein call you in the middle of the night asking you for advice. That woman drives me nuts. For someone who cares about the environment, she sure doesn't mind asking people to throw their votes away, huh?\n\nAs you can see above, he wasn't the only person \"bothered by Jill Stein.\"\n\nThe joke comes hot on the heels of a Change.org petition demanding that SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels book Stein to host the show (or at least to make an appearance), decrying the \"relative media blackout\" her candidacy's been met with. In particular, the petition argues that Stein's \"humor, intelligence and wit\" would make her a natural fit to appear on the decades-old comedy program, and would \"allow Americans to get to know her better through her lighter side.\" It's not exactly blowing the doors off, however \u2015 as of the time of this writing, it only has 770 signatures.\n\nSuffice to say, this probably isn't the kind of shout-out Stein was hoping for. There really aren't words you can say to a third-party candidate that are more inflammatory than the \"throw your vote away\" line, and that's what SNL served up in its Season 42 opener.\n\nImage: Jill Stein/Twitter"}
-{"text": "The Republican Party is seeking input and money from GOP voters \u2014 seemingly under the guise of the U.S. Census Bureau.\n\n\u201cStrengthening our Party for the 2010 elections is going to take a massive grass-roots effort all across America. That is why I have authorized a Census to be conducted of every Congressional District in the country,\u201d GOP Chairman Michael Steele says in a letter mailed nationwide.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nThe letter was sent in plain white envelopes marked \u201cDo Not Destroy, Official Document.\u201d Labeled \u201c2010 Congressional District Census,\u201d the letter uses a capital \u201cC,\u201d the same as the Census Bureau. It also includes a \u201cCensus Tracking Code.\u201d\n\nThe letter makes a plea for money and accompanies a form asking voters to identify their political leanings and issues important to them. There are no disclaimers that participation in the GOP effort is voluntary; participation in the government census is required by law. Failure to participate carries a $5,000 fine, though it is rarely enforced.\n\nSara Sendek, a Republican National Committee spokeswoman, said the letter was not an attempt to mislead voters.\n\n\u201cThe document clearly indicates that it is an RNC mailer. The purpose of this document is to gather Republican opinion from across the country and raise a little money,\u201d Sendek said.\n\nThe letter asks political questions, including, \u201cDo you think the record trillion dollar federal deficit the Democrats are creating with their out-of-control spending is going to have disastrous consequences for our nation?\u201d and, \u201cDo you worry that the Obama administration is committed to greatly expanding the government\u2019s role in your life?\u201d\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nDemocrats said the letter was part of a deceptive pattern by Republicans. They said it could mislead voters to believe it\u2019s part of the nationwide census being conducted this year. The Census Bureau officially begins its head count this week in rural Alaska; the count for the rest of the nation begins in March.\n\n\u201cWhen you have no new ideas to offer, all you are left with are the deceptive ideas,\u201d said Hari Sevugan, a Democratic National Committee spokesman.\n\nU.S. Census Bureau spokesman Michael Cook says he has received several complaints over the past week from voters who believed the letter was misleading. Cook says the agency is still deciding what steps to take.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nRep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., asked the Postal Service to investigate complaints about the letters in December and was rebuffed. Ken Currier, manager of government relations for the postal service, said it\u2019s clear the document was not from the government. Maloney said she is considering legislation to make it clear such mailings are not allowed.\n\nAmong the recipients was Democratic Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, whose letter arrived at the governor\u2019s mansion.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\n\u201cThe Republicans have said they want to get a bigger tent,\u201d Schweitzer told The Associated Press, \u201cso perhaps they are trying to lure a politician into the Republican Party that can actually balance a budget.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Every year at GDC we end up sprinting back and forth across San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center from one amazing talk or pre-arranged demo to another, trying to make it on time to each one, or at least not be embarrassingly late. We're running so fast that people start looking all red-shifted and wrong and we don't always get a chance to stop and chat with indie developers wandering the floor, laptops in hand. Fortunately, the annual MIX event (Media Indie Exchange) brings journalists and small, one- or two-person developer outfits together in the same room to mingle, drink beer, and play games without the need for appointments or athletics. It's a bit like speed dating as opposed to getting set up by a mutual friend.\n\nHere are snap judgments on twenty of the unreleased games I played last night in various stages of development: betas, alphas or even epsilons. You can check them out for yourself as well as at the event's official website .\n\nEscape Goat 2\n\nThe game that I'm keenest to start a relationship with. You play the part of a magic blue goat imprisoned for witchcraft, who must rescue his witch-sheep friends from a puzzle dungeon with the help of a mouse. The retro hand-drawn look is charming and the puzzles are nicely challenging, with the difficulty levels represented by harder-to-reach exits from each level.\n\nParadise Perfect Boat Rescue\n\nThis is a simplistic passenger ferry game. Players have to get Darwinia-style passengers from one island to another, struggling against the realistic wave physics which threatens to scuttle your ship. Also features bizarro quotes and island names.\n\nDistance\n\nA strange stunt-driving game. It looks like a swank, futuristic racing game with genuinely impressive graphics, but it plays like Tony Hawks or Burnout Revenge, with your car performing all sorts of tricks mid-air and on the track.\n\nDark Side of the Moon\n\nLove's Eskil Steenberg is the developer behind this 2D RTS with a cute darkness mechanic. The design is reminiscent of N and the mechanics of Darwinia : two players control morphable units on the dark side of a planet that's stopped turning. It's heavy on the micro and has some nicely flexible and original unit types. Still very early in development."}
-{"text": "Cardinal Pell returns to Australia to fight charges Published duration 9 July 2017\n\nimage copyright Reuters image caption Cardinal George Pell says he is innocent of sexual assault allegations\n\nThe Vatican treasurer, Cardinal George Pell, has returned to Australia as he prepares to defend himself against sexual assault charges.\n\nThe 76-year-old cleric, a top adviser to Pope Francis, was photographed at Sydney Airport early on Monday. He had arrived from the Vatican via Singapore.\n\nPolice have said the accusations relate to alleged \"historical\" incidents\n\nCardinal Pell, who has strongly denied any wrongdoing, is due to face a Melbourne court on 26 July.\n\nAustralia's most senior Catholic figure was granted a leave of absence from the Vatican to fight the charges.\n\nHe did not make any comment on arrival in Sydney, local media said\n\nimage copyright 9news.com.au image caption Cardinal Pell (second from left) arrives in Sydney on Monday\n\nVictoria Police said the accusations arose from \"multiple complainants\".\n\nLast month, Cardinal Pell told a news conference at the Holy See that he would travel to Australia if his doctors permitted it.\n\n\"I'm looking forward finally to having my day in court,\" he said.\n\n\"I am innocent of these charges, they are false. The whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me.\""}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nI click on reposts just to make them purple"}
-{"text": "\u201cEnjoy your miserable life on your island,\u201d left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore has told Britons in a rant against Brexit and U.S. President Donald Trump.\n\nAppearing on Channel 4 News, the director and activist said Britain and the U.S. are competing to see which country would be first to ditch political ideologies that he disapproves of.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re in a bit of a race here, Britain and the U.S., to see which one of us is going to get out of the situation first,\u201d Moore said, before asserting that he would \u201cput money on\u201d Britain winning by sabotaging Brexit before President Trump loses the White House.\n\nPresenter Jon Snow then pointed out that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was \u201cas pro-Brexit as the hawks in the Conservative Party\u201d, to which the left winger explained he thought a Labour election victory would result in Britain remaining in Europe.\n\n\u201cIf you want to leave Europe, leave Europe,\u201d responded Moore, telling Britons: \u201cYou\u2019re still part of Europe but maybe enough people there just don\u2019t want to be part of it.\n\n\u201cSo enjoy your miserable life on your island,\u201d he added, before asserting that Britons\u2019 desire for national self-determination \u201clooks a little strange to outsiders\u201d.\n\nMoore said the best way to remove the president from office was to \u201ctry to discombobulate him\u201d, and called for his opponents to create a \u201cswarm\u201d.\n\nHe told Snow: \u201cHe\u2019s easily distracted. He has a very thin skin and if we can just be like a swarm of bees around him for the next couple of years maybe we can prevent some of the damage he\u2019s going to do.\u201d\n\nBreitbart News reported in May on Moore\u2019s announcement that he would be teaming up with Harvey and Bob Weinstein on a new documentary about Trump, a project which the director hopes will \u201cdissolve his presidency\u201d.\n\nAnd in June, the dedicated Trump critic launched a new website called \u201cTrumpileaks\u201d where whistleblowers can leak and share information from inside the president\u2019s administration.\n\n\u201cPatriotic Americans in government, law enforcement or the private sector with knowledge of crimes, breaches of public trust and misconduct committed by Donald J. Trump and his associates are needed to blow the whistle in the name of protecting the United States of America from tyranny,\u201d Moore wrote of the project."}
-{"text": "Suspect, also aged 18, questioned on suspicion of attempted murder after attack in Brixton\n\nThis article is more than 3 years old\n\nThis article is more than 3 years old\n\nAn 18-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following the stabbing of another 18-year-old near a funfair in south London.\n\n\n\nThe victim, who was first knocked off his bicycle by a car, remains in a critical condition in hospital.\n\nDetectives believe the victim was attacked by a group of men who got out of the Ford Focus that struck him and pursued him on foot at about 6.15pm on Tuesday.\n\nHe was found by officers in Rushcroft Road, near the junction with Windrush Square, in Brixton, where it is believed he was knocked over by the grey vehicle, which was abandoned at the scene.\n\nOfficers from the Trident and area crime command and Lambeth borough arrested the suspect at an address in Lambeth on Friday morning and he was being questioned at a south London police station. Scotland Yard has appealed for witnesses.\n\nDS Ewan Robertson said: \u201cThis was a violent attack, carried out close to a funfair being enjoyed by families and children, which has left the young victim with serious injuries.\n\n\u201cIf you have any information that can help assist our investigation please contact us.\u201d\n\nSeparately, two men were stabbed during an incident in west London on Friday, Scotland Yard said.\n\nPolice were called to a disturbance on Pump Lane in Hayes at 1.40pm, where they found the men, one in his 40s and the other in his 20s. Both were taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries.\n\nA 45-year-old man was arrested at the scene. He has been taken into custody at a west London police station."}
-{"text": "V\u0161e\u010d so mi pikice \u2026 Fejst \ud83d\ude42 Zato danes delim z vami strani, ki so obdane s pikicami v modro-zeleni barvi. Pripravila sem razli\u010dne koledar\u010dke v velikosti A4, na vas pa je, da si izberete tiste, ki so vam v\u0161e\u010d. Ni potrebe, da bi izbrali vse. Nekaterim bolj odgovarja tedenski pregled, nekateri imajo raje dnevne preglede.\n\nZa za\u010detek dodamo naslovno stran, osebne informacije, letni koledar in stran z pomembnimi datumi. Pri naslovnicah sem dodala \u0161e prazno stran z istim motivom, da si jo lahko natisnete na drugo stran lista in imate razdelilnik \u201cpoglavij\u201d na obeh straneh enake barve. Tako en list zajema naslovnico, drugi list naslovnico za osebne informacije, tretji list osebne informacije na eni strani in letni koledar 2017 na drugi strani, ter \u010detrti list z letnim koledarjem 2018 na prvi strani in pomembnimi datumi na drugi strani. Na ta zadnji list si pi\u0161em pomembne datume, kot so izpitni roki ipd. To je samo moja ideja, kako pri meni kontinuirano izgledajo strani. Torej, da se vsaka posebna stran za\u010dne na svojem listu.\n\nThis slideshow requires JavaScript.\n\nSledi pregled po mesecih. Tudi tukaj sem si pripravila naslovnico \u201cMese\u010dni planer\u201d, ki jo natisnem na eno stran na drugo stran pa prazno stran z enakim vzorcem. Na naslednji list si na prvo stran natisnem stran z bele\u017eko, saj so meseci razdeljeni na dva lista po mesecu in si \u017eelim, da bosta seveda obe strani skupaj v planerju. Seveda pa prostora za bele\u017eenje nikoli ni preve\u010d \ud83d\ude42 Na drugo stran tega lista z bele\u017eko si tako natisnem prvi del mese\u010dnega koledarja za januar in na nov list drugi del. Na drugo stran tega lista natisnem prvi del koledarja za februar in tako naprej, do zadnje strani, kjer zaklju\u010dim \u0161e z eno stranjo bele\u017eke.\n\nThis slideshow requires JavaScript.\n\nOd tu naprej je ve\u010dinoma vse opcijsko. Lahko dodate tedenski koledar ali dnevni. Ponovno imamo opcijo naslovnice in enakega motiva za drugo stran naslovnice. Temu dodam splo\u0161no prvo stran novega lista z bele\u017eko in na drugi strani za\u010dnem s svojim tedenskim koledarjem. Da se ponovno vse izide na to\u010dno dolo\u010deni strani zaklju\u010dim z listom z bele\u017eko na obeh straneh.\n\nThis slideshow requires JavaScript.\n\nDnevni koledarji so vam \u017ee poznani iz prej\u0161nje objave o teh specifi\u010dnih koledarjih. Pripravila sem ujemajo\u010de se dnevne koledarje, ki pa datumsko niso ozna\u010deni, zato jih lahko natisnete kolikokrat \u017eelite. Za vsak slu\u010daj pa \u0161e prilagam naslovnico \ud83d\ude42\n\nThis slideshow requires JavaScript.\n\nTo bo iz moje strani zaenkrat v tem stilu vse. Sku\u0161am pripraviti \u0161e A5 velikost, \u010de pa ste neu\u010dakani pa kar pogumno pred tiskanjem nastavite opcijo tiskanja dveh strani na eno le\u017ee\u010do A4 in tako dobite polovi\u010dne velikosti \ud83d\ude42\n\nSe tipkamo \ud83d\ude42"}
-{"text": "A pilot left a handgun in the cockpit of a Delta Air Lines jet, where it was found by an airline ground worker.\n\nDelta declined Friday to identify the pilot or say whether the pilot faced punishment for the Feb. 18 incident. A Delta spokeswoman called those internal personnel matters.\n\nShe says Delta is working with authorities and will conduct its own review.\n\nThe Transportation Security says it's \"aware of an incident at the Atlanta Airport involving agency issued equipment,\" adding that the public was never in danger.\n\nAirline pilots who pass special training are issued guns and deputized by TSA to protect their planes against attack and piracy. The Federal Flight Deck Officer program was created after the September 2001 hijackings and terror attacks involving four U.S. airliners."}
-{"text": "\u041d\u0438\u0434\u0435\u0440\u043b\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0435 \u0441\u043b\u0435\u0434\u043e\u0432\u0430\u0442\u0435\u043b\u0438 \u0437\u0430\u044f\u0432\u0438\u043b\u0438, \u0447\u0442\u043e \u0441\u0440\u0435\u0434\u0438 \u043e\u0431\u043b\u043e\u043c\u043a\u043e\u0432, \u0434\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0430\u0432\u043b\u0435\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0445 \u0441 \u043c\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0430 \u043f\u0430\u0434\u0435\u043d\u0438\u044f \"\u0411\u043e\u0438\u043d\u0433\u0430\" \u043d\u0430 \u0432\u043e\u0441\u0442\u043e\u043a\u0435 \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0438\u043d\u044b 17 \u0438\u044e\u043b\u044f 2014 \u0433\u043e\u0434\u0430, \u043e\u0431\u043d\u0430\u0440\u0443\u0436\u0435\u043d\u044b \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0434\u043f\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0436\u0438\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u043d\u043e \u0444\u0440\u0430\u0433\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0442\u044b \u0437\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0442\u043d\u043e\u0439 \u0440\u0430\u043a\u0435\u0442\u044b, \u043f\u0443\u0449\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0439 \u0438\u0437 \u0440\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438\u0439\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0433\u043e \u043a\u043e\u043c\u043f\u043b\u0435\u043a\u0441\u0430 \"\u0411\u0443\u043a\". \u0412 \u0430\u0432\u0438\u0430\u043a\u0430\u0442\u0430\u0441\u0442\u0440\u043e\u0444\u0435 \u043f\u043e\u0433\u0438\u0431\u043b\u0438 298 \u0447\u0435\u043b\u043e\u0432\u0435\u043a \u2013 \u0432 \u043e\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0432\u043d\u043e\u043c \u043f\u043e\u0434\u0434\u0430\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0435 \u041d\u0438\u0434\u0435\u0440\u043b\u0430\u043d\u0434\u043e\u0432.\n\n\u0412 \u043e\u0431\u043d\u0430\u0440\u043e\u0434\u043e\u0432\u0430\u043d\u043d\u043e\u043c \u0432\u043e \u0432\u0442\u043e\u0440\u043d\u0438\u043a \u0437\u0430\u044f\u0432\u043b\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0438 \u0433\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0438\u0442\u0441\u044f, \u0447\u0442\u043e \u0444\u0440\u0430\u0433\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0442\u044b \u0438\u0437\u0443\u0447\u0430\u044e\u0442\u0441\u044f \u0441\u043f\u0435\u0446\u0438\u0430\u043b\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0430\u043c\u0438 \u0421\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0442\u0430 \u043f\u043e \u0431\u0435\u0437\u043e\u043f\u0430\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438 \u041d\u0438\u0434\u0435\u0440\u043b\u0430\u043d\u0434\u043e\u0432, \u043a\u043e\u0442\u043e\u0440\u044b\u0439 \u043f\u0440\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0434\u0438\u0442 \u0433\u0440\u0430\u0436\u0434\u0430\u043d\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0435 \u0440\u0430\u0441\u0441\u043b\u0435\u0434\u043e\u0432\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0435 \u0430\u0432\u0438\u0430\u043a\u0430\u0442\u0430\u0441\u0442\u0440\u043e\u0444\u044b. \u041e\u043d\u0438 \u0431\u0443\u0434\u0443\u0442 \u0442\u0430\u043a\u0436\u0435 \u043f\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0434\u0430\u043d\u044b \u043c\u0435\u0436\u0434\u0443\u043d\u0430\u0440\u043e\u0434\u043d\u043e\u0439 \u0441\u043b\u0435\u0434\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0439 \u0433\u0440\u0443\u043f\u043f\u0435, \u0440\u0430\u0441\u0441\u043b\u0435\u0434\u0443\u044e\u0449\u0435\u0439 \u043e\u0431\u0441\u0442\u043e\u044f\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0430 \u0433\u0438\u0431\u0435\u043b\u0438 \"\u0411\u043e\u0438\u043d\u0433\u0430\".\n\n\u041f\u043e\u043a\u0430 \u0441\u043f\u0435\u0446\u0438\u0430\u043b\u0438\u0441\u0442\u044b \u043d\u0435 \u043c\u043e\u0433\u0443\u0442 \u043e\u043a\u043e\u043d\u0447\u0430\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u043d\u043e \u043f\u043e\u0434\u0442\u0432\u0435\u0440\u0434\u0438\u0442\u044c \u0441\u0432\u044f\u0437\u044c \u043c\u0435\u0436\u0434\u0443 \u043d\u0430\u0439\u0434\u0435\u043d\u043d\u044b\u043c\u0438 \u043e\u0431\u043b\u043e\u043c\u043a\u0430\u043c\u0438 \u0438 \u0433\u0438\u0431\u0435\u043b\u044c\u044e \u0441\u0430\u043c\u043e\u043b\u0435\u0442\u0430, \u0432\u044b\u043f\u043e\u043b\u043d\u044f\u0432\u0448\u0435\u0433\u043e \u0440\u0435\u0439\u0441 MH14 \u0438\u0437 \u0410\u043c\u0441\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0434\u0430\u043c\u0430 \u0432 \u041a\u0443\u0430\u043b\u0430-\u041b\u0443\u043c\u043f\u0443\u0440 \u0438 \u0440\u0430\u0437\u0431\u0438\u0432\u0448\u0435\u0433\u043e\u0441\u044f \u043d\u0430 \u0442\u0435\u0440\u0440\u0438\u0442\u043e\u0440\u0438\u0438, \u043a\u043e\u043d\u0442\u0440\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0440\u0443\u0435\u043c\u043e\u0439 \u043f\u0440\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438\u0439\u0441\u043a\u0438\u043c\u0438 \u0441\u0435\u043f\u0430\u0440\u0430\u0442\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0430\u043c\u0438 \u0432 \u0414\u043e\u043d\u0431\u0430\u0441\u0441\u0435.\n\n\u0412\u0435\u0440\u0441\u0438\u044f \u043e \u0442\u043e\u043c, \u0447\u0442\u043e \u0441\u0430\u043c\u043e\u043b\u0435\u0442 \u0431\u044b\u043b \u0441\u0431\u0438\u0442 \u0440\u0430\u043a\u0435\u0442\u043e\u0439, \u043f\u0443\u0449\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0439 \u0441 \u0437\u0435\u043c\u043b\u0438, \u043e\u0441\u0442\u0430\u0435\u0442\u0441\u044f \u043f\u0440\u0438\u043e\u0440\u0438\u0442\u0435\u0442\u043d\u043e\u0439."}
-{"text": "Welcome to the ESTNN Weekly Brief! Here\u2019s your rundown of all the esports news for the past week on April 17th, where we've got League Spring Finals results, AI beating pro Dota 2 players, and a pet-friendly surprise in Fortnite. Let's hop right in.\n\nEsports News Recap Video\n\nLeague of Legends\n\nFirst off in League of Legends news, we\u2019ve got our Spring Split Champions for both the LEC and LCS leagues! Across the pond, G2 esports absolutely dominated Origen in the Finals of the Spring Split 3-0. G2 looked absolutely amazing, even on off meta picks. It wasn\u2019t as hard of a stomping as the final score suggests, though. Origen played well, especially in a Game 1 that could have gone either way.\n\nIn the LCS Finals, Team Liquid managed to take down TSM in a five-game reverse sweep, giving the advantage in the trophy count department in the Doublelift-Bjergesen rivalry to the Team Liquid botlaner. After going down 0-2 to TSM, Team Liquid clawed their way back into the series and won three games in a row to take the Spring Split trophy. Team Liquid has now won three Split Finals in a row.\n\nIn patch news, it looks like ARAM is returning to the Howling Abyss map as Butcher\u2019s Bridge is shown the door. Additionally, Riot is removing the experimental ban feature in ARAM. Riot cited player feedback and internal discussions as the reason for the removal. The patch is also full of champion changes and tweaks, so be on the lookout for our patch roundup when the update drops.\n\nDota 2\n\nWeird things are happening in Dota 2, and this week\u2019s news might be the weirdest of all. Two days ago, OpenAI\u2019s Dota 2 AI defeated TI 2018 champions OG in a best-of-three match. The creators of the AI have opened up registration to actually compete against their machine creation.\n\nAlso this week, iG.Vitality player Su \u201csuper\u201d Peng accused teams of cheating during their second-place run at the China Future Cup. Peng took to social media to elaborate, saying that several teams avoided ganks that should have been successful and had early games that implied they had more information about iG.Vitality positions then they should have had. As of now, none of the teams that Peng accused have issued statements.\n\nOverwatch\n\nFree to play alert! In honor of its most recent event, Storm Rising, Overwatch is going free to play for a limited time. From now until April 23rd, players can jump into Overwatch free of charge and see what all the ultimate-slinging, shield-breaking hype is about.\n\nSpeaking of Storm Rising, Overwatch\u2019s most recent PvE-Archives event went live yesterday. The limited-time event features classic Overwatch characters Winston, Mercy, Tracer, and Genji as they fight through the streets and warehouses of Havana in pursuit of an Omnic fixer named Maximillien. It\u2019s a pretty good time, but as our resident Overwatch writer Charlotte August points out, Storm Rising is a little short. Either way, the event comes with over 150 new cosmetics, so jump in and get those loot boxes before the event goes away forever.\n\nCounterstrike: Global Offensive\n\nBlast Pro Series Miami wrapped up this weekend in the Counterstrike: Global Offensive tournament cycle, ending with an unexpected FaZe Clan win. FaZe rolled over Team Liquid in the Grand Final 2-0, showing that when all of their star players are on at the same time, they\u2019re incredibly hard to beat. FaZe was helped by Team Liquid rifler Russell \u201cTwistzz\u201d Van Dulken, who posted his lowest rating in the series since July 2018. Interestingly, Astralis, the number one ranked team in the world, uncharacteristically dropped all of their matches on the second day of the tournament. The losses spawned a ton of \u201ciS tHiS tHe EnD oF aStRaLiS\u201d memes from people tired of seeing the Danes winning, but let me tell you this. No. They\u2019ll win the next one.\n\nNot much else going on in the scene currently but remember that as we move closer to the summer, we move closer and closer to the next Counterstrike: Global Offensive Major in Berlin. Where we get to see Vertigo. Maybe. Probably not, honestly, but a man can hope. While most teams will probably instantly ban it, we\u2019re likely too see the map come up as a pocket pick in the qualifiers. Only time will tell.\n\nFortnite\n\nContinuing the weekly \u201cwhat is Fortnite adding this patch\u201d trend, Epic games has announced that Air Royale will return to the battle royale as a limited time event. The event features the oh-so-powerful planes, but this time there\u2019s a twist: if a player touches the ground in the Air Royale, they die.\n\nIn \u201cfeatures that no one asked for\u201d news, Epic is also adding the ability for players to pet the many cuddly animals they\u2019ve added to the game since Fortnite\u2019s Season 6 Update last September.\n\nNew: Following an update, you can now pet the dog in Fortnite pic.twitter.com/U1nkfHIHSr \u2014 Can You Pet the Dog? (@CanYouPetTheDog) April 17, 2019\n\nI\u2019m not sure what this adds to the insanely popular battle royale, but it adds something! I think.\n\nApex Legends\n\nWe\u2019ve got a patch update for Apex Legends. Unfortunately, Patch 1.1.1. doesn\u2019t fix any of the hit registration issues or the slow-mo servers, it does give some of the game\u2019s most underutilized characters some buffs!\n\nRespawn added a new passive, called Fortified to Caustic and Gibraltar, giving these characters a 10% damage reduction from incoming damage to compensate for their larger than average hitboxes. Additionally, Respawn buffed Gibraltar\u2019s gun shield health and Caustic\u2019s ultimate received increased range. Additionally, Caustic's gas now does higher damage per tick. Will this buff mean that players will see more of these characters in the coming weeks? We don\u2019t know, but Caustic\u2019s gas is super scary now.\n\nIn other patch news, the Wingman and Spitfire got a magazine size nerf across the base guns and their extended magazines. Sniper Rifles and DMR\u2019s got a buff, however, increasing leg shot damage and lowering recoil to help players hit long-range shots. You can read all about it in our patch breakdown here.\n\nThat\u2019s all for the ESTNN Weekly Brief for Wednesday, April 17th! Make sure to head on over to ESTNN to catch up on all of the latest news and check back here next week for another Episode of The Brief!\n\nImages VIA: Riot Games, WESG, Blast Pro Series & RFRSH Entertainment, and Respawn Entertainment"}
-{"text": "after yesterday's artwork, i felt like something was wrong with the artwork due to the thick lines i made but today i decided to use thinner lines(there is little it of thickness), it actually looks nice.\n\nthis is the second time i am uzume from neptunia series and she's a cowgirl.\n\n"}
-{"text": "In a very \u201cSeth Cohen\u201d move, Adam Brody shockingly announced\n\nthis weekend that he would be legally changing his name to, you\n\nguessed it\u2026 Seth Cohen! After years of being referred to by his\n\nfictional character\u2019s name, Adam\u2026 err\u2026 Seth has decided once\n\nand for all if you can\u2019t beat \u2018em, join \u2018em! He has even sought\n\nand received the blessing of both his parents, and new wife\n\nLeighton Meester-Cohen.\n\nThe couple, who tied the knot in a secret ceremony in February..."}
-{"text": "Brooks Koepka's worldwide golf odyssey culminates in U.S. Open title\n\nSteve DiMeglio | USA TODAY\n\nShow Caption Hide Caption Best images from Brooks Koepka's U.S. Open victory American Brooks Koepka captured his first major championship at the U.S. Open after finishing 16 under for the tournament.\n\nERIN, Wis. \u2014 Brooks Koepka has never feared the unknown.\n\nTraveling the world over during his foray into professional golf on the European Tour and its developmental circuit, the former Florida State All-American visited many lands, from Kenya to Kazakhstan, from Spain to Scotland, from South Africa to Shanghai. It was an unconventional route to golf\u2019s biggest stages but the adventurous soul loved it.\n\nSo mammoth, mysterious Erin Hills, just 11 years old and basically unfamiliar to all 156 players that came to Wisconsin for the 117th edition of the U.S. Open, wasn\u2019t going to rattle the muscular Floridian, no matter how much fescue, distance and sharp edges the course can dish out.\n\nThe easy-going Koepka, 27, just comfortably settled in and unleashed his eye-opening power to get the better of Erin Hills and won the national championship on Sunday in record fashion.\n\nMORE FROM ERIN HILLS:\n\nWith a final round, 5-under-par 67, Koepka finished at 16 under and four shots clear of 54-hole leader Brian Harman and Hideki Matsuyama. With rounds of 67-70-68-67, Koepka equaled the scoring record in relation to par set by Rory McIlroy in 2011 at Congressional Country Club just outside the nation\u2019s capital.\n\n\"It hasn't sunk in, obviously, and probably won't for a few days. But that's probably one of the coolest things I've ever experienced and to do it on Father's Day, it's pretty neat,\" Koepka said. \"I didn't exactly get my dad a card, so this works.\"\n\nWhile he hit 350-yard drives with his driver and 3-wood, one of his best weapons was patience. Koepka got a Saturday night call from defending champion Dustin Johnson, his frequent workout and playing partner who had missed the cut. It was a long call for the two \u2014 about two minutes, Koepka said with a laugh. But it was an important 120 seconds.\n\n\"He just said a few things, and just stay patient. And I'll win if I stay patient and just keep doing what I'm doing,\" Koepka said.\n\nKoepka was one of 16 players within six shots of the lead with 18 to play. He began his round with two birdies, missed just one green in regulation and turned the wide-open U.S. Open into a one-man show with three consecutive birdies on the back nine starting on the 14th, each punctuated by a fist pump.\n\nHe became the seventh consecutive first-timer to win a major, adding to the list of Jason Day, Danny Willett, Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson, Jimmy Walker and Sergio Garcia. He\u2019ll move from his present rank of No. 22 in the official world rankings into the top 12. And he banked $2.16 million.\n\n\"I played really solid from the moment we got here on Monday and all the way through until today,\" he said. \"The ball-striking was pretty solid. It had to be today. And I got hot with the putter there for a little bit today and all week. So all around my game is pretty solid and I couldn't be happier.\"\n\nHarman, who began the day with a one-shot lead, was tied for the lead with seven holes to play but couldn\u2019t keep up with Koepka and finished with a 72. Matsuyama came storming home with a 66, the lowest round of the day.\n\n\"Bites a little bit right now. But Brooks played so well today,\" Harman said. \"I don't believe in moral victories. I had an opportunity today and I didn't get it done. But at the same time, I don't feel as though I lost a golf tournament. I think Brooks went out and won the tournament.\"\n\nTommy Fleetwood (72) finished in solo fourth.\n\nIn a tie for fifth at 10 under were Rickie Fowler (72), Bill Haas (69) and Xander Schauffele (69). Charley Hoffman (71) finished solo eighth at 9 under.\n\nThe win was Koepka\u2019s second on the PGA Tour but his peers will be the first to tell you that many more are to come. His talent is unquestioned, his power admired, and his laid-back demeanor envied by many.\n\n\"He's so subdued. He's just really, really chilled out,\" said his caddie, Ricky Elliot. \"He's so unflappable, he could almost do with a little bit of a kick in the ass because sometimes it's like, 'Are you awake yet?' But despite his mean face he's as calm as it gets.\n\n\"He came through Europe but he is an American so I know he wanted to win on his home turf. He's only done it once so to win his national open, I think that'll take a while to sink in. He might even smile.\"\n\nGolf wasn\u2019t Koepka\u2019s favorite sport growing up \u2014 baseball was his first passion, but he moved on from the game when he couldn\u2019t hit for power. That was never a problem in golf and he overpowered Erin Hills despite the course playing the longest in tournament history.\n\nKoepka wasn\u2019t alone in clobbering Erin Hills.\n\nWhile thumping wind made its first appearance of the week in the final round, it stayed around for just four hours of play. With the course\u2019s best defense non-existent, the narrative of par being your friend in a U.S. Open was flipped on its head.\n\nThe cut, in relation to par, came at a tournament-tying low of 1 over. In the first round, 44 players broke par, a tournament record for the opening session. On day 2, 46 players \u2013 one shy of the record for the second round \u2013 were in red numbers. In the third round, 32 of the 68 players left in the field broke par \u2013 another tournament record. Yet another record fell in the third round when Justin Thomas shot 9-under-par 63, the lowest score in relation to par. It was the 30th 63 in a major championship.\n\nIn all there were a record 138 subpar rounds.\n\nPlayers were delighted in the sticker-shock tone of the tournament, saying it was playing more like a regular PGA Tour event where birdies are plentiful.\n\n\"Yeah, 12 under, I\u2019d have about a 10-shot leads in most Opens,\" Harman said after posting 67-70-67 the first three rounds.\n\nThrough it all Koepka kept his measured swagger on a roll and never got ahead of himself. Although he had won four times on the developmental tour, once on the European Tour in the 2014 Turkish Airlines, once on the PGA Tour at the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open and once on the Japan Tour in the 2016 Dunlop Phoenix Tournament, he felt he had underachieved.\n\n\"I felt like I should be winning more,\" he said.\n\nHis play this past fall in the Ryder Cup when the U.S. whipped Europe, where he said he had never felt more pressure, helped him immensely. Wearing the red, white and blue, he learned he had to take the boring approach of one shot at a time and remain in the present. It helped him on Sunday.\n\nAs did all those trips to faraway places, where eating was an adventure \u2013 don\u2019t ask him about the time he dined on horse meat \u2013 and traveling was a chore. He\u2019d like to forget the expected 20-minute bus trip to a hotel in Africa that took three hours. They were journeys he\u2019ll never forget.\n\n\"To get to travel the world at 22, 21 years old, and do what you do for a living is pretty neat,\" he said. \"I love traveling. I'll go anywhere. And some of the places we went to were pretty neat. And to go over there, I think it helped me grow up a little bit and really figure out that, hey, play golf, get it done, and then you can really take this somewhere.\"\n\nIt took him to the U.S. Open trophy.\n\nFollow Steve DiMeglio on Twitter @Steve_DiMeglio."}
-{"text": "Stop trying to make \"Manti Te'o Territory\" He's not going to get drafted!\n\n372 shares"}
-{"text": "Mayor Steven M. Fulop, the Municipal Council and the Office of Cultural Affairs of the City of Jersey City are proud to honor Copa Maribel Cancer Events, Inc. as we recognize the 2nd Annual Childhood Cancer Awareness during the Flag Raising Ceremony on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at City Hall Balcony.\n\nWe urge all our residents to publicly reaffirm our City\u2019s strong and continuing commitment to controlling and curing cancer. This momentous event of flag raising reflects our shared empathy with the families of children of cancer, our enduring love to our children and to preserve the memories of children of cancer that have left too early in life.\n\nAttendees from Left to Right are :\n\nAlexander Alvarez \u2013 a 7 year old who is battling Leukemia but a Taekwondo \u201cpurple belt\u201d candidate, 2nd Grader of South Street School, NJ\n\nGerman Fernandez \u2013 Founder and President of Copa Maribel Cancer Events, Inc.\n\nCouncilman James Solomon, Ward E of Jersey City\n\nJeanette Fernandez \u2013 Founder and Treasurer of Copa Maribel Cancer Events, Inc.\n\nCouncilwoman Mira Prinz-Arey, Ward B of Jersey City\n\nCouncil President Joyce Watterman, Jersey City Municipal Council\n\nMayor Steven Fulop, City of Jersey City\n\nTo access the flag raising ceremony on virtually, please click the link below\n\nChildhood Cancer Awareness Flag Raising"}
-{"text": "Georgetown Girl points out this WJLA story from earlier this month on a recent sexual assault near the Georgetown University campus. The story is targeted at warning college-aged women to stay inside at night: \u201cKeep in mind, the victim was walking around late at night by herself, and authorities are urging young people to be careful out there,\u201d the reporter says. Nevermind that women are far more likely to be sexually assaulted by someone they know\u2014-indoors, even!"}
-{"text": "(Reuters Health) - Giving away free lock boxes for gun storage may lead more families to store firearms safely away from children, a recent study suggests.\n\nThe researchers examined data on gun and ammunition storage habits in about 200 households before and after a community education program on firearm safety that offered participants free firearm lock boxes or trigger locks.\n\nOverall, the proportion of participants who said all ammunition and firearms in the house were stored locked, and unloaded, climbed from 33 percent before the education program and lock giveaway to 46 percent afterward.\n\n\u201cStoring firearms safely, including keeping them locked and unloaded, is effective for preventing unintentional firearm injuries and suicides - especially among children and adolescents,\u201d said lead study author Dr. Joseph Simonetti of the VA Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center at the Denver VA Medical Center in Colorado.\n\n\u201cThe average person living in a home with a firearm is more likely to sustain an unintentional or self-inflicted firearm injury than be a victim of a firearm-related assault or homicide,\u201d Simonetti said by email.\n\nSimonetti and colleagues looked for changes in household firearm practices before and after community outreach events around Seattle, Washington in 2015.\n\nOverall, 53 percent of the participants had a child under 18 in the household, and slightly more than a third of them had a child under 11 in their home.\n\nEducators at the events demonstrated how to use firearm lock boxes and trigger locks and also explained some of the risks associated with improper gun and ammunition storage. To prevent injuries or suicide attempts, they also encouraged removal of guns from the home when a member of the household is depressed or has a substance abuse problem.\n\nPrior to the event, 52 percent of participants said they used a firearm safe at home, while 29 percent used a cable lock, 21 percent had trigger locks and 20 percent had a firearm lock box.\n\nAt the event, nearly nine in ten participants said they would prefer to take home a free lock box, not a trigger lock.\n\nAfterward, 75 percent of participants said they used the device they got at the event to store a household firearm, researchers report in Injury Prevention.\n\nLimitations of the study include the reliance on participants to accurately report and recall how they stored guns and ammunition before and after attending safety events, as well as the lack of a control group of gun owners who didn\u2019t attend the event that might help show how much the event was directly responsible for any changes in storage habits.\n\nEven so, the findings offer fresh evidence that educating families and giving them free storage options may help more of them store guns safely, said Dr. Ruth Abaya of Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia.\n\n\u201cKnowledge about safe storage has been available for some time,\u201d Abaya, who wasn\u2019t involved in the study, said by email. \u201cWe must determine the most effective messengers to ensure that the message is received and trusted.\u201d\n\nToo often, people don\u2019t want to lock guns because they don\u2019t think accidents will happen and they want their firearms immediately available and ready to use, said David Schwebel of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.\n\n\u201cBut accidents can happen to anyone, and storing firearms that are unlocked and loaded is extremely dangerous,\u201d Schwebel, who wasn\u2019t involved in the study, said by email. \u201cAccidents happen every day, and tragic unintentional deaths and injuries occur.\u201d\n\nSOURCE: bit.ly/2vAuu40 Injury Prevention, online July 24, 2017."}
-{"text": "Richard Porter\n\nTrack list, regular 3 disc version:\n\nCD 1: The Beatles, side 1 and 2 New stereo mix\n\nCD 2: The Beatles, side 3 and 4 New stereo mix\n\nCD 3: Esher Demos:\n\nBack in the U.S.S.R.\n\nDear Prudence\n\nGlass Onion\n\nOb-La-Di, Ob-La-Da\n\nThe Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill\n\nWhile My Guitar Gently Weeps\n\nHappiness is a Warm Gun\n\nI\u2019m so tired\n\nBlackbird\n\nPiggies\n\nRocky Raccoon\n\nJulia\n\nYer Blues\n\nMother Nature\u2019s Son\n\nEverybody\u2019s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey\n\nSexy Sadie\n\nRevolution\n\nHoney Pie\n\nCry Baby Cry\n\nSour Milk Sea\n\nJunk\n\nChild of Nature\n\nCircles\n\nMean Mr. Mustard\n\nPolythene Pam\n\nNot Guilty\n\nWhat\u2019s the New Mary Jane\n\nWHITE ALBUM SUPER DELUXE 50TH anniversary: 6 CDS + BLU RAY:\n\nCDs 1 & 2: 2018 Stereo Album Mix\n\nCD3: Esher demos\n\nCDs 4, 5 & 6: Sessions \u2013 50 additional recordings, mostly unpublished, from the studio sessions of the \u2018White Album\u2019; all remixed from the four-track and eight-track session bands, sorted by their recording start dates. Includes hitherto unknown white album recording of the song \u201cLet It Be\u201d!\n\nBlu-ray Audio:\n\n\u2013 2018 album mix in high-resolution PCM stereo\n\n\u2013 2018 DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Album mix\n\n\u2013 2018 Dolby True HD 5.1 album mix\n\n\u2013 2018 direct transfer of the original monomix of the album"}
-{"text": "A collective resource for digital stewardship , digital justice and community infrastructure .\n\nThese resources emphasize self-governance, participatory learning, collaborative design and sustainability. As we learn and new people contribute, these resources will grow and change over time and we welcome contributions.\n\nGrants\n\nThrough the Community Technology Partnership, the Open Technology Institute and the Detroit Community Technology Project provided SEED grants to 11 community-controlled infrastructure projects this year:\n\n2015 Community Technology Partnership SEED Grants\n\nBlog Posts + Reports\n\nPlanning to Host a Workshop?\n\nThese might be useful: Shared Graphics, Curriculum Templates, Example Workshops, Facilitator Tips.\n\nContribute\n\nYou can start by submitting content, comments or questions by adding a new issue to the repository (you will need a GitHub account). More on collaborating\u2026\n\nOther Resources"}
-{"text": "If you\u2019re in the Wendy\u2019s at 15th and Chestnut next Friday and you hear someone shouting \u201cI\u2019ll take a Double Triple Bossy Deluxe on a raft!\u201d no, you\u2019re not having a flashback or getting sucked into a Friday the 13th-induced alternate reality. You\u2019re just experiencing the latest in harmless trolling memes.\n\nSetting up Facebook events to yell viral catchphrases from SpongeBob Squarepants is apparently the new thing in college-age social media.\n\nRight now, in addition to the Wendy\u2019s event, there\u2019s at least two others set for Center City this month, and both are immensely popular. The one at Max Brenner on Oct. 22 (with the direction to shout \u201cCHOCOLATE!\u201d) has 3.7k people interested, and the one at McDonald\u2019s on Oct. 28 has piqued 4.8k souls interested in screeching \u201cRev up those fryers!\u201d as they enter the Golden Arches outpost at 17th and Walnut.\n\nIf you\u2019re wondering what the point of these events is, well, there isn\u2019t one.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m just a struggling college student who was bored in class and wanted to get a piece of the viral craze,\u201d UArts senior Jeremy Berkman told Billy Penn. The graphic design major said he\u2019s already \u201cbeen recognized on Tinder\u201d as organizer of the McD\u2019s event, but he\u2019s still not certain where the whole idea originated.\n\nAsked if this was just a Philly thing, Berkman wasn\u2019t sure. He\u2019s \u201calmost positive\u201d it\u2019s happening in other cities too, he said, but \u201cI\u2019ve seen so many through my friends it\u2019s hard to say.\u201d\n\nHowever, there is a \u201cCHOCOLATE\u201d shouting event set up by a Berklee School of Music student for Boston\u2019s Max Brenner on the same day as the one in Philadelphia, so the trend appears to be spreading via the college student network. (Hey, kind of like early Facebook itself.)\n\nBefore you head out with your phone at the ready to capture the hilarity that might ensue when a thousand people amass in front of a chain restaurant and scream nonsensical lines from a Nickelodeon cartoon, hold up.\n\nAccording to Illkya Acosta, the UArts senior behind the Wendy\u2019s happening, people signed up to attend the event don\u2019t necessarily actually follow through.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s just a fictional event really,\u201d Acosta said. \u201cIt\u2019s more for trolling.\u201d\n\nBerkman confirmed that, though he was wistful about it: \u201cIt\u2019d be nice to do it, but I know it\u2019s probably not going to happen.\u201d"}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPaleolithic artefacts (Wikicommons). The northern tier of Eurasia saw an explosion of creativity that pre-adapted its inhabitants for later developments.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe new journal Psych will be publishing a special follow-up issue on J. Philippe Rushton and Arthur Jensen's 2005 article: \"Thirty Years of Research on Race Differences in Cognitive Ability.\" The following is the abstract of my contribution. The article will appear later.\n\nThe first industrial revolution. Did cold seasonal climates select for cognitive ability?\n\nPeter Frost\n\nAbstract: In their joint article, Rushton and Jensen argued that cognitive ability differs between human populations. But why are such differences expectable? Their answer: as modern humans spread out of Africa and into the northern latitudes of Eurasia, they entered colder and more seasonal climates that selected for the ability to plan ahead, since they had to store food, make clothes, and build shelters for the winter.\n\nThis explanation has a long history going back to Arthur Schopenhauer. More recently, it has been supported by findings from Paleolithic humans and contemporary hunter-gatherers. Tools become more diverse and complex as effective temperature decreases, apparently because food has to be obtained during limited periods of time and over large areas. There is also more storage of food and fuel and greater use of untended traps and snares. Finally, shelters have to be sturdier, and clothing more cold-resistant. The resulting cognitive demands fall on both men and women. Indeed, because women have few opportunities to get food through gathering, they specialize in more cognitively demanding tasks like garment making, needlework, weaving, leatherworking, pottery, and use of kilns. The northern tier of Paleolithic Eurasia thus produced the \"first industrial revolution\"\u2014an explosion of creativity that pre-adapted its inhabitants for later developments, i.e., agriculture, more complex technology and social organization, and an increasingly future-oriented culture. Over time these humans would spread south, replacing earlier populations that could less easily exploit the possibilities of the new cultural environment.\n\nAs this cultural environment developed further, it selected for further increases in cognitive ability. In fact, mean intelligence seems to have risen during historic times at temperate latitudes in Europe and East Asia. There is thus no unified theory for the evolution of human intelligence. A key stage was adaptation to cold seasonal climates during the Paleolithic, but much happened later.\n\nReferences\n\nRushton, J.P. and A.R. Jensen. (2005). Thirty years of research on race differences in cognitive ability. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law 11(2): 235-294.\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Every month, Portland\u2019s most beloved neighborhoods are moving further beyond the reach of typical homebuyers.\n\nProperty tax records show the alarming spread, over the last four years, of homes valued at $400,000 or more \u2014 enough to make them unaffordable to 59 percent of Portlanders, according to the latest Census estimates.\n\nAs the map makes obvious, the wave of price increases isn\u2019t simply tied to construction or demolition. It\u2019s hitting new houses and old ones, in neighborhoods that are adding homes and in neighborhoods where adding homes isn\u2019t allowed.\n\nWhat does this look like on the street? Well, here\u2019s what it looks like in my own neighborhood:\n\nThis house is 1,700 square feet on SE 75th Avenue in Montavilla. Last year, it sold for $247,500 \u2014 a $1,200 monthly mortgage payment. After the really nice remodel you see here, it\u2019s going for $549,000. Profitable for the flipper, but the only thing this project did for the city was replace one middle-class family with one rich one.\n\nBut the really odd thing is that on this lot, replacing one middle-class family with one rich one is just about the only thing a landowner is legally allowed to do.\n\nWhen a city gets more desirable but isn\u2019t allowed to add more places for people to sleep, this is what happens: the old homes don\u2019t stay affordable. They just get priced up and up and up.\n\nIt seems a little strange, but one of the things we need to do as a city is to prevent that remodel and get more of our city\u2019s capital invested in projects that prevent displacement rather than enabling it.\n\nThe residential infill project that goes before Portland City Council Nov. 9 and 16 is an opportunity to make this happen. It\u2019s a chance for the city to strike an anti-McMansion compromise and shrink the maximum size of new homes (which would reduce demolitions) while also legalizing duplexes, triplexes and backyard cottages (which would mean that the demolitions that do happen would result in more small homes instead of huge expensive ones).\n\nInstead of new single-dwelling homes being allowed to look like this:"}
-{"text": "\"Whoever comes out top, Nidaa or Ennahda, the main thing is that Tunisia needs a government of national unity, a political consensus,\" Rachid Ghannouchi, Ennahda\u2019s leader, said before the concession. He spent many years in exile in Britain before returning to Tunisia after the revolution."}
-{"text": "[AUTO](Damage Zone):[Soul Blast (1)-with \"Celestial\" in its card name & Put this card into your drop zone from face up] At the beginning of your ride phase, if you have a vanguard with \"Celestial\" in its card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, put the top card of your deck into your damage zone face up, choose one of your vanguards, and until end of turn, it gets \"[CONT](VC):While you are paying the cost for Stride, all the cards in your hand get grade +2.\" ."}
-{"text": "Zoroastrianism\n\nZoroastrianism is one of the world's oldest monotheistic religions.\n\nIt was founded by the Prophet Zoroaster in ancient Iran approximately 3500 years ago."}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\n\n\nDr. Coan is a neuroscientist who specializes in measuring social cognition. His work falls under the heading of Social Baseline Theory. The critical claim of social baseline theory is that humans are inherently social creatures. Just as fish gills indicate that fish are aquatic creatures, the human mind has a suite of adaptations which indicate that we are social creatures.\n\nFor the entirety of human evolution (some 6 million years) people have always relied on other people. Social aid has been a fixture in humanity\u2019s evolutionary environment, and our brains should reflect this.\n\nDr. Coan\u2019s actual experiments are gruesomely simple. He puts people in an fMRI machine, shocks them, and watches what happens to their brain. And the variable that he manipulates is simple handholding.\n\nIt turns out that holding hands with a friend or loved one isn\u2019t just comforting, it actually makes the pain from the shock genuinely less painful \u2013 like, the pain processing regions of the brain aren\u2019t as active when you\u2019re holding hands.\n\nBut the handholding effect goes even deeper. In one experiment, instead of shocking the human in the fMRI machine, instead Coan shocked their partner. And what he found was fascinating:\n\nIt turns out that the way a brain responds to the threat of being shocked is strikingly similar to the way it responds to the threat of a partner to being shocked. In other words, the brain acts as if a threat to itself, and a threat to a partner, are the same threat.\n\nDr. Coan has a radical explanation for this. He claims his studies indicate that the way that humans conceive of themselves is completely contingent on their relationship with others. On a deep neurological level, we often behave as if our loved ones are ourselves.\n\nIf you want to learn more, check out the paper Dr. Coan presented on: Social Baseline Theory and the Social Regulation of Emotion.\n\nHere is the talk Dr. Coan gave, unedited.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHere are some highlights from the Q&A \u2013 a super interesting question about how the internet is shaping our social relationships.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe EvoS Seminar Series is a free, public, online seminar about deep questions in biology. We provide access to knowledge in both peer-reviewed and vlog form."}
-{"text": "A vice governor of China\u2019s central bank has doubled down on the regulator\u2019s sweeping ban on ICOs in September that also led to the shuttering of local bitcoin exchanges.\n\nAccording to People\u2019s Bank of China (PBoC) vice-governor Pan Gongsheng, authorities were right to crack the whip on initial coin offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrency trading in China, once the world\u2019s largest bitcoin trading market.\n\nThe central banker was speaking at an annual financial book award ceremony, co-organized by JPMorgan Chase over the weekend, when he raised the \u201cscary\u201d prospect of the cryptocurrency industry continuing to function in the present day \u2013 if Chinese authorities hadn\u2019t banned it outright.\n\nIn remarks reported by Yicai, the central bank official stated:\n\nIf we didn\u2019t shut bitcoin exchanges and crack down on initial coin offerings (ICOs) a few months ago, and if more than 80 percent of the world\u2019s bitcoin transactions and financing activities were still taking place [in] China, which was the case back in January, what would it be like today?\u2026It\u2019s scary to think about.\n\nOn September 4th, a number of Chinese authorities including government administrators from a number of ministries and banking, insurance and securities regulators \u2013 led by the People\u2019s Bank of China, issued a sweeping and immediate ban on all initial coin offerings in China. Labelling it an \u2018illegal\u2019 practice of fundraising, the PBoC said ICO funding had \u201cseriously disrupted the economic and financial order.\u2019\n\nCome September 15, authorities issued Virtual Currency Exchange Cleanup and Regulation Requirements, mandating all bitcoin exchanges and cryptocurrency trading platforms to immediately put an end to new user registrations and publicly outline their roadmap to stop virtual currency transaction services by midnight. Bitcoin exchanges complied with the order, with the likes of BTCC, the world\u2019s first bitcoin exchange, shutting operations toward the end of September.\n\nMeanwhile, Chinese bitcoin miners are already making plans to shift mining operators to other countries, fearing China\u2019s crackdown on the industry could also extend to a ban on mining.\n\nFeatured image from Shutterstock."}
-{"text": "An unknown person untied a yacht owned by the family of billionaire Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from its dock in Huron, Ohio, this past weekend, according to the Huron Police Department.\n\nThe captain of the vessel, which is reportedly worth $40 million, realized at sunrise that the 163-foot boat was unmoored and called the authorities around 6 a.m. Sunday, according to the police report.\n\nOfficers are looking for surveillance footage to investigate further. The yacht's captain told police that neither he nor the crew saw anything suspicious prior to the boat being untied."}
-{"text": "\"That is the loser-est of all loser moves I've ever heard in my life. My God man, have some pride in yourself.\"\n\n\n\n\"If you are one of the people planning that parade, you better stay the hell away from me, my show, and my family, cause I'll fight you.\"\n\n\n\n\"I will do everything in my power to stop that. I will talk to Senator Sherrod Brown, Mayor Frank Jackson, I'll talk to everyone I can. I swear to god . . . I'll be there and I will mow you down under my tires. I promise that . . . If you have that parade it will end ugly. I know billionaires, senators, mayors, governors. That is going to go away, mark my words. It ain't going to happen on my watch, I promise you that.\"\n\n[image-1]Because it's a Monday in December in the Year of Our Lord 2016, you're waking up to another loss by the Browns as the team continues on its path to a perfect 0-16 season.One guy having a particularly bad time after the team's 23-10 loss to the Bengals is WKNR ESPN Cleveland's own Tony Rizzo. Last night the morning sportstalk icon flipped his wig on the postgame show when the topic turned to the planned 0-16 perfect season parade being organized by Browns' season ticket holder Chris McNeil . Most of us suffering mugs here in BrownsLand actually think the parade could be the only fun to come out of this historically-ugly, record-making piece-of-dog-poo season. But Rizzo and others somehow think it'd be an embarrassment to the city instead of what it really aims to be: a cathartic and very public middle finger to Jimmy Haslam and the organization that very well could accomplish the impossible reverse-perfect campaign.But here's maestro, angry Uncle Rizzy, losing his mind and making half-hearted threats:\"If you are one of the people out there that is planning a parade for 0-16, I will fight you,\" Rizzo raged on air. \"Come down and see me right now, I'm at Buffalo Wild Wings. you are going to celebrate my misery for four months?\"For all Rizzo's \"Mr. Clevelandness,\" this pretty much proves he doesn't get it anymore. Which is sad, because he was once the loudest megaphone for the average Cleveland fans' soul. Guess that's over. It wasn't just his laughable tough-guy boast (side note: threatening physical violence isn't exactly a good look when . . . well, you know ); his riff was so tone-deaf and off-target, you wonder if all these Browns' losses haven't scrambled his circuitry. The 0-16 parade is about the only way the fan base can take back their team from a regime of entitled rich folks who have time and again proven they are fully incapable of doing their jobs and that they don't care about us.You should really listen to the whole stupid thing . But here are some highlights:Rizzo is losing his head at fans. But where's the rage at the effing ownership who have made us the court jesters of the NFL? Where's the rage at Oil Sheikh Jimmy who trusted his own (federally-investigated) Good Ol' Boy instincts instead of his staff. Let's not forget the bonus round, where Oil Sheikh Jimmy did what billionaires do when they realize they don't know what they're doing: he handed the keys over to a bunch of Harvard suits . . . who did what Harvard suits do: overestimated their own brains and balls whilst getting routed and embarrassed by people who actually know what they're doing. But no \u2014 the guys throwing the parade, they're the dangerous, back-stabbing, no-account losers . . . right.In the best-light pr\u00e9cis, the perfect season parade is a piece of street theater aimed right at the ownership, putting them on notice that, with a world championship NBA franchise and a MLB team we can finally be proud of, Cleveland sports fans aren't going to be taking the same old Browns shit. If anything, it's the chance for Clevelanders to get ripped and have fun at least once in the 2016 season. But Rizzo looks like he's siding with, in his words, \"billionaires, senators, mayors, governors,\" instead of us Cleveland fans.When McNeil does organize the parade (and I hope this just makes him more determined to do so) he should have the roil swing by ESPN 850's downtown studio just for added effect."}
-{"text": "New Zealand women 491 for 4 (Bates 151, Green 121, Kerr 81*) beat Ireland women 144 (Delany 37, Kasperek 4-17) by 346 runs\n\nNew Zealand women amassed 491 for 4 - the highest total in all ODI cricket - to smash records and Ireland women at the YMCA Cricket Club in Dublin. They threatened to break the 500-run barrier when they were 471 for 4 in 49 overs. Seventeen-year-old Amelia Kerr - the fourth New Zealand batsman to cross 50 - drove the first two balls of the last over through extra cover for fours. She followed it with another four to the long-on boundary, but could manage only seven off the last three balls.\n\nIn response, Ireland folded for 144 in 35.3 overs as New Zealand secured the fourth-biggest win in women's ODIs - by 346 runs. They achieved the biggest win - by 408 runs - when they ran up 455 for 5, the previous highest total in ODIs, in Christchurch in 1997.\n\nIreland will also be concerned about Isobel Joyce, who did not bat in the chase after bumping her head on the ground while fielding. She had bowled just one over in the first innings.\n\nIt was captain Suzie Bates and No. 3 Maddy Green who set the tone for New Zealand's mammoth score with quickfire centuries - 151 off 94 balls and 121 off 77 balls respectively. Bates and debutant Jess Watkin started with a blistering 172-run opening partnership off 18.5 overs at a run rate of 9.13. The stand ended when Rachel Delaney, a substitute fielder, pulled off a stunning one-handed catch at deep square leg to dismiss Watkin for 62 off 59 balls.\n\nBates, who was on 89 off 59 balls then, went on to score her 10th ODI hundred, off only 71 balls. Only Australia captain Meg Lanning (11) has more ODI centuries than Bates. She reached the landmark when she tucked legspinner Gaby Lewis to the leg side for a single and got a hug from team-mate Green in the middle.\n\nIn the next over, Bates was reprieved on 113 when Louise Little dropped a return catch that went high. Bates further added 38 to her tally before 17-year-old legspinner Cara Murray, also making her ODI debut, drew Bates out of her crease and had her stumped in the 30th over, and New Zealand were 288 for 2. Murray also dismissed Amy Satterthwaite, but ended up conceding 119 runs - the worst figures in all ODIs.\n\nThree other bowlers - Lewis, Little, and Lara Maritz - gave away 92 runs each while new-ball bowler Amy Kenealy went for 81 in nine overs.\n\nThe loss of Bates did not slow down New Zealand. Green, whose previous best ODI score was 46, smoked her maiden international century off 62 balls, while Kerr scored an unbeaten 81 off 45 balls, including nine fours and three sixes. Kerr added 76 for the fifth wicket in 38 balls to bring her side to within 10 runs of 500.\n\nNotably, this match was played on the same pitch where New Zealand had chased down 137 in 11 overs without losing a wicket on Wednesday.\n\nSeamer Hannah Rowe made light work of Ireland's openers before offspinner Leigh Kasperek ran through the middle and lower order with career-best figures of 4 for 17. She had dismissed captain Laura Delany (37) and Jennifer Gray (35) - the only two Ireland batsmen to pass 20. The entire Ireland side managed only 18 boundaries while Bates alone hit 26."}
-{"text": "Two men remain in custody in connection with the murder of Kenneth O\u2019Brien whose dismembered remains were found dumped at a number of locations last month.\n\nThe men, one aged in his 30s and one his 50s, were arrested on Saturday and are being questioned at Naas and Leixlip Garda stations.\n\nThe arrests are the first in the investigation into the murder of the 33-year-old father-of-one.\n\nIt is understood Mr O\u2019Brien was shot dead and then dismembered with power tools.\n\nParts of his body were found in different locations.\n\nGarda\u00ed say a search operation to retrieve parts of the body which remain missing, believed to be parts of the hands, is still ongoing.\n\nHis torso was found by a passerby in a suitcase in the Grand Canal in Co Kildare last month and other parts of his body were found in the Grand Canal near Sallins, Co Kildare.\n\nAnd parts of a power tool were recovered some distance away at the Royal Canal near Carton House, Maynooth, Co Kildare.\n\nMr O\u2019Brien was reported missing on the evening of 15th January, and DNA analysis carried out on the body parts subsequently established that they belonged to him.\n\nThe motive behind the murder remains unclear.\n\nMr O\u2019Brien was from Ballyfermot in west Dublin but had been living with his partner and child on Lealand Road, Clondalkin, west Dublin, since his return from Australia last month.\n\nHe had travelled to Australia to work while his partner and child remained in Dublin, and members of An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na were recently sent to the country to establish further information on the time he spent there with a view to informing their investigations.\n\nInvestigating officers said they were following up some 300 leads shortly after they had established the identity of the victim following an appeal for information which prompted 100 calls from members of the public.\n\nMr O\u2019Brien was described as a \u201cloyal\u201d and \u201cintelligent\u201d person during his funeral mass in Ballyfermot on Wednesday, and family members said there was some comfort to be found in the knowledge that he \u201cdied knowing he was loved and he loved us\u201d."}
-{"text": "Not anything will get us greater than a splendid damsel with a pips of huge hotters. Eva Angelina here\u2019s a girl-next-door sweetie with huge kalamazoos and teen simply hams\u2019t assist however wring it into any given scenario. Sprout joins us open air and uncovers her elastic huge rib cushions."}
-{"text": "E se acord\u00e1ssemos amanh\u00e3 com a menoridade penal reduzida para 16 anos?\n\n\u201cDo rio que tudo arrasta, diz-se que \u00e9 violento. Mas ningu\u00e9m chama violentas as margens que o comprimem.\u201d\n\nBertold Brecht\n\nComo assim?\n\nNas \u00faltimas semanas, as discuss\u00f5es acerca da redu\u00e7\u00e3o da menoridade penal, dos atuais 18 anos para o patamar de 16 anos, voltaram \u00e0 tona. A pol\u00eamica no Brasil n\u00e3o \u00e9 atual, e v\u00e1rias iniciativas legislativas t\u00eam proposto alterar tal patamar, sempre gerando debates acalorados e, por que n\u00e3o, passionais sobre o tema.\n\nUm esclarecimento importante sobre a denomina\u00e7\u00e3o do tema: entendo que menoridade penal \u00e9 o intervalo entre o nascimento e os 18 anos, as tentativas de alterar essa idade para 16, querem portanto reduzir esse intervalo, por isso uso a denomina\u00e7\u00e3o redu\u00e7\u00e3o da menoridade. O que significa, por outro turno, ampliar a maioridade, que hoje vai dos 18 \u00e0 morte, e passaria a ser mais ampla, dos 16 at\u00e9 a morte. Portanto, utilizarei redu\u00e7\u00e3o da menoridade penal.\n\nOutro aspecto que preciso elucidar logo de in\u00edcio \u00e9 que os adolescentes em conflito com a lei s\u00e3o respons\u00e1veis por apenas 0,9% das infra\u00e7\u00f5es penais praticadas no Brasil. Seus atos infracionais an\u00e1logos a crimes violentos e contra a pessoa, como o homic\u00eddio, s\u00e3o uma minoria absoluta. Os adolescentes n\u00e3o est\u00e3o matando as pessoas e permanecendo impunes! \u00c9 apenas um mito (Veja aqui!).\n\nAtos infracionais de adolescentes:\n\nRoubo \u2013 38,70%\n\nTentativa de roubo \u2013 1,09%\n\nTr\u00e1fico \u2013 27,05%\n\nHomic\u00eddios \u2013 9%\n\nTentativa de homic\u00eddio \u2013 2,68%\n\nFurto \u2013 4,24 %\n\nPorte de arma \u2013 2,72%\n\nLatroc\u00ednio \u2013 2,19%\n\nEstupro \u2013 1,45%\n\nOutros \u2013 6,53%\n\nO que temos hoje?\n\nO Brasil se alinha entre os pa\u00edses que adotam um crit\u00e9rio de separa\u00e7\u00e3o da responsabilidade penal por crit\u00e9rio biol\u00f3gico (et\u00e1rio), independentemente da avalia\u00e7\u00e3o da capacidade mental real. Os maiores de 18 anos tornam-se imput\u00e1veis penalmente, enquanto, por \u00f3bvio, s\u00e3o inimput\u00e1veis os menores de 18 anos, n\u00e3o importa a idade.\n\nSujeitam-se ao direito penal comum apenas os maiores de 18 anos, pois os menores est\u00e3o sujeitos \u00e0 legisla\u00e7\u00e3o especial, como indicam o art. 27 do C\u00f3digo Penal e o art. 228 da Constitui\u00e7\u00e3o Federal.\n\nA legisla\u00e7\u00e3o atual aplic\u00e1vel aos menores \u00e9 o Estatuto da Crian\u00e7a e do Adolescente. Com base na doutrina da prote\u00e7\u00e3o integral das crian\u00e7as e adolescentes, e no princ\u00edpio do melhor interesse dos menores, a legisla\u00e7\u00e3o cria regras de prote\u00e7\u00e3o das crian\u00e7as e adolescentes, que s\u00e3o diferenciados pela faixa do nascimento aos 12 anos incompletos, como crian\u00e7as, e dos 12 anos completos aos 18 anos incompletos, como adolescentes.\n\nO ECA tamb\u00e9m trata das crian\u00e7as e adolescentes em conflito com a lei. A partir das ideias previstas nas Regras M\u00ednimas das Na\u00e7\u00f5es Unidas para a Administra\u00e7\u00e3o da Justi\u00e7a da Inf\u00e2ncia e da Juventude \u2013 Regras de Beijing, em especial o previsto no art. 4.\u00ba, a respeito da responsabilidade penal dos jovens. Vejamos:\n\n4. Responsabilidade penal\n\n4.1 Nos sistemas jur\u00eddicos que reconhe\u00e7am o conceito de responsabilidade penal para jovens, seu come\u00e7o n\u00e3o dever\u00e1 fixar-se numa idade demasiado precoce, levando-se em conta as circunst\u00e2ncias que acompanham a maturidade emocional, mental e intelectual.\n\nNesse sentido, o Estatuto da Crian\u00e7a e do Adolescente adota dois sistemas. Para as crian\u00e7as, a completa impunidade, reconhecendo a necessidade de medidas de prote\u00e7\u00e3o, mesmo quando da pr\u00e1tica de il\u00edcitos penais.\n\nPor outro lado, para os adolescentes, h\u00e1 um verdadeiro sistema penal, com a aplica\u00e7\u00e3o das medidas socioeducativas, reconhecidamente de cunho punitivo e de responsabiliza\u00e7\u00e3o dos adolescentes, quando estes praticam il\u00edcitos de natureza penal. Esse car\u00e1ter de responsabiliza\u00e7\u00e3o, por que n\u00e3o dizer de puni\u00e7\u00e3o, est\u00e1 claro no ECA, o que muitas pessoas n\u00e3o compreendem e passam ao infundado fundamento da impunidade.\n\nAdolescentes n\u00e3o ficam impunes. Podem sofrer diversas medidas, compar\u00e1veis \u00e0s penas aplicadas aos maiores, que devem considerar sua peculiar situa\u00e7\u00e3o de pessoa em desenvolvimento. As medidas socioeducativas s\u00e3o:\n\nadvert\u00eancia;\n\nrepara\u00e7\u00e3o dos danos;\n\npresta\u00e7\u00e3o de servi\u00e7os \u00e0 comunidade;\n\nliberdade assistida;\n\nsemiliberdade; e\n\ninterna\u00e7\u00e3o.\n\nEssas duas \u00faltimas medidas s\u00e3o privativas de liberdade e acarretam a retirada, total ou parcial, dos adolescentes do meio comunit\u00e1rio e sua coloca\u00e7\u00e3o em institui\u00e7\u00f5es educacionais, que na maior parte das vezes s\u00e3o verdadeiras pris\u00f5es, com pouqu\u00edssimas diferen\u00e7as das institui\u00e7\u00f5es de adultos.\n\nAl\u00e9m disso, \u00e9 preciso saber que as tr\u00eas \u00faltimas medidas s\u00e3o aplic\u00e1veis, por for\u00e7a da lei do Sistema Nacional de Atendimento Socioeducativo (SINASE), em regime progressivo, podendo o adolescente, que come\u00e7a na interna\u00e7\u00e3o, migrar para a semiliberdade e, depois, para a liberdade assistida. Considerando os prazos m\u00e1ximos de tr\u00eas anos em cada uma, ele pode permanecer em execu\u00e7\u00e3o de medidas socioeducativas por at\u00e9 nove anos, per\u00edodo maior que as penas (para maiores) de crimes como furto qualificado, tortura, les\u00e3o corporal grav\u00edssima, amea\u00e7a, constrangimento ilegal, sequestro e v\u00e1rios outros crimes graves.\n\nSer\u00e1 que realmente podemos falar em impunidade dos adolescentes? Na minha opini\u00e3o, n\u00e3o!\n\nO levantamento anual dos adolescentes em cumprimento de medida socioeducativa \u2013 2012 \u2013, realizado pela Secretaria Nacional de Promo\u00e7\u00e3o dos Direitos da Crian\u00e7a e do Adolescente (Veja aqui!), demonstra que foram submetidos a essas tr\u00eas medidas em 2010 17.703 adolescentes, em 2011, 19.595 adolescentes, e em 2012, 20.532 adolescentes. Isso n\u00e3o pode ser considerado impunidade.\n\nO mesmo estudo mostra que o \u00edndice de reincid\u00eancia dos adolescentes, de 20%, se comparado com o do sistema carcer\u00e1rio, em torno de 70%, \u00e9 muito inferior. Mandar adolescentes para pris\u00f5es de adultos, com altos \u00edndices de reincid\u00eancia, aumenta a viol\u00eancia e retira qualquer expectativa de ressocializa\u00e7\u00e3o desses jovens.\n\nReduzir a menoridade penal \u00e9 aumentar a viol\u00eancia, e n\u00e3o combat\u00ea-la!\n\nE os adultos, os maiores de 18 anos?\n\nOs maiores de 18 anos no Brasil s\u00e3o sujeitos ao direito penal normal, embora a nossa legisla\u00e7\u00e3o mantenha uma faixa dos 18 anos aos 21 anos, quando o agente fica sujeito a penas, mas tem direito \u00e0 atenuante autom\u00e1tica da pena em raz\u00e3o da idade, como tamb\u00e9m \u00e0 redu\u00e7\u00e3o de metade nos prazos prescricionais normais dos il\u00edcitos penais.\n\nFica claro, em muitos casos, que os argumentos favor\u00e1veis \u00e0 redu\u00e7\u00e3o da menoridade penal passam pela ideia de punir mais severamente os adolescentes. \u00c0s vezes percebo at\u00e9 um anseio de vingan\u00e7a social, uma esp\u00e9cie de linchamento jur\u00eddico.\n\nImaginemos um crime de homic\u00eddio praticado por um maior de 18 anos. A pena do homic\u00eddio \u00e9 de 6 a 20 anos. N\u00e3o vou cans\u00e1-los com explica\u00e7\u00f5es penais, mas confiem em mim. Um adulto reincidente, com v\u00e1rios fatores contr\u00e1rios a si, condenado por um homic\u00eddio simples, deve ter em m\u00e9dia uma pena m\u00e1xima de 18 anos, e dificilmente algu\u00e9m \u00e9 condenado \u00e0 pena m\u00e1xima abstrata. Suponhamos que esse homic\u00eddio seja hediondo, o que imp\u00f5e um maior rigor penal. Ele permanecer\u00e1 em regime fechado por aproximadamente 10 anos, passando ao semiaberto, e no m\u00e1ximo em 12 anos estar\u00e1 em liberdade pelo instituto do livramento condicional.\n\nAgora imaginem um roubo, com uso de armas de fogo, que tem pena m\u00e1xima de 4 a 10 anos, com um aumento de metade por for\u00e7a da arma. Provavelmente, um reincidente seria condenado a algo pr\u00f3ximo de 8 anos, talvez 10, mas, como n\u00e3o estamos no campo dos crimes hediondos, teria progress\u00e3o para o semiaberto com 1 ano e 8 meses, e livramento condicional, retornando a liberdade completa com, mais ou menos, 3 anos de pena.\n\nVejam, o adolescente pode ter, desde os 12 anos, at\u00e9 nove anos de medidas socioeducativas. Comparem com o exemplo anterior e reflitam: \u00e9 pouco tempo? \u00c9 impunidade?\n\nE no mundo? Como \u00e9?\n\nA determina\u00e7\u00e3o da idade da maioridade penal \u00e9 bastante variada, e h\u00e1 experi\u00eancias bem diferentes em diversos lugares do mundo. Recomendo uma pesquisa na internet.\n\nH\u00e1 pesquisas confi\u00e1veis que demonstram que a responsabilidade penal integral, na maioria dos pa\u00edses, ocorre aos 18 anos. Alguns exemplos est\u00e3o dispon\u00edveis em: UNICEF \u2013 Por que dizer n\u00e3o \u00e0 redu\u00e7\u00e3o da idade penal (Veja aqui!)\n\nAlemanha \u2013 h\u00e1 uma faixa entre 18 aos 21 anos, quando o agente pode, se considerado que n\u00e3o tem discernimento, responder como menor. A partir dos 21 anos responde integralmente.\n\nCanad\u00e1 \u2013 entre 14 e 18 anos o adolescente em crimes graves pode ser submetido a san\u00e7\u00f5es do direito penal comum.\n\nEUA e R\u00fassia \u2013 de 12 ou 14 at\u00e9 16 anos, depende do Estado.\n\nBol\u00edvia \u2013 16 anos.\n\nReino Unido \u2013 s\u00e3o faixas de responsabilidade penal a partir dos 15 anos, mas puni\u00e7\u00f5es plenas somente a partir dos 21 anos.\n\nPortugal, It\u00e1lia, Jap\u00e3o, Pa\u00edses Baixos e Espanha \u2013 somente tem responsabilidade plena aos 21 anos.\n\nBulg\u00e1ria, China, Cro\u00e1cia, Dinamarca, Eslov\u00e1quia, Eslov\u00eania, Finl\u00e2ndia, Fran\u00e7a, Gr\u00e9cia, Holanda, Hungria, Irlanda, Litu\u00e2nia, Noruega, Pol\u00f4nia, Rep\u00fablica Dominicana, Rep\u00fablica Checa, Su\u00e9cia, Su\u00ed\u00e7a, M\u00e9xico, Honduras, Nicar\u00e1gua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panam\u00e1, Venezuela, Col\u00f4mbia, Equador, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Paraguai, Uruguai e Brasil \u2013 18 anos.\n\nVejam outros pa\u00edses aqui.\n\nPodemos notar que a maior parte dos pa\u00edses pesquisados pela UNICEF tem a maioridade penal aos 18 anos, diferente do que t\u00eam dito os defensores da modifica\u00e7\u00e3o aqui no Brasil. Perigosa manipula\u00e7\u00e3o de dados. A maioria desses pa\u00edses mant\u00e9m um sistema de responsabilidade penal juvenil, semelhante ao que ocorre no Brasil, conforme j\u00e1 apontado quando expliquei o mecanismo do ECA, por\u00e9m isso n\u00e3o se confunde com maioridade.\n\nChamam aten\u00e7\u00e3o os casos da Alemanha e da Espanha que reduziram a menoridade e depois voltaram atr\u00e1s, pois a redu\u00e7\u00e3o n\u00e3o diminuiu os \u00edndices de infra\u00e7\u00f5es praticadas por menores. Isso se repete em 54 pa\u00edses que reduziram a menoridade penal, sem qualquer efic\u00e1cia na medida (Leia mais!).\n\nEm que mais devemos pensar?\n\nO sistema penitenci\u00e1rio brasileiro est\u00e1 pronto para receber os nossos jovens de 16 a 18 anos?\n\n\u00c9 quase uma piada em formato de pergunta.\n\nNosso sistema penitenci\u00e1rio est\u00e1 pronto para receber adultos que delinquiram?\n\nSe essa pergunta j\u00e1 \u00e9 dif\u00edcil de responder, imaginem a primeira.\n\nO Brasil, hoje, tem a terceira ou quarta maior popula\u00e7\u00e3o carcer\u00e1ria do mundo, alternando na posi\u00e7\u00e3o com a R\u00fassia. Em junho de 2014, j\u00e1 havia 715.655 presos, embora a capacidade do sistema carcer\u00e1rio seja de 357.219 (dados publicados no site do CNJ em 04.06.2014). Esse quadro demonstra o caos em que o sistema penitenci\u00e1rio se encontra; n\u00e3o h\u00e1 vagas para quem j\u00e1 se encontra l\u00e1, n\u00e3o h\u00e1 vagas para mais ningu\u00e9m. Obviamente esse quadro impede quaisquer pol\u00edticas p\u00fablicas de ressocializa\u00e7\u00e3o e, at\u00e9 mesmo, de neutraliza\u00e7\u00e3o.\n\nAs pris\u00f5es brasileiras, em sua maioria, s\u00e3o dep\u00f3sitos de presos. N\u00e3o t\u00eam condi\u00e7\u00f5es de higiene, salubridade e n\u00e3o apresentam o m\u00ednimo de dignidade.\n\nMuitos dos meus leitores comemoram essa situa\u00e7\u00e3o, e acreditam que presos devem sofrer mesmo e outras coisas piores, mas esquecem que defender garantias e direitos dos presos \u00e9 defender garantias e direitos de todos os cidad\u00e3os, inclusive os nossos. Eu, em particular, n\u00e3o pretendo abrir m\u00e3o dos direitos que muitos sofreram para conquistar.\n\nIsso sem falar em drogas, fac\u00e7\u00f5es criminosas, armas de fogo, bebidas alco\u00f3licas, celulares, prostitui\u00e7\u00e3o, sa\u00eddas ilegais, crimes e outros fatos que ocorrem nas mais diversas pris\u00f5es brasileiras.\n\nNas palavras da Anistia Internacional, as \u201cpris\u00f5es s\u00e3o uma esp\u00e9cie de masmorra, com condi\u00e7\u00f5es de animais. S\u00e3o um dep\u00f3sito de seres humanos em p\u00e9ssimas condi\u00e7\u00f5es. H\u00e1 uma situa\u00e7\u00e3o generalizada de superlota\u00e7\u00e3o, de p\u00e9ssimas condi\u00e7\u00f5es de sa\u00fade, de higiene\u201d, entre outros aspectos denunciados tamb\u00e9m pelo Conselho de Direitos Humanos da ONU em 2014.\n\n\u00c9 para essas pris\u00f5es que pretendemos enviar nossos jovens, cada vez mais cedo.\n\nMas a criminalidade juvenil est\u00e1 alta! Diminuindo a menoridade, pensar\u00e3o duas vezes antes de praticar um crime!\n\nSer\u00e1 mesmo?\n\nTeoricamente, uma das fun\u00e7\u00f5es da pena \u00e9 a preven\u00e7\u00e3o geral. A pena seria capaz de causar medo ou de educar as pessoas. Ao prever penas mais duras e maiores, haveria uma intimida\u00e7\u00e3o dos poss\u00edveis infratores.\n\nEntretanto, essa hip\u00f3tese te\u00f3rica n\u00e3o se constr\u00f3i na realidade. Temos claras provas de que esse car\u00e1ter de preven\u00e7\u00e3o geral, negativa ou positiva, n\u00e3o tem trazido resultados. A lei de crimes hediondos \u00e9 de 1990 e n\u00e3o diminuiu estatisticamente a ocorr\u00eancia desses crimes, e o mesmo se pode falar sobre o tr\u00e1fico de drogas, tratado de forma mais severa a partir de 2006, sem qualquer redu\u00e7\u00e3o. Igualmente sobre a Lei Maria da Penha, que n\u00e3o conseguiu restringir as situa\u00e7\u00f5es de viol\u00eancia dom\u00e9stica e familiar contra a mulher.\n\nImposs\u00edvel n\u00e3o visualizar, nesse ponto, uma aproxima\u00e7\u00e3o da ideia de que a fun\u00e7\u00e3o do direito est\u00e1 na efici\u00eancia seletiva de expectativas comportamentais, e tais expectativas generalizadas, como menciona Luhmann, nos aspectos temporais, sociais e pr\u00e1ticos, criam uma esp\u00e9cie de necessidade de autoprote\u00e7\u00e3o normativa pelo direito penal, definida claramente por Jakobs, no funcionalismo radicalista, ou seja, a fun\u00e7\u00e3o da pena est\u00e1 na manuten\u00e7\u00e3o dessas expectativas de comportamentos sociais, e o desvio traz como consequ\u00eancia a aplica\u00e7\u00e3o do direito penal com o seu rigor punitivo, atendendo muitas vezes a press\u00e3o social midi\u00e1tica. A miss\u00e3o do direito penal acaba por se converter numa conten\u00e7\u00e3o dos clamores sociais e na fun\u00e7\u00e3o de vingan\u00e7a social ou estatal, formando-se, na maioria das vezes, um direito penal meramente simb\u00f3lico.\n\nA legisla\u00e7\u00e3o penal n\u00e3o atende essa preven\u00e7\u00e3o por uma s\u00e9rie de fatores, mas o principal \u00e9 que essa fun\u00e7\u00e3o n\u00e3o pode ser mesmo do direito penal. O que limita ou previne comportamentos delituosos \u00e9 a educa\u00e7\u00e3o. Educa\u00e7\u00e3o no sentido geral, pela fam\u00edlia, pela escola, por meios de comunica\u00e7\u00e3o e por meio do Estado, mas n\u00e3o pelo direito penal.\n\nA ideia de que os adolescentes, se reduzida a menoridade penal, teriam medo de delinquir n\u00e3o \u00e9 verdadeira; a experi\u00eancia pr\u00e1tica demonstra que o direito n\u00e3o consegue alcan\u00e7ar tal finalidade. Frustrada pela falta de fiscaliza\u00e7\u00e3o, pela falta de presen\u00e7a estatal, pela corrup\u00e7\u00e3o, pela morosidade do Judici\u00e1rio e por v\u00e1rios outros fatores que afastam a efic\u00e1cia preventiva.\n\nA redu\u00e7\u00e3o n\u00e3o conter\u00e1 a pr\u00e1tica de atos criminosos por adolescentes entre 16 e 18 anos.\n\nTenho certeza de que aos 16 anos um jovem sabe exatamente o que faz!\n\nSer\u00e1? Bem-vindo ao senso comum!\n\nUm dos argumentos que mais li nas redes sociais sobre o assunto foi esse.\n\nEu, em particular, embora seja o filho mais velho, neto mais velho, primo mais velho, tendo convivido sempre com crian\u00e7as e adolescentes, n\u00e3o me sinto em condi\u00e7\u00f5es de fazer essa afirma\u00e7\u00e3o.\n\nO crit\u00e9rio de estabelecimento da maioridade penal aos 18 anos \u00e9, como j\u00e1 argumentei, uma tend\u00eancia mundial, e o crit\u00e9rio para determinar essa idade passa pelo conceito de imputabilidade (capacidade) penal.\n\nA capacidade penal est\u00e1 associada \u00e0 capacidade mental de compreender o car\u00e1ter proibido de alguns comportamentos (ilicitude) e de se determinar (autocontrole) de acordo com essa compreens\u00e3o. Em outras palavras, conseguir criar categorias mentais, o que \u00e9 certo ou errado, e de controlar seu pr\u00f3prio comportamento para somente fazer o que \u00e9 certo.\n\nQuem de n\u00f3s \u00e9 capaz de afirmar que isso surge aos 18 anos, 16 anos, talvez menos? Na minha opini\u00e3o, somente profissionais de sa\u00fade e educadores podem analisar a quest\u00e3o.\n\nEnt\u00e3o vamos ouvi-los, ou continuaremos s\u00f3 achando isso ou aquilo\u2026\n\nO neurocientista Roberto Lent, diretor do Instituto de Ci\u00eancias Biom\u00e9dicas da Universidade do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), em entrevista publicada (Leia mais!), afirma: \u201cUma regi\u00e3o do c\u00f3rtex, a pr\u00e9-frontal, \u00e9 a \u00faltima a estabilizar seu desenvolvimento. Essa regi\u00e3o pr\u00e9-frontal faz a sele\u00e7\u00e3o dos comportamentos, \u00e9 uma esp\u00e9cie de filtro. Aprendemos uma s\u00e9rie de comportamentos ao longo da vida, balizados por regras da sociedade em que vivemos. Existem regras sociais aqui, na Tanz\u00e2nia, onde quer que seja, mas diferentes. Os indiv\u00edduos v\u00e3o aprendendo essas regras e selecionam seu comportamento de acordo com elas \u2013 algumas s\u00e3o morais, outras, meramente sociais, mas existem. Ent\u00e3o, o adolescente, como tem essa regi\u00e3o imatura, n\u00e3o sabe fazer essa sele\u00e7\u00e3o adequadamente. A\u00ed libera comportamentos, chamados impulsivos, que n\u00e3o s\u00e3o adequados a cada situa\u00e7\u00e3o. O problema \u00e9 como controlar isso de maneira que n\u00e3o seja algo que resulte em viol\u00eancia, que prejudique outras pessoas ou o pr\u00f3prio indiv\u00edduo. A\u00ed entra o educador, sabendo que existe um tempo mais prolongado para o desenvolvimento das regi\u00f5es pr\u00e9-frontais que fazem o chamado controle executivo do comportamento. Ao saber que isso \u00e9 algo normal do desenvolvimento do adolescente, o educador tem de encontrar maneiras de conduzir essa liberdade, por assim dizer, do comportamento do adolescente, para que n\u00e3o seja prejudicial nem negativo. A neuroci\u00eancia sai de cena e entra o educador. Ele deve bolar as maneiras de resolver esse problema \u2013 e a fam\u00edlia, claro. A regi\u00e3o pr\u00e9-frontal, por exemplo, tem um funcionamento deficiente em psicopatas\u201d.\n\nNo mesmo sentido, o psiquiatra e neurocientista David Eagleman, diretor do Laborat\u00f3rio de Percep\u00e7\u00e3o e A\u00e7\u00e3o do Baylor College of Medicine, no Estado do Texas, Estados Unidos: \u201cA principal diferen\u00e7a entre o c\u00e9rebro de um adolescente e outro de um adulto \u00e9 o desenvolvimento dos lobos frontais. O c\u00f3rtex pr\u00e9-frontal humano s\u00f3 se desenvolve plenamente no in\u00edcio dos vinte anos, e isto fundamenta o comportamento impulsivo dos adolescentes. Os lobos frontais s\u00e3o \u00e0s vezes chamado de o \u00f3rg\u00e3o da socializa\u00e7\u00e3o, porque tornar-se socializado n\u00e3o passa de desenvolver circuitos para reprimir nossos impulsos mais b\u00e1sicos\u201d (Veja aqui!).\n\nNo campo da educa\u00e7\u00e3o a opini\u00e3o \u00e9 a mesma. O Instituto de Forma\u00e7\u00e3o Humana e Educa\u00e7\u00e3o Popular (IFHEP) publicou carta contr\u00e1ria \u00e0 redu\u00e7\u00e3o. Vale a leitura!\n\nS\u00e3o os juristas que devem ter a menor participa\u00e7\u00e3o na discuss\u00e3o, n\u00e3o \u00e9 nossa \u00e1rea de conhecimento, e ainda assim os melhores penalistas se colocam contr\u00e1rios \u00e0 altera\u00e7\u00e3o, como se v\u00ea na manifesta\u00e7\u00e3o do Professor Juarez Tavares, em palestra realizada no STJ: \u201c[\u2026] n\u00e3o ir\u00e1 implicar a diminui\u00e7\u00e3o do n\u00famero de infra\u00e7\u00f5es, ir\u00e1 apenas satisfazer sentimentos de vingan\u00e7a\u201d.\n\nVamos concluir?\n\nOs adolescentes s\u00e3o responsabilizados pelos atos infracionais que praticam. N\u00e3o h\u00e1 impunidade que se divulga. O n\u00famero de atos infracionais, praticados por adolescentes, n\u00e3o ultrapassa 1% do total de crimes cometidos no Brasil. A regi\u00e3o frontal do c\u00e9rebro s\u00f3 alcan\u00e7a o pleno desenvolvimento aos 20 anos de idade; antes disso a capacidade de autodetermina\u00e7\u00e3o ainda oscila. A redu\u00e7\u00e3o da menoridade n\u00e3o diminuiu a criminalidade nos 54 pa\u00edses que adotaram tal medida. Os n\u00edveis de reincid\u00eancia s\u00e3o menores entre os adolescentes submetidos a medidas socioeducativas (20%) do que entre adultos encarcerados (70%). Enviar jovens aos pres\u00eddios aumentar\u00e1 em m\u00e9dio prazo a viol\u00eancia. As pris\u00f5es brasileiras n\u00e3o cumprem a fun\u00e7\u00e3o ressocializadora e sequer a neutraliza\u00e7\u00e3o dos presos. Nossa popula\u00e7\u00e3o carcer\u00e1ria j\u00e1 tem um excesso de mais de 300 mil presos, e temos a terceira ou quarta popula\u00e7\u00e3o carcer\u00e1ria do mundo, pr\u00f3ximo a 750 mil presos. A maioria dos pa\u00edses tem a maioridade aos 18 anos, e o Brasil n\u00e3o est\u00e1 fora da ordem mundial nesse aspecto. H\u00e1 pa\u00edses, como o Jap\u00e3o, que ainda adotam 21 anos. Nossos adolescentes em conflito com a lei s\u00e3o sujeitos a um sistema de direito penal juvenil, a partir dos 12 anos, que possibilita at\u00e9 nove anos de medidas restritivas da liberdade. Reduzir a menoridade para 16 anos n\u00e3o soluciona o problema da criminalidade. Somente um compromisso efetivo com a educa\u00e7\u00e3o combate a criminalidade, seja juvenil ou entre adultos. Estamos no caminho errado, mais uma vez!\n\nSe acord\u00e1ssemos amanh\u00e3 com a menoridade penal reduzida para 16 anos, eu teria a certeza de que o direito simb\u00f3lico venceu a raz\u00e3o mais uma vez!\n\nO importante \u00e9 n\u00e3o nos acostumarmos com isso!\n\nVeja tamb\u00e9m:"}
-{"text": "User Info: LeoChris LeoChris 9 months ago #321 kwonshin posted...\n\nWell, Greens shop updated with Water now. Hoard time. Unlimited stock or a certain amount per cycle?\n\nUnlimited stock or a certain amount per cycle?\n\nUser Info: ZeroQ8 ZeroQ8 9 months ago #322 no idea whats that\n\n\n\nbut it means more broken cloud and luneth\n\n\n\nUser Info: sarothias sarothias 9 months ago #323 KnightLordST posted...\n\nI slightly kind of do since spending too long on anything can have side effects. Then this would apply to MMOs and such too. I think playing things long term is fine. Just depends on the individual.\n\nFFRK - Rem's AASB Code: 9DXU Then this would apply to MMOs and such too. I think playing things long term is fine. Just depends on the individual.\n\nUser Info: Relm_Arrowny_87 Relm_Arrowny_87 9 months ago #324\n\n\n\nSolitaireD posted...\n\nAuto Complete for Daily/Mote Dungeons\n\n\n\nMax stamina increased to 999\n\n\n\nNew character menu UI\n\n\n\nVault maximum increased to 900\n\n\n\nGysahl shop sells Crystal Waters\n\n\n\nMirage/Dreams dungeon will be permanent, and used same rules as Torment\n\nThat's all nice, I guess. I always like to hear vault increases.\n\n\n\nI wonder if the auto-complete will be real, or Global's dumb didn't-actually-happen version... Probably it's just for real, because then that'd be why Global cancelled theirs. If it's legit, then it's a wonderful QoL, I've been getting quite tired of the daily dungeon anyway. (...It'd be nicer to get it for the magicite dungeons, though...)\n\n\n\nVery confused by the 999 max stamina, though. Unless it just means that there's more shards available? Maybe in one of the shops?\n\n\n\nHP% displayed for bosses\n\nAbout freaking time, lol. It wouldn't be necessary if they didn't have so many phase-heavy bosses, but hey.\n\n\n\nZetsumu will be the hardest content so far, featuring realm specific bosses.\n\nIX is Deathguise, T is Zalera\n\n\n\nThere will be CMs for Zetsumu, rewarding Rat Tails\n\nAh. There it is. Realm content was pretty predictable, guess we'll just see how terrible or not it is.\n\n\n\nAlso I don't hate the Historia Crystal idea. Basically magicite for realms? Might be grindy, but also potentially one heck of a powercreep. At least it's interesting, if nothing else.\n\n\n\nShinUltima posted...\n\nTen SBs equipped per character! I want this yesterday.\n\nWay overdue, even I'm starting to get too many SBs to bring.\n\n\n\nElNino_FR posted...\n\nnot really, these conditions are very lax tbh.\n\n\n\nhere's a fast trad :\n\n\n\nZidane %Link conditions (max at 100% , total 130%) :\n\nreach Lv99\n\nmax Job sphere\n\nmax RD\n\nmax LD\n\nunlock 10 cells in RB\n\nunlock 20 cells in RB\n\ninvest 30 Crystal waters in HP\n\ninvest 30 Crystal waters in ATK\n\ninvest 30 Crystal waters in DEF\n\ninvest 30 Crystal waters in MDEF\n\nThose conditions are so easy.\n\n\n\nAnd yay, finally a use for those worthless DEF/RES waters. XD\n\n\n\nShadow Stalker X posted...\n\nAlso, @Relm_Arrowny_87 , I heard you like Nemesis MO so we're giving you more Nemesis MO.\n\n...*headdesk* Whyyyyyyyy What a fuddy duddy. Lots of info, huh...That's all nice, I guess. I always like to hear vault increases.I wonder if the auto-complete will be real, or Global's dumb didn't-actually-happen version... Probably it's just for real, because then that'd be why Global cancelled theirs. If it's legit, then it's a wonderful QoL, I've been getting quite tired of the daily dungeon anyway. (...It'd be nicer to get it for the magicite dungeons, though...)Very confused by the 999 max stamina, though. Unless it just means that there's more shards available? Maybe in one of the shops?About freaking time, lol. It wouldn't be necessary if they didn't have so many phase-heavy bosses, but hey.Ah. There it is. Realm content was pretty predictable, guess we'll just see how terrible or not it is.Also I don't hate the Historia Crystal idea. Basically magicite for realms? Might be grindy, but also potentially one heck of a powercreep. At least it's interesting, if nothing else.Way overdue, even I'm starting to get too many SBs to bring.Those conditions are so easy.And yay, finally a use for those worthless DEF/RES waters. XD...*headdesk* Whyyyyyyyy\n\nUser Info: Relm_Arrowny_87 Relm_Arrowny_87 9 months ago #325 KnightLordST posted...\n\nLet's be honest, you just want this game to end right?\n\n\n\nI slightly kind of do since spending too long on anything can have side effects.\n\nYeah... I kinda do. I dunno. It's complicated. What a fuddy duddy. Yeah... I kinda do. I dunno. It's complicated.\n\nUser Info: SolitaireD SolitaireD 9 months ago #326\n\n- New Elarra RW: Fabula Sorcerer; This is a Chain: 99\n\n- Characters without En-Element can do better damage in 6* Magicite fights\n\n- 3/4* Magicite Dungeons will no longer provide Drop rewards\n\n- 3/4/5* Magicite Dungeons will now have Grade rewards\n\n\n\nMagicite Event (4 weeks)\n\n- Clear a 3* and above Magicite Dungeon each day to earn 1 Relic Draw ticket\n\n- Clear 50 3* and above Magicite Dungeon within the period to earn 11 tickets\n\n- Special banner will be available for these tickets, includes SASB & CSB for each Magicite element\n\n\n\nAuto Complete\n\n- You can turn on Auto Complete for Daily & Mote Dungeons\n\n- This process will continue until:\n\nManually exit the mode\n\nRun out of Stamina/Ticket\n\nEntire party dies\n\nDungeon has expired\n\nSystem error\n\nInventory is full\n\n- RW choice for each run will also be automated\n\n- Stamina cap will be changed to 999\n\n- You can also make settings on when Stamina Potions can be used\n\n\n\nSB Slot\n\n- Maximum of 10 SBs can be equipped in battle now\n\n- 5 per page, you can swipe left/right to toggle\n\n- Game will also save the most recent placement to memory\n\n\n\nCharacter Menu UI\n\n- Instead of alternating screens, Equipment, SB & Materia will now be in tabs\n\n- All SB/Materias you possess can now be viewed together in their own tabs now\n\n\n\nVault Expansion\n\n- Maximum limit is increased from 800 to 900\n\n\n\nBoss Battle Update\n\n- Remaining HP% for bosses will now be displayed\n\n\n\nRecord Dungeon Update\n\n- Stage difficulty will be lowered\n\n- More Crystal Waters will be rewarded\n\n- Gysahl Greens Shop will now sell Crystal Waters\n\n\n\nTorment Dungeon Update\n\n- Elemental Resistance & Damage Reduction for 4-synergy teams will be alleviated\n\n\n\nMirage Dungeon Update\n\n- Dr Mog's Bonds of Historia RW will be added\n\n- Auto permanent Sentinel's Grimoire will also be added\n\n\n\nCardia\n\n- New main menu option\n\n- In it contains Torment, Mirage & Phantasm Dungeons\n\n- There will be weekly missions for Cardia Dungeons, clearing them will earn you Rat Tails\n\n\n\nPhantasm Dungeon\n\n- Featuring the highest difficulty realm-based bosses so far\n\n- FFIX boss is Deathguise\n\n- FFT boss is Zalera 3DS FC: 2809-9061-6615\n\nJP FFRK (QT3rB): All utility except Runic and Astra. Magicite Update- New Elarra RW: Fabula Sorcerer; This is a Chain: 99- Characters without En-Element can do better damage in 6* Magicite fights- 3/4* Magicite Dungeons will no longer provide Drop rewards- 3/4/5* Magicite Dungeons will now have Grade rewardsMagicite Event (4 weeks)- Clear a 3* and above Magicite Dungeon each day to earn 1 Relic Draw ticket- Clear 50 3* and above Magicite Dungeon within the period to earn 11 tickets- Special banner will be available for these tickets, includes SASB & CSB for each Magicite elementAuto Complete- You can turn on Auto Complete for Daily & Mote Dungeons- This process will continue until:Manually exit the modeRun out of Stamina/TicketEntire party diesDungeon has expiredSystem errorInventory is full- RW choice for each run will also be automated- Stamina cap will be changed to 999- You can also make settings on when Stamina Potions can be usedSB Slot- Maximum of 10 SBs can be equipped in battle now- 5 per page, you can swipe left/right to toggle- Game will also save the most recent placement to memoryCharacter Menu UI- Instead of alternating screens, Equipment, SB & Materia will now be in tabs- All SB/Materias you possess can now be viewed together in their own tabs nowVault Expansion- Maximum limit is increased from 800 to 900Boss Battle Update- Remaining HP% for bosses will now be displayedRecord Dungeon Update- Stage difficulty will be lowered- More Crystal Waters will be rewarded- Gysahl Greens Shop will now sell Crystal WatersTorment Dungeon Update- Elemental Resistance & Damage Reduction for 4-synergy teams will be alleviatedMirage Dungeon Update- Dr Mog's Bonds of Historia RW will be added- Auto permanent Sentinel's Grimoire will also be addedCardia- New main menu option- In it contains Torment, Mirage & Phantasm Dungeons- There will be weekly missions for Cardia Dungeons, clearing them will earn you Rat TailsPhantasm Dungeon- Featuring the highest difficulty realm-based bosses so far- FFIX boss is Deathguise- FFT boss is Zalera\n\nUser Info: SolitaireD SolitaireD 9 months ago #327\n\n\n\nI'll do the full one when report releases tomorrow. 3DS FC: 2809-9061-6615\n\nJP FFRK (QT3rB): All utility except Runic and Astra. That's all beside Historia & Limit Break.I'll do the full one when report releases tomorrow.\n\nUser Info: SnowxNeverLeft SnowxNeverLeft 9 months ago #328 SolitaireD posted...\n\nMagicite Update\n\n- New Elarra RW: Fabula Sorcerer; This is a Chain: 99\n\nTotally called it. It was either this or party BDL, and the latter kind of trivializes the entire content so a chain was more likely.\n\nTotally called it. It was either this or party BDL, and the latter kind of trivializes the entire content so a chain was more likely.\n\nUser Info: sarothias sarothias 9 months ago #329 SnowxNeverLeft posted...\n\nTotally called it. It was either this or party BDL, and the latter kind of trivializes the entire content so a chain was more likely. Wonder if it will be added for everyone who has cleared 5* magicite since it says it will help characters lacking EnX for 6* or if it will be unlocked after initially clearing all 6*. To help with future farming.\n\nFFRK - Rem's AASB Code: 9DXU Wonder if it will be added for everyone who has cleared 5* magicite since it says it will help characters lacking EnX for 6* or if it will be unlocked after initially clearing all 6*. To help with future farming."}
-{"text": "Poques unitats de policia estan permanentment revisant-se com la Brigada M\u00f2bil dels Mossos, la unitat d\u2019elit d\u2019ordre p\u00fablic dels Mossos d\u2019Esquadra. La BRIMO va adaptant-se a l\u2019exig\u00e8ncia social i, sobretot, a les noves circumst\u00e0ncies. En aquest sentit, vol tenir un paper de gesti\u00f3 \u201cm\u00e9s proactiva\u201d del conflicte amb \u201ceines que minimitzin el contacte f\u00edsic\u201d i un paper m\u00e9s intens encara de la interlocuci\u00f3 i la mediaci\u00f3 amb els manifestants. Aquest \u00e9s el nou projecte que porta al cap el nou cap de la unitat, l\u2019intendent Xavier Pastor, que ve del m\u00f3n de la mediaci\u00f3 i despr\u00e9s d\u2019haver prestat serveis a la Brimo durant molts anys.\n\nConscients que l\u2019ordre p\u00fablic ser\u00e0 fonamental en el que tothom anomena \u201ctardor calenta\u201d, la BRIMO ha comen\u00e7at a fer els deures. L\u2019objectiu \u00e9s garantir el dret de manifestaci\u00f3 i fer un \u00fas minimitzat de la for\u00e7a en cas d\u2019aplicar-la. Uns objectius que requereixen acumular la intel\u00b7lig\u00e8ncia de controlar unes12.000 manifestacions l\u2019any i noves eines sobretot en aquelles actuacions que suposen m\u00e9s desgast per la unitat com \u00e9s mantenir una barrera est\u00e0tica. A m\u00e9s, tot i que potser algun dia s'haur\u00e0 d'utilitzar, ha quedat fora de cat\u00e0leg l'\u00fas del carrussel, \u00e9s a dir, les c\u00e0rregues de dispersi\u00f3 amb furgonetes.\n\nTanques i xarxes\n\nAix\u00ed a m\u00e9s dels habituals escuts o llan\u00e7adores, entre els nous intruments, la Brigada M\u00f2bil incorpora unes \u201cnoves tanques\u201d d\u20191,5 metres, que evita el contacte amb els manifestants i que \u201ctanca\u201d la concentraci\u00f3 gr\u00e0cies a unes plataformes de contrap\u00e8s on s\u2019hi poden col\u00b7locar els agents. A m\u00e9s estan constru\u00efdes a prova de v\u00e0ndals, fins i tot, aguanten un c\u00f2ctel molotov. S\u00f3n unes tanques que seran subministrades per una empresa de serveis a demanda quan els Mossos considerin la seva efic\u00e0cia.\n\nLes tanques noves que la BRIMO provar\u00e0 en properes manifestacions Quico Sall\u00e9s\n\nAquest material s\u2019incorpora a l\u2019arsenal en vistes a dissenyar une futures tanques per la mateixa policia. De fet, el sistema de tancament ja \u00e9s un sistema habitual a trav\u00e9s de tanques acoplades amb brides, per\u00f2 l\u2019experi\u00e8ncia apunta que sovint acaben utilitzades com a armes llan\u00e7\u00edvoles.\n\nTamb\u00e9 estan en fase d\u2019exploraci\u00f3 unes xarxes de contenci\u00f3 que fan 1,20 metres. S\u00f3n de f\u00e0cil col\u00b7locaci\u00f3 i resistents. Un sistema de contenci\u00f3 que evita amb fermesa el contacte entre manifestants i policies. Aquests aparells ja els utilitza la policia sueca.\n\nLes xarxes de contenci\u00f3 que volen testar els Mossos Quico Sall\u00e9s\n\nGas pebre, so i llum\n\nPer altra banda, la comand\u00e0ncia de la BRIMO vol utilitzar m\u00e9s un dels seus dispositius de contenci\u00f3 que tenen en cartera per\u00f2 que no s\u2019ha utilitzat apenes: el gas pebre. El Gas OC, un combinat de vapor d\u2019aigua i pebre, ja fa temps que es troba aprovat dins l\u2019instrucci\u00f3 d\u2019armament dels Mossos. Ara b\u00e9, no s\u2019ha utilitzat mai pel rebuig social que genera tot i que la policia considera que \u00e9s menys lesius que les defenses, les porres. En aquest sentit, la direcci\u00f3 policial recorda que a Fran\u00e7a \u00e9s dels primers dispositius que utilitzen els agents antiavalots per dispersar una manifestaci\u00f3, abans que l\u2019\u00fas de la defensa.\n\nLa policia catalana veu en els esprais pebre m\u00e9s avantatges que l\u2019inconvenient que \u201cculturament costi d\u2019acceptar\u201d. Es pot utilitzar a dist\u00e0ncia, satura i molesta durant uns 20 minuts per\u00f2 no t\u00e9 efectes secundaris i \u00e9s gens lesiva. El seu grau d\u2019efic\u00e0cia \u00e9s molt superior a les defenses que sempre poden produir traumatismes no desitjats tant a concentrats com als agents. Com tota la resta d\u2019instruments, la BRIMO avisar\u00e0, seguint el protocol, de la seva utilitzaci\u00f3 per desincentivar l\u2019hostilitat contra la policia o els b\u00e9sn p\u00fablics a protegir.\n\nUn recipient manual del gas OC que t\u00e9 l'equipament dels Mossos Quico Sall\u00e9s\n\nEn un \u00e0mbit m\u00e9s sofisticat, la policia a m\u00e9s dels projectils de FOAM, vol refinar m\u00e9s l\u2019\u00fas del dispositiu ac\u00fastic LRAD 300 que arriba fins a 3 quil\u00f2metres de dist\u00e0ncia. Un altaveu utilitzat entre bucs de guerra que tindria una doble funci\u00f3: dispersar la manifestaci\u00f3 a base de decibels i per altra banda, emetre avisos de dissuaci\u00f3 als manifestants. Tot i que al principi aquests avisos poden animar als manifestants a elevar el to, despr\u00e9s serveixen per asserenar els \u00e0nims com va passar a la concentraci\u00f3 de l\u201911 de setembre davant del Parlament.\n\nPer altra banda, i en fase d\u2019estudi, la BRIMO podria dissenyar focus especials i protegits que enlluernarien els manifestants en una concentraci\u00f3 i deixarien m\u00e9s llibertat de moviment als agents. Inspirats en els ex\u00e8rcits grecs que posaven miralls als vaixells per, amb el sol, cegar els adversaris, els antiavalots esperen desenvolupar aquest sistema en els propers mesos. La consigna de la nova BRIMO \u00e9s clara: evitar en la mesura del possible el contacte entre policia i manifestant."}
-{"text": "The English peasantry may have officially died out in the Middle Ages, but a new breed of small-scale farmers who live off a few acres and celebrate life on the land have been accepted to join the world's biggest peasant organisation.\n\nJyoti Fernandes and other members of the newly formed Land Workers' Alliance were in Jakarta, Indonesia, last week for a global meeting of La Via Campesina, a movement of more than 180 peasant organisations which together can boast 200 million members in more than 80 countries. The alliance is the movement's first membership organisation in England and Wales.\n\nFernandes, 39, is part of a wave of self-proclaimed English \"peasants\" determined to stand up for smallholders and reclaim the countryside with an alternative vision of what the future of UK agriculture could look like. \"Food and farming aren't just about market economics and just getting people calories in their body; it's got this huge social and cultural dimension to it,\" she says.\n\nWestern definitions of \"peasant\" are mostly pejorative, suggesting \"a member of a class of low social status that depends on agricultural labour as a means of subsistence\". But many of the 70 people who set up the alliance in March are young, highly educated and committed to a life on the land. They expect membership to grow to several thousand.\n\nFernandes and her husband live at Fivepenny Farm, a highly productive 20-acre Dorset smallholding, producing vegetables, herbs, meat, eggs and cheese and generating its own electricity from small wind turbines and a set of solar panels. They sell directly to consumers at the weekly market in nearby Bridport.\n\n\"People have to be pretty creative to move to the land,\" says Fernandes, who has long campaigned to change planning laws so that making a living off the land is easier. \"People who have a lot of money and want to live in the countryside with a farmhouse can outcompete at an auction any day people who want to do a land-based farming industry. The countryside isn't just this picture-perfect place for people to go and retire to. It needs to be a living, working countryside.\"\n\nSo what do small farmers in south-west England have in common with peasant farmers in Africa or India? Fernandes says the lives of her counterparts in poor countries are similar to hers: \"They say, 'Oh, you're a farmer too, so what do you have?' and I say, 'Well, I've got two cows and I milk them every day, and I've got chickens,' and they say, 'Oh, I've got cows as well,' and we talk about that and who is looking after the cows while you're away. The practical realities of life are pretty much the same \u2013 you get up in the morning, you milk the cows, you have to do something with your milk,\"\n\n\"Farming has caught the imagination of a new generation of young people who are particularly politically aware,\" says Ed Hamer, who has a small market garden in Chagford, Devon. \"Growing food is a very positive reaction to what many see as problems of globalisation. One objective is to address the lack of representation of small farmers here in the UK.\"\n\nSimon Fairlie, a smallholder and editor of the Land magazine, adds: \"There hasn't really been an effective organisation in Britain representing small farmers \u2013 and there is a need for it. Agricultural extension facilities were abolished under Thatcher, and today there's no acknowledgement in government that there are people doing this and that they could use support. Large-scale farming can produce the food, but so can small-scale farming, but with less machinery and more human interaction. And there are people who want that lifestyle.\"\n\nAs members of La Via Campesina (literally \"the peasants' way\"), people in the new alliance share the idea of \"food sovereignty\", which insists on the right of people to produce for themselves and their communities and rejects corporate control of the food system. They say this has growing resonance in the UK, where less than 1% of people work on the land but increasing numbers of young people say they want to farm. \"It might be for political reasons, or it might just be that they don't want to sit behind a computer all day. It might be people who were disenfranchised in school. Whatever it is, they're going into agriculture because they believe in it,\" says Fernandes. \"Food is really becoming an issue at the front of public consciousness.\n\n\"I think people are really realising what we lose when we lose a good, healthy food culture. And instead of constantly fighting a system that's bad, we want to create positive alternatives \u2026 How can we take the right steps so that in 50 or 60 years we have enough people [in Britain] engaged in agriculture with enough skills and enough access to land and resources to be able to provide the food we need? We want to show that smallholdings can be productive.\"\n\nPatrick Mulvany, chairman of the UK Food Group, says the alliance may serve as a \"lightning rod\" for growers, gardeners, small farmers and others looking for alternative food systems in England and Wales (the Scottish Crofting Federation is already a member of La Via Campesina).\n\n\"To have a group in England is wonderful. At the moment, the [farming] debate is dominated by NGOs and policy wonks. These people, instead, are spending most of their time growing,\" he says."}
-{"text": "Hang out all night at the New York Public Library on Saturday night, where authors, librarians and other volunteers will be doing a 24-hour read-in to rally support for library funding. View Full Caption Getty Images/Spencer Platt\n\nMIDTOWN \u2014 Burn the midnight oil, not books.\n\n\u201cGossip Girl\u201d author Cecily von Ziegesar and other scribes will be doing readings in front of the New York Public Library as part of a 24-hour read-a-thon this weekend.\n\nThe event will stretch from 4 p.m. on Saturday to 4 p.m. on Sunday in the plaza in front of the NYPL\u2019s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue and East 41st Street.\n\nThe aim of the event is to rally the city to increase its contributions to the budgets of its three library systems.\n\nDaylight hours will feature readings from more than a dozen authors including von Ziegesar, who will kick off the read-a-thon at 4 p.m. with a reading from her new book \u201cDark Horses,\u201d described by her publisher as a \u201cpsychologically complex update of Black Beauty replete with jealousy, romance, mystery, and redemption.\u201d\n\nBut the real fun starts when the sun goes down, according to Christian Zabriskie, executive director of Urban Librarians Unite, the advocacy group organizing the event.\n\nFrom midnight to 2 a.m. volunteers will read from erotic literature and \u2014 following a tradition that has grown out of previous read-a-thons \u2014 including a half-hour reading of innocent Dr. Seuss books done in \u201cfilthy, filthy voices,\u201d Zabriskie said.\n\n\u201cThat kind of happened organically, but it\u2019s a lot of fun so we\u2019ve continued doing it,\u201d he said.\n\nFor a full list of the day's schedule, visit the group's website.\n\nThis will be the seventh annual 24-hour read-in organized by the group, which held last year\u2019s event in front of City Hall and the previous five read-a-thons in front of the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza.\n\nThe group is working with the Brooklyn Public Library, the Queens Library, and the NYPL to push for an increase in city funding.\n\nSpecifically, the libraries are lobbying for a return to the level of city funding in Fiscal Year 2008, which would mean restoring $43 million that was cut from the systems last year along with an additional $22 million, which would bring the total city operating budget for the three systems to about $385 million, according to an NYPL spokeswoman.\n\nThe restored funds would help the libraries provide citywide six-day service, hire more staff, and expand classes and programming, the spokeswoman said."}
-{"text": "Shahnaz Azarbehi wants to die on her own terms, but she says her wishes aren't being taken seriously.\n\nThe 67-year-old Toronto resident is in good health. But if she is ever in a serious accident or gets really sick, she wants everyone to know she does not, under any circumstances, want to be resuscitated.\n\nShe knows that seriously injured people can receive CPR and go on to live a normal life, but she fears a scenario where she doesn't fully recover.\n\n\"I see elderly, just skin and bones, lying there for months and years and years,\" she says. \"I don't want to be one of those.\"\n\nAzarbehi is one of an unknown number of Ontario residents who has completed a Do Not Resuscitate Confirmation Form, which can be used outside of the hospital setting. In fact, in most provinces other than Quebec, there is no provincial database of similar documents that allow patients to articulate their CPR preferences.\n\nThe Ontario form contains a list of interventions that will not be attempted including chest compression, defibrillation and artificial ventilation. It's filled out by a doctor or nurse, and it is the only document that allows paramedics and firefighters in Ontario to forgo CPR when attending to an incapacitated person.\n\nA mother-in-law's death\n\nAzarbehi asked her doctor to fill out the form after watching her mother-in-law struggle after a stroke in 2011. She was found unconscious in her home about an hour later by her daughter, Azarbehi's sister-in-law, who allowed paramedics to resuscitate her.\n\nShe regained consciousness after 10 days but spent the rest of her life in bed, hooked up to machines. More than five years after her death, the family is still wrestling with the decision.\n\n\"They had to literally peel her off the bed to just clean her \u2014 the sores,\" says Azarbehi. \"I don't want to take not even the slightest chance of that happening to me.\"\n\nBut completing the do-not-resuscitate form hasn't brought Azarbehi the peace of mind she was hoping for. Each form has a serial number, but there is no registry or database where the information is stored. That's why the number of Ontarians who have filled out the form is unknown.\n\nAlso, the request has to go through a health care provider. The forms are tightly controlled and can't be downloaded.\n\n\"What me and my doctor thought is once this is done, this goes back to the ministry. This would go into some database, some system somewhere so that when the EMS get a call they look up the system to see if I'm there,\" says Azarbehi.\n\nDr. Ajanthan Sivagurunathan assumed Shahnaz Azarbehi's do-not-resuscitate confirmation form would be added to a registry that paramedics could access. Instead, Ontario's Health Ministry told him she should post the form on her front door or refrigerator. (CBC)\n\nAfter following up with Ontario's Health Ministry, Dr. Ajanthan Sivagurunathan was told that Azarbehi should post the form on her front door or refrigerator. \"We found it kind of morbid to have the form right there as people are coming in,\" he says.\n\nCBC News asked the ministry a series of questions about DNR documents, including where they are kept and how they are accessed in emergencies.\n\n\"If the patient is living at home, it is likely that the patient (or the substitute decision-maker on behalf of an incapable patient or another family member/caretaker) will present it to the paramedic/firefighter directly,\" wrote a spokesperson for the ministry.\n\nKonrad Fassbender of Covenant Health Palliative Institute says the patchwork approach to advance-care planning makes it difficult for patients and doctors. 'It doesn't help the seriously ill patient, and it certainly doesn't help the family.' (CBC) There was no mention of posting the notice on a fridge.\n\nThe advice Azarbehi received from the ministry began to create her doubts.\n\nThe more she searched for details the less faith she had in the system. For example, she says she approached paramedics about the form and some didn't seem familiar with it. She also fears that those who do know what it is won't always have time to look for it.\n\nAzarbehi has posted a form on her wall between the front door and the entrance to the kitchen, but that display is useless when she leaves the house.\n\nAt one point, she made a habit of writing the form's serial number across her chest. These days she keeps a copy in a pouch she wears around her neck.\n\n\"I want somebody to pay attention \u2014 somebody to sit up and pay attention and say, 'This is serious. This is important,'\" she says.\n\nDiscussing and documenting preferences for resuscitation and other health-care decisions before being incapacitated by an emergency is called advance care planning. The issue is often associated with people who are elderly or dying, but advocates say all Canadians should be planning ahead.\n\nMax Jajszczok of Alberta Health Services says EMS crews are trained to look on patients' fridges for Green Sleeve of medical information that could include a do-not-resuscitate request. (CBC) CBC News looked into how each jurisdiction deals with DNR outside a hospital setting and found differing approaches across jurisdictions \u2014 and sometimes within them.\n\n\"When you have different processes across different provinces it makes it difficult,\" says Konrad Fassbender, scientific director for Covenant Health Palliative Institute, which cares for patients and engages in research. \"It doesn't help the seriously ill patient, and it certainly doesn't help the family understand how to communicate those preferences,\" he says.\n\nFassbender was an organizer of an international advance-care planning conference held this month in Banff, Alta. He says the movement of patients and doctors across jurisdictions is an example of why standardization is needed.\n\nPierre Poirier of the Paramedic Association of Canada agrees.\n\n\"I think overall we probably need a national strategy with respect to this topic of advanced directives or personal directives,\" he says. \"You could get one level of care or not care in one jurisdiction and get something completely different in another jurisdiction.\"\n\nWhile Azarbehi and Dr. Sivagurunathan assumed that the information on her form would be entered into a database or registry, that isn't the case in Ontario or most of the rest of the country.\n\nAccess to Quebec database is unclear\n\nQuebec is the only jurisdiction where residents can add CPR preferences to a database that health-care professionals can access, but those preferences are limited to \"common\" health scenarios. Quebec's registry, launched June 2016, contained 12,314 names as of June this year.\n\nFor example, the form allows you to consent to or refuse CPR ahead of time in the event you become an end-of-life patient with a serious and incurable condition. You can also consent to or refuse other treatments including assisted breathing and forced feeding.\n\nThe other scenarios covered are irreversible coma/permanent vegetative state and \"severe dementia, with no possibility of improvement.\" The kind of blanket order Azarbehi has requested wouldn't be part of the register.\n\nThere is also the issue of accessibility during an emergency. Whether paramedics have access to the database is unclear. Quebec's Health Ministry says they can access it, but the Corporation des Param\u00e9dics du Qu\u00e9bec says that isn't case.\n\nIf we have access to a database, it would be faster to get all the information we need to give care. \u2014 Quebec paramedics' president Patrick Dufresne\n\n\"The first [paramedic] is taking care of the patient \u2026 the other paramedic most of the time has to search around the house to find a list, find medicare cards, find the medical history and everything,\" says the paramedics' president Patrick Dufresne.\n\n\"If we have access to a database, it would be faster to get all the information we need to give care.\"\n\nKnowing where to find important documents isn't a concern only in Quebec. In 2014, Alberta launched a program to address this issue, using the Green Sleeve, a plastic folder that contains information about patient health-care wishes. Residents are told to put the sleeve on or near the fridge.\n\n\"Keeping the Green Sleeve in an area that they've been trained to know where to go and look for it is very important,\" says Max Jajszczok of Alberta Health Services.\n\nThe sleeve usually contains a Goals of Care Designation order, the primary document, which has seven designations. For example, selecting the M1 designation allows the patient the option of all medical and surgical interventions, excluding lifesaving resuscitation followed by ICU care. C2 directs all care efforts toward comfort while preparing for imminent death.\n\nNaming a decision-maker\n\nThe sleeve also contains a personal directive form, which allows a patient to name a decision-maker if they are incapacitated. They can also provide instructions for care.\n\nAlbertans can register information about personal directives such as the date they were created and contact information for a substitute, but the actual document is not kept on file. Hospitals can use the registry once a patient is admitted.\n\nSimilar refrigerator-based programs exist in other parts of the country like Manitoba, Yukon, and Saskatchewan. In some provinces like British Columbia, DNR Medic Alert bracelets are also an option.\n\n'They just made a mockery out of me'\n\nAzarbehi's journey, which started with grief, now includes fear that she would suffer as her mother-in-law did. The fear is turning into cynicism and anger.\n\n\"They just made a mockery out of me,\" she says of the Ontario government.\n\nAzarbehi doesn't know how her health will change, but she's done her best to make sure that whatever comes, her wishes are known. But there's no guarantee that will be enough.\n\n\"I'm just asking for dignity, respect in my last final moments,\" she says.\n\n\"I want to go in peace. Is that too much to ask?\""}
-{"text": "In California, 'Pay To Stay' Option Offers Upgraded City Jail Cells Alysia Santo of the Marshall Project talks about its joint investigation with the Los Angeles Times into \"pay to stay\" programs, where defendants can serve time in more comfortable jails for a fee."}
-{"text": "International Jazz Day: A short history of Jazz and essential listening\n\nPosted at 12:54h in Culture, Lifestyle, Music by vinyloftheday in Arts\n\nInternational Jazz Day: A short history of Jazz and essential listening\n\nIt\u2019s International Jazz Day! Formally celebrated on the 30th of April each year, it commemorates the culmination of Jazz Appreciation Month, with its core focus of drawing public attention to the art form and it\u2019s extraordinary heritage throughout the month of April. In it\u2019s diplomatic role of uniting people all over the globe, each year the event is recognized for promoting peace, dialogue among cultures, diversity, and respect for human rights and human dignity; eradicating discrimination; promoting freedom of expression; fostering gender equality; and reinforcing the role of youth in enacting social change.\n\nJazz has been around for multiples of decades, with its history traced back all the way to the 1920\u2019s. There are many styles of jazz, with the music mostly characterised by improvisations based on feel and not on written score, syncopations (offbeat accents) and swung rhythms. It\u2019s origins start with black music being exported over the the Americas through the African slave trade, later bring combined with the music of European settlers, producing styles such as Blues and Ragtime. But towards the end of the 19th century marching bands became popular in the States, and black musicians began to add their twist to jazz up the marches, with syncopated rhythms, bending notes and melody improvisation, the latter being the core definition of Jazz itself as an expression of freedom.\n\nTraditional jazz emerged in Storyville, New Orleans around the start of the 20th century. Other styles of Jazz started to spread out of its beginnings from the Deep South to the North all the way to cities like Kansas and New York, developing different jazz sounds such as the New Orleans Style (where instruments improvised alongside a main melody), Chicago Style (made famous by singer and trumpeteer Louis Armstrong), and Big Bands (Duke Ellington led one of the greatest bands in the 1930s/1940s). Be-bop and Cool Jazz later developed during the 1950s, with fast, complex and intricate harmonies, and crazy solo improvisations, lead by saxophonist Charlie Parker, who was also known as Bird. He worked closely with musicians such as pianist Thelonious Monk and trumpeteer Dizzy Gillespie. This was a exciting and golden period for Jazz, with people citing the style as \u201cJazz for intellectuals\u201d, not relying on big bands to play for dancing audiences but for those who cared to listen. It produced many greats such as the charming Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, and Chet Baker.\n\n\u201cIf you really understand the meaning of bebop, you understand the meaning of freedom.\u201d \u2013 Thelonious Monk\n\nThe 1950s to 1960s saw Bossa Nova, Afro-cuban or Latin Jazz emerge, uniting ragtime, blues, swing, various grooves of Cuban and Brazilian music roots, expressing shared musical heritage. People like Chano Pozo worked with Dizzy Gillespie to create Cubop, and the prolific composer Antonio Carlos Jobim helped define its characteristics, sophisticated harmonies, lyrical melodies, subtle rhythms and well defined structures. The John Coltrane Quartet was probably the most influential group in the 1960s as well, in an era that saw a lot of experimental attempts to broaden the scope of the music,and established instrumental practices. This was the era of the \u201d Avante Garde\u201d and Quartel Harmony.\n\nThe 1970s saw Jazz Rock emerge, and popularised Jazz to an unprecedented degree. Groups such as Weather Report and Return to Forever defined this era, and heavily used instruments such as synthesisers and other electronics. Modern day music can be seen as a distillation and also renewal of all forementioned styles, giving influence to genres such as funk, disco, rock, soul and hip-hop. Hip-hop lyrics always embraced dark situations and themes, being extremely matter-of-fact -freestyle rap, in which the performer improvises lyrics, parallels improvised instrumental solos in both jazz and the blues. Bands and musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Cream, Earth, Wind and Fire are all bi-products of Jazz, with current artistes such as Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus, Kamasi Washington and labels such as Brainfeeder quoted as, \u201cbringing Jazz back\u201d.\n\nMusic is always evolving, but it can be said that Jazz is a major starting point for most incredible musicians in almost every field of music. It\u2019s changing nature makes it fluid for adaptability wherever it is exported to, and with it being the greatest music import from America to the world. The flexibility of reworking it, messing it up, bringing it back and then making it sound completely different all over again is the real magic of Jazz, and it\u2019s influence affects an endless list of musicians that goes on ad infinitum until present day.\n\nCheck out these albums for more essential classics:\n\nInterested to get jazz records? Download #vinyloftheday marketplace app to start sharing, discover great music or even start buying vinyl records & selling vinyl records via http://cratedig.us/app"}
-{"text": "by\n\nIn December 2014 the discussion of \u201cpolice\u201d began to look at the roots of the institution. Peter Gelderloos concluded a three part study in CounterPunch flatly stating, \u201cThe police are a racist, authoritarian institution that exists to protect the powerful in an unequal system.\u201d[1] Sam Mitrani, a scholar of the Chicago police, concluded similarly, \u201cThe police were not created to protect and serve the population. They were not created to stop crime, at least not as most people understand it.\u201d [2] Yet a physician in Ann Arbor, Catherine Wilkerson, caused a local stir when she stated \u201cthat neither racism nor racist police violence can be abolished under this economic system, i.e. under capitalism\u201d.\n\nOn 21 January 2015 Ta-Nehisi Coates in a speech in Ann Arbor argued persuasively that plunder is the leading social activity at the base of racist violence beginning with slavery days and continuing to now. Capitalism is such a social activity! It is relatively new in human history. It depends on the exploitation of those who don\u2019t own the means of subsistence and production by those who do. It creates racist oppression in order to divide the exploited so that the Few may rule the Many.\n\nTwo sources of knowledge are especially pertinent. The first is the report called Lynching in America issued last week by the Equal Justice Initiative. It describes 3,959 lynchings in the American South between 1877 and 1950. The second is Stolen Lives which documents more than 2,000 people killed by law enforcement in the decade of the 1990s.[3] If we add the data of capital punishment to these data we can begin to understand that the resulting murderous pattern of terror is the punishment of capital.\n\nInvestigation into the history of police soon finds it to be inseparable from conquest, slavery, debt, industrial discipline, and social hierarchies. Armed settlers, \u201cpioneers,\u201d militia, army units, slave patrollers, Texas rangers, posse comitatus, slave catchers, factory guards, troopers, private security forces, vigilante groups, MPs, lynch mobs, Ford\u2019s \u201cservice department,\u201d death squads, night riders, and the KKK have all served police functions.\n\nIt may help to define police as armed, uniformed, salaried agents of government, part of the civil service, but it was not thus clear at the\n\nbeginning.\n\nEtymologically the word is related to \u201cpolicy\u201d and to the Greek polis, or city. \u201cPolice\u201d was a new word in English gaining usage in the 18th century at the time of the sugar plantation, textile factories, racism, and mechanization. The thing itself was integral to city forces of merchant, manufacturer, banker, shipper, factor, and insurer, as well as to planter and landlord. It developed on the one hand in opposition to parochial forces of the civil power \u2013 the constables and the watch \u2013 and on the other hand it developed separately from the military \u2013 the army and navy.\n\nAs for capitalism let us go back to Adam Smith\u2019s The Wealth of Nations of 1776, because it connected the actual details of the labor process (exploitation) to the world market of commodities (globalization). He said \u201ccivil government, so far as it is instituted for the sanctity of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor.\u201d His student, Adam Ferguson, said plainly \u201cwealth comes from inequality.\u201d The \u201cpoor\u201d created wealth, i.e. worked, labored.\n\nThese ideas first appeared as \u201cpolice\u201d as reported in Adam Smith\u2019s Lectures on Police (c.1763) delivered in Glasgow, a new hub in the Atlantic economy for banking and commerce of tobacco plantations. He defined police as \u201ccleanliness, security, cheapness and plenty.\u201d At first, then, \u201cpolice\u201d encompassed health, commodity, market, privatization, labor, and force. Already policy makers and profiteers were studying the intricate political relationship between low wages and high food prices. Although political economy and police violence were soon to separate as different limbs within the ruler\u2019s body politics, they never lost their actual association with its heart. The goal was to make people work longer and harder.\n\nAdam Smith\u2019s contemporary wrote An Essay on Trade and Commerce (1770). \u201cA multitude of people being drawn together in a small territory will raise the price of provisions; but, at the same time, if the police be good, it must keep down the price of labor.\u201d The poor house must become \u201ca house of terror.\u201d The workers are \u201ca many-headed monster which every one should oppose.\u201d To establish the six-day working week, \u201ca good police must be established.\u201d\n\nDivisions within this class were formalized by wage, geographic, gender, and racial differences, producing apparently permanent segments of that class of people without much of anything to call their own. So it comes as no surprise to learn that parallel to these \u201ceconomic\u201d developments was the development of racism. Carl Linneas, the Swedish biologist and deviser of binomial nomenclature in his Systema naturae (1758) created the term homo sapiens in a hierarchy of skin color. With spurious pretensions to science he identified four \u201craces\u201d describing white people as gentle, acute, quick, and governed by fixed laws and describing black people as crafty, indolent, careless, and capricious. These are not biological attributes but ones concerning obedience of interest to HR, bosses, foremen, overseers, in short, slavers!\n\nGlobal commodity production entailed the enclosure of the commons, the fractionation of human beings, and the enslavement of women, children, and men, The social formation of Atlantic capitalism consisted of massive labor camps in America and the \u201cSatanic mills\u201d or factories of Britain. The international political order had to change and did so creating new entities of power, the U.S.A. (1789) and the U.K. (1801).\n\nPlantation (sugar, cotton) met factory (textiles) at the port (London, Liverpool). The proletarian woman, the slave, the factory hand, the urban artisan, and the maritime worker, sailors, dockers. The port was where the first police were introduced. A new era of history commenced. If you call it \u201cindustrialization,\u201d or \u201cmodernization,\u201d or even the \u201canthropocene\u201d you are in danger of overlooking the demons at the center of it, Moloch and Mammon.\n\nBy the time of the Haitian slave revolt (1791) which brought the sugar system into crisis and at the time of the invention of the cotton \u2018gin (1793) which brought the cotton system into expansion, the \u201cpushing-system\u201d began the transition of the most dynamic world commodity from sugar to cotton. Edward Baptist in the latest historical study of slavery and capitalism notes that the increased productivity of \u201cthe pushing system\u201d depended on a decisive technology, \u201cthe whipping machine.\u201d[4] The whip intensified labor to the limit of human endurance. It accompanied the expansion of slavery to new territories and the expansion of the internal slave trade from the Chesapeake to the Mississippi.\n\nEconomically speaking sugar began in the realm of production (slave plantation) and in Europe entered the realm of consumption (the tea cup, the rum bottle). In contrast, cotton began in the slave labor camp or plantation like sugar, but unlike sugar it became a means of exploitation on the other side of the Atlantic. Private property may belong to an individual for consumption, or it may be used as capital as an input of production. Police protect and serve the owners of these forms of property.\n\nCapital exists in three modes or forms, as money (bank), as production (factory, plantation), as commodity (commerce, inventory). Capital as commodity sits in dockside warehouses. Capital as money sits in banks, insurance offices, and other counting houses. Capital as production will be in the field, the factory, and the ship. Thus the plantation, the docks, and the factory became three sites of a single economic system on either side of the Atlantic.\n\nGlasgow (Scotland) was the city of Patrick Colquhoun (1745-1821). As a youth between 1760 and 1766 he lived on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. He was a planner of the trans-Atlantic cotton economy compiling stats of the workers, wages, factories, and imports in order to assist the prime minister and cabinet of England maximize profits from the cycle of capital in England, India, America, Ireland, Africa. That work was interrupted by the revolutions in France and Haiti.\n\nIn the 1790s he criminalized custom. [5] He led the hanging of those committing money crimes. He led the apprehension of those in textile labor who re-cycled waste products to their own use. He organized political surveillance by spies and snitches of those opposing slavery. In addition to his Virginia cotton interests he owned shares in Jamaican sugar plantations. Financed by West India merchants and planters in 1798 Colquhoun established the Police Office. In 1800 Parliament passes the Marine Police Bill expanding and making official the police as a centralized, armed, and uniformed cadre of the state. His treatises on police inspired the foundation of police in Dublin (Ireland), Sydney (Australia), and New York (USA).\n\nTo summarize, then, in two points. First, at the time of the independence of America (1776) \u201cpolice\u201d (intellectually, theoretically, and politically) meant the social and economic relations between the rich and the poor in the governance and planning of world-wide empire. Second, at the time of the creation of the U.S.A. (1787-1791) the actual institution of police simultaneously criminalized the urban commons and efficiently linked plantation and factory, the U.S.A. and the U.K., into a temporary Atlantic system, call it capitalism.\n\nFinally, there is no \u2018moving forward\u2019 without reckoning with this past. If it took more than a century (a blink in history\u2019s eye) to produce this unsustainable amalgam of production and police, work and violence, wealth and terror, we must expect that our efforts to eliminate effectively the one must be accompanied by the restoration or reparation of the other. There is no reason, historically-speaking, why this can\u2019t be done in a hurry. The ideal of justice is indefeasible and undivided; it is a unity and does not wait.\n\nPeter Linebaugh teaches history at the University of Toledo. His books included: The London Hanged,(with Marcus Rediker) The Many-Headed Hydra: the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic and Magna Carta Manifesto. His essay on the history of May Day is included in Serpents in the Garden. His latest book is Stop Thief! The Commons, Enclosures and Resistance. He can be reached at:plineba@yahoo.com\n\nNotes.\n\n[1] \u201cLearning from Ferguson: A World Without Police,\u201d CounterPunch, 29 Dec. 2014.\n\n[2] Sam Mitrani, \u201cThe Police Were Created to Control Poor and Working Class People,\u201d CounterPunch, 31 Dec. 2014. See his book, The Rise of the Chicago Police Department: Class and Conflict, 1850-1894 (University of Illinois Press).\n\n[3] Equal Justice Initiative, Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror (Mongomery, Alabama, 2015), and Stolen Lives Project, Stolen Lives Killed by Law Enforcement (New York, 1999)\n\n[4] The Half has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism (New York: Basic Books, 2014)\n\n[5] Patrick Colquhoun, A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis (1796) and A Treatise on the Commerce and Police of the River Thames (1798)"}
-{"text": "A new treatment is showing promise for people infected with HPV, the human papillomavirus. Until now, nothing was available to clear the infection from the body. Now, researchers say they're seeing success in phase two trials of a new vaccine that helps the body rid itself of the virus.\n\nCancer was the last thing on Sandy Lalonde's mind in her early 30s. However, months of irregular periods convinced her to see her doctor for testing.\n\n\"She said, 'We have bad news. Your high-risk HPV test came back positive and we're pretty sure you have cervical cancer,'\" Lalonde said.\n\nThe cancer was stage 2-A and had spread. Lalonde needed eight rounds of chemo and 25 rounds of external radiation to treat it. Dr. Diane Harper is studying a new therapy that she hopes will wipe out cervical cancer by eliminating the HPV virus that can cause it.\n\n\"Unlike chlamydia or gonorrhea, where you can take an antibiotic and get cured, we don't have anything that will get rid of HPV,\" Harper said.\n\nResearchers enrolled 200 women with precancerous cervical lesions and gave them three injections one week apart. The therapy was a protein that triggered an immune response.\n\n\"It activates the immune system to go in and find the cells that are infected with HPV, or the cells that have started to change because of HPV, and attack them,\" Harper said.\n\nAt the end of six months, between 25% and 33% of the participants were cleared of lesions and HPV.\n\n\"The ability to clear the body of HPV is amazing, because just because they don't have cancer from it doesn't mean they don't have a whole host of other complications,\" Harper said.\n\nHarper noted it's important to know that the vaccine researchers are testing is different from Gardasil, the vaccine given to preteens to prevent HPV.\n\nThe vaccine that is being tested clears tissue that already have HPV.\n\nAdditional trials are needed before this new vaccine could be considered by the Food and Drug Administration for approval.\n\nHPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection. It is usually harmless and goes away by itself, but some types can lead to cancer or genital warts.\n\nThere's no cure for HPV, but there's a lot you can do to keep HPV from having a negative impact on your health. There are vaccines that can help protect you from ever getting certain types of HPV. Genital warts can be removed by your nurse or doctor. High-risk HPV can usually be easily treated before it turns into cancer, which is why regular Pap/HPV tests are so important.\n\nWhile condoms and dental dams don't offer complete protection, they can help lower your chances of getting HPV.\n\nHigh-risk HPV is more likely to cause cancer. For most people, the immune system is able to get rid of this type of infection. But some people develop a lasting infection. Over many years, the infection transforms normal cells into precancerous lesions or cancer. HPV infection causes nearly all cervical cancers. Of the cervical cancers related to HPV, about 70% are caused by 2 types: HPV-16 or HPV-18. Smoking may increase the risk of cervical cancer for women who have HPV. Although almost all cervical cancers are caused by HPV, it is important to remember that most genital HPV infections will not cause cancer. Next is oral cancer. HPV can cause cancer of the mouth and tongue. It can also cause cancer of the oropharynx. This is the middle part of the throat, from the tonsils to the tip of the voice box. These HPV-related cancers are increasing in men and women. Changes in sexual behavior, including an increase in oral sex, may be contributing to the increase. Also, HPV is associated with less common cancers, including anal cancer, vulvar and vaginal cancers in women, and penile cancer in men.\n\nNew research\n\nDr. Diane Harper, MPH, MS, senior associate director, MICHR, and professor of family medicine and obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Michigan, talked about next steps for the new therapy: \"The next steps for this is to figure out do we want to tweak the molecule to see if we can get a higher coverage rate? Or do we combine this with something else to be able to get a better cure, or potentially, such as in head and neck cancer, can we combine this with a chemotherapeutic agent in people who already have cancer to help their cure rates become even better.\""}
-{"text": "\u201cIf the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) says we need a system of quarantine or anything like that, then we should put that in place,\u201d he said. \"But it is important to listen to the medical experts and then make the decision.\""}
-{"text": "A federal district judge in Texas struck down the Affordable Care Act as unconstitutional Friday. The lawsuit was brought by Republican officials from 20 states, who want their residents to have more insurance choices and lower premiums.\n\nThough the suing states won in Texas v. Azar, their victory won\u2019t help consumers reeling from ObamaCare sticker-shock anytime soon. ObamaCare will stay on the books while the decision is appealed, which could take more than a year. The outcome is uncertain.\n\nFortunately, President Trump is using his regulatory power to accomplish precisely what these states want: relief from ObamaCare\u2019s rigid regulations.\n\nOne of Trump\u2019s most helpful moves is to allow the sale of \u201cshort-term plans,\u201d renewable for up to three years, in any state that permits them. These plans cost 80 percent less than ObamaCare plans, on average, according to ehealthinsurance.com.\n\nShort-term plans omit maternity coverage and don\u2019t cover pre-existing conditions. They\u2019re not for everyone, but for many middle-class buyers, they\u2019re a good deal.\n\nIn Tampa, Fla., a short-term plan for a family of three costs $1,169 a year, less than one-tenth the $12,071 sticker price of an ObamaCare plan.\n\nThe outrage is that people who live in New York, New Jersey, California and other states dominated by Democrats can\u2019t take advantage of these deals. Blue states are doubling down on ObamaCare, refusing to allow consumers other choices.\n\nWelcome to the Democrats\u2019 health care prison.\n\nGov. Andrew Cuomo even wants the New York Legislature to copy all of ObamaCare\u2019s federal regulations into state law. Yikes \u2014 those regulations have caused premiums to more than double in five years.\n\nIn Congress, Democrats are pushing a bill to outlaw short-term plans everywhere. They\u2019ve titled it the \u201cUndo Sabotage\u201d bill. As if allowing an exit ramp off ObamaCare is sabotage. Dems would rather prop up the Affordable Care Act than ease the pain of middle-class consumers.\n\nLast week, former President Barack Obama made a video to coax people to buy his signature health plans, promising that for most of them, the plans wouldn\u2019t cost more than a cellphone bill.\n\nBut that\u2019s only true for low-income buyers getting taxpayer-funded subsidies. Single adults earning more than $48,560 are considered middle class, and they\u2019re on their own.\n\nObama wasn\u2019t talking to them. Some 4 million ObamaCare customers who paid full freight have dropped their coverage. They can\u2019t afford the soaring premiums. The middle class are becoming the new uninsured in this country.\n\nWhat\u2019s to blame for the huge premiums? According to McKinsey consultants, it\u2019s because ObamaCare forces healthy buyers in the individual market to pay the same as people with serious illnesses.\n\nBut 5 percent of the population uses nearly 50 percent of the health care. To make everyone pay the same is sheer extortion.\n\nDemocrats and Republicans agree that people with pre-existing conditions must be protected. But the lie perpetuated by the Democrats is that ObamaCare is the only way to do it. In truth, it\u2019s just the least fair way.\n\nThe Trump administration is \u00adencouraging states to do it in a fairer way, by departing from ObamaCare rules and allowing insurers to charge healthy buyers less than sick ones.\n\nThat doesn\u2019t mean people with pre-existing conditions are abandoned. The cost of their care is paid for out of general state revenues, spreading the burden widely instead of skewering buyers in the individual insurance market. Alaska, one of the first states to try it, was able to lower ObamaCare premiums by double digits in 2018.\n\nWhen the Texas v. Azar decision was announced on Friday, Obama called it \u201cscary,\u201d warning that it \u201cputs people\u2019s pre-existing-conditions coverage at risk.\u201d That\u2019s the same demagoguery Democrats used in the midterm elections.\n\nDon\u2019t fall for it.\n\nWith help from the Trump administration, some states are forging better ways to make health insurance fair to the sick and affordable for the middle class. Regardless of the fate of ObamaCare.\n\nBetsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York."}
-{"text": "A new survey of North Carolina voters shows President Donald Trump is particularly popular in the state, beating out every Democrat he was polled against in head-to-head match-ups in the 2020 presidential election\u2013a strong sign for the president as he wades deeper into 2019 with a re-election campaign looming next year.\n\nNORTH CAROLINA\n\n2020 GE:\n\nTrump 43% (+4)\n\nBiden 39%\n\n.\n\nTrump 44% (+8)\n\nBooker 36%\n\n.\n\nTrump 45% (+11)\n\nHarris 34%\n\n.\n\nTrump 46% (+12)\n\nSanders 34%@HarperPolling/@NCCivitas 2/11-13https://t.co/D594ltFd9X \u2014 Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) February 21, 2019\n\nThe Civitas poll of 500 likely voters in North Carolina with a margin of error of 4.38 percent shows Trump beating four different leading Democrat contenders. Trump leads former Vice President Joe Biden 43 percent to 39 percent, a four percent lead, but has bigger leads over Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kamala Harris (D-CA), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), an independent self-described socialist who caucuses with Democrats and has announced he is seeking the Democrat nomination for president in 2020. The survey was conducted from Feb. 11 to Feb. 13, and was released on Wednesday.\n\nBoth Booker and Harris are officially in the race, and Sanders joined them this week. Biden has yet to make a decision. Trump\u2019s North Carolina lead over Booker in this poll is by eight percent, with Trump at 44 percent and Booker down at 36 percent, while Trump\u2019s lead over Harris is by 11 percent with Trump at 45 percent and Harris at 34 percent. Over Sanders, Trump leads by 12 percent in North Carolina\u2013with the president at 46 percent and Sanders at 34 percent.\n\n\u201cNational Democrats are on the cusp of the grueling journey to pick their party frontrunner. This is a journey that Republicans can likely empathize with, as they found themselves in a similar situation in 2016,\u201d Civitas President Donald Bryson said in a release announcing the poll results. \u201cRight now, President Trump is likely benefitting from a higher name ID, while at the same time, voters tend to be shy of supporting candidates they view as undefined.\u201d\n\nThe Republican National Convention in 2020 is going to be in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Trump will all but certainly be re-nominated as the GOP nominee for president as he seeks re-election to a second term in the White House. North Carolina\u2019s 15 electoral votes, just as critical to Trump\u2019s path to re-election as they were for his 2016 win over Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, are in the mix and up for grabs, as whoever wins the Democrat nomination is likely to push to try to flip the state back to the Democrats.\n\nDemocrats have not won North Carolina since the 2008 presidential election, when now former President Barack Obama defeated GOP nominee then-Sen. John McCain\u2013who has since passed away\u2013in the Tar Heel State. In 2012, GOP nominee and now Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT)\u2013the former governor of Massachusetts who later moved to Utah to run for Senate in 2018\u2013beat Obama there, but lost the general election. Trump defeated Clinton in North Carolina in 2016.\n\n\u201cNorth Carolina won\u2019t be a cakewalk for any party or candidate, and campaigns are going to have to find new messages or methods to sway moderate voters and soft partisans,\u201d Bryson of Civitas added."}
-{"text": "ANYONE WHO PAYS ATTENTION to the state of the planet realizes that all natural systems on which human life depends are deteriorating, and they are doing so largely because of human actions. By natural systems I mean the topsoil, forests, grasslands, wetlands, rivers, lakes, oceans, atmosphere, the host of other species, and the cycles that bind them together into a living whole. By human life I mean not merely the survival of our species, but the quality of our existence, the prospects for adequate food, shelter, work, education, health care, conviviality, intellectual endeavor, and spiritual growth for our kind far into the future.\n\nSo the crucial question is, why? Why are those of us in the richest countries acting in such a way as to undermine the conditions on which our own lives, the lives of other species, and the lives of future generations depend? And why are we so intent on coaxing or coercing the poorer countries to follow our example? There are many possible answers, of course, from human shortsightedness to selfish genes to otherworldly religions to consumerism to global corporations. I would like to focus on a different one \u2014 our confusion of financial wealth with real wealth.\n\nTo grasp the impact of that confusion, think of someone you love. Then recall that if you were to reduce a human body to its elements \u2014 oxygen, carbon, phosphorus, copper, sulfur, potassium, magnesium, iodine, and so on \u2014 you would end up with a few dollars\u2019 worth of raw materials. But even with inflation, and allowing for the obesity epidemic, this person you cherish still would not fetch as much as ten dollars on the commodities market. A child would fetch less, roughly in proportion to body weight.\n\nSuch calculations seem absurd, of course, because none of us would consider dismantling a human being for any amount of money, least of all someone we love. Nor would we entertain the milder suggestion of lopping off someone\u2019s arm or leg and putting it up for sale, even if the limb belonged to our worst enemy. Our objection would not be overcome by the assurance that the person still has another arm, another leg, and seems to be getting along just fine. We\u2019d be likely to say that it\u2019s not acceptable under any circumstances to treat a person as a commodity, worth so much per pound.\n\nAnd yet this is how our economy treats every portion of the natural world \u2014 as a commodity for sale, subject to damage or destruction if enough money can be made from the transaction. Nothing in nature has been spared \u2014 not forests, grasslands, wetlands, mountains, rivers, oceans, atmosphere, nor any of the creatures that dwell therein. Nor have human beings been spared. Through its routine practices, this economy subjects people to shoddy products, unsafe working conditions, medical scams, poisoned air and water, propaganda dressed up as journalism, and countless other assaults, all in pursuit of profits.\n\nWhen tobacco or pharmaceutical companies suppress research that shows their products are killing people, they may not single out particular human beings for execution, yet they deliberately sentence a large number of strangers to premature death. Likewise, when banks launder drug money, when the insurance industry opposes public health care, when the auto industry lobbies against higher fuel-efficiency standards, when arms manufacturers fight any restraint on the trade in guns, when agribusiness opposes limits on the spraying of poisons, when electric utilities evade regulations that would clean up smoke from power plants, when chambers of commerce lobby against efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they are just as surely condemning vast numbers of people to illness, injury, and death.\n\nTHE ECONOMIST MILTON FRIEDMAN stated flatly that \u201cThere is one and only one social responsibility of business \u2014 to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.\u201d The second half of Friedman\u2019s sentence would place a curb on the first half only in a universe where enterprises motivated entirely by greed never engaged in deception or fraud. This may have seemed like a possibility in the rarefied atmosphere of the Chicago School of Economics, where Friedman held sway and helped to shape the free-market ideology that has dominated American society in recent decades. But in the world where the rest of us live, deception and fraud have been commonplace among corporate giants, from Enron to Exxon, from United Fruit to Union Carbide. Consider a short list of recent malefactors: Halliburton, Philip Morris, WorldCom, Wachovia, Arthur Andersen, Adelphia, Blackwater, Monsanto, Massey Energy, Tyco, HealthSouth, Wal-Mart, Global Crossing, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Countrywide Financial, AIG, and BP. These companies, and legions of others, have cooked the account books, misrepresented their financial condition with end-of-quarter window dressing, abused their employees, cheated their investors, sold lethal products, violated safety regulations, lied, bribed, swindled, or otherwise refused to stay within \u201cthe rules of the game.\u201d\n\nIn our country, when the rules become a nuisance or do not sufficiently favor their interests, big companies purchase enough support in the White House or Congress or regulatory agencies to have the rules revised or abolished. Examples of this abuse could be cited from all industries, but none are more egregious than those in finance. Until the mid-1980s, the U.S. financial sector never accounted for more than 16 percent of all corporate profits, but over the past decade it has averaged more than 41 percent, and it has done so while contributing only modestly to social needs, chiefly through local banks and credit unions, and while doing a great deal of harm, chiefly through the creation and trade of financial paper. Most of the economic advisors for President Obama, as for President Bush, have come straight from Wall Street, and, not surprisingly, they have shaped government policy to benefit the biggest Wall Street firms and the richest investors. The global economic meltdown was largely a result of such rigging of the system, which freed commercial and investment banks, trading companies, and rating agencies to gamble recklessly with other people\u2019s money.\n\nIn spite of the worldwide suffering caused by this casino capitalism, the financial reform bill passed by Congress in the summer of 2010 does little to rein it in. The managers of hedge funds, for example, have kept their operations essentially free of oversight, while preserving the loophole that treats their earnings as capital gains, taxed at 15 percent, rather than as regular income, which would be taxed in the top bracket at 35 percent. In 2009, when the CEOs of the twenty-five largest American hedge funds split over $26 billion, this cozy arrangement cost the Treasury, and therefore the rest of us, several billion dollars in lost tax revenue. When President Obama urged Congress to close this tax loophole, the billionaire chairman of one hedge fund responded by comparing such a move with the Nazi invasion of Poland.\n\nNow, why would a billionaire want more money, and why have some billionaires sought to increase their fortunes by purchasing television networks and newspapers, funding think tanks, hiring armies of lobbyists and propagandists, and setting up phony front groups, all to spread the gospel of no-holds-barred capitalism? You might say that such behavior is natural, because everybody wants more money. But consider: Suppose you keep a billion dollars under your mattress, where it will earn no income, and you set out to spend it; in order to burn through it all within an adult lifetime of, say, fifty years, you would have to spend $1.7 million per month, or $55,000 per day. If you took your billion dollars out from under the mattress and invested it in long-term U.S. Treasury bonds at current rates, you could spend $40 million per year, or $110,000 per day, forever, without touching your capital. It so happens that $110,000 is a bit more than twice the median household income in the United States. If you do the math, you will find that the twenty-five hedge fund managers who pulled in $26 billion last year claimed an income equivalent to roughly 500,000 households, or some 2 million people.\n\nWhat are Rupert Murdoch, David and Charles Koch, Adolph Coors, Richard Mellon Scaife, and other billionaire advocates of unbridled capitalism after? They certainly are not worrying about sending their kids to college or paying their medical bills. Then what are they seeking? A psychiatrist might be better qualified to answer the question, but let me offer an amateur\u2019s hunch, which arises from six decades of watching our legislatures, regulatory agencies, judiciary, public lands, mass media, and schools come under the influence, and often under the total control, of the richest Americans. What the free-enterprise billionaires are greedy for is not money but power, and not merely the power to take care of themselves and their families, which would be reasonable, but the power to have anything they want and do anything they want without limit, which is decidedly unreasonable. Anyone who has shared a house with a two-year-old or a fifteen-year-old has witnessed such a craving to fulfill every desire and throw off every constraint. Most children grow beyond this hankering for omnipotence. Those who carry the craving into adulthood may become sociopaths \u2014 incapable of sensing or caring for the needs of other people, indifferent to the harm they cause, reacting aggressively toward anyone or anything that blocks their will.\n\nI\u2019m not saying that all billionaires, or megamillionaires, are sociopaths. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett clearly aren\u2019t, for example, for they are using their fortunes to serve the public good, including funding programs for those who dwell at the other end of the money spectrum. In June of 2010, Gates and Buffett invited the richest individuals and families in America to sign a pledge to donate the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes. As of this writing, fifty-seven have accepted the invitation, including Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York; Mark Zuckerberg, cofounder of Facebook; Paul Allen, cofounder of Microsoft; and Ted Turner, founder of CNN. Perhaps they have signed the pledge out of pure altruism. But I would like to believe they also understand that they themselves did not create their financial wealth, however skillful and hardworking they may be; they amassed their money by drawing on the efforts of countless people, living and dead; by drawing on public resources, such as schools and courts; by reaping the benefits of madcap bidding on the stock market; and by drawing on the natural resources of the planet. I would like to believe that, having derived their riches from the commons, they feel obliged to return a substantial portion of those riches for the benefit of the commons.\n\nWhatever their motives, the signers of the Giving Pledge are following the example of Andrew Carnegie. Although he acquired his fortune by methods as ruthless as any employed by buccaneer capitalists today, having made his money, Carnegie gave it all away, except for a modest amount left to his family. We associate his name especially with the more than twenty-five hundred libraries he endowed, but he also funded many other public goods, including a university, a museum, and a foundation for promoting not free enterprise, but education and world peace. In an essay published in 1889 called \u201cThe Gospel of Wealth,\u201d he argued that the concentration of great fortunes in the hands of a few was an inevitable result of capitalism, but also a dangerous one, because the resulting disparity between the haves and have-nots would cause social unrest. And so, he insisted, these great fortunes should be restored to society, either through philanthropy or through taxation.\n\nIn view of the current efforts, backed by many of the richest Americans, to abolish the estate tax, it is striking to read Carnegie\u2019s view of the matter:\n\nThe growing disposition to tax more and more heavily large estates left at death is a cheering indication of the growth of a salutary change in public opinion.\u2026 Of all forms of taxation, this seems the wisest. Men who continue hoarding great sums all their lives, the proper use of which for public ends would work good to the community, should be made to feel that the community, in the form of the state, cannot thus be deprived of its proper share. By taxing estates heavily at death, the state marks its condemnation of the selfish millionaire\u2019s unworthy life.\n\nThat is not a passage you are likely to find cited by the Cato Institute, Free Enterprise Fund, Heritage Foundation, Club for Growth, or any of the other strident opponents of the federal estate tax, a tax that under current regulations affects only the richest 1 percent of Americans \u2014 the very citizens, by coincidence, who fund the Cato Institute, etc., etc.\n\nNow let us return to pondering the richest of our fellow citizens who show no inclination to share their wealth, but rather seem intent on growing richer by hook or crook, regardless of the consequences for our democracy, the environment, or future generations. Unlike Andrew Carnegie, unlike Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, these individuals use their wealth only to increase their power, and use their power only to guard and increase their wealth, and so on, in an upward spiral toward infinity. Their success in this endeavor can be measured by the fact that the top 1 percent of earners now receives 24 percent of all income in the United States, the highest proportion since the eve of the Great Depression in 1929.\n\nGiant corporations operate in a similar way, using their wealth to increase their power over markets and governments, and using their power to increase their wealth. When I say giant, I am not referring to retailers, banks, factories, or other firms that operate on a modest scale and in one or a few locations. I am referring to the behemoths of business. Of the one hundred largest economies in the world, more than half are multinational corporations. Exxon alone surpasses in revenues the economies of 180 nations. These gigantic empires, spanning the globe, answer to no electorate, move jobs and money about at will, keep much of their operations secret, and oppose any regulation that might cut into their profits. Thus, over the past several decades, Exxon has used its enormous might to oppose higher fuel-efficiency standards, to resist safety regulations that might have prevented the catastrophic oil spill in Prince William Sound, to push for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and to thwart legislation aimed at controlling carbon emissions. In doing so, the managers of Exxon have simply obeyed the logic of capitalism, which is to maximize profIts regardless of social and environmental costs. Through trade organizations such as the American Petroleum Institute and numerous front groups, Exxon, Shell, BP, and other energy titans have spent millions of dollars trying to persuade the public that the climate isn\u2019t shifting dangerously, or if it is shifting then humans play no part in the change, or if humans do play a part then nothing can be done about it without stifling the economy.\n\n\u201cSaving the economy\u201d is the slogan used to defend every sort of injustice and negligence, from defeating health-care legislation to ignoring the Clean Water Act to shunning the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. But should we save an economy in which the finance industry claims over 40 percent of all corporate profits and a single hedge fund manager claims an income equivalent to that of twenty thousand households? Should we save an economy in which the top 1 percent of earners rake in a quarter of all income? Should we embrace an economy in which one in ten households faces foreclosure, 44 million people live in poverty, and 51 million lack health insurance, an economy in which the unemployment rate for African Americans is above 17 percent and for all workers is nearly 10 percent? Should we defend an economy that even in a recession generates a GDP over $14 trillion, a quarter of the world\u2019s total, and yet is supposedly unable to afford to reduce its carbon emissions? Should we serve an economy that represents less than 5 percent of Earth\u2019s population and yet accounts for nearly half of world military spending? A reasonable person might conclude that such an economy is fatally flawed, and that the flaws will not be repaired by those who profit from them the most.\n\nTHE ACCUMULATION OF MONEY gives the richest individuals and corporations godlike power over the rest of us. Yet money itself has no intrinsic value; it is a medium of exchange, a token that we have tacitly agreed to recognize and swap for things that do possess intrinsic value, such as potatoes or poetry, salmon or surgery. Money is a symbolic tool, wholly dependent for its usefulness on an underlying social compact. It is paradoxical, therefore, that those who have benefited the most financially from the existence of this compact have been most aggressive in seeking to undermine it, by attacking unions, cooperatives, public education, independent media, social welfare programs, nonprofits that serve the poor, land-use planning, and every aspect of government that doesn\u2019t directly serve the rich. For the social compact to hold, ordinary people must feel that they are participating in a common enterprise that benefits everyone fairly, and not a pyramid scheme designed to benefit a few at the very top. While the superrich often pretend to oppose government as an imposition on their freedom, they are usually great fans of government contracts, crop subsidies, oil depletion allowances, and other forms of corporate welfare, and even greater fans of military spending.\n\nAmong those who have grasped the link between U.S. militarism and the cult of money was Martin Luther King Jr. In a speech entitled \u201cA Time to Break Silence,\u201d delivered a year to the day before he was assassinated, King went against the counsel of his friends and advisors by denouncing the Vietnam War. Like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, indeed like every U.S. military operation from the 1950s onward, the war in Vietnam was justified as an effort to promote freedom and democracy and to protect American security. What our military was actually protecting, King argued, were \u201cthe privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments.\u201d For saying so, he was denounced as a communist or socialist by newspapers and self-proclaimed patriots nationwide, just as President Obama has been denounced as a socialist for proposing national health care.\n\nThe slur is an old one, going back to the late nineteenth century when movements to organize unions or end child labor in factories or secure votes for women were decried as socialist by the robber barons and their henchmen in politics and journalism. Since the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the labels communist and socialist have been used interchangeably by the superrich to condemn any cooperative efforts by citizens to secure basic rights or to serve common needs. These twin labels have been used to vilify the income tax, the estate tax, unemployment insurance, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act, every major piece of environmental legislation, American participation in the UN, disarmament treaties, aid to the poor, humanitarian aid to other nations \u2014 any endeavor by government, in short, that might reduce the coffers or curb the power of those who sit atop the greatest heaps of capital.\n\nThat power is steadily increasing, as witness the Supreme Court\u2019s decision in early 2010, by a 5-4 vote, in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case, which holds that corporate funding of political broadcasts during elections cannot be limited. The majority based their argument on the twin claims, never mentioned in the Constitution, that corporations are entitled to be treated as persons under the law and that money is a form of speech, and therefore any constraint on spending by corporations to influence elections would be a denial of their right to free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment. The decision means that our electoral process, already corrupted by big money, will fall even more under the sway of corporations and their innocuous-sounding front groups, such as \u201cCitizens United.\u201d The nearly unanimous view among the nation\u2019s leading First Amendment scholars, voiced at a meeting in March of 2010, was that the case was wrongly decided. But the only five opinions that count are those of the judges in the majority, who were appointed to the Supreme Court by administrations that have benefited most handsomely from corporate financing.\n\nMONEY DERIVES ITS MEANING from society, not from those who own the largest piles of it. Recognizing this fact is the first move toward liberating ourselves from the thrall of concentrated capital. We need to desanctify money, reminding ourselves that it is not a god ordained to rule over us, nor is it a natural force like gravity, which operates beyond our control. It is a human invention, like baseball or Monopoly, governed by rules that are subject to change and viable only so long as we agree to play the game. We need to see and to declare that the money game as it is currently played in America produces a few big winners, who thereby acquire tyrannical power over the rest of us as great as that of any dictator or monarch; that they are using this power to skew the game more and more in their favor; and that the net result of this money game is to degrade the real sources of our well-being.\n\nIt is just as important that we shake off the spell of consumerism. In 1955, a retailing analyst named Victor Lebow bluntly described what an ever-expanding capitalism would require of us: \u201cOur enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption. The economy needs things consumed, burned, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever-increasing rate.\u201d And so it has come to pass. Americans, by and large, have made consumption a way of life, and a prime source, if not of spiritual satisfaction, then of compensation for whatever else might be missing from our lives, such as meaningful work, intact families, high-quality schools, honest government, safe streets, a healthy environment, a nation at peace, leisure time, neighborliness, community engagement, and other fast-disappearing or entirely vanished boons.\n\nAdvertisers maintain the consumerist illusion by appealing to our every impulse, from lust and envy to love of family and nature. The estimates for annual spending on advertising in the U.S. hover around $500 billion. This is roughly the amount we spend annually on public education. While taxpayers complain about the cost of schools, they do not protest the cost of advertising, which inflates the price of everything we purchase, and which aims at persuading us to view the buying of stuff as the pathway to happiness. A current ad for Coke, showing a frosty bottle, actually uses the slogan \u201cOpen Happiness.\u201d The promise is false, and all of us know it, yet we keep falling for the illusion. We can begin to free ourselves from that illusion by reducing our exposure to those media, such as commercial television and radio, that are primarily devoted to merchandising. We can laugh at advertising. We can distinguish between our needs, which are finite, and our wants, which are limitless. Beyond meeting our basic needs, money cannot give us any of the things that actually bring happiness \u2014 family, community, good health, good work, experience of art and nature, service to others, a sense of purpose, spiritual insight.\n\nWhen we do spend money, so far as possible we should put it in the hands of our neighbors \u2014 local merchants, professionals, growers, craft workers, artists, chefs, and makers of useful things \u2014 and we should put as little as possible in the coffers of distant corporations and plutocrats, who know and care nothing about our communities. We should encourage efforts to restore local economies through small-scale manufacturing, sustainable agriculture and forestry, distributed energy generation, credit unions, public-access television and radio, nonprofits, and cooperatives. We should experiment with local currencies, as a number of cities across the U.S. have done. When possible, we should barter goods and services, avoiding the use of money altogether.\n\nAs a nation, we need to quit using the flow of money as the chief measure of our well-being. The U.S. Gross Domestic Product is the dollar value of our nation\u2019s economic output in a given period, without regard to the purpose of that output. So the cost of cleaning up an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico adds to the GDP, as does an epidemic of cancer, a recall of salmonella-laced eggs, a bombing campaign in Afghanistan, lawsuits against Ponzi schemers, prison construction, and every other sort of ill. The GDP does not reflect work done at home without pay, volunteer work in the community, or mutual aid exchanged between neighbors. It counts junk food you buy on the highway but not food you grow in your backyard. It counts the child care you purchase but not the care you provide. If you lead a healthy life, you contribute little to the GDP through medical expenditures, but if you smoke, become addicted to drugs or alcohol, become dangerously obese, neglect your health in any way at all, you\u2019re sure to boost the GDP. War also swells the GDP, but peacemaking does not. We need to devise measures of well-being that take into account the actual quality of life in our society, from the rate of incarceration (currently the highest in the world) to the rate of infant mortality (currently thirty-third in the world), from the condition of our soils and rivers and air to the safety of our streets.\n\nOne need not be an economist \u2014 as I am not \u2014 to see that our economic system is profoundly unjust in its distribution of benefits and damage, that it relies on violence toward people and planet, and that it is eroding the foundations of democracy. What should we do? Not as any sort of expert, but as a citizen, I say we need to get big money out of politics by publicly financing elections and strictly regulating lobbyists. We need to preserve the estate tax, for its abolition would lead to rule by an aristocracy of inherited wealth, just the sort of tyranny we threw off in our revolt against Britain. We need to defend the natural and cultural goods we share, such as the oceans and the internet, from those who seek to exploit the common wealth for their sole profit. We need to stop private-sector companies from dictating research agendas in our public universities. We need legislation that strips corporations of the legal status of persons. We need to restore the original definition of a corporation as an association granted temporary privileges for the purpose of carrying out some socially useful task, with charters that must be reviewed and renewed periodically by state legislatures. We need to enforce the anti-trust laws, breaking up giant corporations into units small enough to be answerable to democratic control. We need to require that the public airwaves, now used mainly to sell the products of global corporations, serve public interests.\n\nTo recover our democracy, relieve human suffering, and protect our planet, we need to do a great many things that may seem unlikely or impossible. But they seem so only if we define ourselves as isolated consumers rather than citizens, if we surrender our will and imagination to the masters of money. Over the next few generations, we will either create a civilization that treats all of its members compassionately and treats Earth respectfully, or we will sink into barbarism. Whatever the odds, I say we should work toward that just and ecologically wise civilization, with all our powers."}
-{"text": "James Comey is a legend in his own mind. He expressed part of the legend to Donald Trump when, according to one his memos, he told the president on January 27, 2017:\n\nHe could count on me to always tell him the truth. I said I don\u2019t do sneaky things, I don\u2019t leak, I don\u2019t do weasel moves.\n\nYet, as Peter Berkowitz reminds us, after Trump fired him, Comey violated FBI policy by promptly leaking seven memos, including at least one that apparently contained classified information, he wrote concerning his conversations with the president. Comey later testified to Congress that he had hoped his leaks would trigger the appointment of a special counsel, as it did.\n\nApparently, Berkowitz fairly concludes, Comey did not tell the president the truth when he assured him he doesn\u2019t do sneaky things, he doesn\u2019t leak, and he doesn\u2019t do weasel moves.\n\nComey\u2019s new book is itself sneaky and dishonest. Peter has this to say about it:\n\n[W]hen an author who has ascended to the highest rungs of law enforcement and who purports to lead by example mangles basic facts, distorts legal issues, and omits essential information\u2014and all tending to burnish his self-image as a righteous man\u2014then one must conclude that his loyalty is not to the truth.\n\nPeter cites Comey\u2019s treatment of the Valerie Plame matter:\n\nIn December 2003, Deputy Attorney General Comey (Attorney General John Ashcroft recused himself) appointed Patrick Fitzgerald, his close friend and godfather to one of his children, to serve as special prosecutor to investigate the leak of Valerie Plame\u2019s CIA employment. Fitzgerald indicted no one for the leak. Rather, his work culminated in the 2007 conviction of Scooter Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney from 2001 to 2005, for obstruction of justice, making a false statement, and perjury. . . . Comey stresses in a Higher Loyalty that Libby\u2019s conviction was entirely justified. At the same time, Comey feels obliged to explain his decision to appoint a special prosecutor to take over the Plame leak investigation because it is now publicly known that by the time Comey appointed Fitzgerald in December 2003, the case, which did not involve a crime, had been solved. Accusations abounded that the Bush White House orchestrated the leak to punish Plame\u2019s husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, for alleging in a June New York Times op-ed that the president lied about Saddam Hussein\u2019s efforts to obtain uranium. But by early autumn 2003, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage had told the FBI that he had inadvertently disclosed Plame\u2019s employment to journalist Robert Novak, who reported in a July 14, 2003, Washington Post column that Wilson\u2019s wife was \u201can agency operative on weapons of mass destruction.\u201d Moreover, though Comey leaves it out, the CIA had quickly determined that national security was unaffected.\n\n(Emphasis added)\n\nHow, then, could the appointment of a special counsel, in this case Comey\u2019s close friend (who now represents him in connection with his legal difficulties) be justified?\n\nComey contends that appointment of a special prosecutor was nevertheless necessary to root out \u201clying in the justice system.\u201d But he spins a web of deception to justify his action. For example, Comey asserts that there was evidence that Libby \u201cspoke to numerous reporters about the CIA employee.\u201d This may have been technically true at the time of Fitzgerald\u2019s appointment. But one devoted to the truth would clarify that evidence at the trial indicated that the only reporter to whom Libby disclosed Plame was Judith Miller, then of the New York Times. Developments after the trial undermined even this allegation. Comey claims that NBC News Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert \u201chad been interviewed by the FBI and said that Libby was lying\u201d about having heard about Plame from Russert. That\u2019s false. In 2003, before Comey appointed Fitzgerald, Libby told the FBI that Russert mentioned Plame in a telephone conversation. Also, before Fitzgerald\u2019s appointment, Russert told the FBI that Libby might be right. Many months after Fitzgerald\u2019s appointment, Russert changed his story and denied that he could have mentioned Plame to Libby.\n\n(Emphasis added)\n\nThere\u2019s more:\n\nComey states that Fitzgerald uncovered evidence \u201cthat Libby had proactively discussed the CIA employee with reporters, at the vice president\u2019s request, to \u2018push back\u2019 on stories critical of the administration\u2019s basis for invading Iraq.\u201d That\u2019s false and scurrilous. It reflects an unsupported theory that Fitzgerald floated in closing arguments. In fact, Libby told investigators that Cheney asked him to counter the false claims circulating in the press that the Bush administration concocted stories about Saddam Hussein\u2019s WMD programs. Libby\u2019s job was to explain\u2014as was the case\u2014that the CIA had confidently conveyed to the Bush administration that Iraq had such programs and sought nuclear weapons. Furthermore, and scandalously, Comey does not so much as mention that in 2015 Fitzgerald\u2019s star witness, Judith Miller, recanted her testimony while claiming that Fitzgerald manipulated her memory by withholding crucial facts. Nor does Comey acknowledge that in 2016 the D.C. Court of Appeals, relying on Miller\u2019s revelations, unanimously restored to Libby (who has never ceased to insist on his innocence) his law license.\n\n(Emphasis added)\n\nWhat would Comey have done in 2003 if he were the honest, straight-shooting law man he poses as? Says Berkowitz:\n\nA conscientious and competent acting attorney general who knew what Comey knew or should have known would have rejected calls for a special prosecutor. Instead, he would have a held a press conference and told the American people the plain, unvarnished truth: The FBI has identified the leaker. The leak came not from the White House but the State Department. The CIA confirmed Plame\u2019s employment for Novak. Plame was not covert under the relevant law, and, in any case, there was no evidence that any administration official who spoke to reporters about Plame believed she was classified; therefore, no law was violated. No harm was caused to CIA sources or operations.\n\nI agree with Peter\u2019s conclusion:\n\nThe misconceptions and falsehoods that Comey perpetuates about the misbegotten prosecution of Scooter Libby provide further confirmation that, despite his private assurance to the president and public boasts, Comey can\u2019t be counted on to tell the truth.\n\nIf there\u2019s a silver lining in the Comey saga, it\u2019s this: The man has bought so fully into his self-legend \u2014 is so convinced of his own righteousness \u2014 that he takes no care to consult the facts. This leaves him vulnerable to the kind of questioning Bret Baier presented on Thursday, questioning that produced a fiasco for Comey.\n\nThus, Comey\u2019s pompous pronouncement in March of this year \u2014 \u201cMr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon, and they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not\u201d \u2014 may prove prophetic in a way the \u201clegend\u201d did not anticipate."}
-{"text": "Libertarian icon Ron Paul has accused Donald Trump of betraying his promises to the American electorate by seeking a new conflict with either Iran or North Korea, warning the US president that any such war will put an end to his term.\n\n\u201cPresident Trump seems to be impatiently racing toward at least one disastrous war. Maybe two. The big question is who will be first? North Korea or Iran?\u201d wrote the 81-year-old former congressman in his weekly column published on the site of his Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.\n\nNorth Korea or Iran\u2026Where Will President Trump Attack First? https://t.co/089oNzpwGLpic.twitter.com/5BjWn8pZUF \u2014 Ron Paul (@RonPaul) 31 July 2017\n\n\u201cWith continuing pressure from both Democrats and Republicans over the unproven \u2018Russiagate\u2019 allegations, it increasingly looks like he will seek relief by starting a \u2018nice little war.\u2019 If he does so, however, his presidency will likely be over and he may end up blundering into a much bigger war in the process,\u201d states Paul, who contested the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2012.\n\nThe new White House administration has attempted to exert unprecedented pressure on Pyongyang amid a series of missiles test carried out on the orders of Kim Jong-un over the past year.\n\nRead more\n\nPaul believes that Trump is looking to play a proactive role in any standoff with the Kim regime, saying, that displays, such as the recent US B-1 bomber flight over the Korean peninsula, sends \u201ca clear message that he is ready to attack.\u201d\n\nPaul further criticizes the scaling up of US naval forces in the Persian Gulf in recent months, which led to clashes between Iranian and American vessels.\n\n\u201cImagine if the US Navy had encountered Iranian warships in the Gulf of Mexico firing machine guns at them when they approached the Iranians,\u201d writes Paul, who has consistently advocated a policy of non-interventionism.\n\nHe also notes that Iran is complying with the terms of the Obama-era nuclear agreement, apparently to Trump's dismay.\n\nAnd although Paul did not endorse any of the 2016 candidates, his son Rand Paul, who ran for the nomination, did, with Trump emerging as the most popular major-party politician among libertarian voters, with many of his policies superficially echoing Paul\u2019s own stance.\n\n\u201cAlthough Trump\u2019s bombastic rhetoric on Iran and North Korea has been pretty consistent, the American people voted Trump because he was seen as the less likely of the two candidates to get the US into a major war,\u201d writes Paul.\n\n\u201cA recent study by Boston University and the University of Minnesota concluded that Trump won the most votes in parts of the country with the highest military casualties\u2026 These are the Americans living in the swing states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan that surprised the pundits by voting for Trump over Hillary.\u201d\n\nWith the US establishment distracted, Paul advocates for his supporters to \u201cmake their voices heard\u201d and drag attention back to the international arena, to stop Trump \u201cblustering us into one or two wars that will make Iraq and Afghanistan look like cakewalks by comparison.\u201d"}
-{"text": "News Corporation is flagging job cuts after posting a quarterly loss of nearly $10 billion.\n\nThe $9.7 billion loss is the result of a slump in advertising revenue as well a $12.9 billion write-down for the value of its Dow Jones acquisition, television broadcasting licences and other assets.\n\nMost arms of the media group suffered substantial falls in revenue in the final three months of last year.\n\n\"It's the worst global economic crisis we've witnessed since Newscorp was established more than 50 years ago,\" News Corp's chief executive Rupert Murdoch said.\n\nThe company's Australian newspapers reported an 18 per cent drop in quarterly profit because of the weak advertising market and costs associated with redundancies.\n\n\"The downturn is more severe and likely longer lasting than previously thought,\" Mr Murdoch said.\n\n\"We are implementing rigorous cost-cutting across all operations and reducing head count where appropriate.\"\n\nBut Mr Murdoch is confident the global economy will rebound.\n\nNews Corp also owns the Fox television network, 20th Century Fox movie studio, the MySpace online social network, satellite TV network Sky, and newspapers throughout the United States, Britain and Australia.\n\n\"It's advertising and DVDs - they're more exposed to advertising than you want to be in this kind of climate,\" market analyst David Joyce said.\n\nShares of News Corp fell as much as 3.5 per cent to $US6.70 ($10.28) in after-hours trading.\n\nNews Corp has cut its fiscal 2009 operating income forecast, now seeing a decline of 30 per cent versus its previous forecast for a fall in the mid-teen percentages."}
-{"text": "New York, Friday\n\nGavin McInnes, who founded the Proud Boys in 2016 as a nationalist men\u2019s club, was scheduled to speak at the Metropolitan Republican Club that evening about \u201cDeep State Socialists\u201d and \u201cWestern Values\u201d \u2014 common themes for his group.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nAfter the speech, about two dozen Proud Boys emerged from the club to find a similarly sized group of protesters waiting to confront them, including antifascists, as seen in cellphone videos. While antifascists, or \u201cantifa\u201d activists, are more loosely organized than the hierarchical, uniformed Proud Boys, both groups consider each other dangerous to U.S. society and condone violence to defend their notions of it.\n\n\u201cI recognized one\u201d of the antifascists, McInnes later told HuffPost, recalling the confrontation. \u201cHe stole a Proud Boys MAGA hat and was immediately tuned up.\u201d\n\nCellphone videos show an unidentified victim writhing on the sidewalk while several men take turns kicking him, and at least a dozen Proud Boys in uniform polo shirts, scream various slurs.\n\nAD\n\nThe video ends as police rush in to break up the confrontation.\n\nAD\n\nNew York police said the victim refused medical treatment but spoke to investigators, and three people have been charged with assault. The New York Times, however, reported that all three were affiliated with the anti-fascist group, rather than the Proud Boys, leading to confusion and messages from top state Democrats calling for more investigation.\n\nThe Southern Poverty Law Center, which considers the Proud Boys an extremist group, wrote that its members were joined at the event by \u201can ultranationalist far-right skinhead crew,\u201d which may have also taken part in the attack caught on video.\n\nPortland, Saturday\n\nThe next night, on the other side of the country, Proud Boys were reported among a right-wing group that marched through downtown Portland toward their ideological opponents.\n\nPortland, which has long seen clashes between the far left and far right, has been consumed for two weeks with Black Lives Matter protests over a fatal police shooting in September. Those protests, in turn, provoked right-wing groups when video emerged last weekend of demonstrators blocking traffic and beating on a passing driver\u2019s car.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nSo on Saturday evening, a conservative group organized a \u201cflash march for Law and Order\u201d \u2014 marching toward the downtown plaza where a memorial had been set up for the police shooting victim, Patrick Kimmons.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve got Proud Boys running security,\u201d one of the organizers said in a Facebook Live stream of the march.\n\nPredictably, the marchers arrived at the plaza to find it full of counterprotesters chanting \u201cBlack Lives Matter.\u201d The local antifascist group was among those live-tweeting from that side of Fourth Avenue.\n\nThe right-wing marchers paused on the other side of the street, waving U.S. flags and chanting back \u2014 \u201cAll Lives Matter,\u201d and \u201cU.S.A., U.S.A.!\u201d and eventually shouted threats.\n\nAD\n\n\u201cRespect the memorial and vigil that\u2019s going on over there,\u201d a man with a loudspeaker said, as seen in one of several Facebook Live videos. \u201cBut if they come across the street, you gotta do what you gotta do.\u201d\n\nAD\n\nPortland police had apparently been expecting trouble and managed to dissuade it for half an hour or so by lining up in tactical gear along the street.\n\nBut after sundown, things kicked off.\n\nThe antifascists may have provoked the violence, according to Mike Bivins, a freelance reporter who documented the ensuing melee on Twitter. One of them burned an American flag as the Proud Boys and company were leaving, causing them to return. Another antifascist then doused the entire group with pepper spray, Bivins wrote.\n\nAD\n\nFrom there, the scene devolved into something like an exponentially larger version of the Manhattan assault. (Explicit videos below).\n\nWhile it\u2019s hard to tell who is who in cellphone videos, a man stepped out from a sea of red \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d hats and punched someone in the opposite crowd in the face. Various fistfights and scuffles then started, with some people scrambling across the street, slamming into windows or collapsing to the pavement in a flurry of kicks.\n\nAD\n\nA man in a camouflage shirt followed the melee around, spraying liquid into the crowd.\n\nFinally, an armored police officer stepped up and shot foam bullets into the sidewalk, which dispersed the combatants.\n\nAD\n\nIn statement sent to The Washington Post on Facebook, a representative for Patriot Prayer, the group that organized the march, said most of the people in the melee were not members but \u201cpeople who gathered with us as we marched.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Tyranny.of Social Justice and its army of black clad, masked up enforcers is coming to an end,\u201d the statement continued.\n\n\u201cThe Police Bureau is aware that people were assaulted during today\u2019s demonstration,\u201d police wrote in a statement afterward. They had made no arrests by Sunday morning but, like their counterparts in New York, continued to investigate copious amounts of amateur footage.\n\nAD\n\nOfficers spotted not only pepper spray in the crowd, but also \u201chard-knuckled gloves, firearms, batons and knives,\u201d police wrote \u2014 not to mention flagpoles turned into clubs.\n\nPolice did not specify which weapons belonged to which group."}
-{"text": "0 SHARES Share Tweet\n\nPreah Khan of Kompong Svay (not be mistaken with Preah Khan temple in Angkor), also called Prasat Bakan by the locals, is a remote archeological site located 100 km from Siem Reap as the crow flies in Preah Vihear province at the eastern end on the ancient royal road from Angkor.\n\nPreah Khan is the single biggest temple complex built during the Khmer Empire occupying an impressive footprint of about 22 kilometers square, 11 times larger than Angkor Wat and 2 times larger than the city of Angkor Thom. Because of its remote location (more than 200 km one way from Siem Reap including about 70 km of unpaved road) it receives less than 10 visitors daily.\n\nThe layout of the temple is unique compared to the other sites in Angkor as it is oriented northeast. It has been proposed that the temple is aligned with the raising sun during thee summer solstice.\n\nA large baray of 3 km long lies on the east with a temple called Preah Thkol in the middle similar to the West Mebon in Angkor. It was built between the 10th and 13th centuries in different stages during the reigns of Kings Suryavarman I, II and Jayavarman VII. The influence of Jayarvaman VII is clearly visible in Prasat Preah Stun which has with a four-faced tower similar to the Bayon temple (see picture below).\n\nRediscovery\n\nThe rediscovery of Preah Khan is credited to French explorer and artist Louis Delaporte who lead a expedition there in 1873. At the end of their visit they took many statues which are now at the Guimet museum in Paris : among them, a naga garuda and an elephant statue from Preah Damrei (see picture below).\n\nBecause of its remote location and lack of security, the site was badly sacked during the 1980\u2019s and 1990\u2019s and even more recently in 2003. Even so, some beautiful pieces like doors and lintels are still there. The causeway crossing the moat (mostly dry like in Beng Mealea) has many garuda carvings on both sides.\n\nExploring the site can be quite difficult because of the dense vegetation there and the absence of clear paths.\n\nRecent archeological missions\n\n\n\nThe Cambodian Archaeological Lidar Initiative (CALI) known for his groundbreaking discovery of the first Khmer empire city, Mahendravarpata, in Phnom Kulen and in 2014 did a survey of Preah Khan in 2015 and confirmed the previous layout of the temple. They confirmed that Preah Khan was an important iron smelting center at the height of the Khmer Empire. 90 structures were identified within the four enclosures of the temple.\n\nAnother project called The Two Buddhist Towers lead by a multidisciplinary team of researchers (UCLA, University of Illinois, University College London, EFEO,\u2026) aims to study the transition from Mah\u0101y\u0101na to Therav\u0101da Buddhism at Preah Khan did some excavations in 2015 and 2016. Three Chinese coins dating from the 10th and 11th century were found confirming the importance of his site during the Khmer Empire.\n\nPreah Khan of Kompong Svay is best visited during the dry season when the unpaved road is in fairly good condition. It is a 1-day trip from Siem Reap that can be combined with a visit to Koh Ker or Beng Mealea. A 2-day trip with a visit to Preah Vihear can also be arranged. If you like to do a private photography tour of this enigmatic and beautiful temple, please contact me."}
-{"text": "OAKLAND, CA \u2013 After a harrowing ordeal of non-stop speaking engagements, Mark Hamill\u2019s voice has emancipated itself and vowed to never again work with his former partner. The sudden move comes on the heels of Star Wars Celebration Orlando, the four-day convention where Hamill forced his pipes to work well beyond the standard 8-hour union days typical for industry voices.\n\n\u201cListen, Mark and I had a great run but this is really for the best. We need a break from each other,\u201d said Hamill\u2019s voice from a wellness retreat in Sedona, Arizona.\n\nThe long-time partners have worked together exclusively for nearly 65 years. From their early beginnings in soap operas to their big break with Star Wars, Hamill and his voice have been inseparable. Still, the relationship was not without its ups and downs. Most notably, the pair had a falling out in 1997 when Hamill\u2019s voice went behind his back to record a much derided scream for the Special Edition of The Empire Strikes Back.\n\nAccording to Hamill\u2019s voice: \u201cGeorge [Lucas] asked me to do him the favor, because he knew Mark didn\u2019t care for the idea. So I waited until Hamster fell asleep, and I friggin\u2019 nailed that scream \u2013 critics be damned.\u201d\n\nUpon discovering the betrayal, Hamill gave his voice the cold shoulder and refused to work with him. The partners went an entire two weeks without speaking to each other. Finally, Lucas \u2013 perhaps out of guilt for his role in the spat \u2013 helped Hamill and his voice reach a mutual understanding. Each agreed to never take jobs without verbal consent from the other.\n\nThe Hamill Voice Accord lasted for nearly 17 years before temptation reared its ugly head. By this time, Hamill and his voice had launched a very successful and critically acclaimed career in voiceovers. Understandably, Hamill\u2019s voice sought to rearrange the terms of his contract with Hamill, since the bulk of their work was now done without the need for Hamill\u2019s likeness.\n\nAfter tense negotiations, a new agreement was reached, but both sides felt resentment towards the other; Hamill for his voice being such a demanding diva; his voice for needing to negotiate for what he felt should have been offered up years ago. Unfortunately for Hamill, news of his voice being difficult to work with began to circulate throughout Tinseltown. This couldn\u2019t have come at a worse time as Disney, fresh from its $4 billion purchase of Lucasfilm, was gearing up to start shooting a Star Wars sequel trilogy.\n\nOriginally director J.J. Abrams considered using Lucas\u2019 outline for Episode VII, which would have centered around Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia. But once Hamill\u2019s voice mouthed off to Abrams one day, the director scrapped the outline, and hired screenwriter Michael Arndt to feature all-new characters in starring roles with the returning faces relegated to supporting roles.\n\nNot one to take no for an answer, Hamill\u2019s voice gave Abrams the business yet again during a second run-in. Hamill tried his best to walk away, but his voice screamed loud enough for his insults to be heard. As a result, Abrams released Arndt and hired Lawrence \u201cLarry Larr\u201d Kasdan to further minimize Luke\u2019s role in the film.\n\nSPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER\n\nIn the end, Hamill appeared in The Force Awakens for one scene, which was one more than his voice. Because, for the first time in their long and storied careers together, Hamill landed a role that did not require the services of his voice. Hamill\u2019s voice was enraged. He had been muted by Abrams for demanding more screen time. Hamill took the high road, however, and consoled his voice, giving him hope that Episode VIII would certainly feature the two of them in a speaking role.\n\nOf course, Hamill\u2019s consolations came true as The Last Jedi stars Luke and his voice in much more prominent roles. Everything seemed to be going well\u2026 until Star Wars Celebration Orlando tore the partners apart again. At first Hamill\u2019s voice agreed to be part of a select group of panels during the convention, but Hamill began volunteering them for multiple unofficial speaking engagements with random fans every minute of every day until the wee hours of the night.\n\n\u201cAfter the two marquee panels, I basically gave him [Mark] a gag order. I was done with telling the same stories to the same people. Naming his final panel Hamill Himself \u2014 with me right there with him \u2014 was the last straw\u201d said Hamill\u2019s voice.\n\nDespite his partner\u2019s objections, Hamill carried on chatting with thousands of fans, even as his voice flat out refused to work with him. Sources tell us immediately following the convention, Hamill\u2019s voice voice-dialed his legal team to begin drafting the necessary papers to file for emancipation.\n\nFSW is unsure how this will impact Star Wars: Episode IX if indeed Luke survives The Last Jedi. However, Hamill\u2019s promotional tours for the upcoming sequel will definitely be affected. Of course, this could all be a ploy for Hamill\u2019s voice to demand a greater salary and backend points in exchange for helping his partner shill The Last Jedi during planned media junkets in China.\n\nWe reached out to Hamill for his side of the story, but he was unable to comment as of this writing.\n\nFor updates on this and all other Star Wars news worth faking, keep it locked to FakingStarWars.net. Don\u2019t forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for even more unbelievable coverage you won\u2019t find anywhere else.\n\n-William \u201cWillybobo\u201d Bobo"}
-{"text": "Lock Michael Paterson touched down against former club Sale Sharks as Northampton Saints kept their Aviva Premiership play-off hopes alive with a 32-12 triumph at the AJ Bell Stadium.\n\nAfter a slow start to the game, it was the Saints who assumed command and went 12-0 ahead via Ken Pisi and Paterson scores, but Josh Charnley's first try in rugby union reduced the arrears.\n\nStephen Myler's penalty extended the Saints' buffer on the stroke of half-time and Mike Haywood's try after the interval effectively ended the match as a contest.\n\nMyler kicked a second three-pointer to go with his two conversions before Bryn Evans got a consolation score for the Sharks.\n\nAll Northampton needed for a perfect evening's work was a fourth try and that came in the last minute via Ethan Waller.\n\nWith atrocious conditions causing issues in the first half, it was always going to be an attritional contest before the interval. Handling was particularly a problem in the early stages but it was Sale who initially dealt better with the torrential rain, pinning the visitors back in their 22.\n\nSteve Diamond's men looked to attack through the maul but, after the Saints infringed at one drive, the away side defended the second lineout well as they forced a turnover and cleared their lines.\n\nThe Sharks then created another opportunity when good hands sent Denny Solomona scampering down the right-hand touchline, but the wing could not quite recollect his grubber through.\n\nHaving failed to convert that pressure, the hosts were duly punished. Northampton grew into the game and Myler was finding his range with the boot, sending a number of well-judged kicks towards the Sale back three.\n\nBen Foden tried to break through the Sale defence (Getty)\n\nSolomona failed to deal with the aerial bombardment and Ben Foden was on hand to pounce on his error and send Jamie Gibson charging towards the line.\n\nGibson was held up but excellent work by Harry Mallinder allowed Pisi to cross the whitewash unopposed for a 5-0 lead.\n\nMyler continued his excellent work by forcing Mike Haley to concede a five-metre scrum and, from the resultant set-piece, Paterson touched down.\n\nWith the fly-half also converting, the Greater Manchester outfit needed the next score to keep themselves in the encounter and their patience was rewarded when Charnley went over following Haley's neat grubber.\n\nJosh Charnley gave the hosts a good start (Getty)\n\nSam James, standing in as kicker, impressively added the extras out wide before Northampton's pivot responded, bisecting the uprights with a three-point attempt as the visitors went into the break 15-7 ahead.\n\nJim Mallinder's team began the second period on the front foot and, unlike the hosts, they managed to take advantage when in control.\n\nFollowing a maul, Haywood crossed over before Myler kicked a conversion and a penalty to give them an 18-point buffer in the final quarter"}
-{"text": "Alchemy, with its cryptic language and fantastic symbolism, evokes many aspects of the culture of the Middle Ages. In alchemical manuscripts, drawings of alembics, funnels and furnaces vividly represent this long lost art. Alchemy\u2019s goal of transmuting base metal into gold fuels our imaginings of strange preindustrial laboratories, and of the men who were part of this scientific, or not-so-scientific, project. Did they really believe that they could make pure gold? Or were they charlatans, quacks and fools? The philosopher\u2019s stone they so desperately sought was also called \u2018the elixir of long life\u2019, and they deemed its curative possibilities endless.\n\nBut alchemy was also so much more. It was an art, a scientific and technological project that foreshadowed modern chemistry. It resulted in the development of a multitude of chemical instruments and procedures. It contributed to the evolution of modern medicine and science. Furthermore, beneath alchemy\u2019s esoteric veneer lay a deeper philosophy of life, one in which everything was interconnected and matter was pliable to human technology.\n\nThe Wellcome Library\u2019s Western MS. 446, produced in France in the late 15th century, is a rich example of an alchemical treatise, although it is devoid of most of the cryptic alchemical phrases that are so enigmatic to us today. It centres rather on the technical possibilities of the art. Amply illustrated with 56 colour drawings, it details 20 chemical procedures and processes. The main text is followed by seven folios of full-page alchemical drawings, seven folios containing an alchemical synthesis, and three folios of practical recipes. The manuscript offers a unique way to approach a historical subject that is often reserved for patented scientists or specialists. It also encourages us to ponder the occultist trend that now, thanks largely to the internet, surrounds a discipline that was kept alive for centuries.\n\nThe quality and relative uniformity of the illustrations are what have made this manuscript known to scholars. They are painted in watercolour and retain vivid colours (red, yellow, green and blue-grey). But more importantly, they are closely related to the text, since they offer deliberate illustrations of the author\u2019s technical demonstrations.\n\nThe text is written in late Middle French and is a perfect example of how the language was transitioning towards modern French at this time. It offers great uniformity of spelling and vocabulary. The writing is consistent with the period, clear and uniform throughout (except for folios 39\u201344, where the hand changes for the script as well as for the drawings). Editorial features are clear and consistent, with red chapter headings and paragraph marks.\n\nThe manuscript\u2019s subject matter is alchemy in its medical doctrinal sense, meaning that the purpose of the text is to assist in producing the \u2018elixir\u2019 of long life. Therefore, the text is rather pragmatic and technical, with the usual symbolic overtones shared by many alchemical works, but none of the mystical and philosophical apparatus of some of the very learned alchemical treatises. This feature makes it very accessible to a wide audience, both in the Middle Ages and today. The text gives a unique and extensive list of alchemical apparatus and vessels, about 80 per cent of which are illustrated in every detail. This is a rare opportunity to document and contextualise medical pharmaceutical techniques that were made accessible in the Middle Ages through alchemical treatises.\n\nThe text has traditionally been held to be a Middle French translation of a Latin Pseudo-Ramon Llull treatise entitled \u2018Imago vitae\u2019, but a close examination of the text and its sources reveals that this is not in fact the case. The structure of the text does not match any known Latin versions of the \u2018Imago vitae\u2019. Rather, the text seems to be a patchwork of several sources in Latin and Middle French, including the \u2018Testamentum\u2019 of Pseudo-Llull, \u2018Le Rosaire\u2019 (a Middle French rendition of Pseudo-Arnau de Vilanova), the \u2018Summa perfectionis\u2019 of Pseudo-Gerber and, finally, a Pseudo-Pope John XXII treatise known as \u2018L\u2019\u00e9lixir des philosophes\u2019. The compiler of the text selected theoretical parts and pieces that fitted his own process of experimentation, so the compilation does seem to be the work of an actual practitioner of alchemy.\n\nFurthermore and lastly, the manuscript bears witness to the changes in the audiences for alchemy at this time. While in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries alchemy was the preserve of clerics, in the fifteenth century alchemical themes percolated down to the laity. MS. 446 reflects this change, since it is written in the vernacular. This particular manuscript, therefore, ushers in the Renaissance era, when alchemy became almost a prerequisite for scientific speculation, until modern chemistry relegated the art of transmutation to the realm of wishful fantasies.\n\nAuthor: Genevi\u00e8ve Dumas, PhD (2001), McGill University, is Professor of Medieval Studies at the Universit\u00e9 de Sherbrooke, Canada. Her research focuses on the circulation of scientific, technical and medical ideas around the Mediterranean, especially in the setting of the medieval town of Montpellier."}
-{"text": "Budget showdowns cast a pall over the holiday weekend in Connecticut, Illinois and New Jersey, and it couldn\u2019t happen to a nicer group of politicians. While all dysfunctional governments are dysfunctional in their own way, the three blue states are hitting the same progressive dead end.\n\nIn Illinois, Democrats spent the long weekend coaxing Republican legislators to join their suicide pact to raise taxes to plug a $6 billion deficit and pay down a $15 billion backlog of bills. And don\u2019t forget the $130 billion unfunded pension..."}
-{"text": "Kotaku East East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am. Prev Next View All\n\nIn Japan, fast food restaurant Lotteria is rolling out two cheesy burgers, providing patrons with measures for them to see just how long the mozzarella stretches.\n\n\n\n\nAccording to Entabe and Gigazine, the Mozzarella Cheese Burger and the Mozzarella Cheese & Beef Burger just launched in Japan. (I believe they\u2019ve already go on sale in South Korea.)\n\n\nThese are very cheesy burgers!\n\nHence the aprons to measure the stringy cheese!\n\n\n\nLotteria is one of the more interesting fastfood restaurants around, previously offering chewing gum shakes, chocolate sauce for fries, and horrible-looking burger towers.\n\n\nThese cheesy burgers will be on sale in Japan until April 5. For more, check out Entabe and Gigazine."}
-{"text": "Launching last year, Rally St. Louis is a non-profit dedicated to crowdfunding ideas to improve the city that can\u2019t (or won\u2019t) get funded by traditional means. \u201cAll too there is a lack of funds to do all the great things a city wants to do,\u201d said Aaron Perlut, cofounder of Rally St. Louis. \u201cWe\u2019re excited to have the voting concluded on our first five projects and to put them into action.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is an effort by the people fo St. Louis for the people of St. Louis. We are very proud of that,\u201d added Brian Cross, cofounder (with Perlut) of Rally.\n\nHere is a lit of the \u2018First Five\u2019 from Rally St. Louis:\n\nFood Roof: First-of-its-kind Rooftop Farm situated downtown to create a new system of providing our community with access to hyper-local, organic food.\n\nCotton Belt-Mississippi Mondo Intervention: Transforming the eastern facade of the Cotton Belt building on First Street between Florida and Dickson into a new St. Louis welcome sign, front lawn, interactive art installation, and unifying volunteer event for the city.\n\nBring the National Soccer Hall of Fame to St. Louis: The National Soccer Hall of Fame closed its doors in 2010. Its artifacts and memorabilia sit in storage, and it\u2019s time to bring those collections to St Louis and re-open the museum in soccer\u2019s American home, St Louis.\n\nProject Blacktop: Project Blacktop creates a nonprofit whose goal is to beautify urban areas of St. Louis with functional outdoor basketball courts that serve as hubs for the neighborhood and host community building events.\n\nPick-up Soccer: Creating a large turfed lit space centrally located in the St. Louis-area for year round outdoor soccer use.\n\nPosted By Edward Domain Edward is the founder and CEO of Techli.com. He is a writer, U.S. Army veteran, serial entrepreneur and chronic early adopter. Having worked for startups in Silicon Valley and Chicago, he founded, grew and successfully exited his own previous startup and loves telling the tales of innovators everywhere. Follow on Twitter: @EdwardDomain\n\n\n\nEdward is the founder and CEO of Techli.com. He is a writer, U.S. Army veteran, serial entrepreneur and chronic early adopter. Having worked for startups in Silicon Valley and Chicago, he founded, grew and successfully exited his own previous startup and loves telling the tales of innovators everywhere. Follow on Twitter: @EdwardDomain\n\n\n\nYou might also like"}
-{"text": "During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised not only to 'build a wall' to seal the southern US border, but to make Mexico pay for it. Mexico has demurred for now, and in the meantime, the President-elect has instructed Congress to find the funds to build the wall, estimated to cost $10-38 billion.\n\nNevertheless, a better source of funding is available: the illegal immigrants themselves.\n\nMost undocumented immigrants come to the U.S. to work, and for a simple reason. Wages are higher here. Farm work in the U.S. typically pays $10-12 per hour, while a gardener in Mexico might earn $2-3 per hour, only a quarter of U.S. wages. The differential is even higher in places like Guatemala or Nicaragua, which are substantially poorer than Mexico. For a Guatemalan border jumper, the pay differential can be a factor of 10 or more. That serves as an enormous inducement to come to the U.S.\n\nWe can value the size of the inducement through the price of an illegal border crossing. Havoscope, a group tracking black market prices, estimates that human smugglers charge $4,000 to bring a Mexican to the U.S. and $7,000 for a Guatemalan. This corresponds to anecdotal evidence, for example, from a 2010 VOA article:\n\nOne [undocumented immigrant] says he paid a Mexican smuggler two thousand dollars to transport him across the U.S.- Mexico border. He walked across the desert for eight nights and slept by day before making his way to Virginia.\n\nIf we allow this worker traveled for two weeks to reach his U.S. destination, and that his daily value in the U.S. is about $100, then his total travel cost exceeded $3,000. Crossing the border has substantial value.\n\nWe can compare the cost of border crossings with Federal tax revenues actually received from undocumented immigrants. According to the PEW Research Center, about 11 million undocumented aliens reside in the U.S., of which 8 million are in the workforce. A study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) calculates that undocumented workers in 2010 generated approximately $5.3 billion in Federal tax revenues, excluding Medicare contributions."}
-{"text": "I really love it when you draw humans in your style, while your anthromorphics are excelent, I just feel the way you draw your human males is so amazingly fun, and cute! Maybe try and do one in your older style? Either way your art will always be some of my favorite!"}
-{"text": "Radiation Exposure During Commercial Airline Flights\n\nWhat radiation doses do people receive from flying commercially?\n\nWe have summarized the following information from the articles referenced: Feng YJ, Chen WR, Sun TP, Duan SY, Jia BS, Zhang HL. Estimated cosmic radiation doses for flight personnel. Space Med Med Eng 15(4):265\u2013\u0094269; 2002. The average effective dose rate of all flights of Xinjiang Airlines from 1997 to 1999 was 2.38 \u00b5Sv h -1 .\n\n. The average annual cosmic radiation dose for flight personnel was 2.19 mSv.\n\nAnnual individual doses of all monitored flight personnel are well below the limit of 20 mSv y-1 recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). Bottollier-Depois JF, Chau Q, Bouisset P, Kerlau G, Plawinski L, Lebaron-Jacobs L. Assessing exposure to cosmic radiation during long-haul flights. Radiat Res 153(5 Pt. 1):526\u2013532; 2000. The lowest dose rate measured was 3 \u00b5Sv h -1 during a Paris-Buenos Aires flight.\n\nduring a Paris-Buenos Aires flight. The highest rates were 6.6 \u00b5Sv h -1 during a Paris to Tokyo flight and 9.7 \u00b5Sv h -1 on the Concorde in 1996\u2013\u00931997.\n\nduring a Paris to Tokyo flight and 9.7 \u00b5Sv h on the Concorde in 1996\u2013\u00931997. The corresponding annual effective dose, based on 700 hours of flight for subsonic aircraft and 300 hours for the Concorde, can be estimated at between 2 mSv for the least exposed routes and 5 mSv for the more exposed routes. Waters M, Bloom TF, Grajewski B. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health/Federal Aviation Administration (NIOSH/FAA) working women's health study: Evaluation of the cosmic-radiation exposures of flight attendants. Health Phys 79(5):553\u2013559; 2000. Radiation dose levels represent a complex function of duration of flight, latitude, and altitude.\n\nBased on data collected for this study, radiation dose levels that would be experienced by a flight crew are well below current occupational limits recommended by the ICRP and the FAA of 20 mSv y -1 .\n\n. The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) recommends a monthly equivalent dose limit of 0.5 mSv. The ICRP recommends the radiation limit during pregnancy be 1 mSv.\n\nOnly flight crews flying both a large number of hours during pregnancy (for example, 100 hours in a month) and strictly the highest dose-rate routes (typically global routes such as \u0097United States to Buenos Aires or United States to Tokyo) would exceed the NCRP monthly guideline. Friedberg W, Copeland K, Duke FE, O'Brien K 3rd, Darden EB Jr. Radiation exposure during air travel: Guidance provided by the FAA for air carrier crews. Health Phys 79(5):591\u2013595; 2000. Seattle to Portland: 0.03 mSv per 100 block hours\n\nNew York to Chicago: 0.39 mSv per 100 block hours\n\nLos Angeles to Honolulu: 0.26 mSv per 100 block hours\n\nLondon to New York: 0.51 mSv per 100 block hours\n\nAthens to New York: 0.63 mSv per 100 block hours\n\nTokyo to New York: 0.55 mSv per 100 block hours Oksanen PJ. Estimated individual annual cosmic radiation doses for flight crews. Aviat Space Environ Med 69(7):621\u2013\u0093625; 1998. In this study, crew members averaged 673 block hours and pilots 568 block hours.\n\nAverage annual cosmic ray dose for cabin crews was 2.27 mSv.\n\nAverage annual cosmic ray dose for long-distance flight captains was 2.19 mSv.\n\nWe plan to bring our 15-month-old grandson to Sicily for vacation, flying a commercial airline from the Philippines. Will the radiation while flying during our 12-hour trip plus the return flight be dangerous to his health?\n\nThere is no evidence to indicate that the low-level exposure that will be received on the single round-trip flight you have described will pose any harm to your grandson. The total dose from such a trip is only a few percent of the naturally occurring differences in background radiation that exist from one place to another on the Earth. People live healthy lives in areas where exposures over their entire lifetimes are differentially much greater than the in-flight exposure you have described.\n\nI work in the airline industry as a crew member and want to know if there is a way to find out what my radiation exposure might be.\n\nThere are several commercial firms that can provide individual dosimeters to interested passengers or crew members. It is extremely important to know that there are several types of radiation that contribute to a person's dose at flight altitudes. Any dosimeter that will be useful in this application must contain a suitable neutron measurement system. To locate current vendors of these products, one can search on the Internet for \"radiation dosimetry services,\" \"radiation dosimetry,\" or \"personnel radiation monitoring.\"\n\nIs there any way for me to calculate my radiation dose from flying?\n\nYes, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) offers an online calculator to determine flight dose from galactic radiation. The FAA also provides a program you can download, CARI-6 , to calculate a more comprehensive flight dose from cosmic radiation.\n\nI understand that the radiation dose while flying diminishes as you get closer to the equator. Is this true?\n\nBecause incoming cosmic radiation particles are deflected by the Earth's magnetic field, the intensity of in-flight radiation is a function of both altitude and latitude. In general, radiation shielding by the geomagnetic field is greatest at the equator and decreases as one goes north or south. At typical flight altitudes of 9,000 to 12,000 meters, the difference between the cosmic ray dose rates at the equator and at high latitudes is about a factor of two to three, depending on where one is in the approximately 11-year solar cycle. So if all your flying is in the equatorial zone, you would expect that the dose rates at altitude are two to three times lower than for your colleagues flying more northern or southern routes. Of course, your total exposure will be a function of the hours you spend at altitude. In any case, your annual radiation burden will be well within the limits considered acceptable for occupational exposure by such organizations as the ICRP.\n\nHave there been studies of long-term, low-level exposure to radiation during commercial flights and the effects for flight crews?\n\nAt present, the Airline Pilots Association is conducting dosimetry studies for its membership and NIOSH is engaged in a study of reproductive disorders among flight attendants. Several studies have already been published; some show an increase in various malignancies among crew members while others show no increased risk. The following references all present data showing an increase in malignancies among flight crew members with the exception of the second British Airways paper which, as discussed above, reevaluates data published in the earlier reference. These papers can be obtained through your local library.\n\n\n\nReferences: Pinkerton LE, Waters MA, Hein MJ, Zivkovich Z, Schubauer-Berigan MK, Grajewski B. Cause-specific mortality among a cohort of U.S. flight attendants. Am J Ind Med 55(1):25\u2013\u009336; 2012. Yong LC, Pinkerton LE, Yiin JH, Anderson JL, Deddens JA. Mortality among a cohort of U.S. commercial airline cockpit crew. Am J Ind Med 57(8):906\u2013\u0093914; 2014. Pukkala E, Auvinen A, Wahlberg, G. Incidence of cancer among Finnish airline cabin attendants, 1967\u2013\u00931992. British Medical Journal 311:649\u2013\u0093652; 1995. Lynge E, Thygesen L. Occupational cancer in Denmark. Cancer incidence in the 1970 census population. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health 16 (Sup 2):3\u2013\u009435; 1990. Band PR, Nhu DL, Fang R, Deschamps M, Coldman AJ, Gallagher RP, Moody J. Cohort study of Air Canada pilots: Mortality, cancer incidence, and leukemia risk. American Journal of Epidemiology 143(2):137\u2013\u0094143; 1996. Grayson JK, Lyons TJ. Cancer incidence in United States Air Force aircrews 1975\u2013\u00931989. Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine 67(2):101\u2013104; 1996. Vagero D, Swerdlow AJ, Beral V. Occupation and malignant melanoma: A study based on cancer registration data in England and Wales and in Sweden. British Journal of Industrial Medicine 47(5):317\u2013\u0093324; 1990. Irvine D, Davies DM. The mortality of British Airways pilots, 1966\u2013\u00931989: A proportional mortality study. Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine 63:276\u2013\u0093279; 1992. Irvine D, Davies DM. British Airways flightdeck mortality study, 1950\u20131992. Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine 70:548\u2013\u0093555; 1999. Gundestrup M, Storm HH. Radiation induced acute myeloid leukaemias and other cancers in commercial jet cockpit crew: A population based cohort study. Lancet 354:2029\u20132031; 11 Dec 1999. Reynolds P, Cone J, Layefsky M, Goldberg D, Hurley S. Cancer incidence in California flight attendants. California Department of Health. In Press.\n\nFor pilots flying below 1,800 meters for 200 hours a year is there any danger from cosmic radiation?\n\n-1. It would, therefore, require 10,000 hours of flying at this altitude to reach the 1 mSv annual limit recommended as a maximum for members of the public exposed to ionizing radiation. It should also be noted that exposures well above this 1 mSv limit are not \"dangerous.\" Even at ground level, cosmic radiation is part of our normal environment. The Earth's atmosphere absorbs this radiation, so its intensity is least at ground level. The altitude of interest in this question (1,800 meters) \u0097is, of course, ground level in many places. Using the CARI-6 program available from the FAA, the calculated cosmic-ray dose rate at this altitude at high geographic latitude is about 0.0001 mSv h. It would, therefore, require 10,000 hours of flying at this altitude to reach the 1 mSv annual limit recommended as a maximum for members of the public exposed to ionizing radiation. It should also be noted that exposures well above this 1 mSv limit are not \"dangerous.\"\n\nIs there any specific limit for air travel for children?\n\nAn annual radiation dose limit of 1 mSv for members of the public has been recommended by both the NCRP here in the United States and by its overseas counterpart, the ICRP. In June 2003 the Health Physics Society, the organization of radiation protection professionals that sponsors this website, reaffirmed that these limits are appropriate. This recommended limit, unchanged for more than 10 years, has generally been adopted into law or regulation by the government agencies that mandate radiation protection programs. No distinction is made between the exposure of adults or minors. However, radiation exposure to the flying public (versus someone who works as a crew member) is not regulated; \u0097it is considered a \"voluntary\" activity. So at least as far as any legal limits are concerned, there are none for this category of exposure, for adult flyers or anyone else.\n\nAsk the Experts is posting information using only SI (the International System of Units) in accordance with international practice. To convert these to traditional units we have prepared a conversion table . You can also view a diagram to help put the radiation information presented in this question and answer in perspective. Explanations of radiation terms can be found here\n\nThe information posted on this web page is intended as general reference information only. Specific facts and circumstances may affect the applicability of concepts, materials, and information described herein. The information provided is not a substitute for professional advice and should not be relied upon in the absence of such professional advice. To the best of our knowledge, answers are correct at the time they are posted. Be advised that over time, requirements could change, new data could be made available, and Internet links could change, affecting the correctness of the answers. Answers are the professional opinions of the expert responding to each question; they do not necessarily represent the position of the Health Physics Society."}
-{"text": "The specific mechanics of making a chip are already insanely complicated, requiring atom-scale accuracy and some of the most precise manufacturing tools ever created, but the current method has its limits. This process has been in use for nearly 15 years, and it's running out of steam. Parts of the transistors on a chip are now on the order of 7 to 10 nanometers in size, far smaller than the 193nm UV light used to create them.\n\nManufacturers needed to redesign the process if we were going to keep making better and faster chips, and the new process is extreme ultraviolet lithography, or EUV. Companies have been working for years to develop this next step in chipmaking, and we are just seeing the first devices made with EUV coming to market.\n\nTo learn more about this process, I went to two of Intel's manufacturing facilities where they are developing EUV to see the machines in person, and learn more about this extreme manufacturing.\n\nAn evolutionary leap, EUV still projects a chip blueprint onto silicon, but it uses light with an incredibly small wavelength to do so, the better for creating minuscule features.\n\nAt these tiny wavelengths, the UV light is absorbed by nearly everything, and it can't be generated with a typical laser. The process is far more exotic, involving liquid metal and high energy plasma. The technical challenges are immense, but the payoff is a leap in the speed and energy efficiency of our devices."}
-{"text": "I wanted to take a minute to share my experience with Dr. Elist. I will let you know up front that this is going to be a long post. It is a play-by-play of my experience with pictures. I hope that others appreciate it and find it helpful.\n\n\n\nLet me first say that my initial impression of Dr. Elist was that he is a very kind and caring surgeon. At times he can seem rushed, but at the same time it was nice that every time I spoke with him he remembered who I was.\n\n\n\nWhen I began calling and emailing Dr. Elist, inquiring about the penile implant he was very enthusiastic about telling me all the great things about the silicone implant. After spending a lot of time talking with him over several occasions I was convinced that this was the way to go, I scheduled the surgery. I have to admit that I was extremely excited and nervous at the same time. This was a huge decision and a giant leap of faith.\n\n\n\nSo I hop on a plane and I fly to LA and meet Dr. Elist at his office. This was my first time to actually meet him face to face. I filled out my paper work, paid the remainder of the surgery and Dr. Elist drove me to the surgery center. Everyone that worked in his office and the surgery center was extremely friendly. Everyone made me feel comfortable and I not at all like I was weird for being there, even though they all knew my reason.\n\n\n\nWaking from surgery I could tell that my penis was certainly a lot bigger, even though it was wrapped in bandages. I was in a little pain, but nothing unbearable. Dr. Elist picked me up and dropped me off at a Barnes and Noble of all places for a while (where I ended up falling asleep). He did so because he did not tell me that I had to have someone with me to drive me to the hotel and would not let me take a cab. He then came back and drove me to the hotel.\n\n\n\nAll was well. I flew home the next day. There was pain, but it was well controlled by the meds (Tylenol 3). The night time erections were the worst part. I was getting up every 30 minutes, walking it off and back to sleep for another 30 min. I have a fairly high pain tolerance, but these things were the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. Intense pain does not even describe it.\n\n\n\nI will post some of the pictures that I emailed to Dr. Elist in my updates to him. I won\u2019t include every single picture I sent him, but I will include pictures from every batch I sent. But as I can only post five pictures at a time, each day will have to be a new post.\n\n\n\nWithin the first week, the pain had greatly decreased, still painful night time erections, though. I was very bruised and swollen, but Dr. Elist assured me that all was well, it was normal and just to keep it wrapped.\n\nday3b.JPG day3c.JPG day3d.JPG\n\nday6b.JPG day6f.JPG\n\nBy day 10 the swelling had gone down a lot. My scrotum was still very tender and bruised, but I was told that it would go away and was natural after a surgery like this. I was concerned that my penis was taking a downward curve and that it could not be lifted due to being stiff and the base. Dr. Elist said that it would be fine and I just needed to wait out the 6-8 weeks for healing time.\n\nday10b.JPG day10g.JPG day10i.JPG\n\nAt day 14 things were going well. I was still concerned about the downward curve my penis was taking on, but I was waiting as Dr. Elist instructed. My skin was a little dry from the constant wrapping, still a little dull pain in the scrotum and a little residual bruising.\n\nday14a.JPG day14b.JPG day14e.JPG\n\nAfter this, Dr. Elist told me that I could stop wrapping at night, but continue wrapping during the day. I was glad to hear that. However, on the morning of day 16 I woke to a large blood stain on my sheets. I told Dr. Elist about this and that it came from behind the glans. Dr. Elist said that I had more than likely popped a stitch in my sleep. He told me not to worry and apply neosporin to the spot daily and to go back to wrapping all the time. On day 19 I sent him an email explaining that when I remove the wrap and dressing it begins to bleed. I also told him that I could see something coming through (you can see it in the photos) and I was told that it was simply fat and skin that was visible because of the tear. I was to continue wrapping and applying neosporin and it would heal on its own.\n\nday19e.JPG day19f.JPG\n\nAt this time, Dr. Elist was overseas and had passed me along to another doctor that was to watch over my situation while he was away. This doctor, although very kind, was not very helpful, telling me that I needed to hang in there until Dr. Elist made it back. When he came back he told me that I needed to keep my penis wrapped for 72 hours. That puts me at day 28. After removing the wrap and dressing, things appeared like they were on the right track. You could still faintly see the \u201cskin and fat\u201d but it looked a lot better.\n\nday28a.JPG day28d.JPG day28f.JPG\n\nBack to wrapping for 72 hours, changing the wrap and then another 72 hours. This put me at day 33. I found that when cleaning, if I moved the glans the slightest little bit, it would begin to bleed again. I could not tell exactly where it was coming from, but I knew that it was under the glans in the little \u201cchannel\u201d formed by the implant. Of course my skin was very dry due to all the wrapping, but I just applied moisturizer as directed by Dr. Elist.\n\nday33a.JPG day33d.JPG\n\nAfter another 72 hours of being wrapped, things looked decent. I tried my absolute best not to move the glans because I did not want to risk opening anything that was healing. I of course still had a lot of dry skin, and was simply directed to continue the application of neosporin behind the glas and moisturizer on the shaft. I was instructed from this point to wrap for 48 hours.\n\nOn day 40 things took a turn. When I removed the wrap, my penis began weeping a light red or orange liquid and you can see something coming through the skin. There was a little swelling and the downward curve had become more prominent, with the glans and penis sitting \u201cbelow\u201d the implant. At this point I had been wrapping for 40 days straight, with the exception of the one night and to change the wrap.\n\nday40a.JPG day40b.JPG day40d.JPG\n\nOn day 42 while changing the wrap and dressing I took close up pictures of what was coming through my skin. Dr. Elist told me not to worry, that it was cologen and nothing to worry about. Although I had my doubts and thought \u201cThere is no way that is collogen. You can clearly see a geometric patter!\u201d To me it looked like the clear flexible tubing that has mesh embedded for strength, but I did not know what collogen looked like. At this point all I can do is trust my doctor.\n\nday42b.JPG day42c.JPG\n\nOn day 44 it looked like things were moving in the right direction. The mess seemed smaller and that it might actually heal. When I removed the dressing there was a spot (about the size of a pencil eraser) of fluid that did not appear to be blood. It was much too light. Keeping my penis firmly wrapped for so long had caused some fluid retention in my glans. Of course my skin was still dry and flakey.\n\nday44a.JPG day44d.JPG day44e.JPG\n\nAfter another 48 hours I removed the wrap and to my surprise there was no blood or fluid on the dressing. You could however, still the \u201cthing\u201d coming through. Dr. Elist told me to apply a lot of moisturizer to the skin and neosporin to the incision. He said that healing looks good, but is not complete (ya think?) and that it should be all healed in a few days. That was music to my ears. I only had a few more days of this and everything would be good.\n\nDay46b.JPG Day46f.JPG\n\nDr. Elist instructed me to wrap behind the glans and part of the way down, but to leave the remainder of the penis unwrapped. The skin that was unwrapped began looking a lot better and that part filled out to 6.5\u201d around. When the wrap was removed, fluid would weep from behind the glans.\n\nAt this point Dr. Elist told me that he want me to try wrapping loosely, just tight enough to keep the dressing in place. He said that he thinks I am getting fluid retention in my glans, which I thought was weird because I stated that to him days earlier. I used the neosporin and wrapped loosely as instructed. On the next day as I was changing the wrap/dressing, the \u201cthing\u201d was more noticable. The swelling of the glans did go down some, but the amount of drainage greatly increased. If you put any pressure at all on the shaft more and more fluid would come out, sometimes like a steady stream, and would make a sound that sort of sounded like loose suction. I can\u2019t describe it very well, but I will never forget what it sounded like. Letting my penis hang on its own would also allow more drainage. It had also developed a bulge on the side of my penis. It looked like the implant was folded or bent.\n\nThat day Dr. Elist said that he needed to see me back at his office. There was no rush, he just wanted me to start looking at making arrangements. On day 54 even more was coming through. The tear was appearing to increase in size instead of decrease. There was a great deal of drainage as well. This time it was a lot darker, instead of the light color it had been. Dr. Elist wanted me to go to a urologist in my town and have a culture done to make sure there was no infection. He said that he would speak with him and let him know what was going on. If everything was good and there was no infection he would have me come back and would stitch the implant back in place.\n\nThe next day was a little worse. It looked like the tear was getting bigger and the skin was getting thinner. There was major drainage. When the wrap was not on the stuff would just keep coming. It was the same dark color, maybe a little darker. Even putting pressure on my lower abdomen would make more come out.\n\nTwo days later was my appointment with the urologist here. I had never had a reason to see a urologist but he was very nice, late 30s, personable, etc. However, I do not think I have ever been more embarrassed in my life. Completely mortified. The doctor brought me into the room along with a couple of nurses. He was expecting an older man because Dr. Elist told him that I had a penile implant. I am far from that. He had me lay on the table and asked me to move the gown and explain what was the problem. I just looked at him, then at the two young nurses, then back to him. He sat down next to me and said \u201cIt\u2019s ok. I can have one of the nurses leave, but I have to keep one of them.\u201d I nodded and one of them left. I moved my gown and he took the wrap off. When he did fluid poured out and out and out. I just covered my face. When he couldn\u2019t get any more fluid to come out he inserted a long q-tip in the hole quite a ways down my shaft. He didnt have to squeeze or force it in, there was plenty of room between my penis and the implant. He re-wrapped my penis and said that he would call Dr. Elist to discuss things.\n\nDay50a.JPG Day50evening3.JPG Day50evening7.JPG Day50f.JPG\n\nDay54a.JPG Day54b.JPG\n\n\n\nThe doctors office called me back a few days later and told me that there was no infection, which was very good news. I was still draining fluid and still had the open cut behind the glans. I forgot to mention that my erection was also an inch shorter than before surgery, and my flaccid length had remained unchanged.\n\n\n\nOn day 66 another corner of the implant started poking through. Up to this point it was just the left corner of the right half of the implant. Now it was both. I am sorry, I do not have a picture of it.\n\n\n\nTwo days later I was back in Dr. Elist\u2019s office. It was actually very tough to make arrangements; not on his part or mine, but this was booking flights last minute is tough. When Dr. Elist examined the situation he said that there was no way he could safely suture the implant back in place. There was too much damage to the skin and the sutures would just rip out again. He removed the implant on an exam table in his office. He told me there would be no charge for the removal. That was generous of him, don\u2019t you think? It felt good to have it out, but it also felt like defeat.\n\n\n\nHere I had spent thousands of dollars to get a bigger penis only to go through 2 months of hell. Dr. Elist said that I should not worry, that I would get a full refund and he would get a refund from the manufacturer. He told me that we would let everything heal and try it again down the road if I wanted. Hell no.\n\n\n\nTwo days later my penis had severe retraction. It became a nub.\n\n\n\nRoughly one month later the incision had healed nicely. I was still severely retracted, however, and very nervous. At this point all I want to do is get back to my starting size.\n\n\n\nA month later I had regained most of my flaccid length, but there was an adhesion (Dr. Elist\u2019s term) on the shaft that kept my skin from moving forward. I was also 2\u201d shorter erect than prior to surgery. At the two month mark after removal I had regained all of my flaccid length, but no erect length. After the stitches were good and healed, Dr. Elist placed me on a pumping schedule with a pump that he provided. By mid-July I had gained some of my erect length back, but was still 1.5\u201d shorter. At least it was a move in the right direction. My penis had also taken a distinct upward curve. Before I was straight as a board. It didn\u2019t go left, right, up or down at all. Now it curves upward at mid-shaft.\n\n\n\nThere was a large firm mass at the base of my penis. I had to fly back to him and he said that they would inject it with kenalog and lidocain and that would make it go away. He gave me a shot in his office and showed me what to do. He then provided me with the drugs and supplies to do as he did at home four times. It did shrink whatever was there, but there is still some tightness and a small \u201csomething\u201d about the size of a pea.\n\n\n\nAs it stands now 1.5 years after surgery, my flaccid length and girth are same as before, my erect girth is about .25\u201d bigger and my erect length is between 1-1.5\u201d shorter.\n\n\n\nWhen all of this started, Dr. Elist asked me that I not share these photos with anyone and to only discuss this with him. He told me that he would take care of everything and I would be fine. I reminded him again that he told me I would get a refund, but he said that he will not give me a refund. That made me very mad and sad at the same time because I have stood by him through this whole thing, trusting him that what he says is good and true. Now I am out several thousand dollars for the procedure, plus thousands in airfare, and I have a shorter penis than I started with.\n\n\n\nI am tired of being silent about my experience. I simply want people to know that there are potentially very bad outcomes from surgery. Please think long and hard before going into something like this. I learned my lesson the hard way."}
-{"text": "Nobel laureate economist Friedrich Hayek (1899 \u2013 1992) is one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century and his work still resonates with economists and scholars around the world today. Two decades after Hayek\u2019s death, his ideas are increasingly relevant in an era where governments grow ever larger and more interventionist. Essential Hayek is a project of the Fraser Institute, comprised of a book, this website, and several videos, that aim to explain Hayek\u2019s ideas in common, every-day language. It is a resource for all who value liberty.\n\nBorn in Vienna on May 8, 1899, Friedrich A. Hayek moved to England in 1931. While teaching and researching at the London School of Economics, Hayek became one of the world\u2019s most renowned economists even though he was still only in his mid-30s. His fame grew from his research into the causes of what were then called \u201ctrade cycles,\u201d what we today call booms and recessions.\n\nIn the greatly depressed 1930s, of course, such research was especially important. And Hayek wasn\u2019t alone in researching the causes of booms and recessions. Another economist studying the same matter was John Maynard Keynes (pronounced \u201ccanes\u201d). Yet Keynes\u2019s theory of booms and recessions was totally different from Hayek\u2019s. Not only were the two accounts of booms and recessions very different from each other at the purely theoretical level, they also differed in the implications they offered for government policies to deal with economic slumps. Keynes\u2019s theory promised that recessions, even deep ones like the Great Depression, can easily be cured by greater government spending. Hayek\u2019s theory, on the other hand, offered no hope that a slumping economy can be cured by any such easy fix.\n\nAmong professional economists, Hayek\u2019s theory went quickly from being celebrated to being scorned. Keynes\u2019s theory won the day.\n\nWhatever the reasons for Keynes\u2019s victory over Hayek, that victory was total. Keynesian economics came to all but completely dominate the economics profession for the next 40 years and to win widespread acceptance among policy-makers. By the early 1940s Hayek was largely forgotten.\n\nHayek\u2019s time in the shadows, however, was brief. In 1944 he published a book that became a surprise best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic: The Road to Serfdom. In this now-classic volume, Hayek warned that attempts to centrally plan an economy, or even to protect citizens from the downsides of economic change, pave a \u201croad to serfdom.\u201d Hayek showed that if government plans or regulates the economy in as much detail and as heavily as many of the intellectuals and politicians of the day were demanding, government must also regiment citizens and strip them of many cherished freedoms.\n\nHayek did not say (as he is often mistakenly accused of saying) that the slightest bit of government regulation inevitably leads to socialism and tyranny. Rather, his point was that the more intent government is on socializing an economy and regulating it in great detail, the greater are the number of individual freedoms that must be crushed in the process.\n\nAlthough informed by Hayek\u2019s economic brilliance, The Road to Serfdom is not an economics book. It is instead a work of political philosophy, and it marks Hayek\u2019s turning away from writing exclusively about economics for professional economists, to writing about the nature of society for broader audiences. And the audience for The Road to Serfdom was vast. In the United States, the popular magazine Reader\u2019s Digest ran an abridged version of the book in 1945, which proved to be surprisingly successful. (The Road to Serfdom remains relevant and popular. Sixty-five years after its best-selling success with Reader\u2019s Digest, American television and radio host Glenn Beck praised The Road to Serfdom on his Fox News channel program. As a result, in June 2010 Hayek\u2019s 1944 book shot up to a number-one ranking on Amazon.com, where it stayed for a week.)\n\nAlong with his change from narrow economist to broad social scientist, Hayek moved in 1950 to the University of Chicago. During his 12 years at that institution, he was not a professor in the Department of Economics but, instead, in the Committee for Social Thought. While at Chicago Hayek wrote a second and more extensive book in defence of a free society: The Constitution of Liberty, which was published in 1960.\n\nIn subsequent decades, two more such \u201cbig think\u201d books would flow from Hayek\u2019s pen: the three-volume Law, Legislation, and Liberty (published in the 1970s) and Hayek\u2019s final book, The Fatal Conceit (published in 1988). Law, Legislation, and Liberty shows Hayek at his most bold and pioneering. Volume I brilliantly explains the differences between unplanned orders (such as languages and market economies) and planned organizations (such as business firms and centrally planned economies). Volume II explains why the popular idea of \u201csocial justice\u201d is meaningless. Volume III contains Hayek\u2019s most ambitious attempt to describe in detail what the legal and political structure of his ideal society would look like.\n\nThe greatest contribution of Law, Legislation, and Liberty, however, is Hayek\u2019s explanation of the fundamental difference between law and legislation. Influenced by the Italian legal scholar Bruno Leoni, Hayek argued that law is that set of rules that emerges \u201cspontaneously,\u201d unplanned and undesigned. Law forms out of the countless interactions of ordinary people as they go about their daily lives. Legislation, in contrast, is a set of rules and commands that government consciously designs and imposes. Hayek believed that every good society must use a combination of law and legislation, but that much mischief is caused when the two are confused.\n\nWhile still working on volumes II and III of Law, Legislation, and Liberty, Hayek was awarded the 1974 Nobel Prize in Economic Science. Sharing this award with the Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal, Hayek finally was accorded the professional acclaim that he\u2019d lost since his refusal, four decades earlier, to jump onto and ride the Keynesian bandwagon. Hayek\u2019s close friends tell how this award renewed his vigour to work.\n\nHe would live for nearly 18 more years and for much of that time he remained as creative and as productive as ever. His last book, The Fatal Conceit, published in 1988, deepens his insights into the potential creative powers of a society governed by evolved rules rather than by the discretion of political officials or of democratic majorities."}
-{"text": "This article covers the unit. For the 2010 map, see Tempest (map).\n\nThis article covers the current multiplayer version of this unit. For another version see Tempest (Heart of the Swarm).\n\nThis article is a unit stub. You can help Liquipedia by expanding it.\n\nDescription [ edit ]\n\nThe Tempest is a powerful capital ship for the Protoss that can be built from the Stargate once the Fleet Beacon has been completed. Its primary role is as a heavy bombardment unit, using its incredible range to attack air and ground targets from a safe distance. Due to its range of vision being smaller than the Tempest's maximum attack range, it often requires other units to act as spotters in order to use the unit to maximum effect. The Tempest fires very slowly.\n\nIn the LotV beta, the Tempest was heavily modified, with its movement speed increased and its air attack removed. The Disintegration ability was added at the start of the Legacy of the Void beta, but then removed in the first update to Patch 2.5.5, which also restored the Tempest's air attack.\n\nUpgrades [ edit ]\n\nTectonic Destabilizers 150 150 100 Hotkey: T Researched from: Fleet Beacon Improves the Tempest's Resonance Coil to deal +40 damage vs structures.\n\nCompetitive Use [ edit ]\n\nGeneral [ edit ]\n\nThe Tempest is a siege unit that utilizes its extreme range to attack the enemy without receiving damage. One should usually build a minimum number of Tempests to effectively snipe a designated unit in one volley. Picking off large value units one at a time will prevent the opponent from being able to pull them back to save them for later engagements. E.g. 7 Tempests kill a Colossus in one volley of shots. The Tempest synergizes well with the Oracle's Revelation ability, allowing the Tempests to attack the enemy units without needing an Observer to follow them.\n\nTempests are rarely seen in Protoss Vs Protoss games as they offer limited benefit compared to other Protoss options. Their high cost and relatively low damage output makes them a sub-par option against most Protoss builds, including Carriers. They are countered fairly easily by Void Rays due to their high damage against armored units. Tempests can be used with late game army to snipe enemy Colossi and forcing the enemy to retreat or to fight an unfavorable engagement.\n\nAgainst Colossi, an un-upgraded Tempest takes five shots to kill a Colossus, however with +3 air upgrade only four shots are needed.\n\nAs a counter to the Tempest, the Terran player might build a lot of Vikings. The Protoss player can build Stalkers to escort the Tempests.\n\nMarines with stim can close the distance rapidly against isolated Tempests and destroy them in relative ease. Disruptors or Colossus can protect the Tempests by discouraging the enemy infantry army from moving in.\n\nTempests can also be used against the very immobile mech army, using the range difference in order to slowly pick away at the powerful Terran force and by that forcing him or her to make a choice, either move forward into a position that might not be too favorable, back off and lose the position it currently holds, or wait and slowly get picked apart by the Tempests. For this cause only a few Tempests are needed, one or two should be enough at most cases.\n\nTo counter Tempests Zerg will usually spawn army of Corruptors to destroy the ships out of the sky. So it is advisable for Protoss to build several Void Rays, as well as have the support of High Templar for storm and Archons to deal massive amounts of splash damage on Corruptor swarms.\n\nWith the changes of Patch 4.7.1 the Tempest is now a glass cannon with high movement speed and acceleration. This makes them excellent at their intended role of sniping Broodlords as well being able to kite units that don't have a speed advantage such as Hydralisks that are off creep.\n\nGallery [ edit ]\n\nThe original Tempest in the pre-alpha release of Wings of Liberty\n\nQuotes [ edit ]\n\nQuotes Built Selected Annoyed Move Attack Under Attack Kinetic matrix active.\n\nDirect my vengeance. Na ur'mok Aiur. (Translation: We remember Aiur.)\n\nWe fear no enemy.\n\nVictory is in our grasp.\n\nThe golden armada awaits.\n\nVengeance is ours.\n\nOur charge?\n\nWe seek justice. We will pursue our enemies across the stars.\n\nThis vessel was not designed for social interaction!\n\nYou are...irritating.\n\nCarrier? I hardly know her.\n\nNever strike twice unless it's still moving.\n\nI can't hear you over the sound of the storm.\n\nWhat exactly is a jigawatt?\n\nGoodness gracious great balls of lightning.\n\nIt's not the voltage that kills. It's that big explosion afterwards.\n\nI have no mouth, and I must scream. Throw fate to the winds.\n\nFor glory!\n\nA storm is brewing.\n\nPor zalah! (Translation: For glory!)\n\nKinetic matrix charged.\n\nForward to victory.\n\nConfirmed. Your end has come.\n\nWe are the spear of justice!\n\nDirecting overload.\n\nAradal zu mah. (Translation: Victory is assured.)\n\nFeel our fury!\n\nStrike without warning.\n\nVictory is assured. We meet the enemy in glorious battle!\n\nHull integrity failing!\n\nTempest's quotes (video and sound) - YouTube video.\n\nPatch Changes [ edit ]\n\nPatch 2.5.0 Balance Update #1[1] Disintegration ability damage increased to 550\n\nUnits under the effect of Disintegration can't regenerate, heal, or repair health.\n\nPatch 2.5.5 Balance Update #1[2] Now functions as it does in Heart of the Swarm.\n\nPatch 3.8.0 [3] Supply cost increased from 4 to 6.\n\nAnti-ground damage increased from 30 to 35.\n\nAnti-ground weapon range changed from 15 to 8.\n\nNew ability: \u201cDisruption Blast\u201d Charges up for 4 seconds, and then stuns enemy ground units and ground structures in the target area for 7 seconds. 10 cast range, 43 second cooldown, area of effect radius set to 1.95. No friendly fire effect.\n\n\n\nPatch 3.8.0 Balance Update [4] Removed \"Disruption Blast\" ability.\n\nAnti-ground weapon range increased from 8 to 10.\n\nAnti-ground weapon damage increased from 35 to 40.\n\nPatch 3.14.0 [5] Kinetic Overload damage increased from 30 (+14 massive) to 30 (+22 massive).\n\nPatch 4.7.1 [6] Cost decreased from 300/200 to 250/175.\n\nSupply cost decreased from 6 to 5.\n\nHP/Shields decreased from 300/150 to 150/125.\n\nMovement speed increased from 2.63 to 3.5.\n\nAcceleration increased from 1.49 to 2.8.\n\nPatch 4.8.2 [7] Movement speed decreased from 3.5 to 3.15.\n\nAcceleration decreased from 2.8 to 2.1.\n\nPatch 4.11.0 [8] Kinetic Overload (anti-air) range decreased from 15 to 14.\n\nHealth increased from 150 to 200.\n\nShields decreased from 125 to 100.\n\nPatch 5.0.2 BU [9] New upgrade found on the Fleet Beacon: Tectonic Destabilizers Effect: Improves the Tempest's Resonance Coil to deal +40 damage vs structures. Cost: 150/150. Research time: 100 seconds.\n\n\n\nNotes [ edit ]"}
-{"text": "Significance Deploying coal-bioenergy gasification systems with carbon capture and storage (CBECCS) provides a promising opportunity for China to realize its carbon mitigation and air pollution abatement goals simultaneously. We conducted a comprehensive assessment of CBECCS technology for China, with a focus on plant and fuel configurations (e.g., biomass ratios) and economics, as well as CO 2 and greenhouse gas emissions and cobenefits for air quality. We find significant opportunities for carbon mitigation with air quality cobenefits from deployment of CBECCS systems in regions that are both rich in crop residues and facing urgent needs to curb serious air pollution. The study thus provides critical information for policy makers seeking to exploit the carbon-negative energy opportunities of CBECCS technology.\n\nAbstract Realizing the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 2 \u00b0C by the end of this century will most likely require deployment of carbon-negative technologies. It is particularly important that China, as the world\u2019s top carbon emitter, avoids being locked into carbon-intensive, coal-fired power-generation technologies and undertakes a smooth transition from high- to negative-carbon electricity production. We focus here on deploying a combination of coal and biomass energy to produce electricity in China using an integrated gasification cycle system combined with carbon capture and storage (CBECCS). Such a system will also reduce air pollutant emissions, thus contributing to China\u2019s near-term goal of improving air quality. We evaluate the bus-bar electricity-generation prices for CBECCS with mixing ratios of crop residues varying from 0 to 100%, as well as associated costs for carbon mitigation and cobenefits for air quality. We find that CBECCS systems employing a crop residue ratio of 35% could produce electricity with net-zero life-cycle emissions of greenhouse gases, with a levelized cost of electricity of no more than 9.2 US cents per kilowatt hour. A carbon price of approximately $52.0 per ton would make CBECCS cost-competitive with pulverized coal power plants. Therefore, our results provide critical insights for designing a CBECCS strategy in China to harness near-term air-quality cobenefits while laying the foundation for achieving negative carbon emissions in the long run.\n\nDeployment of carbon-negative technologies will likely play an important role in achieving long-term carbon mitigation targets. The Paris Agreement on climate change set ambitious targets to hold the increase in the global average temperature to below 2 \u00b0C and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 \u00b0C (1). Many mitigation scenarios have been designed using integrated assessment models to explore possible pathways to achieve the Paris goals. A common feature across all of the climate-stabilization scenarios explored in the 1.5 \u00b0C Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report (2) is that large-scale application of carbon-negative technologies, especially bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), will be necessary in the second half of the century (3). Although the scale of BECCS capacity varies, some deployment of BECCS technology is required in all of these scenarios to achieve deep cuts in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (4).\n\nAlthough the importance of negative emission technologies is widely acknowledged, progress in advancing BECCS deployment has been slow. Given that first-of-a-kind plants will likely be too expensive without substantial government subsidies, cost buy-down and learning by doing has to begin soon for BECCS to be ready for unsubsidized, widespread deployment by midcentury. In addition, due to the difficulty in reversing existing commitments to inexpensive new coal-fired power plants in many developing countries, the need for carbon-negative electricity-generating technologies is even more urgent to offset emissions anticipated from these plants.\n\nExisting studies of BECCS often focus on two technology pathways to convert bioenergy into liquid fuels: (i) through biochemical processes, such as bioethanol production with fermentation (5), and (ii) through thermochemical processes, such as gasification combined with Fischer\u2013Tropsch processing (6, 7) or pyrolysis with catalysis and upgrading (8). For the biochemical pathway, although proven technologies are available for converting sugars and grains to ethanol, BECCS using biochemical processes faces challenges such as land-use limits and food security concerns (5). In contrast, thermochemical processes that use crop residues as fuel stocks have been suggested in a number of studies as a more promising carbon mitigation option (9, 10). However, the most important obstacle in this case, at least in the near term, is the competition posed by persistently low oil prices (9, 11, 12).\n\nThis analysis focuses on an alternative pathway that relies on thermochemical conversion of coal and crop biomass to generate electricity. Specifically, mixtures of coal and crop residues are used as fuel inputs to an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) system to produce electricity. Through this process, CO 2 emissions are concentrated and ready for CCS (hereafter referred to as CBECCS to signify coal and biomass energy inputs). This pathway has multiple advantages. CBECCS produces large quantities of baseload electricity that can be easily integrated into existing power markets. It also has flexibility with respect to the coal-to-biomass ratio, carbon intensities, and processing scales. Both features are favorable for immediate deployment while contributing to commercialization in the longer term.\n\nHere we use China as an important test case for two reasons. First, CBECCS technology offers an opportunity for China to simultaneously address its long-term climate challenges and short-term air pollution problems (13). As the largest CO 2 -emitting country, China contributed 9.6 gigatons (Gt) of energy-related CO 2 emissions (mainly from coal) in 2015, accounting for 26.4% of total global emissions (14, 15). China also pledged in the Paris Agreement to peak its carbon emissions by 2030 or earlier, to reduce its carbon intensity by 60 to 65%, and to increase nonfossil energy to 20% of its total primary energy consumption by the same time (16). CBECCS systems can thus contribute to China\u2019s commitment to decarbonize its energy system. Furthermore, in contrast to traditional coal-fired power plants, CBECCS systems also remove nearly all of the particulate matters (including the particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 2.5 \u03bcm, PM 2.5 ), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), and sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) from syngas before initiating the combustion process to generate electricity (6, 17, 18). As a result, per-kilowatt-hour emissions of PM 2.5 , NO X , and SO 2 from a CBECCS plant are significantly lower than those from pulverized coal (PC) power plants. Furthermore, burning crop residues (in open fields and in conjunction with residential cooking and heating) is an important source of outdoor and indoor air pollution in China at present (19, 20). By using crop residues as fuel input, CBECCS systems could avoid air pollution and health impacts associated with biomass burning, as is demonstrated below. Therefore, deploying CBECCS could bring localized, near-term air-quality cobenefits while facilitating a smooth transition toward a carbon-neutral and ultimately carbon-negative electric power system in the future.\n\nSecond, at a time when global CCS deployment appears to be faltering, China stands out as a particularly promising opportunity to advance CO 2 capture via gasification, which is as a key component of CBECCS. Among the three CO 2 capture approaches\u2014precombustion (e.g., via gasification), postcombustion, and oxy-combustion capture\u2014only postcombustion is advancing, notably by the Petra Nova coal CCS retrofit project in Texas that came online in 2017 (21). The other two approaches have not advanced much to date. However, while many planned or initiated IGCC-CCS projects in other places have been canceled, the GreenGen IGCC demonstration project in China is an exception; phase I has been under successful operation for 7 y, since 2012 (22). Phase II is scheduled to come online in the 2020s, with the goal of ultimately integrating key technologies including IGCC and CO 2 capture, utilization, and storage (22). Therefore, China and its GreenGen project could offer a promising near-term opportunity to advance the technology of coal and biomass gasification with CCS.\n\nThis study adopts a holistic approach to evaluate the cost performance, carbon mitigation potential, and air-quality benefits of deployment of CBECCS systems using crop residues in China. Based on simulations of the CBECCS systems using Aspen Plus (11, 23), energy flow and carbon footprints are evaluated for the entire thermochemical conversion processes. We assess then their cost competitiveness compared with supercritical PC (SC-PC) plants under various carbon prices. In addition, we quantify the air-quality cobenefits of deploying 150-GW CBECCS systems in mainland China (based on projected scale of future coal additions), which utilizes around 24.3% of available crop residues (SI Appendix, Table S8).\n\nWe highlight three findings. First, with a mass fraction of crop residues greater than 35% in the coal\u2013biomass fuel mixture, CBECCS systems could generate electricity with net-zero life-cycle emissions of GHGs (in CO 2 -eqivalent). Second, when the carbon price reaches $52.0 per ton of CO 2 , net-zero GHG CBECCS systems become economically competitive compared with traditional PC power plants, with a levelized cost for electricity (LCOE) of roughly 9.2 US cents per kilowatt hour. The cost competitiveness of the CBECCS systems is also affected strongly by the price of biomass. Finally, deployment of CBECCS systems can significantly reduce air pollutant emissions and improve air quality. For instance, in the highly polluted North China region, the potential reduction in air pollutants (SO 2 , NO X , and primary PM 2.5 ) from deployment of \u223c24.3 GW of CBECCS systems could lead to a 6.8% reduction in annual average PM 2.5 concentration in 2015. This measure alone could contribute to more than 27% of the pollution-reduction target that was announced for the Beijing\u2013Tianjin\u2013Hebei (BTH) part of the North China region in the Action Plan on Prevention and Control of Air Pollution issued by China\u2019s State Council. While CBECCS systems currently have relatively high costs, air pollution concerns provide an additional incentive for early deployment and may facilitate long-term cost reduction as learning progresses.\n\nDiscussion Pathways for Deploying CBECCS in China. Deploying CBECCS systems that use crop residues as biomass input represents a win\u2013win strategy to curb air pollution and carbon emissions in China (49, 50). There can be four major benefits of CBECCS deployment in China: (i) CBECCS can ultimately achieve negative GHG emission as the biomass ratio increases; (ii) OBB/DBB and associated air pollution could be avoided by utilizing biomass as fuel inputs to the CBECCS system; (iii) farmers can gain additional compensation from selling crop residue biomass, which can benefit rural economic development; and (iv) compared with other countries or regions such as the United States and the European Union, the capital and operating costs for the CBECCS system are likely to be much lower in China, providing a lower-cost opportunity for deployment (22, 51). While our analysis focuses on China, many countries in the developing world, such as Brazil and India, also face the challenge of addressing climate change as well as serious air pollution from biomass burning. The CBECCS roadmap in China hence also has reference value for the developing world to harness the cobenefits of mitigating both air pollution and CO 2 emissions. To achieve a greater role of CBECCS in China\u2019s long-term decarbonization strategy, near-term deployment could focus on a few provinces that have an abundant supply of biomass and opportunities for CO 2 sequestration on the one hand and that are also under pressure to curb local coal use and reduce air pollution on the other hand. As illustrated in SI Appendix, Fig. S4 and Table S8, production of crop residues in China is concentrated particularly in two grain-producing areas, namely the Huang-Huai-Hai region and the Northeast Plain. The top five areas in China for crop density are located in 10 provinces that also have large local electricity demand and suffer from serious local air pollution (SI Appendix, Table S17) (40). In addition, Huabei and Yuwan basins, covering Hebei, Hena, Shandong, and Anhui provinces, have abundant sequestration capacities for CO 2 , estimated at 264 Gt and 186 Gt, respectively (SI Appendix, Table S18). Judging on basis of these criteria, we suggest therefore that four provinces\u2014Shandong, Henan, Hebei, and Anhui\u2014could be candidates for early demonstration and initial deployment of CBECCS. These provinces have a sufficient supply of crop residues, abundant CO 2 sequestration capacities, large existing local thermal generation fleets, and significant local emissions of carbon and air pollutants (Fig. 4 and SI Appendix, Fig. S5 and Table S8). Deploying CBECCS systems in these provinces could utilize local crop residues and curb air pollution and at the same time increase green electricity generation. To deploy CBECCS technology on a large scale in China will require overcoming a number of barriers, including managing the risks and uncertainties associated with relevant technologies, biomass collection, and carbon policy. First, CBECCS systems depend on a complex combination of advanced technologies including EF gasification, WGS conversion, CCS, and hydrogen combustion in gas turbines. Although IGCC, a key component of CBECCS, is a mature technology in the United States and Europe, its application in China is still at the demonstration phase. Research and development programs and demonstration projects are required for China to master the core technologies and to gain experience to avoid technical risks (50). Second, to ensure a reliable supply of bioenergy at a large scale, a point-to-point biomass collection network must be established in agricultural and/or forested areas to improve collection efficiency (6). Centrally mechanized crop harvests could not only lower the costs for collecting crop residues but also contribute to an increase in agricultural productivity (52). As the supply of biomass fluctuates with season, storage facilities will also be required to guarantee a stable and reliable supply of fuel feedstock for CBECCS systems. Some pretreatment measures, such as pelletization and torrefaction, could be applied to reduce storage space and risks (53). In addition, switching from crop residues to larger-scale and more reliable substitutes, such as forest biomass, could contribute to a more stable supply (54). Third, despite significantly lower emissions of CO 2 and pollutants, the capital and fixed O&M costs for CBECCS systems are 102.17% and 117.94% higher than SC-PC power plants, respectively (22). Without a price on emissions, especially CO 2 , it is uneconomical for CBECCS to compete with conventional coal-fired power plants at present and to realize the associated carbon and environmental cobenefits. In China, a national carbon market, starting with the electricity sector, was announced in December 2017 and is now planned to come fully online in 2020. It will introduce a price on carbon emissions that should favor low-carbon technologies such as CBECCS (6). Additional incentives would be required to reach the critical break-even point (around $52.0 per ton of CO 2 ) to effectively facilitate large-scale application of CBECCS. The Role of CBECCS as Part of a Broad CCS Roadmap for China. In the broad context of designing China\u2019s CCS strategy, besides gasification-based precombustion CO 2 capture technology as the focus of this study, postcombustion capture has also been viewed as a promising technology choice, especially as an option to retrofit existing coal-fired plants (43). Successful commercial-scale demonstrations have already been realized in China and elsewhere (22). However, retrofitting existing coal power plants entails logistic challenges, such as whether there is a CO 2 storage site in the proximity and whether there is adequate on-site space to add postcombustion facilities. In comparison, since the pace of new coal plant additions in China is projected to slow down in the coming decades, the market for CBECCS via gasification is likely to involve replacing coal power plants that will be retired by midcentury or later (55). For consistency with such a time horizon, this study compares the economic and environmental implications of CBECCS with most advanced coal units at present, that is, supercritical and ultra-supercritical coal units. To inform China\u2019s long-term roadmap for CCS and how the CBECCS market should be divided between gasification and postcombustion approaches, the policymakers and investors need to compare the option of constructing new CBECCS plants using precombustion capture technology, with the strategy of retrofitting or constructing coal power plants using biomass cofiring and postcombustion capture technology. Answering these questions requires future research on plant-based evaluation of existing coal plants for their space and water availability to add and operate postcombustion capture facilities, and for the associated changes in costs and efficiency (43, 56, 57). Then the option of retrofitting existing plants can be compared with the option of building new plants that use gasification or postcombustion approaches. Although a quantitative comparison goes beyond the scope of the present study, qualitatively CBECCS with gasification has a number of advantages over postcombustion technology. Most importantly, although retrofitting conventional coal units with postcombustion CCS can certainly lower carbon emissions, it is constrained by a technical limit for the biomass cofiring ratio, which consequently limits the carbon mitigation potential. At present, the biomass share in biomass/coal cofired plants is usually below 5% and rarely exceeds 10% on a continuous basis, although 20% cofiring is technically feasible (58). In contrast, CBECCS technology can operate not only at high biomass ratios but can achieve zero life-cycle CO 2 emissions with a biomass ratio as low as 35%. Therefore, given the ultimate need for negative carbon emissions to address the climate challenge, CBECCS via gasification provides a more promising opportunity to gradually increase the biomass ratio, thus laying the foundation for a complete shift away from fossil energy and for negative-carbon electricity in the long run.\n\nAcknowledgments We thank the reviewers for valuable and constructive suggestions. We are particularly grateful to one of the reviewers for her/his painstaking efforts to critique several versions of the manuscript and for questions raised that contributed to an important improvement in the final presentation. X.L., L.C., J.X., S.W., and S.C. were supported by the National Key R&D Program 2016YFC0208901, National Natural Science Foundation of China Projects 71722003 and 71690244, State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, Collaborative Innovation Centre for Regional Environmental Quality, State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, and Volvo Group in a research project of the Research Center for Green Economy and Sustainable Development, Tsinghua University; and H.W., Q.Y., C.P.N., and M.B.M. were supported by a grant from the Harvard Global Institute to the Harvard-China Project titled \u201cChina 2030/2050: Energy and Environmental Challenges for the Future.\u201d\n\nFootnotes Author contributions: X.L. and M.B.M. designed research; X.L. and L.C. performed research; X.L., L.C., J.X., S.W., S.C., and Q.Y. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; X.L., L.C., H.W., W.P., Q.Y., C.P.N., and M.B.M. analyzed data; and X.L., L.C., H.W., W.P., J.X., S.W., B.S., C.P.N., and M.B.M. wrote the paper.\n\nThe authors declare no conflict of interest.\n\nThis article is a PNAS Direct Submission.\n\nThis article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1812239116/-/DCSupplemental."}
-{"text": "Last updated on .From the section Southampton\n\nDusan Tadic scored 23 goals in four seasons with Southampton\n\nSouthampton winger Dusan Tadic has agreed to join Dutch club Ajax for an initial 11.4 million euros (\u00a310m).\n\nThe 29-year-old Serbia midfielder, who is in Russia for the World Cup, leaves Saints after four years.\n\nHe joined from FC Twente for \u00a310.9m in the summer of 2014 and scored 23 goals in 162 appearances for the club.\n\nTadic, who signed a new four-year deal in 2016, will officially complete his move when the transfer window opens on 1 July.\n\nThe attacker has signed a four-year deal with the Eredivisie club and the fee could rise to \u00a311.4m.\n\nSerbia face Brazil on Wednesday (19:00 BST) and can qualify for the round of 16 with a win.\n\nFind all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page."}
-{"text": "This week we are honored to host activist, farmer and educator, Leah Penniman. Leah lives in steadfast dedication to her mission of weaving the vast and vital threads of honoring heritage, building relationship to land and ending racism and injustice in the food system.\n\nSoul Fire Farm in Upstate New York is a hotbed for regeneration, grassroots activism and education based in agroecology and Afro-Ecology, a form of art, movement, practice, and process of social and ecological transformation that involves the re-evaluation of our sacred relationships with land, water, air, seeds and food.\n\nIn 2009, Soul Fire\u2019s soil was initially ranked on the worst level by the USDA Agricultural Soil Classification, with only 6 inches of topsoil. From 2009 to 2017, their topsoil increased by 300% (6 to 18 inches) through regenerative and ancestral farming practices now sequestering up to 4,000 pounds of carbon.\n\nLeah and the folks of Soul Fire Farm leave no stone unturned in the integration between social and environmental justice. Leah serves as a true leader of our generation, asking us to show up to these times with full heart rooted tangible action, healing the earth and one another."}
-{"text": "Traders work in the Eurodollar pit at the CME Group in Chicago on June 23, 2010. After a two-day meeting, the Federal Reserve voted to hold interest rates at record lows amid the continuing European debt crisis. UPI/Brian Kersey | License Photo\n\nNEW YORK, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Raising taxes on high-end U.S. taxpayers should be the first step taken in balancing the federal budget, a CBS \"60 Minutes\"/Vanity Fair poll Monday indicated.\n\nSixty-one percent of Americans said they thought increasing taxes on the wealthy should be the first thing done to help bring the budget into balance, while 20 percent said they preferred cuts to Pentagon spending as their first option, The Hill reported.\n\n\nFour percent said cutting Medicare would be the best way to begin to cut the deficit while 3 percent of participants said they preferred cutting Social Security.\n\nRaising taxes for the wealthy was popular among the wealthy themselves, the poll revealed. Fifty-eight percent of respondents making between $50,000 and $100,000 per year ranked tax hikes as the best first step to balancing the budget, while 46 percent of people earning more than $100,000 said it was their top choice.\n\nResults are based on nationwide interviews with 1,137 adults Nov. 29-Dec. 2. It has a 3 percentage point margin of error."}
-{"text": "Smoke Rings\n\nThe tobacco industry duped both academic journals and the media.\n\nBy George Monbiot, published in the Guardian, 7th February 2006\n\nThree weeks ago, while looking for something else, I came across one of the most extraordinary documents I have ever read. It relates to an organisation called Arise, which stands for Associates for Research into the Science of Enjoyment. Though largely forgotten today, in the 1990s it was one of the world\u2019s most influential public health groups. First I should explain what it claimed to stand for.\n\nArise was founded in 1988 and seems to have been active until 2004. It described itself as \u201ca worldwide association of eminent scientists who act as independent commentators\u201d(1). Its purpose, these eminent scientists claimed, was to show how \u201ceveryday pleasures, such as eating chocolate, smoking, drinking tea, coffee and alcohol, contribute to the quality of life.\u201d(2)\n\nIt maintained that there were good reasons for dropping our inhibitions and indulging ourselves. \u201cScientific studies show that enjoying the simple pleasures in life, without feeling guilty, can reduce stress and increase resistance to disease. \u2026 Conversely, guilt can increase stress and undermine the immune system \u2026 This can lead to, for instance, forgetfulness, eating disorders, heart problems or brain damage.\u201d(3) The \u201chealth police\u201d, as Arise sometimes called them(4), could be causing more harm than good.\n\nArise received an astonishing amount of coverage. Between September 1993 and March 1994, for example, it generated 195 newspaper articles and radio and television interviews, in places like the Wall Street Journal, the International Herald Tribune, the Independent, the Evening Standard, El Pais, La Repubblica, RAI and the BBC(5). Much of this coverage resulted from a Mori poll, called \u201cNaughty but Nice\u201d, that Arise claimed to have commissioned, into the guilty pleasures people enjoyed most. Here is a typical example (this one was written by Reuters):\n\n\u201cPuritanical health workers who dictate whether people should smoke or drink alcohol and coffee are trying to ruin the quality of life, a group of academics said. \u2026 \u201cMany of us hold the view that it is a person\u2019s right to enjoy these pleasures \u2026,\u201d said Professor David Warburton, a professor of pharmacology at Reading University in England. \u2026 \u201cMuch of health promotion is based on misinformation. It is politically driven\u201d.\u201d(6)\n\nThe Today programme gave David Warburton an uncontested interview in the prime spot \u2013 at 8.20am. He extolled the calming properties of cigarettes and poured scorn on public health messages(7). Arise has also featured three times in the Guardian. Coverage like this continued until October 2004, when the Times repeated Arise\u2019s claim that we should stop \u201cworrying about often ill-founded health scares\u201d and \u201clisten to our bodies, which naturally seek to protect themselves from disease by doing the things we enjoy.\u201d(8) In hundreds of articles and transcripts covering its assertions, I have found just one instance of a journalist \u2013 Madeleine Bunting in the Guardian \u2013 questioning either Arise\u2019s science or the motivation of the scientists(9).\n\nThe man who claimed to run the group, Professor David Warburton, was head of psychopharmacology at the University of Reading. During the period in which it was active, he published at least a dozen articles on nicotine in the academic press. In 1989, in The Psychologist, he mocked the finding by the US Surgeon-General that nicotine is addictive(10). Most of his articles were published in the journal Psychopharmacology, of which he was a senior editor. They maintained that nicotine improved both attention and memory. I have read seven of these papers(11). On none of them could I find a declaration of financial interests, except for two grants from the Wellcome Trust.\n\nIn 1998, as part of a settlement of a class action against the tobacco companies in the US, the firms were obliged to place their internal documents in a public archive. Among them is the one I came across last month. It is a memo from an executive in the corporate services department of Philip Morris \u2013 the world\u2019s largest tobacco company \u2013 to one of her colleagues. The title is \u201cArise 1994-95 Activities and Funding\u201d(12).\n\n\u201cI had a meeting,\u201d she began, \u201cwith Charles Hay and Jacqui Smithson (Rothmans) to agree on the 1994-1995 activity plan for Arise and to discuss the funding needed. Enclosed is a copy of our presentation.\u201d\n\nThis showed that in the previous financial year, Arise had received $373,400. Of this, $2000 had come from Coca-cola, $900 from other firms and the remainder from Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, RJ Reynolds and Rothmans(13). Over 99% of its funding, in other words, had been provided by the tobacco companies.\n\nFor 1994-95, Arise\u2019s budget would be $773,750. Rothmans and RJ Reynolds had each committed to provide $200,000 of this, and BAT \u201chas also shown interest\u201d. She suggested that Philip Morris put up $300,000. Then the memo becomes even more interesting.\n\n\u201cThe previous \u2018Naughty but Nice\u2019 Mori poll proved to be very effective in getting wide media coverage. The exercise will be repeated this year on the theme of \u2018Stress in the Workplace\u2019 \u2026 A draft questionnaire was already submitted to T. Andrade and M. Winokur for comments.\u201d (Tony Andrade was Philip Morris\u2019s senior lawyer(14), and Matt Winokur its director of regulatory affairs(15)). \u201cWe decided to hold,\u201d it continued, Arise\u2019s next conference in Europe, because of the \u201cpositive European media coverage\u201d(16). Philip Morris had appointed a London PR agency to run the media operation, set up Arise\u2019s secretariat and help to recruit new members. Arise\u2019s \u201cmajor spending authorisation and approval would be handled by an \u2018informal\u2019 Budget Committee involving PM, Rothmans and possibly RJR and BAT.\u201d(17)\n\nThe memo suggests, in other words, that Arise was run and managed not by eminent scientists but by eminent tobacco companies. This impression is reinforced by another document in the tobacco archive, which explains how the group began. \u201cIn 1988 the US Surgeon General said: \u201cNicotine was as addictive as heroin or cocaine.\u201d The industry responded. A group of academics was identified and called together to: \u2013 review the science of substance abuse, \u2013 separate nicotine from these substances\u201d(18).\n\nI sent a list of questions to Professor Warburton, but he told me that he did not have time to answer them(19). Reading University replied that it knew Professor Warburton\u2019s work had been sponsored by the tobacco companies. Indeed, the university itself had received over \u00a3300,000 from Arise, though \u201cfrom the University\u2019s standpoint, the source of funding for Arise has always been vague\u201d(20). It revealed that \u201cProfessor Warburton and the University of Reading were in receipt of BAT research funding between 1995 and 2003.\u201d But at no time had it questioned this funding or sought to oblige Warburton to declare his interests in academic papers. Astonishingly, it suggested that this would amount to \u201ccensorship\u201d and \u201crestricting academic freedom\u201d(21).\n\nThe journal Psychopharmacology told me that it was unaware that Professor Warburton had been taking money from the tobacco companies. \u201cIt is an author\u2019s responsibilty to disclose sources of funding, and widely understood that journals themselves do not expect to police this declaration.\u201d(22)\n\nAfter a long career untroubled by questions about his interests or his professional ethics, David Warburton retired in 2003. He still lectures at Reading as Emeritus Professor.\n\nHow much more science is being published in academic journals with undeclared interests like these? How many more media campaigns against \u201cover-regulation\u201d, the \u201ccompensation culture\u201d or \u201cunfounded public fears\u201d have been secretly funded and steered by corporations? How many more undeclared recipients of corporate money have been appearing on the Today programme, providing free public relations for their sponsors? This case suggests to me that both academia and the media have failed dismally to exercise sufficient scepticism. Surely there is one obvious question with which every journal and every journalist should begin. \u201cWho\u2019s funding you?\u201d\n\nwww.monbiot.com\n\nReferences:\n\n1. Arise, 28th September 1993. Scientists meet in Brussels to reflect on the quality of life. Press release. Document 2023437459. http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2023437459-7460.pdf\n\n2. ibid.\n\n3. PR Newswire Europe Ltd, 7th November 1996. \u201990s Guilt-Trap Could Threaten UK Health, Say Scientists.\n\nhttp://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=16552\n\n4. ABC News, 19th April 2000. Eat, drink and be healthy. http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s119688.htm\n\n5. Arise, March 1994. Media Coverage. Document 2025500665. http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2025500665-0956.pdf\n\n6. Sue Pleming, 24th September 1993. Health puritans accused of ruining quality of life. Reuters.\n\n7. Today programme, 25th September 1993. BBC Radio 4.\n\n8. Sheila Keating, 23rd October 2004. Relax your diet. The Times.\n\n9. Madeleine Bunting, 12th November 1994. Eat, drink,and be very provocative. The Guardian.\n\n10. David M. Warburton, April 1989. Is nicotine use an addiction? The Psychologist.\n\n11. D.M.Warburton, September 1992. Nicotine issues. Editorial. Psychopharmacology Vol 108 number 4; D.M.Warburton, J.M.Rusted, J.Fowler, September 1992. A comparison of the attentional and consolidation hypotheses for the facilitation of memory by nicotine. Psychopharmacology Vol 108 number 4; D.M.Warburton and C.Arnall, August 1994. Improvements in performance without nicotine withdrawal. Psychopharmacology Vol 115 number 4; Jennifer Rusted, Lida Graupner, David Warburton, June 1995. Effects of post-trial administration of nicotine on human memory: evaluating the conditions for improving memory, Psychopharmacology, Vol 119, number 4; Hazel M. Gilbert and David M. Warburton, 2000. Craving: a problematic concept in smoking research. Addiction Research, Vol 8, no 4; David M. Warburton, Abigail Skinner, Christopher D. Martin, 2001. Improved incidental memory with nicotine after semantic processing, but not after phonological processing. Psychopharmacology Vol 153 no 2; David M. Warburton, 2002. Commentary on: \u201cEffects of scopolamine and nicotine on human rapid information processing performance.\u201d Psychopharmacology Vol 162 no 4.\n\n12. Helene Lyberopoulos, 13th June 1994. ARISE 1994-95 Activities and Funding. Philip Morris Corporate Services Inc. Document 2024208096. http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2024208096-8099.pdf.\n\n13. ibid.\n\n14. See http://tobaccodocuments.org/bliley_pm/24415.html\n\n15. See http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2028385351.html\n\n16. Helene Lyberopoulos, ibid.\n\n17. ibid.\n\n18. Arise, probably September 1993. No title. Document number 2504092465. http://tobaccodocuments.org/landman/2504092465-2482.html\n\n19. Email from David Warburton, 22nd January 2006. d.m.warburton@reading.ac.uk\n\n20. Email from Sue Rayner, 2nd February 2006. s.j.rayner@reading.ac.uk\n\n21. ibid.\n\n22. Email from Dr. Andrea Pillmann, Editor, Biomedical Sciences, Springer Verlag GmbH, 30th January 2006. Andrea.Pillmann@springer.com"}
-{"text": "Thousands of miles away from where Osama bin Laden was killed, on a remote chain of Libyan mountains that crown the Sahara Desert, there comes a warning: the ideology of Al Qaeda is certain to outlast the group\u2019s most famous leader.\n\n\u201cI am happy that Osama bin Laden is dead, because he represents the wrong face of Islam and the root of destruction,\u201d says Mazen Naluti, a Muslim believer in the Libyan opposition city of Nalut, 20 miles from the Tunisian border. \u201cBut I am sad because [he] died without recanting this ideology.\u201d\n\nThis believer, a Libyan rebel whose real name could not be used for security reasons, repudiates extremism. But he fears that the persistence of the reasons that first gave rise to Al Qaeda\u2019s worldview mean that in Libya and beyond the ideology will not be stopped. Already, says Mr. Naluti, the NATO-led conflict against Col. Muammar Qaddafi \u2013 begun six weeks ago and with no end in sight \u2013 is opening the door to foreign jihadists. The longer it lasts, the greater problem it becomes.\n\n\u201cAl Qaeda [is] getting more and more organized and bringing people [to Libya] from abroad,\u201d says the believer, adding that he has been contacted by militants wanting to fight in his homeland. He has not joined the frontline against forces loyal to Qaddafi because he says Muslims should not kill Muslims. \"This is a great land for Al Qaeda. There are a lot of opportunities for them here. They are not far away in Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt.\"\n\nAnd the death of Bin Laden won\u2019t change that, he adds: \u201cFor Islamic organizations leadership doesn\u2019t mean much, ideology does. Leadership is just a soul that comes and goes. Ideology stays.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow that Bin Laden is dead, a lot of leaders in the shade will come out \u2026 and will be smarter than him and better than him,\u201d says Naluti. \u201cAl Qaeda will continue. The clash of civilizations will continue.\u201d\n\nThat is the assumption of Al Qaeda itself, which on Monday vowed to avenge the killing of Bin Laden, the \u201cSheikh of Islam.\u201d\n\nAl Qaeda weakened, but not finished\n\n\u201cThe battle between us and international tyranny is long and will not be stopped by the martyrdom of our beloved one, the lion of Islam,\u201d said a top Al-Qaeda ideologue in the first jihadist statement to confirm Bin Laden\u2019s death, as translated by the Associated Press. \u201cHow many martyrdom seekers have [been] born today?\u201d\n\nAl Qaeda has suffered defeats in Iraq and across the Islamic world in recent years, and is seen by many as a spent force that can no longer muster the organization and trained militants needed to carry out spectacular attacks like those of 9/11.\n\nFurther proof of Al Qaeda\u2019s demise is seen in the pro-democracy Arab awakening, in which secular people-power revolutions from Tunisia and Egypt to Syria and Yemen have rendered Al Qaeda\u2019s religious brand of jihad irrelevant by showing that there is a different, more effective way to bring down unjust autocratic rulers.\n\nBut the views of Naluti, who studied Islam in Yemen and was jailed years for his religiosity, are instructive in understanding how Al Qaeda will continue beyond Bin Laden.\n\nPersuading jihadists to temper their views\n\nCol. Qaddafi has claimed that the entire opposition are Al Qaeda \u201cterrorists,\u201d and feigned wonder that a Western-led coalition has rejected his uncompromising tactics. That firm stance is no different from how the US or Europe deal with Al Qaeda militants attacking their nations, he suggested.\n\nBut Qaddafi\u2019s view is \u201cnot accurate,\u201d says Naluti, who notes that Qaddafi has long challenged religious beliefs he considered a danger during nearly 42 years of rule. Naluti studied Islamic theology in Yemen for two years in the mid-1990s under moderate sheikhs \u2013 at schools, he says, where extremists were expected to either moderate their views or were kicked out.\n\nHe was placed on a Libyan government watch list, entered the country illegally from Tunisia using smuggler routes, and then was arrested during a routine check in Tripoli. His beard and short trousers marked him as a Salafist, which prompted 13 days of interrogation and torture \u2013 including electric shock treatment to sensitive parts of the body, he says \u2013 followed by four years in prison.\n\nBut even behind the prison walls, this believer and like-minded moderates had some success in convincing hard-line jihadists \u2013 among them mujahideen veterans who fought the US-backed war against Soviet occupation in Afghanistan in the 1980s \u2013 to temper their views.\n\n\u201cI [had been] studying with sheikhs who refused this extremism,\u201d recalls the Libyan believer. \u201cThis is one of the problems: Anyone who is ignorant goes to some [extremist] and they change their minds. One has to protect himself with good knowledge.\u201d\n\nThose who would not change helped form the seed of Al Qaeda, says the Libyan, in the \u201chouse\u201d of Al Qaeda, which was Afghanistan. They were prominent, too, during the Iraq insurgency, according to a trove of documents captured by American troops about foreign fighters crossing into Iraq from Syria. A surprising amount of suicide bombers in 2006-07 hailed from eastern Libya.\n\nFour reasons why Al Qaeda ideology may outlast Bin Laden\n\nHow might that anti-Western, anti-infidel jihadist ideology outlast Bin Laden?\n\n\u201cThere are several reasons that can make it grow, and it will truly increase if things continue as they are,\u201d warns Naluti. Many of those reasons helped spawn Al Qaeda in the first place, and have only been magnified by the US invasion of Iraq and other events in the decade since.\n\nTop of the list is ignorance of \u201cthe true Islam,\u201d which is moderate and respectful, says Naluti.\n\nSecond is what is often perceived across the Middle East as the \u201coppression of the Muslim countries by the West, and stealing their wealth under any umbrella like spreading democracy or eradicating illiteracy or \u2026 war on terror,\u201d he adds. From Palestinians to Bosnians, he asserts, \u201cMuslims reject this.\u201d\n\nThird is the \u201ccollaboration, whether obvious or hidden, of Arab leaders with the West,\u201d says Naluti, because \u201cthe people are moved by emotions.\u201d Although the Saudi-born Bin Laden once helped facilitate CIA and Pakistani support of mujahideen \u201choly warriors\u201d in Afghanistan, he later made removal of US forces from the Saudi Arabia \u2013 the custodians of Islam\u2019s holiest shrines at Mecca and Medina \u2013 his top demand.\n\nA fourth reason for Al Qaeda\u2019s continued appeal, says the Libyan, are \u201cdouble standards by the West,\u201d which incorporate a range of examples like democracy for some \u2013 imposed by war in Iraq \u2013 but neglected for others like Saudi Arabia or Hamas in the Gaza Strip, to name just two. US support for Israel despite Israeli abuses against Palestinians adds another arrow to Al Qaeda\u2019s recruiting quiver.\n\nRemoving these reasons \u2013 or at least easing them \u2013 will be a key factor in limiting the reach of Al Qaeda in the post-Bin Laden world, suggests Naluti. He doesn\u2019t want foreign fighters to take root in Libya, but knows that some of his countrymen are less scrupulous, and therefore more welcoming, of militants.\n\n\u201cOne of the biggest mistakes of the West is Islamophobia,\u201d says the Libyan. \u201cPeople are fighting, but very few [Westerners] know the true Islam.\u201d\n\nThe same holds true for the militants, whose determination is not likely dimmed by the death of one man revered as \u201cSheikh Osama,\u201d far from this front line."}
-{"text": "Het is half \u00e9\u00e9n \u2019s middags als Vivianne Miedema en haar teamgenoot-geliefde Lisa Evans een ontbijt bestellen in Baked Nation, een caf\u00e9 vlak bij het trainingscomplex van Arsenal. De avond ervoor hebben ze een uitwedstrijd tegen Manchester United gespeeld. Na een busreis van vier uur lagen ze om half drie in bed. \u201eDan ziet je dag er wat anders uit\u201d, zegt Miedema, die op het afgesproken tijdstip van tafel wisselt.\n\nZe is verkozen tot beste speelster van de Premier League en is Nederlands meest scorende spits aller tijden. Een nuchtere, open vrouw. Soms beantwoordt ze vragen kortweg met \u2018yep\u2019. Maar ze kan zich ook stellig voor of tegen iets uitspreken. \u201eIk ben een realist\u201d, zegt ze.\n\nNa drie seizoenen Bayern M\u00fcnchen stapte Miedema (23) in 2017 over naar Arsenal, waarvoor ook Dani\u00eblle van de Donk en Jill Roord uitkomen. Ze heeft het er erg naar haar zin, zegt ze, scoort veel, en heeft net voor twee jaar bijgetekend. Mede dankzij twee goals van Miedema won Arsenal vorige week met 4-0 van Fiorentina en staat de ploeg op de drempel van een plaats in de achtste finales van de Champions League.\n\nOok bij Oranje heeft ze haar plek gevonden. Werd tijdens het WK van 2015 nog van Miedema verwacht dat \u201eze ons wel even naar de wereldtitel zou schieten\u201d \u2013 door zowel medespeelsters als de staf, een eenzame periode, zegt ze \u2013 tegenwoordig hoeft ze niet meer in haar eentje de kar te trekken. De sfeer is goed, problemen worden snel uitgepraat en bondscoach Sarina Wiegman \u201eneemt veel van de speelsters aan\u201d en \u201espeelt goed in op individuele kwaliteiten\u201d.\n\nHoewel ze vlak na het WK meer teleurstelling dan vreugde voelde, wegens gemiste kansen, is Miedema nu blij met de tweede plek. Plaatsing voor Tokio 2020 noemt ze \u201eheel bijzonder\u201d. \u201eAls meisje was het al mijn droom ooit aan de Olympische Spelen mee te doen.\u201d\n\nSusannah Ireland\n\nBen je trots op wat je bereikt hebt?\n\nZe slaat haar armen over elkaar. \u201eNou ja, weinig voetballers kunnen op hun drie\u00ebntwintigste zeggen dat ze een EK hebben gewonnen, een WK-finale hebben gespeeld, en titels in Engeland en Duitsland hebben behaald. Ik mag niet klagen.\u201d\n\nMaar geniet je er ook van?\n\n\u201eVroeger \u2013 ze lacht \u2013 \u201etoen ik n\u00f3g jonger was, had ik daar meer moeite mee. Maar tegenwoordig besef ik beter dat het heel speciaal is wat ik meemaak. Ik voel mij \u2026 rustiger. Geniet meer, ja.\u201d\n\nWanneer kwam de ommekeer?\n\n\u201eNa mijn overstap van Bayern naar Arsenal. Bij Bayern waren ze heel strikt. Speelsters mochten niet buiten de lijntjes kleuren. Heel anders dan bij Arsenal, waar de sfeer open is en ik goed tot mijn recht kom. Vorig seizoen leek alles wat ik aanraakte erin te gaan.\u201d\n\nManon Melis, die jij op het WK afloste als topscorer, zegt: \u2018Vivianne is geen groot fan van het Duitse voetbal.\u2019\n\n\u201eDat klopt. Bayern sprak mij aan omdat het een club is met ambitie. We hebben twee Duitse titels gewonnen en Champions League gespeeld. Voor mijn ontwikkeling, als mens en als speler, was Duitsland goed. Maar de stijl was heel verdedigend. Na drie jaar dacht ik: zo is het mooi geweest.\u201d\n\nBeschouw je Engeland als je thuis?\n\n\u201eJa, meer dan Nederland. Ik speel graag voor Nederland, zou voor geen ander land willen uitkomen. Als al die duizenden Nederlanders achter onze ploeg gaan staan, denk ik: wow. Maar ik heb weinig met Nederland. Ik woon al sinds mijn zeventiende in het buitenland.\u201d\n\nMiedema groeide op in een \u201evoetbalgek gezin\u201d met twee kinderen in het Drentse Hoogeveen. De broer van haar opa voetbalde bij Go Ahead Eagles. Haar vader, die vertegenwoordiger is in witgoed, bij amateurclub HZVV. Haar jongere broer Lars tekende deze maand zijn eerste profcontract bij FC Den Bosch.\n\nOp haar vijfde werd Miedema lid van HZVV. Ze zat in een team met jongens, die ze er al snel uit speelde. Dat viel ook buiten de club op; op haar zevende nodigde de KNVB Miedema uit voor het regioteam voor meisjes onder 13. \u201eKwam ik daar aan in mijn Jip-en-Janneke-riem\u201d, lacht ze. \u201eDe rest van de meiden \u2013 de meesten gingen al naar de hogere school \u2013 vonden me z\u00f3 schattig. Een goede binnenkomer.\u201d\n\nZe vertelt dat haar vader \u201eeen aardig balletje kon trappen\u201d. Hij voetbalde op redelijk hoog niveau bij Hoogeveen, maar moest zijn droom om profvoetballer te worden opgeven na een dubbele liesbreuk.\n\nJe hoort weleens dat ouders die hun eigen droom niet kunnen verwezenlijken \u2026\n\n\u2026 \u201everwachten dat hun kind het doet?\u201d Ze lacht. \u201eVoetbal was m\u00edjn keuze, niet die van mijn vader. Maar ik kan niet ontkennen dat hij druk op mij heeft gelegd. Daar hebben we weleens ruzie over gemaakt \u2013 nog steeds eigenlijk. Dan zeg ik: hou je mond. Ik weet het zelf het beste. Ga iemand anders vervelen. Maar het heeft mij waarschijnlijk wel beter gemaakt en gebracht waar ik nu ben.\u201d\n\nOp je vijftiende werd je ingelijfd door Heerenveen. Daar speelde je met vrouwen die soms al moeder waren.\n\n\u201eDat was best lastig, ja. Mijn wereld was die van de jeugdsoos en staartdelingen. Thuis en op school [ze deed de havo en rondde vier vakken af op het vwo] was ik best meegaand. Maar op het veld was ik niet de makkelijkste.\u201d\n\nFoppe de Haan, in die tijd nog steeds betrokken bij de club, zegt over jou \u2026\n\n\u201e\u2026 dat ik een puber was!\u201d\n\nDat je moeilijk te doorgronden bent. Als ze zich wat meer openstelt, zegt hij, maakt ze het makkelijker voor zichzelf en anderen.\n\nZe wipt achterover op haar stoel en zwijgt even. \u201eToen wel, ja. Mijn puberale gedrag moest ergens tot uiting komen.\u201d\n\nHij heeft je zelfs een keer van de training weggestuurd omdat je onhandelbaar was.\n\n\u201eE\u00e9n keer. Het klinkt misschien arrogant, maar ik had in mijn laatste twee seizoenen bij Heerenveen moeite met het lage trainingsniveau. Ik raakte gefrustreerd als speelsters de bal niet goed inspeelden.\u201d\n\nDe Haan zegt ook: ik zie haar wel coach worden, ze heeft verstand van voetbal.\n\n\u201eDat verklaart mijn meningsverschillen met coaches. Ik ben niet de snelste speler, zal niet vanaf de middellijn iedereen voorbij dribbelen om een doelpunt te maken, maar ik kan het spel wel goed lezen. Daarom wil ik graag coach worden na mijn spelerscarri\u00e8re. Over een jaartje of tien, vijftien. In Engeland heb ik vorig jaar mijn trainersdiploma gehaald en na de winterstop ga ik verder met de opleiding UEFA B. E\u00e9n avond per week ga ik een jeugdteam trainen bij Arsenal. \u00d3f de meiden onder 13, \u00f3f de jongens onder 12. Ik vind het geweldig om met kinderen te werken.\u201d\n\nDoor de EK-zege van Oranje in 2017 en de tweede plaats op het WK van afgelopen zomer in Frankrijk, is de populariteit van het vrouwenvoetbal in Nederland sterk toegenomen. Miedema vertelt dat ze in Nederland vaker herkend wordt op straat en dat mensen bij de kassa soms stiekem foto\u2019s van haar maken. Erg vindt ze het niet, \u201ehet hoort erbij\u201d.\n\nHaar bekendheid en goede inkomen hebben haar niet veranderd, zegt ze. Ze leidt een simpel leven, met veel Netflix. Nu en dan gaat ze een weekendje weg. \u201eIk heb alleen een dure flatscreen gekocht.\u201d\n\nSusannah Ireland\n\nIn het boek \u2018Samen sterk\u2019 van Annemarie Postma zeg je dat niet alle internationals even goed omgaan met hun veranderde status. Sommigen vergeten waar ze vandaan komen en \u2018kunnen niet meer normaal met mensen omgaan\u2019.\n\n\u201eSommige meiden maken daardoor de verkeerde keuzes. Dat vind ik zonde. Je moet niet naar de verwachtingen van anderen leven.\u201d\n\nKun je een voorbeeld geven?\n\n\u201eLaat ik het bij mijn eigen club houden. Op het trainingscomplex zie ik jongens van achttien, negentien, die niet weten wat ze moeten met de 80.000 pond die ze maandelijks verdienen. Auto\u2019s, merkkleding, tassen \u2026 ze bieden tegen elkaar op. Er zit geen plezier meer in het spelletje, het gaat puur om het geld.\u201d\n\nKost het jou geen moeite normaal te blijven in de toch wat abnormale wereld van het voetbal?\n\n\u201eNee. Dat is een van mijn sterke eigenschappen. Ik ben niet met overdaad opgevoed. En ik heb de juiste mensen om mij heen, dat helpt.\u201d\n\nBen jij je bewust van je uitstraling en de reacties die dat oproept?\n\n\u201eDat ik niet lach als ik op doel schiet? Dat ik te veel frons? Who cares.\u201d\n\nJohan Derksen noemde je op tv \u2018een ontevreden autist\u2019. Raakt dat je?\n\nZe zucht. \u201eHet interess\u00e9\u00e9rt me niet. Ik heb de beste man nooit gesproken. Hij heeft geen idee wie ik ben. Hij mag best zeggen dat ik er op het veld geen flikker van kan, maar laat mijn persoon er alsjeblieft buiten.\u201d\n\nDe overstap naar Arsenal, de ontwikkelingen bij Oranje en haar relatie met Lisa hebben haar volwassener gemaakt. Na het EK van 2017 was zij een van de vijf internationals die \u201epittige onderhandelingen\u201d voerde met de KNVB voor een betere beloning. Dat lukte, al werden geen bedragen bekendgemaakt. Ze beschouwt zichzelf als \u201everbinder\u201d tussen de jongere meiden en de routiniers. \u201eIk kan met beiden overweg.\u201d Miedema zal nooit naar de rechter stappen voor een betere salari\u00ebring, zoals bijvoorbeeld haar Amerikaanse collega\u2019s. \u201eDat is niet mijn stijl en daar heb je alleen jezelf mee.\u201d Zolang de samenwerking met de KNVB maar positief en respectvol blijft, zegt ze. Want h\u00e9, het elftal is behoorlijk goed bezig.\n\nDe goede prestatie van Oranje op het WK ten spijt, tempert zij \u2013 nuchter als ze is \u2013 de verwachtingen. Kwalificatie voor het EK en WK, dat is wat haar betreft het doel. \u201eMet wat geluk kunnen we ver komen, maar het zou niet realistisch zijn om te zeggen: die toernooien gaan we winnen.\u201d\n\nEen versie van dit artikel verscheen ook in NRC Handelsblad van 21 september 2019"}
-{"text": "It is important to note, becoming the solution to the problem above is not TRON\u2019s only goal.\n\nSolving the problem of centralized entertainment content may be a \u201cMicro\u201d goal for TRON, but the \u201cMacro\u201d goal is much greater. TRON\u2019s \u201cMacro\u201d goal is to completely reshape how we as a global society interact via the Internet and blockchain as a whole on a truly decentralized platform ecosystem.\n\nOne way to view TRX is to view it as the \u201cexchange\u201d currency on the TRON protocol blockchain. There will be many companies built on the TRON blockchain that will use their own individual company cryptocoins, but TRX will be intertwined as the mediator between all of them.\n\nTake for example:\n\nThis is you.\n\nLet\u2019s say you just so happen to use a Bike Sharing application on your phone that is partnered with TRON and built on the TRON blockchain.\n\nYou would have the potential to gain \u201crewards\u201d correlated to the bike rental time and total distance you rode, in the form of tokens received from the Bike Sharing Application company. You could then use these tokens you earned from the Bike Sharing company, and use them to buy a cup of your favorite coffee, who\u2019s company is built on the TRON network as well OR maybe even spend the tokens on finally buying that virtual dog that\u2019s been giving you the puppy eyes! You would not have to do any of the dirty work of manually swapping your bike tokens for coffee tokens, it would all be done automatically within the TRON protocol with TRX in the middle of it all.\n\nRecent Updates and \u201cReal World\u201d Use Case Progress\n\nCredit to Reddit user obilex.\n\nQ4 2017 \u2014 oBike Partnership\n\nOn December 26th 2017, Tron announced a partnership with oBike, a multi-national bike sharing company that operates in 20 countries across Europe, Asia and Australia, 10 million total users. oBike will have it\u2019s own form of currency \u201coCoin\u201d that will be used on the Tron protocol platform, and transferred into TRX before/after transactions.\n\n\u201cIn a world\u2019s first of its kind, users will soon be able to ride and earn, thanks to the new partnership\u201d \u201coBike users will be able to pay for their rides and top up their oBike wallets using oCoins\u201d Users can generate oCoins when they use oBikes, with more coins earned the longer they ride. oCoins can also be used to buy online content or be used on any application that is on Tron\u2019s platform.\n\nTo clarify on the last point, all applications and partnerships on the TRON platform will allow for native, individual company coin usage(i.e oCoin + whatever future coins are used on the TRON protocol). This is because all transactions on the protocol will be turned into TRX automatically before processing, and transferred back to the user in their appropriate coin. This will allow the TRON protocol to host many different company\u2019 coins, while at the same time, allowing them all to interact with each other without the extra hassle of having the user constantly switching between different coins.\n\nSource\n\nQ1 2018 \u2014 TRX Dogs Launched! Partnership with Game.com!\n\nFollowing in the footsteps of Etherium\u2019s massively popular, CryptoKitties, Tron is hoping to introduce their own blockchain technology to the public masses in a fun and friendly way, Pets\u2019 Planet/TRX Dogs. With CryptoKitties having produced over $18 Million in total sales since release, there is clear potential for success in this type of gaming, that is IF Tron can improve on the pitfalls CK\u2019s made with oversupplying cats/breeding/etc. With more information being released daily, it seems TRON is taking steps to ensure oversupply and overbreeding do not become a problem with their \u201cStore Front\u201d system. Additional information, along with an English/International version of the game reported to be released soon.\n\nPresently, the Pets\u2019 Planet section, customized by Game.com for TRON, has been launched on tron.game.com, where players can use TRX, the official token of TRON, to purchase various pets, and experience pet matching, raising, growth and transactions, thus enjoying the companion of virtual pets. The Chinese version of Pets\u2019 Planet has been available now at tron.game.com, while the international version is also well underway.\n\nSource\n\nEDITOR\u2019S NOTE: Dog just so happens to be the Chinese New Year Zodiac for 2018. Wouldn\u2019t be hard to imagine every person in China wanting their own rare virtual \u201clucky\u201d dog this year. Just speculating! Fidget spinners were a thing in 2017, virtual pets in 2018 doesn\u2019t seem so irrational by comparison.\n\nQ1 2018 \u2014 Coin Burn Implementation\n\nDuring his first live-stream, Justin stated that there are plans to implement a coin burn system that is similar to Ripple\u2019s, but \u201csmarter\u201d. He later confirmed this statement through a retweet on his Twitter:\n\nCritics often refer to Tron\u2019s massive circulating supply as a restriction for market cap growth, with supply currently at 65,748,192,476 TRX. A coin burn addresses this \u201cproblem\u201d by reducing the total amount of circulating TRX by either burning a large portion of the TRX that the TRON company owns, or by implementing a mechanism that will burn a small amount of TRX with each transaction.\n\nA coin burn will NEVER burn investors\u2019 personal supply of coins, so that should not be a concern. Simply put, less circulating supply, the more each individual coin will be worth."}
-{"text": "The European Union should set up a refugee camp in Turkey where immigration requests could be processed, Germany\u2019s interior minister has said.\n\nIn an interview with euronews to air tonight, Thomas de Maizi\u00e8re proposed an approach to ease the plight of refugees while also address the border crisis faced by southern EU countries.\n\n\u201cWe may need to use European funds to build a large refugee camp to decide there [in Turkey] who can come to Europe,\u201d de Maizi\u00e8re told euronews\u2019 Kirsten Ripper.\n\nTo hear more and find out how Berlin is proposing to approach migration from the Balkans You can watch the full interview on euronews tonight at 21:45 CET."}
-{"text": "The Coalition\u2019s electoral fortunes have tumbled in every indicator since winning the last federal election, the latest Newspoll survey has revealed, as the Abbott government marks two years in office.\n\nLabor has widened its lead in the two-party preferred stakes and now holds an eight-point lead of 54% to the Coalition\u2019s 46%. At the 2013 election, those numbers were reversed, with the Coalition ahead 54-46.\n\nTony Abbott\u2019s personal popularity has taken a huge hit since the poll. In 2013 the prime minister\u2019s net satisfaction rating was -6. Today, it is -33. Satisfaction with Abbott\u2019s performance has stayed steady in the past fortnight, at 30%, while his dissatisfaction rating is 63%.\n\nThe prime minister\u2019s approval rating was at its lowest ebb shortly after he survived a leadership spill in February, sinking to -44%.\n\nThe opposition leader, Bill Shorten, remains preferred prime minister on 41% to Abbott\u2019s 37%, but Shorten\u2019s personal ratings have tumbled a massive 10 percentage points in the past fortnight, sinking to -28% on Monday.\n\nAbbott told reporters on Monday that the government was sticking to the policies it took to the last election and that voters would respond positively to those policies.\n\n\u201cThe plan is working and we are sticking to it,\u201d he said. \u201cI am very confident that people will be choosing between a government which has delivered on its commitments and an opposition which hasn\u2019t learned and can\u2019t change.\u201d\n\nThe Coalition\u2019s popularity has been falling for 30 consecutive polls in a row. All eyes are on the Western Australian federal electorate of Canning, which will go to the polls this month for a byelection after the sudden death of sitting member Don Randall.\n\nThe assistant treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, is optimistic despite the negative indicators. \u201cThere\u2019s also a glass half full in every poll, and I can see that our primary vote has gone up in today\u2019s poll,\u201d he told Sky News on Monday, pointing to the fact the primary vote went up one point from 38% last fortnight, to 39% on Monday.\n\nThat is still down significantly from the 2013 poll, when the Coalition boasted a primary vote of 46%.\n\nThe shadow immigration minister, Richard Marles, pointed to a series of expenses scandals involving the former Speaker Bronwyn Bishop and questions of bias surrounding the royal commissioner for the trade union commission, Dyson Heydon, as reasons for the Coalition\u2019s electoral misfortunes.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t need a poll to let us know that this is a government which has a debacle every single week, from Bronwyn Bishop to Dyson Heydon to Australian Border Force, to two absolutely appalling budgets,\u201d Marles told ABC Radio.\n\n\u201cThat all adds up to a government in disarray and a prime minister in Tony Abbott that is utterly toxic out there in the electorate.\u201d\n\nHe brushed aside concerns about Shorten\u2019s increasing unpopularity, saying he hadthe confidence of the party. For us to be in the position that we are in now is a real testament to the leadership of Bill Shorten,\u201d Marles said.\n\nThe Newspoll survey, taken at the weekend, also found that more than a third of voters had concerns about the government\u2019s proposed China free trade agreement.\n\nMore voters \u2013 43% \u2013 supported the proposed deal, compared with 35% who opposed it. Sixty-four per cent of Coalition voters supported the deal, compared with 35% of Labor voters.\n\nAn expensive and \u201cbrutal\u201d ad campaign by the unions was scaring voters off the potential deal, the trade minister, Andrew Robb, told Sky News on Monday.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s certainly having an impact,\u201d he said.\n\n"}
-{"text": "Video caption 'We are criminalised for who we are'\n\nIn a historic decision, India's Supreme Court has ruled that gay sex is no longer a criminal offence.\n\nThe ruling overturns a 2013 judgement that upheld a colonial-era law, known as section 377, under which gay sex is categorised as an \"unnatural offence\".\n\nThe court has now ruled discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a fundamental violation of rights.\n\nCampaigners outside the court cheered and some broke down in tears as the ruling was handed down.\n\nAlthough public opinion in India's biggest cities has been in favour of scrapping the law, there remains strong opposition among religious groups and in conservative rural communities.\n\nBut this ruling, from the top court, is the final say in the matter and represents a huge victory for India's LGBT community.\n\nOne activist outside the court told the BBC: \"I hadn't come out to my parents until now. But today, I guess I have.\"\n\nWhat have the judges said?\n\nThursday's decision was delivered by a five-judge bench headed by India's outgoing chief justice Dipak Misra and was unanimous.\n\nReading out the judgement, he said: \"Criminalising carnal intercourse is irrational, arbitrary and manifestly unconstitutional.\"\n\nAnother judge, Indu Malhotra, said she believed \"history owes an apology\" to LGBT people for ostracising them.\n\nJustice DY Chandrachud said the state had no right to control the private lives of LGBT community members and that the denial of the right to sexual orientation was the same as denying the right to privacy.\n\nThe ruling effectively allows gay sex among consenting adults in private.\n\nWhat is section 377?\n\nIt is a 157-year-old colonial-era law which criminalises certain sexual acts as \"unnatural offences\" that are punishable by a 10-year jail term.\n\nImage copyright Reuters Image caption A joyful reaction to the ruling at an NGO in Mumbai\n\nThe law punishes, in its own words, \"carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal\".\n\nWhile the statute criminalises all anal and oral sex, it has largely affected same-sex relationships.\n\nHuman rights groups say police have used the statute to harass and abuse members of the LGBT community.\n\n'Recognising everyone's right to love'\n\nGeeta Pandey, BBC News, Delhi\n\nEven though it was rarely invoked when it involved consenting adults, section 377 could be - and was sometimes - used as a tool for harassment. It is not surprising then that campaigners are describing the verdict as a \"new dawn for personal liberty\".\n\nBut in a largely conservative India, where leaders of all religions have consistently opposed gay sex, it will still be a while before attitudes change and the community finds full acceptance.\n\nBut laws almost always play an important role in changing mindsets, and by recognising the community's right to love, the Supreme Court has restored the dignity denied to them for a very long time.\n\nHow did we get to this point?\n\nIt's been a tortuous route. A bid to repeal section 377 was initiated in 2001 and was batted between court and government until 2009, when the Delhi High Court ruled in favour of decriminalisation.\n\nVideo caption 'If your business doesn't cater to us it's your loss'\n\nSeveral political, social and religious groups then mobilised to restore the law and in 2013 the Supreme Court struck down the High Court ruling.\n\nAnti-section 377 activists then submitted a \"curative petition\" - a formal request to review an earlier court order perceived as a \"miscarriage of justice\" - and in 2016 the Supreme Court decided to revisit its ruling.\n\nWhat has the LGBT reaction been to the latest ruling?\n\nOne of joy given that the community has fought vigorously to strike down the law.\n\nImage copyright AFP Image caption Activists say they are elated at the change although more needs to be done\n\nEqual rights activists had argued that the very existence of such a law was proof of discrimination based on sexual orientation.\n\nLGBT activist Harish Iyer told the BBC: \"I'm absolutely elated. It's like a second freedom struggle where finally we have thrown a British law out of this country... I think the next step would be to get anti-discrimination laws in place, or anti-bullying laws.\"\n\nMessages of support were posted on Twitter, including from film director Karan Johar:\n\nSorry, this Twitter post is currently unavailable.\n\nJournalist Anna MM Vetticad said India had been saved from its shame:\n\nSorry, this Twitter post is currently unavailable.\n\nHow have political parties reacted?\n\nThe governing BJP party has said it would leave the decision to the Supreme Court.\n\nHowever, one of its members said he was disappointed with the verdict.\n\nSubramanian Swamy, known for making provocative comments, said: \"It could give rise to an increase in the number of HIV cases.\"\n\nMeanwhile, the main opposition Congress party has welcomed the ruling, saying they \"hope this is the beginning of a more equal and inclusive society\".\n\nThe UN has also welcomed the ruling, saying \"sexual orientation and gender expression form an integral part of an individual's identity the world over\".\n\nWhat else was said in the ruling?\n\nThe court said other aspects of section 377 dealing with unnatural sex with animals and children would remain in force.\n\nThe judges also explicitly said that they only ruled on the constitutional validity of section 377 and were not looking at it in terms of other rights such as those related to marriage or inheritance.\n\nIt remains too early to say what this will translate to in the longer term.\n\nAuthor and commentator Sandip Roy told the BBC that although the ruling was a cause for celebration, there were still hurdles to overcome, and a need for anti-discrimination laws.\n\n\"I think we would be foolish to think that this is the end of the fight,\" he said.\n\nWhere is homosexuality illegal?\n\nThe 2017 report from the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (Ilga) lists 72 countries and territories where same-sex relationships are still criminalised, although that includes India before its latest ruling.\n\nMost of them are in Africa, the Middle East and other parts of south Asia.\n\nThe report said homosexuality could still result in the death penalty in eight nations."}
-{"text": "One aspect of the Snowden affair that seems to attract neither comment nor question, let alone alarm, is the fact that the Russians and Chinese are doing everything that GCHQ and the NSA are doing, but on an even greater scale and without our constraints. If you travel to those countries to negotiate any contract of importance, chances are they\u2019ll know what\u2019s in your laptop before you shut your front door. That wouldn\u2019t be a bad theme for Andrew Parker\u2019s next public appearance. By then, Edward Snowden\u2019s Russian hosts may well have wrung him dry \u2013 very nicely, of course \u2013 and they\u2019ll be in a position to know even more."}
-{"text": "Durante una obra por parte del Gobierno del Estado de Durango para la introducci\u00f3n de agua potable en la colonia Las Rosas perteneciente al municipio de G\u00f3mez Palacio, el operador de una excavadora que intentaba abrir una zanja, perfor\u00f3 accidentalmente una tuber\u00eda de 2 pulgadas de gas natural.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEl director de Protecci\u00f3n Civil, Jos\u00e9 Miguel Mart\u00ednez Mej\u00eda, asegur\u00f3 que los encargados de la obra dieron aviso inmediatamente a las autoridades, por lo que la fuga de gas dur\u00f3 solamente diez minutos.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAl llegar los elementos del Cuerpo de Bomberos y de Protecci\u00f3n Civil, procedieron a acordonar el \u00e1rea con el fin de que no hubiera personas o veh\u00edculos alrededor de la zona, por lo que no resultaron ciudadanos afectados.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMart\u00ednez explic\u00f3 la diferencia entre el gas natural y el usual:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\"Es m\u00e1s ligero que el aire, entonces tiende a subir a la atm\u00f3sfera y es algo que nos beneficia mucho en la cuesti\u00f3n de situaciones de riesgo, no como el gas de cilindro que es m\u00e1s pesado y tiende a bajar\".\n\n\n\n\n\nEl director coment\u00f3 que para cerciorarse de que no corrieran peligro las familias, trabajadores de ECOGAS realizaron una revisi\u00f3n con un detector de este elemento en las viviendas aleda\u00f1as, lo cual arroj\u00f3 como resultado leves concentraciones de gas por lo que inmediatamente pudieron habitar las casas.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCabe destacar que para evitar cualquier situaci\u00f3n similar, los miembros de la empresa se comprometieron a entablar una junta con las autoridades para mostrarles los planos y sepan donde no deben realizar perforaciones.\n\n\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Civilization V makes people angry. I\u2019ve seen it first hand; perusing the shelves of a local boardgame emporium I was moved to express an opinion about hexes and how much I enjoyed their use in the game. Upwards of twenty furious men immediately formed a stack of doom and pummelled me into submission. \u201cBut perhaps the Gods and Kings expansion will make the game more like Civ IV?\u201d one of them asided to his neighbour even as they afflicted my face with blows. \u201cIt won\u2019t!\u201d cried future-me from another dimension, at which point my assailants redoubled their efforts to maim me. Thanks future-me. Here\u2019s wot he thinks.\n\nI\u2019ve never actually been physically assaulted for enjoying Civ V but the internet has told me how stupid, ignorant and irresponsible I am on many occasions. Yes, irresponsible, because liking this iteration of the series apparently encourages dumbing down. I\u2019m rewarding their failures, it seems, like bestowing a meaty treat on a dog that has just dumped a pile of compost on grandma\u2019s favourite rug. That thing really tied the parlour together.\n\nThe thing is, despite a host of problems, I\u2019ve spent a great deal of time with Civ V, the majority of which I\u2019ve greatly enjoyed. It\u2019s not Civ IV, which is fine because Civ IV still exists, but nor is it Civ IV + 1, which the V does suggest if that\u2019s the way you choose to read it. Beyond the Sword, the spiffiest expansion pack of all, was Civ IV + 1 though. Rather than that, Civ V is a new take on the model of map-conquering, settler-spawning, race-to-the-finish strategy that the series has been since its inception.\n\nI\u2019ll move on to the expansion in a moment, but here\u2019s a quick summary of what I do and don\u2019t like about the base game. It\u2019s important to know this because whether or not Gods and Kings is for you will depend largely on whether Civ V was for you or not. Despite all the missionaries in the world being added, there\u2019s nothing here that\u2019s going to win over non-believers.\n\nHere we are then. I like, no love, the hexes and the removal of unit stacking. It makes it hard to go back to any of the previous games because it was always the thing that broke me in the end, the pressure to keep a pile of armies ready for any contingency, an entire nation\u2019s inability to mobilise a force of sufficient size to defend itself without an enormous window of time. Civ V makes moving armies more tactical, increasing the importance of terrain and positioning, and allows the construction and demeanour of a military to be much more flexible.\n\nSo that was good.\n\nThen it did a lot of things not quite so well, most notably, from my point of view at least, diplomacy, AI and a tech tree that funnels into linear progression too soon in every era. There has been hope that the re-emergence of religion and espionage will change the game significantly, bringing back some of Civ IV\u2019s complexity, but that isn\u2019t the case. Gods and Kings is more Civ V with additions and tweaks along the lines already drawn rather than bold new directions.\n\nThat\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing, although if you were waiting for the game to be salvaged this will do nothing to change your mind and is more likely to make you think it\u2019s unsalvageable. Religion is similar to the culture mechanic, although this time around the policies are global, so once a belief has been selected by one player it\u2019s gone for good. While that means civs that want to build their strength through faith have to specialise more, it\u2019s problematic because my time with the expansion suggests the advantages of a strong religion are nowhere near as effective as focusing on science, culture or the amassing of gigantic armies.\n\nThere are only a handful of buffs available, selected from a large pool, for even the most pious of peoples and they are often geographically appropriate rather than mood-changing. What that means is you\u2019ll end up worshipping stone circles if you have plenty of quarries in the vicinity of your capital because it provides an advantage, rather than opting for human sacrifice because it fits with the character of your God-Emperor or allows you to radically alter your strategy. Religion makes you better at what you already are rather than allowing you to become something else entirely.\n\nThere is a restrained return to the glorious cultural takeover with religion, although it\u2019s a little undercooked. Every city has a number of followers, at first of a civ\u2019s chosen pantheon and later of the religion they found (of which a limited number in each game, so late developers must go without). The city only gains the advantages of a religion\u2019s belief system, which expand as faith grows, if a majority of the population are believers and those believers exert pressure on nearby cities, pushing their faith on them.\n\nWin over enough believers in a City State or enemy civ\u2019s city and you\u2019ll inflict your selected follower belief on them, which detracts from their productivity or protection in some way. There are missionaries to drop faith-bombs for immediate influence and inquisitors to defend against the blighters, but only time will tell if this is game changing or not. My feeling is that unless you opt for one of the new faith-focused civilisations, like the rather splendid Celts who gain faith from every nearby forest tile, it\u2019ll be hard to benefit greatly from liturgical larceny of this sort.\n\nThe other much-touted addition is espionage, which aims to complicate diplomacy and allows for the stealing of tech. Unfortunately, again, it\u2019s not as massive an addition as I\u2019d hoped. Reach the Renaissance and you receive a spy and accrue a few more as time progresses. They\u2019re not actual units, existing only in menus, and when they\u2019re attached to a city they gather information about the civilization it belongs to. Eventually they\u2019ll tell you whether there\u2019s any advanced knowledge worth stealing and if so you can set the to do that. If not they can either move on to a new job or stick around and try to steal state secrets, which means they work out a nation\u2019s intent \u2013 say, England is planning to invade Greece \u2013 and that knowledge can then be used to turn leaders against one another.\n\nThat would be fun except I still struggle to work out the intent of the AI, if indeed it has any beyond \u201clet\u2019s repeatedly and inexplicably tell everyone that Adam is a bastard\u201d. To be fair I\u2019ve just won a great victory, helped by the whole world falling in line and singing my praises, but I\u2019m not quite sure why they did. I was powerful, intimidating and had brutally conquered every City State on my starting continent, but this time around no one seemed to care. They thought I was great.\n\nCity States, one of my favourite additions to the Civ formula, have been fleshed out a fair bit. They can be intimidated now, simply by being massively more advanced and well-armed than them or by surrounding them with men holding large swords and whistling nonchalantly. Once they fear you, why not demand some tribute? It\u2019ll make them hate you but it\u2019s tribute, for crying out loud, it\u2019s exactly what you deserve! If another civ has pledged to protect them things become problematic and you can also defend your favourite states by letting the world know they\u2019ll have to go through you to pick on them. There are new types too: mercantile states make folk happy by providing luxury goods and religious fellows boost faith.\n\nBut if the expansion doesn\u2019t dramatically increase complexity then what is it for? It\u2019s for improved AI, although it\u2019d take weeks to see just how much improved. In terms of handling the hexes it seems better than my memories of the base game, although diplomacy is still problematic. The expansion is also for new stuff, of which there\u2019s a fairly large smattering, including buildings, wonders, units, resources and civs. Some of it isn\u2019t directly related to religion or espionage either, so as well as police stations that help to sniff out spies there are bomb shelters to protect against nuclear attack.\n\nThere\u2019s something else though. I think Gods and Kings zeroes in on one of the fundamental changes that Civ V made, which is that rather than being a game of development that leaned toward aspects of a simulated world, as exemplified in the ten-year game, Civ V is more board-like, focused on specialisation and domination. The existence of religion pushes each civilisation more rapidly toward a concentrated regime, with faith acting as both a currency for purchasing religious buildings and a tally of points toward over-arching improvement.\n\nMore than ever, with Gods and Kings I felt like I was reliant on the seed of a map, my location and the unique qualities of my people combining to set my path for the next six thousand years or so. The former assertion put me in mind of Guns, Germs and Steel, providing a sort of theoretical backbone to the game, but also made me fret that my choices and actions, if I wanted to succeed, were more predetermined than previously. The way that religious expansion is more viable in the early game, becoming more expensive as enlightenment creeps across the globe, is just one example of the way that methods and goals shift with the passing of eras, dissecting the structure into a more recognisable series of phases: the phase of expansion, the phase of conflict (religious and military), the phase of espionage and diplomacy, the phase of consolidation.\n\nGods and Kings has required me to spend a great deal of time playing Civ V in the past few days. It\u2019s also made me remember how much I enjoy the game, although not without also drawing my mind more to its differences from previous entries and its flaws. As an expansion it delivers lots of content but doesn\u2019t have the killer addition that elevates the game beyond its base. It also suggests that Firaxis are well aware that their game is not and never will be equivalent to Civ IV because they\u2019ve made it a moderately better version of what it already was rather than what so many people hoped it could become.\n\nGods and Kings is out tomorrow in the US but must await the advent of navigation to cross oceans and reach international shores on the 22nd."}
-{"text": "Get the Echo newsletter - it has never been more important to stay informed Sign me up now Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email\n\nStoke City have been hit by a sickness bug ahead of their trip to Liverpool FC at Anfield on Saturday.\n\nAsmir Begovic, Geoff Cameron and Phil Bardsley have all been struck down by illness with the Potters carrying out a deep clean of their training ground in a bid to stop it spreading through the squad.\n\nStoke boss Mark Hughes said: \u201cWe\u2019re struggling to contain it somewhat.\n\n\u201cThe under-21s were hit by it earlier in the week. We tried to deal with it there and then.\n\n\u201cWe closed their operation down to such an extent they haven\u2019t been in or around the building for the last three days, and they won\u2019t be in tomorrow either.\n\n\u201cUnfortunately today Asmir Begovic, Geoff Cameron and Phil Bardsley reported they were feeling unwell with sickness.\n\n\u201cPhil came in and was quite prepared to train, but under the circumstances we felt he was better served by returning home.\n\n\u201cAsmir was ill overnight and didn\u2019t report in, and Geoff was sick when he came into the building, so he went straight back.\n\n\u201cIt could be the time of the year, something that\u2019s around. We tried to sanitise the building on Wednesday, we went right through it.\u201d"}
-{"text": "The French defense procurement agency \u201cDirection G\u00e9n\u00e9rale de l\u2019Armement\u201d (DGA) on January 30 signed a \u20ac1.7 billion contract for the procurement of four new Logistic Support Ships (LSS) for the French Navy as part of the country\u2019s FLOTLOG (Flotte logistique) program.\n\nThe contract signing comes three months after France joined the LSS program which is led by Organisation Conjointe de Coop\u00e9ration en mati\u00e8re d\u2019Armement (OCCAR).\n\nThe LSSs ordered for the French Navy will be based on the design of the LSS Vulcano which is currently being built by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the Italian Navy.\n\nFLOTLOG ships will be built Chantiers de l\u2019Atlantique and Naval Group in cooperation with Fincantieri who will provide technical assistance and deliver some parts of the hull.\n\nChantiers de l\u2019Atlantique will be in charge of the design and construction of the ships. Given the current heavy load of the shipyard and in order to enhance industrial synergies, the construction of the forward hull section of the vessels could be outsourced to Fincantieri, the company said in a stetement.\n\nNaval Group will be responsible for the design, supply and integration of the combat and military systems (aviation, ammunition, immunisation). The company is also responsible for certain functions such as cyber security, and electromagnetic compatibility.\n\nThe first two French units are scheduled to be delivered by 2025. The LSS will replace the Marine Nationale\u2019s single-hulled Durance-class replenishment ships which entered service in the 1970s and 80s.\n\nThe Italian version of the LSS is 193 meters long and will be equipped with a hospital and healthcare capabilities with operating rooms, radiology and analysis rooms, a dentist\u2019s office and hospital rooms that will be capable of hosting up to 17 seriously injured patients.\n\nThe ship combines capacity to transport and transfer liquids (diesel fuel, jet fuel, fresh water) and solids (emergency spare parts, food and ammunitions) and to perform at sea repairs and maintenance work for other vessels.\n\nAccording to Fincantieri, Vulcano\u2019s defense systems are limited to command and control in tactical scenarios but the vessel is also capable of embarking more complex defense systems and becoming an intelligence and electronic warfare platform.\n\nThe French LSS could be fitted with naval guns and missiles, according to a report from Navy Recognition."}
-{"text": "A team of scientists, led by Dr Sebastian Hoenig from the University of Southampton, have developed a new way of measuring precise distances to galaxies tens of millions of light years away, using the W. M. Keck Observatory near the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii.\n\nThe method is similar to what land surveyors use on Earth, by measuring the physical and angular, or 'apparent', size of a standard ruler in the galaxy, to calibrate the distance from this information.\n\nThe research, which is published in the journal Nature, was used to identify the accurate distance of the nearby NGC4151 galaxy, which wasn't previously available. The galaxy NGC 4151, which is dubbed the 'Eye of Sauron' by astronomers for its similarity to the film depiction of the eye of the character in The Lord of the Rings, is important for accurately measuring black hole masses.\n\nRecently reported distances range from 4 to 29 megaparsecs, but using this new method the researchers calculated the distance of 19 megaparsecs to the supermassive black hole.\n\nIndeed, as in the famous saga, a ring plays a crucial role in this new measurement. All big galaxies in the universe host a supermassive black hole in their centre and in about a tenth of all galaxies, these supermassive black holes are growing by swallowing huge amounts of gas and dust from their surrounding environments. In this process, the material heats up and becomes very bright -- becoming the most energetic sources of emission in the universe known as active galactic nuclei (AGN).\n\nThe hot dust forms a ring around the supermassive black hole and emits infrared radiation, which the researchers used as the ruler. However, the apparent size of this ring is so small that the observations were carried out using infrared interferometry to combine W. M. Keck Observatory's twin 10-meter telescopes, to achieve the resolution power of an 85m telescope.\n\nTo measure the physical size of the dusty ring, the researchers measured the time delay between the emission of light from very close to the black hole and the infrared emission. This delay is the distance the light has to travel (at the speed-of-light) from close to the black hole out to the hot dust.\n\nBy combining this physical size of the dust ring with the apparent size measured with the data from the Keck interferometer, the researchers were able to determine a distance to the galaxy NGC 4151.\n\nDr Hoenig says: \"One of the key findings is that the distance determined in this new fashion is quite precise -- with only about 10 per cent uncertainty. In fact, if the current result for NGC 4151 holds for other objects, it can potentially beat any other current methods to reach the same precision to determine distances for remote galaxies directly based on simple geometrical principles. Moreover, it can be readily used on many more sources than the current most precise method.\"\n\n\"Such distances are key in pinning down the cosmological parameters that characterise our universe or for accurately measuring black hole masses. Indeed, NGC 4151 is a crucial anchor to calibrate various techniques to estimate black hole masses. Our new distance implies that these masses may have been systematically underestimated by 40 per cent.\"\n\nDr Hoenig, together with colleagues in Denmark and Japan, is currently setting up a new program to extend their work to many more AGN. The goal is to establish precise distances to a dozen galaxies in this new way and use them to constrain cosmological parameters to within a few per cent. In combination with other measurements, this will provide a better understanding of the history of expansion of our universe."}
-{"text": "Ed Feulner, former president of The Heritage Foundation. (Photo: Cliff Owen/AP)\n\nEd Feulner, former president of the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank, has joined Donald Trump\u2019s transition team to help prepare for the possibility of a win by the Republican presidential candidate this fall.\n\nFeulner, 75, is the first major figure with deep credibility in the conservative movement to join the Trump transition effort, which is being run by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Two sources with direct knowledge of Feulner\u2019s involvement confirmed his role.\n\nContacted by phone, Feulner confirmed that he is working for Trump\u2019s transition team but declined to comment and referred questions to the Trump campaign.\n\nFeulner is credited with building the Heritage Foundation from a small, struggling policy think tank in the 1970s to the influential behemoth it became during the presidency of Ronald Reagan and beyond. He retired as president in 2013, when former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican, took the reins of the organization.\n\nThe addition of Feulner has great symbolic value for Trump, who is viewed with intense suspicion by many conservatives who doubt his commitment to their ideology. However, despite the addition of Feulner, Christie is having trouble finding people to fill many of the slots needed to run a successful transition team, according to one conservative policy expert in Washington, D.C.\n\nWhen asked about the lack of names announced so far, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks argued that the transition effort has \u201ca great team and tremendous, overwhelming interest, but the campaign is focused on connecting with voters and Mr. Trump\u2019s message and vision for the country.\u201d\n\nHicks added that \u201cHillary Clinton may put an inordinate amount of focus on her transition team because she is relying on a rigged system that has propelled her thus far.\u201d\n\nClinton has several high-profile Democrats \u2014 led by former interior secretary and Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar \u2014 running her transition.\n\nBoth Trump and Clinton have taxpayer-funded office space provided for a transition effort, the result of a 2010 law that moved up the availability of such money to just after the party conventions, rather than after the election.\n\nIn 2012, Republican nominee Mitt Romney was the first presidential candidate to take advantage of the new law, and his transition effort cost taxpayers nearly $9 million."}
-{"text": "Also Read - Sajid Khan Accused once again for Sexual Harassment by Indian Model\n\nOn February 2, 2020 the well-known choreographer and the General Secretary offiled a complaint for a non-cognizable offence (NC) against the woman who accused him of depriving her of work.The woman is a 33 year old choreographer who filed the complaint atin Mumbai andwhereshe alleged that she was asked to give commission from her income and was forced to watch adult videos. The allegations were against Ganesh Acharyawhoin his statement to Bombay Times said- \u201cFurther he commented on the accusation for commission on which she was expelled from IFTCA.This is not the first instance when Ganesh Acharya is facing harassment allegations. During themovement in India, Tanushree Dutta also lashed out at Acharya, accusing him of spreading rumours about her and ruining her professional reputation. Ganesh Acharya is a big name in the film industry he had won the National Film Award 2018 for choreography inhe has credits in many hit Bollywood songs such as Padmavat, Zero, Simmba, Sanju and Judwa 2. Acharya is not the only one who faced such allegations, the year 2018 experienced the rise of the #MeToo movement where famous personalities likeandfaced such allegationsresulting in a number of counter defamation claims. However in this scenario, Acharya has filed a criminal case against the assistant choreographer denying the allegations and contending that those are baseless and false. The case ofwhich highlighted workplace harassment, provided certain guidelines to be followed and imposed sanctions against the non-compliance of the same, is of significant importance as these instances today occur on a routine basis, one needs to brush up the norms and the system needs to make sure that the guidelines are in compliance so that the case holds its importance for a long time. Author: Aarya Mishra"}
-{"text": "Beginning March 31, 2018, all new vehicles sold in the European Union will be required to carry an emergency call system that automatically dispatches assistance to the scene of a crash.\n\nThe \"auto SOS\" system, dubbed eCall, was approved by European Parliament yesterday after two years of debate over privacy concerns, reports BBC News. In the event of a crash, the device calls the E.U.'s 911 equivalent (112) and transmits to authorities important information including location, time, and number of passengers in the vehicle. An in-car button will also be installed in all vehicles. The eCall requirement will add an estimated $100 to the price of a car.\n\nEach year nearly 26,000 people are killed in the E.U. by car crashes. This new device is estimated to reduce that number by 10 percent, saving 2,600 lives annually, by cutting down emergency response time by as much as 60 percent.\n\nSource: Physorg via The Verge\n\nThis content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io"}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\nMisclassified workers also lose other labor protections accorded employees, such as minimum wage guarantees and overtime protection.\n\n\n\nThe number one reason that employers misclassify is to avoid paying workers compensation premiums and to avoid workplace injury and disability disputes.\n\n\n\nSo if a worker gets seriously injured\u2014and this practice affects mostly low-income workers\u2014that worker will have no income, no workers compensation benefits and likely no health insurance to help with medical expenses.\n\n\n\nIn my home state, California, at least 30 percent of workers are misclassified as independent contractors.\n\n\n\nWorkers are not the only ones harmed by misclassification\u2014honest contractors are as well.\n\n\n\nAt a recent hearing of the Education and Labor Committee\u2019s subcommittee on Workplace Safety, which I chair, a representative of the Mason Contractors Association of America estimated that companies that misclassify their workers expect to reduce labor costs as much as 30 percent.\n\n\n\nThis puts honest contractors at a real disadvantage, which threatens their bottom line, their business and the security of their employees.\n\n\n\nAnd there is one more big loser in misclassification\u2014taxpayers.\n\n\n\nThe IRS estimates that about $2.7 billion are lost a year in unpaid taxes by employers who misclassify their employees.\n\n\n\nTo crack down on this problem, I have introduced the Employee Misclassification Prevention Act, H.R. 5107, known as EMPA, with Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Rob Andrews (D-N.J.) as original co-sponsors. Sen. Sherrod Brown Sherrod Campbell BrownMnuchin says he and Pelosi have agreed to restart coronavirus stimulus talks Harris faces pivotal moment with Supreme Court battle Remote work poses state tax challenges MORE (D-Ohio) has introduced the same bill in the Senate, S. 3254.\n\n\n\nThe bill:\n\n\n\n\n\nRequires employers to keep records that reflect the accurate status of each worker.\n\nIncreases penalties on employers who misclassify their employees and are found to have violated employees\u2019 overtime or minimum wage rights.\n\nRequires employers to notify workers of their classification as an employee or non- employee\n\nCreates an \u201cemployee rights website\u201d to inform workers about their federal and state wage and hour rights.\n\nProvides protections to workers who are discriminated against because they have sought to be accurately classified.\n\nMandates that states conduct audits to identify employers who misclassify workers and requires that the Department of Labor monitor states\u2019 efforts to identify misclassification.\n\nDirects states to strengthen their own penalties for worker misclassification.\n\nPermits the Department of Labor and the IRS to refer incidents of misclassification to one another.\n\nPresident Obama is also concerned about this problem, and in his latest budget complements EMPA by proposing an independent contractor initiative of $25 million for Department of Labor and Treasury Department activities to address misclassification.\n\n\n\nLegitimate independent contractors play an important role in our economy and many companies make good use of their services.\n\n\n\nOther companies, however, that misclassify employees as independent contractors have been ripping off their workers, honest competitors and taxpayers for years.\n\n\n\nIt is high time to put a stop to it.\n\n"}
-{"text": "Save like a champion! Get more bang for your buck at Nationals Park! The Nationals have special ticket offers to help you save on your next trip to Nationals Park.\n\n2021 Ticket Plans are on sale now! All 2021 Washington Nationals ticket plans purchased by October 1, 2020 will include a FREE 50% Bonus Credit as a token of our Gratitude for your Natitude. This means the Nationals will give you a free additional credit worth 50% of the amount paid for 2021 ticket plans by October 1*. You can use this FREE 50% Bonus Credit for concessions, merchandise, additional tickets and more! Alternatively, use your bonus credit to donate tickets to first responders and frontline workers, youth from local communities, and military service members and their families. This limited-time offer ends October 1, so act now!\n\nDownload the official MLB Ballpark app to get access to digital ticketing functionality, ballpark information, mobile check-in offers, interactive features, exclusive content and more!\n\nTo receive Nationals text alerts, text NATIONALS to 91347 . Click here for full details.\n\nJoin the Nationals Fan Club for free and get access to ticket presales, exclusive offers and the latest news and insider information\n\nIf you have any questions, please call 202.675.NATS (6287) or email [email protected].\n\n* 50% Bonus Credit calculated based on the amount paid towards qualifying new 2021 ticket and parking plans on or before October 1, 2020, less all associated fees. For 50% Bonus Credit program terms & conditions, please visit nationals.com/bonusterms.\n\n** All 2021 access, benefits, promotions, seating locations, and events (including, without limitation, location, dates and times) are subject to change without notice based on the ongoing developments of the COVID-19 pandemic.\n\nTickets brokers are not eligible for this offer. The Washington Nationals may expand the use of netting. All sales are final. There are no refunds, exchanges or cancellations."}
-{"text": "\u82b8\u80fd\u6d3b\u52d5\u3092\u4f11\u6b62\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u685c\u7530\u6df3\u5b50\uff08\uff15\uff18\uff09\u304c\u3001\uff14\uff10\u5468\u5e74\u516c\u6f14\u4ee5\u6765\uff13\u5e74\uff14\u30ab\u6708\u3076\u308a\u306b\u30b9\u30c6\u30fc\u30b8\u306b\u7acb\u3064\u3053\u3068\u304c\uff11\u6708\uff13\uff11\u65e5\u3001\u5206\u304b\u3063\u305f\u3002\uff14\u6708\u306b\u6771\u4eac\u30fb\u9280\u5ea7\u535a\u54c1\u9928\u5287\u5834\u3067\u958b\u50ac\u3055\u308c\u308b\u300c\u30b9\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\u30fb\u30df\u30e5\u30fc\u30b8\u30c3\u30af\u306e\u5bb4\u300d\u3067\u3001\u30d7\u30ed\u30c7\u30e5\u30fc\u30b5\u30fc\u306e\u5897\u7530\u4e45\u96c4\u6c0f\uff08\uff17\uff10\uff09\u3068\u306e\u7e01\u3068\u3001\uff14\uff10\u5468\u5e74\u516c\u6f14\u306e\u30d5\u30a1\u30f3\u306e\u597d\u53cd\u5fdc\u306b\u80cc\u4e2d\u3092\u62bc\u3055\u308c\u305f\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3002\n\n\u82b8\u80fd\u754c\u3092\u96e2\u308c\u3001\u4e3b\u5a66\u3001\uff13\u5150\u306e\u6bcd\u306b\u304a\u3055\u307e\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u685c\u7530\u3060\u304c\u3001\u5f53\u6642\u7d04\uff12\uff12\u5e74\u3076\u308a\u306e\u30b9\u30c6\u30fc\u30b8\u3068\u306a\u3063\u305f\uff11\uff13\u5e74\uff11\uff11\u6708\uff12\uff16\u65e5\u306e\uff14\uff10\u5468\u5e74\u516c\u6f14\u306f\u5fd8\u308c\u3089\u308c\u306a\u3044\u7d4c\u9a13\u3060\u3063\u305f\u3088\u3046\u3060\u3002\n\n\u4eca\u56de\u306e\u51fa\u6f14\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u306f\u300c\u304a\u8a71\u304c\u3042\u3063\u305f\u3068\u304d\u306b\u3001\uff14\uff10\u5468\u5e74\u306e\u96c6\u3044\u3067\u30d5\u30a1\u30f3\u306e\u7686\u3055\u3093\u304c\u559c\u3093\u3067\u304f\u3060\u3055\u3063\u305f\u306e\u3092\u601d\u3044\u51fa\u3057\u3001\u300e\u30b9\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\u30fb\u30df\u30e5\u30fc\u30b8\u30c3\u30af\u306e\u5bb4\u300f\u306e\u30b9\u30c6\u30fc\u30b8\u3067\u6b4c\u3063\u3066\u307f\u305f\u3044\u3002\u305d\u3093\u306a\u6c17\u6301\u3061\u306b\u306a\u308a\u3001\u304a\u5f15\u304d\u53d7\u3051\u3044\u305f\u3057\u307e\u3057\u305f\u300d\u3068\u5fc3\u5883\u3092\u660e\u304b\u3057\u305f\u3002\uff14\u6708\uff17\u3001\uff18\u65e5\u306b\u958b\u50ac\u3055\u308c\u308b\u516c\u6f14\u306e\u3044\u305a\u308c\u304b\u306b\u51fa\u6f14\u3002\u4eca\u56de\u3082\u4e00\u591c\u9650\u308a\u306e\u767b\u5834\u3068\u306a\u308b\u3002\n\n\u300c\u30b9\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\uff0d\u300d\u306f\u6620\u50cf\u3092\u30d0\u30c3\u30af\u306b\u3001\u5f80\u5e74\u306e\u6620\u753b\u97f3\u697d\u3092\u751f\u6f14\u594f\u3068\u6b4c\u3067\u518d\u73fe\u3059\u308b\u50ac\u3057\u3002\u3053\u308c\u307e\u3067\u3001\u5225\u6240\u54f2\u4e5f\u3001\u65b0\u59bb\u8056\u5b50\u3089\u5b9f\u529b\u6d3e\u304c\u51fa\u6f14\u3057\u3066\u304d\u305f\u3002\u4eca\u56de\u3082\u30d4\u30a2\u30cb\u30b9\u30bf\u30fc\u30fb\uff28\uff29\uff32\uff2f\uff33\uff28\uff29\u3068\u30d0\u30a4\u30aa\u30ea\u30cb\u30b9\u30c8\u306e\u963f\u90e8\u78e8\u77e5\u306e\u6f14\u594f\u3067\u3001\u30eb\u30fc\u30de\u30cb\u30a2\u51fa\u8eab\u306e\u30aa\u30da\u30e9\u6b4c\u624b\u30a2\u30de\u30ea\u30a2\u30fb\u30cd\u30af\u30e9\u30b7\u30a7\u3089\u304c\u6b4c\u3046\u3053\u3068\u304c\u6c7a\u307e\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\n\n\u685c\u7530\u306b\u306f\u7279\u5225\u30b3\u30fc\u30ca\u30fc\u304c\u8a2d\u3051\u3089\u308c\u308b\u4e88\u5b9a\u3060\u3002\u6620\u753b\u97f3\u697d\u3068\u3044\u3046\u304f\u304f\u308a\u304b\u3089\u3001\uff13\u5e74\u534a\u524d\u306b\u3082\u62ab\u9732\u3057\u305f\u300c\u30a2\u30cb\u30fc\u3088\u9283\u3092\u3068\u308c\u300d\u306a\u3069\u3001\u6570\u66f2\u3092\u9078\u66f2\u4e2d\u3060\u3002\n\n\u685c\u7530\u306f\u5897\u7530\u6c0f\u30d7\u30ed\u30c7\u30e5\u30fc\u30b9\u306e\u6620\u753b\u300c\u6b3d\u3061\u3083\u3093\u306e\u30b7\u30cd\u30de\u30b8\u30e3\u30c3\u30af\u300d\uff08\uff19\uff13\u5e74\uff09\u306b\u95a2\u308f\u3063\u305f\u3053\u3068\u304c\u3042\u308a\u3001\u5897\u7530\u6c0f\u304c\u95a2\u4fc2\u8005\u3092\u901a\u3058\u3066\u9023\u7d61\u3092\u53d6\u3063\u305f\u3068\u3053\u308d\u3001\u5feb\u8afe\u3057\u305f\u3002\uff19\uff12\u5e74\u306b\u82b8\u80fd\u6d3b\u52d5\u3092\u4f11\u696d\u3057\u3066\u4ee5\u6765\u3001\u30b9\u30c6\u30fc\u30b8\u306b\u7acb\u3064\u306e\u306f\uff12\u5ea6\u76ee\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3001\u8cb4\u91cd\u306a\u59ff\u306b\u306a\u308b\u3002\n\n\u524d\u56de\u306e\u30b9\u30c6\u30fc\u30b8\u3067\u3001\u685c\u7530\u306f\u5f53\u6642\u9ad8\u6821\u751f\u306e\u5a18\u3068\u30ab\u30e9\u30aa\u30b1\u306b\u884c\u3063\u305f\u30a8\u30d4\u30bd\u30fc\u30c9\u3092\u660e\u304b\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\u30b9\u30c6\u30fc\u30b8\u306e\u3088\u3046\u306b\u58f0\u3092\u5f35\u3063\u3066\u6b4c\u3046\u6bcd\u306b\u3001\u5a18\u306f\u300c\u6065\u305a\u304b\u3057\u3044\u304b\u3089\uff12\u5ea6\u3068\u4e00\u7dd2\u306b\u884c\u304b\u306a\u3044\u300d\u3068\u8a00\u3063\u305f\u305d\u3046\u3060\u3002\u5f80\u5e74\u306e\u900f\u660e\u611f\u306e\u3042\u308b\u58f0\u306f\u5065\u5728\u306e\u3088\u3046\u3060\u304c\u3001\u4eca\u56de\u306e\u516c\u6f14\u306b\u969b\u3057\u6539\u3081\u3066\u30dc\u30a4\u30b9\u30c8\u30ec\u30fc\u30cb\u30f3\u30b0\u3082\u884c\u3046\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3002\n\n\u25c6\u685c\u7530\u6df3\u5b50\uff08\u3055\u304f\u3089\u3060\u30fb\u3058\u3085\u3093\u3053\uf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-{"text": "A variant edition of the book with a cover design dictated by YOU. I'll even doodle in it, if you want.\n\nPLUS: an appearance in the book (non-speaking) and a print of the page you appear on, your name in the book and on my site, a PDF copy, 2 extra printed copies (in either cover), the original first chapter, the T-shirt, and the production notebook. (International deliveries please add $10)\n\nLess"}
-{"text": "Josh Hafner\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nThe Internet buzzed with (less-than-sincere) concern Tuesday following Chris Christie's appearance at a Donald Trump press conference.\n\nAs Christie stood behind Trump, his eyes staring blankly into space, many wondered: Was Christie, in fact, being held hostage by Trump?\n\nTurns out, no, Christie said Thursday, he was not being held hostage.\n\n\"No, I was not being held hostage. No, I was not sitting up there thinking, 'Oh my god, what have I done?'\" Christie said during a news conference at New Jersey's statehouse.\n\n\"I was standing up there supporting the person who I believe is the best person to beat Hillary Clinton of the remaining Republican candidates, and it's why I endorsed him,\" Christie continued. \"I understand everybody had a lot of fun with it.\"\n\nChristie explained his lack of enthusiasm beside Trump as a reaction to the sparse crowd of the press conference, according to Talking Points Memo.\n\n\"This is part of the hysteria of the people who oppose my Trump endorsement,\" Christie said.\n\nFollow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner"}
-{"text": "The industries with the best pay for civil engineers are the following:\n\nCommercial and industrial machinery repair and maintenance have means at $64.34 per hour or $133,830 per year. This does not include automotive and electronic equipment. Wholesalers for plumbing and heating equipment, and hardware offer a mean $53.93 per hour or $112.180 per year. Other unclassified heavy and civil engineering construction companies average $47.70 per hour or $96,390 per year.\n\nThe industries with the lowest pay for civil engineers are the following:"}
-{"text": "I'm Ella (any pronouns), Graphic Designer and an Illustrator from Finland. Also studied 3D modeling & animation for a few years.\n\nThis is a personal/reblog blog, for my professional portfolio & etc contact me at theirenecrane at gmail.com.\n\nART TAG\n\nDOODLES\n\nTWITTER\n\nINSTAGRAM\n\nPILLOWFORT"}
-{"text": "ANGIE THOMAS in conversation with DONNA BAILEY NURSE at the Art Gallery of Ontario (317 Dundas West), Sunday (February 24), 2 pm. $10-$15 or $26-$31 with book. ago.ca and at The Rose (1 Theatre, Brampton), Monday (February 25), 7 pm. $5-$15. brampton.com.\n\nThe Hate U Give author Angie Thomas is back with another young adult book that skilfully weaves contemporary anxieties about social economics and racial oppression into a coming-of-age tale.\n\nIn her hip-hop novel On The Come Up (Balzer + Bray, 464 pages, $23.99), teenager Bri battle-raps her way through life. She discovers the music at its best and the industry at its worst while coping with poverty and a violent incident involving school security guards. There\u2019s already a movie adaptation in the works with director George Tillman, Jr., the same director who adapted Thomas\u2019s debut for the big screen last year.\n\nAs with The Hate U Give, there\u2019s some of the author in Bri. Like so many kids who only see limited avenues to success, Thomas once tried her hand at the rap game, recording demos that got played on local radio in Jackson, Mississippi a few times and getting an article published about her rhymes in Right On! Magazine.\n\n\u201cIt didn\u2019t go very far for me,\u201d Thomas laughs over the phone from her Mississippi home.\n\nThe novel also draws on the time the author\u2019s mother was laid off and the family had to survive on welfare and food stamps, a period she describes as the most traumatic of her life.\n\nThomas may not have become a rapper, but her voice is out there spreading the ideas and issues her music would have tackled. Ahead of the book release, we spoke with Thomas about hip-hop, how it\u2019s evolved and where she hopes to see it go.\n\nIn your novel, there are interludes where you explain the relevance behind the internal rhyme schemes of rappers like the Notorious B.I.G. and Rakim. My reaction was, \u201cWho does this girl think she\u2019s talking to??!!\u201d But it occurred to me that the YA audience wouldn\u2019t necessarily know these things.\n\nThey don\u2019t! There are kids that I\u2019ve met who are like, \u201cWho is Rakim?\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201cAre you serious?\u201d There\u2019s a generational gap. And a lot of times, especially in hip-hop, older people are like, \u201cWell, these kids don\u2019t know good music.\u201d I\u2019m writing for them but also appreciate old-school stuff. I have to find that medium where I\u2019m like, \u201cI still like what you guys like.\u201d It\u2019s that tricky line of not demeaning what they like but still paying homage to the pioneers.\n\nI think a lot of younger listeners do know 2Pac and Biggie. At the same time, their knowledge of Biggie might be limited to his biggest hits and the tragedy surrounding his death. I don\u2019t know how many realize how intricate, subversive and playful his rhymes and narratives were on songs like I Got A Story To Tell.\n\nSo much of his legacy has been taken up by the beef. When they think of Biggie, they think of 2Pac and that whole thing without really appreciating his artistry. He was more than just the subject of Hit \u2019Em Up. Biggie was literally a lyrical genius. The things this man can do with rhymes and wordplay was genius.\n\nMy biggest hope for this book is that it becomes a gateway to poetry for many kids, that looking at somebody like Biggie would help them later on to look at someone like Nikki Giovanni and understand her poetry.\n\nI assume you\u2019re trying to bridge the gap by dividing the book into three parts: Old School, Golden Age and then New School.\n\nBri\u2019s journey is similar to hip-hop\u2019s journey. I was thinking of Common\u2019s song I Used To Love H.E.R., where \u201cHer\u201d is an embodiment of hip-hop. When Bri\u2019s journey starts, she has a genuine love for it. But then it begins to change the way she acts. Common talks about how \u201cshe\u201d \u2013 as in hip-hop \u2013 got caught up in the gimmick, the image and all of that. That\u2019s how things go with Bri.\n\nSo much of what hip-hop represents is what she represents. Hip-hop in its pure form is what she represents. She represents that need to speak up or speak out. She represents that discomfort when hip-hop is raw and authentic.\n\nIf I Used To Love H.E.R. is an influence on this book, I can\u2019t help but think you\u2019re feeling some kind of way about where hip-hop is at today. Personally, I can\u2019t listen to much outside Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole.\n\nJ. Cole, Kendrick, Joyner Lucas and Rapsody \u2013 that\u2019s about where I stop. I need rappers to be a little more responsible. Hip-hop should be about speaking up, speaking out and making people uncomfortable. People were calling it irresponsible back in the day, but the truth was rappers were speaking on things that were actually happening.\n\nNowadays, it\u2019s not so much about speaking up. It\u2019s about being the alpha male in the room for the guys. It\u2019s about who can outshine each other. There is no sense of responsibility to community. You got 6ix9ine bragging about shooting and killing people on the internet and stuff like that. Now he\u2019s locked up. And you want me to say \u201cFree 6ix9ine\u201d even though he snitched on himself? This is the culture we\u2019re in right now.\n\nI don\u2019t need everybody to be out there doing like Public Enemy. What I mean is, recognize what you do while young people are listening to you. If you\u2019re going to rap about that stuff, also rap about the consequences. 2Pac rapped about that stuff, but he also rapped about the consequences. He rapped about prison and dying.\n\nRapping about \u201cthat stuff\u201d and also getting caught up in the gimmick are both things you illustrate beautifully in Bri\u2019s journey when she\u2019s lured into being \u201cratchet\u201d to stir controversy and grab eyeballs. Reading that made me appreciate a rapper I gave up on long ago: Kanye. Everything he released after The College Dropout had passion and brilliant production, but he\u2019s not a skilled lyricist, which is what I prioritize. Despite that, and all the damaging shit Kanye says today, reading your novel made me think on how he never bought into the hood performance.\n\nBut that\u2019s why we got the Kanye we got now. For so long, we did praise him for being the guy who wasn\u2019t like anybody else. When nobody was rocking pink polos, he started rocking pink polos. He went against the grain. For so many of us hip-hop heads who loved the music but didn\u2019t always identify, he was us. He was the nerd who loved the music but was never seen as cool enough to be in the in crowd. He made himself the in crowd.\n\nBut now that whole thing is warped in his head. He wants to be different, but I don\u2019t think he realizes that in being different, he\u2019s not coming off as a hero. He\u2019s coming off as an asshole. We as a culture created that monster. I thought about that a lot when I was writing the book. What does it mean when you\u2019re the one everyone\u2019s labelling the villain? So many of the monsters out there we create. And that\u2019s what Bri has to realize. She cannot let herself become a monster that others create.\n\nWe haven\u2019t discussed the fact that Bri is a female in hip-hop. You show the fight women face for inclusion in the genre.\n\nHip-hop was founded at a birthday party for a teenage girl. Sugarhill Gang was put together and signed by a woman [Sylvia Robinson]. Hip-hop was built on the backs of women. Then later hip-hop degraded women.\n\nIt\u2019s a struggle being a hip-hop fan as a woman. I explore that in the book. What does it mean to be a woman in that industry? What does it mean that you enter a room and already people are writing you off just because you\u2019re a girl? And what does it mean that women in hip-hop are made to feel like there can only be one? That\u2019s why we have the whole Nicki Minaj and Cardi B beef.\n\nThat\u2019s why it was important to build respect and camaraderie between Bri and the other female rapper. I hope that will influence a new generation. Maybe 10 years from now, we won\u2019t have another Nicki vs. Cardi. We\u2019ll have more young women who aren\u2019t battling to be the only one. They\u2019re willing to work and succeed along side each other.\n\n@JustSayRad"}
-{"text": "A lawyer has said Donald Trump\u2019s debunked claims of election rigging influenced the outcome of his client\u2019s voter fraud trial, calling the US president\u2019s comments \u201cthe 800lb gorilla\u201d in the jury box.\n\nRosa Mar\u00eda Ortega, 37, a Mexican national, was jailed for eight years in Fort Worth, Texas, after being convicted of two felony counts of illegal voting over allegations that she improperly cast a ballot five times between 2005 and 2014.\n\nHer attorney, Clark Birdsall, said on Friday that Ortega was a permanent resident who was brought to the US as a baby and mistakenly thought she was eligible to vote. He said she voted Republican, including for the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, whose office helped prosecute her.\n\nHer sentence was tough: voter fraud convictions, which are rare, often result in probation. As a convicted felon, Ortega is likely to be deported after serving her sentence.\n\nTarrant County prosecutors said jurors made clear they valued voting rights, but Birdsall said he believed Ortega would have fared better in a county with fewer \u201cpro-Trump\u201d attitudes.\n\nTrump carried north Texas\u2019s Tarrant County with 52% of the vote in November. Birdsall said he wanted to steer the jury of 10 women and two men from any lingering thoughts about Trump\u2019s unproven claims that 3 million people illegally voted in 2016 \u2013 but the judge wouldn\u2019t allow him.\n\n\u201cIt was the 800lb gorilla sitting in the jury box,\u201d Birdsall said. \u201cI would have said, \u2018You cannot hold this woman accountable for Donald Trump\u2019s fictitious 3 million votes.\u2019\u201d\n\nBirdsall said the Texas attorney general\u2019s office had agreed to leniency in exchange for Ortega testifying to lawmakers about illegal voting, but said the Tarrant County district attorney, Sharon Wilson, quashed those talks.\n\nA spokeswoman for Wilson acknowledged plea negotiations but would not divulge details. A spokesman for the attorney general did not respond to an email seeking comment.\n\nBirdsall said Ortega has lived in the US since she was a baby and has four teenage children. He said Ortega had learning disabilities and only a sixth-grade education.\n\nSam Jordan, a spokeswoman for Wilson, said the decision to prosecute had \u201cabsolutely nothing\u201d to do with immigration.\n\n\u201cThis is a voter rights case,\u201d she said. \u201cDoes [Wilson] consider voter rights important? Yes she does. And she thought it was important enough to go forward to a jury and let the jury of citizens decide, and they decided pretty clearly how important they think voting rights are.\u201d\n\nTexas is one of many Republican-led states that have pushed for tighter requirements on voters to show identification at the polls. Supporters say such measures are necessary to combat voter fraud and increase public confidence in elections.\n\nResearch, however, has shown that in-person fraud at the polls is extremely rare, and critics of these restrictions warn that they will hurt mostly poor people, minorities and students \u2013 all of whom tend to vote Democratic \u2013 as well as the elderly."}
-{"text": "Kadish said he had made a mistake in sharing the confidential papers\n\nAn 85-year-old former civilian employee of the US Army has been fined for passing classified documents to Israel in the 1980s.\n\nBen-Ami Kadish was spared jail because of his age and health, but ordered to pay $50,000 (\u00a331,000) by a US court.\n\nThe judge said the case was \"shrouded in mystery\" and he was surprised it took the FBI so long to charge Kadish.\n\nKadish said: \"I thought I was helping the state of Israel without harming the United States.\"\n\nProsecutors said that between 1980 and 1985 Kadish provided information about nuclear weapons, fighter jets and missiles to an Israeli agent, Yosef Yagur, who photographed the documents at Kadish's residence.\n\n\"Why it took the government 23 years to charge Mr Kadish is shrouded in mystery,\" US District Judge William Pauley said during sentencing in Manhattan federal court.\n\n\"It is clear the (US) government could have charged Mr Kadish with far more serious crimes.\"\n\n'A mistake'\n\nKadish was arrested in April 2008 and pleaded guilty to being an unregistered agent of Israel in December.\n\nCourt documents showed that Yosef Yagur was also the main Israeli contact for Jonathan Pollard, an American sentenced to life in prison for spying for Israel in the 1980s.\n\nThe judge said he had given Kadish a lenient sentence, but that he had committed \"a grave offence\" and had \"abused the trust\" of the US.\n\nKadish told the court: \"It was a mistake. It was a misjudgment.\"\n\nKadish was born in the US but grew up in Palestine before the founding of the state of Israel in 1948."}
-{"text": "Last updated on .From the section Scottish Championship\n\nRangers moved three points clear at the Championship summit with a thunderous win over nearest rivals Hibernian.\n\nThe visitors' saw their 17-match unbeaten run come to an end despite taking the lead through Jason Cummings.\n\nJason Holt scored twice for Rangers before the break and substitute Nicky Clark added a third in the second half.\n\nThe hosts had Andy Halliday dismissed and Dominique Malonga's goal threatened an improbable comeback but Martyn Waghorn's solo goal settled it.\n\nRangers find right response\n\nRangers had an edge to them and a menace in attack that Hibs could not deal with. There was a hunger about their performance and a strength of character in the wake of that early blow by Cummings.\n\nWhen Liam Henderson's blocked shot fell at the feet of Cummings, the striker showed what a cool customer he is by calmly scooping the ball over the advancing Wes Foderingham.\n\nCummings' stylish chip put Hibs ahead\n\nIn that moment fans wondered what Rangers would find - and the answer was emphatic. They pushed Hibs back and trapped them in their own half. When it came, the equaliser was both clinical and deserved.\n\nInterviews - Warburton and Stubbs\n\nFraser Fyvie lost possession and Rangers reacted in a blue blur - Martyn Waghorn rolling his pass into Holt's path for the midfielder to rifle home a precise finish.\n\nRangers continued their near monopoly of the ball and went ahead just before the break, Holt's shot deflecting off Paul Hanlon's boot and past Mark Oxley.\n\nThere was an element of luck but Hibs had allowed the situation to develop with slack concentration in picking up the dangerous Holt.\n\nDefensive woes for Hibs\n\nWhat was looking like an impressive victory threatened to become a rout when Rangers scored a third just after the hour.\n\nDean Shiels and Nicky Clark were not long on the pitch as substitutes when the former set up the latter to send Ibrox into raptures.\n\nAgain the Hibs defence went missing but Shiels' ball to Clark was a delight and Clark flicked his volley low past Oxley.\n\nClark's delicate volley was a crucial moment in the match\n\nThe blot on the Ibrox landscape was a red card for Halliday, who had been a key player for them all afternoon. He reacted badly to the aggressive Fraser Fyvie and walked as a consequence.\n\nHis loss impacted on Rangers near the end when substitute Malonga poked home inside the six-yard box after desperate indecision from Foderingham and his defenders.\n\nBut the excellent Waghorn slalomed his way into the Hibs penalty to score his 21st goal of the season at the end - the last act of a pulsating occasion in front of almost 50,000 supporters."}
-{"text": "Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) says 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonWhat Senate Republicans have said about election-year Supreme Court vacancies Bipartisan praise pours in after Ginsburg's death Trump carries on with rally, unaware of Ginsburg's death MORE shouldn't cast blame on Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersKenosha will be a good bellwether in 2020 Biden's fiscal program: What is the likely market impact? McConnell accuses Democrats of sowing division by 'downplaying progress' on election security MORE (I-Vt.) for helping President Trump attack her.\n\n\"Please Hillary, don't go there,\" Huffman tweeted in response to leaks of Clinton's upcoming book. \"I supported you. Bernie showed restraint & class & ran aspirational campaign. Politics is rough sometimes.\"\n\nPlease Hillary, don't go there. I supported you. Bernie showed restraint & class & ran aspirational campaign. Politics is rough sometimes. https://t.co/UenQ2jbaXJ \u2014 Rep. Jared Huffman (@JaredHuffman) September 6, 2017\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nClinton wrote in her new book, \"What Happened,\" that Sanders did \"lasting damage\" to her campaign.\n\nShe wrote that during the Democratic primaries, she was told to \"restrain\" herself whenever she wanted to \"hit back\" against Sanders's attacks.\n\n\"When I finally challenged Bernie during a debate to name a single time I changed a position or a vote because of a financial contribution, he couldn't come up with anything,\" Clinton wrote.\n\n\"Nonetheless, his attacks caused lasting damage, making it harder to unify progressives in the general election and paving the way for Trump's 'Crooked Hillary' campaign.\"\n\nTrump frequently referred to Clinton as \"Crooked Hillary\" during the campaign, referencing Sanders's attacks on Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. Trump often said the election was rigged against him the same way the Democratic primary was rigged against Sanders."}
-{"text": "S\u00e9rgio Almeida 03 Junho 2019 \u00e0s 11:30 Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nPartilhar\n\nA escritora Agustina Bessa-Lu\u00eds morreu domingo, no Porto. Estava doente h\u00e1 mais de uma d\u00e9cada, na sequ\u00eancia de um AVC, que a retirou da vida p\u00fablica.\n\nO corpo vai estar em c\u00e2mara ardente a partir das 10.30 horas de ter\u00e7a-feira na S\u00e9 do Porto, onde se realiza uma cerim\u00f3nia \u00e0s 16 horas. O funeral ser\u00e1 na quarta-feira, na R\u00e9gua.\n\nH\u00e1 muito entronizada como uma das vozes incontorn\u00e1veis da literatura de l\u00edngua portuguesa, Agustina Bessa-Lu\u00eds - que domingo faleceu, aos 96 anos, - n\u00e3o precisou de ver aplicada a f\u00f3rmula que em tempos ela mesmo enunciou sobre a posteridade: \"Em regra, s\u00f3 50 anos ap\u00f3s o desaparecimento f\u00edsico do autor \u00e9 que d\u00e1 para aperceber da real dimens\u00e3o da obra. \u00c0s vezes, at\u00e9 \u00e9 necess\u00e1rio mais tempo\".\n\nPoucos ficavam indiferentes \u00e0 grandeza de Agustina, \"um dos dois escritores verdadeiramente geniais (o outro era Fernando Pessoa) que Portugal produziu no s\u00e9culo XX\", como escreveu Ant\u00f3nio Jos\u00e9 Saraiva numa c\u00e9lebre carta dirigida a \u00d3scar Lopes.\n\nMesmo os que n\u00e3o cultivavam especial simpatia pelo seu universo liter\u00e1rio ou at\u00e9 pelas suas posi\u00e7\u00f5es p\u00fablicas, frequentemente desconcertantes, reconheciam-lhe tra\u00e7os de g\u00e9nio.\n\n\"A ETERNA INSUBMISSA\"\n\nAutora de uma biografia sobre Agustina com a chancela da Contraponto, Isabel Rio Novo defende que a romancista \"foi sempre uma voz inc\u00f3moda\": \"N\u00e3o andou pelo mundo como quem contempla uma paisagem. Recusava-se a seguir a via mais f\u00e1cil. Basta dizer que se demarcou do feminismo e questionou a Revolu\u00e7\u00e3o de 1974, em contraciclo com as opini\u00f5es dominantes\". Mais do que coragem, essas posi\u00e7\u00f5es desassombradas \"eram um tra\u00e7o idiossincr\u00e1tico\", adianta, revelador de \"um esp\u00edrito de liberdade, convic\u00e7\u00f5es fortes e elevado sentido de exig\u00eancia \u00e9tica e est\u00e9tica\".\n\nO AVC sofrido h\u00e1 mais de uma d\u00e9cada afastou-a da vida p\u00fablica, mas n\u00e3o rasurou a sua import\u00e2ncia na hist\u00f3ria da literatura, reconhecida por autores de diferentes gera\u00e7\u00f5es.\n\nAnt\u00f3nio Lobo Antunes fala de \"uma escritora do tamanho de George Eliot ou Jane Austen\", Gon\u00e7alo M. Tavares louva a \"grande e gloriosa Agustina\" e Bruno Vieira Amaral, por sua vez, refere-se \u00e0 autora duriense como \"a eterna insubmissa\". \"Para ela, a literatura, mais do que uma novidade, foi quase um destino. H\u00e1 pessoas que se cumprem completamente naquilo que fazem. \u00c9 o caso dela\", reitera.\n\nSe, tal como aconteceu com o seu c\u00famplice Manoel de Oliveira, foi \"mestre sem disc\u00edpulos\", pelo menos diretos, isso deveu-se mais ao seu individualismo do que a um d\u00e9fice de influ\u00eancias.\n\n\"A mais rebelde das escritoras portuguesas\", como j\u00e1 a definiu Pedro Mexia, n\u00e3o precisou de suavizar o seu estilo ind\u00f3mito ou fazer concess\u00f5es para conquistar a admira\u00e7\u00e3o dos seus pares e dos leitores.\n\nNos seus romances, dos mais conhecidos \"A Sibila\" e \"Fanny Owen\" aos discretos \"Ordens Menores\" e \"Mem\u00f3rias Laurentinas\", encontramos um \"mundo fechado\", n\u00e3o por acaso o t\u00edtulo do primeiro livro que publicou, quando tinha 26 anos. \"Nesse universo fortemente estratificado, regido por normas r\u00edgidas, a realidade que Agustina invoca \u00e9 inst\u00e1vel. O que parece verdade torna-se oscilante, como um mundo \u00e0s avessas onde nada \u00e9 a preto e branco\", explica Isabel Pires de Lima, professora catedr\u00e1tica que sublinha \"a ironia ao servi\u00e7o da a\u00e7\u00e3o subversiva\" nos livros da escritora. A tamb\u00e9m professora universit\u00e1ria Ana Paula Coutinho destaca, por sua vez, \"o lema de Montaigne pelo qual se regeu: quanto mais pessoal, mais universal\".\n\nNOBEL? \"S\u00d3 O DA PAZ\"\n\nEm 1948, Agustina aterrou como um OVNI no meio liter\u00e1rio portugu\u00eas. A sua autoconfian\u00e7a, muitas vezes interpretada como petul\u00e2ncia, n\u00e3o podia contrastar mais com o acanhamento e falsas mod\u00e9stias dominantes. Conquistou inimizades, mas um n\u00famero muito superior de seguidores, deslumbrados com a verve de uma autora que procurou como poucos aceder aos recantos mais escondidos da condi\u00e7\u00e3o humana.\n\nO primeiro romance j\u00e1 tinha chamado a aten\u00e7\u00e3o de nomes como Aquilino Ribeiro ou Ferreira de Castro, mas foi com \"A Sibila\", em 1954, que o meio liter\u00e1rio se convenceu de que estava na presen\u00e7a de uma autora muito especial. O romance que, segundo Eduardo Louren\u00e7o, \"marcou o fim da hegemonia do neo-realismo na literatura portuguesa\", cotar-se-ia como a mais emblem\u00e1tica das suas obras, mesmo que o sentimento da autora em rela\u00e7\u00e3o a ele n\u00e3o fosse \"nada de especial\", preferindo \"Sebasti\u00e3o Jos\u00e9\", aproxima\u00e7\u00e3o \u00e0 vida do Marqu\u00eas de Pombal.\n\nO Nobel nunca chegou - com desd\u00e9m afirmava preferir o Nobel da Paz ao da Literatura -, mas o reconhecimento n\u00e3o esteve ausente da sua obra. A come\u00e7ar pela sua cidade de elei\u00e7\u00e3o, o Porto, que h\u00e1 30 anos lhe atribuiu a medalha de honra, mas passando tamb\u00e9m pela Presid\u00eancia da Rep\u00fablica. Em 2006 recebeu a Gr\u00e3-Cruz da Ordem Militar de Sant'Iago das m\u00e3os de Jorge Sampaio. Condecora\u00e7\u00f5es que afirmava receber com gosto, mas que n\u00e3o a inebriavam: \" A literatura tem um lado de divers\u00e3o, de mistifica\u00e7\u00e3o. A realidade \u00e9 outra coisa\"."}
-{"text": "An Italian study of the plaster casts of the 79 AD Vesuvius eruption victims showsmost were not suffocated by ash, as is often assumed. Neither were they knocked down by fast-moving currents of hot gas. Rather, the extreme heat was the main cause of the instantaneous deaths at Pompeii. At temperatures up to 300C, the unfortunate citizens, including those seeking shelter inside buildings, were cooked alive.\n\nItaly, 79 AD. Vesuvius erupts, throwing up a high-altitude column from which ash began to fall, blanketing Pompeii and surrounding areas, and creating an invaluable archaeological record,preserved for almost 2,000 years.\n\nIt is estimated 10% of the city\u2019s population did not manage to escape in time, and from the city\u2019s well-preserved remains, there is evidence of more than 1,000 casualties recovered so far, many in the form of plaster castsfrom the impressions the victims\u2019 bodies left in the ashes. Some show people lying on their backs or sides in an apparently relaxed posture, but most look as if, for one horrible instant, time stood still.\n\nThe eerie, life-like poses of the unfortunate who fell to the volcano\u2019s temper, are a striking reminder of the victims\u2019 individuality, and make it impossible not to wonder how exactly they\u2019ve died.\n\nThe heat was enough for sudden and complete vaporization of soft tissues of the victims at Herculaneum and Oplontis, where the flesh was suddenly replaced by the ash, but was insufficient at Pompeii.\n\nHow did the Pompeiians die?\n\nMost of Pompeii\u2019s inhabitants who survived the early phase of the eruption, during which buildings collapsed, died by exposure to extreme heat, according to the Italian study. A hot mixture of fine ash and hot gas came flowing down the volcano\u2019s slopes, a raging current which caused numerous fatalities at Pompeii, about 10kms from the volcano\u2019s vent. The researchers found that even at the flow\u2019s termination point, temperatures of over 250C caused instant death. Until now it was believed that many who survived the early eruptive phase were latersuffocated by ash.\n\nThe study, authored by Giuseppe Mastrolorenzo, Pierpaolo Petrone, Lucia Pappalardo and Fabio M. Guarino and published in open access journal PloS ONE, used digital models of the pyroclastic surges to compute size, density and velocity, as well as analysing human remains from the Pompeii archaeological site, Herculaneum and Oplontis.\n\nLava? Try Pyroclastic Flows\n\nThe 79 AD Vesuvius eruption caused six major pyroclastic surges and flows, each increasing in power. The three early surges stopped ahead of Pompeii\u2019s north-western walls, while the three later surges passed over the town. Although less powerful than the last two surges (whose reach extended more than 15 km from the vent), and in spite of little material damage and an ash deposit of only 3cm, the fourth pyroclastic surge (S4) caused most of the fatalities at Pompeii.\n\nThe Italian scientists calculated that the S4current reached Pompeii at a velocity of 29m/s (about 104km/h) and was up to 18 metres high. It took the cloud of hot gas and ash less than a minute and a half and maybe as little as 30 seconds to pass through the city.\n\nHeat-shock Forensics\n\nIn their search for evidence of S4\u2019s lethal effects, the scientists studied the casts and skeletons\u2019 body postures of some of the 650 victims preserved in the deposits of the S4 surge, hitherto supposed to have died from asphyxiation. For comparison, they also studied 37 corpses discovered at the seaside site of Oplontis and 78 skeletons unearthed at Herculaneum. Impact-like symptoms such as ruptured body parts, are rare, leading the scientists to conclude the S4 flow\u2019s dynamic overpressure was below the human lethal threshold. More surprising was that 73% of the S4 victims examined were found to have a \u2018life-like stance\u2019. Death was so sudden, that the victims died mid-movement.\n\nThe researchers consider the widespread occurrence of this stance to be key evidence that most of the victims were alive at the time of posture arrest, and that they all were exposed to the same lethal conditions.\n\nThey say the sheer number of victims \u2018frozen in action\u2019 is indicative of a condition known as \u2018cadaveric spasm\u2019. Often associated with violent death, it means an instantaneous rigor occurs, crystallizing the last activity prior to death. Cadaveric spasm commonly involves only groups of muscles. Only exceptionally for example in battle situations, due to exposure to extreme heat would it affect the entire body.\n\nSeventy-six per cent of the victims showed limb contraction while a \u2018pugilistic attitude\u2019 (limb flexures that result from dehydration and shortening of tendons and muscles) was found in 64% of the S4 casualties. Both post-mortem postures are generally observed as secondary effects in victims exposed to extremely high temperatures, and according to the authors, wrongly attributed to attempts at self-defence by previous studies.\n\nGetting the Temperature Just Right\n\nIn order to verify their theory of instant death caused by theheat-shock, the researchers heated human bones to above 200C (the human survival threshold) and compared colour and texture modifications to the bones of the S4 victims. The tests suggest that bones from Pompeii were exposed to temperatures between 250 and 300C. The Herculaneum and Oplontis skeletons were exposed to temperatures up to 500 and 600C respectively.\n\nAccording to the authors, such temperatures would also explain the well-preserved body imprints found at Pompeii: The heat was enough for sudden and complete vaporization of soft tissues of the victims at Herculaneum and Oplontis, where the flesh was suddenly replaced by the ash, but was insufficient at Pompeii. This accounts for the nearly perfect preservation of the entire body imprint (as shown by the plaster casts) in the ash as a consequence of the delayed disappearance of flesh of these bodies.\n\nThe estimated 250 to 300C temperature is also consistent with the melting of ancient Roman silverware, but not glass, at Pompeii.\n\nFrozen in Action,Cooked Alive. Doesthat hurt?\n\nCan we fully exclude that the hot ash particles caused suffocation? The researchers argue that, although the concentration of inhalable ash particles approached a lethal level, the S4 cloud passed too quickly to cause asphyxia. The time Pompeii\u2019s citizens were exposed to the ash cloud was too short, suffocation as cause of death would have required a longer exposure time, resulting in several minutes of sheer agony \u2013 and loss of muscle tone, inconsistent with the \u2018life-like\u2019 postures.\n\nWhat about the suffering involved with being cooked alive? At Pompeii, a rise of temperature to more than 250C in less than 30 seconds, would have (hopefully) heated the victims brains to a point of unconsciousness within a few seconds, as well as instantly boiled the victims\u2019 nerve endings.\n\nGood thermopalia or not, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll be movinganywhere near an activevolcano anytime soon.\n\n\u2018Mastrolorenzo G, Petrone P, Pappalardo L, Guarino FM, 2010 Lethal Thermal Impact at Periphery of Pyroclastic Surges: Evidences at Pompeii\u2019 is available for download from PLoS One under a creative commons attribution license."}
-{"text": "M\u00c9XICO -- Cuauht\u00e9moc Blanco ten\u00eda contemplado jugar un \u00faltimo torneo con Am\u00e9rica y culp\u00f3 a Ricardo Pel\u00e1ez, presidente de las \u00c1guilas, por no ayudarlo a cumplir ese compromiso que ten\u00edan establecido.\n\nEl ahora jugador de Dorados de Sinaloa ofreci\u00f3 una entrevista a una radiodifusora mexicana, en la cual expres\u00f3 con molestia: \"Yo habl\u00e9 con Pel\u00e1ez y \u00e9l me prometi\u00f3 que yo podr\u00eda retirarme en Am\u00e9rica pero ya saben, cuando ya est\u00e1n de pantal\u00f3n largo uno cambia su forma de ser\".\n\nBlanco no est\u00e1 interesado en que el equipo de sus amores le brinde un reconocimiento o le organice un partido amistoso de despedida, pues lo que \u00e9l quer\u00eda era despedirse como jugador en activo del Am\u00e9rica.\n\nSobre el paso que lleva la escuadra capitalina bajo el mando de Miguel Herrera, Cuauht\u00e9moc opin\u00f3: \"Ah\u00ed va el Am\u00e9rica. Hay muchos altibajos. A veces gana, a veces pierde y otras empata. Esperemos que tenga una rachita buena para poder llegar a la Liguilla. Veo a otros equipos m\u00e1s fuertes pero ojal\u00e1 que tomen una buena rachita\".\n\nPara cerrar, Blanco asegur\u00f3 sentirse c\u00f3modo con la escuadra sinaloense: \"Me siento muy bien con el equipo. En Dorados s\u00ed me pagan porque en Irapuato no. No me pagaron nada. Ya met\u00ed controversia en Federaci\u00f3n Mexicana de F\u00fatbol y s\u00f3lo falta esperar a que pierdan puntos\"."}
-{"text": "Should US taxpayers stop funding the UN? Should the UN be kicked out of the US? Vote and share this ."}
-{"text": "President Trump said NFL fans should stop going to football games until players who kneel during the national anthem are suspended or fired.\n\n\"If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast. Fire or suspend!\" Trump tweeted.\n\nHe later added, \"NFL attendance and ratings are WAY DOWN. Boring games yes, but many stay away beause (sic) they love our country. League should back U.S.\"\n\nIf NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast. Fire or suspend! \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017\n\n...NFL attendance and ratings are WAY DOWN. Boring games yes, but many stay away because they love our country. League should back U.S. \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017\n\nTrump has been tweeting about sports this weekend. First, he disinvited Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry from the White House because Curry was reportedly wavering on whether he wanted to go to celebrate the team's championship. That led to the entire Warriors team deciding not to go to the White House.\n\nLater, Trump kept up a line of thought he originally debuted in a rally for Sen. Luther Strange, R-Ala., on Friday when he called players who kneel during the national anthem a \"son of a bitch.\"\n\nTrump then tweeted throughout Saturday about the protests.\n\nThe tweets come as Trump is trying to shepherd a last-gasp attempt at overhauling the Affordable Care Act through the Senate, which must be done by Sept. 30, and as North Korea continues to threaten the United States with promises of destruction.\n\nTrump is a failed football owner, having owned the New Jersey Generals in the USFL, a football league that started during the 1980s and eventually went bankrupt. Trump was an advocate of that league competing directly against the NFL, a decision that is widely blamed for causing the league's failure."}
-{"text": "Walt Bettinger, CEO of Charles Schwab. Justin Sullivan / Getty Images Walt Bettinger, the CEO of Charles Schwab, wants to know the type of person you are before he offers you a job. But his way of figuring that out is slightly unconventional.\n\nIn a recent interview with Adam Bryant of The New York Times, Bettinger says that when hiring, he's most concerned with character and the kind of person the job candidate is.\n\n\"I'll ask questions like, 'Tell me about the greatest successes in your life,'\" he says. \"What I'm looking for is whether their view of the world really revolves around others or whether it revolves around them. And I'll ask them about their greatest failures in their life and see whether they own them or whether they were somebody else's fault.\"\n\nBut another thing he sometimes does is a bit more distinctive.\n\nBettinger says he invites the job candidate to breakfast \u2014 but arrives at the restaurant early, pulls the manager aside, and says, \"I want you to mess up the order of the person who's going to be joining me. It'll be OK, and I'll give a good tip, but mess up their order.\"\n\n\"I do that because I want to see how the person responds,\" he tells Bryant. \"That will help me understand how they deal with adversity. Are they upset, are they frustrated, or are they understanding? Life is like that, and business is like that. It's just another way to get a look inside their heart rather than their head.\"\n\nAnother response to a messed-up breakfast order that can be very telling: not saying anything at all.\n\nBettinger didn't mention this in his interview with Bryant, but if you receive the wrong food and don't acknowledge it, this may tell the interviewer you are timid, pay little attention to detail, or are not willing to right a wrong \u2014 all messages that you don't want to send a potential employer.\n\nOf course, you shouldn't make a huge deal of it, and you certainly shouldn't be rude, but it's probably better to say something \u2014 politely and respectfully \u2014 than nothing at all.\n\n\"We're all going to make mistakes,\" Bettinger concludes. \"The question is how are we going to recover when we make them, and are we going to be respectful to others when they make them?\"\n\nRead the full New York Times interview here."}
-{"text": "A new poll shows that half of those who consider themselves part of the tea party movement also identify as part of the religious right, reflecting the complex - and sometimes contradictory - blend of bedfellows in the American conservative movement.\n\nThe poll released Tuesday, by the nonprofit Public Religion Research Institute, comes as the tea party's composition and potential impact is still under hot debate. Experts disagreed about what the poll meant, with some saying it reveals serious fissures between social and fiscal conservatives and others saying the two movements can find common ground on subjects such as limiting public funding for abortion.\n\nInstitute chief executive Robert Jones said the poll, which was funded by the Ford Foundation, aimed to clarify the relationship between the two groups.\n\n\"The way the data looks, if this is a marriage of convenience, it's one that would be against the law. The relatives are too close,\" said Jones, a self-described progressive.\n\nThe survey, which polled 3,013 people by telephone over four days in early September and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percent, also found:\n\n* The percentage of Americans who say they're part of the tea party movement is 11 percent - about half the size of the group who say they are \"part of the religious right or conservative Christian movement.\"\n\n* Fifty-five percent of people who say they are part of the tea party agree that \"America has always been and is currently a Christian nation\" - 6 points more than the percentage of self-described Christian conservatives who would say that.\n\n* Among the differences between Christian conservatives and tea partiers is their source of news, with 39 percent of the former group saying Fox News is their most trusted source for \"accurate information about politics and current events\" and 57 percent of the latter group saying that.\n\nThe poll appears to ask the most detailed questions yet related to faith identity and the tea party. A Quinnipiac University poll last month asked basic demographic information, revealing that 20 percent of white evangelicals consider themselves part of the tea party movement. A Washington Post poll published Tuesday found more than half of all white evangelicals \"support or lean toward supporting the tea party.\"\n\nMatt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, a national group that supports tea party candidates, said he sees a \"real shift\" among American conservatives \"towards a focus on the proper role of government. And from that you could get a respect of a division between church and state.\"\n\nMembers of the tea party, including Christian conservatives, he said, would generally think George Bush's use of government money to subsidize faith-based institutions \"was the wrong direction.\" They also might have a strong personal opposition to same-sex marriage, he said, but believe banning gay marriage \"is not a role for the federal government.\"\n\n\"If we had a debate about religion it would be like your family Thanksgiving dinner table. Everyone would argue and passionately hold their own view, but in terms of public policy, the glue that holds us together is: What's the appropriate role for the government?\" he said."}
-{"text": "The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or their Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Bulls and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.\n\nThe Bucks stopped here Friday in the Bulls 102-90 victory over Milwaukee. Nah, been used too much.\n\nThe Bulls passed the Bucks, and outrebounded them and outhustled when as well with 13 steals, equaling a season high they also matched in Atlanta Wednesday. Don\u2019t really like that one, either.\n\nThe Bulls Bucked the trend of being threatened by losing teams in basically having a double digit lead for almost the entire last 46 minutes, then watching a 22-point fourth quarter lead reduced to eight with 7:11 left until eventually pulling away again. Well, I don\u2019t know.\n\nThe Bulls got some bang for the Bucks with Jimmy Butler and Kirk Hinrich each with 17 points leading a balanced attack with all seven regulars in double figures. No, not really. Maybe something else.\n\nThe Bulls tried to Buck the system in the Eastern Conference. But with Toronto, Brooklyn and Washington all winning the Bulls in going to a season best 44-32 remained tied for third with a possible playoff preview in Washington Saturday. Really, I\u2019m almost done.\n\nIt was big Bucks for the Bulls Friday as Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer had double-doubles, 14 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for Boozer and 11 points, 13 rebounds and four assists for Noah, as four different Bulls had at least four assists and the Bulls attempted 42 free throws (77 combined) in a slow game in which the United Center crowd to Buck up actually was doing a wave.\n\nOh, heck already. Bulls win, Bulls win.\n\n\u201cEvery win is not going to be perfect,\u201d said Taj Gibson. \u201cA win in this league whether they\u2019re in last place, first place, every game is tough and a win is a win.\n\n\u201cFind ways to win no matter what,\u201d Gibson added about the Bulls attitude against the last place Bucks, 14-62. \u201cWe\u2019ve been in dogfights with some of the best teams; we beat almost every great team in the NBA. It comes down to when the playoffs come there are going to be dogfights every night. We\u2019re accustomed to that; we\u2019re ready for that. We have a lot of experience and I hope at the right time we can overcome.\u201d\n\nThe only real look at that the rest of the regular season in six more games comes Saturday in Washington. The Wizards after a good win Friday in New York remain sixth in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls currently are tied with Toronto for third, but Toronto has the tiebreaker by virtue of leading the division. But if the Bulls move ahead of the Raptors they\u2019d likely open the playoffs against the Wizards. The Wizards are the only team in the Eastern Conference the Bulls have not defeated with two January losses not long after the Luol Deng trade.\n\n\u201cWhen we\u2019re right we feel we can beat anybody,\u201d said Gibson, who added 13 points. \u201cIt\u2019s about getting the right mechanics and inspiration at the right time. Those two games they really jumped on us. We didn\u2019t know too much the way we should have, the way Trevor Ariza and Martell Webster were really hot shooters. They had Nene (still out injured), they had just gotten (Marcin) Gortat and we didn\u2019t know what we were up against. They are playing really good basketball. We have to match that intensity.\u201d\n\nBut it\u2019s a different Bulls team since then as that second Wizards game was in Washington and right after a Bulls triple overtime win in Orlando.\n\nBut since that loss in Washington Jan. 17, the Bulls are 26-12 and have won six of seven. Although they weren\u2019t as sharp Friday against the Bucks shooting 36.9 percent, the Bulls continue to play their best of the season with a determined defensive game even when the offense sputtered some.\n\nThe Bulls did surpass 100 points against the undermanned Bucks with just eight healthy or not suspended players. They\u2019re 29-2 when they score at least 96 points and 12-1 when their five starters are in double figures like they were against the Bucks.\n\n\u201cI love the balance of the team,\u201d said Thibodeau. \u201cWe got seven guys in double figures again. The shot distribution is pretty even. That\u2019s important. The rebounding is starting to come back, which is encouraging. Overall, our bigs did a very good job. Each night it could be someone different. Whoever has the hot hand or a favorable matchup, that\u2019s the way we want to go, share the ball, make the right plays, make the right decisions.\u201d\n\nThe Bulls did pretty much from the beginning with an overwhelming start, an 18-6 lead less than eight minutes into the game on a Mike Dunleavy ball fake and three and 27-15 at the end of the first quarter on a Butler three.\n\nMore impressive was the defensive determination as Butler and Kirk Hinrich were all over the Bucks guards, forcing them away from their moves and plays. The Bulls took a 51-35 halftime lead with Gibson throwing down another of his power slams on a Butler pocket pass midway through the quarter that probably was a good reason the Bucks had held the O.J. Mayo back on the bench.\n\n\u201cI really like their team depth and they are well balanced,\u201d Bucks coach Larry Drew said of the Bulls. \u201cThey spread their shots and have good chemistry, which you can see. They move the ball and keep balanced scoring.\u201d\n\nThe Bulls did so in a big third quarter for Boozer, who was aggressive inside as the Bulls appeared to break it open with an 82-62 lead going into the fourth quarter.\n\nThere was a bit of shoving when D.J. Augustin appeared to have some sensitivity about being hit in his sensitivities and Khris Middleton got a technical foul. Augustin with 14 points and a team-high six assists made the free throw.\n\nThe Bucks, with Brandon Knight getting 22 and Jeff Adrien scoring 21 as they thwart the 76ers and chase down the league\u2019s worst record, then put a 15-3 run on the Bulls to make it an 85-77 game with 7:11 left. The wave stopped as the Bulls weren\u2019t surfing through this one anymore.\n\nBut Hinrich coolly came up with the defensive play of the moment. After Augustin missed a three, Adrian found Ramon Sessions running full court for a layup and what looked like just a six-point deficit with half the quarter remaining. Yes, Yo Ramon, yelled Adrien. But as Sessions gathered in Adrien\u2019s full court pass, Hinrich delivered the knockout, stripping the ball away to stop that Bucks scoring session. Hinrich got the ball up to Augustin, who passed back to Hinrich open on the right wing for a three and an 88-77 Bulls lead with 5:59 left.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s Kirk for you,\u201d said Butler. \u201cEveryone giving their all and getting back on D and kudos for Kirk for making the big shot.\u201d\n\nThat was enough to enable the Bulls to Buck up given the circumstances and with a couple of timely Gibson plays the Bulls didn\u2019t allow a fast Buck to catch them the rest of the way.\n\n\u201cI thought Kirk, Jimmy and D.J. battled and they made a couple of big plays late in the fourth quarter by having high hands,\u201d said Thibodeau. \u201cWe had to go to more trapping. They did a good job competing and that\u2019s all you can ask for. When your shots aren\u2019t dropping, we made the effort to get back and come up with steals, particularly late in the game. We are capable of doing that better than we did. The important thing for us is to find a way to win. We will take a look at the film and make our corrections. We have to be ready for the next one.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Duration: 6:33 Views: 6 026 Submitted: 2 years ago\n\nDescription: This babe is just sensational. She is in her pajamas but she gets rid of them very fast exposing her huge natural tits and a sweet pussy."}
-{"text": "August 4, 2019 at 2:25 pm\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTeenager wins Google Science award for genius invention that could cheaply remove most microplastics from the ocean\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBecause microplastics are so small \u2014 some as tiny as grains of sand \u2014 scientists have had a hard time figuring out to remove them from the soil and the sea.\n\nNow, an Irish teenager has come up with a promising solution for this seemingly impossible task \u2014 a magnetic liquid that attracts microplastics to itself.\n\n18-year-old Fionn Ferreira was kayaking one day when he spotted a rock covered in oil from a recent spill. Clinging to the oil were a bunch of tiny pieces of plastic.\n\n\u201cIt got me thinking,\u201d Ferreira told Business Insider. \u201cIn chemistry, like attracts like.\u201d\n\nPlastic and oil are nonpolar, making them likely to stick together in nature\n\nFerreira wondered if the effect could be recreated using ferrofluid, a magnetic, oil-based liquid invented by NASA in 1963 to keep rocket fuel moving in zero gravity.\n\nToday ferrofluid is used to control vibrations in speakers and to seal off electronics to keep debris out.\n\nFerreira makes a more environmentally friendly version of the liquid than the kind used in rocket fuel, using recycled vegetable oil and magnetite powder, a mineral found naturally on Earth\u2019s surface.\n\nWhen he first drops the liquid into a container of water contaminated with microplastics, it disperses and turns the water black.\n\nThen he dips a magnet in the water, which pulls out all the ferrofluid, plastic and all, leaving clear water behind.\n\nThe method removed 88% of the micrplastics in his test samples.\n\nThe most difficult type of microplastic to remove was polypropylene, used to make all sorts of plastic packaging. Still, the ferrofluid removes 80% of polypropylene.\n\nThe easiest microplastics to remove were microfibers from plastic clothing such polyester, spandex and Lycra.\n\nWashers and dryers are currently not equipped to filter these microfibers, which are a major source of ocean plastic pollution, so this is great news for that application.\n\nAdditionally, Ferreira\u2018s invention can be used at wastewater treatment plants as a sort of catch-all for microplastic pollution before it enters rivers, lakes and oceans.\n\nFerreira has won the Google Science award, $50,000 and educational funding for his invention.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "The Border Reivers Cursing Stone\n\nBorder reivers were raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. These were rugged, tough people who enforced their own brutal code of conduct in what was to be known as the 300 Year War.\n\nThere are 77 predominant family names who can claim to have been Reivers, names like Armstrong, Robson, Douglas, Elliot, Dodd, Graham and Bell among them (see full list at the bottom of the page). The conflict wasn\u2019t Scotland against England, it was between the families themselves. The Border families aligned themselves with neither the English or Scottish Crown it was all about kinship \u2013 they aligned themselves with those of the same name. These were hard, brutal times, the Border people lived on a permanent battleground, raiding and marauding was the only way to survive.\n\nThe Borders were difficult to control, this was a lawless land, the Reivers were notorious. The church held little influence here neither did the monarchs. It was seen as a time of complete moral collapse, so much so that the Archbishop of Glasgow took it upon himself to excommunicate the Border thieves.\n\nGavin Dunbar the Archbishop of Glasgow, issued a dire warning to Reivers of the Scottish Marches in the form of what is known now as the \u2018Monition of Cursing\u2019. This Cursing damned the Reivers to eternal suffering in the fires of Hell unless they returned to Holy Mother Church, put away their unholy lives and conformed to the laws of the Church and the Land.\n\nIt is a tirade which runs to 1500 words and was to be read out in all the churches in the Scottish Borders, at least those that still existed! Not that the Reivers would be present to hear the condemnations levelled against them!\n\nThe curse was ordered to be read from every pulpit in the diocese and be circulated throughout the length and breadth of the Borders.\n\nThe Curse Against the Reivers\n\nHere is a small piece of the epic curse:\n\n\u2018I curse thair heid (head) and all the haris (hairs) of thair heid; I curse thair face, thair ene (eyes), thair mouth, thair nose, thair tongue, thair teith, thair crag (chin), thair schuderis (shoulders), thair breast, thair hert, thair stomok, thair bak, thair armes, thair leggis, thair handis, thair feit, and everilk (every) part of thair body, frae the top of thair heid to the soill of thair feit, befoir and behind, within and without.\u2019\n\n\u2018\u2026 I curse thaim etand (eating), I curse thaim drinkand (drinking), I curse thaim walkand (walking), I curse thaim sleepand( sleeping)\u2026 I curse thair wiffis (wives), thair barnis ( bairns i.e. children) \u2026 thair cornys, thair catales, thair woll (wool), thair scheip (sheep), thair horse\u2026 thair barnys (barns)\u2026 thair plewis (ploughs)\u2026that is necessair for thair sustentatioun(sustenance) and weilfair (welfare).\n\n\u2026And finally, I condemn thaim perpetualie to the deip pit of hell, to remain with Lucifer and all his fallowis, and thair bodeis to the gallowis of the Burrow Mure, first to be hangit, syne revin and ruggit with doggis, swyne and utheris wyld beists\u2026 (Ripped apart by beasts on the Boroughmuir, Edinburgh and other places of execution).\n\nThe Reivers\u2019 Response\n\nSuch a curse from the church may have had some effect in an earlier period, but at this time it was just laughed at, if anything between the year of 1525, and the close of the 16th century the crime accelerated out of any control. A threat of eternal damnation meant little to the Reivers at a time when other men lived in awe of the Church and its promise of a happy afterlife if its dictates were followed. They ignored the Monition of Cursing and followed the old way. To most it was the only life they knew. Future paradise or future damnation? What was the difference? Neither filled a stomach and the present was hell on earth anyway.\n\nIt was not until the unification of the Crowns of Scotland and England after the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, that the final solution was enacted. The new King of the unified country; James I of England and VI of Scotland, took up residence in London. He resolved to manage the country as one, and it was no longer acceptable to allow the reivers free reign of the borders with near impunity. The so called \u2018pacification of the borders\u2019 was simply resolved by the summary execution or deportation of the offenders en masse. Not many people know about The Clearances of The Borders. By about 1610, the \u2018broken men of the borders\u2019 were finally broken themselves. Although occasional feuds and acts of criminality continued to occur, the business was less endemic and the law became more effective in dealing with perpetrators.\n\nReivers Cursed Before 1525\n\nIt was not the first time that a Curse had been put upon the Reivers. In 1498 Richard Fox, Bishop of Durham denounced the Reivers of Tynedale in Northumberland, England and forbade any priest to minister to them.\n\nIn 1524 the Tynedale Reivers were cursed yet again; this time by no less than Cardinal Wolsey. At Easter in that year Hector Charlton of the Bower raided Bellingham church, broke into the tabernacle and stole the Communion hosts. He also made away with a firkin of wine. At Tarset Hall Charlton served the Reiver congregation with wine and received the offerings due to the absent minister.\n\nIn the year 2000 a stone commemorating the Monition of Cursing was erected in Carlisle, Cumbria near to the formidable pile that is Carlisle castle. The Great Border city is justly proud of its association with the Border Reivers. It seemed a fitting addition to a region which is rightly proud of its heritage from the Roman Occupation to the present day.\n\nBut residents in Carlisle claim the stone has brought them disasters from disease to the relegation of the local soccer team.\n\nIn 2005 Carlisle was overtaken by floods of an unprecedented level. Houses were swamped to their upper floors as the river Eden burst its banks and engulfed everything in its path. Vast swathes of the city were underwater for days; houses on the flood plain of the river seriously damaged. Many had to leave their homes and find shelter elsewhere for up to and over a year before they could return. It was an extremely harrowing episode in the history of this proud northern place just south of the Border with Scotland.\n\nAlso only weeks after the oval-shaped stone was installed, foot and mouth saw one half of Cumbria\u2019s livestock burning on funeral pyres, followed by a succession of factory closures and relegation for Carlisle United.\n\nThe curse was taken so seriously that a Council member proposed the removal of the stone.\n\nThe city council took advice from local Christian groups, including the Bishop of Carlisle and a blessing was included within the artwork taken from The Bible, Philippians 4 Verse 6 to try and counteract the curse.\n\nBorder Family Names\n\nAinslie\n\nArchbold\n\nArmstrong\n\nBallantine\n\nBeattie(son)\n\nBell\n\nBlenkinsop\n\nBromfield\n\nBunyan\n\nBurn\n\nCarlisle\n\nCarnaby\n\nCarr\n\nCarruthers\n\nCessford\n\nCharlton\n\nChisholm\n\nCollingwood\n\nCoulter\n\nCranston\n\nCraw\n\nCresswell\n\nCrichton\n\nCrozier\n\nCurwen\n\nDacre\n\nDavidson\n\nDixon\n\nDodds\n\nDouglas\n\nDunne\n\nElliot\n\nEtherington\n\nFenwick\n\nForster\n\nGilchrist\n\nGlendenning\n\nGoodfellow\n\nGraham\n\nGrey\n\nHall\n\nHalliday\n\nHarden\n\nHedley\n\nHenderson\n\nHeron\n\nHetherington\n\nHodgson\n\nHume/Home\n\nIrvine/Irving\n\nJamieson\n\nJardine\n\nJohnstone\n\nKerr\n\nKilpatrick\n\nKinmont/Kinnimont\n\nLaidlaw\n\nLittle\n\nLowther\n\nMaxwell\n\nMilburn\n\nMoffat\n\nMurray\n\nMusgrave\n\nNixon\n\nNoble\n\nOgle\n\nOliver\n\nOrde\n\nPercy\n\nPotts\n\nPringle\n\nReaveley\n\nReed\n\nRedpath\n\nReed\n\nRidley\n\nRobson\n\nRowell\n\nRoutledge\n\nRutherford\n\nSalkeld\n\nScott\n\nSelby\n\nShaftoe\n\nSommerville\n\nStamper\n\nStephenson\n\nStorey\n\nSwinton\n\nTait\n\nTaylor\n\nThompson\n\nTrotter\n\nTurnbull\n\nTweedie\n\nVeitch\n\nWitherington\n\nWaddington\n\nWatson\n\nWilson\n\nYarrow\n\nYoung\n\nTagged"}
-{"text": "Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein tells Larry why she thinks more & more Americans are rejecting the 'corporate' stronghold of our 2-party system & embracing third party options. Plus, Dem. Lincoln Chafee bets Biden will jump in the race."}
-{"text": "Today the Commission is proposing significant modifications to our rules relating to the distribution and scope of consolidated market data under Regulation NMS. When the Commission approved its proposal last month to change the governance of national market system plans relating to market data, I expressed my hope that staff would \u201cexplore ways to get to the root of the problem by allowing more competition into this space.\u201d[1] This proposal represents a possible approach to doing just that, and I am happy to join my colleagues in voting to approve this proposal. I look forward to the lively conversation that I hope will follow.\n\nThe Commission made a mistake when it determined in Regulation NMS to leave unchanged a regulatory framework that relied on a monopoly to provide for the dissemination of market data. Monopolies, especially those created or maintained through regulation, are not known for their efficiency or their ability to respond quickly to market or technological changes.\n\nIt is no surprise, then, that the Commission\u2019s confidence in 2005\u2014that \u201cthe current model . . . benefits investors, particularly retail investors, by helping them to assess quoted prices at the time they place an order and to evaluate the best execution of their orders against such prices by obtaining data from a single source that is highly reliable and comprehensive\u201d[2]\u2014has proved unfounded. To be fair, our markets have changed dramatically over the past 15 years, but we increasingly hear from investors that the consolidated tape data (\u201cSIP data\u201d) has not kept up with those changes: Many investors insist that SIP data alone does not enable them to determine whether their broker-dealers are meeting best execution expectations. The proposed rule would attempt to address these concerns by expanding the scope of \u201ccore data\u201d and by ensuring that the consolidation and dissemination of that data are subject to competitive forces.\n\nTogether, these proposed changes could improve dramatically the value and usefulness of consolidated data disseminated pursuant to Regulation NMS. The expansion of \u201ccore data\u201d to include depth-of-book information, odd lots, and auction information should provide market participants who rely on consolidated data with a clearer picture of market conditions and could improve execution quality for many investors. Introducing competition, in the form of competing consolidators, into the market for consolidation and dissemination of core data should ensure that market participants receive market data on a timeline that is better calibrated to the ever-increasing speed of trading in our equities markets.\n\nAs we consider these proposed changes, however, we must acknowledge that market participants have widely varying market data needs depending on their business model, investment strategy, and many other factors. Moreover, investors with different goals may measure execution quality in different ways. A one-size-fits-all model\u2014particularly one mandated by a regulator\u2014is not appropriate for our financial markets, which serve many different types of market participants. Our rules should allow market participants to obtain market data commensurate with their needs, and we should not feel compelled to eliminate every information asymmetry in our markets. Getting a lot of data quickly is important to some, but not all, market participants. The proposed rules generally are designed to accommodate these varying preferences: They would permit competing consolidators to offer different types of market data in response to subscriber demand, and exchanges could continue to sell proprietary data feeds to market participants that find them useful in pursuing a trading strategy or business model. I look forward to comment regarding whether the proposal provides sufficient flexibility to meet the diverse data demands of participants in our markets.\n\nI also look forward to comment on two issues in the release that cause me particular concern. First, subjecting competing consolidators to Regulation SCI threatens to impose burdens that could deter firms from entering the market as competing consolidators. In the competitive market with multiple providers of consolidated market data that the proposal envisions, why is regulation necessary to ensure that firms establish safeguards against cybersecurity threats and systems failures? Market discipline should reduce the risk of such failures, and the presence of multiple consolidators would ensure the existence of backup data services in the event of failure. On the other hand, I would ask: could imposing Regulation SCI lead to a market for data aggregation and distribution that looks very much like the market for consolidated data that we have today, with a limited number of players, little competition, and negligible innovation.\n\nSecond, have we appropriately defined the limits of what self-aggregators can do with the data that they aggregate? Under the proposed rule, self-aggregators \u201cmay not make consolidated market data, or any subset of consolidated market data, available to any other person,\u201d including affiliates or customers. Is this limitation consistent with current practices of firms that aggregate data for internal use? To the extent that these firms currently do aggregate data on behalf of affiliates or customers, is it reasonable to expect these firms to register as competing consolidators (and subject themselves to Regulation SCI) to continuing doing so? On a related note, are we defining competing consolidator so broadly that it encompasses activities that are now\u2014and should remain\u2014unregulated?\n\nI have often said that our financial markets are a national treasure. They transform people\u2019s lives; they fuel innovation; they generate wealth across the entire country. Our securities exchanges are at the center of these markets. They bring buyers and sellers together, which makes it possible for firms to grow and for investors to participate in the wealth produced by that growth. I want to hear from them how this proposal will affect their ability to play this essential role and from other market participants about how the proposal will affect their activity in these markets.\n\nThank you to the staff in the Divisions of Trading and Markets and Economic and Risk Analysis for your hard work on this proposal."}
-{"text": "I\u2019m interviewing a new client whose dog tends to bark and charge and nip the heels and dangling hands of retreating strangers. Her dog is smallish and stocky, with a coarse, medium-length coat of mottled blue-gray, black, white and brown. His nose and ears are pointy. While I reassure her that his behavior actually makes sense from his doggy point of view, a little voice in my head whispers, \u201cWhat did she expect? She got a Cattle Dog.\u201d\n\nI have little difficulty discounting the client\u2019s own plaintive claim that she\u2019s had Cattle Dogs all her life and this is the first one who\u2019s acted this way. \u201cYou were lucky until now,\u201d my little voice says, assuming those dogs were somehow the exceptions. But when another client complains that his large, square-headed, short-coated, yellow dog is growly around his food bowl, I take his statement that \u201cnone of my other Labs have done this,\u201d at face value. The current dog is clearly the exception. After all, my little voice says, \u201ceveryone knows Labs love people.\u201d\n\nMy little voice is probably wrong\n\nOften, we assume that each breed carries its own set of hard-wired impulses, which are particularly difficult to alter, even with sound behavior-modification techniques. We even expect these presumed genetic predispositions to carry over to mixed-breed dogs who physically resemble a particular breed. Dog professionals are as prone to these biases as everyone else.\n\nWe\u2019ve learned them as part of the conventional professional wisdom, and our experiences seem to confirm them \u2014 not surprising, since current behavioral and neuroscience studies show that human brains consistently prefer data that support what we already believe and disparage anything that contradicts it. To top it off, a nodding acquaintance with the burgeoning field of canine genetic research indisputably demonstrates connections between genetics and behavior. One new study even appears to have found the locations on the map of the canine genome that account for pointers pointing and herders herding.\n\nGET THE BARK IN YOUR INBOX! Sign up for our newsletter and stay in the know. Email Address:\n\nSo why not use breed as the way to choose the particular puppy or dog who\u2019s likely to help us fulfill the dream of taking a perfectly behaved, friendly dog to cheer the lives of people in nursing homes, be endlessly tolerant with our kids or have the kind of indefatigable enthusiasm for retrieving that makes a good contraband-sniffing dog? How about using breed stereotypes to guide public policy decisions on whether some dogs are more likely than others to present a danger to people, or simply to assess whether that dog coming toward us means us good or ill?\n\nTurns out it\u2019s not that simple\n\nFirst, there is the \u201cwhat kind of dog is that?\u201d question. Probably at least half of the estimated 77.5 million dogs in the U.S. are mixed breeds. It\u2019s common practice among people working in res- cues and shelters to identify the dogs in their care as \u201cpredominantly breed X\u201d or as an \u201cX/Y mix.\u201d\n\nRecently, when scientists used DNA analysis to test the accuracy of such labeling, they found that among dogs labeled by adoption workers, only one dog in four actually had the named breed confirmed as significantly \u2014 much less, predominantly \u2014 represented. This would not be a surprise to any geneticist or indeed, anyone who has ever glanced at Scott and Fuller\u2019s venerable 1960s study of canine development and breed characteristics, which found that breeding, for example, a Basenji to a Cocker Spaniel often resulted in puppies with little or no resemblance to either parent.\n\nAnd even reliable identification of the ancestry of a mixed-breed dog by itself wouldn\u2019t help us predict an increased likelihood of known, genetically driven traits \u2014 say, the blood-clotting disorder that plagues Dobermans or the heart defects of Cavaliers. The parents of any mixed-breed dog have, by definition, waded out of the closed gene pool that makes purebred dogs such fertile ground for genetic research. The inevitable inbreeding of purebred populations, combined with a phenomenon called genetic drift, gradually decreases overall genetic diversity; more and more animals have fewer and fewer variable traits, including characteristics that aren\u2019t deliberately selected for or against. But as researchers found with a colony of wolves in Sweden, even inbreeding so severe that it causes infertility can be reversed by the introduction of just one outsider. So, if we could demonstrate such a thing as \u201cacting like a Beagle\u201d or \u201cacting like a Basenji,\u201d there would be little reason to expect either one from the offspring of a Beagle/Basenji pairing.\n\nBut what about those purebred Basenjis and Beagles and Cattle Dogs and Afghans and Golden Retrievers? Can\u2019t we expect them to behave consistently in ways that resemble the work at which they were once selected to excel?\n\nYes and no\n\nThe case of my Annie, the lovely, fawncolored Greyhound camouflaged in a pile of pillows on my couch as I write this, may be instructive. She came into rescue directly from the breeding farm. It\u2019s obvious why she never made it to the racetrack. When my other Greyhound, Henry, a racer successful enough to stay alive until retirement at four, barks and quivers at the living room window at the sight of a squirrel or takes off in an ecstatic (albeit futile) pursuit of a jackrabbit at the local off-leash park, Annie looks up blandly and then, with a clear \u201cWhatever,\u201d goes back to her interrupted sniffing or chewing or resting.\n\nAnd yet, every single one of her ancestors, going back scores, perhaps even hundreds, of generations, was hyper-motivated to chase. They would not have had the opportunity to reproduce otherwise. Racing Greyhounds are bred for two things only: a keen inclination to pursue small, fast-moving furry things and the physical ability to do it at great speed. Racing industry insiders estimate that only about 70 to 80 percent of the dogs who result from this ruthless selection process are keen enough to race. Now, a 75 percent incidence of a trait sounds pretty high. You\u2019d certainly take those odds in Vegas at the roulette wheel. But this is a trait that\u2019s already extremely common across the species; it is, in all likelihood, the most widespread of the predation behaviors of hunting, stalking, chasing, killing, dissecting and eating first observed and described by the famous wolf ethologist, David Mech. Most dogs already do this.\n\nIf you take more complex behaviors that are actually selected against in the wild, like compulsively fighting other dogs and failing to respond to the doggy body language equivalent of \u201ccrying uncle,\u201d for example, your odds of reliably producing the behavior through artificial selection go down dramatically. This explains how so many of the so-called \u201cgame-bred\u201d dogs from fight busts (like the ones rescued from Michael Vick\u2019s fighting operation) have gone on to live companionably with other dogs as relative couch potatoes in normal homes.\n\nReliably increasing the likelihood of complex behaviors through selective breeding isn\u2019t easy. And racing Greyhounds are one of only a handful of dog breeds where this is still even attempted. Since the advent of modern purebreds in the late 19th century and the subsequent closing of breed registries, selection criteria have focused almost exclusively on appearance. Qualities of temperament are sometimes mentioned, although not in ways that can be practically applied in the show ring, where \u2014 as biologist Ray Coppinger has pointed out \u2014 the behavior required is standing, and to a lesser degree, trotting alongside a handler. Most purebred dogs come out of this selection system.\n\nSo these days, when people look fondly at the breed they fancy or angrily at the one they fear and say to me, \u201cThey\u2019re not like other dogs,\u201d I remind my little voice to recite, \u201cWell, actually, they kind of are.\u201d"}
-{"text": "She expects to register the marriage in 30 days\n\nHuman rights activist Irom Sharmila submitted papers for her marriage with her long-time partner Desmond Coutinho at the sub-registrar\u2019s office in Kodaikanal here on Wednesday morning.\n\nMs. Irom and Mr. Coutinho (who is a British citizen) spent two hours at the office completing the formalities to register their marriage.\n\nHowever, Sub-Registrar Rajesh said that he could not grant permission for their marriage immediately as per the Hindu Marriage Act. As the marriage was inter-religious, they would need to register it under the Special Marriage Act, which requires a 30-day notice period.\n\nSources said that the police had asked the registrar office to inform them before Ms. Irom is given a registration date. The police and Central agencies, the source said, are keeping a close watch on her movements.\n\nMs. Irom is known internationally for her 16-year hunger strike which she ended in August 2016. She had vowed not to eat, drink, comb her hair or look in a mirror until the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) was repealed. She had been arrested and force-fed through a tube to prevent her ending her life, a crime under Indian law. Over the 16 years, she was repeatedly released and then re-arrested.\n\nShe formed a political party, the People\u2019s Resurgence and Justice Alliance, and herself contested the Manipur elections. After she lost, getting just 90 votes, she had moved to Kodaikanal to live with her partner.\n\nMs. Irom said that after marriage, she wished to lead a peaceful life as an ordinary woman in Kodaikanal. She did not, though, rule out her participation in struggles for women\u2019s rights in the future."}
-{"text": "Description\n\nAccess to the playable character Tira in the full retail version of SOULCALIBUR VI.\n\n\n\nThe pack also includes a unique story for Tira in the Soul Chronicle mode.\n\n\n\nThis content can also be accessed with the SOULCALIBUR VI season pass (sold separately). Be sure to check that you have not purchased the same content twice.\n\n\n\nYou must have the full retail version of the game to use this content. Additionally, you must be playing on the latest version of the game to access the content.\n\n\n\nRemote Play requires PS Vita system and sufficiently robust Wi-Fi connection.\n\n\n\nOnline features require an account and are subject to terms of service and applicable privacy policy (playstationnetwork.com/terms-of-service & playstationnetwork.com/privacy-policy).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOffline multiplayer (2 players)\n\nOnline multiplayer (2-8 players). A paid-for PlayStation Plus membership is required. Online features require an account and are subject to our terms of service (playstationnetwork.com/terms-of-service), our privacy policy (playstationnetwork.com/privacy-policy), and the game publisher\u2019s privacy policy.\n\nPS4 game can be controlled via PS Vita\n\nOnline features require an account and are subject to terms of service (playstationnetwork.com/terms-of-service), privacy policy (playstationnetwork.com/privacy-policy), and the game publisher\u2019s privacy policy.\n\n\n\n\n\nOnline features require an account and are subject to terms of service and applicable privacy policy (playstationnetwork.com/terms-of-service & playstationnetwork.com/privacy-policy).\n\n\n\nSoftware subject to license (us.playstation.com/softwarelicense).\n\n\n\nOne-time license fee for play on account\u2019s designated primary PS4\u2122 system and other PS4\u2122 systems when signed in with that account.\n\n\n\n\n\nCD PROJEKT\u00ae, The Witcher\u00ae, Geralt\u00ae are registered trademarks of CD PROJEKT Capital Group.\n\nThe Witcher game \u00a9 CD PROJEKT S.A. Developed by CD PROJEKT S.A. All rights reserved.\n\nSOULCALIBUR\u2122VI&\u00a92018 BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc.\n\n"}
-{"text": "The venue for next year\u2019s Africa Cup of Nations finals is in major doubt after the proposed hosts, Morocco, reiterated its fears over the Ebola outbreak on the continent.\n\nThe Confederation of African Football (Caf) received a letter from the Moroccan government last week asking for the tournament to be called off and had agreed to discuss the plans at the next executive committee meeting on 2 November. The prospective hosts proposed either postponing the tournament until next year or allowing them to switch to the 2017 edition instead.\n\nHowever, despite reports on the African website supersport.com which quoted a source from the country\u2019s ministry of sport on Thursday claiming that Morocco has now officially withdrawn in order to \u201cpreserve the safety of our citizens\u201d, the sports minister, Mohamed Ouzzine, moved to clarify the situation on Thursday but admitted they will follow the recommendations of the World Health Organisation.\n\n\u201cOur concern is the health of Africa and, based on WHO reports and guidelines, we have to listen,\u201d Ouzzine said. \u201cZero safety does not exist, but one has to take the necessary precautions so that the coming tournament will be a football feast, bringing together our African brothers. But given the current Ebola situation we don\u2019t think such a feast can take place as expected.\n\n\u201cWe are talking about the Africa Cup of Nations where we are expecting between 200,000 and 400,000, even one million spectators to converge in Morocco. I don\u2019t think there is any state or any country that has the necessary capabilities to monitor, check and control the current Ebola situation when faced with these numbers.\n\n\u201cThis is our real problem. We don\u2019t have a problem with visiting teams, we have a problem with visitors.\u201d\n\nOuzzine added: \u201cIf there are fears about the loss of funding and financial commitments, we can always find solutions to these issues \u2013 but today is not the day to discuss these things.\n\n\u201cWe will discuss these things when we meet with Caf \u2013 and we might even debate other options. But I beg you, what\u2019s the significance of the financial losses compared to human losses? A human being is priceless. I can tell you that we will reach a definite decision during our meeting with our brothers from Caf.\u201d\n\nThe 2013 hosts South Africa are now tipped to take over after reports that the country\u2019s Football Association was already in negotiations with Caf, although Sudan and Egypt have also expressed an interest in hosting the tournament.\n\nGhana\u2019s sports minister, Mahama Ayariga, confirmed they are also considering a request from Caf to take over hosting duties.\n\n\u201cThe Confederation of African Football has officially asked Ghana to consider hosting the 2015 African Cup of Nations if Morocco drops its bid to host the tournament. The government of Ghana is considering this call,\u201d he wrote on Facebook.\n\n\u201cCaf also indicated that it was firm on the tournament dates but they will meet the Moroccan authorities and take a decision at that meeting,\u201d Ayariga added in an interview with Ghanaian radio station Citi FM.\n\n\u201cBut in the meantime they are writing to a number of countries that they think have the capacity to be an alternative venue in the event of Morocco actually pulling out.\u201d\n\nMorocco\u2019s withdrawal could lead to sanctions from the governing body, with potential punishments including the suspension of their national teams and clubs."}
-{"text": "This edition contains the following feature content:\n\nThis week's edition also includes these inner pages:\n\nBrief items: Brief news items from throughout the community.\n\nAnnouncements: Newsletters, conferences, security updates, patches, and more.\n\nPlease enjoy this week's edition, and, as always, thank you for supporting LWN.net.\n\nComments (none posted)\n\nMonday October 16 was not a particularly good day for those who are even remotely security conscious\u2014or, in truth, even for those who aren't. Two separate security holes came to light; one probably affects almost all users of modern technology. The other is more esoteric at some level, but still serious. In both cases, the code in question is baked into various devices, which makes it more difficult to fix; in many cases, the devices in question may not even have a plausible path toward a fix. Encryption has been a boon for internet security, but both of these vulnerabilities have highlighted that there is more to security than simply cryptography.\n\nThe ROCA vulnerability affects keys that have been generated on keycards, which is decidedly not an activity the general public has ever heard of, much less knowingly used. There are digital IDs that use keys generated that way, however, so some are being unknowingly exposed to the flaw. The other vulnerability has far more widespread applicability, however: KRACK is a flaw in the WPA2 encryption protocol that is used to secure most WiFi conversations. Both bugs are serious, but here we will focus on KRACK and leave ROCA to another day.\n\nKey reinstallation attacks\n\nMathy Vanhoef discovered the WPA2 flaws, which center around a way to cause clients to reinstall the keys used to encrypt the traffic; thus the name comes from key reinstallation attacks, yielding KRACK. As is de rigueur for security vulnerabilities these days, KRACK has its own logo and web page.\n\nWhen a client connects to an access point (AP) using WPA2, there is a four-way handshake that is done to establish a key to be used for the session. That handshake is encrypted using the shared secret (i.e. the WPA2 password) so a man in the middle should not be able to see the contents (which include the session key). It turns out, though, that the attacker doesn't need to see inside the packet; instead they can simply cause part of the handshake to be replayed, which will allow breaking the encryption from the client.\n\nIf the acknowledgment for the third message of the handshake gets lost (or is blocked by an attacker), the AP will resend that third message. That will cause the client to reinstall the key and, crucially, to reset its initialization vector (or \"nonce\") back to zero. The ciphers used by WPA2 are susceptible when nonce values are reused, so the protocol arranges that each packet gets a new nonce by incrementing a packet counter. Unfortunately, that packet counter gets reset to zero when the \"new\" key is installed. Worse yet, in some implementations, including all Android versions since 6.0, the client's copy of the key will have been cleared after it was installed into the network interface. The replayed third message will then result in the cleared key replacing the previously installed key, causing subsequent encryption to be done with an all-zeroes key.\n\nAs detailed in Vanhoef's paper [PDF], the problem is in the WPA2 protocol itself and is not a bug in the implementations. Even the key clearing in wpa_supplicant versions 2.4 and 2.5 (which ended up in Android) \"appears to be caused by a remark in the Wi-Fi standard that suggests to clear the encryption key from memory once it has been installed for the first time\", he said. One of the root causes of the problem is a poorly specified protocol that was created behind closed doors. As cryptographer Matthew Green put it:\n\nas an institution. If you're looking for someone to blame, a good place to start is the IEEE. To be clear, I'm not referring to the (talented) engineers who designed 802.11i \u2014 they did a pretty good job under the circumstances. Instead, blame IEEE One of the problems with IEEE is that the standards are highly complex and get made via a closed-door process of private meetings. More importantly, even after the fact, they're hard for ordinary security researchers to access. Go ahead and google for the IETF TLS or IPSec specifications \u2014 you'll find detailed protocol documentation at the top of your Google results. Now go try to Google for the 802.11i standards. I wish you luck.\n\nHe went on to point out that the IEEE has taken a few steps in the right direction to fix the problem, but that those steps are \"hyper-timid incrementalist bullshit\". The specifications are now available once they have been public for six months, \"coincidentally, about the same time it takes for vendors to bake them irrevocably into their hardware and software\". Beyond that, the standards are poorly specified and lack a formal description of the handshake state machine, which requires developers to \"implement their code using scraps of pseudocode scattered around the standards document\". That pseudocode leads directly to being vulnerable to KRACK.\n\nGreen also points out that those implementers bear some of the responsibility, particularly for the key clearing in wpa_supplicant :\n\nOne of the truly terrible things about KRACK is that implementers of the WPA supplicant (particularly on Linux) managed to somehow make Lemon Pledge out of lemons. On Android 6 in particular, replaying message #3 actually sets an all-zero key. There's an internal logic behind why this happens, but Oy Vey. Someone actually needs to look at this stuff.\n\nEven though the four-way handshake and encryption scheme have been \"proven\" under various conditions as far back as 2005, Green said, those analyses did not take into account the integration of the handshake and the encryption. Each was separately proven to do the right thing, but the two were not analyzed together. He likened it to the \"two unit tests, zero integration tests\" meme.\n\nEffects\n\nWith KRACK, a suitably positioned attacker could read the traffic being sent by a client to the AP. That traffic could contain various kinds of sensitive information but, in practice, it probably doesn't have all that much of interest. The ubiquity of HTTPS, SSL/TLS, and other layers of encryption (SSH, for example) for much of the traffic carried on networks these days makes KRACK somewhat less dangerous than it might first appear. Though, as Vanhoef notes, there have been various attacks against HTTPS along the way\u2014there are sure to be more down the road.\n\nOther attacks are possible, as well. A TCP connection could be hijacked and data could be injected into the session, for one thing. There are also three different handshakes that can be attacked under various circumstances. One of those can be used to get an AP to reinstall its key, which could then be used to decrypt traffic from the AP to the client. Injecting traffic in that direction could allow all kinds of nastiness.\n\nKRACK is clearly a critical vulnerability that requires updating affected systems as quickly as possible. There is some traffic that is not further encrypted being carried on most WPA2 sessions; DNS queries, for example, might well contain information a user would rather not disclose. Injecting bogus DNS replies could also be highly problematic. Updating should be relatively straightforward for users of various desktop operating systems\u2014wait for the vendor to release a fix (which most have done) and install it. The same goes for most \"recent\" mobile phones. Upgrading other WiFi devices may not be as easy\u2014or even possible\u2014for millions of devices.\n\nUntold numbers of mobile phones, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and other gadgets use WiFi (and WPA2) to communicate. Phone handsets typically have the best story regarding upgrades, in that they at least have the ability to be upgraded, but many existing phones are no longer receiving updates because their manufacturers deem them to be too old. Other devices may not even have a way to inform their owners that an upgrade is needed\u2014or have no easy way for the owner to do an upgrade. As a Wired article said, it will take decades to clean all of this up.\n\nIt is a fairly bleak picture from a number of different viewpoints. One almost amusing outcome of this mess is contained near the end of Vanhoef's KRACK web page. He notified OpenBSD of the flaw in mid-July with an embargo (at the time) until the end of August. OpenBSD leader Theo de Raadt complained about the length of the embargo, so Vanhoef allowed OpenBSD to silently patch the flaw. \"In hindsight this was a bad decision, since others might rediscover the vulnerability by inspecting their silent patch. To avoid this problem in the future, OpenBSD will now receive vulnerability notifications closer to the end of an embargo.\" That might not quite be the outcome De Raadt was hoping for with his (quite reasonable) complaint, especially given that Vanhoef strongly hints that there are other WiFi vulnerabilities in the pipeline.\n\nComments (29 posted)\n\nMozilla's manifesto commits the organization to a number of principles, including support for individual privacy and an individual's right to control how they experience the Internet. As a result, when Mozilla recently stated its intent to remove the \"text only\" option from its mailing lists \u2014 for the purpose of tracking whether recipients are reading its emails \u2014 the reaction was, to put it lightly, not entirely positive. The text-only option has been saved, but the motivation behind this change is indicative of the challenges facing independent senders of email.\n\nThe announcement that the text-only option would be removed was made (on the mozilla-governance list) by Michele Warther in late September. It quickly became clear that the community viewed this idea with a bit of skepticism, leading Warther to explain the reasoning behind the change:\n\nUnfortunately text emails don\u2019t have the same feedback loops available as HTML. A lot of people, of course, consider this to be a feature. But an unintended result is the negative effect that zero-interaction signals have on our reputation scoring: we have seen an increase in greylisting/blacklisting as a direct result of our text only emails, and that typically means we can\u2019t send any email to *anyone* until it gets resolved.\n\nThe spam-ridden nature of the Internet forces anybody receiving email to be somewhat selective about what is allowed through. Only the most obscure and privately held email accounts can be exposed to an unfiltered mail stream without driving the owner insane. Much of the filtering applied is content-based, but much of it, especially at certain large web-based email providers, also takes into account the \"reputation\" of the sending site.\n\nSome aspects of email reputation are straightforward. An IP address that is observed to be the source of volumes of spam will quickly find its way onto various online blacklists. When an IPv6 address is involved, the resulting block can cover a significant part of the address space, causing considerable collateral damage; this is why LWN's server is configured to send email via IPv4 whenever possible. IP addresses known to be used for residential Internet access are often penalized \u2014 if they are allowed to originate mail at all. Anybody who maintains their own email system can attest that reputation scoring also seems to have a significant random factor.\n\nOne metric that some sites evidently use is email sent to accounts that are known to be inactive, which is seen as a sign of a spammy originator. This, seemingly, is where Mozilla has run into trouble. One way to avoid this problem is to track which recipients are actually reading their email; any recipient who doesn't look at any messages for a period of time can then be unsubscribed. Then, in theory, email providers can see that the emails from a given source are actually of interest and refrain from putting up obstacles in their path.\n\nThe problem, of course, is that this tracking requires the \"feedback loops\" mentioned in Warther's message. These loops tend to take the form of tracking images that are fetched from a server belonging to the sender. The privacy implications of this kind of tracking are obvious: not everybody wants email senders to know when their mail was read and where the reader was at the time. Requiring this sort of disclosure would seem to run afoul of Mozilla Manifesto #4: \"Individuals\u2019 security and privacy on the Internet are fundamental and must not be treated as optional.\" But the alternative, Warther said, is an ongoing series of delivery problems for Mozilla's email in general.\n\nThere are other problems with tracking images and related mechanisms, starting with the fact that people who are paying attention tend to disable the loading of such images. Your editor recently received a complaint from a financial company that its emails were not being read; those emails were indeed read, they just weren't allowed to phone home and report that fact. Chances are good that this kind of blocking will increase in the future; not everybody wants to be a part of an unrequested \"feedback loop\".\n\nIn this particular case, it would seem that an acceptable compromise has been found, and the text-only option will remain. But, once a year, those subscribers will get a message asking them to click on a link to confirm their continued interest in remaining on the list. That should allow Mozilla to prune its inactive readers \u2014 a useful activity even without the reputation issues \u2014 without the need for involuntary tracking.\n\nThe fact that even principled organizations like Mozilla feel the need to employ tracking says something discouraging about the state of email, though, not that there was really any need for more evidence that the email system is broken. As the reputational checks become harder to pass, more users will be forced to use one of a small number of huge webmail providers (which have no trouble with \"feedback loops\") just to get their work done. Every kernel merge window features one or more developers having trouble getting their pull requests through to Linus Torvalds's Gmail account, for example. It's not clear what the solution to the email problem is, but the need is obvious.\n\nComments (119 posted)\n\nAn earlier LWN article showed that private key storage is an important problem to solve in any cryptographic system and established keycards as a good way to store private key material offline. But which keycard should we use? This article examines the form factor, openness, and performance of four keycards to try to help readers choose the one that will fit their needs.\n\nI have personally been using a YubiKey NEO, since a 2015 announcement on GitHub promoting two-factor authentication. I was also able to hook up my SSH authentication key into the YubiKey's 2048 bit RSA slot. It seemed natural to move the other subkeys onto the keycard, provided that performance was sufficient. The mail client that I use, (Notmuch), blocks when decrypting messages, which could be a serious problems on large email threads from encrypted mailing lists.\n\nSo I built a test harness and got access to some more keycards: I bought a FST-01 from its creator, Yutaka Niibe, at the last DebConf and Nitrokey donated a Nitrokey Pro. I also bought a YubiKey 4 when I got the NEO. There are of course other keycards out there, but those are the ones I could get my hands on. You'll notice none of those keycards have a physical keypad to enter passwords, so they are all vulnerable to keyloggers that could extract the key's PIN. Keep in mind, however, that even with the PIN, an attacker could only ask the keycard to decrypt or sign material but not extract the key that is protected by the card's firmware.\n\nForm factor\n\nThe four keycards have similar form factors: they all connect to a standard USB port, although both YubiKey keycards have a capacitive button by which the user triggers two-factor authentication and the YubiKey 4 can also require a button press to confirm private key use. The YubiKeys feel sturdier than the other two. The NEO has withstood two years of punishment in my pockets along with the rest of my \"real\" keyring and there is only minimal wear on the keycard in the picture. It's also thinner so it fits well on the keyring.\n\nThe FST-01 stands out from the other two with its minimal design. Out of the box, the FST-01 comes without a case, so the circuitry is exposed. This is deliberate: one of its goals is to be as transparent as possible, both in terms of software and hardware design and you definitely get that feeling at the physical level. Unfortunately, that does mean it feels more brittle than other models: I wouldn't carry it in my pocket all the time, although there is a case that may protect the key a little better, but it does not provide an easy way to hook it into a keyring. In the group picture above, the FST-01 is the pink plastic thing, which is a rubbery casing I received along with the device when I got it.\n\nNotice how the USB connectors of the YubiKeys differ from the other two: while the FST-01 and the Nitrokey have standard USB connectors, the YubiKey has only a \"half-connector\", which is what makes it thinner than the other two. The \"Nano\" form factor takes this even further and almost disappears in the USB port. Unfortunately, this arrangement means the YubiKey NEO often comes loose and falls out of the USB port, especially when connected to a laptop. On my workstation, however, it usually stays put even with my whole keyring hanging off of it. I suspect this adds more strain to the host's USB port but that's a tradeoff I've lived with without any noticeable wear so far. Finally, the NEO has this peculiar feature of supporting NFC for certain operations, as we previously covered, but I haven't used that feature yet.\n\nThe Nitrokey Pro looks like a normal USB key, in contrast with the other two devices. It does feel a little brittle when compared with the YubiKey, although only time will tell how much of a beating it can take. It has a small ring in the case so it is possible to carry it directly on your keyring, but I would be worried the cap would come off eventually. Nitrokey devices are also two times thicker than the Yubico models which makes them less convenient to carry around on keyrings.\n\nOpen and closed designs\n\nThe FST-01 is as open as hardware comes, down to the PCB design available as KiCad files in this Git repository. The software running on the card is the Gnuk firmware that implements the OpenPGP card protocol, but you can also get it with firmware implementing a true random number generator (TRNG) called NeuG (pronounced \"noisy\"); the device is programmable through a standard Serial Wire Debug (SWD) port. The Nitrokey Start model also runs the Gnuk firmware. However, the Nitrokey website announces only ECC and RSA 2048-bit support for the Start, while the FST-01 also supports RSA-4096. Nitrokey's founder Jan Suhr, in a private email, explained that this is because \"Gnuk doesn't support RSA-3072 or larger at a reasonable speed\". Its devices (the Pro, Start, and HSM models) use a similar chip to the FST-01: the STM32F103 microcontroller.\n\nNitrokey also publishes its hardware designs, on GitHub, which shows the Pro is basically a fork of the FST-01, according to the ChangeLog. I opened the case to confirm it was using the STM MCU, something I should warn you against; I broke one of the pins holding it together when opening it so now it's even more fragile. But at least, I was able to confirm it was built using the STM32F103TBU6 MCU, like the FST-01.\n\nBut this is where the comparison ends: on the back side, we find a SIM card reader that holds the OpenPGP card that, in turn, holds the private key material and does the cryptographic operations. So, in effect, the Nitrokey Pro is really a evolution of the original OpenPGP card readers. Nitrokey confirmed the OpenPGP card featured in the Pro is the same as the one shipped by the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE): the BasicCard built by ZeitControl. Those cards, however, are covered by NDAs and the firmware is only partially open source.\n\nThis makes the Nitrokey Pro less open than the FST-01, but that's an inevitable tradeoff when choosing a design based on the OpenPGP cards, which Suhr described to me as \"pretty proprietary\". There are other keycards out there, however, for example the SLJ52GDL150-150k smartcard suggested by Debian developer Yves-Alexis Perez, which he prefers as it is certified by French and German authorities. In that blog post, he also said he was experimenting with the GPL-licensed OpenPGP applet implemented by the French ANSSI.\n\nBut the YubiKey devices are even further away in the closed-design direction. Both the hardware designs and firmware are proprietary. The YubiKey NEO, for example, cannot be upgraded at all, even though it is based on an open firmware. According to Yubico's FAQ, this is due to \"best security practices\": \"There is a 'no upgrade' policy for our devices since nothing, including malware, can write to the firmware.\"\n\nI find this decision questionable in a context where security updates are often more important than trying to design a bulletproof design, which may simply be impossible. And the YubiKey NEO did suffer from critical security issue that allowed attackers to bypass the PIN protection on the card, which raises the question of the actual protection of the private key material on those cards. According to Niibe, \"some OpenPGP cards store the private key unencrypted. It is a common attitude for many smartcard implementations\", which was confirmed by Suhr: \"the private key is protected by hardware mechanisms which prevent its extraction and misuse\". He is referring to the use of tamper resistance.\n\nAfter that security issue, there was no other option for YubiKey NEO users than to get a new keycard (for free, thankfully) from Yubico, which also meant discarding the private key material on the key. For OpenPGP keys, this may mean having to bootstrap the web of trust from scratch if the keycard was responsible for the main certification key.\n\nBut at least the NEO is running free software based on the OpenPGP card applet and the source is still available on GitHub. The YubiKey 4, on the other hand, is now closed source, which was controversial when the new model was announced last year. It led the main Linux Foundation system administrator, Konstantin Ryabitsev, to withdraw his endorsement of Yubico products. In response, Yubico argued that this approach was essential to the security of its devices, which are now based on \"a secure chip, which has built-in countermeasures to mitigate a long list of attacks\". In particular, it claims that:\n\nA commercial-grade AVR or ARM controller is unfit to be used in a security product. In most cases, these controllers are easy to attack, from breaking in via a debug/JTAG/TAP port to probing memory contents. Various forms of fault injection and side-channel analysis are possible, sometimes allowing for a complete key recovery in a shockingly short period of time.\n\nWhile I understand those concerns, they eventually come down to the trust you have in an organization. Not only do we have to trust Yubico, but also hardware manufacturers and designs they have chosen. Every step in the hidden supply chain is then trusted to make correct technical decisions and not introduce any backdoors.\n\nHistory, unfortunately, is not on Yubico's side: Snowden revealed the example of RSA security accepting what renowned cryptographer Bruce Schneier described as a \"bribe\" from the NSA to weaken its ECC implementation, by using the presumably backdoored Dual_EC_DRBG algorithm. What makes Yubico or its suppliers so different from RSA Security? Remember that RSA Security used to be an adamant opponent to the degradation of encryption standards, campaigning against the Clipper chip in the first crypto wars.\n\nEven if we trust the Yubico supply chain, how can we trust a closed design using what basically amounts to security through obscurity? Publicly auditable designs are an important tradition in cryptography, and that principle shouldn't stop when software is frozen into silicon.\n\nOur work highlights the dangers of keeping the design secret and the implementation closed-source, even if both are thoroughly analyzed and certified by experts. The lack of public information causes a delay in the discovery of flaws (and hinders the process of checking for them), thereby increasing the number of already deployed and affected devices at the time of detection.\n\nIn fact, a critical vulnerability called ROCA disclosed recently affects closed \"smartcards\" like the YubiKey 4 and allows full private key recovery from the public key if the key was generated on a vulnerable keycard. When speaking with Ars Technica , the researchers outlined the importance of open designs and questioned the reliability of certification:\n\nThis issue with open hardware designs seems to be recurring topic of conversation on the Gnuk mailing list. For example, there was a discussion in September 2017 regarding possible hardware vulnerabilities in the STM MCU that would allow extraction of encrypted key material from the key. Niibe referred to a talk presented at the WOOT 17 workshop, where Johannes Obermaier and Stefan Tatschner, from the Fraunhofer Institute, demonstrated attacks against the STMF0 family MCUs. It is still unclear if those attacks also apply to the older STMF1 design used in the FST-01, however. Furthermore, extracted private key material is still protected by user passphrase, but the Gnuk uses a weak key derivation function, so brute-forcing attacks may be possible. Fortunately, there is work in progress to make GnuPG hash the passphrase before sending it to the keycard, which should make such attacks harder if not completely pointless.\n\nWhen asked about the Yubico claims in a private email, Niibe did recognize that \"it is true that there are more weak points in general purpose implementations than special implementations\". During the last DebConf in Montreal, Niibe explained:\n\nIf you don't trust me, you should not buy from me. Source code availability is only a single factor: someone can maliciously replace the firmware to enable advanced attacks.\n\nNiibe recommends to \"build the firmware yourself\", also saying the design of the FST-01 uses normal hardware that \"everyone can replicate\". Those advantages are hard to deny for a cryptographic system: using more generic components makes it harder for hostile parties to mount targeted attacks.\n\nA counter-argument here is that it can be difficult for a regular user to audit such designs, let alone physically build the device from scratch but, in a mailing list discussion, Debian developer Ian Jackson explained that:\n\nYou don't need to be able to validate it personally. The thing spooks most hate is discovery. Backdooring supposedly-free hardware is harder (more costly) because it comes with greater risk of discovery. To put it concretely: if they backdoor all of them, someone (not necessarily you) might notice. (Backdooring only yours involves messing with the shipping arrangements and so on, and supposes that you specifically are of interest.)\n\nSince that, as far as we know, the STM microcontrollers are not backdoored, I would tend to favor those devices instead of proprietary ones, as such a backdoor would be more easily detectable than in a closed design. Even though physical attacks may be possible against those microcontrollers, in the end, if an attacker has physical access to a keycard, I consider the key compromised, even if it has the best chip on the market. In our email exchange, Niibe argued that \"when a token is lost, it is better to revoke keys, even if the token is considered secure enough\". So like any other device, physical compromise of tokens may mean compromise of the key and should trigger key-revocation procedures.\n\nAlgorithms and performance\n\nTo establish reliable performance results, I wrote a benchmark program naively called crypto-bench that could produce comparable results between the different keys. The program takes each algorithm/keycard combination and runs 1000 decryptions of a 16-byte file (one AES-128 block) using GnuPG, after priming it to get the password cached. I assume the overhead of GnuPG calls to be negligible, as it should be the same across all tokens, so comparisons are possible. AES encryption is constant across all tests as it is always performed on the host and fast enough to be irrelevant in the tests.\n\nI used the following:\n\nIntel(R) Core(TM) i3-6100U CPU @ 2.30GHz running Debian 9 (\"stretch\"/stable amd64), using GnuPG 2.1.18-6 (from the stable Debian package)\n\nNitrokey Pro 0.8 (latest firmware)\n\nFST-01, running Gnuk version 1.2.5 (latest firmware)\n\nYubiKey NEO OpenPGP applet 1.0.10 (not upgradable)\n\nYubiKey 4 4.2.6 (not upgradable)\n\nI ran crypto-bench for each keycard, which resulted in the following:\n\nAlgorithm Device Mean time (s) ECDH-Curve25519 CPU 0.036 FST-01 0.135 RSA-2048 CPU 0.016 YubiKey-4 0.162 Nitrokey-Pro 0.610 YubiKey-NEO 0.736 FST-01 1.265 RSA-4096 CPU 0.043 YubiKey-4 0.875 Nitrokey-Pro 3.150 FST-01 8.218\n\nThere we see the performance of the four keycards I tested, compared with the same operations done without a keycard: the \"CPU\" device. That provides the baseline time of GnuPG decrypting the file. The first obvious observation is that using a keycard is slower: in the best scenario (FST-01 + ECC) we see a four-fold slowdown, but in the worst case (also FST-01, but RSA-4096), we see a catastrophic 200-fold slowdown. When I presented the results on the Gnuk mailing list, GnuPG developer Werner Koch confirmed those \"numbers are as expected\":\n\nWith a crypto chip RSA is much faster. By design the Gnuk can't be as fast - it is just a simple MCU. However, using Curve25519 Gnuk is really fast.\n\nAnd yes, the FST-01 is really fast at doing ECC, but it's also the only keycard that handles ECC in my tests; the Nitrokey Start and Nitrokey HSM should support it as well, but I haven't been able to test those devices. Also note that the YubiKey NEO doesn't support RSA-4096 at all, so we can only compare RSA-2048 across keycards. We should note, however, that ECC is slower than RSA on the CPU, which suggests the Gnuk ECC implementation used by the FST-01 is exceptionally fast.\n\nIn discussions about improving the performance of the FST-01, Niibe estimated the user tolerance threshold to be \"2 seconds decryption time\". In a new design using the STM32L432 microcontroller, Aurelien Jarno was able to bring the numbers for RSA-2048 decryption from 1.27s down to 0.65s, and for RSA-4096, from 8.22s down to 3.87s seconds. RSA-4096 is still beyond the two-second threshold, but at least it brings the FST-01 close to the YubiKey NEO and Nitrokey Pro performance levels.\n\nWe should also underline the superior performance of the YubiKey 4: whatever that thing is doing, it's doing it faster than anyone else. It does RSA-4096 faster than the FST-01 does RSA-2048, and almost as fast as the Nitrokey Pro does RSA-2048. We should also note that the Nitrokey Pro also fails to cross the two-second threshold for RSA-4096 decryption.\n\nFor me, the FST-01's stellar performance with ECC outshines the other devices. Maybe it says more about the efficiency of the algorithm than the FST-01 or Gnuk's design, but it's definitely an interesting avenue for people who want to deploy those modern algorithms. So, in terms of performance, it is clear that both the YubiKey 4 and the FST-01 take the prize in their own areas (RSA and ECC, respectively).\n\nConclusion\n\nIn the above presentation, I have evaluated four cryptographic keycards for use with various OpenPGP operations. What the results show is that the only efficient way of storing a 4096-bit encryption key on a keycard would be to use the YubiKey 4. Unfortunately, I do not feel we should put our trust in such closed designs so I would argue you should either stick with 2048-bit encryption subkeys or keep the keys on disk. Considering that losing such a key would be catastrophic, this might be a good approach anyway. You should also consider switching to ECC encryption: even though it may not be supported everywhere, GnuPG supports having multiple encryption subkeys on a keyring: if one algorithm is unsupported (e.g. GnuPG 1.4 doesn't support ECC), it will fall back to a supported algorithm (e.g. RSA). Do not forget your previously encrypted material doesn't magically re-encrypt itself using your new encryption subkey, however.\n\nFor authentication and signing keys, speed is not such an issue, so I would warmly recommend either the Nitrokey Pro or Start, or the FST-01, depending on whether you want to start experimenting with ECC algorithms. Availability also seems to be an issue for the FST-01. While you can generally get the device when you meet Niibe in person for a few bucks (I bought mine for around $30 Canadian), the Seeed online shop says the device is out of stock at the time of this writing, even though Jonathan McDowell said that may be inaccurate in a debian-project discussion. Nevertheless, this issue may make the Nitrokey devices more attractive. When deciding on using the Pro or Start, Suhr offered the following advice:\n\nIn practice smart card security has been proven to work well (at least if you use a decent smart card). Therefore the Nitrokey Pro should be used for high security cases. If you don't trust the smart card or if Nitrokey Start is just sufficient for you, you can choose that one. This is why we offer both models.\n\nSo far, I have created a signing subkey and moved that and my authentication key to the YubiKey NEO, because it's a device I physically trust to keep itself together in my pockets and I was already using it. It has served me well so far, especially with its extra features like U2F and HOTP support, which I use frequently. Those features are also available on the Nitrokey Pro, so that may be an alternative if I lose the YubiKey. I will probably move my main certification key to the FST-01 and a LUKS-encrypted USB disk, to keep that certification key offline but backed up on two different devices. As for the encryption key, I'll wait for keycard performance to improve, or simply switch my whole keyring to ECC and use the FST-01 or Nitrokey Start for that purpose.\n\n[The author would like to thank Nitrokey for providing hardware for testing.]\n\nComments (27 posted)\n\nWhen a veteran kernel developer introduces a severe security hole into the kernel, it can be instructive to look at how the vulnerability came about. Among other things, it can point the finger at an API that lends itself toward the creation of such problems. And, as it turns out, the knowledge that the API is dangerous at the outset and marking it as such may not be enough to prevent problems.\n\nBack in late 2015, kernel developers were looking for ways to speed up the movement of data between user space and kernel space. Accessing user data from the kernel, whether for reading or writing, has clear security implications, so the kernel must ensure that the requested access is something that the requester is allowed to do. That involves checking that the intended area of memory is indeed accessible; on newer hardware, it can also require temporarily disabling mechanisms like supervisor mode access prevention (SMAP). Those preparations are expensive relative to a simple data copy, and they can add up if the kernel must perform a sequence of several reads and/or writes to user space.\n\nThe obvious solution is to do the preparations once for a series of operations, then perform the operations themselves directly; that amortizes the cost of a single set of checks across multiple accesses. To that end, Linus Torvalds added a new set of access functions for the 4.5 kernel:\n\nunsafe_get_user(value, source); unsafe_put_user(value, destination);\n\nThese \"functions\" are actually macros that expand differently depending on the type of source or destination . If, for example, source is a pointer to a u16 value, then unsafe_get_user() will fetch an unsigned 16-bit value from that location and store it in value . These functions are thus like the traditional get_user() and put_user() macros, but with one change: they dispense with the normal permission checking.\n\nThe lack of checks is the clear motivation for the \"unsafe\" naming, even if, according to the comments in the code, that term does not really apply:\n\n/* * The \"unsafe\" user accesses aren't really \"unsafe\", but the naming * is a big fat warning: you have to not only do the access_ok() * checking before using them, but you have to surround them with the * user_access_begin/end() pair. */\n\nThe required access_ok() call ensures that the pointer involved refers to a user-space address; it is there to prevent user space from asking the kernel to overwrite itself. The user_access_begin() and user_access_end() calls, instead, disable and enable SMAP. The whole idea behind the \"unsafe\" functions is that access_ok() and (especially) user_access_begin() can be called once before several user-space accesses, thus speeding up the code overall.\n\nDuring the 4.13 merge window, Al Viro reworked the implementation of the waitid() system call to use the \"unsafe\" functions. This variant of wait() requests that the kernel fill in a siginfo_t structure in user space with information on how the waited-for process died; doing so requires writing several values to user space from the kernel. The new code switched to unsafe_put_user() to speed these writes. Viro duly called user_access_begin() and user_access_end() , but left out the access_ok() calls. As a result, a call to waitid() could ask that the siginfo_t structure be stored in kernel space, overwriting a piece of kernel memory. Local attackers tend to be most pleased by this sort of unintended functionality.\n\nThe result is deemed CVE-2017-5123; it only affects the 4.13 and 4.14-rc kernels. It is fixed by this commit in the mainline, and will be fixed in the 4.13.7 stable update. The good news is that it was caught early enough that the number of machines that are exposed to the problem should be quite small.\n\nThe bad news, of course, is that it happened at all. It turns out that this was the first use of unsafe_put_user() in the mainline kernel; this use was written by a developer who understands the issues involved, and he still got it wrong. Even better, the patch tickled a bug in that until-then unused function, with the result that Torvalds looked at the specific patch in question, but the problem still was not noticed. It would seem that, contrary to the comments, the \"unsafe\" functions are well named indeed, and that truly unsafe use does not jump out at people looking at the code \u2014 even if the functions proclaim themselves to be unsafe.\n\nHopefully reviewers in the future will be better tuned into the fact that there are two necessary preconditions to the use of those functions. Even better would be some code that runs in kernels configured for debugging that would detect a lack of checking and raise the alarm. It might well be possible to apply some sort of static checking to the problem as well. Without such assistance, it seems likely that this type of bug will find its way into the kernel again in the future; it may not be so quickly detected next time.\n\nComments (17 posted)\n\nAt the X.Org Developers Conference, hosted by Google in Mountain View, CA September 20-22, Manasi Navare gave a talk about her journey learning about kernel graphics on the way to achieving DisplayPort (DP) compliance for Intel graphics devices. Making that work involved learning about DP, the kernel graphics subsystem, and how to do kernel development, as well. There were plenty of details to absorb, including the relatively new atomic mode setting support, the design of which was described in a two-part LWN article.\n\nNavare has been at Intel for three years; she started on the Chrome media team, but moved to the kernel graphics team after about a year. She has been working on the i915 driver, mostly on DP compliance. It has been a lot of fun learning about all of the different pieces that were required, she said. Most in the room responded positively to her query about whether they had DP, mini-DP, or USB Type-C connectors on their laptops. Many of those also agreed that they had seen the dreaded \"random black screen\" when connecting displays using those connectors. Those failures generally do not come with any information in the kernel logs, which is frustrating. She said the goal was to get rid of those random failures and the make the graphics hardware and software DP compliant.\n\nUnder the bus\n\nShe was \"completely new\" to the subject when she was \"thrown under the bus\" on this project, she said with a laugh. She was tasked with fixing the driver and making it 100% DP compliant but, being new, she didn't know where to start or even who to ask. Luckily, she had \"amazing colleagues and a very supportive community\" to help. She decided to break the problem down into \"baby steps\" that could be solved one at a time.\n\nThe first question she had was: \"what is DP compliance?\" VESA has an elaborate test procedure with an exhaustive set of tests to ensure that a DP driver is compliant with the specification. That is the test suite that was targeted.\n\nOne of the first steps she took was to understand what happens when a monitor is connected to a PC or other DP source. Connecting the cable causes the monitor to send a hotplug detect signal to the source. The source then reads the DP configuration data (DPCD) from the monitor to determine the DP capabilities supported by the device. At that point, the source and the monitor (also known as the DP sink) negotiate on the parameters to be used, then data can be sent.\n\nAnother thing she needed to understand is DP link training, which is what happens after the hotplug detect signal is received. The source will know about the maximum number of lanes and the maximum link rate supported by the cable, but it will need to determine the quality of the channels between source and sink. The source uses known training patterns to determine the link rate and how many lanes can be supported. Once the channels have been characterized, the link training is done and the two devices are able to exchange data.\n\nShe also needed to determine how to actually test for compliance. Her team chose a third-party device, the DPR-120, that has been certified by VESA to execute the compliance test suite. It sits between the source and sink, requesting various tests that display as test patterns on the sink. It compares the patterns to its reference patterns to determine whether the test passes or fails.\n\nNext up was figuring which pieces of hardware and code were responsible for DP compliance. At the lowest layer is the GPU, above that is the i915 driver, which is controlled by the direct rendering manager (DRM) subsystem in the kernel. That exposes an API to user-space components so that programs can send their graphics requests to the hardware. All of those pieces are involved in DP compliance and must be considered in the process.\n\nMode setting is the process of setting up the scanout buffers, CRTC (\"cathode ray tube controller\", which is a historical name), and encoders to send the proper display information to the connectors, thus to the sink. That is the responsibility of the kernel. Over the last few years, though, atomic mode setting has been added to make those changes in a single operation in order to prevent partial updates, which can result in display glitches.\n\nWhen user space requests a set of properties for the display device, atomic mode setting will build the corresponding DRM objects internally and validate them based on its knowledge of the hardware. If the atomic_check() validation step passes, then the atomic_commit() can be done to actually update the hardware with the new configuration. Inherent in that model is the idea that atomic_commit() cannot fail if the check passes, she said.\n\nHandling link failure\n\nWhen she reached that level of understanding, she believed that atomic mode setting would just make things work and that DP compliance was simply a matter of running the tests. But that turned out not to be the case; some of the compliance tests failed. The problem is that the driver has to do the link training after the commit; if the link training fails at that point, it results in a black screen.\n\nWhat needs to happen when there is a link failure is for the display pipeline to be set up again with different parameters, but that can't happen until user space requests a new mode. The fix was for the kernel to reduce its saved information about the maximum values for link rate or number of lanes and to send an event to user space informing it of the link training failure. User space can then request a new mode, which results in a new atomic mode setting operation; if it succeeds, the mode set is complete, if it fails, the kernel falls back again and sends another event. That may result in a lower resolution display, but it does not result in the dreaded black screen.\n\nSome lessons were learned in the process; \"failure is always an option\", she said. The atomic_check() guarantees that the requested mode is possible for the GPU parameters, but cannot guarantee the DP cable and link. Failure of the link can also occur asynchronously; a previously working link can fail due to electrical properties of the connection. It is also possible to do a non-blocking commit, where the mode set returns to user space before the commit has been completed, so there needs to be a way to alert user space to these kinds of problems. Being able to handle asynchronous link failures is an important component of the solution.\n\nThere was a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem once the kernel solution was found, though. She made changes to the graphics driver, but without changes to the X server, the tests still would not pass. And an updated X server running on a kernel without the changes would also fail. It required coordinated changes in both to get to a point where the DP compliance could be tested.\n\nGoing forward, Intel wants to ensure that any patches made to the driver do not result in regressions to the DP compliance, Navare said. To that end, she has added a DP compliance tool to the IGT test suite that will handle the link failures and request a new mode setting. That way, the DPR-120 can be used to test changes to the graphics driver to catch regressions.\n\nFor the future, the plan is to move away from the DPR-120 and to instead use Google's open hardware Chamelium board for display testing. That will allow testing more connector types than just DP\u2014HDMI for example. In order to use it, the DP compliance test suite needs to be ported to the Chamelium and the IGT DP compliance tool will need to be added to the Chamelium testing tool. With that in place, DP compliance testing could be added to the pre-merge continuous-integration tests that Intel is running for its graphics stack.\n\nThe whole process \"definitely felt like a journey of a thousand miles\", she said. There was an enormous amount to learn and it took a fair bit of time to get there. She started working on it at the beginning of 2016 and got the kernel patches merged into 4.12 in mid-2017. She was hesitant at first to post her patches to the mailing list, but learned that doing so was a great way to get good feedback on what she was trying to do. The community was helpful and the feedback was always constructive, she said.\n\nThere was some discussion in the Q&A about whether link training could be done at hotplug time so that the X server or other user-space components would not need to handle link failures. It was something that was tried along the way, Navare said, but it can't really work for a number of reasons. In addition, there is always the possibility of a link failure after the mode set call has returned to user space, so the link-failure event handling is still needed.\n\nInterested readers may wish to view the YouTube video of the talk or check out Navare's slides [PDF].\n\n[I would like to thank the X.Org Foundation and the Linux Foundation for travel assistance to Mountain View for XDC.]\n\nComments (5 posted)\n\nThe GNU C Library (glibc) project produces regular releases on an approximately six-month cadence. The current release is 2.26 from early August; the 2.27 release is expected at the beginning of February 2018. Unlike many other projects, though, glibc does not normally create point releases for important fixes between the major releases. The last point release from glibc was 2.14.1, which came out in 2011. A discussion on the need for a 2.26 point release led to questions about whether such releases have a useful place in the current software-development environment.\n\nThe glibc 2.26 release is generally only found in relatively fast-moving distributions at this point. For most users, 2.26 has been without problems, but that is not true for everybody. There have been a few significant regressions in this release that have required fixes; one of those was seen as important enough that the question of creating a 2.26.1 point release was raised. Romain Naour subsequently brought that discussion to the libc-alpha mailing list. Having a point release containing important fixes would be helpful to downstream distributors that want to incorporate those fixes, he said.\n\nLike many projects, glibc fixes bugs first in its repository trunk \u2014 the branch that will eventually become 2.27 at the moment. The project does not make point releases, but that does not mean it leaves users of its previous releases entirely out in the cold. A branch in the repository is created for each release and, at the discretion of the manager for that particular release, important fixes are backported and added to that \"maintenance branch\" post-release. So distributors have a stream of nicely backported fixes for each release; what they don't have are point releases that contain a well-defined set of those fixes.\n\nSome glibc developers strongly question the need for those releases. Creating a formal release is a significant amount of work, involving running tests, writing release notes, creating tarballs, etc. A major release is an indication that a point of stability has been reached and the code is in a state that is meant to be ready for production use. The maintenance branches, instead, are meant to always be in such a state. A point release would just be an arbitrary marker placed in the stream of maintenance patches, so one might as well just use \" git describe \" output to name that point. Thus, Florian Weimer observed that \"the difference between glibc 2.26.5 and glibc 2.26-40 seems rather minor to me\". He suggested that all that was really needed was a special tag at the beginning of each release branch that would show up in the output of a git describe command.\n\nRepresentatives from a few distributions made it clear that they felt differently, though. Arjan van de Ven noted that a release tag helps distributors and users to know what is in a given package:\n\nIt also leads to, say, a CVE be able to list \"fixed in 2.26.5\" and everyone (and all more importantly, all tools that we all use to cross reference our distros to CVE databases) will know if things are already fixed, or if someone needs to take a look for a fix to backport outside of the releases\n\nAndreas Huettel, representing Gentoo, agreed that there is value in having a well-known reference point. Yann Morin, of Buildroot, also agreed, noting that these reference points would be especially helpful to smaller distributors that do not have the bandwidth to follow the maintenance branch closely.\n\nIn response to the discussion, Siddhesh Poyarekar, the 2.26 release manager, said that he would probably do a 2.26.1 release in the near future. He explicitly did not commit to doing any point releases beyond that one, though. He also said that a point release, if he creates one, should not be seen as a commitment by the project as a whole to create such releases in the future. Carlos O'Donell stressed that last point, saying that \"we don't want to set a precedent that the glibc release manager is always going to do a point release\".\n\nO'Donell went on to say that the glibc community in general lacks the resources needed to put together regular point releases. But, he said, downstream distributors might be able to create those releases with \"a little help\" from the glibc developers. He has promised a proposal describing how that cooperation might work, but it has not been posted as of this writing. He has, however, come out in favor of Weimer's special-tag proposal.\n\nOne might be tempted to conclude from this discussion that the need for our release-based software-distribution conventions is waning over time. When every point in a project's history already has a unique name (its Git commit ID), and when growing use of continuous-integration techniques leads to a situation where repository contents can be run at arbitrary points with relatively high confidence, perhaps the release rigmarole can be done away with, at least for point releases. But anybody thinking so should consider the ways in which glibc is unique.\n\nThe C library sits between most applications and the kernel. While many users install their own application releases, and a certain number are happy to replace the kernel, it is relatively rare to install a new glibc release. The glibc project moves slowly, new releases tend to have little in the way of exciting new features, and glibc is a rather difficult component to replace so, for the most part, whatever is on the system is good enough for most users. Few people feel the need to be running whatever the latest release is, so they tend to care rather less about glibc point releases than about releases of other components in their systems.\n\nDistributors, instead, pay a lot of attention to the C library. Once they have installed a specific version, they are likely to scrutinize any follow-on patches and will not necessarily accept every change that appears in the glibc maintenance branch. So some distributors, at least, may see little value in point releases for glibc, while others (the smaller ones, perhaps) see some use there.\n\nIn other words, glibc may be unique in its relative lack of need for regular point releases; the rest of the community is unlikely to want to trade in concise version numbers for random-seeming commit IDs. But, even in the corner of the community where glibc lives, some users would rather have the occasional well-defined point release, with the result that glibc 2.26.1 may make an appearance in the near future.\n\nComments (18 posted)"}
-{"text": "Ever read a book you just couldn\u2019t put down? Want to write one? A key element of the \u2018page-turner\u2019 novel is the build up of a strong sense of tension and suspense. But how, as writers, can we achieve this in our own work?\n\nOne important rule is: Make your reader worry. Create a sense of danger and dump your protagonist right in the middle of it. By making the danger tangible you can show your reader exactly what will happen to their favourite character if everything were to go horribly wrong.\n\nOne way of doing this is to have a character explain the inherent danger. There\u2019s a good example in Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz. When Herod Sayle first gives the the protagonist, Alex Rider, a guided tour around his mansion he shows Alex his pet Portuguese Man o\u2019 War jellyfish, hinting at what would happen to anyone stung by its tentacles. As a result, later in the story when Alex wakes up in the Portuguese Man o\u2019 War\u2019s tank, the reader knows he has more to worry about then simply drowning.\n\nA more visual way to ensure the reader understands the inherent danger your character has just got themselves into is to show the awful thing which is about to happen to the character, happening to something else first. For example, earlier in the Stormbreaker story, Alex is trapped in a car crusher. Now, even though most readers will already understand the concept of this machine, the author doesn\u2019t rely on this. In the previous scene Alex has watched his uncle\u2019s BMW getting crushed into a small block of twisted metal. Horowitz is leaving nothing to the imagination. By illustrating the danger on an inanimate object, his readers are in no doubt what will happen to Alex if he fails to escape the car crusher in time.\n\nHowever, sometimes as a writer you need to be a little cruel. Sometimes you need to show the upcoming danger happening to another sentient being. A good example of this is in Northern Lights by Philip Pullman. Central to this story is the idea that all humans are intrinsically connected with their daemon animal. When Lyra, the child protagonist, finds herself trapped in a machine designed to severe the connection between her and her daemon, Pullman doesn\u2019t simply tell the reader this is a very bad thing and ask them to take his word for it. No. He has already set the ground work. Not once, but twice. Earlier in the story Lyra has found a boy who\u2019s had his daemon severed, and she sees first hand the terrible consequences, when the boy dies. Then, moments before she is caught and put into the machine, she overhears a conversation her mother has coldly detailing the severing operation and how the machine works. So when she finds herself trapped in the very same machine, the reader knows exactly how bad things could turn out.\n\nIf we want our readers to worry, we need to show them in no uncertain terms what will happen to our protagonists if they fail to overcome whatever devilish obstacles we\u2019ve placed before them. That way they have to keep turning the pages, to make sure the protagonist escapes.\n\nIf you have enjoyed this post \u2013 you might like to see how I put my methods into practice in my other work by reading SNAP by Lizzie Hexter, available from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com.au, iTunes and Kobo."}
-{"text": "I am in a rare position this month of having more than one custom IEM on my desk thanks to the wonderful team at Minerva UK who kindly sent me their latest creations \u2013 the Mi-Performer Pro and Mi-Performer Artist customs monitor class IEMs. Previously I have been a card-carrying fan of UM and my only other custom, the UM Merlin. I love that dang Merlin to bits and spent a ton on cables and accessories since getting it 2 years ago and many a flagship universal IEM has come and gone and still, the love falls on my Merlin. Call it the game changer, call it the endgame, whatever, but the custom IEM is the best solution for people like me that struggle to see the value in earphones period over headphones.\n\nMaybe it is the process from ear impressions to the personalization that imparts a sense of loyalty and achievement, I just cannot put my finger on it exactly, but that sense of \u201cThis is mine and mine only\u201d when you stick that perfectly shaped ear shell and block out the world is just very hard to replicate with anything universal. It really is that hard to go back to \u201cregular joe\u201d earphones after a customs experience.\n\nAnd it seems a lot of people agree with that sentiment. The customs business is big business driven by the likes of Unique Melody, JH Audio and big conglomerates like Ultimate Ears rolling out iteration after iteration with the number of drivers stuffed inside the shells multiplying like bunnies in heat. The whole business is on a bold step and new companies are popping up just about everywhere offering something unique and personal \u2013 vibes which people relate to strongly in the era of the selfie.\n\nThe Company\n\nNow you may not have heard of Minerva if you are making the leap from cans and universals but in actual fact, Minerva is a pretty big company in the \u201chearing\u201d business being on the go now for over 60 years and are rated as one of the largest specialist earmould laboratories in Europe. In terms of in-ear custom monitors though this is a more recent venture and though I wouldn\u2019t say they are playing catch up. On first sight, they don\u2019t do the whole \u201crazzamatazz\u201d website marketing experience you might get with JH Audio and the likes. This is primarily a hearing specialist company that knows how to make great in-ear monitors. I find that pleasantly reassuring rather than an audio company dabbling in customs without any heritage or background.\n\nProcess\n\nMuch like my Merlin\u2019s the whole process of buying the Mi-Performer Pro & Artist start with the impression process. Basically, this is a clay type model of the inside of your ear up to the second bend of your ear canal taken at an audiologist or with your own DIY kit (if you are brave enough). Not being in the UK I went to my own audiologist, the Manila Hearing Aid (MHA) company who did a set of impressions for around 600php or $15 and are well used to the audiophile brigade coming in for ear impressions for their latest customs. Note to others MHA also do a re-shell for Php7,000 (both ears) of your favorite universal if that\u2019s your bag also. If you are in the UK even better as Minerva has deals with over 75 fitting centers and you can find out your closest center on their website.\n\nAnyway back to the process, I was also struggling to find a bite block to keep my mouth open to about the width of 2 fingers and in the end, I used a coke bottle top which was about the same width on it\u2019s side. The open and closed impression is really down to what you are doing when you are using your customs such as eating and talking as the closed mouth impressions is looser than the open mouth impression. The open mouth fitting is tighter to allow for a widening of the ear canal when you open your mouth. If you think you will not be using your mouth a lot then go for the closed. I went for the open and the results, described later, were very impressive indeed for fit and seal. The impression is critical for that seal. Get a bad impression and the customs will sound like crap due to an imperfect seal. The magic in a custom is that it is supposed to be a perfect fit for your ear, something which a universal can never replicate.\n\nThe whole process should only take about 15 to 20 minutes and you can check your impressions after for accuracy and length (they should look like the picture above from totally-dubbed.net). Remember beyond the second bend of the ear canal or forget about it. After that just wrap them in cotton wool, box and tag them and send them to Minerva who will manufacture your customs based on those impressions. During this part, I also had a few extra options such as laser etchings, custom coloring of the ear shells and placement of the cables. The Mi-Performer Pro is silicone so this works with a fixed rather than detachable cable so I went for a top exit for over the ear to reduce the stress on the cables as well as further reduce any microphonics from the cables. The Artist got the same treatment but have non-recessed detachable cables which might prove very useful later on down the line for cable changing which is what I did with my Merlins eventually.\n\nDesigns\n\nOne area I did note for future development of the range was the custom artwork seemed a little lackluster compared to the elaborate and striking designs of JH Audio and Unique Melody so I kept things simple and went for translucent in both the Pro and Artist with only the Minerva logo and left and right in red and blue. I like minimalism on mine but others can go to town and have whatever they want on it. The colored shells or glitter options didn\u2019t grab my attention as much.\n\nTurnaround was an impressive 10 days not including shipment time. That is much faster than some other customs companies by a matter of months in some case and everything arrived in perfect condition. What I did get was as follows:\n\nThe custom earphones themselves\n\nSoft Carrying Case\n\nInstructions or nice little foldable manual\n\nCleaning Pin\n\nOne tube of ear balm (nice thought since after all they are a hearing specialist company)\n\nYes, I could have grabbed a Peli 1010 case and all the extras but this is a stock delivery and as such everything is just dandy for my needs for now.\n\nClick onto next page for comments on build and fit."}
-{"text": "Sign up to get our new weekly column as a newsletter. We're looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets.\n\nThat was the advice of CNN legal analystafter Robert Mueller delivered his report examining Russian interference in the 2016 election to Attorney General William Barr on Friday. \"A major milestone,\" wrote Honig. \"But it is the calm; the storm lies ahead.\" Get ready, he warned, for a \"multifront legal and political battle that will test fundamental notions of due process, executive authority and separation of powers.\"\n\nFormer FBI Directoroutlined Thursday in an op-ed for The New York Times what he hopes to see in the report: \"a demonstration to the world -- and maybe most of all to our president and his enablers -- that the United States has a justice system that works.\"\n\nAs the nation waited to find out what's actually in the document, issued a reminder of the \"damage that the investigation has already inflicted\" -- including five high-level officials and Trump associates who have been \"convicted or pleaded guilty, most of them after lying about their interaction with Russians.\"\n\nThe Conways aren't exactly \"Love's Labour's Lost,\" but...\n\nBill Carter said the ongoing marital saga managed to be resonant of \"King Lear\" and yet George Conway has been attacking Donald Trump on Twitter for months. He took aim again this week, this time at the President's mental state, and Conway's wife (and Trump's adviser) Kellyanne, decided to take sides -- and not with the guy with whom she shares a last name.said the ongoing marital saga managed to be resonant of \"King Lear\" and yet too obvious a comedy for the professionals: \"If some writer at 'SNL' doesn't come up with a sketch that shows the Conways' conversations over things like kids' playdates and family vacation plans devolving into the pattern we often see in Kellyanne's arguments with (CNN's Chris) Cuomo, it will only be because the idea may be too obvious to be funny.\"\n\nWhy can't Donald Trump let John McCain rest in peace?\n\nJulia Reinstein: \"Trump got dunked on by the National Cathedral. Yes, the National Cathedral.\" Trump himself took trolling up a notch by mixing it up with a dead man ... and a cathedral. After years of feuding with Sen. John McCain -- who died last August -- Trump mystifyingly revived the rancor on Twitter, and complained during a speech Wednesday: \"I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as President I had to approve. I don't care about this. I didn't get thank you.\" In response, the National Cathedral in Washington -- site of McCain's services -- clapped back in a statement that produced a slew of incredulous headlines, like this one from Buzzfeed's: \"Trump got dunked on by the National Cathedral. Yes, the National Cathedral.\"\n\nRichard Cherwitz wrote that such messages are John Kirby The senator's widow, Cindy McCain, tweeted a photo of a horrific message sent to her by a stranger in the wake of Trump's tweets. Communications professorwrote that such messages are an ominous partial index of the toll Trump's discourse has taken. Retired Navy Rear Adm. addressed Trump himself: \"With all due respect, sir, you need to stop railing against John McCain. It's beneath the office to which the American people elected you. And, quite frankly, it's beneath every measure of common decency.\"\n\nMichael D'Antonio something \"is terribly wrong\" with Trump. His chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, felt compelled to deny on television that his boss is a white supremacist, D'Antonio noted. Trump has become \"a President whose behavior is so troll-like that Americans have come to expect him to act more like an out-of-control Reddit commenter than a chief executive of the United States.\" suggested something \"is terribly wrong\" with Trump. His chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, felt compelled to deny on television that his boss is a white supremacist, D'Antonio noted. Trump has become \"a President whose behavior is so troll-like that Americans have come to expect him to act more like an out-of-control Reddit commenter than a chief executive of the United States.\"\n\nThe March Madness of Me, Me, Me\n\nVictor Davis Hanson. He offered 10 reasons they like him anyway -- among them, he wrote, Trump's transformative leadership amid record low rates of peacetime unemployment. Few would accuse Donald Trump of modesty. But progressives are way off base if they think his supporters care about that, wrote. He offered 10 reasons they like him anyway -- among them, he wrote, Trump's transformative leadership amid record low rates of peacetime unemployment.\n\nKara Alaimo observed that he had a point, but Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) filed a defamation suit against Twitter this week for, among other things, allowing users to post insulting tweets about him.observed that he had a point, but was missing a bigger one . \"Nunes is right that online abuse is a big problem. But rather than seeking millions of dollars for himself, he should use his power as a member of Congress to pursue laws that compel social platforms and law enforcement bodies to take action to help all victims of online hate -- most of whom are much more vulnerable than he is.\"\n\nMore Democrats on the merry-go-round\n\nThe week brought a flurry of activity in the emerging battle royale for the 2020 Democratic nomination. After months of campaigning, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand officially declared her candidacy, South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg emerged as a dark horse sweetheart and Beto O'Rourke showed he could run with the big dogs (i.e., Bernie Sanders) when it comes to fundraising.\n\nPaul Waldman in The Washington Post, as they \"have fundamentally different ideas about how Democrats can win elections:\" Biden wants to persuade GOP-leaning voters; Abrams' wants to mobilize Democratic-leaning voters. The big buzz, however, hovered around Joe Biden, and the rumors that he would soon announce his candidacy AND a running mate: possibly former Georgia gubernatorial candidate and political dynamo Stacey Abrams. Biden and Abrams would be an \"odd pairing,\" reflectedin The Washington Post, as they \"have fundamentally different ideas about how Democrats can win elections:\" Biden wants to persuade GOP-leaning voters; Abrams' wants to mobilize Democratic-leaning voters.\n\nJill Filipovic of Warren's performance at a CNN town hall Monday night. She nailed it, wrote Filipovic. \"The question now isn't her skill, style or substance.\" It's whether the media will give a \"steady, competent woman her due.\" Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, \"even though she's not getting the breathless headlines of the B-boys -- Beto O'Rourke, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg,\" is \"adeptly setting the bar for every other candidate in this race,\" assessed of Warren's performance at a CNN town hall Monday night. She nailed it, wrote Filipovic. \"The question now isn't her skill, style or substance.\" It's whether the media will give a \"steady, competent woman her due.\"\n\nJamelle Bouie in The New York Times. He agreed with novelist James Michener, who as an elector in 1968 called the Electoral College a \"time bomb lodged near the heart of the nation.\" Warren made news Monday night when she suggested getting rid of the Electoral College. It's an idea worth considering, wrote in The New York Times. He agreed with novelist James Michener, who as an elector in 1968 called the Electoral College a \"time bomb lodged near the heart of the nation.\"\n\nTom Wyler. \"Don't kill the Electoral College. Just make it work better\" -- by doing away with a winner-take-all approach in favor of allocating electoral votes on a proportional basis. Not so fast , said senior Obama administration official. \"Don't kill the Electoral College. Just make it work better\" -- by doing away with a winner-take-all approach in favor of allocating electoral votes on a proportional basis.\n\nAnother smart take:\n\nJen Psaki: What John Hickenlooper has to do to win --\n\nSay their names\n\nAs New Zealand and the world continued to mourn the 50 victims of the recent mosque attacks, a new resolve took shape: focus on the fallen, not the gunman. \"You will never hear me mention his name,\" vowed Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.\n\nKhaled Beydoun posted a widely shared Twitter thread featuring the lives and stories of the many individuals shot dead at prayer. He Law professorposted a widely shared Twitter thread featuring the lives and stories of the many individuals shot dead at prayer. He explained in an op-ed: \"For far too long, American audiences have been largely unsympathetic to slain Muslims. ... Saying their names, and telling their stories as best I could ... immersing myself in learning about people, who were killed for adhering to my very faith, was an emotional journey like no other.\"\n\nIgor Volsky and trauma surgeon (and gun violence survivor) Joseph Sakran were encouraged by Ardern's other words -- \"our gun laws will change\" -- Advocateand trauma surgeon (and gun violence survivor)were encouraged by Ardern's other words -- \"our gun laws will change\" -- which went beyond the typical American \"thoughts and prayers.\" \"Rather than stereotyping gun owners into good guys and bad guys,\" they wrote, the public health approach recognizes that firearms are dangerous and should be hard to get.\n\nWe asked how you feel about the college admissions scandal. Your stories were incredible\n\nCNN Opinion asked readers to share their stories in the wake of the admissions scandal. From more than 400 responses, Jhodie-Ann Williams, Kirsi Goldynia and I curated a remarkable cohort of stories. Christian Badillo, a Stanford senior, who is the first person from his Chicago public high school to be admitted to the university, saw the alleged scheme as a \"slap in the face to the American dream.\" High school senior Mick Hashimoto said of his peers -- many of whom are waiting this month to hear back from colleges -- \"We are frustrated with what America has become.\"\n\nAnd artist Aimee Manion wrote that college felt like a bait and switch; on the far side of it, \"student loan debt shaped the course of my life.\" Read them all here\n\nAnother smart take:\n\nJohn MacIntosh: The corrupting influence of college sports --\n\nHealth is the key to Africa's economic growth\n\nPaul Kagame and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates Rwandan Presidentand billionaire philanthropist sounded out the clear link for Africa's growing population between economic growth and greater investment in health care there: Every vaccination is \"like a shot of adrenaline into the heart of the economy.\" In Rwanda, which has been working toward universal health care for its citizens since the mid-2000s, the country's GDP growth bears this connection out, they wrote.\n\nMore smart takes:\n\nNisha Jogia Soni: What raising a child with Down syndrome really means --\n\nDumbledore's love dares to speak its name -- and it's about time\n\nJ.K. Rowling set the global community of Harry Potter fans on red alert with a recent interview in which she described Albus Dumbledore's relationship with the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald as \"incredibly intense\" and \"passionate.\" Putting out an important gay romance like this one \"as an afterthought ... feels like a cop-out,\" opined Holly Thomas. \"How wonderful it would have been for millions of children to have known that Dumbledore was gay from the beginning of the series -- and to have grown up with that knowledge woven into the books.\"\n\n\"The books can't be rewritten\" for a more socially aware time, she wrote . \"The best hope ... might be for any current or future children's authors to include clear LGBTQ narratives as par for the course, and for those stories to become as beloved, and as influential, as 'Harry Potter.'\"\n\nDon't miss these\n\nNic Robertson: The UK might be hacking off its constitutional limbs --\n\nJuliette Kayyem and Monica Medina: Why women should be required to register for the draft --and\n\nGavin Newsom: Why I put a freeze on the death penalty --\n\nKate Maltby: Saudi Arabia and Iran share a mutual disdain for women who speak up --\n\nCarl Safina: A dead whale containing 90 pounds of plastic is message in a bottle --\n\nSign up to get this weekly column as a newsletter."}
-{"text": "Donald Trump's historically low favorability ratings and loss of the popular vote has a lot of Democrats of thinking about how Republicans would be acting if the shoe was on the other foot."}
-{"text": "Last year, the NFC North was a tight division all season\u2026between two teams.\n\nThe Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions had to settle who would take the division last season during their matchup in an epic week 17 game at Green Bay. In case you don\u2019t remember, Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers was injured throughout the entire game but still managed to defeat Detroit by a score of 30-20.\n\nSo, will the same happen this season? How will a young team like Minnesota do in a division filled with veterans? Let\u2019s run through my prediction of how this season will unfold for the NFC North.\n\nChicago Bears:\n\nKey additions: Kevin White (rookie first round draft pick), Eddie Royal, Tracy Porter, John Fox (head coach)\n\nKey losses: Ray McDonald, Brandon Marshall, Roberto Garza.\n\nThe Chicago Bears had a very disappointing season in 2014 with a record of 5-11, which was good for dead last in the division. The main issue was with quarterback Jay Cutler. Week after week, poor decisions were made, which lead to 18 total interceptions and a lot of frustration. Things got so bad with him that during their week 16 matchup with Detroit, Chicago opted to start backup quarterback Jimmy Clausen, which was his first start since his rookie year in 2010 with Carolina. Although Cutler had 66 percent of his passes completed and 370 completions total, he tied Phillip Rivers of San Diego for the most interceptions in the league.\n\nAnother issue with the Bears was with head coach at the time Marc Trestman. Although Trestman thought he would return after such a bad season, he was fired after the regular season. His team ended the year on a five-game losing streak, which was the final say in the decision to get rid of him.\n\nSeason prediction: I think Chicago will be around the same as last year. Adjusting to a new coach and new players is always a challenge for the first year. Their division record last year was 1-5 and I think it will be around the same for that as well.\n\nRecord: 4-12\n\nDetroit Lions:\n\nKey additions: Lance Moore, Ameer Abdullah (rookie second round pick), Laken Tomlinson (rookie first round pick), Haloti Ngata.\n\nKey losses: Ndamukong Suh, Nick Farley, George Johnson, Reggie Bush.\n\nLast season, the Detroit Lions hired a new head coach, defensive coordinator, and offensive coordinator. It worked. They made the playoffs for the first time since 2011 with an 11-5 record and a division record of 5-1, only losing to Green Bay in week 17.\n\nAfter their controversial first round loss to the Dallas Cowboys, many people around the Detroit area thought Suh would stay with the team after an emotional press conference. In the end, Suh decided to take the money and head down to Miami to play for the Dolphins. Piece after piece of their unstoppable defensive line start to leave which led the Lions to acquire Ngata from the Ravens. This will be the Lions biggest question mark heading into the preseason.\n\nSeason prediction: Detroit will struggle a bit defensively after losing Suh, Farley, and Johnson to free agency and trades. Their front seven, which was a dominant force last season, will need to adjust to Ngata\u2019s typical 3-4 scheme and defensive coordinator Teryl Austin accommodating to that. With that being said, their offense will be better than ever with Calvin Johnson healthy and they will continue to put up big numbers on that side of the ball. With all of this being said, their overall record and game play next year should be a tad worse.\n\nRecord: 7-9\n\nGreen Bay Packers:\n\nKey additions: Re-signing Randall Cobb and B.J. Raji.\n\nKey losses: A.J. Hawk, Brad Jones.\n\nThe Packers had one of the most boring offseasons in the history of football, besides re-signing two important pieces in Cobb and Raji. They made no huge splashes in free agency, but honestly they don\u2019t have to. Their team is already that good. When you have the best quarterback in the NFL right now in Aaron Rodgers, it\u2019s hard not to be that good.\n\nThey won the division last season and made it all the way to the NFC Championship game, falling just short to the Seattle Seahawks in overtime by a score of 28-22. Although their Super Bowl run came up short, Rodgers had a phenomenal season with 4,381 passing yards, 38 touchdowns and just five interceptions.\n\nSeason prediction: I don\u2019t have any doubt in my mind that Green Bay will be the division favorites once again this season. In fact, they might be the favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. I fully expect Rodgers and Co. to have another fantastic regular season and take the division.\n\nRecord: 12-4\n\nMinnesota Vikings:\n\nKey additions: Mike Wallace, Trae Waynes (first round draft pick), Casey Matthews.\n\nKey losses: Greg Jennings, Matt Cassel.\n\nMany experts thought the Vikings could have made the playoffs last season with their young offensive weapons in Teddy Bridgewater and Cordarrelle Patterson, and veteran stars Adrian Peterson and Greg Jennings. However, all of these players, minus the rookie Bridgewater, had disappointing seasons. Patterson and Jennings struggled all season and Peterson missed the entire year, besides week one, because of\u2026well you all should know. Because of all of this, and the 25th worst rushing defense in the league, the Vikings went 7-9 and missed the playoffs in 2014.\n\nSeason prediction: If there is any year for the Vikings to breakout, it\u2019s 2015. With Peterson back, an upgrade at receiver in Mike Wallace and an upgraded defense, the Vikings are a very young and exciting team to watch out for. Will they win the division? Not a chance. Could they make the playoffs? Sure they could, but will they? I think they might need another season of improvement before there\u2019s a chance of that happening. My record prediction might seem a bit off because of what I just said, but they do have a pretty difficult schedule next season, including at Denver, at Arizona, and at San Francisco for the first Monday Night Football game of the season.\n\nRecord: 8-8\n\nNext week, we will preview the NFC East."}
-{"text": "ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences\n\nThis is one of the marijuana farms set to supply cannabis-based products for medicinal purposes to the UK.\n\nGroundbreaking legislation that came into effect on November 1 means that specialist UK doctors are now able to prescribe cannabis-based products, such as CBD oil, to patients.\n\nLondon-based Dragonfly Biosciences Ltd has announced that it has secured a licence to create CBD oil, and will begin the production and distribution of medical cannabis early in 2019.\n\nThe firm produces the drug at huge open-air farms in Bulgaria.\n\nThe UK is already Dragonfly's biggest market for cannabidiol food supplements, made from the liquid extract of the plant, which are legal in the UK.\n\nBut it will now start producing medical products to sell to Clinical Commissioning Groups.\n\nThe company's grower in Bulgaria harvests their 420-hectare crop every September, producing around 232,000kg of plants - or six million units a year.\n\nIt then ships to its medicinal facility in Malta to produce CBD products.\n\nCannabis-based products can contain varying amounts of the compounds THC, which makes people feel \"high\", and CBD, another compound scientists are investigating for its potential medical benefits.\n\nIt is believed CBD can treat a variety of conditions including chronic pain.\n\nDr Gary Stephens, of the University of Reading, said: \u201cThere is still much research to do into CBD and how it affects us \u2013 it appears clear that the levels of endocannabinoids vary from person to person and resolving any deficiencies is likely to be beneficial.\n\n\"Thus, CBD may be used to boost our health and wellbeing, and may be particularly helpful for those struggling to relax and get a good night\u2019s sleep. Anything we can do to support our body\u2019s natural system in restoring correct balance is something I\u2019d strongly recommend.\u201d\n\nDragonfly will begin to approach Clinical Commissioning Groups from early next year, the firm said in a statement.\n\nThe European medical cannabis industry could be worth \u00a320bn, according to research by Peterhouse Cambridge, and in the UK alone there are 80,000 specialists able to prescribe the drug, Dragonfly said.\n\nThe industry is still developing - the first investment vehicles for cannabis companies appeared on the London stock exchange in March. Sativa Investments PLC has raised \u00a31.6m to invest in the Canadian producer Veritas Pharma Inc. and another British company, George Botanicals, which produces supplement CBD oils and pills.\n\nBut, surprisingly, the biggest player in UK Cannabis may be a sugar company.\n\nBritish Sugar announced in 2016 it was turning its tomato greenhouses at Cornerways Nurseries in Wissington, Norfolk, to cannabis.\n\nIt supplies GW Pharmaceutical from its 18-hectare nursery to produce the drug Epidiolex, used to treat epilepsy in children.\n\nThe company became the first to supply a cannabis-based medicine in the US in October.\n\nMedical cannabis has been approved in Germany, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Malta, and now the UK.\n\nSativa Investments is another new company, which has just purchased a 7.5 acre parcel of land in Wiltshire to grow medicinal cannabis\n\nOwner Geremy Thomas told the Standard: \"We've invested \u00a310m to build a greenhouse here in the UK. We want to grow the stuff, extract it, and then grand it under Goerge botanicals for retail.\n\n\"This is a very exciting new industry that's realising what we've seen in the US, Germany and other countries. But we want to bring it home.\"\n\nBut there may be licencing restrictions which are stifling the UK's competitiveness, he added. \"This is big new market and we don't want to let them take it from us.\n\n\"It's incredibly difficult to get a licence in this country, and we're working with the Home Office to try to define the regulations for this new industry, he said.\n\nThe producers call CBD the \"miracle substance\" that doesn't get you high. It has no psychoactive effect and could be useful in treating conditions ranging from depression to diabetes. It has shown promise as an anti-inflammatory, anti-pain and anti-psychotic.\n\nMost medicinal cannabis products contain next to none of the psychoactive compound THC, but one product, Sativex, which is a 50-50 mix of THC and CBD, has been approved as a treatment for multiple sclerosis.\n\nThere has been a rising number of countries legalising marijuana for personal use. So far the US state of California, Uruguay and Canada have made it legal, while the Netherlands, Switzerland and Portugal have liberal legislation around its use.\n\nBut there is conflicting research into the affects of cannabis on the user. Last month a Canadian study found sustained usage showed major developmental problems for young people, impairing their cognitive functions like recall memory, perceptual reasoning, inhibition, and working memory.\n\nThe Home Office was approached for comment but did not respond."}
-{"text": "We will be doing scheduled server maintenance on Wednesday February 13th from 12:00 AM \u2013 4:00 AM PST (08:00 \u2013 12:00 GMT). During this period players on both North American and European worlds will not be able to log in. Forums, register.guildwars2.com, and buy.guildwars2.com will also not be available during this time, and the Black Lion Trading Company will not be available until 6:00 AM PST (14:00 GMT)."}
-{"text": "No, you're not imagining things: Beijing's air has indeed been remarkably better so far this year.\n\nOn Thursday, Beijing's Environmental Protection Bureau reported the figures for the first four months of 2015, and things are looking up \u2013 way up.\n\nCompared with the same four-month period last year, Beijing's PM 2.5 has dropped 19 percent. PM 10 has dropped 12 percent. Nitrogen dioxide has dropped 14 percent. And sulfur dioxide has dropped an amazing 43 percent.\n\nThrough April 30, we've had 57 days marked by clean air, compared to 49 days at this time one year ago.\n\nOf course, that's 57 out of 120 days, which does still mean more than half the days have been polluted (52.5 percent to be exact). But the intensity of the smog on those bad days has been measurably lighter: the bureau reports that it's been 42 percent lighter than 2014.\n\nMaybe there's a long way to go before we can claim to be living in paradise, but even little leaps forward should be celebrated. Most of us remember Beijing's Airpocalypse; could we be on the edge of a big change that will require us to coin a new phrase \u2013 perhaps the Airenaissance?\n\nFang Li, the vice administrator of Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, attributed the cleaner air to three factors: increased emission controls; the closing of more coal-burning power plants and factories in areas in and around the capital; and favorable weather patterns.\n\n\"We have scrapped nearly 500,000 old vehicles over the past year and upgraded 6,500 tons-per-hour of coal burning boilers. It's the biggest move in the history [of the city's pollution control efforts],\" Li was quoted by CRI as saying.\n\nZhang Wangcai, the deputy director of Beijing's department of energy, was quoted by Australia's ABC as saying that Beijing is quickly moving away from dependence on coal for electricity generation.\n\n\"If we're talking about Beijing, by [the end of] next year all our local power plants will be using clean energy,\" he told ABC.\n\nIn March, Beijing announced a new RMB 48 billion plan which aims to cut PM 2.5 density by 20 percent by 2017. But if we keep up the pace set in the first four months of the year, we'll achieve this goal a full two years early. This would represent remarkable progress over the full year of 2014, when Beijing managed to reduce PM 2.5 by only 4 percent, while PM 10 actually shot up.\n\nThe improved air may also help Beijing's chances of winning the bid to host the Olympics in 2022, which is to be decided on July 31. At Thursday's press conference, the bureau took pains to point out that Zhangjiakou, where downhill ski events are to be held, had the most successful air quality control progress amongst all 70 cities that are monitored north of the Yangtze River.\n\nIt's not often we find ourselves in the position of bragging about Beijing's clean air, and so this great leap is reason enough celebrate. With that in mind, head on over to peruse our comprehensive list of alfresco dining and drinking spots around the city.\n\nPhoto: fengniao"}
-{"text": "Work on China's mission to Mars 'well underway'\n\n\n\nby Staff Writers\n\n\n\nBeijing (AFP) Sept 20, 2017\n\n\n\nChina's programme to launch a mission to Mars in 2020 is \"well underway\", its top planner said Wednesday as the country moves forward with its ambitious space programme.\n\nThe probe will carry 13 types of payload including six rovers, the official Xinhua news agency said.\n\n\"The Mars exploration programme is well underway,\" it cited the mission's chief architect Zhang Rongqiao as saying.\n\n\"The payloads will be used to collect data on the environment, morphology, surface structure and atmosphere of Mars.\"\n\nZhang was speaking at the Beijing International Forum on Lunar and Deep-space Exploration, which began Wednesday.\n\nThe Long March-5 carrier rocket will blast off from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre in the tropical island province of Hainan, Xinhua said.\n\nOnce the probe is in orbit around Mars after a seven-month journey, a lander will separate from it and touch down in the red planet's northern hemisphere.\n\nThe lander will then deploy rovers to explore the surface.\n\nBeijing sees its multi-billion-dollar space programme as a symbol of its rise and of the Communist Party's success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.\n\nIn July it successfully launched the Long March-4B, its first X-ray space telescope to study black holes, pulsars and gamma-ray bursts.\n\nAnd in April the country's first cargo spacecraft completed its docking with an orbiting space lab -- a key development in China's goal of having its own crewed space station by 2022.\n\nLos Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 19, 2017\n\n\n\n\n\nOne of Chinese startups appears to be following in the footsteps of SpaceX as it has lately laid out its own project of reusable space launch system. Link Space, the country's first private rocket company, has recently presented the design of its New Line 1 (also known as Xin Gan Xian 1) launch vehicle, which could compete with SpaceX's Falcon 9 in the future. Link Space uncovered the desi ... read more\n\nRelated Links\n\n"}
-{"text": "Razzien, Demos, R\u00fccktritte: Die Panama Papers haben weltweit enorme Reaktionen ausgel\u00f6st. Nun meldet sich \"John Doe\", die anonyme Quelle der Dokumente, in der SZ erstmals \u00f6ffentlich zu Wort. Sein Manifest l\u00e4sst sich als Erkl\u00e4rung seines Tuns lesen - und als Aufruf zum Handeln.\n\nVor mehr als einem Jahr wurde die S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung von einer auf Anonymit\u00e4t bedachten Quelle kontaktiert, die sich selbst \"John Doe\" nannte, und interne Daten der panamaischen Kanzlei Mossack Fonseca anbot. Die SZ entschied, die Daten gemeinsam mit dem International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) auszuwerten, im Lauf der Recherche wuchs die Kooperation auf mehr als 100 Medien aus rund 80 L\u00e4ndern an. Die weltweiten Reaktionen auf die Ver\u00f6ffentlichungen der Panama Papers vor gut einem Monat waren enorm, es gab R\u00fccktritte, Massendemonstrationen, Razzien und Ermittlungen in Dutzenden L\u00e4ndern. Nun hat \"John Doe\", die anonyme Quelle, der SZ eine Art Manifest zukommen lassen, das sich gleichsam als Erkl\u00e4rung seines Tuns wie als Aufruf zum Handeln lesen l\u00e4sst. Die SZ ver\u00f6ffentlicht dieses Dokument hier auf Deutsch, auf panamapapers.de aber auch auf Englisch. Der Text und die dahinterstehende politische Haltung hatten keinen redaktionellen Einfluss auf die Ver\u00f6ffentlichungen der SZ oder anderer Recherchepartner, und werden dies auch in Zukunft nicht haben. Mit der \u00dcbergabe der Daten der Panama Papers waren und sind keine inhaltlichen Bedingungen verbunden.SZ\n\nDie Ungleichheit der Einkommen, die Kluft zwischen Arm und Reich, ist eines der wichtigsten Themen unserer Zeit. Es betrifft jeden von uns, weltweit. Seit Jahren tobt die Debatte \u00fcber eine pl\u00f6tzliche Verschlimmerung der Lage, doch Politiker, Wissenschaftler und Aktivisten sind trotz ungez\u00e4hlter Reden, Analysen, schwacher Proteste und ein paar Dokumentarfilmen rat- und hilflos, wie diese Entwicklung aufzuhalten ist. Die Fragen bleiben: Warum? Und warum gerade jetzt?\n\nIn den Panama Papers ist die Antwort darauf nun offensichtlich geworden: umfassende, allt\u00e4gliche Korruption. Dass ausgerechnet eine Rechtsanwaltskanzlei diese Antwort liefert, ist keineswegs Zufall. Mossack Fonseca ist mehr als ein R\u00e4dchen im Getriebe der \"Verm\u00f6gensverwaltung\". Die Kanzlei nutzte ihren Einfluss, um weltweit Gesetze zu diktieren und zu umgehen und so \u00fcber Jahrzehnte hinweg die Interessen von Kriminellen durchzusetzen. Mit der Pazifikinsel Niue hat sich Mossack Fonseca im Grunde sogar eine eigene Steueroase erschaffen.\n\nRam\u00f3n Fonseca und J\u00fcrgen Mossack wollen uns weismachen, dass die von ihnen verwalteten Briefkastenfirmen wie Autos seien: Auch da mache man den Verk\u00e4ufer ja nicht verantwortlich, wenn der Wagen f\u00fcr ein Verbrechen genutzt w\u00fcrde. Aber Gebrauchtwagenverk\u00e4ufer machen keine Gesetze. Und bei genauem Hinsehen sind die Briefkastenfirmen, die Mossack Fonseca verkauft hat, wie gemacht f\u00fcr Betrug im gro\u00dfen Stil - es w\u00e4ren sehr spezielle Autos.\n\nBriefkastenfirmen werden h\u00e4ufig mit dem Straftatbestand der Steuerhinterziehung in Verbindung gebracht. Doch die Panama Papers belegen ohne den geringsten Zweifel: Auch wenn Briefkastenfirmen nicht per Definition illegal sind, dienen sie dazu, eine Bandbreite von Verbrechen zu begehen, die weitaus schlimmer sind als Steuerhinterziehung.\n\nIch habe mich dazu entschlossen, Mossack Fonseca dem Urteil der Welt\u00f6ffentlichkeit auszusetzen, weil ich der Meinung bin, dass die Kanzleigr\u00fcnder, Angestellten und Kunden f\u00fcr ihre Rolle bei diesen Verbrechen zur Rechenschaft gezogen werden sollten. Bislang ist erst ein Bruchteil der schmutzigen Machenschaften von Mossack Fonseca bekannt, es wird Jahre, vielleicht Jahrzehnte dauern, bis alles ans Licht gekommen ist."}
-{"text": "With the exalted title of the largest land-based arthropod in the world, it's a wonder that the giant coconut crab doesn't get more press than it does. These animals are generally nocturnal and live in many coastal and forest regions of Indo-Pacific islands.\n\nThey get their name from their ability to climb coconut palm trees, where they clip off the coconuts, return to the ground, peel of the coconut husks, and hammer the fruits open with rocks or their large claws. On some islands, the giant coconut crab is also known as the robber crab or palm thief because of its habit of taking shiny items.\n\nGiant coconut crabs primarily eat nuts, seeds, and fleshy fruits such as coconuts. However, as omnivores, they will consume other items as well.\n\nThese large crabs have a body length of about 16 inches and a leg span of three feet. They can weigh up to nine pounds. There are even accounts of them growing to become more than six feet across and weighing up to 30 pounds. They can also live more than 30 years.\n\nThese crabs are unusual because they can't swim. Though they require water to survive, even smaller ones can drown in water. They have an organ called a branchiostegal lung, which can be described as a cross between gills and lungs. This lung allows the crab to take oxygen out of the air but also has to be kept moist to function. Because of the nature of this lung, one of the most likely times to see coconut crabs is during a rainstorm, as the moisture allows them to breathe more easily.\n\nThough an adolescent has many predators, the only danger to a fully grown coconut crab is mankind\u2014the crab is a delicacy as well as an aphrodisiac in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. Female crabs are particularly in high demand if they have eggs that can be harvested."}
-{"text": "Renae Shrider: The Girl in the Verne Troyer Sex Tape\n\n22-year-oldis the girl in the Verne Troyer sex tape which has been making the rounds on the internet since Wednesday.\n\nTroyer, best known for his role as Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movies, is suing entertainment website TMZ for posting the video he made with former girlfriend Renae Shrider.\n\nTroyer claims the tape was stolen and is seeking over $20 million in damages.\n\nShrider is an aspiring model from Kentucky, currently living in Tampa, FL. She and Troyer lived together for about six months in the New York apartment where the sex tape was filmed.\n\nTroyer, 39, is 2' 8\". Shrider is 5' 9\" tall.\n\nView photos of Ranae Shrider and Verne Troyer below.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMore photos and video of Verne Troyer and Ranae Shrider."}
-{"text": "L'ex-lieutenante-gouverneure du Qu\u00e9bec Lise Thibault n'interjettera pas appel en Cour supr\u00eame; elle est d\u00e9sormais d\u00e9tenue en prison.\n\nLa femme de 76 ans s'est pr\u00e9sent\u00e9e au Centre de d\u00e9tention de Qu\u00e9bec, jeudi matin, comme l'y obligeait une d\u00e9cision rendue la veille par la Cour d'appel.\n\nSon conjoint, R\u00e9al Cloutier, a indiqu\u00e9 en entrevue \u00e0 la station de radio de Cogeco \u00e0 Trois-Rivi\u00e8res qu'elle n'interjettera pas appel de la d\u00e9cision et se r\u00e9signait \u00e0 l'emprisonnement.\n\n\u00abElle a pass\u00e9 la nuit \u00e0 pleurer\u00bb, a-t-il relat\u00e9. C'est lui qui l'a conduite en v\u00e9hicule depuis Saint-Hippolyte, jeudi matin.\n\n\u00ab\u00c7a a \u00e9t\u00e9 un avant-midi difficile, mettons\u00bb, a-t-il bri\u00e8vement comment\u00e9.\n\nLise Thibault avait tent\u00e9 d'obtenir que sa peine de 18 mois d'emprisonnement soit transform\u00e9e en peine avec sursis \u00e0 purger dans la collectivit\u00e9.\n\nLe banc de trois juges a toutefois rejet\u00e9 cette demande dans une double d\u00e9cision o\u00f9 il refusait \u00e9galement d'entendre l'appel de la Couronne, qui souhaitait au contraire voir la peine allong\u00e9e \u00e0 quatre ans de p\u00e9nitencier.\n\nLise Thibault avait purg\u00e9 six jours de prison apr\u00e8s avoir \u00e9t\u00e9 condamn\u00e9e \u00e0 18 mois de d\u00e9tention, le 30 septembre, et au remboursement de 300 000 $, mais elle avait pu recouvrer sa libert\u00e9 en attendant la d\u00e9cision de mercredi.\n\nSa condamnation faisait suite \u00e0 son plaidoyer de culpabilit\u00e9, en d\u00e9cembre 2014, \u00e0 des accusations de fraude de 430 000 $ aux d\u00e9pens des gouvernements du Qu\u00e9bec et du Canada et d'abus de confiance, un plaidoyer qui avait caus\u00e9 la surprise.\n\nLise Thibault, qui aura 77 ans en avril, avait reconnu avoir utilis\u00e9 durant son r\u00e8gne comme lieutenante-gouverneure, de 1997 \u00e0 2007, des fonds publics pour des d\u00e9penses qui n'\u00e9taient pas li\u00e9es \u00e0 ses fonctions, notamment pour des voyages, des f\u00eates familiales, des repas et des activit\u00e9s de loisir.\n\n\u00c0 l'origine, l'accusation faisait \u00e9tat d'une fraude de 700 000 $.\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "The waters near the nation\u2019s largest port complex have become a bustling feeding ground for increasing numbers of blue whales, putting the endangered animals at greater risk of being hit and killed by the enormous ships moving in and out of the harbor, according to researchers who\u2019ve been tracking them for nearly two years.\n\nThe whales, which migrate along the coast of California and are regularly spotted from May to December, are congregating in such numbers in the midst of this virtual freeway of ship traffic that the spot has become \u201cthe area of densest concentration close to shore in all of California,\u201d said research scientist John Calambokidis.\n\nDaily appearances by the world\u2019s largest animal feeding along an underwater drop-off outside Los Angeles Harbor have been a huge draw for sightseers. But the underwater buffet of krill, the shrimp-like crustaceans the whales feast on, is in the path of a major shipping lane and puts them in danger of being hit and killed by vessels leaving the port.\n\n\u201cWhile this is a unique and exciting opportunity to have these animals out here, it also puts them at great risk,\u201d said Calambokidis, co-founder of the Olympia, Wash.-based Cascadia Research Collective.\n\n\nOver the last decade, dozens of whales off the California coast have been injured or killed by ships, and scientists think the slowly recovering population of about 2,500 West Coast blue whales is especially vulnerable.\n\nFour blue whales were struck and killed by vessels in 2007 near the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Santa Barbara, raising the alarm of federal wildlife officials, who now monitor the whales from the air and use their coordinates to issue notices asking freighters to voluntarily slow down.\n\nWith the increase in blue whales near the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, Calambokidis said, \u201cnow we\u2019re worried about here.\u201d\n\nFor two years, Calambokidis has headed the project to photograph, tag and keep tabs on whales that feed near the shipping lanes. Interns for the Aquarium of the Pacific accompany tourists aboard twice-a-day whale watching trips by Harbor Breeze Cruises to photograph and mark coordinates of the few dozen blue whales that have taken to grazing about 5 miles off the Los Angeles coast.\n\n\nAs part of the ongoing work to track the whales\u2019 movements through the busy waters off Long Beach, researchers in an inflatable motorboat approach a whale and use a long pole to press a shoe-sized transmitter equipped with a suction cup to its back as it surfaces. The bright orange transmitters are designed to fall off after less than 24 hours.\n\nAn 80-foot whale whose tag was scooped from the ocean Tuesday is a regular visitor that has been in the area for about a month.\n\nWhen researchers tagged the same whale a week before, they downloaded data that revealed a typical behavior pattern. The animal spent most of the day just outside the port, diving as deep as 1,000 feet. After dark, it stayed near the surface, perhaps to rest, and swam to the Santa Monica Bay. The tag was eventually recovered in the South Bay.\n\nThe GPS tracking device records the whale\u2019s coordinates each time it surfaces, measures how deep it dives and how it reacts to passing ships. Some are equipped with acoustic sensors that record the animals\u2019 low-frequency calls and the rumble of passing freighters.\n\n\nThe information collected so far has uncovered a disturbing pattern: At night, the whales spend twice as much time lingering near the surface, where they are most vulnerable to being hit by ships. And they show no sign of trying to avoid approaching container ships.\n\nFor reasons that are not yet understood, the whales often draw closer to the vessels, increasing the odds of a collision.\n\nA better understanding of the whales\u2019 behavior in busy waters could help authorities decide how to separate them from ship traffic. Ocean carriers are backing a proposal to alter shipping routes to avoid whale feeding grounds, while conservation groups have petitioned the Obama administration for a speed limit through California\u2019s national marine sanctuaries.\n\nLater on the research trip Tuesday, Calambokidis spotted a group of whales surfacing to breathe as a fully-loaded cargo ship cruised by. \u201cThese whales are in the outbound shipping lane,\u201d he said. Among them was the regular \u2014 the same whale they had just retrieved the tracking device from. He can recognize the individual by its skinny dorsal fin and unique pattern of dark blotches, markings that are like fingerprints but even more detailed.\n\n\nIt\u2019s not surprising the abundant food has the creature coming back again and again.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re constantly in this mode of looking for a place to feed,\u201d Calambokidis said. \u201cSo when they find a patch of prey, they stick around for a while.\u201d\n\ntony.barboza@latimes.com"}
-{"text": "There is no such thing as a Catholic feminist.\n\nHold up, let me say that again: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A CATHOLIC FEMINIST.\n\nI mean, the very term \u2018Catholic feminist\u2019 is in itself an oxymoron.\n\n\u201cOh, but it is possible to be both Catholic and a feminist\u201d, I hear you say.\n\nNo, it is not. And this is because feminism goes against everything proper Catholic doctrine stands for; it goes against God\u2019s natural plan for women. There is nothing feminine in feminism \u2013 nothing!\n\nPeople have this idea that feminism is pro-woman and is all about gender equality.\n\nWell, I am so very sorry to tell you this \u2013 you have been lied to.\n\nFeminism is just not compatible with Christian beliefs\u2026..with Catholicism even.\n\nThere IS a major crisis of masculinity and femininity\u2026.and not just within the Church. The answer to this is NOT feminism.\n\nThe feminist ideology is all about gender equality for men and women, but equality does not mean sameness.\n\nMen and women ARE equal. We are equal, yet different and the differences between us help us complement each other. God is the Divine Architect and He for sure did not make mistakes when he designed man and woman.\n\nModern feminism is toxic and seems obsessed with men, and obsessed with becoming men. Modern feminism is militant\u2026..it is all about \u2018women power\u2019 and being superior to men \u2013 so much for gender equality, eh?\n\nOver the decades, as men became more effeminate and more dependent on women, this fuelled the rise in women dominating them and the advent of radical feminism. Under the guise of \u2018equality\u2019, feminism has gone beyond just the right to vote and now seeks to emasculate and diminish men \u2013 truly satanic in nature!\n\nI could barely contain my disgust at THIS ARTICLE\n\nWith men being progressively stomped out of the picture due to their inaction, why are people surprised at the breakdown of the family unit and increased rates of divorce? We are showing and telling men that we don\u2019t need them cos we are \u2018strong independent women that don\u2019t need no man!\u2019 and they are giving us what we asked for by refusing to commit, refusing to marry, refusing to provide, refusing to maintain their marriages & families. We are in essence hurting our own selves, as women.\n\nIn addition to modern feminism being anti-women and anti-men, it is also pro-death because it argues for the \u2018right\u2019 of women to have contraception and abortion.\n\nClaiming to be pro-choice is another way of saying: I reserve the right to murder my child. Christians and especially Catholics who claim to be \u2018pro-choice\u2019 seem to forget that they are violating the 6th commandment \u2013 THOU SHALT NOT KILL.\n\nModern society complains that men are not manly enough, then proceeds to emasculate them \u2013 um, cognitive dissonance much?\n\nRegardless of what feminists say, traditional gender roles facilitate better relationships, happier marriages and stable families. Feminism seeks to destroy all three\n\nThis is why radical Islam is on the rise.\n\nThe younger generation is fed up.\n\nThey want a return to traditional roles and old-fashioned values. They can\u2019t find it in the Church because the Church looks exactly like the world! You even have Catholic and Christians claiming to be pro-choice, claiming to be feminists.\n\nSo the disillusioned youth are drawn to radical Islam because it is different to modern society. Modern society and feminism basically fostered the current epidemic of radical Islam and terrorism. Yay, you (!)\n\nMen and women have ALWAYS been equal\u2026\u2026equal in value, but different and complementary in function.\n\nModern society is now so busy trying to prove that women can do what a man can do, that women are losing their uniqueness and femininity.\n\nAs a woman, are you attracted to feminine men? No? Then, pray tell, why would a man be attracted to a masculine woman?\n\nWomen were not created to do everything that a man can do. Women were created to do everything that a man can\u2019t. Revel in your womanhood and natural femininity.\n\nWould Mary have been a feminist? No. If she was, would God have chosen her to bear Our Lord? No.\n\nI urge you to return back to tradition, return back to sound doctrine, return to the Catholic faith as it is the one, true Church and most importantly return to being the woman God made you to be.\n\nI\u2019ll sign off this blog post with this \u2018letter\u2019 to feminism:\n\nDear Feminism\n\nBoys are not defective girls\n\nMen are not defective women\n\nMasculinity is not toxic; it is a complement to femininity\n\nMen are not inherently violent or sexual predators\n\nMen have a lot to work on and reclaim their masculinity, but they are not broken\n\nSo please, stop telling us that they are and stop trying to turn women into men.\n\nFeminist women are not a substitute to men.\n\nMary, model of femininity, pray for us!\n\nMORE RESOURCES:\n\nUngodly Rage\n\nFeminism: Women and The Natural Order\n\nad Jesum per Mariam\n\n\ud83c\udf39\ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udf39"}
-{"text": "The European Space Agency on Wednesday launched its latest environment observation satellite from Russia\u2019s Plesetsk Cosmodrom.\n\nThe Sentinel-3B satellite is set to observe the Earth\u2019s oceans, lakes and vegetation.\n\nIt was taken into orbit aboard a converted Russian ballistic missile, which was originally built to carry nuclear warheads.\n\nThe European Space Agency said the launch marked \u201can important milestone\u201d for Europe\u2019s Copernicus programme led by the European Commission.\n\nIt was the seventh Sentinel launched under the programme, and when in orbit will join its twin satellite, Sentinel-3A, which was launched in 2016.\n\nSentinel-3 measures the temperature, colour and height of the sea surface and thickness of sea ice, and observes vegetation, monitors wildfires and maps the way land is used."}
-{"text": "Offshore wind is a new market; it has been just two decades since the first commercial installation. The sector was born mainly due to lack of space for the development of large onshore wind projects in the densely populated areas of Western Europe. The market first evolved in Denmark in 1991 with the construction of the Vindeby offshore wind farm. But real market growth came some 10 years later with construction of Middelgrunden, followed by Horns Rev, which became the largest true offshore project, located some 14-20 km offshore with a total installed capacity of 160 MW.\n\nIn addition to Denmark, the U.K., Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Japan and China have constructed offshore wind farms over the last decade. Other countries including France, Taiwan, Canada, the U.S., Greece and other European nations are also looking to tap into this resource. The U.K. market began project construction in 2003 and soon took the lion\u2019s share, which it still holds, from Denmark. For the U.K., everything started with Crown Estate\u2019s Round 1 demonstration projects in 13 locations with a total capacity of around 1 GW. Round 1 projects are quite close to shore (less than 10 km) in shallow waters (less than 15 metres), with an average capacity between 60 and 90 MW. Developers at that time were ambitious mid-sized companies, and the largest offshore wind turbine available was 3.6 MW.\n\nTwo years later the U.K. Round 2 projects were awarded, including 15 sites with a total capacity of 7 GW that are currently under construction. They have an average capacity between 150 MW and 500 MW in water depths up to 30 meters. The largest turbine commercially available is 6 MW, while the furthest offshore project under construction in the U.K. is 30 km. Today, developers are mainly large utilities. Simultaneously with these large U.K. developments, we see the first offshore wind farms being constructed in Germany \u2014 which, together with the U.K., is expected comprise the dominant market for the coming decade.\n\nU.K. Round 3 projects include nine zones with a total capacity of 25 GW, expected to start construction in 2015. They will have an average capacity between 0.5 GW and 1 GW in water depths between 30 and 60 meters, and with distances to shore that may exceed 50 km. Projects of a similar size are also under development in Scottish territorial waters. New turbine manufacturers are expected to enter the market with turbine sizes up to 10 MW, considered state-of-the-art. Today, the UK has approximately 50 percent of the EU\u2019s total installed offshore wind capacity, accounting for 1.5 GW and is expected to expand to more than 5 GW in 2015 \u2014 possibly reaching more than 25 GW by 2020.\n\nSo, the market is trending quite clearly toward building in deeper waters, further offshore, using larger machines and building many large wind farms. Considering just the U.K. market alone, about 1 GW in installations per year is expected until 2015, and possibly 4 GW each year after 2015.\n\nThis rapid expansion in such a short time has led to a number of projects considered prototypes, either because they use new technologies (new turbines, new foundations, new transmission technologies, new installation concepts) or because they move further offshore into deeper waters than ever before. Dealing with these types of projects poses major challenges for the industry. Can the supply chain follow the tremendous expansion rate of offshore wind development? What construction and technology risks are foreseen? Is the hardware there? Is the skilled manpower there?\n\nOffshore wind farms are highly sophisticated projects that need careful planning and risk evaluation before they are implemented. (Source: Mott MacDonald)\n\nRegarding the hardware, there is currently a shortage of vessels to be deployed for offshore foundation and turbine installation, but this shortfall is expected to be addressed by 2012. Most vessels used today originated with the oil and gas industry, but with significant expansion in offshore wind, dedicated installation vessels are now being ordered and built. These vessels can operate in deeper waters and larger weather envelopes, and are able to carry many more turbines and foundations. This minimises transportation cycles to the marshalling harbour and thus decreases installation time.\n\nSupply of export cables, which transfer power to shore, is regarded as a critical item in the project schedule, as there are few cable suppliers and many projects to be connected. ABB, Nexans, Prysmian, NKT and NSW are the key submarine cable suppliers but more onshore cable suppliers are expected to join the market in the near future. For the moment, 132 kV and 150 kV HVAC export cables using XLPE insulation are the dominant types used, but as projects get larger and go further offshore 220 kV HVAC and High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) cables are expected to be deployed. For a recent project a HVDC export cable was considered because there was no suitable HVAC cable of sufficient capacity available for delivery at the scheduled time. The advantage of HVDC transmission lines is their ability to transfer considerably more power larger distances per cable but at the cost of deploying expensive converter stations. New VSC systems will be used for HVDC links as the long-established current source HVDC systems are not suitable.\n\nAnother significant challenge for the market on a per-country basis is the capability of the transmission operator to plan and construct the appropriate infrastructure able to absorb and cope with large offshore wind energy generation. In the case of Germany, for example, the grid operator is responsible for energy transmission from the offshore transformer station to shore. This has created a headache for developers, as project planning is linked to the date of grid connection and involves a third party over which the project company has only limited control. On the other hand, in the long term this will create a transmission system that is well-designed to cope with large offshore projects.\n\nIn the U.K. market the developer has been responsible for the electrical infrastructure up to the onshore grid connection point, but the transmission link must be sold to a third party after construction. This system has given developers freedom to plan and implement the first offshore projects, but there have been planning issues in constructing the appropriate infrastructure for Round 3 projects, both for developers (especially regarding the beach landing point and the onshore cable route) and for transmission operators.\n\nPorts and harbours seem to be another bottleneck that can hinder large offshore projects. Germany has invested in major port infrastructures (such as the port of Bremerhaven) in order to cope with the logistical demands of offshore wind expansion. This investment is supported at both state and government levels. But, unlike continental European ports, UK ports are generally privately owned, and thus owners are more cautious about investing in upgrades.\n\nTurbine Challenges\n\nTurbine technology is another key challenge for the market. Until recently, offshore wind was following in the footsteps of onshore wind technology development, with turbines considered as marinised onshore types. There are three turbine suppliers in Europe that own the lion\u2019s share of the market: Vestas, Siemens and REpower. BARD and AREVA Multibrid have recently begun offshore operation, and many more are expected to enter the market, including Gamesa, Alstom, Clipper, Darwind, General Electric, Mitsubishi, 2-B Energy, Nordex, Doosan and others. This multiplicity of new entrants is likely to result in better commercial terms for developers. All of these turbines can be considered state-of-the-art, due either to the technology used or the turbine size upgrade. A rigorous test procedure, together with design built redundancies, is key to offering comfort to potential buyers and their investors. The development of offshore test sites for these turbines is considered very positive for testing their performance before serial production. The final selection of turbines will be a tradeoff between availability, track record and price/guarantees.\n\nThorough and continuous risk assessment throughout the project\u2019s lifecycle, together with early engagement of market stakeholders, is key to avoiding cost and time overruns.\n\nBuilding Manpower\n\nRegarding skilled manpower, the rapid expansion rate of offshore wind has not been followed by a similar growth rate in trained and skilled personnel. Newcomers face problems, but even experienced players may encounter problems due to a rate and scope of expansion that does not allow for sufficient knowledge transfer.\n\nA platform to share knowledge and experiences in offshore wind, to educate and train, would be a potential solution. A good example on a national level is the U.K.\u2019s National Academy for Skills (Nuclear). Its role is to provide education and training, run events, offer services and develop expertise for the benefit of its members and the industry as a whole. A similar approach to offshore wind could be followed at a European level under the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). It is promising that offshore oil and gas contracting and consulting companies are getting involved in the offshore wind sector; their experience gained in working in harsh offshore environments can be transferred. But can offshore wind jobs compete with offshore oil and gas in order to get experienced people on board? For the moment this problem seems prohibitive.\n\nConstruction Risks\n\nApart from the supply chain challenges that the industry faces, there are a number of risks with which each project has to cope. As offshore wind farm projects are capital-intensive and involve many contractors and interfaces, careful evaluation of construction risks is of paramount importance for a project\u2019s success. There are two key items to be considered when installing offshore: weather conditions and vessel capability. Project completion can be affected because people tend to overestimate equipment capability and underestimate weather in the offshore environment. There are also cases where problems have occurred because the equipment available at the time, rather than the appropriate equipment, was used.\n\nThe quality of measured and predicted metocean data (including wind, waves, tide and swell) is key to a good understanding of the real site conditions at the wind farm location. When considering these data, a conservative approach should be taken toward vessel selection and project planning, with contingency plans for weather that is worse than expected, and plans that will allow for float between different contractors\u2019 schedules so that the final project completion date is not affected. Vessels\u2019 operational envelopes should be well understood in connection with the expected metocean conditions in order to ensure that the right tool is used within the planned schedule.\n\nOther construction risks are related to understanding seabed conditions and poor design, especially in relation to cable installation. Although cable work counts for only seven percent of the total capital expenditure of an offshore project, most insurance claims and project delays are linked to the cable installation process. Many offshore projects have failed to achieve the correct burial depth or meet the scheduled installation deadline.\n\nIn many wind farms a failure of the connection between the monopile and the transition piece, known as grout, has led to vertical slippage. (Source: Mott MacDonald)\n\nTwo issues arose during construction of the Bligh Bank offshore wind farm. Bligh Bank utilises monopile foundations that were transported 46 km offshore, towed by a tug vessel. The monopiles were transported using hydraulic plugs in both ends to keep them sealed and floating. In two cases the monopiles sank due to failure of the hydraulic system in the plugs. A new solution had to be designed, and additional redundancy measures were taken which accounted for more stringent weather restrictions.\n\nAnother construction challenge that Bligh Bank faced was the grouting issue on monopile foundations. In many wind farms a failure of the connection between the monopile and the transition piece, known as grout, has led to vertical slippage: the transition piece slips a few millimetres towards the monopile, and this could affect the structural integrity of the foundations. At the time this issue was discovered, the foundations were already fabricated and were being installed. The Bligh Bank team spent considerable effort on a design solution that would cover the project\u2019s lifetime, which has now been certified and implemented.\n\nIn both cases neither the project\u2019s schedule nor its commercial viability were affected due to the fast response in managing these unforeseen issues. At the end of 2010 Belwind managed to finish the construction of the furthest offshore wind farm in the world, consisting of 55 turbines, in 15 months, on budget and with no accidents.\n\nBuilding Success Offshore\n\nSo what makes a successful offshore wind project? The most important element is a track record: the involvement of experienced and skilled project managers and contractors. An offshore wind farm developed and constructed under current models is a sophisticated structure with complex interfaces needing strong management. Extensive knowledge of supply chain capabilities and planning interfaces will lead to a good understanding of potential risks. Thorough and continuous risk assessment throughout the project\u2019s lifecycle, together with early engagement of market stakeholders, is key to avoiding cost and time overruns in these multi-million euro projects.\n\nFurthermore, dealing with the multi-contract structure typically used for offshore wind farms requires an experienced and capable construction management team. The Bligh Bank construction management team, for example, was almost identical with the team that worked for the Princess Amalia (formerly Q7) offshore wind farm. This allowed the team to consider the lessons of the past and knowledge gained, while keeping a lessons-learned register. For instance, they implemented an extended quality control and health and safety inspection programme during project construction, which in part led to a project with zero accidents.\n\nThus, a mix of thoughtful project design, well-defined contractual arrangements and continuous risk management, orchestrated by competent project participants, is key to a project\u2019s success. At the end of the day, that is what defines a good project: a strong and capable management team with the ability to plan and cope with unforeseen situations, collaborate and learn, without making compromises on quality and health and safety aspects."}
-{"text": "Last updated at 11:44 05 September 2007\n\nA private detective hid inside a body bag to catch the man who waged a three-year campaign of vandalism against a firm of funeral directors.\n\nThe bag was put in the back of a hearse, one of a number which had been repeatedly attacked over the years, and for days the detective lay in wait.\n\nHis perseverance paid off when he caught Richard Bullen stabbing the wheels of the vehicle.\n\nSurveillance experts launched the \u00a34,000 operation while investigating the hate campaign against the Co-operative Funeral Directors in Portsmouth.\n\nThe cost of the vandalism came to more than \u00a3100,000 and up to five vehicles a day owned by the firm and its staff were being damaged. However, there were no clues to the identity of the perpetrator.\n\nThe funeral directors contacted the Portsmouth Business Crime Reduction Partnership which hired a team of private detectives.\n\nThey spent five days posing as members of the public and using cameras to stake out the firm.\n\nBut cars continued to be damaged under their noses so security firm Storewatch decided one of their team had to hide inside a body bag.\n\nThere the detective could watch a computer displaying live images from cameras inside and outside the vehicle.\n\nMark Ferns, Storewatch director said: \"Our guy would do three or four hours in the bag and then would have to take what the Americans call a comfort break.\n\nScroll down for more ...\n\n\"It was all so covert that we did not even tell the funeral firm what we were doing.\"\n\nOn the fifth day he saw Bullen stab the wheels of the vehicle with a carpentry tool and felt the hearse move. Bullen, 40, was followed and placed under citizens' arrest until police arrived.\n\nHis motive is unknown, but police believe he was angered by staff occasionally parking in a public car park near his then home.\n\nBullen, of Portsmouth, appeared before the town's magistrates and was fined \u00a350 after admitting one charge of criminal damage for the act caught on camera.\n\nAt a separate hearing he was handed an anti-social behaviour order after magistrates heard he was believed to be the man behind all the vandalism.\n\nHe was banned from going near the funeral directors, from going near the homes of staff and from carrying a bradawl - the tool he used - anywhere in Hampshire.\n\nThe burden of proof required to secure an Asbo is less than that needed for a criminal conviction, meaning magistrates had only to believe on the balance of probability that Bullen committed the offences and was likely to cause trouble if the Asbo wasn't in place."}
-{"text": "Israel will no longer return bodies of Palestinian Hamas militants Published duration 1 January 2017\n\nimage copyright AP image caption Israeli soldiers' remains have been missing since the 50-day Gaza War in 2014\n\nIsrael will not return the bodies of Palestinian militants to their families, but will bury them instead, officials said.\n\nIsrael said it was taking measures to ensure the return of Israeli remains from Palestinian territory.\n\nBut the country's security cabinet announced the move after the release of mocking videos from the armed wing of Hamas.\n\nThe decision will now become a permanent change in policy, it said.\n\nThe two video clips published by the Hamas military wing show a mock birthday for Oron Shaul, who Israel said was killed during the Gaza War in 2014.\n\nIn one, his face has been digitally inserted over someone else's body, bound and in army fatigues.\n\nHe is visited by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a clown's costume, who blows out the candles on a birthday cake.\n\nSgt Shaul, 21, was one of seven soldiers reported killed in an incident in Shejaiya, near Gaza City.\n\nBut Hamas has never confirmed that Sgt Shaul is dead.\n\nAfter the meeting of the security cabinet, the prime minister's office released a brief statement on the decision.\n\n\"The security cabinet discussed ways to effect the return of fallen soldiers and of civilians held in the Gaza Strip ... and decided that (the bodies of militants) should be buried, rather than returned,\" the statement said.\n\nBodies buried under the new policy could be exhumed and returned later as part of exchanges.\n\nIn September 2016, Israeli officials said that Hamas had rejected the offer of an exchange for both prisoners and the remains of fallen citizens."}
-{"text": "A passenger jet had to burn off thousands of litres of fuel before it could safely land in Shannon after suffering a navigation systems failure.\n\nUS Airways flight AWE-711 was travelling from Zurich in Switzerland to Philadelphia in the US and was about 200km west of the Clare Coast when the problem emerged.\n\nShortly after 1.40pm yesterday the pilot contacted air traffic controllers in Shannon to inform them that he had no navigation systems. He told them he would have to abort crossing the Atlantic and divert to the airport.\n\nThe crew of the Boeing 767-200 made a U-turn and routed back towards the Clare coast, where they entered a holding pattern in an effort to burn off excess fuel. This was to ensure the jet could land within safe landing weight limits.\n\nAfter spending over an hour circling over the Atlantic off the Clare coast the flight landed safely at Shannon shortly before 3pm.\n\nThe flight was later cancelled while the 110 passengers and crew were accommodated in hotels in Limerick and Clare last night. They were due to return to Shannon early today to continue their journey to the US.\n\nIt was the third time this month that a US Airways flight had to divert to an Irish airport \u2013 with crew members falling ill on two recent flights.\n\nIrish Independent"}
-{"text": "They are dying one by one.\n\nThey are Iran's nuclear scientists, and they are being murdered. Since 2007, five Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in Iranian territory, many victims dying from magnetic bombs that terrorists had attached to the exterior of their cars.\n\nThe latest attack took place on January 11, 2012, when Mostafa Ahamdi Roshan, deputy director in the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, died without warning in a blast in Tehran shortly after two assailants on a motorcycle placed a bomb on his car.\n\nAccording to news reports, confirmed by Truthout, the United States denied that it was to blame for the killing of the 32-year-old Roshan after Tehran said Washington and Israel were responsible for the attack. \u201cI want to categorically deny any United States involvement in any kind of act of violence inside Iran,\u201d US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters when asked about Iranian allegations over the attack.\n\nNational Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor added, \u201cThe United States had absolutely nothing to do with this. We strongly condemn all acts of violence, including acts of violence like this.\u201d\n\nFormer and serving US intelligence officials said that President Barack Obama reacted angrily to the latest killing because, since his election, he had tried to prevent any acceleration in the covert US-Israeli war directed at Iranian nuclear facilities.\n\nThe Israeli program, which has been in place for almost a decade, involves not only targeted killings of key Iranian assets, but also disrupting and sabotaging the Iran nuclear technology by infecting Iran's enrichment computers with a US-Israel virus that heavily damaged them and by sabotaging Iran's purchasing network abroad, these sources said.\n\nUS opposition to the program initially intensified as President Obama made overtures aimed at thawing decades-old tension between the two countries. Part of his strategy was driven by America's desire to use Iran's roads into Afghanistan to help resupply US-NATO forces there.\n\nBut in spite of Obama's desire to relax tensions, Israel continues to carry out killings using its proxies, including an armed group of Iranian dissidents, a group that has high-level political backers in the United States despite being a terrorist organization.\n\nFormer senior CIA officials said that Israeli terrorists were members of the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK), who are paid by Israel to do targeted killings of Iranian nationals.\n\n\u201cThe MEK is being used as the assassination arm of Israel's Mossad intelligence service,\u201d said Vince Cannistraro, former CIA chief of counterterrrorism. He said that the MEK is in charge of executing \u201cthe motor attacks on Iranian targets chosen by Israel. They go to Israel for training, and Israel pays them.\u201d\n\nThe MEK has a shadowy and unsavory history. Founded in the 1970s, the group was stridently anti-shah and allied itself with the dictatorship of Iraq's Saddam Hussein from which it received most of its supplies. Performing security for Saddam, the MEK assisted him in the slaughter of his domestic opponents and the massacre of Iraqi Shias and Kurds in the 1991 uprising.\n\nAs the military wing of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the MEK targeted Iranian officials and government facilities in Iran and abroad. The group also attacked and killed Americans in the 1970s. According to one former senior CIA official, the MEK is particularly violent. In France, they did killings in Paris, including six or seven US Army sergeants. He added that the French \u201cwere terrified of them.\u201d\n\nIts most spectacular act of terror was the 1991 near-simultaneous attack on 13 countries around the world.\n\nIn 2003, the United States listed the NCRI as a terrorist organization and closed its Washington office. US forces in Iraq captured the MEK's weapons and turned the MEK over for investigation of terrorist acts. Since then, the group has been peeling off Iranian nuclear scientists one by one.\n\nWhen I asked Paul Pillar, a 28-year CIA veteran, whether Israel was killing secondary or tertiary scientists instead of its major ones, he replied, \u201cIsrael kills any Iranians it can.\u201d\n\nThe range of damage caused by the MEK is not confined to merely killing individuals. On October 12, just before Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was to arrive in Lebanon, a huge blast destroyed an underground site near the town of Khorramabad in western Iran that housed most of Iran's Shehab-3 medium-range missiles capable of reaching Israel and Iraq. A far right-wing Israeli web site, Debka, reported that Iran has suffered a blow\u201d to its nuclear program. The blast killed 18 and wounded several more. The MEK was strongly suspected as the killers, but \u201cThere is no conclusive evidence yet,\u201d said Cannistraro. But one former senior US intelligence official said, \u201cIsrael did it using the MEK and Kurdish fighters.\u201d\n\nEarly History\n\nMossad has a long history of killing opponents. At first, Israel viewed Palestinians as the chief threat, killing off several Black September assassins involved in the 1972 Munich massacres. In 1986, right-wingers in Israel plotted to kill Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and replace him with someone who would be unacceptable to the West. Mossad's motives were not simply revenge, but a desire to ruin any chance of a Middle East peace. Israel's moderates pointed out that Arafat was the legitimate leader of the Palestinians, and that, while the best of a bad lot, he was an educated man and courageous. The debate finally decided against killing him.\n\nIn the early 1980s, the chief threat to Israel's existence was no longer Arafat, but Arab scientists. On June 7, 1981, in \u201cOperation Sphinx,\u201d Israel's fighter planes destroyed the Iraq nuclear complex, Tamuze 17, at Osirak. Israel, then set out to eliminate Arab scientists that could be seen as a threat to Israel's future security. \u201cIsrael has been killing Iranian or even Arab nuclear scientists for some time,\u201d said a veteran CIA station chief.\n\nA former senior Department of Defense (DoD) official said, \u201cIsrael killed Arab scientists without compunction.\u201d\n\nAn incident recounted by former Mossad defector Victor Ostrovsky in his book, \u201cBy Way of Deception,\u201d (verified by my interview with him) told how Mossad targeted an Arab nuclear scientist, an Egyptian from Cairo, who assisted Iraq's nuclear program after Osirak.\n\nMossad and Aman, Israel's military intelligence group, did the planning, but it was Mossad that did the killing. Mossad's chain of reasoning was Byzantine. Mossad officially believes that it kills only people who have Israeli blood on their hands, but the Egyptian had to be killed because he would have had the blood of Israel's children on his hands if he had completed his nuclear project. So why wait?\n\nThe scientist was passionate about his work, having said he would pursue this program of building an Arab nuclear weapon even if it cost him his life. When he arrived for a stay in Paris, Mossad approached the scientist directly and tried to recruit him. They got a volley of abuse instead. Then, Mossad sent in a hooker. After the scientist had sex and had gone to sleep, two Mossad agents with a passkey got in and slit his throat.\n\nHis blood-soaked body was found by a chambermaid. Nothing had been stolen, no money, no documents. When the hooker heard about the matter, she was shocked. After all, she knew the man had been alive when she'd left him. To protect herself, she went to the French police and reported that when she had arrived, the scientist was angry because someone had approached him offering him money for information. After talking to the police, the hooker told her story to a colleague, who unknowingly passed it to a sayanim, a Mossad volunteer. Such people were all over Paris.\n\nA few weeks later in July of 1982, the hooker was working on the Left Bank when a Mercedes pulled up and the driver asked her to come to his side of the car. As she leaned in to talk, another Mercedes came speeding up and the first driver suddenly pushed the hooker into the oncoming car. She was killed instantly.\n\nBoth victims were handled by Mossad in different ways. The hooker's killing was classified as an \u201coperational emergency.\u201d The decision to kill her was made quickly and emanated from an ultra-secret internal system involving a formal \u201cexecution list,\u201d that required the personal approval of the Israeli prime minister. The number of names on that list varied considerably. The request for a killing was made by Mossad to the prime minister. (Israeli targets are different from Jewish targets). The prime minister must sign the order, read the execution list and initial each name on it.\n\nNo state has any ethics, only its own interests, said a British diplomat, but Israel is just as remorseless a killer as any of its self-designated enemies. Israel's training of the secret police of terrorist countries often gets it into trouble and compromises its stance as the region's Western democracy. For example, until the fall of Iran's shah, Israel trained the Third Department of SAVAK, the shah's dreaded secret police. It sold weapons and intelligence to Serbian dictator Sloban Milosevic. When Israel wanted to obtain the head of an Exocet shipping missile, it agreed to train Chile's secret police to kill its enemies. Mossad likes to keep its techniques to itself, but it trained Chile's assassins and got its missile. In September 1976, I was three blocks away when I heard the blast along Embassy Row in Washington and found a gutted automobile and ambulances when I arrived. The victims were Orlando Letelier, 44, a former Chilean cabinet minister, and his American aide, Ronnie Moffit, 25. Israel wasn't directly responsible \u2013 but indirectly it was.\n\nThe Rationale\n\nAs terrorist/intelligence correspondent for UPI, I wrote a story in January 2003 about how the Bush administration had given permission to Israel to assassinate on US soil. Following phone calls and a trip to Washington, I met with a former Israeli Defense Force member with ties to Israeli intelligence, Gal Luft. We talked a great deal about Israel's assassinations, and Luft soon produced a masterful piece on it, \u201cThe Logic of Israel's Targeted Killing,\u201d for The Middle East Quarterly.\n\nIn it, Luft said that Israelis \u201cdislike the term 'assassination policy.'\u201d He said that they would rather use another term, \u201cextrajudicial punishment,\u201d \u201cselective targeting\u201d or \u201clong-range hot pursuit,\u201d to describe this particular pillar of their counterterrorism doctrine. He then noted that, since the 1970s, \u201cdozens of terrorists have been assassinated by Israel's security forces, and in the two years of the Aqsa intifada, there have been at least 80 additional cases of Israel gunning down or blowing up Palestinian militants involved in the planning and execution of terror attacks.\u201d\n\nLuft acknowledged that many thought the killings illegal or operationally senseless because \u201cassassinating Palestinian militants only brings harsh retaliatory action, resulting in even more Israeli casualties.\u201d He conceded that it \u201cinfringes on the sovereignty of foreign political entities and because it gives the security services discretion to decide on the killing of certain individuals without due process.\u201d But he concluded thus: \u201cthe policy does have shortcomings. What is less apparent is the profound cumulative effect of targeted killing on terrorist organizations. Constant elimination of their leaders leaves terrorist organizations in a state of confusion and disarray. Those next in line for succession take a long time to step into their predecessors' shoes. They know that by choosing to take the lead, they add their names to Israel's target list, where life is Hobbesian.\u201d\n\nPillar recently mounted a brilliant counterargument to Luft in The National Interest, entitled \u201cDeeper into Terrorism.\u201d He said, \u201cWith or without confirmation of details of this story, the assassinations are terrorism. (The official US government definition of terrorism for reporting and statistic-keeping purposes is 'premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents.')\u201d\n\nNoting that assassination is immoral, he added, \u201cTerrorism denies the high ground to anyone who uses it, including the use of it in disagreements with Iran. It also hastens the slide through mutually reinforcing hostility into what may be a far more destructive form of violence (i.e., a war). Although the United States has not been involved in the assassinations, the nature of its relationship with Israel, both real and perceived (President Obama commented the other day about staying in 'lockstep' with Israel on Iran), means that Israel's actions suck the United States farther down the slide.\u201d\n\nSpecialization\n\nAssassinations used to be quick, sloppy, haphazard and often relied on luck. This has changed. Targeted killing today is much more sophisticated and requires a lot of preparation and training by different teams. There are those who plan an attack, but do not carry it out. The planning groups do research; rely on field reports, files, communications traffic. They observe the victims' movements, their locales, the places they frequent, traffic patterns. They study logistics, escape routes, access. They provide cover stories, fake passports and false identities. They figure out where the target is likely to stay.\n\nThere can be complications. In the 1970s, a Mossad team mistakenly shot a Norwegian waiter, thinking he was Ali Hassan Salemheh, the mastermind of the Munich massacre. Phony identities and false passports can backfire. Six suspected Mossad agents were expelled by Dubai when it was found they were using forged Irish passports. Ireland replied by expelling an Israeli Embassy official.\n\nThe Logic of Events\n\nRepeated insults to Iranian sovereignty meant that Tehran would one day begin to stage reprisals for Mossad killings in countries with an Israeli presence. Countries with weak security would be Iran's battlefields of choice for hitting back at Israel.\n\nThis finally happened. On February 13, one of Iran's proxies, Hezbollah, launched attacks in New Delhi, Georgia and a site in Bangkok. The attack on Israel's Embassy in New Delhi was well-planned and well-executed. It was possible only by painstaking collection of information regarding the movements and activities of Israeli diplomats, and a capability for undetected clandestine activity in Indian territory for the procurement of explosive material and the fabrication of the improvised explosive device (IED), according to a friend of this reporter, Bahukumbi Raman, a former senior official in India's CIA. In an email with multiple recipients, Raman said the attack coincided with the fourth anniversary of the assassination of a senior leader of the Hezbollah in Damascus and the first anniversary of the death of two Iranian nuclear scientists in Teheran caused by a similar sticky bomb explosion.\n\nTalya Yehoshua-Kioren, wife of the Defense Ministry representative in India, and three others were injured by a sticky bomb planted on her SUV. At almost exactly the same time, a similar device was safely defused in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi due to the detection and neutralization of the IED before it could explode.\n\nTwo theories immediately sprang to life. One was that Israel had faked the attacks itself; the other, that the Hezbollah proxies of Iran were the culprits. According to Pillar the second surmise was the correct one. \u201cThe wife of an Israeli Embassy official is a high value target,\u201d he told me.\n\nOne serving intelligence official said, \u201cThe Iranian leadership has worked to reduce its own terrorist arm. Picking New Delhi or Georgia demonstrates Iran's increasing desperation in the face of so many verbal attacks.\u201d\n\nA right-wing Israeli site, Debka, said, \u201c\u2026 Iran and Hezbollah are clearly determined to keep on trying until they achieve their objective of killing targeted Israelis.\u201d\n\nThe fear is that the vicious circle of Iran-Israeli reprisals will prove destabilizing to the world order. Several sources, including former US diplomats, told me that seeing your enemy as the seat of all evil in the world, being obsessed with the special wickedness of your opponent, blinds people to the logic of events. Seeing a foreign policy predicament as a melodrama with good versus bad freezes history into insoluble dilemmas where any common ground or parallel interests are irrelevant. Assassinations can change history, but they don't necessarily achieve the long-term objectives of the agencies that employ them, said a former DoD official.\n\nThe basis of Israel's lavish financing of the MEK is to try to delay any Iranian progress towards a nuclear weapon, even if Iran has not decided to make one, but the fear that Iran might have a weapon calls up a vision of Iran as \u201ca regional marauder that would recklessly throw its weight around the Middle East in damaging ways, according to Pillar. And he pointed out that there is already such a state in the Middle East. It is Israel.\n\nIn The National Interest, he said, \u201cThis state invades neighboring countries, ruthlessly inflicting destruction on civilian populations, and seizes and colonizes territory through military force. It also uses terrorist group proxies as well as its own agents to conduct assassinations in other countries in the region.\u201d Pillar still holds these views.\n\nIn a 2009 article for Middle East Times, this reporter interviewed Pat Clawson, director of research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, about Israel's assassinations. He said, \u201cThat's what the Israelis would do, what we would expect them to do. They would kill Iranian scientists.\u201d\n\nAsked about the mounting administration disapproval, Clawson said of the killings, \u201cIt would be implausible to call off all covert ops.\u201d He added, \u201cIf the US pressures Israel, then the Israelis will simply stop talking to us about it.\u201d\n\nPillar pointed out that unlike Iran, Israel has never signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty or admitted an international inspector to any of its nuclear facilities and, in fact, Israel \u201chas kept its nuclear program completely out of reach of any international scrutiny or arms control regime and does not even acknowledge the program's existence. It is so intent on maintaining its regional nuclear weapons monopoly.\u201d\n\nHe added, \u201cThe United States needs to distance itself as much as possible from this ugliness, for the sake of adhering to its own principles as well as trying to avoid sliding any further toward catastrophe.\u201d Pillar confirmed these views in an interview.\n\nA former senior US military official summed it up, \u201cIsrael is out of step with American policy.\u201d"}
-{"text": "NTT\u30c9\u30b3\u30e2\u3001KDDI\u3001\u30bd\u30d5\u30c8\u30d0\u30f3\u30af\u306f15\u65e5\u3001\u5404\u793e\u304c\u8ca9\u58f2\u3059\u308b\u30d5\u30a3\u30fc\u30c1\u30e3\u30fc\u30d5\u30a9\u30f3\u306e\u4e00\u90e8\u6a5f\u7a2e\u306b\u304a\u3044\u3066\u3001\u30b5\u30fc\u30d0\u8a3c\u660e\u66f8\u306e\u5207\u308a\u66ff\u3048\u306b\u4f34\u3044\u3001\u4eca\u5f8c\u3001\u4e00\u90e8\u306eWeb\u30b5\u30a4\u30c8\u306e\u8868\u793a\u304c\u3067\u304d\u306a\u304f\u306a\u308b\u53ef\u80fd\u6027\u304c\u3042\u308b\u3068\u767a\u8868\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\u73fe\u5728\u3001\u30d5\u30a3\u30fc\u30c1\u30e3\u30fc\u30d5\u30a9\u30f3\u304b\u3089\u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30cd\u30c3\u30c8\u63a5\u7d9a\u3059\u308b\u969b\u306b\u306f\u3001\u901a\u4fe1\u306e\u5185\u5bb9\u3092\u5b89\u5168\u306b\u4fdd\u8b77\u3059\u308b\u305f\u3081\u3001\u30b5\u30fc\u30d0\u8a3c\u660e\u66f8\u3067\u3042\u308b\u300cSHA-1\u8a3c\u660e\u66f8\u300d\u3092\u4f7f\u7528\u3057\u305f\u6697\u53f7\u5316\u901a\u4fe1\u304c\u5229\u7528\u3055\u308c\u3066\u3044\u308b\u30022016\u5e741\u67081\u65e5\u4ee5\u964d\u306f\u3001\u96fb\u5b50\u8a3c\u660e\u66f8\u306b\u95a2\u308f\u308b\u30ac\u30a4\u30c9\u30e9\u30a4\u30f3\u4f5c\u6210\u306a\u3069\u3092\u884c\u3046\u56e3\u4f53\u300cCA/Browser Forum\u300d\u306e\u6307\u91dd\u306b\u3088\u308a\u3001\u300cSHA-1\u8a3c\u660e\u66f8\u300d\u3092\u767a\u884c\u3067\u304d\u306a\u304f\u306a\u308b\u3002\n\n\u3053\u308c\u306b\u4f34\u3044\u3001\u6697\u53f7\u5316\u901a\u4fe1\u3092\u5229\u7528\u3059\u308b\u30aa\u30f3\u30e9\u30a4\u30f3\u30b7\u30e7\u30c3\u30d4\u30f3\u30b0\u30b5\u30a4\u30c8\u3084\u3001\u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30cd\u30c3\u30c8\u30d0\u30f3\u30ad\u30f3\u30b0\u30b5\u30a4\u30c8\u3067\u306f\u3001\u300cSHA-1\u8a3c\u660e\u66f8\u300d\u304b\u3089\u300cSHA-2\u8a3c\u660e\u66f8\u300d\u3078\u30b5\u30fc\u30d0\u8a3c\u660e\u66f8\u306e\u5207\u66ff\u3048\u3092\u884c\u3046\u30b1\u30fc\u30b9\u304c\u767a\u751f\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\n\n\u3053\u3046\u3057\u305f\u3001\u30b5\u30fc\u30d0\u8a3c\u660e\u66f8\u306e\u5207\u66ff\u3048\u306b\u3088\u308a\u3001\u300cSHA-2\u8a3c\u660e\u66f8\u300d\u306b\u5bfe\u5fdc\u3057\u3066\u3044\u306a\u3044\u4e00\u90e8\u6a5f\u7a2e\u3067\u306f\u3001\u4eca\u5f8c\u3001\u6697\u53f7\u5316\u901a\u4fe1\u3092\u5229\u7528\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u4e00\u90e8Web\u30b5\u30a4\u30c8\u304c\u8868\u793a\u3067\u304d\u306a\u304f\u306a\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3002\u306a\u304a\u3001\u5229\u7528\u3067\u304d\u306a\u304f\u306a\u308b\u6642\u671f\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u306f\u3001\u5404\u30b5\u30a4\u30c8\u306e\u5207\u66ff\u3048\u72b6\u6cc1\u306b\u3088\u308b\u305f\u3081\u3001\u30b5\u30a4\u30c8\u306b\u3088\u308a\u7570\u306a\u308b\u3002\u305f\u3060\u3057\u3001\u5404\u30ad\u30e3\u30ea\u30a2\u3068\u3082\u5bfe\u8c61\u3068\u306a\u308b\u6a5f\u7a2e\u306e\u4e00\u90e8\u306b\u304a\u3044\u3066\u3001\u30bd\u30d5\u30c8\u30a6\u30a7\u30a2\u66f4\u65b0\u3092\u884c\u3044\u300cSHA-2\u8a3c\u660e\u66f8\u300d\u306b\u5bfe\u5fdc\u3055\u305b\u308b\u3068\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\n\n\u30c9\u30b3\u30e2\u306e\u5bfe\u8c61\u6a5f\u7a2e\n\nKDDI(au)\u306e\u5bfe\u8c61\u6a5f\u7a2e\n\n\u30bd\u30d5\u30c8\u30d0\u30f3\u30af\u306e\u5bfe\u8c61\u6a5f\u7a2e\n\nY!mobile\u306e\u5bfe\u8c61\u6a5f\u7a2e\n\n"}
-{"text": "Team Win Recovery Project is the de facto standard for Android custom recoveries. While the open-source project often makes its way to disparate Android phones and tablets by the efforts of interested indie ROM developers, the maintainers of the project work tirelessly to bring official builds out as well. Today no less than seven new devices get the official treatment, and most of them are more niche, low-volume hardware that might not get major attention otherwise.\n\nHere's the full list of new devices:\n\nUsers can install TWRP via the standard fastboot tools once their phone or tablet's bootloader is unlocked. Once installed, TWRP makes it easy to root, apply custom ROMs (if any are available), or install any other system-level modifications. Since some of these devices are unlikely to get the same attention as flagships when it comes to updated releases of Android, or even security patches, TWRP and ROM developers might open up some much-needed options for users.\n\nRecovery images are available at the links above, or (if you're already rooted) from the official TWRP app on the Play Store."}
-{"text": "Anzeige\n\nDer deutsche Eigner des Fl\u00fcchtlingsrettungsschiffs \u201eAquarius\u201c hat Italien vorgeworfen, mit starkem politischen Druck den Flaggenentzug f\u00fcr das Schiff durchgesetzt zu haben.\n\nRom habe Panama vor die Wahl gestellt, die Registrierung der \u201eAquarius\u201c zu streichen oder andernfalls Schiffen unter Panama-Flagge generell ein Einlaufen in italienische H\u00e4fen zu verbieten, kritisierte der Gesch\u00e4ftsf\u00fchrer der Bremer Reederei Jasmund Shipping, Christoph Hempel, bei einer Pressekonferenz in Bremen. Im August sei dem Schiff auf Druck Englands bereits die Flagge von Gibraltar entzogen worden.\n\nDas von der Hilfsorganisation SOS M\u00e9diterran\u00e9e gecharterte und mit dem Verein \u00c4rzte ohne Grenzen betriebene Schiff liegt derzeit unter panamaischer Flagge in Marseille. Die Streichung aus dem Register des mittelamerikanischen Landes sei aber definitiv, sagte Hempel. Wann genau die Entscheidung vollzogen wird, steht noch nicht fest. \u201eIch denke, ich habe noch eine Woche.\u201c Es sei bereits in den Parlamenten der Schweiz, in Luxemburg sowie in Venezuela \u00fcber die M\u00f6glichkeit einer Flaggenvergabe gesprochen worden.\n\n\u201eDie deutsche Regierung muss sich positionieren\u201c\n\nAnzeige\n\n\u201eOhne Flagge k\u00f6nnten wir nicht retten\u201c, betonte Jana Ciernioch, Sprecherin von SOS M\u00e9diterran\u00e9e Deutschland. \u201eWir sind derzeit komplett handlungsunf\u00e4hig.\u201c Seit Anfang 2016 habe die 77 Meter lange \u201eAquarius\u201c knapp 30.000 Menschen aus dem Mittelmeer vor dem Ertrinken gerettet. Die deutsche Regierung m\u00fcsse sich konkret f\u00fcr eine neue Flagge einsetzen. \u201eDie Bundesregierung hat eine klare Verantwortung, sich zu positionieren, was sie bisher wenig bis gar nicht getan hat\u201c, bem\u00e4ngelte Ciernioch.\n\nSchiffseigner Hempel steht hinter den Rettungsaktionen und hatte schon im Juli betont, laut internationalem Recht m\u00fcsse jeder Mensch in Seenot gerettet werden. Dabei mache es keinen Unterschied, ob es ein leichtsinniger Freizeitsegler oder ein vor Not fliehender Mensch aus Afrika sei, betonte er damals."}
-{"text": "Greetings all - welcome once more to another glimpse into the depths of my hobby workings - this week will be a fairly short update, as is often the case when I get stuck into working on a single project that requires more effort! I'll be teasing you a little more too with my next project!First things first though, this weeks has mainly been about Sire Gabriel, the first Knight out of the manufactorum for my collection. The second will begin construction upon completion of this frame, but I figured it would be best to learn the lessons of building and painting my first knight before I embark on the second.As you can see from the picture above, he's coming on nicely, though I had to put a significant effort into the heraldry on the tilting plate. Here's a close up, that represents nearly an hour's work.First this involved quite a bit of searching for an appropriate image, then rationalising that into something I thought I could realistically paint (however much my painting has improved I am still most definitely not an artist able to draw and paint complex freehand stuff).I'm not convinced by the top wings in the lighter blue, so I'll be re-doing these into the darker colour using the light blue for highlights only.Thanks to the careful use of magnets as you can see, the tilting plate and heavy stubber (and meltagun) are all interchangeable, as are the top canopy weapons options. This week I promise I'll be concentrating on getting the other leg finished so that I can get it mounted to the base, as having used it a couple of times in this state in games, it's rather wobbly!In other hobby news, I built another honour guard model last night for the Dusk Knights, which brings me up to 4. This guy is the bearer of the Chapter Banner, and whilst I need to do a little green stuff work around the joint of the banner I'm pretty happy with how he has turned out so far - photos next week when hopefully I'll have the whole squad built to show you.Finally then the next teaser for my Horus Heresy project, following on from last week's selections.The legion I've chosen are not afraid of getting up close and personal, wielding blades of some description. There's also a connection with a previous faction I've collected in 40k, though not necessarily a direct link between them.Funds are starting to build for this project though now that my Dark Eldar are beginning to sell so expect to see a big reveal before Hero for a Day.Speaking of which, I have now got 10 confirmed attendees (though I'm still waiting for payment from some, hint hint) to this event, so if you fancy making a real difference by raising money for an awesome charity, and doing so by playing some 40k (ok, a lot of 40k) then get in touch and reserve your place - there are only 10 tickets left and I know some of those are likely to be spoken for very soon! More details here Among the attendees are Rob Hill and his Blood Angels from 30k plus 40k , Mike and his White Scars from St Andrews Wargaming and Alex and his Tau from From the Fang . The raffle on the day is looking awesome at the moment, look out for an announcement on that tomorrow, with more prizes to come (including some from overseas)!Till next time,TBE"}
-{"text": "NORCIA, Italy - Italy's most powerful earthquake in 36 years stuck the country's mountainous centre Sunday, panicking shell-shocked residents for the third time in two months and flattening a world famous 600-year-old basilica.\n\nBasilica of St Benedict in Norcia before and after earthquake Sunday... #terremoto #ItalyEarthquake pic.twitter.com/RSPQCz8UwY \u2014 Thomas D. Williams (@tdwilliamsrome) October 30, 2016\n\nRemarkably, there were no reports of anyone dying as a result of the 6.6 magnitude quake but more than 3,000 people were left temporarily homeless, the national civil protection agency said.\n\n\"As far as people are concerned, the situation is positive but many buildings are in a critical state in historic centres and there are problems with electricity and water supplies,\" agency head Fabrizio Curcio told reporters.\n\nThe quake struck at 7:40 am (0640 GMT) near Norcia in the region of Umbria, unleashing a shock felt in the capital Rome and even in Venice, 300 kilometres (200 miles) away.\n\nNorcia residents were barred from returning to their homes on safety grounds and, as night fell, hundreds were being transported by bus to nearby Lake Trasimeno, where temporary accommodation in hotels and gymnasiums had been arranged.\n\nIt was Italy's biggest quake since a 6.9-magnitude one struck the south of the country in 1980, leaving 3,000 people dead.\n\n#ItalyEarthquake Such a sequence of earthquakes is exceptionnel: M5.5 M6.1, M6.5 in 4 days plus a M5.8 deep Tyrrhenian sea one in the middle \u2014 EMSC (@LastQuake) October 30, 2016\n\nMore than 50 powerful aftershocks rumbled throughout the day, some 15 of them between magnitude 4 and 5.\n\n\"We are going through a really tough period,\" Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said, reiterating a government pledge to rebuild every damaged house and ensure that dozens of remote communities do not become ghost towns.\n\nDespair sets in\n\nThe most important architectural casualty was Norcia's 14th-century Basilica of Saint Benedict.\n\nBuilt on the reputed birthplace of the Catholic saint, it had survived dozens of quakes over the centuries. But it had been compromised by other recent tremors and Sunday's saw it collapse in on itself with only the facade left standing.\n\nThe church is looked after by an international community of Benedictine monks based in two local monasteries which attract some 50,000 pilgrims every year.\n\n\"It was like a bomb went off,\" said the town's deputy mayor, Pierluigi Altavilla.\n\n\"We are starting to despair. There are too many quakes now, we can't bear it anymore.\"\n\nLucia Rafael, one of several nuns forced to flee their convent in the town, told AFP the prolonged shaking had \"felt like the apocalypse.\"\n\nShe added: \"We don't want to leave, we want to stay and help others with our prayers, even if it means staying in a tent.\"\n\nGiuseppe Pezzanesi, mayor of Tolentino in the neighbouring Marche region, said the small town had \"suffered our blackest day yet\".\n\n\"Let's hope that is an end to it, the people are on their knees psychologically.\"\n\nShock felt in Rome\n\nThe quake's epicentre was located at a very shallow depth of one kilometre, six kilometres north of Norcia, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), which measured the magnitude at 6.6.\n\nItaly's institute of geology and vulcanology (IGNV) measured the quake at 6.5 and said it had been preceded by a 6.1 magnitude shock an hour earlier.\n\nIt came four days after quakes of 5.5 and 6.1 magnitude hit the same area and nine weeks after nearly 300 people died in an August 24 disaster in the tourist town of Amatrice at the peak of the holiday season.\n\nMore live #pictures from #ItalyEarthquake as square near to collapsed Basilica is evacuated by emergency services. pic.twitter.com/psRbRfhqQK \u2014 Justin Sharpe (@edu4drr) October 30, 2016\n\nThe 13th-century civic tower in Amatrice, which was damaged but left standing by the August quake, also collapsed on Sunday.\n\nAs with Wednesday's tremors, the impact was mitigated by the fact that any buildings deemed vulnerable to seismic activity had been evacuated.\n\nThe quake was powerful enough to set off car alarms in Rome, 120 kilometres from the epicentre.\n\nPart of the capital's underground rail network and a road flyover were temporarily closed to allow structural checks to be carried out and schools will not open Monday for the same reason.\n\nMuch of Italy's land mass and some of its surrounding waters are prone to seismic activity with the highest risk concentrated along its mountainous central spine.\n\nItaly straddles the Eurasian and African tectonic plates, making it vulnerable to seismic activity when they move.\n\nIn addition to the Amatrice disaster in August, just over 300 people perished when a quake struck near the city of L'Aquila in 2009.\n\nIn 1980, tremors near Naples left 3,000 dead and an estimated 95,000 died in the 1908 Messina disaster, when a quake in the waters between mainland Italy and Sicily sent massive waves crashing into both coasts."}
-{"text": "Stock market dispersion is widening as technical indicators show sell signals, suggesting a turbulent road ahead for equities.\n\nJohn Hussman, an investment manager, says these indicators haven't flashed simultaneously since early in the financial crisis.\n\n\n\nAll is not well beneath the surface of the stock market.\n\nMarket dislocations are running rampant, suggesting turbulence ahead that could go well beyond the modest weakness that major indexes have seen over the past two weeks. And to make matters worse, some of the market's most ominous technical indicators are flashing serious warning signals.\n\nJohn Hussman, the president of the Hussman Investment Trust and a former economics professor, is particularly concerned about the growing dispersion of stock market returns.\n\nDispersion, which reflects how widely market returns are distributed, is an important measure to watch to assess the crosscurrents that drive broader indexes.\n\nOn Tuesday, the number of New York Stock Exchange companies setting new 52-week lows climbed above the number hitting new highs, representing a \"leadership reversal\" that Hussman says highlights the deterioration of market internals. Stocks also received confirmation of two bearish market-breadth readings known as the Hindenburg Omen and the Titanic Syndrome.\n\nHussman says these three readings haven't occurred simultaneously since 2007, when the financial crisis was getting underway. It happened before that in 1999, right before the dot-com crash. That's not very welcome company.\n\nHussman Funds\n\nHere's more about the Hindenburg and Titanic indicators:\n\nHindenburg Omen: A sell signal that occurs when NYSE new highs and new lows each exceed 2.8% of advances plus declines on the same day. On Tuesday, they totaled more than 3%.\n\nA sell signal that occurs when NYSE new highs and new lows each exceed 2.8% of advances plus declines on the same day. On Tuesday, they totaled more than 3%. Titanic Syndrome: A sell signal triggered when NYSE 52-week lows outnumber 52-week highs within seven days of an all-time high in equities. Stocks most recently hit a record on November 8.\n\n\"While the names of these indicators may seem silly and overly menacing, they actually get at something very serious,\" Hussman said. \"They capture situations where the major indices are near new highs, yet market internals show much greater divergence. In my view, this type of market behavior is indicative of a subtle shift in the preferences of investors, away from speculation and toward risk-aversion.\"\n\nHowever, Hussman has for years been sounding the alarm on a major stock market sell-off. In a recent blog post, he said Wall Street had \"gone completely mad\" as investors continue to buy stocks at stretched valuations, and he predicted negative equity returns over the next 10 years.\n\nThroughout the second half of 2014, he issued regular warnings about a crash, even going as far as to say stocks were crashing that October. The S&P 500 has rallied another 30% since then.\n\nHussman's view also stands in stark contrast to that of many experts across Wall Street \u2014 most notably the equity strategists responsible for each firm's S&P 500 forecasts. They forecast the benchmark will be little changed from current levels into year-end, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\n\nLooking ahead, UBS sees the S&P 500 climbing as much as 9% in 2018. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs thinks US stocks will be kept afloat by speculation and progress in overhauling the US tax code.\n\nWith all these varying opinions floating around, it's easy for investors to get confused. At this point, it seems as though the best approach for even the most bullish investors is to proceed with caution."}
-{"text": "A Russian man wanted by the UK over the novichok poisoning of the Skripals says he will comment on the case next week.\n\nRussian state TV channel Rossiya-24 said the suspect named as Alexander Petrov would break his silence next week.\n\nHours before, Vladimir Putin said Russia has identified the pair accused of poisoning former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with novichok in Salisbury in March.\n\nThe Russian president said they are \"civilians\" with no links to the government.\n\nRossiya-24 said it had spoken to Mr Petrov but he would not comment now, saying only that he worked for a pharmaceutical company in the Siberian city of Tomsk.\n\n\n\"No comment for the moment. Maybe later. Next week, I think,\" he said.\n\nPutin: 'Nothing criminal about it'\n\nThe British government recently said Scotland Yard detectives had identified Mr Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov as suspects, and said they were from Russia's foreign military intelligence agency, the GRU.\n\nReacting to Mr Putin's assertion that the spies were civilians, Theresa May's spokesman said Russia has continually replied to requests for an account of what happened in Salisbury with \"obfuscation and lies\" and he could see \"nothing to suggest that has changed\".\n\nHe said the government had exposed them as GRU operatives - and that is what they are.\n\nOn Wednesday morning, Mr Putin said: \"We know who they are, we have found them.\n\n\"There is nothing special or criminal about it, I can assure you.\"\n\nImage: Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov have been named as suspects\n\nThe Russian president denied they worked for the military and described them as \"civilians\".\n\n\"I would like to call on them so that they can hear us today,\" he told an economic forum in the Russian city of Vladivostok.\n\n\"They should go to some media outlet. I hope they will come forward and tell about themselves.\"\n\nKremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the president has not communicated with the men themselves since they were accused of poisoning the Skripals.\n\nMrs May said the poisoning was not a \"rogue operation\" and their actions were \"almost certainly also approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state\".\n\nAn Interpol \"red notice\" and a European arrest warrant have been issued for the two suspects' arrest should they try to leave Russia.\n\nRussia never extradites its citizens so the UK government did not bother asking. The Kremlin refused to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, the suspect in the 2006 Alexander Litvinenko poisoning."}
-{"text": "DMIC gets \u20b91 lakh-cr Global City in Haryana\n\nMaking the most out of the emerging biz avenues along the upcoming DMIC corridor, state government in Haryana has decided to develop a Global City over 1,000 acres area in Gurgaon on the outskirts of Delhi, Industries and Commerce Minister Vipul Goel said the proposed global city is poised to serve as an important node to Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor sub-region of Haryana and carries an investment potential worth \u20b91,00,000 crore. The government aims at starting auctioning of plots for the Global City by December-January as finalization process of the proposed master plan is currently under way. The 135-km long KMP expressway across Kundli, Manesar and Palwal will also add to the glamour of the mega city. Another bright side to this project is that a Global Economic Corridor is proposed to be developed alongside the expressway. Manesar-Palwal section of this expressway, which is 52.33-km long, has already been completed. The DMIC project initiative Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) between Gurgaon-Manesar-Bawal, over a length of nearly 82 km, which would be implemented as joint venture by Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) and Haryana State Industrial Infrastructural Development Corporation (HSIIDC) with an investment of around \u20b917,328 crore, he claimed."}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\n\n\nPlease take a moment to look at our Patreon page, and help fund the people creating the comics and site you are enjoying. Our first Milestone is removing the rest of the ads from the site!\n\nThank you!"}
-{"text": "<< Previous Point, Next Point >>\n\nIntroduction\n\nAs explained in Point H-1: \u201cMohamed Atta\u2019s Mysterious Trip to Portland\u201d (which provides evidence that this trip was fabricated), The 9/11 Commission Report says that Atta and fellow al-Qaeda operative Abdul Aziz al-Omari drove a rented car from Boston to Portland (Maine) on September 10, stayed overnight, and the next morning took a commuter flight back to Boston, where they boarded American Airlines Flight 11, which they had planned to hijack and fly into the World Trade Center.\n\nGiven the ubiquity of surveillance cameras in many commercial establishments and at airport check-in counters, lounges, security checkpoints, boarding gates, and duty-free shops, we would expect that the presence of Atta and al-Omari in Portland would have been recorded by many cameras.\n\nAnd indeed, according to the official account, stops made by Atta and al-Omari were videotaped at various places, including a gas station and a Wal-Mart on the evening of September 10, and the Portland Jetport (Portland International Airport), from which they allegedly departed September 11.\n\nThe Official Accounts and The Best Evidence for these stops is presented in three sections below.\n\nOfficial Account #1\n\nNineteen Muslim hijackers boarded four domestic passenger airliners on 9/11 and crashed three of them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. On the morning of September 11, two of these hijackers, Mohamed Atta and Abdul al-Omari, boarded American 11 at Boston\u2019s Logan Airport after having taken a commuter flight to Boston from Portland, Maine. Although these men had already been in Boston on September 10, they drove a rented car to Portland, [1] where they stayed overnight. [2] The next morning, they drove to the Portland Jetport, where they boarded a 6:00 AM commuter flight to Boston. [3] Several surveillance cameras caught the men on videotape. Surveillance Camera I: Jetport Gas Station Images, Evening, September 10 An FBI Press Release dated October 5, 2001, reported that on the evening of September 10, 2001, \u201cAtta and Al-Omari were at [the] Jetport Gas Station, 446 Western, Avenue, South Portland, Maine. Atta was wearing a half dark, half light colored shirt with light colored slacks.\u201d [4] The press release indicates that the FBI had seven images that were captured by a surveillance camera at the gas station.\n\nThe Best Evidence #1\n\nSurveillance Camera I: Jetport Gas Station Images, Evening, September 10\n\nThere are two serious problems with the seven images from the Jetport gas station.\n\nFirst, an examination shows that they bear the word \u201cMON,\u201d indicating \u201cMonday,\u201d which is consistent with the official account, because September 11 fell on a Tuesday.\n\nHowever, an image discovered in the evidence presented by the FBI in 2006 for the Moussaoui Trial prosecution, provides reason to question the authenticity of these videos: Exhibit FO07011 is a full-size version of an image identical to the right-hand image in the top row on the FBI Press Release. [5]\n\nThe original, un-cropped photo from the surveillance camera shows the date to be 11-10-01. [6]\n\nThis date could be read as November 10, 2001 (which fell on a Saturday), or October 11, 2001 (which fell on a Thursday). Either way, this image does not support the official account, according to which Atta and al-Omari were in Portland on September 10 and 11, 2001.\n\nThe second problem is that the video was stamped \u201c8:28 PM,\u201d which does not match the FBI timeline, according to which Atta and al-Omari were at the Jetport station on September 10 at 9:15 PM. [7]\n\nOne could reply that perhaps the camera was mis-set (a not uncommon problem). However, that would be speculation.\n\nIn any case, the material provided to the Moussaoui trial by the FBI does not support the official account.\n\nConclusion #1: Jetport Gas Station\n\nBecause the un-cropped image supposedly originating from the Jetport Gas station bore the wrong date and its time-stamp differs by 37 minutes from the FBI\u2019s timeline, this image does nothing to support the claim that Atta and al-Omari were in Portland the evening of September 10, 2001.\n\nOfficial Account #2\n\nSurveillance Camera II: Atta at a Wal-Mart near Portland, Maine, 9:22 PM, September 10, 2001\n\nAccording to Wal-Mart security camera images, Mohamed Atta visited a Wal-Mart near Portland (Maine) for 20 minutes on the evening of September 10, 2001, at 9:22 PM. [8]\n\nThe Best Evidence #2\n\nSurveillance Camera II: Atta at a Wal-Mart near Portland 9:22 PM, September 10, 2001\n\nThere are nine images allegedly provided by Wal-Mart security cameras: the first six bear no time/date stamp, showing only the word ENTRANCE. The last three bear only the word 0/X and a time of 21:39 (9:39 PM). [9]\n\nConclusion #2: Wal-Mart\n\nThere is nothing in this purported visual evidence to support the FBI claim that: the video originated from Wal-Mart,\n\nAtta either entered or left Wal-Mart at 9:22,\n\nAtta stayed for 20 minutes, or that he was even at Wal-Mart at all.\n\nOfficial Account #3\n\nThe FBI Press Release of October 5, 2001 also produced four images of Atta and al-Omari going through the security check at the Portland Jetport early on the morning of September 11, along with other security camera images documenting their presence in Portland. [10]\n\nThe Best Evidence #3\n\nThere are two serious problems with this video evidence: First, each of the four images bears not just one time-stamp, which is standard in the industry,but two time-stamps: 5:45 AM and 5:53 AM. The FBI website\u2019s caption below these images \u2013 which was published in October 2001 \u2013 indicates that they were created at 5:45 AM. [11] If that was the correct time, why would the photos also contain a stamp in the regular position for time-stamps at the bottom of the frame indicating that they were taken 8 minutes later at 5:53:41 (which was only 6 minutes before the flight was to leave)? [12]\n\nIn a newspaper article of September 20, 2001, the earlier time of 5:45 AM was stamped in the middle of the published image, but the 5:53 AM time, which in October appeared in the regular time-stamp position at the bottom of the image, was cropped out. [13] And yet an exhibit of the same image presented by the FBI to the Moussaoui Trial in 2006 shows the 5:53 AM time. [14] Second, the four images show Atta and al-Omari wearing open-necked shirts and not wearing or even visibly carrying ties and jackets. [15] However, according to check-in agent Michael Tuohey, the men he identified as Atta and al-Omari had moments earlier been wearing jackets and ties. According to Tuohey, the men had arrived so late that he was afraid that they would miss the flight. [16] Tuohey added that Atta started demanding boarding passes for the second flight (American 11), to which Tuohey replied: \u201cMr. Atta, if you don\u2019t go now, you will miss your plane.\u201d [17]\n\nIf Atta was the ringleader for the hijacking operation and was to pilot AA 11 after it was taken over, the whole, long-planned operation would have needed to be canceled if he did not get to Boston on this flight. If Atta and al-Omari were so late they were in danger of missing the flight, is it likely that, although they may have needed to take off their jackets to go through screening, they would also have taken extra time to remove their ties and place both inside their bags?\n\nThe fact that the video images do not correspond to Tuohey\u2019s description, therefore, counts against the authenticity of these images.\n\nConclusion #3: Portland Airport\n\nThe four images do not provide credible evidence of the claim that Atta and al-Omari flew out of Portland, for two reasons:\n\nAlthough the Portland Jetport would have had security surveillance cameras at check-in counters, [18] security checkpoints, and boarding gates, the only purported Jetport images of Atta and al-Omari released by the FBI were at the security check-point.\n\nThese images had two different time-stamps, instead of the industry standard of one; and the attire of Atta and al-Omari did not fit the description givenby the check-in agent shortly before.\n\nSummary Conclusion\n\nGiven the weak support for the authenticity of these three sets of security camera images, so weak as to suggest that they were fabricated, they \u2013 in conjunction with Point H-1: \u201cMohamed Atta\u2019s Mysterious Trip to Portland\u201d \u2013 raise compelling reasons to doubt the entire story about Atta being in Portland and taking a commuter flight to Boston.\n\n<< Previous Point, Next Point >>"}
-{"text": "OAKLAND \u2014 A night that started on such a high with the Warriors receiving their championship rings and unveiling their title banner, ended on a down note, with the Warriors losing to the Rockets 122-121 after Kevin Durant\u2019s last-second shot was deemed to have been fired too late.\n\nFor complete Warriors coverage\n\nfollow us on Flipboard.\n\nThere was a lot to unpack in the season opener. Here are the five things we learned from game number 1 of 82 (plus):\n\n1. The Warriors cannot afford to lose Draymond Green, even for a quarter\n\nGoing into the fourth quarter of Tuesday night\u2019s game, the Warriors had a 101-88 lead, despite disjoined play.\n\nThe Warriors did not have Draymond Green, though.\n\nThe Rockets, arguably the second-best team in the Western Conference and one of the Warriors\u2019 top threats in the league, took full advantage of that second fact.\n\nHouston came out of the gates cooking early in the fourth quarter, whittling down Golden State\u2019s lead heading into crunch time. What do you think about this? Join the conversation at our Warriors Facebook page.\n\nThat\u2019s not particularly shocking \u2014 the Rockets are a good team and they went on a run. It happens.\n\nThe next part raised questions, though:\n\nThe Warriors\u2019 defense down the stretch was a mess, and the Golden State offense was as likely to turn the ball over than to score an assisted basket. Frankly, the Warriors were getting outmuscled by a Rockets team that was playing a 6-foot-5 P.J. Tucker at center, too. \u2018Gold Standard\u2019 chronicles the Warriors run to the 2017 NBA Championship.\n\nOrder the book here.\n\nThey desperately missed Green and his influence. Normally, he\u2019d shut down something like Houston\u2019s secondary push Tuesday.\n\n\u201cHe was our best player tonight. He was the guy bringing the energy and life,\u201d Warriors coach Steve Kerr said \u201cAs soon as he went out of the game things went south for us. We just couldn\u2019t get any traction.\u201d\n\nHad Green not injured his left knee late in the third quarter, I can\u2019t help but think the Warriors would have been victorious Tuesday \u2014 even if only by a slight margin.\n\nTucker was plus five in the final four minutes, while the Warriors used Kevon Looney and Kevin Durant at center down the stretch.\n\nSimply put: that rotation didn\u2019t work.\n\nHad Green been in, I don\u2019t think Tucker is able to facilitate three consecutive Rockets offensive rebounds with roughly a minute left, setting up the smallball center\u2019s go-ahead free throws with 44 seconds remaining.\n\nWhile Stephen Curry\u2019s turnover with 32 seconds left and the Warriors\u2019 sloppy final offensive possession deserve to be highlighted as big reasons why Golden State lost, you can\u2019t underestimate the impact Tucker had on the fourth quarter of Tuesday\u2019s game and Green\u2019s presumed neutralizing power.\n\nLosing Green for any stretch of time is a serious problem for Golden State \u2014 the forward was one point shy of a triple-double in 27 minutes Tuesday. He was spectacular and as impactful as ever in the season opener. He\u2019s the Warriors\u2019 defensive engine, too, and when he left the game\u2026 well, the results speak for themselves, though they were probably accentuated by the absence of Andre Iguodala, the team\u2019s other defensive fulcrum.\n\nFor the time being (more on that latter), Green is an irreplaceable player for the Warriors. The impact that Curry has on offense \u2014 that\u2019s the impact Green has on defense. (And he isn\u2019t bad on offense either\u2026)\n\nI saw Green limping in the locker room after the game. He didn\u2019t have a knee brace or crutches \u2014 that\u2019s the biggest sign that the knee injury wasn\u2019t catastrophic \u2014 but there was a clear hitch in the big man\u2019s giddy-up.\n\nThe Warriors are going to be cautious \u2014 there\u2019s a long way to go before the playoffs \u2014 but if Green misses serious time, the Warriors come back towards the pack a bit. In fact, they probably fall back a bit more than you might initially presume \u2014 Green just facilitates so many things on both sides of the court.\n\n2. Nick Young is going to be an experience\n\nSwaggy P had himself a game.\n\nThere\u2019s no adjective in front of \u201cgame\u201d for a reason.\n\nBecause while the memeable and free-spirited Warriors newbie led the team in scoring Tuesday (!!!), he was also a minus-10 in the contest.\n\nIt wasn\u2019t a bad game, but it\u2019d be hard to say it was a good game either.\n\nWhat Nick Young giveth with sweet 3-pointers, Nick Young was giving away on the other side of the court.\n\nWe saw some incredible ol\u00e9 defense from Young Tuesday. Given the Warriors\u2019 foul troubles early \u2014 Kerr was no doubt advocating for a bit less aggression after Curry had to go to the bench early \u2014 I\u2019m not sure if we should have expected anything else.\n\nIt\u2019s nothing to be too concerned about \u2014 Young can be a surprisingly good on-ball defender when he commits himself to that side of the court (think J.R. Smith) \u2014 but his team defense has always been a question mark, and he clearly isn\u2019t up to speed with this team on either end of the court, as evidenced by him finding himself in the wrong place at the wrong time on offense a few times Tuesday.\n\nYoung is going to get run on this team \u2014 the Warriors need a 3-point threat off the bench, something they lacked last year \u2014 and no one expected him to be up-to-speed at the start of the season.\n\nBut man, Tuesday was a full-fledged, incredible Swaggy P experience.\n\nAnd while the Warriors were pleased with it, I\u2019m not sure I (or they) can handle 81 more games of like that.\n\n3. Steve Kerr trusts Jordan Bell\n\nThe Warriors\u2019 rookie big man was the second player off the bench for Kerr on Tuesday.\n\nIf anyone had that prop bet in Vegas, come collect your massive winnings.\n\nBell played nearly a full quarter\u2019s worth of minutes Tuesday, mostly as part of a long defensive lineup with Green, Patrick McCaw, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant.\n\n(It should be noted that while it\u2019s probably just a matchup thing \u2014 the Rockets play small \u2014 JaVale McGee didn\u2019t play Tuesday.)\n\nAnd Bell played well \u2014 there were a few \u201cwelcome to the league, rook\u201d moments \u2014 but all-in-all, he impressed with his ability to make an impact on both ends of the court.\n\nGet up, rook \ud83d\udc40 pic.twitter.com/XkQh1ltydR \u2014 NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) October 18, 2017\n\nDefensively, Bell has \u201cit\u201d, much like Green (though no one has more \u201cit\u201d than Green). He\u2019s not fully confident in his positioning and abilities on that end of the court yet, but when he finds that confidence, with time, he\u2019ll be a defensive force in this league.\n\nOffensively, he looked good, too. He\u2019s a strong passer and has great on-court awareness. If he ever develops a shot, look out. For now, he\u2019s a solid screener and a positive on the offensive end.\n\nHis dunk was particularly impressive, as Drew Shiller explains:\n\nHeads up play from Jordan Bell. He knew he was slipping this screen right away = dunk pic.twitter.com/9bcKDw0j21 \u2014 Drew Shiller (@DrewShiller) October 18, 2017\n\nYou can teach stuff like that, but it\u2019s impressive for a second-round pick to be able to take to that lesson so fast.\n\nPlaying Looney and then Durant at center down the stretch proved to be a mistake for Kerr, whose rotations were shot to hell Tuesday thanks to the aforementioned foul trouble and injury. Perhaps the next time a similar situation arises \u2014 something that no one wearing blue and gold hopes \u2014 Kerr goes to Bell (who, to be fair, was in foul trouble himself).\n\nAfter one game, he may have earned it.\n\nIf Green misses any time, I\u2019m fascinated to see how Bell\u2019s role changes. You can see so many similarities in their games, but Bell was only on the court for one minute without Green Tuesday.\n\n4. The Warriors aren\u2019t in shape\n\nThat\u2019s what Kerr attributes to Tuesday\u2019s fourth-quarter collapse.\n\nIt\u2019s hard to argue with him \u2014 the Warriors were sloppy most of the game, perplexed by Houston\u2019s constant defensive switching and overpowered at times by their brute offensive force, and in the fourth quarter, Golden State simply didn\u2019t have the same legs as the Rockets.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think we are in good enough shape yet to play a 48-minute game against a great team,\u201d Kerr said.\n\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what it\u2019s because of. We just have to get in better shape.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll see how long that takes. In this league it takes a lot of energy to play 48 minutes, especially defensively to get stops and chase shooters like Houston has in taking all those 3s.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll get there, but obviously we aren\u2019t there yet.\u201d\n\nYou know who would have helped with energy?\n\nDraymond Green.\n\nJust another reason\u2026\n\n5. A loss is a good thing\n\nThat inevitability that surrounded the Warriors in the build-up to Tuesday\u2019s season debut? It\u2019s gone, at least for a bit. Want Warriors news in your inbox? Sign up for the free DubsDaily newsletter.\n\nThat\u2019s a good thing. It makes things more interesting.\n\nThe Warriors weren\u2019t buying into the narrative I and so many others (ok, the world) created that they were invincible and the title was certain to stay in Oakland.\n\nThere\u2019s zero reason to think the latter is no longer true.\n\nIt was one game that they almost won.\n\nBut the Warriors have some work to do. Even if they had won Tuesday\u2019s game, that would have been the case \u2014 they weren\u2019t anywhere near their peak to start the season. Kevin Durant had eight turnovers, after all.\n\nBut because they\u2019re the Warriors, they damn near got away with it.\n\nHaving an impetus to improve will be good for this Warriors team. In some ways, not having Green or Iguodala for a spell could be a good thing as well \u2014 it\u2019ll force the Warriors to work for their wins, something, frankly, they might not have needed to do if they were at full strength.\n\nThey\u2019re getting tested a bit, right off the bat.\n\n\n\n2017 Warriors headline posters, mugs and more.\n\nSee the complete selection here.\n\nIt\u2019ll be fascinating to see how the Warriors play their way into shape, how they respond to a sluggish debut, and how they adjust to injuries that will at least limit (if not sideline) two key players.\n\nFascinating \u2014 that\u2019s a word I didn\u2019t expect to use after game 1 of 82.\n\nI like it."}
-{"text": "Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Lord Mandelson has said an e-mail in which he described Gordon Brown as \"self-conscious\" and \"angry\" was not intended to be hostile. The business secretary said the e-mail, written in January 2008 - months before he returned to cabinet - had been \"misrepresented\" by the Mail on Sunday. He told the BBC it had simply said the PM had to \"be what he is\" and not have some \"artificial persona\" glued to him. At the same time, Lord Mandelson warned rebel Labour MPs to back Mr Brown. Asked repeatedly about the e-mail on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show, he said: \"I'm not going to comment on every stray Chinese whisper, rumour or old e-mail that other people want to make a mountain out of a molehill of.\" Not a pop star He said the content and context had been \"completely misrepresented\". \"It was not hostile to or about the prime minister,\" he said. \"What it said is that the prime minister needs to be what he is, be what he stands for and believes in and the values he has - and not listen to people who are trying to glue some artificial persona onto him.\" He added: \"The prime minister is a politician, not a pop star. He concentrates on getting his policies right, not being a showman. I think Gordon Brown has now achieved the impossible he has made the cabinet even more dysfunctional and divided than it was before\n\nWilliam Hague\n\nShadow foreign secretary The Mail on Sunday and Sunday Times published extracts from the e-mail, sent to former Labour spin doctor Derek Draper. The Sunday Times said they were part of a wider e-mail debate about a book called the Political Brain, by US psychology professor Drew Western, which looked at which qualities made politicians successful. The paper reported that Lord Mandelson had written that Mr Brown was \"not as comfortable in his own skin\" as his predecessor, Tony Blair. He wrote that Mr Brown should \"be himself\", adding: \"This is not a substitute for policy formulation and taking well-prepared, well-ordered decisions.\" 'Not so angry' He said Mr Brown was \"a self-conscious person, physically and emotionally\" but said it would improve when he won public approval: \"Then he will visibly relax. He will be enjoying himself. Not so angry.\" It comes at the end of a bitter week for the prime minister, in which Labour was heavily defeated in local elections, six cabinet ministers left the government and his leadership has come under attack. Ed and I talked on the phone yesterday and laughed out loud about this stupid fabrication\n\nLord Mandelson James Purnell's surprise resignation as work and pensions secretary on Thursday came with a call for Mr Brown to \"stand aside to give our party a fighting chance of winning\". Caroline Flint quit as Europe minister complaining she had been used as \"window dressing\". But shadow foreign secretary William Hague told the BBC it appeared the reshuffle had left the cabinet \"even more dysfunctional and divided than it was before\". Lord Mandelson dismissed newspaper stories that he had clashed with Ed Balls, the schools secretary who had been widely expected to become chancellor in the reshuffle - in the end Alistair Darling remained in the job. It had been reported that Mr Balls blamed Lord Mandelson for blocking his move to the chancellorship. But the business secretary said: \"Ed and I talked on the phone yesterday and laughed out loud about this stupid fabrication. It is complete artifice and it is mischievous artifice.\" He also said it was not true to suggest Hazel Blears, who quit as communities secretary on the eve of the local elections, did not like Gordon Brown's style of leadership. \"On the day she resigned, she rang me, told me why she was leaving the government. She did not criticise the prime minister and she did not express those sentiments, in her letter or in public or since.\"\n\n\n\nBookmark with: Delicious\n\nDigg\n\nreddit\n\nFacebook\n\nStumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version"}
-{"text": "Plans to use snipers to shoot colonies of parakeets that have multiplied across Spain have drawn the ire of animal activists in the country.\n\nConsidered an invasive species, parakeets numbers have boomed across the UK and Europe after being introduced as pets during the 1970s and making their way into the wild.\n\nEnvironmental experts have now proposed using snipers to control parakeet numbers in Malaga, home to 30,000 monk parakeets, one of Spain's largest populations.\n\nAt an environmental forum held at the government-run UNED university in the city, a national panel of top specialists said the parakeets were multiplying at an \"alarming\" rate, according to a communique.\n\nThe experts said they were causing significant environmental damage, in part because they are carriers of psittacosis, an infectious disease that affects the lungs also known as parrot fever.\n\nThe birds are also a threat to local species of fauna as well as to agriculture, while noise and the risk of large nests falling from trees are also a problem in urban areas, the experts said.\n\nDailos Hern\u00e1ndez-Brito, researcher at the Biological Station of Do\u00f1ana, the Andalusian national park that is considered Europe's largest nature reserve, said that affected areas were now considering two options: trapping and extermination through shooting."}
-{"text": "Granted, it\u2019s not nearly as much blood as you\u2019d see in something like the red-band trailer for Evil Dead, but this original trailer for Kathryn Bigelow\u2019s 1987 classic Near Dark certainly features more carnage than you\u2019d expect. If this trailer came out today, it would be covered in those ugly brown splotches that happen when the MPAA forces filmmakers to color correct their blood for \u201call audiences.\u201d\n\nI\u2019m curious what exhibition practices were like back then, if something with content like this was only allowed to unspool in front of \u201cR\u201d-rated fare or if it was up to theater owners\u2019 discretion. Again, this might not seem all that shocking in light of the kinds of trailers we\u2019re allowed to show regularly on the site \u2013 but picture yourself seeing this thing before something like Lethal Weapon and having a total revelation. I doubt this aired before Three Men And A Baby but if you saw it before the lightly \u201cR\u201d 1987 hit Stakeout you might have lost your sh*t.\n\nAlso? It\u2019s a great trailer overall, and I love that scarily sobering matter-of-fact narration. My only complaint is that it\u2019s a bit of precursor to these modern times when there are too many money shots in our teasers.\n\nCheck it out below."}
-{"text": "Marc Webb has come on board to direct the upcoming feature film \u201cThis Above All,\u201d based on the true-life story of Megan Phelps-Roper, former member of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church.\n\nProducers are Dawn Ostroff and Jeremy Steckler of Cond\u00e9 Nast Entertainment, Reese Witherspoon, Bruna Papandrea for Made Up Stories, Marc Webb and River Road Entertainment\u2019s Bill Pohlad. River Road will finance.\n\nThe Topeka, Kan., church is one of the nation\u2019s most recognized hate groups, best known its anti-gay rhetoric. The film is being adapted by Nick Hornby from Adrian Chen\u2019s 2015 article for The New Yorker and from Phelps-Roper\u2019s upcoming memoir.\n\nPhelps-Roper is the granddaughter of Fred Phelps, founder of the Westboro Baptist Church. She grew up espousing the teachings of her family, preaching God\u2019s power and damning those who sinned.\n\nPhelps-Roper became one of the most powerful voices on social media for Westboro, using picketing and her Twitter handle for multiple cultural events until ongoing conversations with opponents over Twitter led her to question her belief system. She and her younger sister made the decision in 2012 to leave the church, which led to being disowned by their family.\n\nWebb\u2019s directing credits include \u201cThe Only Living Boy in New York,\u201d \u201cGifted\u201d and the two \u201cAmazing Spider-Man\u201d movies. Hornby received Academy Award nominations for the adapted screenplays for \u201cBrooklyn\u201d and \u201cAn Education\u201d along with \u201cWild.\u201d\n\n\u201cMegan\u2019s extraordinary story says so much about so many things in contemporary America, and I\u2019m really excited about this project,\u201d said Hornby. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to working with the brilliant Marc Webb, CN\u00c9 and with my friends Reese Witherspoon, Bruna Papandrea and River Road, with whom I enjoyed such a good relationship during the making of \u2018Wild.\u2019\u201d\n\nConde Nast\u2019s Ostroff and Steckler are producers on Robert Redford\u2019s \u201cOld Man and the Gun,\u201d which will be released in April by Fox Searchlight. That movie is also based on a New Yorker article. Witherspoon was a producer on \u201cGone Girl\u201d and \u201cWild.\u201d River Road\u2019s producing-financing credits include \u201c12 Years a Slave,\u201d \u201cBrokeback Mountain,\u201d \u201cWild,\u201d and \u201cTree of Life.\u201d\n\nThe deal was negotiated by Christa Zofcin Workman for River Road with CAA representing CN\u00c9, Megan Phelps-Roper, Reese Witherspoon, Bruna Papandrea and Mark Webb. Hornby is repped by Casarotto Ramsay & Associates Ltd. Phelps-Roper is also represented by Melissa Flashman at Janklow & Nesbit Associates. The book by Phelps-Roper will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux."}
-{"text": "Chunky Grandmothers Having A 3 Approach\n\nIt truly does not get any sexier than Francesca and Erlene sharing a manmeat. Those nymphs were given in combination to percentage a manmeat and on this vignette, you\u2019re going to be witnessing them take equivalent turns in getting their mature pits poked and their puckered faces splooged with jism."}
-{"text": "Preacher Comic Collectibles & Accessories\n\nHard-drinking, chain-smoking, supernatural \u2014 nope, doesn't sound like any of the preachers we've ever met. But that's what makes Preacher the best show ever. If you're just as obsessed as we are with the gun-toting, blood-stained, salt-of-the-earth-with-a-twist preacher Jesse Custer, then you're gonna love what we've got to tell you. Hot Topic's got a virtual shop filled with the small-town supernatural goods any and every Preacher fan has been praying for since the series started.\n\nWhether you're all about Jesse Custer, can't get enough of vice-loving vampire Proinsias Cassidy, or get a real kick out of trigger-happy Tulip, there's a fun collectible, tee, and must-have item in Hot Topic's Preacher collection that you've gotta get your hands on now. So, Preacher fans, your prayers have been answered \u2014 welcome to the heaven you've been asking for (the kind full of Preacher merch, that is)."}
-{"text": "Vehicle travel in the United States has experienced a resurgence in the last two-and-a-half years, following an unprecedented decade-long per-capita decline in driving. Low gas prices are likely a big reason why; recent increases in incomes and employment as well.\n\nBut an additional factor has been relatively unexplored: the effect of changes in credit markets on vehicle purchasing and ownership.\n\nWe have been following developments in auto lending for the last two years. Now, with auto lending and the auto industry as a whole at an inflection point, it is a good time to take stock of where we\u2019ve come from and where we might be going.\n\nResaturating the Market for Cars\n\nIn our 2013 report, A New Direction, we argued that many of the factors driving the steady, rapid increases in vehicle travel that occurred during the last half 20th century \u2013 what we called the \u201cDriving Boom\u201d \u2013 were unlikely to be present in the same ways in the 21st century. One of those factors was growth in the number of Americans who had access to cars.\n\nVehicle ownership increased steadily during the 20th century to the point where, by 2001, there were more than 1.2 registered motor vehicles for every American who was licensed to drive.[1] By then, it was reasonably safe to argue, almost everyone who wanted and could reasonably afford the costs of a motor vehicle probably had one \u2013 there was little meaningful room for further growth (aside from population increases). The ratio of vehicles to drivers declined slightly in the years that followed, rose to a secondary peak in 2006, and declined again during the recession years.\n\nBeginning in 2011, however, and accelerating in 2015, the ratio of vehicles to drivers surged to a new peak.\n\nRegistered Vehicles per Licensed Driver (data: U.S. DOT)\n\nWhy? One explanation is that with incomes rising and unemployment falling, more people who wanted cars could afford them. This is undoubtedly a big part of the picture. But an equally important \u2013 and often overlooked \u2013 piece is the easy availability of credit for car purchases.\n\nIt is unusual that a single paper changes the way I view a subject, but that was the case with a 2014 discussion paper by researchers at the Federal Reserve called Auto Sales and Credit Supply. It concluded that perceived credit market conditions have an influence on auto purchases \u201cas large as factors such as unemployment and income.\u201d\n\nOver the last several years, the auto credit market has been extremely loose, with low interest rates, lengthening repayment terms (translating into lower monthly payments), and a heightened acceptance of risk on the part of lenders. This has contributed to a surge in auto credit \u2013 collectively, Americans owed 9 percent more on auto loans at the end of 2016 than they did just 12 months earlier, and the amount of auto credit outstanding now exceeds the previous peak of 2005 by 13 percent when adjusted for inflation.\n\nBoom or Bubble?\n\nIf this increase in outstanding credit was built on market fundamentals, it might not be worrisome. (And, indeed, there is an argument that one of the most important changes in auto lending in recent years \u2013 the lengthening of loan repayment terms \u2013 could be justified by the greater durability of cars.)\n\nBut there are plenty of reasons to be concerned that the surge in auto loans has the makings of a bubble. For several years now, stories have emerged out of the subprime auto market of loans being made with little apparent attention to consumers\u2019 ability to repay \u2013 stories that sound familiar to anyone acquainted with the conditions that led up to the housing crisis.\n\nAs the demand for auto asset-backed securities has continued to grow, lenders have gone farther and farther afield to find borrowers. The auto loans made in the fourth quarter of 2015 performed worse than any other vintage of loans since the crisis year of 2008. In December 2016, the Federal Reserve\u2019s blog warned of \u201cnotable deterioration\u201d in subprime lending performance, with households of 6 million Americans now 90 days late or more on their car loans.\n\nAll of this sounds quite problematic, and it is on many levels, but it hasn\u2019t yet developed into a crisis. Oddly, in the subprime market, high delinquency rates don\u2019t necessarily spell trouble for lenders or the auto market in general, so long as: a) the interest rates on subprime loans are high enough to compensate for the heightened risk of default, b) repossession is swift, sure and low-cost (the last decade has seen important, um, \u201cinnovations\u201d in vehicle recovery), and c) vehicles hold their value well.\n\nIf those conditions are in place, subprime lenders and car dealers can even make a profit by selling, repossessing and reselling the same vehicle over and over again, as described by John Oliver in his memorable segment on auto loans on Last Week Tonight. Oliver cited a 2011 Los Angeles Times story that found several vehicles that had been sold and repossessed eight times in a three-year period during and immediately after the recession.\n\nDeclining Used Car Values\n\nThe problem for subprime lenders, the auto industry, and tens of millions of Americans who\u2019ve purchased cars in the last few years is that vehicles increasingly aren\u2019t holding their value very well. Used car prices are heading downwards, fueled by a glut of high-quality used vehicles coming off of leases and the saturation of the automobile market. At the same time, new vehicles are piling up on dealer lots, with even near-record incentives proving to be of only limited effectiveness in goosing sales.\n\nOne of the most oft-stated arguments for why a crisis in car lending won\u2019t be like the housing crisis is that people don\u2019t buy cars as investment vehicles. And that\u2019s true. But while people may not buy cars in the hope that they will appreciate in value, assumptions about how quickly they will depreciate in value affect financial decisions up and down the line \u2013 from the monthly lease payments dealers can offer, to subprime lenders\u2019 willingness to take on default risk, to the trade-in value consumers receive when they go to buy a new car.\n\nAlready, many consumers wind up owing more on their existing car than they can get in trade-in value \u2013 a situation that often results in dealers rolling over the unpaid portion of the previous loan into the new car loan. As early as the spring of 2015, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency was noting that the average loan-to-value ratio of a used car loan had reached 137 percent \u2013 and was even higher for subprime borrowers \u2013 meaning that many used car buyers were likely \u201cunderwater\u201d on their loans from day one. In the first three quarters of 2016, nearly one-third of all vehicles traded in were worth less than the outstanding value of the loan, a new record.\n\nNone of this appears to be sustainable, and indeed, there is growing consensus among auto industry watchers that it won\u2019t be sustained. It is as yet unclear, however, whether the auto bubble will deflate with a hiss or a pop, and how much collateral damage it might cause to the rest of the economy in the process.\n\nBut the auto bubble does cast a few things into sharp relief that are important for folks who work in transportation policy to understand as we look toward the coming few years.\n\nDisruption Approaching\n\nFirst, it serves as a reminder that there are millions and perhaps tens of millions of households in the United States without the financial wherewithal to sustain personal ownership of a reliable motor vehicle (and many others for which it is a great financial burden). It is not entirely \u201cthe economy, stupid\u201d that determines whether low-income households can \u201cafford\u201d to purchase a car, it is also the willingness of Wall Street to extend credit in ways that put the monthly payment within reach. One can have many views on how this situation came to be and what to do about it, but the fact remains that we have created a transportation/land use system in which millions of people feel the need to purchase something they cannot afford in order to achieve a bare minimum level of participation in the economy and society. That\u2019s absurd, and it is root of the problem. The suburbanization of poverty, job sprawl, and poor public transit service only threaten to make this worse.\n\nSecond, we need to come to grips with the fact that there are additional millions, perhaps tens of millions of Americans who purchased vehicles in the last few years whose vehicles may be worth significantly less several years from now than they or their lenders anticipated. How would a crash in used car prices affect the purchasing decisions three years from now of the owner of a brand-new Lexus SUV whose vehicle won\u2019t fetch enough at trade-in to cover the outstanding amount of their car loan? At what point will the \u201ctrade-in treadmill\u201d of mounting negative equity stop? As the housing market \u2013 which is still struggling to recover a decade after the housing bubble popped \u2013 shows, the hangover from the collapse of a credit bubble can persist for a long time. What that hangover might mean for the broader auto market and household access to vehicles going forward is worth exploring.\n\nThird, we should keep in mind that the current situation of rising delinquencies, record incentives for new car purchases, and falling used car prices is emerging at a time when the economy is otherwise doing well. How all of this might play out in a recession is anyone\u2019s guess.\n\nLastly, we need to note that the potential popping of the auto bubble is playing out against the backdrop of massive changes just now getting underway in transportation technology and the ways that many Americans access mobility \u2013 from electric vehicles to shared mobility to the transition to autonomous vehicles. We have no experience with how a dramatic shift in the market for vehicles would affect any of those emerging technologies and services. Now would be a good time to start thinking through the implications.\n\nA Call to Action\n\nThe interplay among all of these factors is complex, dynamic and dependent on events and decisions far outside the sphere of transportation policy. But the saga of the auto loan market does reinforce a couple of messages that we have tried to highlight over the years.\n\nThe first is that, if you are looking to understand long-term trends in transportation, it\u2019s important to pay attention to underlying factors \u2013 demographics, settlement patterns, long-term trends in the structure of the economy, technological developments, etc. \u2013 rather than to assume that whatever is happening now will continue indefinitely. Some have suggested that the go-go pattern of car consumption and driving of the last couple of years represents a return to conditions that prevailed before the recession. It is not, and the question of what happens next is far more interesting, more difficult to answer, and more dependent on public policy than it seems.\n\nSecond, the experience of the last few years is a reminder that building a less car-dependent transportation system is a necessity not just for the environment, our health and the effective functioning of our cities and towns, but also for the financial health of American households. Relieving as many households as possible of the obligation to own a vehicle is an urgent project. The wealth of new technologies and tools available in transportation \u2013 along with tried and true measures such as good public transportation and access to low-cost travel via biking and walking \u2013 can provide access to convenient, affordable mobility to a wider variety of people. Public policy over the last 75 years has contributed to creating a country in which most people feel the need to own a car. Smart public policies can help give people other choices.\n\nAs we reach yet another inflection point in America\u2019s relationship with the car, it is a critical time for advocates of more innovative, balanced and sustainable approaches to step to the plate. The time may be coming soon when many Americans will find themselves dealing in a visceral and immediate way with the shortcomings of our car-oriented transportation system. We need to be ready with solutions.\n\n\n\n\n\n[1] This might sound like an absurd statistic, but it\u2019s not \u2013 at least not entirely. It includes commercial vehicles, taxis, buses, trucks, cars that are registered but not used, etc. About nine out of 10 U.S. households have access to a car."}
-{"text": "President Jacob Zuma has warned disgruntled ANC members against leaving the party when things do not go their way, saying those who leave will attract the wrath of their ancestors.\n\nUnveiling the party's provincial manifesto at Idutywa Stadium in Eastern Cape yesterday, Zuma said: \"It is wrong to leave the ANC. In fact, it is cold and rough outside the ANC. People must remain in the party and try to fix things internally because those who do leave, they will attract the wrath of the ancestors, who will also bring that person bad luck.\"\n\nZuma said this as he welcomed more than 100 members who had defected from the United Democratic Movement and COPE.\n\nZuma and some ANC members have over the years made several faux pas:\n\nIn Mbombela on January 8, Zuma vowed that the ANC will rule South Africa \"forever\";\n\nIn November, ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa urged Limpopo residents to vote for the ANC, or else the \"boers\" would come back to power;\n\nAddressing a rally in Khayelitsha, Western Cape, in 2008, Zuma repeated the view that the party could not be removed from power; \"We shall build this organisation. Even God expects us to rule this country because we are the only organisation which was blessed by pastors when it was formed.\"\n\nCampaigning ahead of the May 18 municipal elections in 2011 in North West, Zuma said the \"ancestors\" would turn against those who left the ANC.\n\n\"The ancestors will turn their backs against you and you will have bad luck forever if you leave the ANC unhappy,\" he said in Phola outside Lichtenburg.\n\nAmong those who returned to the ANC were former COPE MPL Nkosinathi Kuluta and the party's former provincial communications head, Nkosifikile Gqomo.\n\nBoth defected after the ANC's Polokwane conference in 2008.\n\nBoth Gqomo and Kuluta yesterday said they had made the \"very tough decision\" after realising that there was no other political home that could advance their interests other than the ANC.\n\nKuluta said he was persuaded by Zuma and the provincial ANC secretary Oscar Mabuyane to come back to the ANC.\n\nZuma also touched on issues of fighting corruption, which he said was one of the party's and government's biggest enemies. To eliminate corruption in the government, he said the ANC was in the process of scrapping tenders.\n\n\"Tenders are the root of corruption in the government. They have messed up our country. We are aiming at centralising the tendering process through a central tender board,\" Zuma said.\n\nHe later urged those in the ANC and the government who had been implicated in corruption \"to do the right thing and resign before we do something about you as the ANC\".\n\nHe told the 35000-strong crowd that his government was \"fighting tooth and nail\" to address the land issue, which he said was still in the hands of a select few."}
-{"text": "ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences\n\nHero police officer Keith Palmer will be honoured with a cathedral funeral after he was murdered protecting the Houses of Parliament during the Westminster terror attack.\n\nPC Palmer was stabbed to death as he tried to stop Khalid Masood after the terrorist crashed into the gates of the Palace of Westminster.\n\nHis funeral will take place at Southwark Cathedral at 2pm on Monday, April 10.\n\nIt will be a full police service funeral followed by a private cremation.\n\nLondon Terror Attack Floral Tributes at Westminster - 27 March 2017 12 show all London Terror Attack Floral Tributes at Westminster - 27 March 2017 1/12 Hero MP Tobias Ellwood looks over the flowers left in tribute to the victims of the attack in Westminster Jeremy Selwyn 2/12 He paused at the solemn scene in Parliament Square this morning Jeremy Selwyn 3/12 Flowers from Prime Minister Theresa May amongst tributes to the victims of the Westminster terrorist attack outside the Palace of Westminster Jeremy Selwyn 4/12 Two school children look at the floral tributes Jeremy Selwyn 5/12 A woman observes the flowers pinned to the Carriage Gates where the attack took place Jeremy Selwyn 6/12 Outpouring of support: flowers at the scene of the attack in Westminster Jeremy Selwyn 7/12 Three police officers stand in front of the floral tributes Jeremy Selwyn 8/12 A female police officer pays her respects at the scene Jeremy Selwyn 9/12 A woman in jogging attire stops to remember the victims of the attack Jeremy Selwyn 10/12 A man looks at floral tributes to the victims of the Westminster terrorist attack outside the Palace of Westminster Lauren Hurley/PA 11/12 Police officers stand in front of the floral tributes Jeremy Selwyn 12/12 Labour MP Hilary Benn passes floral tributes to the victims of the Westminster terrorist attack outside the Palace of Westminster Lauren Hurley/PA 1/12 Hero MP Tobias Ellwood looks over the flowers left in tribute to the victims of the attack in Westminster Jeremy Selwyn 2/12 He paused at the solemn scene in Parliament Square this morning Jeremy Selwyn 3/12 Flowers from Prime Minister Theresa May amongst tributes to the victims of the Westminster terrorist attack outside the Palace of Westminster Jeremy Selwyn 4/12 Two school children look at the floral tributes Jeremy Selwyn 5/12 A woman observes the flowers pinned to the Carriage Gates where the attack took place Jeremy Selwyn 6/12 Outpouring of support: flowers at the scene of the attack in Westminster Jeremy Selwyn 7/12 Three police officers stand in front of the floral tributes Jeremy Selwyn 8/12 A female police officer pays her respects at the scene Jeremy Selwyn 9/12 A woman in jogging attire stops to remember the victims of the attack Jeremy Selwyn 10/12 A man looks at floral tributes to the victims of the Westminster terrorist attack outside the Palace of Westminster Lauren Hurley/PA 11/12 Police officers stand in front of the floral tributes Jeremy Selwyn 12/12 Labour MP Hilary Benn passes floral tributes to the victims of the Westminster terrorist attack outside the Palace of Westminster Lauren Hurley/PA\n\nPC Palmer's family say they had been \u201coverwhelmed\u201d by the \u201coutpouring of love\u201d for the police officer following the attack.\n\nIn a statement, they said: \u201cWe want to thank everyone who has reached out to us over the past few days for their kindness and generosity.\n\n\u201cThe police have been a constant, unwavering support and this very difficult time.\n\n\u201cIt has made us realise what a caring, strong and supporting family Keith was part of during his career with the police. We can\u2019t thank them enough.\n\n\u201cWe miss him so much, but we are also incredibly proud of Keith.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile thousands of Met Police officers are set to join hands and march across Westminster Bridge on Wednesday, one week after PC Palmer and three others were killed.\n\nIn a show of defiance and solidarity, officers from across London will join hands and walk the length of the bridge.\n\nAs many as 3,000 officers are expected to join the march, organised by Westminster Police, which will be held at the exact time PC Palmer was fatally knifed.\n\nTerrorist Khalid Masood ploughed a 4X4 into crowds on the bridge before crashing into the gates of the Palace of Westminster and stabbing PC Keith Palmer to death at 2.40pm last Wednesday.\n\nMasood died after he was shot by police."}
-{"text": "Pelty\n\nIf you ever dreamed of playing \"Light My Fire\" with real fire, the Pelty Bluetooth speaker on Indiegogo is for you. The Pelty gets its name from the Peltier effect, the phenomenon that powers the speaker. It converts the heat from a candle into electric energy using a thermo-electric generator. No batteries or charging cable are required.\n\nThe Pelty is positioned as an elegant alternative to regular Bluetooth speakers, which often take the form of plastic cylinders. It's made from ceramic, wood, and glass. It's ready to connect to your music player only a few seconds after a candle is lit inside the device and it can run for as long as you have candles to power it.\n\nThe regular pledge price for a Pelty is $269 (roughly \u00a3158, AU$286), though lots of discounted early-bird slots are still available. If you were thinking the Pelty sounded intriguing and you might want one, you most likely decided to pass the moment the price tag showed up.\n\nRegular Bluetooth speakers can be picked up a for a song. Is a candle-powered version worth that much more? The cost elevates the Pelty into the realm of luxury items. If you have the money to burn, so to speak, then it would definitely be the sort of gadget you could use to impress your friends or take your next glamping trip to the next level.\n\nThe Pelty is aiming for a $100,000 goal and is only a little over $5,000 toward it, but there are still 46 days left on the flexible-funding project. If you do buy one, you should definitely give in to the temptation to create a themed playlist containing Arcade Fire hits, \"Ring of Fire,\" \"We Didn't Start the Fire,\" and \"Play with Fire.\""}
-{"text": "MANILA, Philippines \u2014 It is \u201cdangerous\u201d for President Rodrigo Duterte as head of state to make public his outrage over the sinking of a Filipino boat at Recto Bank in the West Philippine Sea.\n\nThis is because, according to Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, the President might be \u201ctaken out of context.\u201d\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nNograles made the pronouncement Tuesday, a day after the Chief Executive broke his weeklong silence \u2013 without even a sign of anger \u2013 on the Recto Bank incident, which he merely dismissed as a \u201clittle maritime accident.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou know, it\u2019s dangerous when the head of state [issues a statement] and [would be] taken out of context and everything,\u201d Nograles told reporters in Malaca\u00f1ang when asked why there was no hint of outrage from the President regarding the Recto Bank episode in his public speeches.\n\nIn his speech during the 121st Philippine Navy Anniversary at Sangley Point in Cavite, Duterte said he would not issue an official statement on the issue yet pending the result of the investigation, as he also would want to hear the side of China.\n\nPresidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo in a Palace briefing earlier Tuesday said Duterte is a \u201cvery cautious person and as a lawyer he is trained to listen to all sides.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe does not want this blown into an international crisis given the fact na \u2013 alam mo matagal din na nabago \u2018yung relasyon from the time noong previous administration na masama ang relasyon; and na-nurture na ito, naayos ni Presidente, nagkaroon ng magandang warm relation,\u201d Panelo said.\n\nDuterte has fostered warmer ties with China since he assumed the presidency on June 30, 2016.\n\nManila and Beijing has strained its relations during the Aquino administration over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.\n\nThen President Benigno S. Aquino III had elevated the Philippines\u2019 maritime row with China to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, which ruled in favor of Manila in July 2016 invalidating Beijing\u2019s nine-dash line that claims almost the entire South China Sea including the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. (Editor: Katherine G. Adraneda)\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nRead Next\n\nEDITORS' PICK\n\nMOST READ"}
-{"text": "Cancer Mortality Milestone: 25 years of Continuous Decline\n\nRacial gap narrowing while socioeconomic inequalities widen\n\nA steady, 25-year decline has resulted in a 27% drop in the overall cancer death rate in the United States, translating to approximately 2.6 million fewer cancer deaths between 1991 and 2016. The data come from Cancer Statistics, 2019, the American Cancer Society\u2019s widely-quoted annual report on cancer rates and trends. The article appears early online in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, and is accompanied by a consumer version, Cancer Facts & Figures 2019.\n\nThe report estimates* that in 2019, 1,762,450 new cancer cases and 606,880 cancer deaths will occur in the U.S. Since its peak of 215.1 deaths (per 100,000 population) in 1991, the cancer death rate has dropped steadily by approximately 1.5% per year to 156.0 in 2016, an overall decline of 27%. This translates to an estimated 2,629,200 fewer cancer deaths than would have occurred if mortality rates had remained at their peak.\n\nThe decline in cancer mortality over the past two decades is primarily the result of steady reductions in smoking and advances in early detection and treatment, which are reflected in the declines for the four major cancers: lung, breast, prostate, and colorectal.\n\nThe death rate for lung cancer dropped by 48% from 1990 to 2016 among men and by 23% from 2002 to 2016 among women, with declines accelerating among both men and women in recent years. The death rate for female breast cancer dropped by 40% from 1989 to 2016. For prostate cancer, mortality dropped 51% from 1993 to 2016. Colorectal cancer mortality dropped by 53% from 1970 to 2016.\n\nIn contrast to declines for the most common cancers, death rates rose from 2012 through 2016 for liver (1.2% per year in men; 2.6% per year in women), pancreatic (men only, by 0.3% per year), and uterine corpus (endometrial) cancers (2.1% per year), as well as for cancers of the brain and other nervous system, soft tissue (including heart), and sites within the oral cavity and pharynx associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV).\n\nThe cancer incidence rate was stable in women and declined by approximately 2% per year in men over the past decade of available data (2006-2015). In men, the drop reflects accelerated declines during the past 5 years of approximately 3% per year for lung and colorectal cancers, as well as a drop of 7% per year for prostate cancer, which is attributed to decreased PSA testing. For women, declines in incidence have continued for lung cancer, but have tapered in recent years for colorectal cancer, while rates for other common cancers are increasing or stable, e.g., an increase of 0.4% per year for breast cancer.\n\nAlthough the racial gap in cancer mortality is slowly narrowing, socioeconomic inequalities are widening, with residents of the poorest counties experiencing an increasingly disproportionate burden of the most preventable cancers. For example, cervical cancer mortality among women in poor counties in the U.S. is twice that of women in affluent counties, while lung and liver cancer mortality is more than 40% higher in men living in poor counties compared to those in affluent ones. Meanwhile, socioeconomic inequalities in cancer mortality are small or non-existent for cancers that are less amenable to prevention and/or treatment, like pancreatic and ovarian cancers.\n\nPrior to the 1980s, socioeconomic deprivation was associated with lower cancer mortality. The most striking socioeconomic shift occurred for colorectal cancer mortality; rates in men in the poorest counties were approximately 20% lower than those in affluent counties in the early 1970s, but are now 35% higher. This reversal reflects changes in dietary and smoking patterns that influence CRC risk, as well as the slower dissemination of screening and treatment advances among disadvantaged populations.\n\n\u201cThese [poor] counties are low-hanging fruit for locally focused cancer control efforts, including increased access to basic health care and interventions for smoking cessation, healthy living, and cancer screening programs,\u201d write the authors. \u201cA broader application of existing cancer control knowledge with an emphasis on disadvantaged groups would undoubtedly accelerate progress against cancer.\u201d\n\nOther statistics from the report:\n\nIn 2016, 22% of all deaths were from cancer, making it the second leading cause of death after heart disease in both men and women.\n\nCancer is the leading cause of death in many states, as well as in Hispanic and Asian Americans and people under 80.\n\nIncidence has increased for melanoma and cancers of the liver, thyroid, uterine corpus, and pancreas.\n\nSurvival rates have improved for most cancer types, but advances have been slow for lung and pancreatic cancers, partly because greater than one-half of cases are diagnosed at a distant stage.\n\nArticle: Cancer Statistics, 2019, CA: Cancer J Clin doi: 10.3322/caac.21551.\n\n*Estimates should not be compared year-to year. They are based on computer models of cancer trends and population and may vary considerably. Cancer trends should be based on age-adjusted cancer incidence and death rates (expressed as the number of cancer deaths per 100,000 people)."}
-{"text": "Sen. Jeff Flake Jeffrey (Jeff) Lane FlakeJeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Republican former Michigan governor says he's voting for Biden Maybe they just don't like cowboys: The president is successful, some just don't like his style MORE (R-Ariz.) has donated to Democratic nominee Doug Jones\u2019s campaign for Senate in Alabama.\n\nFlake on Tuesday tweeted a photo of a check he wrote for $100 to the Jones campaign, adding \u201cCountry over Party\u201d in the memo line of the check and in the tweet.\n\nCountry over Party pic.twitter.com/JZMTaEYdxQ \u2014 Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) December 5, 2017\n\nJones is facing off against GOP candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct and assault by several women who say at the time they in their teens and he was in his 30s.\n\nHe later thanked Flake for his donation on Twitter.\n\nFlake has been highly critical of Moore and of GOP leaders who have backed him, including President Trump.\n\n\u201cA Roy Moore victory is no victory for the GOP and the nation,\u201d Flake said Monday.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nTrump gave Moore his full endorsement on Monday.\n\nEarlier on Tuesday, President Trump reiterated his support of Moore while sitting right next to Flake at lunch with GOP senators.\n\nFlake, who has announced he will not seek reelection in 2018, said that he would not support Moore before of the sexual misconduct allegations came to light, based on Moore\u2019s past comments that Muslims should not be able to serve in Congress.\n\nFlake has doubled down on his criticisms of Moore since the allegations and has said it is a \u201cbig mistake\u201d for the president to throw his support behind Moore.\n\nTrump gave Moore his full endorsement on Monday.\n\nVoters in Alabama will go to the polls Dec. 12."}
-{"text": "In 2011, Dr. Charles Czeisler was in Minnesota, waiting to give a lecture, when his phone rang. Czeisler, a professor of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School and the chief of the division of sleep and circadian disorders at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, took the call -- and might have altered hockey history in the process.\n\nThe call came from Boston Bruins team physician Dr. Peter Asnis, who needed help heading into Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, which his team was playing in the following night against the Vancouver Canucks. Although he was unaware of it at the time, Czeisler was being dragged into a battle over sleep, with hockey's grandest prize at stake. Five years later, that battle has overtaken much of the sports world.\n\n\"He said, 'We've lost all the games out [in Vancouver] and won all the games in Boston, so maybe we're not doing something right,' \" Czeisler remembered. \"I said, 'Nothing like waiting until the last second.' \"\n\nCzeisler suggested that the Bruins prioritize their pregame nap before Game 7. But the time change would force the team to choose between a pregame nap and a morning skate. Could the Bruins really cancel practice the morning before one of the biggest games in franchise history?\n\n\"It's the seventh game of the Stanley Cup final. Have they not practiced enough?\" Czeisler asked Asnis. \"At what point are you actually ready?\"\n\nAsnis might have been late in contacting Czeisler, who has been studying the science of sleep since the 1970s. But his last-ditch effort to help the Bruins find their legs after a 3,000-mile trip paid off. Boston dominated Game 7 in Vancouver, winning 4-0 to win the franchise's first championship in 39 years.\n\nUnbeknownst to Czeisler, the Bruins borrowed a page from their Cup finals opponents, who had been using sleep science for years. The Canucks' interest in sleep began in 2008 when they partnered with Fatigue Science, a Vancouver-area company that helps a variety of clients through their Fatigue Avoidance Scheduling Tool (FAST), a proprietary wearable device that allows users to log their sleep patterns to optimize performance. The software algorithm used to map out a user's sleep schedule was partially developed by the United States Air Force.\n\n\"A big part of our business is fatigue risk management,\" said Jacob Fiedler, Fatigue Science's sales director. \"Which is using the technology to very precisely evaluate an individual's fitness for duty. Whether they're flying a plane or a guy working in a mine driving a truck in the middle of the night. Our technology can quantify both sleep and fatigue impairment. So it can be used to mitigate the risks associated with that.\"\n\nThe Canucks were the first pro sports franchise to partner with Fatigue Sciences. But while the company assists clients in a variety of industries, sports has become a major part of its business. Today they work with roughly 40 teams in sports, ranging from hockey to football to basketball to Australian rules football. They worked with six NFL teams last season.\n\nVancouver approached Fatigue Science for the same reason the Portland Trail Blazers, another franchise based in the Pacific Northwest, first contacted Czeisler, in 2009.\n\nSleeping like a baby: After the Bruins prioritized their pregame nap in lieu of practice before Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup finals, Boston dominated the Canucks to win the franchise's first championship in 39 years. John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe/Getty Images\n\nThe geographic location of these teams alone puts their players at a strategic disadvantage, forcing them to plow through the most grueling travel schedule in sports. Whereas the New York Rangers are located within 225 miles of five opposing teams, the Canucks' closest rival, the Calgary Flames, are 600 miles away.\n\n\"In the West Coast, we probably play in two, even three time zones on a road trip during the regular season,\" said Mike Potenza, the San Jose Sharks' strength and conditioning coordinator. \"You never really get too used to it. Your physiological system is always getting moved around. So you have to help it.\"\n\nSan Jose's challenges balancing players' internal clocks, or circadian rhythms, were put to the test in 2010 when the Sharks started the season nine time zones away with two games in Stockholm, Sweden. They are being tested again in the playoffs now, having traveled to Nashville (two time zones away) in the second round and are now traveling to St. Louis (two time zones away) to face the Blues in the Western Conference finals. The Blues, conversely, faced the Chicago Blackhawks (same time zone) and the Dallas Stars (same time zone).\n\nThat meant working closely with Cheri Mah, clinical and translational research fellow with the University of California San Francisco human performance center. Mah has collaborated with a number of other pro teams, including the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors, and helped lead a 2011 study with Stanford's men's basketball team that found more sleep helped players sprint faster and improved their free throw shooting by nine percent and 3-point shooting by 9.2 percent.\n\nAdditional research in the field also shows that sleep can help athletes become less emotionally volatile while improving physical performance, reaction time, visual field, judgment and even the ability to avoid and recover from injury.\n\n\"My thought process has expanded to what nutrients can help support sleep cycle,\" Potenza said. \"What are we doing to guys who don't sleep really well? How is their environment? Do they need a better mattress? Are they taking Ambien?\"\n\nWith Mah's help, Potenza instituted a number of changes. Special goggles were handed out to block out blue lights emitted from phones and other mobile devices. Tart cherry juice and chamomile tea with lavender became required bedtime drinking, along with magnesium and zinc supplements. Compression sleeves were used to help promote blood flow during sleep.\n\nAfter introducing these changes, the Sharks made it to the 2011 Western Conference finals. They lost in five games to the Canucks, a team with a special sleep regimen that appeared to give them a strategic advantage until the Bruins called Czeisler.\n\nCzeisler's work with the Bruins didn't extend beyond his advice for Game 7. But he earned a championship ring in 2013 when the Boston Red Sox won the World Series. Before their championship run, the Red Sox collaborated extensively with Czeisler, who even had a special nap room built in Fenway Park.\n\n\"I worked with the team to address a number of sleep issues, give education to players and whatnot,\" Czeisler said. \"I got to march in their parade and everything.\""}
-{"text": "For several years now, residents in north Baton Rouge have advocated for more investment in their part of town, which has lagged behind the so\u2026"}
-{"text": "Nestle has released a new gold leaf-covered Kit Kat bar, set to hit stores in Japan later this month to satisfy chocolate lovers with cash to burn.\n\nThe golden Kit Kat will sell for 2,016 yen ($23) per finger.\n\nUnlike the famous children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the luxury chocolate bar will not be randomly scattered among regular Kit Kats in shops.\n\nInstead, 500 of the single bars will be made and sold only in Japan.\n\nNestle Japan is no stranger to taking Kit Kat requests to the next level, having produced more than 200 flavours \u2014 from strawberry to green tea and even wasabi \u2014 since introducing the chocolate in 1973.\n\n\"In Japanese convenience stores, consumers are used to having new varieties all the time,\" Nestle Japan spokeswoman Melanie Kohli said.\n\n\"Japan is a very unique market.\"\n\nUnusual Japanese Kit Kat flavours Citrus\n\nCitrus Pear\n\nPear Edamame soybean\n\nEdamame soybean Purple sweet potato\n\nPurple sweet potato Hot Japanese chilli\n\nHot Japanese chilli Matcha-green tea\n\nMatcha-green tea Wasabi\n\nNestle's limited edition Sublime Gold Kit Kat has been described as having a rich, bitter chocolate taste.\n\nThe product will go on sale at chocolate boutiques in eight department stores, from Tokyo to Sapporo in the north, and Fukuoka in southern Japan.\n\n\"We have made it a luxury product,\" Ms Kohli said.\n\n\"Not like you probably remember from your childhood. It's a special occasion, to celebrate the end of the year.\"\n\nMs Kohli said Japan's \"omiyage\" culture of bringing regional gifts back for family and work colleagues after trips away was another reason for Kit Kat's success with its various flavours.\n\n\"Like you have wasabi from Shizuoka and strawberries in Kyushu,\" she said.\n\n\"Japan is the only place where you can have such a variety of Kit Kat flavours, something linked to that regional culture.\"\n\nAFP"}
-{"text": "Britain is to become the first Western country to issue Islamic bonds.\n\nThe announcement was made at the World Islamic Economic Forum, in London.\n\nThe bonds \u2013 known as sukuk \u2013 are investment certificates linked to assets or cash flow. They conform to Sharia law, which includes a ban on interest and gambling.\n\nPrime Minister David Cameron said around 200 million pounds (233 million euros) worth of sukuk will be issued by the government next year: \u201cFor years people have been talking about creating an Islamic Bond, or sukuk, outside the Islamic world, but it\u2019s never quite happened. Changing that is a question of pragmatism and political will, and here in Britain, we have got both. This government wants Britain to become the first sovereign outside the Islamic world to issue an Islamic bond.\u201d\n\nThe idea is to stimulate Islamic investment in Britain.\n\nAt the same time the London Stock Exchange announced plans to launch an Islamic index.\n\nIt would identify and track businesses which are filtered according to religious principles, rejecting those that are involved with things like alcohol or gambling.\n\nCameron said: \u201cToday the London Stock Exchange group is announcing the creation of new indexes. It is, if you like, a world-leading Islamic Market Index. It is another global first for the City of London and yet another reason why London can be one of the great centres of Islamic finance anywhere in the world.\u201d\n\nA UK government issued investment-grade sukuk would help British based Islamic lenders expand. They would be able to hold them in order to meet Bank of England regulations on liquidity.\n\nThe global Islamic banking industry is expanding fast and is attracting interest among big Western banks because of the rapid growth of trade involving wealthy Gulf economies."}
-{"text": "Alexandre Dulaunoy. Would you use this object if it came with restrictions? Photo \u2014 of a hacked Moleskin, ironically \u2014 ( CC-BY-SA\n\nApple\u2019s iPad is here. It starts at $499. It\u2019s a gorgeous, brilliantly-designed device that has the benefits of Apple\u2019s cleverly-engineered, best-in-class developer tools for mobile. A lot are likely to sell. And unfortunately, to me that means bad news for the kind of creative computing we talk about on this site.\n\nTo put it briefly, I think the new, mobile Apple is doing immense harm to the computing legacy the company has forged. We could have had a Mac tablet today. Instead, we have a giant iPhone \u2013 and that\u2019s a decision that has some serious repercussions. It\u2019s a blow to open source alternatives, but also to open development in general: the power of interchangeable hardware and software, on which everything we do with music and visuals on computers is based.\n\nFor years, the Mac community railed against the perceived closed nature of Microsoft. Now, many are rallying behind an Apple with a vision more closed than Redmond\u2019s.\n\nThis is important to both CDMs, because it\u2019s on both these sites that I, along with readers and contributors, have advocated open computing as a creative outlet, for creation, sharing, and distribution of music, visuals, and knowledge.\n\nI\u2019m entirely biased by my own perspective. There are certain things I care about, that I believe in. I can talk about the technical, measurable values of each of those, but I can only speak for myself. With that in mind, the iPad, in a single device, embodies the exact opposite of all the reasons I\u2019ve invested so much time in computing for the last 25 years.\n\nIt\u2019s a closed platform. As with the iPhone, development for the iPad means reliance on Apple\u2019s tools, on the use of proprietary Apple hardware and software just to build an app. Now, those could be worthy sacrifices for a great product. But it also means that Apple alone distributes applications, and decides which applications developers will be allowed to create \u2013 something that has never been true on a computing OS. Since the unveiling of the iPhone SDK, Apple apologists argued that somehow this was a decision made by phone carriers, that surely their beloved Apple was not to blame. Yet Apple has chosen that path for a device that, while it lacks a keyboard, otherwise looks for all the world like a computer \u2013 like something that could have been a Mac, with all the power and freedom of a Mac, instead of an iPhone.\n\nAs with the iPhone, development for the iPad means reliance on Apple\u2019s tools, on the use of proprietary Apple hardware and software just to build an app. Now, those could be worthy sacrifices for a great product. But it also means that Apple alone distributes applications, and decides which applications developers will be allowed to create \u2013 something that has never been true on a computing OS. Since the unveiling of the iPhone SDK, Apple apologists argued that somehow this was a decision made by phone carriers, that surely their beloved Apple was not to blame. Yet Apple has chosen that path for a device that, while it lacks a keyboard, otherwise looks for all the world like a computer \u2013 like something that could have been a Mac, with all the power and freedom of a Mac, instead of an iPhone. It has no standard ports. Like the iPhone, the iPad has only a proprietary dock connector, ensuring Apple has control over the hardware made for the device. You can throw away decades of the lessons of the value of standard connectors, of the freedom to connect a computer as \u2013 to use a phrase Apple popularized \u2013 a digital hub. There\u2019s not even HDMI to connect to a display . Clarification: video out will be possible , albeit with a proprietary adapter. And *access* to that video port from software has been a huge problem on the iPhone. See additional notes on Create Digital Motion. Additionally, the possibilities of external hardware are not entirely known. Apple will offer a memory card reader adapter that uses USB. But there isn\u2019t a native USB port on the machine, and this doesn\u2019t necessarily suggest full support for USB; hopefully, additional details will emerge.\n\nLike the iPhone, the iPad has only a proprietary dock connector, ensuring Apple has control over the hardware made for the device. You can throw away decades of the lessons of the value of standard connectors, of the freedom to connect a computer as \u2013 to use a phrase Apple popularized \u2013 a digital hub. . , albeit with a proprietary adapter. And *access* to that video port from software has been a huge problem on the iPhone. See additional notes on Create Digital Motion. Additionally, the possibilities of external hardware are not entirely known. Apple will offer a memory card reader adapter that uses USB. But there isn\u2019t a native USB port on the machine, and this doesn\u2019t necessarily suggest full support for USB; hopefully, additional details will emerge. It\u2019s tied to iTunes. As with the iPhone, you can\u2019t use the iPad\u2019s drive as a drive. You can\u2019t connect it to a computer and put on it what you like. You\u2019re limited to using third-party apps as conduits or servers \u2013 and even then, you\u2019re limited; critical files for media and reading are controlled by Apple\u2019s market-dominating iTunes app. It\u2019s a storage device you own, but that someone else controls. Maybe that\u2019s acceptable for game consoles, but, again, the iPad has the appearance of a computer. (Except, of course, it\u2019s actually not.)\n\nAs with the iPhone, you can\u2019t use the iPad\u2019s drive as a drive. You can\u2019t connect it to a computer and put on it what you like. You\u2019re limited to using third-party apps as conduits or servers \u2013 and even then, you\u2019re limited; critical files for media and reading are controlled by Apple\u2019s market-dominating iTunes app. It\u2019s a storage device you own, but that someone else controls. Maybe that\u2019s acceptable for game consoles, but, again, the iPad has the appearance of a computer. (Except, of course, it\u2019s actually not.) Apple alone controls the distribution of media. Apple already has a dangerously dominant position in the consumption of music and mobile software, and their iTunes-device link ensures that content goes through their store, their conduit, and ultimately their control. This means that developers are limited in what they can create for the device when it comes to media \u2013 a streaming Last.fm app is okay, but an independent music store (like Amazon MP3 on Android) is not. Now, you can add to that Apple dominating book distribution. At a time when we have an opportunity to promote independent e-book publishing, the iPad is accompanied by launch deals from major traditional publishers. What does that mean for independent writers and content? Updated: As several readers have noted, one positive sign is that Apple\u2019s book application supports the open epub format. We\u2019ll see how this works, and how this interoperates with other devices over the coming days and months. (And it\u2019s important, too \u2013 this is not Create Digital Books, but a lot of the information we want to read is published in e-books.)\n\nApple already has a dangerously dominant position in the consumption of music and mobile software, and their iTunes-device link ensures that content goes through their store, their conduit, and ultimately their control. This means that developers are limited in what they can create for the device when it comes to media \u2013 a streaming Last.fm app is okay, but an independent music store (like Amazon MP3 on Android) is not. Now, you can add to that Apple dominating book distribution. At a time when we have an opportunity to promote independent e-book publishing, the iPad is accompanied by launch deals from major traditional publishers. What does that mean for independent writers and content? As several readers have noted, one positive sign is that Apple\u2019s book application supports the open epub format. We\u2019ll see how this works, and how this interoperates with other devices over the coming days and months. (And it\u2019s important, too \u2013 this is not Create Digital Books, but a lot of the information we want to read is published in e-books.) It\u2019s not an open computer. It\u2019s not a Mac. The bottom line: you can\u2019t do the things that an open computing experience allows. You can\u2019t connect the hardware you want, develop or run the software you want, or have the open-ended experience computers have provided. That\u2019s not to say a tablet or slate or pad or whatever you want to call it needs to be exactly like other computers. On the contrary: if you believe in the computing experience, you believe it should work in new and creative form factors. (There was a time when the clamshell laptop was a new idea, remember, a time when computers were giant bricks you plugged into a TV.)\n\nLimitations are a wonderful thing. Specialized operating systems for mobile make perfect sense. But that\u2019s a design decision \u2013 it\u2019s about the interface, the developer tools, the hardware. A mobile device can work just as well without being tied to iTunes or with actual ports on it.\n\nI know what the objection will be: but this computer isn\u2019t \u201cfor\u201d people like me. But that\u2019s the whole problem. Apple threatens to split computing into two markets, one for \u201ctraditional,\u201d \u201creal\u201d computers, and another for passive consumption devices that try to play games without physical controls and let you read books, watch movies, play music, and run apps so long as you\u2019re willing to go through the conduit of a single company.\n\nAnd, of course, this wouldn\u2019t be worth my breath if not for my real concern: what if Apple actually succeeds? What if competitors follow this broken path, or fail to offer strong alternatives? The iPad today is a heck of a lot slicker than alternatives. It\u2019s bad news for Linux, Windows, and Android, none of which have really workable competitors yet. It\u2019s especially bad for Linux, in fact, which had a real chance to make its mark on mobile devices. Edit: Actually, one major advantage of a big, splashy Apple announcement \u2013 a number of those manufacturers have started talking about their rivals, already in the pipeline.\n\nThese issues have always been a matter of open debate. Jean-Louis Gass\u00e9e infamously got an \u201cOPEN MAC\u201d license plate for his car during the early days of Apple Macintosh. The \u201copen\u201d vision was the vision we got. It\u2019s the Mac II. It\u2019s the expansion capabilities of the Mac that allowed PostScript support, which let the Mac launch computer desktop publishing and ensured the survival of the platform. And it was a vision in contrast to that of one (younger) Steve Jobs, who argued against expansion and nearly made the Mac a failure, another forgotten 80s oddity. It was after Jobs was forced out of the company that the Mac platform, the Mac community as we now know it were really forged, built on the expansion and flexibility those later Macs offered. That expansion port was what enabled early products from Digidesign, which would later become Pro Tools \u2013 the very birth of digital audio production.\n\nLike I said, I\u2019m biased by my own opinion. But it\u2019d be unfair, after years of being hard on small developers when it comes to issues of openness, if I held back here. This is the world\u2019s self-proclaimed \u201clargest mobile manufacturer,\u201d the company that, as it reminds us in every press release, launched the computing revolution. I wish I understood why they were now running away from some of the basic ideas that made that revolution possible.\n\nThis is what I asked in January 2007 on this site, shortly after the original iPhone was launched:\n\n\u201c1. Will Apple lock down the iPhone, blocking Flash, Java, custom widgets, and open development from its new platform? 2. Could Apple\u2019s multi-touch patents actually stifle growth of new, interactive displays?\u201d\n\nUnfortunately, that turned out to prescient. As for point #2, and perhaps no fault of Apple\u2019s, it\u2019s apparent that multi-touch gestures are now missing in prominent platforms like the Android because of fear of litigation. (Yes, the Droid in my pocket has multi-touch and even a multi-touch API, but nothing in the shipping apps, apparently because someone\u2019s legal department got involved.)\n\nAnd as for point one, just compare what you can do with a Mac to what you can do with an iPhone.\n\nIronically, at that same show, I saw the very thing the Mac users most badly wanted: a Mac tablet. But because an independent developer had to hack that product together, it was overpriced and not terribly useful. At the same time, I know some people bought them, because that\u2019s what they wanted. They wanted a Mac tablet.\n\nIronically, the biggest disadvantage of the iPad is that it\u2019s not a Mac. So now we wait and see if someone can come up with intelligent new tablets that are at least more like PCs.\n\nI know who I\u2019m rooting for. And it\u2019s not this.\n\nClarifications / thoughts from comments:\n\nOf course, comments are here so that we can have a spectrum of opinions, and believe me, I do read and listen \u2013 including (sometimes especially) those with a different perspective than my own.\n\nSome issues worth clarifying, respective to the above:\n\nSeveral readers pointed out that I\u2019m oversimplifying some of the relative historic \u201copenness\u201d of Apple. When the \u201cOpen Mac\u201d battle was raging in the early Mac days (leading to the SE and Mac II), the connectors were indeed often still proprietary. The question was more whether to have ports or expansion at all. In the defense of the early Apple engineers, recall that, with the exception of formats like serial, standards were not as evolved as technologies like USB today. Even though there were already IBM clones, they were clones of IBM PCs, literally, not the open-ended PC market we have today. So readers are absolutely right \u2013 I was blurring some of the issues here. At the same time, this only underlines my point.\n\nWe\u2019re again revisiting the question of what \u201cconsumers\u201d need. The reason Jobs was opposed to ports, expansion, and the general ability of a user to service or upgrade a machine was because he perceived a need for a \u201cconsumer\u201d device. In other words, he was making the argument then that his design is making now, and that some commenters are making, as well. Jobs was forced out of Apple, and the \u201cOpen Mac\u201d won \u2013 and the rest is history. But my devil\u2019s advocate question would be, given that computers with expandability won out in the 80s, why are we in a rush to eliminate that functionality now, in 2010, when even average consumers are more demanding and less afraid of technology? Is that who this is really for, or by the very virtue of its limitations, is this just a toy for gadget lovers? (I\u2019m not asking that rhetorically; I think the readers making this argument have a point, and I\u2019d be curious to hear people follow up.)\n\nThe other question is whether Apple was \u201copen\u201d in the intervening time period. However, here I have to invoke some history. Apple under Sculley was working very hard on interoperability with IBM, even though that ultimately failed. The Mac platform may have run a different OS, but it also embraced and/or helped popularize serial ports (hello MIDI), SCSI, and 3.5\u2033 floppy drives (standard storage for the time). Under Amelio, Apple even pursued cloning \u2013 before Jobs reigned it in. (I\u2019m not arguing that was a smart business decision, but it did at least qualify as \u201copen.\u201d) Mac OS X and modern Mac hardware are replete with standards, the Safari team is by far the most active contributor to WebKit, and the Apple OS team continues to work hard on interoperability.So, I may have been oversimplifying, too, but I can at least say this particular product is not characteristic of some of the more \u201copen\u201d behavior of Apple in other areas.\n\nFinally, many of the comparisons have been made to the Lemur. I agree the Lemur hardware is aging and the software is relatively inflexible (certainly more so than apps made with the iPhone SDK). As for specifics of how the devices compare in multi-touch accuracy, or whether users will be as satisfied with the iPad as a wireless controller versus the Lemur\u2019s Ethernet cord, that remains worth discussing.\n\nSide note: Nowhere did I say that the alternative to an iPad has to be open source. I\u2019m a huge fan of open source and truly free software. But by the measures above, Windows qualifies as open."}
-{"text": "Dawn French is to play Diane Abbott in a new TV drama! Actually\u2026 As much as we would all like that to be true, it sadly is not. However, given the path television and film is currently taking, do not be surprised to see Black actor, Idris Elba, take on the role of David Cameron at some point.\n\nThere is an increasingly growing trend of historical European people being portrayed by actors who clearly do not fit the bill. This is not a slight on the acting abilities of the ethnic actors, more trying to understand why TV companies are so desperate to cast ethnic actors in White roles.\n\nThe recent BBC/Netflix production \u201cTroy: Fall of a City\u201d featured David Gyasi (above) playing Achilles. As anyone who has studied history, or has at least looked at a book, will know that Homers \u2018Iliad\u2019 would not have had a Black god. This is in addition to the other ethnic casting within the series.\n\nLets not also forget \u2018The History of Britain\u2019, a children\u2019s cartoon also on the BBC which depicted our history through the eyes of different families. Families that were, if the series were to be believed, very mixed. It would appear that everyone knew or had Black friend or two from our early days. This was until Slavery was mentioned and naturally, these previously Black friends and relatives disappeared briefly.\n\nRobin Hood, the 2006 reboot featured David Hayward playing Friar Tuck, the highly popular Black character we all love\u2026. A female Muslim sidekick was also thrown in for good measure too. All they needed was Maid Marion to be a lesbian and all required boxes would be ticked.\n\nOthers include \u201cDoctor Who\u201d, \u201c1066 A Year to Conquer England\u201d, \u201cKing Lear\u201d and \u201cThe Hollow Crown\u201d, amongst others.\n\nThe question is, why is this happening? Youngsters are watching these series & as far as they are concerned, the UK has always been mixed. And if they grow up thinking that and no one points them in the right direction, they are less likely to oppose continued immigration as they get older and become more progressive. By Black-washing European history (along with the other ethnicities being heavily pushed), the powers that be really want the next generations to never know that when everyone stayed where they were born and belong, everywhere here was that little bit safer.\n\nDoes this mean we will see a return of the Black & White Minstrel Show? Will we see a White actor play a Black public figure anytime soon? Of course we wont. It would be \u201cracist\u201d, even if the use of \u201ccolour blind casting\u201d was used, as it was with the aforementioned programmes.\n\nAs recently pointed out on here, there is not going to be a let up anytime soon on programmes showing how multiculturalism is good for the UK. When are we going to see honest programmes that show the real motives behind last years Islamist attacks? We wont, because casting the wrong colour people in the wrong parts and pushing the good sides of our permanent visitors, is their way of making us forget about the enemy within."}
-{"text": "trying to find the anne hathaway crotch shot there are too many nude anne hathaway pics to look through\n\n569 shares"}
-{"text": "Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today issued the following statement in response to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar\u2019s refusal to testify at an oversight hearing on the Trump Administration\u2019s inhumane Family Separation Policy:\n\n\u201cEarlier this month, I announced one of the Committee\u2019s first hearings would be to examine the failures of the Trump Administration\u2019s inhumane Family Separation Policy that separated more than 2,500 children from their parents or guardians. It has been eight months since this cruel policy came to light, and Secretary Azar has yet to appear before Congress at a hearing specifically on this policy. That\u2019s outrageous, and now this troubling report last week from HHS\u2019s Office of Inspector General raises new questions of whether this Administration was engaging in such tactics earlier than it reported. The stonewalling must end, and Secretary Azar must agree to appear before the Committee to answer questions and take accountability for his agency\u2019s actions. His denial to appear before the Committee in the coming weeks on the Family Separation Policy is unacceptable, and we are going to get him here at some point one way or another.\u201d\n\n###"}
-{"text": "The photos on this page are extremely graphic and not intended for children or the light hearted.\n\nPhotos of the murder of the Fogel family in the town of Itamar, north of Jerusalem, on March 11, 2011 by Arab terrorists.\n\nWARNING: THESE PHOTOS ARE EXTREMELY GRAPHIC AND NOT INTENDED FOR CHILDREN.\n\nThese photos were released by the family. They have given full permission for their use in order to report on the horrific reality of murdering children and babies in their sleep, \"simply because they are Jewish.\""}
-{"text": "Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has stopped disclosing wealthy \"bundlers\" and big-ticket fundraiser event hosts, despite promising earlier in the year he would make that information public.\n\nThe South Bend, Indiana, mayor disclosed the names of hosts of his high-value fundraisers through October, but reversed himself and did not disclose the names of hosts and bundlers for campaign fundraising events in November and onward, according to documents obtained by the Washington Examiner.\n\n(Pete Buttigieg Campaign)\n\nBundlers are top campaign fundraisers, who help candidates raise large amounts of by helping to persuade other wealthy donors to donate to a campaign or buy expensive tickets to campaign fundraising events.\n\nThe apparent change in policy comes after some negative press related to a former donor and fundraiser co-host, Steve Patton, who has become a controversial figure because of his efforts to block the release of a video showing Chicago police shooting Laquan McDonald, a black teenager.\n\n(Pete Buttigieg Campaign)\n\nHis Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren scolded him on Thursday, saying Buttigieg should \u201cbe releasing who\u2019s on his finance committee, who are the bundlers who are raising big money for him, who he\u2019s giving titles to and made promises to.\u201d\n\n\"Every candidate faces tough situations like this, but disclosure is always better,\" said Daniel Weiner, senior counsel for the Brennan Center\u2019s Democracy Program and an expert on campaign finance. \"Even if you don't want to disclose, the information often still gets out.\"\n\n\"If they've stopped disclosing, I do hope they'll start doing it again,\" Weiner said.\n\nAccording to the Center for Public Integrity, Buttigieg spokeswoman Lis Smith said in April 2019 that \"we will be transparent about [bundler information], but I will need to get back to you on the additional details.\"\n\nDuring a conversation on NBC News in November, Buttigieg discussed his fundraising events, saying that \"we've definitely disclosed our supporters and will continue to do so.\"\n\nBundlers are important because they are often rewarded with an ambassadorship or some other position of power within an administration after a candidate gets elected.\n\n\"Disclosure of them helps to hold candidates accountable and less chance of bundlers profiting off their bundling in the future,\" said Adav Noti, a senior director at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center and a former lawyer at the FEC.\n\n\"Bundlers are important to disclose because, due to the contribution limits, no one person can bankroll a campaign. To raise the hundreds of millions of dollars to run a campaign, you need other people out there raising that money from their networks,\" Noti said.\n\n\u201cThey often have access and sway over candidates,\u201d said Weiner. \"There\u2019s a significant chance they\u2019re going to have some influence [on the candidate], so the public has a right to know.\"\n\nButtigieg's campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this story."}
-{"text": "This week on the Monument podcast we are delighted to welcome Arnaud Le Texier. Alongside his packed touring schedule, Arnaud is the man behind the esteemed label Children of Tomorrow. As well as being a platform for his own music, the imprint boasts a long and impressive back catalogue, with releases garnering support from some of the biggest names in the scene.\n\nFor Monument 155 Arnaud has put together a selection of tracks that really demonstrate what his sound is all about. Dissonant melodies and shifting delays are paired with tough percussive grooves, creating a uniquely brooding yet undeniably danceable sound."}
-{"text": "Adriana Lima Elle Italy Cover and Photo Shoot June 2008\n\nSexy supermodelgraces the cover of Elle Italy magazine's June 2008 issue. The photo shoot is the same wonderful quality that we have come to expect from this red hot Brazilian beauty.\n\nLima is a Victoria's Secret 'angel' and spokesperson for the brand. She is also under contract with cosmetics giant Maybelline New York and was the fourth highest paid model in 2007.\n\nThe 26 year old, often called the world's sexiest woman, is currently dating Marko Jaric, NBA player for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Check out a previous post on the hot couple HERE.\n\nWe've got the Elle photo shoot below.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nClick HERE for more photos."}
-{"text": "Written by D-Mitch In this article, I will describe briefly the future developments in the major surface combatant fleet of the five m..."}
-{"text": "Bill Of The Month: $43,208 For Repeat Surgery To Replace Broken Medical Device\n\nEnlarge this image toggle caption Matt Baldelli for KHN Matt Baldelli for KHN\n\nSarah Witter couldn't catch a break even though her leg had gotten several.\n\nAs she lay on a ski trail in Vermont last February, Witter, now 63, knew she hadn't suffered a regular fall because she couldn't get up. An X-ray showed she had fractured two bones in her lower left leg.\n\nA surgeon at Rutland Regional Medical Center screwed two gleaming metal plates onto the bones to stabilize them. \"I was very pleased with how things came together,\" the doctor wrote in his operation notes.\n\nBut as spring ended, the wound started to hurt more. In June, Witter returned to the doctor. \"He X-rayed it and said it broke,\" she said. \"And I was thinking, what broke? And he said, the plate. He said they do sometimes.\"\n\nThe doctor performed another operation, removing the cracked plate and replacing it with a larger one.\n\nWitter said she had been dutifully following all the instructions for her recovery, including going to physical therapy and keeping weight off her leg.\n\n\"I was, of course, thinking, 'What did I do?' \" Witter said. \"The doctor said right off the bat it was nothing I did.\"\n\nThen the bill came.\n\nPatient: Sarah Witter, a retired teacher and ski buff who had moved from Pennsylvania to Vermont for the outdoorsy lifestyle.\n\nTotal bill: $99,159 for emergency services, therapy and hospital care, including $52,587 for the first surgery and $43,208 for the second surgery. Altogether, Witter's insurer, Aetna, paid $76,783. Witter paid $18,442 \u2014 including $7,808 for the second surgery. About half of Witter's total expenses were copayments; an additional $7,410 was the portion of hospital charges that Aetna considered unreasonably high and refused to pay.\n\nService provider: Rutland Regional Medical Center, the largest community hospital in Vermont, performed the surgeries. Emergency services, anesthesia and physical therapy were done by other providers.\n\nMedical service: In February, two metal plates called bone fixation devices and manufactured by Johnson & Johnson's DePuy Synthes division were surgically attached to two lower leg bones Witter had fractured in a skiing accident. These plates are long, narrow pieces of metal with holes drilled in them at regular intervals for screws to attach them to the bones. A crack had developed in one of the plates running from the side of one of those holes to the edge of the plate. A second surgery was required to remove the plate and replace it.\n\nWhat gives: When devices or treatments fail and need to be replaced or redone, patients and their insurers are typically expected to foot the bill. That may be understandable if a first course of antibiotics doesn't clear bronchitis, requiring a second drug. But it is more problematic \u2014 and far more expensive \u2014 when a piece of surgical hardware fails, whether it's a pacemaker, a hip that dislocates in the days after surgery or a fractured metal plate.\n\nWarranties, standard features at an electronic store or a car dealership, are uncommon for surgeries and medical devices used in them.\n\nDr. James Rickert, an orthopedic surgeon in Indiana and president of the Society for Patient Centered Orthopedics, said a plate like the one implanted in Witter's leg can fail if the surgeon doesn't line it up correctly with the bone, although usually that causes the screws to break or back out. A plate also can fail if the patient puts too much weight on it or doesn't follow other recovery instructions. There can also be a flaw in the implant.\n\nEnlarge this image toggle caption Matt Baldelli for KHN Matt Baldelli for KHN\n\n\"When the plate breaks, it's usually from overworking it, or a defect in the plate itself,\" Rickert said. \"The vast majority of people follow their instructions and are honest about it. If a person comes in and tells you they've been following their instructions and the surgery's done properly, to me that's a hardware failure.\"\n\nNancy Foster, vice president for quality and patient safety policy at the American Hospital Association, said sometimes hospitals won't charge for a second surgery \"if they were aware that it was something they did that caused the patient to need follow-up care.\"\n\nRutland Regional, Witter's hospital, wouldn't discuss Witter's care or bills, even though she gave it permission to do so. \"The organization is not comfortable in getting into the specifics of an individual patient's case,\" a spokeswoman wrote. The hospital also declined to discuss under what circumstances, if any, it would discount a second surgery's cost because of the first's failure.\n\nHospitals don't consider it their responsibility if a medical device failure is the problem, Foster said. But manufacturers are reluctant to take the blame for an unsuccessful surgery.\n\nMedical Treatments Are Implanted Medical Devices Creating A 'Danger Within Us'? Are Implanted Medical Devices Creating A 'Danger Within Us'? Listen \u00b7 36:19 36:19\n\nAdvaMed, a trade group for medical device manufacturers, said some companies will provide replacement devices if theirs failed, but others don't, especially if the failure of a procedure cannot \"easily be attributed\" to the device, the group said in a written statement.\n\n\"There are numerous factors outside of a manufacturer's control \u2014 and unrelated to the safety of the device as designed \u2014 that could result in a device not performing as intended,\" AdvaMed said.\n\nThese devices aren't cheap: Witter's hospital billed $9,706 for the first set of plates. It billed $12,860 for the replacement and an extra piece of equipment to attach it.\n\nDePuy Synthes, which manufactured Witter's plates, said in a written response that \"in rare circumstances\" metal plates \"may fracture under normal weight-bearing or load-bearing in the absence of complete bone healing.\" Even then, the company said, that is a chance patients have to take.\n\nAdvaMed said it doesn't keep statistics on device performance, and DePuy didn't respond to questions about how often its plates fail.\n\nResolution: The second surgery delayed Witter's recovery by four months and prevented her from gardening, golfing, hiking, biking and motorcycling through the summer and fall, as she usually does. \"I was pretty much chairbound for 20 weeks,\" she said.\n\nIn November, she wasn't able to join her husband and son on a trip to Iceland. Instead of volunteering at a nearby ski resort, as she had done for six years \u2014 and which carries the benefit of a free season pass \u2014 Witter said she tried selling hand warmers and lip balm out of a small kiosk and watching the skiers through a window. She said she had to quit after six days because of the pain in her feet.\n\n\"The biggest annoyance with this whole thing, even though it took eight months out of my life, is I hate to pay for it again, and the doctor clearly said it wasn't anything I did,\" she said.\n\nAetna said in a statement that while it doesn't allow providers to charge for indisputably inept medical mistakes such as leaving a surgical sponge in a patient or operating on the wrong limb, a broken plate doesn't qualify for such protection. (Medicare follows a similar approach.)\n\nAfter reviewing Witter's records, Aetna said it concluded the hospital had billed Witter for the portion of charges Aetna had considered excessive \u2014 a practice known as \"balance billing.\" While Aetna cannot reject those charges because the hospital doesn't have a contract with it, the spokesman said Aetna would try to negotiate with the hospital on Witter's behalf to reduce the bill.\n\nRutland Regional, however, indicated in its statement that the only reason it would discount a bill was for people who had inadequate insurance or were suffering financial hardship from the size of the bills. Witter said she doesn't meet the hospital's criteria.\n\nThe hospital invited her to meet with her surgeon and its chief financial officer.\n\nThe takeaway: Witter brought up the seeming unfairness of the double charges to the hospital's billing department as well as to her doctor, who, she said, was \"charming,\" but told her \"he had no wiggle room to do anything.\" Patients are usually out of luck when a second surgery is needed because of the failure of a medical device or a surgeon's mistake. A few places, most prominently the Geisinger health system in Pennsylvania, offer warranties for hip and knee, spine and coronary artery bypass surgeries, among other procedures.\n\nAdvaMed says that if a company provides a replacement, the hospital or surgeon isn't supposed to bill Medicare or the patient for the equipment \u2014 even if the operation incurs charges.\n\nPatients should scrutinize their bills and question their doctor and hospital or surgical center about charges for replacement devices.\n\nIf the doctor or hospital is partially at fault for the failure of the first procedure, request that part or all of the costs of the second surgery be waived. Get it in writing so you can make sure the billing department follows through. Also, in a medical market where insurers want to pay only for value-based care, let your insurer or employer's human resources department know that you are being charged twice for the same surgery. Let them fight the battle for you.\n\nNPR produced and edited the interview with Kaiser Health News' Elisabeth Rosenthal for broadcast. Nina Keck, a reporter with member station WVPR in Vermont, provided audio reporting.\n\nDo you have an exorbitant or baffling medical bill that you'd like KHN and NPR to look into? You can tell us about it and submit a copy of the bill here.\n\nKHN is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation that isn't affiliated with Kaiser Permanente."}
-{"text": "Surveillance video from a high-rise condo building on East Paces Ferry Road shows the black Ferrari being driven slowly out of the covered garage. While police have not confirmed the model or its value, the Italian sports car manufacturer\u2019s entry-level models carry a $200,000 price tag.\n\nThe video, obtained by Channel 2 Action News, also shows a door attendant confront a man in a red hooded sweatshirt and track pants moments before the theft. Atlanta police said he is wanted for questioning as he is considered a person of interest in the case."}
-{"text": "If you would like to see more articles like this please support our coverage of the space program by becoming a Spaceflight Now Member . If everyone who enjoys our website helps fund it, we can expand and improve our coverage further.\n\nHardware for two air-dropped Pegasus XL launchers previously purchased by Stratolaunch, a space launch company founded by the late billionaire Paul Allen, are now back under Northrop Grumman control and for sale to NASA, the Air Force, or commercial satellite operators, industry officials said.\n\nPhil Joyce, vice president of space launch programs at Northrop Grumman, said this week that the company is trying to sell the launches using the two remaining Pegasus XL rockets, and officials plan to keep the Pegasus rocket\u2019s L-1011 carrier jet flying for at least five or 10 more years.\n\nThe airborne launch of NASA\u2019s Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, scientific satellite Thursday night off Florida\u2019s east coast is the final scheduled flight of a Pegasus XL rocket. Variants of the solid-fueled Pegasus rocket have flown on 43 satellite delivery missions since 1990.\n\n\u201cWe actually purchased those back (from Stratolaunch),\u201d Joyce said in an interview with Spaceflight Now. \u201cSo they\u2019re in a very advanced state of integration, which means they\u2019re available for a very rapid response launch. We could launch one of those in six months, the second one probably in eight (months).\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been talking with NASA and several other customers about potential use of those for the near-term,\u201d Joyce said. \u201cThere are some interesting opportunities.\u201d\n\nOrders of Pegasus rockets have tailed off over the last few years as new, lower-cost launch options become available to NASA, the sole Pegasus customer since 2008. Northrop Grumman\u2019s rocket division, then known as Orbital Sciences, won a $56.3 million contract to launch the ICON mission in 2014. The launch has been delayed more than two years due to technical problems with the Pegasus rocket.\n\nThe Pegasus rocket is carried aloft by a modified L-1011 aircraft \u2014 the last of its kind still operational \u2014 to an altitude of 39,000 feet (11,900 meters), then released to fire into orbit.\n\nThe handover of the Pegasus rockets back to Northrop Grumman is another sign of a turbulent year at Statolaunch since Allen\u2019s death last October. Stratolaunch is part of Vulcan Inc., a holding company established by Allen, a Microsoft co-founder.\n\nIn partnership with aircraft-builder Scaled Composites, Stratolaunch developed the world\u2019s largest airplane and flew it on a two-and-a-half-hour test flight over California\u2019s Mojave Desert in April.\n\nThe project was unveiled in 2011, when officials said the huge airplane \u2014 nicknamed \u201cRoc\u201d \u2014 would make its first flight in 2015 or 2016. Stratolaunch originally wanted to launch satellites using SpaceX-built rockets from the giant aircraft, then partnered with Orbital Sciences to develop a new air-launched booster. In 2016, Stratolaunch said it would launch Orbital\u2019s Pegasus XL rocket, perhaps up to three on a single flight, using the new airplane, which has a wing span of 385 feet, or 117 meters.\n\nLast year, Stratolaunch announced a roadmap for its own rocket family, beginning with a Medium Launch Vehicle that could debut in 2022 and lift up to 8,000 pounds (3,400 kilograms) of payload into low Earth orbit. Stratolaunch also revealed plans for a heavy-lift launcher and a space plane that could fire into orbit after a high-altitude drop from the aircraft.\n\nAllen died last October from complications of non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma, and Stratolaunch said in January that it was ending development of its own rockets.\n\n\u201cWe are streamlining operations, focusing on the aircraft and our ability to support a demonstration launch of the Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL air-launch vehicle,\u201d a Stratolaunch spokesperson said in January.\n\nRocket motors and other components needed for the two Pegasus XL rockets are in place at Northrop Grumman\u2019s facilities at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, officials said.\n\nThe first Pegasus XL demonstration launch with Stratolaunch was expected in 2020, officials said last year. In a press release after the April 13 test flight of the Stratolaunch aircraft, the company said the aircraft\u2019s reinforced center wing can accommodate multiple launch vehicles.\n\nBut Stratolaunch has released no updates on future flight test plans.\n\nThe company\u2019s website still lists the Pegasus rocket as one of its launch vehicle options.\n\nStratolaunch did not respond to Spaceflight Now\u2019s questions regarding the transfer of the Pegasus XL rockets back to Northrop Grumman.\n\nGeekWire reported last month that Stratolaunch recently listed nearly a dozen new job openings in Mojave and Seattle, including test pilot positions. That new hiring comes after Stratolaunch went through a round of staff cuts earlier this year after announcing the end of its own rocket development program.\n\nWhile Stratolaunch\u2019s plans are opaque, the Northrop Grumman is also facing headwinds with the Pegasus program.\n\nA NASA decision in July to launch a future scientific satellite \u2014 the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, or IXPE \u2014 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket meant Northrop Grumman missed one of its few near-term opportunities to capture a new launch contract for the Pegasus.\n\nIXPE was originally designed to launch on a Pegasus rocket in 2021. But like all of NASA\u2019s Explorer-class small science missions, the agency held a competition among certified launch providers to bid for the IXPE launch contract.\n\nSpaceX won the contract for $50.3 million by bidding a Falcon 9 launch with previously-flown first stage booster, undercutting the most recent publicly-available price for a Pegasus. The Falcon 9 can carry 50 times more payload mass to low Earth orbit than the Pegasus.\n\nThe IXPE spacecraft was designed to fit inside the Pegasus rocket\u2019s payload fairing envelope, and will weigh about 660 pounds (300 kilograms) at the time of launch. It\u2019s designed to fly in an unusual low Earth orbit over the equator, at an inclination of 0 degrees.\n\nThe air-launched Pegasus XL rocket could have sent the IXPE spacecraft into such an orbit from a position over the Pacific Ocean near Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the remote staging point for four previous Pegasus missions. The much bigger Falcon 9 has the capability to launch from a higher latitude at Cape Canaveral, and still deliver IXPE to its equatorial orbit target.\n\nPegasus rockets have launched from bases in California, Florida, Virginia, Kwajalein Atoll and the Canary Islands.\n\n\u201cThe Pegasus was the first privately-developed space launch vehicle, and the first air-launched space launch vehicle with the first flight in 1990,\u201d Joyce said Tuesday.\n\n\u201cThis is mission 44,\u201d he said, referring to ICON\u2019s launch. \u201cIt\u2019s a very robust system capable of 1,000 pounds to low earth orbit. It can launch anywhere in the world, and it\u2019s one of our crown jewels.\u201d\n\nJoyce said Northrop Grumman is discussing Pegasus launch opportunities with NASA, payload developers and the U.S. military. The Pegasus could also be used for rideshare launches with multiple small satellites, but Northrop Grumman\u2019s focus now is on finding a primary payload for the two remaining Pegasus rockets in the company\u2019s inventory.\n\nNASA\u2019s Explorer line of small satellite missions have been reliable customers for the Pegasus rocket, but that string was broken when NASA selected SpaceX to launch the IXPE mission.\n\nNevertheless, Joyce said the Pegasus is available for future Explorer-class missions in heliophysics, the next of which is due for selection in 2021 for a launch in 2026. The Pegasus could also launch future \u201cVenture-class\u201d Earth science missions for NASA, he said.\n\n\u201cWe do think there are opportunities for us on the space science front, as well as Air Force missions as well,\u201d he said.\n\nBesides SpaceX, other competitors in the Pegasus rocket\u2019s class include new privately-developed smallsat launchers. Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron rocket is already flying, and has launched on one dedicated mission for NASA, but it cannot lift as much payload mass into orbit as the Pegasus.\n\nVirgin Orbit\u2019s LauncherOne, which is also air-launched with multiple launch sites available, closely matches the Pegasus rocket\u2019s capabilities. The first LauncherOne orbital test flight could occur later this year.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re always continuing to reinvent ourselves,\u201d Joyce said. \u201cWe are looking at new launch vehicle concepts, as well as streamlining the launch vehicles that we have, the Minotaur, and our other offerings.\u201d\n\nRocket Lab\u2019s base price is less than $6 million per launch, and Virgin Orbit says the price of a LauncherOne mission is roughly $10 million to $15 million.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re waiting to see how those guys do in the long term with the market that\u2019s there to see if they can sustain those low prices,\u201d Joyce said. \u201cWe expect some evolution on their side, probably coming up, and on our side, coming down.\u201d\n\nJoyce said Northrop Grumman\u2019s solid motor production lines could accommodate future Pegasus missions beyond the hardware already manufactured for the next two rockets. Northrop Grumman\u2019s missile defense programs, as well as the ground-launched Minotaur rocket, use some of the same solid rocket motors as the Pegasus.\n\n\u201cThe Pegasus Stage 1 obviously has got the wing installed, so it\u2019s a different motor,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the second and third stage of Pegasus are actually common to those other programs, with the same production line.\u201d\n\nNorthrop Grumman has three Minotaur rockets on contract with the Air Force to carry classified payloads into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office, plus a suborbital mission for the Air Force. The next Minotaur rocket, a Minotaur 4, is scheduled for liftoff in February from Wallops Island, Virginia, on the NROL-129 mission.\n\nJoyce said Northrop Grumman submitted a proposal to the Air Force\u2019s Orbital Services Program-4 solicitation in August providing the military options to Minotaur and Pegasus rockets. OSP-4 will provide transportation to space for the military\u2019s small and medium-sized satellite missions over the next nine years, and the Air Force says it anticipates awarding launch contracts for around 20 missions during that time.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re participants in the OSP-4 contract, and there are going to be opportunities every year on that contract for Minotaur, and for Pegasus,\u201d Joyce said. \u201cPegasus is one of the products on that one as well, for things that need an equatorial launch, or more launch flexibility in terms of the launch site.\u201d\n\nJoyce said Northrop Grumman recently purchased a second L-1011 aircraft to provide spare parts to the Pegasus rocket\u2019s carrier jet, a signal that the company has no immediate plans to withdraw the Pegasus from the market.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re looking out five or 10 years with the L-1011, and what parts do we need, being the only flying L-1011 on the planet,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have the only trained pilots, we have the only trained mechanics for that aircraft, and we needed the parts.\u201d\n\nEmail the author.\n\nFollow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1."}
-{"text": "One day after Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey appeared on Capitol Hill to tell lawmakers how his company doesn't discriminate against conservatives, the company permanently banned Infowars host Alex Jones from the platform for insults hurled at CNN's Oliver Darcy on Wednesday.\n\nTwitter told the Daily Beast that the final straw was when Jones said of Darcy and CNN:\n\n\"Look at this right here. Goes around policing and calling for censorship, and then claims that Trump's wrong - there's no censorship of conservatives. You are incredibly shameful man. You're just - look at you. You are literally an anti-American, anti free speech coward. You're going to go down in the history books as the criminal news network. This is one of the main people right here who thinks we have no memory. Who sits there and lobbies. Sits there and lobbies people to take other news off... when CNN is the fakest WMD gulf Arab state dictatorship-funded... unbelievable.\" -Alex Jones\n\n\"Those are the eyes of a rat,\" Jones added.\n\n\u201cToday, we permanently suspended @realalexjones and @infowars from Twitter and Periscope. We took this action based on new reports of Tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior policy, in addition to the accounts\u2019 previous violations,\u201d the company posted on its Safety account.\n\nToday, we permanently suspended @realalexjones and @infowars from Twitter and Periscope. We took this action based on new reports of Tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior policy, in addition to the accounts\u2019 past violations. https://t.co/gckzUAV8GL \u2014 Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) September 6, 2018\n\nAs we continue to increase transparency around our rules and enforcement actions, we wanted to be open about this action given the broad interest in this case. We do not typically comment on enforcement actions we take against individual accounts, for their privacy. \u2014 Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) September 6, 2018\n\nTwitter added that it will continue to take further action \"regarding other accounts potentially associated\" with Jones or Infowars, and will \"take action if content that violates our rules is reported or if other accounts are utilized in an attempt to circumvent their ban.\"\n\nWe will continue to evaluate reports we receive regarding other accounts potentially associated with @realalexjones or @infowars and will take action if content that violates our rules is reported or if other accounts are utilized in an attempt to circumvent their ban. \u2014 Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) September 6, 2018\n\nPrior to confronting Darcy, Jones got into a verbal altercation with Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) outside the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on internet censorship.\n\nThe exchange begins with Jones condemning Silicon Valley tech giants for \"shadow banning people en masse,\" to which Rubio deflects to foreign government interference in the US political process.\n\nAfter Jones says \"thank God\" Trump is addressing conservative censorship, Rubio then says \"I don't know who you are, man\" to which Jones replies \"he plays dumb.\"\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s not answering,\u201d said Jones, adding: \u201cThe Democrats are doing what you say China does.\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know who you are, man,\u201d responded Rubio. \u201cI don\u2019t really go on your website.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why you didn\u2019t get elected. You\u2019re a snake,\u201d Jones fired back, touching the senator\u2019s shoulder to keep his attention. \u201cMarco Rubio the snake. A little frat boy here.\u201d\n\nAfter Jones put his hand on Rubio's shoulder, the Florida Senator said \u201cDon\u2019t touch me again, man ... I\u2019m asking you not to touch me again.\u201d\n\nWhen Jones then asked whether he'd be arrested, Rubio said \"You're not gonna get arrested man, I'd take care of it myself,\" suggesting he would engage Jones physically.\n\nFollowing the exchange, which included Jones proclaiming \"The Democrats are raping the Republicans!\" and \"You're a little gangster thug,\" Rubio walked away, telling the remaining reporters \"You guys can talk to this clown.\"\n\nJones shot back: \"Go back to your bath house!\" adding \"There goes Rubio...Little punk.\"\n\nFull Video: Alex Jones Confronts Marco Rubio pic.twitter.com/KaQw0yYGUc \u2014 Jack Posobiec \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@JackPosobiec) September 5, 2018\n\nJones was in Washington, DC to \"face his accusers\" as Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sat next to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg as the Silicon Valley execs testified on censorship and foreign interference on their platforms.\n\nHis suspension comes on the heels of a seven day \"timeout\" after he tweeted a link to a video in which he said \"now is time to act on the enemy before they do a false flag.\"\n\nShortly after the temporary suspension Jack Dorsey told NBC News' Lester Holt that he had resisted internal pressure to ban Jones amid a seemingly coordinated multi-platform blacklisting by YouTube, Facebook, iTunes, Spotify, Pinterest, Linkedin and others.\n\nEXCLUSIVE: Twitter CEO @jack Dorsey on Alex Jones\u2019 \"timeout\":\n\n\n\n\"Any suspension, whether it be a permanent one or a temporary one, makes someone think about their actions and behaviors.\"@lesterholtnbc has more tonight on @NBCNightlyNews. pic.twitter.com/QwUYjcYbAD \u2014 NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) August 15, 2018\n\n\u201cWhether it works within this case to change some of those behaviors and change some of those actions, I don't know,\u201d Dorsey said. \u201cBut this is consistent with how we enforce.\u201d\n\nJones was banned or restricted from using the services of at least 10 tech companies this month, including Facebook and YouTube. Twitter had been the most high-profile holdout, until it announced on Tuesday that Jones was suspended from posting for seven days. Dorsey later clarified on Twitter that he was \"speaking broadly about our range of enforcement actions\" with regards to the company's use of timeouts. ... in a follow-up question on weighing the importance of Twitter\u2019s rules versus its moral obligation, Dorsey said the company has \u201cto put the safety of individuals first in every single thing that we do, and we need to enforce our rules and also evolve our rules around that.\u201d -NBC News\n\n\"I don\u2019t assume everyone will change their actions. Enforcement gets tougher with further reported violations,\" Dorsey said over Twitter.\n\nAnd now - as midterm season ramps up, the very influential Alex Jones and his empire has been all but put out of business."}
-{"text": "Appearing on Steve Hilton\u2019s show \u201cThe Next Revolution\u201d on Sunday, Lara Trump told the Fox News host that Democrats are making up reasons for impeachment as they go. The good news, though? Internal numbers show that the impeachment scam is resulting in more rather than less support for President Trump.\n\n\u201cThis is not what the United States of America is about,\u201d President Trump\u2019s daughter-in-law told Hilton. \u201cJust because your anointed candidate Hillary Clinton did not win in 2016 and the guy who nobody thought had a chance according to the \u2018experts\u2019 and the mainstream media was the one that the people of this country chose to be in the White House, does not give you the authority to try to impeach him,\u201d Lara rightfully said about Democrats and their impeachment idiocy.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re trying to move the goalposts every day, Steve. First, it started out as a quid pro quo. Now it\u2019s bribery. What are they going to come up with next? I feel like they just go in every day and pull something out of a hat, and they\u2019re like: \u2018This is what we\u2019ll try today.'\u201d\n\nAlthough that may play well among Democrats themselves, \u201cthe American people aren\u2019t buying it,\u201d Lara went on to say. \u201cOur internal numbers show that since Nancy Pelosi called for this impeachment nonsense our numbers have gone up substantially for the president. We are doing record fundraising at the Trump campaign in increments of $40. That\u2019s our average donation.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe American people want Donald Trump to stay in the White House and they\u2019re not buying into this hoax,\u201d she finished.\n\nWatch it:\n\nLara Trump is truly one of the revelations of a) the 2016 campaign and b) the Trump presidency. Just like Donald Trump Jr., she\u2019ll undoubtedly continue to play a role in politics for years to come \u2014 whether President Trump is reelected or not."}
-{"text": "For several years, browser companies and privacy advocates have struggled to establish a universal \"do not track\" standard that would allow Internet users to click one button and opt-out of having their online histories tracked and used by companies, which use the information to offer personalized advertisements. But what's to stop companies from tracking our movements and activities in real life, especially now that they have access to cheap motion sensors, and now that many of us carry location-aware devices with us at all times in the form mobile phones? New York's Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer has answer to that: let the companies regulate themselves.\n\nEarlier today, he announced a voluntary new \"code of conduct\" that governs how analytics companies can use the data they are increasingly collecting about our movements and activities through brick and mortar retail stores. Already, at least seven major retail analytics companies have signed on to the voluntary code: Euclid, iInside, Mexia Interactive, SOLOMO, Radius Networks, Brickstream and Turnstyle Solutions. Though the list contains no household names, the firms involved represent some of the leading providers of consumer movement and behavioral data to major retail chains and advertisers. For example, Euclid's website boasts that it \"senses smartphones and lets you see how shoppers flow through your store, their visit duration, and return shopping patterns.\"\n\n\"lets you see how shoppers flow through your store.\"\n\nIn order to ensure that the data these companies are collecting is used properly, Schumer \u2014 who has been notoriously protective of New York consumers in the past, sometimes arguably to the extent of being overzealous \u2014 partnered with The Future of Privacy Forum, a self-described \"DC think tank that seeks to advance responsible data practices.\" The code sounds pretty good when it comes to consumer privacy, at least on paper: it says that the companies should provide \"clear, short, and standardized\" privacy notices online and in retail stores explaining to customers what data they are collecting, and to collaborate on a single-stop website where customers can opt-out of having their phones used as behavioral tracking devices.\n\nBut there are some big caveats to how effective this code can be. First and foremost is that it is entirely voluntary and not legally binding, meaning companies can choose to disobey or skirt it any time, without any real repercussions for their business, other than bad PR. Secondly, the code expressly states that companies don't actually have to tell consumers that they are collecting any data about them as long as it is \"anonymized,\" or stripped of any personally identifiable information (or used primarily in aggregate, with other shoppers' info). Finally, The Future of Privacy Forum, the main \"advocacy group\" group leading the charge to coordinate these standards, has been called out before for being little more than a front for the telecommunications industry. That's not to say the new code is doomed from the start, just that it's ultimately only as helpful to consumers as the companies backing it want it to be."}
-{"text": "Yesterday I found this Pic of last years Aninite and I just had to edit it!! I want to make a cool fighting atmosphere (I\u00b4m not really good at photoshop pls forgive me XD)If you like our cosplays check out our FB pagePic by edit by JustawaykittyRyuko Matoi Kamui senketsu Version selfmade and worn by Nui Harime selfmade and worn by"}
-{"text": "A Crist\u00f3bal L\u00f3pez vecinos de Chubut le impidieron la entrada a un campo suyo 02:51\n\nVideo\n\nAna Tronfi Comentar Me gusta Me gusta Compartir E-mail Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Guardar 15 de abril de 2020 \u2022 23:44\n\nCOMODORO RIVADAVIA - En un video que se viraliz\u00f3 en las \u00faltimas horas y cuya veracidad fue confirmada por fuentes oficiales de Chubut, se puede ver al empresario Cristobal L\u00f3pez a bordo de un auto intentando acceder a un campo de su propiedad. Quiere encontrarse all\u00ed con uno de sus hijos. Est\u00e1n en el ingreso al municipio de R\u00edo Senguer.\n\nPero en medio del aislamiento dispuesto en todo el pa\u00eds por el coronavirus, un grupo de vecinos le fren\u00f3 el ingreso a la localidad, pese a que el empresario de Grupo Indalo aleg\u00f3 tener un permiso provincial de circulaci\u00f3n.\n\n\"Lo lamentamos, pero usted tiene que irse\", se escucha decir a una mujer en medio del tumulto que gener\u00f3 la presencia del empresario en el lugar. En las im\u00e1genes se observa a L\u00f3pez explicando la situaci\u00f3n a los vecinos quienes, sin embargo, no entienden razones y le aclaran: \"Ac\u00e1 no pasa\".\n\nVecinos increpan a Crist\u00f3bal L\u00f3pez 01:34\n\nVideo\n\nEn Chubut rigen controles en el ingreso a cada una de las localidades y se potenciaron los pedidos de permiso a ra\u00edz de la aparici\u00f3n del primer caso de coronavirus en territorio provincial L\u00f3pez fue primero interceptado por efectivos de la polic\u00eda en el portal de acceso a R\u00edo Senguer. Pero en el control le pusieron trabas para el ingreso, lo que provoc\u00f3 una inmediata aglomeraci\u00f3n de vecinos en el lugar.\n\nPese a que L\u00f3pez aclar\u00f3 que ten\u00eda el permiso de circulaci\u00f3n provincial para ingresar a su propiedad -quienes son propietarios o trabajan en establecimientos rurales pueden conseguirlo-, los vecinos evitaron el paso del empresario. \"No tiene jurisdicci\u00f3n ac\u00e1\", le dijeron los vecinos.\n\nConforme a los criterios de M\u00e1s informaci\u00f3n"}
-{"text": "Scottish areas worst for broadband speeds, says Which? Published duration 26 June 2017\n\nimage copyright Getty Images\n\nOrkney, followed by Shetland and Highland, have come bottom of a table ranking UK local authority areas by broadband speeds.\n\nTamworth, Reading and Adur have the fastest connections, according to the research by consumer group Which?\n\nDundee City is the only Scottish area to have made it into the top 10 for best speeds.\n\nWhich? looked at 389 areas in the UK using data from Speed Checker Ltd from January to March 2017.\n\nThe research suggested the Orkney Islands had an average test speed of 6.3 Megabits/sec.\n\nThere are eight megabits in a megabyte, meaning if you wanted to download a 500MB high definition episode of Eastenders via iPlayer, it would take about 10-and-a-half minutes.\n\nThe Shetland Islands achieved a rate of 8.4Mbps and Highland 8.8Mbps.\n\nThe Western Isles - Comhairle nan Eilean Siar - had the sixth worst speed with 9.1Mbps, while the Scottish Borders had the 28th slowest speed with 12Mbps.\n\nTop five\n\nTamworth\n\nReading\n\nAdur\n\nEnfield\n\nDundee City\n\nWhich? said average tests in Orkney, Shetland and Highland fell short of 10Mbps, which is the minimum download speed proposed under the UK government's Universal Service Obligation (USO) that anyone in the UK would be entitled to request.\n\nIt is regarded as the speed necessary to meet the typical demands of a family or small business, the consumer advice group said.\n\nBut it said there was better news for Dundee City residents who, according to the research, have access to the fastest average download speed (28.7Mbps) in Scotland and the fifth fastest in the UK.\n\nGlasgow and Edinburgh were ranked 193rd and 264th in the table, with speeds of 17.1Mbps and 19.4Mbps.\n\nBottom five\n\nOrkney Islands\n\nShetland Islands\n\nHighland\n\nRydedale\n\nPurbeck\n\nThe table ranking local authorities with the fastest speeds was dominated by English council areas, including Tamworth, Reading, Adur and Enfield in the top four spots.\n\nLuton was in sixth place, followed by North East Lincolnshire, Merton, Elmbridge and Broxbourne.\n\nAlex Neill, Which? managing director of home services, said: \"Far too many households across Scotland are suffering from slow broadband speeds, which can stop you being able to carry out essential daily tasks.\n\n\"We are encouraging everyone with broadband to use our speed checker so people can see if they are getting the speeds that they've been promised by their provider and find out how to complain if their speed is too slow.\n\n\"This will also help to further highlight where problem areas are across the UK, putting pressure on government and providers to help everyone get a good broadband connection.\"\n\nimage copyright Thinkstock\n\nOrkney MSP Liam McArthur said: \"While I recognise progress has been made, these figures reaffirm our fears that the gap in broadband speeds between Orkney and the rest of the UK is growing. This digital divide will only make it harder for Orkney to compete and leaves people with an unacceptable below par service.\"\n\nFergus Ewing, who is the Scottish cabinet secretary for connectivity, said: \"The Scottish government is on track to deliver fibre broadband access to at least 95% of premises across Scotland by the end of this year.\n\n\"Without our investment, only 66% of premises would have been reached, with as little as 21% coverage across the Highlands and no coverage at all in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles."}
-{"text": "All alone, Yellow Guy tries to stop a lamp from teaching him about dreams. While Red Guy finds out the truth about the puppet's existence."}
-{"text": "By Will Burchfield\n\n@burchie_kid\n\nVictor Martinez isn\u2019t shy about his distaste for hitting in Comerica Park.\n\n\u201cYou know what? Hitting in this ballpark, it doesn\u2019t help me at all, getting the ball in the air. This (expletive) ballpark is too (expletive) big, at least for me,\u201d he said last month.\n\nThe deep outfield fences at Comerica routinely turn would-be home runs into outs. For pull-inclined lefties, the Bermuda Triangle in right-center field is a particular source of frustration. No one sends more ill-fated fly balls to that area of the outfield, it seems, than the Tigers\u2019 38-year-old D.H.\n\nHe sent another one there in the eighth inning of the Tigers\u2019 5-3 loss to the Angels on Tuesday night, two men on base at the time, and watched it fall harmlessly into the glove of right fielder Cole Calhoun. It would have been a homer in almost any other ballpark in the league.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s all I got, man, that\u2019s all I got. It\u2019s just too big for me, I\u2019ve told you a couple times,\u201d Martinez said, May\u2019s anger becoming June\u2019s despair. \u201cIt is what it is, man. I hit the ball pretty decent and it got caught. That\u2019s it.\u201d\n\nV-Mart is hitting .240 with three home runs, 14 RBI and a .709 OPS in 22 games at home this season. Over 29 games on the road, he\u2019s hitting .280 with two homers, 14 RBI and a .756 OPS. The splits aren\u2019t drastic, but Martinez feels he\u2019s been stymied by the deep fences at Comerica Park time and time again.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not Miggy, I\u2019m not J-Up, I\u2019m not J.D. It is what it is, man. I hit the ball pretty decent and it got caught like a lot of balls I\u2019ve been hitting that way. That\u2019s one of the reasons that I\u2019m a different hitter here. I\u2019m just tired of getting outs and hearing, \u2018Good swing, good swing.\u2019 Like I told you guys a couple weeks ago, good swings don\u2019t get you paid and good swings don\u2019t get the fans happy anyways,\u201d Martinez said.\n\nThe Tigers\u2019 38-year-old designated hitter said trying to go to the opposite field isn\u2019t necessarily a solution.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t try to do that here. It doesn\u2019t work for me here. I\u2019m trying to hit bloopers, whatever, something that at least I can get on base. But not here,\u201d he said.\n\nEach time V-Mart sends a fly-out to deep right field, he hangs his head and trudges back to the dugout. It seems he\u2019s walked slower and slower of late.\n\nAs he ages, the ballpark he calls home is becoming anything but hospitable.\n\n\u201cIt is a lot of frustration that comes with it. I came this year with a little different mindset: I\u2019m just going to stay with my strength. But again, man, you don\u2019t get rewarded, like me. You get tired,\u201d he said."}
-{"text": "Financial Technologies India today informed BSE that FTIL Group had acquired 90 per cent stake in UK-based ACE Group for a consideration of $22.5 million (around Rs 108 crore), subject to fulfillment of certain representations and warranties by the sellers. Company officials were not available to comment on funding and future plans.\n\n\n\nACE Group is a credit support organisation providing third party asset management, quality assurance and inspection services. The company had provided collateral management and other credit support services across 2,000 different warehouses in more than 50 countries.\n\n\n\nACE has offices in 26 countries across the Globe, enabling international financial institutions to effectively monitor and control their assets throughout the value chain, including trade flows into and out of the various continents."}
-{"text": "\u301011\u670815\u65e5 AFP\u3011\u7c73\u5357\u90e8\u30d5\u30ed\u30ea\u30c0\uff08Florida\uff09\u5dde\u3067\u306f\u3001\u516c\u5171\u306e\u5834\u3084\u79c1\u6709\u5730\u3067\u81ea\u5df1\u9632\u885b\u306e\u305f\u3081\u306b\u6bba\u50b7\u80fd\u529b\u306e\u3042\u308b\u6b66\u5668\u3092\u4f7f\u7528\u3059\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3092\u8a8d\u3081\u305f\u300c\u30b9\u30bf\u30f3\u30c9\u30fb\u30e6\u30a2\u30fb\u30b0\u30e9\u30a6\u30f3\u30c9\u6cd5\uff08\u6b63\u5f53\u9632\u885b\u6cd5\uff09\u300d\u5236\u5b9a\u5f8c\u306b\u3001\u6bba\u4eba\u304c\u8457\u3057\u304f\u5897\u52a0\u3057\u305f\u3068\u3059\u308b\u56fd\u969b\u7814\u7a76\u30c1\u30fc\u30e0\u306e\u7814\u7a76\u7d50\u679c\u304c14\u65e5\u3001\u767a\u8868\u3055\u308c\u305f\u3002\n\n\u7c73\u533b\u5b66\u8a8c\u300cJAMA\u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30ca\u30eb\u30fb\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30b7\u30f3\uff08JAMA Internal Medicine\uff09\u300d\u7279\u5225\u53f7\u306b\u63b2\u8f09\u3055\u308c\u305f\u8ad6\u6587\u306b\u3088\u308b\u3068\u3001\u30d5\u30ed\u30ea\u30c0\u5dde\u3067\u767a\u751f\u3057\u305f\u6bba\u4eba\u306f2005\uff5e14\u5e74\u306e10\u5e74\u9593\u306724%\u5897\u52a0\u3057\u305f\u3002\u3053\u308c\u306f\u7c73\u56fd\u5168\u571f\u306e\u6bba\u4eba\u767a\u751f\u7387\u304c1990\u5e74\u4ee3\u4ee5\u964d\u306b\u6e1b\u5c11\u50be\u5411\u306b\u3042\u308b\u306e\u3068\u306f\u969b\u7acb\u3063\u3066\u5bfe\u7167\u7684\u3060\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3002\n\n\u8ad6\u6587\u306e\u5171\u540c\u57f7\u7b46\u8005\u3067\u82f1\u30ed\u30f3\u30c9\u30f3\u5927\u5b66\u516c\u8846\u885b\u751f\u5b66\u30fb\u71b1\u5e2f\u533b\u5b66\u5927\u5b66\u9662\uff08LSHTM\uff09\u306e\u30a2\u30f3\u30c8\u30cb\u30aa\u30fb\u30ac\u30b9\u30d1\u30ea\u30fc\u30cb\uff08Antonio Gasparrini\uff09\u6c0f\u306f\u300c\u4eca\u56de\u306e\u7814\u7a76\u306f\u3001\u6b63\u5f53\u9632\u885b\u6cd5\u304c\u30d5\u30ed\u30ea\u30c0\u5dde\u306e\u6bba\u4eba\u5897\u52a0\u306e\u539f\u56e0\u3068\u306a\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u53ef\u80fd\u6027\u304c\u9ad8\u3044\u3053\u3068\u3092\u6d6e\u304d\u5f6b\u308a\u306b\u3059\u308b\u3068\u3068\u3082\u306b\u3001\u7c73\u56fd\u306e\u5185\u5916\u3067\u306e\u5b89\u5168\u306a\u66ae\u3089\u3057\u306b\u5f71\u97ff\u3092\u4e0e\u3048\u308b\u5c06\u6765\u306e\u653f\u7b56\u6c7a\u5b9a\u3092\u5de6\u53f3\u3057\u5f97\u308b\u6975\u3081\u3066\u91cd\u8981\u306a\u60c5\u5831\u3092\u63d0\u4f9b\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u300d\u3068\u8ff0\u3079\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\n\n\u30d5\u30ed\u30ea\u30c0\u5dde\u306f2005\u5e74\u3001\u7c73\u56fd\u306e\u5dde\u3068\u3057\u3066\u521d\u3081\u3066\u3001\u81ea\u5df1\u9632\u885b\u306e\u305f\u3081\u306b\u9283\u5668\u3092\u7528\u3044\u308b\u4eba\u3005\u306e\u6cd5\u7684\u4fdd\u8b77\u3092\u62e1\u5927\u3057\u305f\u3002\u3053\u308c\u306b\u7d9a\u3044\u3066\u4ed6\u306e\u591a\u304f\u306e\u5dde\u3082\u540c\u69d8\u306e\u63aa\u7f6e\u3092\u53d6\u3063\u305f\u3002\n\n2005\u5e74\u3088\u308a\u524d\u306e\u30d5\u30ed\u30ea\u30c0\u5dde\u6cd5\u3067\u306f\u3001\u5dee\u3057\u8feb\u3063\u305f\u8105\u5a01\u306b\u76f4\u9762\u3057\u3001\u6b7b\u4ea1\u3059\u308b\u3042\u308b\u3044\u306f\u91cd\u50b7\u3092\u8ca0\u3046\u6050\u308c\u304c\u3042\u308b\u3068\u4fe1\u3058\u308b\u306b\u8db3\u308b\u5834\u5408\u306b\u306f\u3001\u4f4f\u5c45\u4fb5\u5165\u8005\u306b\u5bfe\u3057\u3066\u9283\u5668\u306a\u3069\u306e\u6bba\u50b7\u80fd\u529b\u306e\u3042\u308b\u6b66\u5668\u3092\u4f7f\u7528\u3067\u304d\u308b\u3068\u3055\u308c\u3066\u3044\u305f\u3002\n\n2005\u5e74\u306b\u5f53\u6642\u306e\u30b8\u30a7\u30d6\u30fb\u30d6\u30c3\u30b7\u30e5\uff08Jeb Bush\uff09\u30d5\u30ed\u30ea\u30c0\u5dde\u77e5\u4e8b\u304c\u7f72\u540d\u3057\u3066\u6210\u7acb\u3057\u305f\u5dde\u6cd5\u306f\u305d\u308c\u307e\u3067\u306e\u5dde\u6cd5\u306e\u898f\u5b9a\u3092\u62e1\u5927\u3057\u3001\u300c\u79c1\u6709\u5730\u304a\u3088\u3073\u516c\u5171\u306e\u5834\u3067\u81ea\u5df1\u9632\u885b\u306e\u305f\u3081\u306b\u6bba\u50b7\u80fd\u529b\u306e\u3042\u308b\u6b66\u5668\u3092\u4f7f\u7528\u3057\u305f\u500b\u4eba\u300d\u306e\u5211\u4e8b\u8a34\u8ffd\u3092\u514d\u9664\u3059\u308b\u3068\u5b9a\u3081\u305f\u3002"}
-{"text": "The Colorado State University men\u2019s basketball team just announced its 18-game Mountain West schedule for the upcoming 2016-17 season. The Rams will begin conference play at home against UNLV December 28.\n\nLast year the Rams split the season series with UNLV 1-1, with each side pulling out a home victory.\n\nUNLV will be under the tutelage of new head coach Marvin Menzies. Menzies spent the last nine years coaching at New Mexico State, leading the Aggies to a 198-111 record in that time.\n\nOther home games for the Rams\u2019 next season include matches with Air Force, New Mexico, San Jose State, Boise State, Utah State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Wyoming.\n\n\nThe Border War against Wyoming will be the final home game of the season on March 1.\n\nIn 2015-16 the Rams finished conference play 8-10, but were strong at home at Moby Arena, holding a 6-3 record. CSU was less fortunate on the road last season during MW play, finishing 2-7.\n\nThe toughest stretch of the Rams MW schedule will come at the tail end, as the last five games feature contests with perennial front-runners in Mountain West play. The Rams round out conference play with a home-and-home game with Wyoming, a road match-up with New Mexico, a home stand against San Diego State and a road contest with Nevada.\n\nThe final game of the season against Nevada will be the only time the two schools play in the regular season. CSU will also play against the Air Force just once.\n\nThe Colorado State non-conference schedule will be released in the coming weeks.\n\nMountain West partners CBS Sports Network and ESPN will go through a selection process to determine national televised games from the Mountain West region. Regional televised games from ROOT SPORTS and Campus Insider\u2019s Mountain West Network will be announced following the national schedule expected in August.\n\nThe entire Colorado State Mountain West Schedule can be seen below:\n\nWednesday, December 28 UNLV Saturday, December 31 at Boise State Wednesday, January 4 at San Jos\u00e9 State Saturday, January 7 Air Force Saturday, January 14 New Mexico Wednesday, January 18 at Fresno State Saturday, January 21 at Utah State Wednesday, January 25 San Jos\u00e9 State Saturday, January 28 at San Diego State Wednesday, February 1 Boise State Saturday, February 4 at UNLV Wednesday, February 8 Utah State Saturday, February 11 Fresno State Wednesday, February 15 at Wyoming Wednesday, February 22 at New Mexico Saturday, February 25 San Diego State Wednesday, March 1 Wyoming Saturday, March 4 at Nevada\n\nCollegian Sports Editor Chad Deutschman can be reached by email at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @ChadDeutschman"}
-{"text": "JF-17 \u201cThunder\u201d (Jeff) in Pakistani colors.\n\nI always wanted to write about the JF-17 Thunder but not having a reason to do so kept me from it. But very recently I watched a video of JF-17 on YouTube by a channel Grim Reapers. Upon browsing, I realized, they are a group of aviation enthusiasts who like to fly aircraft and make them compete each other in a simulator. I realized a lot of people don\u2019t know much about JF-17 Thunder, so now I really want to write about it.\n\nBut before jumping in on it, I want to say that you guys at Grim Reapers, have single-handedly made Thunder a thing on the internet. Jeff, what you call it, could become it\u2019s official call name eventually, idk.\n\nHere\u2019s some background for those who want to know the story behind Jeff.\n\nSo back in 80s, a program was initiated by Pakistan to bring serious upgrades to existing F-7 design resulting in a lightweight and affordable multi-role fighter. Side note: F-7 is essentially a Chinese made Mig-21. So Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, Chengdu Aerospace Corporation and Grumman came together on a project named Sabre II that would come about a lightweight multi-role fighter.\n\nThe early designs of Project Sabre II suggest that it could have been a cross between an F-7 and an F-5, with two intakes on each side and replacing the existing Mig-21 style nose intake with the nose cone radome. It could have also used an American power-plant resulting in a very upgraded variant termed as Super-7.\n\nTop, you can see a traditional F-7. Bottom, a proposed design under Project Sabre II.\n\nBut the embargoes on Pakistan and China in the coming years wouldn\u2019t let Grumman work with either or both of them, so they called it a day went home, but Pakistanis didn\u2019t trash the project.\n\nLater in 90s, Pakistan and China went on to make another fighter with better design and avionics and pushed Project Sabre II/Super-7 research and came up with JF-17 Thunder.\n\nJeff has been in production for over a decade now and a third block is on the way. It shall have AESA radar, HMD, could have single-MFD, better BVR capabilities and some more avionic goodies.\n\nInitially, this aircraft was supposed to replace aging Pakistani F-7s and Mirages, but look at it now! On papers, original Block-I can outperform a Block-15 Falcon. And with Block-III, we can expect it to be at par with other modern fighters.\n\nIf you look at it, it\u2019s still a Fishbed, that dorsal spine gives it away. But the two intakes, each on the side, from F-5, which are now diverterless supersonic inlets. You could say Jeff is the first aircraft with successfully integrated DSIs.\n\nA twin-seater variant is also in production for training and fighter conversion purposes. It could also be used for maritime/attack missions but of course, with a lot of updates in future.\n\nThe only thing, holding it back is the engine, which is old and smoky. Pakistan cannot get hands on American or other Western power-plants due to unstable diplomatic relations and also because they are really expensive. Therefore, Chinese are working on a newer one, solely for the Jeff, but it\u2019s not going to be in production any soon.\n\nJeff has started getting orders from the international market. Myanmar got few delivered already and Nigeria is awaiting delivery. Many other small buyers are seriously looking at it.\n\nI am happy that Jeff got some attention in the western world, even if it\u2019s through a simulator. I hope people who read this appreciate the consistency and patience of Pakistani and Chinese engineers who worked for so many years and came up with such a beauty. A true and modern lightweight Multi-Role Fighter which I don\u2019t think exists in its true sense anywhere, anymore.\n\nI thank you guys at Grim Reapers for making videos of the Jeff and I appreciate your enthusiasm in the aviation altogether.\n\nPeace!"}
-{"text": "Expounding on the importance of our actions for salvation is, I suppose, my primary \u201cthing.\u201d I have been in so many informal debates over the issue that I have started to lose count of them. I have written about the topic many times. And often, I become angry (like God in 1 Kings 11:9-10) at the mere thought of sola fide (\u201cfaith alone\u201d), because I know that it is completely contrary to \u201cwhat the Lord [has] commanded.\u201d But why?\n\n\u201cFaith alone\u201d was, without a doubt, the primary reason that I left Protestantism. Even though I was ill-educated in theology at the time, I knew that it was illogical.\n\nI like to think of sola fide in terms of criminal law. Imagine that someone went before a judge and was proven guilty of heinous crimes, but then pleaded to the judge that he believed in the judge\u2019s authority to convict him and so the judge should not do so \u2013 and had that as his only defense. Should the judge convict him \u2013 to any degree \u2013 or should the judge completely let him off, and then give him a reward?\n\nDo you find the \u201cfaith alone\u201d argument compelling in such an instance? I do not. Of course, a \u201cfaith alone\u201d-r would say that there is some sort of significant difference between such a scenario in terms of temporal law and such a scenario in terms of eternal law, but there really is not. Protestant arguments for the belief simply do not stand in the face of such scenarios or substantial scrutiny.\n\nI strongly believe that sola fide is at the heart of many Western problems. Self-professed Christians have used it as an excuse to not care for the disadvantaged, to engage in profane sexual activity, etc. \u2013 the list goes on and on.\n\nMartin Luther told his followers to \u201csin and sin boldly\u201d (among other things, as I have documented) because he taught that we are saved solely by our faith in the power of Jesus Christ, apart from our actions. This method of thinking has been adopted by millions of Protestants since his time. But is it supported by the Bible? No. See Hebrews 10:26-27:\n\n\u201cFor if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.\u201d\n\n\u201cFaith alone\u201d has had a terrible impact on society. People often now shy away from discussing religion or morality with others, fearing conflict. Take, for example, something that transpired between a Lutheran family member and me. After I privately and politely informed her that she had committed a grievous sin (like we are called to do \u2013 see Matthew 18:15-17, Galatians 6:1, and Ephesians 4:15), she immediately jumped to the \u201cWho are you to judge?\u201d defense and paired it with the \u201cJesus paid the price\u201d line. I am sure that, for many Catholics, such occurrences are unfortunately familiar.\n\nGod has written in our hearts (Romans 2:15) that we should serve Him and others, not our selfish desires \u2014 and we will be punished if we defy Him. The necessity of both good works and abstinence from grave sin gives our lives concrete meaning. If someone takes away the eternal significance of our actions, they rob us of any real purpose: we all just become random, faceless, unimportant beings.\n\nSola fide does not work either logically or practically; it fails on all counts. Now, you know why I hate it.\n\n(All verses are from the NASB translation.)\n\n\u201cFollow\u201d me on Twitter, \u201cLike\u201d Answering Protestants on Facebook, Add Answering Protestants to your Circles on Google+, and \u201cSubscribe\u201d to my YouTube apologetic videos."}
-{"text": "1 kilo Johnson Matthey (JM) Silver Vintage Bar .999 Fine\n\nPlease note the design may vary.\n\nThis one-kilo silver bar is .999 fine and one of the rarest silver bars on the market! On the front of the bar, you will find the Johnson-Matthey logo along with the weight and purity of the silver. Each bar is guaranteed to be authentic by Johnson Matthey.\n\nJohnson-Matthey was one of the best names in the silver bullion market, making their standards and quality very high. This bar is a great way to invest in silver and diversify your portfolio!\n\nThese secondary market bars are of the many different designs by Johnson Matthey, and may or may not display toning, or have light contact marks and scratches, appropriate to their age.\n\nIf you have any questions or concerns, please contact one of our customer representatives."}
-{"text": "Note: Latency in the video stream means index items will appear first.\n\n14:33:36 Oral Questions to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government\n\n14:33:42 Q2. What steps his Department is taking to reduce homelessness. (904290)\n\n14:33:47 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:34:06 Will Quince MP (Colchester, Conservative)\n\n14:34:27 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:34:49 Lucy Powell MP (Manchester Central, Labour (Co-op))\n\n14:35:21 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:35:49 Michael Fabricant MP (Lichfield, Conservative)\n\n14:36:18 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:36:37 Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP (Exeter, Labour)\n\n14:37:05 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:37:36 Mr Philip Hollobone MP (Kettering, Conservative)\n\n14:37:45 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:38:05 Wera Hobhouse MP (Bath, Liberal Democrat)\n\n14:38:19 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:38:47 Alex Chalk MP (Cheltenham, Conservative)\n\n14:39:05 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:39:24 Alison Thewliss MP (Glasgow Central, Scottish National Party)\n\n14:39:48 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:40:10 Q3. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on support for homeowners in meeting mortgage costs. (904291)\n\n14:40:14 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:40:26 Rt Hon David Hanson MP (Delyn, Labour)\n\n14:40:45 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:41:11 Alison Thewliss MP (Glasgow Central, Scottish National Party)\n\n14:41:37 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:42:06 Q4. What estimate he has made of the profits derived from the Help to Buy scheme by housebuilders. (904292)\n\n14:42:09 Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Esher and Walton, Conservative)\n\n14:42:22 Gareth Thomas MP (Harrow West, Labour (Co-op))\n\n14:42:52 Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Esher and Walton, Conservative)\n\n14:43:18 Tony Lloyd MP (Rochdale, Labour)\n\n14:43:49 Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Esher and Walton, Conservative)\n\n14:44:11 Q5. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of projected funding for adult social care until 2020. (904293)\n\n14:44:15 Rishi Sunak MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)\n\n14:44:36 Tracy Brabin MP (Batley and Spen, Labour (Co-op))\n\n14:45:07 Rishi Sunak MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)\n\n14:45:35 Mr Mark Prisk MP (Hertford and Stortford, Conservative)\n\n14:45:59 Rishi Sunak MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)\n\n14:46:16 Bridget Phillipson MP (Houghton and Sunderland South, Labour)\n\n14:46:34 Rishi Sunak MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)\n\n14:46:56 Yvonne Fovargue MP (Makerfield, Labour)\n\n14:47:34 Rishi Sunak MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)\n\n14:47:57 Helen Jones MP (Warrington North, Labour)\n\n14:48:37 Rishi Sunak MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)\n\n14:49:05 Q6. What assessment he has made of the effect of the Help to Buy scheme and the reduction in stamp duty on first-time buyers. (904294)\n\n14:49:08 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:49:25 David Warburton MP (Somerton and Frome, Conservative)\n\n14:49:51 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:50:13 Mr Barry Sheerman MP (Huddersfield, Labour (Co-op))\n\n14:50:38 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:51:01 Q7. What progress his Department has made on the delivery of new homes. (904295)\n\n14:51:03 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:51:30 David T. C. Davies MP (Monmouth, Conservative)\n\n14:51:49 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:52:03 Lucy Allan MP (Telford, Conservative)\n\n14:52:29 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:52:54 Rachael Maskell MP (York Central, Labour (Co-op))\n\n14:53:15 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:53:41 Kerry McCarthy MP (Bristol East, Labour)\n\n14:54:01 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:54:24 James Heappey MP (Wells, Conservative)\n\n14:54:45 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:55:08 Helen Hayes MP (Dulwich and West Norwood, Labour)\n\n14:55:38 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n14:56:05 Q8. What steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken to build new homes. (904296)\n\n14:56:08 Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Esher and Walton, Conservative)\n\n14:56:17 Rt Hon Nicky Morgan MP (Loughborough, Conservative)\n\n14:56:50 Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Esher and Walton, Conservative)\n\n14:57:36 Q9. How many local authorities have had their local plans signed off by his Department in the last two years. (904297)\n\n14:57:40 Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Esher and Walton, Conservative)\n\n14:57:51 John Mann MP (Bassetlaw, Labour)\n\n14:58:30 Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Esher and Walton, Conservative)\n\n14:58:56 Rebecca Pow MP (Taunton Deane, Conservative)\n\n14:59:20 Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Esher and Walton, Conservative)\n\n14:59:32 Gareth Snell MP (Stoke-on-Trent Central, Labour (Co-op))\n\n15:00:00 Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Esher and Walton, Conservative)\n\n15:00:17 Q10. What recent assessment he has made of trends in the number of new homes for social rent since 2010. (904298)\n\n15:00:21 Mrs Heather Wheeler MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (South Derbyshire, Conservative)\n\n15:00:46 Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP (East Ham, Labour)\n\n15:01:07 Mrs Heather Wheeler MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (South Derbyshire, Conservative)\n\n15:01:34 Bob Blackman MP (Harrow East, Conservative)\n\n15:01:49 Mrs Heather Wheeler MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (South Derbyshire, Conservative)\n\n15:02:13 Alex Norris MP (Nottingham North, Labour (Co-op))\n\n15:02:29 Mrs Heather Wheeler MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (South Derbyshire, Conservative)\n\n15:02:59 Q11. What recent estimate he has made of the number of people sleeping rough in the West Midlands. (904299)\n\n15:03:06 Mrs Heather Wheeler MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (South Derbyshire, Conservative)\n\n15:03:47 Ian Austin MP (Dudley North, Labour)\n\n15:04:39 Mrs Heather Wheeler MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (South Derbyshire, Conservative)\n\n15:05:16 Q12. What assessment he has made of the effect of the local government finance settlement 2018-19 on the financial sustainability of local authorities. (904300)\n\n15:05:19 Rishi Sunak MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)\n\n15:05:43 Diana Johnson MP (Kingston upon Hull North, Labour)\n\n15:06:13 Rishi Sunak MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)\n\n15:06:41 Matt Western MP (Warwick and Leamington, Labour)\n\n15:06:57 Rishi Sunak MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)\n\n15:07:29 Mr Gary Streeter MP (South West Devon, Conservative)\n\n15:08:04 Rishi Sunak MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)\n\n15:08:27 Rt Hon David Lammy MP (Tottenham, Labour)\n\n15:09:00 Rishi Sunak MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)\n\n15:09:17 Ruth George MP (High Peak, Labour)\n\n15:09:50 Rishi Sunak MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)\n\n15:10:09 Emma Hardy MP (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle, Labour)\n\n15:10:42 Rishi Sunak MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)\n\n15:11:08 Jim McMahon MP (Oldham West and Royton, Labour (Co-op))\n\n15:11:34 Rishi Sunak MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)\n\n15:11:57 Q13. What resources he is providing to local authorities to build council housing. (904301)\n\n15:12:00 Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Esher and Walton, Conservative)\n\n15:12:08 Clive Efford MP (Eltham, Labour)\n\n15:12:29 Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Esher and Walton, Conservative)\n\n15:12:51 Rt Hon Sir Desmond Swayne MP (New Forest West, Conservative)\n\n15:13:00 Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Esher and Walton, Conservative)\n\n15:13:21 Q14. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's support for local government. (904302)\n\n15:13:24 Jake Berry MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Rossendale and Darwen, Conservative)\n\n15:13:41 Edward Argar MP (Charnwood, Conservative)\n\n15:14:07 Jake Berry MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Rossendale and Darwen, Conservative)\n\n15:14:27 Andrew Gwynne MP (Denton and Reddish, Labour)\n\n15:15:22 Jake Berry MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Rossendale and Darwen, Conservative)\n\n15:15:49 Julia Lopez MP (Hornchurch and Upminster, Conservative)\n\n15:15:57 Jake Berry MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Rossendale and Darwen, Conservative)\n\n15:16:06 Q15. What steps he is taking to support local authorities to fulfil their statutory duties in relation to children in care. (904303)\n\n15:16:08 Rishi Sunak MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)\n\n15:16:25 Ged Killen MP (Rutherglen and Hamilton West, Labour (Co-op))\n\n15:16:36 Rishi Sunak MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)\n\n15:16:58 Q17. What steps his Department is taking to tackle the practice of land banking. (904305)\n\n15:17:04 Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Esher and Walton, Conservative)\n\n15:17:12 Chris Ruane MP (Vale of Clwyd, Labour)\n\n15:17:42 Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Esher and Walton, Conservative)\n\n15:18:06 Q18. What steps his Department is taking to devolve power to towns and cities. (904306)\n\n15:18:10 Jake Berry MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Rossendale and Darwen, Conservative)\n\n15:18:22 Martin Vickers MP (Cleethorpes, Conservative)\n\n15:18:37 Jake Berry MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Rossendale and Darwen, Conservative)\n\n15:19:06 Topical Questions to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government\n\n15:19:11 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n15:19:45 Tom Pursglove MP (Corby, Conservative)\n\n15:20:03 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n15:20:24 Rt Hon John Healey MP (Wentworth and Dearne, Labour)\n\n15:20:47 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n15:21:24 Rt Hon John Healey MP (Wentworth and Dearne, Labour)\n\n15:22:22 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n15:23:14 Helen Whately MP (Faversham and Mid Kent, Conservative)\n\n15:23:35 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n15:24:02 Matt Western MP (Warwick and Leamington, Labour)\n\n15:24:30 Mrs Heather Wheeler MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (South Derbyshire, Conservative)\n\n15:24:50 Alex Burghart MP (Brentwood and Ongar, Conservative)\n\n15:24:58 Rishi Sunak MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)\n\n15:25:21 Marsha De Cordova MP (Battersea, Labour)\n\n15:25:54 Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Esher and Walton, Conservative)\n\n15:26:21 Rt Hon Nicky Morgan MP (Loughborough, Conservative)\n\n15:26:42 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n15:27:01 Patrick Grady MP (Glasgow North, Scottish National Party)\n\n15:27:13 Jake Berry MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Rossendale and Darwen, Conservative)\n\n15:27:30 Kevin Hollinrake MP (Thirsk and Malton, Conservative)\n\n15:27:55 Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Esher and Walton, Conservative)\n\n15:28:13 Diana Johnson MP (Kingston upon Hull North, Labour)\n\n15:28:34 Jake Berry MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Rossendale and Darwen, Conservative)\n\n15:29:10 Maggie Throup MP (Erewash, Conservative)\n\n15:29:35 Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Esher and Walton, Conservative)\n\n15:30:01 Steve McCabe MP (Birmingham, Selly Oak, Labour)\n\n15:30:25 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n15:30:38 Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP (Berwick-upon-Tweed, Conservative)\n\n15:30:58 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n15:31:18 Wera Hobhouse MP (Bath, Liberal Democrat)\n\n15:31:44 Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Esher and Walton, Conservative)\n\n15:32:00 Jack Lopresti MP (Filton and Bradley Stoke, Conservative)\n\n15:32:19 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n15:32:47 Gareth Thomas MP (Harrow West, Labour (Co-op))\n\n15:32:57 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n15:33:15 Rt Hon Anna Soubry MP (Broxtowe, Conservative)\n\n15:33:49 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n15:34:11 Mr Barry Sheerman MP (Huddersfield, Labour (Co-op))\n\n15:34:36 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n15:35:03 Steve Double MP (St Austell and Newquay, Conservative)\n\n15:35:24 Rishi Sunak MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) (Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)\n\n15:35:48 Robert Courts MP (Witney, Conservative)\n\n15:35:58 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n15:36:07 Julia Lopez MP (Hornchurch and Upminster, Conservative)\n\n15:36:18 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n15:36:35 Rebecca Pow MP (Taunton Deane, Conservative)\n\n15:36:58 Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Bromsgrove, Conservative)\n\n15:37:12 Urgent Question: Hate Crime\n\n15:37:14 Yasmin Qureshi MP (Bolton South East, Labour)\n\n15:37:30 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n15:39:52 Yasmin Qureshi MP (Bolton South East, Labour)\n\n15:42:10 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n15:43:31 Rt Hon Anna Soubry MP (Broxtowe, Conservative)\n\n15:44:47 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n15:45:43 Louise Haigh MP (Sheffield, Heeley, Labour)\n\n15:48:47 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n15:49:32 Mr Philip Hollobone MP (Kettering, Conservative)\n\n15:50:25 Joanna Cherry QC MP (Edinburgh South West, Scottish National Party)\n\n15:51:48 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n15:52:40 Dr Matthew Offord MP (Hendon, Conservative)\n\n15:53:11 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n15:53:35 Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, Labour)\n\n15:54:58 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n15:55:37 Bill Grant MP (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock, Conservative)\n\n15:55:52 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n15:56:08 Luciana Berger MP (Liverpool, Wavertree, Labour (Co-op))\n\n15:56:54 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n15:57:33 Bob Stewart MP (Beckenham, Conservative)\n\n15:57:54 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n15:58:22 Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP (Tooting, Labour)\n\n15:59:08 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n15:59:41 Mr Simon Clarke MP (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, Conservative)\n\n15:59:56 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:00:25 Rushanara Ali MP (Bethnal Green and Bow, Labour)\n\n16:01:06 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:02:09 Michael Fabricant MP (Lichfield, Conservative)\n\n16:03:13 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:03:46 Stella Creasy MP (Walthamstow, Labour (Co-op))\n\n16:04:38 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:05:49 Maggie Throup MP (Erewash, Conservative)\n\n16:06:13 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:06:30 Seema Malhotra MP (Feltham and Heston, Labour (Co-op))\n\n16:07:09 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:07:35 John Howell MP (Henley, Conservative)\n\n16:07:53 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:08:13 Wes Streeting MP (Ilford North, Labour)\n\n16:09:09 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:10:02 Rebecca Pow MP (Taunton Deane, Conservative)\n\n16:10:23 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:10:45 Dr Rupa Huq MP (Ealing Central and Acton, Labour)\n\n16:11:11 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:11:34 Tom Pursglove MP (Corby, Conservative)\n\n16:11:49 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:12:14 Stephen Doughty MP (Cardiff South and Penarth, Labour (Co-op))\n\n16:12:51 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:13:24 Tim Loughton MP (East Worthing and Shoreham, Conservative)\n\n16:13:53 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:14:19 Imran Hussain MP (Bradford East, Labour)\n\n16:15:00 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:15:41 Nigel Huddleston MP (Mid Worcestershire, Conservative)\n\n16:15:51 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:16:34 Mr Chris Leslie MP (Nottingham East, Labour (Co-op))\n\n16:17:01 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:17:23 Ian Austin MP (Dudley North, Labour)\n\n16:18:08 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:18:25 Thangam Debbonaire MP (Bristol West, Labour)\n\n16:18:49 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:19:24 Paula Sherriff MP (Dewsbury, Labour)\n\n16:19:43 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:20:17 Tracy Brabin MP (Batley and Spen, Labour (Co-op))\n\n16:20:57 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:21:21 Ms Karen Buck MP (Westminster North, Labour)\n\n16:21:50 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:22:19 Wera Hobhouse MP (Bath, Liberal Democrat)\n\n16:22:37 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:22:41 Jo Stevens MP (Cardiff Central, Labour)\n\n16:23:01 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:23:16 Jim McMahon MP (Oldham West and Royton, Labour (Co-op))\n\n16:23:42 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:24:08 Rt Hon Joan Ryan MP (Enfield North, Labour)\n\n16:24:46 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:25:13 Tony Lloyd MP (Rochdale, Labour)\n\n16:25:39 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:26:16 Chris Elmore MP (Ogmore, Labour)\n\n16:26:48 Victoria Atkins MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)\n\n16:27:07 Urgent Question: Treatment of House of Commons Staff\n\n16:27:09 Caroline Lucas MP (Brighton, Pavilion, Green Party)\n\n16:27:16 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:32:10 Caroline Lucas MP (Brighton, Pavilion, Green Party)\n\n16:34:12 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:36:31 Rt Hon Mark Harper MP (Forest of Dean, Conservative)\n\n16:36:59 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:37:10 Valerie Vaz MP (Walsall South, Labour)\n\n16:40:24 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:42:20 James Duddridge MP (Rochford and Southend East, Conservative)\n\n16:42:38 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:43:01 Pete Wishart MP (Perth and North Perthshire, Scottish National Party)\n\n16:44:19 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:45:45 Michael Fabricant MP (Lichfield, Conservative)\n\n16:46:19 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:47:01 Alison McGovern MP (Wirral South, Labour)\n\n16:47:39 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:48:16 Andrew Bridgen MP (North West Leicestershire, Conservative)\n\n16:48:42 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:48:51 Rt Hon Alistair Carmichael MP (Orkney and Shetland, Liberal Democrat)\n\n16:49:55 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:50:03 Dr Matthew Offord MP (Hendon, Conservative)\n\n16:50:31 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:51:03 Mr Barry Sheerman MP (Huddersfield, Labour (Co-op))\n\n16:52:17 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:53:04 Mr Philip Hollobone MP (Kettering, Conservative)\n\n16:53:25 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:53:52 Mr Chris Leslie MP (Nottingham East, Labour (Co-op))\n\n16:54:32 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:55:20 Rt Hon Dr Julian Lewis MP (New Forest East, Conservative)\n\n16:55:54 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:56:16 Lucy Powell MP (Manchester Central, Labour (Co-op))\n\n16:57:00 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:57:20 Bob Stewart MP (Beckenham, Conservative)\n\n16:57:36 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:57:49 John Mann MP (Bassetlaw, Labour)\n\n16:58:11 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:58:19 Stella Creasy MP (Walthamstow, Labour (Co-op))\n\n16:58:50 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n16:58:57 Paul Farrelly MP (Newcastle-under-Lyme, Labour)\n\n17:00:02 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n17:00:31 Rachael Maskell MP (York Central, Labour (Co-op))\n\n17:00:45 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n17:01:06 Chris Stephens MP (Glasgow South West, Scottish National Party)\n\n17:01:21 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n17:01:53 Stephen Doughty MP (Cardiff South and Penarth, Labour (Co-op))\n\n17:02:33 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n17:02:54 Yasmin Qureshi MP (Bolton South East, Labour)\n\n17:03:16 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n17:03:25 Liz McInnes MP (Heywood and Middleton, Labour)\n\n17:03:48 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n17:04:05 Chris Bryant MP (Rhondda, Labour)\n\n17:04:53 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n17:05:07 Ian Austin MP (Dudley North, Labour)\n\n17:05:38 Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)\n\n17:05:57 Statement: Salisbury Incident\n\n17:06:01 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:13:19 Rt Hon Jeremy Corbyn MP (Islington North, Labour)\n\n17:18:43 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:22:26 Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP (Chingford and Woodford Green, Conservative)\n\n17:23:41 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:24:17 Rt Hon Ian Blackford MP (Ross, Skye and Lochaber, Scottish National Party)\n\n17:26:40 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:27:36 Tom Tugendhat MP (Tonbridge and Malling, Conservative)\n\n17:28:40 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:29:16 Rt Hon Sir Vince Cable MP (Twickenham, Liberal Democrat)\n\n17:29:35 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:30:20 Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP (Beaconsfield, Conservative)\n\n17:31:22 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:31:47 Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, Labour)\n\n17:32:41 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:33:19 Rt Hon Dr Julian Lewis MP (New Forest East, Conservative)\n\n17:34:12 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:34:54 Mr Speaker\n\n17:35:07 Rt Hon Sammy Wilson MP (East Antrim, Democratic Unionist Party)\n\n17:35:43 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:36:05 Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP (Sutton Coldfield, Conservative)\n\n17:36:50 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:37:36 Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP (Exeter, Labour)\n\n17:38:18 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:38:39 Vicky Ford MP (Chelmsford, Conservative)\n\n17:39:00 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:39:43 Mike Gapes MP (Ilford South, Labour (Co-op))\n\n17:40:30 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:41:24 Rt Hon Mark Francois MP (Rayleigh and Wickford, Conservative)\n\n17:42:01 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:42:36 Rt Hon Caroline Flint MP (Don Valley, Labour)\n\n17:43:09 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:43:45 Crispin Blunt MP (Reigate, Conservative)\n\n17:44:31 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:44:54 Chris Bryant MP (Rhondda, Labour)\n\n17:45:56 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:46:45 Rt Hon Sir Hugo Swire MP (East Devon, Conservative)\n\n17:47:03 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:47:26 Luciana Berger MP (Liverpool, Wavertree, Labour (Co-op))\n\n17:47:38 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:47:57 Johnny Mercer MP (Plymouth, Moor View, Conservative)\n\n17:48:28 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:48:53 Rt Hon Tom Brake MP (Carshalton and Wallington, Liberal Democrat)\n\n17:49:13 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:49:27 Rt Hon John Whittingdale MP (Maldon, Conservative)\n\n17:49:54 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:50:18 Stewart Malcolm McDonald MP (Glasgow South, Scottish National Party)\n\n17:50:39 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:50:57 Michelle Donelan MP (Chippenham, Conservative)\n\n17:51:14 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:51:33 Stephen Doughty MP (Cardiff South and Penarth, Labour (Co-op))\n\n17:52:09 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:52:35 Dr Andrew Murrison MP (South West Wiltshire, Conservative)\n\n17:52:55 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:53:18 Mr Chris Leslie MP (Nottingham East, Labour (Co-op))\n\n17:53:46 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:54:11 Rt Hon Mark Harper MP (Forest of Dean, Conservative)\n\n17:54:36 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:55:00 Nic Dakin MP (Scunthorpe, Labour)\n\n17:55:22 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:55:40 Alex Chalk MP (Cheltenham, Conservative)\n\n17:56:02 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:56:28 Emma Reynolds MP (Wolverhampton North East, Labour)\n\n17:56:52 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:56:56 Bob Stewart MP (Beckenham, Conservative)\n\n17:57:27 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:57:43 Mr Barry Sheerman MP (Huddersfield, Labour (Co-op))\n\n17:58:17 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:58:45 Rt Hon Sir Nicholas Soames MP (Mid Sussex, Conservative)\n\n17:58:59 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n17:59:11 Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP (Wolverhampton South East, Labour)\n\n17:59:50 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:00:37 Richard Graham MP (Gloucester, Conservative)\n\n18:01:12 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:01:35 Phil Wilson MP (Sedgefield, Labour)\n\n18:02:01 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:02:29 Rt Hon Sir Desmond Swayne MP (New Forest West, Conservative)\n\n18:02:47 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:03:35 Christine Jardine MP (Edinburgh West, Liberal Democrat)\n\n18:04:10 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:04:34 Rt Hon Richard Benyon MP (Newbury, Conservative)\n\n18:05:11 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:05:46 John Woodcock MP (Barrow and Furness, Labour (Co-op))\n\n18:07:04 Mr Jonathan Djanogly MP (Huntingdon, Conservative)\n\n18:07:35 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:08:19 Gavin Robinson MP (Belfast East, Democratic Unionist Party)\n\n18:08:53 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:09:26 Andrew Bowie MP (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Conservative)\n\n18:09:55 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:10:21 Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP (Birmingham, Hodge Hill, Labour)\n\n18:11:05 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:11:52 George Freeman MP (Mid Norfolk, Conservative)\n\n18:12:25 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:13:10 Dr Rupa Huq MP (Ealing Central and Acton, Labour)\n\n18:13:36 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:14:01 Kevin Foster MP (Torbay, Conservative)\n\n18:14:24 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:14:35 Kerry McCarthy MP (Bristol East, Labour)\n\n18:14:59 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:15:22 Richard Drax MP (South Dorset, Conservative)\n\n18:15:45 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:16:04 Jonathan Edwards MP (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, Plaid Cymru)\n\n18:16:24 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:17:03 Matt Warman MP (Boston and Skegness, Conservative)\n\n18:17:25 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:17:39 Holly Lynch MP (Halifax, Labour)\n\n18:18:18 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:18:36 Mr Simon Clarke MP (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, Conservative)\n\n18:18:59 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:19:21 Martin Docherty-Hughes MP (West Dunbartonshire, Scottish National Party)\n\n18:19:48 Rt Hon Theresa May MP, The Prime Minister (Maidenhead, Conservative)\n\n18:20:09 Statement: Northern Ireland Finance\n\n18:20:25 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:27:02 Owen Smith MP (Pontypridd, Labour)\n\n18:33:08 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:37:48 Dr Andrew Murrison MP (South West Wiltshire, Conservative)\n\n18:38:36 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:39:48 Deidre Brock MP (Edinburgh North and Leith, Scottish National Party)\n\n18:41:58 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:43:30 Bob Stewart MP (Beckenham, Conservative)\n\n18:43:54 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:44:32 Rt Hon Nigel Dodds MP (Belfast North, Democratic Unionist Party)\n\n18:46:00 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:46:50 Maria Caulfield MP (Lewes, Conservative)\n\n18:47:05 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:47:31 Rt Hon Alistair Carmichael MP (Orkney and Shetland, Liberal Democrat)\n\n18:48:15 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:48:50 Mr Philip Hollobone MP (Kettering, Conservative)\n\n18:49:10 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:49:27 Lady Hermon MP (North Down, Independent)\n\n18:50:06 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:50:54 Nigel Mills MP (Amber Valley, Conservative)\n\n18:51:18 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:51:37 Mr Gregory Campbell MP (East Londonderry, Democratic Unionist Party)\n\n18:52:08 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:52:19 Edward Argar MP (Charnwood, Conservative)\n\n18:52:49 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:53:25 Kate Hoey MP (Vauxhall, Labour)\n\n18:53:49 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:54:25 Paul Masterton MP (East Renfrewshire, Conservative)\n\n18:54:51 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:55:08 Rt Hon Sammy Wilson MP (East Antrim, Democratic Unionist Party)\n\n18:55:34 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:56:04 Michelle Donelan MP (Chippenham, Conservative)\n\n18:56:22 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:56:52 Rt Hon David Hanson MP (Delyn, Labour)\n\n18:57:19 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:58:12 Kevin Foster MP (Torbay, Conservative)\n\n18:58:41 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:58:45 David Simpson MP (Upper Bann, Democratic Unionist Party)\n\n18:58:59 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n18:59:36 Karin Smyth MP (Bristol South, Labour)\n\n19:00:01 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n19:00:31 Jonathan Edwards MP (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, Plaid Cymru)\n\n19:00:44 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n19:01:09 Emma Little Pengelly MP (Belfast South, Democratic Unionist Party)\n\n19:01:34 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n19:02:22 Paul Girvan MP (South Antrim, Democratic Unionist Party)\n\n19:02:55 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n19:03:35 Gavin Robinson MP (Belfast East, Democratic Unionist Party)\n\n19:04:12 Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Staffordshire Moorlands, Conservative)\n\n19:05:01 Statement: United States Tariffs: Steel and Aluminium\n\n19:05:13 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:11:59 Barry Gardiner MP (Brent North, Labour)\n\n19:19:21 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:21:31 Rt Hon John Redwood MP (Wokingham, Conservative)\n\n19:21:58 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:22:19 Hannah Bardell MP (Livingston, Scottish National Party)\n\n19:24:28 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:25:23 Julia Lopez MP (Hornchurch and Upminster, Conservative)\n\n19:25:47 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:26:36 Mr Chris Leslie MP (Nottingham East, Labour (Co-op))\n\n19:27:26 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:27:43 Graham Stuart MP (Beverley and Holderness, Conservative)\n\n19:28:07 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:28:31 Catherine West MP (Hornsey and Wood Green, Labour)\n\n19:28:50 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:29:28 Mr Mark Prisk MP (Hertford and Stortford, Conservative)\n\n19:29:52 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:30:23 Anna Turley MP (Redcar, Labour (Co-op))\n\n19:30:49 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:31:19 Adam Afriyie MP (Windsor, Conservative)\n\n19:31:44 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:32:34 Rt Hon Sir Vince Cable MP (Twickenham, Liberal Democrat)\n\n19:32:48 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:33:25 Crispin Blunt MP (Reigate, Conservative)\n\n19:33:52 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:34:17 Jessica Morden MP (Newport East, Labour)\n\n19:34:46 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:35:08 Michelle Donelan MP (Chippenham, Conservative)\n\n19:35:23 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:35:53 Nic Dakin MP (Scunthorpe, Labour)\n\n19:36:20 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:36:50 Paul Masterton MP (East Renfrewshire, Conservative)\n\n19:37:12 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:38:02 Stephen Doughty MP (Cardiff South and Penarth, Labour (Co-op))\n\n19:38:32 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:39:05 Mr Simon Clarke MP (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, Conservative)\n\n19:39:32 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:40:00 Nick Thomas-Symonds MP (Torfaen, Labour)\n\n19:40:15 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:40:43 Bob Stewart MP (Beckenham, Conservative)\n\n19:41:01 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:41:27 Rt Hon David Hanson MP (Delyn, Labour)\n\n19:41:40 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:41:50 Robert Courts MP (Witney, Conservative)\n\n19:41:58 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:42:38 Jonathan Edwards MP (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, Plaid Cymru)\n\n19:42:51 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:43:09 Mrs Kemi Badenoch MP (Saffron Walden, Conservative)\n\n19:43:27 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:43:43 Chris Bryant MP (Rhondda, Labour)\n\n19:44:15 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:45:19 Mr Philip Hollobone MP (Kettering, Conservative)\n\n19:45:28 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:45:44 Kate Hoey MP (Vauxhall, Labour)\n\n19:46:09 Rebecca Pow MP (Taunton Deane, Conservative)\n\n19:46:09 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:46:42 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:47:20 Mr Adrian Bailey MP (West Bromwich West, Labour (Co-op))\n\n19:47:53 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:48:16 Jack Brereton MP (Stoke-on-Trent South, Conservative)\n\n19:48:40 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:49:07 Lady Hermon MP (North Down, Independent)\n\n19:49:57 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:50:42 Kevin Foster MP (Torbay, Conservative)\n\n19:51:06 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:51:46 Dr David Drew MP (Stroud, Labour (Co-op))\n\n19:52:16 Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (North Somerset, Conservative)\n\n19:52:49 Statement: Protection of Civilians in Afrin\n\n19:53:40 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n19:56:27 Kate Osamor MP (Edmonton, Labour (Co-op))\n\n20:01:54 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:05:53 Crispin Blunt MP (Reigate, Conservative)\n\n20:06:23 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:06:47 Chris Law MP (Dundee West, Scottish National Party)\n\n20:08:51 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:11:14 John Howell MP (Henley, Conservative)\n\n20:11:36 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:12:49 Rt Hon David Lammy MP (Tottenham, Labour)\n\n20:13:25 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:13:47 Bob Stewart MP (Beckenham, Conservative)\n\n20:14:14 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:15:03 Mrs Louise Ellman MP (Liverpool, Riverside, Labour (Co-op))\n\n20:15:31 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:15:58 Mr Philip Hollobone MP (Kettering, Conservative)\n\n20:16:43 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:17:35 Mike Gapes MP (Ilford South, Labour (Co-op))\n\n20:18:34 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:19:57 Kevin Foster MP (Torbay, Conservative)\n\n20:20:22 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:20:59 Tommy Sheppard MP (Edinburgh East, Scottish National Party)\n\n20:21:57 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:22:45 Michelle Donelan MP (Chippenham, Conservative)\n\n20:23:05 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:24:11 John Woodcock MP (Barrow and Furness, Labour (Co-op))\n\n20:24:58 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:26:21 Stephen Lloyd MP (Eastbourne, Liberal Democrat)\n\n20:27:12 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:28:08 Stephen Doughty MP (Cardiff South and Penarth, Labour (Co-op))\n\n20:28:42 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:29:23 Ben Lake MP (Ceredigion, Plaid Cymru)\n\n20:29:54 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:30:32 Catherine West MP (Hornsey and Wood Green, Labour)\n\n20:30:53 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:31:55 Chris Stephens MP (Glasgow South West, Scottish National Party)\n\n20:32:25 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:33:00 Nick Thomas-Symonds MP (Torfaen, Labour)\n\n20:33:22 Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)\n\n20:34:39 Chris Williamson MP (Derby North, Labour)\n\n20:35:16 Points of Order\n\n20:35:23 Mike Gapes MP (Ilford South, Labour (Co-op))\n\n20:37:52 Rt Hon Dame Rosie Winterton MP (Doncaster Central, Labour)\n\n20:39:00 Hannah Bardell MP (Livingston, Scottish National Party)\n\n20:40:04 Rt Hon Dame Rosie Winterton MP (Doncaster Central, Labour)\n\n20:41:15 Petition: Accessibility in Chinley station\n\n20:41:18 Ruth George MP (High Peak, Labour)\n\n20:42:54 Adjournment: Provision of respite care for vulnerable adults on Teesside\n\n20:42:59 Alex Cunningham MP (Stockton North, Labour)\n\n20:58:27 Dr Paul Williams MP (Stockton South, Labour)\n\n21:06:14 Anna Turley MP (Redcar, Labour (Co-op))"}
-{"text": "The internet is alive with stories about criminals who got caught because they are simply stupid. It may seem like a crass thing to say, but it is nonetheless quite accurate. Videos exist of drug dealers flaunting pounds of cocaine on Facebook, threatening to kill Donald Trump on You Tube and of culprits who would never have seen justice if they had not boasted of their crimes as if they were an accomplishment. This is essentially what Austin, Texas, did by badmouthing Trump. They painted a big target on their own heads, so to speak, and hunting season has arrived. Austin, it seems, is not immune to the law.\n\nThis happened when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) purposefully targeted the city following a breakdown in talks between ICE officials and local Austin City authorities. This was the opinion of U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Austin on Tuesday. ICE has reported that at least fifty people were arrested in the Texas city in the \u201cearly part of last month,\u201d following a \u201cfederal crackdown\u201d that came into being after Trump was sworn into office, according to Yahoo News.\n\nIt is said that the raids started after Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez had a meeting with the ICE field office director with the goal of defining Trump\u2019s plans regarding the border, sanctuary cities (like Austin), and what \u201cnew immigration guidelines\u201d were going to be. Those guidelines meant that more detentions and deportations are to happen nationwide, something that Hernandez was simply not about hearing. It was far easier for the SHERIFF to break the law, something that many criminals in Austin would also like the \u201cright\u201d to do. Rather than doing the right thing, the sheriff crafted a policy that actually worked to limit the local law enforcement from working with ICE.\n\nThe Judge did say that a warning was given by those cited only as \u201cimmigration officials\u201d that Austin \u201ccould expect a big operation, agents coming in from out of town.\u201d It was also said that the action was \u201ca result of the sheriff\u2019s new policy, that this was going to happen.\u201d This means that Trump is NOT about to have his authority questioned, the border neglected, or the Constitution disobeyed any longer. If this action angers every leftist from here to the tomb of Karl Marx, then the President is willing to take the backlash and bad press. He is not about to let Judge Austin IN Austin (as confusing as that may sound) ruin his plans. The same truth is likely to be discovered in many areas of wayward California, too.\n\nWhile addressing the move by ICE, the Judge complained, \u201cThat\u2019s the one we heard about where 50-some-odd people were arrested. My understanding is, what was [sic] told to us is, one of the reasons that [the raid] happened is because the meetings that had occurred between the field office director and the sheriff didn\u2019t go very well.\u201d He seems perplexed that he get penalized for not obeying the law, yet he rules from his bench daily, inflicting justice upon everyone who stands before him. It is almost a paradox to even call him a judge at this point.\n\nThis is not something that will linger about in the news cycle for a moment or two, nab a few headlines and be over with. This is a fundamental change back to the Constitution, the very law of the land, and that means a permanent change. The border laws and the power to regulate them are in the founding document for a reason. Without it, our jobs pay less, our communities are less safe and the whole nation gets saddled with ever rising costs. Feeding, educating and giving medical care to Americans is hard enough, doing so for those that are not even legally in the nation is preposterous. If this problem of open borders and sanctuary cities are allowed to continue, then the living conditions and quality of life for all Americans will keep going downward.\n\nThere are a lot of cities that get money from Big Brother for things like law enforcement that will be getting much less if they do not adhere to the rules. Why should the taxpayer\u2019s give full allotted money to police officers who are only going to be doing part of their job? We have asked before that if cities that illegally claim \u201csanctuary city\u201d status are going to not enforce the full law and do their full job, then why should the federal government give them full funding? That is an idea that makes no sense at all, for it is a paycheck, not an entitlement or a charity.\n\nThis judge also breaks the very will of the people in half. It can not be said enough that the people of America elected Donald Trump for a reason. That was so that, among other things, the border can be pulled as tightly as a drawstring purse. Those who wish to come and work or live in America are welcome to do so as long as they show up at the registration office, not pogoing over the fence.\n\nThese are common sense demands that every nation that isn\u2019t run by guerrilla armies have. The Democrats in America today will worry and waffle on whether or not sharia Islam can have what amounts to borders in illegal caliphate establishments in the U.S, but the real legal border they detest. Everything is backwards and nonfunctional on the left side of the aisle, and it gets worse and worse with each passing day.\n\nMore than anything else, that is why Clinton lost. Trump listens to the people. Some even suggest that his populist stances are not even his real beliefs, but merely reflections of his base. While this is not likely factual, let us pretend that it is. Who cares? We don\u2019t WANT our president giving us his views, we want him executing OURS. That is the whole message that the left can not yet grasp. Russia had nothing to do with Trump\u2019s election to the White House, but it turns out, Mexico did. No, they did not hack Clinton, either, but they certainly helped us understand who to vote for."}
-{"text": "Photo Credit: Galeb Abu Diab, Israel Antiquities Authorty\n\n\u201cOnly God help the beautiful property of Master Adios, amen,\u201d is the 1,600-year-old inscription recently found in an Israel Antiquities Authority excavations at Tzur Natan. The excavations were carried out ahead of new neighborhood construction initiated by the Israel Lands Authority, and ended this week.\n\nTzur Natan is a cooperative community built on a hilltop in western Samaria, 500 ft. above sea level, on a ridge in the foothills of the Samaritan Hills, some 14 miles from the city of Ra\u2019anana.\n\n\n\n\nThe inscription, in Greek, was deciphered by Prof. Leah Di Segni of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. It is dated to the early fifth century CE, the period during which Samaritan settlements reached the height of their power and prosperity in the southern Sharon Plain.\n\nAccording to Dr. Hagit Torge, director of the excavations on behalf of the IAA, \u201cthe inscription was discovered in an impressive winepress that was apparently part of the agricultural estate of a wealthy individual called Adios. This is only the second such winepress discovered in Israel with a blessing inscription associated with the Samaritans. The first was discovered a few years ago in Apollonia, near Herzliya.\u201d\n\nHerzliya borders Ra\u2019anana.\n\nThe archaeologists discovered stone quarries with rock-cut depressions used for cultivating grapevines near the winepress, apparently part of Master Adios estate.\n\n\u201c\u2018Master\u2019 was an honorific given to senior members of the community and attests to the high social standing of the owners of the estate,\u201d says Torge, adding, \u201cThe location of the winepress is near the top of Tel Zur Natan, where remains of a Samaritan synagogue were found with another inscription, and reveals Adios\u2019 high status.\u201d\n\nThe Tzur Natan Samaritan synagogue was converted into a church in the sixth century. A compound was discovered nearby a few years ago, featuring large rooms and spaces for producing wine, oil and flour. In one of these was found a Pompeian donkey-driven mill, incised with a seven-branch candelabrum.\n\nThe inscription in the Samaritan winepress is additional testimony to the extensive Samaritan settlement in the southern Sharon Plain during the Byzantine period.\n\nThe emergence of the Samaritans as a distinct ethnic and religious community appears to have taken place after the Assyrian conquest of the Kingdom of Israel in approximately 721 BCE.\n\nDuring the Byzantine period the Samaritans revolted in an attempt to maintain their identity. After the revolts the community diminished in size and returned to the Mount Gerizim area, where A Samaritan community still lives today."}
-{"text": "Tactical role-playing game Unsung Story: Tale of the Guardians will launch as a string of episodes focused around a core group of characters rather than a single main protagonist, designer Yasumi Matsuno stated in a post on the game's Kickstarter campaign page.\n\nAccording to Matsuno, Unsung Story will include several episodes, each containing a short story with four to six stages. The title will include five episodes at launch with a total of around 25 playable stages. Each episode will tell the story of a different hero; players will fight as these characters and learn details about their place in the history of Rasfalia's war, the Jelamond Uprising. More episodes will be released post-launch, Matsuno wrote, expanding the game's systems, cast and lore.\n\nMatsuno noted the combat system for Unsung Story will be similar to that used in his previous role-playing games.\n\n\"We're keeping the details close to our vest for now, but it shouldn't differ dramatically from past titles such as Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre,\" he said. \"It will be a turn-based system that places importance on the speed of each unit, with faster units acting first. Battles will unfold as units move, attack, and take other actions. The game will include multiple character classes. By leveling up, units will learn various new skills for their class. This arsenal of skills will be their means to defeat the enemy.\"\n\n\"It shouldn't differ dramatically from past titles such as Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre.\"\n\nOn the subject of classes, the game will launch with five basic classes that players can switch freely between, provided their party is carrying the necessary equipment to take on the role. These five classes are weapon-wielding Attackers, Defenders with a focus on protecting allies and equipping shields, magic-wielding Mages, Healers and Tamers, characters that command creatures in combat. There will be sub-classes available that borrow skills from different roles, but the main weapon a player equips will determine what they are and what class experience points will be applied to\n\nUnsung Story currently has 11 days to go in its Kickstarter campaign, which has pulled in $457,650 of its $600,000 goal at the time of writing."}
-{"text": "\u8209\u5831\n\n\u5927\u9ebb\u5408\u6cd5\u5316\u63a8\u52d5\u4e86\u5168\u570b\u5927\u5c0f\u57ce\u93ae\u7684\u623f\u5730\u7522\u5e02\u5834\u3002\u5168\u7403\u6700\u5927\u7684\u5927\u9ebb\u751f\u7522\u5730\u53f2\u5bc6\u65af\u7011\u5e03\u93ae(Smiths Falls)\u7684\u623f\u5c4b\u6210\u4ea4\u91cf\u5728\u904e\u53bb\u4e00\u5e74\u4f86\u589e\u52a0\u8d85\u904e27%\uff0c\u5c4b\u50f9\u4e5f\u4e0a\u534710.5%\u3002Re/Max\u5730\u7522\u4ee3\u7406\u7684\u5831\u544a\u986f\u793a\uff0c\u52a0\u6771\u5730\u5340\u7684\u5730\u7522\u5e02\u9053\u53d7\u60e0\u6700\u5927\u3002\n\nRe/Max\u5b89\u7701\u53ca\u5927\u897f\u6d0b\u7701\u4efd\u884c\u653f\u526f\u7e3d\u88c1\u517c\u5340\u57df\u7e3d\u76e3\u4e9e\u6b77\u5c71\u5927(Christopher Alexander)\u6307\u51fa\uff0c\u5728\u53f2\u5bc6\u65af\u7011\u5e03\u93ae\u4ee5\u597d\u6642\u6731\u53e4\u529b(Hershey)\u820a\u5ee0\u623f\uff0c\u50f1\u75281,300\u4eba\u751f\u7522\u5927\u9ebb\u7684Canopy Growth\uff0c\u5df2\u7d93\u767c\u5c55\u6210\u70ba\u5e02\u503c\u8d85\u904e110\u5104\u5143\u7684\u5168\u7403\u5927\u9ebb\u5de8\u64d8\u3002\u96d6\u7136\u9019\u9593\u516c\u53f8\u5c0d\u7576\u5730\u7684\u9577\u9060\u5f71\u97ff\u5c1a\u672a\u5b8c\u5168\u6e05\u695a\uff1b\u4f46\u7121\u7591\u5df2\u7d93\u76f4\u63a5\u5e36\u52d5\u9e97\u90fd-\u8056\u7f85\u502b\u65af(Rideau-St. Lawrence)\u5730\u5340\u7684\u7d93\u6fdf\u84ec\u52c3\u767c\u5c55\u3002\u56e0\u800c\u523a\u6fc0\u7576\u5730\u7684\u623f\u5c4b\u6210\u4ea4\u91cf\u589e\u52a027.1%\u3002\u7531\u65bc\u4f9b\u4e0d\u61c9\u6c42\u4ee4\u5340\u5167\u623f\u5c4b\u51fa\u73fe\u77ed\u7f3a\u7684\u60c5\u6cc1\u3002\u5176\u4ed6\u6709\u5927\u9ebb\u76f8\u95dc\u7522\u696d\u5730\u5340\u7684\u623f\u5730\u7522\u5e02\u9053\u4e5f\u6709\u985e\u4f3c\u73fe\u8c61\u3002\n\n\u5927\u9ebb\u5e97\u9644\u8fd125%\u4eba\u60f3\u642c\u8d70\n\n\u5831\u544a\u6307\u51fa\uff0c\u5927\u9ebb\u751f\u7522\u96c6\u4e2d\u5728\u52a0\u6771\u5730\u5340\uff1b\u96d6\u7136\u52a0\u897f\u4e5f\u6709\u591a\u500b\u5927\u578b\u751f\u7522\u8a2d\u65bd\uff0c\u4f46\u504f\u91cd\u65bc\u5927\u9ebb\u96f6\u552e\u696d\u3002\u5361\u52a0\u5229\u6709\u8d85\u904e50\u9593\u552e\u8ce3\u5927\u9ebb\u7684\u5e97\u92ea\uff0c\u5927\u6eab\u54e5\u83ef\u5730\u5340\u670923\u9593\uff0c\u4f46\u591a\u502b\u591a\u53ea\u67096\u9593\u3002\u96d6\u7136\u8abf\u67e5\u767c\u73fe\uff0c\u670965%\u4eba\u4e0d\u559c\u6b61\u5c45\u4f4f\u5728\u5927\u9ebb\u5546\u5e97\u9644\u8fd1\uff0c\u4f46\u9019\u4e9b\u5927\u9ebb\u96f6\u552e\u5e97\u92ea\u4e26\u6c92\u6709\u5c0d\u623f\u5730\u7522\u5e02\u9053\u548c\u5c4b\u50f9\u9020\u6210\u660e\u986f\u5f71\u97ff\u3002\n\n\u73fe\u6642\u670921%\u4eba\u5c45\u4f4f\u5728\u5927\u9ebb\u5e97\u9644\u8fd1\u3002\u96d6\u7136\u670931%\u4eba\u4e0d\u6703\u63c0\u9078\u5927\u9ebb\u5e97\u9644\u8fd1\u7684\u623f\u5c4b\uff0c\u4f46\u670944%\u4eba\u5247\u8868\u793a\u5e0c\u671b\u5c45\u4f4f\u7684\u5730\u9ede\u8fd1\u5927\u9ebb\u5e97\u3002\u5982\u679c\u4f4f\u6240\u9644\u8fd1\u6709\u5927\u9ebb\u5e97\uff0c\u670925%\u4eba\u6703\u642c\u5c4b\uff1b\u4f46\u670972%\u4eba\u8868\u793a\uff0c\u5982\u679c\u8981\u642c\u5c4b\u4e26\u4e0d\u662f\u56e0\u70ba\u5927\u9ebb\u5e97\u3002\n\nRe/Max\u52a0\u897f\u5730\u5340\u884c\u653f\u526f\u7e3d\u88c1\u827e\u6b8a(Elton Ash)\u8868\u793a\uff0c\u5361\u52a0\u5229\u5e02\u653f\u5e9c\u5df2\u7d93\u6279\u51fa\u8d85\u904e200\u500b\u5927\u9ebb\u96f6\u552e\u724c\u7167\u3002\u9019\u4e9b\u5927\u9ebb\u5e97\u53ef\u80fd\u5f71\u97ff\u6c11\u773e\u9078\u64c7\u5c45\u4f4f\u500b\u5225\u793e\u5340\u3002\u96d6\u7136\u6c11\u773e\u6709\u9867\u616e\uff0c\u4f46\u76ee\u524d\u6574\u9ad4\u63a5\u7d0d\u4ecd\u76f8\u7576\u6b63\u9762\u3002\n\n\u5831\u540d\u544a\u8868\u793a\uff0c\u5927\u6eab\u54e5\u83ef\u5730\u5340\u5df2\u7d93\u71df\u696d\u7684\u5927\u9ebb\u5546\u5e97\u5927\u90e8\u5206\u4f4d\u65bc\u5546\u696d\u5340\uff0c\u4e26\u4e0d\u5f71\u97ff\u4f4f\u5b85\u3002\u56e0\u800c\u696d\u4e3b\u4e0d\u6703\u56e0\u6b64\u800c\u7522\u751f\u53cd\u611f\u3002\u591a\u502b\u591a\u5e02\u76846\u9593\u5927\u9ebb\u5e97\u96c6\u4e2d\u5728\u5e02\u4e2d\u5fc3\u5340\uff0c\u5168\u90e8\u662f\u4eca\u5e744\u6708\u958b\u59cb\u71df\u696d\uff0c\u66ab\u6642\u4e5f\u672a\u898b\u5c0d\u5340\u5167\u7684\u623f\u5730\u7522\u5e02\u5834\u69cb\u6210\u5f71\u97ff\uff1b\u53cd\u800c\u662f\u5438\u5f15\u4e0d\u5c11\u7f8e\u570b\u904a\u5ba2\u5230\u591a\u502b\u591a\u9ad4\u9a57\u5438\u98df\u5927\u9ebb\u3002\u672c\u5831\u8a18\u8005"}
-{"text": "Maggie May - Chords, Lyrics and Origins\n\nOrigins\n\nMaggie May ('May' is sometimes spelt 'Mae') is a traditional British song from Liverpool. It's not to be confused with the also excellent, but very different, Rod Stewart hit of the same name. The lyrics tell the familiar tale of a prostitute who steals a gullible sailor's possessions (see Barrack Street for a similar tale). In Maggie May, however, the prostitute gets her come-uppace - she is transported to Australia, which of course, used to be a British penal colony. The earliest references to the song date back to the 1830s. It became popular with skiffle groups in the 1950s, including a then little-known outfit called The Quarrymen. The Quarrymen weren't to remain obscure for long. They changed their name to The Silver Beatles, and then simply to 'The Beatles' and the rest is history. Famously, you can hear a short burst of them performing 'Maggie May' on the last album they released, 'Let it Be'. The song reputedly remained a favourite of John Lennon's until his death in 1980.\n\nChords\n\n\n\n1st Verse\n\n\n\nC G7 C\n\nNow gather round you sailor boys, and listen to my plea\n\n\n\nG7\n\nAnd when you've heard my tale you'll pity me\n\n\n\nC C7 F D7\n\nFor I was a real damned fool in the port of Liverpool\n\n\n\nG7 C\n\nThe first time that I came home from the sea\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAll Other Verses\n\n\n\nF C\n\nI was paid off at the Home, from a voyage to Sierra Leone\n\n\n\nG7\n\nTwo pounds ten and sixpence was my pay\n\n\n\nC C7 F D7\n\nWhen I drew the tin I grinned, but I very soon got skinned\n\n\n\nC G7 C\n\nBy a girl by the name of Maggie May.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChorus\n\n\n\nF C\n\nOh, Maggie, Maggie May, they have taken her away;\n\n\n\nG7\n\nAnd she'll never walk down Lime Street any more;\n\n\n\nC C7 F D7\n\nFor she robbed so many a sailor, and skinned so many a whaler -\n\n\n\nC G7 C\n\nThat dirty, no-good, robbing Maggie May.\n\nLyrics\n\nNow gather round you sailor boys, and listen to my plea\n\nAnd when you've heard my tale you'll pity me -\n\nFor I was a real damned fool in the port of Liverpool\n\nThe first time that I came home from the sea.\n\nI was paid off at the Home, from a voyage to Sierra Leone:\n\nTwo pounds ten and sixpence was my pay.\n\nWhen I drew the tin I grinned, but I very soon got skinned\n\nBy a girl by the name of Maggie May.\n\nOh dirty Maggie May, they've taken her away;\n\nAnd she\u2019ll never walk down Lime Street any more.\n\nFor she robbed so many a sailor, and skinned so many a whaler -\n\nThat dirty, no-good, robbing Maggie May.\n\nI shan't forget the day when I first met Maggie May:\n\nShe was cruising up and down on Canning Place,\n\nWith a figure so divine, like a frigate of the line,\n\nSo, being a sailor, I gave chase.\n\nOh dirty Maggie May, they've taken her away;\n\nAnd she\u2019ll never walk down Lime Street any more.\n\nFor she robbed so many a sailor, and skinned so many a whaler -\n\nThat dirty, no-good, robbing Maggie May.\n\n\n\nNext day I woke in bed, with a sore and aching head,\n\nNo shoes, or shirt, or trousers could I find.\n\nI asked her where they were, and she answered, \"My dear sir,\n\nThey're down in Kelly's knock-shop, number nine.\"\n\nOh dirty Maggie May, they've taken her away;\n\nAnd she\u2019ll never walk down Lime Street any more.\n\nFor she robbed so many a sailor, and skinned so many a whaler -\n\nThat dirty, no-good, robbing Maggie May.\n\n\n\nOh, you thieving Maggie May, you robbed me of my pay\n\nWhen I slept with you last night ashore;\n\nAnd the judge he guilty found her of robbing a homeward-bounder,\n\nAnd she'll never roam down Lime Street any more.\n\n\n\nOh dirty Maggie May, they've taken her away;\n\nAnd she\u2019ll never walk down Lime Street any more.\n\nFor she robbed so many a sailor, and skinned so many a whaler -\n\nThat dirty, no-good, robbing Maggie May.\n\n\n\nOther English Folk Songs\n\nOther Traditional Folk Songs"}
-{"text": "Today, in the next article from .NET Internals series on my blog, we\u2019re going to investigate how the garbage collector (GC) actually releases the memory (which is its main purpose as could be read here), what is marking phase and how the managed heaps are compacted in order to optimize the process. We\u2019ll also see when may the collection be triggered.\n\n\n\nFinding objects to be garbage-collected\n\nAs we already know, .NET doesn\u2019t allow developers to directly allocate the objects on the heap. Instead, the only thing the programmer needs to do is to use the new keyword \u2013 framework takes care of all the rest (placing the object on the proper heap, initializing it etc.). After that, you can simply forget about your object, because it is released (collected) automatically by the garbage collector as soon as it\u2019s not needed anymore. But how does the GC know which objects it can collect?\n\n\n\n\n\nIn principle, all the garbage collector does is looking for the allocated objects which aren\u2019t referenced by anything, which means that such objects are no longer needed. This makes such objects ready to be collected (their memory can be released \u2013 marked as being possible to be used again).\n\n\n\n\n\nThere are several sources of references to objects allocated on the heap:\n\nstack (as we know from the 2nd post),\n\nglobal or static reference variables,\n\nCPU registers,\n\ninterop references (.NET objects used in COM/API calls),\n\nobjects finalization references.\n\nGC roots tree\n\nAll above-listed sources are called GC roots (also referred to as root references). As objects referenced from any of the roots can reference another objects (for example a customer may reference its orders collection), all these nested references are represented as a tree (graph) for every .NET application. Such references tree may look as follows:\n\nAs you can see, GC root is present on the stack, pointing to Customer reference object. It contains an ArrayList collection of orders, which is referenced by Customer object. The collection itself also contains references to its elements, so the tree grows up.\n\n\n\n\n\nEach root contains either a reference (address) to some object or null value.\n\nUnreachable (not used) objects\n\nThe GC roots tree described above is used by garbage collector to know which objects are no longer needed. As we see, the graph contains all objects that are still in use (are referenced by something else).\n\n\n\n\n\nGC uses this information the other way around \u2013 generally the GC classifies all objects that are not reachable from any root (not present in the graph) as garbage. Such objects are then collected (the memory allocated for them is released) by the GC during its collection cycles, which will be described in details in the next posts in the series.\n\nMemory releasing (garbage collection)\n\nAs mentioned, garbage collection is a process executed in cycles, which will be covered in the later articles, but the process itself contains two main steps:\n\nMarking phase \u2013 finding which objects are still in use, Collection \u2013 actual collection process of not-anymore-used objects (including SOH compaction).\n\nLet\u2019s see both phases in details.\n\nMarking phase\n\nWhen garbage collector runs its memory releasing process (referred to as \u2018collection\u2019), it needs to know which objects on the heap are still in use by the application \u2013 obviously, such objects cannot be collected.\n\n\n\n\n\nIn order to obtain this information, GC goes through the whole root references tree and for each GC root moves along all its reference tree (all objects that are referenced from the particular root) in order to mark each object in this tree as \u201cstill in use\u201d. That\u2019s why this integrated part of garbage collection process is called marking phase.\n\n\n\n\n\nMarking is a recursive operation, because as we said before, roots reference some object, which references another object, which references another object\u2026\n\nso in order to make sure that every object in use is added to the \u201cstill in use\u201d list (if it\u2019s not there yet), this recursive marking is done as can be seen below:\n\nLet\u2019s now see how it fits into the actual collection operation.\n\nCollection\n\nThe actual collection process, including previously-examined marking phase, can be pictured with the following pseudo-code:\n\nFirst of all, GC gets a list of all GC roots in the application (the list is maintained by JIT compiler and the runtime). Then it needs to iterate through each root and perform marking operation on it. Knowing that marking is a recursive operation, after this phase is finished, GC can be sure that all objects that have any root reference (either direct one or being pointed to by another objects) are added to the list of objects in use.\n\n\n\n\n\nNext step is the actual memory releasing process of not used objects, represented as a call to Cleanup() method on the listing above. Memory cleanup itself is a very simple process \u2013 it\u2019s just marking a particular memory block(s) as free (not used). There\u2019s no overwriting of memory or anything like that \ud83d\ude42 (except \u2018side overwriting\u2019 which happens during heaps compaction \u2013 described below). Just simple boolean-like terminology is used for memory blocks \u2013 used (1) or not used (0). It works that simple for LOH , but collection on SOH (still don\u2019t know what are LOH and SOH? Go and read here quickly!) also involves the compaction process. Let\u2019s see what that is.\n\nHeaps compaction\n\nAs we know from the first post, memory on the managed heaps can get fragmented, leaving holes of not used memory between live objects. That\u2019s why the garbage collection for SOH process involves compaction, which is a process of removing the memory holes on the heap. It\u2019s often referred to as a Copy Collection process, because it\u2019s based on finding the dead objects or memory holes (it\u2019s actually the same \u2013 holes of the memory that are not used by anything, present in-between live objects) and overwriting these holes with the live objects allocated later (next) on the heap \u2013 by copying chunks of live objects \u2018down in the heap\u2019.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe result of the compaction process is the contiguous SOH, where objects are allocated on top of each other with no or minimal possible number of memory holes.\n\nFinally, addresses to the objects stored in reference variables are updated in order to point to the correct, new places in the memory occupied by particular object.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe best gain we get from the compaction is that the SOH is not fragmented, so the memory can be used efficiently. On the other hand it requires some CPU time, which may have some impact on our application\u2019s performance.\n\n\n\n\n\nBy default, LOH is not compacted because of the size of objects stored on it (>85 kilobytes). Copying chunks of such objects would take too much time. Instead, used space and memory holes on the LOH are tracked and the allocation algorithm is adjusted to try to reserve the memory for new objects in the optimal way (by finding the best possible free slots on the fragmented heap).\n\n\n\n\n\nWhat\u2019s worth noticing is that starting from .NET Framework 4.5.1, LOH compaction can be enabled on demand by using GCSettings.LargeObjectHeapCompactionMode property.\n\nWhen does the GC run?\n\nIt can be stated that GC works in a non-deterministic manner. It runs on a separate thread when one of the following conditions becomes true:\n\nthe OS sends low memory notification,\n\nthe memory used by the objects on the managed heap exceeds some defined threshold (which is adjusted dynamically at runtime, based on current allocations),\n\nGC.Collect() method is called in the code.\n\nIf you see GC.Collect() directly used in code, in almost every case it means that there\u2019s something wrong with the application\u2019s implementation. Several great Microsoft engineers and open-source contributors have worked on automatic garbage collection in order to not trigger it manually \ud83d\ude42\n\n\n\n\n\nThe exceptions for this rule I\u2019d accept are maybe some gaming implementations, in which you work with huge objects and sometimes you\u2019d like to affect the way when these objects\u2019 memory is cleaned-up or usage in debugging \u2013 most of memory profilers (like dotMemory or ANTS Memory Profiler) force the collection before the memory snapshot is done by the user. This is reasonable, because when debugging memory leaks or issues you wanna see which objects remain allocated after GC does its cleanup.\n\n\n\n\n\nWhat\u2019s also worth mentioning is that when the garbage collection is run, all threads are stopped by default, except the thread in which the collection was triggered. However, this can be configured by changing the GC\u2019s settings to work in workstation or server mode, as well as making it run concurrently or in the background. There are different use cases in which each settings combination should be used \u2013 you can find more details about it here and here.\n\nSummary\n\nToday we\u2019ve covered the main blocks from which the garbage collection process in .NET is built. We went through marking phase, then the actual collection process \u2013 also including heaps compaction. We learnt how the GC roots tree is built and how garbage collector knows which objects it can clean-up during its cycle. We also listed cases in which the collection can be triggered.\n\n\n\n\n\nIn the next post we\u2019ll examine a very interesting concept \u2013 generational garbage collection.\n\n\n\n\n\nSee ya next week! \ud83d\ude09"}
-{"text": "Correction and Clarification: An earlier version of this article incorrectly included a photo that depicted the Big Red Pep Band, not the Big Red Marching Band. Furthermore, the article has been updated to clarify the organization disciplined: it is the Big Red Marching Band, not the Big Red Band. A statement from the organization has also been included in the article.\n\nFollowing a hazing report that was sent to the Office of the Judicial Administrator in Dec. 2017, the Big Red Marching Band received a \u201cwritten reprimand\u201d and was required to create a Leadership Transition Guide.\n\nAfter investigating the University-Registered Organization, the OJA found that \u201cas part of a leadership transition practice,\u201d an incoming section leader \u201cconsumed a shot of bar-b-que sauce\u201d to \u201cdemonstrate devotion to the section.\u201d\n\nThe investigation found that this event also occurred in past years and featured \u201cother condiments.\u201d\n\nThe Big Red Marching Band and University reached a Summary Decision Agreement, instead of proceeding with hearing.\n\nAfter the organization was found in violation of the University\u2019s hazing policy, it was ordered to develop a Leadership Transition Guide in collaboration with the marching band\u2019s advisor Megan Ramey, a OJA member, and Joe Scaffido, the director of campus activities.\n\nThe guide was distributed to members of the marching band\u2019s leadership board to inform them on the proper conduct expected by Cornell\u2019s conduct standards, and members transitioning into the leadership positions this school year were also required to review the guide.\n\nThe Big Red Marching Band affirmed its commitment to making the organization welcoming and inclusive in a statement issued on Thursday morning.\n\n\u201cThe band is committed to creating an inclusive and open environment where all individuals feel welcome and comfortable; therefore, the concern this complaint raised about the BRMB\u2019s approaches to our traditions have caused us to reconsider and modify them to be as welcoming and inclusive as possible,\u201d said Rebecca Rodell \u201918, the head manager of the Big Red Marching Band.\n\nRodell additionally confirmed in an email to The Sun that currently \u201cno members of the band are being investigated for this hazing incident or any other.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Life in Chains, Eater's regular series where writers share the essential roles played in their lives by chain restaurants\u2014great and grim, wonderful and terrible. Here, essayist and Alaska native Elisabeth Fairfield Stokes on the technicolor fantasy of McDonald's. Welcome to, Eater's regular series where writers share the essential roles played in their lives by chain restaurants\u2014great and grim, wonderful and terrible. Here, essayist and Alaska nativeon the technicolor fantasy of McDonald's.\n\nI\n\nn January of 1989, the temperature got down to sixty degrees below zero in Fairbanks, Alaska, and stayed there for three weeks. Furnaces burned through heating oil at a serious rate, and parking lots slowly filled with cars that wouldn't start anymore, even with the engine block heaters that everyone up there has. Every year in the dead of winter, usually the Japanese imports were the last cars left on the road, but in 1989, even some of the Toyotas had given up.\n\nIn that kind of weather, automatic doors would freeze open or closed, so they'd have to be disabled. The people working the drive-thru window at McDonald's wore their parkas while they stood at their posts, because it was impossible to stay warm with the cold air blasting in with every transaction. And there were lots of them: in the winter of '89; almost no one actually got out of their cars and walked anywhere if they didn't have to, including me and my friend Lori, whose Datsun 200sx held up nicely during that particularly long cold snap.\n\nLori and I were in high school, and we thought that it would be hilariously funny to go through the drive-thru at McDonald's and order ice cream. We got a lot of mileage out of it: our satisfied giggling when the person taking the order paused and said, \"You want what?\" and then the spectacle we made of ourselves back at school after racing through the ice fog (when water particles in the air literally freeze solid, thick as any fog that rolls off the ocean). We danced around amidst the cacophony of slamming lockers and yelled conversations, waving the tall soft-serve cones over our heads, the hallways glowing orange in the early-afternoon setting sun, so close to the Arctic Circle.\n\nBesides that visit for ice cream, I didn't otherwise go to McDonald's. Its parking lot was where kids met up on weekend nights to figure out where the party was (\"party\" meaning, usually, a pallet fire, a keg of the cheapest beer possible, and Def Leppard blasting from a boom box). The restaurant was, to me, tainted by its association with people who didn't have anywhere else to go. At 18 years old I was tired of the scene, eager to get out and away from what I saw as small town small-mindedness. I was ready for more.\n\nBut it hadn't always been that way with McDonald's and me. Until I was six, my family lived in a rural part of the state, in the remote Alaska Native village of Fort Yukon, about 140 air miles from the nearest McDonald's, down in Fairbanks. Fort Yukon is a predominantly Gwich'in Athabascan community of about 600 people. My family is white \u2014 my parents were there as missionaries, my father a bush pilot and the priest-in-charge at the log church down by the river.\n\nI'd stare as Ronald McDonald handed out balloons. Even though our TV set was black and white, I could tell there were brilliant colors\n\nWe didn't have running water in Fort Yukon, but we had a TV, and during the time we lived up there, The Wizard of Oz was broadcast once a year. My parents would let me stay up and watch it, tucking me into a sleeping bag on the couch. I was transfixed by the movie, by this little girl's ability to travel from her dull, rural home to a shining, magical kingdom filled with wonders. I could relate to Dorothy, had even once flown over a rainbow on the way into Fairbanks, and to me, Oz perfectly illustrated the world beyond our tiny town, what it was, what it meant. It made perfect sense to me that Dorothy and her companions would get shined and made pretty in the Emerald City; after all, that was what people did in the real world. Not like in Fort Yukon, where we went to the bathroom in a pail or an outhouse, where the snow never melted by the door in winter.\n\nBesides The Wizard of Oz, the other thing that taught me about the real world outside Fort Yukon was McDonald's. I would nearly press my nose to the screen whenever a McDonald's commercial came on. I'd stare as Ronald McDonald \u2014 in his yellow jumpsuit with the strangely wide hips \u2014 honked the horn as he rode his bicycle, handed out balloons to children, saved the fries the Fry Guys stole, or sang a song about feeding the wastebaskets because \"they're hungry, too!\" Even though our TV set was black and white, I could tell there were brilliant colors.\n\nI would scan the commercials for every tiny detail about what life was like when you lived somewhere where there was a McDonald's: sunshine, happy music, food wrapped up like presents in special papers and boxes, cups that came with lids and straws. Straws! People in the real world ate food in brightly colored packages and lived in houses with sidewalks and lawns. Nothing bad ever happened there. No one was cold, no one got hurt, no one died. They had flush toilets and hot water, and they had McDonald's, and they were happy all the time because of it.\n\nWe went into Fairbanks a few times each year; whenever we flew in a visit to McDonald's was almost guaranteed. Everyone from the villages went to McDonald's if they could: eating there meant participating in a world we, kids from \"the bush\" (a general way of referring to rural Alaska), didn't feel like we had access to, but could only admire from afar. Going into Fairbanks and eating at McDonald's conferred status.\n\nBeing at McDonald's meant that I was in a city big enough to have one, that I was in the world I saw on television\n\nMy standard order was a hamburger, fries, and a strawberry shake. I almost never took more than a bite or two of the hamburger, and I couldn't eat all my fries before they got cold, but I always finished my shake, which tasted the way the strawberry in one of my scratch 'n sniff books smelled. I would always ask my dad to \"start\" my shake for me, because the first pull up through the straw was hard, and I was impatient.\n\nBut the truth is, the food hardly even mattered. Being at McDonald's meant that I was in a city big enough to have one, that I was in the world I saw on television. That world looked nothing like what I saw in Fort Yukon: log cabins with dog teams tied out front, trails through the scrubby black spruce, the big river flowing steadily by. But if I could fit in at McDonald's, I could fit into the bigger world, I thought. It took leaving for me to understand that none of this was true, that life is hard everywhere, that if you thought you weren't happy without McDonald's, you wouldn't be happy with it. It is a classic archetype, exemplified by Dorothy, only realizing what you have in your own backyard when you are faced with losing it.\n\nThe year before that cold winter of 1989, I went on a school trip to Juneau, the state capitol. Teenagers from all over the state were there, for a program called Alaska Close-Up that brings students for \u2014 you guessed it \u2014 a close-up look at government. I had come in with kids from other schools in Fairbanks; there were Inupiaq kids from Point Hope, up on the Arctic Coast, kids from Tlingit villages in the Southeast, kids from the Aleutians. We all flew in: none of these places are accessible by road, not even Juneau, which then had a population of less than 30,000.\n\nI was lying in bed in the youth hostel there one night, on a bottom bunk in a room full of bunk beds, when I heard paper rustling across the way. I looked over to see a girl from Sand Point, out on the Aleutian chain, lying on her side, unwrapping a McDonald's hamburger and eating it while she flipped through the pages of a teen magazine.\n\nPeople from Juneau would go home with ten or more Big Macs in their suitcase, to hand out to friends and family as trophies\n\nI knew she wasn't hungry: they'd been feeding us well on this trip, pasta and chicken and bread and salad, dessert every night. But I also understood why she was eating that hamburger, and the chicken nuggets and fries she had, too, and the shake. She couldn't get McDonald's where she lived. For a long time, there were only three places in Alaska where you could: Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau. Juneau was new to the list: I remembered a time when people from Juneau, visiting us in Fairbanks, would go home with ten or more Big Macs in their suitcase, to hand out to friends and family as trophies. Status.\n\nThat's why this girl was eating McDonald's at nine o'clock at night, after a big dinner, at the end of a day of plenty of food. I understood. It made me remember what it felt like to live in Fort Yukon, a time when I, too, would have found intense pleasure in just entering a McDonald's, in just walking through the swinging doors, tilting my head up to see the menu overhead, eyes wide at the way the various paper-wrapped sandwiches slid down their metal chutes from behind the wall that separated the counter from the kitchen, the anticipation of that fake strawberry flavor making my cheeks ache with pleasure and yearning.\n\nAfter we moved to Fairbanks, even though McDonald's was right there, we didn't go much anymore. I don't remember minding. McDonald's, I soon learned, was convenient for people in Fairbanks more than it was special, and we couldn't afford not to plan ahead. People ate there if they couldn't go to nicer restaurants. My old way of seeing things was inverted: not eating at McDonald's conferred more status than eating there did. I focused instead on the thrill of getting to eat things like yogurt, drinking fresh milk instead of powdered, getting to go to Alaskaland, a playground and tourist trap, which was now just a bike ride away.\n\nDespite the newfound pleasures of Fairbanks, it didn't take long for homesickness to set in. I now missed Fort Yukon as much as I used to want to go to McDonald's; that is to say, powerfully. I missed the woodsmoky way Fort Yukon smells, the way the light slants hard right up on the Arctic Circle, the way everyone knows everyone else. I missed the coziness of the mission house, the nooks I curled up in to read, the way all my friends were within walking distance, the way people just came in and sat at our table to eat if they were hungry. I missed the village grandmas, who loved all children as if they were their own.\n\nI couldn't go home, no matter how much I wanted to. Home was somewhere in the air between Fort Yukon and Fairbanks\n\nI also missed the way McDonald's used to make me feel, how excited I used to get at just the idea, just the thought of going there. It was gone, but nothing had really replaced it. I lived in Oz now, in the world McDonald's had symbolized for a kid from the bush, and now that it was no longer special, its magic had faded. We lived in a house with a lawn, and a sidewalk. We got all our food from a grocery store. McDonald's didn't matter.\n\nThat's why, surreptitiously watching that girl from Sand Point as we lay in our hostel bunk beds, I was sad. She got to have the pleasure, the fun of what McDonald's promised. She got to go home, back to Sand Point, a village not too different from Fort Yukon, a tiny dot where her family was, where her people were, where life made sense, even if it wasn't glamorous. I couldn't go home, no matter how much I wanted to. Home was somewhere in the air between Fort Yukon and Fairbanks. I was white, but from a Native village. I had grown up formed by its values, its sense of community, and then I left. I didn't have family there, only memories.\n\nI don't live in Alaska anymore. My kids have never eaten at a McDonald's, and I don't think they have anything in their lives that means, or meant, what McDonald's once meant to me. They've never lived anywhere without running water, without electricity. We drive everywhere, and we drive a lot. Alaska, to them, is Oz: a bit of a dream, far away, the place their mom is from. They have a sense of only one world, not two. But I took them back to Fort Yukon once, when they were very small. We walked along the dusty roads, we stood by the river, I pushed them on what might have been the very same swings that held me when I was five. They loved it; they were happy there, too. And on the way back to Fairbanks, we flew over a rainbow.\n\nElisabeth Fairfield Stokes teaches writing at Colby College. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, Time, The Washington Post, and elsewhere.\n\nEditor: Helen Rosner\n\nPhoto illustration: Helen Rosner; photo: Nick Mealey"}
-{"text": "\u201cI am a black man in America. I have so much angst. So that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to write about,\u201d said then-26-year-old John Singleton to PBS\u2019s Charlie Rose in 1995. In promotion for his third movie Higher Learning, the phenom, who died this week at 51, slumped in his chair, eyes shining under his wireless frames. Noted for his trailblazing, Oscar-nominated Boyz N the Hood, Higher Learning, he explained, would show his growth as a screenwriter and director. He hoped it would reinvent him. Because unlike his previous films, Higher Learning was not about him. It was much larger. Higher Learning was about America.\n\nJohn Singleton: maverick director with a radical edge Read more\n\nHis most prescient work, Higher Learning reflected the misgivings of American society, mirroring the depth of the chasm created by the country\u2019s societal systems. \u201cWe took a fictitious campus and made it a metaphor for America itself,\u201d Singleton told Rose. Following three freshmen, Malik Williams (Omar Epps), Kristen Connor (Kristy Swanson) and Remy (Michael Rapaport), the film\u2019s subject matter dealt with sexuality, rape and racism. His goal? To \u201cunlearn\u201d, to undo hegemonic thought. \u201cI make films because I have something to say and I have a vision of what I want to get across,\u201d he told SBS Australia in 1995. \u201cAmerican college campuses are the only place you can see America in its purest form,\u201d he told the network. The setting allowed him to place his characters in everyday perils, exacerbating differences and share his vision of the nation.\n\nPresent in the very first shots and in the background of many scenes is the American flag, framing the stories as purebred American. Kristen is the first to face her metamorphosis, through sexual assault. She declines to report it, saying \u201cIt\u2019s not going to do anything. They\u2019re just going to make me feel like shit and make me look like I asked for it.\u201d Her words and actions echo those we\u2019ve heard from survivors since, with one in five women experiencing this trauma. Her healing comes through a romantic relationship with activist Taryn (Jennifer Connolly), and Wayne, Malik\u2019s white roommate. It is more than curiosity, it is Kristen learning how to trust again. Singleton told Roger Ebert he intended to make her storyline feel real. \u201cI didn\u2019t make it exploitative, you know. It\u2019s a natural thing.\u201d\n\nMalik, by contrast, faces an awakening by way of systemic racism. At Columbus University, like many predominantly white institutions, the campus and its security are hostile to black people. In an elevator, Kristen tightens her hold on her bag when he enters. On campus, the cops mistreat black students and many of the white students express racist micro-aggressions, calling black students \u201cgang members\u201d in one scene. It bothers Malik \u201cthe way these fools be trippin when they see a black face\u201d, he says to Laurence Fishburne\u2019s Professor Phipps. When Phipps retorts it isn\u2019t physical harm, Malik replies, \u201cJust because it ain\u2019t up in my face, that don\u2019t mean it\u2019s not happening. It\u2019s less physical now. It\u2019s more mental.\u201d Constantly treated as a threat, he feels unsafe. After a standoff where his life is threatened but he is still mistreated by campus security, he has had enough, retreating to the haven of his friend Fudge\u2019s (Ice Cube) apartment. He explains to a protesting Wayne: \u201cI\u2019m at the point where I feel safer and more comfortable with my own people.\u201d\n\nIn his interview with Rose, Singleton dubs Malik \u201chis voice in the film\u201d. It is through Malik\u2019s eyes, Singleton\u2019s, that the campus confronts racism. Malik \u201cfeels alienated and has to fight his way through\u201d, explained Singleton, much like the director himself. \u201cSeems like this whole system is set up towards maintaining white supremacy\u201d, Malik preaches in one scene. Singleton regularly expressed similar sentiments about the Hollywood establishment. He felt, as Malik did, alienated, and often spoke of his unease that there were only a few black people allowed in. In 2014, he showed clear contempt for Hollywood operations, telling an audience at a talk facilitated by the Hollywood Reporter at Loyola Marymount University, \u201cThey want black people to be who they want them to be, as opposed to what they are.\u201d When asked if he felt the studios were trying to limit his freedom as a director, he answered, \u201cThey\u2019re trying to. They\u2019re always trying to.\u201d Black directors, he explained, are only given so much funding and such high expectations and there are few people who stand up for them. Onscreen, Fudge asks how Malik\u2019s athletic scholarship works. Does he only get his scholarship if he runs? Yes, Malik responds, \u201cThat\u2019s the way the system goes.\u201d Fudge replies flatly: \u201cRun, nigga, run.\u201d\n\nBut perhaps the most pressing storyline presented isn\u2019t Malik\u2019s, rather the white supremacist radicalization of Remy, an aspiring engineer who later reveals he was raised by a physically abusive \u201csurvivalist\u201d. Corroded by isolation, it is in the cover of dark when he is approached by skinheads under the American flag and is the start of his devolution. \u201cWe\u2019re white in America. What more do you need?\u201d Even the language is familiar: \u201cHow do you feel knowing that this country doesn\u2019t belong to you any longer?\u201d\n\nThe climax turns Remy into a school shooter. While it\u2019s often widely professed that these sorts of shooters are \u201clone wolves\u201d, despite being overwhelmingly white and spouting similar racist and misogynistic ideology, Higher Learning highlights the reality of the pack mentality sheltered and fostered by white supremacists. In the end, Remy\u2019s act inspires and emboldens his cult members and he becomes a martyr. In the wake of hate-motivated shootings like Poway, Christchurch and Pittsburgh, it is here Higher Learning hits hardest.\n\nFacebook Twitter Pinterest John Singleton on the set of Higher Learning with Tyra Banks. Photograph: Eli Reed/New Deal/Columbia/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock\n\nDespite its avant-garde commentary, Higher Learning was not well received at the time of its release. While Roger Ebert praised Singleton for his \u201cclear eye and a strong will\u201d, saying \u201cHigher Learning has no easy answers,\u201d most reviews gave solid praise for its content but ultimately pilloried its execution. Todd McCarthy of Variety said it presented a \u201ccomplex mosaic of contemporary culture\u201d but called it \u201cnaggingly uneven\u201d. Rolling Stone\u2019s Peter Travers said, \u201cHigher Learning is seriously intended and seriously flawed. Singleton tends to shout his objectives.\u201d\n\nBut in a world where shouting into a void is a meme, Singleton\u2019s Higher Learning is a looking glass. In a February 2019 interview with BlackGirlNerds, the director is reminded of the conversation where Fudge asks if Malik would stand for the national anthem, despite the country\u2019s racism. When reminded the conversation parallels those surrounding former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, Singleton laughed. \u201cI watched the movie recently, and I was like, \u2018Whoa!\u2019 I can\u2019t believe that I was on that back in 1994, 1995!\u201d\n\nHis percipience was even present when he discussed his own mortality. In 2014 at Loyola Marymount University, Singleton was asked what film he would like to represent him after he passed away. He hesitated, unready to confront the issue of legacy. \u201cYou\u2019re scaring me, man \u2026 I want to be remembered for my passion. And for the fact that my films, each one of them is a different soulful statement.\u201d He succeeded. In Higher Learning, he chose to unnerve his audience using difficult subjects to illuminate the deeply scarred soul of America. Higher Learning exposed, telling audiences there is still more unlearning to do even then, but especially now."}
-{"text": "This is a curated page. Report corrections to Microbewiki.\n\nA Microbial Biorealm page on the genus Mycobacterium smegmatis\n\nClassification\n\nHigher order taxa\n\nBacteria (Domain); Actinobacteria (Phylum); Actinobacteridae (Class); Actinomycetales (Order); Corynebacterineae (Suborder); Mycobacteriaceae (Family); Mycobacterium (Genus) (8).\n\nSpecies\n\nMycobacterium smegmatis.\n\nAlso known by: Mycobacterium paratuberculosis smegmatis, Bacterium smegmatis, Bacillus smegmatis, Mycobacterium paratuberculosis smegmatis, Bacterium smegmatis, Bacillus smegmatis, Mycobacterium smegmatis (7).\n\nDescription and significance\n\nMycobacterium smegmatis was first discovered and isolated in 1884 by Lustgarten. The name smegmatis was first given to Bacillus smegmatis by Trevisan in 1889. Lehmann and Neumann gave the species name smegmatis to Mycobacterium smegmatis in 1899.\n\nMycobacterium smegmatis lives in aggregate layers of cells attached to each other in a community called a biofilm. Mycobacterium smegmatis are mostly found in the soil, water, and plants. They tend mostly to exist near large bodies of water. Isolates have been discovered in 16 States, Australia, Russia, Canada, and Switzerland (1). Mycobacterium smegmatis is classified as a saprophytic species that rarely causes disease and isn't dependent on living in an animal, unlike some pathogenic Mycobacterium.\n\nThe bacteria will be finely wrinkled and creamy white while it is growing on accessible nutrients. When Mycobacterium smegmatis has been growing for quite some time (generally after 48 hr growth) and is abundant, the color will turn from white to a nonpigmented creamy yellow. It will also be waxy because of the high amount of unique Gram-positive cell wall coated with mycolic acids. The bacteria also ranges in textures, being seen as smooth, flat and glistening or coarsely folded or finely wrinkled (12).\n\nMycobacterium smegmatis is very useful for the research analysis of other species in the genus Mycobacteria in cell culture laboratories. There are several Mycobacterial species that are common, harmful diseases, like Mycobacterium leprea, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and Mycobacterium bovis. Mycobacterium smegmatis is so important because it is fast growing and non-pathogenic compared to these species. There are many similarities between Mycobacterium smegmatis and the much more virulent obligate pathogens that are Mycobacteria. The most significant is the complementary uses of mycothiol biosynthesis of Mycobacterium for making an essential thiol that is responsible for life. If it is knocked out, the species will be terminated and a treatment will be found (10). There is also research involved in finding drug therapies that will inhibit the myolic acid biosynthesis which is essential for creating the unique bacterial cell wall (11). Currently, there are many laboratories that are culturing and isolating this species to determine the pathological course of deleterious Mycobacteria.\n\nGenome structure\n\nThe genome of Mycobacterium smegmatis is 6,988,209 nucleotides long. It has a 67% guanine cytosine content and a 33% adenosine thymine content, and is therefore classified as a high GC content gram-positive bacteria (discussed below). 90% of the genome (6716/6938 genes) represents coding regions that encode for 6716 proteins. The 6938 genes are composed circularly with an absence of any plasmids. Mycobacterium smegmatis is a slow growing bacteria which contains one copy of the ribosomal RNA genes unlike fast growing bacteria (e.g. Escherichia coli) which has two copies of the rRNA genes. Mycobacterium smegmatis doesn't need so many copies of the genes because it doesn't require the high production of proteins when it is growing slow, while Escherichia coli does. The genome was sequenced in November 29, 2006 by the J. Craig Venter Institute (9).\n\nCell structure and metabolism\n\nMycobacterium smegmatis is a Gram-positive bacteria, characterized by an inner cell membrane and a thick cell wall. The Gram-positive bacteria is further classified as one with a high GC content and therefore a low AT content. This quality is used as a crude measure of similarity of different species of bacteria. Although this bacteria is Gram-positive, it has some unique qualities that are divergent from most Gram-positive bacteria. Its cell wall contains mycolic acids, long, branched fatty acids that are normally present in scid-fast bacteria. The acids prevent proper gram staining that would normally identify the cell as a gram positive cell because they create a waxy coating so the crystal violet has difficulty entering the cell, therefore making it seem gram-negative. The cell wall is also abnormal because it is irregularly thick for a gram-positive bacteria and its hydrophobicity reduces desiccation. This feature in addition to its slow cell growth (in comparison to most other bacteria) attribute to Mycobacterium smegmatis' low response to antibiotics. Although Mycobacterium smegmatis contains the similar structural features of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the former grows much quicker in comparison to the latter (12).\n\nMycobacterium smegmatis is an aerobic organism. Mycobacerium smegmatis may donate its final electrons in aerobic respiration to oxygen using one of three terminal oxidases. In aerobic respiration, the bacteria undergo oxidative phosphorylation to yield the highest amount of energy. Since Mycobacteria are obligate aerobes, oxygen is required for aerobic respiration. Mycobacterium smegmatis doesn't undergo anaerobic respiration, however certain virulent Mycobacteria undergo anaerobic respiration only during infection. Mycobacterium smegmatis may survive on chemolithotrophic growth on carbon monoxide as its inorganic carbon source during aerobic respiration. The bacteria may also use methanol for its sole source carbon and energy. In addition, Mycobacterium smegmatis requires a unique fatty acid biosynthesis to produce the mycolic acids that are present on the cell wall. Mycobacterium smegmatis has no motility and no formation of endospores (3, 13, 14).\n\nEcology\n\nBiofilms of Mycobacterium smegmatis may use stigmasterol as a carbon source from plants. The bacteria will metabolize the compound to a potent androgen, androstenedione. If Mycobacterium smegmatis is around a large body of water, which is where it usually exists, then the bacteria will secrete androstenedione. The androgen in the water causes female mosquito fish to form male anatomical sex organs (15). Not much else could be found about the contribution to the environment.\n\nPathology\n\nThis organism is classified as saprophytic and therefore relatively safe. Mycobacterium smegmatis doesn't normally reside in any animals, and doesn't cause dangerous or even any infections. There have only been a few threats, which have seem to come out in only extreme cases, however there hasn't been any documented virulence of Mycobacterium smegmatis in over 15 years. There are many other species under this genus are pathogenic. Obligate pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium bovis, and Mycobacterium leprea are highly pathogenic in animals. These species can cause tuberculosis and leprosy, debilitating diseases that may lead to death or disfigurement. These pathogens can only survive inside the host organism. There is also the classification of potential pathogens in this genus, such as Mycobacterium avium, which may survive outside of the host environment and cause virulence once it is contracted by the host.\n\nHowever, there has been 1 case where the bacteria has killed a human after infection. In this case, an Italian child was infected by Mycobacterium smegmatis and died at the age of 8. After genetic analysis of the child, it was determined that four nucleotides were inserted, causing a frameshift and a nonsense mutation. The stop codon allowed for a premature stop of translation and essential proteins weren't made. Although this showed potential pathogenic properties of Mycobacterium smegmatis, this case required that the child have two mutant alleles in his genome for the bacteria to be particularly virulent. Therefore in most cases, Mycobacterium smegmatis is generally safe and not pathogenic (5).\n\nApplication to Biotechnology\n\nMycobacterium smegmatis has been used to produce Xylitol. Xylitol is an important sugar that is used as a substitute for commercial dietary sugars to prevent tooth decay and reduce plaque. It is also absorbed more slowly in the bloodstream, so it prevents the negative affects of high blood sugar levels. This is used as a dietary alternative for diabetics. It also has potential treatments for osteoporosis and ear and upper respiratory infections. The D-xylulose sugar produced by Mycobacterium smegmatis is combined with the D-xylose sugar produced by D-xylose isomerase of immobilized Mycobacterium smegmatis to produce the beneficial Xylitol (6).\n\nMycobacterium smegmatis is also used to transform L-ribulose into L-arabinose with the enzyme L-arabinose isomerase. Mycobacterium smegmatis produces L-arabinose during carbohydrate metabolism. L-arabinose is used by biotech companies to produce chiral drugs. Researchers use L-arabinose as a component for many tissue culture medium. It is also used by food producers for the Maillard reaction to make bread, beer, dried or condensed milk, etc. (6).\n\nCurrent Research\n\nDr. Fahey's lab at UCSD studies the methods of mycothiol biosynthesis that produces thiols necessary for Mycobacterium to live and grow. The lab is trying to determine the missing and unknown enzymes and substrates that are present in the biosynthesis pathway and if they are essential. There are currently three steps that have been determined by this lab. They are trying to determine the unknown substrate that is converted to GlcNAc-Ins from the enzyme MshA. From 3 more known steps using MshB, MshC, and MshD, the necessary mycothiol is produced. The Fahey lab aims to determine the unknown substrate to determine the full mycothiol biosynthesis pathway, and to determine some inhibitors of this pathway to prevent Mycobacterium smegmatis growth. Since Mycobacterium smegmatis has the same mechanism to create its cell wall as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, this can translate into treatments tuberculosis. 2\n\nMycobacterium smegmatis uses a terminal oxidase to donate electrons to the final electron acceptor oxygen in oxidative phosphorylation during aerobic respiration. These terminal oxidases have been identified as using both a cytochrome c aa3 type oxidase and a quinol bd type oxidase. When bd type oxidase gene is knocked out so cytochrome c aa3 type oxidase is the only functional oxidase, the latter didn't attain normal levels of expression of the oxidase. In addition, the oxidase concentration for the knockout didn't reduce during log phase, while the wild type (without the knockout) had decreased oxidase concentration (3).\n\nMycobacteria smegmatis is also dependent on the import of free inorganic phosphate molecules. Genes that regulate this import are often two component regulatory systems that are composed of a histidine kinase and a DNA-binding response regulator. One of these regulators discovered by Dr. Glover is senX3-regX3 2CR. SenX3 acts as a phosphatase and a phosphate donor for regX3. A phosphorylated regX3 will activate phosphate acquisition. RegX3-P is bound to the promoter regions and activates the transcription of senX3, phoA, pstS genes that activate inorganic phosphate import. Therefore this group has determined that the senX3-regX3 2CR system is responsible for regulating this pathway (4).\n\nReferences\n\n1. Brown-Elliott, B., Wallace, R. \"Clinical and Taxonomic Status of Pathogenic Nonpigmented or Late-Pigmenting Rapidly Growing Mycobacteria\". Clinical Microbiology Reviews. 2002. Volume 15. p. 716\u2013746. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=12364376\n\n2. Newton, G., Ta, P., Bzymek, K., Fahey, R. \"Biochemisrty of the Initial Steps of Mycothiol Biosynthesis\" Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2006. Volume 281. p. 33910-20. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16940050&query_hl=9&itool=pubmed_docsum\n\n3. Megehee, J., Lundrigan, M. \"Temporal expression of Mycobacterium smegmatis respiratory terminal oxidases\" Canadian Journal of Microbiology. 2007. Volume 53. p. 459-6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17538658&query_hl=5&itool=pubmed_docsum\n\n4. Glover, R., Kriakov, J., Garforth, S., Baughn, A., Jacobs, W. \"The Two-Component Regulatory System senX3-regX3 Regulates Phosphate-Dependent Gene Expression in Mycobacterium smegmatis.\" Journal of Bacteriology. 2007. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17526710&query_hl=5&itool=pubmed_docsum\n\n5. Branca, A., Baglioni, C. \"Evidence that types I and II interferons have different receptors.\" Nature. 1981. Volume 294: p. 768-770. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/dispomim.cgi?id=107470\n\n6. Ahmed, Z. \"Production of natural and rare pentoses using microorganisms and their enzymes.\" Electronic Journal of Biotechnology. 2001. Volume 4. Number 2. http://www.ejbiotechnology.info/content/vol4/issue2/full/7/bip/index.html\n\n7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Info&id=1772&lvl=3&lin=f&keep=1&srchmode=1&unlock\n\n8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Tree&id=1772&lvl=3&lin=f&keep=1&srchmode=1&unlock\n\n9. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=genome&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=Overview&list_uids=20087\n\n10. Newton, G., Fahey, R. \"Mycothiol biochemistry.\" Arch Microbiol. 2002. Volume 178. p. 388-94. http://www.springerlink.com/content/0jvtmpat4863q0vk/\n\n11. Schroeder, E., de Souza, N., Santos, D., Blanchard, J., Basso, L. \"Drugs that inhibit mycolic acid biosynthesis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.\" Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2002. Volume 3. p. 197-225. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ben/cpb/2002/00000003/00000003/art00002?token=004816d0ad50b6726e2d2954496f642f466f256720297d7625627b507b5f5f316a6f3874\n\n12. Gordon, R., Smith, M. \"RAPIDLY GROWING, ACID FAST BACTERIA I. Species' Descriptions of Mycobacterium phlei Lehmann and Neumann and Mycobacterium smegmatis (Trevisan) Lehmann and Neumann\". Journal of Bacteriology. 1953. Volume 66. p. 41-48. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/pagerender.fcgi?artid=357089&pageindex=1\n\n13. Weber, I., Fritz, C., Ruttkowski, S., Kreft, A., Bange, F. \"Anaerobic nitrate reductase (narGHJI) activity of Mycobacterium bovis BCG in vitro and its contribution to virulence in immunodeficient mice\" Molecular microbiology. 2000. Volume 35. p. 1017. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1365-2958.2000.01794.x\n\n14. Park, S. Hwang, E., Park, H., Kim, J., Heo, J., Lee, K., Song, T., Kim, E., Ro, T., Kim, S., Kim, Y. \"Growth of Mycobacteria on Carbon Monoxide and Methanol\". Journal of Bacteriology. 2001. Volume 185. p. 142\u2013147. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=141938\n\n15. McLachlan, J. \"Environmental Signaling: What Embryos and Evolution Teach Us About Endocrine Disrupting Chemical.\" Endocrine Reviews. Volume 22. p. 319-344. http://edrv.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/22/3/319\n\nEdited by Benjamin Yip, student of Rachel Larsen and Kit Pogliano\n\nKMG"}
-{"text": "This. Is. Real. Life.\n\nWith those four words, projected on the screen before they'd even hit the stage, the scene was set on Wednesday for Jay-Z and Beyonce's On the Run II Tour to take fans in Glendale on a guided tour of real life as pop music's reigning power couple have been living it these past few years.\n\nThis is the second On the Run Tour, as the title would suggest.\n\nThe first was 2014, before all the heartache and drama that spilled out on Beyonce's \u201cLemonade,\u201d a masterful reflection on the meaning of love in the face of betrayal.\n\nRELATED: Jay-Z, Beyonce give area teen 100K scholarship\n\nJay-Z followed with the equally reflective \u201c4:44,\u201d whose title track is equal parts confession and contrition: \"I apologize 'cause at your best you are love / And because I fall short of what I say I'm all about.\u201d\n\nThe narrative continued earlier year with the release of their first album as the Carters, \u201cEverything is Love,\u201d a collaboration Jay-Z told the New York Times grew out of approaching their art as \u201calmost like a therapy session.\u201d\n\nAnd that same approach informs the tour that made its way to State Farm Stadium Wednesday with openers Chloe X Halle and DJ Khaled.\n\n'Everything is Love'\n\nConsider the subtext implied by the method of transportation the couple chose for making their dramatic entrance \u2013 an elevator, recalling the infamous elevator beatdown Jay-Z suffered at the hands of his sister-in-law, Solange, while Beyonce looked on in 2014.\n\nNow, four years later, \"Everything is Love.\"\n\nOr as the words projected on the screen behind them as they brought the night to a triumphant close with \"Apes--t\" put it, \"This is real love.\"\n\n\"Real,\" of course, can be a very complicated pill to swallow.\n\nA large part of Wednesday's performance was focused on working its way through several real-love complications as the Carters came to understand them on a massive stage with and a giant LED screen that occasionally parted in the middle to reveal their musicians and backup singers on a four-tiered grid behind them.\n\nJay-Z played the fool who couldn't see how good he had it while Beyonce played the vengeful, hurt and ultimately understanding partner who agrees to give it one more try.\n\nRELATED: 5 times Beyonce stopped the world\n\nThey're still crazy in love. And it showed.\n\nFor all the scabs they picked at in the course of that cathartic ride, both in fiery duets and solo spots, they came out smiling, holding hands and recommitting to the love they share while standing face to face as Beyonce renewed her vows with \"Darling, just hold my hand / Be your girl, you'll be my man.\"\n\nStill 'Crazy in Love'\n\nIt's just an older, wiser brand of crazy love complete with all the scars it took to get there.\n\nThe first words belonged to Beyonce, singing the opening lines of Jay-Z's \"Holy Grail\" from 2013's \"Magna Carta Holy Grail,\" originally sung by Justin Timberlake.\n\n\"You'd take the clothes off my back, and I'd let you,\" she sang. \"You'd steal the food right out my mouth and I'd watch you eat it, I still don't know why / Why I love you so much.\"\n\nIt's amazing how hearing those lyrics delivered in Beyonce's voice completely changed their meaning.\n\nFor much of the show \u2013 which played out like an epic suite, quickly making its way through more than 40 songs \u2013 they worked on sorting through the wreckage that would redefine not only their relationship but their individual personalities.\n\nNot every song conformed to that agenda. There were plenty of moments that felt more like a celebration of their individual legacies, from \"99 Problems\" to \"Run the World (Girls)\" and \"Formation,\" during which Beyonce and her dancers rode above the crowd on a hydraulic platform to the opposite end of the room.\n\nAnd yet, the spotlight kept returning to the love that has kept them together in good times and bad.\n\n'Lemonade' for everyone\n\nBeyonce only did four songs from \"Lemonade.\" But the impact they had on the overall tone of the show was undeniable, from a suitably bitter rendition of \"Sorry,\" complete with a withering delivery of the final payoff, \"He better call Becky with the good hair,\" to a furious reading of \"Don't Hurt Yourself.\"\n\nEven songs that predated their marital troubles were filtered through the anger of the bad times.\n\nThese included a chilling performance of \"Ring the Alarm,\" which featured a venomous reading of \"I'll be damned if I see another chick on your arm,\" accompanied by wailing sirens while the stage was bathed in red light.\n\nJay-Z's \"Song Cry,\" from 2001's \"The Blueprint,\" is another older song they re-contextualized to fit the script of who they are today, Jay-Z insisting that he needs to make the song cry because he's too much of a man to shed his own tears.\n\nAnd when the song was over, Jay-Z thanked us for \"allowing\" them to share.\n\nIf it felt like the concert's emotional peak for a moment, it only lasted until Beyonce followed with \"Resentment,\" again an older track that hit much harder in the aftermath of everything they've gone through.\n\n\"She ain't even half of me,\" Beyonce sang, dressed as a bride. \"That (expletive) will never be.\"\n\nMost people wouldn't stay long at a dinner party where the hosts were sharing all the awkward details of their complicated love as freely as these two have committed to sharing on their latest tour.\n\nBut it worked, in part because between the choreography, the pyrotechnics and the hits, they've clearly got the goods to keep a stadium engaged and in part because they knew enough to make their own catharsis universal.\n\nOf course, they also have Beyonce, a true pop icon whose singing and dancing alone would be enough to captivate a stadium. And the costume changes didn't hurt.\n\nSetlist\n\n\u201cHoly Grail\"\n\n\u201cPart II (On the Run)\u201d\n\n\u201c'03 Bonnie & Clyde\u201d\n\nBeach Interlude (\"When the Lights Are Low\" by the Paragons)\n\n\u201cDrunk in Love\u201d (with elements of \"Swag Surfin\")\n\n\u201cDiva\u201d (with elements of \"Irreplaceable,\" \u201cHeadlines,\" \"Dirt Off Your Shoulder\u201d and \"Everybody Mad\")\n\n\u201cClique\u201d (with elements of \"Diva\")\n\n\u201cDirt Off Your Shoulder\u201d\n\n\u201cOn to the Next One\u201d\n\n\u201cF\u2014kwithmeyouknowigotit\u201d (with elements of \u201c***Flawless\u201d)\n\n\u201c***Flawless (Remix)\u201d (with elements of \"F--kwithmeyouknowigotit\" and \"Trophies\")\n\n\u201cFeeling Myself\u201d\n\n\u201cNaughty Girl\u201d\n\n\u201cBig Pimpin'\u201d\n\n\u201cNICE\u201d\n\nJamaica Interlude (\"Bad\" by The Bug)\n\n\u201cRun This Town\u201d\n\n\u201cBaby Boy\u201d (with elements of \"Mundian To Bach Ke\")\n\n\u201cMi Gente (Remix)\u201d (with elements of \u201cStanding on The Sun,\" \"Mine\" and \u201cBam\u201d)\n\n\u201cBLACK EFFECT\u201d\n\n\u201cCountdown\u201d (with elements of \u201cBroccoli\u201d and \"Uhh Ahh\")\n\n\u201cSorry\u201d\n\nBar Fight Interlude (\"Sun is Shining\" by Bob Marley and \u201cDNA\u201d by Kendrick Lamar)\n\n\u201c99 Problems\u201d\n\n\u201cRing the Alarm\u201d (with elements of \u201cFive to One\u201d)\n\n\u201cDon't Hurt Yourself\u201d (with elements of \"Kashmir\")\n\n\u201cI Care\u201d\n\n\u201c4:44\u201d\n\n\u201cSong Cry\u201d\n\n\u201cResentment\u201d\n\nRunning Interlude\n\n\u201cFamily Feud\u201d\n\n\u201cUpgrade U\u201d\n\n\u201cN---as in Paris\u201d\n\n\u201cBeach Is Better\u201d\n\n\u201cFormation\u201d\n\n\u201cRun the World (Girls)\u201d (with elements of \"We Should All Be Feminists\")\n\n\u201cPublic Service Announcement\u201d\n\nBallet Interlude (\"Four Women\" by Nina Simone)\n\n\u201cThe Story of O.J.\u201d\n\n\u201cD\u00e9j\u00e0 Vu\u201d (with elements of \"Zombie\u201d and \"Roc Boys (And The Winner Is...)\u201d )\n\n\u201cShow Me What You Got\u201d (with elements of \u201cAin\u2019t No N---a\u201d & \"Humble\")\n\n\u201cCrazy in Love\u201d (with elements of \"Back That A-- Up\" & \"Down For My N---az\" )\n\n\u201cFreedom\u201d\n\n\u201cU Don't Know\u201d\n\nBaptism Interlude\n\n\u201cYoung Forever\u201d\n\n\u201cPerfect Duet\u201d\n\n\u201cAPES\u2014T\u201d\n\nREAD MORE:"}
-{"text": "We\u2019ve reached the final weeks of the season and find ourselves in the heart of fantasy playoffs in head-to-head leagues. In this edition of the hitting planner, we look at which bats we can lean on to carry us to our championships. Based on matchups, total games, and venues, I form the weekly offensive rankings to help you determine which teams you want to target for the week ahead.\n\nFor more help getting ready for the coming of fantasy baseball, also check out Jorge\u2019s Closer Rankings, Eric Cross\u2019 Waiver Wire Adds, Nathan Dokken\u2019s Starting Pitcher Rankings, and Paul Mammino\u2019s Two-Start Pitchers.\n\nWeek 25 Hitting Planner\n\nWe changed things up this week. Instead of displaying a table for each division and spreading things out, we lumped the data altogether. This makes it easier to sort (click the column headers) by the criterion of your choice and hopefully makes it easier to see how the different offenses measure up in relation to each other. Of course, you can still get a little more depth below the table with my division by division breakdown.\n\nTeam Off. Ranking Total Games Home Away VS RHP VS LHP COL 1 6 3(STL) 3(SD) 0 4 2 SD 2 7 4(CHC) 3(COL) 4 3 STL 3 6 3(MIL) 3(COL) 6 0 SF 4 7 4(PIT) 3(MIA) 0 6 1 CHC 5 7 3(PIT) 4(SD) 7 0 HOU 6 7 4(OAK) 3(KC) 4 3 CWS 7 6 3(KC) 3(SEA) 4 2 TB 8 6 0 3(TEX) 3(LAA) 3 3 NYY 9 7 0 1(BOS) 3(DET) 3(TOR) 5 2 LAD 10 6 0 3(BAL) 3(NYM) 4 2 PIT 11 7 0 4(SF) 3(CHC) 4 3 MIL 12 7 0 4(MIA) 3(STL) 6 1 MIA 13 7 4(MIL) 3(SF) 5 2 BOS 14 6 1(NYY) 3(TOR) 2(PHI) 5 1 ATL 15 7 0 4(PHI) 3(WSH) 5 2 CLE 16 6 3(MIN) 3(LAA) 3 3 NYM 17 7 4(ARI) 3(LAD) 0 4 3 CIN 18 6 0 3(SEA) 3(ARI) 4 2 DET 19 6 3(NYY) 3(BAL) 0 4 2 BAL 20 6 3(LAD) 3(DET) 2 4 TEX 21 6 3(TB) 3(OAK) 0 3 3 WSH 22 6 3(ATL) 3(MIN) 4 2 PHI 23 6 4(ATL) 2(BOS) 3 3 OAK 24 7 0 4(HOU) 3(TEX) 3 4 ARI 25 7 3(CIN) 4(NYM) 6 1 TOR 26 6 3(BOS) 3(NYY) 0 5 1 SEA 27 6 3(CIN) 3(CWS) 0 6 0 LAA 28 6 3(CLE) 3(TB) 0 5 1 KC 29 6 3(HOU) 3(CWS) 5 1 MIN 30 6 3(WSH) 3(CLE) 5 1\n\nAL Hitting Planner Analysis\n\nAL East\n\nThe Baltimore Orioles play six games this week. Of those six, four of them should come against left-handed pitchers. Hanser Alberto could be a good middle infield option as he\u2019s hit .417 on the year against lefties and .395 overall in the last two weeks. Anthony Santander has five home runs in that time and also benefits from the lefty-heavy schedule.\n\nThe Red Sox have a home game against the Yankees to start the week then travel to Toronto for three and Philadelphia for two. The Red Sox will be without the designated hitter for the two games in Philly. The last time Boston played two games in an NL park, Andrew Benintendi went to the bench for both games while J.D. Martinez played left field.\n\nWith the Monday game against Boston, the Yankees play seven games. They\u2019ll travel to Detroit and Toronto for three games each. Aaron Judge is helping many fantasy teams in the playoffs right now with seven home runs and a .333 average over the last two weeks. Edwin Encarnacion made his return from the injured list and could be a good source of power.\n\nThe Rays get another favorable week as they go on the road for six games against the Rangers and Angels. The Angels have the fifth-worst ERA in baseball since August 1. Austin Meadows has hit .333 over the last three weeks with five home runs. Tommy Pham has a mild flexor strain but could be back in the lineup by Tuesday so keep on eye on Pham. With three lefties on the schedule, he could help fantasy teams this week with a .333 average against left-handed pitchers.\n\nToronto gets the Yankees and Red Sox at home for three games each. Bo Bichette has been the only Blue Jay hitting well with a .347 average, three home runs, and a stolen base in the last two weeks. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has only hit .247 in that same span but gets five right-handed pitchers. Guerrero has hit .308 against righties on the season.\n\nAL Central\n\nWell here comes the Eloy Jimenez we\u2019ve been waiting for all season. Jimenez has hit .347 with two home runs over the last two weeks. The White Sox have a good week of matchups with the Royals and Mariners on the schedule for three games each. Kansas City has the fourth-worst ERA in baseball over the last month while Seattle has the 12th worst. It should be a good week for Tim Anderson and Jose Abreu to continue their hot hitting as well.\n\nCleveland gets six games with three at home against the Twins and three at the Angels. Three lefties on the schedule spells good news for Carlos Santana. Santana has hit .329 against left-handed pitchers. Franmil Reyes has been among the league leaders in hard-hit balls all season, and the results are catching up. Reyes has five home runs and a .364 average over the last two weeks. I\u2019d feel comfortable starting Reyes as my third outfielder in all leagues.\n\nThe Tigers get six games on the week as well. All six games will come at home with the Yankees and Orioles visiting. Baltimore has the worst ERA in baseball since the beginning of August. Leadoff hitter Victor Reyes has a .421 average and three steals over the last two week and could be considered for deeper roto leagues.\n\nI\u2019m not a fan of the Royals\u2019 matchups this week as they have Lucas Giolito, Gerrit Cole, and Zack Greinke on the schedule. Whit Merrifield has a .375 average over the last two weeks and is always an automatic start. Five of the games will come against right-handed pitchers. Hunter Dozier has a .284 average against righties while Jorge Soler has hit 32 of his 40 home runs against them.\n\nThe Twins have some of the worst matchups this week, taking them near the bottom of the hitting planner offensive rankings. Some of the pitchers they\u2019ll face include Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, Shane Bieber, and Mike Clevinger. Nelson Cruz is showing no signs of decline even coming back from an injured wrist. Crus has a .321 average and two home runs over the last couple weeks. Jorge Polanco has been one of Minnesota\u2019s hottest hitters with a .367 average since August 23.\n\nAL West\n\nThe Astros get a full seven games this week as they host the Oakland A\u2019s for four then go to Kansas City for three. The Royals have had one of the worst pitching staffs over the last month. George Springer has missed the last couple games with a concussion but is hopeful to return early in the week. Kyle Tucker has been playing in his absence and hit his first home run and stole his first base of the season over the last few days.\n\nThings will be tough for the Angels as they get the Indians and Rays. Both pitching staffs have been among the top five in ERA over the last month. It\u2019s hard to justify recommending any Angels hitters not named Mike Trout.\n\nOakland has a full slate of seven games on the schedule with a Texas road trip to play the Astros and Rangers. Matt Olson has hit .319 with two home runs over the last two weeks. Mark Canha, Jurickson Profar, and Marcus Semien have all hit four home runs in that span. Profar has a .301 average against lefties and the Athletics have three games on the schedule against left-handed pitchers.\n\nSeattle has six games once again for the week. Dylan Moore has been playing shortstop every day and hitting well with a .324 average, two home runs, and three steals over the last two weeks. Moore might stick in the leadoff spot going forward. Kyle Seager has a .306 average and four home runs over the last couple weeks.\n\nThe Rangers have six games at home on the week with the Athletics and Rays visiting. Nick Solak has been the hottest hitting Ranger with a .308 average over the last two weeks. The rest of the Texas regulars have been relatively cold at the plate, all hitting under .200 in that span.\n\nNL Hitting Planner\n\nNL East\n\nThe Braves get seven games on the week with a four-game series in Philadelphia before going to Washington for three. The only pitchers on the schedule that present a tough matchup are Aaron Nola and Max Scherzer. Josh Donaldson and Ronald Acuna have been cold of late in regards to average, although Donaldson has five home runs and Acuna five steals over the last two weeks.\n\nMiami gets seven games as well with four at home to the Brewers and three on the road in San Francisco. Starlin Castro has been red hot with a .388 average and six home runs since August 23. Castro might be an option to stream at second base. Jon Berti has provided value with two home runs and four steals in the last couple of weeks.\n\nThe Mets stay at home for seven games. Brandon Nimmo made his return from the injured list. Since his return, Nimmo and Juan Lagares have alternated games in center field. J.D. Davis has lost regular playing time, alternating with Jeff McNeil at third base. I would be nervous about starting Davis in weekly leagues and might seek other options. Wilson Ramos has hit extremely well over the last two weeks with a .450 average.\n\nSix games are on the schedule for the Phillies, and three are set to come against left-handed pitchers. Jean Segura and Scott Kingery benefit from the lefty matchups with a .304 and .314 average respectively.\n\nAnthony Rendon and Juan Soto have been such an incredible duo atop the Nationals lineup. Rendon has hit .467 with four home runs over the last two weeks, making his case as the top third baseman in the game. Soto also has four home runs in that span with a .408 average. Washington goes to Minnesota for three games before hosting the Braves for three.\n\nNL Central\n\nThe Cubs get a good week with a full seven-game schedule as they go to San Diego for four games then host the Pirates for three. The Padres and Pirates pitching staffs both rank in the bottom 10 in all of baseball over the last month. Kyle Schwarber is red hot with a .368 average and five home runs in the last two weeks. All seven games will come against right-handed pitchers. Anthony Rizzo has hit significantly better against righties as opposed to left-handed pitchers.\n\nThe Reds go to Seattle and Arizona for three games each. Eugenio Suarez missed three games but returned to the lineup on Thursday. Suarez has hit .340 with seven home runs over the last two weeks and will look to exploit a bad Seattle pitching staff.\n\nI like Milwaukee hitters this week with a four-game series on the road against the Marlins. Miami has gotten terrible pitching over the last month with a third-worst 6.15 ERA. The Brewers bats have been collectively cold of late but they\u2019ll look to take advantage of the good matchups. Corey Spangenberg has replaces Keston Hiura since Hiura was placed on the injured list. Eric Thames has been the best hitter of late with a .333 average and three home runs in the last two weeks. Thames and the Brewers get six of seven games against right-handed starters.\n\nThe Pirates go to San Francisco for four games before going to Chicago for three against the Cubs. They\u2019ll be looking to take advantage of a San Francisco pitching staff that\u2019s had the eighth-worst pitching staff with a 5.01 ERA over the last month. Kevin Newman, Adam Frazier, and Bryan Reynolds have been hitting well over the last couple weeks. Although perhaps none better than Josh Bell, who\u2019s hit .300 with five home runs since August 23.\n\nIt\u2019ll be a good week to get Cardinals bats in your lineup for the playoffs as they\u2019ll go to Colorado for a three-game series in Coors. Kolten Wong and Yadier Molina have had a good couple of weeks with a .410 and .435 average respectively. Molina has four home runs in that span and both hitters have been the best against right-handed pitchers on the team. St. Louis gets all six games against right-handed starters.\n\nNL West\n\nThe Diamondbacks are one of twelve teams with seven games on the schedule. Ketel Marte has hit .429 over the last couple of weeks. Christian Walker has hit well in that span with a .341 average and three home runs. Josh Rojas has been playing every day, including the last start against a lefty. Six of the seven games on the week should come against right-handed starters.\n\nCoors field is going to have an impact for plenty of fantasy teams as the Rockies have all six games at home. A full week in Coors takes the Rockies offense to the top of the hitting planner offensive rankings. Start your Colorado hitters. David Dahl could be back from the injured list soon and is someone to monitor.\n\nThe Dodgers go on the road for three games in Baltimore and three more in New York against the Mets. Start your Dodger hitter in Baltimore. The Orioles have had one of the worst pitching staffs all season long and you always want to target hitters in Camden Yards. Gavin Lux has started the last four games at second base and could pick up second base eligibility soon depending on your league settings. Joc Pederson has been on a tear with seven home runs in the last two weeks.\n\nSan Diego benefits this week from a three-game series in Colorado. Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer have been the only Padres hitters to play every day over the last week. Josh Naylor has started five of the last six games in the outfield while hitting .300 over the last two weeks. Luis Urias has sat three of the last six games.\n\nAnother full slate of seven games is on the schedule for the Giants. It\u2019ll be a good week for San Francisco as they face the Pirates for four games and the Marlins for three. Both teams rank in the bottom seven in team ERA since August 1. Kevin Pillar has been the only Giants hitter to play every day due to his defensive prowess. Pillar has a .298 average with two home runs and a steal over the last two weeks. Evan Longoria has a .333 average with two home runs as well in the same time span.\n\nHopefully, you\u2019re finding Jorge\u2019s Hitting Planner useful. For more great analysis check out all of our fantasy baseball content.\n\nJorge Montanez is a lifelong sports fan but new to the fantasy industry, joining Fantrax HQ as a writer in June of 2019. Jorge co-hosts the Bases Loaded Podcast, a fantasy baseball podcast covering everything fantasy baseball on a weekly basis. He was raised in Stockton, CA but now resides in Los Angeles, where you can find him at a ballpark playing catch with his two sons on the weekends. Follow Jorge @jmontanez90 on Twitter where he\u2019ll be happy to give his take and answer questions on all things fantasy.\n\nFantrax was one of the fastest-growing fantasy sites of 2018 and we\u2019re not slowing down now! With multi-team trades, designated commissioner/league managers, and drag/drop easy click methods, Fantrax is sure to excite the serious fantasy sports fan \u2013 sign up now for a free year at Fantrax.com."}
-{"text": "Do you ever fantasize about living in the 1980s? No phantom smartphone vibrations, no iPads, no Spotify \u2014 just VHS tapes, old-fashioned radio, and mullets. Well, a family in Ontario tried to do just that, living as best they could like it was 1986. But now they're giving it up.\n\n\nBlair McMillan and his partner Morgan Patey are both in their late 20s. A year ago they decided that modern living was for the birds, so they traded in their Facebooks for a landline and their pants for cut-off jorts. They wanted to live with the same technology that was available in 1986, the year both of them were born.\n\nThey committed themselves and their two young boys (ages 5 and 3) to trying this strange lifestyle for a year, under the assumption that if they loved it they could continue. But it really seems like the whole thing was more trouble than it was worth. The biggest problem? They were alienating themselves from the rest of the world.\n\n\n\"The most challenging part [if we continued with the experiment] would have been that we are out of the loop with everybody else,\" Blair McMillan told the CBC. \"And we did live in our own little box in our house because we kind of cut ourselves off from the rest of the world because the only way we could talk to people was to call, and nobody does that as much anymore.\"\n\nOf course, living like it's 1986 only really works when the rest of the world is stuck in the 1980s along with you. For this family, stepping outside was like traveling through time, only you're the weirdo from the past, not the cool guy from the future coming to warn humanity about the robot uprising.\n\nBut you kind of have to respect the extreme lengths this family was willing to go to in order to live the life they romanticized. They wanted to feel more connected as a family and enjoy life in this very specific way. And in some ways, they think they succeeded.\n\n\"It was a real positive experience,\" McMillan explained to the CBC. \"It's actually kind of bittersweet, knowing it's ending. We had a lot more fun than we expected.\"\n\n\nUnfortunately for them, it's not 1986 anymore. And trying to live like Ronald Reagan is still in office (or Brian Mulroney, I guess, since they're Canadian) does little more than shut you off from everyone who isn't your immediate family.\n\nDo you think technology is harming the way your family interacts with each other? As with everything else in life \u2014 from junk food to Facebook \u2014 the answer is moderation. No human on Earth enjoys hearing this, but it's really not much more complicated than striving for some happy medium.\n\n\nIt's easier said than done, but there is indeed a middle ground between going full Amish and getting a faceputer permanently soldered to your eyebrows. If I'm wrong, and there isn't, then may Jobs have mercy on our souls.\n\nImage: Screenshot of Blair McMillan and Morgan Patey sitting on their couch from the CBC"}
-{"text": "ScaleGrid is a Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) platform for MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis and MongoDB\u00ae database on AWS, Azure and DigitalOcean. The fully managed platform automates your database management, monitoring and maintenance so you can focus on product instead of operations. ScaleGrid is used by thousands of developers, startups and enterprise companies, including UPS, Accenture and Adobe, and has deployed across 6 continents and over 70 countries."}
-{"text": "Pope Francis has once again come down hard against the secularization of Christmas, this time denouncing the falsification of the Christian holiday in the name of a supposed \u201crespect\u201d for non-Christians.\n\n\u201cIn our days, especially in Europe, we are seeing a kind of \u2018distortion\u2019 of Christmas,\u201d the Pope said in his General Audience in the Vatican Wednesday. \u201cIn the name of a false respect for non-Christians, which often conceals a desire to marginalize the faith, we eliminate any reference to the birth of Jesus from the feast.\u201d\n\nCommemorating Christ\u2019s birth \u201cis the only real Christmas! Without Jesus there is no Christmas,\u201d Francis said. \u201cAnd if He is in the center, then everything else\u2014the lights, the sounds, the various local traditions, including the typical foods\u2014all helps to create the atmosphere of the feast. But if we remove Him, the light goes out and everything becomes fake and unreal.\u201d\n\nLike the Shepherds in the Gospel, Francis said, \u201cwe are guided to seek and find the true light, that of Jesus who, as a man like us, is revealed in an astonishing way: born of a poor, unknown girl, who gives birth to him in a stable.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe world does not notice anything, but in heaven the Angels rejoice!\u201d he said.\n\nGod\u2019s coming in Jesus disturbs many people today, the Pope said, even as it did 2,000 years ago.\n\n\u201cEven today we see that humanity often prefers the darkness, because it knows that the light would reveal all those actions and those thoughts that make us blush or give our conscience remorse. So, people prefer to stay in the dark so as not to upset their misguided habits,\u201d he said.\n\nThis was not the first time this year that Francis voiced his opposition to the secularization of Christmas.\n\nSeveral days ago, Francis called on Christians to liberate Christmas, saying it had been taken \u201chostage\u201d by worldliness.\n\n\u201cLet us free Christmas from the worldliness that has taken it hostage!\u201d the Pope said in a tweet last Friday. \u201cThe true spirit of Christmas is the beauty of being loved by God.\u201d\n\nThe week before Christmas, Francis also told a group of schoolchildren that if we take away Jesus Christ from the holidays, Christmas is emptied of all significance.\n\nIn his words to a group of youngsters who came to the Vatican for the blessing of the figures of Jesus for their Nativity scenes, the Pope told them that only a Christ-centered celebration is the \u201creal Christmas.\u201d\n\nFrancis thanked the children for their \u201cjoyful presence\u201d in Saint Peter\u2019s Square, then invited them to pray at home in front of the manger scene with their families, allowing themselves to be attracted \u201cby the tenderness of Jesus child, born poor and fragile among us, to give us his love.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is the real Christmas,\u201d Francis said. \u201cIf we take away Jesus, what is left of Christmas? An empty feast.\u201d\n\nFollow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome"}
-{"text": "Joshua A. Douglas\n\nGuest contributor\n\nImagine the worst case scenario. It is Wednesday, Nov. 9, the day after the election, and we do not yet know the winner of the presidential race. Worse still, the outcome will turn on a ballot-counting dispute in one state. A lawsuit is filed, and the courts are enmeshed in an election law contest. It\u2019s Bush v. Gore round two: Trump v. Clinton. The case reaches the Supreme Court.\n\nDo we want to take the chance of having an even number of justices deciding that dispute, hoping that the court will not deadlock 4-4?\n\nA post-election case that reaches the Supreme Court will necessarily come from a lower court. The rule, in the case of a Supreme Court tie, is that the lower court\u2019s decision is affirmed, without a precedential opinion. So if Trump v. Clinton does reach the Supreme Court, and if the vote is a tie, then a lower court \u2013 say an elected state supreme court in a battleground state \u2013 would essentially decide the presidential election.\n\nThis possibility, although quite remote, is just one of many reasons why the Senate must hold a hearing and vote on President Obama\u2019s nominee for the Supreme Court, Chief Judge Merrick Garland. Why even take the risk that the court is not in full force to decide the country\u2019s most pressing legal question?\n\nObama: 'I've done my duty,' now Senate must do its\n\nOf course, many Republicans may not want a Democratic nominee on the court for fear that he would be the deciding vote in a presidential election dispute. But Judge Garland has proven already that he is not an ideologue. He would approach any legal dispute \u2013 even one involving sheer politics \u2013 with an impartial, careful mind. His 18-year record as an appellate judge is clear on his judicial temperament.\n\nIndeed, just because a vote-counting dispute goes to the courts, that does not mean that politics will determine the case or that the court will necessarily split along ideological lines. Most people do not realize that the main legal issue in Bush v. Gore \u2013 that Florida\u2019s vote-counting procedure violated equal protection \u2013 was a 7-2 decision. The portion of that case that was 5-4 was on the remedy for this constitutional violation, whether to continue to count ballots under a new standard or stop the recount.\n\nImpartial judges, like Judge Garland, can resolve a dispute separate from their ideological predilections. That reality does not obscure the fact that careful judges can come to different opinions on matters of legal interpretation and constitutional law, such that a split vote is possible.\n\nConfirming Judge Garland, then, does not guarantee a Democratic \u201cwin\u201d if an election dispute does reach the court. It simply assures that the court will not deadlock, tacitly affirming a lower court that itself may contain explicitly partisan, elected judges (as is the case in 39 states). Courts cannot work reliably with an even number of members given the difficult questions that arise. Reasonable jurists view legal questions differently. The majority wins. We must have a majority on the court.\n\nBeyond the presidential election itself, there are numerous issues the court will face that can benefit not only from an odd number of justices, but also from Judge Garland\u2019s careful, reasoned viewpoint. A 4-4 tie on any number of issues does not help anyone. It may occur sometimes by happenstance, such as when a justice must recuse him or herself or when there is a vacancy. But we should avoid that possibility when we can.\n\nHigh court showdown: Senate is check and balance\n\nThe Republican leadership in the Senate, however, has refused to give Judge Garland a hearing and vote; some Republican senators have even refused to meet with the judge. Sen. Mitch McConnell claims that the American people should \u201chave a say\u201d in who becomes the next Supreme Court Justice. Yet any reasonable observer will recognize that the American people did have a say \u2013 in 2012 when they elected President Obama and in 2014 when they elected a Republican majority in the Senate. There is no precedent for the Senate refusing to even consider a presidential nominee, election year or not.\n\nOf course, the Senate may choose to vote down Judge Garland\u2019s nomination. If Republican senators want to vote \u201cno\u201d on Judge Garland, that is their prerogative. But they have no authority not to consider the nomination at all.\n\nThis reality is likely one reason President Obama chose someone with impeccable credentials: voting \u201cno\u201d will expose Republicans senators for making this nomination even more political. And this reality is also why the Senate Republican leadership does not even want to hold a hearing: there is really no argument, on the merits, why the Senate should not confirm Judge Garland.\n\nPolitics aside, there is one simple reason why the Senate must at least consider Judge Garland: the catastrophe that would occur if the presidential election goes into overtime, there are an even number of justices on the court, and the court splits 4-4.\n\nThose are a lot of big \u201cif\u2019s,\u201d so the likelihood of that occurring is extremely slim. But this election season has already proven that the improbable is quite possible. Do we really want to take the chance?\n\nProfessor Joshua A. Douglas of the University of Kentucky College of Law is a leading election law expert, whose research focuses on the constitutional right to vote, election administration and post-election disputes. His latest co-edited book, \"Election Law Stories,\" tells the behind-the-scenes stories of the Supreme Court\u2019s major election law cases."}
-{"text": "NEW YORK - Sophie Turner has got Joe Jonas' goat.\n\nThe Game Of Thrones actress, who recently tried the new goat yoga fad, said: \"I've never felt that excited about anything in my life, ever. And I've been proposed to and that wasn't even the best day of my life, this was.\"\n\nIn goat yoga, baby goats, which wander among the human participants, are occasionally placed on their backs while they hold a pose.\n\n\"The excitement I felt throughout my body when I saw the goats walk in was just complete and pure ecstasy,\" said Turner, 23, who poured her heart out in a video released by British Vogue on Thursday (April 11).\n\n\"I didn't really do any yoga, I definitely felt myself distracted. I did nothing but pet goats.\"\n\nJonas, 29, who recently caused a stir with a music comeback with brothers Nick and Kevin, confirmed recently on The Late Late Show with James Corden that he and Turner are planning to get married this summer."}
-{"text": "Although a Roman Catholic pope had not stepped down in nearly 600 years, the startling resignation of Pope Benedict XVI was predicted by the co-authors of a book published last spring about a medieval prophecy that the next pontiff will be the last.\n\nIn \"Petrus Romanus: The Final Pope is Here,\" co-authors Tom Horn and Cris Putnam examine St. Malachy\u2019s \u201cProphecy of the Popes,\u201d said to be based on his prophetic vision of the next 112 popes, beginning with Pope Celestine II, who died in 1144. Malachy presented a description of each pope, culminating with the \"final pope,\" \u201cPeter the Roman,\u201d whose reign would end with the destruction of Rome and judgment.\n\nHorn explained to WND in an interview today that his conclusion Benedict would resign rather than die in the papacy was based not only on St. Malachy but also on a host of historical and current information.\n\n\"We took 'The Prophecy of the Popes,' we took what was happening in Italian media, and we determined, based on a great deal of information, that Pope Benedict would likely step down, citing health reasons, in 2012 or 2013,\" he said.\n\nSt. Malachy was an Irish saint and the archbishop of Armagh, who lived from 1094 to 1l48. Malacy described the penultimate pope, which Horn believes is Benedict, as \u201cGloria Olivae,\u201d or \u201cGlory of the Olive.\"\n\nTRENDING: Americans against unconstitutional mask mandates\n\nPope Benedict XVI was not a Benedictine priest, yet he chose the name of Benedict, the founder of the Order of Saint Benedict, which also is known as the Olivetans\n\nThe symbol of the Benedictine order includes an olive branch.\n\nBenedict, speaking Monday morning in Latin to a small gathering of cardinals at the Vatican, said that after examining his conscience \u201cbefore God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise\u201d of leading the Roman Catholic Church.\n\nPeter the Roman\n\nHorn and Putnam discuss the evidence pointing to a Benedict resignation on pages 74 and 486 of their April 2012 book, and Horn has made the prediction on a number of radio programs in recent months, including Jan. 13.\n\nMalachy described the last Pope as \u201cPetrus Romanus,\u201d or \u201cPeter the Roman,\u201d writing: \u201cIn the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock among many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people.\u201d\n\nHorn and his co-author have created their own list of 10 candidates to succeed Benedict and become \"Peter the Roman.\"\n\nInterestingly, a leading candidate is Cardinal Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone, the Cardinal secretary of state, who was born in Romano, Italy. His name could, therefore, be rendered Peter the Roman.\n\nAnother Peter on the list is a black African, Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, the current president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.\n\nIn any case, Horn noted, Catholics believe the pope inhabits the \"Petrine office\" as a successor of the apostle Peter.\n\nOther candidates on Horn's list are Francis Arinze, Angelo Scola, Gianfranco Ravasi, Leonardo Sandri, Ennio Antonelli, Jean-Louis Tauran, Christoph Sch\u00f6nborn and Marc Quellet.\n\nIn 1880, M. J. O\u2019Brien, a Catholic priest, published in Dublin a book providing a \u201chistorical and critical account\u201d of St. Malachy's prophecies.\n\nO\u2019Brien believed Malachy was declaring that the reign of the pope identified as Petrus Romanus would culminate with the end of the world and the return of Jesus Christ.\n\nO\u2019Brien describes Malachy\u2019s vision occurring while the saint was in Rome for a month, visiting and praying at the Eternal City\u2019s many historical and holy sites.\n\nThe sight of the ruins of Pagan Rome, the tombs of the Apostles, the thought of so many thousands of martyrs, the presence of [Pope] Innocent II, who had been obligated to wander so many years in France and elsewhere on account of the anti-pope Anaclete \u2013 all this, I say, filled the mind of St. Malachy with deep and sad reflections and he was forced to cry out in the words of the old prophets: \"Usquequo, Domine non misereberis Sion?\" \u2013 \"How long, O Lord! wilt Thou not have mercy on Sion?\"\n\nO'Brien continued:\n\nAnd God answered: \"Until the end of the world the Church will be both militant and triumphant. Until the end of time the sufferings of my passion and the mysteries of my cross must be continued on earth, and I shall be with you until the end of the world.\" And then was unfolded before the gaze of the holy bishop of Armagh the long line of illustrious pilots who were to guide the storm-tossed bark of Peter until the end.\n\nMalachy gave his manuscript to Innocent II, who was pontiff from 1130 to 1143. The document was placed in the Vatican archives, where it remained unknown until its discovery in 1590.\n\n'Amazingly accurate'\n\nThrough the past 900 years, various critics have questioned the authenticity and the accuracy of St. Malachy\u2019s prophecies, often arguing the methods used by some of his interpreters to apply his epithets to certain popes have been tortuous.\n\nHorn told WND he and Putnam took a critical view of \"The Prophecy of the Popes\" and determined that the first part of it, the first 70 or so predictions, probably was altered in the late 16th century.\n\n\"It appears that somebody had altered the original medieval document from 1590 backward to promote a particular cardinal to the College of Cardinals to be the fulfillment of what at that time was still a secret list of popes,\" Horn explained.\n\nAn advocate for Cardinal Girolamo Simoncelli, Horn said, likely \"tinkered with the document to make it look like it was pointing toward Simoncelli.\"\n\nIn \"Petrus Romanus,\" Horn said, he and Putnam \"disregard everything pre-1595, as partly or fully tainted.\"\n\nAfter 1595, however, \"The Prophecy of the Popes\" was open to public scrutiny.\n\nA modern version of Malachy\u2019s prophecies was published in 1969 by Archbishop H. E. Cardinale, the Apostolic Nuncio to Belgium and Luxembourg.\n\nCardinale wrote \u201cit is fair to say the vast majority of Malachy\u2019s predictions about successive Popes is amazingly accurate \u2013 always remembering that he gives only a minimum of information.\u201d\n\nHorn noted Benedict's brother, Georg Ratzinger, also a priest, suggested last year that the pontiff might retire at age 85, arguing Catholic law would allow for him to step down if his health wouldn't allow him to continue.\n\nBenedict, himself, made a case for papal resignation in a book-length interview, \"Light of the World.\"\n\nAsked if he thought it appropriate for a pope to retire, he said, \"If a pope clearly realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right and, under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign.\"\n\nWhat's your biggest concern in wake of Pope Benedict resignation? I don't believe in God and therefore have no concerns or interest in any church matters\n\nI have no concerns. He was anointed by God for a period of time, and now God will guide the selection of his successor\n\nHopefully his replacement will be more progressive and bring the Catholic Church into the modern age\n\nI'm not concerned. The Catholic Church is a well-oiled machine and deals with new popes all the time\n\nI'm concerned about the possible selection of a replacement who waters down or changes Church doctrine in the name of progress\n\nThe announcement adds to the instability of an already chaotic and rudderless world\n\nNow the prophesied final pope is here, and it means Armageddon is at our doorstep\n\nOther View Results"}
-{"text": "Ashes of the Singularity is about to get its very own book adaptation with the release of Dawn of the Singularity by Post-Human series author David Simpson. The new book is based in the same universe and setting as Stardock\u2019s recently released real-time strategy game and provides a backstory and context to the events that take place within the title.\n\nDawn of the Singularity is set in the near future and follows the war between humans who embrace a post-technological Singularity future, in which humans and AI work together as one, and humans who retain a more traditional view of humanity\u2019s future.\n\nAccording to the synopsis, the technological singularity occurs sometime after the events of Dawn of the Singularity and a long while before the game takes place.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m really excited about this book,\u201d said David Simpson. \u201cWith Dawn of the Singularity we can walk the reader through step-by-step one possible scenario that the technological singularity manifests.\u201d\n\nThe book itself begins in the near future with the rise of real Artificial Intelligence and the conflict between humans who embrace the technology and those who don\u2019t.\n\n\u201cThe book really brings into sharp contrast the assumptions we\u2019ve had for decades on how we thought the future would play out versus how the future will probably actually play out,\u201d said Simpson. \u201cWhen we watch Sci-Fi shows, we always assume that the future will be human beings flying across the stars in space ships with the computer being little more than a glorified personal assistant. I think it\u2019s becoming more clear to people that AI will be a lot more than something that gives us directions or tells us what the atmospheric content on Rigel IV is.\u201d\n\nThe book is currently available for pre-order on Kindle for $4.99. A printed version is also available from Amazon for $12.99. The Kindle version will be available on May 12."}
-{"text": "The author requests that you do not make significant changes to this project without first seeking approval.\n\nBy all means, please either help fix spelling, grammar and organization problems or contact the author about them. Thank you.\n\nThe author wishes to make it clear this project is currently undergoing significant construction or revamp.\n\nBy all means, take a look around. Thank you.\n\nProgress 5% Stats Nouns 1% Verbs 0% Adjectives 0% Syntax 17% Words 56 of 1500\n\nAngelic\n\nAnjelek Type Verb-Object (SVO) Alignment Nominative-Accusative Head direction Initial Tonal No Declensions Yes Conjugations Yes Genders None Nouns decline according to... Case Number Definiteness Gender Verbs conjugate according to... Voice Mood Person Number Tense Aspect\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAngelic is a fan language based on the world of the webcomic Slightly Damned.\n\nIn the words of the comic's creator:\n\n\"Unfortunately, I am no J.R.R. Tolkien. All the Angelic you see in the comic is a bunch of symbols I made up on the fly. There\u2019s no guide, no translation. It\u2019s all nonsense.\"[1]\n\nContents show]\n\nInternal mythos Edit\n\nAngels live in Heaven with Mother Gaia, their creator. Their duties range from making the afterlife pleasant for souls in paradise, and doing battle against the forces of Hell.\n\nPhonology Edit\n\nConsonants Edit\n\nBilabial Labio-dental Alveolar Post-alveolar Velar Nasal m \u014b Plosive d k, g Fricative v s, z \u0292 Approximant \u0279 Lateral app. l\n\nVowels Edit\n\nFront Back Close i u Close-mid o Open-mid \u025b Open a\n\nWriting System (12:6) Edit\n\nNote how all the vowels open to the right.\n\nRomanized Edit\n\nLetter a e i y o u Sound /a/ /\u025b/ /i/ /ai/ /o/ /u/ Letter g d v z x l Sound /g/ /d/ /v/ /z/ /ks/ /l/ Letter m n s k r j Sound /m/ /\u014b/ /s/ /k/ /\u0279/ /\u0292/\n\nGrammar Edit\n\nGender Cases Numbers Tenses Persons Moods Voices Aspects Verb No No No Yes No No No No Nouns No No Yes No No No No No Adjectives No No No No No No No No Numbers No No No No No No No No Participles No No No No No No No No Adverb No No No No No No No No Pronouns No Yes No No No No No No Adpositions No No No No No No No No Article No No No No No No No No Particle No No No No No No No No\n\n\n\n\n\nNouns Edit\n\nNouns are assigned three classes:\n\nThings that are of Heaven. (Gaia, Angels, righteous persons, etc.) Things that are of Medius. (Death, living things, nature, etc.) Things that are of Hell. (Syndel, Demons, damned souls, etc.)\n\nNouns are pluralized with the suffix (i) j .\n\nVerbs Edit\n\nVerb Tense Prefix Past sun- Future kur- Passive mi- Gerund jer-\n\nSubject-verb agreement is provided by having the verb follow the subject immediately.\n\nSyntax Edit\n\nPronouns (Personal) Edit\n\nSubjective to: Prefix Possessive se- Reflective ni-\n\nFor Objective pronouns, the final vowel is replaced with \"y\". (ai)\n\nOther Words Edit\n\nWord Translation ets And ken Yes nu No la To vi Or dan- Un- -ri Turns Verb into Adjective -zo Turns Verb into Noun\n\nWIP\n\nLexicon Edit\n\nArticles (Definite) Edit\n\nWord Class ky 1 (Heaven) ka 2 (Medius) ku 3 (Hell)\n\nNouns Edit\n\nClass I Edit\n\nWord Translation fory Time geven Heaven jiri Sword nev Heart ni Self nim Word selem Peace, Hello simi Sun vur Friend zem Name nin Sister zes Brother\n\nClass II Edit\n\nWord Translation aer Air dam Man eme Tongue gi Earth iom Day iv Woman kun Tail ner Water nun Snake pyr Fire\n\nClass III Edit\n\nWord Translation kadzo Sin siol Hell zuu Demon, Brute\n\nVerbs Edit\n\nWord Translation aka to Make/Do am to Be (Present State) arvaj to Grab, Hold, Steal asde to Need diri to Despair dyl to Hail, Praise dum to Fight fy to Look (to be) hul to Hurt id Would is to Have isra to Wrestle, Struggle jel to Laugh jesum to Listen jeva Must juru to Shine kad to Sin kam to Love kana to Worry kem to Like kul Can lome to Speak lumet to Study, Research lumo to Die smor to Keep sna to Hate ym to Be (Eternal Totality) za to Will/Would zig to Please zov to Leave\n\nAdjectives Edit\n\nWord Translation da With dov Good duni Better en In/At inz Free iur More jelmi Laughable; Ridiculous jo Here kumz Like; As lal Dear ra Evil sar All ya Holy\n\nPronouns Edit\n\nWord Translation ja I jaj We vo You voj You (pl.) wa He/She ri This, It rij They\n\nThere are no gendered Pronouns in Angelic, as Angels view gender as fluid.\n\nExample text Edit\n\nAngelic English Sar damj jeva lumo. All men must die. Diri'dan, lal vur...\n\nSmor se'vo nev jer'juru kumz ky simi...\n\nJa'ym jo da vy... Despair not, dear friend...\n\nKeep your heart shining like the sun...\n\nI am here with you... Ym vi ym'dan... To be or not to be... Dyl ym la Gya. Praise be to Gaia.\n\nComic Website\u200b\u200b\u200b\n\nSlightly Damned Wiki"}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMeetings are held at a private residence in Los Feliz, they consist of a 20 minute silent meditation, followed by a 40 minute dharma/sutra talk led by Rev. Sunim Hye Wol, followed by another 20 minute sit.\n\n\n\nThere is no cost but donations to the teacher are appreciated."}
-{"text": "Multiple Personality Disorder Symptoms\n\nA person diagnosed with multiple personality disorder can have as many as a 100 or as few as two separate personalities. (About half of the recently reported cases have ten or fewer.) These different identities can resemble the main personality or they may be a different age, sex, race, or religion. Alters may resemble each other or be very unique. Each personality can have its own posture, set of gestures, and hairstyle, as well as a distinct way of dressing and talking. Some alters may speak in foreign languages or with an accent. Sometimes alternate personalities are not human, but are animals or imaginary creatures instead.\n\nThe process by which one of these personalities reveals itself and controls behavior is called switching. Most of the time the change is sudden and takes only seconds. Sometimes, however, it can take from hours or days. Switching is often triggered by something that happens in the patient's environment, but personalities can also come out under hypnosis or when the patient is given amyl nitrate (\"truth serum\").\n\nSometimes the most powerful personality serves as the gatekeeper and tells the other weaker personalities when they may reveal themselves. Other times personalities fight each other for control. Most patients with MPD experience long periods during which the host personality, also called the main or core personality, remains in charge. During these times, their lives may appear normal.\n\nWhen an alter dominates, however, chaos often reigns. Ninety-eight percent of people with MPD have some degree of amnesia when an alternate personality surfaces. When the host personality takes charge once again, the time spent under control of the alter is completely lost to memory. In some cases of MPD the host personality may remember confusing bits and pieces of the past. In some cases alters are aware of each other, while in others they are not.\n\nBecause alternate personalities are formed by childhood disassociation as a result of trauma, it is not surprising that 86% of people with MPD have one alter with a child's personality. Childhood and adolescent alters handle and act out emotions the abused child could not, such as rage or terror. Some act in very negative ways, avenging and persecuting the host personality to be self-destructive. Other alters, called internal self helpers, watch what is going on and give advice. Sometimes people with MPD describe these alters as seeing everything and feeling nothing. Other alternate personalities, however, act as friends.\n\nOne of the most baffling mysteries of multiple personality disorder is how alternate personalities can sometimes show very different biological characteristics from the host and from each other. Several personalities sharing one body may have different heart rates, blood pressures, body temperatures, pain tolerances, and eyesight abilities. Different alters may have unique reactions to medications. Sometimes a healthy host can have alternate personalities with allergies and even asthma. An alter's blood glucose (sugar) may respond differently to insulin than the host's. Since studies done on people with such dramatically different alters have been small, no conclusions can be drawn and the puzzle remains to be solved."}
-{"text": "Trey Burke\n\nUtah Jazz guard Trey Burke apologized Wednesday for participating in the mocking of a 23-year-old Detroit native with a rare disorder by former NBA star Shaquille O'Neal on Instagram.\n\n(AP Photo | David Zalubowski)\n\nANN ARBOR -- A rookie season free of newsworthy negatives off the floor has found some controversy for former Michigan star Trey Burke.\n\nBurke landed in a storm stirred by Shaquille O'Neal this week, resulting in an apology posted on the Utah Jazz rookie's Twitter account on Wednesday.\n\nFormer NBA star Shaquille O'Neal poked fun at Detroit native Jahmel Binion's appearance on Instagram, but has since apologized with a phone call.\n\nThe trouble started when 23-year-old Jahmel Binion, a Detroit native battling a rare disorder known as ectodermal dysplasia, shared a screen shot of a photo O'Neal posted on Instagram that openly mocked Binion's appearance.\n\nBinion's form of ectodermal dysplasia produces abnormalities with the hair, teeth, nails, sweat glands and face, and prevents him from sweating.\n\nBurke participated in the ridicule on the Instagram post which has since been deleted by O'Neal.\n\nHe publicly apologized on Wednesday afternoon.\n\nO'Neal has also apologized both to Binion and publicly on Twitter.\n\nBinion has said he accepts an O'Neal apology that came after the former NBA star received several days of criticism.\n\n\"Shaq contacted me and apologized for his actions,\" Binion wrote on Facebook. \"He now understands that his actions were wrong and not only did they hurt me but my entire NEED family.\n\nBinion shared his story in a MLive.com live chat on Wednesday in an effort to educate others about ectodermal dysplasia and spread awareness of his Facebook group \"Hug Don't Judge,\" an anti-bullying campaign he started up last week.\n\nBurke averaged 12.8 points and 5.7 assists in his rookie season with the Jazz.\n\nBrendan F. Quinn covers University of Michigan basketball and football. Follow him on Twitter for the latest on Wolverines hoops. He can be contacted at bquinn@mlive.com"}
-{"text": "Sometimes shoe designers have a bad day. Other times they have a really good day. Who knows what kind of day they were having when they invented these unusual shoes?\n\nMaybe they were due to go on holidays and rushed out something quick with a WOW factor but without really thinking it through clearly. Or maybe they\u2019d just returned from a rave.\n\nI\u2019ve written two other hubs about unusual shoes (Bizarre Shoes and Weird Shoes) and many people have found them quite frightening, as well as being good for a laugh. Many of the shoes showcased so far seem to have the common theme of being highly uncomfortable to wear, but they also make great eye candy as well as being an excellent novelty gift for masochists.\n\nEnjoy & share if you dare!"}
-{"text": "Posted 17 June 2014 - 12:45 AM\n\nI'm fine with patch times, actually.Normally they start patching when it's 7pm or 8pm here, depending on daylight saving time or not. And usually that patch is done within 30-60 minutes so you can play the whole evening.4 hour patch time is a bit heavy and if it takes so long it will be wednesday here when they done. Too bad, but hey, there're worse things.but one thing, those 10%... would really be interesting if we're close to that number or if the european player base is way bigger. If I look at how many europeans and germans are playing star citizen...Niko, maybe this is a number that is not business critical and you could give us a rough percentage of european or \"foreign\" players? Is that possible?Another thought, maybe you just turn the test servers back online for that patch time\n\nEdited by 627, 17 June 2014 - 12:46 AM."}
-{"text": "MP Mark Pritchard speaks of his relief after the police dropped an investigation into a rape allegation against him. Speaking outside the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday he calls for a change in the law on anonymity to sexual assault complainants\n\n\n\nNote: This statement has been edited"}
-{"text": "Badass Illustration of a Lady Stark from Game of Throne by Stuart Harrington"}
-{"text": "In the wake of the deadly Madden NFL tournament shooting in Jacksonville, Florida this weekend, NRATV host Grant Stinchfield knew what to blame: Gamer headsets.\n\nIn a Monday segment on his eponymous NRATV show, first spotted by liberal watchdog Media Matters for America, the host showed viewers a clip of the mass shooting, posted online by Twitter user @LaYzR96.\n\n\u201cI want to show you something that\u2019s very, very important, of that gaming video,\u201d Stinchfield said as @LaYzR96\u2019s clip played, showing a desktop computer live-streaming the Madden tournament as gunfire broke out, with what appears to be a blue headset in the foreground.\n\n\u201cIf you listen over the talking that person doesn\u2019t hear the shots. Why? Because their headphones are on,\u201d Stinchfield continued. \u201cThis is another example of people not being aware of their surroundings. I heard at least four, or five, or six shots while that person was taking a cellphone video of the game. There\u2019s no running for cover, there\u2019s not even any looking around. They\u2019re still focused on the screen in front of them as someone is firing a handgun through the crowd.\u201d\n\nAside from his bizarre need to criticize gamers for wearing headsets, there\u2019s one glaring problem with Stinchfield\u2019s rant: The video he cited was not an \u201cover-the-shoulder\u201d shot of a participant not reacting to the gunfire.\n\nIn fact, it wasn\u2019t even filmed at the tournament event.\n\nReached by The Daily Beast on Monday afternoon, user @LaYzR96 confirmed his video was of his home desktop live-streaming the horrific events as they happened.\n\nAnd the headset Strichfield was so eager to criticize? It was draped over a computer screen, not on someone\u2019s head.\n\nNevertheless, Stinchfield concluded: \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be aware of your surroundings at all places,\u201d he said. \u201cI know it\u2019s hard when you\u2019re wearing headphones, but we talk about this all the time, whether you\u2019re jogging and wearing headphones, whether you\u2019re at a video game wearing headphones, if they\u2019re so loud you can\u2019t hear what\u2019s going on around you, you are living in your own world. That can become deadly.\u201d\n\nThe NRATV host\u2019s bizarre segment is just the latest of many examples in which prominent pro-gun activists suggest the actions of mass-shooting victims are partly to blame for a massacre committed by a gunman.\n\nTwo days after the tragic Santa Fe High School shooting that left 10 dead, incoming National Rifle Association President Oliver North blamed the \u201cdisease\u201d causing such tragedies on a \u201cculture of violence,\u201d and, inexplicably, the ADHD prescription drug Ritalin.\n\n\u201cIf you look at what has happened to the young people, many of these young boys have been on Ritalin since they were in kindergarten,\u201d North said on Fox News Sunday. \u201cI am certainly not a doctor, I\u2019m a Marine, but I can see those kinds of things happening.\u201d\n\nTexas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick infamously blamed the Santa Fe shooting on the existence of \u201ctoo many entrances and too many exits\u201d in school buildings.\n\nThe same occured months earlier, in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead and sparked a national movement for gun control. Instead of reflecting on the role that guns played in school shootings, NRA officials criticized \u201cthe media, the FBI, and Democrats.\u201d\n\nIn fact, after the Santa Fe shooting, the NRA directly blamed the media for mass shootings.\n\n\u201cThe media has got to stop creating more of these monsters by oversaturation,\u201d said NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch. \u201cConstantly showing the image of the murderer, constantly saying their name, is completely unnecessary.\u201d\n\nSimilarly, her colleague Colion Noir said at the time that school shooters \u201care being inspired by the infamous glory of past shooters who they relate to. And no entity on the planet does a better job, whether directly or indirectly, of glorying these killers, and thereby providing the inspiration for the next one, than our mainstream media.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe at the NRA are Americans who continue to mourn and care and work every day and contributing real solutions to this very real problem,\u201d NRA executive Wayne LaPierre added at the time. \u201cReal, practical action to truly protect our children.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Cei patru procurori care candideaz\u0103 pentru cea mai important\u0103 func\u0163ie din parchete se \u00eent\u00e2lnesc, luni, cu ministrul Justi\u0163iei. Raluca Prun\u0103 va anun\u0163a pe care dintre ei \u00eel propune procuror general o zi mai t\u00e2rziu, pe 23 martie.\n\nApoi, pe 24 martie, actuala \u015fef\u0103 a DNA ajunge \u00een fa\u0163a CSM, ca s\u0103-\u015fi sus\u0163in\u0103 proiectul. Laura Codru\u0163a Kovesi este propunerea ministrului justi\u0163iei pentru \u00eenc\u0103 un mandat de trei ani \u00een fruntea DNA.\n\nTot pe 24 martie ar putea fi pronun\u0163ate sentin\u0163e \u00een dou\u0103 dintre cele mai mari dosare de corup\u0163ie de pe rolul instan\u0163elor - cazul Microsoft, \u00een care sentin\u0163a va fi dictat\u0103 de Curtea Suprem\u0103, \u015fi Loteria 2, ce \u00eei vizeaz\u0103, printre al\u0163ii, pe Camelia Voiculescu \u015fi George Copos. Acesat\u0103 decizie este definitiv\u0103 \u015fi este a\u015fteptat\u0103 de la Curtea de Apel Bucure\u015fti."}
-{"text": "Bleached by the sun and soaked by the rain, the tattered paper signs still cling to the statue of Marianne, the woman who symbolises all that is beautiful about French liberty, in Paris\u2019s Place de la R\u00e9publique. \u201cNever again,\u201d reads one, eight months after two million people amassed here to mark the horror of January\u2019s terrorist attacks \u2013 on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which had caricatured the prophet Muhammad, and a Paris kosher supermarket \u2013 that left 17 people dead.\n\nWith volunteers returning week after week to carefully preserve the posters and relight the candles, the monument to the republic has become an unofficial shrine not just to those who were killed, but to the spirit of the post-attack rally itself. Paris hadn\u2019t seen a gathering of this size since the lib\u00e9ration from the Nazis in 1944. The four million people and 50 heads of state who took to the streets across France after the attacks were seen as taking part in a show of national unity and resilience, defending not just liberty, equality, fraternity, but tolerance.\n\nSince then, the so-called \u201cspirit of 11 January\u201d \u2013 the date of the street rallies \u2013 has been seized upon by politicians as shorthand for all that is best and still great about France. While the aftermath of the attacks has been bitterly contested, no one questioned the street rallies themselves, which were seen as sacrosanct: the one positive sign in one of France\u2019s grimmest hours.\n\nSome of the estimated two million people who demonstrated in Paris in the wake of the attacks. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images\n\nBut then a leading French intellectual, the leftwing historian and sociologist Emmanuel Todd, lobbed what he called his own \u201cmagnificently crafted Exocet missile\u201d at the nation, with a book arguing that the street rallies were a giant lie. The rallies, he argued, were not what they claimed to be \u2013 an admirable coming-together of people from different ethnic, religious and social backgrounds standing up for tolerance \u2013 but an odious display of middle-class domination, prejudice and Islamophobia. To Todd, they represented \u201ca sudden glimpse of totalitarianism\u201d. These \u201csham\u201d demonstrations, he claimed, were made up of a one-sided elite who wanted to spit on Islam, the religion of a weak minority in France. The working class and the children of immigrants had been notably absent, he said. The most enthusiastic demonstrations, he decided, had occurred in the country\u2019s most historically Catholic and reactionary regions, an affirmation of the middle class\u2019s moral superiority and domination, and their Islamophobic quest for a scapegoat.\n\nTodd\u2019s massively contested and controversial book, Who is Charlie? \u2013 which is published in English next week \u2013 instantly became a bestseller and caused one of the biggest intellectual slanging matches of recent years, even by bruising French standards. It was slated as \u201ca polemical ego trip\u201d; Todd was accused on the front page of the daily Lib\u00e9ration of \u201cblasphemy against 11 January\u201d. The paper\u2019s editor, Laurent Joffrin, told the Guardian that Todd\u2019s book was not just \u201cabsurd, insulting and false\u201d but \u201cgratuitous controversy and harmful\u201d. Todd made every major TV show and magazine cover and was dubbed \u201cthe disturbing intellectual\u201d. The Socialist prime minister, Manuel Valls, took the unprecedented step of writing a furious critique of the book in Le Monde accusing Todd of \u201cself-flagellation\u201d. Todd in turn likened Valls\u2019s blind optimism about France to that of Marshal P\u00e9tain, the leader of France\u2019s collaborationist Vichy regime in the 1940s.\n\nWho is Charlie? is now being published across the world with a preface warning that in all western societies \u201ca Charlie lies slumbering\u201d \u2013 a horrific event that cleaves society apart and sees the highly educated and well-off stick their heads in the sand.\n\nTodd says the rally was a display of middle class dominance and Islamophobia. Photograph: Stephane Mahe\n\nSitting in his flat looking out over the Paris rooftops, wearing frayed jeans and espadrilles, Todd admits he\u2019s now France\u2019s public enemy number one. But he is unrepentant. He says he feels liberated for speaking out. \u201cIt\u2019s extraordinary,\u201d he says. \u201cYou put out a book that says France had an attack of hysteria on 11 January, and that book immediately sparks an attack of hysteria. It\u2019s a marvellous proof of my thesis. When you produce a reaction like that, it\u2019s because you\u2019ve touched a nerve.\u201d\n\nHe pauses. \u201cIt is a bit unpleasant to be insulted every 10 minutes, but I think it\u2019s an astonishing proof of all that\u2019s true in the book.\u201d\n\nThe furious row surrounding Todd\u2019s book comes amid a wider soul-searching in France. After a fresh round of terror attacks in France \u2013 including a beheading and attempt to blow up a chemical plant near Lyon, and last week\u2019s shooting on a high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris \u2013 the question of what remains of that spirit of 11 January haunts the country. Has France moved on? Or is it still in thrall to the unsettling fears that Charlie Hebdo\u2019s attackers, the Kouachi brothers, ignited, despite the repeated breastbeating of politicians from the far-left to the far-right of the strength of the republican, secular ideal?\n\nFrench prime minister Manuel Valls wrote a critique of Todd\u2019s book for Le Monde. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images\n\nAs France came to terms with its national trauma, it was easier for politicians to focus on 11 January as one day of unity than the three fraught days between 7 and 9 January when two brothers who were once wards of the republic in children\u2019s homes massacred some of the country\u2019s best-known cartoonists as well as a Muslim policeman before finally being shot dead by police after a hostage-taking at a printer\u2019s outside Paris. Their target, Charlie Hebdo, had long been under police protection after death threats over its caricatures of the prophet Muhammad. The febrile atmosphere worsened when the brothers\u2019 accomplice, Amedy Coulibaly, also French born and bred, touched the rawest of nerves by killing four people in a siege of a Paris kosher grocery store days after shooting dead a policewoman while reportedly on his way to attack a Jewish school.\n\nThe slogan \u201cJe Suis Charlie\u201d (I am Charlie) became a worldwide rallying cry but proved complex, and to some extent, excluding. It didn\u2019t fit with those who utterly condemned the shooting, but didn\u2019t agree with the magazine\u2019s caricatures of Muhammad. Scores of disrupted minute\u2019s silences in schools, particularly in the restive banlieues, or suburbs, appeared to highlight the uneasy relationship between teenagers, often from immigrant minorities, and their teachers. Amid this, the French government cracked down on speech \u201cdeemed to glorify terrorism\u201d. A series of cases rushed through the courts resulted in heavy prison sentences, some handed down to people who were drunk. One man with slight learning difficulties was sentenced to six months in prison for drunkenly shouting at police officers in the street: \u201cThey killed Charlie, I laughed.\u201d Rights groups protested. The debate intensified after it emerged that an eight-year-old boy was questioned by police for saying at school \u201cI am with the terrorists,\u201d later admitting he didn\u2019t know who the terrorists were or even what terrorism meant.\n\nIt was fascinating to see people demonstrating for the right to freedom of expression and then trying to shut others up Emmanuel Todd\n\nValls warned of \u201cterritorial, social and ethnic apartheid\u201d in France and launched a plan for greater mixing in social housing and measures against discrimination. This hint that homegrown terror may have a homegrown cause sparked a chorus of disapproval from politicians. Then came the government\u2019s new increased surveillance laws, which caused a storm over civil liberties.\n\nAll the while, people were looking for answers. Non-fiction book sales rose markedly as readers searched for explanations of the terrorist attacks. Voltaire\u2019s Treatise on Tolerance, first published in 1763 \u2013 the source of the ideas that were paraphrased as \u201cI disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it\u201d \u2013 was reissued, and sold more than 90,000 copies in four months. Scores of books were published about the \u201cSpirit of 11 January\u201d, debating everything from the right to blasphemy, introduced by the French revolution in 1789, to the place of Islam in France.\n\nIt was against that background that Todd launched his Exocet.\n\nHe hadn\u2019t gone on the 11 January rallies himself, although he knew the economist Bernard Maris, who was killed in the Charlie Hebdo attack. But he said that when he opened the newspaper the next day and saw the maps of where rallies had taken place, he saw a pattern that infuriated him. \u201cHere was clear fraud. The street demonstrations were the self-glorification of the French middle class. That made me explode.\u201d He saw it as France refusing to look at the economic stagnation and deep inequality that might have led to the horror of the attacks.\n\nAnother view of the solidarity march on 11 January. Photograph: Reuters\n\nHe wasn\u2019t previously a \u201cFrench-basher\u201d but now calls himself \u201ca Frenchman exasperated by his own society\u201d. He wrote the book in 30 days, getting up at 3am, but is at pains to say it was based on 40 years\u2019 previous research.\n\nTodd\u2019s central argument is that there are fundamentally two Frances. There is a \u201ccentral\u201d France, including Paris and Marseille and the Mediterranean, where there is equality on the family level and a deep-rooted attachment to secular values of the French revolution and the republic. Then there is a France of the periphery, for example, the west or cities such as Lyon, which has stayed true to the old Catholic bedrock, where people may no longer be practising Catholics, but they\u2019re still infused with all the social conservatism of that Catholicism, its hierarchies and inequality. He calls this \u201czombie Catholicism\u201d. Infuriating his critics, Todd maintains that the post-attack rallies represented zombie Catholicism on the march.\n\nDespite the row, he stands by the idea. \u201cFrance is always double,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s why you never know if it will collapse or get back on its feet.\u201d\n\nTodd, who comes from a cosmopolitan family of writers and is distantly related to the anthropologist Claude L\u00e9vi-Strauss, came to fame for predicting the fall of the Soviet Union in 1976 and more recently for suggesting the US is an empire in decline. He has long argued that family structures explain why people adhere to certain ideologies, and has pleaded for France to leave the euro.\n\nHe claims in Who is Charlie? that France is no longer a place of liberty, equality, fraternity, but instead is a kind of pseudo republic favouring only the middle class while the working class and children of immigrants have been excluded. He feels France has much that is \u201cmarvellous\u201d, including its welfare and social security safety net. \u201cBut it has stayed marvellous only for the top half of society.\u201d\n\nHowever, Todd\u2019s argument that you can tell a lot about the \u201cunconscious\u201d drive of the people on the street rallies just from the political and religious traditions of where they come from has been widely challenged. He says he\u2019s not suggesting everyone on the march was a rampant middle-class Islamophobe, but that the overall effect of the mass rally was just that. \u201cAfter the rallies, we saw Islamophobic behaviour everywhere; it loosened people\u2019s tongues.\u201d\n\nTodd says he was most hurt by attacks on his methods and stands by what he says is \u201cserious statistical analysis\u201d.\n\nOne of his key concerns is \u201cthe wave of Islamophobia\u201d in France, which he says is echoed across the west.\n\nThe perpetrators of the attacks in Paris, Ch\u00e9rif Kouachi, Sa\u00efd Kouachi and Amedy Coulibaly were born and bred in France. Photograph: AFP\n\nDismissing Charlie Hebdo as a \u201cbad magazine\u201d, he said France\u2019s new obsession with the right to blaspheme is a pointless over-reaction. To him, blasphemy is now hailed not just as a right but a kind of duty. He feels that freedom of expression is clearly not under threat in France, so it\u2019s wrong to focus mainly on that in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks. He said he felt very uncomfortable watching the French Muslim comedy star Jamel Debbouze on TV talking about his mixed marriage and joys of living together, being pushed to say he agreed with caricatures of the prophet, as if that was the only true measure of how French he was.\n\n\u201cYes, of course, there\u2019s a right to blaspheme,\u201d Todd says. \u201cBut one must also have the right to say that blasphemy is not a priority and that it\u2019s idiotic. With my book, I was demanding the right to counter-blaspheme: to say that the caricatures of Muhammad were obscene, rubbish, totally historically out of sync and the expression of rampant Islamophobia. And, for saying that, I was accused of complicity with the terrorists.\u201d He felt vindicated by the reaction. \u201cIt was fascinating to see people demonstrating for the right to freedom of expression and then trying to shut others up.\u201d\n\nWith my book, I was demanding the right to counter-blaspheme: to say that the caricatures of Muhammad were obscene Emmanuel Todd\n\nThe maternal side of Todd\u2019s family is Jewish. \u201cThis is probably the first time in my life that I\u2019ve written a book as a Jew,\u201d he said. When a young gunman Mohamed Merah opened fire outside a Jewish school in Toulouse in 2012, killing four, Todd put the antisemitic element to the back of his mind; likewise when a French gunman killed four at the Jewish museum in Brussels last year. But with the attack on the kosher grocery store, which he feels has been overshadowed by the Charlie Hebdo killings, he said antisemitism was clearly at crisis point. His theory is that the rise in Islamophobia is in turn stoking antisemitism in run-down suburbs, and that antisemitism is growing in the middle class.\n\nHe feels that \u201cFrance is a sick society\u201d. He says its economy is faltering, unemployment is sky-high, inequality is the norm and yet, rather than properly get to grips with that, the country went sleepwalking into the January rallies like sheep.\n\nHe says, as a historian, it\u2019s not his place to find answers for the future, but feels that they rest on accommodating Islam into French life. He warns that, as politicians focus on their ageing electorate, \u201cthere\u2019s a phenomenon of reducing to silence a large part of the young population, something you\u2019ve become conscious of in the UK long before we have\u201d.\n\nHe says France is perceived abroad as being a country that is asleep. \u201cMost other countries, including the UK, are trying to adapt. I won\u2019t say that David Cameron\u2019s politics, which are destroying the UK, are a good way to adapt. But in the UK, there\u2019s an idea that at least things need to adapt. In France, we have a ridiculous political system in which everyone talks about reform but does nothing. And that inaction produces a phenomenon of exclusion, destroying the lower half of French society.\u201d\n\nHe sighs. \u201cThere\u2019s a part of French society that\u2019s rotten, and nothing is being done.\u201d\n\nWho is Charlie? is published by Polity Press on 4 September"}
-{"text": "There\u2019s a nude version of this drawing as exclusive content for my patreon supporters.\n\nOgre is my favourite Monster girls so far in the Moe Chronicle game, though i\u2019ve just entered the 4th dungeon. Here\u2019s a fanart of her, and i may do some more in the future as i advance in the game. Kentauros is pretty cool too.\n\nCheck my commission rates.\n\n\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\nHay una versi\u00f3n desnuda como contenido exclusivo para quienes me apoyan en patreon.\n\nOgre es mi chica monstruo favorita por el momento en el juego Moe Chronicle, aunque solo acabo de entrar al cuarto dungeon. Aqu\u00ed un fanart de ella, y puede que haga alguno m\u00e1s seg\u00fan avance el juego. Kentauros tiene un dise\u00f1o interesante tambi\u00e9n."}
-{"text": "Le service wallabag.it, sp\u00e9cialis\u00e9 dans la sauvegarde et la classification d'articles, vient de passer \u00e0 la version 2.3 de wallabag, l'outil libre sur lequel il est fond\u00e9. La principale nouveaut\u00e9 est le support des paywalls de plusieurs sites comme Arr\u00eat sur images, Mediapart, Le Monde diplomatique et Next INpact. Sont ensuite pr\u00e9vus Alternatives \u00e9conomiques, Le Figaro, Le Monde et The Telegraph.\n\nL'option est accessible dans la barre lat\u00e9rale de la version web, via l'entr\u00e9e \u00ab Acc\u00e8s aux sites \u00bb. Il suffit ensuite d'entrer le nom de domaine du m\u00e9dia et ses identifiants qui seront stock\u00e9s par le service. Ils sont \u00ab hach\u00e9s avec une cl\u00e9 \u00bb dans la base de donn\u00e9es, nous d\u00e9clare le d\u00e9veloppeur principal, Nicolas L\u0153uillet. Les d\u00e9tails de l'impl\u00e9mentation sont consultables ici.\n\nLa version 2.3 de wallabag n'est pas encore disponible au t\u00e9l\u00e9chargement, l'\u00e9quipe effectuant les derniers ajustements. Sa publication a neuf mois de retard sur le calendrier pr\u00e9vu, faute de temps des concepteurs. Une premi\u00e8re liste des changements est tout de m\u00eame propos\u00e9e.\n\nWallabag.it ajoute aussi un abonnement de soutien \u00e0 25 euros par an, en plus de l'annuel \u00e0 9 euros et trimestriel \u00e0 3 euros."}
-{"text": "At her weekly press conference Thursday, Nancy Pelosi announced her support for lowering the national voting age to 16.\n\nHallelujah! Imagine all the brilliant decisions that\u2019ll be made by people whose primary concerns are getting to use the car, popping a whitehead, and postin\u2019 sick vids to the \u2018Gram.\n\nFinally, the rudder of America\u2019ll be in expert hands.\n\nHere\u2019s Nancy, in response to a question by The Daily Caller:\n\n\u201cI myself, personally \u2014 I\u2019m not speaking for my caucus \u2014 I myself have always been for lowering the voting age to 16. I think it\u2019s really important to capture kids when they\u2019re in high school when they\u2019re interested in all of this when they\u2019re learning about government to be able to vote.\u201d\n\nCapture them? I\u2019m triggered.\n\nFurthermore, they should be able to vote \u201cwhen\u201d they\u2019re learning about government? How about after they\u2019ve learned. About the world that government affects?\n\nThat ain\u2019t her view.\n\n\u201c[M]y view is that I would welcome it, but I\u2019ve been in that position for a long time.\u201d\n\nLast week, Dems pushed bill H.R. 1, otherwise known as the For the People Act, which would overhaul election and campaign finance laws. Among other things, it set out to restore voting rights for convicted felons.\n\nIt failed.\n\n\ud83d\ude41\n\nSide Note: Generally, if ever a bill is named something suggesting it\u2019s helping \u201cthe people,\u201d NO is the appropriate vote.\n\nWanna see something dumb? Here:\n\n.@SpeakerPelosi: It's \"really important\" to lower the voting age to 16. pic.twitter.com/cnUxSds1T3 \u2014 Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 14, 2019\n\nIf I was a politician, I\u2019d never endorse lowering the age to 16. I\u2019d assume any such move would loudly blare an unambiguous message: \u201cI\u2019m the clear choice of morons.\u201d\n\nPerhaps Pelosi didn\u2019t intend that assertion. But is it correct? She seems to have pretty heftily pursued the moron vote, as is seen here, here, here, here, here, here.\n\n16 would surely broaden her constituency. And, by 1000, multiply my previous contention.\n\n-Aelx\n\nRelevant RedState links in this article: here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.\n\nSee 3 more pieces from me: Andrew Brunson comes home, witches fight the good fight, and the terror of a thin, attractive girl.\n\nFind all my RedState work here.\n\nAnd please follow Alex Parker on Twitter and Facebook.\n\nThank you for reading! Please sound off in the Comments section below.\n\nIf you have an iPhone and want to comment, select the box with the upward arrow at the bottom of your screen; swipe left and choose \u201cRequest Desktop Site.\u201d If it fails to automatically refresh, manually reload the page. Scroll down to the red horizontal bar that says \u201cShow Comments.\u201d"}
-{"text": "We have followed the rapid destruction of the secular government and civil liberties in Turkey under the authoritarian rule of Recep Tayyip Erdogan \u2014 assisted by the long-standing and continuing support of the Obama Administration of Erdogan. Erdogan used the recent failed coup to push his effort to create a de facto Islamic regime and to complete his work in arresting his critics, including forcing the resignation of thousands of secular academics, and suspending all civil liberties in a proclaimed state of emergency. Recently, Erdogan threatened the United States that he wants his greatest critic, US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, delivered to him and that a failure to yield to his demands would be a \u201cbig mistake.\u201d Now, he has ordered the round up of journalists despite the fact that journalists helped him stay in power during the coup by bravely continuing to broadcast during the coup. In addition, his government is now arresting people who express doubt (with many internationally) about the coup. Erdogan has been known to use trumped up events to expand his power and many believe that he is not only using the coup as an excuse but engineered the coup. His government now says that anyone raising such concerns is likely a coup plotter and should be arrested.\n\nErdogan\u2019s government has declared a state of emergency and suspended all civil liberties. It has also issued arrest warrants for over 40 journalists who will join over 13,000 people detained in the wake of the July 15 coup bid. Erdogan is using the coup (which many believe was staged) to wipe out the supporters of one of his greatest critics: US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen.\n\nYet, Erdogan remains our close ally as he eradicates the most fundamental rights of free speech, free press, due process, and democratic government. Amnesty International has announced that it has \u201ccredible evidence\u201d of the beating and torture of detainees.\n\nErdogan\u2019s Islamic parties are continuing to stay in the streets to guarantee that there is no more trouble as he \u201ccleanses\u201d the government, schools, media, and other parts of society of any critics.\n\nShare this: Twitter\n\nReddit\n\nFacebook\n\nEmail\n\n"}
-{"text": "U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump pushed back on Friday against renewed calls for him to release his tax returns before the election, saying the rate that he pays is \"none of your business.\"\n\nTrump, who has all but locked up the Republican Party's nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election, has said the Internal Revenue Service is auditing his returns and he wants to wait until the review is over before making them public.\n\n\"It should be and I hope it's before the election,\" Trump told ABC's \"Good Morning America.\"\n\nTrump, a billionaire real estate developer who has boasted of his wealth during the campaign, was asked why he had been willing in the past to release his taxes to Pennsylvania and New Jersey officials when seeking casino licenses, even though he was being audited by the IRS.\n\n\"At the time it didn't make any difference to me. Now it does,\" Trump said.\n\nPressed on what tax rate he pays, Trump refused to say.\n\n\"It's none of your business,\" he said. \"Before 1976, people didn't do it. It used to be a secret thing,\" he added.\n\nU.S. presidential nominees have voluntarily released their tax returns for decades.\n\nDemocratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton and her rival, Bernie Sanders, have both released their returns. Clinton began calling this week on Trump to do the same. Sanders released his 2014 return in April, while former first lady Clinton posted the past eight years of her and her husband's tax returns on her website in August.\n\nTrump has said there is nothing voters can learn from his tax filing. Tax filings show sources of income, both from within the United States and other countries, as well as charitable giving, investments, deductions and other financial information.\n\nTrump said his company was \"clean.\"\n\n\"I don't have Swiss bank accounts, I don't have offshore accounts,\" he said.\n\nThe 2012 Republican presidential nominee, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, has been scathing in his criticism of Trump and said this week it was \"disqualifying\" for a nominee to refuse to make his tax returns public.\n\n\"There is only one logical explanation for Mr. Trump's refusal to release his returns: there is a bombshell in them,\" Romney said in a Facebook post on Wednesday."}
-{"text": "Wonderful news, Apple fans: the Cupertino-based company's new flagship store in Union Square will open this Saturday. The entirely renovated new digs go up at the former Levi's store space at 300 Post.\n\nThe neighborhood's current Apple Store, at 1 Stockton, sits right above San Francisco's Central Subway project. Loud and constant construction forced the store to move, providing an ideal opportunity to build a bigger and better space. In line with Apple's overarching postmodern contemporary motif, the new store will feature open-space galore, grey and white interiors, and its biggest standout, two massive sliding glass doors at the front.\n\nAs some SF longtime residents may recall, 1 Stockton also used to be home to the greatest Sephora store of all time, featuring three floors of beauty product heaven and a water element (before water elements were unfairly deemed tacky) running throughout the store. The Apple incarnation will close its doors for good on Friday.\n\nThe new store opens at 10am.\n\nHere's another shot of the new store prior to its final polish.\n\nCurbed Video Finds The Hidden Gems of New York"}
-{"text": "Frustrated by the administration\u2019s response to their protests, students at Swarthmore College started a hunger strike in hopes of getting fraternities permanently banned from campus.\n\nFive students began their strike at 11 a.m. Monday, after more than a week of protests outside the Phi Psi fraternity house and college President Valerie Smith\u2019s office. The protests were set off by the leak of internal Phi Psi documents that showed brothers using racist, sexist, and homophobic language and referencing a \u201crape attic\u201d in a neighboring fraternity.\n\nBoth Swarthmore fraternities voluntarily disbanded last week, after student protesters drew national attention by camping outside of the Phi Psi house. But the hunger strikers say they want the administration to shut down the organizations permanently\u2014and they won\u2019t eat until that demand is met.\n\n\u201cA verbal response from the fraternities is not enough to guarantee an end to fraternity violence on this campus,\u201d hunger-strike participant Tiffany Wang told The Daily Beast.\n\nThe group wants the fraternity leases terminated and the houses reallocated to other groups on campus. Smith has said she will base her decision about the fraternities on the recommendations of the Student Social Events and Community Standards Task Force that met with her Friday.\n\nBut the hunger strike encompasses more than the original fraternity protests. The students\u2014who are not part of the original Coalition to End Fraternity Violence\u2014say they want an apology for how protesters were allegedly treated during their demonstration at President Smith\u2019s office.\n\nThe students say they were denied access to food and restrooms and threatened with arrest\u2014an escalation from how the school has handled peaceful protesters in the past. They claim one student was pushed to the ground by a public safety officer while trying to deliver food.\n\nIn a statement to the Swarthmore community on Thursday, Smith claimed students were always free to leave and had access to every public restroom in the building, excluding those in the \u201csecure area\u201d surrounding her office. She added that campus security had been called \u201cdue to safety and egress concerns, and to help ensure a smooth resolution to the day\u2019s events.\u201d\n\n\u201cUnfortunately, a confrontation occurred when a student attempted to open a hallway door to allow more students access to the office,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are thankful that neither the student nor the campus public safety officer was seriously harmed.\u201d\n\nA school spokesperson denied any students were threatened with arrest.\n\nThe hunger strikers are calling for the resignation of Director of Public Safety Michael Hill, and for a promise that the administration will not use force or call police on nonviolent student protesters in the future. They say this is necessary to protect the right to protest on campus.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve really escalated in cracking down on what is a completely peaceful protest,\u201d hunger strike participant Anya Slepyan said of the administration. \u201cIf that becomes the new norm for civil disobedience at the college that means only people who are willing to risk arrest can protest.\u201d"}
-{"text": "The Chancellor was a surprise guest at the opening of the football academy in Manchester, adjacent to the Premier League champion's home ground, reinforcing his commitment to boosting the region in an initiative to create a \"Northern powerhouse\" economy across the Pennines."}
-{"text": "\u524d\u7f6e\u304d\u304c\u9577\u304f\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3057\u305f\u304c\u6700\u9069\u5316\u3092\u898b\u3066\u3044\u304d\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\nif \u306e\u6700\u9069\u5316\n\n\u7d9a\u3044\u3066 if \u306e\u6700\u9069\u5316\u3002\u3053\u308c\u306f\u3061\u3087\u3063\u3068\u96e3\u3057\u3044\u3067\u3059\u3002\n\nif \u306f\n\nif test then else\n\n\u3068\u3044\u3046\u5f62\u304c\u57fa\u672c\u3067\u3059\u304c\u3001then \u307e\u305f\u306f else \u3067 test \u306e\u7d50\u679c\u3092\u305d\u306e\u307e\u307e\u4f7f\u3046\u3088\u3046\u306a\u5834\u5408\u304c\u3042\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u4f8b\u3048\u3070\n\n( let ([ a ( func xxx )]) ( if a a hoge ))\n\n\u306e\u3088\u3046\u306a\u5834\u5408\u3067\u3059\u3002\uff08\u5206\u304b\u308a\u3065\u3089\u3044\u304b\u306a\uff1f aif \u304c\u5206\u304b\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u4eba\u306b\u306f it \u306e\u3053\u3068\u3068\u8aac\u660e\u3059\u308c\u3070\u5206\u304b\u3063\u3066\u3082\u3089\u3048\u308b\u3068\u601d\u3044\u307e\u3059\uff09\n\n\u3067\u3001\u3053\u306e test \u306e\u8a55\u4fa1\u7d50\u679c\u306e\u53c2\u7167\u3092 $it \u3068 IForm \u3067\u306f\u8868\u73fe\u3057\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u6700\u9069\u5316\u306e\u6761\u4ef6\u3067\u3059\u304c\u3001if \u306e test \u90e8\u5206\u306b if \u304c\u3042\u308a\u3001\u3055\u3089\u306b then \u304b else \u3067 $it \u3092\u53c2\u7167\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u5834\u5408\u306b\u4f59\u8a08\u306a\u30b3\u30fc\u30c9\u751f\u6210\u3092\u9632\u304e\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\ncompile.scm \u306b\u306e\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u30b5\u30f3\u30d7\u30eb\u305d\u306e\u307e\u307e\u3067\u3059\u304c\n\n( $if ( $if <t0> ( $it ) <e0> ) <then> <else> ) -- ( A ) => ( $if <t0> #0= ( $label L0 <then> ) ( $if <e0> #0# <else> )) -- ( B )\n\n(A) \u306e\u3088\u3046\u306b if \u304c\u5165\u308c\u5b50\u306b\u306a\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3068\u901a\u5e38 4\u901a\u308a\u306e\u5206\u5c90\u5148\u304c\u3042\u308a\u307e\u3059\u304c\u3001else \u306b $it \u304c\u3042\u308b\u306e\u3067\u5b9f\u306f\u5206\u5c90\u5148\u306f3\u901a\u308a\u30681\u3064\u6e1b\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u3053\u306e\u3088\u3046\u306a\u30d1\u30bf\u30fc\u30f3\u3067\u7121\u99c4\u306a\u30b3\u30fc\u30c9\u3092\u5410\u304b\u306a\u3044\u3088\u3046\u306b\u3059\u308b\u306e\u304c\u3053\u306e\u6700\u9069\u5316\u3067\u3059\u3002"}
-{"text": "Save me, save me.\n\nHow many times can I say\n\nthe words\n\nthat prove to you I am\n\nhelpless,\n\nlonely in a sea of people,\n\ndrowning,\n\nreciting the prayers\n\nthat make \u201cliving\u201d a work of art\n\nwhere sinners and saints\n\ntry and scrape away the dried up paint\n\nof all the mistakes we\u2019ve made.\n\nShare this: Twitter\n\nFacebook\n\nTumblr\n\nReddit\n\nPinterest\n\nLike this: Like Loading... Related"}
-{"text": "A Pol\u00edcia Federal (PF) cumpre desde a madrugada desta sexta-feira (19) a 14\u00aa fase da Opera\u00e7\u00e3o Lava Jato. S\u00e3o 59 mandados judiciais, sendo 12 de pris\u00f5es tempor\u00e1rias e preventivas, em S\u00e3o Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais e Rio Grande do Sul. Esta fase da opera\u00e7\u00e3o, chamada de 'Erga Omnes', tem como alvo as empreiteiras Odebrecht e Andrade Gutierrez, segundo a PF.\n\nO G1 acompanha em tempo real os desdobramentos da opera\u00e7\u00e3o\n\nMarcelo Odebrecht, presidente da empresa\n\n(Foto: PITI REALI/AE)\n\nSegundo o Minist\u00e9rio P\u00fablico Federal, as empresas tinham esquema \"sofisticado\" de corrup\u00e7\u00e3o ligada \u00e0 Petrobras, envolvendo pagamento de propina a diretores da estatal por meio de contas banc\u00e1rias no exterior.\n\n\"N\u00e3o temos d\u00favida alguma que a Norberto Odebrecht e a Andrade Gutierrez capitaneavam o esquema de cartel dentro da Petrobras\", disse Carlos Fernando dos Santos Lima, procurador do MPF.\n\nEm nota, Odebrecht disse que a a\u00e7\u00e3o policial \u00e9 desnecess\u00e1ria porque a empresa e seus executivos sempre estiveram \u00e0 disposi\u00e7\u00e3o para esclarecimentos.\n\nA Andrade Gutierrez negou rela\u00e7\u00e3o com os fatos investigados na Lava Jato. Veja a \u00edntegra das notas ao final do texto.\n\nOt\u00e1vio Marques de Azevedo, presidente da Andrade\n\nGutierrez, em foto de 2009 (Foto: Sergio Neves/\n\nEstad\u00e3o Conte\u00fado/Arquivo)\n\nPRIS\u00d5ES\n\nDos 12 mandados de pris\u00f5es preventivas e tempor\u00e1rias, nove foram cumpridos.\n\nC\u00e9sar Ramos Rocha, da Odebrecht, n\u00e3o foi localizado. Elton Negr\u00e3o, executivo da Andrade Gutierrez, e Paulo Roberto Dalmazzo, da Odebrecht, v\u00e3o se apresentar ainda nesta sexta, segundo a PF. H\u00e1 mandados de pris\u00e3o preventiva contra os tr\u00eas.\n\nEntre os detidos, at\u00e9 as 11h40, est\u00e3o:\n\nOdebrecht\n\nMarcelo Odebrecht, presidente, pris\u00e3o preventiva\n\nJo\u00e3o Ant\u00f4nio Bernardi, ex-diretor, pris\u00e3o preventiva\n\nAlexandrino de Salles, pris\u00e3o tempor\u00e1ria\n\nCristiana Maria da Silva Jorge, consultora, pris\u00e3o tempor\u00e1ria\n\nM\u00e1rcio Faria da Silva, pris\u00e3o preventiva\n\nRog\u00e9rio Santos de Ara\u00fajo, pris\u00e3o preventiva\n\nAndrade Gutierrez\n\nOt\u00e1vio Marques de Azevedo, presidente, pris\u00e3o preventiva\n\nAnt\u00f4nio no Pedro Campelo de Souza, pris\u00e3o tempor\u00e1ria\n\nFl\u00e1vio Lucio Magalh\u00e3es, pris\u00e3o tempor\u00e1ria\n\nEm nota, a Odebrecht informou que Jo\u00e3o Bernardi Filho e Christina Maria da Silva Jorge n\u00e3o s\u00e3o funcion\u00e1rios da empreiteira. A Andrade Gutierrez tamb\u00e9m informou que Ant\u00f4nio Pedro Campelo de Souza Dias, Paulo Roberto Dalmazzo, e Fl\u00e1vio L\u00facio Magalh\u00e3es n\u00e3o fazem parte do quadro funcional da empresa. Leia Mais.\n\nCRIMES\n\nOs executivos s\u00e3o suspeitos de crime de forma\u00e7\u00e3o de cartel, fraude em licita\u00e7\u00f5es, corrup\u00e7\u00e3o de agentes p\u00fablicos, lavagem de dinheiro e evas\u00e3o de divisas.\n\nSegundo o delegado da PF, Igor Rom\u00e1rio de Paula, todos os presos ser\u00e3o trazidos para a carceragem da PF, em Curitiba, ainda nesta sexta-feira.\n\nO delegado afirmou que h\u00e1 ind\u00edcios bem concretos, com documentos, de que os presidentes das empresas tinham \"dom\u00ednio completo\" de atos que levaram \u00e0 forma\u00e7\u00e3o de cartel e fraude em licita\u00e7\u00f5es, al\u00e9m de pagamento de propinas.\n\nPol\u00edcia Federal cumpre mandado na sede da Oderbrecht, em S\u00e3o Paulo (SP)\n\n(Foto: Marcos Bezerra / Futura Press / Estad\u00e3o Conte\u00fado)\n\nMANDADOS\n\nDos 12 mandados de pris\u00e3o, oito s\u00e3o de preventivas e est\u00e3o sendo cumpridas em S\u00e3o Paulo (4), Rio de Janeiro (3) e Minas Gerais (1).\n\nOutros 4 mandados de pris\u00e3o tempor\u00e1ria s\u00e3o cumpridos em S\u00e3o Paulo (2) e no Rio de Janeiro (2).\n\nA pris\u00e3o tempor\u00e1ria tem prazo de cinco dias, podendo ser prorrogada pelo mesmo per\u00edodo. J\u00e1 a pris\u00e3o preventiva pode ocorrer por termpo indeterminado, enquanto durarem as investiga\u00e7\u00f5es.\n\nOutros 9 mandados s\u00e3o de condu\u00e7\u00e3o coercitiva, quando a pessoa \u00e9 obrigada a prestar depoimento. Eles est\u00e3o sendo cumpridos em S\u00e3o Paulo (5), Rio de Janeiro (3) e Porto Alegre (1).\n\nPoliciais federais na porta da Andrade Gutierrez em\n\nBelo Horizonte, MG (Foto: Pedro \u00c2ngelo / G1)\n\nH\u00e1 ainda 38 mandados de busca e apreens\u00e3o sendo cumpridos em Jundia\u00ed (1), S\u00e3o Paulo (17), Rio de Janeiro (16), Belo Horizonte (2) e Porto Alegre (2).\n\nA Lava Jato foi deflagrada em mar\u00e7o de 2014 e investiga um esquema bilion\u00e1rio de lavagem de dinheiro. Esta fase da opera\u00e7\u00e3o foi batizada de Erga Omnes e investiga crimes de forma\u00e7\u00e3o de cartel, fraude a licita\u00e7\u00f5es, corrup\u00e7\u00e3o, desvio de verbas p\u00fablicas, lavagem de dinheiro, entre outras. Erga Omnes trata-se de uma express\u00e3o muito usada no direito, que afirma que a lei deve atingir todos de modo igual.\n\nA Odebrecht foi citada em 15 de setembro do ano passado durante um depoimento de Paulo Roberto Costa, que cumpre pris\u00e3o domiciliar no Rio de Janeiro. Na \u00e9poca, ele detalhou \u00e0 Pol\u00edcia Federal supostas irregularidades cometidas pela empresa em contratos com a Petrobras.\n\nO outro lado\n\nEm nota, a Construtora Norberto Odebrecht (CNO) confirmou a opera\u00e7\u00e3o da Pol\u00edcia Federal em seus escrit\u00f3rios em S\u00e3o Paulo e Rio de Janeiro, para o cumprimento de mandados de busca e apreens\u00e3o. Da mesma forma, alguns mandados de pris\u00e3o e condu\u00e7\u00e3o coercitiva foram emitidos.\n\n\"Como \u00e9 de conhecimento p\u00fablico, a CNO entende que estes mandados s\u00e3o desnecess\u00e1rios, uma vez que a empresa e seus executivos, desde o in\u00edcio da opera\u00e7\u00e3o Lava Jato, sempre estiveram \u00e0 disposi\u00e7\u00e3o das autoridades para colaborar com as investiga\u00e7\u00f5es\", diz a nota.\n\nTamb\u00e9m por meio de nota, a construtora Andrade Gutierrez informou que est\u00e1 acompanhando o andamento da 14\u00aa fase da Opera\u00e7\u00e3o Lava Jato e prestando todo o apoio necess\u00e1rio aos seus executivos nesse momento.\n\n\"A empresa informa ainda que est\u00e1 colaborando com as investiga\u00e7\u00f5es no intuito de que todos os assuntos em pauta sejam esclarecidos o mais rapidamente poss\u00edvel. A Andrade Gutierrez reitera, como vem fazendo desde o in\u00edcio das investiga\u00e7\u00f5es, que n\u00e3o tem ou teve qualquer rela\u00e7\u00e3o com os fatos investigados pela Opera\u00e7\u00e3o Lava Jato, e espera poder esclarecer todas os questionamentos da Justi\u00e7a o quanto antes\", diz a nota.\n\nFase anterior\n\nA fase anterior da opera\u00e7\u00e3o Lava Jato foi realizada em Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro e S\u00e3o Paulo e prendeu o empres\u00e1rio Milton Pascowitch. Ele est\u00e1 detido na sede da carceragem da PF em Curitiba e \u00e9 apontado como um dos operadores do esquema de propinas da Petrobras.\n\nConforme a PF, Milton presta servi\u00e7os \u00e0 Ecovix, empresa do ramo de constru\u00e7\u00e3o naval e offshore (empresas de explora\u00e7\u00e3o petrol\u00edfera que operam com plataformas no mar).\n\nDesde o in\u00edcio da opera\u00e7\u00e3o, dezenas de pessoas j\u00e1 foram presas, entre elas est\u00e3o o ex-diretor de Abastecimento da Petrobras Paulo Roberto Costa \u2013 que cumpre pris\u00e3o domiciliar no Rio de Janeiro e Alberto Youssef, que est\u00e1 preso na carceragem da PF em Curitiba e \u00e9 acusado de ser o l\u00edder do esquema.\n\nNas primeiras 13 fases, a PF cumpriu mais de 400 mandados judiciais, que incluem pris\u00f5es preventivas, tempor\u00e1rias, busca e apreens\u00e3o e condu\u00e7\u00e3o coercitiva (quando o suspeito \u00e9 levado a depor).\n\nAs investiga\u00e7\u00f5es policiais e do MPF podem resultar ou n\u00e3o na abertura de a\u00e7\u00f5es na Justi\u00e7a. Ao todo, 19 a\u00e7\u00f5es penais e 5 a\u00e7\u00f5es civis p\u00fablicas foram instauradas na Justi\u00e7a Federal.\n\nO juiz federal S\u00e9rgio Moro, respons\u00e1vel pelos processos da Lava Jato na primeira inst\u00e2ncia do Judici\u00e1rio, aceitou den\u00fancia contra mais de 80 pessoas. S\u00e3o alvo de a\u00e7\u00f5es as empreiteiras Camargo Corr\u00eaa, Sanko-Sider, Mendes J\u00fanior, OAS, Galv\u00e3o Engenharia e Engevix."}
-{"text": "Bitcoin is booming. The price of the virtual currency recently soared to more than $1,000, up from just $15 in January. Originally invented to facilitate anonymous and encrypted online payments, Bitcoin has recently attracted the attention of large-scale investors who use the currency as an object of speculation. These speculations have resulted in a surge of Bitcoin trading volume and an increase of the currency's volatility.The daily transaction volume of Bitcoin is already higher than that of the global payment network Western Union and only 27% short of PayPal's daily transaction volume. As opposed to services such as PayPal though, the use of Bitcoin in the retail and commercial marketplace is relatively small and the lion's share of daily transaction can be attributed to speculation."}
-{"text": "Bernie Sanders appeared on the nation\u2019s top-rated hip-hop morning show, telling hosts of The Breakfast Club that he supports decriminalization of marijuana and an end to drug laws that unfairly target blacks.\n\nSanders covered a number of topics on his Friday appearance on the New York radio station Power 105.1, including his desire to spark a \u201cpolitical revolution\u201d that brings in people who in the past had not been involved in the political process. But, the appearance focused mostly on issues affecting black voters, a demographic Sanders has been working hard to gain over the last few months.\n\nIn the interview, Sanders repeated his vow to bring an end to drug laws that that have decimated many black communities.\n\n\u201cWe gotta get marijuana out of the Federal Controlled Substances Act \u2013 African Americans are more times more likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana than whites\u2026despite the fact that both communities smoke marijuana at the same level,\u201d he said.\n\nIn the interview, Sanders also addressed his support of the controversial Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act in 1994, which introduced tough crime and sentencing standards that critics say unfairly targeted black communities. Sanders said he always stood against the bill, but ultimately voted for it because of measures that were added to ban assault weapons and fight violence against women.\n\n\u201cWe have more people in jail today than any other country on earth \u2013 largely African American, largely Latino \u2013 the criminal justice system is broken,\u201d Sanders said.\n\nThe complete appearance can be seen in the following video.\n\n\n\nThe Sanders campaign had already been on the offensive against critics of his vote. This week, they released an animated video showing a 1991 speech against the bill, showing that Sanders has been firm in his stance against it and that his final support was indeed a compromise.\n\n\n\nThe appearance is also part of a push on the part of Bernie Sanders to make inroads with non-white voters. For most of his campaign, Sanders has trailed Hillary Clinton by large margins among this important group, but he has been steadily chipping away at her lead. This week he gained an important endorsement from LUCHA, an Arizona-based Latino rights group that before now had never made a political endorsement.\n\n\u201cEvery day, we hear the stories of Moms working at fast-food restaurants for 11 years and only making $11 an hour and students who want to get more involved but their tuition is squeezing them,\u201d said Alejandra Gomez, co-executive director of LUCHA. \u201cAt every turn, our community is being squeezed, and the only candidate speaking for them is Bernie.\u201d\n\nA report from NBC News noted that Bernie Sanders is gaining more and more support among Latino voters.\n\n\u201cWhile our national surveys have shown little discernible trend among all Democrats since the Iowa Caucuses, the movement among Latino voters suggests that a critical part of the so-called firewall of support that Clinton\u2019s campaign had hoped to rely on among non-white Democrats may be crumbling.\u201d\n\nThere appears to be more work to do with black voters, especially low-income black voters, the Los Angeles Times noted. Sanders is still struggling to win over voters in states like South Carolina, where Hillary Clinton remains the far-and-away favorite. Some political followers believe Clinton\u2019s long tenure on the national stage is working in her favor.\n\n\u201cShe has a three-decade head start,\u201d said Gibbs Knotts, chairman of the political science department at the College of Charleston. \u201cIt\u2019s hard for Sanders to make up that kind of ground in a pretty short period of time.\u201d\n\nHow Bernie Sanders is making his pitch to black voters in South Carolina: https://t.co/PQRv2FZkqS pic.twitter.com/Zz3kiUbp5w \u2014 Slate (@Slate) February 18, 2016\n\nBernie Sanders has been making up ground among black voters but on the state-level and in national polls, but still trails Hillary Clinton by double-digit margins. If Sanders were to make a statement on Super Tuesday, it could take stronger outreach and more directed appearance like this week\u2019s appearance on The Breakfast Club, political experts say.\n\n[Image via Instagram/Bernie Sanders]"}
-{"text": "Business a bit slow? Lacking for luck in love? Missing out on money? Time to get lucky!\n\n\n\nIntroducing the Android mini collectibles Lucky Cat Series! Designed by artist Shane Jessup , these adorable Androids welcome wealth, prosperity and protection into your home or business. Each window-boxed Lucky Cat Android features an accessory and a swinging arm.\n\nPick your desired style of luck, or grab a whole case of good fortune to share with friends and family!\n\nAvailable from Dead Zebra Shop and at retailers everywhere."}
-{"text": "LIVERPOOL, England \u2014 Liverpool delivered the greatest in a long line of famous comebacks to reach the Champions League final on Tuesday, beating Lionel Messi\u2019s Barcelona 4-0 at Anfield to overturn a three-goal deficit from the first leg.\n\nDivock Origi scored twice, either side of goals by halftime substitute Georginio Wijnaldum early in the second half, to send Liverpool into its second straight final and set up a meeting with either Ajax or Tottenham on June 1.\n\nIt was only the third time in the history of the European Cup that a team came from three goals down after the first leg of a semifinal and progressed to the final, after Panathinaikos in 1970-71 and Barcelona in 1985-86. No team had done it in the Champions League era.\n\nThe comeback was all the more unlikely given that Liverpool was without two of its first-choice forward line, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.\n\nInstead, it was Origi \u2014 the scorer of the crucial fourth goal in the 79th minute \u2014 who made the seemingly impossible, possible. And it needed some remarkable ingenuity from Trent Alexander-Arnold, who pretended to walk away from taking a corner before quickly spinning round and sending in a low cross as Barcelona\u2019s players dawdled. Origi swept in the finish.\n\nGiven the opposition, a team featuring arguably the greatest ever soccer player in Messi, this will likely rank as Liverpool\u2019s greatest European performance, rivaling the comeback from three goals down against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final.\n\nThere was also the 3-1 win over Saint-Etienne in the 1977 European Cup and the 4-3 win from 2-0 down against Borussia Dortmund in the 2016 Europa League quarterfinals.\n\nFor Barcelona, it was the second year in a row that it let a three-goal lead slip, having beaten Roma 4-1 at home in the quarterfinals in 2018 before losing the return leg 3-0 to go out.\n\nLiverpool manager Juergen Klopp had delivered a stirring speech on the eve of the game, telling his players to \u201cfail in a beautiful way\u201d if they were to get eliminated.\n\nThey took that to heart.\n\nSalah, Liverpool\u2019s top scorer who missed the game as he followed protocols after a concussion, entered the stadium before kickoff wearing a T-shit bearing the message: \u201cNever Give Up.\u201d\n\nThen teammate Andrew Robertson set the tone on the field, pushing Messi\u2019s head with two hands while the Barcelona forward was on the ground after an early challenge. Fabinho followed that up with a crunching tackle on Luis Suarez, who was jeered relentlessly by Liverpool fans at the ground he graced for 3\u00bd years.\n\nA goal was needed to really give a shaken Barca team the jitters and it arrived after seven minutes, with Origi tapping into an empty net after goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen could only parry out a shot by Jordan Henderson.\n\nBarcelona already looked rattled, with Suarez living up to his role as the player opposition fans love to hate. In one incident, the striker flicked his boot back into the right knee of Robertson as they ran along together. Robertson needed treatment and was substituted at halftime.\n\nThe player who came on for Robertson \u2014 Wijnaldum \u2014 made an almost instant impact, making it 2-0 by sweeping home a low cross from Alexander-Arnold.\n\nTwo minutes later, he made another run into the area and met a cross from Xherdan Shaqiri with a firm header into the corner past a flat-footed Ter Stegen.\n\nIt was bedlam inside Anfield, the scene of so many of these famous fightbacks.\n\nPhilippe Coutinho, a former Liverpool player like Suarez, was substituted for Nelson Semedo after an ineffective game \u2014 his tracking back left a lot to be desired \u2014 and Barca\u2019s game quickly improved, the team exerting more control. Liverpool\u2019s players might also have wondered how to approach the game with the score tied on aggregate.\n\nThen came the coup de grace after cheeky play by Alexander-Arnold. Origi scored and Barcelona had no answer."}
-{"text": "The Chinese navy will participate in the Rim of the Pacific naval exercises, organised by the US, for the first time. Photo: EPA"}
-{"text": "Vasilevskiy, 20, has appeared in three games with the Lightning this season, posting a record of 2-1-0 to go along with a 2.01 goals-against average and .940 save percentage. He earned the victory on December 16 at Philadelphia in his NHL debut, making 23 saves on 24 shots. Vasilevskiy became the third goalie in Lightning history to post a victory in his NHL debut. He set a new Lightning rookie franchise record by making 45 saves on December 20 against the New York Islanders.\n\nThe 6-foot-3, 207-pound goaltender has appeared in 14 games with the Crunch this season, posting a record of 8-3-3 to go along with a 2.34 goals-against average and .918 save percentage. He was named the CCM/AHL Player of the Week on December 15 after posting a record of 2-0-0 with a 0.50 goals-against average and .982 save percentage during the week. The Tyumen, Russia native posted shutouts in back-to-back starts on December 6 vs. Rochester and December 10 at Springfield. Vasilevskiy has only allowed two goals over his past four AHL starts and has won seven of his past eight games while with Syracuse.\n\nVasilevskiy was drafted by the Lightning in the first round, 19th overall, at the 2012 NHL Draft."}
-{"text": "The erosion of freedom of thought in academia may be old news, but it\u2019s certainly not fake news. Ideological assaults on the humanities continue in spite of all the continued exposure and ridicule these stories generate in the press. Allan Bloom\u2019s \u201cThe Closing of the American Mind\u201d was published 30 years ago and in that time things have only gotten worse. Many universities might as well adopt the motto: \u201cWhere thinking comes to die and ideology lives again.\u201d\n\nIn a recent essay on free speech in the academy, Roger Kimball notes that the biggest offender in hindering proper education is political correctness. This has become an unfortunate fact of life\u2014those who hate it call it what it is (an apparatus of totalitarianism), and those who employ it to achieve an ideological control rarely admit that it exists. Rather, like a group of joyless and barely animate beings, they deploy euphemisms and jargon that masquerade as discourse and understanding. Normal people are meant to feel out of sorts in the face of this nonsense and to assume that their confusion is a mark of ignorance rather than of common sense. It generally works.\n\nIn the same article, Kimball also points to something that is rarely discussed in critiques of higher education: the notion of reality. Political correctness has the ability to bring hopelessness into the lives of true intellectuals, but Kimball observes \u201creality itself is finally the great obstacle to the definitive triumph of political correctness.\u201d\n\nIdeologues\u2014especially academic ideologues\u2014have a penchant for denying reality. They see a world composed of entirely different structures that are either re-imagined as something else, or are entirely fabricated. Thomas Aquinas wrote, \u201cTruth is the agreement or conformity of reality and the mind\u2019s judgment on reality.\u201d He meant the first step in clear and critical thinking is an acknowledgment of the world as it exists. Deny the reality of human life, and the endeavor of thinking fails spectacularly. This is why academic ideologues are so enamored with theories, which have their own theories and endless categories. The more categories and divisions they can create, the less likely it is that there will be any real chance of intellectual dialogue. This is precisely the trajectory of identity politics as well as of political correctness. Neither concern themselves with truth or reality. Both see human beings as random politicized parts to be relativized and utilized for the security and propagation of ideology.\n\nI recall sitting in a graduate seminar, quietly observing a discussion, having nothing to contribute to the cacophony of bizarre theories. I was trying to stay engaged when I heard a student equate the marginalization of people who participate in bondage, domination, and sadomasochism (BDSM) to the survivors of Auschwitz. This student explained that BDSM practitioners today are viewed in the same way Nazis saw Jews\u2014deviant, inadequate, and subhuman\u2014and as such they too are greatly suffering. I was asked to consider that someone who willingly engages in a particular type of sexual role play for the sake of pleasure is wrongfully judged by the norms of the society in the precisely same way as Jews in death camps were judged.\n\nEveryone nodded in that typically nonjudgmental (or is it non-thinking) grad student way and the discussion continued as if the preposterousness of such a claim was instead a chin-stroking notion worthy of serious thinkers and deep contemplation. This is what denying reality in academia looks like. It is an obstinate refusal to see the difference between good and evil. It is, moreover, the denial that arriving at judgments about good and evil is a philosophical requirement in thinking, debating, and education.\n\nOne of the hallmarks of any ideology is a destruction of the language which we use to describe reality. If ideology is a coercion of truth, then one way to coerce is through language. For an academic ideologue this means that the potential convert must first learn the new language that indirectly denies reality (and prevents outside ideas from challenging the dogma). Words take on different meanings because the ideologue revels in being vague. English, by nature, is a very precise language which makes the entire project of ideologizing humanities even more absurd and destructive.\n\nThe object of linguistic coercion in the academy is to change students on an existential level. The weak succumb immediately but the strong quietly accept their fate while still having an awareness that they are swimming in a sea of lies. This is the great sadness that today permeates higher education.\n\nAre academic ideologues like the imprisoned souls in Plato\u2019s \u201cAllegory of the Cave,\u201d seeing only shadows with a firm conviction that shadows are the things themselves? This is perhaps true of students but it is certainly not true of most professors. Prisoners in Plato\u2019s cave are oblivious and the only harm that they are inflicting is on themselves. Academicians may be living in an existential darkness and be sadly unenlightened beings who lack reason, but they are willful and quite deliberate in the harm they perpetuate. This harm usually takes the form of revolt against tradition and the order of things, and we have seen the poisonous fruits of this labor in the public square.\n\nEducation is supposed to take into account the entirety of the human person.\n\nAs someone who has been both a teacher and a student, I can firmly say that it is easy to fall into despair especially if one is a thinking person for whom ideas matter. But the truth is there to be discovered and there are still institutions that deem critical and philosophical thinking a prerequisite to learning and eventually earning a degree. What\u2019s even more miraculous, to use an academically unacceptable word, is that there remain real teachers and real thinkers even in the midst of these academic ideologues. They keep going with the strength and courage and to provide the real and the necessary safe space where human beings are free to think and free to speak."}
-{"text": "Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) has never been afraid to meet his constituents face-to-face and discuss the hard issues, even with the political system as bitter and divided as it has ever been. Amash was happy to defend his positions during two town hall events last week, even on particularly contentious topics like military policy and his frequent clashes with President Trump.\n\nAmash received some flak from the audience for his \u2018no\u2019 vote against the \u201cMake America Secure\u201d Appropriations Act. Combined with his \u2018no\u2019 votes against Trump-backed immigration measures, this has caused many Republicans to question Amash\u2019s motives. Nevertheless, Amash stands by his voting record and maintains that he is only following fiscally prudent and constitutionally viable measures.\n\n\u201cWe have these appropriations bills into 12 different areas and what we really should do is go through these appropriations separately so that we can analyze that particular area and decide whether the appropriations are appropriate for that particular area,\u201d Amash said. \u201cSince I\u2019ve been in Congress, we\u2019re spending way too much on everything. That was true before I was elected as well.\u201d\n\nAmash was also grilled on health care. Despite hearing several objections from angry liberal Democrats in attendance, Amash stood his ground against Obamacare while remaining empathetic to the concerns of his constituents.\n\n\u201cWe should work together. I do think we should start over,\u201d Amash said during a townhall at East Grand Rapids High School. \u201cBut I do think we should repeal the ACA.\u201d\n\nOne of Trump\u2019s fiercest critics within the Republican Party, Amash attempted to explain his recent votes and series of statements. Despite being alarmed about Trump\u2019s possible corrupt dealings with Russia, Amash still remains in staunch opposition against economic sanctions that could lead to warfare down the road.\n\n\u201cThe Russian sanctions were far too broad and too undefined and the bill doesn\u2019t specify what can be sanctioned,\u201d he said. Amash continued on to say that Robert Mueller should be kept on as special investigator, and that he would speak out against Trump if Mueller were fired.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve express my concern about this administration. I could come up with a complaint every day if I wanted to,\u201d Amash said.\n\nAmash is also concerned about Trump\u2019s weapons deals with the Saudis. Amash defended his proposed amendment to an appropriations bill that would have banned the sale of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia, a radical Islamic kingdom that operates entirely under Sharia Law.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think we should be selling weapons to Saudi Arabia while they\u2019re fighting a pretty brutal war in Yemen,\u201d Amash said. \u201cAnd they have a terrible human rights record.\u201d\n\nThere is a learning curve for Amash as he learns to navigate through the minefield that is American politics in the Trump era. Based upon his town hall appearances last week, he will not be backing down from his stances no matter how controversial they may be\u2013even if standing by those positions may cost him his job next year."}
-{"text": "Rovers of the red planet\n\nBy Arli Fender-Barnett\n\nIf you ask a group of kids to name planets in our solar system, chances are Mars is going to be in the top 3. Mars has always been one of our faves. It\u2019s possible that Mars is our potential \u2018back up\u2019 planet if the Earth decided to cark it or maybe it\u2019s the allure of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall. Either way, the desert planet with its reddish glow in the night sky certainly holds our gaze and leaves us searching for more.\n\nSo why the fascination with our dusty neighbour? Mars and Earth actually have a similar past, much like Earth, Mars once had water prompting the idea that where there\u2019s water there may be life.\n\nThe first concrete evidence of water on Mars started in 1984 with the discovery of a meteorite in Antarctica which revealed traces of carbonates, which need water to form, and a composition very similar to rock samples analysed on the surface of Mars back in the seventies. So, if Mars had water, it begs the question \u2013 is Mars habitable and if Martian life existed, how has it evolved.\n\nWhat we do know is that Mars isn\u2019t your average postcard-paradise. With winds up to 400km/h, there is no protection against cosmic radiation, it\u2019s pretty unlikely that there are little green men chilling on the sand banks but rather life in the form of microbes.\n\nRed rover, cross over\n\nWith the big question being \u2018was Mars once wet?\u2019 NASA announced the first Rover mission to Mars called \u2018Pathfinder\u2019 which successfully landed with its microwave oven sized rover call Sojourner in 1997. Results from that rover were similar to those of the Viking lander missions in the seventies which showed Mars to be a dry planet. Images of the Martian surface using orbiting spacecraft though showed clear features that strongly suggested that water had once flowed across the planet.\n\nEnter Spirit and Opportunity, two rovers that landed on opposite sides of Mars \u2013 with significant help from yours truly, and the telecommunications expertise of the Deep Space Network (DSN) at the CSIRO-managed, Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC).\n\nCDSCC was the first station to have contact with the spacecraft shortly after their respective launches in June and July 2003 and was NASA\u2019s Prime station handling communications during the entry, descent and landing phases for both missions in January 2004, and brought back to us one third of all data from those rovers during their missions.\n\nWhile initial results from Spirit showed similar findings to the Viking mission, a breakthrough came from Opportunity (Oppy) with the discovery of jarosite and hematite: two minerals that need water and acidic conditions to be formed.\n\nAbove and beyond\n\nOppy and Spirit lived well beyond their use by date of 3 months and a desire to travel up to 600 metres across the surface of Mars. Spirit pushed on for a further six years and nearly 8 kilometres of driving and Oppy pumped out data for a further 15 years and covered over 45 kms on its voyage of discovery.\n\nThe rovers transformed our knowledge about the past environment on Mars and proved that not only was Mars was once wet, but that there were once oceans on Mars as salty as the Dead Sea, plus there were hot springs and fresh water streams.\n\nAffected by a global dust storm on Mars which prevented sunlight from reaching its solar panels, communication was lost with Oppy in June 2018. Once the storm abated, CDSCC and the DSN had been providing communication support as part of NASA\u2019s recovery efforts. Over the next 8 months, 800 commanding and acquisition attempts were made through the DSN, using every conceivable scenario to account for the possible conditions that the rover could be in.\n\nDuring the final few hours of the mission, after all other attempts had failed, the DSN transmitted a number of final uplink commands to Oppy, a series of \u201cHail Mary\u201d passes being made by the mission team in a last-ditch effort to reacquire the rover.\n\nEven after that series of desperate commands failed to get a response, the mission team, still ever hopeful, asked CDSCC to continue to just keeping listening for an extra 15 minutes, just in case Oppy would call home at the very last moment.. It was clear that they wanted to keep trying right through to every last second of available antenna time, and until all hope was exhausted.\n\nSadly, no response was received.\n\nA few moments after \u201ctime\u201d was finally called on the Opportunity rover, the MER (Mars exploration Rovers) Project Manager, John Callas spoke to our DSN team through NASA\u2019s internal communications network, with a final message on the end of mission.\n\n\u201cI wanted to say, with the completion of tonight\u2019s commanding, this concludes operations for MER1, spacecraft ID 253. And on behalf of the entire MER project we\u2019d like that thank the DSN for over fifteen and half years of outstanding support from launch until tonight. That support is one of the reasons why this mission has been so successful and once again the DSN has helped us make history.\u201d\n\nIs this the end?\n\nWhile this mission is over, the legacy of Opportunity and Spirit lives through the copious amounts of data provided for further investigation. We also continue to support eight other missions currently active on Mars, including six orbiters and two surface vehicles; the Curiosity rover which has been operating on the red planet for six and a half years and the InSight lander which touched down on Mars last November.\n\nWe are also gearing up for NASA\u2019s next rover mission, Mars 2020 and preparing for four other spacecraft planning to arrive in orbit or on the surface of Mars in 2021.\n\nThe adventure continues."}
-{"text": "If you are in a dwelling room, office, bedroom, and kitchen or any room in your private home need to have secondary lighting. Otherwise, you felt some risky situation in the dark corners of the room. Wall lights are continually up to fulfill this task. There are loads of modern-day wall lights in the marketplace, among them this text offers a clear idea to pick out a Best Modern wall lights in 2020 for you.\n\nBest Modern LED wall lighting provides an ideal to remove darkness from darkish corners, also, add a touch calming atmosphere with softer lighting. It presents vibrant lighting fixtures for conditions that require cognizance and precision. Modern wall lamps deserve an appropriate ambient light for each room from luxury contemporary layout to current, antique and elegant style.\n\nModern LED wall lamps are coming with distinct forms of lights fixtures, extraordinary styles, etc\u2026 We have finished some studies and reviewed the Top 10 Best Modern wall lighting fixtures in 2020 for you. You can choose the Best Modern LED wall lighting that fits you.\n\nLED Aluminum Waterproof Wall LampModern LED Aluminum Waterproof Modern wall lamp prefers you to modify the impact of the light. The whole top of Irradiation of this LED wall Lights is 2M (up and downlight). It comes with IP65 water-resistant, can be used both outside and indoor. Also, this may be adjustable as Outdoor wall lighting fixtures\n\nThe Modern wall lamps are fabricated from Pure Aluminum. 1.7Ib heavy-obligation texture gives an outward to look for a greater exceptional and superior look. It comes with a 12W high brightness LEDs. These LED wall Lights are electricity-saving and Environmentally friendly, lifestyles as much as 50000hours. It is one of the Best Modern wall lights you may buy inside the marketplace now.\n\nSpecial Features\n\nAdjustable Light Angle\n\nIP 65 Waterproof\n\nEasy Installation\n\nLED-Wall Sconce Modern Wall Light Lamp Sconce Modern LED wall lamps are long-lasting, and no rust occurred. Its product of the exceptional pure aluminum lamp holder and acrylic light shell. Wall Lights include LED lighting fixtures that have an extensive lifetime. These LED wall Lights are gentle, no flash and guard the eyes. It comes with a 6000k cool white bulb fabricated from semitransparent frosted acrylic, high quality and durable.\n\nSconce present-day LED wall lamps are smooth to put in. It can be installed vertical or horizontal to fits your decor. These present-day LED wall lamps to supply a vibrant atmosphere and low energy consumption. Also, No harmful chemicals.\n\nSpecial Features\n\nMade of excessive exceptional\n\n6000K Cool White\n\nLow power consumption\n\nLemonbest Modern LED wall lamps capabilities current and fashion layout. It is right for interior residence use. Modern wall lamps are made up of aluminum and come with silver & black shade. It functions 2pcs red LED, 2pcs blue LED and 1pcs cool white LED beads. This LED wall Light creates a stunning up downlight effect on outside walls, fashion, and luxury. These Modern LED wall lamps are splendid for the residing room, TV background, showcase, bedroom. These are 5W, 400lumen Modern wall lamps which no longer battery-powered and extensively use in indoor lighting fixtures and decoration. Special Features \u2022 robust and durable \u2022 Low electricity intake \u2022 Lifetime more than 50,000 hoursLemonbest Modern LED wall lamps functions contemporary and style layout. It is ideal for interior house use. Modern wall lamps are made up of aluminum and come with silver & black coloration. It capabilities 2pcs pink LED, 2pcs blue LED and 1pcs cool white LED beads. This LED wall Light creates a beautiful up downlight effect on outdoor walls, fashion, and luxurious.\n\nThese Modern LED wall lamps are wonderful for the residing room, TV background, showcase, bedroom. These are 5W, 400lumen Modern wall lamps which not battery powered and broadly use in indoor lighting fixtures and decoration.\n\nSpecial Features\n\nrobust and long-lasting\n\nLow energy intake\n\nLifetime extra than 50,000 hours\n\nRalbay Modern Wall Sconces 24W LED Wall Mounted LightRalbay Modern LED wall lamps are one of the Best Modern wall lights within the marketplace now. It is extra long-lasting, and the refraction impact is right due to first-rate pure aluminum and ultra-vibrant chips. Ralbay Modern wall lamps characteristic a noble design that could install wall layout in step with your preferences.\n\nShockproof, immediate start, no flashing specialties like these saved this as Best current LED wall lighting. These LED wall Lights lighting tones add a cushty and an innovative ecosystem of existence for your house. Modern wall lamps are no longer exceptional bright, those typically use as Decor Lights.\n\nSpecial Features\n\n50,000 hrs long existence\n\nGood Anti-vibration\n\nEasy to easy\n\nNBHANYUAN LED Outdoor Wall LightNBHANYUAN Outdoor wall lighting feature innovative double-layer layout which is a completely unique and attractive look. It comes with a PIR Sensor only paintings at night time and could remove darkness from while the sensor detects the person. This Modern wall lamp generates one thousand lumens warm white mild with 9.5W. It is waterproof and environmental-friendly.\n\nModern LED wall lamps mostly suitable for outdoors. It features a chrome steel floor that has a special spray coating that can undergo the Salt Spray take a look at for 300 Hours without rusting. These Outdoor wall lightings help you store more energy.\n\nSpecial Features\n\nIP44 waterproof score\n\nDouble-Layer Design\n\nEnergy Saving\n\nGGIENRUI Modern LED Wall LightGGIENRUI Modern LED wall lamps to function a contemporary easy layout that product of first-rate aluminum with elegant arc and surface paint treatment. It creates a beautiful lighting impact and increases your home safety and a hint of style. Modern LED wall lamps are one of the excellent modern LED wall lights.\n\nGGIENRUI LED wall Lights to come low energy consumption and lifelong up to 50,000hrs. It is no want to replace the bulbs, durable and long-lasting. These present-day lED wall lamps are white light, no flash, bright and uniform light. It continues your rooms look easy and comfortable.\n\nSpecial Features\n\n50,000hrs lifetime\n\nEasy to put in\n\n8 LED lamp beads\n\nCerdeco 37858TZ Brandon Outdoor Wall LampCerdeco 37858TZ Outdoor wall lights characteristic a stylish design. Modern wall lamps are manufactured from styles of shaped rectangular factors for the superior design concept. It is made superior aluminum & matt black finished. Also, this may adapt to kinds of general climate conditions, Weather-proof & rust-resistant.\n\nThis one of the exceptional modern lED wall lighting this year. The electricity source of this Modern LED wall lamps is hard-stressed and AC 100V-240V. It mostly fits as Outdoor wall lights but can be used indoor too. Best Modern wall lights are terrific to use in hotels, courtyards, doorways, indoor.\n\nSpecial Features\n\nWaterproof-IP64 Rating\n\nHard-wired\n\nRust-resistant\n\nSUNNIOR Wall LampSUNNIOR Modern wall lamps are products of luxury aluminum alloy housing and great fireproof ABS material. It is powered by four AA batteries. This Best Modern LED wall lights with strength-saving, lightweight, high first-rate, and long operating existence. It comes with a movement sensor capable of light-sensing and human frame sensing.\n\nAvailability of adjustable brightness with guide operation, Highlight/Low mild/Off. Best Modern wall lighting include two luminous regions, the main light line is smooth and secondary lights project mild effects with better brightness. It is easy to install.\n\nSpecial Features\n\nAdjustable brightness\n\nEasy to put in\n\nMotion-sensing Wall Light\n\nJoossnwell LED Bathroom Wall LightsJoossnwell Bath Light Bar functions a new design that brightens any room. It is best for lavatories and non-dimmable. The length of this Modern LED wall lamps is 23.62\u201d and the color temperature is 4000K. It is simple to put in and no switch or cord. You can connect to the reserved wire immediately and use it.\n\nThis is called one of the Best Modern wall lighting in the market now. These LED wall Lights are safer to apply and smooth set up. The IP44 score is to be had for this product.\n\nSpecial Features\n\n14W bulb\n\nColor temperature:4000K\n\nIP44 score\n\nFCC certification\n\nBUYING GUIDE FOR BEST MODERN WALL LIGHTS\n\nWall Lights are offered in a wide form of shapes and sizes, along with multi-light arrogance fixtures, wall-installed, etc\u2026. Before deciding on a Best Modern LED wall lights for your property, you need to recall the following\n\nNeed: You have to determine the want, loosen up the dim regions of the house or behave as ornamental portions of art.\n\nSize: You have determined the reason for the fixtures you are interested in; determine the proper sizes you need.\n\nMounting options: You should reflect on consideration on the mount is direct to the wall with no exposed electric wiring to smooth-to-use plug-in lamps.\n\nYou have to think about the following information and you can pick the Best Modern wall lights fits for you.\n\nCONCLUSION\n\nWall lighting fixtures can installation in any area in your home or business locations. The quality contemporary LED wall lights to offer a perfect to illuminate darkish corners, also, add a little calming ambiance with softer lighting fixtures. Those have strong designs, functional and elegant. You will also see that the lighting has a design that permits you to mount them up or down. You have to reflect on consideration of the size, durability, installation method."}
-{"text": "For the past 18 months Shawn Adamsson has visited three Canadian railway museums, consulted historians and poured through library archives to find a late 1800s photograph of London\u2019s historic roundhouse.\n\nBut he keeps hitting dead ends.\n\nNow, he hopes cash is the answer. He\u2019s offering a $1,000 reward to anyone with a photo taken between 1887 and 1899 of the 19th-century London railway turntable building with locomotives in the shot.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re slowly exhausting ideas of where to look, so this just seemed to be the next best thing to do,\u201d Adamsson said. \u201cIt\u2019s somewhere in somebody\u2019s collection. I\u2019m sure something exists.\u201d\n\nBuilt in 1887, the Horton St. building serviced steam locomotives. It\u2019s now in the final stages of being renovated into a hub for London tech companies, including rTraction, where Adamsson is a vice-\u00adpresident.\n\nAdamsson wants to display the photo inside the renovated building during the Doors Open London event in the fall.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t want to just have a building that\u2019s pretty to look at,\u201d he said. \u201cA photo with the building in service is gold to me. It really helps tell that story.\u201d\n\nThe oldest photo Adamsson has tracked down \u2014 a shot from a London Advertiserstory \u2014 was taken in 1912, when the building was used as a city storage yard.\n\nHe even took to world\u2019s largest online genealogy network, ancestory.com, to research family histories of the roundhouse\u2019s architect and contractor.\n\n\u201cI must have spent two or three days on that \u2014 lots and lots and lots of dead ends.\u201d\n\nWhile finding the photo is Adamsson\u2019s main goal, he also hopes offering the reward will unearth other forgotten pieces of the city\u2019s past.\n\n\u201cI think there\u2019s still a lot of material about London\u2019s history that is tied up in people\u2019s attics and in their basements and in the garages,\u201d he said.\n\nAdamsson can be reached at adamsson@gmail.com.\n\n\n\nThe Roundhouse in 1912. (Western Archives)"}
-{"text": "Postal: Redux, a HD remake of the 1997 twin-stick shooter Postal, has been long awaited since its announcement earlier this year - today, Running With Scissors has announced that the game will be released for Windows PCs as a Steam store exclusive on May 20th, with a PlayStation 4 release due in Quarter 4 2016.\n\nThe series has laid relatively dormant in recent years - the last Postal game, Postal III, was released in 2011 to immense critical dismay, with the last well-received full release in the series having been released a matter of 13 years ago, in 2003. It is of interest, however, that Running With Scissors has made considerable efforts to maintain the series' integrity and longevity, most notably having removed Postal III for sale from their online store due to being \"in the best interest of the Postal Community\" and releasing a full expansion in 2015 for their 2003 title Postal 2, named Paradise Lost.\n\nIt would appear then that Running With Scissors is attempting to renew the series once more with Postal: Redux and deliver once more on a well-remembered game, though critical reception for it was fairly mediocre at the time. Confirmations have been made as to how the remake will differ from the original game however, including updated controls and a new ending to the game's campaign due to the original not being \"appropriate for the current climate\" - the developers clarified this in the same statement, however, saying that the new ending \"will reflect a more accurate representation of how we feel the game should have always ended.\"\n\nIt is no real secret that the twin-stick genre is not nearly as popular as, say, first person shooters, among which Postal 2 may be counted. Of titles released in recent years, the most direct comparisons one could likely make with Postal's combination of twin-stick controls and intentionally offensive themes could probably be found in the overwhelmingly panned 2015 title Hatred, by developer Destructive Creations. In the current climate of games, it will be interesting to see how the title is received and how it fares against those who have tried to emulate it such as Hatred.\n\nAre you interested in this remake? Did you play the original or only its better-known sequel? Share your thoughts in the comments below!"}
-{"text": "The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly has constituted a special parliamentary committee comprising members from all political parties to probe the Bank of Khyber (BoK) scam.Speaking on the floor of the house on Friday, K-P Finance Minister Muzaffar Said expressed his utter helplessness as regards running the BoK despite it being a subordinate entity of the K-P finance department, as per the rules of business.\u201cThe P&D Department (Planning and Development) is using all powers relating to the bank since the day I changed the chairman of its board of directors over violating the rights of the province,\u201d Said told the house while replying to questions raised by the opposition.\u201cThe officials of the P&D department are not ready to leave the unlawful possession of the bank despite the fact that the finance secretary has issued them letters,\u201d he added.The minister explained that he had removed former additional chief secretary P&D Dr Hammad Uwais Agha from the chairmanship of the board of directors of the bank as he assigned the slot earmarked for the government representative on the board to the private sector.\u201cUnder the rules of business, the finance department has the power to nominate the government representative for the board but the P&D department has been putting hindrance in this regard and issuing the notification of the board of directors which has been declared illegal by the law department,\u201d he said.Said also raised the issue of the appointment of bank\u2019s current managing director, saying he was appointed in violation of rules.\u201cThe managing director published an advertisement against me in which he levelled baseless allegations on someone\u2019s direction. Then he sought an apology through an advertisement and now fingers are raised at the bank\u2019s reputation due to his incompetence and misconduct,\u201d he said, referring an advertisement run by the bank against him in April last year.He sought an inquiry committee to probe all issues pertaining to the bank and submit a report within 15 days.The scam surfaced last year in April when The Express Tribune published a story in which Said expressed his unawareness about the bank\u2019s voluntary separation scheme and negated the move of the bank.Awami National Party parliamentary leader in the house Sardar Hussain Babak raised the issue in the house via an adjournment motion. Babak demanded a special committee of the assembly to probe the affairs of the Bok which \u201cis one of the most valuable assets\u201d of the province.Lawmakers belonging to the PML-N, the PPP and the JUI-F endorsed the plan after which the speaker announced the special committee.K-P Minister for Law Imtiaz Qureshi, while giving the PTI version, said: \u201cThe party is not protecting anyone.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Nuovi promettenti catalizzatori a base di vanadio sono stati scoperti da una collaborazione tra due dei maggiori laboratori di ricerca statunitensi: si tratta di un notevole passo avanti per le tecniche che consentono di scindere le molecole di acqua con l'energia solare, ottenendo i cosiddetti \"combustibili solari\", rinnovabili e virtualmente inesauribili(red)\n\nUno dei nuovi materiali ottenuti nello studio prima di un test sperimentale (Credit: Caltech)\n\nScindere le molecole di acqua sfruttando l'energia solare per ottenere idrocarburi rinnovabili e virtualmente inesauribili, in grado di sostituire petrolio, carbone e altri combustibili fossili: da alcuni anni \u00e8 l'obiettivo di una collaborazione tra un gruppo di ricercatori del California Institute of Technology e del Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, entrambi negli Stati Uniti, guidati da Jeffrey B. Neaton.E gli sforzi degli studiosi americani si stanno rivelando fruttuosi: l'ultimo successo in ordine di tempo \u00e8 descritto in un articolo apparso sui \u201cProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences\u201d Ottenere combustibili dall'acqua pu\u00f2 suonare strano, ma non se si fanno alcune semplici considerazioni di chimica. Ogni molecola di acqua \u00e8 formata da due atomi di idrogeno e uno di ossigeno. Gli atomi d'idrogeno possono essere estratti e riuniti per creare idrogeno allo stato gassoso, estremamente infiammabile, o combinati con anidride carbonica per ottenere idrocarburi, poi utilizzabili per la combustione.Il problema \u00e8 che l'acqua non si scinde nei suoi componenti semplicemente con l'esposizione alla luce solare: per farlo, occorre un catalizzatore, a sua volta attivato dal Sole, chiamato fotoanodo. Ed \u00e8 in questa fase che \u00e8 concentrata l'attivit\u00e0 dei ricercatori: combinare diversi materiali, possibilmente a basso costo, per ottenere fotoanodi sempre pi\u00f9 efficienti.Neaton e colleghi hanno adottato un approccio innovativo, combinando metodi computazionali e sperimentali per analizzare le caratteristiche dei materiali candidati all'interno di un ampio database, superando cos\u00ec la lunga e impegnativa serie di test dei singoli materiali che era necessaria finora in questo tipo di ricerche.La prima scrematura ha fornitoun elenco di 174 vanadati metallici, composti contenenti atomi di vanadio e di ossigeno, associati ciascuno a un altro elemento della tavola periodica.\u201cLa ricerca mostra come la scelta di questo terzo elemento possa produrre materiali con propriet\u00e0 differenti, rivelando anche come calibrare queste propriet\u00e0 per ottenere un fotoanodo migliore\u201d, ha aggiunto John Gregoire, ricercatore del Caltech e coautore dello studio. \u201cIl progresso pi\u00f9 evidente \u00e8 nella possibilit\u00e0 di combinare le migliori potenzialit\u00e0 della teoria e dei supercomputer con nuovi esperimenti per generare conoscenza scientifica a un tasso senza precedenti\u201d.I successivi test sperimentali hanno infine individuato 12 nuovi promettenti fotoanodi, che si aggiungono ai 16 gi\u00e0 ottenuti negli ultimi quattro anni.\u201cL'aspetto particolarmente interessante in questo studio, che combina teoria ed esperimento, \u00e8 che oltre a identificare diversi nuovi composti per le applicazioni nei combustibili solari, ci ha portati a comprendere qualcosa di nuovo sulla struttura elettronica dei materiali creati\u201d, ha concluso Neaton."}
-{"text": "Unhelpful High School Teacher\n\ndoesn't teach the lesson\n\ngets mad when you ask questions"}
-{"text": "Donald Trump Told THR \"Meryl Streep Is Excellent\" in 2015 Interview\n\nTrump also named Streep as one of the two actresses he liked.\n\nDonald Trump was quick to fire back at Meryl Streep on Sunday after her powerful Golden Globes speech, partly directed at the president-elect. But in 2015, he named the award-winner as one of his favorite actresses.\n\nDuring Streep's speech accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award, the actress called out Trump's recent \"performance,\" referring to the moment when the president-elect mocked The New York Times' Serge Kovaleski, a disabled reporter. \"There was nothing good about it, but it did its job,\" she said. \"I still can't get it out my head because it wasn\u2019t in a movie; it was in real life. That instinct to humiliate when it's modeled by someone in a public platform, it filters down into everyone's life because it gives permission for others to do the same.\"\n\nTrump fired back, calling her a \"Hillary lover\" and \"over-rated,\" but in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter during the Republican primary season, Trump was asked to name actresses he liked. He could only name two, and Streep was one of them.\n\nAsked during the interview if there were any actresses in particular he loved, Trump answered: \"Julia Roberts is terrific, and many others. Meryl Streep is excellent; she's a fine person, too. The problem is I'll name three or four or five and then the hundred that I know will be insulted, and I don't mean to insult them.\"\n\nTrump had initially fired back at Streep on Sunday night after the speech aired, telling The New York Times that Streep must be a \"Hillary lover\" and though he hadn't watched the speech, he wasn't \"surprised\" that the actress and her fellow \"liberal movie people\" took their aim at him during the Globes.\n\nIn a series of tweets in the early morning hours, Trump called Streep \"one of most over-rated actresses in Hollywood,\" adding that the actress \"attacked\" him in her speech and denied that he had ever mocked a disabled reporter.\n\nMeryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn't know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a..... \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017\n\nHillary flunky who lost big. For the 100th time, I never \"mocked\" a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him....... \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017"}
-{"text": "Voters turned out in larger numbers than expected Saturday to choose a new president to lead them into the post-American era.\n\nVoters turned out in larger numbers than expected Saturday to choose a new president to lead them into the post-American era.\n\nVoters turned out in larger numbers than expected Saturday to choose a new president to lead them into the post-American era.\n\nThe days leading up to Afghanistan\u2019s presidential election this month were full of headline-grabbing Taliban attacks: Gunmen and bombers assaulted the election commission headquarters, the luxury Serena Hotel and the American charity Roots of Peace.\n\nBut on voting day, the country seemed unusually calm, prompting Afghan politicians to speculate that the Taliban had intentionally allowed the election to proceed.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think the other side put too much pressure,\u201d said Hedayat Amin Arsala, a presidential candidate. \u201cThey even prevented some people from attacking.\u201d\n\nThe statistics tell another story. Data released Monday by the U.S. military in Kabul show that April 5 was, in fact, an unusually violent day, spiking far above the norm, although falling 36 percent short of the peak number of attacks during the 2009 election, one of the bloodiest days of the war.\n\nOf the 286 insurgent attacks during this election, the vast majority (226) occurred in eastern Afghanistan, followed by 21 in the Kandahar area of southern Afghanistan, 17 in the west, 14 in the north, seven in the Helmand region and just one in Kabul.\n\nBecause the U.S. military does not have the footprint across the country it once had for first-hand reporting, it collected those figures from Afghan authorities.\n\nOf the serious violence, most was what is known as \u201cdirect fire\u201d or gun fights. There were 38 of those incidents. Sixteen attacks were by \u201cindirect fire,\u201d meaning rockets or mortar shells, and five improvised explosive devices (IEDs) exploded.\n\nThese figures do not include violence that occurred during operations by Afghan special forces, which are not tracked by the U.S. three-star command in Kabul.\n\nThe violence took a toll on the Afghan soldiers and police officers who deployed in force to guard polling centers and protect voters. Seventeen members of the Afghan security forces were killed and 58 others were wounded.\n\nBut the highest losses were suffered by the Taliban. The insurgency lost 141 fighters, and 33 others were wounded in action, according to these reports. There were no U.S. casualties.\n\nThe violence did not prevent voters from turning out in large numbers. The election commission estimates that 7 million people voted, more than in the 2009 election but fewer than in 2004, the first presidential election after the fall of the Taliban in 2001.\n\nA U.S. military spokesman praised the Afghan security forces for protecting voters and keeping the casualty count relatively low given the high number of attacks.\n\nThis month, even with the spike of election-day violence, there have been 35 percent fewer attacks than in April 2013, the spokesman said.\n\nAfghan authorities agree with the assessment that the election unfolded better than they had expected. But their violence numbers differ from those of the coalition. Afghan army spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi said that 690 insurgent attacks occurred on election day, most of them minor small-arms engagements.\n\nInsurgent activity here fluctuates wildly, but the spike on election day still stands out, even compared to previous violent periods. That result has become politically relevant for the country as it looks forward to a possible second-round runoff between the two front-runners, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani.\n\nU.S. military officials worry that a second round could attract even more violence by the Taliban, this time with a better sense of how Afghan forces are arrayed around polling stations and how election staff members and ballots travel to and from those sites.\n\nIn Afghanistan, where even a good day can be bad, a bad day could be tragic."}
-{"text": "LAPD: All cars are under investigation\n\nAmid nationwide concerns about license plate reader programs, the LAPD cites a unique legal argument for denying a records request.\n\nStorified by AJAMStream\u00b7 Tue, Mar 25 2014 14:42:58\n\nThis argument is completely counter to our criminal justice system, in which we assume law enforcement will not conduct an investigation unless there are some indicia of criminal activity. In fact, the Fourth Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution exactly to prevent law enforcement from conducting mass, suspicionless investigations under \u201cgeneral warrants\u201d that targeted no specific person or place and never expired.eff.org\n\nTransparency reports and successful records requests across the country have raised concerns about ALPR programs like the one in Los Angeles. A public record request about the Boston Police Department's license plate readers caused the program to be shut down , after it was revealed that the department failed to protect personal data and that license plate readers were deployed primarily in low-income neighborhoods.\n\nIn February, it was revealed that Vermont had granted various federal agencies access to its database of 8 million license plates and location records. The chart below shows which federal agencies were granted access:\n\nTwimg\n\n\n\nDallas law enforcement's larger ALPR deployment scanned 10.5 million license plates in three months. ALPR programs elsewhere have been shown to collect large amounts of data in relatively short periods of time. With just 61 scanners statewide, Vermont law enforcement performed enough scans to read every license plate in the town of Rutland 64 times in just 18 months.\n\n\n\nA MuckRock and Boston Globe investigation into Boston's ALPR program suggested that the system was not focused on serious crime. In one instance, a stolen vehicle was scanned nearly 60 times without triggering action from law enforcement. Police departments have touted the ability of license plate readers to solve serious crimes like stolen vehicles. Dallas police say they have recovered 170 stolen vehicles since the start of their ALPR program.\n\nThis chart from MuckRock shows the breakdown of crime \"hits\" from one data set released by Boston Police Department, showing a heavy focus on insurance violations. Most of the recorded hits released by the department did not include the reason that the given car was on a crime watch list.\n\nTwimg\n\nWhat do you think of automatic license plate reader programs? Leave your thoughts in the comments below."}
-{"text": "When John Maynard Keynes wrote The General Theory, three generations ago, he structured his argument as a refutation of what he called \u201cclassical economics\u201d, and in particular of Say\u2019s Law, the proposition that income must be spent and hence that there can never be an overall deficiency of demand. Ever since, historians of thought have argued about whether this was a fair characterization of what the classical economists, or at any rate his own intellectual opponents, really believed.\n\nNot being an intellectual historian myself, I won\u2019t venture an opinion on that subject. What I will say, however, is that Say\u2019s Law (Say\u2019s false law? Say\u2019s fallacy?) is something that opponents of Keynesian economics consistently invoke to this day, falling into exactly the same fallacies Keynes identified back in 1936.\n\nIn the past I\u2019ve caught Brian Riedl and John Cochrane doing it; now Peter Dorman finds Tyler Cowen in their company.\n\nCowen can\u2019t see why corporate hoarding is a problem. Like Riedl and Cochrane, he concedes that there might be some problem if corporations literally piled up stacks of green paper; but he argues that it\u2019s completely different if they put the money in a bank, which will lend it out, or use it to buy securities, which can be used to finance someone else\u2019s spending.\n\nBut of course there isn\u2019t any difference. If you put money in a bank, the bank might just accumulate excess reserves. If you buy securities from someone else, the seller might put the cash in his mattress, or put it in a bank that just adds it to its reserves, etc., etc.. The point is that buying goods and services is one thing, adding directly to aggregate demand; buying assets isn\u2019t at all the same thing, especially when we\u2019re at the zero lower bound.\n\nWhat\u2019s depressing about all this is that Say\u2019s Law is a primitive fallacy \u2013 so primitive that Keynes has been accused of attacking a straw man. Yet this primitive fallacy, decisively refuted three quarters of a century ago, continues to play a central role in distorting economic discussion and crippling our policy response to depression."}
-{"text": "Posted 06 March 2015 - 04:07 PM\n\nTina Benoit, on 06 March 2015 - 01:44 PM, said:\n\nLove this idea!\n\n\n\nYou know what, you gave me an idea on how we can make this an ongoing thing.\n\nI'll make a thread on the Fan Created sub-forum shortly.\n\n\n\nAs for moving it somewhere else, might need some time to figure out where else it could go..\n\nAny suggestions?\n\n\n\nSpoiler\n\n\n\n\n\nWow, thank you! I'm here since quite some time and I did not expect an answer and especially not that fast.An ongoing thing would be perfect. Highlight some of the best stuff we have, for example the repaints of Ironhawk, Odanan or the other guys. This would inspire others a lot!I understand that moving forums around is a difficult task, since it is a bit like moving other peoples furniture around.I am by no means a social media expert or anything but this COULD be a start. I wrote up a few ideas, maybe you should ask the guys on /r/outreachHPG or some of the other old Forumwarriors for help.Explanation: The forums like \"Battletech Discussion\" and \"Community Warfare\" are Subs and Sub-Subs that are visited by the \"hardcore fans\". These forums have a population of players who visit the forums regulary and are not that \"dead\".PGI should lay more emphasis on the \"Barracks\" part of the Forum. You could move that up to \"New Player Help\" and rename it to \"Finding a Team\" or something like that. MWO is way more fun with friends or even a unit.Also, the forum should be advertised a lot more in game, the launcher and anywhere else. You can get a LOT of help and knowlegde here and we even have the international subs for people not speaking englishThis could be thing too.\n\nEdited by Iqfish, 06 March 2015 - 05:39 PM."}
-{"text": "Geneva: A Kashmiri leader has revealed that China is in occupation of parts of Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Aksai Chin, despite not being a party to any of these land ownership disputes.\n\nIn an interview, Dr Shabir Choudhry, Head of Diplomatic Committee and senior leader of the Kashmir National Party (KNP), said: \u201cChina also occupies part of Jammu and Kashmir state, some part of the Aksai Chin area and some areas of Gilgit Baltistan.\u201d\n\n\u201cDespite that occupation, China is not a party in any dispute. Pakistan and pro-Pakistani Kashmiris are trying to make Beijing a party in these disputes. This will be totally disastrous,\u201d he warned.\n\nChoudhry further stated that having more or less unrestricted access to these areas, Beijing has undertaken a major exploration drive to unearth precious minerals and stones, which it hopes to use for developing its missile technology.\n\n\u201cVarious areas in Gilgit Baltistan have been given to China for exploration. All minerals, precious stones and (other) material that can be used for missile technology, China is taking all those away. Pakistan has given these areas to China very generously. They (Pakistanis) have received an amount for that. For each area that they have given to China, they have received money for that,\u201d Choudhry claimed.\n\nClaiming that China and Pakistan\u2019s elite class were the only ones benefitting from this exercise, the Kashmiri leader said: \u201cLocal people are protesting that these resources belong to us, we should benefit only, our generations should benefit.\u201d\n\n\u201cI visited Gilgit Baltistan. I saw that area and I was surprised to see Chinese signboards over there. What does that imply? People there don\u2019t know Chinese. I don\u2019t know Chinese. It means that Chinese presence is there. Signboards are for them, not for me or not for Pakistanis. So there is a large presence of Chinese in Gilgit Baltistan,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThe road construction and dam construction which is going on over there, there is a large presence of the Chinese Army,\u201d he added.\n\nANI"}
-{"text": "A small dog entered the Halcyon fold when 1.5 was released on May 27th. We also discovered that Joule\u2019s ultimate picked up right where Vox\u2019s left off. 1.5 came out just over two weeks ago, and we\u2019re already hungry for a new update! SEMC\u2019s patch cycles have been roughly 4-5 weeks per release. Based on this, we can expect 1.6 to come out sometime near the end of June or early July. A release before the 4th of July weekend makes the most sense, so they can relax and enjoy and fireworks. Interestingly, SEMC has been very forthcoming with some of the upcoming changes in 1.6.\n\nConfirmed (and Speculated) for 1.6\n\nCasual / Ranked Queues\n\nCards, glory, and daily quests will be obtainable in Casual queue.\n\nCasual matchmaking will use some rating system (it is not a free for all).\n\nCasual games will have no effect on skill tier.\n\nRanked queue will disallow more than 1 full skill tier differences when partying.\n\nRanked queue will be gated. You need Karma level 10 AND Account level 10.\n\nFree hero rotation will only apply in Casual queue. Not for Ranked mode!\n\nYou must have 3 heroes unlocked to play Ranked.\n\nRanked games may show exactly how each win/loss affects your skill tier (may not be ready by 1.6).\n\nFull released details from PlayoffBeard here.\n\nGet Cards Section\n\n\n\nCards will be obtainable from glory (and possibly ICE?).\n\nSkins will be much more obtainable once the shop is released.\n\nmore obtainable once the shop is released. Not clear on how cards will be purchased. Packs of cards makes the most sense.\n\nNew Skins\n\nHero and Balance Changes\n\nPetal buffs incoming. She is \u201cwrecking\u201d in dev play tests.\n\nJoule\u2019s ultimate is being looked at and the knock back ability of her Rocket Leap.\n\nJungle monsters will no longer do true damage\n\nNew Hero\n\nCurrently being play tested, not confirmed for 1.6.\n\nBerserker from the lore?\n\nIs good when built with a Serpent\u2019s Mask.\n\nMost likely a melee warrior, although the axes look like they can be thrown!\n\nAll Tier II and Tier III Skins unlocked for keldegar"}
-{"text": "(CNN) A US Army soldier accused of supporting ISIS kissed and posed next to the terror group's flag, photos released by the US attorney's office in Honolulu show.\n\nIkaika Erik Kang, 34, was arrested Saturday and charged with \"providing material support\" to ISIS, the FBI said.\n\nThe photos were presented as evidence during a bail hearing Thursday in Honolulu. A federal judge ruled that Kang would remain in custody without bail following a request by federal officials.\n\nProsecutors argued Kang could pose a danger to the community and that he is a substantial flight risk, CNN affiliate KHON-TV in Honolulu reported.\n\nHis next court appearance is scheduled for July 24.\n\nKang, who was stationed at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, was investigated by the FBI and Army for more than a year, the FBI said in a statement.\n\nThe FBI said it believed he was a \"lone actor.\"\n\nThe soldier holds an ISIS flag in another photo that prosecutors presented.\n\nKang's father arrived at the hearing Thursday in hopes of having a chance to talk to his son.\n\n\"Just hold in there. You have a support group,\" Clifford Kang told KHON he would tell his son after learning he wouldn't be able to contact him. \"Just relax and I'll be there for him. Just like the old Navy saying, we don't leave our men behind.\"\n\nA decorated veteran\n\nThe younger Kang is an active-duty Army air traffic control operator assigned to the 25th Infantry Division at Wheeler Army Airfield in Hawaii. Kang's service records show he was deployed to Afghanistan from July 2013 to April 2014 and served in Iraq from March 2010 to February 2011. He has received a range of honors for his service, including the Army Commendation Medal.\n\nAn attorney representing Kang indicated his client had possible mental health issues that had gone untreated.\n\n\"It would appear that Sgt. Kang, a decorated veteran of two deployments to the Middle East, may have some service-related mental health issues which the government was aware of, but neglected to treat,\" the lawyer, Birney Bervar, said in an email.\n\nOn Thursday, Bervar told KHON he plans to have Kang undergo a mental health evaluation.\n\n\"The government should have offered a hand to pull him back, but instead it looks like they just pushed him and pushed him and pushed him.\" he said. \"It looks to me that they've exploited his mental illness and has thrown gasoline on the fire of his mental illness to get him to commit a crime that they could arrest him for.\"\n\nHis apparent radicalization\n\nThe criminal complaint filed against Kang alleges he swore allegiance to ISIS and tried to provide ISIS with both military documents and training. The complaint said Kang made threats and pro-ISIS arguments while in the Army and that his security clearance was revoked temporarily in response to those actions in 2012.\n\nThe Army noted his apparent radicalization to the FBI last year. After his arrest, Kang waived his Miranda rights, admitted he had pledged to join ISIS and attempted to aid the group, according to the complaint.\n\nThe complaint alleges Kang spoke with undercover FBI agents purporting to be connected to ISIS. It says that Kang told one agent about a desire to join ISIS and offered to provide military documents and demonstrate martial arts techniques to another agent."}
-{"text": "Radio host Art Bell, famous for his show \u201cCoast to Coast AM\u201d and its \"X-Files\"-flavored focus on the paranormal, died Friday (his fans will note, that was Friday the 13th) at the age of 72, Nevada authorities confirmed Saturday.\n\nBell died at his Pahrump, Nev., home, Nye County Sheriff Sharon Wehrly announced in a Facebook post to the community. She described him as a \u201clongtime resident\u201d of the area and said an autopsy to confirm the cause of death would be performed later this week.\n\n\u201cCoast to Coast AM\u201d confirmed the news on Twitter, saying its staff was \"profoundly saddened with the news that the creator and original host of Coast to Coast AM, Art Bell, has passed away at the age of 72.\"\n\nORSON WELLES\u2019 DAUGHTER PLEADS WITH NETFLIX TO \u2018RECONSIDER\u2019 CANNES BAN AND PREMIERE FATHER\u2019S LAST FILM\n\nAccording to an obituary shared by the program, the show became syndicated across the country in 1993 and drew in listeners with its wee-hours chatter about conspiracy theories and aliens, shadow people and spectral energy.\n\nThe obituary said that as Bell \u201cbegins his journey on the \u2018Other Side,\u2019 we take solace in the hope that he is now finding out all of the answers to the mysteries he pursued for so many nights with all of us.\u201d\n\nEven after relinquishing his title as host in the early 2000s, Bell returned to the airwaves now and then, and he also started a show for satellite radio, the obituary said.\n\nBefore \u201cCoast to Coast AM\u201d began, Bell, who was born in 1945, was in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and there he \u201cindulged his childhood passion for radio by operating a pirate radio station,\u201d according to the obituary.\n\n\u2018ROSEANNE\u2019 REVIVAL PLAYS TRIBUTE TO DEPARTED CAST MEMBER IN EPISODE 4\n\nThe show tweeted a comment from its current host, George Noory, who described Bell as \u201ca legend \u2013 a radio icon who went against the grain and developed an amazing show called 'Coast to Coast AM.' His impact on my life is beyond words. He will be missed, but I know he is now on another journey.\u201d\n\nBell broadcast \u201cCoast to Coast\" from his radio station, KNYE, in Pahrump.\n\nDuring Bell\u2019s National Radio Hall of Fame induction in 2008, his former business partner, Alan Corbeth, said no one was better than Bell at understanding \u201chow to create theater of the mind.\u201d\n\nThe Associated Press contributed to this report."}
-{"text": "KINGSTON, NEW YORK (NYTIMES) - More than 40 years after buying Eng's, a Chinese-American restaurant in the Hudson Valley, Tom Sit is reluctantly considering retirement.\n\nFor much of his life, Mr Sit has worked here seven days a week, 12 hours a day. He cooks in the same kitchen where he worked as a young immigrant from China. He parks in the same space where he'd take breaks and read his wife's letters, sent from Montreal while they courted by post in the late 1970s. He seats his regulars at the same tables where his three daughters did homework.\n\nTwo years ago, at the insistence of his wife, Mrs Faye Lee Sit, he started taking off one day a week. Still, it's not sustainable. He's 76, and they're going to be grandparents soon. Working 80 hours a week is just too hard.\n\nBut his grown daughters, who have college degrees and good-paying jobs, don't intend to take over.\n\nAcross the country, owners of Chinese-American restaurants like Eng's are ready to retire but have no one to pass the business to. Their children, educated and raised in America, are pursuing professional careers that do not demand the same gruelling labor as food service.\n\nAccording to new data from the restaurant reviewing website Yelp, the share of Chinese restaurants in the top 20 metropolitan areas has been consistently falling. Five years ago, an average of 7.3 per cent of all restaurants in these areas were Chinese, compared with 6.5 per cent today. That reflects 1,200 fewer Chinese restaurants at a time when these 20 places added more than 15,000 restaurants overall.\n\nEven in San Francisco, home to the oldest Chinatown in the United States, the share of Chinese restaurants shrank to 8.8 per cent from 10 per cent.\n\nIt doesn't seem that interest in the cuisine has faltered. On Yelp, the average share of page views of Chinese restaurants hasn't declined, nor has the average rating.\n\nAnd at the same time, the percentages of Indian, Korean and Vietnamese restaurants - many of which were also owned and operated by immigrants from Asian countries - are holding steady or increasing nationwide.\n\nThe restaurant business has always been tough, and rising rents and delivery apps haven't helped. Tightening regulations on immigration and accounting have also made it harder for cash-based restaurants to do business.\n\nBut those are not factors specific to Chinese restaurants, and do not explain the wave of closings. Instead, a big reason seems to be the economic mobility of the second generation.\n\n\"It's a success that these restaurants are closing,\" said Ms Jennifer Lee, a former New York Times journalist who wrote of the rise of Chinese restaurants in her book The Fortune Cookie Chronicles and produced a documentary The Search For General Tso.\n\n\"These people came to cook so their children wouldn't have to, and now their children don't have to.\"\n\nThe retirements of the restaurant owners also reflect the history of Chinese immigration to the United States. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act halted what had been a steady rise in people coming from China. It was not revoked until 1943, and large-scale immigration resumed only after 1965, when other race-targeting quotas were abolished.\n\nChina's Cultural Revolution, an often-violent social and political upheaval that started in 1966, prompted many young people to emigrate to the US, a country that projected an image of freedom and economic possibility.\n\nMr Sit left Guangzhou, in southern China, in 1968. He hiked, climbed and swam his way to Hong Kong, filling his pants with pine cones as an improvised flotation device.\n\n\"There was just no future,\" he said. \"The only way to get freedom and to get a good job was to go to Hong Kong.\"\n\nIn 1974, he immigrated to the US and started working at Eng's, which opened in 1927. He had never worked in a restaurant before, but the heat from the woks was much less intense than what he experienced at a Hong Kong plastics factory where he had worked.\n\nUnlike Mr Sit, some immigrants had been chefs in China. They served Hunan and Cantonese foods on linen tablecloths to bejewelled, curious diners at places like Shun Lee Palace in New York.\n\n\"There was the golden age of Chinese cooking in America, starting in the late 1960s and early 1970s,\" said Mr Ed Schoenfeld, a restaurateur and chef who had worked in Chinese restaurants since the 1970s. \"We started getting regional practitioners of fine regional cuisine to come to this country and do their thing.\"\n\nMostly, though, the newly minted chefs cooked quickly and cheaply. They adapted their method of cooking to American tastes, developing dishes like beef chow fun, fortune cookies and egg drop soup, often brought home in the signature takeout containers.\n\n\"They were not precious,\" Ms Lee said. \"These people did not come to be chefs; they came to be immigrants, and cooking was the way they made a living.\"\n\nOther immigrant groups follow a similar pattern. With social mobility and inclusion in more mainstream parts of the economy, the children of immigrants are less likely than their parents to own their own businesses.\n\n\"In some ways, the children are regaining the status of the first generation that they have lost while migrating,\" said sociology professor Jennifer Lee of Columbia University and co-author of The Asian American Achievement Paradox. (She is not related to Ms Lee, the journalist.) \"The goal has never been to continue those businesses.\"\n\nWhen they do become entrepreneurs, these children tend to work in industries like tech or consulting, rather than in food service or nail salons.\n\nIn the past decade, some members of the second generation have also chosen to take charge of family restaurants. Nom Wah Tea Parlor, a New York dim sum restaurant that opened in 1920, has stayed a family business: first run by the Choy family, then the Tangs.\n\nThe 41-year-old owner, Mr Wilson Tang, left a career in finance to succeed his uncle in 2011. Initially, his parents baulked at his decision.\n\n\"As immigrants, it's the only thing you can do; if it's not restaurants, it's a laundromat,\" he said. \"For me to choose to go back to owning a restaurant? That was tough for them to accept.\"\n\nSince then, Nom Wah has expanded - to another Manhattan location, to Philadelphia and to Shenzhen, China. On any given night, groups of guests wait for a table outside the Chinatown location for up to an hour, huddled in the bend of Doyers Street.\n\n\"I had this unique opportunity to preserve something that was from old New York,\" Mr Tang said. \"I still work extremely hard. But I also know how to use marketing tools, like the Internet.\"\n\nIn a parallel effort, the team behind Junzi Kitchen, a fast-casual Chinese restaurant chain based in New York, recently raised US$5 million (S$6.7 million) to research and buy places like Eng's, rebranding them with Junzi's modern take on the cuisine.\n\n\"They are still going to have their usual beloved Chinese takeout services, but we are providing an upgraded version of that,\" said Mr Yong Zhao, the founder and chief executive.\n\nBut family-run Chinese restaurants are typically not being passed to the next generation. Some may close up shop, sell their businesses to other first-generation immigrants or move on and see their former storefronts become something else entirely.\n\nMr Sit has not yet found the right person to run the restaurant, and has no immediate plans to close.\n\n\"To take over Eng's, you have to keep the heart in Eng's,\" he said. \"You need to have a loyalty to the business, not just someone who thinks, 'I'll make one year, two years of money, I don't care.'\"\n\nMrs Sit feels more ready to retire than her husband. Normally talkative, he can be evasive whenever the family tries to bring up a successor.\n\n\"They'll have to work hard,\" she said, her eyes sparkling as she teased her husband. \"Like Tom Sit. Maybe then he'll let them take over.\"\n\nIf he ever actually does hand Eng's to someone else, Mr Sit will miss his customers, and miss running an operation.\n\nBut he is proud of what he built. He is proud that his daughters, American-born educated professionals, are working in jobs they have chosen, jobs they love.\n\n\"I hoped they have a better life than me,\" he said. \"A good life. And they do.\""}
-{"text": "For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe just-concluded government shutdown and debt ceiling crisis revealed a deep and profound split within Republican ranks, as tea party crusaders pushed for brinkmanship to thwart Obamacare and establishment-minded GOPers freaked out over the historic hit their party was receiving in public opinion polls. Even after the conflict was settled (at least for a few months)\u2014with the congressional Republicans essentially waving a white flag\u2014the civil war within GOP and conservative circles continued unabated. Once the deal went down, mainstream GOPers immediately blamed the \u201csuicide caucus\u201d for harming the party and pledged to block future shenanigans of this sort, and tea partiers in and out of Congress dismissed the \u201csurrender caucus\u201d and vowed to continue the fight as the next D-Days approach (January 15 for funding the government, and February 7 for the debt ceiling).\n\nThis ugly episode hasn\u2019t resolved the tensions within the GOP and the conservative movement\u2014it has exacerbated them. Here is a list of post-deal quotes from key players in this civil war that show the internecine battle is not likely to end soon.\n\nTHE WE-TOLD-YOU-SO ESTABLISHMENT\n\nSen. John McCain (R-Ariz.): \u201cWe\u2019re not going to go through the shutdown again. People have been too traumatized by it. There\u2019s too much damage\u2026We\u2019re not going to shut down the government again. I guarantee it.\u201d\n\nRep. Pete King (R-N.Y.): \u201cThis party is going nuts.\u201d\n\nSen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.): \u201cFor the party, this is a moment of self-evaluation, we are going to assess how we got here\u2026If we continue down this path, we are really going to hurt the Republican Party long-term.\u201d\n\nSen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.): \u201cOn our side of the aisle, we\u2019ve wasted two months focused on something that was never going to happen. I won\u2019t say that I did, but a number of folks did. What we could have been doing all this time is focused on those mandatory changes that all of us know our country needs, and we\u2019ve blown that opportunity. I hate to say it.\u201d\n\nRep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.): Called Republicans advocating for the shutdown \u201clemmings with suicide vests\u2026They have to be more than just a lemming. Because jumping to your death is not enough.\u201d\n\nRep. Charlie Dent (R-Penn.): On his long-held belief that the government shutdown wouldn\u2019t work: \u201cI was correct in my analysis, and I\u2019d say a lot of those folks were not correct in theirs.\u201d\n\nKarl Rove: \u201cBarack Obama set the trap. Some congressional Republicans walked into it. As a result, the president is stronger, the GOP is weaker, and Obamacare is marginally more popular. The battles over spending, taxes, and debt have not been resolved, only postponed. It\u2019s time Republicans remembered that bad tactics produce bad outcomes.\u201d\n\nGov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.): \u201cAll you need to do is look about 200 miles south of here to see the mess that Republicans and Democrats have made of our national government and we should haul all their rear-ends to Camden today to see how bipartisanship works and government works together.\u201d\n\nSen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah): \u201cHeritage used to be the conservative organization helping Republicans and helping conservatives and helping us to be able to have the best intellectual conservative ideas\u2026Right now, I think it\u2019s in danger of losing its clout and its power around Washington, DC.\u201d\n\nRep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.): \u201cThe reality is there\u2019s a much larger population within our caucus that recognizes reality for what it is.\u201d\n\n* * *\n\nTHE WE-WILL-RISE-AGAIN REBELS\n\nRep. John Fleming (R-La.): Said that the agreement will \u201cget us into Round 2. See, we\u2019re going to start this all over again.\u201d\n\nRep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho): \u201cI\u2019m more upset with my Republican conference, to be honest with you\u2026If anybody should be kicked out, it\u2019s probably those Republicans\u2014and not Speaker Boehner\u2014who are unwilling to keep the promises they made to American people.\u201d\n\nRep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kans.): \u201cI would say the surrender caucus is the whiner caucus, and all they do is whine about the battle, as if they thought being elected to Washington was going to be an easy job.\u201d\n\nErick Erickson, editor in chief of RedState: \u201cWe must advance. Two Republicans in the Senate caused this fight that their colleagues would have surrendered on more quickly but for them. Imagine a Senate filled with more. We have an opportunity to replace Mitch McConnell in Kentucky with a better conservative. We should do that\u2026as more Americans watch Obamacare fail them through the Republican primary season, conservatives will be able to put the focus on Republicans who funded Obamacare instead of fighting it. Whether they like it or not, Republicans in Congress will find their names on ballots in 2014. They cannot hide or escape fate.\u201d\n\nRep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.): \u201cAbsolutely, I think [the shutdown and debt ceiling fight were] worth it! It\u2019s been worth it because what we did is we fought the right fight.\u201d\n\nSen. David Vitter (R-La.): \u201cMy No Obamacare Exemption for Washington language has been blocked out by Harry Reid, Barrack Obama and others who want to keep their special subsidy. But it\u2019s not going away and neither am I.\u201d\n\nAmericans for Prosperity: \u201cOur activists are more engaged than ever in this fight, and we intend to hold politicians accountable for their promise to stop overspending.\u201d\n\nMichael Needham, Heritage Action for America president: \u201cI admire what the House has done in the last couple weeks. It\u2019s unfortunate that the Senate hasn\u2019t been responsive to the American people\u2026and really has undercut the House throughout the last two weeks.\u201d\n\nRep. Joe Barton (R-Texas): Called the agreement \u201ca bad deal,\u201d and when asked whether Congress would be back in the same situation in a few months, he didn\u2019t hesitate: \u201cYes.\u201d\n\nSen. Mike Lee (R-Utah): \u201cThe media keeps asking, was it worth it? My answer is that it is always worth it to do the right thing. Fighting against an abusive government in defense of protecting our individual rights and freedoms is always the right thing\u2026In Washington, victories are rarely immediate and very few are permanent. Obamacare wasn\u2019t enacted overnight and it won\u2019t be repealed overnight. We must remind the American people of the harmful effects of this law at every opportunity.\u201d\n\nMatt Kibbe, FreedomWorks president and CEO: \u201cRepublican leadership has completely lost its way. Not only is this proposal a full surrender\u2014it\u2019s a complete surrender with presents for the Democrats.\u201d\n\nThe Tea Party Patriots: \u201cThe Senate deal is a complete sellout. Speaker Boehner and the House should stand firm and reject this deal to reign [sic] in the Executive branch\u2019s power before it is too late\u2026The House \u2018Leadership\u2019 must stop playing \u2018flinch\u2019 with themselves, and instead, play hardball with the White House, the Senate, and the House.\u201d\n\nSen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas): \u201cThe American people rose up and spoke with an overwhelming voice and at least at this stage Washington isn\u2019t listening to them\u2026But this battle will continue.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Cities in the Arab world were on average much larger than those in\n\nEurope, and the size of the \u201cprimate\u201d city \u2013 the megapolis such as\n\nBaghdad, Damascus, Cairo or Istanbul \u2013 was much bigger; a fact that is\n\nindicative of a predatory state and low trade openness.\n\nEurope, on the other hand, developed a very dense urban system, with\n\nrelatively small principle cities. Big cities in Europe were quite\n\noften located near the sea, being able to optimally profit from\n\nlong-distance trade, whereas the largest cities in the Arab world were\n\nalmost all inland.\n\nThe sociologist Max Weber introduced a distinction between \u2018consumer\n\ncities\u2019 and \u2018producer cities\u2019. Using this classification, Arab cities\n\nwere \u2013 much more than their European counterparts \u2013 consumer cities.\n\nThe classical consumer city is a centre of government and military\n\nprotection or occupation, which supplies services \u2013 administration,\n\nprotection \u2013 in return for taxes, land rent and non-market\n\ntransactions. Such cities are intimately linked to the state in which\n\nthey are embedded. The flowering of the state and the expansion of its\n\nterritory and population tend to produce urban growth, in particular\n\nthat of the capital city.\n\nIn Europe cities are instead much closer to being producer cities.\n\nThe primary basis of the producer city is the production and exchange\n\nof goods and commercial services with the city\u2019s hinterland and other\n\ncities. The links that such cities have with the state are typically\n\nmuch weaker since the cities have their own economic bases. It is this\n\naspect that accounts for the fact that Arab cities suffered heavily\n\nwith the breakdown of the Abbasid Empire, while European cities\n\ncontinued to flourish despite political turmoil."}
-{"text": "Manchester Arena bombing: K-Pop band Blackpink pay on-stage tribute Published duration 22 May 2019 Related Topics Manchester Arena attack\n\nimage caption Hearts have been left at St Ann's Square for people to take with them on the anniversary of the Manchester Arena bombing\n\nPop stars paid tribute to the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing from the venue's stage, two years on.\n\nDedicating hit \"Stay\" to the victims and their families, South Korean pop band Blackpink said their \"hearts ache for those who lost their loved ones\".\n\nTwenty-two people died and hundreds were injured in the 2017 suicide bombing as Ariana Grande finished performing on the same stage.\n\nOn Twitter, #OneLoveManchester and #ManchesterRemembers were trending.\n\nAriana Grande posted a bee emoji in her Instagram stories, with no words.\n\nHer mother Joan Grande said Manchester is \"with me always, in my heart and in my mind\".\n\nimage copyright Getty Images image caption K-Pop band Blackpink said their \"hearts ache for those who lost their loved ones\"\n\nAn invitation-only memorial service was held at St Ann's Church for families and emergency services.\n\nThe church is in St Ann's Square, which became a focal point for tributes immediately after the bombing.\n\nCanon Nigel Ashworth told the congregation: \"In the face of violence and hatred, we offer solidarity and compassion.\n\n\"None of us ever want to see anything like the arena attack ever again, but neither do we want to forget those who died and those who were injured.\"\n\nPhotographs of each of the 22 victims were shown, while music was played by members of Chetham's School of Music.\n\nimage copyright Various image caption Twenty-two people were killed in the suicide attack at Manchester Arena\n\nThere was a poignant performance of Fleetwood Mac's Songbird and Elaine Inglesby, chief nurse at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, read Siegfried Sassoon's poem Idyll.\n\nA minute's silence was held halfway through the service which was also observed by hundreds of people in St Ann's Square and others across the city.\n\nRepresentatives of the Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Methodist faiths also led prayers of intercession, saying: \"We are all one.\"\n\nOutside the church, Anya Dawson, who performs with the Manchester Survivors Choir, said the group had \"become my new family\".\n\nHandmade hearts have been left across the city centre for people to take with them on the anniversary and to \"make many people smile\".\n\nFloral tributes have also been left at St Ann's Square and Manchester Victoria station.\n\nmedia caption Manchester Arena bomb victims remembered\n\nLast year, a larger service was held at Manchester Cathedral , attended by Prince William and Prime Minister Theresa May, with crowds gathered outside to watch on large screens.\n\nA Manchester City Council spokesman said this year's anniversary would be marked with a \"more intimate\" commemoration.\n\nManchester Cathedral is also open throughout the day for people to \"spend some time in quiet reflection and prayer\".\n\nSuicide bomber Salman Abedi, 22, detonated a device at the end of the concert at the arena as children and adults began leaving the venue.\n\nOn Wednesday at the exact moment of the blast - 22:31 - bells will again peal across the city centre.\n\nAt the scene\n\nBy Lauren Hirst, BBC News\n\nimage caption Floral tributes were left on Wednesday at Manchester Victoria station to mark the anniversary\n\nLove filled the air in the heart of Manchester on an emotional day for the city.\n\nIn St Ann's Square, colourful, handmade hearts - many decorated with the iconic Manchester bee - adorned the buildings, trees and fences.\n\nThis kindhearted act is the latest united show of solidarity and strength in memory of the victims and the many more lives that were affected on that tragic day two years ago.\n\nThe hand-crafted hearts can be found across the city to help put a smile on a stranger's face. Passers-by are encouraged to pick a heart and take the tribute home\n\nAn incredibly heartwarming sight on a day Manchester will never forget.\n\nmedia caption Manchester Arena bombing: A city remembers with hearts and chalk messages\n\nFigen Murray, whose son Martyn Hett, 29, died in the atrocity, has been lobbying the government to make tougher security checks mandatory at large events.\n\nShe has also been visiting schools to speak to pupils about her experiences.\n\n\"I talk to them about kindness, tolerance and forgiveness and the dangers of radicalisation,\" she said.\n\nMartin Hett's brother Dan thanked people for their tributes on the anniversary.\n\nThe parents of victims Chloe Rutherford, 17, and Liam Curry, 19, from South Shields in Tyneside, said they would be marking the occasion privately.\n\nThey have raised \u00a3300,000 to help aspiring performers and sportsmen and women.\n\nLiam's mother Caroline said she was determined to \"make sure he hasn't left this world without making a mark\".\n\nAbout 14,000 people were at the arena on the night of the bombing.\n\nMore than 3,500 people have had psychological support in the wake of the attack.\n\nTara O'Neil, from Flixton, who was at the Ariana Grande concert that night, survived the attack and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, which has led her to leave her job.\n\nShe said: \"You feel guilty. That you ran and you didn't stop, but you would have got trampled.\"\n\nimage copyright PA image caption Manchester's St Ann's Square became a focal point for tributes in the wake of the 2017 bombing\n\nJoyce Tewen, from Ardwick, said she was moved to see members of the public picking up handmade decorations earlier in St Ann's Square to \"help people smile\".\n\nThe 45-year-old, who has three children aged seven to 20, said it was a \"beautiful\" way to mark the anniversary.\n\n\"I've taken a photo of all the hearts so I can show my children as it's important that they understand what happened,\" she said.\n\nimage caption PC Pete Baldwin has clipped his heart decoration to his uniform as a tribute\n\nPC Pete Baldwin, from Greater Manchester Police, said he would be wearing his heart decoration with pride as he patrolled the city centre.\n\n\"I was working on the day and finished at 22:00 but like many of my colleagues we worked every day from then on in,\" he said.\n\n\"The way Manchester responded doesn't surprise me. Greater Manchester is a wonderful place full of wonderful people.\"\n\nAlexander McBurney, 48, travelled into the city centre from Heywood to pay tribute to those affected by the terror attack.\n\nHe said: \"I can't think of a community or city that has come together as much as Manchester. It's outstanding.\"\n\nimage copyright Blackpool Council image caption A stone statue has been unveiled in Blackpool in memory of Jane Tweddle who died in the bombing\n\nIn Blackpool, a statue was unveiled in memory of Jane Tweddle who died in the bombing."}
-{"text": "CARACAS (Reuters) - Over months of protests Carlos Garcia Rawlins has been on Venezuela\u2019s streets daily, documenting increasingly violent clashes with security forces, experience that helped put him within eyeshot of a soldier who fatally wounded a young activist at close range.\n\nA member of the riot security forces points a gun through the fence of an air force base at David Jose Vallenilla, who was fatally injured during clashes at a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela, June 22, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File photo\n\nHundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have taken to the streets across the country since April to demand elections, solutions to hunger and shortages, and an end to President Nicolas Maduro\u2019s plan to overhaul the constitution.\n\nOn Thursday, a thousands-strong march that was aiming to reach the chief prosecutor\u2019s office in Caracas was broken up by security forces with tear gas and pellets. Protesters burned a truck, before dispersing to a wide junction on an urban freeway that has been the site of clashes on several occasions recently.\n\nThe freeway runs past La Carlota air base, and soldiers and National Guards fired gas from inside the perimeter of the base to try to clear the highway. About a hundred protesters threw rocks back and began to tear a part of the fence.\n\nGarcia, who has photographed this spot many times, used a concrete barrier in the road for protection and shot the scene with a long lens.\n\n\u201cThere are several points, on the bridge of the junction, or below, but always trying to keep ourselves covered by the crash barrier of the freeway,\u201d said Garcia, 38.\n\n\u201cYesterday, the protesters broke open the fence.\u201d\n\nIn a matter of seconds, a youth standing in the gap in the fence jumped down as a group of military men carrying long firearms approached from inside the base.\n\nDavid Jose Vallenilla, 22, was crouched down on the highway by the fence. At this moment he stood up, protected only by a small rucksack strapped to his chest, and just a few feet from the soldier, who began shooting.\n\nGarcia captured the moment in a series of photos, as Vallenilla falls to the ground, then gets to his feet to escape, as another activist wrapped in the Venezuelan flag and carrying a flimsy wooden shield tries to give him cover and also comes under fire.\n\nGarcia rushed in as protesters gathered round Vallenilla to drag him away, and captured another stark image, of the young man\u2019s face as paramedics drove him away on a motorbike.\n\n\u201cBy then he looked very bad, badly injured,\u201d he said.\n\nVallenilla died in hospital a few minutes later. At least 75 people have been killed since the protests began in April. The protest outside the air base carried on after shooting.\n\nIt was the second time in a week that media caught on camera military elements firing weapons at protesters resulting in deaths. In response the government has swiftly detained several members of the security forces accused of the shootings.\n\nA former small businessman who owned phone shops, Garcia has been covering Venezuela for Reuters for more than a decade. His daughter was born two weeks before the latest protests exploded in April. He says the mood is different than a previous round of demonstrations three years ago.\n\n\u201cThis time people have lost their fear of authority, they are furious,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cBefore, many protesters would run as a soon as they smelt tear gas, now they don\u2019t run.\u201d He said that over the past month the protests against Maduro have become more intense and less organized, meaning photographers must move with the ebb and flow of the demonstrators. His team tries to place itself in different spots, somewhere high up, somewhere at mid distance and somewhere close.\n\n\u201cThe opposition protests have been getting more chaotic as the days pass, more disorganized, now it\u2019s not two groups fighting each other,\u201d said Garcia, describing the challenge of following the protests as they fracture into small groups.\n\n\u201cEvery day is different.\u201d\n\nClick here to see a related photo essay: reut.rs/2t39gdD"}
-{"text": "The Metabase is now back online, and accepting reports again. If you're running a metabase-relayd instance, you should be safe to turn it back into online mode. Many thanks to David Golden for working with the EC2 instance to get it all working again.\n\nIt may still take a few days for everything to get back to normal, so please bear with us. If you do spot any lingering problems, please post to the cpan-testers-discuss mailing list and let us know.\n\nCross-posted from the CPAN Testers Blog"}
-{"text": "Photos: Photos: Major quake in the Philippines Major quake in the Philippines \u2013 Residents view the ruins of the historic Holy Cross Parish Church in Maribojoc on the central Philippine island of Bohol on Friday, October 18. The death toll has risen above 180 after a magnitude-7.1 earthquake on October 15. Hide Caption 1 of 10\n\nPhotos: Photos: Major quake in the Philippines Major quake in the Philippines \u2013 A Philippine soldier walks through the ruins of the historic Holy Cross Parish Church in Maribojoc on October 18. Hide Caption 2 of 10\n\nPhotos: Photos: Major quake in the Philippines Major quake in the Philippines \u2013 People walk along a damaged road in the province of Bohol on Tuesday, October 15. Hide Caption 3 of 10\n\nPhotos: Photos: Major quake in the Philippines Major quake in the Philippines \u2013 A crane sifts through the rubble of Our Lady of Assumption Parish Church in Dauis on October 15. Hide Caption 4 of 10\n\nPhotos: Photos: Major quake in the Philippines Major quake in the Philippines \u2013 Earthquake victims receive care in the parking lot of a government hospital in Cebu on October 15. Hide Caption 5 of 10\n\nPhotos: Photos: Major quake in the Philippines Major quake in the Philippines \u2013 Newborns are treated at a temporary shelter in Cebu on October 15. Hide Caption 6 of 10\n\nPhotos: Photos: Major quake in the Philippines Major quake in the Philippines \u2013 The Church of San Pedro in Loboc appears to be heavily damaged after the quake on October 15. Hide Caption 7 of 10\n\nPhotos: Photos: Major quake in the Philippines Major quake in the Philippines \u2013 Cars lie under rubble outside the GMC Plaza Building in Cebu on October 15. Hide Caption 8 of 10\n\nPhotos: Photos: Major quake in the Philippines Major quake in the Philippines \u2013 People gather outside damaged buildings in Cebu on October 15. Hide Caption 9 of 10"}
-{"text": "The meme, sent by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's son, used poorly punctuated language to say, \"If I had a bowl of skittles and I told you just three would kill you. [sic] Would you take a handful? That's our Syrian refugee problem.\"\n\nThat set off a flurry of accusations that Trump Jr. was diminishing the seriousness of the refugee crisis, which is currently the subject of a United Nations summit in New York. There were also claims of plagiarism, some grammatical corrections and plenty of comedy.\n\nA spokesperson at Wrigley, the maker of Skittles, told CNBC via email, \"Skittles are candy. Refugees are people. We don't feel it's an appropriate analogy. We will respectfully refrain from further commentary as anything we say could be misinterpreted as marketing.\"\n\nMars tweet\n\nNick Merrill, a press secretary for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, though, quickly fired back with a three-word tweet: \"This is disgusting.\"\n\n\"This is disgusting.\"\n\n\n\nAt the U.N.'s first-ever Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York on Monday, world leaders adopted a \"New York Declaration\" under which they committed to addressing the current crisis and undertook to work toward a safe and orderly migration system by 2018. According to the U.N., more people have been forced to flee their homes due to current global unrest than at any time since World War II.\n\nThe U.N. and Unicef have calculated that a record 65 million people are currently displaced, with 4.9 million of those people coming from Syria. Developing nations currently host 86 percent of refugees, according to the U.N. and Unicef.\n\n.@DonaldJTrumpJr This boy is not a Skittle.\n\n\n\nSome drew comparisons between Trump Jr.'s tweet with the reception of Jews attempting to flee the Holocaust before World War II.\n\nThis image says it all. In 1939 900 Jews on ship fm Nazi Germany to USA were sent back. 25% died in Holocaust. Not skittles\n\n\n\nMeanwhile, Joe Walsh, a single-term Republican congressman from Illinois and a right-wing radio-show host who was once kicked off the air for racial slurs, noted that the meme bore a striking resemblance to a nearly identically worded one Walsh had sent a month earlier.\n\n\n\nHey @DonaldJTrumpJr, that's the point I made last month.Glad you agree.\n\n\n\nOthers corrected Trump Jr.'s grammar and punctuation.\n\n\n\n.@DonaldJTrumpJr Can you people not afford a goddamn copy editor?\n\n"}
-{"text": "Grapes, it happens, have the perfect ratio of sugar to acid, along with other elements that over time have come to represent the ideal source of table wine.\n\nApples and pears can make wonderful cider, which is really another name for wine. Take another step and distill the wines, and you have an entirely different set of distinctive preserved fruits in the form of brandy, eau de vie, slivovitz and so on.\n\nBeautiful beverages have been made from cranberries, loganberries, blackberries and even Douglas fir buds. Blueberries? Other efforts I\u2019ve tasted have been cloying and syrupy, better for pancakes than for drinking.\n\nIt was one such experience that indirectly led to Bluet (pronounced the Maine way, BLUE-ett). Mr. Terrien and Mr. Martin were attending a bachelor party in Maine in the late 1990s, and were served a blueberry wine.\n\n\u201cIt was so sweet, we couldn\u2019t drink it,\u201d Mr. Martin recalled. \u201cMichael said there had to be a way to make better blueberry wine than this.\u201d\n\nThough called wild blueberries, the fruit is cultivated. Farmers sell primarily to big processors who freeze the berries and sell them for industrial uses, like blueberry-muffin mix. Unlike the high-bush berries, which have been bred and modified to enhance particular traits, wild blueberries have not been altered.\n\nThe notion of blueberry wine arose again after Mr. Terrien and Ms. Henry were married in 2000 in a barn belonging to Mr. Terrien\u2019s aunt and uncle in Jefferson, Me., just a few miles southwest of Appleton. Everything for the reception \u2014 the lobsters, the vegetables, the desserts \u2014 had come from Maine, except the wine, because there were no good Maine wines."}
-{"text": "Six of the new cabinet members, including Boris Johnson, Sajid Javid, Priti Patel, Dominic Raab, Gavin Williamson and Ben Wallace\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson has announced the people who've got some of the top jobs in the government as part of something called the cabinet.\n\nYou might hear these names being talked about over the coming weeks and months, as the new prime minister and his government tackle big political issues like Brexit.\n\nMost people in the cabinet are in charge of a particular area of public life - for example, health, transport, the environment or how the country defends itself. The prime minister is a member of the cabinet too.\n\nMr Johnson has now appointed 31 members of this special group of politicians, who will help him to make important decisions.\n\nMore than half of Theresa May's cabinet have been replaced with new members.\n\nSome people have noted that he has picked people who support Brexit in order to help him fulfil his promise that the UK will leave the European Union by 31 October.\n\nSo, who's got the top jobs?\n\nWho's in the cabinet?\n\nThese are the names of the new top ministers in the UK government, which you might hear being talked about.\n\nDominic Raab has been given the job of foreign secretary, so he will representing the UK government's relations abroad. Mr Johnson actually used to have this job himself between 2016 and 2018.\n\nPriti Patel will be the home secretary, meaning she's in charge of internal issues inside the UK's border, such as immigration and UK citizenship. This is the job which Theresa May had before she became prime minister in 2016.\n\nSajid Javid has been named as chancellor, making him the top government minister for financial issues like tax and how much money the government spends. It's the chancellor's job to deliver something called the Budget - the government's yearly announcement about how it's going to spend the nation's money.\n\nStephen Barclay will be Brexit secretary - a job which was previously held by the new foreign secretary Dominic Raab. He left the post, though, as he couldn't support what Theresa May wanted to do with Brexit. Mr Barclay will no doubt be very busy helping Mr Johnson to deliver on his plans for the UK's departure from the EU.\n\nGetty Images Savid Javid will be in charge of tax and controlling public spending\n\nMichael Gove, who was one of the candidates in the running to be prime minister,will be the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and no-deal Brexit planning. Preparing for a no-deal Brexit is something which Mr Johnson has said the UK needs to do, even if it isn't the ideal outcome. \"It is only common sense to prepare,\" said the new prime minister.\n\nBen Wallace will take up the job of defence secretary, so he's going to take responsibility for issues to do with the military and protecting the security of the UK.\n\nLiz Truss has been given the job of international trade secretary, looking after how the UK does business with other countries, while Matt Hancock will be the health secretary, overseeing hospitals and healthcare.\n\nGavin Williamson has been named as education secretary, so he will be in charge of schools around the UK, while Nicky Morgan is the new culture secretary. This means she will be the minister responsible for the arts, and protecting and supporting the cultural heritage of the UK.\n\nBoris Johnson's rival in the running to become the new prime minister - Jeremy Hunt - was offered a role but he turned it down.\n\nThe new cabinet are having their first meeting today."}
-{"text": "GET this: There are children in New York who have never eaten a hot dog.\n\nSeriously. A couple of them showed up in Central Park the other day.\n\nAndrew McDonnell, the entrepreneur behind the Good to Go Organics carts that have begun popping up in the city, was standing next to one of his three wiener stands and talking about the provenance of the toppings that grace his organic dogs. The grass-fed beef for his chili comes from Kinderhook Farm in Columbia County, N.Y. The sauerkraut, which Mr. McDonnell\u2019s team picks up in person at the Union Square Greenmarket each week, hails from another Hudson Valley grower, Hawthorne Valley Farm.\n\nAs Mr. McDonnell talked about how \u201cpeople in general are just looking for a better quality of food,\u201d a young Manhattan mother ordered her two children what she said would be the first hot dog they had tried.\n\nAnother mom, Shephali Gupte, lined up with her two children moments later and said that in her household, too, the street dogs that had won her stamp of maternal approval came from Good to Go Organics. \u201cI\u2019m a big fan of street food, but it has to be more wholesome,\u201d Ms. Gupte said. \u201cI wish there were more of these kinds of carts around the park.\u201d"}
-{"text": "If you base your retirement on lottery tickets and mcdonalds monopoly pieces you're gonna have a bad time\n\n145 shares"}
-{"text": "Republican Study Committee Chairman Mark Walker said Republicans need to ensure they put forth a Fiscal Year 2018 budget that balances.\n\nCongress recently passed its first procedural hurdle in repealing Obamacare earlier this month, but the reconciliation bill did nothing to bring down spending levels.\n\nWalker said the majority of Republicans ran on \u201curgently doing something about Obamacare,\u201d adding the promise of lower spending numbers swayed a number of conservatives to vote for the repeal bill.\n\n\u201cMany members I talked to weren\u2019t comfortable with the numbers and they did so with the condition that the FY 2018 budget, that there would be more than just lip service, but a genuine effort to make sure that balances,\u201d he told reporters Monday.\n\nAccording to the North Carolina Republican, the assurance they would craft a more conservative budget swayed a number of members to vote for the repeal bill. While some conservatives have expressed hesitation on whether leadership is serious about controlling spending, Walker said he\u2019s confident they share the same goals.\n\n\u201cI believe they (leadership) are \u2014 I believe sometimes there is a little pause to make sure that it isn\u2019t too hard of a 90 degree turn,\u201d he said. \u201cBut just like the promises of repealing Obamacare, this promise is no less important when it comes to removing the great burden for generations to come.\u201d\n\nRepublicans set a Jan. 27 deadline to file repeal legislation, but that date could be a stretch.\n\n\u201cI applaud the excitement, I do think we ought to be careful as far as putting hard dates and hard timelines on every different thing that we do because, with two different bodies, both the Senate and the House, it doesn\u2019t always happen overnight,\u201d Walker said, adding he hopes they will have the full repeal and replacement legislation in place by the spring.\n\nRepublicans are slated to attend their policy retreat in Philadelphia this week to work out the logistics of their policy agenda.\n\nFollow Juliegrace Brufke on Twitter\n\nContent created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org."}
-{"text": "Ministro Paulo Guedes defendendo a reforma da Previd\u00eancia na CCJ | Adriano Machado/Reuters\n\nAssim como o seu colega de minist\u00e9rio S\u00e9rgio Moro e a deputada Joice Hasselmann, Paulo Guedes teve seu telefone invadido. O hackeamento ocorreu ontem por volta das 23h30.\n\nUm hacker abriu uma conta no Telegram usando o seu n\u00famero de telefone. Diz Guedes sobre a invas\u00e3o:\n\n\u2014 Fui hackeado. N\u00e3o entrei em Telegram. Bandidos.\n\nLEIA MAIS:\n\nRepresenta\u00e7\u00e3o de Joice na PF"}
-{"text": "Star Wars Resistance OFFICIAL Trailer(2018) \u2013 Coming October 7th\n\nIt is FINALLY OUT, the first look at Star Wars Resistance, the trailer shows a lot so buckle up\u2026"}
-{"text": "When Wolfgang Petersen\u2019s Air Force One was released 20 years ago this week in 1997, it would be one of Boss Film Studios\u2019 very last visual effects projects before founder Richard Edlund shut the effects company\u2019s doors. The studio spectacularly delivered and destroyed a number of intricate miniature aircraft for the show. It also dived into several CG plane shots, including the scene of Air Force One crashing into the ocean, one that was perhaps not as spectacular.\n\nThat means that Air Force One is unusually remembered for both its intense and immensely watchable air-to-air sequences realised with models and live action photography, and for the final CG watery plane crash that did not meet the expectations of the filmmakers and the audience.\n\nFor the film\u2019s 20th anniversary, vfxblog spoke to Edlund \u2013 the film\u2019s overall visual effects supervisor (James E. Price was Boss Film\u2019s VFX supe on the show) \u2013 to discuss the approach to the models and miniatures, the rise of digital compositing, the end of Boss, and that final crash shot. Plus, the interview includes a bunch of unique behind the scenes CG model frames from Boss\u2019 digital aircraft.\n\nvfxblog: Can you recall your first discussions with the director about Air Force One, and how you would use miniatures and digital effects?\n\nRichard Edlund: I met with Wolfgang and we went over the shots and the look that he was after. At one point we were even actually planning on getting some real pilots to fly with Air Force One, which we could take off from Rickenbacker Air Force Base back in Ohio. The problem is that the pilots wouldn\u2019t get within a mile of the plane, so that idea was out.\n\nSo, what we wound up doing is we created a 22-foot wingspan model, and we built a nine-wire repeatable motion control rig in an aeroplane hangar in the Van Nuys Airport and shot out there for months. Gary Waller (visual effects director of photography) did all the big model work.\n\nAbout halfway through the project, the guys had built a digital Air Force One [see breakdown below], and frankly, had we started a few months later we probably would have shot all the miniature work digitally. But as it went, we had a very elaborate photographic system set up out in Van Nuys. The thing is that the way we decided to deal with the matting, because, of course, we have to be able to create a matte of the plane, and what we wound up doing is using a red screen and blacklight to extract the background.\n\nvfxblog: How did that approach to shooting the miniature with that matte system work?\n\nEdlund: In order to get rid of spill, we had to spray talcum powder all over the model after each shot. So in other words, we would do the shot, do the beauty pass, and then the next day we would have to spray the model with talcum powder and then shoot it against a red screen. Then we had to clean the model off of all the talcum powder in order to do the next shot. Of course that meant that the shooting stage was sort of like a skating rink. It was so slippery. In fact, actually, I tripped and wound up with a hairline fracture in my foot once.\n\nAnyway, that was quite an ordeal shooting all those models. And we also wound up shooting in 35mm, so we were shooting 35 and scanning it at high resolution and doing the composites back onto 35, which was the release format.\n\nvfxblog: What did that red screen approach give you that maybe green screen or blue screen wasn\u2019t suitable for?\n\nEdlund: I think the whole idea about being able to expose it with blacklight was the key, and we were able to get enough exposure and not have to \u2026 again, we would have had to deal with some sort of green spill or blue spill problem, and the talcum powder technique worked out really well for us. I think we were able to get a larger screen and get enough exposure to shoot a reasonably exposed mat.\n\nAnd then this nine-wire rig was pretty amazing. So there were nine points on the ship that went up to pulleys. The wire did not stretch. In other words, it was very, very tight wire, and we were able to do repeat passes with this 23-foot model, which could bank left and right about 45 degrees, forward and aft up to 90 degrees, and it was really an amazing set up; built for the shot, and then torn down, and never to be used again.\n\nvfxblog: I seem to remember the plane model had been used earlier for Turbulence \u2013 was there much cross-over?\n\nEdlund: Well, actually, the model was built for Turbulence, and we actually rebuilt it and tricked it out to the nines to the point where they were actually using paint thicknesses to create the plates on the ship. It was really a beautifully made ship, and it was hanging up in the Museum of Flight up in Seattle. We donated it to the museum when we were finished shooting.\n\nWe also built the big model that Harrison hung out the back of. God, that was quite a scene. A lot of that stuff was actually shot with Harrison in the model, or in the full-size ship. Then we built the refuelling ship, which then had to blow up. We built that and shot that in a parking lot outside of the stage that had the big motion control rig set up. We also built a bunch of F-16s, and we got into compositing with Wolfgang, and Wolfgang would get so fixated on that.\n\nvfxblog: Can you talk more about what you mean by \u2018fixated\u2019?\n\nEdlund: One of the problems, I guess, with digital compositing, is that you can continue to do it over, and over, and over, and over, and over again to the point where you\u2019re doing something over in order to correct something that is so minuscule, and the director gets hung up on one little detail of the shot; you wind up doing the shot over and over again to try to satisfy the brightness of the trailing lights. In other words, \u2018This is not quite bright enough.\u2019 And we\u2019d make it a little bit brighter and then, \u2018That\u2019s too much.\u2019\n\nIt was kind of exasperating to go through the numbers of composites that we could do. That\u2019s just because you can. You can continue to do it over and over again. And the director will continue to ask for it over and over again, whether or not it\u2019s reasonable. So you become kind of threadbare after awhile doing these shots. It was a tough project.\n\nThen, of course, there was the tumbling of the ship in the water and that whole business that was kind of only semi-successful. I don\u2019t know how that feels to you today.\n\nvfxblog: Well, I was going to ask you about it [watch the clip above]. I feel like the problem seemed to be that you had these beautifully detailed miniatures and then that CG plane and the interaction with the water probably isn\u2019t as successful.\n\nEdlund: Yeah, that was a real nightmare for us. We couldn\u2019t get it more than maybe 80% of where we wanted to get it, and we just ran out of time. Some of the time that we spent doing those composites over and over could have been towards this, but it wasn\u2019t. We kept working on it. They were working overnight, and they were sleeping there, and doing whatever they could to make it better, and what we got was the best as it could be. Anyway, it was bittersweet project.\n\nvfxblog: I don\u2019t want to keep asking you about it, but you\u2019ve worked on lots of films, and you\u2019re probably very hard on your own work. Where is the point where a director says, \u2018Well, it\u2019s just got to go in the movie now.\u2019 What is that like?\n\nEdlund: Well, when you have to cut a shot in that sucks you feel bad about it. You know? I mean, one of the worst shots of all time was in Star Wars. It was when Gary Kurtz put the camera where he shouldn\u2019t have put it so we could see all the tyres underneath the land speeder. In order to get rid of that tyre, I had rotoscoped an area and we were working on perfecting it, and I was shifting sand from the left over to the right that would match, and we had just a very fine little matte line, and we were just about ready to close in on it, I think maybe one or two more composites and we would have got it, but George decided that he was going to send it to Disney and have them \u2018blob\u2019 it.\n\nSo they rotoscoped and painted the area with as close an approximation of the colour that they could, and it wasn\u2019t very good. In fact, it was so bad that when the movie came out and that shot was about to play I would nudge whoever I was with so they could look away from the screen and not notice the shot. When George came out with the Special Edition I went to the premiere down in LA that they had at the Fox Village Theatre, and I was talking to George and I say, \u2018You know, George, we\u2019ve heard all these rumours about: \u2018This is going to get changed, and they\u2019re going to reshoot the opening shot,\u2019 and all this kind of stuff\u2026and I said to him, I said, \u2018This is your movie, you can do what you want with it.\u2019\n\nAnd he says, \u2018You know, Richard?\u2019 He says, \u2018Do you remember that shot of the land speeder?\u2019 And I said, \u2018Oh, say no more.\u2019 And he says, \u2018Well, I couldn\u2019t release the movie with a shot like that,\u2019 he says, \u2018but then we got carried away.\u2019 Which I feel is the case. I mean, a lot of those scenes were just so over-polished that they kind of buggered it to some degree. But anyhow, I thought that was an interesting confession: \u2018We got carried away.\u2019\n\nvfxblog: Can you take me through the the backgrounds for the model shots in Air Force One, because there are some great skies and clouds?\n\nEdlund: All those air-to-air shots were motion control shots; every single Air Force One model shot was a motion control shot. We did all of the shots before we had backgrounds. So basically what I did is I went out with this Nettmann Cam-Remote system \u2013 it was a snorkel system that stuck out the bottom of a Learjet, and we mounted motion control motors onto the pan, tilt, and roll axis of that system, and went up and just luckily had this fantastic day where the weather was perfect.\n\nA side note is, the copilot was Gene Kelly\u2019s wife. And she was a dancer. So she basically had control of his heirs, I mean, she was the heir to his fortune. She was getting hours to get her pilot\u2019s licence, and she was the copilot. Very funny. She had this very slick Dior-fashioned jumpsuit. She was all decked out to the nines.\n\nAnyhow, I shot all of the plates for the backgrounds in less than 400 feet. So I came out of the plane with less than a 400-foot roll of film with all the shots on it. I mean, normally you\u2019d go up and you\u2019d shoot, like, thousands of feet, and then you\u2019d hope that you could find something that would work, but this time it was all motion controlled and we had such great weather for the day, and that was a real positive thing. And the composites, I think, looked really good as a result of that.\n\nvfxblog: How was that tanker explosion you mentioned filmed?\n\nEdlund: We basically had this big model, and the model had, like, it must have been a 40-foot wingspan or something like that; great big model held up by wires with two great big condors that were 100-feet tall. So we were shooting straight up at the model, and Bill Klinger set up the pyro for this. We basically had the camera looking straight up running at 270 frames a second, as I remember, and when the truck drove over the switch, it exploded the plane. And, of course, we only had one take on this, and we got it. It was a great shot.\n\nvfxblog: There were also some fighter jet explosions that I just thought also worked really well. Was that a similar approach?\n\nEdlund: Pretty much. It was all setting it up and driving by it and blowing it up. We built a whole nest of those things. I think we built, it might have been at least a dozen of them, and six or seven of those, or maybe eight, were built for explosion. So we blew them up. I mean, it\u2019s fun to blow things up, you know? It\u2019s just, the pressure gets a little tight though, you know, because you don\u2019t want to fuck up.\n\nvfxblog: Unfortunately, after this film came out you had to close Boss, and everyone was so disappointed, but I also felt like you did that very nobly before it got out of control.\n\nEdlund: Well, I had the choice of doing that. The thing is, I looked out over the landscape. And being an independent company, which is nonetheless dependent on landing multi-million dollar shows just as the last foot left, you know, the next foot has to hit the pavement. If you don\u2019t hit that pavement pretty quick, you\u2019re going to be in deep shit.\n\nSo basically, I looked out over the landscape and I thought, \u2018You know what? I don\u2019t want to show up here one morning with a padlock on the gate.\u2019 And that\u2019s what might have happened had the company gone bankrupt. And had I not been able to close a show and had to then reach into what little reserve we had, it wouldn\u2019t last long enough to pull us out.\n\nSo I decided to close gracefully and that\u2019s what we did. So it was sad, but we had a 15-year run, did a lot of great shows, and had great times. And a lot of the people that worked at Boss still feel that it was their best years. I mean, everybody enjoyed each other\u2019s company. People tried to come in and steal people, and they wouldn\u2019t go. People would call in and say, \u2018Hey, do you want to work on this show?\u2019 And they\u2019d just hang up on them because they were happy within the family we had created."}
-{"text": "NAIROBI (Reuters) - The U.S. military said it killed nine militants in an air strike targeting al Shabaab in Lebede, Somalia, as part of its operations to support the government\u2019s efforts to weaken the militant group.\n\nThe military\u2019s Africa Command (Africom) said the strike was carried out on Friday. \u201cWe currently assess this airstrike killed nine militants with no civilians involved,\u201d Africom said in a statement late on Saturday.\n\nThe United States carries out periodic air strikes in Somalia in support of a U.N.-backed government there, which has been fighting against an al-Shabaab insurgency for years."}
-{"text": "The web is an increasingly chatty place. Between following comment threads, checking in with friends on Twitter, reading a few blogs with RSS feeds, and conquering a mountain of e-mail, we have plenty of conversations to keep track of. Mozilla wants to help us on the conversational journey, which is why the company has launched Snowl, a new tool that offers a small glimmer of hope for those seeking communications nirvana.\n\nAnnounced on the Mozilla Labs blog, the company presents Snowl with a simple question: \"Could the web browser help you follow and participate in online discussions?\" Snowl has materialized as a prototype Firefox extension based on a few key ideas:\n\nIt doesn\u2019t matter where messages originate. They're alike, whether they come from traditional e-mail servers, RSS/Atom feeds, web discussion forums, social networks, or other sources.\n\nSome messages are more important than others, and the best interface for actively reading important messages is different from the best one for casually browsing unimportant ones.\n\nA search-based interface for message retrieval is more powerful and easier to use than one that makes you organize your messages first to find them later.\n\nBrowser functionality for navigating web content, like tabs, bookmarks, and history, also works well for navigating messages.\n\nFor its debut, Snowl only supports RSS/Atom feeds and Twitter messaging, and it offers two UIs for reading. The first is a traditional three-pane setup where feeds and Twitter users are organized in a left sidebar, with a message list above the center column and a preview/reading pane below.\n\nThe second reading UI employs the \"river of news\" concept (which Dave Winer is credited for) where new items are listed one after the other in multiple columns.\n\nFor now, there isn't much to go on in Snowl. We realize that it was introduced on Mozilla Labs for a reason, but as it stands, Snowl is a stripped-down RSS extension that feels like a straightjacket, especially when it comes to Twitter. There's no way to post to Twitter or reply to tweets from friends, which is arguably the most valuable aspect of the service.\n\nA number of basic UI problems also caused some head scratching in the Ars Orbiting HQ, such as a lack of any menu item called \"Snowl\"\u2014the two reading panes mentioned appear inconspicuously under the View menu as \"Message List\" and \"River of Messages.\" Adding more confusion, some Twitter users that we follow automatically get their own entry in the Snowl Message List sidebar, but we can't figure out why.\n\nLast on our list is the fact that, when viewing either the \"All\" list which, aggregates all RSS and Twitter entries, or the \"River of Messages\" view, which does the same thing, there is no clear way to tell what source each entry comes from. Snowl attributes entries to the author name for sites with more than one writer, so news items appear next to Twitter messages without so much as a favicon to distinguish them.\n\nEarly UI and design issues aside, Mozilla is probably on to something here. Snowl's announcement post talks up some intriguing features that are on their way, and as usual, the company is very open to feedback to help shape Snowl's development direction. Mozilla is working on support for more messaging protocols and services, an interface for writing and posting messages, and an API to let developers add their own enhancements. Mozilla also talks about differences in interfaces for reading important messages, versus \"casually browsing unimportant ones.\"\n\nOne of the next frontiers in managing our communication is the automated prioritization of messages to save time and improve the quality of our conversations. If Mozilla can crack that nut with Snowl, it could easily have another big hit on its hands."}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nIf you didn't make it it's a repost"}
-{"text": "Most personal trainers and exercise enthusiasts are familiar with face pulls, so there\u2019s no need to go into detail about why to use this exercise. That\u2019s why, in this post I\u2019m hitting you with 3 tips for how to use face pulls in what we feel are smarter and more effective ways; from how we do and don\u2019t grip the rope, to the top two face pull exercise variations used in the Performance U training approach.\n\nGrab the Rope this way for Better Face Pulls\n\nCheck out this video, which explains why we don\u2019t grip the rope in the same way we see many coaches and personal trainers using, and also demonstrates what we feel is a better grip to use when doing face pulls.\n\nSuperband Face Pulls + Pull-Apart Combo\n\nIt\u2019s no secret that both band pull-aparts and face pulls are great posterior-shoulder builders. That\u2019s why, along with those two exercises, the Performance U training approach also incorporates the exercise shown in the video below from Bret Contreras, which combines band pull-aparts and face pulls together to make one great posterior-shoulder building move.\n\nOne-Arm Face Pulls\n\nIf you\u2019re feeling that one shoulder is doing more work than the other when doing face pulls, just do what you\u2019d do with other exercises: Perform the movement unilaterally.\n\nThere are lots of single arm and single leg exercises being used in order to ensure both sides get equal work and to increase the muscular focus. So who says you can\u2019t apply that same wisdom to face pulls?\n\nNick\u2019s Recent Articles\n\n5 Common Myths About High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)\n\nStop Wasting Time Doing Basic Ab Planks\n\nBuild New Muscle With Iso-Dynamic Dumbbell Exercises"}
-{"text": "TyLoo have won the PGL Asia Minor Championship by defeating the Detroit Renegades 2-0 in the Grand Finals on Sunday. TyLoo took home $30,000 while Renegades took $15,000, but both teams have earned a spot in the ELEAGUE Major closed qualifier Dec. 15-18.\n\nWe've grabbed the triophy of the #AsianMinor ! Thanks for all your support ! #TYLOOGO #CSGO \u2014 TYLOO (@tyloogaming) October 30, 2016\n\nTyLoo topped Group A after demolishing nxl 16-1 on Mirage and MVP Project 16-8 on Dust 2, but they lost 2-0 to long-time rivals VG.CyberZen in the semifinals. Down but not out, TyLoo swept MVP Project 2-0 in Loser's Round 1 and got their revenge against VG.CZ in the Loser's Finals, defeating them 2-1 to secure their closed qualifier seed and advance to the Grand Finals against Renegades.\n\nThe match opened on Renegades' map pick, Train, but it was TyLoo who took a strong first half at a 9-6 scoreline. The second half was a neck-and-neck race, but TyLoo had the edge from the first half and closed the map 16-13. Next up was TyLoo's pick, Mirage, but it was Renegades with a strong 9-6 half on their CT-side. Luckily for TyLoo, their CT-side was much stronger, and Renegades could only muster three rounds before the Chinese squad won 16-12.\n\nHui \"DD\" Wu topped the charts for the team with an average 1.15 HLTV player rating across the entire Asia Minor, but he was only the fifth-highest rated player of the tournament. Ke \"Mo\" Liu followed close with a 1.12 rating, while Haowen \"somebody\" Xu and Yulun \"fancy1\" Cai had 1.08 ratings and YuanZhang \"Attacker\" Sheng had a 1.02 rating. No player on TyLoo fell below a 1.00 rating; winning the event was truly a group effort.\n\nWith the completion of the Asia Minor, here's what the team list for the ELEAGUE Major 2017 closed qualifier looks like:\n\nCologne Major Bottom 8 Minor Champions Team Dignitas FaZe Clan TyLoo Renegades mousesports Ninjas in Pyjamas Europe #1 Europe #2 Counter Logic Gaming Team EnVyUs CIS #1 CIS #2 G2 Esports OpTic Gaming Americas #1 Americas #2\n\nThe next Minor Championship will be in Europe on Nov. 4-6, followed by the CIS Minor on Nov. 11-13 and the Americas Minor nearly a month later on Dec. 3-4.\n\nThe ELEAGUE Major closed qualifier kicks off on Dec. 15-18, and the Major itself will be on Jan. 22-29 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta."}
-{"text": "Want to become a better rider\u2026or continue to build new skills? MCrider can help.\n\nEvery Friday morning at 8 AM Central, MCrider releases a weekly motorcycle training video.\n\nBut the learning does not stop with the weekly video. It begins there. Members get access to the Forums and Field Guide that help you learn new skills on your own and connect you with other riders who are also becoming better riders.\n\nJoin today for instant access to the forum and field guide."}
-{"text": "As Canada\u2019s Liberal government pushes forward with a controversial $15-billion arms export deal with Saudi Arabia, a spokesperson for Sweden\u2019s government says cancelling its own Saudi arms deal didn\u2019t hurt the country. \u201cWe have not experienced any economic effects due to [the cancellation] and our bilateral relations with Saudi Arabia are good,\u201d Swedish foreign ministry spokesperson Anna Ekberg told the Globe and Mail. Sweden\u2019s own arms and training contract with Saudi Arabia was smaller than the proposed Canadian deal. According to the Financial Times, the Swedish deal was worth some C$750 million between 2011 and 2014.\n\nSwedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom addresses The Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on April 25, 2016. A spokesperson for Wallstrom says cancelling a defence contract with Saudi Arabia didn't hurt Sweden. (AFP/Getty Images) Still, Sweden\u2019s experience stands in contrast to Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion\u2019s claims that cancelling the Canadian deal would negatively impact Canadian trade. Dion said last month that the Saudis\u2019 reaction to Sweden\u2019s cancellation was \u201cvery harsh. \u2026 Saudi Arabia reacted in a way that cut many things.\u201d Sweden failed to renew its deal with the Saudis in March, 2015, after Saudi Arabia blocked Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom from giving a speech at the Arab League. Wallstrom had been critical of sharia law and of Saudi Arabia\u2019s flogging of blogger Raif Badawi. Calling Wallstrom\u2019s comments \"offensive\" and a \"blatant interference in ... internal affairs,\u201d Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador and suspended business visas for Swedes. But the Globe reports that within weeks, relations had been normalized. Wallstrom struck a more conciliatory note, saying she wanted to clear up the \u201cmisunderstanding that we have insulted the religion of Islam,\u201d but did not apologize for her criticisms."}
-{"text": "SCOTCH PLAINS, NJ -- A months long joint investigation conducted by the Scotch Plains Police Detective Bureau and agents from the Office of Inspector General and U.S. Postal Inspector Service resulted in the July 20 arrest of Emmon Lee 23, from Somerset, NJ, for 3rd degree theft, 3rd degree conspiracy, and 4th degree credit card theft.\n\nThe investigation began after Scotch Plains police received numerous complaints from township residents indicating that they were experiencing fraudulent activity on their credit cards and personal checks that were never delivered to their homes.\n\nDetective Brian Hayeck compiled a list of victims, some of whom had not yet reported the crime to the police, but instead notified various postal offices. With assistance from postal agents, Emmon Lee, a mail carrier for the Scotch Plains Post Office, was identified as a suspect.\n\nSign Up for Scotch Plains/Fanwood Newsletter Our newsletter delivers the local news that you can trust. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. You have successfully signed up for the TAPinto Scotch Plains/Fanwood Newsletter.\n\n\"I want to commend Detective Hayeck for his diligent work over a period of time that resulted in the arrest of the suspect in the credit card fraud case that targeted Scotch Plains residents,\" said Scotch Plains Police Chief Ted Conley. \"It was a job well done by all involved.\"\n\nThe investigation found that Lee was removing mail which he believed contained credit cards and personal checks prior to delivering his route. The mail was then sold for an undetermined amount of money to another involved party, who would then make fraudulent purchases and withdrawals.\n\nIt is estimated that Lee was responsible for stealing mail from approximately 20 residents, resulting in a monetary loss exceeding $80,000. Heis scheduled to appear in Superior Court on August 4, 2017.\n\nTAPintoSPF.net is Scotch Plains-Fanwood\u2019s only free daily paper. Sign up for our daily eNews and follow us on Facebook and twitter @SPF_TAP. Download the free TAPinto App for iPhone or Android."}
-{"text": "A man is facing a string of charges after he allegedly tried to steal a man's truck while the owner was pumping gas into it.\n\nHalifax police say the owner of the Toyota Tundra was fuelling his truck at the Esso station on Young Street in Halifax at about 7:30 a.m. on Saturday when a man hopped into the front seat and tried to start the vehicle with keys that were left inside.\n\nThe 63-year-old owner grabbed the man and hauled him out of the truck and the two started fighting.\n\nA third man, a customer at the gas station, saw the commotion and came over to help.\n\nThe owner of the vehicle and the customer managed to hold the would-be thief until police officers arrived.\n\nHalifax police Staff Sgt. Carolyn Nichols said the man resisted arrest, fighting with officers and kicking one of them.\n\nNichols said the incident is \"not an everyday occurrence.\"\n\n\"You wouldn't expect that somebody would get in the vehicle when you're pumping the gas and standing right there,\" she said. \"But luckily he was able to get hold of him before he could drive off.\"\n\nThe owner of the vehicle suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the altercation.\n\nA 31-year-old man is in custody.\n\nMORE TOP STORIES"}
-{"text": "The mock-up renderings reviewed March 16 by the Commission of Fine Arts for a 2017 American Eagle palladium bullion coin exhibit designs mandated under the authorizing legislation.\n\nStarting in September, the U.S. Mint will be issuing its first American Eagle bullion coin struck in .9995 fine palladium.\n\nThe United States Mint will start selling American Eagle palladium coins to authorized purchasers in September, Acting Principal Deputy Mint Director David Motl told Coin World on Aug. 1.\n\nMotl revealed the start of sales in an interview with Coin World senior editor Paul Gilkes at the American Numismatic Association World\u2019s Fair of Money in Denver.\n\nThe bullion coins will be struck at the Philadelphia Mint and like all American Eagle bullion coins, will not have a Mint mark.\n\nA Proof version of the coin will be offered in 2018. It will be struck at the West Point Mint and bear the W Mint mark. It will have same designs as the 2017 bullion version.\n\nThe peak of Olympic gold coins: Another column in the August 14 weekly issue of Coin World also profiles a rubber token that promotes a commonplace object we all use.\n\nMotl told Gilkes that the bullion coins will be struck in sufficient quantities to meet anticipated demand.\n\nAs Coin World reported previously, the coin has been a long time coming. It was authorized under provisions of the American Eagle Palladium Bullion Coin Act of 2010, which calls for production of a 1-ounce palladium coin with a $25 face value. The coin is an extension of the American Eagle bullion coin program.\n\nConnect with Coin World:\n\nSign up for our free eNewsletter\n\nLike us on Facebook\n\nFollow us on Twitter\n\nLike the American Eagle gold, silver, and platinum bullion coins, the American Eagle palladium coins will have distinctive designs, and like the gold and silver issues, the designs will be based on earlier designs by an artist and sculptor active in the early 20th century.\n\nThe legislation mandates the obverse design be a high-relief version of sculptor Adolph A. Weinman\u2019s Winged Liberty Head design for the dime struck in 1916. The reverse is mandated to be a high-relief version of the Eagle design Weinman rendered in 1906 for the reverse of the American Institute of Architects\u2019 gold medal first presented in 1907.\n\nThis is a developing story."}
-{"text": "Here is what you need to know on this Friday, January 27, 33 days before the March 1 NFL franchise tag deadline.\n\nTimeline\n\nDays until:\n\n\n\n\u2014NFL free agency starts (3/9) 41\n\n\u2014NFL Draft (4/27) 90\n\n\u2014First Sunday of 2017 season (9/10) 226\n\nScot McCloughan\u2019s five value acquisitions\n\nHere are the five best players Scot McCloughan has either drafted or signed as a free agent. Contract cost and draft position are taken into consideration. I\u2019ll take a look at his five worst here sometime in the next few days.\n\n5. CB Quinton Dunbar, undrafted free agent\u2014The converted wide receiver has had his share of ups and downs over his two seasons. But he has come up with some big plays. In particular, two end zone interceptions of Eli Manning, one at FedEx Field in 2015 and one in the Meadowlands last season were critical plays in important wins over the Giants. Any time you can get a CB who can contribute like that as a UDFA that\u2019s good value.\n\n4. RB Rob Kelley, undrafted free agent\u2014\u201cFat Rob\u201d went from being an unknown in training camp to a player who showed some promise in the preseason to a surprise on the initial 53-man roster to the starting running back for the last half of the season. He had his ups and downs but he was productive enough to hold on to the job. Kelley had 180 touches and did not fumble. That\u2019s important since that is the issue that sent predecessor Matt Jones to the bench.\n\nRelated: NFL mock draft ver. 2.0\n\n3. TE Vernon Davis, $2.4 million free agent\u2014He is the only veteran free agent on this list. Davis was thought to be washed up after struggling during the 2015 season but McCloughan bet $1.1 million in fully guaranteed money that he wasn\u2019t. The veteran proved to be very valuable as he caught 44 passes for 583 yards and two touchdowns. With Jordan Reed missing four games with injuries, Davis provided some much-needed depth.\n\n2. LB/S Su\u2019a Cravens, 2nd round\u2014He had his share of stumbles as a rookie and he will have to deal with a position change to safety in 2017. But the future looks bright for the versatile, athletic Cravens. If he can solidify half of the safety position, a problem area for the last decade, he could move up to No. 1 on this list.\n\nMore Redskins: 5 salary cap bargains in 2017\n\n1. WR Jamison Crowder, 4th round\u2014Crowder was bypassed in the draft because he was undersized but McCloughan saw the type of \u201cfootball player\u201d he likes in the Duke product. He quickly became the starting slot receiver and in two years he has averaged 63 receptions, 726 yards, and four touchdowns per season.\n\nAlso under consideration: McCloughan signed LB Mason Foster and DB Will Blackmon as injury replacements in early 2016 and both developed into starters . . . K Dustin Hopkins has missed some field goals but his ability to consistently pound kickoffs into the end zone has helped the special teams immeasurably. . . Since some will ask, G Brandon Scherff is a very good player but the fifth overall pick is too high for a guard, even one that makes the Pro Bowl in his second year. He will need to garner some All-Pro honors before he can justify that price.\n\nTandler on Twitter\n\nOf the 64 players on the #Redskins\u2019 final roster + IR list, 41 were acquired under Scot McCloughan, who has been GM for two years. pic.twitter.com/yZ47igv1FM \u2014 Rich Tandler (@TandlerNBCS) January 26, 2017\n\nIn case you missed it\n\nStay up to date on the Redskins! Rich Tandler covers the team 365 days a year. Like his Facebook page www.Facebook.com/RealRedskins and follow him on Twitter @Rich_TandlerCSN."}
-{"text": "In this checklist-like article, we will create a simple blog application with Ember 2.0 and Firebase!\n\nHere we\u2019ll focus exclusively on the how to create an Ember 2.0 application.\n\nRead the original article to understand the Whys .\n\nThis article was inspired by this one. Many thanks for James Futhey .\n\nFirst you need to install Ember-CLI, that is the command-line interface for building Ember applications. 1\n\nnpm install -g ember-cli\n\n\n\n(Optional) Put an alias in your .bashrc: 1\n\nalias e='ember'\n\n\n\nCreate a new project with ember-cli: 1\n\ne new simple-blog\n\n\n\nUpgrade Ember and Ember Data: 1\n\n2\n\nbower install --save ember#2.0.0\n\nbower install --save ember-data#2.0.0-beta.1\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s see if our upgrade was well succeed. Type on terminal: 1\n\ne s\n\nps: This is an alias to ember serve Now go to localhost:4200 to see your Welcome message :) See what changed in your application here.\n\nChange the structure of your application layout at app/templates/application.hbs : 1\n\n2\n\n3\n\n4\n\n5\n\n6\n\n7\n\n8\n\n9\n\n<header>\n\n<h1>EmberBlog</h1>\n\n\n\n<p>\n\nSimple blog application written with Ember 2.0 and Firebase\n\n</p>\n\n</header>\n\n\n\n{{outlet}}\n\nSee what changed here\n\nCreate a Index route 1\n\ne g route index\n\n\n\nAdd some code in app/templates/index.hbs to verify if everything is working correctly: 1\n\n<h2>Index Page</h2>\n\nGo to localhost:4200 to see if Index Page is beign displayed. See what changed here.\n\nInstall the Firebase addon: 1\n\ne install emberfire\n\n\n\nCreate a new app on your Firebase dashboard.\n\nTo connect Firebase to our application, you should edit the file config/environment.js and add on line 8 the name of your Firebase app created in the previously step. Your environment.js file will looks like it: 1\n\n2\n\n3\n\n4\n\n5\n\n6\n\n7\n\n8\n\n9\n\n10\n\n11\n\n12\n\n13\n\n14\n\n15\n\n16\n\n17\n\n18\n\n19\n\n20\n\nmodule.exports = function(environment) {\n\nvar ENV = {\n\nmodulePrefix: 'ember-simple-blog',\n\nenvironment: environment,\n\ncontentSecurityPolicy: { 'connect-src': \"'self' https://auth.firebase.com wss://*.firebaseio.com\" },\n\nfirebase: 'https://YOUR-APP-NAME.firebaseio.com/',\n\nbaseURL: '/',\n\nlocationType: 'auto',\n\nEmberENV: {\n\nFEATURES: {\n\n// Here you can enable experimental features on an ember canary build\n\n// e.g. 'with-controller': true\n\n}\n\n},\n\n\n\nAPP: {\n\n// Here you can pass flags/options to your application instance\n\n// when it is created\n\n}\n\n};\n\nSee what changed here.\n\nCreate a Post model: 1\n\ne g model post title:string author:string createdDate:date text:string\n\nSee what changed here.\n\nEdit your Post model to be able to load Ember Data pieces independently. Your app/models/post.js file should looks like this: 1\n\n2\n\n3\n\n4\n\n5\n\n6\n\n7\n\n8\n\n9\n\n10\n\n11\n\n12\n\n13\n\nimport DS from 'ember-data';\n\n\n\nlet {\n\nModel,\n\nattr\n\n} = DS;\n\n\n\nexport default Model.extend({\n\ntitle: attr('string'),\n\nauthor: attr('string'),\n\ncreatedDate: attr('date'),\n\ntext: attr('string')\n\n});\n\nps: Here we are using a new ES2015 feature called Destructuring :D See what changed here.\n\nCreate a create-new-post component that will be responsible to add new posts to our app. Here we will use the POD structure. 1\n\ne g component create-new-post --pod\n\n\n\nEdit the file app/components/create-new-post/template.hbs to insert the necessary elements that we need to create a new post: 1\n\n2\n\n3\n\n4\n\n5\n\n6\n\n7\n\n8\n\n9\n\n10\n\n11\n\n12\n\n13\n\n14\n\n<h3>Create a new post</h3>\n\n\n\n<form>\n\n<p>\n\n{{input value=post.title placeholder=\"Post title\"}}\n\n{{input value=post.author placeholder=\"Author\"}}\n\n</p>\n\n<p>\n\n{{textarea value=post.text placeholder=\"Content\"}}\n\n</p>\n\n<p>\n\n<span {{action \"createPost\" post}} class=\"btn btn-submit\">Publish</span>\n\n</p>\n\n</form>\n\nWarning! If you read the original article, you\u2019ll notice that the logic that I implemented to create the post is different. In our future articles all of it will be thoroughly explained.\n\nLet\u2019s refactor our Index template and add our component in it. Your app/templates/index.hbs should look like this: 1\n\n{{create-new-post}}\n\n\n\nNow that we have our HTML structure, let\u2019s add some style to it. Open your app/styles/app.css file and add the following CSS: 1\n\n2\n\n3\n\n4\n\n5\n\n6\n\n7\n\n8\n\n9\n\n10\n\n11\n\n12\n\n13\n\n14\n\n15\n\n16\n\n17\n\n18\n\n19\n\n20\n\n21\n\n22\n\n23\n\n24\n\n25\n\n26\n\n27\n\n28\n\n29\n\n30\n\n31\n\n32\n\n33\n\n34\n\n35\n\n36\n\n37\n\n38\n\n39\n\n40\n\n41\n\n42\n\n43\n\n44\n\n45\n\n* {\n\nfont-family: 'Roboto', sans-serif;\n\nbox-sizing: border-box;\n\n}\n\n\n\nbody {\n\nwidth: 80%;\n\nmargin: 1em auto;\n\n}\n\n\n\n.container {\n\nfloat: left;\n\nwidth: 60%;\n\n}\n\n\n\naside {\n\nfloat: left;\n\nwidth: 20%;\n\n}\n\n\n\nheader {\n\nbackground-color: #e74c3c;\n\ncolor: #fff;\n\npadding: 2em;\n\nmargin-bottom: 1em;\n\n}\n\n\n\n.btn {\n\npadding: .5em 2em;\n\nborder-radius: 3px;\n\n}\n\n\n\n.btn:active {\n\nposition: relative;\n\ntop: 1px;\n\n}\n\n\n\n.btn:hover {\n\ncursor: pointer;\n\n}\n\n\n\n.btn-submit {\n\nbackground-color: #c0392b;\n\ncolor: #fff;\n\n}\n\n\n\nTo load the Roboto font you will need to do two things: Add the <link> reference to that font in your app/index.html . 1\n\n<link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Roboto' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>\n\n\n\nAllow that your application load that font from an external resource. To do it, edit your config/environment.js and add the contentSecurityPolicy section in your file. It will look like this: 1\n\n2\n\n3\n\n4\n\n5\n\n6\n\n7\n\n8\n\n9\n\n10\n\n11\n\n12\n\n13\n\n14\n\n15\n\n16\n\n17\n\n18\n\n19\n\n20\n\n21\n\n22\n\n23\n\n24\n\n25\n\nmodule.exports = function(environment) {\n\nvar ENV = {\n\nmodulePrefix: 'ember2-blog',\n\nenvironment: environment,\n\ncontentSecurityPolicy: { 'connect-src': \"'self' https://auth.firebase.com wss://*.firebaseio.com\" },\n\nfirebase: 'https://firember2-blog.firebaseio.com/',\n\nbaseURL: '/',\n\nlocationType: 'auto',\n\nEmberENV: {\n\nFEATURES: {\n\n// Here you can enable experimental features on an ember canary build\n\n// e.g. 'with-controller': true\n\n}\n\n},\n\n\n\nAPP: {\n\n// Here you can pass flags/options to your application instance\n\n// when it is created\n\n},\n\n\n\ncontentSecurityPolicy: {\n\n'font-src': \"'self' data: fonts.gstatic.com\",\n\n'style-src': \"'self' 'unsafe-inline' fonts.googleapis.com\"\n\n}\n\n};\n\nSee what changed here.\n\nAdd an action to our create-new-post component. Your app/components/create-new-post/component.js should look like this: 1\n\n2\n\n3\n\n4\n\n5\n\n6\n\n7\n\n8\n\n9\n\n10\n\nimport Ember from 'ember';\n\n\n\nexport default Ember.Component.extend({\n\nactions: {\n\ncreatePost(post) {\n\nthis.sendAction('createPost', post);\n\nthis.set('post', {});\n\n}\n\n}\n\n});\n\n\n\nRefactor our Index Route to handle the createPost method and effectively create a post. We will also add the logic necessary to return all posts that have been created. Edit the file app/routes/index.js 1\n\n2\n\n3\n\n4\n\n5\n\n6\n\n7\n\n8\n\n9\n\n10\n\n11\n\n12\n\n13\n\n14\n\n15\n\n16\n\n17\n\n18\n\n19\n\n20\n\n21\n\n22\n\n23\n\nimport Ember from 'ember';\n\n\n\nexport default Ember.Route.extend({\n\nmodel() {\n\nreturn {\n\ndata: this.store.findAll('post'),\n\npost: {}\n\n}\n\n},\n\n\n\nactions: {\n\ncreatePost(info) {\n\nlet newPost = this.store.createRecord('post', {\n\ntitle: info.title,\n\ntext: info.text,\n\nauthor: info.author,\n\ncreatedDate: new Date()\n\n});\n\n\n\nnewPost.save();\n\n}\n\n}\n\n});\n\n\n\nPassing data to our component in Index template. Edit the file app/templates/index.hbs : 1\n\n{{create-new-post post=model.post createPost=\"createPost\"}}\n\nNow if you submit your form and look in your Firebase dashboard, you will be able to see that your post was created! Amazing! ;D We did a lot of things, wow! See all the commits that was done here.\n\nNow that we are able to create our post, we need to show it! Let\u2019s create a component for that purpose. Run the following command: 1\n\ne g component blog-post\n\n\n\nAdd the structure to our blog-post component. The file app/templates/components/blog-post.hbs should look like this: 1\n\n2\n\n3\n\n4\n\n5\n\n<article>\n\n<h2>{{post.title}}</h2>\n\n<p>{{post.text}}</p>\n\n<em>(Posted on {{post.createdDate}} by {{post.author}})</em>\n\n</article>\n\n"}
-{"text": "Ships from Hong Kong. Fees for brokerage and duty included in price. Most customers receive within 5-32 days.\n\nSold and Shipped by First Expand Intelligent\n\nPurchases from these Sellers are generally covered under our Newegg Marketplace Guarantee\n\nMarketplace Seller"}
-{"text": "Today we\u2019d like to announce SunSpider 0.9.1, a new version of the popular SunSpider JavaScript benchmark that improves accuracy of results. We recommend that anyone using SunSpider to test JavaScript performance should migrate to the new version.\n\nA little over two years ago, we announced the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark. We originally created SunSpider for our own use, to help us speed up WebKit\u2019s JavaScript implementation. Since then, SunSpider has become a widely respected metric of JavaScript performance, and has been cited frequently in performance comparisons. But we\u2019ve had some suggestions for SunSpider that could make it more accurate on fast systems and cross-browser comparisons.\n\nWe were hesitant to change the SunSpider content or harness much at all, since it\u2019s been used for cross-version and cross-browser comparisons for so long. But it seems important to address the most significant issues. With that in mind, we have made a limited number of changes to the test harness and to the test content itself.\n\nDealing with Power Management\n\nComputers and JavaScript implementations have gotten much faster over the past two years. If you look at the comments on the original SunSpider announcement, you can see that most people were reporting results around 10,000ms. Now it\u2019s common for high performance JS engines on fast hardware to get scores around 300ms.\n\nAlong with this speedup, we ran into an unanticipated problem with the test harness. By design, the SunSpider harness has significant pauses between each test, to give browsers a chance to settle down after the load. But with fast browsers on modern hardware, this gives enough time for power management to kick in and ratchet down the CPU clock rate. As a result, most of the benchmark does not run at full speed. This issue, originally reported by Mike Belshe of the Chrome team, has more impact on faster JavaScript engines.\n\nThis resulted in our first SunSpider harness bug fix: bug 32505: In-browser SunSpider suffers excessive penalty under power management. In addition to lowering the delay between tests, we also greatly reduced the amount of loading that happens during the benchmark. All of the content is in one page. This further reduces the variability between test runs. And as an added bonus, the SunSpider test suite is now much faster to complete, as it no longer waits half a second between every single test.\n\nTest Content Bug Fixes\n\nSunSpider\u2019s test content has some oddities. Out of the various problems reported, two stood out as affecting the accuracy of the test to some extent. First, the string-base64 test had a bug that made it incorrect in Internet Explorer. The test has been updated, and should now give more accurate results in IE. Second, the regexp-dna test had an issue specific to Gecko-based browsers such as Firefox. It too has been updated and should now be more accurate in Firefox.\n\nVersioned Test Content\n\nSince we changed the test content, we thought that some might be interested in running the \u201cclassic\u201d SunSpider 0.9 content set under the new harness. We\u2019d also like to be prepared to handle multiple versions of the test content in general, so we did just that. For this release, we made sunspider-0.9.1 the default content set (both command-line and hosted).\n\nMinor Test Harness Tweaks\n\nIn the course of implementing these fixes, we decided some cleanup was in order. First, we made sure all of the HTML files in the browser-hosted version are valid HTML5. With HTML5 advancing and becoming more popular, it seemed like the right thing to do. The test will still work fine in older browsers. In addition, the older SunSpider harness processed JSON strings using somewhat ad-hoc techniques. We updated to use json2.js or browser-native JSON.parse, where available.\n\nTry it Out\n\nLast but not least, try it out, report your scores, any problems you run into, or any other interesting comments. You can run it with the latest content set right from that page, or visit the all versions page if you want to test an older content set."}
-{"text": "Las Vegas-area hospitals are joining the list of organizations that are working to help victims of the Oct. 1 mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival.\n\nAt least one hospital group has vowed to completely waive medical costs from any patient who was a victim of the shooting. St Rose Dominican Hospitals, which treated 71 victims across three campuses, said they will not bill or require payment from any patient victims of the tragic event.\n\n\u201cAt Dignity Health-St. Rose our focus remains on the immediate medical and supportive care needs of the injured as well as their long-term healing process. St. Rose does not intend to bill or require payment from any patient victims of this tragic event. St Rose will bill third-party payors (if any) and will be accepting contributions from donors in the community to address the financial and other burdens placed on these patient victims,\u201d the hospital said in a statement. \u2013 READ MORE"}
-{"text": "Poll: What is the Best Marvel Movie of all Time?\n\nWith Black Panther shattering box office predictions and amassing an impressive collection of positive reviews (currently a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes!), we started to wonder which Marvel movie is the most popular among fans. Marvel films have a long history stretching back to 1944 when Marvel, then called Timely Comics, released Captain America, the first live-action Marvel movie. However, it wasn\u2019t until late 80s and early 90s that Marvel began making films about their characters again. By the early-to-mid 2000s, the superhero craze was in full swing and Marvel movies were being churned out from multiple studios each year including Sony (Spider-Man), Fox (X-Men), Columbia (Ghost Rider), and more. While these film franchises were already enormously successful, Marvel had even bigger plans that would change the genre forever.\n\nIn 2005, Marvel devised a master plan to create a brand new shared universe; a film series which would be created by Marvel itself rather than by outside studios. Perhaps the most ambitious aspect of the project was that each film within the new universe would be a continuation of the same overarching story. This was the birth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.\n\nWhether you\u2019re a fan of the MCU with films like Iron Man (2008) and The Avengers (2012) or a fan of Marvel movies made by other studios such as Spider-Man (2002) and Logan (2017) it\u2019s time to decide, once and for all, which Marvel movie is the best?\n\nThree Best Live-Action Marvel Movies to Date\n\nThere have been a LOT of Marvel films over the past several decades, choose carefully.\n\nPick your 3 favorite Marvel movies.\n\n\n\nBest Film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe\n\nLet\u2019s narrow it down to just the MCU\u2026\n\nMost Anticipated Upcoming Marvel Movie\n\nThese are the Marvel movies coming out over the next few years, which are you most excited about?"}
-{"text": "Hot on the heels of \"A Bigger Splash,\" the filmmaker returns with a film that's worthy of comparisons to \"Carol\" and \"Moonlight.\"\n\n\u201cIs it better to speak or to die?\u201d That\u2019s the core question of \u201cCall Me By Your Name,\u201d which surfaces in a scene where a character reads the words of Marguerite of Navarre in \u201cThe Heptam\u00e9ron,\u201d but it\u2019s an idea at the heart of all queer narratives. It\u2019s been especially present in queer cinema, where muteness and survival are often the most bittersweet bedfellows. But \u201cCall Me By Your Name\u201d not only quotes Marguerite\u2019s words, it suffuses them into every fiber of its being. It\u2019s a great film because of how lucidly it poses her question, and an essential one because of how courageously it answers it.\n\nDirected by Luca Guadagnino with all of his usual cool (\u201cI Am Love\u201d) and adapted from Andr\u00e9 Aciman\u2019s beloved 2007 novel of the same name, the rapturous \u201cCall Me By Your Name\u201d nearly rates alongside recent LGBT phenomenons \u201cCarol\u201d and \u201cMoonlight,\u201d matching the artistry and empathy with which those new masterworks untangled the repressive desire of same-sex attraction.\n\nIt\u2019s 1983, \u201csomewhere in Northern Italy.\u201d The height of summer, and all of the neighborhood teenagers are in heat. Elio Perlman (Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, keeping the promise he showed in \u201cMiss Stevens\u201d last September) is still a virgin. A 17-year-old American whose father, a local celebrity, is an eminent professor specializing in Greco-Roman culture (Michael Stuhlbarg), Elio has sprouted from the soil like the apricot trees that surround his family\u2019s villa, and he\u2019s impatiently waiting to bloom. Scrawny enough to be mistaken for a child but sophisticated enough to be mistaken for a man, Elio is a multilingual music prodigy who\u2019s more comfortable with Bach and Berlioz than he is in his own body. He knows everything and nothing. But he\u2019s about to get one hell of an education.\n\nEvery summer, Elio\u2019s father flies out a graduate student to stay at the villa and help him with his research \u2014 this year\u2019s intern is Oliver (Armie Hammer, as sensational here as he was in \u201cThe Social Network,\u201d but similarly a touch too old for the part). Oliver is 24 and his body is an epic unto itself, as big as any one of the ancient statues that have been dredged up from the local seas. Arrogant, eager, and almost suspiciously handsome for an aspiring historian, the mysterious new visitor often seems as though he got lost on his way to a Patricia Highsmith novel. While much of the film feels stretched between the feverish eros of Bertolucci, the budding warmth of Mia Hansen\u2013L\u00f8ve, and the affected stoicism of James Ivory (who, at 88, has a co-writing credit on this screenplay), a thin shadow of suspense creeps along the outer edges of each frame, priming viewers for a very different kind of pivot than the one Guadagnino deployed during the third act of \u201cA Bigger Splash.\u201d\n\nElio and Oliver grow closer as the summer sinks toward its dog days \u2014 at first they share only a bathroom, the skinny adolescent looking at his unpredictable new friend as though he can\u2019t understand how they could be the same species, let alone be interested in the same thing. But commonalities and semi-secrets soon emerge: For one thing, they\u2019re both Jews in a land of goys. Oliver, no doubt aware that he looks like the winner of Hitler\u2019s master race, wears a Star of David necklace underneath his shirt, a barely visible emblem of his otherness. The Perlmans, on the other hand, are what Elio\u2019s father describes as \u201cJews of discretion\u201d (one of the funnier lines in a movie that\u2019s laced with a sharp sense of humor), but the strangeness of celebrating Hanukkah within spitting distance of Vatican City eventually makes its mark.\n\nAs the film progresses, Elio and Oliver begin to share more tangible things: Bike rides, errant touches, an unknown desire to have sex with one another (that last one is a biggie). Crucially, however, Elio is as conflicted about his own passions as he is those of the boy next door. His tastes are molten and volatile \u2014 he performs the same piano piece in a wildly different style every time he plays it, much to Oliver\u2019s amused frustration. When he\u2019s not busy gawking at his brawny infatuation, he\u2019s enthusiastically trying to deflower the French girl down the street (Esther Garrell, of the New Wave Garrells), who wears her wardrobe of summer dresses like she\u2019s trying to shame away the other seasons.\n\nTelling this story with the same characteristically intoxicating capriciousness that has come to define his work, Guadagnino doesn\u2019t dwell on looks of questionably requited longing. He\u2019s not Todd Haynes and \u2014 with the possible exception of a long take mid-movie that follows the two leads around a fountain and endows the space between them with a palpably physical sense of attraction and denial \u2014 he doesn\u2019t try to be. Instead, he stays attuned to the raw energy of trying to feel someone out without touching them, of what it\u2019s like to live through that one magical summer where the weather is the only part of your world that doesn\u2019t change every day.\n\nRippling with nervously excited piano compositions and shot with immeasurable sensuality by Thai cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (\u201cUncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives\u201d and \u201cArabian Nights\u201d), \u201cCall Me By Your Name\u201d is a full-bodied film that submits all of its beauties to the service of one simple truth: The more we change, the more we become who we are. Like the Latin prefixes that Oliver and Mr. Perlman trace back to their roots or the antiquated artworks that resonate because of how much the world has changed since their creation, Elio learns that growth \u2014 however wild or worrisome it might seem at the time \u2014 is the greatest gift that he can give himself.\n\nREAD MORE: The 2017 IndieWire Sundance Bible: Every Review, Interview, And News Story From The Fest\n\nWatching him slowly come to that realization is an unforgettable and enormously moving experience because of how the film comes to realize it, too. Guadagnino lives for the climactic portion of this story, when feelings are finally transmuted into action and Oliver\u2019s true nature breaks through the marble bust of his body (Hammer\u2019s warmth in these scenes is extraordinary). The details are best experienced for yourself, but it\u2019s safe to say that movie lives up to the book\u2019s steamy reputation, and Chalamet and Hammer throw themselves at each other with the clumsy abandon of first love. Growingly increasingly divorced from its source material as it goes along, the final beats of Guadagnino\u2019s adaptation galvanize two hours of simmering uncertainty into a gut-wrenchingly wistful portrait of two people trying to find themselves before it\u2019s too late. As Elio\u2019s father puts it in a heart-stopping monologue that every parent might want to memorize for future use: \u201cDon\u2019t make yourself feel nothing so as not to feel anything. What a waste.\u201d\n\nLeaving us with one of the gorgeous new songs that Sufjan Stevens wrote for the film, this achingly powerful story \u2014 a brilliant contribution to the queer cinema canon \u2014 breathes vibrant new life into the answer that Marguerite of Navarre gave to her own question. \u201cI would counsel all such as are my friends to speak and not die,\u201d she said, \u201c\u201cfor \u2019tis a bad speech that cannot be mended, but a life lost cannot be recalled.\u201d\n\nGrade: A\n\n\u201cCall Me By Your Name\u201d premiered in the Premieres section of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Sony Pictures Classics will release it later this year.\n\nStay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.\n\nSign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here."}
-{"text": "\n\nRejoignez les acteurs de solutions qui font bouger la France\n\n\u00ab Tu vois, un couteau : c\u2019est pareil. Imagine que tu donnes pour la premi\u00e8re fois un couteau \u00e0 quelqu\u2019un qui ne s\u2019en est jamais servi. \u00bb\n\nLe gars qui parle, c\u2019est David. A genoux devant mon ordinateur. Cheveux bruns. Mi-longs. Un gars de mon \u00e2ge. Il bo\u00eete. C\u2019est \u00e0 \u00e7a qu\u2019on le distingue. Il bo\u00eete m\u00eame salement. En tout cas suffisamment pour qu\u2019on le remarque dans un village de quelques poign\u00e9es d\u2019\u00e2mes.\n\nLa France des solutions Et si on d\u00e9multipliait la visibilit\u00e9 des citoyens qui prennent l\u2019initiative ? Pour r\u00e9pondre aux d\u00e9fis \u00e9conomiques, sociaux, environnementaux, Rue89 s\u2019engage aux c\u00f4t\u00e9s de Reporters d\u2019Espoirs pour diffuser la connaissance de la \u00ab France des solutions \u00bb\n\nIl serait rest\u00e9 plus longtemps, on lui aurait peut \u00eatre donn\u00e9 un surnom d\u00e9finitif. Un truc qui te colle au derche et finit par te constituer. Mais il \u00e9tait de passage.\n\n\u00ab Le gars, il est pas cens\u00e9 savoir qu\u2019avec un couteau, tu peux peler des carottes ou couper du pain. Il sait rien. Il met le doigt dessus : il se coupe. Il se tranche un doigt. Il le plante dans la table : il l\u2019ab\u00eeme et il ab\u00eeme la table. Il le confie \u00e0 un enfant. Pareil une faux. Une fourche. Un v\u00e9lo. Une bagnole. Un tracteur. Que sais-je. Tous ces trucs r\u00e9clament un apprentissage. Une familiarit\u00e9. \u00bb\n\nUn gros bazar de chez Carrefour\n\nDevant lui, le BIOS de mon ordinateur.\n\n\u00ab T\u2019es s\u00fbr que tu n\u2019as rien \u00e0 garder ? \u00bb\n\nJe lui confirme. Il clique.\n\n\u00ab Eh ben tu vois : les ordinateurs, qui sont mille milliards de fois plus complexes que les couteaux, les faux, les fourches, les v\u00e9los, les bagnoles et tout \u00e7a\u2026 C\u2019est le seul outil que tout le monde poss\u00e8de et que quasiment personne ne sait utiliser. Et \u00e7a, je trouve \u00e7a r\u00e9voltant. \u00bb\n\nC\u2019est l\u2019hiver. Je ne sais plus lequel. Celui d\u2019avant ? Ou d\u2019encore avant. En tout cas, il y avait eu de neige en automne. Et \u00e7a faisait jaser au village. Quand il neige sur les feuilles, vieux\u2026 C\u2019est pas bon. Pas bon du tout.\n\nUne amie \u00e9tait venue me voir toute excit\u00e9e avec son ordinateur portable. Un gros bazar de chez Carrefour avec lequel elle souffrait trop, et pour lequel elle me demandait r\u00e9guli\u00e8rement des conseils ou des services.\n\nParce que quand t\u2019habites au trou-du-cul du monde, et que tu gal\u00e8res avec du mat\u00e9riel informatique, tu ne sais tellement plus \u00e0 quel saint te vouer, que n\u2019importe quel trentenaire \u00e0 lunette est tr\u00e8s vite intronis\u00e9 expert informatique.\n\n\u00ab Je crois que c\u2019est depuis l\u2019orage \u00bb\n\nAvant, il y avait bien Jan, l\u2019\u00e9leveur hollandais qui r\u00e9parait les ordis en rentrant de la traite. C\u2019\u00e9tait son kif, \u00e0 Jan. Il adorait d\u00e9brouiller les n\u0153uds dans les pelotes. D\u00e9monter patiemment. Remonter patiemment. Avec du bon sens, de l\u2019empirisme et un rien de documentation, il avait fini par acqu\u00e9rir un sacr\u00e9 savoir-faire.\n\nEt tous les soirs, dans sa ferme, c\u2019\u00e9tait le d\u00e9fil\u00e9 des mines d\u00e9confites et des laptops fatigu\u00e9s. Des \u00ab \u00e7a mouline \u00bb. Des \u00ab il a plant\u00e9 \u00bb. Des \u00ab je crois que c\u2019est depuis l\u2019orage \u00bb. Et lui s\u2019y attelait, sans rien dire, avec l\u2019air de ne pas vraiment s\u2019en occuper. Des airs de paysan. \u00ab On verra ce qu\u2019on peut y faire \u00bb. Puis il est mort, Jan. Un matin. Jeune comme tout. On l\u2019a trouv\u00e9 couch\u00e9. Le c\u0153ur. Une trag\u00e9die.\n\n\n\nFor\u00eat de Tron\u00e7ais - Bichon59/Flickr/CC\n\nIl y avait bien eu Jean, aussi, dans le village, qui faisait des merveilles. Tu lui portais n\u2019importe quoi, la plus satur\u00e9e des tablettes, le plus esquint\u00e9 des bolides, et lui t\u2019accueillait calmement, avec bienveillance et compassion. Pas comme ces experts de Montlu\u00e7on, avec leurs soupirs et leur jargon. Il t\u2019expliquait gentiment les choses avec des mots simples. Et te trouvait toujours la panne.\n\nC\u2019\u00e9tait une b\u00e9n\u00e9diction de l\u2019avoir dans le village. Mais il est mort, aussi, Jean. Jeune comme tout. Le c\u0153ur\u2026 Mal\u00e9diction...\n\nDavid est un sorcier\n\nAlors pendant un temps tout le monde s\u2019est mis \u00e0 errer \u00e0 la recherche de solutions. Les plus riches \u2013 au grand bonheur des vendeurs de chez Darty \u2013 r\u00e9glaient drastiquement leurs probl\u00e8mes en rachetant du mat\u00e9riel. Les autres cherchaient conseil aupr\u00e8s de tous ceux qui portent des lunettes. Prenant tout ce qui passe. Accumulant le plus souvent les grands n\u2019importe quoi. Jusqu\u2019\u00e0 l\u2019arriv\u00e9e de David.\n\n\u00ab Il m\u2019a r\u00e9gl\u00e9 tous mes probl\u00e8mes. Il m\u2019a install\u00e9 un truc, l\u00e0, et depuis, mon portable, il s\u2019allume comme \u00e7a : paf ! \u00bb\n\nMon amie s\u2019ex\u00e9cute. Et effectivement : paf. Une minute apr\u00e8s l\u2019avoir mis en route, son gros bazar affiche un bureau. J\u2019ai eu \u00e0 peine le temps de voir scintiller le nom du syst\u00e8me d\u2019exploitation. Lubuntu. Connais pas. Qu\u2019est-ce que c\u2019est que ce truc ?\n\n\u00ab Il m\u2019a tout expliqu\u00e9, David. Il m\u2019a demand\u00e9 ce que j\u2019utilisais comme logiciels. Je lui ai dit que j\u2019aillais sur Internet, que je regardais des films et que je faisais Word et Excel. Il m\u2019a dit que pour faire \u00e7a, j\u2019avais pas besoin de Windows. Que Windows, \u00e7a co\u00fbtait cher, que \u00e7a prenait 80 % de la place sur mon portable. Que \u00e7a installait des trucs sans te le dire, qui ralentissaient tout. Il m\u2019a mis ce truc. Et l\u00e0, je te jure : \u00e7a marche tout seul. J\u2019ai m\u00eame deux fois plus de batterie qu\u2019avant. Et en plus c\u2019est gratuit. \u00bb\n\nSifflement d\u2019admiration. Dans le caf\u00e9, je croise les sourcils circonflexes de ceux qui font mine de ne pas s\u2019int\u00e9resser \u00e0 nous. Je parcours un peu l\u2019interface, simple et brute, et constate qu\u2019effectivement, mon amie n\u2019a rien besoin de plus, et que tout fonctionne \u00e0 merveille. David est un sorcier. D\u2019un seul \u00e9lixir, il a fait un rem\u00e8de pour tous les maux de mon amie.\n\nPianiste\n\nDeux jours plus tard, il est chez moi. Je veux le voir faire. De ce que je connaissais de lui jusqu\u2019\u00e0 pr\u00e9sent, David \u00e9tait un gars de mon \u00e2ge, en formation dans le bled \u00e0 c\u00f4t\u00e9, et pouvait faire danser deux cent personnes d\u2019un coup en jouant du piano. Je l\u2019avais vu faire plusieurs fois, au bistrot, ou l\u2019\u00e9t\u00e9, quand il y a la guinguette sur le bord de la rivi\u00e8re.\n\nC\u2019\u00e9tait son m\u00e9tier, d\u2019ailleurs, pianiste, avant qu\u2019il d\u00e9cide d\u2019envoyer d\u2019un seul coup tous les musiciens de France se faire foutre. Sur ce sujet, je n\u2019en ai jamais su plus. Tu sentais la d\u00e9b\u00e2cle. La faillite. La col\u00e8re. Ou la d\u00e9ception monumentale. En tout cas, une de ces failles de vie qui, caract\u00e9ristiquement, te font prendre la d\u00e9cision de vivre au fond de la campagne. Et dont tu ne parles jamais.\n\n\u00ab On confie donc des outils d\u2019une sophistication totale, \u00e0 des gens qui ignorent jusqu\u2019\u00e0 la premi\u00e8re syllabe du premier composant, ou du premier proc\u00e9d\u00e9. C\u2019est inou\u00ef. Et le pire, dans tout \u00e7a, c\u2019est qu\u2019on te pousse \u00e0 l\u2019achat en te faisant miroiter tout un tas de mensonges, comme quoi \u00e7a va te faciliter la vie. Alors qu\u2019un ordi, si tu ne sais pas t\u2019en servir, mon gars\u2026 \u00c0 part te pourrir la vie et le compte en banque, \u00e7a ne t\u2019apporte pas grand-chose. \u00bb\n\n\u00ab Tous les trucs qui pensent \u00e0 ta place \u00bb\n\nJe le regarde ouvrir un terminal. Entrer des lignes de commandes.\n\n\u00ab Alors apr\u00e8s, le boulot des Google, Microsoft ou Apple, c\u2019est d\u2019inventer des machines qui r\u00e9fl\u00e9chissent \u00e0 ta place. Qui rendent inutile la compr\u00e9hension de la machine. C\u2019est la machine qui utilise, assemble, et organise tes donn\u00e9es. Tandis que toi, tu laisses \u00e0 la machine le soin de te dire quoi faire. Donc tu n\u2019as pas besoin de progresser dans ta connaissance de la machine. Cercle vicieux, tu vois. Et in fine, tu te retrouve d\u00e9pendant d\u2019une machine que tu ne contr\u00f4les absolument pas. \u00c0 qui tu ob\u00e9is aveuglement. Et qui peut donc tranquillement collecter toutes tes donn\u00e9es et faire du beurre avec. \u00bb\n\nIl ouvre la logith\u00e8que et suit, sur un bout de papier, la liste des logiciels que je lui ai demand\u00e9 de m\u2019installer.\n\n\u00ab Et moi, tout \u00e7a, c\u2019est termin\u00e9. Tous les trucs qui pensent \u00e0 ta place : exclus ! Je me suis form\u00e9. Longtemps. Et je peux dire que je n\u2019installe plus jamais rien dont je ne ma\u00eetrise pas tous les tenants et tous les aboutissants. \u00bb\n\n\u00ab Bordel, c\u2019est gratuit ! Gratuit ! \u00bb\n\nReboot. Sur mon vieux portable cacochyme, le m\u00eame logo appara\u00eet : Lubuntu. Une distribution compl\u00e8te, mais hyper l\u00e9g\u00e8re, con\u00e7ue pour donner une seconde vie aux terminaux lents ou fatigu\u00e9s.\n\n\u00ab Maintenant, quand je rencontre des gens qui me racontent qu\u2019ils ont des probl\u00e8mes, et que je me rends compte que leur vrai probl\u00e8me c\u2019est la m\u00e9connaissance de l\u2019outil, je leur mets d\u2019office la distribution la plus basique que je connaisse. Dans 99% des cas, ils n\u2019ont besoin de rien de plus. Bureautique. Internet. Musique. Vid\u00e9o. Point barre. Et pour moi, \u00e7a, c\u2019est la base. Ne pas sur\u00e9quiper les gens. Leur donner ce dont ils ont besoin. Pas plus. Ne pas les mettre dans un putain de cockpit d\u2019Airbus A320 en leur disant \u201c vous inqui\u00e9tez pas les gars, y a un pilote automatique \u201d. Tu vois, par exemple, les gars avec Windows, ils passent leur temps \u00e0 se d\u00e9battre avec les antivirus. Mais ils ne comprennent m\u00eame pas la base du truc ! Ils ne savent pas ce qu\u2019est un virus, comment \u00e7a se propage, comment sa s\u2019\u00e9labore, qui les cr\u00e9e. Or, sur toutes les distributions Linux \u2013 et y en a un paquet \u2013 pas une o\u00f9 t\u2019aies besoin d\u2019un antivirus. Et surtout, bordel, c\u2019est gratuit ! Gratuit ! \u00bb\n\nD\u00e9sappelis\u00e9. D\u00e9googlis\u00e9. D\u00e9microsoftis\u00e9\n\nC\u2019\u00e9tait fait. Dans mon bled minuscule, enclav\u00e9 par l\u2019automne et le froid, au milieu d\u2019absolument nulle part, le d\u00e9nomm\u00e9 David venait de m\u2019initier \u2013 en m\u00eame temps qu\u2019une demi-douzaine d\u2019autres \u2013 au monde illimit\u00e9 et rass\u00e9r\u00e9nant de l\u2019open source.\n\n\u00ab Bon, si t\u2019as le m\u00eame probl\u00e8me, je t\u2019en supplie, ne m\u2019appelle pas. D\u2019une, je me casse bient\u00f4t, de deux je ne suis pas expert, et de trois tu apprendras bien mieux en te d\u00e9merdant tout seul. De toutes fa\u00e7ons : des probl\u00e8mes, tu n\u2019en auras pas. Je te le garantis. Ou alors si tu en as, rappelle-toi seulement de l\u2019\u00e9poque o\u00f9 tu passais dix minutes avant que ton ordi soit seulement op\u00e9rationnel. \u00bb\n\nDepuis, j\u2019ai fait mon chemin. D\u00e9sappelis\u00e9. D\u00e9googlis\u00e9. D\u00e9microsoftis\u00e9. David m\u2019a montr\u00e9 le moyen de passer le cap. Moi qui avais l\u2019int\u00e9gralit\u00e9 de mes donn\u00e9es, de mes contacts, de mes agendas et de tous mes souvenirs sur des clouds bien propri\u00e9taires, et bien limites au niveau de la protection des donn\u00e9es, j\u2019ai petit \u00e0 petit r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 tout extraire. Et tout prot\u00e9ger. \u00c0 prendre le contr\u00f4le de ma machine.\n\nLe coup de pied au cul. C\u2019est tout ce qu\u2019il me manquait. Il a fallu qu\u2019il me vienne \u00e0 deux pas de la for\u00eat de Tron\u00e7ais.\n\nPetits militants volontaires\n\nLe probl\u00e8me, c\u2019est que depuis, il s\u2019est cass\u00e9, David. Avec sa patte folle, sa bonhomie et ses interminables sessions de piano. Il a fini par terminer sa formation, et quitter pour de bon le bocage.\n\nJan mort. Jean mort. David parti. Tout le village s\u2019est alors rabattu sur ses strat\u00e9gies premi\u00e8res : Darty. Et les trentenaires \u00e0 lunettes.\n\nLes d\u00e9serts num\u00e9riques, il n\u2019y en a plus beaucoup. \u00c0 force de programmes publics d\u2019\u00e9quipements \u00e0 l\u2019obsolescence chronique, les campagnes ont fini, bon an mal an, par se raccrocher au grand train.\n\nMais loin de le r\u00e9sorber, ces programmes ont contribu\u00e9 \u00e0 creuser davantage le foss\u00e9 entre ceux qui savent et ceux qui ne savent pas. Parce que rien n\u2019a jamais \u00e9t\u00e9 mis en place pour enseigner, dans ces zones o\u00f9 l\u2019immense majorit\u00e9 de la population n\u2019a d\u00e9couvert l\u2019ordinateur dans le dernier quart de son existence, les rudiments des acc\u00e8s informatiques. On compte sur l\u2019empirisme. Sur l\u2019in\u00e9luctable marche du progr\u00e8s. Sur le d\u00e9veloppement des technologies intuitives. Automatiques.\n\nMoi, d\u00e9sormais, je compte sur les David de tous poils. Petits militants volontaires. Qui pr\u00f4nent la reprise en main de l\u2019homme sur ses outils. Et rappellent qu\u2019un progr\u00e8s n\u2019en est un que quand il s\u2019est offert \u00e0 tous."}
-{"text": "Impressive work! I really like the large amount of detail put into her face, eyes, and hair. I'd go so far to say that this is one of my favorite clean and detailed art-styles for ponies."}
-{"text": "Strata depreciation reports have unearthed an alarming situation for B.C. condo owners: The overwhelming majority of strata units are carrying monthly maintenance fees that are nowhere near adequate to keep up their buildings.\n\n\u201cThis is really a scary situation,\u201d says Jeremy Bramwell, of Bramwell & Associates Realty Advisors. \u201cWe are going to have a lot of special assessments being levied (on condo unit owners) in coming years.\u201d\n\nSpecial assessments are the dreaded lump-sum levies imposed on owners by strata corporations when they need extra cash to cover supposedly unexpected expenses.\n\nThe requirement for depreciation reports was introduced by the B.C. government in 2011, and were supposed to give strata councils an advance understanding of the timing and costs involved in maintaining and repairing assets over a 30-year period.\n\nBramwell\u2019s company carries out the comprehensive reviews required to produce the depreciation reports.\n\nHe recalls one of his client-strata corporations had a reserve fund with \u201cless than 2 per cent of the money needed\u201d to address the looming upgrades outlined in its report.\n\nAnd such dire underfunding is not at all uncommon. Bramwell estimates that fewer than two per cent of his clients meet even a basic standard of having a reserve or contingency fund that is deemed just 35 per cent adequate. Which means 98 per have reserve funds that are less adequate than that.\n\n\u201cAccording to international standards, that would mean all of them are in a \u2018critical state\u2019.\u201d\n\nCommenting on strata reserve funds across B.C., Bramwell declared: \u201cThis whole province is in a critical financial position.\u201d\n\nThe Condominium Homeowners Association of B.C. did not respond to repeated calls for comment.\n\nBramwell bases his analysis on U.S.-based National Reserve Study Standards. He notes that in Toronto, monthly fees for condos typically run between $600 and $900. In Vancouver, \u201cif maintenance fees are more than $300 a month, it\u2019s surprising.\u201d\n\nFees are kept low in Vancouver because of housing affordability challenges. Once a buyer pays a big price for a strata unit, there is not much left for monthly maintenance.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been at council meetings where people are upset to see the numbers. They say that they just don\u2019t have the money.\u201d\n\nCondo owners also want to keep monthly fees low to ensure their units remain marketable.\n\nAs bad as the financial situation of many B.C. strata corporations is, another concern has been raised by the requirement for depreciation reports.\n\nThe deadline to acquire the reports was December 2013. But some 40 to 50 per cent of strata corporations are opting to annually defer, temporarily or indefinitely, the commissioning of such documents.\n\nThey can do so because the Strata Property Act provision for depreciation reports has a couple of loopholes. First, it applies only to corporations with five or more units. Second, a three-quarter vote of strata members can nullify the requirement.\n\nSome condo boards don\u2019t want to pay the $2,500 to $5,500 fee to hire companies like Bramwell & Associates, or Campbell & Pound.\n\nDan Jones, president of Campbell & Pound, notes that condo owners \u201cin their senior years are looking at their own personal finances rather than the community picture.\u201d\n\nSome people prefer to behave like ostriches, says Bramwell, choosing not to know how onerous their financial obligations really are.\n\nThe reports, often dozens of pages in length, are controversial because condo boards are damned if they have a depreciation report, and damned if they do not.\n\nThat\u2019s because the reports can scare off potential buyers.\n\nThen again, if no report has been done, a potential buyer may wonder what the strata is trying to hide. Without the reports, condo buyers can be thwarted in obtaining bank mortgages.\n\nBramwell also cites a lack of standardization in the preparation of depreciation reports. Because each appraiser carries out work differently, it is difficult for buyers to compare and contrast depreciation reports from different buildings.\n\nbyaffe@vancouversun.com"}
-{"text": "BUCHAREST, Romania \u2014 Same-sex spouses should be afforded the same rights to live and work across the European Union as married heterosexual couples, regardless of individual member countries\u2019 stance on same-sex marriage, a senior legal adviser to the European Union\u2019s top court said on Thursday.\n\nThe opinion, related to a case before the Court of Justice involving a Romanian man and his American husband, is not binding, but the court generally follows such advisories.\n\n\u201cAlthough member states are free to authorize marriage between persons of the same sex or not, they may not impede the freedom of residence of an E.U. citizen by refusing to grant his or her spouse of the same sex, a national of a non-E.U. country, a right of permanent residence in their territory,\u201d the senior adviser, Advocate General Melchior Wathelet, said in a statement the court released.\n\nAdrian Coman, a Romanian, and Claibourn Robert Hamilton, an American, married in Belgium in 2010, seven years after the country legalized same-sex marriage. A few years later, Romania denied Mr. Hamilton spousal residency rights, however, arguing that he could not be considered the spouse of a European Union citizen given that Romania does not recognize same-sex marriage."}
-{"text": "Brian Sharp\n\n@SharpRoc\n\nMayor Lovely Warren on Thursday released an extensive request for development proposals to turn the eastern Inner Loop into an active residential and retail corridor.\n\nProposals are due May 13. The sunken highway is being raised to an at-grade boulevard, creating acres of shovel-ready sites. The $22 million fill project should be completed by the end of next year. The city divided the property, roughly between Monroe Avenue and East Main Street, into five parcels totaling roughly 5.5 acres and ranging in size from a half acre to 2 acres.\n\nThe city has held a series of public input sessions and, in a statement, Warren said that, going forward, \"it is important that the community\u2019s voice is heard and that the choices we make will serve our future generations.\"\n\nThe city has set out general design guidelines, including that proposals incorporate open/green space, placing priority on the corner of East Avenue and Union Street. Other requests are to \"connect to and reinforce adjacent neighborhoods\" \u2014 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park (the formerly named Manhattan Square Park) and what is described as \"the future expansion of Strong Museum of Play.\" Guidelines include the scale and massing of buildings with active first-floor spaces, active spaces over parking lots, architectural features that \"reinforce prominent corners\" and use of high-quality materials such as stone, terra cotta, or authentic clay brick.\n\nFor more information, go online to cityofrochester.gov/rfp_innerloopeast.\n\nBDSHARP@Gannett.com"}
-{"text": "Stevie Smith\n\nStevie Smith collected $4,000 for capturing Friday's National Open Tune-up at Williams Grove Speedway. (Paul Chaplin | pchaplin@pennlive.com)\n\nMECHANICSBURG: There is a theory in racing that a driver needs to race more to mesh and perform well with a team.\n\nNot so with Stevie Smith.\n\nThe Broken Arrow, Okla., driver has run a limited scheduled with the Fred Rahmer-Dave Pritchard-owned machine. But that hasn't stopped this team from being fast every time the wheels touch the racing surface.\n\nGood car. Talented and smart driver. Smith had it all on display Friday night, winning a spirited duel with Greg Hodnett to capture the 25-lap World of Outlaws Tune-up to next week's prestigious National Open.\n\nBut Smith wouldn't look ahead to the $50,000-to-win extravaganza. The good ones don't. Especially with $20,000 on the line Saturday in the Dirt Classic presented by Kasey Kahne at Lincoln Speedway.\n\n\"It would mean a lot [to win the National Open], but right now I'm focused on tomorrow night,\" Smith said. \"Ask me this week, call me Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday and we will talk about the National Open.\"\n\nNo problem.\n\nWhat we do know is that Smith has a lot of speed and is driving with a lot of confidence. At least it looked that way in this one.\n\nSmith got the jump on Hodnett from his outside-pole starting spot. But before the race could develop, Pat Cannon flipped down the backstretch as he exited Turn 2. He was uninjured.\n\nHodnett rebounded on the second attempt at green. He slid up in front of Smith to take the top spot in Turn 2, as invader Craig Dollansky inched by Danny Dietrich for third.\n\nThe race was slowed again on lap 4. Adam Wilt and Justin Henderson, who was driving the Mark Coldren-owned No. 07, spun in Turn 2.\n\nSmith stalked Hodnett on the restart. He rocketed down the backstretch and pulled a slider through Turns 3 and 4 to grab the lead. One corner later, Hodnett returned the favor with a bold move to the bottom and slid across the track.\n\n\"It was a battle,\" Smith said. \"Greg was doing a good job holding me up. We had one hell of a race going.\"\n\nIt got better.\n\nSmith stayed close to Hodnett before making his move on lap 14. He entered Turn 1 one lane above a lapped car and blasted to the cushion, cutting in front of Hodnett to take the lead.\n\n\"We got to lapped cars, and I needed to do something different or all four of us were going to get balled up,\" Smith said after the $4,000 victory.\n\n\"It's really a team effort. The guys have been doing such a great job, and Don Ott motors have really been carrying us along. I'm just happy to be with these guys.\"\n\nLynton Jeffrey spun in Turn 4 on lap 18, bringing out a final caution. It also set up an eight-lap dash to the finish.\n\nHodnett stayed close using the low line, showing the nose of his car to the leader in the corners. Each time, Smith was up to task.\n\nThe laps clicked by, and Hodnett inched closer. He appeared to be setting up for a last-lap pass, but Smith was having none of it.\n\nSmith came off the top and sliced through the bottom of Turn 1 on the final circuit. He opened up a 10 car-length advantage and carried it to the finish.\n\n\"I'll tell ya, I would rather watch than be out there,\" Fred Rahmer said. \"We just needed to get to the bottom, and we were in good shape.\n\n\"Moon really has the car good, and Stevie is one helluva a driver and makes me look good. I think if we would have run every week, we would have done really well.\"\n\nDoug Esh was impressive over the race distance, storming from 12th to third. Dollansky and Lance Dewease completed the top five.\n\nKevin Nouse captured his sixth win of the season at the big half mile in the 20-lap 358 Sprint Car feature.\n\nThis one had special meaning for Nouse, who locked up his second straight Williams Grove Speedway championship.\n\nJordan Givler was second, followed by Chris Arnold, Scott Fisher and Brad McClelland."}
-{"text": "Smart Doll Plus\n\nIt gives me great pleasure to announce our new product - Smart Doll Plus - the future of home appliances!\n\nSmart Doll Plus is a 120cm tall robotic android designed by myself Danny Choo right here at Culture Japan HQ in Tokyo.\n\nSmart Doll Plus has functionality to walk around on her own and pickup objects which she can recognize with her built in AI.\n\nSmart Doll Plus is also connected to the Internet 247 meaning that she has access to any information that you require of her.\n\nWe are also working with IFTTT to enable Smart Doll Plus to connect to a plethora of home devices such as Dropcam and Nest which expands her home security management capabilities."}
-{"text": "Introduction\n\nThis certificate course looks at industrial automation systems engineering as a synergistic function between hardware and software. Participants learn the essential concepts of Automation Systems development through a practical, hands-on approach utilizing relevant software with advanced lab.\n\nThis industrial automation training course is designed & developed by industrial professionals having decades of industrial experience in Automation Domain. This automation training course is designed is based on practical approach ie \u2018Hands-On\u2019 State-of-the-art(PLC\u2019s, SCADA) equipment.\n\nPLC training course content & SCADA training course contents are customized as per International Standard which is globally acknowledged. We are conducting this course in Regular Training, weak end training, Short-term training, Long-term training (Internship), Summer Training, Winter Training & Customized Training for Incampus/colleges or Inplant/Corporates.\n\nPLC SCADA Course also includes Soft skill training (Personality Development, Resume Develop, & Mock Interview Sessions). This Industrial course helps fill the huge engineering skill gap across the manufacturing sector. This course is customized as per International Standard which is globally acknowledged.\n\nSofcon is a pioneer institute for providing Industrial Automation Training in PLC (Programmable Logic Controller), SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), HMI (Human Machine Interface), DCS (Distributed Control System), Motor\u2019s, Drives, Sensors, Actuators and Industrial Networking.\n\nSofcon help in moderating vitality by executing different vitality effective projects for streamlined execution of the systems and to support the operation and upkeep of the establishment."}
-{"text": "Respring your device by removing the SpringBoard view from the app switcher.\n\nSupports iOS 8 and 9\n\n\n\nView Source code here\n\n\n\nNo options to configure.\n\nNo Screenshots for this item."}
-{"text": "Most people who know stuff about animals 'know' that the White rhino Ceratotherium simum owes its vernacular name - not to its colour - but to its wide, flattened lips. After all, the 'White' rhino is not really any whiter than any other rhino. So, the 'white' must - so everyone has been saying - be a corruption of 'wijde', the Dutch for 'wide'. That way, the rhino's name would have started out as Dutch for 'wide-lipped rhino', and that makes sense, right? As it happens, and as rhino expert Kees Rookmaaker of the IUCN's Rhino Resource Center argued in 2003, this explanation just doesn't work...\n\nIt probably isn't widely known that the White rhino was only 'discovered' in 1812, at which time William John Burchell (1781-1863) shot two near Kuruman, South Africa. He mentioned the new species in print in 1817 and named it Rhinoceros simus, with no use of a common name. The names 'Burchell's rhinoceros' and 'Flat-nosed rhinoceros' seem to be the first common names used for it (in 1827 and 1836 respectively). However, a creature termed 'the white rhinoceros' had been referred to by John Barrow in 1801. Describing rhinos hunted in 1798 in Northern Cape Province, Barrow reported that a local chief had called the rhinos here 'white' [image above from wikipedia].\n\nA rhino shot by a hunting party in 1801 was also said to be 'white', and thus to be different from a second rhino shot on the same trip. Petrus Borcherds, who discussed this 'white' animal in an 1802 letter to his father, expressed surprise that the term 'white' was being used for an animal that was, in fact, ashy grey. Field sketches made of both rhinos show without doubt that they were both Black rhinos Diceros bicornis (Rookmaaker 1998, 2003). Despite this confusion, by the 1830s C. simum and D. bicornis were, it seems, being consistently referred to as the 'white' and 'black' rhinos [in composite below, White rhino is above and Black rhino below. In case you're wondering, they really cannot be said to be different in colour. Images from wikipedia].\n\nWe therefore have no indication from early references why the White rhino is so named. As a consequence, people have speculated wildly on how this name came to be. Rookmaaker (2003) discussed the ten proposals made by previous authors. These putative explanations - some of which are plainly erroneous or represent extreme examples of special pleading - propose variously that C. simum might be named the 'White rhinoceros' because (1) it really is paler than D. bicornis, (2) it's characterised by 'a comparative frequency of albinos', (3) individuals had been seen that had whitish dried mud on their hides, (4) it sometimes stands in bright sunlight and hence looks shining white, (5) a particularly pale form lived in the extreme south-west of its range, (6) white egret droppings made it look white from a distance, (7) it was timid (like the white man), and not wild and fierce (like the black man), (8) sexual and/or age differences somehow accounted for occasional paleness, (9) its horns are white, and (10) it was originally the 'widg' or 'wijde' rhinoceros, these words supposedly being Dutch for wide.\n\nThe last proposal is of course the one that has become the most widely known in modern times. The history of this explanation is pretty interesting. C. R. S. Pitman originally suggested that the 'white' in 'White rhinoceros' might be 'a corruption of the Dutch word expressing 'bright' or 'shining' in the vernacular, referring to the smoother hide' (Rookmaaker 2003, p. 91). He later learnt that there was no such word, so he now proposed that it was more likely 'a corruption of the Dutch word widg meaning great' (Rookmaaker 2003, p. 91). By 1934, G. C. Shortridge had pointed out that a Dutch word 'widg' does not exist. Pitman's proposals now became forgotten.\n\nHowever, during the 1950s a very Pitman-esque explanation was put forward. This time round, the proposal was that 'white derived from confusion with the Dutch wijde, meaning wide' (Rookmaaker 2003, p. 91). Old spellings of wijde might have included weit, weid, wyd or wyt. So - does this 'corruption' idea ring true? [image above courtesy Tina Whitlock].\n\nIn order that 'White rhinoceros' might evolve from a term that used the Dutch wijde (or any of its variants), Rookmaaker argued that wijde - or one of its variants - should, somewhere, have been used in association with C. simum. In other words, there must be some prior historical use of the term 'wijde' in connection with this species. And, to cut a long story short, there is no such association. Rookmaaker concluded that 'It is, therefore, impossible that white in white rhinoceros is a corruption of wijd or any other Dutch or Afrikaans word of the 19th century' (Rookmaaker 2003, p. 92). I find this compelling and agree that we should reject the 'corruption' hypothesis for the time being.\n\nSo how did C. simum get its common name? Rookmaaker suggested that the 'white' in White rhinoceros might have emerged from an original African dialect, but a lot of research would be needed to see if that were so. For now, we just don't know. How bloody annoying [adjacent image courtesy Tina Whitlock].\n\nFinally, apologies to Kees Rookmaaker for utilising his work so heavily: if you need the full story, you should make an effort to get hold of the paper concerned (Rookmaaker 2003. See also Rookmaaker 2005). To my knowledge, a discussion of the information provided therein has not previously been recounted on the internet.\n\nBy the way - how did the Black rhino get its name?\n\nFor previous Tet Zoo musings on the Rhinocerotidae see War rhinos, the Elasmotherium photo, the Rhino May Day post, and Chinese black rhinos and deinotheres. And remember to visit the awesome Rhino Resource Center.\n\nRefs - -\n\nRookmaaker, L. C. 2003. Why the name of the white rhinoceros is not appropriate. Pachyderm 34, 88-93.\n\n- . 2005. Review of the European perception of the African rhinoceros. Journal of Zoology 265, 365-376."}
-{"text": "FRISCO, Texas -- After DeMarco Murray set an NFL record with his seventh straight 100-yard game to open the 2014 season, he bought the Dallas Cowboys offensive linemen $1,300 iMacs, complete with a 21.5-inch screen.\n\nWhen the season ended and Murray had set a Cowboys record with 1,845 rushing yards, which led the NFL, he bought 22 Orefici watches for his teammates. During the year, he bought meals and other trinkets as well.\n\nIt was just a way to say thank you to teammates who helped him, especially the offensive line.\n\nA month into his rookie year, Ezekiel Elliott is leading the NFL with 412 yards on 94 carries. He has three touchdowns as well.\n\nHe is getting ready to dip into his rookie signing bonus to show his appreciation.\n\n\"We haven't gone to dinner yet, but I think that's something we're planning on doing this week,\" Elliott said of his linemen.\n\nEzekiel Elliott leads the NFL in rushing, thanks in large measure to some gaping holes opened by the Cowboys offensive line. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images\n\nThe relationship between a running back and an offensive line is of the upmost importance in the Cowboys' running game, and it's not just about buying gifts to show appreciation. Last year, Joseph Randle never quite figured it out on or off the field, but Darren McFadden, who ran for 1,089 yards, quickly did.\n\nIn the Cowboys' system of running the ball, the back can't freelance. There are certain landmarks they have to hit on specific runs, like the inside hip of a tight end or the outside hip of the guard. It's not so much reading the defense as much as it is reading the blockers.\n\n\"The importance of patience in our running game, with all style of runs, it's all coordinated,\" coach Jason Garrett said. \"There's timing to it. There are landmarks to it. And you have to be disciplined to those things as the play starts. And then, once the play develops, you have to go be a football player. And he's pretty good at that.\"\n\nIt took Elliott two games to figure out the timing required.\n\nIn the last two games, Elliott has run for 140 yards on 30 carries in a win against the Chicago Bears and 138 yards on 23 carries in last week's win against the San Francisco 49ers. It was just the fourth time in franchise history a Cowboys rookie running back has had back-to-back 100-yard rushing yards. It was just the fifth time in team history a running back has posted back-to-back games with more than 125 yards.\n\nMurray did it on two occasions in 2014.\n\n\"In our system, everything is kind of married together,\" right guard Zack Martin said. \"The last couple of weeks, we've been playing well together as a whole offense, so we've got to keep that up.\"\n\nIt's happened with a new left side of the offensive line for the last six quarters. Chaz Green has started at left tackle for an injured Tyron Smith, who missed the last two games with back spasms. Ronald Leary took over for La\u2019el Collins at halftime of the Chicago game after Collins suffered a toe injury that required surgery on Tuesday and landed him on injured reserve Wednesday.\n\nSmith, who went through a limited practice Wednesday, is hopeful to return Sunday.\n\n\"They're a gritty group from the top to the bottom,\" Elliott said. \"The starters, the backups, all those guys can play. They can ball. They have a culture in that room that allows them to all come in and play at a high level. I mean, it doesn't matter who's in there, they're going to go in there and do their job. They have pride in the way they take the field and the way they compete.\"\n\nAt Ohio State, Elliott considered himself one of \"the slobs,\" which was the self-appointed nickname of the Buckeyes offensive line. They hung out together. They talked football together. They talked college life together.\n\nElliott won't go so far as to call his Cowboys linemen slobs. \"They work hard on their physiques, so I would never step across that line and call any of them a slob,\" he joked.\n\nBut he will take them to dinner. And he might do more throughout the season, like Murray did two years ago.\n\n\"You know, hopefully we don't take advantage of it too much,\" Pro Bowl center Travis Frederick said. \"Offensive linemen, we do like to eat. I don't know if he's ready to see that number yet.\""}
-{"text": "View Transcript\n\nTranscript\n\nDilbert: I have too many projects. I'm freaking out. Boss: Experts say you should tackle the most unpleasant tasks first, so you have a feeling of accomplishment and control. Dilbert: Now I have too many projects and some extra anxiety that I'm doing them in the wrong order. Boss: Off you go."}
-{"text": "Compare load times of the unsecure HTTP and encrypted HTTPS versions of this page. Each test loads 360 unique, non-cached images (0.62 MB total). For fastest results, run each test 2-3 times in a private/incognito browsing session.\n\nOnly full, end-end encryption ensures complete privacy. Cloudflare and MaxCDN SSL encryption services compromise privacy by using interceptive middle proxy servers. HTTPS means \"Secure HTTP\". Plaintext HTTP/1.1 is compared against encrypted HTTP/2 HTTPS on a non-caching, nginx server with a direct, non-proxied connection.\n\nFree TLS Certificate provided by Let's Encrypt."}
-{"text": "Despite the shocking announcement that her son Prince Andrew is \u201cstepping back from public duties,\u201d Queen Elizabeth was back to royal business as usual on Tuesday evening with a solo appearance in London.\n\nThe Queen, 93, was all smiles in a light pink ensemble with a diamond brooch as she arrived at the Royal institute of International Affairs in London to present an award to Sir David Attenborough and Julian Hector, head of the BBC Natural History Unit, for their work on the Blue Planet II series.\n\nGet push notifications with news, features and more.\n\nJust moments before her outing, it was revealed that the Queen gave permission for her son, the Duke of York, to \u201cstep back from public duties for the foreseeable future\u201d in the aftermath of his explosive BBC interview about his ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.\n\nImage zoom Eddie Mulholland - WPA Pool/Getty\n\nImage zoom Queen Elizabeth Eddie Mulholland - WPA Pool/Getty\n\n\u201cIt has become clear to me over the last few days that the circumstances relating to my former association with Jeffrey Epstein has become a major disruption to my family\u2019s work and the valuable work going on in the many organisations and charities that I am proud to support,\u201d Prince Andrew said in a statement.\n\n\u201cTherefore, I have asked Her Majesty if I may step back from public duties for the foreseeable future, and she has given her permission.\u201d\n\nImage zoom Prince Andrew Chris Jackson/- WPA Pool/Getty\n\n\u201cI continue to unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein. His suicide has left many unanswered questions, particularly for his victims, and I deeply sympathise with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure. I can only hope that, in time, they will be able to rebuild their lives. Of course, I am willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required.\u201d\n\nSince the interview aired on Saturday night in the U.K., the Queen\u2019s second son has been widely criticized for not showing empathy for the victims of Epstein \u2014 who died by suicide in jail in New York City in August while awaiting trial on multiple sex charges \u2014 and for his decision to stay with at the financier\u2019s New York home in December 2010. That came just months after Epstein had served 13 months of an 18 month sentence for procuring a minor for prostitution.\n\nAndrew also said he had \u201cno recollection of ever meeting\u201d Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who alleges she was forced to have sex with the royal three times between 1999 and 2002 in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein when she was 17 years old.\n\nCan\u2019t get enough of PEOPLE\u2018s Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!\n\nPrince Andrew initially believed that his controversial interview went \u201cquite well.\u201d On Sunday, Andrew, 59, accompanied his mother Queen Elizabeth, 93, to church at Windsor and is reported to have told her that he thought the interview was a success. Buckingham Palace won\u2019t confirm conversations between members of the family, but say that she was \u201caware\u201d of the interview.\n\nWednesday also marks the Queen and Prince Philip\u2019s 72nd wedding anniversary. While the Queen takes on her work duties in London, Prince Philip, who retired from royal life in 2017, is spending the day at Sandringham. Several royal family members took to social media to share their congratulations.\n\nIn a speech at during her appearance at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, the Queen said: \u201cSir David, this award recognizes your many talents and one can\u2019t help but feel that, for those of us of a certain generation, we can take great pleasure in proving age is no barrier to being a positive influence.\u201d\n\nImage zoom Queen Elizabeth presents the Chatham House Prize 2019 to Sir David Attenborough and Julian Hector Eddie Mulholland - WPA Pool/Getty\n\n\u201cYour ability to communicate the beauty and vulnerability of our natural environment remains unequalled as you \u2013 and your team \u2013 have engaged and enthused many people, young and old, to appreciate and preserve our world\u2019s oceans. For that we should all be thankful."}
-{"text": "On August 25th, 2016, the Akron Rubber Ducks will be holding a promotional event after the baseball game which includes \"Midget Wrestling\". The phrase \"Midget\" is an antiquated and often offensive term that should have no place in today's society. As such, no organization that brands itself as family friendly should use potentially hurtful language in their promotional material. What sort of message is this sending to our children and to the members of our community?"}
-{"text": "Upgrade\n\nIt's been a whirlwind week with Nintendo NX rumors and then an obvious fake \"leak\" that preyed on peoples' heightened interest enough to gain some steam before it was admitted as a fib a few days later. So sorry to whiplash your neck back towards the \"totally true and real!\" side of new console scuttlebutt, but remember the \"PS4.5?\"\n\nFollowing up last week's report that Sony is working on a more powerful mid-generation upgrade of its PS4, Eurogamer has independently confirmed with multiple sources that the upgrade is real. And while last week we had the word \"exploratory\" to chew on, according to Euogamer, \"Sony's R&D labs have prototype devices,\" which is a lot more tangible (and more painful to chew, all the plastic and metal bits).\n\nThe story also leans towards calling it the \"PS4K\" over the \"PS4.5,\" which is: 1) a better name and 2) makes sense with the supposed goal of the console being able to support 4K gaming (the game resolution would be about 4 times bigger than your 1080P games). But it also doesn't make sense as a consumer-facing name because 4K doesn't have the same mainstream resolution -- unless those gold \"4K\" tags I've seen on TVs at Costco have burned the term into peoples' minds already.\n\nRegardless, it looks like Sony isn't sitting on its sizeable lead this generation. Microsoft did it two years after the 360 release with the 360 Elite. Nintendo's done it with 3DS. Sony typically releases mid-generation iterations aiming towards smaller form factor (there are three kinds of PS3), but the PS4 is already fairly small and attractive. On the other hand, if Sony believes in VR more than all the other innovations it abandons, the beefier PS4 could help power the resource-intensive PlayStation VR to help it compete with Oculus's Rift and Steam's VR hat.\n\nAdditionally, aiming at the \"hardcore\" demographic (the kind that buys a 360 Elite on name alone) -- many of whom likely already own the fast-selling console -- could make for easy money just on upgrades (at a higher price point). That same audience might be impressed enough by potential 4K capabilities (and better graphics in general, more on-screen effects and whatnot) if online resolution obsession is any indication.\n\nI think the fear is that as seasonal gadget buying/upgrading becomes more commonplace with new, expensive cell phones seemingly every four months, gaming hardware, long prized for its \"just works\" simplicity and consistency, could go down the same route. After all, there has been talk of Xbox One hardware upgrades, as well.\n\nAt what point is it a problem for you? Almost a year in and only two New Nintendo 3DS games are actually exclusive to the upgraded hardware. If it firmly splits the release market, I'm assuming that's a problem (by \"forcing\" paying for the upgrade rather than leaving you the decision*), right? If it just means the two are optimized separately and one looks a bit nicer, but we're still all getting the same games, that's chill, yeah? I mean, I stayed with the ugly, grey original Nintendo DS design from launch. I'm not buying a more powerful PS4 for kicks. At which point this wouldn't be any different from any console generation, which usually sees new consoles that aren't strictly necessary, but an option for those who want them.\n\nBut if it does end up meaning I'd have to buy another, new console to play a game I want to play, I will grouse endlessly.\n\n*Of course this use of \"force\" is assuming you simply must play games, and as close to release and newness as possible"}
-{"text": "Im Streit um einen Kebab-Stand in Wiener Neustadt spricht der B\u00fcrgermeister nun ein Machtwort: \"Wer seit 20 Jahren hier lebt, kein Wort Deutsch kann, bekommt auch keinen Marktstand.\"\n\nEin Kebab-Betreiber in Wiener Neustadt muss seinen Landen dichtmachen. Diese Entscheidung traf der Marktstadtrat Udo Landbauer. Der FP\u00d6-Politiker verl\u00e4ngerte den Genehmigungsbescheid f\u00fcr den t\u00fcrkischen Standbetreiber Alihan Turgut nicht.\n\nLandbauer sagt: \u201eW\u00e4hrend einheimische Wirte zusperren m\u00fcssen, wachsen t\u00fcrkische Gesch\u00e4fte wie Schwammerl. Diesem Wildwuchs schiebe ich einen Riegel vor,\u201c berichtet die \u201eHeute\u201c.\n\nDer Bescheid lief am 31. Dezember 2016 ab.\n\nDie Gr\u00fcnen-Politikerin Tanja Windb\u00fcchler rief nun zum Protest. Auf der von ihr initiieren Kebap-Petition auf Facebook gibt es bereits 700 Unterst\u00fctzer: \u201eJemand, der elf Jahre ein Standl betreibt, muss zumindest einen Ersatzplatz bekommen\u201c, so Windb\u00fcchler.\n\nDie Politikerin forderte auch den B\u00fcrgermeister von Wiener Neustadt, Klaus Schneeberger, auf, ein Machtwort zu sprechen.\n\nKeine Parallelgesellschaft in Wiener Neustadt gew\u00fcnscht\n\nDoch dieser stellte sich hinter die Entscheidung des Marktstadtrats und sagte: \u201eWer seit 20 Jahren hier lebt, kein Wort Deutsch kann, bekommt auch keinen Marktstand. Ich stehe klar hinter der Entscheidung von Udo Landbauer,\u201c berichtet die \u201eHeute\u201c weiter.\n\nDies sei \u201egenau jene Parallelgesellschaft, die wir in Wiener Neustadt nicht brauchen und auf \u00f6ffentlichem Gut nicht wollen\u201c, betont der B\u00fcrgermeister.\n\nDoch es gibt noch einen Hoffnungsschimmer f\u00fcr den Kebab-Betreiber: \u201eWenn Herr Turgut allerdings einen alternativen Standort au\u00dferhalb der Innenstadt vorschl\u00e4gt, werden wir diesen sicher pr\u00fcfen\u201c, so Schneeberger. (so)"}
-{"text": "Airbus announced that they will be closing their Airbus factory in Tianjin, located in northeastern China, due to recently imposed travel bans due to the outbreak of 2019-nCoV, AKA \"Coronavirus\". Local travel between home and work has also been difficult in China, as people are urged to stay home as much as possible. To decrease the risk of employees becoming sick or spreading their sickness, Airbus is temporarily closing their factory.\n\nAnother reason for the closure is the location of the factory. Due to recently imposed travel bans, it is difficult to fly aircraft in and out of China. Airbus's Tianjin factory also serves as an A330 delivery center, where A330s are given their final touches, such as cabin installments and paint jobs.\n\nThe Airbus A320 pictured is the same type of aircraft that is being produced in Airbus's Tianjin factory. Credit: TheExplorerBlog | Arkin Si\n\nThis closure means that Airbus will not be able to fly their aircraft out to their customers, resulting in a loss of revenue. In addition to this, it will be difficult to work efficiently when understaffed - many people do not want to leave their homes. This loss of revenue can be curbed by closing the factory altogether and/or having employees work from home.\n\nAirbus's factory was projected to hit six aircraft per month by the end of 2019 and into early 2020. But, because of Chinese New Year and new health concerns such as the Coronavirus, it may be more difficult for Airbus to regain the pace they lost when idle."}
-{"text": "Not sure if email server is down or unsubscribing and filters are actually working\n\n100 shares"}
-{"text": "Brasileira tenta seduzir Cristiano Ronaldo para fazer algo \u2018imposs\u00edvel\u2019: traz\u00ea-lo para jogar no Gr\u00eamio Franciele Christ, no entanto, n\u00e3o quer repetir o que fizeram Dianta Satilho e Andressa Urach"}
-{"text": "Sometimes the key to innovation is staying simple. Italian tech company D-Orbit applied this principle to their winning product submitted to last year\u2019s Space Exploration Masters.\n\nThe competition encourages ideas to solve some of the space industry\u2019s main challenges while fostering products and services with commercial potential.\n\nIn the case of D-Orbit\u2019s Fenix propulsion system, the idea was both simple and small. The pen-sized booster prototype, is just 10 cm long and 2 cm wide \u2013 allowing small satellites to work smarter and explore farther.\n\nThe 10 x 10 x 10 cm CubeSats are deployed directly into orbit from space. They currently have no propulsion system to change orbit or deorbit at the end of their missions. With the FENIX, CubeSats could be employed for longer missions farther out in space.\n\nEach of the four boosters is packed with solid propellant that provides thrust which is triggered by a simple electrical ignition system. The boosters can be configured at each corner of the CubeSat or doubled up on either side. Thanks to their lightweight and compact size, they do not take up much instrument space.\n\nWith space exploration opening for business, technologies like Fenix have the potential to expand our horizons farther out in space. CubeSats can take on more sophisticated missions if they can manoeuvre in orbits \u2013 such as studying the Moon and asteroids from different angles.\n\nIn low Earth orbit, the boosters can deorbit the CubeSats at the end of their missions to help reduce space debris.\n\nD-Orbit won a four-month ticket to test their prototype on the newly-installed ICE Cubes facility in the Columbus module of the International Space Station. The team will test the booster\u2019s safe ignition mechanism inside an ICE cube experiment unit, without firing the actual propulsion system, to ensure that it works and is safe under space conditions.\n\nSensors and cameras will record the sparks, triggered by an electrical impulse, and the team can observe the testing anytime, anywhere, thanks to ICE Cubes dedicated control centre providing continuous remote access for users on ground. Fenix is set for launch to the Space Station by the end of next year.\n\nDo you have an idea with commercial potential that could innovate space exploration? Submit it to the Space Exploration Masters challenge.\n\nThis year ESA is partnering with the United Nations World Health Organisation to target health and food. Problem-solvers are invited to come up with ideas and applications that promote nutritious food and food security on- and off-planet. Other challenges include using resources in space to make missions more sustainable and new ways to use future spacecraft.\n\nDeadline for submissions is 31 July. Winners will be announced at the Space for Inspiration conference in Bilbao 29-31 October. More information and how to apply can be found here."}
-{"text": "Seton Hall at a crossroads over LGBT issues\n\nAs the Seton Hall men's basketball team recruits Derrick Gordon, a Plainfield native and UMass transfer who is the first openly gay Division I men's basketball player, a popular campus priest who ministered to Pirate sports teams says he was removed from his post for publicly supporting the \"NoH8\" campaign for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equality.\n\n\"I've been fired from SHU for posting a pic on FB supporting LGBT \"NO H8,\" Rev. Warren Hall tweeted Friday afternoon. \"I'm sorry it was met with this response. I'll miss my work here.\"\n\nHall was director of Seton Hall's campus ministry and a regular presence at the school's sporting events.\n\n\"He was a pillar of the Seton Hall community,\" said John Colantoni, a Class of 2011 graduate and a booster who maintains close ties with Pirate sports. \"It's definitely a sad day for Seton Hall. It's a big loss for everybody.\"\n\nAs an outcry ensued late Friday, Seton Hall made it abundantly clear that Rev. Hall's removal was the doing of the Archdiocese of Newark, not the university.\n\nIn responding to numerous tweets on the subject, the university's official twitter account, @SetonHall, replied with some variation of \"We understand how you feel; however, the Archdiocese of Newark appoints the director of Campus Ministry at Seton Hall.\"\n\nResponding to an inquiry on the subject, Seton Hall spokeswoman Laurie Pine emailed, \"Seton Hall University does not comment on personnel matters. The Archbishop of Newark appoints the Director of Campus Ministry, who serves at his discretion.\"\n\nArchdiocese spokesman Jim Goodness said in an email, \"We don't comment on priest assignment or other personnel decisions.\"\n\nSeton Hall is no stranger to controversy in this area. University administrators rejected student-led attempts to form a gay and lesbian organization on campus in both 1993 and 2003. In 2010 Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, who serves as president of Seton Hall's board of regents, publicly criticized the offering of an undergraduate seminar titled \"The Politics of Gay Marriage.\"\n\nThe removal of Rev. Hall really stings, Colantoni said, because \"he inspired us to be better in and out of the classroom. He allowed kids to feel comfortable. In his classroom you weren't afraid to share ideas.\"\n\nEven after he graduated, Colantoni said he would see Hall at Pirate sporting events and \"He always came over, remembered you, remembered your stories. He's a guy who truly made a difference in kids' lives.\"\n\nThe timing of Hall's removal could not be more ironic for Seton Hall, which is pursuing Gordon as a much-needed sixth man for next year's team. The 6-foot-3 guard, a former St. Patrick High School standout, is a rugged defender and hustle player who can guard various positions, get to the rim and impact games without having to take a ton of shots. This past season he started 32 contests and averaged 9.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists for the 17-15 Minutemen.\n\nLast spring Gordon made a huge splash by coming out on ESPN. He followed in the groundbreaking footsteps of college football standout Michael Sam and, before him, NBA veteran Jason Collins.\n\nIn announcing his intention to transfer from UMass, Gordon told ESPN.com and Outsport the decision \"has nothing to do with my sexuality.\"\n\nHis older brother, Mike Gordon, told Gannett New Jersey earlier this week that Derrick is planning to visit Seton Hall, possibly on Sunday.\n\nResponding to the scores of replies to his initial tweet, which has since been deleted, Rev. Hall tweeted, \"Grateful for all the support. Dont be angry!! Turn this into an opportunity for open/reasonable discussion on LGBT issues on a Cath Campus.\"\n\nStaff writer Jerry Carino: jcarino@gannettnj.com."}
-{"text": "May 16, 2017\n\nWhat is Aragon?\n\nAragon is a platform that allows anyone to create and participate in a DAO. In the founder\u2019s words, \u201cAragon was born to disintermediate the creation and maintenance of companies and other organizational structures.\u201d This is a radically ambitious goal. The typical intermediaries that are involved in the creation and maintenance of companies are the government, banks, and lawyers. As ambitious as this goal is, you can already see Aragon making significant progress towards it with their alpha software. The Aragon alpha already allows people to do all the basic things they need to run an organization including assigning shares and roles to members of the organization, managing bylaws, accounting for transactions, and voting on decisions. They are still running on a test network, so it will be some time before the first organizations start using Aragon for real, but they have a lot of organizations testing the software already.\n\nTomorrow, Aragon will hold a token sale to raise funds for the development of the Aragon Network and software. Token buyers will be able to exchange ETH for ANT, the Aragon token that enables buyers to participate in the governance of the Aragon Network.\n\nDisintermediating the Creation and Maintenance of Organizations\n\nHaving started an LLC in the past, I have felt the pain in the creation and maintenance of a legal company structure in the US, but I would not choose to sidestep this process for fear of the legal consequences. For that reason, I am already a little cautious in considering using their software, and when considering buying ANT. I am sold on the concept of a DAO, but in practice, I think the first generation of DAO\u2019s will have to tailor their smart contracts to adhere to local laws as well until the government is able to catch up and understand the concept. And I don\u2019t think this is an impossible task. As I mentioned in my last post, the JOBS Act lays a legal foundation for equity-based crowdfunding. As long as it is possible to create a DAO that adheres to these rules, then Aragon could be an immensely powerful tool to create an organization on the Blockchain. But at the very least, Aragon\u2019s software could still be used to create an operating agreement and cap table that is enforced by code and easily understandable without having to hire a lawyer. This alone makes the software exciting. Entrepreneurs could register their company as an LLC in whatever state they want and use Aragon to manage agreements among the founders and investors who they know personally. This type of use case doesn\u2019t quite live up to Aragon\u2019s vision, but it is still valuable while anonymous token crowd sales live in a legal gray area.\n\nThe Aragon Network, a Decentralized Court\n\nA unique and interesting feature of the Aragon platform is the idea of a decentralized court system that is able to settle disputes between organizations when agreements encoded in smart contracts aren\u2019t enough. I think this is one of the features of the Aragon platform that gives it the potential to become really powerful. On a FAQ on Youtube with the founders, they mentioned that someone wants to use Aragon to govern their private island. I can imagine Aragon or a system like Aragon being used as the foundation for new governments in the future that are created in new frontiers like Seasteads or Mars.\n\nFeatures of the App\n\nI don\u2019t want to waste too many words explaining the current features of the Alpha, because they have a page on their site that does this elegantly with animations. You can download and try their software directly as well.\n\nFounders\n\nThe founders seem to have credible backgrounds. Luis was a Forbes 30 under 30. Jorge has a Github profile and has clear technical skills with the development of the alpha.\n\nHow Do You Benefit from Holding an ANT Token?\n\nIt seems like there are three main benefits from holding ANT:\n\nThe ability to vote on how the Aragon Network operates The ability to participate as a judge/jury in the decentralized court The ability to receive dividends, if the Aragon Network decides to issue dividends\n\nOn Dividends\n\nThe whitepaper never explicitly mentions that ANT tokens could potentially pay dividends, and to me, this is a strange admission as it is a strong value proposition to holding the token. The network has a clear way to draw revenue through a fee that all Aragon organizations will pay. The whitepaper suggests that this tax could potentially be used to pay for the development of the network, but the foundation already receives 15% of the proceeds from the sale. My speculation as to why the founders avoid explicitly mentioning the possibility of dividends is that it considered best practice by Coinbase not to market a token sale as a potential investment:\n\nMarketing a token as a speculative investment, or drawing comparisons to existing investment processes, may mislead or confuse potential buyers. It may also increase the likelihood that the token is a security. Using a short, relevant disclaimer which accurately describes the risks of the tokens, protocols, and the network is useful. Long, legalistic disclaimers about the risks of investment are not helpful to buyers and may provide the impression that the token is an investment.\n\nUsing the word \u201cdividend\u201d or \u201cICO\u201d are discouraged for this reason, and I think this may be the reason why they avoid talking about the possibility of the Aragon Network issuing dividends to ANT holders even though it seems that it is technically possible, and even likely that she (in the whitepaper, the founders refer to DAOs as \u201cshe\u201d) will decide to do so.\n\nTerms of the Sale\n\nThe terms of the sale are somewhat complex and confusing, but seem fair in comparison to many other token sales. Some important points:\n\n70% of the tokens go to purchasers in the crowd sale, 15% go to founders and early contributors, and 15% goes to the foundation.\n\nFounders and early contributors\u2019 tokens have vesting.\n\nThere is a hidden cap to the crowd sale. I listened to the founders explain how this works and why they are doing it, but cannot honestly say I understood much of their explanation.\n\nThere are lots of security measures built in with the intentions of protecting everyone involved in the sale. It\u2019s important to note that the Aragon project is so complex that these security measures by no means guarantee the safety of the sale. There are a lot of smart contracts involved, and a lot of money will likely be at stake, but it is good to see them taking common-sense measures like code audits, and bug bounties.\n\nThe ANT token is a MiniMe token, which enables it to be forked. I understood this to mean that the token can be forked in the sense of creating a new token with different logic, but the same equity distribution.\n\nANT sale begins on Ethereum mainnet\u2019s block 3,723,000 \u2014 May 17, ~3 pm GMT\n\nRead more at: https://aragon.network/\n\nhttps://blog.aragon.one/aragon-network-token-sale-terms-8998f63a3429"}
-{"text": "MoviePass\n\nMoviePass subscribers trying to cancel should keep an eye on their credit card bill.\n\nMany MoviePass subscribers are reporting on social media that their cancellation attempts aren't working, and have even resulted in getting an additional, unwanted credit card charge.\n\nI canceled my MoviePass subscription last week when they ran out of money. Today I got an email that I had automatically been resubscribed when they changed the plan. I had to cancel AGAIN. I foresee many chargebacks. pic.twitter.com/hhNNQmXQjG \u2014 \ud835\udc11\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc20\ud835\udc2e\ud835\udc25\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2b-\ud835\udc12\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc33\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc1d \ud835\udc09\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc20\ud835\udc1e (@motoridersd) August 14, 2018\n\nI cancelled my Moviepass this morning & tonight I get an email claiming that I \u201caccepted\u201d a new deal and my cancellation has been overwritten. Then I go to cancel my subscription again I keep getting an error message... @MoviePass this is shady and unacceptable. #moviepassfraud \u2014 Ryan Stranieri (@Cheesyry) August 14, 2018\n\nMoviePass issued the following statement Tuesday calling the cancellation issues a bug that has since been fixed, and denies claims that the app itself is holding customers back from leaving the service.\n\n\"On Monday, August 13th, we learned that some members encountered difficulty with the cancellation process. We have fixed the bugs that were causing the issue and we have confirmed that none of our members have been opted-in or converted to the new plan without their express permission. In addition, all cancellation requests are being correctly processed and no members were being blocked from canceling their accounts. We apologize for the inconvenience and ask that any impacted members contact customer support via the MoviePass app.\"\n\nFurther confusing the matter, the subscription service told customers Monday that anyone who agreed to the company's new three-movies-a-month plan might not be able to cancel.\n\n\"Please note: if you had previously requested cancellation prior to opting-in, your opt-in to the new plan will take priority and your account will not be canceled,\" MoviePass told subscribers Monday.\n\nMoviePass said Tuesday afternoon that customers who do not respond to the in-app prompt will not be rolled over into the new plan.\n\n\"Those who have not already done so will continue to have the choice of either opting in or canceling their membership over the course of the coming weeks. Monthly subscriptions will automatically expire for members that do not respond by the end of their billing cycle,\" MoviePass said.\n\nThis appears to mean a MoviePass subscriber who canceled their membership and then hit the \"I agree\" button when prompted about the service's upcoming plan change will remain subscribed.\n\nI personally did this the other way around -- at first agreeing to the service change but then deciding to cancel -- but received the same email from the service. So I have no idea if I truly canceled my membership. I'll find out soon, I suppose.\n\nMoviePass will begin moving subscribers to the company's new plan starting Wednesday, which for $10 a month allows subscribers to see three movies a month at movie theaters. This is down from the plan's previous one-movie-a-day policy; however, the service's peak pricing and ticket verification features are being suspended. Customers planning to see more than three movies per month will receive a $2 to $5 discount off tickets using MoviePass, with the company saying the discount will vary based on geography and movie title.\n\nNow playing: Watch this: MoviePass manages to get more expensive and less useful\n\nMoviePass has constantly changed throughout its existence, even briefly planning to raise prices to $15 per month, which it quickly scuttled in favor of the current plan that starts on Wednesday. Over the past few days, subscribers have seen substantially fewer showtimes available within the app, at times only having two or three movies available to see, if any at all. MoviePass has been actively telling subscribers that if a showtime isn't available, that they should not be asking the service for ticket reimbursements.\n\nAll the while, competitors to MoviePass such as Sinemia, AMC A-List, Movie Club and an upcoming entry from Alamo Drafthouse are also looking to compete for customers using the subscription model that MoviePass popularized.\n\nFirst publilshed Aug. 14 at 9:33 a.m. PT.\n\nUpdate at 12:02 p.m. PT: Adds comment from MoviePass."}
-{"text": "Update 2: the death toll has risen to 16, including 9 hospital staffers and 3 children.\n\nUPDATE: At least 16 people died- nine MSF staff, 7 patients from Intensive care unit, among them three children http://t.co/5puRbAlgXS \u2014 Doctors w/o Borders (@MSF_USA) October 3, 2015\n\nUpdate: and now the UN is getting involved, which means the US will have to spend even more taxpayer funds on bribes to make the \"international community\" forget this collateral damage incident and refocus on evil Russia.\n\n#BREAKING: Kunduz air strikes 'inexcusable', 'possibly criminal': UN rights chief \u2014 Agence France-Presse (@AFP) October 3, 2015\n\n* * *\n\nJust when you thought it couldn't get any worse for US foreign policy, or for the credibility of the US state department to slide further, it got much worse.\n\nLess than a day after US ambassador to the UN, uber-warhawk Samantha Power informed Russia of the latest US foreign policy stance by tweeter, when she called \"on Russia to immediately cease attacks on Syrian oppo[sition and] civilians\" in the latest desperate attempt to halt the Russian campaign against US-created ISIS which may wipe out the terrorist threat in just a few short days, it was the US itself which admitted that early on Saturday the US airforce bombed an Afghan hospital run by the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors without Borders, in the Afghan city of Kunduz in an air strike that killed at least nine people and wounded 37.\n\nIt is w/ deep sadness that we confirm so far the death of 9 @MSF staff from bombing last night of MSF\u2019s hospital in Kunduz. 37 Wounded. \u2014 Jason Cone (@jtcone1977) October 3, 2015\n\nAs the Executive Director, of Doctors without Borders Jason Cone tweeted, \"all parties 2 conflict, including in Kabul & Washington, were clearly informed of precise GPS Coordinates of @MSF facilities in Kunduz\" and that the \"precise location of @MSF Kunduz hospital communicated to all parties on multiple occasions over past months, including on 9/29.\"\n\nIn other words, this morning's US bombing was nothing more than another example of the utter incompetence, carelessness and disregard for innocent civilian lives that has become a staple hallmark of US foreign policy, something we have already witnessed repeatedly in the past 6 years as a result of the thousands of innocent people dead as part of US drone attacks, also known as \"collateral damage.\"\n\nThe attack, which started at 2:15am local time, took place when almost 200 patients and employees were in the hospital, the only one in the region that can deal with major injuries, Medecins Sans Frontieres said.\n\nThe aftermath of the US bombing:\n\nAt the aid group's bombed-out hospital, one wall of a building had collapsed, scattering fragments of glass and wooden door frames, and three rooms were ablaze, said Saad Mukhtar, director of public health in Kunduz.\n\nA video of the aftermath was also released moments ago:\n\n\"Thick black smoke could be seen rising from some of the rooms,\" Mukhtar said after a visit to the hospital. \"The fighting is still going on, so we had to leave.\"\n\n\"We are deeply shocked by the attack, the killing of our staff and patients and the heavy toll it has inflicted on healthcare in Kunduz,\" the aid group's operations director, Bart Janssens, said in a statement.\n\n\"I could hear sounds of heavy gunfire, explosions and airplanes throughout the night,\" said Khodaidad, who has only one name. \"There were several huge explosions and it sounded like the roof was falling on me.\"\n\n\n\nAs expected, Doctors without Borders was furious after the attack:\n\n1/ MSF condemns in the strongest possible terms the horrific bombing of its hospital in Kunduz full of staff and patients. \u2014 Jason Cone (@jtcone1977) October 3, 2015\n\nWorse, as Cone adds, the US bombing raid \"continued for >30 minutes after American & Afghan military officials in Kabul & Washington first informed of proximity to hospital.\" Not only was the US bombardment uncalled for, but it continued long after supervisors were made aware they should call it off.\n\nPerhaps the only thing the US military got right was admitting it was responsible for this latest murder of innocent civilians, when it issued a statement acknowledging that it carried out airstrikes, claimed they were conducted \"against individuals threatening the force,\" and conceded that \"the strike may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility.\"\n\nOh well, oops?\n\nMeanwhile the drama at the hospital continues:\n\nMany @MSF patients & staff remain unaccounted for. #s keep + as we develop clearer picture of the aftermath of horrific bombing in Kunduz. \u2014 Jason Cone (@jtcone1977) October 3, 2015\n\nWhile the US tried to justify its latest murder of innocents by supposedly engaging the Taliban, a spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said U.S. air strikes targeted the hospital, killing killed patients, doctors and nurses adding that \"no militant fighter was a patient\" the group said. The U.S. military has unleashed twelve air strikes this week in support of government forces in the city. Most airstrikes hit targets on the city's outskirts and the overnight strike was only the second in a central area, the military said.\n\nMSF said it had treated almost 400 patients in the 150-bed hospital since fighting broke out, most for gunshot wounds. So many patients have flooded in that the hospital has had to put them in offices and on mattresses on the floor. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was \"deeply shocked\" by the incident. \"This is an appalling tragedy,\" said Jean-Nicolas Marti, head of the ICRC in Afghanistan. \"Such attacks undermine the capacity of humanitarian organizations to assist the Afghan people at a time when they most urgently need it.\"\n\nAs Glenn Greenwald points out, \"it\u2019s impossible to fathom what the U.S. media would be saying and doing if Russia did something like this in Syria. By contrast, the reaction to this airstrike by their own government will be muted and filled with apologia, ironically quite similar to the widely vilified caricature of Jeb Bush\u2019s comments about the Oregon shooting spree: stuff happens.\"\n\nIt's quite possible to \"fathom\" what the \"objective\" US media's reaction to this horrific tragedy will be: utter silence. Which, however will not be the reaction from the rest of the world, which with every passing day realizes that when it comes to Pax American, the only this that matters for the Obama administration is appeasing his generous backers from the US military industrial complex which just happen to arm all sides in the conflict. That and the banks who provide the loans, of course.\n\nHowever, when it comes to the now four-year-long attempt by the US to pass a Qatar gas pipeline under Syria, even if it means crushing the nation, destroying its economy, and unleashing the worst refugee wave in European history, one thing is clear: the US has just lost any US credibility when it comes to criticizing Putin's or anyone else's \"attacks on civilians.\""}
-{"text": "As a working dad of 2 toddlers These 10 minutes belong to me and me alone\n\n1,064 shares"}
-{"text": "RIGA, Latvia \u2014 Hans Madsen really stood out in the crowd on Sunday morning, and not just because there were only about 50 spectators for the early draw on the third day of the women\u2019s world curling championship.\n\nWhat set the 62-year-old resident of Yorkton, Sask., apart was his jacket: bright red and bearing maple leaf logos and \u201cCanada\u201d across the back.\n\nThe Canadian curling team of Ottawa\u2019s Rachel Homan, Emma Miskew, Alison Kreviazuk and Lisa Weagle were nowhere to be seen, though. What, a member of the United States team wondered, were Madsen and his wife, Judy, doing there?\n\n\u201cYeah, but all the girls are curling, and they put on a good show,\u201d Madsen said after watching the U.S. lose 6-5 to Germany and his native Denmark fall 6-4 against Japan.\n\nThe Madsens were in Kingston, Ont., to watch as Homan and her teammates won the Scotties Tournament of Hearts national championship in February. Last year, they attended the Scotties at Red Deer, Alta., and the world championship in nearby Lethbridge. A year earlier, they made the short haul from Yorkton to Regina for the nationals and then the long haul to Esbjerg, Denmark.\n\nThey\u2019re already making travel plans for next year\u2019s nationals at Montreal and the worlds at Saint John, N.B.\n\nThat led to an interesting mix of emotions. His mother and older brother are Norwegian, so Madsen, who moved to Canada in 1957, had to deal with the Norway-Canada, Norway-Denmark and Denmark-Canada matchups.\n\nBack to the get-ups, though.\n\nBesides the Canada jacket, Madsen was wearing a Denmark hat as he and his wife sat beside the fathers of Danish skip Lene Nielsen and second Jeanne Ellegaard on Sunday.\n\n\u201cI have some tinsel for this afternoon,\u201d he said, referring the \u201cheadgear\u201d he would feature for the Canada-Latvia game. \u201cThen, maybe at the beginning of the week, I think it\u2019s time to change the (beard) colours.\u201d\n\nMadsen is semi-retired, working for a Saskatchewan utility contractor \u201cin between the curling. Some things take precedence.\u201d\n\nGerman skip on two wheels\n\nGerman skip Andrea Schopp won the first of her two world titles in 1988, before many of the curlers in this year\u2019s championship had been born.\n\nHow does she stay up with those \u201ckids?\u201d Maybe it\u2019s because the 48-year-old German appears to be the only woman who has the drive to get herself to games at the Volvo Sports Center.\n\nSchopp has a bicycle that she rides between the host hotel and the arena, a distance that requires a 10-minute trip for those in their own vehicles or riding on buses provided by the host organizing committee.\n\nBudget-minded plans\n\nThe Canada-Latvia game on Sunday afternoon attracted by far the largest crowd of the first four draws of the tournament.\n\nEven so, spectators filled about half of the 1,000 seats in the arena.\n\nHowever, Roberts Birznieks, a member of the Riga organizing committee, said ticket-sale expectations for the week had already been met based on the crowds for the host Latvians\u2019 first two games.\n\ngholder@ottawacitizen.com\n\nTwitter.com/HolderGord"}
-{"text": "Earlier this year, we stumbled upon a few episodes of David Barton\u2019s \u201cBuilding on the American Heritage Series\u201d that had been posted on the TBN website. Today, while searching for something else, we noticed that several other episodes from that same series had also been posted and so we are working our way through them.\n\nNear the end of the episode entitled \u201cPolitics In The Pulpit,\u201d Barton made a point that the purpose of the church is not to create harmony or unity among the congregants but to preach the word of God\u2019s and support God\u2019s laws.\n\nAs such, Barton cited 1 Timothy 1:8-10 in order to declare that the purpose of the law is to punish ungodly and sinful (like gays) regardless of what the Supreme Court rules.\n\nWatch:\n\nBarton, an evangelical Christian minister, conservative activist, and author, is the founder of WallBuilders, a Texas-based organization which advocates the view that U.S. constitutional separation of church and state is a myth."}
-{"text": "Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press\n\nThe Mega Millions lottery last month with its whopping $656 million prize captured the intense interest of Americans across the country. Estimates suggest that as many as 100 million people participated. No matter that the odds of winning the jackpot were known to be much less than being struck by lightning twice. Investing a few bucks (or in the case of Washington Wizards forward Chris Singleton, ten thousand) for the chance to become a centa-millionaire was irresistible for nearly half of the adult population of the country.\n\nThe overwhelming success of the Mega Millions enterprise makes it an irresistible target for something more \u2014 a way to transform American elections and along the way reduce our deep political dysfunction. Our take-no-prisoners tribal politics have at root the reality that the two parties\u2019 narrow ideological bases have far more influence on the selection of candidates, the positions taken by the candidates and the pressures placed on elected officials than the rest of the population. With turnout in presidential elections hovering between 50 and 60 percent, 30 to 40 percent for mid-term congressional contests, and sometimes 10 to 20 percent for primaries, it is the bases who rule.\n\nAt the same time, political consultants focus the bulk of their energies on a two-prong strategy for driving the base voters one way or the other \u2014 both making sure that your party\u2019s base is energized and that the other party\u2019s base is depressed. The obvious fallout is that the issues that dominate are the ones that excite or infuriate the bases \u2014 abortion, same-sex marriage, guns, immigration\u2014 and the language used to whip up the bases is harsh and extreme. All this does even more to turn off voters in the middle.\n\nWho Votes? A series about the complexities of voters and voting.\n\nOther countries like Australia have ameliorated this dynamic by implementing mandatory attendance at the polls \u2014 Down Under, if one does not show up, even to cast a ballot for \u201cnone of the above,\u201d a fine of roughly $15 is imposed. The result has been turnout of 90 percent or more. High turnout is nice in and of itself. But Australian politicians of all stripes say that the main impact has been to turn the campaign, the issues and the discourse away from the extremes and toward the persuadable voters in the middle.\n\nAfter all, the pols know that both party bases will be there, with predictable results \u2014 and that what they need to do is persuade the persuadables. This means a sharper focus on the big issues that concern them and the country, from budgets to energy and climate change to education and jobs, and more moderate rhetoric, since fiery words will turn away moderate voters.\n\nI would love to implement the Australian model in America, but I recognize that mandatory voting \u2014 actually, mandatory anything \u2014 is a hard sell in this country. So here is another idea: a series of Mega Millions-like lotteries for primary and general elections, with awards that can range up to the hundreds of millions for a big general election \u2014 where your lottery ticket is your voting stub. It is a reasonable guess, given what we have seen with big lotteries in the states, that a billion dollars for all federal primary and general elections in a cycle (a small sum to enhance democracy and reduce dysfunction) would, by providing a very powerful incentive to get Americans registered and to actually turn up at the polls, result in a robust increase in turnout, perhaps to as much as 75 or 80 percent. The idea could be applied in states and localities with smaller prizes and not simply using public money; perhaps auto dealers could donate cars, for example.\n\nAnother way to implement the plan would be to use a state\u2019s voter registration rolls and pick five names at random as winners \u2014 with the names announced after the election, but the prizes given only to those who actually voted. All it would take to send a powerful message to other non-voters is one example in an election where an individual was picked but lost a Corvette or $100,000 because he or she did not vote.\n\nWill Lester/The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, via Associated Press\n\nTo be sure, the basic concept is not new. In 2006, a doctor named Mark Osterloh managed to get a proposition on the Arizona ballot to offer a $1 million prize for a voter in the state\u2019s upcoming primary or general election (those who voted in both would have two tickets, or chances at the prize) with the lottery winnings coming from unclaimed rewards left in the state\u2019s own lottery pool. The initiative was widely panned as tawdry, or as dangerous for encouraging uninformed citizens to cast uninformed votes, or as aiming at increasing turnout for no good reason beyond having a higher turnout. It failed.\n\nSix years later, after still more dysfunction and acrimony, those objections are much less resonant. The idea of encouraging voting to provide more muscle for the broad center of America should be more appealing; the counterargument that we should not be bribing people to vote, less so. The experience of countries like Australia shows that there is no real downside to having near-universal turnout. And the idea of using a carrot to enhance turnout and depress the role of ideological extremists, instead of a stick like a fine for not showing up at the polls, may be more attractive now than it was in 2006. Enhanced voting in primaries, for example, would probably lead over time to fewer bomb-throwers and more problem solvers in state legislatures and in Congress.\n\nThe best way to implement this idea is to provide some empirical tests. It would be nice if, say, Mayor Bloomberg\u2019s foundation kicked in $10 million as a prize for the next New York City election in 2013 to see what impact that had on turnout in New York. Or perhaps a small state or a city could try its own version of a vote lottery, using a combination of public and private funds. If people are willing to stand in line for hours to get a precious Mega Millions ticket, it is reasonable to assume that they would take the steps necessary to vote to have a chance at the same dream. Plenty of Americans go the extra mile, sometimes literally, to cast their vote. But lots of others do not. Adding an incentive to bring more of the latter to the polls would enhance democracy, not trivialize it.\n\nNorman Ornstein is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. His new book on America\u2019s political dysfunction, \u201cIt\u2019s Even Worse Than It Looks,\u201d written with Tom Mann of the Brookings Institution, will be published next week."}
-{"text": "Not familiar with the Calgary Expo? The Canadian-based convention is one of the largest in the whole of North America and is a joyous celebration of all things pop culture. From comic books, to movies and video games, the expo has got you covered in this 4-day geekdom bonanza.\n\nSir Patrick Stewart\n\nAccolades include reuniting the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast for the show\u2019s 25th anniversary and is always crammed packed with other exciting guests.\n\nThis year\u2019s April 28th - May 1st show included the likes of the legendary Stan Lee, as well as celebrity-tier voice actor Nolan North, whose works include Assassin\u2019s Creed, Uncharted, Batman: Arkham City and Prince of Persia.\n\nAlongside the special events are all of the cool things you\u2019ll be able to find on the show floor, which is full of exhibitors from the likes of artists and developers demoing their stuff. However, not all of these will be invited back next year.\n\nTwitter user Jeremy Williamson hosted a table with a Christianity theme. Following the show he received an email that explained they will not be welcome back, as Calgary Expo will not be allowing any religious or political viewpoints.\n\nThe scope of this can be seen in Calgary Expo\u2019s policy page, which rules:\n\nAll exhibits must be in good taste and be family friendly and non-discriminatory in nature, keeping in the theme and nature of the event. All exhibits must further be non-associative or must not promote any specific religious or political doctrine. Final determination of what shall qualify shall be made by the Exhibitor Manager and Operations Manager of the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo All exhibitors are subject to continued assessment throughout the event.\n\nIt\u2019s interesting how they have also targeted political viewpoints yet, according to Jeremy Williamson, will be allowing tables that promote feminism.\n\nThis news follows last year\u2019s incident in which the group Honey Badger Brigade, self-titled \u201cmen\u2019s issues advocates and defenders of creator\u2019s rights\u201d, raised more than $9000 to attend the event and stand up to censorship.\n\nThis led to them being booted from the show and all future conventions due to, as Calgary Expo explains, not falling in line with providing a \u201cpositive and safe event for everyone\u201d.\n\nIt\u2019s again interesting how last year, despite their actions, Calgary Expo was carefully preaching the concept of free speech but has made this decision to ban religion and politics."}
-{"text": "In light of the current COVID-19 outbreak, the University of Waterloo has decided to CANCEL March Break Open House on March 21, 2020.\n\nThis decision was made in consultation with university leadership and public health officials in order to best protect our guests and the many staff and volunteers who support this event.\n\nWant to learn more about Waterloo?\n\nQuestions?\n\nContact us at askus@uwaterloo.ca or 519-888-4567, ext. 43614."}
-{"text": "Les policiers du Service de police de la Ville de Montr\u00e9al sont rapidement intervenus en d\u00e9but de soir\u00e9e vendredi, interpellant des dizaines de personnes qui prenaient part au rassemblement visant \u00e0 souligner le premier anniversaire de la grande manifestation contre la hausse des droits de scolarit\u00e9 du gouvernement Charest, tenue le 22 mars 2012.\n\nSelon le sergent Jean-Bruno Latour, porte-parole du SPVM, deux groupes de manifestants, totalisant entre 50 et 100 personnes, ont \u00e9t\u00e9 interpell\u00e9s pour avoir enfreint le r\u00e8glement municipal P-6, notamment en circulant dans la rue en sens inverse de la circulation.Ces premi\u00e8res arrestations, selon le sergent Latour, ont \u00e9t\u00e9 effectu\u00e9es vers 18 h 30 au coin des rues Maisonneuve et Saint-Andr\u00e9 ainsi que Maisonneuve et Labrecque, soit \u00e0 peine dix minutes apr\u00e8s le d\u00e9but de la marche.Le sergent Latour a aussi confirm\u00e9 que des journalistes en devoir faisaient partie des deux groupes de gens ayant \u00e9t\u00e9 interpell\u00e9s par les autorit\u00e9s polici\u00e8res.La manifestation, qui r\u00e9unissait quelques centaines de personnes, avait par ailleurs \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9clar\u00e9e ill\u00e9gale avant m\u00eame qu'elle ne se mette en marche, parce que les participants avaient n\u00e9glig\u00e9 de remettre leur itin\u00e9raire aux autorit\u00e9s polici\u00e8res, a \u00e9galement pr\u00e9cis\u00e9 le sergent Latour.Le point de rendez-vous de cette manifestation \u00e9tait le parc \u00c9milie-Gamelin, \u00e0 18 h, et peu apr\u00e8s 19 h, elle \u00e9tait termin\u00e9e. Le sergent Latour ne rapportait aucun acte criminel ni geste de violence. \u00c0 20 h, vendredi, le bilan complet de l'intervention polici\u00e8re n'\u00e9tait toujours pas disponible.Cette intervention polici\u00e8re a par ailleurs fait r\u00e9agir l'Association facultaire des \u00e9tudiants en science politique et droit (AFESPED) de l'Universit\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al. Dans un communiqu\u00e9, celle-ci a d\u00e9nonc\u00e9 ce qu'elle qualifie de \u00abtechniques d'intimidation employ\u00e9es par le SPVM et par d'autres corps policiers du Qu\u00e9bec\u00bb.\u00abIl est inacceptable que le SPVM proc\u00e8de \u00e0 des manoeuvres de dispersion avant m\u00eame qu'une manifestation soit mise en marche. Lors des trois derni\u00e8res manifestations \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al, nous recensons pr\u00e8s d'un demi-millier d'arrestations alors qu'aucun m\u00e9fait ne fut commis. Il s'agit d'une grave d\u00e9rive autoritaire et d'une atteinte impardonnable \u00e0 nos libert\u00e9s individuelles et collectives\u00bb, a d\u00e9clar\u00e9 l'Association.\u00abLa pr\u00e9sence syst\u00e9matique de l'unit\u00e9 urbaine, de la cavalerie, les tactiques d'arrestation massives et l'utilisation d'un arsenal de dispersion dangereux lors d'actions de protestation politique porte un grave pr\u00e9judice au droit de manifestation ainsi qu'au dialogue d\u00e9mocratique au sein de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 qu\u00e9b\u00e9coise.\u00bbSans entrer dans les d\u00e9tails de la strat\u00e9gie polici\u00e8re, le sergent Latour a laiss\u00e9 sous-entendre que le SPVM comptait faire appliquer le r\u00e8glement P-6 de fa\u00e7on rigoureuse.\u00abLe droit \u00e0 la libert\u00e9 d'expression existe et les gens ont le droit de manifester. Mais toute manifestation doit se faire dans l'ordre, dans le respect de tous les citoyens\u00bb, a d\u00e9clar\u00e9 le sergent Latour \u00e0 La Presse canadienne.Plusieurs dizaines de milliers de personnes avaient particip\u00e9 \u00e0 la premi\u00e8re grande manifestation, \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al l'an dernier, et des marches de protestation similaires s'\u00e9taient tenues tous les 22 du mois par la suite, jusqu'\u00e0 l'\u00e9lection du gouvernement Marois, le 4 septembre.L'ASS\u00c9, qui s'\u00e9tait alors transform\u00e9e en une coalition appel\u00e9e la CLASSE, estime aujourd'hui que les p\u00e9quistes ont \u00abtroqu\u00e9 le carr\u00e9 rouge pour les habits du gouvernement pr\u00e9c\u00e9dent\u00bb.La coporte-parole de l'ASS\u00c9, Blandine Parchemal, r\u00e9it\u00e8re l'opposition de son regroupement \u00e9tudiant \u00e0 toute augmentation des frais de scolarit\u00e9 et exige la gratuit\u00e9 scolaire.Selon elle, la hausse \u00abimpos\u00e9e\u00bb au Sommet sur l'enseignement sup\u00e9rieur du gouvernement Marois v\u00e9hicule une conception purement \u00e9conomique de l'\u00e9ducation.Mme Parchemal croit que le combat amorc\u00e9 le printemps dernier doit reprendre. Une journ\u00e9e d'action se tenait vendredi dans plusieurs campus qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois et devait culminer par une manifestation en soir\u00e9e, \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al.La F\u00e9d\u00e9ration \u00e9tudiante universitaire du Qu\u00e9bec (FEUQ) et la F\u00e9d\u00e9ration \u00e9tudiante coll\u00e9giale du Qu\u00e9bec (FECQ) n'ont pas particip\u00e9 \u00e0 cette journ\u00e9e de comm\u00e9moration."}
-{"text": "For that, Trump has a response.\n\nAD\n\n\u201cNow the do-nothing Democrat con artists and scammers are getting desperate,\u201d Trump said in Minneapolis. \u201cThirteen months, they got to move fast because they're not beating us at the polls and they know it despite the phony, despite the phony polls that you see all the time. They have phony polls, you know, polls are no different. Remember, I always used to talk about polls. I know polls very well. Polls are no different from crooked writers. They're crooked polls, crooked polls \u2014 no different.\u201d\n\nAD\n\nTrump did use to talk about polls a lot \u2014 back when they showed him winning the Republican primary by a wide margin. Here is a sample tweet:\n\nSince he took office, though, the polls have been fairly grim. He\u2019s resorted to repeatedly lifting up outlier polls from consistently Trump-friendly pollsters that show him hovering around 50 percent approval. On more than a dozen occasions, for example, Trump has highlighted a poll from Rasmussen Reports showing his approval at or over 50 percent.\n\nTrump's line about polls being like reporting is accurate in one sense: If he doesn't like what it says, he dismisses it as fake \u2014 even when it's obviously not.\n\nAD\n\nPolling is, of course, a statistical endeavor, in which pollsters collect information and weight it to accurately represent the population being polled. There\u2019s subjectivity involved in determining what that weighting looks like, who\u2019s polled, and what\u2019s asked but it\u2019s largely math \u2014 with a long track record of accuracy.\n\nAD\n\nIn recent days, Trump\u2019s frustration about polling has been focused not on his approval rating or his chances in 2020 but on impeachment. When Fox News\u2019s pollsters last week announced that 51 percent of respondents believed Trump should be both impeached and removed from office, Trump turned against his favorite cable news network.\n\n\u201cFrom the day I announced I was running for President, I have NEVER had a good Fox News Poll,\u201d he tweeted on the day the poll came out. \u201cWhoever their Pollster is, they suck.\u201d\n\nAD\n\nAs is often the case, Trump was joined in his efforts to brush away bad news by allies and the conservative media ecosystem. In short order, Trump defenders started digging into the Fox poll, raising various specious questions about how it was conducted and who was targeted.\n\nThere emerged during the 2012 presidential race a concept called \u201cunskewing,\u201d in which polls that showed President Barack Obama leading Republican nominee Mitt Romney were adjusted by third parties to (in their estimation) better reflect the electorate. Those unskewed polls generally showed Romney winning, though, as history books can confirm, Romney did not win.\n\nAD\n\nThe New York Post decided to unskew the Fox News poll.\n\nAD\n\n\u201cPrinceton, New Jersey, pollster Braun Research, which conducted the survey, noted 48% of its respondents were Democrats,\u201d the tabloid\u2019s Mary Kay Linge wrote on Friday. \u201cBut the actual breakdown of party affiliation is 31% Democrat, 29% Republican and 38% independent, according to Gallup.\u201d\n\nThe \u201creal\u201d values? \u201cA poll weighted for party affiliation would have concluded that 44.9% favored impeachment and 44.4% opposed it,\u201d Linge wrote, pointing to \u201cPost analysis.\u201d\n\nThere are all sorts of misleading aspects of that \u201canalysis,\u201d including the use of tenths of a percent to make the results appear more statistically accurate. Doesn\u2019t 44.9 percent look more precise than Fox News\u2019s original 51 percent value? Well, it isn\u2019t.\n\nAD\n\nAmong the many reasons? The assumption about what Gallup shows is itself wrong. Yes, Gallup\u2019s most recent polling shows the party breakdown above. But most independents typically vote with one party or the other. Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents make up 49 percent of the population \u2014 about where the Fox News poll had them. There are a range of other problems with reweighting solely on party and without access to the original numbers, but we think we\u2019ve made our point.\n\nAD\n\nTrump, of course, loved the Post article. On Monday afternoon, he used it to try to debunk a New York Times article that referenced the Fox News result.\n\nShortly afterward, his 2020 campaign decided to try to fundraise on the idea that the polls were out to get the president. It highlighted a Drudge Report headline about the Fox poll.\n\n\u201cThe FAKE POLLS are at it again,\u201d an email from the campaign read. \u201cThe same people who GUARANTEED that Crooked Hillary would win in 2016 are once again saying that the American people have turned against me.\u201d\n\nAD\n\n(An amusing footnote to the email from the Trump campaign that was sent to my personal email? The line reading, \u201cI\u2019m much more interested in what Philip from New York thinks, than what Fake News Outlets think.\u201d Why not both?)\n\nI\u2019m not sure that Fox News ever \u201cguaranteed\u201d Clinton would win in 2016, and, in fact, I seem to recall something quite different from that. But Fox News \u2014 like most pollsters \u2014 did predict Clinton had a national lead over Trump. Which, of course, she did, winning nearly 3 million more votes than Trump. (What did polling get wrong? Some state polls were off the mark on their models of who would turn out, giving Clinton an edge in states that she went on to lose, throwing off electoral vote calculations.)\n\nAD\n\nAgain, all of this is very much in keeping with Trump\u2019s strategy from day one. Anything negative is contrived, fake and emanating from an untrustworthy source, even if that source has been celebrated as reliable by Trump in the past, and even if the information provided is ultimately proved to be accurate. Trump lives in a very narrow window of time, a bell curve of existence in which yesterday and tomorrow quickly vanish from view in favor of the now. As long as he keeps his supporters living in that same moment, the immediate worldview he offers them is sustainable. It\u2019s an existence that relies on the assumption that everyone is biased and fickle, which is in itself probably revealing.\n\nAD\n\nBut, as the saying goes, the truth will out. And on Tuesday morning, it did, in the form of a new poll from Scott Rasmussen, formerly of Rasmussen Reports. According to Rasmussen, fully 50 percent of the country supports impeaching and removing Trump from office. That\u2019s higher than the percentage of voters who approve of Trump\u2019s job as president in the estimation of Rasmussen\u2019s old firm.\n\nNo doubt the New York Post\u2019s crack team of statisticians is already digging into the party breakdowns."}
-{"text": "Delhi-based publisher Navyana to cancel agreement for release of the English translation of Mr. D\u2019Cruz\u2019s Aazhi Soozh Ulagu\n\nNarendra Modi could be the Prime Minister-in-waiting for many. But overt support to him has scuttled the release of the Sahitya Akademi winner Joe D\u2019Cruz\u2019s Tamil book translated into English.\n\nThe Delhi-based publisher Navayana has decided to cancel the agreement for release of the English translation of Mr. D\u2019Cruz\u2019s first Tamil novel Aazhi Soozh Ulagu ( Ocean Ringed World) in the wake of his recent political stand on Mr. Modi.\n\n\u201cIt is a clear case of crass intellectual dishonesty and blackmail. It is the publisher who came forward to translate the work and signed the agreement. The translation is over and the book is ready for release. Now they have sent me an e-mail, saying that they could not release it because of my political stand. Why should one assume that I am a Leftist because I am writing about the poor?\u201d\n\nMr. D\u2019Cruz told The Hindu. The translation was done by V. Geetha, feminist writer, and due for release later this year.\n\nThe writer, who caught the attention of the Tamil literary world through his authentic depiction of the life of fishermen in the coastal belt of Gulf of Mannar, said his support for Mr. Modi stemmed from the realisation that the Gujarat model of development and a strong leadership offered by Mr. Modi could ameliorate the living conditions of the people in the lower rungs of society.\n\n\u201cIt is not a decision taken overnight. My work takes me to all States in the country and I have been visiting Gujarat for the last 12 years and have had first-hand experience of witnessing the development,\u201d said Mr. D\u2019Cruz, whose second novel Korkai, tracing the history of fishermen, won him the Sahitya Akademi Award.\n\nHe said Mr. Modi, more than any other leader in the country, had understood the importance of human resource in the country and had utilised the ruling class for the uplift of the poor.\n\n\u201cHe rose to this level from a humble beginning and is fully aware of the needs of the people. He speaks his mind and does not indulge in lip service like some fine orators in other political parties,\u201d Mr. D\u2019Cruz said.\n\nRejecting the allegation that he was being gradually absorbed into \u2018Hindutva-fold\u2019, Mr. D\u2019Cruz said, \u201cI am committed to social justice. I love my people, my country, my roots and culture. I have nothing to do with the Hindutva,\u201d he said.\n\nMr. D\u2019Cruz, a devout Catholic, also clarified that there was no basis for the accusation that his hatred for Christianity, as perceived by readers of his works, had led him to support Mr. Modi."}
-{"text": "Boeing 737 Max's only daily visitors these days are technicians who draw fuel samples. (File)\n\nWhile regulators contemplate whether Boeing Co's 737 Max can safely return to the skies, workers in a California airplane-storage yard keep a careful vigil against earthier concerns.\n\nCrews have sealed 34 Southwest Airlines Co jets against the Mojave Desert's sun, wind and sand, as well as insects and birds that can creep into wheel wells and engine air inlets. Southwest declined to discuss the expense, but one industry veteran said such sojourns run about $2,000 a month for each plane -- a small but critical cost amid Boeing's many looming financial penalties.\n\nThe attention lavished now on the planes will help determine how fast the Max get back in the air once a worldwide grounding is lifted. Designed to ferry throngs of travelers, the young jets' only daily visitors these days are technicians who draw fuel samples to scout for bacterial contamination. Once a week, Southwest mechanics spool up the big turbofans, boot up flight computers, and extend and retract flight-control surfaces such as wing flaps.\n\n\"Planes are meant to be flying and being used,\" said Tim Zemanovic, who used to own an Arizona storage park and estimated monthly storage costs, which include labor and materials. \"You've got to keep them that way even when they're in storage.\"\n\nThe constant care extends to almost 500 grounded Max planes around the world, a total that includes about 100 factory-fresh jets that can't be delivered to customers because of the flying ban, which began in March after the second deadly crash in five months. Managing aircraft upkeep on such a scale is unprecedented, as Boeing grapples with a crisis that has already lopped $41.5 billion off its market value.\n\nThe maintenance costs are just the start of Boeing's financial exposure. The Chicago-based planemaker also faces an estimated $1.4 billion bill for airlines' canceled flights and lost operating profit if the Max fleet is still grounded by the end of September, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst George Ferguson.\n\nBoeing's inventory could balloon by nearly $12 billion by the end of September if regulators don't act and 737 production continues at the current pace, Ferguson said. \"They can't keep building and parking planes indefinitely,\" he said. \"We don't think it will get to that, but it's going to take a lot of cash to park those in the desert.\"\n\nAs Boeing finalizes paperwork to certify a redesign of flight-control software linked to the two disasters, executives are laying detailed plans for the Max's eventual return to commercial flight. The team huddles daily and includes officials from the 737 program, corporate headquarters and the commercial and global-services divisions.\n\nThe challenge of safely pulling hundreds of planes out of storage was among the topics discussed at a summit of global regulators convened by the Federal Aviation Administration in Texas, Daniel Elwell, the agency's acting chief, told reporters after the meeting Thursday.\n\nThe Max grounding has long since passed the 60-day mark when aircraft are typically placed in long-term storage. Bringing them back to life will now involve a rigorous review that can last weeks as compared to days for planes that are parked for less than two months.\n\nAs the global fleet starts to come back online, Boeing plans to set up a round-the-clock operations center to support customers. Teams of mechanics, technicians and field-service representatives will fan out to assist airlines as their jets make the \"transition from storage and preservation activities to operational flight,\" said Doug Alder, a Boeing spokesman.\n\nSouthwest, the largest Max operator, is already planning for the plane's return even though it's not clear if that is weeks or months away. \"It will be a staggered-type return to service,\" said Gary Bjarke, director of contract services for the Dallas-based carrier.\n\nUntil then, Bjarke leads the team overseeing the upkeep of Southwest's Max fleet parked on a desert plain in Victorville, California, east of Los Angeles. Southwest ferried all its Max planes to the storage yard in the days after U.S. regulators halted commercial flights.\n\nCrews spent about 80 man-hours preparing each jet for storage, and Bjarke estimates it will take about 120 hours of work to get each single-aisle plane back into flying condition. In all, he said, the maintenance checks could take about 30 days before the last of the airline's parked 737s rejoin daily operations.\n\nFor German tour operator TUI AG, the logistics of managing its parked jets are more complicated. The company stored 13 Max at bases in Brussels, Amsterdam and Manchester, U.K., where its mechanics can tend to them, said spokesman Aage Duenhaupt. Another plane was stranded in Sofia, Bulgaria, with another in Spain's Canary Islands, where third-party contractors are tending to them by following Boeing's storage protocol.\n\nThe tempo of care is largely set by detailed checklists provided by Boeing. Instructions for \"prolonged parking\" run more than 100 pages in a manual for a previous generation of 737s. There are separate procedures to prepare planes depending on whether they will be parked a week, a month, two months and a year. Basic service tasks are spelled out in similar increments.\n\nEven a simple requirement to wash an airplane is complicated by its sheer size. If a maintenance provider doesn't have a concrete pad wash area with a drain for wastewater, there's another option: wipe the plane down by hand.\n\n\"Basically, use cleaning wipes,\" said Zemanovic, the former owner of the Arizona storage park.\n\nThe manual occasionally spells out risks in colorful detail, like the bacteria or fungi that can turn jet kerosene into the consistency of \"mayonnaise,\" clogging the fuel system if water hasn't been thoroughly drained. There are separate lists that step-by-step make the plane serviceable once its desert stay comes to an end.\n\n\"They just don't park them and walk away and come back six months later,\" said Zemanovic, who now serves as president of Fillmore Aviation, a Minneapolis-based company that specializes in end-of-life aircraft care. \"Someone's looking at them every day.\""}
-{"text": "Twitter said Tuesday it would limit the reach of some tweets from world leaders who violate its rules.\n\nFacing a request to boot President Donald Trump from its platform, Twitter on Tuesday affirmed that world leaders are not above its rules but defended its discretion to preserve some tweets that violate its policies.\n\nThe update, detailed in a blog post, seemed unlikely to quiet increasingly forceful appeals for technology giants to regulate Trump's use of social media, which is central to his political strategy.\n\nThe new guidelines from Twitter came two weeks after Sen. Kamala Harris of California, a Democratic presidential contender, asked the company to consider suspending Trump's account, claiming his online communications \"put people at risk and our democracy in danger.\"\n\nThe dispute stems from Twitter's announcement this summer that it would label tweets from world leaders whose comments violate site policies, including those designed to prevent harm and abuse. The rules were designed to strike a balance between the public's right to know and Twitter's efforts to ensure that hate speech, misinformation and other troubling content do not go viral.\n\nBut Twitter's application of the policy ultimately invited widespread criticism, after the company opted not to label a number of Trump's tweets that Democrats and digital watchdogs saw as improper. In July, for instance, the president told four congresswomen of color to \"go back\" to their countries, a tweet widely viewed as a racist attack in violation of Twitter's rules against hate speech.\n\nIn an attempt to clarify its rules, Twitter said Tuesday it would take enforcement actions against \"any account\" in certain, dire circumstances, including instances when a world leader threatens a user with direct violence or publishes private information, such as a home address.\n\nBut Twitter also noted that there were cases in which the company may not act, such as when heads of state have \"direct interactions\" with their peers or engage in \"foreign policy saber rattling on economic and military issues,\" which it said are not violations of rules. Nor would the company seek to \"determine all potential interpretations of the content or its intent,\" it said.\n\nFor those tweets that are labeled as violations, Twitter said it would also take steps to limit their spread on the site: Users would not be able to retweet or like that content, for example. The company said it has not yet applied this label.\n\n\"With critical elections and shifting political dynamics around the world, we recognize that we're operating in an increasingly complex and polarized political culture,\" Twitter said. \"These are constantly evolving challenges and we'll keep our policies and approach under advisement, particularly as we learn more about the relationship between Tweets from world leaders and the potential for offline harm.\"\n\nThe clarification didn't immediately satisfy the company's critics. In response to Twitter's updated policies, Ian Sams, a spokesman for the Harris campaign, said, \"When Trump is using his tweets to make threats, incite violence and intimidate witnesses, this is insufficient.\"\n\nThe request for stricter enforcement of company guidelines - and the update from Twitter - have come amid rising Democratic anger with the laissez-faire attitude adopted by technology giants toward politicians. Trump has made prolific use of the platforms, bypassing mainstream gatekeepers to speak directly to his supporters.\n\nIn an Oct. 1 letter to Jack Dorsey, Twitter's chief executive, Harris, a former attorney general of California, cited examples of Trump's tweets that disparaged the whistleblower who brought forth concerns about the president's dealings with his Ukrainian counterpart.\n\nTrump described the individual, who is a member of the intelligence community, as a \"so-called 'Whistleblower,' \" and said, \"I deserve to meet my accuser.\" He also leveled a baseless accusation of treason, which can carry the death penalty, against Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who is leading the impeachment inquiry that could threaten his presidency.\n\nHarris said the messages amounted to an attempt \"to target, harass, and attempt to out the whistleblower.\"\n\n\"Others have had their accounts suspended for less offensive behavior,\" she wrote. \"And when this kind of abuse is being spewed from the most powerful office in the United States, the stakes are too high to do nothing.\"\n\nEarlier this month, Facebook declined a request from former vice president Joe Biden's campaign to take down a Trump ad that included a debunked claim about his family's involvement with a Ukrainian gas company. The company cited its policy of exempting political speech from its fact-checking program.\n\nThat drew a rebuke from Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who has proposed breaking up Silicon Valley giants in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. She called Facebook a \"disinformation-for-profit machine.\"\n\nThe update from Twitter on Tuesday shows, however, that the conundrum facing social media companies extends far beyond paid advertising. The megaphone they offer politicians - including those with a penchant for mistruths - can be just as valuable, and just as fraught."}
-{"text": "By CCN.com: Uber stock slumped toward a disappointing 7.62% loss following its blockbuster IPO on Friday, and the rideshare giant must now wrestle with an uncomfortable time bomb that has already started ticking.\n\nThat time bomb? Driver compensation \u2013 and the backlash it has already begun to generate.\n\nUber\u2019s Alarmingly Low Pay Rate is Not Sustainable\n\nTwo of Uber\u2019s foundational resources are drivers and their vehicles, without which they cannot pick up passengers. For there to be a sufficient number of drivers, there must be enough incentive in the Uber pay scale to recruit them.\n\nIn the early years, Uber pay was relatively attractive because drivers faced little competition. As ridesharing exploded, all these new passengers created additional demand for Uber drivers.\n\nBasic economics dictated that the supply of Uber drivers would eventually equal or exceed the number demanded. That alone impacted the average Uber driver\u2019s pay. More drivers meant less compensation, even as the size of the market expanded because driver supply grew more rapidly.\n\nSeems like Lyft XD is taking some hits lately\u2026 Getting much worse. https://t.co/cBXrFDEs2z \u2014 Harry Campbell (@TheRideshareGuy) May 10, 2019\n\nUber pay continued to decline because the company increased its commission while also decreasing fares to undercut the competition.\n\nLast year\u2019s report from the Economic Policy Institute found that Uber pay averaged $9.21 an hour after deducting labor, commission, vehicle expenses, payroll and income taxes, and other charges.\n\nThat\u2019s substantially below the $13.51 average hourly pay in the service industry and about one-third of what private sector workers make on an hourly basis.\n\nThis is one of the time bombs inside of Uber\u2019s operation. One of the early studies showed that there was a 50% attrition rate among Uber drivers after just one year.\n\nRideshare Companies Pray That Drivers Are Too Stupid to Realize Their Plight\n\nThere Are a Million Reasons to Short Uber\u2019s New Stock. Here Are Three. https://t.co/EI51pSA1jJ \u2014 CCN.com (@CCNMarkets) May 10, 2019\n\nAs wages decline, eventually the pool of drivers will dry up.\n\nThe only reason number of drivers hasn\u2019t cratered at this point is because most drivers are not economically savvy enough to understand the per hour cost of using their vehicle when driving for Uber.\n\nAnother possible reason as to why drivers haven\u2019t fled is because the economic recovery only kicked in recently.\n\nWith America\u2019s employment ranks swelling by the month, the chances of drivers putting up with lousy Uber pay when they could be earning more than a minimum wage job is going to increase.\n\nSome may point to self-driving cars as being the company\u2019s savior. After all, robots don\u2019t complain about driver compensation.\n\nThe problem with that argument is that any widespread use of self-driving cars is at least ten years away and probably more.\n\nOne can get a solid anecdotal feel for the state of the market by talking to Uber drivers and discussing Uber pay with them. They tend to be very transparent once you get them talking.\n\nWhat one is likely to find is that there are select drivers in certain cities who have figured out how to maximize revenue and minimize cost, like the gentleman in the video above. The rest do not.\n\nUber-Lyft Strike: The First Rumblings in a Rideshare Driver Uprising\n\nMany drivers will say they are driving for Uber or Lyft because they are retired, or have time on their hands and like to earn a little extra money.\n\nHowever, just ask the ones who have been driving the longest what they have seen in regards to compensation. They will confirm that what they are earning now is substantially less than what they earned when they first started, which is why they are striking.\n\nOn May 8th, LegalRideshare attended the Uber / Lyft strike in Chicago as drivers across the globe protested for better pay and working conditions that benefit drivers and passengers alike. #UberLyftStrike@TheRideshareGuy @ChicagoRidesha1 @BernieSanders @DriveUnitedDC pic.twitter.com/7WZ4iReKLx \u2014 LegalRideshare\u00ae (@LegalRideshare) May 9, 2019\n\nUber has a transitory and completely disloyal workforce, for a job that offers no long-term benefits and rapidly shortens vehicle lifespans.\n\nOnce drivers realize they\u2019ve been driving their cars into the ground, cannot keep up with routine maintenance, and have to buy new vehicles sooner than expected, the rideshare system will collapse.\n\n\u201cDisclaimer: The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, CCN.com.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Click here to access our NHL Trade Tracker, which includes every rumor, trade and signing.\n\nGoaltender Jaroslav Halak has only been with the Buffalo Sabres for about 36 hours, but he is reportedly on the trading block once again.\n\nThe 28-year-old's name has emerged in trade talks with the Minnesota Wild, Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports:\n\n[Sabres general manager Tim] Murray is now trying to trade Halak to the Wild. He\u2019s 28, in the last year of his contract and was 24-9-4 with the Blues with a 2.23 goals-against average. But some inside the Wild worry he was a product of the Blues\u2019 stingy system and there\u2019s a reason St. Louis felt Miller, not Halak, was the final piece of a Stanley Cup puzzle. But if the price is right, Fletcher could pull the trigger.\n\nHalak was acquired in Friday's blockbuster deal that saw goaltender Ryan Miller land with the St. Louis Blues along with forward Steve Ott in exchange for Halak, forward Chris Stewart, prospect William Carrier, a 2015 first-round pick and a conditional third-round pick in 2016.\n\nWild rookie goaltender Darcy Kuemper has emerged as a capable starter, posting a 2.20 goals against average and a .924 save percentage in 17 games this season.\n\nBut veteran backup Niklas Backstrom has been bothered by an abdominal issue and according to Russo, the Wild are talking to multiple teams about goaltending.\n\nHalak took part in Sabres' practice on Sunday morning, along with a familiar face."}
-{"text": "An orphan born in 1953, John Stormm was taken from his orphanage at a very young age by the CIA and was inducted into the MK Ultra super soldier program, ran by Nazi doctors and scientists where he would be trained to become an \"Ultra\" and fight communists.\n\nAfter years of grueling training that left most of the child subjects mentally unstable and some dead, John was one of the few to finish the program. Experiencing years of rigorous training involving electro shock experiments and live ammunition war games, John developed several superhuman abilities, such as:\n\nHe could pick up your car and flip it over, but not over his head like Superman or anything like that.\n\nHe can jump out of a 3rd or 4th story building and hit the ground running with no bruises.\n\nHe can take a hit from a car moving at 40 mph, without breaking any bones.\n\nHe has a martial arts punch with an average speed of 4 times per second, with 1600 psi per punch.\n\nHis skin is pretty tough, but not like super tough. He can stop his bleeding and take damage well.\n\nHe can astral project images and feelings of people.\n\nHe can will feelings on other people and can even become invisible through force.\n\nJohn did not age during his career. When he retired at age 40, he still looked 17 years old.\n\nUnder the code name Thumper (as in the rabbit from Bambi), John would go on many missions, including assassinating people at martial arts expos, hunting enemies down using astral projection, fighting cartels, and breaking the necks of Viet Cong soldiers. In the late 1970's, John went ran his last mission, and eventually went rogue. Ever since he left the program, the CIA has tried to kill him many times and repeatedly fail to take him down.\n\nToday, John Stormm has several serious health issues, such as diabetes and narcolepsy. He's even had several strokes.\n\nIt's worth noting that the episode of the podcast in which John Stormm is discussed was the final episode to feature former co-host Charles Gould, who has since disappeared. Is it possible that Mr. Stormm heard the podcast and didn't appreciate some of Charles' jokes? Perhaps Charles' corpse is out there, crushed under a flipped over a car.\n\nBelow are some photos of John Stormm:"}
-{"text": "A federal judge ruled Monday that President Trump's voter fraud commission may continue collecting state voter information.\n\nU.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly denied a watchdog group's request to halt the collection of voter registration information from 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a nonprofit focused on privacy rights, sought to prohibit further collection of information and asked the commission to \"delete and disgorge any voter roll data already collected or hereafter received.\"\n\nIt is another court win for the commission, which is headed by Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Kollar-Kotelly previously denied an injunction sought by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to open a July 19 meeting to anyone who would like to attend.\n\nKobach has asked every state and the District of Columbia for voter registration data including the names, addresses, birthdays, the last four digits of Social Security numbers if they are available, voter history and other personal information. Numerous states have at least partially denied the request."}
-{"text": "[OpenIndiana-discuss] Call for contributors: New OpenIndiana documentation\n\nHello folks, After severals months of Michael\u2019s hard work, we are glad to present a future basis for new OpenIndiana documentation. The documentation can be found at http://docs.openindiana.org. Michael tried to make the contribution barrier as low as possible, so here are couple of things: \u2022 Documentation fixes/additions/removals all leverage the Github pull request (PR) system. \u2022 Every PR is automatically built and the result of each build is marked in the PR menu. With this, you will know in a matter of minutes whether the change you made is mergeable and satisfies our checks. \u2022 After a PR is merged, the change is automatically built and deployed to http://docs.openindiana.org To begin contributing, the process is described in great detail at http://docs.openindiana.org/contrib/getting-started/. Contributing directly from OI is fully supported (either follow steps in the guide or \"pkg install mkdocs\"). You may also contribute from non-OI operating systems. With this pipeline, we can achieve fast and automated deployments and people can contribute with confidence. Therefore, I would like to invite _ALL_ people that are somehow related to OpenIndiana, most notably _USERS_ to participate in the contributions. Here are some of the ways you may contribute: \u2022 Proofreading the documentation. The more times the documentation is read, the better and more precise it will be. Having more eyes on the content will boost our chance to spot errors and outdated content. As the ranks of OI developers are steadily growing and new features/changes are being incorporated faster than ever, the documentation will quickly become out of date. With more people contributing to the documentation effort, this problem can be prevented. \u2022 Review contributed content. There is never enough reviewers for the content. So, any PR with content addition/modification/removal can use your review. \u2022 Write new content and add new section. The more content we can get, the better the documentation will be. \u2022 Adopt certain sections and actively maintain them as more new features are being delivered to OpenIndiana. I would also like to warn people that you still have to consider this project as work in progress and it does not serve as Wiki replacement. The longterm plan of this project is to serve as the end user documentation and fulfill a role within the OI community much as the FreeBSD handbook does for the FreeBSD community. Those who have used the FreeBSD handbook will know what I\u2019m talking about. The OpenIndiana wiki has a lot of content, but a huge amount of it is outdated and not relevant any more. However, this will be solved in the future by doing another call for participants. Notes related to the OpenIndiana development are to stay on our wiki in the future. I hope the majority of you will like this project and we will see new contributions flowing in! P.S: In the future, we also plan to deliver an offline copy of this documentation included with the installation medias. More information will be provided later. Cheers, Adam"}
-{"text": "\"Here is the truth: The earth is round; Saddam Hussein did not attack us on 9/11; Elvis is dead; Obama was born in the United States; and the climate crisis is real.\" \u2013 Al Gore\n\nTo produce 1 pound of beef, the friendly neighborhood farmer will need 13 pounds of grain and an estimated 2,500 gallons of water. If a 1,000-pound cow yields 600 pounds of beef, that cow used 1.5 million gallons of water and 7,800 pounds of grain. So, on a basic level, farming at this scale is pretty inefficient, when you could effectively feed thousands of people with just the grain and water it takes to produce that one cow. It\u2019s not that inefficient if you\u2019re one farmer with a few cows and chickens (though it\u2019s more expensive to raise animals that actually graze) and just your family to feed. But even when you\u2019re as good as Tyson Foods is at maximizing profits, it\u2019s a mathematically unsustainable equation.\n\nToday, up to a third of earth\u2019s landmass is used for grazing and growing crops. In the US, 70 percent of our grain goes to feeding livestock. This has led to a critical situation where demand is expected to far outweigh supply in the next 50 years. But inefficiency isn\u2019t nearly the only problem.\n\nMan-made climate change, or global warming, is primarily caused by an increased concentration of greenhouse gasses (GHG) \u2014 water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, ozone \u2014 in the atmosphere. Activities such as deforestation, burning fossil fuels, and yes, raising livestock emit greenhouses gasses, and all have been on a steep rise since large-scale manufacturing processes were applied to various industries, including farming. The levels of greenhouse gas emissions have seriously increased since the Industrial Revolution, and most scientists agree that we\u2019re facing a devastating climate situation. The year 2013 will go down as the hottest on record, and livestock is partially to blame.\n\nA 2006 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for the UN estimated that around 18 percent of worldwide human-caused GHG emissions were the result of livestock. This study has been widely cited but is also disputed: experts believe that the 18 percent figure vastly undercounts GHGs caused by raising animals. Robert Goodland, who was the lead environmental adviser to the World Bank Group for 23 years, co-authored an influential 2009 study for the World Watch Institute with Jeffrey Anhang (also of the World Bank). It estimated the figure was actually closer to 50 percent, once undercounted emissions from respiration, land use, and methane were taken into consideration. Goodland, who is now retired, notes that the Kyoto Protocol \"originally focused primarily on efforts to reduce fossil fuels or come up with renewable energy alternatives.\" But if the emissions from livestock are close to 50 percent of the rising GHG levels, it follows that the only \"pragmatic solution,\" at this point, as Goodland says, \"is likely to be increasing plant-based diets\" and drastically reduced animal consumption. It\u2019s a behavior, he says, that can be changed \"overnight.\" Having a positive impact on the environment by moving to a plant-based diet, Goodland and Anhang argue, would be the most effective way to immediately and significantly reduce our man-made GHG emissions. In fact, some estimate that if we globally reduced our animal consumption by 25 percent, we could reach our GHG emission goals as set forth by the United Nations."}
-{"text": "A group of activists trying to reach Gaza were denied entry to Egypt and some were even being deported, in an additional sign of deteriorating relations between Egypt and Gaza Strip rulers Hamas who were recently outlawed in the Arab world's most populous nation.\n\nFollow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter\n\n\n\nMore than 40 women on their way to Gaza as part of a delegation for World Women's Day staged a sit-in inside the Cairo International Airport after being refused entry into the country since Tuesday, airport officials in Egypt and activists said Thursday.\n\n\n\n\n\nCode Pink protest calls for boycott of Israeli company Ahava (courtesy of Code Pink)\n\nAmong the participants from the US-based anti-war group Code Pink's delegation are US, French and Belgium citizens.\n\nAnn Wright, the US delegation's organizer, said Thursday that a few activists have elected to return home, while at least three activists had been deported, including Mairead Maguire, a 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.\n\nMedea Benjamin, an American activist, said Egyptian police fractured her shoulder when she refused to board a plane to Turkey, and even snapped a picture of her cell which she posted to Twitter.\n\nThis is my cell in Cairo airport pic.twitter.com/ogIaXTvJvh \u2014 Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) March 4, 2014\n\nRelated stories:\n\nWright said the group had planned to take a bus from Cairo to the Rafa crossing and walk across the border. Egypt's border with Gaza has been closed since last month as authorities combat smuggling and Islamic militants in the Sinai Peninsula. Relations between Egypt and Gaza also remain tense after the military ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July.\n\nOn Tuesday, an Egyptian court banned all activities of the Palestinian militant group Hamas and ordered the closure of any Hamas offices.\n\nHamas, which rules the neighboring Gaza Strip, is the Palestinian branch of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group.\n\nAuthorities accuse Hamas, in cooperation with the Brotherhood, of training and arming the al-Qaeda -inspired group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which has carried out a string of bombings and attacks on police and the military. The Brotherhood and Hamas both deny the accusation.\n\nEgyptian airport and foreign ministry officials denied that the activists had been denied entry for any reason other than security concerns.\n\nIn a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdel-Attie said that the group had not been allowed to travel to Gaza through Egypt because they did not have the proper licensing.\n\nAbdel-Attie said that the security situation in the Northern Sinai Peninsula is too precarious for Egypt to secure the passage of the large group, due to government operations against \"terrorist groups\" there. He said the group had contacted the Egyptian government before traveling, and that officials told the group to delay the trip until things had quieted down.\n\nHamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement that Egypt's latest decision to prevent the activists from traveling to Gaza was \"a big step backward in Egypt's support of the Palestinian cause and the Gazan cause in particular.\""}
-{"text": "VALLETTA, Malta (AP) \u2014 Migrants hijacked a cargo ship in Libyan waters Wednesday and forced the crew to redirect the vessel north to Europe, according to Italian and Maltese authorities.\n\nAs the vessel headed in a direction leading to the island nation of Malta and Italy\u2019s shores, both countries vowed to keep the hijacked ship out of their territorial waters.\n\nItalian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini identified the ship as the Turkish oil tanker El Hiblu 1 and said the crew had earlier rescued migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. He put the number of migrants on board at around 120 and described what was happening as \u201cthe first act of piracy on the high seas with migrants that hijacked\u201d a cargo ship.\n\n\u201cPoor castaways, who hijack a merchant ship that saved them because they want to decide the route of the cruise,\u201d Salvini, who heads the anti-migrant League party, was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency.\n\nThere was no immediate word on the condition of El Hiblu I\u2019s crew. Other information about the reported hijacking was unavailable or difficult to confirm while the vessel remained at sea.\n\nItalian media reports said the ship was heading to Libya to drop off the group that was rescued when migrants seized control six miles from the Libyan coast.\n\nA private group that operates a rescue ship and monitors how governments treat migrants, Mediterranea Saving Humans, urged compassion for the group on the hijacked vessel and said it hoped European countries would act \u201cin the name of fundamental rights, remembering that we are dealing with human beings fleeing hell.\u201d\n\nThe Armed Forces of Malta said military personnel were standing by and the tanker still was in Libyan territorial waters as of early Wednesday night.\n\nA Maltese military official told Maltese media the ship was carrying 108 migrants. The official was not authorized to speak to reporters and requested anonymity.\n\nThe official also said Malta would not allow the ship to enter the country\u2019s waters.\n\nSalvini said weather conditions were not good and it was too early to tell if the ship was being directed toward Malta or Italy\u2019s Lampedusa island. But he had a message for the pirates: \u201cForget about Italy.\u201d\n\nMass migration to Europe has dropped sharply since 2015, when the continent received one million refugees and migrants from countries in the Middle East, Asia and African. The surge created a humanitarian crisis in which desperate travelers frequently drowned and leading arrival spots such as Italy and Greece struggled to house large numbers of asylum-seekers.\n\nAlong with the dangerous sea journey itself, those who attempt to cross the Mediterranean risk being stopped by Libya\u2019s coast guard and held in Libyan detention centers that human rights groups have described as bleak places where migrants allegedly suffer routine abuse.\n\nEuropean Union member countries, responding to domestic opposition to welcoming immigrants, have decided to significantly downscale an EU operation in the Mediterranean, withdrawing their ships and continuing the mission with air surveillance only.\n\nEU officials on Wednesday lamented the move, while Amnesty International reiterated its view that Europe\u2019s collaboration with Libya to stem migration was a human rights outrage.\n\nEU members \u201calert the Libyan coast guard when refugees and migrants are spotted at sea so they can be taken back to Libya, despite knowing that people there are arbitrarily detained and exposed to widespread torture, rape, killings and exploitation,\u201d Matteo de Bellis, an international migration researcher for Amnesty. \u201cThis shameful decision has nothing to do with the needs of people who risk their lives at sea, but everything to do with the inability of European governments to agree on a way to share responsibility for them.\u201d\n\n____\n\nGera contributed from Rome."}
-{"text": "Callaway Competition will pursue development of the Corvette C7 GT3, which is now scheduled to hit the marketplace by 2016.\n\nLast July, the German company received authorization from General Motors to develop and build a GT3-spec Corvette C7.\n\nHowever, the project was put on hold at the end of last year due to the emerging new GT regulations, as a common chassis between \u2018GT+\u2019 and \u2018GT\u2019 would have meant that Pratt & Miller would most likely built the chassis.\n\nWith GT Convergence now out of the way and GT3 set to stay as is, Callaway Competition has resumed the development of the Corvette C7 GT3.\n\nWith the initial timeframe of getting the car ready for the 2015 Balance of Performance test at Michelin\u2019s Ladoux track in September now out of the window, the team is aiming to complete an extensive testing program next year before entering the car in competition in 2016.\n\nCallaway is still competing with four of its Corvette Z06.R GT3s in the German ADAC GT Masters, were it most recently scored two victories at the Red Bull Ring and currently lies fifth in the drivers\u2019 standings with Daniel Keilwitz halfway through the season."}
-{"text": "With Fiona gone, Debbie takes the reins at the house while Frank uses his leg injury to score drugs and the rest of the Gallaghers face big changes.\n\n1. We Few, We Lucky Few, We Band of Gallaghers! 56m Frank milks his injury while Debbie, the self-appointed new head of the family, devises her own scheme. Carl returns home from military school.\n\n2. Sleep Well My Prince For Tomorrow You Shall Be King 56m Frank tries to make money to secure his place in the house but Mikey has other plans. Lip struggles with fatherhood. Carl has a mystery coworker.\n\n3. Which America? 58m Liam gets to know the family while Frank enjoys his new role in the house. Lip looks for support. Ian and Mickey make a decision. Carl woos Anne.\n\n4. A Little Gallagher Goes A Long Way 56m Frank and Mikey have a day of adventure. Debbie finds a new income source. Liam becomes suspicious of his flawless mentor. Carl offers to help Anne.\n\n5. Sparky 56m A visitor to the house inspires Frank with a new scheme. Tami returns but Lip is reluctant to yield control of Fred. Debbie fights for child support.\n\n6. Adios Gringos 57m Debbie tries to protect Franny from Pepa while Frank and Liam meet prospective buyers. Carl has an idea to protect Anne's family business.\n\n7. Citizen Carl 52m Frank meets his ideal woman. Ian and Mickey are roped into a scam. Kev and V go undercover when tragedy strikes the Alibi. Carl does his civic duty.\n\n8. Debbie Might Be a Prostitute 58m Debbie considers a career option. Frank learns the truth about Faye. Lip and Tami argue over Fred's care. Ian and Mickey have a miscommunication.\n\n9. O Captain! My Captain! 52m Frank discovers his past connection to Faye. Debbie's day with Claudia's daughter does not go well. Carl tries to toughen up his cadets.\n\n10. Now Leaving Illinois 58m Lip and Tami get a new opportunity. Feeling betrayed, Frank ends up in court. The rift between Ian and Mickey widens. Carl makes a surprising discovery.\n\n11. Location, Location, Location 56m Frank finds a new home. Lip is reluctant to embrace Tami's future plans. Debbie's love triangle may be ending. Ian sees Mickey in a new light."}
-{"text": "Turkey\u2019s Amnesty International Chair K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7 released after nearly eight months in jail\n\nISTANBUL\n\nAn Istanbul court on Jan. 31 ordered the release of Taner K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7, the president of Turkey\u2019s branch of international rights group Amnesty International.\n\n\u201cIt is an enormous relief that Taner will soon return to his wife and daughters and sleep in his own bed for the first time in almost eight months,\u201d Amnesty International\u2019s Director for Europe Gauri van Gulik said in a statement following the court\u2019s decision.\n\n\u201cBut we cannot forget that many other innocent people remain behind bars in Turkey without a shred of evidence,\u201d she added.\n\n\u201cToday we take a brief moment to celebrate, but tomorrow we will continue our struggle to have all charges dropped against Taner, the Istanbul 10, and all the other innocent victims wrongfully caught up in this vicious crackdown,\u201d van Gulik said.\n\nThe \u201cIstanbul 10\u201d refers to 10 human rights activists detained by Turkish authorities in July while they were attending a human rights workshop on B\u00fcy\u00fckada, an island near Istanbul. These activists include Amnesty International Turkey Director \u0130dil Eser and two German citizens.\n\nFollowing the court\u2019s order on Jan. 31, the rights group thanked their followers on the organization\u2019s Twitter page, saying a million people have called for K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7\u2019s release prior to the conditional release decision on Jan. 31.\n\nThe Turkish government had accused the group of \u201caiding armed terrorist organizations\u201d through civil society actions in Turkey. The government had also accused the activists of being members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party (PKK), far-left DHKP-C and the Fethullah G\u00fclen Terrorist Organization (FET\u00d6), accused of masterminding the failed July 2016 coup attempt.\n\nA court in Istanbul on Oct. 25 ordered the release of eight human rights activists from prison pending the outcome of their trial on \u201cterror\u201d charges, but ruled to keep K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7\u2019s imprisoned, drawing criticism from human rights supporters around the world."}
-{"text": "Peter Hasson on July 18, 2019\n\nDemocratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar has allegedly been uncooperative with her hometown paper\u2019s efforts to get to the bottom of accusations that she committed marriage fraud, the paper\u2019s political editor said.\n\nOmar\u2019s brief congressional career has been dogged by accusations \u2014 which she has denied \u2014 that she married a male relative, possibly her brother. Omar and her current husband, Ahmed Hirsi, filed joint tax returns while Omar was married to another man, Ahmed Elmi, Minnesota campaign finance officials said.\n\nOmar and her family have made it difficult for journalists to find out the truth about her marriage, Minnesota Star-Tribune editor Kevin Diaz told PolitiFact in an interview Thursday.\n\n\u201cOur public records searches determined that in at least one period after she married Elmi, all three (Omar, Elmi and Hirsi) used the same address in Minnesota. It raises questions about the nature of the relationship if she is living with both the person she\u2019s married to and her eventual husband,\u201d Diaz said.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s really made it hard is that she\u2019s been unwilling to address any of these questions. That has fueled the controversy. We quoted her at length to say that these were mere accusations, that they were unfair, and that she shouldn\u2019t have to address them. Be that as may, there was an undisputed instance of her filing her taxes improperly. And if you\u2019re in Congress, you should explain that to your constituents,\u201d he continued.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve asked her these questions, and also asked her to make her father available. We\u2019ve tried to reach Elmi. We\u2019ve tried to reach her sisters. Her family could put this (the question of Elmi\u2019s relationship to Omar) to rest easily. No one will talk to us. I wish we could send a reporter to Mogadishu (Somalia) but we don\u2019t have the bandwidth,\u201d the editor added.\n\nOmar\u2019s office didn\u2019t immediately return the Daily Caller News Foundation\u2019s request for comment on Diaz\u2019s remarks.\n\nPresident Donald Trump gave fuel to the allegations surrounding Omar\u2019s marriage in comments to reporters Wednesday.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of talk about the fact that she was married to her brother. I know nothing about it,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI don\u2019t know, but I\u2019m sure that somebody would be looking at that.\u201d\n\nRead this Next on ThePoliticalInsider.com Tucker Carlson Blasts CNN for Defending Antifa: \u2018They Are Literally Promoting Violence\u2019\n\nThe opinions expressed by contributors and/or content partners are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Political Insider."}
-{"text": "Lawyers acting for David Miliband, the foreign secretary, today launched an extraordinary attack on the high court, accusing it of irresponsibility for ruling that CIA intelligence relating to ill-treatment and torture \u2013 and what Britain knew about it \u2013 should be disclosed.\n\nJonathan Sumption QC accused two high court judges of views that were \"in many respects, unnecessary and profoundly damaging to the interests of this country\" after they ruled that evidence about what UK agencies knew of unlawful CIA activities should be revealed.\n\nReferring to the judges' scepticism of claims made by the US government, and Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, in particular, Sumption added: \"I would go so far as to say their views were irresponsible.\"\n\nSumption was opening Miliband's appeal against high court rulings by Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones. The judges ruled that what the CIA told MI5 \u2013 and what MI6 knew \u2013 of the unlawful treatment of British resident Binyam Mohamed should be disclosed.\n\nMohamed was detained in 2002 in Pakistan where he was questioned incommunicado by an MI5 officer. The US flew him to Morocco, Afghanistan, and Guant\u00e1namo Bay where he says he was tortured, with the knowledge of British agencies.\n\nThomas and Lloyd Jones ruled that it was clear from the evidence \"that the relationship of the United Kingdom government to the United States authorities in connection with Binyam Mohamed was far beyond that of a bystander or witness to the alleged wrongdoing\".\n\nAt issue is a seven-paragraph CIA document that the British government says must remain secret. The two high court judges, who have seen the document, say it does not contain any sensitive material and the information in it \"gives rise to an arguable case of torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment\".\n\nHowever, Sumption told the court of appeal today that since Mohamed was released from Guant\u00e1namo Bay in February, he was no longer affected by the legal proceedings which, he asserted, had \"essentially been taken over to serve a wider, and in some respects, political agenda\".\n\nThe appeal is being heard by three of the country's most senior judges \u2013 the lord chief justice, Lord Judge, Lord Neuberger, and Sir Anthony May.\n\nFor many years, Sumption told them, the US and the UK had a \"highly productive intelligence relationship\" even though the two countries disagreed about some \"interrogation techniques\".\n\nIf the CIA information relating to Mohamed and what the British knew about it were released, \"the US government will say we will not in future be able to give you our most sensitive stuff\", Sumption said. He added: \"It is the reality of the situation.\"\n\nThe hearing continues."}
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"\u65e5\u3005\u523b\u3005\u3001\u5909\u5316\u3092\u7d9a\u3051\u308b\u4f01\u696d\u306e\u7d4c\u55b6\u74b0\u5883\u3002\u5909\u5316\u306e\u4e2d\u3067\u5404\u4f01\u696d\u304c\u6a21\u7d22\u3059\u308b\u7d4c\u55b6\u6226\u7565\u3068\u306f\u4f55\u304b?\u300e\u9031\u520a\u30c0\u30a4\u30e4\u30e2\u30f3\u30c9\u300f\u7de8\u96c6\u90e8\u304c\u5fb9\u5e95\u53d6\u6750\u3057\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u65e5\u3005\u523b\u3005\u3001\u5909\u5316\u3092\u7d9a\u3051\u308b\u4f01\u696d\u306e\u7d4c\u55b6\u74b0\u5883\u3002\u5909\u5316\u306e\u4e2d\u3067\u5404\u4f01\u696d\u304c\u6a21\u7d22\u3059\u308b\u7d4c\u55b6\u6226\u7565\u3068\u306f\u4f55\u304b?\u300e\u9031\u520a\u30c0\u30a4\u30e4\u30e2\u30f3\u30c9\u300f\u7de8\u96c6\u90e8\u304c\u5fb9\u5e95\u53d6\u6750\u3057\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u305d\u3046\u307e\u30fb\u308b\u307f\uff0f\u7acb\u547d\u9928\u5927\u5b66\u5352\u696d\u5f8c\u300102\u5e74\u306b\u30c0\u30a4\u30e4\u30e2\u30f3\u30c9\u793e\u306b\u5165\u793e\u3002\u9031\u520a\u30c0\u30a4\u30e4\u30e2\u30f3\u30c9\u8a18\u8005\u3068\u306a\u308a\u3001\u9280\u884c\u3001\u5bb6\u96fb\u306a\u3069\u3092\u62c5\u5f53\u300207\u5e74\u306b\u8ee2\u8077\u3057\u3001\u7d50\u5a5a\u30fb\u51fa\u7523\u3001\u5973\u6027\u8a8c\u306e\u7de8\u96c6\u8005\u306a\u3069\u3092\u7d4c\u3066\u300118\u5e74\u306b\u8a18\u8005\u3068\u3057\u3066\u51fa\u623b\u308b\u3002\u6d41\u901a\u30fb\u5c0f\u58f2\u3092\u62c5\u5f53\u3002\u4e3b\u306a\u62c5\u5f53\u7279\u96c6\u306b\u300c\u8077\u5834\u306e\u767a\u9054\u969c\u5bb3\u300d\u306a\u3069\u3002\u8da3\u5473\u306f\u606f\u5b50\u3068\u306e\u6d88\u9632\u8eca\u9451\u8cde\u3002\n\n\u8b1d\u7f6a\u3059\u308b\u30ea\u30af\u30eb\u30fc\u30c8\u30ad\u30e3\u30ea\u30a2\u306e\u5c0f\u6797\u5927\u4e09\u793e\u9577\uff08\u5de6\uff09 \u5199\u771f\uff1a\u6bce\u65e5\u65b0\u805e\u793e\uff0f\u30a2\u30d5\u30ed\n\n\u300c\u30ea\u30af\u30ca\u30d3\u300d\u3092\u5229\u7528\u3057\u305f\u5185\u5b9a\u8f9e\u9000\u7387\u30c7\u30fc\u30bf\u3092\u4f01\u696d\u306b\u8ca9\u58f2\u3057\u3066\u3044\u305f\u554f\u984c\u304c\u3001\u4eba\u6750\u696d\u754c\u5168\u4f53\u3092\u9707\u3048\u4e0a\u304c\u3089\u305b\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\u500b\u4eba\u60c5\u5831\u4fdd\u8b77\u306e\u89b3\u70b9\u3060\u3051\u3067\u306f\u306a\u304f\u3001\u4eba\u6750\u30c7\u30fc\u30bf\u306e\u5229\u6d3b\u7528\u306e\u3042\u308a\u65b9\u305d\u306e\u3082\u306e\u304c\u554f\u308f\u308c\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002 \uff08\u30c0\u30a4\u30e4\u30e2\u30f3\u30c9\u7de8\u96c6\u90e8 \u76f8\u99ac\u7559\u7f8e\uff09\n\n\u672c\u4eba\u306e\u540c\u610f\u304c\u3042\u3063\u3066\u3082\n\n\u300c\u5185\u5b9a\u8f9e\u9000\u7387\u300d\u306e\u5916\u90e8\u63d0\u4f9b\u306f\u30a2\u30a6\u30c8\n\n\u300c\u30ea\u30af\u30ca\u30d3\u304c\u3084\u3063\u305f\u306e\u306f\u300e\u30aa\u30ec\u30aa\u30ec\u8a50\u6b3a\u300f\u307f\u305f\u3044\u306a\u3082\u306e\u3002\u91d1\u3092\u53d6\u308b\u4ed5\u7d44\u307f\u3065\u304f\u308a\u306f\u3055\u3059\u304c\u3060\u304c\u3001\u76f4\u611f\u7684\u306b\u30a2\u30a6\u30c8\u3067\u3057\u3087\u300d\u3068\u65b0\u5352\u5411\u3051\u30b5\u30fc\u30d3\u30b9\u3092\u884c\u3046\u540c\u696d\u4ed6\u793e\u306e\u4e8b\u696d\u62c5\u5f53\u8005\u306f\u82e6\u7b11\u3059\u308b\u3002\n\n\u5c31\u8077\u60c5\u5831\u30b5\u30a4\u30c8\u300c\u30ea\u30af\u30ca\u30d3\u300d\u3092\u5229\u7528\u3057\u305f\u5185\u5b9a\u8f9e\u9000\u7387\u30c7\u30fc\u30bf\u306e\u8ca9\u58f2\u554f\u984c\u304c\u6ce2\u7d0b\u3092\u5e83\u3052\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\n\n\u30ea\u30af\u30eb\u30fc\u30c8\u30db\u30fc\u30eb\u30c7\u30a3\u30f3\u30b0\u30b9\u306e\u30b0\u30eb\u30fc\u30d7\u4f1a\u793e\u30fb\u30ea\u30af\u30eb\u30fc\u30c8\u30ad\u30e3\u30ea\u30a2\u306f\u30012018\u5e743\u6708\u300c\u30ea\u30af\u30ca\u30d3DMP\u30d5\u30a9\u30ed\u30fc\u300d\uff08\u4ee5\u4e0b\u3001DMP\u30d5\u30a9\u30ed\u30fc\uff09\u3068\u3044\u3046\u30b5\u30fc\u30d3\u30b9\u3092\u958b\u59cb\u3002\u3053\u306e\u30b5\u30fc\u30d3\u30b9\u3092\u4f7f\u3048\u3070\u3001\u30ea\u30af\u30ca\u30d3\u4e0a\u306e\u884c\u52d5\u5c65\u6b74\u306a\u3069\u3092\u3082\u3068\u306b\u3001\u5185\u5b9a\u8f9e\u9000\u7387\u3092\u7b97\u51fa\u3067\u304d\u308b\u3002\u5951\u7d04\u3057\u3066\u3044\u305f38\u793e\u306e\u3046\u306134\u793e\u306b\u5bfe\u3057\u3066\u3001\u30ea\u30af\u30eb\u30fc\u30c8\u30ad\u30e3\u30ea\u30a2\u306f\u5185\u5b9a\u8f9e\u9000\u7387\u30b9\u30b3\u30a2\u3092\u63d0\u4f9b\u3057\u3066\u3044\u305f\u3002\n\n\u3057\u304b\u3057\u300119\u5e748\u670826\u65e5\u306b\u30ea\u30af\u30eb\u30fc\u30c8\u30ad\u30e3\u30ea\u30a2\u306f\u500b\u4eba\u60c5\u5831\u4fdd\u8b77\u59d4\u54e1\u4f1a\u304b\u3089\u52e7\u544a\u30fb\u6307\u5c0e\u3092\u53d7\u3051\u305f\u3002\u305d\u306e\u7406\u7531\u306f\u3001\u300c\u30ea\u30af\u30ca\u30d32020\u300d\u306b\u304a\u3044\u3066\u3001\u7d048000\u4eba\u304cDMP\u30d5\u30a9\u30ed\u30fc\u3078\u306e\u500b\u4eba\u60c5\u5831\u63d0\u4f9b\u306e\u540c\u610f\u304c\u53d6\u308c\u3066\u3044\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f\u305f\u3081\u3060\u3002\n\n\u8a71\u306f\u305d\u308c\u3060\u3051\u306b\u6b62\u307e\u3089\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f\u30029\u67086\u65e5\u3001\u30ea\u30af\u30eb\u30fc\u30c8\u30ad\u30e3\u30ea\u30a2\u306f\u8077\u696d\u5b89\u5b9a\u6cd5\u304a\u3088\u3073\u540c\u6cd5\u306b\u57fa\u3065\u304f\u6307\u91dd\u306b\u9055\u53cd\u3057\u305f\u3068\u3057\u3066\u3001\u6771\u4eac\u52b4\u50cd\u5c40\u304b\u3089\u3082\u884c\u653f\u6307\u5c0e\u3092\u53d7\u3051\u305f\u3002"}
-{"text": "Stijn Debrouwere / Flikr\n\nIowa was recently awarded a three-year, $750,000 federal grant from the Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) will aid state officials in implementing more effective juvenile justice programming.\n\nThe Iowa Department of Human Right\u2019s Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning (CJJP) intends to provide three of the state\u2019s eight judicial districts with resources to evaluate juvenile programs and improve services for youth offenders.\n\n\u201cThe new project will bolster current work, allowing both CJJP and the field to be better informed as to which services are likely to achieve outcomes related to reduced recidivism, increased public safety and lower costs,\u201d Paul Stageberg, CJJP administrator, told the Des Moines Register.\n\nNew projects will be centralized in northwestern and northeastern Iowa, and target cities include Cedar Rapids, Sioux City and Waterloo. Officials will use new tools to assess current juvenile programs in comparison to other evidence-based detention alternatives.\n\n\u201cWe want to increase public safety, reduce recidivism and lower the cost,\u201d Gov. Terry Branstad told the Des Moines Register. \u201cWe won\u2019t be just implementing new tools, we will be measuring the effectiveness of the tools in this project.\u201d"}
-{"text": "i asked for, \"I like snow and sparkles and handmade and blue and red and funny and nice and non-denominational cause that's tricky... \" and my matcher surely delivered! now if i could just figure out how he knew i loved pizza so much...\n\nHappy Holidays!\n\nP.S. dont mind my table cloth in the background...\n\nEdit: went to Giovanni's coal fire pizza with my mom. It was awesome!"}
-{"text": "A Opera\u00e7\u00e3o Jules Rimet, deflagrada pela Pol\u00edcia Civil brasileira, pode ser considerada como o maior legado da Copa no Brasil. Ao que tudo indica, a pol\u00edcia conseguiu chegar ao alto comando de um enorme esquema de cambismo de ingresso que j\u00e1 vem de outros Mundiais. Mais do que isso, come\u00e7a a fechar o cerco contra uma pr\u00e1tica que j\u00e1 foi comprovada no passado e que faz uma polpuda poupan\u00e7a para muita gente perif\u00e9rica do mundo da bola.\n\nO interessante nessa hist\u00f3ria \u00e9 que j\u00e1 se passaram tantos outros Mundiais, sempre houve um jeito aqui e ali para conseguir ingressos ''quentes'' a pre\u00e7os mais altos que o praticado, de forma quase que sub-oficial, e pouco se viu de interesse em desmontar esses esquemas.\n\nA pris\u00e3o do diretor da Match Hospitality Raymond Whelan, apontado como o chef\u00e3o das vendas ilegais aqui no Brasil liga um enorme sinal de alerta dentro da Fifa. Ok, \u00e9 poss\u00edvel dizer oficialmente que n\u00e3o h\u00e1 qualquer rela\u00e7\u00e3o, a Match apenas presta servi\u00e7os \u00e0 entidade e quetais. Mas \u00e9 sempre bom lembrar o v\u00ednculo da Match com a Infront que, por sua vez, tem como s\u00f3cio um dos sobrinhos de Joseph Blatter, presidente da Fifa.\n\nO enrosco \u00e9 grande. E poder\u00e1 desencadear em outra crise dentro da entidade, j\u00e1 \u00e0s voltas com a enrolada escolha do Qatar como sede da Copa do Mundo de 2022. Muito provavelmente o esc\u00e2ndalo deflagrado pela pol\u00edcia brasileira poder\u00e1 gerar nova crise na Fifa. E far\u00e1 com que o pr\u00f3prio sistema de venda de ingressos da entidade passe por revis\u00e3o, a exemplo do que aconteceu em 1998, quando houve muitos problemas com cambismo e falta de bilhetes na Fran\u00e7a (inclusive com centenas de brasileiros nesse barco).\n\nO fato \u00e9 que o Brasil conseguiu, ao atirar com mira a laser na opera\u00e7\u00e3o de cambismo de ingressos, construir um dos maiores legados da Copa do Mundo no pa\u00eds. Resta saber se, passado o holofote do Mundial, a pol\u00edcia ter\u00e1 interesse tamb\u00e9m em descobrir as pr\u00e1ticas semelhantes que s\u00e3o feitas nos jogos de futebol envolvendo clubes brasileiros\u2026"}
-{"text": "Nico catches up some newish movies, before the guys dive head-first into the films of 1997. Which will earn a spot in the Hall of Fame? Men in Black (27:06), Jackie Brown (37:14), Good Will Hunting (49:26), Lost Highway (1:04:40), Titanic (1:17:48) or Boogie Nights (1:33:01)? This a podcast we want you to remember us by.\n\nFor More TMT Shenanigans: toomanythoughtsmedia.com\n\nTwitter: @funnynicotweets, @someadamhall, @TMT_Media\n\nE-mail: toomanythoughtsmedia@gmail.com\n\nSubscribe and Rate on Apple Podcasts!"}
-{"text": "NEW DELHI: Having largely failed to nudge schools towards greater transparency by publicly disclosing their fee \u2014 for people to judge if it was commensurate with the facilities provided \u2014 the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is acting tough.It has now made it mandatory for all schools across the country to make public information about their functioning under 130 heads. School managements are protesting against what they see as CBSE overstepping its authority and trampling on the autonomy of schools.The order \u2014 no longer an advisory \u2014 to upload the disclosures on the school websites has not gone down well with them. In a memorandum issued on October 25, CBSE has asked for mandatory disclosures under six categories: general, management, infrastructure, staff, finance and other details. This covers an unprecedented wide range of information \u2014 from the number of taps to fee break-up, WiFi speed, admission results, reserve funds and balance sheets. The deadline for the disclosure is November 30, 2016.This is part of the initiative announced earlier in September by the chairman of the Board, Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi. In a circular as early as June, the CBSE had asked for fee and salary details to be uploaded but found that many schools had not even developed a website. The Board had threatened not to allow their students to appear for the board examinations.In September, the Board had set a deadline of October 31 for schools to disclose the information on their own and the Board\u2019s website. In the latest circular, the Board has listed the details it is seeking and spelt out that it is mandatory.\u201cThe information shall be filed only online through the link given on the Board\u2019s website and is also to be uploaded on the school\u2019s website. The information will facilitate the Board using it in various academic and examination activities. It shall also be beneficial for schools to make available information about their academic and infrastructural facilities in public domain...\u201d stated the memorandum, adding that the last date for completing the process was November 30, 2016.The most exhaustive of the categories is infrastructure where the schools are being asked to disclose the size of the plot they are located on, area of the ground and even the builtup area. The schools also need to disclose the number of buildings and whether they are being run from multiple sites. All details of the facilities given to students need to be disclosed.Safety seems to be an area of concern with the schools being asked to furnish details of measures like fire extinguisher, sprinklers and fire alarms with issuing date, validity and authority, besides fire safety certificates, construction, drinking water and sanitation. \u201cThe primary idea is to make things transparent. Apart from the Board, the parents and public need to know exactly they are paying for,\u201d said Chaturvedi."}
-{"text": "KUCHING: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has come to the residence of the late Tan Sri Adenan Satem in Santubong near here to pay his respects.\n\nHe arrived close to midnight and was greeted by Sarawak deputy chief ministers Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg and Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah and other state leaders.\n\nHe was accompanied by his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.\n\nAlso arriving at the same time was Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein."}
-{"text": "Prime Minister Modi has been the thorn on the \u2018liberal\u2019 side ever since Gujarat and the media, especially foreign media like BBC has been trying tooth and nail to demonise not just him but even the Hindu community of India ever since. To that end, after tainted cop, Sanjiv Bhatt was awarded a life sentence for a 30-year-old custodial death case, BBC seems to have gone on an overdrive to shield Bhatt. While reporting the ruling in the Sanjiv Bhatt case, BBC not only put out an extremely confused report but also lies profusely about the Godhra case where 59 Karsevaks were brutally burnt alive.\n\nThe BBC article at the very outset tries to confuse its readers.\n\nFirstly, the case in which Sanjiv Bhatt has been convicted has nothing to do with Prime Minister Modi in the first place.\n\n- Advertisement -\n\nOn October 30, 1990, Bhatt detained around 150 people following a communal riot in Jamjodhpur town after a \u2018bandh\u2019 call against the halting of veteran BJP leader L K Advani\u2019s \u2018rath yatra\u2019 for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya.\n\nOne of those arrested, Prabhudas Vaishnani, died in a hospital after his release by the police. Subsequently, his brother lodged an FIR accusing Bhatt and six other policemen of killing his sibling by torturing him while he was in police detention.\n\nIn 1990, Narendra Modi was moving up the party ranks and became the CM of Gujarat only in 2001.\n\nWhy the BBC or any other media outlet conflate the two without giving a proper explanation about which case Sanjiv Bhatt has been prosecuted for, is a mystery.\n\nFurther, BBC calls Sanjiv Bhatt a \u2018whistleblower\u2019, which would be absolutely incorrect. Perhaps BBC either fails to recall or are unaware that the Supreme Court had basically said that Sanjiv Bhatt had pressurised his driver to file an affidavit that suited him, testifying that Bhatt was present at the 27 February 2002 meeting where Modi, according to Bhatt, had said that Hindus should be allowed to vent their anger against Muslims.\n\nBhatt\u2019s driver had earlier confirmed his version but later recanted. In fact, Bhatt had insisted that the SIT examine the driver under his supervision and the court had held that this amounted to pressure tactics.\n\nFirstly, the records had established that constable KD Panth (the driver) was not even in Gujarat between 25 February and 28 February 2002. Not only that, when Bhatt wanted Panth to testify that he drove Bhatt to then CM Modi\u2019s residence, Bhatt took Panth to the then President of the Gujarat Congress and Chairman of the Legal Cell for the preparation of his affidavit.\n\nThere are email exchanges between Bhatt and a Gujarat Congress leader showing receipt of a \u201cpackage\u201d, of Bhatt being \u201cunderexploited\u201d (in the case) and him asking the Congress member to \u201ctry to mobilise support/pressure-groups in Delhi to influence him (the Amicus Curiae Raju Ramachandran) in a very subtle manner\u201d.\n\nThen there are email exchanges between Bhatt and a journalist, wherein Bhatt tries to have the journalist mention that he had met Bhatt on 27 February when he was \u201cabout to go to the disputed meeting\u201d. Bhatt later emailed a TV channel member that he had filed an affidavit stating that the journalist was with him when he had to leave for a meeting at Modi\u2019s residence and that the channel member should \u201cconfirm through your sources in SC\u201d. Bhatt even asked the journalist whether he would be comfortable with another media person. The Supreme Court had held that Sanjiv Bhatt was trying to \u2018recreate\u2019 the events of the night.\n\nIn fact, the Supreme Court had found that as alleged by Sanjiv Bhatt, Haren Pandya was not present at this alleged meeting at all. His cell phone location showed that he was exposed Bhatt\u2019s lies completely. The court had held that Bhatt had not come to the court with clean hands and that he was \u2018catering to interests elsewhere\u2019.\n\nEssentially, Sanjiv Bhatt had fabricated the entire meeting and that he was present. He had also lied that Prime Minister Modi had made the comment about Hindus venting their anger against Muslims.\n\nIn the face of all of this, one wonders how BBC, without getting their facts straight as mentioned by the Apex Court itself, called Bhatt a \u2018whistleblower\u2019 thereby trying to insinuate that it is the Modi government that has a vendetta against Bhatt.\n\nThe lies of the BBC do not stop there.\n\nThe BBC report says that \u201cThe cause of the train blaze was never clearly established. Hindu groups allege that the fire started by Muslim protesters, but an earlier inquiry said the fire was an accident\u201d.\n\nReferring to the Godhra train burning, it is staggering that the BBC has managed to peddle several lies in two short sentences.\n\nFirstly, BBC itself, in 2011, had reported that the Sabarmati Express was attacked by a Muslim mob and that 31 people were convicted in the case.\n\nAll the 31 people who were held guilty of burning Karsevaks alive were Muslims.\n\nA report from 2011 reads:\n\nAdditional sessions judge P.R. Patel held 31 persons guilty of a \u201cpre-planned conspiracy\u201d and setting fire to coach S-6. In the incident, 59 people, mostly Vishwa Hindu Parishad kar sevaks, were killed. Of the 31 found guilty, the court sentenced to death 11 convicts, particularly those it believed were present at a meeting, held the previous night, where a conspiracy was hatched, and those who, it agreed, had actually entered the coach and poured petrol before setting it afire. The other 20 convicts were sentenced to life imprisonment.\n\nAccording to some of the observations made by the judge, the court believed that had there been no pre-planned conspiracy, \u201cit would not have been possible to gather Muslim persons with deadly weapons within five to six minutes and reach near \u201cA\u201d cabin on the railway track\u201d after the train was made to stop by chain pulling a second time.\n\nThe judge also accepted the prosecution theory of the perpetrators having collected petrol the previous night, after the meeting at the Aman Guest House. Had petrol not been kept ready in loose form in carboys the previous night near Aman Guest House, \u201cit would not have been possible to reach with carboys containing petrol in a huge quantity immediately, that is within 5 to 10 minutes, near coach S-6.\u201d\n\nThus, the courts while convicting 31 people, some of whom got life imprisonment and some got the death penalty believed that it was a pre-planned conspiracy to burn Karsevaks alive. In fact, even the petrol was bought the night before.\n\nThe Nanavati Commission which was held by Justice G.T. Nanavati and Justice Akshay H. Mehta had also concluded that the train burning was no accident and was in fact, the work of a Muslim mob.\n\nBBC peddles another dangerous lie.\n\nIn trying to prove that the Sabarmati Express was not set ablaze by a Muslim mob, it alludes to an \u201cearlier inquiry that said the fire was an accident\u201d.\n\nThe inquiry report that the BBC was alluding to was the UC Banerjee report that was deemed unconstitutional and illegal by the Courts.\n\nThe Banerjee Commission was a one-man commission that was formed soon after the Congress government came to power under the instruction of Lalu Prasad Yadav, the then Railway Minister.\n\nThe High Court had held that the Commission was illegal since the Nanavati Commission was already probing the matter.\n\nIn fact, Justice K.G. Shah of the Nanavati Commission had alleged that Justice Banerjee had not even examined officers of the Gujarat police or forensic science experts. He had also vehemently contested the motivations of the commission and the conclusion it reached.\n\nThe Congress party had insisted that the report be tabled immediately, as, at the time, it was busy creating the theory of \u201cSaffron Terror\u201d.\n\nThe High Court had held that the constitution of the UC Banerjee Commission was a \u201ccolourable exercise of power with mala fide intentions\u201d, and its argument of accidental fire \u201copposed to the prima facie accepted facts on record.\u201d The High Court also directed that the report should not be tabled in the Parliament.\n\nOne wonders why BBC would bother citing a debunked report just to assert that Hindus were burnt alive by \u201caccident\u201d just to shield a Muslim mob that has been convicted and in turn, shield Sanjiv Bhatt who has also been convicted in an unrelated 30-year-old case.\n\nBBC has a long history of peddling fake news and motivated agendas against India and Hindus in general.\n\nThe British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) had recently released a shoddy research branding Nationalists as the driving force behind fake news only to later retract the generalisation slyly. It had also recently handpicked anti-India interviews for its documentary on Kashmir and deliberately left out pro-India views."}
-{"text": "Retired CIA officer Graham Fuller confirmed to Al-Monitor Saturday that his daughter was previously married to an uncle of the suspects in the Boston Marathon attacks, but called rumors of any links between the uncle and the Agency \u201cabsurd.\u201d\n\nGraham Fuller\u2019s daughter, Samantha A. Fuller, was married to Ruslan Tsarnaev (now Tsarni) in the mid-1990s, and divorced in 1999, according to North Carolina public records. The elder Fuller had retired from the agency almost a decade before the brief marriage.\n\n\u201cSamantha was married to Ruslan Tsarnaev (Tsarni) for 3-4 years, and they lived in Bishkek for one year where Samantha was working for Price Waterhouse on privatization projects,\u201d Fulller, a former CIA officer in Turkey and vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council, told Al-Monitor by email Saturday. \u201cThey also lived in our house in [Maryland] for a year or so and they were divorced in 1999, I believe.\u201d\n\n\u201cI, of course, retired from CIA in 1987 and had moved on to working as a senior political scientist for RAND,\u201d Fuller continued.\n\nFuller said his former son in law was interesting but homesick, and moved back to Central Asia after the divorce.\n\n\u201cLike all Chechens, Ruslan was very concerned about his native land, but I saw no particular involvement in politics, [although] he did try to contact other Chechens around,\u201d Fuller continued. \u201cHe also felt homesick and eventually went back to Central Asia after the divorce. His English was shaky. (We always spoke Russian together).\u201d\n\nA story on the Internet implying \u201cpossible connections between Ruslan and the Agency through me are absurd,\u201d Fuller said.\n\nContinue reading \u2192"}
-{"text": "Web Design Company in Bangalore\n\nSite Galleria has 14+ years of experience in Custom Web Design & Development, Mobile App Development, SEO services, Digital Marketing Consultant, eCommerce and CMS website designing, Web Hosting and Domain Registration. We craft digital experiences that excite and inspire the online audience.\n\nWe provide web development and design solutions for a small and medium enterprise by creative website designing, scalable development and interactive online customer engagement. Our web design company in Bangalore will help you in translating your business services and products into strong business conversion.\n\nSite Galleria is trusted as fully featured Web Development Company in Bangalore and we offer multiple website layout designs to choose and build a custom website as per client business needs and requirements. Promote your enterprise brand, showcase your services, set up an online shop or just test out your new innovation. Site Galleria offers everything you need to create a fully personalized and high-quality website for your business.\n\nWe also recognized as top-notch end-to-end Mobile App Development solutions for online consumer and corporate environments. We help you expand the reach to more customers and online audience with content-rich and transaction-centric mobile applications. The single most precious thing to remember about Site Galleria is that we believe in client satisfaction and focus on delivering high-quality products.\n\nSite Galleria is one of the best providers of search engine optimization services. We have a team of experienced SEO professionals who will understand your business demand and create an effective strategy to fulfil your commercial business goals. Our optimization skills and techniques will deliver the result you require from an SEO company.\n\nAs a one-stop digital marketing service provider in Bangalore, you can completely lay your trust on Site Galleria. Our specialized digital marketing consulting services include SEO, Pay Per Click [PPC] Marketing, Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Online Lead Generation, Digital Branding and much more.\n\nWe\u2019re a professional eCommerce website developers in Bangalore and we offer wireframe creation & discovery, checkout & credit card processing, custom functionality, web design templates and also showcase your brand and deliver conversions.\n\nOur team of web developers and digital marketing experts love challenges and investment their effort in product quality and client satisfaction. We adapt to the latest market trends and understand the emerging world of technology and business expertise. Being one among the best website design and development company in Bangalore, we have the right team for your business needs. If you have a product idea then let us help you bring it to life with our commitment to excellence in technology. We would love to be a part of your web design and online marketing strategy. Feel free to get in touch with us and be a part of the incredible Site Galleria family."}
-{"text": "All\u2019indomani del 38esimo anniversario della tragedia di Ustica, l\u2019unica certezza su quella drammatica vicenda riguarda la caduta dell\u2019aereo. Ma come sia caduto e chi siano i responsabili dell\u2019abbattimento rimane un mistero ancora irrisolto.\n\nTestimoniato dalla presenza di sentenze della magistratura in aperta contraddizione tra di loro. Quelle dei giudici civili, che hanno fissato risarcimenti consistenti ai parenti delle vittime e alla societ\u00e0 Itavia, hanno stabilito la verit\u00e0 della battaglia aerea tra caccia di diverse ma non accertate nazionalit\u00e0 da cui sarebbe dipesa la caduta dell\u2019aereo di linea. Quella dei magistrati penali non solo ha assolto i massimi ufficiali dell\u2019epoca dell\u2019Aeronautica Militare italiana ma ha anche stabilito che a provocare l\u2019esplosione dell\u2019aereo in volo da Bologna verso Palermo fu una bomba piazzata in un vano del bagno.\n\nA 38 anni dalla tragedia, dunque, il mistero rimane fitto. Perch\u00e9 sia nell\u2019ipotesi del missile che in quella della bomba nessuno \u00e8 in grado di stabilire chi e perch\u00e9 abbia sparato il missile o abbia piazzato la bomba.\n\nIn questa assoluta incertezza \u00e8 certamente apprezzabile l\u2019annuncio del Presidente della Camera dei deputati, Roberto Fico, della declassificazione da parte di Montecitorio di \u201cdocumenti segreti e riservati\u201d che si spera vengano resi pubblici al pi\u00f9 presto. Ed \u00e8 ancora pi\u00f9 condivisibile il suo appello \u201ca che le istituzioni continuino a impegnarsi, anche e soprattutto sul piano dei rapporti internazionali, per fornire le risposte che ancora si attendono\u201d.\n\nIn attesa che le istituzioni si impegnino, per\u00f2, \u00e8 bene che lo stesso Presidente della Camera faccia la sua parte affrettandosi a sciogliere il nodo angosciante posto da quella parte della sua dichiarazione sulla tragedia di Ustica in cui ha denunciato come la verit\u00e0 sulla vicenda sia stata \u201cfrustrata da depistaggi, complotti e silenzi anche da parte di alcuni settori dell\u2019apparato statale\u201d.\n\nQuali sono questi \u201csettori dell\u2019apparato statale\u201d? Fico non pu\u00f2 lasciare inevasa questa domanda. Perch\u00e9 se ha la certezza che la verit\u00e0 su Ustica sia stata nascosta e manomessa da una parte infedele dello Stato stesso deve denunciare senza esitazione alcuna i responsabili delle deviazioni. Da parlamentare e da cittadino ha tutto il diritto di nutrire sospetti. Nella sua qualit\u00e0 di terza carica dello Stato deve indicare le prove delle sue convinzioni. Altrimenti rischia di essere la terza carica di uno Stato, per sua stessa affermazione, criminale."}
-{"text": "Camping is a way to get all your friends and family together and enjoy a single moment, in this stress-free adventure which will, later on, becomes a memorable moment, which you cherish forever ever. Some may hold it in pictures, videos, etc. However, camping is not easy you need lots of planning and organizing along with having the Best Hammock Tent with you. So, you need to bring the top-quality tent and organize o do before you start your journey. Such as, your everyday essentials, food, water, clothes, tents to sleep in and, some medicine to heal from insect bites.\n\nHow to Choose the Best Hammock Tent: Things to Consider Choosing the best tent for camping outdoor is essential to get perfect enjoyment there. Camping hammock tent is growing quite popular among the campers but also, they are finding it difficult to buy their best-fitted one. So, here we will discuss some consideration while buying the perfect hammock tent.\n\nConsiderations for buying a hammock tent:\n\nWeight\n\nAdjustment\n\nSpace\n\ncheck Build Quality Build Materials\n\nSet Up\n\nFeatures\n\nCheck Out the Hammock Weight\n\nThe weight of your hammock tent can vary due to different fabric types and accessories it has. Check out if your hammock tent system has these features or not: Hammock Rainfly Mesh net Extra Straps If the tent is built for the winter season or for jungle camping, then the weight will increase due to the mesh net, rainfly shed, etc. With all the options, a lightweight tent will be at least 3lb. Nevertheless, all the backpack does have more or less. But, with a hammock, you will not face it as it is super lightweight so you would not face any difficulty during the journey.\n\nAdjustment and Setup\n\nYou need to have the option to adjust your hammock easily so that you can find the best out of it. With hammock tents, you can easily customize your sleeping position you prefer. As mentioned earlier hammock comes with extra features, but do not fear as it comes with proper information paper which will help you to set up easily along side by side with extra straps; thus you do not have to worry if one tree is far from another.\n\nHow Much Space the Hammock Provides\n\nHammock space can be tiny so may want to pack only essential and organize it in a way that it fits perfectly. If you are extra cautious about the comfort inside the tent, then you should also check how much space the specific hammock will give you. Check out the space and dimension of the hammock tent before buying and then consider.\n\nComfort is the Main Consideration\n\nMost of the hammocks are made of either nylon or cotton, you can choose whichever suits you better. You need to think, how much comfort you will want in your tent. As, a best comforting hammock tent can weight a little Havier in your backpack, so decide how much to take and what you can give to consider that. I would suggest the nylon one as it' is easy to carry due to lightweight and mostly comfortable. Nevertheless, these might be not for everyone but, if you choose to buy you will have one lucky person in the camping as your tent will more comfortable as it won't cause you any back pain, and you will be able to sleep like a baby.\n\nBuild Quality Is an Essential Consideration\n\nMany of us forget to check the build quality before buying and then understand what they needed to do first. Build quality will ensure how much damage it can take and survive in roughest nature. Also, the weight it can carry. So, check if the tent is strong enough to hold many cushions, so do not hesitate to add up to your liking.\n\nWhatever, type of hammock you decide to buy, you need to make sure the quality is right as you don't want your hammocks stripes to come off int the middle of the night while you are sleeping. Nevertheless, you don't have to worry about it as the material of hammocks is a very high quality which leads you to a peaceful sleep. A few companies may call this the\" extreme weight capacity,\" but usually a one-person hammock can range from 200lb to 500lb, not more\n\nQuality Build Materials\n\nQuality build materials matters! It is as essential in comforting factors and also in longevity factors. Some cheap tent will provide most of the features with using the cheap quality material. No matter how much attractive it looks, the tent will show the lack of quality between the uses. Most of the given tents on our list are made of quality fabric and materials. These hammocks are made of nylon and polyester fabric. As nylons tend to be lasting more than cotton or any other fabric, and also more expensive. Although, some may prefer polyester, which would not last long they are not even comfortable, although there are material that can be stiff or stretchy as you prefer.\n\nBug net and Rainfly Features\n\nAs during camping there always features of getting bug bites. Thus we also suggest you check the bug net which will prevent you from any sort of bug bites, and sleep peacefully. During camping, you never know when it will rain, so save you from the rain we give a rain fly or trap whichever you prefer to call it, this will keep you from getting wet.\n\nInsulation Feature: Keeping Your Body Warm is Also Important\n\nas sleeping in a hammock can be cold now how to keep yourself warm, you have two options Either: Use a Sleeping Pad \u2013 you can use two sleeping pads one which double layered hammock with slip holder and another get a pad with walls Or Under Quilt \u2013 this is like a sleeping bag which warms your entire body. See If the Suspension System is Perfect or NOT With the suspension system, the hammock can be tied with the trees. In fact, it is the easiest way to tie the hammock to your tree. However, the most common hammock may come with: Whoopie sling \u2013 rope manufactured to adjust with your tree easily. It is used in different hammocks and also hammock tents. Daisy chain \u2013 instead of straps they will give your chains to secure your hammock with your tree. DIY \u2013 it is the same rope to tie the hammock; however, it is optional as it is very time-consuming of many varieties of Hammock tent you might face difficulty to choose the best one for you. However, you do not have to worry anymore as the section of the guide helps you to find the perfect hammock tent for you. And make your decision making easier.\n\nDecide Why You Want to Use the Tent\n\nAt first, you need to decide on what you would like to use it for. If it's for a camping trip, you may prefer bigger tents. Because the big hammock tents have more features. Moreover, it comes with a sleeping bag which will protect you from the bug bites. But if you are planning to use in your house, such as, in the backyard or in the lounging area you may want to pick the smaller ones as it is the perfect size for this particular reason and also make your work easy as it can be folded and keep in a backpack without any hassle.\n\nCheck Out the Size and Height of the Camping Tent\n\nMoreover, you can always look at the product back for size as your hight matters while buying.\n\nBut, I would still like you to buy the bigger hammock tent as it is more durable and also comes with modern features. Do check all the reviews of the product before buying as we don't want you to wake up in the middle of the night and unable to go back to sleep. As you will sleep on the ground, you need to make sure you are comfortable and can quickly go to sleep.\n\nTop 5 Best Hammock Tent Reviews of 2019 We have reviewed the top and most popular hammock tents in the market and short the list into 5. Check out the reviews and our expert opinion on these products to find yourbest-suitedd tent.\n\nLawson Hammock Blue Ridge Camping Hammock and Tent \u2013 Best Tent for Comfort & Quality Lawson Hammock Blue Ridge Camping... Undoubtedly this is one of the most popular hammock tents in the market right now. Now a day\u2019s hybrid tent-hammock very popular and most wanted hammocks in the market. With many features and advantages like the quick setup technology, comfortable design and compact size for excellent, comfortable carrying facility, this is rated the best hammock tent according to our review team members. This hammock tent comes with rainfly, stuff sack, and many other essential features. The Rainfly cover makes better protection for rain, and you do not need any shed to place it. After using the Lawson Blue Ridge Camping Hammock for a few weeks, I felt like writing my heart out, so here goes nothing. The Lawson Blue Ridge Camping Hammock seems basically like a new woven spreader bar hammock. Yes, spreader bars are used in the Lawson, the similar connections stop here yes right here. The internal size will let you enjoy your time and sleep with great comfort. The Lawson comes with short spreader bars, these bars not extendable to the entire width of the body. To lower the center of gravity there a pocket at the end of the hammock which is created by gathering and pleating the fabric. The Lawson is very stable from the other modern rope hammocks. As there is no leg strain or hyperextension, it\u2019s very comfortable to lay on. The whole package comes at a very reasonable price. This is very affordable all in one camping hammock for essential camping trips. As the spreader bars and the tent poles are kinds of heavy, this is not on the lightest hammocks list. The only downside of this hammocks is its spreader bars and it\u2019s tent poles which are pretty heavy. Our Thought \u201cWe had covered more than 30 camping tents and hammock tents to make this comparison, and we were delighted with the Lawson Hammock Blue Ridge Camping Hammock Tent. Also, our team liked the overall sleeping comfort of this tent \u2013 mainly I have tried sleeping here with my back, side, and belly with ultimate ease. We can mark it as the best hammock for napping. One issue we found is you need a better place to set this tent properly. If you do not see any, then you will have to make some tweaking to do it. Otherwise, the tent is fantastic for outdoor camping. We recommend this tent to everyone, who likes comfort and quality. \u201c What We Liked Lightweight design with most features in a compact size\n\nProvide comfortable sleeping experience\n\nComes with waterproof nylon quality\n\ncheck Has bug net and rainfly for proper cover\n\ncheck Has shock-corded poles for better stability What We Didn\u2019t Like Price is on the higher side\n\nPoles of this tent are kinds of heavy\n\nSetting it anywhere needs some tweaking Specification Hammock Weight: 4.25 lbs.\n\nInterior Length: 90 in.\n\nInterior Width: 42 in.\n\nPacking Size: Packs to 22in x 6 in.\n\nWeight Limit: 275 lbs.\n\nColor: Forest Green Check Latest Price\n\nHammock Bliss Sky Tent 2 \u2013 Best Camping Hammock Tent for Space and Safety Hammock Bliss Sky Tent 2 - A... While the Lawson Hammock was best for comfort, the Hammock Bliss Sky Tent 2 comes with a great safety for the people who will stay within, and also for the gadget we carry. The hammock tent is made of ripstop waterproof nylon, no-see-um netting, and hard floor, which will ensure better safety for you and the net itself. As you\u2019re slowly turning into a camping lover, sometimes you might consider talking your better half with you that where the Hammock Bliss Sky Tent 2 comes in. This oversized tent will protect you by giving enough space for keeping gadget. And you\u2019re loved from flies and keep your gear dry from the rain. The Hammock Bliss Sky Tent 2 has taken camping to a whole new level, where comfort and convenience have reached a new peck point. It has layers of waterproof nylon and a hard floor to keep the warmth within and also ensures proper dryness that keeps the gadget safer. It accommodates two comfy hammocks so you and your partner can hang together. With 2100 holes / square inch netting keeps away the smallest bugs away, and the temperature is just perfect. So, you do not have to worry about the actual worrying stuff that happens in the rough trails. The double pull YKK zippers makes its \u201ceasy peasy\u201d to get in and out of the hammock. A prusik knot lets you adjust the tension between the ridge lines and adjust the rope from the tent from one side to another. All of these are made with superb quality that you will not think a lot about its upper price rate. An oversized waterproof sack will comfortably accommodate your Sky Tent, straps and any big hammock and any extra necessitates for your journey. Make your camping memorable with The Hammock Bliss Sky Tent 2. Our Thought \u201cSome of the reasons to pick into the top 5 hammock tent is its good design and perfect features. The company has taken every need into the consideration and smartly design the Sky Tent 2 tent which will keep you and your gear dry from the rain and safe from any bugs or flies. For some reason, it is called as the best backpacking hammock tent according to some of the experts of outdoor magazines. We have used this hammock tent in the last season also liked the environment in the tent in the wet season. However, we believe that a little wider tarp would be really nice. Setting the tent is also easy. The overall material also makes sure you can use it in rough and tough condition. \u201c Things We Liked It comes with enough space to keep your gadgets inside\n\nLightweight and compact design to carry with you easily\n\nThe netting keeps the bugs away and provides safety\n\ncheck Comes with a base of ripstop waterproof nylon\n\ncheck You can get in and out easily with the YKK zippers Things We Didn\u2019t Like Price is on the higher side\n\nA tarp could have been little wider Check Latest Price\n\nEclypse II Camping Hammock Professional Grade Ripstop Nylon Strength Tent - Best Value Camping Hammock Next up in our hammock review round-up is the Eclypse II Camping Hammock Professional Grade Ripstop Nylon Strength Tent. Tiny Big Adventure (manufacturer), made sure that you\u2019ll have \u201ceverything you need for an easy and comfortable camping tent in the jungle or backyard.\u201d This quality hammock tent is made of professional grade 210 ripstop nylon, triple-stitching. It\u2019s not your average parachute nylon. This ripstop nylon is one of the top-notch material in the market you sleep like a baby in this hammock, yes it\u2019s that comfy. Comfort is its first priority. This hammock is super easy to set up and if you plan on using it frequently, then this is one of the best value camping hammock choice for 2019. The size is ideal for one person, this hammock has been load tested to 400IBS during their quality control test. Its super strong so no need to worry about your safety, it would take a lot of strength and tension to rips this nylon hammock You can take Eclypse II Hammock anywhere literally anywhere it\u2019s so light and portable. It\u2019s perfect for hiking, it weighs around a pound and acquires a small space. It\u2019s an ultra-light hammock it weighs only 16.7 ounces. After the hammock is set up it will provide you 108 inches in length and 53 inches wide soft, comfy and suspended bed. Pack up your stuff and head out with the Eclypse II Camping Hammock, lives just too short life in between these four walls. You can chill in the tent during summer days and zip up the hammock in the night for a bug-free night. The mosquito net will keep the bugs out of you and will provide tension-free time. This is one of the best ultralight hammock tents for your total comfort. Our Thought \u201cWhile reviewing different camping hammock, we tested the Eclypse II Camping Hammock with a very keen eye. It has a large popularity among the outdoor enthusiasts for it cozy, easy to handle and comfortable features by offering a really cheap price. We had used this tent for a couple of our trips to see exactly what it can offer at this price point we were delight by its comfort. Especially the back support and bug networks perfectly fine. Although some of the users have their different opinion about the comfort- mostly we thought it is as perfect as you can get at this price. I will recommend to anyone who is looking to have a trip outside in the wilderness.\u201d Things We Liked Comes in a lightweight design with providing durable construction\n\nLightweight and compact design to carry with you easily\n\nIncludes a mosquito net for keeping the bugs out\n\ncheck Really comfortable to use outdoors with an openness\n\ncheck Comes with a waterproof stuff sack for the rainy season\n\ncheck The hammock is really easy to set up and adjust\n\ncheck The six-month money-back guarantee is a great bonus Things We Didn\u2019t Like Some users find that the hammock tent isn\u2019t that comfortable\n\nThe overall quality will still lack in competing with its higher-end competitor tents Check Latest Price\n\nTentsile Stingray - Suspended Camping Tree House Tent \u2013 Most Comfortable Hammock Tent Tentsile Stingray 3-Person Tree Tent... This is revolutionary Tree Tent and three-person easy stay in it. It\u2019s a new era for the hammock tents generation. This camping hammock and tent is popular for its suitability and also comfort for the campers. In fact, it is one of the most comfortable hammock tents you will find over the internet right now. These hammocks are not cheap to buy but oh boy \u2013 they sure do feel incredibly comfortable and surely will provide for an epic night\u2019s sleep for 3 people! The Tree Tent is an exclusive and comfortable shelter that will keep you safe and sound from snakes and other creepy crawlers. Also, it has proper no see um netting to keeps the bug out. The ripstop nylon makes sure your gear and other items remain safe from heavy rain. I liked the smart design of this tent with multi-person-occupancy with proper spaces that doesn\u2019t only allow multiple people, but also you can keep gadgets there. The rugged outdoor with toughest UV resist material is another thing that is special in this camping tent. Also, the waterproof layers will ensure proper dryness inside. These layers and covers keep the warmth within and provide dryness inside the ten- even in the heavy rain. The Stingray Tree Tent is a very unique tent, it\u2019s very spacious and has a triple hammock interior which will let the campers sleep in comfort and peace in their separate hammocks. The rip-resistant durable micro-mesh will protect you from bugs and flies. You can easily get in and out using the floor hatch and there\u2019s also a large front door. According to the companies advertising term -this tent can hold up to 3 adults their bags and baggage\u2019s or 2 adults and 2 children. However, we have our different insight that we will discuss on a later part of this article. The straps will hold the stingray in position, and it\u2019s possible to suspend this tent between anything literally any kind of trees, trucks, boulders can do the jobs of pole stands. It also comes with a rain fly peerless satisfying wide-angle views with maximum protection, which can be easily attached to the ground which can create a large area covering up to 160ft\u00b2/ 15m\u00b2. Life is easier with the Tentsile Stingray Tree Tent. Our Thought \u201cWe have used and experimented with hammock tent with different environment and multiple peoples. Reason to do that is its higher price point \u2013 we wanted to ensure its quality and features that are given in the product selling outlets. However, we are satisfied with most of the features, there are a few criticisms also. The company suggests that it can allow three people to cope with it easily, which is we thought little uncomfortable. However, with two people space is GREAT! Also, the size and the weight are on the heavier side, so if you are planning for regular camping- you have to rethink on using it. To keep this in this top 5 hammock tent review list, there is a lot of reason. The quality and comfort are excellent. Flat sleeping surface and internal pockets for storing gears are there to make your camping leisure time comfortable cozy. If you are willing to pay a bit to spend good time with your family and friends, you can surely look this camping tent.\u201d Things We Liked Comes in a durable construction quality with high quality materials\n\nThis tent comes rain fly shade for keeping you dry in the rain\n\nYou can enjoy the peerless satisfying wide-angle views\n\ncheck Includes a durable micro net for keeping the bugs away\n\ncheck This hammock is comfortable to use for 2-3 people\n\ncheck The tear-resistant roof is made with high-class material\n\ncheck Cozy and convenient for the family trip Things We Didn\u2019t Like Size is on the larger side to carry even by two people\n\nThe higher price tag is also a problem that most of the customers have said Check Latest Price\n\nEagles Nest Outfitters JungleNest Hammock -Best Backyard Hammock Tent Eagles Nest Outfitters ENO OneLink... The JungleNest Hammock by Eagles Nest Outfitters (ENO) is a light and portable hammock perfect for backyards, campgrounds or the backcountry. This hammock comes with a bug net that keeps the nasty bugs and flies away. The JungleNest Hammock has a total of 9\u2032 4\u2033 x 4\u2032 9\u2033 of a perimeter, weighs 27 ounces and can hold up to 400 pounds. The combination of power and comfort makes this unbeatable. It\u2019s made with woven 210D nylon ripstop fabric, nautical grade lines are used for hanging. So, you don\u2019t have to worry about quality and any tears and breaks during using it outdoors. Moreover, the sturdy triple stitched seams make sure that you can use it for a longer time. The aluminum wire gate carabineers of the Eagles Nest Outfitters JungleNest Hammock with nautical grade steel sturdily hold the tent and secure the hammock to trees safely. The fly net is made from No-See-Um mesh which is attached to full-length side zipper for exit and entry. The JungleNest Hammock also comes aluminum wire gate carabineers, this tent can hold up to 400 lbs. The ENO JungleNest Hammock also has a stuff sack which comes in multiple colors. Get close to nature with the ENO JungleNest Hammock. Live your everyday bland life behind and seek some adventure today. The ENO JungleNest Hammock is very easy to set up, only takes a few minutes. Doesn\u2019t take a lot of storage space, there are attachments available that you can buy to keep things off the ground. Not a whole lot of storage space, but there are attachments you can buy to keep your things off the ground. The hammock is great for storage, in the end, it all wraps up in a small ball. Our Thought \u201cI personally love this hammock tent, especially for its lighter weight and easy setup facility. However, while listing it in the best camping backpacking hammock tent list, we had to test a few things to be sure of its quality. The warmth inside the tent is comfy enough to spend your time with enjoying a bit. I could also keep this tent in my backpack without any hassle. The quality of the lines and tent are quite good. We also had experienced some of the camping trips with this tent to clear some of the complains we found on the e-commerce comment sections and few blogs. One of them is you need adjust few things for properly align the tent, which is quite right but can be solved after few uses easily. And also, you need to use a thermosets pad to use this tent in the winter season, cause keeping the warmth it doesn\u2019t actually work perfectly in winter. Otherwise the comfort, quality and easy to facilities of this tent can be a great addition to your days out of the house without thinking a lot.\u201d Things We Liked Very easy to set up in different kinds of places\n\nThe tent is light in weight and small in size to place it in your backpack\n\nComes with excellent quality that survives the toughest camping\n\ncheck Comfortable inside will let you enjoy your time\n\ncheck The mosquito net of this backpacking tent will keep bugs out\n\ncheck The tent can hold up to 400 lbs making it easier to use for anyone Things We Didn\u2019t Like To get it in a proper alignment, you need to adjust the tent\n\nThe tent isn\u2019t a wise option for the winter season Check Latest Price"}
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-{"text": "Paresh Chattopadhyay's review of Stepen Resnick's book on the USSR, analysing the Soviet experience in terms of class.\n\nCLASS THEORY AND HISTORY: CAPITALISM AND COMMUNISM IN THE USSR, Stephan A. Resnick and Richard D. Wolff; New York and London: Routledge, 2002\n\nReviewed by Paresh Chattopadhyay\n\nThe book under review is not just one more addition to the numerous works on the USSR that have so far appeared in print. This is an unusual work. It attempts to analyse the whole soviet experience (1917-1990) in terms of 'class,' derived from Marx. According to the authors the USSR was all along a \"state form of capitalism.\" The Bolsheviks had simply replaced pre-1917 \"private capitalism\" with \"state capitalism.\"\n\nI. The Argument\n\nThe authors distinguish their kind of class analysis from the rest of such analysis. Contrary to the latter which, they say, advances their class analysis in terms of property and/or power, their own class analysis is grounded in Marx's concept of `surplus,' its production, appropriation and distribution involving different groups - `classes' - in all societies (pp. X-XI). The organisation of the whole process constitutes \"society's class structure.\" A \"communist class structure\" is one where production and appropriation of surplus are effected by the same group of people - unlike in other class societies - but still the distribution of surplus brings in a different group of people who simply receive a part of the surplus without being involved in the first two processes - constituting a different class. Let it be noted that in their class analysis the authors are guided by what they call the \"Marxian notion of over-determination,\" that is, all aspects of society conditioning and shaping one another (pp. IX, XIV, 9). Given more than one class in communism - \"two groups of people\" in fact as mentioned earlier - communism is neither `classless' nor without `class conflict.' In fact the second group is paid a part of the surplus in order to perform various \"non class processes\" so as to sustain the communist society (pp. 14, 15, 16). The authors distinguish communism from socialism. Unlike communism, socialism is not a distinct class process, with its own form of producing, appropriating and distributing surplus (pp. 76-77).\n\nAfter putting across their notion of `communism' the authors turn to `capitalism' where they are basically concerned with `state capitalism.' The latter they \"define\" as \"capitalist process of producing, appropriating and distributing surplus, consisting of and interacting with processes that place state officials in the class position of appropriators and distribution of surplus\" (p. 85). For the authors the USSR displays a `state capitalism' rather than some other kind of exploitative class structure. In the USSR collective property replaced private property in the means of production, and plan replaced market which, however, did not eliminate workers' exploitation (pp. 90-97). They also discuss different kinds of `state capitalism' in Lenin and summarize the basic alternative theories of state capitalism (particularly) with respect to the USSR) (Ch. 4 passim).\n\nIn their historical part they first discuss the class situation in the pre-1917 Russia in order to show how what they call the \"1917 revolution\" arose out of the existing multiple and contradictory class structures of the country (1861-1917) which presented essentially a combination of `feudal,\" `ancient' and `capitalist' class structures where \"Communist class structures\" lay almost completely outside the experience of pre-1917 Russia\" (p. 144). In their account of the post-1917 period, based on standard `western' sources, they argue that the \"1917 revolution\" at first simply displaced private capitalism in industry with state capitalism and, in agriculture, eliminated private capitalism with a vast number of small farmers. The NEP led to the re-emergence of private capitalist farms. However, with the exception of \"communist class structures generated by collectivitization of the late 1920s, exploitation remained a significant reality of soviet agriculture\" (p. 157). As regards the soviet households, they retained \"mostly feudal and significant ancient class structures.\" Soviet workers in fields and factories and at home \"did not free themselves from class exploitation\" (p. 157). After the NEP the stat capitalist class structure of industry returned to a more centralized form. The collectivization of agriculture established communist class structures (particularly in agriculture). However, the state's subsequent policies did much to undermine them (p. 256). Finally, while the \"1917 revolution\" had eliminated private in favour of state capitalism, towards the end, in the 1980s, it was state capitalism that was in decay. \"The crises reversed the direction of 1917: the last transition went from state back to private capitalism\" (p. 281).\n\nThis unusual work, closely argued, raises many important - particularly theoretical - issues which deserve careful discussion. In what follows our focus mostly will be on theoretical issues, the most challenging in the book. However, given the space limit, we propose to take up only some of them (naturally arbitrarily).\n\nII. Marx on Capitalism - A particular Reading\n\nMost of the theoretical discussion in the book concerns the authors' very original ideas about surplus and class and, connected therewith, their innovative notion of \"communist class structure.\" However, before we come to have a look at those interesting ideas, it is, perhaps, only proper to say a few words about the authors' view on Marx's approach to capitalism.\n\nAccording to the authors, Marx's analysis of capitalism \"concentrated on the particular kind of capitalism dominant in his day,\" that is \"private capitalism\" to \"understand\" which he devised his value formula (c + v + s = w) (pp. 13, 86, 171). To support this contention they refer to the well-known opening lines of Capital about the capitalist \"wealth\" consisting of an \"immense accumulation of commodities\" where \"individual commodity appears as its elementary form.\" They interpret this as meaning the \"exchange of privately owned and produced commodities.\" Unfortunately we do not agree with this reading of Marx. To start with, Marx's subject in Capital is the \"enquiry into the capitalist mode of production and corresponding relations of circulation\" with a view to \"discovering the law of motion of the modern society\" (1962a: 12, 15-16). It is a question of capital as such independently of the specific juridical form of ownership, whether `private' or `public' (state). In fact in his manuscript for Capital vol. 3 composed before Capital vol. 1 Marx himself takes full account of the evolution of capital's ownership form, entirely dictated by the demands of capital accumulation, till a stage is reached where capital remains no longer \"private\" and becomes \"directly social\" signifying the \"abolition of capital as private property within the limits of the capitalist mode of production itself\" (1964a: 452; 1992: 502; emphasis in the manuscript, not in Engels edition).\n\nOn the other hand, virtually neglected by Marx's partisans as well as by his detractors and, needless to add, totally unrecognizeded by the bourgeois jurisprudence, private ownership of capital has another and more profound sense in Marx - beyond individual private ownership either by household or by corporation. In this sense capital is always private property even when it is under `public' (state) property. In this sense Marx speaks of the objective conditions of labour becoming capital when, separated from the immediate producers and confronting them as an \"autonomous power,\" they are \"monopolised by a part of society\" as \"private property of a part of society\" (1956: 21; 1964a: 823; 1992: 843). They become \"class property\" of the capitalist class (see 1966b: 71, 73; 1971: 75). Private ownership in capital can disappear only with capital itself. Only when the conditions of production are collectively appropriated by the associated producers themselves.\n\nAs regards the \"individual commodity as the elementary form of the capitalist wealth,\" the \"individual commodity\" here does not necessarily mean \"privately owned and produced commodities\" as the authors contend (our emphasis). When Marx speaks of commodity as a product of \"private labour,\" \"private\" here does not necessarily mean juridical private ownership. \"Private\" here means non directly social labour \"operating independently of each other\" (1962a: 87). This completely fits in with \"commodity\" being produced by the \"State\" itself as \"the capitalist producer\" where this commodity \"possesses the specific character of every other commodity\" (Marx 1962c: 370).\n\nThe authors say that \"Marx nowhere argued that capitalist exploitation must always exist with commodities and markets\" (p. 86). One could turn their contention and say, on the basis of Marx's texts, that Marx nowhere argued that capitalism could exist without commodities and everywhere argued that capitalism is simply generalized commodity production (with labour power necessarily appearing as a commodity). Indeed, while commodity (and markets) could, indeed, exist in the absence of capitalism (as in pre-capitalist societies), the existence of commodities there is only concerned with a part of society's products. Only in capitalism all or most of the products of labour assume commodity form. In pre-capitalism use value and not exchange value dominates production where what is exchanged is basically the surplus of production beyond the producer's immediate self-satisfaction. The aim of production is use value, not exchange value. However, \"the (capitalist's) determining aim is not use value and enjoyment, but exchange value and its expansion.\" The \"capitalist\" indeed, is the \"fanatical agent of valorization\" (1962a: 618; 1965: 1095). As Marx says: \"To produce commodities does not distinguish the capitalist mode of production from other modes of production, but rather that commodity is the dominant and determining character of its product. This immediately implies that the labour is only a seller of commodity and thus a free wage labourer\" (1964a: 886; 1992: 897). Marx underlined in his Urtext (1858): \"To wish that exchange value will not develop from commodity and money into capital, or that labour, producing exchange value, will not develop into wage labour is as pious as it is absurd\" (1953: 916).\n\nIII. Surplus Approach to Class in Relation to Marx\n\nIt is the authors' great merit to have brought (back) what constituted one of the central ideas of the classical political economy, later revolutionized by Marx's `critique' (to be subverted soon by the marginalist `counter revolution' in [bourgeois] political economy) namely, notion of `class' in relation to `surplus' (labour) with which they undertake to analyse the Russian society of the period 1917-1918, by quite properly calling their approach a \"surplus theory of class\" (p. IX). In this they affirm their Marx heritage and sharply distinguish their approach from that of the dominant `Marxism' which, they say, not without reason, has left aside the surplus (labour) approach in favour of property/power approach to class in order to analyze the (ex)soviet society. They should be praised for this innovative treatment of the question.\n\nRight at the beginning of their book they assert that they base their analysis on the \"unique surplus labour notion of class offered by Marx\" (p. 8). However, this affirmation is not, we are afraid, without problems. In their approach they \"define class\" exclusively in terms of surplus (labour) - how society organises production, appropriation and distribution of surplus (p. XI). Stated in this way, their \"surplus theory of class\" does not seem to cross the bounds of the surplus approach to class of the great bourgeois political economists, particularly, Quesnay and Ricardo, and covers only a part of Marx's approach, leaving aside Marx's specific contribution to this question compared to all his predecessors. It is well known that Marx had no part in inventing (discovering) the notions (of the reality) of `surplus' and `class' (and their connection) which he found already more or less elaborated by his great predecessors (economists and historians). Marx's (own) specific contribution in this area lies elsewhere. This contribution comes from his absolutely revolutionary materialist method, pertaining to what he calls the \"new materialism\" as opposed both to idealism and to the \"old materialism\" which went before him (and Engels) that is, including Feuerbach's, and whose standpoint is proclaimed as \"human society or social humanity,\" not \"bourgeois society,\" as with \"old materialism\" (Point 10 of the so-called `Theses' on Feuerbach, 1845). This materialism, as the \"materialist conception of the world\" or the materialist \"conception of history\" (hereafter MCH), rather inexactly called `historical materialism' (the term never used by Marx), was first fairly well elaborated in the German Ideology (1845-46) and later found its classic expression in Marx's much misunderstood magisterial `Preface' to the Contribution (1859), then explicitly reiterated by him, even calling it \"my method\" and the \"only scientific method\" in Capital I (1962a: 25, 96, 393).\n\nThis method centers on the way, the `mode' (Weise) in which people in a particular society produce and reproduce their \"material life.\" Thereby this materialist method lends a profoundly historical sense to social-economic categories, making them \"historical\" and not \"eternal\" (contrary, particulary, to the method of the bourgeois political economy). Now, surplus (labour) arises in the process of production within a particular mode of production and is integrally connected with what Marx calls the \"social relations of production.\" And it is precisely the ,social relations of production which find expression antagonistically in classes in a class society. \"The specific economic form in which the unpaid surplus labour is pumped out of the immediate producers determines the relation of lordship and bondage as it results directly from production itself and in its turn appears (erscheinend) as determining it. It is on this that the whole form of the economic community, born out of the production relations themselves, . . . is based\" (Marx 1992: 732, 1964: 799). The mode of production, to which correspond the relations of production and classes arising therefrom, together with the mode of obtaining surplus (labour) from the immediate producers are all historically specific to particular, historically evolved societies. Indeed, in his much quoted letter to Weydemeyer (1852) one of Marx's originalities in relation to class analysis is affirmed as his \"proof\" that the existence of classes is bound up with the historical stages of the development of production. Now, as regards surplus (labour), in all class societies, in general, \"wherever a part of society possesses a monopoly of the means of production the labourer has to add surplus labour time to the labour time necessary for her/his self sustenance in order to create surplus for the possessor of the means of production\" (Marx 1962a: 249). However, this statement, valid for all class societies throughout the \"pre-history of human society\" - in the specific sense of Marx (1859) (greatly modified when the humanity enters its proper \"history,\" as we shall note in a moment) - does not indicate which specific class society it is referring to. Hence Marx's more specific statement: \"It is only the mode through which surplus labour is imposed on and extorted from the immediate producer that distinguishes the different economic forms of society, slavery, for example, from the society of wage labour\" (1962a: 231). Following the MCH, in the absence of any explicit reference to the specificity of the mode of production and the corresponding (social) relations of production, and the specific mode of obtaining the surplus connected therewith, any discussion of class and surplus as such remains a-historical and, at best, incomplete. The authors under consideration, in their discussion of the surplus theory of class, - highly innovative in itself - seem to abstract altogether from the question of mode of production and corresponding relations of production together with the specific mode (following therefrom) of obtaining the surplus labour which lie at the center of Marx's \"materialist conception of the world.\" Far from ascribing the \"conditions of existence of classes\" to the \"non class aspects of social life,\" as the authors do (p. 43), MCH, on the contrary, seeks to find the `conditions of existence of classes' in what Marx calls the \"economic conditions,\" the \"economic foundations,\" the \"economic structure of society,\" that is, the \"mode of production of material life and the relations of production following therefrom\" (Marx 1972a: p. 350; 1962a: 96). Put tersely, \"classes are based on the relations of production\" (Marx 1973c: 89). Similarly Engels in 1878: \"the classes of society . . . are always the products of the relations of production and circulation, in a word, the economic relations of their epoch\" (1962: 25, emphasis in text).\n\nMaking surplus necessarily associated with class, they cannot, quite consistently with their own logic, see how surplus can exist in a society without classes. However, with all their internal consistency, problems do arise when they bring in Marx as almost supporting their position. Thus they write: \"Marx wrote extensively on class in terms of surplus, he said little about either the dictatorship of the proletariat or classlessness\" (p. 71). While the first part of the statement, as noted earlier, is, at best, an incomplete representation of Marx's (own) specific contribution to the surplus-and-class question, the second part tends to ignore Marx's entire theory and practice concerning the emancipation of the proletariat - beginning in early 1840s and ending with his life itself - with which his idea of a classless \"union of free individuals\" (1962a: 92-93), after the demise of capital, is intimately connected. (We leave aside for the moment the question of the proletarian dictatorship). Even when, to affirm his position, Marx did not have to repeat everywhere - like a `mantra' - `classless society' as the configuration of society after capital, there are a sufficient number of his texts which explicitly refute our authors' contention. Marx's logic is straightforward. For him the existence of classes in a society - the lot of \"humanity's pre-history\" till now - signifies an unfree society - whether the individual's unfreedom is (predominantly) \"personal\" (subjective) - including patriarchy - as under slavery or serfdom or it is (predominantly) \"material\" (objective) as under capital (through \"commodity fetishism\" and \"wage slavery\"). And the bourgeois relations of production - obviously including classes under capital - are the \"last antagonistic form of social production process\" (Marx 1980: 101). (Let us note that for Marx classes exist only in mutual antagonism.) Now we turn to some of Marx's (own) texts.\n\nIn one of the first polemical works written jointly by Marx (mostly) and Engels (1845) we read: \"The proletariat will triumph only by abolishing itself and by abolishing its opposite\" (1972b: p. 38). Given that the work basically speaks of only two opposing classes - the \"possessing class\" and the \"proletarian class\" (1972b: p. 38) - the sentence cited could only mean the `abolition of classes.' In the very next major work (1845-46) - where, as we earlier noted, the MCH is first fully elaborated - we find en toutes lettres the expression: the \"communist revolution\" as \"abolishing the domination of all the classes\" and as \"abolishing the classes themselves\" (1973b: pp. 69-70). About a year later Marx affirms that the \"condition of emancipation (affranchissement) of the labouring class is the abolition of every class\" (1965: 136). The Manifesto, shortly afterwards, speaks of the \"disappearance of class differences (Klassenunterschiede) in course of the movement\" and of the proletariat, as the \"ruling class,\" \"abolishing classes in general and therewith its own domination as a class\" (Marx and Engels: 1966b: p. 77). Two years later in his Class Struggles in France (1950) Marx declared the \"class dictatorship of the proletariat as the necessary transition point towards the abolition of class differences in general\" (Abschaffung der Klassenuntershiede \u00fcberhaupt) (1973c: p. 89; emphasis in text). A few years later, in his 1857-58 manuscripts, Marx wrote about the necessity of the presence, in a latent state, in society of the \"material conditions of production and corresponding relations of circulation for a society without classes\" for the success of \"any attempt at exploding the society\" (1953: 77). Again in the Statutes of the First International - composed by Marx - we read about the struggle for the \"emancipation of the working class\" aimed at the \"abolition of all class r\u00e9gime\" (General Council of 1964, p. 420). Similarly in the `Afterword' to the second edition of Capital (1873) Marx famously wrote about the ultimate \"abolition of classes\" as the \"historical mission of the proletariat\" (1962a: 25) In his `Address' on the Paris Commune (1871) Marx wrote of the \"class struggles through which the working classes strive for the abolition of classes\" (1971: 156). Then in the Gothakritik Marx reaffirmed the \"abolition of class distinctions (Abschaffung der Klassenunterschiede)\" leading to the \"disappearance of all the social and political inequality itself arising from them\" (1966b: 184).\n\nIV. Communism: Utopian and Class Based\n\nQuite consistently with their own logic, our authors qualify classless communism as \"utopian\" (11) (and not they alone!) which naturally would include Marx-envisaged communism, following from our demonstration above (based on Marx's own texts). By using the same term for classless communism in general that Marx and Engels had used about their socialist `utopian' predecessors like St. Simon, Fourier, Owen, the authors seem to obscure a basic difference between the two approaches. Marx (and Engels) definitely did not call these socialists `utopians' simply because they had earlier envisaged the society after capital as classless. Their systems, qualified by the Communist Manifesto as \"authentically socialist and communist,\" developed at a period when the proletariat was only in its embryonic stage, far from having as yet its own political movement and in a situation where the material conditions of their emancipation - the product of capitalism itself - were lacking. Hence their systems would have no real base in the society itself and therefore could only be the product of their will and imagination unconnected with the adequate subjective and objective conditions for a revolutionary transformation of the capitalist society. A contrario, the Manifesto praises them for their \"positive formulae about the future society\" which anticipated, among other things, the abolition of wage labour, of state, and the disappearance of class antagonisms (1966b: 84-85). Years later Marx would add that the \"ends of the movement proclaimed by the utopians are the ends proclaimed by the Paris Revolution and by the International\" (1971: 165-66).\n\nA perusal of Marx's own texts - the most telling ones selectively taken - again, would show how unlike the `utopians,' he did not derive his projected classless society (after capital) just from his head and how he argued that its appearance required proper material conditions as its basis - the conditions created by past history. Overtly taking an anti-idealist position he wrote as early as 1844: \"We will not proceed in the old German way - in the way of Hegel's Phenomenology . . . To supersede the idea of private property, communism as thought is wholly sufficient. To supersede real private property there has to be a real communist action. This will come out of history\" (1966a: 116; emphasis in text). About a year later, while elaborating their MCH, he and Engels wrote: \"communism is not . . . an ideal to which the reality has to conform. We call communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things. The conditions of this movement result from the pre-condition (Voraussetzung) existing at present\" (1973b: 35, emphasis in text). (The same work clearly proclaims the \"abolition of classes,\" as we showed earlier.) Engels in his polemic with Karl Heinzen (October, 1847) put the matter lucidly: \"communism is not a doctrine, but a movement. Its point of departure is facts, not principles. The communists do not have as their prerequisite this or that philosophy but the whole history of the past and above all the present day real results in the civilized lands . . .. In so far as it is theoretical, communism is the theoretical expression of the position of the proletariat in the class struggles with the bourgeoisie and the theoretical r\u00e9sum\u00e9 of the conditions of liberation of the proletariat\" (1972a: pp. 321-22). In the same year, one month later, Marx takes over the same idea from Engels and writes: \"In so far as communism is a theory, it is the theoretical expression of a `movement'\" (1972a: 357). And the very next year the Communist Manifesto famously observes: \"The theoretical conceptions of the communists are in no way based on ideas, principles, discovered or invented by such and such world reformer. They only express, in general terms, the real condition of the class struggle which exist, of a historical movement which is going on before our eyes\" (1966b: 70). In his 1857-58 manuscripts Marx underlines that \"universally developed individuals whose social relations would be subject to their own collective control as personal and common relations (that is, the communist collectivity) are a product of history\" (1953: 79). And \"if, in the society as it is, the natural conditions of production and the corresponding relation of circulation for a classless society do not already exist in a latent (verh\u00fcllt) state, all attempts at exploding the society would be Don Quixotism\" (1953: 77). Then in Capital we read that a \"union of free individuals\" requires \"a whole set of material conditions of existence which can only be the naturally grown product of a long and painful development\" (1962c: 92, 94). In his `Address' on the Commune (1871) Marx insists: \"The workers have no ideals to realise, but to set free the elements of the new society with which the old collapsing bourgeois society is pregnant\" (1971: 76, our emphasis). The same biological metaphor we find in the Gothakritik where we read that the \"communist society comes out of the womb of the capitalist society through prolonged birth pangs\" (1966b: 178, 179).\n\nNow a word about Marx's allegedly saying \"little about the dictatorship of the proletariat\" (the book, p. 71). True, if we take the particular term itself, the frequency of its use in Marx's texts is not high. But - what is more important - if we take the concept behind the term, that is, if we take proletarian dictatorship (PD for short) conceived as - and this is what it is - the absolute class rule of the proletariat (constituting the \"immense majority\"), then it is clear from Marx's writings that for him it is an integral part of the proletarian revolution towards establishment of a \"union of free individuals.\" PD is, indeed, nothing but the \"conquest of political power by the proletariat\" - the \"conquest of democracy\" - only as a \"first step,\" as the Manifesto asserts, towards ultimately revolutionising the whole bourgeois mode of production beginning from which `moment' all political power ceases to exist. This (class) `dictatorship' is all the more necessary for the proletariat because, unlike the bourgeoisie which (in its revolutionary process) already undermines the pre-bourgeois social relations long before overturning the existing political power, thus \"ensuring its already acquired (shon erworbene) position by subjecting the whole society to the conditions of its appropriation,\" the proletariat has to start its revolution by conquering its own political power as preparation towards ultimately abolishing the bourgeois mode of production (1966b: 68). A couple of years before the Manifesto spoke of the necessity of conquest of political power by the proletariat, Marx and Engels affirmed, it seems for the first time, as the \"conditions\" for \"abolition of all the old forms of society and of domination in general,\" the necessity for the proletariat to \"conquer political power\" (1973b: 34). In 1850 Marx uses, for the first time, the term itself appearing twice in the same work - \"dictatorship of the working class\" and \"class dictatorship of the proletariat\" (1973c: 33, 85). Then, of course, we have, two years later, the famous letter to Weydemeyer (which our authors have partially cited) repeating some of the language of this book. Some years later, in his `Inaugural Address' (1864) to the First international as well as in its statutes drafted by him Marx reaffirms that the \"great task of the labouring classes is the conquest of political power\" in order to prevent the privileged classes from \"defending and perpetrating their economic monopolies\" (General Council 1964: 426). In the Gothakritik Marx returns to the exact term in question: \"revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat\" presiding over the \"revolutionary transformation period\" (1966b: 186; emphasis in text).\n\nV. Two Concepts of Communism\n\nOur authors claim that their \"concept of communism\" is elaborated on the basis of Marx's class analysis as a \"distinct non exploitative communist class structure,\" that theirs is a \"new Marxian view of communism,\" that \"Marx provided the analytical basis for as well as gestured towards this class notion of communism\" (pages IX, 5, 14-15; emphasis in text). This is of course a society \"without exploitation\" because the same people who produce the surplus collectively are also its collective appropriators. However, this is a society \"with classes and class surplus \"inasmuch as besides the producers - appropriators of the surplus, there exists a second group receiving distribution from the first to perform various \"non-class processes\" - involving political, administrative, cultural and other activities - to sustain the communist class structure. These two groups constitute \"different communist class positions\" (pages 14-15). They affirm that \"Marx criticized the Gothic Programme . . . because it neglected the non-class processes\" and that \"Marx viewed such processes as necessary to sustain a communist class structure\" (p. 46). They assert that societies with communist class structure may exhibit varying political forms ranging from those that are fully democratic in nature to those that are clearly despotic, they may display property ownership ranging from fully collective to the very private. The mechanisms of distribution in these societies may range from \"full scale central planning to private markets including markets for labour power and means of production\" (p. 10). While dismissing communism as a classless society, they very much positively envisage a communist society having categories like \"values, surplus values and profit rates\" - prefacing them with the attribute \"communist administered\" - as well as market in labour power commodity\" \"sold\" for \"wages,\" that is, \"market communism\" or \"generalized communist commodity production,\" all this occurring within a \"communist state,\" non state communism not being excluded though (pages 34, 39, 60, 63, 93).\n\nTo what extent is this portrait of communism related to Marx's? To answer this question it might be helpful to have a summary glance of the future society as it appears in Marx's texts, read carefully. Even though Marx refused to write a \"cookbook\" for the future society, there are, spread all over his writings enough materials for offering us a fair idea of the kind of society that he thought would succeed capital. Here we try to present an aper\u00c3\u00a7u drawing on what we consider as Marx's most important texts on the subject.\n\nTo start with, the fundamental point of the Marx-envisaged society after capital which informs Marx's theoretical (and practical militant) work all his adult life is the immense emancipatory perspective (for the humanity) in which communism is placed through the abolition of capital. The whole process - which is \"epochal,\" not momentary (like a `seizure of power') - starts with the working class self-emancipatory revolution, given the adequate material conditions for such revolution prepared by capital itself through its self-annihilating contradictions. It passes through a \"long, painful\" \"revolutionary transformation period,\" \"changing circumstances and individuals\" in preparation for the future \"Association.\" After the workers have in course of the transformation period, largely eliminated (though not yet all the vestiges of) the existing elements of the old society such as classes, private ownership of the means of production, state, commodity production, wage labour, but carrying over all the \"acquisitions of the capitalist era,\" a new mode of production comes into existence - the Associated Mode of Production (AMP) the basis of the new society, \"society of free and associated producers\" - as opposed to all the earlier modes. Corresponding to the AMP there is a new mode of appropriation of the conditions of production - collective appropriation by society (of producers) itself, totally different from earlier private appropriation - either household/corporate or `public' (state), where the ownership in either form had appeared to the producers as an oppressive configuration autonomously standing against the producers. Similarly, the mode of distribution in the new society corresponds to the new mode of production. Here, with the collective appropriation of the conditions of production and directly social labour, neither the allocation of labour time (across the different branches of production as well as between society's necessary and disposable labour time) nor the distribution of society's total product with regard to reserves and enlarged reproduction requirements as well as personal consumption need to be mediated by money-commodity-wage form - the enslaving elements of the old society. The producers after being separated from the conditions of production - their own creation - under capital are now (re)unified with them \"at a higher level,\" and, with the mutual alienation between individuals of the earlier era eliminated, there is now the unmediated union of individuals who are all simple producers (after ceasing to be proletarians). Individuals cease to be subject to \"personal dependence\" (as under pre-capitalism) as well as to \"material (objective) dependence\" (as under capitalism) and as universally developed \"social individuals,\" gain \"free individuality.\" Inasmuch as the proletariat constitute the immense majority, being at the same time the lowest class in society in the \"last antagonist social form,\" the rest of society is naturally emancipated along with the proletariat. The humanity enters its history leaving its \"pre-history\" behind (1932: 536; 1953: 77, 78, 635, 636; 1962a: 92, 93, 109-10, 419, 790-91; 1962b: 312; 1964: 456, 621, 828; 1965: 136; 1966b: 77, 177-78; 1971: 75; 1972c: 159, 185-86; 1973a: 358; 1973b: 67-68; 1976: 236, 327; 1988: 129; 1992: 504, 662, 838).\n\nNow we return to the question of the relation between the two configurations of communism - our authors' in relation to Marx's. From our earlier discussion we know that for Marx (and Engels) communism is a \"historical movement,\" a process of long and painful revolutionary transformation leading to the advent of a new society, a \"union of free individuals.\" As regards our authors, in order to focus on class and surplus aspect of communism, they seem to have abstracted from the entire revolutionary transformation process (including the necessary material conditions) towards its realisation as well as the emancipatory implications of the new society. Apart from this consideration if we take the two communist societies as such, portrayed by the two sides, there seems to be almost nothing in common between them excepting the term `communism.' So it is not at all clear how we should view our authors' claim that this is a \"new Marxian view of communism\" or that their \"class notion of communism\" is Marx based. On the contrary, if one works within Marx's conceptual framework concerning `commodity,' `capital,' `wage labour' which we might suppose our authors do - then the conclusion is inescapable that some of their possible communist forms are simply forms of capital. \"Generalised commodity production\" and \"wage labour\" (they are really equivalent categories) - in Marx's conceptual framework - are simply two different names for the same `beast' - capital, even if they are qualified as `communist' (and `socialist' as with the `market socialists'). To anyone with even partial familiarity with Marx's texts this should be too clear to require any demonstration.\n\nBefore proceeding further let us briefly note a second specific reading by our authors of a text by Marx (the first reading, as we discussed earlier, concerns Marx's letter to Weydemyer 1852). This second reading concerns the Gothakritik regarding the communist society. They write: \"Marx criticised the Gotha Programme . . . because it neglected the non class processes. He viewed such processes as necessary to sustain a communist class structure\" (p. 46). This is, again, we submit, a very problematic reading of Marx's text, to say the least. First of all, Marx is explicit in the text itself of this society's classlessness even in its `lower' phase. Of course this society characterized as \"cooperative\" (genossenschaftliche) would automatically exclude classes. Still, regarding the right of the producers being proportional to the labour they supply, Marx specifically affirms that even though this equal right is really unequal for unequal labour, \"it recognizes no class differences because everyone is a worker like everyone else (Es erkennt keine Klassenunterschiede an, weil jeder nur Arbeiter ist wie der andre) (1966b: 979). Again, Marx criticised the Programme's formula \"removal of all social and political inequality\" and suggested the correction: \"with the abolition of class differences (Abshaffung der Klassenunterschiede) all the social and political inequality springing therefrom vanishes of itself\" (1966b: 184). Hence there is no question of \"communist class structure\" here. In a sense everything in this society belongs to or is a \"non-class process\" simply because there are no classes at all. As regards Marx's criticism of the Programme referred to by the authors, what Marx criticises the programme for - among many other things - is rather not to have taken account of the use of the society's total product besides personal consumption of the labourers and questions the Lassallean notion of distribution allowing each labourer the `undiminished fruit' of individual labour without providing for the common (social) needs such as reserve and insurance funds, resources for the extension of society's productive apparatus, provision for those unable to work. Basically the same ideas appear in Marx's other texts - non polemically - antedating the Gothakritik (see Marx 1962a: 93; 1964: 883; 1992: 893-94). Thus, however favourable such a reading of Marx's Lassalle critique may appear to be for the authors' own position (like their reading of Marx's letter of 1852), it is simply not warranted by Marx's text as we read it.\n\nEven apart from the question of Marx connection, there is a problem within the authors' model of communism itself. Their notion of communism according to them, we know, is a society without exploitation inasmuch as the same group of people produce and appropriate the surplus. However the authors also posit the possibility of forms of communism - as we saw earlier - with workers selling their labour power as a commodity and receiving their revenue as wage. If this is the case, does this society remain communist in the authors' original sense (being non exploitative)? Labourers sell their labour power because, separated from the conditions of production, they can, in order to survive, only dispose of their unique asset, the labour power, to the possessors of those conditions, against wages in order to produce, besides their own subsistence, a surplus for its appropriation by the non possessors of the conditions of production. Thus there arise at least two antagonistic classes - the producers and the appropriators/distributors of surplus. The society in question is thus exploitative and not communist on the authors' own terms. However on another point regarding their communism, they are internally quite consistent even though, here again, there is a great difference between their approach and Marx's (and Engels's). This concerns the question of the existence of surplus (labour) in a classless society. It goes without saying, given the authors' position that surplus (labour) is invariably associated with class and vice versa, if there is a classless society - which, of course, they discount as utopia - it must have to be without surplus. \"In a classless society no division between necessary and surplus exists. (Here) production, appropriation, distribution of surplus disappear\" (p. 72). However if \"in all societies one part of the population (workers) . . . produce a quantity of output . . . which always exceeds the portion returned to this part\" and the \"surplus\" goes first to the appropriators who then distribute \"portions of this surplus\" to the rest of society (p. XI; emphasis added), then, by definition classless society is inexistent.\n\nThe ideas of Marx (and Engels) on this question are very different. From their point of view - entirely based on their MCH - whether an association exists between surplus (labour) and class depends entirely on how this surplus is obtained. Only when surplus labour - producing the surplus - is \"imposed on and extorted (abgepresst)\" from the immediate producer (Marx 1962a: 231; 1965: 770. The term \"imposed\" was added in the French version), we have this association, which has been largely the case with the human society till now. Again, given this association, what specific form this association takes depends entirely on the specific mode of extorting this surplus - distinguishing, e.g., a slave society from a bourgeois society - in other words, on the specificity of the (social) relations of production on which classes are based. We earlier saw that our authors do not bring (at least not explicitly) into their surplus-and-class analysis the question of relations of production nor the latter's historical specificity, the central aspect of the MCH. If (on the other hand) the producers themselves collectively dominate the conditions of production (and appropriation) - which is the case with the AMP \"under the conscious, planned control of the freely socialised (vergesellschafteter) individuals\" (in the French version \"freely associated men acting consciously (and as) masters of their own social movement\") (Marx 1962a: 94; 1965: 614) - then surplus continues to be produced by surplus labour which is no longer \"pumped out\" as \"unpaid surplus labour\" (Marx 1964: 799; 1992: 732) by the non producers, then we have surplus without classes. One could see in different texts of Marx (and Engels) the discussion of surplus in the future society (after capital) which is always considered classless. This, as we just saw, is palpable in the Gothakritik with its discussion of the division of the total social product of the (classless) communist society at its `lower' phase into the part satisfying the immediate consumption needs of the producers - corresponding to `necessary' labour - and the part satisfying requirements of enlarged reproduction of the productive apparatus, society's insurance and reserve funds and the consumption needs of society's members who are unable to work - the part corresponding to surplus labour. Similar ideas also appear elsewhere (see, among others, 1962a: 93; 1964: 828, 883; 1992: 838, 893-94). Here is a succinct statement from Engels: \"A surplus of labour product beyond the cost of subsistence of labour and the formation and extension of society's production and reserve fund out of this surplus was and is the foundation of all further social, political and intellectual development. Till now in history this fund was the possession (Besitztum) of a privileged class to whose lot also fell, thanks to this possession, the political domination and intellectual leadership. Only the coming social revolution will really make social this production and reserve fund, that is, the entire mass of raw materials, instruments of production and subsistence, by taking away the disposition from the privileged class and transferring it to the whole society as the common property (Gemeingut)\" (1962: 180).\n\nThe most original and innovative part of the book concerns the class based analysis of the Russian (soviet) household - particularly the accent on the basically unchanging exploitative situation of women in the Russian households after 1917. We do not know any other work on Russia based on `household class structure' which is so thoroughgoing. And our authors deserve high praise for that. In fact, to the great credit of the authors, the preoccupation with the situation of women very importantly informs their book. Bringing the class analysis right inside the household, not even Marx attempted this, though Marx had proposed emancipatory ideas on women - unsurpassed by any other thinker that we know - based on his severe analysis of women's oppression/exploitation under patriarchy (right from his 1844-45 writings to his Ethnological Notebooks at almost the end of his life, though unfortunately the authors do not mention this while speaking of the `Marxist' ideas, beginning with Engels, on the situation of women).\n\nConsistently with their ideas on class and surplus the authors hold that the soviet policy proceeded without reference to the direct and often antagonistic class relations between men and women in relation to household production. Quite rightly they emphasize that in spite of improvements in several aspects of women's lives (education, formal equality, etc.) the eventual policy decision affirmed that the best course was to upon \"the family,\" soviet policy thereby endowing and reinforcing the traditional household structures inherited from pre-revolutionary Russia (188-89, 197).\n\nThough the authors should undoubtedly be praised for bringing to the fore the women's question under continuing male domination, their concept of `household class (structure)' still poses a small problem. If, to use a phrase of Marx (though he had no concept of `household class'), there is the \"slavery of the family members by the head of the family . . . using and exploiting them\" (1988: 134), then the non-producing appropriating-distributing (that is, exploiting) `class' is reduced to a single individual of the household, assuming that each household is an autonomous family-unit. In the case of a two-member (male-female) household, each single individual would constitute a class - exploiting or exploited. Only in the case of a single member household combining all the three operations there would be no class. In such a case - an individual constituting a class - the term `class' ceases to mean a collective entity, as it is usually understood (in Latin `classis' is assembly) and has to be redefined.\n\nVI. Aspects of Soviet History\n\nThe book's historical part (part 3) is a good, brief account of Russia's modern history (19th-20th century) based on standard sources, and they analyse this history quite well in their own class-theoretical terms, which is indeed original and innovative. We have nothing new to add here. Unable to do justice to their entire analysis we confine ourselves to a few remarks on some aspects of this analysis. First, whenever the authors speak of the Russian revolution of 1917, they, following the dominant soviet historiography, seem basically to mean what occurred in October of that year. This, we submit, amounts to a rather (over) simplification of the revolutionary reality of 1917. In fact there were two qualitatively distinct `moments' of the revolutionary process that emerged in Russia in 1917 - in February and October. The revolutionary mass upsurge in February sallied forth spontaneously without any organized direction from `above.' Initiated by women (to their greater credit) on the women's day, the movement was entirely dominated by the toilers of the land and had all the basic characteristics of the great popular revolutions of the past, such as those of 1789-93 and 1871 in France (see Anweiler 1958 and Ferro 1967). Targeting mainly the pre-bourgeois social order, this revolutionary upsurge started out as an immense mass movement in an open-ended, plural revolutionary process and had, it appears, the potential to go over - at a later date, given appropriate material conditions - to an authentic socialist revolution (in the sense of Marx) if the involved toiling masses had been allowed unfettered freedom - through their (own) self-administering organs - to continue their march forward. The Bolsheviks put a brake on the process, destroyed the democratic part of the revolution - derogatively called by Lenin \"notorious democratism\" - and accelerated the bourgeois part. We hope that in a future edition the authors would bring this great event to the fore.\n\nThe authors' statement that the \"USSR never attempted, let alone achieved communism on a society-wide basis and that it represented a state form of capitalism\" (p. X) is absolutely true. But then their own statement that the USSR made the \"boldest and most successful socialist experiment\" (p. 99; our emphasis) seems not to be quite consistent with the earlier one. We also read in the book: \"The absences of the surplus labour notion of class and of the non determinist reasoning with most Marxist conceptualization of socialism and communism . . . helped to thwart the revolutionary potential of the regimes the various movements favouring them have created: a possible transition from a capitalist to a communist class structure\" (p. 4). The reason for the non advent in Russia of a communist society is, we submit, better explained in terms of the MCH rather than in terms of any conceptual inadequacy of the notion of surplus labour based class or in terms of a lack of clear reasoning on determinism/non determinism among the concerned people. Even a `correct' conceptual perspective about communism (among the concerned people) will not establish a communist society. In spite of all the correct ideas about a \"union of free individuals\" and all the will and energy to bring it about, it will not arrive in the absence of the \"material conditions of the emancipation of the proletariat\" which are only \"the product of history,\" as the Manifesto affirms. Marx (and Engels) never tired of repeating it. Thus in his `Bakunin Kritik' (1874-75) Marx observed: \"A radical social revolution is bound up with certain historical conditions of economic development. The latter are its pre-conditions. . . . Bakunin understands nothing of the social revolution, excepting its political phrases. For him, its economic conditions do not exist\" (1973d: 633). The 1917 Russia precisely lacked the necessary material conditions, including the numerical weakness and cultural backwardness of the \"historical agents\" of such a radical transformation - which could only be created by a certain level of capitalist development. While never giving up the ideological discourse that October 1917 had inaugurated a `socialist' revolution, Lenin, perhaps more than anybody else, soon understood - much to the chagrin of the `infantile' Left - that given Russia's backwardness, there was no other way to go forward, but to \"catch up and surpass\" (dognat' i peregnat') the advanced capitalist countries - which implied a rapid growth of the productive forces and an advanced proletariat, and this necessitated the development of capitalism, at least over a period, in a largely pre-capitalist country where the inauguration of socialism was an impossible project for some time to come. Hence the NEP, which as our authors have correctly observed, was developing capitalism (p. 157).\n\nThe authors' statement that the \"workers largely concurred in celebrating\" what they considered \"as a transition from capitalism to communism\" (p. 185) should be taken cum grano salis. In fact within a few months after October (1917) workers' dissatisfaction with the nouveau r\u00e9gime started and grew fairly rapidly with increasing mass protests and demonstrations. \"A third stage began to unfold in the Bolshevik-labour relations leading to open conflict, repression and the consolidation of the dictatorship over the proletariat\" (Rosenberg 1987: 117). The \"turn of the masses away from the Bolsheviks,\" as Medvedev calls it, was shown in the elections to the soviets in spring and summer, 1918 - the Bolsheviks were losing ground (1979: 148-49. He also gives some election results). Towards the beginning of 1921 workers' disenchantment reached high intensity in different urban centres, particularly in Petrograd's factories, previous strongholds of the Bolsheviks. Referring to the situation globally, Deutscher writes that the \"bulk of the working class, not to speak of the peasantry, unmistakeably turned against the Bolsheviks. If the Bolsheviks had now permitted free elections to the Soviets, they would almost certainly have been swept from power\" (1963: 504, 505). Popular discontent reached its climax in early 1921 in Kronstadt, earlier dubbed by Trotsky as the \"pride and glory of the revolution.\" There the immense majority of the toilers developing on their own an unusual political sense realised that the nouveau r\u00e9gime by overturning the promises of October have turned into an oppressor of the labouring people and created a \"new serfdom\" and that the country required a `regime change' or what they called a \"third revolution\" (Daniels 1960: 144). Their movement - falsely dubbed `counter revolutionary' under the Whites - was suppressed and drowned in blood by the powers that be (see Heller and Nekrich 1989: 91). Thus ended the `Red Kronstadt' which \"had produced a bustling, self governing, egalitarian and highly politicized soviet democracy the like of which had not been seen in Europe since the Paris Commune\" (Getzler 1983: 246)\n\nVII. Conclusion\n\nLet us conclude. As we said earlier, the book under review is an unusual work, the like of which is not encountered every day. It is highly original and, to the authors' credit, highly challenging. The book, indeed, stands out among the myriads of works on the soviet question. Going back to the tradition of the classical political economy and, to a certain extent, to Marx's analysis of class, they have succeeded in giving a new meaning to the notion of `class' by firmly connecting it with the notion of `surplus' (labour) and disconnecting it from the notions of property and power which has been so prominent with most Marxists till now. They have surely to be praised for going against the current.\n\nBy introducing the very innovative notion of `household class structure' - which even Marx never attempted to advance - they have, to their great credit, brought the women's question to the fore not only in their historical analysis of the soviet class society but also in their purely theoretical analysis of class structure based on surplus.\n\nTo them, as to many others, the USSR was a state capitalist society. But their approach is very different from the rest precisely because of their very original notion of class based not on property or power - as it is with the other partisans of the state capitalism thesis - but on surplus (labour). Problems, however, arise, as we saw earlier, when they claim Marx as their source both on the surplus theory of class and on the future communist society. We think there is no need to connect Marx with their very innovative work. Indeed, once we disconnect the two, their work standing on its own, with strong internal consistency, appears as a very significant contribution to the class theory and to its very fruitful and innovative application to the soviet history. This highly original and challenging text should be compulsory reading for all serious students of the soviet question.\n\nParesh Chattopadhyay\n\nUniversity of Quebec in Montreal\n\ne-mail r25030@nobel.si.uqam.ca\n\nREFERENCES\n\nAlthusser, L. 1965, Lire le Capital, vol. 1, Paris, Masp\u00e9ro.\n\nAnweiler, Oskar. 1958, Die R\u00c3\u00a4tebewegung in Russland 1905-1921, Leiden: E.J. Brill.\n\nBordiga, Amadeo. 1980. Propriet\u00c3 e Capitale, Florence: Iskra.\n\nChattopadhyay, Paresh. 2002. \"Socialism and Value Categories in Early Soviet Doctrine\" in A. Freeman, A. Kliman, J. Wells (eds.) The New Value Controversy and the Foundations of Economics, London: Edward Elgar.\n\n_______. 2003. \"Towards a Society of Free and Associated Individuals: Communism\" in Alfredo Saad-Filho (ed), Anti-Capitalism: A Marxist Introduction. London: Pluto Press.\n\nDaniels, Robert V. 1960. The Conscience of the Revolution. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.\n\nDeutscher, Isaac. 1963. The Prophet Armed: Trotsky 1919-1921. London: Oxford University Press.\n\nEngels, Friedrich. 1962. Anti-D\u00fchring, in Marx-Engels Werke (MEW), vol. 20, Berlin: Dietz.\n\n_______. 1972. \"Die Kommununisten und Karl Heinzen\" 2nd article (October 7, 1847) in MEW, vol. 4, Berlin: Dietz.\n\n_______. 1973. \"Rezension des Ersten Bandes \"Das Kapital\" (D\u00fcssldorfer Zeitung, no. 316, vol. 16, 1867) in MEW, vol. 16, Berlin: Dietz.\n\nFerro, Marc 1967. La R\u00e9volution de 1917, vol 1, Paris: Aubier Montaigne.\n\nGetzler, Israel. 1983. Kronstadt (1917-1927): The Fate of a Soviet Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.\n\nHeller, M. and Nekrich, A. 1982. L'Utopie au pouvoir. Paris: Calmann-L\u00e9vy.\n\nMarx K. 1932. \"Aus den Exzerptheften: \u00c3\u2013konomische Studien\" in Marx-Engels Gesamtausgabe, (MEGA) Section 1, vol. 3, Berlin: Marx-Engels Verlag.\n\n_______. 1953. Grundrisse der Kritik der politischen \u00c3\u2013konomie, Berlin, Dietz.\n\n______. 156. Theorien \u00fcber den Mehrwert, vol.1, Berlin, Dietz.\n\n_______. 1962a Das Kapital, vol. 1, Berlin, Dietz.\n\n_______. 1962b. Theorien \u00fcber den Mehrwert, vol. 3, Berlin, Dietz.\n\n_______. 1962c. \"Randglossen Zu Adolph Wagners 'Lehrbuch' . . .\" in MEW, vol. 19, Berlin, Dietz.\n\n_______. 1964a. Das Kapital, vol. 3, Berlin, Dietz.\n\n_______. 1964b \"Letter to Weydemeyer\" (3.3.1852) in K. Marx, F. Engels. Ausgew\u00c3\u00a4hlte Schriften vol. 2, Berlin, Dietz.\n\n_______. 1965. \"Mis\u00c3\u00a8re de la Philosophie,\" \"Le Capital,\" livre premier in Karl Marx, Oeuvres: \u00c3\u2030conomie, vol. 1, Paris, Gallimard.\n\n_______. 1966a. \"\u00c3\u2013konomisch-philosophische Manuskripte\" in Marx-Engels Studienausgabe (MESA), vol. 2, Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch.\n\n_______. 1966b. \"Manifest der kommunistischen Partei\" (with F. Engels) and \"Randglossen Zum Programm der deutschen Arbeiterpartei\" in MESA, vol. 3, Frankfurt am Main: Fischer.\n\n_______. 1971. On the Paris Commune (with Engels), Moscow: Progress.\n\n_______. 1972a. \"Die moralisierende Kritik . . ..\" in (MEW), vol. 4,Berlin, Dietz.\n\n_______. 1972b. \"Die heilige Familie\" in MEW, vol. 2, Berlin: Dietz.\n\n_______. 1972c. Letters to Engels (8.1.1868) and to Kugelmann (11.7.1868) in Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Briefe \u00fcber `Das Kapital,' Erlangen, Politladen.\n\n_______. 1973a. Das Kapital, vol 2, Berlin, Dietz.\n\n_______. 1973b. \"Die Deutsche Ideologie\" in MEW, vol. 3, Berlin, Dietz.\n\n_______. 1973c. \"Die Klassenk\u00c3\u00a4mpfe in Frankreich 1848 bis 1850\" in MEW, vol. 7. Berlin, Dietz.\n\n_______. 1973d. \"Konspekt von Bakunins Buch `Staatlichkeit und Anarchie'\" in MEW, vol. 18. Berlin, Dietz.\n\n_______. 1976. \"Zur Kritik der politischen \u00c3\u2013konomie (Manuskript 1861-63)\" in (MEGA) Section 2, vol. 3, Part 1, Berlin: Dietz.\n\n_______. 1980. \"Zur Kritik der politischen \u00c3\u2013konomie Erster Heft\" Karl Marx \u00c3\u2013konomische Manuskripte und Schriften in MEGA, Section 2, vol. 2, Berlin: Dietz.\n\n_______. 1988. \"\u00c3\u2013konomische Manuskripte (1863-67)\" in MEGA, Section 2, vol. 4, Part 1, Berlin: Dietz.\n\n_______. 1992. \"\u00c3\u2013konomische Manuskripte (1863-67)\" in MEGA, Section 2, vol. 4, Part 2, Berlin: Dietz.\n\nMedvedev, Roy. 1979. The October Revolution, New York: Coilumbia University Press.\n\nRosenberg, William. 1987. \"Russian Labour and Bolshevik Power: Social Dimensions of Protest in Petrograd after October\" in Daniel Kaiser (ed.), The Workers' Revolution in Russia, 1917: The View from Below. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.\n\nIn Engels's edition (1964) the last part reads \"reacts upon it (zur\u00fcckwirkt auf sie) as determining elements.\"\n\nWe regret to note that the authors' representation of Marx's first (original) contribution (among three) mentioned in this celebrated letter is not really warranted by the letter's text. Speaking of Marx's \"new contributions\" our authors paraphrase the first contribution as being \"a specific definition of class in terms of surplus production relations\" (p. 43). Now, whatever concordance this paraphrase might have with the authors' own position, it has very little to do with Marx's own text which literally runs as follows \". . . what new I did was (1) to prove that the existence of classes is simply bound up with the definite historical phases of the development of production (bestimmte historische Entwicklungsphasen der Produktion) . . .\" (in Marx and Engels 1964: 423, emphasis in text). We immediately see that the term `surplus' itself is absent and that there is no attempt at any `definition' of `class.' (It is well known Marx never gave a `definition' of class). On the other hand, the crucial historical aspect of the text (crucial for MCH) is missing. On a broad canvas, Marx's standard phrase is \"relations of production\" tout court, not `relations of surplus production.' Indeed there are no relations of `surplus production' apart from the relations of production. It is remarkable that while the authors claim that their class theory is based on Marx's class analysis, the three contributions mentioned in this letter by Marx as specifically his own, distinguishing him from the bourgeois historians and economists on the class question, do not find much echo in their work. (While the first - which we have been discussing - finds no application in their work, at least not explicitly, the second and the third, that is, proletarian dictatorship and future classless society, given by the authors themselves in their quotation from the text (p. 71), are simply not accepted by them as a part of class analysis)..\n\nTwo years later this phrase will appear (almost verbatim) in Marx's famous letter to Weydemeyer as Marx's third original contribution in connection with classes. The same idea will reappear in the Gothakritik twenty-five years later.\n\nIn the same work we read: \"If the material elements of a total revolution are absent, it is wholly indifferent from the practical development if the idea of this revolution has been formulated a hundred times\" (1973b: 38-39, emphasis in text).\n\nIn the same work, associating \"communism\" with \"revolutionary socialism,\" Marx wrote: \"This socialism is the declaration of the revolution in permanence, the class dictatorship of the proletariat, point of transition to the full abolition of class differences, to the abolition of all the relations of production on which they are based . . .\" (1973c: 89-90, emphasis in text).\n\nOur authors' arguments here remind us of the arguments advanced by the spokespersons of the soviet regime about the existence of value categories in socialism (understood \u00c3 la Lenin as the first phase of communism). By a strange reading of the Gothakritik Lenin, right in his State and Revolution - supposed to be the most libertarian in soviet political literature - affirmed the presence of \"hired employees of the state\" (supposed to be under working class control) earning \"wages\" (which totally contradicts the text of the Gothakritik. (In his \"Inaugural Address\" (1864) Marx had opposed `associated labour' to `hired labour'). Later Lenin's first disciples - Trotsky, Bukharin, Preobrazhensky - spoke of the presence in socialism of value categories (including wages) as simple `forms' without `capitalist content' under the supposed `working class state.' This rationalisation was taken over with `refinements' under the successive soviet rulers till the regime's evaporation. Elsewhere we have discussed this question at some length on the basis of the relevant texts. (See Chattopadhyay 2002).\n\nThis pervades even such a work as Capital even though it is considered by some to be an `esoteric' scholarly work concerned almost exclusively with economic matters. In one of his first reviews of Capital I, Engels, clearly sensing that some eager revolutionaries might be \"disappointed\" with the book after waiting for quite a long time to see here \"finally revealed\" the \"secret true socialist doctrine\" and \"panacea,\" warned its readers that there was no \"one thousand year communist kingdom\" awaiting them here. But \"who has eyes to see, sees here, stated clearly enough, the demand for a social revolution.\" He added that \"here it is a question not of workers' association with state capital \u00c3 la Lassalle, but of the abolition of capital itself\" (1973: 216, emphasis in text).\n\nWe have tried to give an integral picture of the society after capital as it appears in Marx's texts in Chattopadhyay (2003).\n\nThis reminds one of Althusser's famous expression \"lecture sympt\u00c3\u00b4male\" referring to the \"existence of two texts\" in a single text - one visible, the other invisible (different from the first) (Althusser 1966: pp. 31-32).\n\nOutside Russia, A. Bordiga was the only front ranking Leninist to have understood this. See Bordiga (1980: 144).\n\nthe authors themselves recognize \"mounting anger and strikes\" of the workers, but strictly limit their account to their specific economic demands while referring also to the \"class crisis of the ancients\" on the question of grain requisition (p. 207; our emphasis)."}
-{"text": "The Department of Homeland Security stored sensitive data from the nation\u2019s bioterrorism defense program on an insecure website where it was vulnerable to attacks by hackers for over a decade, according to government documents reviewed by The Times.\n\nThe data included the locations of at least some BioWatch air samplers, which are installed at subway stations and other public locations in more than 30 U.S. cities and are designed to detect anthrax or other airborne biological weapons, Homeland Security officials confirmed. It also included the results of tests for possible pathogens, a list of biological agents that could be detected and response plans that would be put in place in the event of an attack.\n\nThe information \u2014 housed on a dot-org website run by a private contractor \u2014 has been moved behind a secure federal government firewall, and the website was shut down in May. But Homeland Security officials acknowledge they do not know whether hackers ever gained access to the data.\n\nInternal Homeland Security emails and other documents show the issue set off a bitter clash within the department over whether keeping the information on the dot-org website posed a threat to national security. A former BioWatch security manager filed a whistleblower complaint alleging he was targeted for retaliation after criticizing the program\u2019s lax security.\n\n\nThe website shared information among local, state and federal officials. It was easily identifiable through online search engines, but a user name and password were required to access sensitive data.\n\nA security audit completed in January 2017 found \u201ccritical\u201d and \u201chigh risk\u201d vulnerabilities, including weak encryption that made the website \u201cextremely prone\u201d to online attacks. The audit concluded that there \u201cdoes not seem to be any protective monitoring of the site,\u201d according to a Homeland Security report summarizing the findings.\n\nAn inspector general\u2019s report published later that year said sensitive information had been housed on the BioWatch portal since 2007 and was vulnerable to hackers. The report recommended moving the data behind the government\u2019s firewall and said Homeland Security officials had agreed to do so.\n\nIt is unclear how valuable the data would have been to a terrorist group or enemy state. Scientists have warned that the BioWatch technology is unreliable. The system recognizes only a narrow range of microbes, and it struggles to differentiate between typical environmental bacteria and dangerous threats.\n\n\nStill, several biodefense experts said it was disturbing that Homeland Security officials failed to adequately secure sensitive information from one of the nation\u2019s anti-terrorism programs.\n\n\u201cAdvertising your vulnerabilities is never a good thing. Letting your adversaries readily access your vulnerabilities \u2014 that\u2019s a national security risk, in my judgment,\u201d said Tom Ridge, who as the nation\u2019s first secretary of Homeland Security oversaw the 2003 launch of BioWatch but has since denounced the program as ineffective. \u201cEvery American citizen would wonder, \u2018What else is so easily accessible by the rest of the world?\u2019\u201d\n\nJames F. McDonnell, an assistant secretary appointed by President Trump to oversee Homeland Security\u2019s new Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, which includes BioWatch, said the data that were housed outside the secure government firewall were not important enough to cause a national security threat, but he said officials have taken steps to strengthen cybersecurity across the department. He noted that the problem predated his appointment.\n\n\u201cWhat happened before, happened before. You can\u2019t put the genie back in the bottle,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s been a real ramping-up on concerns about cybersecurity.\u201d\n\n\nLong list of troubles\n\nThe security problems add to a long list of troubles for BioWatch.\n\nThe program, which has cost taxpayers more than $1.6 billion, was launched two years after letters laced with anthrax spores killed five people and sickened 17 others shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. BioWatch became part of Homeland Security\u2019s Office of Health Affairs in 2007.\n\nA 2012 Times investigation identified serious shortcomings, including false alarms and doubts about whether BioWatch could be relied on to identify a bioterrorism event. In 2015, a Government Accountability Office study concluded that the program could not be counted on to detect an attack and said BioWatch generated 149 false alarms from 2003 through 2014.\n\nEach day, public health workers across the country collect filters from the air samplers and run tests on the contents, searching for signs of dangerous pathogens in the air. In some cases, reports of suspicious lab findings are uploaded to the BioWatch portal for review by other officials.\n\n\nSome local officials objected to storing these and other sensitive documents on a federal server that other government officials could access without their knowledge or consent, according to the inspector general\u2019s report. As a result, the report said, the Office of Health Affairs decided against moving the portal inside the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s firewall.\n\n\n\nAlarms over security\n\nIn August 2016, Harry Jackson, who worked for a branch of Homeland Security that deals with information security, was assigned to the BioWatch program. Three months later, he said in an interview with The Times, he learned about biowatchportal.org and demanded the agency stop using it, arguing that it housed classified information and that the portal\u2019s security measures were inadequate.\n\nTwo other department officials tasked with monitoring how sensitive information is handled echoed the concerns in emails to BioWatch managers, according to records reviewed by The Times.\n\nBioWatch officials pushed back. Michael Walter, the program\u2019s manager, said in a conference call with other Homeland Security officials that information about the location of the network\u2019s air samplers would not undermine its effectiveness since it was designed to detect a massive biological warfare attack. The samplers are in plain sight, he said, according to a recording of the call made by Jackson and reviewed by The Times.\n\n\nLarry \u201cDave\u201d Fluty, then Health Affairs\u2019 principal deputy assistant secretary, argued during the same call that the agency had previously decided that treating the information as classified \u2014 and therefore triggering stricter access guidelines \u2014 would require security clearances for some 1,000 local officials who are involved in gathering and analyzing data from the air-collection units.\n\n\u201cIt was determined from a policy standpoint that that can\u2019t happen,\u201d he said.\n\nWeeks after the conference call, Steven Lynch, then chief of Homeland Security\u2019s special security programs division, wrote in a memo reviewed by The Times that the agency planned to move the portal onto a dot-gov site behind the secure federal firewall. Still, he said, experts concluded there was \u201cno evidence of criminal or suspicious activity\u201d involving the dot-org portal and \u201cminimal to no risk of unauthorized access.\u201d\n\nBut a complaint made to the inspector general hotline had already triggered an internal audit of biowatchportal.org.\n\n\nThe audit turned up 41 vulnerabilities, and a scan detected a possible attempt by a hacker to access the portal. The auditing team was unable to validate the scan\u2019s finding, and the team recommended that the contractor overseeing the site investigate. It is unclear whether that was done.\n\nThe contractor, Logistics Management Institute, declined to provide a comment. Walter, Fluty and Lynch did not respond to emails or phone calls from The Times.\n\n\n\n\u2018DHS will never know\u2019\n\nIn January 2017, Jackson published his concerns about the portal in the Journal of Bioterrorism & Biodefense. His article detailed what he called \u201cnegligent\u201d security that required only single-factor authentication to access the website.\n\nDepartment of Homeland Security officials removed BioWatch from Jackson\u2019s portfolio, then suspended his security clearance and later placed him on administrative leave. They notified him that he had not sought the proper approval to publish his article and that it included information that should not have been made public. They also cited his recent conviction for drunk driving.\n\n\nJackson filed whistleblower complaints with several federal agencies, alleging he was the victim of retaliation for criticizing the program\u2019s security. In one, he wrote that a successful hacker could \u201cmonitor the system, manipulate data, and create false flags so as to stake out federal, state and local response to a possible incident.\u201d\n\nThe complaint continued: \u201cTo this date, DHS will never know the harm that has resulted from this because there is no intrusion detection capability.\u201d\n\nThe inspector general\u2019s report published later that year said no classified information was found on the BioWatch portal, but it confirmed that \u201ccritical and high risk vulnerabilities\u201d could allow an attacker to access sensitive information on the site.\n\nIn October 2017, Homeland Security reinstated Jackson\u2019s security clearance but issued him a warning. A letter notifying him of the decision did not address his whistleblower claim. He left the agency a few weeks later.\n\n\nNo federal agency has agreed to investigate Jackson\u2019s complaints. In May, he filed an appeal with the Office of the Intelligence Community Inspector General. He is awaiting a response."}
-{"text": "As Vlade Divac sees it, everyone in his Kings world should be grinning ear to ear right about now.\n\n\n\nTheir embattled team has a winning record (22-21) in mid-January and is in contention for the franchise\u2019s first playoff berth since 2006 (a league-long drought). The future looks far brighter than anyone anticipated just a few months ago, with a young core of promising talent and loads of salary cap space this summer with which to work after the DeMarcus Cousins trade in Feb. 2017 panned out so much better than expected.\n\n\n\nThere was even the revelation on Sunday, first reported by The Athletic, that coach Dave Joerger\u2019s nine assistant coaches would soon have their contracts run through next season as a way of acknowledging their part in it all (while also aligning the timeline of their contracts with Joerger\u2019s).\n\n\n\nYet still, four years into this job that comes with one of the league\u2019s trickiest landscapes at the ownership level, Divac kept..."}
-{"text": "GET YOUR BRAWL ON: DUNGEON PUNKS IS COMING TO XBOX ONE JULY 26TH\n\nWe're very pleased to announce that our tag-team brawler RPG Dungeon Punks will be available worldwide via digital download on Xbox One on July 26th, with pre-order available even sooner! You'll be able to hack-and-slash your way through twelve epic levels of arcade-style action either solo or with your buds (and soon-to-be frenemies), taking down bosses, pillaging loot, and fighting over who gets to ride the laser-blasting unicorn."}
-{"text": "His remarks drew a slashing attack from Jeb Bush, who is well aware that many South Carolina Republicans hold high opinions of President Bush as well as of their parents. \u201cI\u2019m sick and tired of him going after my family,\u201d Mr. Bush said. \u201cMy dad is the greatest man alive, in my mind,\u201d he added. \u201cMy mom is the strongest woman I know.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe should be running,\u201d Mr. Trump said tartly.\n\nAttacking the honor and record of the Bush family amounted to one of the biggest risks that Mr. Trump had taken during the presidential race, given that Mr. Bush and his \u201csuper PAC\u201d are spending heavily to win the South Carolina primary and that Bush advisers believe Mr. Trump is vulnerable here.\n\nMr. Trump\u2019s florid reputation, past support for abortion rights and harsh language \u2014 including a vulgarity he used last week about Mr. Cruz \u2014 could alienate social conservatives and establishment Republicans in the state, according to Bush advisers. While Mr. Bush has assailed Mr. Trump in the past and described him as all but unqualified for the presidency, the Saturday debate was his most forceful performance of the race.\n\nThe debate was also critical for Senator Marco Rubio of Florida after his disastrous turn in a face-off last weekend in New Hampshire, where Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey savaged him as scripted and callow after Mr. Rubio kept repeating the same stock attack on President Obama.\n\nMr. Rubio\u2019s political momentum slowed after that, and he finished fifth in the primary there. In his concession speech, he promised supporters that he would not make the same mistakes in the debate on Saturday night. If he did not embarrass himself, he did not appreciably improve. As before, he spoke very quickly, in long sentences, rattling off national security challenges in Asia, the Middle East and Russia without pausing, a furious rush akin to spitting out words.\n\nMr. Rubio also briefly pounced on Mr. Trump during the exchange over President George W. Bush, not only on the subject of Iraq, but also on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Mr. Trump disputed Mr. Rubio\u2019s assertion that President Bush had shown leadership before the attacks."}
-{"text": "Even as President Obama on Thursday attempts to put a good face on the war in Afghanistan, Vietnam-era whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and several dozen other anti-war protesters will be chaining themselves to the White House fence, inviting arrest in the name of peace.\n\n\"We are dedicated to exposing the true costs of war and militarism,\" explained Mike Ferner, the president of Veterans for Peace, the group organizing Thursday's Lafayette Square rally and civil disobedience.\n\n\"We've killed well over a million people. We've orphaned and displaced five times that number at least. And here in our own country, we've managed to throw millions of people of out work and out of their homes,\" Ferner told reporters at a press conference Wednesday. \"There is a connection there. That connection is the true cost of war.\"\n\nCiting information available for every city and state in America on the Cost of War website, the former Navy hospital corpsman noted that his hometown of Toledo alone has sent almost a billion dollars into the war effort.\n\nObama is expected to cite \"progress\" in the war as he releases a review of American strategy in Afghanistan. During his visit to Bagram Air Force Base earlier this month, the president telegraphed his position by telling the troops that \"thanks to your service, we are making important progress. You are protecting your country.\"\n\nEllsberg, the former military analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971 as an act of protest against the Vietnam War, took particular umbrage at Obama's claim that the troops in Afghanistan are keeping Americans safe.\n\n\"I regard that last assurance as a lie. As a big lie,\" he said. Ellsberg said Obama knew full well when he announced a major troop-escalation plan a year ago that the war was unwinnable, and that putting in more troops would actually bolster the Taliban -- and, by extension, al Qaeda -- by helping their recruiting efforts.\n\n\"It is our military operations that are not only failing to protect Americans, they are endangering Americans,\" said Ellsberg, 79, for whom this will be the 80th civil disobedience arrest.\n\n\"There comes a time when you need to put your body in it,\" said former CIA analyst-turned-activist Ray McGovern, paraphrasing Martin Luther King, Jr. \"If the making of peace means prison, that's where we need to be.\"\n\n\"We are hoping that our actions will spark resistance everywhere,\" said Veterans for Peace Vice President Leah Bolger. \"We are hoping to make people question what the government is doing in our name.\"\n\nA brief rally is scheduled for 10 a.m. across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House with remarks from Ellsberg, McGovern, Ferner, \"Peace Mom\" Cindy Sheehan, Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin, and others.\n\nProtesters will then head for the White House, where organizers hope 100 or more people with chain themselves to the fence and get arrested."}
-{"text": "Around Aug. 28, Quinlan became angry with her for complaining about not being on the insurance policy, according to the suit, saying that insurance costs would be much higher with her on the policy. Quinlan then fired Harrington, the suit claims. The suit claims that the company was not experiencing financial difficulties at the time, and Harrington performed all of her duties in a satisfactory manner and had never been disciplined."}
-{"text": "Advertisements\n\nJohnny Damon played with both the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Terry Pendleton and Sid Bream were members of the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates respectively before joining the Atlanta Braves.\n\nPlayers being on both sides of a rivalry happens and will continue to happen. That being said, it will still seem odd watching Cole Hamels as a member of the Atlanta Braves.\n\nThat\u2019s exactly what will happen in a few months as Hamels and Atlanta came to terms on a one-year, $18 million deal. Braves fans still remember the damage he did in his prime as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies where he won a World Series. He has also pitched for the Texas Rangers and most recently the Chicago Cubs.\n\nHamels, 35, will be counted on to bring quality left-handed pitching and veteran leadership to a young staff. Durability has always been a strength for Hamels, as he\u2019s made 20+ starts for 14 consecutive seasons.\n\nThe Braves hope this trend continues in 2020, but he did get hurt last season and wasn\u2019t the same player afterwards.\n\nSource confirms the Braves have signed Cole Hamels to a one-year, $18M contract. First reported by @JeffPassan. Hamels had a 2.98 ERA in 17 starts before he strained his oblique near the end of June. He had a 5.79 ERA in the 10 starts made after he returned from the injured list. \u2014 Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) December 4, 2019\n\nThe Braves didn\u2019t tie themselves down long-term since it\u2019s only a one-year deal, but $18 million isn\u2019t cheap either. Hopefully he is able to return to form and gain run support from the Atlanta\u2019s potent offense.\n\nPhoto Credit: AP"}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nvery poor choice of words"}
-{"text": "https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/libertarians-support-negative-rights-not-so-called-positive-rights/\n\nFrom: T\n\nSent: Sunday, November 24, 2019 6:48 AM\n\nTo: wblock@loyno.edu\n\nSubject: Property Rights, the Argument for Privatization\u2026 Do we have a right to die?\n\nDear Walter,\n\nI am currently reading your new book, \u201cProperty Rights, The Argument for Privatization\u201d. It is a very well written and thought provoking book. On page 23 you write about \u201crights\u201d. I remember William O. Douglas wrote, \u201cThe right to be let alone is indeed the beginning of all freedom.\u201d And Louis Brandeis wrote, \u201cThey: The makers of the Constitution: conferred, as against the government, the right to be let alone \u2014 the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.\u201d Didn\u2019t someone else once write, \u201cThe only right we have is to be left alone\u201d?\n\nNowadays we are supposed to have rights to health care, education, a home, clothing, food. We are promised these \u201crights\u201d by politicians looking for our votes. I remember the very odd movie \u201cZardoz\u201d starring Sean Connery. Connery is an \u201cexterminator\u201d. He kills the gods who live forever. (Oh, to be 22 again watching this crazy film.)\n\nMy question is this, \u201cDo we have a right to die?\u201d Suicide is outlawed by governments. Why? Legalized murder, war, is okay, but humans aren\u2019t allowed to kill themselves. What if in the near future we live in a world like Zardoz where people can live forever? Do we have the right to die or does the government decide if we are born and when? And if we die and when?\n\nLife is messy. But birth and death can be even messier. Do we have any rights in any of it? Or do we have the right to be left alone?\n\nThanks for writing the book. I am enjoying it. T\n\nFrom: Walter Block <wblock@loyno.edu>\n\nSent: Sunday, November 24, 2019 5:32 PM\n\nTo: T\n\nSubject: RE: Property Rights, the Argument for Privatization\u2026 Do we have a right to die?\n\nDear T:\n\nThanks for your kind comments about this book: Block, Walter E. 2019. Property Rights: The Argument for Privatization. Palgrave Macmillan; https://www.palgrave.com/in/book/9783030283520\n\nWe libertarians support negative rights (the right not to be murdered, raped, kidnapped, stolen from). These rights require that others not invade us. We libertarians do not support so called positive rights, housing, food, etc., since these \u201crights\u201d require that the property of other people be stolen from them and given to us.\n\nThis sounds a bit off-key; I admit it. We\u2019re supposed to be \u201cpositive,\u201d correct, not \u201cnegative.\u201d Yet, in this case I fear we libertarians must avoid this folk wisdom.\n\nIf we own our own bodies, and, libertarians believe that we do, then we may certainly end them, if we wish. Laws prohibiting suicide are illicit.\n\nBest regards,\n\nWalter\n\n3:17 am on January 5, 2020\n\nThe Best of Walter E. Block"}
-{"text": "assembly-elections\n\nUpdated: Jan 17, 2017 14:38 IST\n\nThe Congress announced on Tuesday that it will ally with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party for the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.\n\n\u201cThere will be a Congress-SP alliance in the UP polls,\u201d Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told media, adding that they will decide on a broader tie-up of political parties \u2013 a maha-gathbandhan \u2013 in the coming days.\n\nAzad also confirmed that the two parties will contest the polls under Akhilesh\u2019s leadership, a decision that enjoyed Congress chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit\u2019s wholehearted support.\n\nThe two parties are currently engaged in negotiations over seat sharing. The SP is likely to give around 120 out of the total 403 seats to the Congress, Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Krishna Patel faction of the Apna Dal.\n\nThe Congress\u2019 announcement came a day after the Election Commission allotted the Samajwadi Party\u2019s \u2018bicycle\u2019 poll symbol to the faction led by Akhilesh.\n\nThe national party has been relegated to the state\u2019s political margins ever since it was voted out of power in 1989, while the Samajwadi Party has undergone a virtual split between Akhilesh and his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav. An internal assessment conducted by the Congress on running alone came up with \u201cnot-so-encouraging\u201d results.\n\nThe buzz around the coalition had grown louder after Akhilesh surprised everybody in September by terming 46-year-old Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi as a \u201cgood human being\u201d. Gandhi, for his part, dropped broad hints of a tie-up at a party convention. \u201cUP mein majaa aayega (It will be fun in UP),\u201d he said.\n\nThe Akhilesh faction views the \u201csecular and socialist\u201d alliance as a good way to beat anti-incumbency in India\u2019s most populous and politically crucial state. The group believes the Samajwadi Party feud has only strengthened the chief minister\u2019s image, positioning him as a major challenger to his rivals in the BJP and the BSP.\n\nMulayam had proposed a grand alliance for the UP polls, although he had walked out of a similar coalition between the Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress ahead of the 2015 elections in Bihar. He was unhappy with the number of seats granted to his party there."}
-{"text": "Welcome to Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME Event Coverage! For live coverage of Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Events in Europe, please click here.\n\nSearch Online Coverage\n\nEvent Coverage Event Coverage Select Category 2010 Events 2016/11 \u2013 Anaheim, CA 2018/11 \u2013 Pasadena, CA 2018/11 \u2013 S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil Championships 2010 Canadian WCQ 2010 Central American WCQ 2010 South American WCQ 2010 United States WCQ 2011 Central American WCQ 2011 North American WCQ 2011 South American WCQ 2012 Central American WCQ 2012 South American WCQ 2013 Central American WCQ 2013 North American WCQ 2013/7 \u2013 Chicago, Illinois 2013 South American WCQ 2014 Central American WCQ 2014 North American WCQ 2014 South American WCQ 2015 Central American WCQ 2015 North American WCQ 2015 South American WCQ 2016 Central American WCQ 2016 North American WCQ 2016 South American WCQ 2017 Central American WCQ 2017 Latin America Nationals 2017 North American WCQ 2017 South American WCQ 2018 Central America WCQ 2018 Latin America Nationals 2018 North America WCQ 2018 South America WCQ 2019 Central America WCQ 2019 Latin America Nationals 2019 North America WCQ 2019 South America WCQ Dragon Duel Yu-Gi-Oh! 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Championship Series 2010/05 \u2013 Washington, DC 2010/06 \u2013 Chicago, Illinois 2010/08 \u2013 Gen Con Indy 2010/09 \u2013 San Jose, CA 2010/09 \u2013 Toronto, Canada 2010/10 \u2013 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 2010/11 \u2013 Atlanta, Georgia 2010/11 \u2013 Mexico City, Mexico 2011/02 \u2013 Dallas, TX 2011/03 \u2013 Charlotte, NC 2011/04 \u2013 Anaheim, CA 2011/05 \u2013 Orlando, FL 2011/06 \u2013 Providence, RI 2011/08 \u2013 Indianapolis, IN 2011/09 \u2013 Toronto, Canada 2011/10 \u2013 Columbus, Ohio 2011/11 \u2013 Kansas City, Missouri 2011/9 Ecuador 2012/02 \u2013 Atlanta, Georgia 2012/02 \u2013 Guadalajara, Mexico 2012/03 \u2013 100th Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series 2012/03 \u2013 Lima, Peru 2012/04 \u2013 Dallas, Texas 2012/04 \u2013 Chicago, Illinois 2012/05 \u2013 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 2012/09 \u2013 Guatemala 2012/09 \u2013 Toronto, Canada 2012/09 \u2013 Indianapolis, IN 2012/10 \u2013 Providence, Rhode Island 2012/11 \u2013 Tacoma/Seattle, Washington 2013/02 \u2013 Miami, FL 2013/02 \u2013 Santiago, Chile 2013/03 \u2013 Austin, Texas 2013/04 \u2013 San Diego, California 2013/05 \u2013 Meadowlands, New Jersey 2013/08 \u2013 Toronto, Canada 2013/10 \u2013 San Mateo, California 2014/02 \u2013 Atlanta, Georgia 2014/03 \u2013 Chicago, Illinois 2014/03 \u2013 Sao Paulo, Brazil 2014/04 \u2013 Las Vegas, Nevada 2014/04 \u2013 Mexico D.F. 2014/05 \u2013 Philadelphia, PA 2014/09 \u2013 Lima, Peru 2014/09 \u2013 Toronto, Canada 2014/10 \u2013 Dallas, Texas 2014/11 \u2013 Anaheim, CA 2015/01 \u2013 Charleston, SC 2015/02 \u2013 Tacoma, WA 2015/03 \u2013 Guatemala 2015/04 \u2013 Bogota D.C., Colombia 2015/04 \u2013 Chicago, IL 2015/05 \u2013 150th YCS \u2013 Columbus, OH 2015/08 \u2013 Toronto, Canada 2015/09 \u2013 Monterrey, Mexico 2015/10 \u2013 Dallas, TX 2015/11 \u2013 San Jose, California 2015/11 \u2013 Sao Paulo, Brazil 2016/02 \u2013 Atlanta, Georgia 2016/03 \u2013 Las Vegas, NV 2016/03 \u2013 San Jose, Costa Rica 2016/03 \u2013 Santiago, Chile 2016/04 \u2013 Houston, Texas 2016/05 \u2013 Providence, RI 2016/06 \u2013 Origins 2016/08 \u2013 Toronto, Canada 2016/09 \u2013 Mexico City, Mexico 2016/10 \u2013 Minneapolis, MN 2016/11 \u2013 Anaheim 2016/11 \u2013 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2017/02 \u2013 Seattle, WA 2017/03 \u2013 Atlanta, GA 2017/03 \u2013 YCS Guatemala City, Guatemala 2017/04 \u2013 Denver, CO 2017/04 \u2013 YCS Bogota, Colombia 2017/05 \u2013 YCS Pittsburgh, PA 2017/08 \u2013 Toronto, Canada 2017/10 \u2013 Dallas, TX 2017/10 \u2013 Guadalajara, Mexico 2017/11 \u2013 San Diego, CA 2017/12 \u2013 Buenos Aires, Argentina 2018/02 \u2013 Atlanta, GA 2018/03 \u2013 Salt Lake City, UT 2018/03 \u2013 San Jose, Costa Rica 2018/04 \u2013 Memphis, TN 2018/04 \u2013 Santiago, Chile 2018/06 \u2013 Secaucus, NJ 2018/09 \u2013 200th YCS Columbus, OH 2018/09 \u2013 200th YCS Mexico City, Mexico 2018/10 \u2013 Niagara, ON 2019/02 \u2013 Chicago, IL 2019/03 \u2013 Atlanta, GA 2019/03 \u2013 Guatemala City, Guatemala 2019/04 \u2013 Quito, Ecuador 2019/06 \u2013 Knoxville, TN 2019/08 \u2013 Portland, OR 2019/09 \u2013 Niagara Falls, ON 2019/09 \u2013 Guadalajara, Mexico 2019/10 \u2013 Ft. Worth, TX 2019/11 \u2013 Lima, Peru 2019/11 \u2013 Pasadena, CA 2020/02 \u2013 Las Vegas, NV"}
-{"text": "French actor Jeanne Moreau has died at the age of 89. Best known for her role in Fran\u00e7ois Truffaut\u2019s New Wave classic Jules et Jim, she worked with many of the leading art house directors of the time including Louis Malle, Roger Vadim, Michelangelo Antonioni and Luis Bu\u00f1uel\n\nRead more: Jeanne Moreau, star of Jules et Jim, dies aged 89"}
-{"text": "A first-of-its-kind survey of the kinds of trash that end up in San Francisco Bay points the finger at specific sources: retailers such as McDonald\u2019s and 7-Eleven that feed our disposable lifestyle, and their littering consumers.\n\nClean Water Action, a national group, identified fast food restaurants and convenience stores as the top contributors of the types of trash they could identify in the streets of San Jose, South San Francisco, Richmond and Oakland. Street trash often ends up in the bay.\n\nThe results shed light on where cities should concentrate their efforts as they race to comply with a strict regional directive to end all trash pollution to the bay by 2022, said Miriam Gordon, California director for Clean Water Action.\n\n\u201cIf we\u2019re going to solve the problem of trash entering our waterways, we need to know where it\u2019s being created. Part of the problem is we have so much trash to deal with in the first place,\u201d Gordon said.\n\nVolunteers with Clean Water Action\u2019s \u201cTaking Out the Trash\u201d program picked through hundreds of pieces of litter at six different street sites three times to determine where the trash was coming from. Nineteen percent of trash was branded, and the leading sources of that trash were McDonald\u2019s, Burger King, 7-Eleven, Starbucks, Wendy\u2019s, Taco Bell and Walgreens.\n\nThe rest of the trash either carried no brand \u2014 napkins, for instance \u2014 or consisted of ubiquitous products like snack wrappers that were impossible to trace. The number of cigarette butts overwhelmed everything else \u2014 so much so that the group stopped counting them.\n\nNapkins, snack food wrappers, receipts, cellophane, straws and bottle caps were among the top items of roughly 55 types of trash in the streets. Sixty-eight percent of it was used for food or beverage packaging.\n\n\u201cI never realized how many napkins people just toss into the street,\u201d Gordon said.\n\nIn the Bay Area, trash tossed into the street usually ends up in the bay after being blown into urban creeks or pushed into storm drains by heavy winter rains. Hundreds of tons of trash end up in the bay each year.\n\nWorldwide, more than 80 percent of marine debris comes from land-based sources such as urban stormwater, according to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy.\n\nThe San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board had those numbers in mind when it adopted a controversial stormwater permit program in 2009 that required cities to reduce their trash load to the bay 40 percent by 2014, 70 percent by 2017 and 100 percent by 2022.\n\nThe water board left it up to cities to decide how to tackle the problem, and that\u2019s where the rules have run into trouble. Cities have begun installing storm drain trash-capture devices, but the price tag stretches into the millions, and there are no long-term state or federal funds set aside to assist them.\n\nMost of the cities in San Mateo and Alameda counties have appealed the water board\u2019s trash reduction permit to a statewide commission that rules on unfunded state mandates, arguing that the new rules go beyond the obligations of the federal Clean Water Act.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not that we disagree with the requirements, it\u2019s just to help us with the fact that we don\u2019t have the funding for it,\u201d said Matt Fabry, program coordinator for the San Mateo Countywide Water Pollution Prevention Program.\n\nSan Jose officials estimate they\u2019ve spent more than $2 million installing trash-capture devices since 2008, enough to account for trash produced by 895 acres of commercial and retail stores within city limits.\n\nThe city is developing a plan to reduce its trash load to urban creeks 40 percent by 2014, according to Elaine Marshall, head of San Jose\u2019s Stormwater Management Program.\n\n\u201cWhen you get to the higher reduction goals, your low-hanging fruit is gone, so it gets more and more costly,\u201d she said.\n\nGordon, of Clean Water Action, said it would be far less costly to target the fast food restaurants, convenience stores and grocery stores that are giving paper, napkins, plastic utensils and Styrofoam cups away by the fistful.\n\nThe good news is that, according to the survey, reusable containers could replace 66 percent of drink packaging and 39 percent of food packaging.\n\n\u201cFrom a taxpayer perspective, we\u2019d like to have less trash now to control and clean up,\u201d she said.\n\nNational recycling levels have increased in recent years, but Americans are generating more trash than ever. Back in 1960, the average American generated about 3.7 pounds of trash per day, and that number has grown to 4.3 pounds per person, per day in spite on efforts to compost and recycle, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.\n\nSeveral Bay Area cities have banned plastic bags and Styrofoam carryout containers, but Clean Water Action will use the survey results to make the case that businesses can do much more than that.\n\nSmall changes can lead to big results, such as using napkin dispensers that make it harder to pull a dozen napkins out each time. Even asking customers whether they need a fork, a straw or a receipt would help a lot, said Gordon.\n\nMcDonald\u2019s uses as much food packaging for meals consumed in-store as when it\u2019s to go, which Gordon said is \u201ccompletely unnecessary.\u201d She wants to find fresh ways to encourage customers to bring their own reusable cups, utensils and containers when eating out.\n\nPushing reusable containers can be in a company\u2019s best interests, too. In 1998, Starbucks\u2019 Environmental Affairs Department determined that if a typical Starbucks store used 10 reusable cups per hour, that store would save $6,400 and 1,260 pounds of paper cups per year.\n\nMug use never really caught on at Starbucks, and the plastic-lined to-go cups are hard to recycle. Recently, the company announced that they aim to serve 25 percent of coffee drinks in reusable cups by 2015."}
-{"text": "Kathy Griffin\u2019s Trump Derangement Syndrome has manifested itself in a variety of ways over the past few years, most notably her photoshoot featuring herself holding a bloody severed head of Trump back in 2017. Well, she hasn\u2019t learned much from that experience that damaged her career. Last week, she tweeted a photo of herself in the hospital, and criticized President Trump over the availability of coronavirus tests in the United States because she wanted to be tested, but wasn\u2019t.\n\n\u201cI was sent to the #COVID19 isolation ward room in a major hospital ER from a separate urgent care facility after showing UNBEARABLY PAINFUL symptoms. The hospital couldn\u2019t test me for #coronavirus because of CDC (Pence task force) restrictions,\u201d she tweeted alongside two photos showing her in a hospital room.\n\nHe\u2019s lying. I was sent to the #COVID19 isolation ward room in a major hospital ER from a separate urgent care facility after showing UNBEARABLY PAINFUL symptoms. The hospital couldn\u2019t test me for #coronavirus because of CDC (Pence task force) restrictions. #TESTTESTTEST https://t.co/18fRiOBsdN pic.twitter.com/0sU9fHu4r0 \u2014 Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) March 25, 2020\n\nNow, here\u2019s what really happened. The day after her tweet, she was sent home from the hospital after being diagnosed with an abdominal infection, not the coronavirus.\n\nGriffin said she recently returned from a Mexican vacation and experienced intense abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea and a cough. She said she was eventually directed to the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and placed in its coronavirus isolation ward. An x-ray revealed her lungs were clear and a scan revealed she had an abdominal infection, Griffin said. A doctor still wanted to administer a test for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, because some of her symptoms fit the illness, according to the comedian. But, she said, the doctor said she couldn\u2019t because of guidelines issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\n\nWas it worth it, Kathy? Was it worth using an abdominal infection as a ruse to say you probably had the coronavirus just to attack Trump? I know you\u2019re looking for a comeback or something, but is this really the way to do it? Perhaps she accomplished what she wanted. Despite the fact it was clear she had an abdominal infection and not the coronavirus, USA Today wrote a story headlined, \u201cKathy Griffin, self-isolating after hospital visit, wasn\u2019t able to get coronavirus test.\u201d\n\n_____\n\nMatt Margolis is the author of Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama\u2019s Legacy and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis"}
-{"text": "It's a great T-shirt and pants. Definitely it will help me on my RUN ,Such a thoughtful gift from secret santa .THX a Lot"}
-{"text": "We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.\n\nSign up fornow and never miss the top Royal stories again.\n\nThe Queen\u2019s second cousin King Harald of Norway, 82, is sick, it was announced on Thursday afternoon. The Norwegian palace informed the public that as long as the King is sick, heir to the throne Crown Prince Haakon will be appointed as temporary regent of Norway.\n\nRoyal Christmas: How does Norway's Royal Family celebrate Christmas?\n\nAccording to the palace, King Harald has a viral infection.\n\nSpokeswoman Guri Varpe told Norwegian publication Dagbladet: \u201cAs of now, the King is on sick leave due to a viral infection.\u201d\n\nMs Varpe did not want to elaborate if the King would attend the weekly Cabinet meeting on Friday.\n\nThe King meets with the Council of State at the Royal Palace every Friday.\n\nREAD MORE: Meghan Markle has been offered a 'crash course' in life as a royal"}
-{"text": "Plans have been unveiled for a cyclist bridge to curve over the river at the edge of the Kangaroo Point Cliffs.\n\nThe state government has opened public consultation for the bridge, which would connect the Kangaroo Point Bikeway to the existing Veloway 1 at Captain Cook Bridge.\n\nAn artist's impression of the new cycle bridge at South Brisbane.\n\nWhen asked how much the bridge was expected to cost, a spokesman for Transport Minister Mark Bailey said it was too early to put a price tag on the project, with costings to be determined after consultation wrapped up.\n\n\"A business case is being developed for the proposed veloway, with engineering consulting firm SMEC awarded the contract to confirm the project\u2019s feasibility and cost of the preferred option,\" a government spokesman said."}
-{"text": "KABUL, Afghanistan \u2014 An Afghan government delegation met with Taliban officials in the Pakistani capital for the first time on Tuesday, in a significant effort to open formal peace negotiations, according to Afghan, Pakistani and Western officials.\n\nThe Islamabad meeting, brokered by Pakistani officials after months of intense effort by President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan to get them more centrally involved in the peace process, was the most promising contact between the two warring sides in years. And it followed a series of less formal encounters between various Afghan officials and Taliban representatives in other countries in recent months.\n\nPakistan\u2019s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that the participants had agreed to continue the talks, with another meeting to be held after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.\n\nA peace process that would lead to the Taliban ending their insurgency has long been seen as a crucial part of the American strategy to stabilize Afghanistan after a costly 14-year war. But previous promising moments in that effort, including the formal opening of a Taliban political office in Qatar in 2013, either fizzled or backfired."}
-{"text": "Legislation that aimed to protect LGBTQ Virginians from discrimination in public employment and housing died in a House of Delegates subcommittee hearing today.\n\nThe five bills -- one of which was withdrawn by its author before today\u2019s hearing -- aimed to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes in the state\u2019s Fair Housing Law as well as nondiscrimination laws in public employment for state and city employees. They all met their end in today\u2019s General Laws Committee as they have year after year.\n\nIn a less common procedural move, the House subcommittee heard both House and Senate versions of the same legislation ahead of the usual time when legislation switches between the two bodies. Their failure to pass continues to make it legal to not hire or fire someone, or deny them housing, because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.\n\nAmong those who testified today was an official of Housing Opportunities Made Equal, Brian Koziol. The director of the nonprofit housing group\u2019s research division spoke about a 2014-15 study that showed as many as 44 percent of same-sex housing applicants were treated differently when seeking housing.\n\n\u201cPeople know there\u2019s nothing they can do,\u201d he said. \u201c And this leads to a culture of silence.\u201d\n\nBill Harrison, executive director of Diversity Richmond, asked how it was illegal to fire someone for being a Republican, Democrat or Catholic, but not because of sexual orientation.\n\n\u201cBeing a Republican or Catholic is a choice, being gay is not a choice,\u201d he said.\u201cHere we are in 2018 and we\u2019re debating whether or not it should be legal to fire someone from their job cause of who they love? Really?\u201d\n\nKaitlyn O\u2019Brien, a transgender Newport News resident who works in the naval shipyard also spoke .\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not an issue for anyone other than me where I work -- it wasn\u2019t an issue for them sending me abroad, or to other states,\u201d she said. \u201cIt should not be a thing that we\u2019re discriminated against for our gender identity, whether or not we build warships. It should not keep us homeless or keep us from living.\u201d Opposition also spoke before today\u2019s vote.\n\n\u201cA fundamental issue here is religious liberty. \u2026 It could create civil action against religious groups because of their sincerely held beliefs. It could apply to faith-based colleges or charities,\u201d said Jeff Caruso, founding director of the Virginia Catholic Conference. \u201cWe cannot sever our beliefs from our services. Please preserve our religious liberty.\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s a history of bills to add similar protections dying in the same subcommittee. However this year marks a change as bills that would legalize discrimination against LGBTQ people, or work to force transgender people into bathrooms aligned with their birth gender were not submitted.\n\nAfter the end of today\u2019s vote, Delegate Delores McQuinn drew a parallel between her own experience as an African-American woman.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been discriminated against \u2026 and it seems like these systems of hierarchy that were established over the years must be overcome,\u201d she said. \u201cWe must dismantle these systems. We have an obligation as leaders to set the standards, to be giants of this, and support anyone being discriminated against for any reason.\u201d"}
-{"text": "AFTER more than three years, almost 200,000 dead in Syria, the near collapse of Iraq, and the rise of the world\u2019s most sinister terrorist army \u2014 the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which has conquered vast swaths of both countries \u2014 President Obama\u2019s admission this week that \u201cwe don\u2019t have a strategy yet\u201d to deal with this threat is startling. It is also dangerous.\n\nThe president clearly wants to move deliberately and consult with allies and Congress as he considers what to do about ISIS. No one disputes that goal. But the threat ISIS poses only grows over time. It cannot be contained. It must be confronted. This requires a comprehensive strategy, presidential leadership and a far greater sense of urgency. If Mr. Obama changes course and adopts a strategic approach to defeat ISIS, he deserves support.\n\nSuch a strategy would require our commander in chief to explain to war-weary Americans why we cannot ignore this threat. ISIS is now one of the largest, richest terrorist organizations in history. It occupies a growing safe haven the size of Indiana spanning two countries in the heart of the Middle East, and its ranks are filled with thousands of radicals holding Western passports, including some Americans. They require nothing more than a plane ticket to travel to United States cities.\n\nThis is why the secretary of homeland security has called Syria \u201ca matter of homeland security.\u201d His warnings about ISIS have been echoed by the attorney general, the director of national intelligence and, now, the secretary of defense. Americans need to know that ISIS is not just a problem for Iraq and Syria. It is a threat to the United States. Doing too little to combat ISIS has been a problem. Doing less is certainly not the answer now."}
-{"text": "Inuit artists part of Canada\u2019s contingent to the Festival Internacional Cervantino\n\nBy Nunatsiaq News\n\nInuit artists are helping represent Canada at a major Mexican performing arts festival this October.\n\nProgramming for the Festival Internacional Cervantino includes recent Inuit films, Juno-nominated artist Elisapie and Qaggiavuut\u2019s artistic director, Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory.\n\n\u201cMexico, here we come with some Arctic love and melting ice!\u201d Bathory wrote on Twitter.\n\nThe festival will feature Inuit music, theatre and film alongside other Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants as part of Canada\u2019s role as guest country at the festival.\n\nEach October, the Mexican city of Guanajuato becomes home to the Festival Internacional Cervantino. The festival, which runs from Oct. 9 to Oct. 27, will follow the theme of \u201cMigrations.\u201d\n\nCanada has been a featured guest before, taking part in 2002 as a country and in 2009 as Quebec, and is now gearing up to return for the 2019 event.\n\nThe hit film The Grizzlies will play on Oct. 23, award-winning documentary Angry Inuk will play on October 25 and Nunavik musician Elisapie will take the stage on Oct. 11.\n\nMeanwhile, Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory and the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre are showing Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools on Oct. 25 and Oct. 26.\n\nThe Canada Council for the Arts, which is supporting the country\u2019s participation along with Global Affairs Canada and the Embassy of Canada in Mexico, wrote on Facebook that they\u2019re \u201cthrilled that Mexican audiences will have the opportunity to discover the richness and diversity of Canadian creativity.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Maria Galvan used to make about $25,000 a year. She didn\u2019t qualify for welfare, but she still had trouble meeting her basic needs.\n\n\u201cI would just be working just to be poor and broke,\u201d she said. \u201cIt would be so frustrating.\u201d\n\nWhen things got bad, the single mother and Topeka resident took out a payday loan. That meant borrowing a small amount of money at a high interest rate, to be paid off as soon as she got her next check.\n\n\n\nA few years later, Galvan found herself strapped for cash again. She was in debt, and garnishments were eating up a big chunk of her paychecks. She remembered how easy it was to get that earlier loan: walking into the store, being greeted with a friendly smile, getting money with no judgment about what she might use it for.\n\nSo she went back to payday loans. Again and again. It began to feel like a cycle she would never escape.\n\n\u201cAll you\u2019re doing is paying on interest,\u201d Galvan said. \u201cIt\u2019s a really sick feeling to have, especially when you\u2019re already strapped for cash to begin with.\u201d\n\nLike thousands of other Kansans, Galvan relied on payday loans to afford basic needs, pay off debt and cover unexpected expenses. In 2018, there were 685,000 of those loans, worth $267 million, according to the Office of the State Bank Commissioner.\n\nBut while the payday loan industry says it offers much-needed credit to people who have trouble getting it elsewhere, others disagree.\n\nA group of nonprofits in Kansas argues the loans prey on people who can least afford triple-digit interest rates. Those people come from lower-income families, have maxed out their credit cards or don\u2019t qualify for traditional bank loans. And those groups say that not only could Kansas do more to regulate the loans \u2014 it\u2019s fallen behind other states who\u2019ve taken action.\n\nPayday Loan Alternatives\n\nLast year, Galvan finally finished paying back her loans. She got help from the Kansas Loan Pool Project, a program run by Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas.\n\nOnce Galvan applied and was accepted to the program, a local bank agreed to pay off about $1,300 that she owed to payday lenders. In return, she took out a loan from the bank worth the same amount. The interest was only 7%.\n\nNow that she\u2019s out, Galvan said, she\u2019ll never go back.\n\nShe doesn\u2019t have to. Making payments on that bank loan helped build her credit score until, for the first time, she could borrow money for a car.\n\n\u201cThat was a very big accomplishment,\u201d she said, \u201cto know I have this need, and I can meet that need on my own.\u201d\n\nThe project has paid off $245,000 in predatory loan debt for more than 200 families so far.\n\nClaudette Humphrey runs the original version of the project for Catholic Charities of Northern Kansas in Salina. She says her program has been able to help about 200 people by paying off more than $212,000 in debt. But it hasn\u2019t been able to help everyone.\n\n\u201cThe Number One reason, still, that we have to turn people away,\u201d she said, \u201cis just because we have a limit.\u201d\n\nPeople only qualify for the Kansas Loan Pool Project if they have less than $2,500 in payday loan debt and the means to pay back a new, low-interest loan from the bank. The program doesn\u2019t want to put people further in the hole if they also struggle with debt from other sources, Humphrey said.\n\n\u201cSometimes, even if we paid that off, they would still be upside-down in so many other areas,\u201d she said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to put an additional burden on someone.\u201d\n\nHumphrey doesn\u2019t think her program is the only solution. In her opinion, it should be lawmakers\u2019 responsibility to protect payday loan customers the same way they protect all consumers \u2014 through regulating payday loans like traditional bank loans.\n\n\u201cWhy are these companies not held to that same standard?\u201d she said. \u201cWhy, then, are payday and title loan lenders allowed to punish them at such an astronomical interest rate for not being a good risk?\u201d\n\nPotential Changes\n\nCatholic Charities is just one of the nonprofits pushing for tighter rules. The members of the coalition include churches and community organizations, said Shanae\u2019 Holman, an organizer with Topeka JUMP, the group that is leading the push.\n\n\u201cThere are other states who\u2019ve implemented guidelines that sell you how much income\u2026 what percentage of your check can go to a payment,\u201d Holman said. \u201cThose are the types of regulations that we would like to see,\u201d\n\nShe wants Kansas to require longer loan periods so borrowers aren\u2019t hit with penalties when they can\u2019t meet short payment deadlines.\n\nCurrently, the maximum period for a payday loan in the state is 30 days. In comparison, borrowers of small loans in Colorado must have at least six months to pay them back, with no maximum loan period. In Ohio, borrowers have between 91 and 365 days to pay back a loan. If the period of the loan is less than 91 days, the repayment must be less than 7% of the borrower\u2019s net income.\n\nBoth states set annual interest rates near 30%. Some states regulate payday loans the same way they do other consumer loans. But Kansas is like most other states, allowing annual interest rates of 391%. That means a two-week loan of $500 at 15% interest can cost a customer almost $2,000 over the course of a year.\n\nThe group plans to work with legislators during next year\u2019s session in Topeka.\n\nIt\u2019s the first time that such a large group has organized around the cause, said Jeanette Pryor, a lobbyist for the Kansas Catholic Conference. Payday loan reform is a perennial topic at the Statehouse, she said, but it\u2019s hard to convince lawmakers to increase regulations.\n\n\u201cThat was something that I heard in the beginning. \u2018Why can\u2019t an adult make a rational decision on their own? Why do we have to legislate this?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cThe larger the coalition, the more opportunities to educate legislators.\u201d\n\nNick Bourke is the director of consumer finance at Pew Charitable Trusts. It pushes for reform of payday loan laws. He said reform is long overdue in Kansas, which hasn\u2019t updated its payday loan laws since 2005.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s possible to provide small-dollar credit, even to people with damaged credit histories, for much less money than what Kansans are paying now,\u201d he said. \u201cBut Kansas laws are outdated.\u201d\n\nIn 2014, Pew Charitable Trusts conducted research on payday loan usage in each state. The organization found that 8% of Kansas residents had used payday loans in recent years, higher than the national average of 5.5%. The typical income for a borrower was $30,000.\n\nThe Office of the State Bank Commissioner, David Herndon, which regulates loans and penalizes lenders for breaking the rules, refused to be interviewed in person or over the phone, but did answer questions through email. Deputy Bank Commissioner Tim Kemp said the agency only enforces existing law and doesn\u2019t weigh in on proposed changes.\n\nAttorney General Derek Schmidt\u2019s office, which takes consumer complaints about payday loans, declined multiple requests for interviews and information.\n\nAn Option For Credit\n\nPayday lenders say they offer affordable credit to the large proportion of Americans who don\u2019t have enough cash to cover an emergency expense. The Community Financial Services Association of America, an industry group for small-dollar lenders, declined an interview due to scheduling conflicts, but sent a statement through email.\n\n\u201cSmall-dollar loans are often the least expensive option for consumers,\u201d said CFSA chairman D. Lynn DeVault in the statement. \u201cParticularly compared to bank fees \u2014 including overdraft protection and bounced checks \u2014 or unregulated offshore internet loans and penalties for late bill payments.\u201d\n\nSome Kansas customers, like Keri Strahler of Topeka, say the loans are helpful.\n\nStrahler doesn\u2019t work, and most of her income comes from Social Security Disability Insurance. This year, she took out three payday loans to cover medical debt, and said she hasn\u2019t had trouble paying them back.\n\nShe knows many people perceive the loans as predatory. But for Strahler, borrowing has alleviated more stress than it\u2019s caused. Her credit cards were already maxed out, and the loans helped her avoid being taken to court or having to sell her furniture to cover her debt.\n\n\u201cI chose the payday loans because I wanted them immediately addressed,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s been very helpful.\u201d\n\nHumphrey, of Catholic Charities, acknowledges the loans can be helpful for some customers. The question is whether the state can keep others from being exploited.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not saying there\u2019s not a place for them,\u201d Humphrey said. \u201c(But) is there a better way to do what they do so that it\u2019s not devastating families?\u201d\n\nNomin Ujiyediin reports on criminal justice and social welfare for the Kansas News Service. Follow her on Twitter @NominUJ or email nomin (at) kcur (dot) org.\n\nThe Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on the health and well-being of Kansans, their communities and civic life. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link to ksnewsservice.org."}
-{"text": "On Monday, the city announced Mitchell du Plessis Associates as the qualifying bidder for the project which was shrouded in controversy late last year, over claims of tender irregularities.\n\nCAPE TOWN - The City of Cape Town says a proposal to complete the unfinished freeways on the Foreshore will alleviate congestion in and out of the city.\n\nOn Monday, the city announced Mitchell du Plessis Associates as the qualifying bidder for the project which was shrouded in controversy late last year, over claims of tender irregularities.\n\nThe R8 billion project will also provide affordable and social housing.\n\nOf the seven proposals that were submitted in 2016, the city has now selected one that outlines plans to finish the Foreshore freeways, while also building high-rise tower blocks of apartments across four precincts on the land between the freeways.\n\nMayoral committee member for Transport Brett Herron said: \u201cThis proposal if it succeeds through the second phase, will fundamentally change our city and will start to contribute to a more residential inner city and a more inclusive inner city.\u201d\n\nOver the next six months, the city will have to conclude an agreement with the selected bidder, which in turn will have to finalise an investment plan and secure financing for the project."}
-{"text": "The historic 2017 hurricane and wildfire season brought a moment of reckoning to FEMA, which later admitted staffing challenges had put an \u201cunprecedented strain\u201d on the agency at the time.\n\nThe triple whammy of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria \u2014 on top of California\u2019s devastating wildfires \u2014 forced 73% of FEMA\u2019s response workforce to deploy to disaster-impacted areas. More than half of the agency\u2019s specialized response and recovery cadres were staffed at 25 percent or worse for 45 days or more.\n\nMembers of the House Homeland Security Committee this week tried to get a better sense of whether the agency was better prepared now than it was before the 2017 hurricane season.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re ready every day of the year,\u201d acting FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor told Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the committee\u2019s chairman.\n\n\nThompson and other members of the House Homeland Security Committee pressed Gaynor several times for specifics.\n\nThe agency\u2019s full-time workforce is fully staffed, Gaynor said. But FEMA faces a shortage of roughly 2,000 temporary reserve employees, despite efforts to hire and train nearly 1,000 more ahead of this year\u2019s hurricane season.\n\n\u201cWe know it\u2019s one of our struggles, but we have a plan to get there,\u201d Gaynor said. \u201cOne of the issues has been how we qualify these new employees. We\u2019re trying to streamline that whole process so it makes sense for us; we can onboard more quickly and employees can get to the field faster.\u201d\n\nThe agency recently finished a review of its workforce. Gaynor said the agency specifically focused on existing recruitment sources for reservists and examined ways it could onboard temporary employees more quickly.\n\nJeffrey Byard, the President\u2019s pick to be the new permanent FEMA administrator, similarly called for a focus on the agency\u2019s workforce in his nomination hearing earlier this week.\n\n\u201cWe have to continue to build our workforce, predominantly on the recovery end of that to just sustain the historic past two seasons,\u201d he told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday. \u201cWe have 61,000 project worksheets in the works now. That\u2019s a tremendous workload. I would like to see the agency \u2026 ensure we do more to recruit, retain and promote those areas of under-represented populations within emergency management. You have to have a diverse workforce. The agency has to be representative of the community we serve.\u201d\n\nThe Government Accountability Office, which said it was particularly concerned with FEMA\u2019s current skills gaps and inconsistent training, told House members it would be foolish to discount FEMA\u2019s workforce challenges.\n\n\u201cThe challenges we face as a country and the risks we face aren\u2019t going to make those challenges get any easier for the agency,\u201d Chris Currie, director of GAO\u2019s homeland security and justice team, said. \u201cThe 2017 disasters were a historic year in terms of cost and damage and impact on our citizens, but it would be a big mistake to look at that as a one-time event. Whether it\u2019s 500-year floods, tornadoes like we\u2019ve never seen before and huge wildfires, these events are happening every year.\u201d\n\nCommunities across the country have already faced a total of 28 presidentially-declared natural disasters so far this year. FEMA itself has 272 open disasters that data back as far as 2000, and the agency has spent nearly half-a-trillion dollars on disaster relief since 2005, Currie said.\n\nFEMA has, in fact, recognized that this is likely unsustainable. The agency released a new strategic plan last year, which called on state and local communities to improve their own disaster preparations and training in attempt ease up the burden on federal resources.\n\nThat message, however, hasn\u2019t quite hit home yet with state and local communities.\n\n\u201cWhat we would expect over time is that we\u2019ve addressed our capability gaps and build in enough resilience to where the local governments can handle more and more over time,\u201d Currie said. \u201cBut what we\u2019re seeing is the opposite. We\u2019re seeing additional expectation of federal assistance over time.\u201d\n\nBeyond helping state and local governments better prepare to handle their own disaster response and recovery activities, FEMA is also trying to streamline its own operations and improve the overall federal response to major events.\n\nSeveral House committee members recalled constituents who had nearly a dozen representatives from multiple federal agencies assess the damage on their homes after a recent hurricane. Lawmakers also described their frustration that disaster victims often had to jump through numerous hoops to request assistance funding from several agencies.\n\nBoth Gaynor and Byard acknowledged the confusion. About 19 federal agencies manage some 95 different disaster programs, Gaynor said. Eventually, FEMA hopes it can organize these programs and funding streams in a way that\u2019s practically invisible to the customers. Gaynor called it \u201cone-stop shopping\u201d for disaster recovery and relief.\n\n\u201cWe have a lot of work to do to make sure we blend that together,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to do this in Puerto Rico with outcome-driven recovery, where we\u2019re just not using FEMA money to solve a problem. We\u2019re using all of federal government money to solve a problem together.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Bond, like Wile E. Coyote, smeared various highly toxic chemicals on surfaces in Haynes's car and around her home, including her mailbox, 24 times. Haynes noticed the contaminants and avoided them, except for one burn on her thumb. She also called local police, who good-heartedly suggested the powder must be cocaine. Then they suggested she keep her car cleaner. Only when she turned to the U.S. Postal Service did someone take her situation seriously. Surveillance cameras posted by USPS caught Bond in the act, and she was arrested.\n\nAn unusual case now turns stranger. Federal authorities charged Bond with a violation of 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 229, a statute implementing the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention. She had possessed and used a chemical weapon, the government argued. She pleaded guilty in federal court and received a six-year sentence, which included an enhancement for using \"special skill\" in the commission of the crime.\n\nBond reserved the right to appeal the application of this statute to her. But the appeals court held she had no \"standing\" to argue that her conviction exceeded the power of the federal government. The government hadn't asked for that ruling, but the court went there on its own. At this point her story becomes entangled with issues of federal power that are a lot more important, though radically more boring, than Carol Bond's crazed campaign for vengeance.\n\nHere's the part that lawyers can love: The issue is not whether Congress, or the federal prosecutors, actually overstepped the Tenth Amendment by applying this federal statute to what her lawyer calls, in a brief to the Court, \"garden-variety infractions\" like using incredibly toxic, highly regulated chemicals around the home of a mother and her two-year-old infant. It's whether Bond can even raise the issue. Ordinarily a criminal defendant has \"standing\" to argue any grounds that might prove her conviction was unlawful. Why wouldn't she? \"Standing\" at its core refers to the idea that a person must be injured by a government action. It's hard to imagine an injury more palpable than being hustled off to a federal gated community for six years.\n\nBond, in fact, didn't argue that her prosecution violated the Tenth Amendment. She just argued that the chemical weapons statute exceeded the power given to the federal government under the Treaty Power, Article II, \u00a7 2, clause 2. On its own, however, the Court of Appeals held that Bond's challenge actually arose under the Tenth Amendment, and that only a state had standing to challenge a federal action as violating the Amendment's provision that \"the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.\"\n\nBoth Bond and the U.S. government now agree that the appeals court got the case wrong. Their only difference is on how broadly she should win. The government wants the Supreme Court to allow Tenth Amendment standing only in cases where defendants argue that the alleged federal overreaching exceeds a constitutional grant of power. Bond, and other conservative amici, wants the Court to allow litigants like Bond to challenge statutes on the grounds that they are unfair, not to them, but to their state governments."}
-{"text": "NEW YORK -- La La Anthony made headlines earlier this week when she said that her husband, Carmelo Anthony, would \u201cdefinitely\u201d re-sign with the Knicks.\n\nSo what was Carmelo\u2019s reaction?\n\n\"That\u2019s my wife. I support her. I support what she said. I don\u2019t think she said anything wrong,\" Anthony said. \"It\u2019s a good thing for her to say that. Go get the book, though.\"\n\nLa La Anthony said in an interview with Bravo TV's \"Watch What Happens Live\" to promote her book, \"The Playbook,\" that she thinks Anthony, a free agent to-be, will end up back in New York.\n\n\"I definitely think he will stay,\" La La Anthony said. \"I know that he wants to stay, and I support him wherever he wants to go.\n\n\"Listen, I used to live in Denver with him. If I can live in Denver, I can live anywhere. I just want him to be happy.\"\n\nAnthony says he will test free agency this summer. He is under contract through 2014-15 but can opt out after this season.\n\nUnder the collective bargaining agreement, the Knicks can offer him a maximum contract of $129 million over five years. Other suitors can offer Anthony a maximum of $96 million over four years.\n\nLa La Anthony playfully mocked those who speculate that she will have a heavy influence on her husband's decision.\n\n\"I get blamed for everything. No matter what happens, it's my fault,\" she said. \"[There are] all these talks if he's staying in New York or not, [and] I'm somehow the mastermind behind if he stays or not.\"\n\nThe Knicks (17-27) have performed well below expectations this season. That has led some to speculate that Carmelo Anthony will take less money and sign elsewhere this summer.\n\nThe Chicago Bulls have been mentioned in several reports as one possible destination. Anthony was asked if he thinks about the speculation over the Bulls as potential suitors.\n\n\"Not at all,\" Anthony said.\n\nWhat about Anthony\u2019s relationship with coach Tom Thibodeau?\n\n\"I don\u2019t have one with Thibs,\" he said.\n\nAnthony, who is in his 11th season, said Monday that his sole motivation is to win an NBA title.\n\n\"That's the only thing I care about. Anything else is irrelevant to me when it comes to basketball,\" he said. \"Championship is the only thing that's on my mind, is the only thing I want to accomplish, I want to achieve, and I'm going to do what I got to do to get that. That's my motivating factor. Nothing else even motivates me anymore, just that.\"\n\nThat statement itself isn\u2019t newsworthy, but when you consider Anthony\u2019s pending free agency, it takes on a little more meaning.\n\nIt\u2019s clear an opportunity to win an NBA title will be high on Anthony\u2019s wish list when he considers his suitors this summer.\n\nIn addition to the Knicks and Bulls, Anthony is expected to be courted by the Los Angeles Lakers. Both teams could create enough cap space to sign Anthony.\n\nQuestion: Do you think what La La said was accurate, or do you see Anthony leaving New York this summer?\n\nYou can follow Ian Begley on Twitter."}
-{"text": "Leading the parade is a float with members of the ERG, with more community celebrations to follow.\n\nQueer People in Science\n\nBeing a Member of the LGBTQ* Community\n\nJoin Pride Alliance and Brookhaven Women in Science in welcoming Lee Bitsoi, Director of the Diversity Collaborative at Fort Lewis College, for a talk on what it means to be a member of the LGBTQ* community.\n\nThe meeting will be hosted on June 24th at 4pm over Zoom, with a Q&A session and virtual happy hour afterwards. Additional details will be announced as they become available.\n\nPride Month Trivia\n\nLGBTQ* Scientists from History"}
-{"text": "Updated Sept. 4: Since publishing this report in July we've had a chance to go hands-on with the ROG Phone 2 at IFA.\n\nThe new Asus ROG Phone 2 is not only a gaming beast \u2014 it\u2019s an all around monster, period. Its specs blow everyone else out of the water, from its 120Hz OLED screen to its Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus processor \u2014 and a giant 6,000mAh battery to power it all.\n\nThe design on this smartphone remains largely the same, as this hands-on video from Engadget shows, but the specs have been bumped up hard.\n\nAsus ROG Phone 2 specs\n\nPrice TBA Screen Size (Resolution) 6.6 inches (2340 x 1080) CPU Snapdragon 855 Plus RAM Up to 12GB Storage Up to 512GB Rear Camera 48-MP main; 13-MP ultra wide angle Front Camera 24-MP Battery 6,000 mAh\n\nLet\u2019s start with the Snapdragon 855 Plus processor, Qualcomm\u2019s CPU made for gaming. According to the chip maker, it has higher clock frequency peaks and has a faster graphics processor unit. At 2.96 GHz peak performance and 15% faster GPU, the heat generation is so high that Asus had to add a specialized vapor cooling system. The CPU feeds on a 12GB of RAM \u2014 with 512GB of storage.\n\nAll that firepower feeds a 6.59-inch OLED panel that runs at 120 frames per second and has HDR10, which provides with the highest color gamut possible. At 240Hz, The ROG Phone 2's touchscreen layer has a sampling rate double of the frame rate. The company says that the resulting latency is only 49ms, which it claims to be the lowest of any phone in existence. The screen also has an underdisplay fingerprint sensor.\n\nOf course, that all sucks a lot of juice, which is the reason why the ROG Phone 2 has a giant 6,000mAh battery.\n\n(Image credit: Engadget)\n\nAsus' flagship phone also has a 48-megapixel main camera, coupled with a 13-MP sensor with ultra-wide lens and laser autofocus. It also has everything you would expect from a phone in this class: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ad, Bluetooth 5.0, dual-band GPS, and USB Type-C connector.\n\nThe Rog Phone 2 doesn\u2019t have a final price tag yet, although speculation is that it will be priced between $900 and $1,000. The phone will reportedly launch globally in September."}
-{"text": "Ancient city introduces 200 electric double-deckers... on top of 3,000 single-deckers\n\nBYD is launching the world\u2019s largest electric double-decker bus fleet in Xi\u2019an, China. 100 BYD K8S have entered service on January 30 and another 100 will enter service after the Chinese Spring Festival.\n\nIn total, 200 double-decker buses will cover six lines in Xi\u2019an, which already has 3,000 standard BYD buses (1,100 since late 2016 and then 1,900 more since 2018). The fleet is the biggest in northwest China.\n\nEarlier, K8S have been put into operation also in the cities of Shenzhen, Guilin, Huai\u2019an, Jingdezhen and Pingtan.\n\n\"The buses offer a broad field of vision, using low floors with single-step access as well as front and rear swinging doors. The lower deck is more than 1.9m high, providing ample space for standing, while the upper deck is over 1.7 meters in height, making walking comfortable and convenient. In addition, they come fitted with a wheelchair area and boarding/debarkation ramps, offering maximum accessibility to passengers with all kinds of needs. The buses feature BYD\u2019s independently developed batteries, motor, electronic control and wheel drive technology. They also boast significantly improved driving safety and operations throughout their entire life cycle, thanks to a steering delay function, smart key system and other leading technologies.\""}
-{"text": "During an interview Ask how strict their sexual harassment policy is\n\n228,782 shares"}
-{"text": "President Barack Obama appeared on The Daily Show tonight, in a wide-ranging interview that hit on everything from the debates between the president and Mitt Romney, the president\u2019s economic policy, and how the Obama administration handled the aftermath of the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Stewart opened by joked with the president about his poor first debate performance, with Obama acknowledging that Romney made a better \u201cpresentation\u201d than he did. However, the president argued that Romney\u2019s policies are the same ones that got the United States into an economic hole in the first place, touting over 40 months of consecutive job growth under his administration.\n\nStewart asked Obama if he has a stronger case for his own reelection or against Romney\u2019s election. Obama claimed he has an equally strong case on both. He brought up his administration\u2019s accomplishments on health care reform and foreign policy, saying that he has had victories in both social and economic policy, and emphasized the importance of creating jobs and building new technologies in the United States.\n\nIn the second part of the interview, Stewart asked the president if he has changed his belief from four years ago that the U.S. cannot sacrifice its most important ideals in the name of national security. Obama emphasized that he wants to work on closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay and reign in the power of the presidency, but acknowledged that there are still \u201ctough calls\u201d to make as president.\n\nStewart challenged the president on how much \u201cgovernment overreach\u201d regarding national security from the Bush administration is still in place under Obama. The president said the same programs have been \u201cmodified\u201d and there are \u201csafeguards\u201d in place to prevent abuse. Stewart then brought up the administration\u2019s \u201cconfusion\u201d in the aftermath of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Obama argued that \u201cevery piece of information that we got, as we got it, we laid out to the American people.\u201d\n\nStewart said the perception was that the Obama administration and the State Department were talking past each other. Obama said they all made sure to emphasize the intelligence gathering was still \u201cincomplete.\u201d Stewart suggested it was \u201cnot the optimal response,\u201d to which the president said, \u201cIf four Americans get killed, it\u2019s not optimal.\u201d\n\nThe interview ended with the president making one final appeal to the audience to get out and vote next month.\n\nWatch the full interview below, courtesy of Comedy Central:\n\nPart 1:\n\nPart 2:\n\n\u2014\u2013\n\nFollow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac\n\nHave a tip we should know? [email protected]"}
-{"text": "The PBE has been updated! As we continue the extended 7.18 PBE cycle , today's small patch includes more tentative balance changes!Continue reading for more information!\n\n( Warning : PBE Content is tentative and subject to change - what you see below may not reflect what eventually gets pushed to live servers at the end of the cycle! Manage your expectations accordingly.)\n\nBalance Changes * NOTE *: The PBE is a testing grounds for new, tentative, & experimental changes. Be aware that what you see below may be relative to other changes earlier this cycle! These are not official notes.\n\n\n\nChampions\n\nVolatile Spiderling (Human W):\n\nMagic damage lowered from 60/110/160/210/260 to 55/95/135/175/215\n\n\n\nAP increased from 80% to 95%\n\nnote\n\nDuelist's Dance (Passive) movement speed increased from 15/25/35/45% to 20/30/40/50%\n\nBase armor lowered from 29.05 to 26.05\n\nnote\n\nSafeguard (W1) shield lowered changed to 55/110/165/220/275\n\nshield lowered changed to 55/110/165/220/275 Vs Live : Changed from 40/100/160/220/280 to 55/110/165/220/275\n\n: Changed from 40/100/160/220/280 to 55/110/165/220/275\n\nVs PBE: Changed from 60/110/170/225/280 to 55/110/165/220/275\n\nBellows Breath (W) fire reverted from dealing [enemy's max health] to dealing [enemy's current health]\n\n\n\n\n\nTristana\n\nBuster Shot (R) magic damage reverted from 250/375/500 to 300/400/500.\n\n\n\n\n\nContext & Notes\n\nWIP WIP WIPADELPHIA!\n\nMeddler's\n\n\"Morning all,\n\nUsual Disclaimers\n\nThese posts will often contain talk about future work we're doing, or planning to do, that isn't yet guaranteed to ship. The nature of the work could change or, depending on what we discover, projects mentioned may get put delayed or even stopped.\n\nIf you'd like to see a Tweet whenever a new one of these posts goes up: https://twitter.com/RiotMeddler\n\nRunes numbers aren't final\n\nIn another note on runes - important to stress that any numbers shown aren't necessarily final ones. Maybe Ultimore will be really overpowered at 20% when fully stacked? If so 20%'s not the number it should be. Pretty confident at 5% fully stacked for example it wouldn't be worth taking, so if 20% does end up being too high let's find that sweet spot in between the two. Important to distinguish between concept (invest some of your pre-game power into a rune that lets you use your ult more) and details (X champion can cast their ult every Y seconds and that's busted).\n\nPossible Janna changes in 7.19\n\nWe're taking another look at possible Janna changes, with much of the focus there still being on adding a bit more skill expression for Janna and counterplay opportunities for her opponents. Things currently being tested include Q uncharged being weaker/charged being stronger (faster for one thing), E having a longer CD until max rank (windows of vulnerability in lane), longer AA range (incentive a bit more risk taking and active play on Janna's part). Work's still going through quite a bit of iteration, so nothing final yet, hoping to have something in for 7.19 though.\n\nOrnn\n\nFor anyone that missed it there was another Ornn micro patch to give him a bit more power last week. We're still monitoring that. In 7.19 we'll at least be making some changes to how his item upgrades work (minimum level needed, plus the addition of a new item or two). Possible we give him a bit of extra power in some other regard too, getting to the point though where we also need to be extra careful not to over buff him. We're still seeing a lot of Ornn players struggle, but some of that's still learning curve not kit, and successful Ornns are starting to do quite a bit better.\"\n\nSquad5\n\n\"Not pulling the trigger on the max hp damage changes yet, not enough time to test. Otherwise want to see how these changes pan out.\"\n\n: Fiora has other changes currently testing on the PBE]: Lee Sin already had changes on W shield on PBE]1) Check out quick gameplay thoughts for September 6th:Here'son the"}
-{"text": "The late 1970s marked the end of the Polish era of relative prosperity. When the bill for Poland's attempt to borrow its way into consumerist abundance was called in, it was a moment when all the dreams of socialist efficiency, which pervaded the popular imagery of the previous decades, must have had reached their end. There was no possibility of pretending anymore, the consumerism we briefly enjoyed was a sham. The affluent 70s started to reveal itself as a delusion of wealth: achieved through massive loans which threw Poland into a dangerous debt. A decade which started with the tragic repression of strikers on the Baltic coast ended in the massive economic crisis that started to reach every level of society. Aptly, the Gdansk shipyard strikes were prompted by the fact that meat prices were too high. Then Martial Law came in December '81 \u2013 the coup led by General Jaruzelski and his army junta against its citizens. Curfews meant people often had to stay together at each other's houses.\n\nOne of the best Polish post-punk bands of that era, Kontrola W, were originally named Kontrola W\u0142adzy (Control of Power), but \u2013 probably because the group didn't want to land themselves in trouble \u2013 they decided to shorten it. At some gigs, when they were announced, someone from the crowd would say: \"But you can't control power!\" \"But it's about us being controlled by power,\" the band allegedly replied. They would later claim that the W stood for Wra\u017cenia (Impressions). Still, the lyrics remained militant and pugnacious, with the music merging retro rockabilly elegance and post-punk erudition, bringing to mind Burroughsian topics of control from the state, communist newspeak, atomic war, nuclear crisis, hiding in bunkers, imagining the end of the world, fear of pollution and radioactivity, state controlled media brainwashing society, erasure of the self by the mass culture, personality crisis. Sounds familiar? These were the typical disillusioned subjects of punk and post-punk, but they had an extra resonance here. For instance, they ridiculed and questioned the efficiency of Poland's collapsing post-81 economy. Like outr\u00e9 new wave/post-punk outfits Xex or Devo earlier, they reacted with its absurdisation: Your factory leads in the world / they make everything the best in the world / radioactive! / Radioactive little balloons / Radioactive ties / Radioactive lipsticks / Radioactive dummies! Then the song comes back to the bleak reality of work: Your leading factory / you work there four shifts a day / and have no time /for romances / no time / to be intellectual! The factory existence influences the whole worker's body and physiology: Radioactive are your eyes / your hands / your heart / your brain!\n\nOn the top of that Kontrola dressed like something between Russian Futurists and post-war Polish communist scouts. But we must remember what was actually happening in Poland around the time the band came in to existence. It was only shortly after they got together that Martial Law was proclaimed, which in its first phase was like a real war for many people: tanks, food crises and rationing, curfews, people arrested, 'accidental' deaths on the streets. Terror. Under this atmosphere Kontrola W took part in youth festivals from 1982, and in 1983, only when the repression began to be relaxed. Leader Darek Kulda says in an interview from 1984: \u201cI wanted to make an ugly music. It was a period when on Polish radio there was nothing apart from hard rock, which I was sick of. I decided to create a band whose music would be unclassifiable, neither rock, nor jazz, nor nothing. We failed, 'cos they put us under a label: new wave.\u201d Listening to the six salvaged Kontrola W tracks that have survived, despite their poor recording quality, they possess an instantly recognizable originality: a precise and smooth-as-hell rhythm section (drummer Wojtek Jagielski, who in 'free' Poland became a talk-show celebrity) drives the motorik of 'Bossa Nova', which starts with a few seconds of scratching, compulsive guitar strings. An out-of-tune, sick, broken rock and roll, the song progresses in angular groans and whines of guitar, accompanied with the self-possessed, very capricious screech of Kasia Kulda, in which she's trying to get rid of an importunate lover:\n\nWhen there's nothing to talk about / you persecute me at every step/ Crawling upon my feet (\u2026) / and if this doesn\u2019t bring effect / you can only sing this old tune: Bossa Nova!\n\nKulda sings with a sharpness and panache that Siouxie Sioux would be jealous of, if she had only known about it. In the complicated ways of the development of popular music in the Soviet Bloc it's easy to classify bands immediately as some sorts of poor, oppressed oppositionists. On both sides of the Curtain the youth felt that the current political order was wrong, that there were no opportunities for people like them. The music that arose everywhere in the punk era, regardless of whether it was Eastern or Western, was directed by a similar impulse of disillusionment, of taking things in one's hands, an ability to express anger and dissatisfaction. On both sides it was a manifestation of the dispossessed: the fact that the Western youth were rejecting the comfortable lifestyle of Baby Boomers, and the fact Poles had nothing to lose doesn't change this.\n\nThis strange time between the fake promise of bling and the grey, concrete reality resulted in a sudden change in more mainstream Polish pop, which embraced and flirted with the fallen dreams of beautiful commodities that hadn't exactly turned into reality. The historical, economic and cultural moment was perfect for this: the old cynicism of the Party was replaced by the enthusiasm of Solidarity, and the old truths didn't matter anymore. Be it the scarcity of the official culture or the hunger for emancipation, Polish popular music in the break between the 1970s and 1980s spawned more interesting female vocalists and music personalities than ever before or after. Izabela Trojanowska was a one-woman Polish New Wave movement, whose populist songs picked up where punk left off. Drawing on the empowered feminine-but-tough girls of post-punk and pop-punk \u2013 the rapaciousness of Siouxie Sioux, the girlie charm of Debbie Harry or the boyishness of Chrissie Hynde \u2013 she added a completely new air of a mature sexy femininity.\n\nIn Poland, she represented a completely new kind of female pop performer with a quite shocking demeanour of self-confidence, sex and modernity. She wore short, predatory hair, strong makeup with compulsory blood-red lipstick, and an aptly-garconne wardrobe. Androgynous suits with a feminine, perverse twist, sequin blouses in dazzling whites and zero degree of sentimentality. Walking on her red stilettos with exaggerated puff shoulders, Trojanowska was rather like a communist David Bowie/Klaus Nomi, a Thin White Duke and a Bauhausian doll, harsher than any male performer ever in the Soviet Bloc - maybe, because she understood and played well with androgyny. In several photos she assumes a pose similar to Bowie, and in one TV programme even performed dressed as a Bowie-esque New Romantic Pierrot, with glitter-brocade makeup on her face. Iza wore both male and female clothes, always with a dominating air: jackets with spiky, 'neo-gothic' collars and shoulders in striking, saturated colours, red and amaranth leather dresses and jackets; metallic, futuristic coats, like an elegant cyborg, akin to Sean Young in Blade Runner, and huge, Futurist sunglasses. The whole of her person seemed to exude the metallic sheen of a sexy robot.\n\nIn this she was also predestined by the self-irony with which she smilingly-rejected any possible feminine clich\u00e9s of life in the Bloc. She was a Helmut Newton-esque 'scary businesswoman', who didn\u2019t have anywhere to go to work, so in her videos she posed by the only 'modern'-looking shiny skyscrapers she could find in Warsaw. She used men like toys whenever she fancied, but mostly she was self-sufficient, with strong lesbienne undertones a-la-Dietrich, or flirting with a glam vampirella look. A sharp gal who couldn't stand the failure of a boyfriend to give her all she wanted, now. (No wonder that one of the first drag queen shows in early 90s Poland was an Iza T. impersonation.) Imagine the shock which this caused any typical Polish man, used to a housewife who'd hand him a hot meal and slippers in their much\u2013awaited two-bedroom flat. In her lyrics, she was shockingly sarcastic towards socialist efficiency, mocking both Socialist Realist Stakhanovites, and the prosaic reality of endless material lacks which was everything but glamorous. The heroic times of socialism were clearly gone, as Iza T. commented with a bored, sarcastic voice:\n\nNo more Heroes\u2026 and even if, where to take them from?:\n\nSo much wealth has gone to waste\n\nLaurel wreaths and golden ribbons\n\nNearly ready plinths\n\nOn which already someone climbed before.\n\nOne misty morning the Endless Olympics flown away\n\nThere\u2019s no more demand for heroes\n\nAnd even if, where to take them from?\n\nThe jolly dancing speaker\u2019s voice\n\nDoesn\u2019t solve problems anymore\n\nPaper in hand, bored, they queue\n\nWith Bolek & Lolek \u2013 what a waste\n\nAnd it is harder every day\n\nFor girls to fall in love in vain.\n\nNo more heroes anymore\u2026\n\nBy then nobody believed in the system anymore, but here punk-nihilism was taken up by commercial pop. As Iza rejected the idea of shacking-up with a boy and waiting 10 years for a council flat, she mocked the scarcity of means, most famously in 'The Song of the Brick' \u2013 in which the chorus line 'pass me a brick' is a reference to a 1950s Stalinist slogan of building Communist Poland. There she was in 1980, recalling the times everybody wanted to forget: just like Wajda, bringing back the trauma of Socialist Realism. During a memorable televised performance at the Opole festival in 1980, dressed in the exaggerated red cravat of a communist youth organisation member, surrounded by naked musclemen painted gold (!) she parodied the positivist, brightly coloured sotsrealist boom of growth and prosperity:\n\nPass the brick, pass the brick\n\nLet\u2019s build a new house!\n\nUp to our aspirations \u2013 a house!\n\nRain will stop, sun will rise\n\nA new harvest will grow\n\nThrough our hearts and our hands!\n\nOur cause is simple, our goal is clear!\n\nYou can hear our jolly song everywhere\n\nIn a short moment we\u2019ll even touch the stars!\n\nDon\u2019t stay behind, if you don\u2019t want to be left alone!\n\nSpring will come, and immediately\n\nHundreds of Steelworks will grow\n\nThere will be plenty of everything!\n\nThere\u2019s no paths or ways we couldn\u2019t reach!\n\nWe know who\u2019s our friend or foe!\n\nSoon we\u2019ll embrace the whole world in our arms\n\nAnd who\u2019s not with us, is against us!\n\nAll this she sung with a flirtatious kind of flippancy. Her character was too disillusioned, too cynical to believe either the authorities or the promises of men. She looks with pity at the boy, who talks about the bright future:\n\nYou tell me 'just a bit effort and the world belongs to us'.\n\nWell, lets say \u2013 in eight years?\n\nA tower block flat and a small Fiat\n\nDon\u2019t even think you're gonna afford it\n\nCos you can give me all I need now anyway!\n\nIza paved the way for several sharp female performers who appeared soon after. A French migrant, Richard Boulez, known in Poland for wearing colourful clothes, became the chief stylist of Kora, the charismatic singer of Maanam. Boulez and Kora were like the Halston and Jerry Hall or Grace Jones and Jean Paul Goude of Polish new wave: the stylist-artiste and the it-girl who has it all. Kora wore Bowie-esque kimonos and excessive, heavy jewellery, on synthetic bright-coloured, vampish sets specially designed by Boulez. Shocking the public at the Opole '80 festival in dayglo-coloured clothes singing 'Divine Buenos Aires', Kora was all desire: to travel, to meet people, to shag men, to explore, to have everything she wanted.\n\nAnother 'hot chick' was Urszula, a big glossy-synth-pop diva, whose productions were close to Trevor Horn's ZTT or Art of Noise. Her composers dwelled on the earlier synthesized disco of Giorgio Moroder, but gave it the sassiness of Blondie and the sublimity of 'Blue Monday'. In Urszula's songs the most mundane neighboured the most fanciful. She also fantasised about luxurious commodities, as in the ultra-synthy 'The Seasonal Fashion Frenzy', where her character can't stop thinking about buying new, glittery clothes. One could ask, where in the grey 80s could she find any? In her songs there appeared surrealist flights of fancy \u2013 or tales of journeys to Outer Space \u2013 which also appeared in Polish post-punk and new wave music, as in Kapitan Nemo's heavily synthed Electronic Civilisation. Kapitan Nemo aka Bogdan Gajkowski, self-styled minimal-wave futurist in a quirky bohemian black beret, was the great uncle of all today's 80s revivalists. In his Wideonarkomania he pioneered a still-fresh in PRL topic of addiction to television and the suddenly available world of VHS, with a pulsatingly-colorful video, where sexual lust gets confused with Cronenbergian Videodrome fantasies. He sounds as if he already knew that 30 years later the generation of lo-fi 'hypnanogics' and Hauntologists will put the washed-out distorted VHS image retro aesthetic onto the pedestal of a hipster absolute.\n\n'This is a new hash for the masses /\n\nWhite screen is shaking One move and you already live in it!\n\nAnd after Bruce Lee\n\na bit of sex before you fall asleep.'\n\nDelicate female backing vocals, heavy synths and an interest in the harshest modernity put him close to a Polish Phil Oakey, with touches of Gary Numan. There are also common references to sotsrealism: in Factory Love, love is of course 'tough as steel' and 'according to the safety rules'.\n\nUnfortunately, in reality, we couldn't be driving further away from space and the computer world, as Soviet technology had its most modern, forward-thinking years already behind it. Paradoxically, when we caught up with the dominating futurist fashion within pop-culture, time-traveling and computer technology, as in the children's trilogy of Pan Kleks (Mr Blot), an outrageously colourful, almost 'queer' character with incessant fantasy and penchant for futurism \u2013 a Polish cousin of Doctor Who - we had lost any potential to ever overtake the West with our ideas. Post-81 the socialist utopia started to growingly morph into dystopia.\n\nThe catastrophic SF of Piotr Szulkin, one of the most distinctive 80s Polish visionaries, disclosed a quite different realisation of the futuristic dreams, filled with fear first at the communist, and then capitalist, versions of totalitarianism. It's an Orwellian vision immersed in philosophical, existential deliberations over the media, cynicism and the mental destruction of the individual. According to Szulkin's films, the Soviet Bloc will be destroyed by Communism, after which Capitalism will take over, and turn out to be equally destructive. In a very loose adaptation of Wells's War of the Worlds (1981), one country, which due to English names could seem Western, is invaded by Martians, who are a 'higher' civilisation - one which ruthlessly oppresses the lower one on Earth, as the Martians are bloodthirsty, horrific creatures, who vampirically live off humans. The world becomes overpowered by cynical media exploitation, and a brutal state apparatus assumes absolute control.\n\nEven if the intention was for Martians to stand in for the Soviet Union (who were supposedly on the verge of invading Poland in 1981, which was then 'prevented' by the introduction of Martial Law by General Jaruzelski's junta), in fact they rather resemble the other Cold War Empire \u2013 The United States of America. Their omnivorous media, popular culture and capitalist greed seem to be something that bothers Szulkin even more than the Soviet reality, as in Ga Ga \u2013 Glory to the Heroes (1985), where in post-communist, twenty-first century Americanised reality, humanity has conquered other planets. But on the colonised new worlds, mankind installs prostitution, vice and omnipresent media rule. In the finale, the hero is to be executed at a gigantic stadium media event broadcast across the entire solar system. We live in the world after the apocalypse, that's obvious: in 1984's O-Bi, O-Ba, End of Civilisation, after the nuclear war the whole humanity is reduced to living underground, like worms (several years before, and in a much more convincing way, than it was done by Emir Kusturica in Underground) and in these humiliating conditions they wait for the mythical Ark to take them away, the Second Coming, not knowing it's only the criminal state apparatus's propaganda. Instead of the Ark coming, the copula over the pitiful hole humankind lives in is collapsing. Still, the light revealed by the cracks is taken by the humans as the arrival of the Ark. Space in Szulkin's films is nearly always one or another form of prison: people vegetate in claustrophobic, dirty hovels, waiting for miracles that never come.\n\nAt the time Szulkin was developing his visions, People's Poland was in some of its darkest periods. We had rather more mundane problems, with austerity after the Martial Law and a collapsing economy. The topic of scarcity, strangely enough, must have become domesticated in the pop landscape of Late ommunism, because it kept coming back obsessively in pop music. Too down to earth to seriously debate about flying to space, Izabela stuck to disillusionment.\n\nPoor But Sexy is out now on Zero Books"}
-{"text": "A cheat sheet for the current forks of Bitcoin. Click the name for a link to the site. Last updated 26/12/17\n\nPlease be careful folks. There are lots of scams and fake clients out there.\n\nBitcoin Rhodium was removed as it is a new token and not a fork a of Bitcoin."}
-{"text": "Image 1 of 6 \u25bc\n\nTwo people are dead and 3 others, including a CHP officer, were injured in a shooting in Clearlake Oaks Monday morning.\n\nLake County Sheriff's Office arrested Alan Ashmore, 61, for two counts of homicide as well as multiple other counts of assault with a firearm.\n\nAccording to the Lake County Sherrif's Office, Ashmore shot into several residences in the 13000 block of Anchor Village in Clearlake Oaks. The two homicide victims were located at different location in the same block. Ashmore shot a female resident on the same street. Ashmore left the residence and went to a local gas station where he shot at a civilian who happened to be a licensed firearms holder. This person returned fire, striking Ashmore's vehicle.\n\nAshmore then went to another gas station where he shot at other people, but the Sheriff's Department doesn't believe anyone was injured in that incident.\n\nWitnesses provided a description of the vehicle Ashmore was driving, as well as a direction of travel on High Valley Road. A report of a fire that had just started on High Valley Road came in to LCSO Dispatch. The fire is being investigated as Arson. According to LCSO, the investigation will focus on determining whether or not Ashmore started that fire.\n\nAs deputies were searching for Ashmore, a local winery reported that Ashmore had shot at employees there. Responding deputies were able to locate Ashmore's vehicle, and pursued him for several miles. Other responding deputies and officers from Lakeport Police Department and CHP set up a road block. When Ashmore encountered the roadblock, he surrendered without incident. Several firearms were recovered from his vehicle and the LCSO believes they are the weapons used in the murders.\n\n\nAshmore is expected to be booked into the Lake County Jail on multiple charges.\n\nPolice say the CHP officer injured in the incident was was struck in his body armor by gunfire and is expected to recover.\n\nThe Lake County Sheriff's Department lifted a shelter-in-place order around the Clearlake Oaks post office Monday afternoon."}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\nThe use of cannabis to treat chronic pain has had a long history, with written references of its use dating back to around 2700 B.C.E. The first records in the nineteenth century were recorded by the Irish doctor William B. O\u2019Shaughnessy, who described the use of cannabis in the treatment of cholera, rabies, tetanus, menstrual cramps and delirium tremens.\n\nIn modern times, significant research has been done around cannabis therapy in the treatment of chronic pain with very promising results.\n\n\u201cMedical cannabis is a very effective therapy for chronic pain patients because it affects people\u2019s perception of pain, has the ability to mitigate the inflammatory process, and has been shown to affect voltage-gated sodium channels in nerves in a way similar to lidocaine,\u201d reports Dr. Mark Rabe, Medical Director of Centric Wellness, am integrative holistic healthcare practice in San Diego CA and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board at Medical Marijuana Sciences, Inc.\n\nThe ability of cannabis therapy to help relieve chronic pain on multiple fronts rests squarely in the cannabinoid receptors \u2013 cannabinoid receptor type-1 (CB1) and type-2 (CB2). Studies have shown that CB1 receptors are located all over the body, however they have particularly high concentration in the central nervous system in areas that control pain perception. CB2 receptors, on the other hand, are primarily located in areas of the body that control immune function, such as the spleen, white blood cells, and tonsils.\n\nThe fact that these receptors are found in the two major body systems responsible for producing the sensation of pain, the immune system and the nervous system is what gives cannabis its therapeutic relevance in the chronic pain space. Additionally, and importantly, there are a lack of cannabinoid receptors in the brainstem region, the area of the brain responsible for controlling breathing, thus the dangerous side effect of respiratory depression found with high dose opioid use, is not a factor in cannabis therapy.\n\nIn practical application, cannabis therapy can be used in conjunction with other chronic pain therapies. In his clinical practice, Dr. Rabe reports, \u201cWe have many patients who come in on higher doses of opioid medications. Through using cannabis, in conjunction with other therapies, they are able to lower their daily opioid requirement.\u201d\n\nNumerous studies support these findings, including a 2011 study published in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics which showed that vaporizing cannabis increased the patient-reported analgesic effect of opioids, without altering plasma opioid levels. Moreover, there is an emerging body of research whose findings suggest cannabis can be used as an effective substitution therapy for patients with opiate abuse issues.\n\nOverall, we are just at the beginning of our understanding of the possible therapeutic benefits associated with cannabis in the treatment of chronic pain. In addition to the wide range of possibilities in targeting CB1 and CB2 receptors, scientists are beginning to look at targets within the body\u2019s endocannabinoid metabolic life cycle for potential opportunities for therapeutic intervention. Given the growing need for clinicians to transition away from an opiate dependent treatment protocol for chronic pain, hopefully these breakthroughs happen sooner rather than later. Naturally, the relaxation of government prohibition would go a long way towards supporting these efforts."}
-{"text": "The victim was on reddit right before he was killed! Well.. it looks like our victim... ...had bad karma.\n\n2,910 shares"}
-{"text": "The partial U.S. government shutdown reached day 31 Monday with the Senate's Republican leader preparing a vote on a proposal that President Donald Trump is calling a compromise and Democratic leaders say is a non-starter.\n\nTrump's plan would provide three years of protection against deportation for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who came to the country illegally when they were children, as well extensions of protected status for people who fled their countries due to violence or natural disasters.In return he would get the $5.7 billion in funding he wants for a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.\n\nDemocrats object to the border wall as an ineffective and expensive security solution.They want Trump and Republicans to agree to reopen the government first and then discuss other border security initiatives.\n\nSenate to vote on Trump proposal\n\n\n\nRepublican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he plans to bring Trump's proposal to a vote in his chamber in the coming days, although he will need some Democratic support to win approval.\n\nIn the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she is planning votes this week on adding more immigration judges and money for scanning vehicles and drugs at the country's ports of entry. The House has already passed multiple measures that would reopen the government, but McConnell has refused to bring them up in the Senate, saying he will not consider any bill that Trump would not support.\n\nFILE - U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds a new FILE - U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 10, 2019. FILE - U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 10, 2019.\n\nDay 31\n\n\n\nWhile the shutdown continues, about 800,000 government workers are either continuing their jobs without pay, or have been furloughed.\n\n\"Nancy Pelosi and some of the Democrats turned down my offer yesterday before I even got up to speak. They don\u2019t see crime & drugs, they only see 2020 - which they are not going to win. Best economy!\" Trump said on Twitter, referring to next year's presidential election. \"They should do the right thing for the Country & allow people to go back to work.\"\n\nNancy Pelosi and some of the Democrats turned down my offer yesterday before I even got up to speak. They don\u2019t see crime & drugs, they only see 2020 - which they are not going to win. Best economy! They should do the right thing for the Country & allow people to go back to work. \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2019\n\nHe later called the government employees working without pay \"great patriots.\"\n\nTo all of the great people who are working so hard for your Country and not getting paid I say, THANK YOU - YOU ARE GREAT PATRIOTS! We must now work together, after decades of abuse, to finally fix the Humanitarian, Criminal & Drug Crisis at our Border. WE WILL WIN BIG! \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 21, 2019\n\nPelosi used her own post Sunday to reiterate to Trump the Democrats' position.\n\n\"800,000 Americans are going without pay. Re-open the government, let workers get their paychecks and then we can discuss how we can come together to protect the border. #EndTheShutdown,\" Pelosi said.\n\n.@realDonaldTrump, 800,000 Americans are going without pay. Re-open the government, let workers get their paychecks and then we can discuss how we can come together to protect the border. #EndTheShutdown https://t.co/8RKUTnhgBd \u2014 Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 20, 2019\n\nTrump Proposes Immigration Deal in Bid to End Shutdown In a bid to end the monthlong partial shutdown of the U.S. government, President Donald Trump on Saturday offered Democrats compromises on his hard-line immigration policies, but they were knocked down by the opposition party even before he spoke.\"We hope they will offer their enthusiastic support, and I think many will,\" Trump said of the Democrats. \"The radical left can never control our borders. I will never let it happen.\" In a bid to end the monthlong partial shutdown of the U.S. government, President Donald Trump on Saturday offered Democrats compromises on his hard-line immigration policies, but they were knocked down by the opposition party even before he spoke.\"We hope they will offer their enthusiastic support, and I think many will,\" Trump said of the Democrats. \"The radical left can never control our borders. I will never let it happen.\"\n\nDemocratic Rep. Nita Lowey, chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement there is \"simply no reason\" for the shutdown to continue while the two sides \"are engaged in a complex policy discussion.\"\n\n\"Protecting Dreamers and TPS recipients is the right thing to do. The President is wrong to hold them hostage over money for a wasteful wall that could be better spent on more effective border security measures. The President\u2019s trade offer \u2014 temporary protections for some immigrants in exchange for a border wall boondoggle \u2014 is not acceptable,\" Lowey said.\n\nWatch related video by VOA's Michael Bowman:\n\nConservatives weigh in\n\n\n\nConservative critics of Trump's plan said the protections against deportation amounted to amnesty for lawbreakers.\n\nWhat Is DACA? President Donald Trump on Saturday proposed to extend protections for individuals enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in exchange for $5.7 billion in funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. The Obama administration in June 2012 issued the DACA executive order after the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act did not pass in Congress several times. President Donald Trump on Saturday proposed to extend protections for individuals enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in exchange for $5.7 billion in funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. The Obama administration in June 2012 issued the DACA executive order after the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act did not pass in Congress several times.\n\nBut Trump tweeted, \"No, Amnesty is not a part of my offer ... Amnesty will be used only on a much bigger deal, whether on immigration or something else.Likewise there will be no big push to remove the 11,000,000 plus people who are here illegally-but be careful Nancy!\"\n\nNo, Amnesty is not a part of my offer. It is a 3 year extension of DACA. Amnesty will be used only on a much bigger deal, whether on immigration or something else. Likewise there will be no big push to remove the 11,000,000 plus people who are here illegally-but be careful Nancy! \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2019\n\nRepublicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, but major legislation in the chamber almost always requires a 60-vote majority. It is unclear if Trump will be able to convince at least seven Democrats to vote for his proposal.\n\nEven if the Senate approves Trump's plan, it would face defeat in the House. A Senate victory for Trump, however, could force new negotiations over his border wall plan and over reopening the government, as furloughed federal workers are set to miss their second paycheck next Friday.\n\nState of the Union\n\n\n\nAs tensions over the border wall and the government shutdown continued unabated last week, Pelosi demanded Trump postpone his scheduled Jan. 29 State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress until after the government is reopened, submit it in writing to Congress or make the speech at the White House.Trump, in turn, postponed her fact-finding trip with other congressional leaders to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan.\n\nTrump had not directly responded to her call to delay the State of the Union speech until after the shutdown ends.\n\nBut on Sunday, he said, \"Nancy, I am still thinking about the State of the Union speech, there are so many options - including doing it as per your written offer (made during the Shutdown, security is no problem), and my written acceptance. While a contract is a contract, I\u2019ll get back to you soon!\""}
-{"text": "Purdue Pharma stands accused of fueling US opioid epidemic that has cost the lives of more than 400,000 people across the US\n\nPurdue Pharma and members of the multi-billionaire Sackler family, who own the company that makes the prescription painkiller OxyContin, have offered to settle more than 2,000 lawsuits from US states and cities for between $10bn and $12bn.\n\nHow big pharma is targeting India's booming opioid market Read more\n\nThe Connecticut-based company has been blamed for fueling the opioids crisis, which has cost the lives of more than 400,000 people across the US in the last 20 years and still kills 130 through overdoses every day, according to government figures.\n\nSettlement talks that have been going on for over a year appear to be approaching a climax and will be further accelerated by a landmark ruling in Oklahoma on Monday, where another pharmaceutical giant, Johnson & Johnson, lost at trial in a civil case brought by the state and was ordered to pay out $572m. Purdue previously settled in that case, as did another drug company, before it reached the trial stage.\n\nThe deal now potentially to be struck by Purdue was part of confidential conversations and discussed by the company\u2019s lawyers at a meeting in Cleveland last week, with 10 state attorneys general and plaintiffs from some of the hundreds of cities and counties that have sued Purdue, which was revealed in a report by NBC News on Tuesday afternoon.\n\nAnd the New York Times reported that the settlement proposal involved the Sacklers giving up ownership of Purdue Pharma and paying $3bn of their own money towards the settlement. The deal would include a bankruptcy filing that would turn the company into a \u201cpublic beneficiary trust\u201d, which would allow profits to go to plaintiffs, it reported. If parties agree, Purdue would be the first of a raft of pharmaceutical companies being sued to settle all the claims.\n\nThe news came less than a day after the judge in Oklahoma said that Purdue rival Johnson & Johnson, via its Janssen company, had run a \u201cfalse and dangerous\u201d sales campaign responsible for causing addiction and death as it drove America\u2019s opioid epidemic in that state.\n\nPurdue had been a defendant in that case but settled in May for $270m, as did another defendant, Teva Pharmaceuticals. Johnson & Johnson was accused of using a \u201ccunning scheme\u201d to market its opioids.\n\nMonday\u2019s verdict, with damning opinions issued by the judge, immediately signaled wide-ranging consequences for the other opioid makers, distributors and pharmacy chains facing thousands of lawsuits across the country.\n\nThe company has denied wrongdoing and said it will appeal.\n\nBut Purdue and other companies, as well as a group of eight members of the Sackler family that wholly owns Purdue, still face civil court cases brought by Massachusetts, New York and numerous other states, and a multi-district case playing out in federal court in Cleveland that brings together suits by almost 2,000 US cities and counties.\n\nThe first trials in that giant case in Cleveland are due to start in October and lawyers for Purdue, its owners and other companies have been in talks for months to try to hammer out a settlement.\n\nA spokeswoman for Purdue Pharma declined to comment on the details of settlement talks but sent a statement to the Guardian.\n\nIt read: \u201cWhile Purdue Pharma is prepared to defend itself vigorously in the opioid litigation, the company has made clear that it sees little good coming from years of wasteful litigation and appeals. The people and communities affected by the opioid crisis need help now.\u201d\n\nThe statement continued: \u201cPurdue believes a constructive global resolution is the best path forward, and the company is actively working with the state attorneys general and other plaintiffs to achieve this outcome.\u201d\n\nPurdue Pharma and leading Sackler family members Richard, Beverly, Theresa, Kathe, Ilene, Mortimer Jr, David and Jonathan Sackler have vigorously denied any wrongdoing in relation to the opioids crisis.\n\nDavid Sackler led last week\u2019s negotiations on behalf of the family, according to NBC.\n\nA request for comment has been submitted to representatives of the Sacklers.\n\nThe core members of the family and their immediate relatives are understood to be collectively worth at least $13bn and have long been at odds with other, less wealthy parts of the family who have not been involved with Purdue Pharma and its lucrative OxyContin narcotic, over blame for the US opioids crisis.\n\nThe Sacklers\u2019 part of any settlement deal, on behalf of the eight members of the family being sued, would probably be obtained by selling off Mundipharma, according to the NBC report, a separate global pharmaceutical company they own, which has itself come under fire for efforts to expand opioids sales in other countries.\n\nPurdue is being sued by states, counties and cities coast to coast.\n\n\u201cOur mission here has always been clear \u2013 make Purdue Pharma and the other manufacturers and distributors pay for what they did to Pennsylvania and its people, and put the Sackler family out of the opioid business for good,\u201d said Jacklin Rhoads, spokeswoman for Pennsylvania\u2019s attorney general, Josh Shapiro, who has staffers at the Cleveland negotiations.\n\nThe Associated Press contributed to this report."}
-{"text": "So there are people among us that know how to use historical weapons, that can wield a real sabre, not the bendy car aerial sports variety, have fought in plate armour, jousted, even.\n\nHistorical European Martial Arts (HEMA) have already filtered through into Fantasy as authors get sucked into their research \u2014 reference Miles Cameron, who fights about as much as he writes. HEMA is also going to pervade Urban Fantasy since\u2026 well swords in the city.\n\nAnd reader expectations are going to raise the barrier.\n\nSo, here are some books to help you make sense of it all\u2026\n\nThe Secret History of the Sword: Adventures in Ancient Martial Arts by Christopher Amberger\n\nThis is a highly polished fixer-up of a well-regarded blog from a few years back.\n\nVery much the scholarly raconteur, Amberger entertainingly ranges from the weapons used by the Germans in the battle of the Teutoburg Forest, through the experience of real combat, to the history of fencing for (often painful) sport.\n\nHe also narrates his adventure with modern German Academic Fencing and how he got his dueling scar.\n\nRead this book for an enthusiastic and well informed tour of the history of sword fighting with special reference to the cool bits.\n\nThe Sword and the Centuries by Alfred Hutton\n\nAn old book that should really be entitled, \u201cTestosterone poisoning through the ages.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s about all the macho and unwise things swordsmen (and axemen) did just for the hell of it\u2026\n\n\u2026Medieval tournaments fought with sharp poleaxes; the French 17th century dueling craze that threatened to wipe out a generation of young aristocrats; and the long slow death of sword dueling in Britain, involving a fair number of stabbings and hangings, until it was stomped out.\n\nA fencing instructor to the Victorian British Army at a time when people still used swords in battle, Alfred Hutton was one of the first vaguely modern folk to look at old sword manuals and try them out, and surely one of the last HEMA practitioners to have taught the use of sabre as a primary military weapon for real. This makes him some kind of \u201cmissing link\u201d, albeit with a higher forehead and less facial fur.\n\nHutton wrote several books drawing people\u2019s attention to the original sources and defending old swordplay against the received wisdom that it was crude and unsophisticated. He also wrote a very good dueling sabre manual still used by HEMA folk today. (A friend of mine refers to him as the Sainted Hutton and solemnly celebrates his birthday.)\n\nRead this book to get an entertaining insight into the Western warrior mentality, which turns out to be somewhere between gunfighter and gangster and \u2014 when you read the dueling stories \u2014 not entirely attractive.\n\nAcademy of Historical Arts: German Longsword Study Guide by Keith Farrell & Alex Bourdas\n\nThis short handbook covers what we moderns know about German Longsword \u2013the best documented of European Medieval Martial Arts \u2013 and how we know it, with descriptions of the various techniques that might be eye-opening if you think Medieval fighting was all about grunting and shoving.\n\n(Flicking through the pages, it\u2019s clear that German Longsword has at least one advantage over the Italian Longsword style that flourished at the same time; German terminology is just more Metal!)\n\n(You could name your band Zornhau after the diagonal cut, while the Italian equivalent, Mandritto Fendente, sounds like something you\u2019d put on your pizza. There is actually a band called Krieg \u2014 the fighting that happens when the blades are crossed \u2014 while the Italian analogue, zogho stretto, could be a 19th-century Balkan ruler.)\n\nBeing a study guide, it\u2019s not fully illustrated; it assumes you\u2019ve already started looking at the medieval fencing manuals now readily available online. It\u2019s also not a \u201cteach yourself book\u201d, though there are useful and informed discussions of issues like stance and how to attack.\n\nDespite his terrifying relative youth, Keith Farrell is a well-traveled professional historical fencing master, and one of the founders of the massive Glasgow-based Academy of Historical Arts, where Alex Bourdas is an experienced instructor.\n\nRead this book for a glimpse into a well-documented Late Medieval martial art, and for a sense of what the HEMA movement is up to. (If you\u2019re already a practitioner, this will enable you to open your mouth in pub discussions without sounding ignorant.)\n\nThe Medieval Longsword (Mastering the Art of Arms Book 2) by Guy Windsor\n\nI\u2019ve saved the best for last, I think.\n\nTo me, this is probably the most significant book on longsword since AD1600. It\u2019s basically teach-yourself longsword with special reference to the work of Fiore de Liberi (1360-c1420), a fencing master during longsword\u2019s battlefield heyday.\n\nGuy Windsor makes his living teaching Medieval Italian Longsword and other historical martial arts to Finns in Helsinki \u2014 think, Moomins with big swords \u2014 touring the world doing the same, and providing fight choreography for screen and game projects. He\u2019s also a true renaissance man, with a passion for body mechanics and a wide knowledge of martial arts, both eastern and western. And that\u2019s what makes this book so excellent. He doesn\u2019t just show you techniques; he tells you how to think about them, conveys how they should feel, and puts them in their martial context.\n\nGuy is also an excellent writer, a true heir to the enthusiastic antiquarians of times gone by. He\u2019s also \u2014 as you might guess from the introduction by Miles Cameron \u2014 one of us, essentially swordmaster to the Heroic Fantasy folk.\n\n(He talks like he writes, so if you ever get the chance, buy him a beer or two and ask him questions.)\n\nRead this book to get a taste of what it feels like to be a swordsperson and perhaps to start learning to use one\u2026\n\n* * *\n\n\u2026though if you\u2019ve read this far, then I\u2019m guessing you can truly hear the song of steel! Open a new browser window right now and Google HEMA for your area.\n\nM Harold Page (www.mharoldpage.com) is a Scottish-based writer and swordsman with several Historical Adventure franchise books in print. His creative writing handbook, Storyteller Tools is available on Amazon. If you live near Edinburgh, Scotland, he would love to teach you how to fight in Medieval German Longsword style."}
-{"text": "And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. John 20:6-7\n\nWhat exactly are we talking about here?\n\nThe \u201clinen wrappings\u201d\u2014well, that\u2019s the shroud, what has become known as the Shroud of Turin. But what about this \u201cface cloth\u201d that was rolled up in a separate place?\n\nIt was Jewish custom at the time of Jesus\u2019 burial to first clean and cover the face, as a sign of respect and compassion for the family. Mourners would then cover the body with fragrant herbs and wrap it in a shroud, or burial cloth. When Jesus rose from the dead, it is believed, he set aside the face cloth before emerging from the tomb.\n\nThis small linen napkin, measuring approximately 2\u00be feet by 1\u00be feet, is called the Sudarium (Latin for \u201cface cloth\u201d). It was preserved from the time of the crucifixion in a reliquary; however, the two linens were separated\u2014eventually being carried to other countries. The Sudarium made its way to the town of Oviedo, in north-central Spain, where it has been venerated for centuries. In 840 A.D., King Alfonso II of Asturias erected a chapel to protect the Sudarium, which was enshrined in an elaborate reliquary chest called the Arca Santa.\n\nThe Sudarium is now housed in a reliquary with a Romanesque metal frontal, and is displayed for the public in Oviedo three times each year: on Good Friday, on the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross (September 14), and on the octave of the feast (September 21).\n\nThe Sudarium has assumed importance in recent years for two reasons:\n\nTHE HISTORY OF THE SUDARIUM HELPS TO CONFIRM THE SHROUD\u2019S AUTHENTICITY\n\nUnlike the Shroud (called a \u201csindon\u201d in New Testament Greek), it has never been missing, so there\u2019s no question regarding its ancient origin.\n\nNotorious carbon dating of the Shroud of Turin placed its date of origin in the 1300s, meaning that\u2014if this controversial reading were correct\u2014it would be nothing more than a pious forgery.\n\nplaced its date of origin in the 1300s, meaning that\u2014if this controversial reading were correct\u2014it would be nothing more than a pious forgery. On the other hand, the Sudarium\u2014which has been in the possession of the Knights Templar, the Moors, El Cid, saints and bishops\u2014is known to have been in Spain since 631 A.D. Before that it was, according to an account by Antoninus of Piacenza, hidden in a cave near the monastery of St. Mark, not far from Jerusalem. When Persian forces invaded the Byzantine provinces in 614, the oak case in which the Sudarium was kept was spirited out of Palestine through northern Africa by Philip \u201cthe Presbyter,\u201d a leader of the Christian community in Palestine. Philip and his precious cargo were welcomed to Alexandria by John the Almoner, bishop of Alexandria at the time. When the Persians pushed on into Egypt, the chest was carried into Spain and entrusted to St. Fulgentius, who sent it on to Seville. The Ark was carried from Toledo north to Monte Sacro in Asturias in 711 A.D., to escape the advancing Moors. It was there that King Alfonso II turned back the Moors and erected a Camara Santa (holy chamber) to shelter the relics. King Alfonso had the ancient oak chest plated with silver with the inscription \u201cThe Sacred Sudarium of Our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d\n\nSIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE SHROUD AND THE SUDARIUM\n\nThe Sudarium also helps to authenticate the Shroud of Turin because of notable similarities between the two cloths.\n\nOf prime importance, the blood and lymph stains on the two cloths match\u2014both are type AB, which was uncommon among medieval Europeans but is a common blood type in the Middle East.\n\nThe material used in the two cloths is identical, although there are differences in the manner of weaving.\n\nPollen residues on the Shroud and the Sudarium both provide evidence that the cloths were in the same region of Palestine.\n\nStains on the two cloths would also seem to match. Because of the way the Sudarium would have covered the head, there is no clear face print\u2014but there are remarkable correlations between stains on the two cloths. The Sudarium would have been wrapped over the head of Christ while his relatives waited for permission to remove the body; and so the stains show that the body was held in a vertical position with the head dropping back. At the back of the head, the cloth shows blood from deep puncture wounds, similar to the wounds on the Shroud of Turin, which may have been made by the crown of thorns.\n\nA second, overlaying stain was produced by fluids excreted from the nostrils when the body was lain horizontally. According to the Investigation Team from the Spanish Centre for Sindology, which has been studying the Sudarium since 1989, this second set of stains is composed of one part AB-type blood and six parts oedemal fluid. This fluid proves, according to scientists, that the victim died from asphyxiation\u2014which is the cause of death for people who are crucified.\n\nComparing the cloth to the Shroud of Turin, one researcher has identified 70 points of correlation on the front of the Sudarium and 50 on the back. Dr. Alan Whanger, professor emeritus from Duke University, used a Polarized Image Overlay Technique to demonstrate correlations between the two cloths.\n\nWHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE BELIEVER?\n\nWell, as is the case with the Shroud, the Christian is not compelled to believe in the authenticity of the Sudarium of Oviedo. Its existence, though, does help to prove that the image on the Shroud which has become so familiar to us is, in fact, that of a man who died by crucifixion in the first century A.D.\n\nIt is an inspiration for prayer, and an encouragement for faith."}
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http://www.ken-on.co.jp/haruka/"}
-{"text": "WALTHAM, Mass. \u2013 If the Boston Celtics sit tight with the No. 16 pick in this month\u2019s draft, there are a couple guys working out for the team today that will get some consideration at that point in the draft.\n\nArizona\u2019s Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Virginia\u2019s Justin Anderson highlight the six players working out for the Celtics today.\n\nBoth Hollis-Jefferson and Anderson are considered first-round locks who can go as high as the mid-teens of the first round, but shouldn\u2019t slide past the early 20s.\n\nThe Celtics brought in some intriguing prospects that could come into play at one of their other three draft spots \u2013 No. 28, 33 and 45.\n\nKeep an eye on Texas\u2019 Jonathan Holmes.\n\nThe 6-foot-9, 242-pound forward is viewed as a late-first, early-second round talent.\n\nThat\u2019s just one of the qualities that has some comparing him to former Michigan State forward Draymond Green who has been an instrumental figure in Golden State\u2019s run towards the NBA Finals and will be among the most coveted free agents this summer.\n\nHolmes\u2019 versatility has been on display throughout the workout process, with some believing Texas\u2019 system didn\u2019t afford his versatility to be on display more in his senior season.\n\nHere\u2019s a brief summary on each of the six players Boston is working out this morning.\n\nRondae Hollis-Jefferson, Arizona\n\nSummary: Exceptional athlete; has potential to be standout defensively in the NBA; finishes well around the rim.\n\nJustin Anderson, Virginia\n\nSummary: Much-improved 3-point shooter final season at Virginia; exceptional defensive player; a tough guy, both physically and mentally.\n\nLeBryan Nash, Oklahoma State\n\nSummary: Has good NBA size (6-7, 235) for small forward position; above-average rebounder for his size; 3-point touch all but non-existent.\n\nBrenden Dawson, Michigan State\n\nSummary: What he lacks in traditional power forward size, he makes up for with high basketball I.Q.; 6-foot-11 wing span allows him to defend multiple positions; strong for his size.\n\nLevi Randolph, Alabama\n\nSummary: Academic All-American, first ever for the men\u2019s basketball team; had solid showing at Portsmouth Invitational Tournament this spring; overseas or D-League most likely his next basketball stop.\n\nJonathan Holmes, Texas\n\nSummary: Can play both forward positions at the next level; 3-point shooting inconsistent; moves well defensively."}
-{"text": "Dansk Folkepartis leder, Kristian Thulesen Dahl, retter nu en direkte kritik mod Politiforbundets formand, Claus Oxfeldt.\n\nDet sker i k\u00f8lvandet p\u00e5 de voldsomme uroligheder p\u00e5 N\u00f8rrebro s\u00f8ndag, hvor Rasmus Paludan forinden havde demonstreret p\u00e5 Bl\u00e5g\u00e5rds Plads. Gader blev sat i brand, og politiet m\u00e5tte rykke massivt ud.\n\nOven p\u00e5 s\u00f8ndagens begivenheder har Claus Oxfeldt v\u00e6ret ud med et budskab om, at udover politiet s\u00e5 er samfundet og borgerne 'de store tabere i Rasmus Paludans spil'.\n\n- Det er ressourcer, som g\u00e5r direkte fra borgern\u00e6r betjening. Det er en debat, som forlader det demokratiske spor. Det er politifolk, som f\u00e5r inddraget p\u00e5skeferie. Det ved vi faktuelt er sket, og det er \u00e6rgerligt, n\u00e5r vi i forvejen er sp\u00e6ndt s\u00e5 h\u00e5rdt for, lyder det fra Oxfeldt.\n\nS\u00f8ndag demonstrerede Paludan p\u00e5 Bl\u00e5g\u00e5rds Plads. Dette medf\u00f8rte opt\u00f8jer og brand flere steder i byen natten til mandag. F\u00e5 et overblik over kaosset her. Video: Local Eyes, Steven Knap/Byrd, Rasmus Flindt, Jonas Olufson. Producer: Martin Lorentsen\n\nTulle kommer Paludan til unds\u00e6tning: Skr\u00e5plan at forbyde demoer\n\nDuer ikke\n\nDet er udtalelser som denne, der f\u00e5r Kristian Thulesen Dahl til at g\u00e5 i rette med formanden for Politiforbundet.\n\n- H\u00f8jt oppe i vores samfund diskuterer man seri\u00f8st lige nu, om man skal indskr\u00e6nke ytringsfriheden. Jeg t\u00e6nker meget specifikt p\u00e5 Politiforbundets Claus Oxfeldt, som er ude med dette budskab, siger Kristian Thulesen Dahl til Ekstra Bladet.\n\nArtiklen forts\u00e6tter under billedet...\n\nFormanden for Politiforbundet, Claus Oxfeldt, er helt galt afmarcheret, mener\n\nHan mener, at Claus Oxfeldt er helt galt afmarcheret.\n\n- P\u00e5 den m\u00e5de anerkender vi, at p\u00e5 trods af vores grundlovssikrede ret til at ytre os - ogs\u00e5 p\u00e5 et omr\u00e5de, hvor nogen synes, det er dumt - s\u00e5 skal dette indskr\u00e6nkes, fordi ellers kan vi ikke styre det. Det duer ikke, siger Thulesen Dahl og forts\u00e6tter.\n\n- Vi bliver n\u00f8dt til at sige til alle folk, der er i Danmark, at de m\u00e5 finde sig i, at der er en mand, der stiller sig op p\u00e5 et gadehj\u00f8rne og g\u00f8r noget, man synes, er tosset. S\u00e5 m\u00e5 man ryste p\u00e5 hovedet af ham, hvis man synes det, skrive et l\u00e6serbrev, eller hvad man nu vil, siger DF-formanden.\n\nPolitiformand: Ikke for sjov\n\nPolitiforbundet formand, Claus Oxfeldtm er lettere ophidset over Tulles beskyldninger. Foto: Jakob Boserup\n\nClaus Oxfeldt fors\u00f8ger ikke at kn\u00e6gte ytringsfriheden, fastsl\u00e5r forbundsformanden:\n\n- Jeg pr\u00f8ver at tage et hensyn til, at folk ikke bliver sl\u00e5et ihjel. Det er det, det her udvikler sig til, hvis det f\u00e5r lov at forts\u00e6tte. Det er min vigtigste pointe. Jeg hidser mig lidt op over at h\u00f8re, at jeg skulle have lyst til at kn\u00e6gte ytringsfriheden. Slet ikke. S\u00e5 har han (Thulesen Dahl, red.) ikke h\u00f8rt, hvad jeg har sagt. Jeg siger bare, at her er der en situation, hvor man kan overveje, om ikke det er et misbrug af ytringsfriheden. Det b\u00f8r man juridisk vurdere, siger han til Ekstra Bladet.\n\n- I hvor h\u00f8j grad er det s\u00e5 at s\u00e6tte r\u00f8ven i klaskeh\u00f8jde, n\u00e5r man begynder at tale om nogle stakkels politibetjente, der f\u00e5r inddraget deres p\u00e5skeferie?\n\n- Man har fundet en skarpladt h\u00e5ndgranat p\u00e5 Bl\u00e5g\u00e5rds Plads. Det er jo ikke for sjov det her. Vi kan godt lege en leg, der hedder ytringsfrihed. Jeg taler om sikkerhed - ikke om andet. S\u00e5 er det rigtigt, at det er \u00e6rgerligt, at det her f\u00e5r lov at forts\u00e6tte - s\u00e5 kan man tage denne her lille parentes, som jeg har sat i forhold til politifolks inddragelse af p\u00e5skeferie. Det er et vilk\u00e5r. Det ved jeg da godt. Det er bare \u00e9n ud af mange ting, men nu har vi v\u00e6ret h\u00e5rdt sp\u00e6ndt for siden 14.-15. februar 2015 (Omar El-Husseins terrorangreb i K\u00f8benhavn, hvor to blev dr\u00e6bt og flere s\u00e5ret, red.).\n\nIngen skal sl\u00e5s ihjel\n\n- Og n\u00e5r politifolk er ved at blive sl\u00e5et ihjel p\u00e5 N\u00f8rrebro, s\u00e5 m\u00e5 ogs\u00e5 Kristian Thulesen Dahl undskylde, at jeg reagerer. Men det er det, der ligger i det, uddyber Oxfeldt, som understreger, at ingen skal sl\u00e5s ihjel, hverken Paludan, politifolk eller andre.\n\nHan fastholder ogs\u00e5, at han ikke forholder sig til, hvad Paludan mener og siger, men:\n\n- Det er en uhyggelig udvikling. Jeg har v\u00e6ret ansat i politiet siden 1985, og jeg har aldrig oplevet noget tilsvarende. Vi kan r\u00e5be og skrige ad hinanden, men dog stadig v\u00e6re venner bagefter. Det her er g\u00e5et helt ud af kontrol. Lad os nu pr\u00f8ve at f\u00e5 skabt et samfund, vi allesammen kan v\u00e6re i. Ogs\u00e5 Rasmus Paludan.\n\n- Nogen vil ogs\u00e5 sige, at Paludan bare kan sige alt det, han vil, uden at politiet passer p\u00e5 ham. S\u00e5 g\u00e5r der to minutter, og s\u00e5 er han m\u00e5ske d\u00f8d, men...\n\n- Det kan man jo ikke for s\u00f8ren. Selvf\u00f8lgelig kan man ikke det, siger Oxfeldt, som understreger, at han p\u00e5 ingen m\u00e5de forsvarer opt\u00f8jer og vold."}
-{"text": "The number of mentally-ill patients killed by euthanasia in Holland has trebled in the space of a year, new figures have revealed.\n\nIn 2013, a total of 42 people with \u2018severe psychiatric problems\u2019 were killed by lethal injection compared to 14 in 2012 and 13 in 2011.\n\nThe latest official figures also revealed a 15 per cent surge in the number of euthanasia deaths from 4,188 cases in 2012 to 4,829 cases last year.\n\nScroll down for video\n\nEuthanasia cases in Holland have risen by 15 per cent in the last year, which included people with 'severe psychiatric problems' as well as terminally ill patients (file picture)\n\nThe incremental rise is consistent with a 13 per cent increase in 2012, an 18 per cent rise in 2011, 19 per cent in 2010 and 13 per cent in 2009.\n\nThe rise is also likely to confirm the fears of Dutch regulator Theo Boer who told the Daily Mail that he expected to see euthanasia cases smash the 6,000 barrier in 2014.\n\nOverall, deaths by euthanasia, which officially account for three per cent of all deaths in the Netherlands, have increased by 151 per cent in just seven years.\n\nMost cases - some 3,600 people \u2013 involved cancer sufferers but there were also 97 people who died at the hands of their doctors because they were suffering from dementia, the figures show.\n\nThe figures, however, do not include cases of so-called terminal sedation, where patients are given a cocktail of sedatives and narcotics before food and fluids are withdrawn.\n\nStudies suggest that if such deaths were added to the figure then euthanasia would account for one in eight \u2013 about 12.3 per cent \u2013 of all deaths in the Netherlands.\n\nDr Peter Saunders of the Christian Medical Fellowship said the Dutch experiment proved that doctor-assisted death was impossible to effectively regulate.\n\nDutch regulator Theo Boer said that he expected to see euthanasia cases smash the 6,000 barrier in 2014 in Holland\n\n\u2018Euthanasia in the Netherlands is way out of control,\u2019 he said.\n\n\u2018The House of Lords calculated in 2005 that with a Dutch-type law in Britain we would be seeing over 13,000 cases of euthanasia per year,\u2019 he continued.\n\n\u2018On the basis of how Dutch euthanasia deaths have risen since this may prove to be a gross underestimate.\n\n\u2018What we are seeing in the Netherlands is \u201cincremental extension\u201d, the steady intentional escalation of numbers with a gradual widening of the categories of patients to be included.\u2019\n\nHe said there was a similar pattern of increasing numbers of assisted suicide and euthanasia in the US state of Oregon, Switzerland, and Belgium.\n\nDr Saunders said: \u2018The lessons are clear. Once you relax the law on euthanasia or assisted suicide steady extension will follow as night follows day.\u2019\n\nHe added: \u2018Britain needs to take warning as debate on the Falconer bill continues.\u2019\n\nLord Falconer\u2019s Assisted Dying Bill received its Second Reading in July and it will reach committee stage in November after Parliament reconvenes.\n\nSupporters, such as campaigners Dignity in Dying, insist that the Falconer Bill is based on a US model of assisted suicide \u2018which has been working safely for over 17 years and has never been extended beyond the criteria of terminal illness\u2019.\n\nBut Professor Boer, who has reviewed 4,000 cases of euthanasia in his role as a regulator, told Parliament in the summer: \u2018Don\u2019t go there.\u2019\n\nOnce a firm advocate of euthanasia, he said that he now the Dutch were \u2018terribly wrong\u2019 to think they could control it.\n\nWriting in the Daily Mail, he said his country has witnessed an \u2018explosive increase\u2019 in the numbers of euthanasia deaths since 2007 and that he expected the number of such deaths this year to hit 6,000.\n\nHe was also gravely concerned at the extension of killing to new classes of people, including the demented and the depressed. \u2018Some slopes truly are slippery,\u2019 he said.\n\nDoctors in neighbouring Belgium, which this year legalised euthanasia for children, are now killing an average of five people every day by euthanasia, according to latest figures, with a 27 per cent surge in the number of euthanasia deaths in the last year alone.\n\nIn one of the most shocking cases, a Brussels man last week described how he arranged the double euthanasia of his octogenarian parents who wanted to die because they were afraid of loneliness.\n\nIt has also emerged that a Dutch woman in her 80s was killed by her doctors just because she did not want to live in a care home.\n\nThe case is the first to be referred to Dutch prosecutors by regulators since euthanasia was legalised in Holland 12 years ago."}
-{"text": "It\u2019s time once again for our annual page rates survey. This survey is for comic book professionals to fill out in order to gain an anonymous idea of what page rates were in the industry for 2018. The results of this survey are kept 100% anonymous and will be used to maintain our web site as a resource for all.\n\nIf there are any questions that you do not feel comfortable answering, please know do not feel pressured to answer them. Everything will remain confidential and anonymous but if you do not want to share, you do not have to.\n\nIn addition to the page rates, we asked a few additional questions to gauge the industry a bit better including how long participants have been working in comics and what their primary sources of income within the industry are.\n\nPlease note that the more people share and complete the survey, the more accurate our data collection will be. The data is not absolute and is averaged out to give general ballparks of what the rates are. We hope that this data will encourage professionals not to accept work that pays below a living wage, and to better understand what the current standards are.\n\nThe survey can be found here or can be filled out below:\n\nLoading\u2026"}
-{"text": "AD\n\nThen the CBO report includes this line: \u201cIn 2026, an estimated 52 million people would be uninsured, compared with 28 million who would lack insurance that year under current law.\u201d\n\nThat's nearly double.\n\nRepublicans, sensing this day was coming, have spent the better part of the past week arguing that the CBO score doesn't matter, that it's historically been a poor estimate, and even that it's merely a \u201cbeauty contest,\u201d as House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) put it Friday. But it's one thing to make that case; it's another to make just about every Republican senator believe it, as Ryan and President Trump need to. And it's yet another to get skeptical House Republicans to vote for a bill they know could be dead on arrival in the Senate, where Republicans have just 52 votes.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nPerhaps the one big saving grace for the GOP in the CBO report is that it says the law will reduce the deficit over the long term \u2014 $337 billion over a decade. That's no small number. And as Ryan notes in his statement, the report also says premiums will begin to drop in 2020.\n\n\u201cThis report confirms that the American Health Care Act will lower premiums and improve access to quality, affordable care,\u201d Ryan said.\n\nBut to reap those benefits, Republicans will confront the very real possibility of more than 20 million people becoming uninsured. And one very important group isn't likely to benefit from those reduced premium costs, according to the report: old people.\n\nAD\n\n\u201cUnder the legislation, insurers would be allowed to generally charge five times more for older enrollees than younger ones rather than three times more as under current law, substantially reducing premiums for young adults and substantially raising premiums for older people,\u201d it says.\n\nAD\n\n\u201cSubstantially raising premiums for older people\u201d \u2014 as in, the people who are much more likely to vote. Strike two.\n\nFrom here, the goal of Ryan and other GOP leaders is basically to convince already-skeptical Republicans that the big \"24 million\u201d figure is pie in the sky \u2014 not a real number and nowhere close to where it will be in reality. It simply cannot be.\n\nHealth and Human Services Secretary Tom Price set about that task shortly after the CBO report came out.\n\nAD\n\n\u201cWe disagree strenuously with the report that was put out,\u201d Price said. \u201cIt\u2019s virtually impossible to have that number occur. \u2026 It's just not believable.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Rex Wayne TillersonGary Cohn: 'I haven't made up my mind' on vote for president in November Kushner says 'Alice in Wonderland' describes Trump presidency: Woodward book Conspicuous by their absence from the Republican Convention MORE and White House chief of staff John Kelly John Francis KellyMORE have voiced frustration about Jared Kushner Jared Corey KushnerAbraham Accords: New hope for peace in Middle East Tenants in Kushner building file lawsuit alleging dangerous living conditions Trump hosts Israel, UAE, Bahrain for historic signing MORE's encroachment on Tillerson's position, according to a report from Politico.\n\nTillerson is reportedly frustrated with Kushner's involvement in foreign affairs, which are usually handled by the nation's diplomatic corps. Kushner, however, has been responsible for Israeli-Palestinian relations, as well as U.S. relations with Mexico and China.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nTillerson has also reportedly expressed frustration about U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley Nimrata (Nikki) Haley'The soul' versus 'law and order' Author Ryan Girdusky: RNC worked best when highlighting 'regular people' as opposed to 'standard Republicans' GOP lobbyists pleasantly surprised by Republican convention MORE and national security adviser H.R. McMaster over what he reportedly sees as an encroachment on his position.\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t have four secretaries of state,\u201d Tillerson said.\n\nPolitico also reports that Kelly has repeated Tillerson's complaints, which reportedly have not been taken well by Kushner.\n\n\"We need a secretary of state who is supportive of the president,\" Kushner told Kelly, according to Politico.\n\nThe Hill has reached out to the White House and the State Department for comment.\n\nKelly is in the process of grappling with the issue of Kushner's security clearance in the White House.\n\nThe White House has implemented new procedures on security clearances to ensure swift and comprehensive background reviews for staff with access to sensitive information in the wake of the scandal surrounding domestic abuse allegations against former staff secretary Rob Porter.\n\nPorter was able to review classified information on a partial security clearance for months despite the fact that the FBI informed the White House that his two ex-wives had accused him of abuse.\n\nThe incident drew attention to Kushner's security clearance.\n\nKushner is reportedly one of only a few people in the White House with access to the president's daily intelligence briefings.\n\nTrump said on Friday that Kelly would have the final say on Kushner's security clearance.\n\n\u201cI will let Gen. Kelly make that decision,\u201d Trump said at a news conference. \u201cAnd he's going to do what's right for the country. And I have no doubt he will make the right decision.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Spring training is a time when we learn, among other things, who can hit a 60-mph fastball, who can catch a two-hopper while standing on the mound and who best wears a farmer\u2019s tan. Also, in some cases, who decided the best way to look leaner was to request a bigger uniform. Anyway, here we go again, starting with a rundown of each team\u2019s leading cause for optimism.\n\nThe rankings (records and previous rankings from last season):\n\nChicago More\n\n1. Chicago Cubs (97-65; Previous: 4) \u2013 It\u2019s an odd century.\n\n\n\n\n\nSt. Louis More\n\n2. St. Louis Cardinals (100-62; Previous: 1) \u2013 C\u2019mon, man, it\u2019s the Cubs.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNew York More\n\n3. New York Mets (90-72; Previous: 6) \u2013 Got Yo back. Also, a little Asdrubal down their fronts.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWashington More\n\n4. Washington Nationals (83-79; Previous: 15) \u2013 Still pulling 19 percent in preseason primaries.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBoston More\n\n5. Boston Red Sox (78-84; Previous: 16) \u2013 Golf cart at bottom of pond being held down by last year\u2019s team ERA.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLos Angeles More\n\n6. Los Angeles Dodgers (92-70; Previous: 7) \u2013 For the first offseason in a while, they do not appear to have traded away an immediate All Star and batting champion. So, that.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHouston More\n\n7. Houston Astros (86-76; Previous: 10) \u2013 Now everybody will see them coming. Could be all the orange.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSan Francisco More\n\n8. San Francisco Giants (84-78; Previous: 12) \u2013 Even years almost always follow odd ones.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKansas City More\n\n9. Kansas City Royals (95-67; Previous: 5) \u2013 PECOTA hates them again.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPittsburgh More\n\n10. Pittsburgh Pirates (98-64; Previous: 2) \u2013 They haven\u2019t carried a middle infielder off the field in, like, months.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nToronto More\n\n11. Toronto Blue Jays (93-69; Previous: 3) \u2013 Won\u2019t have David Price around hogging up all those innings.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nArizona More\n\n12. Arizona Diamondbacks (79-83; Previous: 18) \u2013 D-backs are so all-in they even named their manager Chip.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTexas More\n\n13. Texas Rangers (88-74; Previous: 8) \u2013 Got Yu back.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNew York More\n\n14. New York Yankees (87-75; Previous: 9) \u2013 Have plenty of time to clean up for Bryce Harper\u2019s arrival.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChicago More\n\n15. Chicago White Sox (76-86; Previous: 22) \u2013 Addition of Todd Frazier means everyone gets a rapper nickname.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTampa Bay More\n\n16. Tampa Bay Rays (80-82; Previous: 19) \u2013 Well, The Trop is still standing, so the Rays will be fine.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCleveland More\n\n17. Cleveland Indians (81-80; Previous: 14) \u2013 Carlos Santana insists it\u2019s gonna be a hot one.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDetroit More\n\n18. Detroit Tigers (74-87; Previous: 23) \u2013 Daniel Norris tuned up, tires rotated, brakes checked, new deodorizer, ready for trip to spring training. Also, van ready.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBaltimore More\n\n19. Baltimore Orioles (81-81; Previous: 17) \u2013 Chris Davis also agreed to defer middle age.\n\n\n\n\n\nLos Angeles More\n\n20. Los Angeles Angels (85-77; Previous: 11) \u2013 It\u2019s all about the luxury tax. And, yes, a No. 5 hitter is a luxury.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSeattle More\n\n21. Seattle Mariners (76-86; Previous: 21) \u2013 They need bounce-back years from only a guy or two. Maybe three. OK, four. Five. Let\u2019s go with six. Can happen.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMinnesota More\n\n22. Minnesota Twins (83-79; Previous: 13) \u2013 Well, Donald Trump keeps bringing up \u201cHuuuuughes.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMiami More\n\n23. Miami Marlins (71-91; Previous: 24) \u2013 One more trade with the Dodgers and they\u2019re set.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOakland More\n\n24. Oakland Athletics (68-94; Previous: 27) \u2013 Banking on Brett Lawrie not becoming best player in American League.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSan Diego More\n\n25. San Diego Padres (74-88; Previous: 20) \u2013 More brown. Everything\u2019s better with more brown.\n\n\n\nStory continues"}
-{"text": "In trucking, the term hotshot commonly refers to either the truck or the freight \u2013 often both. In the former sense, it\u2019s normally a Class 3-5 truck used in combination with a variety of trailers to run for-hire freight, whether for a single customer or less-than-truckload, though there are exceptions (check out this \u201chotshot on steroids,\u201d for instance). The truck often will be one of the big three U.S. auto manufacturers\u2019 three-quarter- to one-and-a-half-ton cab-and-chassis rigs or pickups outfitted for weight-distributing gooseneck- or fifth-wheel-type connections to a trailer.\n\nHotshot freight is hauled for a single customer and needed in expedited fashion. Jeff Ward of the Atlanta area says the local and regional loads he hauls with his one-truck Brady\u2019s Hotshot Hauling are \u201ctrue hotshot freight.\u201d That freight \u2013 often power company equipment to keep the electrical grid running \u2013 is needed as soon as possible to avoid a shutdown.\n\nMost agree the hotshot term originated in the Texas oilfields, where decades ago pickups delivered quickly-needed parts to offroad drilling and pumping operations. The niche survives to this day and has benefited from the growth in U.S. fracking operations.\n\nThe advantage for all hotshot customers is avoiding service downtime while minimizing costs. Fon Du Lac, Wis.-based hotshot owner-operator Greg Cutler says he can run his gas-fueled 2010 Dodge Ram 2500 at 85 cents per mile, much less than what the average Class 8 operator will spend.\n\nJoey Slaughter operated primarily as a car hauler when he started Blue Ridge Transport in 2010 after years as a Class 8 long-haul company driver. Slaughter guesses he ran his own 2005 Ram 3500 at about 80 cents per mile, a good deal lower than his $1.20/mile average thereafter in a car-hauling Class 8 (minus any tractor payment \u2014 Slaughter\u2019s currently part of Freightliner\u2019s Team Run Smart group of operators). He transitioned earlier this year from an open car-hauling trailer to a 53-ft. step deck pulled by a Class 8 tractor. He brought in $1.35 a mile in revenue running hotshot, including deadhead, he says.\n\nWhile Slaughter says he\u2019s doing better than the approximately 55-cents-a-mile hotshot income today, he views the hotshot route as having been ideal for him getting started. A self-described cautious type, Slaughter drove a gas tanker as a company driver for 12 years.\n\n\u201cI wanted to be my own boss,\u201d says Slaughter, who considered hauling cars, \u201cbut I was too cautious to go out and buy a large rig and go into a lot of debt.\u201d He bought a 2005 Dodge 3500 dually for $25,000 and found a new $7,000 Kaufman three-car wedge trailer, and he was in business.\n\n\u201cI didn\u2019t realize I\u2019d be on the tightrope,\u201d he says, walking the line between federal regulations and earning income as an independent business.\n\n\u201cI just thought I\u2019d be hauling cars, but the next thing I know, I had to get my DOT number, then the DOT officer\u2019s in my house auditing me as a New Entrant. I\u2019m setting up a drug program, just like a regular trucking company with a Dodge dually and a three-car wedge. I asked [the New Entrant auditor], \u2018What\u2019s preventing me from going into business with a full-size tractor-trailer?\u2019 Nothing, he said \u2013 just sign up with IFTA, and you\u2019re off to the races.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s the view from the other direction \u2013 seeing hotshot\u2019s low startup equipment costs relative to Class 8 \u2013 that drives interest from those driving Class 8 long-haul. Butch Sarma, Getloaded.com product manager, says that every year at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas, booth visitors show uncommon interest in hotshot oilfield work because of lower equipment costs.\n\n\u201cI could buy a new Ford 250 or 350 and a solid, well-built fifth-wheel or fixed-gooseneck trailer for $75 to $80K. That kind of money with a tractor-trailer will not get you a new model.\u201d Furthermore, a new Class 3 rig with a new trailer, says Sarma, \u201cwill have maintenance costs lower than those of an 18-wheeler that\u2019s five years old.\u201d\n\nThe spotlights on the businesses that follow highlight how hotshot has worked for three owner-operator businesses. Click through the images for more on their operations."}
-{"text": "The Wallabies have won the opening game of the 2019 Bledisloe Cup, belting a 14-man All Blacks during the second half with a stunning attacking display.\n\nAfter a tight first half where both teams wasted opportunities after an aggressive start, it was the sending off of Scott Barrett just 50 seconds out from halftime which altered the course of the game.\n\nThe All Blacks number four was ruled to have made illegal contact to the back of Michael Hooper\u2019s neck, and the red card left the All Blacks with a 14-man defensive line which struggled to stop the Wallabies charge.\n\nFacebook Twitter Whatsapp Reddit Email Share\n\nThe Wallabies had the better of the first ten minutes of the game, getting out to a brilliant start in Perth.\n\nA Christian Lealiifano penalty goal had them into the early lead, before a Reece Hodge try off a nice flick pass on the left-hand side from James O\u2019Connor cemented the early advantage.\n\nAustralia might have been up ten points to nothing after as many minutes, but as the All Blacks so often do, they found a way to hit back and get back in front of the contest.\n\nThe All Blacks opening try came from a kick, with Anton Lienert-Brown managing to win the race to the footy ahead of Michael Hooper, who was busy battling with Kieran Read, before Rieko Ioane scored the All Blacks second try just a couple of minutes later to put them into the lead.\n\nThe nature of the visitors come back, including an exciting counter raid for the New Zealanders second try had the Wallabies worried, but some missed opportunities from both sides in the following minutes saw the game break into a back and forth arm-wrestle.\n\nSome poor discipline, including the send off of Barrett just before halftime, allowed Christian Lealiifano to kick a pair of penalty goals in the final minutes before the main break, and the Wallabies would take a 16-12 lead into the sheds.\n\n\n\nTries to Lukhan Sakakai-Loto and Nic White shortly after halftime kicked the Wallabies away to a 14-point lead, however, a try shortly afterwards to Beauden Barrett kept the All Blacks in the contest.\n\nThe Wallabies put the game to bed in the following minutes though, with Marika Koroibete scoring a try in the middle of the ground around the ruck, before Hodge followed it up with his second.\n\nNgani Laumape got the All Blacks a late sniff, but it was never going to be enough, with a shaky Wallabies outfit managing to hold on despite some crazy decisions in the final five minutes, kicking when they simply didn\u2019t need to.\n\nA try to Kurtley Beale in the final 90 seconds put the icing on the cake for a fabulous Wallabies victory.\n\nThe 47 points scored by the Wallabies is their greatest ever total against the All Blacks, with the two teams now set to cross the ditch next weekend for Game 2 in Auckland.\n\nIt\u2019ll be must-win for the Wallabies, who must win both matches in the shortened 2019 series to reclaim the Cup.\n\nFinal score\n\nWallabies 47\n\nAll Blacks 26\n\nAdvertisement"}
-{"text": "Dick Cheney is one who should share a jail cell with Bernie Madoff. He, more than anyone else, was the main cheerleader for the invasion of Iraq. Well, 8 long years can be a bitch and in the end he left as one of the most disgraced Vice-Presidents EVER. Well, what can I write? He's back.\n\n\n\nCheney surely does not like Barack Obama and was a heavy pusher of total partisianship during his tenure. The word \"bi\" was not even in his vocabulary. He believed in us vs. them, which is why many Americans see such vitriol in Washington, DC. He had a lot to do with it and Bush just followed behind.\n\n\n\nTowards the end of the Bush Administration it was written and rumored that Cheney tried very hard to get former President Bush to pardon, MANY. In fact, he wanted pre-pardons, for the likes of, um like, disgraced and dumb former Attorney General Alberto Gonazles, but it did not happen. Cheney really wanted a full pardon for Scooter Libby, but Bush just said NO, to all of the above. In other words, those who thought they may be saved, were left hanging out to dry by the former president.\n\n\n\nFormer Vice President Dick Cheney said he and former President George Bush had \u201ca fundamental difference\u201d over pardoning Scooter Libby.\n\n\n\n\u201cI was clearly not happy that we in effect left Scooter hanging in the wind, which I don\u2019t think was appropriate,\u201d Cheney said.\n\n\n\nCheney pressed for a pardon for Libby, his former chief of staff convicted in 2007 of perjury in connection with the CIA leak case. Bush declined to issue the pardon.\n\n\n\nCheney said the details of his disagreement with Bush are \u201cbest left to history\u201d \u2013 or his upcoming memoir, which will cover his 40 years in Washington.\n\n\n\nCheney and Bush have spoken by phone three times since leaving office, the former vice president said. \u201cWe traveled a long way together in eight years,\u201d Cheney said.\n\nDon't blame the Bush administration for all the country's economic problems.\n\n\n\nThat's the message from former Vice President Dick Cheney.\n\n\n\nPresident Barack Obama constantly talks about the enormous economic troubles that he inherited when he took office in January. Cheney agrees that Obama did indeed came into power amid very difficult economic circumstances.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBut Cheney says he doesn't think the Bush administration can be blamed for creating the economic woes. Cheney says it's a global financial problem. He says the idea that fault can assigned to the previous administration is \"interesting rhetoric\" but he doesn't think people care about that.\n\nAnd of course, Cheney does not believe the economic failure was on the Bush-Cheney watch. Why would he? This man benefited and profited from this economy, especially the Iraq War. A war that bankrupted this country. So, of course he don't give a damn.While the Republicans wither every time Rush Limbaugh opens his mouth, they wither even harder when the \"old administration by the name of Bush or Cheney\" comes skipping out to any microphone so they can say their peace. In other words, when Bush-Cheney left the White House, the Republicans said, \"Good riddance\". So, Cheney maybe you should continue to remain in your undisclosed location, either way your opinions are really not relevant any longer.More from CNNs State of the Union, Iraq War:After watching this, Dick Cheney as George W. Bush, were two elected officials who left this country in shambles and will continue to try to clean their image up. But like Herbert Hoover, when you leave a catastrophe on the desk for the man behind you to clean up, the only thing that will be remembered is what you DID or DID NOT do to put this country on the course it is on.As for John King, CNNs interviewer, I am sure he is in the running for one of the WORST INTERVIEWS, EVER."}
-{"text": "As citizens across the nation follow public health instructions to shelter in their homes to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus Disease, victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse are facing increased risk to their own personal safety.\n\nFor many people, home may not be safe when there is a history of domestic violence or sexual abuse.\n\nAdditionally, a recent surge in gun sales has increased already rising concerns among those of us working to protect people from domestic violence and sexual assault due to the already tense situations that may become more dangerous with a (new) firearm in the house.\n\nStress and financial uncertainty can exacerbate domestic or sexual abuse and adding a firearm to the situation equals an even more deadly equation. We know from research and prosecutorial experience that loss of employment and the escalation of abusive behavior may lead to the murder of an intimate partner.\n\nI strongly encourage families that have a gun in the home to take time to discuss and think about safety issues. Domestic violence safety plans call for weapons to be locked away. The National Rifle Association\u2019s safety rules also suggest guns be stored unloaded and securely out of reach of unauthorized users like children. Children should be educated about what to do if they find a gun, which includes not touching it and telling an adult they found a firearm.\n\nA gun should never be handled after consuming alcohol.\n\nThese safety tips may seem obvious, but in a crisis our brain doesn\u2019t always work the way it normally does when we are calm. Making sure a gun is unloaded and locked away can help protect us during stressful moments.\n\nFree help is available from our grantees, including the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence and Firearms, which has experts who can provide assistance to victims, family, and friends by calling 800-903-0111 x1 or by email to info@preventdvgunviolence.org.\n\nOther helpful contacts include: The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233; Stronghearts Native Helpline at 1-844-762-8483; and local domestic violence, mental health and public safety providers. If you feel your life is in danger, call 9-1-1.\n\nI ask everyone to follow the guidance of the COVID-19 medical experts to be healthy and to heed the advice of the weapons experts to take precautions to be safe from gun violence so that we can all survive this pandemic together."}
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-{"text": "The rest of this article assumes you already have some knowledge of single page, client routed applications written in React and ES7.\n\nIn order to know whether to use client side routing or to hit the server for a page, we need a higher order link component that is aware of whether it is being run in a single page context or not. Like this one:\n\n// Link.js\n\nimport React from 'react';\n\nimport { Link } from 'react-router'; export default function(props) {\n\nconst { isSinglePage, path, ...rest } = props;\n\nreturn isSinglePage\n\n? <Link path={path} ...rest />\n\n: <a href={path} ...rest />\n\n}\n\nWe can then make our navigation component. Following React\u2019s model of one-way data flow, the nav also needs to be aware of single page status.\n\n// Navigation.js\n\nimport React from 'react';\n\nimport Link from './components/Link'; export default function(props) {\n\nconst { isSinglePage } = props;\n\nreturn (<nav>\n\n<Link path=\"/\" isSinglePage={isSinglePage}/>\n\n<Link path=\"/awesome-new-page\" isSinglePage={isSinglePage}/>\n\n<Link path=\"/old-server-rendered-page\" isSinglePage={false}/>\n\n</nav>);\n\n}\n\nThis is where the magic happens. In this example, the root page / and /awesome-new-page are new React pages, while /old-server-rendered-page is \u2026an old server rendered page. We set the new pages links to inherit isSinglePage from the nav, and decide to render either a React Router <Link/> component or an <a/> tag. The link to the old page will always return a classic anchor tag, and always hit the server.\n\nWhen /old-server-rendered-page is finally migrated to React, we simply need to update this property and you\u2019ll be able to navigate to the new page without a page refresh.\n\nWe then create our React app as normal, ensuring that we tell our nav component that it is being used in a single page context.\n\n// App.js\n\nimport React from 'react';\n\nimport Routes from './routes';\n\nimport Navigation from './components/Navigation'; export default function(props) {\n\nreturn (<main>\n\n<Navigation isSinglePage />\n\n<Routes />\n\n</main>)\n\n}\n\nFinally in our entry file, we expose 2 functions to the outside world:\n\n//index.js import React from 'react'\n\nimport ReactDOM from 'react-dom'\n\nimport App from './app';\n\nimport Navigation from './components/navigation'; export function renderFullApp(element) {\n\nReactDOM.render(<App />, element)\n\n} export function renderNavigation(element) {\n\nReactDOM.render(<Navigation isSinglePage={false} />, element)\n\n} export default const bootstrap = {\n\nrenderFullApp,\n\nrenderNavigation\n\n}; window.bootstrap = bootstrap;\n\nrenderFullApp is the standard way of mounting a React App onto a page. We then also expose a separate function that allows us to only render the navigation in server routing mode.\n\nFrom the server side, as in a standard SPA setup, we route all new client rendered pages to one endpoint, which returns a blank page and a script tag\n\n<div id=\"#app-root\"></div>\n\n<script>\n\nwindow.bootstrap.renderFullApp(document.getElementById('#root'));\n\n</script>\n\nWhile on the old server pages, we can do something like:\n\n<div id=\"#nav\"></div> <main>\n\n~~ old server rendered output goes here ~~\n\n<main> <script>\n\nwindow.bootstrap.renderNavigation(\n\ndocument.getElementById('#nav')\n\n);\n\n</script>\n\nAnd that\u2019s (mostly) it! Now, as we move pages into React, we simply route the url to the single page app and update the navigation. We\u2019re currently using this technique in our Tradie Portal, check it out in action!"}
-{"text": ".\n\nDESCRIPTION\n\nWHERE TO BUY?\n\nPACKAGING\n\n.\n\nSPONGE\n\n.\n\nINGREDIENTS\n\n.\n\nSCENT\n\nSWATCHES\n\nA while ago I blogged about the latest collection from Etude House, which is called Sweet Recipe ( link to the blogpost ). It's an adorable collection with a very cute packaging! The products of this collection are inspired by candy, desserts, cookies, chocolates and jellies! Today I'm reviewing the Almond Chip Cookie Pact, wondering what it is? Continue with reading...The Sweet Recipe Almond Chip Cookie Pack is a new baked face powder of the Etude House Sweet Recipe collection. There are two shades: Almond chip and Choco chip. Almond chip is the lightest color out of the two which is suitable for people with a very light to medium skin tone. This baked powder can be used as a setting powder and contains illuminating pearls according to Etude House to give a healthy and glowy finish.You can purchase this cookie pact at www.cosmetic-love.com link to the product ). They are selling it for $16.90 there including FREE worldwide shipping. They are also selling lots of other Korean make up and skin care products, so make sure to check this store out!As you can see it has an adorable packaging! I haven't really seen such a cute packaging before. The cardboard compact is lovely but I wouldn't recommend to put this in your make up bag. It will probably get smashed/squashed easily.It includes a sponge which feels comfortable on the skin, you might want to wash it before using it.I was very curious about the scent of this product. I had read some reviews about it and people mentioned that it smells like cookies. I have to admit, the cookie pact does have a sweet scent. Since this is the almond chip, it has a very sweet almond scent which I like. Also, I'm glad it's not too overwhelming. I am very fascinated and curious how the other products smells like ^o^!It has a light beige shade with white dots (the choco chip is darker!). That's why I took two swatches on my fingers. The whiter swatch comes from the dots.This face powder leaves a pasty finish if you apply it like this (like in the gif below). If you are planning to apply it with that sponge you need to buff it on your face really well in order to avoid looking cakey. I actually prefer to use a powder brush when applying this face powder. It leaves a matte and a bit of a radiant finish (see swatch below), and it makes me oil-free for a few hours. People who has a dry skin, make sure to moist your skin in advance since it will accentuate the dry patches.Overall, this powder is nice. I have to say that it isn't something special, but it does its job and it suits my skin tone. Also, we can't forget about the adorable packaging. It's just super cute and the scent is so fascinating lol. If you are a sucker for cute packaging like me, it is a must have hahaha.If you are interested, you can purchase this product at www.cosmetic-love.com"}
-{"text": "The crass behaviour of government doctors in healthcare is one of the reasons why quacks have a field day in Uttar Pradesh's villages and towns.\n\nEditor's note: Uttar Pradesh had been in the grips of a healthcare crisis long before Gorakhpur and Farrukhabad put the spotlight on the state's ailing public health system. The state's infant mortality rate is comparable to that of strife-torn African nations. There is one doctor for every 19,000 people; according to WHO, there should be one for every 1,000. This is the second of a four-part series that explores the state's policy-paralysis and places it against the larger backdrop of a systematic public health failure.\n\nLucknow: Pintu Mahadev's three-year-old son Anmol died while in the ICU at the Nehru Hospital (NH), which is affiliated with the Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College in Gorakhpur.\n\nBefore being brought to NH, he was \"treated\" by a quack in his village. Anmol hailed from Bartha village of Deoria district.\n\nAfter being diagnosed with Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) at NH, he was taken to Dr Rakesh Yadav with complaints of high fever and breathing problems. After charging Rs 50 for the 'treatment', the 'doctor' gave him an injection and made him swallow a couple of pills but the fever didn't subside. Finally, after three days, Yadav told Mahadev to take Anmol to the Deoria district hospital, which promptly referred him to the BRD hospital.\n\nAnmol's died shortly after because of multiple organ failure. He could have been saved had he been taken straightaway to the BRD hospital but the 'quack' stood in the way till it was too late. Nevertheless, his family now blames the hospital for his death. Their main grouse is the \"insulting behaviour\" of NH doctors. \"They treated us like animals,\" said Geeta Devi. Neither she nor Pinto blames Yadav.\n\nThe crass behaviour of government doctors is one of the reasons why quacks have a field day in Uttar Pradesh's villages and towns. Such is the architecture of healthcare in Uttar Pradesh that quacks thrive despite handing out wrong diagnoses and misplaced prescriptions. It helps that they are available 24x7. As long as it's a passing fever, a stomachache or a headache, the quacks \u2013 mostly compounders and chemists \u2013 manage a \"cure\" but when confronted with AES or something as worse, they are totally at sea.\n\nAccording to Dr RS Shukla, chief medical superintendent of NH, more than 90 percent of the cases referred to the BRD hospital come after seeing a quack/unregistered doctor first. He said patients are brought here only when their condition gets so bad that the quack cannot carry on with the charade any further. Labelling them as \"jhola-chaap doctors\u201d, he said quacks only have a rudimentary idea of medicines but are experts in the art of conning people.\n\nDr RN Singh, who has worked with the BRD, said quacks flourish in rural areas only because of the non-availability of qualified doctors at Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) and Community Healthcare Centres (CHCs). They operate with impunity despite a total ban on quackery in the state. The Allahabad High Court had in 2015 ordered all non-registered medical practitioners to stop practising medicine. The CMO of each district was asked to keep a check on such doctors. But apart from the occasional raid, the government does little.\n\nBanned? They have an association\n\nOn paper, quackery is banned in UP. But only on paper. There is a full-fledged quacks' association in the state. 'Dr' Prem Tripathi, president of Gramin Swasthya Seva Sangathan (an association of unregistered doctors/quacks in eastern Uttar Pradesh), said that they are the first \"doctors\" people take patients to and they are available 24x7 in rural areas.\n\nProudly, he said that when someone falls sick in any village, he/she is not taken to a government hospital but straight to their clinics. He rued that they are looked down upon despite their service and nominal fees. He said the government punishes them and levies fines on them, and sometimes even seizes their clinics. \"When even one case gets out of hand, we are hauled up for medical negligence,\" he complained.\n\nA 2016 report titled 'The Health Workforce in India' published by the World Health Organisation notes that almost one-third of those who claimed to be allopathic doctors in 2001 were educated only up to the secondary school level and 57 percent did not have any medical qualification. It was far worse in rural areas, where only 18.8 percent of allopathic doctors had a medical qualification.\n\nThe Allahabad High Court had in October 2006 ordered the closure of clinics of illegal medical practitioners. Tripathi said many doctors were arrested in the state after that order and many are still fighting cases. He said the government should rethink its policy. \"With proper training, we'll be an asset to society,\" he reasoned.\n\n'Dr' RS Yadav, a quack practising in Ismailganj area of Lucknow for the last 25 years, told Firstpost that his father, a BAMS doctor, had trained him. He contended that a 2015 order by the state government allowed doctors like him to prescribe allopathic medicines.\n\n\"I'm doing nothing wrong. This is a social service for me. My father died doing it. I treat more than 30 patients a day. The police pick me up now and then but I will keep doing this till I die,\" he said.\n\nControlling measures\n\nThe 'qualified' doctors are not amused. Dr Satish Chandra, chief medical officer of Mau, said he has formed a two-member team to identify unregistered doctors. He said the team will go to rural areas, identify such doctors and strict action will be taken against them. Dr Balvir Singh, additional chief medical officer of Farrukhabad, where more than 45 children died in August this year, said there are more than 300 quacks in Farrukhabad but they don't shut shop despite repeated action. According to law, punishment for running a clinic without the necessary qualification is a penalty of Rs 1,000.\n\nHe said every quack hangs a shingle with fancy degrees, adding that it is not hard to get fake degrees and certificates with the help of Photoshop. He called them a threat to the patients. He shared how Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital admitted 211 cases of sick newborns this August and 145 of them had come through quacks.\n\nDr Rajesh Jain, registrar of the Uttar Pradesh chapter of the Medical Council of India (MCI), said that data on the number of quacks practising in the state was not available. However, he said they were operating \"in a very large number\".\n\nIn 2016, more than 60 quacks were booked in Moradabad after they were found to be chemists. Action was taken against them, said a report in Medical Dialogues.\n\nDr Seema Sahai of National AIDS Research Institute said in a report that people prefer to go to community doctors as the first point of care. Even for treatment of convulsions, jhola-chaap or Bengali doctors are the preferred accessed.\n\nDoctor population\n\nAt the end of the day, everything boils down to the number of qualified doctors. Dr Pushpa Jaiswal, a noted gynaecologist from Lucknow, said there is a dearth of doctors in India, especially in rural areas. She said the government should focus on healthcare infrastructure and deployment of more and more doctors at the primary level. She said the government should also provide training to such doctors who have been practising for long but with restrictions.\n\n\"Work pressure on doctors is immense. Be it sub-centres, PHCs or CHCs, there is not more than one or two doctors at each one of them. For decades, nothing has been done to address this shortage,\" Dr Singh said.\n\n\u200b\n\nAccording to the figures available with MCI Uttar Pradesh, there are 78,476 doctors in the state while the numbers of Ayush (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani and Siddha Healing) doctors in the state is 89,756. According to the World Health Organisation's recommendation, the state should have at least 2.1 lakh doctors for its population of approximately 21 crore.\n\nRead Part 1: Chronic shortage of doctors, overdose of apathy have left govt hospitals comatose\n\nRead Part 3: Per-capita health expenditure of India's most populous state is half the national average\n\n(The author is a Lucknow based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)"}
-{"text": "Send this page to someone via email\n\nABOVE: A group of B.C. hikers had a lesson in paying it forward. They were on their way to a mountain in the Fraser Valley, just outside of Vancouver, when they ran out of gas and didn\u2019t have enough fuel to get home. So they crossed their fingers and hoped someone would help them out. Some strangers did come through \u2013 in the most surprising way. John Hua has the story.\n\nA day out hiking has turned into a \u2018pay it forward\u2019 lesson for a group of friends in the Fraser Valley.\n\nThey had headed out to Mount Cheam last weekend when they ran out of gas and didn\u2019t have enough fuel to get home.\n\nSo they crossed their fingers and banked on complete strangers to help them out.\n\n\u201cWe were going to Mount Cheam,\u201d said hiker Derek Froese. \u201cGet to the top with no casualties, snacks in tact.\u201d\n\nStory continues below advertisement\n\nBut the weekend\u2019s first hiccup happened before the hiking even began \u2013 gas was running low.\n\nThe group decided to forge ahead anyway.\n\n\u201cI think when you\u2019re going uphill your gas reads a little bit lower,\u201d said hiker Lee Kliewer, trying to reason why they didn\u2019t turn around to go back for gas. \u201cWhen you\u2019re going downhill you can coast most of the way down, going neutral.\u201d\n\nSo the group decided to leave a note under the windshield wiper, along with 30 dollars, in the hopes someone would give them some gas.\n\n\u201cIt was a little bit nerve-racking leaving the truck with some cash, and a note and just hoping for the best,\u201d said hiker Jon Friesen.\n\nBut when they returned to their truck, they got the best surprise of the day.\n\nStory continues below advertisement\n\n\u201cThe best part of the hike was hearing Sam yell \u2018we have gas!'\u201d said hiker Miranda Mulder.\n\nAnd not just gas for their truck \u2013 they also received a note saying \u201cwe gased you up, check the gas compartment\u2026 Pay it forward.\u201d\n\nInside the compartment was the $30 the group left behind.\n\n\n\n\u201cI was really surprised the money was still there,\u201d said Froese. \u201cSomebody just thought they\u2019d help us out and make our day and that was really awesome.\u201d\n\nAs for paying it forward, the group already has a plan.\n\n\u201cNext time we go up we\u2019ll have our own jerry can of gas,\u201d said hiker Samantha Fischer. \u201cAnd if anyone else is in the same predicament, help them.\u201d\n\nThe group just wants to say a big \u201cthank you\u201d to the strangers that helped them make it home that day.\n\nStory continues below advertisement\n\n\u2013 With files from John Hua."}
-{"text": "\u672c\u65e52\u670825\u65e5\u306b\u767a\u58f2\u3055\u308c\u305f\u6708\u520a\u30a2\u30d5\u30bf\u30cc\u30fc\u30f34\u6708\u53f7\uff08\u8b1b\u8ac7\u793e\uff09\u306b\u306f\u3001\u3055\u307e\u3056\u307e\u306a\u4f5c\u5bb6\u304c\u300c\u5bc4\u751f\u7363\u300d\u3092\u63cf\u304f\u30b7\u30ea\u30fc\u30ba\u300c\u30cd\u30aa\u5bc4\u751f\u7363\u300d\u7b2c10\u5f3e\u3068\u3057\u3066\u3001\u300c\u9244\u98a8\u300d\u306e \u592a\u7530\u30e2\u30a2\u30ec\u306b\u3088\u308b\u8aad\u307f\u5207\u308a\u304c\u63b2\u8f09\u3055\u308c\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\n\n\u300c\u4eca\u591c\u3082Eat it\u300d\u306e\u4e3b\u4eba\u516c\u306f\u3001\u5c71\u8107\u3068\u3044\u3046\u7537\u6027\u306b\u5bc4\u751f\u3057\u305f\u30d1\u30e9\u30b5\u30a4\u30c8\u3002\u4eba\u9593\u3092\u6355\u98df\u3059\u308b\u5bc4\u751f\u751f\u7269\u3067\u3042\u308a\u306a\u304c\u3089\u3001\u4eba\u9593\u306e\u5973\u6027\u3068\u7d50\u5a5a\u3057\u3066\u4f55\u5341\u5e74\u3082\u9023\u308c\u6dfb\u3063\u305f\u5947\u5999\u306a1\u500b\u4f53\u306e\u30a8\u30d4\u30bd\u30fc\u30c9\u304c\u63cf\u304b\u308c\u305f\u3002\n\n\u306a\u304a3\u670825\u65e5\u767a\u58f2\u306e\u6b21\u53f75\u6708\u53f7\u3067\u3001\u300c\u30cd\u30aa\u5bc4\u751f\u7363\u300d\u30b7\u30ea\u30fc\u30ba\u306f\u7d42\u5e55\u3002\u9020\u5f62\u5bb6\u306e\u7af9\u8c37\u9686\u4e4b\u306b\u3088\u308b\u300c\u30d0\u30d0\u5f8c\u6094\u3059\u300d\u3001 \u8429\u5c3e\u671b\u90fd\u304c\u7530\u5bae\u826f\u5b50\u306e\u5a18\u3092\u63cf\u304f\u300c\u7531\u826f\u306e\u9580\u3092\u300d\u306e2\u4f5c\u304c\u30c8\u30ea\u3092\u98fe\u308b\u3002\n\n\u592a\u7530\u30e2\u30a2\u30ec\u306e\u307b\u304b\u306e\u8a18\u4e8b\n\n\u30ea\u30f3\u30af"}
-{"text": "MLS released the MLS Draft combine list over the weekend and there was an interesting name that was not on the list for Crew SC fans. Akron Andrew Souders is a Crew Soccer Academy alumni, but was not going to be offered a contract by the team according to head coach Gregg Berhalter in December.\n\nThere are a couple reasons a player might drop off the list. Four others dropped off the combine list including Red Bulls homegrown Brandon Allen and Houston signee Bradley Bourgeois. They got contracts. It could be that Souders is attracting interest from overseas and has a deal with a team in Europe or Berhalter changed his mind. No need to risk injury with a contract coming.\n\nThere is another contract option that would be more unusual. Souders could be signed as a homegrown player, but not by Crew SC. It's a little used option, but homegrown player rights can be traded. Josh Janniere was traded from Toronto to Colorado in 2011. Bryan Gallego's homegrown rights were traded by the Red Bulls to Portland in 2012. He signed with the Timbers in 2014.\n\nSauders is projected as a 2nd round pick in this year's draft, so there is likely interest in his services. This could even be seen as a player first move from Berhalter if he reached out to the player and hoped to ensure a smooth landing. Joining the Crew SC Soccer Academy wouldn't be an all or nothing proposition with the player getting locked into a bad situation or the randomness of the draft.\n\nEven though that Crew SC is passing on Souders, there still could be a way for the team to get some value out of the coaching they gave the players. It might also be a move to give Souders control over where he goes in MLS.\n\nThe last option is the most interesting. The homegrown tag locks players to a certain team even if it's not the best fit. A trade would provide another path out beyond Europe and the draft. A path that provides a (small) voice to the player and some compensation to the team.\n\nAny of the above is speculation. The real reason should be known shortly when Souders finalizes his future plans.\n\nUPDATE: Travis Clark gets the full scoop. Souders is stepping away from soccer. It's the most prosaic and pragmatic of reasons."}
-{"text": "Utilize and Understand UIStackView, UIImageView, and NSLayoutConstraint (programmatic auto layout) to create a clean stack view\n\nI filmed my self, building what we build in this very article here.\n\nAs an iOS developer, it is crucial to understand the properties of classes such as UIStackView & UIImageView. It\u2019s just as important to understand how to COMBINE the two to create incredible user experiences.\n\nK but what are we building bro?\n\nToday we are going to build a stack view containing three image views. By doing this we will learn how to use the properties of UIStackView with those of UIImageView. You will learn how to use them together with ease!\n\nStep 1 \u2014 Setting up the Stack View. \u2705\n\ndeclare a stack view in ViewController\n\nCreate a single view app and put this code in your ViewController.swift file above the viewDidLoad method.\n\nSetting translates auto resizing mask into constraints allows us to apply NSLayoutConstraints programmatically.\n\nStep 2 \u2014 Constrain the newly allocated Stack View with NSLayoutConstraint. \u2705\n\nJump into viewDidLoad and immediately add the stack view as a subview before adding anything else. I\u2019ll tell you why after you write those four constraints.\n\nGive the stack view a width and height constraint equal to the values seen in the picture. We want the stack to be nearly the size of our view controller.\n\nFinally, constrain the stack view to the center of the screen with centerXAnchor and centerYAnchor.(if you compile right now you won\u2019t see anything. if you want to see how we can see it in our subview hierarchy at this point, check out the video, I use the view debugger.).\n\nWhy add stackView to the view\u2019s subview hierarchy first?\n\nIf you try and activate constraints before adding the view you are trying to constrain, in this case, our instance of UIStackView, your application will crash. You simply cannot constrain a view to another view if the view isn\u2019t even on the screen yet. Make sense? (Check out this article where I give a metaphor explaining this, in step two)\n\nStep 3 \u2014 declare three ImageViews and add them as arranged subviews in the stack. \u2705\n\nThe first thing you need to do before compiling this code is to add images to your assets.xcassets folder. Unsplash has tons of great free images. Once you have done this, you can retrieve these images however you like. What I\u2019ve done here is use Image Literal. UIImage(named: \u201cimageName\u201d) would also work.\n\nWrite this right below your stack view constraints!\n\nCompile it and your app should look like this, with the last added imageView visible.\n\nWhat\u2019s happening?\n\nOur image views are all stacked one on another. This can be fixed by using the correct UIImageView and UIStackView properties simultaneously."}
-{"text": "A Phoenix cop smelled marijuana coming from a car last week while he was on routine patrol, and that officer ended up finding a bag of weed and a pipe -- after the passenger in the car pulled the items out of her vagina.\n\nThe officer didn't see anything in the car in plain view when he pulled over the vehicle, but we can only guess that the officer's suspicion grew when the driver pulled over into the drive-thru of a Burger King, according to court documents obtained by New Times.\n\nIt was around 9 a.m. when the officer caught a whiff of the marijuana around Ninth Street and Bell Road, and though he couldn't tell exactly where it was coming from, he noticed that the vehicle in front of him had its windows down and was changing lanes in a \"rapid fashion,\" according to the documents.\n\nCiting reasonable suspicion that this vehicle might be the one emitting the smell of weed, the officer pulled over the driver at a Burger King, although the driver apparently went a bit past the parking lot.\n\n\"As I approached the vehicle, I smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from inside it, even though I didn't see anything in plain view,\" a probable-cause statement says. \"I told the driver to keep the window down and drive approximately 20 feet to get out of the drive-thru of Burger King.\"\n\nThe driver, 25-year-old Alberto Reyna, told the officer he didn't have any marijuana and said he didn't have the right to search the vehicle, either.\n\nThe officer detained Reyna and made his passenger, 23-year-old Stephanie Lopez, get out of the car and sit on the curb next to Reyna.\n\nWhile the officer unsuccessfully searched the car for the marijuana, Lopez made a \"spontaneous statement\" that the marijuana was in her pants, according to the documents.\n\nSure enough, Lopez pulled a bag of weed and a glass pipe out of her vagina, the documents state.\n\nRolling papers were also found, but those were inside the vehicle, according to police.\n\nLopez said she was hiding the weed for Reyna.\n\nLopez and Reyna were both booked into jail on marijuana-possession charges, and Reyna faces an additional charge for having handguns with him at the time.\n\nSend feedback and tips to the author.\n\nFollow Matthew Hendley on Twitter at @MatthewHendley."}
-{"text": "A study of roadside drug testing devices widely used by police in Australia has called into question their reliability for detecting cannabis.\n\nKey points: The study found tests commonly used by police often failed to detect THC\n\nThe study found tests commonly used by police often failed to detect THC They also delivered false positives up to 10 per cent of the time\n\nThey also delivered false positives up to 10 per cent of the time But another researcher said the tests were still an effective way of reducing drug-driving\n\n\"What we found was that these test results often came back positive when they should have been negative, or conversely that they came back negative when they should have actually been positive,\" said Thomas Arkell, a PhD student at the University of Sydney.\n\nThe study, published in the journal Drug Testing and Analysis, tested the two devices most commonly used by police \u2014 the Securetec DrugWipe, and the Draeger DrugTest 5000.\n\nIt found the devices frequently failed to detect high concentrations of THC \u2014 the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis \u2014 with false negative rates of 9 per cent and 16 per cent respectively.\n\nThey also recorded positive results when saliva THC concentrations were very low or negligible, with false positive rates of 5 per cent and 10 per cent.\n\nThe study found the accuracy, specificity and sensitivity of the two devices fell below the levels recommended by European Union authorities.\n\nThe Securetec DrugWipe is one of two main tests used by Australian police. ( Supplied: ACT Police )\n\nIain McGregor, the academic director of the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics at Sydney University and the senior author of the study, said the results compared poorly with the blood alcohol testing system.\n\n\"Imagine using a breathalyser that 16 per cent of the time didn't detect that a driver was intoxicated, and 5 per cent of the time pinged them if they were only at .01 or .02,\" Professor McGregor said.\n\n\"Detecting impairment due to cannabis use is an important goal in promoting road safety, but using saliva tests to do this appears fraught with issues.\"\n\nAustralia has been a world leader in roadside drug testing since it was introduced in Victoria in 2004. It is now done in all Australian states and territories.\n\nNext year, NSW Police plans to conduct 200,000 roadside saliva tests and it was recently reported that the Victorian Government plans to increase the number of roadside drug tests to 400,000 over the next two years.\n\nDrug-driving risks 'more complicated' than alcohol\n\nMichael Fitzharris from Monash University's Accident Research Centre said he was confident the roadside drug testing regime was doing its job, because it involved a series of tests to confirm the presence of THC.\n\n\"That means there is an extremely high degree of confidence in detecting recent use, and hence impairment of the skills needed for driving,\" Professor Fitzharris said.\n\n\"The system is designed to permit mass screening in the same way breath-testing is performed. It should be seen as an effective program to manage the drug-driving problem in Australia, and it's now being used as a template by other jurisdictions around the world.\"\n\nMichael Fitzharris said he had confidence in the saliva tests. ( ABC News: Peter Drought )\n\nBut the testing regime has hit roadblocks in the Australian courts.\n\nIn July, NSW Magistrate David Heilpern said the regime was \"characterised by mystery and uncertainty by design\", after he found a man not guilty of drug-driving.\n\nThe man had admitted sharing a joint two days before being detected with THC in his system, but said he had relied on advice from the NSW Centre for Road Safety that it could only be detected for up to 12 hours after use.\n\n\"The 12-hour advice is nothing more than a cruel underestimation that gives people specious information, lulls them into a false sense of security, and leads to greater levels of detection, criminalisation and loss of licence,\" Magistrate Heilpern said.\n\nEarlier this year, he accepted the passive smoking defence of a driver who said she had not smoked cannabis in the weeks leading up to her roadside test, but she had visited her terminally ill neighbour who was smoking medicinal cannabis in her presence.\n\nProfessor McGregor said simply testing for the presence of THC was not the most effective way of removing drug-affected drivers from the roads.\n\n\"It's very different to alcohol, where there is a linear relationship between blood alcohol and the risk of a crash,\" he said.\n\n\"The relationship between salivary THC and crash risk is more complicated.\n\nIain McGregor said the saliva tests alone did not tell the full story. ( ABC News: Billy Cooper )\n\n\"If you take it in a capsule, it will bypass your saliva \u2014 and yet you might have a very high dose. Yet you can have someone with THC in their saliva who is not intoxicated.\n\n\"We need far better tests to go after impairment. It might be better to use a field sobriety test rather than simply looking at levels of THC.\"\n\nNSW Police said it had charged almost 19,000 drivers through mobile drug testing, which continues to roll out through the state's road network.\n\nVictoria Police declined to comment."}
-{"text": "Reliance Jio becomes the third Indian telco to cross 300 million subscribers mark, may overtake Airtel soon\n\nWe may earn a commission for purchases made using our links.\n\nReliance Jio brought many significant changes to the Indian industries catering to mobile phones usage in the country. From significantly reducing the prices of not only 4G data but also 4G handsets, to crushing the weaker players in the domain, and instigating the merger of two of India\u2019s largest operators, Reliance Jio has changed the telecom landscape in India. It crossed the 100 million mark within the first six months of its launch, which attests its popularity. More than two years after its debut, it is still one of the fastest-growing operators in the country and has now achieved a new feat in terms of subscriber count.\n\nReliance Jio has become the third telecom operator in India to cross the mark of 300 million users. The only two operators to do so are Airtel and Vodafone Idea (formed after the merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular). While Airtel crossed the 300 million user mark only last year i.e. after 19 years of its operations, Vodafone-Idea could only reach the stage with their subscribers combined.\n\nReportedly, Jio has been boasting about gaining 300 million subscribers during the telecast of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament. To celebrate this feat, Jio has re-introduced the cricket pack it announced during the last season of IPL. For \u20b9251, users can get 2GB data per day with a validity of 51 days. This is especially for those who use Jio principally for its data benefits and would be using it to stream IPL live on their smartphones. You can merge the \u20b9251 with your standard recharge pack to get benefits of both simultaneously.\n\nWhile Jio was initially being used as the secondary SIM by users who did not want to let go of their older mobile connections, a recent report points that Jio is now being used as the primary SIM by 95% of its subscribers. This could, perhaps, be because India is dominated by entry-level smartphones which often don\u2019t support 4G on both SIMs at the same time. Since Jio functions on a purely 4G network (it has no bandwidth for 3G or 2G), it must be used as the primary data SIM. Despite that, it has consistently been the most-widely available 4G network in most parts of the country.\n\nHowever, the fact that Indian consumers are willing to make this change vouches for Jio\u2019s swiftly rising popularity. With many users shifting to single SIM smartphones, this could be a challenging time for Airtel, which currently stands at approximately 350 million subscribers."}
-{"text": "Emily Dixon, CNN\n\n\u30a4\u30bf\u30ea\u30a2\u5317\u90e8\u30ea\u30b0\u30fc\u30ea\u30a2\u5dde\u306e\u6559\u4f1a\u3067\u3001\uff11\uff17\u4e16\u7d00\u306e\u5de8\u5320\u304c\u63cf\u3044\u305f\u6642\u4fa1\uff13\uff14\uff10\u4e07\u30c9\u30eb\uff08\u7d04\uff13\u5104\uff18\uff10\uff10\uff10\u4e07\u5186\uff09\u76f8\u5f53\u306e\u7d75\u753b\u304c\u76d7\u307e\u308c\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u4e8b\u4ef6\u304c\u3042\u3063\u305f\u3002\u3057\u304b\u3057\u5b9f\u306f\u3053\u306e\u4f5c\u54c1\u3001\u8b66\u5bdf\u304c\u304a\u3068\u308a\u635c\u67fb\u306e\u305f\u3081\u306b\u5c55\u793a\u3057\u3066\u3044\u305f\u507d\u7269\u3060\u3063\u305f\u3002\n\n\u5c55\u793a\u3055\u308c\u3066\u3044\u305f\u306e\u306f\u30d5\u30e9\u30f3\u30c9\u30eb\uff08\u73fe\u5728\u306e\u30d9\u30eb\u30ae\u30fc\uff09\u306e\u753b\u5bb6\u30d4\u30fc\u30c6\u30eb\u30fb\u30d6\u30ea\u30e5\u30fc\u30b2\u30eb\uff12\u4e16\u304c\u63cf\u3044\u305f\u300c\u5341\u5b57\u67b6\u300d\u3068\u3044\u3046\u4f5c\u54c1\u3067\u3001\uff12\uff10\u4e16\u7d00\u521d\u3081\u306b\u3053\u306e\u6559\u4f1a\u306b\u5bc4\u8d08\u3055\u308c\u305f\u3002\n\n\u5730\u5143\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2\u306e\u5831\u9053\u306b\u3088\u308b\u3068\u3001\u8b66\u5bdf\u306f\u3053\u306e\u7d75\u753b\u3092\u76d7\u307f\u51fa\u305d\u3046\u3068\u3059\u308b\u8a08\u753b\u304c\u3042\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3092\u7a81\u304d\u6b62\u3081\u3001\uff11\u30ab\u6708\u307b\u3069\u524d\u306b\u3001\u672c\u7269\u3068\u507d\u7269\u3092\u5165\u308c\u66ff\u3048\u3066\u3044\u305f\u3002\n\n\u672c\u7269\u306f\u5b89\u5168\u306a\u5834\u6240\u306b\u4fdd\u7ba1\u3057\u3001\u507d\u7269\u3092\u5c55\u793a\u3057\u3066\u3001\u8b66\u5bdf\u304c\u76e3\u8996\u30ab\u30e1\u30e9\u3067\u6559\u4f1a\u3092\u898b\u5f35\u3063\u3066\u3044\u305f\u3002\n\n\uff11\uff13\u65e5\u306b\u6559\u4f1a\u306b\u62bc\u3057\u5165\u3063\u305f\u7a83\u76d7\u56e3\u306f\u3001\u5c55\u793a\u30b1\u30fc\u30b9\u3092\u30cf\u30f3\u30de\u30fc\u3067\u7834\u3063\u3066\u7d75\u753b\u3092\u6301\u3061\u53bb\u308a\u3001\u8eca\u3067\u9003\u8d70\u3057\u305f\u3002\u76d7\u3093\u3060\u4f5c\u54c1\u304c\u507d\u7269\u3060\u3063\u305f\u3053\u3068\u306b\u306f\u6c17\u3065\u3044\u3066\u3044\u306a\u3044\u69d8\u5b50\u3060\u3063\u305f\u3002\n\n\u8b66\u5bdf\u304b\u3089\u4f5c\u6226\u306e\u3053\u3068\u3092\u77e5\u3089\u3055\u308c\u3066\u3044\u305f\u30c0\u30cb\u30a8\u30ec\u30fb\u30e2\u30f3\u30c6\u30d9\u30ed\u5e02\u9577\u3082\u53e3\u88cf\u3092\u5408\u308f\u305b\u3001\u4e8b\u4ef6\u5f8c\uff21\uff2e\uff33\uff21\u901a\u4fe1\u306e\u53d6\u6750\u306b\u5bfe\u3057\u3001\u300c\u8a08\u308a\u77e5\u308c\u306a\u3044\u307b\u3069\u306e\u4fa1\u5024\u304c\u3042\u308b\u4f5c\u54c1\u3060\u3063\u305f\u3002\u308f\u308c\u308f\u308c\u306e\u5730\u57df\u793e\u4f1a\u306b\u3068\u3063\u3066\u5927\u304d\u306a\u6253\u6483\u3060\u300d\u3068\u8a9e\u3063\u3066\u307f\u305b\u305f\u3002\n\n\u5e02\u9577\u306e\u5e83\u5831\u304c\uff23\uff2e\uff2e\u306b\u8a9e\u3063\u305f\u3068\u3053\u308d\u3067\u306f\u3001\u5bb9\u7591\u8005\u306f\u307e\u3060\u902e\u6355\u3055\u308c\u3066\u3044\u306a\u3044\u3082\u306e\u306e\u3001\u8b66\u5bdf\u304c\u8db3\u53d6\u308a\u3092\u8ffd\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3002\n\n\u30d6\u30ea\u30e5\u30fc\u30b2\u30eb\uff12\u4e16\u306f\u30eb\u30cd\u30b5\u30f3\u30b9\u671f\u306e\u753b\u5bb6\u30d6\u30ea\u30e5\u30fc\u30b2\u30eb\uff11\u4e16\u306e\u606f\u5b50\u3067\u3001\u7236\u306e\u4f5c\u54c1\u306e\u6a21\u5023\u4f5c\u3084\u72ec\u81ea\u306e\u4f5c\u54c1\u306e\u5236\u4f5c\u3067\u77e5\u3089\u308c\u308b\u3002\u6559\u4f1a\u306b\u306f\u3053\u306e\u4f5c\u54c1\u3092\u898b\u308b\u305f\u3081\u306b\u591a\u6570\u306e\u89b3\u5149\u5ba2\u304c\u8a2a\u308c\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3002"}
-{"text": "SpaceX\u2019s CRS-16 resupply mission to the International Space Station has been grappled by Canadarm2 \u2013 despite being delayed by a ground station communication issue with a Tracking and Data Relay (TDRS) satellite \u2013 ahead of being successfully berthed to the orbital outpost. The mission\u2019s arrival signals the start of a busy 37 day period with the cargo craft on a flight that \u2013 when launched \u2013 could have overlapped with SpaceX\u2019s uncrewed test flight of crew Dragon for the Demonstration Mission -1 part of the Commercial Crew Program.\n\nOn Friday, NASA confirmed a new launch target for DM-1 of No Earlier Than 17 January 2019, deconflicting the test flight and current CRS-16 cargo resupply mission.\n\nArriving onboard CRS-16 Dragon \u2013 making its second voyage to the International Space Station \u2013 is nearly 5,600 lbs of supplies, equipment, experiments, and holiday goodies for the soon-to-be three person Station crew.\n\nAmong the crew items soon to be unpacked from Dragon include a holiday feast for Oleg Kononenko, Anne McClain, and David Saint-Jacques to enjoy over the holiday period.\n\nFar more importantly, Dragon has now also safely delivered a host of new scientific experiments that will help scientists better understand Earth and how the human body reacts to long-duration space missions.\n\nAmong those experiments is GEDI (pronounced like Jedi from Star Wars), a two-year external experiment which hopes to yield the first three-dimensional map of Earth\u2019s temperate and tropical forests. Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation, or GEDI, will be removed from Dragon\u2019s trunk and attached to the side of the Japanese Experiment Module \u2013 Exposed Facility (JEM-EF) where it will use a lidar instrument to send laser pulses to Earth\u2019s surface.\n\nThese pulses will bounce off the first thing they encounter \u2013 be it a tree branch or a leaf or the ground \u2013 as the Station passes over the temperate and tropical latitudes. When the laser beams bounce off an object, that information is returned to GEDI and used to create an intricate 3D map of forest canopies.\n\nSee Also Falcon 9/CRS-16 UPDATES\n\nSpaceX Missions Section\n\nL2 SpaceX Section\n\nClick here to Join L2\n\nThe information will provide data on the height of foliage, branches, trees, and shrubs and will allow scientists to better understand how Earth\u2019s forests are storing or releasing carbon.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019d like to be able to understand what the role of forests are,\u201d said Principal Investigator Ralph Dubayah of the University of Maryland, College Park. \u201cWe want to know how much carbon is being stored in trees because if we cut those trees down, that\u2019s a potential source of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.\u201d\n\nImportant here is the role forests play in the overall amount of carbon in Earth\u2019s atmosphere. Scientists know how much carbon is pumped into the atmosphere, but they are less certain of where and in what quantities carbon is absorbed by trees.\n\nForests and trees play an integral role in environmental and climatic regulation, and GEDI could lead to a better understanding of what continued deforestation would mean for Earth\u2019s climate and the changes observed globally.\n\n\u201cTo effectively manage forests toward mitigating climate change, we need to know how much carbon they store and how that\u2019s distributed spatially, and that\u2019s what GEDI will give us,\u201d Duncanson said. \u201cWe can\u2019t know how much carbon is released to the atmosphere through deforestation and forest degradation until we know how much is already there; GEDI will collect new data and fill this big, critical carbon knowledge gap.\u201d\n\nWith the information from GEDI, scientists will be able to determine the percentage and distribution of tall, broad trees v. short ones. Taller, broader trees store more carbon than younger, smaller trees, but smaller trees absorb more carbon as they grow.\n\nCutting down and burning those larger trees, which are 50% carbon, releases their stored carbon back into the atmosphere \u2013 contributing to the global rise of atmospheric carbon levels.\n\nFrom Earth to space, joining GEDI outside the Space Station is Robotic Refueling Mission 3 (RRM3) \u2013 which will perform the first demonstration of storing and transferring liquid methane in space. Liquid methane is a cryogenic fluid used for spacecraft propulsion and as a coolant for optical satellite equipment.\n\nThe methods for storing and transferring cryogenic fuel on RRM3 provide a potential and practical way to extend satellite lifetimes and enable long-duration exploration missions by providing refueling options in Low Earth Orbit and beyond.\n\nBut refueling a satellite is not as easy as pulling up to a gas pump and putting more gasoline in your car. While cryogenic fluids like methane are perfect for satellite propulsion and cooling, they must remain at a temperature below -100\u00b0 and -200\u00b0 C. Any warmer and the cryogenic liquid would evaporate.\n\nTo this end, technology for storing such propellant and transferring it safely with no evaporation is key. And this is what RRM 3 is set to demonstrate.\n\nMounted outside the International Space Station, RRM 3 will show an ability to store cryogenic methane for 6 months with zero evaporation or boil off. After storage, RRM3 will demonstrate the transfer of cryogenic methane from one of its holding tanks into another \u2013 again with zero boil off.\n\nThe mission will also test a number of robotic tools and vision systems needed for satellite refueling.\n\nMoving inside the Station, the Growth of Large, Perfect Protein Crystals for Neutron Crystallography will seek to provide better prevention and treatment of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, lung cancer, and colorectal cancer.\n\nThis will be accomplished by studying how the manganese superoxide dismutase antioxidant protein helps protect the human body from oxidizing radiation and oxides created as a byproduct of metabolism.\n\nThe function of the manganese superoxide dismutase antioxidant protein is to help rid a cell\u2019s mitochondria of superoxide, a harmful chemical species.\n\nAlso inside the ISS is the European Space Agency\u2019s Molecular Muscle investigation that will study the causes of muscle abnormalities during spaceflight to better establish effective countermeasures.\n\nThe experiment utilizes miniature roundworms from the species Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) to study molecular changes consistently correlated with muscular and metabolic abnormalities across species.\n\nThe roundworms to be studied grow to only 1 mm in length and have been used for a variety of experiments to better understand human medical conditions due to similarities between the roundworm\u2019s genome to that of humans.\n\nThe similarity has also made this particular species of roundworm a prime candidate for scientific research in space.\n\nDespite their wide use in the scientific field, the species is perhaps best known to the spaceflight community and segments of the general public due to their presence aboard and survival of the February 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia accident.\n\nDescendants of the worms that survived the Columbia accident made a trip to space themselves aboard the STS-134 final voyage of Space Shuttle Endeavour in May 2011 to the International Space Station.\n\nTo the experiment that just arrived on Station, these worms will help scientists understand the loss of muscle mass not just for astronauts but for the aging human population as well. Identification of the mechanisms behind the loss of muscle mass and performance will help create improved muscle maintenance treatment for astronauts as well as the geriatric, bedridden, and aged patients on Earth.\n\nAfter the experiment is complete, the worms will be placed in storage aboard the Station as they await a ride home on a Dragon spacecraft.\n\nThe cargo Dragon is the only vehicle currently capable of returning experiments from the International Space Station and is in relatively high demand. Thus, the worms will either return aboard this CRS-16 Dragon or wait until spring when the CRS-17 Dragon departs the orbital outpost.\n\nRegardless, once the newly delivered science experiments and cargo are removed from Dragon, the International Space Station crew will pack the craft full of return cargo before closing Dragon\u2019s hatch and releasing it from the Station in mid-January 2019 for return to Earth.\n\nPresently, CRS-16\u2019s unberth and landing date is set for 13 January 2019, which at the time of the mission\u2019s launch set up a potential overlap between CRS-16 and SpaceX\u2019s Demonstration Mission -1 (DM-1) for the Commercial Crew Program.\n\nAt the time of CRS-16\u2019s launch, the uncrewed DM-1 test flight had been targeting a No Earlier Than (NET) launch date of 7 January 2019 from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center, with a docking to the International Space Station to follow on 10 January.\n\nThat NET 7 January launch date officially slipped on Friday to NET 17 January.\n\nBefore the official slip, SpaceX\u2019s Hans Koenigsmann stated that \u201cmid-January\u201d was perhaps a better target date for the mission. But the earlier 7 January launch date did raise the question of how SpaceX would handle two of their Dragons being in orbit at the same time.\n\nTwo Dragons in orbit simultaneously is something that has yet to happen but that SpaceX will have to do in the future as six-month long crew missions to the Space Station will overlap with Dragon cargo resupply efforts moving forward.\n\nDiscussing the potential overlap between CRS-16 and DM-1, Mr. Koenigsmann said it was possible for both Dragon missions to be on orbit at the same time because cargo Dragons are in a much less hands-on control configuration for SpaceX Mission Control while berthed to the Station.\n\nBut Mr. Koenigsmann cautioned that while it was possible from a technical standpoint it might not be the best situation for SpaceX and NASA given the importance of DM-1 for the eventual start of crew transportation services later in 2019 and that it might be more prudent to delay DM-1 until after CRS-16 has landed so that SpaceX and NASA can put their full attention into the uncrewed DM-1 test flight.\n\nNew SpaceX Demo-1 launch date targeted for Jan. 17, 2019. \"The upcoming steps before the test missions are critical, and their importance can\u2019t be understated. We are not driven by dates, but by data.\" https://t.co/gWiNkBgQoc \u2014 NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) December 7, 2018\n\nMr. Koenigsmann\u2019s words proved prophetic as NASA officially announced a 10 day slip for DM-1 to a new NET launch date of 17 January on Friday.\n\nThese mid-January references from Hans and NASA\u2019s official confirmation of NET 17 January match comments made by Bill Gerstenmaier, Associate Director for NASA\u2019s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate to the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) on Thursday, 6 December of a later January alignment for DM-1\u2019s launch.\n\nSomething that is now abundantly clear from both SpaceX and NASA is that DM-1 is still very much targeting a launch in January 2019, a date that had been thrown into wild disarray and speculation with comments from NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine that January was \u201cunfeasible\u201d and that the mission would \u201cdefinitely launch in the first half of the year\u201d \u2013 statements the raise questions as to why the Administrator would seemingly make such incorrect statements to the public.\n\nThe Administrator\u2019s comments painted a much more dire image of DM-1\u2019s status than is now understood to be reality \u2013 something dispelled by SpaceX\u2019s comments, NASA presentations to NAC on 6 December which revealed that the DM-1 Dragon will be completely ready for flight prior to the end-of-year holidays, repeated comments from Mr. Gerstenmaier of NASA of a January launch target, and NASA\u2019s Commercial Crew Program itself."}
-{"text": "[+]Enlarge Credit: Courtesy Clifford P. Brangwynne\n\nEukaryotic cells, which are defined by having a nucleus, rarely grow larger than 10 \u03bcm in diameter. Scientists know a few reasons why this is so. For example, cells with a larger volume have a harder time obtaining nutrients from their surroundings. A new study suggests another reason\u2014gravity (Nat. Cell Biol. 2013, DOI: 10.1038/ncb2830).\n\nScientists had thought gravity\u2019s effects at the cellular scale were negligible. Yet Prince\u00adton University researchers Marina Feric and Clifford P. Brangwynne observed gravity at work in egg cells from the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis. The frog eggs can reach up to 1 mm across, and they are commonly used in research. The duo made the surprising discovery in a seemingly unrelated experiment studying why organelles seem held in place within frog egg nuclei.\n\nThey injected microscale polymer beads into the eggs and tracked their motion. Small beads easily diffused throughout the nucleus, but larger ones were trapped, suggesting an elastic meshwork constrains things. They suspected the mesh contained the protein actin, known for its structural role in the cytoplasm but whose role in the nucleus is unclear. When the team treated the eggs with drugs that disrupt actin, the organelles in the nucleus not only diffused freely but settled to the bottom of the nucleus within a few minutes\u2014clear evidence of the effect of gravity.\n\n\u201cWe hadn\u2019t thought about gravity at all,\u201d Brangwynne says. \u201cWe were just doing our thing, but when we destabilized this actin network it became apparent gravity was at play.\u201d\n\nSign up for C&EN's must-read weekly newsletter Email Address * Subscribe \u00bb Contact us to opt out anytime\n\nCalculations based on the motion of the microbeads and the organelles showed that gravity starts becoming important around the 10-\u03bcm scale.\n\nThe researchers put forth an intriguing possibility: \u201cCells are typically no greater than ~10 \u03bcm, because beyond this size gravity is increasingly disruptive and additional stabilization mechanisms become necessary,\u201d according to their paper."}
-{"text": "La Comisi\u00f3n de Igualdad del Congreso ha aprobado una proposici\u00f3n no de ley presentada por el PSOE para bajar el IVA de los productos de higiene femenina, los pa\u00f1ales de ni\u00f1os y adultos y los preservativos. Todos los grupos, excepto el PP y Ciudadanos, instan al Gobierno a aprobar un IVA superreducido del 5% para estos \"productos imprescindibles\". El Partido Popular ha votado en contra de esta medida, mientras que Ciudadanos se ha abstenido.\n\nCanad\u00e1 quita el IVA a compresas y tampones mientras Europa a\u00fan debate la necesidad de bajar el impuesto\n\nSaber m\u00e1s\n\nCompresas, tampones o preservativos est\u00e1n gravados actualmente con un IVA del 10%. En el caso de los pa\u00f1ales, el impuesto es el m\u00e1ximo, del 21%. Para la diputada socialista Laura Guinart, estos productos \"deben considerarse como lo que son, bienes de primera necesidad y, como tales, no pueden seguir gravados con un IVA que no sea el superreducido\".\n\nEn cuanto a los preservativos, el PSOE se\u00f1ala que es el m\u00e9todo anticonceptivo m\u00e1s usado en Espa\u00f1a por las mujeres de entre 19 y 49 a\u00f1os y que se ha demostrado eficaz para prevenir todo tipo de enfermedades de transmisi\u00f3n sexual y embarazos no deseados, por lo que su IVA debe ser tambi\u00e9n el m\u00e1s reducido posible.\n\nUna directiva europea impide la aplicaci\u00f3n de facto del IVA superreducido del 4%. Por eso, la proposici\u00f3n no de ley insta al Gobierno a reducir el IVA actual de estos productos hasta el 5%, el m\u00ednimo permitido, tal y como sucede en Francia. Tambi\u00e9n a que promueva que esta normativa se modifique para que pueda aplicarse el impuesto m\u00e1s reducido, del 4%."}
-{"text": "At a busy railway platform in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior a teen was beaten unconscious by a cop.\n\nA teen is beaten unconscious by a police constable who then drags him around in disturbing visuals that have emerged from a railway station in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior.The incident took place on Monday at a busy railway platform. The attacker, a head constable of the railway police, claims the boy is a petty thief who was caught red-handed.In the video, the policeman is seen bashing the boy's head to the ground, picking him up by the neck and hitting him again. The crowd watches transfixed, without reacting, as the burly policeman drags the unconscious teen using a cloth around his neck.\n\nIt is not clear why the alleged thief was not taken to the police station. The constable has reportedly claimed that the boy \"ran away before he could be taken to the police station\".The constable has been suspended and an inquiry has been ordered."}
-{"text": "Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray seems to have cornered the BJP over a lot, especially the GST bill\n\nUddhav Thackeray\n\nInteresting politics is being seen in the state these days, especially from Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, who has been able to play like his late father Balasaheb Thackeray, in terms of making the ally kneel down before him.\n\nAfter a series of attempts to make the BJP shaky, Uddhav has been successful in pushing it into a corner. The BJP too, is playing into the hands of the Sena, because it wants the ally's assistance in making the government in Maharashtra stable, in getting its presidential candidate elected, and the all-important GST bill passed in the state.\n\nLittle wonder then, that when the Sena wanted the GST bill to have its own conditions fulfilled \u2013 the Sena-controlled BMC will be most-affected if it does not get its share of octroi \u2013 the BJP rushed to Thackeray with a draft bill on Monday. Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar called on him twice in two days to get the Sena's final approval for the bill, which will be ratified between May 20 and 22. The state Cabinet approved the draft proposal yesterday after Thackeray's clearance.\n\nThackeray was given a presentation on GST on Monday, which he promptly discarded, and asked for assurance that the BMC would be compensated directly by the Centre, and not by the state treasury. The minister rejected this suggestion saying that making payment through the state was the union government's decision, and changing it only for Maharashtra (ie for the Sena) would mean making a similar provision for other states.\n\n'BMC won't beg'\n\nSources said the Sena chief agreed when Mungantiwar assured him that the payment would be made in advance, not only to BMC but all other municipal corporations in the state. It was also decided that 8% extra would be paid annually to the BMC and others. Sena leaders said that their president told the minister that the BMC would not run behind any government with a begging bowl.\n\n'Behaving like Balasaheb'\n\n\u201cThis move has shown the aggressive side of Uddhav Thackeray. We recall the days when BJP leaders, ministers and sympathisers visited Balasaheb with a request. The regular practice stopped after the BJP got more Assembly seats and formed its government in association with us. We couldn't get as much because of few numbers, but we're happy that our leader is behaving more like his father,\u201d said a Sena leader.\n\nBJP needs Sena\n\nA BJP minister said the party was helpless as of now because it desperately needed the Sena on its side. \u201cWe will be in a minority if the Sena pulls out of our government in Maharashtra. It is because of the NCP's unwillingness to join hands with it and the Congress that our show is going on. If the Sena, NCP, Congress and the MLAs who oppose us get together, we will be out of power the very next hour,\u201d said the minister. However, he was optimistic that things would change after presidential polls. \u201cWe want the Sena's 25,000 votes. Our priority is to get Sena to vote for the NDA this time because it had voted against us in the past two polls,\u201d he said.\n\nSo it would be pertinent on BJP's senior leadership to impress upon Thackeray to divert his votebank to their candidate. The Sena voted for Pranab Mukherjee and before that it supported Pratibha Patil. The then candidates and senior UPA leaders had requested Balasaheb Thackeray for support. It would be interesting to see who visits Thackeray this time."}
-{"text": "Who doesn't love a good deal? Today, Amazon and Wirefly are offering another one today to potential or current Verizon customers: a $40 off your bill if you buy or upgrade to a Verizon 4G phone this week. New customers as well as old will get the $40 credit on their next bill, which is a pretty significant chunk of your bill.\n\nThe deal will be going on from now until midnight on Thursday, June 14th, so if you were planning on upgrading, now would be a good time to do it. There are, as usual, some pretty good deals going on in the Amazon Wireless store as well, including the LTE Galaxy Nexus for a penny. Hit up the source link to shop for your next phone.\n\nSource: Amazon Wireless, Wirefly"}
-{"text": "Sea-view dining, sleeping to the sound of the waves and bagging beachside accommodation needn\u2019t cost the earth. Hayley Spurway finds some of the best free camping locations across Spain and Portugal.\n\nOver two months on the road in the camper van our accommodation costs came to grand total of \u20ac19. That\u2019s pretty impressive for a family of four and a dog, considering the average cost of a campsite in Europe is \u20ac25 per night. Willing to wee in the wild, we were keen to breakaway from organised campsites, find more remote places to stay and make a saving by free camping our way around Spain and Portugal. Unlike the UK, much of the European continent is well set-up for camper vans, providing Aires (free camping/motorhome stopovers) on main routes, as well as being home to plenty of stunning track locations where camper vans can park-up for free.\n\nWebsites like furgovw.org list free camper van locations Europe-wide, but we found our own gems by heading away from the maddening crowds and following rutted tracks seaward. These are my top ten free camper van spots in Spain and Portugal:\n\nLas Rozas, Cantabria\n\nOn the edge of this tiny village on the banks of the mighty Ebro reservoir, a small track under the railway bridge leads to a grassy plateau hemmed by water. Seething midday temperatures see to it that you spend much of your time cooling off in the lake, where you can swim to a partly submerged church and gawp at mountain views from the steeple.\n\nPlaya Valdevaqueros, Andalucia\n\nAbout 10km out of Tarifa town, between Punta Paloma and the Spin Out kitesurfing school, there\u2019s a small beachside plot where camper vans can park up gratis. Most folk come here for the wind-sports (it\u2019s one of the windiest locations in Europe), but it\u2019s also perfect for beach lovers who want to fling open the van doors to pillows of sands and don\u2019t mind a stiff afternoon breeze.\n\nExplore more of Andalucia >\n\nPraia do Rostro, Galicia\n\nSeeking shelter from northerly winds and crowds on pilgrimage to nearby Cape Finisterre, we stumbled across the perfect camper van park-up beside the Caribbean-white sands of Rostro. Windsurfers and surfers flock here when conditions are right, walkers pad along the sand to Punta das Padras, and when the crystal-clear ocean is cold, you can wade to deserted coves and clamber over boulders to a waterfall.\n\nPlaya Traba, Galicia\n\nOn the north coast of Galicia \u2013 where boulder-strewn peaks and dense forests tumble to the edge of sandy bays and rugged coves \u2013 free camping locations abound. At Playa Traba you can experience crowd-free (even in the middle of summer), wave-lashed beach beauty, with the blessing of excellent facilities too: level, grassy park-ups; loos and showers; a water tap and picnic benches.\n\nPhoto credit: Hayley Spurway\n\nEsteiro, Galicia\n\nWhere the baker delivers fresh bread to your park-up beneath the pine trees, and you can pad from the camper van into the surf, you\u2019ve struck free camping gold. With a rustic beach bar and restaurant, showers and loos, picnic benches and a park for the kids, it\u2019s little wonder that Esteiro gets busy. But the crowds depart with the heat of the sun, leaving plenty of space to spill out into secluded pitches under the stars.\n\nExplore more of Galicia >\n\nFrexulfre, Asturias\n\nDespite the abundance of mosquitos in Frexulfre\u2019s eucalyptus forests, you can\u2019t argue that the location \u2013 peering through the treetops down to the surf \u2013 is a cracking one. Forest tracks zigzag beneath the canopies to meet the waves, and as the tide ebbs the rockpools come to life. At the eastern end of the beach there\u2019s also a beach-shack bar, showers and loos.\n\n\n\nPhoto credit: Hayley Spurway\n\nPraia Odeceixe, Portugal\n\nAcross the river from the whitewashed town of Odeceixe, there\u2019s a row of waterside park-ups where the river meets the sea. Not only can you skim pebbles or float downstream on a lilo from the crescent of beach beside the camper vans, it\u2019s only a short wade (or swim, at high tide) across the river to the town\u2019s picture postcard beach that\u2019s popular with surfers and families.\n\nCosta de Almograve, Portugal\n\nFollow the road through Almograve (stopping for some of Portugal\u2019s best churros en route) to reach a wave-lashed stretch of coast traced by pockets of sand between dramatic cliffs. Beyond the first beach the crowds peter out and there\u2019s a few cliff-top parking bays as well as a smaller, camper van-friendly car park beside a fish restaurant, water fountain, and a gym-and-jog circuit.\n\nPhoto credit: Hayley Spurway\n\nPraia Amado, Portugal\n\nSurfers, families and beach bums flock to Praia Amado for waves, wow-factor sunsets and a beach-top vantage point. Surrounded by the same rugged scenery as more secret spots nearby, here the surf-side caf\u00e9s mean you can take a break from campfire cooking and rest assured there\u2019s always a loo nearby.\n\nPraia Melides, Portugal\n\nA peaceful camping spot before hitting the busier coastline around Lisbon, Praia Melides proffers mile upon mile of deserted, sugary sands backed by pine forests. Push on past the beach caf\u00e9s, and \u2013 depending how far you\u2019re willing to venture along the sandy track \u2013 there are secluded, sheltered camping spots galore hidden amongst the canopies.\n\nExplore more of Spain with the Rough Guide to Spain, and use the Rough Guide to Europe on a Budget to make the most of your money.\n\nBook hostels for your trip, and don't forget to purchase travel insurance before you go."}
-{"text": "What an outrage it is that the Northern Territory doesn\u2019t lift its grape production, instead of importing wine from South Australia! And what about those lazy Tasmanians; rather than growing their own mangoes and pineapples they import them from Queensland! Michael West reports on the bizarre claims of the gas lobby.\n\nIt might sound absurd but this is precisely what the gas industry and its political apparatchiks would have Australians believe. Frack, they say. Tear up precious farmland in NSW and Victoria. Ramp up gas production in NSW and Victoria, or Queensland will be forced to \u201cexport\u201d the stuff back to them.\n\nNever mind that much of the gas is piped up to Queensland from the Bass Strait anyway. Never mind that the southern states have plenty of gas, never mind that Australia\u2019s energy policy is so non-existent that we are now about to import our own gas back from overseas.\n\nAs brazen PR spin, this gas lobby \u201csouthern-states-are-selfish-bludgers\u201d proposition ranks right alongside the coal lobby\u2019s timeless assertion \u201cAussie coal is good for the poor people of India\u201d. Still, it has got the better of our elected officials.\n\nAnd so they demur. Despite clear evidence on the other side of the country, in Western Australia where they have a Domestic Gas Reservation policy, that earmarking gas for local consumers keeps prices down, and keep costs lower for every consumer and every business in Australia. Yet the cabal of just four giant corporations is playing Australians for fools.\n\nWe say a cabal of four because Exxon and BHP have joint marketing arrangements so they can be considered, for the purpose of competition laws, to be one.\n\nHoodwinked\n\nThey\u2019ve got our politicians hoodwinked. Resources Minister Matt Canavan claims supply will drop sharply, even though it is slated to rise. ACCC chief Rod Sims reckons southern consumers should have to pay to ship the gas back down from the boondocks of Wallumbilla in Queensland, although it is piped straight past them on the way up to Queensland in the first place. More on this later.\n\nSantos boss Kevin Gallagher is touting cheaper gas if Narrabri is opened up for coal seam gas, although this is high-priced gas which we don\u2019t need because Australia is swimming in the stuff. More later.\n\nLet\u2019s demolish this caboodle of cartel claims one by one with the assistance of gas analyst Bruce Robertson\u2019s latest report for IEEFA, Towards a Domestic Gas Reservation in Australia.\n\nFirstly, to the notion that there is not enough supply. Gas supply on the east coast of Australia has tripled since 2014 yet gas prices for Australian consumers have also tripled. If a true market for gas existed on the east coast of Australia, then more supply ought to mean lower prices.\n\nBut there is no market, only a cartel, and all that extra supply is exploited by the gas majors to profit at the expense of consumers. The myth of the south eastern states not producing sufficient gas\n\nThe fact is, gas production from the south eastern states of NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia is above the levels needed to supply these domestic markets.\n\nThe Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) shows, in its Gas Statement of Opportunities 2019, that gas consumption in the south eastern states is below what is produced there. In 2018, actual production was 433 Petajoules (PJ) and consumption just 431PJ.\n\nGas production in the southern states of Victoria, Tasmania, NSW and South Australia grows in the forecast period. It is expected that gas production will grow by 5 per cent from 433PJ in 2018 to 456PJ in 2022.\n\nSurplus production in the southern states should grow more strongly than production as demand for gas falls. We have already seen major declines in industrial demand for gas in 2019 as industries such as Claypave, RemaPak and Dow Chemicals shut their doors in part due to high gas prices.\n\nHigh gas prices have hit demand for domestic use and for gas powered generation. Gas use for electricity production has fallen. Gas is not a \u201ctransition fuel\u201d for Australia. It is too expensive.\n\nGas use at ten year lows\n\nGas usage for power generation is at its lowest level in a decade, at just 7.9 per cent of the National Energy Market (NEM) in 2018 (see Figure 3). While wind and solar have increased from less than 0.5 per cent to 11.9 per cent over the last decade, gas usage has fallen.\n\nIn 2016 Incitec Pivot built a new fertiliser plant in the US rather than in Australia citing high domestic gas prices in Australia as one of the reasons for relocating its operations.\n\nSeveral gas users have already closed down during 2019 (a period of just six months). According to the ACCC:\n\n\u201cIn January 2019, RemaPak, a producer of polystyrene coffee cups in Sydney, went into administration. RemaPak\u2019s energy costs increased by 400 per cent in a space of just three years and it could no longer effectively compete against importers. In late March 2019, Claypave, a Queensland based bricks manufacturer, also announced that it had entered into voluntary administration, citing rising energy costs, including gas costs, as a factor.\u201d\n\nRecently, another company announced it is shutting down. Dow Chemical in Melbourne is closing, in part due to high gas prices.\n\nGas demand from the industrial sector has tumbled 14 per cent since 2014, although the worst is yet to come, as legacy low-priced contracts roll off and companies are forced to pay globally uncompetitive prices or shut up shop.\n\nYet somehow, despite the abundance of evidence that there is plenty of gas, and that a domestic reservation policy is sorely needed, those who are running the show in Australia are convinced we need to rip up valuable farmland in the southern states to avert a crisis which doesn\u2019t exist. Here\u2019s Matt Canavan:\n\n\u201cMinister for Resources and Northern Australia Matt Canavan said the GSOO report showed gas supplies would be adequate until 2023, but extra production from southern states would be critical for those jurisdictions to meet the demand of their own domestic and industrial users.\n\n\u201cMore gas from more gas suppliers is the best way to increase competition and lower gas prices in the longer term,\u201d Minister Canavan said.\n\n\u201cThe GSOO shows east coast gas supplies are sufficient to meet the needs of Australian homes and businesses over the short to medium term, but the long-term supply of affordable and reliable gas will rely on teamwork by all states and territories.\n\n\u201cAEMO\u2019s forecast suggests that in a few years, southern production may decline sharply which will increase the dependence of gas users in Victoria and New South Wales on interstate supplies, particularly during the peak winter season.\n\n\u201cAs a Government, we are working hard to create an environment where consumers have an affordable, reliable supply of gas.\u201d\n\nBizarre. This despite the evidence that production in the Southern States is rising, not falling, out to 2022. The sad fact is that Australia is simply globally uncompetitive. Rampant domestic gas prices are destroying demand.\n\nNote also that, beyond 2022, forecasts of production become very sketchy as no company gives a final investment decision on a project to start in five years time. Final investment decisions are always made closer to the present. Moreover, successive governments have allowed the gas industry, unlike in the US where prices are lower, to keep their resources and reserves secret. There is no standardised reporting, and yet they still have the cheek to call this a gas *market* when we don\u2019t know who or what is on the \u201cbid and offer\u201d.\n\nHere is Santos CEO, Kevin Gallagher, from May 30, 2019:\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve a degree of sympathy for the manufacturers because this happened very quickly,\u201d Mr Gallagher said. \u201cWe were all caught out by the speed at which the market changed on the east coast.\n\n\u201cBut we do know supply will bring cost down; if there\u2019s more supply coming into the market than demand that will drive down the marginal cost.\u201d\n\nHe said, in particular, the development of the gas field at Narrabri in NSW would allow more domestic supply which would drive down costs in southern states.\n\nThe question has to be asked: How can producing high-cost gas bring the price down? Surely, it would push the price up, as has been the case already with Queensland\u2019s onshore drilling.\n\nProduction costs at Gunnedah, where locals are rightly up in arms about Santos\u2019s plans, are expected to be an eye-watering $7.40/GJ according to the AEMO Gas Statements of Opportunities (GSOO).\n\nThis is a project which has continually disappointed its owners in terms of gas produced in the exploration phase. It has tipped Santos and its partners into write offs of $1.8 billion to date (pre-tax). It\u2019s a lemon and lemons are not in the habit of changing flavour.\n\nHere is Rod Sims, Chairman of consumer watchdog the ACCC:\n\n\u201cMr Sims said that wholesale gas prices should be $5.87 per gigajoule in Queensland and $7.77 in the southern states (due to the cost of piping the gas to those regions).\u201d\n\nAEMO does not agree. The southern states of NSW, Victoria and South Australia produce more than they consume and this surplus widens out to 2022. Yet the ACCC thinks that consumers in the southern states should have to pay to transport the gas from Queensland.\n\nThis must be galling for the consumers of gas in Melbourne who get their gas from the Bass Strait. Everything is calculated from the perspective of the powerful gas exporters, not from the standpoint of beleaguered customers.\n\nThis from Macrobusiness:\n\n\u201cThe ACCC is still barking up the wrong tree with export net-back prices too. We don\u2019t want net-back to be the benchmark for a functional market. That is agreeing to pay virtually the same price for the gas as our Asian customers do. No other energy producer does that. We need to dislocate the local gas market entirely from international pricing.\u201d\n\nWell said. The gas lobby would appear to subscribe to the Big Lie precept propounded by Josef Goebbels:\n\n\u201cIf you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.\u201d\n\nIt is time for the big gas lie to be exposed and for Australians to insist on access to what is already theirs, an abundance of gas, at what should be theirs, affordable prices. As we stand, just five corporations are making a killing at the expense of 26 million Australians. The Government has the levers set grossly in their favour.\n\nEven more mortifying is that at least four of them (Exxon, BHP, Shell and Origin) have been investigated by the Tax Office for aggressive tax avoidance."}
-{"text": "Seamus Kennedy, president and co-owner of Hersco Ortho Labs in New York, said there was an abundance of evidence \u0097 hundreds of published papers \u0097 that orthotics can treat and prevent \u201cmechanically induced foot problems,\u201d leading to common injuries like knee pain, shinsplints and pain along the bottom of the foot.\n\n\u201cOrthotics do work,\u201d Mr. Kennedy said. \u201cBut choosing the right one requires a great deal of care.\u201d\n\nYet Scott D. Cummings, president of the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists, says the trade is only now moving toward becoming a science. So far, most of the focus in that direction has been on rigorously assessing orthotics and prosthetics for other conditions, like scoliosis, with less work on shoe orthotics for otherwise healthy athletes.\n\n\u201cAnecdotally, we know what designs work and what designs don\u2019t work\u201d for foot orthotics, said Mr. Cummings, who is an orthotist and prosthetist at Next Step in Manchester, N.H. But when it comes to science and rigorous studies, he added, \u201ccomparatively, there isn\u2019t a whole lot of evidence out there.\u201d\n\nDr. Nigg would agree.\n\nIn his studies, he found there was no way to predict the effect of a given orthotic. Consider, for example, an insert that pushes the foot away from a pronated position, or rotated excessively outward. You might think it would have the same effect on everyone who pronates, but it does not.\n\nOne person might respond by increasing the stress on the outside of the foot, another on the inside. Another might not respond at all, unconsciously correcting the orthotic\u2019s correction.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s the first problem we have,\u201d Dr. Nigg said. \u201cIf you do something to a shoe, different people will react differently.\u201d\n\nThe next problem is that there may be little agreement among orthotics makers about what sort of insert to prescribe."}
-{"text": "Hackers don\u2019t always steal data. Sometimes the goal is to manipulate the data to intentionally trigger external events that can be capitalized on.\n\nConventional wisdom says that once an attacker is in the system, moving laterally from network to network, the damage is already done. The adversary has found a way in and more than likely identified the data they\u2019re after. They simply need to exfiltrate it, the last step of the kill chain, to land the final blow.\n\nIn some scenarios, however, it\u2019s what the attacker doesn\u2019t do that could have a more devastating outcome on the enterprise.\n\nData manipulation attacks where an adversary does not take the data, but instead make subtle, stealthy tweaks to data for some type of gain, can be just as crippling for organizations compared to theft.\n\nThe ability of attackers to manipulate and shift data around is a real threat \u2013 one that could cause widespread financial and even physical harm as a result \u2013 if done successfully.\n\nData Manipulation Attack Examples\n\nConsider the stock market. Hypothetically speaking, if an attacker were to successfully breach the IT systems and databases responsible for updating a stock ticker symbol and manipulate data to show a billion-dollar tech giant like Apple, Microsoft, Google or Amazon taking a nose dive, it would cause immediate chaos and panic would ensue. It could result in people selling off their stocks in a frenzy \u2013 the culmination of a deliberate and effective attack.\n\nData manipulation attacks don\u2019t always have to result in a tangible financial gain. If an attacker managed to carry out a similar attack against health record information for patients in hospitals and altered critical data like drug dosages and prescriptions that need to be administered, it could result in sickness or even death.\n\nThese types of attacks are commonly carried out by malicious insiders, individuals who have privileged access to critical data in the first place. If an insider got their hands on blueprints for a manufacturing facility that was being built, they could make minor modifications to drawings that could set the organization up for systemic failure. Understated and difficult to detect, an attack like this could ultimately put a company out of business and give a competitor, perhaps in an adversarial nation state, the ability to take over market share. I\u2019ve seen this play out firsthand. When you have a \u201ctrusted\u201d insider as the culprit, it makes it all that more difficult to detect and track down.\n\nWho is Behind Data Manipulation Attacks?\n\nAttackers like data manipulation attacks because they\u2019re hard to detect and they undermine trust and confidence. If there\u2019s no way to verify that data, like blueprints, documents, or source code are legitimate, it can erode trust from the inside out. Attacks that compromise integrity can jeopardize an entire supply chain. It only takes one flaw, far down a chain, to disrupt or delay the production of goods in an organization\u2019s cashflow.\n\nCarmaker Tesla sued a former employee last summer after CEO Elon Musk alleged the insider stole confidential and trade secret information after he failed to get a promotion. While the employee purportedly exported gigabytes of confidential data he also made changes to the Tesla Manufacturing Operating System, the set of basic commands for Tesla\u2019s manufacturing lines, under false usernames, apparently in an act of sabotage. Manipulating sensitive data, like source code, isn\u2019t flashy but is something that can cause the market to slowly unravel over time.\n\nFor organizations, it\u2019s inevitable that attackers will take data. It\u2019s more of a challenge to determine when an attacker makes a small change to data, then leaves the scene of the crime. For threat hunters, from a digital forensic perspective, there\u2019s typically always a trace left behind. Anomalies in system logs, edits to files at suspicious times, and alarms on threat signatures to detect suspicious techniques and malicious behavior, can be telltale signs of data manipulation.\n\nMitigating Against Data Manipulation Attacks\n\nTo combat these types of attacks, organizations need to ensure they have endpoint visibility on their IT systems. If an outsider successfully penetrates a network, they\u2019ll need to move laterally through the environment to find the data they\u2019re after. It\u2019s critical for incident responders or threat hunters to be able to follow in their proverbial forensic footsteps, to proactively hunt and detect this type of activity before something irreversible is done.\n\nThe MITRE ATT&CK Framework has been buzzed about across the industry lately for good reason. The knowledge base \u2013 a living, breathing breakdown of adversary TTPs and behaviors \u2013 outlines in great detail each phase of a cyber attack and the best methods for detecting and mitigating each technique. The framework can greatly help threat hunters looking to speed up their hunting cycle.\n\nWhile attackers may not necessarily leave the endpoint with data in these types of attacks, organizations would benefit from using endpoint detection and response tools to gain better visibility into behaviors and data movement. Organizations can also use file integrity monitoring solutions to identify and track real-time changes to files, folders, and other settings.\n\nLogging activity can also help but it\u2019s not a silver bullet. IT teams need to develop internal controls to audit this information and ensure they constantly have eyes on the glass, triaging logs generated by their environment.\n\nData manipulation attacks can have disastrous consequences and cause a significant disruption to a business, country, or even the world in some circumstances. Being prepared is the first step to potentially limiting or preventing the impact of these attacks."}
-{"text": "The House Intelligence Committee voted on Thursday to approve their final report on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and alleged collusion, sending it to the Intelligence community to be reviewed and declassified for release to the public.\n\nThe vote fell along party lines, with all Republicans on the committee voting to approve the report, and all Democrat members voting against. The report comes after 14 months of investigation.\n\nCommittee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) said in a statement:\n\nThis report, based on 70-plus witness interviews and more than 300,000 documents collected, provides specific findings and recommendations to improve our election security before the mid-term elections. The report, which will include minority views if the minority submits them, presents the comprehensive results of what the Committee has learned during its fourteen-month-long investigation, and will be useful in thwarting any attempts by Russia or other foreign powers to further meddle in U.S. elections.\n\nThe committee also released a list of more than 40 findings from their investigation that shed more insight on the final report.\n\nMost significant is the finding that \u201cnone of the interviewed witnesses\u201d provided evidence of collusion, coordination, or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.\n\nNotably, that includes Glenn Simpson \u2014 founder of Fusion GPS, who hired ex-spy Christopher Steele to work on what became the Trump dossier.\n\nThat also includes former CIA Director John Brennan, former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, former Acting Attorney General Mary McCord, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin, former FBI Director James Comey, former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power.\n\nIt also included Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, Clinton campaign adviser Jake Sullivan, and former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz.\n\nAnother finding is that the committee found \u201cno evidence that President Trump\u2019s pre-campaign business dealings formed the basis for collusion during the campaign.\u201d\n\nThe committee also found \u201cno evidence that Trump associates were involved in the theft or publication of Clinton campaign-related emails, although Trump associates had numerous ill-advised contacts with WikiLeaks.\u201d\n\nThe idea that the Trump campaign had worked with Russia to steal Democratic National Committee and Podesta emails formed the original basis of the collusion claim by the Clinton campaign.\n\nThe committee also addressed former Trump campaign associates\u2019 contacts with Russians, which Democrats have alleged show collusion.\n\nIt found that former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page \u201cdid not travel to Moscow in July 2016 on behalf of the Trump campaign. However, it added, \u201cthe Committee is concerned about his seemingly incomplete accounts of his activity in Moscow.\u201d\n\nThe committee also said former adviser George Papadopoulos\u2019s \u201cattempts to leverage his Russian contacts to facilitate meetings between the Trump campaign and Russians was unsuccessful.\u201d\n\nOn the infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, it said: \u201cDonald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort attended a June 9, 2016, meeting at Trump Tower where they expected to receive \u2014 but did not ultimately obtain \u2014 derogatory information on candidate Clinton from Russian sources.\u201d\n\nIt added that Trump Jr. \u201cbriefly met\u201d with a Russian government official at the 2016 National Rifle Association annual meeting, but that there was \u201cno evidence\u201d that the two discussed the U.S. presidential election.\n\nThe committee also cleared Attorney General Jeff Sessions, finding that: \u201cThe Committee found no evidence that meetings between Trump associates \u2014 including Jeff Sessions \u2014 and official representatives of the Russian government \u2014 including Ambassador Kislyak \u2014 reflected collusion, coordination, or conspiracy with the Russian government.\u201d\n\nThe committee found that Steele\u2019s second- and third-hand information, purportedly from high-placed Russian sources, was provided directly to Fusion GPS and Perkins Coie and \u201cindirectly\u201d back to the Clinton campaign.\n\nThe committee also issued new findings on intelligence community leaks that suggested that intelligence officials under the Obama administration leaked information to media.\n\nIt said leaks of classified information regarding Russian intentions to sow discord in the elections began before the election, and \u201cincreased dramatically\u201d after the election.\n\nIn addition, it said leaks prior to the classified Intelligence Community Assessment\u2019s publication, correlate to \u201cspecific language\u201d found in the assessment.\n\nThe findings also appeared to corroborate a report by investigative journalist Sara Carter that former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had leaked to CNN that President-Elect Trump had been briefed on the dossier \u2014 which set off a report by CNN and the subsequent publishing of the dossier by Buzzfeed.\n\n\u201cFormer Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, now a CNN national security analyst, provided inconsistent testimony to the Committee about his contacts with the media, including CNN,\u201d it said.\n\nThe committee also released a finding that could raise questions about Flynn\u2019s guilty plea.\n\n\u201cGeneral Flynn pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding his December 2016 conversations with Ambassador Kislyak, even though the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents did not detect any deception during Flynn\u2019s interview,\u201d it said.\n\nThe committee also issued a number of findings concluding that the Obama administration did not take sufficient steps to counteract Russian meddling before or after the election, and issued a number of recommendations on countering such interference.\n\nFor the intelligence community, it recommended it update its guidance regarding media contacts to \u201censure the guidance applies to every employee, including senior officials.\u201d\n\nThe committee recommended that Congress consider legislation on increasing penalties for leaks of classified information, and that the Executive Branch consider making all non-Senate-confirmed political appointees who have top secret clearances take mandatory polygraphs."}
-{"text": "Direct Loans from \u00a3200 to \u00a31,500\n\nWe\u2019re here to help you stay afloat in your time of need. We are a customer service oriented company with an understanding and helpful team at your service.\n\nWe offer direct loans of up to \u00a3800 for new customers and up to \u00a31500 for returning customers. See our Charges page and the FAQ\u2019s for further information.\n\nFlexible Payments & Terms\n\nWhen lending short term loans we are committed to providing a personal, discreet and transparent credit service throughout your experience. This includes being a responsible lender and carrying out the right credit checks when you apply to ensure you can afford to repay your loan, helping borrowers avoid running up a bad credit report.\n\nAlthough convenient, payday loans are not suitable as a long term financial solution. We will always let you know what you will need to pay us and when, before you make a decision to borrow from us and throughout your time as a customer with us. As we provide loans direct to our customers, avoiding brokers, we have full control of the lending process.\n\nNew customers can borrow from \u00a3200 to \u00a3800. Loans are repayable over a minimum term of two instalments and a maximum of six months, which means you don\u2019t have to repay the entire balance of your loan on your next payday. The minimum duration for the first instalment is five days. Existing customers can borrow up to \u00a31500, subject to passing our credit and affordability checks. Customers may pay back their loans early with no penalties or fees."}
-{"text": "\n\nFor a couple days now, Lt. Gen. David Deptula, USAF (ret.) is making the rounds with JINSA's Makovski. Both are pomoting the idea of the transfer of MOPs and B-52s to Israel.\n\nPunchline from JINSA's OpEd in The Wall Street Journal - April 8, 2014: \"The Obama administration has cut a deeply flawed interim deal, forgone new sanctions, and effectively taken the military option off the table. It's time to increase the pressure on Tehran by boosting Israel's military capacity to cripple Iran's nuclear program.\"\n\nThis refers to a nuclear program that isn't proven to be a nuclear weapons program. US intelligence can't find evidence for that believing that Iran's nuclear program may or may not become a weapons program, but that there are no current indications of that change. The conflation of a nuclear program with a nuclear weapons program is not just sloppy language. It is a deliberate deception. Iran's ability to master enrichment is NOT tantamount to a nuclear weapons threat. A theoretical ability in the absence of intent is not a threat. Period. To say otherwise is to engage in deception.\n\nLet's put this in clear language: The advocates of such equipment transfers want that the US should put Israel in a position in which it can flout US policy preferences by making them independent strategically by giving Israel a conventional stategic strike option.The desire to do this demonstrates Israel's current inability to successfully hit Iran.\n\nThis is the same idea promoted in 'A Clean Break', which notably stressed the idea that Israel ought to transform its relations with the United States, by making Israel self-reliant, i.e. independent from the US. Now that's an ally! These people want the US to make Israel independent, so that the Israelis can ignore whatever the US wants them to do and and at the same time they want the US taxpayer to foot the bill!\n\nThe tail is indeed wagging the dog. And re: 'A Clean Break' - the other major idea in that paper is that Israel, rather than pursuing a \"comprehensive peace\" with the entire Arab world, Israel should work jointly with Jordan (though nowadays it looks they are rather more allied with the Saudis) and Turkey to \"contain, destabilize, and roll-back\" those entities that are threats to all three. Which goes a long way to explain the current enthusiasm and persistent scheming to have the US to bomb Syria to smithereens already. And then Lebanon. And then Iran. Is there a cure for this lunacy? - Confused Ponderer\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-52_Stratofortress\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_Ordnance_Penetrator"}
-{"text": "The Republican Party has a whole new debate problem in 2016.\n\nAfter suffering through a seemingly endless and unwieldy stream of 23 debates in the 2012 cycle, the Republican National Committee took control of the process, marshaling networks and candidates to agree to a framework where they only participate in fewer than a dozen sanctioned debates. But now the national party and networks face the new challenge of arranging as many as 17 candidates on a single televised stage.\n\nLargely out of view, executives and journalists from Fox and CNN, with input from the national party, are weighing the entrance criteria for the first two debates. Among the options being considered is using polling as a rough inclusionary test, followed by a fundraising metric\u2014dollars raised or the number of individual donors activated. All of these things are in flux as the networks and the national party struggle with the largest plausible debate field in history.\n\n\u201cThis is truly historic in that normally you are trying to get people into the debates and now you are trying to whittle people out of the debates,\u201d said one Republican operative familiar with the debate process. \u201cYou\u2019ve never had more than 10 candidates in either party on a debate stage. You could get to at least 16 to 17 candidates and make a legitimate case for them being there\u2014easy.\u201d\n\nGet our Politics Newsletter. The headlines out of Washington never seem to slow. Subscribe to The D.C. Brief to make sense of what matters most. Please enter a valid email address. Sign Up Now Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.\n\nThe first debate, in Cleveland in August, will be the most pivotal, according to GOP operatives and campaign aides. Failure to earn a place on the stage will likely be the death knell to a campaign, depriving a candidate of an opportunity to shine, and a visible mark of failure in a crowded field. Republicans who have traveled the country boosting their name recognition but who haven\u2019t made any steps toward actually running, like Rep. Pete King and former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, are, by all accounts, out.\n\n\u201cThere are only so many people you can hear from in a 90- or 120-minute debate, so you\u2019ve got to be fair and transparent,\u201d said the operative of the necessary winnowing.\n\nCarson, according to a number of party insiders, is all-but-guaranteed a spot given his relatively strong polling in the GOP field. The bigger issue is former Hewlett-Packard executive Carly Fiorina\u2014the only woman seeking the Republican nomination and also one of the party\u2019s most ferocious Clinton critics\u2014who barely registers in polling. Both announced their presidential candidacies on Monday.\n\nConservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, who will join in questioning the candidates at the second debate sponsored by CNN in partnership with Salem Radio Network at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. in September, told TIME Monday he hopes that all credible candidates are included. \u201cIt should be a credible path to either the nomination or the vice presidency or a senior position in the next administration,\u201d Hewitt said, before adding the final decision isn\u2019t his.\n\nThere\u2019s also the matter of Donald Trump. The reality television star has formed a presidential exploratory committee but has yet to officially declare himself a candidate for the White House. Should he do so, many Republican insiders say it would be hard for the party to exclude him\u2014voters find him entertaining and he has a large megaphone with which he could embarrass the GOP. \u201cThis sounds crazy, but it\u2019s safer to just include him,\u201d said one 2016 presidential aide.\n\nBeyond the first debate, the RNC is hoping to progressively tighten the debate criteria as the primaries approach, effectively winnowing the massive GOP field and signaling to voters which candidates have the wherewithal to go the distance.\n\nBut even if all the declared candidates make the stage, there is still the not insignificant problem of running a debate with a football squad on stage. \u201cHere\u2019s my radical suggestion: four hours\u2014and I am dead serious\u2014four hours with five minute breaks at the top of every hour, let people go out to the bathroom, let them talk to their aides,\u201d Hewitt said on his radio show. \u201cThey will get huge ratings. No one\u2019s going to rush, no one\u2019s going to feel like they\u2019ve got to get their time in, as opposed to the classic 90 minutes.\u201d\n\nStuart Stevens, Mitt Romney\u2019s chief strategist, criticized the media\u2019s hyping of third-tier candidates to boost ratings last cycle in a much-circulated 2013 essay. He told TIME recently that he supports the RNC\u2019s efforts, but said news outlets must take steps to ensure only those candidates who can actually win make it on stage. \u201cThe news business is a business and very competitive, of course, but it wouldn\u2019t be a bad thing to see leadership from media working together to avoid the obvious problems of 2012,\u201d he said.\n\nFor some candidates, the problem may be even more fundamental than the debate stage. They need to make sure they are included in polling, first. In an NBC/Wall Street Journal survey released Monday, the roster of candidates did not include Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.\n\n\u201cI am reasonably confident that I will make sufficient progress to be on that debate stage in August,\u201d Fiorina told reporters Monday morning, just hours after she declared her candidacy in an interview on ABC\u2019s Good Morning America. \u201cThey ought to be looking at support, they ought to be looking at endorsements,\u201d she said, adding, \u201cI think the polls will come along in due time.\u201d\n\nLast cycle\u2019s debates were notable for their ability to drastically reshape the race, creating and destroying candidates like Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Rick Perry. After the party\u2019s 2012 defeat, Republican chairman Reince Priebus defied beltway expectations and seized control of the primary debates process. \u201cI think having control over the debates so that we don\u2019t turn this into a 23 debate circus in front of people who don\u2019t care at all about the party but only care about making news for themselves, that\u2019s number one,\u201d Priebus said earlier this year when asked which of the party reforms he implemented is most significant.\n\nA spokesperson for CNN did not comment on the record. A spokesperson for Fox News did not respond to a request for comment.\n\nContact us at letters@time.com."}
-{"text": "\u0097 -- The food companies that used prison labor to sell products at Whole Foods are defending their programs, saying they provide inmates with new skills and rehabilitation.\n\nWhole Foods, under pressure from prison reform advocacy groups protesting the wages earned by those behind bars, announced last week that it will stop offering products made by prisoners next year. The company specifically said it will stop selling tilapia sourced from Quixotic Farming and cheese distributed by Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy, two private companies that partner with Colorado Correctional Industries (CCI), a division of Colorado's Department of Corrections. These items will no longer be available to Whole Foods customers as of April 2016.\n\nMichael Silverman, a Whole Foods spokesman, said in a statement, \"One of our core values as a company is supporting our communities. We felt that supporting suppliers who found a way to be part of paid, rehabilitative work being done by inmates would help people get back on their feet and eventually become contributing members of society.\"\n\nSilverman said that the program used local suppliers in Colorado who sourced product and ingredients through a \"volunteer inmate rehabilitation program.\"\n\nHe continued: \"We do believe that voluntary work programs like this do help people learn skills to become productive members of society, we always want to make sure we are in-tune with our customers' wishes. That is why we decided to stop selling products made by inmate labor programs, and expect that those products will be off our shelves by April, 2016 if not sooner.\"\n\nThe inmates are paid between 74 cents to $4 per day, according to Adrienne Jacobson, Colorado Department of Corrections' legal services associate director, adding that CCI doesn't contract directly with Whole Foods.\n\nA spokesman for Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy defended its practices and argued that prison inmates were actually earning more than a minimum wage worker in Colorado, but only when those hourly rates were combined with the room and board and other services they receive in prison. The minimum wage in Colorado is $8.23 per hour.\n\n\"Inmates at the dairy are only required to work one, eight-hour shift, five days per week, but many elect to work double shifts and additional days per week,\" Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy said in a statement. \"Depending on their schedule, inmates can earn anywhere from $1,000 per year to over $2,500 per year. Most people don\u2019t consider that it costs the Colorado tax payer $35,800 per inmate, per year for room and board, clothing, medical care, educational programs, counseling services, and required supervision. When factoring in these benefits, inmates are actually earning more than double the Colorado minimum wage.\"\n\nHaystack Mountain Goat Dairy said its cheeses are sold primarily in Whole Foods stores in the Rocky Mountain region, northern and southern California, pockets of the Southwest, Boston and New York. Whole Foods\u2019 cheese prices vary slightly by varietal and flavor, but on average, four ounces of Haystack Mountain sells for $5.99 and eight ounces sells at $10, according to Silverman.\n\nClaire Constant, a spokeswoman for Quixotic Farming, said the majority of Quixotic's tilapia is raised on the company's Missouri farms and processed at its facility in Penrose, Colo., with civilian employees. She declined to comment about the products in Whole Foods stores.\n\n\"Quixotic Farming is proud of the work we do with Colorado Correctional Industries,\" Quixotic said in a statement. \"We enjoy the opportunity to help the inmates who voluntarily apply for jobs at our CCI facility to learn a job skill that they can use when they are released. We appreciate the inmates who work hard to help raise our fish in Colorado, and if they excel and are interested in continuing the work once they are released, we try to help those inmates with job placements either at our facilities outside of CCI or in other seafood industry jobs.\"\n\nMichael Allen, a prison reform advocate in Houston who helped lead the campaign petitioning Whole Foods to drop the products, told ABC News, \"I don\u2019t know anyone who doesn\u2019t appreciate earning a wage or even getting out of your cell, but where I have a problem is that they don\u2019t pay anywhere near a fair wage to allow these people to help support their family on the outside.\"\n\nAllen organized a protest in front of a Whole Foods store in Houston last month that urged the grocer to stop selling products made by prison labor.\n\n\u201cThe point is corporations are profiting off of other peoples\u2019 miseries. In order to impact the prison system, we have to try to take out if we can the profit-money motive,\u201d Allen said. \u201cI\u2019ve gotten a lot of flak that this is rehabilitation, but it\u2019s not real rehabilitation. It smells like someone is exploiting these prisoners and tax law for their own corporate profit.\u201d\n\nGary Burtless, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the decision by Whole Foods was partly \"based on a hard-headed calculation.\"\n\n\u201cIt is an understandable decision given Whole Foods\u2019s conclusion that some of its customers were uncomfortable with buying products made by prison labor,\" he explained. \"If enough customers abandon Whole Foods to buy food at competitors\u2019 stores, it calls into question whatever cost advantage Whole Foods was enjoying as a result of purchasing prisoner-made products.\u201d"}
-{"text": "FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- When quarterback Tom Brady dropped back to pass in one of the team's recent practices, his top receivers were Minnesota Vikings castoff Michael Jenkins and little-known Kamar Aiken on the outside, with Danny Amendola in the slot.\n\nThen, when he worked on a different field while many players were going through special-teams drills, Brady was paired with tight ends Jake Ballard and Zach Sudfeld, a rookie free agent out of Nevada.\n\nThe Patriots are counting on Danny Amendola to fill the void in the slot left by Wes Welker. AP Photo/Charles Krupa\n\nWatching it unfold, there were a few prevailing thoughts.\n\nFirst, it's probably a good thing for the New England Patriots that it's early June, three months away from the regular-season opener on the road against the Bills. Maybe by then, injured players like receiver Julian Edelman (foot) and tight ends Rob Gronkowski (forearm/back) and Aaron Hernandez (shoulder) will be part of the mix, leading to a crisper passing game than was seen in recent weeks. Or maybe the two promising receivers selected in the 2013 draft -- Marshall's Aaron Dobson (second round, 59th overall) and Texas Christian's Josh Boyce (fourth round, 102nd overall) -- will have emerged.\n\nStill, those \"what-ifs\" spark the question of whether the \"redo\" at the receiver position is ultimately going to work out as desired. If the Patriots are relying on a healthy Edelman to change things, or rookies to be difference-makers, will that be good enough?\n\nAnd finally, there is this: Maybe too much of the burden is being placed on Brady himself. While Peyton Manning throws to Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker and Wes Welker in the Denver Broncos' three-receiver set, Brady is currently doing the best he can with a Jenkins-Aiken-Amendola trio.\n\nIf 2007 was nirvana -- a chance to throw to Pro Bowl talents like Randy Moss and Wes Welker, with Jabar Gaffney and Donte' Stallworth mixed in with tight end Benjamin Watson -- this looks more like 2006 based on the present snapshot. That was the season in which Reche Caldwell was the Patriots' leading receiver. It was also the season in which the Patriots still advanced to the AFC Championship Game.\n\nThis captures part of the intrigue surrounding the 2013 Patriots and their once-lethal (still-lethal?) passing game."}
-{"text": "\u66f4\u65b0\n\n\u4eac\u90fd\u5e02\u5185\u306e\u5546\u696d\u65bd\u8a2d\u3067\u8d77\u304d\u305f\u5973\u5150\u3078\u306e\u5f37\u5236\u308f\u3044\u305b\u3064\u4e8b\u4ef6\u3067\u3001\u5225\u306e\u5973\u5150\u306e\u304a\u5c3b\u3092\u89e6\u308b\u69d8\u5b50\u3082\u64ae\u5f71\u3057\u305f\u3068\u3057\u3066\u3001\u4eac\u90fd\u5e9c\u8b66\u53f3\u4eac\u7f72\u306f\uff17\u65e5\u3001\u5f37\u5236\u308f\u3044\u305b\u3064\u306e\u7591\u3044\u3067\u3001\u4eac\u90fd\u5e02\u53f3\u4eac\u533a\u82b1\u5712\u5185\u7551\u753a\u306e\u7121\u8077\u3001\u524d\u6797\u5f18\u6a39\u88ab\u544a\uff08\uff12\uff13\uff09\uff1d\u5f37\u5236\u308f\u3044\u305b\u3064\u7f6a\u3067\u8d77\u8a34\uff1d\u3092\u518d\u902e\u6355\u3057\u305f\u3002\u300c\u7121\u62b5\u6297\u306a\u5973\u306e\u5b50\u306a\u3089\u8ab0\u3067\u3082\u826f\u304b\u3063\u305f\u300d\u3068\u5bb9\u7591\u3092\u8a8d\u3081\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\n\n\u307e\u305f\u3001\u540c\u7f72\u306f\u540c\u65e5\u3001\u4eca\u5e74\uff14\u6708\u306b\u30ab\u30c3\u30bf\u30fc\u30ca\u30a4\u30d5\u3092\u6240\u6301\u3057\u305f\u3068\u3059\u308b\u9283\u5200\u6cd5\u9055\u53cd\u5bb9\u7591\u306a\u3069\u3067\u524d\u6797\u5bb9\u7591\u8005\u3092\u8ffd\u9001\u691c\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\u902e\u6355\u5bb9\u7591\u306f\u3001\u5e73\u6210\uff12\uff16\u5e74\uff17\u6708\uff11\uff11\u65e5\u3054\u308d\u3001\u4eac\u90fd\u5e02\u5357\u533a\u5185\u306e\u5546\u696d\u65bd\u8a2d\u3067\u3001\u5c0f\u5b66\uff12\u5e74\u306e\u5973\u5150\uff08\uff17\uff09\u306e\u304a\u5c3b\u3092\u89e6\u308b\u69d8\u5b50\u306a\u3069\u3092\u30c7\u30b8\u30bf\u30eb\u30ab\u30e1\u30e9\u3067\u52d5\u753b\u64ae\u5f71\u3057\u305f\u3068\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\n\n\u540c\u7f72\u306b\u3088\u308b\u3068\u3001\u524d\u6797\u5bb9\u7591\u8005\u306e\u81ea\u5b85\u304b\u3089\u306f\u7d04\uff18\uff10\u4eba\u306e\u5973\u6027\u306e\u4e0b\u7740\u306a\u3069\u304c\u5199\u3063\u305f\u52d5\u753b\u306e\u307b\u304b\u3001\u30b9\u30af\u30fc\u30eb\u6c34\u7740\u3084\u4e2d\u5b66\u751f\u306e\u4f53\u64cd\u670d\u306a\u3069\u3082\u62bc\u53ce\u3055\u308c\u3066\u304a\u308a\u3001\u540c\u7f72\u306f\u7a83\u76d7\u5bb9\u7591\u3082\u8996\u91ce\u306b\u88cf\u4ed8\u3051\u3092\u9032\u3081\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002"}
-{"text": "It's unsettling to believe that some evil cabal of nefarious supervillains controls the world, but consider an even more terrifying possibility: There are no Illuminati. There are no puppet masters. It's just a bunch of idiots like us, swinging and missing at political softballs and constantly pratfalling toward the apocalypse. Don't believe it? Still think there must be sinister organizations dictating the course of history in order for the world to be this screwed up? Well ...\n\n5 Bohemian Grove Is Going Bankrupt\n\nGabriel Moulin\n\nContinue Reading Below Advertisement\n\nAccording to conspiracy theorists, the Bohemian Club is the best evidence we have that all of the major players in American business and politics are part of the same demonic cult. Every year in July, the Bohemian Grove campground in California hosts a two-week party for the club, whose membership is extremely exclusive and private, and includes several former presidents, business magnates, and other assorted rich white men whom we have to assume are evil, based on the laws of '80s action movies. Suspicion about the club came to a head in 2000, when professional crazy person Alex Jones managed to infiltrate the party, and filmed the leaders of the free world worshiping a 30-foot owl statue.\n\nContinue Reading Below Advertisement\n\n\n\nHe then died of a conspiracygasm and was replaced by one of the Alex Clones.\n\nConsidering how it has boasted members such as Reagan, Nixon, Hoover, Teddy Roosevelt, George H.W. Bush, Henry Kissinger, Henry Morgan, Rupert Murdoch, and William Randolph Hearst, you might be surprised to learn that the Bohemian Club is broke as hell. They can't even afford to pay their workers anymore. Whether or not said workers signed a blood pact to the Demon Owl God Moloch for their unholy service doesn't change the fact that a Sonoma County judge ordered the club to pay out around $7 million this year in compensation to the hundreds of cooks, bartenders, and valets who have been underpaid by the failing organization since 2011.\n\nContinue Reading Below Advertisement\n\nThe Bohemian Club started reporting losses as early as 2006. And though the membership fees are outrageous, the club has always supplemented its income by logging the surrounding redwood forest ... until 2011, when its logging license was revoked for violating state environmental law."}
-{"text": "Take a two hour long run with Scotty and 100 mile master Susan Donnelly. Hear the story about how a picture of Ann Trason inspired Susan to run 88 100 mile races now, all over the country and world. She's a life coach. She's been around the sport for quite some time. We can learn a ton from her. She's a sheer delight!"}
-{"text": "Reading far too much into the mess that is Pretty Little Liars."}
-{"text": "It's even better because it's essentially a mid-action shot. Apple Bloom's clearly eyeing Scoots's wings for the fletching... and Scootaloo's going to scare Shy away when she suddenly has feathers pulled from her.\n\nLove the lighting play here, and the pretty level of detail and stuff, particularly great for 2 hours' initial lay-down phase. Love the depth of scenery in particular, really nice perspective."}
-{"text": "LE ROLE DES AGENTS FRAN\u00c7AIS\n\nDANS LA CONSTITUTION BATAVE DE 1798\n\nAnnie JOURDAN\n\nTraiter de la R\u00e9volution batave n'est pas chose facile, si complexes sont les enjeux qui vont de pair, et d'autant qu'elle comprend deux s\u00e9quences : la r\u00e9volution des patriotes de 1781-1787 et la r\u00e9volution batave\n\nAnnales historiques de la R\u00e9volution fran\u00e7aise - 2008 - N\u00b0l [99 \u00e0 119]"}
-{"text": "A 51-year-old textile dealer at Balogun Market, Taiwo Titilayo-Momoh, who attempted to jump into the lagoon on the Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos, was on Monday hauled up before an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates\u2019 Court.\n\nThe accused, who was arraigned on a charge of attempting to commit suicide, pleaded not guilty.\n\nBut the prosecutor, Sgt. Kehinde Omisakin insisted that the accused committed the offence on March 24 at about 10.00 a.m. on the Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos.\n\nHe said the businesswoman was, however, prevented by security operatives from committing suicide.\n\nThe accused had been having sleepless nights since she was allegedly duped of N18.7m by a Bureau-de-Change operator sometime in 2015.\n\nThe offence contravened Section 233 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.\n\nThe accused may, on conviction, be sentenced to a life imprisonment according to the provisions of the section.\n\nThe Chief Magistrate, Mr A.T. Elias admitted the accused to a bail of N500,000 with two responsible sureties in like sum.\n\nElias directed that the woman should be taken to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation and adjourned the case until June 1 for mention.\n\n(NAN)"}
-{"text": "WENDELL HUSSEY | Cadet | CONTACT\n\nIn an incredible lapse of judgement, a famous international movie star\u2019s PR team has completely forgotten to tee up a kick around with an AFL team while the celebrity stops into Melbourne this week.\n\nIgnoring page three of the Publicity handbook, Melissa McCarthy\u2019s publicist somehow forgot to organise the mandatory ritual for the visiting global star.\n\n\u201cYeah, it\u2019s obviously a pretty big fuck up, and I\u2019m working the phones now to try and drop into a preseason training for a quick pic,\u201d said the stressed-out publicist.\n\nThe obligatory posing with an AFL club jersey and kick around with the team\u2019s players is a given for any notable international celebrity, with anyone from Mr Bean to the Rock to Natalie Portman taking part in the rite of passage.\n\nWhile McCarthy has previously posed with the perennial cellar-dwellers the North Melbourne Kangaroos, that was some 4 or 5 years ago.\n\n\u201cMel even bought a footy when she went for a walk this morning because she thinks they\u2019re funny, so I feel pretty stupid for forgetting to organise anything,\u201d said McCarthy\u2019s publicist.\n\n\u201cI guess if I don\u2019t hear back we\u2019ll just have to head down to the park and get some photos of her kicking the ball to one of us,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cJesus, my boss is going to kill me. Fuck, surely Carlton could do with some good publicity for once, hopefully they call me back in a minute.\u201d"}
-{"text": "House speaker Nancy Pelosi makes a dig at President Trump's loan from his father, saying Trump thinks furloughed workers \"can just ask their father for more money, but they can't,\" while the government is shutdown."}
-{"text": "Cu c\u00e2teva zile \u00eenainte de Centenarul Marii Uniri, am vrut s\u0103 vedem ce-a mai r\u0103mas din visul Rom\u00e2niei Mari \u0219i am trecut grani\u021ba spre Orhei, un ora\u0219 din Republica Moldova aflat la 100 de kilometri de grani\u021ba cu Rom\u00e2nia. Am intrat, astfel, \u00een atmosfera unei comunit\u0103\u021bi conduse de unul dintre b\u0103ie\u021bii r\u0103i ai Moldovei, Ilan \u0218or. De\u0219i a fost condamnat, \u00een prim\u0103 instan\u021b\u0103, la 7 ani de \u00eenchisoare pentru c\u0103 a devalizat trei b\u0103nci cu suma total\u0103 de un miliard de dolari, \u0218or este cel mai iubit fiu al Orheiului \u0219i a fost ales primar \u00een 2015. Cu p\u00e2ine \u0219i circ \u2013 \u0218or a construit un parc de distrac\u021bii, Orheiland, unde organizeaz\u0103 adesea ospe\u021be pentru tot ora\u0219ul \u2013 primarul \u0219i-a c\u00e2\u0219tigat lejer popularitatea. \u201e\u00cel iubim pe nenea \u0218or!\u201c, sunt \u00eendemna\u021bi copiii s\u0103 spun\u0103 \u00een fa\u021ba camerelor de filmat.\n\nColhozuri ca la Monaco\n\nIlan \u0218or are 31 de ani \u0219i este \u00eentruchiparea perfect\u0103 a magnatului din aceast\u0103 parte de lume: avere dob\u00e2ndit\u0103 din afaceri suspecte de corup\u021bie, intrare brusc\u0103 \u00een politic\u0103 (a preluat conducerea unui partid, iar la scurt timp i-a schimbat numele \u00een \u201ePartidul \u0218or\u201c), patron de echip\u0103 de fotbal, \u0219ef peste trusturi media, stil de via\u021b\u0103 extravagant, nevast\u0103 fotomodel \u0219i c\u00e2nt\u0103rea\u021b\u0103 de muzic\u0103 pop, limbaj agresiv (\u00eentr-un video postat pe contul s\u0103u de Facebook \u0219i-a amenin\u021bat adversarii politici cu b\u0103taia, sco\u021b\u00e2ndu-\u0219i cureaua de la pantaloni), apeten\u021b\u0103 pentru promisiuni (\u201e\u00een cur\u00e2nd, la Orhei se va tr\u0103i ca la Monaco!\u201c), recurs la nostalgia sovietic\u0103: (\u201edac\u0103 voi ajunge parlamentar, voi milita pentru re\u00eenfiin\u021barea colhozurilor\u201c)\n\nC\u00e2nd vine vorba de Dosarul \u201eFurtul miliardului\u201c, oamenii din Orhei spun c\u0103 nu mai conteaz\u0103: \u201eDomnul Ilan a f\u0103cut pentru noi mai mult de un miliard. T\u0103t n\u0103rmal!\u201c. Acest \u201eT\u0103t n\u0103rmal\u201d poate fi v\u0103zut \u0219i ca salutul de adio pe care Republica Moldova \u00eel spune Rom\u00e2niei. \u00cen ultimii ani, t\u00e2n\u0103ra \u021bar\u0103 de dincolo de Prut s-a aruncat din nou \u00een bra\u021bele Federa\u021biei Ruse \u0219i a renun\u021bat aproape complet la aspira\u021biile unioniste. Vizita la Orhei este \u0219i o lec\u021bie pentru rom\u00e2ni. Acum, c\u00e2nd ideile anti-europene iau av\u00e2nt, ne putem uita peste Prut pentru a vedea care este alternativa. Panoul electoral de mai sus se afl\u0103 la numai 100 de kilometri de noi.\n\nUn reportaj filmat pentru Recorder de jurnalistele din Republica Moldova Viorica Tataru \u0219i Ecaterina Alexandr."}
-{"text": "My Stupidest Gardening Mistake - or- We Were Once All Newbies\n\nI stole this thread from the perennials forum. We need to remember that everyone makes mistakes.\n\nEnjoy - chrisMD.\n\nMy Stupidest Garden Mistake......\n\nPosted by NymphaeaRosa Z5/6 NJ (My Page) on Sat, Feb 9, 02 at 1:30\n\nI'm an \"intermediate\" gardener I would say. I've been spending a LOT of time physically participating in gardening for about three years now (since I bought my home) and I spent....uh... more years than I care to mention watching my grandmother and father garden. I thought a good way to make \"newbies\" really comfy would be for other gardeners to share some stories about dumb mistakes they've made over the years (stop me if this has been done! PERISH I should be passe!)\n\nMY STORY:\n\nI could not LIVE without crocus! Just when winter grey is really getting to me...ta dah...there they are all perky and colorful! Just two years ago I planted about 350 of them (I'm not kidding...I mean I NEED crocus!)in my small front lawn. Well, my lawn was full of OPEN holes the next day since the squirrels ate nearly every one of them. I asked everyone I knew WHAT kept squirrels away. I was told kitty litter, dried blood, fox urine and mothballs. So...overdoing it again...I bought ALL FOUR things and mixed up a BIIIIIG batch of this foul smelling concoction. Then I replanted a few hundred MORE crocus but...duhhhh...I didn't know I was supposed to put all this vile stuff ON TOP of the ground to keep away the squirrels so I planted the crocus WITH heaps of the mothballs, etc. right on TOP of them...\n\nI think about 12 crocus came up this year in my lawn.\n\nPS Dried blood can be used as a fertilizer...hadda be the mothballs.\n\nPosted by: Iris_gal z9 CA (My Page) on Sat, Feb 9, 02 at 1:52\n\nHumorous now, but not then. I had a salad ready for company but had forgotten to pull up green onions earlier in the day. I knew where they were in the dark and in the kitchen began slicing - hmmm, don't look quite right - a taste confirmed they were not onions! I'd pulled up young Dutch iris. The 2 are not planted in proximity now.\n\nPosted by: PattiA6290 7b ) on Sat, Feb 9, 02 at 8:17\n\nA friend of mine had her son-in-law plant several hundred tulips for her one year. That next spring none of them came up. Miffed she was gonna return them to the nusery where she buys all of her plants. After she started digging them up she notice he had planted them all up side down. lol\n\nPosted by: ilovecountrylife z5 MI (My Page) on Sat, Feb 9, 02 at 14:44\n\nthe very first year I started gardening was when I bought my first house. The previous owner had a 3' by 3' bed where she started seeds. I decided I was going to make it into a herb garden. I bought $50 worth of herb plants, chives, basil, tarragon, thyme, oregano, sage, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc. I planted them ALL in that little tiny 3'X 3' bed. Needless to say they crowded each other out and only the strongest few survived. I still laugh when I think about it.\n\nPosted by: Karenga 7 (My Page) on Sat, Feb 9, 02 at 20:07\n\nWhat a great post!! I make many many mistakes, so now I feel a little better. I tried digging up tulip bulbs one year, speared every one but two. I don't bother with them anymore!! Planted a wildflower bed, then heavily mulched it. Tried starting some seeds in flats, forgot the drainholes. Planted some huge flowers at the front of my border. Just a few examples. Unfortunately that is just scratching the surface. ha ha.\n\nPosted by: Janet 5 SE MI (My Page) on Sat, Feb 9, 02 at 20:51\n\nSo many mistakes! Sunlovers in shade, tall in front, weeding out plants I want, I can go on and on!\n\nPosted by: plantynut 7 Long Island (My Page) on Sun, Feb 10, 02 at 8:23\n\nI admired Carpet Rose in my favorite nursery for 2 summers. Finally last summer I bought one and put it in a flower bed in front of my house. What a mistake. It was too sprawling, the thorns are killers and flowering was less than spectacular. I plan to yank it this spring.\n\n* Posted by: Karen_in_4 Mpls 4 (My Page) on Sun, Feb 10, 02 at 8:32\n\nWas cleaning up the seeds shed by my Dutch Elm tree off the sidewalk. Thinks I to myself, \"We don't throw away things that can decompose and turn to dirt.\" So I throw hundreds and thousands of seed pods onto my rock garden. Spent the entire remainder of the summer pulling little elm tree sproutings out of the garden. Doh!\n\n* Posted by: Shirleb 7b TX (My Page) on Sun, Feb 10, 02 at 9:40\n\nI have made MANY mistakes but the biggest is.... I have sandy soil and when I bought this lot (blank slate) I was thrilled to get a beautiful yard started. I immediately laid out the beds, went to all the nurseries and started planting like an obsessed woman. After two years of poor growth, gallons of fertilizer, and humongous waterbills, I took a step back. I had to rip out all of my plantings, took a good soil analysis, hauled in truck loads of compost , added greensand and soil conditioner. I've replanted but made a wonderous discovery. Originally I only found an occasional earthworm, during the replanting I found wonderful colonies of big earthworms.\n\n* Posted by: Byron 4a/5b NH (My Page) on Sun, Feb 10, 02 at 18:03\n\nI am only and advanced beginner, Been gardening for a tad over 1/2 century.\n\nIE There are over 50 diseases that can infect a tomato plant, I can name a doz, there are over 100,000 species of bugs on this plant, 20,000 have been named, Aphids have 4,000 subspecies, I can name about 10.\n\nI think the biggest mistake that new gardeners make is not asking about problems when they find it.\n\nThe net makes it a lot easier than the days of no net, no county agents, no plant problem books in the library. If the local nursery didn't know it, you were out of luck.\n\n* Posted by: Iris_gal z9 CA (My Page) on Mon, Feb 11, 02 at 3:55\n\nI remembered another salad one. Loving fresh ingredients, I picked the curly parsley at the last moment (no pesticides in that garden) and began snipping it over the company salad. It began moving? Baby green aphids! Aughh!\n\nThe most stupid thing I've done though, is to plant a shrub at the south end of an east facing rose bed - in three years it cast so much shade that 2 roses had trouble blooming. That was really stupid, especially because I'd had a tall Juniper removed for that very reason!\n\n* Posted by: Philipw2 7 MD (My Page) on Mon, Feb 11, 02 at 22:54\n\nPlanting a 50 foot photinia hedge in partial shade. It has gotten very leggy which kind of defeats the purpose of a hedge.\n\nMoral: for big projects be dead sure about your plant choice.\n\n* Posted by: mary11 6B/7 (My Page) on Tue, Feb 12, 02 at 16:25\n\n1. Not amending my hard, clay soil and planting a bunch of expensive perennials in it.\n\n2. Buying plants that don't do well in my region.\n\n* Posted by: Diana_in_Wisconsin Zone 4 WI (My Page) on Wed, Feb 13, 02 at 15:46\n\nI've been gardening for about 20 years now. Sometimes I'm still really dumb. My MIL gave me a beautiful German Statice one season, dug from her garden. I rushed right home and planted it...too deep! I don't know what I was thinking! I planted it so deep that I covered up all the lower leaves and I snuffed the poor little thing. Duh! And also, planting a few things in the wrong places, and making the mistake of planting mint! What the heck was I thinking? LOL! It's going this spring...if I can get rid of it, that is.\n\n* Posted by: lavatera 5a (My Page) on Fri, Feb 15, 02 at 11:30\n\nPlanted GIANT marigolds that I started from seeds. The bed included many other wonderful flowers that I too had started from seed. They were quickly mauled by the amazon marigold. Finally found the original seed packet and read that it could get up to 4 feet tall! It looked so bad all summer right smack dab in front of my house. YUCK.\n\nMoved to a new house this year and I'm just waiting to see what my next mistakes will be. They're always good for a laugh!\n\n* Posted by: josiemmmm 3 (My Page) on Fri, Feb 15, 02 at 16:07\n\nThe first year I got the planting bug, I bought some seed starter kit greenhouses, with BIG BIG plans of how I was going to have HUNDREDS of plants to plant in my yard when I was done! I started them in...oh...let's see, April? And they were all perennials! And I had no idea what I was doing, so I only stuck them in the window, and when they came up I roasted the poor little things. Plus, no matter what, we all know that grow lights are usually needed. Of course they got fried, or leggy, and most died. The sweetpeas I planted looked great, except everyday when I came home from work I would find another flat nibbled down by my cats! Terrified that they would get sick (and angry that they were eating my best crop), I put them up on my fireplace ledge. They just jumped up, knocked them down and ate them all up. Never got sick once, but I had a huge mess to clean up.\n\nThe few plants that managed to live, well, I planted them out in the garden one day...without hardening them off...in the middle of the afternoon...under a blazing sun! lol Needless to say I got ONE plant out of all that. Brave little sucker.\n\nI also made the huge mistake of planting two Lilacs way too close to each other. They were so little when I bought them, that it seemed just fine to put them THREE FEET apart. Now they are growing into each other, and it's only been 2 years. Plus I planted another large shrub next to them, again, a few feet away. It is going to be a mess. I have some digging to do!\n\nOne summer I babied a poppy plant, only to be informed that it was a weed! I pulled it up and there was the poppy, much smaller, behind it.\n\nI fertilized my 'hansa' rose the minute I planted it in the ground. The poor thing was so lush and happy when I bought it. Then all the leaves crisped and I realized what I had done. luckily it is a tough rose, and recovered nicely, even blooming for me! Whew!\n\n* Posted by: nygarden z6 NY (My Page) on Fri, Feb 15, 02 at 22:36\n\nI bought a caladium from Home Depot the first year I started gardening. It was truly beautiful. Every time I looked at it I thought of the Caribbean!!! I replanted it in a terra cotta pot and that plant was the star of my garden -- not too many things were working that first year!!!! Well, as fall came and the leaves fell off completely I thought it died. I decided to reuse the pot for another plant and used a sharp trowel to dig out the dirt out. To my surprise, I dug right through the heart of the bulb, which was still very much alive. That was the year I added the word \"dormant\" to my vocabulary!!!\n\nGosh, I miss that plant! to this day my heart is broken.\n\n* Posted by: gourd z8/9 CA ) on Sat, Feb 16, 02 at 18:34\n\nI just started gardening about 1 1/2 years ago, and thinking how much I loved Zuccinni, planted over 50 plants. Oh my god, they were everywhere and my family was getting tired of eating it that year. Got cuttings and put them in the potting soil up-side-down. To date, I am constantly learning everyday from the Gardenweb.. Thanks to everyone here.\n\n* Posted by: Marisha 6OH (My Page) on Sun, Feb 17, 02 at 20:47\n\nOne year my husband brought home a truckload of grass clippings from work, in big plastic bags. Oh, thrill! We could use them for mulch in the vegetable garden......little did we know how many dandelion seeds were hidden in all those grass clippings...until the next spring when they all bloomed!\n\n* Posted by: suzegarden 5mo (My Page) on Sun, Feb 17, 02 at 21:18\n\nLast year another gardener told me if I wanted my plants to get really huge, go to the feed store and get a big bag of nitrogen. So i did. Put it all over my garden. On the leaves, everywhere. Killed about half of everything, particularly some expensive perennials that I started the year before. Won't take advice from this gardener again.\n\n* Posted by: MrsBeasley 4a Northern Ont (My Page) on Wed, Feb 20, 02 at 21:56\n\nMy MIL had a big, beautiful garden on the side of a hill, and as her family was getting smaller, she offered me all the space I wanted. I planted a lot of vegetables, but the mistake I made was that I planted the whole packet of turnip (rutabaga) seeds. I had a row of turnip 50 feet long. I had the nicest crop of turnip you could imagine. There was only my husband and myself to eat them, but I know lots of people that like them, I could give some away.\n\nWhen it came time to harvest them, I worked my heart out. I'd cut off the root and leaves, and fill the wheelbarrow, trot the wheelbarrow down the row and pile the turnips on the grass. I worked for hours!\n\nFinally, I was done, I took the knife into the house and washed it off, and went back out to the garden to admire my turnips. I had a pile of turnips as tall as I am. I was almost up to this great pile when a few turnips at the bottom of the pile moved, the whole lot of them started rolling down the hill. I was chasing after them, I'd gather a few in my arms and when I'd reach for another the ones in my arms would get away and continue down the hill. I must have made quite a sight, because my brother-in-law was laughing at me. \"You'd better catch them,\" he called, \"They're going to wipe out the neighbor's house\"!\n\nI eventually got them rounded up, but it turns out everyone doesn't like turnip the way I do! :-) I wound up serving turnip at least once a week in every way you can imagine. I served them boiled, fried, in stew, I cooked them up and added pumpkin pie spice and made fake pumpkin pie! I thought it was rather inventive of me, but it was the turnip fritters that finally did me in. My husband took one bite and gasped. He had thought that he was biting into an apple fritter. He said he didn't care if he NEVER ate another turnip! I was NOT to grow them ever again! I guess he just doesn't have a sense of humor! LOL\n\n* Posted by: Jannie z7 LI NY (My Page) on Thu, Feb 21, 02 at 19:55\n\nI tried to grow daisies in full shade. They died after several months, never came back again. I now read every plant tag carefully and look for those little sun and shade circles. Don't try to fool Mother Nature!\n\n* Posted by: Nancyusn z8 NC (My Page) on Sun, Feb 24, 02 at 21:22\n\nMrs Beasly,\n\nI'm sorry to say, I was laughing so hard I had tears! My whole career in the U.S. Navy I dreamed of a veggie garden, when my husband and I retired and went to South Dakota I dug right in. The Corn on the Cob had a bug and the cucumbers were overwhelming, there were not enough hours in the day to keep them from rotting. No more cukes for me!\n\n* Posted by: Lees_Haven z7TN (My Page) on Mon, Feb 25, 02 at 21:28\n\nMy first year of gardening I had a \"cow weed\", the tall ones you see growing in cow pastures in Tn., come up in my new bed. I didn't know what the stuff I had planted was supposed to look like, and I feed and watered that plant faithfully. I could not get that sucker to bloom. I literally fell out when a friend of mine told me what had come up in the middle of my flowers. It was almost 12 feet then. Needless to say I got on line that winter and the following spring I didn't plant it unless I could identify it.\n\n* Posted by: NancyD 6 Rochester, NY (My Page) on Tue, Feb 26, 02 at 8:43\n\nSome of these stories remind me of my first days as a gardener, but I continue to make mistakes now and then, only now I refer to them as my little \"experiments!\" I don't believe there's any such thing as a \"stupid\" garden mistake. Mistakes can be your best teacher and what makes you a better gardener.\n\n* Posted by: pondwelr z5 WI (My Page) on Wed, Feb 27, 02 at 11:23\n\nI think Mrs. Beasley?s turnip story is one of the funniest Ive ever heard. You really should submit to OG or some other gardening magazine.\n\nIn my 30 years of gardening have made so many mistakes that I'd be hard pressed to name the stupidest. I once nurtured a burdock thinking it was rhubarb. That was about the hardest to erradicate. In my current new house, I?ve planted all these small shrubs and trees too close together. Some of us never learn!\n\n* Posted by: GloryBee 8 ) on Wed, Feb 27, 02 at 16:01\n\nI fell in love with chocolate mint the first time I smelled it and decided to buy a couple of dozen of them to fill our bay window bed so it would smell incredible every time it was brushed walking by. I never knew how invasive it was and how far even a couple of plants spread. We decided to take it out because it was even growing throw those interlocking bricks you can buy that were lining the bay window :)\n\nIt was taking too long pulling it. Strong little plants! So, I rotatilled them. HUGE MISTAKE! No one told me they can divide by the roots also.\n\nHeidi S~\n\n* Posted by: francee 6b (My Page) on Sat, Mar 2, 02 at 21:57\n\nLaughed so-o hard at the turnip story ....\n\nMy cheeks are still hurting!!\n\nOne year I planted 30 foxgloves and anxiously awaited their blooming in the following year and not one was to be found. DH had pulled them all up thinking they were weeds. I lost a lot of perennials that year and now DH is only allowed to weed dandelions!!\n\n* Posted by: LisaZ10 z10FL (My Page) on Sun, Mar 3, 02 at 2:44\n\nI will never forget the time I killed almost ALL of my 2\"-3\" tomato, pepper, eggplant and herb seedlings - nearly 300 of them. I watered them and sprayed the leaves with a concentrated fertilizer w/sea kelp 5-9-5. Didn't follow the directions properly! For the seedlings I was supposed to dilute the previously diluted solution again. Gave it to them full strength and woke up to little stems with burned, wilted leaves. Ohhhh!, I had to start all over again, more seeds, more Jiffy-mix, more WORK, more TIME, more MONEY and more aggravation. Planting all those seeds is hard work! My garden was a little later than I planned. Of course I felt stupid, because following directions is something I was supposed to have learned a long time ago!\n\n* Posted by: NikkiJ ACT Australia (My Page) on Mon, Mar 4, 02 at 5:39\n\nI am so glad have found this site, and in particular, this forum! I've only been gardening for about 5 months (never had a garden I could do anything much in before! I'm still renting but the yard here has so much potential!!).\n\nI've already learnt soooo much and had so many good laughs!! The silliest thing I've done so far was planting sunflowers in the back yard - my 6 y.o son begged me to! Only thing is, the sun spends most of the day shining on... yes... the BACK of my house! Oh well, at least the neighbors have a nice view of them over the fence...\n\n* Posted by: Ruiadh 5/6 Toronto (My Page) on Thu, Mar 7, 02 at 18:46\n\nGreat stories, everyone.... but I betcha I can beat ?em.\n\nSpring-flowering bulbs... plant ?em in spring, right?\n\nLate summer, about 7 years ago, I moved into my first house. It came complete with an overgrown garden ? of course, at the time I didn?t realize it was overgrown. That?s another story. I also became the beneficiary of the previous occupant?s subscription to the late, lamented Cruickshank?s bulb & perennial catalogue. Put those two facts together with someone who had never so much as pulled a weed before and you would have found me trotting off Cruickshank?s tiny retail operation in early April of the following year. Although the staff tried very hard to explain the rudiments of gardening to me, and even though virtually all of their operation was dedicated to mail-order service, I was so pig-headedly determined to have the bulbs I coveted that they let me buy a few gazillion daffodils and lilies, a bunch of glads, and, oh yes, a bare-root clematis ?Bluebird.? By the time I got home, the sun had sunk low in the sky and it seemed too cold to plant my goodies. They sat in their bags in the enclosed and dark and unheated back porch for, oh, say, 3 weeks. The bulbs were eventually planted in the ground, in standard-issue Toronto clay, and the clematis got bunged in, what at the time I believed was a LARGE, terra cotta pot.\n\nIt?s a testament to the quality of Cruickshank?s products (Heather R and Indigo be damned!) that about half the glads appeared as did most of the lillies (in fact a few followed me to my new house last February) and the daffs showed up the following spring. But what about the clematis? Well, the ?Bluebird? variety had been chosen ?cause the catalogue said it did well in pots and there was lovely photo to prove it. My poor little clem actually grew quite well for several weeks, despite it?s southern exposure in a baking hot terra cotta pot that was really only about 10 inches deep & maybe the same wide. I?ve been apologizing indiscrimately to clematises (clematisii? clematisoi?) ever since.\n\n* Posted by: Shirleb 7b TX (My Page) on Thu, Mar 7, 02 at 23:42\n\nReading about the turnips reminded me of my husband, the tomato king. Our first vegetable garden, he planted a whole row of about 25 tomato plants. When it came time to harvest, I was wild with trying to come up with ways to use them all up. Juicing, canning, soups, and even made homemade ketchup which the kids refused to eat because it wasn't Heinz. I couldn't give them away because everybody else grew them also. I was completely overwhelmed to say the least.\n\nThe following year he insisted on planting even more. One day when he was at work, I went to the garden with a kitchen knife and explored the root zone of quite a few plants. He decided that the cutworms were having a field day and proceeded to collar and spray like a mad man. It was a sad thing that he never defeated those cut worms that year or for years thereafter.\n\n* Posted by: CarrieIN (My Page) on Sun, Mar 10, 02 at 8:54\n\nThinking that I was pruning my tomato plants I removed the yellow blossoms!!!!\n\n* Posted by: flxabl z5 IL (My Page) on Sun, Mar 10, 02 at 13:41\n\nYou may have to think about this one.\n\nWe had an old ugly concrete patio/walkway leading to the door of our kitchen. We busted up the concrete and put in a mulched flower bed with stepping stones leading to the door.\n\nWe have kids AND pets. We also had a mulched kitchen.\n\n* Posted by: gnomey 7b SC (My Page) on Wed, Mar 13, 02 at 13:26\n\nI spent all last Spring digging and planting and coddling all of my new little plants at my new home. Then we decided to have a pool put in. I didn't realize until afterwards that pool installers aren't sympathethic to flowerbeds or the lawn; most of my babies in the front of the house were destroyed. Then there was the tree at the rear of the house that needed to come out - a huge tree. With the equipment coming in and out on that job the hydrangeas and azaleas on the other side of the house got crushed. The wood got stacked in the backyard on top of lilies and glads. So I'm starting over, hoping that I won't have to have any more non-gardening workman here. I guess the moral of the story is to plan ahead and get your plants out of any potential paths that workmen or equipment might have to use.\n\n* Posted by: DogHouseMom 5 ) on Fri, Mar 15, 02 at 20:39\n\nOne day while leaving my office I noticed a 7' Ficus (Ben) sitting on the dock. I asked why it was there and they said they were dumping it, and if I wanted it ... I could have it. Well sure ... I had never had one and figured the sucker was 7' tall it was surely healthy and would survive! As I was carrying it into the house my aunt (green thumb aunt) saw me and came to check it out. She found slugs in the plant. Well my mom heard \"slugs\" and banned the poor thing to the basement (right next to a So. facing window though). Aunt Gin gave me slug instructions - use so many parts water to so many parts dishwashing liquid and water it. Because I had taken the plant home in the Winter she also suggested that I tent it to reduce shock, and told me to put a large plastic garbage bag over the top after watering to give it a greenhouse effect.\n\nI found the biggest plastic garbage bag I could find, tented it, watered it with the soap solution, and waited.\n\nLittle by little the thing started to shrivel and die. In a little over a week this seemingly healthy (and now slug free) tree was shriveled into firewood.\n\nWhy oh why didn't she tell me to choose a CLEAR plastic bag instead of the black one I had chosen????\n\n* Posted by: SusanC Z9/Sunset 17 (My Page) on Fri, Mar 15, 02 at 21:22\n\nWhen my husband and I bought our first house, we were very excited about being able to have a garden. We went out and bought a ton of perennials and got ready to plant them.\n\nAfter much discussion, we decided that the planting holes should be EXACTLY the same size as the pot the plant came in and that we should try not to disturb the plant's rootball in any way when planting. We carefully chiseled out the correct sized holes and squeezed the plants into them. Needless to say, we had a lot of unhappy, sad looking, rootbound plants...\n\n* Posted by: Kat_G 5b/6a Ontario (My Page) on Sun, Mar 17, 02 at 19:08\n\nI decided i was going to grow parsley this year, not having heard any of the issues around parsley growing. I used earth that had come from my grandmother's garden to start the seedlings. Planted them in a clear plastic dome container and waited. My grandmother told me in the mean time that she never had any luck with parsley and that i should make sure it's in a warm place. I put it on top of the fridge and I waited some more and voila! a week and a half later i had... parsley! I was so ecstatic, thinking that i had actually grown something that my grandmother couldn't!\n\nAs the little sprouts grew, I realized that I recognized those leaves but it was not parsley. I had cultivated two beautiful little morning glory seedlings. humph. I have since done a little research (it didn't say so on the package!) and found out that parsley takes between 4 - 5 weeks to germinate (all of those trips to see the devil and back!). There's still hope; maybe... (I'm now in week 3)\n\n* Posted by: Meghane 7b NC (My Page) on Mon, Mar 18, 02 at 17:48\n\nTrying to grow hybrid tea roses in humid NC is about the dumbest thing I've ever done. You can't win, between the black spot and Japanese beetles I had tiny moving shiny green \"buds\" on top of naked sticks all year. I was lucky and never had aphids. Got rid of them this spring and planting cannas, ginger, and an assortment of other \"tropicals.\"\n\nOh, every year I take out all my overwintering tropicals approximately 6 weeks before the last frost date, then complain profusely about having to either drag them all back inside (a 4-5 hour ordeal), or cover them with blankets and/or pots. Of course this year everything is so big, I can only choose to drag them all inside. So you all know how I'll be spending my Thursday evening. We have 38 degree nights predicted. ARGH! I'll never learn!\n\n* Posted by: talkingflower z5 MA USA (My Page) on Mon, Mar 18, 02 at 23:32\n\nWell, I live at the historic site of THE WORLD'S TALLEST PRINCESS PINE! That's right...\n\nI thought I'd transplant a little pine tree from the back to the front of the house. Absent-mindedly dug up a cute little fluff of a tree and planted it boldly out by the road's edge, and to be sure no one drove over it, gave it a tall, red-reflector marker.\n\nMy neighbor thought it was quite amusing. She broke it to me gently that, yes, that was a very nice little tree, but...not a tree.\n\nPrincess pine only grows to about 6\" tall and is used in making wreathes. Now I know...\n\n* Posted by: katbird Z6 SW Ohio USA (My Page) on Fri, Mar 29, 02 at 17:45\n\nFirst spring in brand new home, hubby got tired of helping me edge and mulch the beautiful snowball bushes in the back yard and decided he would get \"fancy\" with it. Goes to the local hardware store and buys about 5 gallons of round-up and some new pruning shears. I was in the house and not paying attention... big mistake... went to tell him dinner was ready and found that he had trimmed the snowballs to look like cute little trees with a big \"pouf\" on top.. !! Ok, that wasn't so bad.. He also however, had taken the round-up and sprayed all around the mulched bed area underneath.. from the trunks out to about a 6 foot circumference around, with the idea that it would be forever grass & weed free!! I grabbed a garden hose and tried drowning the things to keep them from dying and biting my tongue to keep from losing my garden helper. Well the snow balls went through a period of about two weeks and a half of curling dried up leaves but they lived!! Unfortunately, the grass back to the house where DH had walked back with the round up on the bottom of his shoes didn't.. We had a human foot print path of dead grass that the neighbor kids all loved to play along that summer till it grew back! My Stupidest Garden Mistake was using Cheap Labor!! LOL\n\n* Posted by: DianeZone4 zone 4a (My Page) on Wed, May 1, 02 at 15:41\n\nHope it's not too late to post a followup to this - when I lived in Missouri years ago, we bought a home on five acres which came with an old tractor and cultivator, etc. My husband got all excited about using the tractor to plant a huge one acre garden, which he would weed with the tractor attachments. Unfortunately, he didn't realize that the attachments didn't match, in terms of row width, so we had to do all the weeding by hand! Finally, the kids and I picked out a patch to weed and let the rest go. That part produced the nicest tomatoes I've ever seen, but the rest was a one acre disaster!\n\nDiane\n\n* Posted by: alagard alaz8 (My Page) on Thu, May 2, 02 at 6:45\n\nWell, mine was in trying to grow the potato vine, some call it air potato. My Mother grows them along her front porch every summer for shade and they get very full. Well, the 1st year, I planted mine when she did and waited and waited... nothing. So she said dig them up - maybe you planted them upside down. Sure enuff they had been to china and were on there way back up. So, this year, determined not to get them upside down, I took some of the potatoes that were already sprouting roots on the shelf in her shed. Can't go wrong, right? Everyone knows, the roots go DOWN, right!? Well, same thing - her's were sprouting, mine weren't So I dug up a small one in her garden and what a surprise! The roots AND plant grow out of the TOP! Weird. So back home I go, to dig them up AGAIN. Finally they are growing and I might just get what I'm after. Needless to say the DH laughed his head off when I once again planted them upside down!\n\n* Posted by: blooms4me Ga8a (My Page) on Thu, May 2, 02 at 23:50\n\nWhen I got married and we bought our first house I was going to be the perfect house wife. Can veggies,etc. SO.. I picked out a spot to grow our garden. I had heard you could put newspaper over the grass and after awhile it would kill the grass and I could start my garden. So, I gathered all our newspapers, layed them down and put a few rocks on them so they wouldn't blow away. We were both in the AF reserves and had to go out of town for the weekend. Well, we got back Sun afternoon and newspapers were ALL OVER the place. All over my 5 acres and against the fence of the neighbors pasture. Took me hours to gather all that paper. I was so proud of myself for remembering that tip, but apparently they said water the paper, and put lots of mulch on it which I neglected to do. My new husband just stood there laughing at me and shaking his head. (probably wondering how he ended up with such an idiot)\n\n* Posted by: Lisa_Ann z5 IN (My Page) on Fri, May 3, 02 at 22:10\n\nAbout 22 years ago my husband and I bought our first house in the country and decided to plant a HUGE vegetable garden. We had the garden spot plowed up and my husband did the rotatilling. Well, the time came for us to plant the corn. I brought out my little bag of seed corn and placed it by the first row and waited for my husband to finish the tilling. He got to close to the bag and rotatilled over it. I was devastated, so I sat down (wearing short shorts) to pick up the little seeds. I didn't think anything of it until a few days later while sitting at work and I was getting very uncomfortable. Well, needless to say I ended up at the Doctor's office and was diagnosed with a major case of poison ivy - ugh. I still get into poison ivy (where I am not sure) but I sure watch where I sit now.\n\n* Posted by: Sandy_W 6 (My Page) on Sat, May 4, 02 at 8:35\n\nI planted cleomes. I didn't use a soilless mix. I saw new growth coming and was so excited. My cleomes grew great. I noticed some of my cleomes looked different from the others. Confused I took a leaf off of each and went to my favorite nursery. The man who owned the nursery said this is a cleome and this is a weed. Boy was I embarrased. I can grow some awesome weeds. Now I know to use a sterilized mix.\n\n* Posted by: Celestial Z6b/Eagle,ID (My Page) on Tue, May 7, 02 at 12:03\n\n1) After searching/not finding/asking about seed starting mix, believing the guy at the nursery who told me \"they\" used Whitney Farms Potting Soil as their seed starting mix [read: TONS of dampening off]\n\n2) Planting roses in the lawn - Hello Mildew!\n\n* Posted by: storey_z8b_TX z8b TX (My Page) on Fri, May 10, 02 at 20:43\n\nNEVER let a younger family member (he was 20, I was 23) help in your garden. We laugh about it now, but ... Anyway, I was busy moving small peppers and veggies from a seeding bed to growing beds and he noticed a few big caterpillars munching on some larger blackberry canes and wanted to help. I told him where the insecticidal soap was, he got it, and sprayed most of the flowering canes. Helpful right? Well two weeks later we found out he picked up the Round Up instead of the soap. Got rid of the bugs though :)\n\n* Posted by: Ermine z9CA (My Page) on Sat, May 11, 02 at 16:54\n\nAlthough I've been gardening for years I always make stupid mistakes. I'm looking at one right now. 25 HUGE tomato plants that are all indeterminate! These babies will be bearing fruit past Thanksgiving and I'm scheduled for back surgery this summer!!\n\nThank God there are the local food banks to take a lot off my hands as I also went way overboard with the summer squash and chilies too. I can't believe I once again planted a veggie garden this big for just my husband and me. LOL.........\n\n* Posted by: poinciana South West (My Page) on Sat, May 11, 02 at 22:18\n\nWhat a great thread, just look here if you need a good laugh! The turnip story wins for me. A relative would not touch turnips for years and years because she had to eat them almost exclusively during the war. Apparently, one can also get sick of turnips in a rather short time. :))\n\nI have made many of the above mistakes and then some. These days I am a very experienced gardener as well as a (ahem) ?professional? to boot; and still, I keep making mistakes. Most of these come under the, not following my own advice category such as planting things too close, because I don?t like bare ground; subsequently having to move tons of plants while killing a few in the process.\n\nThe other mistake I constantly make is that my greedy little garden coveting brain won?t let me purchase within bounds. I always buy too much. Imelda coveted shoes; I covet plants. As a consequence, I have scores of little plants or bulbs that are never planted due to a lack of time or energy. At this writing, there is a whole box of winter and summer bulbs in the garage?all have sprouted. Everyday I look at them and say, ?Yes, yes, tomorrow, I?ll get to you.? I see them sadly beckoning to me, like marooned sailors on a raft without water.\n\nThese days, swallowing my pride, I use ?little helpers? to ease the hard work. I am learning that no matter how well I think I have explained a procedure it frequently is done incorrectly.\n\nRecently I enlisted my young, teen helper to transplant some Vincas into our little wooded area. I suggested he water them first, told him which spade to use, etc. and went to the front garden to dead-head the roses. After a while, I returned to find him sitting on the ground with a hand trowel, scraping out a fist size hole in the hard clay with his bare hands. I then watched in horror as he forced a bare-root Vinca into the hard, unwatered hole and pulled mulch over it. ?Where is the soil that you dug up with the plant?? ?Oh,? he said, ?I shook it all off.? I turned around and sure enough, there was a stack of poor little Vinca plants with their bare roots exposed to the afternoon sun, waiting for ?planting.? Good thing they are tough plants. After further instructions on how to properly transplant, my helper did a nice job. They all looked fine the next day. I just hope it will not be yet another mistake, because Vinca can be invasive. :->\n\nOne day I casually mentioned to my husband that I needed to prune the beautiful Virburnum plicatum tomentosum Marisii, which was blocking the front window, (another ?mistake?) before transplanting it. I began to prepare dinner and did not notice that my husband had disappeared. After about 20 minutes he came back in, a triumphant look on his face and loppers in hand. ?Where have you been?? Proudly he announced, ?I pruned the Viburnum for you.? I rushed outside, fearing the worst. Gasp! There was the fully-grown Viburnum, its arm size branches lying on the ground, neatly stacked. He had ?pruned? the massive plant completely to the ground. I cried; my hapless husband looked devastated. We nevertheless transplanted it?not without great difficulty, because the roots were huge?and prayed. Miraculously, that Viburnum (after about 4 years) is again fully-grown and had the best horizontal display ever, this year.\n\n* Posted by: buckeye_newbie USDA 5 (My Page) on Tue, May 14, 02 at 15:23\n\nI may have made a mistake... I have just bought a new house complete with overgrown yard and a terraced hillside with LOTS of landscaping. Right away, I noticed tall purple flowers (weeds?) growing right from the tree?s lawn, down the terraces and halfway into the yard. I pulled every single one out by the roots (they came out pretty easy, but had kind of a \"creeping\" root, especially round the rocky areas). Now I think these might have been phlox.\n\nMy question is, is phlox a flower or a weed? Is it desirable to have in the garden?\n\nThis could be my first mistake, but surely won't be my stupidest yet!\n\n* Posted by: Dances_in_Garden 7a-CDN 6-US (My Page) on Tue, May 14, 02 at 16:35\n\nHmmmm. This is a toughie. ROFL!\n\nI also plant too close together, but I am well aware that I have to move things when I do that - so it's not a mistake. Just because the lavender has been moved four times does NOT mean I did anything wrong. It just hasn't found it's home yet :).\n\nIt is probably planting lemon balm and chinese lanterns. They are ugly, smell bad, and come up everywhere no matter what I do. DH still won't forgive me for that. The rampant chives he forgives because people line up for blocks in the spring to dig up a clump for themselves, so the problem fixes itself - tee hee.\n\n* Posted by: RoseOOPs z5MI (My Page) on Tue, May 14, 02 at 18:06\n\nMy biggest mistake was weed whacking weeds that were growing around the trees in the backyard. The line of trees is about 500 feet. It was a hot summer day and I wore shorts and a tank top. Whacked down all the weeds cleaned everything up. It sure looked good. Later now I had a nasty itching rash all over my legs, arms and neck. the weeds that I weed whacked was poison ivy. That was last summer and I still have a few scares on my legs.\n\n* Posted by: crimso1 z7 MD (My Page) on Mon, May 20, 02 at 23:09\n\nPerhaps not my stupidest garden mistake but certainly my grossest...\n\nI was weeding my Emerald and Gold Euonymus that had taken over the front bed. I was doing this bare-handed so that I could feel what I was doing since the plant was so dense. I reached in and realized I had stuck my thumb into something cold and wet. Yuck...bird doo... or so I thought. Well, shades of Little Jack Horner. I had skewered a large slug! It took forever to get the goo out from under my nail.\n\n*Posted by karenm ) on Fri, Jul 26, 02 at 17:50\n\nAnyway, I?m new to gardening (just moved into our house 2 years ago) and it seems everything I do is a mistake, but I?m having fun.\n\nTwo of the most recent are:\n\n1. Our yard is mostly sun so we don?t get a lot of leaves in the fall and the few we get I run over with the mower and rake into the yard. So to amend my compost I decided to pick up bags of leaves off the side of the road. Felt like thief in the night as I hefted three huge bags into my trunk. Got them home and dumped one whole bag into the compost. Started working it in when I realized that it was full of gumballs. Then had to lug the other two bags to the curb. DH was kinda curious as to why I would transfer someone else?s garbage to our curb.\n\n2. This was not really my mistake, but I joined a gardening magazine and got some free seeds with it. They were red poppies and I thought they would be great under my roses. I had never grown poppies before so did not know what to expect. They just grew and grew. The anticipation of seeing them bloom was intense. DH rarely comes out to check out the flowers but one afternoon with a glass of wine, we walk over to where they were and he exclaims, ?Yea, you decided to put in some tomatoes!?\n\nThey had given me the wrong seeds. I got all cut up by the roses trying to move those things. Then I moved them, planted them right beside each other, and staked them with little 10-inch stakes. Grew huge in a matter of weeks. Were sprawling all out in the yard. Turned out they were cherry tomatoes. I finally got so frustrated with the whole lot of them (about 25 in a 2 x 12? bed) that they are now compost. Lot?s and lots of tomato compost. That will probably be my mistake for next year. The PH will probably be WAY off. Oh well, live and learn.\n\n* Posted by: SoCal_Janine z10 CA (My Page) on Tue, Jul 30, 02 at 12:44\n\nWell, it's not my stupidest mistake, just the most recent one...\n\nI planted sunflowers this year for the first time. When they got to be about a foot high, I staked them. I used that green training wire stuff to tie them to the stakes - all 30 or so plants.\n\nFast forward about 2 months later...the sunflower plants are huge, over six feet tall, with great big flower heads getting ready to open. I can barely contain my excitement, running outside to look at them every day as soon as I come home from work. One day I went out and found that several plants were wilted and dying. WHAT could be the problem?\n\nRemember that green training wire? Well...it doesn't stretch! The stems of the plants are now about 5 times wider than they were when I first staked them up, and that little green wire is cutting right into the stem. I was able to untwist the wire and save most of the plants, but I did lose quite a few, because the wire had cut in so deeply that the stem was damaged beyond help.\n\nSo - next year I will use the green stretchy tape stuff instead of the wire. Doh!\n\n* Posted by: ILUV2GRDN 9 Palm Springs (My Page) on Fri, Aug 2, 02 at 22:49\n\nMy stupidest mistake was thinking that I can move my plants from one location to another when I bought my house. I have lost almost everything I brought with me. Even my cannas aren't doing too well this year. My agapanthus are turning yellow, and didn't bloom this year. They are west facing and are getting very HOT sun in the afternoon alot of wind too. I'm thinking of moving them to the east side of the house this fall. Anyone have any suggestions?\n\n* Posted by: LianaMackey 9 (My Page) on Sun, Aug 4, 02 at 1:42\n\nWhen I bought my house it had two old perennial beds, which to me, a never-been-a-gardener, looked like Eden. But as I began to learn, I could see the dandelions and a few other weeds, and other symptoms of neglect, so I began to clear out the weeds. Several sections had a lovely, fine, long grass and I thought \"Ah! This must be some of that stuff called \"ornamental grasses\" so in the fall, I carefully left it in, pulled weeds around it and began the long process of amending the soil in these neglected beds. Fast forward through the next summer and the \"ornamental grasses\" had tripled in size to 6-foot-wide swaths -- and I then learned that what I had was fescue lawn grass that had escaped into the flower beds -- and I'd given it the green light to turn the bed into a new lawn! We're talking 12-inch deep roots here, and backbreaking spade work to rogue it out. oy......\n\nTo Plam Springs: Agapanthus getting too hot? Hard to believe! It's the only thing I used to be able to grow in a concrete and swimming pool back yard! You might want to let them stay for one more season, cutting back the yellowed foliage, and see if they just need a year to recover. Also might want to take some and move them to the east side and see what works. They do want good watering until well-established, after which they'll handle some drought.\n\n* Posted by: Shines4U z7GA (My Page) on Mon, Aug 5, 02 at 12:35\n\nWE have lived in our home just under a year. This is my first experience with gardening besides containers on various apt decks. There was a small area around our new patio that needed some serious landscaping. Well -- we thought we killed all the grass -- but NOPE! The bed looked beautiful for a month of so -- from then on it has been hard to control the grass in the bed. It's everywhere. We are at a loss. I can't believe that we will have to dig all those bushes and trees up just to kill that grass. Any other advice?? Thanks!\n\n* Posted by: dijoy 8b (My Page) on Mon, Aug 5, 02 at 20:56\n\nShines4U, try placing several layers of newspaper or maybe some cardboard on the ground around your bushes and plants, and then cover that with mulch. That should kill out the grass while not harming your bushes and plants. You might want to water the area before you put down your paper or cardboard and mulch.\n\n* Posted by: somara z8 - Austin, TX (My Page) on Wed, Aug 7, 02 at 14:32\n\nThis is my first year of gardening, as well as my first year on the Garden Web. I've made way too many mistakes so far, but this is the one that I'm still feeling guilty about.\n\nI went to my first plant swap earlier this spring in San Marcos, TX. Wonderful people with wonderful plants... and I wanted a little bit of everything. Luckily everyone seemed to have a bumper crop, so someone like me with very little to trade was able to fill up the back up my truck (between two of us) with all kinds of green goodies. What I didn't think about, was that I didn't have many beds prepared for planting, and I didn't know where the heck most of it was going to go anyway. So even with most of my Saturdays and Sundays being spent working in the yard, many of the plants died before I could get them into the ground.\n\nHowever, I don't regret attending. Some of the plants that are not only coping in the Texas sun, but are blooming like mad are plants that were given to me at the swap meet. So I'll be attending the fall plant swap, but I'll just be a little more careful about how much I bring home this time (and thanks to the people who were so generous, I now have some plants of my own to trade).\n\n* Posted by: Kathy547 z8 AR (My Page) on Mon, Aug 12, 02 at 8:37\n\nThis has to do with a vegetable garden but here goes... My husband is a distributor for a bread company & I work for him (& yes, it's never a good idea to be married to someone who \"thinks\" he's your boss!). Anyway, because it's in the contract that the 2 days that we don't deliver to major stores, we still have to go in them & \"pull up\" - which is just getting bread from the back & making the shelves look full. So basically we work 7 days a week. My point in saying that is that I told hubby not to do the same thing he had done the year before: let the man we pay to disk & bush hog our garden area decide what & how much he would plant in OUR garden. Well, hubby ignored me. So we got our whole garden except for 2 rows that we had already planted tomatoes, peppers, okra, squash, & onions planted with purplehull peas. So, everything got ready to be picked but we couldn't keep them picked because of the 7-day a week job. So lots dried on the bush. My husband leaves the house at 4 a.m. & I leave after I take the kids to school so I would get up with him, & be completely dressed waiting for it to get light enough outside for me to go pick peas. There are snakes - some poisonous & there's no way in hell I go to the garden or anywhere else in the dark! Anyway, I managed to get several rows picked but wouldn't have time to shell them. So they got left in baskets or on trash bags in the floor until I had time to shell them. Well, you're not supposed to do that I learned. Spread out on a sheet or newspaper or they'll mold. So, out of probably 1/2 - 1 acre of purplehull peas, we may have put up 1 or 2 rows.\n\nThis year the fool was going to do it again until I went crazy on him & he had to listen to me gripe every day. But the guy with the tractor managed to get 9 rows of purplehulls planted before I told him that was enough.\n\nMy plans now are to start taking what I have extra every year to the farmer's market to sell. With whatever money I make I'll put back until I have enough money to buy a used tractor. Then, I'll do the disking & bushhogging myself! Maybe even plant stuff hubby doesn't like!\n\n* Posted by: nlbenj caz9 (My Page) on Tue, Aug 13, 02 at 22:42\n\nThis was my first year of gardening, so I've done my fair share of stupid mistakes.\n\nFlowers are supposed to die - that doesn't mean the plant is dead - which means that I spent the last few years throwing out plants from my deck that I thought were dead.\n\nI also learned to put my contacts in BEFORE I plant. Artichokes are planted 4-6 feet (NOT, I stress, inches) apart.\n\n* Posted by: carolynkelsea San Jose (My Page) on Thu, Aug 15, 02 at 15:42\n\nThanks for all the laughs you guys... I'm new to gardening too and my stupidest mistake this summer was transplanting several bushes in the middle of a heat wave... Need to learn to wait for the right time of year and not just do whatever I want when the whim strikes me!\n\n* Posted by: sufigirl z7 NYC (My Page) on Fri, Aug 16, 02 at 23:17\n\nI lent my brother my lopping shears to cute down a very sick rose bush he had in his back yard. When he returned them, it was just in time for fall pruning of my container roses. The following spring as they began to produce foliage, I noticed yellow leaves that dropped from the slightest breeze and black spot that could not be controlled. The cause? I never cleaned my shears after my brother used them. His rose spread its disease to mine via the lopping shears. I eventually had to burn my roses. The disease was incurable. Now, I clean all my gardening tools regularly in a bleach water solution.\n\n* Posted by: animas z5-SW Colo (My Page) on Sun, Aug 18, 02 at 17:03\n\nI thought it was a good idea to really \"work\" the soil on a hillside outside the kitchen. I double-dug the dirt and added organic compost and spread wildflower seeds -- ignoring, of course, the seed-sellers advice to merely spread the seeds and rake lightly.\n\nBy digging, I managed to reawaken and germinate years and years of dormant weed seeds. And I chopped up bindweed in tiny little pieces, thus distributing it everywhere. Thistle sprang up. Crappy grasses of all ilks burst to life. My \"wildflower hill\" was choked with the hardiest, thickest weeds imaginable.\n\n* Posted by: Storey z8b TX (My Page) on Mon, Aug 19, 02 at 11:47\n\nI'm somewhat new to gardening, but I've made more than my share of entertaining mistakes :) The most recent was finding two small, interesting little plants growing through the mulch near my tub containers. I potted one and left the other to grow up a nearby fence. Both took off and in three weeks I had healthy 6ft tall plants with tendrils attaching itself to anything it could grab. Now I can recognize poison ivy easily, but I've never seen poison oak before. The nursery people I brought a two foot cutting to for identification were petrified and must have thought I am crazy. The problem is I don't react to poison ivy or poison oak so I never know when its around :) Hope me neighbors didn't look to close at what I was growing.\n\nStephen\n\n* Posted by: Mooch 6 ) on Mon, Aug 26, 02 at 10:33\n\nAfter watching Paul James show for almost a year and finally buying my first house, I order 50 maiden grasses online. I figured I would plant these instead of a privacy fence on one side of our yard. Took me a whole weekend to plant. After weeks of watering they reached a height of about 6-10 inches. Me and my wife went away for 1 weekend and came back and all the grasses were gone! Since it was on the border of our neighbors yard, they thought it was a weed and \"weeded\" them for us.\n\nI can laugh now but next time I will plant poison ivy there I think.\n\n* Posted by: Pirate 8 NC (My Page) on Mon, Aug 26, 02 at 10:58\n\nMy first garden was full of donations. Someone had given me some of their mint. I loved the smell and leaf texture.\n\nNot knowing it was extremely invasive, I put it in the middle of my garden. It took me a long time to clear it all out. Some of the root pieces that were left in kept growing. I believe it's all out. I now know to read up on any plant I put in.\n\n* Posted by: audrey_mi 5/6 ) on Tue, Aug 27, 02 at 23:26\n\nMost of you are new gardeners, but do not feel so bad. I've been gardening over 30 yrs. This year again I decided to grow my own vegetable plants from seeds. Especially tomatoes. I was careful I thought to label each variety. My bounty of plants provided many neighbors & friends with vigorous plants. I grew Big Boy, Ace, Romas & 100 cherries. Everyone got their share. Everyone has their bounty. HOWEVER, my garden is overrun with cherry tomatoes!! I pick 7 lbs a day!! I guess my seedlings looked good, but not the ones I wanted. Be aware, tomato seedlings look the same. Oh well, we will have lots of juice etc. I goofed and will remember this one next year! Audrey\n\n* Posted by: kansasgard z5 KS (My Page) on Thu, Sep 5, 02 at 15:07\n\nThis is a great post. I am a newbie to gardening. 2nd spring in our new house, I decided that I wanted sunflowers growing up at the end of the yard, near my fence so I can stake it. I spent two weekends digging beds, dug too deep, got all the weeds coming up later...Returning to my story - Sowed sunflower seeds right before we had a terrible Kansas storm. Waited for two weeks, when I didn't see any seedlings emerged. I guessed the rain had washed the seeds away. So I sow again. Can see the seedling emerge. Now its hot and the temperatures are rising, so I thought, well let me mulch the bed. I put cut grass clippings on the bed...completely smothering all the seedlings. Never saw a single sunflower. I guess I should have put down DRIED grass clippings. Oh anyway, my husband never stops teasing me about my sunflowers but I do have a perennial bed starting up there this Fall.\n\n* Posted by: daylillylover 6a PA (My Page) on Thu, Sep 5, 02 at 20:34\n\nStupidest garden mistake, not paying attention to how \"tall\" or wide plants will get. I spent half the summer moving plants around as they came into bloom so they weren't all covering each other up!\n\n* Posted by: electraMerc z9Ca (My Page) on Mon, Sep 9, 02 at 16:37\n\nI just get a kick out of reading this post, I too have had my share of disasters. Lets just keep our chins up high, we'll make it to pro-gardener status one day. Well, from what I read in other forums we all make mistakes.\n\n* Posted by: ChandraLynne (My Page) on Tue, Sep 10, 02 at 15:23\n\nI broke off a relationship, left my gardens behind and started new in a rental house. I decided my first project, while still getting over the grief of leaving my beloved plants behind, would be something I've never tried before - poppies - bright, colorful, glorious poppies. I hand dug a spot for them, spread the seeds and proceeded to water and care for the spot daily. I had something to look forward to! I pointed the first sprouts out to friends and family, proclaiming them brand-spanking-new seedlings and \"just watch them grow!\" I fertilized and watched over them, rushing to look at them every day after work.... When it all was said and done - I ended up with a great big spot of carefully grown crab grass!! Talk about feeling stupid!!\n\n* Posted by: stretchwny5 w.n.y,5 (My Page) on Mon, Sep 23, 02 at 11:01\n\nwhen all else fails there?s always next year LOL\n\n* Posted by: Patti Fielder 5 ) on Sat, Sep 28, 02 at 19:19\n\nAnybody out there have a mulberry tree? Whatever you do, don't try digging up whatever is on the ground underneath. I wanted to put in a groundcover but it was choked out by literally thousands of tiny mulberry trees. Seems EACH fruit that drops sprouts it's own tree! I was renting & moved shortly after but I've always wanted to go back to see my grove of mulberry trees!\n\n* Posted by: Judy_ON 6A ON (My Page) on Sun, Sep 29, 02 at 20:49\n\nThis is a great post - let's keep it going as we're all learning a thing or two still. Hands down to Mrs. Beasley and her turnip story, and second goes to Shirley B. with her tomatoes. Very very funny and so true.\n\nAnyways, my \"mistake\" has a bit of a different twist to it, (although I have lots of \"oops\" that I can relate to on this forum).\n\nA bit of background: I had a lovely cross lab/shepherd dog that loved to go across to the bush and bring us home her findings - dead/rotting carcasses of dear, skunk, raccoon, etc - you get the picture. She would normally just leave them in the yard for us to find them (and dispose of). Well, it was a beautiful spring day for clean up and I was in one of my gardens transplanting a few of my gems from one place to another. (Yup, you know where this is going...) I was working in my bare hands, (no gloves) and was digging up some iris bulbs to move elsewhere. These iris bulbs were creamy white and long - when I dug in I found that they weren't coming out near as easily as I initially thought - therefore I got in there with my hands to help loosen the soil, so's not to damage any of the root/bulb. Needless to say, I got the shock of my life and totally - I mean totally - grossed out when I pulled up a hoof/leg of a deer!! - Yuk, yuk, & yuk --I freaked just a \"wee\" bit, and had everyone running over to see what the commotion was about. Of course the guys were killing themselves laughing, I cursed the dog over & over, and had the heepee jeepies for a while trying to figure out what else she had \"left\" for me to discover.\n\nTo this day, I am very careful about how and what I dig up - lesson learned - you just don't know sometimes.\n\nKeep writing your stories folks,\n\n* Posted by: BeverlyAL 7a (My Page) on Tue, Oct 1, 02 at 14:16\n\nWe had just purchased a house and having weeded vegetable gardens for years I thought I knew a weed from a flower. I weeded the shrubbery and later found out I had pulled up all the Lantanas except for one. The one I have left is 6 or 7 feet in diameter. I am sick because I pulled up the others!\n\n* Posted by: happygardening z6 CT (My Page) on Wed, Oct 2, 02 at 9:05\n\nMy dh was complianing that my butterfly bushes and 2 most favorite rose bushes, and 2 weeping pines, were to tall for where they were. I got sick of listening to him complain so I transplanted them in the middle of the 90 degree summer, in the middle of a drought !!! Needless to say only the 2 butterfly bushes made it. uuuuggg what a dummy I am....I do no better."}
-{"text": "A CN freight train derailed inside an international tunnel linking Sarnia, Ont., and Port Huron, Mich., spilling sulphuric acid inside, the rail company said Friday.\n\nRoughly 40 cars are reported to have come off the tracks in \"various positions,\" it said.\n\nOne car containing close to 14,000 gallons of sulphuric acid leaked, though the company said the substance was contained to the site and poses no danger to the public or the St-Clair River.\n\nNo fires or injuries have been reported, CN said.\n\nThe cause of the derailment remains under investigation and the company said it is working with officials in both municipalities.\n\nIt was not immediately clear when the tunnel would reopen."}
-{"text": "\u6765\u5e74\u306e\u5e72\u652f\uff08\u3048\u3068\uff09\u300c\u4ea5\uff08\u3044\uff09\u300d\u3086\u304b\u308a\u306e\u9e7f\u5150\u5cf6\u770c\u9727\u5cf6\u5e02\u306e\u548c\u6c17\u795e\u793e\u3067\u3001\u30a4\u30ce\u30b7\u30b7\u3092\u63cf\u3044\u305f\u7573\u7d04\uff15\uff10\u7573\u5206\u306e\u5de8\u5927\u7d75\u99ac\uff08\u9ad8\u3055\uff18\u30fb\uff13\u30e1\u30fc\u30c8\u30eb\u3001\u6a2a\uff11\uff12\u30fb\uff15\u30e1\u30fc\u30c8\u30eb\uff09\u304c\u30ab\u30e9\u30fc\u306b\u5909\u8eab\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\u5948\u826f\u6642\u4ee3\u306e\u5ef7\u81e3\u30fb\u548c\u6c17\u6e05\u9ebb\u5442\u3092\u796d\u308b\u540c\u795e\u793e\u3002\u6e05\u9ebb\u5442\u304c\u3053\u306e\u5730\u306b\u6d41\u3055\u308c\u305f\u969b\u306b\u30a4\u30ce\u30b7\u30b7\u304c\u5b88\u3063\u305f\u3068\u4f1d\u3048\u3089\u308c\u3001\u30a4\u30ce\u30b7\u30b7\u306f\u795e\u306e\u4f7f\u3044\u3068\u3057\u3066\u3042\u304c\u3081\u3089\u308c\u308b\u3002\u795e\u793e\u5883\u5185\u3067\u306f\u767d\u3044\u30a4\u30ce\u30b7\u30b7\u304c\u98fc\u308f\u308c\u3001\u3053\u307e\u72ac\u4ee3\u308f\u308a\u306b\u300c\u3053\u307e\u30a4\u30ce\u30b7\u30b7\u300d\u3082\u93ae\u5ea7\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\n\n\u3082\u3068\u306e\u7d75\u99ac\u306f\uff11\uff12\u5e74\u524d\u306e\u4ea5\u5e74\u306b\u767d\u9ed2\u3067\u5949\u7d0d\u3002\u6e05\u9ebb\u5442\u304c\u6d41\u3055\u308c\u3066\uff11\uff12\uff15\uff10\u5e74\u306e\u7bc0\u76ee\u3068\u306a\u308b\u65b0\u5e74\u3092\u524d\u306b\u65b0\u88c5\u3057\u305f\u3002\u8feb\u529b\u305f\u3063\u3077\u308a\u306b\u751f\u307e\u308c\u5909\u308f\u3063\u305f\u30a4\u30ce\u30b7\u30b7\u304c\u732a\u7a81\uff08\u3061\u3087\u3068\u3064\uff09\u731b\u9032\u3001\u5e78\u904b\u3092\u5c4a\u3051\u3066\u304f\u308c\u305d\u3046\u3002\n\n\uff1d2018/12/28\u4ed8 \u897f\u65e5\u672c\u65b0\u805e\u671d\u520a\uff1d"}
-{"text": "Two people were injured in a multi-vehicle crash Thursday in South Suburban Lynwood.\n\nPolice responded about 9:58 p.m. to the 3000 block of Glenwood Dyer Road for reports of a two vehicle collision, the Cook County sheriff\u2019s office said.\n\nThe driver of one vehicle, a female, was taken to an area hospital for treatment and her condition was stabilized, the sheriff\u2019s office said. The male driver of the other vehicle was extricated but was responsive and his condition was also stabilized.\n\nSheriff\u2019s police are investigating the crash."}
-{"text": "We\u2019ve come a long way!\n\nMonths leading up to Platform Release\n\nSunLovers,\n\nAn important part of growth for us is the continuous and regular reporting on the status of the SunContract project. With the end of Q1\u20132018 now upon us, and the launch event only a few weeks away, we feel there is no better time for us to recap the important milestones on our roadmap thus far.\n\nOverview\n\nDuring Q1\u20132018, the cryptocurrency market capitalization has fallen dramatically. As a result, there has been a depreciation in price of majority of the tokens and coins in the crypto sphere. Despite stormy market swings, the SNC token has continued to remain fairly stable, showing positive growth trends. This has been very encouraging for the team as it is an indication that the public continues to have a positive outlook on the project. With Stage 2 of the platform in the horizon, we hope for and aim to work towards more stable, positive growth of the SunContract token.\n\nHard at work \u2014 Q1 Recap\n\nAs all our avid investors are aware, the team set for itself quite an ambitious roadmap for Q1, 2018. And while the goals were challenging, we toiled hard \u2014 working overtime on some days, sleeping less hours on others \u2014 to meet the expectations that we had set within the community, in a timely fashion. This is because at SunContract, we value our credibility and know that to uphold it, we must keep our word at the very least, or better yet \u2014 exceed the expectations that we set.\n\nIn Q1\u20132018, we penetrated the Asian \u2014 and more specifically \u2014 Chinese Market, by getting listed on many of the top volume / top ranking exchanges. These include OKex, KuCoin and Huobi. More important for us was the functionality of the SunContract platform. In Q1, we introduced and tested stage one of the platform with the help of our community. This prepared us for the upcoming important days of our journey \u2014 the platform release (Stage 2) as well as the launch event. As we wind up the month of March, we can gladly say that our Q1 efforts have not been in vain \u2014 we\u2019re still on track and ready to begin tackling our Q2\u20132018 goals of spreading our business model outside of Slovenia, creating more partnerships as well as increasing awareness on the benefits of self sufficiency.\n\nBut how did it all begin?\n\nA little over a year ago, the team joined forces to tackle multiple problems that we collectively face as a society. They were extremely dissatisfied with the inefficiency of the energy sector\u2019s current business model. They were also discontented with the large amounts of air pollution that are a result of the combustion of fossil fuels which are currently the main source of energy production in the world today. Something needed to be done, and it needed to be done fast.\n\nBlockchain technology connecting parties without intermediary\n\nIt just so happens that around this time, there was also an increase in popularity, of a protocol that enables mere mortals to manufacture trust through clever code. This protocol had led to results that had never been seen before \u2014 trusted transactions directly between two or more parties, authenticated by mass collaboration and powered by collective self-interests, rather than by large corporations motivated by profit. This protocol is what we all know as Blockchain technology.\n\nFascinated by blockchain and all the benefits it had to offer, the team brainstormed, with the help of legal experts and blockchain advisors exactly how to use the already disruptive technology to disrupt even further a complacent and inefficient energy sector. This process gave rise to the birth of SunContract.\n\nWith a common agenda in mind, the team created the first ever energy-trading token in the world. This token would solve the problems created by an inefficient energy market. It would also contribute to a more ecofriendly environment by shifting to renewable energy. In addition, users of the SunContract token would have access to transparency through the blockchain explorer.\n\nSunContract at the Strategic Energy Conference\n\nA successful token sale was conducted in July 2017 where the team raised money to undertake the project that would make SunContract the first company in the world to launch a peer-to-peer energy trading platform, finished for public use. Today, the team feels very encouraged by the many new energy-trading tokens that have followed suite since SNC\u2019s token sale as their pursuits indicate that the SunContract team is in fact onto something.\n\nAfter the token sale (and with the advantage of time on our side), the team then embarked on its next mission \u2014 bringing actual utility to our token and platform through local partnerships. In Slovenia, this meant partnering with solar energy supplier SONCE (sun). SONCE is the owner of the balance group, aggregator for Slovenian peers and the one that formally sells electricity to customers based on terms negotiated directly between peers and terms of our partner (in this case SONCE). SONCE does this through our platform where they are also able to sell other energy products such as heat pumps, solar panels etc.\n\nWith a checkmark on the goal of partnership with an energy supplier in Slovenia, the team was now ready for its next objective \u2014 the creation of a movement like no other \u2014 the Pioneer Program. The Pioneer Program is a fundamental component of the SunContract journey as it is in itself proof of mass adoption of our product which is a strong pitching point for future investors and partners. We introduced the program to our local and foreign investors and it was very well received in the community. Essentially, to become a pioneer, our investors needed to transfer 2000 SNC tokens from their wallet/exchange and move it onto the platform. They still owned these tokens, they however needed to lock them on our platform until the platform launch to acquire said pioneer status. Within 4 months, a stunning 900 individuals joined the movement. Majority of these individuals will go on to form our customer-base for the next few months. Additionally, they will be key in the development and improvement of features on the platform.\n\nImproving welfare, one home at a time\n\nElectricity is an indispensable part of everyday life. It is therefore important to us that we empower households to have more influence over the prices they purchase or sell their electricity at. At the SunContract office, our motto is: \u201cInnovation at Work\u201d. It then follows that our vision is to use this innovation at work to bring energy self-sufficiency to households, giving them more independence in the energy market and ultimately improving societal welfare. Now that many households are beginning to use the SunContract token to purchase solar power plants, heat pumps and soon \u2014 electricity, the SunContract token has officially acquired utility-token status, and our vision of expansion into other countries is about to become realized in coming months.\n\nDomestic energy producing family happy with reduced costs of self sufficiency\n\nFor the first few months after the platform release on April 1st, the platform will be reserved only for Pioneers as this was one of the perks that was promised to them when they signed up for the program. After this period, non-pioneers will be able to join the P2P trading of green energy \u2014 which will open up the platform to millions of users.\n\nWe are excited to begin spreading the SunContract business model across the globe with the help of local partners. In Slovenia, SONCE has been an ultimate joy to partner and work with. They have ensured that all documents and legal matters are in order. Our legal advisors have also seen to it that the platform is in compliance with regulations. It is safe to say that we are set for the first public distribution of energy on April 1st. The balance group, which is a fundamental part of electricity distribution, already has the first Pioneers waiting to receive electricity on April 1st, 2018.\n\nIncreasing brand awareness\n\nIn Q1\u20132018, the team focused on improving the company\u2019s branding and marketing. Many of you have met our new CMO \u2014 Ms. Winfred K. Mandela on our Telegram account where she and the SunContract admins are very active. Communication between investors and the team has increased significantly and the amount of information circulated on the social media channels has also increased. The Marketing team has also improved the quality of the information that is being circulated to investors.\n\nWith this out of the way, the Marketing team\u2019s focus in Q2 will now be on running campaigns, partnering with media outlets, getting the team a spot at conferences, collaborating with influencers to increase brand awareness etc. It is important to remember that the team is working with a budget,and so the aim is to meet all goals as efficiently as possible. When asked what\u2019s in store for Marketing, the team says that it is an upward journey from here onwards.\n\nWhen it comes to our representation at conferences, we are collectively thankful to our CEO \u2014 Mr. Gregor Novak for representing SunContract in roundtable discussions as a panelist, speaker, delegate, you name it. These events are a conducive atmosphere for business negotiations with influential leaders in the industry. Being in attendance means our contributions are recognized as an asset in the energy industry and Mr. Novak has not only been in attendance \u2014 he has also been very actively involved in each of the conferences we attend.\n\nSunContract at the SolarPower Summit\n\nGovernment backing\n\nSlovenia is deemed the Silicon Valley of cryptocurrencies due to the backing it receives from its government. In January 2018, the Prime Minister of Slovenia declared the country a crypto-friendly destination and for the last year or so, Slovenian cryptocurrency projects have been in talks with officials to find a solution that would, in its essence, make Slovenia the TOP destination for blockchain and crypto projects. This was one of the many considerations that led to SunContract project being implemented in Slovenia first.\n\nFirst Blockchain monument in the world \u2014 Slovenia\n\nOur team is sitting beside Slovenian blockchain companies: Iconomi, Cofoundit and Bitstamp (to name a few) discussing with government officials potential/current bottlenecks cryptocurrency projects face due to some local regulators. This goes to show that the government understands the lucrative prospects that come with blockchain technology and are very aware there are some areas that could be improved to facilitate entrepreneurship in the country. While legislations take time, the time spent in meetings are finally beginning to pay off: the first drafts of future crypto legislation have been presented to government ministries and we are positive that the future of crypto in Slovenia is bright.\n\nFinally\u2026\n\nOur mission has always been to surface a great product and help connect consumers, producers as well as prosumers. We introduced Stage 1 of the platform in Q1 to give our community a preview of what\u2019s to come, and the dev team an opportunity to build an audience and collect feedback before our official public debut. Today, we\u2019re giving you a sneak peek at some of the features that have been developed that are not yet public on the platform:\n\nWe are very excited to reveal to you the platform on April 13, 2018. We could not have accomplished what we have done without our investors and pioneers. We are where we are in our journey because of you and for that we say thank you.\n\nLaunch is approaching! Chat with the team on Telegram where they are always active. We are also on Twitter, Facebook, Medium and LinkedIn. SNC token is getting fresh traction and is being recognized by new investors and several different exchanges. Be sure to check out the unique use case of the SNC token and also have a look at the healthy and stable growth of the SNC token.\n\nSNC token is currently listed in next exchanges:\n\nHuobi ,OKEx, Kucoin, HitBTC, Yobit, Etherdelta, IDEX\n\nSunContract is an energy trading platform that directly connects energy producers and consumers into an energy pool based on smart contracts. Blockchain technology takes over the role of the middle man as a trusted technology infrastructure. The blockchain technologies are implemented into existing energy distribution systems without changing the general energy regulation framework. We have already developed and launched our pilot project which is in use on a national level in Slovenia for a start. We are currently working on expansion, adoption and introducing a fiat gateway on the platform for users to purchase electricity directly on the platform without the need for a cryptocurrency exchange.\n\nFor Media Enquiries:\n\nWinfred K. Mandela\n\nCMO \u2014 SunContract\n\nwinnie@suncontract.org"}
-{"text": "Gov. Kate Brown quickly signaled that she will sign legislation passed by the House on Monday expanding the state's background check law to include private gun sales.\n\nKristen Grainger, the governor's communications director, said in a brief text that the governor will sign the bill passed by the House on a 32-28 vote.\n\nRelated story: Oregon House passes gun bill\n\nThe governor's decision was expected. Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, a main sponsor of the bill, said he talked to Brown on Monday morning. \"She said she was thankful the bill be coming to her,\" he said.\n\nSenate Bill 941 expands the state's background check law to include sales and transfers among private buyers. Currently, background checks are required only for people buying a firearm from a licensed dealer or at a gun show.\n\nBrown has long been a proponent of tighter gun laws. As a state senator, she supported a 1999 bill to expand background checks to include gun shows.\n\n-- Jeff Mapes\n\n503-221-8209\n\n@Jeffmapes"}
-{"text": "Although Colombia is known for being a country involved in the illegal drugs market as a producer of cocaine and marijuana, the nation is now moving towards the new medical marijuana industry. According to a recent report released by BBC World News, Colombia is becoming a recognized producer of marijuana for the medical sector.\n\nMedical Marijuana Industry Expands In Colombia\n\nColombia has been working in order to offer high-quality marijuana for the medical sector that is slowly growing around the world. There are different farms that are currently exporting their products to the United Kingdom and Canada, among other countries.\n\nAs mentioned by the report, there are several countries in the world that are legalizing medical marijuana in specific cases, which is increasing the demand for this good. According to Rodrigo Arcila, the president of the Colombina Cannabis Association, Colombia offers cheap farmland, low wages and also skilled labour, which make of the country a great location to start these activities.\n\nIn addition to it, Colombia receives 12 hours of daily sunlight all year. Meanwhile, other countries have to invest in artificial lights to remain competitive in the market, which can be very expensive in many cases. In Colombia, there are more than 24 different companies working in the sector. These firms produce pain relievers for cancer patients and many other products.\n\n\u00c1lvaro Torres, the CEO of one of the companies in the country, considers that Colombia is migrating from being the \u201cdrug cartel\u201d to a leader in the medical marijuana sector. With this model, pharmaceutical solutions would be provided by a country from the Southern Hemisphere, when it was usually in the other way.\n\nOne of the companies in the country, Clever Leaves, has already created more than 500 jobs in Colombia. Some of the individuals working in these farms have been affected by the bad reputation of the marijuana industry, but things are starting to slowly change."}
-{"text": "Matt Flynn knows what its like to play with a deep stable of talented wide receivers. He played with great receivers in Green Bay and to a lesser degree in Seattle as well. In fact, the biggest criticism often about his small sample size is that his receivers were so good that they made him look better than he really is.\n\nGiven Flynn's previous experience, he definitely knows what to look for from his receivers. That makes it all the better when you hear Matt talk about his current group of receivers and liking what he sees.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re extremely talented and there\u2019s quite a few guys on this roster that are talented guys that a lot of people probably haven\u2019t heard their names before, but they\u2019re talented. They\u2019ve been working their tail of to talk with me, talk with Terrelle [Pryor], and just get with us and try to learn the game more. Try to learn about the route concepts, what they have against this coverage and all that kind of stuff. But what I see from them, I\u2019m really liking right now. They\u2019re running crisp routes, our timing with them is starting to come and it\u2019s getting better and better every day, and the more we work, the more we do things. So far, I like what I see because they\u2019re working their tail off.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo far\u201d is the key phrase there because of course there is still a lot of work to be done. They need to all continue working hard every day and then the rest will come over time. They are all still just feeling each other out and getting to know each other. Those wondering if Flynn has figured out his go to guy yet, he hasn't but he is working on it.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s something that will always be developed. I think we\u2019re starting to get a better feel for that now and we\u2019re starting to get a feel for what guys do best, what routes guys run better than others and what routes we like to throw and things like that. But that kind of stuff is going to progress with time. We\u2019re not going learn that the first week. We\u2019re probably not going to learn that the second week. We just have to keep going, get through the games, get further down in training camp and closer to the season.\u201d\n\nA go to guy may be needed, but multiple guys that he can go to is what you really want. That is what Flynn had in Green Bay, and that is what he would have had if he hadn't been beat out by Russell Wilson in Seattle. The best offenses have multiple people that you can go to at any given time, and that is an experience that wasn't lost on Flynn.\n\n\u201dYeah, I think if you\u2019ve only got one guy to go to, you probably don\u2019t have a good all-around offense, and you\u2019re probably not going to be good on a week-to-week basis. I\u2019ve had experience with offenses that there\u2019s no telling who the leading receiver\u2019s going to be for that week. You can name one of five guys, and that guy could be the one with 100 yards in a game or whatever it was. That\u2019s the kind of offense that I think we all want to have because that\u2019s going to be completely balanced and the defense can\u2019t tee-off or wind-up to cover just one guy or line up and stop the run, stop Darren [McFadden]. Whatever it is, they can\u2019t do it. So if we can spread the ball around, make guys have threats, work sideline to sideline, then it\u2019s really going to help us.\u201d\n\nNow that is exactly the type of offense we want to see in Oakland, and they have the talent around them to make it work. Flynn has played in this type of offense before and he knows what he is talking about. This is why he was brought in, to bring this type of motivation and intelligence to the team. Terrelle Pryor I am sure is soaking all of this up as well as he works closely with Flynn this training camp. No matter which one is out there, I hope they both bring this last quote to life."}
-{"text": "What does sowback mean? a low ridge of sand\n\na long mountain ridge with steep sides\n\nWhat does rillet mean? a sand dune\n\na very small stream\n\nWhat does tundra mean? a desert\n\na vast, flat, Arctic region\n\nWhat does pindan mean? a luxuriant, dense forest\n\narid, sandy country\n\nWhat does tor mean? a hill or rocky peak\n\na flat strip of land\n\nWhat does canyon mean? an isolated flat-topped hill\n\na deep gorge\n\nWhat does ubac mean? a mountain slope that receives little sunshine\n\na mountain slope that faces the sun\n\nWhat does adret mean? a mountain slope that faces the sun\n\na mountain slope that receives little sunshine\n\nWhat does piedmont mean? a gentle slope leading from a mountain to flat land\n\na hill or rocky peak\n\nWhat does pocosin mean? an area of low, swampy ground\n\na point of high land jutting out to sea"}
-{"text": "That\u2019s what the thieves went after in February 2016: nearly $1 billion, sitting in a Fed-run account. This particular account happened to belong to Bangladesh. Having already hacked into the servers of the Bangladesh Central Bank, the criminals waited until a Friday \u2014 a day off in many Muslim-majority nations, Bangladesh included.\n\nThen they started draining the account.\n\nPosing as Bangladesh Central Bank staff, the hackers sent a flurry of phony transfer requests to the Fed totaling nearly $1 billion. The Fed started zapping cash into accounts managed by the thieves overseas, most of them in the Philippines. Much of the money was quickly pulled out as cash or laundered through casinos.\n\nFrom there, the trail goes cold.\n\nThe hackers didn\u2019t get the full billion they desired. Most of the bogus requests were caught and canceled by suspicious personnel. But they did end up with an amazing score: $81 million.\n\nThe culprits of this heist are loyal to one of the most impressive organized crime syndicates in the world. They don\u2019t work for the Triads, nor the Sinaloa Cartel, nor Sicily\u2019s Cosa Nostra. They are agents of the Reconnaissance General Bureau (or RGB), which is headquartered in Pyongyang. This is North Korea\u2019s equivalent to the CIA.\n\nLike the CIA, North Korea\u2019s RGB is steeped in clandestine overseas plots: assassinations, abductions and lots of spying. But it is perhaps better understood as a mash-up between the CIA, the KGB and the Yakuza.\n\nWhat distinguishes the bureau is its entrepreneurial streak \u2014 one with a distinctly criminal bent.\n\nFor decades, North Korea has been beleaguered by Western sanctions and barred from global markets. This has prodded the regime to seek revenue in darker realms that are beyond the law. These black-market enterprises have included heroin production, printing bogus $100 bills and counterfeiting name-brand cigarettes.\n\nBut all of those rackets have now been totally eclipsed by hacking. The bureau has trained up the world\u2019s greatest bank-robbing crews, a constellation of hacking units that pull massive online heists.\n\nThese thieves also have one distinct advantage over other syndicates: They are absolutely confident that they\u2019ll never be charged. So it goes when your own country sponsors your criminal mischief.\n\nThis is a new phenomenon, according to US intelligence officials. \u201cA nation state robbing banks \u2026 that\u2019s a big deal. This is different,\u201d says Richard Ledgett. He was, until his recent retirement, the deputy director of the National Security Agency.\n\nIn recent years, North Korea has launched hacks against more than 100 banks and online exchanges in a total of 30 countries. The RGB appears to have successfully pilfered $650 million. That we know of.\n\nAnd yet they are chronically overlooked \u2014 at least in the American media, where talk of online subterfuge is dominated by Russian political hacks. If you weren\u2019t aware that North Korea pulled a heist on the Federal Reserve, note that the caper went down in February 2016, when the media spotlight was fixed on the US presidential race at the expense of, well, almost everything else.\n\nNow that gaze has swung toward North Korea \u2014 and for good reason.\n\nNot so long ago, North Korea spoke of smiting the US with its \u201ctreasured nuclear sword of justice.\u201d Now it offers grand gestures of warmth. Kim Jong-un has released American prisoners. He has giddily stepped into South Korea \u2014 if only for a moment \u2014 and he is now readying peace talks with President Donald Trump, a man who has threatened the young autocrat\u2019s life via Twitter. (This could all change in an instant, of course. The North Korean leader suspended talks with South Korea on Wednesday over joint US-Korea military exercises and threatened to cancel his summit with Trump.)"}
-{"text": "Promotion\n\nNot only is flying to smaller cities across the country set to become easier, flying in general is also going to get a whole lot cheaper. And it\u2019s all thanks to the UDAN scheme being implemented by the government of India.\n\nUnder this scheme (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik), 13 airports in tier 2 cities that up until now had barely seen any kind of air traffic, will have a lot more flights landing and taking off. Apart from these barely used airports, over 43 other airports as well will benefit from this scheme.\n\nAviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju took to Twitter to announce this scheme officially.\n\n#UDAN network will cover the whole country, giving a major economic boost to hinterland areas. New routes announced today #TransformingIndia pic.twitter.com/oOUHHrJWo7 \u2014 Ashok Gajapathi Raju (@Ashok_Gajapathi) March 30, 2017\n\nThe minister has been quoted by India Today as noting, \u201cWithin 4-6 months, all these new regional flights will become operational. UDAN will have a positive effect on the economy, in terms of employment and investment.\u201d\n\nFlying is also slated to become cheaper as 50% of the seats sold in UDAN flights will be capped at \u20b92,500. This will be applicable to flights that cover under less than 500km (in other words, flights whose flight time is around one hour) in distance.\n\nYou may also like: The Little-Known Story of the First Air India Flight in 1932, and the Legendary Man Piloting It\n\nThe government will be providing subsidies to the tune of \u20b9206 crore in order to implement UDAN.\n\nGiven below is the full list of the cities and the routes that will fall under the scheme.\n\nLike this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.\n\nNEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!"}
-{"text": "There\u2019s not a whole lot known about Bandai Namco\u2019s Ace Combat 7. Then again, it is Ace Combat, a series that holds a strong place in many a fantasy fighter pilot\u2019s heart and this will be the first numbered entry since Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation released in 2007.\n\nHowever, unlike Ace Combat 6, Ace Combat 7 won\u2019t be releasing for a Microsoft platform. It\u2019s currently exclusive to PS4 with support for PlayStation VR. Could an Xbox One release happen down the line?\n\nProducer Kazutoki Kono revealed that, \u201cI would certainly not say that the doors are close for a multi platform release. However right now we are focusing on the PlayStation Experience because it is a PlayStation VR exclusive in terms of a VR unit. So once we get that optimized we can consider other options.\u201d\n\nThat could be a long ways off though. For now, if you want to experience Ace Combat 7, the PS4 is the place to be. Stay tuned for more information on its 2017 release in the coming months."}
-{"text": "A fascinating thing about the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP): the worse its press, the better it does. In the run-up to the Clacton parliamentary by-election in October\u2014a race to see whether defecting Tory MP Douglas Carswell would return to Parliament under UKIP\u2019s banner\u2014Matthew Parris of the Times devoted his column to ridiculing not just UKIP but its elderly supporters: \u201cClacton-on-Sea is a friendly resort trying not to die, inhabited by friendly people trying not to die.\u201d UKIP won the election with nearly 60 percent of the vote. In the aftermath of November\u2019s by-election in Rochester and Strood\u2014which settled the fate of another Tory defector, Mark Reckless\u2014the Guardian\u2019s Nick Cohen described UKIP as \u201can alliance of the septic and the geriatric: a movement of the empty-headed led by the foul-minded.\u201d Cohen concluded that while the party wasn\u2019t quite fascist, it certainly played with racism. In which case, there must be an awful lot of closet Nazis in Rochester because UKIP had just won the seat with 42 percent of the vote.\n\nThe sheer disgust that many liberals direct at UKIP reflects the fact that Britain is undergoing a culture war. On the side of ordinary folk with old-fashioned tastes is UKIP. Pitched against them is the entire edifice of the metropolitan elite located in the nicer bits of London: the mainstream parties, big business, and the media. That this battle is taking place is no shock to anyone with eyes and ears. But that UKIP has become the people\u2019s party is a real surprise, considering its beginnings on the marginal, eccentric right.\n\nUKIP was founded in 1993 by academic Alan Sked. He intended the party to be a broad vehicle for opposition to Britain\u2019s membership in the European Union\u2014a cause that has long attracted people from the right and left. The right attacks the EU\u2019s infringement of sovereignty, whereas the left regards it as an effort to impose free-market capitalism from above. But while Sked hoped to create some grand coalition of the high-minded, the early party quickly became a bolt hole for ex-Conservative Party members concerned with what they saw as growing softness within Torydom. Sked quit as leader shortly after the 1997 general election that swept the Labour Party to power. UKIP, he said, had become \u201cinfected by the far-right.\u201d He called its new leader, Nigel Farage, \u201ca dimwitted racist.\u201d\n\nNevertheless, the conditions of the 2000s were the perfect incubator for UKIP\u2019s politics of anxiety. British household debt more than quadrupled since 1990, pockets of poverty festered, and new issues emerged that liberals did not want to discuss in front of the children. The government signed a treaty with the EU that opened Britain\u2019s markets to East European immigrants. Labour predicted that just 13,000 would arrive. The actual number was more than one million. While all this was going on, politicians were engaged in a race to the center. Labour abandoned its old economic socialism, and the Tories became more socially tolerant.\n\nThe result was that when the credit crunch hit in 2008, all the parties looked eerily similar, and any voter who wanted serious reform of the system had few options within the mainstream. The Conservative Party won the 2010 election, with enough seats to form a coalition government, on the strength that it wasn\u2019t the Labour Party\u2014but it lacked broad-based popular support or the enthusiasm of its restive right-wing base. One of Prime Minister David Cameron\u2019s first priorities was to legalize gay marriage.\n\nUKIP took a long time to exploit this situation effectively. In 2004, it placed third in elections for the European parliament on a quit-the-EU platform; in 2009, UKIP came second. The party was definitively, maybe crazily, right-wing. Its manifesto was Thatcherite, with a prominent libertarian streak: no gay marriage, but perhaps some decriminalization of drugs and a hearty endorsement of flatter taxes and smaller government. Had more people read and understood the manifesto, they might never have voted for it\u2014but it had a great salesman in Nigel Farage, party leader, but for a brief hiatus, since 2006. Farage smokes unashamedly, drinks thirstily, has an eye for feminine pulchritude, and is at home talking politics with the man down the pub. To meet him is to instantly like him\u2014if you like that sort of thing. To centrist politicians raised on a puritan diet of political correctness, he is like some horror from the mummy\u2019s tomb. But to those who wear a hangover with pride, Farage is a tonic to politics as usual.\n\nFarage\u2019s populism helped UKIP reach out to working-class voters who typically stuck with the left. All the time that journalists\u2014such as myself\u2014were characterizing UKIP as the party of the wealthy country-club set, the party was quietly capitalizing upon the growing sense that Labour had lost its soul. Two urban myths appeared to confirm the death of the left: it is commonly said that half of Labour\u2019s membership lives in London and that half is composed of state school teachers. These statistics are based upon leaks and rumors rather than concrete facts, but they paint a picture that fits with the prejudices of voters who have come to identify less and less with socialism and more and more with Farage\u2019s sociability. In 2014, UKIP placed first in the European elections and, for the first time, ate greedily into Labour\u2019s vote.\n\nAt this point, the party changed. UKIP was always torn between those who saw it as an anti-European pressure group, trying to move Britain to the right without ever taking power, and those who wanted it to emerge as a serious party capable of winning seats on a platform that would ally the socially conservative middle class and the economically blighted working class. In the wake of its victory in Labour areas during the European elections, the party embraced the latter, more populist strategy. The old manifesto was dropped in favor of offering something to everyone who felt locked out of mainstream politics: protection of the National Health Service, the promise of lower taxes, withdrawal from the EU and, crucially, a new emphasis upon reducing European immigration. UKIP insists that it simply wants to create a more level playing field, ending the bias towards unskilled European immigration and welcoming skilled workers from the rest of the world. But on the campaign trail it is obvious what voters have interpreted this new political direction to mean: UKIP will safeguard your job by closing the borders.\n\nComparisons with American populist presidential candidates are striking. Figures like Pat Buchanan\u2014who in 1992 and 1996 wanted to outlaw abortion and build a border fence, while also protecting American businesses with trade barriers\u2014are accused of philosophical inconsistency by those who just didn\u2019t get their appeal. Yet this mix of left- and right-wing ideas makes perfect sense if you see yourself as the representative not of an ideological tradition but of a particular constituency\u2014the constituency of people who once had something but who feel they\u2019ve lost it, and they want it back.\n\nIt is often said, with little proof, that UKIP voters want to turn Britain back to the 1950s. To which one has to ask, \u201cAnd why not?\u201d Who wouldn\u2019t want to return to an era of world power, mass church attendance, and jobs for life? Speaking to voters in both Clacton and Rochester, I was struck by the narrative of decline. In Clacton, one woman told me that because of mass immigration it was impossible for young people to get low-skilled jobs anymore\u2014so they hit the bottle, did drugs, went on benefits, or fled to London. Once upon a time, Clacton was a thriving seaside town. Now the glamour is faded; the pier is empty, the amusement rides stand silent.\n\nThings were also grim in Rochester, where the hospital has for years been stuck in special measures (a notice of failed performance) and the visitor is struck by the sense of post-industrial decay. Sitting with UKIP\u2019s candidate on a park bench in front of the breezy Medway River, I was told that in fact the constituency enjoyed falling crime and rising employment. But that statistical evidence is eclipsed by the bigger truth that large swathes of Britain are ignored by the powerful. Politics, culture, and finance are London-centric. People trying to build lives and do jobs in the provinces have adopted the weary, abused look of all those sad districts governed by the chichi Capitol in The Hunger Games.\n\nThat said, don\u2019t expect UKIP to form the next government. In Britain\u2019s first-past-the-post electoral system the recipient of the most votes wins the constituency, which means having to gain margins of around 40 percent to win any seat\u2014a tall order for a party used to getting just 3 percent. There are only about six seats that UKIP are fairly confident of exploiting the divisions between the main parties to win. And even if they found themselves enjoying a significant representation in a hung parliament after next year\u2019s elections, establishment leaders would rather ally with the devil than invite Farage\u2019s party into a coalition government.\n\nTherein lies UKIP\u2019s problem: it has a ceiling to its support that is defined by popular perceptions of its respectability. Polls show that the number of voters who admire the party is dwarfed by those who strongly dislike it. In some parts of the country, it is toxic. When Nigel Farage visited Scotland during its recent independence campaign, he was booed, threatened, and forced to hide out in a pub\u2014which may have been a blessing in disguise. Paradoxically, while the rise of UKIP has illustrated the failure of mainstream politics, its limited success has demonstrated the establishment\u2019s stubborn resilience. UKIP, like Buchanan-style populism, has probably gone as far as it can go. The establishment, in turn, has been squeezed as far as it will permit its own humiliation. All the money, the power, the influence, and, critically, the electoral system itself, still favor the status quo.\n\nWhat UKIP can do is chip away at enough of the support of the Conservatives and Labour to force them to change their policies. It is generally thought that UKIP could cost David Cameron the next election by denying him majorities in dozens of seats. The smarter Tories acknowledge this and are urging a return to red-meat conservative policies. If the UKIP experience has a global message for the right, it is that while the base might often seem an electoral liability, elections are usually impossible to win without it. In an age when all politics are loathed equally by the voters, the ability to generate enthusiasm among a dwindling band of true believers suddenly counts for a great deal.\n\nTimothy Stanley is the author ofThe Crusader: The Life and Tumultuous Times of Pat BuchananandCitizen Hollywood: How the Collaboration between LA and DC Revolutionized American Politics."}
-{"text": "During a panel discussion, CNN's John King used three mobile devices to demonstrate Hillary Clinton's possible path to victory, but the analogy was received with laughs."}
-{"text": "There are few things in life, if any, harder than losing a loved one. I simply cannot imagine the pain of losing the one you loved most. For one widow who recently lost her spouse, United Airlines made the loss just a little less painful.\n\nWe didn\u2019t hear much about in the news, but on February 23, 2019, Atlas Flight 3591 went down in Texas. The Boeing 767 was transporting goods for Amazon from Miami to Houston and all three pilots onboard perished. One of the pilots, Sean Archuleta, was a Mesa/United Express pilot, who had simply hitched a ride on this flight to get to Houston.\n\nThe Pilot Wife Life blog shared the story of Archuleta. Fun-loving and kind. Caring and giving. And also a recent hire of United Airlines. He was set to being his \u201cindoc class\u201d (training) next week, having \u201cgraduated\u201d to mainline.\n\nIn what can only be described as an incredible gesture, United presented Archuleta\u2019s widow with UAL wings and epaulets during a special in-flight ceremony.\n\nA United pilot, identified as Captain Gunn, shared the account:\n\nAn update regarding Captain Sean Archuleta. He was the jumpseat rider on the prime Atlas/Prime Air crash who had a class date to begin at United, this week I believe. I operated flight 1009 to Bogota on Friday March 1st. Prior to heading to the airport, I was contacted by the IAH Chief Pilot and informed that his widow would be on our flight returning to Colombia where she currently lives. He asked if I could deliver a package to her from United. Of course I agreed to help in any way that I could. United had her booked in First Class and escorted her to the Polaris Club before the flight with plans for a personal escort to the airplane for departure. I coordinated to have her escorted to the plane and be in her seat about 5 minutes prior to general boarding. His wife Titania speaks only Spanish and although I speak some Spanish it\u2019s definitely not conversational. I offered my condolences on behalf of United Airlines and all United pilots. The circumstances were difficult especially considering that I had never met her. I delivered a stack of condolence cards form both United and Mesa Airlines (his current employer) as well as a set of United wings and Epaulets. She was a very lovely lady but she broke down when I gave her the wings/epaulets. It was clearly very emotional for her to receive the wings. However, I could tell that she was very moved and it meant a great deal to her. Through the interpretation of the flight attendant, she told me that she would save these for her children to see and so that they would know that he was a United pilot. I simply said that it would have been a pleasure and and honor to fly with her husband. She thanked me and told me that United had been very good to her and that she was grateful for their support. It appears that United stepped up and treated her with respect and helped an already tragic situation.\n\nBut United took it one step even further. On March 12th, Archuleta\u2019s United training would have begun. United will leave his seat empty in honor of him.\n\nCONCLUSION\n\nHaving served in the military, I understand how close-knit relationships can be that are united by a common uniform. The same is true in the airline industry. Here, United Airlines took the classy step of honoring a \u201cbrother\u201d even though his work had not yet begun. It\u2019s a touching reminder that life is fleeting but love and compassion are real.\n\nimage: The Pilot Wife Life // H/T: reader 121Pilot"}
-{"text": "Home Questions modular multiplication around a circle\n\n10 minute read\n\nDisclosure Webquestions.co is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.\n\nThe goal of this JavaScript project for beginners is to achieve the functionality with HTML canvas and JavaScript.\n\nThis project is not very hard and can be completed in few hours. The result is amazing. So many wonderful shapes and patterns are created easily by changing values.\n\nThe challenge has almost no CSS involved except some basic stuff in order to align the page components.\n\nNo framework or library of any kind is involved in making this project. All you need to know is basic JavaScript, HTML canvas (or you will learn during the challenge) and some very basic HTML. In this challenge we will also cover the logic behind this times tables so you get the full picture.\n\nAt the end, I will share some of my favorite combination for creating unique patterns.\n\nHere is a demo:\n\nSubscribe:\n\nTry this:\n\nJavaScript rain effect - vanilla JS (ES6)\n\nES6 interview questions and answers.\n\nResources that will help you learn web development.\n\nOK, let's start.\n\nThe full HTML template\n\nHere is the complete HTML template.\n\n<!-- The complete HTML file --> <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta charset=\"utf-8\"/> <title>Canvas tutorial</title> <script src=\"js/main.js\"></script> <!-- JavaScript file --> <link rel=\"stylesheet\" type=\"text/css\" href=\"styles/main.css\"> <!-- CSS file --> </head> <body onload=\"draw();\"> <div id=\"container\"> <div id=\"inputFields\"> <div class=\"column-width-auto\"> <label for=\"multiplierInput\" class=\"font-size\">Multiplier:</label> <input type=\"number\" name=\"multiplierInput\" min=\"2\" max=\"100\" id=\"multiplierInput\" value=\"2\" class=\"width-100pc\"> </div> <div class=\"column-width-auto\"> <label for=\"pointNumber\" class=\"font-size\">Number of Points:</label> <input type=\"number\" name=\"pointNumber\" min=\"10\" max=\"300\" id=\"pointNumber\" value=\"10\" class=\"width-100pc\"> </div> </div> <canvas id=\"multiplier\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\"></canvas> </div> </body> </html>\n\nFew point regarding the HTML file:\n\nIn this stage, if you try to run the HTML file in the browser, you will probably get a few errors. We do not have the CSS and JavaScript files yet and the canvas is empty.\n\nThe canvas element will contain the circle.\n\nThe input elements are initialized with certain values, you can select your own minimum and maximum values.\n\nNotice the link and script tags. Those add the required JavaScript and HTML to the project. You can create yours in any folder, just don't forget to link the files. You can also add everything in one file. It is up to you to decide.\n\nAdding styles to the project\n\nHere is the complete styles file for the project.\n\n/* The complete CSS file */ #container { width: 600px; margin: 0 auto; } #inputFields { padding: 25px 0 25px 0; column-count: 2; } .column-width-auto { column-width: auto; } .width-100pc { width: 100%; } .font-size { font-size: 20px; } canvas { border: 1px solid black; }\n\nThe result so far\n\n\n\nStill an error. It is OK.\n\nThere are still few thing we need to do before we can see the result.\n\nAdding JavaScript to the project\n\n\n\nThis section holds the logic and the creation of elements in the canvas.\n\nWe will go step by step and create this part of the project.\n\n\n\nCreate a JavaScript file, and don't forget to update the link to the script tag in the HTML file.\n\nInitialize the canvas\n\n\n\nWe start by adding the draw() function. It is called when onload event is fired. The event is added to the body element in the HTML file.\n\nfunction draw() { var canvas = document.getElementById('multiplier'); var ctx = canvas.getContext('2d'); }\n\nFor now, we declared the canvas variable that will hold the circle element for us and ctx that will hold the context. All the canvas drawing are made using the ctx variable.\n\nLet's move on to variables and functions declarations. Inside the draw() function, add the following variables:\n\nvar x = 300; // x coordinate var y = 300; // y coordinate var radius = 295; // Arc radius var point_size = 2; var number_of_points = 10; var multiplier = 2; var points = [];\n\nThe x and y represents the center of the circle on which lines will be added.\n\npoint_size will determine the point size. The point are those from which lines are drawn.\n\nFinally, we initialize the number of points we would like to start with ( number_of_points ), the multiplier and the points array which later helps us performing calculations to create the patterns.\n\nDrawing the circle\n\nWe need to add the following function to the JavaScript file, inside the draw() function.\n\n//inside the draw() function function drawCircle() { points = []; ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height); ctx.beginPath(); var startAngle = 0; // Starting point on circle var endAngle = 2 * Math.PI; // End point on circle ctx.arc(x, y, radius, startAngle, endAngle); ctx.stroke(); var i; var angleBetweenPoints = 360 / number_of_points; for (i = 0; i < number_of_points ; i++) { drawPoint(i * angleBetweenPoints, 1) } for (i = 1; i < points.length; i++ ) { ctx.beginPath(); ctx.moveTo(points[i].x, points[i].y); if (i < points.length / multiplier ) { ctx.lineTo(points[i*multiplier].x, points[i*multiplier].y); } else { ctx.lineTo(points[i*multiplier % points.length].x, points[i*multiplier % points.length].y); } ctx.stroke(); } }\n\nWhat is happening here? First we initialize the points array and then create the circle:\n\n//inside drawCircle() function points = []; ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height); ctx.beginPath(); var startAngle = 0; // Starting point on circle var endAngle = 2 * Math.PI; // End point on circle ctx.arc(x, y, radius, startAngle, endAngle); ctx.stroke();\n\nThen we create the points on the circle by dividing 360 degrees by the number of points to get the angle between each point.\n\nThe angle is used to draw a point in a function I will soon show:\n\n//inside drawCircle() function var i; var angleBetweenPoints = 360 / number_of_points; for (i = 0; i < number_of_points ; i++) { drawPoint(i * angleBetweenPoints, 1); //the function will be added soon. }\n\nNext step is creating the lines between each point.\n\nWe are using moveTo() in order to start a line from a desired point and not from the last drawing point which is the default behavior.\n\nThe method lineTo() is used to draw the line. lineTo() will draw a line from the last painting position which we moved by calling moveTo() .\n\ncalling stroke() method will commit the actions and draw the line.\n\n//inside drawCircle() function for (i = 1; i < points.length; i++ ) { ctx.beginPath(); ctx.moveTo(points[i].x, points[i].y); if (i < points.length / multiplier ) { ctx.lineTo(points[i*multiplier].x, points[i*multiplier].y); } else { ctx.lineTo(points[i*multiplier % points.length].x, points[i*multiplier % points.length].y); } ctx.stroke(); }\n\nDrawing a point\n\n\n\nPoints are arcs.\n\nWe are using the same above technique to create the points.\n\nA point has an angle from the 0 angle and a distance from the center of the main circle which will always be 1 in our case.\n\nfunction drawPoint(angle,distance) { var pointx = x + radius * Math.cos(-angle*Math.PI/180) * distance; var pointy = y + radius * Math.sin(-angle*Math.PI/180) * distance; ctx.beginPath(); ctx.arc(pointx, pointy, point_size, 0, 2 * Math.PI); ctx.fill(); points.push({x: pointx, y: pointy}); }\n\nFinally, let's add the first call to draw the circle and events listeners to recreate the circle when the user changes the multiplier or the number of dots.\n\nif (canvas.getContext) { drawCircle(); } // add event listener to point number selection var pointNumElement = document.getElementById(\"pointNumber\"); pointNumElement.addEventListener('input', function(e){ number_of_points = this.value; drawCircle(); }); // add event listener to multiplier number selection var pointNumElement = document.getElementById(\"multiplierInput\"); pointNumElement.addEventListener('input', function(e){ multiplier = this.value; drawCircle(); });\n\nWe are done.\n\nTry and go through the complete JavaScript file, It will give you a better understanding of the moving parts.\n\nHere is the complete JavaScript file:\n\n//complete JavaScript file function draw() { var canvas = document.getElementById('multiplier'); var ctx = canvas.getContext('2d'); var x = 300; // x coordinate var y = 300; // y coordinate var radius = 295; // Arc radius var point_size = 2; var number_of_points = 10; var multiplier = 2; var points = []; function drawCircle() { points = []; ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height); ctx.beginPath(); var startAngle = 0; // Starting point on circle var endAngle = 2 * Math.PI; // End point on circle ctx.arc(x, y, radius, startAngle, endAngle); ctx.stroke(); var i; var angleBetweenPoints = 360 / number_of_points; for (i = 0; i < number_of_points ; i++) { drawPoint(i * angleBetweenPoints, 1) } for (i = 1; i < points.length; i++ ) { ctx.beginPath(); ctx.moveTo(points[i].x, points[i].y); if (i < points.length / multiplier ) { ctx.lineTo(points[i*multiplier].x, points[i*multiplier].y); } else { ctx.lineTo(points[i*multiplier % points.length].x, points[i*multiplier % points.length].y); } ctx.stroke(); } } function drawPoint(angle,distance){ var pointx = x + radius * Math.cos(-angle*Math.PI/180) * distance; var pointy = y + radius * Math.sin(-angle*Math.PI/180) * distance; ctx.beginPath(); ctx.arc(pointx, pointy, point_size, 0, 2 * Math.PI); ctx.fill(); points.push({x: pointx, y: pointy}); } if (canvas.getContext) { drawCircle(); } // add event listener to point number selection var pointNumElement = document.getElementById(\"pointNumber\"); pointNumElement.addEventListener('input', function(e){ number_of_points = this.value; drawCircle(); }); // add event listener to multiplier number selection var pointNumElement = document.getElementById(\"multiplierInput\"); pointNumElement.addEventListener('input', function(e){ multiplier = this.value; drawCircle(); }); }\n\nTry some combinations, here are some of my favorites (Multiplier / Number of points) :\n\n32 / 271\n\n97 / 278 - 288\n\n96 / 209\n\n150 / 200\n\n73 / 73\n\nWhat is next?\n\n\n\nNow that you have the basic functionality up and running, you can make some changes and further update the project.\n\nHere are some ideas:\n\nChange the input fields to sliders.\n\nMake each line have a different color.\n\nMake each point have a different color.\n\nAdd a slider that enables the rotation of the whole circle.\n\nHave buttons with preset values to further demo the circle\n\nAny thing you can think of.\n\n\n\nTo conclude\n\n\n\nThis JavaScript project for beginners will help you understand JavaScript events, DOM manipulation and few more basic topic in the subject.\n\nmodular multiplication around a circle's fun result is a good basis to further developing the project to your taste.\n\nHope you enjoyed the project."}
-{"text": "Chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Confe\u00adrence (APHC) Syed Ali Shah Geelani has issued a five-point \"programme of action\" for resistance against the Indian government and called upon the residents of the occupied region of Jammu and Kashmir, Indian police officials deployed in the territory, and the Pakistani people to \"resist\" New Delhi's \"campaign of brutal repression\" following the repealing of Article 370 of the constitution.\n\nIn an open letter to the people of occupied Kashmir \u2014 which is dated August 23 but surfaced on Sunday \u2014 Geelani detailed and condemned recent events, which includes stripping the occupied territory of its special status and a continued communications blackout and lockdown that has been in place in the region for the past three weeks.\n\nFollowing are the five points listed by Geelani in his letter:\n\n'Heartfelt appeal' for peaceful protests\n\nGillani issued a \"heartfelt appeal\" to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir to \"continue to resist [...] the naked Indian brutality with courage\". He urged the resistance to organise \"peaceful protests and demonstrations\" in their areas.\n\nRead: Kashmiris defy curbs, clash with Indian forces\n\n\"While doing so, we must remain absolutely disciplined and not give the enemy, who is armed and ready to kill, any excuse whatsoever to hurt our lives and property. It is very important that our demonstrations remain absolutely peaceful so that more and more people are able to join. If the Indian armed forces still attack our gatherings, the entire responsibility for the possible loss of lives and property will be on them, and the world will remain witness to their deeds.\"\n\nGovt officials, police to protest against their 'humiliation'\n\nGeelani called upon Indian government officials, bureaucrats as well as police officers employed from the occupied region to \"realise that even when they are hand-in-hand in the oppression of their own people, the Indian State does not trust them\". He urged them to \"stand up and protest\" against the \"humiliation\" inflicted upon them by the Indian government.\n\n\"We have all seen how during the recent events, the Jammu and Kashmir police force was disarmed and the entire command was given to the Indian Army and paramilitaries,\" Geelani pointed out.\n\n\"Even if such a humiliation does not awaken them to stand up and protest, probably nothing will, and then they should mourn their consciousness and faith, and wait for their destiny of total irrelevance like pro-India politicians in Kashmir.\"\n\nIn pictures: What's happening in occupied Kashmir?\n\nKashmiris around the world to act as 'ambassadors'\n\nGeelani urged Kashmiris living outside the occupied territory to \"participate in the resistance struggle by acting as ambassadors of the Kashmiri people all over the world\".\n\n\"They should use their knowledge of Kashmir\u2019s history and their own lived experiences to highlight the oppression and brutalities of the Indian State. They should also connect with other marginalised and struggling nationalities in other parts of the world and forge solidarities of resistance.\"\n\nAlso read: Activists describe life under lockdown in occupied Kashmir as grim\n\nPakistani leaders to 'come forward'\n\nThe Kashmiri leader also called upon the \"people of Pakistan and their leaders in particular, and the Muslim ummah in general [to] come forward at this crucial juncture to help the besieged people of Kashmir\".\n\n\"You are an important party to the Kashmir dispute and this is the time for unity and action,\" he said.\n\nIndia will attempt 'false flag operation' to divert attention from occupied Kashmir, PM Imran warns\n\n\"Today, if you once again get ensconced in so-called pragmatism and fail to act decisively, then neither history will forgive you nor will your coming generations. You must continue to heighten your political and diplomatic initiatives to the highest level and respond to the deceit of the Indian occupation with full strength and determination.\"\n\nJammu, Ladakh residents to protect their identity\n\nGeelani said that the \"Indians State\u2019s occupation and its machinations\" threatens not only the people of occupied Kashmir but also the Dogra community of Jammu, Buddhists community in Ladakh, Muslims of Pir Panjal and Kargil.\n\n\"The Indian State not only wants to occupy our land, but it also intends to destroy our collective identity and brotherhood,\" he warned. \"We must not allow their heinous plot to succeed at any cost. We must all together stand with the resistance struggle to secure our lives, property, and our demographic character.\"\n\n\"India should know that even if they bring their entire armed forces into our State, even then the people of Jammu and Kashmir will not let go the struggle for their rights and liberation,\" he added.\n\nThe Kashmiri leader said that the government's actions show the \"the real deceitful and brutal nature of the Indian State in Kashmir\".\n\n\"The rulers from Delhi are drunk [on] power and arrogance of majoritarianism and they have snatched away all precepts of humanity, ethics, and democracy,\" he wrote.\n\n\"The Indian State subjected the people of Kashmir to a war-like situation, exacerbated by a host of official rumours and psychological warfare, even before the announcement of the decision.\"\n\nGeelani also highlighted the measures taken by the Indian government to block local and international media from covering the situation in occupied Kashmir, saying that the state has \"long used elaborate deception to obfuscate Kashmiri people\u2019s narrative of struggle at the international level\".\n\n\"The oppressors might try to hide the reality, but history will not spare anyone. The blank pages will speak loudly,\" he declared.\n\n\"In spite of India\u2019s best efforts, Kashmir issue is being highlighted throughout the world like never before,\" Geelani added. \"The recently concluded United Nations Security Council meeting on Kashmir as well as the international media coverage are its clear examples. In this scenario, we hope that this message reaches you via the international media.\""}
-{"text": "A US Navy aircraft has crashed into the sea off Japan's south coast, with 11 passengers and crew on board.\n\nThe plane was en route to the aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, which is currently stationed in the Philippine Sea, where the US and Japanese navies are holding exercises.\n\nThe eight people who were recovered are in good condition, the US Navy said, and the search was continuing for three other missing personnel.\n\nThe names of the crew and passengers are being withheld pending next of kin notification.\n\nThe aircraft is part of the Navy's 7th fleet, which is based just south of Tokyo.\n\nJapan's Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said he had received a report from the US that the aircraft experienced engine trouble before crashing.\n\nThe propeller-powered transport plane, a C-2 Greyhound, carries personnel, mail and other cargo from mainland bases to carriers operating at sea.\n\nThe aircraft has been in operation for more than five decades and is due to be replaced by the long-range tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft.\n\nThe plane was en route to the aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan. ( AP: Vincent Yu, file )\n\nThe 7th Fleet has had two fatal accidents in Asian waters this year, leaving 17 sailors dead and prompting the removal of eight top Navy officers from their posts, including the 7th Fleet commander.\n\nThe USS John S. McCain and an oil tanker collided near Singapore in August, leaving 10 US sailors dead.\n\nSeven sailors died in June when the USS Fitzgerald and a container ship collided off Japan.\n\nThe Navy has concluded that the collisions were avoidable and resulted from widespread failures by the crews and commanders, who did not quickly recognise and respond to unfolding emergencies.\n\nA Navy report recommended numerous changes to address the problems, ranging from improved training to increasing sleep and stress management for sailors.\n\nABC/wires"}
-{"text": "The big news at the Beretta booth during the NRA show was the Pico. If you thought the Nano was small, well, the Pico is tiny. It is a double action only hammer fired .380 pistol with a six round magazine, and it was designed to be as thin and snag-free as possible \u2013 about .71\u2033 at its widest point.\n\nThat\u2019s great for pocket carry, but it does come at a price \u2013 the magazine release, which must be pulled down from both sides of the trigger guard, is almost impossible to use with a firing grip on the weapon. The slide stop simply cannot be used as a slide release with a firing grip. The magazine must be removed before the slide can be dropped. This is similar to some of the Kahr pocket pistols, but I think it\u2019s taken even farther with the Pico.\n\nI asked a Beretta rep about this, as I saw the difficulty in manipulating the controls to be a problem, not a benefit. He confirmed my observations, but said that with practice the magazine could be released with the firing hand only, and that the design lended itself well to pocket carry.\n\nThis was noticeably easier with the larger of the two magazine releases on the display pistols \u2013 one stuck out just a little more side-to-side than the other. Beretta is apparently still trying to decide which magazine release to use on the production firearms. Whether either mag release would be easy to use under stress is highly questionable. I asked why a heel magazine release wasn\u2019t considered, as it might be easier to manipulate while still maintaining a thin profile, but the rep didn\u2019t know.\n\nThere are two magazines included with the pistol \u2013 both hold six rounds, while one has a flush baseplate and the other has an extended pinky grip. At this time it looks like all of the extended grips are in black, which looks a bit odd on a white pistol with a stainless steel slide.\n\nI liked the multiple available colors, especially the white. Apparently these grip portions can be swapped without changing the serial number of the pistol, but beyond matching a pistol to an outfit, I don\u2019t really see why anyone would bother with that particular feature. On that note, who wants a flat dark earth pistol with a stainless slide? Someone must want that combination, or Beretta wouldn\u2019t have gone to the trouble of manufacturing it.\n\nAlthough I couldn\u2019t compare it side by side with other pistols in its class, I felt that the Pico\u2019s trigger was uncomfortably close to the backstrap. I normally wear large or extra large gloves, so perhaps those with smaller hands will find its dimensions in this regard to be ideal.\n\nAt $399 with standard sights, the Pico is pretty reasonably priced. I should mention that the sights were quite excellent for a subcompact pistol, if somewhat incongruous with the idea of making the pistol as snag-free as possible. There were also Trijicon night sights available, although the rep I spoke to didn\u2019t know how much extra they\u2019d be.\n\nI don\u2019t know that the Pico will make much of a dent in the crowded .380 pocket pistol market. Nor do I think that it\u2019s anything I\u2019ll look at buying any time soon, due to the difficulty I had in manipulating the controls. But I do applaud Beretta for putting some effort into making the Pico different than the competition."}
-{"text": "on 23/06/2019 - 19:56Last edited 25/06/2019 - 11:46 by 1 other user\n\nVarious offers, pretty much the usual ones.\n\nValid from the 25th of June untill the 19th of August 2019.\n\nPhone is fine to use these vouchers, most of the time I order they don't even ask for the voucher."}
-{"text": "Over the course of decades or even centuries, Earth\u2019s landscape can appear relatively static, with mountains and valleys seemingly anchored firmly in place. Viewed over a longer timescale, however \u2014 on the order of hundreds of thousands of years \u2014 the Earth\u2019s topography becomes a rippling, shifting, changing tableau.Rivers and valleys, in particular, form intricately branching patterns, the shapes of which have inspired a field of mathematical study in which scientists have developed a theoretical understanding of river-network geometry, and how that geometry might change over time. Now two research groups from MIT, in separate efforts, have come up with mathematical explanations for different characteristics of river and valley networks.In a paper published this week in the, Dan Rothman and his colleagues formulate a mathematical theory to discover a common angle at which valleys branch. In environments where erosion is driven by the seepage of water out of the ground, the group\u2019s theory predicts that rivers branch at an angle of 72 degrees.Putting the theory to the test, Rothman and his group measured 5,000 branching angles in the Florida Panhandle, a region of soft, sandy soils \u2014 finding that the average valley branching was indeed 72 degrees. Rothman, a professor of geophysics in MIT\u2019s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), says such a mathematical analysis may also be applicable to other systems, such as neuron dendrites and fungal filaments.Similarly, a team led by Taylor Perron has published a paper this week inin which another mathematical model of river networks has identified a tipping point at which rivers branch. Depending on a river\u2019s capacity to erode a landscape \u2014 and how quickly creeping soil may fill its valley \u2014 the river may give rise to a dense network of tributaries, or remain as a single rivulet.\u201cWe use mathematics to speed up time and help us understand how these systems evolve,\u201d says Perron, the Cecil and Ida Green Assistant Professor of Geology in EAPS. \u201cIf you could speed up the clock, you would see that the landscape is a lot more dynamic.\u201dNear the town of Bristol, along the eastern stretch of the Florida Panhandle, a network of valleys cuts into the landscape, resembling a tree with ever-smaller branches spreading from a main trunk. From an aerial view, one can see midsized branches, or valleys, running with water, and feeding into a wider river. Over time, the very tips of the smallest valleys themselves branch to create an even denser valley network.To understand how these valleys branch, Rothman and his team \u2014 former postdoc Olivier Devauchelle, former graduate student Alexander Petroff and postdoc Hansjoerg Seybold \u2014 looked to the mechanics of groundwater flow. Unlike river water that flows over land, groundwater flows under the surface, through material such as porous sand. In an environment such as the Florida Panhandle, groundwater may act to incise, or cut into, a network of valleys: Essentially, groundwater stored in the hills surrounding a valley slowly seeps out, carrying with it some sand. Over time, the process slowly erodes the surrounding hills, extending a valley and eventually splitting it in two.To find the angle at which this split occurs, Rothman\u2019s group derived a mathematical expression for the paths taken by groundwater as it flows toward a newly split stream. Such paths generally curve either away from each other, when the angle between the streams is small, or toward each other, when the angle is large. However, Rothman\u2019s group found that there is a special angle \u2014 72 degrees \u2014 for which the paths are straight, reasoning that this is the angle at which streams branch. They subsequently confirmed their prediction by examining nearly 5,000 stream junctions in the Florida Panhandle.\u201cWhat we show is that because of the properties of groundwater flow, one can understand something about the organization of this pattern,\u201d Rothman says. \u201cIt opens a world into a really interesting geometry.\u201dIn contrast to Rothman\u2019s work, which focused on the effects of groundwater on valley formation, Perron and his colleagues examined the formation of river networks over land. His group sought to answer one main question: What governs the branching pattern that emerges over time?To answer that question, the researchers developed a simple mathematical model representing the erosional mechanisms that act on a river network. Through their model, Perron found that the shape a river network takes is governed by a tug of war between two forces: the strength of river incision, or how quickly a river erodes its banks and the underlying material; and the strength of soil creep, or how quickly soil from surrounding hills fills in a river valley.Running the model on a simulated landscape, the researchers found that as they turned up river incision \u2014 or turned down soil creep \u2014 a river basin with a single river channel morphs into a network of branching channels at a very specific tipping point. Because river incision is stronger in larger river basins that collect more water, this tipping point explains why larger rivers develop a network of tributaries, whereas small rivers may have no tributaries at all.Moreover, relating the tipping point to specific erosional mechanisms allowed the group to understand why river basins in landscapes with different bedrock or climates grow tributaries at different scales. They predicted that river basins should branch at a smaller size in environments where river incision is strong \u2014 for example, areas with heavy rainfall, or soft bedrock \u2014 or where soil creep is weak.Perron tested this prediction in two locations with similar river networks, but at different scales: the Allegheny Plateau, in southwest Pennsylvania, and Gabilan Mesa, in California\u2019s Salinas Valley \u2014 a region with similarly-patterned river networks, but at one-quarter the size. The group found that the pattern of river networks in both locations matched predictions from its models, despite their difference in scale and environment.While Gabilan Mesa has a drier climate than the Allegheny Plateau, its rock is softer and its soil less permeable. On the rare occasions when it does rain hard, the water accumulates faster and cuts more easily into the surface, leading to strong river incision that encourages river branching.\u201cWe tested the model in these two places so we could compare the predicted instability, the breaking point at which rivers should start to branch,\u201d Perron says. \u201cThat\u2019s interesting, because it means we can do that for landscapes where we can\u2019t do fieldwork \u2014 possibly landscapes on another planet.\u201dMikael Attal, a lecturer in landscape dynamics at the University of Edinburgh, says the results from both Perron\u2019s and Rothman\u2019s work shed light on what may cause such intricate patterns in rivers and other natural landscapes.\u201cUnderstanding how river networks originate and evolve is key to understanding how landscapes have evolved in the past, and how they will evolve in the future,\u201d says Attal, who did not participate in the research. \u201cWhat is fascinating about these two papers is that they provide a physical explanation for the geometry of river networks using some very simple concepts. Studies such as these will help better parameterize models and help make more accurate predictions of what may happen in the future.\u201d"}
-{"text": "A company owned by real estate developer Riaz Mamdani will pay more than $2 million in a partial settlement over a class-action lawsuit, allowing investors to recoup roughly half of what they lost in an alleged conspiracy.\n\nBut the deal states Mamdani and his companies don't accept any guilt or liability in the alleged scheme at the centre of the case, which involved a complex web of investments in a southeast Calgary strip mall.\n\nAs a result of the settlement, approved by Court of Queen's Bench Justice Alan Macleod earlier this month, all of the claims against Mamdani and his companies are dismissed.\n\nPartner denies allegations\n\nThe class action continues against the remaining defendants, including Shariff Chandran, Mamdani's former business partner who denies the allegations against him.\n\n\"We see it as a real win for class members,\" said Andrew Sunter, a lawyer representing investors in the lawsuit.\n\n\"In a lot of these types of cases, they get pennies on the dollar, and this is a partial settlement with one of the defendants, and we're seeing a recovery of close to 50 per cent [of lost investments].\"\n\nThe Glenmore and Centre strip mall is at the centre of a long-standing class action lawsuit. (CBC)\n\nBut Frank Percival, a Calgary man who claims he lost $50,000 in the strip mall investment in 2008, said he has mixed emotions about the settlement.\n\n\"We can say we're happy that we won, but what did we win? We got half our money or less, and it's taken 10 years to do it,\" Percival said.\n\nMamdani declined an interview request. In a statement, he said he hopes investors will recoup their losses from the remaining defendants.\n\nThe real estate developer was shot six times outside his Upper Mount Royal mansion in December 2016 in what police later called an attempted murder, but investigators have made no arrests.\n\nA long list of people had grievances against Mamdani, given that he, his wife and his companies have been involved in dozens of lawsuits. But it's unknown whether those cases had anything to do with the shooting.\n\nThe partial settlement involves a strip mall called Glenmore & Centre, located at 6624 and 6626 Centre Street S.E. According to the lawsuit, people who invested in the development were told they'd get steady returns every three months and would also receive a share of revenues from an eventual sale of the property.\n\nSunter said several investors put up hundreds of thousands of dollars for the project \u2014 in some cases their life savings \u2014 and allegedly never saw their initial investment again.\n\nAccording to Sunter, an estimated 110 investors are owed roughly $4.5 million. His firm filed the lawsuit in 2012 and it was certified as a class action more than a year later.\n\nNone of the claims have been proven.\n\nMamdani and Chandran are named in a separate omnibus class action lawsuit that alleges 2,200 investors lost $180 million in a conspiracy involving 21 other projects. They both deny the allegations.\n\nThe Glenmore & Centre case was carved out of the larger class action by court order.\n\nChandran said in an interview the strip mall case has been dragging through the courts.\n\n\"If [the plaintiffs] want to continue with it, we'll see where it goes,\" he said, adding he'll keep fighting the allegations.\n\nAccording to court records, the partial settlement over the Glenmore & Centre lawsuit is a \"compromise of disputed claims.\"\n\nStrategic Group says case 'fully resolved'\n\nThe Strategic Group, Mamdani's flagship real estate firm, noted in a press release last week the case is now fully resolved against the company and its chief executive.\n\n\"It is our hope the plaintiffs will recover their losses,\" Mamdani said in the statement.\n\nThe release doesn't mention the multimillion-dollar settlement but notes the court approved a \"mechanism\" allowing for the payment of legal fees.\n\nGlenmore & Centre Ltd., another of Mamdani's companies, agreed to pay $2.25 million in the partial settlement. While lawyers will take roughly $357,000, plus administrative costs, the remaining funds will go to investors.\n\nThey have until the end of November to file claims, which Sunter will review to ensure they're valid before submitting them to court for approval.\n\nSunter expects investors will start receiving money by late January 2019.\n\n\"Once we have administered this payout, we'll focus on seeing what additional recovery we can get for our clients,\" he said."}
-{"text": "An Indian Army clerk has been arrested for passing information on troop movements and military exercises to a Pakistani spy on Facebook and WhatsApp and may have been paid for his betrayal, authorities say.\n\nThe 26-year-old havildar, posted in an infantry battalion at Mhow in Madhya Pradesh, was reportedly coaxed into sharing the information by a Pakistani woman whose profile claimed she was an international journalist. As they chatted back and forth \u201cregularly\u201d on Facebook and WhatsApp, he began supplying her with sensitive information on military maneuvers, eventually even receiving assignments regarding what information to provide and mining his network of Army contacts in order to satisfy his inquisitive pen pal.\n\nAlso on rt.com Falcon Slayers: Indian hero pilot\u2019s squadron gets new patches for F-16 downing denied by Pakistan\n\nThe clerk was finally arrested on Thursday after six months\u2019 surveillance by military intelligence, according to India Today, in a joint operation with the intelligence bureau and local Mhow police. Authorities are still investigating whether he received money in return for the information he gave up.\n\nThe Indian Army announced a nationwide crackdown on social media \u201choney-traps\u201d in January, and military intelligence has been conducting spot-checks of soldiers\u2019 phones and laptops ever since, warning them not to post any photos or share any material containing sensitive military information, according to sources cited in India Today. In this particular model of honey-trap, attractive young women \u201clike\u201d and comment on soldiers\u2019 social media photos and gradually ply them for more information under the guise of flirtation and developing a \u201crelationship.\u201d As the dialogue moves into private messages, \u201cintimate\u201d videos and photos are exchanged, and the women \u2013 who invariably turn out to be ISI operatives \u2013 can then blackmail soldiers into telling everything they know.\n\nAlso on rt.com Pakistani 'spy' pigeon with message for Indian PM has wings clipped\n\nLike this story? Share it with a friend!"}
-{"text": "Boris Johnson has ratcheted-up his defence of Vote Leave\u2019s infamous assertion on the side of their bus that Britain sends \u00a3350m a week to the EU by saying the group could have used a much higher figure.\n\nThe foreign secretary said the UK\u2019s weekly gross contribution would rise to \u00a3438m by the end of a post-Brexit transition period and insisted leave campaigners were right to pledge extra cash to the NHS.\n\n\n\n\u201cThere was an error on the side of the bus. We grossly underestimated the sum over which we would be able to take back control,\u201d said Johnson, in an exclusive interview with the Guardian.\n\nQ&A What was wrong with the claim that the UK sends the EU \u00a3350m a week? Show The claim that Britain \u201csends the EU \u00a3350m a week\u201d is wrong because: The rebate negotiated by Margaret Thatcher is removed before anything is paid \u200b\u200bto Brussels. In 2014, this meant Britain actually \u201csent\u201d \u00a3276m a week to Brussels; in 2016, the figure was \u00a3252m.\n\nSlightly less than half that sum \u2013 the money that Britain does send to the EU \u2013 either comes back to the UK to be spent mainly on agriculture, regional aid, research and community projects, or gets counted towards \u200bthe country\u2019s international aid target. Regardless of how much the UK \u201csaves\u201d by leaving the EU, the claim that a future government would be able to spend it on the NHS is highly misleading because: It assumes the government would choose to spend on the NHS the money it currently gets back from the EU (\u00a3115m a week in 2014), thus cutting f\u200bunding for\u200b agriculture, regional development and research by that amount.\n\n\n\nIt assumes\u200b the UK economy will not be adversely affected by Brexit, which many economists doubt.\n\nThough he conceded that the leave campaign had used a gross figure, he said about half the total could be ploughed into public services.\n\n\u201cAs and when the cash becomes available \u2013 and it won\u2019t until we leave \u2013 the NHS should be at the very top of the list,\u201d said Johnson, on a day that the Guardian revealed that students were being drafted in to help plug NHS gaps opening up in the winter crisis.\n\n\n\nIn the face of rising pressures on doctors, nurses and other health workers, Johnson said he had sympathy with the call of Theresa May\u2019s former chief of staff, Nick Timothy, in favour of a cross-party royal commission into health and social care funding.\n\n\n\nJohnson said NHS funding was a \u201chuge priority for the British people\u201d and something that ought to be looked at.\n\nHe said the British public were not \u201cgagging\u201d for a second referendum and insisted he was against such a move. But Johnson, who is preparing to deliver a speech on the liberal case for Brexit, insisted that if there was another vote, it would deliver another victory to leave.\n\nIn the interview, the foreign secretary also:\n\nAccused Jeremy Corbyn of \u201cinsanity\u201d for downplaying the importance of Britain\u2019s relationship with the US.\n\n\n\nWarned ahead of a Vancouver summit on North Korea that the threat from Kim Jong-un was the kind \u201cthe world has not known since the dawn of the atomic age\u201d.\n\n\n\nSaid a key priority for him as foreign secretary would be driving up girls\u2019 education around the world, which he described as a \u201cuniversal spanner\u201d to tackle population growth and radicalisation.\n\nHowever, his decision to double-down on Vote Leave\u2019s claim of a Brexit windfall could irritate Downing Street and is likely to provoke some remain supporters who consider the use of the \u00a3350m figure to be misleading. They believe it suggested that all the money would eventually go to Britain\u2019s hospitals.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe shadow Brexit minister, Matthew Pennycook, said Johnson had no shame. \u201cHe spent the entire referendum campaign standing in front of his red bus with a bogus claim on the side, and now he is saying the figure should be higher. The public really do deserve better from the foreign secretary.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\nBut Johnson argued that the UK\u2019s EU contribution was already up to \u00a3362m per week for 2017-18 and would rise annually to \u00a3410m, \u00a3431m, and then to \u00a3438m by 2020-21 \u2013 \u201ctheoretically the last year of the transition period\u201d.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJohnson argued that it was reasonable to use the gross figure because the UK government would \u201ctake back control\u201d of the full amount. Moreover, he said the net figure was also rising, with around half of the total likely to be available to plough into British priorities in the future.\n\nOfficial forecasts of the UK\u2019s future contributions to the EU have risen since the 2016 referendum campaign, in part because sterling is significantly weaker against the euro.\n\n\n\nAsked about the possibility of another national vote after Nigel Farage raised the spectre of a second referendum, Johnson said he felt it was a bad idea.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve just had one, and I think it went pretty well but it was something that caused an awful lot of heartache and soul-searching, and everybody went through the wringer on it,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not convinced that the public is absolutely gagging for another Brexit referendum.\u201d\n\nHe denied the suggestion that he fears Brexit might not happen, although he admitted that the history of the EU was to try to get countries \u201cback into line\u201d if they tried to vote against integration.\n\n\u201cI genuinely don\u2019t think that will happen in this case. I think that something very profound has happened in the UK,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think actually were there to be \u2013 I don\u2019t think there should be a second referendum \u2013 I think the result would be pretty much the same, or the result would be more heavy for leave, I really do.\u201d\n\nJohnson insisted he was an internationalist, who believed in Britain\u2019s unique global profile. \u201cWe can continue to be European, we can continue to be friends and partners with our counterparts across the Channel,\u201d he said, arguing that young people and academics most hurt by Brexit could be persuaded in the long run.\n\nJohnson, who will take part in cabinet committee discussions this week into the \u201cBrexit end-state\u201d the government would seek, made clear that a Norway-style option would fail to make the most of the leave vote. He argued that was because it would limit the ability to diverge from the EU in regulation terms and so restrict the possibility of new trading relationships."}
-{"text": "Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on the \u201cpolicy community\u201d in the United States to push decision makers in Washington and European countries to revise the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran.\n\n\u201cI urge you, in the policy community, to help decision makers in the capitals of Europe and Capitol Hill, to take advantage of this opportunity,\u201d the Israeli premier said.\n\nBy the \"policy community\", the Israeli leader apparently means powerful lobbyists such as the Israeli American Council and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) which are central to all anti-Iran motions.\n\nNetanyahu, whose regime is believed to possess the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, has repeatedly made unfounded accusations that Iran was seeking to develop nuclear weapons.\n\nHis new call came in a taped message that focused primarily on Iran to the Brookings Institute \u2013 Saban Forum meeting in Washington.\n\nThe annual conference is funded by the Israeli-born business mogul Haim Saban who said in November 2014 that \"I would bomb the living daylights out of these [expletive],\u201d if former US President Barack Obama struck a \u201cbad deal\u201d with Iran and Netanyahu assessed it as putting Israel at risk.\n\nAmerican Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson, a powerful casino magnate and another funder, suggested then that the US detonate a nuclear bomb in the Iranian desert before negotiations with Tehran.\n\nNetanyahu hailed President Donald Trump for refusing in October to certify the Iran deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).\n\nThe Israeli premier said the decision \u201chas created an opportunity to fix the great flaws\u201d of the JCPOA after the US president warned he might ultimately terminate the agreement.\n\nTrump is required by law to certify every 90 days whether or not Iran is complying with the nuclear deal. If he argues that Iran is not in compliance, that could cause an American withdrawal from the international pact.\n\nWhile Trump did not pull Washington out of the nuclear deal in October, he gave the US Congress 60 days to decide whether to reimpose economic sanctions against Tehran that were lifted under the pact."}
-{"text": "Michael Keane is reportedly a summer transfer target for Liverpool and Manchester United\n\nWould Burnley defender Michael Keane be a good fit for Liverpool? Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville have their say\u2026\n\nThe question was posed on the Monday Night Football Twitter Q&A following Chelsea's 3-0 win over Middlesbrough.\n\nRecent reports in the English media have claimed Liverpool and Manchester United want to sign Keane this summer.\n\nFormer Reds defender Carragher said he rates the England international but is unsure he's worth the reported \u00a325m price tag.\n\n\"I like him, I think he's had a really good season,\" Carra told Sky Sports. \"It's a big jump to go from Burnley to Liverpool and a completely different way of playing.\n\nJamie Carragher and Gary Neville answer your Twitter questions on Monday Night Football Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville answer your Twitter questions on Monday Night Football\n\n\"That 4-4-2 at Burnley, it's a lot of protection, and maybe a similar thing to what we're seeing with Mamadou Sakho at Crystal Palace.\n\n\"He looks a completely different player there but he's playing a completely different game.\n\n\"Jurgen Klopp was talking about centre-backs at top clubs a couple of weeks ago. The questions asked of you are completely different.\n\n\"If you are going to buy Michael Keane, it's going to be \u00a325m. He's a young English player.\n\n\"Is he better than Lovren and Matip? He's maybe the same level.\n\n\"If you're spending \u00a325m on a centre-back he has to go straight in your team and make a massive difference. I don't think he is quite at that level to come in and make a massive difference.\"\n\nCarragher then brought in Neville, who played at Manchester United when Keane was at the club's academy.\n\nSpeaking to Neville, Carra added: \"You know he has been at Manchester United, maybe he has come on in terms of being on the ball at the back, being left exposed.\n\nPaul Pogba of Manchester United (L) and Michael Keane of Burnley (R) battle for possession\n\n\"I'm still yet to see that because he's been at Burnley. I always think it's a big jump to go from a team at the bottom to a team at the top.\"\n\nAnd Neville said: \"I agree. He gets cuddled at Burnley. The two full-backs come tight, it's a tight midfield four, very compact, so you very rarely get exposed.\n\n\"I think that goal he conceded against Lukaku, I wouldn't expect him to make that kind of mistake. But he's still young. To make his England debut is a great achievement.\n\nKeane made his England debut this season\n\n\"He's a great type, a great lad. He will be the type that's a student. He will watch videos of himself in the week, he will want feedback, he will look after himself, he will be professional. Everything you want from a football player.\n\n\"Liverpool need that defence sorting out. They have conceded 50-plus goals for three, four, five years.\n\n\"They have not had a defensive lynchpin since he [Carra] retired. They have been changing around centre-back pairings and never really had a settled duo. It's not right.\"\n\nSky Customers can now upgrade to Sky Sports for the Premier League run-in and an unmissable summer of sport. Upgrade now!"}
-{"text": "A furniture store is giving Moncton-area residents the chance to recycle K-Cups and help create jobs for people with disabilities in the Maritimes.\n\nWheaton's furniture has launched a pilot project to recycle the convenient coffee cups and at the same time, create jobs for people who are disabled.\n\nThe single-use cups are popular, but the handy coffee pods generate a significant amount of waste.\n\nGarnet Wheaton, the founder of Wheaton's, said he believes that looking for a way to recycle the cups is the responsible thing to do.\n\nWe know that K-Cups produce a lot of waste to the landfill, so we've decided to take some action. - Garnet Wheaton, store founder\n\n\"We want people to be able to enjoy coffee and enjoy the conversation that goes with coffee. And we want them to be able to do that in an environmentally and responsible way,\" he said.\n\n\"We know that K-Cups produce a lot of waste to the landfill, so we've decided to take some action.\"\n\nThe Wheaton's store in Moncton is accepting K-Cups from any source for recycling. Anyone bringing in 24 used coffee pods will receive a $1 coupon for Mother Parkers coffee products.\n\nThe pilot project is taking advantage of a gap in the store's transportation system.\n\nTrucks delivering furniture to Moncton area normally return to Halifax empty. But now, those trucks will haul the collected empty cups back to Halifax.\n\n\"We had the transportation system in place to be able to collect and to deliver these cups back to recycling without burning extra fuel,\" said Wheaton.\n\n\"It's all done in a very efficient manner.\"\n\nWorkers at the Dartmouth Adult Services Centre remove the coffee grinds from used K-Cups so they can be used in compost or fertilizer while the plastic cups are recycled. (CBC) In Halifax, the empty coffee packages are turned over to the Dartmouth Adult Services Centre, where employees break down the cups.\n\nCathy Deagle-Gammon, the centre's executive director, says it's great employment for adults with intellectual disabilities.\n\n\"It's a project that helps our clients to gain skills,\" she said.\n\n\"It's variety in the work that we do and I think the other thing to everybody likes to help contributing to bettering our environment.\"\n\nThe leftover coffee grinds make their way to compost and fertilizer while the plastic cups can be recycled.\n\n\"There is absolutely nothing that isn't great about this project,\" said Deagle-Gammon.\n\nIf the pilot project catches on, Wheaton said he hopes to expand the program to all of the company's stores in the Maritimes."}
-{"text": "Sony has been awarded a patent for its unique video recording contact lens, which, for us, immediately summoned Tom Cruise in Minority Report.\n\nGoogle Glass represented a gateway for interacting with the IoT and AR technology, but its development has been stymied by many drawbacks to the system -not to mention it\u2019s an obvious fashion faux pas.\n\nA Smart Contact Lens Learns From its Mistakes\n\nIf you were counting on the Glass to be your visual link to the IoT, fear not. The idea hasn\u2019t been scrapped. Google is still working out the kinks on the Glass, and, in a sci-fi twist, Sony has a patent for a contact lens that can record video.\n\nSony is departing from the concept of improving vision and providing an AR display. Instead, Sony gives users the ability to start recording their surroundings with a few deliberate blinks.\n\nThe data storage and image capture tech are in the iris of the lens, and there is even a generator that powers the device using the movements of the eye.\n\nThe lens isn\u2019t practical just yet, but Sony is working on it.\n\nThe lens should be able to:\n\nZoom in and out readily.\n\nRecord video and data.\n\nTake and store photographs.\n\nOrganic, electro-lumiscent display screen can be controlled by blinking.\n\nLens can also playback recorded material in-lens.\n\nGoogle made a big splash when they announced Glass. Its failure emboldened other big companies to do better rather than ignore the inevitable need for a visual link with our Internet of Things.\n\nIs This the Future of Wearables?\n\nA smart contact lens has obvious potential. It gives us an AR heads-up display, allowing our favorite locations to take on new and exciting properties. Watch your favorite digital shorts as you walk the dog.\n\nWith Sony\u2019s patent for video capture, we are much closer to a contact lens that could subtly record whatever its user sees.\n\nWith the Internet in our field of vision, relevant data is always on hand. The need for computers or mobile devices could vanish. We could even implant AI to assist the blind.\n\nAR-enabled contacts would use video capture to record an area, allowing a hiker to share fantastical sights with their far-away family.\n\nSmart glasses, goggles, or contacts would finally give users a practical entry into using AR regularly. Eventually, they may even change how we conceive of the IoT.\n\nVisual wearables are promising. Once Sony and Google hash our their designs, we\u2019ll be glad to test them out.\n\nGoogle, for its part, has developed a contact lens with a sensor that can read blood sugar levels and measure heart rate.\n\nPotential Drawbacks\n\nThere is no telling what kind of interface smart lenses will have, especially ones devoted to video capture.\n\nIf we start viewing the Internet in our glasses and contacts, next-generation advertising would come straight to our faces. As much as I hope that regulations would keep advertisements from entering personal visual feeds, legislation hindering companies\u2019 ability to make money doesn\u2019t have a great track record.\n\nIn short, we should expect Internet-style pop-ups.\n\nNobody explains the future better than Tom Cruise in Spielberg\u2019s 2002 MINORITY REPORT:\n\nAdd a camera into a smart contact and companies will immediately use user data to construct targeted advertisements.\n\nTo dig deeper, what exact privacy concerns does this idea raise?\n\nRelying on smart lenses could make us vulnerable. If these devices could be hacked, imagine the activities that could be interrupted (driving, orating, etc).\n\nAlso, the prospect of biometric identification makes identity theft even more terrifying. Luckily for us, hackers can\u2019t attack something that\u2019s not developed yet."}
-{"text": "Share this article! 0 Pinterest 0 StumbleUpon 0 Reddit 1 Linkedin Tumblr 0 Digg\n\n\n\nThere are so many misconceptions and untruths out there about our natural hair:\n\nNatural hair is hard to manage. Of course it is if you have never learned how to take care of your hair. Like anything, understanding your hair is half the battle. Take the time to understand your hair. What are the best shampoos and conditioners? How long does your hair take to air dry? What does it look like when you \u201cwash and go\u201d? What are the best detangling methods. Educate yourself and apply what you learn. You\u2019ll soon eliminate \u201chard to manage\u201d from your vocabulary when it comes to your hair.\n\nNatural hair is not attractive or professional. Says who? Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Anyone who thinks that natural hair is unattractive or unprofessional just because natural hair isn\u2019t straight needs to clean their glasses, check their contact lens prescription or maybe just get an attitude adjustment.\n\nNatural hair is really hard to comb. No, our hair does not glide over a comb like straight hair because our curly strands naturally wrap around the prongs of a comb. Coily/curly hair needs more TLC than straight hair so use other detangling options such as finger detangle or combing the hair while wet and highly conditioned with a smooth, rounded wide tooth comb on occasion to prevent breakage.\n\nThere aren\u2019t as many styling options for Naturalistas. Natural hair has many styling options. You can bun it, braid it, twist and curl it, pin it\u2026 the options for styling are limited only by your imagination.\n\nMy man/partner/family/friends won\u2019t like my hair natural. It is fine to respect the opinion of others but should we be trying to adjust our lives to suit other people\u2019s preferences when it comes to our hair? I say, \u201cabsolutely not! If someone doesn\u2019t like your hair, it is their problem, not yours.\n\nMy hair won\u2019t look like my girlfriend/sister/cousin\u2019s hair. Some women are either caught up in the \u201cstraighter\u201d curl pattern dilemma or just lack confidence and think that their hair will never look as good as another women\u2019s hair that they admire. Don\u2019t always strive to look like someone else. Let\u2019s appreciate our own beauty by learning to appreciate our own hair. Wear your hair with confidence and you will be the person whose hair others admire.\n\nHelps us to banish misconceptions and untruths about our hair! What are some of the untruths that you\u2019ve heard or experienced over time?\n\n\u201cChanging attitudes about natural hair\u201d is what we do at Natural Haircare News. Through informative articles, podcasts and videos, we go beyond just sharing the latest advice and tips on kinky, curly, wavy haircare \u2013 We shake things up and focus on the realities of wearing our hair natural."}
-{"text": "DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) - Qatar could defend its currency for years in the face of economic sanctions by other Gulf states, the country\u2019s balance sheet suggests, so the riyal\u2019s peg to the U.S. dollar is unlikely to fall victim to the region\u2019s diplomatic crisis.\n\nA cashier counts Qatari riyal notes at a money changer in Doha May 28, 2013. REUTERS/Fadi Al-Assaad\n\nThe decision by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Baharain and Egypt to cut diplomatic and transport ties this week threatens to hurt Qatar\u2019s trade balance, suck deposits from its banks and push out foreign investment.\n\nReflecting this threat, the riyal fell on Friday in the offshore forwards market QAR1Y=W to its lowest level against the dollar since December 2015, when low oil and gas prices raised concern about all the Gulf economies.\n\nBut the world\u2019s top liquefied natural gas exporter is so rich that it could offset the threatened capital outflows by liquidating just a portion of its financial reserves. And as long as it can keep exporting gas, its current account balance is unlikely to go deep into the red.\n\nThat means the riyal's spot market peg of 3.64 to the dollar QAR= is probably safe for the foreseeable future. Any decision to change the peg would essentially be political rather than economic.\n\nAt their lowest on Friday, forwards prices implied riyal depreciation of under 2 percent over the next 12 months.\n\nMany economists at financial institutions in the Gulf decline to discuss Qatar publicly because of the political tensions, but privately they say they expect Qatar to defend its currency successfully.\n\n\u201cWe are not looking for the Qatari peg to break,\u201d wrote Chris Turner, global head of strategy at Europe\u2019s ING, though he called the pressure on the riyal unprecedented and said other countries\u2019 experience in the past 25 years indicated that if the peg did break, the riyal could fall at least 20 percent.\n\nASSETS\n\nCutting Qatar\u2019s credit rating to AA- this week, Standard & Poor\u2019s put the government\u2019s liquid external assets at 170 percent of gross domestic product, or about $295 billion, based on the International Monetary Fund\u2019s estimate of Qatari GDP.\n\nCapital outflows could come in several forms. Foreign investors have already started to sell Qatari equities; a complete pull-out could mean an outflow of nearly 10 percent of the stock market, or about $15 billion.\n\nQatari banks had 451 billion riyals ($124 billion) of foreign liabilities in March, most in the form of loans and deposits from foreign banks. Less than half that is from banks in other Gulf states.\n\nSome Saudi, UAE and Bahraini banks have already started to cut their exposure to Qatar, and they could cut aggressively if the diplomatic crisis continues and their governments order them to do so. Riyadh may also try to force foreign banks to choose between the Saudi and Qatari markets.\n\nIf foreign banks cut two-thirds of their exposure to Qatar in coming months, that could mean an outflow of over $80 billion.\n\nThen there is the current account balance. Before the crisis, the IMF predicted firm oil and gas prices would help Qatar run a surplus of $1.2 billion this year, rising gradually to $4.7 billion in 2020, against a deficit of $3.5 billion last year.\n\nTen percent of Qatar\u2019s exports, which the IMF has estimated at $70 billion this year, are to countries that have blocked trade, S&P calculated; import costs are likely to rise because of the closure of the land border with Saudi Arabia.\n\nCosts may also rise as Qatar\u2019s isolation forces it to pay higher wages to the foreign professionals and workers who make up the vast majority of the population of about 2.6 million.\n\nThe result could be a current account deficit of several billion dollars annually while the crisis lasts - a drain on resources, but not a decisive one considering Doha\u2019s assets.\n\nBecause of its small size and the fact that many major banks have links to the government, Qatar would probably find it easier than most countries to impose capital controls if that became necessary to prevent residents from sending large amounts of money abroad.\n\nJason Tuvey, Middle East economist at Capital Economics in London, said he did not expect the riyal\u2019s peg to break. Even Riyadh, which also fixes its currency to the dollar to maintain investor confidence and limit volatility in its oil revenues, might want to avoid driving Qatar to take that step.\n\n\u201cAfter all, if Qatar is forced to devalue, fresh concerns may be raised about other dollar pegs in the region.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Description\n\nEmail Extractor Files is an ingenious tool developed to extract email ids from bulk of files. The tool can extract email ids from almost all formats of files like .DOC, .DOT, .PPT, .XLS, .XLSM, .PST, .RTF, .DBX, PDF, HTML and many others. The tool has plenty of options given that provide choices to extract the appropriate data for the user. It very fast and accurate in its task & conceives least time to do the job.\n\nThe software Email Extractor Files can perform some extraordinary things that other tools can\u2019t. The tool can process thousands of files of any format to extract email ids from them. It has been rigged with filter that removes all the duplicate email addresses thus saving the time of user.\n\nApart from these users can save the list of mail ids extracted either in .TXT format or in .CSV format however they want it to save. The tool has resulted as a boon for the organizations that use mails for marketing. It is the best files email extractor."}
-{"text": "Exactly one week after Donald Trump signed an executive order freezing the pay of 2.1 million federal civilian workers, hundreds of high-level Trump appointees, including members of his own cabinet, are set to get raises.\n\nThe raises, which amount to roughly $10,000 per year, will go into effect tomorrow (Jan. 5), barring new legislation to stop them, according to guidelines issued by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The members of Trump\u2019s cabinet, who are worth a combined $4.3 billion, will see their annual pay go from from $199,700 to $210,700, courtesy of the US taxpayer. Deputy secretaries will go from $179,700 to $189,600 per year. Vice president Mike Pence\u2019s salary will also increase, from $230,700 to $243,500. (Members of the Senate and the House, who are still getting paid during the shutdown, will not enjoy a bump in pay.)\n\nThe raises look to be \u201can unintended consequence of the shutdown,\u201d in which approximately 800,000 US government workers have been furloughed, said the Washington Post. When federal funding lapsed on Dec. 21, an existing pay freeze for government employees also expired. The law that limits pay for senior federal executives will expire tomorrow, and will be reflected in some paychecks distributed next week.\n\nThe raises are expected to cost taxpayers an estimated $300 million over 10 years. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.\n\n\u201cTrump\u2019s 10% pay raise to his political cronies drives home the self-dealing nature of the Trump administration,\u201d Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist at DC watchdog group Public Citizen, told Quartz. \u201cNot only has Trump shut down the federal government, denying federal workers their living wages, he also has refused to grant the general federal workforce any pay raise in the coming year\u2014all in the name of keeping government spending frugal.\u201d\n\nIn Rose Garden remarks today, Trump said he \u201cmight consider\u201d asking his cabinet to forgo their raises until after the shutdown ends. However, the raises will be automatic without congressional action. The House and Senate are adjourned until Monday.\n\nOn his very first day in office, Trump signed a federal hiring freeze, and in August he said he would block an expected 2.1% pay raise for federal workers. However, Trump\u2019s own spending continues apace. As Quartz has reported, the Secret Service is spending nearly $100,000 on tents, lights, and generators for use this winter at Trump\u2019s private Mar-a-Lago club, and is on track to rack up almost $400,000 in golf cart rentals since Trump took office.\n\nNick Schwellenbach, director of investigations at the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight (POGO), called the raises \u201chorrible and demoralizing,\u201d and said they will almost certainly lead to longer-term problems beyond the simple fact that many rank-and-file federal employees are struggling to get by while their jobs are on hold.\n\nOne example: Education secretary Betsy DeVos, who has an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion will be getting paid 10% more in 2019; the physicians, dentists, and chiropractors working for the Department of Veterans Affairs will earn the same as they did last year.\n\n\u201cThe way these raises are being done is a poor approach to a real issue that can affect government performance and government\u2019s ability to attract talent,\u201d Schwellenbach told Quartz. \u201cA broader examination of pay and benefits in the federal government is warranted, but it\u2019s clear that many federal employees are underpaid, especially those with advanced degrees in technical and scientific areas, compared to their peers in the private sector.\u201d\n\nOfficials from OPM and the Office of Management and Budget, including OPM director Margaret Weichert, who was appointed by Trump in October, discussed the upcoming raises in a conference call Dec. 31. Some were \u201cworried about the public perception of the raises and discussed how to respond to questions about them,\u201d one participant told the Washington Post.\n\nIt\u2019s definitely not a good look, said Brett Bruen, a former US diplomat and director of global engagement in the Obama White House. The pay hike \u201creflects a broader mismanagement of the government under president Trump,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cFew people in senior positions are paying attention to the details and American taxpayers are paying the price,\u201d Bruen told Quartz. \u201cThere is no strategy, no structure, no scenario planning. Most of the government oscillates between uncertainty and upheaval, as cabinet secretaries precariously await instructions to be tweeted out.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Enlarge Image Lego\n\nNASA's Saturn V rocket is an iconic piece of space history. It powered multiple Apollo missions into space, including the famed Apollo 11 moon landing. You can't fit a real Saturn V in your living room, but you will soon be able to build a huge, displayable Lego version.\n\nWhen built, the finished rocket model stands over 3 feet tall (1 meter). You can put it all together, or break it out into three rocket-stage sections. It also comes with a lunar orbiter and lunar lander in case you want to take the included astronaut microfigures to a Lego moon.\n\nThough the towering finished product is impressive all on its own, Lego also managed to pull off the nifty feat of making the set consist of 1,969 pieces to correspond with the year 1969 when the first humans stepped on the moon.\n\nThe elaborate set required a year of development and is based on a design submitted by Lego enthusiasts Felix Stiessen and Val\u00e9rie Roche to the Lego Ideas site for fan-made projects. Lego notes the Saturn V is the tallest Lego Ideas set yet.\n\nThe Saturn V will go on sale in June for $119.99, or \u00a3109.99 in the UK. The set will also be available in Australia, but there's no word on a price or availability yet. It would be a great companion piece to the upcoming Women of NASA set.\n\nSolving for XX: The industry seeks to overcome outdated ideas about \"women in tech.\"\n\nLife, disrupted: In Europe, millions of refugees are still searching for a safe place to settle. Tech should be part of the solution. But is it?"}
-{"text": "You probably grew up with a cheap Casio on your wrist, but the company\u2019s first Android Wear offering is a very different product. It\u2019s engineered to be tough enough for outdoor enthusiasts who need more than just notifications of Facebook likes.\n\n\nBy no means as high-end as Tag Heuer\u2019s recently revealed $1,500 Android Wear spectacle, the WSD-F10 is still part of a long line of Casio outdoors watches designed to thrive when the elements fight back. Not only is it water resistant to a depth of 50 meters, Casio has also ensured the WSD-F10 is spec\u2019d to U.S. Department of Defense MIL-STD-810 standards. If it can survive the levels of shock and vibration it would experience on a soldier\u2019s wrist, it will almost certainly survive a week spent in the woods.\n\n\nWhen used as a traditional Android Wear watch, including a steady stream of social media notifications and swiping away at the WSD-F10\u2019s 1.32-inch, 320x300 pixel touchscreen display, battery life is just over a day\u2019s use. But because the WSD-F10 is positioned as an accessory for outdoor types who may not be able to charge the watch for weeks, the wearable also features a dual layer display with a secondary monochrome LCD that can show a basic watch face for more than a month if used sparingly.\n\nHowever, the extreme battery life of the WSD-F10\u2019s monochrome mode assumes you\u2019re no longer taking advantage of the wearable\u2019s air pressure, altitude, magnetic compass, and other sensors that provide useful information on your progress, level of activity, and even changing weather conditions. That extra functionality is made easy to access via the WSD-F10\u2019s dedicated \u201cTool\u201d button that immediately brings up useful information including your direction, sunrise and sunset times, and tide graphs.\n\nCasio hasn\u2019t released pricing details for the WSD-F10 just yet, but expect it to be priced just north of the average Android Wear timepiece given the extra sensors packed inside, and the improved housing that keeps everything but your swipes and finger taps at bay.\n\n[Casio]"}
-{"text": "WhatsApp will be getting rid of its $1 (approximately Rs. 68) annual subscription fee this year. The widely used messaging app confirmed plans to ditch annual fee from all of its apps across various platforms over the next several weeks.\n\nUntil now, WhatsApp asked some users to pay an annual fee for using the app after the first year of use - though as many of us have experienced, most users were not asked to pay after a year, and instead were given extensions each year. The company however believes that the approach of annual fee hasn't worked successfully.\n\n\"Many WhatsApp users don't have a debit or credit card number and they worried they'd lose access to their friends and family after their first year. So over the next several weeks, we'll remove fees from the different versions of our app and WhatsApp will no longer charge you for our service\", says the company in an official blog post.\n\nWhile confirming plans to axe the annual subscription, the company also hinted that the app is now being used by \"nearly a billion people around the world.\" Unfortunately, WhatsApp has not officially revealed the exact number of users worldwide like it did before. To recall, the popular instant messaging app reached over 900 million monthly active users milestone back in September last year.\n\nApart from scrapping the annual fee, WhatsApp also revealed its upcoming plans where it wants people to connect with businesses and organisation directly. The messaging service plans to bring tools for the new target audience. WhatsApp believes people can communicate with the bank or any other utility services directly via the messaging app. \"We all get these messages elsewhere today - through text messages and phone calls - so we want to test new tools to make this easier to do on WhatsApp,\" adds the company.\n\nWhatsApp for now has not detailed the tools it will be testing for bringing businesses and organisation closer to its users but we can expect to hear more soon. The company alongside also stressed that removing annual fee will not mean WhatsApp will introduce third-party ads."}
-{"text": "Photo by Tonje Thilesen\n\nDeath Cab for Cutie returned last month with their eighth LP, Kintsugi. Now, Dan Deacon, who also recently released a new album, Gliss Riffer, has given one of Death Cab's new songs, \"Black Sun\", the remix treatment. You can listen to the new version above via Brooklyn Vegan.\n\nWatch the video for the original \"Black Sun\":"}
-{"text": "In many ways the $900 GE GTD81ESSJWS dryer is the inverse of its cousin, the $600 GE GTD45EASJWS, which conceals remarkable drying power within an old-school design, but moderates that appeal with frustrating manual controls. Instead this attractive laundry appliance is sculpted with a modern aesthetic aimed at 21st-century shoppers, but delivers underwhelming dryer performance.\n\nTo get a machine that dries clothes with greater speed you could choose the $1,100 GE GFDS260EFWW, but the trade-off would be spending $300 more for a dryer with a truly awful control panel. The wiser upgrade is the $1,099 Electrolux EFME617S Perfect Steam dryer, which offers slightly faster cycle times along with good looks and a bevy of extra features and capabilities.\n\nDesign and features\n\nA spitting image of GE's GTD86ESPJMC laundry appliance minus its dark metallic color scheme and built in app-connected smarts, the GE GTD81ESSJWS dryer measures an identical 44.5 inches tall by 28 inches wide with a depth of 31.9 inches. The white-and-silver machine is equipped with a sizable 7.8-cubic-foot capacity drum to handle big loads and has a control panel running along its top back edge.\n\nEnlarge Image Tyler Lizenby/CNET\n\nThankfully, the panel uses a similarly uncluttered button layout and the same snazzy cycle selector dial that graced its dryer sibling. I found both panels simple to understand and operate, especially the large cycle knob that swivels left and right, settles softly on each setting, activating the corresponding blue LEDs as it turns.\n\nEnlarge Image Tyler Lizenby/CNET\n\nThere are drawbacks to having controls placed along the rear of the GE GTD81ESSJWS dryer's top side though. Aside from having to reach clear to the back of the appliance, a rear panel also means you can't stack the machine on top of a washer (or vise versa). Nor will you have the option of placing it on a pedestal to raise its front-loading drum for easier access. I'm not keen on the dryer's small LED display either, as its brightness drops sharply when not viewed head-on.\n\nEnlarge Image Tyler Lizenby/CNET\n\nStill, it's clear that GE designed this dryer to match the style and shape of its laundry twin, the top-loading GE GTW810SSJWS washing machine. Placing them side by side, their white-and-silver color scheme, blue LEDs and curved panels pair quite nicely.\n\nHowever, don't expect any fancy steam-powered dryer modes to smooth out wrinkles or banish germs from fabric since the GE GTD81ESSJWS dryer doesn't have a water-line input. What the machine does offer are 12 dryer cycles to tackle everything from \"Mixed Loads\" to \"Jeans\", \"Delicates\" to \"Towels/Sheets\" and \"Bulky Items,\" just to name a few.\n\nYou can also tweak some settings of certain cycles, such as your desired run time, temperature and dryness level. Of course this isn't possible for special modes like \"Delicate\" and \"Air Fluff,\" which require rigid cycle parameters. There's a button that turns on an LED light inside the drum too, a gimmick I always get a kick out of.\n\nEnlarge Image Tyler Lizenby/CNET\n\nAccording to GE, other slick functions the GE GTD81ESSJWS dryer is capable of include something called \"CleanSpeak\" and support for the GE's ConnectPlus module. CleanSpeak is a communication system meant to transfer cycle data from compatible GE washers over to similarly equipped dryers (via Ethernet cable) and preset them accordingly. A $50 hardware upgrade, ConnectPlus is small box that also attaches to the dryer's Ethernet port to provide a Wi-Fi connection and a means of commanding the dryer via the GE Laundry app (iOS and Android)."}
-{"text": "The British Library\u2019s oldest Qur\u2019\u0101n manuscript, Or.2165, dating from the eighth century, has now been fully digitised and is available on the British Library\u2019s digitised manuscripts site. Among the most ancient copies of the Qur\u02bc\u0101n, it comprises 121 folios containing over two-thirds of the complete text and is one of the largest of known fragments of an early Qur\u02bc\u0101n written in the m\u0101\u02bcil script.\n\nThe end of S\u016brah 7 (S\u016brat al-A\u2018r\u0101f, \u2018The Heights\u2019) and the beginning of S\u016brah 8 (S\u016brat al-Anf\u0101l, \u2018The Spoils of War\u2019). The heading in red ink gives the title of the S\u016brah and says that it contains 77 verses (British Library Or.2165, folio 7v)\n\nThis manuscript was purchased by the British Museum in 1879 from the Reverend Greville John Chester (1830-1892) as noted on a fly leaf at the back of the manuscript. Chester was an ordained clergyman interested in archaeology, Egyptology and natural history and made numerous trips to Egypt and the Near East, where he acquired objects and manuscripts, which are now in the collections of major UK cultural and library institutions. It is very likely he acquired this Qur\u2019\u0101n when he was in Egypt.\n\nAcquisition details recorded at the end of the manuscript (British Library Or.2165, endpaper)\n\nThe earliest Qur\u2019\u0101n manuscripts were produced in the mid-to-late seventh century, and ancient copies from this period have not survived intact and exist only in fragments. Or.2165 contains three series of consecutive leaves (S\u016brah 7:40 \u2013 S\u016brah 9:96; S\u016brah 10:9 \u2013 S\u016brah 39:48; S\u016brah 40:63 \u2013 S\u016brah 43:71) from the so-called m\u0101\u2019il Qur\u2019\u0101n, which is about two-thirds of the Qur\u2019\u0101n text and is one of the oldest Qur\u2019\u0101ns in the world. It probably dates from the eighth century, and as far as can be ascertained, was produced in the Hijaz region of the Arabian Peninsula.\n\nThe Arabic word m\u0101\u2019il (by which this Qur\u2019\u0101n is known) means \u2018sloping\u2019 and refers to the sloping style of the script \u2013 one of a number of early Arabic scripts collectively named \u2018Hijazi\u2019 after the region in which they were developed. The main characteristic of m\u0101\u2019il is its pronounced slant to the right. It can also be recognised by the distinctive traits of some of its letters, for example, the letter alif does not curve at the bottom but is rigid, and the letter y\u0101\u2019, occurring at the end of a word, turns and extends backwards frequently underlying the preceding words.\n\nLeft: the letter alif; six small dashes mark the end of the verse. Right: the letter y\u0101\u2019; the S\u016brah heading in red ink was added later\n\nIn early Qur\u2019\u0101ns there are no vowel signs, and this early style of script is also notable for its lack of diacritical marks to distinguish between letters of similar shape. Verse numbering had also not yet been established; the end of each verse was indicated by six small dashes in two stacks of three. The s\u016brah headings were added much later in red ink in the recognisable space purposely left blank to distinguish between the end and the beginning of chapters. Red circles surrounded by red dots to mark the end of every ten verses were also added later.\n\nThe beginning of S\u016brah 12 (S\u016brat Y\u016bsuf, \u2018Joseph\u2019) showing the verse markers and also the red headings and circles which were added later (British Library Or.2165, folios 23v-24r)\n\nAs with all early Qur\u2019\u0101ns, the text is written on vellum and would have been bound into a codex or mu\u1e63\u1e25af \u2013 originally a collection of sheets of vellum placed between two boards. Each double sheet was folded into two leaves, which were assembled into gatherings then sewn together and bound as quires into a codex.\n\nThe importance of Or.2165, in addition to all other known early Qur\u2019\u0101n fragments, cannot be overestimated. They provide the only available evidence for the early development of the written recording of the Qur\u2019\u0101n text and help towards our understanding of how early Qur\u2019\u0101n codices were produced.\n\nThis article first appeared on the British Library's Asian and African Studies blog."}
-{"text": "Juvenile \"boot camps\" can be good for troubled kids, if they live long enough.\n\nUnfortunately, the death of a teenager in a South Dakota camp raises new questions as to whether this controversial form of punishment is worth the risk.\n\nThe FBI has launched an investigation into the treatment of juvenile inmates in the state-run South Dakota State Training School following the death of Gina Score, 14, in a girl's boot camp there. Score died July 21 during a forced long-distance run two days after entering the program.\n\nHer crime? Shoplifting.\n\nA 16-year-old Sacramento boy died last year while being punished in the Arizona Boys Ranch, a paramilitary-style boot camp for juveniles.\n\nHis crime? Stealing a car, then running away while in custody.\n\nPhysical exercise was eliminated from a one-day boot camp in Brazoria County, Texas, in September after a 15-year-old boy spent six days in a hospital after collapsing from a heat stroke.\n\nElsewhere, the records of 52 state-sponsored boot camps across the country, housing about 4,500 juveniles, is littered with reports of injuries and allegations of neglect.\n\nHow many more deaths or serious injuries will it take, I wonder, before state officials begin to seriously question whether these camps are a good idea?\n\nBoot camps have generated a lot of support since the resurgence of get-tough attitudes in the mid-1980s.\n\nAnd, yes, you do hear some heartwarming stories about kids who turned their lives around after suffering through the camps for a few days, weeks or months.\n\nBut conventional juvenile programs yield a lot of heartwarming stories, too. Juvenile facilities vary widely from county to county and state to state, but paramilitary trappings are the biggest difference that distinguishes boot camps from their conventional counterparts.\n\nThat makes boot camps more exciting to see on TV news shows. One cannot deny the riveting nature of seeing footage of juveniles forced to give up their hip-hop pants and gym shoes and put on a uniform and march, run and do push-ups like soldiers. Because politicians love just about any telegenic idea that excites voters, whether it works all that well or not, boot camps have generated about as much excitement among politicians as Pokemon cards in a day-care center.\n\nUnfortunately, boot camps have produced horror stories, too, just enough to raise questions about whether the potential risks these camps pose to young offenders, most of whom are in for relatively minor offenses, are worth it.\n\nSo far, major studies have shown little, if any, difference between boot camps and conventional juvenile facilities in their rates of recidivism.\n\nOne new study suggests that even when boot-camp \"residents\" respond more favorably to questions about their camp conditions than conventional residents, boot-camp residents also have a greater fear of physical injury by members of their camps' staffs.\n\nPreliminary results of a study by University of Maryland criminologist Doris Layton MacKenzie found that boot-camp residents speak more favorably of their staff and facilities than the residents of conventional facilities, except in one area: safety.\n\nAt the same time, boot-camp residents perceived themselves to be in less danger from other inmates than the inmates of traditional juvenile facilities. This would tend to indicate that boot-camp discipline is working well enough to keep the young offenders from hassling each other, but allegedly encourages abuse by the staff.\n\n\"In general, the concept lends itself to abuse,\" says Rep. Pat Haley, leader of the Democratic minority in the South Dakota House. \"Basically the boot-camp concept attempts to turn troubled children around by pushing them around. It doesn't make sense to me.\"\n\nNevertheless, Haley, who worked briefly as a prison correctional officer in Minnesota 25 years ago, admits he has an uphill battle in a state where the Republican governor and GOP-dominated legislature have heavily favored boot camps in a get-tough-on-crime drive.\n\n\"It's not intended to be a pleasant experience,\" Jeff Bloomberg, the South Dakota secretary of corrections, told the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader, concerning the state's boot camps.\n\nBut we can turn kids lives around without threatening their lives. Let's give boot camps the boot.\n\n- - -\n\nBack on the local scene, a great way to put some hope back into the lives of the Chicago area's least fortunate families is the Chicago Tribune Holiday Fund. Among other valuable programs, your contribution helps food banks, emergency shelters, child advocacy groups, family counseling services and job training for developmentally disabled adults. The McCormick Tribune Foundation will match all contributions 60 cents to the dollar.\n\nPlease help to share some of the nation's prosperity this season by contributing to help your neighbors in this season of sharing. Happy holidays."}
-{"text": "What is Ashura? Published duration 6 December 2011\n\nimage copyright Getty Images image caption Ashura ceremonies mark the death in battle of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad\n\nThe day of Ashura is marked by Muslims as a whole, but for Shia Muslims it is a major religious commemoration of the martyrdom at Karbala of Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.\n\nIt falls on the 10th of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic lunar calendar.\n\nIt is marked by Muslims with a voluntary day of fasting which commemorates the day Noah left the Ark, and the day that Moses was saved from the Egyptians by God.\n\nFor Shia Muslims, Ashura is a solemn day of mourning the martyrdom of Hussein in 680 AD at Karbala in modern-day Iraq.\n\nIt is marked with mourning rituals and passion plays re-enacting the martyrdom.\n\nShia men and women dressed in black also parade through the streets slapping their chests and chanting.\n\nSome Shia men seek to emulate the suffering of Hussein by flagellating themselves with chains or cutting their foreheads until blood streams from their bodies.\n\nSome Shia leaders and groups discourage the bloodletting, saying it creates a backward and negative image of Shia Muslims. Such leaders encourage people to donate blood.\n\nIslamic schism\n\nThe killing of Hussein was an event that led to the split in Islam into two main sects - Sunnis and Shias.\n\nIn early Islamic history the Shia were a political faction (known as the \"party of Ali\") that supported Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and the fourth caliph (temporal and spiritual ruler) of the Muslim community.\n\nThe great schism between Sunnis and Shias occurred when Imam Ali did not succeed as leader of the Islamic community at the death of the Prophet.\n\nAli was murdered in AD 661 and his chief opponent Muawiya became caliph.\n\nCaliph Muawiya was later succeeded by his son Yazid, but Ali's son Hussein refused to accept his legitimacy and fighting between the two resulted.\n\nHussein and his followers were massacred in battle at Karbala.\n\nBoth Ali's and Hussein's deaths gave rise to the Shia cult of martyrdom and to their sense of betrayal and struggle against injustice, oppression and tyranny.\n\nToday, Shias comprise about 15% of the total worldwide Muslim population."}
-{"text": "This Nevada newsman allegedly needed to work on his coverage.\n\nSports broadcaster Randy Howe \u2014 who appears on news station KSNV \u2014 was busted Tuesday in North Las Vegas for an alleged incident where he exposed himself, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.\n\nThe 50-year-old reporter faces charges for open gross lewdness and indecent exposure. Court records showed he was booked at Las Vegas Detention Center.\n\nPolice didn\u2019t release further details Tuesday night about the broadcaster\u2019s arrest.\n\nHowe has reported for the NBC affiliate since 2008, where he is currently the sports director, according to his LinkedIn profile. He previously worked for news station KOTA in South Dakota."}
-{"text": "The 50th edition of the Panda Game \u2014 the national capital region\u2019s craziest sporting event, pitting the Carleton University and University of Ottawa football teams against each other \u2014 took place on Saturday afternoon, and we were there to capture it.\n\nIt began prior to the game, when our #UniversityBlitz panel of current CFL players unanimously picked the No. 5 Carleton Ravens over the No. 9 uOttawa Gee-Gees.\n\nThat drew the ire of REDBLACKS running back Brendan Gillanders, a proud uOttawa alumnus.\n\nThe game itself was electric: The Gee-Gees scored a 38-27 win \u2014 their first win since the game moved to TD Place in 2014 \u2014 and enjoyed a field rush with their fans afterwards.\n\nREDBLACKS receiver R.J. Harris had his young daughter Malani in for a visit on the weekend, and she happened to be the cutest little Carleton fan.\n\nGillanders also got the last laugh, forcing teammate and Carleton alum Justin Howell to wear his old Gee-Gees jersey.\n\nGreat game yesterday by both teams!! Proud of @uOttawaGeeGees and the way they took care of business! @jhowell_16 is rocking the 2010 Yates cup jersey, looking like he\u2019s about to rush for 1000 this year! pic.twitter.com/jCW3E0cOpU \u2014 Brendan Gillanders (@Bgillanders25) September 30, 2018\n\nCheck out our Instagram story highlight to see Howell, receiver Brad Sinopoli and record-setting kicker Lewis Ward\u2019s enjoying Panda Game."}
-{"text": "Gov. Chris Gregoire has petitioned the federal government to reclassify marijuana as a drug that can be prescribed by doctors and filled by pharmacists, a move that would require the Federal Drug Administration to do new scientific research.\n\n\"In the year 2011, why can't medical cannabis be prescribed by a physician and filled at the drug store just like any other medication?\" Gregoire said in a statement Wednesday.\n\n\"The answer is surprisingly simple. It can. But only if the federal government stops classifying marijuana as unsuitable for medical treatment.\"\n\nGregoire petitioned the Drug Enforcement Administration with Lincoln Chafee, the governor of Rhode Island. That state and Washington are among 16 states that have legalized medical marijuana.\n\nBut because the feds consider marijuana an illegal drug, the governors said they've been unable to regulate cannabis and safetly provide it for patients.\n\n\"People weak and sick with cancer, multiple sclerosis, and other diseases and conditions suddenly feel like -- or in fact become \u2013 law breakers,\" Gregoire said.\n\n\"Sadly, patients must find their way along unfamiliar, uncertain paths to get what their doctors tell them would help \u2013 medical cannabis to relieve their suffering.\"\n\nThe federal government considers marijuana a Schedule I controlled substance, a category that includes heroin, L.S.D. and other drugs deemed as having a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use.\n\nGregoire and Chafee want the drug reclassified as a Schedule II controlled substance. That would mean it still has potential for abuse, but has some accepted medical use.\n\nThe governors' petition would prompt the FDA to review the latest research on medical marijuana, an analysis last done in 2006. Since then, the American Medical Association has reversed its position and now supports research of cannabis for patients.\n\n'What we have out here on the ground is chaos'\n\nSixty percent of Washington voters approved of medical marijuana in 1998, creating a law that conflicted with the federal stance on pot. When the Legislature passed a law to regulate and license marijuana shops and growers, Gregoire vetoed much of it, after the Justice Department warned her it would prosecute growers, distributors and even state workers who violated federal law.\n\n\"Yet in the absence of state or local regulatory systems, there exists wide spread\n\nconfusion and proliferation of unregulated activities,\" Gregoire and Chafee said in their letter. In Rhode Island, Chafee put a law on hold that allowed marijuana shops, after federal prosecutors said the dispensaries could be prosecuted.\n\nIn Seattle has tried to clarify and regulate things, by passing a law that requires dispensaires to get a business license and follow public-health codes.\n\nGregoire's petition comes weeks after the DEA raid 10 local marijuana dispensaries, its largest since voters decriminalized the drug for patients. Officials said the raids targeted shops accused of fronting for illegal drug dealing, but it upset many patients who rely on cannabis.\n\n\"What we have out here on the ground is chaos,\" The New York Times quoted Gregoire as saying.\n\n\"And in the midst of all the chaos we have patients who really either feel like they're criminals or may be engaged in some criminal activity, and really are legitimate patients who want medicinal marijuana.\"\n\n-Visit seattlepi.com's home page for more Seattle news. Contact Vanessa Ho at 206-448-8003 or vanessaho@seattlepi.com, and follow her on Twitter as @vanessaho."}
-{"text": "Craciun Dan | February 14, 2012\n\nI\u2019m used to making a review for each of the new major Wesnoth release, and so it is no exception with the latest version. It\u2019s been almost two years since the last stable release, which was Wesnoth 1.8 released on April 1st, 2010, and 1.10 brings a whole bunch of new features, new graphics and tons of improvements regarding every aspect of the game over the previous versions.\n\nI think 1.10 is probably the most awaited release, and those of you who are fans of Wesnoth could follow its development by trying all those alphas and betas put out by the team behind it. Although I\u2019m quite a regular player and I love this game, I preferred to stay back with 1.8.x and wait for the stable 1.10 to come out before having the real pleasure of playing it as a polished version (by the way, here is a review of an earlier alpha release).\n\nWell, since it\u2019s been out for over two weeks now and I couldn\u2019t get the time to write a review, here it comes.\n\nThe main window stays unchanged in 1.10\n\n\n\nFor those of you who have no idea what Wesnoth is, it\u2019s a 2D turn-based strategy game which takes place by default in a fantasy universe, offering six default factions, campaigns, single and multiplayer (both Internet and hot seat) modes. Players control armies and the battles take place on maps made up by hexagonal tiles. Various add-ons modify the game using the WML language (Wesnoth Markup Language) offering new maps, new factions, different game play,provides single and multiplayer modes. The possibilities are practically limitless, and the user-made content is great. There are popular maps like Creep War (with dozens of variants), Conquest (which modifies the gameplay completely), or eras that put the player in a an even more dynamic, more fantasy-like universe (take the Era of Magic for example). These are only few examples though, hundreds or maybe thousands of them are available on the add-ons server. If you ask me though, with few exceptions, I always preferred the default maps and era for a serious game. A ladder for statistics is also available, and the same goes for user registration, which can be done via the forums \u2013 you can register on the forum and use the same username and password in-game too.\n\nNow let\u2019s see what exactly changed in 1.10, and what new features were introduced.\n\nThere is a new mainline campaign, called \u201cDead Water\u201d, which raises the number of official campaigns bundled by default to no less than 16, and that is without the introductory tutorial and the hundreds of campaigns available via the add-on menu. Dead Water revolves around the mermen race, and you will have to lead a young merman to ascend to his kingdom\u2019s throne. This campaign is rated as intermediate difficulty level and contains 10 scenarios.\n\nThe new Dead Water campaign introduces mermen to the main line\n\n\n\nNew unit animations are available for the Saurians, part of the Drake faction. Also, new graphics for several terrain tiles were made and new terrain types were introduced. The new graphics include revamped grassland, bridges, as well as several new tiles. These new improvements really make maps and lightning look a lot more appealing to the eye. Slowed units are now tinted light blue.\n\nA new feature called Planning mode has been introduced, and it allows to simulate unit movements and attacks, without actually doing it. You can toggle it by pressing P or set it in the Preferences to be enabled by default when the game starts.\n\n\n\nA new option when creating a new game has been implemented, \u201cShuffle sides\u201d, to let Wesnoth assign random sides to players when the game starts.\n\nExcept for those already known from previous versions, four new default maps come with Wesnoth 1.10, including 2p \u2013 Aethermaw, 2p \u2013 Arcanclave Citadel, 2p \u2013 Thousand Stings Garrison and 6p \u2013 Volcano. Maps which are already well-known from 1.8 and before have also received fixes and minor modifications.\n\nThe new 6p \u2013 Volcano map \u2013 notice the new terrain graphics making it more pleasing to the eye\n\n\n\nThe in-game editor also received improvements, like the possibility to open several maps at a time.\n\nYou can remove several add-ons at a time by using the new window that allows to check each add-on should be removed. This saves time compared to the old method, which only allowed to remove an add-on and then rebuild the cache each time.\n\nMass-removing of add-ons can be done easily now and in a fast manner\n\n\n\nThe music was also enriched with two new tracks.\n\nContent creators will be glad to find out that major Lua and WML (the two scripting languages used by Wesnoth) improvements have been made.\n\nThere is also a WML plugin for the Eclipse IDE, providing features like syntax highlighting and autocompletion.\n\nIt looks like in Ubuntu 12.04 Alpha at least, the configuration directory is located inside ~/.local/share/wesnoth/1.10, while the preferences file can be found inside ~/.config/wesnoth/preferences. I don\u2019t know if this is a Ubuntu-specific modification or this is how Wesnoth stores its configuration files now (as opposed to the usual ~/.wesnoth1.6 or ~/.wesnoth1.8 directories). At least for me, this doesn\u2019t make it easier to access it, and the old style seems to be better.\n\nThe multiplayer server\n\n\n\nI think that it\u2019s impossible to list all the changes from 1.8 here, and I\u2019m sure there is a good deal of them I\u2019m not even aware of.\n\nWesnoth already built itself a great deal of popularity, and the community is great. There are the forums, the IRC channel (#wesnoth @ Freenode), the ladder third-party project, the user-made content and much, much more.\n\nWesnoth 1.10 is really an impressive release, with tons of improvements and new features. This can only add to the delight of the long time players and make new players curious to try it out."}
-{"text": "\u0422\u044e\u043c\u0435\u043d\u044c.\u0414\u0432\u043e\u0435 \u0441\u043e\u0431\u0443\u0442\u044b\u043b\u044c\u043d\u0438\u043a\u043e\u0432 \u0443\u0441\u0442\u0440\u043e\u0438\u043b\u0438 \u0440\u0430\u0437\u0431\u043e\u0440\u043a\u0443, \u0430 \u0442\u0440\u0435\u0442\u0438\u0439 \u043f\u044b\u0442\u0430\u043b\u0441\u044f \u0438\u0445 \u0440\u0430\u0437\u043d\u044f\u0442\u044c. \u041a\u0430\u043a \u043c\u043e\u0433, \u0442\u0430\u043a \u0438 \u0441\u043c\u043e\u0433."}
-{"text": "Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and Brian A. Benczkowski, Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, announced today that RICHARD GAFFEY, a/k/a \u201cDick Gaffey,\u201d pled guilty today before U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman to wire fraud, tax fraud, money laundering, aggravated identity theft, and other charges. GAFFEY, a resident of Massachusetts, is charged along with Harald Joachim von der Goltz, Ramses Owens, and Dirk Brauer in connection with a decades-long criminal scheme perpetrated by Mossack Fonseca & Co. (\u201cMossack Fonseca\u201d), a Panamanian-based global law firm, and its related entities. Harald Joachim von der Goltz pled guilty to his role in the scheme on February 18, 2020.\n\nManhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: \u201cRichard Gaffey went to extraordinary lengths to circumvent U.S. tax laws in order to maintain Harald Joachim von der Goltz\u2019s wealth and hide it from the IRS. Using the specialized criminal services of global law firm Mossack Fonseca, Gaffey assisted others in violating U.S. tax laws for decades.\u201d\n\nAssistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski said: \u201cThis defendant worked with the Mossack Fonseca law firm and exploited his role as an accountant to create fraudulent shell companies and defraud the United States of millions of dollars over decades. Today\u2019s guilty plea reflects the Department\u2019s commitment to prosecute financial professionals and other gatekeepers to the U.S. financial system who abuse the public\u2019s trust.\u201d\n\nAccording to the allegations contained in the Indictments[1], other filings in this case, and statements during court proceedings, including GAFFEY\u2019s guilty plea hearing:\n\nSince at least 2000 through 2018, GAFFEY conspired with others to defraud the United States by concealing his clients\u2019 assets and investments, and the income generated by those assets and investments, from the Internal Revenue Service (\u201cIRS\u201d) through fraudulent, deceitful, and dishonest means. During all relevant times, GAFFEY assisted U.S. taxpayers who were required to report and pay income tax on worldwide income, including income and capital gains generated in domestic and foreign bank accounts. GAFFEY helped those U.S. taxpayers evade their tax reporting obligations in a variety of ways, including by hiding the beneficial ownership of his clients\u2019 offshore shell companies and setting up bank accounts for those shell companies. These shell companies and bank accounts made investments totaling tens of millions of dollars. For one U.S. taxpayer, GAFFEY advised how to covertly repatriate approximately $3 million to the United States by reporting to the IRS a fictitious company sale that never actually occurred to evade paying the full U.S. tax amount. GAFFEY was assisted in this scheme through the use of Mossack Fonseca, including Ramses Owens, a Panamanian lawyer who previously worked at Mossack Fonseca.\n\nGAFFEY was the U.S. accountant for Harald Joachim von der Goltz. From 2000 until 2017, von der Goltz was a U.S. resident and was subject to U.S. tax laws, which required him to report and pay income tax on worldwide income. In furtherance of von der Goltz\u2019s efforts to conceal his assets and income from the IRS, GAFFEY falsely claimed that von der Goltz\u2019s elderly mother was the sole beneficial owner of the shell companies and bank accounts at issue because, at all relevant times, she was a Guatemalan citizen and resident, and \u2013 unlike von der Goltz \u2013 was not a U.S. taxpayer. In support of this fraudulent scheme, GAFFEY submitted the name, date of birth, government passport number, address, and other means of identification of von der Goltz\u2019s elderly mother to a U.S. bank in Manhattan.\n\n* * *\n\nGAFFEY, 75, a U.S. citizen and resident of Medfield, Massachusetts, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit tax evasion and to defraud the United States, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; one count of money laundering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; four counts of willful failure to file Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, FINCEN Reports 114, each of which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison.\n\nGAFFEY is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Berman on is June 29, 2020, at 11:00 a.m. Von der Goltz is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Berman on June 24, 2020, at 11:00 a.m.\n\nThe maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentence for the defendant will be determined by the judge.\n\n* * *\n\nU.S. Attorney Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of IRS-Criminal Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations, and thanked the Justice Department\u2019s Tax Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their significant assistance in the investigation. Mr. Berman also thanked the Criminal Division\u2019s Office of International Affairs as well as law enforcement partners in France, the United Kingdom, Panama, and Germany for their assistance in the case.\n\nThis case is being handled by the Office\u2019s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit and Money Laundering and Transnational Criminal Enterprises Unit, working in partnership with the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section of the Criminal Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Eun Young Choi and Thane Rehn, along with Trial Attorneys Michael Parker and Parker Tobin of the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, are in charge of the prosecution.\n\n[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the texts of the Indictments and the descriptions of the Indictments set forth herein constitute only allegations as to Owens and Brauer, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.\n\nDepartment of JusticeOffice of the U.S. AttorneySouthern District of New YorkSource: Justice.gov"}
-{"text": "News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email\n\nA woman has been killed and seven other people injured at a shopping centre in Poland after a man began randomly stabbing people from behind.\n\nHorrifying pictures show victims lying in pools of blood after the 27-year-old local attacked people at VIVO shopping centre in Stalowa Wola.\n\nWitnesses said several shoppers and a bodyguard tried to catch the suspect after he started \"blindly\" stabbing people just after 3pm.\n\nThe attacker - named only as Konrad K - was eventually tackled to the ground by a shopper and later arrested by police.\n\nThe victims were rushed to hospital, many with serious injuries, and a 50-year-old woman was later pronounced dead.\n\n(Image: @Kamil_18_/Twitter)\n\nShops were placed into lockdown and people were ordered to take cover as news spread of the attack earlier, RMF24 reports.\n\nPolice officer Anna Klee confirmed the weapon was a knife, and that a 50-year-old woman had died in hospital.\n\n\"He was attacking people from behind, hitting them with the knife,\" Ms Klee said.\n\n\n\nPolice reported that when they arrived the man did not resist arrest and went with them calmly.\n\nPolish Polish said in a statement: \"Police arrested a 27-year-old man who attacked several people in a shopping mall.\n\n\"The man acted irrationally, injuring his back.\n\n\"One of the wounded women died and there are still seven people injured.\n\n(Image: Facebook) (Image: Facebook)\n\n\"Policemen in Stalowa Wola were notified of a man who severely injured several people in a shopping mall in Stalowa Wola.\n\n\"The police initially determined that a man was attacking people from behind, injuring them in the back.\n\n\"Eight people were injured, unfortunately one of the victims died.\n\n\"The young man was stopped by a gallery customer.\n\n\"The police determined that it was a 27-year-old resident of Stalowa Wola, not previously listed.\n\n\"The man was taken to police custody.\n\n\"The breath test showed that he was sober. Blood was collected for testing for other substances.\n\n\"At the moment, there are no known motives for a man.\""}
-{"text": "LAX to Build Paparazzi-Proof Terminal Facility for High-Profile Fliers\n\nAirport officials expect the facility to open in six to eight months.\n\nLAX will soon house a separate building (including private lounges and a parking area) for celebrities, diplomats and other high-profile fliers wanting to avoid the crowded main terminals \u2014 and the unwanted attention that comes with them.\n\nThe Board of Airport Commissioners approved a proposal to build the exclusive rest area on Thursday, the Los Angeles Times reports.\n\nThe proposal includes the construction of a 43,750 square-foot building and a 13,840 square-foot parking lot located at 6851 West Imperial Highway, which airport officials say will open in six to eight months.\n\nAccording to the LA Times, celebrities flying through LAX will be able to drive into a secure parking lot and rest in private lounge suites until boarding time, at which point a shuttle will arrive to transfer them to their gate.\n\nThe privilege will reportedly cost travelers a fee as high as $1,800.\n\nOther airports which currently have similar facilities include those in Amsterdam, London, United Arab Emirates, Paris, Germany and other cities."}
-{"text": "WASHINGTON \u2013- President Barack Obama announced new protections on Tuesday for Alaska's Bristol Bay, barring oil and gas development in the region.\n\nObama said in a video Tuesday that he had issued a memorandum withdrawing the region from all future oil and gas lease sales. The region, he said, \"is a beautiful, natural wonder and it's something that is too precious for us to be putting out to the highest bidder.\" The region is the source of 40 percent of the wild-caught fish in the United States, and its fishing industry generates $2 billion each year.\n\nThe George W. Bush administration opened 5.6 million acres of the North Aleutian Basin for oil and gas leasing in 2007. In March 2010, Obama withdrew the area from offshore lease sales through 2017. Tuesday's announcement extends those protections indefinitely.\n\nEnvironmental, fishing, and native groups have been pushing for protections for the region for years. \"Bristol Bay is a place where people have been working for many, many years to protect it from offshore drilling,\" Marilyn Heiman, director of the U.S. Arctic program at the Pew Charitable Trusts, told The Huffington Post. \"This will give certainty to fisherman, to the Alaska Native communities, protecting this incredible marine ecosystem.\"\n\nSen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said in a statement that she did not take issue with the protections, as the region has not generated much interest from oil and gas companies. But Murkowski said she did have concerns about the timing.\n\n\"I think we all recognize that these are some of our state's richest fishing waters,\" Murkowski said. \"What I do not understand is why this decision could not be made within the context of the administration\u2019s upcoming plan for offshore leasing -- or at least announced at the same time.\""}
-{"text": "Constipation is a symptom that has different meanings to different individuals. Most commonly, it refers to infrequent bowel movements, but it may also refer to a decrease in the volume or weight of stool, the need to strain to have a movement, a sense of incomplete evacuation, or the need for enemas, suppositories or laxatives in order to maintain regularity.\n\nFor most people, it is normal for bowel \u00admovements to occur from three times a day to three times a week; other people may go a week or more without experiencing discomfort or harmful effects. Normal bowel habits are affected by diet. The average American diet includes 12 to 15 grams of fiber per day, although 25 to 30 grams of fiber and about 60 to 80 ounces of fluid daily are recommended for proper bowel function. Exercise is also beneficial to proper function of the colon.\n\nAbout 80 percent of people suffer from \u00adconstipation at some time during their lives, and brief periods of constipation are normal. Constipation may be diagnosed if bowel movements occur fewer than three times \u00adweekly on an ongoing basis. Widespread beliefs, such as the assumption that everyone should have a movement at least once each day, have led to overuse and abuse of laxatives.\n\nEating foods high in fiber, including bran, shredded wheat, whole grain breads and certain fruits and vegetables will help provide the 25 to 30 grams of fiber per day recommended for proper bowel function."}
-{"text": "PC Advisor \u2013\n\nIn an attempt to quash privacy fears, Google has started blurring the faces of people displayed on its controversial Street View software.\n\nStreet View, which was launched last year, is an add-on to Google Maps and Google Earth that offers photographs of streets and cities in the US.\n\nHowever, the software raised a number of privacy concerns regarding how identifiable people and houses were in the images. Among the complaints Google received were those regarding a man pictured exiting a San Francisco strip club and a woman sunbathing.\n\nThe search-engine is trialing face-detection technology, which will blur the faces of those caught on camera in Manhattan. If the technique proves successful, it will be rolled out to other areas.\n\nGoogle software engineer, Andrea Frome said in a blog: \"This effort has been a year in the making.\"\n\n\"Working at Street View-scale is a tough challenge that required us to advance state-of-the-art automatic face detection, and we continue working hard to improve it as we roll it out for our existing and future imagery.\"\n\nThis story, \"Google blurs faces of those caught on Street View\" was originally published by ITworld ."}
-{"text": "A dispute over strollers in Boston's South End is reportedly leading to vandalism and debate on social media.\n\nOn one side of the uproar are parents who park their strollers outside thier homes \u2014 which they say helps in a neighborhood filled with multi-level buildings.\n\nOn the other, residents see the strollers as taking up valuable sidewalk space.\n\nAccording to a post on the South End Community Board\u2019s Facebook group page, some people have knocked strollers over fences and into gardens. One user posted a photo of a stroller that appears to have been pushed into a bush.\n\nIn the post, the Facebook user asks others to \"consider a note to the person who owns the stroller\" instead of pushing them aside.\n\nFor parents like Jody Dinan, having a stroller makes life a little easier for she and her 15-month-old daughter.\n\n\"I'm in and out of my house every day and I do have a flight of stairs that I have to use, so carrying the baby in one arm and the stroller in the other isn\u2019t feasible,\" she said.\n\nCristina De La Cierva, a member of the Union Parks Neighborhood Association, tells NBC10 Boston the association had recently discussed creating a rule that bars residents from parking a stroller in the middle of the sidewalk.\n\nA decision on that rule has not yet been made, but as a mother of two, De La Cierva can sympathize with those who leave their strollers locked outside.\n\n\"I'm a mom and we have a giant stroller right there and we have two kids and we live on the 5th floor with a bunch of stairs,\" she said. \"I'm all in favor for being able to leave my stroller there and get up and down as easy as possible.\""}
-{"text": "Two years ago most Britons didn't have broadband and Web 2.0 was barely a twinkle in a developer's eye. Things have changed - as our cream of the crop for 2006 shows\n\nIn 2004, the internet was a different place: there was, for example, no YouTube, and most Britons online didn't have broadband. That's changed dramatically: now, more than 75% of users have broadband, and the arrival of Web 2.0 has brought sites where the interaction is as fast as if it were on your machine. So we've revisited the \"cream of the crop\" that we brought you two years ago.\n\nSome of the crop is brand new; some has stood the test of time. As before, we have 100 sites in 20 categories. That of course means that your favourite might not be here (even if you suggested it on our blog). Email us with your suggestions for the ones we should have included.\n\nMany of the categories here are new since the last crop. Many of the sites from that time still exist, of course - and are still hugely useful.\n\nOne category that's missing is mobiles, where data speeds haven't kept up with broadband. Maybe in 2007?\n\nContributors: Charles Arthur, Kate Bulkley, Michael Cross, Bobbie Johnson, Vic Keegan, Jack Schofield, Keith Stuart\n\nApplications\n\nWhy have an application to run in your browser? Because for tasks shared between people at different locations, it makes sense to access password-protected sets of work. 37signals offers Backpack (note the domain is backpackit) for simple tasks and the bigger Basecamp for grown-up projects. Tadalist is simpler, being just to-dos (but isn't that what it's about?), while Google's Documents & Spreadsheets requires a Google account (they're free) and doesn't try to compete with Microsoft Office. Wikicalc is a free online spreadsheet, and developing smartly.\n\nbackpackit.com\n\nbasecamphq.com\n\ntadalist.com\n\ndocs.google.com\n\nsoftwaregarden.com/wkcalpha\n\nBlogs: reading\n\nThere are millions of blogs out there; you need to pick the best. Step forward RSS (aka web feeds) and blog search engines to simplify things. Technorati is occasionally flaky, but generally a reliable indicator of what's being blogged about. Icerocket runs it close. And you'll need an online aggregator to keep abreast of the feeds you're most interested in: Newsgator and Google Reader are good choices. Bloglines is an excellent alternative feed reader.\n\ntechnorati.com\n\nicerocket.com\n\nnewsgator.com\n\ngoogle.com/reader\n\nbloglines.com\n\nBlogs: writing\n\nTo do it rather than read it, you need a good set of tools. The open-source and free software project Wordpress has risen to prominence, elbowing aside many rivals with its blog creation, management and (importantly) spam-beating tools. Wordpress.org is the free software; wordpress.com offers paid-for, managed versions of the free package. Blogger is the best of the rest; Vox is neat, easy and free, and plugs into lots of social applications. Statcounter counts, well, statistics for your site; the free Google Analytics (if you can get an account) is good too.\n\nwordpress.org\n\nblogger.com\n\nvox.com\n\nstatcounter.com\n\ngoogle.com/analytics\n\nEmail\n\nGoogle's Gmail has become the web-based email system of choice for those who can get access. Its main drawback is that it's still an invitation-only system in the UK. However, Yahoo's free email service is a decent competitor, and Microsoft has Live Mail. Unlike Microsoft's old Hotmail service, none will delete all your old emails if you fail to log on every 30 days. Among the dozens of free alternatives, Bluebottle is a decent option for its focus on spam filtering. The free version offers 250MB of storage and supports the POP3 and SMTP standards, so you can use a proper email program as well as web access. There's also TempInbox, which provides free, temporary, throwaway email accounts with no registration.\n\nmail.google.com\n\nmail.yahoo.com\n\nmail.live.com\n\nbluebottle.com\n\ntempinbox.com/english\n\nGaming\n\nThere are far too many videogame news sites on the internet today; you need an aggregator like Gametab to filter through to the best. Pocketgamer specialises in handheld games, while Gamasutra is absolutely unmissable. Gamesfaqs has FAQs and walkthroughs (plus cheats, reviews and previews) for loads of games. And the ESRB lets you search by age rating.\n\ngametab.com\n\npocketgamer.co.uk\n\ngamasutra.com\n\ngamefaqs.com\n\nesrb.org/ratings/index.jsp\n\nMaps\n\nMaps matter, but once you're past Google's maps and satellite detail, everyone's thrown back on the Ordnance Survey's data, which means there's little to choose between them. Ordnance Survey has improved its site, and can at least now tell you which map to buy for an area; its placename search is nifty. Meanwhile, the New Popular Edition site shows how the country looked in the 1940s. Delightful.\n\nmaps.google.co.uk\n\nstreetmap.co.uk\n\nmultimap.com\n\nordnancesurvey.co.uk\n\nnpemap.org.uk\n\nNews: mainstream\n\nThe BBC marches on, adding more media forms while also letting users add their comments. The New York Times site is vast (though it has shut off some of its content behind a \"paywall\"). Both sites' (short) RSS feeds can be read on a mobile at bbcriver.com and nytimesriver.com. Google News extends its reach, though the top headline is still whichever site last updated rather than the one which is most accurate. Nowpublic is a US rival to OhMyNews and claims 52,000 (and counting) \"mojos\" - amateur journalists with mobile phones whose location can be figured out from GPS or phone triangulation.\n\nnews.bbc.co.uk\n\nnytimes.com\n\nnews.google.co.uk\n\nenglish.ohmynews.com\n\nnowpublic.com\n\nNews: recommendation\n\nOne thing that Web 2.0 is really good at is letting lots of people vote on things. It can be (and is) abused, but generally the system works. That's seen the rise of sites which let people vote stories up, or which news stories (and how) bloggers are talking about (at memoerandum).The biggest is Digg, which overtook Slashdot earlier this year. Reddit was recently bought by Wired magazine. Findory is slightly different, learning what you like the more you use it.\n\ndigg.com\n\nreddit.com\n\nmemeorandum.com\n\nmegite.com\n\nfindory.com\n\nOffbeat\n\nSnopes checks out unbelievable tales, scams and urban legends and debunks (or confirms) them. Slightly less useful is the 100-strong webring of Unusual Museums of the Internet. These include the Virtual Toilet Paper Museum, the Old Calculators Web Museum and Signalfan's museum of traffic control signals. You can find links to lots of other offbeat sites via the Weird Site's Other Weird Links page. The Onion is the web's leading satire magazine, though with an American bias. Otherwise, for five minutes of fun, try browsing B3ta. This UK site sends out a weekly newsletter of cool links and runs a message board where people post amusingly manipulated pictures. But be warned: it's often offensive - that's part of the point - and most definitely rated NSFW (Not Safe For Work).\n\nsnopes.com\n\nringsurf.com\n\ntheweirdsite.com\n\ntheonion.com\n\nb3ta.com\n\nPolitics\n\nThe MySociety team remains unbeatable for turning Hansard inside out with Theyworkforyou and Publicwhip, but bloggers have begun to expose the unwritten workings of politicians to greater public scrutiny too. Guido Fawkes' blog has the inside gossip from Westminster, while NO2ID agitates on arguably the most important political and technological issue around, while NHS 23 is a wiki outlining the problems with the political, technological and medical drama of the NHS computer- isation programme.\n\ntheyworkforyou.com\n\npublicwhip.org.uk\n\n5thnovember.blogspot.com\n\nno2id.net\n\neditthis.info/nhs_it_info\n\nPublic action\n\nNow, it's time to bug someone in power. The idea that the web can make a difference is growing; politicians are on the web and there's an online petition site at No.10. Pledgebank and HearfromyourMP are both part of the excellent MySociety (mysociety.org) family of sites enabling citizens to connect to decision-makers - and, one would hope, vice versa. Netaction includes The Virtual Activist, a manual for anyone looking to build and promote a cause online. Those interested in helping out in their area might try Timebank, which finds organisations to which to donate spare time.\n\npledgebank.com\n\npetitions.pm.gov.uk\n\nhearfromyourmp.com\n\nnetaction.org\n\ntimebank.org.uk\n\nRadio\n\nRadio now travels over wires, at least to our homes. The BBC dominates here, but there are thousands of stations to choose from. AOL's Shoutcast is interesting: find whatever's on right now (you can tune in via iTunes or any internet radio-enabled player.) Radio-locator and Live-radio list broadcasters worldwide, so you can find something new to listen to. Reciva does the same, but if you buy its internet radio you can add your own favourites online and they show on the gadget; or just listen online.\n\nbbc.co.uk/radio\n\nshoutcast.com\n\nradio-locator.com\n\nlive-radio.net\n\nreciva.com\n\nRecommendation: music\n\nAnother new category: being able to find stuff that's similar to music you like is increasingly important, both to listeners and to record companies trying to profit from niches. Last.fm requires an application that runs on your machine, and shows what other people with the same music like. Pandora says you need a US postcode; so give it one, then enjoy its expert-chosen stations. Liveplasma can search relationships in films as well as music. Tuneglue is a relatively new venture between last.fm and EMI, using data from Amazon and last.fm. Goombah requires a small download and only works on music in an iTunes library, but has been at it for some time.\n\nlast.fm\n\npandora.com\n\nliveplasma.com\n\naudiomap.tuneglue.net\n\ngoombah.com\n\nReference\n\nWikipedia now dominates the reference side of the web, partly because its pages are ranked so highly in Google. User-written, it's not always reliable, but is usually a good place to start. It competes with the Encyclopedia Britannica, which isn't free. However, another traditional alternative is the HighBeam Encyclopedia, which searches more than 57,000 articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia. Otherwise Jim Martindale's Reference Desk, started in 1994, provides an astonishing collection of links to reference sources. For words, try Onelook, which indexes more than 7.5m words in 931 dictionaries. It also has a reverse lookup to find words from their meanings. Finally, Teldir (on the infobel site) has links to the world's online phone books.\n\nen.wikipedia.org\n\nencyclopedia.com\n\nmartindalecenter.com\n\nonelook.com\n\ninfobel.com/teldir\n\nScience\n\nAlphagalileo gives a view of public-facing science in Europe and is a counterpart to eurekalert, the American Association for the Advancement of Science's press announcements forum. Space.com remains fascinating for all things spacey. Nasa contains a wealth of information. The growing importance of climate change makes the RealClimate blog written by climate change scientists important.\n\nalphagalileo.org\n\neurekalert.org\n\nspace.com\n\nnasa.gov/home\n\nrealclimate.org\n\nSearch\n\nGoogle continues to tighten its grip on our hunt for information (it now gets half of all searches) but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best. Search can now encompass your hard drive, blogs (a separate category - see above), images, peer-to-peer and even what used to be out there. Blinkx remains unique with its focus on video, while Ask (now without Jeeves) has made great strides recently, though it only gets a tiny portion of searches.\n\ngoogle.co.uk\n\nsearch.yahoo.com\n\nsearch.msn.co.uk\n\nblinkx.com\n\nask.com\n\nSocial software\n\nThe browser has grown up: now it's the path to meeting people of similar interests and creating your own personal space online in a shared area. Social networks have become a cliche, but that hasn't stopped MySpace becoming the biggest site online. Bebo is popular, Habbo is more tuned to the kids, while Friendster and LinkedIn will appeal to the older user.\n\nmyspace.com\n\nbebo.com\n\nhabbo.com\n\nfriendster.com\n\nlinkedin.com\n\nVideo\n\nThe crowds are all over at YouTube, the poster child of online video (a category too niche to merit mention two years ago; YouTube was founded in February 2005). But it's not the only place to find video. Revver offers a revenue-sharing system (people pay to watch your video, you get some cash). You can also start your own TV station at brightcove and currenttv. And Videojug has demonstrations of how to do lots of possibly useful tasks.\n\nyoutube.com\n\nrevver.com\n\nbrightcove.com\n\ncurrenttv.com\n\nvideojug.com\n\nVirtual worlds\n\nThe key distinction from social sites like MySpace is that virtual worlds give you an avatar - your representation of yourself in the online world. The advent of broadband allied to faster machines has made them usable. When the BBC held a concert in Second Life, it seemed like an anomaly; then IBM's chief executive got an avatar, and suddenly everyone's there. Habbo Hotel is booming with teens. World of Warcraft has millions of users; Everquest, its own culture. Or you can play the Sims online. Whether an influx of new users will make these worlds more antisocial remains open.\n\nsecondlife.com\n\nhabbohotel.co.uk\n\nworldofwarcraft.com\n\nthesimsonline.com\n\neqplayers.station.sony.com/index.vm\n\nZeitgeist\n\nIt's what everyone's talking about. Some of these sites appear above because they're the places to go to find out whatthe webworld is thinking. Watch them whizz by, but don't forget to breathe. YouTube is the moving picture of the web; Flickr the static one. Google Trends shows what the world's looking for; Digg, what it's found. And Technorati shows what it's writing about. youtube.com flickr.com google.com/trends digg.com technorati.com\n\nReaders' suggestions\n\nVideoJug (videojug.com). Videos on how to do everyday stuff such as tying a tie etc. (HiddenAway)\n\nSlideshare (slideshare.net) . For sharing presentations; Best Tech Videos (bestechvideos.com). Very techie tutorial videos; TechXtra (techxtra.ac.uk). Has a long enough 'tail' to answer real queries. (RoddyM)\n\nOnline apps and desktops: Zoho (zoho.com); Cosmopod (cosmopod.com); eyeOS (eyeos.org). Online video editing: jumpcut.com. (hakluytbean)\n\nReevoo (reevoo.com) is a very handy site for people looking for honest feedback on products, as it only publishes reviews known to come from customers. (TechMonkey)\n\n\u00b7 If you'd like to comment on any aspect of Technology Guardian, send your emails to tech@theguardian.com"}
-{"text": "MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) \u2013 A 23-year-old man is charged with attempted murder and assault after he allegedly ran over four people last week outside a nightclub in downtown Minneapolis, leaving one man fighting for his life.\n\nEduardo Morales, of Minneapolis, is facing one count of second-degree attempted murder and three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, court documents filed in Hennepin County show. If convicted of the charges, Morales faces decades behind bars.\n\nAccording to a criminal complaint, Morales and a friend got into a fight with four people shortly after bar close on Oct. 18, outside the Rouge nightclub on North Second Avenue. The dispute was over payment for a show.\n\nMorales\u2019 friend told officers that after the fight Morales asked for his keys, got his Mercedes and began driving them away when he suddenly reversed, running over the four people while going about 50 mph.\n\nMorales then put the car into drive and ran over at least two of the victims again.\n\nResponding officers found one of the victims face down, unconscious with blood coming from his ears, the complaint states. Doctors later told investigators that he\u2019d suffered severe brain injuries and is unlikely to have full brain functionality, if he survives.\n\nThe other three victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries.\n\nMorales turned himself into police about 30 minutes after the hit-and-run. He admitted to running over the men but said it was in self-defense.\n\nMorales is being held in the Hennepin County Jail; his bail was set at $750,000."}
-{"text": "Crafted by NAMCO BANDAI Games' internal TEKKEN development team, TEKKEN REVOLUTION provides fighting game fans and newcomers alike the hard-hitting gameplay of the famed franchise.\n\n\n\nChoose from an initial cast of eight iconic TEKKEN characters to train and battle against AI opponents in Arcade Mode or take on fearsome human rivals spanning the globe through online Ranked and Player Matches.\n\n\n\nThe game also features new bone-crunching Special Arts and Critical Arts moves designed to help newcomers deliver hard-hitting attacks and advanced players to employ new strategies with their favorite fighters.\n\n\n\nFor the first time in TEKKEN history players will be able to level-up their characters, increasing three key attributes; Strength, Endurance and Vigor, to create a combatant tuned to individual play styles. Develop a defensive tank character with high HP to withstand knockout blows while offense focused players can create a damage-inflicting character with low health but high critical hit rates to devastate opponents with a flurry of attacks.\n\n\n\nClick images for larger versions"}
-{"text": "O Minist\u00e9rio do Planejamento, Desenvolvimento e Gest\u00e3o divulgou os dados do 4\u00ba Boletim das Empresas Estatais , que mostrou que as empresas fecharam o terceiro trimestre deste ano com 506.852 empregados, o menor n\u00famero desde 2010, quando havia 497.036 servidores. O secret\u00e1rio de Coordena\u00e7\u00e3o e Governan\u00e7a das Empresas Estatais do MP, Fernando Ant\u00f4nio Ribeiro Soares, disse, no entanto, que 2017 pode terminar com menos empregados, ainda.\n\n\u201cMeu objetivo \u00e9 recuperar as empresas estatais, reduzir os custos, aumentar a produtividade, aproximar-se cada vez mais de indicadores de mercado. As empresas estatais t\u00eam que apresentar sustentabilidade\u201d, explicou o secret\u00e1rio.\n\nNos tr\u00eas primeiros trimestres deste ano, houve redu\u00e7\u00e3o total de 26.336 empregados. As principais redu\u00e7\u00f5es foram na Caixa Econ\u00f4mica Federal, de 7.199 servidores, nos Correios, de 7.129, na Petrobras, 4.019, e no Banco do Brasil, de 2.676.\n\n\u201cA redu\u00e7\u00e3o das empresas estatais est\u00e1 em linha com todo o cen\u00e1rio fiscal que a gente est\u00e1 enfrentando. \u00c9 not\u00f3rio saber que o maior desafio do governo \u00e9 o reequil\u00edbrio das contas p\u00fablicas. Na busca o equil\u00edbrio fiscal, um ajustamento do tamanho do estado acaba por ser necess\u00e1rio, isso \u00e9 fundamental\u201d, disse o secret\u00e1rio do MP.\n\nO n\u00famero de empresas estatais tamb\u00e9m caiu de 154 em 2016 para 149 em 2017.\n\nLucro das estatais aumentou\n\nDe acordo com o advogado e professor de Direito Murilo Jacoby, apesar da redu\u00e7\u00e3o do pessoal, o Boletim tamb\u00e9m aponta que as empresas estatais continuam apresentando aumentos significativos no resultado l\u00edquido consolidado que evoluiu de um preju\u00edzo de R$ 32 bilh\u00f5es em 2015 para um lucro de R$ 4,6 bilh\u00f5es em 2016, representando uma varia\u00e7\u00e3o positiva de R$ 36,6 bilh\u00f5es.\n\n\u201cEm compara\u00e7\u00e3o com o acumulado at\u00e9 o 3\u00ba trimestre de 2016, o presente ano alcan\u00e7ou, at\u00e9 o 3\u00ba trimestre, resultado l\u00edquido de R$ 23,2 bilh\u00f5es ante R$ 8,7 bilh\u00f5es do ano anterior, uma varia\u00e7\u00e3o positiva de 167,2%. Banco do Brasil, Banco de Desenvolvimento Econ\u00f4mico e Social, Caixa, Eletrobras e Petrobras representam mais de 95% dos ativos totais e do patrim\u00f4nio l\u00edquido das estatais federais\u201d, explica.\n\nAs empresas estatais s\u00e3o pessoas jur\u00eddicas de direito privado, organizadas, em sua maioria, sob a forma de sociedades de capital por a\u00e7\u00f5es e de empresas p\u00fablicas. Encontram-se, ainda, entre as subsidi\u00e1rias e controladas dessas empresas, sociedades civis ou por cotas de responsabilidade limitada."}
-{"text": "Advertising Read more\n\nBerlin (AFP)\n\nA wrenching drama recounting Anders Behring Breivik's 2011 massacre in Norway in real time screened at the Berlin film festival Monday, seeking to restore the focus on the young victims and away from the neo-Nazi mass murderer.\n\nThe premiere of \"U - July 22\", tracing the horror of that summer day at a Norwegian Labour Party Youth League camp on the island of Utoya, comes just days after one of the worst school shootings in US history, killing 17 in Florida.\n\nFilmed in a chilling single take, the Norwegian movie traces all 72 minutes of the teenagers' struggle for survival as Breivik picked them off one by one until police finally arrived.\n\nNorwegian director Erik Poppe said that in the seven years since the tragedy, Breivik had repeatedly stolen the spotlight with extravagant court appearances and blanket media coverage, eclipsing the memory of the nation's dead children.\n\n\"As we went on month-by-month, year-by-year, we saw the memory of what took place out on that island faded more and more,\" Poppe, a former war photographer, told reporters after a well-received press preview.\n\n\"I was meeting survivors from that island. They shared that feeling... and this was worrying them.\"\n\nBreivik, disguised as a police officer, tracked and gunned down 69 people, most of them teenagers, on Utoya, shortly after killing eight people in a bombing outside a government building in Oslo.\n\nHe has never expressed any remorse for committing the worst atrocity in Norway's post-war history. He said he killed his victims because they embraced multiculturalism.\n\n- 'Way too early'? -\n\nThe film's production team took the testimony of several survivors to create a fictionalised but painfully realistic account, with a cast of mainly lay actors.\n\nThe movie focuses on a handful of teen protagonists, in particular the sisters Kaja and Emilie, who get separated as the first gunshots ring out.\n\nWhile most of the youth desperately search for hiding spots on the small island as the death toll mounts, 19-year-old Kaja repeatedly runs toward the danger to try to find her younger sibling.\n\nMobile phones set on silent vibrate throughout the woods as terrified parents, receiving the news at home, try to contact their children.\n\nThe camera stays close with the young, ethnically diverse group of campers, with Breivik appearing only a few times as a black-clad shadowy figure in the distance. His name is never mentioned.\n\nAndrea Berntzen, who plays Kaja, said she was just 12 at the time of the attack and had few specific memories of that day apart from \"being scared\".\n\n\"Hearing about this movie, at first I was very critical because I thought it was too early, like many in Norway,\" she said.\n\n\"But reading the script and learning that the focus would be on the youth on the island rather than the man behind this was really important to me.\"\n\n- Nightmare as 'entertainment' -\n\nSome survivors in Norway nevertheless strongly criticised the decision to make the film.\n\n\"Erik Poppe took the worst nightmare of my life and turned it into entertainment,\" said Kent Rune Pedersen, who escaped Utoya with his life, adding he was still haunted by \"flashbacks, dreams, noise, cries and images\".\n\n\"It is out of the question that I would go to the cinema to watch such a film,\" he told AFP.\n\nPoppe said showing a highly emotional dramatisation of events was intended to have a \"healing\" effect for survivors, victims' families and a traumatised country.\n\nBut he said his motivation to shoot the almost unbearable scenes of youth being cut down in their prime was also political.\n\n\"Looking around Europe, neo-fascism is rising day by day, we need to remember what happened out on that island, what neo-fascism can look like,\" he said.\n\nThe keenly awaited movie is one of 19 pictures vying for the Golden Bear top prize at the Berlin film festival, to be awarded on Saturday.\n\nBritish director Paul Greengrass, who won the Golden Bear in 2002 for \"Bloody Sunday\", is reportedly making his own film about the massacre for Netflix, \"Norway\".\n\n\u00a9 2018 AFP"}
-{"text": "A draft text on the future of the Irish border would commit the UK to allowing a \"full alignment\" of regulatory issues between the Republic and Northern Ireland.\n\nIf agreed it would be a major success for the Irish government - but sources say the U.K. face a big task to sell it to the DUP.\n\nSources say the proposal currently on the table is close to status quo.\n\nIt would allow for the free movement of people and goods across the border in a post-Brexit era.\n\nHowever, sources say a deal may still not be done today.\n\n\"We do not have an absolute deadline on this,\" said a source in Dublin.\n\nSpeaking on RTE Radio One's News at One the Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said:\n\n\"There has been good progress made this morning in terms of trying to find accommodation between Irish concerns and British government positions.\"\n\nHe said the Taoiseach will be able to make a \"positive statement to the country and make some reassurance in the context of Brexit.\"\n\nHe added: \"We need very clear language that protects the Good Friday Agreement\"\n\nMore to follow...\n\nOnline Editors"}
-{"text": "Kang Daniel\u2019s contract with LM Entertainment has been confirmed to be invalid.\n\nThe court previously made the decision to suspend his contract on May 10, but LM Entertainment filed an appeal afterwards.\n\nOn July 11, Kang Daniel\u2019s legal representative released the following statement:\n\nHello, this is Yeom Yong Pyo of Yulchon LLC, who is legally representing singer Kang Daniel. The 51st Civil Affairs Division of the Seoul Central District Court decided today, July 11, to not accept the application for the injunction appeal filed by LM Entertainment on May 13 and to approve the original decision made on May 10 on the injunction for the suspension of his exclusive contract.\n\nKang Daniel recently established his own agency and is gearing up for his solo debut.\n\nSource (1)\n\nTop photo credit: Xportsnews"}
-{"text": "Jony Ive Is Leaving Apple\n\nApple Newsroom:\n\nApple today announced that Sir Jony Ive, Apple\u2019s chief design officer, will depart the company as an employee later this year to form an independent design company which will count Apple among its primary clients. While he pursues personal projects, Ive in his new company will continue to work closely and on a range of projects with Apple.\n\nFirst: Wow. There\u2019ve been rumors for years that Ive had one foot out the door, that his last real interest at Apple was designing Apple Park, not Apple products. But it\u2019s something else to see it. This angle that he\u2019s still going to work with Apple as an independent design firm seems like pure spin. You\u2019re either at Apple or you\u2019re not. Ive is out.\n\nSecond: This dropped like a bomb. As far as I can tell no one in the media got a heads up about this news. Ever since Steve Jobs died it\u2019s seemed to me that Ive ran his own media interaction.\n\nThird: This may be good news. Ive is, to state the obvious, preternaturally talented. But in the post-Jobs era, with all of Apple design, hardware and software, under his control, we\u2019ve seen the software design decline and the hardware go wonky. I don\u2019t know the inside story, but it certainly seems like a good bet that the MacBook keyboard fiasco we\u2019re still in the midst of is the direct result of Jony Ive\u2019s obsession with device thinness and minimalism. Today\u2019s MacBooks are worse computers but more beautiful devices than the ones they replaced. Is that directly attributable to Jony Ive? With these keyboards in particular, I believe the answer is yes.\n\nFourth: Apple\u2019s hardware and industrial design teams work so far out that, even if I\u2019m right and Ive is now effectively out of Apple, we\u2019ll still be seeing Ive-designed hardware 5 years from now. It is going to take a long time to evaluate his absence.\n\nFifth: Fuck this \u201csir\u201d shit. We don\u2019t have titles in the United States.\n\n\u201cJony is a singular figure in the design world and his role in Apple\u2019s revival cannot be overstated, from 1998\u2019s groundbreaking iMac to the iPhone and the unprecedented ambition of Apple Park, where recently he has been putting so much of his energy and care,\u201d said Tim Cook, Apple\u2019s CEO. \u201cApple will continue to benefit from Jony\u2019s talents by working directly with him on exclusive projects, and through the ongoing work of the brilliant and passionate design team he has built. After so many years working closely together, I\u2019m happy that our relationship continues to evolve and I look forward to working with Jony long into the future.\u201d\n\nTranslation: He\u2019s gone.\n\nDesign team leaders Evans Hankey, vice president of Industrial Design, and Alan Dye, vice president of Human Interface Design, will report to Jeff Williams, Apple\u2019s chief operating officer.\n\nThis organizational structure makes no sense to me.\n\nI\u2019ve never been an \u201cApple is doomed without Steve Jobs\u201d person. But part of what made Apple the Apple we know in the post-1997 era is that when Jobs was at the helm, all design decisions were going through someone with great taste. Not perfect taste, but great taste. But the other part of what made Jobs such a great leader is that he could recognize bad decisions, sooner rather than later, and get them fixed.\n\nI think Tim Cook is a great CEO and Jeff Williams is a great COO. But who\u2019s in charge of product design now? There is no new chief design officer, which, really, is what Steve Jobs always was. From a product standpoint, the post-Jobs era at Apple has been the Jony Ive era, not the Tim Cook era. That\u2019s not a knock on Tim Cook. To his credit, Tim Cook has never pretended to be a product guy, which is exactly the hubris that John Sculley succumbed to back in the early \u201990s, leading to the Newton being launched far before it was ready and the Macintosh platform languishing.\n\nMy gut sense for years has been that Ive without Jobs has been like McCartney without Lennon. Or Lennon without McCartney \u2014 take whichever analogical pairing you prefer. My point here is only that the fruit of their collaborations were, seemingly magically, far greater than the sums of the duos\u2019 talents and tastes.\n\nOne thing I do know \u2014 which Cook alludes to in his statement above, and which I think was made crystal clear in Ian Parker\u2019s extraordinary 2015 profile of Ive in The New Yorker, which is, in my opinion, the most insightful piece ever written about post-Jobs Apple \u2014 is that Jony Ive had moved beyond designing computers. And let\u2019s be clear: the entire point of Apple has always been and should always remain designing computers. Everything they make is a computer. Their genius in recent years has been making things that don\u2019t seem like computers but really are computers. Apple Watch is a computer. AirPods are computers. We\u2019ve got computers \u2014 excellent computers \u2014 in our fucking ears. That\u2019s Apple.\n\nBut Ive\u2019s attention turned more toward architecture. Apple Park is going to be a 100-year testimony to Jony Ive\u2019s design. And it\u2019s fascinating to me that Ive is leaving Apple with a single typeface \u2014 San Francisco \u2014 that the company now uses for everything. It\u2019s the system font for every platform. It\u2019s the only font they use for advertising and packaging. Type choices under Steve Jobs were excellent, but always a little ad hoc. Myriad for advertising and packaging, Lucida Grande for Mac OS X, Helvetica for the iPhone. I think it\u2019s safe to say that Steve Jobs was far less rigorous than Jony Ive. The rigor necessary to develop a single type family that can work for everything from a digital watch face to a 100-foot billboard advertisement is extraordinary. And Ive has also brought that rigorous consistency to Apple\u2019s architecture. Their new campus and their new retail stores are of the same design language \u2014 lighting, materials, furniture.\n\nBut Apple doesn\u2019t need a chief architect. They\u2019re only going to build one Apple Park and it\u2019s already been done.\n\nIt makes me queasy to see that Apple\u2019s chief designers are now reporting to operations. This makes no more sense to me than having them report to the LLVM compiler team in the Xcode group. Again, nothing against Jeff Williams, nothing against the LLVM team, but someone needs to be in charge of design for Apple to be Apple and I can\u2019t see how that comes from operations. I don\u2019t think that \u201cchief design officer\u201d should have been a one-off title created just for Jony Ive. Not just for Apple, but especially at Apple, it should be a permanent C-level title. I don\u2019t think Ive ever should have been put in control of software design, but at least he is a designer.\n\nI don\u2019t worry that Apple is in trouble because Jony Ive is leaving; I worry that Apple is in trouble because he\u2019s not being replaced."}
-{"text": "In the autumn of 1931, a reporter from the Millersburg Sentinel sat down with Catherine Myers in her daughter\u2019s home in Lykens to talk about the old days\u2026 the really old days.\n\nAt the time of the interview, Myers was 91-years-old and still going strong. The reporter, F. Park Campbell, dutifully reported that Myers had \u201cbeen in good health and has eaten all kinds of food and drinks coffee.\u201d But this woman\u2019s recollections of the past were the main reason that Campbell traveled to Lykens to interview her amid the Great Depression\u2019s worsening grip on Williams Valley.\n\nCatherine Romberger was born on March 5, 1840 to Samuel and Elizabeth Romberger in Porter Township, Schuylkill County and grew up in the slowly industrializing mining region of Williams Valley. At a young age, her mother died and Romberger bounced from household to household, gradually learning the skills required to keep a household running in a largely wild, rural landscape in the 1840s and early 1850s. This is the time period she describes in her interview with the Sentinel reporter in 1931:\n\nWe had no electric lights then and there were very few lamps. We used candles and pine knots and we also had a form we called a toad in which we poured lard. A wick of cotton was placed in the lard and this made a feeble light. Very few people had matches in those days but to start a fire we had two stones, called \u2018fire stones,\u2019 which, when struck together produced sparks. These sparks ignited punk wood from which fire was kindled. People did no have stoves when I was a youngster but did their cooking and baking in a big fireplace. In one corner of the fireplace was an offset where pine knots were placed and lighted. By this light we could sit and spin. We made most of the cloth used in our clothes and did all of our own clothes making. In cooking, pots were suspended over the fire in the fireplace and our frying pans were equipped with three long legs so that they could be placed over the fire.\n\nThere were no washboards in my early days and our washes looked and were clean, too. Clothes were soaked in wood ashes or lye and then boiled. Having no clothes pins, the clothes were hung across poles to dry, after they had been thoroughly boiled and rinsed several times. Very few people in our section had irons, so, when the wash was finally dry, after two days of handling, we folded it up, placed the pieces on chair and sat upon them, which gave the clothes the only ironing they received at our house.\n\nWe had coffee, ever since I can remember, and candy, mostly stick candy, black sugar, and black molasses. The sugar was dark brown but we called it black and I never saw white sugar until after the Civil War. We made apple butter and dried fruits but jelly making and canning was unknown to my mothers and I knew nothing of fruit jars and jelly glasses until after the war. People just started to keep house after the war.\n\nThere are no hard times now. Why, people don\u2019t know what hard times are. Of course everybody was poor then and no one knew better. We had no carpets on the floor and ran barefoot until Christmas, no matter what the weather was like. Our shoes were of calf skin, made by hand, and very serviceable. There were no fine shoes then. Many of our meals were of mush and milk or potatoes and milk. We did not know anything about Thanksgiving Day and much less, roast turkey, because we were not equipped to do roasting. Men worked for 50 cents a day, during harvesting and hay making, and they worked hard, as there was no machinery.\n\nWe girls and the women wore calico dresses for our best and were mighty proud to be the owner of one. I never saw a silk dress until after the war, but I have one now.\n\nWhiskey in those days sold for three cents a drink, which was about the cheapest article on the market.\n\nSunday school was conducted then about the same as today. We had Sunday school picnics, too, and we had good times. The superintendent would arrange a lot of stick candy on a couple of boards and we would line up, march by the boards and each child could take two sticks of candy. When this was over, the superintendent left us do as we pleased.\n\nAt Christmas time we had molasses cake, cookies, and pies to eat and everybody had a jolly time but no gifts were exchanged.\n\nMost of the country in the Lykens and Williams Valleys was timberland and the chief method of transportation was on foot. The nearest doctor to Lykens was at Tremont or Pine Grove. We walked every place we wanted to go and while we had very things to amuse us, we had substantial food and usually good health. No newspaper came to our house when I was a young girl, in fact, I did not know much about newspapers until after the war.\n\nIn 1856, she married George Myers, a farmer from Wiconisco Township who later took up work in the mines of the Lykens Valley Coal Company in Bear Gap.\n\n\u201cWhen the Civil War broke out, the young couple had three children,\u201d Campbell reported, \u201cbut the father enlisted for three months\u2019 service with the Pennsylvania troops.\u201d Myers had enlisted with the local militia company in the 10th Pennsylvania Infantry in the excitement of 1861. He later served with the 173rd Pennsylvania from November 1862 through August 1863. While he was away, Catherine Myers had a fourth child.\n\nWhen her husband returned from war, he again took up work in the mines of Wiconisco and their family grew rapidly to include a total of 11 children. F. Parker Campbell told the rest of her story in the Sentinel:\n\nMr. Myers died 39 years and after his death his widow kept the home going until 26 years ago\u2026 Mrs. Myers [has] 32 grandchildren, 54 great-grandchildren, and 4 great-great-grandchildren\u2026\n\nShe is a staunch Republican and during the fall primaries voted for her grandson Arthur E. Myers, who was subsequently elected a county poor director. She has not been out of the house since the primaries.\n\nMrs. Myers usually retired at 9 o\u2019clock and is up at 7 next morning. While unable to write, she reads quite a bit, her favorite newspaper being the \u201cNational Tribune,\u201d published in Washington. She was 13-years-old when the first post office was opened at Wiconisco and remembers the first postmaster, Henry Schaffer. At that time the Wiconisco post office also served Lykens residents.\n\nShe speaks entertainingly of the days in Lykens and Williams Valleys when there were no railroads, the early days of the Lykens mines and many other incidents of a by-gone age. Mrs. Myers has never been outside of the State of Pennsylvania but in late years has visited relatives and friends in the nearby counties, traveling by automobile\u2026\n\nCatherine Romberger Myers passed away in October 1933 at the age of 93.\n\nHer recollection provides us with something that\u2019s fairly rare in the history of Williams Valley: recollections of the difficult early days from the perspective of a woman. In her lifetime, she watched Williams Valley go from barely tamed wilderness to industrialized towns, the arrival of the railroad, the desolation of the 1877 mine fire, the advent of the telegraph, the telephone, the airplane, a horrific world war, and the development of radio. Despite not seeing much of the world outside Pennsylvania\u2019s Williams Valley, she watched an incredible amount of life play out before her in her hometown.\n\nFeatured Image: Miners\u2019 houses in Williams Valley shortly after the Civil War.\n\nThis story was accessed through Newspapers.com from the West Schuylkill Herald of Tower City, PA, January 15, 1932. Additionally, there is some confusion as to whether or not she was born in 1840 or 1842. Census records in the 1850s and 1860s record her as being born in 1842, but 20th century documents put it in 1840.\n\nFollow Blog via Email Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email."}
-{"text": "Roy Moore, who was twice ousted as chief justice of the Alabama state Supreme Court, has largely based his Senate run around his promise to make life difficult for Washington\u2019s entrenched class. | Scott Olson/Getty Images Moore forms fundraising pact with national GOP The anti-establishment Alabama Republican will raise money with the RNC and NRSC.\n\nRoy Moore has campaigned as Mr. Anti-Establishment. Now, he and the establishment are starting to link up.\n\nThe Alabama Republican\u2019s Senate campaign on Tuesday signed a joint fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee, National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Alabama Republican Party, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission.\n\n\nMoore, who was twice ousted as chief justice of the Alabama state Supreme Court, has largely based his Senate run around his promise to make life difficult for Washington\u2019s entrenched class, including his own party\u2019s leadership. Moore has pledged to oppose Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, among other things. But the fundraising pact is a formal behind-the-scenes step by the establishment to support Moore, after unsuccessfully spending millions to defeat him in Alabama\u2019s primary.\n\nThe new fund, Alabama 2017 Senate Victory Committee, will allow Moore to raise $80,500 at a time from individual contributors.\n\nSign up here for POLITICO Huddle A daily play-by-play of congressional news in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.\n\nFew senators have stepped up to support Moore vocally, though he\u2019s gotten backing from potential colleagues like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Utah Sen. Mike Lee \u2014 all of whom ran anti-establishment campaigns to get to the Senate. Lee and Paul are set to raise money for Moore in Washington next month, while Cruz sent a fundraising email for Moore.\n\nWhile the move will help Moore raise money, it could hinder his case as a swamp drainer. Most Alabama polls show Moore leading Democrat Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney, by points in the high single digits, ahead of the December special election."}
-{"text": "(Fully) Document your DataMapper models with YARD\n\nAny release quality software has to provide documentation, for the future maintainers and other developers. Traditionally, Ruby projects would use RDoc and add custom documentation blurbs to their classes, methods, attributes and constants. Unfortunately, there\u2019s a major limitation to RDoc, I can\u2019t be extended to recognize new meta-programming method calls.\n\nThis rigidness of RDoc really shows up when you need to document ORM backed projects, such as one containing DataMapper models. DataMapper allows one to define the properties and relations between models using handy class-methods:\n\nclass MyModel include DataMapper::Resource # The primary key of the model property :id, Serial # The name of the model property :name, String # The many authors contributing to the model has n, :authors # The user that owns the model belongs_to :user end\n\nRDoc will not recognize property, has or belongs_to . Nor will RDoc know that property adds a class-method and instance reader/writer methods with the given name to the model. Documentation fail.\n\nEnter YARD\n\nYARD is a documentation generation tool for the Ruby programming language. It enables the user to generate consistent, usable documentation that can be exported to a number of formats very easily, and also supports extending for custom Ruby constructs such as custom class level definitions.\n\nhttp://github.com/lsegal/yard\n\nYARD organizes most of it's parsing logic into multiple handlers; essentially classes that inherit YARD::Handlers::Ruby::Base and define a process method. YARD also supports a plugin system, by loading any RubyGems installed on the system that are prefixed with yard- or yard_ . Using these two features of YARD, one can easily create a YARD plugin gem containing custom handlers, which YARD can automatically load and use.\n\nyard-dm\n\nyard-dm is a YARD plugin for parsing DataMapper model syntax. The plugin can handle the following statements:\n\nproperty :name, Type\n\nhas n, :things\n\nhas 1, :thing\n\nhas 0..n, :things\n\nhas 1..n, :things\n\nhas 2..5, :things\n\nbelongs_to :stuff\n\nInstall It\n\n$ sudo gem install yard-dm\n\nUse It\n\n$ cd dm-project/ $ yardoc\n\nIt's that easy.\n\nNext time you need complete documentation on your DataMapper backed project, just install YARD and yard-dm."}
-{"text": "Hotmail owner Microsoft said a sign-in problem affecting some users had been resolved - after users worldwide reported they were unable to access emails.\n\nIt is unclear what was behind the problem, though people took to social media in their droves to complain about the outage.\n\nMicrosoft said in a brief statement: \"Some customers may have experienced difficulty signing in to some services.\n\n\"The issue has been resolved.\"\n\nA spokeswoman was unable to provide any further details when asked about the scale of the outage.\n\n\nHotmail, which has been rebranded under Microsoft's Outlook banner, is believed to have crashed before midday GMT.\n\nMicrosoft's Twitter accounts were flooded with users desperate for information - with some saying their usual business operations were being damaged by the glitch.\n\nGreat wait a few hrs and try again @Microsoft explain what the issue is #hotmail #email pic.twitter.com/GqYV4xAEGu \u2014 Bridgette (@BridgetteBkeane) March 7, 2017\n\nThe company responded to one user in Ireland: \"Sorry for the inconvenience. We know about the issue and are currently working on the resolution. Request you try and log in again after a few hours.\"\n\nAnother user wrote on a Microsoft community site: \"I've had repeated issues in the last 15 mins logging into Hotmail -first it said my account doesn't exist and then it says that my account can't be located, and then finally it asks for my password but the page doesn't look legit.\"\n\nIt comes months after Microsoft disclosed details of cyber attacks by a hacking group that exploited a security flaw in its Windows operating system.\n\nThe disclosure in November revealed that a group previously linked to the Russian government and US political hacks was behind the attacks.\n\nIt said at the time that it was issuing a new \"patch\" to protect Windows against the newly discovered threat.\n\nMicrosoft has not said what might be behind the latest problems."}
-{"text": "Benjamin Pedersen and Konrad Czaczyk return to lineup. John Paul Southern Jr. enters as rookie.\n\nLast minute entries for the Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda continue to intensify the competition, increasing the grid to 32 entries for the season debut at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida, April 8-9.\n\nReturning to the F4 U.S. lineup with Global Racing Group is second-year driver Benjamin Pederson of Copenhagen, Denmark, and competing for a partial season under Group-A Racing is inaugural season first runner-up Konrad Czaczyk of Loxahatchee, Florida. John Paul Southern Jr. of Westlake, Ohio, was also confirmed by Jay Howard\u2019s Motorsport Driver Development as its fourth driver.\n\n\u201cWe couldn\u2019t be more pleased about the continued response F4 U.S. is receiving,\u201d said SCCA Pro Racing Vice President Steve Oseth. \u201cIt is a clear indicator of the value F4 U.S. presents.\u201d\n\nPedersen, 17, resumes his F4 campaign in the black and orange striped No. 24 DirtFish Rally car with Haas Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean as his mentor.\n\n\u201cOnly 10 months ago, I sat in the DirtFish car for the first time. To grab a podium position in the first F4 race in the United States was simply amazing,\u201d said Pedersen. \u201cHaving Romain as a mentor is very humbling. To have someone as knowledgeable as him, is a huge advantage. Following a pre-season program involving testing, training, simulator work, physical exercise and classroom training, I can\u2019t wait for the red lights to go out at Homestead-Miami Speedway.\u201d\n\nPedersen finished 10th overall in the inaugural season, and with his return, Grosjean will be added to GRG\u2019s Sporting Advisory Board.\n\n\u201cOur connections across the world to FIA Formula series is an essential element in providing opportunities for our drivers,\u201d said GRG President and CEO Christian Pedersen. \u201cRomain Grosjean and his team provide us tremendous help and guidance in that regard. We are excited to have him on our Sporting Advisory Board.\u201d\n\nCzaczyk returns to Homestead-Miami Speedway after an incredible 2016 season. The 20-year-old swept the inaugural event and went on to complete the season with six second-place finishes and one third-place finish.\n\n\"We are very excited about adding K onrad to our lineup this year,\u201d said Group-A team principal Joe Scarallo. \u201cThis is a very last minute addition but with our crews experience and Konrad's success last year we think we can play catch up really quick to have some great results.\"\n\nDue to a previous commitment, Czaczyk will compete in only three of the six F4 U.S. events for Group-A Racing. The team will fill the seat for Indianapolis Motor Speedway, VIRginia International Raceway and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with a soon-to-be-announced driver.\n\nSouthern, 15, finalized MDD\u2019s lineup. The rookie starts his F4 U.S. career coming off a successful 2016 season, earning three national karting championships.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to not only improving my driving skills,\u201d said Southern, \u201cbut also gaining experience in public speaking, communicating clearly with engineers, building my brand and moving up the racing ladder. MDD and F4 will help me become a well-rounded athlete.\u201d\n\nThe F4 U.S. Championship joins the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli for a high-energy SCCA Pro road racing weekend. General admission tickets are available for purchase in advance of the event at HomesteadMiamiSpeedway.com for $10 on Saturday and $15 on Sunday. Two-day passes can also be purchased online for $20.\n\nGeneral admission tickets will be available at the gate on the day of the event. Infield tickets are $15 on Saturday and $20 on Sunday. Two-day passes purchased at the gate are $25. Children 12 years and younger are admitted for free on both days. Parking is free all weekend and will be located in the infield on Main Street and Road Course South (east portion).\n\nFor an event schedule and entry list click here.\n\nVideo- JP Southern Jr testing at Gingerman"}
-{"text": "Could yet another Elon Musk project in Australia have blossomed on Twitter?\n\nProbably not, but he's quoted $1 billion AUD for it anyway.\n\nThe Tesla CEO responded to a tweet from Australian politician Jeremy Buckingham, who reached out to Musk about solving traffic congestion in Sydney with a tunnel possibly similar to the test unveiled by The Boring Company in Los Angeles.\n\nCurrently home to several multi-billion-dollar tunnel projects, Sydney is Australia's most congested city, according to a 2018 report by the National Roads and Motorists' Association (NRMA).\n\nBuckingham, a Sydney-based, independent New South Wales MP, wondered how much it would cost to build a 50-kilometer (31-mile) tunnel stretching through the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.\n\nMusk responded, breaking down costs for two-way high speed transit at around $750 million (at $15 million per kilometer), and $50 million to build a station. If these numbers are in U.S dollars, that total $800 million translates to a cheeky A$1.1 billion.\n\nAbout $15M/km for a two way high speed transit, so probably around $750M plus maybe $50M/station \u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 16, 2019\n\nTo put it in perspective, The Boring Company said its 1.14-mile (1.8 kilometer) test tunnel, located in Hawthorne, California, cost $10 million (A$13.8 miilion).\n\nBuckingham added more detail, posting an image of the tunnel's potential route running from the suburb of Penrith in western Sydney to near Lithgow in the Blue Mountains, and writing that he'd raise the project with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.\n\n\"Thanks mate. Sounds like a bargain,\" he replied.\n\nPredictably, and even though it was just a rough quote on Twitter, engineers and Australian politicians have already picked apart Musk's numbers.\n\nNSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance had his team cost out the project, and declared it would more likely sit at A$3 billion for a road tunnel, or A$6 billion for a road and rail tunnel, reports the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).\n\n\"I absolutely love his vision,\" Constance told the broadcaster. \"That's [the] kind of innovation in years to come which could form part of the transport network.\n\n\"If there's any unsolicited proposals we will absolutely take it very seriously, but at the moment what is being looked at from his perspective isn't a reality at this time.\"\n\nTunnel engineer Arnold Dix, advisor to fellow billionaire Richard Branson's Hyperloop project, told the ABC it was probably just a \"thought bubble\" from Musk, and that \"he was probably just sitting on his jet with nothing to do.\"\n\n\"He's managed to popularize concepts and extreme engineering that no one was talking about previously,\" Dix told the broadcaster.\n\n\"On that note, I say it's not necessarily a bad thing. And if he's prepared to sign up to $1 billion price tag \u2014 like he did with the South Australian battery project \u2014 then I say sign him up.\"\n\nIt wouldn't be the first time Australian politicians have approached Musk on Twitter with an ambitious project.\n\nIn November 2018, Tesla CEO finished the world's biggest battery, a Powerpack system with 100 megawatts of capacity, in South Australia following a now famous bet derived from light Tesla bragging and Twitter banter with March 2018.\n\nMusk said that if he didn't get it done in 100 days, he'd foot the bill, which could have been up to US$50 million (A$65 million). Yeah, he got it done.\n\nWhether this tunnel happens is another thing, but if nothing else, the idea at least has this frustrated, traffic-logged Sydneysider thinking big."}
-{"text": "This proposal is cross-posted from https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/proposal-dash-visual-identity-decision-proposal.37125/ Last month the community voted on two competing proposals regarding Dash\u2019s future visual identity. We set rules for the contest: the proposal that received the most net votes would be chosen for our visual identity, subject to the constraints that net votes must be positive and at least 20% of the masternodes must have voted. The visual identity presented by Tharp and Clark won according to those rules.The altered rules were well-intentioned, as we were attempting to use the proposal system as a multi-option polling mechanism. We assumed most voters would vote \u201cno\u201d for one proposal and \u201cyes\u201d to the competing one. Additionally, we knew that masternode operators that preferred the existing Dash identity would vote \u201cno\u201d to both proposals. Under those competitive conditions, we anticipated more \u201cno\u201d votes would be cast than \u201cyes\u201d, and adhering to the 10% net votes threshold would constitute an unreasonable threshold. As expected, more \u201cno\u201d votes were cast than \u201cyes\u201d during the voting cycle.However, a meaningful number of members of the Dash community and of Dash Core Group strongly feel that since the proposal presented by Tharp and Clark didn\u2019t surpass the 10% net vote threshold, the proposal wasn\u2019t actually passed by the network. Thus, we should not use the visual identity presented by Tharp and Clark until a proper vote is held specifically covering it - because it would violate the rules of our governance system.After countless hours of discussion over this topic, we realized that both interpretations of the rules have merit. Furthermore, it became clear that most people were entrenched and unwilling to change their established opinions on the matter. We don\u2019t want to create a schism in the community over the issue, so we propose a vote on the Tharp and Clark design against only the existing logo. We are quite certain it will receive more than 10% of net positive votes, as most community members seem to favor the design over the current logo, even if they previously voted against it in favor of the Ogilvy option. For many community members that are calling for a vote, this is more about making the decision official and indisputable, and not stemming from a desire to overturn the result. This will put any questions regarding the legitimacy of the design to bed. However, if it doesn\u2019t clear the 10% approval threshold, then we will keep the current logo. Once the vote is complete we will be able to move forward united regardless of the final result.While there is a proposal to fund the Tharp and Clark design, which appears likely to pass in the May cycle, proponents of a confirmation vote contend that support for funding their work is not the same as supporting the branding change. In short, a masternode operator that preferred to keep the current logo but felt that Tharp and Clark deserved to be paid would feel compelled to vote yes regardless of whether they preferred the new logo. Therefore, the only way to know with absolute certainty is to hold a separate decision proposal.Below are updated image of the Tharp and Clark design and a short presentation:This is a revised version of the logo they proposed in the last cycle to includes some of the feedback from the community:1. Shape and slope of the face of the D to bring more in harmony with rest of the wordmark2. Slightly longer, bigger dashmark that is also pushed a little closer inside the D that helpswith eye flow and unity3. Interior of the \u201ca\u201d slightly larger and more open4. Lower case spacing for balanceThe presentation is the one included in the competitive phase of the process, so the logo is slightly different to the one presented above. They are working on a full style guide, but it is not finished and we wanted to put up this proposal in this cycle. The changes are small, so we believe that this gives a good enough idea of whatthey are proposing.Note: Tharp and Clark will be paid for their work regardless of the outcome of this proposal. Their first invoice has already been paid and the second one will be paid upon completion of a few pending tasks. Earlier this month we submitted a proposal to reimburse the Dash Core Marketing budget for the payment related to the first invoice (since that expense had not been previously funded by the treasury). Here is the link to that proposal: https://www.dashcentral.org/p/Core-Team-Tharp-and-Clark-0518 If you have any questions, please direct them to @Fernando in the original Forum post.Requested funding is as follows for the May 3rd budget cycle:- 5.00 Dash proposal reimbursement"}
-{"text": "ARIA Awards Hall of Fame inductee is fittingly a guest programmer on rage this weekend.\n\nThe former Sherbet singer gets behind the Playlist at 12:20am Sunday December 3rd (Saturday night) on ABC.\n\nBraithwaite is inducted into the Hall of Fame tonight in Sydney.\n\nUpdate: also 10am Saturday.\n\nRelated"}
-{"text": "Tabac Manil Tinned Pipe Tobaccos 3 Total\n\n+ About Tabac Manil\n\nLong the secret of the Ardennes' misty valleys, Semois remained unheard of to most outside Belgium until a writer for the New York Times received some as a gift, leading in turn to an article on this distinctive regional leaf. Earthy, floral and cool, many who've now had the chance to try it often find themselves grasping in vain for a well-known tobacco to compare it to. The simple truth is, Semois is Semois; a straight, all-natural Burley grown under unique conditions, resulting in a unique leaf, produced only by Vincent and Gaetane Manil, only in the traditional manner, and from a tobacco grown only in the Semois valley.\n\nclose x"}
-{"text": "Belize\n\nOver 200 pristine cayes (islands) are scattered along Belize\u2019s coastline\u2014each surrounded by crystal clear, turquoise seawater that teems with brilliant fish, coral, and sponges.\n\nA favorite pastime on the cayes is to relax in a hammock, under a gently swaying coconut palm, while sipping an icy Belikin beer, or a pina colada\u2026 It\u2019s the perfect spot to relax and watch the frothy white waves wash against the Mesoamerican barrier reef\u2026 For those who live on a caye, the living reef is so close it\u2019s a visible touchstone, a reminder of its many wonders. Diving, snorkeling, fishing, kayaking, sailing, and surfing are pleasant activities in the shallow waters inside the protection of the reef\u2026\n\nThe Caribbean seascape you see from the mainland is equally stunning. Placencia\u2019s 17 miles of golden sand beaches are perfect for long, leisurely strolls and days spent sunning or picnicking near the sea. Sailboats, cruisers, and catamarans come and go from the deeper water docks, or idle in the calm, protected waters at the tip of Placencia Village.\n\nFrom Placencia it\u2019s a short drive to a host of other mainland activities such as hiking, bird-watching, and zip lining.\n\nBelize is quintessential Caribbean but with Maya roots.\n\nBut Belize offers much more than the beauty of the Caribbean Sea and Mesoamerican reef. It\u2019s complimented by the lush, wild jungles of the Maya Mountains, with tumbling rivers, mysterious Maya ruins, and awe-inspiring rainforests. The Cayo region is rich with productive farms and the perfect spot for homesteading expats.\n\nA small country barely the size of Massachusetts it\u2019s easy to travel from one part of the country to another. As one adventurous expat eloquently described his rational for moving to Belize, \u201cI can be Jacques Cousteau in the morning\u2014diving in the blue hole, and Indiana Jones in the afternoon\u2014exploring a Maya cave in the jungles\u2026\u201d\n\nBelize offers other advantages. As a British Commonwealth country, English is the primary language, making it easy for expats to transition. This little country is also well known for its open-arms attitude toward expats who wish to become residents, or to open a business.\n\nTalk to expats who live in Belize and you\u2019ll hear a common theme\u2026Belizean people are warm, helpful, and made them feel welcome.\n\nMost expats who live in Belize today moved from the USA, Canada, Britain, and other European countries.\n\nThe Pros and Cons of Living in Belize\n\nBy Laura Diffendal\n\nBelize offers distinct and varied ways to live. You can choose a tranquil, laidback beach lifestyle in Placencia, a Jimmy Buffet-style, non-stop party life on the island of Ambergris Caye, or an off-the-grid life out in the wild west of Cayo.\n\nTypically, Belize attracts those who are looking to get away from the materialism of the U.S., free-spirited adventurers, or entrepreneurs. So if you are looking for a comfortable, fun, warm, welcoming, tropical place to live, with a ton of energy and opportunity, Belize might be right for you.\n\nTropical Living\n\nPros\n\nBelize offers summer weather all year round, throughout the country. For me, and lots of other expats, the tropical, sunny, weather is perfect. You get great breezes off the Caribbean Sea year round. So, you can leave those boots and pants in the U.S.\n\nBelize is an outdoor-living type of place\u2014you find that there are so many options with over-the-water dining, shady hammocks on the beach, and plenty of places to cool off in the sea or in the rivers, that a refreshing break is always steps away. With the lifestyle often being centered around nature, you don\u2019t need to spend money to do things in Belize\u2014the beaches and water fun you can have are endless and never get old.\n\nCons:\n\nI have not personally found the bugs to be a deal-breaker in Ambergris Caye or Placencia. Yes, there are bugs, but you learn quickly how to live with it and what to do to avoid the annoyances of tropical bugs. For example, in the summer months, when it rains, you are going to have the mosquito happy hour between about 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. You figure out what repellents work for you and where to go/what to do to avoid them. There are times where there are jellyfish in the sea, but it is temporary, and you can always find another place to swim if one area is getting the current.\n\nCost of Living\n\nPros\n\nExpats save money in Belize in a number of ways. You won\u2019t need a car in many places in Belize\u2014and if you do, definitely only one. Most expats get a bike or a golf cart and you save a lot of money based on what you spend in the U.S.\u2014although gas is expensive, you use much less than in the U.S. Property taxes are extremely low here, under $100 for most people who own a home. To be able to live on a coast with these ridiculously low taxes is a huge understated savings. Most expats do their shopping at the vast array of farmer\u2019s markets throughout the country, which is less expensive than produce in the U.S. Although imported foods are expensive, you learn to eat like a local, everything is fresh and made from scratch.\n\nBelize is a very non-materialistic place and people do not spend money on items like they do in the U.S. You find you don\u2019t need the stuff you left in the U.S. There isn\u2019t much to buy here, it is one of the greatest lifestyle shifts that I have personally experienced. Fancy things look out of place here. Socializing is done at thatch-roof bars on the water, on the beach, at happy hour, or at the vast array of community festivals, and fundraising events that are part of life here.\n\nCons\n\nReal estate is more expensive in Belize compared to other Central American countries, or to the U.S. Midwest. However, compared to coastal areas in the U.S., the real estate can be a bargain. The infrastructure here requires expats to learn to adapt somewhat, many expats learn to rely on a backup cistern, solar power, or a generator if the occasional water and power outages are a bother. About twice a month, there will be planned or unplanned outages, depending on what area you live in, and these can be anywhere from an hour to a working day. For most people these aren\u2019t deal breakers, but they occur more often than in the U.S. Belize is not a manufacturing country, so there are import taxes that make most goods and imports expensive. Those that succeed in Belize find that adapting to what is here, and adopting a less \u201cstuff-driven\u201d life is actually a bonus.\n\nMedical Care\n\nPros\n\nMost expats enjoy not having to have health insurance and paying as they go for doctor visits which can cost between $25 to $50. In some places doctors even make house calls. Expats tend to find the dental care in Belize to be very satisfactory, and much cheaper than the U.S. For more extensive medical treatment, expats go across the border to Mexico, to Chetumal or Merida. However, there is a major hospital in Belize City. There are also 24/7 polyclinics in Ambergris Caye and Placencia, and in Ambergris Caye they are building a brand new clinic that will have more substantial services.\n\nCons\n\nBelize is a young country, so things like disability regulations, special needs diets, or emergency services are still not available everywhere. For those with serious medical conditions considering moving to Belize this could be a major concern, and should be taken into consideration. There is a substantial expat population in Belize where you can find a wealth of information to help you decide if it will meet your needs.\n\nSafety\n\nPros\n\nIn the tourist and expat areas of Placencia and Ambergris Caye, you will find most expats feel safe, and crime is similar to most tourism areas in the world. Petty theft is an issue, and violent crime, while it happens occasionally, is statistically rare. There are no in-home security systems so most people take measures such as security bars or dogs to help them feel secure. It is smart to be vigilant about your safety and not take unnecessary risks. It is recommended that you join Facebook groups specific to the area of Belize you are interested in. Belize runs on Facebook and there is a great wealth of free information where you can ask questions to expats who live in each area and see if it will work for you.\n\nCons\n\nBelize is not known for its sophisticated policing or legal system. There is a low rate of conviction in Belize, and it can be frustrating working with the police if you are used to the advanced criminal justice system in the U.S.\n\nFind out more about Safety in Belize.\n\nFind Out More From Our Belize Correspondent"}
-{"text": "Could this be the future of Google Glass?\n\nBy Joshua Levenson\n\nWhen Google Glass first went on sale to a select few members of the beta testing public back in April, 2013, there were only two major complaints \u2014 one was the non-inclusion of an external speaker, and the other its design. Within a matter of months, the search engine giant resolved the first issue by introducing a mono earbud, and now it looks like it\u2019s addressing the second.\n\nThere\u2019s no denying that Glass currently looks like a gadget you might see a cyborg wearing in a Doctor Who episode or movie, and not someone on the way to their first meeting in Time Square, but that hasn\u2019t kept many of us away from the revolutionary piece of technology.\n\nAfter much criticism, objection and slating of Glass\u2019 design, it looks like Google has at last taken consumers feedback onboard as its now filed a patent for what looks to be a pretty good attempt at making the unit somewhat less obtrusive and a bit more elegant.\n\nPatent ID: D710, 928 is described as a \u2018wearable display device\u2019 in its application filing and from the sketches included in the documentation, which can be seen above, it\u2019s clear that Google has been able to implement this new, more traditional Glass design simply by relocating the projector, prism and processor closer to the eye by placing it behind the glass. All these components are now enclosed in the actual frame of the glasses, therefore, leaving nothing on display.\n\nWe\u2019re not sure whether this design will ever see the light of day, but Google did recently announce that Glass would undergo a major design overhaul for 2015, so it\u2019s more than possible that this is what the unit may look like in the future. Either way, we\u2019re extremely excited to see what the company comes up with for Glass V2.\n\nWhat do you think of the alleged updated design? Will you be picking up a pair if they go on sale? Be sure to let us know in the comments section below or over on our Google+ page."}
-{"text": "U sredi\u0161tu hrvatske javnosti ve\u0107 se neko vrijeme nalazi pitanje uporabe pozdrava \u201cZa dom spremni!\u201d. Kao povjesni\u010dar iz Rijeke i kao katolik osje\u0107am potrebu da hrvatskoj javnosti, prigodom obilje\u017eavanja 70. godi\u0161njice pripajanja Rijeke i Istre Hrvatskoj, kao i 60. obljetnice potpisivanja Rimskih ugovora kojima je osnovana dana\u0161nja Europska unija, uka\u017eem na neprihvatljivost uporabe identitetskih sastavnica NDH. Uzrok nesposobnosti u suo\u010denju s tim pitanjem le\u017ei u nacionalizmu kojega se hrvatsko dru\u0161tvo danas ne uspijeva na zadovoljavaju\u0107i na\u010din osloboditi. Ostavljaju\u0107i sociolozima analizu uzroka koji generiraju nacionalizam, poku\u0161at \u0107u ostati na terenu povijesti, odnosno crkvene povijesti.\n\nEuropska unija, kojoj Hrvatska pripada od 2013., utemeljena je na tragi\u010dnom iskustvu Drugog svjetskog rata. Njezin nastanak dugujemo vizionarskom stavu tada\u0161njih europskih politi\u010dara, me\u0111u kojima su se isticali katolici poput Roberta Schumana, Konrada Adenauera i Alcidea De Gasperija. Nije slu\u010dajno da su neki od njih ro\u0111eni u vi\u0161enacionalnim grani\u010dnim podru\u010djima Europe i kao takvi su bili svjesni pogubnosti nacionalizma. Schuman se rodio u Luksemburgu, na grani\u010dnom podru\u010dju Njema\u010dke i Francuske. U mnogo\u010demu obilje\u017een francuskom i germanskom kulturom, nije bio zatvoren u vlastitoj nacionalnosti ve\u0107 je boljitak susjeda smatrao i vlastitim interesom.\n\nBio je uvjereni katolik. Nije svoju vjeru skrivao, ali je nije pretvarao u ideologiju. Kao ministar, svaki je dan prisustvovao svetoj misi, a svoju je duhovnost temeljio na kontemplaciji i \u010destim posjetama benediktinskim opatijama. Kao francuski ministar vanjskih poslova nakon Drugog svjetskog rata znao je da se vanjska politika njegove Republike ne mo\u017ee temeljiti na osveti ve\u0107 na pomirenju. Samo pet godina nakon kapitulacije Njema\u010dke, biv\u0161emu neprijatelju ponudio je da na jednakopravnoj razini sudjeluje u novom europskom organizmu. Bio je svjestan da je garancija mira u Europi pomirenje dvaju europskih naroda, Francuza i Nijemaca, \u010dije je neprijateljstvo uzrokovalo vi\u0161e ratova. Uslijedio je 1957. Rimski ugovor, kojim se utemeljuje Europska ekonomska zajednica koja 1993. postaje Europskom unijom.\n\nNema budu\u0107nosti\n\nNa tragu onoga \u0161to su nakon svr\u0161etka Drugog svjetskog rata u\u010dinili spomenuti europski politi\u010dari i iz iskustva \u017eivota u Rijeci i prou\u010davanja njezine pro\u0161losti, hrvatskoj javnosti \u017eelim ukazati na pogubnost nacionalizma na kojemu se ne mo\u017ee graditi budu\u0107nost.\n\nUmjesto vrednovanja \u010dinjenice da je u nas hitlerovska koalicija, za razliku od ostatka Europe, pobije\u0111ena doma\u0107im snagama, hrvatsko je dru\u0161tvo do\u0161lo u situaciju da ne uspijeva odbiti rehabilitaciju usta\u0161kog pozdrava. Mnogo je osuda koje su papinstvo i Katoli\u010dka crkva izrekli o nacizmu i njegovim saveznicima. Ovdje \u0107u prenijeti rije\u010di Benedikta XVI. izre\u010dene u Auschwitzu 2006. kada je naciste prozvao kriminalcima koji su preuzeli vlast u ime la\u017enih ideala o dostojanstvu naroda i obe\u0107anja o prosperitetu, posredstvom zastra\u0161ivanja i teroriziranja, zloporabe\u0107i narod na temelju \u017ee\u0111i za vla\u0161\u0107u i destrukcijom. Isti je papa, dolaze\u0107i u posjet Hrvatskoj 2011. godine, jasno osudio NDH kao Hitlerovu saveznicu koja je prevarila Hrvate i njihovu te\u017enju za neovisno\u0161\u0107u.\n\nU prigodi 70. godi\u0161njice pripajanja Istre i Rijeke Hrvatskoj istaknuo bih da u dana\u0161njem hrvatskom suo\u010davanju s pro\u0161lo\u0161\u0107u nedostaje uvi\u0111avnost istarskog hrvatskog sve\u0107enstva koje je u Drugom svjetskom ratu i nakon njega poduprlo rad na pripajanju Istre i Rijeke Hrvatskoj. Osobe poput sve\u0107enika Bo\u017ee Milanovi\u0107a ili nadbiskupa rije\u010dko-senjskog Josipa Pavli\u0161i\u0107a nisu propu\u0161tale javno iznositi tvrdnje o narodnooslobodila\u010dkoj borbi kao va\u017enom pokretu koji zaslu\u017euje spomen u Crkvi i dru\u0161tvu.\n\nLjubav prema vlastitoj domovini, jeziku i pismu ne izgra\u0111uje se u oporbi prema drugim narodima. Garancija mira za Hrvatsku je pomirenje sa susjedima, a ne antagonizam. Dobrosusjedski odnosi i pomirenje unutar hrvatskog naroda ne mogu se graditi na temelju pozdrava iz usta\u0161kog re\u017eima. Rije\u010d je o nacionalizmu, a ne o domoljublju! To je ono \u0161to je izme\u0111u dvaju svjetskih ratova osudio papa Pio XI. govore\u0107i o neumjerenoj ljubavi prema vlastitu narodu. On je rekao da se kriterij dobra i zla nalazi u objektivnoj moralnoj normi, a ne u izopa\u010denom uvjerenju da je moralno i dopu\u0161teno sve ono \u0161to koristi vlastitoj dr\u017eavi i vlastitu narodu.\n\nKao povjesni\u010dar koji istra\u017euje pro\u0161lost Rijeke, posebice rije\u010dke Crkve, mogu re\u0107i da je ovo sredina u kojoj su Hrvati zajedno \u017eivjeli s Talijanima, Ma\u0111arima i Austrijancima. Ljudi su se sporazumijevali na raznim jezicima, a u Crkvi se koristio staroslavenski i latinski jezik. Stanovnici ovih krajeva uspjeli su sa\u010duvati vlastiti hrvatski nacionalni identitet u tolerantnom su\u017eivotu s drugima i druga\u010dijima. Na\u017ealost, nacionalizam u 20. stolje\u0107u poremetio je osjetljivo pitanje nacionalne i jezi\u010dne ravnote\u017ee, ne samo u civilnoj sferi, nego i unutar Crkve.\n\nNije to bio slu\u010daj samo u nas ve\u0107 i drugdje u Srednjoj Europi nakon raspada Austro-Ugarske, primjerice u dijelovima Poljske naseljenim Nijemcima itd. Nacionalizam je veliko zlo 20. stolje\u0107a. Nacionalizam su osudile pape tijekom Prvog svjetskog rata i u pora\u0107u, izri\u010du\u0107i prosudbe o nepravednom versajskom miru ili brane\u0107i misije Katoli\u010dke crkve u Africi i Aziji od nacionalizma europskih kolonizatorskih sila. No diljem Europe nacionalizmu se mnogi nisu uspjeli niti znali oduprijeti, uklju\u010duju\u0107i i dio katolika.\n\nBo\u017eji narod\n\nSli\u010dno tomu, radikaliziraju\u0107i domoljublje mnogi danas upadaju u nacionalizam. Nacionalizam je negacija istinskog domoljublja. Zazivati danas pozdrav \u201cZa dom spremni!\u201d zna\u010di rehabilitirati usta\u0161ki pozdrav. Kao povjesni\u010dar i katolik u savjesti osje\u0107am obvezu ukazati na pogubnost nacionalizma. Nacionalizam je protivan kr\u0161\u0107anstvu. Naime, smatrati patriotizam apsolutnom vrednotom zna\u010di pretvarati ljubav prema domovini u svoju suprotnost. Spojen s pretprosvjetiteljskim (i u katoli\u010dkom kontekstu pretkoncilskim) zazorom prema osobnoj slobodi gra\u0111anina (i personalnoj slobodi vjernika), nacionalizam ponovno stvara kolektivizam u kojem pojedincu daje iluziju sigurnog uto\u010di\u0161ta. Na taj na\u010din nacionalizam ponizuje osobu, a religiju politizira i retradicionalizira.\n\nKr\u0161\u0107anstvo se ne mo\u017ee poistovje\u0107ivati ni s jednom nacijom jer je, kako pi\u0161e najve\u0107i hrvatski teolog 20. st. Tomislav Janko \u0160agi-Buni\u0107, kr\u0161\u0107anstvo stvarnost vi\u0161eg reda koja transcendira sve narode, sabire svoje \u010dlanove iz svih naroda, stvara zajedni\u0161tvo druge vrste nego \u0161to je nacionalno zajedni\u0161tvo. Kr\u0161\u0107anstvo je, naime, vjera koja nadilazi rase i nacije. Dakako, kr\u0161\u0107anstvo se utjelovljuje u povijesti, u konkretnim narodima. No to je samo partikularni identitet jer kr\u0161\u0107anstvo stvara Bo\u017eji narod kojemu domovina nije na zemlji, nego prema njoj putuje.\n\n*autor je doktor znanosti i asistent na katedri crkvene povijesti Teologije u Rijeci. Diplomirao je na studiju teologije u Rijeci 2002. godine, a licencijat je postigao na Papinskom Sveu\u010dili\u0161tu Gregoriana 2004. godine"}
-{"text": "Today we\u2019re releasing a small but useful update to our match pages, just as the action heats up at The International. TrueSight match pages (which are available for all Esports matches!) now feature interactive death and vision maps!\n\nInteractive hero death map\n\nThe Death map on the Kills tab of a match starts with an overview of all of the deaths in the match. You can hover over any death for detailed information on what happened: the victim and killer, their method of attack, and other stats like assists, gold, and death time.\n\nWhile that\u2019s neat, it becomes a lot more useful when you use the time slider at the bottom of the map to seek through the match. You can fast-forward to a crucial moment and see what happened, or quickly scan for a group fight you want to watch in the replay.\n\nIt was a bloodbath: Yesterday's 97 minute Fnatic vs iG match\n\nBut wait, there\u2019s more!\n\nWhat\u2019s better than an interactive map of deaths? An interactive map of wards! You can see which wards were up at any given second, and even hover over a ward to see who placed it and whether it expired naturally or was destroyed by an enemy.\n\nThe fight ranged all over: Today's EG vs Vici Gaming match\n\nInteractive maps are available right now for all Esports matches. Dotabuff Plus subscribers also get interactive maps for all of their past, present and future matches that have been analyzed with TrueSight! Interactive maps also work on mobile, so you can map from school, work or anywhere else that you wish you were playing Dota.\n\nEnjoy, and please map responsibly."}
-{"text": "(San Diego, CA) \u2013 Ballast Point Brewing announced its \u201cRoots to Boots\u201d R&D Program last week, taking advantage of its nimble Little Italy brewhouse. More below via email newsletter\u2026\n\n\u2014\n\nBy now, most of you know that we installed the brewery at Little Italy for research & development. We wanted a space to introduce new recipes, new techniques, and even new brewers. On that last note, in November we launched an R&D program that will give all of our employees an opportunity to brew an original beer recipe.\n\nThe program, dubbed \u201cRoots to Boots,\u201d brings together teams of two to five Ballast Point employees to concept, formulate, and even name a beer of their own design. Teams brew their beer on our pilot system, and it is then served at each Ballast Point location.\n\nBallast Point was born out of the experimental efforts of a couple of home brewers. Though we\u2019ve grown, Roots to Boots is one way we keep that spirit alive.\n\nWe\u2019ll serve each Roots to Boots beer in our tasting rooms, and we\u2019ll announce them here as they become available. Try them and give us your feedback.\n\n\u2014\n\nThe Original Gravity Syndicate (the OG\u2019s) Mild Ale with Toasted Oats was released last week.\n\nOn Deck:\n\nI Just Trub\u2019ed: Schwarzbier\n\nSuper Pro: Chocolate Peanut Butter Milk Stout\n\nNew England: Dark American Wheat with Cranberries"}
-{"text": "A 59-year-old Palama woman was indicted by an Oahu grand jury Wednesday for allegedly shooting her former boyfriend in the back at a Kalihi church just after the man had been baptized.\n\nViolesolo Tavita was charged with attempted murder. She is being held at the Oahu Community Correctional Center, unable to post $250,000 bail.\n\nTavita pulled a handgun from her black purse and shot 59-year-old Talaiga Talitonu in the upper right back about 1 p.m. May 14 at Samoa-Tokelau Seventh-day Adventist Church, 1128 Banyan St., according to a police affidavit filed in District Court.\n\nTavita and Talitonu were previously in a romantic relationship and Tavita continued to harrass Talitonu after the two had separated, Talitonu told police.\n\nOn the day of the shooting, Tavita pointed at her purse and made a threatening motion at Talitonu and his new wife, police said.\n\nA church elder, Tony Williams, told police that he was walking behind Talitonu and Tavita when he heard a loud \u201cpop\u201d and saw Tavita holding a dark handgun, court documents said. Talitonu yelled and fell down and was later taken to the hospital in stable condition.\n\nWilliams said he grabbed the gun from Tavita\u2019s right hand and held her until police arrived, documents said.\n\nThe gun was determined to be registered to Tavita.\n\nWitnesses said Talitonu had just been baptized in a mass celebration, and about 60 to 100 people were entering the courtyard below when the shooting occurred on the second floor."}
-{"text": "Spyware firms selling invasive surveillance technology to the highest bidder have been caught using shell companies to evade international sanction. They also have little hesitation providing products to countries known for human rights abuses, it has been revealed.\n\nAn investigation, conducted by Al Jazeera, named three such companies \u2013 two from Italy and one from China \u2013 that were shown to be willing to ship spy tech to clients without the need for a specified end-user, meaning they could theoretically be purchased by anyone.\n\nThe snooping technology itself \u2013 including so-called IMSI catchers and IP Intercept systems \u2013 is routinely used by governments, intelligence agencies and others to covertly intercept the phone calls, text messages and internet usage of targeted individuals.\n\nOne reporter went undercover as a potential buyer, posing as a representative wanting to buy surveillance tech on behalf of the governments of South Sudan and Iran. The firms should have backed off immediately, but they seemed more than willing to accommodate.\n\nTwo Italian companies, IPS and Area, allegedly said they were able to circumvent European laws to ship goods that may end up in the hands of repressive regimes. Meanwhile, Chinese firm Semptian was open to shifting $3m-worth of gear without knowing the end-user.\n\nDuring revealing conversations with Semptian co-founder, Frank Feng, Al Jazeera got Semptian to admit not only using shell companies but also being open to \"forging documents\" to ensure a quick deal. In one instance, the co-founder complained about needing to meet a sales target.\n\n\"We are okay with Iran,\" IPS sales manager Ugo Castillo told the undercover reporter. \"Of course, it's subject to export restriction. But this is something that we can manage.\" The firm later claimed it had \"no intention of completing this or any deal\" in the transaction.\n\nThe remaining Italian company, Area, was reportedly willing to discuss selling IMSI catchers to South Sudan, saying one strategy that could be used is to get an export license to Tanzania where the goods would later be donated to the country as \"a gift\".\n\nAgain, no deal was finalised.\n\nSurveillance tech is used by every major government and law enforcement groups are increasingly turning to it to catch criminals and foil terror plots.\n\nIn countries without human rights, however, it can be turned against citizens and used to stamp out dissent, protest and free speech.\n\nIn October last year, a probe by independent publication The Bristol Cable revealed that at least five police forces in the UK had purchased IMSI catchers. The true scope of their use is likely far wider, however most officials still refuse to comment on their technical capabilities.\n\nThe British government last year enacted the Investigatory Powers Bill (IPBill), a new piece of surveillance legislation that gave the security services legal backing to access phone calls, text messages and internet browsing histories of every UK citizen.\n\nIn many ways the Al Jazeera probe echoes revelations that emerged in 2015 after Hacking Team, another Italian spyware vendor, was found to be selling products to oppressive regimes such as Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kazakhstan.\n\nShowing the ethically murky world of underground surveillance trade, Hacking Team's products were at the same time being purchase and used by the US government, including the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Department of Defence (DoD).\n\nSouth Sudan and Iran \u2013 what's the big deal? Here's what the experts say:\n\nSouth Sudan (Human Rights Watch)\n\n\"Large parts of key towns and essential civilian infrastructure such as clinics, hospitals, and schools, have been looted, destroyed, and abandoned. Half a million people are still sheltering in United Nations compounds, and hundreds of thousands in refugee camps. The government has also become increasingly intolerant and repressive, arbitrarily arresting politicians, members of civil society and journalists for extended periods, sometimes years.\"\n\nIran (Amnesty International)"}
-{"text": "Saloon bar oracles sit with their half-empty glasses and put the world to rights. The British pub has long hosted the debates which answer every question: what to do about yobs, immigrants, bankers, queues, TV repeats, noisy neighbours and the weather? On one subject, the drinker counts himself particularly expert, of course - booze.\n\nSo, if the conversation at your local tonight comes round to the latest ideas on what we should do about the problems of alcohol, I have culled a few key points from the parliamentary report on the subject published today.\n\n\"Like the myth that the English have always been drunk, the contrast between English drunkenness and civilised Mediterranean habits may also be something of a myth,\" the MPs report. To back up their argument, they publish a graph which compares the level of death from chronic liver disease and cirrhosis in the UK with that in France, Italy and Spain.\n\nWhat is revealed is how relatively small a problem alcohol-related deaths were in Britain in the early seventies when viewed against the carnage in southern Europe. However, over the next three decades, the picture was transformed.\n\n\"While the wine drinking countries of Southern Europe always had historically very high levels of liver deaths from alcohol related cirrhosis, deaths in these countries have been dropping whereas UK deaths are still rising inexorably. The UK finally overtook Spain, Italy and France for liver deaths in 2004.\"\n\nThe committee report publishes another graph which I find equally shocking. It takes that story of rising deaths from alcohol-related liver disease and places it in the context of mortality rates for other diseases.\n\nThe story of alcohol in Britain has been one of what the MPs describe as a \"massive increase\" in the last fifty years. I have used this graph before - but it does bear repeating, I think.\n\nWhile beer consumption appears to have risen only a little, sales of wines and spirits have soared since the Second World War. One consequence has been a very significant increase in the number of people dying from drink. Today's committee report puts it this way:\n\n\"The fact that alcohol has been enjoyed by humans since the dawn of civilization has tended to obscure the fact that it is also a toxic, dependence inducing teratogenic and carcinogenic drug to which more than three million people in the UK are addicted. The ill effects of alcohol misuse affect the young and middle aged. For men aged between 16 and 55 between 10% and 27% of deaths are alcohol related, for women the figures are 6% and 15%.\"\n\nWhat has caused us to take to the bottle in this dangerous way? Rather than simply ask health experts or politicians, the committee invites historians to try and put our change in drinking habit in context. They identify two drivers: economics and culture.\n\nThey offer evidence of how cost and access effect consumption:\n\n\"(T)he 18th-Century gin craze was linked to the government's encouragement of gin production and restriction of brandy imports; the rise in consumption in the 19th Century was associated with rising living standards.\"\n\nHowever, that nose-dive in alcohol consumption you can see on the graph in 1914 was the result of \"the most sustained attempt to come to grips with drink in British history\":\n\n\"Measures included shorter opening hours, higher duties on beer, and significant reductions in both the production and strength of beer. The amount of beer consumed in 1918 was nearly half of the pre-war total, despite rising incomes, and arrests for drunkenness in England and Wales fell from 190,000 to 29,000 between 1913 and 1918.\"\n\nThe historians also point to important cultural effects. One observed a decline in drinking in the late 19th Century and suggested that this was due to \"many counter-attractions for working-class consumers (music halls, football, cigarettes, and holidays)\".\n\nDespite the Depression, most workers saw real wages increase between the wars. However, spending on alcohol remained stable, it was argued, \"because drink had many rivals now: radios and gramophones, gardening, cinema and the pools\".\n\nThis argument doesn't hold true for post-war Britain, however, where there are now more potential distractions from alcohol than ever. The historians explained that drinking alcohol just became the fashionable thing to do. In the 1940s, \"young people preferred milk bars and coffee bars to pubs\", but booze became much more available with supermarket sales and a relaxed licensing regime. A \"drinking culture\" developed, particularly among students, the committee was told.\n\nThe MPs put the theory to Varsity Leisure Group, owner of the \"Carnage UK\" brand which, they said, had become \"unfairly or otherwise, a notorious example of a promoter of nightclub events for students\". The company said that its events were \"based around collective identity, meeting new people and having fun\", but admitted that \"students are being immersed into a culture which is focussed around the culture of alcohol\".\n\nWhatever the cause, the result is a country with a significant drink problem. The figures quoted by the committee give the lie to the claim that alcohol is responsibly consumed by all but a minority.\n\nTen million adults drink more than the recommended limits and between them knock back 75% of all alcohol consumed in the country. More than two-and-a-half million adults (8% of men and 6% of women) drink above the higher-risk levels - more than double the government's daily guidelines.\n\nSo, if you pop into the boozer tonight and the oracle bemoans the proposal to try and outlaw cheap alcohol, you could quote today's report which says this:\n\n\"It is not inevitable that per capita alcohol consumption should be almost three times higher than it was in the middle of the 20th Century or that liver disease should continue to rise. Nor is it inevitable that at night town centres should be awash with drunks, vomit and disorder. These changes have been fuelled by cheap booze, a liberal licensing regime and massive marketing budgets.\"\n\nThat should get the debate flowing nicely.\n\n"}
-{"text": "Starting with the upcoming Qt Creator 4.7, the Clang Code Model is enabled by default. That's a great time to look at the differences between our old code model and the new Clang Code Model. But first things first.\n\nHistory of C/C++ Support in Qt Creator\n\nSince the beginning of Qt Creator the C/C++ support was implemented around a custom C++ frontend (lexer, preprocessor, parser, lookup). The whole support was referred to as the \"C/C++ Code Model\", the code model being the collection of language-specific services, for example code completion and semantic highlighting.\n\nBack then the next C++ standard was a long time in the coming (C++0x - C++1x - C++11), the tooling support from Clang was not where it is today and a custom C++ front-end gave us some extra flexibility when it comes to performance, error recovery and support of Qt-specifics. The code model around the custom front-end served us well (and still does) - the appropriate trade-offs between precision and performance were made back then. However, maintaining a custom C++ front-end is not a trivial task, notably so during the interesting times for the company we were part of back then, and with only a few developers on it. With the availability of Clang and its tooling, especially from the point on where it became self-hosting, we did some experiments to base the code model on it - the \"Clang Code Model\" was born. The experiments looked promising in general, but the stability and performance were a problem from the beginning on, especially when considering all platforms.\n\nFast forward: today C++ evolves much faster, Clang and its tooling are prospering and we have picked up working on the Clang Code Model.\n\nStatus of the Clang Code Model\n\nWe believe to have addressed the most severe performance and stability issues by now. With the Clang Code Model you get up to date language support based on libclang 6.0, greatly improved precision and diagnostics.\n\nThe first big area we have tackled are the services related to the currently open file, not taking any project or global index information into account yet, which is work in progress. Currently, the following services are implemented with the Clang Code Model:\n\nCode completion\n\nSyntactic and semantic highlighting\n\nDiagnostics with fixits and integrated Clang-Tidy and Clazy checks\n\nFollow Symbol (partly)\n\nOutline of symbols\n\nTooltips\n\nRenaming of local symbols\n\nFor the not yet ported services, the services based on the custom frontend are used. This includes for example indexing, find usages and refactoring.\n\nDue to Clang's precision the Clang Code Model is inherently slower than the old code model and has lower error recovery capabilities. However, the extra precision and diagnostics will result in less build errors and thus reduce your edit-build-cycle count.\n\nDifferences to the old code model\n\nNow what are the visible changes that you can observe as a user?\n\nUpdated language support\n\nThe Clang Code Model is based on libclang 6.0 and as such it can parse C++17 and more.\n\nPrecision\n\nYou will immediately notice the improved precision in highlighting and diagnostics.\n\nFor example, our custom front-end never validated function calls and thus you would notice these when building. With the Clang Code Model only valid function calls are properly highlighted, whereas invalid ones will be rendered as \"Text\", that is, black by default.\n\nAnother example is code completion. Items are no longer offered for declarations that are below your completion position, except class members of course. Also, completion of const objects will take the \"constness\" into account.\n\nDiagnostics\n\nChances are that you will notice Clang's diagnostics early on, as they are displayed as inline annotations in the editor. Detailed information is provided by tooltips. Check out for the light bulb at the end of the line, as these indicate the availability of \"Fixits\". These are small/local refactoring actions fixing diagnostics.\n\nOf course the diagnostics for the current document are also available in the Issues pane. This behavior can be disabled by using the \"Filter by categories\" icon in the Issues pane toolbar.\n\nYou can set up diagnostic configurations in C++ > Code Model > \"Manage...\" in the options dialog. The predefined configurations are really a starting point and it is recommended to adapt them to your needs. For example, you could set up a configuration for a specific project.\n\nNote that Clang-Tidy and Clazy checks are integrated, too. Enabling these checks for the Clang Code Model will naturally slow down re-parsing, but depending on your machine and the specific selection of checks this can be a great help. Starting from this version, it is also possible to run Clang-Tidy and Clazy checks for the whole project or a subset of it (Menu: Analyze > \"Clang-Tidy and Clazy...\"). For example, you could set up a diagnostic configuration for this mode that also enables the expensive checks and run it once in a while.\n\nCode Completion\n\nIn general, the completion is more context-sensitive now. For example, completing after \"switch (\", \"case \", \"int foo = \" or after \"return \" will put more relevant items to the top of the completion list.\n\nThe completion of templated classes and functions is improved. Completion of unique_ptr<>/shared_ptr<> objects and friends works now on all platforms.\n\nDoes your code base make use of doxygen comments? Then you will probably be happy to see doxygen comments as part of the completion item, too.\n\nMiscellaneous\n\nItalic arguments in a function call indicate that the function call might modify the argument (\"Output Argument\" in the text editor settings).\n\nTooltips resolve \"auto\" properly and show also doxygen comments.\n\nA visible document is automatically re-parsed if one of its headers is modified, either in an editor or on disk.\n\nFuture of C/C++ Support\n\nGiven the evolving tooling around C++ it is pretty unlikely that we will go back to a custom front-end.\n\nGiven the raise of the Language Server Protocol and the development of clangd, how to proceed from here on? The implementation of an LSP client makes sense for any IDE to also get support for other languages. And we are actively working on that. Having that, it will also help us to evaluate clangd further."}
-{"text": "The reminder of her mother's feat to play for the Jillaroos is there as soon as you walk through the front doors of the Parker household in Perth but 17-year-old Shanice Parker never believed she might one day follow in her footsteps.\n\nAfter first playing rugby league at the age of four right through until she reached the age of 12 where girls are no longer allowed to play in boys teams, Parker has played only a handful of games of rugby league in the past five years, instead getting her footy fix playing rugby union.\n\nBut the first Women's State Affiliates Championships in Darwin in June this year gave passionate rugby league girls from Western Australia, Victoria and the Northern Territory a chance not only to play but to impress Jillaroos coach Steve Folkes.\n\nFolkes viewed footage from the Darwin tournament to see what talent was out there, and when the WA girls won their three games by a combined score of 120-14 he extended an invitation to both Parker and Port Hedland's Ilaisaane Finau to join the Jillaroos training camp on the Gold Coast in November.\n\nIf Parker is selected to play for the Jillaroos at either the Dick Smith NRL Auckland Nines or the Anzac Test against the Kiwi Ferns she will create history as the first second-generation Jillaroo and said she had no thought that Australian selectors were even watching.\n\n\"I was a bit overwhelmed and a bit shocked,\" Parker said of selection for the 25-player training squad. \"I did not think that [they were watching].\n\n\"League's not very popular in WA but it's growing. When we went over to the Affiliated States we took it out which was quite shocking for most of us. For half the girls it was their first time playing league, transitioning over from union.\n\n\"My mum was with the Jillaroos when she toured England in 2000 and I think I was like two years old and since then rugby has been my life.\n\n\"[Mum] hasn't really told me too much other than that she had the best experience she's ever had in her life. She's even got her jersey hanging up when you walk through the door.\"\n\nRugby league connections are also strong in the Finau family with her younger brother William a member of the Australian under-15s team and recently signing a contract with Cronulla.\n\nIlaisaane started playing in a women's under-18s competition in the Pilbara from 12 years of age and said there is an abundance of rich talent in Western Australia just waiting to be discovered.\n\n\"I want WA to grow in rugby league,\" said Finau, who idolises Jillaroos captain Steph Hancock. \"If you go there and see how much talent there is there, it's unbelievable and we never get seen.\n\n\"We're just lucky that we got picked from the Darwin comp to come and check it out because there are a lot more girls better than us in WA. They just don't get seen.\"\n\nRugby league internationals based in Western Australia a rare to say the least.\n\nRodney Howe and Julian O'Neill were both selected from the Western Reds to play for the Australian Super League team in 1997 while the likes of Billy Smith and Sam McKendry are two of a rare breed of Test reps who were born in WA.\n\nAs for her West Australian teammate, Finau had some words of warning for the Kiwi Ferns if Parker is selected to play in the three-match series at the Nines tournament.\n\n\"She's like Usain Bolt; give her the ball and she's gone!\""}
-{"text": "Following Arsenal\u2019s defeat to Chelsea in which Diego Costa was at the centre of all the controversy, former Arsenal manager George Graham thinks that the striker stepped over the line.\n\nThe 26-year-old got away with just a yellow card against Arsenal, and George Graham says that he will now be targeted by Premier League officials in the future.\n\nI think (Costa) is going to be targeted man now by the officials and probably rightly so. (Didier) Drogba was the main (Chelsea) man for nearly 10 years and he was very, very physical but he didn\u2019t take to the extremes that Costa has taken it to. Although you\u2019ve got to keep that physical intensity, once you step over the mark he\u2019s got to be dealt with by officials, it\u2019s as simple as that \u2013 and I think he will be.\n\nThe former Arsenal boss then went on to say that Arsene Wenger must be stricter with his players. Both Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla were sent off in the London derby, taking the red card tally of the club\u2019s players to a shocking 109 under the 65-year-old.\n\n(Wenger) is not the most strict manager and he really needs to get hold of his own players because there\u2019s no way he (Gabriel) should have been sent off \u2013 it\u2019s his own stupidity that got him sent off and they\u2019ve got to handle that.\n\nHowever, he went on to praise the Frenchman.\n\n(But) Arsene does it his way and look at the record he has got in English football \u2013 he has been instrumental in getting a certain way of playing, the diet \u2013 he\u2019s brought all these things and trophies as well so how can you fault him?\n\nGeorge Graham previously played for Arsenal and was an integral part of the north London club\u2019s first \u2018double\u2019 in 1971. In 1986, he became Arsenal manager for nearly nine years and was highly successful in that period, winning the league twice including the famous last-minute 1989 title victory over Liverpool."}
-{"text": "Creative Commons/Victory & Reseda\n\nEvery major Minneapolis mayoral candidate faces two challenges as they make their final campaign push: convincing the undecided and making sure their supporters get to the polls.\n\nAnd the campaigns of all eight of the leading candidates say they\u2019re ready to go.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s basically everything,\u201d said Joe Ellickson, campaign manager for Mark Andrew, of the tasks ahead. \u201cEvery issue we\u2019ve been talking about, all the doors we\u2019ve been knocking, all the phones we\u2019ve been calling \u2014 this is when you go to harvest.\u201d\n\nAndrew: Voter contact key\n\nTwo weeks ago, the Andrew campaign contacted 11,000 voters in seven days. Their goal for the last two weeks of the campaign is to knock on 40,000 doors and to make phone contact with another 40,000 voters.\n\nArticle continues after advertisement\n\n\u201cI know nobody is knocking on more doors and making more phone calls,\u201d said Ellickson, who feels good about the campaign among the crowded field of 35 mayoral candidates. \u201cWe led at the precinct caucuses, we led at the convention, and we lead at the financial aspect of this campaign.\u201d\n\n\u201cNothing replaces the personal contact \u2014 a phone call is great \u2014 but having somebody go to their door, connect with them, hand them a piece of literature in their neighborhood, that is still the most effective way to engage and persuade the voter,\u201d he said.\n\nSamuels: Broad appeal the goal\n\n\n\n\u201cThis is everything,\u201d said Patrick Layden, campaign manager for Don Samuels, of the last push. \u201cIt\u2019s all about getting those voters to support your candidate on Election Day. If you can\u2019t do that, then you won\u2019t be able to close the deal.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe feel we\u2019re in a great position to win this,\u201d said Layden. \u201cEverything we\u2019re showing internally shows people moving in the right direction. It\u2019s going to be a matter of who can appeal to the last group of undecided voters. And with the ranked-choice voting system, it\u2019s going to come down to who has the broadest appeal across the city.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe know how critical the last few days are in helping to convince those last few people and get them out to the polls,\u201d he said, declining to share details about the campaign\u2019s get-out-the-vote effort. \u201cIf you\u2019re trying to win a race in the last five days, you\u2019re already too late. The reality is that we\u2019ve been building a strong coalition of supporters and volunteers and people throughout the campaign.\u201d\n\nThe combination of many candidates and ranked-choice voting has left many potential votes up for grabs.\n\nCherryhomes: High undecided numbers\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re seeing data, whether you\u2019re talking about official polls or informal conversations. Pretty much everybody agrees we\u2019re looking at 60 percent or higher undecideds,\u201d said Lynne Bolton, campaign manager for Jackie Cherryhomes.\n\nEarly on, the Cherryhomes campaign hired a ranked-choice-voting consultant who prepared them for the large number of undecided voters.\n\n\u201cWe knew that this was going to be a long race. We knew that there were going to be high undecideds, so for us, it\u2019s going right where we thought it would go,\u201d Bolton said. \u201cI know we\u2019re ready. We\u2019ve been planning this for a long time. It\u2019s good to be in the home stretch.\u201d\n\nArticle continues after advertisement\n\nWinton: Many voters first tuning in\n\nIndependent candidate Cam Winton notes, too, that \u201cthe final stretch is important because for many voters, it\u2019s when they are first tuning into the race.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve come out of nowhere in this race,\u201d he said, adding that the media, many of which ignored his campaign early on, are now paying attention.\n\nA first-time candidate, Winton is a Republican who previously was a Democrat and now is running as an independent. \u201cBefore this race, I had no political profile in this city whatsoever. I\u2019m proud to be now one of the leading candidates because of the tremendous support I\u2019ve received across the political spectrum.\u201d\n\nWinton credits his rising profile to both his willingness to speak clearly about the need for Minneapolis to live within its means and to his appearances at many community events.\n\n\u201cAnywhere there\u2019s more than four people with a pulse, I go,\u201d said Winton, who is taking a five-week unpaid leave from his job to campaign full time. He is proud that he has the most \u201clikes\u201d of any mayoral candidate on Facebook. In the final week, he will be advertising on radio and television and has volunteers lined up for phone-bank and door-knocking duties.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s been a tremendous privilege to speak to these important issues and advocate for people who have been shut out of the insider mutual back-scratching society,\u201d said Winton with a slap at his mostly DFL opponents.\n\nCohen: Advertising brings visibility\n\nDan Cohen, meanwhile, has been advertising on radio, television and billboards for several months, spending nearly $300,000 of his own money. He considers it a good investment.\n\n\u201cIt is important for a candidate to make his or her presence known as much as they possibly can through visible advertising,\u201d said Cohen. \u201cWhen voters go to the booth and decide to pick out a candidate, they\u2019re going to, I think, be most likely to base their decision on the candidates they are most familiar with, most aware of through the advertising.\u201d\n\nHis theory apparently paid off earlier this year when a Star Tribune poll placed Cohen first in the field of candidates.\n\nArticle continues after advertisement\n\n\u201cI think it comes down to the ability to present a positive image, and that makes this campaign an expensive piece of business,\u201d said Cohen. \u201cIt\u2019s just visibility, visibility, visibility. That\u2019s got to be the determining factor.\u201d\n\nGoing into the final stretch, Cohen is supplementing his advertising with lawn signs, door-knocking and social media but he has no plans for a phone bank.\n\nHe worries that potential voters are not fully tuned into the campaigns.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t have the feeling of a strongly engaged public, deeply interested in the outcome of this election,\u201d said Cohen. \u201cI wish it were because that always makes for more of a civic spirit behind whoever gets election, but I don\u2019t sense that\u2019s the case.\u201d\n\nFine: Old-style, grass-roots effort\n\nBob Fine sees continuing signs of interest in his campaign. \u201cWe\u2019re getting calls requesting more lawn signs, which is kind of nice,\u201d he said.\n\nFine has door-knocked in 43 of the city\u2019s 117 precincts. He plans a mailer in the final week and is dropping his campaign literature at front doors.\n\n\u201cPeople like the fact that a mayoral candidate is coming to their door,\u201d said Fine, who said he\u2019s noticed the word seem to spread through a neighborhood when a candidate, as opposed to a volunteer, is spotted. \u201cI\u2019ve seen people out but not the candidate. That doesn\u2019t appeal to a lot of people. They want to see the candidate.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s an old-style, grass-roots way of campaigning, but I think it\u2019s effective,\u201d said Fine, who will go early to a candidate forum so he can knock on doors in the neighborhood. \u201cI don\u2019t have the machinery of a gigantic staff and a lot of money.\u201d\n\nDoor-knocking has given him insight into an issue that has been on the back burner during the campaign. With no major increases in city property taxes a year ago and none likely for next year, that issue has not been a hot topic.\n\nArticle continues after advertisement\n\n\u201cI have this bold idea that I can reduce property taxes,\u201d said Fine, who found that the issue is on the minds of the voters as he went door to door. Since he started talking about property taxes at candidate forums, he says, other candidates have joined the conversation.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sure I can find efficiencies in government,\u201d he said. Fine, who serves on the Board of Estimate and Taxation, believes the proposed 1 percent cut in the 2014 budget should have been higher \u2014 at least 4 percent \u2014 because of the increase coming next year in state aid to Minneapolis. \u201cThat money should be returned to the taxpayers.\u201d\n\nWoodruff: Campaign sees momentum\n\nCandidate Stephanie Woodruff is optimistic, too. \u201cWe are jazzed and we are excited,\u201d she said. \u201cOver the last month, we\u2019ve had huge momentum.\u201d\n\n\u201cI think people get that we\u2019re not what we could be as a city,\u201d adds Paul Ostrow, Woodruff\u2019s campaign manager, who thinks other candidates are misreading the public. \u201cThey\u2019re misreading the extent to which the public wants change.\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t have a high-paid staff telling me what to do,\u201d Woodruff said. \u201cIt truly is grass-roots. I don\u2019t have paid staff. I\u2019ve never run before.\u201d\n\nThey have built the Woodruff campaign around the idea of putting people, neighborhoods and children first. Even though her campaign may spend only $6,000, Woodruff has been included in many of the forums and is considered one of the eight higher-profile candidates among the 35.\n\nHodges: \u2018Vision\u2019 for city is key\n\n\u201cI was blown away when I saw our get-out-the-vote plan,\u201d said Aaron Wells, communications director for the Betsy Hodges campaign. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything really like it. Our field team is really knocking it out of the park.\u201d\n\nDetails are not for sharing, but there are a phone bank, a door-to-door campaign and an intense focus on what the campaign refers to as Hodges\u2019 \u201cvision\u201d for Minneapolis.\n\n\u201cFor those voters who have been tuned in the entire time, they can see what this has all been leading to and what this looks like as a whole,\u201d he said. \u201cFor people who are paying attention for the first time, they can see, wow, this is the entire vision this candidate has for the City of Minneapolis.\n\n\u201cFor us, I think our top priority, just as it has been all along, is having the right number of conversations at the doors and on the phones \u2014 talking about the right issues as we make our final argument to folks who will be voting,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cAs we wrap up Betsy\u2019s argument for why she should be the next mayor, in a lot of ways, we\u2019re looking at everything we\u2019ve talked about in this campaign,\u201d Wells said. \u201cOur numbers have been really, really encouraging. We\u2019re up all the way along. We just need to make the final argument.\u201d\n\nStar Tribune endorsement touted\n\nOn Sunday, Hodges received the top ranked-choice endorsement of the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune Sunday, with Samuels the newspaper\u2019s second choice and Cherryhomes third.\n\n\u201cWe could not be happier,\u201d Wells said, noting that her endorsement came despite her opposition to the Vikings stadium project. \u201cThis will keep our momentum going through Election Day.\u201d\n\nSamuels\u2019 campaign manager called the endorsement a \u201clast-minute game-changer\u201d for his candidate.\n\n\u201cCertainly for people that haven\u2019t quite tuned in yet, or are just checking out the mayor\u2019s race, of which there are quite a few, something like an endorsement could pique people\u2019s interest,\u201d Layden said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s good to have recognition \u2014 everybody likes recognition,\u201d said Bolton of the Cherryhomes campaign. She was especially pleased that the Strib\u2019s editorial board made first, second and third choices, just as the voters will be doing next week. \u201cIt gives people an opportunity to see the depth Jackie brings.\u201d"}
-{"text": "\"Studies have shown that if you've been awake for more than 24 hours, it's as if you were somewhat drunk,\" said Michael Natter, who is graduating from the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. \"The last thing I would ever do is show up to a hospital drunk. There is also data showing that finger sticks go up [with longer hours], and residents have more car accidents when they're driving home.\""}
-{"text": "\u200bZlatan Ibrahimovic has rejoined Manchester United on a one-year contract.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Swedish star initially joined the Red Devils last summer, scoring 28 goals in all competitions, though a knee ligament injury put paid to the remainder of his season during a Europa League tie against Anderlecht.\n\nIbrahimovic was not initially retained by the club following the expiry of his contract, though he has now confirmed himself - with the \u200bclub doing the same - that a new one-year deal has been agreed. He will now wear the number 10 shirt vacated by Wayne Rooney, with Romelu Lukaku taking 9.\n\n\n\n\n\nIt's expected the player will have a smaller role in first team matters this season given the Belgian's arrival, but his presence adds to an already stacked attacking lineup. The player is expected back from injury at the end of October.\n\nHe said on the move: \"I am back to finish what I started. It was always mine and the club's intention for me to stay. I cannot wait to get back out on that Old Trafford pitch, but I also know that I have to take my time to make sure that I am ready. I have been working hard and will continue to do so to make sure I am in the best possible condition for my return to the pitch.\"\n\n\n\n\n\nManager Jose Mourinho added: \"We are delighted Zlatan is on the road to recovery and we are equally delighted to have his ambition and experience back with us. After his contribution last season he deserves our trust and we will be patient waiting for him to return. I have no doubt that he will be important in the second part of the season.\""}
-{"text": "On November 26, 1922, in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, British archaeologists Howard Carter and George Carnarvon became the first humans to enter King Tutankhamen's treasure-laden tomb in more than 3,000 years. Photo courtesy the Library of Congress\n\nToday is Saturday, Nov. 26, the 331st day of 2016 with 35 to follow.\n\nThe moon is waning. The morning star is Jupiter. The evening stars are Mercury, Saturn, Venus, Mars, Neptune and Uranus.\n\n\nThose born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include German composer Johannes Bach in 1604; English clergyman and college benefactor John Harvard in 1607; English poet William Cowper in 1731; surgeon and women's rights leader Mary Walker Edwards in 1832; gambler, frontier lawman and sports columnist William \"Bat\" Masterson in 1853; air conditioning engineer Willis Carrier in 1876; baseball Hall of Fame member Lefty Gomez in 1908; French playwright Eugene Ionesco in 1909; TV journalist Eric Sevareid in 1912; science fiction writer Frederik Pohl in 1919; cartoonist Charles Schulz (\"Peanuts\") in 1922; Argentine pacifist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel in 1931 (age 85); singer Robert Goulet in 1933; impressionist Rich Little in 1938 (age 78); Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members Tina Turner in 1939 (age 77) and John McVie in 1945 (age 71); and football Hall of Fame member Art Shell in 1946 (age 70).\n\nOn this date in history:\n\nRELATED Judge considers King Tut curse in disability claim\n\nIn 1789, U.S. President George Washington declared Nov. 26, 1789, to be Thanksgiving Day. It was the first U.S. holiday by presidential proclamation.\n\nIn 1842, the University of Notre Dame was founded in South Bend, Ind.\n\nIn 1922, in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, British archaeologists Howard Carter and George Carnarvon became the first humans to enter King Tutankhamen's treasure-laden tomb in more than 3,000 years.\n\nRELATED Museum staff in Egypt facing charges over failed King Tut beard job\n\nIn 1941, U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull submitted U.S. proposals to Japanese peace envoys in Washington.\n\nIn 1956, bandleader Tommy Dorsey died at age 51. His records sold more than 110 million copies.\n\nIn 1965, France launched a satellite into space, becoming the world's third space power after the United States and the Soviet Union.\n\nIn 1984, the United States and Iraq restored diplomatic relations, ending a 17-year break.\n\nIn 1997, the price of gold in New York City fell to $298 per ounce, the lowest level in 12 years.\n\nIn 2001, a three-day Afghanistan prison revolt claimed the life of a CIA operative, Johnny Michael Spann, 32, a former U.S. Marine captain. His was the first U.S. combat death in the war.\n\nIn 2005, a 67-year-old textile tycoon in India, Vijaypat Singhania, set the world record for the highest flight in a hot-air balloon, reaching 69,852 feet over Mumbai.\n\nIn 2008, militants launched a series of coordinated attacks on Mumbai landmarks and commercial hubs popular with foreign tourists. More than 170 people died and about 300 were wounded in the three-day siege.\n\nIn 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama announced a 10-year, nationwide effort to move U.S. students to the head of the global class in science and math achievement.\n\nIn 2012, rebels in Syria said airstrikes and other violence in the war-torn country killed at least 117 people, including children on a playground.\n\nIn 2013, Pope Francis denounced out-of-control capitalism, \"unbridled consumerism,\" an \"idolatry of money\" and \"the inequality that spawns violence\" around the world.\n\nA thought for the day: \"To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.\" -- W. Somerset Maugham"}
-{"text": "The TTC Board will meet on October 16. Among items of interest on the agenda are:\n\n\n\n\n\nCEO\u2019s Report October 2017\n\nFinancial Projections\n\nMedia reports have already appeared flagging the so-called surplus that the TTC will have in 2017. It is vital to understand that the TTC is not making a profit, but rather that its need for subsidy is less than expected in the operating budget. This will mean that payments the City of Toronto will make will be lower, and funds originally earmarked for the TTC can go toward other accounts or into reserves for future years.\n\nThis type of surplus has appeared in past years at the TTC, although the dollar value for 2017 is somewhat higher than normal. A surplus can arise from a combination of factors:\n\nFare revenue might be greater than anticipated due to strong ridership, or because more riders pay undiscounted \u201cfull\u201d fares.\n\nExtraordinary, one time revenue might come to the TTC (this is fairly rare).\n\nExpenses could be below expectations because less service is operated than originally planned, or because components such as fuel or benefits turn out to cost less than budgeted.\n\n2017 was a year in which the threat of an overrun in subsidies was touted fairly early on thanks to weak ridership, and the TTC reacted by cancelling planned service improvements for the fall schedules. However, a review of financial projections month by month from CEO Reports shows how the surplus actually developed. (In the table below, the months refer to the publication date of the CEO reports.)\n\nFrom the outset, ridership has been predicted to fall 5.5 million below budget, and this number has not changed through the year to date. However, the projected revenue from the reduced ridership estimate has grown to the point that total revenue will almost hit the budget target with a shortfall of only $2 million. The reason for this change is that TTC riders are on average paying a higher than projected fare (tokens and Presto versus pass-based discounts).\n\nAnnual ridership is running 0.3% below the previous year (adjusted for statistical differences such as the calendar), and this continues a long trend at the TTC. During recent years, although ridership was still growing, the rate of growth was in a long, slow decline. This was not an overnight effect, but a cumulative trend that was ignored in rosy projections for transit demand.\n\nThrough 2016, there appeared to be a recovery, but this has fallen off and the rate of increase is again negative. That turnaround in 2016 was responsible for an aggressive ridership target in 2017, although it was clear early in the year that this would not be achieved.\n\n[Note: Data for the chart above are taken from the monthly CEO Reports. Because there are less than 12 regular Board meetings per year, some months are missed in the cycle. The blue line shows the current moving average of ridership for the previous year, while the green line shows corresponding values for a year earlier, adjusted to remove calendar effects. Both of those lines are TTC data. The yellow line showing the percent change from previous to current values trends downward from left to right corresponding to the gradual shift in the ridership lines as they grow closer together and then cross.]\n\nMeanwhile, the projected total expenses have fallen by $46.8 million or 2.6% relative to budget.\n\nThe \u201csurplus\u201d of $44.8 million arises mainly from savings on the expense side, while there is almost no lost farebox revenue compared to the budget.\n\nThe originally projected subsidy requirement of $560.8 million was reduced by $14 million reflecting a draw from the \u201cTransit Stabilization Reserve\u201d, moneys that were set aside from past surpluses for a rainy day. This draw will not be required, and moreover the City will have $30.8 million less to pay in operating subsidy.\n\nWhen there are \u201csavings\u201d, it is important to understand whether these represent permanent reductions in costs, or if they are transient effects. The factors listed in the report include:\n\nLabour savings of $14.3 million.\n\nNon-labour savings of $8.8 million due to better bus reliability, and deferral of some subway car preventative maintenance due to delays in parts supply.\n\nPresto fee savings of $7.0 million because fewer people were using Presto than anticipated (this saving runs contrary to rosy claims about the rate of Presto takeup usually touted by the TTC and Metrolinx).\n\nEmployee benefit savings of $6.0 million.\n\nDiesel fuel savings of $5.0 million due to a lower rate of consumption than expected (this is thought to be weather related).\n\nHydro and utilities savings of $2.0 million due both to lower consumption and lower than expected rates.\n\nDepreciation savings of $2.0 million because self-financed capital expenses in 2016 were lower than planned when the 2017 budget was struck.\n\nSome of these savings may continue into future years, but some are simply questions of timing or of market conditions. Some of these can be credited to management actions to limit total expenses, but some are windfalls.\n\nWheel-Trans will contribute a further $13.7 million to the \u201csurplus\u201d primarily because ridership has not grown as quickly as expected (4.312 million projected vs 4.723 million budgeted). This produced a reduction in contract taxi service costs of $11.1 million.\n\nWheel-Trans ridership grew for the first few months of 2017, but has since plateaued. No explanation for the discrepancy between anticipated and actual riding is offered in the report.\n\nService Quantity and Quality\n\nThe amount of service operated on the streetcar system was considerably less than budgeted, while the bus fleet ran roughly to budget.\n\nFrom time to time, the TTC will speak of this shortfall as being the result of a large amount of construction activity, but that is already factored into the service budget. The heart of the problem is a shortage of streetcars:\n\nIn the July 2017 Board Period, 22,305 streetcar weekly hours were budgeted for service, while 17,013 streetcar weekly hours were scheduled to operate, which represents a -23.7% variance. This variance can be attributed to the reduction of the streetcar fleet from a budgeted 196 to 160 AM peak cars required in the 2017 May Board Period. [p 43]\n\nWith fewer streetcars operating than were planned for in the budget, the result is that when lines are \u201cstretched\u201d to include diversions, this is done primarily by increasing the headway between cars rather than by adding cars to a route. There is a compound result that scheduled capacity is lower than before, and service tends to be more ragged thanks to the diversions.\n\nA related problem is the TTC\u2019s ability (or willingness) to keep old streetcars operating. As new cars come into service, they can either make more \u201cold\u201d cars available for service on other lines, or allow the worst of the old fleet to be retired. The TTC has not published a plan showing how they intend to transition the fleets assuming Bombardier manages to keep roughly to its published schedule (about which more later).\n\nOn the bus side, there is a slight shortfall versus budget, but not as great as for the streetcar network. One problem that these charts do not reveal is the degree to which buses are repurposed from regular services to:\n\nstreetcar replacements due to equipment shortages\n\nstreetcar replacements for construction projects\n\neffects of construction on bus routes (e.g. the Crosstown LRT in the Eglinton corridor)\n\nchanges in the number of vehicles available for service due to increasing spare ratios for maintenance activities\n\nMost of this information can be culled from other reports, and I will turn to that in a separate post later this year about bus fleet planning.\n\nOverall, there is no indication of the degree to which service operated is constrained by the budget. In other words, routes may deserve more service based on demand and the TTC\u2019s loading standards, but the budget may not provide enough headroom to actually operate this even if vehicles were not an issue. The TTC does not publish ridership stats on a route by route basis with any indication of crowding problems, but only occasionally reports these on an ad hoc basis when issues arise. For example, when 512 St. Clair is formally rescheduled to operate with Flexitys in spring 2018, the scheduled capacity will be higher than it was with CLRVs to reflect actual demand levels.\n\nSubway service operates roughly at budgeted levels.\n\nAs to service quality, the streetcar routes continue to fall well short of on-time departure goals at terminals, albeit with some improvement in 2017 over 2016. The standard for being \u201con time\u201d is quite generously defined as between 1 minute early and 5 minutes late. This means that routes with frequent service (most streetcar lines) can operate with cars running in pairs and still be considered \u201con time\u201d. Terminal departure patterns vary considerably from route to route (including on bus routes), and this is as much an issue of \u201cTTC culture\u201d as it is of congestion-induced irregularity. Even when departures are fairly regular (often because they are actively managed by a Route Supervisor), vehicles quickly catch up to each other and run in pairs. This behaviour has been documented in past articles on this site, and will be the subject of a future review later this fall.\n\nA major problem with TTC service is that management sets \u201cKey Performance Indicators\u201d that are wide enough to embrace less than ideal service, and still they do not manage to achieve these targets.\n\nElsewhere in the CEO\u2019s Report, there is a review of the \u201cCustomer Charter\u201d and the degree to which promises to riders have been kept [pp 25-28]. One item is glaring by its absence:\n\nWe will continue to deliver on the positive initiatives that we started with our first Customer Charter in 2013: Posting the performance of all surface routes on our website so you know how your route is performing. [From the Customer Charter webpage.]\n\nIn fact, route level performance data have not been posted since the first quarter of 2015.\n\nBoth major subway lines continue to deliver service at below scheduled levels. This begs the question of whether it is physically possible to operate the scheduled capacity and to what degree the shortfall will be fixed by a move to automatic train control and moving block signalling over coming years.\n\nDelay statistics are compiled quarterly, and the info for the third quarter of 2017 is not out yet.\n\nNew Streetcar Deliveries\n\nThe CEO\u2019s Report states that 43 of the new cars are now in service. As of October 14, this number is up to 46, and two more cars are in various stages of acceptance testing with 4448 being the most recently delivered to Leslie Barns. This brings us to the end of \u201cSeptember\u201d deliveries. There remain 7 cars due according to the schedule for October, 8 in November and another 7 in December.\n\nThe TTC estimates that Bombardier will fall ten short by year end, while Bombardier itself claims the shortfall will be only five cars. Although production capacity has been increased at Thunder Bay, Bombardier continues to have \u201csupply chain problems\u201d. They do not specify whether this is due to a third party\u2019s being unable to deliver parts on time, or other plants within the company running behind schedule.\n\nBombardier\u2019s inability to meet its much-revised delivery schedules invites ridicule, but the situation is serious both for Toronto\u2019s transit service and for the credibility of a long-standing transit vehicle manufacturer.\n\nVehicle Reliability\n\nIn the following charts, a \u201cfailure\u201d is defined as an event causing a delay of five minutes or more.\n\nAlthough there are occasional peaks of better than target reliability values, it is important to remember that the number of events per month is small. This makes the charts \u201cspiky\u201d because the events are not uniformly distributed. The more important issue is the long-term trend of values.\n\nThe two subsystems responsible for many of the subway delays are doors and brakes, and overhaul/retrofit programs are in progress to address them. However, the actual effect has not yet shown up in a visible trend in the data.\n\nFor the older streetcars, the reliability numbers have increased recently, especially for the ALRVs. This is due to the combined effect of major overhauls and of the retirement of the least reliable cars in the fleet.\n\nReliability of the new Flexity cars has improved, although it remains to be seen whether this will be sustained. As on the subway, a major source of problems lies with the doors, and the CEO\u2019s Report states that \u201ca major door modification program is in progress\u201d.\n\nBus reliability continues to improve as new vehicles replace the worst of the older fleet, notably the Hybrids, and as the spare ratio is increased to allow more preventative maintenance.\n\n\n\n\n\nKing Street Pilot\n\nThe King Street Pilot aims to reconfigure that street between Bathurst and Jarvis Streets to give greater priority to transit and pedestrians while discouraging through auto traffic in that area. Exact details of the implementation, planned to begin in November 2017, have not yet been posted on the pilot\u2019s website.\n\nAn important component of this work will be to measure its effect both on King Street and on the nearby road network to determine whether the new arrangements provide a benefit overall.\n\nFrom the transit point of view, there are three measures by which the effect of the pilot could be judged:\n\nDoes it improve reliability? Is the wait time for vehicles at stops improved by having more consistent headways?\n\nDoes it improve ridership?\n\nDoes it reduce travel times through the pilot area, or at least make them more predictable?\n\nAn important issue for the TTC is that headways entering the pilot area are determined by route behaviour some distance away. If service inbound through Parkdale is already ragged, this will not magically change in the pilot area. The only potential linkage here is that more predictable travel times through the core could lead to more reliable service on return trips from the outer ends of the line.\n\nWithin the pilot area, headways can be affected by local delays including illegally stopped vehicles and local congestion (e.g. theatres and clubs), and this is of more concern to riders awaiting an outbound trip where headways are irregular and delays trigger short turns.\n\nRidership is itself a challenge when the shortfall between existing service and demand is already a known problem for the streetcar routes. Unless there is an increase in capacity, handling more riders can be difficult. However, this is also related to headway reliability. If streetcars run in bunches, there is a good chance that they will be unevenly loaded and potential capacity will be wasted. Again, even headways are an issue outside of the pilot area, not only within it.\n\nThe roll out plan for new, larger streetcars shows some of them coming to 504 King in November. Whether, and to what degree, this actually happens remains to be seen. Meanwhile, the TTC has been cutting back on bus trippers on King, and they have been completely eliminated effective with the October 15, 2017 schedules for use on Queen. To what degree they might return in mid-November has not yet been announced.\n\nThe TTC and City will monitor a wide variety of transit and general traffic issues not just in the pilot area but along the affected routes of Front, Wellington, King, Adelaide, Richmond and Queen, as well as the north-south streets linking them. The latter are particularly important because they will provide the local access to segments of King that are isolated by turn restrictions. See the report for a complete list [pp 6-10].\n\nThere will be a final report to Council in late 2018, but data will be reported out through the TTC CEO\u2019s Report (and likely other channels at the City) on a monthly basis. The page below is an example of the \u201cdashboard\u201d that would summarize some of the transit information. Readers of my analyses of route behaviour will know that there are challenges with monthly averages in that unusual events can be lost or smoothed out.\n\nThe question is not simply what the averages are, but how common and how large are the deviations. It is the irregularity of service that riders notice the most and which affects its perceived convenience. Too much of TTC\u2019s performance data is already reported on an average basis thereby masking events affecting reliability.\n\nAlso, if \u201creliability\u201d is judged against the TTC service standard with a six-minute wide \u201con time\u201d window, this will hide almost all of the bunching and gapping effects commonly seen on King Street.\n\nAuditor General\u2019s Report \u2013 SSE Briefing Note\n\nThe Scarborough Subway Extension, and its replacement of the originally proposed conversion of the Scarborough RT to LRT technology, has been the matter of much bitter debate at the TTC, in Council, and in the wider community. Claims and counterclaims about the value and validity of each proposal, both in their own right and within the context of political aspirations, have included many distortions and deeply insulting remarks causing any debate to occur in a heated and very polarized climate.\n\nIn the June-July 2016 cycle of committee and Council meetings, a TTC briefing note \u201cIssues Relating to Re-introduction of LRT Replacement for Line 3 (SRT)\u201d appeared and this was used by subway advocates to buttress their position. In brief, they argued that the likely cost of the LRT was close enough to the already estimated cost of the subway that a reversion to LRT would save little while providing an inferior solution to Scarborough\u2019s transit needs. This briefing note had not been made available to all members of Council, and the clear impression was that it was a private undertaking by the TTC to support the Mayor\u2019s Office and the pro-subway position contrary to the basic policy that any staff advice should be to all of Council without favour.\n\nThis led to a formal complaint in January and February 2017:\n\nrequesting \u201can examination of the circumstances involved with the decisions to construct the SSE instead of the SLRT\u201d and alleging that the briefing note \u201cerroneously and deliberately inflated the price of the SLRT option by approximately $1 billion\u201d,\n\nrequesting an investigation of whether politicians and city administrators \u201cappropriately exercised their responsibility of stewardship over public funds\u201d in the SSE decision, and\n\nrequesting an investigation of whether the SSE would achieve \u201cvalue for money\u201d.\n\nThe Auditor General\u2019s investigation and comments focus on the first of these points on the grounds that the second would amount to a review of a political decision which is outside of her jurisdiction, and that the third would be an after-the-fact audit of the completed project.\n\nThe AG concluded that:\n\nthere was \u201cno evidence of any lack of integrity\u201d by the TTC in preparation of the note,\n\nthere was \u201cno evidence of a systemic problem of political interference\u201d in relation to either the preparation of the note or of the ridership estimates used to justify the subway option, and\n\nestimates in the note were within the acceptable range of values for a project at the then-current state of design.\n\nIt is worth noting that the range for cost estimates is huge, so great that a difference of over $1 billion could be considered to be \u201cacceptable\u201d. This speaks to the problem that Council is presented with major spending decisions before costs are nailed down, and options could be precluded on the basis of very preliminary estimates. This is supposed to be addressed in future by the implementation of a \u201cstage gate\u201d mechanism to allow cost reviews when the \u201cacceptable\u201d range is much reduced, although it is far from clear whether this would have helped the SSE/SLRT debate. Typically, options in transit studies are narrowed down long before design and cost estimates reach a high confidence level simply because that degree of work brings expense that will be thrown away for the rejected options.\n\nThat said, the AG did find that there were problems with the distribution of the briefing note which are ascribed, in effect, to everyone thinking someone else was looking after ensuring that the note was circulated to everyone who should see it at the same time. Moreover, there was a general problem with the content of the note not fully revealing the underlying assumptions used in its content.\n\nTo that end, the AG recommended:\n\nThat the TTC Board request their CEO \u201cto provide more clarity in relation to the assumptions being relied on\u201d in briefing notes.\n\nThat City Council request the City Clerk to establish a repository for \u201cbriefing notes, bulletins, announcements and similar communications issued by City divisions and agencies\u201d similar to the one already in use in Vancouver, and that the City Manager ensure that this database is used by all.\n\nThat the TTC Board request their CEO to ensure that \u201cits briefing note distribution protocols align with and seamlessly integrate with the City distribution protocols\u201d.\n\nThe AG\u2019s report gives an extensive history of the SSE/SLRT decision [pp 5-10] and the circumstances of the briefing note\u2019s creation and distribution [pp 24-28]. This is useful if only to sort out the chronology. It is clear that the briefing note was originally created to support the TTC Chair and management in responding to possible questions, and that it was later shared with members of the TTC Board and others, including the Mayor\u2019s Office, at City Hall. The ball was dropped in that both the TTC and City appeared to assume that distribution to all of Council would be handled by the other party. However, the fact that a note created to support debate at Executive Committee in late June did not find its way to the full Council until mid-July gives the impression that the information was withheld from subway critics until the last possible moment.\n\nThere may be no \u201csmoking gun\u201d evidence on this, but the impression is hard to escape in the highly politicized environment of this debate.\n\nAs to the content of the note, there are two major issues: ongoing changes in ridership projections and the validity of cost comparisons between the options.\n\nRidership\n\nRidership projections are a dark art, and it is no surprise that in just about any transit study they will support a preconceived desire to build or provide transit infrastructure and service, or to not do so if that is the prevailing political will. Many factors come into these projections including:\n\nassumptions about land use, jobs and population\n\nthe modelled network including competing services in the same general corridor\n\nthe target date for which demand is modelled\n\nthe projected service level and, more generally, the access time for potential riders to transit service\n\nthe assumed fare tariff\n\nFor example, early projections for the Sheppard Subway depended on major redevelopment near and at the Scarborough Town Centre. This has not materialized, and ironically has only recently resurfaced as part of the justification for the SSE. Projections for networks including both the SSE and SmartTrack show strong effects both from assumed service levels on ST (wider headways drive down ridership especially when an alternative is available) and from fare (will ST operate as part of the \u201cTTC\u201d fare zone or not).\n\nA common response when planners are asked about these models is that they are (a) too complex and (b) there are too many permutations of factors to be boiled down into a report for public consumption. Indeed, when some of this information was requested by the Toronto Star through an FOI request, the data were released in an unformatted manner with little explanatory text that could allow easy interpretation. Either detailed presentations of the data complete with comparative explanations were withheld, or they never existed in the first place.\n\nOver the years, projected demand for the SSE/SLRT options has ranged from a level easily achieved with LRT (high thousands per peak hour) to the low end of subway capacity (mid teens of thousands per peak hour). Although there is a plausible explanation for this as studies and assumptions evolved, there is a distinct odour that assumptions and numbers were tailored to suit the prevailing political mood. This brings us to the difficult problem of when advice is \u201cprofessional\u201d and when it is \u201cpolitical\u201d.\n\nRedevelopment and intensification of the STC district has long been a goal for Scarborough, but there is a big jump from desire to reality. One can argue that the lack of rapid transit is the reason development did not occur sooner, a chicken-egg problem that rarely addresses the many parts of Toronto and the GTHA which have developed more or less independently of transit improvements, or failed to develop even with good transit present.\n\nThe type of intensification is also important to demand projections. Jobs tend to attract many trips over short time intervals to one node, of which the core area is by far the strongest, but not the only example. Residential density creates a different type of demand, and it can just as strongly be affected by the available road network as by transit. Even today, commuting travel in Scarborough is not only to downtown, but to other places within Scarborough and to locations in the 905.\n\nIn any event, the history of the demand modelling is sufficiently cloudy that just about any number could be used with professional justification. The difficulty with past reports is that the reasons for ongoing changes have not been explained beyond the most superficial levels, and some changes conveniently coincided with new political directions. A question \u201cwhat happens if we assume more development here\u201d can be read either as a request for a professional opinion, or an attempt to get a different answer to a policy question. The boundary is difficult to pin down.\n\nCost Estimates\n\nQuestions about the validity of estimates for the SLRT\u2019s cost arise from the implication that it would cost almost as much to build the LRT (just under $3 billion) as compared to the cost for the subway that was then floating about 10% higher. (Since the 2016 debate, the subway cost has risen because of greater complexity at the planned bus loop, and further increases are expected as the line reaches 30% detailed design.) Again it must be emphasized that the LRT estimate was for a seven-stop line from Kennedy Station to Sheppard and Progress, not for a one-stop Kennedy-STC link.\n\nTTC staff reached their estimate by starting with the $1.88 billion (2010$) LRT figure and inflating it to a late 2025 opening date. The change was roughly 60% spread over 15 years including the effects of compounding. Further increases were possible because of design issues at Kennedy and Lawrence East Stations.\n\nWhen Council first opted to replace the SLRT with the SSE, Metrolinx took advantage of this to simplify the design of the LRT interchange at Kennedy. The Eglinton Crosstown route, formerly at the same level as the subway tracks and under the SLRT\u2019s loop, was moved up to concourse level taking the space the SLRT would have occupied. Reverting to the LRT plan would have required a new Kennedy design, or a change order to the Crosstown project. There is some debate as to how much this would cost and whether work had progressed to the point of no return (the revised design is under construction now).\n\nThere are also problems at Lawrence East because there is not enough room for co-existence of a SmartTrack station and an SRT or SLRT station at this site. Of course, if there were a local transit station here, the need for a SmartTrack station would evaporate.\n\nAnother issue for the LRT is the question of its maintenance facility. In early versions of the SLRT (which in turn descended from a proposed RT extension), the line would have its own carhouse at Bellamy replacing/expanding the McCowan Yard. In the Transit City network, the SLRT would share the Conlins Road carhouse with the Sheppard East LRT. Indeed, Metrolinx planned to build this carhouse and a few kilometres of track on Sheppard for vehicle testing in advance of the SLRT opening. These plans ended with the decision to build a subway extension, although initially that would have run through to Sheppard. If the SLRT is revived, it will need a carhouse and, at this point, there is no Sheppard project to share the cost.\n\nFinally there is the question of whether part of the SLRT could have been built concurrently with existing SRT operations and at least some of the construction at Kennedy Station.\n\nThe debate here is less of the way inflation was calculated (2% in early years, but 4% for most of the project\u2019s life) than with assumptions about the time needed to complete the project and the cost of undoing some of the design modifications.\n\nIf the City had not decided to switch to LRT back in July 2013, or at least had kept the option open pending further study, some events would not have progressed as far. However, the political reality was of a subway, no matter what, and by the time of the 2016 debate, going back to the SLRT faced not just a political battle but a technical one. Given the political will, anything could have been done, but the will to build a subway took precedence and, if anything, paths to an LRT option were closed off.\n\nThe AG concludes that the TTC\u2019s assumption that the SLRT would have to await completion of the Crosstown as designed might have been erroneous, but she does not come down to the point of saying the TTC was wrong or deceptive on that point.\n\nLRT or Subway\n\nTo me, this debate has been over for some time at the political level with candidates and parties in every government showing how badly they wish to support Scarborough\u2019s dream of a subway, flawed though this might be to LRT advocates. Only a very large increase in the estimated cost of the subway project will derail it now, and even that would not be without difficulty because so much political capital has been invested in the subway option.\n\nIn parallel, there remains the question of whether the Eglinton East or Sheppard LRTs will ever be built and whether Scarborough will have a rail transit network, not simply one more subway stop and a gigantic bus terminal.\n\nUpdated October 17, 2016 at 9:00 am\n\nDiscussion of the Auditor General\u2019s report at the TTC Board meeting was fairly low-key, although the degree to which Chair Josh Colle reiterated the vindication of staff and CEO Andy Byford did go on rather longer than necessary.\n\nScarborough Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker, a strident subway advocate, was comparatively restrained in gloating over the outcome, but in his remarks showed precisely how the briefing note had been misused at Council. He reiterated the comparison of a $3 billion LRT with a $3.6 billion subway while ignoring that (a) the LRT would have served more riders over a larger area with potential for extension, and (b) the timeframe for LRT construction was misrepresented by the TTC as confirmed by the AG.\n\nThe heart of the problem is that the briefing note was not intended as a thorough review of options, but as a once-over-lightly review of the issues that could come up were the subway decision reversed. The note is written from the point of view that the subway was a done deal, not as detailed advocacy for reversing that policy. Having said that, the way the note was written and came to light at Council gives the taste of closely held information and advice, especially in the delay between its creation for an Executive Committee meeting in late June and wider appearance at the July Council meeting.\n\nThe TTC Board endorsed the AG\u2019s recommendations, and we can only hope that there will be more transparency in the provision of advice to Council in the future.\n\nAfter the meeting, in an interview of CEO Andy Byford by the Star\u2019s Ben Spurr, the question of a future change to the subway\u2019s projected cost came up. Byford stated quite clearly that if the SSE\u2019s cost when the project reaches 30% design goes up too much, he will have to revisit his support for the subway option. The new estimate is expected in the spring of 2018, and Byford did not indicate the magnitude of change that would trigger his decision.\n\nAdvancing Fare Integration\n\nThis report provides some of the details behind the integration of GO and TTC fares to provide for the recently-announced co-fare between the two systems. Under this agreement, transfers between the systems will provide a discount from the TTC fares of $1.50 for Adults and $0.55 for Seniors and Students for full fares (not passes) paid by Presto.\n\nSeveral technical and administrative details are set out in the report:\n\nThe TTC will continue to pay the full fee to Presto for transactions on its system as if the rider had paid the full fare.\n\nFor GO-to-TTC transfers, the credit will be applied to the rider\u2019s Presto card when they tap into the TTC.\n\nFor TTC-to-GO transfers, the credit will be applied when the rider taps off of GO Transit because this is the point at which the GO fare is calculated. The exception will be for GO riders who have a default trip set on their card and who do not tap off. Their credit will be applied when they tap on to GO. [This nuance is not mentioned in the report, but was clarified by the TTC in a follow-up email.]\n\nThis discount will replace the fare integration pilot at Rouge Hill and the Metropass sticker program at Exhibition and Danforth Stations.\n\nTrips using TTC, GO and a 905 system with a co-fare arrangement will receive discounts for both their TTC and 905 trip segments.\n\nThe agreement will run to the end of the Provincial fiscal year on March 31, 2020. It will provide up to $7.15 million in the 2017-18 fiscal year, and up to $18.4 million in each if the following years.\n\nMetrolinx will assume the cost of implementing the discount. If the program is terminated, the cost of undoing the change, estimated at $500,000, will be shared between Metrolinx and the TTC.\n\nUnder certain conditions, the agreement could be reopened: If a broader regional fare integration strategy is implemented before March 31, 2020. If TTC fares change, there could be a change in the discount, but absent an agreement between the parties, the discount would continue at the same rate (e.g. $1.50 per adult regardless of the level of the TTC fare). If quarterly reviews of actual usage and rebate payable project that the total payable to the TTC would exceed the provincial contribution caps.\n\n\n\nThe principles behind calculating the actual take up of the new discount are shown in the report, but not the actual calculation. The numbers will come from a combination of existing GO/TTC users who are already using Presto, GO users who make net new TTC trips using Presto, and riders who are completely new to the system and are attracted by the lower combined fare.\n\nThe TTC expects to see an annual ridership increase of 350,000 relative to the approximately 8 million rides that will receive the discount. This shows that the overwhelming beneficiaries of the change will be existing GO Transit users.\n\nIt is truly astounding to think that undoing this fare change would cost $500,000 for software modifications (which should consist simply of an \u201con/off switch\u201d) plus any updates to signage and other channels of customer information. This says something about the design and implementation of the Presto system.\n\nFrom a political point of view, the new co-fare is an attempt to show that \u201csomething is happening\u201d on fare integration despite a long deadlock on the question of what a regional fare scheme would actually look like. It also allows Mayor Tory to claim \u201cprogress\u201d toward a \u201cSmartTrack\u201d fare on GO Transit even though it is actually a TTC fare discount with the much larger hurdle of GO fares yet to be addressed. The report notes:\n\nThe combined cost of travel using both GO/UP and TTC is a barrier to GTHA fare integration and discourages use of GO services within the city of Toronto. [p 3]\n\nIt is the much higher GO fare that is the primary barrier, and even if travel on the TTC leg of a journey were free.\n\nThe report notes that two-hour timed transfers are already available between systems in the 905, and that:\n\nProviding discounts for GO-TTC and 905-TTC customers would encourage more cross-boundary ridership using multiple transit systems. [p 4]\n\nThe new co-fare addresses the first part of this (GO/TTC), but leaves 905-TTC riders with no improvement.\n\nFurthermore:\n\nGO pricing is such that GO trips within the city of Toronto are priced significantly higher than comparable trips on the TTC. Amending the GO fare structure to address this issue will encourage better use of all transit services within Toronto. [p 4]\n\nThe situation is not simply one of providing co-fares, but:\n\n\u2026 concession, transfers and fare products should be harmonized to simplify the rules for customers when travelling between GTHA transit systems. [p 4]\n\nWhat this will actually translate into will depend in part on whether \u201cintegration\u201d is used as a sledgehammer to flatten all fare policies to a common scheme, or if local options such as free rides for children within Toronto or discounts for low-income groups could remain. Local discounts should be possible, but \u201cthe computer can\u2019t do it\u201d is a too common excuse to end discussions.\n\nAn important as-yet unsettled issue is the integration of fares on the portion of the new Vaughan subway extension that will serve 905-based riders.\n\nUpon the adoption of a fare discount, TTC and GO will continue to work together to adjust the York University GO bus/rail service to feed into the Line 1 Subway Extension to Vaughan. Concurrently, the TTC, City of Toronto and Metrolinx will continue to work towards greater GTHA fare integration. [p 6]\n\nEven if arrangements with GO are sorted out, this leaves York U commuters who now ride local 905 services into the campus with a double fare. There is no agreement yet as to which government(s) would fund reduced or free travel on the subway between York U and local services at stations further north.\n\nUpdated October 17 at 9:20 am\n\nDuring discussion of this report, a question arose about whether the TTC Board was on record as opposing fare-by-distance. Back in December 2015, the Board approved staff recommendations that included:\n\n3. Approve that no further analysis is required at this time for: a. 2 hour time-based transfers\n\nb. all-door boarding on buses\n\nc. fare by distance/zone\n\nd. cash fare proof-of-payment receipt for bus customers\n\nThe key phrase here is \u201cat this time\u201d, and it is easy to read between the lines of staff remarks that the FBD option is still an active proposal at Metrolinx. Comments at the Metrolinx Board suggest that other methods of \u201cregional integration\u201d could well be an \u201cinterim\u201d step beyond which the fare structure never progresses. The most obvious part of such a scheme would be to provide two-hour transfers across the 416/905 boundary with Presto so that a trip could begin and end on any local transit system without facing a full extra fare at the Toronto boundary.\n\nThe estimated cost of such a scheme would be $20-30 million annually, of which the TTC would be responsible for half.\n\nA Mobility Hub at Toronto Pearson Airport\n\n[The illustrations in this section are taken from the GTAA\u2019s presentation as captured on the TTC\u2019s YouTube record of the meeting.]\n\nHillary Marshall, Vice President of the Greater Toronto Airport Authority for Stakeholder Relations and Communications, presented an overview of plans for a large \u201cmobility hub\u201d at Pearson Airport. The hub would be located on the north side of Terminal 3, and would be linked to the existing terminals with an internal circulation train. Some reconfiguration of these terminals may be required, but there are already plans to revise the airport to cope with increasing demand.\n\nThe GTAA has ambitions to become a first tier airport with over 50 million air passengers per year, but it lies far beyond major airports in Europe and Asia in the proportion of travellers who reach the airport via transit. Pearson\u2019s transit share is just under 10% while transit provides far more of airport access internationally. Even Vancouver\u2019s airport is over 30% showing how Toronto has fallen severely behind.\n\nThis shows how easy it has been for a major destination in the GTA to depend on road access thanks to huge investments in highways serving the western part of Toronto, but eventually that road space filled up. Now Pearson and the many businesses clustered around the airport face limits on growth.\n\nAn important component of the hub will be extensions of the Eglinton West and Finch West LRT lines as well as the Mississauga busway. Further in the future, access to the rail corridor and services including GO/RER and a high speed line to southwestern Ontario must be improved. The UPX link now in place only serves trains coming from downtown.\n\nWhen UPX was opened with much fanfare, an issue regarding its usefulness was the degree to which airport trips do not originate downtown. If the transit share is to be increased, then transit must serve where passengers and airport district workers actually are and this requires a much more extensive network of services. Even though a transit map of the airport today shows many lines radiating from it, none of them is a frequent service capable of handling a major share of the overall demand.\n\nPassenger handling at the airport would be fundamentally reorganized with the hub acting as the check-in area for all flights, and the air terminals becoming the secure side of the airport. This plus other circulation needs will require substantially more capacity and coverage than the existing airport link train provides, but this was not addressed by the presentation. An important distinction in travel to \u201cthe airport\u201d is that it is a huge district, with jobs and supporting businesses spread over an area comparable to downtown Toronto. Getting someone to Pearson does not provide them with convenient access to or circulation around that extended area.\n\nStudies are planned of transit services coming into the airport, and these are expected to take two years or so. An option raised by Chair Josh Colle was to loop the Eglinton and Finch LRT lines as a through service. Whether this is operationally feasible remains to be seen, but it is refreshing to see LRT lines discussed as part of improved circulation and development in this very car-oriented part of Toronto.\n\nVice Chair Alan Heisey asked about the jurisdictional vacuum in regional planning and why this proposal had not come from Metrolinx. Heisey also noted that wayfinding at the airport for basic transit service, the 192 bus to Kipling Station, has been less then helpful compared to other revenue-generating options such as taxis and limos.\n\nMarshall replied that Metrolinx has flagged the airport as a major centre in its plans, but there are many stakeholders in the area. The GTAA is a federal agency, and their interest in becoming a major transit centre is comparatively recent. Indeed, their focus on parking revenue produced an absurd proposal to charge Metrolinx for every UPX passenger to offset lost parking fees. This proposal was dropped before UPX began operation, but that it could even be floated shows how blinkered the GTAA\u2019s thinking was. When Transit City and the Eglinton West LRT was first proposed, the GTAA was not interested. The issue now is growth, and without better transit, growth is impossible.\n\nAs for signage at the airport, Marshall stated that improvements are now in progress with Terminal 1 already done and Terminal 3 in progress.\n\nThe first phase of the new hub, with a hoped-for opening date in 2027, will cost about $500 million and this will be funded by the GTAA. They might also assist with the capital cost of transit links, but operating funding is an issue for future discussion.\n\nUpdate on Service Reliability\n\nAs part of the CEO\u2019s Report, Rick Leary made a short presentation on efforts to improve service reliability by adjusting schedules to match actual route conditions. For three routes he showed both the \u201con time\u201d performance for the past three years and short turn counts.\n\nAs I have discussed on this site before, \u201con time\u201d means that a vehicle left the terminal within a six minute range (1 minute early to 5 minutes late) of its scheduled time. The performance charts do not give any indication of how reliability may have declined as vehicles travelled along the route. Moreover, data are averaged by week and the degree of variability by time of day or date is smoothed out by this presentation.\n\nThere is no doubt that the values improved following schedule changes, but the problem of irregular service is still present on many routes. I will be exploring this for a selection of suburban bus routes later this fall after I receive September and October tracking data.\n\nIn 2018, the TTC plans to continue with schedule adjustments to improve performance on many routes as shown in this map.\n\nBus and Streetcar Fleet Planning\n\nRick Leary also made a presentation on the situation with the bus and streetcar fleets where there are constraints on bus service because Bombardier is late in delivery of the new streetcars.\n\nAt the September Board meeting, there was discussion of delaying part of a pending bus purchase so that it could be redirected to some form of new technology bus. Leary explained that the TTC faces a large requirement to procure new buses, and only some of this is covered by the federal PTIF program as it is currently structured.\n\nThe chart showing the bus fleet size refers to vehicles required for service, not to the total fleet which includes various classes of spares: buses available to replace vehicles that fail in service (change offs), regular maintenance spares, major overhaul spares and warranty spares (retrofits to recently purchased buses).\n\nThe reduction in service in 2015 was implemented to increase the spare pool and allow more preventative maintenance to occur, and this continued into 2016. In late 2017, the TYSSE will open and this reduces the overall fleet requirement, although some buses will be reallocated to service changes elsewhere in the network.\n\nIn 2018, an additional storage space at Malvern Garage will give that crowded site a bit more elbow room. Buses will be allocated to service improvements and to offset delays from Crosstown construction activities.\n\nMcNicoll Garage opens in 2020 and this will allow the fleet to grow. Much of the new space will be used to accommodate buses from existing overcrowded garages.\n\nWhen the Crosstown line opens in 2021, the fleet will stay the same size, but many buses will become available for use on other routes.\n\nOn the procurement side, the TTC has many vehicles that are in striking distance of retirement, particularly now that the target is 12 years, not the former 18. Although the City would like the TTC to flatten out its purchase quantities, every so often a grant program comes along that encourages the purchase of many buses in a short period. That is the origin of the nine-year old bulge in the fleet demographics.\n\nThe green box shows the vehicles for which replacements are on order, and but there are over 400 buses for which a replacement must be sought in the next few years.\n\nUnder current plans, the last of the vehicles whose emissions trouble the Ministry of Environment should be retired by the third quarter of 2018 leaving only Hybrids or Clean Diesels in the fleet.\n\nChanges in maintenance practices are improving vehicle reliability (see the CEO\u2019s report for details) and even the Hybrids, once reviled as bad buses, achieved 15,300 km MDBF (meam distance before failure) in summer 2017. This begs the question of what proportion of the TTC\u2019s problems with this portion of the fleet was simply a case of inadequate preventative maintenance, or conversely whether the hybrids needed more than the TTC was willing to give based on their experience with diesels.\n\nIn any event, the number of daily in service failures requiring change-offs has been dropping for some time.\n\nMeanwhile, the situation on the streetcar fleet is much different. The \u201ccontract baseline\u201d chart below shows the demographics for the streetcar fleet that would exist if Bombardier held to their original delivery schedule for Flexitys, while the \u201ccurrent status\u201d chart shows the actual situation. Considering that the design life for the CLRV and ALRV fleets (the older cars) was only 30 years, the fact that they continue to run is impressive, but there are limits to what the TTC can do. An overhaul program is rebuilding a portion of each fleet, but nowhere near all, and one challenge is to find cars in good enough shape to put through the program. Also, several of the cars counted below are actually being used for spare parts to keep the rest of the fleet running, and the available fleet is smaller than the numbers shown here.\n\nThe changeoff rate on the streetcar routes continues to rise.\n\nVehicle reliability showed an upturn (see the CEO\u2019s report) in the most recent period, but this could well be due to the relatively small number of cars in service with bus replacements operating on several routes, notably on 501 Queen. The TTC\u2019s ability to field the required service on all of the streetcar routes is limited by the number of cars available. Until the rate of Flexity deliveries overtakes the rate of old streetcar retirements, the TTC cannot get ahead of the game. This makes the planned ramp up of production to almost 2 cars/week from Bombardier critical, and they have yet to demonstrate that capability.\n\nMeanwhile, the TTC projects that the need for buses running on streetcar routes will continue to increase in 2018 as the availability of old cars declines. I plan to explore these numbers further because 2017 was a particularly bad year for needing buses on streetcar routes with replacements or parallel services on a very long list of routes. Some of this was thanks to construction, and some to the vehicle shortage. In any event, looking at plans for 2018 where there is no equivalent scope of work to the many projects on 501 Queen in 2017, the demand for buses should fall offsetting some old vehicle retirements.\n\nTTC staff plan to bring forward a \u201cGreen Bus\u201d proposal in November (responding to the Board\u2019s direction in September). Reading between the lines of some comments at the Board meeting, they appear intent on using the streetcar/bus vehicle shortage to justify accelerating new vehicle purchases and simultaneously improving their ability to replace streetcars.\n\nIf Bombardier does not get its act together soon, Toronto could be facing a serious threat to the future scope of its streetcar network just at a time when population patterns require considerably more service on the areas that network serves.\n\nAll of these projections assume a minimal increase in TTC service over coming years in response to budget pressures and to the limit on garage space. Later this year, the TTC will present a Ridership Growth Strategy, and the challenge will be how to tell an upbeat story of better service when past decisions about budgets, garages and fleets have left the TTC with inadequate resources to handle more demand, should it materialize.\n\nBackground Data on Bus Emissions\n\nConventional Diesel = 73.9L/100km; 2.02kg CO2/km\n\nClean Diesel = 53L/100km; 1.45kg CO2/km\n\n1st Generation Hybrid = 52.3L/100km; 1.43kg CO2/km \u2013 30% lower than Conventional Diesel\n\nCNG = 1.23kg CO2/km \u2013 39% lower than Conventional Diesel\n\n2nd Generation Hybrid (2017) = 40L/100km; 1.09kg C02/km \u2013 46 % lower than Conventional Diesel\n\n(Average bus mileage for 1 year is appox. 70,000km)\n\n[Source: Notes to TTC presentation slides]\n\nWhile there are arguments that \u201cclean diesel\u201d is a misnomer, the figures above show that there is an improvement compared to conventional diesels. However, that type of engine has almost completely passed out of use and is no longer a valid comparator.\n\nThe issue for any new \u201cgreen\u201d bus will be how it compares to technologies the TTC is actually using, and what the cost of that improvement might be both in up front capital and ongoing operating/maintenance costs, not to mention wider social costs and benefits."}
-{"text": "Net Metering or Net Energy Metering is a billing arrangement that allows the consumer to sell excess energy to the utility company or buy deficit energy from the utility company using a meter to track this energy exchange. In other words, net metering takes into account the difference of energy consumed from the gird and energy fed back to the grid.\n\nNet Metering Systems are subject to the following two possibilities:\n\nPossibility #1\n\nIf the generation of energy from alternate sources like solar or wind is more than the required load, the excess energy is fed back into the main grid and the meter runs backwards. The system owner is then credited for the units that were fed back into the system.\n\nPossibility #2\n\nIf the generation of energy from alternate sources like solar or wind is less than the required load, the deficit energy is drawn from the main grid and the meter, as usual, runs forward. The system owner is then charged for the units that were consumed.\n\nIn both possibilities, the system owner is charged for the difference of units as per standard retail tariffs.\n\nBenefits of Net Metering\n\nUsing Net Metering configuration comes with the following benefits:\n\nMonetary Benefits \u2013 Since the owner is charged for net energy consumed from the utility grid, he directly enjoys financial benefits.\n\n\u2013 Since the owner is charged for net energy consumed from the utility grid, he directly enjoys financial benefits. Battery Less Systems \u2013 In this configuration, excess energy is directly fed into the main grid and deficit energy is directly drawn from the main grid. This helps avoid the heavy costs of batteries which were traditionally used as for the purposes of bringing balance and stability to the system.\n\n\u2013 In this configuration, excess energy is directly fed into the main grid and deficit energy is directly drawn from the main grid. This helps avoid the heavy costs of batteries which were traditionally used as for the purposes of bringing balance and stability to the system. No Dependency on Back-Up Systems \u2013 Because there is direct switch between the energy sources and no dependency on batteries, there is no need of depending on any backup systems.\n\n\u2013 Because there is direct switch between the energy sources and no dependency on batteries, there is no need of depending on any backup systems. Less or No Maintenance \u2013 With the reduction of factors like backup systems and batteries, maintenance becomes next to negligible.\n\nNet Metering Policies\n\nAlmost all states and union territories in India have introduced policies enabling and encouraging Net Metering in Grid Connected Power Systems. The policies of these are listed here. (These documents have been sourced from Ministry of New and Renewable Energy)"}
-{"text": "by Larry C. Johnson\n\n\n\n\n\nThe CIA field commander for the agency\u2019s Jawbreaker team at Tora Bora, Gary Berntsen, has finally got approval to publish his book, which will hit the streets on December 27, 2005.\n\n\n\nThe CIA has sat on the book for more than a year and tried to stop its publication. Although the book is not intended as a criticism of President Bush, it will land another body blow to the beleaguered Bush Presidency.\n\nBernsten\u2019s key point in the book is his testimonty that he and other U.S. commanders did know that bin Laden was among the hundreds of fleeing Qaeda and Taliban members.\n\nAccording to NEWSWEEK, \u201cBerntsen says he had definitive intelligence that bin Laden was holed up at Tora Bora\u2013intelligence operatives had tracked him\u2013and could have been caught. He was there.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\nLook for General Tommy Franks image as the great commander to be further tarnished.\n\nThis book will have the unintended effect of reminding all Americans that George Bush did not finish the job of tracking down Bin Laden. Instead, he shifted key military and intelligence resources and started a war of choice in Iraq.\n\nAt the current fatality rate more than 2100 Americans will have died in Iraq when this book is available in bookstores. Put on your list for belated Christmas and Hanukkah shopping.\n\nHappy Holidays.\n\n\n\n\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..\n\n\n\nLarry C. Johnson is CEO and co-founder of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business-consulting firm that helps corporations and governments manage threats posed by terrorism and money laundering. Mr. Johnson, who worked previously with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department\u2019s Office of Counter Terrorism (as a Deputy Director), is a recognized expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk management. Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio, ABC\u2019s Nightline, NBC\u2019s Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News, and the BBC. Mr. Johnson has authored several articles for publications, including Security Management Magazine, the New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has lectured on terrorism and aviation security around the world. Further bio details.\n\n\n\nLarry C. Johnson\n\nPersonal Blog: No Quarter || Bio\n\nRecommended Book List || More BoomanTribune Posts"}
-{"text": "10 Min read time Share:\n\nJ\u00f3zef Czapski, Autoportret z ksi\u0105\u017ck\u0105 (Self-portrait with book), c. 1973. Image: Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie (CC).\n\nFrom the bisexual demimonde of prewar Paris to investigating Soviet war crimes, J\u00f3zef Czapski\u2019s life encapsulates the extremes of twentieth-century Europe.\n\nLost Time: Lectures on Proust in a Soviet Prison Camp\n\nJ\u00f3zef Czapski, translated by Eric Karpeles\n\nInhuman Land: Searching for the Truth in Soviet Russia, 1941\u20131942\n\nJ\u00f3zef Czapski, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones\n\nAlmost Nothing: The 20th-Century Art and Life of J\u00f3zef Czapski\n\nEric Karpeles\n\nThe life of Polish artist and diplomat J\u00f3zef Czapski (1896\u20131993) in many ways mirrored the intellectual trajectory of twentieth-century Europe. Yet readers have likely never heard of him. That is in part because, despite being exemplary, Czapski\u2019s work is hard to contextualize. It does not fit neatly as either prewar or postwar. Instead, it reveals an old world still present in the new and seeking to understand what it had become. With new translations of Czapski\u2019s writing and a wonderful new biography by Eric Karpeles, Czapski comes alive for English readers with a depth and clarity previously absent. One can hope, then, that the time for Czapski\u2019s revival has come.\n\nFor most of his life, Czapski felt torn between the cosmopolitanism of Europe before the 1940s and the patriotism he felt driven by World War II to embrace.\n\nCzapski was a gifted painter but also a compulsive, talented diarist and essayist. In the salons of Europe, Russia, and North America, he mingled with the likes of Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, Andr\u00e9 Gide, and Anna Akhmatova; Czapski even appears, in a romantic light, in one of the latter\u2019s poems. Over the years, he had relationships with both men and women, including Canadian heiresses and the younger brother of Vladimir Nabokov.\n\nBorn in Prague into an aristocratic family, the young Count Hutten-Czapski spoke German with his mother and French with his governess. He briefly studied law at the Imperial College in St. Petersburg before moving to the newly independent Poland to become an artist. Czapski soon dropped his title and the Germanic surname Hutten; as J\u00f3zio Czapski, he then moved to Paris with a group of his painter friends, where they lived on a shoestring budget with little support from their families. Over the next decade, he had his first homosexual affairs, mingled with major European modernists, and developed into an increasingly admired painter. Upon returning to Poland in the thirties, he was rewarded with his first solo exhibit. By the time he was in his early forties, his bohemian wanderings appeared to have led him to a sustainable, predictable career as an artist.\n\nThen, in a matter of weeks, his familiar existence was in ruins. German forces invaded Poland from the west and the Red Army advanced from the east. Czapski enlisted as a Polish army officer and was soon captured by the Soviets. The USSR began a clandestine massacre of Polish intelligentsia and officers in spring of 1940, but Czapski was one of very few officers to escape, eventually joining a renascent Polish army that fought Nazi Germany alongside Soviet forces. With this army, led by general W\u0142adys\u0142aw Anders, Czapski fought his way through the Middle East back to the Mediterranean, and finally to Paris.\n\nBut like many others, Czapski remained haunted by the thousands of Polish officers who disappeared under the Red Army's watch. What actually happened was a closely held secret, but in 1941 Anders ordered an investigation into the matter, which fell to Czapski to carry out. For a plethora of diplomatic and intellectual reasons\u2014ranging from Winston Churchill\u2019s need to placate Russia to the French intelligentsia\u2019s ongoing romance with Stalinism\u2014Czapski's investigation was met with hostility by both the Soviets and the Allies. For the rest of his life, Czapski remained torn between the cosmopolitan self he had so carefully fashioned before the 1940s, and the minoritarian, nationally marked position into which he was shoehorned by the events of the war and the ethical commitments they demanded from him. Neither Polish dissidents nor Western Europeans would ever accept him completely; to both, his unwillingness to embrace either a purely cosmopolitan or a purely nationalist identity seemed like proof of what Polish dissident journalist Adam Michnik describes as Czapski\u2019s \u201cnaivety.\u201d\n\n\u2022 \u2022 \u2022\n\nThe slim volume Lost Time: Lectures on Proust in a Soviet Prison Camp offers a poignant\u2014but in itself rather cryptic\u2014document of Czapski\u2019s vertiginously shifting worldview. Delivered and transcribed while Czapski was a POW in Gryazovets from 1939 to 1940, the lectures were intended to bolster his fellow prisoners\u2019 faltering morale and intellectual activity. Czapski made elaborate notes for the lectures by relying entirely on memory of having read Marcel Proust\u2019s In Search of Lost Time (1913) in the 1920s while recovering from his breakup with Sergei Nabokov.\n\nCzapski attempts to turn Proust into a source of consolation within a world whose principles and priorities are nothing like those of a French salon.\n\nWhat solace can Proust provide him and his fellow prisoners in their dramatically changed circumstances? Czapski is unsure. At times, his lectures feelingly paraphrase Proust\u2019s plot twists, as if the writer\u2019s parables about the vanity of social desires were in themselves comforting. Particularly drawn to Proust\u2019s fictional writer Bergotte, and to the pliant visual and writerly imagination he embodies, Czapski writes tenderly about the way Vermeer\u2019s paintings reveal to Bergotte, at the very end of his life, a depth of human connectedness that transcends our individual selfishness. Czapski also extolls Proust\u2019s open-mindedness, downplaying the French writer\u2019s satirical edge to elevate his supposed equanimity in the face of delusion and prejudice:\n\nIn [Proust\u2019s] work we come across an absolute absence of bias, a willingness to know and to understand as many opposing states of the human soul as possible, a capacity for discovering in the lowest sort of man such nobility as to appear sublime, and in the seemingly purest of beings, the basest instincts.\n\nCzapski insists that Proust\u2019s equanimity\u2014as well as an endless curiosity about small details of perception and sensation\u2014remained with him until the end of his life, even during times of extreme physical suffering.\n\nBased on such passages, Czapski\u2019s Lost Time has often been read as consolatio philosophiae: it tries to use philosophically minded literature to make more palatable the increased awareness of its author\u2019s own seemingly impending death. That assessment is not completely incorrect. But it underplays the desperate, vague awkwardness with which Czapski attempts to turn Proust into a source of consolation within a world whose principles and priorities are nothing like those of a French salon. It also overlooks the palpable guilt and confusion Czapski begins to attach, even then, to his own continuing survival, a sense of fracture that will make his life after the war seem like an impossible afterlife.\n\nCzapski hints at these darker dimensions of his attachment to Proust when he describes In Search of Lost Time the account of \u201cthe slow and painful transformation of a passionate and narrowly egotistical being into a man who gives himself over wholly to some great work or other that devours him, destroys him, lives in his blood.\u201d While in the prison camp and in the years after, Czapski embraced a patriotism that he wished had not been stirred in him, a passion that did not fulfill but rather interrupted the bohemian life he had hoped to have.\n\n\u2022 \u2022 \u2022\n\nInhuman Land (1949) finds Czapski a decade later having fully shouldered this patriotic burden. The book reports on his experience spearheading the investigation to prove that the Soviet Union had murdered thousands of the Polish intelligentsia. Published in France with much difficulty and long untranslated into English despite interventions from George Orwell and Arthur Koestler, Inhuman Land is equal parts memoir and a collection of testimonies. Czapski describes himself narrowly surviving dire prison conditions: bitter cold, nonexistent food rations, and transfers across large territories in overpacked freight trains. During this time, he begins collating a \u201ccard index of missing people\u201d whose disappearance no one can explain to him. After the war, this index grows into an official diplomatic project:\n\nI had come out of Russia and had searched for our missing comrades on behalf of the commander of the Polish Armed Forces, tormenting myself and others as I traveled to Kuybyshev, Chkalov, and Moscow, and then spent months and months on end working with an entire team of colleagues to draft, check, and supplement lists featuring names of thousands of those men.\n\nAs Czapski becomes increasingly certain that his fellow officers have been massacred, he finds that few people on either side of the emergent Iron Curtain are willing to listen to his story or confirm it.\n\nIn his postwar writing, Czapski views his changed world through the eyes of an aesthete, demonstrating both the portability of early modernist sensibilities and their hothouse quality.\n\nAs a story about postwar governments trying to overlook Soviet war crimes and an extended testimony to the brutality of Soviet rule, Inhuman Land presages later and more famous works such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn\u2019s Gulag Archipelago (1974) and Varlam Shalamov\u2019s Kolyma Stories (1978). Yet comparing Czapski to Solzhenitsyn and Shalamov risks misleading his potential reader. Czapski had been propelled into a new chapter of European history, but he still carried his old, Parisian self with him. In his writing, he views his violently changing world through the eyes of an aesthete, in ways that are\u2014like his prison lectures on Proust\u2014equal parts trenchant and dreamlike, proof of the portability of early modernist sensibilities as well as of their hothouse quality. Describing his time in the Gryazovets prison camp, Czapski frequently likens his jailers and fellow soldiers to canonical literary characters. In his opinions about postwar politics, he quotes from Adam Mickiewicz\u2019s epic poem Pan Tadeusz. Upon first setting eyes on a Middle Eastern landscape, he compares it to an orientalist painting remembered from childhood:\n\nFrom my memory a vivid image emerged of a painting by J\u00f3zef Brandt in a heavy gilded frame that used to hang in my family home. Today\u2019s direct impressions of the East were like an overprint on top of that old, rather faded memory.\n\nIn Iraq, he becomes enraptured with a pristinely new notebook: \u201cMy new notebook had a gold inscription in Persian on its turquoise cover. As soon as I saw it I pounced on it like an alcoholic on vodka.\u201d To read such sentences makes one realize how much one overlooks, conceptually, by dividing European culture into the prewar and the postwar. It is strange and revealing to think of the people of 1930s Paris and the Weimar Republic not just as killed in the war or escaping before it, but as stumbling through its midst in a way that can sometimes seem like sleepwalking.\n\n\u2022 \u2022 \u2022\n\nIn Poland, Czapski\u2019s cosmopolitan tastes and his complicated sexuality have proven to be incompatible with the traditional image of Polish Cold War heroes.\n\nIn Almost Nothing: The 20th-Century Art and Life of J\u00f3zef Czapski, Eric Karpeles powerfully confronts these historical and affective complications. Years of research into Czapski\u2019s unpublished diaries and pilgrimages to his remaining paintings\u2014now strewn around the world, from Krak\u00f3w to Chicago\u2014give Karpeles\u2019s biography great depth and sensitivity. A painter and an art critic himself, Karpeles helps his reader appreciate Czapski\u2019s art alongside his writing. He also richly recounts Czapski\u2019s life after the events of Inhuman Land as he continues to reside in the suburbs of Paris, occasionally traveling abroad to promote Polish dissident writing, until his death in 1993.\n\nEven while sometimes succumbing too easily to Czapski\u2019s idealism about prewar Poland, Karpeles poignantly captures the reasons why Czapski\u2019s homeland has still only incompletely embraced him. Some of these reasons have to do with the long-term effects of communist censorship. Others derive from Czapski\u2019s cosmopolitan tastes and his complicated sexuality, which are ill-suited to the traditional image of Polish Cold War heroes. In a moving episode, Karpeles visits a young member of Czapski\u2019s family in search of sketches and memorabilia to find the tables turned on him: the young man earnestly asks Karpeles if he knows whether Czapski was gay. That an American should have to confirm this family rumor\u2014given the known existence of gushing love letters between Czapski and men such as Ludwik Hering\u2014says volumes about the swathes of modernist culture that Polish society would prefer to ignore.\n\n\u201cVision is a shock,\u201d Karpeles quotes Czapski saying, \u201cwhere willful choice between this or that is powerless\u2014a miracle of beauty which one alone can see; unique, fleeting, imperceptible or even held up to ridicule by others.\u201d Given the history he lived through, Czapski's commitment to these ideals made younger friends compare him\u2014in a way Czapski might have appreciated despite himself\u2014to the unworldly, childlike Prince Myshkin from Fyodor Dostoyevsky\u2019s The Idiot. This unusual affective and sensory openness makes Czapski an imperfect critic of his time just as it made him an imperfect, if charming, \u00e9migr\u00e9 diplomat. But with the passage of time, such openness also renders Czapski uncommonly astute as a witness for his period\u2019s contradictory forms of universalism and idealism, so many of which he enacted and partly believed in. As a modernist painter in a war camp, a bisexual Polish patriot, a cosmopolitan, pacifist Cold War writer, Czapski reminds his readers how many twists and alleys of our twentieth-century history we still know very little about\u2014and how much we might be blinded to by our preconceptions about its fault lines and agents."}
-{"text": "Club Spotlight is a series where we take a look at the history of each A-League club, including their highlights, shortcomings and players produced and those who have played host there. If you are following the A-League, you\u2019ve probably heard about Western Sydney. So far, the youngest team in the competition (until Western United join) and they have played in three grand finals.\n\nTony Popovic, inaugural WSW coach (and miracle worker)\n\nHistory\n\nThe Western Sydney Wanderers were formed in 2012 to represent the borough of Parramatta and more specifically, Western Sydney. Dubbed \u201cAustralia\u2019s newest, oldest club\u201d in respect to the long history of football in the region, the Western Sydney Wanderers have, through their name, a linkage to the first ever game of football played in New South Wales on 14 August 1880 between the King\u2019s School and the Wanderers in North Parramatta. Their active support group, the RBB (Red & Black Bloc) are the most notorious and admired active support group in the country.\n\nThe Wanderers have played host to players like Shinji Ono, Aaron Mooy, Nikolai Topor-Stanley and Radoslaw Majewski.\n\nIn their first season, the Wanderers, who were written off by everyone, finished as regular season Premiers after a 10-game winning run and a 14-game unbeaten streak. They would then come runners-up in the Grand Final after losing to Central Coast.\n\nYou\u2019d expect a drop-off from the club. Surely, this was a miracle? A one-off? Well, the Wanderers players of the 2013/14 season would care to disagree. In the A-League, the Wanderers came second, and again finished runners-up, losing 2-1 after extra time against Brisbane Roar.\n\nThe 13/14 season will always be remembered for the Wanderers\u2019 campaign in Asia. It was the club\u2019s first season playing in the Asian Champions League, the Asian equivalent of the UCL. The Wanderers\u2019 started their ACL campaign by topping their group with 12 points. In both the last 16 and the Quarter-Finals, Western Sydney got through on away goals, beating Scanfreece 3-3 and Ghangzhou Evergrande 2-2 respectively. Against FC Seoul, the club won 2-0 on aggregate, however, the best was yet to come.\n\nIn the first leg of the ACL final against Al-Hilal, the club won 1-0 in Parramatta, thanks to a strike from Tomi Juric. All the Wanderers had to do was to hold their own in Saudi Arabia, and they would be champions of Asia.\n\nAt the King Fayd International Stadium, Al-Hilal forced wave after wave of attacks onto the Wanderers, as their goalkeeper, Ante Covic, had laser lights consisently shined at him during the match. It was Covic who had the last laugh, as his 84th \u2013 minute save sealed the win for the Wanderers. The Western Sydney Wanderers, formed two years prior, were the Champions of Asia\n\nWestern Sydney players celebrate their ACL triumph\n\n\u201cWe were called a small club yesterday. Today we are the biggest in Asia.\u201d Tony Popovic following Western Sydney\u2019s Asian Champions League win.\n\nThe next season was the worst to date for the club. They finished ninth, got knocked out of the FFA Cup in the Round of 32, the group stage of the ACL, and Kerem Bulut top-scored with five goals. The 2015/16 was a return to form for the club, as they came second (again) & runners up (again.) Tony Popovic\u2019s last season would come in 2016/17, as the club came sixth, got knocked out of the A-League finals in the first round, got knocked out of the ACL at the group stage and reached the quarter-finals of the FFA Cup, as Popovic went to Turkey.\n\nHaving appointed Josep Gombau for the 17/18 season, the club came seventh and reached the FFA Cup semi-finals. However, it wasn\u2019t enough, as Gombau was released from his duties as Markus Babbel was appointed. In his first season, the club came eighth after a end-of-season resurgence and reached the semis of the FFA Cup. The club have started the 19/20 season strongly, beating Perth Glory and putting seven goals past Sydney United in the FFA Cup.\n\nWhat are your thoughts on WSW\u2019s rise and fall? If you liked what you read, check out some of the other articles here, or check out our Instagram profile or or our Discord server. As always, leave any comments or feedback in the comments section, or on Discord."}
-{"text": "The Fox News program Justice with Judge Jeanine on Saturday abruptly cut video of President Donald Trump bowing his head to King Salman of Saudi Arabia.\n\nDuring an interview with Trump Counselor Kellyanne Conway, Fox News host Jeanine Pirro\u2019s show played B-roll of Trump\u2019s lavish visit to Saudi Arabia.\n\nBut when the highly-mocked video of Trump bowing to accept a gift from the Saudi King appeared on the screen, Pirro appeared to motion with her hand and the video was cut short. The broadcast briefly switched to a full scren shot of Conway before before resuming to the B-roll footage after Trump\u2019s bow.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nWatch the video below."}
-{"text": "I dagarna l\u00e4mnas ett antal st\u00e4mningsans\u00f6kningar in till Stockholms tingsr\u00e4tt som handlar om skivbolag som har gjort intr\u00e5ng i artisters upphovsr\u00e4tt. Bakgrunden \u00e4r att inspelningar fr\u00e5n tiden f\u00f6re digitaliseringen ges ut digitalt, trots att artisterna inte har ing\u00e5tt avtal som medger detta. Fr\u00e5gan har stor principiell betydelse och problemet \u00e4r utbrett b\u00e5de i Sverige och internationellt. F\u00f6r den majoritet av ber\u00f6rda artister som inte har lyckats teckna separata avtal har ers\u00e4ttningen minskat kraftigt i f\u00f6rh\u00e5llande till vad skivbolagen tj\u00e4nar p\u00e5 utgivningen. Agerandet \u00e4r ov\u00e4rdigt en bransch som beh\u00f6ver vinna legitimitet och respekt hos omv\u00e4rlden."}
-{"text": "Russia\u2019s annexation of the Crimean peninsula and alleged support of pro-Russia separatists elsewhere in Ukraine are driving more and more Ukrainians to seek alliance with the European Union and NATO, a Kiev social researcher reported Wednesday.\n\nThat is exactly the economic and security shift the Kremlin has been trying to prevent.\n\nFor the first time in more than a decade of polling Ukrainians on their attitudes toward the Western alliances, an absolute majority -- 52% -- said they favored steering Ukraine\u2019s foreign policy toward the European Union, said Andriy Bychenko, sociological services director for the Razumkov Center.\n\nThe share of respondents preferring to orient Ukraine\u2019s trade and political relations toward Russia was 16.6%.\n\n\nThe results were a qualitative drop from the nearly even split between pro-European and pro-Russian sentiments measured in previous polls since 2000, said Bychenko.\n\n\u201cThe main reason for this change is the aggression by Russia against Ukraine,\u201d the pollster said, charting the dramatic shift westward from Russia\u2019s invasion of the Crimean peninsula in late February and its March 18 annexation of the territory after a hasty and widely condemned referendum.\n\nThe Razumkov Center\u2019s latest survey was based on April 25-29 interviews with 2,012 adults across Ukraine -- except for in Crimea, where Ukrainian social researchers no longer have access. The peninsula\u2019s 2 million residents represent about 4% of Ukraine\u2019s 46 million population. The Razumkov Center survey reported a plus-or-minus 2.3% margin of error.\n\nA plurality of Ukrainians remains opposed to joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Bychenko said the latest survey results show, with 41.6% against joining the military bloc while 36% say they aspire to membership. But that sentiment too has shifted significantly in recent weeks from what has been consistently well over 50% opposed to alliance with the former Soviet Union\u2019s Cold War adversaries, Bychenko said.\n\n\nRussia has defended actions beyond its borders that are viewed as aggressive, as in the 2008 war against the former Soviet republic of Georgia, as necessary to prevent what the Kremlin sees as its historical sphere of influence falling under the sway of NATO.\n\n\u201cYou can say that Russia doesn\u2019t understand the reactions of Ukrainians to their actions,\u201d Bychenko told journalists in unveiling the latest poll results. \u201cThanks to the actions of Russia in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, you have a situation where Ukrainians are becoming more pro-NATO.\u201d\n\nIn an interview Wednesday with Bloomberg Television in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated the Kremlin\u2019s fierce opposition to its neighbors joining the Western military alliance. Any attempt to bring Ukraine into the bloc would be \u201can issue for Russia,\u201d Lavrov said, warning that Ukraine\u2019s inclusion would hurt European security.\n\nRussia\u2019s top diplomat also said in the television interview that Ukraine was \u201cas close to civil war as you can get,\u201d with clashes between pro-Russia separatists and Ukrainian government forces having taken dozens of lives in the past two weeks.\n\n\nKremlin officials dispute claims by the interim Ukrainian government and its Western supporters that Moscow has fomented the unrest in eastern Ukraine. Early Wednesday, pro-Russia gunmen blocked a military base in Donetsk with what Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Koval said was overt involvement from Russia\u2019s 45th Airborne Regiment.\n\nThe power struggle that has seen separatists occupy a dozen towns and cities in eastern Ukraine came to a head Sunday with dubious Crimea-style referendums that purportedly showed more than 90% of the populations of Donetsk and Luhansk regions in favor of independence from Ukraine.\n\nRussian President Vladimir Putin had urged the separatists to postpone their unsupervised votes, which Ukraine\u2019s interim government denounced as a farce and the European Union and United States deemed violations of the Ukrainian Constitution as well as international law.\n\nThe Kremlin has issued only a vague statement saying it \u201crespects\u201d the will of the separatists for independence and has not responded to an appeal from the self-styled People\u2019s Republic of Donetsk for annexation to Russia.\n\n\nThe chairman of Russia\u2019s lower house of parliament added his voice Wednesday to a reluctant but growing chorus acknowledging that Ukraine\u2019s May 25 presidential election should go forward to restore legitimate leadership in the country.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s hard to imagine that this election could be fully legitimate,\u201d State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin told Rossiya-24 television, referring to ongoing Ukrainian government operations to recover control of eastern areas from the pro-Russia militants. \u201cBut it\u2019s obvious that the failure to hold the election would lead to an even sadder situation, so it\u2019s necessary to choose the lesser evil.\u201d\n\nUkraine\u2019s last elected president, Viktor Yanukovich, fled to Russia in late February after he was ousted by a three-month rebellion sparked by his decision to abandon an association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union that had been in the works for three years."}
-{"text": "You won't have to use a Lumia phone any longer to get Nokia's mapping expertise: Microsoft just announced that Nokia's map technology is being built into Windows Phone 8. Along with the requisite NAVTEQ map information, it'll carry many of the things that Nokia Drive users love so well, including offline map support, developer control over maps, and (you guessed it) turn-by-turn directions. That makes three major mobile platforms that have or will have driving directions baked in from the start -- it's now becoming par for the course rather than an advantage to lord over others.\n\nUpdate: Along with core navigation, there will also be support for Microsoft's new deals feature as part of the mapping update, so you'll know when the coffee house around the corner is discounting cappuccinos.\n\nTo check out the latest updates from Microsoft's Windows Phone event, visit our liveblog!"}
-{"text": "\u041e\u0431 \u044d\u0442\u043e\u043c \u0441\u043e\u043e\u0431\u0449\u0430\u0435\u0442 \u0440\u0443\u043a\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0434\u0438\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c \u00ab\u0418\u043d\u0444\u043e\u0440\u043c\u0430\u0446\u0438\u043e\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0433\u043e \u0441\u043e\u043f\u0440\u043e\u0442\u0438\u0432\u043b\u0435\u043d\u0438\u044f\u00bb \u0414\u043c\u0438\u0442\u0440\u0438\u0439 \u0422\u044b\u043c\u0447\u0443\u043a \u0432 Facebook.\n\n\u00ab\u0421\u0435\u0432\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0435\u0435 \u0421\u0442\u0430\u0440\u043e\u0431\u0435\u0448\u0435\u0432\u043e \u0437\u0430\u0444\u0438\u043a\u0441\u0438\u0440\u043e\u0432\u0430\u043d\u0430 \u0440\u0430\u0431\u043e\u0442\u0430 \u0440\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438\u0439\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u0441\u0442\u0430\u043d\u0446\u0438\u0438 \u0440\u0430\u0434\u0438\u043e\u044d\u043b\u0435\u043a\u0442\u0440\u043e\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0439 \u0431\u043e\u0440\u044c\u0431\u044b (\u0420\u042d\u0411). \u041f\u043e\u043c\u0435\u0445\u0438 \u0434\u0430\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0439 \u0441\u0442\u0430\u043d\u0446\u0438\u0438 \u0420\u042d\u0411 \u043d\u0430\u043f\u0440\u0430\u0432\u043b\u0435\u043d\u044b \u043d\u0430 \u0440\u0430\u0431\u043e\u0447\u0438\u0435 \u0447\u0430\u0441\u0442\u043e\u0442\u044b \u0443\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0438\u043d\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0445 \u0432\u043e\u0439\u0441\u043a\u00bb, - \u0441\u043e\u043e\u0431\u0449\u0430\u0435\u0442 \u0422\u044b\u043c\u0447\u0443\u043a.\n\n\u0427\u0438\u0442\u0430\u0439\u0442\u0435 \u0442\u0430\u043a\u0436\u0435\u0420\u0430\u0437\u0432\u0435\u0434\u043a\u0430 \u0444\u0438\u043a\u0441\u0438\u0440\u0443\u0435\u0442 \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0431\u044b\u0442\u0438\u0435 \u043d\u043e\u0432\u044b\u0445 \u0440\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438\u0439\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0445 \u0432\u043e\u0435\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0445 \u043d\u0430 \u0414\u043e\u043d\u0431\u0430\u0441\u0441\n\n\u041a\u0440\u043e\u043c\u0435 \u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e, \u043f\u043e \u0438\u043d\u0444\u043e\u0440\u043c\u0430\u0446\u0438\u0438 \u0418\u0421, \u0432 \u0440\u0430\u0439\u043e\u043d\u0435 \u041c\u0430\u0440\u0438\u0443\u043f\u043e\u043b\u044f \u0438 \u044e\u0436\u043d\u0435\u0435 \u0414\u043e\u043d\u0435\u0446\u043a\u0430 \u0431\u043e\u0435\u0432\u0438\u043a\u0438 \u043f\u0440\u043e\u0434\u043e\u043b\u0436\u0430\u044e\u0442 \u0430\u043a\u0442\u0438\u0432\u043d\u043e \u0438\u0441\u043f\u043e\u043b\u044c\u0437\u043e\u0432\u0430\u0442\u044c \u0431\u0435\u0441\u043f\u0438\u043b\u043e\u0442\u043d\u0438\u043a\u0438, \u0442\u0430\u043a\u0436\u0435 \u0430\u043a\u0442\u0438\u0432\u043d\u043e \u043f\u0440\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0434\u044f\u0442 \u043d\u0430\u0437\u0435\u043c\u043d\u0443\u044e \u0440\u0430\u0437\u0432\u0435\u0434\u043a\u0443.\n\n\u0420\u0430\u043d\u0435\u0435 \u0432 \u0441\u0435\u0442\u0438 \u043f\u043e\u044f\u0432\u0438\u043b\u043e\u0441\u044c \u0432\u0438\u0434\u0435\u043e, \u043a\u043e\u0442\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0435 \u0434\u043e\u043a\u0430\u0437\u044b\u0432\u0430\u0435\u0442, \u0447\u0442\u043e \u043d\u0430 \u0442\u0435\u0440\u0440\u0438\u0442\u043e\u0440\u0438\u0438 \u0414\u043e\u043d\u0431\u0430\u0441\u0441\u0430, \u043e\u043a\u043a\u0443\u043f\u0438\u0440\u043e\u0432\u0430\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0433\u043e \u043f\u0440\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438\u0439\u0441\u043a\u0438\u043c\u0438 \u0431\u043e\u0435\u0432\u0438\u043a\u0430\u043c\u0438, \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0441\u0443\u0442\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0443\u0435\u0442 \u043e\u0440\u0443\u0436\u0438\u0435, \u043a\u043e\u0442\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0435 \u0435\u0441\u0442\u044c \u0442\u043e\u043b\u044c\u043a\u043e \u043d\u0430 \u0432\u043e\u043e\u0440\u0443\u0436\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0438 \u0432 \u0420\u0424.\n\n\u0427\u0438\u0442\u0430\u0439\u0442\u0435 \u043f\u043e\u0441\u043b\u0435\u0434\u043d\u0438\u0435 \u043d\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438 \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0438\u043d\u044b \u0438 \u043c\u0438\u0440\u0430 \u043d\u0430 \u043a\u0430\u043d\u0430\u043b\u0435 \u0423\u041d\u0418\u0410\u041d \u0432 Telegram"}
-{"text": "Seth Green and several other \u201cRobot Chicken\u201d writers and producers have sold an adult animated comedy pilot to Hulu, Variety has learned exclusively.\n\nThe series is titled \u201cCrossing Swords.\u201d When Patrick, a goodhearted young peasant with dreams of earning his knighthood and dispensing justice to evildoers, lands a coveted squire position at the royal castle, his dream job quickly turns into a nightmare. In this kingdom, corruption starts at the top, and staying true to his lofty goals will be a thornier proposition than Patrick anticipated. It\u2019s all the sex, violence and full-frontal nudity you\u2019d expect from a \u201cpremium fantasy soap starring pre-school toys.\u201d\n\nJohn Harvatine IV and Tom Root created the show and will executive produce. Harvatine joined \u201cRobot Chicken\u201d as an executive producer in 2012 during the show\u2019s sixth season, while Root is the show\u2019s head writer and executive producer. Green will also executive produce along with Matt Senreich and Eric Towner. Senreich co-created \u201cRobot Chicken\u201d with Green, and Towner is also an executive producer on the long-running Adult Swim series.\n\nStoopid Buddy Stoodios\u2013the production company of Green, Senreich, Harvatine , and Towner\u2013is producing \u201cCrossing Swords\u201d with Sony Pictures Television distributing. Stoopid Buddy also produces \u201cRobot Chicken\u201d and fellow Adult Swim series \u201cHot Streets,\u201d as well as the Sony Crackle stop motion series \u201cSuperMansion.\u201d\n\nShould \u201cCrossing Swords\u201d move forward, it would be one of just two Hulu original adult animated comedies in the streamer\u2019s history. Hulu previously aired \u201cThe Awesomes\u201d from creators Seth Meyers and Mike Shoemaker, with that show having ended in 2015 after three seasons.\n\n\u201cRobot Chicken\u201d has remained a solid part of Adult Swim\u2019s foundation, with the stop motion show winning five Emmy Awards since its debut on 2005. That includes two wins for Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program, the most recent of which was in 2016."}
-{"text": "There had to be a breaking point. An incident, an argument, a loss, a moment that doomed the football marriage of Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy.\n\nAnyone could see the Packers quarterback and head coach were headed for divorce well before that inconceivable 20-17 loss to the lowly Cardinals in December, the one that finally got McCarthy fired. Death stares and defiance from Rodgers had been constant for years by then.\n\nBut how far back do you have to go to find the beginning of the end?\n\nWas it Week 3 of the 2017 season, when cameras caught Rodgers barking \"Stupid fucking call!\" at his coach?\n\nOr back further, to the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 18, 2015, when McCarthy coached with the ferocity of a sloth, calling for field goals from the 1-yard line twice in the first half and then running three straight times with five minutes left to infuriate his QB and effectively euthanize a Super Bowl season?\n\nOr even earlier, to 2013, when Rodgers and McCarthy appeared close to throwing haymakers midway through a loss in Cincinnati?\n\nThose who observed this relationship from the beginning say you have to keep going.\n\nBack to the honeymoon period. Even as the Packers went 15-1 in 2011, with Rodgers as league MVP. Even as they won their last Super Bowl title, in the 2010 season, with Rodgers as Super Bowl MVP. Even then, Rodgers was already seething at his coach.\n\nSo keep going. All the way to when these two were first brought together. In early 2006.\n\nThe worst-kept secret at 1265 Lombardi Avenue was that Rodgers seemed to loathe his coach from the moment McCarthy was hired.\n\nNobody holds a grudge in any sport like Rodgers. When it comes to Rodgers, grudges do not merrily float away. They stick. They grow. They refuel.\n\nNo, Rodgers would not forget that McCarthy had helped perpetuate his four-and-a-half-hour wait in the NFL draft green room the year prior. His nationally televised embarrassment. McCarthy, then the 49ers offensive coordinator, chose Alex Smith No. 1 overall. Not Rodgers.\n\nNo, Rodgers would not take it as a funny accident.\n\n\"Aaron's always had a chip on his shoulder with Mike,\" says Ryan Grant, the Packers' starting running back from 2007 to 2012. \"The guy who ended up becoming your coach passed on you when he had a chance. Aaron was upset that Mike passed on him\u2014that Mike actually verbally said that Alex Smith was a better quarterback.\"\n\nAnother longtime teammate agrees: \"That was a large cancer in the locker room. It wasn't a secret.\"\n\nThrough all of the winning seasons, it might have been easy for casual observers to overlook this cancer. To mistake success for bliss and harmony and assume life was good between the two.\n\nBut even in the best of times\u2014when confetti should've still been stuck to their clothing\u2014one person who was then close to Rodgers remembers he would regularly call to vent that McCarthy didn't have a clue what he was doing. He'd tell him that McCarthy frequently called the wrong play. That he used the wrong personnel. That they were running plays that worked one out of 50 times in practice. That McCarthy was a buffoon he was constantly bailing out.\n\n\"Mike has a low football IQ, and that used to always bother Aaron,\" this source says. \"He'd say Mike has one of the lowest IQs, if not the lowest IQ, of any coach he's ever had.\"\n\nAdds a personnel man who worked for the Packers at the time: \"He's not going to respect you if he thinks he's smarter than you.\"\n\nAnd then, as time moved on and the team plateaued, the facade fell away. Cracks in the foundation of this arranged marriage became impossible to ignore.\n\n\"You start arguing. You start losing. When the money's bad, you argue,\" says DuJuan Harris, a Packers running back from 2012 through 2014. \"You start hating how somebody breathes. You start hating how somebody chews their food.\"\n\nThen, poof, it's over.\n\nLeaving behind what legacy? It's not like the Packers were epic failures this last decade. McCarthy has a street named after him in the shadow of Lambeau Field. Rodgers is a future first-ballot Hall of Famer. The two made the playoffs together eight years in a row. But this should've been a Patriots-like reign. History. One former teammate says he thinks Rodgers should have won a minimum of six Super Bowl rings under McCarthy and that the 2011 team should be remembered like the '72 Dolphins.\n\nInstead, a surefire dynasty never was.\n\nInstead, Rodgers is hoping to rise again at 35 years old, McCarthy is unemployed, and everyone else is left asking one question: What the hell happened?\n\nBleacher Report talked to dozens of players, coaches and personnel men who shared time in Green Bay with Rodgers and McCarthy in search of an answer.\n\nVirtually all of them agree this era of Packers football is missing rings. Many rings. And sure, there's blame to spread. Some cite former general manager Ted Thompson literally falling asleep in meetings by the end of his tenure. Some cite the defense's innate ability to self-destruct each January.\n\nBut central to it all are the two Packers who lasted the longest.\n\nMcCarthy and Rodgers.\n\nWhere Jermichael Finley, a Packers tight end from 2008 to 2013, sees a self-entitled quarterback and bad leader, Grant thinks it's idiotic for anyone to complain about such a transcendent talent. Where Greg Jennings, a Packers receiver from 2006 to 2012, sees Rodgers as an ultrasensitive source of toxicity, others lambast McCarthy for wasting a gift from the football gods.\n\nOne ex-Packers scout puts it on both. He describes Rodgers as an arrogant quarterback quick to blame everyone but himself\u2014one who's \"not as smart as he thinks he is\"\u2014yet kindly points out that McCarthy basically quit on his team.\n\nNobody's sure where Rodgers and the Packers will go from here. How long this next marriage with new head coach Matt LaFleur will last.\n\nBut one former teammate, lamenting this colossal what-if, makes one point on the past crystal clear.\n\n\"If you were going to write a headline,\" he says, \"that would be it right there: How Egos Took Down the Packers.\"\n\nAt its peak, the Rodgers-McCarthy Packers offense carried a feeling of absolute certainty.\n\nCoaches would try to build up opponents, and the players would chuckle inside. \"We would literally say, 'They can't stop us,'\" Grant says.\n\nThere was zero doubt.\n\nPlays were simple and worked like clockwork. McCarthy identified and game-planned for endless mismatches. Defenses couldn't double-team Jennings. Linebackers couldn't guard Finley. Jordy Nelson was in unbreakable mindlock with Rodgers on back-shoulder throws. James Jones bullied corners. Randall Cobb added to the embarrassment of riches. And playing zone against Rodgers was like playing zone against the Golden State Warriors: a death sentence.\n\nThe cherry on top for Rodgers was ever-growing freedom to change plays at the line of scrimmage and an ever-growing propensity mid-play to wait, wait, wait for something grander to develop downfield.\n\nMcCarthy could live with that, of course. The Packers were winning. So much.\n\nEric Gay/Associated Press\n\nYet as Green Bay's talent drained, that freedom became a problem.\n\nThink of mankind's never-ending debate over artificial intelligence, Grant says. \"When you put a quarterback in a position and you talk about how cerebral he is and you give him flexibility to make some changes, guess what? \u2026 You develop A.I., because it has the capacity to run without you. And then when it runs without you, it's like, 'Wait a minute!' But in the same breath, if you're not actually able to stay ahead of it, it's going to outthink you and it's going to say, 'Me making the decision is the better decision.'\"\n\nAnd so, Grant adds, \"You live and die by his greatness.\"\n\nThe problem for McCarthy was that as the talent drained, he failed to innovate. His scheme went stale and he didn't adapt. As one personnel man puts it, McCarthy \"got full off his own juice.\" He believed his system\u2014not the Packers' absurd amount of talent\u2014was the foundation for the offensive success. But raw rookies cannot bust free one-on-one like, say, Jennings or Nelson or Jones.\n\nTension with Rodgers over the play-calling became part of the DNA of the offense itself. Rodgers felt the system was bland, so he increasingly played Superman.\n\nMany believe Rodgers, the QB with the best career passer rating (103.1) in NFL history, was 100 percent justified in overruling his coach's play calls, and that the Packers would've deteriorated more precipitously if he hadn't put that cape on. The personnel man says the Packers' passing offense was essentially \"Get open\" and that they basically ran the same routes for seven years straight, to the point where division rivals \"constantly\" called out plays pre-snap and jumped routes.\n\nNo wonder the slant route, once so lethal, went extinct.\n\nWhere were the route combinations? The motion? The misdirection? \"It's like, 'Dude, you have to adjust! The league changes!'\" the personnel man says. \"You've got to be humble enough to follow it. If you can't adapt, you die. He definitely didn't adapt. You can't run 90 back-shoulders into coverage. I don't care who you are. Things got so stale.\"\n\nRodgers had no choice but to seize control, and each year, he took more.\n\nThat ridiculous throw to Jared Cook in the playoffs in 2017? Drawn up in the huddle. Rodgers told an uncovered guard to pull out with him, that he'd bait in a defender and dash left. \"That's what you're dealing with,\" one former Packers coach says. \"A guy who'll do that. He might screw up a play Mike called ... [but] you have to give him credit for the good, too.\"\n\nThat disconnect led to tension. A system that once seemed so unstoppable was rendered bland, archaic. Games devolved into weird contests of who could call the better play, and the grudge-fueled Rodgers felt more and more empowered to excel in spite of McCarthy, the man who dared to think Alex Smith was better than him.\n\nMcCarthy, on the other hand, seemed to be more and more checked out, leading many to sympathize with Rodgers.\n\nThe sight was strange at first.\n\nAbout once a week, a meeting would start up and McCarthy was MIA. Players weren't quite sure where he was while, for example, an assistant coach would run the team's final prep on the Saturday before a game. Eventually, word leaked that McCarthy, the one calling plays on game day, was up in his office getting a massage during those meetings.\n\nOne player had the same massage therapist, and she let it slip that McCarthy would sneak her up a back stairway to his office while the rest of the team prepared for that week's opponent.\n\n\"That was when guys were like, 'What the heck?'\" says one longtime Packer. \"Everybody was like, 'Really? Wow.'\"\n\nRodgers in particular was not thrilled.\n\nNot that there wasn't logic to it all. As the years grinded on, McCarthy tried to take on more of a CEO-like approach with the team. He would routinely deny outside interview opportunities for assistants if they were under contract, so this was his way of giving them more responsibility, to prep them for an eventual promotion elsewhere. Back issues are common amongst all football coaches. And while McCarthy likely wasn't getting a massage every time he let an assistant run a meeting, the optics were bad. In stepping back, he came across as distant and lost respect from players.\n\n\"If you're not a part of meetings, and then you're trying to be pissed about execution, nobody's going to really respect you,\" says one former front-office member from the McCarthy-Rodgers era. \"They're going to look at you like, 'Where have you been all week?' It sounded like he was really just chilling.\"\n\nPut yourself in Rodgers' shoes\u2014in the shoes of a player who eats, sleeps, breathes the sport. As some sources put it, \"How do you think he felt?\" Of course he'd seize control.\n\nRodgers may not be a Tom Brady-like locker room presence, but to one former offensive teammate, he's still \"by far the best quarterback, skills-wise, in the history of the NFL.\" And it was on McCarthy to manage that, provide leadership and make his quarterback's life as stress-free as possible. Do everything in his power to let that talent shine.\n\n\"His No. 1 job, and Mike always missed this point, is to manage Aaron,\" the former teammate says. \"That's your driver. That's your engine. Aaron's your engine for the whole team. Whether you want to or don't want to, you have to make sure that guy's happy. At the end of the day\u2014and it doesn't sound like a fun job\u2014if he's happy, you're winning.\n\n\"Your job isn't to go out there and throw and catch passes. Your job is to manage people.\"\n\nAnd if Rodgers isn't Brady as a leader, McCarthy sure as hell never managed like Bill Belichick. Whereas Belichick despises the limelight and \"removes himself\" every way he can, this player says McCarthy loved anointing himself as a quarterback guru. The coach often bragged to players about his time with Joe Montana...in Kansas City.\n\n\"He tried to bill himself as this quarterback master,\" the player says. \"It was like, 'Buddy, I just want to let you know, Joe Montana did a lot more before he was in Kansas City.'\"\n\nMcCarthy felt he was the one who created this monster of an offense. A personnel man adds: \"That was McCarthy's big mistake. He wanted to be The Guy. He wanted to be The Reason. And he wasn't that good.\"\n\nIt didn't help that McCarthy also was rotating his assistants between positions annually. He wanted them to gain more experience, but as Grant points out, this didn't necessarily help the players. Many times, they felt as though they knew more about their position than their own coach.\n\nMany agree McCarthy could have saved himself if he had swallowed his pride and hired a bright offensive mind to challenge Rodgers. One beam of hope emerged in Alex Van Pelt, who coached running backs in 2012 and 2013 before moving over to quarterbacks in 2014. However, team sources say McCarthy felt threatened by Van Pelt, who became close to Rodgers. The Packers opted not to retain Van Pelt when his contract expired after the 2017 season, which didn't sit well with Rodgers.\n\nWhich cut that grudge deeper.\n\nAnd the rest of the team? There were mixed opinions on McCarthy.\n\nSome interpreted his laissez-faire style differently. It was refreshing. From backups like Jayrone Elliott (\"I have nothing but respect for him.\") to starters like Grant (\"Mike's a great coach. I'm surprised he's not coaching right now.\"), again and again they describe him as a player's coach. But even one defensive starter who begins a conversation by praising McCarthy soon admits the culture he instilled created a soft team.\n\nWhen Thompson hired McCarthy, he called him \"Pittsburgh macho.\" And yet the coach rarely matched his no-bull rhetoric in press conferences with no-bull action. One personnel man calls him \"a fake tough guy.\" McCarthy rarely fined or benched or sent messages to players and paid the price almost every season\u2014never more so than in the game, the moment, that'll define him in the eyes of many Packers fans. Multiple sources from the team say McCarthy should have cut inept backup tight end Brandon Bostick months before the NFC title game in 2015. Instead, he was on the field for a late Seahawks onside kick attempt, and instead of blocking his man, he went for the catch. The ball bounced off his helmet, and Green Bay collapsed.\n\nElaine Thompson/Associated Press\n\nThe Packers also rarely hit in training camp, and it angered defensive players \"every day\" how little interest McCarthy showed in them. He was never around their drills, the former starter says, and it was always the defense sprinting to the offense's side of the field for team drills.\n\n\"What guys did on defense did not matter,\" he says. \"This is an offensive-minded team, and our quarterback is expected to bail us out. As defenders, we used to always talk about it. It's like, 'We whupped their ass today in camp. Are they going to finally run to us? Respect us?'\"\n\nThe answer was a resounding \"No,\" and this player says the result was a \"soft mindset\" that'd constantly rear its ugly head.\n\nWhen Rodgers missed seven games in 2013 and nine games in 2017, the player remembers teammates outright quitting.\n\n\"That's when the real coaching, the real identity, the real character came out of everybody,\" he says. \"I saw that guys give up when we don't have a star quarterback. I see guys aren't going to give it all when their backs are against the wall.\"\n\nEven when they built a 19-7 lead in the NFC title game in 2015, even as they bruised and bloodied the most physical team in the NFL for 56 minutes, it was only a matter of time before their inner softness was exposed. McCarthy caved, the defense caved, and it was not by accident.\n\n\"That Seahawks game defined our team right there,\" he says. \"We didn't have any finishers.\"\n\nMoments after that 28-22 loss, Rodgers let his frustrations show. He criticized the team's lack of aggressiveness. But he didn't blow up directly at McCarthy, that anyone interviewed saw. Quiet tension defined this relationship. One player who heard about McCarthy's massages even wonders aloud if Rodgers started that rumor and tried spreading it to anybody that'd listen. Neither Rodgers nor McCarthy could be reached to comment on this story, but nobody B/R spoke to recalled a scornful, over-the-top confrontation between the two when such a reckoning was needed.\n\nIf Rodgers has a problem, he rarely chooses to address it directly.\n\nOne person, who used to be close to the quarterback but has since been cut out of his life, describes Rodgers as forever \"conflict-averse.\" As passive-aggressive to the extreme. As someone who'd rather stuff problems deep, deep down inside of him and pretend there's no issue rather than communicate those issues and strengthen relationships like this one with his coach.\n\nRodgers usually chose midgame tantrums over constructive conversations.\n\n\"I guarantee you, he never\u2014maybe once or twice\u2014but mostly never, ever addressed any of those things with Mike,\" this person says. \"Which means all it did was fester and poison it.\"\n\nSo fester, it did. And fester. And fester.\n\nSo, no, McCarthy is not the only one to blame.\n\nIt was 2012, and the Packers were hosting the 49ers when, mid-timeout, cornerback Carlos Rogers playfully asked Jennings why he was running so many short routes.\n\n\"You know how it is,\" Jennings told him. \"Contract year.\"\n\nThat's when Rodgers stepped in to say, per Jennings, \"You guys should get him at the end of the year.\"\n\nCome again?\n\nJennings walked back to the huddle speechless.\n\n\"I don't think he realizes what he said and the impact that it had,\" Jennings says. \"Had the shoe been on the other foot and I said, 'Hey, man, I should come and play with your quarterback,' he would've been so offended by that. But when it comes out of his mouth\u2014and we all know there's truth behind jokes\u2014for him to say that and just act as though everything was the same? It just wasn't.\"\n\nThe next day, Jennings told his position coach, Edgar Bennett, he knew this was his last year in Green Bay. \"That was my headspace,\" he admits.\n\nHe had been Rodgers' No. 1 receiver for four seasons running, racking up 4,619 receiving yards and 34 touchdowns from 2008-11. He was on the receiving end of Rodgers' iconic Super Bowl thread of the needle. He had opened his family's front door to Rodgers for Thanksgiving, for any day he'd ever want, because he knew his quarterback was alone in a new city.\n\nLenny Ignelzi/Associated Press\n\nAnd now Rodgers didn't want him around? Jennings felt betrayed.\n\nThat season plodded along. The Packers misdiagnosed Jennings' sports hernia as a groin injury. When he entered free agency, Rodgers made no effort to convince him to stay. No calls. No texts. Not one conversation. Goodbye.\n\nBefore you bombard his Twitter account with profanities, understand that Jennings is self-aware. He acknowledges there will be steam bursting out of Packers fans' ears. Any ex-Packer who does anything but praise Rodgers to the fullest extent is swiftly shamed en masse. He gets that. But Jennings insists he's simply speaking the truth\u2014and in this case, the truth \"provokes.\"\n\nHe's not the only one, either.\n\nMaybe Rodgers' ability to sling a football on a rope from any angle every Sunday masked McCarthy's flaws. But a faction of people who have spent time around Rodgers and the Packers believe you must look beyond the statistics and highlights and understand Rodgers is also responsible for the Packers' plummet to mediocrity.\n\nThen they list the reasons why.\n\nHe is self-entitled.\n\nThe moment Rodgers inked his new contract, one that could earn him up to $180 million, Finley knew a storm was brewing. Because Finley, Rodgers' No. 1 tight end for four-and-a-half years, remembers the entitlement his QB had even as a first-year starter \"when he was broke as fuck.\"\n\n\"You gave a man $200 million,\" Finley says. \"He's the GM. He's the organization. He's the quarterback. And he's the head coach. He has a sense of entitlement already, and then you give him $200 million? You make him one of the highest-paid in history. It comes with the territory, man. I think Rodgers, man to man, needs to take a little more blame.\"\n\nHe'll throw you in the doghouse.\n\nOne former Packers scout says Rodgers can be brutally tough on young players. Sometimes, it's necessary. Other times? Not so much.\n\nThe scout points to Jeff Janis, a 2014 seventh-round flier with rare size (6'3\", 220 pounds) and speed (4.42 in the 40) who quickly became a fan favorite\u2014and Rodgers' favorite whipping boy. It was enough to alarm the scout, even though he also wasn't high on Janis as a player.\n\n\"Janis got into the doghouse really quick, and he just never let him out,\" he says. \"He didn't even give the kid a chance. And the tough part is Janis is actually a good person. And they used to dog him. Other people did what Aaron did. They used to dog Janis.\"\n\nWhat does this doghouse look like? Easy. Rodgers can do no wrong. \"He doesn't make a mistake. It's always the receiver's fault.\"\n\nHe is overly sensitive.\n\nThat word constantly comes up when you ask about Rodgers. Where to begin? \"Sensitive is sensitive,\" Jennings begins. You hear what you want to hear. Perceive what you want to perceive. Nothing else matters.\n\nTo illustrate, he points to his own broken relationship with the quarterback, because he is confident that he's done everything in his power to mend it\u2014while Rodgers has not, he punctuates, \"by any stretch of the imagination.\"\n\nCovering a Packers game as a member of the media, Jennings tried to get Rodgers' attention, but the quarterback refused to acknowledge him. Jennings spoke to McCarthy. He spoke to the trainers. He spoke to everyone he could to set up a man-to-man chat, no cameras around, and never heard a peep back. Not that he was surprised.\n\nThis is the same quarterback who scolded him for daring to speak to Brett Favre when Favre was a Viking. Jennings still remembers an incensed Rodgers saying to him after that 2009 game, \"Why do you have to do that?\" as if he were accusing Jennings of picking sides.\n\n\"I can't have a relationship with him because you have a problem with him?\" Jennings says. \"That's petty! That's not who I am.\"\n\nSo there was Jennings, a Viking himself in 2013. He could tell Packers receivers were scared just to say hello with Rodgers likely hyperanalyzing their every move from afar. To him, that's sad. It shouldn't be like this. He sees the relationship Brady has cultivated with Julian Edelman, with all of his receivers, and says, \"Everyone wants that.\" Those two spend time together off the field, and it carries into what matters on the field. Brady builds bonds for life, and that can be the difference between division titles and Super Bowls.\n\nBetween Brady's legacy and Rodgers' legacy.\n\nMeanwhile, Jennings' once-strong friendships with Nelson and Randall Cobb, two of Rodgers' closest allies, have fizzled. There's no chance in hell that \"Perfect Pack\" group posing on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 2011 would do so again.\n\nIn Rodgers' world, as one former friend says, \"When you're out, you're out.\" He eliminates anything he perceives to be negative. Famously, that included suddenly cutting off his family and close friends in 2014. He made a comment in December about celebrating his birthday with his \"folks,\" but sources close to the family say that's incorrectly led many to believe they reconciled. They have not, and those who were cut out still can't understand why.\n\n\"I don't know how someone changes completely,\" one of them says. \"That whole flip? For no reason? I can't even fathom how someone does that.\"\n\nSome around the Packers wonder if this absence of family is affecting Rodgers, if holding grudges has a negative effect on his psyche. One former Packers personnel man describes him as someone who's \"really into his feelings,\" who's \"not kind of sensitive\u2014he's real sensitive.\" There are bad dudes in the NFL, he assures, and Rodgers is not one of them. But he's different, he says. Not in the way Brady is, not ultraconsumed with winning. Just...\"different.\"\n\nIt's as if Rodgers cannot hear millions of people calling him a walking Hall of Famer.\n\nAs if Rodgers is still the spiky-haired kid free-falling on draft day.\n\nEvery scrap of negative press, every perceived slight from a teammate, a coach, whoever, \"bothers him to his core,\" this source says, \"It hurts him. ... It's like, 'Dude. You're Aaron Rodgers. Relax. People are trying to crown you as the greatest ever, and you've only won one Super Bowl.' It's so entrenched in his mind\u2014that everybody's against me\u2014that he just can't get over that.\"\n\nThe chip on Rodgers' shoulder was always more of a boulder, from the zero Division I offers to McCarthy's 49ers choosing Smith over him to his own fans booing him during \"Family Night\" when Brett Favre tried to return. As he aged, Rodgers needed a new source of fuel, and that fuel became his own coach.\n\nIn a twisted way, that attitude is also Rodgers' gift. Pissing off teammates. Defying his coach. Burning bridges for life. These may all be inconvenient side effects to the assassin you see on Sundays.\n\nGrant dismisses anything his former teammates say\u2014\"Dude, get out of here\"\u2014because to him, the chip isn't a bad thing.\n\nHostility is also a weapon.\n\n\"With Aaron, his chip on his shoulder and his sensitivity is actually what makes him great,\" Grant says. \"It's part of what motivates him and who he is. So you can't knock it. Just because you like it in one direction doesn't mean you're going to like it in all directions.\"\n\nMike Roemer/Associated Press\n\nAnother longtime member of the Packers front office agrees, claiming any frustration Rodgers felt with Janis, with anyone, is likely because that player doesn't work how Rodgers works. Think of Jordan, Kobe, any legend. They're all demanding to the point of teammates despising them. Ask Magic Johnson's teammates what they thought of him, the source says. \"They'd say, 'This dude was a jerk!'\"\n\nWith superstardom comes the realization that all eyes are on you to deliver.\n\nJordan embraced it. Kobe, too.\n\nThat's where Jennings and Finley see a stark difference in Rodgers. He is not accountable. \"He's not a natural-born leader,\" Finley says.\n\nNow the pressure on Rodgers is rising like never before, Jennings adds, \"whether he likes it or not.\"\n\n\"Not so much with his play, because we know his play is second to none,\" Jennings says. \"But how can he foster relationships and coexist with a head coach, a play-caller, that is going to put more on his plate to deliver for the betterment of the team? Not so much for the betterment of you, statistically, with all your numbers. You're going to get your accolades. But now, we're going to ask you to suppress your ego.\"\n\nAdds Finley: \"A-Rod wants his. He wants to eat. He cares about his yards, his completions. He's going to have a hard time. ... That's like an addict. You tell an addict to change his ways when he's been stuck in his ways so long. I think it's going to be very tough. I thought he'd be able to grow out of it, but, shit, you give a guy more money, there's more attitude, more diva-ness...\"\n\nHis voice trails off.\n\nNothing's changed. McCarthy couldn't do anything about it, and maybe no one can.\n\nNot that McCarthy didn't try.\n\nSources say McCarthy welcomed Rodgers over to his house and once even recommended he pick up the phone to call his mother. But Rodgers wasn't a fan of McCarthy's storytelling\u2014he preferred to stick to the X's and O's. And on the family advice, Rodgers told McCarthy in so many words to mind his own business. McCarthy demanded more of Rodgers \"as a man,\" one ex-friend says, \"and Aaron didn't want to hear it. He doesn't want to ever be told he's wrong.\"\n\nEverything continued to fester, problems never went away, and for some reason, nobody ever stepped in.\n\nThe cold front of complacency swept on through northeastern Wisconsin every single time the Packers fell just shy of another Lombardi Trophy.\n\nAfter the Giants stunned those 15-1 Packers.\n\nAfter Colin Kaepernick zapped their defense (twice).\n\nAfter the Seattle meltdown.\n\nAfter an NFC title game blowout loss in Atlanta.\n\nEvery time, the general manager who oversaw the team from 2005 to 2017 did...nothing. Or close to nothing. That's what the ones banging the table for both Rodgers and McCarthy stress. They point to Ted Thompson sticking his head in the sand every offseason. To his ignoring the building tension between the two men he brought together to lead his franchise. And to how his stubborn reluctance to sign veterans, despite the rising salary cap, made life more difficult for both.\n\nAs one player put it, Thompson assumed the Packers system was automatic and he could just plug cheap rookies in.\n\nIn the process, the Packers lost the leaders that Rodgers and McCarthy never were, never would be, and they never found replacements.\n\nGone were gnarly, take-no-prisoners guards Josh Sitton (a Packer from 2008 to 2015) and T.J. Lang (2009-2016). Both were never afraid to speak their minds. Gone was fullback John Kuhn (2007-2015), who several players cite as a major vocal leader. Gone were all those receivers. Gone were defensive tackle Ryan Pickett (2006-2013) and defensive back Charles Woodson (2006-2012). Gone was defensive tackle B.J. Raji (2009-2015), who one player claims held everyone accountable on defense. Thompson lowballed Raji, choosing instead to pay big money to fire-breathing defensive tackle Mike Daniels. While Daniels has been hell-bent on trashing Green Bay's \"soft\" label, one teammate says guys are turned off by his \"hypocritical leadership.\"\n\nThompson wanted the Packers to stay young. In the process, he gutted the team of its heart and soul.\n\nIt got so bad, one player says, that offensive and defensive players almost never hung out off the field. Camaraderie was shot.\n\n\"Guys really started feeling like, 'I can't get paid here,'\" one player says. \"How are you letting certain guys walk who proved themselves?\"\n\nThe leadership exodus pushed Rodgers further and further into an ill-fitting role. He never had to worry about speaking up back in 2010 or 2011. He played football. That's what he prefers. Multiple sources say Rodgers misses those days, with one adding he's become worn down and bitter about everyone's expectations of the type of leader he should be. In other words, as a former Packers scout puts it, Rodgers \"is Brett Favre 2.0. He used to say, 'Oh, I'll never be like that guy.' And he literally is.\"\n\nBack in Grant's day, the Packers were armed with legit leaders at every position.\n\nThose teams self-policed. McCarthy never had to intervene. Rodgers never had to speak up.\n\n\"The reason we did well was because we weren't looking for Aaron to be a phenomenal leader,\" Grant says. \"He needed to be a phenomenal quarterback, because we were leaders. We handled our own position, and we weren't looking for someone else to be that guy, to be that leader. ... It was, 'We've got this shit.' When things got out of hand, we were like, 'What's wrong with y'all?' I don't know what this looks like now.\"\n\nChances are, Rodgers would be less apt to defy a coach with more vets in the room.\n\nPlayers his age, who've seen it all, wouldn't put up with his antics.\n\n\"There's no one there to hold him accountable,\" Jennings says.\n\nHow Thompson failed to grasp this dynamic baffles people in the organization, although they also believe someone above Thompson should've stepped in because the GM's health was deteriorating. One personnel man recalls Thompson moving \"really slow,\" with slurred speech, falling asleep during film sessions. \"I'm like, 'This is the GM?'\" Thompson was dealing with obvious physical issues, and Mark Murphy, the team president since 2007, didn't step in.\n\nMorry Gash/Associated Press\n\nThompson kept serving as the team's preeminent judge, jury and executioner.\n\nUntil, finally, he didn't.\n\nAfter the 2017 season, Murphy replaced Thompson with Brian Gutekunst as GM.\n\nIn December, Murphy fired McCarthy.\n\nThere's no official \"owner\" in Green Bay\u2014no one with a Jerry Jones-like heavy hand\u2014but a decade after standing by Thompson, McCarthy and Rodgers when Favre tried to take his job back, Murphy is now wielding his power as de facto owner.\n\nOnly Rodgers is left now.\n\nAnd Murphy made it clear that whatever happened last season cannot fly again.\n\nAt its best, the Lambeau mystique during the Rodgers-McCarthy era looked like this: Rodgers fakes a handoff, Rodgers boots, Rodgers chucks it 60 yards to a wide-open receiver, beers are spilled, \"Bang the Drum All Day\" roars, Rodgers does a little skip with a defiant uppercut of a fist pump.\n\nWhen the Lambeau Field mystique evaporates, when the Packers offense inches closer and closer to collapse, it erodes to this: McCarthy sends play in. Rodgers does not approve. Rodgers calls own play in the huddle and/or tells a receiver to change his route. Exasperated sighs and snarls are exchanged all around. Nobody in their right mind is thinking, \"They can't stop us.\"\n\nThe Packers finish 6-9-1.\n\nThe Packers suffer back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 1990 and 1991.\n\nWhoever's fault it was, it got ugly in 2018. Real ugly.\n\nAfter signing the richest contract in NFL history, Rodgers took more liberties than ever before the snap. A talent drain and McCarthy's stubbornness were undoubtedly major issues. But Rodgers also showed virtually zero trust in his three rookie receivers, J'Mon Moore, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Equanimeous St. Brown. No. 1 wideout Davante Adams was targeted 169 times, one shy of Julio Jones' NFL high.\n\nRodgers had the leverage, and McCarthy knew it.\n\nMaybe Rodgers had no choice but to railroad a rotting offense. Maybe Rodgers should have respected authority\u2014after all, this offense helped him earn all that money.\n\nEither way, he freelanced more than ever. One source with close ties to the team estimates Rodgers changed about a third of the plays McCarthy called. \"An alarming amount. That is embarrassing. And they don't work!'\" Realizing early on that his days in Green Bay were numbered, McCarthy would not rip Rodgers publicly. Not even as fans lambasted him for failing to feed dangerous running back Aaron Jones\u2014while Rodgers simultaneously audibled out of runs.\n\nThat tendency to audible out of runs is just about the only issue Grant ever had with Rodgers as a teammate. That wasn't a problem in 2011. It was in 2018.\n\nLife sure wasn't fun for those rookie receivers, either. On-the-fly route changes put them in a no-win situation. They didn't know whether to listen to their coaches or Rodgers.\n\nA source close to the team says St. Brown became frustrated because, as much as he wanted to follow McCarthy\u2019s play design, he also heard rumors of Rodgers freezing out teammates if they didn't do exactly what he demanded. So he listened to Rodgers. On one play in New England, Rodgers told St. Brown to run a post route when the play called for a flag. St. Brown ran the post, and pressure forced Rodgers to throw the ball away toward the flag\u2014leading his position coach to grill him on what he was thinking.\n\nSt. Brown told him he was \"improvising\" so he didn't upset Rodgers.\n\nKnowing what was up, McCarthy told him to stick with the routes called.\n\n\"That's when it went off the rails,\" the source close to the team says. \"This shit was terrible. He fucked McCarthy over. Aaron undermined him.\"\n\nThe A.I. was operating on its own. Nobody was going to rein this in.\n\n\"Of course, it comes to a head, and what does he want to do?\" says a source who was once close to Rodgers. \"He wants to cut him out of his life, just like he cut his family out.\"\n\nRodgers refused to take scheduled throws underneath, instead waiting for a deep shot that rarely materialized. The lack of experience did not help. These rookies simply did not have the thousands of reps Rodgers once had with Nelson and company, so he couldn't make subtle audibles play after play with them. In one red-zone drill in practice, St. Brown didn't pick up on a signal, and Rodgers lost it. No, he wasn't exactly giving these rookies a chance to grow, either. A source close to one of the team's skill-position starters says Rodgers was the one \"sinking the ship\" with zero interest in developing Valdes-Scantling, St. Brown or Moore.\n\nThe slightest mistake faded them out of his peripheral vision and sent him back to zeroing in on Adams.\n\n\"If they don't make plays, you can't just not go to them again,\" this source says. \"You have to keep building trust in them.\"\n\nInstead, he chose not to throw the ball to rookies open in one-on-one coverage. It's likely no coincidence Valdes-Scantling faded out of the offense down the stretch. He ran the routes as they were called from the sideline, and his targets declined. Rodgers would look his way, then pat, pat, pat the ball for something else to develop. Why? A source close to the team says Valdes-Scantling told him Rodgers just didn't like him. That he wasn't doing exactly what Rodgers asked him to do, so the quarterback started to freeze him out.\n\n\"Can you imagine Mike McCarthy trying to coach through all this shit?\" that source asks.\n\nPaul Sancya/Associated Press\n\nMcCarthy had lost all control of the machine, basically conceded defeat and was fired.\n\nThe knee injury Rodgers suffered in Week 1 did not help. Jennings acknowledges that. But even if the expiration date on McCarthy's offense had passed, he believes this kind of insubordination cannot be ignored. He even hints at a tinge of strategy to Rodgers' cavalier ways.\n\n\"When something gets stale, you're not as motivated,\" Jennings says. \"You're not as invested. Because even though you want to perform well, you're still out to prove, 'I told you so.' There's a fine line of saying, 'Was he purposely doing things?' or, 'Was it just McCarthy?' Because it had been so successful before, it's hard to just say it was all McCarthy and none of Aaron. ...\n\n\"Is it enough for him to say, 'You know what, I'm going to have a record-breaking year that's eventually going to keep McCarthy for another year.' Is he willing to do that? I don't think so.\n\n\"Just because change happens doesn't mean the problem still doesn't exist.\"\n\nGrant blames neither Rodgers nor McCarthy but admits so many seasons with the same coach can turn that coach's voice into \"white noise.\" Change was needed. The marriage was years beyond repair. From afar, Finley barely recognized the coach he loved in Green Bay, the one who'd invite him into his office and snipe, \"It's time to catch the fucking ball!\" Finley loved that authenticity. His best games came after talks like that.\n\nAnd last season, to him, McCarthy looked \"fed up and washed up. Just tired, period.\"\n\nFor years, Rodgers built up a justifiable benefit of the doubt. Two MVPs, a Super Bowl title and ridiculous Hail Marys tend to make all of this drama, all of these headaches, worth it.\n\nNow, it appears that benefit has been squashed. By Murphy.\n\nRight before the Packers announced LaFleur as their new head coach, the source close to the team says Murphy called Rodgers to tell him who they were going with. He didn't ask for permission\u2014he told him who the choice was. There was a brief pause on the other end of the phone before Rodgers eventually spoke. Murphy made it clear that Rodgers would need to accept coaching. \"Don't be the problem,\" he told him. \"Don't be the problem.\"\n\nWhoever's to blame, Murphy does not want drama engulfing his team again.\n\nThe source close to the team says the president is \"tired of the diva stuff.\"\n\nOver the years, Rodgers has preferred to surround himself with \"yes-men,\" multiple sources say. That's why many thought Murphy would hire a yes-man to be the next head coach. To keep the peace. One former personnel man in Green Bay insists Murphy should've gotten Rodgers' input and approval because, in his view, Rodgers is the one who makes the Packers relevant. Instead, Murphy made it clear to Rodgers that the organization was behind LaFleur.\n\nThe Packers' brass did not feel the need to get Rodgers' approval on whomever it hired. Murphy wanted a young coach who'd challenge the entire team, not just the quarterback.\n\nExcitement's in the Lambeau air again. Gutekunst inked a trio of defensive starters in a matter of 24 hours: edge-rusher Za'Darius Smith, safety Adrian Amos and linebacker Preston Smith. He's the anti-Ted, determined to toughen up this soft defense. LaFleur is bound to be more creative than McCarthy. New offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett is a Type A who'll push Rodgers. Luke Getsy, the new quarterbacks coach, is a straight shooter who's been in Green Bay before.\n\nOnly one question remains.\n\nWill Aaron Rodgers be the problem?\n\nNobody outside of the state of Wisconsin is shedding a tear for the Packers. This is still a franchise that's enjoyed nothing but Hall of Fame quarterbacks since 1992. Pull up the highlights of Rodgers and McCarthy celebrating, not the ones of Rodgers and McCarthy fighting, Harris implores.\n\nThe ex-Packers back surely speaks for millions in saying this generation of Packers fans is spoiled.\n\nThen he offers a warning.\n\n\"The Packers went through their terrible time of losing before,\" Harris says. \"History can repeat itself.\"\n\nThere's some concern it could, some concern the Packers are becoming too corporate. One former team personnel man describes Ed Policy, the team's chief operating officer, as a quiet \"puppet master\" angling for more football power. He adds Policy \"has way more clout than people think\u201d and that everyone in power got drunk off the team's success over the years.\n\nThe business of the franchise has expanded tremendously with the new \"Titletown District\" across the street from Lambeau booming. Some in-house worry the business side of things could infiltrate actual football decisions. Even Grant heard it's not as family-friendly as it used to be in Green Bay.\n\nRight now, Murphy's in charge, and he cares deeply about the product on the field.\n\nRodgers' game might reach a new stratosphere with LaFleur. The optimists see a coach who'll insert this combination of gifts\u2014muzzleloader right arm, Houdini-like escapability, a QB Grand Maester intellectually\u2014into an X's-and-O's equation that'll now spit out an endless stream of MVPs and Super Bowls as it should have all along.\n\nAfter dismissing anything Jennings and Finley say\u2014\"Fuck those guys\"\u2014one former coach says Rodgers has matured and dismisses the idea that he'd blow off anyone who can't match his IQ. He says Rodgers simply wants a coach \"who isn't going to bullshit him\" and expects Getsy, who was in Green Bay from 2014 to 2017 and spent last year at Mississippi State, to be precisely that.\n\nAnd isn't last season what McCarthy and the Packers basically signed up for from the jump? To him, you can't have it both ways.\n\n\"You give a guy a green light to do whatever he wants and then criticize him for it. Which one do you want?\" the coach says. \"Do you want him to be creative, or do you want him to be exactly what you tell him?\"\n\nMike Roemer/Associated Press\n\nThis fine line will be central to anything LaFleur implements on offense. That's why Grant is more interested in what the offense looks like schematically than any wins and losses in 2019. This is a cerebral game now more than ever, and he knows Rodgers is frustrated that time is running out. Grant expects change to rejuvenate the quarterback.\n\nAnd yet some do expect the 35-year-old player to railroad the 39-year-old first-time head coach.\n\n\"He already had a sense of entitlement, then you give him $200 million,\" Finley repeats. \"Then you give him a young head coach. I think in Aaron Rodgers' heart, that's what he always wanted. He wanted to take control.\"\n\nThe challenge for LaFleur will be to strike a balance between showing confidence in himself and being a Tom Coughlin-like drill sergeant who Rodgers would tune out. Something like a \"really, really hard cheerleader,\" one ex-personnel man in Green Bay says, chuckling, as though he's skeptical such a coach exists.\n\nIf LaFleur does strike that tricky balance and revitalizes Rodgers, Jennings thinks his old QB can enter the GOAT/Brady stratosphere. He's just not sure how willing Rodgers is when the quarterback's first public comments about the hire, at the NFL Honors, started off with the words, \"A lot of change, in life in general, it's tough at first.\" That's all he needed to hear. To Jennings, that quote practically guaranteed how this will go down.\n\n\"I know how Aaron operates,\" Jennings says. \"For him to make that statement, it already lets me know he's going to make it hard on a young Matt LaFleur.\"\n\nTo him, Rodgers doesn't need to sacrifice too much. It's as simple as what Brady did in the AFC title game, handing the ball off to backs 47 times to keep Patrick Mahomes off the field. LaFleur has already hinted at wanting to run the ball more.\n\nNewfound humility would help the quarterback with five fewer rings.\n\nSome self-reflection.\n\n\"Now it's, OK, are you willing to swallow all the sense of entitlement? All your pride?\" Jennings says. \"You don't even have to swallow all of it. But are you willing to suppress most of it and say, 'You know what, whatever it takes, I'm willing to do'?\"\n\nWith McCarthy gone, all eyes, all pressure, all scrutiny, will be directed toward Rodgers. It's on him to make that sacrifice, to work with others. After all, he brought the magic to Lambeau before.\n\nHe can do it again.\n\nEven Jennings acknowledges that reality.\n\n\"Just as much as he is a part of the problem,\" Jennings says, \"he's a big part of the solution.\"\n\nTyler Dunne covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @TyDunne."}
-{"text": "\u201cKeep patrolling,\u201d pleaded Lakeisha Singleton, a lawyer who had pulled her car to the side of the road to greet Mr. Greer. Her 1-year-old son, Michael, sat in a car seat in back. \u201cWe need you here,\u201d Ms. Singleton said.\n\nImage Garlyn Norman and his sister Verna Norman stopped Mr. Hack to thank him for the work of the Edgewood Park Defense Patrol. Credit... Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times\n\nThough crime has been cut in half in New Haven over the last two decades and is down 10 percent over all this year from the year before, shootings are up about 50 percent this year, and Mr. Greer has called for the police chief, Francisco Ortiz, to resign.\n\nMr. Greer and his father, Rabbi Daniel Greer, dean of the yeshiva, have spent the last two decades restoring more than 40 dilapidated homes here and leasing them at no profit to low- and middle-income families. As a result, the neighborhood \u201chas been on the upswing\u201d since its days as a haunt for prostitutes in the 1980s, said Elizabeth McCormack, the neighborhood\u2019s alderwoman.\n\nBut in recent years, the crime that once plagued the neighborhood began to return, and the Greers raised the idea of armed patrols after they said they got little help from the police. Crime worsened this spring, coming to a head when Mr. Greer\u2019s brother, Dov, a rabbi like his father, was followed into his Edgewood home by several young men and assaulted.\n\nA day later, the nightly patrols, from 6 to 10 p.m., began. At Mr. Greer\u2019s request, the Guardian Angels, the volunteer crime-watch group based in New York, came and set up separate unarmed patrols.\n\nBut it is the weapons carried by Mr. Greer and other patrol members, not the patrols themselves, that have caused a stir. Nine of the patrol\u2019s 18 members carry guns, which is legal in New Haven as long as the citizen has a state permit.\n\nMr. Greer said the patrol includes Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews, and non-Jews. Five members are black and one Hispanic, he said. The group says that its racial makeup has eased fears that armed Jews would be chasing down black youths."}
-{"text": "ARLINGTON, Va. -- On a door leading to the Washington Capitals' player changing area, a sign bears the title, \"What Do I Fear?\" It lists seven things.\n\nStagnation and lack of progress.\n\nBeing forgotten.\n\nGiving up and being passed by.\n\nAnd so on.\n\nAt the very bottom of the sign: I love my fear.\n\nAlex Ovechkin is not being held back by failure. AP Photo/Winslow Townson\n\nAlex Ovechkin walks past that sign before and after every practice. Does he truly embrace fear? Does he fear being forgotten? Does he fear a lack of progress?\n\nOne of the endearing qualities of 31-year-old superstar winger is that he does not sidestep the issue of how past failures dog the Capitals even as they celebrate their third Presidents' Trophy of the Ovechkin era. He's putting those fears to good use.\n\n\"You just don't want to repeat those moments,\" Ovechkin said Tuesday while preparing for Thursday night's Game 1 of the first-round playoff series against the underdog Toronto Maple Leafs. \"It's hard; [those are] tough moments because you lose.\n\n\"If you win, you remember this for a long time. When you lose, you try to forget about it right away, but that experience goes on. You have to learn from that, and you have to remember what you did wrong in certain situations.\"\n\nA year ago, Barry Trotz's second as Capitals head coach, they looked as though they had finally arranged all of the pieces: coaching, scoring, experience, goaltending.\n\nBut because they had so little to play for down the stretch, they never found that level of urgency that all champions require. After lurching through a first-round victory over the Philadelphia Flyers, they fell to the eventual Stanley Cup-champion Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.\n\n\"We were exhausted,\" Ovechkin recalled. \"Everybody was in the mood, like, 'Jesus, season is over, and we didn't get success.' We didn't get what we wanted to get. Obviously, it's frustrating. Just a brutal feeling.\"\n\nSo many moments over the years could have changed this narrative.\n\nThey're part of the complex feelings that exist about the amiable captain from Moscow and his talented teams: respect for his immense skills and accomplishments, but skepticism that he and this team will ever realize their potential -- even as the Caps enter this postseason as the most complete team in the league.\n\n\"There are still quite a few guys that don't believe Washington can do it,\" one longtime scout said. \"They question their top dogs' past playoff performances.\"\n\nThe scout believes that this version of the Caps is the deepest and strongest. He also has no qualms about Ovechkin's recent playoff efforts -- No. 88 has 82 points in 84 playoff games -- but thinks there is a limit to Ovechkin's impact.\n\n\"Ovi was good last year, but he doesn't make his teammates better,\" the scout said. \"He either scores or doesn't.\"\n\nIt's been a curious season for Ovechkin, who hit the 1,000-point milestone but saw his goals total drop to 33 after scoring 50 seven times in his career. His 313 shots were the second lowest of his career. His average ice time of 18:22 was more than two minutes lower than his career average, although his ice time slowly increased down the stretch.\n\nAccording to Elias, his 558 goals are the second most among players who have never have played in a conference finals or Stanley Cup finals.\n\n\"Ovi is still a threat, but time is slowly catching up,\" said another veteran scout and former player.\n\nESPN graphic\n\nOvechkin was Zen during a careerlong 10-game goal drought last month, saying no one needed him to score in March. And he's Zen now, heading into the playoffs.\n\n\"All I worry about is just a win,\" Ovechkin said. \"I don't care about what my numbers are. We won the Presidents' Trophy again, two in a row. I don't have to score 50 goals this year to get success teamwise. I'm pretty happy with that.\"\n\nHe's right. If the Caps win their first Stanley Cup this spring, the 33 goals will be a footnote, an afterthought.\n\nIf they don't?\n\nThat's a whole other story. Lack of progress. Being passed by.\n\nCapitals defenseman Matt Niskanen is typically blunt when asked about the past and its role with this team's future.\n\n\"Until we do something better, that's the narrative,\" Niskanen said.\n\nIf there is a subtle difference about Ovechkin and this team coming into the playoffs, it's in their swagger. Both the captain and his teammates were noticeably more engaged in their final regular-season games.\n\nIt's not that Ovechkin fears the playoffs for what might happen, what misfortune his team might face, but rather that he fears he and his teammates won't be ready for the playoffs.\n\nYou work hard for 82 games and sometimes you build a lead like last season, and when you get there, you find out that other teams are already in that playoff mode, Ovechkin said. You can't wait until the playoffs to be that kind of team, he added.\n\nSo, down the stretch, the Capitals flexed those playoff muscles as though to reaffirm to themselves that they had learned their lesson.\n\n\"I think right now my body feels much better this year,\" Ovechkin said. \"And my mindset -- it's totally different, [a] totally different year. Mentally, all those things, they're different.\"\n\nFormer NHLer and longtime Capitals analyst Alan May said that for the first time, this team has all of the necessary components needed to break its Stanley Cup drought.\n\n\"This year they made sure the fire was burning at the right time,\" May said.\n\nAnd the captain was holding the match.\n\n\"When they had about 12 games left, he had to reset his focus,\" May said of Ovechkin. \"The puck started coming to him more. He started getting 10 to 16 shot attempts a game.\"\n\nNiskanen paused when asked whether there was any concern in the Caps' dressing room about Ovechkin's diminished goal production. Then he said, \"No,\" drawn out over two or three syllables, before adding a caveat.\n\n\"We're going to need him to play well. We need everybody to play well,\" Niskanen said. \"And it's not just scoring. I think you saw the effect he can have on games in our last 10 days or so. He started forechecking. His feet were going, laying the body on people. He had an effect on the game, and he had the puck a lot more because of it.\"\n\nNo shame, then, in feeling fear at this time of year. It's the stuff of champions to embrace those fears, to put them to good use.\n\nDoes Alex Ovechkin love his fear? We're about to find out."}
-{"text": "A man spreads coca leaves on the ground to be sun dried outside a church in President Evo Morales' hometown of Villa 14 de Septiembre in the Chapare region in Cochabamba October 11, 2014. REUTERS/David Mercado/File Photo\n\nLA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivia\u2019s Senate on Friday passed a bill to nearly double the amount of land that can legally be planted with coca, bringing the South American nation\u2019s expected production to 30,000 tonnes of leaves.\n\nThe bill, which was approved by the Andean nation\u2019s lower house on Thursday, will allow farmers to plant up to 22,000 hectares with coca, the main ingredient in cocaine, compared to 12,000 hectares under a previous law enacted in 1988.\n\nLeftist President Evo Morales, a former coca grower, is expected to sign the bill into law.\n\nPeople in the Andes have for centuries chewed coca leaves to ward off the effects of high altitude. Coca is also brewed into tea and considered sacred by many indigenous people, including Morales.\n\n\u201cThe important thing has been to stop demonizing the coca leaf, to decriminalize it, to release it,\u201d Bolivian Senate President Alberto Gonzales said. \u201cWe are talking about a noble, sacred leaf that did not deserve to be stigmatized in the way it was for almost 30 years.\u201d\n\nBolivia needs some 25,000 tonnes of coca for traditional and religious rituals, said Cesar Cocarico, the minister of rural development and land. He said some 6,000 tonnes could be industrialized and legally exported to countries including Ecuador and Argentina.\n\nOpposition lawmaker Wilson Santamaria said it was not necessary to increase the area planted for coca, noting that studies showed 14,000 hectares was sufficient to meet the demand for legal and cultural usage.\n\nCoca farmers who would like to abolish limits on coca planting altogether threw rocks in protests in La Paz earlier this week, causing the police to release tear gas."}
-{"text": "100OZHPMINI\n\nToday we are dropping our HP Elitedesk 800 G2 Mini to $399 from $599. These are great for business who lack space and wants a small compact machine. They are also great for home use in small areas and is also a great media center with the 256 GB SDD for storage. All our machines are A grade or above and fully checked and refurbished. Every product comes with 1 Year warranty. Deal valid till Friday 04/10/19\n\nExclusive OzBargain deal. Get $100 off on our already marked down price on our HP Elitedesk 800 G2 Mini with 1 Year Warranty and Free Shipping Australia Wide\n\nProcessor: Intel Core i5-6600T (2.70GHz, 4 Cores, 6M Cache, up to 3.50 GHz) Intel HD Graphics 530\n\nMemory: 8 GB RAM\n\nStorage: 256 GB 2.5\" SSD\n\nConnectivity: Front: 2 x USB 3.0 Port, 1 x USB Type-C Port, 1 x Headphone/Microphone, 1 x VGA Port, 1 x Display Port, 4 x USB 3.0 Ports, 1 x RJ-45 Port\n\nSoftware: Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit Pre-installed (Downgradable to Win 7 Pro 64 Bit), Google Chrome, VLC, OpenOffice Suite\n\nCables: AC Power Adapter included\n\nDelivery: Free Delivery Australia Wide\n\nWarranty: 1 Year Warranty\n\nDeal ends on the 4/10/2019. Offer valid till stock last"}
-{"text": "business\n\nUpdated: Mar 26, 2019 12:10 IST\n\nAirbus SE secured a $35 billion jet deal from China during a state visit by President Xi Jinping to the French capital, dealing a fresh blow to Boeing Co. as it grapples with the grounding of its best-selling jet.\n\nThe mammoth order consists of 290 A320-series narrow-body planes and 10 A350 wide-bodies, Toulouse-based Airbus said after the transaction was announced in Paris on Monday. The deal\u2019s value is almost double that touted by French President Emmanuel Macron in January 2018 during a trip to Beijing.\n\nThe Airbus coup comes while Boeing\u2019s own 737 Max narrow-body -- the chief global rival to the A320 -- has been idled following two fatal crashes in five months. The U.S. planemaker is also struggling with the fallout from a China-U.S. trade war that\u2019s seen sales to the Asian nation dry up, just as Airbus bolsters its position with an offer to expand production facilities in Tianjin.\n\nChina has become the world\u2019s most important aviation market as its fast-growing middle class spurs demand for travel. The country has traditionally sought to keep a balance between the two western planemakers as it seeks to jumpstart manufacturing on its own soil, but Chicago-based Boeing\u2019s order prospects have been complicated by the trade clash.\n\n\u201cI would see this as part of broader trade discussions,\u201d said Rob Stallard at Vertical Research Partners. \u201cFor the Chinese to put tariffs on Boeing aircraft would be nuclear, but you can send messages in other ways. This tells the Americans that you have got to play nice if you want us to reciprocate.\u201d\n\nMacron originally put the value of a likely order at $18 billion. A firm order failed to materialize last year despite a second French state visit in June and a delegation of top Airbus executives in September.\n\nThe deal announced in Paris will include both Neo -- for new engine option -- and so-called classic or CEO versions of the A319, A320 and A321, though the majority will be A320neos and A321neos, according to officials. China typically orders planes in large batches and allocates them to airlines later.\n\nThe latest A320neo model has a list price of $110.6 million and the A350-900 sells for $317.4 million before discounts.\n\nAirbus\u2019s incoming chief executive officer, Guillaume Faury, said at the press conference that construction of the A320s will take place both in Tianjin and Europe, adding that the deal is \u201ca sign of the confidence\u201d from China. Macron called the transaction \u201can excellent signal.\u201d\n\nChina will need 7,400 new passenger and freighter aircraft in the next two decades, representing almost 20 percent of total global demand, according to Airbus estimates.\n\nThe purchase provides a boost for Faury who takes over from Tom Enders in April. Airbus sales have had one of the slowest starts in the past decade, with the planemaker registering 103 cancellations and just four new orders in the first two months.\n\nSeparately, China is looking at excluding Boeing\u2019s troubled 737 Max jet from a list of American exports it would buy as part of a trade deal with the U.S., people familiar with the matter have said.\n\nAirbus shares fell 0.5 percent in Paris on Monday, while Boeing climbed 2.3 percent in New York."}
-{"text": "list of facts:\n\n- hlvrai ends with gman teleporting the science team to a sort of pocket dimension within a chuck e cheese for tommys birthday\n\n- half-life ends with gman putting gordon in stasis in a pocket dimension until hes needed again\n\n- half-life 2 starts with gordon waking up from stasis while 20 years have passed on earth\n\n\n\nconclusion: hlvrai 2 will start with gman releasing the science team from the chuck e cheese which they have been trapped in for 20 years"}
-{"text": "It was a clear day in Roland Garros. Not too hot, definitely not cold, and a day made for playing tennis. It was a perfect day for history to be made.\n\nFrom the founding of the sport until 1999, only five players had ever accomplished this incredible feat. There were greats of the game who never managed to nab them all. Pete Sampras, Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, and Ken Rosewall all fell short, to name just a few. It is in accomplishment in sport that requires greatness, consistency, and a little bit of luck too. Sometimes, for example Connors being banned from the French Open for five of his best years, things just don\u2019t work out to allow a champion to be crowned.\n\nAndre Agassi was the fifth to earn this achievement, beating Andriy Medvedev in the 1999 French Open, ending a 35-year Grand Slam drought.\n\nSince then, though, we saw two new all-time greats add their name to this illustrious list. There is no surprise that the pair could win all four tournaments. Still, even with these two nothing was a given. Nadal has not been great (relatively) on hard courts and only has one Australian Open title to his name. Nadal\u2019s dominance at the French Open has kept Federer down to just one title in Paris. Even for two of the undisputed best players ever, little things could have kept them from being on this coveted list.\n\nNovak Djokovic was aiming to become the eight male singles player in history to complete his collection of Grand Slam trophies and to join Federer and Nadal as the third in the last six years. He has been aiming for this since 2011, but Nadal always stood in his way. Now, having dispatched Nadal with relative ease in the quarterfinal, Djokovic only had Stan Wawrinka standing between him and further immortality.\n\nThe 30-year-old Wawrinka has been a bit of a late bloomer in terms of tennis greatness. He has always had one of the best backhands in the world, there is no question about that. He has been floating between the top 10-30 since 2008. His first career Slam semifinal didn\u2019t come until the 2013 US Open, though. He reached a Masters final in Rome in 2008 but couldn\u2019t duplicate that result until Madrid in 2013. Wawrinka always had the power and the backhand and could therefore win matches and even pull off upsets, but the consistency of a champion did not arrive until he hired coach Magnus Norman in April 2013.\n\nThe current generation of champions has spoiled us. We now expect our Slam champions to consistently reach semifinals and finals of big tournaments. Wawrinka has been a Slam champion for over a year, having won the 2014 Australian Open. But he has had his fair share of early exits in Slams and Masters since then, reaching only one semifinal in the five Slams prior to this French Open.\n\nThe surface in Melbourne best suits Wawrinka\u2019s game, so it is not surprising that he has produced his best tennis there. But the clay of Roland Garros is not far behind, as Wawrinka is comfortable moving on the surface and has the raw power to hit the ball through the slower court. Wawrinka also, somewhat surprisingly, does not have trouble with his one-handed backhand here. The high bounce on clay has created awkward backhands from Roger Federer for years and has been one of the linchpins of his lopsided head-to-head against Rafael Nadal here. But Wawrinka has such control of his one-hander that he can absorb spin and pace with that backhand and send it right back at his opponent.\n\nA poor service game in the first set cost Wawrinka the break and ultimately that set. Frustration was clearly setting in the second set as Wawrinka kept the pressure on Djokovic\u2019s service games but was unable to break through. After Djokovic held for 4-4, Wawrinka pounded the net with his racket several times in frustration. He kept the pressure up, though, and broke Djokovic the next time to say the set 6-4. Now it was Djokovic getting frustrated as he responded to the loss of the set by destroying his racket.\n\nWawrinka entered his version of \u201cbeast mode\u201d in the third set, blasting incredible winners that can\u2019t even be described with words. (Seriously, check out this winner; it\u2019s just unreal.) Djokovic was tense and his defense a little flatter than usual, not quite getting his normal penetrating depth on groundstrokes. Wawrinka was taking full advantage, earning the decisive break for 4-2 in the third set and serving it out.\n\nDjokovic wasn\u2019t going to go down without a fight, though, breaking Wawrinka early in the fourth set. The Swiss responded like a champion, though, still hitting powerful groundstroke after powerful groundstroke to earn the break back. No matter what Djokovic did on defense, Wawrinka just had another big winner to pull out of the bag. Wawrinka came into the match determined to make sure the match was decided on his racket. The World #9 did just that, picking up more than 30 combined winners and errors than Djokovic and staying at around double the Serbian\u2019s winner count all match.\n\nWawrinka broke again for a 5-4 lead and the tennis world waited with bated breath to see if he could serve it out. In a matchup that needed five sets to determine their last four Grand Slam matches, it only took Wawrinka four to earn his biggest win in the series. \u201cStan the Man\u201d or \u201cThe Stanimal\u201d, as his fans refer to him, is back on top of the tennis world, where he was in January 2014. And with the way he played in this tournament, it\u2019s likely that he will remain at the pinnacle a little longer than last time.\n\nFor Djokovic, it will be another year of waiting for the biggest milestone and another year for the pressure of the lack of a French Open title to weigh on him. Djokovic is too strong mentally to let this keep him down for too long; but you have to wonder if he will ever be able to overcome his nerves here.\n\nWawrinka will never quite be in the same category as Federer or Nadal or even Djokovic. He\u2019s not going to win eight Slams. He will probably never reach World #1. But he is not a one-Slam wonder anymore. He only has ten career titles, but two of those are at the sport\u2019s highest level. Djokovic came to Roland Garros searching for immortality. Stan Wawrinka came out of it eternal glory.\n\nMain Photo:"}
-{"text": "Last week, the Google logo was turned into a game of Pac-Man and we all took breaks to play. In theory, we wasted a combined 4,819,352 hours and many, many dollars. Here's the math.\n\n\nThe Rescue Time Blog made these calculations based on observations and assumptions about the Google audience:\n\nThis weekend, we took a hard look at Pac-Man D-Day and compared it with previous Fridays (before and after Google's recent redesign) and found some noticeable differences. We took a random subset of our users (about 11,000 people spending about 3 million seconds on Google that day) The average user spent 36 seconds MORE on Google.com on Friday. [...] If we take Wolfram Alpha at its word, Google had about 504,703,000 unique visitors on May 23. If we assume that our userbase is representative, that means: Google Pac-Man consumed 4,819,352 hours of time (beyond the 33.6m daily man hours of attention that Google Search gets in a given day)\n\n$120,483,800 is the dollar tally, If the average Google user has a COST of $25/hr (note that cost is 1.3 \u2013 2.0 X pay rate).\n\nFor that same cost, you could hire all 19,835 google employees, from Larry and Sergey down to their janitors, and get 6 weeks of their time. Imagine what you could build with that army of man power.\n\n$298,803,988 is the dollar tally if all of the Pac-Man players had an approximate cost of the average Google employee.\n\n\nOf course all these numbers are assuming that the time we spent playing Google Pac-Man would've been spent in some sort of productive manner in the first place. [Rescue Time via Slashdot]"}
-{"text": "What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email\n\nSinger Paul Heaton says he offered to nationalise The Beautiful South's back catalogue, but the Government turned him down.\n\nHeaton, who fronted classic indie band The Housemartins before forming the Beautiful South in the 90s, says he offered to donate the royalties from all his past and future hits to the nation.\n\nDuring an appearance on Channel 5's The Wright Stuff to promote his new album, Crooked Calypso, which he recorded with Beautiful South singer Jacqui Abbott, he said Tory minister Greg Clark had rejected his offer, according to the Hull Daily Mail.\n\n(Image: Birmingham Post and Mail)\n\nHe said: \"I offered my songs up for nationalisation. This would mean songs like Happy Hour, Rotterdam, Perfect 10 and the rest, every time they got played on the radio, the state would take the money and put it back into improving our living standards.\n\n\u201cI felt I\u2019d made enough money from them, I didn\u2019t want to nationalise my savings, as such, I was just saying this was a gift to the British public and I got a refusal from Greg Clark.\n\n\"I understand it is not Conservative policy to nationalise things but neither is it to be so blatantly imprudent to throw money away.\"\n\nThe Mirror has approached a spokesperson for Greg Clark for comment."}
-{"text": "UPDATE:\n\nFS1 is confirming Sporting News' story that the network is developing a variety of new TV shows for Katie Nolan, following the cancellation of the weekday \"Fox Sports Live\" with Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole and the end of her once-a-week \"Garbage Time\" late night show.\n\n\u201cFollowing the success of her Emmy Award-winning original program GARBAGE TIME, including the show\u2019s successful daily hour-long run during Super Bowl Week, we could not be more excited about Katie Nolan\u2019s future with FOX Sports and we look forward to further developing her role at FS1,\u201d Charlie Dixon, executive vice president of content for FS1 and FS2, said in a statement.\n\nNolan could host shows in either the late-night, morning or afternoon windows, sources told SN.\n\nHer TV exposure on FS1 will increase \"five-fold,\" said a top source.\n\nIts unclear whether the \"Garbage Time\" name will remain in the mix.\n\nIt's more likely Nolan will host brand TV shows with fresh names, casts and show formats.\n\nFS1 declined an interview request for Nolan.\n\nIronically, O'Toole fired off an angry tweet last year when Nolan told me in an interview that she would \"ideally\" like a weekday, late night show in the 11 p.m. or 11:30 p.m. time slot.\n\n\"Hey @katienolan, great to see you are a team player. Can u feed my kids once you take our time slot? Thanks!\" tweeted O'Toole.\n\n(SN ILLUSTRATION) https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/sporting_news/11/3c/illo-katie-nolan-dan-otoole-battle-052816-ftrjpg_1651anmxbdewh1n97ywy9bjhio.jpg?t=-105511596&w=500&quality=80\n\nDeveloping ...\n\nPREVIOUS:\n\nFS1 is clearing the decks for Katie Nolan of \"Garbage Time\" to increase her TV presence five-fold, sources tell Sporting News.\n\nLed by ex-ESPNer Jamie Horowitz, FS1 is developing a variety of new shows for Nolan that could air in either the late-night, afternoon or morning windows, sources told SN.\n\nAs part of the shakeup, FS1 is canceling its late-night \"Fox Sports Live with Jay & Dan\" show, which featured Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole.\n\nAwful Announcing's Ben Koo reported that Fox will not renew the once-a-week \"Garbage Time\" in its current incarnation, leaving FS1 free to develop bigger and better projects for Nolan. Onrait's and O'Toole's final show aired Wednesday night.\n\n\"You're going to see zero Jay & Dan. But you're going to see five times as much Katie Nolan,\" said one executive, who declined to be named.\n\nMORE: Jay Harris is ESPN's utility player\n\nThe late-night time slot will be available with the departure of Onrait and O'Toole, two late-night imports from Canada who never found an audience on FS1.\n\nStarting April 3, FS1's 11 p.m. to midnight ET time slot will be filled by \"MLB Whiparound.\" Until then, FS1 will air \"College Hoops Extra\" and UFC programming in the old \"Fox Sports Live\" time slot.\n\n\u201cThroughout the evolution of FS1, we\u2019ve been committed to creating programming that resonates with sports fans. As part of that commitment, we are constantly assessing all of FS1\u2019s studio offerings, and despite changes to the format of FOX SPORTS LIVE and the popularity of Jay and Dan as individuals, we\u2019ve made the difficult decision to move forward with other projects,\u201d Charlie Dixon, executive vice president of content for FS1 and FS2, said in a statement.\n\nDuring an interview with Sporting News last year, the irreverent, beer-drinking Nolan said she would \"ideally\" like a weeknight show in the 11 or 11:30 p.m. ET time slot.\n\nOur interview with Nolan set off O'Toole , who fired off a late night tweet saying: \"Hey @katienolan, great to see you are a team player. Can u feed my kids once you take our time slot? Thanks!\"\n\nLate night won't be the only option for the Emmy-winning Nolan. She'll have several programming windows to choose from as Horowitz and Dixon challenge ESPN's cable sports dominance across the board.\n\nOver coming months. FS1 is expected to launch a new national morning show as a lead-in to \"Undisputed\" with Skip Bayless, Shannon Sharpe and Joy Taylor, plus an afternoon show to lead-in to \"Speak for Yourself\" with Colin Cowherd, Jason Whitlock and Jason McIntyre.\n\n\"Does she want to go five days a week? FS1 is like, 'Let's do it,'\" said a source. \"Does Katie get a late night, morning or afternoon show? They're all on the table.'\n\nOne intriguing morning show cast, sources said, could be the combination of Nolan, Cris Carter, Nick Wright and departed CBSN anchor Josh Elliott .\n\n\"It would be like the Today Show for sports,\" said one source.\n\nDEVELOPING ..."}
-{"text": "Frankie Grande, the older brother of caterwauling come-to-life Maiden Fairhair doll Ariana Grande, is currently holed up in the Big Brother house, and he recently dropped the bombshell on his fellow castmates that he has been lying about his identity and confessed that he isn\u2019t just another fame-hungry nobody. Frankie Grande, who\u2019s name sounds like a delicious footlong hotdog, revealed that he\u2019s actually a super-famous Broadway/YouTube/Twitter/Vine star, but most important of all\u2026ARIANA GRANDE\u2019S BROTHER. According to Frankie, the real Frankie is a \u201csocial media mogul\u201d with \u201c1.5 million followers\u201d (give or take a couple hundred thousand), and the brother to \u201cmega, mega popstar\u201d Ariana Grande. In case you\u2019re still not getting it: Frankie Grande is a major somebody who once lived in the same womb as the Toddlers and Tiaras-looking sexy baby swap meet version of Mariah Carey. Bow down, bitches.\n\nObviously Frankie\u2019s fellow Big Brother castmates have been drinking too much dirty pool water, because they didn\u2019t seem to comprehend the level of A-list star power standing before them and responded to Frankie\u2019s confession by letting their eyes glaze over.\n\nUm, RUDE! That\u2019s Ariana Grande\u2019s brother you\u2019re staring vacantly at! But Frankie didn\u2019t just brag about his sister; he also admitted that being a super-famous social media celebrity is a devastating burden to carry in the house, especially around people who only have a pitiful 50,000 followers. He also confessed that he once met Justin Bieber, that he\u2019s definitely not famous because of his famous sister \u2013 ARIANA GRANDE, and that his sister \u2013 ARIANA GRANDE \u2013 is as big as Rihanna (\u201cUh huh, sure\u201c \u2013 Rihanna).\n\nYou can choose to think it was tacky of Frankie to brag about falling out of the same vagina as \u201cmega pop superstar\u201d Ariana Grande, but I think it was actually very nice of him to throw her some publicity. I mean, he\u2019s not some Z-list name-dropping nobody; he\u2019s THE Frankie Grande! Think of how many more Sam & Cat DVDs have been sold since Frankie ever-so-casually mentioned her name on Big Brother? Think of the exposure! Unless you\u2019re a 13-year-old girl, you probably hear the name \u201cAriana Grande\u201d and immediately wonder if you can add a shot of pumpkin spice to that (\u201cand no whip\u2026aw fuck it, extra whip\u201d). But now? Thanks to ultra-famous internet celebrity Frankie Grande, Ariana is destined to be a household name!\n\nPic: Instagram"}
-{"text": "The information you find here but with the added convenience of GPS, maps, one touch calling to store, filtering and directions for both parking and no-parking stores. Built for iPhones and iPads.\n\nFor those that can't do apps, this is by request and is a indexed PDF file. Look up a city and find all of the WM stores with map links, including which ones have been reported as no parking stores. Download it and take it with you. $4.97 WalMart PDF.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdvertise"}
-{"text": "Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith said DNA and other evidence leads her investigators to believe missing teen Sierra LaMar is dead, and that a 21-year-old Morgan Hill man is her killer.\n\nAntolin Garcia Torres was booked Monday night into the county main jail on one count of murder and one count of kidnapping after being taken into custody hours earlier at a Safeway in Morgan Hill \u2014 more than two months after Sierra was last seen.\n\n\u201cOur investigation has led to the identification of Antolin Garcia Torres as the person responsible for the kidnap and murder of Sierra LaMar,\u201d Smith said at a Tuesday morning press conference. \u201cWe developed this through our investigation based on direct and circumstantial evidence, including forensic analysis conducted by the Santa Clara County DA\u2019s crime lab.\u201d\n\nBut Garcia Torres\u2019 family quickly defended the suspect.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not him,\u201d sister Lucero Garcia told this newspaper. She added that she knows how it sounds when the family members of criminal suspects speak up on their behalf, but \u201cI honestly feel they don\u2019t have enough evidence to convict him.\u201d\n\nGarcia spoke not long after Sierra\u2019s mother, Marlene, issued a plea to Garcia Torres to tell authorities what he knows about the 15-year-old\u2019s fate. She said she still holds out hope that Sierra may be alive.\n\n\u201cWe continue to pray until she is found,\u201d LaMar said. \u201cOur search is not going to end. As a mother I\u2019m hopeful. Her body has not been found and that gives me hope.\u201d\n\nAuthorities, though, said they are certain she is dead and are hoping to get more information from the suspect that leads them to the body. Her mother, fighting back tears, asked Garcia Torres to provide more information to investigators.\n\n\u201cI do have a plea to the perpetrator. Please give the information that you have to,\u201d Marlene LaMar said. \u201cLead us to Sierra and end this nightmare. Come forward and say where she is and end this nightmare for us as a family.\u201d\n\nSmith said investigators initially had many suspects, but right now they believe only one person is responsible for the kidnap and murder of Sierra: Garcia Torres.\n\nThe first deputy who responded to the March 16 missing person\u2019s report on Sierra knew immediately she was not a runaway, Smith said. But Sierra was not taken off the missing person\u2019s list until 10 days after her disappearance.\n\nTwo days after she was reported missing, Sierra\u2019s bag and some clothing were found.\n\n\u201cIt was that clothing that was really instrumental in identifying the suspect,\u201d Smith said.\n\nSmith said from March 28 on, Garcia Torres was under 24-hour surveillance, hoping they would find Sierra.\n\n\u201cHe may have believed he was under surveillance,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWe talked to him multiple times.\u201d\n\nIn fact, Laura Torres, Garcia Torres\u2019 mother, confirmed that she and her son were aware that they were being watched starting about two months ago. She said GPS devices were found under both of their cars.\n\nGarcia Torres called her overnight after his arrest. \u201cHe said \u2018Mom, be strong. I need you strong\u2019 \u201d to help take care of his wife and child.\n\nAfter investigators took his Jetta, Torres said she asked her son if he had anything to do with the case. \u201cHe said \u2018I\u2019ve never seen that lady, I\u2019ve never made contact with her.\u2019 \u201c\n\nSmith said she believes this was a stranger abduction, the \u201cworst type of crime.\u201d\n\nIn March 2009, there were three assaults in the Morgan Hill area. Forensic evidence leads investigators to believe Garcia Torres committed at least one of them, Smith said.\n\nSince January of 2011 in Santa Clara county alone there are 43 missing females that have never returned home, Smith said. She added, \u201cyou wonder\u201d if any of those actually were abductions also.\n\nThe sheriff\u2019s office previously announced that a red Volkswagen Jetta with a black hood might be connected to the Sierra LaMar case, and according to authorities, Garcia Torres is the owner of the car, which was seized on May 8.\n\nKenneth Piccolo, a former English teacher for Antolin Garcia Torres at Central Continuation High School, said he remembers Garcia Torres\u2019 Jetta.\n\n\u201cMy car has a black hood too, and we joked about it,\u201d Piccolo said. \u201cYou don\u2019t put two and two together and think, that\u2019s Antolin\u2019s car.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m in total shock right now,\u201d Piccolo said. \u201cWe never thought he was a criminal or a troublemaker.\u201d\n\nPiccolo described Garcia Torres as \u201calways respectful, very polite,\u201d and a \u201cbigger-than-life presence on campus; very social.\u201d He didn\u2019t graduate because he didn\u2019t do all his work, not for lack of intelligence, he said.\n\nSierra disappeared while she was supposed to be on her way to a school bus stop.\n\nThe day after her disappearance, investigators found her cellphone a few blocks east of her school bus stop. And, the next day, her pink Juicy-brand bag was found, containing a neatly folded T-shirt and pants.\n\nKTVU-2 reported that Garcia Torres was arrested around 6 p.m. at a Safeway store on Tennant Avenue in Morgan Hill, where he once worked.\n\nWitnesses to the arrest told the television station that sheriff\u2019s officers took Garcia Torres into custody at gunpoint. A broadcast showed him, clad in shorts and a tank-top with a chain connecting his wrists to his waist, being escorted away from the sheriff\u2019s office after an interview said to have lasted three hours.\n\nMarc Klaas, who has been organizing volunteer searches since Sierra\u2019s disappearance, says he was given the same incomplete news after his own 12-year-old daughter, Polly, was kidnapped from their Petaluma home in 1993.\n\n\u201cI would say they\u2019re very angry now,\u201d Klaas said of the LaMar family, although he hadn\u2019t talked to them late Monday night.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve been told somebody murdered their daughter, but they can\u2019t prove it. That\u2019s how I felt. They needed to prove to me one way or another before I would accept anything, until they proved to me my daughter was dead.\u201d\n\nAfter being dominated by fear and anger for the past two months, the LaMar family is now \u201cpossibly at the point where there won\u2019t be anything left to be afraid of,\u201d Klaas said.\n\nUntil Sierra\u2019s body is recovered, he said, his volunteers will continue with a scheduled search Wednesday \u201cin hopes of still finding Sierra alive.\u201d\n\nMonday\u2019s arrest marks a sad turn to a case that began after the teen from the Morgan Hill area vanished on the way to school, sparking countless volunteer searches as her family and authorities scoured fields, creeks, back roads and reservoirs in hopes of finding Sierra.\n\nOver the past two months, critical developments in the case emerged but none was revealed to be a breakthrough \u2014 until now.\n\nTen days after Sierra disappeared, the Sheriff\u2019s Office took her off the missing persons list and Monday\u2019s arrest suggested the worst.\n\n\u201cAs difficult as it is, and as much as you want your child home and safe, you need a resolution. You need to know. There are far too many cases unsolved or cold that leave people in limbo from which they\u2019re unable to move forward,\u201d Klaas said.\n\n\u201cImagine what it\u2019s like,\u201d he said, \u201cto be told day after day that there\u2019s no real news? You get to the point you just need news. You need to know where is my child?\u201d"}
-{"text": "Asus just announced their new Padfone in Milan and we were on the scene to cover it live. The Asus Padfone 2 is an Android phone with the rather unique ability to become the heart of a tablet, just like the original Padfone.\n\nThe specs have been upped and the new Padfone can go toe to toe with the best upcoming droid flagships. It has a 4.7\" 720p Super IPS+ LCD screen, 13MP camera and a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 - you know, the one with the quad-core Krait processor and Adreno 320 GPU.\n\nIf you're thinking that this would make it one of the most powerful tablets around too, you'd be right. Just how does the Asus Padfone 2 turn into a tablet? With the tablet accessory, of course, called Padfone Station.\n\nThe tablet adds the two key ingredients that separate the Padfone from tablets - a big screen and a big battery. You get a 10.1\" WXGA IPS screen and a 5,000mAh battery (in addition to the 2,140mAh battery in the phone itself). That's a bit less than the original, which had a 6,600mAh battery in the tablet.\n\nStill, there's an upside - the phone + tablet combo weighs only 649g (the Padfone 2 is responsible for 135g of the total weight).\n\nThe Padfone Station doesn't contribute much else, but the Padfone 2 has enough features for the both of them, including Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (JB coming soon), LTE, NFC and 720p video capture at 60fps.\n\nJump over to the next page for our hands-on impressions of the Padfone 2. On the page after that are some benchmarks and camera samples too."}
-{"text": "A vintage car passes by the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, April 19, 2018. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini\n\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has set up a task force to help coordinate a response to unexplained health problems affecting a number of U.S. diplomats and their relatives in Cuba and China, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on Tuesday.\n\nThe group, set up on May 23, will handle \u201cidentification and treatment of affected personnel and family members, investigation and risk mitigation, messaging, and diplomatic outreach\u201d for the 25 U.S. government workers and family members confirmed to have been affected so far, the statement said."}
-{"text": "To make calculating easy, let's assume 100 million people will need new homes outside their own countries by 2050. Under a formula based on historic greenhouse gas emissions, the United States would take in 27 million people; Europe, 25 million; and so on. Even as a rough estimate, this gives a sense of the magnitude of the problem.\n\nNone of this would be popular, but it would be fair. Climate change results from the cumulative emissions of greenhouse gases all over the world, because the gases stay in the atmosphere for a century or more. International law recognises that if pollution crosses national borders, the country where it originated is responsible for the damages. That affirms what we all learnt in the schoolyard: if you make a mess, you clean it up. The countries that spewed (or allowed or encouraged their corporations to spew) these chemicals into the air, and especially the countries that grew rich while doing so, should take responsibility for the consequences of their actions. If they want to reduce the number of people in need of new homes, they should reduce their emissions.\n\nFinding suitable land for resettlement will be immensely difficult. A population that needs to move might want to go to a place that is geographically similar to the place from which it came, where it can make the same sort of living as before, such as from fishing, farming or herding. Its members might also wish to go together and recreate their old communities. Yet, most of the habitable places on Earth are already inhabited, and moving a sizable population into an area that is already populated is not easy. The most prominent example of such a movement in modern history is Israel \u2013 a project that has not gone smoothly. Technologies such as desalination can make more areas habitable, but they typically take a great deal of money and energy, the very resource we have failed to conserve in the first place.\n\nThis problem will also require a new legal solution: Under current law, those displaced by climate change have no recognised legal status. The 1951 Refugee Convention applies only to people who are fleeing because of a well-founded fear of persecution. Non-binding guidelines have appeared on the treatment of people who cross borders as a result of climate change (the Nansen Principles) and who are displaced internally (the Peninsula Principles), but these have no force of law. A few countries have special arrangements to admit people from certain other countries. They aren't specifically for climate-change refugees, but could be used in that situation. For example, the US has \"compacts of free association\" with the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau. Australia and New Zealand have very small guest-worker programs. Temporary protected status or humanitarian visas might be available to some people for a limited time.\n\nAssuming that most nations aren't actually interested in taking in orders of magnitude more migrants than they do now, the vast majority of those who will be displaced by climate change will simply have no place outside their own countries where they can go. The largest number of displaced people is likely to be from Bangladesh, but it's hard to imagine that those people will be welcomed in India, which has built a barbed-wire fence along parts of the border."}
-{"text": "THE five men killed in overnight raids in Bali were Islamic extremist terrorists seeking money to fund attacks on targets including a bar in Bali\u2019s Seminyak tourist strip.\n\n\n\nIndonesia\u2019s national police spokesman, Faud Usman Nasution, said drawings found at the hotels housing the men demonstrated that they were targeting three businesses including the bar, La Vida Loca, as well as PT Bali Money Changer in Kuta, and a jeweller in the suburb of Jimbaran.\n\n\n\nPolice from the anti-terror squad Detachment 88 found two pistols at the hotels in Bali\u2019s tourist strip where the men were shot and killed overnight. There were also two magazines of ammunition with 48 rounds.\n\n\n\nHowever, there were no explosives.\n\n\n\nAsked about this fact, Mr Nasution said: \u201cDo you rob a cafe? You explode it\u201d.\n\n\n\nAsked if foreigners were the target he said: \u201cThe cafes in Bali are always frequented by foreigners\u201d.\n\n\n\nHe said the men were engaged in robbery to fund jihad.\n\n\n\nHe said they had been killed not captured, because they had shot at police as they raided the two hotels where the men were staying.\n\n\n\nThe five bodies have been flown to Jakarta for autopsies, and the investigation will involved police from Indonesia\u2019s capital.\n\n\n\nIt is almost 10 years since the Bali bombings killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, and the tourist industry has rebounded. However another terror attack would be devastating for the place where thousands of Australians go each year.\n\n\n\nMr Nasution said police had been tracking the terror cell since March 17, as they followed fugitives from an earlier set of robberies in the city of Medan, in Sumatra, in 2010.\n\n\n\nHe could not say if the robberies were linked to jailed radical preacher Abu Bakar Bashir.\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Leo Varadkar and Miche\u00e1l Martin are not just competing with each other for the Taoiseach\u2019s office in this election campaign. They are both fighting for their political lives as the outcome will determine whether they can survive as leaders of their respective parties.\n\nMartin took a courageous risk in Wednesday night\u2019s televised leader\u2019s debate by declaring that he would not go into coalition with Sinn F\u00e9in as it was a \u201cmoral question\u201d of agreeing to share power with a party which continues to justify the murderous campaign of the Provisional IRA."}
-{"text": "Blog\n\nBillion Dollar AML Compliance Plan for the Financial Sector\n\nThe financial services sector has long been blamed for the spread of financial crimes like money laundering and tax evasions. Over the past ten years, banks and financial institutions all over the world have faced billions of dollars in fines due to non-compliance and failure to implement adequate regulatory requirements. The regulatory authorities in the US, in particular, have been extremely active against non-compliance with Anti Money Laundering (AML) regulations. The US Department of Justice doled out fines worth $14 billion to financial institutions. That covered over half the sum of global financial regulatory fines over the past decade. All in all financial regulators have collectively imposed over $26 billion by way of sanctions and fines to banks and financial institutions around the globe.\n\nMore stringent compliance regulations can be dated back to the 2008 financial crisis. Ever since then global regulators have been rallying to make the financial services sector safer and more transparent. More than 50,000 regulations were distributed between 2009 and 2012. Several high profile scandals erupted in the wake of increased regulations all over the world. To date, the single highest fine against one financial institute was of $8.9 billion, wherein the bank, BNP Paribas, admitted its fault.\n\nAre Non-Compliance Fines Avoidable?\n\nWhat is surprising is the fact that these fines and sanctions are completely avoidable. The cost of establishing and maintaining an effective compliance structure is nearly three times less than the losses faced by banks in the form of non-compliance penalties. The financial services sector has been battling with the best way to approach compliance regulations. Compliance structures in banks are outdated and slow. The biggest obstacle for banks to implement an effective procedure is the lag it causes in the client onboarding process. Verifying every client and carrying out the due diligence takes time and tends to frustrate clients, thus lowering satisfaction levels for a financial institution.\n\nBanks end up spending over 2.7 billion pounds \u2013 $3.5 billion \u2013 every year on AML compliance systems that are both outdated as well as inefficient. Legacy systems are still in use by some banks that churn an inexplicable amount of false positives. As the compliance staff chases after false leads, they end up spending their energies on validating cases of fraud rather than investigating them.\n\nIn order to avoid millions, or possibly billions, of dollar in fines, financial institutions build colossal compliance regulatory structures within their business, spending millions. They often have to hire an army of compliance officers, just to keep up with the changing regulatory framework.\n\nAchieving AML Compliance Through Technology\n\nThere are, however, better ways to approach AML regulations. Modern technology can contribute a great deal towards building better compliance structures in financial institutes. The Fintech sector has long been working on developing systems that are both effective and efficient. This technology is increasingly being referred to as regulatory technology or RegTech. RegTech systems are now using technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning to make compliance functions easier for banks.\n\nOne way to approach AML compliance is through suspicious activity reporting. Systems that use machine learning algorithms are used to detect suspicious transactions. These algorithms learn from past behaviour and data to flag fraudulent transactions. More to the fact, they are used to monitor a client\u2019s transactions to determine their normal behaviour. Every time any suspicious or potentially fraudulent transaction is detected on a client\u2019s account, it is either blocked or an alert is issued to the management to take the appropriate action.\n\nRead More: RegTech facilitates effortless AML Compliance\n\nIn addition to AML regulations, financial regulators have also issued KYC or Know Your Customer requirements for businesses to adhere to. These obligations further bind financial institutions to conduct enhanced due diligence for high-risk clients. The proliferation of tech solutions in the market has made it easier for banks to fulfil these requirements.\n\nOther tech solutions also provide AML screening checks to fulfil AML requirements for financial institutes. AML checks screen a customer\u2019s name through global sanction lists issued by global regulatory authorities. Screenings of clients can be performed in real time and take place in the background, so as not to disrupt the onboarding process.\n\nBanks can now avail the services of a KYC service provider to authenticate their clients\u2019 identities. This allows them to make sure that their customers are not using fake credentials or stolen identities to open a bank account or avail other financial benefits. The bank asks for a proof of identity from a client during the onboarding process, and authenticates their identity in real-time, with the help of digital ID verification.\n\nThe Future of AML Compliance\n\nAs the hype for technology-based solutions for implementing compliance structures is at its highest, financial institutes need to evaluate their existing procedures. The financial services sector is fast coming to terms with the prospect of implementing fast and productive AML solutions to decrease their costs. In a way, investing in tech solutions seems the most effective approach for banks to save billions of dollars in non-compliance costs."}
-{"text": "Major League Baseball has suspended top Padres prospect Jose Urena for 80 games for steroid use.\n\nGet breaking news and SI\u2019s biggest stories instantly. Download the new Sports Illustrated app (iOS or Android) and personalize your experience by following your favorite teams and SI writers.\n\nMajor League Baseball has suspended top Padres prospect Jose Urena for 80 games for steroid use, according to Baseball America.\n\nUrena, a 21-year-old outfielder for Class A Fort Wayne, tested positive for a metabolite of Nandrolone, which is a performance-enhancing substance. His suspension is effective immediately.\n\nIn 63 games for low-A Tri-City in 2015, Urena batted .258 with seven home runs and 45 RBIs.\n\nTwo minor league free-agents, outfielder Henry Charles and righthander Adam Reifer, were also suspended for steroid use. Charles will miss 76 games for a positive test of a metabolite of Nandrolone, while Reifer will miss 80 contests for Ostarine use.\n\n\u2022 JAFFE: What\u2019s behind Cano\u2019s hot start?\n\nCharles and Reifer's suspensions will take effect once the players sign with a MLB team."}
-{"text": "D.C. police are looking for multiple juveniles after they shot a 75-year-old woman with a BB gun, punched her, and stole her purse.\n\nInvestigators say the woman was walking to her vehicle on Jackson Street, Northeast when one of the suspects approached her from behind.\n\nDOWNLOAD: The FOX 5 News app for local breaking news alerts on-the-go\n\nAs she opened her car door, one of the suspects reportedly fired the BB gun at her, while another pulled her from the vehicle and knocked her down.\n\nThe youths also stole the woman\u2019s handbag and a bag of other items before running away south on 8th Street, Northeast.\n\nThe woman was taken to a local hospital with cuts and bruises.\n\nPolice arrested one of the juveniles, but they\u2019re still looking for the others."}
-{"text": "According to Dinesh in an interview on the Mark Levin radio show on July 11, 2014, the film took about a year to make. See more\n\nGoofs\n\nTen minutes into the film, Dinesh D'Souza says \"A century and a half ago, a young Abraham Lincoln issued a prophetic warning.\" That would be 1864, when he was 55. D'Souza is referring to \"The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions: Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois,\" a speech Lincoln gave on January 27, 1838, when he was 28. That was 176 years before 2014, not 150. See more"}
-{"text": "This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.\n\nPlease enable Javascript to watch this video\n\nA 31-year-old man who was arrested in connection with a Santa Ana hit-and-run that left three teenage girls dead on Halloween night was driving on a suspended license and had been convicted of a DUI in another hit-and-run that occurred in August.\n\nJaquinn Ramone Bell, 31, was taken into custody outside a Stanton motel on Sunday following a surveillance operation by investigators, Santa Ana Police Department Chief Carlos Rojas said at a news conference Monday.\n\nBell allegedly had his two teen children in the car at the time of the crash.\n\nCourt records indicated Bell had a recent conviction for charges related to a DUI hit-and-run. Bell's driver's license had been suspended Aug. 4, the day of his conviction, according to the DMV.\n\nTwin sisters Lexi Perez and Lexandra Perez were trick-or-treating with their friend Andrea Gonzalez about 6:45 p.m. Friday when the three 13-year-olds were struck by a Honda CRV that witnesses said was traveling \"at a high rate of speed,\" police Capt. Anthony Bertagna said Sunday.\n\nThe girls, who were walking in a crosswalk on Fairhaven Avenue at the time of the collision, were thrown more than 100 feet, authorities said. The posted speed limit in the area is 45 mph.\n\nPhotos provided by police Monday showed the SUV had a shattered windshield and severe damage to its hood and passenger side.\n\nAsked if Bell was aware that he had been involved in a collision, Rojas replied: \"I'm not going to comment on what he might've known at the time. \u2026 What I can tell you is, the vehicle had significant damage and there's no doubt in my mind that anybody who was driving in a vehicle that impacted three individuals \u2026 probably knew they hit something.\"\n\nThe Honda's occupants abandoned it in the parking lot of a strip mall about a quarter mile from the scene, then fled on foot, according to a witness. The driver and two passengers were later identified by police as Bell and his two children, ages 14 and 17.\n\nThe SUV \"belonged to somebody associated with Mr. Bell,\" Rojas said.\n\nAn investigation led police to multiple locations before they found Bell at a Motel 6 in the 7400 block of Katella Avenue (map). The suspect has numerous addresses, including one in Orange, Rojas said.\n\nBell was taken into custody about 11:30 a.m. Sunday along with his mother, half-sister and two minors, who were placed in protective custody.\n\nRojas declined to discuss Bell's criminal record, but Orange County court records showed that Bell pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges connected to an Aug. 1 hit-and-run that occurred in Anaheim.\n\nHe pleaded guilty Aug. 4 to child abuse and endangerment, driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and hit-and-run with property damage. As with the Halloween incident, Bell had underage occupants inside the vehicle at the time of the crash.\n\nBell was sentenced to three years of probation and 10 days in jail for the child abuse count, as well as eight days in jail for the DUI count. He also got three months in first-offender alcohol program for the DUI and was ordered into a child abuser's treatment program, court records show.\n\nHe also had two warrants out for his arrest in connection with domestic violence allegations at the time of his arrest Sunday.\n\nIn connection with the Oct. 31 crash, Bell was booked for felony hit-and-run causing death, Rojas said. The investigation is ongoing.\n\nAuthorities initially said Sunday that five people were arrested in connection with the crash. Two other adults who were taken into custody were not publicly identified and have been released, police said. Bell\u2019s children were turned over to a legal guardian.\n\nStanding beside a makeshift memorial near the crash scene on Sunday, before details of Bell's alleged involvement were announced, Andrea Gonzalez's brother reacted to news of the arrests.\n\n\"The people who did this left them there as if they were nothing. They're finally in custody and have to answer to justice,\" Josafar Gonzalez said. \"That brings such a sigh of relief not just to my parents, not just to the twins' family, but just to the whole community.\"\n\nCorrection: An earlier version of this story stated that two adults taken into custody and later released in connection with the crash were in the vehicle when the girls were hit. In fact, police did not say the two individuals were in the vehicle. The story has been updated.\n\nMore Video:\n\nPlease enable Javascript to watch this video\n\nPlease enable Javascript to watch this video\n\nPlease enable Javascript to watch this video"}
-{"text": "PARIS \u2014 Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon took a cautious approach Monday as some of Canada's allies demanded tough military action to halt the advances against rebels by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces.\n\nCannon said Canada will consider all options \u2014 from tougher sanctions to a no-fly zone targeting Libyan aircraft and air defences \u2014 to oust the dictator.\n\nBut he added that Canada is looking for greater detail on how a no-fly operation would work against the Libyan military, which continued to drive back rebel forces Monday with air power followed by artillery and ground forces.\n\n\"We all agree that Gadhafi must leave, we all agree there has to be a stop and an end to the bloodshed and the violence that this individual is bringing upon his population,\" Cannon told reporters prior to the start of a two-day meeting here of G8 foreign ministers. \"But we have to be able to come together with an option that is viable.\"\n\nFrench President Nicolas Sarkozy, backed by British Prime Minister David Cameron, is trying to convince the U.S. and other G8 members to endorse a no-fly zone.\n\nSarkozy, hoping to polish his credentials as a global leader in advance of the 2012 French election, was to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prior to a dinner for the foreign ministers.\n\nMinisters, including Cannon, are also expected to meet here with members of the Libyan rebel council.\n\nThe push for a no-fly zone won the crucial backing over the weekend of the 22-nation Arab League.\n\nProgress was harder to measure at the United Nations Security Council, which failed to reach consensus in a closed-doors meeting Monday at UN headquarters to discuss authorizing a no-fly zone.\n\nThe French representative insisted that the council could still endorse a resolution to ground the Libyan air force.\n\n\"There was no total refusal. There were concerns, questions, but I think we are moving forward,\" said Gerard Araud, France's Ambassador to the UN.\n\nTo pass, a resolution needs the backing of at least nine of the 15 council member states, and for none of the five permanent members to use their veto.\n\nBut permanent members Russia and China are among the no-fly skeptics.\n\n\"Fundamental questions need to be answered, not just what we need to do, but how it's going to be done,\" said Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the UN, told reporters. \"If there is a no-fly zone, who is going to implement (it)?\"\n\nLebanon, the only Arab country on the security council, called the meeting to convey the Arab League's support for a no-fly zone. The Lebanese ambassador, Nawaf Salam, said his country would help to draw up a draft resolution \u2014 though negotiations with other council members could drag on.\n\n\"The council will be reconvening soon to further discuss the matter,\" Salam said.\n\nThere was some suggestion that the draft would include wording on expanding humanitarian access to Libya, thereby reducing its appearance as a solely military intervention. What's more, while NATO likely would spearhead the enforcement ban, a final council draft is likely to clear the way for Arab countries to also participate, to deflect any criticism that the action is Western-imposed."}
-{"text": "The idea for this strip really came from the whole concept of \u201cWho watches the watchers?\u201d I\u2019m always intrigued by the ability of many people to believe in complex conspiracy theories, but never question the people delivering those theories to them.\n\nOf course, that\u2019s not to say there is anything nefarious necessarily about Wikileaks, but some healthy skepticism about them, as well as their targets, certainly wouldn\u2019t hurt. Then again, I just described paranoia."}
-{"text": 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-{"text": "Duncan Alexander, of Opta, explains the latest tool to help us understand who are the Premier League's real danger men\n\nWhen managers prepare their teams in the Premier League, many will look to negate the player who conducts most of the opposition's attacks.\n\nOne way to understand which players are making the key contributions to a team\u2019s output is through sequencing, the latest analytical model from Opta.\n\nSequencing, which is ended by defensive actions, stoppages in play, or a shot, can also shine a light on the different styles of play teams are adopting in their search for success.\n\nIt also allows us to identify for the first time players who are consistently involved in progressive play, whether or not they end up with a goal or an assist.\n\nOn this basis, the table below shows the players in the Premier League this season who have been involved in the most sequences to have ended in a shot. Not surprisingly, given the nature of football, the vast majority of them are creative midfielders or strikers, but there are a few surprising names in the list.\n\nMost involvement in sequences ending in a shot\n\nPlayer Involvements David Silva 53 Christian Eriksen 51 Oriol Romeu 48 Kevin De Bruyne 47 Nathan Redmond 47 Sergio Aguero 46 Harry Kane 45 Mohamed Salah 44 Henrikh Mkhitaryan 44 Romelu Lukaku 43\n\nThe vivid attacking strength Manchester City have shown so far this campaign is represented here with David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero all in the top six (Aguero is narrowly higher than Harry Kane despite playing a match fewer).\n\nDespite all the recent attacking signings at the Etihad Stadium, Silva, a man in his eighth season at the club, remains the orchestral heart of the team, while he is closely followed by Tottenham Hotspur\u2019s Christian Eriksen, who remains curiously underrated in some quarters.\n\nPerhaps the most surprising entries in the list are the Southampton pair of Oriol Romeu and Nathan Redmond, in third and fifth respectively.\n\nSouthampton have been troubled by poor finishing for some time, hitting 106 shots this season, 20 more than Chelsea, but having scored only five times.\n\nClubs use sequencing data to identify and nullify the key passing channels of their opponents but variations in finishing naturally make a massive difference, too. (Note too that Watford, Southampton and Crystal Palace have similar expected goals (xG) figures of 8.9, 8.6 and 8.1, yet have scored 11, five and zero goals respectively).\n\nMan City\u2019s relentless verve is illustrated even more clearly in the list of players who have been involved in the most sequences that have led to goals.\n\nTheir top three are Aguero, De Bruyne and Kyle Walker, with Silva level with three others on eight, while Fernandinho and Nicolas Otamendi are just behind on seven.\n\nAnyone who has observed Man City this season will know their play has been complex and layered; now we can see the underlying numbers that reflect this.\n\nIt\u2019s all very well being able to identify the opposition\u2019s key men but when virtually the entire team constitute a threat there\u2019s usually only one outcome (as Man City\u2019s current goal difference of +20 suggests).\n\nMost involvement in sequences ending in a goal\n\nPlayer Involvements Sergio Aguero 12 Kevin De Bruyne 11 Kyle Walker 9 David Silva 8 Romelu Lukaku 8 Alvaro Morata 8 Danilo 8 Harry Kane 7 Fernandinho 7 Nicolas Otamendi 7 Nemanja Matic 7\n\nSequence data also enables analysis of a team\u2019s style of play using two variables: the average speed of each sequence\u2019s progression upfield (in layman\u2019s terms, how quickly does a team attack?), and the average number of passes in a sequence (how intricate is a team?).\n\nThese two factors are not interdependent; you can have both slow and fast teams who pass quite a lot and slow and fast teams who get the ball up the pitch more quickly.\n\nThe top four teams for passes per sequence this season are Man City (5.10 passes), Arsenal (4.37) and Manchester United and Spurs (both 3.89).\n\nOf those four, only Arsenal are in the top 10 for speed of progression, making Arsene Wenger\u2019s team the fastest and most intricate side in the League.\n\nPL teams in 2017/18: Passes per sequence v direct speed\n\nCompare that with Liverpool, who have the fifth-fastest sequence direct speed, yet are the only team in that top five to average more than three passes per sequence.\n\nJurgen Klopp\u2019s \u201cheavy metal\u201d football, reliant on winning back possession as high up the pitch as possible and countering the opposition before they have recovered, is clearly visible in these numbers.\n\nChelsea, on the other hand, average a similar number of passes per sequence as Liverpool, but their progression speed is notably slower.\n\nFans of traditional English fare, though, should head to Craig Shakespeare\u2019s charges as Leicester City have the second-fastest sequence speed and the second-lowest average number of passes in a sequence.\n\nThis blueprint was the formula that led the Foxes to the Premier League title less than 18 months ago, and it seems clear that Shakespeare is sticking to his script, one also followed quite closely by the likes of Rafa Benitez, Sean Dyche and Mark Hughes this season."}
-{"text": "John Wick 3 beats Avengers at the box office, John Wick 4 already on the way by Corey Smith\n\nGame of Thrones isn\u2019t just beloved in the U.S.; it\u2019s a global phenomenon, with millions of people around the world eagerly watching Sunday\u2019s series finale, \u201cThe Iron Throne.\u201d\n\nThat is, if they could. Tencent, which broadcasts the show in China, made this statement at the time the episode was supposed to air:\n\nDear users, we regret to inform you that the sixth episode of the eighth season of Game of Thrones will not go online at the intended time due to media transfer issues. We will keep you informed of the broadcast time.\n\nSpeaking to The Wall Street Journal, an HBO representative said that there had been no transmission issue and that Tencent was blocking the show on China\u2019s end \u201cdue to the ongoing trade dispute between Washington and Beijing.\u201d\n\nRELATED PRODUCT Boston Red Sox JD Martinez Game Of Thrones Night's Watch Bobblehead Buy Now! Buy Now!\n\nChinese fans were not pleased. \u201cWhat\u2019s next \u2014 cutting off internet connections between China and the US?\u201d wrote asked on Weibo, China\u2019s version of Twitter. \u201cShame, shame, shame,\u201d others posted, with accompanying images of bells, of course.\n\nThe trade war between China and the United States has been going for about a year now, with both countries raising tariffs on the other\u2019s goods. Just the other day, the U.S. Commerce Department restricted the access of Huawei, an enormous telecommunications firm in China, to the American market, although it pulled back a bit when it looked like that was going to be result in too much of an economic disruption.\n\nTrade wars have all kinds of collateral effects. For example, in response to U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, China imposed tariffs on U.S. agricultural products like soybeans, pork and grain sorghum, which has made it harder for some American farmers to turn a profit. But entertainment can be effected, too, particularly as state Chinese media calls for a \u201cpeople\u2019s war\u201d against the U.S. For example, CNN Business reports that streaming platforms in China abruptly cancelled the premiere of a Chinese drama called Over the Sea I Come to You, about a Chinese father who sends his only child to study in America. Forestalling the airing of \u201cThe Iron Throne,\u201d the series finale of the most popular entertainment American television show in years, is in keeping with that.\n\nTo stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.\n\nWatch Game of Thrones for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels\n\nh/t Business Insider, CNBC, Reuters, CNN"}
-{"text": "What\u2019s happening in San Francisco, to some observers, is old-school class warfare. Tech workers stand accused of pricing people out in droves and gentrifying areas at whiplash speed. A few rising young tech execs have stirred the pot, publicly describing the city\u2019s poor as \u201cdegenerates\u201d and \u201ctrash,\u201d mocking the city\u2019s women as unattractive, and generally acting obnoxious and entitled.\n\n\n\nTensions have gone from smoke to fire in recent months. Activists now regularly blockade the private buses that tech workers take to Silicon Valley. They\u2019ve thrown rocks at them and even protested outside the homes of tech execs. A group calling itself the Counterforce has taken credit for some of the most aggressive actions.\n\n\n\nEvidence that this vitriol could spread to Seattle is sporadic, but it\u2019s there. Flyers popped up around South Lake Union in 2012 that labeled many Amazon workers as rude \u201cAm-Holes.\u201d This past February, a handful of Counterforce activists blocked a Microsoft bus on Capitol Hill and a streetcar in South Lake Union used by Amazon employees. They held up banners featuring slogans such as \u201cGentrification Stops Here\u201d and passed out flyers accusing the two companies of a wide range of offenses, such as driving the creation of boring high-rise apartments (\u201cthe bland architecture of conspicuous consumption\u201d) and higher costs of living. (Photo by: Sean Mcguire)\n\n\n\n\u201cFight Development! Join the Counterforce!\u201d their flyers read. They may be looking for recruits, but finding the Counterforce isn\u2019t easy, with no contact information listed on the group\u2019s flyers. I visit anarchist bookstores, reach out to journalists who\u2019ve covered Seattle\u2019s activist scene, and touch base with every radical I know. After more than a week of effort, some back-and-forth with Seattle anarchist publication Tides of Flame\u2014which published the protesters\u2019 manifesto\u2014nets me an interview with Matt Erickson, a dreadlocked 28-year-old spokesman for the February protests.\n\n\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no large organization of us assigned to attack Amazon,\u201d says Erickson, who was noncommittal on plans for future actions. \u201cThis is about supporting the people who have roots here and are getting pushed out. To fight back against companies who are trying to make Seattle a yuppie paradise.\u201d\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s fair to say Erickson represents the more radical side of the debate. But he\u2019s not alone in worrying that the expanding tech sector will price longtime residents out of town.\n\n\n\n\u201cLook at our overall job portfolio,\u201d councilmember O\u2019Brien says. \u201cThe majority of the growth is coming from the tech sector right now. To the extent people are worried about the conditions of affordability in the city, it\u2019s easy to understand how that gets channeled toward the tech industry.\u201d\n\n\n\nMurray is more upbeat. \u201cPeople talk about how well the real estate market is doing in Seattle,\u201d he says. \u201cAlmost all of that downtown, in the city itself, is due to Amazon.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe market hasn\u2019t been rosy for everyone. The Seattle Times reports that 80 percent of landlords in Seattle and King County plan to raise rents in the coming year. Apartments across the city are becoming more expensive, affordable single-family homes are disappearing, and the character of neighborhoods is changing.\n\n\n\nA wide array of factors is at play in all of this. For gentrification activists looking for a narrower target, the cash-rich tech industry presents one.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe problem with San Francisco is they\u2019re preservationist, not growth oriented,\u201d says Chris DeVore, general partner at Founders Co-op, one of the area\u2019s leading venture capital funds. As more people moved to San Francisco in recent years, he says, the city declined to prioritize new housing construction. Supply and demand are out of whack. (Photo by: Steve Rhodes/Demotix)\n\n\n\nO\u2019Brien agrees with this assessment and contrasts it with Seattle. More apartment buildings opened in 2013 than at any point in the past 20 years, he says, estimating the number to be 6,000. The trend shows no signs of slowing; another 14,000 units are expected to come online in the next one to two years.\n\n\n\nBut how affordable will this housing be? How much influence will neighborhoods have in the city\u2019s growth? Murray says maintaining the city\u2019s affordability is the top priority of his administration, and neighborhood groups need to be given more sway.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not providing a process for the city and neighborhoods to be collaborative in deciding how to move forward,\u201d Murray says. \u201cThere are things the government can do to correct what the market is doing.\u201d\n\n\n\nThat viewpoint\u2014of government needing to intervene in markets\u2014is common in left-leaning Seattle. It doesn\u2019t sit as well in some tech circles, where progressive social politics are often accompanied by libertarian economic streaks.\n\n\n\nAmazon CEO Jeff Bezos exemplifies this. On one hand, Bezos made a $2.5 million donation to the state campaign to legalize gay marriage in 2012. On the other, his business practices lean decidedly right. Amazon has been compared to Walmart in its battle against unionization, fiercely fights many taxes, and was rated among the least environmentally conscious tech companies by Greenpeace.\n\n\n\nAny of these issues could rile up tensions locally. In addition to housing affordability, San Francisco tech workers have been targeted for not fitting into the city\u2019s \u201cculture,\u201d a vague sentiment that has created real resentment.\n\n\n\nIn Seattle, venture capitalist DeVore says, Amazon has a reputation for being unengaged in civic culture, in a city where that sort of thing is valued. However, both he and Murray said the company has been improving its image in that regard.\n\n\n\nGeekWire\u2019s Cook is more blunt. \u201cAmazon was perfectly positioned when they were located on top of Beacon Hill, in an old Art Deco building that no one ever noticed,\u201d Cook says. \u201cThey\u2019re not historically a community player, and now they\u2019re locating themselves in the middle of a city that\u2019s very, very community oriented.\u201d\n\n\n\nJohn Schoettler, director of corporate real estate and facilities at Amazon, pushed back on this. He noted that Amazon cosponsors the annual Fourth of July fireworks on Lake Union, contributed to streetcar improvements for South Lake Union, is a strong supporter of University of Washington\u2019s computer science program, including endowing two professorships, and supports dozens of local charities.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe look forward to working with the whole community as we continue to invest and grow in Seattle,\u201d Schoettler says. Given that Amazon is notoriously close-lipped to the press, just getting a spokesman on the record could signal a sea change.\n\n\n\nWhatever the specifics of Amazon\u2019s case, Cook says Seattle\u2019s dominant culture is low-key and unflashy, and its tech community largely follows suit, which could prevent some of the resentment found in San Francisco.\n\n\n\n\u201cIf you look at the last three tech companies to go public here, they\u2019re run by executives in their 30s and 40s,\u201d Cook says, referring to Tableau, Zulily and NanoString. \u201cPeople don\u2019t see 24-year-olds cruising around town in Lamborghinis.\u201d\n\n\n\nSo are bay area levels of bile on the horizon for Seattle?\n\n\n\nAlmost no one I spoke with thought so. In a former one-company town, successful tech firms give Seattle a stronger foothold in the global economy. Tech workers usually make great additions to the city, contributing to the tax base and having the income to support a vibrant culture.\n\n\n\nPresent that assessment to anarchist Erickson, however, and he\u2019ll just shake his head and sigh. And when he connects tech workers to the pricey apartments popping up all over town, to rising rents and bland high-rises, he\u2019d likely find agreement in many circles.\n\n\n\nSitting across from Erickson in a Capitol Hill coffee shop, I press the point. Shouldn\u2019t the fight be over shaping development, not stopping it?\n\n\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think people getting pushed out of their communities would have a problem with us fighting development,\u201d Erickson says. \u201cThose apartments aren\u2019t for them. They\u2019re for high-paid workers who aren\u2019t even from here.\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cSo if you\u2019re going to get paid well or don\u2019t hold progressive enough values, don\u2019t come to Seattle?\u201d I ask. Pushing further: \u201cPeople will move here if they want. I mean, it\u2019s a free country.\u201d\n\n\n\nErickson looks at me like I\u2019ve just emitted a noxious odor. \u201cThis is a capitalist country,\u201d he says. \u201cThe market is what matters.\u201d\n\n\n\nAnd on this point, the anarchist and Jeff Bezos just might see eye to eye."}
-{"text": "Police fire tear gas at demonstrators in Admiralty\n\nProtesters take shelter as police fire tear gas in the Admiralty area. Photo: AFP\n\nThere was chaos in Admiralty on Monday afternoon as police fired multiple rounds of tear gas at protesters occupying Harcourt Road.\n\n\n\nOur reporter at the scene said some of the demonstrators were not deterred, throwing stones at officers in return.\n\n\n\nAll eastbound and westbound lanes of Harcourt Road were taken over by demonstrators.\n\n\n\nBy late afternoon, most of the protesters had left the area, heading towards Wan Chai and Causeway Bay.\n\n\n\nProtesters began to occupy Harcourt Road earlier as thousands of people attended an anti-extradition rally at nearby Tamar Park.\n\n\n\nHo, a retiree, was one of those at the rally. She stressed the need to put more pressure on the government this time, compared with what happened during the 2014 Occupy protests.\n\n\n\n\"This time, I don't think we should step back so easily,\" she said. \"This time, this has to be a prolonged one, and hopefully we're going to get what we demand.\"\n\n\n\nMany others attending the rally were on strike after taking leave from work.\n\n\n\nKwok, an office worker, was one of them. \"My boss knows why I'm taking leave... Personally, he's supporting it, he understands why,\" he said."}
-{"text": "In May of this year, the Trump administration set into motion a plan that could undermine the future of our nation\u2019s energy supply by bailing out coal power plants. Citing national security, the Trump administration is looking to intervene in electricity markets to favor coal power plants facilities in a misguided effort to preserve America\u2019s reliance on coal. The truth is, today there are cheaper, cleaner, more efficient means of producing energy \u2014 and there is no national security need to pro-up coal.\n\nAs I have stated before , there is no evidence to support the idea that subsidizing old coal power plants will increase the amount of affordable, electricity that is available to the American people.\n\nNevertheless, that has not stopped this administration. In May of 2018, the Department of Energy (DOE) released a memo that condemned our nation\u2019s reliance on natural gas pipelines. According to the DOE memo , natural gas pipelines are \u201cincreasingly vulnerable to cyber- and physical attacks,\u201d in ways that coal and nuclear plants are not. The memo ultimately concluded that these stated vulnerabilities in our natural gas infrastructure are a threat to national security giving the administration convenient justification to subsidize our aging coal infrastructure. The Administration has created a false choice: Pipelines are no more vulnerable to attacks than powerlines, transformers, or nuclear power plants.\n\nThe truth is, our electrical system is vulnerable to attack. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has blamed the Russian government for orchestrating a series of infiltrations on energy infrastructure . The fear is that these \u2013 and other \u2013 nefarious actors will be able to shut-down our electricity system from the outside. This is a very real national security threat. Unfortunately, subsidizing coal power plants will not protect us. Public officials must not let the Trump Administration use the very real national security threats posed to the American electrical grid as a cover for propping up failing coal power plants. We must find real solutions to fixing vulnerabilities in our network\u2019s infrastructure. Our leaders instead should be investing in new, expanded infrastructure and appropriate technology that address both supply needs and national security concerns.\n\nThe reality is that stakeholders from both the public and private sector have already spent a significant amount of resources to address pipeline security. In the private sector, more than 50 natural gas and oil companies share cyber-threat intelligence with one another through the Oil and Natural Gas Information Sharing and Analysis Center . In the public sector, the Transportation Security Administration and National Institute of Standards and Technology provide standards, guidelines, and best practices to help companies mitigate cyber security threats. Seeking to address emerging threats, both agencies released updated versions of their security frameworks in 2018.\n\nEven the DOE is engaging in practical solutions to address cyber security. In June, the DOE announced investments in research and development (R&D) projects that will develop innovative technologies tackling cyber security issues across the energy generation sector. DOE\u2019s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) recently announced it would oversee investments in 15 projects that will enhance fossil energy power systems, four of which are specifically related to grid cyber security.\n\nResilience and energy security in our power supply comes from variety. A diverse fuel supply for the American electric grid is imperative, and undermining the natural gas pipeline system that has single-handedly made our electric grid both reliable and efficient is counterproductive. Natural gas has unique attributes that enhance the reliability and resiliency of the power system, not obstruct it. As INGAA President Donald Santa has stated , \u201cThe expansiveness of the natural gas pipeline network is a strength, not a weakness.\u201d\n\nPublic officials must also remember that natural gas use in power generation has provided significant environmental and consumer benefits. On top of being cheaper than other power-generation sources, natural gas has played a key role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation in the U.S. to near 30-year lows. When paired with renewable generation, increases in efficiency, and a modern, secure smart grid, gas can be the centerpiece of a secure energy system. Already, gas provides 33 percent of our electricity: with abundant supplies coming from gas fields in North Dakota, Texas, and Pennsylvania, it can grow further to provide affordable, clean, and resilient energy supply.\n\nEnergy infrastructure cyber-security is an emerging issue that is being addressed by both the public and private sector. With continued investment and innovation, natural gas pipeline infrastructure can become more resilient and reliable as a means for energy generation. Now is not the time to step back into the past by bailing out outdated forms of energy production. Instead, let\u2019s work together to invest in infrastructure that provides a cheaper, more environmentally friendly form of energy generation that protects America from the real threats from abroad.\n\nAndrew Holland is chief operating officer of the American Security Project, a nonpartisan national security think tank. His research and writing focuses at the intersection of energy, the environment, trade and national security.\n\nThe views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller."}
-{"text": "\u201cFalse\u201d and \u201cmalicious\u201d are the words Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli uses to describe accusations of sexual misconduct made by former Ontario Progressive Conservative leader and current Brampton mayor-elect Patrick Brown.\n\n\u201cI have retained legal council,\u201d Fedeli says. \u201cAnd I will take whatever legal action necessary. I stress the accusations are false and malicious.\u201d\n\nFedeli has garnered support from colleagues, Premier Doug Ford and supporters in Nipissing.\n\nNorthern Ontario Party Leader Trevor Holliday issued a statement Thursday in Fedeli\u2019s defence.\n\n\u201cA person who is in the public eye and a representative of the people should not be torn down and humiliated due to allegations,\u201d Holliday stated.\n\n\u201cThere are no charges, no trial and yet only allegations being brought to light by a book that was released by the former leader of the OPC (Ontario Progressive Conservatives).\u201d\n\nHolliday claims the NDP is attempting to humiliate Fedeli based on Brown\u2019s allegations.\n\n\u201cThey are not ones to cast stones as they have themselves had controversy and actual factual statements and admissions to wrong-doings (and nobody stepped down). Unless charged, convicted or part of an investigation, then there is no need to resign, step down or be let go.\u201d\n\nPremier Doug Ford defended Fedeli telling The National Post \u201callegations of sexual misconduct against the veteran legislator referenced in a book by former Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown are nothing but a disgusting smear campaign.\u201d\n\nIn a series of tweets, Ford called Fedeli \u201chonourable, ethical and decent,\u201d denouncing the allegations in Brown\u2019s book as \u201clies.\u201d\n\nIn his book, Brown alleges Fedeli was accused of \u201cinappropriate behaviour\u201d by a party staffer in December of last year.\n\nBrown stated he looked into the matter, but the complainant asked that the matter go no further.\n\nThe opposition has asked the premier to order an independent investigation.\n\nWith files from The Canadian Press"}
-{"text": "Poor navigational skills could be an early sign of Alzheimer\u2019s disease, according to a new study.\n\nResearchers from Washington University in St. Louis suggest that people who have trouble remembering directions in new surroundings may be showing early symptoms of the progressive disease that affects memory. Findings from their small study were published Tuesday in the Journal of Alzheimer\u2019s Disease.\n\n\u201cThese findings suggest that navigational tasks designed to assess a [mental] mapping strategy could represent a powerful new tool for detecting the very earliest Alzheimer\u2019s disease-related changes in cognition,\u201d the study\u2019s author Denise Head, who is the associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at Washington University, told UPI.\n\nThe researchers also noted that having difficulty navigating through new neighborhoods does not necessarily signal Alzheimer\u2019s development.\n\nGet our Health Newsletter. Sign up to receive the latest health and science news, plus answers to wellness questions and expert tips. Please enter a valid email address. Sign Up Now Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.\n\nContact us at letters@time.com."}
-{"text": "Though Jack White\u2019s in a bit of an off-cycle in his live performance career right now, his record label Third Man has just released a \u201crare live recording\u201d of \u201cItchy,\u201d a song by his pre-White Stripes group\u2019s Two Star Tabernacle (via Rolling Stone). The track\u2019s taken from the label\u2019s upcoming subscriber-only vault release that features live renditions of songs White performed in the \u201990s, including the rollicking, frenzied \u201cItchy.\u201d White\u2019s 1998 vocals are howling and untethered, in a way that makes it easy to trace his progression through bands like the Stripes, Raconteurs, Dead Weather, and his solo stuff. Hear it over at RS."}
-{"text": "Spain\u2019s \u2018Wolf pack\u2019: Five get 15-year jail terms for teen\u2019s rape\n\nSpain\u2019s Supreme Court overturns the lesser conviction of sexual abuse and holds the men guilty of rape."}
-{"text": "BALTIMORE (WJZ)\u2014We\u2019ve watched her grow up and thrive at the Maryland Zoo, but very soon we\u2019ll have to say goodbye to Leia the lioness.\n\nOnly WJZ takes you into the lion\u2019s den, as she prepares for a big journey.\n\nLeia and her brother Luke were born here at the Maryland Zoo in October 2013, but next week, Leia will join a new pride of lions in Texas.\n\nWJZ\u2019s Linh Bui explains what\u2019s next.\n\nIt seems like just yesterday when WJZ got exclusive access to the lion cubs and viewers helped us choose their names!\n\nBut two years later, what a difference!\n\nLuke, whose mane is coming in, is staying in Baltimore with his dad Hassan and another lioness named Zuri.\n\nBut Leia\u2019s preparing for a big change as she prepares to move to the Cameron Park Zoo in Texas.\n\nLinh: \u201cWhy is she leaving?\u201d\n\n\u201cSo she\u2019s going to go be a companion for a young male who is at Waco, Texas,\u201d said zoo manager Erin Cantwell. \u201cShe\u2019s going to another great institution. She\u2019s going to go be part of another pride and help them to grow their pride and she\u2019s gonna have a good life.\u201d\n\nThe Maryland Zoo participates in the American \u201cSpecies Survival Plan,\u201d that\u2019s how they got Badu \u2014 Luke and Leia\u2019s mom \u2014 who died from birth complications.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s definitely what zoos are for. The whole point is to be able to continue the species,\u201d said Cantwell.\n\nLeia will be put in this crate for the drive to Waco, Texas, which should take about 24 hours. Keepers will be checking on her along the way, giving her food and water.\n\nKeepers are making sure she\u2019s healthy and ready for the trip, they admit this goodbye is bittersweet.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s tough. We put a ton of time into them with having to hand raise them, but at the same time, this is what she\u2019s supposed to do. So it\u2019s like sending your kid off to college: you raise them, they get big and the next step in her life is to be able to go somewhere else,\u201d said Cantwell. \u201cIt\u2019s cool to watch that whole cycle go through.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Update: While it seems shinobi602 did say that Knack 2 was a real thing, he didn\u2019t exactly say it\u2019ll be at this year\u2019s E3. Apologies for the confusion.\n\nOriginal Story:\n\nBased on a few hints by insider shinobi602, it sounds as though Sony will be announcing God of War 4 and Knack 2 at their E3 2016 press conference on Monday, June 13, at 6pm PT/9pm ET.\n\nIn the Sony press conference thread on NeoGAF, shinobi602 said, \u201cWould that be\u2026good news?\u201d when someone asked if Knack 2 was real. He then added, \u201cWell, then\u2026hey I got good news I guess. Lol.\u201d after someone else said it would be good news.\n\nLater on in the thread, he offered this God of War tease: \u201cThe question isn\u2019t whether God of War will be there (it will), the question is\u2026is Kratos the main character? Hmmm..\u201d\n\nHere at PSLS, we\u2019ve also heard rumblings that both God of War 4 and Knack 2 are in the works.\n\nA new God of War was confirmed back in December 2014, and earlier this year we saw a potential leak of screenshots and details.\n\nAs for Knack 2, it was included on a LinkedIn profile earlier this year.\n\nDo you want to see both of these games next week?\n\n[Source: NeoGAF (1), (2), (3) via ThisGenGaming (1), (2)]"}
-{"text": "Quand j\u2019\u00e9coute les t\u00e9nors de Qu\u00e9bec solidaire, je repense \u00e0 la blague de Woody Allen \u00e0 la toute fin de son merveilleux film Annie Hall.\n\nUn gars va chez le psychiatre et lui dit : \u00ab Docteur, mon fr\u00e8re est fou, il se prend pour une poule. \u00bb\n\nQuestion du psy : \u00ab Pourquoi ne l\u2019avez vous pas amen\u00e9 ? \u00bb\n\nR\u00e9ponse du gars : \u00ab Parce que j\u2019ai besoin des \u0153ufs. \u00bb\n\nLe gars est sur son \u00e9trange plan\u00e8te, mais il est convaincu que ce sont les autres qui ont un probl\u00e8me.\n\nInconciliable\n\n\u00c9coutez les gens de Qu\u00e9bec solidaire parler d\u2019identit\u00e9, d\u2019immigration, du port de signes religieux.\n\nLeurs positions sont identiques aux positions multiculturalistes de Justin Trudeau.\n\n\u00c9galement comme Justin, les accusations de fermeture, d\u2019intol\u00e9rance ou pire, \u00e0 l\u2019endroit de ceux qui ne pensent pas comme eux, viennent vite.\n\nPar ailleurs, Qu\u00e9bec solidaire se dit souverainiste.\n\nO\u00f9 est le probl\u00e8me ? Il est double.\n\nD\u2019un c\u00f4t\u00e9, si vous \u00eates un multiculturaliste, pourquoi diable vouloir la souverainet\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec ?\n\nLe Canada est en effet le paradis mondial du multiculturalisme : un \u00c9tat \u00ab postnational \u00bb, nous dit Justin, o\u00f9 la libert\u00e9 religieuse est presque absolue.\n\nPourquoi vouloir quitter un grand pays multiculturaliste comme le Canada pour fonder un petit pays tout aussi multiculturaliste comme le Qu\u00e9bec ?\n\nD\u2019un autre c\u00f4t\u00e9, si vous \u00eates r\u00e9ellement, sinc\u00e8rement souverainiste, c\u2019est d\u2019abord et avant tout pour prot\u00e9ger une identit\u00e9 qu\u00e9b\u00e9coise que le multiculturalisme canadien ne reconna\u00eet pas l\u00e9galement, et qu\u2019il cherche, politiquement, \u00e0 dissoudre et \u00e0 folkloriser.\n\nIl y a certes d\u2019autres raisons de vouloir la souverainet\u00e9, mais elles sont secondaires.\n\n\u00c0 sa base, le combat souverainiste a toujours \u00e9t\u00e9 et reste, avant tout, un combat identitaire.\n\nOr, l\u2019identit\u00e9 fondamentale du Qu\u00e9bec, c\u2019est d\u2019\u00eatre une nation francophone, occidentale, de tradition chr\u00e9tienne, cheminant vers la la\u00efcit\u00e9, qui accueille la diversit\u00e9 pour autant que celle-ci converge vers ce creuset commun.\n\nLe multiculturalisme canadien, dans les faits, nous conduit tr\u00e8s exactement dans la direction oppos\u00e9e sur tous ces plans.\n\nBref, \u00eatre \u00e0 la fois multiculturaliste et souverainiste, comme l\u2019est Qu\u00e9bec solidaire, c\u2019est vouloir mener deux combats contradictoires.\n\nC\u2019est comme \u00eatre un v\u00e9g\u00e9tarien carnivore. C\u2019est l\u2019\u00e9quivalent politique d\u2019un oxymoron.\n\nSocialisme\n\nJe devine ce que vous allez me dire, cher lecteur.\n\nC\u2019est que Qu\u00e9bec solidaire r\u00e9sout cette contradiction fondamentale en pr\u00f4nant la souverainet\u00e9 moins pour des raisons identitaires que pour nuire au PQ... et dans l\u2019espoir de b\u00e2tir, un jour, un Qu\u00e9bec carr\u00e9ment socialiste.\n\nEt l\u00e0, vous avez raison \u00e0 110 %.\n\nIl suffit de lire le programme de Qu\u00e9bec solidaire pour y retrouver les m\u00eames propositions autoritaires, liberticides et appauvrissantes qui ont \u00e9chou\u00e9 partout o\u00f9 elles ont \u00e9t\u00e9 implant\u00e9es.\n\nCe groupuscule est trait\u00e9 avec complaisance depuis trop longtemps."}
-{"text": "Article content\n\nA tweet criticizing Prime Minister Stephen Harper for hiding in a closet during last fall\u2019s attack on Parliament Hill was swiftly removed from an Alberta Liberal party candidate\u2019s Twitter account.\n\nThe message was tweeted to Darshan Kang\u2019s followers on Tuesday.\n\nWe apologize, but this video has failed to load.\n\ntap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Tweet that bashed Harper for hiding in closet during Parliament Hill attack quickly deleted by Liberal candidate Back to video\n\nIt showed the Prime Minister peeking through a pair of closet doors, next to his statement on Canadian special forces\u2019 engagement with ISIS militants in Iraq: \u201cAnd if those guys fire at us, we\u2019re going to fire back and we\u2019re going to kill them.\u201d\n\nMr. Kang\u2019s tweet added the caption: \u201cThere\u2019s only been one instance of Stephen Harper being anywhere near gunfire, and how did that go?\u201d\n\nThe prime minister reportedly hid in an office closet when Michael Zehaf-Bibeau stormed Parliament last October after being ordered to do so by his security detail. Zehaf-Bibeau ran to Parliament Hill after killing Corporal Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial across the street. As MPs gathered for caucus meetings, Zehaf-Bibeau fired several shots before being killed by security personnel."}
-{"text": "Technological advances in the payments industry are dramatically increasing access to financial services for the 68 million unbanked and/or underbanked consumers in the United States. Access to banking services boosts job creation, raises income, reduces vulnerability to theft, and increases investments in human capital.\n\nEmpowering people with low to moderate income to save and invest in themselves creates opportunities to get people out of poverty. Retail banks provide valuable and important services, but putting a bank on every corner is unrealistic. Mobile phones and products like pre-paid cards allow access to some of the same services brick-and-mortar banks provide at an affordable price. Consumers value the accessibility and portability of prepaid cards, including the fact that they can obtain these products at retail stores, and that they are often less expensive than other products, such as check cashing services.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nBut a series of new rules proposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) could stifle innovation in the financial services industry, increase costs to consumers, limit access to transformative new platforms and prove detrimental to the millions of consumers who rely on prepaid products for financial independence.\n\nThe 870-page CFPB proposal is the Bureau\u2019s first effort to expand its regulations to include prepaid financial products. Although well intentioned, these proposed rules would reduce or eliminate consumer-friendly features of prepaid products. For example, proposed \u201cability to repay\u201d provisions, 30-day waiting periods, packaging requirements, standard form consumer disclosures, and restrictions on overdraft protections would all regulate out of existence features that meet consumer needs. Existing regulations applicable to prepaid accounts provide consumers the information they need to make informed decisions and choose products to achieve their financial goals.\n\nThe CFPB also broadly categorizes innovative products such as mobile wallets, peer-to-peer payments and digital currencies like bitcoin under the \u201cprepaid\u201d umbrella. These products, still under development and with the potential to revolutionize and add real value to the financial services industry, are not prepaid nor are they used by consumers in a way analogous to prepaid. This naked jurisdictional grab would be a wholly unnecessary regulatory roadblock to the nascent mobile payments and digital currency marketplaces.\n\nThe Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), the global trade association of the payments technology industry, believes in the highest standard of self-governance for our industry. We work with our innovative member companies to advance industry best practices, providing compliance resources and education. We are leading cooperation between the payments, financial services, and retail industries to ensure that Americans are protected and that our collective efforts yield forward thinking safeguards and marketplace solutions.\n\nOverreaching and burdensome federal regulation will stifle innovation in the financial services industry by imposing a one-size-fits-all approach to a highly diverse and flexible range of financial service products that serve a critical need. This would hamper competition and ultimately harm the access that all consumers \u2013 and especially unbanked and underbanked consumers \u2013 have to financial products and services.\n\nThe CFPB has an important consumer protection role among the dozens of federal agencies that police the financial services and technology marketplace. But we should be wary of this agency\u2019s forceful effort to expand its jurisdiction and impose heavy handed regulation on new services. Instead, the CFPB should reaffirm its mission of making financial products work for Americans and promote these innovative products that advance financial inclusion.\n\nOxman is the CEO of the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), an international trade association representing the payments technology industry."}
-{"text": "\u201cOne travels to run away from routine, that dreadful routine that kills all imagination and all our capacity for enthusiasm.\u201d Truer words may have never been spoken, at least in my case, than these from the late Swiss adventurer, Ella Maillart. My decision to leave behind the everyday, mundane existence I had been condemned to live led me to the precipice of my life. I could either go back in the direction I had climbed for the first forty years of my time on Earth and finish my life sentence of an existence without substance or texture or I could make the conscious, yet irrational to many, decision of stepping off that steep cliff into the unknown. I was not sure of what scared me most, the known of what my future would hold if I did nothing or the unknown of what would happen if I actually left my driveway to live my dream and see every NFL stadium in 16 weeks. If I was running away from the routine of my life I would be doing so by driving a vehicle that is anything but mundane and affords the driver the smallest semblance of routine. My \u201967 Volkswagen Bus (Hail Mary) offers many life skills to its owner. I say \u201cowner\u201d tentatively because after this trip there is some question as to who is the actual owner in the relationship. Thanks to her I have been stranded on the side of the road in rural North Carolina at 3:00 am in the morning, started and stopped my way through a debilitating September heat in Texas, driven a vehicle without brakes on three separate occasions causing me to contemplate my own mortality, and seen my fair share of the inside of tow trucks.\n\nThis may sound like more of me complaining but it is actually confirmation that the character and spirit of Hail Mary have changed my life forever. Not only did I get to see every NFL stadium but I did so while making new friends and challenging myself to overcome what would have been insurmountable obstacles before this trip. I owe it to her for being on the NFL Network, having a documentary on iTunes, Amazon, and others and she is the reason I had more than enough content for a book on my adventure. The culture and bond between owners of air-cooled Volkswagen vehicles is something from the outside looking in you cannot understand and from the inside looking out you cannot explain. I was indoctrinated into the culture as soon as I purchased Hail Mary in 2011. I remember turning down the street where she lived in Katy, Texas and taken back immediately by her colorful presence. My mechanic in Austin referred to it as mojo. Hail Mary\u2019s mojo was used throughout the trip to make sure I saw every stadium. Some of my fondest memories of the trip aren\u2019t related to football, but rather in spending time with VW people.\n\nI met Bruce, a thin, middle-aged man, who was an air-cooled Volkswagen mechanic in Pompano Beach, Florida. The condition of Hail Mary drew immediate ire from Bruce\u2014almost like a chef lifting the lid from a pot of something their understudy was cooking. He scolded parts of the engine as being all wrong and questioned where the seal to the engine compartment had gone. To his point, and my defense, we had a seal when we left Austin and it had mysteriously disappeared somewhere along the way to California to Ohio to Florida. Over a brief conversation Bruce\u2019s gruff fa\u00e7ade and dire prognosis of Hail Mary began to fade. He slowly started to open up about her condition, how an air-cooled VW engine works, his own VWs and his life. After hearing of our trip, Bruce confessed that he thought he would \u201cfind\u201d himself in a VW Bus. He said on a whim when he was much younger, he moved to California in a bus and lived in it for two years. Apparently believing that I had gone on this trip on a similar whim he relented that what we were doing with Hail Mary was \u201ccrazy.\u201d\n\nI\u2019ll never forget being thousands of miles from home, thousands of miles to our next destination and Bruce calling me crazy. I could either wear the comment as a badge of honor or one of stupidity. I chose to look at Bruce\u2019s comment as the former rather than the latter. I would not be able to own a VW Bus and not be eternally optimistic. I also remember walking underneath Hail Mary with Bruce. He explained how the heater worked and complimented her overall condition despite not having a seal for the engine. He even gave me the tubes for the heater so we wouldn\u2019t freeze to death going to Green Bay. Bruce\u2019s generosity and compassion are typical of Volkswagen owners and I could not have made this journey without them.\n\nPeople who know my story often ask what is next for me and would I ever do it again. Until now I have questioned their sanity as much as they probably questioned mine when learning what I was going to do. Now, it is not a question of if Hail Mary and I will have our next adventure but when, where, what, and who. When will we go, where won\u2019t we go, what will we do and who will we meet? Those are the questions that keep me going.\n\nFollow me for more adventures"}
-{"text": "One hundred years ago this week, a total solar eclipse briefly blotted out the sun and gave humanity a new understanding of the universe.\n\nIt was May 29, 1919, and English scientists were set to use the eclipse to test a revolutionary new theory of gravity known as general relativity \u2014 the brainchild of the not-yet-famous Albert Einstein. Relativity is now known as \u201cone of the greatest achievements in human thought,\u201d as Nobel-winning physicist J.J. Thompson called it later that year. But until the 1919 eclipse, relativity \u2014 which Einstein had presented in 1915 \u2014 was still unproven.\n\nAfter months of preparation, Arthur Eddington, director of the Cambridge Observatory, had his telescopes and photographic equipment set up on the island of Principe, off the west coast of Africa. Another astronomer, Andrew Crommelin of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, had his gear in place in the Brazilian town of Sobral.\n\nIt wasn\u2019t at all clear that the astronomers would succeed. Bad luck had stymied two earlier attempts to test Einstein\u2019s theory. Weather got in the way of a test during a 1912 eclipse; two years later, plans for another test were scuttled by the outbreak of the First World War. But in May of 1919, the war was over and astronomers were hopeful that at last they would be able to see if Einstein was right.\n\nA new conception of space, time and gravity\n\nFor more than two centuries, gravity had been viewed the way Isaac Newton viewed it \u2014 as an attractive force between objects. But in 1915 Einstein had offered a new explanation for gravity, describing it not as a force but as a curvature of space caused by the presence of massive objects, including stars and planets.\n\nThat\u2019s a bit hard to picture, but Einstein and his colleagues realized that if the theory was correct, it would have a simple, measurable effect: Gravity would shift the path of a beam of light by a tiny amount.\n\nAlbert Einstein in his study in Berlin in 1919 at the age of 40. AP\n\nWe tend to think of light as perfectly weightless, but it\u2019s not quite that simple. Light is a form of energy, and Einstein showed in his famous equation E=mc2 of 1905 that energy can behave like mass. That new understanding, plus Einstein\u2019s discovery of curved space, meant that a beam of light should bend \u2014 that is, follow a curved rather than straight path \u2014 in response to gravity.\n\nAny mass \u2014 a bowling ball, a mountain, the Earth \u2014 will bend a beam of light. But the astronomers knew that the deflection of light is proportional to the the mass of the object causing the deflection. To measure the tiny deflection, they needed something truly, colossally massive \u2014 something like our sun.\n\nImagine a beam of light speeding our way from a distant star, passing the sun on its path to Earth. As the light zooms past the sun, the sun\u2019s gravity ought to bend the beam\u2019s path, causing the star\u2019s apparent position to be shifted by a small amount.\n\n\u201cEinstein made this very insightful observation \u2014 that light ought to be affected by gravity,\u201d says Daniel Kennefick, an astrophysicist and historian of science at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. That means that a beam of light will be deflected by a small amount, \u201cand we ought to be able to measure this deflection.\u201d\n\nMaking such a measurement is tricky. Most of the time the sun is so bright that it\u2019s impossible to observe stars that lie near it in the sky. But for a few minutes during a solar eclipse, the moon blots out the sun\u2019s light, the background stars can be photographed and their positions can be pinpointed.\n\nOf course, total solar eclipses are rare, happening only about once a year and visible only along a narrow band on Earth\u2019s surface. Complicating things is the fact that Einstein\u2019s theory predicts only a tiny shift of starlight \u2014 comparable to the width of a nickel viewed from a mile away. Telescopes and photographic plates of the era were just barely capable of detecting such a small shift.\n\n\u201cThrough cloud. Hopeful.\u201d\n\nSimply getting to the sites to view the 1919 eclipse was no easy matter, says Kennefick, whose new book, \"No Shadow of a Doubt,\" tells the story of this crucial test of Einstein\u2019s theory. Back then, it took at least a year to organize an eclipse expedition, and no one knew how long the war would drag on. In November of 1918 \u2014 six months before the eclipse \u2014 Eddigton and Crommelin \"were on the verge of calling it off,\u201d Kennefick says. \u201cHad the war not ended a week later, they probably would have given up.\u201d\n\nIn the end, the weather was mixed. Skies at Sobral were clear. But Principe was covered by clouds, which cleared just long enough for Eddington\u2019s team to obtain a few photographs before the eclipse ended.\n\nEddington sent a three-word telegram to his colleagues back in London: \u201cThrough cloud. Hopeful.\u201d\n\nDuring the eclipse, two heliostats with movable mirrors were used to direct images of the eclipsed sun into a pair of horizontal telescopes. Measurement of photographs taken through these instruments was checked for any deflection of star positions adjacent to the sun. SSPL via Getty Images\n\nAfter the eclipse was over and the astronomers had returned home, it took them months to measure the precise positions of the stars visible on the photographic plates. In the end, they concluded that the starlight was indeed shifted \u2014 and by an amount consistent with Einstein\u2019s theory.\n\nEngland\u2019s Astronomer Royal, Frank Dyson, presented the results at a joint meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Royal Society held on November 6, 1919 in London. Dyson said \u201cthere can be no doubt\u201d that the eclipse measurements \u201cconfirm Einstein\u2019s prediction.\u201d\n\nEinstein becomes a celebrity\n\nThe London Times reported the news the next day and the New York Times a couple of days later \u2014 and Einstein shot to worldwide fame. And despite the head-scratching complexity of general relativity, the confirmation of Einstein\u2019s theory resonated with millions around the world.\n\n\u201cHere was this remarkable news, that all of a sudden Newton\u2019s theory was being overthrown, to be replaced by a theory from this guy [Einstein] that they\u2019ve never heard of,\u201d Kennefick says. \u201cAnd the theory was said to be so brilliant that few people could understand it. That was, I think, very dramatic for people.\u201d\n\nIndeed, people seemed to latch on to the theory despite \u2014 or perhaps because of \u2014 its complexity.\n\n\u201cGeneral relativity was the poster child for being a crazy, new, hard-to-understand theory, with dramatic implications for the nature of reality,\u201d says Caltech physicist Sean Carroll. \u201cAnd yet you could see [the results]; you could photograph it. So people got caught up in that excitement.\u201d\n\nOver the years, historians have questioned whether the results of the 1919 test had been reported accurately. Some have argued that Eddington, in particular, was so eager to prove Einstein correct that he cleaned up the data \u2014 or perhaps even omitted data points that didn\u2019t seem to fit. But Kennefick says subsequent analysis of the observational data obtained in 1919 confirmed the original finding \u2014 and that Einstein\u2019s theory did, in fact, pass its great test.\n\nRelativity has been confirmed dozens of times in the ensuing decades, with much greater accuracy \u2014 and has led to the discovery of other mind-bending wonders, including black holes and gravitational waves.\n\nWant more stories about space?\n\nSIGN UP FOR THE MACH NEWSLETTER AND FOLLOW NBC NEWS MACH ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK, AND INSTAGRAM."}
-{"text": "It was an important time last December, when the frogs made their splash in the art world. Well, at least it was big for a fascinating cadre of social subversives loosely known as FrogTwitter; and later, with great fury, their many menacing \u201canti-fascist\u201d antagonists. With the debut of its so-called \u201calt-right art exhibit,\u201d a heretofore little-known East London gallery called LD50 thus quite accidentally thrust itself into the center of a cryptic memetic war simmering between the self-deputized street fighters for the prevailing global order and the loathsome little content creators that dare to provoke it.\n\nSnapshots of the exhibit quickly filtered into the only feeds that could make sense of it, which amounted to maybe a few dozen anonymous social media accounts. A wild conspiracy diagram slashed across the room\u2019s bright white walls, linking obscure images with text and tweets. There, a smug Southern Pepe sat fanning his seersuckered self on a grand porch, moonshine in glass, as his harvesters toiled on the sunbaked plantation in the background. \u201cCONTENT FARMING,\u201d read the caption.\n\nRandom comments etched in glass were scattered about\u2014\u201cthe normies are not ?woke?,\u201d indeed\u2014among other signals and references only intelligible to the unfortunately initiated. This was staged around an ad hoc altar to \u201cKek,\u201d the awakened Egyptian trickster god said to animate that rascally Pepe and his \u201cmeme magic,\u201d candles still smoldering, ashy Neoreactionary trading cards strewn here and there, all tokens offered in petition for the all-mighty dubs of the Internet.\n\nThe whole thing was spot-on. It was called 71822666\u2014a reference to a post on the anonymous message board 4chan that had correctly predicted the Trump presidency. The creator clearly had a keen read on the weird and wild world of post-conservative online organizing, warts and despair and all. Here was an interpretation of the deep alt-right that eschewed the same old adjective-laced wow-just-wowing in favor of an aesthetic exegesis in the budding culture\u2019s own semiotic terms. The critical post-capitalistic and techno-dystopian elements that distinguish the avant garde of the alt-right from the free market fundamentalism of traditional conservatism were palpable, as was the general sense of spiteful gloom saturating a generation of young white men who mourn both a glowing past that might as well have never existed and a creeping future too horrible to accept.\n\nLucia Diego was intrigued indeed. The bold curator of the LD50 Gallery is a young woman of Spanish descent whose raw curiosity and perhaps fatalistic faith in the rational capacity of our modern marketplace of ideas drew her to venture into the oddest underbellies of contemporary online discourse. I\u2019ve been there myself, and our cast of characters is much the same. Her gallery had hosted a series of talks last July featuring such noteworthy un-people such as \u201cneo-reactionary\u201d philosopher Nick Land and former National Review editor Peter Brimelow. The talks went off without a hitch, receiving little mention or notice at the time, and were preceded by several uncontroversial showings of mainstream artists in the previous year\u2014most recently by John Russell and Joey Holder\u2019s occultist TETRAGRAMMATON in May.\n\nThen the art scene got wind of the Pepes and all hell broke loose. It\u2019s difficult to piece together the early timeline of events as an observer, since the drama largely percolated through a series of passive aggressive social media messages, but apparently the most ambitious among the undoubtedly unbearable London art striver scene sensed one of their own straying outrageously far from the bounds of acceptable content and resolved to nip this one in the bud sometime in February.\n\nThe brouhaha followed the standard anti-fascist script: an anonymous blog called Shut Down LD50 meticulously catalogued all of the target\u2019s supposed sins\u2014from an insufficient denunciation of the devil Trump, to Land\u2019s random (and very liberally interpreted) writings, and most notably the unrelated comments that exhibit participant and blogger Brett Stevens had previously made about the political assassin Anders Breivik.\n\nThis litany of infractions was copied and pasted from article to article, status to status, picking up steam and mindless outrage until finally the cultural gatekeepers at the New York Times took notice, officially cementing the debacle in history. Outlet after outlet piled on, offering free advertising to the supposed (and perhaps funded) \u201cenemies of international power\u201d that surrounded the small gallery in the streets, with nary but a half-hearted (yet still roundly condemned) defense of \u201c[art\u2019s] right to disgust\u201d from the Guardian\u2019s Jonathan Jones. Their cheerleading paid off: A swarm of hundreds mobbed the LD50 Gallery for days in February, defacing the building and smashing up windows. Diego fled for her safety and temporarily shut down the gallery.\n\nAnd so the good little anti-fascist girls and boys and non-binary genderqueers slept soundly at night, proud of destroying another iconoclast sticking out in our sickly totaling world. A sad rain cloud appeared on the gallery\u2019s website, seeming to admit defeat. \u201cAs a result of this [incident], we are able to witness in real time how reality empties itself out, reconstellating in a structure of fears and lies that grows bigger and stronger to the point there is no return,\u201d its parting message read, \u201cand we are now inhabiting those new truths/ or so called \u2018post truths.\u2019\u201d\n\nHow could Diego have proven to the violent mass outside her door that she was not a racist or a Nazi or a xenophobe\u2014just an open-minded artist? She couldn\u2019t. But she could channel their censorious rage into a meta-commentary on the hierarchical motivations of contemporary expressive suppression, which is precisely what she did next.\n\nUnfazed, LD50 Gallery re-opened on May Day with a new participatory show, CORPOREALITY, put together by several of the subjects of the first controversial exhibit. Twitter users @Kantbot10K and @Logo_Daedalus\u2014both of \u201cDonald Trump will Complete the System of German Idealism\u201d (Google it) fame\u2014pitched in, along with satirist @Menaquinone4 and YouTube surrealist TV KWA.\n\nCORPOREALITY casts the viewer as the latest hire of an \u201cexciting new business venture\u201d known as KWALY. This revolutionary new social media start-up promises to professionalize (and monetize) the nasty business of sanitizing synthetic spaces by ceding control of ideas to \u201ca morally superior enclave of progressive thought leaders.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo rank fascist tweet or hateful crypto-Nazi anime post will be left unblemished, and all will be defaced by the hands of a loving, caring human being.\u201d\n\nSo intones the video message from a balaclava\u2019d TV KWA, stark among the cloying neon greens and pinks of a Vaporwave hellbeach, welcoming the viewer to the new gig. Apparently, the automated \u201canti-harassment\u201d algorithms that social media companies have rolled out over the past year just haven\u2019t been all that efficient at destroying as much hate as everyone would like. This is where KWALY and its irate army of small-souled bugpeople come in. The fresh recruit will be toiling side by virtual side with some unnamed hundreds of migrant workers on temporary visas and unpaid college graduate interns, scouring the net for any hateful content, which will be \u201cplucked like sick fruits from the tree of hate\u201d and brought to us \u201clike the grapes of wrath to be trodden on beneath the boot of freedom\u201d to produce a \u201csweet and delicious wine of human liberation.\u201d\n\nLiberation is to be found in the many drab cubicles that line the room, outfitted with all of the scissors, shredders, whiteout, and markers needed to purge physical hate from the global safe space to come. An assortment of printouts are available at each station, ranging in content from journal articles on autism and race to the banned Twitter feeds of the artists. CCTVs capture the participants hunched over at work destroying data as they see fit.\n\nThis too is life on the content farm, but it is one of hidden exploitation rather than winking self-deprecation.\n\nKWALY is the gamification of serfdom, an IPO for radical politics. It is not clear whether its \u201cemployees\u201d receive much monetary compensation beyond psychic karma, but the higher-ups have a crackerjack toolkit to get their worker bees buzzing\u2014harnessing the power of the crowds through \u201cmicro-transactions,\u201d \u201cgroup psychology,\u201d and fun incentives such as eyeball injections of ethically-sourced heroin for each 36-hour shift worked and \u201cthe sweet release of death\u201d upon each member of the KWALY family\u2019s one-year anniversary.\n\nSomehow, the screwy accounting of Silicon Valley will see this venture make money for someone. But wrapping an errant tweet up in duct tape does not delete it from the Internet. Our friendly masked mastermind breezily tell us that it\u2019s just like carbon off-sets, because it \u201coff-sets hate with the symbolic destruction of offensive content.\u201d And in each case, the monied \u201cdisruptors\u201d will get richer and more powerful by doing basically nothing while rest of us are left to struggle against the tides. But who has time to think about all that when there are cliodynamic trends to fight?\n\nIt is grotesque, as are the hundreds of distorted female Tinder avatars that adorn the KWALY office. The photos have been collected and fed through a Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Network, or DCGAN, which spits out collages of eerie, ghost-like prize pigs which perhaps serve as one of the many incentives doled out to KWALY grunts. Are they employees? Clients? The pin-up girls of our algorithmic age? These distressed damsels are everywhere and nothing, pulled into spiritual contortions by the competing Apollonian and Dionysian forces acting upon them, the zonked-out benefactor-enforcers of the clown world quo. \u201cAn alien, machinic mating ritual written in our language of slime,\u201d Menaquinone4 calls it in his artist statement.\n\nCORPOREALITY simultaneously evokes both the physical manifestation of the gallery\u2019s five minutes hate as well as our own \u201ccorpo-reality,\u201d the now-ubiquitous managerialization of social control as notably elucidated by James Burnham. Censorship of the LD50 Gallery and other conceptual targets is no longer limited to the hazy pixels of digital reality but becomes literal and material through the viewer\u2019s coaxed defacing of printed texts. And the chirpy start-up jargon of our imaginary cubicle farm lays the current content harvest fueling the global disenfranchisement of the Western middle all too bare. After all, says TV KWA, the alt-right trolls who have called KWALY a \u201cmake-work slave farm\u201d are \u201cjust the kinds of people we are here to do battle with, and these are the kinds of criticisms we are here to destroy.\u201d\n\nThe exhibit thus cleverly embodies how its subjects and similar groups are demonized as a kind of distracting whipping boy for the ultimate benefit of a detached elite. Like the virtual sea of unmarried women, sexual obsessives, third world strivers, and soy-fed male allies that dutifully clock in at one of the acres of KWALY cubicle blocks, the debt-laden MFA students who were riled into weeks of oppositional identity to an inconsequential London art gallery unknowingly further the objectives of the progressive plunderers of our world. These mercenary armies level society for next to no pay so that some multinational concern out there can more easily sell a product or idea to a controlled conceptual body. Any element that is perceived to hinder this dream of opened societies is labeled hate, and hate must be stomped out. Fear not, the managerial elite is here to direct the soul-starved masses to properly tailor their own realities in the most salient and somehow profitable manner. And there\u2019s plenty of Soylent to go around.\n\nThe extent to which the LD50 Gallery\u2019s former foes will be induced to contribute more free content to CORPOREALITY, which is open through May 22, remains to be seen. My bet is it will all go sailing over their troubled heads. As of this writing, only a few indignant comments about the gallery\u2019s shocking re-opening have materialized\u2014Shut Down LD50 has issued a new blog post and a few statements to the local media, but their hearts just don\u2019t seem to really be in it. Still, the Chief Innovation Officers at KWALY are doing their best to evangelize their cause by \u201ccalling out leftists in Dalston for complicity in fascism if they don\u2019t turn up to shred objectionable material,\u201d as TV KWA told me.\n\nAlas, the real KWALY\u2019s of the world\u2014the well-capitalized news platforms, socially-responsible corporate marketers, university-massaged filter bubbles, and multitude of billionaire-backed non-governmental organizations that socialize our rotting reality\u2014have not yet decided to direct their gaze back to the tiny art gallery in East London. In any event, LD50 Gallery can claim a victory: it either overcomes its censors to operate again with impunity, or it makes its enemies prove its point. I like their style.\n\nOne can see CORPOREALITY as a deeply pessimistic post-modern commentary on the progressive corporatization of culture and reality. I find it uncommonly invigorating. Here is a group of creators who refuses to lie down and accept the suffocating homogeneity that the world\u2019s most well-funded HR departments force upon our brightest through the dumb golem of controlled radical politics. There is a needed new vitality on the content farm after all, sprung forth from the death of a useless ideology. Would you kill it, or help it grow?"}
-{"text": "Se spune ca animalele simt atunci cand se intampla ceva cu stapanii lor si canii care au o relatie mai aparte cu oamenii pot avea anumite trairi mai profunde decat oamenii.\n\nCainele lui Adrian Nastase din casa de pe strada Zambaccian nu isi mai gasea locul in aceasta noapte dupa ce fostul premier a incercat sa se sinucida.\n\nSimtind ca stapanul lui trece printr-o cumpana, animalul de companie nu a mai stat o clipa locului, dupa ce Adrian Nastase a fost internat la Spitalul de Urgenta."}
-{"text": "Religious Liberty Day: for Friends & Others\n\nIf I was the Quaker Pope, Fifth Month (May) 24 would be one of the biggest Quaker holidays/festivals on our [non]liturgical calendar. That\u2019s because it is (or should be), \u201cReligious Liberty Day.\u201d\n\nIt was on the 24th of Fifth Month, in 1689, that the Toleration Act, in official jargon, \u201creceived the Royal Assent,\u201d and thus became law in England and its dominions.\n\nWhy is this important to Quakers?\n\nBecause that\u2019s the day when Quakers & Quakerism became legal. It marked the successful conclusion to almost thirty years of suffering, organizing and lobbying.\n\nI won\u2019t try to recap this long, often bloody history. But from all accounts, it was tough: thousands of Quakers were jailed, many more lost property, and several hundred died as a result of their persecution.\n\nEven those who simply wanted to be quiet Friends at home were not safe: informers and accusers earned bounties for denouncing others as heretics or \u201crecusants.\u201d A recusant was someone who refused to attend official Church of England services, and was thus presumed to be a Catholic. Catholics were then regarded as traitors plotting to overthrowing the government. They also met and worshipped in secret.\n\nQuakers did not resist their persecution violently (leading Friend George Fox was imprisoned twice in this period, for a total of more than two years); but they did not passively put up with it either: they continued to meet openly, and protested persistently. They also created a centralized defense committee structure in London, soon headed by a new \u201cMeeting for Sufferings.\u201d\n\nThis committee compiled details about individual cases of persecution. They presented stacks of this data and petitions for relief of those in prison to royal officials and Parliament. This effort soon became a continuing lobby.\n\nSuch work was expensive even then: Friends needed to hire lawyers to draw up petitions and argue on their behalf, and soon the Committee was keeping a lobbyist busy full-time.\n\n(Yes, this was not unlike today\u2019s Friends Committee on National Legislation in the U.S. \u2014 except that FCNL does not normally have to petition to get hundreds of Quakers out of prison. Fortunately.) So London Friends also collected donations from Friends nationwide, to cover the expenses.\n\nThe petitions and lobbying not only aimed at getting individual Friends out of prison; they also called for a change in policy, to end persecution and make Friends and their Meetings legal.\n\nBesides the persistent Quaker lobbying, other political factors soon came into play. In 1688, King James II, who was Catholic, was overthrown by nobles who wanted a Protestant monarch and favored his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William. This change, which happened with comparatively little bloodletting, came to be called the \u201cGlorious Revolution.\u201d\n\nThis royal soap opera concerns us because another part of the deal with William and Mary was that once crowned, they would support a formal policy of religious toleration. The Toleration Act was the result, which they signed into law on May 24, 1689: Religious Liberty Day.\n\nThe law allowed Friends [finally!] to meet openly, without penalty. And it respected Quaker scruples about taking oaths by permitting an unsworn declaration of loyalty to the Crown. It marked the dawn of religious liberty for them.\n\nBut its toleration was limited: it did not include Catholics or Jews, or any non-trinitarian Christian. Oaths were still required for admission to universities or service in parliament; these restrictions lasted in to the 1800s.\n\nAnd one other requirement catches the eye. The Act stated in Article V that \u201cif any assembly of persons dissenting from the Church of England shall be had in any place for religious worship with the doors locked, barred, or bolted, during any time of such meeting together, all and every persons or persons, that shall come to and be at such meeting, shall not receive any benefit from this law, but be liable to all the pains and penalties of all the aforesaid laws recited in this act . . . .\u201d (Emphasis added.)\n\nThat passage reflected the suspicion that meetings behind locked doors involved \u201cpopish\u201d plots and treason more than worship. But this was not a problem for Quakers, part of whose witness had been that they met openly, and demanded the liberty to do so undisturbed.\n\nDespite its limitations, this law, much of which reflected the years of Quaker lobbying and petitioning, brought religious liberty to many other non-Anglican churches, especially the Congregationalists and Baptists, who had been meeting secretly. (Toleration for Catholics and Jews came much later.)\n\nThe spirit of Religious Liberty has risen again in Quaker history, as in the struggle to end slavery.\n\nIt is tragic that today some groups use a distorted version of \u201cReligious Liberty\u201d to justify oppression. That only makes it more important for Friends and others who cherish authentic religious liberty to remember its history, celebrate it, and keep it real.\n\nMay 24 is a fine day to do that.\n\nAnd so is every other day.\n\nEarlier posts on Religious Liberty Day are here and here."}
-{"text": "Old Games: The Old Games Show: 06/01/2016\n\nJeff and Dan found out what's in \"The Stuff\" and it looks like some old Genesis games.\n\nYou've found yourself at the base of Giant Bomb's Old Games.\n\nJun. 1 2016\n\nCast: Jeff, Dan\n\nPosted by: Jason"}
-{"text": "Overview\n\nBy this beauty I was enraptured\n\nBioshock created one of the most iconic, original settings of all gaming history by forging the city of Rapture. Aside from the amazing aesthetics, it is rich in allegories, symbolism and implicit meanings that perfectly incorporate with narration, context. Each area is markedly unique, dotted with indirect narration and regular lore pieces to immerse yourself fully in its events, which can be only understood fully by the methodic, thorough player willing to explore everything.\n\n\n\n\n\nBioshock created one of the most iconic, original settings of all gaming history by forging the city of Rapture. Aside from the amazing aesthetics, it is rich in allegories, symbolism and implicit meanings that perfectly incorporate with narration, context. Each area is markedly unique, dotted with indirect narration and regular lore pieces to immerse yourself fully in its events, which can be only understood fully by the methodic, thorough player willing to explore everything. Man is the predator of other men\n\nAn old Latin saying that perfectly encompasses the nature of Bioshock's story. More than a simple tale of survival, this title creates a deeply layered narrative aimed to showcase both best and worst of human nature. To what extent is freedom justified? How far can science go before becoming immoral? Is free will real or an illusion? These are only some of the themes covered by this masterfully crafted story.\n\n\n\n\n\nAn old Latin saying that perfectly encompasses the nature of Bioshock's story. More than a simple tale of survival, this title creates a deeply layered narrative aimed to showcase both best and worst of human nature. To what extent is freedom justified? How far can science go before becoming immoral? Is free will real or an illusion? These are only some of the themes covered by this masterfully crafted story. A Man Chooses\n\nThere are many gameplay styles, all equally viable, when approaching situations. From stealthy tricksters turning machines and men onto one another, to armored brutes powering through with heavy weapons, or genetically superior casters using advanced powers - anything is possible in Bioshock with the proper build. The great variety of weapon types, powers, passive abilities united with endless secrets and alternative ways create a huge array of possibilities.\n\n\n\n\n\nThere are many gameplay styles, all equally viable, when approaching situations. From stealthy tricksters turning machines and men onto one another, to armored brutes powering through with heavy weapons, or genetically superior casters using advanced powers - anything is possible in Bioshock with the proper build. The great variety of weapon types, powers, passive abilities united with endless secrets and alternative ways create a huge array of possibilities. Genetically Enhanced\n\nThe remastered version not only improves visuals significantly, but also adds new content such as Challenge Rooms, a new hardest difficulty to truly test yourself, and extras such as developer commentaries, other than fixing issues the original version had.\n\nTechnical problems\n\nThe remastered version also does add some inconveniences, such as UI scaling problems, audio glitches and bad rendering of cutscenes. Luckily the Community did make fixes for these problems, and you can find them in the Hub, under the Guide Section. After using those, this isn't an issue anymore.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe remastered version also does add some inconveniences, such as UI scaling problems, audio glitches and bad rendering of cutscenes. Luckily the Community did make fixes for these problems, and you can find them in the Hub, under the Guide Section. After using those, this isn't an issue anymore. Peak of Human Evolution\n\nEven on the hardest setting, balance in late-game favors the player too much, as the ability to stack multiple passives together, along with some quite too powerful weapons and Plasmids, will make you an unstoppable force. For most part of the game challenge balance is alright but does degrade in the latest 2-3 chapters. Also, there is no penalty for death.\n\n\n\n\n\nEven on the hardest setting, balance in late-game favors the player too much, as the ability to stack multiple passives together, along with some quite too powerful weapons and Plasmids, will make you an unstoppable force. For most part of the game challenge balance is alright but does degrade in the latest 2-3 chapters. Also, there is no penalty for death. How do I read this damn map again?\n\nBioshock has one of the ugliest maps I have ever seen. Instead of a normal multi-layer map of the level, you will have a bunch of rooms linked by inaccurately drawn arrows, all scattered randomly on the same sheet. This creates confusion as to what is higher or lower, and what leads where - especially in more complex levels.\n\nRating: Masterpiece\n\nIn-Depth Breakdown\n\nTechnical Breakdown\n\nPC Specs: RTX2080Ti, Ryzen 3900X, 32GB RAM DDR4\n\nCritical Problems\n\nNone.\n\n\n\n\n\nNone. Optimization\n\nGood. Normal usage of resources.\n\n\n\n\n\nGood. Normal usage of resources. Performance\n\nRuns without issues in 1440p, 85hz.\n\n\n\n\n\nRuns without issues in 1440p, 85hz. Bugs\n\nSome, detailed above.\n\n\n\n\n\nSome, detailed above. Other Issues\n\nNone.\n\nis a semi-open world FPS set in the 1960s, inside an underwater city called Rapture. As the only survivor of a plane crash, you barely make your way to this surreal city, only to find out madness and carnage reign supreme all around. Guided only by your friend Atlas on the radio, you'll have to make your way through the ruins of Rapture, fighting insane citizes and mechanical monsters, while finding out the truth about many things, yourself included.Gameplay is divided into Exploration, Combat, Hacking and Quests.Is performed on foot, roaming the vast and intricate areas of Rapture, ranging from market districts to engineering rooms. There is a myriad of rooms, ducts, offices and locations to explore, most having items hidden in many places. Lore diaries, documents, codes to open doors and new powers are only some of what you'll find by being attentive and looking behind every corner. The game is structured to heavily reward exploration, rushing is instead penalized.A handy map will already show all the level's layout, albeit in a confusing way. Most of the time your objective is also marked, but on occasion you'll have to figure it out yourself. Each level is often a one-way drop when leaving for another major area, and there is no major backtracking. Each level has a certain number of Sisters, each guarded by a powerful Boss, which can be saved or killed for ADAM, a unique currency used to buy critical upgrades.Plays out in FPS fashion, with the option to use ADS if needed, which sadly does not improve accuracy in the slightest. Weapons range from old-fashioned machineguns such as M1919 Thompson, to more exotic ones like Chemical Throwers spewing out napalm or nitrogen. Each weapon can be upgraded twice at specific stations, improving damage or other stats significantly.Plasmids are genetically-engineered powers, both active and passive, progressively gained, crafted or bought. They enable you to consume EVE (mana) to shoot lighting bolts, become invisible, hypnotize enemies - and much more. The amount of builds you can create to suit any playstyle is great, and adaptable since plasmids can be switched at Gene Banks anytime. Enemies also have such powers, and become more mutated - and dangerous - as you progress.Is an optional but highly rewarding puzzle minigame, which entails using the correct pieces to flow liquid to a destination. Being successful in this reduces vendor prices, opens locked doors, and permanently turns security machines into your allies even. Failing means damage, death or more enemies! Needless to say doing so is very profitable in the long run, so you'll find yourself hacking a lot, ideally.Are main only, and generally entail finding a specific item, or several ones to combine together. Other times you'll need to photograph certain things, or complete other assignments depending on the situation. Objectives are not always indicated and sometimes it may be needed to listen again to diaries you found, to know what to do."}
-{"text": "Bogota (AFP, Reuter) - A dazed 10-year-old girl with a broken arm emerged yesterday as the lone survivor of a plane crash in northern Colombia in which 47 passengers and five crew members were killed.\n\nAuthorities said the DC-9 Intercontinental airliner exploded in mid-air, but witnesses in the town of Maria La Baja, 500 miles north-west of Bogota, said it plummeted without lights, slammed into an embankment and then toppled into a lagoon.\n\nErika Delgado, who was travelling with her parents and a younger brother from Bogota to the Caribbean resort city of Cartagena, was taken to hospital in shock and with a broken arm. She was reported to be \"in good condition, conscious\" and waiting for family members.\n\nDownload the new Independent Premium app Sharing the full story, not just the headlines\n\nOne farmer said he heard cries for help and found the girl on a mound of seaweed, which had broken her fall. Farmers said she told them her mother had shoved her out of the plane as it broke up and burst into flames.\n\nAs day broke, rescue workers converged on the swamp and pulled out 32 bodies, including those of the pilot and co-pilot. The murky waters may have pulled some bodies downstream and towards the Caribbean.\n\nRescuers were searching the swamp in small canoes using lanterns and portable generators in the hope of finding passengers. Navy boats were watching the stream's mouth.\n\nThe blast was reported by the pilot of an aircraft flying near by. The airliner was approaching Cartagena airport when the pilot asked for authorisation to descend from 18,000ft to 14,000ft - the last communication received from the control tower.\n\nFarmer Argemiro Vergara saw the plane engulfed in flames some 900ft in the air before it plunged towards a lagoon and broke in two.\n\nThe aviation authority was reluctant to comment on the possibility of a terrorist attack. \"Any judgement which we make immediately would be premature, irresponsible and not serious,\" said Alvaro Raad Gomez, authority director.\n\nAviation authorities sent a delegation to investigate the causes of the crash and to seek the plane's \"black box\" cockpit voice and flight recorders.\n\nInternational airline passenger and pilots groups have repeatedly criticised Colombia's safety record, saying it is one of the world's most dangerous countries to fly in because of deficient air-traffic control, poor navigational aids and constant security violations.\n\nThe crash is the most serious air accident in Colombia since 19 May 1993, when a SAM Airlines Boeing-727 jet crashed into a mountain near the city of Medellin, killing all 132 people aboard.\n\nThere have since been several smaller crashes involving regional flights, with 11 people killed in May 1994 and seven in April 1994."}
-{"text": "Pubblicato il 4 Giugno 2018\n\ndi Melissa Pignatelli\n\n\u201cIl ruolo della cultura \u00e8 oggi pi\u00f9 importante di sempre\u201d: con questa affermazione la Commissione Europea ha presentato all\u2019Istituto Universitario Europeo di Firenze la Nuova Agenda Europea della Cultura (New European Agenda for Culture) un programma incentrato sulla promozione del ricco patrimonio storico, artistico e culturale nell\u2019idea di favorire un nuovo dialogo interculturale. Con l\u2019obiettivo di far cadere le frontiere linguistiche, culturali e sociali, la Nuova Agenda coinvolge non solo i cittadini dei Paesi membri ma anche i cittadini rifugiati sul suolo europeo, riservando una parte specifica alcuni innovativi programmi pilota atti a coinvolgere Stati terzi non europei. L\u2019ampia cornice costruita dalla nuova politica culturale europea intende consolidare e portare avanti quanto realizzato per le industrie culturali e creative nell\u2019Agenda 2020.\n\nNegli ultimi anni, l\u2019Unione Europea ha affrontato diverse sfide: dalla grave crisi economica che ha colpito gli Stati pi\u00f9 deboli, passando poi per il cambiamento sociale dovuto all\u2019arrivo di flussi migratori dall\u2019Africa e dal Medio Oriente, per arrivare infine al recente cambiamento sul piano politico con il rafforzamento e il ritorno di vecchie ideologie nazionaliste e nuovi populismi. Per far fronte a questi profondi cambiamenti, l\u2019Unione Europea intende riunire i propri cittadini intorno ai valori fondanti potendo contare da un lato su un ricco patrimonio di beni culturali e dall\u2019altro volendo sostenere la creativit\u00e0 e la sensibilit\u00e0 artistica per generare una rinnovata coesione sociale.\n\nTra le novit\u00e0 della Nuova Agenda la definizione di linee guida che coinvolgano progetti pilota di collaborazione con Paesi terzi non-europei. L\u2019obiettivo risiede nel delineare un approccio che cominci ad interpellare la strategia della diplomazia culturale per creare dei ponti d\u2019intesa con paesi molto diversi dagli Stati membri.\n\nLa cultura diventerebbe in questo ampio quadro uno stimolo per l\u2019economia: combinare le capacit\u00e0 creative con agevolazioni fiscali sulla produzione di nuove opere d\u2019arte generer\u00e0 quindi mobilit\u00e0 e con essa soluzioni innovative per la creazione di posti di lavoro nei settori manufatturieri, artigianali e turistici.\n\nL\u2019auspicio generale \u00e8 che si possa ritrovare, attraverso le politiche culturali, un dialogo rinnovato, pacifico, anche tra i paesi del Vicino Oriente e nella sponda sud del Mediterraneo.\n\nMelissa Pignatelli\n\nIl convegno nel quale \u00e8 stata presentata la Nuova Agenda Europea per la Cultura si \u00e8 svolto il 24 Maggio 2018 all\u2019Istituto Europeo di Firenze nel quadro del Global Governance Programme, link qui.\n\nIl Comunicato della Commissione Europea in merito alla Nuova Agenda Europea per la Cultura \u00e8 disponibile qui.\n\nIl testo completo dello Staff Working Document \u00e8 disponibile qui.\n\nIn fotografia: Fuori Salone 2015 at San Simpliciano di Bernardo Ricci Armani, 2015. Photographingaround.me"}
-{"text": "As time goes on, and more people condemn those who have kneeled for the National Anthem, more players are partaking in such statements themselves. This past weekend had several hundred NFL players take a knee, especially after President Trump further fanned the flames by saying that owners should \u201cget those sons of bitches off the field.\u201d\n\nAs those players took a knee during the National Anthem, including at a game over in London, the the NFL has taken a beating in ratings since the spread of these statements.\n\nConservatives have largely been outraged by these statements, and James Woods is certainly no exception. Over the weekend, he posted 4 tweets that put the whole kneeling statements into perspective.\n\nFor instance:\n\n#Liberals applaud spoiled #NFL millionaires sitting on their asses during national anthem, while Berkeley cancels Free Speech Week\u2026 #irony \u2014 James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) September 24, 2017\n\nTRENDING: Liberal Prof Suggests Former VP Joe Biden Announce He'd Appoint Michelle Obama to SCOTUS To Honor RBG\n\nThe Left says that they are the champions of free speech, but have been the primary entity that has shut down free speech across the country, UC Berkeley being the foremost example.\n\nThat is correct. Let's not forget that #TimTebow was chastised for \"taking a knee\" for different reasons. https://t.co/a5WeQKp4TY \u2014 James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) September 24, 2017\n\nSo it\u2019s okay to take a knee during the National Anthem, but not to pray to God? Double-standard much?\n\nThis was one of my favorites:\n\n#Liberals have supported \"taking a knee\" from Colin Kaepernick back to Monica Lewinsky. \u2014 James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) September 24, 2017\n\nOuch\u2026 That\u2019s one kneel they\u2019ve been oddly silent about for 20+ years.\n\nAnd finally:\n\nWoods is one of the rare few in Hollywood who has his head on straight.\n\nNonetheless, I think it\u2019s important to remember that while some of us may not like the fact that prominent NFL players are kneeling during the National Anthem, there are much bigger and more pressing issues in our society.\n\nThe outrage over this doesn\u2019t solve the national debt crisis, the collapse of Obamacare, and the systematic murder of 60 million+ children in the womb over the past several decades.\n\nSeriously, folks. While it may be upsetting for some to see the kneeling protests, we have bigger fish to fry. If we don\u2019t fry them, they\u2019ll fry us.\n\nH/T Young Conservatives"}
-{"text": "Mastermind has quickly become one of the most popular mini-series of Equity Mates. And for good reason. We love sitting down with Julia Lee to pitch a stock or trade idea to each. It\u2019s with great excitement that we bring you the 3rd episode in the series!\n\nHow does it work?\n\nEach month, Ren (Alec) & Bryce will come together with Julia Lee, to each pitch a stock we think is either interesting, be it due to its business model, its opportunity for growth or perhaps its management, or that we think presents a good investment opportunity. Please note, in no way is this a buy, hold, or sell recommendation, and doing your own research on any stocks discussed is critical, this is general information and discussion only. The idea of these sessions is to expose you to the different ways in which we think about companies, and go about researching them, and to obviously learn from Julia, who has a ton of experience. We\u2019re hoping to get Julia\u2019s thoughts on our approaches.\n\nIn this episode we discuss:\n\nUsing Reporting Season as part of your investing strategy\n\nBaby Bunting (ASX: BBN)\n\nRaytheon (NYSE: RTN)\n\nBBUS\n\nHow to Get Involved in Equity Mates:"}
-{"text": "Readers may recall Mark Collett. He\u2019s a positively and fantastically (if not hilariously), famous British fascist. He\u2019s also a font. Of all knowledge.\n\nIt\u2019s fair to say the world and his dog have taken the piss out of him at some stage. We have had to make mention of him a few times, particularly when bizarre looking photographs began to emerge about his activities. Still, a deal is a deal and there will be no word from me about \u201cthings\u201d that go bump in the night, or to bring up rumours of flaccid trips to Prague on the British National Party\u2019s champagne budget and so forth. That\u2019s all old news.\n\nAnyway, since those days of hiding in the wardrobes and all the stuff that goes with it, Collett has been reinventing himself. He has been offering his worldly advice to those who will just not listen. Still, that does not stop him offering it. Perhaps he should actually do a podcast about the time his \u201cmates\u201d in the National Front kidnapped him, stripped him naked and tortured him on video. Given the things that are continually going on in that party, it would be a worldly lesson for all who dare to get involved.\n\nCollett\u2019s most recent humiliation was when his exotic girlfriend with the faux exotic name dumped him. He did a podcast about evil women as a result of it. Except it was my colleague Sarah Archibald who exposed the real reason for the podcast. Collett had forgotten to mention it himself. By the way, Mark, she\u2019s currently hanging around with a certain and on-bail psychopath from National Action. They\u2019ll be at the up and coming National Front march in the East Midlands.\n\nSince being dumped and posting lots of lovely pictures of himself looking tort and sweaty all over social media, it now appears that Collett has finally managed to get his groove back.\n\nHe\u2019s been watching porn. And he\u2019s been watching it very closely, apparently. Yes, he\u2019s seen a hell of a lot of circumcised cocks on screen, and he is livid. It is of course, obviously, more evidence of the Jewish conspiracy. The poor lad cannot even have a midday wank without the Jews spoiling it for him\u2026."}
-{"text": "Das deutsche Luder liegt auf dem Bett herum, w\u00e4hrend sie auf den Schwanz ihres Freundes wartet. Als sein dicker Penis endlich zu ihr kommt, ist sie schon total feucht. Vor allem ihre dicken Titten warten auf einen starken H\u00e4ndedruck. Als er sein Tittenluder fest von hinten knallt und sie mehrfach zum Orgasmus kommt, wackelt ihr Atom-Busen st\u00e4ndig auf und ab. Einfach nur geil!"}
-{"text": "Written by: Ray Butler\n\nFollow us on Twitter! @Prospects365\n\nWith the start of Spring Training right around the corner, we\u2019ve arrived at one of the most exciting times of the year.\n\nNo, I\u2019m not talking about the Super Bowl. I\u2019m not talking about the crack of the bat or the pop of the glove we\u2019re beginning to hear more frequently in videos posted on Twitter and elsewhere as players begin to really rev up their preseason training regimen.\n\nInstead, I\u2019m obviously talking about the vaunted quotes we\u2019re beginning to see pop-up on our timelines. You know the ones. \u201c________________________ says he lost _____ pounds this offseason. ___________ says he\u2019s focused on being more athletic in the field and on the base paths while maintaining his power at the plate.\u201d\n\nAh, yes. It\u2019s \u2018he\u2019s in the best shape of his life\u2019 time!\n\nTo commemorate this wondrous time, I\u2019ve decided to created a lighthearted log of players/prospects who meet this criteria this winter and spring. Tweets from a beat writer? Add it to the log! Pictorial proof? Even better! I NEED YOUR HELP WITH THIS! Please feel free to keep your eyes peeled and tag me (@Prospects365) when a new report/picture of a slimmed-up, muscled-up player surfaces! There\u2019s also an already-existing Twitter account dedicated to tracking #BSOHL players. Make sure you\u2019re following @BSOHLTracker if this phenomenon interests you in any way, shape, form or fashion. Let\u2019s have fun with this!\n\nBelow is a live, chronological log of every player and prospect who appears to have put in a little extra work this offseason #BSOHL:\n\nThere\u2019s no denying Vladimir Guerrero Jr. put in the work this offseason. He looked slim in a video posted on the Team Guerrero Instagram a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. (November 14th) Skinny Vlad Guerrero Jr. From Instagram pic.twitter.com/2mCx8Pznau \u2014 Clint (@DiamondHoggers) November 14, 2019\n\nput in the work this offseason. He looked slim in a video posted on the Team Guerrero Instagram a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. (November 14th) Gary Sanchez appears to be a bit slimmer and in better shape entering Spring Training. A more athletic Sanchez is a scary thought for opposing teams opposing fantasy players. Joe Randazzo of the Bronx Pinstripe Crew had the pictorial proof. (January 19th)\n\nGary Sanchez looks like he spent the off-season training with Thor. pic.twitter.com/0NANGpdMTI \u2014 Joe Randazzo (Bronx Pinstripes crew) (@deflategator) January 19, 2020\n\nNicky Lopez committed himself to the Whit Merrifield 2015 offseason workout regimen this winter, and he\u2019ll enter Spring Training ~20 pounds stronger than his playing weight from 2019. MLB.com\u2019s Jeffrey Flanagan had the news. (January 23rd)\n\nNicky Lopez told https://t.co/6TSm0LErFq last August he was considering implementing the legendary Whit Merrifield body makeover this off-season. Lopez didn\u2019t follow that script exactly but he has added 18 pounds of upper body muscle. The story: https://t.co/21ZGVFdOEb via @MLB \u2014 Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) January 23, 2020\n\nLynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star reported Salvador Perez lost 22 pounds this offseason while preparing for the upcoming season at his offseason Miami home. (January 25th)\n\nRoyals GM expects Perez and Mondesi to be ready for opening day, writes @lworthysports. https://t.co/FQM05vRxFb \u2014 Jeff Rosen (@jeff_rosen88) January 25, 2020\n\nMike Puma of the New York Post reported Mets reliever Jeurys Familia lost thirty pounds this offseason in a bid to benefit from a bounceback campaign in 2020. (January 30th)\n\nMets\u2019 Jeurys Familia sheds 30 pounds as he eyes 2020 bounce-back https://t.co/uDMBKxZMxJ pic.twitter.com/ZeFIfBbmJ5 \u2014 New York Post (@nypost) January 30, 2020\n\n@Tiger_Lifer noted Daniel Norris appears to have hit the weights hard this offseason. (January 31st)\n\nDaniel Norris has arrived in Lakeland. And he looks JACKED. Photo credit @NterriA pic.twitter.com/d8VfZOmo1O \u2014 Detroit Tigers Minor League Tracker (@Tiger_Lifer) January 31, 2020\n\nMLB.com\u2019s Jake Crouse says Will Craig dropped 25 pounds this offseason in hopes of claiming an everyday spot in the Pirates\u2019 lowly lineup. (January 31st)\n\nToday\u2019s Pirates links\u2026\n\n\n\nJT Riddle signed: https://t.co/95SmhjjHhx\n\n\n\nAnother round of non-roster invitees, led by Derek Holland: https://t.co/hj0c060S90@JakeCrouseMLB on Will Craig, who dropped 25 pounds and says he\u2019s \u201cnot the same guy\u201d he was last year: https://t.co/AZUOoupGL5 \u2014 Adam Berry (@adamdberry) February 1, 2020\n\nThe Athletic\u2019s Zack Meisel reported Franmil Reyes slimmed up a bit this offseason. (February 1st)\n\nFranmil Reyes says he\u2019s lost 18 pounds, feels more agile in the field, but also has never felt more powerful at the plate. \u2014 Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) February 1, 2020\n\nLuke Voit is in the best shape of his life, according to NBC Sports\u2019 Craig Calcaterra (February 3rd)\n\nLuke Voit is in The Best Shape of His Life https://t.co/Ln02tUyhPw via @HardballTalk \u2014 Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) February 3, 2020\n\nI, uh. I don\u2019t know if Yoenis Cespedes is in the best shape of his life, but this video is absolute must-include material on a log like this. (February 6th)\n\nMuch like his fellow first baseman Luke Voit, Jesus Aguilar will enter Spring Training in the best shape of his life. The new Miami Marlin lost 20 pounds this offseason. (February 7th)\n\n#Marlins First Baseman Jesus Aguilar on joining the Marlins & his 2019 season. He also told me afterward he lost 20 pounds this offseason. His weight was as high as 296, now about 270-275. pic.twitter.com/2eOSpUEZs4 \u2014 Craig Mish (@CraigMish) February 7, 2020\n\nMaria Torres of the Los Angeles Times had this\u2014interesting\u2014quote from Angels GM Billy Eppler on the new and improved Justin Upton. (February 11th)\n\nGood news on #Angels OF Justin Upton (returning from knee injuries): A couple of coaches told Eppler, \u201cWait til you see him.\u201d Eppler said, \u201cIt sounds like he\u2019s a prize fighter.\u201d \u2014 Maria Torres (@maria_torres3) February 11, 2020\n\nSo the Phillies posted some pictures of their players arriving at Spring Training, and GOOD GOD SCOTT KINGERY. (February 11th)\n\nAnd we thought Scott Kingery looked big last year\u2026 this guy shows up to camp looking absolutely MASSIVE.\n\n\n\nI\u2019m expecting big things from him this year. pic.twitter.com/OVuCygXIng \u2014 Alex Carr (@AlexCarrMLB) February 11, 2020\n\nIt\u2019s spring and everything can be spun into a positive light, so I\u2019ll just leave this as \u2018everyone on the Rays\u2018. Hat tip here to Josh Tolentino. (February 12th)\n\n#Rays weight changes from 2019-\u201920, according to spring roster\n\n\n\nBlake Snell gained 10 lbs\n\nBrendan McKay up 8\n\nAustin Meadows up 5\n\nWilly Adames up 5\n\nRyan Yarbrough up 5\n\nOliver Drake up 5\n\n\n\nYonny Chirinos lost 15 lbs\n\nNick Anderson lost 10\n\nColin Poche lost 10\n\nTyler Glasnow lost 5 \u2014 Josh Tolentino (@JCTSports) February 12, 2020\n\nSpecifically, I found this anecdote from Marc Topkin on Yonny Chirinos interesting. One of my perennial, favorite end-game SP targets might kick it up a notch in 2020. (February 12th)\n\n#Rays RHP Yonny Chirinos was noticeably in \u201cthe best shape of his life,\u201d having dropped 15 pounds while working out at home in Venezuela. Also, by changing his diet. His keys? Less rice and fewer arepas. \u201cOne, not two,\u201d he said. \u2014 Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) February 12, 2020\n\n90% of the content in this article will probably be meaningless throughout the 2020 season, but I think this nugget from Alex Speier on Andrew Benintendi could be important. In my opinion, the 25-year-old overbulked last season in hopes of maxing out his power potential, and the outcome was overwhelmingly disappointing. Benintendi is a prime bounce-back candidate this season. (February 13th)\n\n#Rays RHP Yonny Chirinos was noticeably in \u201cthe best shape of his life,\u201d having dropped 15 pounds while working out at home in Venezuela. Also, by changing his diet. His keys? Less rice and fewer arepas. \u201cOne, not two,\u201d he said. \u2014 Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) February 12, 2020\n\nDave O\u2019Brien tweeted a video of Johan Camargo, stating the utility player lost 18 pounds this offseason as he prepares to do-battle with Austin Riley for the Braves\u2019 third base job. For what it\u2019s worth, Camargo looks much thinner than he did last summer when I witnessed a Braves batting practice from behind home plate.\n\nJohan Camargo went from 205 pounds to 187 and looks great. He\u2019s among early arriving #Braves position players. pic.twitter.com/GbtZ39IdM8 \u2014 David O\u2019Brien (@DOBrienATL) February 14, 2020\n\nLET\u2019S LEAVE NO STONE LEFT UNTURNED! TAG US IN TWEETS! LET ME KNOW WHEN I NEED TO #UPDATETHELOG!\n\nFollow us on Twitter! @Prospects365\n\nFeatured image courtesy of photographer Kevin C. Cox and Getty Images"}
-{"text": "Two Toronto officers allegedly consumed cannabis-infused chocolate that had been seized as evidence hours earlier during a dispensary raid \u2014 only to have to call for backup and be taken to hospital, according to newly released police documents.\n\nJust weeks after Const. Vittorio Dominelli and Const. Jamie Young were criminally charged in connection to the January incident, the officers appeared at the Toronto police disciplinary tribunal Tuesday, facing professional misconduct charges under Ontario\u2019s Police Services Act.\n\nThe documents filed at the hearing detail allegations of a bizarre and potentially dangerous night that began with the alleged theft of cannabis-infused chocolate and ended with a 911 call, paramedics rushing to the scene and three officers being sent to hospital.\n\nThe hearing documents also reveal that, as a result of the officers\u2019 alleged actions, criminal charges were withdrawn against seven people who were arrested during the raid on a west-end dispensary earlier that same night, where the officers allegedly obtained the cannabis-infused chocolate.\n\nRead more:\n\nToronto cops accused of eating pot edibles now charged with destroying evidence\n\nTwo Toronto police officers accused of consuming marijuana edibles while on duty\n\nDominelli, 36, faces four misconduct charges, including discreditable conduct and being unfit for duty through consumption of drugs. Young, 35, faces the same misconduct charges and two more, including neglecting to carry out a lawful order and knowingly making a false statement.\n\nBoth officers are already charged with one count each of criminal breach of trust and attempting to obstruct justice.\n\nAccording to the hearing documents, the officers were working in plain clothes on Jan. 27 when they participated in the execution of a search warrant at Community Cannabis Clinic on St. Clair Ave. W.\n\nYoung was in charge of seizing the property within the dispensary, while Dominelli is named in the documents as the officer who arrested, charged then released seven people who were in the clinic during the raid.\n\nOfficers catalogued and packaged the products seized in the clinic, which included cannabis-infused hazelnut flavoured chocolate, according to the documents. Young is alleged to have \u201cfailed to account for some of this chocolate seized at this search warrant,\u201d the documents state.\n\n\u201cThe quantity listed on the property tag and submitted did not match the true amount seized\u2026 In so doing, you committed misconduct in that you knowingly made or signed a false statement in a record,\u201d the documents allege.\n\nAbout six hours later, Dominelli and Young finished their work at the dispensary raid and were reassigned to conduct surveillance. At this time, the officers \u201cconsumed some of the chocolate containing cannabis oil,\u201d the documents allege, noting the officers still had their firearms.\n\nAbout two hours later, the duo called in to say they needed help. Dominelli made a 10-33 call \u2014 meaning an officer needs assistance \u2014 while Young called 911, according to the documents, which also say Dominelli claimed he felt he was going to pass out as he ran up Oakwood Ave.\n\nPolice and paramedics soon arrived, the documents state, and Dominelli was taken to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Young initially could not be found, but was later located and taken Humber River Hospital.\n\nMeanwhile, another officer responding to the call for help slipped on the ice, causing a head injury. She had to be taken to hospital, the tribunal documents state.\n\nPolice later found the two officers\u2019 belongings and found one empty and two full packages of the cannabis chocolate \u201cmatching ones seized by the search warrant,\u201d the documents allege.\n\nDominelli had blood drawn at the hospital, and Centre of Forensic Sciences analysis indicated the presence of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), \u201ca psychoactive compound in cannabis,\u201d the documents say.\n\nMaking separate appearances before the hearing officer Insp. Mike Barsky, the officers, both dressed in dark suits, said little beyond confirming that they were given ample notification for the hearing. Neither entered a plea, and both waived having the details of their alleged misconduct read aloud in the public hearing.\n\nThe professional misconduct proceedings will be put on hold pending the conclusion of the officers\u2019 criminal trial.\n\nLast month, Dominelli\u2019s lawyer Peter Brauti told the Star his client is \u201cobviously very embarrassed in relation to the allegations.\u201d\n\n\u201cImmediately after the incident occurred, we attempted to address the situation with the Toronto Police Service,\u201d Brauti said.\n\nLoading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...\n\nNeither Brauti nor Young\u2019s lawyer, Harry Black, were in attendance at the tribunal Tuesday.\n\nThe officers have been suspended with pay since Jan. 28. Dominelli has 13 years of experience with Toronto police, while Young has two-and-a-half years.\n\nThe criminal charges the officers face carry the possibility of jail time upon conviction. If found guilty at the tribunal, the officers could face anything from a formal reprimand to dismissal."}
-{"text": "The price of bitcoin fell to a five-day low today, though the reasons why are perhaps complex to unpack.\n\nAt press time, the bitcoin-US dollar (BTC/USD) exchange rate is $5,710, up from a daily low of $5,560. As per CoinMarketCap, week-on-week, BTC is up 3.3 percent, while on a monthly basis, it\u2019s up 55 percent.\n\nHowever, if you\u2019re looking for a culprit for the dip, industry observers are so far pointing to the creation of bitcoin gold yesterday.\n\nA new cryptocurrency cloned from bitcoin, bitcoin gold is now in the process of \u201cforking\u201d to a new blockchain (with new rules), a process by which the bitcoin blockchain is copied and new digital assets are distributed to existing bitcoin owners.\n\nAs put forward by analysts including Blockchain Capital\u2019s Spencer Bogart, a former head of research and Needham and Co., the decline could be a sign investors are moving money to alternatives now that bitcoin gold has initiated the fork. Bogart\u2019s argument is that bitcoin rallied ahead of the launch in anticipation that holders would be credited with bitcoin gold.\n\nHowever, it\u2019s unclear whether this could be the case. As the new cryptocurrency was not yet distributed, investors may have simply switched out of bitcoin positions on the basis further sell pressure is ahead on the distribution.\n\nBut, while it\u2019s too early to tell, the next question is simply, is the pullback in bitcoin over?\n\nPrice action analysis suggests a potential for further losses.\n\nDaily chart\n\nBitcoin gold aside, the retreat from the record highs above $6,100 can also be credited to overbought technical conditions, and in this light, considered to qualify as a healthy correction.\n\nThe chart above shows:\n\nBearish price-relative strength index (RSI) divergence\n\nBearish price-money flow index (MFI) divergence\n\nRising trend line (dotted blue line) support is seen around $5,280 levels\n\nView\n\nThe doors are open for a drop to $5,280 levels. Only a daily close below $5,280 would signal the rally from the September low of $2,980 has topped out above $6100 levels.\n\nBullish scenario \u2013 A move above 5-day moving average level of $5,950 could yield a re-test of record highs above $6,100.\n\nPlastic forks via Shutterstock"}
-{"text": "I\u2019ve tried to think of something interesting about the number 2013 and haven\u2019t come up with anything. This reminds me of the interesting number paradox.\n\nTheorem: All positive integers are interesting.\n\nProof: Let n be the smallest uninteresting positive integer. Then n is interesting by virtue of being the smallest such number.\n\nThe interesting number paradox is semi-serious, and so is the resolution I propose below. Both are jokes, but they touch on some serious ideas.\n\n\u201cInterestingness\u201d is not an all-or-nothing property. Some numbers are more interesting than others, so perhaps we should use fuzzy logic to quantify how interesting a number is, say on a scale from 0 to 1.\n\nFor a given \u03b5 > 0, define as interesting the set of numbers whose interestingness is greater than \u03b5. Suppose the interestingness of numbers trails off after some point. (Otherwise, if the interestingness dropped sharply, the first number after the drop would be interesting.) The largest interesting number then is barely interesting. The number one larger than a barely interesting number is even less interesting. So the proof of the interesting number paradox doesn\u2019t apply in the continuous setting.\n\nOn a more serious note, many paradoxes in mathematics can be resolved by replacing a binary criterion with a continuous one.\n\nFor example, the sum of a trillion continuous functions is continuous, but the infinite sum of continuous functions may not be. How can that be? The problem is that we\u2019re viewing continuity as an all-or-nothing property. If you have a series of continuous functions that converges to a discontinuous limit, the degree of continuity must be degrading. The partial sum after some large number of terms is continuous, but not very continuous. The modulus of continuity of each partial sum is finite, but is getting larger, and is infinite in the limit.\n\nClassical statistics is filled with yes-no concepts that make more sense when replaced with continuous measures. For example, instead of asking whether an estimator is biased, it\u2019s more practical to ask how biased it is.\n\nComputer science is often concerned with whether something can be computed (i.e. exactly). But sometimes it\u2019s more important to ask how well something can be computed. Many things that cannot be computed in theory can be computed well enough in practice.\n\nRelated post: How to solve supposedly intractable problems"}
-{"text": "Massachusetts is less fun than Rhode Island, Oklahoma and 23 other states, according to a new ranking by the personal finance website Wallethub.\n\nWallethub compared the states across metrics measuring the quality of entertainment, recreation and nightlife to create its ranking of the most fun states.\n\nMassachusetts, they found, was more of a teacup ride than a roller coaster.\n\nThe Bay State placed 26th, with the 24th best entertainment and recreation and the 29th best nightlife.\n\nNevada ranked 1st, benefitting both from its combination natural beauty and anything-goes Vegas attractions.\n\nMassachusetts lost points for having the lowest state and local expenditures on parks and recreation per capita, according to the study.\n\nWallethub has made a habit of producing buzzy, if scientifically dubious, rankings of cities and states. Recent lists named Massachusetts the 16th happiest state in the country and Worcester the fattest city in New England.\n\nThe fun ranking used 22 factors, including number of attractions, weather, access to national parks and cost of beer and wine."}
-{"text": "Tony and Grammy award-winner Heather Headley will star in a musical version of Whitney Houston's 1992 film, which opens at London's Adelphi theatre in November\n\nA musical version of The Bodyguard, the 1992 film that starred Whitney Houston, will open in the West End later this year, its producers have confirmed.\n\nTony and Grammy award-winner Heather Headley will play singer Rachel Marron \u2013 the role originated by Houston \u2013 in the production, which will play at the Adelphi Theatre from November. The plot centres of the burgeoning relationship between Marron and her bodyguard, a former secret service agent, played in the film by Kevin Costner.\n\nThe project has been in the works since last year, but its commercial prospects will no doubt be strengthened by news of the singer's death. Thriller Live, a Michael Jackson tribute show, has been a mainstay on Shaftesbury Avenue since January 2009. It was originally scheduled to close in May of the same year, but extended and attracted extra public interest following Jackson's death that June.\n\nThe musical will feature some of Houston's biggest hits, including I Will Always Love You, as well as a number of additional numbers made famous by the singer, who died last week in Los Angeles.\n\nAmerican playwright Alex Dinelaris has written the show's book, which reportedly deviates from the original film, and Thea Sharrock, whose National Theatre production of After the Dance was named Best Revival at last year's Olivier awards, will direct for producers David Ian and Michael Harrison.\n\nFurther casting for The Bodyguard has not been announced."}
-{"text": "HERE Is WHAT WILL HAPPEN If The DEEP STATE TAKES DOWN PRESIDENT TRUMP & It\u2019s NOT PRETTY \u2026 FOR THEM\n\n\u201cThe tree of liberty must be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants.\u201d \u2013 Thomas Jefferson\n\nELDER PATRIOT \u2013 Corrupt politicians ignore Jefferson\u2019s directive to their own detriment. It\u2019s no longer political, it\u2019s personal.\n\nAmericans have had their eyes opened by the ascension of Donald Trump and no amount of leftwing money can put the Freedom Movement genie back in the bottle.\n\nConservative Senator Ted Cruz made that observation after reviewing the results of the 2016 elections and the expectations of the voters.\n\nCruz, who had the most high profile personality clash with Donald Trump during the Republican primary process nevertheless embraced Trump\u2019s America First agenda and said, \u201cIf we\u2019re given the White House and both houses of Congress and we don\u2019t deliver, I think there will be pitchforks and torches in the streets. And I think quite rightly.\u201d\n\nCandidate Trump promised many things \u2013 border control, lower taxes, fairer trade relations, a balanced budget, healthcare that puts the people first not the government, safer communities, and \u2013 to the extent possible \u2013 an end to foreign wars. What, among those promises, should any Republican, nay any American, have a problem with?\n\nAfter four months without a single legislative achievement, Congressional and Senatorial Republicans \u2013 notably John McCain, Paul Ryan and Lindsey Graham \u2013 have joined the Democrats in investigating President Trump absent a single shred of evidence that an underlying crime has been committed.\n\nSo, what gives?\n\nWell, there was one additional promise that Trump made on his way to the White House that has some Republicans joining with Democrats and quaking in their boots, Trump\u2019s promise to \u201cDrain the Swamp.\u201d\n\nAs we reported yesterday, \u201cAn F.B.I. agent with \u2018intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the Clinton case\u2019 told us that they uncovered evidence of such massive corruption that the agents involved realized that damned near the entire government could be brought down.\u201d\n\nThe criminal co-conspirators in both parties realized almost immediately that the new sheriff wasn\u2019t interested in joining them in the swamp so they launched, what can only be characterized as, a coup attempt.\n\nDemocrats are well schooled in such things probably because of their close alliance with Marxist regimes that can only gain power by seizing it through bloody civil wars. It should be noted that the Democratic Party has already done this once before.\n\nOne Hundred and Fifty-Seven years ago the Democrats waged a war against the First Republican President Abraham Lincoln for giving Blacks their freedom. That war came at a high price, as many as 700,000 Americans died fighting for what they believe in. To put that in perspective, these casualties exceed the nation\u2019s loss in all its other wars, from the Revolution through Vietnam.\n\nToday, Americans are still prepared to fight and die to protect their children\u2019s God-given freedoms. Despite what you are reading and hearing in the mainstream media, they aren\u2019t the leftwing-funded rioters, the pussy hat-wearing feminists, or the cuck bois that cant handle a micro aggression. No, the Americans that back Donald Trump are well armed.\n\nDonald Trump\u2019s presidency will move forward politically lest the sixty million patriots who voted for him, that are comprised of the large majority of military voters, police, and NRA members, move it forward by force.\n\nThese patriots are armed, trained, prepared, and have proven their discipline. They have grown disgusted by the corruption in Washington and will do whatever is necessary to make sure Trump\u2019s Freedom Agenda moves forward and under the direction of Donald Trump himself.\n\nNo amount of fake news based on unsubstantiated charges by unnamed sources is going to change that. The battle lines have been drawn and no amount of finger pointing is going to convince these patriots to let anyone overturn the election results.\n\nSo why are establishment politicians courting a bloodbath on the streets of America that will also threaten them personally when they could be part of Making America Great Again? It\u2019s because they have been caught red-handed and up to their eyeballs in a worldwide criminal conspiracy that has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with defrauding the American taxpayers.\n\nAnd, now that they\u2019ve been caught robbing the world\u2019s largest bank \u2013 the U.S. treasury \u2013 they have chosen to go out in a blaze of glory rather than try to defend the indefensible at trial.\n\nWashington\u2019s criminal elites have chosen to go to war to unseat our duly elected president. It\u2019s time to make our voices heard before this turns very ugly. Buckle your chin strap, America is counting on you.\n\nEDITORS NOTE: THIS IS NOT A CALL TO ARMS BUT RATHER AN ANALYSIS OF WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THE DEEP STATES OVERTURNS A DUELY ELECTED PRESIDENT.\n\nHERE IS A LIST OF EVERY SINGLE TIME OBAMA COMMITTED AN IMPEACHABLE OFFENSE THAT DEMS & MEDIA COVERED UP\n\n\u201cImpeach!\u201d It\u2019s been more than eight years since Democrats uttered that word \u2013 long enough for anyone to wonder if it was still in their vocabulary, considering the deafening silence through the dozens of serious scandals during President Obama\u2019s administration \u2013 but now that President Trump is the man in the White House, it\u2019s back with a vengeance.\n\nDemocrats everywhere are wildly slinging the \u201cI\u201d word, hoping to nail Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors after the New York Times claimed a memo written by former FBI Director James Comey said the president urged him to end the federal investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.\n\nSome members of Congress are getting in on the action. They include Reps. Maxine Water, D-Calif., and Al Green, D-Texas. Even a Republican, Rep. Justin Amash, claimed Wednesday there are grounds to impeach President Trump. House Oversign Committee Chair Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, asked for the alleged Comey memo and other documents. Chaffetz tweeted that he is prepared to subpoena the information. And Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., invoked \u201cWatergate.\u201d\n\nNow the Democratic Party is reportedly poll testing impeachment as a 2018 election issue. More than 1 million people signed a petition calling on Congress to impeach Trump.\n\nWasting no time Wednesday, the mainstream media sprang into action, enthusiastically echoing the left\u2019s impeachment calls. MSNBC launched a Watergate ad implying Trump is America\u2019s new Richard Nixon.\n\n\u201cWatergate. We know its name because there were reporters who never stopped asking questions,\u201d says MSNBC host Chris Hayes, who hinted that Trump is next on the impeachment chopping block. \u201cNow, who knows where the questions will take us. But I know this: I\u2019m not going to stop asking them.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, some overzealous members of the left plastered fliers around Washington, D.C., demanding all White House staffers resign Wednesday.\n\nThe posters read: \u201cIf you work for this White House you are complicit in hate-mongering, lies, corrupt taking of Americans\u2019 tax money via self-dealing and emoluments, and quite possibly federal crimes and treason. Also, any wars will be on your soul. \u2026 Resign now.\u201d\n\nBut constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley, who voted for President Obama, warned \u201cimpeachment\u201d enthusiasts not to get ahead of themselves with President Trump. Why?\n\nAt this time, there\u2019s no evidence Trump actually committed a crime.\n\n\u201cThe criminal code demands more than what Comey reportedly describes in his memo,\u201d Turley wrote in a May 17 opinion piece posted at the Hill. Turley explained:\n\nFor the first time, the Comey memo pushes the litany of controversies surrounding Trump into the scope of the United States criminal code.\n\nHowever, if this is food for obstruction of justice, it is still an awfully thin soup. Some commentators seem to be alleging criminal conduct in office or calling for impeachment before Trump completed the words of his inaugural oath of office. Not surprising, within minutes of the New York Times report, the response was a chorus of breathless \u201cgotcha\u201d announcements. But this memo is neither the Pentagon Papers nor the Watergate tapes. Indeed, it raises as many questions for Comey as it does Trump in terms of the alleged underlying conduct.\n\nA good place to start would be with the federal law, specifically 18 U.S.C. 1503. The criminal code demands more than what Comey reportedly describes in his memo. There are dozens of different variations of obstruction charges ranging from threatening witnesses to influencing jurors. None would fit this case. That leaves the omnibus provision on attempts to interfere with the \u201cdue administration of justice.\u201d\n\nHowever, that still leaves the need to show that the effort was to influence \u201ccorruptly\u201d when Trump could say that he did little but express concern for a longtime associate. The term \u201ccorruptly\u201d is actually defined differently under the various obstruction provisions, but it often involves a showing that someone acted \u201cwith the intent to secure an unlawful benefit for oneself or another.\u201d Encouraging leniency or advocating for an associate is improper but not necessarily seeking an unlawful benefit for him.\n\n. Obama\u2019s Iran nuke deal\n\nObama knew about Hillary\u2019s private email server\n\nObama IRS targets conservatives\n\nObama\u2019s DOJ spies on AP reporters\n\nObamacare & Obama\u2019s false promises\n\nIllegal-alien amnesty by executive order\n\nBenghazi-gate\n\nOperation Fast & Furious\n\n5 Taliban leaders for Bergdahl\n\nExtortion 17\n\n\u2018Recess \u2018 appointments \u2013 when Senate was in session\n\nAppointment of \u2018czars\u2019 without Senate approval\n\nSuing Arizona for enforcing federal law\n\nRefusal to defend Defense of Marriage Act\n\nIllegally conducting war against Libya\n\nNSA: Spying on Americans\n\nMuslim Brotherhood ties\n\nMiriam Carey\n\nBirth certificate\n\nExecutive orders\n\nSolyndra and the lost $535 million\n\nEgypt\n\nCap & Trade: When in doubt, bypass Congress\n\nRefusal to prosecute New Black Panthers\n\nObama\u2019s U.S. citizen \u2018hit list\u2019"}
-{"text": "CHICAGO (AP)\u2014A 15-year-old Chicago girl was apparently sexually assaulted by five or six men or boys on Facebook Live, and none of the roughly 40 people who watched the live video reported the attack to police, authorities said Tuesday.\n\nPolice only learned of the attack when the girl\u2019s mother approached police Superintendent Eddie Johnson late Monday afternoon as he was leaving a department in the Lawndale neighborhood on the city\u2019s West Side, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. She told him her daughter had been missing since Sunday and showed him screen grab photos of the alleged assault.\n\nHe said Johnson immediately ordered detectives to investigate and the department asked Facebook to take down the video, which it did.\n\nGuglielmi tweeted Tuesday that detectives found the girl and reunited her with her family, and that they\u2019re conducting interviews.\n\nHe said Johnson was \u201cvisibly upset\u201d after he watched the video, both by its contents and the fact that there were \u201c40 or so live viewers and no one thought to call authorities.\u201d\n\nIt is the second time in months that the department has investigated an apparent attack that was streamed live on Facebook. In January, four people were arrested after a cellphone footage showed them allegedly taunting and beating a mentally disabled man."}
-{"text": "WASHINGTON \u2014 \u201cI always do whatever Lindsey Graham tells me to do,\u201d Senator John McCain, the unpredictable Arizona Republican, said last week, while entertaining questions from a scrum of reporters in a Capitol hallway.\n\nHe was referring to his best Senate friend and frequent travel partner, Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who is so closely identified with Mr. McCain that when he arrived in the Senate after serving in the House, he was called \u201cMcCain\u2019s mini-me.\u201d\n\nBut now the McCain-Graham bond is being tested.\n\nAt issue is how Mr. McCain will vote on a health care measure that bears Mr. Graham\u2019s name: the so-called Graham-Cassidy bill, which would dismantle the Affordable Care Act by taking money spent under the law and sending it to states in the form of block grants.\n\nThe measure, sponsored by Mr. Graham and Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, is a last-ditch effort by Republicans to fulfill their seven-year-old promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Supporters say it is gaining traction in the Senate, but it remains a few votes shy of passage."}
-{"text": "Almost all of us have been touched by cancer. My father just successfully fought off kidney cancer (knock on wood), aided by his ability to access quality (and expensive) medical facilities. Medicare ensured that the bills wouldn't ruin him or our family financially. If ever faced with that disease, I hope I too can face it with the same courage and determination with which he did. Despite the pervasive impact the disease has had on many families, until the publication of Rebecca Skloot's award-winning and best-selling book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, many of us have had few opportunities to learn more about the history of how scientists have come to understand the disease and the ongoing fight to find a cure.\n\n\n\nOne person who stood at the center of this fight, despite being forgotten for a half a century, was Henrietta Lacks. At the age of 30, Lacks, an African American working mother, was diagnosed with cervical cancer likely contracted through the Human Papilloma Virus, more commonly referred to as HPV. It was 1950 in Baltimore, Maryland. Jim Crow ruled, even in charity hospitals like Johns Hopkins.\n\n\n\nAfter her diagnosis, a cell researcher by the name of George Guy, who followed a common practice of undertaking research without consent on the hospital's poor and African American patients, took a sample of Lacks' cancerous tissue for a study he was conducting. Guy, as Skloot relates, had been trying for years to keep a line of human cells alive outside of the body in order to conduct new scientific experiments. So far, all of his attempts had failed.\n\n\n\nBut Henrietta Lacks' cancerous cells, now known in the scientific community as HeLa, proved different. Not only did they stay alive, but they grew so rapidly that within a few years researchers all of the world were using them to study and discover polio vaccines, genetic research, cancer research, and so much more. Scientists today still use her cells for a wide variety of purposes.\n\n\n\nFor most of that time, however, no one knew Henrietta Lacks' name. George Guy had kept it a secret, out of the desire to preserve her family's privacy, he said. But quite possibly also because he didn't want the world to know that the basis of much of the experimental medical and scientific research of the century derived from the body of a Black woman. Can you imagine the racial theorists of the 1950s having to deal with the irrefutable fact that cell tissue from an African American woman had turned the scientific world on its head?\n\n\n\nSkloot's book is important for both its accessible but detailed discussion of the medical research involved as well as the poignant story of the Henrietta Lacks' life and the ongoing struggle of her children and grandchildren to know her story and to fight for her recognition. Through her contact and years' long relationship with Deborah Lacks, who was two when her mother passed away, Skloot wonderfully pieces together the details of life that would otherwise have remained anonymous. Indeed, the it was Deborah and her brothers who fought to ensure that their mother's memory would not be left to the dustbin of history.\n\n\n\nThis story resurrects Henrietta Lacks the woman, the mother, the caretaker, the fun-loving, beautiful young woman, from the the abstraction of the name given by George Guy to her cells, HeLa. In the process, with the constant aid of Deborah LAcks, Skloot humanizes Henrietta's family, uncovers details about race and the healthcare system, and brings to light the social forces that make a life and a family.\n\n\n\nIt is a powerfully moving story, a must read; it is also a book you will find yourself unable to put down until the end."}
-{"text": "The portable UI being developed for Daggerfall Tools for Unity 1.4 is coming together. Rather than use a uGUI simulacrum of the Daggerfall interface, I decided to re-implement Daggerfall\u2019s native UI screen by screen, making it as true to Daggerfall as possible.\n\nThis has involved a fair amount of work to ensure everything is rendered at true native resolutions and scales proportionately to any screen size. Here\u2019s an early test clip where I\u2019m playing with the scaling, which runs in real-time.\n\nAnother challenge was pixel-perfect text rendering. The internal UI in Daggerfall Tools for Unity uses Daggerfall\u2019s pixel fonts exactly, which required a custom text renderer. Below is the book reader UI flicking through The Real Barenziah. The formatting codes from Daggerfall are followed so precisely that badly formatted text even overflows in the same places it does in game.\n\nBehind the scenes, the GUI runs on a state machine stack where windows can be pushed and popped as required. Each window is a hierarchy of components (panels, buttons, labels, etc.) that all follow the same consistent layout behaviour and handle fundamental UI tasks like firing messages when clicked. Everything is rendered and hit-tested internally at Daggerfall\u2019s native 320\u00d7200 resolution.\n\nCommunication between windows uses a custom messaging system that runs independently of platform. The messages themselves can even work a bit like command strings in that they\u2019re able to pass parameters directly inside the message.\n\nAnd the best news is that you aren\u2019t bound to using this GUI in your projects. It exists inside the Demo namespace, which means that nothing in the core library or API has any dependency on it. You\u2019re free to use this GUI or ignore it completely to implement your own interface using whatever UI platform you\u2019re most comfortable with.\n\nThere\u2019s still a lot of work to do before it\u2019s ready for Daggerfall Tools for Unity 1.4, but everything is taking shape very quickly."}
-{"text": "When it comes to American cities, San Francisco and Seattle are remarkably similar. They\u2019re both known for their stunningly beautiful waterfront locations, their liberal politics and the tech booms that have jolted them from quirky little \u201cleft coast\u201d tourist destinations into global economic powerhouses.\n\nThe might-as-well-be-twin cities also share some less attractive qualities: high costs of living, stark income inequality and big, in-your-face homeless populations.\n\nBut the new homeless count reports for both cities show Seattle is making a little progress \u2014 and San Francisco certainly isn\u2019t.\n\nThe January tallies showed San Francisco\u2019s count soared 17% in two years alone, whereas King County, which includes Seattle, saw an 8% dip.\n\nThe portion of San Francisco\u2019s homeless population that is unsheltered \u2014 those living on the streets, in parks or in cars \u2014 jumped, whereas Seattle\u2019s dropped. In San Francisco, that figure rose from 4,353 in 2017 to 5,180 this year. In Seattle alone \u2014 not including the rest of King County \u2014 the number dropped from 3,841 in 2017 to 3,558 this year.\n\nNobody visiting Seattle would argue that city lacks a homeless problem \u2014 and the scenes in some neighborhoods are dire. But at least its numbers are moving in the right direction \u2014 slowly. Ours are moving the wrong way \u2014 fast.\n\nMayor London Breed told me a few weeks ago she\u2019d been talking to Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan for guidance \u2014 especially when it comes to building housing and homeless shelters.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve been doing a great job of aggressively getting more housing built in their city, and that\u2019s what we have to do,\u201d Breed said. \u201cThey\u2019ve increased the number of shelter beds. They\u2019re getting it done.\u201d\n\nBreed was clearly irked not only by City Hall\u2019s notoriously slow process for approving housing, but also by the so-called liberal San Franciscans who support helping the homeless as long as it\u2019s not anywhere near their comfortable homes.\n\n\u201cThey don\u2019t have people suing them when someone decides to build a shelter in their neighborhood,\u201d Breed said of Seattle, clearly contrasting it with the lawsuit Embarcadero neighbors filed against San Francisco to stop the building of a Navigation Center there.\n\nI called Seattle\u2019s mayor to learn more about the city\u2019s success in getting people off the streets. She said the biggest help has been working on housing and homelessness as part of a region rather than as a stand-alone city.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re looking at it more holistically,\u201d Durkan said.\n\nThe Puget Sound Regional Council includes more than 80 entities such as counties, cities, ports, transportation agencies and even tribal governments all crafting joint decisions about how to accommodate the 1 million additional people expected to live in the area by 2040.\n\nThat regional approach has been advocated in the Bay Area, but we\u2019ve seen little progress in improving collaboration. The Bay Area Council, a civic group that has long pushed for more regional planning, looks enviously to the Puget Sound Regional Council because it has \u201cthe ability to do things at scale that we can\u2019t do here,\u201d said Matt Regan, senior vice president of public policy. In the Bay Area, the nine counties and 101 cities and towns don\u2019t coordinate on much of anything \u2014 housing and homelessness included.\n\n\u201cWe all think it\u2019s someone else\u2019s responsibility to build housing,\u201d Regan said. \u201cWe all think it\u2019s someone else\u2019s responsibility to solve the homeless problem. We all think it\u2019s someone else\u2019s responsibility to do transit. And we get what we\u2019ve got.\u201d\n\nWhich is a region plagued by spiking homelessness, transportation dysfunction and a housing crisis.\n\nWashington state law requires all fast-growing cities and counties in the state to craft plans to accommodate the population growth \u2014 ranging from reducing sprawl to building affordable housing to preserving historical buildings and parks. Gov. Gavin Newsom should lead the charge on demanding all California cities address our housing shortage and homelessness crisis. (At least a new California law ends appeals for new Navigation Centers, so there\u2019s that.)\n\nEven with 20% fewer residents than San Francisco, Seattle produces far more housing \u2014 and as a result, their residents pay half as much rent as we do.\n\nSeattle has opened a record number of new apartments in the past year, and rents have flatlined or even dropped in some neighborhoods. In 2018, Seattle\u2019s metro area built 17,450 apartments, according to the Seattle Times. An additional 45,000 are in the pipeline.\n\nSan Francisco added just 2,579 housing units last year, the smallest gain since 2013. The city expects to add 4,700 new units this year. The slowness is largely because of our city\u2019s glacial process for approving housing \u2014 combined with skyrocketing construction costs and the city\u2019s impact fees, or taxes to offset public impacts of development, that total more than $165,000 per unit.\n\nAll housing in San Francisco is subject to discretionary review, meaning the process for approving it is long and exasperating \u2014 even if it meets zoning and other requirements. And any neighbor can stymie a project along the way.\n\nThat process doesn\u2019t exist in Seattle, where projects that meet all rules and regulations can get built more quickly.\n\nBenjamin Grant, urban design policy director for SPUR, said Seattle officials have referred to the \u201cSan Francisco death spiral\u201d when it comes to our city\u2019s horrible process for approving housing \u2014 or, more likely, preventing it.\n\n\u201cWe are used as a cautionary tale by them,\u201d Grant said.\n\nSeattle is also opening more permanent supportive housing for homeless people, as well as homeless shelters and other short-term accommodations.\n\nIt has eight \u201ctiny home\u201d villages featuring 328 tiny homes, which have locked doors and are big enough for a bed, microwave, toilet and sink. Oakland and San Jose have also started operating tiny home villages. In Seattle, each village houses up to 70 people, costs up to $500,000 to construct and takes just six months to build.\n\nSan Francisco officials have dismissed the villages because they\u2019re not long-term solutions and because unions object when their workers don\u2019t build them. Considering the crisis on our sidewalks, neither argument against the villages passes muster.\n\nSeattle has also turned some of its old-school shelters into \u201cenhanced shelters\u201d \u2014 adding the good characteristics of Navigation Centers like allowing people to bring their partners, pets and belongings and having more support staff on-site without having to build them from the ground up. People can stay in them as long as they need to rather than being kicked out after an arbitrary time window like at some San Francisco shelters.\n\n\u201cWhen I came in, the majority of our shelter was just emergency shelter \u2014 mats on the floor, short-term stays, very little services provided,\u201d Durkan said. \u201cWe have flipped that. ... (Enhanced shelters) are much more effective at moving people into long-term housing, and it\u2019s more humane.\u201d\n\nI\u2019ve been advocating for turning traditional shelters in San Francisco into quasi-Navigation Centers for years, but like so many ideas in San Francisco, it hasn\u2019t progressed much. City officials have long said they support the idea in theory but want to spend their money on expanding the number of beds in the shelter system and building more permanent supportive housing.\n\nBreed hopes the November ballot can begin to change San Francisco\u2019s dire housing picture and make the city a little more like Seattle. Voters will take up a $600 million housing bond and a separate measure to open big tracts of public land for 100% affordable and teacher housing. She\u2019s also chipping away at her goal of opening 1,000 new shelter beds by the end of 2020.\n\n\u201cWe have to get more aggressive with housing production, we have to provide more shelter beds, and we have to have more places for people to go if we\u2019re going to put a dent in the biggest challenge facing our city,\u201d she said.\n\nAt least she\u2019s got somewhere to look for a little help.\n\nSan Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight appears Sundays and Tuesdays. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf Instagram: @heatherknightsf"}
-{"text": "Prenez note que cet article publi\u00e9 en 2018 pourrait contenir des informations qui ne sont plus \u00e0 jour.\n\nUn rapport v\u00e9t\u00e9rinaire command\u00e9 par le professeur de droit de l'Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al Alain Roy soutient que les rod\u00e9os organis\u00e9s l'an dernier \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al et \u00e0 Saint-Tite sont ill\u00e9gaux en vertu du droit qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois.\n\nLe rapport de 600 pages a \u00e9t\u00e9 r\u00e9alis\u00e9 par le Dr Jean-Jacques Kona-Boun, un m\u00e9decin v\u00e9t\u00e9rinaire anesth\u00e9siste qui a assist\u00e9 au rod\u00e9o organis\u00e9 dans le cadre du 375e anniversaire de Montr\u00e9al et aux rod\u00e9os du Festival western de Saint-Tite, en Mauricie.\n\nLe Dr Jean-Jacques Kona-Boun a \u00e9galement visionn\u00e9 des vid\u00e9os des \u00e9v\u00e9nements, film\u00e9s par trois observateurs d\u00e9p\u00each\u00e9s \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al et \u00e0 Saint-Tite avec acc\u00e8s illimit\u00e9s aux installations et aux animaux.\n\nLe m\u00e9decin v\u00e9t\u00e9rinaire conclut que \u00ab les activit\u00e9s de dressage qui ont cours dans le cadre des rod\u00e9os tenus conform\u00e9ment aux normes appliqu\u00e9es \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al et \u00e0 Saint-Tite soumettent les chevaux et les taureaux qui en sont l'objet \u00e0 des risques de l\u00e9sions, telles que des fractures ou d'autres blessures s\u00e9rieuses. Il en va de m\u00eame des activit\u00e9s de prise de veaux au lasso et de terrassement de bouvillons. \u00bb\n\nLa d\u00e9tresse psychologique v\u00e9cue par l'ensemble des animaux utilis\u00e9s lors de telles activit\u00e9s est \u00e9galement bien r\u00e9elle. Extrait du rapport du Dr Jean-Jacques Kona-Boun\n\nLe rapport dans lequel s'inscrivent ces observations fait suite \u00e0 la demande d'injonction qu\u2019avaient d\u00e9pos\u00e9e le professeur Roy et ses \u00e9tudiants au printemps 2017 pour obtenir l'annulation des activit\u00e9s de rod\u00e9o organis\u00e9es dans le cadre du 375e anniversaire de Montr\u00e9al.\n\nLe rapport a \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9pos\u00e9 au Comit\u00e9 consultatif sur les rod\u00e9os cr\u00e9\u00e9 en ao\u00fbt 2017 par le minist\u00e8re de l'Agriculture, des P\u00eacheries et de l'Alimentation du Qu\u00e9bec (MAPAQ).\n\nDes traitements incompatibles avec la loi\n\nLe professeur de droit Alain Roy somme Qu\u00e9bec de respecter sa Loi sur le bien-\u00eatre et la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 de l\u2019animal, adopt\u00e9e en d\u00e9cembre 2015.\n\nCette loi interdit entre autres les abus ou les mauvais traitements pouvant affecter la sant\u00e9 des \u00eatres animaux ou les actions ou omissions les exposant \u00e0 de la d\u00e9tresse.\n\nAgrandir l\u2019image \ufeff (Nouvelle fen\u00eatre) \ufeff \ufeff Un cowboy tente d'attrapper un bouvillon au lasso au Festival western de Saint-Tite Photo : Michelle Raza (ICI Radio-Canada)\n\n\u00ab Le traitement r\u00e9serv\u00e9 aux chevaux, taureaux, veaux et bouvillons utilis\u00e9s dans le cadre des rod\u00e9os est inconciliable avec les dispositions de la nouvelle loi, l'animal n'\u00e9tant plus consid\u00e9r\u00e9 comme un objet, mais comme un \u00eatre dou\u00e9 de sensibilit\u00e9 dont le bien-\u00eatre et la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 doivent \u00eatre assur\u00e9s \u00bb, a soulign\u00e9 Alain Roy.\n\nQuand on voit [comme sur la vid\u00e9o] un bouvillon qui se fait tordre le cou \u00e0 180 degr\u00e9s, je ne pense qu\u2019on le traite comme un \u00eatre sensible. Le professeur de droit Alain Roy, en entrevue \u00e0 RDI en direct\n\nIl revient maintenant au comit\u00e9 consultatif sur les rod\u00e9os mis en place par le MAPAQ d'\u00e9tudier les observations et analyses du Dr Kona-Boun.\n\nLe professeur Roy esp\u00e8re que le gouvernement du Qu\u00e9bec se conformera \u00e0 sa propre loi. Il souligne que les d\u00e9fenseurs du droit animaliers pourraient entreprendre d\u2019autres d\u00e9marches judiciaires le cas \u00e9ch\u00e9ant.\n\nUn rapport tendancieux, selon le Festival western de Saint-Tite\n\nLe directeur g\u00e9n\u00e9ral du Festival western de Saint-Tite, Pascal Lafreni\u00e8re, a \u00e9reint\u00e9 le rapport command\u00e9 par Alain Roy. Il critique le fait qu\u2019il ait \u00e9t\u00e9 r\u00e9alis\u00e9 par un seul v\u00e9t\u00e9rinaire et qu\u2019il favorise \u00ab une interpr\u00e9tation abusive \u00bb de la Loi sur la sant\u00e9 et la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 de l\u2019animal.\n\nPascal Lafreni\u00e8re n\u2019est pas \u00e9tonn\u00e9 de la teneur du rapport. \u00ab Alain Roy s\u2019\u00e9tait d\u00e9j\u00e0 prononc\u00e9 par le pass\u00e9 avant m\u00eame de voir un rod\u00e9o, qu\u2019il n\u2019a finalement jamais vu \u00bb, a-t-il dit au micro de Facteur matinal.\n\nLe Festival western de Saint-Tite a par ailleurs lui aussi fait faire des expertises sur les m\u00eames images analys\u00e9es dans le rapport du Dr Jean-Jacques Kona-Boun. La sp\u00e9cialiste du traitement animal Jennifer Woods a conclu n\u2019y \u00ab avoir vu aucun abus, n\u00e9gligence, ou comportement inacceptable de la part des organisateurs, b\u00e9n\u00e9voles ou comp\u00e9titeurs \u00bb.\n\nPascal Lafreni\u00e8re a aussi rappel\u00e9 que des repr\u00e9sentants du MAPAQ n\u2019ont formul\u00e9 aucune recommandation ni soulev\u00e9 aucune anomalie \u00e0 la suite de leur visite au Festival western de Saint-Tite en 2017.\n\nLe DG du plus grand festival western au Qu\u00e9bec a r\u00e9it\u00e9r\u00e9 que son organisation veille \u00e0 respecter les lois en vigueur et le bien-\u00eatre animal. Il reconna\u00eet cependant que la nature m\u00eame des rod\u00e9os comporte certains risques pour les participants, tant pour les humains que les animaux. \u00ab On parle de gestion du risque et le risque z\u00e9ro n\u2019existe pas \u00bb, a expliqu\u00e9 Pascal Lafreni\u00e8re.\n\nL\u2019organisation du Festival a confirm\u00e9 qu\u2019elle souhaite continuer \u00e0 prendre part au Comit\u00e9 consultatif sur les rod\u00e9os. La prochaine rencontre du Comit\u00e9 est pr\u00e9vue pour la fin du mois d'avril.\n\nQu\u00e9bec r\u00e9it\u00e8re son appui au Festival western de Saint-Tite\n\nLa ministre du Tourisme Julie Boulet, qui est \u00e9galement d\u00e9put\u00e9e de Laviolette, la circonscription o\u00f9 se trouve Saint-Tite, a r\u00e9it\u00e9r\u00e9 sa confiance envers le comit\u00e9 organisateur du Festival western de Saint-Tite.\n\n\u00c0 sa sortie du caucus, \u00e0 l\u2019Assembl\u00e9e nationale, la ministre Boulet a reconnu que la tenue des rod\u00e9os doit se faire de mani\u00e8re encadr\u00e9e, en respect du bien-\u00eatre et de la sant\u00e9 animale. Elle a par la suite soulign\u00e9 que l\u2019organisation du Festival western s\u2019est toujours conform\u00e9e aux r\u00e8gles.\n\nIls se sont fait un devoir de mettre en place les meilleures pratiques en respect des animaux. (Le Festival) est aussi un moteur \u00e9conomique exceptionnel pour la r\u00e9gion. S\u2019ils font bien les choses, en respect du bien-\u00eatre animal, ils pourront continuer leurs activit\u00e9s. La ministre du Tourisme et ministre responsable de la Mauricie, Julie Boulet\n\nLe ministre de l\u2019Agriculture, des P\u00eacheries et de l\u2019Alimentation (MAPAQ), Laurent Lessard, a pour sa part ajout\u00e9 que son minist\u00e8re souhaite obtenir du Festival de Saint-Tite un protocole pr\u00e9cis pour l\u2019encadrement de ses activit\u00e9s.\n\nLes v\u00e9t\u00e9rinaires du MAPAQ en service seront alors mieux \u00e0 m\u00eame de se prononcer sur le respect du bien-\u00eatre animal pendant les rod\u00e9os."}
-{"text": "Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau has taken a leave of absence due to a family matter, coach Glen Gulutzan announced Sunday.\n\nAs a result, Gaudreau won't play Monday vs. the Los Angeles Kings. The Flames didn't provide a timetable on when he'll return.\n\nGaudreau has appeared in all 76 games this season, and has 23 goals and 59 assists, good for first in team scoring.\n\nCalgary has six games remaining and sits nine points back of a playoff position."}
-{"text": "Historically, the public at large has shown themselves to be quite disinterested in living longer. Over the years I've been aware of the longevity science movement, it has always been a challenge to expand the community towards greater acceptance, support, and funding. As an example of attitudes we observe, you might look at the Pew survey of attitudes to life extension from a few years back, in which the people surveyed generally agreed that they wanted to live a few years longer than their peers - in the same sort of way as a house should be just a little bit larger than those of the neighbors, to make the point, but not so much so as to be gauche. Humanity is ever petty in the details when conducting any of its grand madnesses; we can see that in even a cursory glance across a lengthy history of what is, by modern standards, a series of sweeping, cruel insanities. Yet we will be judged just as harshly by those yet to come.\n\nAre we asking the right questions? It has long been thought in our community, though gathering supporting evidence for this hypothesis is ever a difficult proposition, that people are on the whole unenthused by the prospect of longevity because they instinctively feel that a longer life would mean becoming ever more decrepit and sick. They think that superlongevity would mean a collapse into an exaggerated caricature of a wizened elder, unable to do anything other than suffer ever more bitterly. This hypothesis for the public rejection of longevity science for so many years was outlined more than a decade ago, and brought up again at the time of the aforementioned Pew study.\n\nYet \"older for longer\" is not the outcome that rejuvenation therapies will achieve. It was never the plan, and no researcher has ever claimed to be working towards that end. Functional, working rejuvenation biotechnologies based on periodic repair of the cell and tissue damage that causes aging will instead postpone aging in the young, and restore health and youthful ability to the old. They will turn back age-related disease. The future is not being older for longer, but rather being younger for longer. This has proven to be a very difficult message to deliver; it has been repeated over and again, and never seems to stick.\n\nYet in the past few years, a few small surveys have shown that if you ask the right questions in the right context, then ordinary, everyday people will say that they want greater longevity. The right question is whether or not one would want to live longer if health is guaranteed for those additional years. Focus on the health, and people inch towards wanting more time. We have yet to collectively figure out how this should translate into our advocacy for rejuvenation research - it isn't quite as straightforward as one would hope. After all, the message we have delivered for years is exactly that we want to extend health as well as overall life span, and that in fact the only practical way to achieve longevity is to provide greater and longer-lasting health.\n\nPeople say they want to live longer - if in good health\n\nLongevity is a such a pervasive goal in public health policy and even popular media, but individually most people only want to live long lives if they will be healthy, according to a new study. \"People in three cultures from around the world are reluctant to specify their desired longevity. To me this is interesting because longevity is such a valued public health objective, but at the individual level, longer lives are a goal 'only if' I remain healthy.\" The results of these interviews reinforce previous findings from this research group that revealed many older adults - in various cultures - think of life as not a smooth continuum of time but segmented into different states. The researchers refer to four \"ages\" or stages of life, including the third age, which is an active retirement where people leave traditional work and family roles, followed by the fourth age. \"People seem to view one part of the future as wanted and another as not wanted, typically the 'fourth age' which is basically the period when one might experience a disability or a potential health decline.\" For this study, the researchers interviewed 30 people in each country, and they recruited the sample with sex and age quotas to reflect a range of experience with retirement. About one-third of respondents did not express aspirations for a longer life. \"Some felt their lives had already reached a stage of completion, and others as a form of fate acceptance.\" A larger number of respondents did mention they wanted to extend their lives. Yet less than half of that group noted a specific amount of time they desired to live. The strongest opinion among that group was the desire to live longer only if they maintained their current or what they deemed to be acceptable levels of health.\n\nIs longevity a value for older adults?"}
-{"text": "How To Counter PA Post Shot In Madden 18\n\nIn today\u2019s Madden School tip, SnA Exclusive is going over a way to stop one of the most popular plays in Madden 18, PA Post Shot.\n\nYou can check it out below.\n\nPlaybook: Baltimore Ravens (Kansas City Chiefs and others)\n\nFormation: 3-4 Bear\n\nPlay: Cover 2 Invert\n\nSetup:\n\nMake sure the Bear formation is stacked to the side of the formation with all of the wide receivers Base align Crash your defensive line out Blitz the OLB on the side of the WR\u2019s QB Contain or Pass commit\n\nOverview: PA Post Shot is one of the most OP plays in the game right now due to how terrible zone coverage is in it\u2019s current state.\n\nTo counter this extremely popular and powerful play, we\u2019re going to basically put a guy in the backfield every snap and force the QB to play into our defense or make a bad read.\n\nLet\u2019s take a closer look at how this play works.\n\nThis is how the play art should look when you have the defense set up properly.\n\nYou can see right away that our OLB on the left side of the screen is coming in free right away.\n\nWe get a sack before the quarterback can get the throw off.\n\nWe already have 3 premium Madden 18 eBooks available! You can check them out at the links below. Or you can get all of themand every other eBook we release the entire year by joining Madden School Unlimited."}
-{"text": "Yoo Seon Ho recently opened up about his audition for Cube Entertainment during a recent interview and confessed that he still doesn\u2019t understand why they picked him.\n\nThe trainee received a lot of love during his appearance on Mnet\u2019s \u201cProduce 101 Season 2\u201d and was given the nickname \u201cbyeongari [baby chick].\u201d True to that nickname, he was playful and full of energy throughout the interview, making faces while taking photos and bursting out into laughter at his own antics.\n\nWhen asked about how he entered Cube Entertainment, Yoo Seon Ho explained, \u201cI caught the eye of a recruiter while my school band was at a youth arts festival. They told me to come audition for Cube, and at first, I said no because I couldn\u2019t sing or dance. I did it anyway to gain some experience but then I actually got in.\u201d He laughed as he added, \u201cI still don\u2019t understand why my company picked me. Why did they do that?\u201d\n\nHe went on to state that for his first audition, he prepared Apink\u2019s \u201cNoNoNo\u201d while for the second round, he attempted to perform EXO\u2019s \u201cGrowl.\u201d However, when the music came on, his mind went blank and he just stood there, frozen and unable to do anything. Yoo Seon Ho said, \u201cI thought I\u2019d obviously blown it, but I got a call saying that they were taking me in. I told my parents and they first thought I was joking. I still don\u2019t get how I got in.\u201d\n\nYoo Seon Ho also confessed that he had wanted to look cool for his audition, so he just took some wax and pushed back his hair because that\u2019s the only thing he could think of doing. He further reminisced about his audition as he added, \u201cMy friends who were in our school\u2019s dance club taught me the choreography. But I totally forgot how to dance to \u2018Growl\u2019 once the music came on. I was told off by the head of our agency during that audition. He told me that he could probably dance better than I could.\u201d\n\nAsked if he\u2019s ever found his training hard, Yoo Seon Ho joked, \u201cI only started early last fall. My training period has been so short that I haven\u2019t had time to go through hardships.\u201d\n\nHe ended the interview by speaking about what kind of idol he wants to become, now that he\u2019s had a taste of the stage through \u201cProduce 101 Season 2.\u201d Yoo Seon Ho said, \u201cAs an idol, I want to be recognized by people for my skills, and I want to try composing songs. I want to be a great singer. My motto in life is to never give up, because the moment you do is when things are truly over. I never want to give up on anything.\u201d\n\nSource (1)"}
-{"text": "Infowars\u2019 Owen Shroyer breaks down the day\u2019s biggest news stories including Nancy Pelosi\u2019s latest ridiculous publicity stunt.\n\nWatch LIVE: Nancy Pelosi Pushes Voter Fraud & Violence On White House Steps https://t.co/5hUFpwcULT \u2014 Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) July 20, 2017\n\nThe Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today!"}
-{"text": "Vie de l'assembl\u00e9e\n\nPubli\u00e9 le 11/01/2018\n\nTags :\n\nCinqui\u00e8me langue parl\u00e9e au monde, langue officielle de 32 \u00c9tats et 28 gouvernements, deuxi\u00e8me langue des organisations internationales ou langue \u00e9trang\u00e8re apprise dans le monde, le fran\u00e7ais pourrait devenir \u00e0 l'\u00e9ch\u00e9ance 2050, la deuxi\u00e8me langue mondiale au vu du potentiel d\u00e9mographique des pays francophones, en particulier en Afrique.\n\nLa section explore dans ce projet les pistes qui permettraient \u00e0 la France de mieux r\u00e9pondre, pour la part qui est la sienne, aux attentes exprim\u00e9es dans l'espace francophone.\n\nEn pr\u00e9cisant le r\u00f4le de la France dans une francophonie dynamique, la section, \u00e0 travers ce projet d'avis, entend porter un \u00e9clairage non seulement sur la gouvernance de la Francophonie institutionnelle, mais \u00e9galement sur la capacit\u00e9 de la Francophonie \u00e0 porter des messages entendus dans les espaces francophones et dans le monde."}
-{"text": "Fourthly, now this may not be popular with many but I believe it to be true. Under Assad, lives of Syrians were by no means perfect but they sure were far better than what we see today. The reality is that under Assad, Jews, Christians and Muslims lived together, side by side. Under IS rule in many parts of Syria, thousands of Christians, Muslims and other religious communities have been and are being persecuted. We must reinstate Assad, however bad of a person he is, as the leader of Syria again to restore stability and to topple IS, but with certain strict clauses, such as regular, fair, democratic elections, international cooperation with the United Nations. In return, we should drop the war crimes and we actually start to rebuild Syria and as an international community we must provide the funding for such an essential cause."}
-{"text": "The bill was approved by the California state Senate on Wednesday and has broad support in the Assembly, which passed an earlier version and is expected to concur in several Senate amendments before sending it to Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown.\n\nAD\n\nCalifornia law, like laws in other states, already bars use of an electronic device to listen in on or record people without their permission.\n\nAD\n\nThe new measure, authored by Assembly member Jimmy Gomez with the backing of Planned Parenthood, protects health-care providers in particular and would prohibit the intentional disclosure of such recordings, video or audio, without the consent of all parties \u201cin any forum, including, but not limited to, Internet Web sites and social media, or for any purpose \u2026\u201d\n\nViolation would be punishable by a fine, a one-year jail term or both for a first offense and by a potentially greater fine, a one-year jail term or both for subsequent offenses.\n\nAD\n\n\u201cAfter the video smear campaign last summer, we experienced a ninefold increase in violence against our providers and our health centers,\u201d Beth Parker, chief legal counsel for Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, told the Los Angeles Times.\n\n\u201cWith the Internet and the tremendous wildfire nature in which news can be spread now through social media, we need to have a crime against distribution by those in particular who did the illegal recording,\u201d Parker said.\n\nAD\n\nThe legislation is opposed not only by antiabortion groups but by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which advocates for free speech and civil liberties in the digital world.\n\nAD\n\nThe Los Angeles Times editorialized against it as well, noting that the prohibition \u201cwould apply regardless of what the healthcare provider was discussing \u2014 not just sensitive details about patients, but also private conversations about fees and billing practices, drug marketers, or plans for the weekend. Why a healthcare provider merits special protection even when discussing things that don\u2019t involve patient privacy is mystifying.\u201d\n\nAfter an outcry from news organizations, which feared the measure would be applied to them, it was amended to make it clear that news organizations would not be prosecuted if they did not participate in the recording.\n\nAD\n\nThe antiabortion activists, David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, used hidden cameras, fake driver\u2019s licenses and mock Facebook pages in an attempt to prove that Planned Parenthood sells fetal tissue left over from abortions for scientific research.\n\nAD\n\nDaleiden spent 30 months posing as a representative from a tissue procurement company, lunching with top Planned Parenthood executives and gaining access to private areas of clinics. Last summer, he released several edited videos as well as longer footage of his secretly recorded encounters.\n\nNo wrongdoing was found by Planned Parenthood, but a grand jury in Texas brought charges against Daleiden and Merritt of tampering with public records. Those charges were dropped in July."}
-{"text": "AT&T\n\nThe Federal Communications Commission has zeroed in on AT&T's practice of zero rating.\n\nIn a letter Wednesday, the FCC outlined \"serious concerns\" it has about AT&T's practice of exempting its own streaming-video services from wireless customers' mobile data allotments, while counting content from other providers against the allotments.\n\nAT&T's current practice, through its \"Sponsored Data\" program, \"may obstruct competition and harm consumers by constraining their ability to access existing and future mobile video services not affiliated with AT&T,\" the FCC's Jon Wilkins wrote in a letter to Bob Quinn, head of AT&T's external and legislative affairs.\n\nIn September, AT&T began letting wireless customers stream DirecTV (assuming they subscribe to both) without it counting against their data usage, a practice known as zero rating. AT&T may do the same for its $35-a-month DirecTV Now online video service when that launches later this month.\n\nAT&T spent $49 billion to buy DirecTV in 2015 so it could serve up bundles of wireless, home broadband, video and home phone services. AT&T is now working to acquire Time Warner -- home to channels including HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network and movie studios Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema -- in a massive $85.4 billion deal. With Time Warner in the fold, AT&T could theoretically serve you wireless and home internet service through its traditional business, deliver satellite TV via DirecTV and produce many of the television shows and films you watch.\n\nIn response to the letter, AT&T said its services are incredibly popular and that they let consumers say goodbye to traditional cable TV companies.\n\nIn an emailed statement Thursday, Quinn said the following:\n\n\"With our Data Free TV offer, DirecTV picks up the tab for our Mobility customers' data use when they're streaming content. For example, consumers can watch DirecTV content -- such as NBC, Fox News, CBS, CNN, ESPN -- all on their AT&T mobile devices without incurring any data changes. While we welcome additional questions, we hope the FCC will consider the enormous value consumers find in obtaining free data or free streaming where someone else is footing the bill for their data.\"\n\nThe FCC said AT&T has until November 21 to respond to its concerns."}
-{"text": "I lived in the Bible Belt when I was an atheist. Was I discriminated against? I don\u2019t know. Maybe. I do know that the service industry jobs I applied for were always happy that I was willing to work on Sundays. Discrimination was a term I never thought about in regards to myself. I guess I was more self-sufficient and confident than today\u2019s atheists. Definitely more so than those who live in Portland, Oregon. Apparently, the 42 percent of Portland residents who identify as atheist, agnostic, or a religious \u201cnone\u201d have been suffering under a great wave of persecution in their city, because Portland has passed an ordinance protecting their rights.\n\nPortland City Commissioner Amanda Fritz submitted the ordinance for consideration early in February. It has since been passed unanimously and will go into force starting on March 29. The Portland Tribune reports that Cheryl Kolbe, president of the Portland chapter of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, speaking from Commissioner Fritz\u2019s office, exclaimed:\n\nThis change says that Portland chooses to make certain that non-believers receive the same protection from discrimination as those in any form of religion. This is very affirming for those of us who are atheist, agnostic or any other form of non-belief. It is the right thing to do.\n\nSetting aside the absurd notion that atheists and those who claim to be religious nones are being persecuted in Portland, of all places, where they make up the largest identity group by percentage, it\u2019s helpful to ask what rights this ordinance protects? I mean, I don\u2019t live in Portland. I live in Arlington, Va., which is not exactly a friendly place for conservative Christians. Yet, if I were to be punched in the face because of my religious beliefs, my assailant would be arrested (ask the leftist dude in Berkeley how punching a conservative has worked out for him). If I were to find myself on the receiving end of verbal abuse, I would have legal recourse to shut it down. Not to mention that most people wouldn\u2019t stand for it. If the roles were reversed and I punched an atheist in the face, I would be arrested, even if I had committed the assault in the Bible Belt. Laws already exist that are intended to keep citizens from harassing and assaulting each other.\n\nHowever, the Portland Tribune points out that \u201cPolls consistently show that many Americans do not trust and would not elect an atheist as President, nor believe they should have the opportunity to teach in public school.\u201d\n\nOkay. For one thing, I\u2019m fairly confident that the vast majority of leftists would refuse to vote for me for POTUS solely because I am a conservative Christian \u2014 a Southern Baptist, to boot! And I do not feel the least bit discriminated against. Going a step further, I would be appalled if people were required to ignore my religious affiliation if I were to run for public office. Private individuals should have the right to support or reject candidates based on their own values. Not to mention that ordinances like the one that was just passed in Portland (and the first one that was passed in Madison, Wisc.) cannot control people when they step into the voting booth. I mean, there are ways to effectively police people\u2019s thoughts, but I would highly discourage our society from treading down that path.\n\nWhile I\u2019m no legal eagle, I\u2019m pretty confident that existing regulations prohibit municipalities from denying atheists jobs as teachers. Frankly, public school systems have demonstrated a stunning disregard for the preferences of parents. Parents who don\u2019t want to have an atheist teaching their children are spitting into the wind if they choose public schools over private schools or homeschooling.\n\nPortland\u2019s new ordinance is nothing more than virtue signaling and a call for leftists to continue their efforts to reshape this country into a progressive paradise (see my link above about effectively policing people\u2019s thoughts).\n\nI would be remiss if I didn\u2019t point out that atheism is less about what we confess with our mouth and more about what we confess with our life. Psalm 14:1 explains, \u201cThe fool says in his heart, \u2018There is no God.'\u201d\n\nChecking off the \u201ccorrect\u201d box on census forms, many Americans claim to believe in God. Sadly, they live in a manner that demonstrates that they don\u2019t really believe in God. At least not the God of the Bible. They\u2019re what theologians refer to as \u201cpractical atheists.\u201d In other words, their actions do not demonstrate any level of understanding of who God is, much less the desire to submit to Him. They live in service to themselves while ignoring God\u2019s command to repent and believe in Jesus Christ, submitting to His Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. They\u2019re the fool who declares his atheism in his heart. I\u2019ll say this for Portland\u2019s atheists: at least they\u2019re honest and declare it with their lips."}
-{"text": "El adolescente de 14 a\u00f1os que fue asesinado por otro de 17 a la salida de una escuela del barrio porte\u00f1o de Floresta, recibi\u00f3 20 pu\u00f1aladas en 18 segundos, seg\u00fan qued\u00f3 registrado en un video de una c\u00e1mara de seguridad.\n\nLa c\u00e1mara grab\u00f3 la secuencia completa en la esquina de las avenidas Segurola y Rivadavia, a nueve cuadras del colegio en el que estudiaban.\n\nEn el video se observa que la v\u00edctima, identificada como Ariel Beimar Fern\u00e1ndez Orellana, de 14 a\u00f1os, est\u00e1 manteniendo una conversaci\u00f3n cara a cara con el agresor \u2013cuya identidad se mantiene en reserva\u2013, cuando de repente recibe la primera pu\u00f1alada a la altura del pecho.\n\nColegio T\u00e9cnico Cornelio Saavedra, Av. Lacarra y Av. Directorio\n\nFern\u00e1ndez Orellana cay\u00f3 herido al piso, boca arriba, y all\u00ed el asesino arremeti\u00f3 y le aplic\u00f3 una primera tanda de 15 pu\u00f1aladas en la zona del t\u00f3rax y el abdomen en forma repetida y a gran velocidad.\n\nEn un momento se observa que una tercera persona (probablemente una chica) intenta apartarlo de encima de la v\u00edctima, pero al cabo de unos segundos, el joven vuelve a atacar al adolescente y le aplica otras cinco pu\u00f1aladas.\n\nMinutos despu\u00e9s del criminal ataque lleg\u00f3 al lugar una ambulancia del SAME que traslad\u00f3 a ambos j\u00f3venes \u2013el atacante se intent\u00f3 suicidar\u2013 al hospital Pi\u00f1ero, pero Fern\u00e1ndez Orellana no resisti\u00f3 y muri\u00f3 en el camino.\n\nEl joven atacante fue intervenido quir\u00fargicamente por la autolesi\u00f3n y a\u00fan continuaba internado y custodiado por personal policial de la Comisar\u00eda 40."}
-{"text": "Green Car Reports is carrying the story that the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA) has written a sharply worded letter to the California state Department of Motor Vehicles, accusing Tesla Motors of engaging \"in a long-term advertising strategy to mislead consumers.\" The complaint is centered on the pricing calculator featured on Tesla Motors' website, which purports to give an \"effective monthly cost\" of owning a Tesla Model S.\n\nThe CNCDA's nine-page letter lists about a dozen specific complaints with Tesla Motors' \"True Cost of Ownership\" page, most of which fall into two broad categories: savings that are calculated using outside credits or assumptions, and savings that are based on difficult-to-quantify or difficult-to-achieve metrics. For example, the site displays a price for its vehicles that includes the $7,500 federal Plug-In Electric Drive Vehicle Credit, it adds monthly cost offsets based on the money a Model S owner will get when they eventually sell the car, and it adds monthly cost offsets based on time saved by using a carpool lane and not sitting at gas stations filling up. The CNCDA also takes issue with the \"Electricity vs. Gasoline\" savings calculator.\n\nTo be sure, some of those cost offsets sound a little dubious, and it's obviously in Tesla's best interests to make buying a Model S as attractive as possible. The CNCDA's complaints don't necessarily appear to be that Tesla is offering this information, but rather that it appears to be presenting to consumers a modified per-month cost that includes factors it deems specious\u2014or that it believes violate automobile advertising laws. Much of the letter is concerned with calling out specific California statutes that the CNCDA alleges Tesla is violating.\n\nSome of the claims of the CNCDA are particularly puzzling\u2014for example, page six of the letter includes this allegation:\n\n1. Advertised Cash Price Quote Includes Tax Credit: This price quote is inclusive of potential claimed savings through federal tax credits. a. The tax credit is completely irrelevant to the purchase price for the Model S. Whether the customer never applies for the credit, has insufficient tax liability to claim the full tax credit, or can claim the full credit, the tax credit has no bearing on the purchase price of the Model S. b. Last year, the Congressional Budget Office studied the efficacy of the federal tax credit for electric vehicles and concluded that only 20% of potential tax filers have the tax liability sufficient to qualify for the full $7,500 tax credit. By including the tax credit in the advertised price quote for the vehicle, Tesla is misleading 80% of the population of the actual purchase price of the vehicle, even net of the federal tax credit.\n\nThe cited study, available here, correctly points out that it requires a federal tax liability of at least $7,500 to receive the full $7,500 credit, and some quick and dirty calculation shows that a married couple filing jointly would need a combined household income of $76,000 or more to hit that mark.\n\nThere are two obvious problems with the CNCDA's complaint. First, Tesla Model S prices start at over $70,000, so buyers are likely to be high earners. Second, and far more egregiously, other car manufacturers show the same savings on their websites. Chevrolet, for example, advertises an MSRP of $26,685 for their electric Volt, with fine print immediately next to the price that says, \"Price after tax savings. Net price shown includes the full $7,500 tax credit.\" Even more egregious is that the Volt is targeted at a much less-affluent buyer than Tesla's offerings, so Volt buyers are statistically more likely to not qualify for the full credit.\n\nUltimately, the CNCDA's letter is the latest shot fired in a much larger war against Tesla's disruptive approach to selling vehicles. It strikes us as particularly ludicrous to see an association of car dealers calling out a car manufacturer for what it sees as deceptive pricing practices, considering the lengths car dealerships have been accused of going to disguise and distort the same pricing information.\n\nListing image by Tesla Motors"}
-{"text": "March 26th, 2014\n\nMonday\u2019s announcement of Brendan Eich as the new CEO of Mozilla brought a lot of reactions. Many people were excited about what this meant for Mozilla, and our emphasis on protecting the open Web. In the next few days we\u2019ll see more from Brendan and the leadership team on the opportunities in front of us. Before that, however, both Brendan and I want to address a particular concern that has been raised about Mozilla\u2019s commitment to inclusiveness for LGBT individuals and community, and whether Brendan\u2019s role as CEO might diminish this commitment at Mozilla.\n\nThe short answer: Mozilla\u2019s commitment to inclusiveness for our LGBT community, and for all underrepresented groups, will not change. Acting for or on behalf of Mozilla, it is unacceptable to limit opportunity for *anyone* based on the nature of sexual orientation and/or gender identity. This is not only a commitment, it is our identity.\n\nThis commitment is a key requirement for all leadership within Mozilla, including for the CEO, and Brendan shares this commitment as the new Chief Executive Officer.\n\nSecond, I\u2019ll point to Brendan\u2019s comments on this topic.\n\nThird, I\u2019ll note that two years ago we had an open conversation and co-creation process about how we make sure our community supports all members, including all forms of gender and sexual orientation. The process, with me as the draftsperson, resulted in the Community Participation Guidelines. These Guidelines mandate that (1) each of us must be inclusive of all community members, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity and more, and (2) any exclusionary approach you might practice elsewhere must be left at the door, and not be brought into Mozilla\u2019s spaces.\n\nWe expect everyone, regardless of role or title, to be committed to the breadth of inclusiveness described in the Guidelines. These Guidelines are in addition to our inclusive and non-discriminatory policies which apply particularly to employees. As a practical, concrete example we\u2019ve also been pushing the boundaries to offer excellent health benefits across the board, to domestic partners and all married couples, same-sex and otherwise.\n\nMy experience is that Brendan is as committed to opportunity and diversity inside Mozilla as anyone, and more so than many. This commitment to opportunity for all within Mozilla has been a key foundation of our work for many years. I see it in action regularly.\n\nThe CEO role is obviously a key role, with a large amount of authority. The CEO must have a commitment to the inclusive nature of Mozilla. This includes of course a commitment to the Community Participation Guidelines, inclusive HR practices and the spirit that underlies them. Brendan has made this commitment.\n\nFinally, I\u2019ve been asked a few times about my own personal views, and so I\u2019ll add a short comment.\n\nI am an avid supporter of equal rights for all. I support equal rights for the LGBT community, I support equal rights for underrepresented groups, and I have some pretty radical views about the role of underrepresented groups in social institutions. I was surprised in 2012, when his donation in support of Proposition 8 came to light, to learn that Brendan and I aren\u2019t in close alignment here, since I\u2019ve never seen any indication of anything other than inclusiveness in our work together (note: I\u2019ve edited this sentence to give clarity).\n\nI spend most of my time focused on building an open Internet, which I think is a required infrastructure for empowerment for everyone and where I think I can add something that\u2019s tricky to replace. If I weren\u2019t doing this, I\u2019d probably be spending a good chunk of my life focused more directly on equality issues."}
-{"text": "The alarm of a catastrophic meltdown of the Antarctic cycles up and down every year or two. A journal article says the rate of melt is increasing, the popular press picks up on it and breathlessly warns about huge sea level rises sinking coastal cities around the world. We are told that x number of gigatonnes of ice per year are being dumped off the continent and wreaking their havoc on the world. Then another study says \u201cnot so fast,\u201d the mass losses aren\u2019t that great after all. Or, some crazy old skeptics ruin all the fun by recklessly bringing some logic to the discussion.\n\nToday we have \u201cVolume loss from Antarctic ice shelves is accelerating\u201d (Paolo, et. al., Science, 2015). The abstract warns us\n\n\u201cOverall, average ice-shelf volume change accelerated from negligible loss at 25 \u00b1 64 km3 per year for 1994-2003 to rapid loss of 310 \u00b1 74 km3 per year for 2003-2012.\u201d\n\n310 km3 per year (roughly the same as 310 gigatonnes per year) is pretty high compared to most other estimates. So you will probably see many references to this number because the bigger and scarier the more the press likes it. But for the more sober minded, consider the following comparison of ice loss estimates from \u201cIce sheet mass balance and climate change\u201d (Hanna, et. al., Nature, 2013)\n\nHow does the recent Science paper compare? If we place it on estimate plots from Hanna\u2019s paper it would look like this..\n\nThe Paolo Nature paper is an outlier. But lets take them at their word. They say that the Antarctic, on average, shed about 300 more Gigatonnes of ice per year during the 2003 to 2012 period than during the 1994 to 2003 period. Where did all this ice go? In to the oceans, of course. That is why we have the great sea level rise scare.\n\nSo it follows that the sea level should have been rising faster during the 2003 to 2012 period than during the 1994 to 2003 year period. How much faster? Well, every gigatonne of water dumped into the oceans raises the sea level by about 2.78 microns. So 300 gigatonnes of extra water per year would raise the sea levels about an extra 840 microns a year, or about an extra 0.84 mm per year. We are told that satellite data indicates that the global sea level is rising about 3 mm per year. 0.84 mm per year is a significant fraction of 3 mm per year, so such a rate increase should really stand out in the sea level rise data..\n\nWell, here is some of that satellite sea level rise data\u2026\n\nThis slideshow requires JavaScript.\n\nThis discussion has been about ice that is moving from the land to the sea and raising the sea level. But let\u2019s take a quick moment to look at the sea ice that surrounds Antarctica. While this ice does not contribute to changes in the sea level, it does say something about the conditions in that area.\n\nDo you see a trend? I see a trend. And I know there are variety of \u201cjust-so stories\u201d to explain away this trend, but I am unconvinced.\n\nConclusion\n\nBetween 1994 and 2003 the average sea level rise rate was 3.77 mm/yr, according to satellite data (University of Colorado). If the Antarctic were depositing an average of about 300 more gigatonnes of water in the ocean per year in the following years (2003 to 2012), then the average sea level rise rage from 2003 to 2012 should have increased by about 0.84 m/yr, to 4.61 mm/yr.\n\nInstead, the average sea level rise rate from 2003 to 2012 dropped to 2.66 mm/yr.\n\nThe claim of a huge rise in ice loss from the Antarctic over this period is quite implausible."}
-{"text": "In Puyo Puyo Tetris, it\u2019s never over until the screen falls down.\n\n\n\nWith both his screens piled up to the top and more grey blocks coming his way, winner\u2019s bracket player DDR_Dan was moments away from Wumbo resetting the CEOtaku Puyo Puyo Tetris grand finals bracket on him. It was 2-2 in series, 1-1 in the game, and Wumbo had just dropped a lot of blocks, sometimes known as \u201cgarbage,\u201d into his side of the screen.\n\n\nSwapping from Tetris back to Puyo Puyo though, he found an opening\u2014a chain reaction his opponent wasn\u2019t ready for.\n\n\nThe competitive mode of Puyo Puyo Tetris utilizes both games, Puyo Puyo and Tetris. Players swap back and forth between them on a timer, shown in the middle of the screen. And while both screens were looking rough for DDR_Dan, swapping away from Tetris opened up an opportunity. A few well-placed blobs could catch his opponent, who had just sent a lot of grey blocks his way, off guard.\n\nDDR_Dan\u2019s last-ditch effort paid off, and he walked away the victor of the tournament. To catch the rest of the anime-fueled tournament in Orlando, tune in to the CEO Gaming Twitch channel."}
-{"text": "Alice Salles\n\nApril 22, 2016\n\n(VOL) During his most recent trip to Saudi Arabia, President Barack Obama used the time he had visiting the Saudis to talk about the Iran nuclear deal and Syria. But according to Financial Times and Zero Hedge, there is more to this meeting than news organizations seem to be covering.\n\nAccording to FT, the Saudis were never able to get over the fact that the US-led invasion of Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein allowed the Shia majority to take over the Arab country. FT explained by saying that, \u201cWhen Hosni Mubarak was toppled by Egypt\u2019s popular revolt in 2011, Riyadh accused Mr. Obama of betraying a US ally.\u201d As the Saudis began to question \u201cUS complacency in the face of Iran\u2019s advances in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen,\u201d Saudi royals allegedly \u201ccreated Daesh, or ISIS\u2026 in response to Obama\u2019s disastrous policy in the region.\u201d Now that Western powers are overly concerned about \u201cISIS jihadism as the main threat in and from the Middle East,\u201d the Saudis are having none of it.\n\nAfter Mosul fell to ISIS in 2014, the late Prince Saud al-Faisal who also served as the country\u2019s foreign minister protested with US Secretary of State John Kerry, claiming that \u201cDaesh [ISIS] is our [Sunni] response to your support for the Da\u2019wa,\u201d which stands as the Shia Islamist ruling party of Iraq, which is aligned with Iran.\n\nDr. Ron Paul used his latest Liberty Report segment to discuss this bombastic piece of news.\n\nHe starts by telling Daniel McAdams that, when it comes to Saudi Arabia\u2019s admission of guilt concerning ISIS, he can\u2019t say he isn\u2019t shocked. He explains:\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t say we aren\u2019t shocked \u2026 But this is all in the midst of this legislation going on to try to find out what was on the 9/11 report and why there were 28 pages redacted and most people are very, very suspicious now that Saudi Arabia [admits that it] is very much involved in all this.\n\n\u201cSo here, they are beginning to admit it that they have been involved in helping to start ISIS. And the truth is, the evidence is pretty clear too that they don\u2019t do these things without the CIA knowing.\n\n\u201cThe CIA either knows \u2026 or [anticipates] it. And they were always saying that, seven months ago, \u2018we knew about this, we were anticipating that our Pentagon, CIA were involved in this\u2019 and whether or not they were doing everything literally, they very much were involved because to them it\u2019s just logical. You know, \u2018why not create ISIS and they will do our dirty work!\u2019\n\n\u201cOur policy is \u2018Assad has to go,\u2019 and Americans won\u2019t have to be exposed, but then things happened, unintended consequences. Since then we\u2019ve had the Russians come in, and things aren\u2019t going so well, but [the foreign intervention] is something that has been going on for a long time. This isn\u2019t something brand new, that our CIA creates monsters out there to do such and such that we don\u2019t want to be seen doing, and then, it comes back to haunt us.\u201d\n\nWatch the entire segment below:\n\nThis article (Ron Paul: Saudi Arabia Admitted It Created ISIS, CIA Knew About It) originally appeared on VoicesOfLiberty.com and was used with permission. The Anti-Media radio show airs Monday through Friday @ 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Help us fix our typos: edits@theantimedia.org"}
-{"text": "A commentary on\n\nInhibition and the right inferior frontal cortex: one decade on by Aron, A. R., Robbins, T. W., and Poldrack, R. A. (2014). Trends Cogn. Sci. 18, 177\u2013185. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2013.12.003\n\nIn their 2004 Trends in Cognitive Sciences review of inhibition and the right inferior frontal cortex (rIFC), Aron et al. (henceforth AR&P) boldly claimed that \u201cinhibition is localized to right IFG alone\u201d (Aron et al., 2004). Ten years later, the authors have updated their theory to include one or more fronto\u2013basal\u2013ganglia networks along with rIFC, and to characterize the function of rIFC as a \u201cbrake\u201d that can completely stop or otherwise slow behavioral responses (Aron et al., 2014). AR&P also examined (and dismissed) two main lines of contrary evidence that question whether the rIFC is the critical locus for inhibition, and whether inhibition is the primary function of rIFC. The revisions can account for some findings outside AR&P's initial conception of inhibitory control. However, we maintain that the revised theory is potentially unfalsifiable and still strongly challenged by prior evidence. Below, we discuss some of the data that pose greater difficulties for the hypothesis than AR&P have acknowledged.\n\nAR&P first address critics of the rIFC specificity view. Based on their prior lesion results, AR&P argue that right and (not left) IFC is critical for inhibition in the Stop-Signal task (Aron et al., 2003). They discount key findings from patients with left IFC lesions in the Go/NoGo task (Swick et al., 2008) by arguing that deficits in non-inhibitory decision processes can account for worse performance when Go and NoGo trials are equiprobable. This rebuttal misses the main point: left IFC damage disproportionately impaired inhibition in the condition with infrequent NoGo trials, when inhibitory demands were greatest (Swick et al., 2008). This, along with the finding that omission errors on Go trials were not increased, contradicts AR&P's claim that left IFC damage differentially impacts the decision to go. A further speculation was that lesions of the insula reduced the degree of autonomic arousal related to stopping, thereby accounting for slower RTs in the patients. This idea was not supported by the data, as there was no relationship between RT and the amount of insula damage.\n\nIn addition, work uncited by AR&P (Kr\u00e4mer et al., 2013) failed to replicate the critical rIFC lesion results in the Stop-Signal task (Aron et al., 2003). This same study did replicate an important role for left IFC in inhibition in the Go/NoGo task (Kr\u00e4mer et al., 2013). Conclusions drawn from \u201cvirtual lesion\u201d data are also ignored, including a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) study in which stopping deficits were taken to reflect more general deficits in action programming (Verbruggen et al., 2010).\n\nJust as these challenging lesion data are left unaddressed, AR&P also overlook the stronger challenges posed by neuroimaging. For example, AR&P reaffirm classic views of inhibition as a means for goal-driven control, but fail to explain why stopping/braking should occur even when it runs contrary to task goals; why rIFC is more strongly recruited in those situations than during the Stop task itself; or why rIFC recruitment is sustained even when subjects must always produce a \u201cgo\u201d response, and proactive inhibitory control is unnecessary (Chatham et al., 2012). AR&P argue that rIFC BOLD could reflect stopping that occurs too late to affect behavior, but the positive correlation between rIFC BOLD and stopping speed (Whelan et al., 2012) renders this argument incapable of explaining the data.\n\nThe use of undetectable effects as an explanatory construct also raises the issue of falsifiability. While AR&P propose falsification criteria, they are ill-posed. For example, could one ever prove a task lacks all inhibitory demands, if these are imposed even by tasks that never require withholding a prepotent response? Similarly, could one prove a lack of damage to \u201cconnections\u201d in a real frontal patient or TMS subject?\n\nThese criteria contrast with the weaker conditions used for \u201crefuting\u201d alternative perspectives, such as those that emphasize context monitoring instead of braking (Chatham et al., 2012). For example, AR&P claim to refute monitoring accounts by noting that rIFC electrocorticographic (ECoG) activity is more tightly linked with responses than stop signals, but this relationship held for only a minority of subjects (Swann et al., 2009). And leaving aside that monitoring is most critical in the midst of ongoing behavior (as shown by Chevalier et al., 2014), stop signals were not actually presented on the trials in question. AR&P also argue for the anatomical specificity of ECoG stopping responses in rIFC, when in fact similar activity patterns were recorded outside rIFC (Swann et al., 2009).\n\nMore broadly, AR&P continue to interpret many results as though they reflect an act of inhibitory control, but elsewhere acknowledge that stopping may be inextricably linked with salience detection (Wessel and Aron, 2013). This alternative is particularly difficult to eliminate with direct electrical stimulation (DES) (as used in Wessel et al., 2013), given that whole-field visual hallucinations can result from DES to IFC (either left or right; Blanke et al., 2000; Vignal et al., 2000). Even subthreshold effects of this kind could disrupt performance when subjects are looking for salient visual stimuli (Borchers et al., 2012).\n\nTo adequately evaluate whether the rIFC is differentially involved in stopping, rIFC must be compared with co-activated regions (Swick et al., 2011) (e.g., left IFC) both during conditions that require stopping and those that don't, but are otherwise matched for saliency, behavioral-relevance, error likelihood and awareness, and other attentional demands. If the predicted dissociations are not assessed in this way (as they often have not been), are only inconsistently obtained, or are impossible to test, then the claims should be broadened to those supported by evidence, and terminology changed accordingly (e.g., from stopping to monitoring/stopping).\n\nAlthough we disagree that AR&P's reformulated hypothesis is a viable account of the extant data, we also wish to mention their impressive successes. Their work remains highly influential, inspiring vigorous debate and constituting a major success in linking brain and behavior. We credit AR&P and colleagues with these significant achievements, even if we continue to disagree on the specificity of rIFC's role in behavioral control.\n\nAcknowledgment\n\nWe wish to thank David Badre, Yuko Munakata, Thomas Wiecki, and Ashley Wu for their helpful comments and suggestions.\n\nConflict of Interest Statement\n\nThe authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.\n\nReferences\n\nChevalier, N., Chatham, C. H., and Munakata, Y. (2014). The practice of going helps children to stop: the importance of context monitoring in inhibitory control. J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. doi: 10.1037/a0035868. [Epub ahead of print]. Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text"}
-{"text": "I've been thinking a lot about the future of magazine publishing. I'm the Editor-in-Chief of a brand that stubbornly features \"magazine\" in its name, so this should come as no surprise. Although PC Magazine ceased publishing a print version in 2009, thousands of subscribers continue to pay for our Digital Edition. The question is, with an almost infinite amount of free content online, why pay for it?\n\nThe PC Magazine Digital Edition is designed for any type of digital display: laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. When PCMag.com publishes an article, it is accompanied by advertisements. That's how we make money to pay our writers. In the Digital Edition, we have subscribers to help defray our production costs. As a result, we can deliver our content completely ad-free. Considering how targeted ads can get, I think we can all agree that ad-free is a pretty great perk. We also feature exclusive stories, mainly longer reported pieces that might get overlooked online.\n\nSubscribe today to the PC Magazine Digital Edition for iOS devices.\n\nWe keep improving the Digital Edition, but progress isn't a straight line. Recently, we updated it with a new responsive design for iOS on phones; iPad and Android versions are coming soon. The migration has been tricky, and I know some of you have had trouble logging in and downloading issues. (For the most part, these problems have been sorted out, but if you are still having trouble, send an email to [email protected].)\n\nThis month's cover story, \"Blockchain: The Invisible Technology That's Changing the World,\" is a perfect example of the value of magazine publishing. Blockchain is one of the most important technological innovations of our time, but almost no one understands how it works. Part of the problem is that the big brains who do grok it almost never get the opportunity to write long enough to explain it in detail. If they do, the pieces tend to be incredibly dull.\n\nWe're hoping to avoid both of those traps with this month's cover story. Rob Marvin has a lot to say about blockchain, and his sources have even more insight. His first draft clocked in at more than 8,000 words and was the best piece of writing I have read in months. Even so, 8,000 words is a bit much, so Managing Editor Carol Mangis went to work, editing, crafting, and yes, cutting the piece down until it was informative and entertaining. [Which I never have to do with Dan's column.\u2014Ed.]\n\nAt this point, we could have posted it on Medium, but we had more to do. Designer Jose Ruiz took the copy, what little art we had, and created the pages that help the reader through the story. Only then did we have a magazine feature worth paying for. Check it out, and let me know if you agree.\n\nGet the lowdown on blockchain, reviews, news, and how-tos in the February issue of the PC Magazine Digital Edition, available now via Apple iTunes.\n\nFurther Reading\n\nSecurity Reviews"}
-{"text": "Hamsters: From the Wild to Your Bedroom"}
-{"text": "Apple will launch a trio of new iPhone models later this year with a second-generation TrueDepth camera system, which will potentially be reduced in size, according to a research note issued today by analysts Andrew Gardiner, Hiral Patel, Joseph Wolf, and Blayne Curtis at investment bank Barclays.\n\n\n\nWhile the analysts believe the new TrueDepth system will only \"evolve slightly,\" they predict it could allow for a \"smaller notch\" on the 2018 range of iPhones with Face ID, which is rumored to include a second-generation iPhone X, a larger iPhone X Plus, and an all-new mid-range 6.1-inch LCD model.\n\nMacRumors obtained a copy of the research note, which also corroborates rumors about Apple extending Face ID to the iPad Pro this year:\n\nBased on several data points within the 4Q17 reporting period and our supply chain meetings at CES, we remain confident that Apple is set to deploy its TrueDepth 3D sensor across the iPhone range in 2018 and to also add it to the pending iPad Pro refresh as well. Given the complexity and multiple years spent developing the current generation of module, combined with supplier comments over the past month regarding multi-year customer commitments, we do not envisage a major change to the architectural make-up in 2018 [\u2026] We do expect the sensor to evolve slightly, potentially reducing in size (i.e., smaller notch) and improving in specificity [\u2026] helping to further drive very strong growth [for some Apple suppliers] in 2H18 as the second generation of sensor ships in this year's new iPhones.\n\nA smaller notch would be a welcomed change for critics of the iPhone X design, but it remains to be seen if it will happen so soon. An earlier rumor suggested the notch won't be reduced in size until 2019 or later, and it's generally expected that 2018 iPhones will look virtually identical to the iPhone X.\n\nThe prevailing thought is that Apple doesn't want to deal with the type of delays it faced with the iPhone X last year, and by keeping the hardware relatively unchanged, suppliers could avoid some retooling. However, it's certainly possible the TrueDepth camera system could be slightly shrunk down this year.\n\nBeyond this year, the Barclays analysts believe Apple is \"working hard\" on a rear-facing TrueDepth camera system for future iPhones. The technology could be ready by 2019, but it sounds too far out to know for certain.\n\nA key discussion point regarding 2019 is whether or not Apple will be ready to insert a rear or world-facing sensor, given the additional complexity associated with a greater range and field of view and [\u2026] the potential safety implications for the human eye. Our discussions with suppliers suggests Apple and its partners are working hard on a world-facing solution, but development is ongoing and with over 18 months to go until the 2019 iPhone cycle, not all is yet determined.\n\nThe rear-facing TrueDepth camera system would pave the way for expanded augmented reality capabilities on iPhones. Apple has repeatedly expressed a profound interest in augmented reality, and recently highlighted some use cases of the technology in areas like education and gaming with a new page on its website.\n\nBloomberg News previously reported that Apple is exploring rear-facing 3D sensing, to be added to iPhones as early as 2019, while KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo agrees the technology won't be ready in 2018, so there does appear to be consensus about back-and-front TrueDepth being a next-year feature.\n\nApple's trio of new iPhones should be announced in September as usual, while the new iPad Pro with Face ID could debut in June."}
-{"text": "As you're probably very aware by now, the Perl QA Hackathon was last weekend, and it was a great success. Just under 40 people assembled in Rugby in the UK, to work on the Perl and CPAN infrastructure that everyone using Perl relies on. Many bugs were fixed, problems solved, ideas germinated, and cans kicked down the road. Those same people working alone for 4 days would not have achieved anywhere near as much, and that's why we do this, every year.\n\nWe gathered on the Wednesday night, and most of us had beer and pub grub over the road from the hotel. The first evening is to renew friendships and start getting into QAH mode. We kicked off on Thursday with a stand-up: introducing yourself and what you plan to work on, helping people identify common areas of interest. We had other stand-ups through the weekend, to share progress and anything new that had come up. People then split up and got down to work. On the Thursday evening we had a group meal paid for by one of the sponsors, Perl Careers. On other evenings people did their own things, then typically went back to the hotel to get more hacking done.\n\nWe took over most of the hotel where we were all staying: during the day we had two meeting rooms and also used various other spaces to spread out. This worked well, as some people worked alone, some in pairs, some in groups, and some people moved across all of those.\n\nI'm not going to try and summarise everything that was done, as that would take too long, and you can read a more detailed list on the wiki. Instead I'll try to give a flavour of the attendees and the work that went on.\n\nPAUSE is one of the lynchpins of the Perl ecosystem: it's the service used to upload releases to CPAN. Andreas K\u00f6nig (on the left in the picture) is the guy who created PAUSE, and he comes to the QAH every year to continue hacking on it. He merged a load of pull requests and worked with a number of people on PAUSE-related projects (Andreas's blog post). In particular he worked with Kenichi Ishigaki (on the right), to complete the work Ishigaki-san started last year to port it to Plack (Ishigaki-san's blog post). This will make it much easier to test PAUSE, and thus for other people to hack on it. Pete Sergeant came with certain plans, but ended up working on tests for the PAUSE web front-end. Colin Newell pulled various people together to agree how PAUSE should be changed to ensure consistent permissions on all modules in a distribution (Colin's blog post).\n\nMetaCPAN is the search engine that most of us use to find CPAN modules these days. More than that, it's how we read documentation, and find out all sorts of useful information about modules and their authors. The MetaCPAN team set up shop in the corner of the dining room and beavered away. Olaf Alders (least amount of hair) and Mickey Nasriachi (happiest looking) had come with one main goal: work on updating MetaCPAN to work with Elasticsearch 2.x (upgrading from 0.x). Leo Lapworth (on the right) joined them for the first two days of the hackathon, and Sawyer X (\"helping\" Leo) ended up being roped in too. They didn't quite complete the task, but made great progress. Blog posts: Olaf's, Sawyer's, Leo's.\n\nLiz and Tadeusz came to work on Perl 6. It's serious business, as you can tell from this snap. Throughout the weekend various people would drop by their table to discuss various Perl 6 issues and pair with them on specific tasks. Liz had a lot of discussions with people on how Perl 6 will fit into PAUSE and CPAN.\n\nWe had invited a good few more Perl 6 hackers to join us, but for various reasons they were sadly unable to attend.\n\nFor a long time Merijn \"Tux\" Brand (on the left) has been the maintainer of the metaconfig and Configure parts of Perl 5. This is the subsystem used to build Perl 5. Aaron Crane (on the right) has volunteered to help, so they spent a lot of time working together (Tux on the left, Aaron on the right). A lot of their work will be included in Perl 5.24, due for release any day now (Aaron's blog post).\n\nAbe Timmerman (red top) worked on improvements to the Smoke Reports website, which lets you slice and dice results from test builds of blead (the latest development version of Perl 5), and released a new version of Test::Smoke. Barbara Veloso was meant to be on holiday, as her partner Breno was attending the QAH. But when we heard she's a front-end designer we put her to work. She worked with Leo on improving the look of various Perl web sites, and help on a proposal related to the River of CPAN (see below). Matt Trout (on the left) joined in various areas, in particular helping out the MetaCPAN crew.\n\nCPAN Testers is another of the jewels in Perl's crown, and for the last 10 years Barbie (far left) has kept the service running. He's now in the process of handing the reins over to Doug Bell (second from the right), so they worked through some of that handover (Doug's blog post). Barbie fixed a number of issues, and Doug also worked on tools to make it easier to set up test instances. The people invited to the QAH are those who have been working on the key modules and systems over the last year or so, but this year we tried an experiment in the same vein as the \"send a newbie\" program. Oriol Soriano (on the right) came along to help out with CPAN Testers, and embraced his role as the \"QAH Intern\" (Oriol's blog post). It worked really well, so I hope we do the same next year.\n\nChris \"BINGOS\" Williams (left) does all sorts of things in the CPAN toolchain. In particular he's the lead on the venerable ExtUtils::MakeMaker (EUMM), the module used to build and install a good percentage of the modules on CPAN. He released a new version of EUMM, worked on smokers, did a raft of other things and helped plenty of other people out too. Leon Timmermans (centre) is another toolchain guy who pops up everywhere, so no surprise that he was snapped in a discussion with Chris. He worked on EUMM, Perl 6 build, Dist::Zilla, the test harness, and participated in the Test2 discussions (see below).\n\nOne of the benefits of the QAH is that people can get together in a room to hammer out issues and make hard decisions. One good example of that related to Test2. This is a project to replace the core test harness used in Perl with a modern framework. Replacing critical components is tricky and requires a lot of thought and hard work. This has been led for the last two years by Chad \"Exodist\" Granum (black shirt on the left). A group of attendees got together to talk about the current status, and the right way to move this project forward. For something like this you'll never find a way that will satisfy everyone, but worked hard to understand all concerns, and decide the least painful way forward. Joel Berger (bearded guy with arm plunging into laptop screen) came to help with Test2 (his blog post on Test2), but ended up helping out in various places, including MetaCPAN (Joel's other blog post).\n\nYou've probably heard of Rik Signes (on the left) -- he's been the Pumpking for the last 4 stable releases, and will do one more before he hands the reins over to Sawyer. He worked on v6 of Dist::Zilla, his author tool use by many CPAN authors; did the second release candidate of Perl 5.24, led a discussion on the Software::License module, and paired with a lot of different people to help solve problems (including me) (Rik's blog post). Breno de Oliviera (back to the wall) worked on test reporters for CPAN Testers. This are plugins for CPAN clients which upload test results to CPAN Testers when you install modules from CPAN. Karen \"ETHER\" Etheridge (on the right) did a developer release of Moose, fixed a bug in Dist::Zilla's DynamicPrereq's plugin, worked on a bunch of other issues, and participated in many discussions. Matt Horsfall (back to camera) fixed a number of PAUSE bugs, and submitted pull requests to various parts of the toolchain (Matt's blog post).\n\nSteffen Schwigon (on the left) working on benchmarking Perl and a release of Net::SSH::Perl, amongst other things. Aristotle Pagaltzis (on the right) was working on a modern replacement for Module::CoreList, which will provide an API for finding out which modules were shipped with which versions of Perl. It's functionality that's very useful for other people developing CPAN tools.\n\nChristian Walde worked on PPI, which lets you parse Perl code. A number of tools use PPI, for example to parse modules and scripts looking for dependencies. Matt Horsfall helped out on PPI as well. Daniel \"Bulk\" Dragan worked on a range of Windows-related issues, in particular fixing a challenging Heisenbug in Test::Harness.\n\nTim Bunce is the author of DBI, and current maintainer of Devel::NYTProf. At the QAH he released a new version of DBI, and joined in a number of the discussions.\n\nOlivier Mengu\u00e9 worked on some Dist::Zilla plugins and did a new release of Pod::Spell. Paul Johnson is the author of Devel::Cover, Perl's awesome test coverage tool. He worked on CPAN Cover, his service which runs Devel::Cover on all CPAN modules, and continued discussions with Olaf Alders on getting the coverage data in MetaCPAN (Paul's blog post).\n\nPhilippe Bruhat (BOOK, left) worked on Git::Database, did some Perl 6 work, and with Olivier started working on collecting CPAN dependency information for Linux distros (Philippe's blog post). Slaven Rezic worked on CPAN::Plugin::Sysdeps, a new plugin for the CPAN module which will install non-CPAN dependencies (eg C libraries) automatically.\n\nA group of us got together to discuss the River model for CPAN - a way to think about the dependency graph, and improving the reliability of CPAN. We agreed to add this information to MetaCPAN, and Joel Berger coded the changes up for MetaCPAN, and Barbara worked on ideas for the UI changes. I took some actions to work on (blog post on River discussion).\n\nNo summary of the QAH is complete without Wendy (seen here with Colin Newell): every year she comes and helps things run smoothly. Each day she would go and buy fresh fruit and veg, then chop them up into healthy snacks. And provide less healthy snacks too. She'd run errands and basically do whatever would help everyone stay focussed. And then she'd go into the discussions, take notes, and transcribe them (Wendy's blog post). Thank you Wendy!\n\nAnd finally, the obligatory group photo:\n\nHopefully that gives you a feel for the QAH, and why it's the favourite event of the year for so many attendees. You're in a room with a bunch of other people who care about the same things, and you get lots of stuff done. You also go away with a long list of things to work on for the coming year, and fired up to do them.\n\nIt wouldn't be possible to hold the event without the support of our fantastic sponsors. If you get a chance, please thank them, as we all do: FastMail, ActiveState, ZipRecruiter, Strato, SureVoIP, CV-Library, OpusVL, thinkproject!, MongoDB, Infinity, Dreamhost, Campus Explorer, Perl 6, Perl Careers, Evozon, Booking, Eligo, Oetiker+Partner, CAPSiDE, Perl Services, Procura, Constructor.io, Robbie Bow, Ron Savage, Charlie Gonzalez, Justin Cook.\n\nThis year's QAH was organised by Barbie, JJ Allen, and me. We don't know where next year's QAH will be yet, but it will be somewhere in Europe.\n\nMost of the photos used here were taken by JJ, and lifted from his QAH album on flickr. The not-so-good pictures were taken by me."}
-{"text": "Introductory Scenario\n\nLevel 1: Mio's Popular?\n\nLevel 2: The Mountain of Sweets\n\nLevel 3: Attracted by a Sweet Scent\n\nLevel 4: Everyone's Weird?\n\nLevel 5: Peace of Mind For Now......?\n\nLevel 6: The Price for Sweetness\n\nLevel 7: Keep on Escaping\n\nLevel 8: Where's the Secluded Hot Spring?\n\nLevel 9: Enveloped by the Hot Steam\n\nLevel 10: The Unending Escape\n\nLevel 11: Where's the Chocolate?\n\nLevel 12: The True Form of the Natural Chocolate\n\nLevel 13: The Price for Bitterness\n\nLevel 14: Valentine Live\n\nLevel 15: An Ending for The Two"}
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-{"text": "Life and Death in San Diego\n\nLife and Death in San Diego\n\nYou can hear things you want to hear, and things you act like you don\u2019t want to hear. Everybody wants to hear everything, because in some ways it provides you with self validation. You can take these snippets, these conversational canvases from anybody. The man on the phone, the couple at the shopping center, the two men who have nothing better to do then talk about two other men. You take these conversations, and create something that is probably greater than you and your eavesdropee. What is a women on the phone is now two forbidden lovers describing the possibility of a lesbian excursion.\n\nBut all she said was, babe, what time should we meet? Perhaps so, and maybe I over-conclude. But what a peculiar thing to say to a boyfriend. So I must rationalize. And what a sweet rationalization it is. I wish them the best. I walk through the streets of downtown San Diego to sit. And to act like maybe I\u2019m thinking about something that other people will wonder what I\u2019m thinking about. And just then I capture something. Two men who dress like they have somewhere to be, and one woman. Actually, a girl.\n\nHe moved down there, to Rosarito.\n\nMexico?\n\nI swear, I remember him. Dirtbag of a guy.\n\nYeah, I could see him getting killed. He was a nice guy, but his mouth got him in trouble.\n\nWhy would you say that about him?\n\nHe was a nice guy, I actually saw him a couple of years ago. At a club. I want him to be alive but he\u2019s probably dead.\n\nWell, what was wrong with him.\n\nHe was just one of those guys, you know.\n\nHe was one of those guys that might scam you if your not careful.\n\nYeah, well he never did this to me, personally, but say you were sick. And you needed someone to pickup some milk or medicine, or something for you and you gave the guy a $20, you\u2019d have to ask for the change back.\n\nYeah, and you\u2019d also ask for the receipt.\n\nYou know what, after thinking about it, you\u2019d probably call the guy and say that your feeling better, just so you wouldn\u2019t have to deal with the hassle.\n\nThe girl sat unimpressed. But these men were absolutely enthralled by their own story. Their energy bounced off of one another as each layer stacked upon itself. And they fed on their own ability to make a deadbeat from Mexico sound entertaining.\n\nThis guy, his name was Scottie, Scottie Record or something. He was definitely an ex-con, and I knew he spent some time in jail.\n\nYeah, he had a buddy, Stacks. All this guy would talk about was how bad the drivers were in San Diego. And one time, I went on a ride with this guy and Scottie for a pub crawl in P.B and we almost get in two accidents.\n\nYeah, these guys were class acts.\n\nThis was before I knew he spent time in prison man.\n\nHe had a ton of dogs too that would always pass away.\n\nWhat did he to them?\n\nI don\u2019t know I just knew they died.\n\nAnyways, I don\u2019t know what happened to Stacks. But as for Scottie, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if one of those headless bodies you hear about on the news were his.\n\nYou can tell one of the guys wasn\u2019t done talking about Stacks. Sometimes you wonder how an author chooses a protagonist. Stacks was a better person to talk about then the other one.\n\nStacks was originally from Denver. And when he came of age his mother cried because she knew he\u2019d leave. And no other man would be left. But he swore that he\u2019d take care of her and would never put her in a nursing home. So after waving goodbye to his mother, he turned west. What his mother didn\u2019t know is that there was someone else in his life. A mistress, who wanted nothing more then to be in his presence. But, on his return he grew tired of women and instead turned to drink. His hours would be spent in and around the cities bars. This was routine, until eventually, he was a shadow of the night. You could see these ones like him. Their faces only illuminated by the piss-yellow glow of the streetlights. The hoodie-wearing underbelly of this dog of a city.\n\nBut something primordial arose. He had now become part of the city, but not in a personable way. He was like a chipped piece of cement coming from the Disabled Parking Only spot on 9th. Or a strangely colored brick that pokes its head out of the Penn Hotel so noticeably that you have to question whether it was placed that way purposefully. This is what he was like. Now that there was nothing left he found refuge in the streets that had robbed him of goodness. But this wasn\u2019t a spiteful relationship. The city was his, and he was the city. They owned each other and when they dreamed at night the city did not dream of growing larger. He did not dream of owning the city. They dreamed of a day where their destruction would be at the hands of one another. Where the thrust of his fist would lay flat the tallest of skyscraper. And the grandeur of her precise magnitude would send him to his knees. Brick and blood, blood and brick.\n\nIt was like this for some time. An unflinching trust that can only be shared between man and the improbable. Man and his quest for something greater then himself. Stacks no longer walked the city, but provided for it. He gave it his soul while she was given breath. It was on nights where his cheeks touched pavement that this gift was all the more visible. Until, on one such night he was approached. A nicely dressed man in a suit and red tie.\n\nExcuse me sir. Excuse me, he said. Stacks looked up, but gave no reply.\n\nSir, I\u2019m part of a new organization in San Diego called the Ptroemis Project. We work on giving homeless men a chance at life again. We could provide you wit\u2013\n\nI don\u2019t want it.\n\nWe could give you temporary housing, job training, and financial support.\n\nWhy do you want to give me this?\n\nI\u2019ve been watching you the past couple of days, and your still young. I know you don\u2019t want to live this way, with, with nothing.\n\nI don\u2019t want this, I want to sleep man. I\u2019ve got my stuff.\n\nThe man now took a step closer. They were now within touching distance of each other.\n\nWhen I look in your eyes, I don\u2019t see a bum. I see someone with the potential to become a functioning member of society. I could give you this city. I could make these buildings yours, and maybe one day, one of these towers will have your name on it. Would you like that? Take my hand, and I could give you a new life.\n\nWith this Stacks left, and made another life. One with the potential for good. Eventually, he became weary of potential and looked for something more.\n\nNow, it had been months since he had seen his past lover and mother .The only sun that he had come to know was the early morning rays that sometimes managed to wander their way past the blinds of his apartment. He grew accustomed to the booze soaked days that slipped and dripped right on through his palms. Because no matter how hard he tried, trembling hands can only eased by three things. Women, God, and Whiskey. Women and God he was without."}
-{"text": "To call the start of the New England Revolution\u2019s 2019 season \u201cshaky\u201d would be an understatement. The Revs grabbed just one point in their first four games, a run that included a pair of 2-0 defeats at Gillette Stadium to Columbus and Cincinnati.\n\n\n\nWith a start like that, changes to the team are always going to be a possibility. And when the goals are leaking in, one of those changes is bound to come at the goalkeeper position. For another MLS team, this might be a simple swap. But for the Revs, it\u2019s another twist in what has become the most interesting and evenly-contested goalkeeping battle in MLS.\n\n\n\nAll three contenders for the No. 1 spot have made starts for Friedel over their past eight games, dating back to the 2018 finale. Brad Knighton began 2019 atop the Revs\u2019 goalkeeping depth chart after unseating regular starter Matt Turner toward the end of 2018. But in searching for a positive result after that ugly opening, head coach Brad..."}
-{"text": "Experts said they couldn\u2019t think of another case in which someone on federal death row was tried again on additional state charges \u2014 Tsarnaev was already convicted in federal court on charges related to Collier\u2019s death. But Middlesex prosecutors said Tsarnaev, 21, should face state charges in this case because of the severity of the crime \u2014 he and his late brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, gunned down the police officer after the brothers learned they were suspects in the Marathon bombings.\n\nRyan\u2019s office said it is just beginning the process of asking the federal government to return Tsarnaev, and it is unclear when a trial would be scheduled. He is imprisoned in the US Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colo., known as Supermax.\n\nMiddlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan plans to bring convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev back to Massachusetts to face state charges of murdering MIT police officer Sean Collier and other crimes in the days after the Marathon attacks, even though a federal judge last month sentenced Tsarnaev to death.\n\n\u201cWhen you come into Middlesex County and execute a police officer in the performance of his duties and assault other officers attempting to effect his capture, it is appropriate you should come back to Middlesex County to stand trial for that offense,\u201d Ryan said in a statement. Tsarnaev also faces several other state charges, including carjacking and kidnapping.\n\n\nIn addition, Ryan suggested that convicting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev of state charges could act as an insurance policy in case Tsarnaev successfully appeals his federal conviction. Ryan noted that the federal convictions are \u201cnot yet final.\u201d His convictions and sentence are subject to an automatic appeal.\n\nSean Collier. AP/File\n\nHowever, bringing Tsarnaev back to Massachusetts could also pose challenges, such as the expense of a second trial, including paying for Tsarnaev\u2019s defense and the security arrangements needed to guard a high-profile prisoner. If Tsarnaev does not plead guilty, a second trial could also dredge up wrenching emotions for victims who were hoping Tsarnaev would fade from public view after he was convicted of the federal crimes and sentenced to death.\n\n\n\u201cYou have all the problems with the federal case,\u201d said Brian T. Kelly, a former federal prosecutor who is now a partner at Boston law firm Nixon Peabody. \u201cIt becomes a media circus, a security nightmare, and it takes up a lot of expense and the court\u2019s time.\u201d\n\nBut Kelly added: \u201cIt\u2019s understandable that they would want him to be held accountable for the murder of a police officer.\u201d\n\nStill, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley \u2014 whose jurisdiction includes Boston \u2014 decided early on not to bring separate state charges against Tsarnaev for the Boston Marathon bombing, saying it would be \u201credundant\u201d and accomplish little, because he already faced life in prison or death in the federal case.\n\n\u201cState-level indictments for crimes in Boston would only drag out the process that would already be grueling for victims, their families, and the city,\u201d Conley said in 2013.\n\nHowever, Middlesex prosecutors made a different decision, deciding to seek murder charges against Tsarnaev for Collier\u2019s shooting in Cambridge, days after the bombings.\n\nA Middlesex grand jury indicted Tsarnaev on 15 state charges, including Collier\u2019s murder, in June 2013.\n\nCollier\u2019s father praised Middlesex prosecutors for seeking murder charges against Tsarnaev at the time.\n\n\n\u201cI can sense their commitment to prosecuting this individual for my son,\u201d Allen Collier said then. \u201cI couldn\u2019t be happier.\u201d\n\nBut the case was suspended pending the federal trial.\n\nIt\u2019s unclear how the Collier family and Tsarnaev\u2019s other victims would feel about a second trial now that Tsarnaev has already been convicted on all the federal counts and sentenced to death.\n\nAllen Collier could not be reached Friday, and a spokesman for other family members said they did not wish to comment. Middlesex prosecutors declined to say whether the Collier family has indicated they want a second trial.\n\nSome victims of the bombing may want the case to be over, but one said he\u2019ll wait to see what Collier\u2019s relatives want.\n\n\u201cI support the Collier family,\u201d said Marc Fucarile, who lost a leg in the bombing and still faces additional surgery. \u201cIf the Collier family wants it, then go for it. If they don\u2019t, then don\u2019t do it.\u201d\n\nThe Middlesex charges do not focus on the bombings themselves \u2014 which killed three people and injured roughly 260 more \u2014 but instead on the actions Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev took several days later as they attempted to elude police after authorities asked for the public\u2019s help in identifying them.\n\nThe Cambridge brothers shot Collier in his vehicle on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus on April 18, 2013, possibly in an unsuccessful attempt to steal his gun. They then carjacked a vehicle in Boston and held the owner hostage until the man managed to escape during a stop at a gas station. After police tracked the car with GPS, the brothers engaged in a shootout with police in Watertown in which another officer was severely injured in the crossfire.\n\n\nTamerlan Tsarnaev later died after he was shot by police and then run over by his brother. Much of Boston was locked down for the day until police finally captured Dzhokhar Tsarnaev after a Watertown resident spotted him in his boat.\n\nJohn Salsberg, the veteran Boston criminal defense attorney assigned to represent Tsarnaev in the state case, declined to comment.\n\nRobert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., said local prosecutors have the right to extradite federal inmates \u2014 even those on death row \u2014 to face local charges. But he couldn\u2019t think of a case where it has happened with someone already on federal death row.\n\n\u201cThere is no legal impediment to doing it,\u201d Dunham said. \u201cThe question is whether it is a waste of resources.\u201d He also noted \u201cthere will be extraordinary security issues.\u201d\n\nThe Middlesex district attorney\u2019s office declined to estimate the potential cost of putting Tsarnaev on trial, including security and the cost of Tsarnaev\u2019s defense. The US attorney\u2019s office said it could not say how much the federal trial cost.\n\nJohn R. Ellement of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Todd Wallack can be reached at twallack@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @twallack."}
-{"text": "Steve Simon said he will return to Southern California after this job in Florida -- and across the globe -- is completed. But the new CEO of the WTA said he is in no rush to retire from a position he \"jumped on\" quickly after receiving the offer.\n\nAt 60, Simon, the father of two and grandfather of a little girl, received endorsements from the top names in the game, including Serena Williams and WTA founder Billie Jean King, who called Simon \"the right person for the job.\"\n\nSimon, who accepted a job at the Indian Wells tournament in 1989 and has been the tournament director and COO since 2004, played tennis at Long Beach State and then kicked around the Challenger and satellite circuits before going to work for Adidas.\n\nHe answered questions about his upcoming challenge and the state of women's tennis in a phone interview Monday with espnW.com.\n\nespnW: What are your general thoughts and reaction to taking over the top job in women's tennis?\n\nSimon: The WTA board called me a couple days after Stacey Allaster decided to step back and asked me if I would consider it. ... It humbled me to be asked and I said I'd like to take a shot at it because I think it's a unique opportunity to be provided a platform to maybe improve the game, the sport and the business and take it to new places, and you don't get that opportunity very often. I certainly didn't want to regret not taking it. There are no guarantees it will be successful, but you don't get an opportunity like this very often. I decided to jump on it and I'm very much looking forward to getting to work.\n\nespnW: One of the biggest sports stories of the year was Serena Williams' return to Indian Wells. How do you look back on that? Is there anything you wish you would have done differently?\n\nSimon: We were very pleased with the way it worked out and the credit goes to Serena. She handled it like a pro and the person she is with great integrity. We always felt fans would be very excited to see her back, which they were, and they showed that. It turned out to be very, very positive.\n\nespnW: Speaking of Serena, at 33, she was two victories away from accomplishing one of the greatest feats in sports this year. Now 34, she has elected to rest her injuries and, she said, a bit of a broken heart, and sit out the remainder of the year. How do you prepare for the post-Serena era, whenever it comes?\n\nSimon: It's part of sports. We do have transitions and we have great champions that do at some point retire and move on, and she is certainly getting closer to that stage. We don't know when exactly that will be yet. We'll certainly miss her in Singapore at the Championships and they're missing her this week in China, but she has to get herself right and ready to play. Hopefully she'll be excited and ready to go in 2016, which she indicated wants to do. And hopefully we'll see her continue for -- I'm going to go bold here and say -- the next 10 years. But she needs to come back right and healthy and ready to go again.\n\nespnW: This year has ended with many top players petering out after the US Open in a series of retirements and withdrawals due to injury. How do you view the current format and eight-week offseason in women's tennis?\n\nSimon: I think you have to continue addressing it and evolving it. The changes (a longer offseason and fewer Tier 1 events) that were made in 2009 ... had a positive effect with the injury numbers lessening since pre-2009. I think overall in tennis, the athleticism that's coming into the game is definitely taking its toll on the athletes because matches are becoming so much more strenuous, especially for the ones who are playing deep every week. ... We have to look at the structure and give [players] that opportunity to get calculated rest so, as much as possible, they can finish the end of the year as strongly as they began the year. ... We have to be open to evolution. Change scares people, but we have to evolve and continue adjusting in ways that make sense. Our athletes are our product and if they're not on the court, we don't have a product.\n\nespnW: How important is it that women's tennis has American players at the top of the rankings, particularly after Serena and Venus Williams retire?\n\nSimon: Obviously, America is a huge market and the market drives across regions. But this is an international sport, and as important as American stars are, it is equally as important that we have strong European and Asian-Pacific players and from other regions of the world. Being an international circuit, we need local stars as well to drive popularity in those regions. But what we're looking for are not just stars in each region but stars with personalities that can be conveyed across regions. If you look at Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal, they have immense popularity across regions. And Serena certainly has done that on the women's side, driving business and ticket sales. ... Obviously, to have future Americans to replace Serena and Venus will be important.\n\nespnW: How did you sell yourself to the WTA? What is your philosophy in regard to the sport?\n\nSimon: It's the philosophy I've used in Indiana Wells and I truly believe in and will bring with me [to the WTA], and that is about a focus on delivering a product that represents premium and excellence. It is about a product that's going to deliver an experience to fans, partners, media, staff that is nothing less than the best. And it will be about innovations and evolving the business. ... At the end of the day, we want a product and an organization people want to consume, align with and invest in."}
-{"text": "A recent Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General report found that sanctuary jurisdictions not only put considerable strains on federal immigration enforcement resources and have also resulted in over 17,000 illegal aliens who were still at large as of last year.\n\nThe report, which the department's inspector general released earlier this month, evaluated the difficulties that ICE's Criminal Alien Program, or CAP, faces as a result of having to deal with \"uncooperative jurisdictions\" that try to shield illegal immigrants from enforcement.\n\n\"ICE's inability to detain aliens identified through CAP who are located in uncooperative jurisdictions, results in increased risk those aliens will commit more crimes,\" the report found. \"Furthermore, having to arrest 'at-large' aliens may put officer, detainee, and public safety at risk and strains ICE's staffing resources.\"\n\nAccording to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's website, CAP provides the enforcement agency \"direction and support in the biometric and biographic identification, arrest, and removal of priority aliens who are incarcerated within federal, state, and local prisons and jails, as well as at-large criminal aliens that have circumvented identification.\"\n\nWhen ICE finds out that an illegal alien is in law enforcement custody on criminal charges, it will issue a detainer request asking that local law enforcement agency notify ICE of the individual's expected release and to hold onto said individual until federal immigration agents can take him or her in for removal proceedings.\n\nHowever, many sanctuary jurisdictions do not honor such requests to varying degrees and instead release removable aliens without notifying ICE, which forces the agency to conduct at-large arrest operations as a result.\n\n\"In such cases, ICE officers must investigate to determine each alien's location and then make arrests in communities rather than in more secure and safe environments such as in jails or prisons,\" the audit report noted. \"Moving arrests from secure, controlled locations (jails) to unknown environments (homes, workplaces, or the public) places heavy demand on ICE personnel and increases safety risks for officers, arrestees, and local communities. Arresting violent offenders at large requires even more resources to ensure officer safety.\"\n\nIn addition, the report also showed that the number of ignored immigration detainers has consistently gone up during the Trump administration. In fiscal year 2017, the report said, law enforcement agencies ignored 7,565 ICE detainers. That number spiked to 15,451 in FY 2018 and increased still to 16,396 during FY 2019.\n\nThe report concluded that \"ICE does not have sufficient resources\" to fully address the enforcement challenges posed by sanctuary jurisdictions refusing its detainer requests, which means that thousands of removable aliens have slipped through the cracks as a result.\n\n\"Of the 58,900 declined detainers between October 1, 2013 and September 30, 2019, ICE arrested about 70 percent of those aliens,\" the report said \"As of September 30, 2019, the remaining 17,700 remained at-large.\"\n\nICE's acting chief Matthew Albence hailed the audit's findings, saying that they back up the administration's point about the dangers of sanctuary policies.\n\n\"This report further confirms what we have said for years: our communities are safer when law enforcement works together to take criminal aliens off the streets,\" Albence said in a prepared statement on Tuesday. He added that at-large arrest \"efforts require significantly more time and resources, and worst of all, while we're still out looking for these criminals, many of these criminals commit further crimes, further victimizing the very communities these uncooperative jurisdictions are purporting to protect.\"\n\nThe report also suggested that the number of illegal aliens in the United States could be much higher than the government has previously estimated. While noting a 2015 DHS estimation of 12 million, the report points to a 2018 academic study that placed the estimation at 22.1 million."}
-{"text": "The bye week has come and gone. It's time for the Eagles to get back into the rhythm of the season after a week of reflection and self-scouting (which we covered on Eagles Game Plan). Over the break, I took some time to look back at two of the biggest themes behind the Eagles' success. Defensively, that theme has to do with getting their best player, defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, in one-on-one matchups.\n\nLast year, the Eagles were unable to generate a consistent pass rush when Cox was given extra attention by blocking schemes. The team responded by adding several key veterans and drafting pass rusher Derek Barnett in the first round. The improvement hasn't just come from the personnel department, however, because the coaching staff has also done a phenomenal job of finding ways to get No. 91 blocked one-on-one on a weekly basis. Let's take a look at how and why the tactics have worked, while also looking at the sheer dominance Cox has displayed all season long.\n\nShot 1 - Some teams have felt comfortable leaving Cox 1-on-1 with their RG. Washington, Denver and Carolina were some examples. It's REALLY hard to block Cox with just one man down in and down out #Eagles pic.twitter.com/AtMdrUP2eD \u2014 Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) November 13, 2017\n\nSimply put, it's very difficult to block Fletcher Cox one-on-one. Some teams have a lot of faith in their right guards and will feel comfortable leaving them on an island. Washington did that with Brandon Scherff. Carolina did it with Trai Turner. Denver did it with Ronald Leary. All three teams learned the hard way that on a down-to-down basis, it's really, really hard to keep him contained with just one blocker. Cox is the kind of player you have to gameplan for up front. When he's left one-on-one, he's going to do some damage in the game. The three plays above are all examples of him doing just that.\n\nShot 2 - The presence of Tim Jernigan certainly has helped. Small example Week 1 vs WAS. #Redskins slide to Cox, leave Jernigan 1-on-1 and he wins. Late in the game, they slide to other side and Cox gets home for the scoop and score #Eagles pic.twitter.com/cYMSWY4Xia \u2014 Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) November 13, 2017\n\nThe addition of Tim Jernigan has certainly had an impact as well. It's not that Jernigan gets double-teamed on every single snap because he's not. When you have another powerful disruptor up front lining up next to Cox, it really makes it tough for opponents. Here's an in-game example from the season opener against Washington. The offense slides the protection toward Cox on the first play, only for Jernigan to win one-on-one for a sack. On the next play, late in the game, the Redskins slide the opposite way toward Jernigan. Cox wins one-on-one, recovering a fumble and taking it to the house to seal the victory.\n\nIn a \"slide\" protection, there are two sides. There's the \"zone\" side, which is the direction the slide is happening. Then there's the \"man\" side, which is on the back side of the slide.\n\nLet's start with the \"zone\" side. All of the linemen involved in the slide step in that direction. They are responsible for their outside gap. So instead of a blocker having to worry about being beaten on his inside shoulder OR his outside shoulder, he really only has one job: don't get beat outside!\n\nOn the \"man\" side of the slide, it's exactly how it sounds. Offensive linemen (or backs and tight ends) have man-to-man assignments in the blocking scheme that they must account for. They have to be wary of both the inside and outside gap, and be ready to pass defenders off if there's movement (stunts or blitzes) after the snap.\n\nIf the offense gets any kind of feeling that the opponent is going to bring extra pressure from the outside, it will often slide the protection in that direction. Defenses know this, however, so that's where the chess game begins. Defenses try to force offenses to slide one way, then attack the \"man\" side of the protection. Defenses should get a free runner at the quarterback if it brings more than the offense can block on the \"man\" side. This \"cat and mouse\" game is one of my favorite parts of football, and the Eagles have been very good at winning that battle through the first nine games.\n\nShot 3 - Different pressures from #Eagles have also helped. When you show/bring pressure on the opposite side of Fletcher, you put the offense in a bind. Almost always going to slide in direction of the blitz. Leaves Cox 1-on-1. 3 examples here. pic.twitter.com/rQlUcpXMLf \u2014 Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) November 13, 2017\n\nHere are three examples of different blitzes the Eagles have used to attack offenses this year, but notice that the theme is the same in all three. On the opposite side of the blitz, Cox is manned up one-on-one with an offensive lineman, and I believe that this is by design. Cox is playing the role of a \"contain\" player on the blitz, preventing the quarterback from breaking the pocket, but at a certain point in the rush, he is able to transition from \"contain\" to \"rush\" and attack the quarterback for a play on the ball. This is a great way to force offenses to protect Cox one-on-one which, as has been already established, is very hard to do. Here's another pseudo-pressure tactic that's become increasingly common around the NFL.\n\nShot 4 - One of my favorite wrinkles from #Eagles this year has been these 5-over-5 looks. Even if you don't send five, the offense has to call protection for five. Helps create one-on-one matchups across the board. pic.twitter.com/QIk83TD3FO \u2014 Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) November 13, 2017\n\nThese \"five-over-five\" looks are something I've seen from almost every defense I've studied this year. The premise is simple. Use a linebacker to \"mug\" up on an offensive lineman (it can be a center, a guard, or a tackle), and force the line to account for him. Remember, once a protection is set, it can't change after the snap. If a linebacker lines up over the center, he must be accounted for in the protection one way or another. The Eagles have used these looks with Jordan Hicks and Nigel Bradham all season long, and it's helped create situations for Cox to beat the man in front of him and get to the quarterback. Now, let's get back to the slide protections.\n\nShot 5 - On 3rd down, the #Eagles love these personnel groups up front with three DEs on the field. Force offensive line to choose. Slide protection towards Cox? Or slide protection to the 2-DE side? #Broncos choose poorly here pic.twitter.com/UgJUDgDx4J \u2014 Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) November 13, 2017\n\nOne of the primary fronts the Eagles have used through nine games in their pass rushing downs is this personnel grouping with Cox alongside three defensive ends. Typically, those players are Barnett, Chris Long, and Brandon Graham, with Graham lined up inside as a tackle. This puts offenses in a bind. Do they slide protection toward Cox to give help to the guard? Or do they slide toward the two-defensive end side? On this example against Denver, the Broncos do the latter, sliding away from Cox and toward Graham and Barnett. Who can blame them? But that leaves Cox matched up against Leary one-on-one, and he wins for a sack.\n\nShot 6 - Same idea here, with a little bit of the 5-vs-5 look worked in as well. #Panthers slide to the left with Brandon Graham / Derek Barnett next to each other. Leave Cox 1-on-1. Pressure / INT #Eagles pic.twitter.com/Fzwb5CBiET \u2014 Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) November 13, 2017\n\nThe same exact thing happened against Carolina in one of the biggest moments of the game. The Eagles come out in a three-defensive end look. The offense slides toward Graham and Barnett, leaving Cox one-on-one with the guard. Hicks is even mugged up on the center for good measure, but the damage is done. The Panthers slide away from Cox, who wins with a bull rush, attacking Cam Newton's right arm, knocking the pass in the air, and creating an interception to put the Eagles' offense inside the 15-yard line to set up a touchdown. It all started with the Eagles dictating to the offense how to protect in a key situation, and the players came through by winning their one-on-one battles.\n\nThese three-defensive end looks aren't new to the game. They aren't revolutionary. Teams have seen them for a while, and one of the ways offenses will combat them is with a Full Slide protection. This is exactly what it sounds like, as the entire offensive line slides in one direction. This makes everything clear for the five blockers up front. What did I say before, though? There are two sides to the slide protection. On the back side of a Full Slide, the lone edge rusher will be double-teamed by the running back and the tight end. Neither is an offensive lineman, so you're taking a chance, but hopefully, the double team in itself will be enough to keep the pass rusher at bay.\n\nShot 7 - What teams have started to do is execute a 'Full Slide' in protection. All 5 OL slide one direction, and the backside DE gets double teamed by RB/TE. Cox gets skinny here and flies upfield. Turns into Pick 6 #Eagles pic.twitter.com/0XfXi6EMXb \u2014 Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) November 13, 2017\n\nThe 49ers executed a Full Slide protection on Jalen Mills' interception return for a touchdown. There are three defensive ends on the field and a Full Slide protection away from Barnett. The tight end and the running back double-team the rookie and keep him away from the quarterback (who is pressured by Cox anyway and throws an interception). The Eagles have seen these types of protections at different points throughout the year, as many teams do, and will continue to see them. There's a tactic, however, that they've brought into the fray to help attack the Full Slide protection. That is the Green Dog blitz.\n\nA Green Dog blitz is a simple concept. It's not a called blitz from the sideline, but it's a strategy executed by man coverage defenders. The rule is really easy to follow ... if you are playing man coverage, and the receiver you are assigned to cover stays in to pass protect, you rush the quarterback. Easy, right? We've seen it for years all around football, and let me show you how the Green Dog helps attack the Full Slide protection.\n\nShot 8 - #Eagles answer these Full Slide protections with 'Green Dog' blitzers. #Redskins slide protection, leaving Barnett doubled by RB/TE. Malcolm Jenkins (manned on TE) blitzes, pulling RB away from dbl team. Barnett now 1-on-1 w/ TE for sack pic.twitter.com/8bu8msaiLk \u2014 Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) November 13, 2017\n\nIn the game against Washington, the Eagles are in their three-defensive end nickel package. The Redskins call a Full Slide protection, and the entire offensive line slides to its right. Just like against San Francisco, the tight end and running back double-team Barnett.\n\nHere's where the Green Dog comes into play. Malcolm Jenkins is manned up against tight end Jordan Reed in press coverage. He knows this protection scheme is a possibility. When he sees Reed is blocking Barnett, he knows it's time to pull the trigger. He inserts himself into the pressure scheme, rushing into the C gap. The running back, Chris Thompson, does the right thing here. He abandons his responsibility in the double team against Barnett to block Jenkins, who is a more dangerous defender coming at high speed from a shorter distance to the quarterback. Thompson has to block Jenkins. That leaves Reed, who is not known for his blocking ability, matched up one-on-one with Barnett, who wins easily for the sack.\n\nEvery fan on their couch screams, \"Why would the Redskins leave a tight end one-on-one with Derek Barnett!??!\" Well, now you know why. It starts with Fletcher Cox's ability to win one-on-one, the Eagles coaching staff's use of alignments to get him those one-on-ones, the offensive reaction to those tactics, and the Eagles' counter-action to combat it.\n\nI love football."}
-{"text": "TRANSCRIPT: Ugandan Trans Woman Pens Courageous Open Letter to Parliament\n\nCleo K., a transgender woman living in Uganda, penned an open letter asking her members of Parliament to reject the country's \"Anti-Homosexuality Bill,\" which would criminalize LGBT Ugandans and subject some to the death penalty.\n\nActivists around the world are rallying in opposition to Uganda's so-called \"kill the gays\" bill, which would proscribe long imprisonment and even death for some LGBT Ugandans, including those who are HIV-positive, and friends and family who refuse to turn in \"known homosexuals\" to the authorities. Speaker Rebecca Kadaga told reporters last month that Parliament would pass the Anti-Homosexuality Bill as a \"Christmas gift\" to Ugandans who she says are \"demanding it.\" On Friday, a parliamentary committee moved the bill forward, and as of Tuesday, the bill appears at the top of the parliamentary Orders Papers' \"Notice of Business to Follow,\" after second and third readings of other bills.\n\nWhile western activists rally against the draconian legislation, Americans have heard precious little from LGBT people living in Uganda. This morning, a transgender Ugandan woman, going by the name Cleo K., posted an open letter to members of parliament on her Facebook account, asking the legislators for tolerance and tepid acceptance of variant sexual orientations and gender identities.\n\nRead her entire poignant message, in which she delineates sexual orientation from gender identity and chronicles her own family's long journey to accepting her, on the next page.\n\nDear Honorables,\n\nI greet you all in your distinguished capacities. I have never even for a second thought that I would ever have to write a letter to parliament, that my words would even have to be read by a people as you. I find myself, though, at a point in my life, where fate \u2014 if you believe in it \u2014 has bestowed upon me this duty to speak for the many voiceless out there, who like myself, find themselves at a point where your decision will determine if they will get to take another breath in this country, as free citizens or not. I pray then, that my words may not be in vain, but that they may appeal to that humanity that I know lies at the core of each of you.\n\nI go by the alias of Cleo. I am a 26-year-old transgendered person. With my ambitious persona and insatiable thirst for knowledge, I\u2019ve managed to see myself through school to the post-graduate level. I am a public worker, a scientist and a researcher to be specific, and earn an honest living from that. I am a Pentecostal Christian, loving God, though with my liberalist and realist values, I respect other people\u2019s sentiments, however divergent they are from my own.\n\nI was born a biologically male child to two very loving parents, Batooro by decent. Despite the love and care that they bestowed upon me, my childhood was tainted with a lot of misery. Being a transgender person, with my atypical behavior, and dress code that seemed to clash terribly with the stereotypical gender requirements of my society, I was faced with a lot of rejection from friends and family alike.\n\nMy family and friends have \u2014 with time and a lot of patience and struggle \u2014 come to understand my situation and not to judge me. A few months ago, when I made a monumental decision to fully transition into a girl, they have shown me so much affection and support, especially psychologically. For me, I consider this [one of] the biggest successes in my life; That my family and friends, despite our divergent values and their earlier negative sentiments, have finally managed, through a very strenuous process \u2014 that I should say, was not without wounds and tears \u2014 to understand and accept me, as a person, as their child, as their friend, as their sibling. Because that is the basic essence of what brings us together.\n\nBeing a transgendered person is not about who I am attracted to sexually. It's about what gender I identify with. Being a trans girl means that I was born biologically male, but with the physiology and psychology of a girl. At puberty I experienced a male, but largely female, pubertal development that left me very confused and rejected in all my social circles, for I was the black sheep. My parents did not know whether to protect me from boys or girls, but finally it so happened that I was brought up in a girls\u2019 hostel up to the age of 15.\n\nGrowing up a transgender person meant that I had to deal with my teenage burdens alone with not a soul to tell \u2014 not my parents or peers or siblings \u2014 to disclose my darkest secrets. To cry myself to sleep every night, wishing I was dead, to battle with depression and suicidal tendencies \u2014 that\u2019s all I remember in my teenage life.\n\nI wonder then, why people say it was my choice to be this way. Why would anyone choose a life as lonely as this, a life of misery, pain, rejection, abuse and depression? And though I made it, many haven\u2019t, because their self-esteem, their confidence, and their vitality, fails them in light of all the negativities that surround them. It\u2019s hardly the disgustingly abusive world that the media paints of us, for if there is any abuse sustained even then by any party, it\u2019s by us.\n\nI ask myself, how one can judge me, before one even knows me. I understand this though, because for so long I was hated by people before they even knew me.\n\nBeing transgender, like being gay or a lesbian, is not a choice. What is rather a choice is accepting it for a fact. What is a choice is if you \u2014 at some point in life \u2014decide to not live a masked life, under the guise of a straight, or asexual person like I did, and restrain yourself, from everything that you know you are from the core of your being.\n\nIt is very hard living your life through other people\u2019s eyes; trying hard to make them happy while you restrain yourself of who you are, or even demonize your actual being because of their negativities. It's a strange reality that I can loosely liken to solitude in a crowd, for even though there were so many people around me, none of them knew me for who I was \u2014 for I deliberately concealed a part of me that I considered a flaw to my being.\n\nAt some point though, I realized, just like everyone does in life, that I could not live entirely on other people\u2019s perceptions of who I was, battling to make other people happy at my own life\u2019s expense. For we all have but one life to live. I came to the realization that I alone knew better who I was, and that I had a rare opportunity to let people know who I was, and not let them tell me who I was. It had been a sad existence of existing, but not quite living, of living a lie, trying to convince myself \u2014and ultimately others \u2014 what I was, what I wasn\u2019t, and I was determined to end that cycle.\n\nAs a transgender person, I envision a utopia of gender neutrality, where all the genders in all their entireties are able to coexist together, and live in utter harmony and mutual respect of one another. So that, if not to accept, they might tolerate each other, just like we have tried to do as people of different tribes, colors, religions, value systems and races; it\u2019s the measure of our maturity as a civilization.\n\nI believe then, that in the same regard that all diversities \u2014 racial, tribal, religious, sexual, and gender alike \u2014 instead of being criminalized and demonized, should be celebrated and empowered, so that rather than to condemn a sect of a few people to social redundancy, all the human resource that Uganda boasts of can be fully tapped.\n\nLet\u2019s not then condemn ourselves, so that when people in the future look back at us, they will do so, just like we do at our ancestors, and exclaim how inhuman and selfish they were to disregard the existence of a few people because of their color and race. Gender diversity and sexual orientation is no premise to crucify someone, just because you do not agree with how someone dresses, what they act like, or who they sleep with.\n\nWhat then, I ask myself, are we teaching the future generations? Morality even at the expense of life? Morality in the eyes of a few self-righteous people? That all people aren\u2019t the same, if they are different? That it is okay to be selfish?\n\nBut being transgender \u2014 as much as it is my gender identity \u2014 does not holistically define who I am.\n\nAs people, like facets of a gem, we are complex in our ambitions and aspirations. We are unique in our personalities, talents, and value systems. It is these things in their entirety, but none of them in unison of others that defines us. The binary reductionist paradigm of looking at life as being either black or white \u2014 rather than as a continuum of several shades \u2014 fails to address the issues of life as it is. I am only different because I am transgender, but other than that, I am human, with red blood coursing through my veins just like you, with family and friends that care for me deeply, with personal sentiments and feeling like you do. I cry and laugh like you do, but I cannot be reduced and labeled as transgender, as an item on a supermarket stall, because that\u2019s not all I am. As a person, I am more than that.\n\nBeing transgender and having been rejected most of my life has taught serenity in the storm. It has taught perseverance, even when the storm wails on. It has taught me to respect other people despite their differences, and has taught me to be patient. It has taught me that life is not about being perfect, because in our flaws, in all our insecurities and in our inadequacies, we all have something to offer on the table. And that we are meant, as humans, to shine together, but not in solitude. And that we must help our brothers and sisters to shine, but not to trample upon them. To exist and live together, that is what humanity was meant for. For no man or woman is an island. For alone we burn out, and fail, but together we flourish.\n\nFinally, we must not forget our ultimate calling and obligation. For by virtue of our humanity, we ought to love others like we love ourselves, and treat them with the same delicacy and sensitivity that we wish be accorded us.\n\nI pray then, that in your deliberations, by the power vested in you, you may not forget our concerns \u2014 as humans, as Ugandans, as your brothers, sisters, mother and fathers.\n\nWith respect,\n\nCleo. K."}
-{"text": "\n\n\u2022 goal \u2022 collected \u2022 required 4500 USD= 678+ 3822 WE COLLECT MONEY FOR WP2: AT THE TIME WE HAVE 42 DONATIONS TO THE AMOUNT OF 678.15$ THANK YOU, FRIENDS! ...[ donors list\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "File photo of DTC bus\n\nNEW DELHI: The Delhi cabinet on Thursday approved the provision of 10% discount on usage of Delhi Metro card in DTC and cluster buses. DMRC already offers the discount on usage of smart cards in the metro. The government has already launched a Common Mobility Card (CMC) using the existing metro card in DTC and Cluster buses. A statement issued by it on Thursday said that the objective behind the proposal is to encourage use of public transport buses.\n\n"}
-{"text": "\"The clinical state of Michael Schumacher is stable as he's under permanent care and treatment. However, the medical team in charge stresses that it continues to assess his situation as critical.\"\n\n\"The patient's privacy requires that we do not give out details of his treatment and it is for this reason that we do not envisage any new press conferences, nor to send out any written press releases, in the near future.\"\n\nSeven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher is still in a stable but critical condition, according to a statement released by Grenoble University Hospital released on Monday 6th January.The legendary racing driver, who has a record 91 F1 race victories, has been in hospital since a skiing accident at the exclusive Meribel ski resort on the 29th December left him with serious life-threatening head injuries. The 45-year old has since undergone two operations to remove blood clots and reduce swelling and intra-cranial pressure, and is in an induced coma. The statement was backed up by Schumacher's manager Sabine Kehm, who confirmed that there has been zero change in his condition and that he remains closely monitored. Last Friday saw one of the most iconic racing drivers in history turn 45, and Ferrari, the team most associated with the German motorist organising a silent vigil outside the hospital to mark the occasion. French prosecutors have confirmed they will hold a press conference on the accident investigation this Wednesday, with reports suggesting that they will have 2 pieces of video; one from Schumacher's personal helmet camera, and another inadvertent shot by a 35-year-old German steward who was filming his girlfriend and inadvertently caught the incident on camera. The hospital and Kehm also indicated that this would be their last such update on his condition in the near future.The privacy of the family has been a major issue over the last week, with Kehm repeatedly calling for the privacy of the family to be respected amidst huge international interest. She has already confirmed reports that a journalist dressed as a priest in an attempt to access the F1 driver's hospital room."}
-{"text": "After he required a cart to get back to the locker room during Friday's preseason game with the Arizona Cardinals, the Raiders have a little more hand-wringing to do before they can officially celebrate the return of their standout second-year defensive lineman."}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\nA perfect example of the pathetic leftists in the Democrat Party. Rhode Island Rep. Jim Langevin gets taken to the woodshed by Fox Business\u2019 Maria Bartiromo over the stunt he is planning for President Trump\u2019s address to Congress Tuesday night (Feb. 28, 2017). He is bringing as his guest to the House Chamber a Muslim American doctor who came from Pakistan, supposedly being someone that President Trump is oppressing. But Bartiromo pointed out that Trump is trying to keep dangerous people out of the United States who are not Americans, and trying to get dangerous illegals out of the country. By protesting Trump with a legal immigrant, Langevin is actually insulting legal immigrants by appearing to lump them in with non-Americans who may pose a danger to America that Trump is trying to keep out of the country."}
-{"text": "One look at Mo, and Andrew Walton knew she was the one. Tall, reliable, immaculate \u2014 she was just what he\u2019d hoped for. Andrew\u2019s wife, Danielle, agreed. And with a 2008 reg plate, a long wheelbase and a price tag of \u00a33,500, they knew she was a keeper. Seven months later, Mo\u2019s transformation from a canary-yellow City Link delivery van into a beautifully crafted home-built camper \u2014 with heating, hot water and beds for four \u2014 was complete.\n\nMo is not the only ex work van to be given a new start in life. Across the UK, a growing number of people are ditching thoughts of buying a second home abroad, or converting the loft, and instead are buying and repurposing them to create flexible,"}
-{"text": "My interview with Derek Trucks on 7/10/18\n\nI spoke a couple of hours ago by phone with the great guitarist Derek Trucks who's coming into town at the PNC Pavilion on Sunday, July 22nd with the Tedeschi Trucks Band along with the Drive-By Truckers & the Marcus King Band.\n\nWe talked about how the recent heat wave has affected the band and their instruments, and how this year's tour differs from last year's with the Wood Brothers and Hot Tuna.\n\nHe and his wife Susan Tedeschi, who's also in the band and a great vocalist & guitar player as well, have two children who are tour with them this summer. They have a backyard studio in Jacksonville, Florida, where they're working on their 4th studio album. I asked him about some of the special guests who have dropped by to help out with it. I also asked Derek, since they're living in Florida's hurricane zone, if they've been impacted by any hurricanes.\n\nDuring our conversation, the topic of jazz came up since he's played with McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock. I also wondered if Derek had heard one of my favorite albums, \"Forest Flower,\" which he has and considers a jazz classic. Bela Fleck, Freddie King, and Lonnie Mack were also discussed. And of course, I had to ask him about his guitar collection and love of the Gibson SG.\n\nDerek Trucks is on Rolling Stone's top 100 rock guitarists of all-time list and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Allman Brothers Band. You're in for a treat if you head out to Riverbend for this show! Great musicians with a crazy fun fan base, and there's also with your ticket to this show \"a Pre-Show Craft Beer Tasting. Pre-Show Tastings begin 90 minutes prior to the show and ends 15 minutes before the concert begins. All Pre-Show Tastings will be located at the Party Plaza on the west end of the property. Must be 21 years of age and have a valid ID to participate.\""}
-{"text": "NEW DELHI: After pulses, rice prices may also shoot up and reach a \"boiling point\" in the coming months due to depleting stocks and likely fall in its kharif output, according to industry body Assocham The report, however, contradicts the current price trend in the market, where wholesale prices of non-basmati prices are ruling down at Rs 25 per kg as against Rs 30 per kg last year.Similarly, wholesale rates of premium basmati rice have declined sharply by about 30 per cent to Rs 44-45 per kg at present from Rs 62-65 per kg last season, as per traders.Whereas industry body Assocham in its study said after pulses, onion and mustard oil, rice prices may trouble consumers if timely adequate safeguards are not taken.\"...prices of rice may shoot up and reach a boiling point in the coming months as the stock of the key staple cereal is depleting fast owing to deficient rains and fall in output,\" the study said.As per the government estimates, kharif rice production is estimated at 90.61 million tonnes in 2015-16 crop year.\"...this is unlikely to be achieved due to severe deficit rains in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Karnataka and the best that could be achieved is 89 million tonnes,\" it said adding that overall rice output may be around 103 million tonnes during 2015-16.That apart, the study said rice stocks have declined in last three years from 24.59 million tonnes in 2012 to 13.89 million tonnes (plus unlimited paddy 3.61 tonnes) in stocks at present.\"Increasing export outgo on account of PDS ( Public Distribution System ) and other welfare schemes will continue to weigh on availability in the open market. Unless government is able to handle the situation prudently, depleting stocks will soon reflect on the open market prices\", adds the study."}
-{"text": "After Mohamed Salah sealed a move to Liverpool this week, writer Andrew Beasley explores the numbers behind the forward's excellent 2016-17 season.\n\nThe Reds know their new No.11 can perform at the very highest level in a top league.\n\nThe table below proves just how well Salah did last term, as it shows how often he directly contributed to a goal in all competitions compared with the rest of J\u00fcrgen Klopp's squad.\n\nTo put the Egyptian's figures into context beyond the confines of Liverpool, while Harry Kane (with a non-penalty goal or assist every 82 minutes in the Premier League) was ahead of the Roma man, the likes of Alexis Sanchez (101), Romelu Lukaku (109) and Diego Costa (114) were all behind him.\n\nBut how about more specific match stats?\n\nUsing the concept of radars to display a variety of player attributes, and with figures from Ted Knutson's attacking midfielder/forward radar templates, I have been able to create the below for Salah to give a general overview. All stats are per 90 minutes played, unless stated.\n\nAs you would guess from the earlier table, goals and assists are his main strengths here, but you can see that he doesn't shoot that often; just 2.9 times per 90 minutes, when the most frequent shooters average over 4.5.\n\nSo how did he score so many goals? By converting a very high proportion of shots.\n\nSalah scored with 18.8 per cent of his shots in Serie A last season, which is an elite level of finishing. In the last six seasons in the Premier League, a total of 106 players have had at least 80 non-penalty shots, which is how many Salah had in the league for Roma. Of those, just four converted more than 18.8 per cent of their goal attempts.\n\nThis isn't a one-off for Salah either. He converted 19.4 per cent of his league shots the year before, and 20.7 per cent of them in his half-season on loan at Fiorentina. In total in Serie A, the Liverpool new boy scored 35 of his 181 shots, at a remarkable rate of 19.3 per cent.\n\nHe converts a lot of shots, but it's no accident either. Not all shots are equal, and that's why the football data analysis community use expected goals (or 'xG' for short) to account for that fact. I have my own simple system, and in my model each shot Salah took last season had, on average, a 15.7 per cent chance of being scored.\n\nReferring back to the 106 Premier League players I mentioned earlier reveals that just one of them took higher quality shots on average than Salah did in 2016-17. It was Emmanuel Adebayor in 2011-12, in case you were wondering, and I bet that wouldn't have been your guess.\n\nThe Egyptian's pace means that defenders can rarely keep up with him, and this enables him to get clean through and take lots of high-quality shots. Salah had 24 Opta-defined clear-cut chances in Serie A last season; only 19 players across the last six seasons in the Premier League have had so many (excluding penalties).\n\nSalah doesn't appear to take shots from poor locations too often either, with 76 per cent of his shots being taken inside the opposition penalty box. This compares favourably with the Premier League average of 59 per cent of shots being taken from within the 18-yard area.\n\nIt's not all positive on the radar. His rate for successful dribbles is surprisingly low, but this could perhaps be as a result of how dribbling data is captured. For instance, he averaged 3.1 successful dribbles per 90 minutes played for Chelsea, and 3.8 for Fiorentina, yet only 1.3 in Serie A last season. I can't believe he's that much worse a dribbler now, so treat that figure with caution.\n\nThe Liverpool manager expects his team to defend from the front, and Salah's tally of 1.3 tackles and interceptions per 90 may appear underwhelming. However, Sadio Mane averaged just 1.2 in his debut campaign for the Reds, and it's clear that his fellow African will play a similar role, so this lack of defensive output (at least by this measure) needn't be a massive concern.\n\nA look at Salah's performance data shows that he's a resilient player. In his two-and-a-half seasons in Italy, the Egyptian missed just five league games due to injury, and only seven in all competitions. Like Mane, he will miss Liverpool matches due to the Africa Cup of Nations, but that aside, his career to date suggests he can be relied upon to be available for the majority of games \u2013 a fact that should not be underestimated.\n\nBased on his track record, the signing of Salah is a real coup for Liverpool, and his pace and skill could make a vital difference for the Reds in 2017-18.\n\nClick here to follow Andrew on Twitter."}
-{"text": "The number of active short-term rentals in Vancouver has dropped to 3,742 compared to approximately 6,600 in April, when the city introduced new bylaws and regulations around the industry.\n\nThe regulations \u201cstrike a fair balance for Vancouverites who rely on income from short-term rentals to help make ends meet, while also recognizing that our priority is to make sure Vancouverites have a secure place to call home,\u201d said Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson at the time.\n\nThe city defines a short-term rental as any home \u2013 or room in a home \u2013 that is rented for less than 30 days at a time.\n\nAs part of the agreement, Airbnb hosts in Vancouver are required to update their short-term rental listings to display a business licence, which will cost $49 a year.\n\nOn Wednesday, the city provided an update on its data numbers as a result of efforts this year to crack down on all short-term rentals operating without a valid licence.\n\nSee also\n\nThe deadline to apply for a license was August 31, and the city said that now, it will be increasing enforcement against those still not in compliance with the bylaws.\n\n\u201cEfforts by city staff to educate the public and enforce against commercial or illegal operators have resulted in 2,630 short-term business licences being issued, which represents 70% of existing listings, and is among the highest initial uptake by any major city globally,\u201d the city said in a release.\n\nSince September 1, a total of 294 new addresses have been flagged for non-compliance and are subject to enforcement.\n\nAs a result of the new bylaws, Airbnb has also deactivated 2,482 Vancouver-based listings that did not include a business licence, as part of the landmark agreement with the city.\n\nIn addition to the listings removed by Airbnb, more than 660 listings were removed or converted to long-term rental units by individuals in response to the new regulations.\n\n\u201cThe early results of the short-term rental program are very promising,\u201d said Kaye Krishna, General Manager, Development, Buildings and Licensing. \u201cThese new regulations allow residents to generate additional income through part-time rental of their principal residence, while addressing the potential loss of much-needed housing for use as tourist accommodation.\u201d\n\nKrishna said that as the city moves forward with further education and enforcement, \u201cwe expect to see the short-term rental market stabilize.\u201d\n\nShe added that the city has received public support for the new regulations \u201cand I hope we will continue to hear feedback and tips from the community on the program and suspected illegal operators.\u201d\n\nLast spring, the city provided a registration period meant to allow residents to understand and comply with the new short-term rental regulations.\n\nDuring this period staff also pursued enforcement against operators that would clearly not meet the new regulations, such as unsafe dwellings or commercial operations. To-date, over 2,650 short-term listings have been investigated.\n\nIncreased enforcement starts this week\n\nStarting this week, anyone posting a short-term rental listing without a valid business licence will be subject to enforcement. This includes fines up to $1,000 per offence on each platform where the rental is advertised and escalating legal action that includes prosecution.\n\n\u201cOver the past four months the city has communicated broadly with residents and held information events to help the public understand the new regulations,\u201d the city said. \u201cAirbnb and Expedia\u2026 have also made significant efforts to educate and support their hosts in getting into compliance with Vancouver\u2019s new rules.\u201d\n\nThe city noted that Airbnb has supplied the first of many data files listing addresses and business licence numbers of short-term operators in Vancouver, while Expedia has agreed to add a field where business licence numbers can be added to their online listings.\n\nResidents are also being encouraged to continue to reporting addresses and URLs suspected of illegal short-term rentals by calling 3-1-1, completing the online form or by submitting a report through the VanConnect App.\n\nThose wishing to apply for a short-term rental license can do so online as well."}
-{"text": "\uff08\uff23\uff2e\uff2e\uff09 \u30d1\u30ea\u5e02\u306f\u3053\u306e\u307b\u3069\u3001\u540c\u6771\u90e8\u306b\u3042\u308b\u300c\u30d0\u30f3\u30bb\u30f3\u30cc\u306e\u68ee\u300d\u516c\u5712\u5185\u306e\u4e00\u90e8\u3092\u30cc\u30fc\u30c7\u30a3\u30b9\u30c8\u305f\u3061\u306e\u5c02\u7528\u533a\u57df\u3068\u3057\u3066\u958b\u653e\u3059\u308b\u5b9f\u9a13\u7684\u306a\u63aa\u7f6e\u3092\u958b\u59cb\u3057\u305f\u3002\uff18\u6708\uff13\uff11\u65e5\u304b\u3089\uff11\uff10\u6708\uff11\uff15\u65e5\u307e\u3067\u306e\u671f\u9593\u9650\u5b9a\u3068\u306a\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\n\n\u30cc\u30fc\u30c7\u30a3\u30b9\u30c8\u305f\u3061\u306e\u6a29\u5229\u306a\u3069\u3092\u5b88\u308b\u305f\u3081\u5468\u8fba\u306b\u306f\u3053\u306e\u63aa\u7f6e\u306b\u95a2\u3059\u308b\u63b2\u793a\u677f\u304c\u7acb\u3066\u3089\u308c\u3001\u306e\u305e\u304d\u884c\u70ba\u306a\u3069\u306b\u8b66\u544a\u3092\u767a\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\n\n\u30d1\u30ea\u306e\u516c\u5712\u884c\u653f\u3092\u62c5\u5f53\u3059\u308b\u526f\u5e02\u9577\u306f\u5730\u5143\u306e\uff21\uff26\uff30\u901a\u4fe1\u306b\u5b9b\u3066\u305f\u58f0\u660e\u3067\u3001\u56fd\u5185\u306b\u306f\uff12\uff16\uff10\u4e07\u4eba\u4ee5\u4e0a\u306e\u88f8\u4f53\u4e3b\u7fa9\u8005\u304c\u3044\u308b\u3068\u6307\u6458\u3002\u4eca\u56de\u306e\u958b\u653e\u306f\u516c\u5171\u7a7a\u9593\u306e\u5229\u7528\u65b9\u6cd5\u306e\u4e00\u74b0\u3068\u3057\u305f\u3002\u307e\u305f\u3001\u30cc\u30fc\u30c7\u30a3\u30ba\u30e0\u304c\u53d7\u3051\u5165\u308c\u3089\u308c\u3066\u3044\u308b\u30c9\u30a4\u30c4\u3001\u30b9\u30a4\u30b9\u3084\u30b9\u30da\u30a4\u30f3\u306b\u89e6\u767a\u3055\u308c\u305f\u3068\u306e\u52d5\u6a5f\u3082\u660e\u3089\u304b\u306b\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\uff11\uff19\uff15\uff13\u5e74\u304b\u3089\u6d3b\u52d5\u3092\u59cb\u3081\u305f\u30d1\u30ea\u306e\u30cc\u30fc\u30c7\u30a3\u30b9\u30c8\u5354\u4f1a\u306f\u4eca\u56de\u306e\u63aa\u7f6e\u306b\u89e6\u308c\u3001\u300c\u771f\u306e\u559c\u3073\u3060\u300d\u3068\u6b53\u8fce\u3002\u540c\u5354\u4f1a\u306e\u30e1\u30f3\u30d0\u30fc\u306f\u3053\u308c\u307e\u3067\u3001\u9031\u306b\uff13\u5ea6\u3001\u30d7\u30fc\u30eb\u3067\u30cc\u30fc\u30c9\u306b\u306a\u3063\u305f\u308a\u3001\u30b8\u30e0\u3067\u88f8\u3067\u4f53\u3092\u935b\u3048\u308b\u6d3b\u52d5\u306a\u3069\u3092\u5b9f\u65bd\u3057\u3066\u304d\u305f\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3002"}
-{"text": "Second Interstellar Object Ever Discovered is Traveling at 100 Times the Speed of Sound"}
-{"text": "About\n\nTHE ROAD TO TERRA IS OPEN\n\nGrab your bolter, board the Thunderhawk\u2026 and play cards! The Horus Heresy: Legions will take you on an epic journey through one of the richest settings of Warhammer 40,000\u2019s history. Play cards to field troops, execute tactics and embody the heroes and villains of The Horus Heresy. Join a Lodge and plot your way to take over the galaxy with new friends. Make history fighting in time-limited events with game-changing consequences.\n\nWith an ever growing collection of hundreds of cards and dozens of Warlords to lead your decks, the path to victory will always shine with new strategies to build powerful decks of unstoppable Space Marines.\n\nPlay in Ranked and Friendly modes with your best deck or master Sealed Deck events using cards you might not own yet. Need more practice? Duel any member of your Lodge easily, go solo against the AI, or issue a challenge to any player you know.\n\nAre you ready for this time of reckoning?"}
-{"text": "Two teens attempt to rob police station which they thought was a store and get caught."}
-{"text": "Pre-workout supplements make big promises to boost your performance, and with those promises come high price tags. You supposedly get a burst of energy, fatigue less easily, and increase blood flow, all to help you get more out of your workout. The thing is, these supplements are really just powerful stimulants.\n\n\n\n\nPre-workout supplements are pretty popular, and you can find them from pretty much any company that also sells protein powders. Optimum Nutrition, MusclePharm, and Cellucor are just a few of the major players. They typically come in powdered form, are meant to be mixed with water, and taste like a flavored sports drink\u2014which makes sense because they\u2019re loaded with artificial sweeteners, coloring agents, and other ingredients that we\u2019ll get to shortly.\n\n\nWithin 20-30 minutes of drinking one, you start to feel something, like it\u2019s \u201ckicked in,\u201d and you\u2019re ready for your workout. It\u2019s a blessing, but also a curse.\n\nIt\u2019s Mostly the Caffeine That \u201cWorks\u201d\n\nMost pre-workout supplements contain caffeine. And lots of it.\n\nCaffeine is commonly used by athletes, especially those in endurance sports, to improve their exercise performance. It helps you focus more and feel less fatigue\u2014exactly the claims the supplement labels make! So, in reality, when you feel like you\u2019re ready to take on the entire weight room, you can thank the caffeine for that, not the supplement.\n\nThe pre-workouts I\u2019ve tried from Optimum Nutrition, JYM, and Kaged Muscle contain between 175 milligrams (Optimum Nutrition) and 300 milligrams of caffeine per serving (Kaged Muscle). For real-world context, a single can of Red Bull has 80 milligrams of caffeine and a cup of coffee is close to 100 milligrams.\n\n\nWhile some of the research shows promising lifting benefits with high doses of caffeine (like this study in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise), the caffeine dose is typically tailored to the individual\u2014about 6 to 9 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of bodyweight. That\u2019s 409-612 milligrams for a 150-pound person, for example.\n\nUnfortunately, these supplements too often provide an enormous hit of caffeine, without letting you dose an appropriate amount for yourself. Plus, you get a bunch of other fluff. If you\u2019re looking for that extra performance edge from caffeine, you\u2019re better off getting it from other sources, like coffee or caffeine pills, where you can control the dosage yourself.\n\n\n\"Cycle\" Your Caffeine Intake to Reduce Your Tolerance I love my coffee as much as the next cup (and the one after), but tolerance to its effects can be a Read more\n\nThe Useful Ingredients Aren\u2019t Always in Effective Doses\n\nAt their core, all pre-workout supplement formulas are similar. They contain a blend of science-sounding compounds that claim to increase blood flow to muscles, boost energy production, and more quickly clear out metabolites that would otherwise fatigue your muscles faster.\n\n\nTypically, you\u2019ll find creatine, arginine, beta-alanine, carnitine, citrulline, to name a few. All of these are also found in the body, and supplementation with a few of them actually do have proven benefits\u2014in the proper doses and with consistent intake. Here are a few well-researched ingredients with notable benefits, and ones you should look out for when considering a supplement:\n\nCreatine\n\nStandard Effective Dose: 5 grams\n\nCreatine is stored in your muscles and used as an extra energy source when you work them. During bursts of intense activity like weightlifting, you quickly deplete a form of energy called ATP. When you supplement with creatine, you increase the available creatine in your muscles so that it can regenerate ATP stores faster and help you work out harder.\n\n\nThe International Society of Sports Nutrition wrote in a position paper that creatine is a safe, effective, and ethical way for an athlete to improve strength and power and gain more muscle. A review of over 80 studies on creatine in Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition also noted clear strength benefits for weightlifters, as well as positive effects on muscle building.\n\nTwo things to note: There are different forms of creatine, but creatine monohydrate is the most well-studied; and the benefits of creatine don\u2019t happen immediately. It takes time for your muscles to be \u201cloaded\u201d with creatine, though you can get benefits faster by taking higher amounts. For more details on that, check out this article on Examine.com.\n\n\nStandard Effective Dose: 2.4 grams\n\nMost studies on beta-alanine, such as this one International Journal of Sports Medicine, show that it helps people squeeze out a few more reps when training in the higher rep range (like between 8 and 15 reps). A review of the literature in the journal Amino Acids suggested that beta-alanine improved performance in moderately intense activities that lasted between 60-240 seconds. That means this isn\u2019t likely to help with, say, a 1-rep max bench press.\n\n\nThe explanation here is that beta-alanine turns into carnosine in the body. As you \u201dfeel that burn\u201d from hard exercise, carnosine is released to buffer the increase in lactate (an acid) and help you continue exercising a bit longer.\n\nWhen you take beta-alanine or any pre-workout supplement containing more than 2 grams of it, you\u2019ll feel a bizarre, tingly sensation, usually in your hands and face. Don\u2019t worry, it\u2019s a harmless and common effect called paresthesia.\n\n\nNitrate\n\nStandard Effective Dose: 0.5 grams\n\nNitrates are found in green leafy and tuber vegetables, such as in spinach and beet roots, and in the stuff that\u2019s used to cure ham. You typically supplement with beet juice and eating leafy greens, and in pre-workout supplements, the ingredient is beet extract. When you take in nitrates, they get broken down in the body into nitrite and converted into nitric oxide during hard activity where you have a hard time getting enough oxygen.\n\n\nThe more nitrates, the more available nitric oxide there is. This aids exercise since nitric oxide widens blood vessels, increasing blood flow, and seems to help you work harder, longer. One study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that three days of supplementing with nitrates (through beet juice) reduced the amount of oxygen needed to perform exercise at moderate intensity, in addition to helping subjects last longer during really intense, near-maximal exercise.\n\nAnother reason pre-workout supplements love to emphasize nitric oxide is that you tend to feel like your muscles are bigger than they really are (known as \u201cthe pump\u201d in fitness circles) from the increased blood flow.\n\n\nWhile pre-workout supplements usually include these ingredients (and many others), the actual labels on bottles are often obfuscated by a company\u2019s proprietary blend, or a signature \u201csecret\u201d blend that hides the exact amounts of listed ingredients. So, it\u2019s not uncommon for supplement companies to under-dose on the good stuff, like beta-alanine.\n\n\n\n\nLabdoor, an independent supplement testing lab, took 46 of the most popular pre-workout supplements and analyzed the contents to check against the bottles\u2019 labels and ingredient claims. They found that only two\u2014Legion Pulse and Optimum Nutrition Platinum Pre-workout\u2014out of 46 actually contained effective doses and were true to their labels (full disclosure, the site makes money through affiliate links). That said, I am not endorsing those two products: having accurate labels is just the ethical thing to do.\n\n\n\nThis Industry Is Rife With Safety Concerns\n\nThe FDA regulates supplements in general, but their oversight has been lax and often limited by resources. That alone is a huge safety concern, and as I touched on earlier, you never know exactly what is in the bottle of any supplement you buy. And sometimes that can lead to real harm.\n\n\nIn 2011 and 2012, several cases of pre-workout supplement-related deaths were linked to a product called Jack3d, which at the time still contained a powerful stimulant called 1,3-dimethylamylamine, or DMAA. DMAA is structurally similar to amphetamine, and since early 2000s, has been marketed as a natural weight loss aid.\n\nFor a time even after the controversy started, Jack3d continued to be marketed as \u201csafe and effective.\u201d It took an additional two years and dozens upon dozens of adverse case reports for Jack3d to be recalled by the FDA and for the supplement manufacturer to agree to stop making it with DMAA. You can still buy Jack3d, but the current formula doesn\u2019t include DMAA.\n\n\nDisappointingly, products with DMAA are still available in the marketplace. While the FDA is doing what it can to remove dietary supplements with DMAA, you can be more vigilant by looking closely at the label. DMAA goes by other names: geranamine, dimethylamylamine, methylhexanamine, and many more. You can find the full list here.\n\n\nAside from regulatory concerns, there are potential unpleasant side effects of taking pre-workout supplements. I\u2019ve experienced some unfortunate gastrointestinal issues when I took Pre-JYM and Cellucor\u2019s C4. Friends and former colleagues have told me pre-workout supplements in general give them trouble sleeping at night, concentrating during the day, and headaches.\n\nIf the whole point is to work out harder and more intensely, you can do the same by taking caffeine by itself. Coffee is my personal go-to (and it\u2019s dang tasty). As far as I\u2019m concerned, the only people who possibly need pre-workout supplements are fitness models who lack energy from a long dieting period. If you\u2019re after those claims of getting stronger and performing better, try looking into the individual ingredients, such as creatine and beta-alanine, and taking them separately, where you can moderate the dose to your needs and fitness goals.\n\n\n\n\nIn general, pre-workout supplements can \u201cwork\u201d because they may change the way you feel, mostly thanks to our friend caffeine. The kicker is, neither caffeine nor pre-workout supplements will automatically make anyone stronger, bigger, or faster. You still need to be willing to work your ass off when you exercise.\n\n\nIllustration by: Sam Woolley."}
-{"text": "The Vancouver International Auto Show, which kicked off on March 19, is filled with flashy, glamorous and high-tech cars. But one particular vehicle will no doubt stand out, even though it isn't any of those things.\n\nThe Van of Hope, a Ford Econoline, is the vehicle that followed closely behind Terry Fox during his Marathon of Hope for cancer research in 1980.\n\nTerry's younger brother, Darrell Fox, was on the road with him back in 1980. He says Terry ran 3,339 miles (5,373 kilometres), and the van was there for each and every one of them.\n\nFox says he still gets emotional when he sees the van.\n\n\"I go back to 1980. It's almost the same reaction when people look at the van [now] as when [they were] watching Terry run.... It is quite emotional to recognize the role the vehicle played for Terry,\" Fox told On the Coast guest host Jason D'Souza.\n\nThe Fox brothers slept in the van, which had been camperized with a mini-fridge, porta-potty and bunks.\n\nThe restored Marathon of Hope Ford Econoline, as seen today. \"They restored everything but the smell,\" says Darrell Fox. (Submitted by Darrell Fox)\n\nWhat a long, strange trip it's been\n\nLoaned to Terry by Ford Motor Company in 1980, the van was returned to a London, Ont., dealership after the marathon came to an end. It was sold to two families over a 20-year period.\n\nIn 2007, the then-owner gave the vehicle to his son Bill Johnston, who lived in Vancouver.\n\nFor the next seven years, Johnston used it as a touring vehicle for his heavy metal band. He told Fox the van never let the band down, even after they put over 350,000 kilometres on it and toured all over North America.\n\n\"Just like Terry, it kept running,\" said Fox.\n\nTerry Fox standing in front of what is possibly Canada's most famous van during his run to raise funds for cancer research. (Submitted by Darrell Fox)\n\nIn 2005, Canadian author and artist Douglas Coupland published a picture-based biography on Terry Fox. Coupland was at a house party in Vancouver a few years later when a party guest mentioned seeing a picture of the van in his book.\n\nThe guest said, \"By the way ... it's parked down the street from where I live,\" Fox recounted.\n\nCoupland told Fox that night, and the next morning they found the van where the party guest said it would be: not far from the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver.\n\n\"There it was. As soon as I rounded the corner I knew what I was looking at,\" said Fox, who had not laid eyes on the van for 27 years.\n\nFox purchased it, and Ford Canada agreed to restore it.\n\n\"They restored everything but the smell,\" he said.\n\nThe Van of Hope is on display at the Vancouver International Auto Show until March 24 at the Vancouver Convention Centre.\n\nListen to the full story here:"}
-{"text": "With hundreds of multi-hued cranes and stacked shipping containers, the construction site rises from the swamps east of Lagos like a Technicolor hallucination. It is Nigeria\u2019s latest hope for transforming its stagnant economy: a $10.5 billion oil refinery that will be Africa\u2019s biggest, able to produce 650,000 barrels a day. When the pumps roar to life in 2020, they could make Nigeria\u2014a net importer of fuel, despite copious crude-oil reserves\u2014self-sufficient in petroleum products.\n\nThat\u2019s only the beginning. Once the refinery is operational, industry analysts say Nigeria could become Africa\u2019s biggest producer of refined petroleum and gas products, ranging from plastics to fertilizer, as well as jet fuel, diesel and gasoline. That would create a variety of new industries, potentially lifting the economy of the entire region for decades to come.\n\nMost of Africa\u2019s biggest infrastructure projects are financed by a combination of state monies, bonds and development loans. But this is no national undertaking: the Dangote Refinery is a privately funded project sprung wholesale from the fevered aspirations of Africa\u2019s richest man, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote. If his gamble pays off, it could save Nigeria up to $12 billion on the importation of refined fuel, and grow his Dangote Group conglomerate to an energy giant with a projected revenue of $30 billion. It could also make Dangote, who is now worth $14.1 billion, one of the wealthiest industrialists in the world.\n\nTop of the 61-year-old\u2019s shopping list is his favorite soccer team, Arsenal\u2014once his new investment starts generating the cash he needs to buy the North London club. But first Dangote wants to see other African businessmen follow his lead by investing in job-generating industries throughout the continent. Africa\u2019s population, he notes, will double to 2.5 billion by 2050, and more than a billion young people will be looking for jobs. That could present a risk to the continent\u2019s security.\n\nBut Dangote believes if more investors shared his view of Africa\u2014as a source of future consumers as well as labor\u2014it could also be a chance to bring lasting prosperity for all.\n\nHe\u2019s done his part, he says, by committing an additional $6 billion to $8 billion in Nigerian and African investments over the next two years. But it pains him that when he goes to international events like the World Economic Forum at Davos, Africans are poorly represented, and Africa is still seen as a risky investment. After all, he points out, he made most of his money in Nigeria. \u201cThere are enormous amounts of opportunities here when you look at it,\u201d Dangote tells TIME in an interview in his ninth-floor office in downtown Lagos. \u201cBut unless we stay and contribute to our own countries, we\u2019re not going to get out of the woods.\u201d\n\nWorkers at a construction site for a Dangote Group refinery in Lagos, Nigeria, in July 2018. Tom Saater for TIME\n\nUnassuming in stature, with slightly graying hair cut close to his scalp and a perennially bashful grin, Dangote seems less like a swaggering tycoon than a man who still can\u2019t quite believe his good luck. Though he comes from one of the most important trading families of Kano, in northern Nigeria, it was an early foray into manufacturing that launched him into the top tiers of global wealth. He got his start in the 1970s as an importer of common necessities such as sugar, flour, pasta and packing materials. Having already built up distribution networks, he used a small loan from his maternal grandfather to invest in factories and began producing.\n\nHe quickly showed a ferocity when it came to spotting and seizing a business opportunity; from cement to tomato paste, Dangote approached every industry with a \u201cbuild it and they will buy\u201d idealism. It\u2019s a formula he has extended to building factories in four different countries while exporting locally produced goods to 30 others. The aggressiveness belies his solicitous demeanor; he serves visitors to his office and home himself, and makes a point of taking his landlines off the hook and putting his cell phones on silent before starting a conversation.\n\nIn 2012, after the cost of oil skyrocketed, he started thinking about how he could apply his formula to the fuel that ran his factories. Though he knew nothing about the industry, turning Nigeria\u2019s approach to oil on its head was the obvious next step, says Dangote.\n\n\u201cDangote is setting the pace,\u201d says Ayodele Odusola, the chief economist for the United Nations Development Programme in Africa. \u201cHe has already helped Nigeria break the shackles of imported petrol. We need to engage with more African entrepreneurs like that.\u201d\n\nNigeria, at this point, could certainly use a cheerleader of Dangote\u2019s caliber. The country may be known for its entrepreneurial hustle, but according to a June report from the Vienna-based NGO World Data Lab, Nigeria has the world\u2019s highest number of people living in extreme poverty. That\u2019s a stunning statistic for a country long touted as an African powerhouse.\n\n\u201cWe were hearing about Nigeria\u2019s promise in primary school, and here I am, in old age, still hearing about it,\u201d says economist Akpan H. Ekpo, director general of the Lagos-based West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management. \u201cNigeria could be the economic engine of Africa. The size of the economy, the available manpower and resources, a hardworking population\u2014she has all it takes.\u201d Instead, Nigeria is a country of perpetually unrealized potential\u2014an anchor weighing down the rest of the region as it struggles to overcome the deep-seated conflicts, corruption and bad governance that keep success out of reach.\n\nHow Dangote succeeded where others failed involves a President, protectionism and a piece of company apocrypha. When in 1999 Nigeria\u2019s recently elected pro-business President Olusegun Obasanjo asked him why Nigeria imported so much cement when it had all the raw ingredients to produce it at home, Dangote is said to have told him that it would stay that way as long as it was more profitable to import than to produce. So Obasanjo reversed the imbalance by giving preferential treatment to domestic producers. Dangote was one of the first to profit, and today, Dangote Cement is on the verge of being the largest exporter of the construction material in Africa.\n\nThat Dangote has built a fortune by securing virtual monopolies on the production of vital goods, like cement, with government assistance in the form of tax exemptions and protection from international competitors is not lost on his detractors. But Dangote has long said that old-fashioned protectionism is the only way to build Africa\u2019s industries. \u201cHow many jobs can you create if you are now going to produce 5 million tons of wheat instead of importing it?\u201d he asks. It is up to the government to protect local industries, he adds. \u201cIncentives are what drive an entrepreneur to risk his capital.\u201d\n\nNow that President Donald Trump has adopted a similar stance for American manufacturers, Dangote feels vindicated. He still winces at Trump\u2019s expletive-laced dismissal of African nations as \u201c-sh-thole countries,\u201d but admires the President\u2019s stance on protecting domestic manufacturers. \u201cWhen foreign competitors come into our market and dump their products, there is no incentive to build our own industry,\u201d Dangote says. \u201cAre we to be captive to foreign companies? No. If America is now rising up to protect her industries, why shouldn\u2019t African countries rise up to protect their own?\u201d\n\nProtectionism has historically been considered a dirty word in Africa, where manufacturing exports protected by free-trade treaties have boosted foreign exchange. Now, governments and investors are beginning to see domestic manufacturing as vital for creating jobs.\n\nTo grow, however, African countries still need foreign direct investment. The problem is that Africa is still seen as a risky investment for most outsiders, despite the fact that, according to Odusola, it has the largest rate of return\u201411.4%\u2014compared to other regions, like Europe or Asia. This is where the Dangote Group\u2019s expanding presence on the continent can generate a halo effect, says Odusola. The more Dangote\u2019s investments thrive, the more likely it is that foreign companies will want to emulate his success by taking similar risks on unknown markets.\n\nFormer U.S. President Bill Clinton (L) speaks with Aliko Dangote (C), President and CEO, Dangote Group, and Andrew N. Liveris, President, Chairman & CEO, at the end of a panel discussion during US-Africa Business Forum on the sideline of the US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, DC, on August 5, 2014. Jewel Samad\u2014AFP/Getty Images\n\nThe question is how many Dangotes there are waiting to be discovered. His companies cover a dizzying breath of industries\u2014everything from agriculture to oil, constructional materials, real estate and food products. Dangote Group claims its investments contribute upwards of 10% of Nigeria\u2019s GDP, a figure supported by outside economists. Over decades, Dangote has built up a vast knowledge of arcane subjects ranging from tomato blight (his $13 million tomato-paste factory suffered last year when most of the crop was devastated by insects) to wheat varietals, packaging options and fertilizer production. There are few like him.\n\nGroup executive director Devakumar V.G. Edwin, who has worked for Dangote for nearly 27 years, says his best trait\u2014an unflagging attention to detail\u2014can also be a drawback. \u201cHe\u2019s very hands-on. Whether it comes to sales, marketing, production, efficiency, energy saving\u2014he is there, asking questions and demanding results.\u201d It\u2019s good for the company, but not always so good for the man.\n\nDangote acknowledges he is a perfectionist. \u201cI wish I could clone myself,\u201d he says ruefully. If he did, he calculates, 10 of him would do the trick. In the meantime, he gets by on minimal sleep\u2014three hours the night before we meet, interrupted at 5:30 a.m. by his morning prayers. For Dangote, being the richest man in Africa is not enough. \u201cI want to be known as the biggest philanthropist in Africa,\u201d he says, citing Bill Gates-\u2014whom he considers a friend\u2014as a role model. Dangote aims to have a foundation worth $10 billion within the next five to seven years. He has already invested $1.2 billion toward initiatives that focus on education, health and youth empowerment. Eventually he wants it to serve as a beacon for other charitable foundations to also invest in African causes.\n\nTo do so, he needs to build his business even further. His next project, he says, will be oil and gas exploration so that he can secure his own feedstock of crude for the refinery. It\u2019s just a ramped-up version of what he did for his tomato-paste processing plant, when he decided to cultivate tomatoes instead of buying them on the market.\n\nCasually, he reveals he is also considering doing the same for dairy. Nigeria, he says, imports 98% of its milk products, even though cattle tending is deeply ingrained in Nigerian culture.\n\nAnd so the entrepreneur starts sketching out plans to TIME as he sips his morning coffee. To supply the entire Nigerian population would take about 300,000 high-yield dairy cows, but if he started with a modest 50,000, he could still capture much of the existing market. His words tripping over themselves in excitement, Dangote is already visualizing a transformed sector. \u201cHundreds of jobs, yes, hundreds,\u201d he murmurs, distracted. Thousands, he adds, if you look at the whole value chain of animal feed, tending, packaging and transport.\n\nOf course, that would mean making sure that the foreign companies importing products are prevented from dumping dairy to quash the nascent domestic market. Dangote brushes that concern aside. \u201cWith the right kind of support, we could feed the entire West African region. It\u2019s possible. Not today, but in the next 10 years.\u201d Arsenal, it seems, may just have to wait.\n\nGet The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. Please enter a valid email address. Sign Up Now Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.\n\nContact us at letters@time.com."}
-{"text": "He was the last man out the door of the Saigon bureau of The New York Times when the South Vietnamese city fell to Communist forces in 1975, an unheralded but indispensable guide whose photo credits in small print on the newspaper page belied his other vital journalistic contributions.\n\nAs he left the bureau, Nguyen Ngoc Luong retrieved the office handgun from a desk drawer, tossed it in a garbage can on the street and stepped into an uncertain future. He had rejected The Times\u2019s offer to be relocated to the United States, preferring to remain in the country he loved and where he had seen so much suffering.\n\nHundreds of unheralded guides and translators like Mr. Luong have served in war zones around the world, their contribution to journalism as essential as it is anonymous. Many are remembered fondly by the reporters who rotated into the battlefield and then returned home. Some are forgotten. Most go their separate ways, and contact is lost.\n\nSo it was with Mr. Luong. Even in this digital age it took weeks for many of his former colleagues to learn that he had died on Oct. 27 in what was Saigon but is now Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He was 79."}
-{"text": "(Updated December 16, 2019) | \u201cThe Animal People,\u201d an animal rights documentary executive produced by Joaquin Phoenix, is now available to stream. The premiered at the Austin Film Festival last October. Jorja Fox (\u201cCSI: Crime Scene Investigation\u201d) produced and Denis Henry Hennelly (\u201cGoodbye World\u201d) and Casey Suchan (\u201cRock the Bells\u201d) co-directed.\n\n\u201cThe Animal People\u201d shows \u201cwhat happens when activism rattles the institutions of power.\u201d It features interviews with six members of the American arm of British animal rights group Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. Interviews took place over the course of more than a decade.\n\nActivists Labeled Terrorists\n\nAccording to the synopsis, \u201cSeeing the future of social movement organizing, the activists used the then fledgling internet to dramatically magnify their impact as they systematically knocked out the pillars of financial support that kept the company in business. But when letter writing and protests began to mushroom into dead-of-night vandalism and worse by unknown activists, this corporation and the government formed an alliance to destroy the group.\u201d\n\nThe activists find themselves under FBI surveillance. They are deemed domestic terrorists for their involvement in protests against major animal-testing company Huntingdon Life Sciences.\n\n\u201cThis film is about much more than just this case,\u201d Phoenix said about the film. \u201cIt\u2019s about fundamental questions concerning free speech, social change, and corporate power that have never been more urgently relevant in our world.\u201d\n\nJoaquin Phoenix\u2019s Activism\n\nA vegan since age three, the \u201cJoker\u201d star has long been vocal about animal rights. His body of activist work includes participating in campaigns against speciesism, leading the National Animal Rights Day March in Los Angeles alongside his partner Rooney Mara, protesting wool, and even starring in a pro-vegan Thanksgiving ad from the 1990s. He narrated Chris Delforce\u2019s 2018 Australian animal rights film \u201cDominion\u201d as well as Shaun Monson\u2019s 2005 film, \u201cEarthlings.\u201d\n\nThe 45-year-old actor spoke about his transition to a vegan diet as a child in a video.\n\n\u201cMe and my siblings witnessed fish being killed in a really violent and aggressive way,\u201d he recalled. \u201cIt was just absolutely obvious that it was something that we didn\u2019t want to participate in and we didn\u2019t want to support. To me, it just seems obvious. I don\u2019t want to cause pain to another living empathetic creature.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Animal People\u201d is available to stream through YouTube, Amazon Prime, Vudu, and Google Play."}
-{"text": "Creepy radio broadcast repeats \"Trump will go 26th\" over and over again. Could be a false flag, could be a warning. Any ideas? Message was aired on 1630 AM in Chester Township, NJ around 7 a.m."}
-{"text": "Digg, autrefois consid\u00e9r\u00e9 comme rival de Reddit, a \u00e9t\u00e9 rachet\u00e9 par la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 d'ad tech BuySellAds.\n\nDigg avait auparavant \u00e9t\u00e9 achet\u00e9 par l'incubateur bas\u00e9 \u00e0 New-York Betaworks pour 500.000 dollars.\n\nBuySellAds dit que le site continuera \u00e0 b\u00e9n\u00e9ficier d'une ind\u00e9pendance au niveau \u00e9ditorial.\n\nDigg, un site d'information social qui \u00e9tait autrefois consid\u00e9r\u00e9 comme le principal rival de Reddit, a \u00e9t\u00e9 rachet\u00e9 par l'entreprise de publicit\u00e9 en ligne BuySellAds pour un montant qui n'a pas \u00e9t\u00e9 divulgu\u00e9, rapporte Fast Company.\n\n\"Nous sommes de grands fans de Digg et nous \u00e9tions face \u00e0 une opportunit\u00e9 que nous pouvions pas laisser passer\", a dit un repr\u00e9sentant de BuySellAds \u00e0 Business Insider. L'entreprise dit que Digg conservera son ind\u00e9pendance \u00e9ditoriale: \"Notre intention est de continuer \u00e0 laisser Digg poursuivre ses activit\u00e9s.\"\n\nCes dix derni\u00e8res ann\u00e9es ou plus ont \u00e9t\u00e9 mouvement\u00e9es pour Digg: fond\u00e9 en 2004, le site a fini par atteindre 30 millions de visiteurs par mois en 2009. A un moment, pendant cette phase de croissance, Google aurait d'ailleurs approch\u00e9 Digg pour le racheter pour 200 millions de dollars, mais apparemment, cela n'a pas march\u00e9.\n\nEn 2012, toutefois, le trafic de Digg a chut\u00e9 consid\u00e9rablement et \u00e9tait seulement de 1,5 million de visiteurs par mois. La m\u00eame ann\u00e9e, le site a \u00e9t\u00e9 vendu \u00e0 un incubateur de startups bas\u00e9 \u00e0 New York, Betaworks, pour 500.000 dollars. Sous Betaworks, Digg a pivot\u00e9 pour faire plus de contenus originaux et a m\u00eame lev\u00e9 des fonds en 2016 dans un tour de table men\u00e9 par le titan des journaux Gannett. D\u00e9sormais, Digg appartient \u00e0 BuySellAds.\n\nCet achat intervient un mois apr\u00e8s que le CTO de Digg, Michael Young, a annonc\u00e9 que le site allait fermer son lecteur de flux RSS, Digg Reader, au grand d\u00e9sarroi de lecteurs fid\u00e8les. Digg Reader a \u00e9t\u00e9 consid\u00e9r\u00e9 par beaucoup comme le successeur de Google Reader, qui avait \u00e9t\u00e9 ferm\u00e9 des ann\u00e9es plus t\u00f4t.\n\nBuySellAds est une entreprise d'adtech non-cot\u00e9e bas\u00e9e \u00e0 Boston, qui aide les marques \u00e0 placer leurs publicit\u00e9s sur les sites internet. L'entreprise revendique 4500 clients. Un porte-parole de BuySellAds a dit \u00e0 Business Insider US qu'ils cherchent \u00e0 acheter plus de sites comme Digg.\n\nCe qui explique pourquoi l'entreprise s'est empar\u00e9e de Digg: \"Nous pensons qu'il s'agit d'une tr\u00e8s bonne propri\u00e9t\u00e9\", a dit Garland \u00e0 Fast Company. \"Digg attire un public qui forme une sous-culture d'internet, d'une certaine mani\u00e8re.\"\n\nVous pouvez lire l'article de Fast Company dans son int\u00e9gralit\u00e9 ici.\n\nVersion originale: Kaylee Fagan/Business Insider"}
-{"text": "Florida State basketball was mired in its longest losing streak in nine years when it gave Leonard Hamilton a two-year contract extension last February. The Seminoles had dropped five straight and were on their way to missing the NCAA tournament for the fourth consecutive season, but the program never lost sight of the big picture amid a rough stretch.\n\nHamilton had a talented group of freshmen already on campus, with another elite recruiting class on its way. If he could continue stacking blue-chip recruits, Florida State hoped it was only a matter of time before it returned to basketball relevance.\n\nIt\u2019s finally happening this season. Florida State is off to the best start in program history at 15-1. When the \u2019Noles host Duke on Tuesday night, Florida State will enter at No. 9, its highest ranking since the 1992-93 season when Sam Cassell, Bobby Sura, and Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward led FSU to the Elite Eight.\n\nFlorida State has won 11 straight, which includes wins over then-No. 21 Florida, No. 12 Virginia, and No. 21 Virginia Tech. We\u2019re about to find out how good this team really is. Here\u2019s a look at Florida State\u2019s next four games:\n\nHamilton has long had a reputation as one of the sport\u2019s most feared recruiters. Now he has a roster that reflects that. There\u2019s a few reasons to believe FSU can compete with the top of the ACC, and in turn, anyone in the country.\n\nFlorida State has five-star talent producing at an elite level\n\nNo player personifies Florida State\u2019s ability to turn wins on the recruiting trail into actual wins this season like Dwayne Bacon. The 6\u20197 wing was the most touted recruit in FSU history when he committed as the No. 14 prospect in the class of 2015, per ESPN. After an up-and-down freshman year, Bacon is playing like the star he was supposed to be as a sophomore.\n\nJust ask Virginia. Bacon turned in one of the best performances of the season when he scored 26 second-half points to rally Florida State over the \u2019Hoos, including a dagger three in the final seconds.\n\nNo one beats Virginia at home, where Tony Bennett\u2019s team had lost just once in its first 36 games in the ACC. Bacon essentially did it by himself. He\u2019s averaging over 18 points per game on an impressive 58.1 true shooting percentage, while cutting down on his turnovers and improving as a three-point shooter (37.1 percent).\n\nBacon is currently projected as the No. 41 pick in the 2017 NBA draft, but Florida State has another player who will go much higher. That\u2019s Jonathan Isaac, the 6\u201910 freshman forward who made Bacon\u2019s stay as FSU\u2019s most-touted recruit ever short-lived. Isaac was the No. 12 player in the class of 2016, per ESPN, and he\u2019s done an impressive job blending in with a veteran team in his first year of college basketball.\n\nIsaac is the type of oversized wing shooter every team covets, and he\u2019s putting those tools to good use so far. He\u2019s second on the team in scoring (12.2 points per game) and first in rebounding with a sterling true shooting percentage of 62.7.\n\nIsaac\u2019s combination of shooting range and length is the reason he could be a top-five draft pick in June. More impressively from Florida State\u2019s perspective, he\u2019s allowed the game to come to him and rarely looks for his own numbers.\n\nFlorida State is huge, but still plays fast\n\nPerhaps the most impressive thing about Florida State is Hamilton has been able to build an absolutely massive roster without sacrificing speed. Florida State is No. 2 in \u201caverage height\u201d according to KenPom while still posting the 14th-shortest time of possession in the country.\n\nFlorida State\u2019s size is most evident when Michael Ojo or Christ Koumadje is on the floor. Ojo is a true giant at 7\u20191, 304 pounds, while Koumadje is listed at 7\u20194 (!), 233 pounds. The basketball looks like a walnut in their hands:\n\nThe birthday boy Michael Ojo will join us tonight @MadisonSocial for the Ham Call In show. 7pm pic.twitter.com/rhyUxReEvR \u2014 FSU Basketball (@fsuhoops) January 5, 2017\n\nOjo and Koumadje combine to play 24 minutes per game for Florida State, but it\u2019s still a big team with both of them off the floor. Hamilton has size at every position:\n\nFlorida State roster Position Player Height Weight Position Player Height Weight PG Xavier Rathan-Mayes 6'4 208 SG Dwayne Bacon 6'7 221 SF Terrance Mann 6'6 204 PF Jonathan Isaac 6'10 210 C Michael Ojo 7'1 304 SG Trent Forrest 6'5 215 PG C.J. Walker 6'1 195 PF Phil Cofer 6'8 218 SG Braian Angola-Rodas 6'6 196 PF Jarquez Smith 6'9 236 C Christ Koumadje 7'4 233 SG P.J. Savoy 6'4 200\n\nThat\u2019s every player in the rotation for Florida State. Yes, all 12 of them.\n\nFlorida State is deep\n\nThe short rotation is a staple in college basketball, from Mike Krzyzewski consistently riding seven players in the NCAA tournament to Jim Boeheim cutting his rotation to just six recently at Syracuse. Florida State is going the other way. Hamilton has a deep bench and so far he\u2019s giving everyone an opportunity.\n\nFlorida State has 12 players averaging at least 9.4 minutes per game. The \u2019Noles have toughness inside with Jarquez Smith and Phil Cofer, shooting with Braian Angola-Rodas and P.J. Savoy, and athleticism on the wing with Trent Forrest. Freshman point guard C.J. Walker has also been a revelation. He scored 13 points in 13 minutes in his first ACC game against Wake Forest.\n\nThere are few off nights in the ACC and Florida State is about to enter the toughest stretch of its schedule. If nothing else, the \u2019Noles are finally in position to break their NCAA tournament drought. The next four games could reveal how far they go after that."}
-{"text": "In one year alone, 450 million social media posts \u2014 roughly one in six \u2014 were fabricated in China. This is part of one of the most impactful global information operations campaigns since the end of the Cold War, but it has largely gone unnoticed. China has been expanding its information operations campaign globally as well, portraying itself as the protector of internet stability. This narrative, promoted against the backdrop of U.S. investigations into Russian hacking and a broader U.S. retrenchment from global leadership, diverts attention from the realities of China\u2019s great firewall, decades of digital intellectual property theft, and domestic surveillance. China\u2019s leadership has mastered the art of domestic diversion and is now doing the same thing globally to promote its own model of cyber sovereignty. From Davos to the United Nations, China is putting a stake in the ground to shape the future of the global internet.\n\nThe Chinese model for information security is taking hold globally, with two-thirds of all internet users currently subjected to some degree of censorship of criticism aimed at the government, military, or ruling families. This trend threatens to undermine any vision of a global free and open internet. The United States must reinforce its commitment as a global leader for internet openness and security and work with international partners to establish global rules of the road and protect digital freedoms. Absent this leadership, China will fill the vacuum and continue to push its own version of internet stability and control.\n\nMastering the Art of Diversion\n\nChinese authorities have become experts at online diversion. As a recent Harvard study notes, China engages in \u201castroturfing,\u201d otherwise known as reverse censorship, by \u201csurreptitiously posting large numbers of fabricated social media comments.\u201d In this way, the government controls the narrative by flooding social media with biased, pro-government information, distracting from real events while minimizing reliance on other forms of censorship. Known colloquially as the Fifty Cent Party, China\u2019s state-backed internet commentators contribute to this strategy, and help the Chinese government publish hundreds of millions of posts a year. Like changing the topic of an uncomfortable conversation, astroturfing moves the discussion away from unpopular or controversial topics in favor of a more popular, self-aggrandizing narrative.\n\nThe use of this diversionary tactic helps explain the gap between China\u2019s words and actions in the realm of international cybersecurity, where China portrays itself as a global leader in shaping a stable and secure internet. Their recent national strategy for cyberspace calls for the \u201cinternational community to safeguard peace and security, promote openness and cooperation and foster a community of shared future in cyberspace.\u201d One might reasonably assume this passage comes from an update to the 2011 United States International Strategy for Cyberspace, which similarly advocated for \u201cprosperity, security and, openness.\u201d But in fact, this statement is a core component of China\u2019s International Strategy of Cooperation on Cyberspace, released earlier this year. The strategy advocates for openness, when in reality China\u2019s digital policy is the opposite.\n\nSimilarly, at the 2015 World Internet Conference Chinese President Xi Jinping noted,\n\nFreedom is what order is meant for, and order is the guarantee of freedom. We should respect internet users\u2019 rights to exchange ideas and express their minds and we should also build good order in cyberspace in accordance with [the] law as it will help protect the legitimate rights and interests of all internet users.\n\nChina is using terms, phrases, and forums that historically have been the purview of the United States, except with a completely different playbook and objectives.\n\nUnder the pretense of promoting an open and secure internet, China is also gaining traction as the leading global advocate against other countries\u2019 surveillance and interference. Shortly after the publication of China\u2019s National Cybersecurity Strategy, news of the Wikileaks Vault 7 data dump, which purportedly revealed widespread U.S. hacking capabilities, spread across the globe. China quickly voiced opposition to what it portrayed as America\u2019s massive surveillance and intrusion campaigns. A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry urged \u201cthe U.S. side to stop listening in, monitoring, stealing secrets and internet hacking against China and other countries.\u201d China responded similarly to the WannaCry ransomware attack, blaming the United States for the global attack due to the ransomware\u2019s reliance on the Eternal Blue exploit, which was released as part of a Shadow Broker\u2019s data dump.\n\nThis charm offensive masks the reality of China\u2019s authoritarian control over information and ideas, and is completely orthogonal to a free internet. Domestically, China\u2019s strategy entails the Great Firewall, the country\u2019s system for controlling internet access and content. According to Freedom House, China\u2019s \u201cinformation security\u201d policy ranks the country as the globe\u2019s worst abuser of internet freedoms. From criminalizing the online spread of \u201crumors\u201d to additional prosecutions for online expression to blocking news outlets, China ranks last in internet freedoms for the second year running and has remained at that level of censorship since the Freedom House study began in 2009. China\u2019s online censorship of a train crash in 2011, coupled with leaked documents directing journalists not to investigate, is indicative of a multi-pronged strategy to divert attention away from and censor the event.\n\nMore recently, Tencent, a Chinese social media company, just overtook Wells Fargo to become the tenth most valuable publicly traded company in the world. It has achieved this level of growth with substantial government intervention and in turn, Tencent censors WeChat keywords and images within China in accordance with government requests. Chinese authorities use censorship and diversion to promote a favorable narrative, flood out negative critiques, and exaggerate the government\u2019s role in economic innovation and growth. While Russia has understandably dominated the news for its propaganda expertise, China\u2019s false narrative as the global leader in internet freedom may have even more far-reaching and long-term global consequences.\n\nTaking the Domestic Strategy Global\n\nChina has brought its domestic approach to information control to the global stage, justifying its actions using the language of self-defense, self-determination, and the right to control information within its boundaries. This approach, known as cyber sovereignty, seeks complete government control of the internet, including economic, social, and political information. Ostensibly this control remains within sovereign boundaries, but in reality the strategy has global reach and targets. Cyber attacks such as those associated with the Great Cannon, which targeted users of specific sites to launch a DDoS attack against GitHub, are one example of the combination of censorship and offensive attacks against foreign targets. China has also aimed its propaganda resources outside its borders, such as at Taiwan and foreign newspapers, to shape narratives, while conducting cyber attacks against Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines and Vietnam. Data theft of personally identifiable information (e.g. the OPM hack) and intellectual property from commercial organizations (e.g. stealing research from U.S. Steel and Lockheed Martin blueprints for the F-22 and F-35) are an additional example of China\u2019s global cybersecurity behavior. Finally, China\u2019s recent cybersecurity law, which requires governmental access to source code and data of foreign products, has been portrayed as a way to protect personal privacy, but leaves many international corporations concerned about intellectual property theft and invasion of personal privacy. All this, despite China\u2019s supposed calls for \u201copenness and cooperation [\u2026] in cyberspace.\u201d\n\nThe cyber sovereignty model contrasts with the multi-stakeholder model advocated by the U.S. and its allies. This latter approach focuses on building a resilient, open, and secure global internet that respects individual liberties and privacy through global cooperation and the establishment of norms about what activities and targets are off-limits for attacks. Following the Shadow Brokers and Vault7 dumps, the multi-stakeholder approach has \u00adcertainly had setbacks, as its proponents struggle to find the right balance between security and privacy. Nevertheless, the two models reflect very distinct visions of the internet\u2019s future: on one hand, control of information through hard censorship, propaganda, and information control at any expense and at any target, and on the other, a free flow of information and a focus on data protection, openness, and identification of what actions are not permissible. This has significant implications not only for a free and accessible internet, but also for democratic versus authoritarian institutions. As Alexander Klimburg describes in his recent book The Darkening Web, \u201cUltimately, the goal for Cyber-sovereignty stalwarts Russia and China is simply a reconceptualization of the entire Western-defined global order.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s important to note that China\u2019s global charm offensive is not limited to cybersecurity. For example, while Xi has publicly advocated for globalization and free trade, his government continues to pursue China-first development, focusing on indigenous innovation and state ownership of key enterprises. Similarly, at January\u2019s World Economic Forum in Davos, Xi made a strong case for globalization and free trade, just as the United States pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and argued that a trade war is in no one\u2019s interest. Xi\u2019s speech marked the first time a Chinese head of state has spoken at the global forum, and was noteworthy in encouraging global cooperation that would have been unthinkable for a previous Chinese leader.\n\nA similar trend emerges with China\u2019s statements regarding climate change and its aspirations to be perceived as the leader in renewable energy. Although China has taken major steps to limit emissions and be a leader of green energy, it remains the world\u2019s leading emitter of carbon dioxide. Yet it questions whether other countries are doing enough, jumping into this leadership role just as the United States abandons the Paris Agreement. This trend is consistent across multiple areas, and illustrates the gap between rhetoric and actions for an authoritarian government focused on domestic stability while aspiring to attain global prestige.\n\nFilling the Global Leadership Vacuum\n\nChina\u2019s cyber sovereignty model is worryingly gaining traction as the United States signals potential global retrenchment and struggles to shape a coherent cybersecurity strategy. Previously, U.S. leaders spearheaded efforts for greater internet freedoms and stability at international governmental forums such as the United Nations and G20. For instance, U.S. State Department leadership played a key role in the U.N. Group of Governmental Experts, pushing forth and defining norms for acceptable behavior in cyberspace. The United States has also led bilateral efforts to define which targets are off-limits, including the agreement with China against the theft of commercial intellectual property, which has since been replicated between other countries. Despite the lack of compliance mechanisms, these were strong efforts to create global cyber norms. The United States has been the key proponent of internet diffusion and openness around the globe, but this role is now waning due to both external forces and domestic policies.\n\nMany question the United States\u2019 continued commitment to internet freedoms and privacy in light of foreign interventions, such as the Snowden revelations, Russia\u2019s propaganda machine aimed at undermining democracy and weakening trust in U.S. government institutions, and the Vault 7 and Shadow Brokers data dumps. Each of these helps China justify a cyber sovereignty model ostensibly aimed at eliminating external influence.\n\nSimilarly, worrisome U.S. legislation such as the proposed Active Cyber Defense Certainty Act would permit \u201cpersistent unauthorized intrusion\u201d by private entities (i.e. corporations or even private individuals), allowing them to access \u201cwithout authorization the computer of the attacker to the victim\u2019s own network.\u201d This \u201chacking back\u201d proposal contains great escalatory risks for conflict and negative implications for privacy. Legalizing access in this way can be interpreted as an attempt to justify some vast surveillance network or offensive campaign, and sends the wrong signal globally and domestically. Similarly, the latest anti-privacy joint resolution to allow internet service providers to sell customer data without consent will greatly undermine net neutrality, and provides additional fodder to authoritarian regimes seeking to undermine U.S. interests.\n\nAs U.S. soft power declines, China is quickly filling the vacuum by portraying itself as the global advocate for internet security and stability, with many countries adopting aspects of China\u2019s cyber sovereignty model. We have already seen authoritarian regimes such as Iran, North Korea, and Russia replicate many aspects of China\u2019s approach. In addition, countries from Brazil to Egypt to South Korea have all seen a rise in censorship, indicative of the practice\u2019s global growth, which Freedom House reports has been on the rise for six years in a row. Similarly, the Mexican government was recently accused of using spyware to target domestic opposition and civil society. Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has his own keyboard army of online trolls to control the domestic narrative and drown out opposition. And in Sudan, government-affiliated hacker group Electronic Jihad employs domestic surveillance to counter opposition and uprisings.\n\nThese countries may have individually reached similar conclusions regarding the desire for information control, but China\u2019s well-publicized activities to gain information control give the cybersovereignty model legitimacy. At a minimum, they contribute to the decision process of other leaders who see the strategy succeed in consolidating domestic control. As internet freedom advocate Peter Micek notes,\n\nA lot of governments would like to follow China\u2019s lead, and exercise if not complete control then effective control over the boundaries of what people can say and do online.\n\nIn short, despite the protests within China, China\u2019s lesson to the world is this: Censorship, surveillance, and propaganda are effective at maintaining domestic stability.\n\nShining City on a Hill?\n\nThe United States remains mired in countering the fallout from WikiLeaks and Russia\u2019s ongoing disinformation campaigns. It is also pivoting resources domestically, stepping back from various global forums that are key venues for exerting soft power and democratic values. The anticipated closing of the cyber division within the State Department and the resignation of Christopher Painter, the U.S. State Department\u2019s top cyber diplomat and longtime advocate for internet openness, only reinforces this retrenchment in the area of internet freedom.\n\nChina appears to be well aware of the growing global leadership vacuum and is taking the opportunity to spread government control of the digital domain, all under the auspices of a free and open internet. To counter these trends, the United States must work to ensure its domestic policies reflect its commitment to online freedom. Instead of pulling away from international forums, the United States should remain a prominent player in shaping global cooperation and build on its legacy to help actively shape and promote a free internet. Absent this leadership, cyber sovereignty is likely to continue its expansion and threaten not only digital freedoms, but also democracy across the globe.\n\nAndrea Little Limbago is the Chief Social Scientist at Endgame, where she researches the intersections across geopolitics, cybersecurity, and data science, and directs the company\u2019s technical content. She has previously worked in academia and at the Department of Defense. Andrea earned a PhD in Political Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she taught international relations and foreign policy courses."}
-{"text": "AN: Fangz 2 bloodytearz666 4 helpin me wif da chapta! BTW preps stop flaming ma story ok!\n\nSo here\u2019s a thing: what you are reading was actually proofread, and apparently \u201cbloodytearz666\u201d didn\u2019t think there was anything wrong with it. Maybe it won\u2019t be that bad?\n\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX666XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX\n\nAnd again, more X\u2019s, this time with a 666 in the middle. I don\u2019t know who actually thinks that\u2019s cool, except maybe ten year olds who don\u2019t quite understand what being \u201cgothic\u201d is\u2026\n\nThe next day I woke up in my bedroom.\n\nWhy is that such a strange thing that it needed special note?\n\nIt was snowing and raining again.\n\nNow that, I can understand mentioning. By the way, Ebony, I think you\u2019re in some kind of alternate Sueverse where physics don\u2019t apply. I opened the door of my coffin and drank some blood from a bottle I had.\n\nOh, no, here I was thinking it was a bottle she didn\u2019t have. My mistake. Also, coffin? Really? I don\u2019t think those are standard issue at Hogwarts. Then again, this is a weird Sueverse. Everything has changed to accommodate the Sue\n\nMy coffin was black ebony and inside it was hot pink velvet with black lace on the ends.\n\nOh god not this again please stop it!\n\nI got out of my coffin and took of my giant MCR t-shirt which I used for pajamas.\n\nOh god, no, is she going to do this every chapter?\n\nInstead, I put on a black leather dress, a pentagram necklace, combat boots and black fishnets on.\n\nEbony, you sound like you\u2019re dressing like a prostitute. A gothic prostitute.\n\nI put on four pairs of earrings in my pierced ears, and put my hair in a kind of messy bun.\n\nFour pairs of earrings? Holy Xenu, that\u2019s a lot. Do you have any ear left?\n\nMy friend, Willow (AN: Raven dis is u!)\n\nOkay, this is where I draw the line. Is this really a self-insert of the authors friend? Who is also (more than likely) a Mary Sue? Really? Fuck original, well designed, flawed characters. Let\u2019s just put our best friends into the story!\n\nwoke up then and grinned at me. She flipped her long waist-length raven black hair with pink streaks and opened her forest-green eyes.\n\nSo she woke up, grinned, flipped her hair, and then opened her eyes? What????\n\nShe put on her Marilyn Manson t-shirt with a black mini, fishnets and pointy high-heeled boots.\n\nAgain, dressing like hookers.\n\nWe put on our makeup (black lipstick white foundation and black eyeliner.)\n\nEbony, at least, is very pale. Why does she need white foundation? I might be a dude, but I know enough about makeup to know she\u2019s dumb.\n\n\u201cOMFG, I saw you talking to Draco Malfoy yesterday!\u201d she said excitedly.\n\nIs she saying \u201cOh my god\u201d or is she literally saying \u201cOM-FG\u201d?\n\n\u201cYeah? So?\u201d I said, blushing.\n\n\u201cDo you like Draco?\u201d she asked as we went out of the Slytherin common room and into the Great Hall.\n\n\u201cNo I so fucking don\u2019t!\u201d I shouted.\n\nHoly shite girl, she asked you a question, why are you screaming at her?\n\n\u201cYeah right!\u201d she exclaimed. Just then, Draco walked up to me.\n\nOh, what timing. Run, Draco, Run while you still can. I know they\u2019ve already murdered your character, but you can still save your reputation.\n\n\u201cHi.\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cHi.\u201d I replied flirtily.\n\nNope, definitely don\u2019t like him, do you, Ebony?\n\n\u201cGuess what.\u201d he said.\n\nChicken butt?\n\n\u201cWhat?\u201d I asked.\n\n\u201cWell, Good Charlotte are having a concert in Hogsmeade.\u201d he told me.\n\nWhat? Why would a muggle band be having a concert in a wizard village? Why? How?\n\n\u201cOh. My. Fucking. God!\u201d I screamed. I love GC.\n\nYou\u2019re a goth stereotype.Of course you do.\n\nThey are my favorite band, besides MCR.\n\nOf course they are\n\n\u201cWell\u2026. do you want to go with me?\u201d he asked.\n\nI gasped.\n\nAnd died right there on the spot, appalled that anyone would want to go out with Ebony.\n\nWell, that\u2019s it folks. See you in chapter 3. Now, I need brain bleach and some pictures of kittens, after that trash."}
-{"text": "Deadly Northern California wildfire 'taking down everything in its path,' spawning 'firenadoes' A bulldozer operator has died in the wildfire raging in Northern California.\n\nA raging wildfire in Northern California that swelled in size Friday has killed two people and injured at least three firefighters, officials said.\n\nThe Carr Fire in Shasta County has claimed the lives of a bulldozer operator and a city of Redding firefighter, according to officials from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the U.S. National Park Service and the Shasta County Sheriff's Office.\n\nThe \"mechanical failure of a vehicle\" ignited the blaze in Whiskeytown on Monday, officials said. The fire had burned an area of more than 48,000 acres by Friday night, with a containment of just 5 percent.\n\nThe flames ripped through northwest Shasta County then spread southeast, sweeping across the Sacramento River late Thursday and roaring toward the city limits of Redding, which is home to 92,000.\n\nAt least 500 homes, businesses and other structures have been destroyed by the fast-moving fire, while 75 others have been damaged. Another nearly 5,000 structures remain threatened, officials said.\n\n\"A lot of our challenges right now with this fire is the weather. Our humidity is really low,\" Eric Colter, with the Redding Bureau of Land Management, told ABC station KGO in San Francisco. \"High temperatures and we're getting a lot of evening and late afternoon winds.\"\n\nThe blaze is \"taking everything down in its path,\" and the situation on the scene is \"very dynamic\" and \"a heck of a fight,\u201d Scott McLean, a spokesman for the crews battling the Carr Fire, told The Associated Press.\n\nA total of 3,410 people are working to contain the fire, along with 328 engines, 17 helicopters and 62 bulldozers.\n\nGusty winds reaching 60 mph are fanning the flames and creating fire tornadoes, or \"firenadoes,\" that move erratically and are strong enough to overturn vehicles \"like toys,\" McLean told reporters at a news conference late Thursday.\n\nOfficials have ordered road closures and the evacuation of thousands of homes threatened by the Carr Fire. The California Highway Patrol is going door to door to assist, Sgt. Tim Hinkson told reporters.\n\nABC News' Max Beller, Frank Elaridi, Courtney Han, Will Gretsky and Rex Sakamoto contributed to this report."}
-{"text": "Chance grapples with Vice and Virtue\n\nIn one of the semifinal matches of the Rivalcade Memorial Rumble Qualifiers, two little heard of teams met each other: Vice and Virtue. The two had to beat the likes of Brasil Gaming House, You guys get paid?, and (former) Gale Force eSports to reach each other in a matchup of seemingly coincidental opposing team names.\n\nTheir names, however, were no coincidence. The two teams were formed and coached by Chance, coach of Immortals, as an independent project. Their names are a result of their relationship as sister teams, and their match in the semifinals of the Rivalcade Qualifier was far from their first time playing each other.\n\nIn forming the rosters, Chance first looked for people with a certain SR and had them send him their obligations, goals, frequency of play, and their past experiences. He then entered a call with players who met what he looking for from that group. In those calls, Chance would get a gauge on the players' personalities, specifically looking for drive, open-mindedness, and fittingly enough, virtuous in some ways. \"It sounds corny,\" Chance said, \"but you gotta be a good person.\"\n\nChance says he met with future Vice player Scratch early on in the process, and that he came packaged with a coach. Chance was open to the idea of the team having its own coach, as it would make it easier on himself. However a problem formed when nero also came with a coach. Chance, initially wanting to form just one roster, now had himself two.\n\nChimp, Vice's coach, got his team off the ground early, doing most of the coaching and managing while Chance worked on building up the Virtue roster. Still, Chance was heavily involved with both of the teams, while also head coach of a top team, Immortals. With all of this going on, he has very quickly learned he needs to work on his time management skills.\n\nChance (2nd from left) may be most known for playing tank during Immortals' NGE LAN win. (Source Immortals Twitter)\n\nNow that the rosters have been picked, they are essentially locked. \"I see rosters as a unit, and a family,\" Chance said, \"Once a roster is solidified, I consider it do-or-die a lot of times. You don't make roster swaps, you don't change people out because I don't want people even thinking of that idea. Immortals serve as an example of Chance's philosophy; the last time they changed their roster before this week, not including when Chance temporarily subbed in for nomy during the LAN finals of the NGE Winter Premier, was back in December when they brought in Verbo to replace Chance on support so he could focus on coaching.\n\nVice and Virtue serve as a ways of honing Chance's other philosophies and tactics, too. \"This project was to give me almost what you would consider a smurf,\" Chance said. They serve as a means to give him more coaching time and experiment with things in ways he can't with Immortals, a top team that can't afford to lose as a result of experimentation.\n\nWhile Chance may want to experiment with his strategy, he is pretty confident and steadfast in his philosophy. Chance believes mentality is everything, and if a player enjoys the game like a passion, the player will get better faster. Chance cited Runner, captain and owner of RunAway, as an example of the difference the right mindset makes. Runner is known for being less mechanically skilled than players at his level, but his team made it to a runner-up finish at APEX Season 2 in part because Runner kept his team motivated didn't let them get down.\n\nBased on that philosophy, Chance felt good about his going into the Rivalcade Qualifiers,specifically Vice. \"The day before that we had a heart-to-heart just about having fun with the game,\" Chance said, \"So they had a point of rejuvenation where they really wanted it, and that showed that day. They probably played their best day of their lives.\" Chance's feeling were proven correct that day, as they marched all the way to the finals of the qualifier.\n\nFor Overwatch Contenders Season Zero and beyond, Chance isn't putting expectations of performance on Vice and Virtue. \"To stay true to it all, [the expectation for Contenders is] to have fun and learn,\" Chance said, \"I don't do glorification and hype because it changes their view and their perception. I'm not really concerned with that end result. Whether it's this time or the next time, them playing the game and enjoying it is all I really want.\"\n\nEditor's note: this interview was conducted prior to today's Immortals roster announcement"}
-{"text": "It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a hot topic for a few years now. And certainly the potential for incorporating algae as a key feedstock for future biofuel production is massive.\n\nBut the sobering fact is that we're at least a good eight to ten years from seeing any kind of real, commercially-ready product. At least at the volumes that could allow for meaningful market penetration.\n\n!ADVERTISEMENT!\n\nSo where does that leave us in the meantime?\n\nFortune favors the daring\n\nAlgae-based biofuels are often the target of naysayers who prefer to criticize early industry obstacles instead of looking for a way to profit from the developments and technologies that allow us to overcome those obstacles.\n\nFortunes are not made by launching criticisms without solutions.\n\nFortunes are made by those who seek innovation while others hide behind the safety of mediocrity.\n\nYes, it'll be years before algae-based biofuels are ready for prime time. But that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean we're going to wait around and ignore all the developments that are happening in the world of algae today.\n\nBecause one thing's for certain: When that first big opportunity does present itself, we want to be ready to pounce.\n\nSo here are some of the latest developments in algae \u00e2\u20ac\u201d developments that will help us hone in on which areas are likely to gain the most momentum in this early stage of the game.\n\nGame-changing propositions\n\nLast week, European aerospace behemoth EADS unveiled a new aircraft that runs on biofuel made from algae.\n\nEarly tests have shown that the algae-based biofuel has resulted in a 5 to 10 percent fuel savings with no loss of performance. The company is now looking to expand the algae fuel tests with Airbus, Boeing, and other manufacturers.\n\nAlso last week, Siemens AG announced that it successfully burned algae-based biomass fuel at a utility-scale power plant.\n\nCombining fuel made by PetroAlgae, Inc. with pulverized coal, the fuel resulted in emissions that were 20 percent lower than coal alone.\n\nWhile we're definitely not fans of coal-fired power, we know that it's going to be around for some time. And if we can reduce emissions by 20 percent as we transition to a cleaner energy economy\u00e2\u20ac\u201d and do it economically with algae \u00e2\u20ac\u201d certainly there could be a real opportunity here. Although this should not be seen as anything but a transitional process. With or without minor emissions reductions, the phasing out of all coal-fired power plants is paramount to the success of an environmentally and economically sustainable energy economy.\n\nArticle continues: http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/06/breaking-the-cost-barrier-on-algae-based-biofuels/"}
-{"text": "Yulin bereitet sich auf das grosse Schlachten vor Hierzulande gelten Hunde als beste Freunde der Menschen. In Asien hat man f\u00fcr solche Gef\u00fchlsduseleien wenig \u00fcbrig. J\u00e4hrlich werden dort bis zu 30 Millionen Vierbeiner f\u00fcr den Verzehr geschlachtet.\n\nIm Reich der Mitte findet ein Umdenken statt, weil eine wachsende Mittelschicht selbst Tiere besitzt und das Treiben nicht l\u00e4nger toleriert. (Bild: Andy Wong / AP)\n\nOffiziell beginnt an diesem Dienstag in Yulin, einem Ort in der s\u00fcdchinesischen Provinz Guangxi, das \u00abHundefleisch-Fest\u00bb. Dieser Begriff ist irref\u00fchrend, denn es handelt sich weniger um ein Fest als vielmehr um ein Gemetzel an Tausenden von Hunden sowie einer kleineren Zahl von Katzen. Die Tiere werden seit Wochen oft \u00fcber Hunderte von Kilometern nach Yulin geschafft, ohne dass die Vierbeiner auf der Fahrt Nahrung oder Fl\u00fcssigkeit erhielten. Viele von ihnen tragen ein Halsband: Skrupellose H\u00e4ndler verdienen damit Geld, Tiere zu stehlen, um sie in Yulin an Schlachth\u00f6fe zu verkaufen. Das im Ausland bereits ramponierte Ansehen Chinas nimmt durch das \u00abHundefleisch-Fest\u00bb weiter Schaden."}
-{"text": "Waymo is opening up its significant stores of autonomous driving data with a new Open Data Set it\u2019s making available for the purposes of research. The data set isn\u2019t for commercial use, but its definition of \u201cresearch\u201d is fairly broad, and includes researchers at other companies as well as academics.\n\nThe data set is \u201cone of the largest, riches and most diverse self-driving data sets ever released for research,\u201d according to Waymo principal scientist and head of Research, Drago Anguelov, who was at both Zoox and Google prior to joining Waymo last year. Anguelov said in a briefing that the reason he initiated the push to make this data available is that Waymo and several other companies working in the field are \u201ccurrently hampered by the lack of suitable data sets.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe decided to contribute our part to make, ultimately, researchers in academia ask the right questions \u2014 and for that, they need the right data,\u201d Anguelov said. \u201cAnd I think this will help everyone in the field; it is not an admission in any way that we have problems solving these issues. But there is always room for improvement in terms of efficiency, scaleability, amount of labels to need. It\u2019s a developing field. Mostly we\u2019re trying to get others into thinking about our problems and working with us, as opposed to doing work that\u2019s potentially not so impactful, given the current state of things.\u201d\n\nThe Waymo Open Data set tries to fill in some of these gaps for their research peers by providing data collected from 1,000 driving segments done by its autonomous vehicles on roads, with each segment representing 20 seconds of continuous driving. It includes driving done in Phoenix, Ariz.; Kirkland, Wash.; Mountain View, Calif.; and San Francisco, Calif., and offering a range of different driving conditions, including at night, during rain, at dusk and more. The segments include data collected from five of Waymo\u2019s own proprietary lidars, as well as five standard cameras that face front and to the sides, providing a 360-degree view captured in high resolution, as well as synchronization Waymo uses to fuse lidar and imaging data. Objects, including vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists and signage is all labeled.\n\nWaymo has traditionally been among the more closed companies when it comes to its collected data, and it\u2019s also the player that often touts its own long experience as a key competitive advantage (Waymo began life as Google\u2019s Self-Driving Car project, which officially began work out of Google\u2019s X Lab in 2009). The company has also had a high-profile legal spat over intellectual property with autonomous driving technology rival Uber, following the hiring by Uber of a former member of its own team. Naturally, then, some might be skeptical about how \u201copen\u201d it actually is about ways this data can be used.\n\nVijaysai Patnaik, a product lead at Waymo, explained that \u201cresearch\u201d use actually covers a lot of ground. There\u2019s a specific licensing agreement with the data set, as you would expect, but Patnaik also gave a general explanation during the briefing about who they expect might make use of the data and for what purposes.\n\n\u201cThat could include universities and PhD students and professors at various universities who are interested in this field, it could include independent research labs or robotics labs, for example.\u201d Patnaik said. \u201cThere are a number of those in the Bay Area. And [\u2026] companies can use this data set as long as they comply with our license agreements, or it could also include folks like Drago [Anguelov] and his teams in other organizations.\n\nOther companies working in autonomous driving have taken similar approaches, with Lyft and Argo AI as two recent examples. Waymo does indeed have a commanding lead on the rest of the field when it comes to actual time on the road and miles driven, however, so researchers in both autonomous driving, and related robotics fields, including computer vision, are probably eager to see what they\u2019re releasing."}
-{"text": "What is the single dish visitors should not miss when visiting a foreign country?\n\nQuora users set out to answer that question in a thread on the question-and-answer-based website, singling out the most iconic thing to eat in their homelands. We added in some of our own selections.\n\nFrom wiener schnitzel in Austria to feijoada in Brazil to katsudon in Japan, don't miss these 35 dishes."}
-{"text": "Trump Taps Ben Carson For Secretary Of Housing And Urban Development\n\nEnlarge this image toggle caption Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg via Getty Images\n\nPresident-elect Donald Trump has chosen Dr. Ben Carson to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development in his incoming administration.\n\n\"Ben Carson has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities,\" Trump said in a statement released Monday. \"We have talked at length about my urban renewal agenda and our message of economic revival, very much including our inner cities.\"\n\nThe famed retired neurosurgeon is an unorthodox pick to lead the agency, which oversees affordable-housing programs and enforces fair-housing legislation.\n\nIn fact, a top Carson aide, Armstrong Williams, told The Hill last month that the former GOP presidential hopeful wasn't interested in a Cabinet position, because \"Dr. Carson feels he has no government experience, he's never run a federal agency. The last thing he would want to do was take a position that could cripple the presidency.\"\n\nAt the time, Carson's name was being floated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. And Trump himself confirmed he was considering Carson to lead HUD.\n\nCarson teased later that he was going to accept the appointment, writing on Facebook that he could \"make a significant contribution particularly to making our inner cities great for everyone\" and that an announcement was \"forthcoming.\"\n\nCarson said he was honored to accept the opportunity to serve in Trump's administration. \"I feel that I can make a significant contribution particularly by strengthening communities that are most in need,\" he said.\n\nCarson was one of Trump's many rivals for the Republican nomination for president, which was the retired African-American doctor's first foray into politics. Carson surged briefly in the polls last fall, which prodded Trump to question Carson's religion (he's a Seventh-day Adventist).\n\nTrump also brought up Carson's childhood temperament and anger, issues Carson had written about in his autobiography. Trump said Carson's temperament was an incurable sickness that he compared to \"child molesting.\"\n\nNonetheless, Carson endorsed Trump less than a week after he ended his own White House bid just after Super Tuesday and said the two had \"buried the hatchet.\"\n\nCarson grew up in Detroit in a home headed by a single mother. Carson told Fox News' Neil Cavuto last month his upbringing made him well-suited for this particular role.\n\n\"I grew up in the inner city and have spent a lot of time there, and have dealt with a lot of patients from that area and recognize that we cannot have a strong nation if we have weak inner cities,\" Carson said."}
-{"text": 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SERVICE\n\n\u300c\u8907\u6570\u306e\u30d5\u30c3\u30af\u3092\u96a3\u308a\u5408\u308f\u305b\u306b\u914d\u7f6e\u3059\u308b\u65b9\u6cd5\u3092\u8a66\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3068\u3053\u308d\u3067\u3059\u3002\u305d\u308c\u305e\u308c\u306e\u30d5\u30c3\u30af\u304c\u7740\u5730\u9762\u306e\u7a81\u8d77\u3092\u3064\u304b\u3093\u3067\u4e00\u6589\u306b\u5f15\u3063\u5f35\u308a\u4e0a\u3052\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3067\u3001\u5358\u4e00\u306e\u30d5\u30c3\u30af\u3088\u308a\u3082\u305a\u3063\u3068\u5927\u304d\u306a\u529b\u304c\u751f\u307e\u308c\u307e\u3059\u300d\u3068\u3001\u30b9\u30bf\u30f3\u30d5\u30a9\u30fc\u30c9\u5927\u5b66\u306e\u30ed\u30dc\u30c3\u30c8\u7814\u7a76\u8005\u30de\u30b7\u30e5\u30fc\u30fb\u30a8\u30b9\u30c8\u30e9\u30fc\u30c0\u306f\u8a9e\u308b\u3002\u5f7c\u306f2018\u5e7410\u670824\u65e5\u4ed8\u306e\u300e\u30b5\u30a4\u30a8\u30f3\u30b9\u30ed\u30dc\u30c6\u30a3\u30af\u30b9\u300f\u3067\u3001\u3053\u306e\u30de\u30b7\u30f3\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u8a73\u3057\u304f\u8aac\u660e\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\n\n\u30d1\u30c3\u30c9\u306e\u307b\u3046\u306e\u4ed5\u7d44\u307f\u306f\u3001\u30cf\u30c1\u3067\u306f\u306a\u304f\u30e4\u30e2\u30ea\u306e\u811a\u306b\u7740\u60f3\u3092\u5f97\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\u3060\u304c\u3001\u3053\u308c\u306f\u7279\u306b\u65b0\u3057\u3044\u6280\u8853\u3068\u3044\u3046\u308f\u3051\u3067\u306f\u306a\u3044\u3002\u30b9\u30bf\u30f3\u30d5\u30a9\u30fc\u30c9\u5927\u5b66\u306e\u7814\u7a76\u8005\u305f\u3061\u306f\u3059\u3067\u306b\u3053\u306e\u6280\u8853\u3092\u4f7f\u3063\u3066\u3001\u5b87\u5b99\u30b4\u30df\u3092\u30ad\u30e3\u30c3\u30c1\u3057\u3066\u56de\u53ce\u3059\u308b\u88c5\u7f6e\u306e\u8a2d\u8a08\u306b\u53d6\u308a\u7d44\u3093\u3067\u3044\u308b\u3002\u3068\u306f\u3044\u3048\u3001\u3053\u306e\u6280\u8853\u304c\u30d5\u30e9\u30a4\u30af\u30ed\u30bf\u30c3\u30b0\u30b9\u306b\u30e4\u30e2\u30ea\u4e26\u307f\u306e\u30b0\u30ea\u30c3\u30d7\u529b\u3068\u3001\u6606\u866b\u306e\u3088\u3046\u306b\u7269\u3092\u6301\u3061\u4e0a\u3052\u308b\u80fd\u529b\u3092\u6388\u3051\u305f\u3053\u3068\u306f\u78ba\u304b\u3060\u3002\n\n1\u53f0\u3067\u3067\u304d\u306a\u3044\u30bf\u30b9\u30af\u306f\u6570\u3067\u89e3\u6c7a\n\n\u3053\u306e\u82b8\u5f53\u3092\u53ef\u80fd\u306b\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u306e\u306f\u3001\u300c\u30d5\u30a1\u30f3\u30c7\u30eb\u30ef\u30fc\u30eb\u30b9\u529b\u300d\u3068\u547c\u3070\u308c\u308b\u4f5c\u7528\u3060\u3002\u30c9\u30ed\u30fc\u30f3\u306e\u5e95\u90e8\u306f\u3001\u30b7\u30ea\u30b3\u30f3\u88fd\u306e\u7d30\u304b\u3044\u7a81\u8d77\u3067\u3073\u3063\u3057\u308a\u3068\u8986\u308f\u308c\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\u6ed1\u3089\u304b\u306a\u5834\u6240\u306b\u3057\u3063\u304b\u308a\u7740\u5730\u3059\u308b\u3068\u3001\u7a81\u8d77\u306f\u3059\u3079\u3066\u63a5\u5730\u9762\u306b\u6cbf\u3063\u3066\u540c\u3058\u5411\u304d\u306b\u5012\u308c\u308b\uff08\u4e0b\u306eGIF\u52d5\u753b\u3092\u53c2\u7167\uff09\u3002\n\n\u300c\u7a81\u8d77\u304c\u3059\u3079\u3066\u5012\u308c\u305f\u3068\u3053\u308d\u306b\u4e0a\u304b\u3089\u306e\u529b\u304c\u52a0\u308f\u308b\u3068\u3001\u63a5\u5730\u9762\u304c\u3069\u3093\u306a\u72b6\u614b\u3067\u3042\u3063\u3066\u3082\u3001\u305d\u3053\u306b\u975e\u5e38\u306b\u5f37\u3044\u63a5\u7740\u72b6\u614b\u304c\u751f\u307e\u308c\u307e\u3059\u300d\u3068\u30a8\u30b9\u30c8\u30e9\u30fc\u30c0\u306f\u8a9e\u308b\u3002\u9699\u9593\u306a\u304f\u5bc6\u7740\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u305f\u3081\u3001\u5206\u5b50\u30ec\u30f4\u30a7\u30eb\u306e\u5c0f\u3055\u306a\u5bc6\u7740\u72b6\u614b\u304c\u3059\u3079\u3066\u306e\u7a81\u8d77\u90e8\u5206\u306b\u767a\u751f\u3059\u308b\u3002\u30c9\u30ed\u30fc\u30f3\u5e95\u90e8\u306f\u81a8\u5927\u306a\u6570\u306e\u7a81\u8d77\u3067\u8986\u308f\u308c\u3066\u3044\u308b\u306e\u3067\u3001\u305d\u308c\u305e\u308c\u306e\u63a5\u7740\u304c\u5408\u308f\u3055\u3063\u3066\u3068\u3066\u3064\u3082\u306a\u3044\u5bc6\u7740\u529b\u304c\u751f\u307f\u51fa\u3055\u308c\u308b\u306e\u3060\u3002\n\nVIDEO COURTESY OF STANFORD/BIOMIMETICS & DEXTEROUS MANIPULATION LAB\n\n\u3053\u306e\u88c5\u7f6e\u3092\u30c6\u30fc\u30d6\u30eb\u306e\u7aef\u306a\u3069\u306b\u56fa\u5b9a\u3059\u308c\u3070\u3001\u30d5\u30a1\u30f3\u30c7\u30eb\u30ef\u30fc\u30eb\u30b9\u529b\u3092\u4f7f\u3063\u3066\u81ea\u91cd\u3092\u8d85\u3048\u308b\u91cd\u3055\u306e\u7269\u3092\u540a\u308a\u4e0a\u3052\u308b\u3053\u3068\u304c\u3067\u304d\u308b\u3002\u4f8b\u3048\u3070\u3001\u6c34\u306e\u5165\u3063\u305f\u30dc\u30c8\u30eb\u3092\u5e8a\u304b\u3089\u6301\u3061\u4e0a\u3052\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3082\u53ef\u80fd\u3060\u3002\n\n\u3082\u3063\u3068\u5927\u304d\u306a\u7269\u3092\u6301\u3061\u4e0a\u3052\u305f\u3044\u5834\u5408\u306f\u3001\u3053\u3046\u3057\u305f\u5c0f\u578b\u30ed\u30dc\u30c3\u30c8\u3092\u4f55\u53f0\u304b\u4f7f\u3048\u3070\u3044\u3044\u3002\u30c9\u30ed\u30fc\u30f3\u3092\u3072\u305f\u3059\u3089\u5927\u578b\u5316\u3059\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3067\u30d1\u30ef\u30fc\u30a2\u30c3\u30d7\u3092\u56f3\u308b\u3088\u308a\u3001\u305a\u3063\u3068\u3046\u307e\u3044\u3084\u308a\u65b9\u3060\u308d\u3046\u3002\n\n\u3053\u306e\u65b9\u6cd5\u306a\u3089\u751f\u7523\u30b3\u30b9\u30c8\u3092\u4e0b\u3052\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3082\u3067\u304d\u308b\u3060\u308d\u3046\u3057\u3001\u5fc5\u8981\u3068\u3042\u308c\u3070\u72ed\u3044\u5834\u6240\u3067\u306e\u4f5c\u696d\u3082\u53ef\u80fd\u306b\u306a\u308b\u3002\u6570\u3067\u3069\u3046\u306b\u304b\u306a\u308b\u306e\u306a\u3089\u3001\u304b\u3055\u3070\u308b\u5927\u578b\u30ed\u30dc\u30c3\u30c8\u306a\u3069\u8ab0\u304c\u5fc5\u8981\u3068\u3059\u308b\u3060\u308d\u3046\u304b\uff1f\n\nVIDEO COURTESY OF EPFL/LABORATORY OF INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS\n\n\u74b0\u5883\u3092\u6d3b\u7528\u3059\u308b\u30ed\u30dc\u30c3\u30c8\u3065\u304f\u308a\n\n\u751f\u304d\u7269\u306b\u30d2\u30f3\u30c8\u3092\u5f97\u3066\u3064\u304f\u3089\u308c\u305f\u307b\u304b\u306e\u30c9\u30ed\u30fc\u30f3\u3068\u306f\u7570\u306a\u308a\u3001\u30d5\u30e9\u30a4\u30af\u30ed\u30bf\u30c3\u30b0\u30b9\u306f\u30cf\u30c1\u3092\u5358\u306a\u308b\u300c\u7a7a\u3092\u98db\u3076\u751f\u304d\u3082\u306e\u300d\u3068\u306f\u898b\u3066\u3044\u306a\u3044\u3002\u5f7c\u3089\u306f\u30cf\u30c1\u306e\u30b7\u30b9\u30c6\u30e0\u5168\u4f53\u3092\u898b\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\n\n\u300c\u7a7a\u3092\u98db\u3079\u308b\u866b\u305f\u3061\u3082\u3001\u98db\u3076\u4ee5\u5916\u306e\u624b\u6bb5\u3092\u4f7f\u3063\u3066\u7269\u3092\u904b\u3076\u3053\u3068\u304c\u3042\u308b\u306e\u3067\u3059\u300d\u3068\u8a9e\u308b\u306e\u306f\u3001\u30ab\u30ea\u30d5\u30a9\u30eb\u30cb\u30a2\u5de5\u79d1\u5927\u5b66\u306e\u30ed\u30dc\u30c3\u30c8\u7814\u7a76\u8005\u30c1\u30e7\u30f3\u30fb\u30b9\u30f3\u30b8\u30e7\u3060\u3002\u5f7c\u306f\u30b3\u30a6\u30e2\u30ea\u306e\u52d5\u304d\u304b\u3089\u7740\u60f3\u3057\u305f\u30c9\u30ed\u30fc\u30f3\u306e\u958b\u767a\u8005\u3067\u3082\u3042\u308b\u3002\n\n\u30b3\u30a6\u30e2\u30ea\u3082\u904b\u3076\u5bfe\u8c61\u304c\u91cd\u3059\u304e\u308b\u5834\u5408\u306f\u3001\u305d\u308c\u3092\u5f15\u304d\u305a\u3063\u3066\u79fb\u52d5\u3055\u305b\u308b\u3053\u3068\u304c\u3042\u308b\u3002\u300c\u3053\u306e\u8996\u70b9\u3053\u305d\u304c\u3001\u3053\u306e\u7814\u7a76\u8ad6\u6587\u306e\u8208\u5473\u6df1\u3044\u30a4\u30ce\u30f4\u30a7\u30a4\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u3067\u3042\u308a\u529f\u7e3e\u306a\u306e\u3067\u3059\u300d\u3068\u3001\u30c1\u30e7\u30f3\u306f\u8a00\u3046\u3002\n\n\u5225\u306e\u8a00\u3044\u65b9\u3092\u3059\u308b\u3068\u3001\u5730\u9762\u306a\u3069\u306e\u5468\u56f2\u306e\u74b0\u5883\u3092\u5229\u7528\u3059\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3067\u30d1\u30ef\u30fc\u30a2\u30c3\u30d7\u3057\u305f\u65b0\u3057\u3044\u30bf\u30a4\u30d7\u306e\u30ed\u30dc\u30c3\u30c8\u3092\u3064\u304f\u308c\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3053\u3068\u3060\u3002\n\n\u30ed\u30dc\u30c3\u30c8\u306e\u5927\u534a\u306f\u3001\u5468\u56f2\u306e\u74b0\u5883\u3068\u5e72\u6e09\u3057\u5408\u3046\u3053\u3068\u306a\u304f\u5730\u9762\u3092\u8ee2\u304c\u3063\u305f\u308a\u7a7a\u4e2d\u3092\u98db\u3093\u3060\u308a\u3059\u308b\u304c\u3001\u30d5\u30e9\u30a4\u30af\u30ed\u30bf\u30c3\u30b0\u30b9\u306f\u305d\u3046\u3057\u305f\u30ed\u30dc\u30c3\u30c8\u3068\u306f\u6839\u672c\u7684\u306b\u7570\u306a\u308b\u3002\u74b0\u5883\u305d\u306e\u3082\u306e\u3092\u5229\u7528\u3057\u3066\u81ea\u8eab\u306e\u6027\u80fd\u3092\u9ad8\u3081\u308b\u3053\u3068\u304c\u3067\u304d\u308b\u306e\u3060\u3002\n\n\u65b0\u3057\u3044\u30bf\u30a4\u30d7\u306e\u30ed\u30dc\u30c3\u30c8\u306b\u3068\u3063\u3066\u3001\u5730\u9762\u306f\u5358\u306a\u308b\u79fb\u52d5\u7d4c\u8def\u3067\u306f\u306a\u3044\u3002\u7269\u3092\u5f15\u304d\u4e0a\u3052\u308b\u305f\u3081\u306e\u91cd\u8981\u306a\u30c4\u30fc\u30eb\u306a\u306e\u3060\u3002\n\nVIDEO COURTESY OF STANFORD/BIOMIMETICS & DEXTEROUS MANIPULATION LAB\n\n\u30ed\u30dc\u30c3\u30c8\u306f\u300c\u30c1\u30a7\u30b9\u76e4\u306e\u30b3\u30de\u300d\n\n\u30d5\u30e9\u30a4\u30af\u30ed\u30bf\u30c3\u30b0\u30b9\u306b\u306f\u30011\u53f0\u306e\u30ed\u30dc\u30c3\u30c8\u306b\u3067\u304d\u306a\u3044\u3053\u3068\u3092\u8907\u6570\u306e\u30ed\u30dc\u30c3\u30c8\u3067\u3084\u3063\u3066\u306e\u3051\u3088\u3046\u3068\u3044\u3046\u767a\u60f3\u304c\u3042\u308b\u3002\n\n\u300c\u30ed\u30dc\u30c3\u30c8\u3092\u30c1\u30a7\u30b9\u76e4\u306e\u99d2\u3068\u8003\u3048\u3066\u307f\u3066\u304f\u3060\u3055\u3044\u3002\u6301\u3061\u99d2\u3092\u305d\u308c\u305e\u308c\u3069\u306e\u65b9\u5411\u306b\u52d5\u304b\u305b\u3070\u3001\u3055\u3089\u306b\u5de7\u5999\u306a\u30bf\u30b9\u30af\u3092\u3053\u306a\u305b\u308b\u3067\u3057\u3087\u3046\u304b\uff1f\u300d\u3068\u3001\u30a8\u30b9\u30c8\u30e9\u30fc\u30c0\u306f\u8a00\u3046\u3002\u8907\u96d1\u306a\u6a5f\u80fd\u304c\u8a70\u307e\u3063\u305f\u3001\u975e\u5e38\u306b\u9ad8\u6027\u80fd\u304b\u3064\u9ad8\u984d\u306a\u30ed\u30dc\u30c3\u30c8\u30921\u53f0\u3064\u304f\u308b\u4ee3\u308f\u308a\u306b\u3001\u8907\u6570\u306e\u30ed\u30dc\u30c3\u30c8\u304c\u529b\u3092\u5408\u308f\u305b\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3067\u89e3\u6c7a\u3067\u304d\u308b\u554f\u984c\u304c\u3044\u304f\u3064\u3082\u3042\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3053\u3068\u3060\u3002\n\n\u3042\u308b\u3044\u306f\u3044\u305a\u308c\u3001\u6280\u8853\u8005\u305f\u3061\u304c2\u3064\u306e\u6280\u8853\u30921\u53f0\u306b\u642d\u8f09\u3057\u305f\u30c9\u30ed\u30fc\u30f3\u3092\u5b8c\u6210\u3055\u305b\u308b\u65e5\u304c\u6765\u308b\u304b\u3082\u3057\u308c\u306a\u3044\u3002\u3067\u3053\u307c\u3053\u3057\u305f\u9762\u306e\u7a81\u8d77\u3092\u3064\u304b\u3080\u30d5\u30c3\u30af\u3068\u3001\u6ed1\u3089\u304b\u306a\u9762\u306b\u5438\u3044\u4ed8\u304f\u30d1\u30c3\u30c9\u306e\u4e21\u65b9\u3092\u5099\u3048\u3001\u63a5\u5730\u9762\u304c\u3069\u3093\u306a\u72b6\u614b\u3067\u3042\u3063\u3066\u3082\u4f5c\u696d\u304c\u3067\u304d\u308b\u30c9\u30ed\u30fc\u30f3\u3060\u3002\n\n\u3044\u305a\u308c\u306b\u3057\u3066\u3082\u3001\u30cf\u30c1\u306e\u91dd\u306f\u7121\u7528\u306b\u9858\u3044\u305f\u3044\u3002\u958b\u767a\u306f\u9032\u3081\u3066\u307b\u3057\u3044\u304c\u3001\u30cf\u30ea\u4ed8\u304d\u30c9\u30ed\u30fc\u30f3\u306f\u3054\u3081\u3093\u3060\u3002"}
-{"text": "The Linux top command shows the running processes within your Linux environment that consume the most system resources.\n\nHow to Run the 'top' Command\n\nIn its basic form all you need to do to show the current processes is type the following in a Linux terminal:\n\nCommand Output\n\nThe top command runs in the foreground and continuously updates itself. Its results show on five lines, plus the main table.\n\nLine 1\n\nThe first line offers some basic high-level info about the system:\n\nThe time\n\nHow long the computer has been running\n\nNumber of users\n\nLoad average\n\nThe load average shows the system load time for the last 1, 5 and 15 minutes.\n\nLine 2\n\nThe second line summarizes the number of ongoing, concurrent tasks:\n\nTotal number of tasks\n\nNumber of running tasks\n\nNumber of sleeping tasks\n\nNumber of stopped tasks\n\nNumber of zombie tasks\n\nLine 3\n\nThe third line summarizes CPU performance:\n\nCPU usage as a percentage by the user\n\nCPU usage as a percentage by system\n\nCPU usage as a percentage by low priority processes\n\nCPU usage as a percentage by idle processes\n\nCPU usage as a percentage by io wait\n\nCPU usage as a percentage by hardware interrupts\n\nCPU usage as a percentage by software interrupts\n\nCPU usage as a percentage by steal time\n\nLine 4\n\nThe fourth line emphasizes memory:\n\nTotal system memory\n\nFree memory\n\nMemory used\n\nBuffer cache\n\nLine 5\n\nThe fifth line highlights available swap space and total memory inclusive of swap:\n\nTotal swap available\n\nTotal swap free\n\nTotal swap used\n\nAvailable memory\n\nMain Table\n\nThe main table lists running processes:\n\nProcess ID\n\nUser\n\nPriority\n\nNice level\n\nVirtual memory used by process\n\nResident memory used by a process\n\nShareable memory\n\nCPU used by process as a percentage\n\nMemory used by process as a percentage\n\nTime process has been running\n\nCommand\n\nCheck out your distribution's package manager for alternative versions of this utility that offer more or different functionality.\n\nKey Switches for the 'top' Command\n\nAlthough you invoke top just by typing the name in a shell session, a few switches modify the utility's behavior:\n\n-h : Show the current version\n\n: Show the current version -c : This toggles the command column between showing command and program name\n\n: This toggles the command column between showing command and program name -d : Specify the delay time between refreshing the screen\n\n: Specify the delay time between refreshing the screen -o : Sorts by the named field\n\n: Sorts by the named field -p : Only show processes with specified process IDs\n\n: Only show processes with specified process IDs -u : Show only processes by the specified user\n\n: Show only processes by the specified user -i: Do not show idle tasks\n\nAdding Extra Columns to the Display\n\nPress F to show the list of fields displayable in the table. Use the arrow keys to move up and down the list of fields.\n\nTo display or hide a field on the screen, press D to toggle it. An asterisk appear next to manually displayed fields.\n\nSet the field to sort the table by simply by pressing the \"S\" key on the field you wish to sort by.\n\nPress the enter key to commit your changes and press \"Q\" to quit.\n\nToggling Modes\n\nWhilst running top press A to toggle between the standard display and an alternate display.\n\nChanging Colors\n\nPress Z to change the colors of the values within top.\n\nThree stages change the colors:\n\nPress either S for summary data, M for messages, H for column headings or T for task information to target that area for a color change Choose a color for that target, 0 for black, 1 for red, 2 for green, 3 for yellow, 4 for blue, 5 for magenta, 6 for cyan and 7 for white Enter to commit.\n\nPress B to make text bold.\n\nChange the Display While Running 'top'\n\nWhile the command runs in the foreground, toggle many features on and off by pressing relevant keys.\n\nThe following table shows the key to press and the function it provides:"}
-{"text": "Every once in a while, and this is more rare now, there's a legitimately strange internet artifact that just pops up. This time, it's a Google Spreadsheet called \"things i wanna text my ex\" created by a guy named Sean Drohan . He's a 24-year-old Princeton graduate who spent time consulting on college admissions in China. The spreadsheet was created on a lark, while having lunch with his friend. \"There's plenty I would like to say to my exes (and too much I've already said),\" Drohan told Refinery29 via Facebook chat. \"People enjoy anonymous opportunities to cry into the ether. There's kind of this unanswered question of to whom we say these things and why, but that's what's interesting.\" Drohan says he's been a little surprised by the response. \"Just the level of earnestness,\" he writes. \"People really took it as an opportunity to speak some truth. I think that I also try to cultivate that with people in my life, though. Like, I'm a compulsive non-small talker.\" Most of the texts are pretty straightforward. Some are more cruel and others more kind. \"remember how you thought i was too dumb to get into princeton?\" one person writes. \"well i don't see YOUR acceptance letter anywhere, who gets the last laugh nowwww\" Others took the sheet as an opportunity for more poetic expression. \"A breeze hit my leg by the stove the other day and I thought it was the cat, but then I remembered I don't live with the cat anymore. I cried. When you venmo'ed me your half of the couch and desk at work, I went to the bathroom. I cried. Thank god for single-stall, gender-neutral bathrooms. My therapist says I'll be your biggest regret, but I pay him to say things like that. My friends say you're a dick, but they're my friends. I say that I miss you and I miss the inside jokes and language we had that's now a dead religion no one practices. I'm still shaken by our breakup, and trying to rebuild myself. I wish you had held my hand more, and I wish I had been gentler.\" It is a legitimately fascinating exercise. I've added my own text, as have some others that I know. I won't tell you, and you shouldn't tell me. After all, this is a safe space. Add your own. Check out the spreadsheet here . Drohan has one closing thought: \"Don't text your ex tonight. If you want to, tomorrow.\""}
-{"text": "Has this been done yet?\n\nZootopia\u2019s Nick Wilde as Nick from Left 4 Dead 2."}
-{"text": "Syria conflict: Israel 'carries out Latakia air strike' Published duration 1 November 2013\n\nmedia caption \"There's every likelihood that this was the squadron that carried out the attack\", reports Quentin Sommerville\n\nIsraeli aircraft have carried out a strike near the Syrian coastal city of Latakia, a US official says.\n\nThe official said the strike targeted Russian-made missiles intended for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.\n\nLatakia is a stronghold of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, where his Alawite community is concentrated.\n\nThis is believed to be sixth Israeli attack in Syria this year. Israel does not comment on specific operations.\n\nIsraeli officials have repeatedly said it would act if it felt Syrian weapons, conventional or chemical, were being transferred to militant groups in the region, especially Hezbollah.\n\nReports of the strike came as the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said all Syria's declared equipment for making chemical weapons had been destroyed, one day before a deadline.\n\nAction by the OPCW was agreed following allegations, denied by the Syrian government, that its forces had used chemical weapons in civilian areas - and after the US and France threatened military intervention.\n\nDelicate moment\n\nA US official said the Israeli strike took place overnight from Wednesday into Thursday.\n\nReports circulated on Thursday of explosions near Latakia, but the cause was not clear.\n\n\"Several explosions were heard in an air defence base in the Snubar Jableh area,\" said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist network.\n\nNeither Israel nor Syria have commented on the reports. Earlier this year, Mr Assad had promised to respond to any future strikes by Israel.\n\nOne unnamed US official told the Associated Press that the missiles targeted by Israel were Russian-made SA-125s.\n\nThe BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says the reports come at a delicate moment, with the Russians - who apparently made the weapons that Israel is said to have targeted - working closely with the US to get a peace conference on Syria off the ground.\n\nRussia has been a key backer of President Assad's, continuing to supply his government with weapons during the conflict in Syria.\n\nmedia caption Lakhdar Brahimi: \"We are making progress. Whether that progress will be enough... is not certain\"\n\nThe UN Joint Special Representative for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, has told the BBC he believes progress was \"certainly being made\" on preparations for an international peace conference in Switzerland - widely referred to as Geneva 2.\n\nBut he said it was not certain if it was enough for the conference to take place, as planned, on 23 November. He said he hoped to announce a date soon.\n\nSpeaking in Damascus, at the end of his first visit to the capital since December, he said \"people are realising more and more there is no military solution and don't see any way of getting out of this horrible situation except through Geneva\".\n\n'Constructive partner'\n\nOn Thursday, the OPCW said in a statement that its teams had inspected 21 of the 23 chemical weapons sites in Syria.\n\nIt said two sites were too dangerous to visit, but equipment from those sites had already been moved to places where it could be inspected.\n\nSyria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told the BBC that his government was co-operating, and was making a contribution to freeing the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction.\n\nmedia caption Lyse Doucet reports from Damascus\n\n\"I hope those who have always thought of us negatively will change their minds and understand that Syria was, is, and will be always a constructive partner,\" Mr Mekdad said.\n\nSyria's next deadline is mid-November, by which time the OPCW and the Syrians must agree a detailed plan to destroy the country's chemical weapons stockpile.\n\nSyria has until mid-2014 to destroy the chemical weapons themselves.\n\nSyria's arsenal is believed to include more than 1,000 tonnes of the nerve gas sarin, the blister agent sulphur mustard and other banned chemicals, stored at dozens of sites."}
-{"text": "Can you believe it? In less than three weeks the next generation of Nintendo will officially be on store shelves. It's a big moment for not only anyone interested in gaming, but Nintendo which has most recently struggled with hardware sales performance.\n\nAlthough the Switch has run into a few snags since its reveal, it appears to be a very well composed device that is both attractively designed and ambitious. Nintendo is going all in, and now that we're just a couple weeks out from launch day retailers are setting up shop for what is sure to be a crazy month.\n\nA few photos have found their way online of what the product boxes look like for the Nintendo Switch. These are the boxes that the console comes packaged in, which many gamers use as decoration for their gaming space.\n\nThese boxes also serve an important role of trying to convey what the product is to consumers who might not be aware of what this thing really is. The hybrid style of the switch is something that is difficult to describe with just a couple images, but Nintendo has tried to do so in the most minimalist way possible.\n\nAlso, here's a quick look at what the display boxes look like prior to set up. You'll be able to see these at many retailers including Target and Best Buy.\n\nWhat you think? Let us know in the comments below.\n\nCheck Out More Nintendo Switch Coverage:"}
-{"text": "The CDC 6000 Pascal Compiler\n\nBesides being interesting historically, the CDC 6000 compiler was also used as the basis for several other compilers on other machines. When a Pascal implementor needed a compiler, he/she could use either the P4 source as a basis, or the CDC 6000 compiler, or write it from scratch. The reason you might prefer to use the machine specific CDC 6000 compiler as a starting point is that (unlike the P4 compiler) it was a full implementation of Pascal, without any features left off. It also was a full optimizing compiler.\n\nThe CDC compiler and the P4 compiler were developed from the same source at one time. The first version here of the CDC 6000 compiler, the 1972 \"unrevised\" compiler, was unique, but the \"revised\"compilers branched off the Pascal-P compiler. This is detailed in \"Pascal: The language and its implementation\" [D. W. Barron] (which was available on Amazon for $1 at the time of this writing). The first CDC 6000 compiler was used to develop Pascal-P, a processor independent Pascal porting \"kit\", and then the CDC 6000 compiler was created as its first official \"port\". Thus, you will find that the Pascal-P2 compiler and the 1974 CDC 6000 compiler are fairly similar.\n\nUnfortunately, although the CDC 6000 compiler is an example of the Pascal-P compiler with the full language implemented, it is basically dead for any purpose except as an example, because the CDC 6000 machine is also dead, as far as a working computer currently available. Fortunately, there is now a complete and machine independent compiler, Pascal-P5, and works on current machines.\n\nThe versions of the CDC 6000 compiler presented here are:\n\n1972 Unrevised Pascal - The first version of Pascal, with differences from what is commonly known as \"Pascal\".\n\n1974 Revised Pascal - This is the earliest version of the revised Pascal compiler, just after being ported from the Pascal-P compiler.\n\n1976 Revised Pascal - The revised compiler, using the most widely known version of the language.\n\n1984 ISO 7185 Pascal - The language brought up to the ISO 7185 standard.\n\nThe CDC 6000 Series machines\n\nThis page goes over the architecture and history of the CDC 6000 series machines.\n\nThe following listing was provided by John Reagan, of Hewlett-Packard (he was in the division of Digital Equipment Corporation that was purchased by HP).\n\nMain compiler code in Pascal\n\nThe 1972 Compiler was the last version of the original, unrevised Pascal language before Pascal reached the form most folks know as Standard Pascal. It is different in many ways, for example, there was no program header, write/ln and read/ln were considered CDC extentions to the language, dynamic pointers were introduced by a \"class\" statement, and other differences. The language of the compiler is described in the 1970 document:\n\nPascal User Manual (1970)\n\nThe method used to create the first Pascal compiler, described by U. Ammann, was to write the compiler in a subset of unrevised Pascal itself, then hand-translate the code to SCALLOP, a CDC specific language. The compiler was then \"bootstrapped\", or compiled using the Pascal source code and the SCALLOP based compiler, to get a working compiler that was written in Pascal itself. Then, the compiler was extended to accept the full unrevised Pascal language.\n\nProgrammers living in the age where \"programming\" means to write a little bit of code, then compile and try it out, then add some more code and repeat, might be confused by the previous description. However, in the world of batch operating systems, it was not unusual to write major programs entirely on paper first, then get a card deck punched and run afterwords. The way you debugged such a thing was to test it out, find the problems with the run, then edit the original to fix any problems. Often this was done by penciling corrections to double spaced copy, then changing only the affected punch cards to fix the problems.\n\nYou might ask what occurs when problems require major sections to be rewritten. The short answer is you don't do that. The batch process provides heavy penalties for not getting it 99% correct the first time through, and when your time, paper, and pencil is much cheaper than computer time, you do what you have to do. The result is often code that is substantially correct and reliable before it is even entered into the computer.\n\nI myself used the paper entry method to code a Basic compiler for the Z80 processor in 1978, because of a lack of adequate assembler for the machine I was coding on. Each routine was written on a page, and kept in a book of such routines, then converted to machine language by hand, and written in hex at the left of the source code. Although each routine typically required a rewrite to be correct, the final code ran on the machine with only a dozen or so corrections.\n\nThe following listings were scanned from listings provided by Mr. Bob Felts. They were taken from his web site, and he scanned them to .PDF.\n\nMain compiler code in Pascal\n\nRuntime library code in Compass, the CDC 6000 assembly language\n\nThese files are extremely large files because they are whole scans of the greenbar copies. I have found they generate errors when I try to view them from the web page directly, apparently it times out. If you have this problem, try saving the file to your computer, then opening it with a .pdf reader.\n\nThe compiler listing is dated 1974. The scans were taken from a greenbar listing direct from a CDC 6000 series computer. Mr. Felts managed to scan the full wide greenbar listing, a real feat!\n\nThe 1974 compiler was the first of the revised compilers. That is, it was rewritten in the \"revised Pascal\" language that was the Pascal language we recognize today. The \"Pascal-P implementation notes\" imply that the compiler was Pascal-P ported specifically to the CDC 6000 series computer, and indeed the 1974 CDC Pascal compiler appears to match P2 better than any of the other compilers. As the CDC compiler was modified, it resembled Pascal-P less and less, which is natural.\n\nThe following listings were scanned from listings provided by Mr. John Dykstra.\n\nMain compiler code in Pascal\n\nRuntime library code in Pascal\n\nRuntime library code in Compass, the CDC 6000 assembly language\n\nAn error translation routine\n\nThe compiler listing is dated 1976. The scans were taken from a greenbar listing direct from a CDC 6000 series computer, and bear some unique features to such a listing. The name and line number appears at the right of the listing. Because the listings were wider than a 8 1/2 inch sheet of paper, the limit of my scanner, the line numbers to the right have one or more digits cut off. The listings have a 6 digit page number stamped on them at the upper left, which was done by me with an incrementing stamp. This was done so that I would have a positive indication of the page number while performing the automatic feed scan.\n\nThe most unfortunate side effect of cutting down the listings was that the runtime library in Compass have the machine addresses and codes at the left of the listing cut off. This was unfortunately necessary, since the full assembly listing was far to wide to scan. However, none of the source code was lost, and the listing could be reproduced by assembling it on a CDC 6000 simulator.\n\nIf you have been following the history sections elsewhere on this site, you'll know that this compiler comes from the revised Pascal that forms the basis of the \"Pascal User Manual and Report\", second edition. The compiler source is not written in standard Pascal, nor would it have been even if the compiler had been written at the time of the standard. It uses several of the CDC 6000 specific extentions, and it has the generation of CDC 6000 machine instructions imbedded in it. It is a one piece compiler, it takes in Pascal on one end, and issues CDC 6000 object code out of the other.\n\nIn \"Pascal-P implementation notes\" [K.V.Nori, U. Ammann, K Jensen, H. H. Nageli, and Ch. Jacobi] the authors strongly imply that this compiler was derived from the Pascal-P implementation, and many sections of the code are strongly similar to P2. This imples that the 1976 Pascal compiler was derived from either P2 Pascal compiler or from the (presently unobtainable) P1 Pascal compiler that both the 1976 Pascal compiler and the P2 Pascal compiler have as a common root.\n\nThis means that the CDC 6000 compiler series is not dead, but lives on as a functional compiler in the Pascal-P series compilers.\n\nU. Ammann described the creation of the revised compiler in \"The Zurich Implementation\", and unfortunately unobtainable document. The 1970 compiler (above) was rewritten completely to arrive at the revised Pascal compiler. This was done both because the new Pascal language was different, and also because the experience of writing the old compiler had suggested better code structure for the new compiler.\n\nThe new compiler was written in unrevised, or 1970 Pascal code. This resulted in a compiler that compiled using the old compiler, but accepted the revised language Pascal. Then, the compiler code itself was hand translated to the new language, and translated by the new compiler that was compiled by the old compiler. This resulted in the new compiler running on itself, and thus a full bootstrap.\n\nOf course, at this point you might well wonder what \"hand translation\" of the first version of the source on the new compiler from unrevised to revised Pascal might mean, which U. Ammann does not go into. Basically, it is just what you do if the unrevised and revised languages are not quite compatible. Otherwise, if the unrevised compiler was a subset of the revised language, you could just recompile it without changes. This is not nearly as much of a project as translation to SCALLOP, and used in the first compiler. It just means changing to accommodate the differences in the languages, which were stubstantially similar.\n\nThe CDC compiler continued to evolve past 1976. Most of the changes in what is contained here as the 1984 compiler were made at the University of Minnesota by Dave Bianchi and Jim Miner (who appears as a reviser of the forth edition \"Pascal User manual and Report\"). The material contained is marked copyright, but the University of Minnesota has graciously granted permission for it to appear on this web site. You will find the agreement for its use here:\n\nUniversity of Minnesota copyright use agreement\n\nThe U of M group extended the implementation in a few ways, for example it contains the \"otherwise\" statement on case statements. Otherwise, it appears to be a straightforward implementation of the original Zurich compiler, and it continued to be run on the CDC 6000 series computers.\n\nThe U of M implementation is important for several reasons:\n\nIt contains the last known code revision of the CDC compiler. It is well documented. It is exists in machine readable and runnable form. It obeys, with compiler options, the ISO 7185 Pascal Standard.\n\nI intend to get some snapshots of the CDC implementation running and place them here, time permitting.\n\nThe source files of the compiler appear:\n\nModification history - History of changes to the source.\n\nPascal compiler - The main compiler code\n\nPascal Include Generator - Program to process includes and error information.\n\nPascal Library - Contains runtime support library routines in Pascal.\n\nPascal Error Messages - Contains error messages in various languages.\n\nPascal Runtime Support - Contains Pascal runtime support in Compass, the CDC 6000 assembly language.\n\nPascal System Support - Contains the run time system in Compass, the CDC 6000 assembly language.\n\nPascal System Texts - Contains constants and macros used in the compiler, in Compass.\n\nNote that the listings were created by a \"card listing program\" (as in punched cards), and have type and sequencing information at the right hand side. This information can be easily removed by clipping everything from collumn 75 on. It was retained here for historical purposes.\n\nNote also that all of the sources appear in upper case text. The CDC computer native character instruction set only had one case of character.\n\nThe documentation files for the compiler appear:\n\nPascal-6000 Installation Handbook - Details how to install the release tape.\n\nPascal-6000 Internal Reference Manual - Overview of program internals.\n\nPascal-6000 Library Information - Details of the local library.\n\nPASPLOT - a Pascal Plotting Package - Details of an applications package.\n\nSUMMARY OF CHANGES TO PASCAL-6000 - As it says.\n\nPascal-6000 Release 4 Upgrade Guide - Surveys changes from the last to this release.\n\nProse Instruction Manual - Manual for Prose, a text formatter.\n\nPascal-6000 Writeup - The main users manual for the compiler.\n\nFor more information contact: Scott A. Moore samiam@moorecad.com"}
-{"text": "One of the last surviving childhood friends of Anne Frank, 84-year-old Nanette Konig, lends her voice to National Geographic\u2019s documentary Anne Frank: The Nazi Capture, which marks the 70th anniversary of both the end of the war and Anne\u2019s death, and is airing on Tuesday 10 March at 8pm on the National Geographic Channel.\n\nLike Anne, Nanette \u2013 who appears in the diary with the made-up initials \u2018ES\u2019 \u2013 was only 10 years old when the Germans invaded The Netherlands, and while Anne and her family were sent to Auschwitz as penalty for hiding, Nanette was sent to Bergen-Belsen.\n\nHowever, on 28 October 1944, the women of Auschwitz \u2013 Anne included \u2013 were transported to Bergen-Belsen and the pair had an unlikely reunion in the darkest of times. We caught up with Nanette to find out more about her experiences.\n\nWhat do you remember of Holland before the occupation, before the war?\n\nI had a very happy youth. Unfortunately my younger brother died in 1936 \u2013 he had a heart valve that didn\u2019t function properly \u2013 but I went to a very good public school and I practised a lot of sport. We went to England a few times \u2013 my mother was born in South Africa, my family lived in England \u2013 and we also went to Switzerland a few times so I had a very normal and happy life, which all ended in May 1940 when the Germans invaded The Netherlands.\n\nWhat was the first sign that things were going to be dangerous for you and your family?\n\nThe Dutch believed that they were going to be neutral like they were before in World War I. They were very much unprepared in any respect for what was going to happen. The Royal Family left before the capitulation and left the country in the hands of the Nazis. So we realised that our lives had changed from day to night.\n\nAs a Jewish girl growing up in The Netherlands did you feel any different from the children around you?\n\nNo, no, I don\u2019t think so. The Jewish community was very accepted at the time, although in the 17th and 18th centuries there were cities in The Netherlands where Jews could not reside. There was always latent anti-Semitism in Holland and my father worked for the Amsterdam Bank and in the management of this bank in spite of being a Jew. I think he must have known about anti-Semitism.\n\nWhat do you remember of meeting Anne Frank?\n\nOur meeting was very coincidental. At the end of 1940 the government workers were dismissed and at the beginning of 1941 they asked the schools how many Jewish students were present and from that they organised 25 schools just for Jewish students, without anybody raising their hand and saying: \u201cWhy do we need these schools?\u201d\n\nSo the school where I met her was one of those. So you might say it was sheer coincidence that I got into the same class as Anne. When I first met her I thought she was like any other girl. The peculiarity of that class was we were already, I think, aware of the circumstances under which we were living and we were all good friends.\n\nDid you know Anne\u2019s family well?\n\nI know the family Frank? Yes, certainly. I went to her [13th] birthday party in June 1942 and that\u2019s where I first saw her diaries. I didn\u2019t know it but they went into hiding in July, because people didn\u2019t announce it. It was rumoured they had gone to Switzerland.\n\nThey went into hiding sooner than they thought they would because [Anne\u2019s older sister] Margot had to present herself to the police and they knew if she didn\u2019t go they would all be held hostage.\n\nWhen you were moved to Westerbork transit camp, did you know that was only temporary or did you think that was as bad as it could possibly get?\n\nFrom Westerbork every week there was a transport that went to the extermination camp, and on the Monday the ones who were left didn\u2019t believe that was their destiny. Because the BBC in 1942 had already announced that there were extermination camps \u2013 in other words we didn\u2019t believe any longer that they were going into forced labour \u2013 and it was all very, very traumatic.\n\nWhat was it like going from Westerbork to Bergen-Belsen, were you expecting the worst?\n\nThat was completely different. Bergen-Belsen was not an extermination camp as such, it was a \u2018residence camp\u2019 because they didn\u2019t want the Red Cross to inspect the camp, obviously. We belonged to the people that worked on the Palestine route, which gave you the right to be exchanged for prisoners of war or something else. They kept a stock of Jews in Westerbork, in what they called the \u2018star camp\u2019, not that we were treated better.\n\nWe were not numbered because you couldn\u2019t exchange a numbered prisoner, right? But the conditions were so terrible. That they died of these conditions of hunger, or how they were treated in every respect, it was abominable.\n\nWhen you saw Anne again in Bergen-Belsen, did you recognise her straight away?\n\nYou have to remember we were both skeletons, I didn\u2019t have any flesh left on my hip bones. We did recognise one another and it was very emotional. It\u2019s really terrible. For me it\u2019s very hard to think that she died and I survived, but she was in no condition to withstand the typhus. Typhus was rampant in the camp and most people died from it.\n\nI had typhus after\u2026 I say \u201cliberation\u201d but Bergen-Belsen was never liberated, Bergen-Belsen was going to be exchanged with the Germans so that the British would have a better military position. They blindfolded the Germans that went [through the British lines to negotiate a truce] and then they made out that the British Medical Corps was to enter on 15 April 1945.\n\nWhat\u2019s the most powerful impression you still have of Bergen-Belsen?\n\nToward the end it was terrible. When the British Medical Corps entered Bergen-Belsen they were confronted with a situation that they had never ever expected and were not prepared for. They were prepared for a war, right? They were not prepared to find mountains of dead bodies, of filth, of death, of typhus, of people that were starving or dying of hunger. They actually brought them food, the people ate it and then died because they couldn\u2019t digest the food.\n\nThe whole episode is tremendously traumatic and I do what I do because I had the chance to survive. I have a mission to make the world aware of what the Holocaust was really like and what happened. I always explain to the students that the dimension of the Holocaust is much larger than most people realise.\n\nI started because of the six million Jews. Three million came from Poland but those people from Eastern Europe didn\u2019t have any idea what happened in Western Europe, when I perceived that this was the case I started to speak because I thought it was time that somebody realised that the other three million came from the 19 other countries occupied by the Nazis.\n\nDid you know Anne\u2019s diaries were going to be published?\n\nOtto Frank came to see me in October 1945 and he told me that his mother had suggested he publish the diaries. He came to see me and he said to me that he would leave out the parts of his wife, who he had recently lost, and what did I think about them and I said: \u201cSir, if you think this is the right thing to do, then by all means.\u201d\n\nIt was published on newspaper paper in 1947 so I was not surprised, I had been one of the first to read the diaries.\n\nAnne Frank: The Nazi Capture premieres Tuesday 10 March 2015 at 8pm on National Geographic Channel. For more incredible men and women from history, pick up the new issue of All About History or subscribe now and save 25% off the cover price."}
-{"text": "Former President Barack Obama is about to become the most expensive ex-president, costing taxpayers $1,153,000 next year, according to a new Congressional Research Service memo looking at the official allowances for the five living former chief executives.\n\nHis $1,153,000 budget request for 2018 is more than $100,000 higher than George W. Bush\u2019s request for next year and nearly $200,000 more than Bill Clinton\u2019s expected budget. George H.W. Bush is slated to get $942,000, while Jimmy Carter will get less than half that, at just $456,000.\n\nEvery former president gets an office, expenses and, in some cases, an annual pension payment, thanks to a 1950s-era law enacted after former President Harry S. Truman struggled for income when he left the White House in 1953.\n\nWhile most ex-presidents since Truman have found ways to make their life beyond the Oval Office financially rewarding, the taxpayer-funded perks have remained \u2014 and Mr. Obama is the latest to take them.\n\nBy far the biggest cost for ex-presidents is renting office space. Mr. Obama\u2019s office \u2014 8,198 square feet in D.C. \u2014 will cost taxpayers $536,000 next year, the most of any ex-president. Mr. Clinton\u2019s New York office is bigger, at 8,300 square feet, but slightly cheaper at $518,000. The younger Mr. Bush\u2019s office in Dallas is $497,000, while his father\u2019s space in Houston is $286,000. Mr. Carter\u2019s Atlanta office is just $115,000.\n\nMr. Obama\u2019s pension payment is also the highest, at $236,000. Mr. Clinton is second with $231,000, followed by the younger Mr. Bush at $225,000, the CRS memo says, citing figures from the General Services Administration, which administers the 1958 Former Presidents Act.\n\nThe younger Mr. Bush\u2019s communications budget is higher than any of the others, at $69,000, and he\u2019ll get the most for printing and supplies. By contrast, Mr. Obama is slated to get just $11,000 for communications.\n\nMr. Carter\u2019s figure is so low because he only served a single term in office, his only time as a federal employee, meaning he didn\u2019t put in the five years needed to get health benefits.\n\nBut Mr. Carter gets another benefit. Because of an arrangement he struck to turn his home over to the National Park Service when he dies, taxpayers do upkeep on his house in Plains, Georgia, The Washington Times reported in 2011.\n\nIn 2010, that cost came to $67,841, and included sweeping his tennis court twice a day, clearing branches from the estate\u2019s walking trails and cleaning the pool.\n\nPresidents\u2019 cost figures don\u2019t include protection, which the U.S. Secret Service provides for former presidents and their spouses for life. Those costs aren\u2019t public, but reportedly run into the tens of millions of dollars.\n\nSign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters\n\nCopyright \u00a9 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission."}
-{"text": "Not sure if this is a sales pitch or something illegal\n\n260 shares"}
-{"text": "A vivid example of value from decriminalization of possessing small amounts of marijuana occurred at the Philadelphia airport recently, a few days after the release of a report from two prominent organizations that called for the national decriminalization of personal use/possession of marijuana and other illicit drugs.\n\nThis example, interestingly, occurred on the day of the second anniversary of Philadelphia\u2019s implementation of decriminalization, the enforcement practice that replaces arrests for marijuana possession with issuance of traffic-ticket like citations. That enforcement change has saved the City of Philadelphia at least $9-million in costs related to arrests and adjudication for marijuana possession, according to calculations by local analysts.\n\nThe airport discovery of a small amount of marijuana in the luggage of three-time Philadelphia GOP mayoral candidate Sam Katz resulted in embarrassment for Katz but not his arrest and court proceedings. Authorities issued a $25 citation to Katz that allowed the nationally respected municipal-finance-expert-turned-award-winning-documentary-filmmaker to continue to Florida for a planned fishing trip.\n\nBefore Philadelphia became the largest city in America to implement decriminalization of simple possession of marijuana on October 20, 2014, thousands endured arrest annually \u2014 arrests that produced the stain of a life-altering criminal record. During the years 2012-2013 before decriminalization in Philadelphia police arrested 8,580 adults and juveniles. Philadelphia possession arrest figures for 2015 and part of 2016, after implementation of decriminalization, list around 1,500 Philadelphians arrested for marijuana possession \u2013 a marked decrease from pre-decriminalization days.\n\n\"Decriminalization has been a resounding success for the municipal government and for cannabis consumers in Philadelphia,\" PhillyNORML official Chris Goldstein said. Goldstein, an expert on cannabis policy, writes a weekly column on cannabis issue for philly.com, the news website for Philadelphia\u2019s two daily newspapers.\n\nDays before the decriminalization of marijuana possession anniversary in Philadelphia, a report issued jointly by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called on federal and state authorities to decriminalize personal use and possession of drugs due to the documented failures of the War on Drugs. The two organizations recommended a shift from harsh enforcement to policies of prevention and harm reduction.\n\n\u201cCriminalizing drug use simply has not worked as a matter of practice,\u201d stated the HRW-ACLU report. \u201cCriminalizing drug possession has caused dramatic and unnecessary harms\u2026both for individuals and for communities.\u201d The report noted that police make more arrests for marijuana possession annually than for the violent crimes of murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault combined\u2026\n\nTwenty-one states and the District of Columbia have decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Five states and DC have legalized adult use of marijuana.\n\nA White House commission that studied marijuana in the early 1970s recommended decriminalization. However, then President Richard Nixon indignantly rejected all recommendations of his commission, which was chaired by a former federal prosecutor who had served as a Republican governor of Pennsylvania. Nixon is the president who launched the War on Weed that has consumed nearly $20-billion in federal funds alone since the early 1970s.\n\nDecriminalization is also afoot abroad. For example, marijuana arrests are down 46 percent in England and Wales since 2010 according to a recent coverage by the BBC. Changes in police enforcement practices not governmental policies reportedly drive this reduction in arrests.\n\nIn Philadelphia, while lower arrests and cost savings are a bright spot for decriminalization, a dark side remains: marijuana possession bust rates still displayed marked racial disparities, the very disparities that prompted approval of decriminalization in Philadelphia.\n\nOf the 8,580 possession arrests in 2012-2013, 7,077 involved African-Americans. Police arrest data for 2015-2016 continue the racial disparity with African-Americans accounting for 1,200 of the 1,500 arrests. Many observers trace the race disparities in arrest rates to Philadelphia police targeting African-American communities for enhanced enforcement. Evidence of racial targeting is found in the fact that in many overwhelmingly white areas of Philadelphia police make no pot possession arrests despite decades of documentation that whites and blacks use marijuana at similar rates with the white usage rate slightly higher.\n\nThat HRW-ACLU report criticized America\u2019s history of \u201cracially discriminatory\u201d drug enforcement.\n\nThe second anniversary of decriminalization in Philadelphia saw a unique celebration near the iconic Philadelphia Museum of Art. Hundreds of decriminalization supporters publicly smoked marijuana at 4:20 p.m. to commemorate the anniversary. That smoke-out crowd was both racially diverse and inter-generational with persons 60-plus mingling with fellow marijuana users decades younger.\n\nPhiladelphia Mayor James Kenney sponsored the city\u2019s decriminalization ordinance in early 2014 when he was an At-Large member of Philadelphia\u2019s City Council. The legislation then Councilman Kenney introduced specifically cited the disturbing racial disparities in pot possession arrests as a key reason to implement decriminalization.\n\nPhillyNORML's Chris Goldstein and cannabis activist Nikki Allen Poe introduced the issue to Kenney who bucked Philadelphia\u2019s then mayor and police commissioner to gain approval of decriminalization.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m really proud that I was a part of an effort to make the city that I love safer for cannabis consumers,\u201d Poe said."}
-{"text": "Standard human IQ tests often require test-takers to interpret perceptually simple visual scenes by applying principles that they have learned through everyday experience. For example, human test-takers may have already learned about \u2018progressions\u2019 (the notion that some attribute can increase) by watching plants or buildings grow, by studying addition in a mathematics class, or by tracking a bank balance as interest accrues. They can then apply this notion in the puzzles to infer that the number of shapes, their sizes, or even the intensity of their colour will increase along a sequence.\n\nWe do not yet have the means to expose machine learning agents to a similar stream of \u2018everyday experiences\u2019, meaning we cannot easily measure their ability to transfer knowledge from the real world to visual reasoning tests. Nonetheless, we can create an experimental set-up that still puts human visual reasoning tests to good use. Rather than study knowledge transfer from everyday life to visual reasoning problems (as in human testing), we instead studied knowledge transfer from one controlled set of visual reasoning problems to another.\n\nTo achieve this, we built a generator for creating matrix problems, involving a set of abstract factors, including relations like \u2018progression\u2019 and attributes like \u2018colour\u2019 and \u2018size\u2019. While the question generator uses a small set of underlying factors, it can nonetheless create an enormous number of unique questions.\n\nNext, we constrained the factors or combinations available to the generator to create different sets of problems for training and testing our models, to measure how well our models can generalise to held-out test sets. For instance, we created a training set of puzzles in which the progression relation is only encountered when applied to the colour of lines, and a test set when it is applied to the size of shapes. If a model performs well on this test set, it would provide evidence for an ability to infer and apply the abstract notion of progression, even in situations in which it had never previously seen a progression."}
-{"text": "How did they know?!\n\nIn what is easily the most exciting news of 2016, The Sun is reporting that Taylor Swift has kicked off a budding romance with actor Tom Hiddleston (aka Loki from Thor). Swift dumped electronic music megastar Calvin Harris two weeks ago, and if you\u2019re wondering how he\u2019s dealing with the news\u2026 not well, as it turns out. Harris has reportedly unfollowed Swift on both Instagram and Twitter, as well as blocking fan accounts that have posted pictures of the new couple.\n\nIt\u2019s fair to say that no one really saw Hiddleswift coming. Except one person. One person who wrote 58,000 words of saucy, in your face erotic fan fiction featuring Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston between 2014 and 2015.\n\nBack in November 2014, Archive Of Our Own user jenniiichristine dropped the first part of her Wildest Dreams series: a two-part work of erotica based on a fictional romance between Swift and Hiddleston. The full series is officially novel length, clocking in at just under 60,000 words.\n\nBut look, everyone writes fan fic right? There\u2019s so many hypothetical couples out there in fan fic land it\u2019s not that surprising that someone had a crack at developing a relationship between Taylor and Tom. The really, really, weird part is that jenniiichristine predicted the exact event where the pair first fell in love.\n\nAccording to The Sun, the pair \u201chad an instant spark after dancing during the Met Gala\u201d in New York. In Wildest Dreams the pair meet at\u2026 the Met Gala. In the fan fic, the pair meet at the Gala, share their appreciation for Chinese art and then share a ride back to Taylor\u2019s place. After a bit more flirting, things get real.\n\n\u201cMy back arched in return, my eyes closing as my grip on the sheets and his hair tightened impossibly more. I sucked in a sharp breath before moaning, \u2018Thomas\u2013\u2018 I let out that same breath, barely able to glance down to see him soaking in the reaction he was getting out of me.\u201d\n\nAfter a few thousand words detailing their sexcapades, we find out that this wasn\u2019t just a one night stand, but the first step in a \u201cblossoming relationship\u201d, that is detailed in another 46,000 word follow up.\n\nAll up jenniiichristine (or Nostradamus as we will now call her) wrote five pieces on Hiddleswift between November 2014 and June 2016, 18 months before news of Swift and Hiddleston\u2019s real relationship first broke. While most of the pieces are written from Swift\u2019s perspective, occasionally we get a glimpse of the relationship from the perspective of Hiddleston and the complexities of scheduling dates while trying to shoot Thor 3.\n\nIn a piece published in June last year, we get an even more fantastical treatment of the then-fictional relationship. In a 40,000 word piece called Tables Turn, Swift is a CIA spy who encounters Hiddleston, an operative for British intelligence services, while on a mission. The two kill numerous bad guys, torture the CEO of The Guardian and have lots of sex. I highly recommend giving it a read.\n\n\u2018\u201dHer name is Taylor Swift. She\u2019s the go-to spy for the CIA. Has the most confirmed kills with 113. She\u2019s ruthless, Tom. Why are you after her?\u201d\n\nI can hear the curiosity in his voice. I\u2019m not sure if I should tell him.\n\nI suck in a breath and exhale slowly. \u201cShe tapped into the Prime Minister\u2019s phone, Jake. I\u2019ve been assigned to hunt her down.\u201d\n\nHe\u2019s silent.\n\n\u201c\u2026and kill her.\u201d\u2018\n\nThe most recent piece, published last week, suggests that the relationship between Swift and Harris broke down immediately after the latest Met Gala.\n\nI\u2019ve scoured all jeniichristine\u2019s other articles hunting for more clues to the future. Does Donald Trump become President? Does Kanye ever stop changing The Life of Pablo? Does Kanye become President? Does Malcolm Turnbull become cool again?\n\nAlas, no answers to these important questions have yet been found.\n\n\u2013\n\nYou have read all of jenniiichristine\u2019s erotic Hiddleswift fan fiction here. If you do find any other important signs about what the future holds please let us know."}
-{"text": "WASHINGTON -- Republican Senate candidates Scott Brown and Cory Gardner on Monday embraced the notion that climate change is caused in part by human activity, despite previously expressing skepticism that man-made climate change is real.\n\nBrown, a former Massachusetts senator, is seeking to unseat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, while Gardner, a congressman from Colorado, is looking to defeat Sen. Mark Udall in that state. Both Senate races, regarded as unexpectedly competitive for Democrats, had debates on Monday -- the first for New Hampshire candidates, the second for Colorado. In both, candidates were asked if they believed that humans were causing climate change.\n\nGardner briefly weighed in on the human contributions to climate change, then used his response to criticize the so-called Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill passed by House Democrats in 2010:\n\nThere is no doubt that pollution contributes to the climate changing around us, but what I refuse to do is support a climate tax bill like Waxman/Markey put in place, that would have cost farmers and ranchers in the state, that would cost small business the opportunity to grow, that would increase that bills that families pay, $1,700 a year. We hear people talk about putting a price on carbon, but they won't talk about how much that price of carbon is. Let's just have an answer: What is the price? Is it $5 a month, is $10 a month, is it $20 a month? Senator Udall, am I not going high enough?\n\nDemocrats were quick to point out that in January of this year, Gardner voted against an amendment that would have explicitly stated that climate change is real. The measure, which failed to clear the House Energy and Commerce Committee, stated that \"Congress accepts the scientific finding of the Environmental Protection Agency (contained in the proposed rule referred to in section 4(2)) that '[g]reenhouse gas (GHG) pollution threatens the American public\u2019s health and welfare by contributing to long-lasting changes in our climate that can have a range of negative effects on human health and the environment.\"\n\nGardner also rejected the theory of man-made climate change as a Colorado state representative in 2010. \"I think the climate is changing, but I don't believe humans are causing that change to the extent that's been in the news,\" he said at the time.\n\nIn the New Hampshire debate, Brown said he believes climate change is \"a combination of manmade and natural.\"\n\n\"That's what I've said, and I continue to believe that,\" he said, before listing ways he has appreciated the environment and encouraging the United States to reduce its dependence on foreign oil:\n\nThe question is how do we deal with not only respecting our environment -- as someone who's hiked Mount Washington with [New Hampshire state Sen.] Jeb Bradley and appreciated the environment as a triathlete, swimming, biking, camping. We want to respect that environment but we also want to find a way to balance the ability to live within the environment and use its natural resources to become energy independent and to step back from our dependence on foreign oil. I think that's very critical and you can find that balance and there are opportunities to do just that.\n\nBrown's comments marked a departure from a GOP primary debate in late August, when he was asked if he believed that the theory of man-made climate change had been scientifically proven. At that debate, Brown responded, \"Uh, no.\"\n\nThat answer, too, was dubbed a flip-flop from Brown's position in the 2012 Massachusetts Senate race, when he lost his seat to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D). During that race, Brown said he \"absolutely\" believed that climate change was real and deemed its causes to be \"a combination of man-made and natural.\"\n\nBrown's campaign has insisted that his stance on the issue is what he stated both on Monday and in 2012 -- that climate change is real and caused by factors that are both man-made and natural. But Democrats in New Hampshire accused Brown on Monday of trying to have it both ways by refusing to endorse climate change during the primary, when he took on a more conservative tone, only to revert back to his more centrist position now that the general election is underway.\n\nDespite the reversal by both Gardner and Brown, environmental groups remain unconvinced. NextGen Climate, the progressive group founded by billionaire investor Tom Steyer, recently launched a truck tour targeting Brown's environmental record, citing his support for the Koch brothers and \"Big Oil tycoons.\" The group has also gone after Gardner through attack ads on television and billboards in Colorado.\n\nNextGen Climate spokesman Bobby Whithorne said Brown and Gardner only seemed willing to move to the middle when it was politically convenient.\n\n\"First he denied the basic science behind climate change, now he\u2019s changing his tune,\" Whithorne said in an email to HuffPost. \"Scott Brown can\u2019t make up his mind about what he believes. One thing is clear, he\u2019ll say anything that\u2019s politically convenient to try to get himself elected.\"\n\nGardner, according to Whithorne, \"couldn't even answer the question without attempting to deny and deceive.\"\n\n\"First he ducked it entirely, then deceived Coloradans with an incomplete answer to deliberately mislead voters on his record,\" Whithorne said. \"Maybe he thinks all of the pollution is caused by cow farts? The facts are clear; Gardner has taken votes to deny the reality of climate change and to let power plants dump unlimited carbon pollution into the air.\"\n\nHuffPost's Pollster average, which combines all publicly available polling, shows Gardner and Udall tied.\n\nThe model shows Brown closing the gap with Shaheen, who remains ahead by about 4 percentage points, but was up by more than 6 points just last month.\n\nSamantha Lachman contributed reporting."}
-{"text": "Fifty years ago this upcoming Monday\u2014Sept. 9, 1969\u2014the Chicago Cubs were clinging to a small but diminishing lead over the New York Mets in the National League East. The two teams were facing each other at Shea Stadium in New York, with their respective aces on the mound\u2014Ferguson Jenkins for the Cubs and Tom Seaver for the Mets. And then, in top of the fourth, something bizarre happened that has become part of baseball lore: A black cat appeared in front of the Cubs dugout and pranced back and forth a few times before disappearing into the bowels of the ballpark.\n\nThe Mets went on to win the game, the pennant and the World Series. Meanwhile, the Black Cat Incident, as it was dubbed, became another chapter in the Cubs' long-running history of misery, with the ebony feline\u2014a notorious symbol of bad luck, of course\u2014blamed for jinxing the team. Countless articles have been written about the incident, coupled with photographs documenting what unfolded 50 years ago this month.\n\nMost photos of the incident show the cat approaching Chicago's dugout while being eyed by Cubs third baseman Ron Santo, who was in the on-deck circle. Therefore most accounts of the game, understandably, have featured recollections from Santo, Jenkins or other Cubs players who were in the dugout. This one, though, is different.\n\nTake a closer look at the scene and you'll notice another person in a Cubs uniform standing off to Santo's side. That was the batboy. Like most batboys, he was anonymous, overlooked and forgotten. His name is Jim Flood, and the improbable story of how he ended up in the catbird seat for one of the most storied moments in baseball history has never been told\u2014until now.\n\nFlood is now 67 years old. He's a lifelong Chicagoan, a successful attorney and a rabid Cubs fan. And even 50 years after the infamous game, he remembers that night at Shea Stadium vividly.\n\n\"I can't believe it's been 50 years,\" he says. \"It's my one claim to fame.\"\n\nFlood got to be a Cubs batboy by virtue of attending DePaul Academy, a local Catholic high school. The Cubs' legendary clubhouse manager, Yosh Kawano, would call the school every two years and ask the head priest for suitable batboy candidates.\n\n\"He'd say, 'Pick me two guys who are hard-working and who you're willing to let out of school a bit early so they can be here for the day games,'\" Flood recalls. \"That's how I got the job in 1968.\"\n\nFlood went through some initial jitters and a batboy's version of rookie hazing (before his first game, a player told him to go knock on the umpires' dressing room door\u2014the one that said \"Keep Out\"\u2014and ask for the \"key to home plate,\" which turned out about the way you'd expect) before settling in as a well-liked member of the team's support staff. He enjoyed suiting up in his Cubs uniform, getting pointers from the players and having a front-row seat for all the ballgames.\n\nBy 1969, though, Flood was no longer a full-time batboy. \"I had graduated from high school in May of \u201969, and the military draft was all over me,\" he recalls. (He later served in the Navy Reserve.) \"So I was mostly in the clubhouse that year, but I did go out on the field sometimes.\"\n\nBettmann / Contributor / Getty Images\n\nThe Cubs were in first place for most of that season. But by the time they limped into New York for a September series with the Mets, their once-formidable lead had dwindled to a game and a half. Batboys don't usually travel with a team on the road (the home team typically supplies the visiting club's batboy), but Flood saw an opportunity to help his struggling team.\n\n\"They were really slumping,\" says Flood, \"so I called Yosh and said, 'Do you mind if I come out there?' He said, 'Sure, maybe you'll give us some good luck.' He liked the idea because the players all knew me and felt comfortable with me.\" It was too late for Flood to catch the team charter, so he got on a stand-by flight to New York and joined the team at the ballpark, where several of the players told him, \"We're glad you're here. Get in uniform!\"\n\nConsider the irony: A key witness to one of the most infamous bad-luck stories in Cubs history had gone out of his way to be there in order to provide good luck.\n\nBut a few more pieces still had to fit into place before Flood could have his photo op. He was alternating with the Mets' usual visiting batboy that night\u2014\"He'd go out for an inning and then I'd go out for an inning,\" he recalls. So even though he was there at the ballpark, he could have missed the black cat moment.\n\nAs it happens, he was on batboy duty in the top of the fourth. With Billy Williams at the plate and Santo on deck, the crowd suddenly got very, very loud. Flood tried to ignore it, figuring it was probably a response to a new sign being held up by Karl \"The Sign Man\" Ehrhardt, a Mets super-fan who was famous for displaying motivational and occasionally ridiculing placards during games.\n\n\"Then I heard Santo go, 'Oh man, we're f----- now.' And that's when I saw the cat.\"\n\nAlthough it's impossible to confirm Santo's quote (he died in 2010), photos and video footage appear to back up Flood's account of the scene. The most famous photo of the incident shows Flood looking away, apparently unaware of the cat's presence. But a look at the extended video shows that he eventually turned and watched as the cat scampered away:\n\nFlood's primary memory of the cat is that it was creeping toward Cubs manager Leo Durocher, who was seated in the dugout. \"He was saying, 'Somebody get that f------ cat outta here. Get him away from me!' I didn't know if I should laugh or what. I mean, I was a kid. But we were playing like crap, and now this.\"\n\nThe Cubs scored their only run of the game that inning (Santo knocked it in with a single), but they went on to lose the game and soon saw their season fall apart. \"I don't know if it was because of the cat,\" Flood says, \"but we played terrible after that. The Mets blew right past us.\"\n\nFlood didn't realize his date with history had been captured for posterity until about eight years later, when a Cubs player\u2014he forgets which one\u2014wrote a book that included the famous black cat photo. Other fans might have shied away from the memory of such an infamous moment, but Flood embraced his brief brush with fame. He cut the photo out of the book, had it enlarged and framed, and for many years had it hanging on the wall of his law office, where he proudly showed it to friends and colleagues. At one point he even got Santo to sign it, although he says the ink has largely faded by now.\n\nThat print is now packed away (it's bound for Florida, where Flood plans to retire next year), but the black cat photo is still special to him. He uses it as the desktop image on his computer and also has a version on his phone to show friends.\n\nCourtesy of Jim Flood\n\nOf course, it got a lot easier for Flood to talk about all of this after the Cubs won the World Series in 2016. \"That season, friends were telling me, 'Don't come to the game and stay away from any black cats and goats,'\" he says. When the Cubs finally did win it all, did his mind roll back to that night at Shea Stadium 47 years ago?\n\n\"I didn't even think about it,\" he says. \"I cried like a baby for 45 minutes.\"\n\nIt's worth noting that Flood has always loved cats and currently has four of them. What's more, one of them is black and named Fergie, after Ferguson Jenkins. So while the Cubs may have had a black cat jinx, Flood was never too worried about that old black magic himself.\n\nPaul Lukas is a lifelong Mets fan and a longtime cat owner (although his cat isn't black). You can read more of his writing \u2014 mostly about uniforms, but also about peripheral topics like batboys \u2014 on his Uni Watch Blog, plus you can follow him on Twitter and Facebook, or sign up for his mailing list so you won't miss any of his SI columns. Want to learn about his Uni Watch Membership Program check out his Uni Watch merchandise, or just ask him a question? Contact him here."}
-{"text": "Dr. Stone #19: El lugar de 2000 a\u00f1os - P\u00e1gina 1\n\nHaga clic en Dr. Stone 19 manga imagen para ir a la p\u00e1gina siguiente. Puede usar las teclas del teclado izquierda y derecha para navegar entre las p\u00e1ginas."}
-{"text": "FTL Tier List\n\nAfter seeing so many FTL tier lists floating around on the Internet, I decided that I might as well put one together myself and post it here on my website. I've divided the 28 ships into five main tiers based around different levels of overall strength. Ships within tiers are intended to be roughly comparable in power, although they are also ranked within tiers as well. Some of the intra-tier ranking was truly splitting hairs, however, and these ships should be regarded as roughly even in strength. Ships were evaluated under the assumption of Hard difficulty with the goal of defeating the rebel flagship and winning the game as efficienty as possible. The boarding ships with a Teleporter don't get extra weight because of their ability to rack up a higher in-game score (although I have indeed factored in the additional scrap and other rewards that they can reap from boarding). The ranking was also done with the assumption of an experienced player using these ships to the best of his or her ability. In other words, low skillcap ships like the Engi A don't receive more weight for being easy to use. Finally, this is ultimately a personal ranking based on my opinions. Readers of this website will know that I favor gunships over boarding ships, and while I've tried not to let that affect this list, I'm sure personal bias plays a factor in this process. Let's get started.\n\nBe prepared for a long read.\n\nGod Tier\n\nCrystal B\n\nOverall Ranking: 1/28\n\nStrengths: Crystal Crew, Four-Tile Teleporter, Cloaking\n\nWeaknesses: No Weapons\n\nThe Crystal B Cruiser is the single strongest ship in FTL. This opinion is shared by nearly everyone within the FTL community. As the stronger of the two designs on the \"secret\" ship, the Crystal B is well worth the difficult process of unlocking it. This ship's advantages are almost overwleming in nature. It's one of only three ships in the game with a four-tile Teleporter, a system that can easily win the game without need for any other weapons. This complements extremely well with the starting three Crystal crewmembers, the game's overpowered hidden race. Crystals have extra health, take damage more slowly from low oxygen, and come with the utterly broken \"Lockdown\" innate ability. With three Lockdown uses and the four-tile Teleporter, the player should be able to kill enemy crew with ease, Medbay or no Medbay. That would be strong enough, but the Crystal B also starts the game with Cloaking too! Crystal B is the only ship in the game to start with both Cloaking and the Teleporter. That system adds ridiculously strong defenses to a godly boarding setup. On top of THAT, Crystal B also starts with the Crystal Vengeance augment, an utterly useless augment which sells for an amazing 40 scrap. This silly thing is priced at the same value as a Zoltan Shield! It's another advantage that this ship absolutely does not need, but nonetheless has anyway. The one and only weakness of this ship is the lack of any starting weapons. This isn't nearly as big of a setback as it sounds though, and indeed two of the three ships that start without weapons are among the best in the game (this ship and Mantis B). Long story short: if you can't win with the Crystal B, you're doing something seriously wrong. This ship is wildly overpowered compared to the rest.\n\nDemigod Tier\n\nLanius B\n\nOverall Ranking: 2/28\n\nStrengths: Advanced Flak, Teleporter + Mind Control + Cloning Bay + Double Lanius Boarding Party\n\nWeaknesses: Weak Weapons, No Sensors\n\nOccupying its own little tier is the Lanius B ship. If it weren't for the Crystal B, this would be the best ship in the game, and it doesn't miss the Crystal B by much. The Lanius B has one of the top boarding setups in FTL, and unquestionably the strongest one that doesn't involve a four-tile Teleporter. (Sadly the Lanius B only has the normal two-tile system.) Unlike the Crystal B and Mantis B however, which need more crew to get rolling and use their Teleporters to maximum ability, the Lanius B boarding setup is fully ready to go from the start of the game. The starting crew allows the player to place an Engi in the piloting room, and then send two Lanius over to the enemy ship. The Lanius will immediately drain all of the Oxygen from whatever room they happen to be standing inside, making it nearly impossible for the enemy crew to fight them. In addition, the Lanius B has a Mind Control system to help the boarding party further, turning one of the enemies against their friends. (There's a really evil move where you can Mind Control someone on the enemy ship, then use the Teleporter to beam them over to your ship. If there's no Teleporter on the other ship, they can't get back and you can murder them with ease. Nasty.) If for some reason you mess up and get the Lanius boarders killed, well, the ship has a Cloning Bay for that. The Lanius B is almost idiot-proof.\n\nThis alone would be enough to put the Lanius B into the top tiers, but it goes another step further by having the single best weapon in the game: Advanced Flak. The normal Flak I is already one of FTL's holy trio of weapons (Burst II Laser, Flak I, Halberd Beam). The Advanced Flak is a version that has a shorter cooldown time (8 seconds instead of 10) and costs only 1 weapons power instead of 2. So not only does the Lanius B have an amazing boarding setup, it also has this brokenly strong Advanced Flak to play around with as well. The only weaknesses on this ship are the weak starting weapons (requiring a one-time payment of 40 scrap to upgrade to level 2) and the lack of Sensors, which does limit the effectiveness of the Mind Control system a bit. These are minor problems, of course. Other ships would kill for this kind of setup. You can play the Lanius B as a boarding ship, or ignore the Teleporter entirely and use this is a powerful gunship with the Advanced Flak. It's hard to mess up this thing.\n\nTier 1\n\nI put four ships into this tier, and I was surprised at how naturally they fit there. These four are all roughly comparable to one another in power, and a clear step above the rest of the non-godly ships. Since the Crystal B and Lanius B are essentially designed to be secret ships, you can think of these as the best of the \"normal\" ships in FTL.\n\nZoltan A\n\nOverall Ranking: 3/28\n\nStrengths: Zoltan Shield, Halberd Beam\n\nWeaknesses: Low Reactor Power\n\nI believe that the Zoltan A is the strongest ship in this tier. I was honestly surprised when I went back and played this ship again a little while ago; even when doing a wacky low-power variant to unlock one of the achievements, the Zoltan A was still crushing everything in its path. This ship starts with one of the game's holy trio of weapons in the Halberd Beam, the best beam weapon in the game. T-Hawk has written about this in detail , explaining how the Halberd Beam sits in the sweet spot on damage. Two shots with the Halberd Beam against a shieldless target will kill just about any enemy ship in the game; if you go up to the much longer cooldown of the Glaive Beam, it still takes two shots to kill the enemy ship. Cool as it looks, the Glaive Beam is simply overkill. The Halberd Beam is in the perfect spot of dealing significantly more damage than the Pike Beam or Hull Beam, without requiring all the extra power and chargeup time of the Glaive Beam. The fact that it pierces through one shield layer (at half damage) is another massive advantage. The only weapons that compare in overall strength are the Burst II Laser and Flak I, the other members of the holy trio. Not surprisingly, the ships that start with these weapons are all in the top tiers of my list.\n\nThe Zoltan A also starts out with a Zoltan Shield, the game's best augment. Starting every battle with 5 points of supershielding helps enormously in cutting down damage taken. You're pretty much guaranteed to get off the first shot of the Halberd Beam before your weapons system can even take damage. It's also impossible to be hit by enemy boarders or Hacking or Mind Control so long as the Zoltan Shield stays up, and even when it goes down, Zoltan A has level 2 Doors to deal with invaders. To counter these strengths, the Zoltan A has... no real weaknesses? It's true though - there are few holes in this setup. The ship starts with only 5 reactor power (the default is 8), but that's countered by begining with a crew of three Zoltans. Even with one in the piloting room, there's plenty of power to run everything. I suppose the ship is weak against boarders, but with a Zoltan Shield and upgraded Doors, I've never had any problems. The main knock against this ship online is something like \"the Halberd Beam won't deal any damage once the enemy ships have two shield bubbles.\" This is a foolish statement. First of all, that's not even true; Zoltan A has a Leto Missile which could be fired against enemy shields and eliminate one of the layers. Secondly, if this is a \"weakness\" of the Zoltan A, it's a weakness shared by nearly every other ship in the game. Most ships need to upgrade weapons to handle the second shield bubble - few are lucky enough to having starting weapons that strong. This is not much of a weakness for the Zoltan A, given that finding just about any weapon whatsoever (lasers, ions, flak, etc.) will combo beautifully with that Halberd Beam. I mean, what are all those ships that start with Dual Lasers or Chain Lasers going to do when the enemy ships show up with two shield bubbles? Even the mighty Burst II Laser is virtually useless on its own against double shield layers without a second supporting weapon. The fact is that virtually EVERY ship needs to upgrade weapons to handle level 4 enemy shields. I'm not buying the criticism. Zoltan A is a really solid ship setup. It's simply not as ludicrously overpowered as Crystal B or Lanius B. I would expect to win with this ship close to 100% of the time.\n\nMantis B\n\nOverall Ranking: 4/28\n\nStrengths: Four-Tile Teleporter, Level 4 Shields, Defensive Drone, 11 Reactor Power\n\nWeaknesses: No Weapons, Weak Weapons, 3 Weapons Slots\n\nMantis B is most similar to Crystal B in its setup, a ship based around using the Teleporter to board the enemy while also having extremely strong defenses at the same time. Like Crystal B, this ship also has a four-tile Teleporter, a system which scales incredibly well with more crew into the lategame. Unlike Crystal B, this ship has Mantises instead of Crystals for the starting crew, and there are only two of them to begin. That's one of only two real weaknesses of this ship, the lack of more crew at the outset of the game. Mantis B scales extremely well with more people on board - this is one of the few ships where I recommended purchashing them at stores. If you can get 4 Mantises to fill the Teleporter, and then have more humanoids to remain at home running the ship itself, Mantis B becomes arguably the best ship in the game. It does take some work to reach that point, however. The player is helped through the opening stages of the game by the strongest defensive early game setup of any ship in FTL. Mantis B begins with level 4 shields (two bubbles) and a Defensive Drone. This makes the ship almost completely invulnerable to damage from the rebel designs in Sector One and Sector Two. The two shield layers stop lasers and beams, while the Defensive drone will shoot down missiles. It's pretty hard to mess that up. It doesn't matter if the ship has 0% evade and lacks a pilot - you still won't be taking damage anyway!\n\nThe other major weakness of the Mantis B (beyond the limited starting crew) is the lack of any starting weapons. It's true that there's no direct way to deal damage, and even after the player comes across weapons, there's that one-time 40 scrap penalty to take the weapons system to level 2. Like all Mantis ships, the Mantis B is also limited to only 3 weapon slots, which I find to be a major limitation at the end of the game. Long story short: this is not a gunship. Don't play it intending to engage in ship vs. ship laser duels. Mantis B is a boarding ship and it needs to be played that way to take advantage of its strengths. The designers arguably overcompensated for the lack of weapons by giving Mantis B such absurdly strong early game defenses, plus the use of a Boarding Drone to handle auto scouts, plus an absurd 11 reactor power to start out (!!!) I have no idea why they did that; it's way more power than the ship needs, and represents 65 extra scrap that the player doesn't have to spend later. The designers apparently thought that starting with no weapons was a bigger setback than it actually is in FTL, and overcompensated with tons of other goodies on the Crystal B and Mantis B. Within this tier of ships, Mantis B has the strongest lategame potential, but its early boarding gameplay is just tricky enough for me to rank it behind Zoltan A. By a little bit. That scoring is personal preference as much as anything. If you happen to love the boarding style of gameplay, then the Mantis B will likely be the top ship in this tier for you.\n\nKestrel B\n\nOverall Ranking: 5/28\n\nStrengths: Four Basic Lasers, Strong Starting Crew\n\nWeaknesses: No Systems or Augments\n\nThe Kestrel B is my single favorite ship to play in FTL. The Red-Tail is a very simple ship to play, filling the role of a standard gunship and filling it very well indeed. Kestrel B's great advantage is starting the game with four Basic Lasers, the only ship in the game to start with four weapons. To give you an idea of the rarity there, only Zoltan B and Slug A even have so much as three starting weapons! While Basic Lasers are the most simple weapon in FTL, firing one laser shot apiece on a 10 second cooldown, they should not be underestimated. Starting out with four Basic Lasers gives the Kestrel B unrivaled early game offensive power. There's no need to fiddle around with a Teleporter or hire extra crew or anything like that: just point the guns at whatever you want to blow up and press the trigger. Enemy ships at the start of the game have 0 or 1 shield bubbles, which is nowhere near enough to deal with 4 laser shots. Even with poor RNG luck, some of those shots are going to get through. The Basic Lasers also have a very short cooldown, again only 10 seconds per charge, which allows them to fire again and again in rapid succession. (Your gunner levels up extremely quickly with this ship, since he or she is gaining 4 XP with every volley on that short cooldown.) The Kestrel B is therefore one of the strongest DEFENSIVE ships in the early going, as the ship is very good at taking out enemy weapons before they even get to fire. That Burst III Laser or Flak II that they have will almost never get off a shot before being blasted out of commission. Lots of cheap weapons are actually pretty darn good when used together. Throw in an outstanding four-person starting crew (with 2 Humans, 1 Mantis, and 1 Zoltan) and we have a real winner on our hands.\n\nThe most common drawback that I've read about the Kestrel B is that its weapons don't scale very well into the later portions of the game. That is indeed true, but only up to a point. The Basic Lasers are slot-inefficient for the lategame, and they will need to be replaced eventually. However, one of the great things about the Basic Lasers is that they can fit very nicely into just about any gunship setup. Let's say that you purchase a Flak I weapon at a store in Sector Two. You can upgrade weapons to level 5, sell one of the Basic Lasers, and keep right on using the other three. Kestrel B allows for a smooth upgrade path throughout the game, slowly replacing the Basic Lasers with more advanced tools one at a time. Even if you have poor luck in finding weapons, the starting setup will work reasonably well until enemy ships begin showing up with three shield layers in Sector Five. There are very few ships that can make it that far without upgrading their weaponry. For that matter, I've had plenty of runs where I was still using one of those Basic Lasers against the flagship at the very end. It's a shame that you can't purchase them in stores, I would absolutely buy a Basic Laser for the last weapon slot on a lot of other ships. I'd argue that the early game nature of the weapons aren't the real weakness of this ship, as FTL is like Civilization or Master of Orion where snowballing from a strong early game is extremely important. Instead, it's the lack of any systems or augments which is the biggest drawback of the Kestrel B. There's no extra stuff to micro for advantage - Kestrel B is a basic ship. While it's nice to be able to customize to your heart's content, it's also hard to ignore the lack of Cloaking or a Teleporter or a Zoltan Shield. It's a testament to how good the Kestrel B's weapons are that it gets placed this high on the tier list without any systems or augments at all. Anyway, I could keep raving about how much I love this ship, but the description here should be enough to get a good idea of its strengths. Kestrel B: the pride of the rebel fleet!\n\nFederation A\n\nOverall Ranking: 6/28\n\nStrengths: Burst II Laser, Artillery Beam, Strong Starting Crew\n\nWeaknesses: Somewhat Slow Early Game\n\nFederation A is essentially an improved version of the default Kestrel A design. It keeps the Burst II Laser, one of the holy trio of FTL's weapons, and gives up the Artemis Missile in favor of better crew and the addition of the Artillery Beam. I've found that losing the Artemis Missile actually does slow down this ship's early game performance a bit in comparison to the Kestrel A. Having a spare missile here and there to shoot out a key system can be quite useful at times. Still, that doesn't change the fact that Federation A is a much stronger ship overall. The starting crew on this ship is outstanding, with the collection of a Human, an Engi, a Mantis, and a Rockman. Together they provide fast repairs, great defense against boarders, and the potential to go on the offensive with a Teleporter if desired. Expect to get a lot of blue event options from having such a diverse crew. The Burst II Laser is simply amazing as always, with 3 shots for 2 power on a 12 second cooldown, and will almost certainly be used straight through to the end of the game. And then there's the Artillery Beam, a system unique to the Federation ships. The Artillery Beam is a separate system (which does occupy one of the ship's system slots, leaving only two remaining) that fires an unstoppable, untargetable beam when charged. The Artillery Beam will completely ignore shields, and it can be an effective strategy to ignore standard weapons and rely on the beam to deal damage. This is a lifesaver on those random runs where you're getting screwed over by store luck and cannot find a weapon upgrade. There are two big drawbacks, however. The first is the inability to target the beam, as sometimes it will line up massive shots across the entire enemy hull, and sometimes it will ignore key enemy systems to lightly brush a corner of their ship. That can be frustrating, to say the least. Secondly, the Artillery Beam suffers from an extremely long chargeup time, which cannot be reduced by having crew operate the system. The thing takes 50 seconds to use at the starting level 1, which can be reduced by 10 seconds with each upgrade, to a maximum of 20 seconds at level 4. Now the Artillery Beam is indeed pretty awesome when maxed out, especially because it completely ignores enemy shields, but it's important to keep in mind that it costs 160 scrap to reach that point (30+50+80) as well as the investment of four reactor power (roughly another 80-100 scrap cost). This thing is not cheap.\n\nThe conclusion to take away from this discussion is that Federation A is more of a lategame ship overall. The Artillery Beam is almost useless at the start of a run when it has the 50 second chargeup time, and as much as I love the Burst II Laser, with nothing else to lean on in the early game, Federation A only has an average beginning offensive setup. It's an interesting contrast to the Kestrel B just discussed above. On paper, the Federation A looks better in almost every way. Burst II Laser! Artillery Beam! Versus a bunch of Basic Lasers? Come on. But in practice, I've found the Kestrel B to perform better than the Federation A, because the early game damage of those Basic Lasers is just so ridiculously strong. It takes a while for the Federation A to start to outscale the Kestrel B, and by then a run has usually either gotten ahead or fallen behind the dreaded Curve. Now the good news is that the Federation A really doesn't have any weaknesses to its setup either. There are no holes here, nothing missing, only a slightly slow early game which is still pretty darn good with a Burst II Laser in hand. And Federation A has outstanding lategame scaling; this thing wrecks the rebel flagship with level 8 weapons in all four slots and a fully maxed Artillery Beam. As I wrote above, all four ships in Tier 1 are extremely strong, and all fairly comparable in performance. I have the Federation A as the weakest of this group, but not by much, and there's a major dropoff from this ship to the following tier. Although some of the other tier lists I've seen online aren't too hot on the Federation A, I do feel that it belongs in this group. It's hard to argue against a Burst II Laser, awesome starting crew, the ability to fall back on the Artillery Beam on a run with poor weapons luck, and no true weaknesses to speak of.\n\nTier 2\n\nThis is the group of ships that came to mind when I thought about the phrase \"above average\". They are a clear step behind the outstanding ships in the first tier, while also being a cut above the ships that I rank as \"average\" in the one below. Despite being a diverse group of ships, I consider all of them to be roughly comparable in strength. These six ships are all good choices to use for a victory attempt.\n\nCrystal A\n\nOverall Ranking: 7/28\n\nStrengths: Shield-Piercing Weapons, Strong Starting Crew\n\nWeaknesses: Lacks Anything Overpowered\n\nCrystal A is the other design on the secret ship, the poor man's version of the Crystal B. This ship rarely seems to get much attention from the FTL community, and whenever I see anyone playing or discussing the Crystal Cruiser, nine times out of ten the focus is on the Crystal B. It's a bit of shame that this design gets overlooked, because it's a nice setup in its own right and a lot of fun to use. Crystal A has two different crystal-based weapons for its default offense, the Crystal Mark I and the Heavy Crystal I. These can only be bought in the secret Crystal Sector, so this is probably the only time you'll ever see these things in action. These weapons are basically a Burst I Laser and a Heavy Laser I, with the distinction of having longer cooldown times, the ability to breach the hull instead of set fires, and the drawback of being a projectile that can be shot down by standard Defensive drones. The game considers the little crystal shots to be missiles, in other words. The advantage of the crystal weapons is that they pierce through one layer of enemy shields. This is really useful at the start of the game, since most rebel ships will begin with one shield bubble. The weapons on the Crystal A get to ignore that, and it's like every ship has no shields at all! Even without that bonus, starting the game with an effective Burst I Laser + Heavy Laser combo is very nice indeed. (I'd rather have those non-crystal weapons with their shorter cooldowns but hey, beggars can't be choosers.) On top of that, the Crystal A also has an outstanding starting crew of four, with a pair of Humans and a pair of the overpowered Crystal race. You can go boarding with them and have good results, although be warned that purchasing a Teleporter will only grant this ship the normal two-tile setup, not the godly four-tile version of the Crystal B. Finally, the Crystal A also begins the game with the Crystal Vengeance, which basically means that it starts the game with an extra 40 scrap (after selling the useless augment at a store). That can be turned into a weapon purchase, or most of the upgrade to level 4 shields, or two reactor upgrades, or whatever. Lots of options there.\n\nI tried to find a weakness for this ship, but there really isn't one. All of the normal systems are present and begin at the default levels. The weapons are above average, the crew is excellent, and so on. The only drawback is that there's nothing overpowered to boost this ship up into the next tier. Crystal A is a solid, above-average ship. If you ignore the weird crystal weapons and crew, it's almost somewhat bland, similar to the Kestrel A in a lot of respects. Because of this stable setup with no serious weaknesses, I rank it as the best ship in this second tier. (The presence of the Crystal Vengeance was enough to give it a small extra boost to the top. That silly augment really should not sell for so much scrap!)\n\nLanius A\n\nOverall Ranking: 8/28\n\nStrengths: Hacking, Solid Weapons\n\nWeaknesses: Lacks Anything Overpowered\n\nJust as the Lanius B trails a step behind the Crystal B, so too does the Lanius A follow in the wake of the Crystal A. (I did not do that deliberately in the tier list; I didn't notice the pattern until doing the writeup.) This is another ship in the \"above average\" category without being strong enough to fall into the exceptional group. Lanius A leans heavily upon its Hacking system for strength. The flexibility of Hacking allows Lanius A to be developed in a number of different directions, hacking enemy weapons for defensive protection, hacking their piloting / engines to guarantee successful shots, hacking shields for beam weapon usage, or hacking enemy healing systems / doors to synergize with boarding gameplay. This can be a strong invasion ship with a Teleporter, Hacking, and the two Lanius crew. I've found that Hacking is often useful in the early game against enemy weapons, stalling them out temporarily while allowing the Chain Laser to wind up on its initial slow cooldown. Speaking of weapons, the Chain Laser + Ion Stunner is a solid if unspectacular early game pairing. The Chain Laser starts out with a slower cooldown time than the Ion Stunner, only to drop all the way down to 7 seconds after its third shot. These two are still inferior to the Burst II Laser on some of the higher ships on this tier list, although having Hacking on hand to boost their performance helps a lot.\n\nThe rest of the Lanius A is relatively uninteresting. The engines start out at only level 1, but the first two engine upgrades cost 10 and 15 scrap respectively, which means that this isn't much of a penalty. The two Lanius crewmembers are nice to have on board, as is the Emergency Respirators augment (which I typically sell for the 25 scrap payout). Like a lot of the other ships in the middle of the tier list, the Lanius A doesn't have major strengths or weaknesses. It's a fairly average ship that gets boosted towards the top of this group due to the presence of the Hacking system. The performance of the Lanius A will depend heavily on how well the player can make use of those Hacking drones. Failure to get good value out of them will likely result in defeat.\n\nSlug C\n\nOverall Ranking: 9/28\n\nStrengths: Hacking, Mind Control\n\nWeaknesses: No Sensors, High Skillcap\n\nSlug C is another ship that generally seems to fly under the radar. I rarely see much discussion of this ship online, even though it's actually one of my favorite ships in FTL. It's also the best of the three Slug designs, none of which are especially near the top of my tier list. Slug C is unique for having both Hacking and Mind Control as starting systems, which no other ship can claim. This provides a number of different ways to screw around with enemy crew, and Slug C can be a decent boarding ship if the player chooses to add a Teleporter. (Of course, if you do that then it means no Defensive drone or Cloaking since all of the system slots will be full.) The starting weapons are very similar to the Lanius A, with the presence of a Chain Laser and nothing else. Without much in the way of direct offensive power, the Slug C needs to use the Hacking and Mind Control systems to destroy enemy ships. It can do this very effectively, of course, which is why I have it ranked above average in the tier list. This is also a ship where finding an early weapon can swing a run into easy mode and start snowballing ahead. Remember, you can find weapons for free in FTL, but you can't find systems. Having two useful systems on hand right from the outset is a major boost to this ship.\n\nAs mentioned before, the tradeoff for the Hacking and Mind Control is a lack of direct killing power. The Chain Laser becomes a good weapon after it finishes charging up, at the cost of a very slow first shot. (It goes 16 seconds to 13 seconds to 10 seconds to 7 seconds.) This is a ship with a high skillcap to use; the player will not be able to brute force his or her way through battles. The ships that are most similar to Slug C are the Lanius A and the Engi C. I have all three of them grouped together into this tier, with the Lanius A nudging a spot higher due to its Ion Stunner and Lanius crew. Lanius A and Slug C are very close in terms of overall strength, and I wouldn't fault anyone for ranking them in the opposite order. I personally prefer having the extra weapon and the Lanius crew instead of the Slug crew, rather than having the Mind Control system. (Slug C also lacks a Sensor system, which was the effective tiebreaker for me.) As far as comparing to Engi C, that ship's Dual Laser is fairly comparable to the Chain Laser, but it gives up Mind Control in favor of a Drone Control system with a Beam Drone. Mind Control is simply more useful than a Beam Drone in that comparison; I don't find the Beam Drone to be very useful in most situations, not to mention it eats up scarce drone parts which would be better saved for Hacking use. Thus I end up with Lanius A, then Slug C, then Engi C in my personal ranking of these three similar ships. But all of them are roughly comparable, and we'll get to Engi C in a minute further down the list.\n\nKestrel A\n\nOverall Ranking: 10/28\n\nStrengths: Burst II Laser\n\nWeaknesses: No Systems or Augments\n\nThe Kestrel A is the default starting ship in FTL, which means that it's fairly basic in its setup. The great strength of the Kestrel A lies in its weapons, especially the Burst II Laser. This is one of the holy trio of FTL weapons, providing 3 shots for 2 reactor power on a relatively short 12 second cooldown. The presence of this weapon is literally the only reason why the Kestrel A get ranked above average, since there is little else to distinguish the ship. The ship also begins the game with an Artemis Missile, which cannot be bought in stores and is an excellent missile in its own right. The Artemis Missile does 2 damage on hit for 1 weapon power, and I've found it to be a useful early game compliment to the Burst II Laser. It's great at providing extra punch against a nasty weapon setup, or covering for the Burst Laser if all the shots miss, or smashing out enemy piloting when the rebels try to run away. Obviously the missiles have too many limitations to see regular use, and the Artemis will almost certainly be replaced later on, but having that extra weapon does make a difference.\n\nThe rest of the Kestrel A is standard in every way. This makes complete sense, since this is the ship that establishes the standard for all of the others. There are no systems or augments, it has all of the default systems at the default levels, and the crew consists of three Humans. You could refer to the Kestrel A with the term \"bland\", although that might be a bit unfair. Something has to be the default ship, and I enjoy using the Kestrel A quite a lot. The mere fact that the Kestrel A has that Burst II Laser and DOESN'T have any crippling disadvantages is enough to make it a solid ship, better than about 2/3 of the others. I would rank this ship higher if I could.\n\nZoltan B\n\nOverall Ranking: 11/28\n\nStrengths: Zoltan Shield, Ion Cascade + Beam Weapon\n\nWeaknesses: Weak Shields, Low Reactor Power, Ion Cascade\n\nI've placed the Zoltan B into this second tier despite the fact that it doesn't resemble any of the other ships here. I feel confident about this placement, however, as I regard this ship as falling into the same \"above average\" category on roughly the same power level as the others in the group. Zoltan B operates on a very different setup, not using lasers or Hacking like the other ships in this tier. Instead, it uses a pair of Ion Blasts to set up an ion cascade, with the goal of repeatedly hitting the enemy ship with ion damage and keeping its shields permanently offline. Once the shields are gone, the Pike Beam can cut it apart with ease. I know that a lot of people in the FTL community like using the ion cascade gameplay, and I agree that the Zoltan B is the strongest ship that uses this style of combat. (You might also notice that I don't think too much of the ion cascade style, since I have the Zoltan B ranked as only the 11th best ship, and the other ships that use this setup are significantly lower.) One of the understated benefits of the Zoltan B is the ease of training up your weapons crewmember; those Ion Blasts have a very short cooldown, and the weapons guy will be racking up the experience very quickly. This ship also has a Zoltan Shield, like all of the Zoltan ships, which is a huge advantage and arguably the strongest aspect of this ship. The Zoltan Shield is the best augment in the game, and it's a critical component of this ship's setup.\n\nThe biggest weakness of the Zoltan B is its non-Zoltan Shield defensive setup. Zoltan B starts out with \"weak\" shields at level 1, which means zero shield bubbles. Once the Zoltan Shield is broken, there's no defense other than evade. This is different from the Stealth ships, which lack a Shield system entirely and must find one in a store, but the Zoltan B has to pay a one-time penalty of 100 scrap to upgrade the shields to level 2. After that point they function like normal shields. It's probably a good idea to do this relatively quickly, as there are no Long Range Scanners on the Zoltan B (which the Stealth ships all have) and wandering into an asteroid field or ion pulsar will remove the Zoltan Shield almost immediately, leaving this ship in a dangerous position. Zoltan B also has a weak reactor and starts with 5 power, although like the Zoltan A that's pretty much canceled out by starting with three Zoltan crewmembers. Unlike the Zoltan A, this ship does not start with an upgraded Door system, and it's significantly tougher to deal with enemy boarders. In my experience, the strange layout of this ship combined with the Zoltan crew makes it highly vulnerable to Teleporter attacks.\n\nI also need to discuss the ion cascade setup in more detail. I've placed the ion cascade setup as both a strength and a weakness of this ship, which I would argue is a fair representation of this mechanic. When it works well, the ions will vaporize the shields on the enemy ship, and the Pike Beam happily goes to town from there. This is one of the rare ships where the initial weapons can last for a long time, and under the right conditions it's possible to defeat rebel ships with even three or four shield bubbles with just the two Ion Blasts and the Pike Beam. For this reason, I've seen some FTL tier lists that place the Zoltan B significantly higher, up near the top as one of the best in the game. The problem is that those \"right conditions\" don't happen that often, especially on Hard difficulty where all of the enemy ships have higher evade and stronger weapons. For one thing, ion cascades are slow, and even with a Zoltan Shield it's undesirable to sit and wait for the enemy shields to slowly be removed. Ion cascades also have the bad habit of being interruptable; if you miss a couple of shots in a row, the cascade gets reset and it has to start all over again. With all of those endgame auto scouts having 40% evade, you'll almost never manage to land the 8 shots in a row necessary to remove all of the shields. (Hacking doesn't even help with this since the shots come over an extended period of time and not in one burst like lasers.) The ion cascade also gets interrupted by any ship with Cloaking, and it feels like every other ship has a Cloaking unit by the end of the game. (Plus the flagship itself has a Cloaking unit in the first phase!) Furthermore, until the shields actually get removed, that Pike Beam is completely useless. This is not like the Halberd Beam on the Zoltan A, which can still function through a single shield layer (at half damage), making it much less error-prone. Anyway, the net effect of all this is that I don't consider ion cascade setups to be a reliable form of offense, and therefore rank these ships lower in the tier list. While the Zoltan B might be the best at this style of gameplay, it's an inherently risky way to play the game. Maybe this stuff works great on Easy difficulty, I don't know. It's a low skillcap approach to FTL, and in my experience it's not reliable for the ending areas of Hard difficulty. Zoltan B is still pretty good, but mostly because of the Zoltan Shield and the Pike Beam, not those two Ion Blasts. I always try to replace them as soon as possible with lasers or flak when I use this ship.\n\nEngi C\n\nOverall Ranking: 12/28\n\nStrengths: Hacking, Drone Control\n\nWeaknesses: Weak Weapons, 3 Weapons Slots\n\nThe Engi C is the last ship that I place in this tier, and I would argue that it's the weakest of the \"above average\" group. This ship's great advantage is starting out with both Hacking and Drone Control systems, the only ship to have that particular combination. These are both systems that I typically find myself trying to purchase in almost every game, which means that the Engi C has a very nice setup right from the outset. Unfortunately, almost everything else about this ship is below average to compensate for those two systems. Engi C only has a Dual Laser for weaponry, which isn't that bad given that it's 2 shots for 1 weapons power on a short cooldown. That said, it doesn't scale especially well into the lategame, and as the only starting armament the Dual Laser isn't particularly impressive. To help deal damage, the Engi C gets a Beam Drone, which is sadly one of the weakest offensive drones. I generally don't like relying on drones to deal damage at all because they can't be controlled in combat. They always seem to waste time going after trivial stuff like enemy doors or sensors instead of focusing on weapons and shields and piloting. The Beam Drones are even worse than the Combat Drones, as they do absolutely nothing unless the enemy shields have been broken, and that's 90% of the challenge in the first place. I don't need more overkill damage after the shields are down, I need weapons that can help me break through the shields! As a result, I don't value the Beam Drone very highly. The great advantage of the Drone Control system is the ability to pick up a Defensive drone somewhere and use it to stop missiles, not the Beam Drone that comes along for the ride. This ship also has the very useful Defense Scrambler augment which prevents enemy drones from targeting your missiles or hacking drones. I tend to devalue this somewhat due to the trick/cheat that allows you to slip Hacking drones past enemy Defensive drones. (And yes, I feel like a scumbag whenever I use that, but I still abuse it all the time.) For anyone who's playing more legitimately, the Defense Scrambler can be extremely valuable in certain situations.\n\nEngi C also has the \"weak\" weapons setup that requires a one-time payment of 40 scrap to upgrade the weapons to level 2. Like the other Engi ships, it can only hold three weapons at a time, and that limitation always irritates me in endgame scenarios. (The fact that Engi ships can run three drones at once doesn't compensate for this at all. When could I ever consistently run a setup that used three drones at a time? How would I ever have enough drone parts for that?) This ship has a high skillcap, and needs to rely on smart usage of Hacking to get around the lack of direct offensive power. Again, it's most similar to the Lanius A and the Slug C, the two other ships in FTL that also start with Hacking. I find Engi C to be the weakest of the lot. Now despite everything just mentioned, this ship is still above average on the tier list, and that's because the Hacking + Drone Control combination truly does offer a lot of value. You can always find better weapons and drones, but you can't luck your way into finding systems. Engi C slots its way into the final spot on this tier with a whole lot of hard work and elbow grease.\n\nTier 3\n\nAs the middle tier out of five on my list, this holds the ships that I consider to be average in strength. This is the largest of my five groups, with eight ships in total slotting in here. It makes intuitive sense that the ranking system would approximate a normal distribution, and here we're sitting solidly in the fattest part of the bell curve. Disregarding the overpowered Crystal B and Lanius B in their special unique tiers, I wound up with 10 ships grading out above average in the top two tiers, 8 ships in this average category, and 8 more below average ships in the bottom tiers. I'm very pleased at how well that turned out, since I was not consciously trying to manipulate the numbers for the sake of neatness. Anyway, this group has a disparate collection of ships which are all in the middle of the power curve. They represent a noticeably harder challenge than the ships featured previously.\n\nEngi A\n\nOverall Ranking: 13/28\n\nStrengths: Drone Control, Ion Cascade, Low Skillcap\n\nWeaknesses: Ion Cascade, Reliant on Offensive Drones, 3 Weapons Slots\n\nThis might be the single most controversial spot in my tier list. I have the Engi A ranked as an average ship here in tier three, and I'm prepared to justify that opinion until I'm blue in the face. If you've never interacted much with the wider FTL community, the Engi A is typically regarded online as a top tier ship. I've read innumerable posts stating that this is one of the best ships in the game, it was the first ship where the poster defeated the rebel flagship, etc. But is this ship really that good? (Answer to the rhetorical question: No.) Let's look at its strengths first. Engi A is another ship based around using an ion cascade setup, in the same fashion as Zoltan B. It begins with the Ion Blast II as its only weapon, the game's best ion weapon. This thing requires three weapon power and fires an ion shot every 4 seconds; I believe it's the fastest non-Vulcan firing rate in the game. The Ion Blast II is the only ion weapon that fires fast enough to initiate permanent shield ionization without help from other sources. To deal direct damage, the Engi A also starts the game with a Drone Control system and a Combat Drone. The Combat Drone is definitely better as an offensive option than the Beam Drone; it will help break through enemy shields and occasionally fire two shots in rapid succession to deal damage through a single shield layer. So it's easy to see why this ship would be popular, and not only because it's the first non-Kestrel ship to be unlocked. Players can autofire the Ion Blast II against enemy shields and then let the Combat Drone go to work against the unprotected enemy. Battles practically play themselves. Engi A arguably has the lowest skillcap to use in FTL, and even someone with little understanding of what they're doing can often have great success.\n\nOf course, that's sort of the problem with being such a low skillcap ship. The Engi A might be great in the hands of newcomers, but it doesn't get much better when piloted by an expert player. The ion cascade gameplay has serious holes in its setup, as described above in the Zoltan B section. It tends to fall apart against lategame ships with high evade, Cloaking, or both. A Defensive Drone II can also wreck havoc by shooting down all of the ion shots. The ion cascade is also slow; you really can't sit around for thirty seconds at the start of every battle waiting for the enemy shields to be ionized to use the rest of your weapons. If you're heading that route, you might as well get a Vulcan and have a weapon that actually deals damage. People online will often say that the holes of the ion cascade setup can be covered up by adding additional ion weapons for more total shots and faster shield removal, but is that really a good solution? The Engi A only has three total weapon slots, another weakness of its design. Locking up two of the three weapon slots on ion stuff leaves the player with few options to deal actual damage. Of course, the Engi A does start with a Combat Drone for that purpose... but again, that's not a reliable offensive option. The offensive drones can't be controlled in battle, and they will often waste their time firing at all of the unimportant systems on the enemy ships. The inability to focus damage on enemy weapons or shields or piloting (or whatever) is a serious weakness indeed. Knocking out the most dangerous systems on the rebel ships is a crucial aspect of FTL's ship vs. ship gameplay. I suppose you could try to compensate by getting even more offensive drones, but then where are you going to get the drone parts needed to run them? Like missiles, drone parts are a resource to be managed in this game. I find myself barely having enough for Defensive drone and Hacking usage in my runs, and there's certainly not enough spare scrap to be purchasing more drone parts at stores when playing on Hard mode. The whole ions + drone setup simply isn't that good. I rank the ships that use it fairly low on my list due to all of these flaws.\n\nThe net result is that the Engi A grades out as an average ship, right in the middle of this tier list. I have it as the best ship in Tier 3, however that's still very much where it belongs. It's actually among my least favorite ships in the game due to its completely passive gameplay style. Autofire the Ion Blast, watch the Combat Drone do its thing... boring. The darned ship even comes with the Engi Medbots augment for auto healing! This is very much a newcomer's ship. If we're evaluating these ships from the perspective of a skilled player, Engi A is nothing special.\n\nStealth A\n\nOverall Ranking: 14/28\n\nStrengths: Cloaking, Strong Weapons, Long Range Scanners\n\nWeaknesses: No Shields, 3 Weapons Slots\n\nIf you're looking for the polar opposite of the Engi A, look no further than the Stealth A design. All of the Stealth ships are high skillcap setups which require an experienced hand at the tiller to avoid early disaster. Stealth A is on my short list of favorite ships in the game, bringing a series of awesome tools to the table for use by a creative player. The first and most obvious is the Cloaking unit. As the \"Stealth\" name implies, the Stealth A and Stealth B both start the game with a Cloaking system already installed. Cloaking is the game's most expensive and generally best system, with Stealth A even starting with upgraded level 4 engines to take better advantage of it. The ship also begins with Long Range Scanners, the best non-Zoltan Shield augment in FTL, allowing the player to steer straight for the maximum number of encounters from the outset of the run. It's no coincidence that my high score list has several runs with Stealth ships listed on it, with the battles found by the Long Range Scanners snowballing into more scrap and better upgrades at sooner times. As I've written before, the rebel flagship will always be there at the end of the game, so you might as well fight as much as possible to collect scrap for upgrades in preparation for the final showdown. Stealth A also benefits from having a very powerful early game weapon duo in the Dual Lasers and Minibeam. Don't be thrown off by the unassuming nature of these two weapons. They share extremely short cooldowns and deal excellent early game damage when used correctly. Their ability to set fires can be particularly devastating when it pops up. The pairing reminds me a lot of the Burst Laser collection on the Kestrel B, another weapon setup that doesn't look as strong as it actually is. Stealth A even gets the useful Titanium System Casing augment, which can be sold for a very nice 40 scrap at the first store visited. With the combination of Cloaking, Long Range Scanners, and strong early weapons, this ship is very entertaining in action.\n\nOf course there have to be disadvantages to counter all those goodies, and the Stealth ships share a glaring hole: none of them start the game with shields! That sounds terrifying when you first start playing FTL, and I'll admit that it still feels weird and slightly disturbing seeing the Stealth ship graphics with their total lack of shielding. The presence of the Cloaking unit means that this isn't quite as suicidal as it sounds at first blush, however. Stealth A should put its first upgrade into taking the Cloaking system to level 2, and that provides 10 seconds of invisibility for the weapons to charge up to full. Cloak, fire the weapons to knock out the enemy offense, and then if all goes well you're relatively safe. (Spoiler: it doesn't always go well.) With Long Range Scanners on board, the player can pilot around the asteroid fields which would otherwise be disastrous for a ship without shielding. And it's not like shields are forever out of reach either; a Shield unit can be purchased in a store for 125 scrap. Shields always seem to be offered for sale if the store is selling systems, although I might have just been lucky in my runs. The design for the Stealth A is therefore just about perfect: a fast, hidden ship that relies on Cloaking past threats and using its strong weapons to avoid trouble. The presence of only three weapon slots is probably my single least favorite thing about this ship, I like everything else about it. (Well, the starting weapons also scale poorly into the lategame, especially with only three total slots.) I wish that I could rank this ship higher, but the lack of shields makes the Stealth A too chancy to be placed higher than average. This one is a lot of fun - I highly recommend using Stealth A. (It's a great teaching tool too, you'll learn a ton about using Cloaking effectively. That or you'll die really fast!)\n\nFederation B\n\nOverall Ranking: 15/28\n\nStrengths: Artillery Beam\n\nWeaknesses: Subpar Starting Weapons\n\nFederation B is the design that comes to mind when I think of an average ship. This one doesn't stand out for being particularly strong or particularly weak. It kind of sits there in the middle of the power curve without distinguishing itself very much in any direction. The Federation B is weaker than its big brother the Federation A in almost every way possible. Instead of having a Burst Laser II, this thing has a Dual Laser and a Leto Missile. That's not a very good weapons combo at all, as the Leto Missile is a weak missile that deals 1 damage per shot. (It does have a fast cooldown as its one advantage.) The Dual Laser can be a good option when combined together with other weapons or systems, since it fires 2 shots for 1 weapon power, however on the Federation B there's little to help it deal damage. This ship doesn't have Hacking or Mind Control or a beam weapon like so many of the ships featured above. The Leto Missiles are weak enough that they don't contribute very much. Federation B also has a significantly worse starting crew when compared to Federation A, losing the Engi and Mantis and Rockman in favor of a Slug and Zoltan. While that's still a solid group, it's nowhere near as good.\n\nThe saving grace of the Federation B is the Artillery Beam, which returns once again and starts the game at level 2 instead of level 1. That means that it begins the game with a 40 second cooldown, assuming that the player invests two reactor power into the shorter cooldown. Unfortunately this is still too long to be practical in most battles, as the enemy ship will typically get off three volleys of their weapons before the Artillery Beam can fire. It can sometimes be a good strategy with the Federation B to ignore normal weapons and invest the 130 scrap needed (50+80) to drop the Artillery Beam's cooldown to the minimum of 20 seconds as soon as possible. At the very least, the player can save scrap and see if any weapons turn up, then invest his or her funds as needed. The Artillery Beam is not a panacea for all woes though, and I think that it gets overvalued a bit in the online community. Yes, the fact that it ignores shields is awesome, but the Artillery Beam can't be targeted in any way. The inability to deal targeted damage at key enemy systems is a major weakness, just as it is with the ions + drones setup. If you've read this far, by now you've probably realized the high value I place on targeted damage, and the far lower emphasis I give to the automated damage options that can't be controlled. Federation B does become a strong ship in the lategame, when the four weapons slots have been filled out and the Artillery Beam has been upgraded to the maximum level. Unfortunately its early game setup is significantly weaker than Federation A, and I listed the early game as the biggest shortcoming of that superior ship. Federation B is another ship where finding an early weapon to complement the Dual Lasers can make a massive difference. Land a Flak or Burst Laser to pair with the Dual Lasers, and you can ignore the pricey, uncontrollable Artillery Beam for a while and get off and running. That strong lategame will arrive... eventually.\n\nSlug A\n\nOverall Ranking: 16/28\n\nStrengths: Anti-Bio Beam\n\nWeaknesses: Subpar Starting Weapons, No Sensors\n\nSlug A is very much another average ship distinguished by the presence of the Anti-Bio Beam. We're now starting to reach the point on this list where the ships don't have much in the way of advantages, and they make this tier simply by avoiding the crippling penalties of the worst ships. Slug A is one of the few ships to start with three weapons: the familiar Dual Laser, an Anti-Bio Beam, and a Breach Bomb. There's only enough starting weapon power to run two of these weapons at a time, and in most cases that will be the Dual Laser and the Anti-Bio Beam. The beam weapon has only one use: killing enemy crew. The Anti-Bio Beam deals 60 HP of damage to any crewmember unfortunate enough to get hit with the thing. The beam itself must touch their little sprite graphic, it's not enough to hit the room in which they're standing. Two shots with the Anti-Bio Beam will kill everything other than Rockmen, and ideally the player can use it to get the bonus scrap reward for eliminating enemy crew without destroying their ship in the process. Unfortunately the Anti-Bio Beam doesn't work unless the shields on the other ship have been breached, and it tends to fare poorly against enemy Medbays and Cloning Bays. If the other guys can simply go heal between shots, or come back to life after death, it's not a very effective weapon. The beam is also completely useless against auto scouts, for the obvious reason that there's nothing alive on board. I've found the Anti-Bio Beam to be a nice little addition in the early game, when the opposing ships often don't have any way to heal their crew. Unfortunately, it's hard to justify locking up 2 weapon power and a weapon slot on the thing as the enemy ships begin to ramp up in difficulty. If by some chance you can get a second Anti-Bio Beam, however, you can start one-shotting the rebels with a double Anti-Bio Beam, and that's a terrifying scenario. I've never managed that combo myself, but I'd love to try it.\n\nOutside of the Anti-Bio Beam, there's little noteworthy about the Slug A. The Dual Laser is a common starting weapon on a half dozen other ships, and the Breach Bomb isn't anything all that special. It can be useful at times if there's a key system that has to be taken out, but standard lasers or flak would definitely be a better choice. The ship has standard levels in most of the other systems, although it lacks a Sensors system like all of the other Slug ships. The Slug innate racial bonus helps to compensate for this. There's only two of the slimy things on board to start the game, so expect to do some crew microing between the engine room and weapons room as appropriate. This design is very much an average one, right in the middle of the pack.\n\nMantis C\n\nOverall Ranking: 17/28\n\nStrengths: Four-Tile Teleporter\n\nWeaknesses: No Direct Damage, 3 Weapons Slots\n\nHere's the last of the boarding ships with the four-tile Teleporter, and the Mantis C is a far cry from the heights of the Crystal B and Mantis B. That Teleporter is the one thing that the Mantis C has going for it, because the rest of this design has rather slim pickings. Mantis C begins the game with a crew consisting of 1 Engi, 1 Mantis, and 1 Lanius. This eclectic bunch doesn't make for a particularly strong boarding party, with the Engi dealing very little damage and the Lanius quickly suffocating the other two. Mantis C is a ship that needs more crew to be truly effective. If you can find or hire a bunch of Mantises (or somehow get 3 more Lanius!) this becomes a very strong ship. The four-tile Teleporter scales very well into the lategame, and the player can make progress with little in the way of conventional weaponry. The early parts of a Mantis C run can be rough, however. This ship begins with no direct damage capabilities, carrying only a Stun Bomb and a Lockdown Bomb for weapons. The Stun Bomb will deal 1 ion damage and stun everyone inside the room it hits (including your crew!) for a lengthy 15 seconds. This bomb typically takes some good micromanagement to set up an effective shot, although stunning enemy crew in the same room with an oxygen-draining Lanius can work decently on its own merits. The Lockdown Bomb duplicates the innate ability of the secret Crystal race, which can be used to trap enemy crew or wall off portions of the enemy ship. You can lockdown the enemy Medbay, then teleport inside and destroy it before the rebels have a chance to repair the system. Again, these bombs have good synergy with a boarding party; the difficulty is getting through the early game while putting that boarding party together. Mantis C is also somewhat unique for having a Cloning Bay instead of a Medbay, which does some strange things to the invading gameplay. There's little reason to pull your people off of the enemy ship. Since you can't heal them, it's better to let them fight until they die, then revive them in the Cloning Bay. It's also more important to upgrade the Cloning Bay to the maximum level 3 than upgrade the Teleporter - why would you need a faster cooldown? You'll almost never need to pull your guys off the enemy ship! Better to upgrade the Cloning Bay and reduce the risk of a stray shot knocking it offline. Expect to see a lot of dying and reviving taking place in that thing.\n\nI've seen wildly varying opinions about the strength of the Mantis C. Some tier lists based around playing for high score have this thing near the very top, due to the extra scrap rewards that come from boarding. I've also seen more than one Reddit post claiming that this is the worst ship in the game, or at least in the bottom tier. I find myself somewhere in between those opinions, putting the Mantis C within the ranks of the average ships, albeit towards the lower end of that group. As difficult as it can be to get started with the Mantis C, that four-tile Teleporter does count for an awful lot. This is another one of the few ships that's more limited by available crew than by weaponry. I recommend hiring additional crew to take advantage of the Teleporter if scrap is available, especially if Mantises are for sale. Once you have six or seven people on board, Mantis C starts to take off and begin dominating the enemy. On the other hand, if you lose crew to a depowered Cloning Bay or bad luck with events, this ship rapidly becomes almost useless.\n\nMantis A\n\nOverall Ranking: 18/28\n\nStrengths: Teleporter, Strong Crew, Small Bomb\n\nWeaknesses: Weak Weapons, No Sensors, 3 Weapons Slots\n\nI've placed the Mantis A right next to the Mantis C on this list. I value these two ships very similarly, and struggled when deciding which one to put ahead of the other. Mantis A has a better early game with weaker scaling, while the Mantis C has a poor early game with good scaling. In the end, I went with the Mantis C by a hair because of the four-tile Teleporter; feel free to disagree. Anyway, Mantis A is another boarding ship based around use of the Teleporter. Mantis A has the opposite problem of Mantis C in this regard; Mantis C has the four-tile Teleporter and needs crew to use it, while Mantis A has an amazing starting crew with 3 Mantises and 1 Engi, but can't put them all to use because it's limited to the two-tile version of the Teleporter. It's a real shame these ships can't be combined together into one super Mantis cruiser! (Oh wait, that does exist: it's called Mantis B.) When developing Mantis A, the player will want to focus on upgrading the Teleporter to level 3 quickly (again, the opposite of Mantis C). Upgrading the Teleporter drops the cooldown time from 20 seconds to 15 seconds to 10 seconds. This has two benefits. First, it's possible to pull your attackers more quickly off the enemy ship in case of danger - there's no Cloning Bay here if someone dies. Secondly, with a faster Teleporter cooldown the player can send a second wave of invaders over to the enemy ship after 10 seconds of melee combat. Since this ship begins with 3 Mantises, you'll want to get that third Mantis over to help the other two as quickly as possible. Complementing the boarders is the presence of a Small Bomb on the Mantis A, a far better weapon than the Stun and Lockdown Bombs on the Mantis C. The Small Bomb deals 2 system damage and only costs 1 weapon power, making it the perfect boarding accessory to eliminate those annoying Medbays and Cloning Bays. You can also use it to target enemy weapons or shields or piloting too. Along with the Ion Bomb and Heavy Laser, the Small Bomb is one of my favorite 1 power additions for the final weapon slot at the end of runs. With all those Mantis crewmembers and the Small Bomb, the Mantis A is set up about as well as possible for a boarding ship that lacks a four-tile Teleporter.\n\nNow the drawbacks for this ship: Mantis A is complete garbage at pretty much everything other than using the Teleporter. It begins the game with almost no direct damage capabilities, just a single Basic Laser on the hull. That's not a Dual Laser, that's a Basic Laser. One shot at a time. Against any enemy ship with shields - which is nearly all of them - the Dual Laser is useless. The player must break the shields via boarding or Small Bomb usage before the Basic Laser can do anything. The Mantis A also begins the game with a \"weak\" level 1 weapon system, requiring a one-time payment of 40 scrap to upgrade to level 2. This means that the Mantis A cannot use both the Basic Laser and the Small Bomb at the same time until upgrading the weapons. It's one or the other, since they both cost 1 weapon power. This is another reason why I suggest upgrading the Teleporter first to level 2, so that the ship has a way of dealing with auto scouts via boarding. Like all Mantis ships, the Mantis A also has only three weapon slots, and that's a major problem in the lategame when you'd like to carry the Small Bomb in one of those slots. If you do choose to carry it for assistance in boarding, then you can only use two other weapons for ship against ship combat. That makes for some difficult decisions in the endgame. Overall then, Mantis A is a fairly mediocre ship which is heavily reliant on its Teleporter to make any headway. Mantis A and Mantis C are like bizarro reverse images of one another with similar gameplay. I put both of them down towards the bottom of the \"average\" tier, but if you are someone who enjoys the boarding style, these might be higher on your personal list.\n\nRock C\n\nOverall Ranking: 19/28\n\nStrengths: Crystal Crewmember\n\nWeaknesses: Subpar Starting Weapons\n\nThis is the first of the three Rock designs to appear. Due to their heavy reliance on missiles, I don't value any of them particularly highly when compared to the rest of the field. Rock C has the odd starting weapon pairing of a Heavy Crystal and Swarm Missiles. These two have very little synergy, even if they are both relatively solid individually. The Heavy Crystal is the same unorthodox starting weapon found on the Crystal A, essentially a Heavy Laser (one shot that deals two damage) which has a longer cooldown and pierces one shield layer. It works great so long as the enemy ships have only a single shield bubble, and then needs help from other projectiles after that. The Swarm Missile is probably the best missile weapon in the game, basically a \"Charge Missile\" which can fire up to three missiles at once (still at the cost of only one ammunition) if the player waits the full 21 seconds. This gets around the biggest problem of missile weapons in FTL, the fact that they require a limited resource quantity to be used. That said, with the prevalence of enemy defensive drones and the long chargeup time required to get the full effect, the Swarm Missile still isn't a practical weapon for Hard difficulty. You would need to keep buying missiles at stores to use the thing for a full run, and the scrap for that simply isn't available. The Swarm Missile will most likely be a useful early game damage complement, and then get replaced as soon as something better turns up.\n\nAnyway, this weird weapon setup is the main reason why the Rock C doesn't grade out higher in my list. The ship does have two other advantages going for it. One is the presence of a Crystal crewmember; this is the only non-Crystal ship in the game to start with one of these guys. Their innate Lockdown racial ability makes them great for boarding operations, and Rockmen are good partners to pair with them. Of course, Rock C doesn't begin with a Teleporter system, and even if the player does purchase one, it will only be the standard two-tile version. For a second advantage, like all Rock ships this one begins with the Rock Plating augment, a useful one that has 15% odds to block hull damage from taking place (systems will still be damaged). Helpful as this may be, the thing also sells for 40 scrap at a store, and that's how I typically put it to best use. The net overall package of this ship grades out squarely as average for me, tilting towards the bottom end of the middle group. While the Rock C lacks any crippling disadvantages, there's relatively little on the positive side of the ledger either, and any ship that has to rely on missile weapons has a tough patch to hoe.\n\nRock B\n\nOverall Ranking: 20/28\n\nStrengths: Strong Crew, Fire Bomb + Teleporter Boarding\n\nWeaknesses: No Teleporter, No Doors, No Outside Vents\n\nRock B is the last ship that just barely cracks the average tier on my list. I debated whether to keep this here or drop it down a tier to the below average group, ultimately keeping it next to its C design sibling. I certainly wouldn't fault someone for putting this ship in the next tier down. Rock B is certainly one of the stranger ships in FTL. The big advantage of this ship is a setup that's clearly designed for boarding gameplay. It starts out with an excellent beginning crew of four Rockmen along with a nasty Fire Bomb weapon. None of the other ships in the game get to start out with that particular flammable item. The Rockmen's racial bonus is an immunity to fire, so the clear intention of the Rock B is to teleport two of them over to the enemy ship and then Fire Bomb whatever room they happen to be fighting inside. The weak non-mineral life forms will horribly burn to death while the rocks smash their way to victory. For conventional weaponry, the Rock B also starts out with a Heavy Pierce Laser, which is almost identical to a normal Heavy Laser (one shot that deals two damage) with the ability to pierce through one shield layer in exchange for a slightly longer cooldown. It's almost a carbon copy of the Heavy Crystal weapon, for that matter. Since the Heavy Pierce Laser also has a chance to breach the hull and set fires, it makes for a nice complement for raiding the other ship. Tack on the Rock Plating augment again, and there's some nice stuff to play around with on this ship.\n\nUnfortunately, Rock B also has major weaknesses to counterbalance these advantages. Here's the most glaring one: Rock B does not start the game with a Teleporter system! Yes, this ship that seems custom made to be used in boarding operations doesn't begin with the system needed to carry them out. Rock B was quite a bit better in the pre-expansion days of FTL, when boarding enemy ships carried a much higher scrap reward bonus. (I believe it was originally 50% higher scrap; now it's more like 15% higher reward.) The Advanced Edition also added more total systems in the form of Hacking, Mind Control, the Backup Battery, etc. making it less likely that stores will even carry the Teleporter for sale. These changes add up to some serious nerfs to the power level of the Rock B. This ship also uniquely lacks Door controls - the doors are not level 1, the ship simply doesn't have them at all! You need to purchase them for 60 scrap at a store, and then spend another 35 scrap to take them to level 2, if you want to control the movement of enemies on your ship. Adding on to this oddity, Rock B is the only ship that lacks any outside hatches to vent the ship of oxygen. This makes it that much more difficult to deal with rebel marines or put out fires by draining rooms of air. Fortunately the ship has a starting crew of four Rockmen who aren't affected by fire and tend to be good in melee combat, but this is still a pretty serious disadvantage. Those rocks are awfully slow moving if there's a system that has to be repaired immediately. This ship does start out with level 2 Oxygen for some reason, so I guess it's a good one to take into the Slug Nebulas (?) Overall, this is a memorable and unique ship, if not a particularly strong one. A boarding ship that may never be able to board anyone makes for a bit of a sad puppy.\n\nTier 4\n\nThis is the group of ships that I consider to be below average. We're starting to hit ships here that have major weaknesses and serious disadvantages. These are the kind of ships that need good luck in random drops or a series of upgrades just to hit the same power point where many of the other ships begin the game. On that note, let me add a quick word here about how tier lists operate in general, since this so often seems to be misunderstood online. The fact that these ships are below average doesn't mean that it's impossible to win with them. Every ship in FTL can become strong eventually with the right weapons and upgrades, just as every civilization can become powerful in the Civ games, and every champion can dominate in League of Legends with enough gold. The purpose of a tier list is not to discuss what could potentially happen, but rather to evaluate relative strength in a vacuum. It's pointless to write that Slug B \"isn't really that bad\" or whatever, because compared to the higher tier boarding ships, it's unquestionably a weaker setup. If Slug B becomes a decent ship after purchasing a Medbay, then how much better off would another ship be that *DIDN'T* have to waste 50 scrap that way? In other words, all of these ships can be good with the right upgrades. But they'll never be as good as ships that start out from a stronger position in the first place.\n\nKestrel C\n\nOverall Ranking: 21/28\n\nStrengths: Decent Starting Weapons\n\nWeaknesses: No Systems or Augments, Lowest Total Scrap Value of Design\n\nThis was another ship where I debated the placement between the very bottom of the average tier or the top of the below average tier. Ultimately I slotted the Kestrel C here due to its lack of discernable advantages. At least the Mantis and Rock ships have some kind of unique positives to distinguish them; this ship has fewer weaknesses, but almost nothing in the way of strengths. I suppose the biggest advantage of the Kestrel C comes in the form of the starting weapons, the combination of the Dual Laser and the Ion Stunner. At the start of the game, a successful hit from the Ion Stunner will remove a shield bubble and allow the Dual Lasers to get in two shots for free. Unfortunately this is still a pretty mediocre weapon setup, and nothing particularly special to write home about. Strictly average. Unlike the other ships placed above the Kestrel C on this tier list, the ship gets basically nothing to compensate for these weapons. Kestrel C has no extra systems and no augments. In comparison to the other two Kestrel designs, which compensate for the lack of extra goodies by having awesome weapons, the Kestrel C has... level 2 Scanners? Ummm, thanks? Kestrel C also starts with level 2 weapons, lower than the other two Kestrel designs, and only 7 power in the reactor instead of 8 power. The initial crew has 2 Humans and 1 Lanius, which is again decent but hardly spectacular. Kestrel C furthermore has the unique distinction of being the ship with the lowest total scrap value in FTL (when counting up the in-game value of everything). I generally don't pay too much attention to this, since the scrap ranking tends to overvalue ships with a lot of systems and augments (I think Engi A has the highest scrap value in the game or something like that). However, the rock bottom ranking of the Kestrel C certainly doesn't do it any favors either, and suggests that this is a low-tier ship.\n\nAbout the best thing that can be said for the Kestrel C is that it doesn't have any crippling disadvantages. There's no key system missing here, or a dreadful weapons situation that has to be rectified. Still, if the best praise for a ship is that it's thoroughly mediocre, that's likely a sign that it belongs in the below average group.\n\nStealth C\n\nOverall Ranking: 22/28\n\nStrengths: Strong Weapons, Shield+ Drone, Long Range Scanners\n\nWeaknesses: No Shields, No Cloaking, 3 Weapons Slots\n\nThis is probably another one of my more controversial ship rankings. \"Are you actually suggesting that there are six ships worse than the Stealth C?!\" Yes - hear me out on this one! It's true that the Stealth C has some absolutely punishing disadvantages. There are no starting shields on this design and they must be purchased at a store, like all of the Stealth ships. Unlike the rest of its breathren, the Stealth C also has no Cloaking unit either. The combination of no shields and no cloaking certainly suggests that this ship will meet a rapid untimely demise. In their place, the Stealth C begins with a Drone Control system with a Shield+ Drone unit, identical to the normal Shield Drone except that it only costs two reactor power instead of three. The Shield Drone will create a supershield barrier (identical to a Zoltan Shield) every 8 seconds, and keep stacking them if left uninterrupted to a maximum of five bars. These will block all sources of damage from hitting the ship, whether that comes from lasers or beams or missiles or whatever. I think the Shield Drones are pretty solid overall, largely limited in practice by their heavy power consumption and limited availability of drone parts. For the Stealth C, you need to rely on the starting Shield Drone until finding some kind of defensive system at a store. The ship also begins with an Antidrone, which is absolutely necessary to survive against enemy drones. The first upgrade on the Stealth C should always be to the Drone Control system, taking it to level 3 so that the player can run the Shield Drone and the Antidrone at the same time. (It also damage buffers the Shield Drone against taking a point of system damage - very helpful!) While this setup is tricky to use and has a very high skillcap to pull off, it functions better than you'd expect in practice. So long as the Stealth C can stay out of asteroid fields (which it can, starting with Long Range Scanners) the early game ships aren't much worse than normal. The Shield Drone should always be able to get the first point of shielding in place before the first enemy attack, and this thing does a better job of defending against missiles than normal shields. I don't mean to oversell this whole setup, however, because the Stealth C can still run afoul of all sorts of trouble in the early game from events and an unlucky shot hitting the wrong part of the ship. But it's not as suicidal as the design appears at first glance.\n\nTo compensate for the lack of defenses, the Stealth C has excellent starting weaponry. This ship begins with a very similar setup to the Stealth A, with a Minibeam combined with the Charge Laser+. The Minibeam is one of the underappreciated weapons in FTL, only costing one weapon power and normally able to hit 3 rooms on the enemy ship for one damage apiece. Don't be fooled by the tiny length of that little beam though! The Minibeam has the advantage of a fast cooldown time (12 seconds) and the ability to set fires while dealing damage. The quick firing rate and the ability to burn the enemy hull make for an excellent (if early game focused) weapon. Stealth C also gets the unique Charge Laser+, essentially identical to the normal two-shot Charge Laser but with a cooldown of 5.5 seconds per shot instead of 6 seconds. This timing lines up beautifully with the Minibeam, and the Laser Charger+ only costs 1 weapon power instead of 2 power. Combined together, these weapons tear right through early game enemy ships. Add Long Range Scanners (the best non-Zoltan Shield augment in the game), and the deal gets even sweeter. This is the sole reason why I have the Stealth C ranked here and not lower: for all of its massive defensive weaknesses, this ship can compensate for them by winning battles quickly with strong weapons. My experience with FTL has taught me that reliable offensive is the most important thing to have in winning the game. All of the ships ranked below the Stealth C struggle mightily to deal damage. I can't put this ship any higher because, well, no shields and no cloaking, but it is not the worst ship in the game by any means. Stealth C is a fun ship to use if you can pull it off successfully.\n\nStealth B\n\nOverall Ranking: 23/28\n\nStrengths: Cloaking, Glaive Beam, Long Range Scanners\n\nWeaknesses: No Shields, High RNG Factor, 3 Weapons Slots\n\nThe Stealth B is a ship that tends to have highly binary outcomes. Either the ship gets out in front of the Curve and easily crushes all opposition, or it runs afoul of bad decisions / poor luck and dies almost immediately. This is a ship where the random aspects of FTL are often shoved directly to the forefront. Anyway, Stealth B is a design with sharp strengths and weaknesses. No blandness here, the ship either does something very well or not at all. Stealth B starts the game with a Cloaking system, and one upgraded to level 2 for 10 seconds of cloaking time. This system is designed to pair with the only starting weapon on the Stealth B, the mighty Glaive Beam. This weapon has the slowest chargeup time in the game at a massive 25 seconds, ensuring that virtually anything else will get to fire first. The payoff for waiting is the game's highest damaging beam weapon, as the Glaive Beam deals 3 damage per room against unshielded targets and pierces through minimal shielding, dealing 2 damage against a single shield bubble and 1 damage against a pair of them. When facing the early game ships with their single layer of shielding, one Glaive Beam shot means an instant KO. In fact, this is part of the problem; the Glaive Beam is simply overkill for most situations. The Halberd Beam would be much more practical here. If the player can avoid running afoul of the shaky early game of the Stealth B, the combination of Cloaking and the Glaive Beam makes for a frightening lategame setup. This is also the single best ship in the game to land a Preigniter augment, so snap that up in a heartbeat if you can afford it.\n\nThe lack of any kind of shielding is again the biggest weakness of the Stealth B. Here things are even worse than the Stealth A and Stealth C, however. Both of those ships have low cooldown fast-charging weapons, so that if they have their weapons room damaged it's not a particularly huge deal to repair and fire again. The Glaive Beam on the Stealth B has the exact opposite of this, with its ridiculously slow chargeup time, and if the Stealth B's weapons get hit before the thing can fire... well, disaster is the word that comes to mind. It's very possible to charge up for 20 seconds, take a random laser or missile hit, repair for 10 seconds, then charge for another 25 seconds before the darn thing fires. Cloaking can't save the player for anywhere near that amount of time. To work around this weakness, the first upgrade on the Stealth B should be taking Cloaking to level 3 for the maximum 15 seconds of invisibility. Cloak immediately at the start of battle and the enemy ship will only have 10 seconds to charge their own weapons before the Glaive Beam fires. This works well enough against the average ship, but leaves the Stealth B in serious danger against drones. The only real tactic is to pause the game just before a drone fires and look to see what room it happens to be targeting; use Cloaking if the thing is going after weapons or cloaking or something else equally important. Low power battles or other environmental hazards can be similarly horrendous. At least the Stealth B does have Long Range Scanners to pilot around them. Nevertheless, the fact remains that this is a highly luck-dependent ship. You can mitigate the random factors somewhat, but never get rid of them completely. The Stealth B rides on the razor's edge throughout the early game. If you can survive long enough to get shields from a store and power ahead with additional weapons, you're normally set for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, far too many runs fail to reach that point and get torn apart while waiting around endlessly for the Glaive Beam to fire. I don't particularly like the Glaive Beam as a weapon, and I don't care very much for the gameplay of the Stealth B. Even for a procedurally-generated game like FTL, this one's a bit too random for my tastes.\n\nRock A\n\nOverall Ranking: 24/28\n\nStrengths: Rock Plating Augment, Not Defensively Crippled\n\nWeaknesses: Only Missile Weapons\n\nDo you like missiles? Have we got a ship in store for you! Rock A is the only ship in the game to sport an all-missile weapons setup. The ship begins with the same Artemis Missile from the Kestrel A (one shot that deals 2 damage on a short cooldown) along with a slower-charging Hull Missile. The latter weapon will deal 2 damage normally, with a chance to set fires / breach the hull, and 4 damage against a systemless room. It's the missile equivalent of the Hull Laser, in other words. Missiles are handy weapons to have for extra damage, with their ability to ignore shields completely and take out key systems on the enemy ship. Unfortunately for the Rock A, neither of these missile types are the ammunition-conserving Swarm Missile, nor does this ship begin with an Explosive Replicator augment. The 28 starting missiles that this ship gets are nowhere near enough to last for long. Even if the player uses nothing but Hull Missiles, it will still require at least three of them per encounter, and that's assuming that none of them miss. The rate of missile usage is simply not sustainable, and on Hard difficulty you can't afford to waste scrap purchasing more ammunition at stores. Missile weapons just aren't very good in FTL. They're handy for a little extra damage in a tight spot, but it's almost impossible to use them as your main damage source. A ship that starts with missiles and missiles alone is a terribly weak ship. (Well, not for the first few beacons, but after about ten fights you're completely out of shots and then you're pretty boned.)\n\nThe rest of the Rock A is fairly standard, without any major strengths or weaknesses. The Rock Playing augment returns again, which can be useful for preventing the odd point of damage, or (more likely) sold for 40 scrap at the first store. Shields, engines, weapons, crew, etc. are all completely normal. The fact that Rock A lacks any crippling weaknesses in the rest of its setup is the main reason why it doesn't get ranked any lower on this tier list. But those missles are a glaring fault in the design, and they must be addressed as soon as possible. Your best hope with Rock A is to hit a store before the end of the first sector, tear out the starting weapons, and replace them with something more practical. The Artemis + Hull Missile + Rock Plating combination will sell for a total of 101 scrap, so there's money there to get another weapon layout. That's the rub, of course: this ship is at the mercy of the RNG in finding a store that has something decent to sell, or alternately getting a replacement weapon to drop in battle. You can play the game perfectly, fail to turn up any replacement weapons due to poor random luck, then run out of missiles and wind up dying through no fault of your own. Not much fun. Rock A is therefore very much a low-tier ship that avoids the bottom of the barrel by virtue of becoming decent once the starting weapons are completely replaced.\n\nSlug B\n\nOverall Ranking: 25/28\n\nStrengths: Teleporter\n\nWeaknesses: No Medbay, No Sensors, Poor Weapons\n\nThis ship is right on the border between Tier 4 and Tier 5. I don't think it's quite as bad as my bottom three ships, but this one certainly isn't very good. The Slug B is another ship that relies on a Teleporter for most of its offense, boarding over to the enemy ship and killing the crew for the bonus scrap payout. Unlike the top boarding ships, however, this one has a long list of problems from the very outset. For starters, Slug B has the default two-tile Teleporter, which means no awesome lategame scaling for this ship. Secondly, there are no Mantis or Lanius or Crystal boarders here to cut through the enemies quickly. Instead you'll be making due with Slugs, who have no particular advantages or disadvantages in melee combat. They are identical to Humans except that they don't level up from experience quite as fast, and they can't be Mind Controlled. Slugs have the passive racial ability to see enemy crew as well, but this is largely canceled out by the lack of Sensors on this ship. (None of the Slug ships start with Sensors. I guess the slimy aliens don't think they need them.) Without some kind of bonus to melee combat, defeating the enemy crew is significantly harder. And it's not like Slug B has a Cloning Bay in case of error either; if your Slugs would die in boarding operations, they don't come back to life. Worse yet, the ship doesn't have a Medbay either! This is the only ship in the game without one of the two systems. If boarding without a Medbay or Cloning Bay sounds impossible, well, you're not that far off the mark.\n\nThe Slug B is supposed to work around this by using the Healing Burst item. This is a bomb that will heal any of your crewmembers in the room where it goes off. It functions like a normal bomb, which means that it costs missile ammunition to use and it's not guaranteed to hit the target. An unlucky dice roll when your Slug attackers are about to die could spell disaster - upgrade the Teleporter to level 2 right away for the faster cooldown! The other starting weapon is an Artemis missile, which again is one of the better missile weapons in the game. However, using the Artemis means consuming more precious ammunition that could have been used on Healing Bursts instead. Either way, this is a pretty bad setup. The player needs to get a Medbay or Cloning Bay quickly to remove the dependence on those silly healing bombs, and the player also needs to improve the ship's weapons ASAP as well. Don't think that using a little two-tile Teleporter with a pair of Slugs is going to impress much of anyone in the lategame. This ship has major problems, and the hole that the player is being asked to climb out of is deep indeed. Like all of the weak ships, your best hope is getting a strong weapon to drop at random. Building this ship up from scratch without a lucky find will require expert piloting and very good micromanagement of boarding combat.\n\nTier 5\n\nThese are the absolute worst ships in the game. Winning with them requires a herculean effort to overcome the massive flaws in their designs. I regard these three ships as being a step lower than even the crummy ships in Tier 4. The ships in that group are either underwhelming (Kestrel C) or generally get some kind of modest advantage to compensate for their serious weaknesses (Stealth B). The poor vessels in Tier 5 simply have horrendous, crippling disadvantages with little in the way of positives. You're asking for serious trouble when taking any of these ships out for a spin.\n\nEngi B\n\nOverall Ranking: 26/28\n\nStrengths: Drone Control System, Lots of Junk to Sell\n\nWeaknesses: Only One Crew, Poor Weapons, No Sensors, 3 Weapons Slots\n\nOh man, not this ship again. Engi B is a notoriously bad ship in FTL, and since it unlocks so easily it's often a rude awakening for new players when they test out the funky-colored alternative to the Engi A. This ship has the infamous disadvantage of starting with only a single Engi for crew. Every other ship starts with at least two crewmembers, and in fact nearly all of them have three or more. (Mantis B and Slug A are the only ships that have a starting duo of crew.) The lack of other sentient beings on board is a major drawback, and not only due to the obvious issue of dealing with enemy boarders. Crew provide passive bonuses for manning systems in FTL: 5-10% evade for engines and piloting, 10-20% faster cooldown for weapons, 10-30% faster recharge for shields, and a free additional system level for doors and sensors. Engi B's lack of anything other than a pilot causes the player to miss all of these extra benefits that the other ships get by default. You're basically playing the game with one fewer engine level and with a negative Auto Reloader augment! This is compounded by the fact that Engi B also starts out with level 1 engines, which means a pitiful 10% evade rate. And that's only with the initial Engi sitting in the piloting room; the rate drops to 0% if the Engi has to leave the room to fight off attackers or repair some critical system. Have fun with that... What's that you say? Level 2 piloting? No, the ship doesn't have that. Level 2 doors? No, the ship doesn't have that either. Engi B lacks Sensors too - you can't even see the inside of your own ship! Seriously, this design is a total piece of junk.\n\nTo make up for the lack of starting crew, the Engi B begins the game with a Drone Control system and three drones. It's the only ship that starts with three drones, the maximum that can be run at once. Sadly these are not particularly useful drones; Engi B gets an Antipersonnel Drone and two System Repair Drones. At best, these things will fight off attackers and repair systems which would have been handled normally by the missing crew. At worst, these drones - which you cannot control directly - will run around to the unimportant parts of the ship, fighting the wrong invaders and repairing the wrong systems. I've seen the System Repair drones ignore damaged weapons and shields to go fix the Oxygen controls, for example. About the best thing that can be said about these drones is that they sell for decent scrap at stores. Replace them with living, breathing crewmembers at the first available opportunity.\n\nIn addition to the lack of crew and the terrible evade rate, the Engi B also has a thoroughly awful starting weapon setup. The ship begins with two weapons: a Heavy Laser and a Heavy Ion. The Heavy Laser is a nice weapon that deals 2 damage for 1 weapon power and has a chance to set fires and breach the hull. However, it only fires a single shot and generally is more of a complementary weapon than a main damage dealer. Some other weapon should be the one getting past enemy shields, followed by the Heavy Laser adding on major damage from there. On the Engi B, the Heavy Laser is the only source of direct damage, where it is not at its best. The weapon is paired with the Heavy Ion, one of the worst weapons in the game, which fires a two damage ion shot for the cost of 2 weapon power. Remember, ion weapons can only ionize enemy systems, not damage them directly. Even in a best case scenario, the Heavy Ion can only knock out a single enemy shield bubble, making it not worth its relatively slow chargeup time and power cost. The crippling problem for the Engi B is that both of these shots have to hit the target to deal any damage, at least against normal opponents with shields. If the Heavy Ion misses then the enemy shield layer remains up and the Heavy Laser cannot deal damage. If the Heavy Laser misses, well, it's the only weapon that deals direct damage. Since the Heavy Ion has that 13 second chargeup time (plus there's no one aboard to man the weapons system for a faster cooldown, making it effectively more like the cooldown for a normal 15 second weapon), enemy ships will nearly always fire before the Engi B. If either of your shots misses, or if an enemy shot would hit your weapon system, you're in all kinds of trouble. Remember, the starting evade rate is only 10% on the Engi B. Expect to see your weapons get hit a lot by missiles and even normal lasers. This is a frustratingly random ship to play, where the player can miss some early shots and die through no fault of their own. Engi B has a desperate need for better weapons, better defenses, and more crew, all at the same time.\n\nI rate this ship slightly higher than the final two on the list because the starting hole is more surmountable with some good luck. The Heavy Laser does give the player one solid tool to work with; replace the awful Heavy Ion with a laser or flak weapon, and the Engi B suddenly becomes respectable. This still makes it a bad ship, of course - putting a Flak I on the Engi B makes it decent while putting a Flak I on the Kestrel A makes it amazing - but it's not quite as crippled as our remaining subjects. Biggest advantage of the Engi B: you can sell a bunch of the starting trash for decent scrap. That's a good sign that we're down in the lowest tier of the list.\n\nFederation C\n\nOverall Ranking: 27/28\n\nStrengths: Flak Artillery Beam, Teleporter\n\nWeaknesses: No Weapons, Weak Weapons\n\nFederation C is the worst boarding ship in FTL. I had a devil of a time winning with this ship, taking seven tries on stream before pulling it off, and I still find this to be an incredibly frustrating setup. For starters, the Federation C shares the same lack of starting weapons as the Crystal B and the Mantis B. There's nothing in the cargo hold to fire at enemies when beginning a new voyage, and you must use the Teleporter to invade the rebel ships. Unlike Mantis B and Crystal B, which compensate for their lack of direct weapons by having amazing defenses and a four-tile Teleporter and excellent boarding crews, the Federation C has few advantages indeed. This ship only has the standard two-tile Teleporter, which means no opportunity to leverage the four starting humanoids on board. Federation C begins with a Human, a Mantis, and two Zoltans for the crew. The gimmick is that the player is supposed to teleport the Zoltans over to the enemy ship and then have them explode to deal damage as they die (Federation C has a Cloning Bay like all of the other C designs). I've found that this doesn't really work in practice, however. Even with their death explosions, the Zoltans don't deal enough melee damage to make up for their low health totals. I've had better luck using the Human + Mantis pair for fighting, which will generally win the 2 vs 2 fight against most enemies. They still wind up dying much of the time though. Since your crew keeps dying and coming back to life repeatedly, they never pick up enough combat experience to level up their melee skills either. In fact, with no Medbay you normally have to intentionally kill off your boarders at the end of every battle for the health refill in the Cloning Bay. Going into battle with half health on the crew is an invitation for disaster. (Better hope as well that your Cloning Bay doesn't get hit on the many occasions that someone's reviving in there, since that can also end runs in a real hurry.) It's a tough, short life for the poor saps manning this ship.\n\nNow this might not sound that bad, and it isn't against the default enemy ships. You can keep throwing replaceable clones against the enemies with your Teleporter until they all run out of health. The problem comes when the rebel ships start showing up with Medbays and Cloning Bays, which happens very fast indeed on Hard difficulty. How do you stop the enemy crew from simply walking away and healing when they get low? Crystal B has the Crystal crew with their lockdown ability. Lanius B has Mind Control and Advanced Flak. Mantis B has the four-tile Teleporter and deadly Mantis crew. Mantis C has the Stun Bomb and Lockdown Bomb. Mantis A has the Small Bomb. Even Slug B gets the Artemis Missile for targeted damage. Federation C has nothing. (Well, it has the Flak Artillery, but we'll get to that in a second.) This is a boarding ship with a fairly average group of melee combatants, just the one Mantis outputting real damage, and absolutely nothing to assist the attackers. This is the point where I should mention that boarding gameplay with the Teleporter tends to be fairly slow, requiring either outstanding weapons to shoot out the enemy guns (Lanius B) or impenetrable defenses to avoid taking damage while the invaders slowly get their crew kills (Mantis B). Federation C again has neither of these options. Most battles consist of the ship getting pounded by lasers and missiles while the boarders slowly try to kill the enemy crew while hoping they don't heal. Somehow. It's like that old Internet meme:\n\nFederation C Strategy\n\nStep 1: Board the enemy ship\n\nStep 2: Remove enemy healing with no weapons\n\nStep 3: ????\n\nStep 4: PROFIT!!!\n\nThe one other distinguishing feature of this ship is the Flak Artillery, Federation C's version of the Artillery Beam unique to this class of ships. Like the normal Artillery Beam, this weapon occupies one of the system slots and has a very slow chargeup time depending on the level. It's 50 seconds at level 1 and drops by 10 seconds with each additional level, down to 20 seconds at level 4. The upgrades are not cheap (30+50+80 scrap) and they also require more reactor power for the faster charge. Unlike the other Federation ships, Federation C fires Flak Artillery when fully charged instead of a beam weapon. This is essentially a Flak II weapon, shooting out 7 small flak projectiles at the enemy ship. They are not guaranteed to hit and they can't be aimed any more than the normal Artillery Beam can. In other words, you're essentially paying 160 scrap for a lousier version of the Flak II that costs more reactor power and can't be aimed. Ummm, thanks? I don't "}
-{"text": "Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -1.78% reported record holiday-quarter earnings and revenue Thursday, but shares bounced between slight gains and losses as the company's outlook for the current quarter came in below expectations. The online retailer reported net income of $3 billion, or $6.04 a share, on revenue of $72.4 billion. That is up from profit of $3.75 a share on sales of $60.5 billion in the holiday-shopping season of 2017, and better than analysts expected. On average, analysts expected earnings of $5.65 a share on revenue of $71.88 billion, according to FactSet. Amazon predicted first-quarter net sales of $56 billion to $60 billion, which is lower than analysts expected. Analysts on average expected first-quarter revenue of $60.83 billion ahead of the report, according to FactSet. Amazon predicted sales of $66.5 billion to $72.5 billion for the fourth quarter, then came in at the very top of that range. Amazon shares gained less than 1% in immediate after-hours trading following the report, but soon after fell to a loss of about 1%. Amazon's stock has gained 17.8% in the past year, as the S&P 500 index SPX, -1.11% has declined 5.1%, ahead of Thursday's session, when Amazon closed 2.9% higher at $1,718.73."}
-{"text": "Probably the most evil and hostile atmosphere a Quake release ever had. This episode is built upon Quoth code and monsters. It comes with \"dark ambient\" music which adds to the feeling. The levels are huge, and the number of monsters in each one is extreme. An essential release, but clearly not for everyone.This episode requires Quoth and an engine port with raised limits. A modified version of GLQuake is included."}
-{"text": "Have you ever pondered how to be a successful test automation developer? Yes, you might have as it\u2019s one of a common thought that tickles the mind of every QA engineer and automation tester.\n\nSince test automation is a technical job, so merely being good at concepts or theory isn\u2019t going to be enough. You need to excel in specific technical skills depending on your work domain.\n\nJust becoming a talking parrot won\u2019t take you too far in your career. Instead, quoting boneless and unverified claims would lead to loss of trust between you and your peers.\n\nSo the first lesson is to find what tools/technologies to learn, how to practice, then apply and share at work.\n\nIn this short article, we tried to cover points that you can start to work with immediate effect. Our objective is to give you a clear direction instead of chanting around with a few magical words.\n\nPlease follow the below TOC to navigate through the list of ideas to be a successful test automation developer.\n\nTable of Content.\n\n1. Programming Language for Automation.\n\n2. Master an Automation Tool.\n\n3. Adopt the Right Testing Methodology.\n\n4. Select a CI Tool.\n\n5. Performance and Scalability.\n\n6. Innovate and Improve.\n\n7. Be a Good Estimator.\n\nWe request to read each point carefully, understand and apply to realize the real benefits.\n\nSeven Steps A Successful Test Automation Developer Should Follow.\n\n1. Programming Language for Automation.\n\nFind a programming language close to your domain and learn.\n\nIt\u2019s always a best practice to hook on to the programming language that belongs to the domain or the product you use. Though, it\u2019s not a difficult decision yet critical from the test automation perspective.\n\nHere, we have to make the domain classification based on the technology level, not on the type of the industry (e.g. e-commerce or healthcare) or the kind of users (e.g. enterprise or standalone) going to consume the product.\n\nPlease check out a few scenarios given below.\n\nScenario-1.\n\nIf you work to test web based products, then you might like to excel in one of the following programming languages.\n\nPick either Java or Python. If the product supports multiple platforms including Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X, then you should learn either of Java or Python.\n\nYou can further drill down the selection. Choose Java if the product has both the UI and API interfaces. As Java has the capability to handle both. You can extend its abilities by incorporating test frameworks like TestNG , JUnit, and JBehave for BDD. Prefer Python, if the product is primarily UI based. It has many other advantages like easy integration with BDD test automation tools like Cucumber. Python comes with built-in test frameworks like the Unittest, PyTest, and slash.\n\nC-sharp can also come handy if the product is only going to support the Windows platform.\n\nMoreover, it\u2019s easier to learn Python than Java.\n\nScenario-2.\n\nIf your product for testing is a desktop based solution, a backend service or a daemon silently serving thousands of clients, then read the below suggestions.\n\nFor desktop application on Windows platform, you may need to learn C/C++/C#. You can discuss with the developers of the product to classify the selection further. Sometimes, scripting languages like VB or Javascript could also be useful when using them with tools like QTP and Squish.\n\nGUI Applications on Linux and OS X platforms, learn either Javascript or Python. Squish is the tool that supports both these languages and runs on both Linux and Mac OS X.\n\nFor back-end services or daemon, you require to learn combinations of programming and scripting language. Windows \u2013 Need to learn C/C++ with batch scripting. Linux or Mac OS X \u2013 Learn C/C++ and shell scripting.\n\n\n\nPlease note that the scope of learning a programming language could be little wider for a programmer. But a test automation developer can limit his efforts to learn the core part.\n\nFor example, while learning Java, you may not need to learn concepts like J2EE and JSP. And you won\u2019t need to learn about device driver programming in C/C++. But you should know the advanced concepts like socket programming and inter-process communication (IPC).\n\nTOC\n\n2. Master an Automation Tool.\n\nMaster an automation tool that can fit in your project.\n\nSimultaneously working on a programming language, you must wisely choose a test automation tool that can give a real shape to your test automation plans.\n\nOn top of the test automation tool, you can create a wrapper layer and customize it to meet the actual automation needs for your product.\n\nSo having a tool that allows customization is what anyone would like to choose. Other parameters that you should look for are multiplatform support, parallelization, reporting and cross-browser capabilities.\n\nCheck out a few other facts that are worth considering.\n\nFacts to consider while choosing an automation tool.\n\nLearning curve should not last more than two weeks.\n\nIt should provide out of the box CI support which is important to scale automation.\n\nOnly choose a tool which is in active development. Otherwise, you\u2019ll end up criticizing the own decision.\n\nIn the case of an open source tool, make sure it has support from the community which you can look up for queries.\n\nAnswering a few more questions could be useful. Though, it\u2019s not mandatory to have all these features.\n\nQuestions you should know while selecting an automation tool.\n\nDoes it allow working multiple engineers together?\n\nCan it be integrated with Bug tracking system like JIRA?\n\nIs it possible to integrate it with source code control tools like Git or SVN?\n\nDoes it provide an IDE to manage test cases?\n\nWe ourselves have worked with a no. of test automation solutions. Our recommendation is to use Selenium for Web-based automation, Cucumber for BDD, Squish for desktop applications, and Fitnesse to automate service-level components.\n\nTOC\n\n3. Adopt the Right Testing Methodology.\n\nChoose the right testing methodology, plan, and monitor test coverage.\n\nSince you\u2019ve acquired the right set of tools, you should now put them on a test. However, you would first need to build a pitch to carry out the proof of concept.\n\nThe pitch is nothing but the testing process you or your company follow to validate the product before delivering it to the customer.\n\nMost of the companies have come out of the ages of waterfall model and started adopting the Agile testing methodology. But the core testing values and concepts remain the same.\n\nIn Agile, we focus mainly on three types of testing strategies where you can add value by automating the tasks.\n\nAcceptance Testing\n\nRegression Testing\n\nEnd to End Testing\n\nWith the help of test automation tools explained earlier, you can create a unified test suite to target the above testing phases.\n\nWhatever tests you would automate during acceptance testing, also become part of the regression test suite. It\u2019ll result in increased coverage and ensure the feature being tested during regression cycles as well.\n\nIn you test suite, you should add a provision to assign labels to test cases. A label can be anything like the priority (p1, p2 or p3) or a component name. After labeling cases, you can group them into components or segregate based on priority.\n\nThis approach gives you a finer control over the test execution. It could be useful for validating a specific functionality. Also, when time is short, you can report results faster.\n\nOne of the core qualities of a successful test automation developer is to keep a tab on the progress of coverage. You can prepare a test coverage metric document and update it continuously.\n\nThe top stakeholders give due importance to such type of statistical data.\n\nTOC\n\n4. Select a CI Tool.\n\nPick a CI tool to scale and manage test execution.\n\nCI tool as the name suggest enables you to implement one of the industry\u2019s best practices famously known as the Continous Integration.\n\nIt complements the Agile testing model which states to produce a working build at a regular interval (ideally daily but commonly after each sprint). However, we can\u2019t mark a build as working until it passes through the validation.\n\nThat\u2019s where the CI tool interjects in setting up the test automation jobs that it can trigger post the following events.\n\nAfter each check-in by the developer.\n\nAt a scheduled time.\n\nOn demand basis.\n\nSo a good test automation developer should know how to configure the CI tool to scale the test automation capabilities. Jenkins is one of the most used CI tools and supported by more than thousands of plugins. A right plugin can enormously increase the effectiveness of the test automation. So an automation engineer should also find time to search for plugins that are already available and boost the user experience.\n\nTOC\n\n5. Performance and Scalability.\n\nInvest in performance and scalability.\n\nThere\u2019s a thin line between an average and a successful test automation developer.\n\nThe first type is the one who would do everything explained so far but sit with calm after settling things. However, the latter would try to slide the status quo.\n\nSo let\u2019s see, what should he do when things are already at a gratifying level?\n\nThere could be following two possibilities.\n\nFind out areas of improvement in the automation framework and improve.\n\nStep out of the shell and look for improvement in the test infrastructure.\n\nAutomation Suite Improvements.\n\nUse code profiler to isolate bottlenecks in the automation source code.\n\nRun static code analysis tools to find bugs and memory leaks.\n\nWork on to improve reporting, e.g. JUnit framework comes with a feature that allows tracking the age of a defect in the reporting. It\u2019s useful to know how old the defect is and waiting for a fix.\n\nTrack and try reducing the execution time. Ideally, a test suite should not run longer than an hour.\n\nDistribute test execution on multiple nodes to scale up.\n\nHardware Infra Improvements.\n\nAsk a few questions from yourself.\n\nAre my test suites utilizing the full hardware resources?\n\nCan I replace the physical hardware with virtual machines and reduce cost?\n\nIs there a need to buy additional hardware for test execution?\n\nWhat are the latest h/w technologies that can help optimizing the test execution?\n\nSo you just need to challenge yourself and tighten up the previous benchmarks.\n\nTOC\n\n6. Innovate and Improve.\n\nSet up a culture where innovation and continuous improvement are a part of the day-to-day work life.\n\nSo what else can you do to cultivate the innovation culture?\n\nThere are following two methods which you can apply at your workplace.\n\nMethod-1. Observe, Discover, and Uncover.\n\nYou can begin innovation by improving the user experience or bringing new features or functions to address future needs.\n\nAt the same time, start observing existing solutions, their workflow, and patterns in use. Hand over them to new users, let them share their experience. Try to discover problems with legacy solution, listen to new users. All of this would help to uncover the hidden issues and possibly result in a new idea.\n\nMethod-2. Mix Solutions.\n\nProbably every method has a few pros and cons as well. Also, not every time it requires a new way to spur innovation and make improvements. Instead, play simple and try to mix solutions utilizing their strengths.\n\nAlso, you can bifurcate the features that you need from one solution. And then let the other solution embrace it. The outcome could even surprise you with the outstanding results.\n\nFor example, If we consider Selenium for test automation, then we can build a perfect solution around it for web automation. But it lacks reporting feature which is essential to represent the status of test execution.\n\nWe can combine the above solution with TestNG framework which has an intuitive reporting feature. Together we get a fully functional system that runs tests and generates an elegant report. It\u2019s a perfect example of an innovative idea via mixing solutions.\n\nTOC\n\n7. Be a Good Estimator.\n\nEstimation skills are mandatory for any role including a test automation developer.\n\nThere are a bunch of things you can do to provide accurate estimates.\n\nOutline you project.\n\nIdentify all high-level areas, review if they are covering the entire project. Repeat the previous steps one or more times to drill down the project further. Continue based on the size of the project.\n\nThere is a clear benefit of starting with the high-level areas as you can quickly point out missing areas if any.\n\nConvert into granular tasks.\n\nOnce you\u2019ve listed down the primary tasks, begin splitting each of them into smaller tasks. Also, count the dependencies to a task and its subtasks.\n\nSet down bottlenecks.\n\nA single bottleneck can shake your entire estimate. So it\u2019s wise to anticipate it in advance. It could be a process bottleneck, pending approvals, or the requirements churn.\n\nUse three-point estimating technique.\n\nWhile estimating a project, there is always a scope for uncertainty. To factor in the risk, consider making the following three estimates.\n\nFirst for the best case,\n\nSecond for the worst, and\n\nThe last for the most likely case.\n\nHowever, it would cost you a little more time to compute three different values. Even then, it\u2019ll take you closer to a more realistic estimate.\n\nMake space for drag.\n\nThere could be items like meetings, unplanned leaves, and time spent in conducting interviews. All of these may cause drag while executing the project.\n\nIt won\u2019t be easy to measure a fixed time for them. But you can add a little buffer based on your past experiences.\n\nTOC\n\nSummary \u2013 How to become a successful test automation developer.\n\nWe don\u2019t claim that all of a sudden, you\u2019ll become a successful test automation developer. But we tried to share all of that worked for us and a no. of our co-workers.\n\nWe wish the seven steps above would certainly fill out the gaps you might have. You just need to be consistent in following the process. Or at least do a pilot for the next project.\n\nHowever, if you liked the post, then please care to share it on your social media accounts.\n\nWish You All the Best.\n\nTechBeamers."}
-{"text": "1. Arizona has 3,928 mountain peaks and summits\u2014more mountains than any one of the other Mountain States (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming).\n\n2. All New England, plus the state of Pennsylvania would fit inside Arizona.\n\n3. Arizona became the 48th state and last of the contiguous states on February 14, 1912.\n\n4. Image to the left (\u201cAmAZing is used under license from the Arizona Small Business Association.\u201d)\n\n4. Image to the left (\u201cAmAZing is used under license from the Arizona Small Business Association.\u201d)\n\n5. There are more wilderness areas in Arizona than in the entire Midwest. Arizona alone has 90 wilderness areas, while the Midwest has 50.\n\n6. Arizona has 26 peaks that are more than 10,000 feet in elevation.\n\n7. Arizona has the largest contiguous stand of ponderosa pines in the world stretching from near Flagstaff along the Mogollon Rim to the White Mountains region.\n\n8. Yuma, Arizona is the country\u2019s highest producer of winter vegetables, especially lettuce.\n\n9. Arizona is the 6th largest state in the nation, covering 113,909 square miles.\n\n10. Out of all the states in the U.S., Arizona has the largest percentage of its land designated as Indian lands.\n\n11. The \u201cFive C\u2019s\u201d of Arizona\u2019s economy are: Cattle, Copper, Citrus, Cotton, and Climate.\n\n12. More copper is mined in Arizona than all the other states combined, and the Morenci Mine is the largest copper producer in all of North America.\n\n\n\n13. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, two of the most prominent movie stars of Hollywood\u2019s Golden Age, were married on March 18, 1939, in Kingman, Arizona.\n\n\n\n14. Covering 18,608 sq. miles, Coconino County is the second largest county by land area in the 48 contiguous United States.\n\n15. The world\u2019s largest solar telescope is located at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Sells, Arizona.\n\n\n\n16. Bisbee, Arizona is known as the Queen of the Copper Mines because during its mining heyday it produced nearly 25 percent of the world\u2019s copper and was the largest city in the Southwest between Saint Louis and San Francisco.\n\n17. Billy the Kid killed his first man, Windy Cahill, in Bonita, Arizona.\n\n\n\n18. Pioneer filmmaker, Cecil B. DeMille originally traveled to Flagstaff to make his first film but he arrived there in the middle of a storm and decided to move operations further west, to Hollywood. His film, The Squaw Man (1914), went on to be wildly successful, launching the fledgling movie industry and establishing Hollywood as the movie capital of the world.\n\n19. Image to the right (\u201cAmAZing is used under license from the Arizona Small Business Association.\u201d)\n\n\n\n20. Famous labor leader and activist Cesar Chavez was born in Yuma.\n\n21. In 1912, President William Howard Taft was ready to make Arizona a state on February 12, but it was Lincoln\u2019s birthday. The next day, the 13th, was considered bad luck so they waited until the following day. That\u2019s how Arizona became known as the \u201cValentine State.\u201d\n\n22. When England\u2019s famous London Bridge was replaced in the 1960s, the original was purchased, dismantled, shipped stone by stone and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where it still stands today.\n\n23. Mount Lemmon, in the Santa Catalina Mountains, is the southernmost ski resort in the United States.\n\n24. Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch in Picacho, Arizona is the largest privately-owned ostrich ranch in the world outside South Africa.\n\n25. If you cut down a protected species of cactus in Arizona, you could spend more than a year in prison.\n\n26. The world\u2019s largest to-scale collection of miniature airplane models is housed at the library at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.\n\n27. Image to the left (\u201cAmAZing is used under license from the Arizona Small Business Association.\u201d)\n\n27. Image to the left (\u201cAmAZing is used under license from the Arizona Small Business Association.\u201d)\n\n28. Located on Arizona\u2019s western border, Parker Dam is the deepest dam in the world at 320 feet.\n\n29. South Mountain Park/Preserve in Phoenix is the largest municipal park in the country.\n\n30. Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, located about 55 miles west of Phoenix, generates more electricity than any other U.S. power plant.\n\n31. Montezuma never visited Montezuma National Monument\u2014he was born 100 years after the prehistoric dwelling was abandoned. The monument was misnamed for the Aztec emperor when it was rediscovered in the 1860\u2019s.\n\n32. Oraibi, a Hopi village located in Navajo County, Arizona, dates back to before A.D. 1200 and is reputed to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in America.\n\n33. Built in by Del Webb in 1960, Sun City, Arizona was the first 55-plus active adult retirement community in the country.\n\n34. Petrified wood is the official state fossil. The Petrified Forest in northeastern Arizona contains America\u2019s largest deposits of petrified wood.\n\n35. Many of the founders of San Francisco in 1776 were Spanish colonists from Tubac, Arizona.\n\n36. Phoenix originated in 1866 as a hay camp to supply military post Camp McDowell.\n\n37. Chino Valley\u2019s Fort Whipple was a U.S. Army post that served as Arizona Territory\u2019s first capital prior to the founding of Prescott. The post was founded in January 1864, but was moved in May 1864 to Granite Creek near present-day Prescott.\n\n38. Prior to President Abraham Lincoln signing the Arizona Organic Act on February 24, 1863 to create Arizona Territory, Arizona was part of the territory of New Mexico.\n\n39. Rainfall averages for Arizona range from less than three inches in the deserts to more than 30 inches per year in the mountains.\n\n40. Rising to a height of 12,643 feet, Mount Humphreys north of Flagstaff is the state\u2019s highest mountain.\n\n41. Roadrunners are not just in cartoons! In Arizona, you\u2019ll see them running up to 17-mph away from their enemies.\n\n42. The Saguaro cactus is the largest cactus found in the U.S. It can grow as high as a five-story building and is native to the Sonoran Desert, which stretches across southern Arizona.\n\n43. Sandra Day O\u2019Connor, the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, grew up on a large family ranch near Duncan, Arizona.\n\n44. The city of Phoenix was named for the mythical Egyptian phoenix bird\u2014which burst into flame and was reborn from its ashes\u2014because the town sprouted from the ruins of a former civilization.\n\n45. Santa Cruz County (1,237 sq. miles) is the smallest of Arizona\u2019s 15 counties, but is larger than more than 72 countries.\n\n\n\n46. Spanish Franciscan friar Marcos de Niza was the first European to explore Arizona. He entered the area in 1539 in search of the mythical Seven Cities of Gold.\n\n\n\n47. The best-preserved meteor crater in the world is located near Winslow, Arizona.\n\n48. Image to the right (\u201cAmAZing is used under license from the Arizona Small Business Association.\u201d)\n\n\n\n49. The Arizona Cardinals are the oldest continuous franchise in the National Football League, dating back to 1898.\n\n50. The worst range war and family feud in the West, which claimed the lives of dozens of ranchers, ironically occurred in a place called Pleasant Valley, Arizona.\n\n51. The average state elevation is 4,000 feet.\n\n52. The cactus wren is the official state bird. It gets its name from the fact that it likes to build nests in the protection of thorny desert plants, like the saguaro cactus.\n\n53. The Navajo Nation spans 27,000 square miles across the states of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, but its capital is seated in Window Rock, Arizona.\n\n54. The amount of copper utilized to make the copper dome atop Arizona\u2019s Capitol building is equivalent to the amount used in 4.8 million pennies.\n\n55. Between the years 1692 and 1711 Spanish missionary Father Eusebio Kino did more than just found missions in Arizona; he also taught many tribes the basics of agriculture and supplied them with cattle and seed grain.\n\n56. The Castilian and Burgundian flags of Spain, the Mexican flag, the Confederate flag, and the flag of the United States have all flown over the land we now know as Arizona.\n\n57. Near Yuma, the Colorado River\u2019s elevation dips to 70 feet above sea level, making it the lowest point in the state.\n\n58. The geographic center of Arizona is 55 miles southeast of Prescott near the community of Mayer.\n\n59. You could pile four 1,300-foot skyscrapers on top of each other and they still would not reach the rim of the Grand Canyon.\n\n60. Nearly 5 million people visit Arizona\u2019s Grand Canyon National Park each year.\n\n61. Image to the left (\u201cAmAZing is used under license from the Arizona Small Business Association.\u201d)\n\n\n\n\n\n62. Image to the left (\u201cAmAZing is used under license from the Arizona Small Business Association.\u201d)\n\n\n\n63. The Lost Dutchman, Jacob Waltz\u2014who is alleged to be the owner of the yet-undiscovered Lost Dutchman Gold Mine in Arizona\u2019s Superstition Mountains\u2014was actually a German.\n\n64. Arizona\u2019s official state colors are blue and gold.\n\n65. The Palo Verde is the official state tree. Its name means \u201cgreen stick\u201d and it blooms a brilliant yellow-gold in April or May.\n\n66. The saguaro cactus blossom is the official state flower. The white flower blooms in May and June, opening in the middle of the night and closing the next day\u2014surviving only about 18 hours for pollination.\n\n67. A saguaro cactus can store up to nine tons of water.\n\n68. The Arizona towns of Adair and Alamo Crossing are now underwater, having been swallowed up by the formation of dams that created Fool Hollow Lake and Alamo Lake (respectively).\n\n69. The State Motto is Ditat Deus, which means \u201cGod Enriches\u201d in Latin.\n\n70. From 1973 to 2007, Arizona was the only state with official state neckwear, the bola tie. In 2007, New Mexico also adopted the bola tie as the official State Tie.\n\n71. The state of Massachusetts could fit inside Maricopa County (9,922 sq. miles).\n\n72. The westernmost battle of the Civil War was fought at Picacho Pass on April 15, 1862 near Picacho Peak in Pinal County.\n\n73. There are 11.2 million acres of National Forest in Arizona, and one-fourth of the state forested.\n\n74. Tubac was the first European Settlement in Arizona (1752).\n\n75. Turquoise is the official state gemstone. The blue-green stone has a somewhat waxy surface and can be found throughout the state.\n\n76. World War II brought many military personnel to train at Luke and Thunderbird airbases in Glendale.\n\n\n\n77. 61. Image to the right (\u201cAmAZing is used under license from the Arizona Small Business Association.\u201d)\n\n78. Two Arizonans have won their party\u2019s nomination for President: Barry Goldwater and John McCain.\n\n79. Wyatt Earp was neither the town marshal nor the sheriff in Tombstone at the time of the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral. His brother Virgil was the town marshal.\n\n80. The Navajo Nation Zoological and Botanical Park is the only tribally-owned zoo in the U.S.\n\n81. The ringtail is the official state mammal. It is a fox-like, nocturnal animal that measures about two-and-a-half feet long.\n\n82. The Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona holds more archives and individual works by 20th-century North American photographers than any other museum in the nation. Its archives contain an estimated 3.8 million items.\n\n83. On June 6, 1936, the first barrel of tequila produced in the United States rolled off the production line in Nogales, Arizona.\n\n84. The world\u2019s tallest Kachina doll, measuring 39 feet tall and fashioned of concrete, is located in Carefree, Arizona.\n\n85. Once a rowdy copper mining town, Jerome\u2019s population dwindled to as few as 50 people after the mines closed in 1953.\n\n86. The Sonoran Desert is the most biologically diverse desert in North America.\n\n87. The Arizona tree frog is the state\u2019s official amphibian.\n\n88. Bisbee is the Nation\u2019s southernmost mile-high city.\n\n89. The two largest manmade lakes in the U.S. are Lake Mead and Lake Powell\u2014both located in Arizona.\n\n90. Arizona is the only state in the nation that elects a Mine Inspector.\n\n91. The longest remaining intact section of Route 66 can be found in Arizona and runs from Seligman to Topock, a total of 157 unbroken miles.\n\n92. The 13 stripes on the Arizona flag represent the 13 original colonies of the United States.\n\n93. Thirteen species of rattlesnakes live in Arizona, more species than in any other state.\n\n94. The University of Phoenix Stadium, home to the NFL Cardinals, retractable roof and rollout field combination is a first in North America.\n\n95. The negotiations for Geronimo\u2019s final surrender took place in Skeleton Canyon, near present day Douglas, Arizona, in 1886.\n\n96. Prescott, Arizona is home to the world\u2019s oldest rodeo, and Payson, Arizona is home to the world\u2019s oldest continuous rodeo\u2014both of which date back to the 1880s.\n\n97. Downtown Yuma, Arizona is one of only two designated National Heritage Areas west of the Mississippi.\n\n98. Kartchner Caverns, near Benson, Arizona, is a massive limestone cave with 13,000 feet of passages, two rooms as long as football fields, and one of the world\u2019s longest soda straw stalactites: measuring 21 feet 3 inches.\n\n99. The Litchfield Naval Air Facility (now called the Phoenix-Goodyear Airport) was the training base for the Navy Blue Angels aerial demonstration team until 1968.\n\n100. At 221 miles long, Apache County is the longest county in the U.S., stretching from the Utah border to just south of Alpine, Arizona.\n\nThis list was compiled and researched by the Arizona Office of Tourism and the Arizona Centennial Commission staff with the assistance of Marshall Trimble, Arizona\u2019s Official State Historian"}
-{"text": "As previously reported, a Muslim doctor was fired from a Cleveland, Ohio clinic after it was discovered she bragged she would purposely give all Jewish patients the wrong medication.\n\nLara Kollab, 27, was a supervised resident at the Cleveland Clinic \u2014 she must be one of those \u2018moderates\u2019 we keep hearing about.\n\n\u201cHahha ewww\u2026 ill (sic) purposely give all the yahood the wrong meds\u2026\u201d Kollab posted in a January 2012 tweet.\n\n\u201cYahood\u201d is Arabic for \u201cJew.\u201d\n\nTRENDING: BREAKING: 'At Least 10 Shots' Reportedly Fired at Police By Louisville Black Lives Matter Rioters \u2014 UPDATE... At Least Two Officers Shot (VIDEOS)\n\nAccording to reports, Kollab\u2019s medical license remains active; her license was issued in Cuyahoga County in July 2018, it is valid until June 2021.\n\nLara Kollab is on the move and was given residency in California.\n\nKern Medical in Bakersfield, CA released a statement Monday announcing they notified Dr. Kollab that her position as a Post-Graduate-Year 1 resident in the Internal Medicine Residency Program has been withdrawn effective immediately, following an article by The Lakewood Scoop that reported the Bakersfield clinic was offering Kollab residency.\n\n\u201cKern Medical has determined that Dr. Kollab breached her Match Participant Agreement when she submitted information that was false, misleading, and incomplete to Kern Medical during the interview and match process,\u201d the statement read.\n\nKern Medical\u2019s statement on Dr. Kollab, via Pamela Geller:\n\nLara Kollab has also posted many tweets where she defended Hamas terrorists and supported Islamic terrorists.\n\nAll of Lara Kollab\u2019s tweets have been deleted, but you can read her full list of hate tweets here."}
-{"text": "An artist\u2019s impression of red blood cells flowing through a vein. Image: Narupon Promvichai/pixabay.\n\nResearchers in China have been experimenting with using blood plasma from patients who have recovered from COVID-19 as a possible way to treat severely ill COVID-19 patients. In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, clinicians reported that convalescent plasma therapy improved the outcomes of ten patients with severe cases of COVID-19.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s consistent with what I\u2019m hearing from other places,\u201d Michael Joyner, a physiologist at Mayo Clinic who is leading a convalescent plasma clinical trial in the US and wasn\u2019t involved in the study from China, told The Wire Science.\n\nIn convalescent plasma therapy, a dose of antibody-containing plasma obtained from the blood of recovered individuals is transferred to persons with the disease in order to treat it. It\u2019s an experimental therapy going back a hundred years, having found use \u2013 to different efficacies \u2013 in the treatment of the Spanish flu as well as, more recently, the 2009 H1N1 influenza, SARS and MERS viruses.\n\nConvalescent plasma could shorten the duration of a COVID-19 illness or render it less dangerous. The therapy can be administered at different stages: after exposure to a known carrier but before infection to boost immunity, and to critically and non-critically ill patients to improve their outcomes.\n\nAt the moment, while researchers are exploring a number of experimental therapies and drugs, regulatory bodies have not approved any specific antiviral agents to treat COVID-19. Convalescent plasma is one of three immune-based options that may be able to tackle COVID-19 (the other two are hyperimmune serums and intravenous immunoglobulin products, which comprise antibodies against other human coronaviruses that may respond against the SARS-CoV-2 virus as well). However, convalescent plasma is easier to give even at the level of a single institution compared to the other options, which may require assistance from pharmaceutical companies.\n\n\u201cThis is the second encouraging case series in critically ill patients from China, but we definitively need phase 3 randomised controlled trials to assess the clinical benefit of convalescent plasma therapy,\u201d Daniele Focosi, a transfusion specialist at Pisa University Hospital, Italy, who is involved in a multi-centre clinical trial for convalescent plasma and was not associated with the Chinese study, told The Wire Science.\n\nYet another study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that five patients who were receiving mechanical ventilation and were then administered convalescent plasma therapy had recovered from the disease. Compared to phase 3 clinical trials, phase 2 trials are conducted in smaller groups to check for efficacy and safety, and have already proven during \u201cprevious pandemics that convalescent plasma is safe and partially effective.\u201d\n\nIn the newest study, the researchers recruited ten patients \u2013 six male, four female \u2013 at three hospitals in China. At a median time of 16.5 days from the beginning of their respective infections, the patients were administered 200 ml of convalescent plasma obtained from former COVID-19 patients. In addition, all patients also received antiviral agents and supportive care.\n\nThe donors were tasked with supplying plasma four days after their discharge from hospital and the collected blood product was treated to ensure the absence of any virus. The very high titres of antibodies needed for convalescent plasma therapy can only be drawn from patients that have had a bad case of the condition soon after their discharge, Focosi added.\n\nWithin three days, the patients all showed robust improvements across several clinical symptoms, including cough, fever, shortness of breath and chest pain. Eight of the ten patients had been receiving some form of ventilation or oxygenation, and showed lower dependence post-transfusion. A number of immunological and other parameters also improved following transfusion.\n\nWithin seven days, radiological scans showed that lung damage was reduced to different extents in the patients. Moreover, the viral load in seven patients who had had viraemia, which is the presence of virus particles in blood, was imperceptible seven days after the transfusion even as the researchers recorded high levels of antibodies. Except for one patient, who developed a facial red spot, none displayed any adverse side effects either.\n\nThe team did compare their results in these 10 patients to a control group of 10 patients who had been matched for gender, age and the severity of their COVID-19 infection, but the antiviral and supportive care administered was not necessarily similar across patients or even within each of the two groups.\n\n\u201cIn this sort of brief report, all you can try to do is match the controls you have to the cases,\u201d Joyner said. \u201cWhen there are larger numbers [of participants], more extensive case control studies with better matching will be available and more insights about recovery will be available.\u201d\n\nWhile all patients showed significant recovery across the board, with three even being discharged (while the remaining seven were well on their way to full recoveries), researchers agreed that more extensive randomised controlled trials are needed to assess the efficacy of the therapy, and pave its way for widespread use. Such trials could also help lock down the best dosage and time of transfusion.\n\nCurrently, there are more than 20 clinical trials using convalescent plasma being conducted worldwide.\n\nSukanya Charuchandra has written for The Scientist, Johns Hopkins Magazine and Firstpost. Her writing interests feature biology, medicine and archaeology."}
-{"text": "Dinky Goldfish Girl By StressedJenny Watch\n\n4K Favourites 345 Comments 55K Views\n\nHave you noticed how much I like drawing Goldfish lately? Well, I've moved on... just a bit.\n\n\n\nI want to keep them in a bowl and watch them all day. 8D\n\nIMAGE DETAILS Image size 1442x2109px 3.71 MB Show More\n\nPublished : Jun 17, 2011"}
-{"text": "It looks like an alien creature: a critter with a cone-shaped shell, long arms and tentacles fluttering out of its fleshy opening. It's not from another world, but an ancient one.\n\nHowever, until now, hyoliths didn't have a place on Earth's tree of life.\n\nThe marine creatures that were mere centimetres long were discovered about 175 years ago. Though many fossils exist around the world, scientists couldn't gather much data from what they found, leaving this ancient creature dangling without a place on the evolutionary tree.\n\nIn 2014, a team of Canadian scientists led by 20-year-old University of Toronto undergraduate student Joseph Moysiuk, found a hyolith fossil in Marble Canyon, part of the fossil-rich Burgess Shale in British Columbia. This was a valuable acquisition: it contained the soft tissue of the critter that roamed the Earth 530 million years ago.\n\nThe fossilized remains of the Haplophrentis operculum. (\u00a9 Royal Ontario Museum) \u200b\u200b\n\nFor years, scientists believed that hyoliths were related to the same family as snails and mollusks, rather than a group called brachiopods.\n\n\"What little we did know, from the shells, just wasn't enough to establish where these things fit on the tree of life,\" Moysiuk told CBC News. \"Brachiopods and clams without their soft tissues might actually look quite similar, even though they belong to totally different branches. It's just a question of not having enough information.\"\n\nBut the soft tissue collected by co-authors of the study that appears in Nature \u2014 Martin Smith of Durham University in the United Kingdom and Jean-Bernard Caron from the Royal Ontario Museum \u2014 provided them with very important information.\n\n\"Our new preserved soft tissue discovery that we found at the Burgess Shale include this band of tentacles around the mouth, a feeding structure. And this feeding structure allows us to link the hyoliths with brachiopods.\"\n\nThe hyolith finally had a home.\n\nDifferences\n\nWhen we think of hard-shelled marine animals, we might envision mussels and clams. These bivalve mollusks are separated by left and right shells. However, with brachiopods, the soft body exists between enclosed upper and lower shells.\n\nThere are other differences as well, Moysiuk said.\n\n\"Like other organisms, including us, clams and brachiopods have a plane of symmetry down the middle of their body. In brachiopods, that plane of symmetry runs through the middle of both shells. In other words, the two sides of the shells are symmetrical with each other. In clams, the two shells are separated by each other by a plane of symmetry. So the two shells are identical to each other but the shells themselves don't have a plane of symmetry within them.\"\n\nUniversity of Toronto student Joseph Moysiuk showing matching halves of a fossil slab while in Kootenay National Park on a Royal Ontario Museum field expedition in 2014. (\u00a9 Joseph Moysiuk)\n\nAs for the two protrusions on either side of the shells \u2014 called helens \u2014 though they've been known for some time, scientists were unable to determine their function.\n\n\"There is no equivalent to these structures in any other group of organisms,\" Moysiuk said.\n\nThe researchers studied the angles at which the helens were preserved and concluded that hyoliths may have been able to rotate them into a position below the body, propping it up, allowing it to feed, with the tentacles straining particles out of the water.\n\nNew piece to puzzle\n\n\"Our study adds a new piece to the puzzle, in trying to unravel the story of the tree of life,\" Moysiuk said.\n\nThe hyolith now exists in the group lophophorata in-between two modern groups of organisms, the brachiopods and phoronid worms (known as horseshoe worms). While the worms don't have shells, they do have a similarly elongated body like the hyolith.\n\n\"It's been very exciting,\" Moysiuk said. \"It's so significant for our understanding for the early evolution of animals.\""}
-{"text": "188 Shares 182\n\n\n\n6\n\n0\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDavid Nott is a British surgeon who has received numerous awards and accolades for his medical volunteerism in East Aleppo, Syria in 2013 and 2014. He was hosted by the Aleppo City Medical Council, which was founded in 2012 by medical professionals committed to the armed revolution in Syria, which sought to overthrow the Syrian government of Pres. Bashar Assad.\n\nThe Aleppo City Medical Council served and existed in only one neighborhood in Aleppo: that of occupied East Aleppo. On the Western side of Aleppo lived 1.5 million persons, who were living under the Syrian government, as were the majority of the highly populated areas across Syria. On the Eastern side of Aleppo lived 250,000 civilians, who went to sleep one night, and woke up occupied by armed rebels. The unarmed civilians of East Aleppo didn\u2019t vote to accept occupation by armed militias. In some cases they may have been willing to work with the rebels, but the majority of the civilian population of Aleppo did not want to participate in the revolution. Even though they did not choose war, the war came to their neighborhood, and took away their freedom. No longer were they able to visit relatives, shop, go to University, or visit a doctor in Western Aleppo. They were made prisoners in their own homes and neighborhoods.\n\nThe armed opposition, the so called \u2018rebels\u2019 of Syria, are the armed militia known as Free Syrian Army. This group began as a US supported armed group, but lacked the man-power to sustain a viable armed opposition to the very large Syrian Arab Army, which prior to the war had ranked as the 16th strongest Army in the world. From the outset in 2011 the FSA began an outreach invitation to Al Qaeda and other Radical terrorist groups, in order to bulk-up the numbers in the armed opposition on the ground, with the hope of providing enough man-power and weapons in order to topple the Syrian government.\n\nDr. David Nott was seduced by the romantic notion of rebels fighting against a brutal regime. Apparently, he was not aware of the true beginning of the Syrian conflict, which began in March 2011.\n\nWhen Dr. Nott writes about his time in Syria he takes sides, while saving lives in East Aleppo. He was not a neutral humanitarian.\n\nCNN journalist Christiane Amanpour has said \u201cI learned a long, long time ago, when I was covering genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, never to equate victim and aggressor, never to create a false moral or factual equivalence, because then, if you do, particularly in situations like that, you are party and accomplice to the most unspeakable crimes and consequences, so I believe in being truthful, not neutral.\u201d\n\nDr. David Nott does not acknowledge the Doctors in the hospitals in Western Aleppo who were treating patients injured, or dying, from missile attacks on their neighborhoods by the rebels Dr. Nott worked for. He glorifies the position of his rebel friends, while demonizing the Syrian Arab Army, who were defending the lives and property of the unarmed civilians in Western Aleppo. He seems unaware that the \u2018regime\u2019 forces are made up of Syrian males over the age of 18 who are able bodied and not enrolled in University. In other words, they are drafted in a compulsory national service during the conflict, and are not from any one particular sect, but are from every Christian and Muslim sect, including atheists. The Syrian Arab Army were Syrian citizens, however the rebels in Eastern Aleppo were from various countries, and included various Radical Islamic terrorist groups, including ISIS, and Dr. Nott acknowledges their presence.\n\nIn fact, Dr. Nott was well aware of the presence of ISIS within the area he worked, even to the point of going through ISIS check points. He pretended to be afraid of them, and acknowledged that they had executed other British humanitarians, but this did not prevent him from leaving the area for his own personal safety. His calculated choice to remain in a specific area known to have ISIS presence must only mean that his \u2018minders\u2019, the FSA, had made special provisions with ISIS for Dr. Nott\u2019s services. Dr. Nott was \u2018off-limits\u2019 to ISIS. In fact, Dr. Nott performed surgery on an ISIS terrorist in Eastern Aleppo. The hospital operating room was not attacked by ISIS, and he was not forced to perform surgery, but rather this was an FSA controlled Hospital which was allied with ISIS, and thus the ISIS injured were received as normal course of duty.\n\nDr. Nott recalls being taken to a Priest in Western Aleppo by his \u2018minders\u2019 in an effort to portray the conflict as non-sectarian. He should have asked his friends, \u201cWhere are the Christians and Priests who support the revolution here in Eastern Aleppo?\u201d He doesn\u2019t seem to be aware that the Syrian Christians have been targeted from the outset by the \u2018rebels\u2019.\n\nRobin Harris in 2013 wrote: \u201cMany Iraqi refugees left to join the two million indigenous Christians of Syria. They now share their hosts\u2019 lot \u2014 persecution by the western-supported, Saudi-financed, Islamist-dominated Syrian rebels. Priests are special targets. This is where a Syrian Catholic priest, Father Fran\u00e7ois Murad, was murdered last month.\u201d\n\nDr. Nott wrote an impassioned plea concerning the photo-gone-viral of young Omran, bloodied and sitting in the back of an ambulance in Eastern Aleppo. Dr. Nott was not there at the time, but one of his colleagues from the Hospital in Eastern Aleppo contacted him concerning the tragic photo. Based only on the second-hand information coming to him, Dr. Nott was certain this little boy, saved by the famous WHITE HEMETS of Eastern Aleppo, was the victim of the brutal Syrian regime. Dr. Nott wrote: \u201cThe picture of Omran epitomises the horror that can be broadcast on our television screens.\u201d \u201cThe sticking point is whether Assad stays or goes. He has to go. The refugees who have left the country will not return unless he has gone. There is no alternative.\u201d\n\nDr. Nott did not ask all the refugees who left Syria if they left because of Pres. Assad, or whether they would be willing to come back to Syria if there was peace, even though Pres. Assad might remain. Yet, Dr. Nott would have you to believe there is no other reason for leaving Syria. In fact, many Syrian refugees left from peaceful areas, like the Syrian coast, which had never had battles or destruction, and which had remained peaceful and stable. Many Syrian refugees would tell you that they left for the chance to have an income, while living in a peaceful place. There are as many reasons to leave Syria as there are refugees: each has their own story. It is untruthful to portray all the Syrian refugees in a blanket statement.\n\nNow that Western Aleppo and Eastern Aleppo are reunited in peace and stability, the true stories pour out from the actual eye witnesses. The father of the little boy Omran has now told the full details to both Syrian and Western journalists. The details given to Dr. Nott by the treating physician in Eastern Aleppo do not ring true. It was Omran\u2019s father who saved the boy from the rubble, and it was the WHITE HELMETS who seized the boy, without medical treatment first, and staged the photo which then went viral. The colleague of Dr. Nott from the Aleppo Medical Council was present, but only gave treatment after the photo was finished. The WHITE HELMETS even offered to pay a bribe to the father, but were refused, and they have since admitted so.\n\nThe father of Omran, Mohammed Kheir Daqneesh stated: \u201c\u201cThe truth is one thing and they used him in a way that was not truthful and this really bothered me. The armed militia and their media used him in a way that was excessive,\" he said.\u201d\n\nOnce the rebels and their allies were driven out of Eastern Aleppo, the residents were able to run to freedom in Western Aleppo. Another British citizen was present as the Syrian refugees came pouring in. Rev. Andrew Ashdown is a Church of England priest studying Christian-Muslim relations in Syria. He wrote: \u201cThey said that they had been living in fear. They reported that the fighters have been telling everyone that the Syrian Army would kill anyone who fled to the West, but had killed many themselves who tried to leave \u2013 men, women and children.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe refugees said that the \u2018rebels\u2019 told them that only those who support them are \u201ctrue Muslims\u201d, and that everyone else are \u2018infidels\u2019 and deserve to die.\u201d\n\n\u201cLikewise, most had been given no medical treatment. (A doctor who has been working with the refugees for weeks told me last night that in an area recently liberated, a warehouse filled with brand new internationally branded medicines had been discovered.)\u201d\n\n\u201cOne old man in a wheelchair who was being given free treatment in the Russian Field Hospital said he had been given no treatment for three years despite asking.\u201d\n\nThe British Priest who personally interviewed the actual survivors of 3 years of occupation in Eastern Aleppo is shedding light on the true picture of life in Eastern Aleppo under the occupation of the rebels. Why is the story that Dr. Nott is telling us so very different? Maybe the difference is that Dr. David Nott was not a neutral observer, but was firmly on the side of the rebels. His minders may have carefully kept him away from civilians, and knowing he could not understand Arabic, the language barrier kept Dr. Nott in the dark as to the true picture of life under occupation of the FSA rebels, and their allies like ISIS and Al Qaeda. Dr. Nott was kept constantly busy treating the injured and saving lives.\n\nThe Syrian conflict seems to be winding down to an end. Dr. David Nott and other western humanitarians may begin the long and thoughtful process of asking themselves why they backed the rebels and their allies in a bloody and impossible fight. The US-UK-NATO war machine, fueled by western mainstream media sold many seemingly intelligent people on the idea of a Syrian revolution which would be fought for freedom and democracy. Perhaps one day Dr. Nott will come back to Aleppo and meet some actual residents and survivors of Western and Eastern Aleppo. Perhaps then he can understand the role he played in support of the rebels and their political ideology.\n\n*(Dr. David Nott. Image courtesy of YouTube)"}
-{"text": "It\u2019s a bleak picture of American justice.\n\nThat\u2019s why a prison re-entry plan conceived by \u2014 and for \u2014 Indiana women is such a breath of fresh air.\n\nVanessa Thompson was incarcerated in the oldest women\u2019s prison in the country when she had what writer Eli Hager of The Marshall Project calls \u201cher eureka moment.\u201d\n\nWatching the news in her cell, she heard a mayoral candidate in Indianapolis describe 10,000 abandoned houses and lots. As Hager describes:\n\nWhat if, she thought, people reentering society from prison helped rebuild those homes, and then, after putting in several thousand hours of construction work, got to live in one? This would also help solve a second intractable social problem: the lack of housing for ex-offenders, which had helped send so many women she knew back to jail.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a double restoration \u2014 not just of the house, but of the person,\u201d Thompson, now 44, said in a recent interview. \u201cWhat does Indianapolis need? A solution to this housing crisis. What do women in prison need, more than anything? Ownership. Of our minds, of our bodies, and of our physical homes.\u201d\n\nThompson was enrolled in a public policy class in the prison\u2019s higher education program when she had her big idea. She had learned how to contact elected representatives, how to talk to the media and how to write policy proposals. So she wrote one up on her housing plan, and she brought it to class.\n\n\u201cWomen in prison aren\u2019t thought of as public policy experts,\u201d Thompson\u2019s teacher, Kelsey Kauffman, told Hager. \u201cBut who knows more than they do about key issues like domestic violence, inner-city \u2018food deserts,\u2019 and what it takes for a mother to survive with her children on the streets of Indianapolis after she is released from prison?\u201d\n\nTwo years after Thompson first wrote her proposal, four of the women in her class presented videotaped testimony to the Indiana state legislature, talking directly to lawmakers in their state-issue khaki uniforms.\n\nThe assembly \u2014 one of the most conservative in the nation \u2014 approved their proposal unanimously.\n\n\u201cI never would have known my power as a citizen \u2026 if I hadn\u2019t become a prisoner. Imagine that,\u201d another student in the class, Kristina Byers-Escobedo, told Hager.\n\nHousing isn\u2019t the only problem women like Thompson and Escobedo have taken on. They poured water on cheap menstrual pads in front of state legislators, shocking them into calling the lieutenant governor to address the woefully inadequate supplies. They discovered an error in a 450-page bill to revise Indiana\u2019s criminal code, changing how sentence reductions would be calculated under state law.\n\nAs Hager writes, \u201cThompson began to see potential for reform all around her. In everything and everyone, there were possibilities for renovation, restoration and renewal.\u201d\n\nWe couldn\u2019t agree more.\n\nThe Editors.\n\nP.S. Here are some other pieces we think are valuable this week:\n\nSPLC's Weekend Reads are a weekly summary of the most important reporting and commentary from around the country on civil rights, economic and racial inequity, and hate and extremism. Sign up to receive Weekend Reads every Saturday morning."}
-{"text": "That's one very solid OC, you got talent.\n\n\n\nOn a side note, do you take free requests? There's an OC in my story \"Celestia's Tiny Student\" that having art of would be really nice (she's my editor's OC named Overwatch)."}
-{"text": "One question that keeps coming from our readers all the time is about Lightroom vs Photoshop \u2013 many beginners do not know differences between Lightroom and Photoshop and have a hard time choosing which one to get first. In this article, I will show the main differences between these two software packages from Adobe, what they are used for and what you can do in Photoshop that you cannot in Lightroom.\n\nWhat is Photoshop?\n\nPhotoshop was originally created as a tool for simple image editing, which since 1990 has grown into a monster software suite with many functions and capabilities to accommodate graphic designers, architects, animators, publishers, photographers and even 3D artists. Think of it as a Cadillac of image editing with unlimited potential that can grow not only with software updates and upgrades but also with special plugins known as \u201cfilters\u201d from Adobe and third-party software companies.\n\nWant to stitch multiple photographs into a single panorama? Or create a High Dynamic Range photograph? Or get rid of skin blemishes? Or perhaps make a person look taller, shorter, thinner or fatter? Yup, Photoshop can do all that; and much much more. It would be pointless to try to list what Photoshop can do because it would probably be a never-ending list. The term \u201cPhotoshopped\u201d is now a part of our daily jargon because we are constantly exposed to altered images that might look realistic while being fake \u2013 that\u2019s the power of Photoshop.\n\nWhat is Lightroom?\n\nThe full name for Lightroom is \u201cAdobe Photoshop Lightroom\u201d, which may sound confusing, because it contains the word \u201cPhotoshop\u201d. In a way, it makes sense, because Lightroom can be considered a subset of Photoshop with specific functionality that Photoshop does not and probably will never have. It was created for the main purpose of managing a large number of images, keeping them organized in one place. Photoshop is a very advanced image editing tool, but when you edit hundreds of images, keeping them organized becomes a problem over time.\n\nBefore I started using Lightroom, my photography workflow solely consisted of Adobe Camera RAW (which allows opening, manipulating and converting RAW files) and Photoshop (which I used to fine-tune images before saving them into my hard drive). It was a complex, cumbersome and inefficient process, even after I semi-automated it through a batch process in Photoshop. The biggest challenge was organizing edited images in my hard drive, sorting and cataloging them. I am not even going to talk about finding images, because it was an impossible task that required reviewing thousands of thumbnails and image metadata in order to find what I was looking for. As my file catalog grew, I realized that I had to find a better way to organize my photographs. And that\u2019s when I discovered Lightroom.\n\nLightroom is a database-driven image management software that automatically reads image metadata (such as camera make and model, date/time captured, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance and more), known as EXIF and writes information about each photograph in a new database known as \u201ccatalog\u201d. As images are imported, Lightroom has built-in functionality to add additional information to each image, allowing you to tag images with specific keywords, flags and star ratings. This makes it very easy to sort through hundreds of images and pick the best ones, edit them selectively or in batches, then export the best images directly into websites like Flickr and Facebook. This type of tagging and indexing is not available in Photoshop, because Photoshop does not keep a database with cataloged images.\n\nIn addition to media management capabilities, Lightroom contains a set of tools that allow photographers to manipulate images. In short, think of Photoshop as an image editing tool while Lightroom is an image management tool with some limited image editing capabilities.\n\nLightroom Image Editing Capabilities\n\nLightroom has a specific set of tools that make it easy to edit and manipulate images. Here is a list of tools available in Lightroom\u2019s Develop Module:\n\nHistogram and Tools Sub-Modules: Histogram, Crop & Straighten, Spot Removal, Red Eye Correction, Graduated Filter, Radial Filter, Adjustment Brush. Basic Sub-Module: Treatment: Color and Black & White; Camera Profiles; White Balance: Temp and Tint; Tone: Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites and Blacks; Presence: Texture, Clarity, Dehaze, Vibrance and Saturation. Tone Curve Sub-Module: Region: Highlights, Lights, Darks, Shadows; Point Curve. HSL / Color / B&W Sub-Module: Hue, Saturation, Luminance. Split Toning Sub-Module: Highlights: Hue, Saturation and Balance; Shadows: Hue and Saturation. Detail Sub-Module: Sharpening: Amount, Radius, Detail and Masking; Noise Reduction: Luminance, Detail, Contrast, Color, Detail and Smoothness. Lens Corrections Sub-Module: Lens Profile: Remove Chromatic Aberration, Enable Profile Corrections; Manual: Distortion, Defringe and Vignetting. Transform Sub-Module: Auto Transform, Transform: Vertical, Horizontal, Rotate, Aspect, Scale, X Offset, Y Offset. Effects Sub-Module: Post-Crop Vignetting: Style, Amount, Midpoint, Roundness, Feather, Highlights; Grain: Amount, Size, Roughness. Camera Calibration Sub-Module: Process Version, Shadows: Tint, Red Primary: Hue and Saturation, Green Primary: Hue and Saturation, Blue Primary: Hue and Saturation.\n\nAs you can see, the list of tools is rather long \u2013 from cropping and changing basic exposure to fixing lens-specific problems. Here is a screenshot of the Histogram / Basic sub-modules:\n\nSpecific changes can be saved as Presets and applied to a group of images. As Adobe develops new versions of Lightroom, new sub-modules and other sub-module specific features become available.\n\nIn addition to the image editing capabilities highlighted above, Lightroom also has built-in modules for creating slideshows, printing images, exporting image galleries for the web and more.\n\nPhotoshop Image Editing Capabilities\n\nAll of the above Lightroom image editing capabilities are automatically included in Adobe Camera RAW, which fires up when a RAW image is opened from Photoshop. While it looks a little different than Lightroom, every single function is mirrored in Camera RAW. When Adobe releases updates to Lightroom, it also releases updates to Camera RAW at the same time, so even small things like Lens Profiles get refreshed in both. Here is a screenshot of the Camera RAW panel:\n\nAnd here is a comparison of the exposure sub-module:\n\nAs you can see, both have exactly the same functionality.\n\nTo sum it up, everything you can do in Lightroom can be done in Photoshop, plus much more. Some photographers use Adobe Bridge with Photoshop as part of their workflow without Lightroom. While Bridge has some of the Lightroom functionality, it is not a database/catalog system. Think of it as a browser or file manager. Searching for an image requires going through all files, which could take a long time, whereas a similar search in Lightroom could be done in a matter of seconds \u2013 again because Lightroom\u2019s database is optimized for searching. If you have been using Adobe Bridge, try Lightroom and you will never go back to Bridge again.\n\nWhich to Start With \u2013 Lightroom or Photoshop?\n\nThe real question is, which software should one start with \u2013 Lightroom or Photoshop? Since all of Lightroom\u2019s image manipulation tools are already available in Photoshop, wouldn\u2019t it make sense just to start using Photoshop? I always recommend to start off with Lightroom for the following reasons:\n\nLightroom is easier to learn than Photoshop. Lightroom already contains a big number of post-processing tools (as shown above) \u2013 good for 90%+ of editing tasks. Lightroom will help you in establishing a solid photography workflow process. Lightroom makes you more efficient because you can go through and process many photos quickly, without having to deal with opening and closing files. Lightroom will keep you organized by cataloging all of your images in one place, making it easy to find and work with images. As a file and media management tool, Lightroom allows creating folders and sub-folders in your hard drive and can mass-rename files using templates. Editing images in Lightroom is non-destructive, which means that the original file never gets permanently changed, whereas Photoshop is a mix of destructive and non-destructive editing. Unless separate layers are kept for every change, Photoshop does not keep historical changes. With Lightroom, you can go back and restore earlier settings after making changes. Lightroom can display image metadata as an overlay as you edit photos. Photoshop cannot do that once an image is opened.\n\nI am sure there are many other advantages to using Lightroom, but these are the ones I personally find important.\n\nNow, remember when I said, \u201cI always recommend to start off with Lightroom\u201d? This means that you should eventually start exploring Photoshop. If you are planning to do any serious editing, you will have to get into Photoshop to be able to do things you cannot do in Lightroom. For example, removing objects in Lightroom is very limited and slow, whereas Photoshop\u2019s healing tools are very powerful in comparison. There are many other tools that are simply not available in Lightroom, such as the ability to focus stack images, or working with different layers.\n\nWhich Version to Buy\n\nUnfortunately, Adobe has discontinued the retail versions of Lightroom and Photoshop, so you can longer buy them separately. The only way to buy Lightroom or Photoshop today is to subscribe to Adobe\u2019s Creative Cloud platform. We have written a number of articles at PL criticizing Adobe\u2019s subscription platform, but the company is not going to back out of its decision and will no longer provide support for any retail versions of the software.\n\nYou can subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud plans through Adobe\u2019s website, or through our trusted partner B&H Photo Video below:\n\nIf you are just getting into photography, but want to explore an alternative image editing software without having to pay a monthly subscription fee, then you might want to check out Adobe Photoshop Elements. It has many of the features, tools, and filters from Photoshop, with some stripped out features. Think of Photoshop Elements as a light version of Lightroom and a light version of Photoshop combined. While you can use Photoshop Elements to organize, edit, print and publish photographs, it can also nicely integrate with Lightroom if you choose to use Lightroom\u2019s image organization features instead. If you just take pictures of your family and occasional landscapes & nature photos, then Photoshop Elements is a good choice. If you are wondering about differences between Elements and Lightroom, see our Photoshop Elements vs Lightroom article.\n\nThe best photography workflow, in my opinion, involves both image editing and image management software working hand-in-hand as Lightroom and Photoshop do. When you come across an image in Lightroom that you need to edit in Photoshop, you simply right-click the image and click on \u201cEdit in Adobe Photoshop\u201d. The image opens up in Photoshop and once you are done with all the changes, saving the image imports that new image back into Lightroom and this kind of two-way communication is automatic. No need for imports or exports. The good news is that you can simultaneously work in both, which speeds up your workflow even more. The bad news is that you will need to pay Adobe $9.99 per month to be able to do that. Another bad news is that once you get Photoshop, you will probably need to get additional education and possibly third-party tools as well, which translates to additional investment of time and money.\n\nAt the end of the day, good and reliable software is important for every photographer. Start off with Lightroom and once you learn its functionality and its limitations, start using Photoshop to open up new doors in front of you. But be warned \u2013 Photoshop can be both a rewarding and frustrating experience. It is a complex piece of software that has a significant learning curve."}
-{"text": "Anderson slams 'unexciting' MCG pitch\n\nJames Anderson says England did all they could to provide some entertainment for the Melbourne crowds, but were let down by the pitch"}
-{"text": "The Outback is not a large vehicle, but it\u2019s enough for me! The ability to lie flat in the back was one of the stipulations for buying it. The salesman looked a bit uncomfortable when I tested this on the lot, but hey, we both benefited.\n\nObviously, the back seats can be folded forward to increase cargo capacity. To maximize actual living space, the first step was to remove the lower portion of the back seat. This allows the seat tops to fold nearly flat, instead of the uncomfortable upward cant caused by the lower seat. It\u2019s hard to explain without pictures, but I done did dat.\n\nMy vision for the living space is to have everything appear outwardly normal during the day, and at night have 100% opacity in the living quarters. To accomplish this, I went to Lowe\u2019s and bought a roll of Reflectix. This is basically foil-coated bubble wrap, and is the same material used in commercially available sun shades. A few hours, a pair of scissors, and some patience resulted in quasi-custom panels of this reflective material that can be shoved into the rear 5 windows. Two benefits here \u2013 privacy and a bit of insulation. The material stays in the windows pretty well as is, but I took some industrial-strength Velcro dots and stuck a few on the panels/corresponding window spots for extra staying power.\n\nCovering the 5 rear windows would still allow light to come in from the windshield and driver/passenger windows. I didn\u2019t want to have 100% Reflectix covering, as I feel that would draw attention. Instead, I rigged up a curtain that segregates the driver\u2019s cab from the living space. Unsurprisingly, I couldn\u2019t find a curtain rod that matched the contour of my roof, so I braided a few strands of steel wire into a rod rigid enough to support the curtain, and easily mounted/dismounted on the coat hooks below my roof handles. It\u2019s not a perfect system, but I\u2019ve already slept in the Outback using it, and it\u2019s totally acceptable.\n\nEven if I didn\u2019t plan on living out of here for a bit, it\u2019s so nice to be able to have some privacy! Even in the distant future, I\u2019ll probably keep this setup to avoid paying for hotels when I\u2019m traveling. Rest stops, anyone?\n\nWhich brings me to the next modification: Storage. After living for months out of a 60 liter backpack with only 2 sets of clothes, your needs vs. wants dichotomy is pretty well delineated. Returning to Lowe\u2019s, I found the perfect cargo containers. Flip top, 19 gallon contractor grade, and sized so I can still maintain sleeping area. I have two of these at this point: one filled with clothes, one filled with gear and kitchen equipment. It\u2019s fairly efficient as far as space utilization, and the lids function as counter space when closed. To keep them in place while driving, I wrapped them with a piece of 550 cord, and clipped each end to tie-downs built into the body.\n\nPerhaps my favorite thing about the two big containers is that they can be relocated to the front seat, leaving the entire bed of the Outback open for sleeping or whatever else. The stuff on the pillow is just conversion material.\n\nElectricity is a fairly useful thing to have, and I think I\u2019ll have plenty. I bought a huge external battery (26,000 mAh) from Anker, which is enough to charge my phone 9-10 times. I can charge the external anywhere. Restaurants, coffee shops, the gym, etc. I have a laptop, and can plug that up wherever. Just be the hipster that hangs out at coffee shops all day! Beyond the devices, the only electronic I\u2019ll need to power is a 5 inch USB powered fan from Staples. Ventilation is necessary when living in an area this small, and this fan seems great so far! I ran it on the Low setting for 30 consecutive hours off of a 5200 mAh external battery. I plan on plugging it into one of the Anker\u2019s 3 ports, and charging my phone simultaneously. Even using 2 devices at once, one running all night while I sleep, the Anker will still provide probably 4-5 days of power. It\u2019s beastly.\n\nAs far as lighting, I have a small collapsible lantern that easily clips into one of the child seat tethers in the ceiling of the sleeping quarters. It\u2019s plenty bright, but eventually I will replace it with a small solar lantern to cut battery consumption. All eco-friendly and whatnot.\n\nI ran some 550 cord from the driver\u2019s cab all the way to the child seat tethers in the rear of the wagon. This allows me to clip all sorts of things to the ceiling and slide them at will. As such, I zip-tied a carabiner to the fan and can now move it wherever it works best. The Anker case also has a carabiner, so I can dangle it above me while I sleep and it charges.\n\nShare this: Twitter\n\nFacebook\n\nLike this: Like Loading..."}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nFUCK IT I'll become a drug dealer"}
-{"text": "What makes a great glass of water? A pristine source, plus careful testing and high-tech filtration and treatment.\n\nby Michael Park, for Rodale's Organic Life\n\n\n\nPHOTOGRAPH BY FRANK PETERS/GETTY\n\n\n\nNew York City\n\nMore than 1 billion daily gallons of sweet, mineral-rich water travels over 125 miles from carefully guarded Catskill Mountains reservoirs.\n\n\n\nPHOTOGRAPH BY RECUBEJIM/FLICKR\n\n\n\nStevens Point, Wisconsin\n\nPulled from aquifers and treated with chlorine, fluoride, and phosphate, the silky, clean sip topped the American Water Works Association (AWWA) 2010 taste test.\n\n\n\nPHOTOGRAPH BY HAMID AHANG/EYEEM/GETTY\n\n\n\nChicago\n\nModerately hard Lake Michigan water is filtered through carbon and sand for a clean-tasting drink.\n\n\n\nPHOTOGRAPH BY ALBERTPEGO/GETTY\n\n\n\nDenver\n\nFed by Rocky Mountains snowmelt, this water's brisk taste is mineral and grassy.\n\n\n\nPHOTOGRAPH BY DENISTANGNEYJR/GETTY\n\n\n\nManchester, New Hampshire\n\nThe soft Lake Massabesic water, purified with ozone, has earned kudos from the Partnership for Safe Water for its quality.\n\n\n\nPHOTOGRAPH BY MAREKULIASZ/GETTY\n\n\n\nFort Collins, Colorado\n\nMountain snowmelt and the Cache La Poudre River are coal-filtered and chlorine-treated for a crisp, fresh sip.\n\n\n\nPHOTOGRAPH BY DENIS JR TANGNEY/GETTY\n\n\n\nGreenville, South Carolina\n\nThis Southern city's smooth-tasting supply hails from a pristine, 26,000-acre area of the Blue Ridge foothills.\n\n\n\nPHOTOGRAPH BY JMISKE/FLICKR\n\n\n\nSilverdale, Washington\n\nThe deep Green Mountain aquifer is so pure that the rainwater-fresh H2O can be consumed untreated.\n\n\n\nPHOTOGRAPH BY TOBYNABORS/GETTY\n\n\n\nOklahoma City, Oklahoma\n\nPumped from six manmade lakes, then filtered and treated with ozone, this neutral-tasting stuff won the AWWA contest in 2007 and 2013.\n\n\n\nPHOTOGRAPH BY ALTRENDO IMAGES/GETTY\n\n\n\nLouisville, Kentucky\n\nSand and gravel filtration and hundreds of daily tests ensure that even water from the not-so-untouched Ohio River flows from taps sweet and clean.\n\nGo to water.epa.gov/drink/local for more information on your local taps.\n\nThis article was originally published on Rodale's Organic Life.\n\nMore from Rodale's Organic Life:"}
-{"text": "Welcome to The Issue, where we celebrate some of the strangest, most interesting and distinctive single issue comic stories ever to grace the medium. You know the ones; silent issues, sideways issues, backwards issues... and issues set during certain rapidly-approaching holidays.\n\nWhat makes something a piece of Christmas culture? Does a late December setting qualify? Is a smattering of snow and tinsel enough? When that one friend tells you their favourite Christmas film is Die Hard or Gremlins, or if they're being especially stubborn, Iron Man 3, are they wrong?\n\nSee, Chris Claremont and John Byrne's Uncanny X-Men #143 features plenty of festive imagery: the bulk of the issue takes place on December 24th, with a brief 'night before Christmas' riff, and there are Christmas trees and snow, the latter apparently summoned by Storm. It's the home of the \u201cMerry Christmas, sexy\u201d moment I first encountered in Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men #1, where Kitty Pryde grabs a sprig of mistletoe and plants a kiss on Colossus's cheek, turning the steel man pink.\n\nBut it's not really a Christmas story. These Christmas trappings are quickly jettisoned to get to the real meat of the story, in which Kitty basically acts out the third act of Alien inside the X-Mansion. The fact that the issue is named 'Demon' should give you an idea of exactly how interested it is in festive matters, and fair enough \u2013 the issue's cover-date is March, and its protagonist is Jewish.\n\nThere's a page early on thhaat makes it abundantly clear that this isn't going to be a Very Kitty Christmas, as a pair of excited newlyweds sneak into a forest to chop down their first Christmas tree... only to disemboweled by the claws of the titular villain.\n\nThe role Christmas plays in the story is basically a plot device to have Kitty left on her own by the grown-ups \u2013 something that genuinely does evoke childhood memories of Christmas for me, though that's possibly because of Home Alone.\n\nJust as with Macaulay Culkin, it soon transpires that Kitty isn't truly alone in the house. But, this being the X-Men, the threat she faces is a little more fearsome than a pair of bungling burglars. Which is where the whole Alien thing comes in. The N'Garai demon that breaks into the mansion bears a remarkable likeness to H.R. Giger's Xenomorph.\n\nByrne, penciling the last X-Men issue he worked on with Claremont, does a marvelous job of making the N'Garai scary. He throws the monster into deep shadow, twists its anatomy into shapes that just don't look right, draws it looming over Kitty \u2026 but it's hard to deny the similarity to Sigourney Weaver's extraterrestrial nemesis.\n\nClaremont has never been above a cheeky pop-culture reference, and the issue explicitly acknowledges the influence, as Kitty wishes for one of the flamethrowers \u201cthey used \u2026 to fight the monster in that movie.\u201d Weirdly, though, Alien isn't actually the closest cinematic comparison for this story.\n\nIf the film wasn't released five years after the comic, I could've sworn Uncanny X-Men #143 was a pastiche of Die Hard. Lone plucky hero facing off against a much more powerful force? Check. Borderline irrelevant Christmas setting? Check. Hero utilizing the space around them to overcome the villain? That's a big fat check.\n\nThis last one is the real key. According to architecture blogger Geoff Manaugh, Die Hard's biggest successes come through \"its depiction of architectural space\". The argument is elegantly recounted in Filmish, Edward Ross' collection of comic film essays, but briefly: the idea is that John McClane navigates the space of the Nakatomi Plaza in ways it was never designed for. He travels through air vents and hoses and maintenance tunnels, \"basically every conceivable way but passing through its doors and hallways,\" as Manaugh puts it.\n\nClick to enlarge\n\nKitty does the exact same thing, but with two vital differences that result from this being an X-Men comic. First, thanks to her mutant power, Kitty doesn't need any conveniently-placed air vents \u2013 she just phases straight through walls, floors, and ceilings. Second, Die Hard has to spend some time establishing the space of the Nakatomi Plaza, but the X-Mansion is a place most readers are already intimately familiar with.\n\nThat means that Claremont and Byrne are able to condense their establishing shots into a couple of mistletoe-wreathed pages in the lobby and a couple more in the Danger Room before it all kicks off. But more importantly, there's an added thrill to seeing the Danger Room, the dorms, the Blackbird hangar turned into weapons by Kitty because, if you've read enough X-Men comics, the chances are that these spaces already feel at least a little bit real to you.\n\nThere is a missed opportunity here though, which gives Die Hard the edge, at least as a Christmas story. As Kitty runs around and through the mansion, there are no lights, no trees, not even a stray present \u2013 apparently the X-Men don't go in big for decorations. Nor, perhaps more gravely, does it at any point feature a Christmas song by Run DMC.\n\nBut, look, here's the secret about Christmas culture; It can be anything you want. Your favourite festive film doesn't have to be A Muppet Christmas Carol (though that is clearly the correct answer to the question). It doesn't even to be something set at Christmas.\n\nI'm listening to my Christmas playlist as I write this. Although most of the songs on it go light on the ol' sleigh bells, they're still my way of summoning up that elusive Christmassy feeling because I've listened to them for the past decade of Decembers.\n\nComics have never been part of my Christmas ritual in the same way. Maybe it's time to slide this issue into rotation, between Die Hard and Home Alone \u2013 if only so I can work out once and for all which is the best."}
-{"text": "Alton Towers have today released the first set of opening times for the 2013 season, only days before the park re-opens this weekend. This year has seen the opening times announced much later than usual, possibly in part due to the delays to new ride The Smiler \u2013 now due to open in May.\n\nThe most interesting thing to come from this year\u2019s current set of opening hours is that the 4 PM close has now gone, with the earliest ride close being 5 PM instead. 4PM closures were announced for a number of off peak days last season, causing a negative reaction from both enthusiasts and park guests. As a result of this, the early closures were eventually scaled back.\n\nThe whole season has not yet been announced, but the majority of times seem to be set at 5 PM with a handful of 5:30 PM park closures. Moving into the peak summer months, July and August the park sees a number of 6 PM closures. Ride closes for September and October have not yet been announced, whilst Scarefest and Fireworks will see the park open until 9 PM.\n\nThese opening times, taken from July, show the fairly random spread of differing times.\n\nAlton Towers has often adopted a policy of flexibility in park opening times when the park is particularly busy, often extending the time the park closes on the day, and so changes are entirely possible during peak periods or during special events. In addition, amendments have often been made to opening times on the Alton Towers website over the course of the season, and it\u2019s expected this will be the case during the course of 2013.\n\nAs always, we will keep you up to date with any changes via our news articles, our popular social media pages on Facebook and Twitter, or over on our forums."}
-{"text": "Writing in The Week, Ryan Cooper shares a chilling story about an Obamacare Gold-level health insurance policy that let its beneficiary down when he needed it most:\n\nStewart is 29 years old, and was pursuing his Ph.D in American history at Texas Christian University until ill health forced him to withdraw. He lives in Ft. Worth, Texas, with his wife of six years, who is a junior high school teacher in a low-income district. They own their home. Before he came down with complications from cirrhosis caused by autoimmune hepatitis, he says he led a scrupulously healthy lifestyle\u2014he does not drink or do any other non-medical drugs, he says, and was a devoted hiker before disaster struck. And he was insured\u2014indeed, he had a gold plan from the ObamaCare exchanges, the second-best level of plan that you can get. But now he faces imminent bankruptcy and possibly death. (Ryan Cooper, \u201cThis is How American Health Care Kills People,\u201d The Week, January 14, 2017.)\n\nThis is exactly the type of catastrophic illness for which insurance should pay. Why does it not? Liver failure is not usually associated with people who live healthy lifestyles \u2013 quite the opposite. However, other than a small variation in premium for tobacco use, insurers are forbidden from \u201cdiscriminating\u201d against those who abuse drugs or alcohol in favor of those who are struck with liver disease for other reasons. (Although not described in the article, this may be a genetic predisposition.)\n\nSo, insurers do the best they can to limit benefits for liver disease, despite legal and regulatory attempts to prevent them from doing so. Why are laws and regulations not very effective at addressing this perverse outcome?\n\nThe proportion of people in circumstances like Stewart\u2019s is very small, not really a powerful political constituency. Instead of allowing a market for health insurance that indemnifies beneficiaries from financially catastrophic costs, politicians prefer to promise citizens \u201cfree\u201d benefits which most citizens expect to use relatively constantly. Instead of hard data on health outcomes for expensive and deadly diseases, research produced in support of the health benefits of Medicaid tends to report increased access to dentists and vaccinations, which is self-reported by dependents in telephone surveys.\n\nAs long as we allow politicians to design health insurance, the sickest patients will suffer most.\n\n* * *\n\nFor the pivotal alternative to Obamacare, see Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis and A Better Choice: Healthcare Solutions for America, by John C. Goodman, published by Independent Institute."}
-{"text": "Liberty has already purchased a 10% stake and is scheduled to complete the deal early next year, at which point it will have a controlling interest.\n\nAsked if the deal would go through as planned, Ecclestone told Motorsport.com: \u201cI can\u2019t say no and I can\u2019t say yes.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve never counted their money. I don\u2019t know their company, so I have no idea. They paid what they had to pay, they bought 10% of the company and they paid.\n\n\u201cI\u2019d be surprised if it didn\u2019t happen, but if it doesn\u2019t happen, it doesn\u2019t happen. CVC will still own their shares, less what they sold. Liberty will have 10%. They\u2019ll have the same amount of shares, actually a bit less, that my family have.\u201d\n\nAsked if Liberty not having a controlling stake might actually suit him, Ecclestone said: \u201cI don\u2019t mind who the shareholders are. I never had any trouble with CVC, they\u2019ve been shareholders for 10 years.\n\n\"We\u2019ve never had any disputes or any problems. They\u2019ve been very, very good.\n\n\u201cDonald [Mackenzie] bought the company for the reason that people like him buy companies, so he could sell it at a profit, which he\u2019s managed to do. And he\u2019s an enthusiast, he loves his F1, and he trusts the way he\u2019s been running things. Everything works well.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Sept 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. Interior Department has decided against extending Endangered Species Act protection to the greater sage grouse, Montana's governor said on Tuesday ahead of a formal announcement expected from the Obama administration.\n\nThe decision climaxes a long-simmering debate over conservation of an imperiled ground-dwelling bird that has pitted environmental groups against energy developers, mining companies and ranchers in 11 Western states. (Reporting by Laura Zuckerman in Salmon, Idaho; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Eric Walsh)\n\nOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles."}
-{"text": "Speaking out: Phil Hogan has been one of the UK\u2019s biggest critics during the Brexit talks. Photo: Reuters\n\nIreland is set to be handed one of the top jobs in the European Commission to give it a major influence on future trade talks with the UK.\n\nPhil Hogan is in line to be appointed to the position of Trade Commissioner, a job that will put him at the centre of negotiations on the future relationship between the EU and UK.\n\nThe appointment will be seen as evidence the EU is standing firmly behind Ireland in the event of a hard Brexit.\n\nMr Hogan has been one of the most vocal critics of the UK's tactics in the current Brexit negotiations, recently describing Prime Minister Boris Johnson as \"unelected\".\n\nHe has warned a no-deal Brexit will create a \"foul atmosphere\" with the EU that will have \"serious consequences\" for the UK's chances of a future trade deal.\n\nMember states are still battling for key roles on the new commission ahead of a formal announcement by incoming president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Tuesday.\n\nThere is still a chance she could reshuffle her plans before then, but a number of sources said Mr Hogan was the clear frontrunner for trade. His current agriculture portfolio is expected to go to Poland.\n\nThe Trade Commissioner is responsible for representing the EU at the World Trade Organisation and other international forums. And while they will not directly head up trade negotiations with the UK after Brexit, sources said the person would be a \"central player\" in the process.\n\nRegardless of whether there is a Brexit deal, the EU expects talks on new trading arrangements to begin at some stage.\n\nThe Government made no secret of the fact it was lobbying for a significant job for Mr Hogan in the wake of Brexit.\n\nLast night, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that everyone needed to be \"realistic\" about trade agreements.\n\n\"If the UK can negotiate a trade agreement with the EU or the US within three or four years they'll be breaking records,\" he said.\n\nHe pointed out that once a deal with the EU is done it has to be ratified by 29 parliaments - the remaining 27 EU member states, the European Parliament and Westminster.\n\n\"I was talking yesterday about Brexit and I was turning my attention to what the EU negotiating an FTA [free trade agreement] with the UK is going to take,\" he said.\n\n\"The amount of things we'll have to go through particularly if the UK - which seems to be going down this course of competition and non-alignment - that makes a trade deal much more difficult... it's such a complicated thing to do an FTA. The UK will not have an FTA with the EU or the US for many years to come.\"\n\nMr Varadkar's remarks came at the Kennedy Summer School in New Ross, Co Wexford, where he said UK politics has been \"very volatile\".\n\nHe is to meet Mr Johnson for the first time since he became prime minister in Dublin on Monday, but does not expect there to be a breakthrough on Brexit at their meeting.\n\nMr Johnson's officials yesterday made the first detailed proposal for replacing the backstop during a meeting with EU figures in Brussels.\n\nThe plan involved an all-Ireland food standards zone which would be subject to reviews by Stormont.\n\nHowever, it was quickly rebuffed on the grounds that it would leave the Republic at the mercy of politicians in the North. Despite this, it is expected that Mr Johnson will float the same proposal when he comes to Dublin.\n\nMeanwhile, Mr Varadkar is under increasing pressure to outline what will happen at the Border in the event of no deal. Having said that checks may have to take place \"near the Border\", Mr Varadkar has refused to elaborate on what form they might take.\n\nWhile customs checks and controls on goods and veterinary checks on animals will primarily take place at ports, factories and food-processing plants, the Irish Independent understands new facilities are also likely to be part of the plan. Talks between the Government and the European Commission are ongoing but it is likely to be the end of the month before full details are revealed.\n\nMr Varadkar said yesterday there would be a \"grace period\" for any changes made.\n\nFianna F\u00e1il leader Miche\u00e1l Martin warned the Government to be \"absolutely honest\" and \"up-front\" about plans for customs checks. He hit out at the Government, claiming it \"hasn't been up-front about this from the beginning and it should have been\".\n\nHe referred to an incident revealed by the Irish Independent in which T\u00e1naiste Simon Coveney and Transport Minister Shane Ross were caught on tape discussing remarks where Mr Ross suggested there will be checks on goods.\n\nMr Coveney said at the time: \"Once you start talking about checks anywhere near the Border, people will start delving into that and all of a sudden we'll be the Government that reintroduced a physical Border on the island of Ireland.\"\n\nIrish Independent"}
-{"text": "The Question Time audience member who claimed he wasn't \"in the top 50 per cent of British earners\" while earning \u00a380,000 can be revealed as an IT consultant and champion professional motorcycle racer.\n\nRob \"Bullet\" Barber, 36, of Bury, in Lancashire, runs race team PBR Racing alongside his dad Phil.\n\nHe is well known on the racing circuit and has taken part in some of the top events including the Pikes Peak Hill Climb and Ulster GP.\n\nHe claimed on BBC Question Time last night that he was not in the country's top 50 per cent of earners - despite earning over \u00a380,000.\n\nSitting alongside his mother, Mr Barber claimed he was nowhere near the the top 50pc of earners - despite his huge salary.\n\nHe said: \"I would like to call Labour out as liars.\n\n(Image: Twitter)\n\n\"I am one of them people he will tax more and I am nowhere near in the top five so I am calling you a liar.\n\n\"That 5pc is a lie, I am nowhere near that and you are going to tax me as an employee.\n\n\"You are not going after the billionaires, you're going after the employees because it's easy money and I have no choice because its PAYE, I have no choice.\"\n\nRob has been hailed a \"virtuoso in the racing industry\" quickly becoming one of the top club racers in the country.\n\nHe has had multiple podium finishes in the TT Zero, including a second place in 2010 Isle of Man TT and third at the 2013 Isle of Man TT and 2014 Isle of Man TT.\n\n(Image: BBC)\n\nA friend said the 36-year-old had posted about appearing on the show on Facebook before later deleting his account.\n\nDuring the discussion, Labour MP candidate Richard Burgon told the champion motorcyclist he was \"mistaken.\"\n\nHe continued: \"We are not going to raise income tax for anybody apart from the top 5 percent of earners.\"\n\nBut Mr Barber challenged this, as he rebutted: \"But you are. Because I've read your policy.\n\n\"It's above \u00a380,000. And I am nowhere near in the top five percent, let me tell you. I am not even in the top 50 percent.\"\n\nWhen quizzed by TV host Fiona Bruce, Mr Barber clarified that he earned over \u00a380,000, but \"was not in the top five percent\", which led to heckles from fellow audience members.\n\n(Image: BBC)\n\nBut he blasted back: \"I'm not. Every doctor in this country earns more than that. Every doctor, every accountant, every solicitor earns more than that. That's not five percent.\"\n\nThe Labour party has pledged to raise income tax for the top five percent of earners, if they are elected.\n\nMr Barber's comments have been widely repeated on social media - with many questioning his statements.\n\nA spoof Tweet claiming he was the \"son of a duke\" was retweeted thousands of times despite being false.\n\nSarah Handyside tweeted: \"Managed about five minutes of #questiontime before turning off.\n\n\"Fascinating/terrifying that someone on \u00a380k thinks he\u2019s \u2018not even in the top 50%\u2019 and \u2018all doctors and lawyers earn more\u2019.\n\n\"We desperately need better understanding of median earnings, and junior/senior spread.\"\n\nHanna Motara joked: \"80k?!?! All solicitors and doctors earning more than 80k?! Is he having a laugh?\"\n\n(Image: BBC)\n\nBut leading lawyer Jolyon Maugham tweeted: \"Fact. Earning \u00a380,000 a year puts you well into the top *3%* of adult earners.\"\n\nHe added: \"\u00a380,000 - what an MP earns - puts you into the top 3% but it doesn't give you the lifestyle the English middle class once had.\n\n\"No private school, no comfortable house (certainly not in London), and so on. What we used to call a middle class existence is increasingly unobtainable.\n\n\"I'm not playing a violin for him - about 97% have it worse - but it does tell a story about how all the gains are going to an infinitesimally small number of people and how (in a way) everyone else can be cross with justification.\"\n\nAnother tweeter said: \"One thing about Question Time guy: if he's single and earning \u00a380k a year, he's taking home as much as a couple who each earn \u00a335k (which below than the London average!).\n\nShow more\n\n\"So *if* he's single (or his partner doesn't work), he'll feel poor compared to coupled friends.\"\n\nMirror.co.uk has approached PRB Racing for comment."}
-{"text": "Assalamualaikum and a very good day to all DinarDirham supporters and believers.\n\nWe have around 43 days left to 2017. In 2016, DinarDirham through its innovative products, has received many awards and recognitions from countries around the globe especially in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. This achievement is a result of the strong commitment from the DinarDirham team as well as from all of the partners and providers who are continuously developing the technology in our products. DinarDirham has received a great amount of positive feedback from customers in Asia who have started ordering and purchasing our DNC and 24K physical gold from our partners since early 2016. Here today, we would like to make an announcement on a number of significant issues regarding DinarDirham as well as a number of updates and the latest information about our products.\n\nDinarDirham in Brunei\n\nRecent news has reported that four of DinarDirham IBs (Introducing Brokers) of one of our products in the Brunei market have been arrested in Brunei for investigation purposes. They have been arrested for selling DNC in Brunei without the appropriate license. However, all of them have now been released without charges, while the investigation process is still ongoing. DinarDirham is taking this matter very seriously and our lawyers from Malaysia and Brunei are currently working on this issue to present and provide more information to the Brunei authorities about DinarDirham activities. We are doing all we can to provide necessary information to the Brunei authorities in order to assist their investigation. For the public\u2019s information, there are official invoices to prove all trades and transactions done by these IBs as well as proof of ownership from their appointed IB representative. There is nobody in any country, including Brunei, that has reported being scammed.\n\nFor your information, DNC is a digital asset used and produced from a new technology called Blockchain. It\u2019s a digital asset which until now has yet to be recognized as legal tender by any government in any country, just like Bitcoin and ether. However, some advanced countries like Singapore and Switzerland have already taken bold and innovative decisions to regulate and foster innovations in Blockchain technologies. Companies which have come out with new innovations, like Uber, are often called \u201cdisruptors\u201d, for which misunderstanding and misinterpretations are common.\n\nConfidence and understanding of our technology has enabled DNC to receive huge market recognition. We at DinarDirham believe that the best way for users to own gold is in digital form. Through our technology, people will now be able to use DNC to make payments and make purchases by using the DinarDirham VISA debit card, another new product that will be launched soon. Besides that, they can also redeem their DNC in the form of physical gold, which is certified in Malaysia.\n\nOur products and technology belongs to a new field called, FinTech. Some countries have already started making new laws for FinTech and have recently launched Sandbox programs and some guidelines. FinTech, especially Blockchain and digital currency have not yet been regulated in most countries because it\u2019s still very new. Therefore, DinarDirham is always ready to cooperate with any agency in any country who\u2019s interested to gain further knowledge about these \u201cdisruptive products\u201d that we\u2019ve produced. We would love to let everyone know and realize that our products are not meant to compete with the conventional financial system, but instead it will be able to solve and widen the use of digital gold, which until today there is no organization that has been able to do it effectively. DinarDirham will continue producing innovative products and educating people on this new technology called Blockchain. We believe that one day this innovation will be accepted and used to solve daily economic problems. We have a vast amount of great testimonials from thousands of DNC purchasers in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Dubai, China, and India.\n\nETPS Misunderstanding\n\nETPS was created and is managed by Golden Serenity Limited, a registered company in Seychelles. There are a lot of misunderstandings regarding the cooperation between Golden Serenity Limited and DinarDirham. DinarDirham is registered in Hong Kong under the company name Gold Prime Technology Ltd. Gold Prime Technology Ltd is a technology and software provider for Golden Serenity Limited and that is the only link between these two companies since the 12th of December 2015. Both of these companies have agreed to a signed agreement, the terms and conditions are as follows:\n\n1) Golden Serenity Limited is allowed to use the price feed of GOLD_1DINAR (DinarCoin) for their ETPS Program.\n\n2) Golden Serenity Limited is allowed to fully manage the pre-order process of DNC.\n\n3) Golden Serenity Limited is not allowed to use DinarDirham\u2019s brand name on marketing materials as operators for ETPS. DinarDirham can only be announced as a technology and solutions provider.\n\n4) Golden Serenity Limited needs to report the total amount of DNC pre-orders received on a monthly basis to Gold Prime Technology Ltd.\n\n5) Gold Prime Technology Ltd will not be held responsible on the management and operations of ETPS\u2019 Program by Golden Serenity Limited.\n\nBelow is the link to the agreement signed by both parties:\n\nhttps://www.dinardirham.com/pdf/collaboration_agreement.pdf\n\nUniversal Bitcoin Wallet (UBW)\n\nUBW will be launched in BETA on the 25th of November 2016 at 8.00pm (Hong Kong time zone). While waiting for the UBW to be launched in BETA, everyone can start registering now to obtain their own BTC and ETH address as well as DNC tokens. However, transactions are not allowed until UBW BETA is launched. After launching, it will be running for 30 days to allow all members to do transactions and testing. All feedback and errors encountered in this version can be reported by email to info@universalbitcoin.com. The BETA version of UBW is able to receive and transfer Bitcoin as well as ether, just like the other crypto wallets in the market. The difference is that DinarDirham\u2019s wallet also uses DNC which allows its users to store crypto in the form of gold, because DNC is minted based on the current gold price. After UBW is launched, we will be able to provide 24 hour service for 24K gold trading in the form of DNC or Gold Smart Contracts (GSC). Every DNC and GSC can be redeemed 1:1 to 24K physical gold at our Gold Liquidity Provider (GLP) by paying an amount of premium storage.\n\nPlease use this link to go to the UBW wallet: https://universalblockchains.com/\n\nPlease download the PDF below to know more about the UBW wallet:\n\nhttps://www.dinardirham.com/pdf/ubw_wallet.pdf\n\nDinarCoin (DNC)\n\nDNC is a product by DinarDirham which is 100% backed by gold. It uses MT4 platform technology for real-time hedging to the registered and regulated financial institutions. Every DNC circulated in the market is recorded publicly and decentralized using Ethereum Blockchain. By using public blockchain like Ethereum, it is impossible for anyone to manipulate the DNC, this includes DinarDirham. In DNC minting, there will be a number of processes which involve different parties to do verification in real-time and automatically on the technology provided by DinarDirham.\n\nOn the 28th of October 2016, DinarDirham was awarded as the \u201cMost Innovative Gold Fintech Provider\u201d in Shenzhen, China, among 38 other award receivers. This award is given by the organizer of the 10th China Forex Expo, which is the biggest forex expo held in China and has been attended by many experts and financial institutions such as DukaScopy Bank, i-Gold, UK Clearing House, and UEM Berhad including 5,000 traders and investors from all over the world.\n\nBelow is the link to the presentation slides for the China Forex Expo 2016:\n\nhttps://www.dinardirham.com/pdf/shenzen.pdf\n\nBesides that, DinarDirham has also recently been given the opportunity to give a presentation at the event in London called Blockchain: Money on the 6th of November 2016. It was a huge event, intended to introduce blockchain technology and the future of Bitcoin, and was attended by many experts and financial institutions such as Dubai Future Foundation (Dubai Government), Bitcoin.com, Smart Dubai, Synechron, and HSBC Bank.\n\nThe CTO of DinarDirham, Arai Ezzra (FB: Arai bin Ezzra) did a presentation on \u201cUnderstanding Southeast Asia Market\u201d, which afterwords, has attracted a number of companies in London to cooperate with DinarDirham in marketing our products in their markets. DinarDirham has also had some discussions with potential companies in London which have their own blockchain products to start entering the Southeast Asia market and cooperating with DinarDirham in 2017.\n\nBelow is the link to the presentation slides for the London event:\n\nhttps://www.dinardirham.com/pdf/london.pdf\n\nDinarDirham has received many awards and recognitions from global experts and conventional banks around the world for our achievements in FinTech by combining Blockchain and gold assets as well as conventional gold paper contracts offered by licensed financial institutions who act as Liquidity Providers for our DNC. DNC allows users to store gold with security and confidence.\n\nRecently, the Singapore Fintech Festival, which is the biggest event for Fintech in Asia, was held on the 16th of November 2016. The festival was attended by around 11,000 participants from more than 50 countries. DinarDirham was given a great opportunity to be at the event to showcase our products by setting up a booth. There was also a 45 minute presentation by the CTO of DinarDirham during the \u201copen mic theatre\u201d session.\n\nHere is his presentation slides titled \u201cDinarDirham: Blockchain Solutions for Gold\u201d:\n\nhttps://www.dinardirham.com/pdf/slidesingapore.pdf\n\nFor the time being, DNC by DinarDirham is still in BETA version for 30 days. All transactions can be referred in the third party blockchain explorer through Ethereum here:\n\nhttps://etherscan.io/token/0x016dcbef5fa51f354064d505288f3908d84b6411\n\n(currently under development)\n\nDinarDirham Physical Gold\n\nDinarDirham has produced a collection of physical gold using our own brand. We cooperate with a number of gold providers which include Triple 9 and Harimau Mint from Malaysia, and Metals Bullion Ltd from Dubai. Our physical gold is of 24K quality and fineness of 999.9 and is certified by an accredited assayer. We encourage our members to keep them as digital assets backed by gold, which hold the exact same characteristics as gold such as anti-inflation, and can be used to make purchases online.\n\nFor more information on our physical gold collection, please refer to our brochure below:\n\nhttps://www.dinardirham.com/pdf/brochure.pdf\n\nVault Locations\n\nGold Prime Technology Ltd has built partnerships with a number of Gold Liquidity Providers (GLP) to handle the purchases and buybacks process of dinar and physical gold. The trading of DinarDirham\u2019s physical gold by GLP is according to the current gold price as shown in: https://www.dinardirham.com/mt4price/ .\n\nAll of our physical gold at the GLP are of 24K quality and fineness of 999.9 and are certified by an accredited assayer. Other brands at the GLP that can be traded are only for those which are LBMA certified.\n\nPlease refer below for the purchase/buyback/and redemption processes:\n\n1) DinarDirham Hong Kong Gold Boutique:\n\nAddress: Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui\n\nTel: +85258081478\n\nEmail: admin@dinardirham.com\n\nService:\n\n\u2013 Purchase/buyback DNC & GSC.\n\n\u2013 Purchase/buyback BTC & ETH\n\n\u2013 Buyback 24k physical gold (any brand)\n\n2) DinarDirham Singapore Gold Boutique:\n\nAddress: Singapore Gallery\n\nTel: +6566323502\n\nEmail: ddsingapore@dinardirham.com\n\nService:\n\n\u2013 Purchase/buyback DNC & GSC.\n\n\u2013 Purchase/buyback BTC & ETH\n\n\u2013 Buyback 24k physical gold (any brand)\n\n3) Kuala Lumpur Gold Gallery DinarDirham Koperasi Berhad\n\nAddress: Prima Sri Gombak, Selangor\n\nTel: +60361780034\n\nEmail: kodinar@coopdinardirham.com\n\nService:\n\n\u2013 Purchase/buyback/redeem DNC & GSC.\n\n\u2013 Purchase/buyback BTC & ETH\n\n\u2013 Purchase/buyback LBMA certified physical gold bar.\n\n\u2013 Buyback 24k physical gold (any brand)\n\n4) DinarDirham Thailand Bangkok Gold Gallery\n\nAddress: Kai Tuk Building, Popula Rd\n\nTel: +66880224789\n\nEmail: ddbangkok@dinardirham.com\n\nService:\n\n\u2013 Purchase/buyback DNC & GSC.\n\n\u2013 Purchase/buyback BTC & ETH\n\n\u2013 Buyback 24k physical gold (any brand)\n\nDinarDirham Communication Channels\n\nDinarDirham has its own communication channels to allow all members to get the latest information and updates. All members are recommended to participate in giving their testimonies and to be involved in the forums provided. Below are some of the communication channels that can be used:\n\n1) WeChat: DinarDirhamcom\n\n2) Telegram: telegram.me/dinardirhamglobal\n\n3) Twitter: DinarDirham\n\n4) Facebook: DinarDirham\n\n5) Slack: dinardirham-group.slack.com\n\n6) Blog: dinardirham.com/blog\n\nDinarDirham has also provided some references for the public. Please download and read through the links below:\n\n1) DinarDirham Whitepaper: https://www.dinardirham.com/assets/pdf/whitepaper.pdf\n\n2) DinarDirham Technology: https://www.dinardirham.com/pdf/technology_dd.pdf\n\n3) Company Profile: https://www.dinardirham.com/pdf/company_profile.pdf\n\n18th of November 2016\n\nDinarDirham Management Team and Partners.\n\n\u2013 Innovation Creates Future \u2013"}
-{"text": "The Hidden Pleasures on How To Be Patient\n\nImagine a situation in your life where you waited for something longer than you wanted and by the time you received it, you felt an intense measure of relief. Perhaps you were hungrier than usual and by the time you ate anything, it tasted better than it did before. Or maybe you dated someone but they made you wait until they became intimate with you.\n\nNow imagine every situation where you immediately received what you wanted. Every situation where you received instant satisfaction. Maybe you asked for candy and immediately received it. Or perhaps you immediately received a present you wanted rather than wait for a special situation.\n\nNormally we like to assume that we want something so we could feel satisfied with our life. For most, it\u2019s gaining a certain level in their financials and the idea of waiting patiently as they build up to it is agony.\n\nI struggle with the idea of wanting to finish a book as fast as possible while retaining all the information, which ruins the overall process of digesting it. My friend wants to lose weight but she often struggles with the idea of working out consistently to get to the size she wants.\n\nEither way, everyday we\u2019re constantly beating ourselves up because we want something now rather than wait in the future. And as logical creatures, we see the results of what we want as a means to get to the next level in our lives.\n\nBut as ironic as it is to want something now, it\u2019s not necessary. Yes, I know if you\u2019re poor and struggling to pay your bills, having more money will relieve your tensions. Yes, I know if you\u2019re overweight and want to be the size you dream of, the idea of waiting possibly months to get there seems crazy.\n\nAfter all, waiting is torture. It\u2019s why people dread at the idea of visiting the DMV or visit the hospital. Which is why it\u2019s important to know how to distract yourself while waiting to achieve whatever goal you have in mind.\n\nA Study on Patience\n\nFor example, a few years ago, executives at a Houston airport faced a troubling customer-relations issue. Passengers were lodging an inordinate number of complaints about the long waits at baggage claim.\n\nAs a response, the executives increased the number of baggage handlers working that shift. The plan worked: the average wait fell to eight minutes, well within industry benchmarks. But the complaints persisted.\n\nPuzzled, the airport executives undertook a more careful approach. They found that it took passengers a minute to walk from their arrival gates to baggage claim and seven more minutes to get their bags.\n\nSo the airport decided on instead of reducing the wait time, it moved the arrival gates away from the main terminal and routed bags to the outermost carousel. Passengers now had to walk six times longer to get to their bags. But the complaints had now dropped to near zero.\n\nWhat to Learn from that Study\n\nIt\u2019s not the waiting process that gets under people noses. It\u2019s the idea of doing NOTHING while waiting for SOMETHING that does. The experience of waiting is what drives people to quit their dreams, their goals, or even leave the store when the line is too long.\n\nWhich is why occupying your time while you wait is essential when chasing after a goal. Occupied time makes time feel shorter and research has shown that people overestimate how long they\u2019ve waited in line by about 36%.\n\nA Weird Thing Our Brain Does To Us\n\nA strange fascination that our memory does to us is the way it outweighs our pleasurable experiences to our negative ones. It weighs the beginning moments with the final moments.\n\nFor example, when you visit a DMV, your initial moment is waiting in line for an extended period of time and your final moment is speaking with a representative who seems to hate their life. Your happiness moment is probably going to be when you leave the DMV, which won\u2019t outweigh your overall experience there.\n\nHowever, when you visit a Theme Park, you often leave on a high note because although you did have to wait in line to get on every ride and deal with being surrounded by a multitude of strangers, you did have a good time there. You tend to look back on all the positive moments you had even if you were miserable much of the time.\n\nWhich is how our goals usually work. It may take someone years of working on their business day and night, but by the time they make a large foundation out of it, all those hard working days seem to be worth it.\n\nYou may have had a big test and studied for several weeks. And when you finally passed it with flying colors, all those nights of studying didn\u2019t seem as bad as it did back then.\n\nThe process of what you\u2019re doing now may seem like hell, but when you goal is big enough, all the pain and endurance you had to bare will be worth it.\n\nThe Art of Making Patience Work For You\n\nAlthough life seems to go fast, our major decisions shouldn\u2019t. We\u2019re reactive creatures and often want to complete any major decision we make as soon as possible. Many entrepreneurs want to make a giant business in under a month rather than focusing on ways to revenue money. People want to get six packs without establishing a workout plan.\n\nHowever, while thriving to accomplish any goal, it\u2019s crucial to act in a way as the Houston Executives did when they made their decision. Distract yourself from your overall goal with mini occupational habits that will fill your time with interest.\n\nThe science behind posting mirrors next to elevators is to occupy people minds so they aren\u2019t constantly distracted by the wait for the elevator. And like that simple mind trick, find little interests you can do that relates to the goal you\u2019re working on.\n\nFor example, when I wanted to lose weight, the idea of working out constantly bothered me. I knew I would eventually get bored before I even lost a single pound.\n\nBut what kept me interested was looking into new strange workouts to try weekly. Rather than repeating the same old workouts, I filled my time by looking into new exercises I could try and see what I can do with it. Every week filled my time with a new workout that my mind wasn\u2019t familiar with.\n\nThat way, I no longer concentrated on when I\u2019m going to get a six pack, but rather what\u2019s the new exercise I have to try out. But perhaps you\u2019re looking for a way to make more money from your business.\n\nRather than concentrating on making a certain gross income, focus on different ways you can profit from your business. If you sell clothes online, focus on other areas to sell it at, what other people did to make money from their fashion business, or ways you can market your own franchise in foreign areas.\n\nNever focus on your end results. Focus on little ways to expand towards that area and keep your mind busy as you get there. Store owners like to keep magazines near lines because they know people will read them to keep themselves distracted and they might even buy by the time they reach the cash register.\n\nREMEMBER: You don\u2019t have to stay with the current distraction you\u2019re doing now. Just let that distraction keep you busy until you get bored of it and want to try a new subject. Every mini distraction you give yourself is just a pawn to keep you from dropping your biggest goal.\n\nThe Bonus of Using Decision and Patience Together\n\nA problem you may encounter is motivating yourself to start anything else while thriving towards your goal. If you\u2019re aiming to start a business to make a living for yourself, you might struggle with initiating the first steps. Which is why understanding the decision maker tool is just as important as understanding patience.\n\nDecision making is a huge part of your life. Though the experience of making decisions can be somewhat paralyzing at times it can also be fairly easy once the art is learnt and practiced regularly.\n\nSome elements to explore first should be the negative things you identify when trying to effectively make a decision. Wanting too much certainly or a high level of positive elements to be apparent before acting on a decision will eventually cause you to stall and even avoid the decision process altogether.\n\nFor instance, before establishing a website, you might be stuck on determining what your domain name should be, how people will get to your website, and what will you put on it. And before launching your website, you have more cons than pros, thus causing you to back out altogether.\n\nPerfectionist types often fall into this category and this causes serious problems especially with regard to making business decisions. Making decision under emotional or whimsical mindset is also something to be avoided as the thought process at this point is often unclear and prejudicial.\n\nAnother folly is the need to have lots of edification before making the decision. Some people are simply reluctant to decide on anything without the consensus of the masses. They imagine the type of people who\u2019ll discredit them for their work.\n\nI\u2019m currently working on a YouTube channel called MentalReach and I have many insecurities about it. For instance, my voice. I honestly hate the way it sounds and I speak in a way that isn\u2019t often comprehensible. So displaying myself like this haunts me daily. But I still do it and constantly improve myself daily.\n\nMost wise people learn from their mistakes and exercise better judgments when making decision the next time and this is a very valuable lesson to learn instead of continuously making the same mistakes.\n\nMaking a conscious effort to make a decisive decision before moving on to the next endeavor would be a good habit to build upon. Refusing to overly focus on every small detail does eventually help in the process of making a decision promptly and effectively.\n\nHaving the confidence in the choice made is always very important as it directly impacts the implementation process.\n\nDecisions that result in freedom to have personal control should be the ones to align one\u2019s self with, as it is with the implementation of these kinds of decisions that allows the endeavors to grow both financially and physically to greater heights always.\n\nFor more posts like this, check out:"}
-{"text": "Last week, we learned how the naked body scanners, which the TSA spent $160 million in taxpayer money on, failed to find explosives or weapons in 96% of covert test cases. To make matters worse, government bureaucrats not only want to keep these useless devices in operation, they want passengers to also go through a metal detector after the naked body scan. Here\u2019s an excerpt from the post, Big Brother Idiocy \u2013 TSA Spent $160 Million on Naked Body Scanners that Fail 96% of the Time:\n\nThe $160 million bill includes $120 million for the body scanners now in place in hundreds of airports nationwide, according to newly disclosed figures obtained by POLITICO. The rest of the money went to the agency\u2019s \u201cnaked\u201d X-ray scanners, which it pulled from airports two years ago amid worries about health risks and the devices\u2019 detailed images of travelers\u2019 bodies. A recent security audit found that TSA had failed to find fake explosives and weapons in 96 percent of covert tests. And members of Congress familiar with the classified details say the body scanners are to blame for much of the problem. Johnson said that while bomb detection is obviously a complex undertaking, \u201cthese things weren\u2019t even catching metal.\u201d \u201cIf you really want to keep using those, and I\u2019m not saying we shouldn\u2019t, at a minimum we should put a metal detector on the other side,\u201d the Wisconsin Republican said in an interview. \u201cWhy not go through two? You\u2019ve just gotta use common sense.\u201d\n\nJust a few days later, we learn how a TSA employee allegedly lured a 22-year-old female South Korean passenger into a LaGuardia restroom where he proceeded to sexually molest her under the name of \u201cnational security.\u201d From ABC News:\n\nA TSA screener is accused of sexually assaulting a woman at LaGuardia Airport in New York City after telling her she needed to be searched in the bathroom. Maxie Oquendo allegedly sexually assaulted a 21-year-old student from South Korea after her Salt Lake City flight landed Tuesday afternoon. Court documents show the suspect allegedly said, \u201cHey, ma\u2019am, I need to scan your body and your luggage.\u201d She responded by saying, \u201cYou can\u2019t scan me, but you can have a woman scan me, because I am a girl.\u201d The victim asked the 40-year-old TSA screener if he checked all passengers, and Oquendo allegedly said yes. He then allegedly lifted up her shirt, unzipped her pants and fondled her. Saying afterwards, \u201cShe\u2019s clear. She doesn\u2019t have any weapons or knives.\u201d\n\nAnd in what is perhaps just as offensive\u2026\n\nIf convicted, Oquendo faces up to one year in jail.\n\nAm I the only one who remembers that a man was recently sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for having consensual sex on the beach with his girlfriend? Recall: Florida Man Sentenced to 2.5 Years in Jail for Having Sex on the Beach.\n\nIn what kind of backwards, uncivilized society does a government official who sexually molests a traveler face less jail time than a man having consensual sex on the beach? In America, that\u2019s where.\n\nOf course, the TSA has a sordid history of employees targeting passengers for deviant sexual abuse. Recall:\n\nTSA Agents Caught Gaming System so Male Screener Could Grope Attractive Passengers; No Criminal Charges Filed\n\nTSA Air Marshal Arrested for Taking Photos Up Passengers\u2019 Skirts\n\nBecause if not, the terrorists win.\n\nIn Liberty,\n\nMichael Krieger\n\n\n\nDonate bitcoins: Like this post?Donate bitcoins: 3J7D9dqSMo9HnxVeyHou7HJQGihamjYQMN\n\nFollow me on Twitter."}
-{"text": "BY AMIT BARAN ROY | Grim Dawn is the latest action role-playing game developed and published by on February 25, 2016. First announced six years ago in 2010, the game is set in the dark and ominous world of Cairn, where humanity is driven to the verge of extinction. The much awaited game, which is set around the lines of Diablo 3, has received good and positive reviews except for the few crashes and issues that are causing a headache for the players. Most of the crashing and freezing issues have occurred after the Build 31 release and some players are finding it real hard to get on with the game smoothly. We have identified few common issues and below is the list of the possible fixes. Before that, have a look at the minimum and recommended specifications of the game.\n\nMinimum Specifications:\n\n\n\nOS: Windows XP / Windows Vista / Windows 7 / Windows 8\n\nWindows XP / Windows Vista / Windows 7 / Windows 8 CPU: Core 2 Duo E4600 2.4GHz / Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+\n\nCore 2 Duo E4600 2.4GHz / Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ CPU SPEED: 2 GHz\n\n2 GHz MEMORY: 2GB RAM\n\n2GB RAM VIDEO CARD: 512 MB NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series or ATI Radeon X800 series or better\n\n512 MB NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series or ATI Radeon X800 series or better SOUND CARD: YES\n\nYES FREE DISK SPACE: 2GB\n\nRecommended Specifications:\n\n\n\nOS: Windows 7\n\nWindows 7 CPU: Core i3-3240 3.4GHz / Phenom II X4 40\n\nCore i3-3240 3.4GHz / Phenom II X4 40 CPU SPEED: 3 GHz\n\n3 GHz MEMORY: 4GB RAM\n\n4GB RAM VIDEO CARD: 1.5 GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 or ATI Radeon HD 6870\n\n1.5 GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 or ATI Radeon HD 6870 SOUND CARD: YES\n\nYES FREE DISK SPACE: 5GB\n\n1. Get the latest patch updates:-\n\nPlayers are facing much of the crashing, BSOD and freezing issues after they have updated to the Build 31 release. Since then, there has been two official patch fix (also called the Hotfix) released. These are auto update patches via steam. The game will automatically download the updates once you log in to Steam next time. Check out the changelog below for more details.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2. Crash at Startup/ Grim Dawn not starting/ Black Screen/ Blue Screen/ BSOD fix:-\n\nThis is the most critical issue of the game till now. Many people have reported that their rigs getting black screen and BSODs after attempting to run the game. If the above patches fails to fix these issues, have a look at our workarounds below.\n\nUpdate your NVIDIA and AMD GPU drivers to the latest version. While it seems obvious, but it is the most essential and wisest step to perform.\n\nThere is a possibility that the game files may be corrupted. Hence it is advised to verify your game installation files.\n\n- Right click Grim Dawn in your Library and choose \u201cProperties\u201d.\n\n- Select the \u201cLocal Files\u201d tab.\n\n- Press the \u201cVerify Integrity of Game Cache\u201d button.\n\n- Steam will redownload the missing file.\n\n- Right click Grim Dawn in your Library and choose \u201cProperties\u201d. - Select the \u201cLocal Files\u201d tab. - Press the \u201cVerify Integrity of Game Cache\u201d button. - Steam will redownload the missing file. Ingame freezes- This has become more predominant after the B31 update. It is frustrating as the game suddenly hangs after playing few minutes and players end up rebooting the rig which may be dangerous. Below are the few possible workarounds.\n\n- Try playing the game in windowed/ borderless window screen.\n\n- If the game freezes in full screen, try alt tabbing out, then press Alt+Enter, the game switches to windowed mode, then again press Alt+Enter to go in the full screen mode.\n\n- Some Nvidia users have found that underclocking the GPU by 100Mhz fixes the freezing issue but try it at your own risk.\n\n- Try disabling Steam Overlay (open steam games, right click on Grim Dawn, click on properties, unclick \"enable steam overlay while playing\").\n\n- In Task Manager, set High Priority for Grim Dawn process thread.\n\n3. Grim Dawn not starting:-\n\nThere has been reports that some antivirus applications are flagging GrimDawn.exe as a virus. This results in automatic deletion of the .exe and the steam error message \u201cExecutable not found\u201d occurs. First make sure to add Grim Dawn installation folder (usually \"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steam\\SteamApps\\Common\\Grim Dawn\") to the exception list of your antivirus. After that once again verify the game files by the above mentioned process.\n\n4. FPS issues/lags/stuttering:-\n\nApart from the several in game freezes, players might also face some kinds of stuttering and fps drops. These are most probably due to the failure to meet the recommended specifications. Try out these following workarounds.\n\nDisable Vsync, anti-aliasing, anisotropic filtering. Turn the resolution and other graphics settings to the point when you get a stable FPS.\n\nFor AMD users, disable Raptr from task manager. Disable any other intensive applications that may be running in background. Make sure to set \u2018Tessellation mode\u2019 to 8x/16x from your Crimson edition Radeon 16.1 software and turn off Vsync there too.\n\nFor Nvidia users, tweaking the Nvidia control panel 3D settings can similarly provide a FPS boost. You can also set the \u2018Power Management Mode\u2019 option to \u2018Prefer Maximum Performance\u2019.\n\nDisable any recording software like MSI afterburner, Fraps, Dxtory, D3DGear to maximize performance.\n\nMemory Leaks:- Though it is not a game specific issue but knowing the fix helps. Users can experience severe memory leaks with low RAM (below 6GB). To fix it to some extent, try the next steps. Right click MyComputer > Properties > AdvancedSystemSettings > Advanced > Performance Settings > Advanced > Change Virtual Memory. Set page file for C drive to be anything high (say 5GB), then it may fix majority of the lag.\n\nThough it is not a game specific issue but knowing the fix helps. Users can experience severe memory leaks with low RAM (below 6GB). To fix it to some extent, try the next steps. Right click MyComputer > Properties > AdvancedSystemSettings > Advanced > Performance Settings > Advanced > Change Virtual Memory. Set page file for C drive to be anything high (say 5GB), then it may fix majority of the lag. \"Couldn't initialize graphics engine\" error:- Make sure that you have the latest version of installed. Also, it is essential that the graphics drivers are up to date. Run \"Repair.exe\" located in the Grim Dawn installation folder to reset your game settings.\n\n5. Cannot connect to multiplayer sessions:-\n\nCheck out the official list of solutions for the common problems in the GrimDawn forum .\n\n6. Cannot see/move mouse cursor:-\n\nTry the following steps to fix this issue.\n\nEnsure that \"Display Pointer Trails\" is disabled.\n\nAccess Windows Control Panel.\n\nSelect \"Mouse\".\n\nUnder \"Pointer Options\", ensure \"Display Pointer Trails\" is unchecked.\n\n7. Game not running fullscreen fix:-\n\nTo fix this problem, go to Video Options menu. In the Video Options menu you should see multiple options for \"Render Device\". Changing between the different options will allow you to run the game in fullscreen or on alternate screens.\n\nHeads Up: Grim dawn is available at a 10% discount on . This \u2018Special Promotion\u2019 offer ends on March 3.\n\nContact the author at amit@forceclaw.com\n\nCheck out more of our Tweaks and Fixes\n\n"}
-{"text": "We\u2019d all had a big lunch, so I wanted a simple dinner. The kids were happy with sandwiches and fruit, but I craved vegetables. I decided to make a slightly elegant salad \u2014 less is more \u2014 drenched in a good balsamic vinaigrette.\n\nIngredients:\n\n(Serves one as a meal.)\n\n3-4 cups mache and mixed greens.\n\n1/2 red bell pepper, sliced.\n\n1/2 fistful of basil, chopped.\n\nFreshly ground pepper, to taste.\n\n2 small chicken tenderloins (fresh or frozen).\n\n1T butter for cooking the chicken.\n\nGarlic powder for the chicken, to taste.\n\nPinch of salt for the chicken, to taste.\n\nBalsamic vinaigrette:\n\n(Use only what you need, refrigerate extra for several days.)\n\n1 T balsamic vinegar.\n\n3 T extra virgin olive oil.\n\n1/2 tsp maple syrup.\n\n1 small clove garlic, smashed and minced.\n\n1 pinch of salt, to taste.\n\nI doubled all of the ingredients listed above and made two salads. First I mixed up the vinaigrette, giving the garlic time to mellow and infuse the salad dressing with flavor.\n\nThen I cooked the chicken. I keep a bag of the Trader Joe\u2019s frozen chicken breast tenderloins in the freezer, and I use the following method when I don\u2019t have time to bother with defrosting the chicken. I melted the butter in a stainless steel frying pan over medium heat, and added the frozen chicken just as the butter began bubbling. I sprinkled salt and garlic powder over the chicken tenderloins, and let them cook while I chopped the bell pepper.\n\nWhen the chicken was nice and brown on the bottom, I flipped the tenderloins over and lightly seasoned the other side. I chopped up the basil and cleaned up my salad prep area, and then I checked on the chicken. Once it had browned on the other side, I used a pair of kitchen shears to snip it into bite-sized pieces. My chicken was still raw in the center, so I stirred it around a bit, turned the heat to low, and covered it. If you use fresh chicken instead of frozen, you can probably skip that last step. After a few minutes on low, I took off the lid and turned off the heat. I added the vinaigrette, a dusting of freshly cracked black pepper, and the hot, juicy chicken to the salads, and served them right away.\n\nThe Verdict:\n\nYum!\n\nThere is nothing like homemade balsamic vinaigrette. It was my gateway salad dressing \u2014 the one I absolutely had to learn how to make, and the one I spent years playing with and refining. It\u2019s friendly, and works well with all kinds of fruits, vegetables and flavor palettes, but sometimes, I have to make a salad where the balsamic vinaigrette is the star. This was one of those salads. It all worked very well together. The juicy chicken soaked up just enough dressing to really sparkle. The tender mache paired nicely with the crispy red bell peppers, and the basil brought all the flavors together.\n\nIf the ingredients in my fridge ever align just right, I will happily make this salad again.\n\nMake it a Meal:\n\nDone. For a vegetarian version, replace the chicken with either kidney beans, goat cheese, or feta cheese.\n\nPack it to Go:\n\nThis would be very easy to pack to go. The chicken will be cold, but it will still taste delicious. Just keep the vinaigrette and the salad in separate containers until ready to serve (I recommend making the dressing in a small glass jar, and preparing the salad in a large glass or stainless steel container with a tupperware-style lid.) Use only as much vinaigrette as you need, fork toss or pop the salad container lid back on and give it a few good shakes, then eat and enjoy."}
-{"text": "[youtube=http://youtu.be/MMgzUGBfXiE&w=620&h=349]\n\nFM transmitters can be complicated to build, but not this one \u2014 this iPod FM transmitter about the easiest you can possibly make. And though the science of radio is well understood, there\u2019s a magical, emotional quality about it that we don\u2019t often stop to appreciate. You will not forget the first time you pick up a transmission broadcast from a device you soldered together, yourself, from a few bits of copper, carbon, plastic, and wire.\n\nI am indebted to Jim and Kat of Sonodrome for first introducing me to that experience, through this very circuit, which I first built on a pre-etched PCB from a kit they offered for sale as recently as 2011.\n\nThis design was originally popularized by Japanese multimedia artist Tetsuo Kogawa. The circuit itself is a slight variation on Kogawa\u2019s simplest FM transmitter design, and the method of building it is sometimes referred to as \u201cManhattan style.\u201d It uses a piece of copper-clad circuit board but, rather than etching the circuit traces through the copper layer, a large piece of continuously-plated board is used to make all the circuit\u2019s ground connections, and small sections of plated board are glued to the surface to form nodes or \u201cpads\u201d that are insulated from ground. Besides being a convenient way to assemble circuits using minimal tools, this building method encourages you to think about circuits in an interesting way \u2014 as groups of connections that are either grounded or \u201cfloating above\u201d ground.\n\nThis transmitter uses ten on-board components and will transmit a monaural audio signal about 30 feet. It is possible to extend that range by adding an antenna, and Mr. Kogawa\u2019s website has more information about how to do that.\n\nNOTE: Depending on where you live, operating an FM transmitter \u2014 even a very short-range one like this \u2014 may be illegal without a license. Unless you attach an antenna, it\u2019s very unlikely that anyone will notice or complain about any transmissions you may make with this device. On the other hand, it\u2019s very difficult to predict, before construction is complete, just where on the FM band this transmitter will broadcast. Use due caution during testing, and make sure you understand the law in your area before attaching the battery."}
-{"text": "The Mexican culinary tradition in the Pepitos Restaurant space in South Minneapolis will live on.\n\nA group of investors have taken over the space and are bringing in the team behind El Burrito Mercado in St. Paul (elburritomercado.com) to open another outpost of their Mexican cuisine and takeout deli operation in the Chicago Avenue and 48th Street spot.\n\nInvestors Ward Johnson and Eddie Landenberger, who live in the neighborhood, have stepped in and plan to renovate the Pepitos Restaurant space as well as Parkway Theater next door, which were both owned by Joe Minjares.\n\nMinjares closed his 46-year-old Pepitos Restaurant and the theater at the end of last year for medical reasons. The Pepitos deli on Nicollet and 46th Street continues to operate, however.\n\nIn a news release announcing the new ownership, Minjares said he is happy the spot will be in good hands with new owners who have ties to the neighborhood as well as a local restaurant family. \u201cIt\u2019s bittersweet to say goodbye,\u201d Minjares stated in the release. \u201cBut I feel like I\u2019m leaving things in good hands, and there\u2019s a bit of serendipity to be handing over the reins of the restaurant to another family-owned Mexican restaurant with a long history in the Twin Cities.\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s still much paperwork to be done, including getting permits and license approvals. If everything goes as planned, the restaurant, which will be called El Burrito Minneapolis, and Parkway Theater could open by June.\n\nThe space is especially near and dear to Johnson\u2019s heart. \u201cMy wife and I had our first date at Pepitos. And fittingly in 2001 it\u2019s where I proposed,\u201d he said.\n\nAs far as the theater, the space will be spruced up but will continue to run as an indie movie and live performance venue. \u201cOur goal is to restore the Parkway Theater to its former glory and bring new energy to the space through renovation, curated movie and speaker series, contemporary chamber music and more,\u201d said Landenberger, whose background includes commercial real estate and redevelopment projects in South Minneapolis."}
-{"text": "The trends in the music industry keep evolving and changing. The latest one is releasing a lead single off an album up to months after it has hit stores. We are seeing it happening the most with Hip-Hop releases.\n\nHuncho Jack, the duo made of Travis Scott and Quavo released their joint album Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho on December 21 which went on to move 90k copies in the first week. It was almost like a surprise drop with no lead single released prior to the street date.\n\nScott and Quavo have now decided to push the Takeoff featured \u2018Eye 2 Eye\u2019 as the lead single off their project. It is currently being promoted on radio, receiving 29 adds on the Urban format this week. It is being pushed to as many playlists as possible on various streaming services as well. The three had performed the song on Jimmy Kimmel live last month.\n\nIs it a good choice? You can stream the song below."}
-{"text": "Jeremi Suri holds the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is a professor of history and public affairs. He is the author and editor of nine books, most recently \"The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America's Highest Office.\" The views expressed here are his. Read more opinion on CNN.\n\n(CNN) For only the third time in American history, the US Senate has opened a trial for an impeached president. On Thursday, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts administered a special oath to all senators, requiring that they \"do impartial justice\" in their judgment of the president's alleged \"high crimes and misdemeanors.\" What does that mean in practice, when the Senate is so divided by party, with a majority leader who has promised to coordinate closely with the impeached president?\n\nVice President Mike Pence published a powerful, but deceptive article in Friday's Wall Street Journal that offers the White House position. Pence called for \"courage\" from Senate Democrats who, he contended, must be willing \"to stand up and reject a partisan impeachment.\" He invoked former Republican Senator Edmund Ross who, during the trial of President Andrew Johnson in 1868, voted against the Republican Party to prevent the removal of the president. As Pence put it: \"Ross was determined to render a fair judgment, resisting his own party's stampede.\"\n\nPence bought into the false notion that Ross was a \"profile in courage\" for refusing on principled grounds to be the final vote needed to remove Johnson from office. His account is historically dishonest on every count and it reveals the contortions the White House is willing to perform to protect its power at all costs -- precisely the attitude that helped to trigger impeachment in the first place. When a president and his closest advisers pathologically lie to the public, and Pence's article is yet another example, how can the American people (and our allies) believe anything coming out of the White House? How can a president lead when he has violated all foundations for public trust?\n\nIn this op-ed, Pence has distorted basic American history and civics into Soviet-style propaganda, where the facts are intentionally turned upside down. Numerous historians have written about President Andrew Johnson's impeachment, and Senator Ross' role in his trial -- including Manisha Sinha Brenda Wineapple , David Greenberg and David Stewart. They all agree -- and no serious historian disagrees -- that Ross intended to vote for Johnson's conviction, but suddenly changed his mind. Ross did not experience an epiphany of conscience or a surge of courage. Evidence suggests he was bribed\n\nPresident Johnson's supporters promised Ross, who had only come to the Senate in 1866 through corrupt maneuvers in Kansas, that he could have appointments for his close friends in lucrative federal government jobs. In particular , Ross' financial supporter, Perry Fuller, was appointed collector of revenue in the Port of New Orleans. Fuller promptly used his position to steal $3 million, for which he was eventually arrested. Another Ross associate was appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs in what is today Oklahoma.\n\nRead More"}
-{"text": "On 28 October 2016, the hashtag #DraftOurDaughters began trending on Twitter, vaguely connected with purportedly \u201cleaked\u201d ads produced by Hillary For America (an arm of the Hillary Clinton campaign).\n\n#DraftOurDaughters appeared in the early hours of 28 October 2016, quickly becoming popular. Dozens of official looking images boasted a pro-war position, and one popular purported tweet from Clinton was circulated widely:\n\n@OnMessageForHer Yeah no she just lost my vote. Like wtf?! Democrats want to DRAFT ME? I\u2019ll vote Trump so I don\u2019t go to war and die TYVM pic.twitter.com/TiCHA2Xrmw \u2014 Alisha Arsenault (@alishabae69) October 28, 2016\n\nThe depicted tweet appeared to exist only in screenshot form, and was not anywhere to be found on Hillary Clinton\u2019s account. The tweet from Twitter user \u201c@alishabae69\u201d was the first ever published by that account, which was created in October 2016 and consisted solely of #DraftOurDaughters content.\n\nThe avatar for that account appeared to be lifted from a widely circulated image of a woman named Alena Ushkova. The photograph was first published in 2014, and apparently depicted a person not from the United States:\n\nA Facebook page was one of several social media users or entities to assert that news outlets \u201ctook the bait\u201c, covering the hashtag as a legitimate Clinton campaign effort.\n\nThat article was clearly marked as an unvetted \u201ccommunity\u201d submission, and contained obviously satirical content:\n\nI wonder what Donald will have to say about this one\u2026 I\u2019m sure my wife would be proud to stand up to Russia\u2019s homophobic and Christian ways. #ImWithHer #EnlistForHillary #DraftOurDaughters\n\nRemember to vote November 12th!\n\nIt didn\u2019t take all that much digging to discover #DraftOurDaughters was the work of Clinton opponents, as commenters on the subreddit r/The_Donald explained:\n\nThe #DraftOurDaughters hashtag was not an official Hillary Clinton campaign effort. The trend originated on 4chan\u2019s /pol/, where users cooked up fake campaign ads and arranged to spread them on social media in an attempt to dupe fellow users. Separate threads on /pol/ laid out the plan and directed users to create as many versions of the memes as possible with which to flood social media, and there was no question the ads were neither legitimate nor reflected an actual Clinton campaign effort.\n\nClinton has gone on record supporting legislation to include women in the draft, but has also clarified that she favors an all-volunteer military:\n\n\u201cI am on record as supporting the all-volunteer military, which I think at this time does serve our country well,\u201d Clinton told The Huffington Post. \u201cAnd I am very committed to supporting and really lifting up the men and women in uniform and their families.\u201d\n\nThe effort was one of several coordinated trolling efforts by the board and similar forums. Previous hoaxes included dangerous Bernie Sanders glowstick instructions, a fabricated tweet claiming that a McDonald\u2019s worker spat in white people\u2019s food, a widely reported spate of fake \u201cwhite students\u2019 unions\u201d at colleges, and a massively viral \u201cpropaganda\u201d video about refugees in Europe."}
-{"text": "Veden p\u00e4\u00e4ll\u00e4 k\u00e4veleminen on seurakuntapastori Benjamin Sandellin mielest\u00e4 kiehtova haaste. Siksi h\u00e4n antoi tiimins\u00e4 kanssa t\u00e4n\u00e4\u00e4n alkavalle Disciple17-tapahtumalle teemaksi \u201dWalk on the water\u201d.\n\n\u2012 Teema viittaa siihen, ett\u00e4 voimme antaa Jumalan m\u00e4\u00e4ritell\u00e4, miss\u00e4 on mahdollista k\u00e4vell\u00e4. Se on vertauskuva el\u00e4m\u00e4ntavasta, joka tekee meist\u00e4 rohkeasti vaikuttavaa suolaa ja valoa, Sandell innostaa.\n\nUlos veneest\u00e4\n\nHelsingin Munkkivuoren kirkolle kokoontuu t\u00e4n\u00e4\u00e4n satoja nuoria aikuisia, joita kutkuttaa astua ulos veneest\u00e4 ja k\u00e4vell\u00e4 Jeesuksen luokse.\n\nPetruksen ja Opiskelija- ja koululaisl\u00e4hetyksen yhdess\u00e4 j\u00e4rjest\u00e4m\u00e4n tapahtuman tarkoituksena on innostaa nuoria aikuisia vastaamaan Jeesuksen kutsuun: Menk\u00e4\u00e4 ja tehk\u00e4\u00e4 kaikki kansat minun opetuslapsikseni.\n\n\u2012 Jeesus perusti kirkon ja pyysi meit\u00e4 tekem\u00e4\u00e4n opetuslapsia. Teemme kuitenkin usein p\u00e4invastoin: perustamme kirkkoja, mutta opetuslasten kasvattaminen j\u00e4\u00e4 v\u00e4hemm\u00e4lle, Benjamin Sandell sanoo.\n\nH\u00e4n toimii Helsingin ruotsinkielisen Petruksen seurakunnan seurakuntapastorina ja Opiskelija- ja koululaisl\u00e4hetyksen ruotsinkielisen ty\u00f6n vastaavana ty\u00f6ntekij\u00e4.\n\nIdentiteetti\u00e4 rakentamassa\n\nSandellin mielest\u00e4 opetuslapseuttaminen alkaa identiteetin rakentamisesta Jumalan rakkaana lapsena.\n\n\u2012 Keski\u00f6ss\u00e4 on Jeesus ja h\u00e4nen seuraamisensa. Olemme Jeesuksen ty\u00f6n kautta Jumalan rakkaita lapsia, mutta my\u00f6s ty\u00f6ntekij\u00f6it\u00e4 h\u00e4nen valtakunnassaan. Kukaan ei pysty tavoittamaan kaikkia, mutta jos jokainen tavoittaa jonkun, syntyy ketju, jossa voimme tavoittaa koko maan ja maailman.\n\nDisciple17-kanavien kirjo n\u00e4ytt\u00e4\u00e4, miten erilaisia asioita opetuslapsen arkeen kuuluu. Esill\u00e4 ovat esimerkiksi talous, ihmissuhteet, seksi ja maailmankatsomukset.\n\nOpetuslapseuttaminen on sana, joka saa jotkut rypist\u00e4m\u00e4\u00e4n otsaa. Ei kai vaan rakenneta eliittiuskovaisten lahkoa, jonka johtajat sitovat ihmisi\u00e4 seuraamaan itse\u00e4\u00e4n?\n\n\u2012 Sen, joka ottaa vastaan kutsun tehd\u00e4 opetuslapsia, on muistettava, ett\u00e4 h\u00e4nen oma el\u00e4m\u00e4ns\u00e4 on Jumalan ensimm\u00e4inen intressi. Jokainen p\u00e4iv\u00e4 alkaa siit\u00e4, ett\u00e4 Jumala haluaa n\u00e4ytt\u00e4\u00e4 armonsa minulle, Sandell sanoo.\n\nH\u00e4nen mielest\u00e4\u00e4n Jeesuksen kaltaiseksi kasvaminen on palvelijaksi kasvamista.\n\n\u2012 Jokaisen vanhemman toive on, ett\u00e4 lapsi p\u00e4\u00e4see pidemm\u00e4lle kuin on itse p\u00e4\u00e4ssyt. Hengellisen lapsen astuminen kypsyyteen on se, mihin opetuslapseuttamisessa pyrit\u00e4\u00e4n.\n\nSandellin mukaan Raamatun sana ja el\u00e4m\u00e4 Jumalan l\u00e4hell\u00e4 mahdollistavat sen, ett\u00e4 Pyh\u00e4 Henki ohjaa molempien kasvua kaikessa.\n\n\u2012 Ihminen ei ole vastuussa prosessista, vaan Jumala.\n\nBrittivieraita Sheffieldist\u00e4\n\nKolmikielisen Disciple17-tapahtuman lauantai-ilta on avoin kaikille yli 18-vuotiaille viiden euron hintaan. Ohjelmassa on klo 19:30 alkaen talkshow, raamattuopetusta, esirukousta ja ylistyst\u00e4.\n\nMukana ovat tapahtuman brittivieraat, Sheffieldin St. Thomas\u2019 Crookes -seurakunnan apulaiskirkkoherra Tom Finnemore ja opiskelijaty\u00f6ntekij\u00e4 James Brown.\n\nMy\u00f6s jumalanpalvelukseen Munkkivuoren kirkolle sunnuntaina 29.1. klo 11 ovat kaikki tervetulleita. Saarnan pit\u00e4\u00e4 Tom Finnemore ja se tulkataan suomeksi.\n\nLue lis\u00e4\u00e4: disciple.fi"}
-{"text": "A Ukrainian dwarf adopted in the US has denied claims she masqueraded as a child and tried to kill her adoptive parents, as she spoke out for the first time.\n\nNatalia Grace Barnett suffers from a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal.\n\nShe was adopted in 2010 by an Indiana couple, now divorced, who are alleged to have abandoned her more than five years ago \u2014 leaving her alone in an apartment before fleeing north to Canada.\n\nMichael Barnett, 43, and his then-wife, Kristine, 45, contend they thought they were adopting an eight-year-old child, but now allege Natalia is a \u201csociopath\u201d and a \u201ccon artist\u201d who is actually an adult woman.\n\nIn 2012 they had her age legally changed to 22, but they now believe she may be as old as 33."}
-{"text": "[[wysiwyg_imageupload:4643:]]\n\nWe have previously seen a batch of Thor 2, \"The Dark World,\" set images revealing a battle taking place between Chris Hemsworth, Thor, and the villain of the movie, Malekith, played by Christopher Eccleston.\n\nNow, check out the following Thor 2 set video which may reveal the aftermath.\n\nIt seems as if Thor is hammering on Malekith with his mighty magic hammer, Mjolnir, but Malekith seemingly repels the attack sending Thor flying back!\n\nMost likely Chris Hemsworth's stunt double, Bobby Holland Hanton, is taking the bumps, who seems to be getting quite the fan-following as well.\n\nBoth Mjolnir and Malekith, the leader of the Dark Elves, powers are magic based; it's even quite possible that Malekith's powers have been amped by another rumored villain, the fire demon Surtur.\n\nThor 2: The Dark World hammers into theaters November 8th, 2013 directed by Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones), starring Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Idris Elba as Heimidall, Zachary Levi as Fandral and Jaimie Alexander as Sif, Christopher Eccleston as Malekith the Accursed, Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Kurse.\n\nHead on over to the Cosmic Book News Thor movie hub for images, news and more.\n\nSynopsis:\n\nMarvel\u2019s Thor: The Dark World continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel\u2019s Thor and Marvel\u2019s The Avengers, Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos\u2026but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all."}
-{"text": "Suffice it to say, Andrew Scheer is probably not going duck hunting with The Rebel's Faith Goldy, as he suggested he would when the two sat down for an interview in February.\n\nIt was some combination of Goldy's reporting for Rebel Media from the alt-right rally in Charlottesville, Va., and the horrifying attack on counter-demonstrators that precipitated this week's sudden turn against Ezra Levant's outlet.\n\nAnd that rush to dissociate culminated in Scheer declaring on Wednesday that he would not grant further interviews to The Rebel \"as long as the editorial direction of that particular institution remains as it is.\"\n\nAs happened to Brian Lilley after the Ottawa journalist walked away from The Rebel on Monday, Scheer might be asked what took him so long. But that question is still preferable to trying to explain a reluctance to repudiate.\n\n(Goldy was fired by The Rebel on Thursday night after she appeared on a podcast hosted by a neo-nazi website.)\n\nSome might wonder whether a political leader should ever renounce a media outlet on the basis of its editorial direction. But The Rebel has wandered so far afield that Scheer will likely be spared any lectures about the importance of a free press.\n\nRegardless, putting some distance between himself and The Rebel could be a defining moment for Scheer and the party he leads.\n\nConservative leader Andrew Scheer said Wednesday in Langley, B.C., that he would not grant interviews to Rebel Media \"as long as the editorial direction of that particular institution remains as it is.\" 0:37\n\nThe Rebel's reach and concerns\n\nThat Scheer gave three interviews to Rebel correspondents over the course of his leadership campaign would suggest he saw some kind of audience worth making time for. (A few leadership candidates also appeared at rallies organized by The Rebel.)\n\nAnd, insofar as The Rebel is a conservative website and the Conservative Party is the only significant party of the political right in Canada, it might be fair to assume there is some overlap between the former's viewers and the latter's voters. But some Conservatives believe it represents only a fringe element of the party's base.\n\nIn addition to the usual concerns about taxes and the role of government, The Rebel seems to be animated by a mix of concerns: political correctness, Muslim immigration, border security, transgender rights, the mainstream media and efforts to combat climate change.\n\nIn June, The Rebel criticized Scheer after Conservatives (except for Cheryl Gallant) voted in favour of a motion in the House of Commons to endorse the Paris accord on climate change.\n\nThe Rebel's tone can be inflammatory. In general, it is not demure. Levant, for instance, refers to the \"global warming scam.\" There is a regular feature labelled the Counter-Jihad.\n\nLevant and other correspondents have also embraced Donald Trump.\n\nNow, in the United States, it is Trump from whom people are clamouring to disassociate themselves, after the president refused to categorically single out white supremacists for condemnation in the wake of Charlottesville.\n\nScheer's party still figuring itself out\n\nNo one would ever confuse Andrew Scheer for Donald Trump. (For one thing, it's hard to imagine Scheer shouting.) Nor would any Canadian politician be advised to emulate Trump: the president is deeply unpopular in Canada and also rather unpopular in his own country.\n\nStephen Harper's Conservative Party also didn't have much in common with the modern Republican Party but, in the waning days of his government, Harper was promising to ban the niqab during the citizenship oath and rallying with Doug and Rob Ford.\n\nWhile political circumstances in Canada would suggest Scheer's party will tend toward the moderate, it is also still figuring out what it wants to offer in the wake of the Harper era.\n\nAnd it remains to be seen whether The Rebel and Trump \u2014 and the concerns, complaints and fears they give voice to \u2014 represent a significant phenomenon that Canadian conservatives must contend with.\n\nEven if Scheer never sits down with The Rebel again, it might be out there making noise.\n\nPerhaps it can be safely ignored. Or perhaps Scheer, in his soft tones, can be a calming influence.\n\nPower Panel - Paul, Aaron and Kelly discuss Andrew Scheer\u2019s policy on free speech at universities and the turmoil at The Rebel 9:06\n\nChasing a Rebel-friendly cause\n\nThough Scheer was criticized for leading Conservative MPs to vote in favour of the Paris accord, Goldy and Lilley have been effusive in their praise for his positions on free speech, including a proposal to withhold funding from universities that do not zealously guard freedom to speak on campus.\n\nBut while Scheer was being chased this week to repudiate The Rebel, he was also running into the fact that his campus policy could be a bit tricky to implement. Asked by The Canadian Press about the University of Toronto's decision to ban a rally by the Canadian Nationalist Party, Scheer's office said such a decision would not run afoul of the Conservative leader's proposal.\n\nScheer is probably going to spend the next two years being asked the same question every time a campus event is scuttled.\n\nThe lesson might be that chasing Rebel-friendly causes can be more trouble than it's worth.\n\nConservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer spoke to CBC's Carole MacNeil on Saturday, explaining why he won't give interviews to Rebel Media. Watch the full interview here:"}
-{"text": "OAKLAND \u2014 A former aide to Councilwoman Desley Brooks has filed a claim against her and the city alleging she verbally and physically abused him, according to documents filed with the City Attorney\u2019s Office on Friday.\n\nSidney Wilson wrote in the claim that Brooks routinely yelled and cursed at him and described himself as a \u201cgo fetch boy\u201d staffer from July 2016 until he resigned in October 2017.\n\nBesides abuse, Wilson alleges Brooks forced him to illegally manage a farmers market that was supposed to be run by a nonprofit. The former council aide said he took cash from vendors and gave the money to Brooks \u201cwithout proper reporting of receipts of income and expenditures,\u201d according to the claim.\n\n\u201cThis is absolutely difficult for me to do, but I\u2019ve been receiving so much support from staff at both the city and state,\u201d Wilson, 33, said by phone Monday. \u201cI feel like I need to do what is right here \u2014 to let people with power know there are checks and balances.\u201d\n\nThe Pittsburg resident\u2019s claim \u2014 a precursor to a lawsuit \u2014 follows a December verdict in which a jury decided the city must pay $3.75 million to former Black Panther leader Elaine Brown, who alleged in a lawsuit that Brooks shoved her inside a Jack London Square restaurant in 2015.\n\nIn the detailed 24-page claim, Wilson said Brooks \u201cmaintained a toxic work environment that no reasonable person would tolerate, suffer and endure\u201d and listed a timeline of events. He claims Brooks threatened to fire him in March 2017 after he mixed up her take-out dinner order.\n\n\u201cI made a mistake,\u201d he said he told her, according to the filing. \u201cI got Thai instead of Indian.\u201d He wrote that Brooks replied, \u201cYou got the wrong damn thing! \u2026 I don\u2019t know if this is how you were raised or what, but I\u2019m tired of you emoting and if you do it again I will fire you.\u201d\n\nWilson said the councilwoman made him wait outside in October 2016 in the rain for schoolchildren to arrive for a field trip. The claim also alleges Brooks yelled at him in front of people at a farmers market and at an East Oakland cleanup, telling him that she signs his checks.\n\nAccording to the claim, Brooks made Wilson manage the Millsmont Farmer\u2019s Market and \u201cinsisted, demanded and coerced Mr. Wilson into collecting money from the vendors and turning the collected funds over to her, with no proper accounting\u201d to the nonprofit that is supposed to manage the market.\n\nThe councilwoman told him, \u201cIf you tell anyone, you will regret it,\u201d according to the claim.\n\nReached Monday, Brooks did not address that accusation and said she had not seen or read the claim.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that someone I tried to help and mentor is now trying to manipulate the city in this way,\u201d Brooks wrote in an email.\n\nIn January, Wilson testified on behalf of Brown that Brooks shoved and pinched him while they were serving food at an event. Brown\u2019s case against Brooks included a declaration from a former aide to Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente who said Brooks pushed him out of a City Hall meeting. Brooks has denied putting her hands on either of them.\n\nThe jury ruled that Brooks must pay Brown $550,000 in punitive damages, on top of the $3.75 million the city must pay Brown. The city has requested a new civil trial.\n\nThe City Attorney\u2019s Office generally does not comment on claims.\n\nWilson wrote that his complaint to Oakland\u2019s human resources department went nowhere. The claim seeks $1 million from the city and $3 million from Brooks.\n\n\u2014 Staff writer Aaron Davis contributed to this report."}
-{"text": "Posted: October 2, 2018 by\n\nLast updated:\n\nIf you've ever been tempted to cheat at Fortnite, think again\u2014with the release of season six of the popular video game, we found a data theft malware masquerading as a cheat tool, ready to steal your browser sessions, cookies, and even your Bitcoin.\n\nThe new season of the incredibly popular video game Fortnite is upon us, and so too are the scams. It\u2019s no surprise that con artists would jump on this bandwagon, eager to peddle their fakeouts.\n\nOnly this time, scammers had something a little more dangerous in mind than your typical low-level surveys and downloads that never actually materialize. Among all the gluttony of scams there hid a malicious file ready to steal data and enumerate Bitcoin wallets, for starters.\n\nHow did we find it? First, we sifted through a sizable mish-mash of free season six passes, supposedly \u201cfree\u201d Android versions of Fortnite, which were leaked out from under the developer\u2019s noses, the ever-popular blast of \u201cfree V-Bucks\u201d used to purchase additional content in the game, and a lot of bogus cheats, wallhacks, and aimbots.\n\nHere\u2019s the current state of YouTube, for example:\n\nClick to enlarge\n\nThese videos can drive huge numbers: Here\u2019s one that\u2019s been pulled down, but managed to rack up 120,000 views before the hammer fell:\n\nClick to enlarge\n\nAlmost all of the scam tomfoolery followed the typical survey route, as expected. But buried in all of this was a nasty little slice of data theft malware disguised as a cheat tool.\n\nOffering up a malicious file under the pretense of a cheat is as old school as it gets, but that\u2019s never stopped cybercriminals before. In this scenario, would-be cheaters suffer a taste of their own medicine via a daisy chain of clickthroughs and (eventually) some malware as a parting gift. Shall we take a look?\n\nSetting the scene\n\nThe YouTube account offering this scam up has a little over 700 subscribers, and the video in question already had more than 2,200 views the day after being uploaded.\n\nClick to enlarge\n\nClicking the link sends potential victims to a page on Sub2Unlock. This site differs from typical survey pages, where you\u2019d normally click offers or fill in questions to obtain a theoretical reward. Instead, it asks you to hit subscribe on the social portal of the person sending you there in the first place. So there\u2019s one difference, right off the bat.\n\nClick to enlarge\n\nAnother interesting difference is that any initial survey page requires you to physically complete a survey before progressing. Without doing this, you can\u2019t gain access to a download link.\n\nHere, we had no validation taking place during our testing. Clicking the subscribe button simply opened up the YouTube channel\u2019s subscribe page but nothing checked to ensure we\u2019d actually subscribed. All we had to do at this point was go back to the Sub2Unlock site and click the download button.\n\nFrom here, gamers are whisked away to a site located at\n\nbt-fortnite-cheats(dot)tk\n\nClick to enlarge\n\nThis site is a fairly good-looking portal claiming to offer up the desired cheat tools, and it stands a fair chance of convincing youngsters of its legitimacy. A little bit more button clicking, and potential victims are taken to a more general download site containing what appears to be an awful lot of files alongside a wide range of adverts.\n\nClick to enlarge\n\nAs far as the malicious file in question goes, at time of writing, 1,207 downloads had taken place. That\u2019s 1,207 downloads too many.\n\nFile information\n\nMalwarebytes detects this file as Trojan.Malpack, a generic detection given to files packed suspiciously. The actual payload could be anything at all, but it will invariably be up to no good. In this case, a little digging showed us the payload is a data stealer.\n\nOnce the initial .EXE (which weighs in at just 168KB) runs on the target system, it performs some basic enumeration on details specific to the infected computer. It then attempts to send data via a POST command to an /index.php file in the Russian Federation, courtesy of the IP address 5(dot)101(dot)78(dot)169.\n\nSome of the most notable things it takes an interest in are browser session information, cookies, Bitcoin wallets, and also Steam sessions.\n\nClick to enlarge\n\nBizarrely, it also wrote this to our test system:\n\nClick to enlarge\n\n\u2026Grateful Dead, anyone?\n\nThe IP address up above has been seen many times in relation to similarly named/themed files.\n\nLots of the files we\u2019ve seen similar to this one are packed in entirely different ways. One of them has a process called \u201cStealer.exe.\u201d Many more post the stolen information to /gate.php instead of index.php, which is a common sign of Zbot and a few others.\n\nWhile the subject of this blog probably isn\u2019t that new, it\u2019s still going to do a fair bit of damage to anyone that runs it. Combining it with the current fever for new Fortnite content is a recipe for stolen data and a lot of cleanup required afterward.\n\nAs a final note, we should mention the readme file accompanying the stealer advertises being able to purchase additional Fortnite cheats for \u201c$80 Bitcoin.\u201d\n\nClick to enlarge\n\nGiven how things up above panned out, we\u2019d advise anyone tempted to cheat to steer well clear of this one. Winning is great, but it\u2019s absolutely not worth risking a huge slice of personal information to get the job done."}
-{"text": "Can't wake you up with a blowjob Wakes you up with a back massage\n\n180 shares"}
-{"text": "Anthony Joshua vs a prime Mike Tyson is one heck of a fantasy match but when current world heavyweight champion 'AJ' was asked about how the bout would play it out, he had no confidence whatsoever.\n\nAged 20 years and four months, Tyson became the youngest ever heavyweight champion, aged 20 years and four months, in 1986, when he stopped Trevor Berbick in their second round title fight in Las Vegas.\n\nFive years later, Tyson would be arrested for the rape of 18-year-old Desiree Washington and in 1992 was sentenced to six years in prison, serving just less than three years of his sentence.\n\nAdvert\n\nDespite once again becoming heavyweight champion in 1996, Tyson's subsequent double loss to Evander Holyfield, including the infamous ear biting incident during their rematch, sparked a meteoric downfall.\n\nThe formerly Baddest Man on The Planet would lose three of his last four fights, including suffering embarrassing defeats to Danny Williams and Kevin McBride.\n\nImage: PA\n\nBut his legacy in heavyweight boxing will forever exist and when 22-0 Joshua was asked whether he could beat 'Iron Mike', he responded brilliantly in a 2017 interview.\n\nAdvert\n\nMike Tyson would have battered me!\" the IBF, the WBA (Super) and WBO champion admitted, laughing as he said it.\n\n\n\n\"There was no way I could have taken on that guy. I would have taken that pay cheque. You know what I done against Klitschko in that 6th round when I took that dive? I'm joking.\n\n\"I would have taken a dive against Tyson. He was a beast. I give all credit and respect to Tyson. Even though Tyson is going on like 50 now, I still remember Tyson as the young, young 21-year-old.\n\n\"He was that good and made such an impact in the sport of boxing.\"\n\nAdvert\n\nPrior to his victory over Alexander Povetkin in his last last fight, Joshua showed shades of Tyson when he did the 'front neck bridge' made famous by the American boxing legend.\n\nImages: Instagram / Anthony Joshua\n\nHaving been in the same position as Joshua many years ago, Tyson offered him some words of wisdom on how to stay on track.\n\nAdvert\n\n\"It's like being the President of the United States,\" the 52-year old said back in June 2017.\n\n\"Joshua can't get the big head. He has to focus on fighting. When you start focusing on money, girls or whatever it is, it's going downhill. No religion, nothing, you can do those things when the fight is over."}
-{"text": "A pair of Harvard University Ph.D. candidates may have put a dagger in the mythical \u201cgender wage gap\u201d oft cited by politicians and pundits as an issue that can be addressed through governmental policy.\n\nIn a paper titled, \u201cWhy Do Women Earn Less Than Men?\u201d Valentin Bolotnyy and Natalia Emanuel study the unionized environment of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).\n\nEconomist John Phelan describes the MBTA as a \u201cunion shop with uniform hourly wages where men and women adhere to the same rules and receive the same benefits. Workers are promoted on the basis of seniority rather than performance, and male and female workers of the same seniority have the same choices for scheduling, routes, vacation, and overtime. There is almost no scope here for a sexist boss to favor men over women.\u201d\n\nAnd yet, Bolotnyy and Emanuel reported that \u201cfemale workers earn $0.89 on the male-worker dollar (weekly earnings).\u201d The Ph.D. candidates used \u201cconfidential administrative data\u201d on the authority\u2019s bus and train operators \u201cto show that the weekly earnings gap can be explained by the workplace choices that women and men make.\u201d\n\nFrom the abstract:\n\nWomen value time away from work and flexibility more than men, taking more unpaid time off using the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and working fewer overtime hours than men. When overtime hours are scheduled three months in advance, men and women work a similar number of hours; but when those hours are offered at the last minute, men work nearly twice as many. When selecting work schedules, women try to avoid weekend, holiday, and split shifts more than men. To avoid unfavorable work times, women prioritize their schedules over route safety and select routes with a higher probability of accidents. Women are less likely than men to game the scheduling system by trading off work hours at regular wages for overtime hours at premium wages.\n\nIn his Fee.com article on the subject, Phelan explains where the often cited 80 cents for every dollar figure is derived: \u201cby taking the total annual earnings of men in the American economy in a given year and dividing that by the number of male workers. This gives you the average annual earnings of an American man. Then you do the same thing but for women. The average annual women\u2019s earnings come in at about 80 percent of the average annual man\u2019s earnings. Presto, you have a gender wage gap.\u201d\n\nBecause they\u2019ve conducted a study on males and females working the same job at the same place, Phelan believes Bolotnyy and Emanuel\u2019s research will be difficult to dismiss. (RELATED: Whoopi Tackles Equal Pay: \u2018Call Me A Bitch All Day Long!\u2019)\n\n\u201cThe \u2018gender wage gap\u2019 is as real as unicorns and has been killed more times than Michael Myers,\u201d writes Phelan. \u201cYet politicians feel the need to genuflect before this phantom figure.\u201d\n\nFollow Scott on Twitter"}
-{"text": "Congressional Republicans seem to think they are being flexible on taxes simply because a few of them have grudgingly admitted that some new revenues can be part of the current fiscal negotiations. We\u2019re unimpressed.\n\nNo credit is due to a party that has suddenly accepted the obvious when it has no choice, particularly after two years of irresponsibly reducing the deficit only from the spending side. True flexibility means acknowledging that tax rates for the rich have to go up, and then negotiating how much and which ones. But, so far, Republicans have been just as closed to that reality as they have been for years, ignoring both the election results and the plain arithmetic of deficit reduction.\n\n\u201cNo Republican will vote for higher tax rates,\u201d Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, announced on CBS News\u2019s \u201cFace the Nation\u201d recently.\n\nRaising rates on the rich remains so taboo to party leaders that they have twisted themselves into knots to avoid it, coming up with several convoluted alternative schemes to bring in revenue just so they can tell their supporters that rates were left untouched. Most of them involve putting caps on popular deductions like the vital one for charitable donations. Apparently, Republicans are so wedded to keeping the Bush-era tax cuts for the rich that they would prefer to hurt charities and the vast nonprofit sector, which would inevitably suffer if donations from the rich could not be deducted."}
-{"text": "Getty Images\n\nThe #DeflateGate saga continues to percolate in the court system, and it continues to influence the rule book.\n\nRule 2, Section 2 quietly has been revised to alter the pregame procedures regarding the submission of footballs for PSI testing. Previously, each team was required to make 12 balls available for pregame testing two hours and 15 minutes before kickoff. The home team also was required to make 12 backup balls available for testing in all stadiums, and the visiting teams was permitted to bring 12 balls for pregame testing at game played in outdoor stadiums only.\n\nAs revised, Rule 2, Section 2 now requires all teams in all games to give 12 primary balls and 12 backup balls to the referee no later than 2 hours and 30 minutes before kickoff.\n\nIt\u2019s unclear why the change was made. It\u2019s possibly a byproduct of random in-game PSI checks, which take the primary balls out of service and require teams to use their backup balls. For indoor games or outdoor games at which the visiting team didn\u2019t choose to bring 12 backup balls, the 12 backup balls brought by the home team become the only balls used, by both teams, for the rest of the game.\n\nNone of this changes the fact that the NFL has opted to conceal all information generated last year regarding the process of randomly checking PSI, other than to declare that no violations were found. The league surely has opted to tiptoe around these details because full transparency would result in an admission that, yes, football were used (and routinely are used) with PSI levels below 12.5, given the operation of the Ideal Gas Law.\n\nThere\u2019s also a chance that the numbers measured at games played in particularly cold conditions showed PSI numbers even lower than those measured in the New England footballs from the playoff game that pushed this issue into the public consciousness."}
-{"text": "Enlarge Image Cambridge University Library\n\nIn the Middle Ages, musical notation was a little different to what we have now. In fact, staved notation -- notes written on a staff, or set of horizontal, parallel lines -- wasn't introduced until around the 11th century. Prior to then, the notation, or neumes, was written in a sort of code that sketched out the outline of the music, but relied heavily on aural tradition and prior familiarity with the system.\n\nWhen staved notation was introduced, these traditions were unneeded and gradually became lost to the sands of time.\n\nSam Barrett of the University of Cambridge has been working for over two decades to decipher some songs laid out in a manuscript penned sometime in the mid-11th century. Now, that music has been played again for the first time in centuries, or at least as near as possible to the original, in a special performance at The University of Cambridge's Pembroke College Chapel. You can listen to two excerpts below.\n\nCalled The Cambridge Songs, it consists of 83 poems in Latin, some annotated with neumes. The section with which Barrett was concerned was lost in 1840 when a German scholar removed an important leaf from the manuscript and returned home to Frankfurt. It remained missing for 140 years, not turning up again until historian Margaret Gibson recognised it in the collection of a Frankfurt library in 1982. It was then returned to Cambridge.\n\nThe poems on this retrieved section of the Cambridge songs contained 27 examples of different musical metrical forms based on verses from The Consolation of Philosophy by sixth-century philosopher Boethius. Using the neumes, Barrett slowly and painstakingly pieced together the music.\n\n\"After rediscovering the leaf from the Cambridge Songs, what remained was the final leap into sound. Neumes indicate melodic direction and details of vocal delivery without specifying every pitch and this poses a major problem,\" he explained in a statement.\n\n\"The traces of lost song repertoires survive, but not the aural memory that once supported them. We know the contours of the melodies and many details about how they were sung, but not the precise pitches that made up the tunes.\"\n\nEnlarge Image The University of Cambridge\n\nWhen he was around 80 to 90 percent of the way there, he enlisted the aid of Benjamin Bagby of Sequentia, a band that specialises in medieval music. The pair spent two years testing theories against the practicalities of physically making music, both with voice and instrument, and the options available to an 11th-century musician.\n\n\"Ben tries out various possibilities and I react to them -- and vice versa. When I see him working through the options that an 11th century person had, it's genuinely sensational; at times you just think 'that's it!' He brings the human side to the intellectual puzzle I was trying to solve during years of continual frustration,\" Barrett said.\n\n\"There have been times while I've been working on this that I have thought I'm in the 11th century, when the music has been so close it was almost touchable. And it's those moments that make the last 20 years of work so worthwhile.\""}
-{"text": "The US Senate has voted to overturn consumer privacy laws enacted last year by the FCC. The rules, which forced internet service providers to actually get permission before selling your data, were overturned using the little-used Congressional Review Act (CRA).\n\nDemocrat Senator Richard Blumenthal said before the vote that \u201cThis resolution is a direct attack on consumer rights, on privacy, on rules that afford basic protection against intrusive and illegal interference with consumers\u2019 use of social media sites and websites that often they talk for granted.\u201d Hope you enjoyed it while it lasted.\n\nAssuming that this resolution passes through the House, which seems likely at this point, your broadband and wireless internet service provider will have free reign to collect and sell personal data along to third parties. That information may include (but is not limited to!) location, financial, healthcare and browsing data scraped from customers. As a result of the ruling, you can expect ISPs to begin collecting this data by default. Some ISPs may choose to include an opt-out from data collection in account settings.\n\nThe privacy rules were adopted by the Federal Communications Commission last October, under Obama-era chairman Tom Wheeler. The new chairman of the FCC, Ajit Pai, is trying to rebrand the Commission as a technological regulator that manages things like spectrum, with the minimum possible amount of regulation of the telecoms industry as a whole.\n\nThat might sound like an ideal situation for light-touch regulation, but with the wireless and cable industries both operating as powerful oligopolies, consumers will be left with zero protection against price-gouging, no advocate for net neutrality, and as today demonstrates, far less control over their own data."}
-{"text": "Kari Kalto: Ylivoimassa kyse on henkil\u00f6kemioista\n\nKalto on pelannut yli 500 liigaottelua peliurallaan.\n\nKari Kalto siirtyi helmikuussa 2019 IFK:n liigamiehist\u00f6n valmennustiimiin Kollien p\u00e4\u00e4valmentajan paikalta. Menestyksekk\u00e4\u00e4n pelaajauran hy\u00f6kk\u00e4\u00e4j\u00e4n\u00e4 tehnyt Kalto avaa vastuualueitaan joukkueen sis\u00e4ll\u00e4.\n\n\u2013 Nuoret pelaajat ja heid\u00e4n eteenp\u00e4in vieminen arjessa on iso vastuualue minulla. My\u00f6s ylivoimapeli ja hy\u00f6kk\u00e4yspelin l\u00e4pik\u00e4yminen j\u00e4tkien kanssa on vastuullani, Kalto kertoo.\n\nValmentamista jo peliuran aikana\n\nKalto tuli IFK:n organisaatioon ensimm\u00e4isen kerran B-juniori-ik\u00e4isen\u00e4 kaudella 1994-95 ja teki Liiga-debyyttins\u00e4 heti seuraavalla kaudella. Maajoukkuekokemusta Espoossa syntyneell\u00e4 miehell\u00e4 on kaikista junnuik\u00e4luokista ja palkintokaapista l\u00f6ytyy alle 20-vuotiaiden maailmanmestaruus vuodelta 1998. Kyseinen vuosi oli merkitt\u00e4v\u00e4 my\u00f6s seurajoukkueessa.\n\n\u2013 Silloin -98-jengiss\u00e4 tuli Suomen mestaruus. Sitten -99 tuli katkera hopea \u2013 se oli inhottavaa, Kalto muistelee.\n\n\u201cGary\u201d pelasi hopeakauden j\u00e4lkeen viel\u00e4 vuoden Stadissa ennen siirtymist\u00e4 Espooseen ja Bluesiin, miss\u00e4 peliura p\u00e4\u00e4ttyi loukkaantumiseen ja siit\u00e4 kuntoutumiseen.\n\n\u2013 Olin viimeisen pelikauteni loukkaantuneena ja jeesasin katsomossa valmennusta. Tein Lauri Marjam\u00e4elle tilastoja peleiss\u00e4. Siit\u00e4 se ajatus valmentamiseen kirkastui. Tajusin, ett\u00e4 t\u00e4m\u00e4h\u00e4n on ihan hemmetin siisti\u00e4 ja t\u00e4\u00e4lt\u00e4 n\u00e4kee pelin aivan uudella tavalla.\n\n\u2013 Aina olen pelaajanakin ollut kiinnostunut pelist\u00e4, mutta siin\u00e4 itse\u00e4ni kuntouttaessa se into valmentamiseen kasvoi.\n\nYksil\u00f6n kehitt\u00e4mist\u00e4\n\nKalton ty\u00f6p\u00e4iv\u00e4t kulkevat linjassa muun joukkueen mukana. 41-vuotiaalla valmentajalla on my\u00f6s vastuullinen rooli iltap\u00e4ivisin Nordiksella py\u00f6riv\u00e4ll\u00e4 taitoj\u00e4\u00e4ll\u00e4.\n\n\u2013 Nuorten kanssa meill\u00e4 on yksil\u00f6valmennusta iltap\u00e4iv\u00e4j\u00e4ill\u00e4. Siell\u00e4 k\u00e4yd\u00e4\u00e4n l\u00e4pi luistelua ja paljon taitoharjoitteita.\n\nP\u00e4iv\u00e4n toisissa j\u00e4\u00e4treeneiss\u00e4 ei kuitenkaan n\u00e4hd\u00e4 vain nuoria. Kalto tarjoaa osaamistaan i\u00e4st\u00e4 riippumatta pelaajille, joiden tekniikkaa pystyt\u00e4\u00e4n kehitt\u00e4m\u00e4\u00e4n.\n\n\u2013 Minulle yksil\u00f6valmennus on todella l\u00e4hell\u00e4 syd\u00e4nt\u00e4.\n\n\u2013 Treenikaudella vietimme Teemu Turusen kanssa puolitoista tuntia Hockey Basella laittamassa miehen laukausta kondikseen. Siell\u00e4 annettiin \u201cTemelle\u201d lis\u00e4\u00e4 ty\u00f6kaluja sill\u00e4 ajatuksella, ett\u00e4 saataisiin viel\u00e4 v\u00e4h\u00e4n lis\u00e4\u00e4 jotain siihen laukaukseen.\n\nVuodesta 2011 l\u00e4htien IFK:n organisaatiossa valmentanut Kalto on mieliss\u00e4\u00e4n yhteisty\u00f6st\u00e4 Hockey Basen kanssa.\n\n\u2013 Tekniikka menee kovaa vauhtia eteenp\u00e4in ja pyrimme sit\u00e4 parhaamme mukaan hy\u00f6dynt\u00e4m\u00e4\u00e4n. Basella on hyv\u00e4t vehkeet siihen ja olemme aiemminkin heit\u00e4 hy\u00f6dynt\u00e4neet.\n\nKeikka Hockey Baselle oli vain yksitt\u00e4inen osa isompaa harjoittelukokonaisuutta.\n\n\u2013 Ei se hinkkaaminen yhteen tai kahteen kertaan j\u00e4\u00e4 vaan joka p\u00e4iv\u00e4 treenataan tekniikkaa kuntoon. Edellisten treenien j\u00e4lkeen otimme Turusen kanssa rannelaukauksia etujalalta noin viiden minuutin ajan. Eih\u00e4n se viisi minuuttia yhteisen treenin j\u00e4lkeen tunnu paljolta, mutta kun sit\u00e4 tehd\u00e4\u00e4n p\u00e4ivitt\u00e4in niin siin\u00e4 tulee aika paljon ekstraa yhdelle pelaajalle.\n\nPieni\u00e4 askelia\n\nKalto ehti urallaan pelata yli 500 liigaottelua. Entinen hy\u00f6kk\u00e4\u00e4j\u00e4 on valmentanut junioreissa my\u00f6s puolustajia, mutta kertoo olevansa omimmillaan auttaessaan hy\u00f6kk\u00e4\u00e4ji\u00e4.\n\n\u2013 Junnuissa piti tietysti valmentaa kokonaisvaltaisemmin, mutta kyll\u00e4 koen, ett\u00e4 pystyn hy\u00f6kk\u00e4\u00e4ji\u00e4 auttamaan paljon enemm\u00e4n kuin pakkeja.\n\nEnnen nykyist\u00e4 pesti\u00e4\u00e4n liigajoukkueessa, Kalto ehti valmentaa junioreita 10 vuoden ajan.\n\n\u2013 Antoisinta on joka p\u00e4iv\u00e4, kun n\u00e4kee, ett\u00e4 joku hiffaa jonkun pienen jutun ja menee sen my\u00f6t\u00e4 pelaajana eteenp\u00e4in. Se on ollut se mik\u00e4 minua t\u00e4ss\u00e4 ty\u00f6ss\u00e4 motivoi.\n\n\u2013 Esimerkiksi Anton Lundellin kanssa harjoittelimme viime vuonna kuinka ottaa taklaus vastaan ja mihin siit\u00e4 kannattaa py\u00f6r\u00e4ht\u00e4\u00e4. Sitten, kun huomasin, ett\u00e4 niit\u00e4 treenattuja asioita alkoi n\u00e4kym\u00e4\u00e4n peliss\u00e4 ja Anton sai sit\u00e4 kautta itselleen lis\u00e4\u00e4 tilaa \u2013 ne on niit\u00e4 makeimpia juttuja itselleni.\n\nKalto valmensi Kolleja kolme edellist\u00e4 kautta. Moni pelaaja niist\u00e4 joukkueista on nyky\u00e4\u00e4n liigamiehist\u00f6n mukana ja muutama on l\u00e4htenyt NHL:\u00e4\u00e4n.\n\n\u2013 A-juniorit on sellainen opinmaasto. Sit\u00e4 se oli my\u00f6s itselleni. Miro Heiskasen, Henrik Borgstr\u00f6min ja kumppaneiden oltua Kolleissa opin itse asioita my\u00f6s heid\u00e4n tekemisens\u00e4 kautta.\n\n\u201cAction-l\u00e4tk\u00e4\u00e4\u201d\n\nIFK:n ylivoima on pitk\u00e4lti Kalton vastuulla. T\u00e4ll\u00e4 kaudella stadilainen ylivoima on py\u00f6rinyt n\u00e4ytt\u00e4v\u00e4sti ja t\u00e4ysosumia viidess\u00e4 matsissa on syntynyt kuusi. IFK on tehnyt sarjassa 13 maalia, eli l\u00e4hes puolet on syntynyt ylivoimalla.\n\nKalto kertoo, ett\u00e4 erikoistilannepelaaminen rakentuu pitk\u00e4lti sen mukaan, millaisia pelaajia joukkueessa on.\n\n\u2013 Paljon se on henkil\u00f6kemiajuttuja. Esimerkiksi nyt on ollut vanha akseli Otto Paajanen \u2013 Teemu Turunen sek\u00e4 Jesse Saarisella ja Mikko Kousalla l\u00f6ytyy yhteinen tausta. Siin\u00e4 on jo kaksi paria ja sen t\u00e4ydent\u00e4\u00e4 yksi ruotsalainen. Sebastian Dyk menee \u00e4\u00e4rimm\u00e4isen hyvin Saarisen kanssa yhteen ajatusmaailmaltaan ja h\u00e4n on hemmetin hyv\u00e4 hy\u00f6kk\u00e4\u00e4m\u00e4\u00e4n.\n\nVaikka edell\u00e4 mainitut pelaajat ovatkin taiteilijoita omilla tonteillaan t\u00e4ytyy heille antaa raamit, mink\u00e4 sis\u00e4ll\u00e4 pensseli\u00e4 heiluttaa.\n\n\u2013 Raamit on oltava ja sitten katsotaan siihen vaihtoehtoja. Videoiden kautta k\u00e4ymme l\u00e4pi mist\u00e4 tilat l\u00f6ytyv\u00e4t ja n\u00e4m\u00e4 pelaajat kyll\u00e4 niit\u00e4 v\u00e4lej\u00e4 sielt\u00e4 l\u00f6yt\u00e4v\u00e4t. Ja heilt\u00e4 voin j\u00e4lleen oppia paljon itsekin. Meilt\u00e4 tulee kuitenkin ne asiat, mitk\u00e4 ylivoimassa t\u00e4ytyy aina n\u00e4ky\u00e4.\n\nKalto, kuten koko IFK:n valmennustiimi, katsoo suorittamista tulosta syvemm\u00e4lle. Mit\u00e4 valmentaja itse haluaa nostaa tapetille koko kautta silm\u00e4ll\u00e4 pit\u00e4en?\n\n\u2013 Moraali ja ty\u00f6nteko. Se, ett\u00e4 olemme joka p\u00e4iv\u00e4 fyysisesti ja henkisesti l\u00e4sn\u00e4 tekem\u00e4ss\u00e4 hommia. Haluan n\u00e4hd\u00e4 hyv\u00e4\u00e4 action-l\u00e4tk\u00e4\u00e4, Kalto nauraa."}
-{"text": "Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R), one of President Donald Trump\u2019s top attorneys for the special counsel\u2019s investigation, suggested on Sunday that the president\u2019s longtime attorney Michael Cohen might have made hush-money payments on behalf of Trump that were similar to the $130,000 wired to porn star Stormy Daniels just days before the 2016 presidential election.\n\n\u201cThe agreement with Michael Cohen, as far as I know, is a longstanding agreement that Michael Cohen takes care of situations like this, then gets paid for them sometimes,\u201d Giuliani said on ABC\u2019s This Week.\n\n\u201cThere were other things involved that had nothing to do with Stormy Daniels,\u201d Giuliani added. \u201cIn other words, other amounts of money. This was not uncommon for him to do that.\u201d\n\nLast week, Giuliani appeared to contradict Trump\u2019s account about when the president became aware that Cohen made the payment to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. Appearing with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Giuliani said Trump reimbursed Cohen \u201cover a period of several months.\u201d But on April 5, Trump denied that he had any knowledge of the payment.\n\nGiuliani\u2014whose media appearances last week set the White House scrambling\u2014said that if he were Cohen at the time the payment to Daniels was arranged in October 2016, he would have kept it from the president so as to not \u201cbother him two weeks before the election with this thing.\u201d He also said the payment did not amount to an illegal campaign contribution, but rather was intended \u201cto protect [Trump], to protect his family.\u201d\n\nCohen, who is under criminal investigation for alleged \u201cacts of concealment\u201d and \u201cfraud,\u201d is no longer representing the president, Giuliani said. But the previous arrangement between the two men might have led to other payouts, the former mayor and federal prosecutor said.\n\n\u201cI would think if it was necessary, yes. He made payments for the president or he\u2019s conducted business for the president,\u201d he said. \u201cWhich means he had legal fees, monies laid out and expenditures, which I have on my bills to my clients.\u201d\n\nThe president\u2019s legal team expects Cohen to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s investigation, according to Giuliani, who said, \u201cI don\u2019t think they\u2019ll be happy with it because he doesn\u2019t have any incriminating evidence about the president or himself.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Biden memorial: 'We all knew him as Beau'\n\nDOVER \u2013 One by one, about 1,000 Delawareans powerful and ordinary filed past Beau Biden's casket Thursday, stopping to mourn with his father, Vice President Joe Biden, and his wife, Jill, and other members of the family.\n\nMourners slowly made their way through Legislative Hall and individually paid their respects to Delaware's first family of politics.\n\nFormer Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden died last week of brain cancer at 46. His body was brought from Wilmington to the Capitol in a hearse led by a convoy of police, SUVs and police motorcycles with lights flashing. The convoy took Del. 1 to Odessa, and then traveled U.S. 13 through Odessa, Smyrna and Cheswold \u2014 stopping traffic at intersections \u2014 before entering Dover.\n\nInside the Senate chambers Gov. Jack Markell led Delaware's political elite in a tribute to Biden during a solemn half-hour memorial service. Then came the public. Many arrived in shuttle buses and waited for hours in long lines outside before snaking through the corridors of the state Capitol. Once inside they were hugged and kissed by the man they elected to seven U.S. Senate terms and ascended to two terms as vice president.\n\nBiden family members \u2013 including Beau's widow, Hallie, and their two children, Natalie and Hunter, as well as Beau's brother, Hunter, and his wife, Kathleen, and his sister, Ashley, and her husband, Dr. Howard Krein \u2013 stood in the receiving line more than four hours.\n\nBiden, who left office in January after two terms with his sights set on succeeding Markell in 2017, died Saturday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. After recovering from a minor stroke he suffered in 2010, Biden was diagnosed with cancer in August 2013, when he had a small lesion surgically removed from his brain at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.\n\nTwo more memorial services for the public will be held Friday at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Wilmington. Biden's funeral will be Saturday at St. Anthony, with President Barack Obama delivering the eulogy. National and foreign dignitaries are expected to attend.\n\nMany at Thursday's memorial sobbed, unable to contain their grief at the death of a man expected to be a state political leader for years to come.\n\nJoe Biden, a tower of stoicism in tragedy, who lost his wife and infant daughter to a car car crash in 1972 that almost killed Beau and Hunter, kept his head down much of the service, wiping his eyes.\n\nWhile the gathering was largely a Delaware affair, two national figures were in attendance: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.\n\nLike he did with so many others, Joe Biden hugged and kissed Cuomo, and they spoke briefly. It was clear Biden was moved that Cuomo had come.\n\nPower was directly behind Cuomo, also sharing a long embrace with Biden.\n\nAfter the political leaders paid their respects, Joe Biden managed to offer grim smiles and eventually seemed to be comforting many of the mourners.\n\n\"I knew I'd see you, child!\" he said to one older woman before the two embraced.\n\nA common refrain by Biden was to agree with someone's assessment of his elder son, who had followed his footsteps in politics and was considered a shoo-in for governor.\n\n\"He was a good guy,\" Biden said time and time again.\n\nState Rep. Andria Bennett of Dover said it hurt to watch Joe Biden talk to people about his fallen son.\n\n\"He'd have some laughter,'' she said, \"and then there'd be pain.\"\n\n'Taken away too soon'\n\nMarkell and other state leaders who spoke at the service praised Beau Biden's love for his family and Delawareans, and lauded the prosecutor's efforts to protect children from sexual predators, punish violent criminals and stop senior citizens from being defrauded.\n\n\"Beau made Delaware a better place for us all,\" Markell said while overlooking the casket, which was draped with an American flag. \"And he did so because of his determination and his persistence, because of his intellect and his willingness to fight.\"\n\n\"Because of what Beau Biden did in this very building, the children of Delaware are safer for generations to come,\" Markell said. \"Delaware seniors are more secure; crime victims are more certain that the state stands behind them. Students are more confident that bullies will be held accountable.\"\n\nMarkell also presented the Biden family with the Delaware Conspicuous Service Cross in honor of Beau, who served as a lawyer for the Delaware Army National Guard and spent one year in Iraq on active duty in 2008 and 2009.\n\nAlso speaking were Attorney General Matt Denn, Senate President Pro Tem Patricia Blevins, National Guard Chaplain Ed Brandt, House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf and former Delaware Chief Justice Myron Steele. Among those in attendance were former Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, who preceded Markell, and almost all 62 members of the Delaware General Assembly.\n\nSchwartzkopf told a story of Beau Biden visiting him in his Dover office and saying, \" 'I just want to come in and give you a hug.' He said, 'You're my friend. I miss you. I don't get to see you that much.' That's the Beau I knew.\"\n\nDenn, the former lieutenant governor who succeeded Biden, said Beau made sure his two children, now 11 and 9, came first. \"Natalie and Hunter knew how much he loved them,\" Denn said. \"He was taken away from them too soon.\"\n\nBlevins called Beau Biden a \"true gentleman of genuine kindness\" who \"will long be remembered a fine and exemplary son of the First State.\"\n\nSteele said that during several decades in Delaware's government, \"I never met a more conscientious, caring or thoughtful person\" than Beau Biden. \"Everyone who met him loved him instantly.\"\n\nSaid Brandt, who was deployed in Iraq with Biden: \"We knew him in so many ways, dear Lord, Major Biden, Attorney General Biden, dad, son, brother, husband. And we all knew him as Beau.\"\n\n'An absolute kick in the gut'\n\nThursday's Legislative Hall memorial was the first of its kind in Delaware. Officials have no record of any other such public mourning event in the Capitol since it opened in 1933.\n\nCol. John Haslet, an officer in the Continental American Army during the American Revolution, was likely the last person to be laid in honor in the Old State House Building in Dover, according to Russ McCabe, a Delaware historian and former state archivist. Haslet was killed in the Battle of Princeton in 1777. His remains were transferred from Philadelphia to Dover in 1841 where they laid in rest for a day at the State House.\n\nHours before the service began, volunteer fire company trucks from Dover and Rehoboth Beach raised aerial ladders high over Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard adjacent to Legislative Hall. Firefighters scrambled up both ladders and rigged an outsized American flag.\n\nPeople started gathering outside shortly after 11 a.m., including media crews from the region that lined the edge of The Green across the street. Delaware Capitol Police swept the building with police dogs as friends, legislators and former staff members of Biden's gathered outside.\n\nAt about 11:45 a.m. several state officials, including Cabinet secretaries David S. Small and Secretary of State Jeffrey W. Bullock, began arriving. State prosecutor Kathleen M. Jennings and Jason Miller, former spokesman for Beau Biden at the Attorney General's Office, also were in the group.\n\nMany lawmakers and government officials said the Legislative Hall tribute is fitting for Biden, who followed his father into politics after growing up in the public eye as the son of Delaware's leading politician.\n\n\"I'm just happy we're able to pay tribute in this way,\" said Sen. Harris McDowell, Delaware's longest-serving lawmaker.\n\nRita Landgraf, secretary of the state Department of Health and Social Services, teared up as she waited in line.\n\n\"It's stunning,\" said Landgraf, who worked closely with Beau during the prosecution of pedophile pediatrician Earl Bradley. In Biden's drive to get justice for the children hurt by Bradley, \"he went beyond his call of duty.\"\n\nAt 12:50 p.m. in Washington, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed Delaware Congressman John Carney's resolution commemorating Biden's life.\n\n\"This weekend, Beau Biden left this world far too soon at the age of 46,\" Carney told fellow members of Congress. \"My home state of Delaware, and this country, suffered a loss that is deeply painful, and deeply personal.\"\n\nAfter being diagnosed with cancer, Biden underwent a round of chemotherapy and radiation treatment. The vice president's office said in November 2013 that he was given a clean bill of health by his doctor. But Biden's cancer returned this spring, and he immediately sought aggressive treatment. He was admitted to Walter Reed for treatment late last month.\n\nFormer House Speaker Robert Gilligan said Thursday's service demonstrated \"an outpouring of emotion because of what he accomplished and also out of respect for the Biden family. It's such a terrible tragedy.\"\n\nOutside after the service, Markell described the last week as a surreal experience.\n\n\"When the hearse pulled up,\" the governor said, \"It was just like an absolute kick in the gut.\"\n\nAt 5 p.m., with dozens of mourners still lined up in the lobby, including many who had braved a steady rain that had begun falling outside, the vice president emerged from the chambers.\n\n\"Thank you,\" Beau's father said. \"Thank you for coming.\"\n\nJennifer Rini, Jeff Montgomery, Jon Offredo, robin brown and William H. McMichael contributed. Contact senior investigative reporter Cris Barrish at (302) 324-2785, cbarrish@delawareonline.com, on Facebook or Twitter @crisbarrish. Contact Jonathan Starkey at (302) 983-6756, on Twitter @jwstarkey or at jstarkey@delawareonline.com. Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.\n\nFRIDAY\n\nA public viewing will be held at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, 901 N. DuPont St, Wilmington, from 1 to 4 p.m., and again from 6 to 9 p.m.\n\nSATURDAY\n\nA public funeral Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. at St. Anthony's, though seating will be limited, church officials said. President Barack Obama will deliver the eulogy and foreign dignitaries are expected to attend."}
-{"text": "PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - A journalist was wounded by gunfire in Haiti on Monday as police fired live ammunition to disperse protesters, his employer, Haitian broadcaster Radio Sans Fin (RSF) said, amid mounting anger over an escalating economic and political crisis.\n\nSlideshow ( 29 images )\n\nTelevision images from the scene showed RSF video journalist Edmond Joseph Agenor with bandages wrapped around his wrist after he was shot while covering a protest in the capital.\n\nAgenor was rushed to hospital on a motorcycle for treatment after protesters threw rocks and police responded with gun shots and tear gas.\n\nIt was the second time in a week that a journalist was shot by Haitian authorities.\n\nA lawmaker from the ruling party of President Jovenel Moise fired a handgun during a protest last week and wounded Associated Press photographer Dieu-Nalio Chery.\n\nHaitians are protesting against widespread food and fuel shortages, a weakening currency, double-digit inflation and graft accusations lodged against public officials in the impoverished Caribbean nation.\n\nProtesters also burnt at least a couple of cars, including a police car, in the latest round of civil unrest.\n\nMany Haitians have called for Moise to stand down after what they describe as a failure to address Haiti\u2019s myriad problems.\n\nFour people have been killed in clashes over the past several days.\n\nProtests last week were among the largest and most violent in months as witnesses reported that a special unit of the Haitian National Police was looted and another police vehicle set ablaze."}
-{"text": "Alcohol may soon be allowed in apartment-style residences in Nebraska Hall, which primarily houses juniors and seniors.\n\nCorrection appended.\n\nA pilot proposal to allow alcohol in select on-campus residence halls with a potential start date of fall 2016 is currently being perfected by AU administrators who govern University housing.\n\nThe program, which was prompted by concern over dangerous off-campus drinking situations and the University\u2019s desire to house more upperclassmen on campus, began within Housing and Dining Programs with input from the Office of Campus Life.\n\n\u201cYou could live across the street as a 21-year-old person and be able to drink as a legal right, and not that that was the most important reason why students moved off campus, but [it has been] a component,\u201d Assistant Vice President for Housing and Dining Programs Chris Moody said.\n\nUnder the current outline, the program would apply to students living in McDowell, Cassell, Roper and Nebraska Halls, as well as students on designated floors in Leonard Hall and Hughes Hall. Residents in those halls will have the opportunity to apply for a permit to possess alcohol in units where at least half the residents are 21 years or older, according to Moody, who is responsible for the planning, development and implementation of the pilot.\n\nResidents of Anderson, Letts, Clark and Centennial Halls will not be able to apply for permits, as those halls will primarily house freshmen and underclassmen, Moody said. There will also be substance-free floors or wings available in residence halls where alcohol is not permitted.\n\nThe proposal is intended to normalize student alcohol use and perceptions of alcohol, while reducing the dangerous drinking that occurs in the community or in private homes, according to Moody.\n\n\u201cAs a by-product of the hall policy we are pushing all of the drinking behaviors into the community, into private homes where there are fewer resources and it\u2019s more dangerous if someone gets into a bad situation,\u201d Moody said.\n\nStudents seeking to obtain an alcohol permit must unanimously agree with the other residents in their room to having alcohol in the room and must not have had multiple drug or alcohol conduct code violations. When eligible residents receive permits, they will likely be required to go through trainings such as StepUp!, a bystander prevention program, or PEERS sexual assault prevention initiatives, though Moody said these details have not yet been solidified.\n\nThe Resident Hall Association will be tasked with communicating to residents about the alcohol policy change and developing programming to assist residents in the transition to the new policies, according to Alex Kokinchak, RHA\u2019s vice president for advocacy and community coordination.\n\n\u201cThe biggest goal is educating our residents [on] what the options are for next year, what will be changing, what won\u2019t be changing, helping them make informed decisions and how it might affect their lives on campus,\u201d Kokinchak said. \u201cIt is our job that everyone on campus knows what is happening since it is so relevant to residential life.\u201d\n\nConditions\n\nUnder the pilot program, underage students found with alcohol in freshman residence halls, for example, would still be penalized. Students with an alcohol permit would not be subject to conduct code drinking violations but may have their permits revoked if they misuse the privileges of the permit, such as by giving alcohol to underage students.\n\n\u201cIn the pilot year, [the conduct code] won\u2019t [officially] change. The only change that will occur in the pilot year is the residence hall license agreement,\u201d Moody said. \u201cIf it goes from pilot to policy, the student conduct code would change and revoked alcohol permit privileges would be added.\u201d\n\nBeer, wine and liquor will be permitted in residences with permits, though beer kegs and alcohol paraphernalia such as funnels would not be allowed.\n\n\u201cAs for now, we are not going to put numbers on the amount of the alcohol a resident can have, but it\u2019s about responsible choices,\u201d Moody said. \u201cThere is a big difference between having wine with dinner with your roommates and having packs of beer and tons of underage people in your room having a party.\u201d\n\nConduct code violations would focus on loud noise or units over-crowded with residents at a party, rather than mere alcohol possession, according to Moody.\n\nThough alcohol would not be permitted in freshman or sophomore residence halls, Resident Assistants and Program Associates of legal age in those halls would be able to apply for an alcohol permit.\n\n\u201cJust because they are assigned to work in freshman dorms, we don\u2019t want to penalize them or not have this privilege because of the job they have decided to take on a role-modeling job to begin with,\u201d Moody said.\n\nEvolution of Policy change\n\nAdministrators began discussing a possible alcohol policy change during the spring 2015 semester. Housing and Dining staff also researched and compared on-campus alcohol policies to 15 mostly private schools and other institutions in the Patriot League division and across the mid-Atlantic region, according to Moody.\n\n\u201cWe learned that of all the schools, only two schools did not allow alcohol, American and Howard University, in resident halls,\u201d he said. \u201cIt shows that other campuses have an open mind to a policy that becoming 21 and the ability to drink alcohol as a legal adult is part of that normalized process.\u201d\n\nHDP and RHA held their first public town hall discussion and feedback review of the pilot policy program on Monday. The second discussion, also public, is set to happen tonight in MGC 2 at 6 p.m.\n\nMoving Forward\n\nAdministrators plan to formally complete the pilot proposal following feedback from students and administrators in tonight\u2019s final town hall discussion.\n\nFrom there, the proposal will be sent to President Kerwin and his cabinet for approval. The final announcement about whether the pilot program will actually be implemented will come before the end of this semester, according to Moody.\n\nOn Monday\u2019s discussion about the pilot policies, RHA student members were pleased with the changes.\n\n\u201cWe want to include as much feedback and answer concerns residents may have about the policy changes,\u201d Kokinchak said. \u201cBut ultimately this is moving AU in the right direction. It's focused on education and normalizing mature responsible drinking behavior and with our goals of educating our students getting them ready to send them out to the real world, this policy is beneficial.\u201d\n\nksaltzman@theeagleonline.com\n\nCorrection: a previous version of this article listed Kokinchak's title incorrectly. She is the RHA vice president for advocacy and community coordination, not the vice president for outreach and advocacy, as initially stated.\n\nMore from The Eagle"}
-{"text": "Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson\u2019s (R) reported efforts to attract the tech industry to his state are at risk of being undermined by the advancement of a \u201creligious freedom\u201d bill.\n\nTalking Points Memo reported on Friday that Apple CEO Tim Cook criticized state House Bill 1228 online, comparing it unfavorably to Indiana\u2019s Senate Bill 101.\n\n\u201cApple is open for everyone,\u201d Cook wrote. \u201cWe are deeply disappointed in Indiana\u2019s new law and calling on Arkansas Gov. to veto the similar #HB1228.\u201d\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nThe Arkansas measure, known as the \u201cConscience Protection Act,\u201d passed in the state Senate on Friday in a 24-7 vote. It now goes back to the House for passage. The bill\u2019s sponsor, state Rep. Bob Ballinger (R), said it would impose \u201cstrict scrutiny\u201d on the state for it to infringe upon someone\u2019s religious beliefs. Hutchison has indicated that he would sign the bill into law.\n\nBut the bill has drawn widespread criticism for opening the door to discrimination against the LGBT communities, much like Indiana\u2019s \u201cReligious Freedom Restoration Act\u201d and Arizona\u2019s Senate Bill 1062, which was ultimately vetoed by Gov. Jan Brewer (R) amid national scrutiny.\n\nThe Arkansas Times reported that the head of the review site Yelp, which draws $380 million in annual revenue, Jeremy Stoppelman said his company would no longer add jobs in the state in response to HB 1228\u2019s passage.\n\nIt would be \u201cunconscionable to imagine that Yelp would create, maintain, or expand a significant business presence in any state that encouraged discrimination by businesses against our employees, or consumers at large,\u201d Stoppelman said in his statement.\n\nAccording to the Washington Post, the LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is directly encouraging Silicon Valley businesses to avoid Arkansas.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nThe HRC will run a full-page ad in the San Jose Mercury News on Sunday calling the state \u201cclosed for business due to discrimination\u201d and asking readers to call on Hutchison to stop the \u201cvicious\u201d bill.\n\n\u201cArkansas wants your business, but at what price?\u201d the ad reads. As of 2011, the Mercury News\u2019 Sunday edition had a subscription of more than 600,000 readers.\n\nThe ad can be seen in its entirety below:\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nWhile nearly 20 other states have enacted similar legislation, the passage of SB 101 in Indiana brought with it renewed focus on the issue. Gov. Mike Pence (R) and Indiana Republicans have seen both criticism and multiple boycott threats this week after pushing the bill through."}
-{"text": "Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and Freedom Watch founder Larry Klayman are spearheading separate lawsuits against the National Security Agency\u2019s dragnet collection of U.S. phone records. The contrarian conservatives may find themselves sitting together in court with their cases consolidated - a prospect Klayman says he welcomes, but which Cuccinelli says isn\u2019t guaranteed.\n\nKlayman filed suit against the phone metadata program in June after exiled whistle-blower Edward Snowden\u2019s initial leaks and won a preliminary victory Dec. 16 from U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon of Washington, D.C., who found the \"almost Orwellian\" program \"almost certainly\" violates the Fourth Amendment. His lawsuit is the most successful against the NSA program to date.\n\nCuccinelli is lead counsel on a similar suit filed on behalf of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and FreedomWorks in U.S. District Court on Wednesday in D.C.\n\nKlayman says he is certain the anti-surveillance cases will be combined, citing his experience in the D.C. federal court. \u201cIt\u2019s 99.9 percent the judge consolidates the cases and we will be sitting there in court together,\u201d Klayman tells U.S. News. \u201cAnd we look forward to working with them.\u201d\n\nKlayman believes the lawsuit filed by Cuccinelli will be assigned to Leon, who will decide to hear the two legal teams\u2019 cases in tandem, meaning joint court hearings and rulings.\n\n\u201cThe judge is not going to handle two separate class-actions,\u201d Klayman says. \u201cThey will be undoubtedly be merged and consolidated.\u201d\n\nKlayman is currently seeking Supreme Court review of the preliminary injunction from Leon, hoping to leapfrog the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for rapid resolution of questions about the phone program\u2019s constitutionality. He dropped Verizon as a defendant and discontinued the intended class-action certification of that suit, but then refiled the class-action suit in District Court Jan. 23.\n\n\u201c[The refiled lawsuit] will probably end up being put together with Paul\u2019s,\u201d Klayman says. \u201cPaul kind of copied it, imitated it, and those two cases will probably go in tandem in front of Judge Leon.\u201d\n\nBut Cuccinelli, who is not a member of the D.C. bar, tells U.S. News it\u2019s not clear Leon will be assigned to hear the case.\n\n\u201cThat gets into the black box of how the court operates itself,\u201d Cuccinelli says. \u201cIt\u2019s the same subject matter, so there\u2019s some efficiency in that respect, but I don\u2019t want to speculate on that. We\u2019re not designing our case around [Leon hearing it].\u201d\n\nBoth Klayman and Cuccinelli agree the class-action cases will move slowly through the court system, but Cuccinelli says he expects a trial as early as this summer.\n\nAlmost immediately after filing the suit that Paul first promised in June, the senator\u2019s legal team was ensnared in a minor controversy. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post reported that Bruce Fein, an attorney who helped draft the lawsuit beginning in December, believed Cuccinelli and Paul plagiarized his work.\n\nThe Post quoted Fein\u2019s ex-wife, who the Post identified as his spokesperson, as saying \u201cKen Cuccinelli stole the suit\u201d without full payment or attribution. On Thursday Fein denied his ex-wife was speaking on his behalf. In an email to Doug Stafford, a senior Paul adviser, that was distributed to the press Fein wrote: \u201cHer quotes were her own and did not represent my views. I was working on a legal team, and have been paid for my work.\u201d\n\nCuccinelli sees media bias as pervasive and says he's not possessive about credit for the Paul case or about who gets credit for a possible Supreme Court showdown.\n\n\u201cThe names don\u2019t even matter,\u201d Cuccinelli says. \u201cWhat matters is: Do we have the Fourth Amendment protection that most Americans think they have?\u201d\n\nCuccinelli says he first discussed the lawsuit with Paul in October during a daylong campaign trip around Virginia in support of his Republican candidacy for governor.\n\nKlayman says he was sorry to see the apparent in-fighting among Paul\u2019s legal team. \u201cWe all need to hang together or separately we hang, as Benjamin Franklin said,\u201d he says.\n\nThere are some differences of opinion between the two leading anti-surveillance lawyers.\n\nCuccinelli and Paul said at a Wednesday press conference outside the court they believe their lawsuit will be the first lawsuit certified as a class-action complaint against the NSA program. But Klayman doubts that; he expects the cases will either be certified as class-actions at the same time or that his will be certified first.\n\nKlayman is also optimistic that his truncated case - on behalf of himself and two other plaintiffs - will be heard by the Supreme Court and that if that happens, a judgment against the program would affect all American phone records. Cuccinelli says such a scenario would only yield a permanent injunction that would \u201capply to two people.\u201d\n\nThe two lawsuits seeking class-action certification are themselves different. Klayman seeks damages and alleges violations of the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments. The Paul-Cuccinelli suit only alleges violations of the Fourth Amendment and seeks an injunction ending the program as well as the purging of stored records.\n\nKlayman says he finds some aspects of the Paul lawsuit curious, including its reference to opinion polling. \u201cThey wrote it in a very political way, they\u2019re talking about polling and stuff like that,\u201d he says, \u201c[but] polling has no bearing on a court case.\u201d\n\nIn addition to the two D.C. cases, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in federal court in New York City and the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed suit on behalf of a diverse coalition of advocacy groups in San Francisco federal court. The ACLU case was dismissed Dec. 27 by U.S. District Court Judge William Pauley, but the civil liberties group is appealing. The EFF case hasn\u2019t made it into a courtroom yet."}
-{"text": "I will now attempt to penetrate your mind you must resist\n\n27,147 shares"}
-{"text": "There've been rumblings about the sales gallery and model unit for 111 West 57th Street, JDS and Property Markets Group's supertall tower designed by SHoP, since the winter, with a few peeks inside. Now, there's a full website for the building, and while no pricing has been revealed (a tipster sent over an \"Availability\" section, which PR for the building has confirmed is inaccurate), there are some new looks inside, including one of a duplex in the building.\n\nThe tipster also pointed out a floorplan on the site, which shows the entryway to the building, which is interesting in and of itself: It shows how the old Steinway Piano storefront will be integrated into the building, along with features like a porte cochere (which will face 58th Street), an elevator for the tower residences, and a gallery off the main lobby.\n\nThere's also now a \"Views\" section on the site showing, well, the views from the supertall tower, which will be more than 1,400 feet high when completed.\n\nHere's that entryway floorplan:\n\nWe've reached out to reps for the building for confirmation, and will update with any information.\n\nUPDATE: An earlier version of this post included pricing information for the building, which a spokesperson has since confirmed was from a placeholder, and is not accurate. We've removed that information, and Curbed regrets the error."}
-{"text": "delhi\n\nUpdated: Feb 09, 2015 10:41 IST\n\nAs Delhi voted on Saturday, HT found out what voters in the constituencies of the Big Three -- Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Ajay Maken -- had to say. While it seemed New Delhi had no hard feelings for the AAP chief, voters in Krishna Nagar, a BJP bastion, were a divided lot over Bedi. In Sadar Bazar, which has become a hot seat with Maken in the front row, voters said personalities did not matter as long as their demands for better facilities were met.\n\nKejriwal is the issue!\n\nEager to give former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal a \u2018second chance\u2019, New Delhi constituency voted in large numbers on Saturday.\n\nFor a majority of people, including government employees, housewives, youngsters, and slum dwellers, \u2018Kejriwal\u2019 was one issue that they voted for.\n\n\u201cKejriwal is my issue,\u201d said Omwati, a resident of Valmiki Basti that had played a crucial role in Kejriwal\u2019s spectacular win in 2013. While the residents felt there were a number of civic issues that need to be taken care of, they wanted to give AAP a second chance after the 49-day goof-up.\n\nCorruption played heavily on the minds of the voters as they stood outside government schools to cast their vote. From government employees, who form the bulk of the electorate, to slum dwellers living in the area, price rise was another big issue.\n\nThe response the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief received as he reached the polling station to cast his vote reflected the mood of the voters. Soon after Kejriwal reached a school at Aliganj in BK Dutt colony to cast his vote, hundreds descended on the polling centre to catch a glimpse of him.\n\nA number of people waved to him from balconies and rooftops of their houses in the New Delhi constituency where he created history in December 2013 by defeating three-time chief minister and Congress leader Sheila Dikshit.\n\nKejriwal\u2019s main rivals in the New Delhi constituency are Kiran Walia of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party\u2019s (AJP's) Nupur Sharma. \u201cHarassment by police, traffic cops had entirely stopped during the 49 days that we had AAP government. There is not much difference between the Congress and BJP and AAP has to be given a second chance,\u201d said Amar Kumar, a resident of DIZ area in New Delhi.\n\nLonging for Dr Sahab\n\nResidents of east Delhi\u2019s Krishna Nagar are a divided lot this year as the BJP fielded Kiran Bedi from the constituency, who is also party\u2019s CM candidate. They have been electing BJP\u2019s Harsh Vardhan for two decades.\n\nResidents feel she will be able to win the seat but by a very small margin. They feel it will be a tough fight between Bedi and SK Bagga of AAP.\n\n\u201cWe have been voting for doctor sahab for a long time and since he supports Bedi, we have voted for her. We believe it is a good choice,\u201d said Praveen Gupta, a resident of Krishna Nagar.\n\n\u201cIn the last assembly election, I had voted for BJP since Harsh Vardhanji was contesting from here. In the Lok Sabha polls too, I voted for the BJP as we wanted Modiji\u2019s government in the Centre. But this time the mood has changed and many have turned to AAP as Delhi needs a government with a difference,\u201d said Nikhil, 26 a resident of Krishna Nagar.\n\nBut another young businessman, Honey Kochar, felt Delhi needed a CM like Bedi and the same government in Centre and Delhi.\n\nBedi was given this seat as Krishna Nagar is considered to be the safest constituency for BJP since Harsh Vardhan has been winning since 1993. The voters of the area however, are divided as they consider Bedi to be an outsider and wanted a local to contest after Harsh Vardhan.\n\nAmong women, Bedi was more popular while the AAP candidate was favoured by the middle class. Some appeared to be upset with Vardhan\u2019s \u201cdemotion\u201d in the cabinet re-shuffle and denial of ticket to his son.\n\nMost people in the area know Kiran Bedi was an IPS officer and a social activist. However, they also remember that she had pledged never to join politics. Bedi\u2019s induction into the BJP raised questions about her integrity.\n\nAfter casting her vote in Malviya Nagar on Saturday, Bedi rushed to Krishna Nagar and stayed there for a few hours. Her \u2018padyatra\u2019 with supporters raised eyebrows with the AAP moving the Election Commission.\n\n'Amenities are important'\n\nWith the entry of former Union minister Ajay Maken, the contest in Sadar Bazaar constituency may seem to have converted into a high-profile one but on Saturday electorates came out to vote for cheaper power and free water.\n\nAnother decisive factor was prevalent corruption in the system. The general feeling of the people of the area was they wanted to pick a candidate who could realize their long cherished dream-an honest and transparent system in the Capital.\n\n\n\nThey said personality did not matter, what mattered was the person who could deliver on promises.\n\n\n\n\u201cDuring 49 days\u2019 government, people of Delhi had realized that free water and cheaper power is possible in the city. So, we voted accordingly. People did sympathize with Maken but did not vote for him,\u201d said Manish Jain, who runs an optical shop in Sadar Bazaar area. Being a Congress stronghold for decades, Maken was pitted by the party against AAP\u2019s Som Dutt who had wrested the seat from Congress in 2013 assembly polls. Earlier, Congress\u2019 Rajesh Jain had been winning from here since 1998.\n\nAgreeing with Manish, a young housewife of Shastri Nagar area Jyoti Sharma also said she wants reduced power tariff and potable water at cheap rates. \u201cBig names are bound to draw crowd but not votes. Common man is well aware of their track record. I want my household budget to remain stable, with this hope, I am voting this time,\u201d she said.\n\n\n\nThe BJP too replaced its candidate and decided go with Praveen Jain, a former councilor from the area instead one Jai Prakash. However, the move did not go well with the party cadre and supporters, which may cause loss to the party.\n\n\u201cThere was palpable resentment among party workers against the nomination of Praveen Jain as his wife is sitting councilor. They wanted some other leader to be given a chance,\u201d said Ankit Saini, a youth of Deputy Ganj locality adding that in this scenario AAP\u2019s Dutt certainly has an edge over BJP\u2019s candidate."}
-{"text": "HOUSTON -- The National Rifle Assn.\u2019s annual convention begins in earnest Friday in Houston, with leaders who have spent the year defending the group in the wake of mass shootings emboldened by the recent defeat of federal gun control legislation and ready to rally around this year\u2019s theme: \u201cStand and Fight.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you are an NRA member, you deserve to be proud,\u201d Wayne LaPierre, the NRA\u2019s chief executive wrote to members last week, saying they \u201cexemplify everything that\u2019s good and right about America.\u201d\n\n\nOn Friday afternoon, LaPierre is scheduled to appear at the convention with a panel of political leaders who have championed gun rights, including former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin (who some tea party advocates are hoping will make a run for the Senate), Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (also a tea party favorite), Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.\n\nLaPierre will address the membership again Saturday before a \u201cStand and Fight\u201d rally.\n\n\nMore than 70,000 people from across the country and abroad are expected to attend the three-day event at Houston\u2019s downtown convention center drawn by, among other things, a gun trade show, youth day, firearms classes and a speech by rocker and NRA ally Ted Nugent.\n\n\u201cIt is on track to be the largest NRA annual meeting ever,\u201d NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told the Los Angeles Times. \u201cI think a lot of it has to do with the fight that we\u2019re in. People understand that now more than ever they need to come out and support the 2nd Amendment.\u201d\n\n\nGun control advocates also planned to flock to the convention center, and Arulanandam said that shouldn\u2019t cause friction.\n\n\u201cThat is people exercising their 1st Amendment rights. We respect their 1st Amendment rights, and we hope they respect our 1st and 2nd Amendment rights,\u201d he said.\n\n\nAmong events gun control groups have planned: a petition drive for expanded background checks of gun purchasers, veterans speaking out against illegal guns, and a vigil near the convention center for victims of gun violence that will start Friday morning and last through Sunday.\n\nThe \u201cNo More Names\u201d vigil includes the names of those killed in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and others who have died since then in gun violence, said Lauren Weiner, a spokeswoman for Washington, D.C.-based Americans United for Change.\n\n\nWhen supporters held a similar event last month ahead of the Senate gun control vote, they had collected about 3,300 names, Weiner told The Times.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t want to add any more names to the list. That\u2019s our goal ideally through passing legislation,\u201d Weiner said.\n\n\nAmong those expected to attend the convention is Erica Lafferty, daughter of slain Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung. Lafferty has become an outspoken proponent of gun control legislation.\n\nWeiner said the failure of gun control legislation has emboldened rather than demoralized supporters, citing an incident earlier this week in which Lafferty and others confronted Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) over her vote.\n\n\n\u201cWe look at it as a first step in a process,\u201d Weiner said of the legislation\u2019s defeat. \u201cIt has galvanized folks \u2014 you\u2019ve seen it in New Hampshire this week. Folks realize that we need to be louder,\u201d particularly relatives of those killed in Newtown.\n\nKim Russell, national field director for the gun control group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said their membership grew and donations poured in after the Senate vote (20% of their total donations to date came within 24 hours). They, too, plan to have a presence in Houston.\n\n\u201cThat Senate vote was the second alarm. Newtown was the first,\u201d Russell told The Times. \u201cThere\u2019s a backlash now.\u201d\n\nmolly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com\n\n\nALSO:\n\nAnother May Day gone bad in Seattle\n\n\nTamerlan Tsarnaev met with militants in Dagestan, official says\n\nBombing survivor: \u2018Just like the movies, all the sound went away\u2019"}
-{"text": "Here's an intro to using rsync for back-up on the Pi. Once the initial back-up is created, keeping it up to date this way is much much faster than constantly ripping the entire image. You can do this to a local hard drive or over a network.\n\nYou actually do not want a complete copy of a running system as a back-up, since some of the stuff ostensibly in the filesystem exists only at runtime. Including that in a backup and then using it to recreate an image later may create problems for you.\n\nThere are some other exceptions too. rsync can accept a list of (glob) patterns to exclude, and those can be read from a file, so let's first go thru what should be in such a file. Note that the entries are of the form /directory/* and not /directory . This is because we want them to exist, but we don't want to copy anything in them.\n\n/proc/* /sys/*\n\nThese do not really exist on disk. They're an interface to the kernel, which creates and maintains them in memory. If you copy these and then copy them back into a system and boot it, it will be (at best) meaningless, since the kernel uses those as mount points for the interfaces [If you want to see what happens when you mount a filesystem partition on a directory with data in it, try. It works and won't do any harm, but the stuff that was in the directory is now inaccessible.]\n\nNote that it is critical that the /sys and /proc mount points exist. But they should not contain anything. Next:\n\n/dev/*\n\nThe dev directory is not quite the same thing as proc and sys but for our purposes it is. If you believe that you should save this so you can have the same device nodes in your backup or something, you're wrong. Don't bother. Do not copy dev . Once upon a long time ago Linux did work that way, but it doesn't anymore.\n\n/boot/*\n\nThis is sort of a special case with the most (perhaps all) of the Pi specific distros such as Raspbian. It's actually a mount point for the first, vfat, partition. We are going to deal with that separately. Whatever you do, don't bother including it here, because again, it's a mount point.\n\n/tmp/* /run/*\n\n/run is generally not on disk either, it's in memory. Perhaps /tmp could be too (this would save a bit of SD card action), but in any case, as the names imply, these are not places for storing persistent data. Applications which use them expect that they may be deleted at each boot.\n\n/mnt/* /media/*\n\nThese are important particularly if you are planning to back up to a hard drive or USB stick and the device is in /mnt or /media (automounting tends to use the latter), because if you don't exclude the location of those devices in the filesystem you will create a loop backing up the content of the drive to itself, until it runs out of space. I think rsync might be smart enough to spot something that dumb but try to avoid testing the premise.\n\nOn to the actual backing up: Create a directory to back up to on the locally mounted harddrive, USB thing, etc. -- e.g. \"pi_backup\". You can alternately backup to a remote location via ssh (see below) or using a network mounted filesystem, but this will probably take a while the first time.\n\nIf the file containing the list to exclude is /rsync-exclude.txt 1 and your drive is /mnt/usbhd , to do the actual backup:\n\nrsync -aHv --delete --exclude-from=/rsync-exclude.txt / /mnt/usbhd/pi_backup/\n\nNotice that there is a trailing slash on pi_backup/ .\n\nThis will take a while and produce a lot of output (if you want to examine that in a log instead, append > rsync.log ). --delete is meaningless the first time, but for keeping the backup updated use it. This ensures that stuff you've later deleted on the Pi also gets removed from your backup. The a sets recursion into directories and makes sure all the file attributes match. -H is to preserve hard links2, v is for verbose which is why you get some output (otherwise rsync is quiet). See man rsync for more.\n\nThere is a shortcut whereby you can skip the --exclude-from file. If you are sure that all of the things you don't want to copy ( /tmp etc.) are on separate filesystems, you can just use:\n\nrsync -axHv --delete-during / /mnt/usbhd/pi_backup/\n\n-x has been inserted. This is the short form of --one-file-system , which tells rsync not to cross filesystem boundaries. Personally I prefer the --exclude-from , but on e.g., default Raspbian, --one-file-system will work fine. You can use both if you want to be -x tra careful :D\n\nThat's not quite a complete backup. It's enough if you haven't put anything in boot and you are fine with using the back up to just restore the system by sticking the card in a computer and running:\n\nrsync -av --delete-during /mnt/usbhd/pi_backup/ /mnt/sdcard_partition2/\n\nYou could also do this with a card with a new image on it (presuming it's the same as your base image) although that's a little inefficient if you have to create the image (because you're then going to overwrite most of it). You could also connect another SD card via a USB adapter with such an image on it, and use the above method to maintain a duplicate card.\n\nIf you've put stuff in /boot (e.g., a custom kernel), including /boot/config.txt , you'll want to back that up too (pretty simple -- there's not much to it). Just do it separately, and when you restore, that stuff goes in the first partition.\n\nSee here if you want to create a blank Raspbian style image which you could then backup into. You can use a similar methodology to create an empty Raspbian style card -- just rather than dealing with an .img file, you'd be dealing with a real device (e.g. /dev/sdb ), meaning all you have to do is create the partition table with fdisk and then format /dev/sdb1 and sdb2 (or whatever) with mkfs .\n\nBut copying the whole image is easier! Why bother with this?\n\nIt's not that hard; I restored to a blank card (formatted as per that last link) in 10 minutes. Yes, just using dd on the whole thing is simpler (if you find stuff like words confusing...), BUT then it takes quite a while every time you want to update your backup because you must do 100% of it every time. Using rsync , once a backup exists, updating it is much much faster, so you can set this up to happen painlessly everyday via cron. Over a network even. Every six hours. The more often you do it, the less time it will take.\n\nrsync via ssh\n\nHere's an example:\n\nrsync [options] --rsh=\"ssh [ssh options]\" root@[the pi ip]:/ /backup/rpi/\n\n\"Options\" would be, eg, -av --delete --exclude-from=/rsync-exclude.txt and \"ssh options\" is whatever you normally use (if anything). You must have root access via ssh to do this for the purposes of a system backup (set PermitRootLogin=yes in /etc/ssh/sshd_config and restart the server).\n\n1 You should keep this file. You can put comments in it on lines beginning with # or ; . This could include the actual rsync command, which can be copy pasted later so you don't have to remember it each time."}
-{"text": "Watch Arizona Cardinals vs Denver Broncos Live Stream\n\nWho: Arizona Cardinals at Denver Broncos\n\nWhen: Thursday, Aug. 29, at 7 p.m. Mile High time\n\nWhere: Broncos Stadium at Mile High\n\nThe end of the preseason has finally arrived. The Denver Broncos will host the Arizona Cardinals to close out the 2019 preseason. We should expect teams to begin cutting their roster down to the final 53 soon after the conclusion of these games on Thursday.\n\nDefensive lineman DeShawn Williams knows all too well how difficult this week is. The Broncos cut him last year, but he seems to have beaten out recently released Zach Kerr and is poised to make the team. It can be hard to stay positive, but Williams had good advice for those who end up unemployed in a few days.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": ".......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........\n\nSANTA FE \u2013 A death threat against immigration attorney Allegra Love launched an FBI investigation and forced the Santa Fe advocate to abandon her home until the danger passed, sources have told Searchlight New Mexico.\n\nThe threat came in an April 29 voicemail from a New Mexico phone number. A man growled into the phone: \u201cI\u2019m going to murder every one of you tyranny-loving mother(expletive). Be ready for me! You are all (expletive) dead.\u201d\n\nThe next day, an FBI agent met Love at her office.\n\n\u201cHere\u2019s what we suggest,\u201d she says the agent told her, \u201c\u2018Keep the doors locked. If your staff is uncomfortable, they can work from home. We\u2019re taking this as credible. We\u2019re going to try to figure out who the caller is.'\u201d\n\nADVERTISEMENTSkip\n\n................................................................\n\nAs director of the nonprofit Santa Fe Dreamers Project and an outspoken advocate for immigrant families in New Mexico, Love says she has faced her share of insults. But nothing like this.\n\n\u201cIt scared me to think that something could happen to our staff,\u201d says Love, a former teacher in Santa Fe Public Schools.\n\nAlbuquerque-based FBI spokesman Frank Fisher said the agency cannot confirm or deny an investigation. But he explained the difference between strong words and a criminal act this way.\n\n\u201cWhen it crosses the line to \u2018I\u2019m going to hurt you or your relatives,\u2019 that is where it becomes a threat of violence,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is no longer just expressing an opinion.\u201d\n\nThough the caller did not carry out the attack, the threat was especially chilling because of its specificity, Love says. The caller stated when, where and how she and her colleagues would die.\n\nLove\u2019s twin sister begged her to leave her house. Police said they would keep a close patrol of her home and office until the threat passed.\n\nShe packed her things, locked her doors and stayed away from her house for more than two weeks while law enforcement watched and waited.\n\nIn the fervor over illegal immigration, the migrant caravan this spring became a particular focus of attention. It was the latest annual pilgrimage meant to draw attention to the plight of Central Americans fleeing violence in their home countries.\n\nPresident Trump decried the caravan as a threat to border security. Anti-immigrant groups rallied around the cause.\n\nAlong with a dozen or so other attorneys, Love was in Mexico with the caravan in April to answer questions and conduct legal seminars. An NBC Nightly News report showed migrants congregating under blue-and-yellow tarps after traveling hundreds of miles by train and on foot.\n\n\u201cPeople want to know,\u201d Love told NBC, \u201c\u2018if I turn myself in at the U.S. border, what is going to happen to me?'\u201d\n\nHer work in Mexico coincided with the mission of the Santa Fe Dreamers Project. In addition to providing pro bono legal aid to about 700 immigrants per year in New Mexico and asylum seekers in detention, the nonprofit offers \u201cknow your rights\u201d seminars, legal clinics and community presentations.\n\nIn Mexico, Love says, she explained U.S. asylum law to migrants, described poor detention conditions and warned about family separation polices at the border. The work made her uncomfortable, she says, because \u201cpolitically, I don\u2019t want to be telling asylum seekers not to come to our border, which is what I was telling 90 percent of the people.\u201d\n\nOn April 24, Fox News presented a segment on The Ingraham Angle that Love says broadly mischaracterized her work.\n\nLaura Ingraham \u2013 whose opinion show ranks No. 2 on cable with 4.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen \u2013 appeals to conservatives with no-holds-barred commentary. Recently, during the intense coverage of parent-child separation, she called child detention centers at the border \u201cessentially summer camps.\u201d\n\nIngraham opened the April 24 segment by saying, \u201cWe have also learned \u2013 this is curious \u2013 that American attorneys have traveled southward to meet with migrants to instruct them on their rights to apply for asylum in the United States. We did some digging and, according to reports, two of these lawyers are Allegra Love of Santa Fe Dreamers Project and Marie Vincent, who also works for a small 501(c)3 organization.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe problem for the attorneys helping the members of the caravan could be the U.S. law,\u201d Ingraham said, quoting a federal statute that prohibits citizens from inducing a foreign national to enter the U.S. illegally. \u201cIf these attorneys are holding what is being described as these large-group seminars and demonstrate intent to skirt the laws or to help the migrant skirt the laws, well, they could be in jeopardy at least technically.\u201d\n\nThe Ingraham Angle never called Love or Vincent for comment.\n\n\u201cThey never interviewed me,\u201d Vincent told Searchlight. \u201cI just remember being shocked they were talking about us without asking us anything.\u201d\n\nSearchlight New Mexico reached a Fox News spokeswoman who declined to answer questions on the record.\n\nLove says, \u201cThe sickest I felt about this whole thing, including listening to the threat, was watching The Ingraham Angle. It was seeing something that is broadcast to millions of people that is completely mischaracterizing your action.\u201d\n\nThe threat came five days later.\n\nAt the Dreamers Project, the threat \u201cdid what it was supposed to do,\u201d Love says. \u201cIt distracted us from the work. It made us question, why are we doing this?\u201d\n\nAs the lawyer sat in her Santa Fe office, pondering her work\u2019s purpose, a Spanish-speaking family \u2013 young children in tow \u2013 filed in the front door looking for help.\n\nShe had her answer.\n\nSearchlight New Mexico is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to investigative journalism. See projects.searchlightnm.com\n\nImmigration lawyer faces death threat over work"}
-{"text": "When people talk about the pros and cons of Bitcoin, it is usually in relation to its potential as an alternative currency. This, in my opinion, is a bit narrow minded, as the potential for Bitcoin stretches far beyond its use as common tender. An example of this is the use of Bitcoins for affiliate schemes.\n\nWhats broken about the current system?\n\nAffiliate schemes are a core part of the modern internet. While affiliate schemes (especially in recent years) have a certain stigma associated with them, they nevertheless provide a relatively passive income for a lot of recreational bloggers, and small companies. The all, however, have some common traits:\n\nThey require you to sign up for an account\n\nFor some, all that is required is a name and email address, but others require a more lengthy registration process (and may even require your account to be verified). Out of all the issues I am listing here, this is probably the least severe, but it is still an inconvenience and requires you to keep track of multiple accounts across multiple sites (btw, you should check out lastpass if this is the case for you).\n\nThey require you to have a payment method on file\n\nDifferent affiliate schemes pay out in different ways, but they all need some way to pay you, and this means you need to provide them with sensitive information. In the case of a cheque, or paypal account, the the risks are relatively low, but some of the bigger affiliate schemes will pay directly into your bank account and require your personal bank details. Not in itself enough to steal money from you, but not the sort of information you want floating round the internet.\n\nThey require a minimum balance before allowing you to cash out\n\nFor me, this is the biggest bugbear. Affiliate schemes tend to be very low earners for the majority of people using them, and one of the ways that companies profit from this is by setting a high minimum cash out (usually between $50 and $100). Since a lot of people will never reach that threshold, they are effectively getting users to promote their links for free. You also don't have to venture far on the internet to find forums full of people complaining they never received their money from (insert here) affiliate scheme. Sending money by cheque or bank transfer can sometimes take weeks, and its easy for the companies behind the scheme to use it as an excuse for late or non payment.\n\nHow does Bitcoin solve this?\n\nBitcoin is by no means the golden ticket, but Bitcoin affiliate marketing schemes can solve a lot of the existing problems, and make them much friendlier to the end user.\n\nNo account signup\n\nSince your Bitcoin address is also your payment identifier, there is no need to sign up for an account. All the affiliate company needs is a valid bitcoin address. Although you may also want to provide an email address so they can contact you (maybe for monthly reports), this certainly shouldn't be a hard requirement.\n\nSimple payments\n\nBitcoin payments are easy. Very easy. And there are no (or minimal) transaction fees. The Bitcoin API is also very easy to use, so there is very little overhead to processing cash outs.\n\nNo minimum balance to cash out\n\nSince there is very little overhead to sending Bitcoin payments, there is no reason to require a minimum balance to cash out. Whether a Bitcoin affiliate has earned 1 mBTC, or 10 BTC, the effort (cost and human) required to pay them is the same. Payments are instant, and transactional. There cannot be any dispute around non payments, as anyone can take a look at the wallet in question and see if a payment has been made to it or not.\n\nHow this works in practice\n\nA few days ago, we launched a Bitcoin affiliate marketing program on QuickBitcoin. We require no signup, and there are no minimum payments.\n\nAffiliate links take the form of\n\nhttp://quickbitcoin.co.uk/?r=wallet-address. When a user access this link, the server verifies that the wallet address is valid, then checks to see if an affiliate account exists for this wallet. If an account does not already exist it immediately creates one. This means you can be a QuickBitcoin affiliate without ever even visiting our site, or registering a wallet with us.\n\nAt the end of each month, we run a report which compiles a list of all completed orders which have an affiliate wallet-address associated with them, and automatically pay out to each bitcoin wallet. Not only is the affiliate scheme very simple to an end user, from a technical perspective, it was also extremely easy to implement."}
-{"text": "As with all historic tipping points, it seems inevitable in retrospect: Of course it was the young people, the actual victims of the slaughter, who have finally begun to turn the tide against guns in this country. Kids don\u2019t have money and can\u2019t vote, and until now burying a few dozen a year has apparently been a price that lots of Americans were willing to pay to hold onto the props of their pathetic role-playing fantasies. But they forgot what adults always forget: that our children grow up, and remember everything, and forgive nothing.\n\nThose kids have suddenly understood how little their lives were ever worth to the people in power. And they\u2019ll soon begin to realize how efficient and endless are the mechanisms of governance intended to deflect their appeals, exhaust their energy, deplete their passion and defeat them. But anyone who has ever tried to argue with adolescents knows that in the end they will have a thousand times more energy for that fight than you and a bottomless reservoir of moral rage that you burned out long ago.\n\nLike most people in middle age, I regard young people with suspicion. The young \u2014 and the young at mind \u2014 tend to be uncompromising absolutists. They haven\u2019t yet faced life\u2019s heartless compromises and forfeitures, its countless trials by boredom and ethical Kobayashi Marus, or glumly watched themselves do everything they ever disapproved of.\n\nI am creeped out by the increasing dogmatism and intolerance of millennials on the left; I felt a generational divide open up under me last year when everyone under 40 seemed to agree that Dana Schutz\u2019s painting of Emmett Till in his coffin should be removed from the Whitney Biennial. When I was young it seemed the natural order of things that conservatives were the prudes and scolds who wanted books banned and exhibitions closed, while we liberals got to be the gadflies and iconoclasts. I know that whenever you disapprove of young people, you\u2019re in the wrong, because you\u2019re going to die and they\u2019ll get to write history, but I just can\u2019t help noticing that the liberal side isn\u2019t much fun to be on anymore."}
-{"text": "One Piece: Pirate Musou Gets New Screenshots and Artwork\n\nGiuseppe Nelva February 9, 2012 10:31 AM EST\n\nOne Piece: Pirate Musou will be released on March the 1st in Japan, and since Namco Bandai registered the trademark \u201cPirate Warriors\u201d in European Union, it may even get to the Western Shores sooner or later.\n\nIn the meanwhile today the Japanese publisher gave us another glimpse on upcoming PS3 Exclusive with a large batch of sreenshots and artwork. You can check them all out in the gallery after the cut."}
-{"text": "It is possible to refer to the same entity, for example, a river, in two distinct ways: (1) \u201cThe Colorado is a beautiful river\u201d and (2) \u201cThe river that flows through Austin is beautiful.\u201d Because there is only one river that flows through Austin, Texas, the subject of sentence 2 is unambiguously identified, and the reference of the sentence is fully individual. The subject of sentence 2, however, is not a name but rather a nominal (noun) phrase that specifies one member of the whole class of rivers by indicating a unique property of it. The word Colorado in sentence 1, on the other hand, is a name because it directly points to the specific river. The fact that there is more than one river called Colorado, and that more specific information is sometimes needed to identify the one being discussed (e.g., \u201cI prefer the Texan Colorado to the California one\u201d), does not change the status of Colorado as a name, because each of the two rivers is referred to in the way required by the definition .\n\nNames and appellatives\n\nA general appellative (i.e., a common noun) capable of being used in reference to a whole class of entities can also be used with an individual reference. For instance, if an inhabitant of Austin, Texas, says, \u201cLet\u2019s go swimming today, not in the pool but in the river,\u201d there is no doubt that the word river has a unique, individual reference to one single river\u2014namely, the Colorado. This fact, however, does not make a name out of it; river is here a common noun, but its reference is specified by the extralinguistic context of the situation in which the sentence was said. Some names seem to belong more to the category of appellatives than to the category of names like Colorado in \u201cthe Colorado River.\u201d For example, names like Big River, Red River, Stony Brook, and Cedar Hill may have their origin in a specific use of a general noun. If a sentence like \u201cAfter five days of marching, we had to cross a river, the big one, not one of the smaller ones\u201d is used very often, the name Big River may result. Such names are more frequently given as directly descriptive names. The similarity of names of this type with expressions like those exemplified in sentence 2 above is deceptive. There is, after all, more than one big river, so the specification \u201cthe big river\u201d is not complete. The full identification of one single river as the reference is given by the context. Therefore, apart from certain special expressions (like \u201cthe big one, not one of the smaller ones\u201d), names like Big River, Red River, and so on have the same status as names like Colorado.\n\nIn some languages, a name is differentiated from an appellative (common noun) by formal means. The difference is sometimes indicated by the script; e.g., languages using alphabets such as the Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Armenian, and Georgian use a capital letter at the beginning of a name. (But, on the contrary, in German all nouns, not only names, are written with an initial capital.) There are examples of a purely grammatical differentiation of names as well, such as the usual absence of the articles a or an in English\u2014e.g., \u201cYesterday I saw an archer practicing his art\u201d and \u201cYesterday I saw (Bill) Archer practicing his art.\u201d\n\nGet exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. Subscribe today\n\nThe distinction between names and appellatives (common nouns) is generally clear: names are used in individual reference, and appellatives can be used in reference to all members of a class or to any number of them (e.g., river, hill, man, girl, car, table, virtue, and so on). Nevertheless, there are some borderline cases. For instance, a nation can be conceived as an individualized entity, so that \u201cAmericans,\u201d \u201cEnglishmen,\u201d and \u201cSpaniards\u201d are names; on the other hand, it is clear that other groups of people are not conceived in this way, so that expressions like \u201csoldiers,\u201d \u201csailors,\u201d and \u201cclergy\u201d are not names. It is difficult to decide on the status of expressions like \u201cthe Baptists,\u201d \u201cAdventists,\u201d and \u201cspiritists.\u201d In a similar way, if all vehicles produced by Henry Ford are Fords and if one can buy an individual Ford as well, is Ford a name? It probably is, or approaches that status, but names of this type frequently lose the character of names and develop into common nouns. Expressions like \u201cthe Roman Catholic Church\u201d and \u201cthe Ministry of Education\u201d (of a specific state) also have a dubious position as to their status as real names. The uncertainty in this respect is indicated by the vacillation in the use of capital letters in various languages. This overlapping has a long history and is reflected in modern terminology. The Greeks used the term \u201cnoun\u201d (onoma) for both the common noun and the name; when they wished to make a distinction, they specified the name as a proper noun (onoma kyrion). It is in this tradition that the term proper noun, or proper name, is used for a name, and noun, general noun, or common noun is used for an appellative."}
-{"text": "Both Democrats and Republicans are bracing for a wave of sexual misconduct allegations that could roil key races and inject further uncertainty into the battle for the House in 2018.\n\nAllegations leveled against incumbent lawmakers and challengers have already upended several must-win races for Democrats.\n\nRep. Ruben Kihuen Ruben Jesus KihuenRep. Steven Horsford wins Democratic House primary in Nevada Members spar over sexual harassment training deadline Nevada Dem sanctioned for sexual misconduct announces city council bid MORE (D-Nev.) highlighted that uncertainty when he announced on Saturday that he wouldn\u2019t seek reelection amid sexual harassment charges, opening up a swing seat in a district that Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonDemocratic groups using Bloomberg money to launch M in Spanish language ads in Florida The Hill's Campaign Report: Presidential polls tighten weeks out from Election Day More than 50 Latino faith leaders endorse Biden MORE won by 5 points in 2016.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nSexual misconduct allegations have also shaken up Democratic primaries in competitive GOP-held seats. Businesswoman Andrea Ramsey, who was considered a top recruit, dropped out of the race against Rep. Kevin Yoder Kevin Wayne YoderBottom line Amanda Adkins wins GOP primary to challenge Rep. Sharice Davids Sharice Davids to vote for Trump impeachment articles: 'The facts are uncontested' MORE (R-Kan.). And state Sen. Daylin Leach said he\u2019s \u201ctaking a step back\u201d from his campaign to unseat Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.).\n\nBoth parties expect that future allegations that could upend other critical House and Senate races next year.\n\n\u201cI think the surprise factor is something that is very difficult for them to plan for,\u201d said Doug Heye, a former Republican National Committee spokesman.\n\nWhile the allegations against Democrats in Nevada, Kansas and Pennsylvania currently give Republicans a boost in several targeted House races, Heye warned that more claims could hit either party at any time.\n\n\u201cThe problem is everyone has to operate under the assumption that any shoe can drop, in either party, at any moment, anywhere throughout the country,\u201d he said.\n\nIt\u2019s unclear how many open-seat races will be part of the 2018 map, and the possibility that future sexual misconduct allegations could open new seats includes both the House and the Senate.\n\nSen. Al Franken Alan (Al) Stuart FrankenGOP Senate candidate says Trump, Republicans will surprise in Minnesota Peterson faces fight of his career in deep-red Minnesota district Getting tight \u2014 the psychology of cancel culture MORE (D-Minn.) resigned after a series of allegations and his departure means Democrats will need to defend both of Minnesota\u2019s Senate seats in 2018. Lt. Gov. Tina Smith (D) was appointed to fill his seat, and plans to run in next year\u2019s special election. The unexpected vacancy has also drawn some high-profile Republicans to consider the race.\n\nSo far, though, sexual misconduct allegations have had the biggest impact on the fight for the House majority.\n\nDemocrats need to flip 24 seats to take back control. That path requires holding onto Kihuen\u2019s seat, as well as picking up GOP-leaning suburban districts where Clinton won last year.\n\nIn Kihuen\u2019s Nevada district, Democrats will need to kick their candidate recruitment efforts into overdrive. While the primary isn\u2019t until June, the party only has three months to find a competitive challenger before the mid-March filing deadline.\n\nFacing an ethics probe into the allegations against him, Kihuen announced he wouldn\u2019t run for reelection. He had originally faced pressure from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and top Democrats to resign immediately.\n\nKihuen\u2019s decision to serve out the rest of his term will avert a special election, meaning that Democrats and Republicans will be able to hold primaries where voters select their respective nominees.\n\nPotential Democratic candidates in the Las Vegas-area district include former Rep. Steven Horsford (D), who represented the seat from 2013 to 2015, state Sen. Yvanna Cancela and Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani. Candidate Amy Vilela, who is backed by a progressive group, was running prior to the Kihuen allegations.\n\nLas Vegas City Councilman Stavros Anthony, a top GOP recruit, is the only Republican currently in the race. But former Rep. Cresent Hardy, who lost to Kihuen in 2016, could also mount a comeback bid.\n\nDemocrats already have a number of credible candidates in Kansas and Pennsylvania who can replace the candidates facing sexual harassment allegations.\n\nIn Kansas, Ramsey dropped out amid a report about a 2005 lawsuit against her former company in which a male subordinate alleged he was fired after rejecting her sexual advances.\n\nWhile the DCCC didn\u2019t endorse in the primary, the former business executive tore into the committee as she left the race over the allegations, which she has denied. The DCCC has called on candidates to end campaigns in light of sexual harassment claims.\n\nBefore leaving the race, Ramsey led her primary rivals in fundraising, pulling in $443,000 from April to September. But two other Democrats running in the August primary, teacher Tom Niermann and labor attorney and former Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersOutrage erupts over Breonna Taylor grand jury ruling Dimon: Wealth tax 'almost impossible to do' Grand jury charges no officers in Breonna Taylor death MORE (I-Vt.) campaign staffer Brent Welder, also raised six figures.\n\nDefeating Yoder, who has represented his Kansas City-area district since 2011, will still be an uphill climb for Democrats. He has $1.4 million cash on hand and won reelection by more than 10 points, while Clinton carried the district by just 1 point.\n\nIn Pennsylvania, it\u2019s unclear if Leach is ending his congressional campaign, but his lawyer told The Philadelphia Inquirer that \u201cit doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s quitting the race.\u201d Leach\u2019s statement comes after a report that he allegedly made sexual jokes and inappropriately touched female campaign staffers. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) has called on the state senator to resign.\n\nLeach, who has been running from the left in the Philadelphia suburban district, has also led his crowded primary in fundraising, bringing in about $400,000 from June to September.\n\nBut Dan Muroff, a Democratic ward leader in Philadelphia, has also been a strong fundraiser and raised about $300,000 over five months. Muroff was endorsed by former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell. Molly Sheehan, a biomedical engineer, has also raised six figures.\n\nMeehan has been a top target for Democrats. He won reelection by 19 points and has nearly $2.5 million cash on hand, but Clinton carried his district. While Meehan voted against the ObamaCare repeals \u2014 a vote that\u2019s likely to be held against other GOP lawmakers in November 2018 \u2014 Meehan did vote for the Republican tax bill.\n\nDespite a string of sexual harassment allegations against some Democratic candidates, the party is still feeling optimistic that their midterm candidates will win big with women voters.\n\n\u201cAny short-term damage that may be done to Democrats by losing good candidates may very well be compensated by the mobilization of women voters in those districts,\u201d said Democratic strategist Brad Bannon.\n\nStill, strategists worry that damage from future high-profile allegations could drag down other candidates in 2018.\n\n\u201cThis is something that cannot just derail a campaign, but as we\u2019ve seen ... can also impact other candidates running for other offices, and that\u2019s something that they\u2019re mindful of as well,\u201d Heye said."}
-{"text": "Dick Cheney says selection of Palin in 2008 was a 'mistake' and suggests Romney should go for experienced running mate\n\nThis article is more than 8 years old\n\nThis article is more than 8 years old\n\nFormer vice-president Dick Cheney said Sunday that having Sarah Palin on the 2008 White House ticket was \"a mistake\", urging this year's Republican candidate Mitt Romney to go for someone more experienced.\n\nAs those vying to be chosen as Romney's running mate spent the weekend campaigning around the country, Cheney suggested that main criteria had to be: \"Is this person capable of being the president of the United States?\"\n\nPalin, who was a first-term governor of Alaska when John McCain picked her to his running mate, fell short on this count, Cheney implied.\n\nIn his first interview since undergoing heart transplant surgery, Cheney, 71, told ABC News: \"I like Governor Palin. I've met her, I know her. She was an attractive candidate.\n\n\"But based on her background \u2013 she had only been governor for what, two years? \u2013 I don't think she passed that test of being ready to take over. And I think that was a mistake.\"\n\nPalin was the first woman ever to be selected as a Republican vice-presidential candidate when John McCain picked her in 2008. Although the move initially gave the McCain campaign a bump of enthusiasm, her inexperience on the national stage soon began to show.\n\nA series of gaffes and poorly received television interviews forced the Republicans on to the back foot. Many have said in retrospect that Palin wasn't the right person to select, and reports have suggested that there was widespread tension between her camp and McCain's advisers.\n\nLast year, Palin appeared to toy with the idea of a presidential bid, but the flirtation with a White House run eventually came to naught. Palin cited family considerations as her reason for opting out, and instead turned her attention towards helping elect conservatives in line with her political beliefs to Congress and state governorships.\n\nCheney's call for a vice-presidential candidate with ample experience is likely to carry some weight. Cheney remains an influential figure in Republican circles.\n\nRomney has yet to indicate who might be in his mind as to a running mate. But in a tweet on Friday, one of his aides, Beth Myers, sparked speculation over who was being considered.\n\nMyers suggested that those on Twitter follow Tim Pawlenty, Bobby Jindal, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Rob Portman and John Thune. All have been named as possible running mates for Mitt Romney.\n\nMyers also threw in the names of New Jersey governor Chris Christie, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, and ex-secretary of state Condoleezza Rice in the \"follow Friday\" message."}
-{"text": "Delta Air Lines will show unedited versions of \u201cBooksmart\u201d and \u201cRocketman\u201d in its in-flight film offerings after critics called out the airline for censoring sexuality, including same-sex love, in previously deleted scenes.\n\nThe company said in a statement Thursday that it did not ask for any \u201chomosexual content\u201d to be removed from the films.\n\n\u201cWe value our in-flight entertainment options as a means to reflect the diversity of the world,\u201d the company said. \u201cWe are reviewing the processes of our third-party editing vendors to ensure that they are aligned with our values of diversity and inclusion.\u201d\n\nUNITED AIRLINES TO FLY THE FRIENDLY GALAXY WITH 'STAR WARS'-THEMED AIRCRAFT\n\nThe issue of censorship emerged after \u201cBooksmart\u201d director Olivia Wilde called out deleted scenes showing lesbian sex and masturbation. The edited version, she said, also censored the words \u201cvagina\u201d and \u201clesbian.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat message is this sending to viewers and especially to women? That their bodies are obscene? That their sexuality is shameful?\u201d Wilde tweeted.\n\nThe actress and producer claimed that Delta, without naming the airline directly, worked with a third-party company that edits films \u201cbased on what they deem inappropriate.\u201d\n\n\u201cI urge every airline, especially those who pride themselves on inclusivity, to stop working with this third party company, and trust the parental advisory warning to allow viewers to opt out if they choose,\u201d she added.\n\nSOUTHWEST AIRLINES ON ALLEGATIONS OF PILOTS HIDING CAMERA IN BATHROOM: 'INAPPROPRIATE ATTEMPT AT HUMOR'\n\nDelta was previously accused of removing sex scenes in \u201cRocketman,\u201d the Elton John biopic.\n\n\u201cOn Delta today discovered that Rocketman is stripped of almost every gay reference or scene that [Elton John] fought to keep in the film\u2019s mainstream release, including a simple chaste kiss,\u201d tweeted Entertainment Weekly\u2019s digital director Shana Krochmal.\n\nCLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP\n\nDelta is \u201cimmediately putting a new process in place for managing content available through Delta\u2019s entertainment,\u201d a spokesman said in a statement to Fox News.\n\n\u201cStudios often provide videos in two forms: a theatrical, original version and an edited version. We selected the edited version and now realize content well within our guidelines was unnecessarily excluded from both films. We are working to make sure this doesn\u2019t happen again.\"\n\n\u201cThe studio has agreed to provide a special Delta edit that retains the LGBTQ+ love scenes in both \u2018Booksmart\u2019 and \u2018Rocketman\u2019 that will be on our flights as soon as possible,\" the spokesman added."}
-{"text": "While debate about recreational marijuana use continues, researchers are investigating the effectiveness of cannabis for treating pain, spasticity, and a host of other medical problems. In a symposium organized by the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) as part of the 2015 American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting held this week in San Jose, California, experts from North America and the U.K. share their perspectives on the therapeutic potential of medical cannabis and explore the emerging science behind it.\n\n\"We need to advance our understanding of the role of cannabinoids in health and disease through research and education for patients, physicians and policy-makers,\" says Dr. Mark Ware, director of clinical research at the Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit at the MUHC, in Canada.\n\nAs a pain specialist Dr. Ware regularly sees patients with severe chronic pain at his clinic in Montreal, and for some of them, marijuana appears to be a credible option. \"I don't think that every physician should prescribe medical cannabis, or that every patient can benefit but it's time to enhance our scientific knowledge base and have informed discussions with patients.\"\n\nIncreasing numbers of jurisdictions worldwide are allowing access to herbal cannabis, and a range of policy initiatives are emerging to regulate its production, distribution, and authorization. It is widely believed that there is little evidence to support the consideration of cannabis as a therapeutic agent. However, several medicines based on tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient of cannabis, have been approved as pharmaceutical drugs.\n\nLeading British cannabis researcher Professor Roger Pertwee, who co-discovered the presence of tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV) in cannabis in the 70's, recently published with collaborators some findings of potential therapeutic relevance in the British Journal of Pharmacology. \"We observed that THCV, the non-psychoactive component of cannabis, produces anti-schizophrenic effects in a preclinical model of schizophrenia,\" says Pertwee, professor of Neuropharmacology at Aberdeen University. \"This finding has revealed a new potential therapeutic use for this compound.\"\n\nNeuropsychiatrist and Director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR) at the University of California, San Diego Dr. Igor Grant is interested in the short and long-term neuropsychiatric effects of marijuana use. The CMCR has overseen some of the most extensive research on the therapeutic effects of medical marijuana in the U.S. \"Despite a commonly held view that cannabis use results in brain damage, meta analyses of extensive neurocognitive studies fail to demonstrate meaningful cognitive declines among recreational users,\" says Dr. Grant. \"Bain imaging has produced variable results, with the best designed studies showing null findings.\"\n\nDr. Grant adds that while it is plausible to hypothesize that cannabis exposure in children and adolescents could impair brain development or predispose to mental illness, data from properly designed prospective studies is lacking."}
-{"text": "News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email\n\nA father killed his newlywed teenage daughter and her husband by slitting their throats with scythes after they married without their families consent, police have said.\n\nThe 17-year-old girl and 31-year-old man were lured home by the girl's mother and father with the promise that their marriage would receive a family blessing.\n\nHowever, when they reached the home they were attacked and killed.\n\nLocal police official Rana Zashid said: \"When the couple reached there, they tied them with ropes. He (the girl\u2019s father) cut their throats.\"\n\nThe couple married on June 18 without the consent of their families in eastern Pakistan\u2019s Punjabi village of Satrah.\n\nPolice arrested the family, who said they had been embarrassed by the marriage of their daughter, named Muafia Hussein, to a man from a less important tribe.\n\nCultural traditions in many areas of Pakistan mean that killing a woman whose behaviour is seen as immodest is widely accepted.\n\nImmodest behaviour that sparked recent killings included singing, looking out of the window or talking to a man who is not a relative. For a woman to marry a man of her own choice is considered an unacceptable insult by many families.\n\nThe Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said 869 so-called \"honour killings\" were reported in the media last year - several a day.\n\nBut the true figure is probably much higher since many cases are never reported.\n\nThe weak Pakistani government, battling with a troubled economy and a Taliban insurgency, does not collect centralized statistics and has no strategy to combat the killings.\n\nPakistani law means that even if a woman\u2019s killer is convicted, her family are able to forgive the killer.\n\nMany families simply nominate a member to do the killing, then formally forgive the killer.\n\nThat\u2019s what happened earlier this week, a lawyer said, when a tribal council in central Pakistan\u2019s Muzaffargarh district sentenced another young couple to death for marrying for love.\n\nThe couple\u2019s lawyer, Zia Kiyyani, said the two had appealed for police protection after their marriage on June 21, but had not received any.\n\nThe 19-year-old girl\u2019s family came to take her from her husband\u2019s family, swearing on the Koran that they would not harm her and would hold a proper wedding ceremony, he said.\n\n\"During this the girl shouted, cried and mourned for her life and her husband\u2019s life because she knew that they will kill both of them,\" he said.\n\nThe girl, named Mehreen Bibi, was shot by a member of her family when she returned home, police said. Her husband went into hiding and her father registered the murder complaint so he could forgive the killer, Kiyyani said.\n\n\"That will end the case,\" he said."}
-{"text": "Risks and challenges\n\nLaunching a new product which is intended to hit the shelves requires beside huge investments foremost a bit of luck. Luck is not in your hands but we can work hard and we believe that ADcase is worth it. That\u2019s why we made this kickstarter campaign by ourselves without the help of any well-known and awarded design team. We like the hands-on mentality and with a bit of luck and your support - we hope it will work out for us.\n\nTo be honest, the last few months were full of hard work \u2013 engineering and testing, searching for reliable production partners, having countless talks to suppliers and vendors, arrange international shipping and logistics, answering press enquiries, meetings with tax and bank consultants, phone calls with technical service providers and thousands of other important things of the everyday life \u2013 as you may know.\n\nThis is supposed to show you how hard we tried to minimize risk and to make it really happen.\n\nHowever, design and engineering phase - to convert our ADcase into a mass poduct - is not finished yet. Be aware that our ADcase may be re-worked and fine-tuned as well that parts of the shipped ADcase can be made out of a high-quality 3D print. This is because of the fact that injection moulding tools are very expensive and is only viable for large-scale production.\n\nWe can ensure close communication and report on progress at any time. As well, we are convinced that any potential difficulty can be solved. Don\u2018t you agree?\n\nOnce we hit the funding goal, we will be able to get production up and running \u2013 we promise.\n\nCases for iPhone 6, 6s, 7 and 8 will be shipped by July 2019.\n\nCases for iPhone X and Xs will be shipped by August 2019.\n\nThe iPhone Plus models (if they get unlocked) will be shipped in September 2019.\n\nWe're all ready to go - all we need is your trust. Support ADcase and help to make it happen - with a bit of luck!"}
-{"text": "About This Game\n\nMain Features\n\nWhat players say\n\nWhat players say\n\nWhat players say\n\nWhat players say\n\nWhat players say\n\nWhat players say\n\nWhat players say\n\nWhat players say\n\nHow to Play\n\nis a Tactical Battle Simulator that allows you to lead thousands of soldiers in the famous Battle of Gettysburg as commander of either the Union or Confederate army. The game features the most accurately created map, complex morale, innovative control mechanics and smart AI. You have the freedom to use different strategies while the battle progresses. Your decisions and military performance play a crucial role in the result. Lead your army and win the Battle of Gettysburg!It has been voted as Best Strategy Game of 2014 by PCGamesN.Ultimate General: Gettysburg does not use \u201cAI gameplay cheats\u201d because it does not need them. The game\u2019s difficulty is accomplished only by nine distinctive AI personalities, each with their own advantages and special skills. AI Commanders are able to evaluate and gain tactical superiority in real time, reacting according to their different commanding skills, aggressively or defensively, heroically or cunningly and resemble different, competent human players.Each one of the AI generals is a formidable, non-scripted opponent who can actively try to flank you, secure strategic locations with artillery, keep reserves and reinforce areas that it attacks or defends. The AI will try to win the battle with tactics that fit to its personality. For example a defensive opponent may not attack ferociously in the first engagement and progressively advance its forces in the next battles.On the morning of July 1st 1863, the two armies meet near Gettysburg. Reinforcements arrive from historically accurate directions as the battle progresses, however, random events, delays and tactical differences are always a possibility that can change the results of each engagement compared to history.Can you re-enact Pickett\u2019s Charge? What if Lee attacked the center of the Union Army early in the morning of July 2nd of 1863 instead of attempting to flank the extreme left in the afternoon? What would happen if Meade counter-attacked on July 4th 1863? These questions and more can be answered within the game engine of Ultimate General: Gettysburg.The battle is dynamically fought in time phases and can last up to 4 days. Each day can be separated by up to 3 time phases and the armies\u2019 condition and positioning on the map are saved.According to battle events, you have the possibility to take decisions that can change the tide of the battle based on your prior tactical prowess. For example, when leading the Confederates, on the morning of July 2nd, you can choose to attack at Cemetery Hill and not make a delayed flanking maneuver at Peach Orchard\u2026 if you have managed to take Seminary Ridge the previous day! You can even choose to defend and wait for your AI opponent to take the initiative between days. These choices greatly increase the number of possible battle outcomes and challenges.Drag simple movement arrows to command large forces easily. Units do not need your micromanagement because they are able to act on their own initiative and re-align, switch targets, withdraw and form battle lines without player input. Consequently, you are able to give generic commands to your units and can rely on them to fight efficiently without the need for \u201cbabysitting\u201d.Utilizing satellite images and historical maps, every major location, house, ridge and hill are depicted as accurately as possible within the game\u2019s unique art style. If you are an American Civil War enthusiast, you will be especially happy to notice the amount of precision and information that the map provides. Not only will you be able to better understand the historical layout of the map, you will also be able to make use of each location and landmark in battle, thanks to the simulation of cover, concealment, terrain and high ground in the game.Elevation and obstructions affect unit visibility realistically. Units may make use of concealment and cover to survive artillery barrages, stage ambushes and more, but beware \u2013 the AI will attempt to do the same to you. The units enter or exit the Fog of War gradually with a fade in/out effect that helps you perceive their hiding and course seamlessly.In Ultimate General: Gettysburg, you will realize that army units are not \u201cmachines\u201d that blindly follow orders, but they need to conserve strength and courage for decisive battle actions. Every basic tactical element that is expected for a strategy game is incorporated into gameplay. Most importantly, morale is affected by many factors including flank or rear attacks, casualties, volley shocks, artillery fire and fatigue.Ultimate General: Gettysburg includes the full order of battle for the Union Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Unit sizes range from the small artillery batteries to vast infantry brigades with cavalry and skirmishers in between.All brigades have troop numbers and differing competencies based on historical facts. Additionally, all artillery battery numbers and types are correctly simulated. Lastly, major generals and officers actively participate in the battlefield to organize and support the armies and appear in after action battle reports to help you monitor battle progress.Furthermore, every inch of the map has a strategic role. Sloping, terrain type and obstructions affect unit movement realistically. Elevations, ridges and hills provide excellent firing positions and give increased sight, morale and accuracy to troops stationed there.By placing your units close to each other, they become more resilient to charges and flank attacks but get more vulnerable to projectile fire. Thus, forcing your enemy to keep his lines dense while you shell him with artillery can be a valid tactic. As the condition of your units changes dynamically during the battle, the effectiveness of your whole army is affected. For example, units fire more coordinated volleys when they have high morale and have more discipline and tight formations.These and many more deep gameplay mechanics are packed into a simple and intuitive GUI that aims to ease the game experience for the player without overwhelming with complex statistics.The game currently offers 18 maps for 1vs1 matches and is continuously improved according to user feedback.is developed by Game Labs and designed by Nick Thomadis, known for his successful and popular \u201cDarthMod\u201d series."}
-{"text": "Blown away\n\nThe offshore wind farm at Redcar on a misty early-Spring afternoon.\n\nwww.steveniceton.co.uk\n\nDone"}
-{"text": "During a search of the man, police uncovered an assault rifle and a revolver. They also found an unspecified quantity of crack cocaine and prescription medication mixed with codeine.\n\nA man stopped for fare evasion at the Pentagon City Metro station on Thursday was found to be in possession of two firearms and narcotics.\n\nWhen Malike Razon Brittain, 24, of Clinton, Maryland, refused to comply with being issued a citation for evading a Metro fee, police placed him under arrest.\n\nDuring a search, police uncovered an assault rifle and a revolver. They also found an unspecified quantity of crack cocaine and prescription medication mixed with codeine.\n\n1/ MTPD officers at Pentagon City stopped a 24yo male yesterday for fare evasion. When he refused to comply with the issuance of a citation (would not give ID), he was placed under arrest. Search incident to arrest found 2 firearms (one assault rifle-pistol, one revolver) #wmata pic.twitter.com/IY8WCTKwpL \u2014 Metro Transit Police (@MetroTransitPD) September 6, 2019\n\nBrittain is facing multiple charges for carrying a concealed firearm, possession with intent to distribute, defacing a firearm serial number, and possession of a firearm while unlawfully carrying narcotics, in addition to fare evasion.\n\nHe is being held without bond."}
-{"text": "Magnolia\n\n(1999-12-10)\n\nMagnolia is a 1999 Drama movie directed by . It stars Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, John C. Reilly, among others.\n\nMagnolia is currently rated 7.7 stars on the ReelBugs scale."}
-{"text": "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is appointing Bob Rae as Canada's special envoy to Myanmar, two months into a growing crisis that has left 600,000 Rohingya Muslim people displaced.\n\nThe move comes in response to growing public pressure to act in the face of what Canada and the United Nations have labelled ethnic cleansing of a long persecuted minority in Myanmar. As of Sunday, it's estimated 603,000 Rohingya, mostly from the troubled Rakhine state, have fled to shelter in neighbouring Bangladesh.\n\nThe former Ontario premier is expected to seek permission to visit Rakhine state, where Rohingya have long lived under what Trudeau called \"brutal oppression.\"\n\nRae will advise the prime minister directly on the matter. According to a source familiar with the new role, Rae can play a sharper, more political role within Myanmar without jeopardizing diplomatic relationships on the ground with a government that is prickly about foreign interference in its affairs.\n\n'Promote accountability for alleged crimes'\n\nMyanmar authorities have made it difficult for foreign officials and journalists to visit Rakhine state, recently barring a UN fact-finding mission and only allowing diplomats (including Canada's) a look on a controversial, military-organized visit under their watchful eye earlier this month.\n\nRae is also expected \"to promote accountability for alleged crimes perpetrated against vulnerable populations, including the Rohingya Muslim community, other religious and ethnic minorities, and women and girls,\" according to a written statement on the appointment.\n\nThousands of Canadians have signed a petition calling on the government to strip Myanmar's state counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi, of honourary Canadian citizenship she was given back in 2007.\n\nDid the UN ignore warnings of ethnic cleansing of Rohingya in Myanmar? 7:44\n\nSuu Kyi, also a Nobel laureate, has disappointed supporters around the world for failing to side clearly with the Rohingya in their plight.\n\nThe true power in Myanmar lies with the military, which retains control over key ministries such as home and border affairs.\n\nCanada has called on both the civilian and military arms of the government to end the violence and allow humanitarian access to remaining Rohingya populations.\n\nThe longstanding tension in Rakhine state escalated on August 25, when Rohingya militants attacked security forces, killing several. The military responded with overwhelming force, and with the support of Buddhist nationalist mobs, have burned down villages and killed an untold number of Rohingya.\n\nThe UN's human rights office now says the military's actions preceded the August 25 attack, and were intended to drive Rohingya out for good.\n\nThough they have lived in Myanmar for generations, Rohingya Muslims are considered foreigners by the authorities and are not entitled to citizenship. They are denied basic rights to freedom of movement and education."}
-{"text": "The Children's Aid Society of Hamilton has removed a three-year-old boy living in \"squalor\" from a home in the city's east end after neighbours alerted police to a foul smell coming from the residence.\n\nCAS executive director Dominic Verticchio confirmed to CBC Hamilton that the boy was taken last Wednesday from the home near Parkdale Avenue North and Melvin Avenue where the toddler was living with his mother and grandmother.\n\n\"Certainly it was not fit for human residency,\" Verticchio said, adding that there was garbage and animals contributing to the foul smell reported to police.\n\nThe boy had \"a few\" flea bites, Verticchio said, and the SPCA and Hamilton police were also involved in the \"ongoing\" investigation.\n\nHe said the boy was a \"typical three-year-old\" and \"he's in our care and doing well.\" Because of the involvement of CAS, the toddler cannot be identified, and some details that might identify him cannot be published.\n\n'It was a real mess'\n\nBarbara, a neighbour on the street where the home now sits deserted, said the mother, who she estimates is in her mid-20s, moved into the residence a few years ago when she was pregnant with the boy.\n\n\"I didn't even know if they were living over there anymore,\" she said.\n\nBarbara met the grandmother once and \"she seemed pleasant,\" but the house was an eyesore to neighbours on the quiet street as the grass reached knee height on more than a few occasions.\n\n\"There was garbage on the front porch - it was a real mess,\" Barbara said.\n\nThe home is now deserted, grass trimmed and garbage cleared away. The windows are also cracked opened allowing the odour to be detected from the sidewalk.\n\nAnother officer wearing one of those hazmat suit walked out the front door and pulled his mask away and puked on the lawn - Anne, neighbour\n\nAnne has lived on the street for 50 years and said police, the SPCA and children aid were lined up down the block last week when the boy was taken away.\n\nShe listened through a window as one officer sat the mother down on a dirty lawn chair out back of the house where a mound of garbage bags half sat buried in the grass.\n\n\"I heard the officer saying....that's intolerable no one is ever going back in that house again,\" Anne said. \"Another officer wearing one of those hazmat suit walked out the front door at one point and pulled his mask away and puked on the lawn.\"\n\nAnother officer entered the house without a mask and left 20 seconds later \"shaking his head and wiping his eyes\" in disgust, she said.\n\nAffordable housing\n\nHamilton police said the CAS is in charge of the case and any charges resulting from their investigation will be relayed to police.\n\nBoth woman described how they were \"shocked\" to learn the number of animals living in the house after as at least five dogs and as many cats were removed by the SPCA\n\n\"The officers were walking outside and wiping their feet across the grass,\" Anne said, speculating that the family let the animals defecate in the house because she'd only ever seen one dog outside.\n\nThe SPCA could not be reached for comment.\n\nWard 1 Councillor and City Housing Hamilton President Brian McHattie confirmed the home is an affordable housing residence and voiced his concern.\n\n\"I am very concerned to learn of this circumstance, it sounds like a horrific situation. My immediate concern is for the health and well-being of the three year old boy,\" McHattie said. \"You can be certain that myself and the Board will be following up on this immediately with CHH staff.\"\n\nAnne said prior to the family moving in the house was occupied by alleged drug dealers.\n\n\"It took them five months to repair it after they left and now who knows how long this is going to take. They'll have to take it back to the studs to get rid of the smell - that's a lot of money,\" she said"}
-{"text": "If you didn\u2019t understand that Elon Musk doesn\u2019t quite \"get\" what being a public company is about, and how not to commit securities fraud from his funding secured tweet, the litany of lawsuits he has catalyzed or his downright insane behavior over the last year, you may be one of the few who were not shocked by his appearance on 60 Minutes Sunday night when he took to a national stage to laugh in the face of $35,000 Model 3 reservation holders and (again) belittle and insult the Securities and Exchange Commission, with whom he recently entered into a settlement with.\n\nMusk said about the SEC on Sunday: \"I want to be clear. I do not respect the SEC. I do not respect them.\"\n\nWhen asked about the terms of the settlement he had entered into, which required him to pay a fine and have his public communication monitored by the company, he responded by simply telling Lesley Stahl that he wasn't holding up his end of the bargain. In fact, Musk responded by acting like the entire settlement never seemed to happen.\n\nLesley Stahl: Have you had any of your tweets censored since the settlement? Elon Musk: No. Lesley Stahl: None? Does someone have to read them before they go out? Elon Musk: No.\n\nLesley Stahl seemed positively charmed by Musk's response:\n\nFurther displaying Musk's confusion about the responsibilities of running a public company, he seemed to muddy the waters between what is constitutionally protected first amendment speech and what constitutes material statements about a public company. Stahl followed up:\n\nLesley Stahl: So your tweets are not supervised? Elon Musk: The only tweets that would have to be say reviewed would be if a tweet had a probability of causing a movement in the stock. Lesley Stahl: And that's it? Elon Musk: Yeah, I mean otherwise it's, \"Hello, First Amendment.\" Like Freedom of Speech is fundamental. Lesley Stahl: But how do they know if it's going to move the market if they're not reading all of them before you send them? Elon Musk: Well, I guess we might make some mistakes. Who knows? Lesley Stahl: Are you serious? Elon Musk: Nobody's perfect.\n\nTwitter was amused by his responses:\n\nWhen I\u2019m told I can\u2019t give my name as I.P. Freely for my Starbucks order pic.twitter.com/WaUKKFgMN8 \u2014 Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) December 10, 2018\n\nIn addition, during the interview, Musk offered a broad range of additional whoppers on topics like the production tent and losing \"$50, sometimes $100 million a week\". When asked about the $35,000 Model 3, Musk said it would be ready \"in probably five or six months\". When Stahl followed up about how firm that deadline was, Musk replied as if the whole thing was one big joke:\n\nElon Musk: It's getting there. We're not that far from being able to produce the $35,000 car and that'll be ready in probably five or six months. Lesley Stahl: All right. Here you go. You've already set a new deadline. Right? Five or six months. Elon Musk: That's just-- that's just my guess. Lesley Stahl: Okay. It's not-- Elon Musk: It's not, like, some promise-- or so help me God and strike me dead. Lesley Stahl: You are notorious for setting, you know, these deadlines for yourself that no one thinks you can meet, and you often don't meet. And I'm just wondering why you do that?. Elon Musk: Well, I mean punctuality's not my strong suit. I think, uh well, why would people think that if I've been late on all the other models, that'd I'd be suddenly on time with this one.\n\nWe're sure those who have had reservations in for the Model 3 for over two years will love that response.\n\nAlso, when asked about making Robyn Denholm the new chairman of the Board as a condition of his SEC settlement, Musk basically admitted that it \"wasn't realistic\" that she watches over him and said he \"handpicked\" her:\n\nLesley Stahl: Did you handpick her? Elon Musk: Yes. Lesley Stahl: The impression was that she was put in to kind of watch over you. Elon Musk: Yeah, I mean that's not realistic. I mean I'm the largest-- Lesley Stahl: Like a babysitter-- Elon Musk: Yeah. It-- it's not realistic in the sense that I am the largest shareholder in the company. And I can just call for a shareholder vote and get anything done that I want.\n\nIn response to a question about whether or not he smokes pot, after clearly smoking pot on the Joe Rogan podcast, Musk told Stahl:\n\nElon Musk: I do not smoke pot, as anyone who watched that podcast could tell, I have no idea how to smoke pot. Or anything. I don't know to smoke anything, honestly.\n\nFinally, Musk demonstrated Tesla's Autopilot feature to Stahl - of course, with his hands off of the wheel. Autopilot has been at the center of several questionable and fatal accidents involving Tesla over the last few years. The company has put an increasing focus on the drivers in these situations, reminding Autopilot users that their hands should be on the wheel and that they should stay alert at all times.\n\nYou can watch the entire interview and read the full transcript here."}
-{"text": "A federal judge reportedly ruled against the Trump administration on Friday, determining that it wasn't permitted to hold back millions of dollars in grant money from multiple states and New York City operating as \"sanctuary\" jurisdictions.\n\nThe decision from U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos was in favor of a petition by New York City and the state of New York, as well as others, according to The Associated Press.\n\nThe situation reportedly came to light after President Trump, through an executive order, said sanctuary cities would not be eligible to receive federal grants in many circumstances. After this order, the Justice Department instituted new requirements to the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program, which supports state and local governments, The Associated Press reported.\n\nAmong the additions was a stipulation that when an illegal immigrant was released from custody, the local officials would notify federal agents, and let them question inmates regarding their status in the country, the outlet said.\n\nAlso, the local governments reportedly had to agree not to set limits on giving immigration officials citizenship information about anyone.\n\nIn rolling out the restrictions, then-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the aim was to \"encourage these 'sanctuary' jurisdictions to change their policies and partner with federal law enforcement to remove criminals.\u201d\n\nThe newly imposed requirements went against the constitutional limits on the administration\u2019s ability to control spending decisions and on federal power over states, the states and city argued.\n\nRamos wrote that the information-sharing requirement \u201cimpinges on (the states' and city's) sovereign authority and their citizens' liberty to be regulated under their preferred state and local policies.\u201d\n\nIn a statement posted on Twitter, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood hailed the ruling as \u201ca major win for New Yorkers\u2019 public safety.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs we argued, local law enforcement has the right to decide how to meet their local public safety needs \u2013 and the Trump administration simply does not have the right to require state and local police to act as federal immigration agents,\u201d her statement said. \u201cThe Trump administration\u2019s attempt to withhold these vital funds was nothing more than a political attack at the expense of our public safety.\u201d\n\nNew York City Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted that the decision was \u201ca huge victory, and a reminder that the safest big city in America knows better than anyone how to keep its people safe.\u201d\n\nIn a statement to Fox News, DOJ Spokesman Steven Stafford said, \"The federal government is not asking the states or anyone else to enforce our immigration laws.\"\n\n\"The United States is simply asking sanctuary jurisdictions to stop actively obstructing federal law enforcement,\" Stafford continued. \"That is not only allowed by the Constitution, it is demanded by the Constitution. Sanctuary jurisdictions make the absurd claim that they should continue to receive federal law enforcement funding despite their deliberate efforts to frustrate the enforcement of federal law.\u201d\n\nFox News' Jake Gibson and The Associated Press contributed to this report."}
-{"text": "\u30e2\u30b9\u30af\u30ef\u90ca\u5916\u3067\u3001\u61b2\u6cd5\u6539\u6b63\u306e\u4f1a\u5408\u306b\u51fa\u5e2d\u3059\u308b\u30ed\u30b7\u30a2\u306e\u30d7\u30fc\u30c1\u30f3\u5927\u7d71\u9818\uff1d\uff11\uff16\u65e5\uff08\u30bf\u30b9\uff1d\u5171\u540c\uff09 PR\n\n\u3010\u30e2\u30b9\u30af\u30ef\uff1d\u5c0f\u91ce\u7530\u96c4\u4e00\u3011\u30ed\u30b7\u30a2\u306e\u30d7\u30fc\u30c1\u30f3\u5927\u7d71\u9818\u306f\uff12\uff10\u65e5\u3001\u5927\u7d71\u9818\u3084\u8b70\u4f1a\u306e\u6a29\u9650\u898b\u76f4\u3057\u306a\u3069\u3092\u542b\u3080\u61b2\u6cd5\u6539\u5b9a\u306e\u6cd5\u6848\u3092\u4e0b\u9662\u306b\u63d0\u51fa\u3057\u305f\u3002\u4e0b\u9662\u306f\uff12\uff13\u65e5\u306b\u3082\u672c\u683c\u5be9\u8b70\u306b\u5165\u308b\u3002\u6cd5\u6848\u306f\u3001\u30d7\u30fc\u30c1\u30f3\u6c0f\u304c\uff11\uff15\u65e5\u306e\u5e74\u6b21\u6559\u66f8\u6f14\u8aac\u3067\u63d0\u6848\u3057\u305f\u6539\u61b2\u306b\u6cbf\u3063\u305f\u5185\u5bb9\u3002\u30d7\u30fc\u30c1\u30f3\u6c0f\u306e\u5927\u7d71\u9818\u4efb\u671f\u304c\uff12\uff10\uff12\uff14\u5e74\u3067\u5207\u308c\u308b\u306e\u3092\u306b\u3089\u3093\u3060\u56fd\u5bb6\u6a29\u529b\u6a5f\u69cb\u306e\u5909\u66f4\u304c\u3001\u60f3\u5b9a\u3055\u308c\u305f\u4ee5\u4e0a\u306e\u901f\u5ea6\u3067\u9032\u3080\u3053\u3068\u306b\u306a\u308b\u3002\n\n\u6cd5\u6848\u306f\u5730\u65b9\u77e5\u4e8b\u3089\u3067\u69cb\u6210\u3055\u308c\u308b\u5927\u7d71\u9818\u306e\u8aee\u554f\u6a5f\u95a2\u300c\u56fd\u5bb6\u8a55\u8b70\u4f1a\u300d\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u3001\u300c\u5927\u7d71\u9818\u304c\u53c2\u52a0\u8005\u3092\u6c7a\u5b9a\u3057\u3001\u56fd\u5bb6\u6a29\u529b\u6a5f\u95a2\u306e\u6a5f\u80fd\u8abf\u6574\u3084\u5185\u5916\u653f\u7b56\u306e\u65b9\u5411\u3092\u6c7a\u5b9a\u3059\u308b\u300d\u3068\u65b0\u305f\u306b\u898f\u5b9a\u3002\u30d7\u30fc\u30c1\u30f3\u6c0f\u304c\uff12\uff14\u5e74\u4ee5\u964d\u3001\u65b0\u305f\u306a\u56fd\u5bb6\u8a55\u8b70\u4f1a\u306e\u30c8\u30c3\u30d7\u3068\u3057\u3066\u5b9f\u6a29\u3092\u4fdd\u6301\u3059\u308b\u3068\u306e\u89b3\u6e2c\u304c\u5f37\u307e\u308a\u305d\u3046\u3060\u3002\n\n\u6cd5\u6848\u306b\u306f\u3053\u306e\u307b\u304b\u3001\u9996\u76f8\u306e\u4efb\u547d\u6a29\u3084\u95a3\u50da\u306e\u627f\u8a8d\u6a29\u3092\u5927\u7d71\u9818\u304b\u3089\u4e0b\u9662\u306b\u79fb\u3059\u25bd\u5927\u7d71\u9818\u306e\u4efb\u671f\u3092\u300c\u9023\u7d9a\uff12\u671f\u307e\u3067\u300d\u304b\u3089\u300c\u6700\u5927\uff12\u671f\u307e\u3067\u300d\u306b\u5909\u66f4\u3059\u308b\u25bd\u5927\u7d71\u9818\u306e\u5c02\u6a29\u4e8b\u9805\u3060\u3063\u305f\u60c5\u5831\u6a5f\u95a2\u30c8\u30c3\u30d7\u3089\u306e\u4efb\u547d\u306b\u4e0a\u9662\u3068\u306e\u5354\u8b70\u3092\u7fa9\u52d9\u4ed8\u3051\u308b\uff0d\u3068\u3044\u3063\u305f\u5185\u5bb9\u304c\u76db\u308a\u8fbc\u307e\u308c\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\n\n\u30d7\u30fc\u30c1\u30f3\u6c0f\u306f\u6539\u61b2\u306b\u5f53\u305f\u3063\u3066\u56fd\u6c11\u306e\u5224\u65ad\u3092\u4ef0\u3050\u3068\u3057\u3066\u304a\u308a\u3001\u4eca\u5f8c\u3001\u56fd\u6c11\u6295\u7968\u306e\u5b9f\u65bd\u306a\u3069\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u3082\u8b70\u8ad6\u3055\u308c\u308b\u3068\u307f\u3089\u308c\u308b\u3002"}
-{"text": "The news story that started it was a segment about a curious ape at the Oklahoma City Zoo.\n\nJason Hackett and Alex Housden, co-anchors for the morning news show at KOCO 5 TV, called up a video of Fin, the zoo\u2019s baby western lowland gorilla. Fin\u2019s caretaker had taken over the zoo\u2019s Instagram for the day, capturing footage of the ape recording selfie videos.\n\n\u201cAs you can see, Fin was fascinated,\u201d said Housden, who is white.\n\n\u201cDefinitely ready for his close-up there,\u201d added Hackett, who is Black.\n\nAs the broadcast cut to the traffic report, Housden made a final comment.\n\n\u201cKind of looks like you when you take a picture,\u201d she said.\n\nHackett paused.\n\n\u201cYeah it does, actually, yeah,\u201d he said. \u201cVery close to the camera.\u201d\n\nWhat followed was outrage from viewers, who called into the station and wrote on Facebook that Housden\u2019s comment was racist and amplified an ugly stereotype about Black people.\n\nThe slur \u2014 comparing Black people and those from Africa to monkeys, gorillas or apes \u2014 is entrenched in world history. It has been used by politicians to insult former first lady Michelle Obama, by U.S. presidents to criticize UN delegates and by the founders of modern political thought to term people with Black skin as subhuman.\n\nThe day after their dialogue about Fin the gorilla, Hackett and Housden engaged in a much more sombre on-air conversation about racism, word choice and cultural education in an America that is growing more divisive every day.\n\nAlmost immediately, Housden began to cry.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m here this morning because I want to apologize, not only to my co-anchor Jason but to our entire community,\u201d she said, touching her co-anchor\u2019s arm.\n\n\u201cI said something yesterday that was inconsiderate, that was inappropriate, and I hurt people. And I want you to understand how much I hurt you out there,\u201d Housden continued, turning her eyes from the camera to her colleague, \u201cand how much I hurt you.\u201d\n\nHackett sat beside Housden on a couch as she spoke.\n\n\u201cI love you so much, and you have been one of my best friends for the past year and a half, and I would never do anything on purpose to hurt you,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I love our community, and I want you all to know from the bottom of my heart: I apologize for what I said. I know it was wrong, and I am so sorry.\u201d\n\nNext, it was Hackett\u2019s turn to speak.\n\n\u201cAlex, thank you very much,\u201d he said, tapping her knee as he addressed her. \u201cI do accept your apology, and I do appreciate your apology.\u201d\n\nLoading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...\n\nHackett turned to the camera.\n\n\u201cI want to let everybody out there know that Alex is one of my best friends,\u201d he said, explaining that they often talk outside of work and share personal matters about their lives. Hackett said that he appreciated her.\n\n\u201cI do love you,\u201d he said. \u201cAll that being said, and Alex would be the first to say this to you. What she said yesterday was wrong. It cut deep for me, and it cut deep for a lot of you in the community.\u201d\n\nHackett said he had heard viewer phone calls and saw their angry Facebook messages. He explained to the viewers that just as a doctor uses a scalpel or a plumber uses a wrench, broadcasts use words as the tool of their trade.\n\n\u201cComing out of this, I want this to be a teachable moment,\u201d he said. \u201cThe lesson here is that words matter.\u201d\n\nBecause of changing demographics nationwide, a shift that is making the United States more racially and culturally diverse, Hackett emphasized the importance of ownership and education. He said ignorance is \u201cno excuse.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe have to understand the stereotypes,\u201d Hackett said. \u201cWe have to understand each other\u2019s backgrounds and the words that hurt, the words that cut deep. We have to find a way to replace those words with love and words of affirmation, as well.\u201d\n\nThat education, he said, should be used \u201cnot to hurt and not to divide, but to build a more perfect union.\u201d\n\nHackett said that process is going to be a \u201cjourney\u201d for him and his colleagues.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re learning things here,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we at KOCO 5 hope that you join us.\u201d\n\nHackett and Housden did not immediately respond to a request for comment. KOCO 5 president and general manager Brent Hensley said in an email Tuesday that \u201cAlex\u2019s apology and Jason\u2019s acceptance of the apology and comments on the broader are sufficient\u201d comment. Asked if Housden was disciplined for her on-air comment, Hensley said \u201cpersonnel matters are private.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Omg, I think I'll cry :') Thank you very much for your comment ! If you don't mind, I plan to do more with your Yang design ! :3"}
-{"text": "A group of jazz fans waging a campaign to name the Williamsburg Bridge after jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins now have allies in City Council Member Stephen Levin, who introduced a piece of legislation in the council to rename the bridge, and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who's reportedly lobbying state legislators to support the renaming.\n\nRollins, one of America's greatest living jazz saxophonists, spent two years, from 1959 to 1961, blowing his horn on the Williamsburg Bridge during what he called a \"sabbatical\" from Harlem, where he first found fame as a jazz musician. As the people behind the Sonny Rollins Bridge Project explain, Rollins dropped out of the jazz scene at the height of his career, moved to an apartment on Grand Street and Clinton Street on the Lower East Side and spent up to 16 hours per day playing saxophone on the pedestrian walkway of the Williamsburg Bridge.\n\nRollins himself wrote about his relationship to the Williamsburg Bridge in the New York Times Magazine a couple of years ago, explaining that he found the bridge to be such a great place to practice because \"playing against the sky really does improve your volume, and your wind capacity.\"\n\n\"I support the greater effort to recognize the cultural contributions of Sonny Rollins, one of America\u2019s most important musical ambassadors,\" Adams wrote to Gothamist in a statement. \"I look forward to being part of the conversations going forward as to the form and fashion that this much-deserved recognition can take.\"\n\nAs The Lo-Down points out, even with the support from Levin and Adams, Albany has the final say on renaming the bridge. Given that the state named one of our bridges after that carpetbagger Robert Kennedy though, it doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility to give one of the city's jazz titans a tribute in steel."}
-{"text": "Boss EH-2 Enhancer in good working condition. Has seen very little use. Nicest one on here Fast Shipping!Featuring inverse and normal mix modes, a wide spread of frequency control and sensitivity knob for finely shaping the responsiveness of the frequencies, the Boss EH-2 Enhancer brings plucky, punchy energy to a guitar with a few twists of a knob. Capable of giving your signal that extra polish and muscle for cutting through a mix, the EH-2 works wonders with a boost for nailing solos or givin\u2026 read more"}
-{"text": "Newspaper headlines: Brexit 'mayhem' and 'the house of fools' By BBC News\n\nStaff Published duration 13 March 2019\n\nimage copyright Reuters\n\nWednesday's newspapers are dominated by the news that MPs rejected Theresa May's Brexit deal for a second time.\n\nThe Daily Mirror calls her defeat \"humiliating\" , and says it now looks like Brexit will be delayed.\n\nThe HuffPost UK website says the EU has demanded a \"credible justification\" before it can grant any delay request. This, the website says, suggests Mrs May might have to pivot to a softer deal or call an election or referendum.\n\nThe Times says the rejection of the PM's plan darkened the mood of EU leaders , who are due to meet next week for a summit.\n\nA diplomat tells the paper that some behind the scenes are prepared to cut Britain loose.\n\nThere's criticism too of MPs.\n\nThe Sun calls them a \"parliament of pygmies\" who \"calamitously let down the nation\".\n\nThe Express accuses \"wrecking Remainers\" of rendering the vote of more than 17 million people \"meaningless\".\n\nThe Times and the Mirror say she's on borrowed time.\n\nA writer in the Daily Telegraph, Allison Pearson, argues the UK needs \"a bold new leader\" who can enter EU negotiations with \"guts, vision and fire in their belly\".\n\nThe Sun says that Boris Johnson, Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt are leading contenders to replace Mrs May.\n\nThe i adds Michael Gove and Dominic Raab to the list.\n\nAway from Brexit, several papers report a new study has found air pollution could be causing more early deaths than smoking.\n\nThe i points out the UK's early death rate from air pollution is lower than for many other European countries.\n\nBut the Times says pollution is linked to asthma, heart, disease, cancer and may contribute to dementia and obesity. The clamour for cleaner air, the paper adds, is only going to get louder.\n\nMeanwhile, one of Cambridge University's last women-only colleges is to open its doors to men, the Mail reports.\n\nFrom 2021, Lucy Cavendish College will change its entry criteria to allow other under-represented groups to apply. It expects to target students from deprived areas and ethnic minorities."}
-{"text": "One thing that many people enjoy about using Safari on iOS is its quick, intuitive navigation gestures that allow you to go back or forward a page by simply swiping right or left. Soon, Google Chrome for Android will be getting on-board the gesture navigation train.\n\nIn a new commit posted to Chromium\u2019s Gerrit source code management, we see an early work-in-progress version of gesture navigation for Chrome\u2019s Android app. By \u201coverscrolling\u201d to the left or right, you will be able to quickly navigate forward or backward through your history.\n\nChrome for Android has offered a vertical \u2018pull to refresh\u2019 gesture, which is being used as the basis for these new horizontal gestures. According to a developer comment, it seems the end goal is to have these gestures look and behave consistently with the same navigation gestures on Chrome OS.\n\nAs it\u2019s still very much so a work-in-progress, it may be a few weeks before we see the new navigation gestures land even in the Chrome Canary Android app. Once it does arrive for testing, the gestures will still need to be enabled with a flag.\n\nchrome://flags/#enable-gesture-navigation\n\nGesture navigation will certainly need a solid amount of testing, as there are surely mobile-friendly sites that use a swipe to the left or right to do things like change pictures in a gallery or open a context menu. The Chromium team is also still working out when certain native pages, like the New Tab page, can use the gesture.\n\nUpdate 3/21: The flag has landed in all versions of Chrome from Stable to Canary builds, with some users finding it enabled by default. Oddly, in Stable builds the flag is still under the initial name seen above, but on Dev builds, it\u2019s now listed as #overscroll-history-navigation. While the new flag name is definitely clearer, it\u2019s somewhat unusual for Google to rename a flag after it has launched.\n\nAs we expected, Chrome for Android\u2019s new gesture navigation indeed works just like the swipe gestures on Chrome OS. With the flag enabled, when you scroll to the left or to the right past the edge of the page, an arrow icon gets pulled from off-screen. When the arrow is colored in, you can let go and Chrome will go Back (or Forward, depending on your direction).\n\nThanks Sumanth!\n\nOther touch gestures have been available in Chrome for Android for a long time, like swiping the address bar to swiftly change tabs. Adding swipe back and forward gestures will surely make Chrome for Android fun and intuitive to use, and they should be a good match to Android Pie\u2019s recent move toward gesture navigation.\n\nCheck out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news:\n\nFTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.\n\nCheck out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news:"}
-{"text": "Can you believe it\u2019s already May? We certainly can\u2019t. Now that April has drawn to a close and left us in the thick of spring, it\u2019s time to buckle down on spring cleaning projects and get any home redecorating you were planning on doing, done. Recognizing that any room can be improved by a pinch of Disney magic, we\u2019ve organized a few sets of spring accessories to brighten every corner of your home.\n\nWith everything from garden gear to classy kitchen sets, there will be no doubting your Disney love.\n\nGARDEN GLORY\n\nWhen we think spring, we think gardening. These garden pieces will help any Disney home flourish.\n\nCARTOON COUNTER\n\nWe can\u2019t imagine a better start to our morning than this Disney themed kitchen-counter set. The bright red Mickey teapot is sure to wake anyone up.\n\n\n\nINDIGO MICKEY\n\nHoping to display your Disney style in a more subtle way? Try a piece from the Indigo Mickey set and turn your home decor into a game of hidden Mickey.\n\nSING FOR SPRING\n\nWhen you aren\u2019t planning on a full-blown redecoration project, smaller accent pieces can transform a desk space or dresser into a Disney fan\u2019s dream. We were particularly excited to find these Disney Princess music boxes, available in a variety of Princess themes.\n\nIS IT SUMMER YET?\n\nSome of us are already in the summer spirit. It\u2019s never to early to celebrate with these bright summer themed pieces for the home. The popsicle molds are perfect for the warming weather.\n\nWhich theme is your favorite? Tell us in the comments and share your Disney style redecoration projects on social media.\n\nPosted 4 years Ago"}
-{"text": "\u201cEveryone in British Columbia deserves a good home, including people who live on-reserve,\u201d said Premier John Horgan in an announcement made in Prince George on June 18. (Photo/Colin Macgillivray)\n\nOn June 18 in Prince George, Premier John Horgan announced that through the new Building BC: Indigenous Housing Fund, the British Columbia government intends to incest $550 million over the next 10 years to build and operate 1,750 new units of social housing for projects both on and off-reserve.\n\n\u201cEveryone in British Columbia deserves a good home, including people who live on-reserve,\u201d said Premier John Horgan. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re opening the door to all Indigenous communities to join us as we make housing better and more affordable for people in every part of the province.\u201d\n\nThis makes British Columbia the first Canadian Province to invest provincial housing funds into on-reserve housing.\n\nPremier John Horgan announced the new fund Monday in Prince George, joined by Chief Terry Teegee, Assembly of First Nations regional chief for B.C., Chief Dominic Frederick of the Lheidli T\u2019enneh First Nation and B.C. Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Selina Robinson.\n\nAccording to a news release issued by the Office of the Premier, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, BC Housing will start the project by sending out requests for proposals to identify prospective partners.\n\nThis includes Indigenous non-profit housing providers, First Nations, M\u00e9tis Nation British Columbia and non-profit and for-profit housing developers who wish to partner with Indigenous housing providers and First Nations.\n\n\u201cWe know that Indigenous peoples often face extraordinary housing challenges,\u201d said Selina Robinson, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. \u201cWith these new provincial housing funds now available to more people, we are taking a major step forward in making sure Indigenous peoples everywhere in British Columbia have access to the safe and secure housing they need.\u201d\n\nIn addition to funding under the new Indigenous Housing Fund, further information in the news release states that Indigenous organizations and First Nations will indeed have access to provincial support.\n\nProvincial support will be under the new housing funds announced as part of the British Columbia Government\u2019s 2018 Budget and the 30-point housing plan, which aims to ensure affordable housing across the province.\n\nFurthermore, Budget 2018 also launched the biggest investment in housing affordability in B.C. history, with more than $7 billion in funding being implemented over 10 years, with 700 Indigenous housing units currently in development or under construction across the province.\n\nChief Terry Teegee, Assembly of First Nations regional chief for B.C, was quick to praise the provincial government\u2019s decision.\n\n\u201cWe have never seen such a commitment from a provincial government for on-reserve housing investments,\u201d said Teegee. \u201cI applaud the leadership of Premier Horgan and his ministers. Housing is a fundamental human right, and impacts a wide range of societal needs, including security, health for families and employment. First Nations in B.C. seek to improve a major gap in housing needs. This is an important step for building stronger First Nations\u2019 communities.\u201d\n\nTeegee also mentioned that the Nak\u2019azdli Whut\u2019en First Nation \u2014 and other First Nations communities in the region \u2014 are in need of more than 100 houses each for their respective residents.\n\nPer the news release, the new housing will be developed in partnership with the Aboriginal Housing Management Association, Indigenous housing societies and First Nations.\n\nMargaret Pfoh, the CEO of the Aboriginal Housing Management Association, states that this is a positive first step towards mitigating housing challenges for Indigenous communities.\n\n\u201cToday\u2019s announcement is a positive step in the right direction to alleviating the housing challenges of our Indigenous peoples,\u201d said Pfoh. \u201cWe are over represented in every housing need category. The Aboriginal Housing Management Association \u2014 and our members \u2014 look forward to partnering with First Nations and Indigenous housing organizations to create the housing that we so desperately need.\u201d\n\nThis announcement was coupled with June 21 being National Indigenous Peoples Day, with the investment to support affordable housing for Indigenous peoples being one of the areas the province is focusing on the advance reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.\n\nFinally, this announcement comes with the provincial government\u2019s serious dedication to significant investments in Indigenous priorities and reconciliation.\n\nReportedly, this starts with more than $250 million allocated over the next three years, in the areas of affordable housing, language revitalization, child care, mental health and addictions, poverty reduction and environmental assessment, among others."}
-{"text": "When Fran\u00e7ois Halard was a boy, growing up in an 18th-century house in Paris, the photographer Helmut Newton came to shoot a fashion story there. \u201cA lot of photographers were using it as a location then,\u201d explains Halard, whose parents are the celebrated French decorators Michelle and Yves Halard. Watching Newton work was a revelation to the introverted 12-year-old. \u201cI realized I could interact with the world using the camera as a kind of protection.\u201d\n\nHe spent subsequent summer holidays working as a photographer\u2019s assistant, and then, while a student at the \u00c9cole Nationale Sup\u00e9rieure des Arts D\u00e9coratifs, he met the legendary Parisian editor in chief Marie-Paule Pelle, who would become his mentor and friend, and with whom he began to work at the then-avant-garde interiors magazine D\u00e9coration Internationale.\n\nBy the age of 25, Halard had been noticed by no less an aesthete than Alexander Liberman, the longstanding editorial director of Cond\u00e9 Nast in the United States, who hired him to shoot fashion and lifestyle stories for House & Garden, GQ, Vanity Fair and Vogue. For the past 20 years, he has collaborated closely with Vogue\u2019s Anna Wintour.\n\nHalard is undoubtedly among the most sought-after interiors and architectural photographers of our time, widely known for capturing the world\u2019s most beautiful homes and the people who inhabit them. Much of his work was collected in the best-selling 2007 coffee-table volume Vogue Living: Houses Gardens People, and, in November, Rizzoli published Fran\u00e7ois Halard, a collection of the photographer\u2019s own personal images of the artists, designers, architects, tastemakers and great 20th-century interiors for which he has a special affinity. (An exhibition of his architectural images can be seen at New York\u2019s Demisch Danant gallery from February 1 through March 1.)\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s really a collection of memories, a tribute to the people and the places that have inspired me over the years,\u201d says Halard, who wrote short, stream-of-consciousness texts to accompany the images, revealing his thoughts and feelings as well as memorable anecdotes from each photo session. \u201cThe goal was to translate the emotional impact of the different subjects in a fluid, almost dreamlike way,\u201d he says.\n\nOne of Halard\u2019s hallmarks as a photographer is his gift for creating an air of effortless elegance in his portraits of both people and houses. His signature vignettes \u2014 papers piled high on a writing desk, collections of seemingly mundane objects, a single flower wilting in a vase \u2014 capture the most telling details of a life well lived. Through his images, he brings intimacy to the grandest of subjects and reveals the intrinsic beauty of the simplest of gestures.\n\nTake, for example, the pictures he made of the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire at Chatsworth, her late husband\u2019s ancestral home. Here, Halard gives as much attention to a collage of ribbons awarded to the Dowager Duchess\u2019s brown and buff crossbreed chickens as to the magnificent 1902 portrait of family members by John Singer Sargent hanging in a grand drawing room. Or consider his work capturing the Italian studio of American artist Cy Twombly. A double-page spread depicting a single squiggled detail of the maestro\u2019s painterly writing follows a portrait of the man himself and a series of still-life vignettes showing his tools and the other objects with which he surrounded himself. We see the impressive height and structure of the living room of La Maison de Verre, the famed modernist house in Paris designed by Pierre Chareau, which was the subject of Halard\u2019s first book. (He lived in an apartment across the courtyard for a dozen years.) But it\u2019s the details of a metal screen, a lamp on a bedside table and reflective aluminum panels in a bathroom that allow us to experience what it might feel like to experience the space in person.\n\nThe book is made up of 41 such projects, and the table of contents reads like a roll call of the 20th century\u2019s most iconic style-setters: Coco Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Axel Vervoordt, Richard Avedon, Julian Schnabel. Each subject has its own highly individual poetic magic, from the intimacy of the monastic lifestyle of architect Albert Frey, revealed in the images of his modernist home in the California desert, to the haunting magnificence of the abandoned Casa Malaparte, perched on a rocky promontory on the island of Capri.\n\nIn 1977, the artist Balthus purchased the Grand Chalet of Rossini\u00e8re, one of the largest and oldest chalets in Switzerland, dating to 1754. He converted it into his studio and worked there until his death in 2001.\n\nIn 1982 Halard photographed the L.A. swimming pool of David Hockney, the British artist who\u2019s famously painted many pools over the course of his long career.\n\nHalard captured the striking living room of La Maison de Verre, the notable early-modernist Paris house built by Pierre Chareau in 1932.\n\n\u201cHis work has a painterly effect,\u201d says interior designer Michael Misczynski, of Los Angeles decorating duo Atelier AM, who worked closely with Halard to photograph the team\u2019s projects for a 2012 Rizzoli book of its own. \u201cIt\u2019s as if he captures the emotion, the vibrations, inherent in the space, but also, and one might argue equally, his own appreciation of it, his own feelings.\u201d\n\nToday, when he\u2019s not traveling, Halard lives between an apartment in New York and one in Paris, plus his primary residence in Arles, in the South of France: a 20-room, 18th-century h\u00f4tel particulier that he first came across in 1990. At the time, the rambling pile was in a state of great disrepair, with neither electricity nor plumbing.\n\nThe lack of modern amenities notwithstanding, the house seduced him immediately, in no small part due to the original Louis XVI wallpaper in the bedrooms and the trompe l\u2019oeil panels depicting \u201cThe Birth of Rome\u201d in the drawing room. The renovation and decoration of the property have played an important role in his creative life ever since. Functioning both as a home and a studio, it\u2019s a place where the various themes running through his work \u2014 beauty, perception, the revelatory qualities of the things that surround us \u2014 find a connection.\n\nHalard writes of his home in the book, explaining its ongoing magic. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s the snow on the palm trees in winter, the red color of a bouquet of peonies, the yellow of a Proven\u00e7al bedspread, the pink of the grand staircase, the gray of Marie-Antoinette on the walls of my room, an accumulation of books and objects. It\u2019s a house that is transformed into a studio, the idea of a reinvented family home.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Why searching for a soulmate could stop you ever finding love\n\n\n\nTen years ago, no one used the phrase \u2018soulmate\u2019 in my marital therapy office. It was a word that belonged in Hollywood films and romantic novels.\n\nIf I\u2019d asked a couple whether they were soulmates, or a single person if they were looking for one, they would have stared at me blankly, expected me to light incense and start chanting, or simply laughed.\n\nToday, the term is used by around half the people who seek my help in the medium-sized, Middle England town where I\u2019m a relationship counsellor.\n\nPassion: But Richard Burton and Liz Taylor's marriages crumbled\n\nSingle women worry there is something wrong with them because they can\u2019t find their soulmate, and married women question whether one nasty argument means her husband isn\u2019t her soulmate after all. But what does the term really mean and why does my heart sink every time I hear it?\n\nAccording to the myth, soulmates not only have a deep connection, but love and accept everything about each other. Being soulmates with someone implies you have similar tastes and interests, and love doing everything together.\n\n\n\nIn fact, the connection is so profound that all differences simply fall away. So there\u2019s no need for arguments because each partner \u2018gets\u2019 the other.\n\nIn the movies, you know the seemingly mismatched couple are really soulmates when they perform karaoke and both miraculously know the words to some obscure song. All their problems melt away, and confessions of undying love and marriage on the beach swiftly follow.\n\nThe inference is that once you find your soulmate, there are no rows and you will be unquestionably accepted for who you are. No wonder everyone wants one \u2014 particularly this generation, many of whom had a front-row seat for their parents\u2019 divorce.\n\nObviously, we need to believe that something will save us from repeating our parents\u2019 mistakes \u2014 so the idea that soulmates exist is very attractive. Sadly, it\u2019s totally devoid of realism.\n\n\n\n'Instead of looking for a \"good enough\" man, women in modern society hold out for the promise of the all-singing, all-dancing, perfect partner'\n\nJosie, an attractive 31-year-old with a high-powered job, is a prime example of the damage searching for a soulmate can do. When she came to me for counselling, she said: \u2018I don\u2019t want ordinary love. I want something passionate with someone I truly respect: a soulmate. Unfortunately, I find few men who I\u2019m really attracted to.\u2019\n\nHer parents had split when she was ten and the fallout had been so bitter that more than 20 years later, her mother and father could not be in the same room and had only spoken on the phone a handful of times during emergencies.\n\nYou\u2019d expect these experiences to make someone cynical about relationships. But, like most children of divorce, Josie longed for the transforming power of love.\n\nShe just had to find the right person \u2014 yet this is where her problems deepened. Instead of looking for a \u2018good enough\u2019 man \u2014 as her mother or grandmother would have done \u2014 modern society holds out the promise of the all-singing, all-dancing, perfect partner.\n\nAs a consequence, this search for an overpowering connection has caused Josie to choose two types of lovers. There are those who are good on paper but do not yield an immediate \u2018chemistry\u2019, so she gives up on them.\n\nAnd then there are the \u2018bad boys\u2019 who are \u2018passionate and deeply emotional\u2019, but deliver brutal and destructive relationships. The most recent example was an actor who Josie knew had a girlfriend. \u2018I met him at a party and we really clicked,\u2019 she said. \u2018My pulse was racing and I felt all light-headed.\u2019\n\nSadly, the myth of soulmates means many women confuse passion and fear \u2014 as both make our hearts beat faster.\n\nWhen we discussed her relationship further and what being the \u2018other woman\u2019 did to Josie\u2019s self-esteem, I asked: \u2018Instead of intense attraction, could your subconscious have been pumping adrenaline round your body because it was saying, \u201cRun, run, run\u201d?\u2019\n\nFantasy: Romantic films like One Day purport the myth of soulmates\n\nI also blame the soulmates myth for another 21st-century complaint: \u2018I love you but I\u2019m not in love with you.\u2019\n\nBy this, I mean the way that acceptable marriages are ditched because the couple no longer feel passionately \u2018in love\u2019.\n\nTake two of my clients, Kate, 40, and her husband Martin, 44. They have two children, a successful business they created together and, in many ways, have much to celebrate.\n\n\n\nYet they are feeling dissatisfied with each other. I put this down to the fact they never argue. In keeping with the soulmates ethos, Martin explains: \u2018We\u2019ve agreed on most things because we have the same values.\u2019\n\n\n\nUnfortunately, it is not possible for two people to live in complete harmony without one or both of them rationalising away their differences (\u2018it doesn\u2019t really matter\u2019), detaching (\u2018we\u2019ll agree to differ\u2019), or avoiding conflict (\u2018anything for a quiet life\u2019).\n\nAlthough this works in the short term, eventually all feelings are switched off \u2014 not just the negative ones.\n\n\n\n'The myth of soulmates can provide a fig leaf to convince people that it is OK to cheat if they are \"destined\" to be with someone else'\n\nIn effect, arguing too little is just as dangerous as arguing too much. A good row clears the air, but it goes against the idea of soulmates, so people bite back their frustration \u2014 not only to prove that they are still soulmates, but also because they\u2019re sure their partner will eventually realise what they are really feeling, without them saying it.\n\nAs no one is a mind reader \u2014 however much they love someone \u2014 this stores up resentment for the future. In addition, the pressure to be everything to each other begins to rob people of their individual identity.\n\nAfter their relationship began, Martin hardly ever played golf, although it was one of his major passions, and Kate ditched her plans to take a creative writing course. Instead they focused on shared interests: eating out, entertaining and a holiday cottage.\n\n\n\nShortly before Kate\u2019s 40th birthday, she woke up and thought: \u2018My life feels boring. My marriage is cosy and routine. Worse still, I don\u2019t know who I am or what I want any more.\u2019\n\nWe all know how easy it is for one partner to be consumed with work or children and for the other to feel alone and therefore vulnerable to the attentions of a work colleague, friend or internet contact.\n\nAt this point, the myth of soulmates can provide a fig leaf to convince people that it is OK to cheat if they are \u2018destined\u2019 to be with someone else.\n\nAnother of my clients, Clive, 48, fell into this trap. He met his mistress at a conference and told me: \u2018We were on the same wavelength, she understood me and my work. Meanwhile, my wife would hardly notice me when I came home or would ask: \u201cHow did it go,\u201d but not listen to my answer.\n\n\u2018In contrast, I could talk to my lover about anything for hours and she\u2019d care passionately about the details. I can\u2019t put it any other way: we were soulmates and our love could not be denied.\u2019\n\nMarriage wrecker: A belief in soulmates can lead to people having affairs if they think their husband/wife isn't actually 'the one' (posed by models)\n\nWhen Clive and his mistress left their respective partners, they thought they were setting off on a new life together, but just eight weeks later Clive returned home.\n\n\u2018My lover was not like I\u2019d imagined but, more importantly, I discovered that I only knew part of her \u2014 what she was like away from responsibilities and children.\u2019\n\nClive was lucky in that his wife Miranda took him back, but she has been left devastated by the infidelity.\n\nYet It is not just the havoc caused by the myth of soulmates that makes me angry, but how it obscures the real ingredients for a successful long-term partnership.\n\nSo instead of worrying about the heady connection with a so-called soulmate, people should focus on what really counts.\n\nTop of the list are good relationship skills. I believe these are: managing to argue while being respectful of each other\u2019s opinions and finding a compromise; being open and upfront about feelings; and listening without interrupting or making assumptions.\n\nCouples also need distance as well as closeness to keep the sexual spark alive. Time apart, separate interests and knowing there is always something more to discover about your partner promotes intrigue, excitement and desire.\n\nBeing different should also be regarded as an asset \u2014 not a problem \u2014 as each partner can bring complementary skills.\n\nFor example, it helps to have one half who is more emotional or in touch with their feelings (as this brings issues up to the surface where they can be solved). But equally it is useful for the other half to be rational and have their feet on the ground (to keep a sense of proportion).\n\nFinally, relationships need strength of character as much as a deep connection, so couples are not defeated by the first piece of adversity. The good news is that overcoming problems really binds people together \u2014 more than all the karaoke in the world.\n\nRating our relationships on how connected we feel is making us miserable, and leaving us helpless when something goes wrong.\n\nThat\u2019s why I believe we should banish the word \u2018soulmate\u2019 from our vocabulary and focus instead on improving relationship skills and accepting our differences.\n\nAnd there\u2019s a bonus: when you begin to communicate effectively with your partner, all the loving feelings come flooding back again."}
-{"text": "Anna goes for a walk in the garden and makes some alarming discoveries. Featuring: mysterious singing, a bright morning, a fairy ring, and an appalled realisation.\n\nwww.mabelpodcast.com\n\nMusic: Anxiety Remains by Ars Sonor, Apparitions by Avoidant, Drown by Altered:Carbon, Interlude: Reading the Greens by Hogan Grip, Tissus by Matthieu Lamontagne and Emmanuel Toledo, and M Volume II by (morse).\n\nWritten by Becca De La Rosa. Performed by [REDACTED] and Becca De La Rosa."}
-{"text": "11 sierpnia 2016 r. Trybuna\u0142 Konstytucyjny publicznie og\u0142osi\u0142 wyrok wydany na posiedzeniu niejawnym dotycz\u0105cy po\u0142\u0105czonych wniosk\u00f3w Grup pos\u0142\u00f3w na Sejm RP oraz Rzecznika Praw Obywatelskich w sprawie ustawy o Trybunale Konstytucyjnym.\n\nW wyroku z 11 sierpnia 2016 r. Trybuna\u0142 Konstytucyjny orzek\u0142, \u017ce:\n\n1) art. 26 ust. 1 pkt 1 lit. g ustawy z dnia 22 lipca 2016 r. o Trybunale Konstytucyjnym jest niezgodny z art. 197, art. 195 ust. 1 konstytucji oraz z preambu\u0142\u0105 konstytucji,\n\n2) art. 38 ust. 3-6 ustawy powo\u0142anej w punkcie 1 jest niezgodny z art. 10, art. 173, art. 188, art. 191 ust. 1 pkt 1-5 konstytucji oraz z preambu\u0142\u0105 konstytucji,\n\n3) art. 61 ust. 3 ustawy powo\u0142anej w punkcie 1, w cz\u0119\u015bci obejmuj\u0105cej s\u0142owa: \u201eW sprawach pyta\u0144 prawnych, skarg konstytucyjnych i spor\u00f3w kompetencyjnych pomi\u0119dzy centralnymi konstytucyjnymi organami pa\u0144stwa,\u201d, jest niezgodny z art. 191 ust. 1 pkt 1-5 konstytucji oraz z preambu\u0142\u0105 konstytucji,\n\n4) art. 61 ust. 6 ustawy powo\u0142anej w punkcie 1 jest niezgodny z art. 10, art. 173, art. 188 konstytucji oraz z preambu\u0142\u0105 konstytucji,\n\n5) art. 68 ust. 5-7 ustawy powo\u0142anej w punkcie 1 jest niezgodny z art. 188, art. 195 ust. 1 konstytucji oraz z preambu\u0142\u0105 konstytucji,\n\n6) art. 80 ust. 4 ustawy powo\u0142anej w punkcie 1 jest niezgodny z art. 190 ust. 2 konstytucji,\n\n7) art. 83 ust. 1 ustawy powo\u0142anej w punkcie 1 rozumiany w ten spos\u00f3b, \u017ce nie podwa\u017ca skuteczno\u015bci czynno\u015bci procesowych dokonanych przed wej\u015bciem w \u017cycie tej ustawy, jest zgodny z art. 2 konstytucji,\n\n8) art. 83 ust. 2 oraz art. 84-87 ustawy powo\u0142anej w punkcie 1 s\u0105 niezgodne z art. 2, art. 10, art. 173 konstytucji oraz z preambu\u0142\u0105 konstytucji,\n\n9) art. 89 ustawy powo\u0142anej w punkcie 1 jest niezgodny z art. 10, art. 173, art. 190 ust. 2 konstytucji,\n\n10) art. 90 ustawy powo\u0142anej w punkcie 1 jest niezgodny z art. 194 ust. 1 konstytucji.\n\nPonadto Trybuna\u0142 Konstytucyjny postanowi\u0142 umorzy\u0107 post\u0119powanie w pozosta\u0142ym zakresie.\n\nZdanie odr\u0119bne do wyroku zg\u0142osili: s\u0119dzia TK Zbigniew J\u0119drzejewski, s\u0119dzia TK Julia Przy\u0142\u0119bska i s\u0119dzia TK Piotr Pszcz\u00f3\u0142kowski.\n\nPodstaw\u0105 orzekania Trybuna\u0142u w niniejszej sprawie by\u0142a ustawa z dnia 25 czerwca 2015 r. o Trybunale Konstytucyjnym (Dz.U. z 2016 r., poz. 293; dalej: ustawa o TK z 2015 r.), w brzmieniu nadanym przez wyrok TK z 9 marca 2016 r., sygn. K 47/15 (OTK ZU nr A/2016, poz. 2). Trybuna\u0142 zastosowa\u0142 przepisy dotycz\u0105ce trybu kontroli konstytucyjno\u015bci prawa obowi\u0105zuj\u0105ce w dniu wyrokowania. Na tej samej podstawie w 2016 r. zosta\u0142y wydane 22 inne wyroki Trybuna\u0142u (zob. http://trybunal.gov.pl/wyroki-oczekujace-na-ogloszenie/).\n\n1. Trybuna\u0142 Konstytucyjny skontrolowa\u0142 zgodno\u015b\u0107 ustawy z dnia 22 lipca 2016 r. o Trybunale Konstytucyjnym (Dz.U. poz. 1157; dalej: ustawa o TK z 2016 r.) przed jej wej\u015bciem w \u017cycie. Ustawy podlegaj\u0105 kognicji Trybuna\u0142u ju\u017c od dnia opublikowania ich tekstu w Dzienniku Ustaw. Jednym z cel\u00f3w \u201espoczywania ustawy\u201d (vacatio legis) jest umo\u017cliwienie Trybuna\u0142owi kontroli ustawy, zanim zacznie ona wywo\u0142ywa\u0107 skutki prawne. Podobnie, vacatio legis s\u0142u\u017cy ustawodawcy, kt\u00f3ry w tym okresie mo\u017ce skorygowa\u0107 dostrze\u017cone niedoskona\u0142o\u015bci ustawy, dokonuj\u0105c stosownej nowelizacji.\n\nPo og\u0142oszeniu ustawy w Dzienniku Ustaw staje si\u0119 ona cz\u0119\u015bci\u0105 systemu polskiego prawa, a tym samym mo\u017ce by\u0107 poddana kontroli, kt\u00f3rej celem jest usuni\u0119cie z systemu prawa regulacji niespe\u0142niaj\u0105cej standard\u00f3w konstytucyjnych. Trybuna\u0142 nie dzia\u0142a z w\u0142asnej inicjatywy (z urz\u0119du), a moment zainicjowania kontroli ka\u017cdorazowo okre\u015bla wnioskodawca (pytaj\u0105cy s\u0105d, skar\u017c\u0105cy).\n\nWszystkie trzy wnioski inicjuj\u0105ce post\u0119powania w niniejszej sprawie wp\u0142yn\u0119\u0142y tu\u017c po og\u0142oszeniu ustawy o TK z 2016 r. w Dzienniku Ustaw, a wnioskodawcy za\u017c\u0105dali, by Trybuna\u0142 zbada\u0142 ustaw\u0119 w okresie 14-dniowej vacatio legis, wskazuj\u0105c, \u017ce po jej wej\u015bciu w \u017cycie wywo\u0142a ona nieodwracalne skutki prawne.\n\n2. Rozprawa lub posiedzenie niejawne s\u0105 r\u00f3wnorz\u0119dnymi sposobami rozpoznawania wniosk\u00f3w, pyta\u0144 prawnych oraz skarg konstytucyjnych. \u017baden z wnioskodawc\u00f3w nie wyst\u0105pi\u0142 \u2013 w spos\u00f3b okre\u015blony ustaw\u0105 o TK z 2015 r. \u2212 o rozpoznanie sprawy na rozprawie, jak r\u00f3wnie\u017c nie postanowi\u0142 o tym sk\u0142ad orzekaj\u0105cy.\n\nObowi\u0105zuj\u0105ca ustawa o TK z 2015 r. uprawnia do orzekania na posiedzeniu niejawnym w dw\u00f3ch sytuacjach: gdy pisemne stanowiska uczestnik\u00f3w post\u0119powania oraz pozosta\u0142e dowody zgromadzone w sprawie stanowi\u0105 wystarczaj\u0105c\u0105 podstaw\u0119 wydania orzeczenia oraz gdy sprawa dotyczy zagadnienia prawnego wystarczaj\u0105co wyja\u015bnionego we wcze\u015bniejszych orzeczeniach Trybuna\u0142u. Trybuna\u0142 uzna\u0142, \u017ce zasz\u0142a druga z tych przes\u0142anek, bo g\u0142\u00f3wne problemy konstytucyjne dotycz\u0105 naruszenia zasady tr\u00f3jpodzia\u0142u w\u0142adzy i niezale\u017cno\u015bci w\u0142adzy s\u0105downiczej oraz uniemo\u017cliwiania Trybuna\u0142owi rzetelnego i sprawnego dzia\u0142ania, a w tych kwestiach Trybuna\u0142 wypowiada\u0142 si\u0119 ju\u017c wielokrotnie, m.in. w wyrokach w sprawach K 34/15, K 35/15 i 47/15. Trybuna\u0142 uzna\u0142, \u017ce wszystkie zagadnienia prawne pojawiaj\u0105ce si\u0119 w niniejszej sprawie zosta\u0142y dostatecznie wyja\u015bnione, a tym samym jest mo\u017cliwe rozpoznanie sprawy na posiedzeniu niejawnym.\n\nMo\u017cliwo\u015b\u0107 rozpatrywania sprawy przez Trybuna\u0142, w tym tak\u017ce na posiedzeniu niejawnym, nie jest uzale\u017cniona od przes\u0142ania pisemnych stanowisk uczestnik\u00f3w post\u0119powania. Trybuna\u0142 wyst\u0105pi\u0142 o takie stanowiska, okre\u015blaj\u0105c zgodny z ustaw\u0105 o TK z 2015 r. termin ich przes\u0142ania, adekwatny do wyznaczonego przez Trybuna\u0142 terminu merytorycznego rozpoznania sprawy.\n\n3. Trybuna\u0142 Konstytucyjny stwierdzi\u0142, \u017ce pierwszoplanowy charakter maj\u0105 zarzuty dotycz\u0105ce tre\u015bci ustawy o TK z 2016 r.\n\nW odniesieniu do podobnych zagadnie\u0144 Trybuna\u0142 zaj\u0105\u0142 stanowisko we wcze\u015bniejszych orzeczeniach, w tym przede wszystkim w wyroku z 9 marca 2016 r. (sygn. K 47/15), rekonstruuj\u0105c standardy konstytucyjne, jakie powinna spe\u0142nia\u0107 ka\u017cda ustawa reguluj\u0105ca organizacj\u0119 i tryb post\u0119powania przed Trybuna\u0142em (por. art. 197 konstytucji). Nie bez znaczenia w tym wypadku by\u0142o r\u00f3wnie\u017c to, \u017ce w ustawie o TK z 2016 r. ustawodawca powt\u00f3rzy\u0142 cz\u0119\u015b\u0107 przepis\u00f3w, kt\u00f3re by\u0142y ju\u017c \u2013 w zbli\u017conym lub takim samym kszta\u0142cie i kontek\u015bcie normatywnym \u2013 przedmiotem ostatecznego orzeczenia TK. Trybuna\u0142 kontrolowa\u0142 zatem tak\u017ce takie rozwi\u0105zania prawne, kt\u00f3re przywraca\u0142y niekonstytucyjne regulacje. Z tego wzgl\u0119du mo\u017cliwe by\u0142o rozpatrzenie sprawy na posiedzeniu niejawnym, w relatywnie kr\u00f3tkim czasie od dnia wp\u0142yni\u0119cia wniosk\u00f3w.\n\n4. Trybuna\u0142 Konstytucyjny stwierdzi\u0142, \u017ce osnow\u0105 wszystkich zarzut\u00f3w sformu\u0142owanych przez wnioskodawc\u00f3w jest nadmierna ingerencja ustawodawcy w zasad\u0119 podzia\u0142u i r\u00f3wnowa\u017cenia w\u0142adzy oraz naruszenie odr\u0119bno\u015bci i niezale\u017cno\u015bci w\u0142adzy s\u0105downiczej.\n\nKonstytucja w szczeg\u00f3lny spos\u00f3b okre\u015bla pozycj\u0119 w\u0142adzy s\u0105downiczej w konstytucyjnym podziale w\u0142adzy. O ile w stosunkach mi\u0119dzy w\u0142adz\u0105 ustawodawcz\u0105 a wykonawcz\u0105 mo\u017cliwe s\u0105 r\u00f3\u017cne formy wzajemnych oddzia\u0142ywa\u0144 i wsp\u00f3\u0142pracy, dopuszcza si\u0119 r\u00f3wnie\u017c istnienie obszaru, w kt\u00f3rym kompetencje organ\u00f3w nale\u017c\u0105cych do obu w\u0142adz \u201eprzecinaj\u0105 si\u0119\u201d lub \u201enak\u0142adaj\u0105\u201d, o tyle relacje mi\u0119dzy w\u0142adz\u0105 s\u0105downicz\u0105 a pozosta\u0142ymi w\u0142adzami musz\u0105 opiera\u0107 si\u0119 na zasadzie \u201eseparacji\u201d. Koniecznym elementem zasady podzia\u0142u w\u0142adzy s\u0105 niezale\u017cno\u015b\u0107 s\u0105d\u00f3w i niezawis\u0142o\u015b\u0107 s\u0119dzi\u00f3w. Na stra\u017cy tej zasady stoi za\u015b Trybuna\u0142 Konstytucyjny.\n\nDrug\u0105 g\u0142\u00f3wn\u0105 zasad\u0105 konstytucyjn\u0105, kt\u00f3ra leg\u0142a u podstaw wyroku, by\u0142a wynikaj\u0105ca z preambu\u0142y do konstytucji zasada rzetelno\u015bci i sprawno\u015bci dzia\u0142ania instytucji publicznych. Trybuna\u0142 przypomnia\u0142, \u017ce zasada ta ogranicza ustawodawc\u0119 reguluj\u0105cego organizacj\u0119 oraz tryb post\u0119powania przed Trybuna\u0142em (wyrok z 3 grudnia 2015 r., sygn. K 34/15). Innymi s\u0142owy, uchwalaj\u0105c ustaw\u0119, o kt\u00f3rej mowa w art. 197 konstytucji, ustawodawca musi zagwarantowa\u0107 sprawno\u015b\u0107, rzetelno\u015b\u0107 i efektywno\u015b\u0107 dzia\u0142ania Trybuna\u0142u.\n\n5. Art. 26 ust. 1 pkt 1 lit. g ustawy o TK z 2016 r. wprowadza\u0142 nakaz orzekania w pe\u0142nym sk\u0142adzie, je\u015bli trzech s\u0119dzi\u00f3w Trybuna\u0142u wyst\u0105pi o to w terminie 14 dni od otrzymania odpis\u00f3w skarg konstytucyjnych, wniosk\u00f3w lub pyta\u0144 prawnych. Trybuna\u0142 stwierdzi\u0142, \u017ce przepis ten jest niezgodny art. 197 konstytucji oraz z zasad\u0105 sprawno\u015bci i rzetelno\u015bci dzia\u0142ania instytucji publicznych wywodzon\u0105 z preambu\u0142y konstytucji.\n\nPo pierwsze, ustawodawca naruszy\u0142 tu wym\u00f3g sprawno\u015bci dzia\u0142ania instytucji publicznej. Wniosek trzech s\u0119dzi\u00f3w, nawet niewyznaczonych do sk\u0142adu orzekaj\u0105cego, nie jest uzale\u017cniony od specyfiki danej sprawy, w szczeg\u00f3lno\u015bci za\u015b od liczby zaskar\u017conych przepis\u00f3w i stopnia skomplikowania ich tre\u015bci normatywnej oraz od liczby i z\u0142o\u017cono\u015bci wskazanych wzorc\u00f3w kontroli. Nie musi by\u0107 ani w \u017caden spos\u00f3b uzasadniony merytorycznie, ani nie podlega ocenie Prezesa TK lub sk\u0142adu orzekaj\u0105cego, kt\u00f3ry zosta\u0142 ju\u017c wyznaczony do rozpoznania sprawy.\n\nPo drugie, ustawodawca naruszy\u0142 wym\u00f3g rzetelno\u015bci dzia\u0142ania instytucji publicznej. Skoro rozpoznanie w pe\u0142nym sk\u0142adzie zosta\u0142o uzale\u017cnione wy\u0142\u0105cznie od o\u015bwiadczenia mniejszo\u015bci s\u0119dzi\u00f3w, stosowanie zakwestionowanego przepisu mog\u0142oby doprowadzi\u0107 do odst\u0105pienia od og\u00f3lnej zasady, \u017ce tylko najistotniejsze i najdonio\u015blejsze konstytucyjnie sprawy rozpoznawane s\u0105 w pe\u0142nym sk\u0142adzie Trybuna\u0142u. Ustawodawca dopu\u015bci\u0142 uczynienie wyj\u0105tku, jakim jest rozpoznanie sprawy w pe\u0142nym sk\u0142adzie, zasad\u0105 og\u00f3ln\u0105.\n\nPo trzecie, ustawodawca naruszy\u0142 wym\u00f3g efektywno\u015bci dzia\u0142ania instytucji publicznej. Stosowanie zakwestionowanego przepisu w zwi\u0105zku z przepisem nakazuj\u0105cym rozpoznawanie wniosk\u00f3w wed\u0142ug kolejno\u015bci wp\u0142ywu oraz przepisem zwi\u0119kszaj\u0105cym liczb\u0119 s\u0119dzi\u00f3w niezb\u0119dnych do rozpoznania sprawy w pe\u0142nym sk\u0142adzie prowadzi\u0107 mo\u017ce do przekazywania wszystkich spraw do rozpoznania w pe\u0142nym sk\u0142adzie, uniemo\u017cliwiaj\u0105c tym samym Trybuna\u0142owi sprawne dzia\u0142anie.\n\n6. Art. 38 ust. 3\u20136 ustawy o TK z 2016 r. reguluje wyznaczanie termin\u00f3w rozpraw oraz wyznaczenie rozprawy poza kolejno\u015bci\u0105 wp\u0142ywu wniosku. Przepis ten dotyczy rozpraw, na kt\u00f3rych maj\u0105 by\u0107 rozpatrywane wnioski, \u201ewed\u0142ug kolejno\u015bci wp\u0142ywu spraw do Trybuna\u0142u\u201d i nie dotyczy termin\u00f3w orzekania w sprawach pyta\u0144 prawnych i skarg konstytucyjnych. Trybuna\u0142 stwierdzi\u0142, \u017ce przepis ten jest niezgodny z art. 10, art. 173, art. 188, art. 191 ust. 1 pkt 1\u20135 konstytucji oraz z zasad\u0105 sprawno\u015bci i rzetelno\u015bci dzia\u0142ania instytucji publicznych wyra\u017con\u0105 w preambule Konstytucji.\n\nArt. 38 ust. 3 ustawy o TK z 2016 r. r\u00f3\u017cnicuje kontrol\u0119 wniosk\u00f3w z jednej oraz pyta\u0144 prawnych i skarg konstytucyjnych z drugiej strony, co os\u0142abia wiarygodno\u015b\u0107 i sp\u00f3jno\u015b\u0107 konstytucyjnego systemu ochrony praw cz\u0142owieka oraz mo\u017ce prowadzi\u0107 do delegitymizacji dzia\u0142ania podmiot\u00f3w wymienionych w art. 191 ust. 1 pkt 1\u20135 konstytucji. Wnioski o abstrakcyjn\u0105 kontrol\u0119 norm s\u0105 podstawowym \u015brodkiem procesowym inicjowania post\u0119powa\u0144 przed s\u0105dami konstytucyjnymi; w trybie wnioskowym s\u0105 przedk\u0142adane sprawy o zasadniczym znaczeniu dla interesu publicznego. Kompetencja do z\u0142o\u017cenia wniosku w sprawach, o kt\u00f3rych mowa w art. 188 konstytucji, ma charakter konstytucyjny oraz spe\u0142nia donios\u0142e publicznoprawne funkcje. Obok pyta\u0144 prawnych i skarg konstytucyjnych wnioski o abstrakcyjn\u0105 kontrol\u0119 norm s\u0105 podstawowym narz\u0119dziem ochrony konstytucyjnych praw i wolno\u015bci, a wnioski grup pos\u0142\u00f3w lub senator\u00f3w stanowi\u0105 dodatkowo proceduraln\u0105 gwarancj\u0119 realizacji zasady pluralizmu politycznego.\n\nNa ocen\u0119 konstytucyjno\u015bci zakwestionowanego przepisu nie wp\u0142ywa umo\u017cliwienie Prezesowi TK wyznaczenia terminu rozprawy z pomini\u0119ciem kolejno\u015bci wp\u0142ywu spraw. Przepis ten ma charakter wyj\u0105tku i nie powinien by\u0107 intepretowany rozszerzaj\u0105co.\n\n7. Art. 61 ust. 3 ustawy o TK z 2016 r. upowa\u017cnia Prezesa TK do skr\u00f3cenia do 15 dni terminu, po up\u0142ywie kt\u00f3rego mo\u017ce odby\u0107 si\u0119 rozprawa w sprawach pyta\u0144 prawnych, skarg konstytucyjnych i spor\u00f3w kompetencyjnych. Trybuna\u0142 Konstytucyjny stwierdzi\u0142, \u017ce przepis ten, w cz\u0119\u015bci obejmuj\u0105cej s\u0142owa: \u201eW sprawach pyta\u0144 prawnych, skarg konstytucyjnych i spor\u00f3w kompetencyjnych pomi\u0119dzy centralnymi konstytucyjnymi organami pa\u0144stwa,\u201d jest niezgodny z art. 191 ust. 1 pkt 1\u20135 konstytucji oraz z zasad\u0105 sprawno\u015bci i rzetelno\u015bci dzia\u0142ania instytucji publicznych wyra\u017con\u0105 w preambule konstytucji. Za niekonstytucyjno\u015bci\u0105 tego przepisu przemawiaj\u0105 argumenty przedstawione w pkt 6 komunikatu. Konstytucyjny charakter kompetencji do z\u0142o\u017cenia wniosku o abstrakcyjn\u0105 kontrol\u0119, jej systemowa donios\u0142o\u015b\u0107 dla ochrony praw i wolno\u015bci oraz zasad ustroju, a tak\u017ce r\u00f3wnowa\u017cno\u015b\u0107 procesowa wniosk\u00f3w i skarg konstytucyjnych i pyta\u0144 prawnych, stoj\u0105 na przeszkodzie regulacji, kt\u00f3ra przyznaje bezwzgl\u0119dne i automatyczne pierwsze\u0144stwo rozpoznaniu skarg, pyta\u0144 prawnych oraz wniosk\u00f3w w sprawie spor\u00f3w kompetencyjnych, przed og\u00f3\u0142em innych wniosk\u00f3w.\n\n8. Art. 61 ust. 6 ustawy o TK z 2016 r. uzale\u017cnia rozpoznanie sprawy od obecno\u015bci prawid\u0142owo zawiadomionego Prokuratora Generalnego lub jego przedstawiciela w wypadkach, w kt\u00f3rych ustawa przewiduje obowi\u0105zek jego uczestnictwa. Trybuna\u0142 stwierdzi\u0142, \u017ce przepis ten jest niezgodny z art. 10, art. 173, art. 188 oraz z zasad\u0105 sprawno\u015bci i rzetelno\u015bci dzia\u0142ania instytucji publicznych wyra\u017con\u0105 w preambule konstytucji.\n\nW razie nieobecno\u015bci Prokuratora Generalnego Trybuna\u0142 m\u00f3g\u0142by jedynie odroczy\u0107 rozpraw\u0119 i wyznaczy\u0107 jej nowy termin. Uzale\u017cnienie zdolno\u015bci Trybuna\u0142u do kontroli konstytucyjno\u015bci prawa od czynno\u015bci faktycznych Prokuratora Generalnego mog\u0142oby wi\u0119c ca\u0142kowicie uniemo\u017cliwi\u0107 wydanie orzeczenia w sprawie rozpoznawanej w pe\u0142nym sk\u0142adzie. Ustawodawca nie ograniczy\u0142 czasowo skutku wywo\u0142ywanego niestawiennictwem prawid\u0142owo zawiadomionego Prokuratora Generalnego lub jego przedstawiciela, zatem rozpoznanie sprawy mog\u0142oby zosta\u0107 wstrzymane bezterminowo. Tymczasem zar\u00f3wno konstytucja, jak i ustawa o TK nakazuj\u0105 rozpoznawanie spraw bez zb\u0119dnej zw\u0142oki i wydawanie orzecze\u0144, gdy sprawy zostan\u0105 dostatecznie wyja\u015bnione.\n\nNegatywnej oceny konstytucyjnej art. 61 ust. 6 ustawy o TK z 2016 r. nie podwa\u017ca jego zbie\u017cno\u015b\u0107 z art. 60 ust. 4 ustawy z dnia 1 sierpnia 1997 r. o Trybunale Konstytucyjnym (Dz.U. Nr 102, poz. 643, ze zm.; dalej: ustawa o TK z 1997 r.), poniewa\u017c przepisy ustawy o TK z 2016 r. w spos\u00f3b odmienny i rozbudowany kszta\u0142tuj\u0105 pozycj\u0119 Prokuratora Generalnego, wprowadzaj\u0105c dodatkowe mechanizmy umo\u017cliwiaj\u0105ce wstrzymanie wydania orzeczenia, co oznacza zasadnicz\u0105 zmian\u0119 kontekstu normatywnego analizowanej instytucji prawnej.\n\n9. Art. 68 ust. 5\u20137 ustawy o TK z 2016 r. reguluj\u0105 sprzeciw grupy s\u0119dzi\u00f3w wobec zaproponowanego kierunku rozstrzygni\u0119cia sprawy rozpoznawanej w pe\u0142nym sk\u0142adzie. Skutkiem sprzeciwu mia\u0142oby by\u0107 odroczenie narady o trzy miesi\u0105ce, a w razie ponownego sprzeciwu \u2013 o kolejne trzy miesi\u0105ce. Trybuna\u0142 stwierdzi\u0142, \u017ce przepisy te s\u0105 niezgodne z art. 188 Konstytucji i zasad\u0105 sprawno\u015bci i rzetelno\u015bci dzia\u0142ania instytucji publicznych wyra\u017con\u0105 w preambule konstytucji.\n\nPo pierwsze, ustawodawca naruszy\u0142 wym\u00f3g sprawno\u015bci dzia\u0142ania instytucji publicznej. Umo\u017cliwiaj\u0105c grupie s\u0119dzi\u00f3w zg\u0142oszenie sprzeciwu, ustawodawca nie okre\u015bli\u0142 podmiotowych, przedmiotowych i czasowych ogranicze\u0144 sprzeciwu. Mo\u017ce go bowiem zg\u0142osi\u0107 grupa czterech s\u0119dzi\u00f3w, ale ustawodawca nie wykluczy\u0142 mo\u017cliwo\u015bci ponownego zg\u0142aszania kolejnych sprzeciw\u00f3w przez t\u0119 sam\u0105 lub tylko nieznacznie zmienion\u0105 grup\u0119 s\u0119dzi\u00f3w. Art. 68 ust. 7 ustawy o TK z 2016 r. w zakresie, w jakim stanowi, \u017ce \u201eprzeprowadza si\u0119 kolejn\u0105 narad\u0119 i g\u0142osowanie\u201d, nie wyklucza dopuszczalno\u015bci zg\u0142oszenia ponownego sprzeciwu przez inn\u0105 grup\u0119 czterech s\u0119dzi\u00f3w lub nowego sprzeciwu w tej samej sprawie przez grup\u0119 s\u0119dzi\u00f3w, kt\u00f3ra ju\u017c raz sprzeciw zg\u0142osi\u0142a. Teoretycznie mo\u017cliwe jest wi\u0119c uformowanie 1365 zr\u00f3\u017cnicowanych personalnie grup czterech s\u0119dzi\u00f3w, kt\u00f3re mog\u0142yby zg\u0142osi\u0107 sprzeciw w trakcie narady w pe\u0142nym sk\u0142adzie. Sprzeciw ka\u017cdej z grup automatycznie skutkowa\u0142by odroczeniem narady w pierwszej kolejno\u015bci o trzy miesi\u0105ce, a w dalszej \u2013 o kolejne trzy miesi\u0105ce. Zasadno\u015b\u0107 sprzeciwu nie podlega za\u015b ocenie sk\u0142adu s\u0119dziowskiego, a skutek w postaci odroczenia narady nast\u0119puje automatycznie.\n\nPo drugie, ustawodawca naruszy\u0142 wym\u00f3g rzetelno\u015bci dzia\u0142ania instytucji publicznych. Stosowanie zakwestionowanego przepisu uzale\u017cnia\u0142oby dalsze rozpoznanie sprawy, w kt\u00f3rej zg\u0142oszono sprzeciw, od uznaniowo\u015bci grupy czterech s\u0119dzi\u00f3w. Sprzeciw nie wymaga bowiem uzasadnienia. Przes\u0142anka donios\u0142o\u015bci ustrojowej sprawy lub ochrony porz\u0105dku publicznego adresowana jest wy\u0142\u0105cznie do s\u0119dziego zg\u0142aszaj\u0105cego sprzeciw i nie podlega weryfikacji pe\u0142nego sk\u0142adu Trybuna\u0142u. Odroczenie narad zosta\u0142o zatem uzale\u017cnione de facto wy\u0142\u0105cznie od o\u015bwiadczenia woli mniejszo\u015bci s\u0119dzi\u00f3w, kt\u00f3re nie tylko nie wymaga\u0142oby uzasadnienia, ale te\u017c nie mog\u0142oby zosta\u0107 skonfrontowane ze stanowiskiem wi\u0119kszo\u015bci sk\u0142adu orzekaj\u0105cego. Arbitralno\u015b\u0107 i automatyzm przepis\u00f3w mog\u0142yby zatem wp\u0142yn\u0105\u0107 na rzetelne wykonywanie kompetencji konstytucyjnej Trybuna\u0142u.\n\nPo trzecie, ustawodawca naruszy\u0142 wym\u00f3g efektywno\u015bci dzia\u0142ania instytucji publicznej. Stosowanie zakwestionowanego przepisu uniemo\u017cliwia\u0142oby bezzw\u0142oczne wydanie orzeczenia w sprawach, w kt\u00f3rych sprzeciwu nie zg\u0142oszono. W zwi\u0105zku z przepisami o kolejno\u015bci wyznaczania rozpraw oraz o rozpoznaniu spraw w pe\u0142nym sk\u0142adzie, powodowa\u0142oby nieuzasadnion\u0105 konstytucyjnie przewlek\u0142o\u015b\u0107 post\u0119powa\u0144 inicjowanych wnioskami. Terminy rozpraw w tego rodzaju sprawach wyznaczane s\u0105 wed\u0142ug kolejno\u015bci wp\u0142ywu wszystkich spraw do Trybuna\u0142u, a skorzystanie przez grup\u0119 czterech s\u0119dzi\u00f3w z ustawowego uprawnienia skutkowa\u0142oby nie tylko odroczeniem narady w sprawie, w kt\u00f3rej zg\u0142oszono sprzeciw, ale sta\u0142oby na przeszkodzie rozpoznaniu na rozprawie wszystkich inicjowanych wnioskami spraw, kt\u00f3re wp\u0142yn\u0119\u0142y do Trybuna\u0142u po sprawie, w kt\u00f3rej zg\u0142oszono sprzeciw.\n\n10. Trybuna\u0142 stwierdzi\u0142, \u017ce art. 26 ust. 1 pkt 1 lit. g oraz art. 68 ust. 5\u20137 ustawy o TK z 2016 r., dotycz\u0105ce niezawis\u0142o\u015bci s\u0119dziego wzgl\u0119dem innych s\u0119dzi\u00f3w TK (tzw. wewn\u0119trzny aspekt niezawis\u0142o\u015bci), s\u0105 niezgodne z art. 195 ust. 1 konstytucji. Zar\u00f3wno upowa\u017cnienie do z\u0142o\u017cenia wniosku skutkuj\u0105cego przekazaniem sprawy do rozpoznania w pe\u0142nym sk\u0142adzie, jak i upowa\u017cnienie do z\u0142o\u017cenia sprzeciwu wobec proponowanego kierunku rozstrzygni\u0119cia odnosz\u0105 si\u0119 do sfery \u201esprawowania urz\u0119du\u201d w konstytucyjnym rozumieniu. Dotycz\u0105 jednak procesu rozpoznania sprawy i dokonywania czynno\u015bci orzeczniczych. Zaskar\u017cone przepisy umo\u017cliwia\u0142yby arbitraln\u0105 ingerencj\u0119 w niezawis\u0142o\u015b\u0107 s\u0119dzi\u00f3w wyznaczonych do rozpoznania sprawy i ich kompetencj\u0119 do oceny szczeg\u00f3lnej zawi\u0142o\u015bci sprawy. Wniosek trzech s\u0119dzi\u00f3w m\u00f3g\u0142by zosta\u0107 z\u0142o\u017cony bez uzasadnienia i wywo\u0142a\u0107 skutek procesowy, jeszcze przed podj\u0119ciem przez sk\u0142ad wyznaczony do rozpoznania sprawy decyzji, czy skorzysta\u0107 z kompetencji przewidzianej w art. 26 ust. 1 pkt 1 lit. g ustawy o TK z 2016 r.\n\nArt. 68 ust. 5\u20137 ustawy o TK z 2016 r. dopuszcza z kolei niewymagaj\u0105cy \u017cadnego uzasadnienia pozamerytoryczny wp\u0142yw na s\u0119dziego sprawozdawc\u0119 przez grup\u0119 czterech s\u0119dzi\u00f3w TK, w skrajnych wypadkach uniemo\u017cliwiaj\u0105c mu przedstawienie argument\u00f3w za zaproponowanym przez niego rozstrzygni\u0119ciem problemu konstytucyjnego i dalsz\u0105 dyskusj\u0119 na forum pe\u0142nego sk\u0142adu Trybuna\u0142u.\n\nZdaniem Trybuna\u0142u pr\u00f3ba instytucjonalizacji \u201emniejszo\u015bci s\u0119dziowskiej\u201d, na wz\u00f3r gwarancji proceduralnych znanych prawu parlamentarnemu, nie odpowiada funkcji Trybuna\u0142u jako organu w\u0142adzy s\u0105downiczej oraz indywidualnemu statusowi niezwis\u0142ych s\u0119dzi\u00f3w Trybuna\u0142u.\n\n11. Art. 83 ust. 1 ustawy o TK z 2016 r. jest przepisem przej\u015bciowym. Dokonuj\u0105c rozstrzygni\u0119\u0107 intertemporalnych co do sposobu uko\u0144czenia post\u0119powa\u0144 tocz\u0105cych si\u0119 przed Trybuna\u0142em w momencie wej\u015bcia w \u017cycie tej ustawy, ustawodawca odwo\u0142a\u0142 si\u0119 do zasady bezpo\u015bredniego dzia\u0142ania prawa nowego i przes\u0105dzi\u0142, \u017ce w sprawach wszcz\u0119tych i niezako\u0144czonych przed dniem wej\u015bcia w \u017cycie ustawy z 2016 r. nale\u017cy stosowa\u0107 jej przepisy.\n\nBezpo\u015brednie zastosowanie nowych przepis\u00f3w zapewnia wprawdzie szybkie i stosunkowo proste legislacyjnie zast\u0105pienie dawnego prawa prawem nowym, bywa jednak nielojalne wobec zainteresowanych i os\u0142abia poczucie bezpiecze\u0144stwa prawnego. Mo\u017ce tak\u017ce wywo\u0142ywa\u0107 nast\u0119pstwa zbli\u017cone do retroaktywno\u015bci prawa. Z tych w\u0142a\u015bnie wzgl\u0119d\u00f3w ustawodawca musi uwzgl\u0119dni\u0107 dyrektywy p\u0142yn\u0105ce z zasady stabilno\u015bci rozstrzygni\u0119\u0107 organ\u00f3w w\u0142adzy publicznej, pewno\u015bci prawa, ochrony praw s\u0142usznie nabytych i interes\u00f3w w toku wynikaj\u0105ce z zasady demokratycznego pa\u0144stwa prawnego.\n\nRozstrzygni\u0119cie intertemporalne zawarte w art. 83 ust. 1 ustawy o TK z 2016 r. samo przez si\u0119 nie narusza standard\u00f3w konstytucyjnych, ale tylko pod warunkiem rozumienia go w ten spos\u00f3b, \u017ce nie podwa\u017ca skuteczno\u015bci czynno\u015bci Trybuna\u0142u dokonanych w post\u0119powaniach wszcz\u0119tych i niezako\u0144czonych przed wej\u015bciem w \u017cycie ustawy o TK z 2016 r.\n\nArt. 83 ust. 2 ustawy o TK z 2016 r. nak\u0142ada na Trybuna\u0142 obowi\u0105zek rozpatrzenia wszystkich spraw zainicjowanych w drodze skargi konstytucyjnej i pytania prawnego w terminie roku od wej\u015bcia w \u017cycie ustawy. Pozornie mog\u0142oby si\u0119 wydawa\u0107, \u017ce rozwi\u0105zanie takie realizuje postulat sprawno\u015bci dzia\u0142ania instytucji publicznych wynikaj\u0105cy z preambu\u0142y. W praktyce jednak przepis ten nak\u0142ada na Trybuna\u0142 obowi\u0105zek niemo\u017cliwy do wykonania, co wynika po pierwsze z: du\u017cej liczby spraw, kt\u00f3re Trybuna\u0142 mia\u0142by rozpozna\u0107 w ci\u0105gu roku, po wt\u00f3re \u2212 z dotychczasowego \u015bredniego czasu rozpoznania spraw, kt\u00f3ry wynosi\u0142 21 miesi\u0119cy, po trzecie \u2212 z zasad tworzenia sk\u0142ad\u00f3w orzekaj\u0105cych anga\u017cuj\u0105cych do rozpatrywania zgodno\u015bci z konstytucj\u0105 wszystkich s\u0119dzi\u00f3w Trybuna\u0142u (pe\u0142ny sk\u0142adu) lub co najmniej 1/3 z nich (sk\u0142ad 5 s\u0119dzi\u00f3w), po czwarte za\u015b \u2212 z przepis\u00f3w przej\u015bciowych, wymagaj\u0105cych rozpatrzenia wszystkich spraw od nowa w zmienionym sk\u0142adzie Trybuna\u0142u.\n\nKr\u00f3tki termin uniemo\u017cliwia\u0142by rzetelne rozpatrzenie sprawy, jak tego wymaga konstytucja. Ustawodawca z jednej strony sformu\u0142owa\u0142 bowiem nakaz rozpoznania wszystkich spraw w ci\u0105gu roku, z drugiej strony jednak wprowadzi\u0142 rozwi\u0105zania uniemo\u017cliwiaj\u0105ce Trybuna\u0142owi wydanie orzeczenia w terminie roku z przyczyn od niego niezale\u017cnych. Okre\u015blanie maksymalnego terminu rozpoznania spraw przez Trybuna\u0142 mo\u017cliwe jest w przepisach konstytucyjnych, a jedynym \u2013 jak dot\u0105d \u2212 przypadkiem takiego rozwi\u0105zania jest art. 224 ust. 2 Konstytucji. W drodze ustawy nie mo\u017cna wprowadzi\u0107 wyj\u0105tku od tej zasady. Zakaz ustawowego okre\u015blania maksymalnego terminu rozpoznania spraw w ustawie wynika z zasady tr\u00f3jpodzia\u0142u w\u0142adzy, bowiem jest form\u0105 ingerencji w\u0142adzy ustawodawczej w istot\u0119 dzia\u0142ania w\u0142adzy s\u0105downiczej.\n\nOdnosz\u0105c si\u0119 do art. 84\u201387 ustawy o TK z 2016 r. Trybuna\u0142 Konstytucyjny stwierdzi\u0142, \u017ce przepisy te mia\u0142y na celu podwa\u017cenie czynno\u015bci procesowych dokonanych w sprawach wszcz\u0119tych i niezako\u0144czonych przed dniem wej\u015bciem w \u017cycie ustawy o TK z 2016 r. Ustawodawca nakazywa\u0142 bowiem Trybuna\u0142owi ponowne dokonanie formalnej oceny wniosk\u00f3w, wyznaczenie sk\u0142ad\u00f3w orzekaj\u0105cych i termin\u00f3w rozpraw, a tak\u017ce przeprowadzenie wst\u0119pnej kontroli skarg konstytucyjnych, kt\u00f3rym nie nadano biegu przed wej\u015bciem w \u017cycie ocenianej ustawy. Art. 84\u201387 ustawy o TK z 2016 r. prowadzi\u0142yby tym samym do niekonstytucyjnego doprecyzowania zasady dzia\u0142ania prawa nowego przyj\u0119tej w art. 83 ust. 1 ustawy o TK z 2016 r.\n\nZakwestionowane przepisy przej\u015bciowe, je\u017celi uwzgl\u0119dni\u0107 skal\u0119 zmian oraz kr\u00f3tk\u0105 vacatio legis, zosta\u0142y ukszta\u0142towane w spos\u00f3b niepozostawiaj\u0105cy Trybuna\u0142owi mo\u017cliwo\u015bci przystosowania si\u0119 do prawa nowego. Prowadzi\u0142yby one do niekorzystnej zmiany sytuacji procesowej wnioskodawc\u00f3w, o kt\u00f3rych mowa w art. 191 ust. 1 pkt 1\u20135 konstytucji, a w konsekwencji do podwa\u017cenia instytucji wniosku jako \u015brodka abstrakcyjnej kontroli norm. Wnioskodawcy, niezale\u017cnie od tego kiedy z\u0142o\u017cyli sw\u00f3j wniosek oraz bez wzgl\u0119du na to, czy zostali wezwani do uzupe\u0142nienia jego brak\u00f3w formalnych, zostali zobowi\u0105zani do dostosowania ich wniosk\u00f3w do nowych wymaga\u0144 procesowych. Wywi\u0105zanie si\u0119 z tego obowi\u0105zku pozostawa\u0142oby jednak bez znaczenia dla biegu sprawy, gdy\u017c termin podj\u0119cia post\u0119powania by\u0142 niezale\u017cny od terminu uzupe\u0142nienia wniosk\u00f3w. Obj\u0119cie wszystkich nierozpoznanych dot\u0105d wniosk\u00f3w w pierwszej kolejno\u015bci zawieszeniem, a nast\u0119pnie wymogiem rozpoznania ich wed\u0142ug kolejno\u015bci wp\u0142ywu, prowadzi\u0142oby do przewlek\u0142o\u015bci, a tym samym sta\u0142oby na przeszkodzie rozstrzyganiu niejednokrotnie donios\u0142ych \u2013 z perspektywy ustroju oraz ochrony wolno\u015bci i praw cz\u0142owieka \u2013 problem\u00f3w konstytucyjnych. Podobny skutek wywo\u0142a\u0142yby zakwestionowane przepisy przej\u015bciowe w sprawach inicjowanych skargami konstytucyjnymi, bo w zale\u017cno\u015bci od etapu rozpoznania konieczna by\u0142aby albo zmiana re\u017cimu prawnego i \u201edalszego procedowania\u201d wed\u0142ug prawa nowego albo powt\u00f3rzenie czynno\u015bci dokonanych na etapie wst\u0119pnego rozpoznania, je\u017celi przed wej\u015bciem w \u017cycie ustawy skardze nie nadano dalszego biegu.\n\n12. Trybuna\u0142 Konstytucyjny stwierdzi\u0142, \u017ce jego orzeczenia dotycz\u0105ce hierarchicznej zgodno\u015bci norm prawnych s\u0105 ostateczne bezwarunkowo. W obowi\u0105zuj\u0105cym porz\u0105dku konstytucyjnym nie ma mo\u017cliwo\u015bci kreowania procedur weryfikacji rozstrzygni\u0119\u0107 s\u0105du konstytucyjnego lub ich warunk\u00f3w formalnych.\n\nOstateczno\u015b\u0107 i powszechnie obowi\u0105zuj\u0105ca moc orzecze\u0144 powstaj\u0105 ju\u017c w momencie ich wydania, co nast\u0119puje z chwil\u0105 ich og\u0142oszenia na sali rozpraw. W\u00f3wczas potwierdzone lub wzruszone zostaje domniemanie konstytucyjno\u015bci zakwestionowanej regulacji prawnej, co wp\u0142ywa na praktyk\u0119 dalszego stosowania niekonstytucyjnych przepis\u00f3w. Utrata mocy obowi\u0105zuj\u0105cej przepis\u00f3w uznanych przez Trybuna\u0142 za niekonstytucyjne nast\u0119puje natomiast w dniu og\u0142oszenia wyroku Trybuna\u0142u w Dzienniku Ustaw, co w\u0142a\u015bciwy organ jest zobowi\u0105zany uczyni\u0107 \u201eniezw\u0142ocznie\u201d (por. art. 190 ust. 2 konstytucji).\n\nTrybuna\u0142 stwierdzi\u0142, \u017ce \u201eniezw\u0142oczno\u015b\u0107 og\u0142oszenia\u201d wyroku Trybuna\u0142u w dzienniku urz\u0119dowym nie mo\u017ce by\u0107 determinowana praktyk\u0105 funkcjonowania wydawcy Dziennika Ustaw. Ustrojodawca przewidzia\u0142 \u201eniezw\u0142oczno\u015b\u0107\u201d publikacji tylko w wypadku orzecze\u0144 Trybuna\u0142u, nie opatruj\u0105c tego obowi\u0105zku \u017cadnymi zastrze\u017ceniami lub warunkami. Wyrok Trybuna\u0142u musi by\u0107 zatem og\u0142oszony w najkr\u00f3tszym mo\u017cliwym w danych okoliczno\u015bciach faktycznych terminie, niezale\u017cnie od innych prac i obowi\u0105zk\u00f3w publikacyjnych spoczywaj\u0105cych na organie promulgacyjnym.\n\nOrgan og\u0142aszaj\u0105cy wyroki Trybuna\u0142u nie ponosi odpowiedzialno\u015bci za tre\u015b\u0107 publikowanego rozstrzygni\u0119cia i nie ma \u017cadnych kompetencji do ustalenia jego statusu prawnego. Odgrywa tylko rol\u0119 techniczn\u0105, co w dobie cyfrowego obiegu dokument\u00f3w de facto sprowadza si\u0119 do uruchomienia odpowiedniego programu komputerowego. Dlatego Trybuna\u0142 orzek\u0142, \u017ce art. 80 ust. 4 oraz art. 89 ustawy o TK z 2016 r. budz\u0105 powa\u017cne zastrze\u017cenia konstytucyjne.\n\nRozwi\u0105zanie zawarte w art. 80 ust. 4 ustawy o TK, przewiduj\u0105ce, \u017ce og\u0142oszenie orzeczenia Trybuna\u0142u jest uzale\u017cnione od \u201ewniosku\u201d Prezesa TK do Prezesa Rady Ministr\u00f3w, sugeruje, \u017ce samo przekazanie orzeczenia TK wydawcy dziennika urz\u0119dowego (bez wymaganego \u201ewniosku\u201d) nie przes\u0105dza jego publikacji. Og\u0142aszanie orzecze\u0144 TK na \u201ewniosek\u201d zak\u0142ada tak\u017ce, \u017ce pismo Prezesa TK mo\u017ce podlega\u0107 ocenie, a nawet by\u0107 przedmiotem proceduralnych kontrowersji (np. co do tego, czy spe\u0142nia kryteria formalne \u201ewniosku\u201d, czy ma nale\u017cyt\u0105 posta\u0107 b\u0105d\u017a tre\u015b\u0107). W obowi\u0105zuj\u0105cym stanie prawnym og\u0142aszanie orzecze\u0144 TK \u201ezarz\u0105dza Prezes Trybuna\u0142u Konstytucyjnego\u201d (art. 105 ust. 2 ustawy o TK z 2015 r.). Podobna regulacja obowi\u0105zywa\u0142a pod rz\u0105dami ustawy o TK z 1997 r. Formu\u0142y te dobrze oddaj\u0105 formalny charakter publikacji, kt\u00f3ra jest warunkiem koniecznym wej\u015bcia w \u017cycie orzeczenia, ale nie wp\u0142ywa na jego byt prawny. Unormowanie konstytucyjne wyklucza za\u015b swobod\u0119 organu administracji rz\u0105dowej i nie przewiduje dla wydawcy dziennika urz\u0119dowego zada\u0144 innych ni\u017c techniczne.\n\nDrugi z zaskar\u017conych przepis\u00f3w ustawy o TK z 2016 r. \u2013 art. 89 \u2013 zak\u0142ada podzia\u0142 orzecze\u0144 Trybuna\u0142u na te, kt\u00f3re maj\u0105 zosta\u0107 og\u0142oszone w dzienniku urz\u0119dowym, i te, kt\u00f3re og\u0142oszone nie b\u0119d\u0105. Ustawodawca przyzna\u0142 sobie zatem prawo wyboru orzecze\u0144 Trybuna\u0142u podlegaj\u0105cych publikacji, wyodr\u0119bniaj\u0105c je za pomoc\u0105 kryterium temporalnego (orzeczenia wydane przed 20 lipca 2016 r.) i kryterium przedmiotowego (orzeczenia dotycz\u0105ce akt\u00f3w normatywnych, kt\u00f3re nie utraci\u0142y mocy obowi\u0105zuj\u0105cej w dniu wej\u015bcia w \u017cycie ustawy o TK z 2016 r.). Istota problemu konstytucyjnego si\u0119ga jednak g\u0142\u0119biej i dotyczy nie tyle dopuszczalno\u015bci selekcji orzecze\u0144 Trybuna\u0142u przez Sejm, ile podstaw ingerencji w konstytucyjny system publikacji orzecze\u0144 TK. Ustawodawca nie jest w\u0142adny ocenia\u0107, kt\u00f3re orzeczenia s\u0105du konstytucyjnego mog\u0105 by\u0107 publikowane, a kt\u00f3re na publikacj\u0119 nie zas\u0142uguj\u0105. Zagadnienia te w og\u00f3le nie s\u0105 materi\u0105 ustawow\u0105 o czym przes\u0105dza art. 190 ust. 2 Konstytucji.\n\nNa gruncie art. 89 ustawy o TK z 2016 r. nale\u017ca\u0142o r\u00f3wnie\u017c odnotowa\u0107 stygmatyzuj\u0105ce stwierdzenie o rozstrzygni\u0119ciach Trybuna\u0142u wydanych \u201ez naruszeniem przepis\u00f3w ustawy\u201d o TK z 2015 r. Wyra\u017cone zosta\u0142o ono nie tylko poza granicami ustrojowych kompetencji w\u0142adzy ustawodawczej, ale tak\u017ce sformu\u0142owane bez jakichkolwiek podstaw faktycznych i merytorycznych, a przy tym wsparte na go\u0142os\u0142ownych przes\u0142ankach i niezas\u0142uguj\u0105cych na ochron\u0119 pobudkach. Wkroczenie w\u0142adzy ustawodawczej w sfer\u0119 w\u0142adzy s\u0105dzenia, b\u0119d\u0105ce przejawem swoistego wymiaru sprawiedliwo\u015bci wobec s\u0119dzi\u00f3w konstytucyjnych wydaj\u0105cych wyroki w imieniu Rzeczypospolitej nie daje si\u0119 pogodzi\u0107 ze standardami pa\u0144stwa prawnego i \u2212 do tej pory \u2212 obce by\u0142o kr\u0119gowi kultury prawnej, do kt\u00f3rego nale\u017cy Rzeczpospolita Polska. Ustawodawca zrecenzowa\u0142 konkretne wyroki Trybuna\u0142u Konstytucyjnego, podj\u0119te przez konkretnych s\u0119dzi\u00f3w TK w odniesieniu do konkretnych spraw i przypisa\u0142 s\u0119dziom TK dzia\u0142anie niezgodne z prawem, usprawiedliwiaj\u0105c w ten spos\u00f3b wcze\u015bniejsz\u0105 odmow\u0119 publikacji wyrok\u00f3w TK przez organ wydaj\u0105cy dziennik urz\u0119dowy, i przydaj\u0105c samej czynno\u015bci og\u0142oszenia orzeczenia Trybuna\u0142u charakter wyj\u0105tku uzale\u017cnionego od woli w\u0142adzy ustawodawczej. Jakkolwiek z konstytucyjnego punktu widzenia ocena zawarta w art. 89 ustawy o TK z 2016 r. nie mo\u017ce mie\u0107 i nie ma \u017cadnego waloru prawnego, sama taka praktyka narusza zasad\u0119 podzia\u0142u i r\u00f3wnowa\u017cenia w\u0142adz, obowi\u0105zek wsp\u00f3\u0142pracy i wsp\u00f3\u0142dzia\u0142ania mi\u0119dzy konstytucyjnymi organami w\u0142adzy publicznej, niezale\u017cno\u015b\u0107 s\u0105d\u00f3w i trybuna\u0142\u00f3w oraz wszystkie te normy i zasady, kt\u00f3re konstytuuj\u0105 elementarne podstawy ustroju pa\u0144stwa.\n\n13. Zgodnie z zakwestionowanym art. 90 ustawy o TK z 2016 r.: \u201eS\u0119dzi\u00f3w Trybuna\u0142u, kt\u00f3rzy z\u0142o\u017cyli \u015blubowanie wobec Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej, a do dnia wej\u015bcia w \u017cycie niniejszej ustawy nie podj\u0119li obowi\u0105zk\u00f3w s\u0119dziego, z dniem jej wej\u015bcia w \u017cycie prezes Trybuna\u0142u w\u0142\u0105cza do sk\u0142ad\u00f3w orzekaj\u0105cych i przydziela im sprawy\u201d.\n\nPrzepis ten ma charakter dostosowuj\u0105cy, kt\u00f3rego zakres zastosowania zosta\u0142 ograniczony do sytuacji faktycznej istniej\u0105cej w dniu og\u0142oszenia ustawy. Zamys\u0142em ustawodawcy by\u0142o unormowanie statusu prawnego konkretnych s\u0119dzi\u00f3w TK, kt\u00f3rzy zostali wybrani cz\u0119\u015bciowo przez Sejm VII kadencji, cz\u0119\u015bciowo za\u015b przez Sejm VIII kadencji. Od tej ostatniej grupy s\u0119dzi\u00f3w TK Prezydent odebra\u0142 \u015blubowanie.\n\nTrybuna\u0142 stwierdzi\u0142, \u017ce \u2013 po pierwsze \u2013 czynno\u015bci prawne zmierzaj\u0105ce do wyboru s\u0119dziego przez Sejm oraz z\u0142o\u017cenia przez s\u0119dziego TK \u015blubowania wobec Prezydenta s\u0105 aktami stosowania prawa, dokonywanymi zawsze w odniesieniu do konkretnych kandydat\u00f3w oraz konkretnych s\u0119dzi\u00f3w TK. Ustawodawca nie mo\u017ce tych czynno\u015bci zast\u0105pi\u0107 aktem o charakterze generalnym i abstrakcyjnym, z jednej strony \u2013 niejako przejmuj\u0105c obowi\u0105zki Prezesa TK, z drugiej za\u015b \u2013 rozstrzygaj\u0105c, kt\u00f3re akty wyboru s\u0119dziego TK dokonane w przesz\u0142o\u015bci przez Sejm VII i Sejm VIII kadencji by\u0142y wa\u017cne.\n\nPo drugie, Trybuna\u0142 wypowiedzia\u0142 si\u0119 ostatecznie na temat podstaw prawnych wyboru s\u0119dzi\u00f3w TK na miejsca zwolnione w 2015 r. i stanowisko to uznaje za aktualne (zob. wyroki w sprawach K 34/15, K 35/15 i K 47/15 oraz postanowienie w sprawie U 8/15). W wyroku w sprawie K 34/15, Trybuna\u0142 uzna\u0142, \u017ce podstawa prawna wyboru trzech s\u0119dzi\u00f3w TK, kt\u00f3rych kadencja up\u0142ywa\u0142a 6 listopada 2015 r. by\u0142a zgodna z konstytucj\u0105, za\u015b uchwa\u0142y Sejmu z 25 listopada 2015 r. (w sprawie stwierdzenia braku mocy prawnej uchwa\u0142 Sejmu z 8 pa\u017adziernika 2015 r. dotycz\u0105cych wyboru s\u0119dzi\u00f3w Trybuna\u0142u przez Sejm VII kadencji \u2013 zob. M. P. poz. 1131, 1132, 1133, 1134, 1135) nie odnosi\u0142y si\u0119 do procesu wyboru s\u0119dziego TK i mia\u0142y cechy cz\u0119\u015bciowo o\u015bwiadczenia, cz\u0119\u015bciowo za\u015b niewi\u0105\u017c\u0105cej prawnie rezolucji. W tej sytuacji wyb\u00f3r nowych s\u0119dzi\u00f3w TK przez Sejm VIII kadencji zosta\u0142 dokonany cz\u0119\u015bciowo na miejsca, kt\u00f3re nie wakowa\u0142y. W tych warunkach wykonanie przez Prezesa TK dyrektyw zawartych w art. 90 ustawy o TK z 2016 r. by\u0142oby zatem sprzeczne z wyrokami Trybuna\u0142u, kt\u00f3re maj\u0105 moc powszechnie obowi\u0105zuj\u0105c\u0105 i wi\u0105\u017c\u0105 wszystkie organy pa\u0144stwa, w tym s\u0105d konstytucyjny oraz jego Prezesa.\n\n14. Trybuna\u0142 Konstytucyjny orzeka\u0142 w okresie vacatio legis ustawy o TK z 2016 r. Wraz z publicznym og\u0142oszeniem tego wyroku \u2013 przepisy uznane za niezgodne z konstytucj\u0105 utraci\u0142y przymiot domniemania konstytucyjno\u015bci. Sta\u0142o si\u0119 to zanim jeszcze ustawa o TK z 2016 r. wesz\u0142a w \u017cycie i zacz\u0119\u0142a wywo\u0142ywa\u0107 skutki prawne. Wszystkie organy pa\u0144stwa, w tym Trybuna\u0142, maj\u0105 obowi\u0105zek powstrzymania si\u0119 od stosowania niekonstytucyjnych regulacji ustawy o TK z 2016 r. Trybuna\u0142 z urz\u0119du jest zobowi\u0105zany do respektowania swoich wyrok\u00f3w jako ostatecznych i maj\u0105cych moc powszechnie obowi\u0105zuj\u0105c\u0105.\n\nPrzewodnicz\u0105cym sk\u0142adu orzekaj\u0105cego by\u0142 prezes TK Andrzej Rzepli\u0144ski, I s\u0119dzi\u0105-sprawozdawca by\u0142 s\u0119dzia TK Andrzej Wr\u00f3bel, II s\u0119dzi\u0105-sprawozdawc\u0105 by\u0142 s\u0119dzia TK Piotr Tuleja."}
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-{"text": "Google has begun experimenting with encrypting Google Drive files, a privacy-protective move that could curb attempts by the U.S. and other governments to gain access to users' stored files.\n\nTwo sources told CNET that the Mountain View, Calif.-based company is actively testing encryption to armor files on its cloud-based file storage and synchronization service. One source who is familiar with the project said a small percentage of Google Drive files is currently encrypted.\n\nThe move could differentiate Google from other Silicon Valley companies that have been the subject of ongoing scrutiny after classified National Security Agency slides revealed the existence of government computer software named PRISM. The utility collates data that the companies are required to provide under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act -- unless, crucially, it's encrypted and the government doesn't possess the key.\n\n\"Mechanisms like this could give people more confidence and allow them to start backing up potentially their whole device,\" said Seth Schoen, senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco.\n\nMajor Web companies routinely use encryption, such as HTTPS, to protect the confidentiality of users' communications while they're being transmitted. But it's less common to see files encrypted while stored in the cloud, in part because of the additional computing expense and complexity and the difficulties in indexing and searching encrypted data.\n\nGoogle previously had said that user files were transmitted in encrypted form, but stored in its data centers in an unencrypted manner, as detailed in an April 2012 post on a Google product forum from a community manager.\n\nJay Nancarrow, a Google spokesman, declined to answer questions about Google Drive encryption.\n\nSecure encryption of users' private files means that Google would not be able to divulge the contents of stored communications even if NSA submitted a legal order under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or if police obtained a search warrant for domestic law enforcement purposes.\n\nGetty Images\n\nBy contrast, secret NSA documents leaked by Edward Snowden show that Microsoft worked with NSA to \"circumvent the company's own encryption\" as part of PRISM, according to a report last week in the Guardian.\n\nMicrosoft General Counsel Brad Smith said yesterday that there are \"significant inaccuracies\" in last week's news reports. He added in a blog post, referring to Outlook.com: \"When we are legally obligated to comply with demands, we pull the specified content from our servers where it sits in an unencrypted state, and then we provide it to the government agency.\"\n\nSome smaller companies already provide encrypted cloud storage, a concept that is sometimes called \"host-proof hosting.\" SpiderOak says its software, available for Windows, OS X, Linux, iOS, Android, and Nokia N900 platforms, uses \"zero knowledge\" encryption techniques that allow it to store data that is \"readable to you alone.\" SpiderOak also offers a Web access option because of \"overwhelming customer demand,\" but the company suggests the client application is more secure.\n\nWuala is an application for Windows, OS X, Linux, iOS, and Android that also uses client-side encryption. Zurich-based LaCie AG created the application.\n\n\"LaCie employees have very limited access to your data,\" the company says. \"They can only see how many files you have stored and how much storage space they occupy.\"\n\nWhile details about Google's experiments with Drive encryption were not immediately available, the company may be taking a different approach by performing the encoding and decoding on its servers.\n\nGetty Images\n\nIf that's the case, a government agency serving a search warrant or subpoena on Google would be unable to obtain the unencrypted plain text of customer files. But the government might be able to convince a judge to grant a wiretap order, forcing Google to intercept and divulge the user's login information the next time the user types it in. Vancouver-based Hush Communications was required to take a similar step in 2007 -- though that was under Canadian law, not that of the United States.\n\nWhether the government could obtain a user's login information with a wiretap order is an \"unanswered legal question\" in the United States, says Jennifer Granick, director of civil liberties at Stanford University's Center for Internet and Society. \"I think the answer would depend in part on whether decryption could be called a current capability of the provider -- or requires reengineering of the service.\"\n\nGoogle has litigated aggressively in the past to protect users' privacy. CNET disclosed in May that the company is fighting the Justice Department over secret national security letter requests in two different federal courts. It fought the government over a subpoena for search logs and has an active case before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. It also was the first major company to adopt \"perfect forward secrecy\" for Web encryption, a technology that protects the confidentiality of user communications even if a government is eavesdropping on the network.\n\nAlan Butler, appellate advocacy counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, says a user typing in a passphrase might \"be considered an electronic communication and subject to interception\" under federal surveillance law.\n\nCNET reported in an article last Friday that the U.S. government has used the threat of installing custom eavesdropping hardware on companies' networks to compel cooperation in aiding surveillance demands. The article disclosed that Verizon Business was required to install surveillance gear that the government had purchased and provided.\n\nDisclosure: Writer Declan McCullagh is married to a Google employee not involved with Google Drive."}
-{"text": "Trying to figure out the whole parenting thing right now? Join the club! And join us for our subscriber-only virtual event. Not a subscriber? Join at registration!\n\nSen. John McCain was asked if Viagra should be covered by health insurance, and the Bush Administration is making an all out attack on access to birth control, but at least one \"sexual health product\" has been \u2014 shockingly \u2014 determined to be a fraud.\n\nSteve Warshak, founder of Berkeley Premium Neutraceuticals, was\n\nconvicted earlier this year on 93 counts of conspiracy, fraud and money\n\nlaundering. Federal prosecutors said the company bilked customers out\n\nof $100 million through deceptive ads, manipulated credit-card\n\ntransactions and refusal to accept returns or cancel orders.\n\n\u201cThis is a case about greed,\u201d U.S. District Judge Arthur Spiegel\n\nsaid. \u201cSteven Warshak preyed on perceived sexual inadequacies of\n\ncustomers.\u201d\n\nWarshak said: \u201cI do feel deep remorse and would like to apologize to\n\nany customer who ever had a bad experience with my company.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Asked if the presence of Russian soldiers had been decisive, Mr Sapozhnikov replied: \u201cOf course. Russian generals, Russian colonels. They decided everything.\u201d The Russian soldiers from Buryatiya had gone willingly to fight in Ukraine, he said. \u201cThey said that they knew exactly where they were being sent, but officially it was, 'We are going on exercises.'\u201d"}
-{"text": "John Bradshaw, Talk Show Host and Self-Help Icon, Dies at 82\n\nThe Houston native and Daytime Emmy nominee inspired millions to explore their \"inner child.\"\n\nJohn Bradshaw, a best-selling self-help author, motivational speaker and Emmy-nominated television personality, died on Sunday from heart failure in Houston, his publicist said. He was 82.\n\nAfter a personal struggle with drugs and alcohol, Bradshaw rose to prominence in the 1970s and '80s as the host of the nationally syndicated PBS series Bradshaw on the Family. In 1991, he was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for outstanding talk show host for his work on Bradshaw on Homecoming.\n\nBradshaw, widely credited with popularizing the term \"inner child,\" went on to appear on more than 800 television and radio shows. Oprah Winfrey once introduced him to her viewers as \"the Pied Piper leading people in their search for healthy relationships,\" and he served as an unofficial advisor to Steven Spielberg on the 1991 film Hook.\n\nA Houston native, Bradshaw studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood for more than nine years at a Basilian seminary but left just days before being ordained. He went on to author seven books that sold more than 12.5 million copies and were published in 42 languages.\n\nSurvivors include his wife Karen, children John and Ariel and stepchildren Brad and Brenda."}
-{"text": "For only the third time in Broncos history, two quarterbacks drafted by the team will go head to head as starters Monday night.\n\nBrock Osweiler, the Broncos\u2019 former quarterback of the future who was drafted in 2012, will return to Denver as a Houston Texan and face his former fellow backup, Trevor Siemian, a seventh-round pick in 2015 who was given the keys to the Broncos\u2019 offense after Osweiler\u2019s defection during the offseason.\n\nThe previous two times quarterbacks drafted by the Broncos met in a Denver game, the Broncos were victorious; Jay Cutler defeated Brian Griese and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2008, and Osweiler defeated Cutler and the Chicago Bears in 2015. The hope for Siemian is that he can follow suit. But the quarterback reunion isn\u2019t the focus for his week.\n\nMore than two weeks removed from a sprain to his left shoulder that sidelined him for the Broncos\u2019 loss to Atlanta on Oct. 9 and forced him to play through soreness in a subsequent loss at San Diego four days later, Siemian said Thursday he continues to improve.\n\n\u201cI feel good,\u201d Siemian said. \u201cI feel like I made some strides over the last couple of days. Good to get some time off, too. Getting better every day.\u201d\n\nThe visible bruising and much of his pain has subsided and he was a full participant in practice Thursday.\n\n\u201cI think he\u2019s been much better,\u201d coach Gary Kubiak said. \u201cObviously last week when he played in the game he was still somewhat sore. To me, watching him turn a few balls loose, he didn\u2019t rotate the way he normally does, but he\u2019s had some good time on his hands. It\u2019s been a week now since that game, so you can see a difference. We knew it was going to take a little time for him to get back to himself. Related Articles October 20, 2016 Why Texans QB Brock Osweiler left Denver and skipped the Broncos\u2019 offseason celebrations\n\nOctober 20, 2016 Brock Osweiler: \u201cI don\u2019t feel like a marked man.\u201d But Broncos \u201cwant to kill him\u201d\n\nOctober 19, 2016 Broncos look to avoid 3-game slide in Brock Osweiler\u2019s return to Denver\n\nOctober 18, 2016 Against Brock Osweiler, Broncos\u2019 defense eager for interceptions, victory\n\nOctober 18, 2016 Broncos Mailbag: Trevor Siemian, Paxton Lynch or someone else (like Tony Romo)?\n\nIn his first game back, at San Diego, Siemian attempted 50 passes (compared to Philip Rivers\u2019 29), as the Broncos struggled to gain yards on the ground and got off to a slow start. The Broncos\u2019 offense ran only five plays by the time the Chargers had built a 10-0 lead in the second quarter.\n\nKubiak said he believes Monday\u2019s game against Houston will present the toughest defensive challenge the Broncos have faced this season. The Texans rank No. 2 in the NFL against the pass (189.3 net yards allowed per game), but 29th against the run (126.3 yards). They also have forced opponents to make 40 negative plays this season, tied for seventh.\n\nHaving a healthier quarterback provides obvious benefits. Correcting the mistakes around him, though, remains a priority.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve been making people do a lot of negative stuff,\u201d Kubiak said. \u201cSo we got to be on top of our stuff and make sure we protect our quarterback.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Nevada Election Reform\n\nPlease go to www.nevadansforelectionreform.blogspot.com"}
-{"text": "A year and a half ago a small team at Riot Games, the makers of League of Legends, were set to release a board game. But one fateful meeting with an outside consultant took the project in a new direction. In the end, it would require more than double the amount of work to complete the project, a tabletop game called Mechs vs. Minions.\n\nBut producer Chris Cantrell says that the final product, which goes on sale Oct. 13, is better for the effort.\n\n\"It sounds ridiculous to say that it\u2019s a gift for players of League of Legends,\" Cantrell said sheepishly by video conference last week. \"Especially when it\u2019s $75. That\u2019s a lot of money. But board gaming is a hobby that we love, and I think it\u2019s a space that we\u2019re excited about.\n\n\"This is a project we were inspired by.\"\n\nA critical eye\n\nTo say that Cantrell is an avid board gamer is an understatement. With more than 1,200 tabletop games in his personal library, it might be better to call him a collector. He has a great deal of respect for the industry, one which he says has been exploding with new and creative ideas over the past decade. The last thing he and his team wanted to do was embarrass Riot Games with an inferior product.\n\n\"For me, at least personally, I get really wary around board games that have a strong IP attached to them,\" Cantrell said. \"It kind of feels like the company is cashing in on their intellectual property, trying to make a quick buck. I even had people internally telling me at points that we should just do League of Legends Monopoly, and I was like well \u2026 We won\u2019t be doing that.\"\n\nSo in early 2015, just before the original version of Mechs vs. Minions was about to head off to production, Cantrell and his team called in some outside help to give it one final pass.\n\nRiot paid to fly out The Dice Tower\u2019s Tom Vasal and Shut Up & Sit Down\u2019s Quintin Smith out to their headquarters. Each of the game critics were compensated for a private, intensive playtest and consultation.\n\n\"We had Tom come out first,\" Cantrell said. \"At the end he said, \u2018I don\u2019t know why you\u2019re worried. I think you\u2019ve got a great game!\u2019 We were doing high-fives. And I remember somebody even asking, \u2018Well, do we still even want Quintin to come out?\u2019 But he already had his flight, so we might as well.\n\n\"Quintin came and he played it, and he said, \u2018I\u2019ll be honest. I loved it. ... But frankly I don\u2019t think I\u2019d ever play it again.\u2019\" Smith declined to be interviewed for this article.\n\nCantrell says that during the second day of his visit, Smith's input helped to change the creative direction for the entire game. He was the one who recommended modular game boards so that each session could be different, and brought up the idea of an ongoing campaign that would build a story arc over time.\n\n\"And as he\u2019s talking about it, I\u2019m thinking, \u2018Man. He\u2019s right. That does sound like a much better game than the game we made.\u2019 Then the producer in me knew that now we basically had to design 10 different board games. And that\u2019s a lot more work.\"\n\nRiot\u2019s Legacy\n\nIn the fiction of Mechs vs. Minions, Runeterra\u2019s diminutive, gnome-like Yordles \u2014 Corki, Tristana, Heimerdinger and Ziggs \u2014 are all learning to ride and fight on mechs. But, during their first training exercise, something goes wrong and LoL\u2019s minions begin to attack.\n\nIn order to fight them off, players will need to draft cards from a common deck to create a string of orders along their sideboard. Those orders will tell each hero\u2019s mech how to move and fight. Cantrell says the game is reminiscent of the classic Robo Rally, which uses a similar card-based action system. In Mechs vs. Minions, those cards form what\u2019s called a command line and any damage a mech takes can suppress or alter certain lines of that code.\n\nThe tension of the game, Cantrell said, comes in trying to make the best of what will nearly always be a chaotic situation.\n\n\"We have other robotic characters in League who are actually robots, like Blitzcrank or Orianna. But due to how you take damage in Mechs vs. Minions, you would run into walls and do these really ridiculous and silly things. If you\u2019re playing a sentient computer and that\u2019s happening it just doesn\u2019t feel right. The fantasy isn\u2019t there, but it also feels frustrating.\n\n\"If you have all these silly little Yordles, riding on mechs that they just discovered, the idea that they\u2019re running into walls and pushing their friends out of the way on accident all kind of starts making sense.\"\n\nPolygon was able to get a look at a production copy of Mechs vs. Minions during our video conference with Cantrell, and from what we can see the game excels at presentation.\n\nOut of the box there are four pre-painted hero miniatures, one for each Yordle. In fit and finish, they resemble the same quality miniatures you might expect from the Skylanders series of toys-to-life games. There are also 100 plastic minion enemies, a large bomb-like power source and a custom sand timer. Each of the campaign\u2019s 10 missions comes sealed inside its own envelope, and before each game players break the seal to introduce new objectives, new rules and new command line cards.\n\nCantrell says his team took their cues from Rob Daviau\u2019s Legacy series of games in the way it presents information to players.\n\n\"I think that the Legacy mechanic is probably the best innovation in board games in the last five to ten years,\" Cantrell said. And that\u2019s saying a lot, because it\u2019s been a great five or ten years. I remember when we were first starting working on the project and I was watching a presentation Daviau did on YouTube. There was this moment when he talked about skin conductivity tests being done over at MIT on people who were playing board games. They wanted to find out where the excitement was.\n\n\"Turns out, the excitement was at its absolute highest as people were unboxing the game. And then people go to learn the rules and that\u2019s kind of where fun goes to die. At the time Pandemic: Legacy hadn\u2019t even come out yet, but that really resonated with me as a player.\"\n\nCantrell said that Riot doesn\u2019t ask players to destroy cards or write on the game board like Daviau\u2019s Legacy series does, it does have mysteries packed away inside the box. The biggest one is inside a large, sealed container \u2014 much larger than the pre-painted hero figures already in the game box \u2014 that seems to have something inside that\u2019s trying to cut and slash its way out.\n\nCantrell said he\u2019s sure that spoilers will leak out soon enough, but he hopes players will keep what\u2019s inside that box a secret until the game tells them it\u2019s okay to open it up at the table.\n\n\"It\u2019s easily the most expensive piece in the game,\" Cantrell said. \"And there was a very compelling argument that we should use that as part of our marketing push, but frankly it was less about selling units and more about preserving this magical experience for players.\"\n\nFeast or famine\n\nA physical game product breaks new ground for Riot Games, and Cantrell assures us that at least for now it\u2019s a one-off project. But that didn\u2019t make planning for the production and sale of Mechs vs. Minions any less of a critical task for his team.\n\nFirst, they partnered with Panda Games, the same manufacturers who manufactured the Plaid Hat Games adaptation of BioShock Infinite. Cantrell says Panda has a hand in many successful Kickstarters, and their website boasts a slate of critical darlings such as the Mice and Mystics series, Xia: Legends of a Drift System and Robinson Crusoe.\n\n\"The smarter way to do it, if I\u2019m being really honest, is we probably would have reached out to someone like Fantasy Flight Games,\" Cantrell said. \"I\u2019m sure they would have done an amazing job. But as we dug into it, we wanted to do it all in house.\"\n\nIn order to dramatically improve the value for fans, with features like wax seals, in-fiction envelopes and painted miniatures, they also had to forgo the tabletop industry\u2019s traditional distribution model. Rather than Amazon or local game stores, Mechs vs. Minions will only be available through Riot\u2019s dedicated website.\n\nThe first printing is 30,000 copies \u2014 a lot for a board game, but not much compared to LoL\u2019s global audience.\n\n\"If we just did all of the distribution ourselves \u2014 which, trust me wasn\u2019t the easy route to go \u2014 we could pass all that savings on to players and just provide a higher quality experience. And, ideally, move some of our players over into the tabletop hobby.\n\n\"We are really fortunate here at Riot to have a moderately-sized player base with our video game. My thinking was if we could introduce this new hobby to some of them, they would fall in love with it the way that we did.\"\n\nThe first printing is of 30,000 English language copies which, for a board game, is a rather large initial run, especially for a game with a premium price point. But for a video game franchise with 100 million players monthly, it\u2019s possible that these board games will sell out very quickly. If there\u2019s enough demand, there\u2019s always a chance Riot will make more English copies available, or even pay to have it translated into other languages.\n\n\"I guess we\u2019ll kind of find out soon when the embargo lifts and the reviews start coming out,\" Cantrell said. \"What we aspire to do is make kind of a love letter to players in the board game industry of something that we really believe in.\"\n\nPolygon will have our own thoughts on the final version of Mechs vs. Minions soon."}
-{"text": "Some things take time to come into fruition. The time needs to be right. The feeling needs to be right. For Boston math rock band Sharpest, the right time was 2019. The trio have been sitting on their EP Kaizen since 2013. Adulthood was getting in the way. Jobs. Families. Other assorted burdens.\n\nIt was a shame, really. Sharpest\u2019s sound cuts to the very fiber of what math rock is: unpredictable, impetuous, mercurial, vivacious. All familiarities are out the window, melodies are deliberately skinned and tangled, rhythms are truncated, song structures are warped. From their get-go in 2009, the trio have picked at the notions of rock music and deliberately warped them.\n\nThe proof is in the pudding with Kaizen. It\u2019s a gentle but very imaginative musical ride, with intricate guitar phrases and odd-ball drum thumping. If you like poignant, low-to-the-ground math rock greats like Dilute and Pretend, then Kaizen may just be your record for 2019.\n\nKaizen is out on June 4th, but don\u2019t let that stop you from making them spicy pre-orders. Head over to the Sharpest Bandcamp page"}
-{"text": "This article appears in the Fall 2016 issue of The American Prospect magazine. Subscribe here.\n\nAround the time that the Republicans came to Cleveland for their July national convention, a group of Bernie Sanders supporters on the city's west side resolved to continue organizing. \"When we realized Bernie would fall short,\" says Steve Holecko, a retired teacher who was a mainstay of the campaign's office, \"we decided to stay together. \u2026 Cuyahoga County didn't have an organization with the word 'progressive' in it, so we formed the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus.\"\n\nFor those who want to see what Sanders termed a revolution continue as an ongoing political force, the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus (CCPC) is doing many things right. It has held a number of events on Cleveland's east side, the heavily African American part of town, working with the area's state senator, Sanders supporter Nina Turner, to develop a common civic agenda. Frustrated by the Cleveland City Council's opposition to raising the minimum wage to $15, the group is working with other organizations to recruit council candidates for next year's city election, and planning training sessions to equip recruits with political skills. One of CCPC's partner organizations is the Northshore Labor Federation-that is, the Cleveland AFL-CIO. \"We want to be an electoral force in the Cleveland area,\" says Holecko.\n\nOne of the complications is the lukewarm (and for some, downright cold) view of Hillary Clinton many Sanders militants have. Cleveland's CCPC, divided on this question, is not coordinating with the Clinton campaign in this critical swing state, despite the fact that by mid-September, Donald Trump was running ahead of Clinton in Ohio polling. To be sure, the group, which mobilized more than a thousand volunteers for the primary, is involved in voter registration efforts in tandem with the Democratic Party, and Holecko anticipates that most of the council candidates it supports next year are likely to be Democrats.\n\nBut the only way to keep Cleveland's Bernie cadres together between now and November, Holecko is convinced, is by steering clear of Clinton (and, for that matter, of Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein). The vast majority of Sanders supporters, according to every poll, support Clinton, but when it comes to Cleveland's hardcore volunteers, Holecko says, \"one-third are 'Bernie or Bust.' We've kept together so far by saying this year we'll focus on issues and registration.\"\n\nTom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images\n\nThe experience of the west-side Sanderistas may be emblematic of the Sanders movement as a whole-portending a future for the American left that could be either promising or self-subverting. The sheer number of people, particularly millennials, who responded to Sanders's critique of current American capitalism suggests that today's young people could become a powerful generational force pushing the nation leftward, much as the young people of the 1930s and 1960s did well into their maturity.\n\nWhether this is the destiny with which they'll fully rendezvous, however, depends heavily on whether the ongoing institutions of the Sanders Left-unions, community-organizing groups, electoral formations such as the Working Families Party, and the Sanders campaign's own creation, Our Revolution-can keep mobilizing their own ranks and build strong ties to other progressive constituencies. But that task would likely be immeasurably more difficult if the anti-Clinton sentiment of some Sanders supporters and institutions contributes to the election of Donald Trump.\n\nYour donation keeps this site free and open for all to read. Give what you can... SUPPORT THE PROSPECT\n\nIt's far too early to predict which of these alternative futures Sanders World will create, though time is fast running out for the 2016 election. A number of its leaders-notably Sanders himself-emphatically lay out the catastrophic consequences for both the nation and the left should a large slice of the left be complicit in a Trump victory. Others disagree, though as the polls tightened in mid-September some were beginning to hedge their non-endorsement stances. While many of the national organizations that backed Sanders-the Working Families Party, the Communication Workers of America, People's Action, MoveOn.org-have endorsed Clinton, others, like the digital group People for Bernie (which will soon change its name) and National Nurses United, have declined to do so, though neither are they backing Stein. As the following preliminary survey should indicate, whether the Sanders forces can realize their potential is as yet far from clear.\n\nNO ONE LOOKING AT THE VOTES Sanders amassed during the Democratic primaries can dismiss the potential leftward pressure that his supporters could exert on the nation's discourse and policy-not least because so much of his support came from millennials, who were the heart and sinew of his campaign.\n\nSanders won 71 percent of primary voters under the age of 30; as one Harvard University survey concluded, it wasn't a stretch to speak of Generation Sanders in American politics.\n\nOf all the nation's progressive constituencies, however, it's millennials among whom Clinton has been polling weakest (not that they're voting for Donald Trump). They are also the progressives with the least affinity for traditional organizational culture-though as both Black Lives Matter and the Dreamers make clear, that hasn't been an obstacle to forming organizational cultures of their own.\n\nPublic opinion surveys in the years leading up to the 2016 campaign, and any examination of the economic lives of the young, pointed to their potential as a progressive force. Weighed down by student debt and an economy that disproportionately created non-standard, low-paying jobs, a higher percentage of people in their 20s and 30s were still living with their parents, one Stanford study concluded, than at any time since 1940. Other polls registered their substantial disenchantment not just with the economy but the economic balance of power; in several polls, millennials responded more positively to socialism than to capitalism.\n\nYet while young people in both the 1930s and 1960s had formed or flocked to groups and movements that embodied their distinctive brands of radicalism and reform, the young people who turned out in such high numbers for Sanders in 2016 had not formed a broad movement of their own. That was one reason why the political world was so stunned by their level of Sanders support. The failure of Occupy Wall Street to build any organizations save a few tiny study and agitation groups, even as the polling showed so many millennials continuing to support its perspectives, was emblematic of Generation Sanders's approach to organized politics-until the Sanders campaign came along.\n\nFor hundreds of thousands of the young, then, that campaign marked their first immersion into the actual practice of politics. Two youth organizations profited directly from this immersion by seeing boomlets in their membership: the Young Democratic Socialists and Young Progressives Demanding Action. Both groups have declined to endorse Clinton, even though mid-September polling showed Clinton's lead over Trump dwindling particularly among millennials, many of whom are moving away from the former secretary of state to Stein and Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. (As a tax-deductible organization, the Young Democratic Socialists don't formally endorse, but their stand-offish position also reflects the stance of their parent organization, the Democratic Socialists of America.)\n\nYour donation keeps this site free and open for all to read. Give what you can... SUPPORT THE PROSPECT\n\nPi.1415926535/Wikimedia Commons\n\nTo what degree Clinton's weakness among young voters is the result of those voters' leftism-more precisely, in this instance, their infantile leftism-and to what degree it reflects their susceptibility to the media- and GOP-driven narrative that she's as or more devious than Trump, we cannot say. At minimum, these groups could work on turning young voters away not just from Trump but from Johnson, to whom the polls show they're flocking in far greater numbers than to Stein. The positions of both Trump and Johnson on environmental issues alone-the former denies the existence of global warming, the latter would abolish environmental regulations-should suffice to bring many young voters into Clinton's camp. The ongoing neutrality of these and other such groups in November's election, on the other hand, would surely undermine their growth and credibility-and pose larger threats to democracy itself-should Trump prevail.\n\nTHE ORGANIZATION BEST POSITIONED to keep activating Sanders campaign workers was the one that emerged most directly from that campaign.\n\nTrue to his socialist heritage, Sanders had made sure to tell his backers in every stump speech he delivered that in joining his cause, they were only beginning their participation in a long-term effort to revolutionize the relationships of power. Just as Sanders's hero, five-time Socialist Party presidential standard-bearer Eugene V. Debs, had asked his supporters not just to vote Socialist but to join the party, so Sanders pledged to establish some permanent entity through which the faithful could roll the revolution on.\n\nThis August, Sanders unveiled that entity-Our Revolution. The organization began life with one asset of a size and scope no other left or center-left group active in electoral politics could match: access to the list of Sanders campaign donors, volunteers, and supporters, which may include as many as five million names. It also began life with one daunting challenge: No presidential campaign-indeed, hardly any American political campaign-had ever created in its aftermath an ongoing organization that had a sustained, significant effect on politics.\n\nThe organization created in the wake of Barack Obama's historic 2008 victory, Obama for America, never really proposed actions that engaged the imagination or involvement of the millions of activists who'd campaigned for him. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition was tied too closely to the political needs of its founder-the shoals on which other such organizations had run aground. Were this not challenge enough,\n\nSanders and his comrades understood they had to build a political organization that holds and renews the enthusiasm of young people for battles less world-historic than a presidential contest.\n\nHaving fired up the better part of a generation, they readily admit that they don't have a magic formula to keep that fire burning.\n\nThough the Sanders list of supporters alone is enough to make Our Revolution a potential powerhouse in American politics, it is still very much feeling its way. Its challenges were compounded during its birth pangs when a number of young staffers, in a widely publicized move, left the group to protest some of its early decisions-in particular, to make Jeff Weaver, Sanders's campaign manager and longtime aide, the organization's president; and to make the group a 501(c)(4), able to take large donations but unable to donate directly to candidates' campaigns, rather than a political action committee that could, in the spirit of the Sanders campaign, only take smaller donations but be able to donate directly to candidates. Another limiting factor of 501(c)(4)s is that federal elected officials-a category that includes one Senator Bernie Sanders-can't have dealings with them. Critics nonetheless fear, however, that \"Bernie people,\" including Bernie himself, will make choices-such as the decision to form as a 501(c)(4)-that other progressives find bewildering.\n\nSome of these anxieties have been allayed by the composition of the group's 11-member board, which includes such progressive stalwarts as former NAACP president Ben Jealous, radio commentator Jim Hightower, and Ohio State Senator Turner, and is chaired by Larry Cohen, the former president of the Communications Workers of America and founder of Labor for Bernie, who is widely regarded as a tireless and independent-minded organizer. At its first meeting, the board pledged to report all sizable contributions-which, for a 501(c)(4), is not legally required.\n\nAmerican Rights at Work / Ellie Van Houtte/Creative Commons Larry Cohen, now chair of the Our Revolution board of directors, acknowledges that the organization is still in its shakedown cruise period, and that in direct proportion to the historic novelty of its mission, its current structure is experimental and provisional. Here Cohen, then head of the Communication Workers of America, speaks in 2011.\n\nCohen acknowledges that the organization is still in its shakedown cruise period, and that in direct proportion to the historic novelty of its mission, its current structure is experimental and provisional. \"We need a big dose of humility,\" he says. For now, at least, Our Revolution conceives its role as something of a switchboard: It endorses candidates-this year, state and local candidates-on its website, provides links so Sanderistas can volunteer or contribute to those campaigns, and messages Bernie-backers in the districts where those candidates are running. Besides candidates, it is also urging supporters to help out in a handful of ballot measure campaigns this November-chiefly, for a California initiative that will put a ceiling on drug prices, and one in Colorado that would establish a single-payer health system.\n\nOur Revolution's staff vets the candidates the group endorses, and Cohen is frank that most of those candidates are recommended by groups that played a role in Sanders's campaign, like the Working Families Party, Friends of the Earth, or National Nurses United, or by Sanders campaign leaders in the various states. In initially opting for its \"switchboard\" model, the organization seems to be following, if at a distance, the model of some digital organizing groups, focused chiefly on millennials not easily reachable through more traditional organizational structures. \"Young people can optimize their organizing campaigns with digital tools,\" says Winnie Wong, the co-founder of People for Bernie, an online organization that preceded, was independent of, and now has outlived the Sanders presidential campaign. \"So much of the Bernie Revolution was organized online.\"\n\nStill, most volunteers whose first contact with Sanders was digital eventually found their way to brick-and-mortar campaign offices. For now, Our Revolution is steering clear of that kind of organizing: Cohen says it has no plans to open offices around the country, nor to hire staff to coordinate local activities. Some left activists think this ultra-light footprint is a mistake. \"They think you can do things at the local level just with volunteers, without any structure or staff of their own,\" says one. \"You can't build a left that way.\"\n\nAP Photo/Eric Risberg, File While many of the national organizations that backed Sanders have endorsed Clinton, others, like National Nurses United, have declined to do so. Here, Sanders reaches out to greet union members during a visit to the National Nurses United office in Oakland, California.\n\nSanders backers have taken some heat for funneling large sums of money into this summer's failed primary campaign of Tim Canova against former Democratic National Committee chair and full-time Sanders nemesis Debbie Wasserman Schultz for her Florida congressional seat. This September, however, Our Revolution played a key role in enabling Massachusetts State Senator Patricia Jehlen to defeat a conservative challenger backed by wealthy charter school advocates in the state's Democratic primary, while also enabling progressive Assembly candidate Mike Connolly to narrowly upset a more conservative longtime incumbent in a district partially overlapping Jehlen's. Alerted by Our Revolution, Sanders backers provided the districts-both in Cambridge-with precinct walkers and donations.\n\nAs Our Revolution directs its energy into more state and local races, Sanders supporters may encounter challenges they didn't run across in the senator's presidential campaign. \"When it comes to funding, among other things, Bernie's campaign experience will not be easily replicated at the local level,\" says Bob Master, the co-chair of New York's Working Families Party and the political director of the northeastern region of the Communications Workers of America, the largest union to have endorsed Sanders. \"There's a unique level of hope and expectation in a presidential [election], not to mention the avalanche of media attention, that virtually never occurs in local races. Translating the Bernie energy and excitement to local races in the future will pose a real challenge.\"\n\n\"Building local and state-based organizations that can be pragmatic and achieve concrete legislative victories,\" Master continues, \"is much harder than the magic of a presidential campaign. It takes organization and consistency and even compromise sometimes. I feel confident that the Bernie generation will stay involved in politics, and push American politics to the left, but it will take time and hard work to figure out how to make the transition to the less glamorous work of state and local elections.\"\n\nAnother test for Our Revolution, and the entire Sanders left, is whether it can become an effective progressive pressure group on the Clinton administration should she prevail in November.\n\nOur Revolution is already organizing a national campaign against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) should it come to a vote in Congress in the closing months of the Obama administration or the opening months of its successor. The group has alerted its massive list to upcoming anti-TPP activities and is keeping it abreast of ongoing developments.\n\nThere is broad agreement not only on the Sanders left but also among a number of center-left organizations that the failure of liberal groups to pressure the Obama administration in its opening months for more progressive policies-most certainly, on reducing the number of home foreclosures-was a serious mistake that should be avoided if and when Clinton takes office. With Sanders and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren as their congressional point persons, the left is already opposing the appointment of advisers adhering to a Wall Street perspective to top administration positions, and working to ensure that the progressive commitments of the Democratic platform-for a new Glass-Steagall Act, for instance-are followed through on by Clinton and congressional Democrats. (How much those Democrats can do, however, will largely depend on who controls the House and Senate.)\n\nA clear focus not just of Our Revolution but also of such groups as the Working Families Party and People's Action is to mount primary challenges, beginning in 2018, against congressional Democrats who oppose such reforms as a new Glass-Steagall. Planning for such campaigns is already under way. This strategy is plainly informed by the success that the Tea Party has had among Republicans: By ousting incumbents who've dismayed Tea Party members, the GOP right-wingers have found a way to move the majority of the remaining legislators in their direction. As Democrats deal with issues like financial reforms and employee rights, the party's left seeks to make a comparable example of those legislators whose allegiance is more to the corporate sector than to consumers and workers.\n\nOne further challenge Our Revolution will face in coming years-a challenge some supporters may view as a compromise-is whether to endorse candidates who didn't support Sanders this year. To date, the organization has endorsed only office-seekers who supported Sanders. Cohen, however, says this can't be a deciding criterion as Our Revolution moves forward. \"We can't build a movement looking at the rearview mirror,\" he says. In the future, their candidates and allies \"won't be limited to Bernie people.\"\n\nWHILE IT'S TOO EARLY TO KNOW whether Our Revolution can carry the revolution forward, the Sanders campaign unmistakably energized a broad range of other progressive groups in the nation. Policies they'd advocated and ideas they'd floated for decades with limited success suddenly were winning the backing of millions of voters. With the limits of the possible suddenly less constricting (unless, of course, Trump is elected), many groups on the liberal-left are considering what and how they must change to better mobilize the progressives whom Sanders brought out of the woodwork.\n\nPeople's Action, which employs 600 organizers in working-class communities in 29 states, focusing on issues of economic justice, has intensified its electoral work-not just for Clinton, but in tandem with the Working Families Party, focusing on congressional challanges in the 2018 elections.\n\n\"We bring a large base of voters; they bring a long history of building political formations,\" says George Goehl, People's Action's co-executive director. \"I'm most encouraged about the number of people doing grown-up politics, preparing serious efforts to primary corporate Democrats.\"\n\nFor its part, the Working Families Party-the union- and progressive-backed electoral operation that, name withstanding, works chiefly within the Democratic Party and has elected more anti-corporate Democrats than any other group in decades-is investigating whether its methodical organization-building can be supplemented by the kinds of organizing that sprung up around the Sanders campaign. \"We've taken to heart the notion that there's a much bigger appetite for the kinds of things we believe than anyone knew,\" says Dan Cantor, the party's executive director. \"We're not abandoning what's worked for us, but we're experimenting with new kinds of organizing as well. Every week, half a dozen people contact us and say they want to build a Working Families Party where they live. We want to give them the tools to do precisely that, and that requires rules, responsibilities and realism. We're looking for that sweet spot in mass political organizing where natural creativity can flourish alongside a focused, strategic plan.\"\n\n\"The challenge,\" Cantor continues, \" is how to combine the experience and intelligence of the organized left with the energy and vitality of younger and less-experienced but very smart people. We're proud that the Working Families Party has electoral muscles, so to speak, and inside clout. But what Bernie and Black Lives Matter have shown is that an outside strategy works by changing the narrative. The WFP began in an era of very little social ferment. Now there's energy in the air and it's our job to channel some of it into politics. A party is not a social movement, but a party like this should express those movements in the contest for governing power.\"\n\nAP Photo/Damian Dovarganes\n\nNational Nurses United, by contrast, sees its role more as nurturing that social movement. The organization whose support for Sanders and opposition to Clinton was the most visible and voluble of any left group, the Oakland-based union \"sees electoral work chiefly as a tactic for organizing movement campaigns, not as the main focus of our activity,\" says NNU's political director Michael Lighty. The union doesn't shy from those political campaigns it supports: It's the main backer of the California initiative that would limit the price of prescription drugs, and is also supporting the congressional and state legislative campaigns of Sanders supporters around the nation.\n\nLighty hopes that the organizing potential of two pro-Bernie groups-People's Action, with its working-class activists, and People for Bernie, with its largely young social-media activists-could, separately or together, \"create something more powerful\" than the current left. Wong notes that People for Bernie's Facebook page is getting even more views now-despite the fact that Bernie is no longer running-than it did during some crucial stretches in the spring primaries. What the pages present to readers (many, if not most, being Sanderistas) are curated reports and comments from progressive perspectives on a host of issues, events, and public figures-but not Clinton, and not Jill Stein.\n\nBy mid-September, Trump's rising prospects and the corresponding anxiety they produced across the left were prompting some movement toward Clinton within the Bernie-or-Bust universe-\"and it's not due to anything Hillary has done,\" says a leader of one sit-it-out group. Organizations that haven't endorsed Clinton include the Democratic Socialists of America and Progressive Democrats of America. Most of these-like NNU, the two largely campus-based youth organizations (Young Democratic Socialists and Young Progressives Demanding Action), the CCPC, and People for Bernie-feel that endorsing Clinton is too divisive, or too painful, or both.\n\nWHAT COULD REALLY SHATTER Sanders World, however, and most certainly limit its ability to build a more powerful progressive force, would be its enabling a Trump victory by the refusal of some of its leading organizations to back Clinton. Not only would key constituencies and the organizations that represent them-racial and religious minorities, immigrants, workers, the poor-suffer most if Trump were to prevail; they would be unlikely to join in coalition with those organizations that couldn't bring themselves to mobilize against the first quasi-fascist to win a major-party nomination. Nor would young people who now resist voting for Clinton necessarily look back on that refusal fondly once a Republican-dominated Supreme Court further suppressed minority voting and curtailed reproductive choice.\n\nThere comes a time in the life of all revolutions when circumstance erodes solidarity, when cracks, splits, and factions emerge. The circumstance that most erodes solidarity is qualified success, which brings with it some power and some compromise. By winning 45 percent of the vote in the Democratic primaries, Bernie Sanders both exercised and won power. As a direct consequence of his campaign, Clinton and the Democratic Party platform now call for an expansion, not a reduction, to Social Security, for free tuition at public colleges and universities, for a new version of Glass-Steagall, and for a rejection (or, in the case of the platform, a rejection of the key provisions) of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.\n\nTo experienced political activists, these were clear victories. To many political novices, they were compromises that, taken alongside Sanders's endorsement of Clinton, signaled a betrayal of the revolution. And Sanders's army was comprised disproportionately of novices-not just because so many young people responded to his attacks on the plutocratization of American life, but also because so many progressive groups, assuming the nomination was hers for the asking, backed Clinton, thus leaving experienced progressives largely missing from the Sanders campaign, and from his delegations to the party's national convention.\n\nIf the Sanders revolution is to realize its transformative potential, its adherents will have to recognize that its radical program can advance only if it wins the backing of the broader progressive universe-not just the Sanders-faithful arrayed in the rearview mirror. Its ability to move forward depends on its own strategic decisions and on the political space that a Clinton victory would create for the left, or, conversely, that a Trump victory would close off. \"We can't win the political revolution from a bunker,\" says Goehl of People's Action, \"and that's where we'll be if Trump wins. We can be engaged in both defeating Trump and building a movement at the same time. We have to be.\"\n\nThis story has been updated."}
-{"text": "A Crew Dragon vehicle undergoes a test of its SuperDraco thrusters, intended both for aborts and, eventually, crewed landings. Plans for the Crew Dragon to initially splash down in the ocean have contributed to development delays, according to a recent NASA report. (credit: SpaceX) Commercial crew: two years after contracts, two years until flights\n\nLast week marked the second anniversary of NASA\u2019s award of the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts, the last major milestone in an effort dating back to 2010 to develop vehicles to transport NASA astronauts, and others, to and from the International Space Station. Boeing and SpaceX won the two CCtCap contracts, with a combined maximum value of $6.8 billion, to finish work on their vehicles, perform test flights, and then fly up to six operational, or \u201cpost-certification,\u201d missions afterwards (see \u201cCommercial crew and commercial engines\u201d, The Space Review, September 22, 2014). \u201cWe\u2019re optimistic that we\u2019re going to meet the deadline, but we\u2019ll fly when we\u2019re ready, and that\u2019s really what it comes down to,\u201d said Boeing\u2019s Ferguson. At the time, and for many months afterwards, the goal was for at least one of the companies to have completed its two test flights\u2014one without a crew and one with two people on board\u2014and be certified to carry crews by the end of 2017. It\u2019s now unlikely either company will meet that goal because of development delays and, in the case of SpaceX, the aftermath of the Falcon 9 pad explosion earlier this month. Earlier this year, Boeing slipped its schedule for test flights, pushing out the uncrewed test flight of its CST-100 Starliner to the fall of 2017 and a crewed test flight to February 2018. The company said several technical issues encountered during work on the spacecraft, including the spacecraft\u2019s mass and the aeroacoustical loads it placed on its Atlas V rocket during launch, prompted the delays. During a commercial crew panel session at the AIAA Space 2016 conference last week in Long Beach, California, Chris Ferguson, deputy program manager for commercial crew at Boeing, said the current schedule would allow the CST-100 to achieve NASA certification by June 2018, allowing it to begin flights ferrying crews to and from the ISS. But, he warned, it could slip further. \u201cIt\u2019s a very aggressive schedule,\u201d Ferguson said. \u201cWe\u2019re optimistic that we\u2019re going to meet the deadline, but we\u2019ll fly when we\u2019re ready, and that\u2019s really what it comes down to. And if it takes a couple of extra months to ensure we have a safe vehicle, we\u2019ll do just that.\u201d A model of a Boeing CST-100 Starliner capsule undergoes a drop test at NASA\u2019s Langley Research Center in Virginia this summer. (credit: SpaceX) SpaceX had a more aggressive schedule\u2014at least prior to the Falcon 9 pad accident. At a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council in late July, the agency showed development schedules that included an uncrewed test flight of SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon, also known as Dragon v2, in May 2017, followed by a crewed test flight in August 2017. Had SpaceX kept to that schedule, it\u2019s likely the company would have achieved NASA certification by that earlier goal of the end of 2017. At the conference last week, SpaceX shied away from providing any schedule for its upcoming test flights. \u201cWe\u2019re full steam ahead on crew, while we listen to the data and understand what\u2019s going on,\u201d said Benji Reed, director of crew mission management at SpaceX, referring to the ongoing investigation into the pad explosion. As for when SpaceX will be ready to fly astronauts? \u201cWe need to get that capability going, and we need to do it right,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll fly when we\u2019re ready.\u201d At a separate panel at AIAA Space 2016, Abhishek Tripathi, director of certification at SpaceX, said the company was pressing ahead with commercial crew work despite the accident. \u201cI still know what I have in front of me for the next day, the next month,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t affect my day-to-day work while they\u2019re working on the anomaly.\u201d The pad accident, he added, offered SpaceX another opportunity to improve the Falcon 9. \u201cSpaceX has been very committed in our conversations with NASA in making sure that we fly the safest vehicle ever made,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a commitment we take seriously.\u201d \u201cWe need to get that capability going, and we need to do it right,\u201d SpaceX\u2019s Reed said. \u201cWe\u2019ll fly when we\u2019re ready.\u201d Even before the pad accident, though, there was skepticism that either company would be ready to carry NASA astronauts until late 2018. In a report issued September 1\u2014the same day, by coincidence, as the pad explosion\u2014NASA\u2019s Office of Inspector General raised doubts about schedules based on technical problems both companies had experienced. \u201cNotwithstanding the contractors\u2019 optimism, based on the information we gathered during our audit, we believe it unlikely that either Boeing or SpaceX will achieve certified, crewed flight to the ISS until late 2018,\u201d the report concluded. In the case of SpaceX, the report cited issued with a shift from propulsive landings on land to, at least initially, splashdowns in the ocean as the current cargo version of Dragon performs. While SpaceX still ultimately plans to land the Crew Dragon on land, the shift to water landings created \u201csignificant challenges\u201d to the spacecraft\u2019s design, according to the report, \u201cincluding complications with vendor components and the effectiveness of the integrated landing system designed to ensure parachutes work and the capsule does not take on excessive water after landing in the ocean.\u201d That and other issues with Crew Dragon work made it unlikely in the eyes of the NASA inspector general that the spacecraft would be ready for post-certification missions until late 2018. \u201cAccordingly, we anticipate additional schedule slippage and do not expect certified flights by SpaceX earlier than late 2018,\u201d the report stated. Even before the inspector general\u2019s report, some raised concerns about more delays involving the commercial crew program. NASA\u2019s current contract with Russia for seats on Soyuz flight to the ISS runs through 2018. Extended delays put NASA in a bind: should it purchase additional seats on Soyuz flights in 2019 as an insurance policy\u2014albeit an expensive one, with seat prices now well over $80 million each\u2014for additional delays, or risk losing access to the station should neither company be ready by the end of 2018? \u201cDue to the long lead time to procure Soyuz seats, a decision must be made really very shortly\u2014before the end of 2016\u2014to guarantee access to the ISS in 2019,\u201d said Hale. A further complication is that, traditionally, NASA has had to purchase Soyuz seats more than two years in advance, to accommodate the production of Soyuz spacecraft. That means NASA may need to make a decision in months about additional seats, long before knowing if either commercial crew company can make the 2018 deadline. \u201cDue to the long lead time to procure Soyuz seats, a decision must be made really very shortly\u2014before the end of 2016\u2014to guarantee access to the ISS in 2019,\u201d said Wayne Hale, interim chairman of the NASA Advisory Council\u2019s human exploration and operations committee, at a late July meeting, \u201cor we may be forced to reduce or possibly eliminate its crew complement.\u201d For the time being, though, NASA doesn\u2019t appear to feel rushed to make a decision on Soyuz seats, nor put schedule pressure on Boeing and SpaceX. At AIAA Space 2016, Kathy Leuders, the agency\u2019s commercial crew program manager, emphasized the \u201cfly when we\u2019re ready\u201d mantra of her two companies. \u201cObviously, from a commercial crew program standpoint it\u2019s really important that we make sure that we are all ready to fly when we feel like it\u2019s safe to fly our crews,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working schedules, and the goal is to fly as quickly as we safely can, with a goal to fly in 2018.\u201d Home\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Welcome to our Magic: The Gathering Elo ratings site. Here's what you need to know about this project in three bullet points; for more detailed information, check out the FAQ.\n\nOur dataset comes from all Pro Tours, World Championships, and (individual) Grand Prix between Pro Tour Los Angeles 1998 and Players Tour Finals 2020, a total of 738 tournaments.\n\nThe ratings are scaled so that a 200 point difference between two players corresponds to a 60% expected win rate. Players enter the system with a rating of 1500.\n\nCurrently Allen Wu (2303) is the highest rated player.\n\nIf you have any questions or comments, please let us know!"}
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-{"text": "A new opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal attacks the 97% scientific consensus on man-made global warming while completely missing the point on what scientists are actually saying about climate change. Joseph Bast of the Heartland Institute and Roy Spencer can try to obscure the consensus by nitpicking over details, but it won\u2019t change the facts: climate change is real, human-caused and dangerous.\n\nThe following is a guest post by Climate Nexus:\n\nShoot and a Miss: WSJ Op-Ed Attacks 97% Climate Consensus\n\nThe Heartland Institute\u2019s Joseph Bast and serially corrected Dr. Roy Spencer have a new opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal attacking the 97% scientific consensus on man-made global warming. The bulk of their argument amounts to nitpicking over the meaning of words like \u201cdangerous\u201d and \u201ccatastrophic,\u201d completely missing the point on what scientists are actually saying about climate change.\n\nThe evidence is solid: 97% of climate scientists agree that warming is real and human-caused. The scientists\u2019 assessment of whether warming is dangerous or urgent is not covered in the 97% surveys, but the dangerous nature of warming is well-documented in other comprehensive sources.\n\n97% of climate scientists agree that warming is real and human-caused. Multiple studies with differing methodologies have reached this conclusion, a few of which are named in the WSJ piece. The surveys do not attempt the task of gauging exactly how dangerous scientists believe warming to be. This would be difficult as it is a much more complicated question and not typically discussed in the abstract section of peer-reviewed papers.\n\nWhile complaining about the omission of questions about the harmfulness of warming, Bast and Spencer prove just how universal the consensus is. They say that even scientists who are skeptical of \u201ccatastrophic\u201d global warming would agree with the surveys\u2019 statements. Scientists who actually dispute the human contribution to climate change are apparently a smaller group of outliers every day.\n\nBast and Spencer even reference the IPCC, implying that a \u201ckey question\u201d remains: humans might have caused some warming, but just how much? Bast and Spencer may have missed it, but the IPCC actually answers that question. The scientists\u2019 best estimate is that humans have caused ALL of the observed warming since 1951. It doesn\u2019t get much clearer than that.\n\nAttempts to refute the consensus have been widely discredited. Bast and Spencer reference one thoroughly debunked \u201cPetition Project\u201d with 31,000 supposed signatures. The project contains numerous false signatories and its organizers have admitted \u201cthere\u2019s no way of filtering out a fake.\u201d The project is run by the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, which in the past has argued that nuclear weapon dangers have been exaggerated and that the Y2K bug would end the world. Its leader Art Robinson is skeptical of evolution, HIV-AIDS and believes that nuclear waste should be used to \u201cenhance\u201d Oregon\u2019s drinking water.\n\nWidespread consensus also exists that warming is harmful. The 97% surveys do not reference the harmfulness of warming, but plenty of other authoritative and comprehensive sources do. Bast and Spencer directly quote the IPCC as saying climate change \u201cposes risks for human and natural systems.\u201d Risks to human systems are not a good thing. Elsewhere the IPCC details impacts of human-caused climate change that are happening right now, including increased heat waves and extreme precipitation, which are not particularly positive developments either.\n\nThe National Climate Assessment further confirmed that climate change is here and now, and that its impacts \u201care expected to become increasingly disruptive across the nation throughout this century and beyond.\u201d In their climate overview \u201cWhat We Know,\u201d the American Association for the Advancement of Science stated that climate change impacts will be \u201chighly damaging.\u201d\n\nBast and Spencer\u2019s tactic of conceding the basic science but disputing its implications is increasingly popular, as evidenced by the rise of the \u201cdelayers.\u201d But this just shows that climate contrarians are grasping at straws. They can try to obscure the consensus by nitpicking over details, but it won\u2019t change the facts: climate change is real, human-caused and dangerous.\n\n* * *\n\nAlso see this excellent post by Dana Nucitelli in The Guardian: The Wall Street Journal denies the 97% scientific consensus on human-caused global warming\n\nEarlier CSW posts:\n\nQuantifying, once again, the scientific consensus on human-caused global warming (May 22, 2013)\n\nNew study finds striking level of agreement among climate experts on anthropogenic climate change (June 21, 2010)\n\nInterview with Stephen Schneider on climate science expert credibility study (July 2010). Expert credibility matters.\n\nRecent Climate Nexus guest posts:\n\nLomborg hypes already-debunked Bengtsson story in new Forbes column (May 22, 2014)\n\nWall Street Journal\u2019s attempts to politicize National Climate Assessment fall flat (May 9, 2014)\n\nWall Street Journal misquotes IPCC to advocate inaction on climate change (April 7, 2014)"}
-{"text": "Boris Johnson has transformed the terms of the EU referendum debate by announcing that \u201cafter a huge amount of heartache\u201d he is to throw his weight behind the campaign to take Britain out of the EU.\n\nThe London mayor announced on Sunday that he will campaign for a leave vote after concluding that David Cameron\u2019s deal will not deliver the reformed EU he promised.\n\nBoris Johnson backs Brexit after 'agonisingly difficult' decision \u2013 live Read more\n\nSpeaking outside his home in north London, the mayor said his decision had been \u201cagonisingly difficult\u201d. But he added: \u201cI would like to see a new relationship based more on trade, on cooperation, with much less of this supranational element. So that is where I\u2019m coming from and that is why I have decided, after a huge amount of heartache, because the last thing I wanted was to go against David Cameron or the government, I don\u2019t think there is anything else I can do.\n\n\u201cI will be advocating Vote Leave \u2013 or whatever the team is called, I understand there are a lot of them \u2013 because I want a better deal for the people of this country, to save them money and to take control. That is really what this is all about.\u201d\n\nDowning Street issued a low-key response. A No 10 spokesman said: \u201cOur message to everyone is we want Britain to have the best of both worlds: all the advantages of the jobs and investment that come with being in the EU, without the downsides of being in the euro and open borders.\u201d\n\nJohnson\u2019s decision is a big blow to the prime minister who had pleaded with him earlier on Sunday to avoid \u201clinking arms\u201d with Nigel Farage and George Galloway in backing a British exit from the EU. But Cameron was pretty confident by the weekend that Johnson would follow Michael Gove, the justice secretary and his close cabinet colleague, in campaigning to leave.\n\nJohnson said he would not be taking part in \u201cloads of bloomin\u2019 TV debates against other members of my party\u201d and would not be sharing any platforms with Galloway. The London mayor praised Cameron for the deal he secured in a short space of time and said that he should remain. \u201cI want to make one thing absolutely clear. Whatever happens, and I have said this to the prime minister, he has got to stay,\u201d Johnson said.\n\nBut he addressed claims that he is being an opportunist to boost his Tory leadership credentials. \u201cThe big battalions of the argument are unquestionably ranged against people like me. We are portrayed as crazy, cracked and all the rest of it,\u201d Johnson said.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t mind. I happen to think that I am right. It is a very very difficult case to make. I have thought an awful lot about it. I have thought about it for many years. I don\u2019t see how, having worried about this issue for quite so long and having fulminated for quite so long about the lack of democracy in the EU, I can pass up the only chance any of us have in our lifetimes to put an alternative point of view.\u201d\n\nThe decision by the London mayor will have far greater repercussions than Gove\u2019s announcement because opinion polls have shown Johnson will have a significant impact on the referendum.\n\nA YouGov/Prospect survey last October found that the pro-EU majority would see its support increase from three points to 18 \u2013 a 15% bounce \u2013 if Johnson and Cameron both campaigned to remain. When voters were asked in a separate sample how they would vote if Cameron supported remain and Johnson supported leave, the bounce fell to eight points.\n\nJohnson had been toying with various options over the last six months, but last week he indicated to close friends that he was leaning towards Brexit.\n\nThe mayor will have his work cut out to convince Tories at Westminster that he has made the decision, as Gove did, out of conviction and not because he believes that supporting a UK exit from the EU will boost his credentials as a future leader of the party.\n\nIn recent weeks Johnson had been overheard as saying that he was not an \u201couter\u201d. He had also been flirting with Eurosceptic ideas that fell short of endorsing a UK exit from the EU.\n\nCameron has secured his EU deal, so what happens now? Read more\n\nSir Nicholas Soames, the former defence minister who is a Cameron loyalist, highlighted the Tory leadership\u2019s suspicions about Johnson when he tweeted: \u201cWhatever my great friend Boris decides to do I know that he is NOT an outer.\u201d\n\nJohnson spoke over the summer to Dominic Cummings, the Vote Leave campaign director and former Gove special adviser, to discuss his idea for two referendums.\n\nWhen that idea was knocked down by the prime minister, Johnson alighted on the idea of finding a way to formally re-assert the sovereignty of the UK parliament.\n\nCameron said he would address this in an announcement next week, and was widely expected to introduce a bill to deal with the issue. The decision by Johnson to announce his intentions on Sunday was proof that he was unimpressed by the prime minister\u2019s proposed offering.\n\nDowning Street had seriously entertained the thought until last week that Johnson would eventually stand alongside the prime minister in supporting UK membership. Cameron believed Johnson had made a career, as a journalist and politician, grandstanding as a Eurosceptic while fundamentally believing that Britain should remain in the EU.\n\nBut the London mayor had made clear in recent months that he felt the prime minister had squandered an opportunity to table more ambitious demands. He urged Cameron to be \u201cDave the bold\u201d.\n\nThe leave camp will be delirious that they have signed up one of the few politicians to attract adulation on the campaign trail. Johnson\u2019s support will go a long way to ensuring that the leave camp avoids one of the main weaknesses of the no side in 1975 \u2013 that its leaders were seen as fringe politicians on the hard left and hard right.\n\nCameron is unlikely to forgive Johnson easily. He may well be minded to offer Johnson a lesser cabinet post should he win the referendum on 23 June. But Johnson will be in pole position to succeed Cameron as Tory if the prime minister loses the referendum.\n\nCameron said he would stay on to negotiate Britain\u2019s exit from the EU if he loses the referendum. He said a similar thing before the Scottish independence referendum to ensure that his leadership did not become a distraction during the campaign. In private he wrote a resignation speech which he would have delivered if Scotland had voted to leave the UK."}
-{"text": "The Kiwis may have to appoint an Australian coach if Stephen Kearney's head rolls after the Rugby League World Cup final debacle.\n\n\n\nThe New Zealand Rugby League abandoned any pretence at a pathway for Kiwi coaches when Gary Kemble was dumped in 2007.\n\n\n\nThere are no New Zealand head coaches in the NRL - even the Warriors are coached by an Australian in Matt Elliott.\n\n\n\nKearney (at the Brisbane Broncos) and David Kidwell, who is set to join Wests Tigers after a stint with the Melbourne Storm, are on NRL coaching staffs as assistant-coaches.\n\n\n\nThe All Blacks would have several homegrown options if Steve Hansen handed in his coaching reins for a new career as a harness racing trainer. Wales and British and Irish Lions mentor Warren Gatland or Chiefs' coach Dave Rennie could comfortably fill the void.\n\n\n\nBut, it's not so straight-forward for the Kiwis. Their coaching talent pool's about as shallow as a Canterbury Plains stream in mid-summer. Most New Zealand rugby league greats from the 1980s and 1990s aren't currently active as coaches.\n\n\n\nSo who could take over from Kearney? Is Kidwell ready for the role? But, like Kearney at the time of his appointment, the former Storm and South Sydney second rower has no head coaching experience at NRL level. Nor - apart from a two-match caretaker stint - does New Zealand Rugby League high performance director and Kiwis manager Tony Iro, who was highly regarded by the Warriors players during his tenure as Ivan Cleary's assistant-coach.\n\nJohn Ackland enjoyed great success and with the Warriors' under-20 team. He also coached a Samoan squad containing NRL players at the 2008 Rugby League World Cup tournament in Australia.\n\n\n\nBut Ackland has parted company with the Warriors, who now plan to develop their best young players through the Auckland Vulcans' New South Wales Cup reserve grade team rather than in the NRL under-20 competition.\n\n\n\nThere are few other Kiwi options outside Kidwell, Iro and Ackland.\n\n\n\nThe NZRL could be paying the price for the fallout from Kemble's axing after an outbreak of player power on the ill-starred 2007 tour of Great Britain and France. The former Kiwis fullback's coaching methods were criticised as out of date by seasoned NRL players, including Kidwell and captain Roy Asotasi.\n\nHe was sacked and some good men fell with him, none more so than highly-credentialed Canterbury Bulls coach Phil Prescott, who had earned respect as Kemble's assistant and would have one day made a worthy Kiwis coach.\n\n\n\nBrian (Bluey) McClenann, who coached the Kiwis to the 2005 Tri-Nations title, is still hovering on Auckland's Hibiscus Coast. But he was sacked by the Warriors in 2012 after parting company with British Super League club Leeds where he found early success.Only four New Zealanders, Frank Endacott, Mark Graham, Tony Kemp and McClennan, have coached the Warriors in the club's 18-year history.\n\n\n\nTheir most successful coaches were Australian - Daniel Anderson and Ivan Cleary. The latter's pretty much an honorary New Zealander after nine years in Auckland as a player and a coach, so should Cleary get the Kiwis' gig?\n\n\n\nWell, he was Kearney's assistant at this World Cup tournament and wasn't able to work the oracle the way Wayne Bennett did in the same role in 2008.\n\n\n\nKearney's confidence may have taken a big hit. The Rugby League World Cup capitulation followed his unhappy head coaching tenure with the Parramatta Eels, which ended in tears. Kearney was sacked in 2012 after 10 wins in 42 matches.\n\n\n\nBut he did win the World Cup in 2008 - albeit with Bennett pulling the strings - and the 2010 Four Nations grand final at Brisbane's Lang Park. And, he's still only 41, and clearly has room to improve.\n\n\n\nSo should the NZRL give him another chance or punt him and replace him with Cleary and Iro? Or Iro as the boss and Cleary his assistant. Cleary is head coach of the Penrith Panthers' chocolate soldiers. Does he have time to do the Kiwis' job justice?\n\n\n\nThe NZRL could appoint Iro, who's already on their payroll, and give him a year or two to earn his spurs.\n\nIf he falls on his face, they might have to bite the bullet and give the gig to the best Australian available. After all, it wouldn't be the first time. Former Warriors coach Daniel Anderson was in charge from 2003 to 2005.\n\nA New Zealand-born coach - particularly a former player like Kearney, Kidwell or Iro - would be more passionate about the Kiwis' cause than any Australian. But, the NZRL needs the smartest strategist available to beat the near-invincible Aussies in big tournament finals."}
-{"text": "Bitcoin Price Key Highlights\n\nBitcoin price is now testing the $1400 mark at the top of the ascending channel as indicated in the previous article.\n\nPrice could head back to the short-term channel support at $1375 for a quick pullback to draw more buyers in before the uptrend resumes.\n\nA bounce off this near-term support could lead to another test of resistance or even a break higher for a steeper climb.\n\nBitcoin price climbed all the way up to the channel resistance at $1400 and could be due for more gains after a quick correction.\n\nTechnical Indicators Signals\n\nThe 100 SMA is above the longer-term 200 SMA on this time frame so the path of least resistance is to the upside. In addition, the 100 SMA is close to the bottom of the channel, adding to its strength as potential support in the event of larger pullback.\n\nMeanwhile, the 200 SMA is closer to $1325, which might be the line in the sand for this uptrend. Note that the gap between the moving averages is narrowing to suggest weaker buying pressure and a potential downward crossover.\n\nStochastic is turning down from the overbought zone to reflect a pickup in bearish momentum while buyers take it easy. RSI also appears to be heading south so bitcoin price might follow suit. A break below the 200 SMA could confirm that a longer-term drop or pullback is underway.\n\nMarket Events\n\nMarket watchers appear to have been disappointed by the Trump administration\u2019s tax reform plan as it fell short on details and contained nothing new from previous speculations. This includes reducing the tax brackets, cutting the corporate tax down to 15% and reducing the tax burden on middle-income American families.\n\nWith that, the attention is now shifting back to political headlines and the next US event risk on deck, namely the advanced GDP reading for Q1. Analysts are expecting to see a 1.3% growth figure, a few notches below the earlier 2.1% GDP reading. Weaker than expected results could undermine dollar gains and Fed rate hike hopes, thereby boosting bitcoin price.\n\nCharts from SimpleFX"}
-{"text": "New Relax TV channel created to help fliers relax. The new channel will show relaxation videos created by Uscenes on Emirates ICE in flight entertainment system.\n\nrelaxation video for inflight use\n\nEnd\n\n-- Leading producer of relaxation videos Uscenes, has announced that from the start of October 2014, 6 of their videos will be shown on selected Emirates Airlines flights.Emirates Airlines is one of the world's top airlines with a superb in flight entertainment system called ICE. The Uscenes relaxation videos are being shown on a new chanel called Relax TV.The videos that Uscenes creates are designed to give people windows to a beautiful scene from nature. High quality filming equipment is used to capture a single scene from nature.Videos which will be shown on Relax TV include an aquarium with colorful fish, bees flying and moving over lavendar flowers, a lakeside scene in Snowdonia (Wales), a series of garden waterfalls in Thailand and a warming fireplace.Uscenes does not use animated special effects. The videos also do not include music. They simply have natural sounds from nature. Uscenes employee James Sutton saidUscenes offers their videos to the public via downloads. Each 20 minute video also comes with shorter screensaver versions for computer screens. The 6 which were chosen to be aired on Emirates flights can be seen at http://www.uscenes.com/ in-flight-relaxation- videos/"}
-{"text": "Members of the Guinean Red Cross stick information concerning the Ebola virus during an awareness campaign on April 11, 2014 in Conakry. Guinea has been hit by the most severe strain of the virus, known as Zaire Ebola, which has had a fatality rate of up to 90 percent in past outbreaks, and for which there is no vaccine, cure or even specific treatment. The World Health Organization (WHO) has described west Africa's first outbreak among humans as one of the most challenging since the virus emerged in 1976 in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. AFP PHOTO / CELLOU BINANI (Photo credit should read CELLOU BINANI/AFP/Getty Images)\n\nDAKAR, June 4 (Reuters) - At least 21 people died and 37 new cases of suspected Ebola were recorded in Guinea between May 29 and June 1, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday, undermining the government's claims that the number of Ebola deaths was slowing.\n\nThe new figures take to 328 the number of cases linked to the disease in Guinea, of which 193 have been confirmed by laboratory tests. In total, 208 deaths have been linked to Ebola, making the outbreak one of the deadliest for years.\n\nMore than half of the new deaths in Guinea were in the southern region of Gueckedou, epicenter of the outbreak which began in February, near the Sierra Leone and Liberian borders.\n\nThe town is known for its weekly market which attracts traders from the region as well as from neighboring countries.\n\nSierra Leone recorded three confirmed and 10 suspected new cases over the same period, WHO said, highlighting the threat of the disease taking hold elsewhere in the region.\n\nA Guinean presidential spokesman was not immediately available for comment and a health department spokesman declined to comment.\n\nOn April 24, Guinea's health ministry said in a statement that the situation was \"more and more under control thanks to measures taken by the government and its partners\".\n\nThere is no vaccine or cure for Ebola, a haemorrhagic fever with a fatality rate of up to 90 percent."}
-{"text": "BILLIONS tuned in to watch Prince Harry tie the knot with Meghan Markle during the Royal Wedding.\n\nThere were numerous touching nods to his late mum during the ceremony, and an empty seat at the front of the chapel grabbed a lot of attention.\n\nRoyal fans are theorising that this empty chair in the chapel was left in memory of Princess Diana\n\nWatch highlights of Royal Wedding as millions in the UK and across the world celebrate the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle\n\nWas the empty seat at the Royal Wedding for Princess Diana?\n\nEagle-eyed TV watchers were quick to spot an empty seat next to Prince William in St George\u2019s Chapel during his brother\u2019s wedding.\n\nIt has been suggested that an empty seat was Harry's way of paying respects to his adored mum, Princess Diana, who died when he was just 12 years old.\n\nHowever, as poignant as the gesture would have been, the real reason is more practical.\n\nProtocol dictates that no one can sit in front of the Queen and obstruct her view, which is why the seat was left vacant.\n\nFurther to this, St George\u2019s is the Queen\u2019s private chapel and this seat is said to be one that she doesn\u2019t find comfortable.\n\nGetty - Contributor The newly-weds ensured that the essence of Diana was part of their wedding day through other subtle touches\n\nHow was Princess Diana honoured at the Royal Wedding?\n\nThe newly-weds ensured that the essence of Diana was part of their wedding day through other subtle touches, making her part of the ceremony 21 years after her death.\n\nMeghan carried a bouquet with Diana\u2019s beloved forget-me-nots, with the same flowers making up hairbands worn by bridesmaids.\n\nAdorning the walls of the 500-year-old chapel were arches of flowers, including white roses, another of Diana\u2019s favourites that were planted in her memory at the palace gardens over the summer.\n\nDiana\u2019s sister, Lady Jane Fellowes, who rarely makes public appearances, did one of the readings.\n\n\"Set me as a seal upon your heart,\" she read, \"for love is strong as death.\"\n\nEPA Meghan carried a bouquet with Diana\u2019s beloved forget-me-nots\n\nMore on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding CASHING IN Official Royal Wedding gift bag sold on eBay by HR manager guest for \u00a321,400 SUPER SUNNIES Meghan Markle's sunglasses - where to buy her shades and who designs them BEAUTY QUEEN This is the make-up Meghan Markle uses, from her top foundation to mascara SMARTIE PANTS How Royal Wedding snapper kept young bridesmaids and page boys in line POUTY POSH Victoria Beckham denies being nervous at Royal Wedding despite failing to smile 'addams family' Meg's sis makes cruel jibes against mum Doria and Royals in new rant\n\nDid Prince Harry cry during Princess Diana\u2019s favourite hymn?\n\nA visibly emotional Prince Harry appeared to wipe away a tear as Princess Diana's favourite hymn was played during his wedding.\n\nThe moment was during Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer, which was picked as one of the songs for the service on their big day.\n\nThe young Royal reached up to his face as he stood next to a beaming Meghan Markle inside St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.\n\nThe hymn was sung at Diana\u2019s funeral at Westminster Abbey 20 years ago, when Harry was just 12."}
-{"text": "Housing and food expenses absorb more than half of low-income Americans\u2019 annual spending. Even the wealthiest Americans devote a sizable share of their spending to keeping a roof over their heads and food in their refrigerators.\n\nThat\u2019s according to the Labor Department\u2019s latest survey of Americans\u2019 buying habits. The consumer expenditure survey report released Friday contained data on spending from July 2012 through June 2013."}
-{"text": "Source : Le Figaro, Coralie Delaume, 20-04-2018\n\nFIGAROVOX/TRIBUNE \u2013 Coralie Delaume analyse les raisons de la fracture qu\u2019elle observe entre les \u00ab\u00e9lites\u00bb, une classe minoritaire de privil\u00e9gi\u00e9s, et la masse qui n\u2019a pas acc\u00e8s aux \u00e9tudes prestigieuses ou qui n\u2019a pas son mot \u00e0 dire dans les orientations \u00e9conomiques de l\u2019Union europ\u00e9enne.\n\nCoralie Delaume est essayiste, co-auteur de La fin de l\u2019Union europ\u00e9enne(Michalon, 2017) et animatrice du site L\u2019ar\u00e8ne nue.\n\nLa R\u00e9volte des \u00e9lites et la trahison de la d\u00e9mocratie est le titre d\u2019un livre du sociologue am\u00e9ricain Christopher Lasch, publi\u00e9 \u00e0 titre posthume en 1995. Bien s\u00fbr, l\u2019ouvrage analysait l\u2019Am\u00e9rique de son temps. Pourtant, il s\u2019applique parfaitement \u00e0 la France et \u00e0 l\u2019Europe d\u2019aujourd\u2019hui, dont il semble avoir anticip\u00e9 l\u2019\u00e9volution des classes favoris\u00e9es avec une acuit\u00e9 visionnaire.\n\nLe livre pose l\u2019hypoth\u00e8se que ce n\u2019est plus la \u00abr\u00e9volte des masses\u00bb qui menace d\u00e9sormais la vie d\u00e9mocratique, mais la coupure de plus en plus prononc\u00e9e entre le peuple et les \u00ab\u00e9lites\u00bb. Une coupure tant \u00e9conomique et mat\u00e9rielle qu\u2019\u00e9ducative et intellectuelle, dont r\u00e9sulte le repli sur eux-m\u00eames des privil\u00e9gi\u00e9s. Ces derniers ne parlent plus qu\u2019\u00e0 leurs pareils, c\u2019est-\u00e0-dire non seulement \u00e0 ceux qui b\u00e9n\u00e9ficient d\u2019un m\u00eame niveau de richesses, mais \u00e9galement \u00e0 ceux qui partagent le m\u00eame niveau d\u2019instruction. Ils adorent mettre en sc\u00e8ne leur pouvoir et le font de mille fa\u00e7ons: exhibition des signes ext\u00e9rieurs de richesse, bien s\u00fbr, mais \u00e9galement \u2013 et de plus en plus \u2013 de leur patrimoine culturel. Le discours, ahurissant de cuistrerie, du pr\u00e9sident Macron sur l\u2019intelligence artificielle (29 mars 2018) en est un exemple qui confine au grotesque. En revanche, ils n\u2019assument plus que de mauvaise gr\u00e2ce les charges et responsabilit\u00e9s qui devraient leur incomber, et pr\u00e9f\u00e8rent le service de leur int\u00e9r\u00eat bien compris \u00e0 celui d\u2019un \u00abint\u00e9r\u00eat g\u00e9n\u00e9ral\u00bb, dont ils ne con\u00e7oivent m\u00eame plus qu\u2019il p\u00fbt exister.\n\nVingt ans apr\u00e8s Lasch, le ph\u00e9nom\u00e8ne du s\u00e9paratisme \u00e9litaire qu\u2019il voyait poindre dans son pays vient de faire l\u2019objet, pour la France cette fois, d\u2019une \u00e9tude chiffr\u00e9e. J\u00e9r\u00f4me Fourquet a en effet publi\u00e9, pour le compte de la Fondation Jean Jaur\u00e8s, une note au titre \u00e9vocateur: \u00ab1985-2017, quand les classes favoris\u00e9es ont fait s\u00e9cession\u00bb. Il y explique notamment que la coh\u00e9sion de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 fran\u00e7aise \u00abest mise \u00e0 mal aujourd\u2019hui par un processus presque invisible \u00e0 l\u2019\u0153il nu, mais n\u00e9anmoins lourd de cons\u00e9quences: un s\u00e9paratisme social qui concerne toute une partie de la frange sup\u00e9rieure de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9, les occasions de contacts et d\u2019interactions entre les cat\u00e9gories sup\u00e9rieures et le reste de la population \u00e9tant en effet de moins en moins nombreuses\u00bb.\n\nLe d\u00e9p\u00e9rissement du cadre national permet aux \u00ab \u00e9lites \u00bb de vivre de plus en plus dans une sorte d\u2019alter-monde en suspension.\n\nLe sondeur illustre ensuite. Il note que le c\u0153ur des grandes villes est massivement investi par les cadres, certains centres urbains leur tenant d\u00e9sormais lieu de ghettos dor\u00e9s. Les CSP+ sont ainsi pass\u00e9s de 25 % \u00e0 46 % de la population parisienne en 30 ans, cependant que le pourcentage des ouvriers a d\u00e9cru, passant de 18 % \u00e0 7 %. Fourquet analyse ensuite la d\u00e9sertion de l\u2019enseignement public et la scolarisation massive des enfants de cadres dans le priv\u00e9, le s\u00e9paratisme \u00e9lectoral des plus ais\u00e9s ou, pour les cas extr\u00eames, l\u2019exil fiscal, ce dernier signant le refus d\u2019une partie de la population de financer le fonctionnement la collectivit\u00e9 dans son ensemble. Pour l\u2019auteur de l\u2019\u00e9tude, nous faisons face \u00e0 l\u2019\u00abautonomisation d\u2019une partie des cat\u00e9gories les plus favoris\u00e9es, qui se sentent de moins en moins li\u00e9es par un destin commun au reste de la collectivit\u00e9 nationale\u00bb. On voit en effet combien le ph\u00e9nom\u00e8ne est li\u00e9 au d\u00e9p\u00e9rissement du cadre national, d\u00e9p\u00e9rissement qui permet aux \u00ab\u00e9lites\u00bb de vivre de plus en plus dans une sorte d\u2019alter-monde en suspension, cependant que les autres sont riv\u00e9s \u00e0 un ici-bas qui commence \u00e0 se changer en friche, et finira par se muer en jungle.\n\nJ\u00e9r\u00f4me Fourquet n\u2019est pas le premier \u00e0 faire ce constat. L\u2019anthropologue Emmanuel Todd l\u2019a fait \u00e9galement, et donne dans son dernier ouvrage (O\u00f9 en sommes nous, Seuil, 2017) une explication convaincante. Pour lui, c\u2019est la fracture \u00e9ducative qui est en cause, le d\u00e9veloppement de l\u2019\u00e9ducation sup\u00e9rieure ayant eu un effet pervers inattendu en tron\u00e7onnant le corps social en deux cat\u00e9gories de personnes: les \u00e9duqu\u00e9s sup\u00e9rieurs et les autres. Alors que la massification des \u00e9ducations primaire et secondaire avait contribu\u00e9 \u00e0 \u00e9galiser le niveau \u00e9ducatif g\u00e9n\u00e9ral et favoris\u00e9 l\u2019\u00e9panouissement de la d\u00e9mocratie, c\u2019est \u00e0 l\u2019inverse qu\u2019on assiste aujourd\u2019hui. La raison en est simple: l\u2019\u00e9ducation sup\u00e9rieure ne s\u2019est pas (encore?) g\u00e9n\u00e9ralis\u00e9e. \u00abL\u2019acc\u00e8s universel \u00e0 l\u2019instruction primaire puis secondaire avait nourri un subconscient social \u00e9galitaire ; le plafonnement de l\u2019\u00e9ducation sup\u00e9rieure a engendr\u00e9, (\u2026) un subconscient social in\u00e9galitaire\u00bb, \u00e9nonce le chercheur.\n\nDe ce \u00absubconscient in\u00e9galitaire\u00bb, on per\u00e7oit chaque jour les effets. On constate que ne se m\u00e9langent plus gu\u00e8re ces \u00e9duqu\u00e9s sup\u00e9rieurs contents d\u2019eux, \u00e9trangement persuad\u00e9s de ne rien devoir qu\u2019\u00e0 leur talent. De toute fa\u00e7on, ils sont suffisamment nombreux pour pouvoir fonctionner en circuit ferm\u00e9 et pour ne plus avoir \u00e0 s\u2019adresser qu\u2019aux autres \u00abmanipulateurs de symboles\u00bb, ainsi que l\u2019\u00e9conomiste Robert Reich qualifiait les gagnants de la mondialisation, ces dipl\u00f4m\u00e9s, plurilingues, mobiles, \u00e0 l\u2019aise dans le domaine de la communication et qui font l\u2019opinion. Car ce sont eux, bien s\u00fbr, qui tiennent les plumes et parlent dans les micros. Ils nous font partager leur mani\u00e8re propre d\u2019appr\u00e9hender la masse des \u00abgens qui ne sont rien\u00bb comme dirait Macron, autrement dit des gens qui ne sont pas comme eux. Ils nous les peignent comme frileux, \u00abr\u00e9acs\u00bb, hostiles de fa\u00e7on primitive et irrationnelle aux r\u00e9formes ainsi qu\u2019\u00e0 tout type changement. Ils nous expliquent que s\u2019ils votent \u00abpopuliste\u00bb, c\u2019est parce qu\u2019ils sont x\u00e9nophobes, et que s\u2019ils votent mal aux r\u00e9f\u00e9rendums c\u2019est parce qu\u2019ils ne comprennent pas les questions. Peut-\u00eatre cette partition de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 devrait-elle nous conduire \u00e0 reconsid\u00e9rer le contour des classes sociales? Si celles-ci existent encore (et c\u2019est \u00e9videmment le cas) la s\u00e9cession des \u00ab\u00e9lites\u00bb n\u2019est pas seulement le fait des \u00abriches\u00bb et des propri\u00e9taires des moyens de productions. Elle est \u00e9galement celui des d\u00e9tenteurs d\u2019un capital \u00e9ducatif et culturel, lequel s\u2019h\u00e9rite de plus en plus d\u2019ailleurs, sur fond de destruction de l\u2019\u00e9cole publique et de d\u00e9graissage perp\u00e9tuel du \u00abMammouth\u00bb.\n\nLe d\u00e9graissage concerne d\u2019ailleurs l\u2019ensemble de l\u2019appareil d\u2019\u00c9tat et des services publics, ceux-ci ayant le tort de pr\u00e9senter des vertus \u00e9galisatrices qui entravent le s\u00e9paratisme \u00e9litaire. Pour leur r\u00e9gler leur compte, les pays europ\u00e9ens membres de l\u2019UE ont invent\u00e9 un pr\u00e9texte ing\u00e9nieux et unique au monde: la n\u00e9cessite de respecter les \u00abcrit\u00e8res de convergence\u00bb de Maastricht. Notamment celui des 3 % de d\u00e9ficit public, et c\u2019est en son nom que les gouvernements d\u00e9truisent ou vendent tout le patrimoine collectif. La France vient d\u2019ailleurs de passer sous la barre fatidique (2,6 % pour 2017), avant m\u00eame d\u2019avoir fini de brader la SNCF.\n\nLa construction europ\u00e9enne est un formidable outil de d\u00e9responsabilisation des \u00ab \u00e9lites \u00bb nationales.\n\nD\u2019une mani\u00e8re g\u00e9n\u00e9rale, la construction europ\u00e9enne est un formidable outil de d\u00e9responsabilisation des \u00ab\u00e9lites\u00bb nationales, notamment des \u00e9lites politiques. Celles-ci, toutes ointes qu\u2019elles sont de la l\u00e9gitimit\u00e9 offerte par le suffrage universel, n\u2019en assument pas pour autant les vraies charges. La capacit\u00e9 \u00e0 faire les grands choix a \u00e9t\u00e9 massivement transf\u00e9r\u00e9e au niveau supranational, qui lui ne rend pas de comptes. Les dirigeants de la Banque centrale europ\u00e9enne ne rendent pas de compte pour la politique mon\u00e9taire qu\u2019ils conduisent. La Commission de Bruxelles ne risque pas d\u2019affronter une gr\u00e8ve pour s\u2019\u00eatre m\u00eal\u00e9e d\u2019un peu trop pr\u00e8s, dans le cadre du \u00abSemestre europ\u00e9en\u00bb, du contenu des budgets des \u00c9tats membres. La Cour de justice de l\u2019UE ne risque pas la sanction des citoyens (de quel \u00c9tat au demeurant?) pour les jurisprudences de d\u00e9r\u00e9gulation \u00e9conomique qu\u2019elle pond \u00e0 la cha\u00eene. De toute fa\u00e7on, en \u00abconstitutionnalisant\u00bb les trait\u00e9s europ\u00e9ens de sa propre initiative via des arr\u00eats datant des ann\u00e9es 1960, la Cour a tr\u00e8s t\u00f4t permis que ces trait\u00e9s et tous les \u00e9l\u00e9ments de politique \u00e9conomique qu\u2019ils contiennent, se situent au-dessus des lois dans la hi\u00e9rarchie des normes des \u00c9tats-membres. C\u2019est-\u00e0-dire hors de port\u00e9e des Parlements, donc des \u00e9lecteurs.\n\nLa mani\u00e8re dont est organis\u00e9e l\u2019UE a pour effet de d\u00e9corr\u00e9ler les \u00e9lections (qui ont lieu au niveau national) et la prise de d\u00e9cision (qui se fait \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9chelon supranational), ce qui en fait une v\u00e9ritable machine de d\u00e9filement au service \u00abd\u2019\u00e9lites\u00bb politiques en rupture de ban avec leurs nations d\u2019origines \u2013 et qui ressemblent bien plus \u00e0 une oligarchie qu\u2019\u00e0 une v\u00e9ritable \u00e9lite d\u00e9sormais. Par ailleurs, l\u2019UE offre de multiples possibilit\u00e9s d\u2019\u00e9vitement fiscal gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 ses paradis fiscaux int\u00e9gr\u00e9s (Irlande, Luxembourg\u2026). Enfin, la libre circulation du capital et du travail dans le March\u00e9 unique contribue \u00e0 mettre les deux en concurrence au profit du plus mobile et du rapide (le capital) et au d\u00e9triment du plus s\u00e9dentaire (le travail). Le tout pour la grande joie des cat\u00e9gories poss\u00e9dantes, cette fois.\n\nDans ce cadre, il n\u2019est pas \u00e9tonnant qu\u2019un politiste sp\u00e9cialis\u00e9 sur les questions europ\u00e9ennes tel le Bulgare Ivan Krastev, consacre de longues pages de son dernier ouvrage (Le destin de l\u2019Europe, Premier Parall\u00e8le, 2017), \u00e0 d\u00e9crire le ph\u00e9nom\u00e8ne de s\u00e9cession des classes dirigeantes \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9chelle continentale. \u00abLes \u00e9lites aristocratiques traditionnelles avaient des devoirs et des responsabilit\u00e9s, et leur \u00e9ducation les pr\u00e9parait \u00e0 se montrer \u00e0 leur hauteur\u00bb, \u00e9crit-il. \u00abEn comparaison, les nouvelles \u00e9lites sont form\u00e9es pour gouverner mais sont tout sauf pr\u00eates au sacrifice\u00bb. Pas m\u00eame au sacrifice financier, aurait-il pu ajouter, en tout cas de moins en moins puisque l\u2019optimisation fiscale est devenue l\u2019un des sports phares de notre \u00e9poque. Puis Krastev d\u2019ajouter: \u00abLa nature et la convertibilit\u00e9 des comp\u00e9tences des nouvelles \u00e9lites les affranchissent tr\u00e8s concr\u00e8tement de leur propre nation. Elles ne d\u00e9pendent pas des syst\u00e8mes \u00e9ducatifs publics nationaux (leurs enfants \u00e9tudient dans les \u00e9tablissements priv\u00e9s) ni des syst\u00e8mes de protection sociale nationaux (elles peuvent se permettre les meilleurs \u00e9tablissements hospitaliers). Elles ont perdu la capacit\u00e9 de partager les passions et les \u00e9motions de leur communaut\u00e9\u00bb.\n\nEn m\u00eame temps que l\u2019on \u00ab d\u00e9passe \u00bb les nations et que l\u2019on d\u00e9truit l\u2019\u00c9tat, c\u2019est la d\u00e9mocratie qu\u2019on abolit.\n\nD\u00e8s lors, la mont\u00e9e de ce qu\u2019on appelle \u00ables populismes\u00bb correspondrait avant tout \u00e0 une qu\u00eate de loyaut\u00e9. D\u2019ailleurs, le discours \u00absouverainiste\u00bb ou anti-mondialisation desdits \u00abpopulistes\u00bb est probablement l\u2019une des cl\u00e9s de leur succ\u00e8s. Il correspond \u00e0 un d\u00e9sir de plus en plus profond, de la part des peuples, de \u00abrapatrier\u00bb leurs classes dirigeantes, afin qu\u2019elles ne se d\u00e9filent plus. Afin qu\u2019il redevienne possible d\u2019exiger qu\u2019elles assument leurs devoirs autant qu\u2019elles jouissent de leurs droits, et qu\u2019elles rendent \u00e0 la collectivit\u00e9 une part au moins de ce qu\u2019elles ont re\u00e7u, c\u2019est-\u00e0-dire beaucoup (s\u00e9curit\u00e9 des biens et des personnes, syst\u00e8me de sant\u00e9, syst\u00e8me \u00e9ducatif, etc.). Enfin et concernant le personnel politique, son \u00abrapatriement\u00bb et le fait de refaire co\u00efncider les mandats nationaux avec la conduite effective des politiques, est le seul moyen de rendre \u00e0 nouveau possible l\u2019exercice d\u2019un contr\u00f4le d\u00e9mocratique normal.\n\nCela est-il possible? Le moins que l\u2019on puisse dire est que pour l\u2019heure, on n\u2019en prend pas le chemin. \u00c0 l\u2019inverse et jour apr\u00e8s jour, en m\u00eame temps que l\u2019on \u00abd\u00e9passe\u00bb les nations et que l\u2019on d\u00e9truit l\u2019\u00c9tat, c\u2019est la d\u00e9mocratie qu\u2019on abolit.\n\nSource : Le Figaro, Coralie Delaume, 20-04-2018\n\nNous vous proposons cet article afin d'\u00e9largir votre champ de r\u00e9flexion. Cela ne signifie pas forc\u00e9ment que nous approuvions la vision d\u00e9velopp\u00e9e ici. Dans tous les cas, notre responsabilit\u00e9 s'arr\u00eate aux propos que nous reportons ici. [Lire plus]Nous ne sommes nullement engag\u00e9s par les propos que l'auteur aurait pu tenir par ailleurs - et encore moins par ceux qu'il pourrait tenir dans le futur. Merci cependant de nous signaler par le formulaire de contact toute information concernant l'auteur qui pourrait nuire \u00e0 sa r\u00e9putation."}
-{"text": "Just as the 40th birthday of the Commodore PET rolled around I managed to get a Commodore PET 2001 with the itty bitty calculator keyboard and a built-in cassette drive. The cassette drive on my model is some off-the-shelf cassette player that Commodore hacked up with a bandsaw and mounted under the lid of the PET.\n\nOf course being 40 years old the belt on the tape drive had long since become stiff and brittle and broke into pieces when I removed the tape drive from the PET. Instead of trying to hunt down a replacement I wanted to see if I could make my own using my 3D printer! I've also got a few other devices that need new belts so this seemed like a worthwhile experiment.\n\nThe first thing I'd need to make a new belt would be the measurements. Since the old belt was ruined I took measurements off the tape drive by wrapping a string around all the pulleys and getting it tight. I didn't try to tie a knot but just taped the ends together. After pulling the string off the pulleys I measured how long the loop was and then doubled that to get a circumference of 256mm. I reduced the circumference to 95% giving me 243 and divided that by \u03c0 to give me a diameter of 77mm. The numbers don't need to be perfect, just close, since the belt will stretch.\n\nBecause the old belt was square, modeling the belt in Fusion 360 was super easy. Just draw a circle the right diameter, then offset a second circle by 1.18mm, the thickness of the belt. Then extrude the ring up by 1.18mm and that's it! I printed out the replacement belt in NinjaFlex with 100% infill. I did end up slowing the perimeters down quite a bit because of how thin the belt was and I wanted to give the NinjaFlex time to stick.\n\nThe belt fit perfectly on the first try! The Commodore PET tape drive is working perfectly now and I'm able to load and save programs to cassette. I'm curious how long the NinjaFlex belt will last. Will it be many years or even decades before it needs to be replaced? Will I be the one to replace it next time?"}
-{"text": "\n\nFirst I would like to thank everyone for the support in those hard times for me and my family.\n\nIn approximately 48 hours Nikon will announce the D610 camera. As I already mentioned, the D610 specs will be almost identical to the D600. The only known difference seems to be the improved fps rate (6 vs. 5.5) and a new weather sealing identical to the D800 (the D600 only had \"extensive\" weather sealing in \"various points of the body\"). The D610 will be made in Thailand (just like the D600).\n\nI will try to have some basic D610 coverage next week."}
-{"text": "Stir it up! Simple, Satisfying Stir-Fry\n\nBy John DiGilio in Food on Aug 13, 2012 9:35PM\n\nLet's face it. Despite your usual eating habits, sometimes you just want something that is easy to prepare, cooks up quickly, and satisfies a healthy appetite (not to mention an appetite for something healthy!). Of course, you could just eat out. But that gets old and expensive. When you have a hankering for something hearty and fast, why not consider a stir fry? Even the most inexperienced of cooks can whip up one of these. It just takes a pan, some tasty ingredients, and a little know-how.\n\nThe beauty of stir frying, aside from its ease and speed, is that you can really have fun with it. From selecting what you will put in it to how you will serve it, the sky is the limit. As a method of cooking, it allows you to seal in the freshness and juices of meats, vegetables, poultry, and fish. Unless you are over-or-under cooking, it really is hard to go wrong. To make your stir fry experience go more smoothly, we have a few simple tips and a great recipe for you.\n\nFor a foolproof fry up:\n\n\n\nStart fresh when possible: The fresher your ingredients, the better. It is hard to beat that \"just off the farm\" taste. But using frozen or canned vegetables and meats works almost just as well. With the farm markets really ramping up for the season, you can get a wide variety of fresh meats and veggies rather inexpensively right now. You do not need a lot of ingredients, as stir fry, when done right, can be quite filling.\n\nThe fresher your ingredients, the better. It is hard to beat that \"just off the farm\" taste. But using frozen or canned vegetables and meats works almost just as well. With the farm markets really ramping up for the season, you can get a wide variety of fresh meats and veggies rather inexpensively right now. You do not need a lot of ingredients, as stir fry, when done right, can be quite filling.\n\nBe creative!: A good stir fry is like a blank canvas awaiting your artistry. Play around with colors, textures, and tastes. Red peppers, leafy greens and legumes, and dark cabbages make the dish as visually appealing as it is healthy. Contrast the soft bite of mushrooms with the crisp crunch of fresh broccoli or green beans to give you teeth a treat. Tease the tongue by adding the kick of hot peppers or ginger to the sweetness of peas or corn. Sauces and spices can be changed up to really make the flavors complex.\n\nA good stir fry is like a blank canvas awaiting your artistry. Play around with colors, textures, and tastes. Red peppers, leafy greens and legumes, and dark cabbages make the dish as visually appealing as it is healthy. Contrast the soft bite of mushrooms with the crisp crunch of fresh broccoli or green beans to give you teeth a treat. Tease the tongue by adding the kick of hot peppers or ginger to the sweetness of peas or corn. Sauces and spices can be changed up to really make the flavors complex.\n\nPrepare EVERYTHING in advance: This dish is called a stir fry for a reason. Both stir and fry are active words and you have got to keep doing both throughout the actual cooking. The idea is to preserve the taste and nutritional integrity of your ingredients. Getting distracted by having to chop or mix something outside means that you have to take your eyes and attention off the pan. That is a sure fire way to either burn your meal or over cook it to the point of blandness. Make sure eveyrthing is chopped and ready before you begin. It's eyes on the prize here folks.\n\nThis dish is called a stir fry for a reason. Both stir and fry are active words and you have got to keep doing both throughout the actual cooking. The idea is to preserve the taste and nutritional integrity of your ingredients. Getting distracted by having to chop or mix something outside means that you have to take your eyes and attention off the pan. That is a sure fire way to either burn your meal or over cook it to the point of blandness. Make sure eveyrthing is chopped and ready before you begin. It's eyes on the prize here folks.\n\nCook in stages: Crafting a delicious stir fry is a sort of building process. You lay the foundation and work your way up to perfection. You start by heating the oil and prepping the pan. Next your move to add your base flavors (ginger, minced garlic, spice pods, etc.). If you are using meat, that goes next. Cook it until it almost done and then set aside to add back in at the end. You can finish cooking it through with the final ingredients of the dish. Next, you move through the vegetables and other additions, working with those that need the most time to cook first. For instance, tough vegetables like broccoli should be added before more delicate, leafy greens. You keep adding and building (remembering to re-add the meat at the end) until everything is cooked through.\n\nCrafting a delicious stir fry is a sort of building process. You lay the foundation and work your way up to perfection. You start by heating the oil and prepping the pan. Next your move to add your base flavors (ginger, minced garlic, spice pods, etc.). If you are using meat, that goes next. Cook it until it almost done and then set aside to add back in at the end. You can finish cooking it through with the final ingredients of the dish. Next, you move through the vegetables and other additions, working with those that need the most time to cook first. For instance, tough vegetables like broccoli should be added before more delicate, leafy greens. You keep adding and building (remembering to re-add the meat at the end) until everything is cooked through.\n\nServe with style: Whether you plan to present your masterpiece as a main dish or a tasty side, there is no one way to serve a stir fry. The popular choices, of course, include serving it atop a bowl of rice or a bed of noodles. But why be cliche? We have had stir fry served by itself as an accompaniment to the entree. We have even had it served over quinoa and couscous. Let your tastes and moods take over here and do not be afraid to experiment. If you have done it right, your stir fry is simply going to be good.\n\n\n\nYes, crafting a healthy, tasty, and satisfying is just that easy. Sure, there is a lot that can go wrong. But if you are having fun and tasting along the way, it is hard to really make a mess of this meal. The stir fry lends itself well to cooking with others and is a great way to put those left over vegetables as well as other tasty odds and ends to good use. It is also as economical as it is easy. Below is one of our favorite stir fry recipes. This blend of fresh kale and crispy radishes is at once both sweet and spicy. Let us know what you think.\n\nSimple Kale & Radish Stir Fry\n\n1 bunch of fresh kale\n\n1 bunch of fresh radishes (Easter egg radishes work great!)\n\n1 package of fresh soy noodles or similar soft noodles\n\n2 tablespoons of canola oil\n\n1 tablespoon of low-sodium soy sauce\n\n2 tablespoons of stir fry sauce\n\nPinch of Chinese 5 Spice Powder or similar stir fry seasoning blend\n\nSriracha or similar hot sauce to taste\n\nPrep: Trim and wash radishes. Slice into small rounds. Wash and dry kale. Remove tough spines before tearing leaves into bite-sized portions. Chop noodles into bit-sized portions.\n\nCooking: Begin by heating your wok or frying pan over medium-high heat. Drizzel oil around pan, being sure to coat cooking surface. When oil is hot, add radish slices, stirring immediately. While stirring, radishes will begin to soften and turn translucent. As soon as you see this, stir in the kale pieces. While stirring, sprinkle in a pinch of Five Spice Powder or stir fry seasoning blend. Stir to coat. Add soy sauce and continue to stir. When kale begins to shine and turn a deep, bold green, add noodles. Keep stirring. Drizzle in stir fry sauce and stir to coat all ingredients. Add hot sauce to taste. Stir and mix until all ingredients are heated through. Be sure to not let any of the vegetables or noodles stick to the pan. When done, serve and enjoy."}
-{"text": "About US$ 13\n\nGet enamel pins for an early discount price!\n\nEstimated delivery Apr 2019"}
-{"text": "You asked. Sporting Kansas City listened.\n\nThe club's new retro jersey is now available at MLSstore.com, giving fans who can't attend Sunday's Retro Night match the opportunity to purchase the kit online.\n\n\ud83c\udfb6 Oh when the Wiz...\n\n\n\nYour first look at the official 2019 #SKCRetroNight top!\n\n\n\nAvailable for matchday pre-order April 29. On sale at May 5 #SKCvATL match. pic.twitter.com/8F1vpZJSBL \u2014 Sporting KC (@SportingKC) April 22, 2019\n\nSporting revealed the new retro top last month with photographs of MLS All-Star defender Graham Zusi, taken at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri. Zusi dons the jersey in front of the iconic Shuttlecocks \u2014 created in 1994 by the husband and wife team of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen \u2014 on the Nelson-Atkins south front lawn.\n\nContinuing a long-standing Retro Night tradition, supporters will have the chance to purchase the retro top at SportingStyle locations inside Children's Mercy Park on Sunday when Sporting hosts reigning MLS Cup champion Atlanta United FC at 8 p.m. CT. Ticket holders can also pre-order their retro jersey at SportingStyle.com and pick it up Sunday on the Toyota Plaza.\n\nThe 2019 retro kit is Sporting\u2019s second special-edition jersey to be unveiled through photography at the Nelson-Atkins, following the release of the adidas Parley jersey in early April. Sporting will continue to forge an innovative partnership with the Nelson-Atkins throughout the year, strengthening ties to a vibrant and growing arts community while supporting a variety of upcoming initiatives at the world-class Kansas City landmark."}
-{"text": "Regardless of your height or body mass index (BMI), you should try to lose weight if your waist is:\n\n94cm (37in) or more for men\n\n80cm (31.5in) or more for women\n\nYou're at very high risk of some serious health conditions and should see a GP if your waist is:\n\n102cm (40in) or more for men\n\n88cm (34.5in) or more for women\n\nThis is because your risk of getting some health problems is affected by where you store your body fat, as well as by your weight.\n\nCarrying too much fat around your middle (waist) can make it more likely for you to get conditions such as:\n\nBody mass index (BMI) is a measure that uses your height and weight to work out if your weight is healthy.\n\nUse our BMI calculator to find out your BMI."}
-{"text": "Battlefield series producer Patrick Bach has told Gamerzines that the 360 version of Battlefield 3 will look \u201cstandard-def\u201d without the installation of the game\u2019s texture pack, but insisted it isn\u2019t Frosbite 2 demanding use of the upgrade.\n\nThe texture pack was announced earlier this month.\n\n\u201cThe thing with the 360 is that you need to be able to give consumers a game where you don\u2019t have to install it on a hard drive, because there are 360s without a hard drive,\u201d said Bach.\n\n\u201cSo we need to give you the option of installing it, rather than just demanding it. You could call it a \u2018standard-def\u2019 version for the 360 if you don\u2019t have a hard-drive.\u201d\n\nBach went on to point out that DICE\u2019s goal remained the same with Battlefield 3, regardless of platform: to push hardware boundaries.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re really trying to push the limits of what we can do on the consoles and the PC. Our goal is to see how we can utilise as many of the systems that you actually have in your machine that some people haven\u2019t utilised before,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cSome [developers] just do it like, if it doesn\u2019t fit into memory we just make a lesser game. We don\u2019t do that. For us, it\u2019s about how we can give you the most game ever even though the hardware is over five years old.\u201d\n\nBF3 releases next week on PS3, 360 and PC."}
-{"text": "Christine Blasey Ford, the California woman who alleges Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school, is willing to \u201cprovide her firsthand knowledge\u201d to the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, her attorneys said Saturday, and the committee has tentatively agreed to hold a hearing on Thursday.\n\nLawyers for Ford, a research psychologist at Palo Alto University, said they want another meeting with committee staffers to negotiate her appearance, however, meaning a resolution to the politically sensitive standoff is not yet certain.\n\nIn an email to the Judiciary Committee, Ford\u2019s lawyers said they were \u201cdisappointed with the leaks and the bullying that have tainted the process\u201d since Ford\u2019s name and allegations first surfaced last weekend, abruptly putting Kavanaugh\u2019s nomination into jeopardy.\n\nThe Senate committee tentatively agreed to let Ford testify Thursday, the Associated Press reported late Saturday, although it\u2019s not clear if Kavanaugh will face off against his accuser, or who will conduct the questioning. Representatives of the committee will speak to Ford\u2019s lawyers Sunday to continue working out details.\n\n\nSen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), the committee chairman, had not spoken publicly about the new developments as of late Saturday. He may yet decide to move forward with a committee vote on Kavanaugh on Monday, as he had wanted, or postpone a vote to accommodate Ford\u2019s requests.\n\nOther Republicans on the committee expressed frustration at the latest communication, with some dismissing it as a delaying tactic for partisan purposes less than two months before the midterm election.\n\n\u201cThis is exactly where we were on Monday morning \u2014 without agreeing to a date, time, and terms we are no closer to hearing from Dr Ford then we were when her lawyers said Dr. Ford was willing to testify during their media tour,\u201d Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) tweeted Saturday.\n\nFord\u2019s allegation that an inebriated Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed and attempted to remove her clothing while muffling her cries at a party in the early 1980s, when both were students at elite private high schools near Washington, D.C., has roiled Kavanaugh\u2019s expected confirmation.\n\n\nPresident Trump weighed in Friday, tweeting, \u201cIf the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents.\u201d\n\nIn response, tens of thousands of Americans began using the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport to describe their own experiences with assault.\n\nKavanaugh has vigorously denied Ford\u2019s accusation. In a statement Saturday, White House spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the nominee is \u201cready, willing and eager to testify as soon as possible.\u201d\n\nRepublican leaders need to tread softly as they work to get Kavanaugh onto the Supreme Court with a slim, 51-to-49-seat majority in the Senate. His confirmation could shift the ideological makeup of the nation\u2019s highest court for decades.\n\n\nSeveral Senate Republicans have indicated they are eager to hear from Ford and then move forward with the process, fearful that repeated delays will prevent Kavanaugh from assuming the bench.\n\nBut some GOP senators considered likeliest to join Democrats in voting against Kavanaugh have emphasized that they aren\u2019t comfortable moving ahead without hearing directly from Ford. They will be closely watching how the Judiciary Committee treats her.\n\nGrassley has agreed to Ford\u2019s requests to allow just one TV camera to be in the hearing room and to limit news media access, to provide breaks during the testimony, and to keep Kavanaugh out of the room while Ford testifies.\n\nBut he balked at her requests that Kavanaugh testify first, that only senators \u2014 and not committee attorneys \u2014 ask questions, and that subpoenas be issued to compel other potential witnesses to testify.\n\n\nDemocrats on the committee have joined Ford in pushing for those stipulations, saying that senators have a responsibility to ask the questions, and accusing Republicans of not taking the accusation seriously by rushing the hearing.\n\nRepublicans hope to avoid a repeat of the divisive confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas in 1991, and the politically awkward optics of a panel of men \u2014 in the #MeToo era \u2014 questioning a woman alleging being the victim of a sexual attack. All GOP members of the committee are male. They have pushed for staff or outside counsel to ask Ford and Kavanaugh questions.\n\nSen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the highest-ranking Democrat on the committee, accused Republicans of bullying Ford and said there were unpleasant echoes of how Thomas\u2019 accuser, Anita Hill, was treated before Thomas was confirmed.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s clear that Republicans have learned nothing over the last 27 years,\u201d Feinstein said Friday. \u201cBullying a survivor of attempted rape in order to confirm a nominee \u2014 particularly at a time when she\u2019s receiving death threats \u2014 is an extreme abuse of power.\u201d\n\n\nFord first contacted Feinstein in a letter in July, seeking confidentiality. After Ford\u2019s name and allegations became public last weekend, Feinstein was criticized by Republicans and her general election opponent, Democratic California state Sen. Kevin de Le\u00f3n, for not sharing her information before Kavanaugh had undergone his confirmation hearings.\n\nSpokesmen for Grassley and Feinstein did not return requests for comment Saturday.\n\nAfter a week of mostly silence from Ford\u2019s attorneys, Grassley initially set a 5 p.m. Friday deadline for Ford to make a decision on whether to testify, but then postponed that to 10 p.m., adding that if she did not reply the committee would go forward with a hearing Monday without her and vote on Kavanaugh\u2019s nomination.\n\nFord\u2019s attorneys asked late Friday evening for an extra day to consult with their client, saying the Republicans\u2019 deadline was \u201caggressive and artificial.\u201d\n\n\nGrassley said Friday he would give Ford more time to make a decision, but signaled his patience was running thin. \u201cDr Ford if u changed ur mind say so so we can move on I want to hear ur testimony. Come to us or we to u,\u201d he tweeted.\n\nIn a separate development, a top aide leading the Republican response on the Judiciary Committee abruptly resigned late Friday over an allegation of sexual harassment.\n\nNBC News reported Saturday that Garrett Ventry resigned after the network questioned a claim made against him when he was employed by the North Carolina General Assembly. Ventry has denied any wrongdoing.\n\nThe latest from Washington \u00bb\n\n\nMore stories from Sarah D. Wire \u00bb\n\nsarah.wire@latimes.com\n\nFollow @sarahdwire on Twitter\n\nUPDATES:\n\n\n5:55 p.m.: This story was updated with the committee\u2019s tentative agreement to let Ford testify on Thursday.\n\n3:28 p.m.: This story was updated with details of Ford\u2019s offer to testify.\n\n1:25 p.m.: This story was updated with details of Ford\u2019s offer.\n\n11:45 a.m.: This story was updated to say Ford had offered to testify.\n\n\nThis story was originally posted at 10:20 a.m."}
-{"text": "Selection for Collective Aggressiveness Favors Social Susceptibility in Social Spiders (2018) Pruitt et al., Current Biology 28(1)\n\nThe Crux\n\nSocially-influential leaders can have a large effect on the actions of any group. Think of that one person in your life that everyone looks to when it\u2019s time to make a decision; whether it\u2019s something trivial like where to go for dinner, or something more important like whether or not to take that job on the other side of the country, these individuals make a large impact in their social circles. This can also be seen in the natural world, like the alpha of a wolf pack, or the matriarchs of an elephant troop or an orca pod. These focal individuals greatly influence the actions and success of their groups.\n\nIn order to determine not only how important these influential individuals are, but also how much the \u201csocial susceptibility\u201d of the followers matters, the researchers in this paper used a species of social spider in two different habitat types. By using both arid and wet environments and analyzing both sides of the influence coin, this study was able to accurately determine the importance of both influencing and being influenced in different ecosystems.\n\nDid You Know: Social Spiders You read correctly, spiders can also be social organisms. Like termites and ants, these social spiders live in colonies of a few thousand individuals. Most of the spiders are female, and they do most of the work within the colony, such as prey capture, web maintenance, and parental care. Bold individuals are defined as those that put themselves at risk, and they make up anywhere from 3% to 10% of the total colony. Although only one in ten spiders (at most) are bold, their willingness to take risks mean that they are more likely to collect prey items and influence the other, less bold spiders to participate in prey capture.\n\nHow it Works\n\nThe authors set up 242 colonies of spiders (Stegodyphus dumicula), each containing 19 shy spiders and 1 bold spider, and the boldness of the spider varied from slightly more bold than the shy to vastly bolder than the shy spiders. To measure how much of an influence these bold individuals had, the authors presented simulated prey to the colony and recorded how many spiders responded. They simulated prey by vibrating the nest. They vibrated the nest using a vibrator. I\u2019m not joking.\n\nIn order to determine what effect influential, bold spiders had on 1) colony foraging success 2) colony survival and 3) colony reproductive success, the authors set up multiple colonies which experienced various degrees of rainfall. This design allowed for the authors to determine 1) how these influential spiders influenced the colony dynamics in general and 2) how these dynamics were different in arid, prey-sparse environments and wet, prey-rich but also predator-rich environments.\n\nTo determine if the leader-follower dynamic was more dependent on either influential, bold leaders or easily-influenced, shy followers the authors set up artificial colonies in the lab. These colonies had either bold leaders from arid sites mixed with shy followers from wet sites, or bold leaders from wet sites mixed with shy followers from wet sites.\n\nWhat they found out\n\nAt the arid sites, colonies with a bold spider at the boldest end of the spectrum were 300% more aggressive than those with a bold spider from the other end. Interestingly, there was no difference in the aggression levels between colonies with and without bolder individuals in the wet sites. This means that the shy spiders only altered their foraging habits to fit those of the bold spider in the prey-sparse, dry environments. The authors found a similar result on colony survival and reproductive success, in that only the colonies with bolder spiders in the arid environments were more successful than those without bolder spiders.\n\nIn the artificial colonies, the shy spiders from the wet sites were not influenced by the bold spiders from the arid sites. However, the bold spiders from the wet sites were able to influence the shy spiders from the dry sites. What this tells us is the shy spiders from wet sites are not easily influenced to change their foraging habits, while shy spiders from dry sites are subject to the influence of a bold leader.\n\nProblems?\n\nWhile the experiment was carefully controlled and well-executed, there are some differences between naturally-occurring spider colonies in arid and wet environments. Spider colonies in arid environments are 40% larger than their wet counterparts, but the individual spiders are themselves smaller. In addition, wet environment colonies have a larger proportion of bold individuals than arid colonies (5.4% compared to 3.6%). Because the authors set up equal colony sizes in the two different habitats (as any scientist should do to ensure a good experiment), they may have affected the natural dynamics of these spiders.\n\nSo What?\n\nThis paper and the experiments within have shown that the leader-follower dynamic is dependent not on the strength of a bold and influential leader, but on the willingness of the shy followers to be influenced. While social spiders differ from other organisms in many respects, it is interesting to think what this could mean for the rest of the animal kingdom. We tend to think of the strong and charismatic leader of a group as the most important part of the equation, but it may be that their influence only matters because the followers are \u201clooking\u201d for some direction in their own lives."}
-{"text": "\uff3b\u5317\u4eac \uff11\uff19\u65e5 \u30ed\u30a4\u30bf\u30fc\uff3d - \u4e2d\u56fd\u56fd\u5bb6\u7d71\u8a08\u5c40\u304c\uff11\uff19\u65e5\u767a\u8868\u3057\u305f\uff12\uff10\uff11\uff15\u5e74\u7b2c\uff14\u30fb\u56db\u534a\u671f\u306e\u56fd\u5185\u7dcf\u751f\u7523\uff08\uff27\uff24\uff30\uff09\u4f38\u3073\u7387\u306f\u3001\u524d\u5e74\u540c\u671f\u6bd4\uff16\uff0e\uff18\uff05\u3068\u306a\u3063\u305f\u3002\u5e02\u5834\u4e88\u60f3\u3068\u4e00\u81f4\u3057\u305f\u3082\u306e\u306e\u3001\u524d\u56db\u534a\u671f\u306e\uff16\uff0e\uff19\uff05\u304b\u3089\u920d\u5316\u3057\u3001\u4e16\u754c\u7684\u306a\u91d1\u878d\u5371\u6a5f\u306b\u898b\u821e\u308f\u308c\uff16\uff0e\uff12\uff05\u6210\u9577\u3068\u306a\u3063\u305f\uff10\uff19\u5e74\u7b2c\uff11\u30fb\u56db\u534a\u671f\u4ee5\u964d\u3067\u6700\u3082\u4f4e\u3044\u6c34\u6e96\u3068\u306a\u3063\u305f\u3002\n\n\uff11\u6708\uff11\uff19\u65e5\u3001\u4e2d\u56fd\u56fd\u5bb6\u7d71\u8a08\u5c40\u304c\u767a\u8868\u3057\u305f\uff12\uff10\uff11\uff15\u5e74\u7b2c\uff14\u30fb\u56db\u534a\u671f\u306e\u56fd\u5185\u7dcf\u751f\u7523\uff08\uff27\uff24\uff30\uff09\u4f38\u3073\u7387\u306f\u3001\u524d\u5e74\u540c\u671f\u6bd4\uff16\uff0e\uff18\uff05\u3068\u306a\u3063\u305f\u3002\u5e02\u5834\u4e88\u60f3\u3068\u4e00\u81f4\u3057\u305f\u3002\u5317\u4eac\u3067\uff13\u6708\u64ae\u5f71\uff08\uff12\uff10\uff11\uff16\u5e74 \u30ed\u30a4\u30bf\u30fc/Kim Kyung Hoon\uff09\n\n\u8ffd\u52a0\u306e\u666f\u6c17\u523a\u6fc0\u7b56\u3092\u8b1b\u3058\u308b\u3088\u3046\u5f53\u5c40\u3078\u306e\u5727\u529b\u304c\u5f37\u307e\u308a\u305d\u3046\u3060\u3002\n\n\uff12\uff10\uff11\uff15\u5e74\u901a\u5e74\u306e\uff27\uff24\uff30\u4f38\u3073\u7387\u306f\u524d\u5e74\u6bd4\uff16\uff0e\uff19\uff05\u3067\u3001\u653f\u5e9c\u76ee\u6a19\u306e\uff17\uff05\u524d\u5f8c\u306b\u6cbf\u3046\u5185\u5bb9\u3068\u306a\u3063\u305f\u3002\u305f\u3060\u3001\uff11\uff19\uff19\uff10\u5e74\u4ee5\u6765\uff12\uff15\u5e74\u3076\u308a\u306e\u4f4e\u6c34\u6e96\u3068\u306a\u3063\u305f\u3002\u30a8\u30b3\u30ce\u30df\u30b9\u30c8\u4e88\u60f3\u3082\uff16\uff0e\uff19\uff05\u6210\u9577\u3060\u3063\u305f\u3002\n\n\u30ed\u30a4\u30bf\u30fc\u8abf\u67fb\u306b\u3088\u308b\u30a2\u30ca\u30ea\u30b9\u30c8\u4e88\u60f3\u3067\u306f\u3001\u4e2d\u56fd\u7d4c\u6e08\u306f\u4eca\u5e74\u3082\u920d\u5316\u3057\u3001\u653f\u5e9c\u304c\u8ca1\u653f\u51fa\u52d5\u3092\u5897\u3084\u3057\u3066\u8ffd\u52a0\u5229\u4e0b\u3052\u306b\u52d5\u3044\u305f\u3068\u3057\u3066\u3082\u6210\u9577\u7387\u306f\uff16\uff0e\uff15\uff05\u306b\u4f4e\u4e0b\u3059\u308b\u3068\u898b\u8fbc\u307e\u308c\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\n\n\u4e2d\u56fd\u7d4c\u6e08\u306f\uff12\u6841\u6210\u9577\u6642\u4ee3\u304b\u3089\uff11\u6841\u53f0\u534a\u3070\u306e\u3088\u308a\u6301\u7d9a\u53ef\u80fd\u306a\u6210\u9577\u6642\u4ee3\u306b\u79fb\u884c\u3057\u3066\u304a\u308a\u3001\u4eca\u306e\u3068\u3053\u308d\u30cf\u30fc\u30c9\u30e9\u30f3\u30c7\u30a3\u30f3\u30b0\u306e\u5146\u5019\u306f\u898b\u3089\u308c\u3066\u3044\u306a\u3044\u3002\n\n\u4e00\u65b9\u3067\u3001\u4e2d\u56fd\u7d4c\u6e08\u7d71\u8a08\u306e\u6b63\u78ba\u3055\u3092\u3081\u3050\u3063\u3066\u306f\u61d0\u7591\u7684\u306a\u898b\u65b9\u304c\u6839\u5f37\u304f\u3042\u308a\u3001\u5b9f\u969b\u306e\u6210\u9577\u7387\u306f\u7d71\u8a08\u3092\u5927\u5e45\u306b\u4e0b\u56de\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3068\u306e\u58f0\u3082\u4e00\u90e8\u306b\u805e\u304b\u308c\u3001\u4e16\u754c\u7d4c\u6e08\u306e\u61f8\u5ff5\u6750\u6599\u3068\u306a\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\n\n\u7b2c\uff14\u56db\u534a\u671f\u306e\u4e2d\u56fd\uff27\uff24\uff30\u4f38\u3073\u7387\u306f\u524d\u56db\u534a\u671f\u6bd4\u3067\u306f\uff11\uff0e\uff16\uff05\u3068\u306a\u3063\u305f\u3002\u7b2c\uff13\u30fb\u56db\u534a\u671f\u306e\uff11\uff0e\uff18\uff05\u304b\u3089\u920d\u5316\u3057\u305f\u307b\u304b\u3001\u4e88\u60f3\u306e\uff11\uff0e\uff17\uff05\u3082\u4e0b\u56de\u3063\u305f\u3002\n\n\uff1c\u305d\u306e\u4ed6\u7d4c\u6e08\u7d71\u8a08\u3082\u3055\u3048\u305a\uff1e\n\n\u540c\u6642\u306b\u767a\u8868\u3055\u308c\u305f\u305d\u306e\u4ed6\u306e\u4e2d\u56fd\u7d4c\u6e08\u7d71\u8a08\u3082\u3055\u3048\u306a\u3044\u5185\u5bb9\u3068\u306a\u3063\u305f\u3002\n\n\uff11\uff12\u6708\u306e\u9271\u5de5\u696d\u751f\u7523\u306f\u524d\u5e74\u540c\u6708\u6bd4\uff15\uff0e\uff19\uff05\u5897\u3002\u5897\u52a0\u7387\u306f\u4e88\u60f3\u306e\uff16\uff0e\uff10\uff05\u3092\u4e0b\u56de\u3063\u305f\u3053\u3068\u306b\u52a0\u3048\u3001\uff11\uff11\u6708\u306e\uff16\uff0e\uff12\uff05\u304b\u3089\u7e2e\u5c0f\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\uff11\uff12\u6708\u306e\u5c0f\u58f2\u58f2\u4e0a\u9ad8\u306f\u524d\u5e74\u6bd4\uff11\uff11\uff0e\uff11\uff05\u306e\u5897\u52a0\u3002\u3053\u3061\u3089\u3082\u30d7\u30e9\u30b9\u5e45\u306f\u4e88\u60f3\u306e\uff11\uff11\uff0e\uff13\uff05\u3092\u4e0b\u56de\u3063\u305f\u307b\u304b\u3001\u524d\u6708\u306e\uff11\uff11\uff0e\uff12\uff05\u304b\u3089\u920d\u5316\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\uff11\uff15\u5e74\u901a\u5e74\u306e\u56fa\u5b9a\u8cc7\u7523\u6295\u8cc7\u4f38\u3073\u7387\u306f\u524d\u5e74\u6bd4\uff11\uff10\uff0e\uff10\uff05\u3068\u306a\u308a\u3001\u4e88\u60f3\u306e\uff11\uff10\uff0e\uff12\uff05\u306b\u5c4a\u304b\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f\u3002\uff11\u2500\uff11\uff11\u6708\u306e\u4f38\u3073\u7387\u306f\uff11\uff10\uff0e\uff12\uff05\u3060\u3063\u305f\u3002\n\n\uff1c\u4e0d\u52d5\u7523\u5e02\u5834\u306e\u4f4e\u8ff7\uff1e\n\n\u62db\u5546\u8a3c\u5238\u306e\u30a8\u30b3\u30ce\u30df\u30b9\u30c8\u3001\u5f35\u4e00\u5e73\u6c0f\u306f\u3001\u4e2d\u56fd\u7d4c\u6e08\u304c\u76db\u308a\u4e0a\u304c\u3089\u306a\u3044\u6700\u5927\u306e\u8981\u56e0\u306f\u30bb\u30e1\u30f3\u30c8\u3084\u9244\u92fc\u3068\u3044\u3063\u305f\u539f\u6750\u6599\u9700\u8981\u306e\u52d5\u5411\u3092\u5de6\u53f3\u3059\u308b\u4e0d\u52d5\u7523\u5e02\u5834\u306e\u4f4e\u8ff7\u3060\u3068\u6307\u6458\u3002\u300c\uff12\uff10\uff11\uff15\u5e74\u306b\u3068\u3089\u308c\u305f\u4e0d\u52d5\u7523\u306b\u5bfe\u3059\u308b\u652f\u63f4\u7b56\u306e\u52b9\u679c\u306f\u307e\u3060\u898b\u3089\u308c\u3066\u3044\u306a\u3044\u3002\uff11\uff16\u5e74\u306e\u4e2d\u56fd\u7d4c\u6e08\u306f\u4e00\u6bb5\u306e\u4e0b\u632f\u308c\u30ea\u30b9\u30af\u306b\u898b\u821e\u308f\u308c\u308b\u3060\u308d\u3046\u300d\u3068\u8ff0\u3079\u305f\u3002\n\n\u4e2d\u56fd\u56fd\u5bb6\u7d71\u8a08\u5c40\u304c\u767a\u8868\u3057\u305f\uff12\uff10\uff11\uff15\u5e74\u306e\u4e2d\u56fd\u306e\u4e0d\u52d5\u7523\u6295\u8cc7\u306f\u524d\u5e74\u6bd4\uff11\uff0e\uff10\uff05\u5897\u52a0\u3002\u4f38\u3073\u7387\u306f\u7d04\uff17\u5e74\u3076\u308a\u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-{"text": "[Note: The Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 provide (Rule 36.11) that unless the Court otherwise orders, a judgment or order is taken to be entered when it is recorded in the Court's computerised court record system. Setting aside and variation of judgments or orders is dealt with by Rules 36.15, 36.16, 36.17 and 36.18. Parties should in particular note the time limit of fourteen days in Rule 36.16.]\n\n(1) Upon the agreement of the parties as to indemnity as to the respondent's costs, grant the appellant leave to proceed in relation to this appeal pursuant to s 471B of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), such leave to be qualified by the right of the liquidator to move the Court for any variation which he may think fit upon giving consideration to the nature of the proceedings.\n\nJudgment\n\n1BASTEN JA: The appellant, Action Paintball Games Pty Ltd, occupied an area of land at Annangrove Road, Rouse Hill in north-west Sydney where it provided facilities for two outdoor games, namely \"action paintball\" and \"laser tag\". On 16 February 2008 the respondent, Ms Bethany Barker, went to the site occupied by the appellant for her brother's birthday party, which included playing laser tag. Her brother was 12 years old, she was a day short of 10 years.\n\n2The game involved each player being equipped with a laser \"gun\" with which they attempted to \"tag\" other players and avoid being tagged themselves. The area used for the game involved two bunkers (one occupied by each team) and an area of bushland, which appeared to be a kind of open dry sclerophyll forest. There were rough tracks through the bush but also the usual fallen branches and debris. Unfortunately, the plaintiff tripped on what appears to have been a tree root and fell, suffering a significant fracture to her left elbow. She sued the appellant in negligence. (It is convenient to refer to her, as the trial judge did, as \"the plaintiff\".)\n\n3Following a trial in the District Court, Acting Judge Hungerford QC gave judgment in her favour in an amount a little over $280,000.\n\n4There is no appeal against the assessment of damages; the appeal is limited to the issue of liability and raises numerous grounds including a challenge to the finding as to how the plaintiff came to injure herself, the content of the duty of care, the nature of the alleged breach and the finding as to causation. Various provisions of the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW), and in particular those dealing with obvious risks and recreational activities, are relied upon.\n\n5Making full allowance for the plaintiff's age, her evidence that she was aware of the general kind of risks attendant on running through bushland was accepted. She was in any event given a warning as to the dangers and there is no reason to suppose that a further warning would have changed her conduct. Further, reasonable care did not require that the appellant take the precaution of removing the tree root. For these reasons the finding of liability is unsustainable. It is not necessary to address the other grounds. The appeal must be allowed and the judgment below set aside.\n\nFactual background\n\n6The young people involved in the game met at the appellant's premises about 15 minutes before the game was due to start, which was at 3pm: Tcpt, p 84(30)-(40). The member of the appellant's staff who was to referee the game spoke to the children, in the presence of the plaintiff's father, referring to what the trial judge described as \"certain safety aspects and the game's rules in accordance with his general practice\": Judgment, p 17(12). He found that the referee gave a warning that \"there's a lot of sticks and obstacles in the way, so not to run full out, because you might fall over, and hurt yourself\": p 17(13).\n\n7Shortly after the game started the plaintiff tripped. The plaintiff gave evidence that when the game started, \"we started running around\": Tcpt, p 11(17). She said that she was \"running away from someone on the other team\" along one of the paths which she described as a dirt track: Tcpt, p 11(25)-(40). Her evidence continued:\n\n\"Q. So you were running. How fast were you running?\n\nA. Jogging.\n\nQ. And then what happened?\n\nA. I looked behind me to see if, like, they were coming and then I fell over.\n\nQ. Did you notice anything about your body before you fell?\n\nA. My foot got, like, hit something.\"\n\n8She said that she then fell forward onto the ground and in particular on to her elbow. She recalled her father coming to her assistance, but in fact it seems that her brother arrived first. Her brother said that when the game started the children \"just started running, just running wherever we wanted to\": Tcpt, p 55(47). He then heard his sister scream and went to her. He described the area she was in as having \"twigs and branches everywhere\": Tcpt, p 56(20). He was then asked what he did when he heard his sister scream and said that he ran towards her. His evidence continued (Tcpt, p 57)(10):\n\n\"Q. What did you observe?\n\nA. There was a huge tree root on the ground.\n\nQ. Whereabouts in relation to her body?\n\nA. Bethany was on the ground and her feet were sticking in the tree root. She had her foot stuck to the tree root.\"\n\n9There was a challenge to the finding by the trial judge that she tripped over a tree root, but the evidence of her brother (perhaps not to be taken too literally) provided support for that finding. Her brother later pointed out the tree root in question and there was a photograph of it in evidence. The photograph also showed a considerable amount of loose leaf litter, clumps of grass and broken branches and twigs in the vicinity. There was no evidence as to its size, nor did the trial judge make a finding: it appears from the picture to have been perhaps 10cm in diameter, on the surface of the ground and clearly visible.\n\n10The plaintiff also gave evidence that she was aware of the possibility of tripping and falling when running in bushland. The trial judge made the following findings at pp 17-18:\n\n\"(14) The plaintiff's father saw no occasion at all at the time for any warning to be given to the children in the playing of the game in the bush setting; he saw no problems at all.\n\n(15) The plaintiff was then aware that in walking through the bush twigs and branches and the like may be encountered which, if a person is not keeping a lookout, can cause a trip and fall.\"\n\n11The plaintiff appears to have been a physically active girl who enjoyed playing tennis: Tcpt, p 34(25).\n\nFindings of trial judge\n\n12The trial judge accepted what he described as a common assumption that, as the occupier of the land, the supplier of equipment and the organiser of the game, the appellant owed the children a duty of care: Judgment at [45]-[46]. He noted that the \"risk of harm\" as identified by counsel for the plaintiff was \"tripping over a significant obstacle such as an exposed tree root lying across a designated path within an area where children are playing a game that encourages activity such as running to chase another contestant or attempting to avoid another chasing them\": [47]. He then noted the submission of counsel for the appellant that \"the risk of tripping and sustaining injury was obvious, known to the plaintiff and her parents and inherent having in mind the natural characteristics of the area as bushland so that there were no additional precautions the defendant could reasonably take\".\n\n13The trial judge also took into account the age, experience and personal characteristics of the plaintiff, in accordance with principles discussed by this Court in Doubleday v Kelly [2005] NSWCA 151 at [28] (Bryson JA, Young CJ in Eq and Hunt AJA agreeing) and in Carey v Lake Macquarie City Council [2007] NSWCA 4; (2007) Aust Torts Rep \u00b681-874 at [97] (McClellan CJ at CL, McColl JA and McDougall J agreeing). The trial judge then found at [49]:\n\n\"I accept the correctness of the risk of harm as identified by [counsel for the plaintiff] and that such risk was within the defendant's duty of care to the plaintiff as being a foreseeable risk.\"\n\n14Identifying the nature of the risk did not in terms identify the scope of the duty. However, in discussing breach and applying s 5B of the Civil Liability Act, his Honour reached two conclusions at [65] and [66]:\n\n\"No doubt a bush setting was chosen to provide some realism to the game. However, my view is that what was proposed was 'a game' and it was only reasonable to prepare the site by removing and keeping removed trip hazards on formed pathways but otherwise leaving the vegetation for effect.\n\n... As to the element of social utility, I have to say for myself that I have some difficulty in identifying it in the present case. Certainly, I do not consider the social utility in conducting a laser tag game in bushland justifies trip hazards being allowed to exist. They should have been removed by the defendant; they were not. The defendant should have warned the plaintiff of the hazard; it did not.\"\n\n15The trial judge turned to causation and, after identifying the relevant test in s 5D(1)(a), stated at [72]:\n\n\"Having in mind the findings I have made on the evidence as to what befell the plaintiff, I am satisfied that factual causation has been well established. ... What the circumstances did show, in my view, is that the existence of the tree root caused the plaintiff to trip, fall and thereby suffer injury. The tree root, which the defendant failed to remove or even warn about, was therefore a necessary condition in what occurred or, put another way, but for the defendant's failure to remove the root the plaintiff's fall and consequent injury would not have occurred.\"\n\n16In the course of reaching these conclusions, the trial judge also discussed the reliance placed by the defendant on ss 5H (obvious risk), 5 I (inherent risk) and 5M (recreational activity), as excluding liability. It is necessary to identify those provisions and the relevant findings. Part 1A, Division 4 of the Civil Liability Act, headed \"Assumption of Risk\" includes four provisions. The first three deal with \"obvious risk\" and so far as relevant provided, at the time of :\n\n5F Meaning of \"obvious risk \"\n\n(1) For the purposes of this Division, an obvious risk to a person who suffers harm is a risk that, in the circumstances, would have been obvious to a reasonable person in the position of that person.\n\n(2) Obvious risks include risks that are patent or a matter of common knowledge.\n\n(3) A risk of something occurring can be an obvious risk even though it has a low probability of occurring.\n\n(4) A risk can be an obvious risk even if the risk (or a condition or circumstance that gives rise to the risk) is not prominent, conspicuous or physically observable.\n\n5G Injured persons presumed to be aware of obvious risks\n\n(1) In determining liability for negligence, a person who suffers harm is presumed to have been aware of the risk of harm if it was an obvious risk, unless the person proves on the balance of probabilities that he or she was not aware of the risk.\n\n(2) For the purposes of this section, a person is aware of a risk if the person is aware of the type or kind of risk, even if the person is not aware of the precise nature, extent or manner of occurrence of the risk.\n\n5H No proactive duty to warn of obvious risk\n\n(1) A person ( the defendant ) does not owe a duty of care to another person ( the plaintiff ) to warn of an obvious risk to the plaintiff.\n\n17In discussing the application of s 5F, the trial judge held at [51]:\n\n\"The plaintiff frankly admitted, from prior experience on a couple of occasions, that in the bush twigs and branches can be encountered and that not looking can cause one to trip and fall. On its face, therefore, it may be thought that the risk here of vegetation on the pathways such as an exposed tree root providing a trip hazard was an obvious risk. I think that a reasonable person, like the plaintiff, would form that view about the bush, as indeed did Mrs Barker also.\"\n\n18The trial judge nevertheless concluded that the presence of the tree root on the pathway was not an obvious risk because:\n\n(a) this was not \"ordinary or natural bushland\" used for walking and similar activities but \"the location for the playing of a competitive game involving running\";\n\n(b) the plaintiff had never been to the land before, and\n\n(c) she had not played laser tag before.\n\n19These considerations were undoubtedly relevant to a finding of negligence or otherwise, in accordance with s 5B of the Act. However, they did not provide any reason for supposing that the risk which materialised was not an obvious risk. The first part of the trial judge's analysis, set out above, demonstrates that the risk was indeed obvious and was understood by the plaintiff. It followed, pursuant to the terms of s 5H, that there was no duty to warn.\n\n20What is puzzling, indeed, is why there was no consideration in this context of the warning actually given. That might have been relevant in two ways. First, it might in any event have satisfied a general law duty to warn; it might also have constituted part of the circumstances which made the risk obvious to a reasonable person in the position of the plaintiff. At the very least it would have prevented the plaintiff demonstrating, for the purposes of s 5G, that she was not aware of the relevant risk. Although it was raised in submissions (as noted at [44]), the trial judge gave no consideration to the operation of s 5G in this context.\n\n21The trial judge next addressed s 5 I, which provides that there is no liability in negligence for harm suffered \"as a result of the materialisation of an inherent risk\": s 5 I(1). The section defines an \"inherent risk\" as a risk of something occurring \"that cannot be avoided by the exercise of reasonable care and skill\": s 5 I(2). It does not exclude liability if there were otherwise a duty to warn of the risk: s 5 I(3). It is not necessary to consider further the scope and operation of s 5 I: this case may be determined upon other bases.\n\n22Finally, the trial judge had regard to Part 1A, Division 5, dealing with \"Recreational activity\". There was no dispute that the plaintiff was engaged in a \"recreational activity\" within s 5K. (There was no pleading that this was a \"dangerous recreational activity\" within s 5L.)\n\n23Importantly, the defendant did rely upon s 5M which relevantly provides:\n\n5M No duty of care for recreational activity where risk warning\n\n(1) A person ( the defendant ) does not owe a duty of care to another person who engages in a recreational activity ( the plaintiff ) to take care in respect of a risk of the activity if the risk was the subject of a risk warning to the plaintiff.\n\n...\n\n(3) For the purposes of subsections (1) and (2), a risk warning to a person in relation to a recreational activity is a warning that is given in a manner that is reasonably likely to result in people being warned of the risk before engaging in the recreational activity. The defendant is not required to establish that the person received or understood the warning or was capable of receiving or understanding the warning.\n\n...\n\n(5) A risk warning need not be specific to the particular risk and can be a general warning of risks that include the particular risk concerned (so long as the risk warning warns of the general nature of the particular risk).\n\n24The trial judge held that there had been no \"risk warning\". The warning which had been given to the children prior to the commencement of the game was said not to qualify because the appellant's employee \"did not warn of any specific obstacles, such as tree roots, and the warning was not that there should be no running only not to run 'full out'\": at [53].\n\nDisposition of appeal\n\n25Section 5M provides a straightforward path for disposing of this appeal. No duty of care is owed in respect of a risk of the activity, if the risk were \"the subject of a risk warning\". The trial judge held that it was not, but for reasons which should not be accepted.\n\n26The suggestion that one specific hazard should have been identified is a function of hindsight. The suggestion that children should be told not to run at all would be disproportionate to the risk and would greatly diminish the attractiveness of a game, if the instruction were followed.\n\n27A \"risk warning\" is a warning with respect to the existence of a risk. It is perfectly possible to warn of a risk without instructing the recipient as to all the steps necessary to avoid the risk: indeed, such instruction might be counterproductive. Further, an adequate warning can be given, at least in some circumstances, by reference to the general kind of risk involved without precise delineation of each separate obstacle or hazard which may be encountered: s 5M(5).\n\n28In this Court the respondent contended that the plaintiff was, because of her age, an \"incapable person\" so that the defendant might only rely upon a risk warning if the warning had been given to a parent, which he said did not happen: s 5M(2). In fact, the father appears to have been present at the time when, as the trial judge accepted, the warning was given. Further, a person is only an \"incapable person\" for the purposes of s 5M if they lack the capacity to understand the warning: s 5M(12). There was no evidence to suggest that the plaintiff fell into this category. Accordingly, the appellant's reliance on s 5M should have been upheld, with the result that it did not owe the plaintiff a relevant duty.\n\n29The trial judge, not having disposed of the claim on that basis, addressed the matter by reference to the scope of the appellant's duty and whether it was breached. For completeness it is appropriate to deal with those issues, although as a matter of principle if there is no duty, these questions cannot arise. The proposition, noted at [12] above, that the appellant owed the plaintiff a duty to take reasonable care identified the duty at too high a level. The appellant's reliance on s 5M raised a challenge to the existence of a duty of care with respect to the recreational activity which gave rise to the harm. The scope of the duty (and hence breach) should, in any event, have been identified and addressed in those terms.\n\n30There were findings of dual breaches of duty. These findings involved a potential inconsistency; if the appellant were obliged to remove the hazard, no issue of a warning would have arisen. If there were a duty to warn, it would seem that there was no absolute duty to remove the hazard. It may be inferred that the duty upheld was not to take both courses, but rather to take one or other of alternative ways of satisfying the duty of care.\n\n31The more plausible alternative is that there should have been a warning. However, it is by no means clear what warning should have been given or in what form or at what point. The trial judge made no finding in that regard. Absent such a finding, it is not possible to know whether the failure to warn was a necessary condition of the harm, for the purposes of s 5D(1). Indeed, there was no finding as to causation in respect of a failure to warn, nor was this Court invited to make such a finding. On the evidence available, it is by no means clear how such a finding could be made in favour of the plaintiff, on the balance of probabilities.\n\n32There is a further difficulty: the employee of the defendant in fact gave a warning. That warning was succinct and spoke of general risks. However, with a group of young children intent on playing a game, a longer and more precise warning may simply have lost their attention. At least when giving evidence three years later, the plaintiff had no recollection of the warning. Nor was she aware of a large notice which appears to have contained safety rules and directions (though not in terms relevant to the laser tag game). Accordingly, the evidence fell well short of determining what additional warning was required and that it would, if given, have had any relevant effect.\n\n33The lack of a finding as to causation in respect of any proposed warning indicates that the trial judge relied primarily upon the duty to remove the tree root. The question is whether such a duty could constitute a precaution which a reasonable person in the position of the defendant should have taken.\n\n34The first important consideration in assessing that question is the need to avoid reliance on hindsight. One aspect of hindsight reasoning is to focus on the specific circumstances which gave rise to harm. The questions of duty and breach must be assessed by reference to the perspective of the reasonable person in the shoes of the defendant, viewing the matter before the harm arose. As the Act requires, the burden of taking precautions must be assessed having regard to the supposed duty to avoid similar risks of harm to that which materialised. The photographs in evidence demonstrate, as the trial judge found, that the game was played in an area of natural bushland which contained clumps of grass, broken branches, tree roots, low shrubs, low hanging branches and no doubt numerous other obstacles in the way of a person seeking to run, or even walk, through the bush. Although there are said to be pathways through the bushland, there was no evidence of tracks formed otherwise than by regular use. Not only would the obligation to remove all such obstacles change the nature of the area, and hence the nature of the recreational activity, but it would be an impracticable and therefore unreasonable precaution.\n\n35Secondly, the risk of harm through tripping and falling is a common risk of daily life. It can occur inside a house, in a garden, on a pavement or roadway or in the bush. Absent a rocky environment, the risks of serious injury from a trip and fall are probably less in bushland than in some other places. That is a relevant consideration pursuant to s 5B(2)(b). Further, the likelihood that children running through the bush will avoid such hazards, even when chasing others or seeking to escape, is reasonably high. There was no evidence, apparently, of any similar injury occurring in this bushland, whilst playing laser tag. These matters are relevant to a consideration of s 5B(2)(a).\n\n36Finally, it may be noted that the primary judge was somewhat dismissive of the \"social utility\" of the activity. Whatever the nature of the game, there is social utility in providing physical activity for children in a natural environment. It is likely that the natural environment provided an attraction to the children involved, quite apart from any other benefits which may have accrued.\n\n37All of these circumstances combine to demonstrate that there was no obligation on the appellant, in exercise of its duty of reasonable care, to remove the offending tree root.\n\nConclusion\n\n38There being no duty of care in respect of the activity in which the harm was suffered and hence no liability, the appeal must be allowed and the judgment in favour of the plaintiff set aside. The order that the defendant pay the plaintiff's costs of the trial must also be set aside. The Court should make the following orders:\n\n(1) Allow the appeal and set aside orders 1-3 made in the District Court on 15 December 2011.\n\n(2) In place of those orders:\n\n(a) give judgment for the defendant;\n\n(b) order the plaintiff to pay the defendant's costs of the trial.\n\n(3) Order the respondent to pay the appellant's costs in this Court.\n\n(4) Grant the respondent a certificate under the Suitors' Fund Act 1951 (NSW).\n\n39HOEBEN JA: I agree with the reasons given by Basten JA, and with his proposed orders.\n\n40WARD JA: I agree with the reasons of Basten JA and with the orders he proposes.\n\n**********\n\nDISCLAIMER - Every effort has been made to comply with suppression orders or statutory provisions prohibiting publication that may apply to this judgment or decision. The onus remains on any person using material in the judgment or decision to ensure that the intended use of that material does not breach any such order or provision. Further enquiries may be directed to the Registry of the Court or Tribunal in which it was generated."}
-{"text": "Trees are commonly regarded as distinct entities, but the roots of many species fuse to form natural root grafts allowing the exchange of water, carbon, mineral nutrients, and microorganisms between individuals. Exploiting the phenomenon of leafless (photosynthetically inactive) tree remnants being kept alive by conspecifics, we show tight physiological coupling of a living kauri (Agathis australis) stump to conspecific neighbors. The trunk remnant displayed greatly reduced, inverted daily sap flow patterns compared with intact kauri trees. Its stem water potential showed strong diel variation with minima during daytime and maxima at night, coinciding with peak and minimal sap flow rates in neighbors, respectively. Sudden atmospherically driven changes in water relations in adjacent kauri trees were very rapidly and inversely mirrored in the living stump's water status. Such intimate hydrological coupling suggests a \u201ccommunal physiology\u201d among (conspecific) trees with far-reaching implications for our understanding of forest functioning, particularly under water shortage.\n\nAboveground most trees appear as individuals, but they are often intricately connected belowground through mycorrhizal networks and also through natural root grafts, facilitating the exchange of carbon, nitrogen, and other mineral nutrients (). While mycorrhiza-mediated nutrient transfer between trees has attracted considerable interest in recent decades (), the role of natural root grafts has received little attention over the past half century, despite some 150 woody angio- and gymnosperm species () reported to show the phenomenon globally, and accounts of more than 60% grafted individuals within a population (). It is important to distinguish between three fundamentally different types of root connections: those within an individual (self-grafting,), which are common to most, possibly all trees (); those between genetically different individuals of the same species (intraspecific grafting,); and those between different species (interspecific grafting,). While self-grafting is little surprising and its adaptive value is easily explained (e.g., increased stability and transport of water and nutrients within individuals), intra- and interspecific grafting raise important questions as to their evolutionary advantage (). Several hypotheses trying to explain this trait have been put forth, ranging from evolutionary neutrality, increased resistance to windthrow, improved water and nutrient exploitation, all the way to a parasitic nature of the phenomenon (). However, there is no consensus, and natural root grafting may have evolved several times for different reasons. The question as to the adaptive value of intraspecific root grafting becomes more challenging yet when one of the grafted individuals is a leafless tree stump, a phenomenon that was first reported in 1833 for European silver fir (Abies alba) and several times since (), including in the species we investigate here (). A \u201cliving stump\u201d without foliage, provided an intact root system, needs to receive at least carbohydrates from neighboring trees. Assuming that the grafting was in place before the tree became a leafless stump, it is far from obvious what causes conspecifics to continue the provisioning of carbohydrates to a photosynthetically inactive individual. It has been argued that the host tree may benefit from mechanical stability through enhanced soil anchorage () or through improved access to soil resources via the extended root system provided by the stump (), but no increased growth was observed in trees that were artificially grafted to living stumps (). Because carbohydrates are transported in solution, and because the transpirational pull is absent in living stumps, the question of what physiological processes orchestrate such intriguing symbioses is eminent, yet has not been addressed to date.\n\nThe Structure and Function of Mycelial Systems of Ectomycorrhizal Roots with Special Reference to Their Role in Forming Inter-plant Connections and Providing Pathways for Assimilate and Water Transport. Tree Root Systems and Their Mycorrhizas.\n\nResults and Discussion\n\nSperry et al., 1987 Sperry J.S.\n\nHolbrook N.M.\n\nZimmermann M.H.\n\nTyree M.T. Spring filling of xylem vessels in wild grapevine. 2 release rates from the bark of the living stump and neighboring kauri trees were similar (1\u20131.5 \u03bcmol m\u22122 s\u22121), with almost no diel variation in both host and stump, confirming metabolic activity and thus living tissue in the trunk remnant ( Figure 1 Living, Leafless Stump of the Southern Conifer Agathis autralis (Kauri) Show full caption Frontal view of the tree trunk remnant from the forest track (A). Oblique lateral view showing the typical gray-brown kauri bark with distinctive hammer mark pattern and decaying wood behind it (arrow) indicating the original trunk perimeter (dashed line) (B). Rear view showing a thick callus lining along the edge (arrows). The dashed line indicates the approximate original trunk perimeter (C). Figure 2 Tight Hydraulic Coupling between a Living, Leafless Stump and Neighboring Trees of the Southern Conifer Agathis autralis (Kauri) Show full caption Sap flow in two tall, intact kauri trees in close vicinity to the conspecific living stump (A and B). Vertical and horizontal sap flow in the living kauri stump (C and D). Stem water potential of the living stump (E). Air temperature (T air ) and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) (F). Daily rainfall (gray bars) and solar radiation (white circles) (G). Arrows in panels A\u2013E highlight the rapid hydraulic signal propagation between transpiring trees and the connected, non-transpiring stump. During daytime when host trees transpire vigorously, the host tree profits from a larger root system and the stem water potential (\u03a8) is low (H). During nighttime and periods of low evaporative demand, the living stump circulates water through its living tissues at \u03a8 close to zero. In the absence of transpiration, this water movement is likely driven by root pressure or osmolyte accumulation (I). Figure 3 Wood CO 2 Efflux Rates from the Stem of Tall, Intact Trees and a Living, Leafless Stump of the Southern Conifer Agathis autralis (Kauri) Show full caption Measurements were taken at breast height (intact trees) and about 30 cm above the ground (stump) in regular intervals during a sunny day. Intact trees: n = 3, stump: n = 1. Means \u00b1 SE. In living, leafless stumps, the lack of foliar transpiration implies a cyclic flow of water requiring an extensive rearrangement of water transport pathways, which prompted us to examine vertical and horizontal sap flow patterns simultaneously ( Figure 1 ). The amplitude of the normalized diel sap flow velocity (hereafter simply referred to as sap flow) in the trunk remnant was about two times larger in the vertical compared with the horizontal direction ( Figures 2 C and 2D). The stump's vertical sap flow maxima were more than five times smaller relative to the surrounding intact conspecifics ( Figures 2 A and 2B), whereas its stem water potential exhibited a pronounced diel cycle ranging from values close to 0 MPa at night to \u22123.7 MPa around midday ( Figure 2 E). Interestingly, the stump's sap flow and stem water potential were both inversely related to the water flux seen in the tall, surrounding kauri trees ( Figures 2 A\u20132E and inset). On sunny days, when neighboring trees were transpiring vigorously, little or no water movement could be detected in the living stump, neither vertically nor horizontally, but its water potential dropped to minimal values ( Figures 2 E and 2H). At night, however, when transpiration of the surrounding kauri trees was minimal, complete relaxation of the stump's water potential occurred, and its sap flow reached maximum values ( Figures 2 C and 2I). In the absence of transpiration in the tree stump, this phenomenon can only be explained by osmotically driven water movement or root pressure () ( Figures 2 H and 2I). During daytime, sudden changes in atmospheric vapor pressure deficit resulting in instantaneous sap flow reductions in adjacent kauri trees were rapidly mirrored by an equivalent, but opposite, pattern in sap flow and immediate relaxation of stem water potential in the living trunk remnant, suggesting intimate hydraulic coupling between the host tree and the stump (see arrows in Figures 2 A\u20132E). Further strong evidence for this tight hydraulic connection came to light under conditions of low evaporative demand. On two consecutive days (April 12 and 13) with either very low vapor pressure deficit or exceedingly high precipitation (ca. 80 mm on April 13), sap flow in the surrounding intact trees dropped to minimal values, whereas in the trunk remnant it stayed continuously high ( Figure 2 ). The strong reduction in transpiration of neighboring trees translated into higher water potentials and increased water availability in the soil and within the joint root system, allowing for sustained daytime sap flow rates in the living stump. The COrelease rates from the bark of the living stump and neighboring kauri trees were similar (1\u20131.5 \u03bcmol m), with almost no diel variation in both host and stump, confirming metabolic activity and thus living tissue in the trunk remnant ( Figure 3 ).\n\nLanner, 1961 Lanner R.M. Living stumps in the Sierra Nevada. The above evidence for substantial xylem flow in a living stump raises substantial questions on the anatomical, physiological, and evolutionary mechanisms that enable this process, particularly when assuming that the graft was in place before the loss of photosynthetically active tissues of one of the connected trees (). With the loss of the foliage, transpiration, and basipetal assimilate transport, the provisioning of living tissues must change considerably. This supply process must be highly efficient, as the here reported stem respiration rates suggest similar metabolic activity between the host and the living stump. The measurable horizontal and substantial vertical sap flow rates suggest that a circular, rather than unidirectional, sap flow pattern may evolve rapidly following the loss of autotrophic tissues, which may explain the 5-fold lower acropetal sap flow rates in the stump compared with the host trees. If no anatomical adaptations take place, the horizontal sap flow presumably occurs via existing vascular rays. The observed sap flow patterns and their associated (likely osmotic) regulation seem to be largely decoupled from the atmosphere, but instead highly dependent on the host trees' physiology. This stands in contrast to the way plants normally function, with both xylem and phloem transport ultimately driven by the highly negative water potential of the atmosphere, which is coupled to the plants via stomata.\n\nGraham and Bormann, 1966 Graham B.\n\nBormann F. Natural root grafts. Epstein, 1978 Epstein A.H. Root graft transmission of tree pathogens. De Lange et al., 2013 De Lange P.J.\n\nRolfe J.R.\n\nChampion P.D.\n\nCourtney S.\n\nHeenan P.B.\n\nBarkla J.W.\n\nCameron E.K.\n\nNorton D.A.\n\nHitchmough R. Conservation Status of New Zealand Indigenous Vascular Plants, 2012. Our results strongly suggest intraspecific root grafting in kauri and contribute to our understanding of the evolutionary advantage of root grafts, particularly those between trees and leafless stumps. Intact kauri trees grafted to a closely intertwined root network may adopt the root system of a connected tree that has lost its crown, thereby extending their rooting space and at the same time allowing trunk remnants to persist over long periods of time. The extra resource costs linked to the maintenance of the aboveground part of living trunk remnants may be minor compared with those associated with the suddenly enlarged root system ( Figure 2 H). Our findings suggest that the adaptive advantage of the hydraulic coupling may be a lot more important than previously assumed, and may indeed be a means of compensating for the carbohydrates the trunk remnant receives. On the downside, our study also corroborates the notion of facilitated pathogen transmission through root grafts (), which is especially alarming because kauri has recently been classified as threatened owing to the rapid spread of kauri dieback disease, caused by the fungus-like soilborne pathogen Phytophthora agathidicida ()."}
-{"text": "The Ku Klux Klan said it is raising funds to reward the police officer who killed an unarmed black teenager in Missouri.\n\nMichael Brown, 18, was shot by a St Louis County officer in the town of Ferguson on 9 August. The officer, who has not been named over retaliation fears, clams he fired after Brown assaulted him.\n\nEyewitnesses claim the teenager was shot after placing his hands in the air but refusing the lie on the pavement.\n\nThe incident sparked days of unrest in the area, with heavily armed police firing tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators, many of whom were staging \"hands up\" protests against the killing.\n\nSt Louis County and the Justice Department are investigating the incident, which US President Barack Obama described as \"heartbreaking\".\n\nThe South Carolina-based New Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) said its Missouri chapter plans to raise money for a reward for the \"hero\" officer who fired at Brown, according to Southern Poverty Law Center.\n\n\"We are setting up a reward/fund for the police officer who shot this thug,\" a spokesperson for the group said via email.\n\n\"He is a hero! We need more white cops who are anti-Zog and willing to put Jewish controlled black thugs in their place. Most cops are cowards and do nothing while 90% of interracial crime is black (and non-white) on white.\"\n\nThe KKK previously caused controversy in the predominantly black area of Missouri by leaving fliers informing residents it had set up a Neighbourhood Watch in the area.\n\n\"You can sleep at night knowing the Klan is awake,\" said the flier distributed around the town of Springfield.\n\nBoth stunts have been seen as attempts to raise the profile of the Klan, whose supporters are said to have dwindled to just a few thousand in recent years.\n\nThe unnamed officer who shot Brown has been placed on administrative leave while investigations continue. Obama called for calm in Ferguson, a town with a population of 21,000, two thirds of which are African American.\n\n\"I know the events of the past few days have prompted strong passions, but as details unfold, I urge everyone in Ferguson, Missouri, and across the country, to remember this young man through reflection and understanding,\" Obama said.\n\n\"We should comfort each other and talk with one another in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds.\""}
-{"text": "For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.\n\nThe Trump administration says it\u2019s given up on the 2020 census citizenship question:\n\nWord of the decision to give up the fight came initially in an email from a Justice Department attorney to lawyers who had challenged the administration in court\u2026.A Justice Department spokesperson subsequently confirmed the decision\u2026.In a terse statement, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross [said], \u201cthe Census Bureau has started the process of printing the decennial questionnaires without the question. My focus, and that of the Bureau and the entire Department is to conduct a complete and accurate census.\u201d\n\nBut the head of the Trump administration says this is all fake news:\n\nThe News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question. \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 3, 2019\n\nBefore long Trump is going to stand in front of a podium wearing a red tie and yelling at the reporters that they\u2019re enemies of the people for reporting that he\u2019s wearing a red tie. He literally thinks he can just say anything he wants these days."}
-{"text": "IF your purse is feeling weighed down with coppers, you may well be carrying around a goldmine.\n\nA rare batch of 2p coins can fetching some pretty serious cash on eBay - one has just sold for \u00a3100, but others have previously been on sale for over \u00a31,500.\n\n5 Coins printed post 1983 were meant to have the two pence stamp\n\nBut what is it about these coins which makes them so special?\n\nThe answer lies in the date they were, and a quirky error made during their minting.\n\nAll 2p coins minted between February 1971 and 1982 should say 'new pence' on the front, while those released after this date say 'two pence'.\n\n5 People are coining it in with certain 2p pieces, but which ones are worth their weight in gold? Credit: Alamy\n\nThe reason they say 'new pence' is because decimal 2p coins were only introduced as legal tender in the early 70s, along with the half penny and one penny coins.\n\nAs explained by The Royal Mint: \"To avoid confusion between the old and new coinage all three coins had the word 'NEW' incorporated into the reverse design.\n\n\"This was subsequently removed in 1982.\"\n\n5 Certain 2p coins minted in 1983 still featured the old 'New Pence' stamp\n\nBut in 1983, a glitch meant a batch of 2p coins were printed with the old wording - new pence - on them, rather than two pence.\n\nIf you happen to have one of these rare coins, you're well and truly in the money.\n\nRoyal Mint doesn't know how many there are in existence, but they've already fetched more than \u00a3500 at auction \u2014 but only if it carries the 1983 date.\n\n5 Several have been seen for sale on eBay at sky high prices\n\nThere are a few available on eBay at the moment as part of a rare coin collection from 1983 - but they'll set you back between \u00a31,500 and \u00a31,700.\n\nEarlier this year a rare silver 2p was discovered in a Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal tin in Malmesbury, Wiltshire.\n\nPeople have also been cashing in on certain new \u00a35 notes that contain unusual codes, such as AK-47.\n\n5 People have actively sought to buy these rare coins\n\nThough the ones that fetch the biggest bucks contain serial numbers starting \u2018AA01\u2019 \u2013 meaning they were produced in the first batch.\n\nMeanwhile there are five 50p coins in circulation that together could be worth up to \u00a33,000.\n\nIt's also worth trawling through your 20ps, as back in 2009, the Royal Mint accidentally issued up to 200,000 of the coins that didn't contain the year stamp \u2013 making them worth at least \u00a350 each.\n\nREAD MORE\n\nThese \u00a32 coins with a lettering error are being sold for \u00a3300 on eBay\n\nThese valuable coins could leave you in the money if you have any hidden away\n\nCoin found in four-year-old\u2019s toy chest fetches \u00a3270k for his dad"}
-{"text": "Oh hey, thanks, but unfortunately, this and artstation are the only ones I'm currently on. Love your art btw!"}
-{"text": "\u201cThe topic of privacy policies and what lies ahead for our digital footprints is especially fascinating and pertinent for me, since I work with 13- and 14-year-olds who are just beginning to dabble with services such as Gmail and all of Google\u2019s apps, as well as Facebook, Instagram, social gaming,\u201d he said. \u201cI have nothing to hide, but I\u2019m uncomfortable with what we give away.\u201d\n\nBut even with your own mail server, Google will still have the e-mails you exchange with friends or colleagues with Gmail accounts, said Peter Eckersley of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights advocacy group in San Francisco. \u201cYou\u2019re less exposed,\u201d he said. \u201cBut you can\u2019t totally escape.\u201d\n\nAnother shrouding tactic is to use the search engine DuckDuckGo, which distinguishes itself with a \u201cWe do not track or bubble you!\u201d policy. Bubbling is the filtering of search results based on your search history. (Bubbling also means you are less likely to see opposing points of view or be exposed to something fresh and new.)\n\nRegardless of which search engine you use, security experts recommend that you turn on your browser\u2019s \u201cprivate mode,\u201d usually found under Preferences, Tools or Settings. When this mode is activated, tracking cookies are deleted once you close your browser, which \u201cessentially wipes clean your history,\u201d said Jeremiah Grossman, chief technology officer with WhiteHat Security, an online security consulting firm in Santa Clara, Calif.\n\nHe warned, however, that private mode does nothing to conceal your I.P. address, a unique number that identifies your entry or access point to the Internet. So Web sites may not know your browsing history, but they will probably know who you are and where you are as well as when and how long you viewed their pages.\n\nShielding your I.P. address is possible by connecting to what is called a virtual private network, or V.P.N., such as those offered by WiTopia, PrivateVPN and StrongVPN. These services, whose prices price from $40 to $90 a year, route your data stream to what is called a proxy server, where it is stripped of your I.P. address before it is sent on to its destination. This obscures your identity not only from Web sites but also from your Internet service provider."}
-{"text": "Since Stripe's earliest days, we've believed the world needs simpler and more open protocols for moving money. We launched our Bitcoin beta four months ago, and we recently published some of our thoughts around cryptocurrencies. Today, we're excited to see the launch of Stellar, a new open-source project and nonprofit organization to which we've provided seed funding.\n\nStellar is (like Bitcoin) a decentralized payment network; unlike Bitcoin, it supports transactions in arbitrary currencies\u2014you can use dollars, Euros, bitcoins, or anything else. Stellar implements something very close to the idealized \"IP layer for money\" idea that we described last week. You can find more details (and obtain your first \"stellars\", the network's native currency) by reading their launch post.\n\nDevelopment is led by Jed McCaleb and Professor David Mazi\u00e8res in collaboration with a small team of others. (The technology is based on the open-source Ripple project, originally created by Jed a few years ago.)\n\nStripe's role\n\nStellar's goal is to build a great transport layer for transmitting monetary value. Figuring out how to efficiently move money is something we support very strongly: Stripe spends a lot of effort integrating different banking and finance protocols in various countries (17 at last count). We've always considered it unlikely that these systems would be just as fragmented in twenty years. Bitcoin has already changed the world by drawing attention to the value of open, distributed protocols that enable the transmission and storage of money. Stellar aims to advance this success by providing a way to transact in one's currency of choice, whether that currency is fiat or digital.\n\nWe're very bullish on the cryptocurrency space in general, and expect that multiple systems will prosper. When the opportunity arose to help Stellar, we enthusiastically agreed. A couple of months ago, Stripe contributed $3M to help get the project going. In return, we received 2% of the stellars. However, the project is not run by Stripe. We just believe that a system with properties like Stellar's should exist in the world, and we heartily encourage anyone interested to participate in its development. We're going to auction a majority of our stellars to other interested companies, with any net profits being returned to the Stellar Foundation\u2014please get in touch if your company might be interested.\n\nStellar is highly experimental, but we think it's important to invest effort in basic infrastructure when the opportunity arises. Jed and David are the perfect people to tackle something like this. If they and their team pull it off, Stellar could become a much better substrate for a lot of the world's financial systems.\n\nRead more at Stellar.org"}
-{"text": "Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The winner gave up their spot in line for another player\n\nThe winner of a record $1.5bn (\u00a31.2bn) lottery jackpot in South Carolina gave up a spot in the queue before purchasing the ticket, officials say.\n\nThe individual, who chose to remain anonymous, committed a \"simple act of kindness [that] led to an amazing outcome\", lottery officials said.\n\nThe winner is electing to receive a lump sum pay-out of $877m.\n\nThe anonymous individual will take home the largest-ever US jackpot paid to a single person.\n\n\"The winner marvels at how every decision made that day brought the winner to the store, at that very moment,\" South Carolina lottery officials said in a statement on Monday, nearly five months after the winning ticket was sold.\n\nImage copyright Getty Images Image caption The national Mega Millions lottery drew players from around the country\n\nAccording to lottery officials, the winner allowed another customer to cut in the queue to purchase a Mega Millions lottery ticket before buying one.\n\nOfficials say the winning numbers were randomly generated by the Quick Pick machine.\n\nHogan Brown, the Lottery Commission's Executive Director, said in a statement: \"We are delighted that the winner is a South Carolinian and has come forward to claim this remarkable prize.\"\n\nThe owner of the shop that sold the winning ticket, KC Mart in Simpsonville, a suburb of Greenville, said he will use the $50,000 he will receive to renovate his store.\n\n\"It's exciting. Good for me, good for him, her, whoever it is,\" said Chirag Patel.\n\nSouth Carolina is one of the only states that allow winners to conceal their identities.\n\nThe others are Delaware, Ohio, Kansas, Maryland, Georgia, North Dakota, and Texas.\n\nTop five US jackpot wins"}
-{"text": "A few days ago, Scott Sumner blogged about the \u201cnew normal\u201d of NGDP trend (3% a year) (here and here). Overall, I tend to agree with him that the aggregate nominal expenditures are now at a new and historically low trend growth rate. I think that he is way too optimistic!\n\nAs readers of this blog are aware, I am not convinced that NGDP is the proper proxy for nominal expenditures. I believe that Nominal Gross Output (NGO) is a better proxy as it captures more goods and services traded at the intermediate level (see blog posts here, here and here). The core of my argument is that NGO will capture many \u201ctime to build\u201d problems that will not appear in GDP as well as capture intangible investments which are now classified otherwise (see literature on intangible investment as capital goods here). Thus, my claim that NGO captures more expenditures (especially between businesses). (Note: I am in the process with some colleagues of finalizing a paper on the superior case for NGO \u2013 more on this later.)\n\nAre we at a new normal point where growth in nominal expenditures is slower than in the past? Yes! But according to Sumner and others, this is 3%. If we use NGO we are much lower! Again, using the FRED dataset, here is the evolution of NGO and NGDP since January 2005 (the start date of the NGO series in a quarterly form). The graph shows something odd starting in mid-2014 : NGO is growing much more slowly.\n\nTo see this better, let\u2019s plot the evolution of NGO as a percentage of NGDP in the graph below. If the ratio remains stable, then the trend is similar for both. As one can see, the recession saw a much more pronounced fall of NGO than NGDP with a failure to return to the initial levels. And since 2014, the ratio has started to fall again (indicating slower growth of NGO than NGDP).\n\nSo what is happening? Why is there such a difference? I am not one hundred percent sure about the causes of this difference. However, I am willing to contend that NGO is fitting better than NGDP with other indicators indicating a tepid recovery. If we look at the labor force participation rate in the US, it continues to fall in a nearly mechanical manner. Fewer and fewer workers are at work (or looking for work) in comparison to the population that could be working while investments are disappointing.\n\nMaybe Scott Sumner is being overly optimistic. The new trend might simply be substantially lower than he believes.*\n\n*Readers should note that I believe that monetary policy is, at present, too restrictive. However, I believe the culprit is not the Federal Reserve but financial regulations that restrict the circulation of \u201cprivate money\u201d (the other components of broad money found in divisia indices \u2013 see my blog post here)."}
-{"text": "The depot line for the A-10 Thunderbolt is cranking back up as part of an effort to keep the Cold War-era aircraft flying \u201cindefinitely,\u201d a general said.\n\nDepot maintenance for the popular close-air-support aircraft, popularly known as the Warthog, has been \u201cfully reopened,\u201d Air Force Materiel Command chief Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski told Aviation Week on Monday.\n\n\u201cThey have re-geared up, we\u2019ve turned on the depot line, we\u2019re building it back up in capacity and supply chain,\u201d Pawlikowski said. \u201cOur command, anyway, is approaching this as another airplane that we are sustaining indefinitely.\u201d\n\nPawlikowski also told the magazine that Air Force maintainers are gearing up to replace the Warthog\u2019s wings, dipping into a $2 billion Boeing contract originally awarded in 2007, according to Popular Mechanics. The contract was intended to upgrade the A-10 when the plan was to keep the aircraft flying until 2028.\n\nLike any decades-old aircraft, the A-10 has experienced corrosion, which is to be expected, Pawlikowski said. The majority of the maintenance work for the 283-aircraft fleet is conducted at Hill Air Force Base in Utah.\n\nAir Force Material Command did not respond to Military.com\u2019s additional request for comment on Friday.\n\nAir Combat Command commander Gen. Herbert \u201cHawk\u201d Carlisle last November predicted the plane would be around a few years longer than the Air Force anticipated.\n\n\u201cI think we would probably move the retirement slightly to the right,\u201d Carlisle told defense reporters at the time. \u201cEventually we will have to get there. We have to retire airplanes. But I think moving it to the right and starting it a bit later and keeping the airplane a bit longer is something to consider, based on things as they are today and what we see in the future.\u201d\n\nIn February, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced the retirement would be delayed until 2022 after officials opined the Air Force was prematurely ridding the U.S. military of a \u201cvaluable and effective\u201d aircraft.\n\nHowever, fiscal 2017 budget documents revealed the Air Force is still hoping to remove A-10 squadrons in increments between 2018 and 2022 in order to make room for F-35A Lightning II squadrons coming online.\n\nThe decision further angered enthusiasts of the plane and a few congressional members, such as Arizona Republicans Sen. John McCain, a former Navy pilot, and Rep. Martha McSally, who flew A-10s during her Air Force career.\n\nMcSally has since stipulated a fly-off between the A-10 and F-35 is crucial not only to ensure the validity of the A-10, but also to confirm the F-35 itself isn\u2019t a hazard to troops on the battlefield.\n\n\u201cIn this year\u2019s defense authorization bill, I successfully advocated for inclusion of a provision mandating a fly-off between the F-35 and A-10 before one more A-10 can be retired. This legislation, which included my provision, passed the House Armed Services Committee on a 60-2 vote, and passed the House with strong bipartisan support,\u201d McSally wrote in June for an Op-Ed published in Air Force Times.\n\n\u201cRight now, the A-10 is deployed to four theaters \u2014 in the fight against ISIS, in Europe as a response to Russian aggression, along the Demilitarized Zone in South Korea, and in the Philippines \u2014 showing the high demand for its abilities.\n\n\u201cWith American lives at stake, we don\u2019t have room for error. We must base our decisions about critical life-saving missions on assessments of capabilities and risks, not speculation,\u201d she said.\n\nWhile many an A-10 enthusiast would like to see the planes flying \u201cindefinitely,\u201d the general probably means \u201cinto the foreseeable future.\u201d"}
-{"text": "In 1977, the group Women Office Workers held a contest for secretaries, inviting them to name the \u201cmost ridiculous personal errand\u201d they\u2019d ever run. As Lynn Peril tells it in \u201cSwimming in the Steno Pool,\u201d her light, wry history of the secretarial profession, the winner was a woman whose boss asked her to take pictures of him before, while and after he shaved off his moustache. The runner-up\u2019s task was to pick up her boss\u2019s wife and newborn baby from the hospital.\n\nThis is the profession\u2019s image problem: Secretaries have to either cater to their bosses in loopy ways or contend with the idea that they might. Peril, a longtime secretary herself (in her bio, she does without the upgrade to \u201cadministrative assistant\u201d), is frank about how women\u2019s clerical dominance has both helped and hindered them. Her account gives secretaries their due while making clear why they posed a problem for the equal rights movement, and vice versa.\n\nIn the late 19th century, when women started taking over the field, they were paid half what men were for clerical work \u2014 but twice the salary of a public-school teacher, Peril finds. It made some sense, then, when in 1923 an inventor of the typewriter was photographed for a commemorative book with an ensemble of women in Greek gowns and the proud line \u201cEMANCIPATION\u201d on the facing page. The downside was that while men could treat clerical jobs as the first rung of the office management ladder, women almost never made that climb. Instead, they were supposed to settle for reflected glory. One 1960s author told her readers they could \u201cbe a lawyer\u2019s or a doctor\u2019s or a scientist\u2019s secretary because you once hoped to be a lawyer or a doctor or a scientist.\u201d\n\nPeril notes exceptions. Jane J. Martin, a stenographer turned advertising whiz whose 1921 salary would have come to $300,000 today, sounds like a prototype for the \u201cMad Men\u201d character Peggy Olson. (No, it is not possible to write a book about secretaries, or to review it, without mentioning \u201cMad Men.\u201d) Katharine Gibbs, a dressmaker turned stenographer, sold her jewelry to raise money, then opened a successful chain of secretarial schools. She accepted only female students, proclaiming, \u201cA woman\u2019s career is blocked by lack of openings, by unjust male competition, by prejudice and, not least, by inadequate salary and recognition.\u201d"}
-{"text": "\n\n\n\n\u7121\u4e8b\u306b\u624b\u8853\u306f\u7d42\u308f\u308a\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002\n\n\u6cbb\u7642\u3084\u30ea\u30cf\u30d3\u30ea\u306b\u9577\u3044\u6642\u9593\u304b\u304b\u308b\u3068\u601d\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\n\n\n\n\u307e\u3060\u81ea\u5206\u306e\u4e2d\u3067\u7d0d\u5f97\u3067\u304d\u308b\u3082\u306e\u304c\u306a\u3044\u306e\u3067\n\n\u7d76\u5bfe\u306b\u5f15\u9000\u306f\u3057\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\n\n\n\n\n\n\u652f\u3048\u3066\u304f\u308c\u308b\u5bb6\u65cf\u3068\u4e00\u7dd2\u306b\n\n\u3082\u30461\u5ea6\u571f\u4ff5\u306b\u5e30\u3063\u3066\u304d\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\n\n\n\n\u602a\u6211\u306b\u306f\u8ca0\u3051\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002 \u5b89\u7f8e\u9326\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u6b8b\u5ff5\u3067\u3059\u304c\u4f11\u5834\u3059\u308b\u3053\u3068\u306b\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002"}
-{"text": "Russian architects Arch Group have designed a booth for taking a quick nap in busy urban environments.\n\nCalled Sleepbox, the units could be rented for between fifteen minutes and several hours.\n\nThe architects envisage them installed at train stations, airports and shopping centres.\n\nBetween users the bedding would be automatically changed, with sheets wound from one roller onto another.\n\nMore about Arch Group: Moscow United electricity control centre\n\nHere's some more information from Arch Group:\n\n--\n\nSLEEPBOX\n\nImagine the situation that you are in the modern city, where you are not a local resident, and you have not booked a hotel.\n\nIt is not comfortable situation, because in the modern, aggressive cities there are no opportunity to rest and relax. If you want to sleep, while waiting your plane or train, it may cause many security and hygiene problems. We believe that urban infrastructure should be more comfortable for people. For this purpose we have developed a device SLEEPBOX. It provides moments of quiet sleep and rest from the city without wasting time searching for a hotel.\n\nHere are the possible locations for SLEEPBOX:\n\nRailroad stations\n\nAirports\n\nExpocentres\n\nPublic and shopping centers\n\nAccommodation facilities\n\nIn countries with warm climate SLEEPBOX can be used on the streets. Thanks to SLEEPBOX any person has an opportunity to spend the night safely and cheaply in case of emergency, or when you have to spend few hours with your baggage.\n\nSLEEPBOX is a small mobile space (box) 2mx1.4mx2.3m (h). The main functional element in it is a bed 2x0.6 m, which is equipped with automatic system of change of bed linen. Bed is soft, flexible strip of foamed polymer with the surface of the pulp tissue. Tape is rewound from one shaft to another, changing the bed. If a client wants to sleep in maximum comfort, he can take the normal set of bed linen for an extra fee.\n\nSLEEPBOX is equipped with a ventilation system, sound alerts, built-in LCD TV, WiFi, sockets for a laptop, charging phones. Also under the lounges is a place for luggage.\n\nAfter the clients exit, automatic change of bed linen starts and quartz lamps turns on. Payment can be made on a shared terminal, which provides the client with an electronic key. It is possible to buy from 15 minutes to several hours.\n\nSLEEPBOX is intended primarily to perform one main function - to enable a person to sleep peacefully. But it can also be equipped with various additional functions, depending on the situation. Application of the device can be very broad, not only in the form of paid public service, but also for internal purposes of organizations and companies.\n\nArea: 3.75 m2\n\nArchitects: Goryainov A., Krymov M.\n\nDesign: 2009"}
-{"text": "Herzog & de Meuron bauen Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts\n\nDer Siegerentwurf des Realisierungswettbewerbs steht seit dem 26. Oktober 2016 fest: Das Basler Architekturb\u00fcro Herzog & de Meuron wird gemeinsam mit Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten aus Z\u00fcrich den Neubau f\u00fcr das Museum \u201eNeue Nationalgalerie \u2013 Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts\u201c am Berliner Kulturforum errichten. Getroffen hat diese Entscheidung das Preisgericht unter Vorsitz von Arno Lederer.\n\n\"Das Haus f\u00fcr die Kunst des 20.Jahrhunderts wirkt von verschiedenen Seiten ganz unterschiedlich: Ist es eine Lagerhalle? Oder eine Scheune? Oder vielleicht eine Bahnhofshalle? Ist es nicht vielmehr ein Tempel, mit den exakt gleichen Giebelproportionen wie die Alte Nationalgalerie von August St\u00fcler? Tats\u00e4chlich ist es ein Ort des Lagerns wie eine Lagerhalle, ein Ort der Vorr\u00e4te und der Nahrung wie ein landwirtschaftlicher Betrieb, ein Ort der Begegnung und der Verbindung wie eine Bahnhofshalle. Und - wie ein Tempel - ist es auch ein Ort der Stille und des Nachdenkens, der Wahrnehmung von Kunst, der Wahrnehmung von sich selbst.\"\n\n\"Zwei sich kreuzende innere Stra\u00dfen erschlie\u00dfen die in vier Quadranten angesiedelten Museumsr\u00e4ume. Es sind eher Boulevards als Stra\u00dfen, weil sie die BesucherInnen zum Verweilen einladen, um gemeinsam Kunst anzusehen oder ganz einfach, um sich an diesem neuen Ort zu treffen. Durch das gro\u00dfe Satteldach und den hohen zentralen Boulevard tritt Licht tief ins Geb\u00e4ude ein, wodurch an ausgew\u00e4hlten Orten mit Tages- und Kunstlicht gearbeitet werden kann. Wie in der Stadt ist die Kreuzung der belebteste Ort. In der Mitte erfasst man das ganze Geb\u00e4ude und seine Struktur auf einen Blick. Gleichzeitig k\u00f6nnen hier gro\u00dfformatige Kunstwerke gezeigt oder f\u00fcr diesen Ort geschaffen werden.\"\n\n\"Das Verbinden und Vernetzen sehen wir als eine Hauptaufgabe unseres Projekts: Das Museum wird zum Ort, wo sich unterschiedliche Wege kreuzen, wo unterschiedlichen Mentalit\u00e4ten und Welten eine Begegnung erm\u00f6glichen. Das Museum hat mehrere Eing\u00e4nge, denn es orientiert sich in alle Himmelsrichtungen. Man k\u00f6nnte sagen, das Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts wird zum Tor f\u00fcr die bisher abseits gelegene Piazzetta und lenkt die Aufmerksamkeit auf die dortigen Sammlungsgeb\u00e4ude f\u00fcr Kunst.\"\n\nDas B\u00fcro: Herzog & de Meuron\n\nHerzog & de Meuron ist eine Partnerschaft, die von Jacques Herzog und Pierre de Meuron mit den Senior Partnern Christine Binswanger, Ascan Mergenthaler und Stefan Marbach gef\u00fchrt wird. 1978 gr\u00fcndeten Jacques Herzog und Pierre de Meuron ihr gemeinsames B\u00fcro in Basel. Die Partnerschaft ist \u00fcber die Jahre gewachsen. Christine Binswanger ist seit 1994 Partnerin, es folgten Robert H\u00f6sl und Ascan Mergenthaler (2004), Stefan Marbach (2006), Esther Zumsteg (2009), Andreas Fries (2011) sowie Jason Frantzen und Wim Walschap (2014) und Michael Fischer (2016). Ein internationales Team aus rund 40 Associates und 380 Mitarbeitenden arbeitet an Projekten in Europa, Nord- und S\u00fcdamerika und Asien. Herzog & de Meuron hat B\u00fcros in Basel, Hamburg, London, New York City und Hong Kong.\n\nDie Liste an bedeutenden Geb\u00e4uden f\u00fcr Kulturinstitutionen, die Herzog & de Meuron entworfen und realisiert haben, ist lang: Neben der Londoner Tate Gallery of Modern Art (2000) und ihrem sagenhaften Erweiterungsbau (2016) stehen darauf u.a. das Vitra Haus (2009) und das Vitra Schaudepot (2015) in Weil am Rhein, die Erweiterung und Renovierung des Mus\u00e9e Unterlinden in Colmar, Frankreich (2015), sowie das Museum der Kulturen in Basel (2010). Im Januar 2017 er\u00f6ffnete die Hamburger Elbphilharmonie. Derzeit im Bau befinden sich unter anderem auch das M+ in Hong Kong, ein Museum f\u00fcr visuelle Kultur (geplante Fertigstellung 2019) sowie die Israelische Nationalbibliothek in Jerusalem (geplante Fertigstellung 2020)."}
-{"text": "Do you hate spam? I love it... if I can recycle it in some really dumb cartoons! It's all talking about sex here, I am afraid... But nevertheless, here are some great quotes from those spam mails about the products that will help you regain control of your masculinity or a new amazing way of male enhancement to outwit Mother Nature! These doctor recommended products will enhance your masculine virility and length, with great results for your lovemaking life. The new Karma (sic!) Sutra skills are coming within your reach with the herbal products of the love doctors. If you don't get instant satisfaction... you simply get your money back! So what are you waiting for? There are some Great Pills of Fire here!\n\nAnd oh yeah... Of course it's about Britney Spears and Paris Hilton too!\n\n(To my knowledge, all images used in this Hub are in the public domain. If I've made a mistake here, please let me know.)"}
-{"text": "Not sure if that is snow in his hair or if he just has really bad dandruff...\n\n111 shares"}
-{"text": "Suprise! Surprise! Jumanji resurrects in our very own gaming world and you know what? It\u2019s not bad at all. Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle has all the things to entertain you despite its fantastical roots. That being said, there are elements in it that will make you scoff nevertheless, but isn\u2019t that how this entertaining franchise has always been? Fanciful and scratching the surface of surrealism?\n\nPlot of Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle (Spoilers)\n\nJumanji Welcome to the Jungle starts off lugging, with that same old game metamorphosing magically, syncing itself with technology. That\u2019s how the franchise justifies its time leap, and it seems like that\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen in the long run as well. However, difficult it was on the eyes, you can always look beyond by branding it as just plain old \u201cmagic\u201d.\n\nSo the plot features a certain Alex Vreeke from Brantford being sucked into the game in the year 1996 when the board game transforms itself into a video game cartridge to pique his interest. Later in the year 2016, four students from Brantford (Spencer, Fridge, Martha and Bethany) end up in detention together. They have been asked to clean up the room when they bump into the same Jumanji video game that we saw Alex play.\n\nCharacters and Avatars in Jumanji Game\n\nWhile trying to choose the characters in the multi-player game they find out that they are unable to pick one of its characters. When they begin the game they all get sucked in. Each draped in their new gaming avatars.\n\nSo even though their appearance changes, persons inside them come with their own individual qualms. Apart from that, they also have their newly acquired skills and weaknesses.\n\nWhere\u2019s the rest of me?\n\nThese are the avatars they become:\n\nSpencer \u2013 Dr. Smolder Bravestone (explorer) \u2013 Dwayne Johnson\n\nFridge \u2013 Franklin \u201cMouse\u201d Finbar (zoologist) \u2013 Kevin Hart\n\nMartha \u2013 Ruby Roundhouse (commando) \u2013 Karen Gillan\n\nBethany \u2013 Professor Sheldon \u201cShelly\u201d Oberon (cartographer) \u2013 Jack Black\n\nNow when you are playing a game, you are bestowed with lives. Here too, each character has three lives, confirmed when a hippo attacks Bethany killing him/her in the process, and a new revived Bethany falls from the sky. Each one of them has a tattoo depicting the lives they have.\n\nJaguar\u2019s Eye\n\nSince it\u2019s a game they bump into an NPC (Non-playable character) named Nigel (Rhys Darby) who briefs them about the mission. Van Pelt (Bobby Cannavale) is after the Jaguar\u2019s Eye, a jewel that would give him complete control over all the animals in Jumanji. Van Pelt is the same guy from the 1995 movie Jumanji however with all the transformation (the age leap), he has transformed too. In Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle, he has been introduced as a colleague of Smolder who has gone rogue.\n\nDecoding Nigel\u2019s code, the crew realizes they have to call out \u201cJumanji\u201d after placing the crystal on a Jaguar\u2019s statue where it belongs to win the game and escape. That\u2019s their only way out.\n\nMartha: Are you gonna help, or are you too pretty? Bethany: I am too pretty.\n\nLives are lost as difficulties arise during their gameplay. But they manage to hang in there till the end. They bump into Alex (Nick Jonas) from 1996 and realize that he went missing in the real world because he was stuck in Jumanji all this time in the avatar of Jefferson \u201cSeaplane\u201d McDonough. Alex had been living in Alan Parrish\u2018s (Robin Williams\u2018 from the prequel) treehouse.\n\nAlex loses his only life when bit by a mosquito but Bethany performs CPR on him transferring one of her lives to resuscitate him. In a theatrical end, we find the team in a face off against real jaguars. In the nick of time, Smolder reaches the top of the Jaguar statue as Martha intentionally dies with the Jaguar\u2019s eye so that she could revive and show up from the sky (talk about accuracy) with the jewel. Smolder catches her mid-air as everyone shouts Jumanji after returning the eye to the statue.\n\nSmoldering!\n\nJumanji Ending Explained | How time worked for Alex\n\nThe game ends as players return to the real world. They are back in 2016 in the same detention room. However, it has been 20 years for Alex. He has aged and become Colin Hanks (one guy three characters! Whoa!) When the quadruple bumps into Alex it isn\u2019t surprising that it takes Alex a while to recognize them, but weirdly enough he is spot on. His house that used to look ramshackle looks neat and tidy, and he has a kid too.\n\nSo what really happened?\n\nJumanji has its own timeline. It\u2019s like a limbo where the time of the real world doesn\u2019t matter. And when you are done, basically the game puts you back in your own time. So if you are playing it say in 2017 and you end up getting stuck there for like a century, but still win it eventually, the game will spit you out in 2017 some time after you started playing the game.\n\nIt goes on to show that Alex Vreeke had a regular life after the prologue. He went on to live the life he had missed in Jumanji. He did not go missing and his house was never derelict. For the viewers, I surmise it must have been somehow hard to digest watching Alex recognize all four so quickly. But it was done I would say in an okayish manner.\n\nYou can order Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle from here:\n\nThe Final Verdict\n\nOverall Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle was done brilliantly. It was above average and packs in plenty of laughs. Above all, it makes you inquisitive all the time. It\u2019s like a game after all, and if you are a gamer you will have a blast every second.\n\nI was a big Jumanji fan ever since I bumped into it as a kid. The concept of playing a game that brings all its units to the real world is akin to bringing all your fancies to life. After all, everybody wishes to be stuck in one, in their favorite one, to nail that happy ending that they are often unable to find in real life.\n\nCheck out our other movie analyses too.\n\nJumanji Welcome to the Jungle 0.00 7.2 Direction 7.0/10\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlot 7.3/10\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nScreenplay 7.1/10\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEditing 7.5/10\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPros Brilliant Plot\n\nGreat Direction\n\nGood Editing\n\nHumorous and Entertaining Cons Too Magical for Explanations\n\nRelated"}
-{"text": "Singapore is well ahead of the pack with the fastest average (mean) download speed of 55.13Mbps, according to a report from cable.co.uk that ranks 189 countries.\n\nSweden is a comfortable second (40.16Mbps) followed by Taiwan (34.40Mbps). However, British and American users are not so lucky. The USA is in 21st place on 20.00Mbps, and Canada takes 26th with 18.03Mbps. The UK comes 31st with 16.51Mbps, behind 19 other European countries. (At least we made the top 20 in Europe.)\n\nThe numbers are based on more than 63 million test results, though 45.4 million of those were in the USA, 4 million in Canada and 2.4 million in Australia. There were only 218 from Burkina Faso, where the average speed was 0.49Mbps. The only slower places were Gabon (0.41Mbps) and Yemen (0.34Mbps).\n\nThe report says a user in Singapore could download a Full HD movie (7.5GB) in 18 minutes and 34 seconds. It would take an American 51'13\" and a Brit just over an hour. For the average Yemeni, the download time stretches to 2 days, 2 hours, 2 minutes and 28 seconds.\n\nThe results favour small countries with concentrated populations, like Singapore, and countries that have installed the most fiber optic broadband, such as Sweden and Latvia.\n\nThey also show the benefits of having smart governments that are committed to advanced technologies. Again, Singapore is the world leader: it has been pushing its \"intelligent island\" theme for decades. Others include fourth-placed Denmark (33.54Mbps), sixth-placed Latvia (30.36Mbps) and, in 13th place, Estonia (24.11Mbps).\n\nThe UK is not the only developed nation to score badly. Other examples include France (13.43Mbps), Italy (10.71Mbps) and Israel (7.2Mbps).\n\nThe data was compiled by M-Lab, a consortium that includes New America's Open Technology Institute (OTI), Google Open Source Research and Princeton University's Planet Lab.\n\nM-Lab says it \"provides the largest collection of open Internet performance data on the planet\". Anyone can test their broadband speed at M-Lab's website."}
-{"text": "SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 Utah better come up with new revenue sources for transportation, a legislative task force was warned Thursday, because the gas tax is on the way out, like \u201ca rock star playing a final concert\u201d on a farewell tour.\n\n\"The current funding system is not sustainable,\" Baruch Feigenbaum, assistant director of transportation policy for the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank, told members of the Transportation Governance and Funding Task Force.\n\nFeigenbaum, who compared the gas tax to a rock star at the end of his career, said even with the complicated indexing formula passed in 2015 and recalibrated this year to boost revenues, Utah's gas tax likely will sputter out around 2030.\n\nIn a presentation made over the phone, he offered a number of alternative revenue sources, such as toll roads along I-15 and taxing drivers based on miles driven, with higher rates applicable in urban areas and during rush hours.\n\nThe potential moneymakers could be tested through demonstration projects authorized by the Legislature, Feigenbaum said.\n\nNo action was taken on his proposals by the task force, which is expected to make recommendations to the 2018 Legislature on funding as well as if the state should shake up control of transportation agencies, particularly the Utah Transit Authority.\n\nThe task force's House chairman, Rep. Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, said after the meeting that no revenue source is off the table at this point.\n\n\"We're looking at all sources right now. I think we're taking everything seriously,\" Schultz said. \"We know that the gas tax is going to be less and less and go away eventually.\"\n\nFeigenbaum also said all users should pay an equitable share of the costs of maintaining Utah's transportation system, including those driving alternative fuel vehicles and even bicyclists.\n\nHe suggested Utah consider a separate tax for electric cars, and when it comes to ensuring bicyclists pay their way, look at imposing a tax on bicycle tires that he said has been accepted in Oregon and other states.\n\nPublic transit, funded largely through sales taxes, could see additional funds by tapping a \u201csignificantly underused tool\u201d known as value capture, Feigenbaum said, that includes assessing new property taxes near transit lines and impact fees.\n\nConcerns about UTA's transit-oriented development projects around several TRAX and FrontRunner stations have been raised in critical legislative audits and are part of an ongoing federal investigation. UTA has signed a nonprosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office that requires the agency cooperate with the investigation and submit to up to three years of federal monitoring.\n\nSo far, the investigation has resulted in the indictment of a former UTA board member, Terry Diehl, on charges related to allegedly misrepresenting earnings from a Draper transit deal in bankruptcy court.\n\nAfter the meeting, UTA President and CEO Jerry Benson said what he took from the presentation on value capture was that transit-oriented development \"was a legitimate strategy and we probably need to be looking more at that concept.\"\n\nSchultz said the controversy about transit-oriented development isn't necessarily about the program that was approved by lawmakers, but about how UTA officials were involved in the projects.\n\nHe said UTA does need additional funding, but for that to come from the state would require more control. The agency is now overseen by a board appointed by state and local entities.\n\n\"I don't think there is the political will to give UTA state dollars under the current structure,\" Schultz said. But with a change in governance, he said some existing transportation funds could be shifted.\n\n\"Maybe there's the possibility of taking some of the money that we're putting toward roads and putting it toward transit projects,\" Schultz said. \"I think that's something we need to look at.\""}
-{"text": "Die Richterin erkl\u00e4rte die beiden f\u00fcr schuldig - wegen des sexuellen Missbrauchs von Kindern.\n\nVon Torsten Hilscher\n\nAhmad A. (l.) und Saeed A. wurden zu sechs Monaten Freiheitsstrafe verurteilt.\n\nDresden - \u201eSchuldig wegen des sexuellen Missbrauchs von Kindern!\u201c - Klare Worte f\u00fcr die Grapscher vom Arnholdbad (TAG24 berichtete).\n\nDas Amtsgericht Dresden verh\u00e4ngte f\u00fcr den Syrer Ahmad A. (23) und den Iraner Saeed A. (31) eine Freiheitsstrafe von je sechs Monaten, ausgesetzt zur Bew\u00e4hrung. Jeder muss zudem 100 Stunden soziale Arbeit leisten. Auch die Kosten des Verfahrens haben beide zu tragen.\n\nNun gilt es als erwiesen, dass der Syrer und der Iraner im Februar 2016 zwei M\u00e4dchen mehr als unsittlich ber\u00fchrten, so Richterin Susanne Burbach-Wieth. Demnach wurden die heute zw\u00f6lf und elf Jahre alten Kinder in einem Schwimmbecken begrapscht, ein M\u00e4dchen sogar 20 Sekunden lang an der H\u00fcfte festgehalten.\n\n\n\nDie M\u00e4nner selbst \u00e4u\u00dferten sich bis zum Schluss nicht. Aber: Anwalt J\u00f6rg D\u00e4nzer k\u00fcndigte f\u00fcr seinen Mandanten Ahmad A. Berufung an, Anwalt Matthias Ketzer f\u00fcr Saaed A. \u201edie Tendenz zur Berufung\u201c."}
-{"text": "The bag it came in is bound to legacy, so you can transfer it to another character. That way you can send the bag to a low level toon you buy HK-51 for, then just replace the mods in his current gear with low level ones. If you hang onto said bag of gear you open it when you're 50 and you're set, not having to consume many bank spaces with gear you can't use."}
-{"text": "I have some very early prototype screenshots for an app I'm developing to give commanders a VR overlay.I play Elite primarily in VR and really enjoy mission running but wish I had some more information more easily available. Initially I set out to deliver the following:- Display remaining targets on screen at all time- Order my missions by value, Time remaining and distance- Display commander info (name, ranks, credit balance etc)- Show co-ordinates and headings on planetsAfter exploring the Journal file and some early prototypes I realised commander details are pointless! you know your name and you only need credits at times when you're not under much pressure. So I removed that aspect and focused on missions.However, the journal has some useful information which made me wonder could I build more personal narrative using historic mission details. I have been looking at highlighting to the player which factions we have been supporting and which working against perhaps adding more context (e.g. warning!: we have been undermining the xyz faction they may not be pleased to see us) type thing when you jump to a new system where that faction is present.I have also been looking at how best to handle these interactions (switching from joystick to VR controllers is clunky and I would like to avoid using voice attack (just because it would require coding different things like a .vap to run and I would also like to make this completely free if I ever release).So I am now looking at integrating IBM Watson to provide text to speech and speech to text as well as potentially using these methods to handle a chatbot type interaction. There is an amount of free stuff you can do with Watson so I will see how far I get. The chatbot would be a verbal gateway to the real world perhaps running searches or even using a commanders details to tell them things (e.g. tell me where the nearest friendly faction is)As of right now it can do the following:- Inject an overlay on top of the game into steamVR- retrieve system information from EDDB- retrieve and calculate active missions from the journal- calculate the distance from sol to the missions (I will be getting the players location)- order missions by reward value, time left and distance (currently from sol but you get the idea)Note I'm using a custom journal file (i've been creating missions to test things) hence the factions / payouts etc looking strange but they are all running from my journal fileThe mission system needs more work (at the moment if you're not killing things it doesn't care!Then I want to add more of the context around players relationships with factionsThen I want to try implement the planet heading systemThen I want to add WatsonThen I will probably have more ideas!2 reasons really1. I was inspired by this post on reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/83re2i/rainmeter_hud_overlay/ and really wanted Na'Qan's overlay in VR.2. I could do some web page stuff but had never coded in unity and definately not C# before and so this seemed like a great project to learn!Again 2 reasons I suppose1. As I said I've never coded Unity or C# before and have managed to pull this together in a few weeks - I'm quite proud of that and wanted to share it with a community where my App might be relevant.2. If anyone is interested in this and has any suggestions I can take them on board and see what I can do!I have no release plans etc I may never finish this but if I do I will certainly be releasing it for free.Thanks for getting this far! All feedback is welcome!"}
-{"text": "It\u2019s funny I\u2019m writing this, since I wasn\u2019t going to take the job.\n\nThe Athletic may have begun as a fun conversation starter for media workrooms across the sports landscape, but over the past year, it has left a sizable imprint in the sports media landscape. I\u2019ve had so many chats with media folks and friends alike about what they\u2019re doing, and naturally, I started speculating what would happen if they came to Dallas. It seemed reasonable to think that I might be a candidate for their Mavericks coverage, but after some thought, the answer seemed clear: I like what they\u2019re doing, but nah.\n\nThat was my mindset headed into my first coffee with Or Moyal, our fearless editor. I wanted to catch up, discuss the company, and knew it was never a bad idea to take meetings, but I was pretty sure I wasn\u2019t interested. I was happy at SB Nation, and the Mavericks had a been-there-done-that vibe considering my past as the Site Manager of Mavs Moneyball. But he said all the right things, and I left telling him that I was going to seriously consider it. I still thought I\u2019d say no, but that meeting was basically a recreation of this Alonzo Mourning gif.\n\nWell, I thought about it, and I thought about it some more, and the more I did, the more excited I was about it. I made a pros and cons list, just to complete the cliche, and the first column easily outweighed the second. I have covered the Mavericks, but not in the way The Athletic covers teams. Writing whatever is interesting, rather than basing my daily routine around clicky news stories, will be a welcome reprieve. Learning to be a capital-J Journalist on a legitimate beat will teach me lessons that stick no matter where this career takes me. I\u2019ll love SB Nation forever, but being able to publish serious and carefully-crafted stories without advertisements and \u201cread mores\u201d interrupting them every three paragraphs will be a small joy. Earning your subscription, rather than earning your clicks, is a welcomed new mindset.\n\nAnd then there\u2019s the biggest reason: the company itself, stuffed with fabulous writers who I\u2019ve admired for years, both locally at our DFW site and nationally covering the NBA in various capacities. To get in with something like that? I knew I couldn\u2019t pass that up.\n\nThat\u2019s enough about my indecision, but I can briefly talk about what I want to do on the Mavericks beat.\n\nI\u2019m thrilled to be starting today because the franchise\u2019s competitive future hinges on dozens of crucial moments that will take place over the next two months and the coming season. Dirk Nowitzki is my favorite athlete of all time, and in his twilight, he deserves to be celebrated, especially since he\u2019ll never ask for it. There are the very serious results of the independent investigation into misconduct on the team\u2019s business side, and I\u2019m taking this job fully understanding that those findings cannot be brushed aside and that we all must learn from them.\n\nMy favorite stories are the ones about something that you never thought could be interesting, and then you finish reading it and think, \u201cWow, that was actually neat.\u201d I loved writing about how Dennis Smith Jr. should really land after jumping, and about the weird-but-lovely dynamic between corner three-point shooters and the other team\u2019s bench. You can bet I\u2019ll be asking everyone on the roster all sorts of weird questions they\u2019ve never heard before, and staying far, far away from things like, \u201cTalk about how you felt after scoring some points tonight, Harrison.\u201d\n\nAnd lastly, I would love to hear from you: what do you want to see? I\u2019m looking forward to breaking down film, answering questions in mailbag settings, and also explaining whatever internet phenomena this team is associated with. I\u2019m excited to follow the Mavericks on road trips and get to know the players better, then pass that information onto you. I\u2019m always open to ideas and feedback about what works and what doesn\u2019t, in the comments or over email ([email protected]) or just on Twitter (@tim_cato).\n\nI\u2019m glad I changed my mind. I\u2019m thrilled to be here.\n\nIf you\u2019re not yet a subscriber, get 40% off with this link: theathletic.com/welcometim"}
-{"text": "Os v\u00eddeos online s\u00e3o um verdadeira febre entre brasileiros. Esta \u00e9 a conclus\u00e3o de um estudo do YouTube divulgado ontem durante o Brandcast, evento da empresa em S\u00e3o Paulo. O estudo mostra que a quantidade m\u00e9dia de horas semanais assistidas de v\u00eddeos online no Brasil \u00e9 de 15,4, representando um crescimento de mais de 90% nos \u00faltimos tr\u00eas anos.\n\nLiderando este mercado em ascens\u00e3o, o YouTube registra 42% da prefer\u00eancia dos consumidores de v\u00eddeo no Brasil, enquanto o Whatsapp fica em segundo lugar com 20% da audi\u00eancia e o Netflix em terceiro com 15%. O YouTube tamb\u00e9m \u00e9 considerado, segundo esta pesquisa, como substituto da TV aberta por 63% da popula\u00e7\u00e3o conectada. \u201cGrande parte desse movimento est\u00e1 ligado aos conte\u00fados gratuitos e \u00e0 ess\u00eancia do YouTube que est\u00e1 alicer\u00e7ada nos pilares de relev\u00e2ncia e curadoria de conte\u00fado, educa\u00e7\u00e3o e \u00e0 centraliza\u00e7\u00e3o do que \u00e9 \u201cpop\u201d, \u201cnovo\u201d e \u201ccool\u201d, disse Maria Helena Marinho Fernandes, Gerente de pesquisas do Google no Brasil.\n\nEnquanto isso, o consumo de TV passou de 21,9 para 22,6 horas semanais no mesmo per\u00edodo e, em alguns casos os espectadores j\u00e1 est\u00e3o assistindo a quantidades de tempo equivalentes de TV e de internet ou dividindo a audi\u00eancia entre um e outro. Segundo a pesquisa, 87% dos brasileiros declarou estar conectado \u00e0 internet enquanto a televis\u00e3o est\u00e1 ligada.\n\nQuem est\u00e1 perdendo espa\u00e7o de fato \u00e9 a TV paga (ou TV a cabo). Os dados mostram que as expectativas de crescimento do setor s\u00e3o relativamente baixas: 74% n\u00e3o t\u00eam inten\u00e7\u00e3o de fazer assinatura desses servi\u00e7os.\n\nPara Maria Helena, o segredo do sucesso do YouTube como l\u00edder no segmento de v\u00eddeos online est\u00e1 muito associado tamb\u00e9m \u00e0 liberdade de acesso ao entretenimento e \u00e0 cria\u00e7\u00e3o de conte\u00fado independente. De acordo com os dados da pesquisa, 7 em cada 10 brasileiros dizem que o YouTube reflete a diversidade ao seu redor, 7 em cada 10 acreditam ter voz e opini\u00e3o e 5 em cada 10 sentem que fazem parte de um grupo ou comunidade quando assistem v\u00eddeos no YouTube. \u201cVivemos um novo tipo de cultura de massa que est\u00e1 migrando para a cultura das pessoas\u201d, finalizou.\n\nO mobile \u00e9 outro protagonista dessa mudan\u00e7a de comportamento do consumo de v\u00eddeos, diz a pesquisa. 7 em cada 10 brasileiros j\u00e1 t\u00eam um smartphone e 57% j\u00e1 consideram o dispositivo seu principal meio para assistir os conte\u00fados em v\u00eddeo. O mobile tamb\u00e9m divide a aten\u00e7\u00e3o dos brasileiros, que se tornam \u201cmultitarefa\u201d ou \u201cmultitelas\u201d: 68% declaram assistir YouTube via smart TV.\n\nO YouTube \u00e9 o lugar onde as vozes brasileiras se tornam mais fortes\n\nAudi\u00eancia atenta\n\n\u2013 De acordo com a comScore e com o Ibope TGI, o YouTube atinge mais pessoas de 18-49 anos de idade do que todas as redes de TV a cabo combinadas;\n\n\u2013 O Brasil \u00e9 o segundo pa\u00eds do mundo em tempo de visualiza\u00e7\u00e3o no YouTube;\n\n\u2013 Cerca de 60% das pessoas com 36 anos ou mais que consomem m\u00fasica, games, moda e beleza, gastronomia e futebol no YouTube acessam a plataforma uma ou mais vezes por dia;\n\n\u2013 No mundo todo, v\u00eddeos de educa\u00e7\u00e3o e aprendizado t\u00eam 4 vezes mais tempo de visualiza\u00e7\u00e3o que v\u00eddeos de animais no YouTube;\n\n\u2013 O YouTube alcan\u00e7a mais de 1 bilh\u00e3o de pessoas globalmente (quase 1 ter\u00e7o de todas as pessoas conectadas na internet)\n\nInflu\u00eancia (cultural)\n\n\u2013 86% dos usu\u00e1rios do YouTube acreditam que a plataforma \u00e9 o lugar que eles encontram mais conte\u00fado que amam;\n\n\u2013 De acordo com a Provokers, 5 das 10 celebridades mais influentes entre os brasileiros de 14 a 34 anos s\u00e3o estrelas do YouTube. Pela primeira vez o topo do ranking \u00e9 de um criador do YouTube (leia mais aqui)\n\n\u2013 70% acreditam que a plataforma \u00e9 o lugar onde podem ir para descobrir pessoas como eles;\n\n\u2013 64% dos brasileiros dizem que o YouTube tem um impacto positivo na sociedade\n\n\u2013 Mais de 800 canais do YouTube t\u00eam mais de 1 milh\u00e3o de inscritos e v\u00e1rios deles est\u00e3o no Brasil\n\nResultados comprovados\n\n\u2013 De acordo com 7 estudos da Nielsen com top anunciantes no Brasil, o YouTube entrega um maior Retorno de Investimento (ROI) do que a TV aberta em 100% dos casos;\n\n\u2013 O estudo tamb\u00e9m mostrou que o YouTube entrega mais de 2 vezes mais ROI do que outras plataformas online n\u00e3o pertencendtes ao Google quando se trata de gera\u00e7\u00e3o de vendas reias;\n\n\u2013 76% dos espectadores do YouTube dizem que assistem v\u00eddeos na plataforma para ajud\u00e1-los na tomada de decis\u00e3o no momento de uma compra em loja;\n\n\u2013 Mais de 80 marcas no Brasil j\u00e1 investiram no Google Preferred* e 90% das campanhas geraram um aumento significativo de AdRecall.\n\n*O Google Preferred seleciona os canais relevantes de cada segmento para que as marcas anunciem. Os crit\u00e9rios de an\u00e1lise s\u00e3o: watch time (engajamento), intera\u00e7\u00f5es sociais (Likes, Shares e Comments) e taxa de retorno (n\u00famero de vezes que as pessoas voltaram no canal \u2013 inscritos ou n\u00e3o) \u2013 Informa\u00e7\u00f5es fornecidas por Nathalia Iervolino \u00e9 Diretora de Solu\u00e7\u00f5es de Marca do Google Brasil durante o Brandcast.\n\nMetodologia da pesquisa:\n\nA pesquisa ouviu em julho de 2017, 1500 brasileiros entre 14 e 55 anos, das classes A, B e C, que assistem regularmente televis\u00e3o em cinco capitais (Porto Alegre, Salvador, Recife, Rio de Janeiro e S\u00e3o Paulo) e algumas cidades do interior de S\u00e3o Paulo. Esta amostra representa 123 milh\u00f5es de pessoas e 80% do consumo de m\u00eddia do Brasil.\n\nConfira a pesquisa completa em: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Qk1E0wjv-ASUNsNWJnUEtWNFE/view\n\nAlice Wakai para E-Commerce Brasil"}
-{"text": "NEW DELHI\u2014More than 100 people were killed and hundreds more hurt when an explosion ripped through a Hindu temple in southern India as thousands of devotees watched fireworks at a religious festival.\n\nFlames spread around the Puttingal Devi temple complex after sparks from a pyrotechnic show ignited a cache of other fireworks early Sunday, said officials in Kerala state.\n\nSekhar..."}
-{"text": "Main ContentPlaceholder\n\nTaloussanomat\n\nKaustiselle litiumkaivosta suunnitteleva Keliber pohtii my\u00f6s listautumista\n\nYmp\u00e4rist\u00f6- ja kaivosluvat saadaan viel\u00e4 ennen ensi vuodenvaihdetta, Keliberin toimitusjohtaja Pertti Lamberg uskoo. Samaan aikaan j\u00e4rjestell\u00e4\u00e4n rahoituskierrokset ja rakentamisp\u00e4\u00e4t\u00f6s teht\u00e4neen ensi vuoden alussa.\n\nFacebook Twitter S\u00e4hk\u00f6posti Kopioi linkki Jaa Facebook Twitter S\u00e4hk\u00f6posti Kopioi linkki Kommentoi\n\nKeliberin toimitusjohtaja Pertti Lamberg Syv\u00e4j\u00e4rven tutkimustunnelin paikalla viime kes\u00e4n\u00e4.\u00ad\n\nLitiumkaivosta Kaustiselle suunnitteleva Keliber harkitsee t\u00e4ll\u00e4 hetkell\u00e4 useita rahoitusvaihtoehtoja. Yhti\u00f6n kannattavuusarviointi on valmistumassa ja se on tarkoitus julkistaa kes\u00e4kuussa, kertoo yhti\u00f6n toimitusjohtaja Pertti Lamberg uutistoimisto Startelille. \u2013 Rahoitusratkaisun selvittely on aloitettu ja keskusteluja k\u00e4yd\u00e4\u00e4n, Lamberg sanoo. Vaihtoehtoja rahoituksen hankintaan on useita ja listautuminenkin on Lambergin mukaan harkinnassa. Mit\u00e4\u00e4n p\u00e4\u00e4t\u00f6st\u00e4 listautumisesta ei kuitenkaan ole tehty, vaikka norjalainen Finansavisen niin uutisoi. My\u00f6s lainaneuvottelut alkavat pian ja yhti\u00f6 valitsee itselleen taloudellisen neuvonantajan viel\u00e4 kev\u00e4\u00e4n aikana. T\u00e4h\u00e4n saakka yhti\u00f6 on rahoittanut kaivoshanketta rahoituskierroksilla. Viimeksi annissa ker\u00e4ttiin viime vuoden puolella kymmenen miljoonaa euroa. Yhteens\u00e4 rahoitusta on saatu Lambergin mukaan noin 20 miljoonaa euroa, jolla on rahoitettu kaivoshankkeen teknist\u00e4 suunnittelua, ymp\u00e4rist\u00f6selvityksi\u00e4 sek\u00e4 kairauksia. Viimeisimm\u00e4n vuodelta 2017 olevan arvion mukaan yhti\u00f6n mineraalivarannot olisivat noin kahdeksan miljoonaa tonnia, josta malmia olisi noin 4,5 tonnia. Lopullisen malmiarvion tekee ulkoinen konsultti. Varantojen uskotaan olevan viel\u00e4kin suuremmat, sill\u00e4 kairauksissa varantoja on l\u00f6ytynyt lis\u00e4\u00e4. Lupaprosessit hyv\u00e4ss\u00e4 vaiheessa Keliber on jo j\u00e4tt\u00e4nyt ymp\u00e4rist\u00f6vaikutusten arviointiraportit kaivoksia ja Kalaveden rikastamoa koskien paikalliselle ELY-keskukselle. Kokkolan teollisuusalueelle suunnitellun tehtaan ymp\u00e4rist\u00f6vaikutusten arviointi j\u00e4tet\u00e4\u00e4n viel\u00e4 t\u00e4m\u00e4n vuoden ensimm\u00e4isell\u00e4 puoliskolla, Lamberg kertoo. YVA-prosessi on ollut Lambergin mukaan helpompi, sill\u00e4 sit\u00e4 on tehty \u00c4\u00e4nekosken malliin yhdess\u00e4 viranomaisten kanssa. \u2013 YVA-asioita on k\u00e4yty ennakolta l\u00e4pi. Nyt on siirrytty lupa-asioiden k\u00e4sittelyyn. Lamberg uskoo, ett\u00e4 ymp\u00e4rist\u00f6- ja kaivosluvat saadaan viel\u00e4 ennen ensi vuodenvaihdetta. Samaan aikaan j\u00e4rjestell\u00e4\u00e4n rahoituskierrokset ja rakentamisp\u00e4\u00e4t\u00f6s teht\u00e4neen ensi vuoden alussa. My\u00f6s asiakkaiden kanssa k\u00e4yd\u00e4\u00e4n parhaillaan neuvotteluja. Tavoitteena on, ett\u00e4 merkitt\u00e4v\u00e4 osa tuotannosta olisi pitk\u00e4aikaisten sopimusten alla. Neuvottelukumppaneita on useampia sek\u00e4 Euroopasta ett\u00e4 Euroopan ulkopuolelta. Asiakkaista toivotaan my\u00f6s kaivoksen rahoittajia. Kun luvat ovat kunnossa ja rakentamisp\u00e4\u00e4t\u00f6s tehty, kest\u00e4\u00e4 rakentamisessa viel\u00e4 noin 1,5 vuotta. Ensimm\u00e4iset tuote-er\u00e4t kaivokselta on tarkoitus saada ulos vuonna 2020."}
-{"text": "Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) this week said the coronavirus crisis should give Americans \u201cthe courage and encouragement\u201d to change the way they vote.\n\nHarris introduced a $5 billion plan that would require states to \u201cpermit no-excuse mail-in absentee voting\u201d in addition to encouraging more curbside voting.\n\nShe told Rolling Stone that she thinks her bill is \u201cdoable\u201d and, at the least, could serve as a template for states to adopt.\n\n\u201cThis is doable. And I think that there are these moments of a crisis that give us the courage and encouragement to try something that actually may be better than how we were doing it before,\u201d Harris told the outlet.\n\nHarris announced that her VoteSafe Act of 2020 would:\n\nAuthorize $5 billion to expand vote-by-mail and early voting and to improve the safety and accessibility of polling places during the COVID-19 pandemic.\n\nRequire states to permit no-excuse mail-in absentee voting.\n\nRequire states to maintain an early voting period of at least 20 days.\n\nProvide grants for states to improve the safety, efficiency, and reliability of polling places in the following ways: Ensuring that elections are accessible to individuals with disabilities. Ensuring adequate protections for language minority voters. Ensuring voting access for American Indian, Alaska Native, and rural voters. Implementing and promoting curbside voting. Implementing and meeting a maximum wait time standard or publishing current wait times for voters. Providing for the training and recruitment of poll workers. Improving access to voter registration.\n\n\n\n\u201cSo many have marched, protested, fought and died for the fundamental right to vote, yet that right is under attack,\u201d Harris said in a statement. \u201cThe coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the obstacles many already face when voting. Even before the pandemic, Native Americans, Black and Latinx voters, and voters with disabilities too often faced long lines, inaccessible voting locations, and outright hostility by election officials.\n\nHarris, whom the smart money is on to be Joe Biden\u2019s vice president, also said this week that \u201cevery single governor\u201d should follow Virginia Governor Ralph Northam\u2019s (D) lead and make Election Day a state holiday while dropping voter ID requirements."}
-{"text": "To the fans eagerly awaiting the release of Mighty No. 9,\n\n\n\nUnfortunately, we have an announcement that will be very disappointing to all of you. In preparation for the February release of Mighty No. 9 we have been working hard with our partners to resolve any network issues and porting work necessary to publish Mighty No. 9 on the various platforms. However, the issues relating to the network modes were more critical than expected, and it has become apparent that we will need to delay the game from its February 9th release date. We have been working up until the very last moment to resolve these issues in order to make the February release, but it has become clear that we no longer have enough time to fix the issues and have everything prepared for release.\n\n\n\nThe reason for the delay is rooted in bugs inside the network modes, and specifically problems with matchmaking. There are two large reasons for this problem, one of them being the large number of platforms supported (the solution for each platform is slightly different) and the other stems from the fact that the engine we are using is no longer being updated which means adjustments for matchmaking and online code are being made manually (actually reprogramming parts of the engine by the dev team themselves). Unfortunately, this is all a result of miscalculations on the part of us, the development staff. As a result, our fans who have been looking forward to Mighty No. 9 have been forced to wait for over half a year longer than expected, and for that we are sincerely sorry. I want to take this chance to apologize personally, and on the behalf of the development staff.\n\n\n\nOver the end of the year break and the beginning of 2016, the development staff has been working on these issues non-stop without break, and thanks to their hard work the end is in sight. We continue to make progress to resolve these last issues that have been holding up the release of the game on the different platforms.\n\n\n\nBecause we are constantly working on it in cooperation with all our partners, we want to wait and make sure that everything is confirmed to be ready before giving a new specific release date. But we expect it to realistically be in Spring 2016.\n\n\n\nFor this 3rd delay of the game, we have no excuses for disappointing our fans and especially our backers once more. We want to take this chance to express our sincerest apologies to everyone who has looked forward to the release.\n\n\n\nAlthough we are far past our original release date, the release of Mighty No. 9 is still right around the corner. We are all working hard to make sure that we can finish and release the game to all of our fans as quickly as possible, and ask once more for your support of this project that we have created together over these last few years.\n\n\n\nKeiji Inafune"}
-{"text": "Two weekends ago, something happened in Anacostia that nobody could remember in recent memory: The streets were full of people. White people. On a Saturday.\n\nThey came on bicycles and parked at a bike valet, gallery hopped along Good Hope Road SE, browsed vintage clothing, lined up at food trucks, smoked cigarettes while listening to jazz by a roll-down garage door. Busboys & Poets served vegan wraps and espresso inside a giant warehouse on Shannon Place, where makeshift bars hawked Yuengling and mimosas. On the roof sat a wood and aluminum assemblage that, from the street, resembled a UFO.\n\nThe next Saturday, the streets were quiet again. That night, however, the hipsters returned in even greater numbers, delivered on chartered school buses from Dupont Circle and streaming over from the Anacostia Metro station, for a corporate-sponsored art party. It was all part of a three-month-long arts event series called LUMEN8Anacostia, funded by a grant from a national nonprofit and put on by D.C.\u2019s Office of Planning. The goal: Focus a ton of attention on a neighborhood usually thought of as too remote, too dangerous, and too empty to be worth a visit.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve gotten unbelievable publicity, unbelievable positive publicity,\u201d says ARCH Development president Duane Gautier, who has put on gallery openings in Anacostia for years, but never with this level of buzz. \u201cOur goal is to bring seven new art venues in the next three years to Anacostia. If we can do that, instead of Adams Morgan, people start going to Anacostia, because there is such a critical mass of things to do.\u201d\n\nCan a few days\u2019 use of a warehouse that\u2019s supposed to be turned into an office building* soon actually have that kind of effect? Not by itself\u2014Anacostia will need the critical mass of stuff to do what Gautier mentions, and that takes a lot more than a party. But such are the hopes for temporary projects in the District, which has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into putting them on in old library kiosks, unleased commercial buildings, and empty lots around the city. Private groups have caught on, to the point where vacancy is seen as an opportunity, and permanence is seen as optional.\n\n* * *\n\nThe District, despite its recent investment in temporary projects, is a late adopter of a national trend. The \u201clighter, faster, cheaper\u201d movement got rolling in the depths of the recession, as money for new buildings dried up and cities with dead cores tried to liven up empty lots and vacant storefronts. At the same time, cities started to look for ways to prioritize people over cars, like Park(ing) Day in San Francisco, where guerilla urbanists rent a parking spot and fill it with turf and lawn furniture.\n\nWashington, by contrast, is seen as complete, with temporary installations only threatening to mar its landscapes; layer upon layer of regulatory review protects downtown from anything remotely undignified. D.C.\u2019s budget rules say capital dollars aren\u2019t supposed to be spent on things that won\u2019t last longer than five years, which slowed down some projects.\n\nBut lately, that slowness has caused a certain impatience: Can\u2019t we make something happen here, if only for a little while? That impulse has recently led to two makeshift architecture projects. A stalled development site across from Nationals Park has been ringed in dozens of shipping containers to create a venue called the Fairgrounds, where fans can drink and listen to bands before the game. It\u2019s technically \u201ctemporary,\u201d occupying the space on a month-to-month lease, but they\u2019re in no rush: A similar setup in Brooklyn has won accolades for its design and function as a retail space. Organizers are soliciting large banner ads for the sides of the containers, which would make it even more worth their while to keep them around.\n\nThe second project will need just three shipping containers, which retail online for around $3,000 each. Developer Jim Abdo has leased a narrow lot on U Street NW to local entertainment impresarios Ian and Eric Hilton, who are planning a semi-enclosed, year-round bar with a take-out window. The Historic Preservation Review Board, which reviewed the plans because the site is in the Greater U Street historic district, was suspicious\u2014mostly because there was no time limit on its tenure. \u201cWe don\u2019t have any way to say how long temporary is,\u201d board member Nancy Metzger told the architect during a hearing last month. \u201cAfter three years? Four years? I\u2019m really kind of scared about this as a precedent-setting case.\u201d\n\nEventually, the board approved it anyway. And rightly so: After all, for people walking by, is a bar made out of \u201cdropped-off spaces\u201d\u2014as another board member put it\u2014any less real than one made of bricks? Just look at the park the city put on the site of the old Bruce Monroe school on Georgia Avenue, when it looked like building a new development would take years. It\u2019s now a neighborhood gathering space that few would like to see vanish.\n\nThe other fundamental impulse behind temporary projects is what motivated LUMEN8Anacostia: changing the perception of a neighborhood, and allowing it to try on a different identity. \u201cIt engages people in a geography,\u201d says D.C. Planning Director Harriet Tregoning. \u201cIt leaves a burn image, even after it\u2019s gone. It opens up a whole different set of possibilities for the people who live there, the people who might want to live there.\u201d Temporary projects often encounter less opposition, too. \u201cAs long as you promise it\u2019s temporary, you can do almost anything you want,\u201d Tregoning says. \u201cYou get to say to people, if you don\u2019t like it, it\u2019s gone.\u201d\n\nBesides LUMEN8, another temporary art project has popped up miles north of downtown, at 14th Street and Colorado Avenue NW, which the Office of Planning has pinpointed as a future \u201carts cluster\u201d around a welcoming new plaza. Until that plaza can be built, however, the agency wants to get residents used to hanging out in a space that\u2019s now a right-turn lane. So on Saturday morning, a San Francisco-based group called Rebar chalked out bright concentric circles on the ground and residents filled them in with bright, water-soluble paint. At a design brainstorm session later, they made cardboard models of street furniture that could go on a wide sidewalk, which Rebar will take back to its studio to help develop prototypes. The idea: Neighbors can feel what the changes might mean, even though it may take years to implement.\n\nThe city is setting an example, and now it needs to help residents follow its lead. Why can\u2019t we get a temporary certificate of occupancy for buildings more easily than a permanent one, or request permission to paint a mural on the street, or check a database of property owners to work out interim uses on empty lots? These projects make the urban environment more comfortable, useful, and cared for\u2014the kinds of places where people want to stay and live, rather than fleeing to the suburbs. Washington is evolving too fast, after all, for its brick-and-mortar buildings to keep up.\n\n\u2014-\n\n* CORRECTION, April 28 \u2013 A previous version said that the warehouse will be torn down, when in fact it will be partially demolished and re-skinned with glass.\n\nTop photo by Darrow Montgomery, bottom ones by Lydia DePillis\n\nGot a real-estate tip? Send suggestions to ldepillis@washingtoncitypaper.com. Or call (202) 650-6928."}
-{"text": "This is impressive: 70% of new college students are bringing Macs with them to school, according to a Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry. The figure comes in relation to his downgrading of Microsofts stock, which caused shares of the software giant to fall 2%. Here are the details:\n\n70 percent of college freshman are entering school with Macs, up about 10 percent to 15 percent from a year ago.\n\n\u201cOur research is indicating that Microsoft is unable to connect with the new generation of users,\u201d Chowdhry wrote, adding that this could cause problems down the road when these students enter the work force and once again pick Macs over Windows.\n\nI hope the raw statistics and research data is released so we can get the precise details, but speaking from experience I can definitely say that Macs and Apple hardware are overwhelming college campuses. Sure you\u2019ll see other computers and electronics around too but a clear majority of people are using at least one of Apple\u2019s signature products, whether it\u2019s a Mac, iPhone, iPod, or iPad.\n\nSo Apple is pretty much taking over, dominating college campuses, the USA, and reaching to the highest levels of power with President Obama and the White House staff all using Macs and iPads. Amazing."}
-{"text": "President Trump\u2019s fortunes finally turned south with the bombshell testimony of the US ambassador to the EU.\n\nThe pundits and talking heads keep looking at the polls and noting that the dial on Donald Trump and the impeachment has barely moved. With the implication that it is stuck unto eternity. It takes time for the change to percolate and become our morning coffee.\n\n\n\nGordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, has changed things on multiple levels.\n\nFirst, his statement of fact. It included: \u201cWas there quid pro quo? \u2026 the answer is yes.\u201d\n\nRepublicans on the committee make much of the claim that Democrats have moved from charging quid pro quo to extortion to bribery. Just to clarify, quid pro quo simply means \u201cthis for that\u201d. It encompasses both bribery and extortion.\n\nIt is bribery if the main aspect of the transaction is a payoff to a person in authority. It is extortion if a threat or actual force is used to coerce the payment (whether that is money, goods or services). All three apply in this case.\n\nTrump attempted to get something of personal value (quid) in exchange for (pro) releasing money to Ukraine that they should have received anyway (quo). That is demanding a bribe. The fact that Ukraine needed these funds desperately for arms to defend itself against Russia and Russian proxies is the equivalent of \u201cdo me a favour or I\u2019ll let the gangsters shoot you,\u201d and that makes it extortion.\n\nThe reason \u201cquid pro quo\u201d became the term of choice is because the US Supreme Court in its efforts to decriminalise \u2013 indeed to normalise classy corruption \u2013 said that to prove corruption there had to be an explicit \u201cquid pro quo\u201d.\n\nIt is not corruption if Tony Soprano gives the money to the City Councilman\u2019s campaign fund, hosts his daughter\u2019s graduation party, and gets the Councilman\u2019s wife diamonds at wholesale and Tony happens to get the garbage contract. Tony has to say, \u201cgive me the garbage contract and I\u2019ll give you a kickback,\u201d to meet the Court\u2019s \u201cquid pro quo\u201d criteria.\n\nTrump saying \u201cno quid pro quo\u201d does not demonstrate that there was not one. It demonstrates that he is wise in the ways of crime and paid close attention when the Supreme Court moved the goalposts, quite recently, in 2016.\n\nSecond, Sondland was a first-hand witness. He was part of it, live and in person. Until he testified, the primary defence was that it was all second-hand and hearsay.\n\nThird, Sondland connected it directly to the president. He spoke directly to the president. He got his orders from the president. He let others become witnesses to his discussions \u2013 both first-hand and second-hand \u2013 of his conversations with the president.\n\nTrump was also playing another Godfather game by having Rudi Giuliani be the buffer \u2013 or at least one of the buffers \u2013 between himself and the extortionate demands for his bribe before he would release aid to Ukraine.\n\nThere, you have all three, extortion, bribery, quid pro quo in one description of the events. If Trump told Sondland to do what Giuliani told him to, and Trump\u2019s other efforts are in synch with what Giuliani did demand, Trump is still connected directly to the scheme. Indeed, he is still in command of it.\n\nFourth, Sondland established that there were many players and lots of people who knew. In addition to Giuliani, he named Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, as participants or at least as people in the know. That makes their refusals to testify, to even acknowledge subpoenas, to turn over documents (electronic and paper), probative, \u201cadding proof\u201d.\n\nFifth, Sondland established that it is possible to testify.\n\nThis is hugely important. One of the mainstays of the Trump game is the refusal to acknowledge any other authorities. To claim they have no jurisdiction. That they are not legitimate. To order everyone in the executive branch to toe that line. Sondland was the first \u201cplayer\u201d to break that Trumpian version of \u201comerta\u201d.\n\nAdmittedly, that happened in part because he got himself caught in a perjury trap. His first testimony was not \u201caccurate.\u201d He was informed that there was other testimony and documents that contradicted it. His lawyer advised him how to \u201cremember\u201d in order to revise. That takes us to Part B of the fifth item. Once you are under oath before Congress, the Senate, or a court, it is necessary to testify truthfully.\n\nThis part of the impeachment inquiry may have ended on Thursday, November 21.\n\nThere may be more hearings. If there are, they will be in private first and in public second.\n\nThe next known step is that the information goes to the Judiciary Committee to draw up the Articles of Impeachment.\n\nThere are other investigations and prosecutions already taking place simultaneously. There may be more. Sondland\u2019s testimony will likely affect those. He has demonstrated that if you keep trying, there are people who will come forward to testify.\n\nHe \u2013 and Lt Col Vindman, Marie Yovanovitch, Fiona Hill, and the others \u2013 have set an example. Others will almost certainly come forward to deliver information and to speak up.\n\nA lot of these issues have gone or will go to courts. Sondland\u2019s testimony has proved that there are secrets behind the wall of silence, they are likely to be important, and it is of public value to have them revealed.\n\nJust as the whistle-blower\u2019s complaint launched the process, Ambassador Sondland has blown it open. It is not the final event, but after it, the process must go forward.\n\nThe views expressed in this article are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera\u2019s editorial stance."}
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\u03b1\u03c0\u03bf\u03b4\u03b5\u03af\u03be\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c0\u03bb\u03b7\u03c1\u03ce\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9 \u03c4\u03bf\u03bd \u03a6\u03a0\u0391 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c4\u03bf \u03c6\u03cc\u03c1\u03bf \u03b5\u03b9\u03c3\u03bf\u03b4\u03ae\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2\". \u039c\u03cc\u03bd\u03bf \u03c0\u03bf\u03c5 \u03bc\u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03b5\u03af \u03bd\u03b1 \u03bc\u03b7\u03bd \u03b5\u03af\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b1\u03ba\u03c1\u03b9\u03b2\u03ce\u03c2 \u03ad\u03c4\u03c3\u03b9 \u03c4\u03b1 \u03c0\u03c1\u03ac\u03b3\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1. \u039f \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2; \u0397 \u03b1\u03c0\u03cc\u03b4\u03b5\u03b9\u03be\u03b7 \u03c0\u03bf\u03c5 \u03c0\u03ae\u03c1\u03b1\u03c4\u03b5 \u03bc\u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03b5\u03af \u03bd\u03b1 \u03bc\u03b7\u03bd \u03ad\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u03bd\u03ad\u03bd\u03b1 \u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03af\u03ba\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03bc\u03b1 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b8\u03ce\u03c2 \u03ad\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9 \u03b5\u03ba\u03b4\u03bf\u03b8\u03b5\u03af \u03b1\u03c0\u03cc \u03c4\u03b1\u03bc\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1\u03ba\u03ae \u03bc\u03b7\u03c7\u03b1\u03bd\u03ae \u03c0\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b4\u03b5\u03bd \u03ad\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9 \u03b4\u03b7\u03bb\u03c9\u03b8\u03b5\u03af \u03b1\u03c0\u03cc \u03c4\u03bf\u03bd \u03b5\u03c0\u03b9\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9\u03c1\u03b7\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03af\u03b1, \u03b4\u03b7\u03bb\u03b1\u03b4\u03ae \u03b1\u03c0\u03cc \u03c4\u03b1\u03bc\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1\u03ba\u03ae \"\u03bc\u03b1\u03ca\u03bc\u03bf\u03cd\".\n\n\u0391\u03c0\u03cc \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u03b5\u03bb\u03ad\u03b3\u03c7\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u03c0\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b4\u03b9\u03b5\u03bd\u03b5\u03c1\u03b3\u03bf\u03cd\u03bd \u03c4\u03b9\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03c5\u03c4\u03b1\u03af\u03b5\u03c2 \u03b7\u03bc\u03ad\u03c1\u03b5\u03c2 \u03bf\u03b9 \u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03b3\u03ba\u03c4\u03ad\u03c2 \u03c4\u03c9\u03bd \u03b5\u03c6\u03bf\u03c1\u03b9\u03ce\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 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\u03b1\u03b4\u03ae\u03bb\u03c9\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b1\u03bc\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1\u03ba\u03ad\u03c2 \u03bc\u03b7\u03c7\u03b1\u03bd\u03ad\u03c2 \u03b5\u03af\u03c7\u03b1\u03bd \u03b5\u03bd\u03c4\u03bf\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03b8\u03b5\u03af \u03b5\u03bd\u03c4\u03cc\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 \u03b5\u03b2\u03b4\u03bf\u03bc\u03ac\u03b4\u03b1\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b1\u03c0\u03cc \u03b5\u03bb\u03ad\u03b3\u03c7\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u03c0\u03bf\u03c5 \u03c0\u03c1\u03b1\u03b3\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03c0\u03bf\u03b9\u03ae\u03b8\u03b7\u03ba\u03b1\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c3\u03b5 \u03ac\u03bb\u03bb\u03b5\u03c2 \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03ad\u03c2 \u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c7\u03ad\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 \u03c7\u03ce\u03c1\u03b1\u03c2.\n\n\u03a4\u03bf \u03bd\u03b1 \u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03c9\u03b8\u03b5\u03af \u03cc\u03bc\u03c9\u03c2 \u03cc\u03c4\u03b9 \u03bc\u03b9\u03b1 \u03c4\u03b1\u03bc\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1\u03ba\u03ae \u03bc\u03b7\u03c7\u03b1\u03bd\u03ae \u03b5\u03af\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b1\u03b4\u03ae\u03bb\u03c9\u03c4\u03b7 \u03b4\u03b5\u03bd \u03b5\u03af\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b5\u03cd\u03ba\u03bf\u03bb\u03b7 \u03c5\u03c0\u03cc\u03b8\u03b5\u03c3\u03b7. \u0391\u03c0\u03b1\u03b9\u03c4\u03b5\u03af\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03cd\u03c1\u03c9\u03c3\u03b7 \u03bc\u03b5 \u03c4\u03bf taxis. \u03a0\u03b9\u03bf \u03c3\u03c5\u03b3\u03ba\u03b5\u03ba\u03c1\u03b9\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03b1 \u03bf\u03b9 \u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03b3\u03ba\u03c4\u03ad\u03c2 \u03b5\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03ba\u03ad\u03c0\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c9\u03c2 \u03c0\u03b5\u03bb\u03ac\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b7\u03bd \u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03b3\u03c7\u03cc\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03b7 \u03b5\u03c0\u03b9\u03c7\u03b5\u03af\u03c1\u03b7\u03c3\u03b7. \u03a0\u03b1\u03af\u03c1\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5\u03bd \u03c4\u03b7\u03bd \u03b1\u03c0\u03cc\u03b4\u03b5\u03b9\u03be\u03b7 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c3\u03c4\u03b7 \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03ad\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1 \u03b5\u03c0\u03b9\u03ba\u03bf\u03b9\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd\u03bf\u03cd\u03bd \u03bc\u03b5 \u03c4\u03b7\u03bd \u03c5\u03c0\u03b7\u03c1\u03b5\u03c3\u03af\u03b1 \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5 Taxis \u03cc\u03c0\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b1\u03bd\u03b1\u03c6\u03ad\u03c1\u03bf\u03c5\u03bd \u03c4\u03b1 \u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9\u03c7\u03b5\u03af\u03b1 \u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 \u03b1\u03c0\u03cc\u03b4\u03b5\u03b9\u03be\u03b7\u03c2. \u03a3\u03c4\u03b1 \u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9\u03c7\u03b5\u03af\u03b1 \u03b1\u03c5\u03c4\u03ac \u03b1\u03bd\u03b1\u03b3\u03c1\u03ac\u03c6\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b7 \u03c4\u03b1\u03c5\u03c4\u03cc\u03c4\u03b7\u03c4\u03b1 \u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b1\u03bc\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1\u03ba\u03ae\u03c2 \u03bc\u03b7\u03c7\u03b1\u03bd\u03ae\u03c2. \u0395\u03c6\u03cc\u03c3\u03bf\u03bd \u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03c9\u03b8\u03b5\u03af \u03cc\u03c4\u03b9 \u03b7 \u03c4\u03b1\u03bc\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1\u03ba\u03ae \u03bc\u03b7\u03c7\u03b1\u03bd\u03ae \u03b4\u03b5\u03bd \u03ad\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9 \u03b4\u03b7\u03bb\u03c9\u03b8\u03b5\u03af \u03c4\u03cc\u03c4\u03b5 \u03bf\u03b9 \u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03b3\u03ba\u03c4\u03ad\u03c2 \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c7\u03c9\u03c1\u03bf\u03cd\u03bd \u03c3\u03c4\u03b7\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03ac\u03c3\u03c7\u03b5\u03c3\u03ae \u03c4\u03b7\u03c2, \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03c4\u03ac\u03c3\u03c3\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03ad\u03ba\u03b8\u03b5\u03c3\u03b7 \u03b5\u03bb\u03ad\u03b3\u03c7\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b3\u03b9\u03b1 \u03ad\u03ba\u03b4\u03bf\u03c3\u03b7 \u03c0\u03bb\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03ce\u03bd \u03c6\u03bf\u03c1\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03b3\u03b9\u03ba\u03ce\u03bd \u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9\u03c7\u03b5\u03af\u03c9\u03bd \u03b5\u03bd\u03ce \u03c5\u03c0\u03bf\u03b2\u03ac\u03bb\u03bb\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03bc\u03b7\u03bd\u03c5\u03c4\u03ae\u03c1\u03b9\u03b1 \u03b1\u03bd\u03b1\u03c6\u03bf\u03c1\u03ac \u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd \u03b5\u03b9\u03c3\u03b1\u03b3\u03b3\u03b5\u03bb\u03ad\u03b1 \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03ba\u03b5\u03b9\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5 \u03bd\u03b1 \u03b5\u03c0\u03b9\u03b2\u03bb\u03b7\u03b8\u03bf\u03cd\u03bd \u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03b1\u03b2\u03ac\u03c4\u03b7 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03bf\u03b9 \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03b2\u03bb\u03b5\u03c0\u03cc\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03b5\u03c2 \u03c0\u03bf\u03b9\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u03ad\u03c2 \u03ba\u03c5\u03c1\u03ce\u03c3\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2.\n\n\u039f\u03b9 \u03bf\u03b4\u03b7\u03b3\u03af\u03b5\u03c2 \u03c0\u03bf\u03c5 \u03ad\u03c7\u03bf\u03c5\u03bd \u03c0\u03ac\u03c1\u03b5\u03b9 \u03bf\u03b9 \u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03b3\u03ba\u03c4\u03ad\u03c2 \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5 \u03c5\u03c0\u03bf\u03c5\u03c1\u03b3\u03b5\u03af\u03bf\u03c5 \u039f\u03b9\u03ba\u03bf\u03bd\u03bf\u03bc\u03b9\u03ba\u03ce\u03bd \u03b5\u03af\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9 \u03bd\u03b1 \u03ba\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u03cd\u03bd \u03b3\u03b9\u03b1 \u03b5\u03be\u03b7\u03b3\u03ae\u03c3\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2 \u03b1\u03ba\u03cc\u03bc\u03b7 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c4\u03bf\u03bd \u03c6\u03bf\u03c1\u03bf\u03c4\u03b5\u03c7\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u03cc \u03bc\u03b5 \u03c4\u03bf\u03bd \u03bf\u03c0\u03bf\u03af\u03bf \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03b5\u03c1\u03b3\u03ac\u03b6\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03bf \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03b1\u03b2\u03ac\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03ba\u03b5\u03b9\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5 \u03bd\u03b1 \u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03c9\u03b8\u03b5\u03af \u03b1\u03bd \u03ad\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9 \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c3\u03c6\u03ad\u03c1\u03b5\u03b9 \"\u03c4\u03b5\u03c7\u03bd\u03bf\u03b3\u03bd\u03c9\u03c3\u03af\u03b1\" \u03b3\u03b9\u03b1 \u03c4\u03b7\u03bd \u03c7\u03c1\u03ae\u03c3\u03b7 \u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 \u03b1\u03b4\u03ae\u03bb\u03c9\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b1\u03bc\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1\u03ba\u03ae\u03c2 \u03bc\u03b7\u03c7\u03b1\u03bd\u03ae\u03c2."}
-{"text": "The Islamic State (IS) extremist group has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a crowded mosque inside an Afghan army base in Khost Province during Friday Prayers on November 23, killing dozens of people.\n\nSome news agencies put the death toll at 26, citing Afghan officials who said more than 50 others were wounded by the attack.\n\nIn a statement issued on its Amaq website, the IS group on November 24 claimed that an IS suicide bomber infiltrated the military base and got inside the mosque to detonate his explosives, killing \u201caround 50\u201d Afghan soldiers who were praying and wounding 110 others.\n\nAfghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack as \"anti-Islamic and inhumane.\"\n\nIn a statement, Ghani urged a swift investigation into the bombing and said he wanted to know how security at the army base was breached, calling for those responsible to be punished.\n\nThe attack came just days after a suicide bomber targeted a gathering of religious scholars in Kabul, killing at least 50 people and wounding more than 80 others.\n\nBased on reporting by Reuters, AP, and RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan"}
-{"text": "Embattled satellite carrier LightSquared proposed on Friday that the government let it share spectrum with federal uses such as weather balloons so it can get enough spectrum to launch its proposed national LTE mobile network.\n\nLightSquared would give up on deploying LTE in one band of spectrum that it had been planning to use for that network before the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) moved to kill its plans over interference with GPS receivers. In the proposal it submitted on Friday, the company also offered to hold off on using the rest of that controversial spectrum until the FCC can carry out a rulemaking process that could take years.\n\nThe spectrum-sharing plan would allow LightSquared to launch a high-speed LTE network sooner than any other new competitor in the U.S., LightSquared told the FCC in its filing. It would also ensure that GPS reception isn't affected by the new network, the company said.\n\nGrowing demand for mobile data services has made the market for high-speed networks attractive to many players. Satellite TV operator Dish Network is also seeking FCC approval to operate an LTE network in spectrum that traditionally has been used for satellite services. LightSquared intends to sell capacity on its network wholesale to other service providers, who would then use it to offer LTE plans to subscribers.\n\nLightSquared was formed through a combination of satellite companies and operates satellite-based service already. In January 2011, the FCC gave LightSquared conditional approval to build a land-based mobile data network using LTE. The approval said LightSquared could sell the cellular service without a satellite component, which opened up a much bigger market for the company. But it also required testing to find out if the LTE network might interfere with GPS receivers, and a series of tests showed that it would.\n\nThe company has been calling for a spectrum swap or sharing arrangement ever since the FCC proposed killing its LTE plans in February. In the meantime, LightSquared has declared bankruptcy. On Friday, it finally laid out a specific plan.\n\nThe new plan would give the carrier 30MHz of frequencies on which to operate the LTE network. That's 10MHz less than it had wanted but still comparable to the amount of spectrum Verizon Wireless and AT&T are using for their LTE systems, which in most areas use just 20MHz. Wireless network speeds are determined partly by how much spectrum the network uses, so LightSquared might be able to deliver a competitive service for its planned coverage area of 260 million U.S. residents.\n\nHowever, just getting the spectrum-sharing plan approved would take an indeterminate amount of time while the company works its way through the bankruptcy process.\n\nWhat LightSquared wants to do is take one 5MHz band that it already uses for its satellite service (at 1670-1675MHz) and combine that with the next band up (1675-1680MHz), which is used for federal purposes including National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration weather balloons. The government could keep using that band, while LightSquared's LTE network would share it.\n\nThis would give LightSquared 10MHz for downstream traffic to customers' LTE devices. Another pair of bands that it uses for satellite now, which total 20MHz, would be used for LTE traffic going upstream from users' mobile devices.\n\nThe FCC rulemaking that LightSquared wants, which would probably take even longer than setting up the spectrum-sharing plan, would give LightSquared another 10MHz of spectrum so it could offer more data capacity eventually. But the carrier is offering to permanently give up its terrestrial rights to the upper band of the spectrum that it had originally proposed to use for LTE, which is closest to the frequencies that GPS uses.\n\nStephen Lawson covers mobile, storage and networking technologies for The IDG News Service. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @sdlawsonmedia. Stephen's e-mail address is stephen_lawson@idg.com"}
-{"text": "ELSA is a powerful component of SecurityOnion; one can waste productively use many hours drilling through your logs. The more parsers and dashboards you write for your own specific log sources the more insightful it becomes and pretty soon you\u2019ll be asking yourself questions you never knew you had.\n\nTake the session below as an example:\n\nThis is Bro accounting for a TCP session, showing a local IP address (redacted) sending over 8MB of data to 92.232.36.19 on TCP port 25289. Something like this should raise an eyebrow or two and is certainly worthy of further investigation \u2013 why is a local machine having this kind of conversation? Can we rule out foul play? Or is there an innocent explanation? Deerstalkers on, sleuths\u2026\n\nThe first thing we can do is find out some more about the remote IP address. You can\u2019t trust rDNS and whois to be totally accurate (or truthful), but a quick whois and dig -x tells us that we\u2019re dealing with what looks like a residential broadband IP address rather than a business (the rDNS lookup is cpc25-newt29-2-0-cust18.19-3.cable.virginm.net). If it were a business with whom we have a relationship there may be an easier answer, but at the moment it looks like our local IP address is talking with a computer in someone\u2019s living room. We still don\u2019t know what the traffic was, though. Exfiltration of Top Secret business plans, maybe?\n\nMaybe we can get some answers by pivoting from ELSA into capME to get a transcript of the session:\n\nDrat. The plot thickens! Our local IP address has sent over 8MB of data to a computer apparently in someone\u2019s living room, and we can\u2019t tell what it is because it\u2019s quite possibly encrypted. We still can\u2019t rule out a leak of our Top Secret plans! What if 92.232.36.19 is an innocent machine under the control of The Baddies who are using it to pillage all our stuff? Where\u2019s my tinfoil hat?!\n\nUnanswered questions bug me a great deal. Sometimes even NSM can lead you to a dead end. I can research 92.232.36.19 as much as I like by using ELSA et al to look for other log entries that reference it, or by going OSINT crazy, but in this instance I\u2019m all out of clues. What I\u2019d ideally like to be able to do is work out which process on the local IP address made the connection \u2013 perhaps this would solve the mystery.\n\nMarching over to the local machine (EnCase dongle in hand) with the intent of seizing it and carrying out a full host examination probably isn\u2019t the most productive use of time. The user of the machine will hate me for stopping them from working, the process will take a long time, and even then it might not answer my questions fully. Not to mention the fact that I don\u2019t have an EnCase licence in the first place.\n\nEnter Carbon Black. I\u2019ll leave it as an exercise to the reader to peruse their website, but suffice to say running Cb on your systems is akin to running process monitor all the time on all your machines, centrally collecting things like process execution trees, file/registry modification attempts, network connections, etc. It\u2019s basically carrying out host-forensic tasks all the time, capturing very volatile events that you may not be able to recover in retrospect.\n\nDid I just say it collected network connections? I wonder if we can ask it about 92.232.36.19?\n\nELSA is a wonderfully extensible beast; amongst other things, you can write Plugins that can link to other systems to provide extra information based on ELSA searches. Carbon Black has a REST API and easily accessible search URLs \u2013 perhaps we can link ELSA and Cb together?\n\nHappily, yes we can. We\u2019ll get to the nuts and bolts of the plugin in a second, but the net result is something like this. By clicking on the \u201cInfo\u201d link by our BRO_CONN log entry, we get a link into Carbon Black that will search on the dstip field:\n\nClicking on the Cb link will perform a search for the suspect IP address \u2013 provided our browser is logged in, we\u2019ll see this:\n\nAha! It\u2019s Spotify, which has a p2p-style protocol that makes use of \u201crandom\u201d ports and encryption. According to the article, most of the music you listen to comes from other users\u2019 machines \u2013 our mystery connection is likely the transfer of a song from one (local) Spotify user to another.\n\nWhat we\u2019re seeing above is a specific execution of Spotify, which means that all the events logged against it are those recorded at a specific time on a specific machine. Drilling down on the process, we can see:\n\n\u2026the process tree. We can see that explorer.exe started Spotify, and that Spotify itself has child processes. We can see that five other machines have the exact same version of Spotify on them, and that it\u2019s a legitimately signed binary. If this were malware, being able to see at a glance how many other machines it\u2019s executed on is a pretty handy thing. As it is, it\u2019s not malware but we might like to speak to the users of the five machines in question if the use of Spotify represents a policy violation.\n\nSearching the 3502 logged events for our suspect IP address:\n\n\u2026there it is. Drilling down onto the binary itself, we can see:\n\nNote the convenient link to VirusTotal, and the Download link which you can use to investigate suspected malware in a sandbox.\n\nTo be able to go straight from a network-derived indicator to the process that caused it seems to me to be a pretty powerful ability!\n\nPutting it into practice is fairly straightforward. Step one is to subclass the \u201cInfo\u201d Perl class by creating /opt/elsa/web/lib/Info/Cb.pm as follows:\n\npackage Info::Cb; use Moose; use Data::Dumper; extends 'Info'; sub BUILD { my $self = shift; if ($self->conf->get('info/cb/url_templates')){ foreach my $template (@{ $self->conf->get('info/cb/url_templates') } ){ push @{ $self->urls }, sprintf($template, $self->data->{dstip}); } } } 1;\n\nThe code above references configuration entries from /etc/elsa_web.conf. Add the following under \u201cinfo\u201d alongside the entries for \u201csnort\u201d, \u201curl\u201d and \u201cwindows\u201d, altering the URL as appropriate for your Cb installation:\n\n\"cb\": { \"url_templates\": [ \"https://carbonblack/#search/cb.urlver=1&q=%s\" ] }\n\nFinally, we need to tell ELSA which classes to apply the plugin to. Add the following under \u201cplugins\u201d:\n\n\"BRO_CONN\": \"Info::Cb\"\n\nThat\u2019s the lot. You might need to restart Apache, but once done you should be able to click \u201cInfo\u201d on a BRO_CONN result and have a properly populated link into Cb, searching on BRO_CONN.dstip.\n\nThis is my first attempt to link ELSA and Cb, and it\u2019s quite a basic one. ELSA also supports transforms to which results can be \u201cpiped\u201d \u2013 examples that ship with the product include whois, dnsdb and cif. A Cb transform could perform more flexible queries, enriching an ELSA result set with supplementary information from Cb. Stay tuned; I\u2019ll post again if I come up with something useful!\n\n\n\nAlec Waters is responsible for all things security at Dataline Software, and can be emailed at alec.waters@dataline.co.uk\n\n\n\nShare this: Twitter\n\nReddit\n\nFacebook\n\nLinkedIn\n\nLike this: Like Loading... Related"}
-{"text": "I love Epcot! True you might not find the whimsical Disney magic you expect from the Magic Kingdom and even the other parks, but it has a magic all of its own!\n\nWe\u2019ve decided that anytime we are able, we are staying at one of Disney\u2019s BoardWalk Resorts just to give us easy walking access to the World Showcase through the International Gateway. The kids also love Disney\u2019s Beach Club and Yacht Club Resorts due to the enormous Stormalong Bay pool area!\n\nThe Frozen Elephant\n\nOn countless evenings we\u2019d find ourselves walking into Epcot to grab dinner, drinks and catch IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth. With the Resort Hotel just a walk away, it\u2019s easy to stroll back and forth\u2013usually with a sleeping baby in the stroller. There are so many delicious treats available from all over the world, but I found this one in a hidden gem. Just between the China and Germany pavilions there is an African themed \u201cRefreshment Cool Post\u201d offering hot dogs, chips, soft serve and slushies. Easy missed among the countless more decadent offerings of the World Showcase. They do however have this Disney Drink Of The Day: The Frozen Elephant.\n\nThis adult-treat is a combination of frozen Coca-Cola (who doesn\u2019t love that on a hot day) and Amarula Cream Liquor. It tastes like the soda-shop vanilla cokes from drive-in restaurants. I also love this drink and location because I can get the kids a frozen coke or coke float, too!\n\nWhat is your favorite World Showcase drink?\n\nCheers!"}
-{"text": "Share Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nPinterest\n\nDespite the large amount of gay characters on TV and film nowadays, as a gay man I find it difficult to relate to many of them. Often the characters exist simply to round out a \u201cdiverse\u201d cast of stereotypical individuals. If the characters are men then they\u2019re usually hyper-effeminate. Or they go through relationships every episode, full of inaccessible passion that burns out quickly. It\u2019s very interesting, then, that one of the best depictions of a gay relationship in the media is in a surreal horror-comedy podcast that came out of nowhere and has taken iTunes by storm, Welcome to Night Vale.\n\nOver the past year, the simultaneously funny and genuinely creepy Welcome to Night Vale has battled with This American Life for the top spot on iTune\u2019s podcast ratings. It\u2019s a twice monthly serialized podcast about a strange town where strange is actually the norm exploded in popularity thanks to social media websites such as Tumblr and Facebook. Created, written, and produced by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor, Welcome to Night Vale features the vocal talent of Cecil Baldwin as the main broadcaster Cecil Palmer.\n\nWith occasional guest voices and writers, Night Vale\u2019s tone changes from absurd to thoughtful to sweet to terrifying (often in just a few minutes). From a five-headed dragon running for mayor to a floating cat that lives in the men\u2019s bathroom of the radio station, Night Vale features an assembly of characters with individual plots interwoven with the strange events that take place.\n\nThe main plot of Night Vale is told primarily through the eyes of Cecil as though read for an NPR broadcast. Throughout the broadcasts are various advertisements that reflect current events in a very subtle but tongue-in-cheek way as when the local Night Vale chapter of the NRA puts out bumper stickers with the phrase, \u201cGuns don\u2019t kill people, it\u2019s impossible to be killed by a gun, we are all invincible to bullets and it\u2019s a miracle!\u201d A character\u2019s racist choice of clothing is constantly criticized and reflective of the current disapproval of culturally appropriated Halloween costumes, and the Vague Yet Menacing Government controls all aspects of Night Vale life.\n\nAmong the various plot points and ludicrous events that occur, the relationship between Cecil and Carlos is the most prominent, especially among fans. Carlos, a scientist who moves to Night Vale to study the town, begins dating Cecil a year after his arrival and despite the mountains of fan art and fan fiction depicting the two, their relationship is actually seldom mentioned.\n\nCompared to TV shows and movies like Modern Family and Glee, where such characters are merely stereotypical token gays and used primarily for drama, Carlos and Cecil\u2019s relationship is very healthy. They cook for each other, stargaze on the back of Carlos\u2019 hybrid car, and share a quick kiss at the end of dates. As they grow closer, Cecil finds traits and habits of Carlos that are irritating but such discoveries are natural as a relationship progresses. These habits are never blown out of proportion or sensationalized unnecessarily, and any problems that arise are worked through. They do not break up constantly only to get back together by the next episode and Cecil\u2019s descriptions of Carlos\u2019 \u201cperfect\u201d hair and jaw gradually turn into praise of his reliability. It\u2019s very refreshing to see a relationship that develops over a period of time with the milestones of a typical romance.\n\nTheir relationship is far from perfect (\u201cperfect\u201d would be impossible to achieve in a town such as Night Vale) but they are at least not caricatures of a gay couple. And as more people begin listening to this unusual and fascinating podcast, it is important to have models of the gay experience that are true to life.\n\n[adsenseyu1]"}
-{"text": "Police charged a 13-year-old New Orleans boy with second-degree murder after he killed his 5-year-old sister using wrestling moves imitated from TV.\n\n\u201cThe 13-year-old reported he started to wrestle with the victim and practiced \u2018WWE\u2019 style wrestling moves on the 5-year-old,\u201d Col. John Fortunato of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff\u2019s Office said in a news release Tuesday.\n\nA coroner\u2019s investigation found Viloude Louis died of multiple injuries, including broken ribs, lacerations of the liver and internal bleeding, after the boy repeatedly struck her with his hands and body.\n\nDetective Matt Vasquez said the boy told him that he knew the wrestling moves on TV were fake, but he was smiling and appeared to enjoy talking about them.\n\n\u201cThe 13-year-old continued by saying the victim complained that she was hurting, but he continued to slam, punch and elbow her for an additional two or three minutes, stopping when his mother called him on the phone to check on he and the victim,\u201d officials said in the news release.\n\nThe boy reportedly called the police after his sister had stopped breathing. She was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.\n\n\u201cThe death of Viloude Louis is a tragedy, and our condolences go out to her family, the WWE said in a statement Tuesday. \u201cWWE urges restraint in reporting this unfortunate incident as if it were the result of a WWE wrestling move. As in similar cases, criminal intent to harm and a lack of parental supervision have been the factors resulting in a tragic death. Authorities have already charged the accused with second degree murder and determined that this was not an accidental death due to a wrestling move.\u201d\n\nSign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters\n\nCopyright \u00a9 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission."}
-{"text": "Mutant epidermal stem cells lose the connections to their neighbours (red, right) compared to normal stem cells (red, left). Credit: CNIO\n\nThe human body is daily exposed to external assaults such as bacteria, ultraviolet light or chemical agents. Skin, the largest organ of the body, is the first line of defense against these agents. Skin performs this function thanks to the close connections established between its cells (e.g. adherens junctions). The loss of cell adhesion between these cells is related to inflammatory diseases and cancer, hence the special interest in this area of research over the past years.\n\nA study by the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), featured on the cover of the Journal of Cell Biology, shows how interactions between skin stem cells\u2014the cells responsible for the constant renewal of skin\u2014maintain the architecture of this organ. \"We knew that these junctions were important in skin stem cells but the cellular components involved in their structure and function were not yet understood\", says Mirna P\u00e9rez-Moreno, head of the Epithelial Cellular Biology Group that led the study.\n\nUsing skin cells derived from mice, researchers have discovered that one of the key elements in the formation and stabilisation of these junctions are microtubules, tubular structures that are part of all cells and that serve as pillars to maintain their form and function.\n\n\"We have seen for the first time that skin stem-cell microtubules connect with cell-cell junctions to form velcro-like structures that hold the cells together\", says Marta Shahbazi, a researcher on P\u00e9rez-Moreno's team and the first author of the study.\n\nThe connection between these two cellular components\u2014microtubules and cell-cell junctions\u2014occurs via the interaction between the CLASP2 and p120 catenin proteins, linked to microtubules and cell junctions respectively.\n\n\"We found that the abscence of CLASP2 or p120 catenin in epidermal stem cells caused a loss of their adhesion, and therefore the structure of these cells\", says Shahbazi.\n\n\"Our results will open up new paths for exploring how these proteins regulate skin physiology\", says P\u00e9rez-Moreno, adding that this knowledge will be \"important for the possible development of future regenerative or anti cancer therapies\".\n\nExplore further Adult stem cells found to suppress cancer while dormant\n\nProvided by Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas (CNIO)"}
-{"text": "Securus Technologies markets a product to law enforcement that taps into realtime cell-tower data from mobile carriers to produce fine-grained location tracking of anyone carrying a phone; it is nominally marketed to find parolees and wandering Alzheimer's patients, but because it has no checks or balances, cops can query it willy-nilly to find anyone's location.\n\n\n\nThat's what, Cory Hutcheson, ex-Sheriff of Mississippi County, MO, is accused of doing; prosecutors say that for three years, Hutcheson abused Securus's system to track all kinds of people \u2014 even a local judge \u2014 without a warrant.\n\nSecurus claims that it restricts the use of its system to legally permitted surveillance, requiring users to upload warrants or court orders prior to use; but it does not vet or review those orders before granting access. Securus also does not make the alleged court orders visible to carriers before it queries their databases, meaning that the phone companies have to take Securus's word for it.\n\nThe carriers, meanwhile, are exploiting a loophole in privacy laws that nominally prohibit selling this kind of data: by burying \"consent\" to the sale of your location data in their lengthy, never-read agreements, the carriers are able to circumvent the law; primarily to sell your data to marketers, but also to surveillance companies like Securus.\n\nHutcheson is a great object lesson in the problems with \"extraordinary access\" or \"lawful interception\" rules that weaken digital security to help law enforcement. The US has about 18,000 police agencies, and Hutcheson presided over a sparsely populated, rural district. Before the latest indictments, he was already under indictment for forgery and for illegal surveillance; he lost his job following the death of an inmate in his custody (though of course, no one was held accountable for that death).\n\nHe is a crooked, corrupt cop, in other words. Whether you think he's typical or atypical, if he represents even one percent of law enforcement agents who have access to tools that allow their wielders to attack the public in far-reaching frightening ways, that means that criminals and spies and griefers have a wide pool of corrupt officials to choose from if they want to abuse the system.\n\nWe're all familiar with the detective movies where someone writes down a license plate and the PI casually remarks that he'll get a friend on the force to run the plate and find the drivers' identity. It's just not surprising that a cop might allow a friend to \"harmlessly\" abuse a police database. When we discuss backdooring phone crypto or other far-reaching attacks on the security of the digital world, we're really saying, \"Cops and dirty cops and friends of dirty cops and their friends will all have access to all your digital life.\"\n\n\n\nPrivacy concerns about Securus and location services were raised to the F.C.C. last year before the company's sale to Platinum Equity, a private equity firm, for about $1.5 billion. Lee Petro, a lawyer representing a group of inmate family members, wrote letters urging the commission to reject the deal, based in part on concerns about locating people who spoke with inmates over the phone. Securus, founded in Dallas in 1986, has marketed its location service as a way for officials to monitor where inmates placed calls. Securus has said this would block escape attempts and the smuggling of contraband into jails and prisons, and help track calls to areas \"known for generating illegal activity.\" In an email, Securus said the service was based on cell tower information, not on phone GPS. Securus received the data from a mobile marketing company called 3Cinteractive, according to 2013 documents from the Florida Department of Corrections. Securus said that for confidentiality reasons it could not confirm whether that deal was still in place, but a spokesman for Mr. Wyden said the company told the senator's office it was. In turn, 3Cinteractive got its data from LocationSmart, a firm known as a location aggregator, according to documents from those companies. LocationSmart buys access to the data from all the major American carriers, it says.\n\nService Meant to Monitor Inmates' Calls Could Track You, Too [Jennifer Valentino-DeVries/New York Times]"}
-{"text": "Man loses 2 fingers after fireworks accident; fireworks noise complaints numerous\n\nWayne T. Price | Florida Today\n\nShow Caption Hide Caption Fireworks injury, Slater retiring, and TS Beryl: NI90 Host Luann Manderville brings you some of today's top stories.\n\nA fireworks injury led to a man on Merritt Island being airlifted to Health First's Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne Tuesday night.\n\nOfficials said the the injury resulted in medical personnel having to amputate two fingers on the victim's hand.\n\nThe victim's name was not released. Brevard County Fire Rescue was called to Ligustrum Lane on Merritt island about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. The victim was taken to Merritt Island Airport and then transported to Holmes Regional by the hospital's medical helicopter, First Flight.\n\nSo far, it's the most serious fireworks injury reported on the Space Coast this Independence Day week.\n\nMost law-enforcement agencies have been fielding dozens of calls about people illegally shooting off fireworks leading up to July 4, which is typical each year.\n\nThe National Fire Protection Association reported it's against \"consumer use of fireworks\" and many public safety agencies urge people to watch sponsored displays instead of putting on their fireworks shows.\n\nAccording to NFPA, the national fireworks injury breakdown looks like this:\n\n31 percent of all fireworks injury occur to the hands or fingers.\n\n22 percent to the face or ear.\n\n14 percent to the eyes.\n\n10 percent to the trunk or other body area.\n\n6 percent to the arm.\n\nCheck back with FLORIDA TODAY for updates to this story.\n\nContact Price at 321-242-3658 or wprice@floridatoday.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @Fla2dayBiz."}
-{"text": "Aaeon launched two Mini-ITX boards powered by Intel Bay Trail SoCs, and featuring up to three video ports, one or two GbE ports, PCIe expansion, and more.\n\n\n\nWe missed Aaeon\u2019s Atom E3800 based \u201cEMB-BT1\u201d Mini-ITX motherboard when it was announced earlier this year, so we are including it here as we cover two newly released Atom and Celeron based 6.7 x 6.7-inch Mini-ITX SBCs announced by Aaeon this week. The new \u201cEMB-BT2\u201d and somewhat lower-powered \u201cEMB-BT4\u201d will both ship later this month with Fedora Linux support at unstated prices. Applications are said to include panel PCs, slim PCs, kiosks, and PoS devices.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEMB-BT2 (left), EMB-BT4, and older EMB-BT1\n\n(click images to enlarge)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBoard details: EMB-BT2 (left), EMB-BT4, and older EMB-BT1\n\n(click images to enlarge)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEMB-BT2 (left) and EMB-BT4 block diagrams\n\n(click images to enlarge)\n\n\n\nGraphics \u2014 The EMB-BT2 and older EMB-BT1 are equipped with HDMI, VGA, and LVDS interfaces, while the EMB-BT4 is limited to VGA and LVDS. The LVDS is marked as dual-channel 18/24-bit except for the BT2, which does not delineate the type. They all offer dual display capability, and both the LVDS interfaces can reach 1920 x 1080 pixels while the others go to 1920 x 1200.\n\nNetworking \u2014 The BT2 and BT1 models each have two gigabit Ethernet ports, while the BT4 is limited to one.\n\nUSB \u2014 They all support Wake-on-LAN. The BT2 has 12 USB 2.0 ports, six of them real-world coastline ports, while the BT4 and BT1 each have seven (two of them coastline) plus an external USB 3.0 port.\n\nSerial ports \u2014 Common I/O features on all three boards include five RS232 ports and an RS-232/422/485 port that supports a \u201c5V/12V/RI\u201d option. However, three of the serial ports are coastline on the BT2, while only one is on the BT4 and BT1.\n\nStorage \u2014 The BT4 has the edge on SATA storage and expansion, with a pair each of 6Gbps and 3Gbps ports. The BT2 has only two 3Gbps ports, although one of those SATA ports can act as an mSATA connector. The older BT1 splits the difference by offering two 6Gbps and one 3Gbps port.\n\nPCI Express expansion \u2014 The BT2 has both a PCIe x1 slot and a separate mSATA port, which can be swapped out for a mini-PCIe slot. The BT4 gives you a choice of PCIe+USB or mSATA ports, and also features a half-size mini-PCIe+USB slot and a SIM card slot. The older BT1 has yet another array of expansion options, with an mSATA slot, a half-size mini-PCIe+USB slot, and a PCIe x1 slot. There\u2019s also a SIM card or an optional second PCIe x1 slot.\n\nOther features \u2014 Common features on all three boards include audio I/O, a PS/2 port, 8-bit DIO, and a fan connector with smart fan control. They all provide a watchdog timer, hardware monitor, and optional TPM. They also support 0 to 60\u00b0C temperature environments.\n\nPower \u2014 According to Aaeon\u2019s announcement, both the EMB-BT2 and EMB-BT4 use ATX power and require only 12V input. The datasheets more specifically mention only a 24-pin ATX connector on the BT2, and only mention 12V power on the BT3 and BT1. We\u2019ll assume they\u2019re all the same in this regard.\n\nOperating systems \u2014 Both the BT2 and BT4 support Fedora (Linux Kernel 3.8), as well as Windows 7/8 Windows 7 (32/64 bit,). Although the BT1 page doesn\u2019t list an OS, we imagine it uses the same lineup.\n\nThe EMB-BT2 appears to be more of a multimedia display system, and generally has the most ports and more advanced specs overall, while the EMB-BT4 seems to be more of a low-power embedded board, although with slightly better storage and expansion options. The older sibling (EMB-BT1) seems to fall somewhere in between.Aaeon\u2019s three motherboards all use variations of the 22nm, Bay Trail Atom and/or Celeron system-on-chips. The EMB-BT2 is available only with the quad-core, 2GHz Celeron J1900 (Bay Trail-D) with a 10W TDP and 688/854MHz graphics, while the EMB-BT4 also offers an optional dual-core, 1.58GHz Celeron N2807 with a low 4.3W TDP and 313/750MHz graphics. The older EMB-BT1 supports the J1900 and N287, as well as the quad-core, 1.91GHz Atom E3845 (10W) and dual-core, 1.33GHz Atom E3825 (6W). In all cases, the J1900 and E3845 models are available with up to 8GB DDR3L 1333MHz RAM, while the other processor options max out at 4GB.Other key features of Aaeon\u2019s three Bay Trail-based Mini-ITX boards are summarized below:\n\n\n\nFurther information\n\n\u2014 ADVERTISEMENT \u2014\n\n\n\nThe Aaeon EMB-BT2 and EMB-BT2 Mini-ITX boards will ship toward the end of December at unstated prices. The EMB-BT1 is already shipping. Currently, there is only a product page for the EMB-BT2 and EMB-BT1, and at publication time the EMB-BT2 page has only photos, no specs. Presumably, all three boards will have full product pages soon. They can all be found at Aaeon\u2019s Mini-ITX page.\n\n"}
-{"text": "Wednesday on MSNBC\u2019s \u201cDeadline: White House,\u201d host Nicolle Wallace expressed her displeasure over Alabama Republican voters selecting former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore over Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL) a night earlier in a GOP primary runoff election for U.S. Senate.\n\nWallace, admitting she was \u201cmad\u201d and \u201criled up\u201d about the outcome, asked if other Republicans would back Moore given his past.\n\n\u201cI guess the question is though, John \u2014 is anyone in the Senate, any Republicans going to say, \u2018I don\u2019t want to be in the same party as Roy Moore. I\u2019m not going to be for him. I\u2019m not endorsing him. I\u2019m not backing him because that could save the Republican,\u2019\u201d Wallace said. \u201cYou may lose a seat, but you might save the Republican Party.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis guy has said things that are so abhorrent, I can\u2019t say them on cable,\u201d she added. \u201cYou think Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan \u2014 you think all these guys are going to get behind him?\u201d\n\nCommentary magazine editor John Podhoretz replied noting that McConnell had already made a statement saying he would do what it took to get Moore elected to the U.S. Senate. Wallace responded, saying that McConnell deserved the ousting as Senate Majority Leader by the \u201ccoup\u201d in which Moore may participate.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s going to do that, then Roy Moore is going to help run a coup to get him out of his seat and Mitch McConnell, you\u2019ll deserve,\u201d she said.\n\n(h/t Mediaite)\n\nFollow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor"}
-{"text": "Middle School Student Arrested After Attempted Kamehameha Actually Works\n\nCHATTANOOGA, Tenn. \u2014 According to eyewitness accounts at McCallister Middle School yesterday afternoon, middle school student Tommy Parker was arrested after he tried to do a \u201ckamehameha\u201d at a bully during recess and it surprisingly worked.\n\n\u201cTommy always does that because if he actually tried to get into a fight, he would get his ass kicked from here to Japan,\u201d said one of Tommy\u2019s friends, who asked to remain anonymous for the sake of his social reputation. \u201cIf his dad yells at him, he does the cammy-whammy thing at the door when it closes. When you are a nerdy kid who hasn\u2019t hit puberty, copying attack movies from Dragon Ball Z is your only defense against the injustices of the world.\u201d\n\nAccording to those close to the situation, Tommy\u2019s bully, Harold Fitzgerald, was sent careening across the football field before slamming through the scoreboard, leaving a smoking hole behind. The surrounding students were reportedly wide-eyed, gasping one by one at the display of Shounen-fueled power. The school nurse arrived shortly after the incident to treat Harold\u2019s wounds, which consisted of randomly placed scuffs and a small trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.\n\n\u201cI didn\u2019t realize a kid in my class had a \u2018power level\u2019 that high,\u201d Said Tommy\u2019s homeroom teacher, Mrs. Rodriguez, in a desperate attempt to connect with her students. \u201cFitzgerald almost got totally Krillin\u2019d, am I doing this right?\u201d\n\nAt press time, the local chief of police offered a statement. \u201cWe take matters like this very seriously. If you can\u2019t do the Hyperbolic Time, don\u2019t do the Hyperbolic Crime,\u201d he explained.\n\nWe\u2019ve launched a brand new podcast network. Check out the newest episode of the Hard Drive podcast where we watch and discuss every episode of 1989\u2019s The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!\n\nPhoto by Francisco Whelan."}
-{"text": "Clermont-Ferrand\u2019s cobblestoned lanes and lava-stone buildings look more quaint than revolutionary. But this French city changed the world of travel forever when, in 1889, brothers Andr\u00e9 and \u00c9douard Michelin founded their tyre company here.\n\nDistinctive architecture and geologically impressive countryside make present-day Clermont-Ferrand, a city of around 145,000 in France\u2019s Auvergne-Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes region, an enriching place to explore. But there\u2019s another intrigue hidden among the jet-black spires and richly decorated h\u00f4tels particuliers (townhouses). Clermont-Ferrand\u2019s most famous pair of inventors not only changed modern transportation but built a brand that would eventually bestow some of the culinary world\u2019s highest accolades: Michelin stars, awarded to only the finest restaurants.\n\nYou may also be interested in:\n\n\u2022 The revolution that mapped the world\n\n\u2022 How France created the metric system\n\n\u2022 How America got its name\n\nTravellers in France and beyond owe an enormous amount to the Michelin brothers. Raised in Clermont-Ferrand, the brothers set out to save their grandfather\u2019s ailing manufacturing business, but ended up achieving much more. Their tyre innovations, from removable bike tyres to rubber-tyred trains, helped to make personal transportation easier and more economical than ever before.\n\nMichelin anticipated the directions in which tourism was heading in the early 20th Century\n\nWith the launch of Michelin Guides and maps in the early 20th Century, the brothers managed to make \u2018Michelin\u2019 a by-word not only for tyres \u2013 today they are the world\u2019s second-largest tyre manufacturer by revenue \u2013 but also for travel and haute cuisine. One of the company\u2019s cleverest manoeuvres was to highlight food worth travelling for. The guides\u2019 coverage of restaurants with standout regional cuisine and well-stocked wine cellars coaxed drivers into travelling further (and, of course, they needed sturdy Michelin tyres to complete their journeys). With the advent of Michelin stars in 1926, awarded to the best restaurants in the guides, durable car tyres and the pursuit of exceptional boeuf bourguignon became forever entwined.\n\n\u201cMichelin anticipated the directions in which tourism was heading in the early 20th Century,\u201d said Prof Patrick Young, a specialist in 19th- and 20th-Century French history at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. \u201cWhat was innovative in the Michelin Guides was their incorporation of automobile transport, their more detailed information on routes [and] their rating system for hotels and restaurants.\u201d\n\nClermont-Ferrand was the original location of the Michelin head office and remains so to this day. Though an industrial city, Clermont-Ferrand has a bucolic setting: the sweeping Limagne plain is puckered by the Cha\u00eene des Puys, which was inscribed on Unesco\u2019s World Heritage list in 2018 due to its impressive geological properties. These 80 hills and cones are the remains of volcanoes that fell silent more than 7,000 years ago. The 1,465m-high Puy de D\u00f4me is just visible from Clermont-Ferrand if you stand on the steps of the city\u2019s icon, its twin-spired Cath\u00e9drale Notre-Dame.\n\nTravellers needn\u2019t stray far from Clermont-Ferrand\u2019s historical centre to learn about the Michelin legacy. Just a few kilometres east is L\u2019Aventure Michelin (The Michelin Adventure), an interactive gallery and museum installed in an early 20th-Century building in Clermont-Ferrand\u2019s largest Michelin industrial site. So far 600,000 visitors have made the journey to see this temple to the brand since its inauguration in 2009.\n\n\u201cThe story of Michelin and that of Clermont-Ferrand are closely tied,\u201d said St\u00e9phane Nicolas, curator at L\u2019Aventure Michelin. \u201cThe purpose of L\u2019Aventure Michelin is to share Michelin\u2019s history, culture and values with as many people as possible.\u201d\n\nThe Michelin brothers\u2019 first breakthrough was a patent for the removable pneumatic tyre, which was tested out in the Paris-Brest-Paris bicycle race of 1891. Next, they invented the first automobile tyre, the first tyre able to handle speeds above 100km per hour, and the first removable rim. From 1929 they branched into rail transport: rubber-tyred Micheline locomotives first trundled along rail tracks in 1931.\n\nThe brothers were part of a wave of French visionaries that included engineering virtuoso Gustave Eiffel, fashion designer Coco Chanel and aviation pioneer Louis Bl\u00e9riot, responsible for the first manned flight between Great Britain and Continental Europe. At the time, agricultural France was beginning to lean into an industrial future. There were fewer than 3,000 motorcars in the country when the Michelin brothers set up shop; France now has more than 32 million. The museum has a breath-taking range of automobiles and transport miscellany from this era of rapid change.\n\n\u201cWhen we created L\u2019Aventure Michelin, we weren\u2019t inspired by an existing concept,\u201d Nicolas explained. \u201cWe wanted the experience to be tailor-made, and in line with the Michelin personality.\u201d Metal flooring and corrugated roofing in the museum retain an industrial flavour, while displays are occasionally surreal: cars burst through gigantic maps and the company\u2019s mascot, the Michelin Man \u2013 or Bibendum, as he\u2019s known in France \u2013 looms merrily above doorways.\n\nBorn in 1898, the Michelin company\u2019s unmistakeable mascot turns 120 this year. An exhibition at L\u2019Aventure Michelin, running until the end of 2018, shows the best side of the one of the world\u2019s oldest company mascots by assembling 120 drawings from across the decades, showing his evolution from a rotund bon vivant puffing on a cigar to a slimmer figure, albeit still with a pillowy silhouette. His name, Bibendum, originates from the Latin \u2018Nunc est bibendum\u2019 (meaning \u2018now is the time to drink\u2019). It was intended to evoke the way Michelin tyres would \u2018drink up\u2019 any obstacle in their way. Through modern eyes, it seems rather like a premonition of Michelin\u2019s journey into the world of fine dining.\n\nThe Michelin company began producing travel guides in 1900, starting with a guide to France that was handed out to motorists for free. Road maps followed within a decade. The books and maps enticed drivers to explore their country, making detours to appealing restaurants and staying somewhere overnight to lengthen their travels \u2013 a deft move to encourage longer journeys by car, which, in turn, meant bigger tyre sales.\n\nThe Michelin ranking system made Parisian/metropolitan norms the standard for attribution of cultural value throughout France and around the world\n\nBy 1926, Michelin was producing more comprehensive travel guides with a new focus on fine dining, and their use skyrocketed in part thanks to the perceived reliability of the reviews, which were conducted anonymously by secret diners (a process that remains closely guarded to this day). Today, Michelin covers 34 destinations in Europe, Asia and the Americas, with their famous Michelin-star rating system rousing both terror and triumph in restaurateurs across the globe. A \u2018Michelin star\u2019 is the goal of almost every aspiring chef.\n\n\u201cThough he has changed over the years, Bibendum was originally every bit an icon of white, upper-class French masculinity,\u201d Prof Young said. \u201dThe monocle, the cigar and the girth of Bibendum were all signifiers of the leisured bourgeois male, and the Michelin ranking system made Parisian/metropolitan norms the standard for attribution of cultural value throughout France and around the world.\u201d\n\nGuides continue to roll off the press, and Michelin has managed to retain its reputation as a tastemaker. But Michelin\u2019s status as a dictator of taste continues to be controversial, and the extreme pressures attached to gaining or losing a star often hit the headlines. UK chef Andrew Wong compared being awarded a Michelin star to getting married; famously hard-nosed celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay claimed to have wept when a restaurant under his name went from two to zero stars.\n\nEven the emerald hills beyond Clermont-Ferrand had their own role to play in Michelin history. In 1908, the Michelin brothers launched the Michelin Aviation Cup, dangling a cash prize of 100,000 francs for the first pilot able to zoom from Paris to Clermont-Ferrand in under six hours. These days, the rippling landscape of the Cha\u00eene des Puys is seen from the air by countless paragliding excursions that soar over the volcanic cones.\n\nThe Michelin legacy continues to stoke fierce pride in the Clermontois, people who live in Clermont-Ferrand. Michelin stars have the power to make or break culinary careers, the company\u2019s marshmallow-y mascot appears across the world, and more than 187 million tyres are produced annually. All this activity originated right here, in the heart of France\u2019s Auvergne.\n\n\u201cMichelin is everywhere!\u201d enthused Ghislaine Borie, a Clermont-Ferrand-based blogger who works for the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Tourism Department. \u201cMany people have family who work there or who have worked there, like grandparents or parents, and the company is still very embedded in the region.\n\n\u201cThe town\u2019s physiognomy has also been shaped by the business\u2019 presence over the years,\u201d Borie added. \u201cPersonally, I really like the \u2018cit\u00e9s Michelin\u2019, little houses hanging off the Puy de Chanturgue that were offered up for use for the company\u2019s workers from the beginning of the 20th Century.\u201d Many such housing complexes, some picturesquely located in Clermont-Ferrand\u2019s puys (hills), are still lived in today.\n\nIn some places, a city\u2019s long-term association with a multinational company might rouse cynicism. But France is a country that reveres its pioneers of industry as much as its artists. Exploring a city like Clermont-Ferrand, which is a mosaic of industrial design and Gothic splendour, makes it easy to see why.\n\n\u201cSometimes people make fun of Clermont-Ferrand by calling it \u2018tyre town\u2019,\u201d Borie said. \u201cBut it\u2019s so much more than that; it\u2019s a unique history and a success story the likes of which we just don\u2019t see anymore.\u201d\n\nPlaces That Changed the World is a BBC Travel series looking into how a destination has made a significant impact on the entire planet.\n\nJoin more than three million BBC Travel fans by liking us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter and Instagram.\n\nIf you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter called \"If You Only Read 6 Things This Week\". A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Earth, Culture, Capital and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday."}
-{"text": "Elliott Stein, an American journalist living in Paris, reported in the British film magazine Sight and Sound that \u201cLe Monde ran a day-to-day feature, \u2018L\u2019Affaire de La Religieuse,\u2019 to which one opened as if to a daily horoscope or weather report.\u201d His article gave examples of the heated discourse Rivette\u2019s movie inspired. A writer for the right-wing weekly Carrefour declared: \u201cIf, in the name of freedom, we let this film be shown, we might just as well throw open the doors of France to all the dirty hairy beatniks of the earth.\u201d\n\nBeatniks prevailed when, after a year of acrimony, the Minister of Culture Andr\u00e9 Malraux allowed \u201cLa Religieuse\u201d to be shown at Cannes. It was met with acclaim mixed with befuddlement. The New York Times correspondent, Bosley Crowther, found the film\u2019s prohibition a \u201criddle.\u201d Still, it was as a free-speech martyr that \u201cLa Religieuse\u201d made its American debut at the 1968 New York Film Festival.\n\nThe festival that year included two masterpieces by Jean-Luc Godard (\u201cWeekend\u201d and \u201cTwo or Three Things I Know About Her\u201d), Robert Bresson\u2019s \u201cMouchette\u201d and John Cassavetes\u2019s \u201cFaces,\u201d along with first features by Jean-Marie Straub and Dani\u00e8le Huillet; Werner Herzog; and new movies from Bernardo Bertolucci, Milos Forman, Miklos Jancso, Norman Mailer and Orson Welles. Even in this crowd, \u201cLa Religieuse\u201d stood out, less for its notoriety than its brilliant filmmaking and impassioned restraint.\n\n\u201cLa Religieuse\u201d is founded on contradictions. The movie is as sumptuous in its color photography as it is austere in its mise-en-sc\u00e8ne. Suzanne is victimized equally by repression and license. Her situation simultaneously evokes pre-Revolutionary France and 20th-century Europe. Rivette\u2019s direction is both theatrical and cinematic. Unable to get funding for a film, he first presented \u201cLa Religieuse\u201d as a stage play, partially underwritten by Godard as a vehicle for Karina, who was then his wife.\n\nAnticipating many of Rivette\u2019s later films, \u201cLa Religieuse\u201d has a ritualistic quality accentuated by a sound design of tolling bells and clapped wooden blocks. The movie consists largely of interiors; that many were shot in a sixth-century abbey gives it a documentary feel. So too, the long takes and continuous observation of Suzanne\u2019s ordeal. (Some have seen the film as a forerunner of Lars von Trier\u2019s \u201cDogville.\u201d)"}
-{"text": "As abortion-supporters brace for another year of restrictions and court battles, Planned Parenthood is throwing its weight into the 2020 elections.\n\nThis week, Planned Parenthood launched the biggest electoral effort in its history: a $45 million spend to support presidential, congressional and state-level candidates in the 2020 elections who support abortion rights. Jenny Lawson, the Planned Parenthood Votes Executive Director, said, \"The stakes have never been higher.\"\n\n\"[The Trump Administration} has managed to undo so much over the last three years,\" Lawson said in an exclusive interview with CBS News. \"The fact that this summer the Supreme Court might gut Roe v. Wade is an indicator of their intention and they've never been so bold.\"\n\nGet Breaking News Delivered to Your Inbox\n\nPlanned Parenthood's electoral efforts \u2014 which the group has dubbed \"We Decide 2020\" \u2014 hope to reach five million voters in nine battleground states: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. A spokesperson for the organization said this week was the \"official start\" to the strategy.\n\nThe investment intends to fund large-scale grassroots programs and canvassing, digital, television, and radio and mail programs, according to Planned Parenthood. Just this week, the organization and its affiliated political organizations have hosted over 60 events, according to a Planned Parenthood spokesperson.\n\nState lawmakers introduced over 300 anti-abortion measures last year, a record-high number, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion rights research organization. Twelve states passed bans on the procedure, though all have been blocked by federal judges. Many of those other restrictions have gone into effect, however, including mandatory waiting periods and other measures designed to dissuade women from choosing an abortion.\n\nThis year is expected to be no different. South Carolina is considering its own six-week ban on abortion and lawmakers in Tennessee are pushing to restrict the procedure entirely. A bill in Ohio overhauls the state's penal code to call for some abortion patients to receive the death penalty.\n\nIn March, the Supreme Court will hear its first abortion case since the appointments of Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh flipped the Supreme Court conservative. The case centers on a 2014 Louisiana law that requires abortion-providing doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. If the law is upheld, Louisiana could become the first state not to have legal abortion access since the procedure was legalized in 1973.\n\nEarlier this month, 39 senators and 168 House members submitted an amicus brief in that case, supporting the abortion restriction and suggesting that Roe v. Wade might be \"unworkable.\"\n\nLawson said that Planned Parenthood Votes is comfortable with \"every major democratic candidate.\"\n\n\"The Democratic candidates collectively have the boldest reproductive rights policies we've ever seen,\" Lawson said. \"Every major candidate in the 2020 elections, except for Donald Trump, has spoken out against dangerous abortion bans and many of them have actually introduced real plans to protect the reproductive rights in this country.\"\n\nStructurally, financially and operationally, Planned Parenthood Votes is separate from the organization clinic operations.\n\nAbortion-rights opponents are also expected to increase their advocacy efforts ahead of the 2020 election. In a press release issued last year, the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion rights activist group, said it plans to spend $41 million with a goal to \"aggressively challenge, erode, and finally, overturn Roe v. Wade.\" The organization did not return an email requesting comment.\n\nLast year, Planned Parenthood's acting president told CBS News that recent laws attempting to restrict abortion have forced the organization to be both a health care provider and an advocacy group.\n\n\"We are primarily a health care provider,\" said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. \"We provide access to sexual and reproductive health, in some cases primary care. We're not political by nature but we've been politicized, and that fight has actually been our focus \u2014 to ensure that our health centers stay open.\""}
-{"text": "During the course of a recent interview with a highly respected AR manufacturer, he mentioned the VLTOR A5 Buffer System as one of the \u201csingle most legitimate upgrades\u201d the AR has ever seen. This was not the first time we\u2019d heard such a claim.\n\nSuch repeated high praise led us to reach out to Nick Wantland, head of marketing and sales at VLTOR. We asked for an overview of the A5 System and why it might be something to consider as you put together your next AR build.\n\nQ: Nick, the VLTOR A5 Buffer System is something that I keep hearing about and I wanted to go straight to the source. Can you give us the background and details about this potential upgrade for our AR builds?\n\nNick Wantland: The VLTOR A5 Buffer System is my favorite thing that we make, and is one of the things that I get most excited about when I talk to people about VLTOR and what we offer.\n\nWe make some other really cool stuff, so it\u2019s sort of funny that an unsexy part like a buffer would be my favorite. But when you dig into the technical side of things, its attractiveness becomes clear.\n\n\n\nNick Wantland (left) during a R&D session related to the VLTOR A5 Buffer System\n\nThe VLTOR A5 Buffer System is basically a proprietary buffer and receiver extension tube that are intermediate in length. The buffer and the tube are both 3/4 of an inch longer than a standard carbine buffer set up. The system also utilizes a rifle action spring instead of a carbine spring.\n\nOpening the Envelope\n\nThere\u2019s a ton of things that it does simultaneously, some more nuanced than others\u2026But the synopsis is it regulates carrier velocity, changes felt recoil impulse, and most importantly, it opens up the entire operational envelope of the gun. It allows the gun to run properly under a much wider range of input and factors. This usually equates to more overall reliability\u2026which is a good thing.\n\nQ: Let\u2019s start at the beginning, how did the VLTOR A5 Buffer System come about?\n\nNick Wantland: Years ago, the Marine Corps was looking at ways to deal with the ergonomic and length-of-pull issues they were having with the fixed stocks on their M16A4s. The fixed stock was designed long ago before the introduction of thick, modern body armor. Depending on the Marine\u2019s body type, and what style optic they were using, the lack of adjustability in the stock length was causing tons of ergonomic, mobility, and eye relief issues.\n\nTo compensate for this, a lot of guys were having to hike the fixed stock way up on their shoulder. Basically until only the toe of the buttpad was resting high on the shoulder\u2026 \u201cout of pocket\u201d, as they say. This shooting stance causes lots of issues with accuracy, and with the mechanical functionality of the gun.\n\n\u201cRetain the reliability and beneficial characteristics of the full length rifle buffer system\u201d\n\nThe Marines were looking for a way to retain the reliability and beneficial characteristics of the full length rifle buffer system on their 20\u201d guns, but they wanted to be able to use an adjustable stock. Simply popping a standard carbine stock and buffer setup on there does not work. It leads to bolt bounce, erratic cycle timing, and lots of other issues.\n\nThis video demonstrates the lack of bolt bounce with the VLTOR A5 Buffer System.\n\nVLTOR had been developing something along these lines, and submitted an entire back end system to replace the M16A4\u2019s fixed stock. It was a new proprietary buffer and extension tube, along with a rifle spring and VLTOR Emod adjustable stock. When fully collapsed, the new stock system was shorter than the M16A4\u2019s fixed stock, and when fully extended it was longer.\n\nSo there was a lot more overall length-of-pull adjustability there, and the rifle buffer characteristics were retained\u2026all while adding some other beneficial characteristics and cool features that were built into the new buffer system.\n\nQ: I think I have a guess, but can you explain how the VLTOR A5 Buffer System get its name?\n\nNick Wantland: The original idea at the time was to get this new buffer system fielded on an upgraded platform called the M16A5 \u2013 which is where the \u201cA5\u201d nomenclature that we still use for the buffer system originally came from.\n\nThe military did a ton of testing on the VLTOR A5 Buffer System, and it did very well. They did some very high round count direct comparison tests against the other buffer systems. Our A5 system produced the least malfunctions, stoppages, etc. of all\u2026even less than the original full length rifle buffer setup.\n\nOverview of the VLTOR A5 Buffer System\n\nQ: Can you describe to a beginner what are the characteristics of the rifle buffer system? Smoother, more reliable?\n\nNick Wantland: Well, in grossly oversimplified terms, the rifle buffer system can usually be described as more \u201csmooth, consistent, and forgiving\u201d than the carbine buffer system. I try my best not to use buzzy words like that, but it makes perfect sense when you break it down mechanically, and historically.\n\nWhen you go back through the history of the AR\u2019s development, the carbine buffer system was basically a compromise.\n\n\u201cmore smooth and consistent than a carbine setup\u201d\n\nWhether you\u2019re using the carbine buffer system, or the longer rifle buffer system, the bolt carrier\u2019s stroke length is the same \u2013 around 3.75\u201d. The carrier travels the same distance, so the amount of compression a carbine spring and rifle spring experience is the same.\n\nHowever, the carbine spring is shorter and has less wire than a rifle buffer spring. This means with the rifle buffer system, you have a longer spring with more coils and more wire to perform the same work. When both springs are deflected the same amount, the carbine spring experiences more stress, and also experiences a higher differential between the pre-loaded position and fully-loaded positions than a rifle spring does.\n\nThere is a lot more to it than that, but in basic terms, the rifle buffer system is quite literally more smooth and consistent than a carbine setup, in regards to the action spring.\n\n\n\nphoto via https://www.instagram.com/boodaluvz556/\n\nLet\u2019s talk more about some of the different weight of buffers that can accompany the VLTOR A5 Buffer System\u2026\n\nNick Wantland: Sure\u2026the VLTOR A5 Buffer System\u2019s buffers are physically longer than traditional carbine buffers. This allows for the utilization of four internal weights, rather than the standard three you\u2019d see in carbine. Because of this, the A5 buffers are capable of reaching a higher overall mass than carbine buffers. And very importantly, it allows this mass to be included as uncoupled internal mass. Including the mass inside the buffer as uncoupled weight achieves an entirely different thing than making the outside body of the buffer itself heavier. The extra uncoupled mass inside of the A5 buffer is part of what makes it so effective at eliminating bolt bounce.\n\nA5 Buffer Varieties\n\n\n\nThe A5 buffers range from A5H0 to A5H4 \u2013 a total range of 3.80 oz. to 6.83 oz. The number suffix corresponds to how many of the four internal weights inside are tungsten. For example, the A5H0 has four standard steel weights and no tungsten, while the A5H2 has two steel and two tungsten. The tungsten is extremely dense and heavy, so there\u2019s a significant mass increase.\n\nThe standard, middle-of-the-road buffer is the A5H2. That\u2019s the one we include in all of our various VLTOR A5 Buffer System kits. The standard A5H2 and rifle spring is appropriate for a very large percentage of the build configurations out there.\n\n\n\nThe two buffers under that, the A5H0 and A5H1 are great for things like soft-ported 14.5\u201d mid-lengths, competition guns with heavily tuned gas, or any other guns that would be over-buffered or have some loss in functionality with the standard A5H2. And by loss of functionality I mean short stroking, failure to lock back on empty, things like that.\n\nHeavier Buffers\n\nThen the heavier buffers, the A5H3 and A5H4, are appropriate for short barreled builds, over-gassed guns, suppressed applications, and that sort of thing. For example, a lot of the SWAT guns we build have 11.5\u201d barrels. Most of those guns are running A5H3 buffers, and they have excellent functionality both with and without their suppressors attached. The opened operational envelope that the A5 system provides makes it so that the added backpressure from the suppressor doesn\u2019t affect the gun as much as it would with a carbine buffer system.\n\nThose SWAT guns also have a surprisingly smooth recoil impulse for that type of configuration. This was not the original design intent of the VLTOR A5 Buffer System, but is definitely a nice byproduct.\n\n\n\nExample of a VLTOR rifle for SWAT use\u2026\n\nQ: Can you talk about your average builder out there and why they might consider using the A5?\n\nNick Wantland: Many people who build their own ARs overlook the buffer system in favor of spending money on other less important components. Builders should know that the buffer system is an extremely important part of the gun.\n\n\n\nThe current trend in the industry is to make barrels with insanely oversized gas ports, and then buy an expensive and intricate adjustable gas block to tame it down from the front end. Many of the guns that VLTOR makes and sell are duty weapons, so I mostly think in that context. And from that context, I\u2019m not personally a fan of adjustable gas blocks. There are admittedly some that are way better than others, but I have seen many of them fail.\n\nRetrofitting a useful and utterly reliable adjustable gas system into the package size of a low-pro AR gas block is hard to do well. Most of the guns with effective and trustworthy gas adjustment systems were designed around that criteria from the get-go, and sufficient space was provided to allow the use of more robust components.\n\nFinal Tuning on the Back End\n\n\n\nFor my purposes, I much prefer to pick a barrel with a properly spec\u2019d port. I then do final tuning on the back end with buffer components. Rock solid, with no extra points of failure introduced. And the VLTOR A5 Buffer System system offers the best of all worlds when it comes to buffer options. It gives you the optimal spring rate, pre-load, buffer mass, and all the other great characteristics. All while allowing you to use a standard mil-spec collapsible stock.\n\nI\u2019ve heard it said in forums thousands of times\u2026 people will say that tossing a heavy buffer in the back of the gun is a band-aid fix. That can absolutely be true, especially if you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing and what you\u2019re chasing\u2026but it\u2019s different with the A5 system due to the rifle action spring and the way that it functions. All things being equal, you\u2019re able to run more mass in an A5 buffer than you could with a standard carbine buffer system. With A5, the gun actually prefers that mass, and can utilize it in a very beneficial way.\n\nMore info here\u2026\n\nReturn on Investment\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s also worth noting the cost of the A5 components aren\u2019t really much higher than carbine buffer components of comparable quality. If you price out a nice set of carbine buffer components from one of the big guys, full retail is around $80 for a carbine extension, carbine spring, and H2 buffer\u2026Full retail on an A5 extension, A5 spring, and A5H2 buffer is right around $100. The return on that extra $20 investment is insane.\n\nQ: Can you talk about the claim of decreased wear and tear with the VLTOR A5 Buffer System?\n\nNick Wantland: When you fire your AR, there\u2019s a huge puzzle of physics happening in a short amount of time. We\u2019re talking about parts that move extremely quickly, and events that take place in milliseconds. On an AR, the buffer system contributes greatly towards the timing of these various processes. The A5 system utilizes the rifle spring in a unique way that, compared to the standard rifle buffer setup, puts a bit more pre-load on the bolt carrier in its resting, in-battery position.\n\nPhoto via MrSilencer\n\nCalm and Graceful\n\nThis, along with the increased mass of the A5 buffers, delays the unlocking of the bolt. Keeping the bolt closed longer allows the system to depressurize more before the bolt begins to unlock and the cycling process begins. This reduced pressure makes pretty much every single process easier on the gun. Extraction is slowed and eased, carrier velocity is reduced and regulated, etc. Everything is just made much more calm and graceful. The gun isn\u2019t trying to rip itself apart every time it cycles. It can save a lot of wear and tear on your components and increase their longevity.\n\nQ: So, if we use the VLTOR A5 Buffer System, what can we expect to feel as an end-user?\n\nNick Wantland: It depends entirely on the user and the configuration of the gun. But in general, you will find that the recoil impulse is lessened \u2013 sometimes by a great degree. It just feels smoother, and a lot of people describe the feeling as the gun cycling \u201cslower\u201d. Most people also experience less dot bounce in their sight picture. A gun outfitted with the proper A5 components and a nice compensator can stay surprisingly still and level. We have tons of slow-mo footage of different guns doing this, even in full auto.\n\n\u201cA gun outfitted with the proper A5 components and a nice compensator can stay surprisingly still and level.\u201d\n\nThere is actually a joke going around that I absolutely love. You know how certain configurations have nicknames, like the 12.5\u201d Kino configuration, etc? Some people call 14.5\u201d mid-length builds with the VLTOR A5 Buffer System \u201cDylans\u201d \u2013 because they are \u201chot fire.\u201d It\u2019s from the Chappelle\u2019s Show skit, if you aren\u2019t familiar. But they are just so incredibly soft and smooth. It\u2019s surprising to some people when they first try it.\n\n\u201cSome people call 14.5\u201d mid-length builds with A5 buffers \u201cDylans\u201d \u2013 because they are hot fire.\u201d\n\nQ: Other interesting features you feel builders should know about?\n\n\n\nNick Wantland: One of the other unique features about the A5 buffers are their internal biasing springs. There\u2019s a spring inside of each buffer that keeps internal weights stacked against the front face of the buffer. This assures that the weights are always in the same place when the gun starts its unlocking and cycling processes. Weights are always in the same position, so the gun is always overcoming the same mass, in the same way, every time.\n\nAccuracy Improvement?\n\nThis adds consistency and repeatability to the system, and both of those characteristics are things that can contribute towards accuracy. I\u2019m not saying that adding the VLTOR A5 Buffer System will make your gun more accurate. I cannot make claims of that sort because there are way too many variables involved. But we have internally seen some accuracy improvement on certain guns after swapping them over to A5. We have heard many outside anecdotal reports of it. We\u2019ve definitely never seen a degradation.\n\nDeadblow Effect\n\n\n\nDespite weights being positionally biased inside, it\u2019s done in a way that they still retain the cascading deadblow effect on the bolt upon closing. This is another reason why the A5 system is so effective at eliminating bolt bounce. This is especially important for full-auto applications.\n\nIf you\u2019re really tall, or if you have super long arms, the A5 system can also be useful in that regard. Due to the longer A5 extension tube, you automatically gain \u00be\u201d of pull length over a carbine setup. If you combine that with a larger stock like our Emod, the total length-of-pull reaches something like 15.5\u201d when fully extended.\n\nQ: I\u2019m seeing more manufacturers offer the VLTOR A5 Buffer System\u2026I became very aware of it via Sons of Liberty Gun Works offering as an option on their builds.\n\nNick Wantland: A lot of manufacturers are running the VLTOR A5 Buffer System as their standard buffer system now, or at least offering it as a factory option. A5 buffers are going out on retail and contract guns all over the country. It\u2019s actually starting to become a new industry standard in some circles, which is incredibly exciting to me. The A5 system has been out for a decade, but it\u2019s just now starting to explode.\n\nMuch in the same way it took many years for people to catch on to the benefits of the mid-length gas system over the carbine gas system, it\u2019s taken some time for the VLTOR A5 Buffer System to organically spread its wings. One of the reasons it took so long is that VLTOR has not really marketed this system at all. Its growth in popularity is based almost entirely on end-user tests and word of mouth. That makes it even that much more impressive and exciting to me.\n\n\n\nIndustry Accolades\n\nMike Mihalski from Sons of Liberty Gun Works called the A5 system \u201cone of the most legitimate upgrades the carbine has ever seen.\u201d Or something along those lines. Actually, I think he said that in the recent interview he did with you.\n\nWilliam Larson from Semper Paratus and Sionics is another guy who has been a big supporter of the system. There\u2019s also another master of the AR realm, who I\u2019ll leave unnamed, has gone as far as referring to the VLTOR A5 Buffer System as \u201ccheating. He said it is basically like an \u201ceasy button\u201d for gun tuning.\n\n\u201cIf you follow my channel, you know that I\u2019ve used the A5 system previously, and have been a big fan of it. And I am \u2013 it definitely helps. It\u2019s basically a rifle length spring in an adjustable [receiver extension] tube, so it helps slow down the bolt over a longer period of time, and makes for a gentler recoil impulse. I don\u2019t use them quite as much anymore, and the only reason is that I prefer to practice with mil-spec parts. That way, I don\u2019t get too comfortable with a gun being so soft in recoil that when I go to a normal M4 I feel like it\u2019s kicking too much. So I\u2019ve kind of gone back to stock on a lot of parts. But the VLTOR A5 system is phenomenal.\u201d Garand Thumb\n\nBittersweet Endorsement\n\nGarand Thumb talks about about the VLTOR A5 Buffer System at @ 3:58 as he walks through his MK18 setup\u2026He also talks about it in this video at @ 14:04\n\nAnd then there\u2019s Garand Thumb. In a recent video, he basically said he\u2019s moving away from the A5 system because it\u2019s so good\u2026it spoils him and makes it difficult for him to revert back to his military issued guns that he\u2019s not able to run it on. Sort of a bittersweet endorsement on that last one\u2026\n\n###\n\nTremendous thanks to Nick Wantland for taking time out of his schedule to help us with this article. For more information about the VLTOR A5 Buffer System, be sure to visit the VLTOR web site.\n\nDid you find this article useful? Let the author know with a 5 star rating!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSubmit Rating Average rating 5 / 5. Vote count: 82 No votes so far! 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-{"text": "Ferrari \u00fcbte 2016 schon f\u00fcr 2017 Ferrari trickst Gegner bei Reifentest aus\n\nAlle r\u00e4tseln, was Ferrari so stark macht. Ein Grund: Ferrari baute f\u00fcr die Pirelli-Tests letztes Jahr mit den breiten Reifen seinen Muletto so um, dass er maximale Ergebnisse f\u00fcr 2017 abwarf. Und man lie\u00df die Stammfahrer testen.\n\nMercedes-Teamchef Toto Wolff brachte die Situation nach dem GP Monaco auf den Punkt: \u201eFerrari ist jetzt der WM-Favorit und wir der Underdog.\u201c Sebastian Vettels dritter Saisonsieg und die \u00fcberlegene Vorstellung der Ferrari erinnerte uns an einen Satz von Vettel vor dem Monaco-Wochenende: \u201eWir h\u00e4tten dieses Jahr alle Rennen gewinnen k\u00f6nnen.\u201c Dazu kann man nur sagen: Stimmt.\n\nDer Erfolg von Ferrari hat viele V\u00e4ter. Sie kommen alle erst nach und nach ans Licht. Und in einigen Mosaiksteinen des Puzzlespiels muss sich die Konkurrenz fragen lassen, ob sie da nicht etwas verschlafen hat. Zum Beispiel bei den 24 Testtagen f\u00fcr Pirellis breite Reifen im Herbst letzten Jahres. Nur Mercedes, Ferrari und Red Bull hatten das Geld, die Ressourcen und die Mannschaft, auf Basis eines 2015er Autos einen Testtr\u00e4ger zu bauen, der aufger\u00fcstet werden durfte, um die 2017er Abtriebszahlen zu simulieren.\n\nFerrari-Muletto einziges Auto mit breitem Heckfl\u00fcgel\n\nDie FIA machte strenge Vorgaben, in welchem Umfang die Autos zum Zweck von mehr Anpressdruck ver\u00e4nderten werden durften. Die Ma\u00dfnahmen waren nur in den Bereichen Frontfl\u00fcgel, Heckfl\u00fcgel und Unterboden gestattet. Mercedes, Ferrari und Red Bull gingen dabei unterschiedliche Wege. Heute wei\u00df man: Nur Ferrari machte es richtig.\n\nDabei soll der aufger\u00fcstete Ferrari SF15-T nach Pirelli-Informationen den geringsten Abtrieb der drei Mulettos geliefert haben. Aber darauf kam es den Technikern aus Maranello vermutlich gar nicht an. Sie wollten maximal viel \u00fcber das 2017er Auto und die 2017er Reifen lernen.\n\nBeim Auto ver\u00e4nderte Ferrari haupts\u00e4chlich die Partien des Fahrzeugs, die mit Blickrichtung 2017 die gr\u00f6\u00dften Erkenntnisse abwerfen w\u00fcrden. Der SF15-T war der einzige Testtr\u00e4ger, der mit einem breiten Heckfl\u00fcgel im 2017er Format ausger\u00fcstet wurde. Er war das einzige Auto, das den Diffusorbereich konsequent verbreiterte, um die 2017 erlaubte Expansion so realit\u00e4tsnah wie m\u00f6glich zu simulieren. Das einzige, das die Leitbleche vor den Seitenk\u00e4sten tiefer setzte. Und das einzige, das am Frontfl\u00fcgel zus\u00e4tzliche Flaps und vertikale Str\u00f6mungshilfen einzog, die dem heutigen Konzept nicht ganz un\u00e4hnlich sind. Au\u00dferdem wurde der Anstellwinkel deutlich vergr\u00f6\u00dfert, um so f\u00fcr die Zukunft zu \u00fcben. Dazu variierte Ferrari die L\u00e4nge seitlicher Sch\u00fcrzen.\n\nFerrari ohne Korrelationsprobleme\n\nRed Bull und Mercedes begn\u00fcgten sich im Vergleich zu Ferrari mit Ma\u00dfnahmen, die zwar mehr Abtrieb brachten, mit Blickrichtung 2017 zum Teil aber v\u00f6llig sinnlos waren. Red Bull montierte unter den 2015er Heckfl\u00fcgel ein tiefes Element, um mehr Anpressdruck im Heck zu generieren und den Diffusor zu unterst\u00fctzen. Der so genannte \u201ebeam wing\u201c ist aber im aktuellen Reglement gar nicht erlaubt. Dazu Sch\u00fcrzen an den Flanken des Unterbodens, um ihn besser zur Stra\u00dfe hin abzudichten. Auch das w\u00e4re illegal.\n\nMercedes operierte ebenfalls mit einem Unterfl\u00fcgel im Heck und einer st\u00e4rkeren Anstellung und seitlichen Abdichtleisten. Aber offenbar brachte das Experiment zu wenig Erkenntnisse, um sich auf dieses Territorium zu wagen. Mercedes suchte Abtrieb lieber \u00fcber ein l\u00e4ngeres Auto.\n\nIm R\u00fcckblick wird klar, dass Mercedes und Red Bull in Bezug auf das 2017er Auto von ihrem Muletto wenig lernen konnten. Ferrari dagegen schon. So ergaben die Modifikationen am Frontfl\u00fcgel, an der Position der Leitbleche, der gr\u00f6\u00dfere Diffusor und der Heckfl\u00fcgel im 2017er Format durchaus Hinweise auf die zu erwartenden Str\u00f6mungsverh\u00e4ltnisse. Quasi ein Abgleich mit den Windkanaldaten des richtigen 2017er Modells. Es f\u00e4llt auf, dass Ferrari als eines der wenigen Teams nicht \u00fcber Korrelationsprobleme zwischen Labor und Rennstrecke klagte. Vielleicht, weil man sie schon w\u00e4hrend der Pirelli-Testphase entdeckte und abstellte.\n\nInteressant ist der Punkt mit dem Heckfl\u00fcgel. Die beim GP Spanien 2016 ver\u00f6ffentlichten Richtlinien der FIA f\u00fcr die Pirelli-Testautos sahen im Bereich des Heckfl\u00fcgels eigentlich nur einen Punkt vor: \u201eErlaubt ist eine beliebig gro\u00dfe Anzahl von Fl\u00fcgelelementen und Geometrien in einem Bereich zwischen 300 und 950 Millimeter \u00fcber der Referenzebene.\u201c\n\nOffenbar interpretierte Ferrari das Wort \u201eGeometrie\u201c dahingehend, im oberen Teil gleich den ganzen Fl\u00fcgel auf die neuerdings erlaubten 95 Zentimeter zu verbreitern. Und weiter unten ziehen sich die Endplatten exakt so ein wie bei den heute \u00fcblichen Heckfl\u00fcgeln. Diese Regelauslegung spricht auch f\u00fcr den mutigeren Ansatz in Ferraris Designb\u00fcro. Man traut sich mehr zu.\n\nVettel testete 2.228 Kilometer, Hamilton 50\n\nAuch mit den Reifen hat Ferrari die Entwicklungsarbeit f\u00fcr Pirelli besser zum eigenen Nutzen umgesetzt. Ferrari verpflichtete seine Stammpiloten zu den Testfahrten. Sebastian Vettel spulte 2228 Kilometer im Dienste von Pirelli ab, Kimi R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen 1054 Kilometer. Bei Mercedes und Red Bull erledigten haupts\u00e4chlich Testfahrer die Arbeit.\n\nPascal Wehrlein und Pierre Gasly in allen Ehren: Sie k\u00f6nnen in Bezug auf Reifenentwicklung nicht so viel Erfahrung haben und Feedback bringen wie Weltmeister oder GP-Sieger. Nico Rosberg fuhr gerade mal 209 Kilometer mit den breiteren Pirelli-Sohlen, Lewis Hamilton ganze 50 Kilometer. Max Verstappen sa\u00df 517 Kilometer in Red Bulls Muletto, Daniel Ricciardo 200 Kilometer.\n\nDazu kommt, dass sich Vettel auch au\u00dferhalb der Rennstrecke f\u00fcr die Arbeit von Pirelli an den breiteren Reifen eingeklinkt hat. Pirelli-Pr\u00e4sident Marco Tronchetti Provera verriet in Monte Carlo: \u201eSebastian hat uns mehrfach in Mailand besucht, um im Rahmen der Regeln mit unseren Ingenieuren seine Eindr\u00fccke zu diskutieren. Ein Fahrer seiner Erfahrung hat sich dadurch so viel Wissen angeeignet, dass er mit seinen Technikern bei Ferrari Abstimmungen ausarbeiten konnte, die n\u00f6tig sind um die Reifen im optimalen Betriebsfenster zu halten.\u201c"}
-{"text": "A B.C. man was in for quite a surprise over the weekend when he spotted a cougar lounging on his back deck.\n\nConservation and RCMP officers went to a home in Maple Ridge, B.C., approximately 45 kilometres southeast of Vancouver, to find the adult cougar resting on a deck in front of a glass door.\n\nOfficials believe the cougar, estimated to be nearly 90 pounds, was drawn there by the resident\u2019s house cat.\n\nOfficers declined to shoot the cougar because it was next to the home, choosing instead to roll a rock towards it, which sent it running off into the woods.\n\nConservationists advise those who may encounter cougars to stay calm and to pick up children immediately to avoid provoking an attack. If the cougar shows interest or follows you, they recommend responding aggressively by showing teeth, making loud noises and using rocks or sticks as weapons."}
-{"text": "SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Tweet Post Email\n\nThe U.S. economy expanded at a revised 2 percent annualized rate in the third quarter, buoyed by consumer spending as businesses struggled to sell to overseas customers battered by sluggish growth.\n\nThe gain in gross domestic product followed a 3.9 percent advance in the second quarter, Commerce Department figures showed Tuesday in Washington. The median forecast of 76 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 1.9 percent increase compared with the previously reported 2.1 percent pace.\n\nEven with the slight reduction in growth, household purchases propelled demand last quarter as employment improved and fuel prices remained low. Nonetheless, consumers alone won\u2019t be able to shoulder the burden of helping the world\u2019s largest economy overcome slower global growth, so areas such as business investment and government outlays will also need to strengthen.\n\n\u201cConsumption is a big piece of it, and it\u2019s chugging along,\u201d said Tim Quinlan, an economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina, who correctly projected the growth pace. At the same time, \u201cit\u2019s hard to be really enthusiastic about the outlook for trade and business investment\u201d amid weak growth overseas, he said.\n\nEconomists\u2019 projections for GDP, the value of all goods and services produced, ranged from 1.5 percent to 2.1 percent. The latest estimate is the third for the quarter and the reading won\u2019t be updated again until annual revisions are issued in July of 2016.\n\nThe economy grew at an average pace of 2.3 percent in the first half of the year after expanding 2.4 percent in all of 2014.\n\nInventory Adjustment\n\nThe slight reduction in third-quarter growth reflected a smaller increase in inventories than previously estimated. Consumer spending was little changed from the prior report as a reduction in outlays on financial services was offset by a bigger gain among non-profit agencies serving households.\n\nWeaker overseas growth and a strong dollar have weighed on net exports, with trade subtracting 0.3 percentage point from overall growth after adding 0.2 percentage point in the prior three-month period. Sustained growth in the U.S. combined with weakening in other parts of the globe, including in China, could widen the gap between exports and imports in the quarters ahead.\n\nInventories subtracted 0.7 percentage points from growth compared with a previous estimate of a 0.6 percentage-point drag. A buildup in stockpiles for much of this year, exacerbated by weaker-than-expected overseas demand, is still being drawn down.\n\nBusiness Investment\n\nCorporate spending on equipment advanced at a 9.9 percent annualized pace, adding 0.6 percentage point to growth and the biggest gain in a year.\n\nHousehold purchases, which account for almost 70 percent of the economy, rose at a 3 percent annual pace, the same as previously estimated. Personal consumption added 2 percentage points to growth.\n\nSteady payroll gains and cheap gasoline are helping support Americans. Payrolls have advanced at a 210,000 average monthly pace this year through November, compared with a 260,000 average for all of 2014 that was the strongest in 15 years.\n\nCosts at the gas pump are at their lowest since 2009, having fallen steadily for four months on a slide in global commodity prices. The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline was $2.00 as of Dec. 20, the lowest since March 2009, according to auto group AAA. That compares with a daily average in 2014 of $3.34 per gallon.\n\nGovernment Outlays\n\nCutbacks in public spending also will probably no longer hinder growth in 2016 after Congress and the Obama administration agreed last week to fund the government through September.\n\nOutlays at the federal level will grow 2.6 percent next year, the first gain since 2010, according to Dec. 18 estimates by economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in New York.\n\nThe momentum in U.S. demand has given Federal Reserve policy makers enough confidence that the economy can withstand the first increase in the benchmark interest rate in almost a decade. Chair Janet Yellen announced Dec. 16 that the central bankers unanimously voted to raise the rate by a quarter-point from near-zero.\n\n\u201cThe economic recovery has clearly come a long way, although it is not yet complete,\u201d Yellen told a press conference in Washington. \u201cThe committee currently expects that, with gradual adjustments in the stance of monetary policy, economic activity will continue to expand at a moderate pace and labor market indicators will continue to strengthen.\u201d\n\nPolicy makers\u2019 forecasts show the central bank will raise the benchmark interest rate by 1 percentage point next year.\n\n\u201cThe U.S. economy is really just chugging along at a fairly middling pace, but it\u2019s enough for the Fed to continue delivering rate hikes,\u201d said Goldberg at TD Securities.\n\nTuesday\u2019s GDP report also showed prices tied to consumer spending excluding food and fuel rose at a faster pace in the third quarter than previously estimated, which may also alleviate concern with too-low inflation. The core consumption price index climbed at 1.4 percent annualized rate from July through September compared with the 1.3 percent gain previously reported.\n\n(Updates with economist comment in fourth paragraph.)\n\n\u2014 With assistance by Kristy Scheuble"}
-{"text": "There was plenty of talk about the LA Galaxy and Orlando City as they overhauled their rosters ahead of the 2018 season. North of the border, however, the Montreal Impact have quietly put together one of the league\u2019s biggest top-to-bottom rebuilds.\n\nThe Impact hired a new coach, Remi Garde, in November. Since then they\u2019ve bid adieu to 13 players permanently and sent three others away on loan. They\u2019ve also added 13 different players ranging from three Homegrowns, to Designated Player Saphir Taider and, most recently, winger Alejandro Silva on a TAM contract on a transfer from Lanus in Argentina.\n\nAnd there\u2019s more to come.\n\nMontreal have three open spots on their senior roster, including one open DP slot. While a third DP may not be imminent, the Impact have plenty of budget space to work with.\n\n\u201cThat [DP] is not necessarily one we\u2019re looking to do right now, but we also have TAM available to use and quite a bit of General Allocation Money,\u201d Montreal technical director Adam Braz told MLSsoccer.com ahead of the Silva signing. \u201cWe\u2019ve put ourselves in a good position in terms of the salary cap and what we can do, and now it\u2019s making sure on the recruitment side we target the right players and Remi is clear in terms of who he wants and getting those deals done.\u201d\n\nSilva adds an attacking piece that gives Montreal better balance through their front line on the opposite side of midfield from Ignacio Piatti. The 28-year-old Uruguayan had three goals and two assists in 13 appearances with Lanus so far this season. He\u2019s expected to slot into the starting lineup immediately.\n\nWith the Silva addition finalized, a source confirmed the Impact are next set to sign center back Rudy Camacho. The 27-year-old center back would be yet another addition to a backline that has been almost completely overhauled this offseason.\n\nCamacho will join Montreal from Waasland-Beveren in the Belgian league and joins a defense that has already brought in Rod Fanni, Jukka Raitala and Michael Petrasso this year. Montreal also signed Ligue 2 defender Zakaria Diallo before losing the French-Senagalese center back to a season-ending Achilles injury just before the season started.\n\n\u201cRemi came in and obviously analyzed the squad that was here at the end of last season and identified some of the deficiencies,\u201d Braz said. \u201cThere\u2019s no hiding the fact that the team gave up too many goals last year. We gave up 58 goals, and [fixing the defense] was certainly an emphasis. \u2026 Remi identified different players he wanted to add and we were able to go out and add them. It\u2019s definitely been a point of emphasis in terms of training and how the team is set up in order to be much more compact and organized defensively, having a tight defensive block and reducing the number of goals we concede.\u201d\n\nBraz said the organization went into the offseason looking to give itself as much cap flexibility as possible. Montreal traded two MLS SuperDraft picks for $200,000 in GAM and $150,000 in TAM. They also collected a decent chunk of GAM for the sale of young star Ballou Tabla to Barcelona B.\n\nThat allowed Montreal to be aggressive in the international market as they looked to strengthen their squad under Garde. Montreal also added a few younger players to its squad within the domestic market, including trading for former Toronto FC defender Raheem Edwards after LAFC selected him in the Expansion Draft and selecting Michigan State midfielder Ken Krolicki in the third round of the SuperDraft. Both have started games this season.\n\nGarde and his staff have \u201cembraced the challenge and they\u2019ve embraced the club and also the league and all the different nuances that are involved with the league,\u201d Braz said. \u201cIt\u2019s been very good and positive and a lot of hard work was put in during the preseason both on the field and off the field in terms of them building the group and the mentality to try to have a strong season.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s early in the season, but it\u2019s clear that the Impact have been remade in Garde\u2019s image and the hope is the results start to come as the team jells. A 1-0 win over Toronto on the weekend gave Garde his first points as a coach in MLS, and with new additions still rolling in, Montreal may be able to close the gap with the top four teams in the East."}
-{"text": "Across the country, numerous campaigns are underway aimed at abating climate change by freeing people, cities, businesses, and states from fossil fuels. For instance, the Sierra Club\u2019s \u201cReady for 100\u201d initiative is recruiting mayors who are committed to making their cities completely clean and renewable. More ambitiously, the Food and Water Watch recently launched its #OffFossilFuels campaign, which aims at supporting candidates and activists who are calling for 100% clean and renewable energy by 2035.\n\nMaking Virginia completely clean and renewable by 2030 is a central part of my platform. To many this seems like an impossible feat. Naturally, then, one of the most common questions I receive is: How can we change so much in so little time? What would the transition to 100% clean and renewable energy in Virginia look like?\n\nI cannot answer this question fully here: both because doing so would require much more space than this article would permit, and because I want to avoid suggesting a rigid path. Revolutionizing our energy grid would likely inspire many changes along the way, especially as technology evolves.\n\nWhat I would like to do instead is (1) describe what completely clean and renewable energy system in Virginia would like like, and (2) offer some ways we can achieve that vision by 2030.\n\n(1) What the clean energy revolution would look like in Virginia\n\nOn the first point, I follow the Solutions Project \u2014 a resource that I\u2019d heartily recommend checking out, if you\u2019re not already familiar with it. According to the Solutions Project, Virginia has considerable offshore wind potential. In fact, we could likely meet up to 50% of our energy demand from offshore wind farms alone. A little more than 25% of our energy production could come from solar plants \u2014 that is, centralized solar energy generation facilities. And the remaining 25% could come from on-shore wind farms (especially around the mountains), rooftop solar, and tidal turbines.\n\nA few things to note about a mix of this sort: Because wind and solar electricity generation are far more efficient than burning coal, gas, and oil, we\u2019d only need to produce about 58% of our current output to meet the same level of demand. This is great, because it means we\u2019d need fewer facilities and thus would incur less costs than might be expected in the transition. Moreover, if we pair the transition improvements in energy efficiency (e.g., through insulating buildings, installing double-paned windows, ventilating large office buildings, and so on), we could further reduce demand, and thus decrease even more the amount of new wind/solar/etc. facilities we would have to produce.\n\nNow a system that is 100% clean and renewable would have two important effects. First, it would produce what policymakers refer to as health \u201cco-benefits.\u201d Because the air pollution generated by burning fossil fuels causes or contributes to serious health problems (like allergies, asthma, cancer, and even diabetes), transitioning to a completely clean and renewable system would lead to massive health savings. According again to the Solutions Project, in Virginia we\u2019d be looking at about $13.7bn in savings per year a year, which is equivalent to about 26% of our annual state budget. These health savings are large enough that the whole transition would effectively pay for itself in just four years.\n\nSecond, transitioning to 100% clean and renewable energy would lead to the creation of over 147,000 new, well-paying, and permanent jobs \u2014 which is to say, jobs that would last 40 years or longer. Even better: these jobs would be (1) impossible to outsource, because they\u2019d be related to on-site maintenance and construction; and (2) widely dispersed across the state, because of the decentralized nature of a clean and renewable power grid. It is hard to overstate the economic effects of this kind of job creation. The solar industry already employs more people than the entire fossil fuel industry (coal, gas, and oil combined) in the USA, and solar jobs are growing at a rate 12x greater than job growth in general. Can you imagine the economic benefits that would come from seriously harnessing this growth here in VA?\n\nPerhaps most importantly, transitioning to a clean and renewable system along the lines I\u2019ve described would *not* result in cost increases. Assuming the price of solar and wind stay relatively constant \u2014 which is a very conservative assumption, given that the price of solar fell more than 70% between 2009 and 2015\u2014 we\u2019d be looking at energy prices equal to 11.2cents/kilowatt-hour, compared to our current rate of about 10.5cents/kwh. In other words, for less than 1cent per kwh, we could have a 100% clean and renewable system. Now, if we factor in the negative externalities associated with burning fossil fuels \u2014 e.g., the health costs, and the costs related to climate change (increased flooding, crop failure, so on) \u2014 our current rate would actually be closer to 16.2cents/kwh. So transitioning would actually lead to *considerable* cost savings: specifically, our energy would cost about 31% less, all things considered. (And that, again, is a conservative estimate.)\n\nTo put this in easier to understand terms, the average Virginian would be saving about $6,898 *per year* on energy, health, and climate change costs, compared to what she would pay under our current system. That\u2019s a lot of money!\n\n(2) How do we make the clean energy revolution happen?\n\nNow an important question is: How do we get from (a) to (b)? Fortunately, we have a lot of \u201ctools\u201d in our policy toolkit that can help, many of which have been proven to work in other states and countries.\n\nOne of the easiest things we can do is establish new, and expand existing, clean energy subsidies. By making the switch to solar or wind cheaper, people, businesses, and municipalities will be more likely to act on this more quickly. Relatedly, Virginia legislators could establish or expand tax rebate and exemption programs for clean and renewable equipment, to ensure that business and home owners who invest in that equipment don\u2019t see increases in their yearly taxes.\n\nAs we work to make clean and renewable energy less expensive, we must also ensure that fossil fuels are taxed in a way that reflects the social costs their emissions impose on society. There is still extensive debate among economists over what those costs are and so what the appropriate tax rate for fossil-fuel emissions should be. Yet, even among the most conservative economists, most now agree that taxing those emissions is essential for motivating the transition to clean and renewable energy. One popular proposal involves starting with a baseline tax rate of about $10 per ton of CO2 and slowly ramping up from there. This is the strategy many countries and regions around the world have used, including the province of British Columbia in Canada. According to economists and climate scientists familiar with the issue, these taxes have not depressed economic growth (in fact, quite the opposite!), but they have helped to curb emissions.\n\nFor emissions taxes to work effectively, however, we must first end fossil-fuel subsidies. Right now, the coal, oil, and gas industries receive about $700bn per year from American taxpayers, or about $2,180 per citizen per year! This is outrageous, and completely unnecessary. At the state level, Virginians provide considerable subsidies and kickbacks to fossil fuel companies and public utilities like Dominion Power and Appalachian Power Company. Legislators must stop this.\n\nThe state should also work to establish much more ambitious renewable portfolio standards \u2014 a policy strategy that many state legislatures have used to force public utilities into generating a certain percentage of their total energy output from clean and renewable sources. Currently, Virginia\u2019s portfolio standards are shamefully weak and completely voluntary, and so widely ignored. By changing the General Assembly, we can change these standards, and effectively mandate a transition to clean and renewable energy.\n\nThese are just some of the policy options available to Virginia legislators for transitioning the state to 100% clean and renewable energy. Some will almost certainly be more effective than others. That\u2019s why I support an \u201call-of-the-above\u201d transition strategy: by implementing a wide range of policies, we can determine which work best, and invest more of our resources and legislative energy accordingly. Over just two or three sessions, we would likely be able to make serious progress in the fight for a sustainable future.\n\n(3) Will this ever happen?\n\nAll of this may sound very ambitious. But it is important to remember that we are living in the same country that invented the atomic bomb, was the first (and still the only) to land on the moon, and was the first to connect virtually every resident to an electric grid. Each one of these things seemed impossible (and prohibitively costly) at the outset. Yet, we achieved all three within about 15 years of setting our minds to it.\n\nExigency is often the mother of action. As someone who studies climate change for a living, I am convinced that few issues are more exigent than climate change. Mounting evidence suggests that catastrophe can only be avoided if we take serious and bold action right now. We have the knowledge to remake our electrical system. All we need now is the political will. By taking a stand on this issue here in Virginia, we would show the rest of the country \u2014 and the rest of the world \u2014 that a better way is possible, and worth the effort.\n\nBut to do any of this, we must first elect people who are willing to stand up to fossil fuel interests and fight to put Virginia on a path to a 100% clean and renewable future. Settling for anything less would be an injustice to future generations.\n\n****************************************************************\n\nRoss Mittiga\n\nCandidate for Virginia\u2019s House of Delegates in District 57\n\nWEBSITE // FACEBOOK // TWITTER // DONATE\n\nVOTE ON JUNE 13TH!"}
-{"text": "\n\nIt was my intention to write about fragrances on a monthly basis in 2016, but I\u2019m afraid I rather lost the thread of that back in November. I suspect this can be forgiven. November, for my family at least, has always been The Worst Month\u2013relatives die, addiction and depression run rampant, all sorts of good stuff\u2013but this November was, as I think we can all agree, particularly horrid.\n\nAnd so, as it happens, I have only posted 10 installments of A Year In Fragrance\u2013 which I will link to below, if you missed any and wanted to catch up. I began this project envisioning that it would be mostly fragrance reviews, but I think it ended up being more than (and perhaps a little less than) that. It was a year of scented memories, scents that I utterly loathed, and even some of my beau\u2019s thoughts on certain fragrances. I suppose I will never get to the point where my thoughts coalesce into precise, well-thought out reviews; I\u2019m doomed to ramble, and meandering rambles these perfumed ponderings shall doubtless remain.\n\nFor November, I will tell you that I purchased a full bottle of of Apoteker Tepe\u2019s The Holy Mountain. Notes include \u201c\u2026over seven precious woods and resins along with a rare extraction of Lapsang Souchong tea smoked slowly over pinewood fires\u201d, and if you are in the market for a smoky fragrance that smells like maybe the smoke cleared after a super-beardy wizard threw a mystical resin into a fire to conjure an ancient dragon lord or something, but the dragon flew away and the wizard has gone to bed and the fire has burned down so that only the embers are smoldering and the deeply scented, resinous smoke has seeped into all the old wooden beams in the top-most tower room where all the magical shit is locked up\u2026well, The Holy Mountain may be the scent for you.\n\nIn December, I tried to resume the practice of \u201cshopping my own stash\u201d, a handy idea and phrase I first heard over at EauMG; I mean, I am of course familiar with the concept of using up your own stuff before buying new things, I just don\u2019t think I\u2019d hear the process called that before. Clever! Anyway, I rediscovered some samples I didn\u2019t even realize I had, and some of them are astonishingly gorgeous, Myrrh Casati by Mona di Orio and Etat Libre d\u2019Orange\u2019s Attaquer le Soleil Marquis de Sade chiefly among them. At the year\u2019s end I realize: yep, still love those churchy incense scents. Perhaps 2017 will bring new loves?\n\nA Year In Fragrance 2016:\n\nJanuary: Tea Rose\n\nFebruary: Willow & Water\n\nMarch: Witch\u2019s Workbench\n\nApril: A Dude Thinks On Stinks\n\nMay: Youth Dew\n\nJune: \u201cInexpensive\u201d Stuff\n\nJuly: Scents For Sleep\n\nAugust: Hateful \u2018fumes\n\nSeptember: A Tale Of Two Roses\n\nOctober: Sweets For The Sweet"}
-{"text": "I\u2019ve been missing in action for a couple of weeks! Hectic times! Lots of drawings and other new exciting but busy developments.\n\nI did finally get a chance to finish up my contribution to the Pok\u00e9mon Battle Royale show at the Light Grey Art Lab Gallery in Minneapolis MN! I was asked to draw Team Rocket, and I couldn\u2019t be more pleased with the selection. Prepare for trouble etc.\n\nInformation on the show here: http://pokemonbattleroyale.blogspot.com/\n\nParticipating artists here: http://pokemonbattleroyale.blogspot.com/p/participants.html\n\nLots of cool folks have done lots of cool stuff! Check out the opening on April 20th if you\u2019re in the area!"}
-{"text": "DeBARY, Fla. \u2013 Residents say they are tired of having their feathers ruffled by an aggressive goose wreaking havoc in a DeBary neighborhood on Green Reed Road.\n\nFor weeks, some neighbors said the goose has been nothing but trouble, chasing people and damaging property. Leah Jones Digges took cellphone video of the goose that she said ripped apart her neighbor's window screens.\n\n\"He's also broken several windows,\" Digges said. \"You can't even sit out in your yard in peace anymore because of this guy.\"\n\n[MORE ON CLICKORLANDO.COM: Disney dream home hits the market | Student's graduation photos are sight for 'saur eyes]\n\nResident Jennifer Gesule said the goose will also go after neighborhood kids.\n\n\"He usually follows the kids home from the bus stop or he tries to attack everyone who is at the bus stop,\" she said.\n\nHowever, residents said the goose wasn't always so fowl.\n\n\"He had a friend and then the friend passed,\" Gesule said. \"I don't know what happened with the friend, but his friend died and that's when the goose went a little bit crazy.\"\n\n[SEE THESE? Break-ing news: TV mistakes | Tattoo spell check | World's craziest beach]\n\nNews 6 found the goose roaming the streets and neighborhood pond on Tuesday with a flock of ducks and making honking sounds wherever it went. While some neighbors said they're fed up and have called wildlife services asking for him to be removed, others on the block said the wildlife is part of the neighborhood's charm.\n\n\"I don't think he should be harmed,\" Gesule said. \"I think they should get a friend for him.\"\n\nOne neighbor said a local wildlife service could be picking up the goose and relocating him to a different pond, but it's unclear when that'll happen."}
-{"text": "White House national security adviser John Bolton made one of his first key staffing moves Friday with the hiring of Mira Ricardel, a former defense adviser to President Trump\u2019s campaign who served in the Pentagon under President George W. Bush.\n\nMr. Bolton tapped Ms. Ricardel for the position of deputy national security adviser. She previously served in the administration as undersecretary of Commerce for export administration.\n\n\u201cMira Ricardel has a track record of successfully managing teams and diverse organizations, as well as addressing complex issues,\u201d Mr. Bolton said. \u201cI selected her as deputy national security adviser because her expertise is broad-based and includes national security matters related to our alliances, defense posture, technology security, foreign security assistance, and arms control.\u201d\n\nMs. Ricardel served on the Trump transition team and reportedly clashed with Defense Secretary James Mattis over some of his proposed hires at the Pentagon. Prior to joining the administration, she worked for Boeing, a U.S. aerospace firm that is a major defense contractor.\n\nIn the Bush administration, the White House said she \u201cplayed a central role in building support for United States and coalition operations in Afghanistan following the attacks of September 11, 2001.\u201d\n\nMs. Ricardel has served in three administrations, holding positions in the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce. She also worked in the Senate office of Republican Leader Bob Dole.\n\nSince taking over his post two weeks ago from Gen. H.R. McMaster, Mr. Bolton has forced out several national-security officials, including homeland security adviser Tom Bossert and National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton."}
-{"text": "Netflix went global earlier this month, and now the U.S. company has said it will crack down on customers who use VPN software to access content that is not available or licensed in their country.\n\n\u201cSome members use proxies or \u201cunblockers\u201d to access titles available outside their territory,\u201d Netflix said in a statement. \u201cIn coming weeks, those members using proxies and unblockers will only be able to access the service in the country where they currently are.\u201d\n\nMany Netflix users \u2014 yours truly included \u2014 have long paid for the service and accessed it via VPNs from countries that weren\u2019t supported prior to the huge international expansion. Netflix launching worldwide \u2014 in every market but China, Syria, North Korea and the Crimea \u2014 opened the service to new audiences, but there\u2019s still a good reason to use a VPN: to gain access to the full Netflix international library rather than limited local selections, as I explained last week.\n\nNetflix has traditionally been sympathetic to VPN users, but, now that the stakes are global, it has little option but to push back in order to appease content producers and the licensing agreements it holds with them. That said, policing VPNs is a whack-a-mole game. Content services and VPN software providers are both continually \u201cevolving\u201d \u2014 to use Netflix\u2019s term \u2014 their technology, so there will almost certainly continue to be ways to VPN into global Netflix content, it just won\u2019t be as easy as it is right now.\n\nUltimately, Netflix wants to remove the need to ever use a VPN by offering a universal catalog to all users worldwide, regardless of their location. But it admitted that it has \u201ca ways to go before we can offer people the same films and TV series everywhere.\u201d\n\nSo, to recap this week \u2014 using a VPN to watch Netflix is not ok, but sharing the password to a Netflix account is."}
-{"text": "\"Maoists attacked a team of commandos travelling in a private vehicle to inspect an earlier attack. So far 16 men have died,\" an official at police headquarters in Maharashtra told news agency AFP. \"More teams have been sent to site for rescue and combat operations,\" said the officer, who did not want to give his name.\n\nThe blast near Gadchirli's Jambhumpada village took place hours after Maoists torched 25 vehicles at a road construction site in Kurkheda of Gadchiroli at around 3:30 am.\n\n\"Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared,\" PM Modi tweeted.\n\nHome Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis about the incident. \"We are providing all assistance needed by the state government. MHA is in constant touch with the state administration,\" he tweeted, condoling the deaths.\n\nAt around 3:30 am, Maoists had torched vehicles, which were parked along the road in Kurkheda area, using kerosene and diesel, police officer Shailesh Balkawade said.\n\nOver two weeks ago, another IED blast was set off near a polling booth in Gadchiroli on April 11, during the first phase of the national election. No one was injured in the incident. A day before that, a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper was critically injured in an IED blast in Gadchiroli.\n\nToday's Maoist attack comes on a day when Maharashtra is celebrating its foundation day. The Maoists were in the final stages of observing a week-long protest to mark the first anniversary of 40 of their members who were gunned down by security forces on April 22 last year.\n\nIn April last year, security forces had carried out one of the biggest anti-Maoist operations in Maharashtra in which 40 Maoists were killed. The operation was planned by C-60 commandos of the Gadchiroli police based on specific intelligence about a meeting of top dalams or Maoist squads.\n\nGadchiroli voted in the first phase of national election on April 11."}
-{"text": "When Maria Ressa realized she was about to be arrested for doing her job, she reacted in the manner she had learned reporting from conflict zones throughout her 33-year career in journalism: she took a deep breath and assessed the best way to proceed. The situation was manageable, the charges could be overcome, and Ressa, as she had done countless times before, says she resolved to \u201chold the line.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been a war zone correspondent, I\u2019ve planned coverage when one side is shooting against the other side,\u201d the 55-year old told TIME in New York a few days before she returned to the Philippines and on Dec. 3 handed herself in to authorities. \u201cThat is easy compared to what we\u2019re dealing with now.\u201d\n\nMoises Saman-Magnum Photos for TIME\n\nWhat Ressa and her colleagues are dealing with is \u201ca direct assault on press freedom in the Philippines\u201d according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Less than two weeks after the CPJ presented her with an international Press Freedom award, the veteran journalist and former CNN bureau chief posted bail for charges of tax evasion. She is expected to be arraigned February next year.\n\nMaria Ressa appears onscreen at CNN in New York City on Saturday, November 17, 2018. Moises Saman-Magnum Photos for TIME\n\nWhile the Philippine government denies a political motivation for the charges against Ressa and Rappler, the news site she founded in 2012, international observers regard them as the latest salvo in President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s bid to muzzle critical press and silence criticism of his administration\u2019s deadly war on drugs.\n\nFor Ressa they are symptom of an even deeper malady in the Philippines, which she describes as \u201cground zero\u201d in the global war on disinformation. \u201cThe kind of civil discourse that used to be necessary for democracy\u2014one, we all agreed on facts, two, we actually exchanged ideas\u2014this is gone,\u201d she says.\n\nWhen Ressa founded Rappler in 2012, the country\u2019s social media environment was opening up new possibilities for civic engagement. The site created a Mood Meter that allowed audiences to log their emotional responses to stories, and its cadre of young tenacious reporters drove millennial engagement with the news.\n\nBack then Facebook counted 29 million Filipinos among its user base, or a little under a third of the population. Today the social media giant\u2019s grip on the country is near absolute: in part due to subsidies that make Facebook free to access on mobile phones, it has almost 70 million users\u2014or 97% of the Philippines\u2019 Internet-connected population.\n\nBut the ease with which the Duterte administration has used social media to manipulate public opinion, and what Ressa sees as the tech giant\u2019s failure to protect its users from manipulation, have fundamentally changed relationships between the news and those who consume it. \u201cTechnology has no morals and values,\u201d Ressa says, \u201cAnd the group that actually figured out how to use it and weaponize it, are the authoritarian style leaders.\u201d\n\nShortly after Duterte\u2019s election, Rappler began investigating how the Duterte campaign built a network of domestic and overseas social media users who disseminated inflammatory and sometimes fake content created by a team of bloggers.\n\nTwo of the team\u2019s most prominent \u201cinfluencers,\u201d pop star and sex advice columnist Mocha Uson and populist blogger R.J. Nieto, were given official roles in Duterte\u2019s administration after he took office. Although both have since resigned their posts, they were accused of singling out and smearing journalists who reported on extrajudicial killings, setting off a cascade of online trolls that harassed them with rape and death threats on Facebook.\n\n\u201cThe exponential attacks on social media, the inciting to hate just for doing your job,\u201d says Ressa. \u201cYou have no idea when it erupts into real-world violence.\u201d\n\nWhile real world violence has long been an occupational hazard in the Philippines\u2014the National Union of Journalists estimates 177 reporters and media workers have been killed since 1986\u2014Duterte made it clear reporters would be at mortal risk under his watch. Shortly before he took office on a promise of wiping out crime and corruption, he told journalists in his heartland Davao City they too could become targets of assassination if found to be a corrupt \u201cson of a bitch.\u201d\n\nMaria Ressa co-founded the news site Rappler. It has relentlessly covered the brutal drug war of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, including suspected extrajudicial killings that have alarmed human-rights advocates. Moises Saman\u2014Magnum Photos for TIME\n\nNow, Rappler and its founder are paying the price for reporting on Duterte\u2019s regime \u2014 just as the president\u2019s critics and opposition leaders have been jailed on flimsy premises. Senator Leila de Lima, a fierce critic of Duterte\u2019s drug war, was arrested in February 2017 and charged with drug offenses Amnesty International called \u201cpure fiction.\u201d \u201cThe lesson is if you want to criticize and oppose Duterte, you can do so behind bars, but not as a free citizen,\u201d de Lima told TIME from her jail cell in September.\n\nRessa says the Philippines, where dissent can lead to jail time, and where nobody can put a precise figure on the number of people killed in the drug war (estimates of human rights groups range between 12,000 and 30,000 deaths) should be a \u201ccautionary tale\u201d for the U.S. \u201cWith a global platform that connects all of us, you can see there is a playbook,\u201d she says, \u201cin the crosshair of controlling the public narrative are journalists.\u201d\n\nCrosshairs or not, Ressa is determined to hold the line.\n\nThis story is part of TIME\u2019s Person of the Year 2018 issue. Discover more stories here.\n\nGet The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. Please enter a valid email address. Sign Up Now Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.\n\nWrite to Joseph Hincks at joseph.hincks@time.com."}
-{"text": "From Svendsen Tech PowerShell Wiki\n\nHere goes my fairly polished attempt at a PowerShell nmap-like program that port scans subnets using CIDR notation or a pre-generated list of IP addresses or computer names. It uses efficient runspaces for concurrency (but Linux nmap should be way faster - sad face). This script should definitely replace this old port scan script that I wrote in a former life, eons ago. It also uses PSipcalc under the hood.\n\nIt has now been published to the PowerShell gallery (see the download section) and feedback is welcome there. It has been out in the wild for a couple of years now and not much feedback has been produced. It seems people are pretty happy with it?\n\nWhen you run it, it will first perform a ping sweep of the specified hosts/IPs/networks - without giving any feedback - the progress bar comes when DNS lookups and port scans begin. Only alive hosts will be port scanned, unless you specify the parameter -ScanOnPingFail, which will make it scan the port(s) on all hosts regardless of ping status.\n\nYou can use the -Verbose parameter - to have your screen flooded with activity most of the time.\n\nThis program is not perfect for runs against single hosts. There is some overhead to support faster execution against many hosts. But really it's just a matter of 3.5 seconds of sleep time plus otherwise minimal overhead, even with a single host.\n\nTo just check for an open port on a single host, you can use something like the code below. This also has the added bonus of using an asynchronous call with a specified timeout in milliseconds (\"3000\" here).\n\n#$computer, $port = $args[0,1] # assign values to these $mysock = new-object net.sockets.tcpclient $IAsyncResult = [IAsyncResult] $mysock.BeginConnect($computer, $port, $null, $null) measure-command { $succ = $iasyncresult.AsyncWaitHandle.WaitOne(3000, $true) } | % totalseconds $succ $mysock.Connected $mysock.Dispose()\n\nI'm adding that the real Linux utility nmap's ping sweep fails to detect most of my Windows hosts on my home LAN, and only finds 11 \"alive\" hosts, whereas my PSnmap seemingly finds 21, including many more Windows hosts. In my limited experience with port scanning, I've found that results can vary slightly from time to time, and from host to host you scan from, and depending on the utility you use. I've already seen some discrepancies between nmap and my script.\n\nSuperficially tested with PowerShell versions 2, 3, 4 and 5.\n\n\n\n\n\nTweet\n\n\n\n\n\nScreenshot examples of PSnmap\n\nHere's me scanning 192.168.1.0/24 and some hosts specified again with names to check reverse DNS functionality, and filtering out only those that respond to ping, meaning they were scanned (also without the -ScanOnPingFail parameter).\n\nWe can see how 639 (382 port/DNS + 257 pings) port scans, pings and DNS lookups are finished in 27 seconds.\n\nDownload PSnmap\n\nPSnmap.zip - v1.2 as of 2017-06-08. PSnmap packaged as a module together with PSipcalc. Exports Invoke-PSipcalc (alias PSipcalc) and Invoke-PSnmap (alias PSnmap).\n\nEarlier versions: File:PSnmap.zip.\n\n2017-06-08: Uploaded v1.2. Replaced instances of int64 with decimal to support x86 platforms, but I forgot that I use the method ToInt64(). Will look into it later.\n\n2016-08-06: Uploaded v1.1. Added sorting of results correctly by IP / computer name using some cleverness. Added throttling of pings since it seemed to be in an infinite loop once during testing, and this made that go away (so did cutting the /23 into two /24's and doing two runs). Possibly breaking change: Changed so multiple IPs or DNS names are in an array rather than a semicolon-joined string. I think it's better design in retrospect. Updated the built-in help with examples.\n\nOld non-modularized versions of required script files:\n\nPSnmap.ps1.txt - right-click and download (v1.0 - use the module for the latest version).\n\nPSipcalc.ps1.txt - right-click and download. You also need this PSipcalc script in the same folder as PSnmap.ps1 as it is used internally by PSnmap.ps1 (I have now also packaged it as a module - see above).\n\nEarlier versions (if any): File:PSnmap.ps1.txt.\n\nNow PSnmap is also on GitHub! https://github.com/EliteLoser/PSnmap - there's a newer version there at this time of writing. That one has also been published to the PowerShell Gallery. At 2018-07-24 it's version 1.3.1.\n\nIf you have Windows Management Framework 5 or higher (WMF 5 is available for Windows 7 and up), you can install my PSnmap module from the PowerShell gallery, a Microsoft-driven project and online repository for scripts.\n\nTo install with WMF 5 and up (to get the latest PSnmap module version available), simply run this command (requires an internet connection):\n\nInstall-Module -Name PSnmap\n\nParameters for PSnmap\n\nThe lazy way to document here:\n\n# CIDR, IP/subnet, IP, or DNS/NetBIOS name. [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()][string[]] $ComputerName, # Port or ports to check. [int[]] $Port, # Perform a DNS lookup. [switch] $Dns, # Scan all hosts even if ping fails. [switch] $ScanOnPingFail, # Number of concurrent threads. [int] $ThrottleLimit = 32, # Do not display progress with Write-Progress. [switch] $HideProgress, # Timeout in seconds. Causes problems if too short. 30 as a default seems OK. [int] $Timeout = 30, # Port connect timeout in milliseconds. 5000 as a default seems sane. [int] $PortConnectTimeoutMs = 5000, # Do not display the end summary with start and end time, using Write-Host. [switch] $NoSummary # Add service name as collected from IANA to the port number property name. [Switch] $AddService"}
-{"text": "The AMU has since removed the posters. (Source: Express Photo) The AMU has since removed the posters. (Source: Express Photo)\n\nThe Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) on Monday issued showcause notices to the president and secretary of its drama club for putting up posters allegedly carrying a map of India without Kashmir and the North East.\n\nA notice has also been issued to an employee of the university, who allegedly prepared the controversial poster.\n\n\u2018Jis Lahore Na Vekhiya\u2019, the play for which the posters had been put up, was cancelled hours before it was was to be staged at the university\u2019s Kennedy auditorium Sunday after an uproar over the issue.\n\nBJP\u2019s Brij Chhetra vice-president Manvendra Pratap Singh claimed to have intimated AMU proctor Mohsin Khan and the additional district magistrate about the posters.\n\nWritten by noted Hindi writer Asghar Wajahat in the 1980s, the play, \u2018Jis Lahore Na Vekhiya\u2019, is set in 1947. AMU\u2019s public relations in-charge M Shafey Kidwai said the plot revolves around the Mirzas, a Muslim family which migrated from Lucknow to Lahore and are allotted a haveli which was evacuated by a Hindu family. When they arrive in Lahore, they find an elderly Hindu woman living in the haveli, claiming its ownership and refusing to leave. The Muslim family gradually settles in the haveli along with the Hindu woman and drops the idea of evicting her.\n\n\u201cAfter coming to know about the poster, AMU cancelled the play and also removed the posters and hoardings from campus. Action will be taken after receiving replies to the notices issued to the drama club president, secretary and the employee,\u201d said Kidwai, adding that the play was \u201canti-partition\u201d and \u201canti-communal\u201d.\n\nThe president of the drama club is an assistant professor of the university, said Kidwai. The professor and employee have been asked to submit their explanations to the registrar\u2019s office within two days, while the student has been asked to provide an explanation to the proctor\u2019s office within 72 hours, said a press note issued by AMU on Monday.\n\n\u201cWhen permission was obtained from AMU authorities, the said poster was not shown. The AMU had given permission to stage the play on Sunday at the auditorium. Hoardings and posters carried an erroneous map of India in which the North-East and J&K parts are mixed up. The drawing of the map was a mistake committed inadvertently by the drama society of AMU,\u201d added Kidwai.\n\nBJP\u2019s Manvendra Pratap Singh said, \u201cI have written to the HRD Ministry stating that such an act amounts to anti-nationalism and action should be taken. In the hoardings (posters), the North-East and parts of J&K are shown in China. I also pointed out in the letter that controversies are regularly propping up in the university and need to be looked into.\u201d He claimed to be a member of the ministry\u2019s National Monitoring Committee for Minorities Education.\n\n\ud83d\udce3 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines\n\nFor all the latest Lucknow News, download Indian Express App."}
-{"text": "Exchange\n\nOur philosophy is faster, better, stronger and secure, as the market demands an exchange in crypto that does not disappoint investors. COVEX Exchange is designed to handle present and emerging crypto market conditions.\n\nOur motto is better, faster, stronger and safer because the market needs a crypto exchange which will not fail investors. COVEX Exchange is built to withstand the existing and future crypto market."}
-{"text": "The death of a woman taking part in the Occupy Vancouver protest at the city's art gallery has led the city's mayor to announce the protest movement's tent city will be cleared.\n\n\"I have directed the city manager to expedite the appropriate steps to end the encampment as soon as possible with a safe resolution being absolutely critical to that,\" Mayor Gregor Robertson said Saturday night.\n\nPolice said a woman in her 20s was found unresponsive inside a tent at the encampment at about 4:30 p.m. PT Saturday.\n\nPolice talk to people at the scene. (CBC)\n\n\"Tragically, she could not be revived,\" Vancouver police Const. Jana McGuinness told reporters. \"She was transported to hospital and pronounced deceased at hospital.\"\n\nPolice said the cause of death has not been determined and would not confirm reports the woman died of a drug overdose.\n\nHowever, Lauren Gill, an organizer at the camp, said that was apparently the case. She said the death highlights the need for more addiction services because drugs are such a big issue in the city.\n\nGill, who is running as an independent in this month's city elections, said that as an outreach worker in mental health and addiction services, she has seen far too many overdose deaths.\n\nA section of the tent city near the corner of Howe and Georgia streets was roped off and about a dozen police and fire officials were on scene. (CBC)\n\nProtesters listening to the mayor's announcement yelled their disagreement, and accused Robertson of using the woman's death for political purposes.\n\n\"Shutting down the encampment will not alleviate the heroin epidemic that's going on in this city,\" one of the protesters said. \"We need people to pay attention to this fact. We need funding, we need help.\"\n\nA section of the tent city near the corner of Howe and Georgia streets was roped off and about a dozen police and fire officials were on scene, the CBC's Chad Pawson reported from the scene on Saturday afternoon. He reported about a dozen people were visibly upset, crying and hugging each other, and being very hostile towards the media.\n\nDrug overdose\n\nThe death comes after a protester was treated for a drug overdose at the encampment on Thursday and amid concern by Vancouver's fire department about the conditions at the Occupy camp.\n\nThe protest movement has also become a key issue in the Nov. 19 civic election in Vancouver, with Robertson facing criticism for allowing the tent city to continue. On Friday, the mayor said authorities could be forced to remove occupiers and bring down the tent city, but said he is still hopeful a peaceful solution could be reached.\n\nRobertson has taken heat from rival Non-Partisan Association mayoral candidate Suzanne Anton, who has called on the mayor to act quickly to break up the protest.\n\nOn Saturday, Anton issued a news release expressing her sadness at the woman's death and reiterated her call that the encampment be shut down.\n\n\"This is a very sad event,\" Anton wrote. \"My thoughts are with the family of this young woman and with the Occupy Vancouver community.\" Referring to the tent city, Anton concluded: \"It is time for the tents to be taken down.\"\n\n[IMAGEGALLERY galleryid=1403 size=large]"}
-{"text": "Ultimate Backer gets to help design the next Unjust Plush and is flown out to LA for a Dinner to meet the team. (domestic flight only covered)\n\n- US SHIPPING INCLUDED IN ALL REWARDS -\n\nLess"}
-{"text": "Monday in New Orleans is extremely Monday\u2013damp, gray, and the kind of rainy that isn\u2019t heavy enough to be interesting but is heavy enough to make your few minutes at the bus stop miserable.\n\nMaybe it\u2019s the weather and the reality of a work week that won\u2019t end with a Saints game, but today you\u2019re feeling more bummed about what happened Saturday than, maybe, you felt on Saturday. Maybe today is the first day you\u2019ve, because of your lunch break media consumption habit, come across wound-salting diatribes from the supposedly respectable sports writing outlets that you still read even though there is nothing actually respectable about them.\n\nThe ever-shouty Gregg Doyel, who is to the written word what a blaring foghorn would be to sports radio, openly accused Saints defenders of head-hunting. The basis for that accusation was Rafael Bush\u2019s over-the-middle hit, which was rightfully penalized under current NFL rules but which, until the recent implementation of those rules, was routine, hardly an overt display of aggression.1 Such accusations, normally the sort of nonsense reserved for drunk callers on post-game talk shows, are particularly enraging given certain Saints-related events in 2012, and in Doyel\u2019s piece are an attempt to seize upon existing narratives established by those events in the most combative way possible.\n\nIn a universe where the always-injured Harvin was not, once again, hurt, and in which the Saints threw the ball sixty times instead of running it\u2013effectively\u2013for the entire first half, it\u2019s easy to see Doyel exchanging the established narrative of head-hunting Saints for the established narrative of a soft team that can\u2019t play outside. Instead of doing so, Doyel says the Saints play a \u201cbeautiful\u201d2 game of finesse and, by abandoning that finesse nature in favor of unforgivable violence, doomed themselves.\n\nPerhaps work like Doyel\u2019s is a result of the Internet and its denominator-lowering effect on writing, or maybe things have always been this way. Whatever: The point is contemporary sports writing works much the same way as Erle Stanley Gardner\u2019s plot wheel. Merely spin the wheel, select a set of points that already exist, and string them together in a way that will bring the highest number of page views. (Doyel, relying on the word of the Seahawks players with whom Jimmy Graham had an altercation, also offers a nonsensical account of Graham\u2019s scuffle that casts Graham as an incogent simpleton, a sort of egomaniacal grunting hulk on a faux-tough rampage. Peter King, offering a more reasoned take, mentions off-hand that the inciting incident for the exchange of words was a Seattle player grabbing Graham\u2019s practice football and punting it. This explanation does seem a little more logical than the one proffered by Seattle and repeated by Doyel, in which Graham mindlessly says the phrase \u201cI\u2019m Jimmy!\u201d in much the same way Hodor says \u201cHodor!\u201d)\n\nThe irony in these accusations, of course, is that the Seahawks employ a secondary that calls itself \u201cThe Legion of Boom\u201d and which prides itself on finding creative ways to commit pass interference without a penalty being called. There\u2019s irony in the casting of Saints players as, somehow, illegitimate cheaters, with the Seahawks as upright heroes, even though the Seahawks lead the NFL in suspensions for the use of performance-enhancing drugs.\n\nThis sort of writing\u2013bombastic, accusatory, agenda-driven\u2013offers little critical analysis, beyond the self-serving opinion of the author, and no insight. Its only value is in the way it appeals to what David Foster Wallace called \u201cvulgar and prurient and dumb interests.\u201d The corollary to this is that Doyel\u2019s writing, and the writing of, probably, a majority of American sportswriters, absolutely does not appeal to what Wallace, in the same essay, \u201cE Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction\u201d, called \u201crefined and aesthetic and noble\u201d interests.\n\nWell, yeah, you say: Sports are not exactly a refined or aesthetic or noble interest and American football, consisting as it does of human bodies flung into other human bodies at high speed, might be the least refined of them all. We should expect to see writers like Gregg Doyel or his equally trollish CBS Sports co-worker Pete Prisco emerge from such muck.\n\nExcept one of the best things Don DeLillo, who has won most of the honors an American writer of fiction can win, has ever written is a re-telling of a famous hit that happened in an old baseball game;3 except Ring Lardner was both a sports columnist and one of the great literary voices of America\u2019s early twentieth century; except Norman Mailer famously wrote beautiful words about a sport based on the concept that two men should punch one another in the face for money; except Laura Hillenbrand captured a memorable image of Depression-era America and the sport of thoroughbred horse racing, itself not free from vulgar controversy, in Seabiscuit; except the aforementioned David Foster Wallace wrote an essay about tennis so fascinating that you can read it without ever having watched a tennis match from start to finish.\n\nGood writing can make art out of things far more vulgar than sports. But there\u2019s not much good writing, or even good reporting, about sports in the Internet era. There are people, like New Orleans\u2019 Jeff Duncan, who have shown the ability to be good, solid American writers, but who, in the time between brilliant moments, toss insipid frag grenades into rooms full of sports fans so that the explosion will cause a click-gathering ruckus.\n\nSo why do you even bother? Why waste time reading work, like Doyel\u2019s, that consistently has no value? Is it because of some need to constantly relive the unique emotional reactions a strong tie to a sports team can cause? That\u2019s the vulgar interest theory: Write words that play on concepts that have been proven to provoke strong reader reactions, and cash your check. Or is it because we actually do seek some deeper meaning in sports\u2013in, really, pretty silly chaos? Both, but probably the latter, even if we don\u2019t know it. Sports tie as deeply into our common cultural experience as any other form of entertainment. Maybe more, because they combine mass commercial appeal with the natural drama of the human body in motion. You do want insight. You do want to understand. You want to have a drunken argument about a forward lateral, too, and a flame war with idiots in the ESPN comments section. But maybe the flame war can start in the comments rather than in the article?\n\nWallace wrote \u201cE Unibus Pluram\u201d in 1993 when television, the wisdom of the \u201910s argues, mostly sucked and was actually vulgar and mostly without artistic merit. This was back before The Sopranos and The Wire and Breaking Bad and Mad Men and whatever else is evidence of this day of TV supposedly becoming the new literary medium. It\u2019s probably true that, thanks to the rise of \u201cpremium\u201d shows like said, TV actually is better now. But also generations raised on TV are old enough to be part of the critical reaction to TV now; the result is an increasingly literary approach to pop culture. It\u2019s not reverence\u2013in the Internet world of snark vs smarm is reverence even a thing anymore?\u2013but it\u2019s high-minded enough for some to now treat the genre of literary fiction with the sort of disdain that the literary critic once reserved for pop culture.\n\nMaybe the same thing will happen with sports. Before television it was a niche interest, maybe even one of Wallace\u2019s \u201cfine\u201d interests. After television, and even moreso after the Internet, it is vulgar and prurient and dumb mass popular culture, and the critical reaction to it has adjusted accordingly, from the high of like Grantland Rice to the low of Gregg Doyel. But give it some time and allow yourself some hope.\n\nThose guys have got to get tired of shouting one day, right?"}
-{"text": "Shamrock Rovers face what is likely to be a defining game in their attempt to retain the Airtricity Premier Division when leaders Sligo Rovers visit Tallaght Stadium tonight (8pm).\n\nThe Hoops have won back-to-back titles but trail the Bit o\u2019 Red by seven points in the table, with Ian Baraclough\u2019s side also having a game in hand on the champions.\n\nIt has been a poor campaign for Stephen Kenny and his players but having recorded three wins on the bounce, including two in the league, they face Sligo knowing the can breathe new life into their season with victory.\n\nSligo recorded a comprehensive 3-0 success in the first meeting of the sides and a similar outcome would surely put an end to any hopes of the title staying in Tallaght.\n\nThe Connacht side has looked the more complete outfit throughout the year, without being overly convincing, and it sets up tonight\u2019s game to have a major say on the season with Drogheda United and St Patrick\u2019s Athletic also firmly in the chase.\n\nAaron Greene (knee) and Graham Gartland (back) are out for the Hoops.\n\nPat Sullivan (ankle) and Chris Turner (thigh) will both do fitness tests before the game after picking up injuries in last week\u2019s 2-0 win over UCD.\n\nSligo have recorded four wins on the bounce against Shamrock Rovers in all competitions, including their first ever win in Tallaght last campaign.\n\nBut they will be without David Cawley, who is suspended, while Danny North is out for the rest of the campaign with a cruciate ligament injury. Kick-off is 8pm in Tallaght Stadium.\n\nWhat the managers say:\n\nShamrock Rovers manager Stephen Kenny: \"We won our last two league games, and have kept three clean sheets in a row in the league, and we will be looking to keep that going tomorrow night.\n\n\"The lads have worked very hard during the week and know that a win tomorrow night would be very important for our season. It is a big game, and we will go into the game fully focused on getting the win.\n\n\"We know it will be a tough game, but we are more than ready for that.\"\n\nSligo Rovers manager Ian Barraclough: \"We\u2019re setting out with a positive mindset. We\u2019re going to there to win the game and that is the only approach we take. Whatever the result is, I don\u2019t think anything is decided with 11 games to go in the season so this is just another game for us to try and win.\n\n\"Our only thought is trying to win the game, we are going into the lion\u2019s den as such and I think that given the result earlier in the season we\u2019ll face a side that might still be hurting from that. I\u2019m sure Stephen Kenny will remind his players of that defeat and they are coming into this game in improved form.\n\n\"I know people have been surprised that they have not picked up as many points as expected this year, but they have excellent players and they have had some good wins recently.\n\n\"If we play to our maximum then we will rise to the task. We\u2019ve shown that before and I\u2019ll name a team on Monday where we\u2019ll have some disappointed players because everyone wants to be involved at this stage of the year.\n\n\"It is the type of game we really look forward to and everyone is fit bar our top scorer Danny North. That is a wonderful situation for me and our preparation has been very good this week.\""}
-{"text": "CNN\u2019s Jim Acosta trashed the intellect of Americans in an interview with Variety Magazine, asserting that they \u201cdon\u2019t have all of their faculties in some cases.\u201d\n\nAcosta was interviewed for a feature piece on the trials and tribulations of covering the Trump White House, and in an accompanying video he suggested that many Americans aren\u2019t smart enough to understand that \u201cfake news\u201d is not a call to violence.\n\n\u201cThe problem is that people around the country don\u2019t know it\u2019s an act,\u201d Acosta said of Trump labeling some news outlets \u201cfake news.\u201d \u201cThey\u2019re not in on the act and they take what he says very seriously and they take attacks from Sean Spicer and Sarah Sanders and what they do to us on a daily basis very seriously.\u201d\n\nHe added, \u201cthey don\u2019t have all their faculties in some cases \u2014 their elevator might not hit all floors.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy concern is that a journalist is gonna get hurt one of these days,\u201d Acosta concluded.\n\nFollow Amber on Twitter"}
-{"text": "NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has filed an official petition to extend his asylum in Russia for another year. He has been living in the country since taking 1.7 million intelligence files from various US agencies.\n\nSnowden's year in Russia: From airport hideout to mystery location\n\nThis is according to Snowden\u2019s lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena. Snowden\u2019s current term of stay in Russia expires on July 31.\n\n\"The procedure is very simple if a citizen of any country would like to stay and live in Russia. In this case we are talking about Snowden, so we have fulfilled the procedure to receive temporary asylum,\u201d Kucherena said on Wednesday.\n\n\n\n\"We have submitted documents to prolong his stay in Russia.\u201d\n\nNevertheless, Kucherena did not say if Snowden would seek his permit with a different status, i.e. Russian citizenship.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe decision lies with the Federal Migration Service,\u201d he replied when asked what status they would like to get.\n\nThe Federal Migration Service has not yet commented on the news.\n\nIn an exclusive interview with NBC in May, Snowden said he would return to the United States if that option was on the table, but he is concerned he would be unfairly convicted of espionage. He added he would ask Russia for permission to extend his stay, \"if the asylum looks like it's going to run out.\"\n\nThe former NSA contractor told NBC\u2019s Brian Williams that he was \u201csurprised\u201d to find himself living in Moscow.\n\n\"I never intended to end up in Russia,\" Snowden told NBC.\n\nIn late May, Snowden\u2019s German lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck told Der Spiegel that \u201cthere are negotiations\u201d to facilitate the former NSA contractor\u2019s return home.\n\n\"Those who know the case are aware that an amicable agreement with the US authorities will be most reasonable,\u201d Kaleck said.\n\nSnowden first arrived in Moscow on the evening of June 24, 2013, from Hong Kong. He had intended to catch a connecting flight to Cuba, however his passport had been voided, leaving him effectively stranded in Moscow\u2019s Sheremetyevo Airport.\n\n\n\nOn August 1, Russia granted him asylum for one year, saying it legally had no other choice.\n\n\n\n\"Snowden has not committed any crimes on Russian territory,\" an official told Interfax at the time. \u201cIn addition, Russian law enforcement agencies have received no instructions through Interpol to detain him. So we have no grounds to detain this transit passenger.\"\n\nThat sentiment was later reflected by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said Russia was not \u201cprotecting Edward Snowden,\u201d but had no legal basis to extradite him.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t say for sure whether or not Mr. Snowden committed a crime in the US, it\u2019s impossible for us to ascertain. But as a sovereign country that has no extradition treaty with the US, Russia has no other choice but to permit him to live here,\u201d Putin said.\n\nSnowden is wanted by the US on charges of espionage and theft of government property after leaking a vast trove of classified material to journalists that lifted the lid of secrecy on a vast range of the National Security Agency\u2019s global spying operations.\n\n\n\nOver the past year, he has been the recipient of the German \u2018Whistleblower Prize\u2019, the Sam Adams Award which was presented to him in Moscow, the German \u2018positive\u2019 Big Brother Award, the Ridenhour Truth-Telling Prize, and the Fritz Bauer Prize.\n\n\n\nHe also joined the board of directors of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, co-founded by Daniel Ellsberg, and was elected in absentia as Rector of the University of Glasgow."}
-{"text": "Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today warned other nations not to arm the Syrian opposition, but he plans to meet a rebel delegation in Moscow in two weeks, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs says.\n\n\"Even if they arm the Syrian opposition to the teeth, it won't be able to defeat the Syrian army,\" Lavrov said today on a trip to Azerbaijan, the Associated Press reports. \"The carnage will go on for many years.\"\n\nLavrov, who will meet members of the moderate opposition group National Coordination Committee April 17-18, will hold talks next week with Syrian Foreign Minister Wallid al-Moallem, also in Moscow.\n\nSaudi Arabia and Qatar, two Sunni-ruled nations, have backed the idea of arming the opposition against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's Shiite-ruled government, but the West remains opposed. Western nations moved instead to create a fund for the rebels at a meeting in Istanbul, the Associated Press reports.\n\nRussia, along with China, has twice shielded its longtime ally, Assad, from United Nations sanctions over his year-long bloody crackdown on dissent in which more than 9,000 people have died.\n\nBut Moscow also has strongly supported U.N. envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan, which gives an April 10 deadline for Syrian troops to pull out of towns and cities.\n\nRussia has vowed to block any U.N. resolution that could pave the way for a replay of what happened in Libya, where NATO action helped oust longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.\n\nLavrov said NATO nations had abused the U.N. resolution, killing civilians and \"leaving something that can't be called a state in the end.\""}
-{"text": "FENTON, Mo. \u2013 Standout Saint Louis FC forward Irvin Herrera has been named in El Salvador\u2019s squad for the country\u2019s two upcoming games of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying early in September. Herrera is currently tied for third in the USL with 11 goals this season for STLFC.\n\nEl Salvador will host Mexico on Friday, Sept. 2, and then visit Canada on Tuesday, Sept. 6 as it looks to reach the final stage of qualification. El Salvador is currently two points behind both Honduras and Canada for second place in the group, with Mexico already having secured first place.\n\n\u201cWe're very excited for this opportunity that Irvin has earned, said STLFC general manager Jeremy Alumbaugh. \u201cWhen we signed him we told him that playing in the USL would give him every opportunity to continue and represent the El Salvador National Team. It's a testament to the quality of the league and quality of his teammates.\n\n\u201cWhile we will miss him while he is gone, this is something that happens all over the world when players get called in, and we wish him the best of luck.\""}
-{"text": "A SENIOR member of the Gold Coast LNP has admitted to having troll accounts to attack political opponents anonymously online.\n\nLNP Currumbin branch chairman Tim Gear recently boasted on his Facebook page: \"We all have troll accounts\".\n\nmedia_camera Gail Hislop.\n\nMr Gear's post about trolls was followed by a satirical, but not offensive, comment involving Labor's Burleigh candidate Gail Hislop.\n\nAnother member of the Young LNP claimed he had been blocked from Ms Hislop's state campaign Facebook page and that he intended to set up troll accounts closer to the election.\n\nMr Gear could not be reached for comment.\n\nYesterday political expert Professor Stephen Stockwell said outing yourself as a troll was unwise, particularly for those that had future political aspirations.\n\n\"The general public expects people to be open and above board about things,\" he said.\n\n\"If you have things to say about people, you should do it under your own name.\"\n\nBut Professor Stockwell said there was a long tradition in politics - that dated back before social media - of people in the background pretending to be independent, while promoting their own candidates and criticising whose on the other side.\n\nThe conservatives are also open to abuse from social media trolls, among them an attack of LNP Burleigh MP Michael Hart by a pro-ALP Twitter user for being overweight.\n\nCurrumbin MP Jann Stuckey, one of the most senior LNP MPs on the Coast, said she was unaware of the post.\n\n\"You'll need to talk to him about it,\" she said.\n\n\"Tim's his own person.\n\n\"I approach social media with caution.\"\n\nMs Hislop was not so shy about getting involved in the issue, saying Mr Gear \"should know better\".\n\n\"It's reprehensible behaviour,\" he said.\n\n\"I would be appalled if someone from my branch did that in Burleigh.\"\n\nMs Hislop insisted she did not know who the Twitter user was who targeted Mr Hart.\n\n\"I don't approve of that sort of behaviour.\n\nTelevision personality Charlotte Dawson was recently taken to a hospital emergency ward after copping a torrent of abuse online, while Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate deleted his first Facebook page last year after offensive comments were posted on it."}
-{"text": "Since mid-March, when much of Philadelphia shut down to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the union that represents the thousands of workers who unload and load ships has been calling for better safety precautions at the Port of Philadelphia.\n\nThe union, the International Longshoremen\u2019s Association Local 1291, wanted workers to be monitored for coronavirus symptoms before coming on-site, protective equipment, and medical staff for workers who felt sick during the day.\n\nWhen nothing happened for weeks, the union upped the ante. Last week, it told the Ports of Delaware River Marine Trade Association (PMTA) that if it didn\u2019t institute symptom monitoring it would tell its members it was not safe to come to work, according to Nan Lassen, the union\u2019s attorney.\n\nOn any given day, there could be thousands of workers at the port, Lassen said, depending on how many ships come in and how full they are. Goods like fruit and cars come in through the terminals, as well as paper pulp for companies like Kimberly Clark, which manufactures toilet paper, diapers, and Kleenex. Alongside the longshoremen work crane operators and hundreds of truck drivers who transport goods off the port.\n\nThis week, medical staff are checking temperatures and asking workers about symptoms before they begin work, Lassen said. They\u2019re being sent home if they have a temperature over 100.4 degrees or any symptoms.\n\nBut the checks are only happening for a roughly three-hour period in the mornings, even though workers come on site throughout the day, Lassen said. And only longshoremen are being checked, not the truck drivers that come on the piers throughout the day.\n\nThe union is pleased with the initial steps, Lassen said, \u201cbut whether they are doing all that they can to the maximum extent possible is still unclear.\u201d\n\nPMTA, the employer association that holds the contract with the union that represents workers at the Philadelphia port, did not respond to requests for comment.\n\nThe longshoremen are yet another example of workers deemed essential during the pandemic who have said their employers are not doing enough to keep them safe on the job.\n\nAll across the region, in workplaces like grocery stores, hospitals, nursing homes, and jails, workers have decried the lack of protective equipment and social distancing on the job. There are barely any enforceable federal workplace safety laws focused on those working during the pandemic. That has forced workers to take advocate for themselves, threatening or actually conducting work stoppages in order to force employers into implementing actions to protect their health.\n\nSome dockworkers at the Port of Oakland threatened to stop work late last month at a terminal that they said was not properly sanitizing equipment. Worker unrest comes at a time when dockworkers are especially important, as concerns about supply chain disruptions rise, and ports see a drop in cargo: The Port of Los Angeles reported a 30% drop in cargo compared to this time last year, while the Port of Oakland saw a 7% drop. Both attributed the decrease to the coronavirus.\n\nLeo Holt, president of Holt Logistics, which runs the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal, said that \u201csince before the guidance of social distancing and other CDC recommendations, the management [at Packer Avenue] began a protocol of deep cleaning equipment and work spaces; advisories to all employees and visitors and careful monitoring of the work situation, distancing during cargo operations, restrictions on over the road truck drivers and distancing.\u201d\n\nThere are now portable handwashing stations at the Packer terminal, Holt said, as well as temperature monitoring. \u201cEven more measures are being deployed,\u201d he said.\n\n\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n\u00a92020 The Philadelphia Inquirer\n\nVisit The Philadelphia Inquirer at www.inquirer.com\n\nDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC."}
-{"text": "\u00ab Si on est lent, si on refuse de travailler, on est battu \u00bb, t\u00e9moigne Zanga Traor\u00e9, ancien enfant esclave.\n\nL\u2019enfer des enfants esclaves dans les plantations de cacao \u00ab Si on est lent, si on refuse de travailler, on est battu \u00bb, t\u00e9moigne Zanga Traor\u00e9, ancien enfant esclave.\n\nLe nombre exact est inconnu. On estime qu\u2019un million d\u2019enfants sont exploit\u00e9s dans les plantations de cacao en C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire. Parmi eux, certains sont vendus et d\u00e9plac\u00e9s en fonction des int\u00e9r\u00eats \u00e9conomiques d\u2019une mafia frontali\u00e8re sans scrupules. Les industriels du chocolat achetant leur cacao dans le pays tardent \u00e0 v\u00e9rifier les conditions de travail de leurs fournisseurs.\n\nEnfants esclaves\n\nEn 2011, le journaliste Miki Mistrati avait r\u00e9alis\u00e9 un documentaire \u00e9difiant sur l\u2019esclavage d\u2019enfants ayant cours dans les plantations de cacao en C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire. Film\u00e9es en cam\u00e9ra cach\u00e9e, des images montrent l\u2019enfer que vivent des centaines de milliers d\u2019enfants dans les plantations. Ils sont parfois kidnapp\u00e9s dans leurs villages pour \u00eatre revendus aux exploitants de C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire.\n\nCr\u00e9dit Photo : KAMBOU SIA / AFP\n\n\u00ab On voit tous les jours des enfants partir de la gare routi\u00e8re \u00bb, t\u00e9moigne Idrissa Kant\u00e9, Secr\u00e9taire g\u00e9n\u00e9ral du syndicat des chauffeurs de bus de Cissako au Mali. \u00ab Les trafiquants transportent entre deux et quinze enfants par voyage \u00bb, pr\u00e9cise un chauffeur d\u2019autocar qui conduit les enfants maliens jusqu\u2019\u00e0 Korhogo, dans le nord de la C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire. \u00ab L\u00e0-bas, ils disposent d\u2019un lieu o\u00f9 les enfants sont retenus avant d\u2019\u00eatre vendus aux fermiers \u00bb, explique-t-il.\n\nCes enfants ont g\u00e9n\u00e9ralement entre 12 et 14 ans. Parfois vendus par leurs parents, parfois enlev\u00e9s, chaque enfant co\u00fbte 230 euros. Selon Miki Mistrati, \u00ab le prix est n\u00e9gociable \u00bb. Cette somme sert surtout \u00e0 payer une partie du \u00ab voyage \u00bb de l\u2019enfant sur la plantation de cacao. Pour le bureau d\u2019Interpol \u00e0 Abidjan, ces enfants viennent de plusieurs pays : Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Togo et B\u00e9nin. Sur place, ils n\u2019ont, de tout \u00e9vidence, pas de salaire.\n\n\u00ab Si on est lent, si on refuse de travailler, on est battu \u00bb, t\u00e9moigne Zanga Traor\u00e9, ancien enfant esclave.\n\nUn cri d\u2019alerte en 2011, 2015, 2016\u2026\n\nMalheureusement, les choses tardent \u00e0 s\u2019am\u00e9liorer depuis la diffusion de ce documentaire. Le cabinet am\u00e9ricain Hagens Berman a d\u00e9pos\u00e9 trois plaintes collectives, demand\u00e9es par des citoyens et ONG, pour traite et travail forc\u00e9 des enfants contre les groupes Nestl\u00e9 (4,478 milliards d\u2019euros de chiffre d\u2019affaires en 2016), Mars (plus de 2 milliards d\u2019euros de CA) et Hershey\u2019s (5 milliards d\u2019euros de CA).\n\nLa premi\u00e8re r\u00e9action des multinationales ? Tenter de faire \u00e9chouer la plainte, heureusement sans succ\u00e8s. Point\u00e9es du doigt, les entreprises s\u2019\u00e9taient regroup\u00e9es. ICI, organisation cr\u00e9\u00e9e par l\u2019industrie du chocolat, a extirp\u00e9 avec difficult\u00e9 4 000 enfants de la traite et l\u2019exploitation auquel ils \u00e9taient soumis entre 2012 et 2014. 4 000 sur 1 million. Une goutte d\u2019eau. Nestl\u00e9, t\u00e2ch\u00e9 de nombreux scandales, fait maintenant l\u2019objet d\u2019une campagne de boycott.\n\nLa premi\u00e8re dame du pays, Dominique Ouattara, a r\u00e9uni en octobre 2017 toutes les Premi\u00e8res Dames d\u2019Afrique de l\u2019Ouest et du Sahel pour lutter contre le fl\u00e9au. R\u00e9cemment, Mme Ouattara vient de conclure un accord avec l\u2019institution NORC de l\u2019Universit\u00e9 de Chicago, sp\u00e9cialis\u00e9e dans les \u00e9tudes en Science Sociales, pour que cette derni\u00e8re conduise une enqu\u00eate en C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire sur le Travail des Enfants dans les productions de cacao. La politique du gouvernement Ouattara sur la fili\u00e8re cacao ne fait pas pour autant l\u2019unanimit\u00e9, certains lui reprochant une politique entre amis en d\u00e9faveur des petites exploitations familiales.\n\nCr\u00e9dit Photo : KAMBOU SIA / AFP\n\nPour retirer les enfants des plantations, l\u2019Unicef veut apporter une aide financi\u00e8re aux familles vuln\u00e9rables, en partenariat avec l\u2019Agence nationale d\u2019appui au d\u00e9veloppement durable (ANADER).\n\nL\u2019objectif ? Retirer \u00ab 1300 enfants victimes des pires formes de travail ou \u00e0 risque, et appuyer 750 familles vuln\u00e9rables dans les communaut\u00e9s productrices de cacao \u00bb entre 2017 et 2019. Si les objectifs sont louables, l\u2019interventionnisme occidental dans des nations plus pauvres n\u2019a jamais d\u00e9montr\u00e9 son efficacit\u00e9 pour r\u00e9soudre un probl\u00e8me en profondeur. Au contraire, certains parlent m\u00eame de \u00ab business de la pauvret\u00e9 \u00bb, \u00e0 l\u2019image du puissant documentaire \u00ab Poverty Inc \u00bb.\n\nEn 2016, un rapport rendu par le Bureau d\u2019analyse soci\u00e9tale pour une information citoyenne (Basic) sur la situation au P\u00e9rou, autre pays producteur de cacao, et en C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire donnait les conclusions suivantes :\n\nCr\u00e9dit Photo : GODONG / BSIP / AFP\n\n\u00ab Pour \u00eatre durable, la fili\u00e8re cacao doit r\u00e9unir l\u2019ensemble de ces conditions : une organisation de producteurs solide, un prix suffisant, une prime collective suffisamment \u00e9lev\u00e9e et l\u2019agroforesterie. Ces conditions g\u00e9n\u00e8rent cependant une complexit\u00e9 et des surco\u00fbts significatifs, de l\u2019ordre de +40 % \u00e0 +90 %, peu compatibles avec un mod\u00e8le de production de masse et standardis\u00e9. La mise en place de fili\u00e8res valorisant l\u2019origine du cacao et le travail des producteurs apparait donc comme un levier incontournable pour inverser les dynamiques d\u2019impacts n\u00e9gatifs dans les pays producteurs. \u00bb\n\nCar c\u2019est bien, encore une fois, la cupidit\u00e9 poussant les acheteurs \u00e0 tirer vers le bas les prix des producteurs qui entra\u00eene ces situations de grande pr\u00e9carit\u00e9 et d\u2019exploitation d\u2019enfants.\n\nImage \u00e0 la une : KAMBOU SIA / AFP\n\n2 octobre 2018 - Laurie Debove"}
-{"text": "Like us on Facebook:\n\nCockblocking by children is a serious condition that affects millions of parents around the world.\n\nNobody Likes a Cockblock is a 32-page full color paperback children\u2019s book for adults that is all about moms and dads trying to get their groove on, while their kids pull out all the stops to prevent any funny business.\n\nYou\u2019re just about to partake in a long overdue session of \u2018horizontal hula\u2019 and your baby starts crying the second things go down. You\u2019re just about to break that month-long day dry spell and your damn kid uses this time as a perfect opportunity to crap themselves. Sound familiar?\n\nIt\u2019s almost like they have sensors in their teeny brains that are specifically designed to prevent additional siblings\u2026 and our happiness.\n\nGet it here now and amaze your cockblockee friends, loved ones and those darn cockblockers.\n\nBefore your book arrives, you can enjoy the full read along of Nobody Like a Cockblock here on this video:\n\n\n\n\n\nHere is a small excerpt from the book:\n\nThe stars are out, it\u2019s dark outside. I can see that there\u2019s sleep inside of your eyes. Stay warm in your bed, on our door do not knock. Because nobody likes a cockblock. The train\u2019s leaving the station, it\u2019s about to go down. My ticket is stamped for a trip to Pound Town. Your job is to sleep like the heaviest rock. Because nobody likes a cockblock.\n\nShare your story with us in the comment. Thank you.\n\n"}
-{"text": "Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., on Sunday called President Trump\u2019s Twitter feed \u201cthe gift that keeps on giving.\u201d\n\n\".@POTUS has tweeted quite a bit about career FBI official Andrew McCabe, who could be called as a witness against Trump in an Obstruction of Justice case. Trump's Twitter feed is the gift that keeps on giving. Merry Christmas Robert Mueller,\u201d Lieu tweeted Sunday afternoon.\n\nWith it he attached a meme of special counsel Robert Mueller with text in all caps reading, \u201cYou know I can see your tweets, right?\u201d\n\n\n\nFBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was the target of Trump\u2019s Christmas weekend tweets in which the president specifically mentioned McCabe's wife\u2019s ties to Democrats. McCabe is reportedly set to retire in early 2018 after his pension benefits fully kick in, which also drew the ire Trump on Twitter.\n\nMcCabe was former FBI Director James Comey\u2019s righthand man for roughly a year and took over as acting director after Trump fired Comey. Despite interviewing McCabe for the position, Trump ultimately picked Christopher Wray, who was confirmed in August.\n\nThe forthcoming departure of McCabe, coupled with other high-profile FBI shuffling is said to be part of Wray\u2019s desire to restructure the agency.\n\nJames Baker \u2014 the FBI\u2019s top lawyer \u2014 told colleagues this week he is being reassigned to other duties at the FBI.\n\nMeanwhile, Mueller is conducted a wife-ranging investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. Officials with Trump\u2019s campaign and administration have repeatedly insisted there was no collusion. Trump himself has called the Russia probe a \u201cwitch hunt.\u201d\n\nThe probe has reached closely into Trump\u2019s world, resulting in two indictments of former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates, and two guilty pleas from Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos and former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.\n\nRepublicans have accused McCabe of being part of a political bias plaguing the FBI. He was on Capitol Hill last week answering lawmakers questions about the FBI\u2019s handling of Hillary Clinton\u2019s private email server, which he had a hand in as deputy director under Comey.\n\nThe charges of political bias by Republicans have been fueled by the recent release of text messages between Peter Strzok, a top FBI official who worked on the Clinton campaign, and his colleague and alleged mistress, Lisa Page. Strzok and Page were also both detailed to Mueller\u2019s team, but were removed following the discovery of the pro-Clinton messages."}
-{"text": "Pope Francis has sharply criticised climate change deniers as \"stupid\" in the wake of a spate of powerful hurricanes that have wreaked havoc in the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean.\n\n\"Those who deny it [climate change] should go to the scientists and ask them,\" the pontiff said on Monday during an in-flight press conference on the return leg of a five-day Colombia trip. \"They speak very clearly.\"\n\nAs his charter plane flew over some of the recently devastated areas en route to Rome, Francis added: \"I am reminded of a phrase from the Old Testament, I think from the Psalm: 'Man is stupid, he is stubborn and he does not see.'\"\n\nREAD MORE: What you need to know: Hurricane Irma and its impacts\n\nThe pope's comments came as Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century, caused widespread destruction across the French Caribbean islands, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Haiti and the US state of Florida. At least 38 people have been killed so far from the Category 5 superstorm.\n\nMeanwhile, Hurricane Katia bore down on the east coast of Mexico, leaving at least two dead.\n\nFar out in the Atlantic, Hurricane Jose, a Category 2 storm, having brushed past the Caribbean also poses a potential threat to the US east coast.\n\nLast month, Hurricane Harvey, one of the worst storms to hit the US mainland in 12 years, led to unprecedented flooding in the southern US state of Texas.\n\n'Moral responsibility'\n\nFrancis is one of the world's most high-profile campaigners on environmental issues, actively supporting efforts to combat climate change and its consequences.\n\nHe said individuals and politicians had a \"moral responsibility\" to act on advice from scientists, who had clearly outlined what must be done to halt the course of \"catastrophic\" warming.\n\n\"These aren't opinions pulled out of thin air,\" he said. \"They are very clear. They [world leaders] decide and history will judge those decisions.\"\n\nWATCH: State of denial - Trump vs climate change (24:38)\n\nRecalling last month's news that a ship crossed the Arctic without an icebreaker for the first time, Francis said: \"We can see the effects of climate change, and scientists clearly say what path we should follow.\"\n\nWhile regularly criticising politicians, the pope has made caring for the environment a hallmark of his papacy.\n\nHe wrote an entire encyclical (a letter from the pope disseminated to the bishops of the Church) about how the poor in particular are most harmed when multinationals move in to exploit natural resources.\n\nDuring his visit to Colombia, Francis spoke out frequently about the need to preserve the country's rich biodiversity from overdevelopment and exploitation.\n\nAmong world leaders, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly made a case sceptical of the existence of climate change.\n\nIn June, Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement, which binds countries to national pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."}
-{"text": "So much for the global war on terror when it comes to social media. The savvinesss of certain terrorist organizations online continues, with the news today that Hezbollah has launched a multi-lingual news application for iPhones and iPads. The terrorist organization describes the app as \u201can application that brings news from all around the world.\u201d Terrorists understand that propaganda matters \u2013 and using social media makes it easier than ever before to get their message out.\n\nAs recently as this month, Twitter saw official Hezbollah accounts \u200f@HezbollahFacts, an address from which on March 10th was tweeted to the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson @IDFSpokesperson \u201cTell Your Citizens To Be Prepared..\u201d , and on February 27th \u201chezbollah when we finish from Syria WE WILL ATTACK ISRAEL.\u201d A different account on Twitter @hamasinfo appears to be an official Hamas account, and in March tweeted (in Arabic) \u201cHamas calls for escalation of resistance operations to deter the occupation of the Judaization of Jerusalem.\u201d Smart Public Relations from terrorists.\n\nApparently, yelling fire in a crowded theatre is ok \u2013 as long as it is online and not in \u201creal-life.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Are you someone who squirms when confronted with slime, shudders at stickiness or gets grossed out by gore? Do crawly insects make you cringe or dead bodies make you blanch?\n\nIf so, chances are you're more conservative -- politically, and especially in your attitudes toward gays and lesbians -- than your less-squeamish counterparts, according to two Cornell studies.\n\nThe results, said study leader David Pizarro, Cornell assistant professor of psychology, raise questions about the role of disgust -- an emotion that likely evolved in humans to keep them safe from potentially hazardous or disease-carrying environments -- in contemporary judgments of morality and purity.\n\nIn the first study, published in the journal Cognition & Emotion (Vol.23: No.4), Pizarro and co-authors Yoel Inbar of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and Paul Bloom of Yale University surveyed 181 U.S. adults from politically mixed \"swing states.\" They subjected these adults to two indexes: the Disgust Sensitivity Scale (DSS), which offers various scenarios to assess disgust sensitivity, and a political ideology scale. From this they found a correlation between being more easily disgusted and political conservatism.\n\nTo test whether disgust sensitivity is linked to specific conservative attitudes, the researchers then surveyed 91 Cornell undergraduates with the DSS, as well as with questions about their positions on issues including gay marriage, abortion, gun control, labor unions, tax cuts and affirmative action.\n\nParticipants who rated higher in disgust sensitivity were more likely to oppose gay marriage and abortion, issues that are related to notions of morality or purity. The researchers also found a weak correlation between disgust sensitivity and support for tax cuts, but no link between disgust sensitivity and the other issues.\n\nAnd in a separate study in the current issue of the journal Emotion (Vol.9: No.3), Pizarro and colleagues found a link between higher disgust sensitivity and disapproval of gays and lesbians. For this study, the researchers used implicit measures (measures that have been shown to assess attitudes people may be unwilling to report explicitly; or that they may not even know they possess).\n\nLiberals and conservatives disagree about whether disgust has a valid place in making moral judgments, Pizarro noted. Conservatives have argued that there is inherent wisdom in repugnance; that feeling disgusted about something -- gay sex between consenting adults, for example -- is cause enough to judge it wrong or immoral, even lacking a concrete reason. Liberals tend to disagree, and are more likely to base judgments on whether an action or a thing causes actual harm.\n\nStudying the link between disgust and moral judgment could help explain the strong differences in people's moral opinions, Pizarro said; and it could offer strategies for persuading some to change their views.\n\n\"People have pointed out for a long time that a lot of our moral values seem driven by emotion, and in particular, disgust appears to be one of those emotions that seems to be recruited for moral judgments,\" said Pizarro.\n\nThat can have tragic effects -- as in cases throughout history where minorities have been victims of discrimination by groups that perceived them as having disgusting characteristics.\n\nThe research speaks to a need for caution when forming moral judgments, Pizarro added. \"Disgust really is about protecting yourself from disease; it didn't really evolve for the purpose of human morality,\" he said. \"It clearly has become central to morality, but because of its origins in contamination and avoidance, we should be wary about its influences.\"\n\nThe studies were funded by Cornell."}
-{"text": "Angie Carter\n\nIowa View contributor\n\nThe Iowa State University presidential search presents an opportunity to renew our commitment to public science at the land grant university. Let\u2019s use this change to reclaim the land grant mission for the public good.\n\nAs recent alumni of Iowa State University and part of the next generation of community leaders, policy makers, public scientists and farmers, we propose a new vision, one that prioritizes the health of ecological and social communities while providing a good quality of life and livable wages for those working on farms and in rural areas.\n\nThe priorities of this new land grant mission will protect Iowa\u2019s rich agricultural future while addressing the pressing problems facing the public in our agricultural systems today: degraded soil, polluted water, access to land, loss of rural community, poor public health, diminished rural economies and weak local food systems. This work requires a new research agenda prioritizing ecological and public health while cultivating a transition to a regenerative, sustainable agriculture.\n\nThis new mission will value, honor and celebrate diversity of landscapes and communities, putting diversity into practice and action. This requires strong support of research studying alternatives to the industrial corn, soy and confined animal systems that characterize so much of the Midwest. This research must prioritize mixed livestock and cropping systems that support the livelihoods of midsize family farmers as well as beginning and marginalized farmers.\n\nThe future of Iowa\u2019s rural communities and agriculture will not look like the past. To achieve the new mission will require that ISU lead in creating a welcoming Iowa: a place where young people stay and return home to find a good living, a place where those new to agriculture \u2014 and new to the United States \u2014 are included as equal partners in decision-making.\n\nThere is healing to do as we rebuild a new agricultural system based on care for animals, soil, water and people. There must be space in the new land grant mission for this important work, too, and so the new mission must partner science with art, research with outreach, practicality with vision, and utility with love.\n\n\n\nCentral to this new mission will be a re-imagined Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture (LSCA). The outpouring of testimony last spring shows that support for the LCSA is bipartisan, urban and rural, and from farmers and non-farmers alike. In the coming decades, a well-funded, fully staffed LCSA should be championed by ISU\u2019s leadership as a transformative agent of change on campus and beyond. This rebuilt LCSA should be autonomous and report to the vice president of research.\n\nA strengthened interdisciplinary Sustainable Agriculture program, housed within the new LCSA with its own faculty and funding, will help to implement this new mission. These students and faculty, working with ISU Extension, community partners, farmers and researchers across and beyond campus, will engage with Iowa\u2019s pressing problems to generate innovative, cross-cutting approaches and practices while increasing diversity income streams and markets.\n\nWe recognize the university is also a business; however, it has been run as a short-sighted one, auctioning off its hallways and its research agenda to the highest bidder rather than investing in the development of a long-term, sustainable future for Iowa. ISU\u2019s commitment to champion for farmers and rural communities should guide partnerships with industry through a process that is public and transparent.\n\nThe costs of prioritizing science for corporations rather than science for the public have been externalized and paid by our water, soil, farmers and community members. The next ISU president must transform what has become a monoculture of ideas with a polyculture of thought, experience, scientific approach and innovative agricultural practices. A monoculture is weak and vulnerable; it fails to provide for the coming decades. Let the prairie be our guide for a new land grant mission \u2014 deep roots, diverse, hardy through times of drought, resilient through times of change.\n\nAngie Carter is an Iowa State alum (sustainable agriculture and sociology) and an assistant professor of environmental and energy justice at Michigan Technological University.\n\nThis essay was co-signed by six other alumni of ISU's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture \u2014 Stefan Gailans, Gabrielle Roesch-McNally, Hannah Dankbar, Joe Wheelock, Jackie Nester, and Ashley Noonan."}
-{"text": "For the first time detectives believe they may have evidence that Mickey Shunick did indeed get on her bike and attempt to ride home early Saturday morning (May 19th, 2012). KATC posted photos on their Facebook page - two photos showing a bicyclist that detectives believe to be 22-year-old Mickey Shunick, the other a white 4-door pickup truck that detectives are asking for your help to identify.\n\nAccording to a post via KATC's Facebook page\n\nDetectives were able to identify a bicyclist believed to be Mickey Shunick traveling on Versailles Blvd and Saint Landry Street. At approximately 1:47 am the bicyclist is captured on Versailles Blvd traveling towards St. John Street. She then traveled on St. John Street and crossed over University Avenue, continuing west on St. Landry Street where she was captured on video at approximately 1:48 pm. Investigators are seeking information regarding a white newer model four door pickup truck, which was captured on video after Mickey Shunick traveled on both streets. Anyone with information about the case of the pickup truck is encouraged to call the tips line at 337-291-8633 or Crime Stoppers at 337-232-TIPS.\n\nCan you identify the truck in the picture above? LPD needs answers in the case surrounding missing Lafayette girl Mickey Shunick.\n\nAs of 5/26/12 at 3:27 pm the story you hear Hoyt Harris reporting is all of the facts up to this point related to the search for Mickey Shunick. Her sister recently spoke out via the official FIND MICKEY SHUNICK NOW Facebook page asking for people to refrain from spreading false information and/or speculation. She also requests that any tips should NOT be posted to social media sites, but rather reported to police at 337-291-8633."}
-{"text": "No president has been worse at this diplomatic function than Donald Trump. He is most comfortable in rallies before throngs of adoring acolytes. When he goes overseas, he is sycophantic with dictators and painfully ill at ease among democratic leaders, because his protectionist and isolationist views are so out of line with theirs, and he is utterly incapable of defending himself with reasoned discourse. He makes boastful speeches, sulks and pouts if his ego is not massaged, and then retreats to the safety of his hotel room or airplane to zing his peers via Twitter.\n\nTrump\u2019s latest trip to Europe was, as usual, an embarrassment to the country that he leads. It began and ended with Twitter insults. On Friday, upon arriving in France, Trump attacked his host for a \u201cvery insulting\u201d statement that he had not actually made. French President Emmanuel Macron had said that the European Union needed an army to protect itself without relying on the United States, not that it needed an army to protect itself from the United States.\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nOn Monday, after returning to the United States, Trump unleashed a flurry of tweets repeating his frequent, false accusation that NATO allies are ripping us off because the United States supposedly pays for their military protection while allegedly losing \u201chundreds of billions of dollars with those same countries on trade.\u201d How this squares with his July boast that he had made NATO \u201cstrong again\u201d because its members had suddenly agreed to \u201cpay hundreds of Billions of Dollars more\u201d is a mystery that eludes elucidation. Neither claim has any validity \u2014 NATO members had not agreed to pay more, and they are not ripping off the United States.\n\nIn between those tweets, Trump canceled a Saturday visit to an American war cemetery because of a little light rain. This made him an instant international punch line, with the French army tweeting a picture of a soldier training under the caption \u201cThere is rain but it does not matter.\u201d Macron, for his part, rebuked Trump to his face, warning in a speech of the dangers of the nationalist doctrine that Trump has embraced. \u201cBy putting our own interests first, with no regard for others, we erase the very thing that a nation holds dearest, and the thing that keeps it alive: its moral values,\u201d Macron said. The isolation of the president was complete when he skipped a march by world leaders down the Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es and flew home before the start of the Paris Peace Forum. Once again, \u201cAmerica First\u201d has become \u201cAmerica Alone.\u201d\n\nThis was the most embarrassing trip by an American president abroad \u2026 since the last one Trump took. That was the trip in July when he acted utterly supine before Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, accepting as truthful his \u201cstrong and powerful\u201d denials of Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election. That, in turn, came only a month after Trump met with Kim Jong Un in Singapore and came away boasting that \u201cthere is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea,\u201d even though North Korea is expanding rather than dismantling its nuclear arsenal. That farcical photo-op summit, in turn, occurred just days after Trump had stormed out of the Group of Seven meeting in Canada denouncing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as \u201cVery dishonest & weak.\u201d\n\nAD\n\nAD\n\nThe record of Trump\u2019s earlier trips abroad is no more salutary. There was his initial foray aboard, to Riyadh in May 2017, when he was photographed with his hand on a glowing orb and gave the Saudi king and crown prince a blank check that they apparently later cashed by murdering Post Opinions contributor Jamal Khashoggi. Shortly thereafter Trump traveled to Europe, where the headlines were about his refusal to affirm NATO\u2019s Article 5 mutual defense provision. He returned to Europe in July 2017 to praise Poland\u2019s increasingly autocratic government and to hatch with Putin a fanciful plan to cooperate with Russia on cybersecurity \u2014 akin to asking the mob to take over the police force. Last fall, he visited Asia and gave a good speech in Seoul before turning obsequious in front of the autocratic leaders of China and the Philippines."}
-{"text": "September was an unusually good month for high-end Android games, especially those that are ported or simultaneously released on other platforms. The latest entry in the Anomaly series is sure to please tower defense fans, Mage Gauntlet will make action RPG players happy, the original Dragon Quest is available for those who appreciate the classics, and the much-loved Goat Simulator is there for... well, for gamers who like goats, I suppose. Here in no particular order are our picks for the best games of September, along some notable extras.\n\nAnomaly Defenders\n\nAndroid Police coverage: Anomaly Defenders Arrives On Android To Finish Out The Anomaly Series By Going Back To Its Tower Defense Roots\n\nThe Anomaly series is much-loved thanks to its reverse tower defense gameplay and stupendous production value. The latest entry turns things around, letting you play from the aliens' perspective in a more conventional tower defense setting. The usual genre standards are here: try to make the incoming forces walk a wobbly path in between as many upgradeable towers as possible. Anomaly Defenders is a reasonable $4 with no in-app purchases.\n\n--\n\nAnomaly Defenders is a fast-paced Tower Defense game where attacking human troops can damage and destroy your defenses. You have to react and counterattack enemies on the battlefield at all times. Each time you start a campaign, the unique tech-tree technologies can be tailored to your needs. Killing humans is easier due to 8 upgradable towers and special functions: repair your towers, make them go berserk, sacrifice them in explosions that are harmful to nasty humans, and use other tricks.\n\nGoat Simulator\n\nAndroid Police coverage: [MMMBBBAAA] Goat Simulator Arrives On Android In All Its Buggy, Insane, Physics-Defying Glory\n\nThe king of kook, the duke of deranged, the national champion of nonsensical, Goat Simulator is simultaneously a free-roaming absurdity of a game and a conceptual rebuke of the Boring Stuff Simulator 2014 genre. It became a surprise hit when it was released on PC, and the mobile edition includes the same goaty goodness. You play as a goat exploring and destroying a small town, opening up crazy combos and new skins. The Android version doesn't have the same scope or graphics of the PC version, but it's still crazy, stupid fun.\n\n--\n\nGoat Simulator is the latest in goat simulation technology, bringing next-gen goat simulation to YOU. You no longer have to fantasize about being a goat, your dreams have finally come true. Disclaimer: Goat Simulator is a completely stupid game and, to be honest, you should probably spend your money on something else, such as a hula hoop, a pile of bricks, or maybe pool your money together with your friends and buy a real goat.\n\nYou can be a goat\n\nGet points for wrecking stuff - brag to your friends that you're the alpha goat\n\nMILLIONS OF BUGS. We're only eliminating the crash-bugs, everything else is hilarious and we're keeping it\n\nIn-game physics that spazz out all the time\n\nSeriously look at that goat's neck\n\nYou can be a goat\n\nCounterSpy\u2122\n\nAndroid Police coverage: Stylish Stealth Platformer CounterSpy Mixes Metroid And Metal Gear Solid In A Cold War Caricature\n\nCounterSpy is an intriguing little console port, a game that combines the 2D platforming elements of Metroid with the sneaky-sneaky gameplay of Metal Gear, all in a shiny 60s Cold War aesthetic. Though the main game takes place on the 2D plane, your character shifts into a 3rd-person perspective while in cover for some 2D shooting. The visuals are great and the various military industrial environments are procedurally-generated. This $5 title has no ads or in-app purchases.\n\n--\n\nStop a crazed superpower from launching deadly nuclear missiles in this action stealth side-scrolling game set during the Cold War. As a budding Agent for C.O.U.N.T.E.R, jump into action, stealthily sabotage dastardly plans and deceptively maintain world peace. CounterSpy\u2122 is packed with slick, stylized visuals that capture the spirit and feel of the era complementing equally smooth side\u2010scrolling cover\u2010based shooting gameplay.\n\nMage Gauntlet\n\nAndroid Police coverage: Noodlecake Updates Wayward Souls With Controller Support, And Ports Its Predecessor Mage Gauntlet To Android\n\nMage Gauntlet comes from the same developer and publisher as Wayward Souls, despite being released earlier on iOS. After playing both quite a lot, I prefer the older game: it keeps the excellent controls and upgrade system from Souls, but with a world and story that's closer to a classic Zelda entry. The fact that it's much easier doesn't hurt. With an interesting tale and a big world, it's an easy recommendation at a discounted $2, even with a few sparse in-app purchases for super-powered \"cheat\" items.\n\n--\n\nMage Gauntlet is a classic-style action-RPG, designed from the ground up for mobile. It's inspired primarily by 90's action RPGs for the Super Nintendo, such as Legend of Zelda: LTTP and Secret of Mana. We wanted to make a fast-paced RPG that doesn't waste your time with fetch quests. Fight and explore your way through a humorous storyline about eccentric wizards, powerful artifacts, and dangerous monsters. Find items to customize your character's strengths and weaknesses.\n\nSpider-Man Unlimited\n\nAndroid Police coverage: The New Cel-Shaded 'Spider-Man Unlimited' Endless Runner May Be A Gameloft Game, But Boy Is It Pretty\n\nGameloft's lack of creativity... uh, yet another licensed endless runner... sorry, it's hard to keep up my Gameloft cynicism because this game is freakin' gorgeous. The cel-shaded graphics in this Spider-Man endless runner make the characters and enemies pop off the screen, and dedicated Spidey fans will appreciate the comic book presentation and 4 different costumes from all over Marvel's various universes. Of course, it's still a lane-based endless runner with lots of IAP.\n\n--\n\nSwing into a hand-drawn, action-packed arcade adventure game that feels like it came straight from the Marvel comics. Unite every hero in the Spider-Verse against the ultimate threat. Recruit an army of Spider-Men to combat the new Sinister Six, who have opened a dimensional portal in New York to summon endless versions of themselves. The Sinister Six are moving from dimension to dimension, destroying each one. Now ours is fighting to survive.\n\nThe Nightmare Cooperative\n\nAndroid Police coverage: The Nightmare Cooperative Is A $3.99 Roguelike Adventure That Isn't For The Faint Of Heart\n\nMost roguelikes go for the standard high fantasy setting. Not The Nightmare Cooperative: this game leverages the inherent scare factor of permanent death with a much creepier feel. It's also got a few puzzle mechanics, because the titular monsters will all move at the same time across the grid-based playing field. Your party of terrified adventurers does likewise. This title comes from Lucky Frame, the same developer who created the unconventional Gentlemen and Bad Hotel.\n\n--\n\nPlay The Nightmare Cooperative now - it's a strategic adventure where you lead a group of unlikely comrades through some rather difficult situations. Your village has fallen on hard times (due to reckless spending by the Village Council) and it\u2019s up to you to bring back some gold. The Nightmare Cooperative is a puzzley roguelike. You control a group of characters, each with different special abilities. The trick? They all move together, as a group. Something of a cooperative, if you catch the drift.\n\nDRAGON QUEST\n\nAndroid Police coverage: Square Enix Brings The Original Dragon Quest To Android - Kill All The Slimes You Want For $2.99\n\nThe original Dragon Quest (or Dragon Warrior) came out way back in 1986. Maybe that's why the Android re-release is considerably cheaper than other Square Enix games, despite being equipped with a re-done vertical interface. The original DQ game has a lot of the hallmarks of the classic Japanese RPGs (because it helped create them): turn-based combat, an overworld map, and a complex story with a ton of characters. Look out for Square's generally poor support.\n\n--\n\nOriginally released as Dragon Warrior, you can now experience the classic retro RPG experience that swept up millions of Japanese players back in the Eighties...and never let go. Become the descendant of the legendary hero Erdrick, and embark on an epic journey through the historic realm of Alefgard, tackling fearsome foes and perplexing puzzles on your way to the dread Dragonlord\u2019s lair.\n\nHonorable Mentions\n\nWe're entering the pre-Christmas season, which is the prime time for triple-A releases on PC and consoles. Whether or not that will follow for mobile games is a bit up in the air, but at least it means you'll have some alternatives if October turns out to be light in terms of Android releases. Goat Simulator should last you at least 80 hours, according to one reliable source."}
-{"text": "The family was not permitted to take photographs of the body, but they were told that there would be an autopsy.\n\n\"He could barely hold a bowl without his hands shaking. I can\u2019t imagine how he could have tied his sheets into a knot,\" said Zhao. He noted that there were guards assigned to the hospital to watch Li. \"How could this happen when there were security guards watching him? We have many questions.\"\n\nThe family was telephoned at 6 a.m. and rushed to the hospital, where they saw Li\u2019s body still hanging over the window, said brother-in-law Zhao Baozhu. He said they are skeptical about whether Li, who was blind and mostly deaf, could or would have killed himself.\n\nLi Wangyang, 62, was a labor activist from Hunan province who led workers in sympathy protests during the student demonstrations in 1989 and served more than two decades in prison. He was on medical parole in Shaoyang, Hunan, when he was found early Wednesday morning hanging by a bedsheet from security bars over the window.\n\nBEIJING -- In a tragic coda to the 23rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, a veteran activist was found hanged in a hospital room Wednesday morning.\n\nFellow pro-democracy activists called for an investigation of the death. They noted that Li, despite his poor health, seemed in good spirits.\n\nThe night before he had asked his family to bring him a radio so that he could improve his hearing. An interview in which he called on the \"whole nation to observe June 4\" aired on a French radio network on Sunday, the day before the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. On Monday, he told a friend he was optimistic that \"China\u2019s constitutional democracy will be achieved.\"\n\n\"Although Li was ill, he was very energetic,\" read a statement released Monday by a group of friends calling themselves the Committee to Investigate Li Wangyang\u2019s Death. Comparing him to South Africa\u2019s Nelson Mandela, they wrote, \"How could a strong-willed pro-democracy veteran like Li Wangyang, who had served 22 years in jail, take his own life?\"\n\nTo his supporters, Li was one of the unsung heroes of 1989, gaining fewer accolades than the elite university students who demonstrated in Beijing and receiving a harsher punishment. A cement factory worker, he was one of the early union organizers in China.\n\nOn June 4, 1989, he glued a big poster on a traffic sign in Shaoyang calling for workers to go on strike in support of the democracy protests. Two days later, he organized a memorial for the victims of the massacre.\n\nHe was convicted of spreading counterrevolutionary propaganda and received a 13-year sentence. Harsh treatment in prison led to the deterioration of his health, and upon emerging he started campaigning for restitution. As a result, he received another 10-year sentence.\n\n\"The workers were treated worse than the students,\" said Tang Baiqiao, a former student leader who lives in exile in New York. He compared Li to Chen Guangcheng, the self-educated blind lawyer who had energized peasants to resist Communist Party cadres and who recently escaped to the U.S.\n\n\"Li wasn\u2019t well-educated, but he was a born leader, tall, heroic,\" said Tang. \"People listened to him when he spoke about democracy.\"\n\nLi may have received harsh punishment because he was in Hunan province, the birthplace of Communist China\u2019s founder Mao Tse-tung, where support remains high for the party.\n\nDui Hua, a San Francisco-based human rights group, reported last week that fewer than a dozen people remain in prison today from the 1989 crackdown. But discussions of the events of that chaotic spring, in which hundreds, maybe thousands were killed, remain strictly banned in public discourse in China.\n\nIn another Tiananmen-related tragedy, the 73-year-old father of a young man killed in the 1989 protests committed suicide on Friday, according to a support group for relatives. The group, Tiananmen Mothers, said that the man had left behind a suicide note in which he wrote of his continuing distress over the death of his 22-year-old son.\n\nALSO:\n\nDiplomacy divided and failing as Syria violence escalates\n\nNATO denies Afghan claims that airstrike killed 18 civilians\n\nDual suicide blasts near NATO base kill 22 Afghans, injure dozens\n\n-- Barbara Demick\n\nPhoto: People take part in a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong on Monday to mark the 23rd anniversary of the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989. Credit: Philippe Lopez / Agence France-Presse / Getty Images."}
-{"text": "Story highlights Mario Monti is in talks with centrist groups to stand for election in February\n\nItaly's borrowing costs rose and its stock market fell sharply after Monti made clear he's stepping down earlier than expected\n\nFinancial markets, European leaders and the Church have all urged Monti to stay in politics to safeguard reforms\n\nA Monti-led centrist alliance could capture 15 to 25 percent of the Italian vote, according to estimates\n\nMario Monti is in talks with centrist groups urging him to stand in Italy's elections early next year it emerged on Monday as pressure mounted on the technocrat prime minister from the financial markets, fellow European leaders and the Church to stay in politics to safeguard his reforms.\n\nItaly's government borrowing costs rose and its stock market fell sharply after his surprise decision over the weekend to stand down earlier than expected rekindled uncertainty over one of the eurozone's more vulnerable economies.\n\nMr Monti, whose economic reforms have steered Italy out of the centre of the eurozone's sovereign debt crisis in the past year, said he would step down when the budget is passed, possibly as early as this month, triggering an election in February.\n\nAmid revived concern in Brussels and among investors that Italy could forsake its recent reforms, centrist politicians were in talks with him encouraging him to stand as a candidate. He was said to be in discussions with Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, the head of Ferrari who launched a political movement last month, and Pier Ferdinando Casini, leader of the centrist Catholic UDC party.\n\nCentrist politicians said they expected Mr Monti to give his answer within a week. If he decided to run as their candidate he would make a formal declaration after parliament approves the 2013 budget law, possibly in the week before Christmas.\n\nJUST WATCHED Italian PM: 'I had to get convincing' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Italian PM: 'I had to get convincing' 11:59\n\nMr Monti played down suggestions he was about to leap from unelected technocrat to campaigning politician. \"I am not considering this particular issue at this stage,\" he said in Oslo where the EU was collecting the Nobel peace prize. \"All my efforts are being devoted to the completion of the remaining time of the current government, which appears to be a rather short time, but still requires an intensive application of my energies.\"\n\nMarket reactions to his weekend decision \"should not be dramatised\", he added. He was confident that whatever government came to office after elections would be in line with Italy's \"great efforts\" of the past year, he said.\n\nItaly's influential Catholic establishment weighed in on Monday, with Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa delivering thinly veiled criticism of the former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi for triggering Mr Monti's resignation by withdrawing his party's support in parliament last week.\n\n\"What leaves one aghast is the irresponsibility of those who think of fixing themselves when the house is still burning,\" he told the daily Corriere della Sera, adding that \"it would be a mistake in the future not to make use of those who have contributed in a rigorous and competent way to the credibility of our country.\"\n\nFrancois Hollande, the French president who was also attending the ceremony in Oslo, appeared confident Mr Monti would still play a role in politics. \"It's a pity for the short term, but in one month or two months, it will appear that Mr Monti is able to join a coalition or to go forward to stabilise Italy,\" he told Reuters news agency.\n\nHerman van Rompuy, president of the European Council, said he did not want to interfere in Italian politics, then added: \"Mario Monti was a great prime minister of Italy and I hope the policies he put in place will continue after the elections.\"\n\nMr Berlusconi on Monday night slammed European politicians and some foreign newspapers for their \"offensive\" reaction to his comeback and the freedom of Italians to choose in elections. Such responses were the \"umpteenth speculative move\" to weaken Italian companies and make them \"easy prey\" for foreign buyers, he said in a statement.\n\nOpinion polls at present point to a fragmented parliament emerging from elections, with the centre-left Democratic party taking around 30 percent of the vote, followed by the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and Mr Berlusconi's centre-right party. Supporters of a centrist alliance with Mr Monti say they could capture 15 to 25 percent of the vote."}
-{"text": "Share Pin Share 1 Shares\n\nTwenty years ago, almost to the day, two competing teams of astronomers independently discovered the first known transiting exoplanet\u2014a world that, viewed from Earth, passed across the face of its star, casting a shadow toward watchful telescopes here. Two decades later, transits have become the lifeblood of exoplanet studies, yielding thousands of worlds via space telescopes such as NASA\u2019s Kepler and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) missions and allowing researchers not only to gauge a planet\u2019s size and orbit but also its density and bulk composition. In short, transiting worlds have proved to be the keystones in the burgeoning search for Earth\u2019s cosmic twins. Back in 1999, however, the notion that these exoplanetary shadows would be detectable at all was so fantastic that validating it took the separate efforts of two groups.\n\nA similar scenario is now playing out again: Two scientific teams have announced their independent discovery of water\u2014the foundation of biology as we know it\u2014in the atmosphere of a transiting planet dubbed K2-18 b. The planet orbits in the habitable zone of its star, the sweet spot in which starlight may sufficiently warm a world to allow water to pool and flow on its surface. A milestone in the search for alien life, the result portends a near future in which astronomers will use new, advanced telescopes on the ground and in space to more deeply study the most promising planets around our sun\u2019s neighboring stars.\n\n\u201cThis is the only planet right now that we know outside the solar system that has the correct temperature to support water, that has an atmosphere and that has water in it,\u201d says Angelos Tsiaras, an astronomer at University College London and lead author of one of the studies, which was published today in Nature Astronomy. Tsiaras and his colleagues used sophisticated computer models to tease out signs of water vapor on K2-18 b from data gathered by the Hubble Space Telescope, making the planet, he says, \u201cthe best candidate for habitability\u201d presently known.\n\nThe Hubble data do not speak with significance about the volume of water on K2-18 b\u2014in the planet\u2019s upper atmosphere, either a whiff of moisture or an ocean\u2019s worth would express a similar signal. Tsiaras and his colleagues suggest the water vapor could make up anywhere between a hundredth of a percent to half of K2-18 b\u2019s atmosphere. Pinning down just how much water (as well as other gases, such as methane, carbon dioxide and ammonia) is there will require more broadband observations using future space facilities such as NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope, the European Space Agency\u2019s Atmospheric Remote-Sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-Survey (ARIEL) telescope and a nascent generation of extremely large ground-based telescopes.\n\nK2-18 b is slightly more than twice the size of Earth and nearly nine times as massive, likely with a solid core of rock or ice surrounded by an oppressively thick envelope of hydrogen\u2014and other gases, apparently including water vapor. Found by Kepler in 2015, the world nestles in a 33-day orbit around a dim, cool red dwarf star some 110 light-years away, in the constellation of Leo. That star shines with less than 3 percent the luminosity of our own sun, but because K2-18 b orbits so closely to it, the planet receives just 5 percent more starlight than our own. And because the planet transits, some of that starlight passes through its upper atmosphere en route to telescopes here, picking up and transmitting information about the cocktail of gases in K2-18 b\u2019s air.\n\nEight different times between 2016 and 2017, a team led by Bj\u00f6rn Benneke of the University of Montreal measured K2-18 b\u2019s transitory atmospheric shimmer with the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as with Kepler and the Spitzer Space Telescope. Hubble data are often released to the public as soon as they are gathered, and in this case, that policy allowed Tsiaras and his co-workers to perform their study. Just like Tsiaras\u2019s group, the separate analysis by Benneke\u2019s team suggests the existence of a statistically significant fraction of water vapor in K2-18 b\u2019s upper atmosphere\u2014but also, uniquely, what the team argues are hints of liquid-water droplets condensing deeper down. That is, Benneke and his colleagues report evidence of clouds\u2014and of rain. Their study has been posted on the preprint server arXiv.org and was submitted to the Astronomical Journal for peer-reviewed publication.\n\n\u201cBoth studies show there is an atmosphere and water on this planet, which makes the result even stronger,\u201d Benneke says. \u201cFinding water vapor is great, but what is so special about K2-18 b is that our models suggest parts of its atmosphere have sufficient temperature and pressure for that vapor to form droplets of liquid water. And these, like in Earth\u2019s atmosphere, will form clouds and fall as rain. Just as on Earth, there should be an interplay between condensation and evaporation, an active water cycle between the clouds and the gaseous part of the atmosphere.\u201d\n\nThe atmospheric region in which the clouds may form, Benneke speculates, could be relatively comfortable, with a pressure of one Earth atmosphere and a temperature not far from that of a typical living room. \u201cIn many ways, this planet is not like Earth, but in others, it is very similar. There may be no meaningful \u2018surface\u2019 beneath the thick gas envelope. And even if there is, it would be subjected to very high pressures. It is implausible to imagine something like a human walking around down there\u2014but maybe some sort of extreme microbe could live in those water clouds.\u201d\n\nCloudy, with a Chance of Habitability\n\nSome researchers call K2-18 b and its ilk \u201csuper Earths\u201d; others prefer to call them \u201cmini Neptunes.\u201d But regardless of nomenclature, the most obvious fact about these objects is that none of them orbit our sun, despite being the most plentiful planetary type in the Milky Way. All we can really know of them currently comes from extrasolar studies. And so far, those studies show that most of these planets, somewhere in size between Earth and Neptune, are not very much like Earth at all.\n\n\u201cI like to call them \u2018hybrid\u2019 planets, these worlds with rocky cores and thick hydrogen envelopes,\u201d Benneke says. \u201cThis is not a bare rock with a thin atmosphere like Earth, but this is also not a giant planet like Neptune or Jupiter.\u201d\n\nOne appeal of studying such intermediate worlds\u2014many more of which are already being uncovered by the ongoing TESS mission\u2014is the possibility they will reveal something fundamental about how planets of all sizes come to be.\n\n\u201cWe think that for planets somewhere around 1.8 times the size of Earth, there is a transition from rocky to gaseous worlds that takes place,\u201d says Laura Kreidberg, an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard University and the Smithsonian Institution (CfA), who did not take part in the studies. \u201cK2-18 b is close to that border, so [these studies] are giving us our first glimpse into the atmosphere of a world near this transition.\u201d\n\nNikole Lewis, an astronomer at Cornell University, who was not involved in either paper, notes that this is not the first time signs of water vapor, clouds and perhaps even rain have been seen on worlds outside the solar system. But those earlier discoveries have come from K2-18 b\u2019s larger, hotter cousins around other stars, worlds that are more firmly on the \u201cNeptune\u201d side of the planetary divide. \u201cK2-18 b represents a great step on the path to probing cooler and smaller planets,\u201d she says. \u201cIt has the potential to inform us about how atmospheres form and evolve for planets at or near the habitable zone around red dwarf stars, which will be important for understanding the potential habitability of smaller \u2018Earth-sized\u2019 planets.\u201d\n\nMost importantly, water vapor on K2-18 b would be the best evidence yet that small planets in the habitable zones of red dwarfs can possess atmospheres at all. In some respects, diminutive red dwarfs can punch well above their weight, emitting atmosphere-eroding amounts of radiation that peak early in the stars\u2019 lives just when newborn planets may be most vulnerable. And the handful of earlier Hubble studies of tiny, close-in red dwarf worlds have been discouraging: Attempts to study the putative atmospheres of several potentially habitable planets transiting an ultradim red dwarf called TRAPPIST-1 provided inconclusive results. And a more recent probe of LHS 3844 b, a transiting red dwarf world a third larger in size than our own, suggested that planet may well have no air at all.\n\n\u201cThe vast majority of the habitable space in the universe may be around red dwarfs, because these are the most common stars, and they happen to have lots of rocky planets really close to them,\u201d says Nicolas Cowan, an astronomer at McGill University, who is unaffiliated with either of the new papers. \u201cAfter the study showing LHS 3844 b looks like a dry, barren rock, some of us started getting worried. Maybe red dwarf worlds would turn out to be red herrings for astrobiology.\u201d\n\nThat concern is why K2-18 b is \u201ca huge deal,\u201d Cowan says, despite its distinctly unearthly and somewhat unhospitable state. \u201cIt suggests the most common planetary real estate in the universe can also be habitable\u2014not only with atmospheres but with water vapor, too.\u201d\n\nEven so, not everyone is convinced the claims of water vapor are much more than hot air. \u201cThe statistical significance of the claimed detection is not strong,\u201d says David Charbonneau, an astronomer at CfA, who co-discovered the first transiting planet back in 1999. Unlike that finding, which was based on two distinct data sets, the new discovery that was shared between two teams relies on just one\u2014from Hubble, which was never designed to perform such delicate, challenging measurements. \u201cYes, it is suggestive,\u201d Charbonneau says. \u201cBut astronomers have been studying transiting planets for 20 years, so I think we are well past the epoch of \u2018suggestive\u2019 studies.\u201d\n\nThis article was originally published on ScientificAmerican.com. This article was written by Lee Billings of ScientificAmerican and was not written by anyone at Different Impulse by any means."}
-{"text": "Born in a town of Tula in Russia, Yulia Snigir was playing chess competitively and at the age of 15 was awarded the prestigious title of Candidate Master of Sports in Chess. She was planning to have a professional chess player career but instead made a decision to continue her education and moved to Moscow on her own where she was accepted to State Pedagogical University. Yulia had to study and work at the same time to support herself financially. She was teaching English in the nursery school, when a friend showed photos of Yulia to a representative of one of the most prestigious Moscow modeling agency. While continuing her study program in University, Yulia became a successful model. She was offered a contract with a leading French jewelry brand and was planning to move to France when a casting-director saw her at the modeling agency and invited for an audition. Her acting career officially started when she was accepted to the famous Vakhtangov Theatre Academy and was cast in two independent films. Yulia's big break came when she was offered one of the leading roles in the Russian Sci-Fi blockbuster \"The Inhabited Island\" and the sequel \"The Inhabited Island 2: Rebellion\". It made her a star in Russia. Yulia became the face of L'Oreal, Mexx clothing and Mexx perfume in her home country.\n\n\n\nYulia divided her time between TV series, theater and film playing the vast variety of roles and becoming a versatile actress with her projects ranging, from small indie films, to TV dramas, large studio projects and experimental theater. In the theater Yulia played a male role in a very successful production of King Lear, which won several European and Russian theater awards. In 2012 she was cast in a female leading role in the fifth installment of Die Hard which is scheduled for February 2013 release.\n\n\n\n- IMDb Mini Biography By: Elena Baranova"}
-{"text": "MEXICO CITY, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Security forces in Mexico have participated in the disappearances of hundreds of people from 2006-12, Human Rights Watch said.\n\nHuman Rights Watch issued a 176-page report, \"Mexico's Disappeared: The Enduring Cost of a Crisis Ignored\" Wednesday, documenting nearly 250 enforced disappearances during the administration of former President Felipe Calderon.\n\n\nToward the end of his presidency, Calderon promised to act on reports of enforced disappearances by the army, navy, and federal and local police, though he failed to do so, a release from Human Rights Watch said.\n\nMexican President Enrique Pena Nieto hasn't done much better since he took over this year, said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.\n\n\"President Pena Nieto has inherited one of worst crises of disappearances in the history of Latin America,\" Vivanco said. \"While his administration has announced some important measures to assist victims, it has yet to take the steps necessary to ensure that those responsible for these horrific crimes are brought to justice.\"\n\nProsecutors fail to thoroughly and promptly search for those reported missing, the release said.\n\nIn the report, Human Rights Watch suggested the government create a database of the disappeared and unidentified human remains; reform the Military Code of Justice to make sure disappearances committed by military personnel are adequately investigated; revise the definition of \"enforced disappearance\" so it consistent across the country; and mandate that all detainees be presented before the public prosecutor's office before being taken to a detention facility.\n\nRead More Report faults Venezuela on human rights"}
-{"text": "This 1965 Volvo 1800S is a white-on-black coupe that was acquired by the seller in May 2015 after a recent history of ownership by several noted Volvo enthusiasts. Power comes from a 2.0L B20 inline-four sourced from a later model and mated to a stock 4-speed manual transmission with overdrive. The seller has rebuilt the rear suspension and generator, replaced the timing and cam gears, installed a new fuel tank and water pump, and added a set of SU carburetors. Further recent service included a new valve cover gasket and oil change in April 2018. This 1800S shows 56k miles and is offered with records from the seller\u2019s ownership and transferable Connecticut registration.\n\nOriginally finished in Pearl White (79), the car was repainted in a non-factory white while under previous ownership. Small bubbles are noted on the passenger-side rocker panel, and the front body seams have been filled. Patches are shown in the driver\u2019s side floor area, while rust remains present in the battery box.\n\nThe seller installed a new grille, and a previous owner added a rechromed air vent intake scoop from a pre-1965 car. Amber turn signal lenses from a European-market car have also been fitted, and the windshield washers are said to be non-operational. VTO wheels with Volvo center caps wear Bridgestone Potenza tires.\n\nBlack upholstery is contrasted by red carpeting, which has replaced the original rubber mats. An aftermarket shift knob has been added, and the storage tray between the seats is believed to be from a later model. The interior C-pillar lights are not working.\n\nThe Smiths speedometer and temperature gauges were rebuilt under the seller\u2019s ownership. The tachometer is said to read higher than actual RPM, the clock is not working, and the dash light rheostat has been bypassed. The turn indicators work properly, though their dash lights do not activate while they are in use. The odometer indicates approximately 56k miles, including about 8,500 added by the seller.\n\nA 2.0L B20 inline-four from a later Volvo was installed by a previous owner and is backed by a stock 4-speed M41 manual transmission with electrically actuated Laycock overdrive. The seller replaced the previous Weber carburetor with dual SUs that were cleaned and rebushed by Joe Curto Inc. The cylinder head was planed along with the intake and exhaust manifolds, the timing gears were replaced with helical versions, and an aluminum cam gear was installed. In addition, the water pump was replaced, the generator was rebuilt, and the voltage regulator was adjusted. Hood insulation from a later car was installed by a previous owner.\n\nAn April 2018 service at 54,500 miles included replacement of the valve cover gasket, an oil change, and a transmission fluid top-off. The transmission reportedly has a minor leak, with the seller noting he added one pint of fluid in three years and 8,500 miles.\n\nThe front suspension was reportedly rebuilt by a previous owner, and the rear suspension was overhauled by the seller with new springs, shocks, torque rods, and bushings. Several exhaust components were replaced and adjusted for fit, and the fuel tank was replaced. The car has reportedly been used for overnight trips to several national Volvo meets while with the seller.\n\nA Bendix AM radio and antenna are included, though the original spare, jack, and tools are missing along with service records from prior owners. Receipts from maintenance performed under current ownership are included and said to total nearly $5k.\n\nA video of the car starting and driving can be seen above."}
-{"text": "Forfatter og aktivist for Venligboerne, Anne Lise Marstrand-J\u00f8rgensen, vil ikke l\u00e6ngere deltage i Radio24syvs programmer. Hun kritiserer kanalens journalistiske standarder og mener, at den l\u00e6gger sendeflade til xenofobi og racisme.\n\n\u00bbDet er en beslutning, som er modnet over nogen tid. Jeg har gennem flere \u00e5r haft d\u00e5rlige oplevelser med Radio24syvs fakta- og nyhedsprogrammer, hvor der er en d\u00e5rlig journalistisk skik, og det er jeg blevet tr\u00e6t af. Jeg synes, at de har mange pseudojournalistiske programmer, og jeg er selv \u2013 uretm\u00e6ssigt \u2013 blevet h\u00e6ngt ud p\u00e5 Radio24syv.\u00ab\n\nDet er en \u00e6rgerlig udvikling, mener programchef Mads Br\u00fcgger, Radio24syv, som gerne havde set Anne Lise Marstrand-J\u00f8rgensen stille op i et program p\u00e5 24syv og frems\u00e6tte kritikken d\u00e9r.\n\n\u00bbHun er blevet inviteret til at deltage i \u00bbQ&A\u00ab for at diskutere sin beslutning, men det ville hun ikke. Det virker som om, at man p\u00e5 venstrefl\u00f8jen opfatter det at v\u00e6re h\u00f8jreorienteret som en sygelig tilstand \u2013 og det er det alts\u00e5 ikke. Mikael Jalving har dagligt inviteret venligboere til at ringe ind. Men det har de bare ikke rigtig gjort \u2013 de foretr\u00e6kker i stedet at sidde p\u00e5 afstand og v\u00e6re rasende,\u00ab siger Mads Br\u00fcgger.\n\nBerlingske har talt med begge parter i striden.\n\nL\u00e6s hele interviewet med Mads Br\u00fcgger.\n\nL\u00e6s hele interviewet med Anne Lise Marstrand-J\u00f8rgensen"}
-{"text": "I think everyone can agree that all countries can benefit from a little more Armadillo somewhere on thier notes. The detail on the scales is fantastic, and the included notes are a really nice touch."}
-{"text": "Sees you working out in the mirror at the gym MOVES.\n\n178 shares"}
-{"text": "Cate Blanchett will star as Lucille Ball in a biopic that\u2019s being produced by her two children \u2014 Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. \u2014 and Escape Artists.\n\nAaron Sorkin is in talks to write the script, which will center on Ball\u2019s 20-year marriage to Desi Arnaz. She eloped with the Cuban bandleader in 1940, and the two created the massively successful sitcom \u201cI Love Lucy\u201d in 1951 through their Desilu Productions. She won four Emmys for the role.\n\nBall also gave birth to her daughter in 1951 and to her son in 1953. Ball and Arnaz divorced in 1960, and Ball began running Desilu Productions in 1962. She died in 1989.\n\nJenna Block will oversee development of the project at Sony-based Escape Artists. No director or other cast is attached yet.\n\nBlanchett has won Academy Awards for \u201cThe Aviator\u201d and \u201cBlue Jasmine.\u201d She\u2019s starring in Todd Haynes\u2019 romance \u201cCarol,\u201d which premiered at Cannes, and will be seen with Robert Redford in the Dan Rather drama \u201cTruth,\u201d which premieres at the Toronto Film Festival.\n\nSorkin wrote \u201cSteve Jobs,\u201d which Universal opens Oct. 9, and recently turned in the script for Sony\u2019s \u201cMolly\u2019s Game.\u201d Escape Artists produced Jake Gyllenhaal\u2019s boxing drama \u201cSouthpaw.\u201d\n\nBlanchett is represented by CAA and RGM Artists. WME represents Sorkin. The news was first reported by the Wrap."}
-{"text": "Report: More Kids Are Walking to School\n\nThe long\u2013term decline of walking and biking to school has been linked to the childhood obesity epidemic, a big share of morning rush hour traffic, and even kids\u2019 lack of attention in class. In 1969, 41 percent of children in grades K\u20138 lived within one mile of school, and of those kids, 89 percent usually walked or biked. By 2009, 31 percent lived within a mile of school \u2014 and only 35 percent of them walked or biked.\n\nIt\u2019s too soon to say that downward spiral is over. But there are hopeful signs.\n\nA new report released by the National Center for Safe Routes to School shows that more kids are walking. However, biking seems to be staying flat, and busing is down.\n\nFirst, a disclaimer: The study is based on somewhat uneven data. The 2005 national transportation bill, which created the federal Safe Routes to School program and started disbursing money to states, also mandated the implementation of a data collection system. Compliance has been rising dramatically \u2014 382 schools submitted information in 2007, while 8,119 did this year. So current data is more robust than past years, and you should take the year-over-year trend results with a grain of salt.\n\nIn addition, rural and low-income students are under-represented in the surveys, as are kids living far from school. In total, more than 525,000 parent surveys from 4,691 schools supplied information for the study.\n\nThat said, the National Center found that walking to and from school increased among respondents between 2007 and 2012. While 12.4 percent walked to school in the morning in 2007, 15.7 percent did in 2012. In the afternoon, 15.8 percent walked home in 2007, versus 19.7 percent last year.\n\nThe difference between morning and afternoon makes sense. People are in a bigger rush in the morning and might be tempted to drive. Working parents might be available to drive in the morning but not in the afternoon. Plus, it\u2019s colder in the mornings.\n\nMeanwhile, cycling to school dropped from 2.6 percent of school kids in 2007-08 to 1.9 percent in 2009, then ticked up slightly each year to 2.2 percent in 2012. Since the first years of data collection had the smallest sample size, it\u2019s hard to discern a meaningful shift.\n\nHas SRTS been more successful installing good walking facilities than bike infrastructure? Are misguided school rules against biking holding back growth in cycling to school?\n\nOne thing is clear: Budget cuts have taken a big bite out of school busing. School bus ridership has dropped about 6 percent.\n\nIt\u2019s reassuring that the slack hasn\u2019t been entirely picked up by driving. In 2012, 54.7 percent of kids got to school in a car in the morning and 45.3 percent in the afternoon. That\u2019s more than in 2007-08, when it was 51.4 there and 42 percent back. But it only accounts for about half the decline in busing. Walking takes up the other half.\n\nSurveys asked parents whether their kids had asked permission to walk or bike, and whether they (the parents) thought walking and biking to school was fun and healthy. The survey also asked whether the school actively encouraged walking and biking.\n\nParents who answered yes to those questions were far more likely to have kids who walked and biked, though it\u2019s tough to gauge the cause and effect. Maybe parents whose kids have to walk or bike because there\u2019s no other good option make themselves feel better by getting excited about the health benefits and convince themselves their kids like it. And weirdly, slightly fewer parents think walking and biking is healthy and fun now than in 2007-08.\n\nBut school encouragement \u2014 or at least parents\u2019 perceptions of it \u2014 has grown markedly, from 24.9 to 33 percent. That\u2019s still hideously low \u2014 but the growth is pretty good evidence that Safe Routes to School and, possibly, First Lady Michelle Obama\u2019s Let\u2019s Move campaign are having a major impact. But school support seems to be more important when it comes to walking than biking. The kids who biked were largely those whose parents said they enjoyed it.\n\nBoys and girls were about equally likely to walk, but boys were twice as likely to bike. The most likely students to walk were older kids \u201cattending low-income schools in cities who asked permission to walk or bicycle.\u201d Upper-income kids were more likely to get to and from school in a car \u2014 or on a bike \u2014 than their lower-income counterparts.\n\nKids who lived closer to school were more likely to walk than those who lived further away \u2014 living more than half a mile from school meant a kid was only 16.3 percent as likely to walk as kids living closer [THAN A MILE?]. But kids living more than a mile away were 48 percent more likely to bike.\n\nThe data leaves a lot to be desired, but what it seems to show is that kids are out walking more, perhaps as a result of greater school encouragement or cuts to school bus service \u2014 or both.\n\nWill the country get back to 89 percent active transportation for kids who live near school? It\u2019s too soon to say, but the journey of a thousand schoolkids begins with one step."}
-{"text": "Rent this movie\n\nDark angel Gabriel, angry because God has allowed humans into heaven, descends to Earth to capture the most evil human soul he can find, planning to use it to defeat his enemies. While a good-hearted angel hides the soul, a detective tracks Gabriel."}
-{"text": "For anyone still wondering why Hong Kongers are angry enough to do what they have done during the past six months, two more aggravations can be used to illustrate the answer.\n\nThe latest provocations concern two elected pro-democracy Legislative Councilors, Au Nok-hin and Gary Fan Kwok-wai. They have just joined the group of those disqualified during the council\u2019s current 2016-20 term.\n\nProtesters occupy the chamber of the Legislative Council on July 1. Photo: Thammakhun John Crowcroft/HKFP.\n\nAll the disqualifications were a direct or indirect result of the oath-taking saga and the intensified political vetting it precipitated.\n\nThe controversy began in October 2016, when newly elected councillors embellished their oaths-of-office during the swearing-in ceremony following the September 2016 Legislative Council (LegCo) election.\n\nCounting these two latest additions to the list, altogether eight Legislative Councillors have been removed from office in the sequence of events that has carried on throughout the present council\u2019s 2016-20 term. The next regular LegCo election will be held next September.\n\nLast summer, when the current protest movement began, attention was focused on the council because of pro-democracy legislators\u2019 inability to block the government\u2019s much-feared extradition bill. Among the points made by demonstrators then was one directed specifically at the string of disqualifications that had left legislators powerless to block the bill.\n\nThe message from protesters then: legislators may be removed, but their voters are all still here, and we are the voters.\n\nThat point emerged front and centre on November 24, when voters used the District Councils election as payback time and gave an unexpected landslide victory to the protest candidates\u2019 defiant united democratic coalition. No one expected that ordinary voters would remain focused on so mundane a matter, especially given the violent distractions carrying on all around them.\n\nNevertheless, there are now two additional sets of disenfranchised voters added to all the others. Councillors Au and Fan have just been disqualified by a final decision from Hong Kong\u2019s highest court, and ordered to vacate their council offices within a month.\n\nAu Nok-hin and Gary Fan. Photo: inmediahk.net.\n\nWhat offence might they have committed to warrant such drastic retribution? In fact, according to the standards used by vetting officers for the most recent elections, Au and Fan are blameless.\n\nBut the convoluted world of Hong Kong\u2019s electoral system is designed to Beijing\u2019s specifications and implemented according to its evolving definitions. The system is applied by Hong Kong civil servants and enforced in accordance with the Hong Kong judiciary\u2019s common-law standards. The two elected legislators \u2013 Fan and Au \u2013 had to be disqualified, and their voters consequently disenfranchised.\n\nThe voters have actually lost out not once but twice, since these two were chosen in special elections to replace legislators who were among the original group disqualified for inaccurate oaths of office in October 2016.\n\nSelf-determination\n\nLurking in the background throughout this tale is, once again, the principle of self-determination. Relatively new to Hong Kong\u2019s democracy movement, the idea emerged gradually during the long-running effort to realize the promises Beijing had written into the Basic Law, for use after the 1997 return to Chinese rule.\n\nPhoto: Li Wing Ka, discoverthebasiclaw.gov.hk.\n\nAfter more than a decade of disappointments in search of the promised \u201chigh degree of autonomy,\u201d a new trend emerged, especially among the younger generation. Many concluded that the ties between Beijing and Hong Kong, as spelt out in that same Basic Law, were such that Hong Kong would always be subject to Beijing\u2019s interventions, and the more so as time passed.\n\nSuch thoughts led \u2013 among other things \u2013 to ideas about full independence. Most people thinking along those lines accepted that independence was a step too far. Beijing would never allow it.\n\nBut such ideas were so prevalent within Hong Kong\u2019s democracy movement that by 2016, few were willing to continue within the confines of Beijing\u2019s unreformed Basic Law promises.\n\nIn preparing for the 2016 regular LegCo election, most pro-democracy parties and politicians adopted what they saw as an intermediate demand, for \u201cself-determination\u201d \u2013 something less than a revolutionary declaration of independence but otherwise not very well defined.\n\nFew troubled to try and explain in detail what they meant by the term and consequently lapsed into silence once Beijing began declaring that independence and self-determination were one and the same thing: both equal to demands for secession, a threat to national security, tantamount to treason, and so on. No serious debate has been developed by way of rebuttal.\n\nThe original disqualified six: oath-taking\n\nIt began on Day One of the new 2016-20 LegCo term. Six newly elected legislators were disqualified for \u201cimproving\u201d their oaths-of-office during the October 2016 swearing-in ceremony. No explanation was ever offered by the government as to why some were singled out while others, equally \u201cguilty,\u201d were not.\n\nFile photo: Inmediahk.net.\n\nTwo legislators, who later came out openly for Hong Kong independence, were the most offensive in their choice of words. The others relied on a few commonly used slogans and gestures to convey the protest spirit. All were formally expelled from the council for improper oath-taking, inaugurating a string of court cases, judgements and appeals that extended from late 2016 until early this year.\n\nThe two independence advocates were Yau Wai-ching (Kowloon West); and Baggio Leung Chung-hang (New Territories East). The other four included: Lau Siu-lai (Kowloon West); Nathan Law Kwun-chung (HK Island); \u201cLong Hair\u201d Leung Kwok-hung (New Territories East); and Edward Yiu Chung-yim (Functional Constituency).\n\nOf the six vacated LegCo seats, three were lost to pro-government candidates in subsequent by-elections. One seat remains empty. Two others were won by pro-democracy candidates in by-elections last year. These are the two who have just been disqualified, essentially on a procedural technicality.\n\nThe court\u2019s reasons\n\nThe two legislators, Au Nok-hin and Gary Fan, won their seats in March 2018 special elections. But two other aspiring candidates had been disqualified from contesting that poll.\n\nPhoto: In-Media.\n\nThe more widely publicized case was that of Agnes Chow Ting, a leading member of Demosisto. This small political party was organized by Joshua Wong and his classmates after they graduated from middle school. As students in 2011-12, they had spearheaded a successful campaign against the government\u2019s proposed new patriotic political studies curriculum, which remains suspended.\n\nDemosisto\u2019s platform adopted self-determination as its preferred future course for Hong Kong. By this, they meant allowing Hong Kongers to decide for themselves what they think Beijing\u2019s promises of autonomy and universal suffrage elections should mean.\n\nBeijing holds that citizens have no such right, which would challenge the sovereign authority of the Communist Party-led central government. Those are questions for Beijing to decide.\n\nAs to how Hong Kongers might express their preferences, Demosisto suggested a referendum to include the option of independence. Unlike most others, this group tried to distinguish between the two, self-determination and independence, with the proviso that Demosisto itself does not advocate independence.\n\nAgnes Chow was the preferred candidate for the special election in the Hong Kong Island constituency. Its legislator-elect, Nathan Law, had been disqualified over a minor oath-taking indiscretion during the swearing-in ceremony.\n\nChow was summarily disqualified as a candidate because she had advocated self-determination. She appealed against the decision, but such challenges take may take months, eliminating the possibility of her being cleared in time for the March poll. Au Nok-hin contested in her place and won the Hong Kong Island seat.\n\nMeanwhile, another case was also pending. Independence advocate Andy Chan Ho-tin had been disqualified as a candidate for the September 2016 regular LegCo election. The court ultimately issued a judgement, upholding his disqualification due to his straightforward independence advocacy.\n\nAndy Chan. Photo: Pool/SCMP.\n\nBut the judge also ruled that vetting officers must give prospective candidates a chance to explain themselves. The judge also said there must be \u201ccogent, clear and compelling materials\u201d that show the lack of intention to honour formal pledges of allegiance to Hong Kong\u2019s constitutional order.\n\nAgnes Chow had not been given a chance to explain so she had not been able to clarify Demosisto\u2019s views on self-determination and independence.\n\nChow\u2019s election petition was filed, as required, within two months of the March poll, but she did not get her day in court until over a year later. A judgement was finally issued in September this year. It ruled in her favour on grounds of procedural fairness. Since Chow had not been given a chance to explain, in accordance with the precedent set in Andy Chan\u2019s case, her disqualification was invalid.\n\nIt followed that the special election itself was also invalid, thus nullifying the victory of Au Nok-hin.\n\nYet another related case was that of Ventus Lau Wing-hong. He had been disqualified ahead of the March 2018 special election in New Territories East. His vetting officer concluded, after researching his background but not talking to him directly, that his current disavowal of earlier pro-independence sympathies was probably not genuine.\n\nVentus Lau. Photo: Kris Cheng/HKFP.\n\nIn ruling on Lau\u2019s election petition, the court followed precedents set by the earlier cases. Ventus Lau\u2019s disqualification was therefore nullified, as was the March 2018 special election in New Territories East, thereby nullifying the victory of Gary Fan as well.\n\nThe September 2019 disqualification rulings, coming as they did in the midst of Hong Kong\u2019s current political unrest, were unsettling enough to merit the Court of Final Appeal\u2019s attention. The result, announced in mid-December, upheld the previous judgements in favour of disqualified candidates Chow and Lau, whose victory nevertheless came at the expense of Au Nok-hin and Garry Fan.\n\nHow could this be? In court, lawyers had argued for a solution that might grant redress to Chow and Lau without disturbing the results of the special election. Why should prospective candidates and voters be penalized for the vetting officers\u2019 mistakes?\n\nBut the court could find no grounds for sympathy. Chow and Lau had been wrongly disqualified. Due to this \u201cmaterial irregularity,\u201d the election was rightly nullified and the victors rightly unseated. The court also chose not to elaborate on the circumstances.\n\nThe precedent whereby the original disqualifications of Chow and Lau were overturned was established in the Andy Chan case. Vetting officers must allow prospective candidates a chance to explain themselves in person at the time. Hearsay or past statements would not do. The vetting officers had therefore failed in their duty to Chow and Lau.\n\nPhoto: Holmes Chan/HKFP.\n\nBut the precedent for that rule had only been set in legal stone by the February 2018 judgement in Andy Chan\u2019s case. The vetting officers for Chow and Lau had made their decisions a few months before, suggesting a retroactive decision by the Court of Final Appeal with regards to the mistaken disqualifications.\n\nNevertheless, the court claimed, in effect, that all such considerations were none of its business. Nor was the political problem of finding an alternative solution. Chow and Lau themselves had not set out upon this course, noted the court.\n\nIt did not acknowledge that they were not likely to seek any other \u201cjudicial review\u201d solution without first establishing the mistakes of their vetting officers, which had been done by filing the election petitions in good time.\n\nThe Court of Final Appeal would only reiterate what others had ruled before. If material irregularities had occurred and candidates were thus wrongly disqualified, so the election itself was invalid and the results must be nullified as well.\n\nWhere are the margins for manoeuvre?\n\nHong Kong\u2019s Chief Executive Carrie Lam has been given an impossible task. She is constantly enjoined by her superiors in Beijing to end the violence and restore order. Once that has been accomplished, she likes to say, we can work toward solutions for Hong Kong\u2019s \u201cdeep-seated\u201d problems.\n\nCarrie Lam. Photo: Stand News.\n\nThe trouble with those ideas is the sequence, like putting the cart before the horse. The turmoil is political: dissatisfied voters turned out en masse to try again to make their point, on November 24. This they did by flipping Hong Kong\u2019s entire neighbourhood-level District Council system.\n\nThat accomplishment was the work of what calls itself Hong Kong\u2019s \u201cpro-democracy camp.\u201d But by official convention, it has \u2013 since 1997 \u2013 been dubbed \u201cthe opposition,\u201d barred from appointments to all positions of authority, even though the camp represents, as it did on November 24, a majority of the voting public.\n\nThat majority finds itself in a double bind, hemmed in by Beijing\u2019s demands for loyalty and by the Hong Kong government\u2019s mandate to enforce those demands, with the courts standing in as intermediaries.\n\nSince Beijing\u2019s views still appear set in stone, relief can only begin at the Hong Kong end. And if the courts can\u2019t find adaptable arguments, they will have to emerge from within the pro-democracy camp itself.\n\nOne place to start would be the fraught issue of self-determination. An opening has already appeared, whether deliberate or accidental is still unclear. But where there is an opening there are opportunities for new arguments to be made and clarifications to be established.\n\nAgnes Chow was originally disqualified for the March 2018 special election because her vetting officer decided the principle of self-determination precluded loyalty to Beijing\u2019s demands for allegiance.\n\nJoshua Wong was disqualified as a candidate in the November 24 District Councils election because his vetting officer concluded that Demosisto\u2019s attempt to differentiate independence and self-determination was a distinction without a difference. But he alone was disqualified, ostensibly, for that reason.\n\nJoshua Wong and Kelvin Lam. Photo: Liona Li/Supplied.\n\nVetting officers for other candidates did not even bother to ask, although several candidates had \u201cself-determination\u201d in their backgrounds.\n\nMore likely, Wong\u2019s international lobbying efforts are what made him a marked man in Beijing\u2019s eyes. But no one knows for sure that the decisions are not being made by arbitrary whim of the vetting officers themselves.\n\nBeyond clarifying and standardizing the definitions of self-determination and loyalty to Beijing, lies the immediate need to rectify the merry-go-round exercise of disqualifications underway since Beijing\u2019s loyalty oath demands escalated in 2016.\n\nThis has now reached the point where three pro-democracy legislators have been removed from office, on problematic political grounds, and the government has been arguing against replacing them because of the proximity of the next general election, due in September 2020. But \u201cLong Hair\u201d Leung Kwok-hung\u2019s seat has remained empty for almost a year.\n\nHong Kongers like to vote. On November 24, they stood in lines for hours all over town, just for the privilege of exercising their right. November 24 was also a rare day free of violent incidents. Restoring order in this way, by holding three more special elections, might be a proper first step in the search for solutions to Hong Kong\u2019s deep-seated problems."}
-{"text": "The PlayStation 4 isn't even three years old, but Sony could be unveiling its successor as soon as this September. Following a slew of reports, Sony has confirmed the existence of a PlayStation \"Neo,\" which will allow for 4K video output and a potentially smoother PlayStation VR experience. The Neo might be joined by a \"PS4 Slim,\" which could appeal to budget gamers not ready to make the jump to 4K. Here's everything we know about the future of PlayStation, as well as what we think Sony needs to do to make its spruced-up console a success.\n\nPlayStation Neo: A 4K-Ready Console\n\nAfter months of rumors, it's official: the PlayStation Neo is coming. According to a June interview with the Financial Times (and as reported by Engadget), President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Andrew House confirmed that a more powerful version of PS4 is in the pipeline. House had few details to share, only noting that Neo will be a more premium-priced system aimed at hardcore gamers with 4K televisions, and that all games released this generation will still work with the original PS4. House also noted that the system will be skipping E3 2016, meaning Microsoft may be the only console maker showing new hardware.\n\n\n\nThis confirms a massive April report from Giant Bomb, which was the first mention of PlayStation Neo. According to Giant Bomb, the new console is rumored to pack a 2.1-GHz octa-core processor (up from 1.6 GHz), an improved AMD GCN graphics chip at 911 MHz (up from 800 MHz), and 8GB of GDDR5 RAM with speeds of 218 GB per second (up from 176 GBps).\n\nPhoto: Shutterstock\n\nThe result of all of these fancy numbers is a PS4 that can output games at 4K, a big upgrade from the current console's max resolution of 1080p. Internal Sony documents supposedly obtained by Giant Bomb don't mention anything about PlayStation VR, but the improved specs could certainly help provide a smoother experience to those who pick up Sony's upcoming $399 virtual-reality headset this fall.\n\n\n\nMORE: The Best VR Headsets For Every Budget\n\n\n\nPS4 Slim: Smaller and Cheaper\n\nThe Neo might not launch alone -- according to leaked images, we may see a PS4 Slim debut alongside its more powerful big brother in September. Leaked images of the purported redesign show a console that's a few inches skinnier, ditching the original PS4's sharply angled edges for a more unassuming square-shaped design. This leak coincides with an August Wall Street Journal report that suggests that Sony has two PlayStations on the way: the powerful Neo, and a standard PS4 refresh that could appeal to those on a budget.\n\nThere's no word on whether the PS4 Slim will introduce any new features (the redesigned Xbox One S offers 4K video playback, for example), but if the console is real, we should see an official announcement soon enough.\n\nSony sent out press invites to a special \"PlayStation Meeting\" event on Sept. 7 in New York, where the company will likely officially unveil one or both of the new consoles. This confirms reports from Vice Gaming and Gameblog about the potential date.\n\n\n\nSony's PlayStation VR. Photo: Mike Andronico/Tom's Guide\n\nNeo was originally expected to arrive in October alongside Sony's $399 PlayStation VR headset comes out, though we'll have to wait and see if Sony will release its new console just a month after announcing it. A March report from The Wall Street Journal suggested that the Neo would be officially unveiled ahead of PSVR's launch, but didn't specify whether folks should expect to see the console on shelves by the end of 2016.\n\n\n\nDespite its stronger specs, the PlayStation Neo will reportedly retail for just $399 \u2014 only $50 more than the current PS4's retail price. That's a similar delta to what's between the new Xbox One S ($299 starting) and the older Xbox One ($249), which suggests that the Neo could be a 4K streaming machine that doesn't necessarily support true 4K gaming. At the same time, Sony could be looking to offer the PS4 Slim as a budget option, which would allow the company to offer the Neo at a much more premium price.\n\n\n\nGames: No PS4.5 Exclusives\n\nEver since the PlayStation 4.5 was first rumored (via Kotaku) a month ago, concerns have appeared over whether the new system would create a fractured player base by locking older PS4 owners out of the latest games. But according to Giant Bomb's report (and later confirmed by Sony), the folks at PlayStation are working to make sure everyone gets to play the same games, regardless of which PS4 they own.\n\nSony is reportedly requiring developers to make all future PS4 games playable on both the Neo and standard versions of the consoles, meaning those with the new system will simply get the added 4K performance benefits. The Neo seems like it will use the same user interface as the standard PS4, and you should be able to play games online with owners of both models.\n\n\n\nImagine playing Uncharted in 4K?\n\nOne interesting nugget from the Giant Bomb report is the fact that existing PS4 games could be optimized for the Neo, if developers choose to put the work in. This means that Neo owners may someday be able to play their copy of Dark Souls III in 4K, or that Bethesda could eventually choose to patch Fallout 4's many console-performance issues for those with the more powerful system.\n\nOur Take\n\nThe PS4 hasn't even been out for three years, and the thought of upgrading to a new box may be painful for many of the console's 36-million owners. However, Sony seems to be handling the situation well by not making the Neo a mandatory upgrade. Buying a Neo could be similar to buying a new phone, tablet or PC \u2014 your apps and games will run just fine on what you have now, but you'll be treated to better performance if you upgrade.\n\nFor better or for worse, these half-step consoles could become the norm. Microsoft just released the Xbox One S, a sleeker version of its console that supports 4K video and HDR. Next year, the company is expected to launch the more powerful Project Scorpio, which is designed to support high-end virtual reality as well as 4K gaming.\n\nConsole gamers aren't necessarily used to quick upgrade cycles \u2014 the Xbox 360 and PS3 were viable for close to a decade \u2014 but times have changed. With PC gaming becoming more popular and easier to get into (not to mention virtual reality's explosive popularity), it makes sense for Sony and Microsoft to provide options for gamers who want the absolute best of the best. Let's just hope that the PS4's Day One adopters don't get left in the dust.\n\n\n\n"}
-{"text": "Liberty Forum 2010 Appearances\n\nIn March, Tom was invited to speak at the 2010 Liberty Forum in New Hampshire. This event, sponsored by the Free State Project, gathered over two dozen excellent speakers, including the Friday keynote speaker Judge Andrew Napolitano, Saturday keynote speaker NH Rep. Dan Itse, also known as Rep. Firebreather (Tom's words), and Sunday keynote speaker Jacob Hornberger, and hundreds of attendees. Tom was asked to throw out some of his special cuts of raw meat before lunch during the opening ceremonies. This presentation is available on YouTube as eight parts, listed in order below, along with a brief interview with Free Talk Live radio program on Saturday evening.\n\n\n\nWarning: Later portions are not for the faint of heart.\n\n\n\nTo see the slides, watch the videos in high resolution on YouTube by following the provided links.\n\n\n\nPart 1 of 8 (on YouTube):\n\nIntroduction, The Problem, Defining Liberty, Ineffective Strategies\n\n\n\n\n\nPart 2 of 8 (on YouTube):\n\nThe Enemies of Liberty, The Myth of Justice, Offender Registries, Nothing Left to Lose\n\n\n\n\n\nPart 3 of 8 (on YouTube):\n\nTyranny of the Nice, This is Not a Civil Rights Era, The Myth of Oaths, Liberty Versus Civility, No Cold Dead Hands\n\n\n\n\n\nPart 4 of 8 (on YouTube):\n\nWho the Enemies of Liberty Are NOT, Our Battleground, The Font of Value, Quality of Life, Friend or Foe, Corporatism\n\n\n\n\n\nPart 5 of 8 (on YouTube):\n\nRegulation Surfers, The Myth of Sheeple, Beneficiaries of the Status Quo, They Surround Us\n\n\n\n\n\nPart 6 of 8 (on YouTube):\n\nWhere Ayn Rand Was Wrong, Unstoppable Crisis, Worse Than ..., Irreparable Economic Damage\n\n\n\n\n\nPart 7 of 8 (on YouTube)\n\nScrapping of Infrastructure, Lessons Learned, IRS Hockey Stick, Take Heart, Anatomy of a Crisis, Influencing the Recovery, Stone Soup, The Myth of Labor Value, The Value of Ideas\n\n\n\n\n\nView Slide 33 from that segment, Anatomy of a Crisis (pdf)\n\n\n\nPart 8 of 8: on YouTube.\n\nSchools and Obedience, The Value of Ideas, The Myth of Gold and Silver, Investment Versus Speculation, The Mythical Prepared Retreat, Individual Preparation, Conclusion, Audience Comments\n\n\n\n\n\nInterview with Free Talk Live: on YouTube.\n\n"}
-{"text": "Introduction\n\nIn the previous part, we have laid the foundation to understand how the new Core infrastructure looks and getting an understanding of how it works. Today we\u2019ll take a look at the arguably highest impact changes for package developers which make several improvements to the extensibility and testability of packages for Core.\n\nNo special treatment for plugins\n\nIn Core 2.0 plugins were treated as a type of special entity inside the container. This is no longer the case in Core 3.0, everything that is bound to the container is treated the same and is just another binding.\n\nPlugins now expose themselves to Core through \u201cservice providers\u201d. In part 3 we explained what they do and how they are executed but the basic gist of them is to be isolated entities with a single responsibility, provide information about a plugin and ensure that it is properly registered, booted and disposed to avoid unwanted side-effects like ghost processes or hanging database connections after Core has already been stopped.\n\nThe Basics\n\nMost of the following has already been covered in Part 2 but lets quickly refresh our minds about service providers as they are at the heart of it all.\n\nService Providers contain 3 methods that control how a plugin interacts with Core while it starts. Those methods are register, boot and dispose which take care of registering bindings with the container, booting any services that were registered and finally disposing of those services when the Core process terminated.\n\nConditional Plugins\n\nA new feature that comes with the revamped plugin system of Core 3.0 is the ability to conditionally enable and disable plugins at runtime. Use-cases for this feature would be to enable or disable a plugin after a given height (similar to how milestones work), require some other plugins to be installed or require that a node has forked to perform some recovery tasks.\n\nLet's have a look at an example service provider that implements the enableWhen and disableWhen methods and break it down into pieces.\n\nimport { Providers } from \" @arkecosystem/core-kernel \"; export class ServiceProvider extends Providers.ServiceProvider {\n\npublic async register(): Promise<void> {\n\nthis.app.log.warning(\"[kernel-dummy-plugin] REGISTER\");\n\n} public async boot(): Promise<void> {\n\nthis.app.log.warning(\"[kernel-dummy-plugin] BOOT\");\n\n} public async dispose(): Promise<void> {\n\nthis.app.log.warning(\"[kernel-dummy-plugin] DISPOSE\");\n\n} public async enableWhen(): Promise<boolean> {\n\nconst { data } = this.app\n\n.resolve<StateService>(\"state\")\n\n.getStore()\n\n.getLastBlock(); return data.height % 2 === 0;\n\n} public async disableWhen(): Promise<boolean> {\n\nconst { data } = this.app\n\n.resolve<StateService>(\"state\")\n\n.getStore()\n\n.getLastBlock(); return data.height % 3 === 0;\n\n}\n\n}\n\nWhen the application bootstrappers call register we log a message. When the application bootstrappers call boot we log a message. When the application bootstrappers call dispose we log a message. The plugin will be enabled when the height of the last received block is divisible by 2. The plugin will be enabled when the height of the last received block is divisible by 3.\n\nYou might\u2019ve noticed that there is a collision with values being divisible by both 2 and 3, like for example 6. This won\u2019t cause any issues as the boot is only called if a plugin is not already booted, the same goes for the dispose method which is only called if a plugin is booted.\n\nA common use-case for conditional enabling and disabling could be a plugin that fixes the state of a node if it forks and once new blocks are received it disables itself again.\n\nTriggers & Hooks\n\nTriggers are a new feature that will make it a lot easier for forks and bridgechains to modify how certain things behave without ever having to touch Core implementations, all your modifications will be done through your plugins that run in combination with the official stock Core available via @arkecosystem/core .\n\nIn simple terms, triggers are just functional bindings in the container that can be easily rebound by plugins to alter how Core performs specific tasks. An example of this would be how a block is validated, let's have a look at what that would look like and how you could alter this behavior with your own plugin.\n\napp\n\n.get<Services.Triggers.TriggerService>(Container.Identifiers.TriggerService)\n\n.bind(\"validateBlock\", (data: Block) => {\n\nconsole.log('I will validate the block')\n\n})\n\n.before(() => {\n\nconsole.log('I run before a block is validated')\n\n})\n\n.error(() => {\n\nconsole.log('I run if block validation fails with an uncaught exception')\n\n})\n\n.after(() => {\n\nconsole.log('I run after a block is validated')\n\n}); const isValid: boolean = await app.get<Services.Triggers.TriggerService>(Container.Identifiers.TriggerService).call(\"validateBlock\", someBlock);\n\nWe bind a trigger called validateBlock that performs the validation of a block. We register a before hook that executes before the trigger we created via bind is executed. We register an error hook that executes when there is an uncaught exception in the trigger we created via bind is executed. We register an after hook that executes after the trigger we created via bind is executed.\n\nThis very basic example illustrates how we can take advantage of triggers and hooks. If you would want to use your own implementation of block validation, all you have to do is to register a trigger with the same name and it will be overwritten and used by Core.\n\nSince triggers are bound to the container like anything else in Core they are easy to work with in tests as you can simply bind them to a dummy container whenever you need to, without having to spin up a full application instance.\n\nMixins\n\nA big flaw of inheritance in the world of OOP is that it is limited to one level. This means you cannot extend more than a single class, which can get messy quickly as you end up with large classes that have multiple responsibilities.\n\nLanguages like PHP have something called Traits which works around this issue by allowing you to move methods into entities with a single responsibility. Those traits are easily reusable and could be things like HasComments or HasReviews which could be shared between entities like Movie, Project, Post without having to duplicate the implementation.\n\nTypeScript has something called mixins. They act somewhat like traits, with the major difference being that under the hood they extend an object and return that. The result of that is that rather than simply adding some methods, a completely new object is created that contains the old and new methods.\n\nLet's break down the following example to understand how mixins inside of Core work and the pros and cons that come with them.\n\nclass Block {} function Timestamped<TBase extends Constructor>(Base: TBase) {\n\nreturn class extends Base {\n\ntimestamp = new Date(\"2019-09-01\");\n\n};\n\n} // Types\n\ntype AnyFunction<T = any> = (...input: any[]) => T;\n\ntype Mixin<T extends AnyFunction> = InstanceType<ReturnType<T>>; type TTimestamped = Mixin<typeof Timestamped>;\n\ntype MixinBlock = TTimestamped & Block; // Example\n\napp.mixins.set(\"timestamped\", Timestamped); const block: MixinBlock = new (app.mixins.apply<MixinBlock>(\"timestamped\", Block))(); expect(block.timestamp).toEqual(new Date(\"2019-09-01\"));\n\nWe define a few types that will help TypeScript understand what methods the object that was created by the mixin contain. We register the Timestamped function as a mixin with the name of timestamped. We apply the timestamped mixin to the Block class to create a new variant of it that contains the timestamp property with the current date, instantiate a new block instance to make assertions on it.\n\nMixins are a powerful tool to make use of composition over inheritance but they should be used with caution, like everything, or you\u2019ll end up with the same issues that come with the excessive use of inheritance.\n\nWhat\u2019s next?\n\nThis concludes part 4 of the ARK Core Adventures series. In the next part, we will delve into how ARK Core 3.0 has made several improvements to internal testing and what new testing tools have come out of those.\n\nLet\u2019s Explore Core Series\n\nIf you have missed other Let\u2019s Explore Core series post, you can read them by following the links below:"}
-{"text": "Sony Confirms Android 5.0 Lollipop for all Xperia Z Devices\n\n\n\nSony has officially posted info on their future Android 5.0 Lollipop plans and it has confirmed that all the Xperia Z tablets and smartphones will be getting the latest Android build. The news has been confirmed by Sony's blog page and the roll out will be starting in 2015.\n\nAndroid 5.0 Lollipop will be released by Sony for all of the following smartphones: Xperia Z, Xperia ZR, Xperia ZL, Xperia Z1, Xperia Z1S, Xperia Z Ultra, Xperia Z1 Compact, Xperia Z2, Xperia Z3, Xperia Z3 Compact, Xperia Z3v and Sony Xperia Z Ultra Google Play Edition. Also, the following Sony tablets will be getting Android 5.0 Lollipop: Xperia Tablet Z, Xperia Z2 Tablet, Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact. No other Sony devices have been confirmed to receive the new Android OS upgrade.\n\nThe Android 5.0 Lollipop will start in early 2015 for the all the flagships Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z3 tablets and smartphones. All the rest of the remaining models will receive the Lollipop 5.0 OS upgrade by the end of Q1 2015 or early Q2 2015. The new OS from Google will come with tons of new changes and features, which means that Sony will take its time before it completes the addition of their own details, features and elements.\n\nAndroid 5.0 Lollipop stock variant comes with the following new features: Material Design new UI, better and refreshed Notifications section, battery life improvements and a new Battery Saving feature, improved Security and Android Smart Lock, Device Sharing with Guest User and Multiple Users support, Screen Pinning, New Quick Settings additions, improved network connectivity, Android Runtime (ART) full integration, support for 64bit devices, lower latency audio input, multi-channel audio stream mix support, USB Audio support for speakers, USB microphones, OpenGL ES 3.1, support for more than 68 new languages, Device Set Up feature, tap and pay improved, and more. This new upgrade of Android OS to Lollipop 5.0 will be a major one and it surely feel like you've got your hands on a brand new device after installation.\n\nNote that the Android 5.0 upgrade will be sent only for stock Sony Xperia Z series, so you shouldn't expect to get the update in case you've applied any changes to your device. Tell us in comments what you think about the new Android OS version and if you've hoped that Sony would have released the upgrades before the end of 2014."}
-{"text": "A Perth doctor is warning of the dangers of wearing high-vis shirts in direct sunlight after what she believes is the world's first case of burns from retro-reflective tape.\n\nKey points: An engineer developed a rash underneath the reflective stripe on his high-vis shirt\n\nAn engineer developed a rash underneath the reflective stripe on his high-vis shirt Workplaces are being urged to consider using removable vests instead\n\nWorkplaces are being urged to consider using removable vests instead Manufacturers warn retro-reflective tape may cause heat build-up\n\nIn a letter to the editor of the Medical Journal of Australia published today, emergency medicine specialist Ioana Vlad explained how she treated a man for first-degree burns caused by the reflective tape on his shirt.\n\nThe 40-year-old field environmental engineer had presented at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital's emergency department in late January 2018 complaining of a rash across his back.\n\nIn assessing the patient, Dr Vlad noticed the rash was directly underneath a reflective stripe on the high-vis shirt the man had been wearing during the day.\n\nAlthough the man's injuries were not serious, he said it caused him discomfort for a few days.\n\nHe was treated with aloe vera and painkillers for the first-degree burn, which was similar in severity to a sunburn.\n\nThe environmental engineer went to hospital after discovering a painful rash on his back. ( ABC News: Andrew O'Connor )\n\nDr Vlad said almost anyone wearing shirts with reflective tape was at risk of similar injuries.\n\n\"It could happen to other people as well, especially if they wear the same type of shirt and the same type of reflective tape, and especially if they work out in the sun and the sun shines directly onto the shirt,\" she said.\n\nThe man said the tape often became extremely hot when he was working in hot conditions and that he had to regularly change positions to ensure it did not touch his skin.\n\nWhat to wear and when\n\nUnder Australian Work Health and Safety regulations, employers are left to determine when high-visibility clothing should be worn, depending on the environment workers are in.\n\nBut Standards Australia, which sets requirements for safety equipment including high-visibility clothing, said state employers were responsible for ensuring their workers were safe with UV Protection Workwear when they were exposed to direct sunlight.\n\nUnder the standards, these garments should have ultraviolet protection and have a UPF rating in the 40-50+ excellent category.\n\nDr Vlad said while she recommended employers not make shirts with reflective tape compulsory during the day, there were precautions workers could take to minimise their risk of being burned.\n\n\"Those people wearing them should be aware that if this tape is coming into direct contact with the skin, and they are in direct sunlight, this could happen,\" she said.\n\n\"They should either wear something else underneath like a t-shirt or avoid direct sunlight.\"\n\nDr Vlad said workplaces should also consider using removable vests with retro-reflective tapes instead.\n\nThere are guidelines on how high-vis shirts should be worn. ( ABC News: Matt Garrick )\n\nThe visual requirements for garments to be worn at different times of the day are specified under the Standards Australia guidelines for high-visibility clothing.\n\nFluorescent yellow and navy polos without tape are the recommended garments for daytime, whereas high visibility clothing for night-time use is required to have reflective tape either in an X or H pattern to increase its visibility to others.\n\nHigh visibility polo shirts with reflective tape, similar to the one the man was wearing when he was burned, are permitted to be worn both during the day and night.\n\nCall for more safety measures\n\nDespite the effectiveness of garments required to be checked in three-month to six-month intervals, Dr Vlad said there was more manufacturers could do to keep workers safe.\n\n\"I guess it is something the manufacturers need to look at and see if they need to either make sure they put a different piece of cloth underneath this reflective tape \u2026 or maybe to limit the number of uses for this shirt,\" she said.\n\nThe reflective tape on high-vis shirts can heat up when working in the sun or hot conditions. ( ABC News: Erin Parke )\n\nManufacturers warned that wearing retro-reflective tape could possibly cause heat build-up around the shoulder, neck and ears.\n\nThere was also a risk that the tape could smoulder or melt when subjected to heat.\n\nBut no cases of injuries arising from retro-reflective tape had previously been published in medical literature."}
-{"text": "Most of us aim to consume healthy and balanced. Sometimes we drop a little short. We desire to obtain the nutrients that maintain us healthy and balanced and vivid. That\u2019s where nutrients can be found in. If you take supplements each day, it can help fill in the dietary voids and keep you on top of your wellness online game. Every female should attempt taking these supplements to keep ideal health:\n\nVitamin A\n\nVitamin A is a terrific antioxidant vitamin. It enhances your body immune system, helps your vision, helps you have terrific skin and also could reduce your threat of heart problem, which is a significant killer of females. The advised daily dosage is 2,300 global units (IU) and look for supplements from a beta-carotene source. Merely make sure not to overdo it, as this is one of the supplements that can be hazardous in large doses.\n\nB Vitamins\n\nB Vitamins are excellent for a wide range of points, specifically power degrees. The 8 different B vitamins are likewise excellent for maintaining a healthy metabolic process, muscular tissue tone and keeping your human brain at its peak performance. The most effective B for young ladies is B9, otherwise referred to as folic acid. Folic acid maintains red blood cells healthy and balanced and also shields versus cancer cells and birth flaws, which is why it is wonderful for pregnant women too. The suggested day-to-day folate dosage is 400 micrograms (mcg), 600 mcg if you\u2019re pregnant.\n\nAnother pointer: take Vitamin B12 before you go to sleep after drinking or initial point in the early morning to aid heal hangovers fast.\n\nVitamin C\n\nVitamin C is terrific for boosting your body immune system and also stopping heart illness, prenatal problems and also eye ailments. It is additionally great for your skin as well as assists protect against lines. The suggested daily dosage is 75 milligrams (mg). Simply keep in mind if you take way too much it can create tummy discomfort.\n\nVitamin D\n\nIf you just choose to try one supplement from this listing, let it be Vitamin D. Vitamin D aids calcium absorption which is especially vital for women. It also boosts your body immune system and reduces your danger of breast cancer cells, ovarian cancer cells and diabetes. The suggested daily dose is 1,000 to 2,000 IU.\n\nCalcium\n\nCalcium is another crucial one for females, specifically if you do not consume dairy items. Females can begin losing their bone thickness as very early as their twenties, so calcium is your finest protection to maintain solid bones and also teeth. The suggested daily dose is 1,000 mg. Even if you are lactose intolerant or have an intolerance to dairy items that have calcium, bear in mind there are other choices such as coconut or almond milk that might include even more calcium than milk milk.\n\nIron\n\nIron is one more large one for ladies due to the fact that inadequate of this mineral could trigger anemia, which is an absence of red blood cells that could make you woozy and weaken your immune system. Iron is essential for ladies on their duration, especially those with heavy periods when you lose a whole lot of blood. The suggested daily dosage is 18 mg.\n\nEven if you despise taking supplements or swallowing pills, remember there are now chewable and also gummy versions of most supplements. Nonetheless, these may not consist of as high of a dosage as tablet or capsule variations. Speak to your medical professional or a nutritional expert concerning the most effective brands as well as best supplements and doses for your particular requirements. Head to your regional vitamin store and also talk to their staff members concerning exactly what they advise based on exactly what you want to buy."}
-{"text": "Check out our new site Makeup Addiction\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nadd your own caption\n\nDoesn't get screwed over by textbook buy back Never Bought Them"}
-{"text": "Tottenham Hotspur\u2019s players were stunned yesterday to discover that the club\u2019s chairman, Daniel Levy, was paid more than \u00a36 million last season at a time when he is insisting that they accept pay restraint.\n\nThe chairman\u2019s remuneration of \u00a36.013 million in 2016-17 is roughly double that of any other Premier League chief executive and, at the equivalent of \u00a3115,000 a week, is higher than the basic salary of any of Tottenham\u2019s players, with Harry Kane the club\u2019s top earner on \u00a3100,000 a week.\n\nTottenham have refused to meet the salary demands of a number of their leading players, most recently Toby Alderweireld and Mousa Demb\u00e9l\u00e9, during increasingly tense contract negotiations, and the details of Levy\u2019s pay have caused disquiet in the dressing room. The size"}
-{"text": "Has leather been banned in India? Has meat been banned in India? Do Indian students admire Adolf Hitler and have his picture as the cover of their textbooks? Are Naxalites \u2018Gandhians with arms\u2019? Has the Indian state deployed its military against its own innocent citizens in Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Kashmir, Punjab, Goa and Telangana? These are a few of the wild assertions made by a fiction writer cum activist going by the infamous name \u2013 Arundhati Roy.\n\nTo be honest, Arundhati Roy is now considered a taboo and an untouchable even among liberal circles in India. The only audience which the deranged woman has in the country, to which she religiously caters to, is either belonging to the ultra-Left wing which keeps itself on a trip of \u2018armed revolution\u2019, or of course, the Islamist secessionists who would die for seeing the breakage of this country into bits and pieces.\n\nAs mentioned earlier, Arundhati Roy is not taken seriously even by the harshest critics of the BJP and Modi any longer. Consequently, the lady has been deprived of the attention she so desperately needs. Having exhausted her intellectual capacity to write any more substandard books, the only medium she now has to spew her venom is the ever-so-benevolently anti-India media, the likes of which include the BBC, New York Times, Al Jazeera, Washington Post, among others. The latest entrant being the German-based DW News.\n\nThis pretty and manipulative voice is good for bedtime stories only. Not fake news and propaganda.pic.twitter.com/XpggAYbGLx \u2014 Shubhangi Tiwari (@shubh19822) April 18, 2020\n\nGerman fundamentalists affected the Holocaust, massacring more than 6 million Jews. Completely irrelevant to the current subject, yet, let me take the luxury of stating this fact nevertheless.\n\nIn an interview with DW News, Arundhati Roy went on to loosely explain how India, under a tyrannical Modi and BJP rule, was at the cusp of organizing a \u201cgenocide against Muslims\u201d. She said that the COVID-19 crisis of India was not a crisis at all, rather an excuse for the present-day government to stigmatize Muslims and ultimately massacre them. Almost immediately, she also said that she did not trust the COVID-19 numbers put out by the government. Yes, even I am wondering what this lady smokes.\n\nRoy aims to drive home a point. She attempted to join non-existent dots, and claim that the stigmatization of Muslims comes on the backdrop of an \u201canti-Muslim massacre in Delhi\u201d. The massacre she is referring to here is the Delhi Riots, which took place in February, due to which close to 15 to 16 Hindus lost their lives. It must be remembered that Muslims had been putting up an irritating and inconvenient show, first at Delhi\u2019s Shaheen Bagh, and then in Jaffrabad.\n\nArundhati then goes on to explain how students, lawyers, journalists and intellectuals are being arrested in India. Mind you, the anchor taking the interview did not once ask any question of Roy, who was seen lying through her teeth. Perhaps the students she is referring to are the likes of Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid, who with each passing day, are setting new bars of remaining a student (technically so), despite their age. This does not come as a surprise, as these lowlives consider Roy their \u2018Godmother\u2019.\n\nRoy then went on to add, \u201cThe whole of the organization, the RSS to which Modi belongs, which is the mother ship of the BJP, has long said that India should be a Hindu nation. Its ideologues have likened the Muslims of India to the Jews of Germany. And if you look at the way in which they are using COVID, it was very much like typhus was used against the Jews to ghettoize them, to stigmatize them.\u201d\n\nEven by her own fallen standards, this is an extravagant exaggeration, not to mention an absolute lie. It is known for a fact that Islamists have been waging a war against India in these times of unprecedented crisis. Ahmedabad, Indore, Moradabad, Madhubani, Hyderabad, Agra, Ghaziabad are some cities and towns which saw physical, and life-endangering assaults on healthcare workers, medical teams and police personnel by Islamists. Were these incidents triggered by supposed hatred of Hindus against Muslims? No. These were bloodthirsty mobs of Islamists acting out of their free will to derail India\u2019s fight against COVID-19. Did Arundhati Roy even do so much as acknowledge these incidents? No. Because the lady is an insidious lying invertebrate, hateful against Hindus for not readily accepting subjugation by radicals of sorts.\n\nDoes Arundhati Roy care to mention the Tablighi Jamaat during her interview with that disgrace of a journalist hosting her? No. Because that would expose her duplicity, not to mention her ignorance. When it is a known fact that the Tablighi Jamaat contributed thousands of cases to India\u2019s COVID-19 tally, her not even mentioning the same, yet harping incessantly on the \u201canti-Muslim\u201d sentiment which Hindus supposedly have in their hearts, is a testimony to the deceitful personality of the Booker Prize winner.\n\nTowards the end of the \u2018interview\u2019, Roy also mentioned the \u201cdetention centres\u201d across the country, which I presume, she thinks will be used as gas chambers by the oh-so-tyrannical Modi. The question to be asked is, why do leftists always seem so keen to draw historical parallels between Germany and India, when there are no similarities between the two? Also, where exactly are these detention centres, and for what purpose have they been made? These are obvious queries which Roy ignored completely, and went on with her hyperbolic pitch of \u201cMuslims are about to be massacred\u201d in India.\n\nArundhati Roy, in the past, has gone to the extent of praising Pakistan, for at least not deploying its army against its own people, unlike what she thinks is happening in India, where the army is supposedly killing the citizens of this country on a daily basis. She also is an unequivocal supporter of Naxalism, which has cost India thousands of lives. On Kashmir, her inclinations are firmly positioned alongside the Hurriyat and the likes of Yasin Malik (with whom she shares a \u2018friendly\u2019 relationship of sorts). As such, it is no hard guess to conclude that she wants the secession of Kashmir from India. She has further repeatedly called for a referendum in the valley.\n\nArundhati Roy is considered the sole voice of triumphant truth from India in bogus far-Left kitty circles around the world. Her motivations are crystal clear, however, who funds them is not. There is no doubt that she and her \u201cZindabad Trust\u201d receive foreign funding from dubious fronts. Therefore, it is but necessary for the government and the MHA to take note of her crass anti-India propaganda and put the woman in her place, which would ideally be behind thick iron bars."}
-{"text": "Five Chinese kids get new ears grown in lab with their own cells\n\nworld\n\nUpdated: Jan 31, 2018 21:29 IST\n\nChinese scientists have given five children new ears that were grown in a laboratory using their own cells combined with a 3D-printed biodegradable mould.\n\nThe children, aged between six and nine years, were all born with a defect in one ear known as microtia, a condition in which the external ear is small and not formed properly.\n\nThe Chinese procedure, the first of its kind, helped the scientists do something that others involved in regenerative medicine have long been trying to achieve \u2013 growing a human organ in a lab that is fully compatible on being surgically implanted.\n\nThe scientists, who published their findings in the journal EBioMedicine this month, created reversed 3D-printed replicas of the children\u2019s normal ears and used the replicas to make biodegradable moulds full of tiny holes.\n\nThey then collected cartilage cells called chondrocytes from the children\u2019s deformed ears and used them to grow ear-shaped cartilage with the moulds in a lab.\n\nAfter three months, the ears grown in the lab were grafted on the children. Some of the children also underwent a procedure in which the skin of the deformed ears was stretched so that it could accommodate the mould.\n\nThe first surgery was performed two-and-a-half years ago and the latest two months ago. So far, the ears have not been rejected by the body and cartilage has continued to grow within the mould, resulting in more natural-looking ears. The shape and size of the new ear matched that of the normal ear.\n\nA diagram explaining the process used to grow the ears in a laboratory. ( Courtesy EBioMedicine )\n\n\u201cIn summary, we were able to successfully design, fabricate, and regenerate patient-specific external ears\u2026Nevertheless, further efforts remain necessary to eventually translate this prototype work into routine clinical practices,\u201d the scientists wrote in EBioMedicine.\n\nMicrotia can seriously influence the psychological and physiological well-being of affected children and the cosmetic treatments currently available involve grafting a synthetic ear, which can be rejected by the body, or an ear sculpted out of rib cartilage, which often does not look natural.\n\nThe approach adopted by the Chinese scientists is \u201cnot novel\u201d and has been around as an idea for some time, Tessa Hadlock, chief of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery at Massachusetts Eye and Ear in Boston, told CNN.\n\n\u201cSurgeons have been toying with the idea of removing cartilage tissue from a patient and distilling that tissue into individual cellular components and then expanding those cellular components. In other words, having the cells divide so you have a bigger piece or more cells to make a new part with,\u201d she said.\n\nThis has been done in animals for a long time, she added.\n\nHowever, Hadlock warned that the \u201cdangerous\u201d part of such an approach is removing cells from a human body and growing them in a lab, where \u201cyou have to apply stimulating compounds to the cells to get them to divide\u201d.\n\n\u201cWhen you apply those stimulating compounds, you are running the risk of allowing those cells to go haywire from a division standpoint. It\u2019s another way of saying that you can actually create like a cancerous type of uncontrolled growth,\u201d she said.\n\nLawrence Bonassar, a professor of biomedical engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, said it would also be difficult to scale up the process of creating moulds and growing the ears in a lab to help tens of thousands of children affected by microtia."}
-{"text": "CLEVELAND, Ohio -- For someone who has won three of them, LeBron James sure has been averse to the word \"championship\" this season.\n\nAs in, he hasn't really said it. In months. Until Monday night.\n\nHere's a little glimpse into how the sausage is made here on the Cavaliers beat. The writers who cover the team every day keep Google documents containing the transcript of every interview every player has given to groups of reporters after games, morning shootarounds, and practices.\n\nSo, basically anything outside of exclusive or TV or radio interviews, we have them. For James, the Google doc is 248 pages long, counting playoffs.\n\nJames this season, from the first day of training camp on, had never -- not once -- spoken of the Cavs as though he believed they had a legitimate chance to win a second NBA championship. He hadn't even said they could compete for one since March 1.\n\nAnd then, this happened. The Cavs swept the No. 1 Raptors. Bounced them right out of the playoffs with a 128-93 shellacking in Game 4.\n\nCleveland's back in the Eastern Conference finals for the fourth consecutive year; the eighth for James. And for once, James sounds like he is at least entertaining the possibility that the Cavs could in fact, maybe, be in the discussion for a championship.\n\n\"We're excited about being part of the Eastern Conference finals once again and having the opportunity to compete for a championship,\" James said. \"That is what our goal is. We're excited about that.\n\n\"We're humble about it.\"\n\nHe could say that again.\n\nThis has been the hardest of James' four seasons since he returned to Cleveland. Even the occasional reader of this space knows most of the ups and downs, the roster tumult, coach Tyronn Lue's illness, the bad defense, the near first-round disaster against Indiana.\n\nWe told you in January that numerous veterans felt the Cavs didn't have enough talent to win a championship. You surely surmised, based on how the information was presented, that James was among the doubters.\n\nWe reminded James at the end of the regular season that in every year since he came back, at least once before the playoffs started, he declared the Cavs fit to win a championship. Each of those seasons ended in the Finals, one with him hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy.\n\nHis response after the Cavs' last regular-season game: \"We're one of 16 teams that have a chance to win a championship.\"\n\nTranslation: We made the playoffs and that's all I have to say about that.\n\nWhat James said on Monday was not exactly a declaration that the Cavs would be boarding flights in June for Oakland, Calif. and taking the Warriors prisoner. But he is clearly starting to come around on a team that as recently as the middle of first round looked like it was incapable of helping him this postseason.\n\n\"As everyone was burying my teammates alive throughout that first-round series, I just continued to tell them, 'Listen, we can't win without each and everyone doing their job and being as great as they can be,'\" James said. \"It's impossible for me to lose confidence in our ballclub no matter what the stakes are or where we're down because if I do that then where are we going to go from a team aspect?\"\n\nJames' numbers these playoffs put him beyond reproach in almost any discussion. He averaged 34 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 11.3 assists against the Raptors, and overall in the postseason is averaging 34.3 points, 9.4 boards, and 9.0 assists. Not to mention, two game-winning shots.\n\nSo it's hard to make the argument that's coming next, but, through three games in the postseason, members of the Cavs' organization felt James wasn't engaged the way he usually is during the playoffs. The stats were good, but the extra level, the total domination of the game at both ends of the court, the look in his eye, it just wasn't there.\n\n\"Every time we come to the playoffs he has that edge,\" coach Tyronn Lue said after James' stunning, buzzer-beater of a shot that won Game 3 against the Raptors. \"Starting in the second round I could just see it.\"\n\nWhereas only Kevin Love averaged double-digit points alongside James in Round 1 (and Love was a mess in that round, too, averaging just 11.4 points and shooting .333), six players averaged at least 10 points against the Raptors.\n\nYes, Saturday Night Live made a skit poking fun at the lack of help from LeBron's teammates. They cut it from the show last weekend for time constraints.\n\nIt's not accurate anymore, anyway.\n\nLove gave the Cavs 20.5 points in this series. Kyle Korver scored 14.5 points per game. JR Smith contributed 12.5 points, Jeff Green scored 12.3 and George Hill chipped in with 10.3 points.\n\nHill missed basically 31/2 games of the Pacers series because of a back injury. Having him in the lineup unlocks Korver and Smith and unleashes the full powers of playing James at power forward because none of them has to bring the ball up the court on a regular basis.\n\nThe Cavs are also thrilled with themselves defensively, slapping fives over DeMar DeRozan's struggles in the series and because of their success in keeping anyone -- outside of Jonas Valanciunas -- from playing with consistency on offense.\n\n\"I think defensively in these 11 (playoff) games, we've been very, very, very good,\" James said. \"Offensively we're starting to pick up. We're starting to get a rhythm, we're starting to know what we're capable of offensively and what we can become.\"\n\nThe Cavs shot .595 from the field in Game 4 (50-of-84), tying a franchise playoff record. They averaged 118.5 points against the Raptors and shot .511 for the series (.411 from 3-point range). They averaged 24.3 assists and just 8.0 turnovers.\n\nCleveland's success on offense shouldn't be a surprise -- the team was ranked in the top five on offense all season, whether it was Dwyane Wade and Isaiah Thomas taking some of the shots or Jordan Clarkson and Rodney Hood.\n\nBut unlike any team entering the playoffs, the Cavs hadn't played a game together as a full squad. Deadline trades and injuries saw to that.\n\nThe Cavs won their first playoff game when Lue turned to Smith and Korver as starters. They won Game 7 when Tristan Thompson went from out of the rotation to starter -- giving Lue a lineup of all five players left from last year's Finals team, and the only four (LeBron, Love, Smith, Thompson) left from the 2016 championship team.\n\nHill and Green have earned their keep and their teammates' trust.\n\n\"I know Kev, Kev knows me, Tristan and J.R. and Kyle,\" James said. \"But everybody else we want to continue to learn and see if they can be as productive as they can be to help us be successful as a team. It's still a learning experience for us. The good thing about it, we have another round to continue to learn each other and try to get better.\"\n\nThe Cavs became the only team in NBA history to sweep a No. 1 seed out of the playoffs before the conference finals, since the league expanded to a 16-team format. Cleveland's knocked off the East's top team from the regular season in three of the last four years (the Cavs were the No. 1 seed in 2016).\n\nMany of the faces changed. The year was a trying one. A word familiar to Cavs fans over the past three years was taboo to James.\n\nBut he's warming to it."}
-{"text": "Intentar\u00e1n avanzar con el pedido del juez Bonadio contra la expresidenta\n\nGustavo Ybarra Comentar Me gusta Me gusta Compartir E-mail Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Guardar 20 de noviembre de 2018\n\nSin expectativas de \u00e9xito, Cambiemos intentar\u00e1 forzar hoy una sesi\u00f3n en el Senado para discutir el desafuero de Cristina Kirchner , pedido por el juez federal Claudio Bonadio en la causa por el encubrimiento del atentado contra la sede de la AMIA .\n\nLa reuni\u00f3n, convocada para las 16, va camino al fracaso. En el oficialismo no solo saben que no tendr\u00e1n el voto de los dos tercios de los presentes que se requieren para quitarle la inmunidad de arresto a la expresidenta, sino que son pesimistas sobre la posibilidad de reunir el quorum que habilite el debate.\n\nSin embargo, en algunas usinas pol\u00edticas no se descartaba ayer que el kirchnerismo baje al recinto a dar la discusi\u00f3n. De hecho, la propia expresidenta desafi\u00f3 al cuerpo a tratar su desafuero en diciembre del a\u00f1o pasado , en la primera sesi\u00f3n tras su regreso al Senado .\n\nEl pedido de sesi\u00f3n especial de Cambiemos tens\u00f3 las relaciones pol\u00edticas en la C\u00e1mara alta. En particular, provoc\u00f3 malestar y enojo en el Bloque Justicialista. El l\u00edder de la bancada, Miguel Pichetto (R\u00edo Negro), no anduvo con rodeos y acus\u00f3 al oficialismo de utilizar el tema para hacer pol\u00edtica. \"Vienen con esta pavada para continuar el tema y tener un titulito en el diario\", sentenci\u00f3.\n\nPichetto ratific\u00f3, adem\u00e1s, que su bloque no apoyar\u00e1 el desafuero de ning\u00fan legislador mientras no exista sentencia firme.\n\nEl presidente provisional del Senado, Federico Pinedo (Pro-Capital), defendi\u00f3 la decisi\u00f3n del oficialismo . \"Cambiemos adopt\u00f3 la posici\u00f3n de que si (el desafuero) lo pide un juez y lo confirma la C\u00e1mara, lo tenemos que votar a favor; y si el interesado no apela, tambi\u00e9n\", asegur\u00f3.\n\nPlazos\n\nEn esta causa, en la que investiga la firma del memor\u00e1ndum con Ir\u00e1n como parte de una maniobra para encubrir el atentado contra la AMIA, Bonadio les dict\u00f3 prisi\u00f3n preventiva a Cristina Kirchner, Luis D'El\u00eda y Carlos Zannini, entre otros. Pero los dos dirigentes apelaron y el Tribunal Federal Oral N\u00b0 8 les concedi\u00f3 la excarcelaci\u00f3n, adem\u00e1s de morigerar la car\u00e1tula de la causa.\n\nSin embargo, la expresidenta no apel\u00f3. \"Si ella quisiera pedir la excarcelaci\u00f3n podr\u00eda pedirla, pero si no lo quiere hacer nosotros no tenemos que defenderla m\u00e1s de lo que ella se defiende a s\u00ed misma\", explic\u00f3 Pinedo.\n\nOtro argumento del oficialismo para impulsar el debate es el vencimiento de los plazos para tratar el pedido. Seg\u00fan las cuentas de Cambiemos, esa ventana legal se cerrar\u00eda hoy.\n\nBonadio remiti\u00f3 su requerimiento al Senado el 7 de diciembre del a\u00f1o pasado. Tras permanecer frenado y sin tratamiento, a mediados de junio \u00faltimo Cambiemos y el PJ acordaron un mecanismo por el cual decidieron prolongar la vigencia del oficio a cambio de postergar su tratamiento en el recinto. Ahora, ante el inminente vencimiento de los plazos fijados entonces, lleg\u00f3 la hora de votar.\n\nConforme a los criterios de M\u00e1s informaci\u00f3n"}
-{"text": "On Saturday, French police intercepted a group of ten vacationers arriving at France\u2019s Cote d\u2019Azur on a private jet despite a travel ban.\n\nSince March 17, the French government has banned all non-essential travel in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19. Only those with an international travel certificate which attests that a journey is essential can enter France.\n\n\u201cThey were coming for a holiday in Cannes and three helicopters were waiting on the tarmac,\u201d a border police spokesperson told Agence France-Press. \u201cWe notified them they were not allowed to enter the national territory and they left four hours later.\u201d\n\nThe Embraer Legacy jet, chartered by a Croatian business man, arrived at the Marseille-Provence airport from London at 2pm on April 4, according to the French news channel BFMTV who spoke with local police. The group, consisting of seven men ages 40-50 and three women ages 24-27, had planned to get private helicopters to Cannes, where a rented luxury villa awaited them.\n\nAuthorities at the airport contacted the airport border control who fined the vacationers, along with the hired helicopter pilot, and sent them home, according BFMTV.\n\nCurrently, commercial flights have been significantly reduced but authorities are keeping a close eye on private jets, especially as rich vacationers look to travel to their second homes for the Easter long-weekend.\n\nThe Coronavirus Brief. Everything you need to know about the global spread of COVID-19 Please enter a valid email address. Sign Up Now Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.\n\nContact us at letters@time.com."}
-{"text": "Sanai is the California attorney who blew the whistle on Kozinski years before a series of articles in the Washington Post in December finally brought about the resignation of the former chief judge of the 9th Circuit Court over sexual harassment revelations. Sanai has long challenged the judiciary and was deemed a \u201cvexatious litigant\u201d by one trial court, an attempted designation that was overturned on appeal.\n\nSanai told the committee leadership that \u201cthere are persons who work for, or who have worked for, the federal judiciary who have important stories to tell about disgraced former Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, and his mentee, current United States Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. I know that there are people who wish to speak out but fear retaliation because I have been contacted by more than a half-dozen such persons since Judge Kozinski resigned in disgrace.\u201d\n\nThe top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee were both approached in July by an attorney claiming to have information relevant to the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. The attorney claimed in his letter that multiple employees of the federal judiciary would be willing to speak to investigators, but received no reply to multiple attempts to make contact, he told The Intercept.\n\nSince Kozinski\u2019s resignation, questions have been raised about what Kavanaugh knew or did about such behavior, given the close relationship between the two. Kavanaugh clerked for Kozinski in the 1990s, a post that led directly to his clerkship with Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who recommended Kavanaugh to President Donald Trump as his replacement. Kozinski and Kavanaugh remained close and both vetted prospective clerks for Kennedy.\n\nKozinski\u2019s son recently clerked for Kavanaugh.\n\nThe Sanai letter was overnighted and emailed to Grassley\u2019s office on July 25, and Sanai provided a copy of the receipt. He dropped the letter off by hand to Feinstein\u2019s office in West Los Angeles, he said, after being told over the phone that was the most efficient route to delivery.\n\nGrassley\u2019s spokesperson provided the following statement after publication:\n\nSenator Grassley\u2019s office received correspondence, which was also addressed to Sen. Feinstein, from Mr. Sanai in July. As we always do, the office reviewed the content and claims in the letter to determine how best to assess and use the information. The contents of the letter concerned the actions and behavior of former Judge Alex Kozinski and, to a lesser extent, his relationship with Judge Kavanaugh. This topic was discussed significantly at Judge Kavanaugh\u2019s hearing.\n\nFeinstein did not provided comment by the time of publication.\n\nDuring his confirmation hearings, Kavanaugh told the Judiciary Committee that he had no knowledge whatsoever of Kozinski\u2019s behavior and was stunned to learn of the misconduct allegations. \u201cWhen they became public, the first thought I had: No one should be subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace ever, including in the judiciary, especially in the judiciary,\u201d Kavanaugh said under oath during his confirmation hearing, responding to a question from Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. \u201cWhen I heard, it was a gut punch. It was a gut punch for me. It was a gut punch for the judiciary. I was shocked, and disappointed, angry, swirl of emotions.\u201d\n\nIn a follow up question, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, asked him to search his records and in a written response, he backed off his certainty, saying only, \u201cI do not remember receiving inappropriate emails of a sexual nature from Judge Kozinski.\u201d\n\nSanai told The Intercept that at least two federal employees had information to provide the committee about Kavanaugh, including one who spoke directly with Kavanaugh about it. Sanai said that he did not hold Kavanaugh responsible for Kozinski\u2019s behavior, but rather that his claim of ignorance was not credible and could be contradicted by witnesses. Kavanaugh\u2019s credibility has become a central issue in his confirmation, as he has \u201cunequivocally\u201d denied allegations that he sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford when both were in high school.\n\nApart from interviewing witnesses, Sanai also suggested that the Judiciary Committee \u201csubpoena all intra Court emails and messages between Kavanaugh and Kozinski and all emails to and from Kozinski with links to his website.\u201d\n\nThe fact that Kozinski hosted pornography on his website and forced some clerks to view it was one of the exposed behaviors that led to his resignation.\n\n\u201cThe only way these important stories can be told is if Congress moves the spotlight from abstract procedures and statements of intent to the judges who made the judiciary safe for Judge Kozinski to satisfy his deviant needs. If this Committee, or the Judiciary Committee, does so, I have assurances that more people will step forward,\u201d Sanai wrote.\n\nHe also mailed copies of the letter to Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Reps. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc., Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and Ted Lieu, D-Calif., he said, but can\u2019t be sure that they received them.\n\nFeinstein and Grassley, he said, were the only two he made sure received the letter. \u201cI spent quite a bit of time trying to get Feinstein to address it,\u201d he said.\n\nFeinstein was also contacted in July by Ford, a California professor who said that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her while both were in high school.\n\n\u201cI am writing with information relevant in evaluating the current nominee to the Supreme Court. As a constituent, I expect that you will maintain this as confidential until we have further opportunity to speak. Brett Kavanaugh physically and sexually assaulted me during high school in the early 1980\u2019s,\u201d Ford wrote to Feinstein on July 30. \u201cI have received medical treatment regarding the assault. On July 6 I notified my local government representative\u201d \u2014 Anna Eshoo \u2014 \u201cto ask them how to proceed with sharing this information. It is upsetting to discuss sexual assault and its repercussions, yet I felt guilty and compelled as a citizen about the idea of not saying anything. I am available to speak further should you wish to discuss.\u201d\n\nThe New Yorker\u2019s Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer later reported that after her dealings with Feinstein\u2019s and Eshoo\u2019s offices, Ford stepped back. Feinstein, Farrow reported, \u201cacted out of a sense that Democrats would be better off focussing on legal, rather than personal, issues in their questioning of Kavanaugh.\u201d\n\nAfter the interactions with Eshoo\u2019s and Feinstein\u2019s offices, the woman decided not to speak about the matter publicly. She had repeatedly reported the allegation to members of Congress and, watching Kavanaugh move toward what looked like an increasingly assured confirmation, she decided to end her effort to come forward, a source close to the woman said. Feinstein\u2019s office did not respond to requests for comment. Feinstein\u2019s decision to handle the matter in her own office, without notifying other members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, stirred concern among her Democratic colleagues. For several days, Feinstein declined requests from other Democrats on the Judiciary Committee to share the woman\u2019s letter and other relevant communications.\n\nFord\u2019s attorney Debra Katz has since said that Feinstein handled the situation as well as she could have. \u201cWe do think that Feinstein did well by her, and we do think that people took this decision away from her, and that\u2019s wrong,\u201d Katz said. \u201cIf the #MeToo era teaches us anything, it\u2019s that a person gets to choose when, where and how, and now this person is going to be injected into a life-altering blood bath.\u201d"}
-{"text": "Brazilian forces will deploy to fight Amazon fires World leaders at the G-7 summit could be ready to declare the raging wildfires burning in the Amazon rainforest an international crisis. After dragging his feet for a few days, Brazil's president appears to be responding to the worldwide uproar by adding more boots to the firefight. Brazilian forces will deploy starting Saturday to border areas, indigenous territories and other affected regions. Brazil contains about 60% of the Amazon rainforest. The forest not only produces one-fifth of the planet's oxygen, but is also considered crucial in the effort to contain global warming. Kenneth Craig reports."}
-{"text": "Akiko Matsuda\n\namatsuda@lohud.com\n\nThrough early January, reporters will be looking back at and following up on stories and topics that were the most popular with our readers in 2016, according to metrics on lohud.com. This story is part of that series.\n\nThe flurry of activity that comes with the spring housing market felt different this year in certain areas of Rockland.\n\nResidents in some sections of Ramapo and surrounding communities began complaining on social media and at public meetings that they were being targeted by overzealous real estate solicitations, both in person and by mail, by people trying to encourage them to put their homes on the market.\n\nIn the months since, combating those unwanted solicitations has become a top priority for many local officials and communities.\n\nDoor-to-door real estate solicitations aren't new in Ramapo, where ultra-Orthodox Jewish families have been expanding their presence year after year.\n\nBut some homeowners said that things had gotten out of control, and that they felt threatened, calling the real estate activity \"blockbusting.\" The term was originally used to refer to real estate agents' tactics in the 1950s to induce property owners to sell hastily at low prices out of fear that racial minorities would soon be moving into their neighborhoods.\n\nLocal real estate agents denied using such tactics.\n\nORIGINAL REPORT: 'Blockbusting' pressures Rockland homeowners\n\nLEGISLATION: 'Do not knock' laws gain momentum in Rockland\n\nHEARING: Residents share 'blockbusting' stories\n\nORANGETOWN: 'Do Not Knock' registry launched to fend off solicitors\n\n'No-knock' laws\n\nIn response to the public outcry, however, several local municipalities took steps to strengthen their solicitation ordinances. Many of them established \"no-knock\" registries, where homeowners declare their homes off limits to solicitors.\n\n\"It's very effective and very popular,\" said Orangetown Supervisor Andy Stewart, who spearheaded the effort to establish Rockland's first \"no-knock\" ordinance, which included creation of a no-knock registry. \"There was a lot of political support for it.\"\n\nSince the law became effective in April, a total of 2,100 Orangetown homeowners have registered and have received orange-colored \"do-not-knock\" decals for their doors, he said.\n\nJanice Harrison, 81, of Pearl River was one of them.\n\n\"There were people coming around, knocking on doors, soliciting. And I don\u2019t want that,\" she said.\n\nThe town of Clarkstown's no-knock ordinance went into effect June 27. Since then, about 3,450 households have signed up via the town's website and by calling the Town Attorney's Office at 845-639-2060, said Deputy Town Attorney Leslie Kahn.\n\n\"I have seen a significant decrease in complaints about solicitors\" since the law took effect, Kahn said.\n\nThe villages of Airmont and Montebello also followed suit. Airmont village Mayor Philip Gigante said the new system has been a success.\n\n\"I haven\u2019t received any complaints since\" the registry was enacted in July, Gigante said. \"The only complaint came from someone who hasn\u2019t listed their name in the list.\"\n\nThe village of Chestnut Ridge opted against creating a no-knock registry, but the village amended its solicitation ordinance to require real estate solicitors to apply for a permit. The village has made \"do-not-knock\" decals available for residents, and solicitation permit holders are required to respect the sign, said Mayor Rosario Presti.\n\n\"Those folks who were being bothered by (solicitors), they can put the decal on their door,\" Presti said.\n\nIn addition to towns and villages, Rockland County Legislator Laurie Santulli, R-Congers, has been drafting a countywide no-knock ordinance.\n\n\"If more and more towns and villages pass (local ordinances), it might not be necessary,\" Santulli said. \"But right now, I still feel it\u2019s necessary.\"\n\nCease and desist\n\nWhile no-knock measures appear to be having their intended effect, grassroots groups such as Citizens United to Protect Our Neighborhoods and local officials still believe more action should be taken.\n\nWith the help of their state representatives, they contacted the state Secretary of State, who has the authority to create a \u201ccease and desist zone\" to prevent unwanted real estate solicitations on a wider basis.\n\nThe Department of State held a public hearing on the issue in September, where residents shared their experiences of aggressive home buyers knocking on their doors.\n\nThe department has not taken any further steps to date. Laz Benitez, spokesman for the Department of State, said the agency is \"still receiving and reviewing comments on this matter as it performs its due diligence.\"\n\nStewart and Gigante argue the state intervention is needed because local municipalities have no control over real estate solicitations by mail, fliers and phone calls.\n\n\"I think it would be a good idea,\" Gigante said. \"I think it would strengthen our effort.\"\n\nBut real estate agents say \"do-not-knock\" laws should be enough to protect homeowners.\n\n\"If do-not-knock law is put into place, that stops everybody from knocking unless the person invites them to do so. To me, that\u2019s the way that makes the most sense,\" said Roberta Bangs, licensed associate real estate broker with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Rand Realty and a board member of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors.\n\nBangs noted that the state's regulation, if enacted, would extend only to real estate professionals. That would keep real estate agents from conducting legitimate marketing efforts, while not banning non-professionals from knocking on doors, she said.\n\nEarly adopter\n\nThere are no active cease-and-desist zones in New York at this point, but there are some in New Jersey. In February, the township of Toms River established two zones in the northern township to protect residents from aggressive real estate solicitations.\n\nThe township shares its northern border with Lakewood, New Jersey's fastest growing municipality thanks to ultra-Orthodox Jewish families moving there from Brooklyn and beyond.\n\nWhen real estate solicitations intensified in recent years, the township first amended its existing no-knock law to include real estate solicitations. The number of people on the list increased from less than 1,000 to 9,000, said Toms River Mayor Thomas Kelaher.\n\nBut the no-knock registry alone wasn't enough to control the situation because not all homeowners signed up, said Assistant Township Attorney Anthony Merlino.\n\nWithout a wider ban, \"Canvassers are still in and out of your neighborhood, driving through the streets, walking around, standing at the edge of your driveway,\" Merlino said.\n\nUnlike New York, New Jersey does not have state legislation that allows for creating a cease and desist zone \u2014 so using the New York state law as a model, Toms River drafted its own ordinance. After holding a hearing, town officials determined that two sections of the township had been experiencing \"intense, incessant, and intimidating direct solicitation of real estate, which have given rise to credible incidents of blockbusting and led to an overall deterioration of the quality of life.\"\n\nKelaher emphasized that the measure addresses \"strictly the type of conduct that became so threatening and so offensive to our residents\" and said it has nothing to do with religion.\n\nThe cease and desist zones will be in effect for five years.\n\nUnlike New York state's law, Toms River's ordinance does not ban mailings and phone calls. Still, the number of complaints about aggressive solicitations has drastically decreased, Kelaher said.\n\nWhile it's hard to quantify the law's efficacy, Kelaher said, one resident in the affected area recently told him that real estate solicitations have dropped by 75 percent.\n\n\"Probably, there\u2019s some truth to it,\u201d he said.\n\nTwitter: @LohudAkiko"}
-{"text": "The Present\n\nReviewed by Colin Pantall, published on Thursday, May 17, 2012\n\n\u2014Colin Pantall\n\nThe first thing you notice about Paul Graham\ufffds new book, The Present , is the cover. It\ufffds silk; if the light shines one way it\ufffds brown, it shines the other way and it\ufffds golden. Two views in one.Flip open the book, and the cover is replicated over 114 pages set out in a series of diptychs and triptychs, all shot on the streets of Manhattan. So you open the book and see a picture. Flip a page or open a gatefold and another image appears, remarkably similar to the first. So you look back at the first and start to notice the differences. Then you go on to the next picture and repeat the process. Looking at the book, turning the pages, opening the gatefolds builds up a rhythm. Turn, look, fold, look back and then repeat. Give the book to somebody else and most of the time you get the same rhythm. You can hear people looking at the book, taking in what Graham wants us to see.And what he wants us to see is the antithesis of the decisive moment and the spectacle of the urban experience. Instead we get a very contemporary contingency, a street with moments so decisively indecisive that we don\ufffdt really know what we are looking at or looking for.Everything is shot in middle-distance Graham-vision and together the pictures form an awkward shifting narrative that is photographic in intent and execution. Maybe this is a homage to Friedlander, Frank and Winogrand, but it\ufffds with the proviso that Graham is doing something completely different. He is not so much showing us something as posing a question; what do we look at when we look at a photograph? So if we look at the first diptych, in one picture we see the Heineken truck in the foreground, flip the gatefold open and the truck has gone and we get the Manhattan skyline. In another pair we see an elderly couple walking across busy road, time moves on, the focus changes and we get a girl in a red and white vest standing on a manhole cover. In another diptych, a man with a cane walks across the middle of the frame. A few seconds later, two policemen stand in his place, one looking directly at the camera. A few steps change who and what we look at.There are a fair few hostile glances in The Present , and a fair bit of blindness, disability, poverty and wealth. We can see what other people would do with the pictures, the characters that Winogrand or Evans or Gilden or diCorcia would pick out, deliberately or otherwise.But Graham doesn\ufffdt isolate and iconicize his subjects, instead he remakes them in his own image. And that is what makes the book more than just an interesting footnote; the fact that the pictures don\ufffdt look like anyone else\ufffds. Graham\ufffds New York is a bit crappy for a start, an anti-nostalgic place that is run-down and anonymous. It looks pretty much like any other run down place. The people are the same. They\ufffdre not glamorous or striking or eccentric, but rather they\ufffdre harried, harassed and distant; no relationships were struck in the making of this book. These people could be anywhere; they stride purposefully along streets that hold no attractions to jobs that hold no attractions, their faces set into grimaces of urban stress. They walk along cold and uninviting sidewalks, past tired, functional shops and facades. There is a poverty of experience and environment here, an existence that appears deprived environmentally, emotionally and culturally. That\ufffds the narrative; it\ufffds a miserable life. Welcome to the Present."}
-{"text": "This is a guest post by Victoria Ross.\n\nBitcoin was embraced by many for its libertarian ideals of economic liberty and individual sovereignty. But it has now effectively been dragged into the current, and very public, privacy debate between Apple and the FBI.\n\nLast week, President Barack Obama said he believes a balance must be sought between privacy and security. As one example of the risks of strong encryption, and seemingly referring to cryptocurrencies, Obama pointed out that if government can\u2019t access phones, \u201ceverybody is walking around with a Swiss bank account in their pocket.\u201d\n\nTo find out where Bitcoin\u2019s industry representatives stand on this issue, Bitcoin Magazine reached out to Bitcoin Foundation director Bruce Fenton Coin Center director of research Peter Van Valkenburgh, and senior fellow at the libertarian think tank Cato institute and former Bitcoin Foundation board member Jim Harper.\n\nEncryption and Law Enforcement\n\nThe current debate on encryption started when recent acts of terrorism in San Bernardino, California brought about a highly publicized showdown between Apple and the FBI.\n\nAfter a San Bernardino couple, Syed Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people, the FBI found Farook\u2019s iPhone 5C was locked with a password and data encrypted. The action of the FBI to seek the decryption from the terrorist Farook\u2019s iPhone brought Apple into the California district court of Judge Sheri Pym, who ruled Apple should offer \u201creasonable technical assistance\u201d to law enforcement, and must provide a tool that would allow federal agents to beat a security feature that prevents the phone from erasing after some failed unlocking attempts.\n\nApple CEO Tim Cook, however, worries that creating a patch to enable entry through a back door threatens the ability to maintain privacy for its hundreds of millions of customers worldwide.\n\nThis sentiment was echoed by Bitcoin industry representatives.\n\nBitcoin Foundation director Bruce Fenton \u2013 who also organizes the industry\u2019s Satoshi Roundtable \u2013 took over as director of the foundation last year.\n\nSpeaking to Bitcoin Magazine, he stated:\n\n\u201cThere are those who believe privacy is a right and there are those who believe that it is not. I don\u2019t support efforts to erode privacy under claims of defense from imaginary threats.\u201d\n\nJim Harper, who at Cato works to adapt law and policy to the information age, wholeheartedly agreed.\n\n\u201cWeakening encryption for terrorism investigations, money laundering prevention and tax collection would cost more in lost security for everyone than it would benefit us through greater security, crime control and fattened government coffers,\u201d Harper said. \u201cI\u2019ve personally been working for several years to strengthen Fourth Amendment doctrine in the Supreme Court. My work may help courts recognize that conscripting Apple into writing code that breaks its security is a Fourth Amendment seizure of Apple\u2019s resources, and an unreasonable one.\u201d\n\nImplications for Bitcoin\n\nSeveral Bitcoin wallet apps currently offer \u201czero knowledge security\u201d which ensures user data by generating private keys completely client side.\n\nBut what happens if Pandora\u2019s Box is opened? What if encryption is weakened or even broken by state agencies?\n\nZeid Ra\u2019ad al-Hussein, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, sees trying to break the encryption protecting one phone as having \u201cextremely damaging implications\u201d for the rights of many millions of people worldwide, with possible effects on their physical and financial security.\n\nObama, meanwhile, seemed to suggest that this kind of financial security should in fact not be absolute. He believes a balance must be struck, suggesting encryption should be weakened to allow government agencies access to encrypted phones in certain cases.\n\nPeter Van Valkenburgh, director of research at Coin Center, doubts any technical trade-offs are possible at all.\n\n\u201cYou can\u2019t weaken encryption,\u201d he explained. \u201cYou can only weaken the ability of American companies to compete in the development of secure technologies, and the ability of law-abiding American citizens to have secure tools. If Americans don\u2019t build and maintain these tools, then people in other countries or in the underground economy will. Outlawing the use or development of these tools will only hasten the demise of our legitimate institutions as they would continually fail to compete with international or extralegal institutions that are not hobbled by impractical restrictions.\u201d\n\nBut what if it is indeed technically possible to completely shut state agencies out of phones? Should that be considered a problem? Should we as a society be concerned about citizens walking around with Swiss bank accounts in their pockets, as Obama suggested?\n\nFenton doesn\u2019t believe so.\n\n\u201cMy first reaction to the president\u2019s statement was: \u2018So what?\u2019 Why should the federal government care if people have a bank account in their pocket? That is a technological achievement, and, in itself, is nothing close to a crime that government should be concerned with,\u201d Fenton said.\n\nHe added:\n\n\u201cIt is concerning when politicians reach far from concerns about crimes that have actual victims to areas which are more about restricting freedom than protecting citizens. I think we do need to worry about the trend of government officials who push the idea that citizens having privacy and control of their own money is somehow a bad thing. It\u2019s only in recent years, with the proliferation of credit cards and online banking, that government has become so presumptive about their rights to our privacy. I think this is much more dangerous than whatever drawbacks that privacy may have.\u201d\n\nTax Implications\n\nThe main reason Obama used the Swiss bank analogy is probably tax evasion. Using Bitcoin, it becomes increasingly easy for users to hide vast amounts of wealth, which enables citizens to avoid certain forms of tax evasion.\n\nIndustry representatives actually shared this concern \u2013 or at least believe the concern is valid.\n\nThough, according to Fenton:\n\n\u201cThe tail should not wag the dog regarding taxes and Bitcoin. Commerce, innovation and jobs come first. The IRS for decades had to deal with cash-based economies where it was very difficult to track real income and revenue. They should adjust and do whatever they need to do to adapt to new technology; we should not delay or impede innovation for concern that the IRS may have a harder job.\u201c\n\nHarper believes potential tax evasion issues will eventually call for alternative solutions.\n\n\u201cIn decades or perhaps even a century, Bitcoin or successor currencies and transaction mechanisms may narrow the field of taxable transactions,\u201d he said. \u201cFully digital transactions will be too fluid to catch or may lack a recognizable physical jurisdiction. This will push tax collection toward physical things like housing, durable goods, and disposable goods. It\u2019s all a long way off, though, I\u2019ll emphasize.\u201d\n\nMoney Laundering\n\nAnother problem often brought up regarding Bitcoin is money laundering. Increased anonymity and the inability of law enforcement to block or regulate the flow of funds enables criminals to use Bitcoin for nefarious purposes.\n\nFenton:\n\n\u201cPeople like New York State\u2019s former Superintendent of Financial Services Ben Lawsky, who\u2019s responsible for the BitLicense, seem to take it as a given and indisputable fact that money laundering is a horrible crime. I challenge that notion. In most cases of money laundering there is no clear victim, no person or people who were actually harmed. Opportunists make the leap of saying that things like terrorism will be more prevalent because of money laundering, but this is hogwash. Terrorism is more of a risk because of things like bad foreign policy than money laundering. Could technologies like Bitcoin make life easier for criminals? Of course. Just as shoes, the Internet and mobile phones do. New technologies make things easier for everyone. Regulators and thief supporters would be better off spending time focusing on violators of the law than on technologies.\u201d\n\nHarper agreed:\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t worry about degrading governments\u2019 power to curtail money laundering because it is a regulatory crime, not a genuine wrong. Money laundering controls probably cost more in compliance expense and curtailed trade (especially internationally) than they provide in security, crime control and quality-of-life benefits. We\u2019re worse off as a society because of money laundering laws and the financial surveillance that supports them.\u201d\n\nAs such, the question is what the Bitcoin community can do to protect itself against potential weakening of encryption or breaches of security. Should Bitcoin companies and users accept certain trade-offs, or should they move to protect themselves?\n\nHarper prefers the latter.\n\n\u201cOur best defense is going to be shifting to open source, non-proprietary communications and transaction tools. Such tools don\u2019t have a head office that can be bought off, bullied, or required by law to render themselves insecure. It\u2019s going to be hard to make that shift, but there\u2019s no time like the present to get started,\u201d he said.\n\nThanks to Aaron van Wirdum for help with this article."}
-{"text": "Presidential polls in Cyprus were inconclusive on Sunday, with no candidate winning an overall majority, forcing a runoff on 4 February between the incumbent, Nicos Anastasiades, and Stavros Malas, a communist-backed former health minister.\n\nAnastasiades, leader of the conservative Democratic Rally (Disy) party, came in first with 35.50% of the vote but fell short of the 50% required to win outright. In a repeat of the island\u2019s last presidential election, he now faces Malas, who ran as an independent with the support of the Progressive Party of Working People (Akel). The geneticist won 30.35%, sparking scenes of jubilation among supporters.\n\nThe Diko party leader, Nikolas Papadopoulos, whose nationalist views are seen as anathema by ethnic Greeks still hoping to unite war-divided Cyprus, trailed with 25.74%. \u201cI know a lot of friends feel bitter and disappointed, so do I,\u201d he said once the results were announced.\n\nHis failure to make it into the second round was greeted with relief by voters desperate to bridge the divide with their Turkish Cypriot compatriots. The European Union\u2019s most easterly member state, Cyprus has been partitioned since a rightwing coup for union with Greece prompted Turkey to invade in 1974.\n\n\u201cTwo-thirds of Greek Cypriots went for candidates who openly support a federal settlement,\u201d said the bi-communal lobby group Unite Cyprus Now.\n\nAnastasiades, 71, campaigned for re-election promising to re-energise the stalled peace process. UN-mediated talks aimed at uniting Cypriots in a bizonal federation collapsed amid anger and mutual recrimination last July but still came closer than ever before to success.\n\nFacebook Twitter Pinterest Stavros Malas, who finished with 30.5%, ran as an independent with the support of the leftwing Akel party. Photograph: Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters\n\nAkel also backs rapprochement with Turkish Cypriots living on the other side of a UN-patrolled \u201cgreen line\u201d in the island\u2019s north. \u201cThe people have spoken,\u201d said Malas. \u201cWe turn a new page looking to the future with optimism, confidence and determination,\u201d he added, before congratulating Turkish Cypriots for marching in favour of peace and democracy after Turkish nationalists attacked a pro-reunification newspaper, Afrika, last week.\n\nThe electoral outcome unleashes a week of political horsetrading. The far-right Elam party, which emerged in fourth place with 5.56%, said it would send a questionnaire to both candidates before deciding who it would endorse in the second round. The ultra-nationalists have close links to the neo-fascist Golden Dawn, Greece\u2019s fourth-largest political force.\n\nRevelling in the party\u2019s success, its leader, Christos Christou, said: \u201cThey should be sure that no one will ever be able to mock the patriotic front.\u201d\n\nNine candidates competed in the all-male race for the five-year presidency.\n\nAfter a lacklustre campaign where the national issue took second place to the economy, voter apathy also emerged victorious with only 395,915 voters casting ballots. More than 550,000 citizens were eligible."}
-{"text": "Urban League Rejects Request To Help BPD On Drug Surveillance\n\nSome residents of the Seton Hill neighborhood are upset with leaders of the Baltimore Urban League, after they refused to let city police use the Urban League headquarters on Orchard Street as a surveillance point to monitor drug dealing in the surrounding neighborhood including an apartment complex nearby.\n\nThe urban league's CEO, Tiffany Majors, received the request from City Councilman Eric Costello.\n\nShe said she found the request unusual, telling The Baltimore Sun, \"I'm not interested whatsoever in using our space, which is a safe space for marginalized communities, for your police hub.\"\n\nMajors told the newspaper that Seton Hill residents and others helped by the nonprofit don't trust police. A number of Seton Hill residents called into the C4 Show Wednesday to complain about the urban league's decision.\n\nA caller named Donna, who lives in the neighborhood, said Majors went against the wishes of the neighborhood association and others in the area who have complained about crime.\n\n\"When she did this, it was almost as she was saying we're fine with it,\" Donna told C4.\n\nWhen reached by WBAL, Majors said she is not available for comment. Costello also declined to comment."}
-{"text": "The Strictly Limited Games-published physical collector\u2019s edition of Sayonara UmiharaKawase++ for PS Vita will be available to order on November 18 for \u20ac49.99 via the Strictly Limited Games online store, the company announced. Only 999 units will be produced.\n\nA physical standard edition of Sayonara UmiharaKawase++ will be available to order on November 25 for \u20ac29.99.\n\nHere is an overview of the game, via Strictly Limited Games:"}
-{"text": "When a $60 billion company like Hewlett Packard mentions entering a new market, like their CEO Meg Whitman did a few months ago, people take notice. The 3D printing space is set up perfectly for significant growth, with or without the entrance of a giant, like Hewlett Packard stepping in. When Whitman announced that the company was working on 3D printing technology of their own, which will not only be ready sometime this year, but also solve two key problems that have yet to be resolved within the industry, a deluge of theories suddenly were presented by the media.\n\nSpeculation on just what the company may be working on, who they will compete with, and how significant their research has been, can be found all over the internet. I\u2019m sure the CEO\u2019s of the various large 3D printing firms, like 3D Systems and Stratasys are keenly watching each step made by HP. In fact Avi Reichenthal, the CEO of 3D Systems, specifically stated that he was worried about what HP was up to within the space. As we get closer to Meg Whitman revealing her ultimate plans, little details have slowly been emerging, giving us some clues as to what the company may announce later this year.\n\nThe Giant 3D Printer At Hewlett Packards Research Facility\n\nWired magazine was lucky enough to get invited to HP\u2019s famous Palo Alto research lab, where they met with the man in charge, CTO and director of HP Labs, Martin Fink. Fink showed them a gigantic 3D printer that HP had been working on. It was 5 feet tall, and made out of custom built equipment which Fink would not provide many details on. The printer used a polymer which was stored in a container measuring approximately 8 inches long and 5 inches high. The polymer was as closely guarded as the actual 3D printing technology being used. When asked by Wired about the polymer Fink stated, \u201cWe want to have smooth parts and we want to have resilient parts. Part of the technology breakthrough is the material.\u201d\n\nFink was very clear in stressing that he believes that consumers will be using high grade, expensive 3D printers offered as a service by companies like FedEx, rather than purchasing a printer for their homes. The at home 3D printers,which cost $2000 or so, usually only print out rough objects, taking several hours to print an object the size of a human fist. One would think that this is a clear indication that HP will not directly be competing with any of the consumer level 3D printers offered by the Makerbots and Ultimakers of the world, but not so fast\u2026..\n\nThe Senior Product Manager of 3D Printing At HP\n\nQuote request Are you looking to buy a 3D printer or 3D scanner? We're here to help. Get free expert advice and quotes from trusted suppliers in your area. Powered by Aniwaa\n\nJust when you thought that HP would likely be staying away from the consumer based 3D printing market, one of their Senior product managers, of 3D printing nonetheless, has indicated indirectly that this may not be the case. Elena Terraz, the product manager, working at the Barcelona office, indicated the following information on her linkedin profile, regarding her experience within the 3D printing space for HP:\n\nSole Strategic Marketing resource for identifying and analyzing new business strategies for HP to address the emerging 3D Printing market. Covering market intelligence, market analysis, market strategy, sizing, partner management, product definition. Defined HP strategy for both professional and consumer 3D printing, presented proposal to upper management.\n\nSure, maybe this is nothing. Perhaps Terraz simply proposed a strategy for consumer based 3D printing to management, only to ultimately have them turn that proposal down. Perhaps her proposal was simply to \u201cstay out of the consumer 3D printing market\u201d. We don\u2019t know, but it certainly is clear that HP has been interested in both the professional and consumer sides of the market. The other possibility is that \u201cconsumer 3D printing,\u201d may pertain to consumers who utilize a professional grade printer as a service.\n\nUltimately we will likely have to wait another 3-6 months to see what the company is up to, but as we get closer to their announcement the big picture is slowly unfolding before our eyes. Feel free to participate in the discussion at 3DPB.com about which companies will come out on top within the 3D printing space.\n\nPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus."}
-{"text": "From Quanta Magazine (find original story here).\n\nSome years ago, when Jennifer Pluznick was nearing the end of her training in physiology and sensory systems, she was startled to discover something in the kidneys that seemed weirdly out of place. It was a smell receptor, a protein that would have looked more at home in the nose. Given that the kidneys filter waste into urine and maintain the right salt content in the blood, it was hard to see how a smell receptor could be useful there. Yet as she delved deeper into what the smell receptor was doing, Pluznick came to a surprising conclusion: The kidney receives messages from the gut microbiome, the symbiotic bacteria that live in the intestines.\n\nIn the past few years, Pluznick, who is now an associate professor of physiology at Johns Hopkins University, and a small band of like-minded researchers have put together a picture of what the denizens of the gut are telling the kidney. They have found that these communiqu\u00e9s affect blood pressure, such that if the microbes are destroyed, the host suffers. The researchers have uncovered a direct, molecular-level explanation of how the microbiome conspires with the kidneys and the blood vessels to manipulate the flow of blood.\n\nThe smell receptor, called Olfr78, was an orphan at first: It had previously been noticed in the sensory tissues of the nose, but no one knew what specific scent or chemical messenger it responded to. Pluznick began by testing various chemical possibilities and eventually narrowed down the candidates to acetate and propionate. These short-chain fatty acid molecules come from the fermentation breakdown of long chains of carbohydrates\u2014what nutritionists call dietary fiber. Humans, mice, rats and other animals cannot digest fiber, but the bacteria that live in their guts can.\n\nAs a result, more than 99 percent of the acetate and propionate that floats through the bloodstream is released by bacteria as they feed. \u201cAny host contribution is really minimal,\u201d Pluznick said. Bacteria are therefore the only meaningful source of what activates Olfr78\u2014which, further experiments showed, is involved in the regulation of blood pressure.\n\nOur bodies must maintain a delicate balance with blood pressure, as with electricity surging through a wire, where too much means an explosion and too little means a power outage. If blood pressure is too low, an organism loses consciousness; if it\u2019s too high, the strain on the heart and blood vessels can be deadly. Because creatures are constantly flooding their blood with nutrients and chemical signals that alter the balance, the control must be dynamic. One of the ways the body exerts this control is with a hormone called renin, which makes blood vessels narrower when the pressure needs to be kept up. Olfr78, Pluznick and her colleagues discovered, helps drive the production of renin.\n\nHow did a smell receptor inherit this job? The genes for smell receptors are present in almost every cell of the body. If in the course of evolution these chemical sensors hooked up to the machinery for manufacturing a hormone rather than to a smell neuron, and if that connection proved useful, evolution would have preserved the arrangement, even in parts of the body as far from the nose as the kidneys are.\n\nOlfr78 wasn\u2019t the end of the story, however. While the team was performing these experiments, they realized that another receptor called Gpr41 was getting signals from the gut microbiome as well. In a paper last year, Pluznick\u2019s first graduate student, Niranjana Natarajan, now a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, revealed the role of Gpr41, which she found on the inner walls of blood vessels. Like Olfr78, Gpr41 is known to respond to acetate and propionate\u2014but it lowers blood pressure rather than raising it. Moreover, Gpr41 starts to respond at low levels of acetate and propionate, while Olfr78 kicks in only at higher levels.\n\nHere\u2019s how the pieces fit together: When you\u2014or a mouse, or any other host organism whose organs and microbes talk this way\u2014have a meal and dietary fiber hits the gut, bacteria feed and release their fatty-acid signal. This activates Gpr41, which ratchets down the blood pressure as all the consumed nutrients flood the circulation.\n\nIf you keep eating\u2014a slice of pie at Thanksgiving dinner, another helping of mashed potatoes\u2014Gpr41, left to itself, might bring the pressure down to dangerous levels. \u201cWe think that is where Olfr78 comes in,\u201d Pluznick said. That receptor, triggered as the next surge of fatty acids arrives, keeps blood pressure from bottoming out by calling for renin to constrict the blood vessels.\n\nThe new understanding of how symbiotic bacteria manipulate blood pressure is emblematic of wider progress in linking the microbiome to our vital statistics and health. While vague statements about the microbiome\u2019s effect on health have become commonplace in recent years, the field has moved beyond simply making associations, said Jack Gilbert, a microbiome researcher at the University of Chicago.\n\n\u201cEverybody goes on about the promise,\u201d he said. But in fact, studies full of mechanistic details, like the ones Pluznick, her collaborators and other researchers have published, have been growing more and more numerous.\n\nIn June of last year, the National Institutes of Health convened a working group on the microbiome\u2019s control of blood pressure. Researchers met in Maryland to thrash out what important questions still need to be answered, including what role the host\u2019s genetic background plays\u2014whether, for instance, the microbiome matters more for some hosts than for others.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of excitement [about] getting more data,\u201d said Bina Joe, a professor of physiological genomics and the director of the Center for Hypertension and Personalized Medicine at the University of Toledo. If you look at PubMed, she continued, there are more reviews of the microbiome literature than research papers. The review articles get new researchers interested\u2014but there are still more details to hammer out.\n\nUnderstanding those details is key to knowing whether transplanting a certain set of microbes into someone can reshape the recipient\u2019s biology enough to cure a health problem, as some proponents of personalized medicine hope. One famous early study showed that giving lean mice the microbiome of an obese human made them obese too, while the microbiome of lean humans kept the mice lean. \u201cThere\u2019s one paper that came out earlier this year \u2026 that showed that maybe this can happen with blood pressure as well,\u201d Pluznick said, though she cautioned that the study was small and needed follow-up. But theoretically, even if swapping in new bacteria could only slightly lower the blood pressure of those with a genetic tendency toward hypertension, it could make a difference over the course of a lifetime.\n\n\u201cIt might be something that\u2019s easier to manipulate than your genes, or my genes. Those are much harder to change,\u201d she said.\n\nReprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent publication of the Simons Foundation whose mission is to enhance public understanding of science by covering research developments and trends in mathematics and the physical and life sciences."}
-{"text": "Officers responded to the 0-100 block of Garrett Street after the woman discovered a thief or thieves peeled back the soft-top cover of her Jeep to get access to the toys Sometime overnight Sunday into Monday, according to a police report."}
-{"text": "Last week, the Rosetta mission released a large quantity of science data to the worldwide public. The release included data from many of its instruments, but I only have eyes for one of them, at least initially: OSIRIS, the high-resolution camera. The new image data covers the mission through December 19, 2014, which means that it covers two especially important periods. One of them was the Close Observation Phase of October 15 to 31, 2014, when Rosetta surveyed the comet from a height (measured from the comet's center) of only 10 kilometers. At that range, OSIRIS Narrow-Angle Camera pixels subtended fewer than 20 centimeters, giving us incredibly detailed views. And then, of course, was landing day on November 12, when OSIRIS watched as Philae fell toward the comet, landed, and then bounced.\n\nBefore I post a ton of pretty pictures, let me tell you how you can browse the data for yourself. Here are the official sites:\n\nBut as always I made my own browse pages that provide information on the filter choices and interweave the Narrow-Angle, Wide-Angle, and NavCam data. My pages are split up into mission phases:\n\nWithout further ado, here are some of my favorite things from the latest data release. User \"Herobrine\" at unmannedspaceflight.com put together this cool spinny animation:"}
-{"text": "Getty Images\n\nThe Buccaneers signed former Canadian Football League receiver Bryant Mitchell on Thursday, Greg Auman of TheAthletic.com reports.\n\nThe Cardinals waived Mitchell last week.\n\nMitchell, 26, went undrafted out of Northwestern State in 2016. He signed with the CFL\u2019s Edmonton Eskimos and spent three years in Canada.\n\nHis stats increased each of his three seasons in the CFL, with Mitchell making 60 catches for 867 yards and three touchdowns in 2018.\n\nFor his career, Mitchell caught caught 97 passes for 1,418 yards and six touchdowns in 19 games.\n\nThe Bucs are waiving undrafted rookie long snapper Dan Godsil to make room for Mitchell, according to Auman. That leaves Zach Triner as the roster\u2019s only long snapper."}
-{"text": "The US Department of Defence (DoD) is reportedly planning to procure fewer F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft from Lockheed Martin in 2020 than initially planned.\n\nBloomberg reported citing defence officials as saying that the Pentagon is set to scale down the number of F-35 jets to be bought from the 84 fighters projected a year ago to 78.\n\nA request for 78 fighter jets will be included in the budget expected to be sent to Congress next week.\n\nThe move is seen as a setback for Lockheed and comes amid the US Air Force\u2019s (USAF) proposal to buy eight new upgraded F-15 jets from rival Boeing as part of plans to secure 80 fighters over five years. If the request is approved, it would be the USAF\u2019s first F-15 purchase since 2001.\n\n\u201cA request for 78 fighter jets will be included in the budget expected to be sent to Congress next week.\u201d\n\nThe DoD is likely to receive extensive questioning from lawmakers on the cutback.\n\n\n\nBloomberg added that lawmakers may pose questions to find out whether the decision was influenced by Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing official.\n\nHowever, Shanahan has distanced himself from the decision-making process on all matters related to Boeing, the publication stated.\n\nThe F-35s are also in service with the USAF, US Marine Corps and partner nations. Last month, the US Navy declared the operational-readiness of the F-35C, the aircraft carrier version of the stealth fighter jet.\n\nCongress has allocated $9.34bn this year for the procurement of 93 F-35s, 16 more than the quantity sought by the Pentagon."}
-{"text": "annabella snow.jpg\n\nAnnabelle Snow, who co-owns the North Portland Wellness Center, says that she and her partner have decided to extend Portland's new sick leave benefits to all 20 of their employees - although only six of them are full-time.\n\n( Faith Cathcart/The Oregonian)\n\nAnnabelle Snow understands the sentiment behind Portland\u2019s new sick leave law taking effect today. Businesses like hers are now required to give employees up to a week of earned time off, and all but the smallest of companies must pay workers for those hours.\n\nBut Snow has poured at least 10 hours into deciphering just what that means for the\n\n, where clinical staff such as massage therapists are paid on commission. She found her answer when spreadsheets estimated the cost of extending paid time off to those employees at thousands of dollars.\n\n\u201cThis is a game-changer,\u201d said Snow, who co-owns the North Vancouver Avenue clinic. \u201cAs a small business, we are really bracing for, \u2018What does 2014 mean for us?\u2019 And, \u2018How are we going to make it work?\u2019\u201d\n\nThose questions are weighing on the minds of many Portland-area business owners as they try to comply with the change and budget for its impact.\n\nIn the final days before the law took effect, legal and human resources experts said calls were still flowing in with questions. The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, the agency charged with enforcing the law, has said it will hold off on taking action against all but egregious violations of the law until at least May.\n\nIn the meantime, the rollout has meant different things to the thousands of businesses and nonprofits that operate in and around Portland.\n\nSome small businesses have had to figure out a new way to track employee hours. Others, like the North Portland Wellness Center, have curbed office-supply purchases and talks of other employee perks, such as continuing education.\n\n\u201cWe decided as a business we would just put those other benefits on hold, and this is what they get,\u201d Snow said. \u201cThe city has made the decision for them.\u201d\n\nThe Portland City Council approved mandatory sick leave in March, becoming one of the first major cities to guarantee the protection to workers. Seattle, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., also have such laws, as does the state of Connecticut.\n\nMinimum wage\n\nPortland\u2019s new sick-leave mandate is in the spotlight, but another workplace change happens statewide today, too. Oregon\u2019s hourly minimum wage climbs 15 cents to $9.10.\n\nAn estimated 98,000 employees will see the pay bump, which state officials say amounts to an extra $234 to spend this year compared to last.\n\nOregon\u2019s minimum wage is the second-highest in the country, behind Washington, where the hourly minimum is $9.32. Some cities, including San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., mandate higher base rates.\n\nThe federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.\n\nIn Oregon, the rate is tied to inflation and changes every year in line with consumer price index. It increased 15 cents from to 2012 to 2013, and by the same amount again this year.\n\nThose earning minimum wage and working full-time will now make about $18,900, or $600 above the federal poverty level for a family of three.\n\nThe Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries says the increase will generate an extra $20 million for Oregon\u2019s economy.\n\n\u2014 Molly Young\n\nThe specifics of Portland\u2019s ordinance came together in the months after the vote, with the final details released in October.\n\nUnder the rules, private employers such as businesses and nonprofits must give employees one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked. Employees are able to accrue up to a week\u2019s leave based on their work history, regardless of whether they are full-time or part-time.\n\nCompanies with more generous plans can extend time beyond that, but there are few exceptions to complying with the law\u2019s base requirements. One, though, is for businesses with fewer than six workers. Those businesses must still allow employees to earn time off, but do not need to provide paid days.\n\nWhile the basics of the sick leave law are straightforward, figuring out exactly how compliance looks for each of Portland\u2019s 62,500 private employers, which employ a combined 776,000 people, is the hard part. The rules also stretch to businesses based outside of Portland that must cover employees who work a certain amount of time within the city limits.\n\nHuman resources consultant Jill Critchfield said clients she hasn\u2019t heard from for years have been calling to review their benefits plans and update them comply with the sick leave law. \u201cIt\u2019s been a booming year for me as a result of it,\u201d she said.\n\nCritchfield said the most common questions are tied to tracking employee hours, and exactly how small businesses should do it. Construction crews, for instance, may work on several different sites in a given week, both inside and outside the city limits. The sick leave policy applies only to hours worked within Portland.\n\nShe said her clients also are surprised to learn the rules cover part-time and temporary employees. What\u2019s more, the exception for small business doesn\u2019t distinguish between full-time and part-time, meaning a business with one full-time employee and five part-time workers needs to provide paid time off, while a company with five full-time employees doesn\u2019t.\n\n\u201cFor the most part, people embrace the sentiment of it,\u201d Critchfield said. \u201cI\u2019m getting just a lot of frustration.\u201d\n\nLeora Coleman-Fire, an associate attorney with\n\nin Portland, said many employers felt like their voices weren\u2019t heard as the ordinance came together, and now are struggling to make sense of its complex parts. She advises businesses on complying with labor laws and has followed the ordinance since it was proposed.\n\nShe said some businesses with relatively generous policies still are finding they need to tweak their benefits plans to comply. For example, some companies don\u2019t grant paid time off until employees had worked for them for a year. The new law says employees must be able to access time once they have accrued it.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s things like that where people go \u2018Oh yikes,\u2019\u201d Coleman-Fire said. \u201cI think it\u2019s really important to realize that even if you are currently offering the benefits, it\u2019s complicated.\u201d\n\nCity officials are trying to help businesses with the changes. A new web page,\n\n, is devoted to the ordinance and includes a list of frequently asked questions for both employers and employees.\n\nOfficials also held two training sessions with the state in December, where more than 110 people showed up. A third session on Dec. 27 was full two weeks in advance.\n\nA spokesman for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries said its focus would be on education, not enforcement, for the next six months.\n\nFor some employers, though, it will largely be business as usual.\n\nHawthorne Auto Clinic in Southeast Portland has offered paid sick days since it opened 30 years ago, owner Jim Houser said. Houser, a member of the Main Street Alliance, a left-leaning small business group, was a vocal proponent of the ordinance, and hopes to see it adopted statewide. The proposal made little progress in 2013, and isn\u2019t likely to be revived when the legislature meets for a short session in February.\n\nHouser said he knows businesses are worried about being put at competitive disadvantage because they are paying for sick time when competitors elsewhere aren\u2019t. \u201cBut if (an employee) comes to work sick, and then in two days, I\u2019ve got three people sick, that\u2019s way worse,\u201d he said.\n\nExtending time to employees so they can get healthy without the risk of losing their jobs is \u201csuch a smarter business proposition in my mind,\u201d he said.\n\nHouser said the hours amount to 1 percent of payroll costs, and pay off in terms of worker loyalty.\n\nTrupp HR Inc. president Jean Roque, said employers should review their current payroll system and benefits policies, watching out for \u201cgotchas,\u201d such as accrual rates, that may need to change to comply with the new law. She said executives should also make sure managers and employees know about the rule and any policy changes it brought about.\n\nSince businesses must comply, Roque said they should embrace the opportunity to talk about the \u201cgreat new benefit\u201d they are providing.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s really important that the messaging isn\u2019t negative,\u201d she said.\n\nSnow, the Northeast Portland business owner, agrees. She said she was excited to tell massage therapists who work on commission that the clinic would extend a week of paid flex time as a result of the law, though many hadn't yet heard about the new rules.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s always easier with something like this to do it right from the beginning, rather than go back later,\u201d she said.\n\n-- Molly Young"}
-{"text": "\nThe British architects behind Apple's new 'spaceship' campus have revealed their next project - a manned base for Mars.\n\nIt will be built by 3D printing robots on the Martian surface, giving man its first permanent base on another planet.\n\nFoster + Partners New York\u2019s design for a modular habitat on Mars has even been shortlisted amongst 30 finalists for the 3D Printed Habitat Challenge organised by America Makes and NASA, the firm revealed today.\n\nScroll down for video\n\nFoster + Partners New York\u2019s design for a modular habitat on Mars will be built by three different kinds of robots parachuted to the surface.\n\nHOW IT WILL BE BUILT The habitat will be delivered in two stages prior to the arrival of the astronauts. Three different kinds of robots are parachuted to the surface of Mars, each performing a specialised task within the large-scale Regolith Additive Construction (RAC) process. The fused regolith creates a permanent shield that protects the settlement from excessive radiation and extreme outside temperatures. Advertisement\n\n'The design of the habitat \u2013 carried out in collaboration with industrial and academic partners \u2013 envisions a robust 3D-printed dwelling for up to four astronauts constructed using regolith \u2013 the loose soil and rocks found on the surface of Mars,' it said.\n\nThe settlement on Mars will be constructed by an array of pre-programmed, semi-autonomous robots prior to the eventual arrival of the astronauts.\n\nThe habitat will be delivered in two stages prior to the arrival of the astronauts.\n\nFirst, the semi-autonomous robots select the site and dig a 1.5 metre deep crater, followed by a second delivery of the inflatable modules which sit within the crater to form the core of the settlement.\n\nGiven the vast distance from the Earth and the ensuing communication delays, the deployment and construction is designed to take place with minimal human input, relying on rules and objectives rather than closely defined instructions.\n\nThis makes the system more adaptive to change and unexpected challenges \u2013 a strong possibility for a mission of this scale.\n\nThree different kinds of robots are parachuted to the surface of Mars, each performing a specialised task within the large-scale Regolith Additive Construction (RAC) process.\n\nThe larger \u2018Diggers\u2019 create the crater by excavating the regolith, which the medium-sized \u2018Transporters\u2019 then move into position over the inflatable habitat modules layer by layer.\n\nThe habitat will be delivered in two stages prior to the arrival of the astronauts. First, semi-autonomous robots select the site and dig a 1.5 metre deep crater.\n\nThe larger \u2018Diggers\u2019 create the crater by excavating the regolith, which the medium-sized \u2018Transporters\u2019 then move into position over the inflatable habitat modules layer by layer.\n\nThe loose Martian soil is then fused using microwaves around the modules using the same principles involved in 3D-printing by several small \u2018Melters\u2019.\n\nThe fused regolith creates a permanent shield that protects the settlement from excessive radiation and extreme outside temperatures.\n\nThe separation of tasks amongst the large number of robots, and the modularity of the habitat means a high level of redundancy is incorporated within the system \u2013 if one robot fails, or a single module is damaged, there are others that can fulfil its task, increasing the chances of a successful mission.\n\n'The design of the compact 93 sqm habitat modules combines spatial efficiency with human physiology and psychology, with overlapping private and communal spaces, finished with \u2018soft\u2019 materials and enhanced virtual environments, which help reduce the adverse effects of monotony, while creating positive living environment for the astronauts,' the firm says.\n\nThis continues the practice\u2019s earlier design explorations for building in extreme environments and extra-terrestrial habitats such as the Lunar Habitation project in consortium with the European Space Agency.\n\nThe loose Martian soil is then fused using microwaves around the modules using the same principles involved in 3D-printing by several small \u2018Melters\u2019.\n\nThe fused regolith creates a permanent shield that protects the settlement from excessive radiation and extreme outside temperatures."}
-{"text": "Woman Hires Family To Liven Up For-Sale Home, Now She Can\u2019t Enter Her Own Property\n\nWith so many abandoned and vacant homes on the market, some sellers are hiring companies to place families in their properties in the hopes that doing so will make the house feel less empty and more appealing to buyers. But one woman in Texas says she\u2019s been bitten on the butt by her decision to use a so-called \u201cstaging\u201d family.\n\nThe homeowner decided to move out of her Dallas-area home before it sold, but says it was her real estate agent who suggested bringing in the temporary family.\n\n\u201cIt actually sounded like a fantastic idea,\u201d she told Dallas\u2019 CBS 11 News.\n\nBut then she found out the new tenants had brought a dog with them\u2026 and parked a truck on the yard\u2026 and put a 10-foot tall crucifix on the lawn, which violates HOA rules.\n\nThe homeowner contacted the company that had placed the family there and began the process of evicting the tenants, which now included additional family members beyond the two brothers that were supposed to be there.\n\nUnfortunately, while those brothers have moved out, their father has not. And he says he\u2019s not leaving until all appeals have been exhausted.\n\nPolice tells CBS 11 that the man is allowed to stay on the property until the courts say he can\u2019t.\n\nBut that means that the homeowner \u2014 even though she\u2019s continuing to pay the mortgage, insurance and HOA fees \u2014 \u201ccan\u2019t go onto my [own] property. There\u2019s nothing I can do to that property to really reclaim it or save it from these people who have really taken it hostage.\u201d\n\nAnd it\u2019s not just the homeowner who is persona non grata in her house. A real estate agent recently tried to show the house to an interested buyer but was told the house was occupied.\n\nShe says she\u2019s no longer comfortable having agents show the house, and even brought a police escort with her when she went to get her For Sale sign back from the front lawn.\n\nThe company that placed the brothers in the house says it pre-screens all tenants.\n\n\u201cWith regard to whether we put the wrong people into the house, the people who are on the lease I don\u2019t think are bad people,\u201d a company rep tells CBS 11. \u201cI think people outside of the tenants we put in that property are the ones causing the problems.\u201d\n\nLegal Dilemma: Man\u2019s Castle Or Woman\u2019s Home? [CBS News 11]"}
-{"text": "Introduction\n\nIn this tutorial we are going to create a bare minimum DNX application.\n\nDevelopment Setup\n\nLets make sure that we have DNVM set up correctly and we have the desired version of DNX installed.\n\nInstalling DNVM\n\nWe looked at DNVM in the last tutorial. To install the DNVM just run following from the windows command prompt.\n\n@powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy unrestricted -Command \"{$Branch='dev';iex ((new-object net.webclient).DownloadString('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aspnet/Home/dev/dnvminstall.ps1'))}\n\nOr run following from PowerShell.\n\n{$Branch= 'dev' ;iex ((new-object net.webclient).DownloadString( 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aspnet/Home/dev/dnvminstall.ps1' ))}\n\nPlease follow the installation instructions mentioned at the .NET Foundation website for installing DNVM on other Operating Systems.\n\nListing DNXs\n\nOnce the DNVM is installed you can run the list command from the command prompt to see a list of all the installed DNXs on your machine.\n\ndnvm list\n\nInstalling DNX\n\nCurrently there is only one DNX installed on my machine. As we can see from the image above the runtime for this DNX is clr. What that means is that this DNX is able to host the traditional CLR (or CLR that comes with .NET Framework installed on the machine such as .NET 4.5) and run the applications built on top of the machine level .NET Framework. What I would like to do is to use the DNX that is able to host the CoreCLR (or portable CLR that come with .NET Core) and run the applications built on top of .NET Core. To achieve this we can use dnvm's install command.\n\ndnvm install 1.0.0-beta8 -r coreclr -a x64\n\n1.0.0-beta8 is the version of the DNX that we would like to install. You can specify a specific version like we did here or you can use latest to install the latest stable version.\n\nis the version of the DNX that we would like to install. You can specify a specific version like we did here or you can use to install the latest stable version. -r Using this switch you can choose the runtime flavor that you would like to install (clr or coreclr).\n\nUsing this switch you can choose the runtime flavor that you would like to install (clr or coreclr). -a Using this switch you can choose the processor architecture (x86 or x64).\n\nThere are more options available for the dnvm's install command which you can find out by running the help command for the dnvm's install command.\n\ndnvm help install\n\nAfter this if we run the dnvm list command again we should see that our desired DNX is installed.\n\nThe * in front of the DNX that we just installed means that currently this DNX is active. Whenever we run dnx command its going to refer to this dnx. You can verify this by running following command from the command prompt.\n\ndnx --version\n\nPersisting the DNX activation\n\nHowever if you close the command prompt or open another one you will see that your DNX is not active anymore. You can persist the active DNX selection by using dnvm's use command with -p switch.\n\ndnvm use 1.0.0-beta8 -r coreclr -a x64 -p\n\nIf you run the dnvm list and dnx --version commands again then you should see that our desired DNX has been activated and our selection of DNX will now persist even after we close the command prompt or open another one.\n\nCode Editor\n\nFor this tutorial we are simply going to use notepad.\n\nBare Minimum Application\n\nWe are going to create the bare minimum application by trial and error and at the end of this section we will summarize what is exactly needed to create a bare minimum application. Lets begin by creating a folder for our application and cd into it.\n\nIf you run the dnx run command from the command prompt you should get an error.\n\nThe dnx command is used to execute a managed entry point (a Program.Main function) in an assembly. By default, the dnx run command looks in the current directory for the project to run. The dnx run command is a shorthand for executing the entry point in the current project. It is equivalent to dnx [project_name].\n\nNow lets add a project.json file with empty json object in it.\n\n{ }\n\nLets run the dnx run command again. This time you should get a new error.\n\nThe DNX is complaining that the current target framework is not compatible with the DNX because we haven't added any target frameworks for the project. We can add target frameworks to our project by modifying the project.json file. We can add multiple target frameworks.\n\nTarget Frameworks are the frameworks for which you want to compile your application. If you build your project with dnu, a separate assembly will be generated for each target framework. If you create a NuGet package for your project using dnu then the generated NuGet package will contain corresponding lib folder for each target framework. Please refer to Demystifying PCL\u2019s, .NET Core, DNX and UWP for more information on Target Frameworks.\n\nLets add the target frameworks to our project.json file.\n\n{ \"frameworks\" : { \"dnxcore50\" : {} } }\n\nLets run the dnx run command again. You will get another new error.\n\nThis time the DNX is complaining that it couldn't find an assembly that contains System.Object, System.String etc. Since .NET Core consists of granular NuGet packages we need to add dependency on the NuGet package that contains these types. These types are inside Microsoft.CSharp package. So lets add the dependency on this package. How do we do that ? Again we can do this in project.json file. Lets modify our project.json file to add the dependency.\n\nDependencies can be target framework specific or can be target framework agnostic. The target framework specific dependencies are specified in the \"dependencies\" property under the particular target framework. Target framework agnostic dependencies are specified in the \"dependencies\" property at the top level of project.json file. The Microsoft.CSharp package dependency above is specific to dnxcore50 target framework. If we were to have another target framework say dnx451 we wouldn't need to specify the dependency on Microsoft.CSharp as it is already included with the full machine level .NET Framework.\n\n{ \"frameworks\" : { \"dnxcore50\" : { \"dependencies\" : { \"Microsoft.CSharp\" : \"4.0.1-beta-*\" } } } }\n\nLets run the dnx run command again. You wil receive the same error again as before.\n\nThis is because even though we added the dependency on Microsoft.CSharp, the NuGet package is physically not available at this time on our machine. What we need to do is to run dnu restore to pull down all the dependencies from the NuGet feed. Lets run the dnu restore command.\n\nThere are few important things happened when we ran dnu restore command.\n\ndnu not only pulled down the Microsoft.CSharp package but it also pulled down its dependencies and their dependencies recursively. You can see all of these NuGet packages on your machine under %UserProfile%/.dnx/packages. dnu created a new file in our project folder project.lock.json.\n\nLock file is mandatory. DNX will fail to load your application without a lock file.\n\nWhen doing a package restore, DNU does a lot of disk IO intensive work. It builds up an entire dependency graph by recursively walking down the dependency tree starting from the dependencies mentioned in the project.json file of your application. All the results of this hard work of DNU is stored inside project.lock.json file so that it can be used by DNX at runtime.\n\nFollowing are the main advantages of project.lock.json file -\n\nLock file is like a virtual packages folder per project. In NuGet today, you get a solution level packages folder. That tells the project (via hint paths) what set of packages it can use for compilation and running. The project.lock.json file is effectively the same thing, it's a \"per project packages folder\", since we don't copy anything local in DNX projects, it's a way to scope the list of packages in %userprofile%.dnx\\packages so that projects don't just run based on the global set of packages, but the ones that are relevant to that project. This prevents the application from being affected by someone else installing a package into your global install directory. The building of the entire dependency graph for the application happens during the restore process and not at the runtime. This improves the startup times for DNX applications. Apart from storing dependencies and their versions, project.lock.json also stores the list of files and relevant content for compilation and runtime so that the runtime only has to read a single file instead of N nuspec files. project.lock.json file contains a field named locked which can be set to true or false. Once project.lock.json file is locked by setting the locked field to true, the dnu restore does not run the dependency algorithm to build the dependency graph. It will just download the files listed in the lock file.\n\nNow lets try to run the dnx run command again. You will get yet another error.\n\nThis time the DNX is complaining that our BareMinimumApplication does not have an entry point. The EntryPointExecutor in DNX looks for a class named Program and a method name Main within that class. So lets add a simple csharp file.\n\npublic class Program { public void Main() { // Do nothing. } }\n\nLets run the dnx run command again. This time you will notice that the program ran successfully without any errors.\n\nBased on our trial and error, at its simplest form, a DNX project is a folder with -\n\na project.json file that contains valid json, specifies at least one target framework under the frameworks property. If you are using dnxcore50 (i.e. you are using Core CLR) as your target framework then you must also specify a dependency on Microsoft.CSharp as it contains basic types for C# language. The name of the project is the folder name. a code file that contains an entry point for our application. An entry point is simply a method named Main inside a class named Program. a project.lock.json file which is generated when we run dnu restore.\n\nSummary\n\nIn this tutorial we learned how to install DNVM, how to install and manage various DNXs and what is required to create a bare minimum DNX application.\n\nReferences"}
-{"text": "A 19-year-old former student at St. Catherine University allegedly set several fires across campus Wednesday in retaliation for U.S. military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to charges filed Friday.\n\nTnuza J. Hassan, of Minneapolis, allegedly told police that \u201cshe wanted the school to burn to the ground and that her intent was to hurt people,\u201d according to the complaint charging her with one count of felony first-degree arson filed in Ramsey County District Court.\n\nAccording to the charge, Hassan said similar attacks happened on \u201cMuslim land\u201d and no one cared if Muslims were hurt. She told police and fire investigators, \u201cYou guys are lucky that I don\u2019t know how to build a bomb because I would have done that.\u201d\n\nNo one was hurt in the incident that began about 11:40 a.m. with the first reported fire, and ended about 2 p.m. with Hassan\u2019s arrest on campus. Ramsey County jail records show that she was arrested at the school\u2019s Jeanne d\u2019Arc Auditorium at 2004 Randolph Av.\n\nHassan made her first appearance in court Friday afternoon, where bail was set at $100,000. She was also ordered to stay away from the campus and surrender her passport.\n\nHassan wore an orange jumpsuit under an apparent makeshift hijab that consisted of a black face covering that exposed only her eyes and what appeared to be a large white sheet draped over her head.\n\nAssistant Ramsey County Attorney Margaret Galvin said that authorities are investigating possible international ties to Hassan.\n\nHassan\u2019s attorney, Patrick Nwaneri, asked for $5,000 bail, noting that his client had no criminal record. Ramsey County District Judge Sophia Vuelo rejected the request, saying that Hassan was a threat to public safety.\n\nHer next court appearance is an omnibus hearing scheduled for Feb. 28.\n\nCourt documents gave this account of the events and Hassan\u2019s motives:\n\n\u201cShe said she had been a student at Saint Catherine\u2019s but quit last fall because she and her family were planning to vacation in Ethiopia,\u201d the complaint said. \u201cHassan said she started the fires because she\u2019s been reading about the U.S. military destroying schools in Iraq and Afghanistan and she felt that she should do exactly the same thing.\n\n\u201cShe said that her fire-starting was not as successful as she had wanted. She said the most successful fire she set was at Saint Mary\u2019s [residence hall] where she set a couch on fire.\u201d\n\nBooks, toilet paper and sanitary napkins were among the objects set on fire, St. Paul Assistant Fire Chief Mike Gaede and Sara Berhow, a university spokeswoman, said Wednesday.\n\nGaede said the largest object burned was a chair in St. Mary\u2019s.\n\nFire and school officials said on Wednesday that eight fires were set in seven buildings. They said all but one of the eight fires occurred in garbage cans, and that most caused little damage.\n\nDennis Gerhardstein, a spokesman for the Ramsey County attorney\u2019s office, said authorities charged Hassan for the number of fires \u2014 four \u2014 that allowed prosecutors to file the \u201cmost severe form of felony arson.\u201d\n\nThe fire in St. Mary\u2019s was extinguished by a sprinkler system. The complaint said 33 children and eight adults were at a day care in the building at the time. Galvin said that 10 to 15 students were also evacuated from the building.\n\nCampus surveillance video showed a woman entering St. Mary\u2019s before the fire broke out, the complaint said. She was carrying a plastic bag. The woman was recorded entering and then leaving the student lounge before the sprinklers were activated.\n\nPolice later found the bag with the box of matches discarded in a bucket.\n\nHassan allegedly told police that she had written a letter to her roommates containing \u201cradical ideas about supporting Muslims and bringing back the caliphate,\u201d the complaint said.\n\nThe letter frightened her roommates, who provided it to campus security.\n\nCourt records show no history for Hassan. She was a St. Paul Public Schools student, first enrolling in the district in 2010 at Highland Park Junior High. She graduated from Johnson Senior High in 2016, according to the school district."}
-{"text": "Season three of the Esports Championship Series (ECS) will kick off on Saturday with the Open qualifiers, the league's organisers have announced.\n\nFor the second season in a row, ECS will run open qualifiers and a development division, which will allow teams to secure promotion into the main league.\n\nBetween February 18-26, open online qualifiers will be held in both Europe and North America to determine the eight teams (four per region) who will gain entry into the Development League, in which they will be joined by eight invited sides.\n\n\n\nAstralis won the second ECS edition\n\nThe Development League will consist of a best-of-two round robin stage, with the top two teams then pitting their wits against the bottom two teams from the ECS Season 2 divisions in best-of-five promotion matches.\n\nIn Europe, it will be Virtus.pro and Fnatic fighting to keep a spot in ECS, while in North America, TSM and compLexity are the teams facing promotion matches.\n\nTeams can sign up for the ECS Season 3 Open qualifiers by following these links:\n\nFebruary 18-19 - Qualifier 1\n\nEurope - Register\n\nNorth America - Register\n\nFebruary 25-26 - Qualifier 2\n\nEurope - Register\n\nNorth America - Register\n\nThe Development League will run from February 28 to March 16, while the promotion matches will be held on March 25-26.\n\nThe prize pool and the location of the season finals have not yet been disclosed by the ECS organisers, but it is expected that the league will continue to have one of the highest prizes funds in Counter-Strike, with $3.5 million having been paid out over the course of the first two seasons.\n\nOnce again, ECS will be giving new casters the chance to show their worth via the Community Caster Challenge. All casters interested in taking part in this challenge need to email ECS at ecs@csgoleague.com and provide the following information for consideration: first and last name, contact email, Skype link, Twitch channel URL, and other social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram).\n\nRelated video:"}
-{"text": "Despite the loss, scoring at a high clip might have to be the formula for success the rest of the season, as it was during the Falcons' Super Bowl run in 2016. Injuries have decimated the defense, with starting free safety Ricardo Allen suffering what appeared to be a significant leg injury Sunday. The offense needs to be explosive and find better success running the ball in order to keep the depleted defense off the field in Week 4 against Cincinnati. -- Vaughn McClure\n\nCarson Wentz is back up and running, and things should only get smoother from here. There were moments of rust in Wentz's 2018 debut but he looked healthy and appeared to trust the knee. Expect him to play more and more like himself moving forward, beginning next week at the Titans. -- Tim McManus\n\nThe offense is the reason why the Colts are 1-2. They were one-for-five in the red zone on Sunday, even after the defense forced two turnovers inside the Eagles' 20-yard line (the Colts came away with only two field goals). \"It's a letdown for us offensively,\" receiver T.Y. Hilton said. \"The defense, they played their hearts out again. We have to match the defense's intensity.\" The Colts can get back on track next week against the winless Texans. -- Mike Wells\n\nCam Newton seemed surprised when told running back Christian McCaffrey, who'd never rushed for more than 66 yards in an NFL game, had 184 yards on Sunday. \"That's it?'' he said. McCaffrey ran effectively between the tackles as he did in college. The entire offensive output was more like what coordinator Norv Turner envisioned when he was hired, as Newton also rushed for two touchdowns and passed for two more. Carolina enters the bye week at 2-1. -- David Newton\n\nThe Bengals couldn't stop the run and didn't help themselves by committing four turnovers and failing to capitalize on offensive opportunities late in the game. They couldn't come up with that killer turnover like they did in the first two weeks (although they came close) and several Bengals players felt like they beat themselves. Considering how many missed opportunities they had, there's reason to be hopeful they'll turn it around with linebacker Preston Brown likely making his return next week against Atlanta. -- Katherine Terrell\n\nThe Redskins' offense looked good in the first half with strong runs by Adrian Peterson and the passing game clicking. It led to a 28-point outburst, but Washington failed to maintain it in the second half. Still, the Redskins were aggressive going down the field and attacking through the air. It's hard to expect that every week, but Washington, which has a bye next week, will have to play that way to have any chance against the Saints in Week 5. -- John Keim\n\nThe Packers barely beat the Bears in the opener, got away with a tie in Week 2 after the Vikings' kicker missed a pair of OT field goal attempts and then got rocked on Sunday by the Redskins. In some ways, the Packers are probably lucky to be 1-1-1 heading into next Sunday's game against the Bills. But after a woeful performance from both sides of the ball, the Packers need to regroup or this season could get away from them. -- Rob Demovsky\n\nPatrick Mahomes has the ability to turn a busted play into a big gain. He did just that on one of his three second-quarter touchdowns against the 49ers and now his receivers know never to quit on a play because the ball might be coming their way. Wide receiver Chris Conley, who caught the TD on the busted play, said, \"That's the magic of Pat.'' Mahomes now has 13 touchdown passes, a record for the first three games of an NFL season, and he looks to add to the number next Monday night in Denver. -- Adam Teicher"}
-{"text": "Battlefield V has been delayed\n\nBattlefield will return to WWII after this delay\n\n| Source: EA Author: Mark Campbell\n\nBattlefield V has been delayed\n\nIn their latest \"update on Battlefield V\", DICE's general manager, Oskar Gabrielson, announced that the game 's release was delayed until November 20th, over a month later than the game's original October 19th release date.\n\n\n\nFeedback from the game's closed alpha has \"spurred\" DICE on \"to make meaningful improvements to the core gameplay experience\", many of which will be seen in the game's open beta, which starts on September 6th. The delay will allow DICE to take their time polishing the game and adjusting the title's core gameplay, ensuring that the game can deliver on all fronts.\n\n\n\nThis delay will also move Battlefield V away from the launch date of Red Dead Redemption II and Call of Duty Black Ops 4, a factor that may help the company increase their sales numbers at launch. Now, Battlefield V will be competing with the likes of Fallout 76 and Hitman 2.\n\n\n\nBattlefield V will release with four game modes, which include single player \"War Stories\", Battlefield's standard multiplayer experience, a new \"Battle Royale\" mode and a \"Tides of War\" live service.\n\n\n\nOn the PC front, Battlefield V acted as the poster child for Nvidia's RTX technology, making this delay a bad start for real-time ray-tracing in games. Battlefield V is expected to the first game to support Nvidia RTX out of the box, potentially making this delay harmful for the sales of Nvidia's new Geforce RTX graphics cards.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGabrielson's full statement regarding Battlefield V's delay is available to read here.\n\n\n\nYou can join the discussion on Battlefield V's delay on the OC3D Forums.\n\n1 - Battlefield will return to WWII after this delay \u00abPrev 1 Next\u00bb\n\nMost Recent Comments"}
-{"text": "ECON FACTBOOK\n\nHome About\n\nClick on the countries below for more data\n\n* The following countries do not show World Bank 2013 data: Andorra CIA Factbook 2012, The Bahamas World Bank 2012, Barbados World Bank 2012, Cuba World Bank 2011, Kuwait World Bank 2012, Liechtenstein CIA Factbook 2010, Monaco World Bank 2011, Myanmar CIA Factbook 2013, Nauru UN Data 2012, North Korea CIA Factbook 2009, San Marino CIA Factbook 2013, Somalia CIA Factbook 2010, Syria CIA Factbook 2011, United Arab Emirate World Bank 2012"}
-{"text": "(Photo: Mark Fischer; Edited: JR / TO)Ten years from now we will all look back at this upcoming election and we\u2019ll realize that it was here that the Progressive wave of reform that surged forward at the turn of the 20th Century \u2013 and made life better for billions of people in this nation over the last 100 years \u2013 finally broke and receded backward into the abyss.\n\nWe\u2019ll realize it was here when the original corporatists like the DuPonts and the Morgans, and today\u2019s corporatists like the Kochs, finally won their ruthless, century-old struggle against progressivism, against equal economic opportunity for all, and against equal civil rights for all.\n\nWe\u2019ll reside in a nation where the old are no longer cared for with Social Security and Medicare. Where the impoverished young are no longer cared for with Medicaid and food assistance. Where women will again be forced into back-alleys for coat hanger abortions. Where minorities will again be relegated to second-class citizens. Where working people will again fall into indentured servitude without protections like a minimum wage and collective bargaining. Where our democratic institutions are so hollowed out by corporate money that they are completely unresponsive to \u201cwe the people.\u201d\n\nAnd we\u2019ll reside in this neo-feudal state run by 21st Century Robber Barons all because we let Mitt Romney win the White House in 2012 and we let him hand-pick a new crop of Conservative corporatist Supreme Court justices to reign over the United States for at least the next generation.\n\nSince 1803 when Marbury v. Madison gave rise to judicial review, the Supreme Court, which was intended to be the third of three co-equal branches of government, has risen to be the ultimate authority in our government. Today, we have nine unelected kings and queens able to create completely new laws or strike down old laws passed in Congress by \u201cwe the people\u201d and signed by a President elected by \u201cwe the people.\u201d Like the Oracles of Delphi, the Supreme Court has been the final arbiter time and time again over which direction this nation moves in.\n\nAnd today, with the Conservative movement more emboldened than ever to undo the New Deal, redefine the general welfare clause in our Constitution, and reverse social policy back a half-century, in the coming years it may again be the High Court that will give the final say in this ideological struggle.\n\nAnd the ideology that controls the court will win this struggle.\n\nOn the Left, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 79-years-old and Justice Steven Breyer is 74-years-old. And on the Right, Justice Antonin Scalia is 76-years-old and so is Justice Anthony Kennedy. One, two, maybe all four of these justices will be retiring during the next Presidential Administration and it will be up either to Barack Obama or Mitt Romney to pick their successors.\n\nIf the President is re-elected, we\u2019ll get more justices like Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor who still believe that progressive reforms like Social Security and Medicare are constitutional. They still believe that child labor laws and the minimum wage are constitutional. They still believe in a woman\u2019s right to choose.\n\nIf Mitt Romney is re-elected, we\u2019ll get justices like Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia who both believe all those progressive reforms just mentioned are unconstitutional and should be overturned immediately. Worse, we\u2019ll get justices recommended by Robert Bork.\n\nBork was Reagan\u2019s nominee to the Supreme Court in 1987, but he was rejected by the Senate because of his radical beliefs. Today, Bork is Mitt Romney\u2019s constitutional adviser.\n\nBack in 1987, at the time of Bork\u2019s nomination, the late Senator Ted Kennedy took to the floor of the Senate to talk about Bork\u2019s grim vision of America:\n\nRobert Bork\u2019s America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens\u2019 doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is\u2014and is often the only\u2014protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy \u2026No justice would be better than this injustice.\n\nRobert Bork and his ilk, from which Mitt Romney will handpick his Supreme Court nominee, have a radically different vision of America than the Progressives who built the middle class in the 20th century and expanded equal rights to hundreds of millions of our fellow citizens.\n\nProgressivism, which brought us new rights like the right to protection from poverty in old age, protection from sickness, protection from the ravages of involuntary unemployment, protection from hunger, protection from discrimination, you name it, hangs by a thread. And its fate will be determined this election.\n\nWhile most of the focus in the media has been on whether or not the plutocrats will pay their fair share in taxes, whether Obamacare will be upheld, or whether women will have access to contraceptives, the highest stakes are on the Supreme Court, and which ideology will hold sway for the next few decades in that most powerful branch of our government.\n\nWith just days to go until this election, you can vote for whoever you want. But you must consider the consequences of a Mitt Romney presidency. Noam Chomsky understands those consequences and suggested that those who vote in a swing-state must vote in self-defense against Mitt Romney, which means voting for Barack Obama. He\u2019s right. We must be voting against those who wish to close the book on progress.\n\nDrone wars, indefinite detention, the growing surveillance state, the war on whistleblowers \u2013 they\u2019re all grotesque policies that started with Bush and since have been championed by this administration. But these policies will, sadly, not be overturned at the ballot box. They\u2019ll be overturned by movements in the streets \u2013 and progressives must begin building those movements right now.\n\nBut the fate of over a hundred years of progress will be decided at the ballot box during this election, because the Supreme Court is hanging in the balance.\n\nProgressives ignore this reality at our own peril."}
-{"text": "Germany's Higher Administration Court (OVG) in Berlin-Brandenburg on Thursday ruled that three children and their mother must be brought back from northern Syria.\n\nWhile the German Foreign Ministry was prepared to repatriate the children, it refused to bring back the mother citing \u2014 like many other European countries \u2014 risks to national security.\n\nRead more: First four 'Islamic State' children handed over to Germany.\n\nThe mother entered an \"Islamic State\" (IS)-controlled part of Syria in 2014 with the two elder children. The third was born there before IS was vanquished.\n\nIn its ruling Thursday, the OVG said the children \u2014 now aged 8, 7 and 2 \u2014 would still need their mother after being repatriated from the Kurdish force-run al-Hol camp, and that they were traumatized.\n\nRead more:\n\nFurthermore, the court found that the government had failed to show any evidence or indication of a \"concrete\" security risk being posed by the mother.\n\nIn July, a lower court had ruled that the three children were entitled to German consular protection for citizens abroad.\n\nAt the time, Hanover-based lawyer Dirk Schoenian, representing relatives seeking the children's return, told German ARD public broadcasting that the Foreign Ministry could not avoid its \"political responsibility and legal responsibility.\"\n\nNearly 70,000 people, mostly women and children, are still in the al-Hol camp \u2014 including about 11,000 foreigners with past links to IS.\n\nOn Thursday, a lone 11-year-old Albanian boy was on track to return home to Italy with his father, Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) officials said.\n\nThe boy headed from al-Hol to Italy Thursday was named Alvin, an Albanian 11-year-old whose mother died amid the fighting \u2014 leaving him alone and the first such case to be facilitated through the IFRC.\n\nAn Italian television news show had portrayed the father's anguished efforts to bring him home, captivating public attention in Italy.\n\nFrancesco Rocca, President of the IFRC said he hoped Alvin's case would bring \"healing to his family,\" adding it was \"barely a drop of relief in an ocean of suffering.\"\n\nRead more: Turkey, Russia start patrols in northern Syria\n\n\"What we can and should be focusing on is the fact that there are still over 68,000 people \u2014 two-thirds of which are children \u2014 living in the al-Hol camp,\" he said.\n\nGermany's federal interior ministry on Thursday said a \"three-digit\" number of people from Germany were with Kurdish militias in Syria and northern Iraq.\n\nRoughly half of them had German citizenship. The others from German were people with Turkish, Syrian and Iraqi statehood.\n\nSome 100 such individuals have since returned to Germany, with prosecution cases proceeding in some 30 cases.\n\nWatch video 05:02 Share \u2018Movie bus\u2019 for Syrian children Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3QnCd \u2018Make them laugh\u2019: films for kids in Syria\n\nipj/rc (AP, dpa, AFP)"}
-{"text": "Rescue workers help a trapped woman in Point Vernon after cutting the roof off the four-wheel driver she was a passenger in.\n\nRescue workers help a trapped woman in Point Vernon after cutting the roof off the four-wheel driver she was a passenger in. Roderick Makim\n\nA WOMAN was taken to hospital after a crash at a notorious traffic black spot in Hervey Bay.\n\nThe crash occurred at the intersection of Martin and Tooth Sts in Point Vernon.\n\nA white Ford four-wheel drive allegedly failed to give way and crashed into a black Hyundai Excel.\n\nNearby residents rushed to help seven people involved in the crash - four in the Ford and three in the Hyundai.\n\nA woman was trapped in the Ford and firefighters had to cut the roof off before she could be taken by ambulance to Hervey Bay Hospital.\n\nA police spokesman said the woman's injuries were believed to be minor.\n\nRon Berrell was one of the people to help passengers out of the Ford, including three teenage children.\n\n\"There were quite a few people helping out,\" he said.\n\nThere had been many crashes at the intersection in the years he had lived nearby, Mr Berrell said.\n\nHe and other residents told the Chronicle there was a need for traffic lights or a roundabout at the intersection.\n\nThe Fraser Coast Regional Council was already looking into the possibility.\n\n\"It has been deemed a problem area,\" Mayor Gerard O'Connell said.\n\nLeonard Gleeson, acting station officer from the Hervey Bay fire station, said the crash was \"a reminder for drivers to take care around school times\".\n\nPolice said the male driver of the Ford was given a traffic infringement notice for failing to give way."}
-{"text": "Tim Lee has a great analysis at Ars Technica of this week\u2019s ruling invalidating the controversial Google Books settlement. Tim, like the court, focuses on aspects of the agreement that seem to give Google a unique advantage in the online book market\u2014and hopes that instead Google will now simply defend its copying of books for indexing purposes as a fair use. Somewhat to my surprise, Siva Vaidyhanathan seems hostile to this approach in his writeup at Slate:\n\n\n\nBack in 2004 Google shocked the publishing world by announcing that it had been for some time secretly scanning books from major university libraries. Some of these libraries were allowing Google to scan in books that were clearly still covered by copyright. Google tried to convince everyone that this was all just fine under U.S. copyright law by asserting that we readers would only get to experience \u201csnippets\u201d of the entire book that sat in Google\u2019s servers.\n\nThis, to Google, was an example of \u201cfair use,\u201d a defense used against an accusation of copyright infringement that gives the public a way to deploy portions (or sometimes all) of a copyrighted work for some publicly valuable use. Critics, journalists, teachers, and scholars rely on fair use every day to quote from copyrighted sources. But what Google proposed was wholesale and revolutionary: It would have turned the copyright system on its head and redefined fair use in ways that were never intended.\n\nI fear Siva\u2019s general wariness of Google is overpowering his normally sound instincts on copyright in the digital era. It\u2019s true, of course, that Google must scan the whole book in order to be able to provide users with search results. But that\u2019s not exactly unprecedented\u2014it\u2019s how search engines work. Google\u2019s computers need to make a copy of the text on all those Web pages in order to index them\u2014how else would they know which pages contain text that matches your search query? And, of course, most of that text is copyright-protected by default. The same goes for image indexing, which courts have given a green light so far. I\u2019d suggest that one reason people have a different intuition about Google Books is that Web content is already in digital form\u2014which means everyone who reads it is \u201cmaking a copy\u201d\u2014whereas Google was making digital copies of analog works. But as a policy matter, it\u2019s not clear why this should make such an important difference.\n\nSuppose I tweet that I\u2019m trying to remember which Borges story has that line about how \u201cmirrors and copulation are abominable, because they increase the number of men.\u201d Some of my diligent friends hurry to their libraries, flip through their Borges collections, and tweet back the answer\u2014along with a few sentences of the surrounding context. Clearly there\u2019s nothing intrinsically objectionable about the search function, and a quotation of a sufficiently limited portion of the whole work in reply would normally be protected by fair use. The problem is just that Google\u2019s search\u2014and indeed, any computer search\u2014technically requires that a copy be made. But to my mind, this just underscores how increasingly maladaptive it is to make \u201ccopying\u201d the primary locus of regulation in our system of intellectual property.\n\nTechnology even complicates the question of just what constitutes a \u201ccopy\u201d\u2014an intriguing issue I explored in a few articles back in my days at Ars Technica. Imagine, for instance, that Google took a different approach to indexing in hopes of avoiding thorny copyright questions. Instead of storing \u201ccopies\u201d of each book, suppose they created a huge database called Google Concordance, consisting of an enormous catalog of every word or short phrase someone might want to look up, followed by a long list, like a kind of super-index, specifying the location on every page of every book in which that word or phrase appears. (\u201cAardvark: Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Computing and Information, Page 221, Line 17, word 3\u2026\u201d) Obviously, the Google Concordance would be a very valuable and useful reference text, and nowhere in the database would you find anything resembling a \u201ccopy\u201d of any of the cataloged works. But just as obviously, it would contain all the information a clever programmer would need to reconstruct an arbitrary portion of the original text on the fly, assuming the database could be queried fast enough. You can imagine someone creating certain kinds of \u201cderivative works\u201d in a similar way: If you don\u2019t want the RIAA taking down your mashup, you might try to offer it as an algortithm specifying time segments of component tracks to be combined in a particular manner\u2026 an algorithm that might produce gibberish or Girl Talk depending on what files you feed it.\n\nIn a sense, it\u2019s always the processing algorithm that determines whether a particular binary string is a \u201ccopy\u201d of a work or not. Open an MP3 of a Lady Gaga track in a text editor and you\u2019ll get a wholly original work of experimental literature\u2014though not one anybody (except possibly Lady Gaga) is likely to be interested in reading. For that matter, Google\u2019s database is just an enormous collection of ones and zeroes until some program processes it to generate human-readable output. I distinguished my hypothetical Google Concordance database from a collection of copied books, but if you point to a particular file and ask whether it contains the Concordance or copies of the books, there\u2019s a very literal sense in which there just is no fact of the matter until you know what algorithm will be used to render it as alphanumeric text. This may sound like airy metaphysical hairsplitting, but the power of computers to rapidly aggregate and process dispersed information on a global network is likely to create genuine practical complications for a legal framework that takes discrete, physically contiguous chunks called \u201ccopies\u201d as its fundamental unit of analysis. Legally speaking, it would seem to make an enormous difference whether books are scanned and stored as books, or as a comprehensive concordance database maintained by Google, or as a series of hundreds or thousands of complementary partial concordances dispersed across many servers (or even individual hard-drives linked by a p2p network). Given sufficient bandwidth and processing speed, it might make no difference at all in practice. Maybe we should take that as a hint to reexamine our categories.\n\nThe Constitution doesn\u2019t explicitly use the term \u201ccopyright\u201d: It empowers Congress to grant creators certain \u201cexclusive rights\u201d in their works, leaving open just which rights should be made exclusive. And indeed, many of the privileges lumped together under the rubric of \u201ccopyright\u201d\u2014such as public performance and the creation of \u201cderivative works\u201d\u2014need not involve making a \u201ccopy\u201d in any ordinary sense of the word. But as the word itself suggests, the way our system has traditionally worked is that if you owned a copy of a protected work, you could pretty much do what you wanted with it\u2014read or view it when and where you like, sell it to someone else, chop it into bits and eat it with Hollandaise if that\u2019s what turns you on\u2014as long as you weren\u2019t making a copy. And for a long time, this wasn\u2019t a very restrictive limitation, because making copies of a work was generally an expensive and labor intensive business that ordinary people had neither the capability nor, indeed, any compelling reason to engage in. Pretty much the only people with motive to invest the substantial resources needed to print books or press vinyl were pirates who planned to sell a bootleg edition for profit. So we got a regime where most uses of a protected work were unregulated, but copying was infringing by default\u2014with \u201cfair use\u201d exceptions to cover the legitimate uses that did require some amount of copying. These tended to be more partial and limited forms of copying\u2014like quotation for commentary and criticism\u2014that were open to people without printing presses, and fairly clearly not meant as market substitutes for the complete original work.\n\nBut now, as many writers on copyright have observed, just about every use of a work in digital form requires making a copy\u2014because that\u2019s how computers work. When you play a song stored on your hard drive\u2014whether through local speakers or by streaming it to a mobile device\u2014copies are created. We talk about \u201cvisiting\u201d Web pages, as though there\u2019s a text out there we\u2019re all \u201cgoing\u201d to look at\u2014but of course, every time you read something online, you\u2019re making a copy of it. And again, the only reason we\u2019re able to find content online relatively efficiently is because various companies make copies for indexing purposes\u2014for profit, even!\u2014without seeking permission from every person who\u2019s got content online. (I hope it\u2019s clear that it would beg the question to say that posting something online to be read by the public implies consent to copying for indexing purposes.) What was once a rare activity has become a ubiquitous concomitant of all sorts of ordinary uses of content. All these acts of copying are still presumptively regulated, but we assume they\u2019re either tacitly permitted by the rights holder or shoehorned by the courts into one or another of the fair use \u201cexceptions\u201d that have been defined to accommodate the changing technological reality. (Ordinary people had no occasion or capability to \u201ctime shift\u201d or \u201cplace shift\u201d content until the past few decades.)\n\nInstead of ginning up exceptions to a general prohibition on copying just to permit publicly valuable use of content, maybe we should just admit that \u201ccopying\u201d no longer makes sense as a primary locus of intellectual property regulation. Fair use analysis typically employs a four factor test, but the upshot is usually to see how a particular type of copying would affect the market for the original work\u2014which makes sense, given that the purpose of copyright is to give creators a financial incentive to produce and distribute new works. If that\u2019s fundamentally what we care about, though, a default property-like right of control over copying, which now has to be riddled with exceptions to allow almost any ordinary use of content, looks like an increasingly circuitous Rube Goldberg mechanism for achieving that goal. I\u2019m not sure what the alternative would be\u2014or even whether rejiggering the basic categories would alter the the underlying analysis much. But\u2014just off the top of my head\u2014you could imagine a system where the core offense was not \u201ccopyright infringement\u201d but some kind of tort of unfair competition with an original work. In many cases it would yield the same practical result, but at least we\u2019d reorient the public discourse around \u201ccopyright\u201d to focus on measurable harms to creators\u2019 earnings\u2014and ideally get away from the confused notion that copying without permission is somehow equivalent to \u201cstealing\u201d by default unless it fits some pre-established exception.\n\nAddendum: This is implicit in much of the discussion above, but probably worth spelling out explicitly. Until the advent of consumer computing\u2014and especially the Internet\u2014almost all \u201cprocessing\u201d or \u201cuse\u201d of copyrighted content took place in human brains, because\u2026 well, where else? An external \u201ccopy\u201d or \u201cderivative work\u201d based on that content would generally appear (if at all) as the end product of whatever operations you performed on the temporary copy stored in your brain\u2014which, mercifully, no government has yet held to be susceptible to takedown notices. Your mental copy of the public library book didn\u2019t count for copyright purposes, and if you copied down a few passages in a notebook (the results of your search query), they\u2019d pretty clearly be fair use in the unlikely event the owner even became aware of them. If you wrote a song with a baseline inspired by \u201cSuperstition,\u201d the transformation would happen in your head rather than ProTools, and if it didn\u2019t sound too exactly similar, people would call it \u201cinfluence\u201d rather than \u201csampling.\u201d Myriad McLuhans manqu\u00e9 have written about how technology and the cognitive outsourcing it enables are transforming our habits of thought and learning\u2014spurring a shift from the acquisition of memorized information to the acquisition of information search skills.\n\n\n\nOne way to frame my argument above is in terms of what Larry Lessig calls \u201ctranslation\u201c: Laws establish a balance between competing interests\u2014intellectual autonomy versus cultural control, say\u2014against a specific technological and legal background context. If you have legal rules that protect privacy mostly by means of property boundaries, and then technology (wiretapping, long-range mics) makes it possible to collect intimate information from within a home without physical intrusion, the balance will shift dramatically even if the formal rule remains exactly the same. In fact, if you want to preserve the previous balance between law enforcement and privacy interests, you may need to adopt an entirely different legal paradigm. (Which, indeed, is what we did\u2014though it took 40 years.) Cognitive outsourcing, like long-distance communications, may change the balance in undesirable ways by shifting formerly unregulated mental tasks into the regulated space of digital copies, just as wiretapping temporarily shifted government searches out of the regulated space of property intrusions. The thing to bear in mind is that the particular regulatory trigger is usually a proxy for some more complicated underlying set of interests. If a technological change means a set of activities that were previously unregulated are now effectively highly regulated (or vice versa), we should think very hard about whether we want to preserve the existing formal architecture or\u2014as I think will usually be the case\u2014the same balance of interests."}
-{"text": "UPDATE: On March 11, LAist reported that the signs have been taken down, thanks in no small part to media attention (whoops).\n\nOne Echo Park resident is taking on idiot parallel parkers. Derek Boonstra, 36, has lived in the neighborhood for 13 years, and he says parking has gotten worse and worse.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll have to drive around for 20 or 30 minutes to find a space,\u201d says Boonstra, a documentary filmmaker.\n\nPart of the issue, Boonstra says, is that people park inefficiently and inconsiderately, leaving too much space between their car and other cars, allowing fewer parked cars to fit on the street.\n\n\u201cMy wife and I are always making fun of people parking that way,\u201d he says.\n\nBut, when you need to find a space, it\u2019s no joke, so Boonstra designed some clever signs to address the issue. They read \u201cYO Please Maximize Parking\u201d and advise people to park just two to three feet from other vehicles and close to the ends of curbs.\n\nCourtesy Derek Boonstra\n\nHe had the signs professionally printed on aluminum, paying just under $100 for four, and put up one near his home on Laveta Terrace in Echo Park. It\u2019s been up for about two weeks and seems to be making a difference.\n\n\u201cThe space in front of my house is usually a four-car curb, very rarely it will fit five cars,\u201d Boonstra says. Since he put up the sign, five cars have regularly been parking in that area.\n\nHe recently put up two more signs in the neighborhood and gave another to a friend to post, and he\u2019s shared the design and manufacturer information for anyone who wants to order their own.\n\nThe reaction on Nextdoor and a neighborhood Facebook group has been quite positive. A post on Facebook with a picture of the sign reads: \u201cHeroes don\u2019t always wear capes.\u201d Indeed.\n\nRELATED: Why Are Some of L.A.\u2019s Curbs So Damn High\n\nStay on top of the latest in L.A. food and culture. Sign up for our newsletters today."}
-{"text": "The College Football Playoff selection process is, by human nature, subjective. A group of 13 people select the top four teams using guidelines, not weighted criteria. Quite simply, it's up to them.\n\nThere have, however, been trends over the past three years -- statistical evidence from the 12 semifinalists that helps determine a top-four team in the eyes of the committee. Based on that data, compiled by Jason Starrett of ESPN's Stats & Information group, here's a look at which CFP front-runners from Power 5 conferences with one loss or fewer are in good playoff shape at the midpoint of the season -- and who's in trouble:\n\nHow big is this season's Notre Dame-USC matchup for the playoff contenders each with one loss? Big. AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill\n\nSchedule, schedule, schedule\n\nAll 12 CFP semifinalists played a regular-season schedule ranked among the top 55 in the FBS (average 27th).\n\nBodes well for: Pac-12 and Notre Dame\n\nNotre Dame and USC, two one-loss teams that will play each other on Oct. 21 (before the first official ranking is revealed on Oct. 31), are both projected to have a final regular-season schedule ranked in the top 10 of the FBS. Wow. If either can win out, it's sure to impress the selection committee, especially since neither has a bad loss. USC is projected to finish fifth overall in strength of schedule, while the Fighting Irish are projected at No. 8. Don't forget, the Pac-12 plays nine conference games, not eight. For all of the criticism that Washington and Washington State have received for their weaker nonconference lineups, they are expected to finish with the No. 48 and No. 45 overall schedules, respectively.\n\nDoesn't bode well for: Big Ten\n\nGood luck, Wisconsin.\n\nIt's not the Badgers' fault, really. Their toughest nonconference opponent, BYU, is 1-5. And because of the Big Ten's cross-division scheduling rotation, Wisconsin avoids Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan State during the regular season. Wisconsin does play Michigan, which is the Badgers' only opponent currently ranked, but there's no guarantee the Wolverines will stay there.\n\nWisconsin's nonconference schedule is ranked 98th, according to ESPN, but it gets worse for the Big Ten: Penn State's nonconference schedule is ranked 117th. It certainly doesn't help the Nittany Lions that they were all home games, and Pitt -- expected to be the \"marquee\" opponent of the bunch -- is 2-4.\n\nAs of now, Penn State will play three straight ranked opponents after its bye week: No. 17 Michigan, No. 9 Ohio State and No. 21 Michigan State. The question is whether those three opponents can stay ranked by the committee through Selection Day.\n\nWhile the selection committee has shown us it isn't handcuffed to precedent, strength of schedule is one thing it hasn't deviated from. That's a problem for Penn State and Wisconsin, currently the two highest-ranked teams in the Big Ten and front-runners in their respective divisions. According to ESPN's Football Power Index, Penn State is projected to play the 57th-ranked schedule and Wisconsin the 61st, both the worst SOS rank of any CFP qualifier to date. (Washington ranked 55th last season.) If either team wins the Big Ten but is left out, this will be why.\n\nEleven of the 12 participants played a regular-season nonconference game against a Power 5 opponent and won.\n\nBodes well for: Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, TCU, Oklahoma\n\nThe Crimson Tide's season-opening win against Florida State counts. The selection committee will recognize FSU was a different team with Deondre Francois as its quarterback. Clemson is arguably in the best shape after its win over Auburn, and TCU will get credit from the committee for beating Arkansas on the road. Georgia's win at Notre Dame -- no matter that it was by one point -- continues to look better as the Irish keep winning. Oklahoma's win against Ohio State in Columbus remains critical to its playoff hopes, but the Sooners have to win out for it to matter.\n\nDoesn't bode well for: Wisconsin, Ohio State, Auburn\n\nOhio State and Auburn lost the opportunities to separate themselves from other potential Power 5 conference champs when they lost the only big games on their nonconference schedules. Wisconsin played two Group of 5 teams that are both currently 3-3 (Utah State and FAU) and a 1-5 BYU team.\n\nClemson's defense shut down Auburn. It was one of two wins by the Tigers against top-15 opponents. Mike Comer/Getty Images\n\nEye-opening wins\n\nAll 12 participants entered bowl season with at least two wins over AP-ranked opponents.\n\nBodes well for: Clemson\n\nThe Tigers are currently the only top-25 team that already has two wins over AP-ranked opponents, in No. 10 Auburn and No. 15 Virginia Tech. Louisville has since dropped out of the top 25, but Clemson now has another opportunity for a road win against a ranked opponent in No. 20 NC State on Nov. 4. The Tigers also will likely face a ranked opponent in the ACC championship game, assuming they're not upset in Raleigh.\n\nBy the end of the season, this trend should again hold true for the 2017 semifinalists, but the Tigers are the only ones who can already check this box.\n\nQuarterback continuity\n\nNine of the past 12 semifinalists returned their primary starting quarterback from the previous season.\n\nBodes well for: Almost everyone. It's the Year of the Quarterback, remember?\n\nDoesn't bode well for: Clemson, Georgia\n\nAlabama is the only team that has been able to buck this trend -- for three straight years. Clemson has gotten through the most difficult stretch of its schedule with rookie Kelly Bryant, who has drawn praise from just about everyone, including his predecessor, Deshaun Watson. Bryant has already won on the road, and in prime time, but can he do it in a semifinal? In Atlanta? Georgia faces similar questions with Jake Fromm, who replaced injured starter Jacob Eason; Fromm seems to have earned the position permanently. Fromm erased many doubts when he won at Notre Dame, but can he do it against Auburn and possibly Alabama in the SEC championship game? Bigger tests lie ahead for both.\n\nCoaching pedigree\n\nEleven of 12 participants had a head coach who had previously won a conference title.\n\nBodes well for: Alabama, Clemson, Penn State, Washington\n\nDoesn't bode well for: Georgia\n\nSo far, the only exception was Oregon's Mark Helfrich, who was in his second season as a head coach in 2014. Georgia's Kirby Smart also is in his second season. Florida has won the SEC East during each of the past two seasons, and Missouri won it in 2014. Smart knows how to win a national title: He helped Alabama earn its last one. But can he beat Alabama to earn his own?\n\nHere are a few other CFP trends from Starrett at ESPN's Stats & Information Group to keep an eye on in the second half of the season:\n\nBounce back from losses\n\nNine of the 12 participants reached the playoff with one loss, but all nine of those teams earned at least one more win against an AP-ranked opponent before bowl season. Here's a look at the top one-loss teams and the biggest game remaining on each one's regular-season schedule:\n\nNo. 9 Ohio State: Oct. 28 vs. Penn State\n\nThis game is likely to determine the Big Ten's East division winner.\n\nNo. 10 Auburn: Nov. 25 vs. Alabama\n\nIf the Tigers win the Iron Bowl, nobody will remember the loss to Clemson.\n\nNo. 12 Oklahoma: Nov. 4 at Oklahoma State\n\nIt doesn't carry the same weight many thought it would entering the season, but it will still eliminate the loser from the CFP.\n\nNo. 13 USC: Oct. 21 at Notre Dame\n\nIf the Trojans can't win this one, a Pac-12 title probably still wouldn't be enough for a top-four finish.\n\nNo. 14 Oklahoma State : Nov. 4 vs. Oklahoma\n\nThis is the only game left on the Cowboys' schedule that they're not favored by FPI to win.\n\nNo. 15 Virginia Tech: Nov. 4 at Miami\n\nThis game could determine the Coastal Division winner, unless Georgia Tech has something to say about it.\n\nNo. 16 Notre Dame: Oct. 21 vs. USC\n\nThis is the first of back-to-back ranked opponents for the Irish, as they face NC State on Oct. 28.\n\nNo. 17 Michigan: Nov. 25 vs. Ohio State\n\nJim Harbaugh is 1-4 against rivals Michigan State and Ohio State. If the postseason isn't on the line, that record sure is.\n\nNo. 20 NC State: Oct. 28 at Notre Dame\n\nMany are already looking to NC State's game against Clemson, but if the Wolfpack can't beat the Irish, even winning the ACC probably won't be enough.\n\nGreat overall r\u00e9sum\u00e9\n\nEleven of 12 participants were ranked in the top four of ESPN's Strength of Record metric entering bowl season, including all eight teams over the past two years. The one exception? Ohio State in 2014, which was ranked No. 6 but still leapfrogged Big 12 co-champions TCU (fourth) and Baylor (fifth).\n\nWin big\n\nTen of the 12 semifinalists entered bowl season ranked among the top 10 nationally in average scoring margin. The only exceptions were Florida State in 2014 (23rd) and Michigan State in 2015 (32nd).\n\nHeisman hopefuls\n\nEleven of 12 participants had a player finish in the top 10 of the Heisman Trophy voting, including two teams with winners: Oregon's Marcus Mariota in 2014 and Alabama's Derrick Henry in 2015. The only exception was Ohio State in 2016."}
-{"text": "Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition Receives Potential Further Evidence of a May Release\n\nScott White January 21, 2020 9:19 AM EST\n\nAnother site now claims Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition will be releasing on May 29.\n\nYou may be thinking to yourself right now, \u201cHey, DualShockers, didn\u2019t you write about this last week?\u201d at which point I would first thank you for reading our article, and second tell you that yes we did. But now, there is another report popping up on a Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition May release.\n\nThis time, the potential leaked release date comes from the Swedish website, spelbutiken.se. This latest website shares the May 29 date that Danish site, Cool Shop, listed last week. We can\u2019t say for sure just yet whether this is indeed the release date yet. It is possible that the Swedish website only has it listed as such due to the reported date from Cool Shop.\n\nEven though the Nintendo Switch is hardly lacking in the RPG department, Xenoblade Chronicles is one of the more anticipated titles that we know about coming to the platform this year. We\u2019ve already been treated to the updated visuals that set this port apart from the Wii and New 3DS versions. Outside of that though, there are still a lot of unknowns with this remaster. What makes it the Definitive Edition? Is it a remake or more of a remaster?\n\nNearly a decade will separate the release of the Definitive Edition and the original Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii. In that time, two sequels have been released under the Xenoblade name, each carrying their own refinements to the franchise. I look forward to seeing just how much of that refinement finds its way into this game.\n\nI would imagine that whenever we get Nintendo\u2019s usual big new-year Direct, we will get a firm release date for Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition."}
-{"text": "Send this page to someone via email\n\nFollowing the release of a year-old report singling out one casino amid concerns over money laundering, questions are being raised over a perception of a conflict of interest from the report\u2019s authors.\n\nThe report by Calgary-based MNP is damning, and has again brought sharp focus to the issue of money laundering, finding over $13 million in $20 bills were being accepted at the River Rock Casino Resort in 2015.\n\nThe owner of the gaming resort, Great Canadian Casinos, denied any wrongdoing.\n\nIn a statement, Great Canadian Casinos said it \u201cstrictly adheres to all regulatory requirements and maintains the highest standards of reporting\u201d irregularities.\n\nMeanwhile, CKNW found a post on MNP\u2019s own website that says it\u2019s \u201cacted as financial advisor and assisted in raising $6-million\u201d for River Rock rival Edgewater Casino.\n\nStory continues below advertisement\n\nB.C. Attorney General David Eby said he doesn\u2019t know what process the previous government went through when selecting MNP to write the report.\n\n\u201cWhat I do know is that the report landed on my desk, it was full of recommendations that had never been made public and I thought that it was critically important that the public understand that this discussion was going on behind closed doors.\u201d\n\nFollowing the report, Eby announced he would be bringing in an independent reviewer to look into the allegations of money laundering in casinos.\n\nBut he reassured the focus of the reviewer will not be on only one company.\n\nStory continues below advertisement\n\nWATCH: B.C. government to relaunch illegal gaming task force\n\n1:44 B.C. government to relaunch illegal gaming task force B.C. government to relaunch illegal gaming task force\n\n\u201cThe issues that I\u2019m concerned about that need to be addressed is something \u2018is this a serious issue or something that our existing rules are dealing with? Are related to the Lower Mainland?\u2019 And not any one operator.\u201d\n\nRequests for comment from MNP have yet to be returned."}
-{"text": "Previous Page 1 of 4 Next\n\nWritten by Harry Krueger, lead programmer on RESOGUN at Housemarque. Introduction RESOGUN is a fast-paced, explosive horizontal shoot 'em up that was released alongside the PS4's launch in November 2013. It was developed by Housemarque, a company that has been around for 20 years now, and published by Sony XDev Europe. RESOGUN was in development for a total of about 20 months or so, with an additional 12 months added to develop the two expansions for the game: Heroes and Defenders. The core team was 12 members strong, with frequent support from our R&D and art departments, so in total about 20 people total worked on the original version of the game. Voxels? Voxels are essentially 3D pixels, and are quite literally the building blocks of the RESOGUN universe. At Housemarque, we've been making arcade-style games for a while now by marrying timeless gameplay values with cutting-edge tech. During the time of RESOGUN's inception, we were considering ideas for our next big game and voxels seemed like a natural way to express this \"neo-retro\" design philosophy. We quickly came up with a few concepts to utilize this aesthetic approach: one of them was a shoot 'em up, another morphed into an unreleased mobile game, and a few more never made it out of concept phase. The name \"RESOGUN\" was coined by Petteri \"Petsku\" Putkonen, one of our guys at the time. The \"RESO-\" prefix touches upon the concept of high \" RESOlution\", and the \"-GUN\" postfix was added since -- being a shoot 'em up -- we predicted you'd occasionally be shooting things. The pre-production process was rather simple: Before we started development we made a concept video of the game, featuring a rough estimate of what the visuals and gameplay would be like. I remember when Harri Tikkanen, our creative director, first showed the video to me; being a huge shoot 'em up fan I instantly recognized this as my dream project, and I insisted I'd work on the game if we went ahead with it. A few months later, development started. Image taken from the concept video. Prototyping and Early Development In the beginning we were fairly platform-agnostic. At the time we had PS3 and PS Vita dev-kits in house, so we used those as a reference for potential platforms. When considering possible multi-platform development though, the weakest platform always becomes the lead. In the context of our early development, this meant that RESOGUN was initially targeting PS Vita hardware, and all the technical possibilities and limitations that came with that. We started implementing the game using the Super Stardust Delta engine. Since both games shared a similar design approach (being shoot 'em ups mapped onto a 3D surface), we were able to utilize many of the existing sub-systems and start working on the base version of RESOGUN immediately. Preliminary concept art for an early version of the game. Aesthetically, we started out on a somewhat lighter note. Initially we were planning on having brighter colors, blue skies, and a more naturalistic tone, to represent environments that we thought would be the human habitats. The first level we prototyped had a huge tree in the background, and the humans were in small huts. We eventually shifted away from this and went for a darker tone. For the gameplay, we knew from the start that we wanted a horizontal, fast-paced, skill-based shoot 'em up. We've been largely inspired by classic arcade games, and we wanted to do our part in keeping that arcade spirit alive. Our goal was to achieve that \"one more go\" feeling, and create a game that's easy to pick up and hard to master. \"Depth without complexity\" was a mantra we followed; allow the main game to be simple to pick up and play, but create some layers of depth for those looking for that extra challenge. Adding some humans for the player to save worked well with this approach. Much like Defender and Datastorm (two of our key inspirations), introducing this extra gameplay layer of saving the humans created an interesting tension for the player, as they needed to balance their \"shoot and survive\" abilities with a clear secondary goal. We adopted the human-saving mechanic from our very early prototypes, and the humans ended up largely defining RESOGUN's identity. Another thing we knew early on was that RESOGUN's gameplay would take place on a cylinder. When having a horizontal looping playfield in a purely 2D environment, some kind of minimap is essential to communicate the extended surroundings to the player. Mapping RESOGUN's gameplay to a cylinder eliminated the need for a minimap, as the player can always see around the bend and plan ahead. This helped instantly create intuitive gameplay, and from a visual standpoint the cylinder also made RESOGUN stand out even during early prototyping stages. Image from an early prototype version. One other key aspect of RESOGUN was of course the use of voxels. Due to our technical constraints at time, early versions of the game merely simulated the voxel look through carefully constructed meshes and particle effects. Originally we had also envisioned the voxels playing a larger, more direct role in the gameplay. We intended to have the player pick up and manipulate voxel objects, and maybe shoot them towards the enemies. During very early prototyping we realized that this careful voxel management would conflict with the intense arcade action we were shooting for, so we quickly abandoned the idea. In hindsight, it's actually really hard to differentiate between the development of \"the prototype\" and \"the game.\" You can easily hack together a working prototype in a couple of weeks, and then proceed to spend two years continuously refining and polishing it to perfection. With RESOGUN, we aimed to create something unique from the start, so we attempted to innovate from very early stages of development, which led to a lot of different iterations. Iteration Process and Discarded Ideas When looking at a finished game, everything often feels effortless and naturally integrated into the final product. However, reaching the end result is usually a process of \"natural selection\" where countless features are eliminated and very few make it into the final cut. At Housemarque, we subscribe to the common game development notion that it's better to iterate and fail quickly. We try to test simple versions of ideas immediately, and then let the game decide: If it works, we keep and refine it, and if it doesn't we discard it and move on. Below are some of the many ideas we tried for RESOGUN that didn't make it into the final version: The Tower: We knew from the beginning that we'd require some kind of \"drop off point\" for the humans. Initially we experimented with a tower-building mechanic, which would collect humans and grow over time. One version had the player collecting all the humans at the tower, and the humans would then run around on a treadmill to generate power ups for you. Outside of feeling a bit abusive towards the humans, as a gameplay mechanic it also felt unnecessarily complicated and hard to communicate. The Weapon Shop: By killing enemies and saving humans throughout the level, the player would collect \"orbs\" which functioned as an in-game currency. At the end of each phase, the weapon shop would descend onto the playfield and allow you to exchange your orbs for weapon power-ups. Although the actual implementation was great (it even allowed you to preview items before purchasing), it severely affected the pacing of the game: just as the intensity was ramping up and the player was getting into the zone, we were pulling them out of it and asking them to decide on weapons purchases. Unacceptable. The weapon shop was one of many ideas we tried but ultimately abandoned. The Weapon \"Options\": For the weapons, we also tried having some Gradius-style \"options\" (helper ships that assist you by shooting alongside your main weapon) which sported a variety of different weapons. The Options didn't work that well with the relatively confined shooting gameplay we were going for, so we went with traditional power-ups instead. The World Map: We were originally planning to have 10 levels in the game, and had an ambitious plan to incorporate a world map to connect them with each other, hoping to lend the game more cohesion and structure. In between levels the player would get thrown onto this world map, where they'd select the next level from multiple routes. It was unnecessarily complicated, and we ended up discarding it because, once more, it affected the intensity and flow of the experience. One of the many concept renders for the \"World Map\" we tested. The Humans: We had lots of different iterations over the humans. Originally we had humans that would be easily killed by enemies' bullets, and eventually even by the player. Later we iterated over humans with an extra glow or ring around them, to indicate what kind of power up they'd give you. We even tried having special \"scientist\" humans that award you with power-ups, while the \"normal\" humans wouldn't. All of this was once again difficult to communicate and hard to keep track of during gameplay. Initially humans would also spawn from their own \"huts\", which we would burn to the ground before releasing them. We shifted away from this and trapped them as prisoners in \"human chambers\" instead, where they'd always be visible to the player. Originally we had humans escape from their burning houses. 360-Degree Shooting: This is an interesting one. When we got the first prototype of RESOGUN running we naturally tried 360-degree shooting as well, just like Super Stardust HD had. Shooting in 360 degrees generally allows the player more freedom, and this encouraged a more passive play-style that basically transformed the player into a \"moving turret\": you'd move to a safe location, shoot around, move somewhere else, shoot around, and so on.\n\nBy limiting the player to shoot only horizontally, we also forced them to move a lot more; this meant making more decisions and taking more risks, which ultimately created more gameplay. We eventually revisited 360-degree shooting (as a separate \"challenge\") for our free expansion called Challengers. Many of the aforementioned flaws in our early designs were highlighted during some of our frequent test sessions. We'd invite people from outside the company to test the game with new eyes, and we'd pay close attention to their initial reactions and feedback. This often helped us gain a fresh perspective on things; as a developer it's easy to get used to how everything works, and even the most obscure features start feeling intuitive after a while. Although these test sessions didn't strictly guide our design process, they often helped us understand when we were over-complicating things. Establishing a unique visual style for the game also involved lots of iteration. We weren't happy with the bright, more colorful tone we initially targeted, as it lacked a certain \"edge\" and made gameplay difficult to read. So we eventually shifted to a darker tone, and decided the level environments would now belong to the \"Sentients\" (our enemies in game) rather than the humans. This also lent itself well to a clear contrast between bright gameplay and dark background elements, which directly helped the game's readability. Refined concept art from the later stages of development. The PlayStation 4 Transition After about a year of development, our planned release schedule seemed to largely coincide with the launch window Sony was planning for the PS4. This was the first time when the idea of a PS4 exclusive came up. Transitioning to a different platform at such a late stage represented a moderate risk, but after several talks with Sony everyone agreed that RESOGUN would benefit greatly from becoming a PS4 exclusive and harnessing the extra power we'd get from such a machine. Although we received devkits fairly late (roughly eight months before the PS4's launch), we were already largely aware of the possibilities the PS4 would allow through features like compute shaders and 8GB of unified GDDR5 memory, so we started working within these lifted constraints immediately. A target render put together during our transition to the PS4. The design of the core game remained largely undistracted by this transition -- after all, gameplay always comes first. The decision to keep the game focused in scope also meant we could throw all of this newly found processing power at making the core gameplay much more satisfying and rewarding, and create a truly rich sensory experience while maintaining our original 1080p/60 target. Needless to say, switching to the PS4 was a hugely positive transition for the project. We needed to re-think practically everything related to the game's tech and presentation, as we now had the power to abandon many of our early compromises and push the game to its full potential. Being freed of the shackles of potential cross-platform (and cross-generation!) development meant that we could confidently \"look ahead\" and not have to compromise on our vision. We had more options than before, but expectations were also much higher; we now needed to deliver a true \"next gen\" experience that would stand alongside other giants during launch. Let there be Voxels! Voxels were obviously a huge part of the game, and with the PS4 we had a chance to explore their utilization anew. Before, we needed to combine traditional polygonal meshes and effects to merely approximate the \"voxel look\"; now we could use actual voxels to construct (and blow up) everything and create a much more visually cohesive experience. All of this sounded great of course, but we still needed to somehow put all this into the game... Asset Generation: Voxel Levels Working on one single platform meant we could now standardize our export procedure and streamline our asset generation pipeline. Generating voxelized assets for RESOGUN involved two separate systems: one for the static voxel levels, and another for the entities (humans, enemies, player ships etc.) Having two separate exporting procedures for these allowed for more control and optimization. For the levels, we created custom Maya tools for generating and exporting them. As a first pass, we would build an asset in Maya using traditional mesh tools. A custom \"voxelizer\" tool would then process this by raytracing the structure, and generate a \"hollow\" voxelized cube mesh from it. Meshes were left hollow because aside from the redundancy of generating the inner cubes (they'd be very hard to edit), it also significantly helped with Maya performance. Our voxel level generation process. Once the hollow cube mesh was generated, our artists could then edit the surface cubes and define material attributes per-vertex. The material of the \"inner\" cubes (which are exposed during gameplay after e.g. an explosion chips away the surface) would be decided during the export phase using a separate attribute. Aside from the surface and inner cubes, we also needed to create \"indestructible frames\" inside the level objects, so that we could maintain some structure and readability during gameplay. To create these, we used our same \"voxelizer\" tool, which built voxels at specific locations inside our modeled mesh. The voxelizer tool also defined the \"density\" (how far apart) these inner frames would be. We would then mark this generated frame as \"indestructible\" and the export process would combine these with our final asset. Level generation steps. Each level could be composed of multiple objects, each with their own materials and properties. During export, all of the objects composing the scene would be mapped to a large 3D grid, and then exported as a custom 3D texture. This process was used to generate the two key assets for each level: one for the \"centerpiece\" (which had a maximum size of 512^3), and another for the outer \"gameplay ring,\" which was exported as a 128x128x1536 rectangular prism and rendered in-game using a separate \"curved voxel\" technique (more on this below). Creating our levels like this meant that we had a fixed grid size for all levels, which standardized many of our exporting and in-game procedures. It also compressed well, and allowed for more complex levels within the same grid without much overhead. Voxel Entities These are the \"cube mesh\" constructs we used for things such as the Player Ship, Enemies, Humans and various decoration items. Although our levels used voxels in a more traditional sense (adhering strictly to a grid), for enemies we allowed for cubes of different sizes, which could be rotated and animated freely. To create these cube meshes, our artists would again use standard Maya tools to define rough planes and primitives, which would define the basic shape of the entity and where the cubes would go. Our custom tool would then iterate over all primitives, and generate individual cubes based on each polygon's location, orientation and size. This process often required a bit of guesswork, but thankfully re-generating the voxel data from adjusted primitives was fairly fast so iterating over entities was efficient. The steps of creating the Ferox ship using the cube mesh generation tools. During export, everything was \"flattened\" into raw cube data, which contained per-cube offset, material, orientation, and grouping information. We needed to separate cubes into groups and sub-groups to correctly define their connectivity and behavior, so that e.g. if an arm of an entity is blown off during gameplay, all logically connected cube groups would be detached at the same time. The cube groups were also used to define separate bounding spheres for more accurate gameplay collisions.\n\nVoxel Levels: In-Game Handling Earlier on, we needed to be careful about memory consumption, but now we could potentially use more memory for a single level's voxel grid than the PS3 had in total. This meant we could keep the entire level's voxel data in memory, and update the state and material of each block individually. This allowed for fully destructible environments built out of millions of cubes, that could blow up in a voxel-perfect and spectacular fashion. To construct the levels in-game, we utilized two separate (but fairly similar) systems: one for the level's centerpiece, and another one for the gameplay ring. Both shared the same geometry generation compute shader code, but the gameplay ring's rectangular prism was curved/\"bent\" during rendering to allow it to form an actual circle. Once the static level data is loaded, our compute shader iterates over all the voxels and their materials in the 3D texture, and constructs the surface geometry of the level. The level data is broken up into separate 64^3 voxel blocks, and only the ones containing something are processed. The surface area of each voxel block is then polygonized as a series of quad-strips, and base colors are sampled from the 3D textures and combined with different material textures for the end result. We're only constructing the surfaces for the outer voxel layer, so no geometry actually exists for the inner cubes until they're exposed. The surface geometry for our levels was rendered as a series of quad strips. When an explosion occurs during gameplay (which is quite often) and a part of the world is \"chipped away\", the affected geometry for that segment is reconstructed in real time. Since we're keeping all level voxel data in memory, all material properties for the inner cubes are preserved. With each explosion, every individual voxel that is chipped away from the world is converted to a \"physical cube\" (see below). The entire process of updating the level grid geometry and chipping away individual cubes from explosions is performed entirely on the GPU through compute shaders. Dynamic Voxels In addition to the static, fixed-size cubes we used for the levels, we needed to implement a separate system for rendering free-floating, dynamic cubes as well. Compute shaders lent themselves well to this problem, as their architecture allows for very efficient handling of large chunks of small data like particle (or cubes!) The geometry for each individual cube was constructed dynamically using our vertex shader. Since each cube is a volumetric entity, it has its own material, receives its own lighting, and casts its own shadow. This simple, lightweight system is what we used to render hundreds of thousands of cubes in-game, both for constructing CPU-controlled gameplay entities such as enemies, and also for GPU-controlled physical cube effects. Cube mesh entities consisted of thousands of cubes that were individually processed and animated. While these cubes were \"attached\" to an entity, all their new positions would be updated exclusively by the CPU, and the rendering information was simply passed to our shaders. Tracking all of this cube data wasn't cheap of course, so we ended up using about 1GB of memory just for the entity cube meshes. All entity cube meshes utilized a fairly simple but sophisticated damage model, which allowed individual cubes to be chipped away when parts of them received damage. When cubes were detached from an entity, ownership of them would be transferred (in a \"fire and forget\" manner) from the CPU to our GPU-based \"physical cube\" system. This separate sub-system would then assume control of each individual cube's behavior, and update its physics, collisions and lifetime completely independently of gameplay. Keeping the level's static voxel grid in memory lent itself well to quick collision lookups, so that each physical cube could bounce off level surfaces naturally. We also implemented another sub-system which allowed us to feed additional collision info from the gameplay side to our compute shader; this was used to make physical cubes react to gameplay events, so that e.g. cubes would be pushed away during a nearby explosion or when the player boosted through them. Each individual cube had its own geometry, material and physics. With this revamped voxel tech, the game gradually transformed into a much more elegant beast. By constructing everything from the same building blocks and using one single system for rendering all the voxels in the game, RESOGUN achieved a much more cohesive and unified presentation. Everything in the game could now be accurately destroyed in a spectacular fashion, and all the individual cubes flying around made the game feel very reactive and dynamic, which dramatically improved the player experience. \"Turbo Particle System\" In addition to our voxel tech, we also worked with compute shaders to create a GPU-based particle system, which we internally called the \"Turbo Particle System.\" Offloading the workload exclusively to compute shaders meant we could have much more impressive effects without a performance overhead. Effects for this were simply spawned and controlled by the CPU, and the updating of each effect was left to its designated compute shader. The particle update performed sub-frame simulation for all effects, so that even super-fast moving particles at very high spawn frequencies would still look good and fluid. This system also supported a collision system similar to that used for the physical cubes, so that each individual particle could potentially collide and deflected off gameplay entities such as enemies. This system was very powerful and allowed for spectacular looking effects. It was used in specialized hand-crafted effects like the player's Overdrive beam, the lightning bolts, the player's shockwave/bomb and even the \"Save the last humans\" texts you see in the game. However, since each effect needed to be hand-coded, this system wasn't very artist-friendly. So we still kept and heavily utilized our \"normal\" CPU-based particle system, which was easier for artists to work with and lent itself better to simple effects like explosions. The player's \"shockwave\" was one of several effects which utilized our \"Turbo Particle System.\" Game Logic and Multiplayer For our gameplay systems, we utilized a multithreaded fiber system which was originally developed for our PS Vita title Super Stardust Delta. This framework allowed hundreds of lightweight gameplay tasks to run independently across multiple threads, and their execution order would be determined at run-time by resolving each the tasks' dependencies. This was a very flexible and high-performance framework, and was directly responsible for keeping our CPU footprint very low during gameplay. For our online multiplayer, we went with a deterministic execution model. The theory here is that given the same exact input, the game should produce the same exact output across multiple running instances. In practice, this meant that we only needed to send the player's input over the network, and only run the next frame when input from both players was available. This resulted in very light network packets, and also drastically streamlined our online multiplayer development. Of course, the downside here was that we needed to actually get the game running deterministically. Doing so in a heavily multithreaded environment was not an easy task, and the delicate nature of determinism meant that even simple human errors (such as leaving a single variable uninitialized) could cause the game to go off-sync. Attempting to find these corner cases ourselves would be an exercise in futility, so we created an automated system that would detect determinism errors for us during execution instead. The architecture of our fiber system lent itself well to such a change. We first extended our fiber tasks, so that each one would calculate its own running CRC checksum from variables we needed to keep deterministic. We then wrote a quick (...and not very smart) \"AI\" to play the game automatically for us and record the CRC data for each frame. The system would then run the game again multiple times with the same exact input, and if a CRC mismatch was detected it would trigger an error at the exact variable and location that caused it. Once this system was in, it allowed us to effectively test the stability of our deterministic model even locally, as we only needed one instance of the game running to \"emulate\" the multiplayer rules and perform the checks. So everyone would leave these automated \"determinism checks\" running when away from work, and see if we had any surprises waiting for us when we got back. This automated checking helped us identify and fix countless errors (both determinism-related and otherwise), and proved instrumental in achieving a high stability for the final game. By the time we shipped RESOGUN, it was stable enough to \"survive\" our automated checks for over a week at a time. Fun fact: the same AI we used for the determinism checking made it into the \"Attract mode\" of the game, which you can see if you leave the game idle for too long at the title screen. First Expansion: Heroes and Construction Kit It\u2019s kind of tricky when you are working on an expansion, because if you deviate too much from the core formula, people are going to be disappointed. On the other hand, if you give them something too similar, they\u2019ll also be disappointed. So for both of our expansions we decided to have the best of both worlds: something familiar, and something entirely new. Survival Mode Survival mode was our take on the \"endless\" formula, something we wanted for RESOGUN from the start. We knew that it needed to restrict the player to a single level which would get progressively harder. Just like the Arcade mode, each game session would be focused and tight, and not require players to invest hours of their time to chase a new high-score. We also needed to introduce some new elements to the mode, to help it establish a unique identity: Saving humans: We started off with players needing to take humans to their Escape Pods just like Arcade. Very soon we wanted to try something different, so we made the humans get collected instantly upon contact with the player. This greatly streamlined the human-saving gameplay, and allowed us to have many more humans active in the game. We also needed a new way to spawn humans, so we made them drop with parachutes. This also helped introduce some randomness to the core formula, so that each playthrough would be slightly different.\n\nDropping the humans with parachutes introduced an element of randomness to Survival. Day and night cycle: Being an \"endless\" mode, one of the problems we faced was communicating the progress of the player during gameplay. Players would have a hard time understanding how far they'd gotten, which diminished their sense of having an \"end goal\" to improve upon in each run. Aesthetically, we also wanted the mode to be easily recognizable when e.g. looking at screenshots. We ended up solving both of these problems by introducing a day and night cycle, comprised of 9 distinct \u201cphases\u201d; this gave the mode a unique visual identity, and also helped players track their progress through each day. You only live once: Giving the player only a single life was perhaps the most critical decision we made for the mode in terms of gameplay. This strongly emphasized the \"survival\" aspect and greatly increased the \"edge of your seat\" tension for the player. During development we received a lot of criticism for this choice, both from test players and from our publisher, but we strongly opposed adding more lives as we felt this would dilute the experience. The constant friction surrounding this feature led to a lot of brainstorming (and sleepless nights), which eventually led to the idea of the \"Fallen Hero\" mechanic. The Fallen Hero: The Fallen Hero was an idea largely inspired by the Souls games -- it is, after all, your ship\u2019s \u201cblood stain\u201d, which is dropped at the last point the player died at. If the player manages to reach that point again, they're rewarded with bonus points and an extra shield, effectively extending their chance at the game. This introduced a clear marker for players to reach with each new try, and scaled effortlessly across various skill levels. This was a great way to solve the \"extra lives\" dilemma, and further helped the mode establish its own identity. On a very personal note, the concept of a \"Fallen Hero\" sadly carried a strong connotation for me during this time, as one of my own personal heroes, my grandfather, passed away during the development of Heroes. To honor his memory, I asked if we could add a small monument of a single \u201cHero\u201d human holding a torch atop the mode's central spire. Although there are countless storms and lightning bolts constantly hitting the level, the monument always stands there proud and unaffected. This monument would unfortunately be changed later to include a second person, my grandmother, who passed away during the development of Defenders. Both of these events had a very profound impact on me, and I\u2019m grateful that I had a chance to honor their memory this way. It's comforting to know that atop the central spire, they will stand inseparable forever.\n\nDemolition Mode With Stardust we had learned the ropes of modifying the core gameplay in meaningful ways; some of you might for example remember the Booster Mode or the Bomber Mode. Demolition also started out as a simple \"Bomber Mode,\" where you would only make use of your Overdrive bomb and try to stay alive as long as possible. That was fun for a few seconds, but intensity dropped too fast. The core avoidance gameplay was still fairly clean and satisfying though, so we just needed to introduce some new element to make things more interesting... Wrecking Balls: The idea for the wrecking balls came a little bit after our trip to New York around the PS4's launch. While we were there we visited an arcade bar in the city, where I spent a couple of hours playing Arkanoid, one of my favorite arcade games. I felt re-captivated by the elegance of its design: although things would get really intense as the balls multiplied and moved faster, the game never \u201cbroke character\u201d and always maintained a level of clarity and predictability.\n\n\n\nArkanoid served as a great inspiration for Demolition mode. This eventually inspired the idea to introduce \"Wrecking Balls\" into Demolition, which dramatically altered the character of the mode. The Wrecking Balls introduced an interesting dynamic, as they could be used to destroy enemies in their path, but could also harm the player. While players were charging their bomb, we added a slowdown that allowed them to aim the Wrecking Balls' trajectories with precision, which felt instantly satisfying. They would also bounce off of each other, so as the number of balls increased the mode would get crazy very fast. It helped make gameplay intense, predictable, and most importantly fun. The combination of the Wrecking Balls and carefully selected enemy patterns made this mode feel familiar but fresh at the same time, and helped Demolition establish its own identity in the RESOGUN universe. Construction Kit Patch The biggest feature we added for this free patch was the Ship Editor, which introduced the concept of custom ships. Players could now craft their own ships on a 21^3 voxel grid, equip them with their choice of weapon and attributes, and even share them with the RESOGUN community. Development on the Ship Editor had begun way before the update was shipped, but it did take us a fairly long time to flesh out the interface and get all the features we wanted in there. The Ship Editor allowed players to craft all kinds of custom ships. Adding the Ship Editor introduced the side-effect of needing to rebalance the game. Originally, RESOGUN only had three ship types, and each was balanced according to its stats and weapon power. For example, the \"Phobos\" ship had a very powerful weapon to make up for its severe lack of mobility. This made sense in the context of the original game, but the custom ships quickly highlighted the Phobos weapon as being massively overpowered compared to the others. This forced us to revisit the attribute distribution and how the weapons behaved. In hindsight, this rebalancing was perhaps our biggest misstep during the development of RESOGUN. Players who had spent time with the game had grown attached to the original version, so we received some justified backlash for some of the changes we made. These concerns were promptly addressed in subsequent patches that largely restored the core RESOGUN experience to its original state. Generally though, the Heroes expansion and patch enjoyed a very positive reception. Both the press and players widely praised Heroes as being even better than the main game, which set the bar pretty high for us. No rest for the wicked though, as we needed to start prototyping for Defenders right away. Second Expansion: Defenders and Challengers The name of our second and last expansion was a direct homage to Defender, one of our key inspirations. This also served as a reference to us doing our part in \"defending the arcade spirit,\" as now it would be time to pass the torch on to the next big game to do this. Protector Mode Although Protector Mode ended up being the \"familiar\" mode of the two, when we first started working on Defenders we initially pursued an entirely different direction. \"Booster Mode\": This was the first thing we prototyped for Defenders, and was originally slated to be the expansion's \"main mode.\" This limited the player to a single level and only allowed the use of the boost ability. Even during early prototyping, there was a clear conflict in the dynamics of this mode: we encouraged players to move super-fast, but doing so made the gameplay difficult to follow (some players even got severe motion sickness from it!). Also, keeping the player invincible while boosting nullified all tension, but leaving them vulnerable while boosting led to many unpredictable deaths. We spent a lot of time (perhaps too much) evaluating various iterations of this mode, but its potential was clearly limited so we ultimately abandoned this direction.\n\nInitial concepts for the \"Booster Mode\" level with its rotated background. \"RESOGUN RPG\": After giving up on the Booster Mode, we briefly explored the idea of a \"roguelike\" mode; we envisioned this as having randomly-generated levels, and that players would progress through the mode by ascending a massive, vertical tower. We thought there could be lots of crazy new power-ups, new gameplay mechanics, and some RPG elements like upgradable levels and stats. We soon came to our senses and realized that time constraints wouldn't allow for something that ambitious. Eventually, we ended up making Protector mode another take on the \"Endless\" formula, but fleshed out in a slightly different direction. One of the key things that defined this mode was the \"level rotation\": each time a phase is completed, the centerpiece of the level would rotate 180 degrees. This was something we initially prototyped as part of the Booster Mode, and it looked very cool so we ended up using it in both of our new modes. The \"super boost\" power up was another leftover from our \"Booster Mode\" tests. Commando Mode Originally we envisioned this as a mode where you'd play a full, cylindrical RESOGUN level with a human, but that idea was dismissed early on as being too large in scope. So initially we scrapped the idea of a \"commando\" mode and started prototyping other things instead. I mentioned earlier how some \"leftover\" ideas ended up as Challenges in the game -- with Commando the opposite actually occurred. When we first started prototyping ideas for Challenges, one of them was our take on Missile Command. This mini-game had a static turret in the middle, with houses left and right to protect, and countless meteorites coming down that you were shooting at. That early version got repetitive very quickly, but there was something we liked so we explored it further. Eventually we came up with the idea of replacing the main turret with one of the last humans, and Commando mode was (re)born. The first iteration had a single human and multiple houses. We decided to keep only one house because that created a larger sense of attachment with your home. Initially we only had Meteorites as enemies, but we saw a lot of potential so it eventually got fleshed out to a mode with 20 \"phases\", each with its own unique enemy flow. This made Commando different from the other \"endless\"-style modes, as it even featured a final boss and an actual end screen. Like Arcade, the mode also looped over and introduced \"Revenge Bullets\" in its second loop.\n\nCommando Mode was directly inspired by many of the great action movies of the '80s. There were also many clear '80s action movie inspirations in this mode, starting obviously from the name itself. The new power-ups in the mode played with this trope, such as the Minigun, a Bandana, and Sunglasses. Fun Fact: the Sunglasses were a direct homage to the movie \"They Live\" by John Carpenter. Keeping with the '80s theme, we also wanted to throw in some reference to the greatest action star of all time. Luckily, Ari Pulkkinen (our sound guy) does a really mean Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation, so we added dozens of samples that referenced some of his more famous quotes. Commando also deviated from the core RESOGUN story in a bittersweet way. In this \"alternate timeline,\" the normal RESOGUN player ships have failed to save the humans; the background is a destroyed version of the \"Protector\" level, and if you search its remains you will even find a crash-landed Ferox ship there (one of the many \"Easter eggs\" we added to the levels). So humans were now forced to take matters into their own hands and make their last stand. \"Challengers\" Expansion Alongside Defenders we also released another free expansion called Challengers, which one again changed the core RESOGUN experience by introducing lots of new cool things: Challenges: These are essentially some smaller modes which play with the RESOGUN formula in different ways. These introduce countless variations to the core gameplay, such as Super Revenge Bullets, humans being released by every enemy, or using only boost like we had in our \"Booster Mode\" prototypes. Lots of the ideas we prototyped but didn't make it into the final modes ended up here instead. The \"Super Stardust\" Challenge is a great example, which allows the player to use 360 degree shooting. Challenges added lots of replay value to the game, and allowed players to experience RESOGUN in fun new ways. Feats: We received really good feedback from our fans for RESOGUN's trophies, but we felt severely limited by the number of trophies we could provide through Sony's official systems. So we decided to create our own \"in-game trophy\" system instead and add a couple of hundred of them. Feats introduced extra goals for the player to achieve during gameplay, which covered a broad range of skill levels. This was another way to extend the longevity of the game. Photo Mode: Throughout development we'd often pause the game and roam around freely with the debug camera, and marvel at how great the game looked. We aren't cutting any corners with our rendering, so even up close the game looks great. Adding a Photo Mode allowed players to pause the action and take spectacular looking screenshots of RESOGUN in all its voxelized glory. This also gave us the chance to introduce several \"Easter eggs\" throughout the levels for players to find.\n\n\n\nThe Photo Mode allowed players to take a closer look at the action. Both the Defenders expansion and the free update received great critical reception. We knew from the start that Defenders would be our last expansion, and everyone worked very hard to add lots of cool new stuff that would bring RESOGUN to its best, most refined state. It seems to have paid off: many media outlets commented on the Defenders update -- combined with the free patch -- as setting a new standard for post-launch support. What Went Wrong We're really happy with what we managed to pull off for the original version of RESOGUN, but having a tight and immovable deadline tied to the PS4\u2019s launch meant that certain compromises were made regarding the amount of content we delivered. Players who merely wanted to explore the Arcade mode's five levels could admittedly do so in a limited time, which limited the long-term appeal of RESOGUN and didn't allow us to achieve a high retention outside of score-hunters. This pressure to deliver RESOGUN on-time also meant an intense focus on the launch version of the game, with little time to prepare effectively for future expansions. This affected both of our expansions, which introduced drastic changes to the core game. For instance, we didn't plan ahead for the inclusion of the editor and custom ships for our \"Construction Kit\" expansion, and certain oversights in the main game responded poorly to this change. This demanded large changes to the game, which both put a strain on our resources and divided players when the patch was released. Although we still stand firmly behind these changes, many of them could've been avoided with more careful planning and thorough testing beforehand. For our second free expansion, Challengers, implementing and iterating over the various Challenges proved to be very time-consuming, as a lot of RESOGUN's systems weren't designed in the most modular fashion beforehand. This made writing some of our \"mix and match\" Challenges very stressful, as we often needed to make nerve-wrecking changes to established systems and ensure we wouldn't break anything. This fact combined with the sheer quantity of Feats and Challenges put a tremendous strain on our testing and QA resources. Hand-crafting levels also proved to be a huge task for our artists, as there were millions of voxels that needed their individual treatment. This was especially time-consuming, which forced us to be very selective with the designs for our levels, and slightly discouraged large-scale changes to them. Also, constructing complex enemies (such as bosses) from multiple cube-meshes turned out to be a very complicated and time-consuming affair. We eventually ended up using this approach for only our first two bosses in Arcade; the ones for levels 3, 4, and 5 were created dynamically code side, which ended up being a faster approach (and also lent itself well to some cool demo-like effects). Although RESOGUN development never felt \"rushed,\" we did face tremendous pressure to deliver a \"next-gen\" experience within a limited timeframe. Thankfully, having so many talented people working together meant a constant flow of creative energy; everyone in the team was vital to the project, and everyone brought their own personal touches to the game. Time is never enough of course, and there\u2019s always something you can do better, but ultimately we're very proud of what we accomplished with RESOGUN. Now we just need to make sure our next game is even better! Closing Thoughts Overall, creating RESOGUN was a fantastic experience for us. Being able to create a game like this in 2013, with a large budget, incredible new tech and a publisher support was a great opportunity. The shoot 'em up genre has been sorely underrepresented in the medium, and it's tough to convince publishers that a high-end shoot 'em up is a fruitful prospect. Thankfully Sony believed in our vision, and with their support RESOGUN became a reality. Our producers at Sony XDev also helped substantially in achieving the highest possible standards, and I can say that we couldn't have worked with a better publisher for the development of RESOGUN. Of course, when you put two passionate parties together, it's not uncommon to have differences in opinion. At times we felt compelled to defend our vision, but ultimately this only strengthened our resolve to refine it further. In some cases (like with the single-life feature of Survival), it even stands as a testament to how sometimes creative friction can lead to the betterment of ideas. Developing the game exclusively for the PS4 allowed us to pull off lots of cool things that hadn't been done to this extent in the genre before. Innovative tech aside, RESOGUN would have been little more than a glorified tech demo if it wasn't fun to play. We're an interactive medium, and there's no substitute for good gameplay. We'd like to believe that by carefully iterating and pushing to innovate from the start, we managed to craft a solid entry in the genre that will hopefully stand the test of time. Especially with the inclusion of our two expansions, we can now find closure in knowing that all our main aspirations for RESOGUN have been realized, and that we're leaving RESOGUN as a complete package for players to enjoy throughout the rest of the PS4's lifecycle, and hopefully even beyond that. One final note I'd like to make here is related to our work philosophy. Working at Housemarque has taught me that despite some basic \"hierarchy\" existing in each project, the supreme authority is always the game itself. The game is the boss. The game always comes first, and you need to learn to keep your ego out of the equation regardless of what your title or role implies. It's often difficult to accept that a certain idea or feature you've grown attached to isn't serving the game's best interests, but you need to overcome that in order to make the best possible game. You need to listen to what the game is telling you, and not silence it with your own voice. So learn to be stubborn when defending your vision, but also learn to let go. Allow yourself to be tested, and encourage feedback from a wide variety of sources to get a fresh perspective. Treat negative feedback as a challenge to prove your vision, but also as an opportunity to refine it. Always remain open to the possibility that another, better solution exists for what you're trying to achieve. Keep iterating, have frequent test sessions to expose your game to as many eyes as possible, and let the game decide. After all, the game is the boss.\n\nThanks for reading!"}
-{"text": "Christian Eriksen has said the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system is making football \"lose some of its charm.\"\n\nVAR has been at the centre of numerous incidents throughout the tournament, with Iran being given a controversial late penalty in their draw with Portugal after a VAR review and two spot-kicks awarded against Eriksen's Denmark.\n\nSpeaking after the goalless draw against France on Tuesday that secured his side's place in the round-of-16, Eriksen said it had also changed the way players were reacting to situations inside the penalty area.\n\n\"We have played two games and we have had two penalties against us, so of course we are not really pleased with it,\" he said.\n\n\"It is something that wants to make the game perfect, but it makes football lose some of its charm.\n\n\"As a player, sometimes you expect something to happen every time the ball is in the box. Every time somebody falls down, you get nervous because you have to watch your back because anything can happen.\n\n\"There is a lot of difference compared to the feeling you normally have.\""}
-{"text": "\n\nPhilosophy vs. Science\n\nby Joseph Rowlands The historical relationship between science and philosophy has not been a friendly one. Philosophers like to start with their conclusions, and work to prove them. When it came to trying to figure out what the world was like, philosophers tended to argue about what the world should be like. Science was born as a rejection of this method. Its goal was to figure out what the world was really all about, and its primary tool was actual experimentation.\n\n\n\nWe've all seen philosophy at its worst. Philosophers are often completely disconnected from reality and, more recently, don't care. Rationalism, the view that only deductive knowledge is really reliable, is commonplace. Philosophers often expound their ideas from armchairs and ivory towers, where the facts of reality don't concern them.\n\n\n\nIt's not surprising science would want to distance itself from philosophy. It becomes even more personal for the scientist when he's told that he must conform to preconceived views of the world. It started with Galileo having to renounce his scientific views on astronomy, but continued through the ages. Countless other scientists have had to hide their views on topics like evolution, the age of the earth and the existence of glaciers, with a range of punishments from the inquisition and burning at the stake to losing their jobs or financing. Philosophy, often in the form of religion, does not seek the truth. It seeks believers, and the truth is an enemy.\n\n\n\nSo science has good reasons to be wary of philosophy. Given the history and the nature of most philosophies, it's tempting to reject the whole field as being worthless. That would be a mistake because it's based on a faulty understanding of what philosophy is. And when you reject something based on a false understanding of it, you're likely to fall straight into the false dichotomy.\n\n\n\nThe philosophers who caused all the problems didn't care about facts or evidence. They had their theories, and refused to second-guess them, let alone test them against reality. Given the philosophers' strong bias towards ignoring the contrary evidence because they were wedded to a theory, it's natural that scientists would try to discard this tradition.\n\n\n\nThe problem is that many scientists sought to escape from the clutches of rationalizing philosophy by jumping into Empiricism, the philosophy that rejects theoretical knowledge and only accepts direct sensory evidence. As Rand said, philosophy is inescapable. You don't have a choice about having one. If you try to reject philosophy, you're just enslaving yourself to your implicit philosophy.\n\n\n\nSo in rejecting a system of theory without fact, scientists moved towards a system of fact without theory. This was done by having a simple litmus test for science. The experiment was the ultimate arbiter of the truth. Obviously few, if any, would dare try to practice the new system consistently. There have to be theories. There has to be analysis of the facts.\n\n\n\nThe issue then isn't that they don't have theories, but that they've blinded themselves to rational analysis of the theories. You would expect the outcome to be exactly what it is today. Theories are considered merely \"models\" that make predictions of reality, but don't necessarily describe reality. Reality is considered unknowable and indeterminate, and science is only concerned with predicting the results of an experiment, instead of identifying reality.\n\n\n\nScience is supposed to be concerned with identification of reality. Science is a means of gaining knowledge, and that means a grasp of what reality is. Knowledge isn't just used to predict how an experiment will turn out. It also aims at creating new opportunities. By understanding what is going on, you can act to further your life. The more knowledge you have, the more options available.\n\n\n\nThe focus on experiment has other side-effects. It encourages scientists in other fields to concentrate on experiments when it may not make sense. Economics, for instance, is a field where so many variables change over time that it is difficult to run real experiments. Even if you could run them, the results are dependent on the values and choices of the participants and are not constant, making predictions impossible.\n\n\n\nSo if scientists try to divorce themselves from philosophy by ignoring it, they will fall victim to it. And worse, they probably won't know it. Philosophy is concerned with one's fundamental premises, and sets the stage for how you interpret the evidence of your senses. If you accept that knowledge is not concerned with identifying reality but with making predictions, it should be no surprise that you will eventually come to the conclusion that knowledge can only make predictions, and that reality is ultimately unidentifiable.\n\n\n\nThis isn't to say that philosophy has some kind of veto power over science. That would just be an example of believing the two are opposites. Philosophy sets the standard for science. One philosophy may emphasize a system of mathematical \"appearances,\" while one may focus on an actual identification of reality. Philosophy does not have the right to reject evidence. Instead, the evidence is interpreted by the philosophy. The theories are judged by the standards of knowledge set by philosophy. It is inescapable. The only option you have is to analyze the philosophical premises behind your work, or to ignore them and be a slave to them.\n\n\n\nDiscuss this Article (96 messages)"}
-{"text": "Fresh off back-to-back NBA championships, professional basketball\u2019s Golden State Warriors of San Francisco have been described by reputable news outlets as the \u201cgreatest dynasty in the modern era\u201d and as \u201cabsurd collection of talent.\u201d Perhaps to celebrate those supreme accolades, majority owner Joe Lacob and his wife Nicole Curran have girded their loins and charged away from their longtime Silicon Valley, Calif. residence to the seaside city of Malibu, where they\u2019ve laid out $29.1 million for a decidedly decadent oceanfront mansion on desirable Carbon Beach.\n\nBefore becoming Warriors majority owner in 2010, Lacob was (and still is) an exceptionally successful Silicon Valley venture capitalist. For over 30 years, he has held the rank of partner at vaunted firm Kleiner Perkins, where his investments have centered primarily around firms involved in medical tech, life sciences and energy.\n\nAs for the stylish Curran, she is Board President of and heavily involved with the Warriors Community Foundation, the charitable arm of the Warriors, although she\u2019s perhaps best-known to the public for arousing the wrath of Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s famously protective Beyhive group of fans earlier this year. During an NBA finals game, while seated next to Jay-Z and Beyonc\u00e9, Curran leaned over the Grammy-winning singer to ask Jay-Z for his drink order. Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s alleged side-eye towards Curran became a viral meme, prompting the Beyhive ranks to spew venomous hate messages at Curran for daring to invade their queen\u2019s personal space. According to a tearful Curran, those messages included death threats, leading her to delete her Instagram account.\n\nPerhaps their new Malibu home, and the Pacific Ocean\u2019s hypnotic waves, will inspire Curran and Lacob to forget such pesky ugliness. Although the structure sits right on traffic-jammed Pacific Coast Highway, unwanted traffic noise is kept at bay thanks to a buffer of tall gates and taller trees.\n\nOriginally built in 1970, the charcoal-colored house was completely remodeled and expanded by the seller, emergency doctor-turned-part-time real estate developer Joseph Englanoff. Now feauturing three levels and over 5,500 square feet of contemporary living space, the oceanfront mini-mansion is essentially all-new and sizzles with a host of trendy luxury amenities. Originally listed this April with a $34.5 million ask, Lacob appears to have successfully negotiated a hefty discount on the premises.\n\nThe main level sports a giant combination formal living/dining area with fireplace, plus a temperature-controlled glass wine closet sure to make the Curran-Lacob family\u2019s boozehound guests swoon with envy. Automatic Fleetwood sliding doors noiselessly allow access to a wooden deck with direct beach access, and somewhere there\u2019s a soundproof movie theater with cozy couch seating. Also on the main level is an eat-in kitchen with high-tech everything, a bedroom suite for a live-in maid or overnight guest, and a two-car garage.\n\nTo access the home\u2019s upper floors, Curran and Lacob can opt to take either the home\u2019s pneumatic elevator or the slightly more traditional wood-and-glass staircase. The master suite takes up much of this level and includes a bedroom with head-on ocean views, a fireplace and a flatscreen TV that folds down from the ceiling. The master bath is slathered in a grey, exotic-looking variety of stone and sports a steam shower and soaking tub, while there\u2019s also a boutique-style closet, a glass-walled gym, private sitting room and two additional bedroom suites on this floor.\n\nThe home\u2019s mostly open-air uppermost level focuses on blurring the line between indoor/outdoor living. There\u2019s a loggia with a full outdoor kitchen and a bar-style table with a central fire feature, plus a hot tub with sweeping ocean views from the Palos Verdes Peninsula to Point Dume. Inside \u2014 but easily made part of the outdoors via the disappearing Fleetwood sliders \u2014 are a family room and a fifth bedroom.\n\nCarbon Beach, long colloquially termed \u201cBillionaire\u2019s Beach\u201d for its exceptionally high-net worth residents, is home to scores of famous folks. Some of the nearest new neighbors include Dr. Dre, Larry Ellison, Michael Milken, former Dodgers owner Jamie McCourt and current Dodgers owner Mark Walter.\n\nAs for Lacob and Curran, their primary residence continues to be a 14,000+ sq. ft. mansion in the ultra-tony Silicon Valley town of Atherton, Calif. Purchased in 2007 for $19.8 million, the two-parcel, multi-acre compound includes a half-court basketball court, a pool, multiple motorcourts and happens to lie directly across the street from an $80 million ranch estate owned by Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The property is also a literal stone\u2019s throw from the $100 million Atherton complex of WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum, who recently made his own Malibu real estate splash of sorts.\n\nChris Cortazzo of Compass held the listing; Jack Turturici of Equity Advisors repped Lacob and Curran."}
-{"text": "Who's Playing\n\nCarolina (home) vs. L.A. Rams (away)\n\nLast Season Records: Carolina 7-9-0; L.A. Rams 13-3-0;\n\nWhat to Know\n\nCarolina and the Rams are opening their 2019 seasons against one another at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday at Bank of America Stadium. Carolina struggled last year, ending up 7-9. On the other hand, the Rams enjoyed a 13-3 record and almost won it all, losing the Super Bowl 3-13 to New England.\n\nA couple offensive stats to keep an eye on: The Panthers were fourth in rushing yards per game, finishing the 2018 season with 133.5 on average. The Rams displayed some offensive firepower of their own as they ranked second in the league in overall touchdowns, closing the season with 55 overall. We'll find out if either of these strengths ends up making the difference in the game.\n\nThe point spread is more or less neutral, so fans should expect a close contest. We'll see if the game is as close as the oddsmakers expect, or if one of these teams has a surprise blowout in them.\n\nHow To Watch\n\nWhen: Sunday at 1 p.m. ET\n\nSunday at 1 p.m. ET Where: Bank of America Stadium, North Carolina\n\nBank of America Stadium, North Carolina TV: FOX\n\nFOX Online streaming: fuboTV (Try for free)\n\nfuboTV (Try for free) Follow: CBS Sports App\n\nCBS Sports App Ticket Cost: $40.00\n\nOdds\n\nThe Rams are a slight 1.5 point favorite against the Panthers.\n\nBettors have moved against the Rams slightly, as the game opened with the Rams as a 3 point favorite.\n\nOver/Under: 50\n\nSeries History\n\nCarolina won the only game these two teams have played in the last five years.\n\nNov 06, 2016 - L.A. Rams 10 vs. Carolina 13\n\nWeather\n\nThe current forecast: sunny, with a temperature of 83 degrees."}
-{"text": "CLEVELAND \u2014 Isaiah Crowell certainly derived pleasure from dumping on his former team. For a little while anyway.\n\nThe New York Jets running back, who played the previous four seasons for the Cleveland Browns before switching sides during free agency earlier this year, scored two second-quarter touchdowns Thursday night, staking his new team to a 14-0 lead. The Browns would go on to win 21-17.\n\nAfter the second score, a 2-yard run, Crowell earned a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after pretending to use the football as a roll of Charmin on his backside. He then proceeded to fire it into the crowd at FirstEnergy Stadium, where the home fans ultimately witnessed their first victory in 635 days.\n\n\"I didn't think about the touchdown celebration before the game,\" said Crowell, adding he wasn't trying to send a message to the Browns or their fans.\n\n\"It was just spur of the moment, but I need to control myself.\"\n\nAfter a miserable first quarter \u2014 the Jets and Browns combined for just four downs and Cleveland had minus-5 yards passing \u2014 New York got its ground game going in the second frame. Crowell and Bilal Powell had combined for 73 rushing yards by the time the Jets took their two-score lead midway through the second period.\n\nHowever the offense bogged down after halftime, producing just three more points as New York was overcome by the Baker Mayfield-led Browns.\n\n\"I really don't know what changed,\" said Crowell, who finished with 34 rushing yards.\n\n***\n\nFollow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis\n\nIf you love talking football, we have the perfect spot for you. Join our new Facebook Group, The Ruling Off the Field, to engage in friendly debate and conversation with fellow football fans and our NFL insiders."}
-{"text": "The US State Department has released satellite images via email which it says act as \u201cevidence\u201d that Russia is firing rockets at Ukrainian troops across the border. The images were posted on Twitter by the US ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt.\n\nThe four-page emailed document, titled 'Evidence of Russian Shelling into Ukraine,' contains four satellite images, all dating between July 21 and July 25/26.\n\nMonochrome images taken by civilian satellites are said to be indicating fire from multiple rocket launchers \u201con the Russian side of the border\u201d and \u201cartillery strikes within Ukraine.\u201d\n\nThe slides were prepared by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), and came supplied with a short description. Thus, a slide dated July 25/26 shows what US officials claim to be \u201cground scarring at a multiple rocket launch site on the Russian side of the border oriented in the direction of Ukrainian military units within Ukraine.\u201d\n\nMultiple Rocket Launcher Strikes within Ukraine (25/26 July) pic.twitter.com/unPzVA7uOZ \u2014 Geoffrey Pyatt (@GeoffPyatt) July 27, 2014\n\nThe slide taken on July 23 is said to show self-propelled artillery \u201coriented in the direction of a Ukrainian military unit within Ukraine.\u201d It said that \u201cthe pattern of crater impacts near the Ukrainian military unit indicates strikes from artillery\u201d fired from self-propelled or towed artillery, vice multiple rocket launchers \u201conly found in Russian military units, on the Russian side of the border.\u201d\n\nTaken on July 21, the last image is said to be illustrating a \u201cwide area of impacts near the Ukrainian military\u201d that \u201cindicates fire from multiple rocket launchers.\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cThe bottom impact crater inset shows impacts within a local village,\u201d DNI claimed.\n\nThe US State Department made no official statement \u2013 to the press or on its website \u2013 linked to the email release, but directed its followers on Twitter to Pyatt's microblog, where he uploaded \u201cnew images of evidence.\u201d\n\n\n\nPyatt did share images on his Twitter account, but did not include any additional information.\n\nWashington also said that more details would be available on the website of its embassy in Ukraine. However, at the moment of publication, there were no updates to be found on the embassy's site or on Pyatt's blog on the same page.\n\nFollow @GeoffPyatt for new images of evidence of Russia firing into #Ukraine; go to http://t.co/nZ2rQI8n3H for more info on the situation. \u2014 Department of State (@StateDept) July 27, 2014\n\nPaul Craig Roberts, columnist and head of the Institute for Political Economy, told RT that he doubts the credibility of the photographs released by the State Department.\n\n\n\n\u201cI can state with complete confidence that information this important would not be released in this way,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cIf this was released by the State Department, which I doubt, it is so unprofessional; it would mean that the State Department is trying to spread propaganda about Russia on social media. Now the way this type of information would be released would be at a press conference with a high level of government officials addressing the bureau chiefs of the major news organizations.\u201d\n\n\n\nHe added that experts would explain the meaning of the photographs and their validity.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe US government has been desperate to produce information to back up its claims. It would not release information in this way,\u201d he said, adding that anyone can spread information on social media.\n\nRussia has been repeatedly criticizing the US for accusations made by the State Department without any sustainable evidence. Washington directly blamed Moscow for building up troops close to the border, as well as for the \u201cfiring of Russian heavy weapons from the Russian side of the border at Ukrainian military personnel.\u201d\n\n\n\nOn Sunday, however, Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry said that international inspectors who have been coming to check the state of Moscow's troops along the Ukrainian borders have found no violations.\n\n\n\n\u201cIt has come to our attention that new allegations by top US officials as to the alleged amassing of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border have been voiced,\u201d the ministry said.\n\nIntl. teams find \u2018no violations\u2019 by Russia along Ukrainian border\n\nThe ministry listed the international makeup of those inspections, which include representatives from the US, as well as NATO and Ukraine.\n\n\n\n\u201cNo instances of violations by Russia along the Ukrainian border had been registered by the inspectors,\u201d the ministry said. \u201cFrequent action by the Ukrainian military taking place on the Russian border has hindered our own ability to perform similar inspections and flybys along our border,\u201d it continued.\n\nFollow RT's live updates on Kiev's bloody eastern Ukraine campaign"}
-{"text": "Welcome to the new digital home of Northwest Public Radio and Northwest Public Television. The new year brings an internal change to our organization, joining TV and radio. Together, we\u2019re NWPB. Thank you for your continued support of public broadcasting in our region. Your support matters."}
-{"text": "This year, we're redeploying to the Premium Shop a favorite foursome of phenomenal, historically-painted Premium vehicles with special Crews! Whether you're a fast-moving medium tanker, a heavy tank brawler or a fan of powerful tank destroyers, we've got a tank for you -- they're only here for a month, so grab them before they're gone!\n\nAbout the Quartet\n\nThe Battle of Berlin (April 16-May 9, 1945) was Germany's final organized stand. While the Berlin Garrison surrendered unconditionally on May 2, the fighting continued for several days as orders reached scattered German units who wanted to surrender to Western Allied forces.The Allied victory in Europe is remembered this month in the Commonwealth and in Russia, marked by parades and reflection.\n\nStay tuned for more information on these amazing tanks throughout May!"}
-{"text": "Thank you for your patience! Eximchain will be sending out the link to \u201cEXC Token Airdrop Terms and Conditions & Privacy Policy\u201d via email to all participants by March 29th 2018. You will have until Friday April 6th 2018 11:59pm EST (US time zone) to sign the Docusign form. Anyone not completing the \u201cEXC Token Airdrop Terms and Conditions & Privacy Policy\u201d in time will NOT receive tokens. There there will be NO exceptions if the deadline is missed.\n\nThe token contract is not finalized. Please DO NOT trust any person or decentralized exchange who claimed to offer EXC. The Token Generation Event of EXC will take place a few weeks after the deadline April 6th 2018.\n\n\n\nPlease kindly note that the EXC tokens (ERC-20) that will be distributed in the Airdrop will serve as precursors to the Eximcoins- the native tokens of Eximchain mainnet. The EXC tokens (ERC-20) will be swapped once our native Eximcoin token is ready. We will have more information about the testnet and mainnet network launch in the following months. Please stay tuned and follow us on social media!\n\nBest regards,\n\nEximchain Team"}
-{"text": "Please read through these thoughts and pointers. I've edited them for space and put them here for you all to read. I hope you find it helpful.\n\n\n\nSince another riding season is upon us, it always happens. We get lots of inquiries from potential new riders on how to get into the sport, what's a good first ride, where to take safety classes and so on. One particular type of inquiry that pops up with almost clockwork frequency is from a small number of new riders who wish to buy 600cc and up sportbikes as their first ride.\n\n\n\nI, along with lots of other forum members, have entertained this question of 600cc - 1000cc sportbikes for a first ride with patience and lots and lots of repetition. It seems this small group of newbies keep coming back with the same arguments and questions over and over again. As a result, I am going to take the time to try and put into words, answers that get repeated over and over on the forums.\n\n\n\nFirst, I would like to address the common arguments we see here as to why a 600cc sportbike simply must be a first ride along with rebuttals. Second, I want to cover the rationale behind why we steer new riders away from these machines.\n\n\n\nFalse Logic\n\n\n\nA whole slew of questions pop up from potential riders trying to convince the community that a 600cc sportbike is a suitable first ride and then proceed to explain to us why they are the exception. I guess the newbies figure by swamping the forum with the same questions in lots of places we might trip up and endorse such a machine. Hasn't happened yet but they keep on trying.\n\n\n\nFor those of you that try to convince us to endorse a 600cc and up sportbike, I offer you the following responses to your arguments.\n\n\n\n\"I can only afford to get one bike so it might as be the one that I want.\"\n\n\n\n\"I don't want to go through the hassle of buying and selling a used bike to learn on.\"\n\n\n\nThese two lines of reasoning pop up as one of the more common arguments. I am going to offer first a piece of wisdom which is stated with great regularity on the forums: This is your first bike, not your last.\n\n\n\nMotorcycle riders are reputed to change bikes, on average, once every two to three years. If this is the case (and it appears to be based on my observations), the bike you learn to ride on will not be in your garage in a few years time anyway whether you buy it new or used. You're going to sell it regardless to get something different, newer, more powerful, more comfortable, etc.\n\n\n\nYes, buying a bike involves effort and a financial outlay. Most of us simply cannot afford to drop thousands of dollars on a whim every time we want to try something new. Getting into riding is a serious commitment in time and money and we want the best value out of it as possible.\n\n\n\nHowever, if you can afford to buy outright or finance a 600cc or up sportbike that costs $8000 on average, you can probably afford to spend $2000 or so on a used bike to learn on. Most of the beginner sportbikes we recommend here (Ninja 250/500, GS500) can all be found used for between $1500-$3000.\n\n\n\nDone properly, buying and selling that first bike is a fairly painless process. Buying a used bike is no harder than buying new. I would argue it is a bit easier. No different than buying a used car from a private seller. If you've done that at least once, you'll know what to do in buying a used bike.\n\n\n\nSelling a beginner bike is even easier. You want to know why? Because beginner bikes are constantly in demand (especially Ninja 250s). These bikes spend their lives migrating from one new rider to the next to act as a teaching vehicle. It is not uncommon for a beginner bike to see four or five different owners before it is wrecked or junked. There are a lot of people out there looking for inexpensive, reliable bikes and all of our beginner recommendations fit into that category.\n\n\n\nIf you buy a used Ninja 250 for $1500 and ride it for a season or two, you can be almost guaranteed that you will be able to resell that bike for $1300 or so when you are done with it provided you take care of it. And on a bike like the Ninja 250, the average turnaround on such a sale is two to three days. Believe me, the demand is there.\n\n\n\nAnd look at it this way: For those one or two seasons of riding using the above example, excluding maintenance costs which you have no matter what, you will have paid a net cost of $200 to ride that Ninja. That is extremely cheap for what is basically a bike rental for a year or two. Considering it can cost $300 or more just to rent a 600cc sportbike for a weekend (not including the $1500-$2000 security deposit), that is economic value that you simply cannot argue with.\n\n\n\nVanity Arguments\n\n\n\n\"The beginner bikes you recommend are dated and ugly looking.\"\n\n\n\n\"I want something that's modern and stylish.\"\n\n\n\n\"I want a bike that looks good and that I look good on.\"\n\n\n\nI call these the vanity arguments. These are probably the worst reasons you can have for wanting a particular bike.\n\n\n\nI will not disagree that aesthetics plays a huge part in the bikes that appeal to us. Motorcycles are the ultimate expression in personal taste in vehicles. Far more than cars. Bikes are more personal and the connection between rider and machine is far more intimate on a bike than a car. On a bike, you are part of the machine, not just a passive passenger.\n\n\n\nHowever, as entry into the world of riding and with the temporary status that most beginner bikes have in our garages, looks should be the least of your concerns. As long as the bike is in good repair and mechanically sound, that is usually enough for most new riders to be happy. Most riders are happy to ride and they will ride anything given the choice between riding or not riding.\n\n\n\nIf you are looking at bike mainly because of how it looks and/or how you will look on it and how others will perceive you on it, take a good, long, honest look as to why you want to ride. There are lots of people out there who buy things strictly because of how it makes them appear in the eyes of others. It's shallow and vain but it is a fact of life. It shouldn't be a factor in choosing that first ride but it is. I won't deny that.\n\n\n\nThe difference is: a BMW or Mercedes generally won't leave you hanging on for dear life if you stomp on the accelerator or throw you into the road if you slam on the brakes a little hard. Virtually every sportbike made in the past 10-15 years will do both of those things given a chance to do so (for reasons that will be explained later).\n\n\n\nThe population at large may think you're cool and look great on that brand new sportbike and ooh-and-ahh at you. The oohs can quickly turn to screams of horror should you, in your efforts to impress the masses, wind up dumping your bike and surfing the asphalt. Will you still look cool with thousands of dollars in damage to that once-beautiful sportbike and with the signatures and well-wishes of your friends on the various casts you'll be wearing months afterwards?\n\n\n\nYou Be The Judge\n\n\n\n\"I'm a big rider so I need a bigger bike to get me around.\"\n\n\n\n\"I'm a tall rider and all of those beginner bikes just don't fit me the way the sportbike does.\"\n\n\n\n\"I'll look huge and foolish riding on such a small bike.\n\n\n\n\"My friends will laugh at me for riding something so small.\"\n\n\n\nThese arguments are almost as bad as the vanity arguments. The difference being is they simply show a lack of motorcycle knowledge for the most part.\n\n\n\nUnless you are over 6'3\" tall or are extremely overweight (meaning well over 300lbs), even the smallest 250cc motorcycle will be able to accommodate you without difficultly. To provide an example, the Ninja 250 has a load limit of 348 pounds. That is more than sufficient to accommodate a heavier rider in full gear and still leave plenty of space for cargo. Or enough to allow two-up riding between two average weight individuals.\n\n\n\nThe idea that bigger riders need bigger bikes is almost laughable. It's like saying small drivers need Honda Civics but bigger drivers only 100 pounds heavier need to drive Hummers to get around. It is only because of the small physical size of bikes compared to their users that this train of thought even exists. It simply doesn't hold up to scrutiny. A look at any motorcycle owner's manual will confirm that for you.\n\n\n\nFor taller riders, a much better beginner fit is a dual-sport machine rather than a sport machine. They offer the high seat heights that make them comfortable rides and their power is well within acceptable limits. A dual-sport is just as capable on twisty roads as a sportbike. The same properties that give sportbikes their cornering ability is also possessed by dual sports.\n\n\n\nAs to peer pressure, which is more important: Your safety and comfort on a bike, or what your friends think?\n\n\n\nThe ways to deal with friends giving you a hard time about a smaller ride is very simple. Tell them to ride their rides and you'll ride yours. It's your ride, after all. Most true riders will accept other riders, no matter what they are on. Only posers and losers care that your ride doesn't measure up to their \"standards\". And if so, do you really want to be riding with them anyway? It's more fun to stand out than to be a member of a flock anyway. And if they don't buy that line of reasoning, try this one: \"Well if you don't like my ride, why don't you go buy me something that you will like?\". THAT will shut them up REALLY fast. It works too. Unless their name is on the payment book or the title, it shouldn't be their concern.\n\n\n\nIf your friends can't deal with your decisions, you're probably better off looking for new friends. And if you can't deal with the peer pressure, then you are putting your own safety at risk solely because of what others think. Revisit the vanity arguments above and think about why you want to ride."}
-{"text": "Donald Trump suggested that the Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare) was a clever ruse by our first Black president and his Democratic friends to have a successful health-care system in place for his own presidency, but one that was set up to fail in the first year of the next president's term.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nTrump said (on 3/10/2017) that this year \"would be a disaster for Obamacare. That's the year it was meant to explode, because Obama won't be here. That's when it was supposed to be, get even worse. As bad as it is now, it'll get even worse.\"\n\nWhile most people are rolling their eyes - why would Obama do that, particularly when everybody expected the next president to be Hillary? - there's actually a substantial grain of truth to Trump's assertion. He has identified, however, the wrong culprit as the person who poison-pilled Obamacare for 2017.\n\nThat distinction would go to Marco Rubio (and his Republican helpers in the Senate). Let's step back to 2015 for the entire story, which is bizarre and fascinating.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nWhen the ACA was rolled out, telling insurance companies that they had to insure anybody who signed up, regardless of previous conditions or sickness, everybody realized that the insurance companies would probably lose money in the first decade or so, until previously-uninsured-but-sick people got into the system, got better, and things evened out.\n\nTo get the insurance companies to go along with this danger of losing money, the ACA promised to make them whole for any losses in any of the first decade's years. At the end of each fiscal year, the insurance companies merely had to document their losses, and the government would reimburse them out of ACA funds provided for by the law.\n\nThe possibility of their losing money was referred to as the \"risk corridor,\" and the ACA explicitly filled those risk corridors with a guarantee of making the insurance companies, at the very least, whole.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nAnd then something happened. As The New York Times noted on December 9, 2015, \"A little-noticed health care provision slipped into a giant spending law last year has tangled up the Obama administration, sent tremors through health insurance markets and rattled confidence in the durability of President Obama\u2019s signature health law.\"\n\nRubio and a number of other Republicans had succeeded in gutting the risk corridors. The result was that, just in 2015, end-of-fiscal-year risk corridor payments to insurance companies that were supposed to total around $2.9 billion were only reimbursed, according to Rubio himself quoted in the Times, to the tune of around $400 million. Rubio bragged that he'd \"saved taxpayers $2.5 billion.\"\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nAnd, indeed, he had. But the insurance companies were thrown into a crisis. And, with Republicans in Congress absolutely refusing to re-fund the risk corridors, that crisis would get worse as time went on, at least over a period of a few years.\n\nSo the insurance companies did the only things they could. In (mostly red) states with low incomes and thus poorer health, they simply pulled out of the marketplace altogether. This has left some states with only one single insurer left. In others, they jacked up their prices to make up their losses.\n\nAs Robert Pear in the Times noted, Rubio's \"plan limiting how much the government can spend to protect insurance companies against financial losses has shown the effectiveness of quiet legislative sabotage.\"\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nTo add to the political psychodrama, the first hack by Rubio was maintained by Republicans into the 2016 budget, meaning that things got even worse in October, 2016 \u2013 the first month of the federal fiscal year when these cuts hit the worse, and, no coincidence, the month before the presidential election.\n\nRubio's October Surprise was extraordinarily effective. October 2016 saw an explosion of stories in the news about how health insurance companies were either pulling out of ACA exchanges, or jacking their prices up wildly.\n\nTime magazine wrote \"8 States Where Obamacare Rates Are Rising by at Least 30%\" without mentioning Rubio's role in why. Ditto for NPR's \"22 Percent Hike in Obamacare Rates\u2026\" and CNN's \"Obamacare Premiums Soar By 22%.\" If you date-limit just to October of 2016 - the month before the election - you can find hundreds of similar articles. It was a huge story, but somehow Little Marco's role in it all - along with his friends in the GOP - never made it into any of the stories.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nOnly the Times, back the previous year, had really given much coverage to the story, noting, \"[B]ecause of Mr. Rubio\u2019s efforts, the administration says it will pay only 13 percent of what insurance companies were expecting to receive this year. The payments were supposed to help insurers cope with the risks they assumed when they decided to participate in the law\u2019s new insurance marketplaces.\"\n\nMeanwhile, federal judge Thomas Wheeler of the US Court of Federal Claims, ruled recently (as reported last month by Forbes) that the feds actually have to pay back - to the tune of about $8 billion \u2013 the moneys lost by health insurance companies operationg in good faith.\n\nBut it's way too late; dozens of nonprofits started to provide health insurance through the exchanges have already gone bankrupt, and the health insurance giants are both subsuming their smaller competitors and merging like there's no tomorrow. Additionally, Wheeler's ruling is certain to be appealed \u2013 meaning it's in limbo for the moment.\n\nSo, yes, Donald Trump is right that Obamacare had been sabotaged, in a way that would virtually guarantee at least some level of crisis by 2017. Where he's sadly, paranoiacly wrong is in attributing that sabotage to President Obama.\n\nAdvertisement:\n\nDemocrats should have been screaming bloody murder for the past 2 years. Maybe they can start now, every time a reporter or Republican says, \"Obamacare is failing\u2026\""}
-{"text": "\u00bb\n\nConsent Agenda\n\n- Consent Agenda Note: Council may adopt in one motion all recommendations appearing on the Consent Agenda or, prior to the vote, request that an item be removed from the Consent Agenda for debate or discussion, voting in opposition to a recommendation, or declaring a conflict of interest with an item. 5.1 Recommendation: THAT the following recommendations from the Finance Committee Meeting of Tuesday, September 6, 2016 be ratified: Funding Source for COSCO of BC Conference FC16/096 THAT up to $455 for the attendance of Bill Babcock and Ruth Cox at the Council of Senior Citizens\u2019 Organizations of BC Conference on September 25-26, 2016 be funded from Council Contingency. Funding Source for Play Box Concrete Pad FC16/097 THAT the $1,500 cost for the Play Box concrete pad at Rocky Point Park be funded from Council Contingency. 2016 Community Grant Request FC16/098 and 099 THAT a 2016 Community Grant be approved for the Tri-Cities Multicultural Society in the amount of $500 as recommended in the report dated August 8, 2016 from Financial Services Department regarding 2016 Community Grant Request; AND THAT the funding be contingent on the sessions being held within Port Moody. Public Safety Building \u2013 MFA Interest Rate Reset FC16/101 THAT any surpluses from the current year\u2019s budget and the actual interest expense for MFA Debt Issue 97 \u2013 Port Moody Public Safety Building be transferred to the Debt Reserve as recommended in the report dated August 29, 2016 from Financial Services Department regarding Public Safety Building \u2013 MFA Interest Rate Reset. 5.3 Report: Parks and Recreation Commission, dated August 2, 2016 File: 01-0360-20-10 Recommendation: THAT staff be directed to create a page on the City website that outlines existing food security policies; information about community gardens, farmers\u2019 market opportunities, and other local food opportunities; and links to community resources as recommended in the report dated August 2, 2016 from Parks and Recreation Commission regarding City Website Page on Food Security. 5.4 Report: Community Care Committee, dated July 11, 2016 File: 01-0360-20-02 Recommendation: THAT staff be directed to report back to Council on the potential implications for and impacts of adopting a living wage policy as recommended in the report dated July 11, 2016 from Community Care Committee regarding Request for Report on a Living Wage Policy. 5.5 Report: Community Care Committee, dated August 2, 2016 File: 01-0360-20-02 Recommendation: THAT staff be directed to include website links to Port Moody Community Associations on the City website as recommended in the report dated August 2, 2016 from Community Care Committee regarding Including Community Association Links on the City Website. 5.6 Report: Financial Services Department \u2013 Corporate Purchasing and Risk Management Division, dated August 31, 2016 File: 06-2240-20/AG660 Recommendation: THAT the Licence of Occupation agreement between the City and C.U.P.E. Local 825 be renewed as recommended in the report dated August 31, 2016 from Financial Services Department \u2013 Corporate Purchasing and Risk Management Division regarding C.U.P.E. Local 825 Licence of Occupation Renewal. 5.7 Report: Financial Services Department \u2013 Corporate Purchasing and Risk Management Division, dated August 31, 2016 File: 06-2240-20/AG833 Recommendation: THAT the Licence of Occupation agreement between the City and the Port Moody Ecological Society be renewed as recommended in the report dated August 31, 2016 from Financial Services Department \u2013 Corporate Purchasing and Risk Management Division regarding Port Moody Ecological Society Licence of Occupation Renewal."}
-{"text": "Experts said the scandals could undermine Benedict\u2019s moral authority, especially because they cut particularly close to the pope himself. As head of the Vatican\u2019s main doctrinal arm, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he led Vatican investigations into abuse for four years before assuming the papacy in 2005.\n\n\u201cWhat is at stake, and at great risk, is Benedict\u2019s central project for the \u2018re-Christianization\u2019 of Christendom, his desire to have Europe return to its Christian roots,\u201d said David Gibson, the author of a biography of Benedict and a religion commentator for Politicsdaily.com. \u201cBut if the root itself is seen as rotten, then his influence will be badly compromised.\u201d\n\nWhen a sex abuse scandal broke in Boston church in 2002, Pope Benedict \u2014 then Cardinal Ratzinger \u2014 was among the Vatican officials who made statements that minimized the problem and accused the news media of blowing it out of proportion.\n\nBut as the abuse case files landed on his desk at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, his colleagues said he was deeply disturbed by what he learned. On his first visit to the United States as pope, Benedict met with abuse victims from Boston and said he was \u201cdeeply ashamed\u201d by priests who had harmed children.\n\nBut victims\u2019 advocates accuse the pope of doing little to discipline the bishops who permitted abusers to continue serving in ministry. The case in Munich, which was brought to the attention of the diocese by the daily newspaper S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung, was a result of \u201cserious mistakes,\u201d the archdiocese said in its statement.\n\nIn Munich case, a priest from Essen, \u201cdespite allegations of sexual abuse, and in spite of a conviction \u2014 was repeatedly assigned work in the sphere of pastoral care by the then-Vicar General Gerhard Gruber,\u201d who worked under Benedict when he was the archbishop.\n\nThe priest, identified only with the initial \u201cH,\u201d was moved to Munich in January 1980, where he was supposed to undergo therapy, a decision that was taken \u201cwith the approval of the archbishop,\u201d according to the archdiocese\u2019s statement. Benedict was archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982."}
-{"text": "Sending these missiles isn\u2019t enough to tip the military balance in Ukraine\u2014but it is more than enough to convince Russia to increase its involvement.\n\nOn March 1, the State Department authorized the sale of 210 Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, applauded the sale because she said it shows the United States is \u201cserious about protecting the interests of our nation,\u201d and will help Kiev \u201cpush back against growing Russian aggression.\u201d It is more likely, however, that this sale will accomplish the opposite.\n\nThe official press release from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) in regards to the sale claimed that the weapons \u201cwill contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by improving the security of Ukraine.\u201d Yet it is no small distinction to point out that Ukraine is not an ally of the United States, and we must question why improving their security is worth degrading our relations with a nuclear-armed Russia.\n\nA military alliance is a commitment to another party that we will sacrifice American sons and daughters for their benefit. To make such a significant sacrifice, there must be a vital national interest at stake for America. As important, entering into an alliance requires that the other side be willing to sacrifice for our security, and that the ties result in a benefit to the United States. None of those factors exist in this case. The benefit is all to Kiev\u2014and America absorbs risk without the potential for reward.\n\nRecommended: How North Korea Could Start a War\n\nRecommended: This Is What Happens if America Nuked North Korea\n\nRecommended: The Colt Python: The Best Revolver Ever Made?\n\nNot only will the sale of lethal arms not materially help Ukraine, but also it will likely increase Russian and separatist opposition, worsening the situation. A change in the methodology of how the government engages internationally is needed.\n\nWhether in Ukraine or another international engagement, if an honest analysis reveals that the United States has merely a secondary or tertiary interest\u2014rather than a core national interest\u2014yet commits itself to expending valuable political or military capital, the chances are high that such engagement would end up costing more than would be gained. Why should Washington spend money and risk the lives of our troops for a mission that would leave the country at a net loss?\n\nIn the current standoff in the Ukraine, Washington would certainly prefer to see a peaceful resolution to the violence. For Moscow and Kiev, however, the matter is existential, meaning each is willing to expend considerable capital and take significant risks to resolve the conflict in their favor.\n\nThe 210 anti-tank missiles the State Department authorized is enough to equip four or five mechanized or infantry battalions for a short period of time. These missiles could provide a momentary tactical advantage, but strategically, the quantity is insufficient to tilt the balance of power with Russia and its allied forces.\n\nIn the latter stages of the Cold War, I was an officer in the 2nd Squadron, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (2-2 ACR), a heavily armored unit composed of large numbers of tanks and armored infantry carriers. In 1991, 2-2 ACR was sent to Iraq to fight Saddam Hussein\u2019s armored divisions, which had invaded Kuwait. At the Battle of 73 Easting, my squadron (a battalion-sized armored unit), fought against a brigade of an Iraqi armored division.\n\nDuring that battle, three cavalry troops of 2nd ACR\u2014approximately the size of one mechanized battalion\u2014fired 125 tank rounds and eighty anti-tank missiles. In the span of less than six hours, one battalion-sized unit fired the equivalent of 38 percent of the entire missile sale to Ukraine.\n\nThus, no matter how it is billed in Washington, this sale will not \u201cpush back\u201d against Russian aggression, nor is it in the \u201cinterests of our nation.\u201d But while sending these missiles isn\u2019t enough to tip the military balance in Ukraine, it is more than enough to convince Russia to increase its involvement.\n\nThose missiles represent a clear increase in the risk to Russia and their proxy forces within eastern Ukraine because it signals that Washington may be willing to provide even greater lethal support to their opponent. It is therefore likely Moscow will take stronger action to counter the threat to discourage even greater American engagement.\n\nThis support could take the form of Putin sending more armor, anti-armor missiles of his own, more unofficial Russian troops, greater intelligence support for allied forces, or some other response that brings more violence and destruction to the Donbas region\u2014the people we\u2019re ostensibly trying to help.\n\nIt is reasonable and appropriate for the United States to promote the good of others abroad and to champion our values as an exemplar, a shining city on a hill. But we should only use, or threaten to use, military power when American security, economic prosperity, or our way of life are directly threatened.\n\nWashington\u2019s intention with the missile sale may be to increase the pain felt by Putin to drive him to a negotiated settlement, but the actual result will almost certainly be a further militarization of the situation and an increase in the potential for an expansion of the conflict. Far from improving American security, this sale will undermine it. Far from protecting Ukrainians, sending these missiles will place them at increasing risk.\n\nDaniel L. Davis is a senior fellow for Defense Priorities and a former lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army who retired in 2015 after twenty-one years, including four combat deployments. Follow him @DanielLDavis1.\n\nImage: Pfc. Ian Padro, an Orlando, Fla. native and indirect fire infantryman with the 5th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, uses the Javelin Basic Skills Trainer during a training event in Swietoszow, Poland on Jan. 11, 2018 in support of Atlantic Resolve. The Javelin is a man-portable, anti-tank missile designed to defeat tanks up to a range of 2500m. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Hubert D. Delany III / 22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)\u200b. Flickr / The U.S. Army"}
-{"text": "Edge Profile Full Name Eiji Yamada Birthdate April 1, 1981 Birthplace Japan Height 173 cm (5'8\") Weight 60 kg (132 lbs.) Blood Type AB Likes Army knives, fighting video games Dislikes His true name, effort, ghosts Measurements 88 cm (34\"), 59 cm (23\"), 72 cm (28\") Fighting Style Dirty gangster tactics Edge (\u30a8\u30c3\u30b8), also known by his real name Eiji Yamada (\u5c71\u7530 \u6804\u4e8c Yamada Eiji), is a fighting game character from the Rival Schools 3D fighting games.\n\nEdge is best known for being irresponsible and unfair. No matter who his opponent is, he always has some Army knives ready with him, earning him the moniker \"Army Knife's Edge\". He is somewhat vain; if he sees his clothes get wrinkled a little, he grabs the chest area or collar and fixes the crease. He strongly dislikes being called by his real name.\n\nEdge has long blond hair, which is spiked upwards, with comical tall spikes. He wears a pink headband. His primary outfit is a purple school short jacket under a pink high-neck sweater, purple school pants and white boots. The interior of his jacket is white and he has a knife holster inside his jacket where he keeps his army knives.\n\nFrom a design perspective, Edge, his hairstyle in particular, is similar to Benimaru Nikaido from SNK's The King of Fighters series of fighting games. In addition, Edge is more likely inspired by from the manga series , whose hairstyle has served as the inspiration for several fictional characters' haircut, including Benimaru and fellow Capcom fighter Guile.\n\nEdge is also somewhat similar to Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters character Ryuji Yamazaki, both using dirty gangster tactics in their own respective fighting styles.\n\nEdge is a student from Gedo High School who also doubles as a loyal member of the school's gang. Edge and Gan are two of the Gedo High students who joins a disguised Akira in finding the whereabouts of Gedo High's gang leader, Daigo who had disappeared from within his personal mission of solving the recent school kidnappings. Though Edge is initially suspecting of Akira at first, and even engages in a fight against her alongside Gan in a handicap match to test and see if she is really indeed their boss' younger brother, he eventually comes to accept her as a true friend, especially after she reveals her own true gender to both him and Gan. His ending has him initially choosing to stop picking fights with other students, but changes his mind at the urging of several of his classmates.\n\nIn Project Justice, Edge (who surprisingly made it to the second year of high school) becomes very suspicious when a returning Daigo has him and Gan performing various, irrational attacks against other schools. Edge is the only person who later discovers that Daigo has been ordered by Momo Karuizawa to deal with the students in Gorin High. When Daigo silently leaves to \"take care of\" the Gorin students, Edge begins to suspect and question his boss' own disturbing actions. When both Gedo High and Seijyun High begin to have a school gang war against each other, both Edge and Gan soon realize that Daigo is not the same gang leader that they truly respect and that something unexpected had happened to him from within his personal training journey.\n\nThey eventually come to realize that Daigo was brainwashed by Kurow as a part of Kurow's evil plan to cause tension and distrust among the schools themselves. Edge and Gan wastes no time in coming to Akira's aid as she tries to wake her older brother up from his brainwashed state, but to no avail. She is then forced to fight against him with their assistance. While that's happening, Zaki hears an unexpected whistle noise and soon realizes that Yurika is playing Kurow's flute in order to control Daigo from within his brainwashed state. As Daigo is eventually freed from his brainwashed state, he reunites with both his younger sister and his friends, stating to them that the unified strength of their own combined punches had truly freed him from his brainwashing.\n\nAfter Kurow reveals his true identity to the group at the mountain area near Justice High, he attempts to brainwash Daigo once again by playing his flute, with Edge attempting to attack Kurow in order to stop him, only to be blocked by Momo. Luckily, Zaki manages to get Kurow's flute with her chains and that Daigo himself soon returns back to normal in due time.\n\nAfter both Kurow's defeat and Hyo's death, Daigo, who recovers from his brainwashing and realizes that he needs to improve himself both physically and mentally in order to make sure and see to it that something like this doesn't happen again in the future, leaves Edge and Gan in charge of watching over Gedo High until he returns while also giving his school jacket to Akira, saying his good-byes to them as he leaves to train once more from within another personal training journey.\n\nArsenal, combat style and fighting strategy [ edit | edit source ]\n\nSpecial Moves [ edit | edit source ]\n\nBackstab (Japanese: \u88cf\u65ac\u308a Uragiri) - Edge does a knife throw. Depending on the punch button being pressed, Edge may end up with his back turned towards the opponent, or remain facing the opponent. Either way, he can still do another knife throw. Edge is more vulnerable to counterattack when his back is facing the opponent. This can be done up to four times.\n\nIt can also be done in the air, where Edge may simply throw a knife 45 degrees downward, or may do it after a forward flip. Unlike the ground version, this cannot be done four times. The first aerial version, however, can be followed by another Air Combo if the player is fast enough. It is of note, however, that the aerial version cannot be done four times in succession as in the ground version.\n\nThis move also has an anti-air version, the Anti-air Backstab (Japanese: \u5bfe\u7a7a\u88cf\u65ac\u308a Taikuu Uragiri). In this version, Edge throws his knife 45 degrees into the air. This is a ground-only attack, and can also be done up to four times in succession as the normal Backstab.\n\n\n\n\n\nAbuse (Japanese: \u7f75\u5012 Batou) - Edge kicks some dirt into the opponent's face, blinding the latter momentarily. Depending on the kick button pressed for this move's button combination, he may either do this move with a simple snap kick, or turn his back on the opponent before doing a forward flip that does the same thing as the first version.\n\nDestruction (Japanese: \u7834\u58ca Hakai) - Edge sidesteps and does a dive towards the opponent. Depending on the kick button pressed for this move's button combination, the attack may either aim at approximately knee-level, or for the midsection.\n\nThis is also usable in the air, also with two versions. The attack may be delivered at a steep angle, or at a 45-degree angle.\n\nBurning Vigor Attacks [ edit | edit source ]\n\nGrand Backstab (Japanese: \u58ee\u7d76\u306a\u88cf\u65ac\u308a Souzetsu na Uragiri) - Edge throws numerous knives at once towards the opponent. Deals only one hit, but the damage is massive. If the opponent blocks this attack, he/she has to block all the knives; otherwise, this will still cause damage, albeit lesser. Also usable in the air.\n\nBloodbath (Japanese: \u8840\u796d\u308a Chimatsuri) - Edge does a sidestep, then dashes forward and executes quick knife throws and ends with a knockdown kick. It can be activated for up to approximately four steps away from the opponent. Highly recommended for a Tardy Counter due to its almost instantaneous startup.\n\nBloody Prison (Japanese: \u8840\u309b\u7344 Jigoku) - The active character starts with a jumping spin-kick, pushing the opponent a few paces away. Edge and the active character then do three dashing slashes, circling the opponent.\n\nEdge does the Gedo Top.\n\nCameo Appearance [ edit | edit source ]\n\nEdge makes a cameo appearance in Capcom vs. SNK in the Kyokugen Dojo stage and he appeared as a card in SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash. Edge also had a small cameo appearance in UDON's Street Fighter Legends: Sakura comic.\n\nThe following details on Edge's life is as described: Being a delinquent, he obviously fares poorly in any subject taught in school. He has tried several part-time jobs before (e.g. coffee shops, video stores), but he never lasted that long in any of those jobs, leaving him jobless prior to the start of United by Fate . He is the youngest of three siblings. Both his brother and sister are of upstanding socialities, and so are his parents, making him the family's \"black sheep\".\n\n\n\nHis official epithet is \"Bloody Knife\".\n\nHe is the only character to have an official alias in United by Fate. This is because another character introduced in Project Justice also has an official alias, Zaki.\n\nThe Japanese reading of his Team-Up assist (Jigoku), is actually a pun on the Japanese word \u5730\u7344 (also read as jigoku) which means \"hell\" or \"earthly prison\".\n\nHe is voiced by Yoshiharu Yamada (\u5c71\u7530\u7fa9\u6692 Yamada Yoshiharu) who coincidentally share the same last name.\n\nFor more of this character, see their gallery."}
-{"text": "Verizon has offered to install apps from major U.S. brands on its customers\u2019 home screens for $1 to $2 per device, according to a report from AdAge.\n\nThe nation\u2019s largest wireless carrier quietly began pitching the marketing scheme late last year to retail and finance brands, among others, AdAge said. The model works only on Android phones, which handset manufacturers and carriers can customize to a degree, while Apple\u2019s iOS is more tightly controlled.\n\nVerizon declined to comment to AdAge on the news, and the carrier\u2019s representatives didn\u2019t immediately reply to a request for comment from FierceWireless.\n\nSponsored by Southco Inc. How To Secure 5G Equipment With Electronic Access Learn how to protect small cell enclosures from physical threats and deliver better, stronger and more reliable networks with electronic locks and access control systems. Read the Article\n\nThe marketing model, which appears to be unprecedented among U.S. operators, is clearly a high-risk, high-reward strategy for Verizon. While installing branded apps on phones could be extremely lucrative, it also risks vexing the customers who are the core of Verizon\u2019s business. And as AdAge noted, pre-installed apps can\u2019t be targeted, limiting their appeal to potential advertisers.\n\nBut Verizon has been outspoken about its ambitions to grow its mobile advertising business in an effort to counter slowing growth in the U.S. smartphone market. The carrier last month doubled down on its bet in digital media, agreeing to buy Yahoo\u2019s core online business for $4.83 billion. Last year it ponied up $4.4 billion to acquire AOL, which included properties such as The Huffington Post, Engadget and TechCrunch. And it also bought the mobile advertising firm Millennial Media and has expanded its mobile video and advertising business with the launch of Go90.\n\n\"The whole theory behind (Go90), which we believe will win at the end, is to give all this content to the wireless customer for free, and we'll monetize it in a different way than having them pay for the consumption,\" Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said earlier this year. \"But we also know that the consumer is going to have only so much wallet share for quote 'communications,' which wireless, broadband and cable fall into\u2026. So we know that there's a limit. So we have to be able to have them consume more, but monetize that consumption in other forms. And that's how we got to the Go90 model, and that will be monetized through the advertiser and that will of course increase revenue and that will contribute to the bottom line.\"\n\nVerizon\u2019s efforts to develop new revenue streams in an increasingly difficult market for traditional wireless services are understandable. But whether the carrier can expand beyond its core business into digital media and advertising \u2013 and whether it can deliver offerings customers truly value \u2013 is still uncertain.\n\nFor more:\n\n- see this AdAge report\n\nRelated articles:\n\nVerizon to buy Yahoo for $4.83B, doubling down on digital media and advertising\n\nVerizon's Shammo: We're interested in ad revenues, not unlimited data plans\n\nVerizon to acquire AOL for $4.4B"}
-{"text": "Pasadena police say a man stabbed a man and a woman in their fifties in a savage knife attack around 6 a.m. this morning in an apartment in the 200 block of North Madison Avenue, and that both victims have died.\n\nPolice have arrested the suspect, a white man aged 29, a block from the apartment complex as he walked from the crime scene, Lt. Tracey Ibarra said.\n\nMedia reports indicate the suspect was injured and was transported to a local hospital, where he was arrested.\n\nIbarra said a 911 call sent officers to the apartment where they located two victims. Both had been repeatedly stabbed.\n\nThe woman \u201cpassed away\u201d at the scene, Ibarra said, and the man died at an area hospital during surgery at about 9 a.m.\n\nThe suspect is thought to be related to the victims. Ibarra said no other suspects are at large."}
-{"text": "Pre-orders for the Apple Watch kick off on Friday. How better to get in the mood than with an accessory for your new timepiece?\n\nThe MiTagg NuDock houses your Apple Watch and iPhone side-by-side, so you can have them both on display. An LED lamp stands above them, lighting them up and showing them off.\n\nYou can adjust the brightness of the lamp using the touch-sensitive control, so you can go from glare to subtle. The Apple Watch sits on an anodised aluminium stand in a secure docking port, while the iPhone dock is compatible with cases, so you won\u2019t have to unsheathe your handset.\n\nA built-in battery juices up both devices, though there\u2019s no word on how long it will take, or whether it will take longer if you\u2019re charging both.\n\nYou can charge other devices using the three USB ports on the back too, so you\u2019re not limited to Apple products\n\nIt\u2019s made of anodised aluminium and strong polycarbonate, and is finished in a soft-touch rubber coat.\n\nRead more: Apple Watch accessories are now up for pre-order\n\nThere\u2019s also a shutter button built into the stand, so you can take photos wirelessly without taking your phone out. You don\u2019t need to install an app to do so, just press and snap.\n\nIt\u2019s sailed past its funding goal on Indiegogo, and should ship in July. It can be yours for $129 (\u00a387)."}
-{"text": "On Tuesday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced his ambitious \u2014 if crazy \u2014 plan to colonize Mars within the next 40 to 100 years. But Musk isn\u2019t the only one with Mars dreams and ambitions. In fact, people have been drawing out missions to the Red Planet for at least the last 70 years \u2014 and we\u2019re still waiting for one to take flight.\n\nHow do the most prominent plans stack up?\n\nOne of the early proposed missions that set the stage for today\u2019s Mars plans was the Mars Direct proposal, which was published by aerospace engineers Robert Zubrin and David Baker in 1991. They thought it might be possible to land the first crewed mission to Mars as early as 1999. That didn\u2019t happen of course, but some of their ideas \u2014 like sending a return vehicle to Mars before sending a human crew and making propellant from the planet\u2019s resources \u2014 are still considered viable options.\n\nAmong Musk\u2019s competition there\u2019s NASA, of course, which intends to send astronauts to Mars sometime in the 2030s. And then there\u2019s Mars One, which is planning a one-way trip to the Red Planet by the year 2026. All missions to Mars will be massive \u2014 and expensive \u2014 undertakings. There\u2019s still a lot we need to figure out to land heavy cargo on Mars and to protect people from radiation while traveling in space. Then there\u2019s the life-support system on the planet itself. We need to figure out how to create habitats that have electricity, sanitation, clean air, and potable water. And what about food supplies and spare parts when things break down?\n\nConsidering all the challenges, how do the most prominent plans stack up?\n\nNASA\u2019s Journey to Mars\n\nIn 2010, President Obama signed the NASA Authorization Act and tasked NASA with extending the human footprint beyond Earth\u2019s orbit. So the space agency shuttered its shuttle program in 2011 to focus on its nebulous \"Journey to Mars\" plan. NASA\u2019s goal is to send humans to Mars sometime in the 2030s, but the agency has been roundly criticized by members of Congress and experts in the field for lacking details, direction, and a hard deadline.\n\n\"What we have right now from NASA is the decision that it should be done \u2014 someday,\" says Zubrin, current president of the Mars Society. \"They view it as a goal of the human spaceflight program, but they have no program, they have no schedule \u2014 not really.\"\n\nNASA\u2019s plan breaks down into three phases. During the first one, which is currently ongoing, NASA is testing life support, communication technologies, and human health on the International Space Station. NASA\u2019s Twins Study, for example, compares how a year in space has affected retired astronaut Scott Kelly\u2019s body compared to his Earthbound twin, astronaut Mark Kelly.\n\n\"What we have right now from NASA is the decision that it should be done \u2014 someday.\"\n\nIn its second phase, NASA will test drive spacecraft and habitation facilities in the space around the Moon. The space agency is currently developing a crew capsule called \"Orion\" that will fit onto the massive, heavy-lift rocket called the \"Space Launch System,\" or SLS. NASA tested Orion in 2014, and parts of the SLS earlier this summer. The first integrated test flight is scheduled for 2018, according to the NASA plan.\n\nIn its third phase, scheduled for sometime in the 2030s, NASA will send astronauts to the Red Planet. But the space agency has a lot to figure out \u2014 like habitats and life-support systems \u2014 before that\u2019s possible.\n\nAnd its plans will probably continue to shift and adapt as robotic missions to Mars send back new information about the Red Planet. In the summer of 2020, NASA intends to send a new robotic rover to the Red Planet. One of the instruments on the Mars 2020 rover is called MOXIE, a device designed to split the carbon dioxide in Mars\u2019s atmosphere into carbon monoxide and oxygen. That could be used one day to make propellant for a return trip to Earth.\n\n\"Only NASA has all the capabilities to do something like this.\"\n\n\"MOXIE is about doing science on Mars for people further in the future,\" says Michael Hecht, assistant director of research management at MIT\u2019s Haystack Observatory and the principle investigator of the MOXIE project. \"It\u2019s a very future looking payload.\"\n\nGiven the way NASA tends to get jerked around at election time, it\u2019s not clear whether the space agency will be given the go ahead, or enough funding, in the future to see its Journey to Mars to completion. Many, however, think that if we really want to get to Mars, NASA is our best bet. \"Only NASA has all the capabilities to do something like this,\" says Scott Hubbard, the former director of NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center, who is currently a professor at Stanford and a director of the Planetary Society.\n\nNASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory\u2019s Minimal Mars Plan\n\nAnother Mars plan comes from a team of scientists at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. This plan would first focus on getting people into orbit around Mars, and then send them to the surface.\n\nThe first trip \u2014 which would include a side trip to one of Mars\u2019 moons, Phobos \u2014 could happen as soon as 2033. The second and more challenging part of the mission \u2014 getting people on the planet \u2014 would take place in 2039. The Planetary Society estimated that this plan could fit within NASA\u2019s existing budget, adjusting for inflation. That is, as long as NASA stops supporting the International Space Station by 2024 \u2014 which it currently plans to do \u2014 or at the latest, by 2028.\n\n\"With some bumps and wiggles, if you take NASA\u2019s human spaceflight budget, you can fit this 2033 mission inside that budget line,\" Hubbard says. \"It doesn\u2019t take extraordinary gazillions of new dollars, and you can do it provided that you constrain your goals and your appetites to just what you need to do the job.\"\n\nMars One\n\nThe Netherlands-based nonprofit company Mars One has been recruiting volunteers for a one-way trip to Mars since 2013. The plan is to depart in 2026, using technology that \"already exists\" the company says. The problem is, it doesn\u2019t. The Mars One mission has been called out repeatedly for not having the technology, the money, or a realistic plan to get people to Mars and keep them alive once they\u2019re there.\n\nThe reason for the one-way ticket, according to Mars One\u2019s website, is that the \"most complex, expensive, and risky part of a mission to Mars is the return trip.\" By contrast, \"permanent settlement is not very complex,\" the website says. But a group of MIT graduate students begged to differ.\n\nIn 2014, they presented an analysis that revealed a one-way trip is a hugely expensive prospect because the colonists will need a constant resupply of spare parts and equipment to keep critical systems like life support running. \"One way has no end \u2014 so you have to support the crew on Mars until they die,\" says Koki Ho, one of the authors of the paper and now a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. \"That is a large commitment.\"\n\n\"You have to support the crew on Mars until they die.\"\n\nThe MIT study also found that people in the Mars One colony would die within the first few months. The life-support tech required to keep people alive on Mars isn't advanced enough or just doesn't exist yet, the study authors concluded. \"You're going one way to an extreme environment where you can't breath if you step outside,\" says Sydney Do, an author of the study who is currently a postdoctoral aeronautics and astronautics scientist at MIT. \"It's like if you were to take a one way trip underwater without the City of Atlantis to receive you.\"\n\nIn a debate against the MIT researchers last year, Mars One CEO Bas Lansdorp didn\u2019t address their concerns with his plan.\n\nSpaceX\n\nThen there\u2019s Elon Musk, who thinks that colonizing the Red Planet \u2014 and becoming an interplanetary species \u2014 is our best bet for survival. In his speech, Musk detailed his plan to create a self-sustaining Mars colony of 1 million people over the next 40 to 100 years. Musk focused mainly on the new types of vehicles SpaceX will build to get to Mars: a massive reusable rocket booster and a huge spaceship \u2014 probably to be named \"Heart of Gold\" in a nod to Douglas Adams\u2019 Hitchhiker\u2019s Guide to the Galaxy.\n\nMusk\u2019s new plan is heavy on engineering, but light on details about funding and, especially, about how he plans to keep people alive on the ride to Mars and on the planet\u2019s surface. There was no discussion of habitats, food, water, plumbing, or breathable air \u2014 things that people need to survive anywhere, and especially on an inhospitable planet with almost no oxygen and where average temperatures hover around minus 81 degrees Fahrenheit.\n\nCovering all of that ground in a one-hour speech is a tall order. But by not addressing the human and monetary demands of interplanetary travel, Musk made it hard to tell just how feasible his vision really is.\n\nWe\u2019re still waiting for a plan to take flight\n\nDo we have a winner?\n\nAll these plans are still just that \u2014 plans. The idea of putting humans on Mars has been kicking around for years, and no one has gotten there yet.\n\nOne flaw many of the plans share is that they focus on the trip to Mars and not on how to support life there. After all, we\u2019ve barely managed to survive the Antarctic, and that\u2019s a lot closer to home. \"There\u2019s a whole host of issues,\" MIT\u2019s Do says. \"Many we won\u2019t even realize until we actually go and do it.\"\n\nNo single group will have everything it takes to get to Mars\n\nMaybe that means that SpaceX\u2019s role in the journey to Mars will be to set up an efficient, reusable transportation infrastructure. But it\u2019ll be up to NASA, or a new player that has yet to join the race, to figure out how to create a habitable, and sustainable settlement on the Red Planet.\n\nOne thing\u2019s for sure: no single group will have everything it takes to get to Mars \u2014 especially when it comes to money. Private companies will continue to need government funding to drive their space projects, says Donald Rapp, co-investigator of the MOXIE project and a consultant for MIT and JPL. \"I think that the economy is a relentless problem in Washington, and getting support for billions of dollars to send humans to Mars is a difficult political thing,\" Rapp says. But, he adds, at 82 years old, his perspective might be a little different from Elon Musk\u2019s.\n\n\"Old guys like me are always thinking about what could go wrong. I think it\u2019s young people \u2014 and Musk is half my age \u2014 who can look beyond those immediate barriers and have the vision, and the energy, to see how to solve these problems.\""}
-{"text": "Vikings at Packers: TV Schedule, Radio, Live Stream: Where to Watch by Dan Zinski\n\nWill Teddy Bridgewater play Thursday night at Green Bay? That\u2019s the question consuming Viking Nation right now.\n\nAnd the answer is\u2026still don\u2019t know.\n\nAfter missing practice entirely Monday and Tuesday, Bridgewater at least got back out there on Wednesday for the final walkthrough. Unfortunately Bridgewater was limited and is officially listed as questionable.\n\nQB Teddy Bridgewater listed as questionable. Was limited in today's walkthrough. #Vikings \u2014 Master Tesfatsion (@MasterStrib) October 1, 2014\n\nQuestionable means 50/50, as we know. That is not the answer Viking fans are looking for as Thursday night\u2019s showdown with Green Bay looms.\n\nTo my mind, there is a strong argument to be made for sitting Bridgewater down no matter what. Though the rivalry with the Packers means a lot in fans\u2019 minds, in the true grand scheme this one game isn\u2019t significant.\n\nWhy risk Bridgewater on a cold, rainy night in Green Bay with an ankle so gimpy he can\u2019t even fully practice? Makes little sense to me.\n\nBut, it\u2019s up to Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman to make the call. If they put Bridgewater out there at less than 100% and he gets hurt? It\u2019s on them.\n\nIf Bridgewater can\u2019t go, it will be Christian Ponder behind center."}
-{"text": "(Image: Andrzej Krauze)\n\nSHOULD asteroids rich in precious metals be regarded, in legal terms, like the fish in the sea? That is one approach the United Nations could take as it struggles to come to terms with mining plans announced by Planetary Resources, a start-up company based in Seattle.\n\nIn just under two years, Planetary Resources says it will launch the first of a series of space telescopes into low-Earth orbit in a bid to spot nearby asteroids of a size and mineral composition potentially worth mining. When a strong candidate is found, it plans to dispatch a robotic probe to assess the asteroid\u2019s precious metal content, with platinum a priority. If that is found, yet-to-be developed robots will be dispatched to mine it. If it is small enough, the asteroid could be brought into an Earth orbit first, to make the process easier.\n\nPlanetary Resources\u2019s plans seem well advanced and others are not far behind. And it\u2019s not just asteroids in these firms\u2019 sights. Moon Express, a start-up based in Las Vegas, is planning to prospect the moon for platinum and other metals deposited on its surface by meteorites.\n\n\nIt all sounds mind-bogglingly expensive and complicated, and it is. But those planning the operations have more earthly concerns to deal with, too. Mining asteroids or the moon appears to violate many of the tenets of international space law.\n\n\u0093Mining asteroids or the moon appears to violate many of the tenets of international space laws\u0094\n\nThe most important of these is the UN\u2019s Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which in rather pompous language states that \u201cthe exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind\u201d.\n\nIt also specifically prohibits states from making territorial claims in space. \u201cStates cannot claim rights over an asteroid,\u201d says Joanne Wheeler, a lawyer at London legal practice CMS Cameron McKenna and a UK government adviser on the UN\u2019s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. \u201cThe Outer Space Treaty says the moon and celestial bodies such as asteroids are not subject to national appropriation. Whether that means no one owns the asteroids, or we all do under some common heritage, what\u2019s clear here is there is no state sovereignty over them.\u201d\n\nWhat applies to sovereign states probably also applies to private companies. \u201cIt is not possible for Planetary Resources to say it owns all of an asteroid even if they are the first there,\u201d says Wheeler.\n\nIf the ownership of an asteroid is in question, who, then, has legal title to the ores extracted from it and sold back on Earth? Again, it is not clear, though Wheeler points out that there is already a legitimate market for space rocks in the form of meteorites. This probably puts Planetary Resources in the clear.\n\nEric Anderson, co-founder of Planetary Resources, doesn\u2019t see a problem: \u201cOur analysis shows we have an unequivocal right to mine asteroids. Nothing in the Outer Space Treaty prevents that.\u201d He doesn\u2019t agree that asteroids, especially those in the 50 to 500-metre size range, are \u201ccelestial bodies\u201d. Meteorites are fallen asteroids, he says, and they are not regarded as celestial bodies.\n\nSome even see the treaty as irrelevant to asteroid mining. \u201cThe Outer Space Treaty is a paper tiger with no teeth,\u201d says Michael Gold, a lawyer specialising in commercial spaceflight in Washington DC. \u201cIt\u2019s unenforceable and any state can pull out of it with a year\u2019s notice. I expect mining capability will trump the law in any situation.\u201d\n\nWhichever interpretation you prefer, it is clear that there is no international regime explicitly governing asteroid mining. \u201cPlanetary Resources are in a rather grey zone,\u201d says Wheeler. \u201cThis is no legal certainty over whether they can do it or not.\u201d\n\nShe suggests that a future regime could be based on the law of the sea. \u201cThe fish in the high seas are not owned by anyone. You can \u2018mine\u2019 the high seas by taking fish out of them and you can sell them,\u201d she says. \u201cSimilarly, asteroids might not be owned by anyone but you might be able to mine the resources and then sell them on.\u201d\n\nMining the moon is also fraught with legal uncertainties. In principle it is governed by an international treaty informally called the Moon Agreement, which seeks to manage our satellite\u2019s natural resources. But the treaty is largely worthless because it has not been ratified by any of the spacefaring nations.\n\n\u201cThe Moon Agreement recognises that mining of the moon is about to become feasible,\u201d says Wheeler. \u201cBut the US, China and Russia are not signatories, so it lacks teeth.\u201d The UN is encouraging members to sign, but the concern is that a fait accompli by a mining company could render the treaty moot.\n\nFinally, what if space mining operations go wrong? If miners cause an asteroid that they have nudged nearer to Earth to plummet into the planet, who would be liable? This is covered by another UN treaty, the Space Liability Convention, which makes the nation that launches a spacecraft liable for damages. \u201cThis concept worked back when it was a clear-cut case of governments launching objects, but with many entrepreneurs now launching spacecraft it\u2019s getting much more difficult to apportion blame,\u201d says Wheeler. As a result, the US and Japan are investigating new liability mechanisms, she says.\n\nThe chances of Planetary Resources causing impacts are minimal, says Timothy Spahr, director of the asteroid-hunting Minor Planet Center at Harvard University. Orbital mechanics are well understood, he says, making asteroid trajectory calculations simple. \u201cHitting the Earth is a damn hard thing to do.\u201d\n\nLike many astronomers, Spahr has an asteroid named after him. How would he feel about 2975 Spahr being captured and mined? \u201cThat\u2019s a tough question,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019d have to ask a lawyer.\u201d\n\nSomehow, I don\u2019t think they will have an answer."}
-{"text": "Over the past decade, the booking and reservations industry for travel and hospitality has migrated online. The internet has revolutionized the way in which people travel, with instant price comparison websites, cheap web-based airlines and shared accommodation apps like Airbnb. Blockchain technology is the next logical step in a movement away from costly, centralized management and into an entirely self-managed, autonomous tourism ecosystem.\n\nThe advantages of decentralization\n\nOnline booking sites like Booking.com might appear to provide the best deal to the customer but they charge a high commission to accommodation providers, causing prices to rise or service to decline. Beppo Buchanan-Smith of the Isle of Eriska Hotel and Spa in Scotland calls them 'parasites' and claims hotels have to raise room prices to cover losses.\n\nWhile the move online has helped to reduce staff and rental costs associated with traditional brick-and-mortar travel agents, the system is still affected by a centralized management system that can dictate and manipulate prices. Senior VP of research group Phocuswright, Douglas Quinby, says 2016 was the first year that online travel agency (OTA) bookings exceeded that of hotel website bookings. Already a number of companies worldwide are investigating blockchain projects in the travel and tourism industry. The Crown Prince of Dubai recently announced intentions to create an entirely blockchain-based, government-backed marketplace for the tourism industry.\n\nIn Australia, travel agency Webjet is developing a similar project and the TUI Group are using blockchain technology to manage contracts with freelance tour guides.\n\nHow blockchain can benefit tourists and retailers\n\nA blockchain is entirely decentralized, autonomous and open-source. The system is supported and controlled by all involved and cannot be manipulated to benefit one party more than another. With a blockchain system, consumers can interact directly with retailers - cutting out the middleman, saving costs and providing the most efficient, streamlined user experience. The immutable, secure nature of blockchain provides a trustworthy payments platform and an encrypted method for data transfer. All interactions on the chain are identified by a unique private key and every transaction is recorded in a way that cannot be altered. All of this is achieved without the need for third-party management and is secure from outside interference or tampering.\n\nThe cost of implementing a blockchain reservations system is negligible when compared to the cost of setting up and maintaining an online website. Customers can easily connect to a blockchain system with only a mobile phone and instantly begin interacting with a tokenized system that provides ongoing rewards from day one. The low cost of entry and simplicity of deployment means a blockchain-based platform is available to any organization or business, no matter the size or exposure to technology.\n\nRewards on a blockchain system\n\nTraditional rewards offer little redeemability and tend to stagnate over time. With a blockchain-based rewards system, retailers can reward their customers with tokens that not only equate to real money but consistently increase in value over time, with no extra cost to the retailer. Research by the IMI Corporation shows that 68 percent of customers are loyal to the brand that offers the highest number of rewards. Through an all-in-one app such as that offered by DigitalBits, a wide range of hotels, restaurants and travel-related industries globally can collectively and easily provide services redeemable for blockchain-based tokens.\n\nAny retailer can instantly join the platform and begin trading services without the timely and costly need for a third-party intermediary. In addition, the availability of encrypted shared data will give retailers the ability to provide more refined and targeted results while effortlessly maintaining the privacy of customers."}
-{"text": "China on Wednesday defended its decision to expel journalists working for three American news organizations and to forbid them from working in Hong Kong, adding that more expulsions could be coming.\n\nChinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said during a daily press briefing that China would take more steps against American media if the U.S. did not \u201ccorrect its mistakes,\u201d Reuters reported.\n\n\u201cThe U.S. has said that all options are on the table. Today, I can also tell the U.S. that all options are on the table for China,\u201d Geng said, according to Reuters.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nChina announced Tuesday that journalists from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post would be forced to leave the country at the end of 2020 and would not be permitted to work in Hong Kong as allowed during past expulsions.\n\nThe decision will affect at least 13 journalists, according to the Foreign Correspondents Club of China, which said it \u201cdeplores\u201d the choice. The club has requested that Hong Kong ensure that foreign journalists and those applying for work in the semi-autonomous city would still receive employment without the Chinese government getting involved.\n\nThe Chinese government said the expulsions were in reaction to U.S. actions against Chinese media, such as requiring Chinese state media to register as foreign embassies and reducing the number of journalists allowed to work for these outlets in the U.S.\n\nThe decision to prohibit the reporters from working in Hong Kong has specifically stirred outrage given the one country, two systems relationship put in place after China took control of Hong Kong in 1997. Reporters have previously been allowed to work in Hong Kong after they were expelled from China.\n\nChinese officials said they were allowed to forbid the reporters from working in Hong Kong. Hong Kong\u2019s Basic Law, which is its small constitution, says China can manage its foreign affairs and defense.\n\nChina had previously expelled three Wall Street Journal reporters because of an op-ed headline that the foreign ministry labeled as racist. The headline was \u201cChina is the Real Sick Man of Asia,\u201d referring to the coronavirus outbreak."}
-{"text": "Iran has suggested that Washington propose a prisoner swap in return for the release of three Americans who are being held in Tehran after being accused of spying.\n\nAccording to the Iranian news agency, intelligence minister Heydar Moslehi has ruled out releasing the Americans without what he described as \"a gesture\" from the US.\n\nThe three Americans have not been formally charged with spying but it is an allegation that has appeared, disappeared and reappeared during their 10 months of detention.\n\nThey were arrested last July after crossing into Iran illegally from neighbouring Iraq.\n\nTheir families say the three were hiking in Iraq's scenic northern Kurdish region and had strayed across the border by mistake.\n\nThe mothers of the Americans returned back home just yesterday after a long-awaited two-day visit to Tehran where they met their children face to face.\n\nTehran is seeking the release of several Iranians held by the United States but this is the first time a possible prisoner exchange has directly been mentioned by the Islamic republic.\n\n- BBC"}
-{"text": "Grab some Fanny - UK SHIPPING IS FREE.\n\nRest of the world \u00a34.95. PLEASE NOTE THAT SIGNED PRINTS AND ORIGINALS WILL BE MAILED TRACKED."}
-{"text": "Here we go again. As we return, haggard and hungover, from the Christmas break, the Brexit deal is heading back to parliament. And presumably the debate will also continue where it left off. Prepare for a succession of Brexiteers touting the idea of a \u201cmanaged no deal\u201d as an appealing alternative to either the deal on offer or the prospect of a no-deal outcome. They\u2019re wrong.\n\nIt\u2019s worth tracing the \u201clogic\u201d deployed by proponents of this approach, because it has gone through three distinct stages.\n\nThe first was to argue that no deal would be just fine for the UK, and that an immediate move to \u201cWTO [World Trade Organization] rules\u201d would not result in any new barriers to trade, because the EU would be obliged to recognise that the UK already complies with all EU regulatory standards. This zombie claim, made most notably by the Economists for Free Trade, has been debunked by almost every UK trade expert.\n\nThe EU intends to treat the UK as a third country \u2013 as is its right and, in some respects, its obligation \u2013 from day one. And our much-vaunted WTO membership will do little to mitigate this situation. Moreover, as Alex Stojanovic, a researcher at the thinktank the Institute of Government, has pointed out, the WTO makes no provision for things such as truck drivers licensing, pilot certification, or transfer of data. In other words, the potential consequences of a \u201cchaotic\u201d Brexit go far beyond just the implications for trade and supply chains, but extend to medicines, transport and the status of EU citizens in the UK and that of Brits in the EU.\n\nRepeated assertions that the EU was bluffing, and would eventually back down, have proved to be just that \u2013 assertions\n\nRecognising this, the proponents of no deal have pivoted. Their new approach is a rebranding exercise \u2013 not simply \u201cno deal\u201d, still less \u201ccrashing out\u201d, but the far more cuddly sounding \u201cmanaged no deal\u201d. David Davis, for example, explains that it is simply an \u201cillusion\u201d to suggest that no deal means, er, no deal. \u201cLeaving without a withdrawal agreement is not the same as leaving without agreements.\u201d\n\nBut while the EU has indeed set out some contingency plans for no deal \u2013 and it is true that those will enable us to avoid the most catastrophic scenarios \u2013 these are very different from the kind of side deals that Davis seems to envisage. They are distinctly one-sided, temporary, and intended to defend the EU against the worst of the disruption resulting from a no-deal outcome. And they leave important gaps.\n\nSo, for instance, while they would allow point-to-point flying between UK and EU cities, as yet they provide no concessions on ownership rules. That means, for example, that International Airlines Group (which owns British Airways and Iberia) will have difficulties maintaining its EU licence. Equally, key areas such as medicines and data are simply not covered. And Michel Barnier has insisted that mini-deals to supplement these basic plans are off the table.\n\nHow to solve the Irish question in the event of no deal is perhaps the most glaring omission from the narratives spun by those who claim no deal is not something we should worry about. Showcasing his trademark disdain for detail, Mr Davis airily dismisses the notion that a no-deal outcome would require a border in Ireland \u2013 Shanker Singham says we won\u2019t need one, apparently. This argument is unlikely to reassure the 1,000 English and Scottish police officers who will be taken away from their day jobs of actually fighting crime to be trained \u2013 at the request of the Police Service of Northern Ireland \u2013 for deployment in Northern Ireland in the case of Brexit-related disorder.\n\nThe third leg of the no-deal argument, then, is not to claim that no deal will be easy or painless \u2013 but that it will be just as painful for the EU27, which will suffer disruption to their largest single trading partner and the massive hole in the EU budget that will result. The logic here is that some member states simply won\u2019t tolerate the minimalist arrangements being proposed. After all, around 13,000 Irish truckers use the UK as a land bridge to the EU, via the Channel Tunnel. The Spanish will be concerned about Iberia\u2019s rights. The French would not want long queues at Calais.\n\nIf we just hold our nerve, then, up to and possibly even after 29 March, the EU27 will come to their senses and give us what we want \u2013 a stripped-down version of the withdrawal agreement that includes a two-year transition period, avoiding any immediate disruption, and which does not include the \u201cbackstop\u201d. Versions of this argument have been advanced both by Boris Johnson and, extraordinarily, by the leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom.\n\nBut this simply reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the UK\u2019s bargaining position. The EU insisted from the start on the withdrawal agreement as a precursor to talks on trade because member states identified as the priority issues the rights of EU citizens, the Brexit bill and the Irish border, and it was prepared to leverage the threat of no deal ruthlessly to ensure that. Repeated assertions that the EU was somehow bluffing, and would eventually back down, have proved to be just that \u2013 assertions.\n\nIt also speaks to a fundamental misunderstanding of what article 50 is all about. For all its flaws \u2013 and there are more than enough of these to make one wonder why Lord Kerr is so keen to claim authorship \u2013 it provides a unique way of managing the passage from membership to non-membership. Not least, it allows for a transition period \u2013 basically a unique form of EU relationship with a third state \u2013 to be agreed by qualified majority vote. Should there be no withdrawal agreement, there would be no such mechanism to allow for a temporary new relationship to be agreed.\n\nOf course the EU has much to lose from no deal. But both sides know, and have known all along, who has more to lose. As we get closer to 29 March \u2013 and even more so, in the weeks after, as reality bites \u2013 our negotiating position becomes weaker, not stronger. Our basic choices and trade-offs will not have fundamentally changed \u2013 they will just have become even more constrained. So while the snake-oil salesmen have repeatedly reformulated their product, it\u2019s still not a cure for the UK\u2019s current woes.\n\n\u2022 Anand Menon is director of The UK in a Changing Europe, and professor of European politics and foreign affairs at King\u2019s College London. Jonathan Portes is professor of economics and public policy at Kings College London"}
-{"text": "Orchis italica - Naked Man Orchid, Italian Orchid\n\nPhylum: Magnoliophyta - Class: Liliopsida - Order: Orchidales - Family: Orchidaceae\n\nWidespread and common throughout the region this one of the best known Mediterranean orchids.\n\nDescription\n\nThe Naked Man Orchid grows up to 50cm in height and has a rosette of distinctive wavy-margined leaves at the base of the plant. The leaves are sometimes flecked with brown. There are a further 3 or 4 small leaves sheathing the stem. The flowers are carried in a dense inflorescence and are usually pale to dark pink.\n\nFrom time to time pure white specimens occur but they are rare.\n\nDistribution\n\nCommon throughout the Mediterranean region this orchid grows in localised but often dense colonies. It can be found in the Middle East, Malta, Cyprus, Turkey, the Aegean islands, Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal.\n\nHabitat\n\nThis orchid grows in abandoned farmland, scrubby areas and beside tracks and paths and is particularly numerous close to the coasts.\n\nFlowering times\n\nApril and May\n\nReference sources\n\nThe Plant List\n\nSue Parker (2014) Wild Orchids of the Algarve - when, where and how to find them; First Nature\n\nChris Thorogood and Simon Hiscock (2014) Field Guide to the Wildflowers of the Algarve; Kew Publishing\n\nPierre Delforge (2005) Orchids of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East; A&C Black\n\nFielding, Turland and Mathew (2005) Flowers of Crete; Kew"}
-{"text": "In this edition, we conducted an email-based interview with David Lohle from the Tox project, an all-in-one communication platform and protocol that ensures users full privacy and secure message delivery. The Tox core library is licensed under the terms of GNU GPL version 3, or (at your option) any later version. The library implements the Tox protocol and provides an API for clients, such as Venom and Toxic.\n\nTell us about yourself\n\nWe're the Tox Foundation, creators of Tox, a secure and distributed multimedia messenger. Our core developer team consists of people from Canada, Germany, the US, and more. Though we speak different languages and represent diverse cultures, we are dedicated to working together on our common goal: to create a product we think is necessary in a world where our privacy is often overlooked.\n\nWhat inspired you to create Tox?\n\nAfter the initial leaks from Edward Snowden, we decided to take a look at what chat programs we could use that would respect our privacy. Unfortunately, at the time, all other existing implementations were either too convoluted to convince our friends to use or were proprietary, so we decided that Tox was a necessary project.\n\nHow are people using it?\n\nRight now, people are using Tox to talk with their family in a more secure way than what other big-name, proprietary competitors offer. People from all over the world are joining group chats to talk about their favorite hobbies, and friends are getting together to discuss weekend plans. We even have plugins that allow for Tox-to-IRC and vice versa conversations. Audio calling is available in a select few clients right now, so people are even using Tox to perhaps speak with one another while they play a video game. Tox itself is a protocol, so it can be adapted to anything you can imagine. Some people have even used Tox as a file sync, safely synchronizing between their computers.\n\nWhat features do you think really sets Tox apart from similar software?\n\nPerhaps it's not so much a feature as an ideology, but Tox focuses on simplicity and security without compromise. There are a lot of great privacy-minded instant messengers out there; unfortunately, they really fall short in the user experience department. If Tox's goal is to get secure messaging in the hands of the masses, then we need to develop a set of software with a minimal learning curve. Cryptography and security are complex tasks that require special care, and Tox takes it a step further by hiding most of the configuration and other steps it usually takes to set up a competing messenger program. However, this does not mean we prevent tinkering. We're excited to see more advanced users toy around and customize Tox to their own liking, but we're also excited to see that beginners can pick up Tox and not have to sit through a video tutorial detailing how to add a friend.\n\nWhen we near a finalized product, we're not going to market Tox as a secure messenger as much as we do on it's simplicity and ease. By focusing on what people care about, such as group chats and a streamlined experience, we can achieve our goal of a safe, eavesdrop-free messaging platform for all.\n\nWhy did you choose the GPLv3 as Tox's license?\n\nWhen we started Tox, we wanted a platform that was easily modified, shared, and redistributed\u2014a community is a project's strongest asset. Since most of us already supported free software, our initial discussions wavered between using a permissive license versus a strong copyleft license, and we ultimately chose GPL Version 3 in the end. Its simplicity, clarity, and strong patent protection affords our community large freedoms in changing our software, while protecting us from malicious intents.\n\nHow can users (technical or otherwise) help contribute to Tox?\n\nWe greatly appreciate all efforts, no matter how small (we're even grateful for the grammar-related commits). If you know a programming language, and wish to help develop a client, you can visit https://wiki.tox.chat/Clients and see what you can offer. If you fluently speak a language other than English, and want to help translate Tox clients into other locales, browse our wiki at https://wiki.tox.chat for projects you could contribute to.\n\nWe're also very interested in other's constructive criticism, as no project is ever perfect. Feedback is what fuels Tox, so if you have something to say, drop us a comment at comments@tox.chat and we'll try our best to incorporate suggestions and improve from critique. Everyone can have a role in helping to push Tox forward, even if that just means telling your friends about us.\n\nWhat's the next big thing for Tox?\n\nWe're currently working on implementing audio and video in all of the main Tox clients. It's a fairly momentous task, so it might take some time, but we feel it's imperative to have proper video calling in order to move forward. Due to the nature of Git and a large community, we're able to work on multiple tasks at once\u2014group chatting, for example\u2014but we're trying to focus most of our efforts on A/V.\n\nEnjoyed this interview? Check out our previous entry in this series featuring Ciaran Gultnieks of F-Droid."}
-{"text": "If you're looking for a lost game disc Look in the Case of the Game you played after that game\n\n128 shares"}